Posted in: Comics | Tagged: amazing spider-man, Comics, dark horse, dc, Deadpool Kills, glamourpuss, image, invincible, iron man, marvel, Rachel Rising, secret avengers, spike, supercrooks, ultimates, uncanny x-men

Fifteen Thoughts About Fourteen Comics – Ultimates, Uncanny X-Men, Supercrooks, Deadpool Kills, Glamourpuss, Secret Avengers, Spike, Rachel Rising, Hero Worship, Amazing Spider-Man, Dan The Unharmable, Wolverine Annual, Invincible and Iron Man

Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates finally has done what the series originally promised to do back in the day, but then repeatedly failed to do after that first year, offer new and different superhero stories to tell in a world where anything can happen. And here was have a United States falling apart and the Ultimates trying to stitch what is left together, knowing that they can't do the whole job but maybe just enough to prevent nuclear war. It's about winning the battles rather than the war. And the end of #14… well I think we can see where the media event of Ultimates #15 may be coming from. More on that later. But this is a much better comic than it has been in the recent past…

Uncanny X-Men is telling it's own AVX capsule story, but in a far more entertaining way than the main title. Here we have a Mister Sinister with his own Phoenix machine that's far more successful than Tony Stark's ever was, through dint of it being organic rather then technology-based. And taking the opportunity to engage in badinage with his foes, Of course we know the frog has to go back in its box, and the comic is set between earlier issues of AVX, but I don't find myself minding one bit. Especially when you have entertaining things to do with a pack of Sabretooths…

Supercrooks finally does what it probably should have done from the beginning. Gives us a super powered heist in the spirit of the great heist capers, with bluffs, double bluffs and triple bluffs… and some excellent use of superheroics to deal with the tropes of this genre. I mean getting past an array of lasers usually means someone has to jump around them, use mirrors to deflect them, and what not. But if you have someone with healing abilities… best, and last, issue of the series.

If you thought previous issues of Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe were meta, well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Deadpool finds a novel way of dealing with all sorts of Marvel types, and then goes after the granddaddy of the Kills The Marvel Universe comics, The Punisher, before going bigger. Much bigger. And then bigger still, not so much breaking the fourth wall as reducing it to its composite atoms…

Dave Sim bows out of Glamourpuss with its final issue #26, some stunning riffs on popular cosplay and the pulse pounding retelling of Alex Raymond's car crash, both of which single Dave Sim as one of the most expressive, intelligent and innovative comic book storytellers around, both in comedy and high drama. Comic of the week, by a long long way.

Whereas you probably couldn't say that about Secret Avengers #30, but it does at least give Taskmaster the line of the week.

Which is more than Spike #1 gets. Seriously, I've always found the character's English accent to grate a little on the TV show, and now I find it grates in the comic as well. Which is in keeping, I guess, but is it me or does this sound really forced, unnatural and out of sorts? Okay, okay, it might just be me then.

Rachel Rising #10 has kept the Star Of David on the witch on the cover, instead of a pentagram, and integrated it into the story instead. A horror comic that eschews the gore, this is all about the power of words to disturb, combined with incongruous images, even when those words are written in a matter of fact way. Especially when.   You probably should be reading this comic. If not, I want notes as to why…

Dan The Unharmable. Let's test that shall we?

It's the fiftieth anniversary of Spider-Man, and in the new Amazing Spider-Man we get Alpha, a new character, born in the very same style as Spider-Man was but with a very different attitude. No guilt, no cares, no worries and an alpha-male attitude as well. This is the Spider-Man that may have been without Uncle Ben, and especially, without Uncle Ben's death. Which means, if they are going to ground the fellow, there is tragedy in his life coming…

I know that Clan Destine are a little more lighty-brighty than grim'n'gritty, but the two styles don't mix well when you have Wolverine chopping, slicing and dicing his way through one of their stories, especially when it's in the Wolverine Annual. Certainly the colouring, consistent across scenes doesn't exactly help, giving the grimmest scenes a pop art feel that distracts from the tone that seems to be present in the ink lines and it constantly threw me out of the story.

Hero Worship #2 shows us exactly how a superhero would operate. With a back up team operating intelligence, and managing media, to ensure the hero ends up looking good on prime time. Why wouldn't a well funded hero like Batman have this kind of system going?

Invincible #94. Awwwww…

As Iron Man tried to turn the tables of The Mandarin by getting all scheming and planning, the Swarm continues. And despite all the clear foreshadowing of the dangers of such a technological advancement, I want one. What does that say about me? That I'd happily buy a Dalek if it was advertised as a wireless vacuum cleaner? (Dyson, get on this.) Oh and as for yesterday's story…

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics in London.

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