Interesting times in comicsxml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
By the Ace of Knaves
Well; its winter again, and that means interesting things in the comic book industry. With the obligatory Blockbuster Summer Cross-Over Mega-Event over and forgotten, writers and readers can focus on the characters and the stories again instead of on the mass marketing and the shock and awe tactics. Or can we? Ive barely escaped secret invasion (sorry folks, it just didnt interest me to buy all the crossover stuff AGAIN) and Marvel announces dark reign (Incidentally: anyone still remember President Lex? I thought so
). Oh dear. Arguably DC comics is even worse, because they didnt even finish their (hopefully) final crisis yet. The timing between their issues is so strung out that Im having actual trouble remembering what happened last time (yes, this is unusual for me). Add to that the whole Batman RIP tie-in, for which it was only recently revealed how it ties in chronologically to the crisis and Im getting confused. In my opinion the Final crisis, while conceptually good, loses impact because it is spread over a too complicated publishing schedule and over too long a time. Hopefully bringing back Barry Allan will speed things up in a flash.
Anyhow, Im still pretty excited about nearly all the comics on my to-buy list recently (nearly all, but more on that later). Jason Aarons Ghost rider and Wolverine: manifest destiny rock (think Big Trouble in little xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />China with Logan instead of Kurt Russel). Even the old man Logan storyline in Wolverine (which I found rather repetitive of previous apocalyptic scenarios) managed to surprise me when it was revealed which villain managed to break Logans spirit. Thor is devine. Garth Enniss successor on Punisher is doing sterling work, and Punisher fans are spoilt even more by the outstanding Punisher War Zone with incredibly gorgeous art by Steve Dillon. He didnt work out for me on Wolverine: origins, but he really is one of the best Punisher artists in my opinion. Id really love to see him do some Moon knight. This brings me to Daniel Ways Deadpool which also more than delivers the goods (zombie nurses? Hell yeah!). He had me worried by the awful Deadpool appearance in Wolverine Origins, but those worries have vanished completely. X-men is still improving and getting there, and Im really excited about the War of kings tie-in with Dan Abnetts extraordinarily good Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. Over at DC Secret six is an absolute must, with some of the best characterisation of Bane since his 90s miniseries and Gail Simone does wonders for a certain amazon princess. I cant believe Im reading and enjoying Wonder Woman. (For more sterling work by Gail Simone, check out the Welcome to tranquillity 2 TPB). And then I havent even mentioned Green arrow and black canary, Reign in hell and the green lantern titles. Also the JSA Gog-Magog storyline is an absolute must read. JSA has been a series of incredibly high quality ever since its relaunch in 99 , and it still is after the second relaunch. I also love the gorgeous Faces of evil covers (and the one shots! The Prometheus one especially was masterfully done!). Id love to have them on my 2009 calendar! Not to mention the fact that I was dumbfounded by DCs brave and bold decision to put all Batman titles on hiatus. Wow! I figured the death of Batman was going to be the same old circus weve seen many, MANY times before, but I NEVER imagined that they would put their flagship title (Detective Comics) on hiatus. Can you imagine Marvel cancelling all X-men or Spiderman titles? I really hope this pays off for DC and the fans, just because its so daring.
So is it all good? No. There still are some stinkers in my opinion such as the incredibly weak death of the invisible woman story in Mark Millars FF. If like me you figured out from the first panel that there were TWO of them, its easy to figure out which one is going to kick the bucket. So it just becomes another story where the title is for shock and awe value, but doesnt cover the whole package. But then the death of the other invisible woman probably wont sell as much comics. For shame!
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