DEATHLOK: I must be out of the loop because I know who Luther Manning is and I know who Michael Collins is, but this new guy….Henry Hayes? Apparently he was a combat medic who got fixed up by Biotek. He goes into war zones working for Medics Without Broders. Actually, even though he doesn’t know it, he is working for a covert organization as Deathlok, going off killing as a soldier of fortune. In his spare time, he’s a single father trying hard to raise he teenage daughter. Honestly, we have great looking art by Mike Perkins and the usual catchy writing by Nathan Edmonson. But this character does nothing for me and I have less of an attachment than I do with the Deathlok of the TV show. Read the first two issues…thanks: I’m good with that.
THE WEAPON X PROGRAM: So, Wolverine is dead and now a whole bunch of people who were subjected to the experiments of Dr. Abraham Cornelius seem to be set up to become a new super team. Oh yeah: one of them may be Wolverine. I wasn’t a big fan of the mini-series that ended the life of the most popular mutant because we all knew he was coming back in the end. So, despite an impressive story from Charles Soule and killer art from the always dependable Salvador Larroca, I’ll be giving this book a pass. When he gets his old self back, call me. Until then, they can keep it.
By the way, this will lead into a WEEKLY WOLVERINES series in January by Soule, Ray Fawkes, Nick Bradshaw and Juan Doe. And I won’t be reading that either!
ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA: So it seems that Steve Rodgers had his Super Soldier Serum drained by some bad guy called the Iron Nail. Steve is now old and can’t cut it anymore. In the meantime, Sharon Carter and Arnim Zola’s son, who Steve raised while he was stuck in Dimension Z, arrive back in our time and space and Ian is all grown up. So Steve decides to settle down with Sharon and Ian becomes Nomad and partners up with the new captain America: Sam Wilson. So now the New Captain America takes on crime and the Rogue’s Gallery of old Cap villains in a swanky new costume, accompanied by his ever true sidekick Redwing the falcon. Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen serve up politically correct superheroes and politically incorrect villains(do we really need Batroc to return and then throw anti-American fat jokes around?). I didn’t read the LAST Cap series because the whole Dimension Z thing aggravated the heck out of me. I won’t be reading this one either.
ALL-NEW INVADERS: Jim Hammond, the original Human Torhc, is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. now. Along the way, he has joined up with Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Toro, Namor and new hero Radiance to fight evil. Along the way, we get Deathloks, a Martian invasion, Killraven and a whole host of goodies to make a fan like me smile. James Robinson and Steve Push have done wonders with this series. UNFORTUNATELY, Marvel is ending this title soon so look for the back issues or keep your fingers crossed for a TPB. This was a treat and I’m sorry to see it go.
AVENGERS/X-MEN AXIS: So, Charles Xavier is dead and the Red Skull ended up with his brain and thus became Red Onslaught. The Avengers and the X-Men came together to stop him but failed. Eventually, Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch used their magic to put a spell over Genosha. That stopped the Red Onslaught BUT the Avengers who were on Genosha have put most of the remaining heroes in the world in jail. Apocalypse has arrived to lead the X-Men and has declared war on mankind. And, if that wasn’t enough, any villain who was on Genosha are now behaving as heroes. And Tony Stark has turned out to be more concerned with making money off a new unstable app version of Extremis. This is Marvel’s newest blockbuster by Rick Remender and Adam Kubert, Terry Dodson, Leinil Francis Yu and others. In a nutshell, heroes have become villains and vice versa. Does it work? I enjoyed the first arc, but the follow-ups, where the actual swticheroo has happened, have left me cold. I can’t wait for this to end and see what the repercussions of it are. Every time there is an “event” there are repercussions that change the “Marvel Universe forever”. Let’s see what happens. If you can wait long enough, get it as a TPB. Realize that it’s four bucks an issue and they’ve been dropping about three issues each month.
SUPERIOR IRON MAN: Did you hear the one about Tony Stark and how he really isn’t the natural born child of Howard and Maria Stark? It’s true! Tony was adopted and the REAL child that Maria Stark gave birth to is Arno Stark, who was affected by the experiments of Rigellian Recorder 451. Anyway, he has done some time with the Guardians and worked with his brother to build the city of tomorrow. And now, with his mind being somewhat scrambled during AXIS, he has gone off the deep end. The person that the OLD Tony Stark once was, the irresponsible playboy and egotistic alcoholic, has appeared again. He has moved to San Francisco, built some new cool blue and white armor and has given the citizens of the city by the Bay Extremis 3.0. It offered anyone who downloaded it beauty, health or immortality…for free. But then our boy ended the free trial and began charging users a daily fee, making people desperate and making Stark richer than before. I went into this title expecting I would hate it but found myself pleasantly surprised. Tom Taylor gives us a great story and Yildiray Cinar’s art, with great looking colors from Guru-eFX, sucked me right in. It looks like Pepper is going to play a major role and, since he IS in San Francisco, a certain red headed lawyer/superhero is sure to be involved. This looks to be a real winner!
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS: Spinning out of the events that have been occurring in AXIS, the NEW Captain America and Luke Cage are working with a little more attitude than before. A violent attitude. An attitude that means neither one cares if criminals die along the way. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Tony Stark is getting involved and there is a plan afoot to take out the existing Mighty Avengers because they are threats. Interesting concept that will work fine until this whole AXIS thing ends and then what? Al Ewing and Luke Ross combine for a rough and tumble, ultra violent team of superheroes who just don’t care as long as their will is done. Again, this looks and feels really nice now…let’s see how it plays out down the road.
IRON FIST-THE LIVING WEAPON: I don’t want to say too much about this book. All I want to say is that you have to pick it up and read Kaare Kyle Andrews’ one-man show. History is slightly rewritten, the past collides with the present, the story keeps you turning page after page and the idea that flashback are presented as an old, folded comic book, colored dots and all, makes me just totally love where this book goes. This is not the Iron Fist I grew up with and is not the guy who ran around with Luke cage in Heroes for hire. This is a conflicted hero, much the way Matt Murdock is. But Andrews work is the real star here and this title is sure to elevate his status to the next level and cause comic fans to go scrounging through the back issue boxes looking for his earlier work.
BUCKY BARNES: THE WINTER SOLDIER: Spoiler time-The Watcher is dead, Nick Fury is the “new Watcher” and Fury’s old job as the “Man on the Wall”, where he is responsible for stopping intergalactic threats before they happen. The whole ORIGINAL SIN story just bothered me no end, especially killing the Watcher, removing his eyes and everything that came with it, including retconning a bunch of Marvel stories and characters. This picks up where that left off, only Bucky has a team helping him and the whole book, illustrated by Marco Rudy, looks like a bad drug induced dream. Actually, it would probably read better too as Ales Kot’s story is overly wordy and boring. Bye bye Bucky: liked you better when you were a distant WWII memory.
THOR: Hey-have you heard that Odin is back and is ruling Asgard, which is now called Asgardia? Did you know that Odin’s wife was rulling Asgardia in his absence and she’s not thrilled that the old man is back? Did you know that Thor has forgotten to take his Wheaties after Nick Fury whispered sweet nothings into his ear and now he can’t lift Mighty Mjolnir anymore from where it sits on the moon? Did you know that the only person of lifting it is some blonde woman in a silver helmet with mask? You know what: this was a big deal on news boards and even TV! I don’t care! I read the first issue by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman and was blown away by Dauterman’s art. But the whole story left me weak and to see Thor reducing to a whiny version of Hal Jordan left me angry and disappointed. For crying out loud, you could have given us Beta Ray Bill and it would have sat better with me than this? How many female Asgardians are crawling out of the woodwork? First we have this and then there…
ANGELA ASGARD’S ASSASSIN: yeah, from Todd McFarlane and company comes the story of the lost sibling to Thor and Loki. She popped up in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and now she has become a staple of the Marvel Universe. The main tale in issue #1 by Kieron Gillen and Phil Jimenez LOOKS AMAZING, although it looks NOTHING like Phil Jimenez’s normal style(he of the years worth of “George Perez clone” jokes).As far as the story goes: sure-reads well. BUT I’M NOT INTERESTED in a female version of The Punisher. Asgard’s Assassin? Really, Marvel: that’s the best you can give me? The back-up story, by Gillen, Marguerite Bennett and Stephanie Hans, is also very nice. But I also don’t care about that either. Bottom line: I personally don’t need this character in my Marvel Universe. And Marvel doesn’t need my money. I’m sure, if she’s a hit, they can work her into the next Guardians or Thor flick!
GUARDIANS 3000: Well, here’s a novel concept: let’s bring back the ORIGINAL GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY in a NEW book for NEW readers. Yeah: I’m liking that! We have Vance Astro and Yondu and Martinex and Charlie-27 and Starhawk and they’re hear to fight the big, bad Badoon. I loved their adventures as a kid and then Marvel decide to completely change the origins and throw this team together that are film stars but not MY Guardians! Well, this IS my Guardians! Dan Abnett and Gerardo Sandoval throw an action adventure at us that totally sizzles! This is MY GUARDIANS! And there are plot twists throughout. This is THE book to jump on to now before everyone else catches up with the curve. Us old timers always knew these were the cool team. Let’s hope sales on the book are good enough to support it.
And then there’s THE SPIDER-VERSE. This has to be one of the dumbest concepts I have ever seen thrown at the comic reading consumer. Well, maybe not THE dumbest, but it ranks up there. It seems there is this nasty family called The Inheritors that are traveling throughout the Multiverse, killing off members of the Spider Totem and draining their life energies. Name the Earth and there is a Spider man for it. This is Marvel’s way of pulling together all of the various Spider Men we have seen over the years, in stand alone tales, in issues of What if, as back-ups in Annuals…even with their own series. So, among the various Spiders running around are the 1930’s Spider Noir guy, Peter Porker Spider Ham, Kaine, Jessica Drew, Mayday Parker, etc. They have even figured a way to drop Doc Ock Peter Parker into the mix as he ended up in the Spider-Verse during a time when he was still in control, so now we have a new timeline. There have been specials, one shots and the new series: SPIDER-VERSE TEAM-UP, SPIDER-VERSE, SPIDER-WOMAN, SCARLET SPIDERS and SPIDER MAN 2099. I’m sorry: this is just a way to sell comics and make a total mockery of the Spider Man legacy. I was never to keen with the whole Spider Totem idea when it got introduced but I dealt with it and let it go. I DESPISED the wiping out of so much history by Mary Jane making a deal with Mephisto and making their happy life go away to save Aunt May. I TOTALLY HATED Doc Ock Parker, but new our boy would return one day. This…this is going WAY TOO FAR. I can only hope that the crossover with the AMAZING SPIDER MAN title lasts a little longer and we go back to a normal storyline.
If this is how you cross-market your characters, get a new marketing genius!
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