Comics for 25/7/12

Amazing Spider-Man #690

The ''No Turning Back'' arc continues as the lizard prepares a new serum to turn him back into a true lizard.

The main problem I've had with this arc is that I get the feeling that Dan Slott really doesn't care about it. It's obvious that he's having to do this just to tie in with the new Amazing Spider-Man film and it really reflects in the writing of this issue. A lot of exposition is used to move the story along and it stops the story from ever becoming engaging. The art isn't doing any favours either, Guiseppe Camuncoli's art is just way too angular, which causes the characters to look incredibly stiff. However, one thing that should be noted is that now Kingpin and Hobgoblin are now involved in the story, possibly for the build up to #700. It a real shame that this has been such an boring arc, 2010's Shed arc had a very similar set up but was so much better, and actually was an actual no turning back point for Kurt Connor's as his last shred of humanity left him. It was even referenced in #688.

Before Watchmen: Comedian #2

The comedian sets off to Vietnam to aid the war effort, as well as an insight into why he wants to be there

This series just continues to get more vague and confusing as Brian Azzerelo proceeds to make sure that the Comedian could have been involved in as many conspiracies as possible. While the main objective of the Comedian is clear enough, it's the details that make this story a mess. It's never clear what exactly is going on. What Azzerelo does well however is making sure that the titular character is as unlikeable as possible. From the start, he shows that the Comedian is in Vietnam not for pride of his country or for any greater good, but simply because he enjoys conflict and revels in the bloodshed of war. It is odd to note however, that this series is supposed showing us Blake before he completely lost his sense of moral compass, depsite the orginal series telling us that he was bad from the start, leaving us with a huge contradiction in this series. I can only see this series getting more and more confusing as we go on. Plus.......I still sorta.......wanna......know whether or not BA is trying to make the Comedian gay. That particular thread seems to of been completely left out of this issue.

Debris#1

In a ruined world inhibited by robotic animals, a small colony of humans struggle to survive.

It's really hard to care about this series. It isn't bad or good, but falls very much in the middle, leaving us with a very average book. The post apocalyptic setting isn't very interesting or well fleshed out yet, and neither are the characters. The art's fine and does a decent job, but there was a small thing that really bothered me as I read this. The colours in this really didn't suit the setting, everything was just too bright and colourful, especially the uniforms of the humans. Bright baby blue shouldn't exist this universe.

National Comics presents: Kid Eternity (one shot)

As part of the forensics division of the police force, Christopher Freeman must use his special connection with the dead to find out who murdered them.

This seems like Jeff Lemire's attempt at making a tv pilot. I mean it works as a comic, but it seems really familiar to sooooooooooo many other shows that get pumped out for day time tv. Regardless, Jeff Lemire does an excellent job making an interesting story from a done to death concept. A smart move from Lemire, we power through the origin in about 2 pages and dive straight into the meat of the story as we see Christopher pull out his first ghost of the day. The art does a good job of visualizing the paranormal parts of the book without getting loose and always showing us exactly what is going on. It has to be noted that for a one shot, Lemire has packed in so much into this. We a hook for a possible next issue, a mysterious character who could oppose Christopher and the entire world of hell to properly explore. I would like to see more of this series, since I'm such a writer with as much talent as Jeff Lemire could really bring out the best of the ghost whisper concept.

Ultimate Comics: Ultimates V6 #13

Captain America makes his grand return in the aftermath of the Reed Richards and the Children's invasion of earth.

I am extremely worried about this series. Hickman has left. Sam Humphries (the one responsible for THAT awful ending in #12) is now the main writer. I really don't think that Humphries will be able to take this series back the heights that Hickman lifted it up to. We can only hope. Anyway, this issue establishes the current state of the ultimate marvel America, with most of the states divided and Mad Max styled gangs popping up everywhere. We also get to see Captain America's new costume.......which doesn't look great at all. It's very blocky and makes him look like a blue coloured S.W.A.T. Member. It was nice to see Thor back in Asgard for the first time since the invasion, still visibly dealing with the death of his entire race and really nails home the point of how alone Thor is now that the ghosts of Asgard stopped seeing him. I'm still have my doubts about this series, but maybe Humphries will fare better with a story completely written by him.

Not a great week for comics, but next week is guaranteed to be better.

ANIMAL MAN

SWAMP THING

CROSSOVER

ROTWORLD

AND DAIL H FOR HERO

YYYYEEEAAAAAHHHH BUDDY

Comics for 27/06/12

Amazing Spider-Man #688

(By Dan Slott, Guiseppe Camuncoli, Klaus Janson and Frank D'Armata)

So, after finally concluding the Ends Of The Earth storyline, it's time for Dan Slott to start steering the story towards a lizard-based direction in preparation for the Amazing Spider-Man film. Honestly, ''Ends Of the Earth'' wasn't as great as everyone was anticipating so its nice to move towards a much more simpler story. In this issue, Spidey and Morbius hatch a plan to return Kurt Connors back to his human form through the use of HUGE FUCK OFF NEEDLE SPEARS AND HIGH VOLTAGE, because, you know, SCIENCE! Ignoring that, what we have here is a really well paced and dynamic story, which is greatly needed after the last story arc. Guiseppe Camuncoli does a great job in this issue, and while his art isn't as detailed as past ASM artists, its erratic and unique enough to give it a distinct charm. Here's to hoping a solid arc before we move on to ,*Shudder*, the Alpha storyline.

Spider-Men #2

(By Brian Bendis, Sara Pichelli and Justin Ponsor)

I really want to love this series. Spidey's ma boi and I only want to see him succeed in the comic world, but it doesn't help that both versions of the mainstream Spider-Men are on a money grab title like this. This issue takes off straight after Miles and Peter meet for the first time and almost immediately Peter picks a fight with Miles. It seems really out of character for Peter to throw the first punch in a situation like this, especially since he knows that he isn't the only webslinger around (Spider-Woman and kaine at least). Considering this is only a 5 issue series, the pace is ridiculously slow. For example, all that we achieve in this issue is that Peter and Miles fight for a bit and that Nick fury meets 616 Peter. This series could have so much potential, like Peter meeting Gwen and Aunt May of the Ultimate Universe or the reactions of some of the ultimate villians when they see Peter again, but it just doesn't feel like this series is going to explore any of these possibilities. It has to be said though that Sara Pichelli's art is fantastic, even if the Spider fight really wasn't that dynamic. I hope at least that she ends up on a Spider-Man book and gets a bit more freedom to do what she wants, because I think that with the right writer, she could make the best looking Spidey comic ever.

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl

(By J. Michael Straczynski, Andy Kebert and Joe Kubert)

Wait a minute.......A Before Watchmen comic.........THAT I LIKED?

So far, the Before Watchmen series has been really underwhelming. Minutemen just went over things we already knew, Silk Spectre was really boring and Comedian was.....really confusing (IS HE GAY FOR JFK, OR HIS SONS?), and I was ready to write this off as another really boring comic, but I'm really glad to be proven wrong on this one. BW: Nite Owl focuses on the second Nite Owl and how he became the hero he idolized. In a stark contrast to the other BW titles, SO MUCH happens in the first issue. We see Daniel find Nite Owl's hideout, get taken under his wing, take on the title of Nite Owl and the beginnings of his relationship with Rorschach. It's the last point in particular that I'm interested in since we never found out what their partnership was like before the original Watchmen comic takes place, and I believe that this is what will make this comic stand out from the rest of the BW comics. It's a fair point to make that perhaps the pacing was too quick (we span about 5 years throughout just the first issue), but I think that it worked in it favour and made the comic feel much more exciting than it really should have been. It's odd that this might end up being my favourite BW comic as this was the one that I was sure would be the average, middle of the road story.

Ultimate Comics: Ultimates #12

(By Jonathan Hickman, Sam Humphries, Luke Ross, Ron Garney, Butch Guice and Matt Milla)

Damn.

Just Damn.

What started off as one of the most interesting story arcs of last year, has finally lead to one of the most unsatisfying ending to a story ever (Legend of Korra go nothing on this). Without going into too much detail, Tony's plan of tricking the city into working against Reed (by using his sentient cyber tumor?) works and Thor and Sue Storm charge into the city and slap Reed's shit. Reed is then locked away in some kind of super forcefield by Sue, Thor returns to Asgard to.......mope, I guess, and Tony decides to let the marines do their thing, go to a party and wait for this to all blow over

There's really nothing more to say about this.No matter which way you look at it, you will be disappointed by this ending.

However, if there's one positive thing to take from this issue, it's this

''IS THE HULK AMERICA'S NEWEST THREAT AGAINST THE IDEALS OF FREEDOM? FIND OUT AT 11''

So how's that for a first blog post? I'll probably look back at this in a couple months time and cringe at this......

''Fucks sake, That Watchmen joke was way too obvious''