snaps: Sensational She-Hulk (one-shot)

... where we celebrate Jen Walters' 30th anniversary with three tales, notably from greenskin powerhouse writer Peter David, plus a reprint from the John Byrne days, but surprisingly none from Dan Slott. however, i enjoyed Brian Reed's contribution, set in pre-Secret Invasion days, where there's a titanic team up, with the now-we-know-she's-the-Skrull-Queen Spider Woman.

what? how can you say that about your original costume?


hello, Yancy Street Gang!


Carol never likes taking her pills.


also, she's been selling Toyotas and it eventually came back to haunt her.


really?? (of course, duh. its Peter David just being cheeky)


Jen survives 10 Screamin' Greenie Weenies.


and the obligatory Dan Slott cameo. oy!

snaps: Ms. Marvel #50

... where we say goodbye to Carol's almost 4 year series run, by celebrating with a punch up with the original Captain Mar-vell. ok, no its not the original joe, but the 96th one. heh. and ends up with the requisite "where do i go from here" talk with casual date Spider-Man. and she ends up morphing into an exotic Latina/Black chick. hey, is that still Mystique??

shouldn't Mystique be dead by now?



whoa! green puke alert!!



explosions galore and not a costume rip. don't give me that Reed Richards unstable molecule crap.



the only explanation is that Mystique replaced her. gimme my No-Prize!!

drive-by readings: Ms. Marvel #42

Ms. Marvel #42 (Marvel) "War of the Marvels, Chapter 1: First Engagement" Brian Reed Sana Takeda Dave Sharpe

upon the bestowing of a new solo series years back, Ms Marvel (the character) is somewhat the equivalent of Power Girl over at the distinguished competition: powerful, majorly underestimated and god-dang loads of sexy. not that its a bad thing, feminists, so unhand the swords. Carol Danvers has long been one of my favorite female characters in the 616 (uh, let's not get into the why), and Brian Reed has breathed new life into her, past the Kurt Busiek Avengers Reborn/Iron Man era (a time i look fondly back on).

with the Dark Reign in full swing, it was interesting to see Karla Sofen a.k.a. Moonstone take over the mantle and with the old costume. you know superheroes never die, so it was just a matter of time before Carol came back from the dead (i think i barely blinked), and engage in a hair-pulling jaw-breaking catfight. yeahhhh!!!!

if the art seems familiar to you, please be reminded that Sana Takeda drew that infamous Heroes for Hire cover with the Japanese hentai tentacle stuff. we know Ms. Takeda can draw pretty girls (see Drain or her website - free plug!), but i'm still ambivalent about putting her on this title. and with the Power Girl reference - if i may draw your attention to the cover of this issue, you can see an appropriately-placed label lest someone raises a fuss. Ms Takeda gamely pushes the envelope a bit.

not sure if it was referenced already, but have Ronin (currently Clint Barton) and Moonstone crossed paths lately? did everyone forget that they used to be an item? or has that been conveniently swept under the rug?

escape clause

uh oh. with the Scarlet Witch out of the picture, this kid Gavin (who has the same reality warping powers like Wanda) will be Quesada/Marvel's Easy Button for future fixes.



so what's gonna happen? Steve Rogers comes back? more mutants? another House of M type event? that's right, screw with the fans a lot more!

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Ms Marvel: Storyteller one shot

you hit like a girl! #11

i should have submitted one of my YHLAG posts to Bahlactus' Friday Night Fights (which inspired these anyway), but ... oh well.

for this edition, we have Ms. Marvel, Skrullbuster.











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Ms. Marvel #29
art by Adriana Melo/Paulo Siqueira/Mariah Benes

cliffhanger of the week #13

#5 - Lying Bitch

i know this isn't really a last-page cliffhanger, but aren't you all curious what Loki - now a she - is up to? devious bitch. i know where this is going - think about Angelina Jolie and her brother swapping spit at the 2000 Oscar Awards. eeeeeewwwww.

Thor #8 (Marvel)
J. Michael Straczynski/Marko Djurdjevic/Danny Miki/Laura Martin/Chris Eliopoulos

#4 - Bring On the Bad Guys

this issue seems to have shipped late, but anyway, it looks like the story was being stretched waaaay too thin (i'm talking to you, Countdown). the only investment we'll be making on this cliffhanger is how many villains will these Parademons off before all is said and done (i imagine the dead will not involve the names "Luthor" or "Joker").

Salvation Run #7 (DC)
Matthew Sturges/Sean Chen/Walden Wong/Steve Wands/John Kalisz

#3 - Hell Hath No Fury

... like Nicholas Fury. finally we learn what the hell was this cyclops up to the last 5 years. enough to get me to buy Secret War (but too late to have it signed by Gabriel Dell'Otto. anyway, as cliffhangers go, it still works because you want to know more, especially how he could just mostly sit by during Civil War, World War Hulk, etc. and what about those faces he circled in his war room eh?

Mighty Avengers #12 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev/Matt Hollingsworth/Dave Lanphear/cover: Marko Djurdjevic

#2 - Gangsta Trippin'

Scotty and Emma are still wandering around hippie Frisco, but have run afoul of the mind-controlled cops. speaking of running afoul, the Red hoods have captured Logan, Kurt and Pete (tell me they did that on purpose!) and are planning on torturing them why M-Day happened. don't these thugs read the trade paperbacks?

Uncanny X-Men #497 (Marvel)
Ed Brubaker/Mike Choi/Sonia Oback/Cory Petit

#1 - Skrullfiesta

after Secret Invasion, i hope there will be zero Skrull stories for at least a couple of years; four every month seems to be overkill. not to mention confusing. i get confused. even if i'm a Skrull. (on a side note, the adventures of the bordering-toward-creepy Machine Man is side-splitting).

Ms. Marvel #26 (Marvel)
Brian Reed/Adriana Melo/Mariah Benes/Chris Sotomayor/Dave Sharpe/cover: Greg Horn

cliffhanger of the week #3

counting down the best (i.e., the ones i read) cliffhangers of the week.

#5 - BPRD Underwater

faithful Hellboy sidekick Abe Sapien gets his own limited series, and in the quest to find the body of an 18th century warlock trapped in a sunken ship, gets wrapped up in tentacle trouble. Merman or not, i wouldn't wanna be him right now.

Abe Sapien: The Drowning #1 (Dark Horse)
Mike Mignola/Jason Shawn Alexander

#4 - Peter's about to get Quilled

that's Peter Quill a.k.a. Star Lord, captured by the Phalanx led by the ultimate psychotic robot ever, Ultron, and about to get shis-ke-bobbed. and where the hell are his friends? oh, also, the High Evolutionary gets an offer he can't refuse. damn you, Corleones!

Annihilation: Conquest #4 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Tom Raney/Scott Hanna

#3 - Kingdom is Coming

or maybe its just Gog. over the past few months (give or take a few years), we've seen the spillover of our beloved Kingdom Come universe into the main DC Universe. good thing the JSA recruitment drive has been on the upswing. i can only shake my head at Geoff Johns writing two dozen characters at a time. if this were a movie, we'd have primadonna fights for screen time.

Justice Society of America #12 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Alex Ross/Dale Eaglesham/Ruy Jose

#2 - Who's Your Skrully?

really? Carol is the Skrull? you sure of this, Tony?? you better be sure, you alcoholic nerd. wait, you're pulling our leg, aintcha? its gotta be someone else. i'm wise to your tricks. i'm the Winter Soldier.

Ms. Marvel #2 (Marvel)
Brian Reed/Aaron Lopresti/Matt Ryan

#1 - Spidey in the Headlights

i'm liking this Brand New Day - its a nod to the Spidey of yesteryears (wiseass broke photog) thrown into a completely new curve. i hope this isn't just a big dream. maybe Peter wishes it was - he's about to get arrested (and MJ - Jackpot to you new readers - is a registered superhero).

The Amazing Spiderman #549 (Marvel)
Marc Guggenheim/Salvador Larroca

iHaul (Wk 18+19)

hey, there! sorry, last week was just too busy. plus i do have a life too. ummm ... not!

anyway, here's a bunch of notable books that caught my eye in the past few days.

	This Fraction guy is getting his legs. don't even get me started with his cool-as-a-dragon-tattoo Iron Fist. a continuing examination of the ramifications of Peter's decision re Civil War, "To Have and To Hold" doesn't yield much action except his rescue of MJ from the clutches of S.H.I.E.L.D. foot agents. interspersed with blasts from the past (story and art from a Spidey era gone by), this one stands up with the best of 'em and won't make you feel it reads like a chick flick with all its sappy goodness (well, maybe some of you cynical geeks who never had a girlfriend - boooooo!).
Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1 Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca
Peter just added loitering to his list of crimes

	two Marvel characters that annoy me and need to be put down for good: Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Black Bolt's loony bro Maximus. the former for starting this cold war between the humans and Inhumans, and the latter for figuring in just about every conflict that the Inhumans faced. that being said, it was clever to use the morally-challenged Pietro to start this crap (stealing the Terrigen Mists which eventually winds up in the hands of the US government, who's always the poster boy for the paranoid and narrow-minded). and what's with Black Bolt losing it? i've always been interested with the Inhumans (especially the Paul Jenkins/Jae Lee run), and this one does not disappoint.
SILENT WAR #4 David Hine, Frazer Irving
"betcha couldn't kiss like that without killing her huh?"

	after kicking myself for not getting Simone Bianchi's autograph at the 2007 NY Comic Con, while he was just walking around most of the time, and they were giving away free copies of #50, i just hunkered down and checked what was this latest Sabretooth-Wolverine scratchfest was all about. the whole thing started with a rehash of the classic claw-popping, face-slashing Wolverine #90. and its already 2007 and we're still having this conversation. deep in Wakanda, someone takes the imprisoned Sabretooth and makes short work of Logan too. and there's this issue of evolution that man came from dogs. like Logan said, "what the @#$%?!?!"
WOLVERINE #53 Jeph Loeb, Simone Bianchi, Andrea Silvestri
gone are the days when Vic used to say "you're dead, meat!"

	having never seen any of the Child's Play movies (should i?), i'm not sure what made me pick up this indie comic crossover of one Cassie Hack, slasher to the slashers, and that unkillable bastard doll. turns out its a fun piece - i guess we're all closet fans of those slasher movies back in the day. some weirdo chick wants to create zombies and switches bodies with Cassie's strongman pal Vlad in the process. since said chick stole the amulet to do her shtick from Chucky, it goes to the 'enemy of my enemy' scenario. but not before fighting with each other several times. although eventually, that's where its gonna end up. if someone wants to make a movie of out of this, and they get Jennifer Love Hewitt to play the role of Cassie (please, please, please say yes, Jen!), i'm in!
HACK/SLASH vs. CHUCKY #1 Tim Seeley, Matt Merhoff
"this is so NOT the sex doll i ordered!"

	if Andy Hartnell wants to hook more readers into this new Danger Girl incarnation, he should do better than this. alright, so we have some nut named Arthur Franco who's holding the Master Key (and i'm the nut who's holding my TV's Remote Control) and threatening the free world (with what? oh that's right ... remote-detonating their nuclear arsenals). and that's why he wants the US President in exchange (if its set to current times, i'm sure its not to preserve Bush's brain for posterity). we also have Johnny back, but he's with the Special Forces and sort of still with Syd. of course the cover has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at all. and the teaser sequences like the on below seem more forced than a natural smile -inducer. good thing i don't have to drop another $2.99 to check out the next issue.
Danger Girls; Body Shots #2 Andy Hartnell, Nick Bradshaw, Jim Charalampidis
you could say Homeland Security is ... handling things too well.

	continuing the Mandarin (re)resurrection, Director Tony has no choice but to conduct an illegal yet necessary covert strike (against his policy of transparency) into the heart of Mongolia to find out what's up with a terrorist who has connections with all the bio-tech terrorism popping up all over the world. too bad he's too late - Najeeb has been dead for awhile and the trail's cold. well, he's dead and also been implanted with some weird alien creature. or something. speaking of implants, the new improved Mandarin seems to have taken piercing to a new level. fascinating political thriller from the Knauf Bros. - kinda like if Tom Clancy worked with Marvel.
IRON MAN #17 Daniel/Charles Knauf, Roberto De La Torre, Jonathan Sibal, Karl Kesel, Cam Smith
stop the presses! T-Stark gets down and dirty.

	let me get this straight. M.O.D.O.K. is dying, the cure could come from a DNA bomb, half of A.I.M. wants him dead, the Scientist Supreme most of all, someone in Ms. Marvel's Lightning Storm team is feeding M.O.D.O.K. info, and A.I.M. keeps hiding the DNA bomb in Calabi-Yau spheres, six extra dimensions in space which only Stephen Hawking-types can understand. you got all that? good. because we need the next issue to find out how all things come together. over me. seriously, Brian Reed opens up something for you nerds out there. someone oughta write a Dummies guide soon so you can hide your porn from your mom. or your wife.
Ms. Marvel #15 Brian Reed, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan
right. if this happened, they wouldn't have any stitch of clothing on. duh.

and he's not dead!

from Civil War: The Initiative




ok, that just took two days. way to go, Marvel!