Greetings, humans.
I am back, after having left, like a boomerang or non-lethal shuriken.
Once again, I totally forgot to get a comic this week. That's what happens when everything you buy isn't on your subscription list.
Sadly, I've decided to drop Thor. I really didn't like either the art or the writing. I don't know what happened since Fraction last wrote Thor (Loved that), but it's just not working for me. I grabbed Chaos War #1, so you can possibly expect an updated edition of LAST week's Thursday's Comics. S.H.I.E.L.D. will definitely have to be left as a retrospective, I think. It's just too densely packed and the once-every-two-months schedule really isn't helping.
Aside from that, I forgot to get Superman #703. I don't even review that series, though, so it's not a big deal.
Thursday's Comics.
The Invincible Iron Man #31.
Firstly, that is NOT the main cover. It is the vampire variant that Marvel has a thing for lately. It's just the only one they had on Comic Vine.
I figured that this series had to debut on Thursday's Comics sooner or later, but I wasn't sure if I'd end up dropping the title or not. For a while I was seriously considering it, but it seems to be gaining steam once more.
To sum up the current storyline...
Stark got ousted by Norman Osborn during Dark Reign. He erased all the info he had on his superhero buddies, leaving only his mind as the last place to contain the information. Slowly but surely, this too began being erased. Stark, over time, regressed to the point that he could only operate earlier, simpler versions of Iron Man armour (He only had one, anyway). On the run from H.A.M.M.E.R., he was joined by Maria Hill. The tension eventually won out and they ended up in a weird sexual relationship/pseudo-relationship.
Stark eventually fell into a coma for the duration of Siege, appearing at the end and thus, leading to this. He has no memory of whatever happened before he was brought out of the coma, and has set about making amends. He has no company anymore and, until not long ago, no money either. Thor, having patched things up, chose to let Stark have his fill of Asgardian gold. Using this, Stark formed Stark Resilient, a company with the intent to supply clean energy to the world so that all the energy and fuelling problems will be solved.
His first step is to build a car based on repulsor technology. This is proven to be not so simple. Why? Because the late Justin Hammer's wife and daughter have proven to be back in business and intent on humiliating/destroying Stark's new efforts. Having created an armoured behemoth themselves (Detroit Steel), they use the gamers of the world to aid Steel in his missions. Through the diabolically clever guise of iPhone apps, people play as bomb squadrons and attack places set by the "game". Little do they know that they are actually doing this. Then there's the small matter that Sasha Hammer, Justin's sexually aggressive daughter, has been augmented by Ezekiel Stane (Marvel Database, kids. I can't be bothered to go into it, haha).
Welcome to now. Stark previously tried to test out his car and found out it had been sabotaged by Spymaster, at the request of the Hammer ladies. He survived, and that's where issue #31 begins.
I very much got tired of the chasm between styles of writing Iron Man. As I've mentioned before, Fraction tends to write him in a very contemplative and condensed manner. There hasn't been much out-and-out action in a while. He's a great storyteller and the Stark: Disassembled arc was amazing, but it felt odd. Especially when you consider that Bendis had been writing him as this wise-cracking, sarcastic super-douche. I like consistency wherever possible.
This is a steam-building issue, really. Fraction does very well to put across the impression of Stark as a man trying to re-define his place in the world and being continually met with roadblocks. I suppose the Hammers mirror who he used to be, aside from the bad guy part. I don't know if he realises that or if that's very much reader acknowledgement, but either way, it's a nice dynamic. It's also more interesting that they're chicks. I don't know why, but it's not unreasonable. I mean, in a world where women can pretty much do everything a man can, business wise, why is arms dealing not one of them?
The culmination of this issue is Stark rushing to get another car built so as to demonstrate it before they can attack again. It all comes to light when, at the demo, one of Stark's organisers is playing a Detroit Steel "game" and quickly realises that the game map is identical to the place they are testing the car. It's a real sort of nail-biter that feels like it could've been a scene from The Bourne Identity. That's exactly what this comic feels like, actually. It feels like a Paul Greengrass movie, in a good way.
I think there's a lot to praise and criticise about Salvador LaRocca's art. One one hand it's very nice to look at, but on the other it tends to be a little too...milky. That's the best way I can describe it, I think. It's the way he draws light and/or light reflections sometimes, it looks too pale. Oh well.
If this storyline pays off, I can easily recommend the series to you as an ends justifying means sort of thing. If it doesn't, the previous four or five issues will have felt like they're for nothing, and I'm not sure I'll be happy with where the story is heading.
Let's wait and see!
The Thanos Imperative #5 of 6.
The penultimate issue of Abnett and Lanning's cosmic blow-out has arrived, and it is very, very good.
At this point, the story has been gestating and it's time to make shit happen. All parties involved are making their final push and they're all pushing in opposite directions. The impossibly large Galactus Engine is proving a challenge, even for Galactus and the other universal abstracts, and things get no better when Queen Medusa of The Kree Empire receives word that even LARGER threats await behind it.
The whole issue is just paced so well. It focuses on one area, packs it full of suspenseful excitement and then pulls away, then as you're thinking, "NO!"...the comic pulls you into another area of tense developments. The art is just classic. It feels like Surfer circa Vol. 2.
The Revengers battle with the Guardians in The Fault soon ends when their version of Scarlet Witch turns on them. She transports all of our heroes, plus Thanos, to the site of The Necropsy. The place where the ritual that caused ALL this anti-death was performed. Lord Mar-Vell quickly shows up and things get out of hand. Again, everyone wants what they need, they need what they want, and you just wonder who's gonna fall or crumble first.
Nova leaving the frontline, even at Gladiator's behest, was quite pivotal. He wants to go help Starlord and they need him there etc. It's all very dramatic.
The big shocker is that Thanos, mid-fight, totally gives up and refers to Lord Mar-Vell as is undying lord, begging him to give him death. He hates being alive and separated from his love, so he longs for it. The last page is just dynamite dialogue from Abnett. Starlord says, to some degree, "Is it me, or did Thanos just royally screw us over...big time?", and Rocket Raccoon (WHO I LOVE) replies, "Oh...you have NO idea."
There couldn't be a bigger cliffhanger for the final issue. That's how you lead in. I'm not sitting here feeling like things haven't developed enough as I did in Realm of Kings. I genuinely feel like everything is perfectly poised and it can't get any better. It feels like every question has been answered except the ones they HAVE to answer in #6.
Would I recommend it? Yes, definitely. I do think you'd need to pick the whole cosmic saga up in trade form, though. I honestly think that from Annihilation through to The Thanos Imperative, Marvel's cosmic players have been in the most consistently excellent stories since Daredevil's series took a nose-dive.
For those curious, that's as follows:
Annihilation
Annihilation: Conquest
War of Kings
Realm of Kings
The Thanos Imperative
The New Avengers #5.
Speaking of everything building to a point, this is an example of that.
What's very odd is that Bendis almost immediately trashes the prior cliffhanger. You know, the one about how Iron Fist returned from his spiritual experience with the belief that Dr. Strange stole the eye and wanted an explanation? Yeah. Bendis has Dr. Strange basically say, "I didn't do any of that." and Iron Fist apologises. I felt like I was short-changed there. I was particularly thrilled at the idea of the straight-shooting Dr. Strange having a bit of a darker, more nefarious past than we know of.
I was kind of getting tired of the whole, "Let's stand around and try to figure out how or why this is happening, but not really get anywhere." thing. I was fairly pissed that they chose to continue that...until they showed where they were going.
For some reason, Agamotto himself is implied to want the eye back. Agamotto being a being of power beyond human comprehension or contemplation as one of the three omnipotent Vishanti. The current Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Voodoo, shows up and decides to challenge Agamotto. Daimon Hellstrom (Who I do really like in this), laughs it off and offers the suggestion of diving under a bus, as they'd both achieve the same result.
I think Bendis borrowed from Joss Whedon here, because the next part reminds me of that Buffy episode where they all give her their essense so she can defeat Adam. Dr. Voodoo suggests, in no uncertain terms, "Hey, guys. Give me your shit and I'll go put the smackdown."
Out of nowhere, which really did bother me, Wolverine appears like the fucking poster child he is, and does the whole, tried and played-out, "I'm the killer here, bub. Let me at 'im." routine. So bored of it. Seriously. They all agree, shockingly, and then Wolverine ends up with all their essenses, ready to go to war. He does look bad-ass with the mystic markings, but that's because Stuart Immonen's art is destroying everything, in a good way.
I am very excited to see where this goes, but crowbarring Wolverine into a mystic scenario just seems wrong. It should be Dr. Strange or Dr. Voodoo...someone magical, not Marvel's poster boy. The emphasis should be on the fact that there are some things that violence won't achieve.
Some of the Spider-Man dialogue is just brilliant, though. Bendis really does capture his character, I feel. When he asks if the procedure of essense-taking has been done, this particular spell anyway, Dr. Voodoo says that it hasn't. Spider-Man says, "Ooooh, GOOOOOOD!" It just oozes sarcasm. It reminds me of when Christian Bale said it in his infamous Bale-out.
It's five issues in, so...the first trade shouldn't be too far away. Pick it up if you are majorly curious. I think it may read better as trades.
Shadowland #4 of 5.
I just want to say that Elektra brutally wiping out ninja of The Hand will never get old to me. It's honestly just beautiful. She does that in this.
You should all know my opinion of Daredevil's current quality by now. If you don't, you can check out my guest post on Weekly Crisis (If it ever makes it up). If it doesn't get posted, I'll post it.
Either way, this issue does nothing to dissuade my opinion and I don't have much to say. The art is good, same as always, but I can't help thinking that it all just looks a tad silly. I didn't mind before, but as I re-read the Bendis/Mack, Bendis/Maleev, Diggle/De la Torre issues...it really does come off as overly colourful and a bit blocky. In comparison, I mean. Daredevil was such a neo-noir, hard-boiled, darker comic and it just feels odd to me now. It's odd that Daredevil's first big crossover, the one that was meant to be his darkest story...has the lightest feel.
We pretty much get more of the street-level heroes wondering how or what it'll take to stop Daredevil. There's some interesting pages (Two to be precise, I think) of Lady Bullseye and The Kingpin discussing the events. Lady Bullseye wants to fight, but The Kingpin assures her that the time will come, as power is shifting back to him. They take off in a chopper and, as L.B. tells him the fires are spreading, he ominously says to let them burn, he no longer needs them.
Do they develop that? Nah. Will they? Hopefully.
It ends in a big fight with Matt being pinned down. Elektra tries talking sense into him and he explodes in dire and typical fashion with the cringe-worthy line, "Matt Murdock is no more. There is only...THE BEAST!"
I'm serious. Elongated horns and everything. I think they may have even given him sharp teeth. It's all just pants, to be firm and honest. It's all just gone into the shitter. I know the guys over at Speak of the Devil (An excellent podcast which Johnny M has said I can guest on at some point) are really liking it, but I wonder what they make of this issue.
Daredevil #511 is out next week, I guess we'll see what happens.
I just...this isn't good, man. It's honestly not cool. This really is a case of something not being broken, but a repair job being thought necessary anyway. There's also a lot made of Daredevil's attempt to resurrect Bullseye, it's even on the (Supremely bland) cover. Is it part of this issue? Not that I can see.
Diggle, I loved your run on Daredevil, pre-Shadowland. I loved Shadowland #1. What the fuck has happened?
My issue is simple. I try to never be THAT guy. I try not to be the guy who says Marvel should run shit this way, or do things that way. What do I know about running a business? However, I've loved Daredevil since I was six years old and I own more or less, barring a few issues, all of his #510/#511 issue run. As it stands, I am starting to not give a shit about what's going on because I feel like I've been short-changed.
Now, I still do not wanna be that guy, and I hate to end Thursday's Comics on a bad note, but here's my summation; when you can turn a fan like me away from a character he has adored and loved for most of his life, is it not time to put your hands on your heart and consider that you might have fucked up?
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That's all for now, but thanks for reading, as always. I'm considering moving Thursday's Comics to Friday (Same title, since they come out on Thursdays here). The reason for this is two fold.
The first is rather simple. I sometimes buy anywhere from three to eight comics every Thursday. I don't review 'em all, but I usually review at least two. In small number it's not bad, but any more and I encounter an issue. I feel as though cramming stories in, writing what I think and trying to do this all in the free time I get on Thursday just doesn't do anything, or ANYONE, justice.
I feel like I could give myself a day to read the comics, digest the stories. Re-read them and properly establish my opinion. I think that is a key element in what used to, and sometimes still does, make my reviews a little more synopsis-based and a little less review-based. I can only really tell you what happens because I generally haven't formulated an iron clad opinion yet. Not always, mind you. Sometimes I really can just churn it out well, but even when I do, I feel rushed.
I guess, in starting this blog I wanted to be known as punctual and on-time, resultantly giving myself set days to post things and very rarely straying outside of those. Sometimes I'll get home, read comics, do my day-to-day errands and then, bam! Next thing I know, it's 8-9pm and I'm tired, yet I have a blog post to do.
I really am trying to think of ways to fill the gaps between each Thursday. I'm seriously lacking in retro reviews and things like that, but I simply haven't had the time and I am coming up short on ideas. Well, I have lots of shit in the pipeline, don't get me wrong. I plan to do retrospectives on Blackest Night and the two preceding stories (Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War), Scalped, Invincible, Captain America and The Walking Dead. However, it's gonna take a lot of time and money to catch up on those trades (Not so much the very former, but the rest), so you probably won't get them soon.
The second reason is superficial. I get all my cover art from
Comic Vine, an excellent all-round comic website. Sometimes they just don't have the new artwork uploaded in time, and I really can't bring myself to post without it.
I do recommend you check the site out, though. The reviews and videos are good, even if I do have a lot of disagreements with the opinions of both G-Man and Sara "Babs" Lima, their love of the medium does come across more often than not. Speaking of which, the ever-busy Ms. Lima (Not Adriana, though Sara is also Brazilian-born) said she would enjoy doing an interview for Welcome to the Mast sometime. Don't hold your breath, though. I can't always find time to update THIS blog, but she is editor of Comic Vine, so you can imagine the workload.
This turned into a bit of a review/blog today, whaddya know?
Take care of yourselves. I DID have something planned for Saturday, but I'm going to see Killing Joke live and I doubt I'll be in any condition to type after. If not, never fear! I will see you next week!
Until next time, peace.
-The Mast
