July 5th Release Reviews

Disappointment is the word for the day when it comes to the comics that came out this week. They looked good on paper, and there is potential with a couple of #1 issues that could lead to better things, but right now, I am already Waiting on next Wednesday.

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Captain America #25 Director's Cut

This issue did nothing for me except to remind me what a douche Tony Stark is and how much I hate him right now. The comments in the script were nice to see where Ed Brubaker was coming from with different scenes, and the press coverage section was ok, too. But I could have lived my whole lie without ever seeing either of those.

It is not the first time I have seen a comic book script, and the news that was there I mostly saw when the entire thing happened the first time. But for those who didn't, I am sure it helped to frame the importance of the death of Cap against the backdrop of the real world.

This issue will not be very valuable as a collectible, if you are into that kind of thing (I'm not), but if you love Captain America, it is probably an issue you should have in your library if only for the black-and-white panel art, and the alternate covers shown like the one on the left. There are also some hints hidden with in the script comments, and one conspicuous large blacked out area that I think points in a certain direction for Cap fans. But if you are not a Cap fan, the original #25 should suffice from a story standpoint.

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Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America - Iron Man #5

I read this hoping to find some further insight into what is going through Tony Stark's head, but he is still nothing more than an asshole. It's not right that any heroes should have felt scared to go to Cap's funeral, much less icons like Spidey and Wolverine, but instead those two plus Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Doctor Strange have to watch on TV because Stark would have them arrested. God I really really hate him.

Other than that, Falcon's speech and the cut scenes they put in to show different stages of Cap's life were done very well. Falcon had everyone who served with him in different parts of his life stand up, and at the end made the point that they were all connected but being to stubborn to see it (see image on right).

I know they are going somewhere this whole death of Cap thing, but I fail to see where it is. And I have to be honest, I just don't like it very much. They have backed themselves into one of two corners as far as I can see it. Either (1) He isn't really dead, and it is going to piss off everyone, or (2) they are going to replace him with someone else and it is going to piss off everyone. With his body being buried at sea now, I don't see how they will bring him back without lying to us.

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Uncanny X-men #488

Zzzz... Zzzz... Zzzz..... Wow what a bunch of crap. I am so disappointed in this issue. This is no fighting, no real surprises, a too lengthy scene with Professor X and Agent Valerie Cooper of O*N*E. Did I say too long? I meant, it didn't to be there at all if you ask me. She expects the X-men to sit still like caged rats? And to tell her the absolute truth about everything when she is acting like an overlord? And Storm and the rest of them back in the Morlock tunnels was booooring. Want to know what happened down there? Nothing! No really, a whole bunch of nothing.

The only thing worth buying this book for was the 8 page Endangered Species story in the back. Yes I bought it for 8 pages. I am a schmuck, but it was worth it. Beast gets his answers from all the baddies he hit up for help last week, and unfortunately, he gets a lot more no's than yes's, with Dr. Kavita Rao, Spiral and the High Evolutionary all begrudgingly accepting the challenge to attempt to reverse the inevitable mutant extinction.

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Thor #1

My LCS did not have the Jimmy Olsen TPB (in fact they were unaware of it altogether) so I had some extra money, and picked up this first issue for the God of Thunder's new series. I have never been a big Thor fan, so I did not exactly know what I was getting into, and may have missed some subtle things.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I think they did a good job of laying out his recent history so that a new reader like me could get into it and understand what is going on. I also thought they did well explaining the how and why of him returning to life with a great scene between Donald Blake and the Odinson, which is depicted in the panel on the right.

I have to give a rare shoutout to a letterer, Chris Eliopoulos, because as you can see in that page, the lettering is awesome, and completely appropriate for the title. I almost never notice the lettering, unless it is screwed up, but this jumped out at me once I opened to the first page, and kept my interest throughout.

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Irredeemable Ant-Man #10

I am not sure what to do about this whole World War Hulk thing. This is now officially the third tie-in to completely screw me over. Was it as bad as Ghost Rider #12? Was it as much of an overdone ripoff as Iron Man #19? Almost...

Being another title that I will never buy at any other time, and should not have bought this time either, I am not familiar with the characters, but what is there to be familiar with? We have a less-than-moral guy who stole Hank Pym's Ant-Man outfit from S.H.I.E.L.D. and is now stuck somewhere between being a criminal and a scoundrel. A strongman, like the Marvel U doesn't have any of those. And the girl Ant-Man is in love with, but kinda mean to, but she is some kind of empath, so she knows how he really feels. Ugh. I looked up the word "tripe" and this comic was pictured.

Ok, we got that out of the way, on to the Smashing! Right? You would think so, but not here. At least this cover actually represented what happened. Ant-Man goes into Hulk's stomach to try to stop him, only to find out he's... wait for it... invulnerable. Yeah. We know. We have known for decades. So how does he get out? through Hulk's nose, after making a joke about coming out another hole of course. That's the state of humor in comics today, poop jokes. Yay! Ant-man was supposed to be one of the funnier titles available today, and it wasn't. Enough ranting, let's get onto a comic worth talking about.

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Countdown #43

This is how Countdown should be done all the time. They touched on every character, gave them their own time in the book, without jumping all over the place every other page. In case you missed it, Bart Allen, the Flash, was murdered and this issue shows his funeral. All the heroes (and a couple of villains) show up to pay their respects, with a pretty humorous video Bart shot before he died being shown.

I have read other places already today that have bashed this funeral for not being as good as Cap's was this week. But I have to disagree, because Captain America was a grown man who died for the cause, and was given a proper hero's burial. Bart Allen was a kid. This was a funeral for someone who enjoyed life to it's fullest, and it was also public. To say one funeral or the other was better or worse, is just wrong. In real life too, every funeral is different, with some taking on an almost celebratory attitude, while others are gloomy because of other circumstances (like a Civil War).

Aside from the funeral, we get to see more of New Earth's resident Monitor, and his interaction with Donna Troy and Jason Todd, who are also at the funeral, though hiding for unknown reasons. They do a nice job in this issue of setting up the upcoming Search for Ray Palmer mini. Also Kimmy frickin Olsen has finally come to terms with the fact he has powers, and decides he is going to do something with them. Should be interesting.

The Monarch/Forerunner storyline takes an interesting, if slightly confusing, twist. This guy who no one really knows, has his own world and an army? And everyone is unaware of this? How did the GLCorps drop the ball on this one? Anyhow, he wants to let Forerunner use his army to battle with the Monitors, which could create some problems across the Multiverse.

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As I said before, I wasn't able to get The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy frickin Olsen, but when I do, I'll being doing a separate article just for that. I want to take a little bit deeper look at what the hell is going on with him, so expect that in the next week or two.

Also, Black Canary #1 came out, but I am going to hold off on it for now. I need to read some back issues of Birds of Prey, I think, before I can keep up with the issue, which I can't say makes me happy, but I don't want to unreasonably harsh on it for that reason alone. I will likely look at that as a whole series for a lead up to the JLA Wedding Special planned for a few months from now.

Overall, I could have saved myself some money his week if I had known it was going to be so lackluster. Looking ahead to next week, it can only get better, right? I may have to start Waiting on Wednesday early because there look to be close to 10 or 12 good issues hitting the stands.

CG