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Haven't been checking the comics threads in awhile (to my detriment I am sure), but I came in to say Exiles has been really fun. (DQ did you like the recent issue with Peggy Carter Captain America? Why, yes, I did find that one quite entertaining for some reason, yes.)
I sort of liked Tales of Suspense which ended last month. I kind of wish they'd keep the title going with different spy-superhero stories, even if not specifically Bucky/Hawkeye/Black Widow. Although Bucky and Hawkeye were a surprisingly fun odd-couple duo. Them mucking around with more Red Room history and Nat's history is getting frustrating though--stories about her need sometimes to be about her future, not her past (but I'm glad she's back). The Hawkeye monthly that ended was good, but it also felt like a good time for it to end.
Picked up Domino because Gail Simone is writing it. Not familiar at all with the character, but seems quite interesting. It's a mutant title so I expect it will die in some horrible crossover death, but I'll enjoy it until then.
Still reading Ms. Marvel, which is good but the last storyline took two issues too long to resolve.
DQ,
Exiles is good but I'm still waiting to see how they resolve the whole Time Eater thing.
Tales was good, but honestly I'd prefer to have Black Widow and Bucky over Bucky and Hawkeye.
Domino is good and I hope Gail can run with it until the bitter end.
Ms Marvel's latest issue is pretty decent.
Re Tales, I wasn't really thinking of an either/or. Bucky and Nat are a good, serious team with a good history behind them. Bucky and Clint was a very different thing, a fun odd-couple partnership united indeed only in their regard for Nat but who otherwise had no history. It's as fun to see the well-oiled relationship as it is the... uh... squeaky new hinge? For very different reasons. The unpredictability of the latter, I will note, helped make the title fun to read. (But I also really liked Bucky and Nat working together in her much too-short-lived solo title by Mark Waid, which was phenomenal.)
DQ,
Yeah that was my favorite solo title, her and Bucky together.
Well they are trying to do different things. Especially with some that had hit their hundreds mark. Spidey, Cap, Iron Man.
So Amazing Spider-man hit 800 this week...any one have any thoughts on this massive issue?
So not only did Infinity Countdown revert Galactus to his old World eating self, Silver Surfer is his Herald. AGAIN! Oh and apparently Requiem is doing a thing.
Also in X-men Red, Jean Grey proves she's powerful but clearly in X-men Red annual, it will be daughter versus mother. Thanks a lot Tom Taylor!
Oh btw someone should tell Thor Odinson they have at least one spare Mjolnir...if Alison decides he's worthy. Maybe the dwarves can forge something with it...I dunno.
Well I'm sure once June is over, you'll be fine. :)
The Hunt for Wolverine is kind of weird but it's at least better than hunting for plots in DC some times.
As for the #1s, I'd probably stick with the big three and perhaps the new Fantastic Four coming out.
No idea about anything X-men related at this point.
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Ok so let‘s see:
Immortal Hulk #1 seems to be a great start for a new series. Very dark, very brutal, nothing I would expect from Marvel nowadays. I‘ m not following all things Hulk continuously, but I certainly will follow that series, as Al Ewing‘ s approach to the big Green is very intriguing. Seems like his answer to the eternal question „Is he Man or Monster or is he both“ will be a resounding „Yes“.
Dazzler – X-Song #1 is a nice one-shot preceding the return of the one-woman disco queen lightshow to the X-Men. I hadn‘ t read anything by Magdalene Visaggio before that comic, but I really liked how she turned Alison into a no-nonsense character that isn‘ t afraid to beat the crap out of her own guys, when they turn into the same racist m*ers that they had to fear since the X-Men came into existence. I loved Alison in the recent A-Force series, and I‘ ll be happy to meet her again in the upcoming Astonishing X-Men comics. Also good to see that Marvel hasn‘ t totally given up on being inclusive and I hope that Mag will be given more opportunities to write Marvel stories down the line.
Dr. Strange #1 – Last time I saw Stephen Strange in his own series he had just been put through the wringer by the Empirikul. No idea what happened afterwards, but I was still thinking „Again?“ when the new series starts with the doctor losing his magical abilities. Still was fun to see him seek help from his arrogant jerk twin Tony Stark, who has nothing better to do than to shoot him into space to seek for a means to fuel up on magical energy. We‘ ll see how that turns out, but with Waid and Saiz creating that journey, I‘ m sure I‘ ll have a lot of fun with it.
Also read the two Ant-Man comics. I‘ m not sure what the purpose of the Living Legends issue was, but the story itself was engaging enough, even when you‘ d better not think too much about how hilariously laughable the opponents from the early times were. Still, the dynamic between Jan and Scott was interesting and keeps me wondering if there might develop a relationship between those two in the future (would be a perfect setup for Hank Pym to return and again ruin everything ^^).
Ant-Man and the Wasp #1 was even better, sending Scott Lang and Nadja Pym into the Microverse. Again, the most interesting thing between those two is the dynamics between two very different characters, one being a young genius who sometimes need to be remembered that a pure scientific approach is inherently immoral and might lead to a very inhuman behavior, the other a reformed criminal who‘ s constantly in over his head but at least has his heart at the right place. Another series written by Mark Waid, and i think I enjoyed this one even a bit more than the first issue of Doctor Strange.
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I got both of the Ant-Man and the Wasp issues, and liked them both. I'm not a huge fan of Nadia, nor the screw-up interpretation of Scott used by more recent writers, but the stories themselves were pretty fun, and I'm up for more.
I'd especially like to see more of Janet, but I've no idea where she's going to land in the future.
Set,
No idea but I keep hoping she'll show up again in Avengers. Some how.
The Immortal Hulk, I think, rings great when you see the Hulk...not as a force but akin to some kind of monster.
The Dazzler One shot I loved, but I kept wondering "Why doesn't she try to give her alternate self's hammer to Thor?!!"
Doctor Strange is in a weird place. First he loses magic, then slowly rebuilds it...until Loki does a HUGE con job and increases the power of magic to...something normal. Now he's out of juice. AGAIN. It's just too weird. But eh. At least by the solicits, he'll get a hold of the Time Gem.
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Doctor Strange is in a weird place. First he loses magic, then slowly rebuilds it...until Loki does a HUGE con job and increases the power of magic to...something normal. Now he's out of juice. AGAIN. It's just too weird. But eh. At least by the solicits, he'll get a hold of the Time Gem.
I am not thrilled with what they've been doing to Dr. Strange. It's been the case for decades, and in-continuity, for millennia, that Earth needs an active Sorcerer Supreme to protect against incursions from entities like Dormammu, D'Spayre, Nightmare, Mephisto, Shuma-Gorath, etc. as well as more home-grown threats like Chthon and Set.
There are at least a half-dozen mystical characters who are not the Sorcerer Supreme with which they could tell this 'search for magic' or 'the magic goes away' storyline, and not throw all that aside, such as Hellstrom or Ilyanna or Jericho Drumm or Wanda Maximoff or Wiccan/Billy Kaplan or Nico Minoru or whomever.
I feel like, every time they tell a story about Strange being powerless, they are missing the whole point of Strange being the man on the line defending the Earth against being overrun by these other-dimensional supernatural threats. Tell a story about Silver Surfer losing the Power Cosmic, and it's not an existential threat to the planet. Tell a story about Thor losing his power, and, again, not really a big deal, it's not like there aren't dozens of other Asgardians and dozens of other entire pantheons of more-or-less equivalent 'gods' to pick up the slack.
I kind of feel the same way about lots of characters who have big behind-the-scenes responsibilities, such as King of Atlantis, or CEO of Stark Enterprises, which seem to conveniently require absolutely no actual effort on their part, and also seem to involve Atlantis/Stark Enterprises catching on fire, toppling over and sinking into the swamp about once a year, as writers have zero interest in actually dealing with those responsibilities, while writing those characters.
Strange *is* the Sorcerer Supreme. Stories about Strange should deal with him using supernatural forces to deal with supernatural threats (and the usual sort of character stuff that occurs as well, such as his various romantic misadventures). I don't buy Iron Man comics to read about the character stuck without technology and having to re-invent it. I don't buy X-Men comics to read about a bunch of ex-mutants doing non-mutant-y things. And I don't understand why it's such a trend that Dr. Strange stories have to be about magic going away or failing him.
That sort of thing is fine for a one-shot, but not a years-long arc, IMO, like those golden age adventures where Superman would visit the bottle city of Kandor (in which he had no powers) and had adventures as a powerless costumed crimefighter.
So not only did Infinity Countdown revert Galactus to his old World eating self, Silver Surfer is his Herald. AGAIN! Oh and apparently Requiem is doing a thing.
Also in X-men Red, Jean Grey proves she's powerful but clearly in X-men Red annual, it will be daughter versus mother. Thanks a lot Tom Taylor!
Oh btw someone should tell Thor Odinson they have at least one spare Mjolnir...if Alison decides he's worthy. Maybe the dwarves can forge something with it...I dunno.
Regarding Galactus reverting back the only surprise is that it took so long after Ultimates ended and the higher-ups pushing the reset button again and again.
I have a lot more faith in Taylor to do something worthwile with Rachel in one issue than Guggenheim did in his nearly 30. Not that would be so difficult to do^^
I do not think Aaron will use that hammer. If he even knows it exists.
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I feel like, every time they tell a story about Strange being powerless, they are missing the whole point of Strange being the man on the line defending the Earth against being overrun by these other-dimensional supernatural threats.
I am not disagreeing with you in general, but Mark Waid seems at least to be aware of that fact. When Strange wants to walk out on Stark's suggestion to go to space, it's Tony remembering him that when you are the one-man-defense against the things behind the veil, you'd better take every chance to get your powers back.
I'm not sure if that's it, but from several comments I've seen over the years they seem to really like to take their heroes' powers away to examine the core of their characters without them. Wolverine losing his heal factor, Peter Parker losing his body to Doc Ock, Captain America losing his morality, Thor losing his hammer. In the case of Stephen Strange, add the fact that he is way too powerful with all the magic at his hands, and over the years it might get harder to write interesting storys about that.
But maybe they are also simply way too much into space things. If you think about it, it has been another very repetitive pattern to send random heroes into space
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Ok so let‘s see:
...Dr. Strange #1 – Last time I saw Stephen Strange in his own series he had just been put through the wringer by the Empirikul. No idea what happened afterwards, but I was still thinking „Again?“ when the new series starts with the doctor losing his magical abilities. the dynamic between Jan and Scott was interesting and keeps me...
In between he lost his magic powers again (that time, to Loki). He regained some of them in the previous few issues: he got a ghost dog companion, a staff made from the World Tree, and regained the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. So, yes, it's time to kill off magic again.
It's interesting that he considered asking to see if other magickal characters had lost their powers as well, and decided against it because he might be a vector of an anti-magic disease. (1) You could check in with Victor Von Doom, Stephen. You'd get an answer, and if Victor caught the disease, that'd be okay. (2) Phone call. Or email.
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I would probably read X-Men Red just for the fact that it has Honey Badger in it, but as my first contact with the X-universe was the Dark Phoenix Saga, I was also immensely curious what Tom Taylor has in store for with Jean Grey reborn.
I have to say that I'm not totally sold on the story so far (maybe I'm just a cynic but the longer I live the more I come to think that Magneto was totally right^^), but I love the cast so far. Nightcrawler and Gambit are longtime favs of mine, Laura and Gabby are the best Wolverines that ever existed, and the new ones (Trinary and Gentle) are hopefully characters that will stick for a while because I already like them both.
Kinda like though, that 5 issues into that series, the X-Men still have no idea whom they are up against. Especially as Jean has some history with their antagonist, so I hope this will play out over some issues. But then I trust Tom Taylor to pull this stunt the right way, because All-New Wolverine was one of the better series in the recent past.
Honestly, X-men Red and Astonishing X-men are about the only X-men titles I consider worthy of the name.
Mostly because each group, while linked to the X-men, seem to represent the best of the X-men. At least in my view.
Also Thor #1 had a LOT of Hammers to it. And King Thor meets a friend at the end of the reality.
I think I might have figured out who the other Spider-man in Spider-ggeddon is...but I could be wrong!
Darkhawk just went full on cosmic with a shout out to a GotG (old version), and of course more about a certain Sh'iar firebird.
Wormy,
I don't believe so...but we'll see.
So Steve Rogers TRIES to stop the Final Host and ends up with Loki saving him.
Cable is getting WAY to weird.
And while it's sad that Kitty and Colossus won't tie the knot, at least they got their money's worth thanks to Rogue and Gambit doing the knot tying,
Rogue and Gambit married? Does not compute. My favorite X-woman cannot be off the market! Quick, get Mephisto in here to deal with this!
*ducks for cover*
Ha. :) Sorry Lathiira, but it's true. Rogue married Gambit after Kitty called off the wedding.
I'm also sure Mephisto is still trying to figure out how to get out of his cage in Las Vegas right now to worry about undoing marriages.
We get a Rogue and Gambit series out of it, so Gold has finally done something positive. With Thompson writing it, i am optimistic that it will be good.
I know it's true, but it's just...wrong. Rogue married? I can wrap my head around that, sure. Gambit married? That's a bit harder. Married to each other? Time to call in the Assassin's Guild. Is Deathstroke busy? Maybe convince the Punisher to deal with Gambit?
*goes off to sulk about Rogue no longer being single*
My early teenage self called dibs on the first date with Rogue decades ago, after writing Marvel to point out that all she needed was a mutant inhibitor collar with an on/off switch.
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I liked Rogue and yes there was a brief period of time I wanted to date her, but her and Remmy being married is fine with me. And I'm with Low, having Thompson write it will be good.
Gold has been very uneven, and now at least it can explain why Colossus left Gold for Astonishing.
So this week's Marvel Releases were kind of mixed...but at the same time, I am enjoying some parts of the Thor Run Aaron is doing.
Blue is still hit or miss. Same for these wolverine tie ins.
But at least Darkhawk is getting good. If weird.
New favorite inhuman, Skunk Girl!!
Old man stuff is getting old... and tired. But at least i still have Kate Bishop to enjoy!
Overall, C+
I'm still confused by the overall picture that Aaron is trying to paint...but it's certainly BIG.
Less enthused by the Death of Inhumans. ESPECIALLY the deaths of the Universal Inhumans. Those guys that Hickman made were AWESOME!
It's not clear to me why Strange can't cast spells on Earth, but is okay doing so in space...but at least now he's got an Infinity Gem!
Poor Sam...but I guess there can be only ONE Nova.
Cosmic Ghost Rider is weird but I love it.
Coates Captain America isn't off to a bad start...but I kept waiting for more shoes to drop. At least now we have an idea of who these Power Elite Group has...one former Hydra leader (Strucker), One REALLY powerful X-men villain (Selene), Thunderbolt Ross and some weird Russian chick. It needs more meat to it...but considering how much I liked Coates BP, I'm willing to stick with it.
X-men stuff...other than Astonishing isn't really going that high for me. But we'll see if Alex Summers can help get the X-men and himself back on track.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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It's not clear to me why Strange can't cast spells on Earth, but is okay doing so in space...but at least now he's got an Infinity Gem!
The last page of issue #2 suggested that there is a cabal on Earth working against Strange, with the wherewithal to see his adventures in space and consider them a problem.
So, I suspect that his failures on Earth are the result of an attack. His work in Marvelspace is either (a) giving his abilities an opportunity to heal, or (b) teaching him new techniques that aren't foiled.
Chris,
Well I'm glad you figured it out. I didn't have enough or I wasn't paying attention.
Regardless, I'm sure we'll get it cleared up by the time Infinity Wars starts up in the Fall.
Just read X-23 #1 and like it for the most part.
My only problem is
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I think though, Low, it's much like what's going on with Emma in the sense they've suffered a great loss...and they're trying to figure it out.
But yes, it's not my choice for good villain material. That clearly goes to Mister and/or Miss Sinister.
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I hope we get a surprise out of it. I would even take the old fav of mindcontrol^^
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Just read Amazing Spider-Man #1. And while I've been a big fan of most things Dan Slott did in the last years, I'm also a big fan of Nick Spencer, so I expect good things to come.
This said, there were some things that I didn't like too much, notably
Also, there was a bit too heavy use of good old Parker Luck to bring him back to a state he kinda started in times long past. Maybe it was just that it was too much stuff crammed into one issue to have exposition done away with, but the stuff with Kingpin and the hero community's reaction seemed a bit forced to me. I mean they should know him long enough to not believe what Kingpin is feeding them.
The scene with Aunt May, though: Pure gold, even when that was probably the hardest thing Peter was ever hit with.
And look who's Peter's new teacher. That had me laugh out loud.
Also read Domino #1-4 today. I do not know her very well, but I like her Power Set and having Gail Simone write her doesn't hurt either. The series seems off to a great start which probably means that it will be cancelled soon as that often happens with series I like. Hope that Wolverine will make an appearance soon. ^^
Wormy,
I have a few reservations about this start, but not as much about his romanatic entanglements than his other stuff. ESPECIALLY that whole Watcher thingie.
As for Domino, I think that the series will last longer than 12 issues. Maybe 20.
Wormy,
You mean you FORGOT about how they found out that Peter had his dissertation 'plagiarized" and subsequent PhD revoked? Or that he was fired from the Bugle BECAUSE of it?
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Lol. naturally not. What I did forget was that they actually named that software Watchr, so when you brought it up I immediately thought I had missed an appearance of a certain Man on the Moon.
That scene actually didn't bother me very much because even back in the 90's our computer scientists were working on software to determine cases of plagiarization (and tested it on us student's papers^^). In fact I actually liked how it made Peter realize that not everything is just a case of Parker luck.
Generally, I have some reservations about the course Marvel is steering nowadays. Seems like they're trying really hard to cater to a part of the readership that I technically belong to, but actually don't want to be a part of anymore. I want them to embrace 21th century, and all this "back to the basics (or roots) stuff bothers me, especially as in my mind, the problem never was the modernization of their hero community, but the way they do their storytelling
Storytelling can be problematic in comics.
I guess what bothers me is that they deliberately CHOSE Peter as opposed to someone else. I mean seriously, how does Parker merit it more than maybe some grad student that MIGHT be using Ultron Tech?
Just read the latest from X-men Red and i must say if they ever need a new Red Skull they could use Cassandra. Never thought about it like that but they are pretty much the same.
Using a Sentinel for transportation is great^^
And the current storyline in Star Wars is great but i am curious how the rebels will get out of this mess.
low,
I'm pretty sure the Stevil will be our next Red Skull, if only because it would give the Skull more fighting skill.
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I agree, he is number one for that. Cassandra is just in the same category of Evil in my opinion. Her Plan could even come from him.
Well I honestly think Cassandra is just having an inferiority complex. Or something like it anyway...
So it looks like I was wrong about Angela showing up to stop Baldur's wedding to Hela. But plus side, I'm pretty sure Thanos would be willing to kill things. I mean he's already killed universes...
Angela will show up in Asgardians of the Galaxy. And it looked like Aaron has something against her so it would be unlikley that she will show up in one of his series again.
And I would be glad about it. His last writing with her was bad and showed a bias against her. Not as bad as his writing of cyclops but bad enough.
Low,
I never much remembered his X-men run. But I do recall he didn't do Angela any favors in her last series. I think it was him...
But in any case, I still hope the whole "Dark Council" thing going for War of the Realms might rethink their strategy once they realize Hela has Thanos on board.
*imagines the discussion*
Malekith chuckles "We're winning!!! Soon all of the 10 Realms will bow to me!"
Enchantress looks bored until she gets a Raven...she panics after reading it, drops the note and vanishes.
Ulik reads it and his jaw drops "Ymir's Beard! Thanos has joined the fight!! Screw that! Fighting a mock Thor is one thing, but the guy that can kill the entire universe? No way. I'm out!" *runs off"
Malekith looks puzzled but shrugs. "Eh. Still can win. I got the richest man in all of reality."
Dario Aggar checks with his sources and decides to leave...
Yeah...that's kind of how I see it going.