crushing blow

drive-by readings

The Thanos Imperative #4 (Marvel) Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning Miguel Sepulveda Jay David Ramos/Wil Quintana Joe Caramagna Aleksi Briclot (cover)

what we learned: the not-so-secret Six (Nova, Quasar, Gladiator, Silver Surfer, Ronan and Beta Ray Bill),attack the Cancerverse HQ and they get their licks in. however, Lord Mar-Vell (the fake) is more than a match for any of them. and in one of the quickest turnarounds in the Marvel U, Thanos reintegrates himself (awwwwww - stop whining! this is the Universe of Life!), much to Star-Lord's relief, but returns the favor to Drax.
oh shit moment: Lord Mar-Vell leaves a bomb. sneaky punk. oh yeah, and a version of the Vision gets ripped in half again. the Android Anti-Defamation League is picketing the Marvel offices.
what's next: what? a universe without a smart cranky Destroyer? perish the thought! pun intended!


cosmic deadpan trash talk. now there's a Marvel Studios movie.

nova forced

drive-by readings

Secret Avengers #4 (Marvel) "Secret Histories, Part 4 of 4" Ed Brubaker Mike Deodato Jr. Rain Beredo Dave Lanphear Marko Djurdjevic (cover)

what we learned: Ant-Man saves the day and a Nova-ed Steve Rogers does the rest, breaking the Serpent's Crown hold on Richard Rider, who basically didn't do anything of note except get taken over (dumbass). ditto Natasha and Moon Knight (cosmic adventures are not his speed).
oh shit moment: is there anything Rogers can't do? ah, i know. next time he meets Thanos, he should punch him out cold, not die like he did before.
what's next: we learn more things about Li'l Nicky.


yep, Sharon also has evidence that you did all this shit too.

do androids dream of eternal sleep

drive-by readings

The Thanos Imperative #3 (Marvel) Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning Miguel Sepulveda Jay David Ramos Joe Caramagna Aleksi Briclot (cover)

what we learned: with a nice nod to that "Vision taking over the world" storyline back when, several things happen here including the revelation that the dying Mar-Vell may have caused this whole thing, and that the Cancerverse may have a weakness that Nova has deemed it necessary to exploit. oh, and he finally has balls.
oh shit moment: never leave a Destroyer to his own devices. and beside a Mad Titan.
what's next: wanna watch a necropsy? do you have an avatar of death available?


eeeennnd ... scene. that's a wrap for Expendables 2!

things i liked this week

in no particular order:

Dark Avengers #15 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Mike Deodato/Rain Beredo/Cory Petit
i wonder why The Sentry's expressing his anger at losing his wife in the form of The Void? why would he even have feelings for her in the first place? with both stellar and exasperating Deodato art, this series encapsulates the beauty of this series, as the world crumbles around the bad guys we've grown to like. denouement is near.


Hercules - Fall of An Avenger one shot (Marvel)
Fred Van Lente/Greg Pak/Ariel Olivetti/Simon Bowland
that was fun, especially a glimpse at the dead Herc's secret liaisons. and not just with the female species! i wish there were a few more guests, like Dane Whitman, Jan (the real Wasp, but dead), and She-Hulk (hey, where is she? Banner's here but she isn't? uh oh). oh, and the Wrecking Crew, Erik Josten, and Mr. Hyde, just for kicks.

Guardians of the Galaxy #24 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Wes Craig/Serge LaPointe/Nathan Fairbairn/Joe Caramagna (cover: Alex Garner)
let me just say this: not only the missing Guardians are coming back. and on that thought, hello, Cosmo!


Siege #3 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Olivier Coipel/Mark Morales/Laura Martin/Chris Eliopoulos
hey, its not that bad. for all the crap Bendis got for his dialogue (i actually like his style), this one's got a lot of punching and kicking and shooting and yelling. though i'm still searching for that one big-ass fight scene where everything is thoroughly scripted well and the action flows fuidly and flawlessly (an idea for a regular post i'm toying with), i guess this will have to do. one thing for sure, there won't be a shortage of construction jobs in Broxton, OK.

Nova #35 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Mahmud Asrar/Scott Hanna/Bruno Hang/Cory Petit (cover: Brandon Peterson)
does this mean there's no second go-round for Nova and previously-the-most-dangerous-woman-in-the-galaxy? and who still says "Blue Blazes"?


Nation X #4 (Marvel)
"Dooptopia" by Peter Milligan/Michael Allred/Laura Allred
the most light-hearted of the stories in this issue is arguably its best. Doop is appointed Head of Criminal Investigations in Utopia. are you kidding me? shouldn't they pick Lucas Bisho- oh. never mind. its Doop, Milligan and Allred. what more do you want?


Green Lantern Corps #46 (DC)
Peter Tomasi/Patrick Gleason/Rebecca Buchman/Keith Champagne/Tom Nguyen/Randy Mayor/Gabe Eltaeb/Steve Wands
sometimes writer Peter Tomasi's brain really scares us.


Devil #2 (Dark Horse)
Torajiro Kishi/Madhouse Studios
Devil Investigation Section officers Takimoto and Migiwa (described hilariously as "straight-laced, procedural and tight-assed" - oh, you Japs) crap their pants when they meet a super advanced Devil temptress named Mariko. when humanity is no longer at the top of the food chain, who you gonna call?


X-Factor Forever #1 (Marvel)
Louise Simonson/Dan Panosian/Jim Charalampidis/Dave Sharpe
at this rate, we'll have New Mutants Forever, X-Force Forever, New X-Men Forever and X-Men Unlimited Forever hitting the shelves by the end of 2010. anyway, Weezie's 5-issue take on the original X-Factor past #64 seems a more reasonable diversion rather than giving Chris Claremont the keys to a car driving off to nowhere, cliffs included. you have villains coming out of the woodwork, and Apocalypse is at the forefront. Cable's still a baby. should be fun.


Batman #697 (DC)
Tony Daniel/Sandu Florea/Ian Hannin/Jared Fletcher
and its only because the identity of Black Mask is revealed - and holy crap, it wasn't Alfred!! and the jerk actually wears his glasses inside the mask. moron.


Incredible Hulk #608 (Marvel)
Greg Pak/Paul Pelletier/Danny Miki/Crimelab Studios/Frank D'Armata/Veronica Gandini/Simon Bowland (cover: John Romita Jr./Klaus Janson/Dean White)
am still a little slow on the uptake on the whole thing here, just like Skaar is, so the Leader is laughing at me. nevertheless, i like the killer ending (its already the end of Fall of the Hulks, and am still behind the eight ball). eagerly awaiting what's next.


X-Men: Legacy #234 (Marvel)
Mike Carey/Yanick Paquette/Michel Lacombe/Nathan Fairbairn/Cory Petit (cover: Clay Mann/Danny Miki/Emily Warren)
a long-overdue story about Rogue, after regaining her sanity and control of her powers (Rogue is a Carey favorite), and her new life as a life coach around Utopia. its quite satisfying to leave that drama of "ah can't touch anyone, ah'll absorb 'em with mah power" in the dust, and just have sane relationships where she can get close to Remy AND Magneto in the same day. hey, i said "close". git yer dirty minds outta de' gutter.


Amazing Spider-Man #625 (Marvel)
Joe Kelly/Max Fiumara/Fabio D'Auria/Joe Caramagna (cover: Marko Djurdjevic)
the foreshadowing has come to pass. the Old Rhino, with nothing left to live for (i'll let you make your guesses) comes to terms with his loss and takes on the New Rhino. and you're left a lot more depressed along with Peter. yes, this is how you wanted your hero. a sad sack loser.

i can go die happy now

because Richard Rider is back to being the one true Nova!


and with a sexier Worldmind, to boot. what's not to like?

at the least this:


or it could be worse: like that jewelry commercial with jealous female GPS (can't remember what the hell the brand was).

Mogo dissed!

for that remark, Mogo and the Green Lantern Corps made a deal with the Worldmind/Nova Corps to strip Richard Rider of the Nova Force (that should actually be my cliffhanger of the week!).

apparently, there's this little-known ruling in the Book of Oa that states, "thou shall not disrespect thy equivalent character(s) in other comics, and vice versa."

i smell crossover battle!

pulp friction

the Nova Corps has been restarted (take that, Green Lanterns, or whatever colors you want to be). that should normally be a good thing, except that it was done without the say of our man Richard. everything has been masterminded by the Mind called World.

look, it even deputized Richard's nerdy kid brother, Robbie.



wooohoooo - there's no fireworks like family fireworks. happy new year!

back on the saddle

just when i thought he'd be doing this space cop solo routine for a while ...

the Green Lanterns may have more character but that is a product of an advantage in years of quality writing. Nova has been truly fleshed out only in the last couple of years with Annihilation, and allowing him to grow without the Nova Corps.

thumbs up to DnA for great, great work.

-----
Nova #18

checkmates

with Secret Invasion winding down, we look forward to next summer's crossover. this seems to be more along the lines of Annihilation, so am not sure what happens to the more-Earthbound heroes (a.k.a. Spidey).

as this poster suggests, it seems to boil down to a showdown between a revitalized Black Bolt and the Sh'iar emperor (and third Summers brother) Vulcan. this means the Inhumans rescue Black Bolt from the Skrulls, although will he still be their king, as his batshit crazy bro Maximus sits on the throne?

among other players, we have the Starjammers leading the resistance against Vulcan. The 'Jammers current leader is Havok, who took his dad's place after being killed by Vulcan/Gabriel. Alex is doubly pissed because he's no longer the youngest child, who always gets all the privileges.

there's also my favorite space cop Nova (sorry, Green Lanterns - his job is much harder because he's all alone policing the universes), who'll likely oppose Vulcan. i hope the Guardians of the Galaxy follow suit.

cliffhanger of the week #19

#7 - Bat Girls are Easy

when Catwoman steals a notebook from a young Barbara Gordon, will she do what it takes and follow the master thief - even inside a all-nude club? we're all for "yes".

Gotham Confidential #17 (DC)
Fabian Nicieza/Kevin Maguire/I.L.L./Sal Cipriano

#6 - Come Hungry Leave Happy

with Galactus about to partake in another planetary buffet, Nova's do-gooder style leaves him no chance to escape Orbucen before he becomes an appetizer.

Nova #14 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Wellinton Alves/Scott Hanna/Guru eFx/Cory Petit/cover: Alex Maleev

#5 - Clark Can't

as if beating a tyrant sun wasn't enough, here comes a 24-hour superpowered Lex Luthor. yep, call the funeral parlor.

All Star Superman #11 (DC)
Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely/Jamie Grant/Travis Lanham

#4 - The Human Stane

despite the stumbling on the Filipino aspects of this issue, it still makes the cliffhanger list, because it has a requisite explosion. in a tall building in Taipei. with Tony it it.

Invincible Iron Man #2 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca/Frank D'Armata/Chris Eliopoulos

#3 - The Gog Is Crazy

if someone claiming to be Gog tells you he's here to fix the world, maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt. after all, he just un-damaged Damage's face. no mean feat.

Justice Society of America #16 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Dale Eaglesham/Prentiss Rollins/Alex Sinclair/Rob Leigh/cover: Alex Ross

#2 - You Hit Like A Girl!

Dave's newfound notoriety is put to the test when a little girl kicks ass better than he does. blow our minds, Mark Millar, why don't you?

Kick Ass #2 (Icon/Marvel)
Mark Millar/John Romita Jr./Tom Palmer/Dean White/Chris Eliopoulos

#1 - Blow Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow

Tony is a Skrull! Tony is a Skrull! Tony is a Skrull! Tony is a Skrullllllllllllllllllll!!!!

Secret Invasion #3 (Marvel)
Brian Michael Bendis/Leinil Francis Yu/Mark Morales/Laura Martin/Chris Eliopoulos

cliffhanger of the week #15

#6 - Slowburn

three issues in and we still haven't resolved anything except Cable and Bishop are like cockroaches - they're both pretty hard to kill. it's only in this list because of a mysterious figure bursting in on a helpless stranded Cable. it sure looks like Cyclops but he has two eyes. i swear to God, Lone Wolf and Cub wasn't this grating.

Cable #3 (Marvel)
Duane Swierczynski/Ariel Olivetti/Joe Caramagna

#5 - Blatant Invasion

okay, this would have worked better with Alex Ross doing the artwork. seriously. i'll forgive the gimmick of bringing back Captain America to torture Tony Stark further. but if you were going to do such a 12 issue storyline, you better make it worth our while. the Ross/Krueger team has always been successful, but i don't know if the Stephen Sadowski art is going to be worthy of the story. and yes, torturing Tony is always interesting.

Avengers/Invaders #1 (Marvel/Dynamite)
Alex Ross/Jim Krueger/Steve Sadowski/inLight Studios/Todd Klein

#4 - Child's Play

Cyclops starts training the young X-Men how to take down their former teachers. except we still don't know why Cannonball, Sunspot, Magma and Dani have formed a "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" (snicker). this better not be a dream. or a scam to "let them kids grow up". wait, i think that's what this is.

Young X-Men #2 (Marvel)
Marc Guggenheim/Yanick Paquette/Ray Snyder/Rob Schwager/Dave Sharpe/cover: Terry/Rachel Dodson

#3 - Generation Next

taking advantage of the cash register-busting movie, Marvel rolls out another Iron Man title (i wonder how long this'll last), and puts hot writer Matt Fraction in the driver's seat. in a tangential arc off the movie itself, Obadiah's son Ezekiel is gunning for Tony, with better tools and simpler goals: worldwide chaos and revenge. Tony might want to have a drink before this is all over.

Invincible Iron Man #1 (Marvel)
Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca/Frank D'Armata/Stephane Peru/Chris Eliopoulos

#2 - In the Army Now

Nick Fury is back, baby! and we get more of the backstory of what he's been doing all this time. with Secret War's Daisy Johnson as his proxy, he recruits a bunch of seeming misfits to combat the Skrull infestation. is this the new Skrull Kill Krew? and i've been transported back to my DD days as Alex Maleev (Alex Maleev!) weaves another gorgeous tapestry.

Mighty Avengers #13 (Marvel)
Brian Bendis/Alex Maleev/Matt Hollingsworth/Dave Lanphear/cover: Marko Djurdjevic

#1 - Taking Names

back to being a space cop, Nova is dispatched to help evacuate a planet currently being the $5 buffet special for Galactus. he has also has to contend with an evil psychotic entity preying on the panicking citizens. to top it off, Nova wants to get Galactus' attention, but the Silver Surfer is playing the uncooperative bouncer. oboy.

Nova #13 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Wellinton Alves/Scott Hanna/Guru eFX/Cory Petit/cover: Alex Maleev

cliffhanger of the week #12

damn, that was a busy week!

#8 - Glow in the Dark

this issue neatly fixes the problems of 1) how to cure the Phalanx virus (thereby returning Gamora and Drax to normal) and 2) how to re-power Nova. that being done, its time for some Phalanx ass-kicking. which happens over in Annihilation: Conquest. see you in 30.

Nova #12 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Paul Pelletier/Rick Magyar/Guru eFX/Cory Petit

#7 - And They are Us

Frank Castle has met the enemy, and they're US soldiers sent to put him down. a sad commentary on patriotism, politics and military culture. will this be the moment when the Punisher finally kills one of his own?

The Punisher #56 (Marvel)
Garth Ennis/Goran Parlov/Lee Loughridge/Cory Petit

#6 - Popping Caps

we all know a force for good can also take a turn down the wrong path, and in the scientific world, this happens quite a lot. by "lot", we mean its taken down all the Marvel heroes employed by S.H.I.E.L.D., and most of the stars of this book. who else is left? why, the Big Brain himself, Mr. Faaaaaaaaaaaaan-tastic!

Fantastic Four #556 (Marvel)
Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch/Andrew Currie/Paul Mounts/Rus Wooton

#5 - Putting the Bitch Down

so, as it turns out, Wolverine and Mystique have been an item/done the deed waaaaaaay back in the '20s (did you ever make reference to that, Chris Claremont?). but this woman is one leopard that keeps changing her spots but still remains rotten the core. well, Logan, its really time to put up or shut up.

Wolverine #64 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron/Ron Garney/Jason Keith/Cory Petit

#4 - Walk on the Darkseid

finally, Darkseid shows his hand (and his fists) and manages to get dragged down to the crude level of hand to hand combat with Superman. of course he has to cheat. too bad, because this time, its Jimmy Olsen's turn to save his idol.

Countdown #3 (DC)
Paul Dini/Sean McKeever/Freddie Williams II/Pete Pantazis/Ken Lopez

#3 - Animal Magic

Zeb Wells threw us a curve (which we really should have recognized), and it turns out these natives weren't the bad guys after all. yes, yes, sometimes brainiacs go crazy. and bad. parents, pay a little more attention to your kids, will ya?

The Amazing Spiderman #556 (Marvel)
Zeb Wells/Chris Bachalo/Tim Townsend/Antonio Fabela/Cory Petit

#2 - Dear Gog

the JSA roster seems to expand by 2 every single month. and with that amount of firepower, you'd think they could easily take down this Gog jerk. turns out they need more help from the future.

Justice Society of America #14 (DC)
Geoff Johns/Dale Eaglesham/Prentis Rollins/Alex Sinclair/Rob Leigh

#1 - Hello, Its Me

the new Captain America takes down Crossbones, Sin and the new Serpent Squad. but that's not the surprise. the surprise is Steve Rogers might yet be alive. yes, you read that right.

Captain America #36 (Marvel)
Ed Brubaker/Butch Guice/Mike Perkins/Frank D'Armata/Joe Caramagna

cliffhanger of the week #8

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


#7 - Diana The Khund

what? our Wonder Woman could be an alien? did that lump of goo contain some Khund DNA? why is she even believing this crap? the Khunds, a galactic conquering empire based on legends of Attila (Attila the Khund) or Gengis (Gengis Khund) recruits Diana - in the middle of her courting Tom Tresser a.k.a. Nemesis (what? you mean she's over Clark and Bruce?) - to help them repel another alien race. turns out these Khunds are pussies. and liars.

Wonder Woman #18 (DC)
Gail Simone/Bernard Chang/I.L.L./Rob Leigh

#6 - E.T. Ain't Phoning Home

speaking of aliens, how surprised were you like Ollie and Dinah to find that the suspects in Connor's kidnapping were of the unearthly kind? what a real close encounter, the kind where i'd like an autoloading crossbow in my hands! by the way, what happened to Dinah's plans to semi-retire to rear a kid and get married? damn aliens and villains screwing up family plans!

Green Arrow and Black Canary #5 (DC)
Judd Winick/Cliff Chiang/David Baron/Travis Lanham

#5 - We Have Explosive

take a big explosion, some may-jah characters and put them all in on the last page of any comic. presto! instant cliffhanger! after forcing Dr. Doom to bring them back to their proper timeline, Iron Man and the loopy Sentinel find themselves without Doom, and with a frantic Ms Marvel warning them to get away from the - yep, an explosion. oh well. see ya next month.

Mighty Avengers #10 (Marvel)
Brian Bendis/Mark Bagley/Danny Miki/Allen Martinez/Justin Ponsor/Dave Lanphear

#4 - Battlefield Hearth

so far the Millar/Hitch/Neary combo has been on schedule (yeah, wait till they get six, eight issues in), and serving up a healthy dose of sci-fi. Reed's ex and brainiac peer, Alyssa Castle, has developed a replica Earth where we can all go continue our destructive civilized way of life after this one has passed on. its supposed to be a better version, a true Utopia where all past mistakes have been taken into account, and we can start new generations with better lives. of course, that's when it all starts going wrong. speaking of wrong, what if you were the goody rock star and Miley Cyrus was the bad girl groupie? Johnny Storm has got a story for ya!

Fantastic Four #555 (Marvel)
Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch/Paul Neary/Paul Mounts/Rus Wooton

#3 - The Name of the Game

is there still an X-Factor? Rahne left to join X-Force, Rictor is a human, Laila's stuck in the future, Theresa is pregnant, Monet thinks Jamie is a sleazebag (only because he doesn't know he's the daddy), and Guido is seeing things. well, relatively. its the perfect time for an old villain to strike. i'll give you a couple of hints: the word denotes where your parents used to find you spending your lunch money when you were a kid, and it starts with the first letter of the alphabet. "Armory"? wrong!

X-Factor #29 (Marvel)
Peter David/Valentine De Landro/Andrew Hennessy/Jerony Cox/Cory Petit

#2 - Heeeeeeere's Warlock!

let's give a warm welcome to the return of self-friend Warlock to the Marvel Universe! and appearing in a sci-fi-slanted comic makes much more sense, despite spending all those years with the junior X-Men. true to the Technarch way of life, father raises son, son defeats father. now that Warlock is a pappy himself and has no time for any other distractions, looks like Nova's last hope of beating the Phalanx virus just went down the drain.

Nova #11 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Paul Pelletier/Rick Magyar/Guru eFX/Cory Petit

#1 - And Heeeeeeere's Warlock!

Messrs Abnett and Lanning land two cliffhangers this month, and both have Warlocks in them. sadly, in this case, he won't be a Warlock any longer, because everyone's favorite cosmic pin up boy has just been co-opted by Ultron. that's it, cash out your stocks, buy a spaceship and get the hell out of this galaxy. or just kill yourself now. the Earth is doomed.

Annihilation: Conquest #5 (Marvel)
Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Tom Raney/Scott Hanna/Frank D'Armata/Joe Caramagna