Comic Reviews for December 26, 2002
Oh yeah. Sorry I'm late for the second straight week. I have no idea what has gotten into me. By the way, The Two Towers was excellent. Boy did I want to piss my pants because of that film.
Yeah, it was that damn good.
Enough of that. It's time to review. They'll be brief this week, cause I'm tired. I'll leave a few tidbits at the end of this as well.
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Agent X 6
Dead Man's Switch Part 6: Uninvited Guests - By Gail Simone and UDON; published by Marvel Comics
Conclusion to the first and final arc of Gail Simone's run, as everything built up in the previous five issues comes together in a whirlwind of blood and jokes. Oh yeah, just the way I like it. There was a nice little twist at the end with Hayden's one final job to take care of. I won't mention it here for the sake of it. Overall, a great finish.
Sadly, just one issue left of Gail. Might as well prepare my back-pocket bazooka's when Buddy comes along.
Score: 8/10
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Amazing Spider-Man 48
A Spider's Tale - By J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr., and Scott Hanna; published by Marvel Comics
Conclusion to the current arc, as Spider-Man defeats the funny looking baddie in Ghana. Clearly not one of the best arcs this book has seen. Hopefully this will pick up next year, especially with what's happening in issue 50. I only hope those evil guest stars have a reason for showing up.
Score: 5/10
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Captain America 7
The Extremists: Part 1 of 5 "Barricade" - By John Ney Rieber, Trevor Hairsine and Danny Miki; published by Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint
First part of the next arc in Rieber's America, as the Cap gives a speech about gang violence being bad, then taking on some random baddies that S.H.I.E.L.D. speaks about. Oh yeah, I think I'm starting to hate this book. There is a new artist on the book, Trevor Hairsine, whose stuff looks great. I like it. A lot.
Oh, but please somebody do something about that story.
I guess I'll go through the plot. The Captain dreams about being frozen, then wakes up to a gun shot in the alley of his new New York City apartment. He takes care of it. Next day, Cap walks in the street and goes home with a gang standing outside of it. Some inspirational stuff causes them to place their guns on the ground.
Hell, I'll be tempted to run and grab them. But I'm not that evil.
Fast forward through a scene where Cap and some Native American woman talk about some convulsive plot devices, and to the end of the issue, where some blockhead named Barricade goes to pick a fight with him.
Trust me, it's not good at all when you pick it up and read it. Just come over my house and I'll let you read it if you want. Feel free to make your own decision about it, cause I've made mine up.
Score: 3/10
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Filth 7
Zero Democracy - By Grant Morrison, Chris Weston and Gary Erskine; published by DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Now on to something ten times better. Let's see...big giant boat nation of loons declare war on the world while Greg gets himself into a huge boatload of trouble.
Bloody marvelous I tell ya. Bloody marvelous.
Score: 9/10
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Thundercats: Reclaiming Thundera 5
By Ford Lytle Gilmore, Ed McGuinness and Joe Phillips; published by DC Comics/WildStorm imprint
Remind me not to pick up anything from WildStorm in a long time. I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but I haven't read anything truly decent from them this year. This is no exception. It's light fun, but I need more.
Score: 5/10
Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra 3 *Pick of the Week*
By Greg Rucka, Salvador Larroca and Danny Miki; published by Marvel Comics/Ultimate imprint
Mini continues, and still remains excellent. Of course, how can I doubt Greg Rucka (more on him in a moment). Basically, Elektra beats some confessions out of two punks, and Trey and his Dad get down to some business with making her shut up. All very good stuff.
Score: 9/10
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Ultimate War 2
By Mark Millar, Chris Bachelo and Tim Townsend; published by Marvel Comics/Ultimate imprint
The fun stuff continues as Magento attack directly at the Ultimates base, and Captain America (a much better version than the regular universe) gets pissed off about it. Meanwhile, the X-Men learn that Scott has died back in the Savage Land. Now that this has a direction, I'm beginning to like this more. Of course, I still can't get past Bachelo's art, but then again, who can? As a whole though, better than the first issue.
Score: 7/10
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X-Statix 6
Moons of Venus: Part 1 of 3: Good Guy, Bad Guy - By Peter Milligan and Mike Allred; published by Marvel Comics
New arc begins as new villain shows up, going with the name 'Bad Guy'. Meanwhile, Venus attempts to get a new costume from Professor Xavier. As with this book, it continues to be great, and it remains as my favorite X-book. It'll be great to see more in the new year.
Score: 9/10
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Speaking of the new year, here are a few things to pass along. First: no Year in Review. It'll take too much time and effort, and I don't have enough people looking at this site to waste it. That, and I have no time to do one too.
Now on to comic news. Starting in May, Greg Rucka will be taking over Wolverine, with a relaunched book. He will be joined by Darick Robertson. Look for the book to be great, and a great many deal times better than the work Tieri has done on it. I'll definitely pick that up once it starts. Unfortunately, Rucka will be leaving Elektra. I do pray that the new team will continue the path he has laid for it.
As mentioned above, prepare your book burnings for Agent X. Also, a new creative team goes on Soldier X as, from what I can tell, looks to only be worth looking at the pictures for.
What else...Judd Winick joins Green Arrow pretty soon, or whenever the rest of Meltzer's misfired run continues. Hopefully Ghost in the Shell 2 will ship before the next year gives out, though now I think that I'll probably resort to just doing the trade for it when it comes out. And once I get done collecting the current Transformers mini-series, NO MORE 80'S REVIVAL for me.
Those have been a waste of money.
Look for more manga here too. I'm really getting into it more and more. I hope to collect volumes two and three of Akira on Wednesday, if I ever get my money. Greedy bastard I am. I think the next part of Evangelion will start in the late spring, so look for that. Plus, Project ARMS and Battle Angel Alita continues, as well as any others that I've collected that I can't remember at this particular moment.
So with that, I'll conclude this review year by saying Happy New Year. I'll see you all next year, and please, don't drive while drunk. Just drink a six-pack in front of your TV watching that damn ball fall for sixty seconds. I'll probably do that. Until next year, peace.