STATE OF THE COMPANY:
M A R V E L
M A R V E L
Civil War-
Since it's the driving force behind so much of Marvel these days, it makes sense to start with the event that will, for better or worse, be remembered as the defining event for either of the Big Two this decade, Civil War. Although it's popular to bash this on the blogosphere, I won't be doing any of that. I loved the main mini to death, and felt that aside from one or two hiccups- most of which centered around issue 4 and the infamous Clor, it was as good and balanced as could be. It's thanks to this I took a pro-registration stance despite Captain America being my favorite character. It just made sense to me. Now the event at the whole is somewhat more mixed. Rather than delving into it in depth now (That's for a future post), I'll just say why some parts of it were very bad, I was very happy with the status quo outlined at the end of it, and very excited. Iron Man: Director of SHIELD? Now there's story potential! The Fifty States Initiative? Captain America dead? Iron Man the figurehead of all heroes? Tiny band of New Avengers? No trust in the hero community? Spider-Man unmasked? There was a MINEFIELD of potential here. Some of it exploited, some of it not. I wanted to get that out of the way. Now I'm going to assess the titles I read at the moment.
Amazing Spider-Man- Was on a high during Civil War after a giant low during "The Other". Back in Black had some wasted potential but wasn't bad overall, just not what it could have been. My breath is held for One More Day, and I have no particular view on the marriage. I'm pretty hopeful for Brand New Day as I love Guggenheim and Slott can be very good. So this prognosis seems bright.
Avengers: The Initiative- An example of wasted potential. Making the Initiative so transparently evil is a fairly boring cliché. That's not to say the book is bad. There's still much potential here, and I like some of the characters. But I want to see Hank grow a backbone and act like Hank again, and I want to see more balance here and less blatantly evil Initiative. This is okay... but it could be great.
Captain America- This is the single greatest comic being published, even moreso with Cap dead. I have nothing more to say. READ. THIS. BOOK.
Iron Man- I think the Knaufs have done a great job on Iron Man and hopefully will continue to do so. They really get Tony Stark and are doing a deep analysis of him in a book which is sadly underrated. Is great now, will be staying so for the foreseeable future.
Fantastic Four- FF is the comic I nurse the biggest soft spot for, as I do love Marvel's First Family. At the moment, McDuffie's telling very solid and enjoyable stories after the abominations JMS fed us, but it feels like killing time before the event I can't wait for: Millar and Hitch on FF!
Mighty Avengers- Ah, MA. The only *real* Avengers book in ways, with a brilliant nostalgic cast and great art. I want to love you, I really do. But we don't see enough of each other- you come so rarely it feels like it's months and months before I see you again. You're so beautiful, if a little shallow, and I could love you again if I saw you more often...
New Avengers- While I wasn't a fan of the Skrulls in the past, I'm enjoying this title okay. As an Avengers book, it fails, as a comic book it succeeds on some levels. I hate Lenil Yu's art, I'm sorry to say, and not blown away by the story but it's passable and will hopefully stay that way- or even improve as we approach Secret Invasion.
Thor- JMS is a hit or miss writer but Thor's been all hit so far. Great development of supporting cast, good grasp of the main character, horrible miswriting of Iron Man but that was a once off. Although it's early days yet if this just speeds up a bit, it could be one of the greats.
Thunderbolts- What can I say that hasn't been said again? Ellis has transformed this into the second best book on the market. It's dark, it's brilliant, it's the most twisted and fun comic in existence, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.
Uncanny X-Men- Brubaker, Brubaker, Brubaker. You write Cap, the best comic in existence, and yet somehow Uncanny X-Men can never live up to it. It's solid enough, make no mistake- but the plot is totally average and the art is poor. I know Brubaker can shine yet, I'm just giving him time. As the only x-comic I collect, it'll be hard to stay through Messiah CompleX yet stay I shall, through thick and thin, to see my boy Magneto in action again!
World War Hulk- This can be summed up in one resounding Meh. It started with such promise after a great issue one, then dissolved into a mindless brawl. At this stage, it seems Hulk could take out Galactus with a punch, and I fear for the Earth as it seems every time there's any sort of threat at all Strange feels it's okay to pop out the old intergalactic cosmic demon. Not to mention the pretence Hulk could be in any way justified was kind of shattered once we reached the whole "making people fight to the death in a pit" thing. A giant green disappointment.
Well that about wraps it up for this blog's first day of existence, a quick run down of how I feel about the Marvel titles I collect. You can see I'm pretty positive about almost all of them- which is kind of obvious, as I wouldn't get a title if I didn't enjoy it. But that doesn't mean I won't crack down on them if they do screw up.
Tomorrow, I run down my (rather shorter) list of DC titles and begin the first review of Comixforce!
Since it's the driving force behind so much of Marvel these days, it makes sense to start with the event that will, for better or worse, be remembered as the defining event for either of the Big Two this decade, Civil War. Although it's popular to bash this on the blogosphere, I won't be doing any of that. I loved the main mini to death, and felt that aside from one or two hiccups- most of which centered around issue 4 and the infamous Clor, it was as good and balanced as could be. It's thanks to this I took a pro-registration stance despite Captain America being my favorite character. It just made sense to me. Now the event at the whole is somewhat more mixed. Rather than delving into it in depth now (That's for a future post), I'll just say why some parts of it were very bad, I was very happy with the status quo outlined at the end of it, and very excited. Iron Man: Director of SHIELD? Now there's story potential! The Fifty States Initiative? Captain America dead? Iron Man the figurehead of all heroes? Tiny band of New Avengers? No trust in the hero community? Spider-Man unmasked? There was a MINEFIELD of potential here. Some of it exploited, some of it not. I wanted to get that out of the way. Now I'm going to assess the titles I read at the moment.
Amazing Spider-Man- Was on a high during Civil War after a giant low during "The Other". Back in Black had some wasted potential but wasn't bad overall, just not what it could have been. My breath is held for One More Day, and I have no particular view on the marriage. I'm pretty hopeful for Brand New Day as I love Guggenheim and Slott can be very good. So this prognosis seems bright.
Avengers: The Initiative- An example of wasted potential. Making the Initiative so transparently evil is a fairly boring cliché. That's not to say the book is bad. There's still much potential here, and I like some of the characters. But I want to see Hank grow a backbone and act like Hank again, and I want to see more balance here and less blatantly evil Initiative. This is okay... but it could be great.
Captain America- This is the single greatest comic being published, even moreso with Cap dead. I have nothing more to say. READ. THIS. BOOK.
Iron Man- I think the Knaufs have done a great job on Iron Man and hopefully will continue to do so. They really get Tony Stark and are doing a deep analysis of him in a book which is sadly underrated. Is great now, will be staying so for the foreseeable future.
Fantastic Four- FF is the comic I nurse the biggest soft spot for, as I do love Marvel's First Family. At the moment, McDuffie's telling very solid and enjoyable stories after the abominations JMS fed us, but it feels like killing time before the event I can't wait for: Millar and Hitch on FF!
Mighty Avengers- Ah, MA. The only *real* Avengers book in ways, with a brilliant nostalgic cast and great art. I want to love you, I really do. But we don't see enough of each other- you come so rarely it feels like it's months and months before I see you again. You're so beautiful, if a little shallow, and I could love you again if I saw you more often...
New Avengers- While I wasn't a fan of the Skrulls in the past, I'm enjoying this title okay. As an Avengers book, it fails, as a comic book it succeeds on some levels. I hate Lenil Yu's art, I'm sorry to say, and not blown away by the story but it's passable and will hopefully stay that way- or even improve as we approach Secret Invasion.
Thor- JMS is a hit or miss writer but Thor's been all hit so far. Great development of supporting cast, good grasp of the main character, horrible miswriting of Iron Man but that was a once off. Although it's early days yet if this just speeds up a bit, it could be one of the greats.
Thunderbolts- What can I say that hasn't been said again? Ellis has transformed this into the second best book on the market. It's dark, it's brilliant, it's the most twisted and fun comic in existence, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.
Uncanny X-Men- Brubaker, Brubaker, Brubaker. You write Cap, the best comic in existence, and yet somehow Uncanny X-Men can never live up to it. It's solid enough, make no mistake- but the plot is totally average and the art is poor. I know Brubaker can shine yet, I'm just giving him time. As the only x-comic I collect, it'll be hard to stay through Messiah CompleX yet stay I shall, through thick and thin, to see my boy Magneto in action again!
World War Hulk- This can be summed up in one resounding Meh. It started with such promise after a great issue one, then dissolved into a mindless brawl. At this stage, it seems Hulk could take out Galactus with a punch, and I fear for the Earth as it seems every time there's any sort of threat at all Strange feels it's okay to pop out the old intergalactic cosmic demon. Not to mention the pretence Hulk could be in any way justified was kind of shattered once we reached the whole "making people fight to the death in a pit" thing. A giant green disappointment.
Well that about wraps it up for this blog's first day of existence, a quick run down of how I feel about the Marvel titles I collect. You can see I'm pretty positive about almost all of them- which is kind of obvious, as I wouldn't get a title if I didn't enjoy it. But that doesn't mean I won't crack down on them if they do screw up.
Tomorrow, I run down my (rather shorter) list of DC titles and begin the first review of Comixforce!
No comments:
Post a Comment