I am very sorry for the incredible lateness of this Flash Review, school has been kicking the adamanitum out of me lately.
Angel & Faith #2 – So far the new series have been amazing! It’s been so great to see the switch in roles for Angel and Faith. For Faith to be the voice of reason with Angel, by all appearances, is flailing and barely sane. I can’t wait to see how they end up tying this series back to the main Buffy Season 9 book. Highlight of the issue? A throw back to the first season Angel episode “I Will Remember You” when he became human and had to give it up. Classic!
Annihilators: Earthfall #1 – I’ve said it before…FINALLY! The Annihilators (and the space stories in general) have returned to Earth! This is such a long time coming and they really took their sweet time getting there. Let’s look back shall we? After Avengers Disassembled we have House of M which lead us right into Decimation which includes Son of M and Deadly Genesis. These two stories led into Silent War and Fall and Rise of the Shi’ar Empire, respectively, both of which then led right into the Wars of Kings. After the War we had the Realm of Kings, followed by the Thanos Imperative, which then ultimately led us to Annihilators. Now I know that we also had all the Annihilation Wars and that was the other half of the War/Realm of Kings stories but still! A large chuck of the backstory came from Earth-based conflicts and then they just left the planet and never looked back (until recent issues of FF). So now we’re back to Earth and the Avengers are in the mix! Excellent job Marvel!
Astonishing X-men #42 – So cute! This vintage Brood story with a twist was so much fun, and with the repercussions of Schism looming, this will be the last time we see some of these characters together for a while. I am glad to see that Kitty and Lockheed are back together again because I think she’s really going to need the support after her breakup with Peter over in Uncanny X-me n. I hope we see more of the new “good” brood creature soon because he could be such a sweet character to have around and HEY if he’s not a mutant then I don’t know who is!
Fear Itself: The Deep #4 – AH! There it is! I have been enjoying this mini-series, one of the better Fear Itself tie-ins, and now suddenly there’s a point behind it! This entire series was a big set up for the new Defenders series…which I probably won’t buy. I usually get really mad at blatant marketing ploys to make us buy other books, but they happen to make this a really good story at the same time so I don’t mind so much.
Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #2 – Such a better story then Curse of the Mutants! I know there’s really no comparison to the two but I was so underwhelmed by that vampire story so I wasn’t expecting much out of this. Dracula is so much cooler in this story and I have never been much of a Marvel vampires fan but this was so much better! Haven’t liked Dracula this much since Uncanny X-men #159 and Annual #6…oh and the Hulk was there too…
FF #9 - ::Sigh:: I’m trying here guys…I really am. I feel like its just a countdown for the real Fantastic Four series to come back at this point. I am pretty sure I’m only holding on for the Inhumans’ story to finish out. I AM intrigued about this collar that “Reed” put onto Doom and I wonder if it will follow past this one story…seems too good a plot device to waste on one or two issues… Black Bolt should dump his extra wives and Medusa should have her hair examined for being ok with this, where are we? Utah!?
Journey Into Mystery #628 – What…a crazy story! I am really into this Young Loki, much more then I expected to be. I really hope that at the end of this side story (which is just as good as the main Fear Itself storyline) that we DON’T end up with adult Loki again, we don’t lose Leah (I want to see more of these crazy kids together), and that Journey Into Mystery doesn’t get cancelled (since I only seem to collect it right before its goes away). Tyr rocks and Hela BETTER not be dead!
New Avengers #16.1 – DAMN! That’s all I have to say is DAMN! You know, you get somewhat used to the fact that heroes battle villains and, regardless of what happens along the way, they win. Sometimes, especially in recent years, the road to that win is a little harder but the outcome is typically the same. But there’s nothing typical about Norman Osborn. He had this battle won and the Avengers defeated before it even started. The team had every reason to be scared and they never even had a chance. Seeing Norman reigns at the end over Hydra, AIM, and god know what other evil organizations gave me chills down my spine for things to come.
New Mutants #31 – Um…I don’t know. This was sort of a weird issue. I don’t usually comment too much on artwork but I simply can’t ignore this: What the hell is up with Sunspot!? He looks like some sort of weird ape creature (almost Beast-like). Magma looks like a Sailor Moon reject and Nate and Doug just look…odd. The only person who didn’t look strange was Warlock, and that is only because he’s supposed to look like that. Other than that, Dani’s in-the-monster’s-stomach storyline? Kinda icky...a little strange. Its good to see them getting back to some of the gang’s kookier theme again though. I always love the New Mutants.
Secret Avengers #17 – Boring book, bad artwork. I honestly wonder why I still buy this book. I originally bought it because Beast had just left the X-men and that’s where he was going but he’s not even in all the issues, and it looks like Beast is going to Wolverine’s X-men after Schism anyway so… I am surprised that this book is even still going, it has no continuity to it, it’s basically just a Steve Rogers book, with some of his shadier cohorts. We’ll see what happens after Fear Itself I guess.
X-men: Legacy #256 – Definitely some good parts and bad parts in this storyline. I love seeing Alex, Lorna and Rachel again but I’m not really so into the Shi’ar/Insect Civil War. I have always loved Frenzy (even when she was Cargill) and, having her on the team, I love her more and more every single issue. It’s really good that Magneto was on the team for this mission to rescue his daughter but I will miss he and Rogue’s interactions after ReGenesis takes effect in issue #259.
