.gif)
.jpg)
Once again, all I want to do is talk AVX Consequences! AVX CONSEQUENCES #2 (OF 5) came out this week. It is a weekly series. Gonna get issues for the next three weeks! Wolverine goes to visit Cyclops in jail this issue. They chat. I do owe Marvel an apology. Lazy writing? Bad editorial direction? No way! They were just saving the entire conversation for this issue! Cyclops goes with the obvious, and previously mentioned, defense: It wasn’t me! I was possessed by a cosmic force! I’m off the hook! Free me! Wolverine isn’t buying it. Cyclops next tried Jim’s defense: Iron Man messed it all up. I never wanted to be Phoenix. I wanted Hope to be Phoenix. You (Wolverine) were gonna kill her! Do you think that would have worked? No way! Hope is the Mutant Messiah and everything worked out just fine. Wolverine still ain’t buying it. Oh well. There’s always next week…
Plenty of good books this week. DAREDEVIL #19, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #16 and CAPE 1969 #4 (OF 4) spring to mind. But I’m only nominating seven books today. Almost nominated JUSTICE LEAGUE #13. Did enjoy the talking… but then Superman went Cheetah at the end and that was that.
And in case you hadn’t heard, the Marvel Universe is getting reshuffled. Really started to see it with this week’s book. Got the last issue of UNCANNY X-MEN #20 this week. Havok left X-Factor (presumably to join the Uncanny Avengers) in X-FACTOR #245. Luke Cage and Jessica are finally moving out of Avengers Mansion, courtesy of NEW AVENGERS #31, and quitting the team. And while it still has an epilogue issue to go, MIGHTY THOR #21 wrapped up the Everything Burns story arc. Liking how the books are ending. Seems they gave the creators plenty of time to wrap things up. Looking forward to see what the rest of the books do here at the end. And totally looking forward to some brand new #1 issues!
Nominees!
AMERICAN VAMPIRE LORD OF NIGHTMARES #5 (OF 5) – Spoiler! Hobbes is dead! Don’t be sad. Had to happen sooner or later. He was old and the next time-jump was gonna get him anyway. And making Felicia Book the new head of the VMS works well. Plus Little Gus went VAMPIRE!
BEFORE WATCHMEN MINUTEMEN #4 (OF 6) – Great issue. Lots of short stories. Lots of back story. The Comedian at Guadalcanal. Silhouette’s history and death. Some Hooded Justice in the background. Loved the Sally and Eddie conversation. Still really enjoying the Watchmen books.
CHEW #29 – Has now created a Victuspeciosian. Otherwise known as a beautician with superpowers! A special facial mask made out of various foods turns ugly people beautiful! Also featured the most meaningless yet most awesome page maybe of all time. Meanwhile! Poyo! Annihilation in Nippon! Mecha-Turducken! Obliteration in the Orient!
HAWKEYE #3 – Seriously. Trick Arrows? A one night stand? A naked Hawkeye? A car chase? Nine terrible ideas? Seriously. One great idea. And one great comic. To do that. With that plot. Amazing. Best Book of the Week! Bro!
MARVEL ZOMBIES HALLOWEEN – Gonna be an in case you missed it! Course Andy has to read it and it must pass his scrutiny but how can it not! A mom and her son are trying to survive in a Zombie filled world. And 2/3rd’s of the way through the book you did not know it was a Marvel comic. Sure the little kid put on a Wolverine Halloween outfit but other than that it read like a Walking Dead issue. Then came the end. Shocked to find out who the Mom was. Shocked to find out who the creepy old man was. Very well done and well worth checking out. It’s just a one shot!
NIGHTWING #13 – Nightwing easily makes it this week. Actually had more to do with Death of the Family and Joker than Batgirl #13 did last week. Lady Shiva comes to town. Sonja Bracco. The amusement mile. Another really good issue. RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #13, which I also enjoyed, also had a Joker ending this week. Get yourself a Batman #13 and get ready for some serious Joker throughout the Bat-verse!
WALKING DEAD #103 – Andrea did not know! I am surprised. Guess I gave her too much credit or maybe I just didn’t give Rick’s acting skills enough. Anyway. Negan comes to town! With Lucille in hand! Rick’s master plan goes into immediate effect. Don’t do anything! Nothing! I repeat. Nothing! See how well that worked. I’m lulling that smug SOB into a false sense of security. Got him right where I want him!
Poll tomorrow! Hawkeye’s gonna be tough to beat. But if Nightwing pulls an upset, the Bat-family goes 3 for 3 so far this month.
See ya!
Rusty
Lots of good comics this week, but this is the easiest call in a long while. Hawkeye was great.
Send a Marvel Zombie book my way -Thanks
Hawkeye was spectacular.
Hawkeye was excellent, but I believe that Aja is carrying the book. Fraction goes so much for cool and breezy that the book is actually a weak plot and the transitions are not seamless. Aja’s art makes it work and in the hands of a more straight forward super hero artist I think it would just be okay.
Jim: I disagree with you about Hawkeye. Is AJa’s art amazing? Absolutely. His car chase scene was ridiculous! Fraction, however, deserves credit here. This is the type of book he writes best. He has already gone on record as saying this is basically what Hawkeye does during his downtime. It is not supposed to have long-reaching, involved plots. It reads more, as I said in my review, like some of the classic Spider-Man stories I loved that were more about the man than about specific long-ranged plot points.
Exactly half of what I like about the book is the pithy dialogue and the crazy situations. That all comes from the writer. Is it a little tongue-in-cheek boring on too much? Sure. But that has never stopped me from loving Joss Whedon, or Warren Ellis, so it doesn’t destroy my Fraction love here. It reads, in many ways, like Iron Fist. And I say that as someone that was not nearly as impressed by Fraction’s Thor or his Iron Man run. Aja I have seen do little fill-ins here and there, and although his art is always awesome, he needs a good writer that complements him well. He has that in Fraction.
I’ll give you Aja being a big draw, but you cannot undercut what Fraction is doing on this book.