Comics for 9/20/06
Probably better late than never:
- 52 #20
- Astonishing X-Men #17
- Civil War #4
- The Invincible Iron Man #12
- Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #8
- Superman #656
- Wolverine #46
- X-Men: Civil War #3
Impressions coming later.
Hey. Now it’s later!
52 was released on time. For more on 52, check this out.
Astonishing X-Men #17
This is a fantastic comic. The first dozen issues had two problems, schedule, and Cassaday’s empty backgrounds. Scheduling hasn’t exactly been fixed, but it’s been addressed by changing the publishing schedule to officially bi-monthly for a few issues. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than not knowing when to expect the next issue, and Cassaday’s art is almost flawless now. Buy it.
Civil War #4
Well, whatever. McNiven’s art is beautiful as always, but the pacing is all wrong at this point. The events of the last two issues only have enough meat in them for one issue, but someone couldn’t resist splitting things for the sake of a big cliffhanger. Then the cliffhanger turns out to be one of those stupid fake cliffhangers, where what they teased you with isn’t the reality of the situation. It wasn’t obvious in issue #3, but it was a lose-lose situation from the moment Thor arrived: either Thor’s back and he’s been shoe-horned into the story by destroying existing characterization, or he’s back courtesy of some kind of fake-out plot mcguffin. It’s the latter, but what difference does it really make? I guess it’s better for Thor, the character, but it’s irrelevant for Me, the reader. The larger issues with Civil War’s entire setup, which I’ll elaborate on elsewhere, are no closer to being addressed either.
The Invincible Iron Man #12
Iron Man makes it through his second arc without retconning Extremis! I’m pretty thrilled by that; the lovely battle that wraps it all up is just icing on the cake. Now taking bets for whether he comes out of Civil War with Extremis intact.
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #8
Kick, ’splode! ’nuff said. This is like the comic book version of delicious cotton candy. With explosions. I guess that wasn’t quite ’nuff said after all.
Superman #656
Solid art, solid story, but I’m starting to think I only like Superman when he’s got exceptional stories or exceptional art, or when he’s being out-thunk by Batman (who I read even when both art and stories are lousy. Sorry Supes, life’s not fair).
Wolverine #46
Wolverine vs. a Corporation isn’t really as exciting as Wolverine in Iron Man’s suit vs. all of Atlantis, but it’s the logical way for the story to play out. I can live with that.
X-Men: Civil War #3
I don’t really know who most of the characters are in half the X-Men books these days, so I’m not really invested in them. I was hoping this would still be interesting for the Civil War angle, but I was wrong. X-Men fans and Civil War fans alike can safely skip this entirely. Moron completists who have to buy the rest of the story arc once they’ve plunked down their $3 for the first issue (I’m looking at you, Me), well, you’re, hah, you’re uh, Schmidt Outta Luck.