semi-kind of victory

drive-by readings

Thor #614 (Marvel) "The Fine Print Part 4" Kieron Gillen Doug Braithwaite John Rauch Andy Troy June Chung Joe Sabino Mico Suayan/Laura Martin (cover)

what we learned: Loki's treachery is revealed! Thor realizes the breadth and width of his half-brother's machinations, and with Loki not in Hel's books, he'll have a devil of a time putting him down next time. well, no one's going to learn from this anyway. soon, they'll be back welcoming him with open arms and mugfuls of mead.
oh shit moment: Thor stabbing Kelda (relax, its because Loki put malware in her to break the Asgardians' morale and as an added bonus, assassinate Balder). also when Thor gets the Eir-Gram free and cuts down the Disir - that's mythic.
what's next: get ready for more action, 'cause here comes Matt Fraction!


sometimes, just sometimes, you still need violence against women.

come on down

drive-by readings

Wolverine #1 (Marvel) "Wolverine Goes to Hell, Part One" "Last Stand of the Silver Samurai: Scorched Earth Chapter One" Jason Aaron Renato Guedes/Jason Latour Jose Wilson Magalhaes Matt Wilson/Rico Renzi Cory Petit Jae Lee/June Chung (cover) Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines/Justin Ponsor/Marko Djurdjevic/Art Adams (variant covers)

what we learned: i mistook the hype for this new direction as Daken taking over Wolverine's body while Logan being sent to Hell. but that would've been a cooler premise: its one thing to be reconditioned by the Hand, its another to have switch souls and personalities between two mortal shells. what would the Avengers and X-Men do? kill him? but i digress. some mysterious party (called the Red Right Hand - 'allo, Nick Cave - purported to be the vengeful hand of God) wants Wolverine and his family/friends taken out, and some demon has taken over his body (taking on John Wraith for starters). next up: Logan's current galpal Melita, who's oddly rescued by Mystique. over in Japan, the RRH puts a hit on Kenuichio Harada, and it looks like he doesn't survive the experience.
oh shit moment: you know there's a demon in Wolverine, but that doesn't make it any easier.
what's next: who are these Red Right Handers? kin of people Logan killed over the century?


will.i.am was already goddamned sick of "My Humps".

under the sea

drive-by readings

Curse of the Mutants: Namor #1 (Marvel) "Royal Blood: Part One" Stuart Moore Ariel Olivetti Joe Caramagna Jae Lee/June Chung (cover) Joe Quesada/Danny Miki/Richard Isanove (variant cover)

what we learned: in order to combat the rise of the vampires, Atlantean royal douche and current X-Man Namor swims to the depths to find the Aqueos - the age old underwater vampires who may have the head of Dracula (which they need to revive the vampire king, and let him go apeshit on those who whacked him and took his throne). not an easy task, as his own regiment guarding the abandoned Atlantis was decimated, and his only allies at the moments are the Tridents, who look down upon him as nothing but an errand boy for the humans. also, its nice to see Jae Lee come back and do the covers.
oh shit moment: ever been surrounded by fish? how about vampire fish? or vampire mermen?
what's next: the Aqueos just passed a resolution to declare war against Namor and his allies. fish fight! fish fight!


for a few seconds there, Namor considered the woman's advances. you know he did.

fist, meet face

truer words were never spoken.



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Deathlok #7

she's a man-eater!

drive-by readings

Immortal Weapons #4 (Marvel) "Tiger's Beautiful Daughter" Duane Swierczynski Khari Evans Victor Olazaba Allen Martinez June Chung Nate Piekos David Aja (cover)

another excellent Immortal Weapons origin story. too bad you can't make a movie out of these kickass peeps unless you introduce the whole Daniel Rand/Iron Fist/K'un L'un thing. or can you? in this issue, we learn that Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, real name Li Hua, is a young princess longing to be beside her father fighting wars to protect their city. tradition has it that women play the homemaking, nurturing role and leave the fighting to the men. or so they think. when an invading army starts slaughtering them, it is revealed that this horde broke a peace treaty after killing all their women - and it was the women who used to do the fighting (turns out Li Hua's mother was like their #1 badass). the role reversal forced the men, especially Li Hua's father, to invent war stories to keep the next generation safe and not provoke the bad guys. but since the latter just broke the treaty, the men of Li Hua's tribe are too soft to really defend their last moo goo gai pan. this forces Li Hua to fulfill her dreams of being a warrior and thus leads all the remaining women to defend themselves. shame on you men! even i felt emasculated reading this comic. almost. i mean, looking at the hot outfit Li Hua's wearing, and knowing she can beat me up easy ... whoooaaa.

so that's how they broke up

ok, no jokes here. hmmm ... this reinforces my belief that no one will ever, ever, understand women. least of all the women themselves.

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Marvel Divas #3

drive-by readings: Dark Reign: Mr Negative #3

Dark Reign: Mr Negative #3 (Marvel) "Negative Reinforcement" Fred Van Lente Gianluca Gugliotta Ronda Pattison Andres Mossa Antonio Fabela Dave Lanphear Jae Lee/June Chung (cover)

the prolific Mr. Van Lente wraps up the Mr. Negative origin story, and the best of all, it all starts from my very first Spectacular Spider-Man issue (#64, the origin of Cloak and Dagger). it positions Mr. Negative in an ambiguous light, as he neither totally is with the good or the bad guys (although you would think he'd pick a better name, no?). the art is a bit lacking compared to the story, though i must admit i stared a lot longer at those panels with Betty Brant in fragrante delicto - umm, well you know. now imagine those panels in the hands of Frank Cho or Terry Dodson. that's all positive!

the devil you don't know

Marvel's MAX line has a new addition: Dead of Night starring Devil Slayer (sounds like a glam heavy metal rock band).

let's just make one thing clear: it ain't your daddy's Devil Slayer (more recently seen in the Hawaiian Initiative - doing luaus and sensing portents of doom and showing Cloak how its done). 

no, in this tale, we have Iraqi vet named Danny Sylva going back for another tour of duty - once a soldier, as they say - to the disbelief and joy of his former buddies. in his case, it seems more like a homecoming.

Sylva has his reasons for going back, since he has nothing else to live for. alternative careers for ex-soldiers seemed in short supply with the tanking of the American economy, and the breakup with his fiancee Maria left him with charges of aggravated assault, drunkenness and disorderly conduct. his CO, Lt. Buckler leaves him with a semblance of something to hold on to - fighting for your comrade in arms, despite the presence of other less-than-honorable men from defense contractor Bloodstone, a Blackwater analogue (apparently, you can get blood from this stone). 

for those not in the know, Lt. Buckler is named after Rich Buckler, who created the Devil Slayer character back in 1977.

a fellow soldier, Wahl, has been kidnapped by jihadists, and a midnight call from an embedded journalist from the Daily Bugle (don't they call it the DB now?) puts Sylva and the team in an impromptu rescue mission. it doesn't go well. for example, Pvt. Miles Ochse, fresh out of boot camp and Sylva's seatmate on the plane back to Baghdad, gets his brains blown out rather quickly.

with his teammates dying alongside him, Sylva runs for cover in a room, he finds a lot more than he bargained for.

Danny Sylva ... Devil Slayer, get it?

just for informational purposes, Dead of Night is written by one Brian Keene, he who ushered a new age of zombie splatterfests with The Rising. i know of one friend who's gonna cream in his pants when he reads this. 

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Dead of Night: Devil Slayer #1