Three books plus a Wizard Magazine (which I won't be reviewing because I don't usually and I haven't read it yet). This week we have Civil War Frontline #8, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest #2, and Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection The Director's Cut. So let's get started shall we:
Civil War Frontline #8 -- Some of Jenkins' writing I've liked (Origin and a good chunk of his run on the Incredible Hulk) but other times I find I absolutely loathe it (such as Wolverine The End and the Hulk Annual where he had the Hulk trying to have sex with She-Hulk). This book is closer to the second category. We start off with Ben Urich talking to a police officer who seems to know way too much about how the villains are being used by the pro-registration side (right down to the technology they are using). And I don't mean he knows too much as in there might be more to it, he simply knows stuff that shouldn't be known (how the technology works, how someone is helping Green Goblin beat it, etc). Plus, it's a lot of pages of rehashing stuff the reader already knows. But then it goes downhill. The female reporter is introduced to a homeless man who has some information to show her but of course, it's Captain America in disguise. Putting aside the fact that Cap is supposed to be a little pre-occupied and really hurt (as shown in Civil War #5) and it seems odd for him to be hanging with homeless, that's not what irked me, what irked me was the dumb comments he made (while in disguise) about glass Coke bottles and watching baseball players that played before WW2. Either Cap is an idiot for not realizing he was making that mistake or he's an idiot for putting those clues out there intentionally even though he knows the woman should be under surveillance. Then we have She-Hulk being interrogated by the head SHIELD woman. The SHIELD woman threatens to have She-Hulk imprisonned because she suspect that Shulkie had something to do with what happened to Speedball (where he went all glowy and blew up). Her reasoning, She-Hulk was hurt when it happened and that doesn't make sense to her. That's her evidence? That She-Hulk has a cut lip and is temporarily blinded by the explosion? But what irks me is that when she outright says that she's threatening She-Hulk with life imprisonment and a host of other stuff, She-Hulk wilts like a daisy. The confident and normally straight talking She-Hulk who just recently stood up to Thanos (okay, it was a clone of Thanos but she didn't know that) now bows her head and accepts these kind of threats. And according to previews of She-Hulk she's actually going to start working for SHIELD (under the command of this woman). Way to take a proud heroic female character and turn her into someone who won't say "boo" when she's being mistreated. Then you have the SHIELD person leave to boss around Reed Richards. You see, Reed's treating Speedball for his gunshot wounds and for a bunch of identifiable masses or somethingorother that are growing inside him (which Reed also wants to identify). The SHIELD person orders him to stop so they can take Speedball back to prison. Her reasoning, she doesn't want Speedball getting special treatment. Ok, like getting a doctor to treat someone who was shot while in your custody is special treatment. And like it's a good idea to send someone who just exploded without any explanation and is now growing masses inside him that Reed Richards can't identify back into prison is just plain stupid. And of course Reed goes right along with it. Way to stick up for your patients doctor. The last story had the Atlantean ambassador come up for a press conference only to be shot by Norman Osborn (great security they have there, a homicidal maniac that they released and are now searching for can walk straight up through SHIELD agents and other superheroes while carrying a gun and no disguise). It was "meh". All in all, it was crappy writing and it belittled two major heroes making them act totally subservient to a woman who is obviously not one of the "good guys".
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest #2 -- It wasn't terrible but there really isn't too much in this book for me to get excited about. I'm not a big Avengers fan, especially the Avengers that are in this series, so a lot of it is lost on me. Heck, when I saw a woman with short slicked hair walking around in her underwear my first thought was that it was the Wasp, it wasn't until Hawkeye (who I mistook for Hank Pym as Hawkeye was also in his underwear) called her Natalia or whatever Black Widow's name is that it dawned on me. But other than that confusion (and a bad perspective job on one page that makes is look like Vision is a giant looking down at hobbit sized police) the art wasn't bad. But overall, I'm not really liking this book. I'll probably drop it.
Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection The Director's Cut -- I wish I could compare this book to the original "cut" but I didn't catch the differences (it's been a while since I read that book) so I can't. But it was nice to go back and read this issue now that I have a better feel for where the story was going. And that might be something to think about, perhaps this book could have been improved by having a brief scene showing the "Elephantmen" now (living amongst people) before going back to how they were made. Just so you know where the meat of the Elephantmen stories will take place. But overall, it was enjoyable to read yet again. It has some interesting ideas, some great visuals, and is an all around great book. Now if it didn't take a couple years between issues it would be great (but at least we have the Elephantmen series to keep us happy).
1 comment:
Post a Comment