pick o the week 27.8.12

Aye Ah pretty much died of laziness back there. I said id try to keep things moving. Keeps things updated. I failed. I apologise. Wont happen again. Though it probably will. Comic book quickies was getting a bit draggy to be honest. Just kidny put all my soul in to it any more. So lets put quickies on hold for a wee while and try something a wee bit different for a bit. I say different its really an easier to do quickies. Less effort yay !

AMERICA'S GOT POWERS #3

 

Yup my first pick of the week is Americas got powers #3. A book ware super powered humans fight in a tournament themed satire of current day talent shows.

I quite like Americas got powers. Its quite a nice solid read. Now that's really perplexing for me. Normally id look down on team millers output. Now yeah I know its Jonathan ross and image but ross and miller are totally bros like. I was fairly cynical about the book before issue one hit the shelf's but in the spirit of the new 52 I decided to give this new number one a try. I have to say I was fairly blown away with how not horrible it was. I was sure the book would be full of hateful characters and gore but I was pretty well wrong . Now aye there are hateful characters but there written to be hateful not unintentional hateful and there were deaths but they weren't overly violent. Yeah so surprisingly good. To me at least.

 

Now its not like the books all rainbows and sweeties but every time something looks like its going to end badly or turn out horrible the book takes a side step into not nastiness. Like in issue two we see that a lot of the super's that take part in the games are apparently killed or critically wounded. Now that something id find very heavy and bleak but the cliff hanger at the end of that issue reveals that the super's in this particular universe cant die and are almost immortal. Now again that could have gotten fairly bleak with the super's living forever in perpetual agony. But no they can heal as well.

Now again that's the main thing I take away from issue three, things could have gotten really bleak and unpleasant again but weirdly for the third issue in a row they didn't. This time a machine is introduced that trades a super's powers to someone ell's. It also leaves the super a withered husk. Now see that's ware I was all ohh aye dropped the not nastiness ball there ross. But no. the super's just regenerate over time.

Really I guess you cant go wrong with a tournament arc. It really is the greatest story format of all time. Maybe some competition from buddy cops though. Hmmm buddy cop tournament arc... very promising.

comic book quickies 15/4/12

A surprisingly hefty week.

GREEN LANTERN #8

written by Geoff Johns art by Doug Mahnke

Well this was a pretty crazy awesome little issue ware not all that much happened. Crazy awesome in that both Hal and sinestro do some insanely cool things. Well Hal dose. Sinestros still stuck in psychopath mode when he should have mellowed out by now. The big goff man's still writing space Hitler as space Hitler. Which I guess is the right way to write a villain who's now a good guy against his will. Well it would be the right way to write him if sinestro had joined the justice league or some team like that but the problem is sinestro and hal are buddy cops and it's no fun to read when your sitting around waiting for space Hitler to mellow out. Now I don't want him to be laid back, no he is the bad cop of the the two but is it too much to ask for sinestro to roll around in a Hawaiian shirt ? Yeah so not that much happened this issue. Well nothing big. Well maybe something huge did happen and I just don't consider it that huge an event. I guess I'm just waiting for the guardians to make there move. Its been like eight months now. Hopefully shit will get real pretty soon.

SUPERBOY #8

written by Scott Lobdell art R.B Silva

So uh. Yeah. What the. What the hell happened last issue in superboy ? I genuinely don't remember. I started reading this issue and was like did I miss an issue ? I know superboy and the teen titans have a thing going on with one issue of one running into the next but I was a bit fuzzy on what happened last issue over in titans as well. Then I was like oh wells and just read the issue. It was pretty gid. Superboy fights this dude called grunge who's basically Kevin E Levin from ben 10 if he were a 90s anti hero. Which is cools. There seems to be a plot line devolving which sound like a super hero version of the the hunger games. That could be all right. My first read through of this issue I wasny digging it but now that I look back on it I'm quite likening it. Its mainly the 90s-nes of grunge that's doing it for me though it is nice to see that the book is at least trying to go some ware with its plot.

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #8

written by Jeff Lemire art by Alberto Ponticelli

Hmmm. Well this issue wasn't the barnstormer that I thought it was going to be. Now it was still pretty gid. It just wasn't as gid as I had hoped. See Frankenstein and his wife had to track down there evil son. And they did. And to me the son of Frankenstein was a wee bit of a let down. I'm not even sure what I was expecting but his design was just so bland. And weak. Now I can understand they way the issue went. It was more of an emotional story for fanky and his wife and there son was just there to put them though some charter development. I get that. I just felt a wee bit let down is all.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #2

written by Brian Michael Bendis art by Mark Bagley

So yeah I'm reading another avengers book written by bendis. Yeah I'm mentally ill. Its really not that bad but why the actual fuck is is bendis still writing the other avengers book ? You would have thought he would have just moved over to this book. But nope. Now this book is just a cash grab for the upcoming avengers film. I'm fine with that. It's what marvel always dose when there next film rolls around. Its kind of there thing. On the bright side it is Bendis and Bagley together again. Buddy cops that they are. The book dose suffer quite heavily from not being ultimate spider-man though. By that I mean Bagley has a noticeably different art style when he's not drawing ultimate spidey. The issue itself wasny too bad with the fights being well done and the plot getting a bit silly in places. Hawkeye dose refer to using the ultimate nullifier as the ultimate terrorist attack. Americans like.

FANTASTIC FOUR #605

written by Jonathan Hickman art by Ron Garney

Oh man. This comic. Manly tears. Manly tears for Ben Grim garp.

AMERICA'S GOT POWERS #1

written by Jonathan Ross art by Bryan Hitch

Let me just say this at the start here. This was really gid. Like really gid. It was just so .... battle city. Well I guess it was so hunger games meets running man. But yeah. Its a damn hefty first issue that's hella bang for your buck what with it basically being two issues slammed together. Plot wise it is just American idol with super hero's. Interestingly the book is filled with bastards like most mark miller-ish books ( and its very mark miller-ish) but the main hero isn't a bastard. Yeah he's not superman or captain America but so far he's shown to be not a bastard. Which to me was HUGE surprise. Now I'm sure he'll be corrupted as the story progresses but for now its nice to see he's not a bastard. I'm interested to see ware this book go's as I get the feeling these type of story's don't end happily. Oh and David tennant puts in a appearance Which is nice.