{"id":41,"date":"2015-04-25T18:49:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T18:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2015-05-19T02:47:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T02:47:13","slug":"comic-round-up-week-of-april-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"Comic Round-Up: Week of April 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 7<\/strong> \u2013 I hate to say it, but I think this issue\u2026 fell a little flat for me.\u00a0 Make no mistake, Al Ewing can still do no wrong in my eyes, but for all the build-up from the last issue’s cliffhanger – where they acknowledged\u00a0Warren Ellis’ Nextwave series as in-continuity in a big big way – Monica Rambeau didn’t get much opportunity to be the badass that we all know she is. \u00a0I did appreciate Al Ewing embracing Nextwave, since\u00a0you could tell from the references that he had the issues right there on his desk next to him, right down to the title of the issue, “KICK ‘SPLODE!”\u00a0 And I thought it was a particularly sinister touch to have the Beyond Corporation’s Jason Quantrell referencing the different types of entities from beyond, and he’s one of the kind that enjoys playing with little people like the toys they are: “It’s hard to believe, but we’re the friendly<\/em> ones. \u00a0We just want to play. \u00a0Some of the others… they’ve got plans<\/em>.” \u00a0But for all her need for vengeance, the only thing Monica did was hold Jason Quantrell long enough for the\u00a0Blue Marvel’s long-lost son, “the first human being to exit the omniverse and make re-entry,” to descend from the neutral zone to take Quantrell back where he belonged. \u00a0I know, it’s not like a superhero can win in one-on-one fisticuffs against an omnipotent Beyonder, and the Blue Marvel\u00a0acknowledged how impressive it was that she, one of the “little people,” managed to hold a cosmic being in place – “That was almost… biblical<\/em>” – but not exactly dramatically satisfying, you know? \u00a0Still: solid superhero fun! \u00a0This title remains the best example of what I think an Avengers title should be – the perfect mix of cosmic-level superheroics and street-level crime-fighting adventure.<\/p>\n

Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor 11<\/strong> \u2013 Delightful! \u00a0It moves the overall story forward, the \u201cfour dimensions\u201d is a fun gimmick that works well for the comic medium, and there\u2019s even a David Bowie reference I actually get<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor 9<\/strong> \u2013 As fun as it was to see the Weeping Angels again, I feel like a four-issue storyline might be pushing it for a monthly comic. While the Eleventh series will probably remain foremost in my heart, this whole storyline was made worthwhile when the Doctor outwitted the Weeping Angels in just the best, cutest, most David Tennant-est way<\/a>, wondering aloud why he hadn\u2019t thought of it before!<\/p>\n

Guardians 3000 6-7<\/strong> \u2013 Toooooo manyyyyy characterrrrrssss… but at least they\u2019re all in good hands with Dan Abnett on writing, so we can avoid Lewis Caroll-esque levels of nonsense<\/a> in the primary GotG comics. \u00a0Notably adorable was the part with Rocket Raccoon and Nikki<\/a> admiring each others\u2019 tastes in heavy artillery. \u00a0Also the incredible depiction of Galactus in the year 3000 as some chipped, aged, hollow-eyed deity in a featureless black void with fragments of himself breaking off and floating into the ether, prepared to wrap himself in a cocoon of heavy gravity so he can ride out the end of the universe just like he did the last time. \u00a0So cool<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0 The sixth issue had a lot of the usual, \u201cWhat do you mean<\/em> you\u2019re the Guardians of the Galaxy? \u00a0We\u2019re<\/em> the Guardians of the\u201d et cetera et cetera, not to mention two Star-Lords whaaaaa???<\/em>, but mercifully most of this was bypassed in issue 7 thanks to Starhawk mind-linking both teams and getting everyone up to speed.<\/p>\n

Legendary Star-Lord 11<\/strong> \u2013 New addition to the Black Vortex drinking game: take a drink every time someone uses the phrase \u201cnot my jam!\u201d \u00a0In which case you would have taken… four<\/em> drinks. \u00a0But yeah, so\u2026 the entire population of Spartax is encased in amber thanks to poor dumb easily-manipulated Thane. \u00a0To make matters worse, J\u2019son has unleashed a whole planet-wide swarm of modified Brood “infestoids” that are currently burrowing through the amber to get to each individual\u2019s brains, at which point they will lay their eggs, which will result in a universal scourge of Brood that will wipe out all life as we know it. \u00a0So Teen Jean attempts to use the Black Vortex to become a supremely powerful whatever, but thankfully everyone else<\/em> rightly points out that that particular cure would be worse than the disease, so they talk her down. \u00a0Star-Lord gallantly gazes into the Black Vortex but beholds that he would become, yea, e\u2019en unto the mightiest of douchebags<\/a>, after which he delivers a ridiculous melodramatic to speech to Kitty Pryde that he can’t go through with it, because he’s trying to be a better man… for her!\u00a0\u00a0Which means there\u2019s nothing left but for Kitty herself to Black Vortex up and, I can only assume, use her amped-up phasing powers to save the world. It\u2019s nice that this swerved away from becoming yet another Phoenix story, but by the same token, I can only hope that Kitty nobly sacrifices herself and dies at the end, if only to add some consequence<\/em> to this overlong inconsequential story about space-weirdos.<\/p>\n

Letter 44 15<\/strong> \u2013 Haha, that last page! \u00a0Classic sci-fi. \u00a0It\u2019s good to have this series back.<\/p>\n

Loki: Agent of Asgard 13<\/strong> \u2013 Oh boy, yet another<\/em> version of Loki. Man, I don\u2019t know what I wanted out of this series, but it is not scratching my itch \u2013 too much Asgardian mythos, not enough mischief<\/em>. \u00a0I guess it\u2019s a fine character study on Loki and all his many iterations, so it\u2019s through no fault of the story\u00a0itself, but Al Ewing aside, I think I may just have to break up with this series.<\/p>\n

Magneto 17<\/strong> \u2013 Magneto confronts the ghost of Hitzig, this Nazi that tormented Magneto during his concentration camp days, as Hitzig keeps murdering mutants in these weird Genoshan refugee camps\u2026 though why any mutants would volunteer to live among these ruins hasn\u2019t exactly been made clear. \u00a0I love that Magneto is now in charge of the latest batch of Marauder clones, but it feels like they have yet to really do<\/em> anything; the majority of the team just stands around in the ubiquitous Genoshan rubble as they fruitlessly search for the murderer, though I did like Arclight attempting to get a rise out of Magneto\u2019s new bunkmate Briar Raleigh, to which Briar asks if she\u2019s jealous. \u00a0Gabriel Hernandez Walta\u2019s art definitely gets a chance to shine with Hitzig\u2019s shark-teeth and black eye sockets and, like, flailing blood-tentacles! \u00a0Then they bust out the ol\u2019 trope that Hitzig isn\u2019t a ghost, but a distorted memory inadvertently pulled from Magneto\u2019s psyche and given form by an innocent young mutant with the power to do that thing, and she doesn\u2019t know how to stop. \u00a0I guess it never occurred to Hitzig that if faced with the \u201cimpossible\u201d choice of killing one innocent mutant to save many mutants, Magneto is probably the character who would have the least difficulty in carrying that out, and so he does.<\/p>\n

Ms. Marvel 14<\/strong> \u2013 I appreciated circling back on Kamala\u2019s fight with villainous Inhuman (sigh) “Kaboom,” exploring Kamala\u2019s twinge of remorse over just slappin\u2019 her around with her cartoonishly large fists. \u00a0That was a nice touch, as was jumping out of the window and ballooning up her feet to absorb the impact! \u00a0But as is the curse of three-part storylines, I do think flipping Kamran\u2019s switch from \u201ccharming\u201d to \u201csinister\u201d was a bit abrupt. \u00a0But I think the best scene of this issue was Kamala\u2019s brother and Bruno having their heart-to-heart, explaining that they think Bruno is a very nice boy, but Kamala\u2019s parents are just trying to help her preserve her heritage. \u00a0You can definitely see where all parties are coming from, so that\u2019s nice, it\u2019s just nice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Spider-Man and the X-Men 5<\/strong> \u2013 Oh my god am I ever going to miss this series. \u00a0It\u2019s so over-the-top and indulgently silly but it all\u2026 just\u2026 works<\/em>. \u00a0I\u2019m speaking, of course, of Beast and Spider-Man angrily comparing notes<\/a> about each other\u2019s ridiculous enemies \u2013 \u201cdespite clearly being parasitic\u201d hit me just right! \u00a0I still love that every character has something to do, but the unexpected star of the show was yet again Glob Herman, saving the day to disprove everyone\u2019s constant assertions that he must totally be the mole. \u00a0That panel with his thumbs-up<\/a>\u2026 absolutely perfect. \u00a0Thank god for you, Elliott Kalan. \u00a0Please keep writing comics.<\/p>\n

Squarriors 2<\/strong> \u2013 Hee-hee! \u00a0The cat leader is wearing a jaunty makeshift crown of tiny ribcages<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Thor 7<\/strong> \u2013 Oh my god, that scene on the moon, I feel like Thor is either 100% obviously Roz Solomon no question, or, more likely, Jason Aaron is gearing up for a massive mind-blowing fake-out and I seriously have no other potential candidates in mind. As much as I still do not care about seeing the Serpent again, the fight scene between Thor and the Destroyer was pretty bone-crunchingly powerful<\/a>, giving Mjolnir a gentle kiss<\/a> was great, and man, can we spend a minute or two just basking in the glow of that gorgeous page<\/a> with Malekith and Dario Agger tearing into those light elves?<\/p>\n

Uncanny X-Men 33<\/strong> \u2013 Man, maybe it\u2019s the magic of lowered expectations, but I would call this two solid Bendis comics in a row for this series. For one thing, Kris Anka art! For another, it focused on two X-Men, not a ridiculous yammery crowd scene! In this story, Magik teleports away with Kitty and tells her that whenever the X-Men start squabbling amongst themselves, she takes it upon herself to teleport away with a mini-Cerebro unit and rescue a young mutant in need somewhere in the world, which I think is both plausible and adorable. CBR raised some valid points about these two characters not really having any conflicts to resolve, but I nonetheless thought it was nice to see these two longtime friends hanging out, talking like people, and rescuing a cute little mutant girl who was abandoned by her father on Monster Island. (Darling husband: \u201c\u2019Monster Island?\u2019\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much just what it sounds like.\u201d) There were some cute details, like Magik fighting monsters with her soulsword while Kitty just stands there intangible and lets the monsters take ineffectual swipes at her\u2026 and Kitty makes a joke about Magik being a spooky demon sorceress, and Magik says that she actually hurts her when she makes jokes like that, and then Kitty\u2019s all awkward. It\u2019s dumb, but it\u2019s a simple one-issue story with action beats and character moments, and the art is beautiful. And with All-New X-Men in mind, we know it coulda been a lot worse!<\/p>\n

Wolverines 14<\/strong> \u2013 Huh! When Mystique\u2019s cryptic notes said \u201cPortal will be essential,\u201d I didn\u2019t know she was literally referring to Portal from Darkhawk. (Did you know he also made a relatively recent reappearance during Marvel Zombies as head of A.R.M.O.R., the alternate reality division of S.H.I.E.L.D.?) I do appreciate Charles Soule\u2019s willingness to re-appropriate forgotten nineties characters, a la Nightwatch! I should ask if he\u2019d be willing to do something with Adam X the X-Treme \u2013 I mean, seriously, if there were any series in which he\u2019d fit right in, it\u2019s this one!<\/p>\n

BaCk IsSuE cOrNeR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Captain Universe and the X-Men: Sleeping Giants<\/strong> \u2013 Even in this Internet age, there was one comic that to date eluded me, but I\u2019ve finally managed to snag a copy! It was this promotional offer that ran in 1994 where you, yes you, could have your name included in a Marvel comic as the latest recipient of the power of Captain Universe! I know what you\u2019re wondering \u2013 my god, Cody, did you have better things to do in 1994 than procuring your own? But I guess the opportunity just passed me by, to my lasting regret! I thought this story had been re-issued as a one-shot with some generic name, but it looks like this was one of the original limited run of 94, belonging to one Mark F_____ of Middletown, USA! It opens with a personal letter to Mark from Stan Lee himself, the included Captain Universe trading card(!) has Mark\u2019s name, and even the ads are personalized to Mark directly! What has become of you, Mark, that you would part with such a personalized treasure?<\/p>\n

The story, of course, is pretty mediocre \u2013 a hapless mutant dude named \u201cRoger Fieldston\u201d is inadvertently turning passersby into grotesque monsters through casual contact, and it\u2019s up to the X-Men and Captain Universe to put a stop to it. All the animated-series-era X-Men behave true to character:<\/p>\n

Rogue: “That sure looks like a mutant o’ some sort t’me! And it looks t’be in a real bad way!”
\nJubilee: “Nothin’ that a new ‘do couldn’t cure, Rogue.”
\nWolverine: “I’ll give it a haircut it won’t forget, Jubilee!”
\nRogue: “Don’t pop those claws yet, Wolverine!”<\/p>\n

And so on in that fashion. But there is one panel I particularly enjoyed wherein Captain Universe neutralized the threat of this dangerous new mutant thanks to his power of backin\u2019 that thang up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I just thought this acquisition was a bit timely because despite two waves of comic ads, it looks like the over-hyped \u201cZing Revolution\u201d at crashthecomics.com is finally defunct, so I fear I may never be able to fulfill my humble dream of putting my husband’s face on the Hulk\u2019s body in a pseudo-canonical licensed Marvel comic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 7 \u2013 I hate to say it, but I think this issue\u2026 fell a little flat for me.\u00a0 Make no mistake, Al Ewing can still do no wrong in my eyes, but for all the build-up from the last issue’s cliffhanger – where they acknowledged\u00a0Warren Ellis’ Nextwave series as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comic_round-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}