Posted in: Comics | Tagged: avengers, Comics, dc, marvel, wonder woman, x-men

Last Week's Comics In Eighteen Panels

Published Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:00:17 -0500

Last updated Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:03:46 -0500

Dr Manolis Vamvounis writes from Greece. Where they have just got last week's comics…

In AVENGERS VS X-MEN #2 the fight is ON! The second issue of the mega-event contains a whole lot of punching, shields being thrown, optic beams and stabbing, along with an insane amount of deliciously Claremont-by-way-of-Fraction hyperbolic narrative. The focus jumps across different battle match ups, ranging from iconic to 'ironic', over a constant backdrop of random mindless violence over the packed Utopia beachfront. Cute faux-haikus aside, there is something just too convenient and hasty about the plotting here. These characters are mostly treated as copyrighted names for numbers and randomly thrown against each other to fill pages. There is no choreography, no plan, no personal relationships and certainly no comparative power levels taken into account.

[MINI-RANT] Jubilee versus the Black Widow? Magik versus Daredevil? The power sets of the two teams are not evenly matched for a hand-to-hand close quarters battle like this to make sense. Can we really believe there's not a single one of these characters who would pause to second-guess the insane orders they've been given to fight each other before shooting or blasting at people they know and respect? And all this just because the Avengers want to take Hope into PROTECTIVE CUSTODY – which Wolverine later in the issue interprets as SNIKTING HER IN THE GUT. Seriously though, Jubilee versus the Black Widow?! [/MINI-RANT]

In JUSTICE LEAGUE #8, Green Arrow is struggling to get an audience with the high-and-mighty Justice League, only to find himself on the receiving end of a volley of cheap puns and insults. If we were to create a parallel between the DCNu and american high school movies, the JL are the Heathers of the superhero set while Green Arrow is the entire cast of Glee. Cue Green Lantern energy slushie in the face and theme song. Faced with the challenge of condensing the entire JLA history into a 5 year window, Geoff Johns simply raises his hands and surrenders, revealing here that these 7 heroes are the only incarnation of the Justice League that has ever operated in the DCNu. You'd think since they allowed Cyborg to be a founding member, they'd be more supportive towards other new heroes…

In the SHAZAM back-up storythat little brat, Billy Batson, meets his new foster brothers and sisters, including some very familiar faces indeed. We had previously seen these specific 6 characters last year as the kids who joined together as S.H.A.Z.A.M./Captain Thunder in the Flashpoint mini. Is Geoff Johns planning a similar origin for the hero in DCNu?

In SUPERGIRL #8, Kara finally takes a short breath from the non-stop chase sequences and her Hulk-level manhunt from the U.S. military to… make a new girlfriend! Of course that girlfriend just happens to be the classic super-villainess Silver Banshee with a decidedly cute teenage punk/hipster makeover. It's the first issue that felt substantial and gave us some real sense of this new Supergirl. And hey, George Perez!

In GREEN LANTERN CORPS #8, Guy Gardner grabs a well-earned promotion to top dog of the GL Corps, featuring a flashback montage that is quite revealing concerning the still existing continuity of the Corps: War of the Green Lanterns, the Sinestro Corps War, and shockingly, the Anti-Monitor are referenced, indicating that the original and Infinite Crisis may still be canon.

I wonder what Alan Moore would make of the current CAPTAIN ATOM series?d #8 continues the Captain's sluggish transformation into a poor man's Dr Manhattan, one that DC can then supposedly use in their mainstream continuity without inciting the Bearded One's wrath. It's Alan Moore's brilliant concepts dumbed down for a mainstream audience, and it reads like a brilliant train-wreck of great promise still speeding into nowhere interesting.

In X-MEN #27, Victor Gischler is STILL trying to make Marvel's vampires happen #awkward. Can the X-Office really keep justifying the existence of this title? "First X-Men #1 issue in 20 years", my fanny.

Re: WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #9: No, just NO! I don't care what crappy self-image issues Paige Guthrie is working through, you DO NOT have her fall for the EFFING TOAD! Both her old boyfriends (Chamber and Angel) are on-campus, can't she just pitifully crawl back into THEIR arms to deal with her issues? Icky toad-lickin' aside, Aaron uses this issue as a chance to provide the necessary setup that the main AvX series is sorely missing, justifying Captain America's fears and Wolverine's snikt-happy attitude in the main series, while also grounding the situation on the character level. It's hard to believe the same man is responsible for this week's main crossover issue and this tie-in.

I will NOT EVER shut up about how great a book NEW MUTANTS is. #41 follows the team out partying in the Madripoor Mardi Gras. No tights, no powers, no superheroics, just some old and new friends bonding and having a good time. The uber-geek Doug Ramsey hilariously coaches Sunspot about hitting on girls, Warlock gets a girlfriend (?!) and the Moonstar-Nate Grey thing finally happens. DnA continue to take these beloved characters and flesh them out as adults, allowing them to grow and evolve in exciting new directions, beyond the tight confines of geek nostalgia that had kept them stagnant for so long.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #684 continues the mega-epic Sinister Six vs Global Warming vs Spidey story, with the web-slinger facing the Sandman in the middle of the Sahara desert. Sandman. In the Desert. Feel that nerdgasm? I'm usually on the fence about Dan Slott's over-reliance on Parker's scientific and super-heroic connections, but here they work out brilliantly to provide (yet another) instant classic face-off.

In AVENGERS #25 the legendary Walt Simonson draws Thor again. There is also a generic double page spread depicting the battle in AvX #2 to satisfy the presence of the AvX banner on the cover, before switching to some generic filler flashback story. That's twice this month that Bendis has pulled off the crossover tie-in bait-and-switch, how long before fans finally get smart?

THE SIXTH GUN #21 is the most insanely super-explosive, bullet-riddled, catacomb-shattering, underground action blockbuster battle of the year, and it's completely silent and soundless, with an actual in-story explanation. It's not an original gimmick in comic, but here it's used to great effect, refining this dramatic show-off to its purest and truest narrative elements, letting the action truly speak for itself.

Entering severe SPOILERS territory:

In BIRDS OF PREY #8 Black Canary admits to the murder of her ex husband. Shouldn't she now change her name to "the Black WIDOW"?

UNCANNY X-FORCE #24 features a great deal of severely disturbing developments. None more so than the sight of Deadpool dressed as a red-headed transvestite hooker. AOA Nightcrawler trapping the renegade Dark Iceman into a furnace and melting him to death finishes as a close second. I can't say this new soulless and remorseless take on the character is too much to my liking. Remender keeps going EXTREME with his character beats here, without bothering to properly nourish them organically through the story.

Jason Aaron does not have a fondness for Bruce Banner. After decades of being painted the victim in his dysfunctional symbiosis with the Hulk, in this new series Banner got turned into an obsessive Dr Moreau type kook before having his body get annihilated in a gamma explosion. From the last page of this week's INCREDIBLE HULK #7, I'm guessing that Banner will now live on as a ghost echo inside the Hulk's body, in yet another ironic reversal of the original character dynamics. PAD would be proud.

In THUNDERBOLTS #173, time travel comic book physics are getting ready for a recalibration. Faced with his younger self's grievances for the way he has/will conduct himself in the future, and still trapped in his own past with the rest of the team, the Fixer freaks out and murders himself.

In WONDER WOMAN #8, Diana's fabled bracelets are unable to fend off the bullets of LOVE fired from Eros' golden pistols, held by the manboy Hades. Are you ready for the Wonder Wedding FROM HELL? Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's rather British version of Hell, populated with living dead statues, is a nightmarish sight right out of some inspired Moffat era Doctor Who episode. This is not only the best book of the new DC 52, but the most exciting and imaginative interpretation of Wonder Woman and her world..

WONDER WOMAN #8 and NEW MUTANTS #41 tie up for best book of the week, while X-MEN #27 is the uncontested winner for "waste of perfectly good trees".

What lessons do we take home with us from comics this week? Killing your past self, your human alter ego or your ex husband? Big boo boo. Vampires in the Marvel Universe? Still lame. Trying to sneakily ape Alan Moore's legacy? Not wise. Deadpool as a deranged tranny hooker? Priceless. George Perez? Always awesome.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!