Taskmaster, New comics

New comics!

Batman: The Detective 6

A total whiff by Tom Taylor.  The concept of the villain Equilibrium looking to kill everyone Batman’s ever saved is really neat, but nothing else about this series panned out.

Captain Marvel 34

There is zero about this arc (Last of the Marvels) that’s working for me.  I’m slogging through this and hoping that Kelly Thompson rounds back into form next time around.  Not to mention that this is a complete waste of time issue - Carol escapes, then gets captured again, putting her back right where she started.  I suppose she found a new manifestation of her powers, but I didn’t need 22 pages for that.

Taskmaster 1-5

Practically a repeat of my review for Strange Academy yesterday - definite elements of fun in this miniseries, and Jed MacKay writes some great humor, but it’s missing that little extra oomph to push this out of the Nice zone.  

I do love how Taskmaster is Black Widow’s bitch.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

That’s it for Marvel Box 10!  (10!  That’s insane, and there’s still a ton of Marvel to go.  Daredevil, Thor, Punisher…)

Box summary

Time spent reading: 18 hours, 12 minutes

Issues read: 174

Issues cut: 6

Highlights (Good or better): Miracleman 1-16, Miracleman 2 (Gaiman), Runaways 1-12, 19-24, Silver Surfer 13-14, Mary Jane, Mary Jane: Homecoming, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 1-15, Spider-Woman 1-7

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 44 days, 17 hours, 18 minutes

Issues read: 9428

Issues cut: 1080

Beverly Cleary, Grendel, New comics

Beverly Cleary passed away yesterday at the age of 104.  Her Ramona books were a staple of my childhood, and I can’t wait to share them with my daughter.  Through Ramona Quimby, Cleary illustrated the huge gap between how children and adults think, and how painful and isolating a grownup’s inability to understand a kid’s point of view can be.  I shared the acute sense of injustice that Ramona often felt when she got into trouble - while things may technically have been her fault, there were always mitigating circumstances that no one else saw.  

That spoke to me, and it’s something I hope I remember as my daughter grows up.

Thanks for the joy and understanding you brought to my life, Mrs. Cleary.

New comics!

Taskmaster 5

The twist isn’t all that twisty, but that’s fine.  What’s awesome to discover is that even with all his abilities, Taskmaster still isn’t a match for Black Widow.  That’s as it should be.

Captain Marvel 27

I was done with this series after the departure of Lee Garbett on art, but this issue is just too delightful to pass up; Carol’s friends help her deal with her breakup with Rhodey, to hilarious effect.  It’s so much fun.  Enough so that I might have to keep getting this for a little while longer.  

Grendel: Devils and Deaths 1-2

Grendel: Devil’s Choices 1-4

Oh my god, Darko Macan and Edvin Biukovic are an amazing team.  They have the terrifying ability to make you care about characters right before tearing their lives apart.  The result is a phenomenal pair of stories that just barely missed the Pure Joy rating.  Probably the third best Grendel story I’ve read after the original Devil by the Deed and the first Batman/Grendel.  

Mega spoilers in the 3 images below.

Heartbreaking.

Even more heartbreak.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Grendel vs Shadow 1-3

Shadow: Death of Margo Lane 1-5

More things written and drawn by later-period Matt Wagner.  I’m realizing that I bought these based on the reputation he made earlier in his career, and that he hasn’t done anything beyond Nice for a while.  Also, I don’t find the Shadow to be that interesting of a character.  He’s a mix of Batman, Chow Yun Fat, and Sherlock Holmes, with overly dramatic monologues and a cheesy laugh.  Not for me.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Grendel/Batman II 1-2

I’m saving Grendel/Batman I for the last of my Grendel books to read, it’s just so darn good.  This one’s pretty good, but it’s a ton of fights without the cerebral nature that elevated its predecessor.

Sweet Batman.

Sweeter Robin.

But then again, Wagner's always been good at the Dynamic Duo.

Love the way Robin's sitting.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Walking Dead, Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, New comics

New comics!

Rorschach 6

I don’t remember enough about what’s gone before to know where this comes in the timeline of the story.  The letter exchange between Laura and WIl is fine enough, as are the snippets of the presidential debate, but this is one of the slighter issues of the series so far.

Taskmaster 4

More fun than the previous issue.  The fight between Taskmaster and Okoye is well done, and I like how Taskmaster was constantly thwarted in his attempts to look at her.  (He can’t copy her movements until he sees her.)  One issue to go, looking forward to his showdown with Black Widow.  

Walking Dead 97-193

For the majority of my time reading this series, I’ve been giving the issues a Pretty Good rating.  But I’ve had to change my assessment after finishing the whole run - My collection initially ended with issue 168 (The emotional death of Andrea).  But I had to know what happened next, and bought the last four trades to finish up the story.  (That doesn’t contradict the Wouldn’t buy again rating; I wanted these issues to finish up the collection.  But were I to lose my whole collection, I wouldn’t buy Walking Dead over again.)  

In the final analysis, I tore through the last 97 issues of the story in 3 days; There’s no way a comic that’s only ‘pretty good’ can grab my attention like that.  A couple of final thoughts about Walking Dead:

There are few villains in comics as compelling as Negan.  An amazing job of writing by Robert Kirkman to make him so sympathetic after the horrors he’s performed.  George RR Martin’s the only other writer I can think of off the top of my head who can do that so well.

The spreadsheet I made keeping track of all the deaths.  (I stopped after TPB 28.)  Kirkman killed 68 out of the 111 characters I tracked.  The majority of the survivors were introduced at around the halfway point of the series (The discovery of The Hilltop).  

The introduction of the Commonwealth was a little too far fetched for me; That society was way too developed from what we’d seen up until then.  

The status of the world in the flash forward, which was as implausible as the Commonwealth, still felt earned.  I was ready for the happy ending after so many issues of death.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good 

Archer and Armstrong 1-4

Moving on to the Valiant comics in my collection.  (Except for Ivar, Timewalker, which somehow wasn’t grouped with them.)  Archer, which has the same creative team as Ivar, elicits pretty much exactly the same comments - Well done humor, good action, interesting plot, but not enough to keep me reading.

(Archer reads as a clone of Connor Hawke, which is a point for, not against, the series.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Bloodshot 1-4

An entertaining but forgettable story about a superpowered agent rebelling against the government that created him.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

All-New X-Men, New comics

New comics!

Taskmaster 3

Not bad, but it hasn’t reached the same humor levels as issue 1, which was the whole reason I subscribed to the titles in the first place.

Heh.  Nice parody.

Marvel Action: Chillers 4

Sadly, this written-for-kids series bored the heck out of me, even with nice art by Gretel Lusky and Jeremy Whitely on writing.  

Future State: Wonder Woman 2

A complete waste of my money, even with Joelle Jones’ art.  The story is nonsensical and this new WW character does nothing for me.  Not a good week for the sub box.

Rorschach 5

The usual Tom King goodness.  

All-New X-Men 18-21

A less-than-scintillating story with the Purifiers.  Luckily, it’s just a blip in the radar of Bendis’ strong X-Men writing.

Nice to get Brent Anderson to do the God Loves Man Kills flashback pages.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

All-New X-Men 22-24

Guardians of the Galaxy 11-13

The Shiar put Jean Grey on trial for the Dark Phoenix genocide she hasn’t committed yet.  It’s fun.

Love how David Marquez (?) fits a whole splash page into a tiny panel in the middle.

I'd forgotten how much I love the Angela/Gamora relationship

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

All-New X-Men 25

A waste of time splash page jam session extravaganza.  Blech.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

All-New X-Men 26-30

The Brotherhood from Battle of the Atom returns.  Lots of well done action.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Wild Storm, New Comics

New comics!

Rorschach 3

Again, a solid one-issue story that doesn’t do much to explain the overall course of the series.  

Taskmaster 2

Not as funny as the first issue, it’s mostly a protracted fight between Taskmaster and Hyperion.  Eh.

Solid Blood 17

My LCS threw this in for free.  It’s a gag issue from Robert Kirkman, playing as if Walking Dead never hit it big, and this is what he did next.  It’s a high concept that failed to amuse me, but apparently its rareness makes it worth something for now, so it won’t get thrown into the cut bin for now.

Doctor Doom 1-5

I’ve been hearing a lot about writer Christopher Cantwell and this title, so I thought I’d give the first trade a try.  It starts off strong, where Doom has just the right mix of arrogance, intelligence, snark, and power.  But I don’t like Doom on the run, the role of the underdog doesn’t suit him.  I’ve already ordered the second trade, so I’m committed for at least another five issues.

Heh, the meta 2099 dig.

Wild Storm 13-24

Man, am I glad that I followed through with this series after the re-read.  It gets better and better as it progresses, building up at a rapid pace into a breathtaking final issue.  It definitely reads best in one sitting, instead of spread out over two years.  

Ellis manages to mix in so many callbacks to the original Wildstorm universe, many of which went completely over my head for far too long.  (I can’t believe it took me until the very last issue to realize that Jackie King was Battalion.  Ingrained sexism?)  I would have loved to see what Ellis was going to do with Gen13, the Authority, WildCATS, and all the rest, but it looks like that’s never going to happen.  (The spinoff that did get published, Michael Cray, wasn’t all that.)

Great setup for the page turn reveal...

Stunning work by Jon Davis-Hunt and Steve Buccellato

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Fatal Attractions, Bloodties, X-Men, New Comics

New comics!

Marvel Action: Chillers 3

This is one of those titles that I would have preferred to flip through in the store.  (I wouldn’t have picked it up.)  Alas.

Seven Secrets 5

Daniele Di Nicuolo’s art is still gorgeous to look at.  This’ll read better all at once, but it’s still no slouch on its own.

Taskmaster 1

Between this and Black Cat, Jed MacKay is becoming one of my new favorite writers.  This is a really funny comic.

Captain Marvel 24

More of the same, still super fun.

X-Men 17-24

The Colossus/Soul Skinner arc is completely mediocre, as is the introduction of Revanche.  I completely hate the whole “two Betsy Braddock” thing, but while the execution doesn’t blow, it’s certainly not good by any stretch.  Neither is the Psylocke-seducing-Scott subplot.  It came out of nowhere, and ends just as abruptly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an editorial mandate so that artists could draw her in sexy poses.  And while I’m a fan of Andy Kubert, his early stuff here can’t hold a candle to Jim Lee:

His Psylocke just isn't as good, is what I'm saying.

To be clear, that's motor oil she's licking.  Makes no sense at all.

A full page of weird Kubert lips.

What the hell is up with Scott's smile?

He does draw a bad ass Colossus, though.

He's got that power pose nailed from all angles.

Mega plot hole: Care must be taken to safely remove Illyana...

...so Colossus just smashes the thing, and all is well?

How in the world does Barrage pick up Scott's glasses?

`

Writer Fabian Nicieza really does his best to mimic Chris Claremont, tossing out “body and souls” left and right (three in issue 21 alone!) along with the classic “sum of its parts.”  And here’s the return of my favorite (I thought the count was going to stall at 7 after Claremont left):

Psychic knife 8.

Classic Claremontian monologuing.  Particularly love all the "as untos"

One of my favorite covers ever.  Kubert infuses this image with tenderness, love, and longing.  Beautiful:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for 24)

Uncanny X-Men 304

X-Men 25

Wolverine 75

Excalibur 71

Fatal Attractions, detailing the return of Magneto after his “death” in X-Men 3.  This was the one with the pretty holograms on the cover.  Three things of note happen: Colossus joins Magneto and the Acolytes (I know he’s disillusioned by the death of Illyana, but it still makes no sense); Xavier mindwipes Magneto (Eventually leading to all sorts of Magneto/Joseph nonsense that’s almost if not just as bad as the Psylocke/Revanche fiasco); Magneto pulls the adamantium out of Wolverine.  

To be honest, I’m surprised this last one hadn’t already been done before.  But the execution is every bit as horrific as I could have imagined, and it truly shocked me back then.  Even now, the visual is completely arresting:

And as horrible as that previous panel was, they still can't show blood in this sequence.  Stupid.

Which is what made the followup issue, Wolverine 75, so disappointing - It’s quite clear at the end of X-Men 25 that all the extruded metal is still attached to Wolverine, protruding from his skin.  But once the X-Men are on the Blackbird, the adamantium is somehow no longer in the equation - It’s completely gone, presumably lying around somewhere on Avalon.  It takes a situation that, while gruesome, would have made for a much more interesting story.  Instead, the writers take the easy way out, and Wolverine eventually heals with little incident.  Meh.

Still, the reentry of the Blackbird into Earth atmosphere is an exciting, edge-of-your-seat action sequence, effectively balancing the struggle of keeping Logan alive with the very real possibility that the plane could disintegrate at any moment.  Adam Kubert’s art is wonderful here, clearly outshining his brother’s for now.  

Oh yeah, bone claws get retconned in.

Makes me sniffle.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes (No for Excalibur)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice (Uncanny), Pretty good (X-Men), Good (Wolverine), Fine (Excalibur)

Uncanny X-Men 305-306

Some of the grossest body horror I’ve ever seen.  (I’m not going to show it here).  Kudos to Jan Duursema and John Romita Jr, they succeeded in drawing stuff that makes my skin crawl.  Now get out of my brain.  Only not cutting to preserve the run.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Hated

Avengers 368-369

Uncanny X-Men 307

X-Men 26

Avengers West Coast 101

The Bloodties crossover.  Cortez’s abduction of Luna unites the X-Men and Avengers on the battlegrounds of Genosha’s civil war.  Exodus is in “undefineably powerful” mode, making for a eh, whatever story.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

X-Men 27-29

The Legacy Virus starts kicking into high gear.  Killing time until the wedding issue.

Psychic knife 9

Psychic knife 10

I love Richard Bennett, but that Rogue pose is stupid ridiculous.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice