This Week's Books

Here's a quick look at the books I'm picking up this week.

Books:

-Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 1 - I will be picking this up sooner or later, just not sure if I'll getting it this week or holding off until I can find it on sale somewhere.

Issues:

-Flash: Rebirth #1 - Alright, the Flash is, without a doubt, my favorite superhero of all time. I may have this read between the time I leave the store and the time I reach my car.

-Justice Society of America #25

-Cable #13 - Like I said in my reviews last week, I'll give this and X-Force one issue each to see if I keep going with them.

-Invincible Iron Man #12

-Pride & Prejudice #1 (kidding...)

Another relatively small week for me, hopefully I'll get some thoughts put up early on Wednesday afternoon.

Thoughts on Comics for 3/25

Captain America #48 - Well this was disappointing. There really wasn't anything wrong with this issue, or arc in general. But I feel like this series is sort of spinning its wheels at this point until Steve Rogers returns. Which is a bit of a shame, since I really like Bucky as Cap.

Justice League of America #31 - Well this was interesting. An issue basically admitting that the entire series up to date has been a waste of time. Yet I liked this issue of JLA more than any other issue since #9 (I think that was the one where Red Arrow and Vixen were trapped underwater in a collapsed building.) One thing that McDuffie does really well is character moments and interactions. There were a lot of nice Hal/Ollie, Clark/Bruce, Dinah/other JLA members moments in this issue. That was a definite plus. It would've been nice to know WHY Hal was forming his own Justice League, and I'm far more interested in reading about that team than the remnants of this one, but we'll see where we go from here.

Superman #686 - Meh. This was really just a set up issue. Supes is gone. Mon-El, the Guardian, and Steel are watching over the city now. Although the scene where Guardian meets Mon-El was a bit ridiculous, where Guardian says, "you're lucky she's still breathing, or else I'd be arresting you instead of recruiting you." Hey, Guardian, how about you shut the #*$% up? Superman already vouched for him, and you're going to throw him in jail because he tried to help you and might have accidently killed a dangerous criminal? I hope the men on your force never have to fire at anyone. But I did really like that Officer Harper, a minor role player from Robin, resurfaced here. Plus, she can now resume having some sexual tension with the main character without it being extremely awkward this time around. Because, you know, the hero in this book isn't 17. Although I don't know how aging works in the phantom zone, so maybe she's out of luck again. We'll see.

Oh, I almost forgot. I don't mind that Mon-El's secret identity's last name is Kent. But Jonathan? Really? The man just died. Was Clark okay with this? You couldn't have picked any other first name in the world?

Amazing Spider-Man #589 - Alright, I'm done with this book. There wasn't anything particular about this book, but I've been reading it for a year, and I just don't care. I don't care about anything that happens, and I don't care about any of the characters, even Peter. He just doesn't even seem like Peter anymore. He's like a caricature of what someone things the "iconic Peter Parker" should be. Good luck, Pete, I hope you get back on your feet soon.

X-Force/Cable Messiah War #1 - This was actually a pretty intriguing book for me. The only characters I care about are Wolverine, Angel (or Archangel... I don't know if he changes his name depending on which team he's with), Cable, Bishop, and maybe Deadpool. I don't know anything about Deadpool, but I'm kind of interested by a guy who's 1000 years old and apparently unkillable. The rest of X-Force doesn't matter to me one way or the other, and I'm still a bit skeptical about Wolverine leading a group of 'murderous misfit mutants.' It seems like as soon as one of them did something he didn't like he'd tell them to '@$%* off' and do the job himself. I do like the fact that Cyclops is willing to sanction a squad of killers, but I think he'd remove any whiny kids from the group, regardless of their powers. Wolverine, Archangel (I really like him on this team... Warren definitely needs a bit of badass action) and maybe that Warpath and Domino. I'd be good with that team. The stealth suits seem a bit gratuitous, especially with the red glowing eyes, which don't really seem suited to stealth, but I'll overlook it... they make at least as much sense as the brightly colored normal outfits.

I'm going to have to do some research on this whole Cable/Bishop feud, why Cyclops is hunting down Cable, and who Stryfe is, but I'm intrigued enough to pick up the next issue.

Character of the Month

Earlier this year, Chris over at the Collected Comics Library introduced me to the concept of "adopting a character" for the year, where you basically just pick a character and then read/learn everything you can about him/her throughout the year. I decided to go with Daredevil in 2009... and then proceeded to read everything I could by around mid-February. I really like that idea though, so I think I'm going to try a "Character of the Month" theme here at the Comic Book Manifesto. I'll do some reviews for all the character's trades that I have, and try to pick up one or two books featuring that character that I haven't read before. It should be fun.

So, I'm thinking May will be Wolverine month, with Hugh Jackman sporting the claws on the big screen May 1. But that leaves April wide open. So what do you guys think? Batman? Superman? Spider-Man? Maybe some team books like Justice League or Avengers? I'm wide open to suggestions on this one.

And come back later today for thoughts on today's books.

Thoughts on Marvel's June 2009 Solicitations

As promised, here's a quick look at Marvel's offerings for June:

-Contrary to popular belief, Marvel's Dark Tower books do not tie into Dark Reign.

-1939 Daily Bugle? What? I guess it's free. But still... what?

-Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus is one i'll probably be passing on. I'm not big on Namor or the Human Torch, and I don't know any of the other characters. So I'll probably have to save the $125 for something else farther down the list.

-By the way, is Marvel having some sort of anniversary this year? I may have seen something about that around here somewhere...

-I haven't picked up any of these Noir books. I'll probably pick up the first hardcover and go from there.

-Pride & Prejudice? What? This one's not even free... Jane Austen and comic book readers seem like they'd mix like oil and water. I'm interested to see some numbers on this one.

-I'm so 'meh' on Spider-Man these days. I really should stop picking it up, but I just can't help myself. I really haven't liked a whole lot since Brand New Day, but my hope springs eternal that the next issue will be the one that blows me away.

-I dunno if this was just the site I was looking at (Comic Book Resources) or what, but the text for ASM #598 reads, "That cover pretty much tells you what you need to know." And there's no cover image. Hmm...

-Dark Avengers + Uncanny X-Men? I'm sold.

-As fun as Dark Avengers is, I'm not buying any of these Dark Reign tie in minis. I have no interest in Lethal Legion, Mr. Negative, or Zodiac. Elektra probably doesn't merit a five issue series. The FF series involves time travel, which always ends up irritating the hell out of me in FF stories. I'd consider getting the Hawkeye/Bullseye mini, but I love that character so much in Dark Avengers right now, and I don't want him ruined by a sub-par tie in story. We'll see on that one.

-Oh, wait! There's more! Young Avengers (no way), The Hood (I don't know who that is... I haven't been reading Marvel long enough), and the Sinister Spider-Man (see above comments on Hawkeye/Bullseye.)

-I dunno if its just me, but I'm liking Iron Man a heckuva lot more since he quit running SHIELD.

-Captain America #600? Did I Rip Van Winkle away 500+ issues somewhere along the way? How long has Steve Rogers been dead? How long have I been asleep?!? (Yeah... that was a joke. I'm guessing they're giving this series the recent Thor treatment. Probably has something to do with that anniversary thing.)

-Marvel Zombies IV? Isn't the third or fourth installment in any horror franchise where things start to go downhill? And fast?

-Marvel Pets Handbook? What? (Okay... I'll stop...)

-Runaways #11 is apparently CLASSIFIED. So don't ask.

-I dunno what War of Kings is about, but it looks pretty badass. I may have to look into this...

-Nothing really jumped out at me for the X-Books this month. Except X-Men Forever. That's either going to blow my mind or be a train wreck. I'm pretty excited either way.

-Ooohh. Astonishing X-Men Omnibus. And only $75. Hang on a second while I preorder this...

Okay. I'm back. I was pretty sure this would be coming out eventually, but I wouldn't have guessed this soon. And I'm pretty sure this puts X-Men, by far and away, the leader in Omnibi. X-Men Vol 1, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1, New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, and that Inferno hardcover which I'm not sure if its technically an omnibus or not. Plus that upcoming Wolverine Omnibus should probably be thrown in there too. Still, I'm getting mighty impatient for Uncanny X-Men Vol 2. What are you waiting for, Marvel!?!

-Hopefully with this Captain America: The Man with No Face (and that's quite a title, right there) hardcover taking us through issue #49, we can get a second Cap Omnibus fairly soon.

-Ah, and here's our first Noir hardcover. Ask and ye shall receive. The X-Men volume, no less. Should be interesting at the very list.

-I love how much the Marvel Premiere Classic line has taken off. Three in 2006. Four in 2007. Eleven in 2008. Thirteen already announced through the first half of 2009. We've gone from getting one a quarter to two a month. Can't argue with that. This time around we've got Hercules: Prince of Power, and Spider-Man: Sinister Six. Good stuff.

That's about it for points of interest this month. Check back later this week for another review. Probably either Batman RIP or Justice League International Vol 1. We'll see what kind of mood I'm in.

Powers Vol. 12 - The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time Review

Powers Volume 12 - The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time

Script: Brian Michael Bendis

Art: Michael Avon Oeming

Collects Powers (Vol. 2) #25-30 and Powers Annual 2008; originally published 2007-2008

I'm not a huge Bendis fan, but I really dig Powers. There's just something inexplicably cool about Christian Walker/Samurai Jack investigating 'powers crimes.' Actually, I think this is the only series that I got hooked on primarily because of the art, rather than the story. Oeming's art is just fascinating: bright, simplistic, cartoonish characters juxtaposed against eerie, gritty, dark settings. I just can't get enough of it. But I generally like the stories, too.

This collection, though, was a bit all over the place. Granted, I haven't read anything Powers related in quite a while, but there were way too many plot threads that were attempted to be woven together in this volume. Walker's Green Lantern like duties made a brief appearance. Deena's 'evil powers' showed up. That weird white chick from Internal Affairs's dislike of Deena turned into a vendetta. The Commissioner with the handlebar 'stache reappeared. (I had completely forgotten he existed.) Triphammer returned. The Johnny Royale murder was finally solved. Oh, and there was entire issue where Walker was a monkey/caveman again... I could do without seeing another one of those. Ever.

There was just a lot going on, and it didn't really tie together all that well. Although I do appreciate the fact that Bendis is shaking up the status quo on this series, it seems like he's changing things a bit too much. Character development is one thing, but this is going to be a completely different series now. Where am I going to get my Walker & Pilgrim: Powers Detectives fix from now on? I really don't care to read Christian Walker: Millennium Guardian/Sex God. I'm already reading Green Lantern.

My only other complaints were typical Bendisian characteristics: the two page spreads that I never realize are two page spreads until I get done reading the first page and the second page suddenly doesn't make sense. And the ultra simplistic dialogue that wraps around the whole page. For example:

'What?'

'Yeah,'

'Huh?'

'Exactly,'

'Ah. 'Kay. Thought so,'

Well, that's not actually a direct quote, but you believed me that it was, right? But I knew those things were going to happen when I picked up this book, so I really can't complain too much about it.

Two major bonuses to the book though: I actually laughed out loud when Caveman Walker/Gor punched a boar in the throat. And not just punched its throat. His fist was literally inside the pigs mouth, punching into its esophagus. And I loved it when they asked Deena what was going on with the Powers Virus, and she said, 'It works exactly like you think it does,' and then proceeds to give the most complicated, convoluted explanation ever that I reread three times and still don't understand. That just killed me.

This book really just felt like the end of an era, tying all the loose ends together before moving on. Not terrible, but I think I'm going to be a bit nostalgic. I guess we'll just have to see where we go from here.

Final Verdict: 6/10

This Week's Books and DC's June 2009 Solicitations

Well it's my favorite week of the month... new solicitations from DC and Marvel! Even though I can't buy these books for another three months, it always feels a bit like Christmas to me just looking through the list.

But first, the books I'll be getting this week, via Preview's website:

Books:

-Avengers: Hawkeye (I'm a sucker for these Marvel Premiere Classics books)

Issues:

-Justice League of America #31

-Superman #686

-Amazing Spider-Man #589

-Captain America #48

-I may check out the X-Force Cable Messiah War Prologue, I haven't decided yet. I liked the Messiah Complex crossover, but I read 1 issue of X-Force before dropping it and 2 issues of Cable, so we'll see on that one.

All in all, a bit of a light week for me, so I should hopefully have some time to put some thoughts on the books up here.

On to the DC solicitations. I'm not going to mention every book listed, just some thoughts on the books that caught my attention (for reasons good or bad).

-I have absolutely no interest in any of these Final Crisis Aftermath books...

-Morrison + Quitely = Comic Gold, so Batman & Robin #1 should be a slam dunk. Although I think they may have given away that Damien is going to be Robin with that cover.

-Judd Winick is back on Batman. Say what you want about the guy, but at the very least, the man is consistent. You will either always like his stories, or always hate them.

-Rucka on Detective with Batwoman should be intriguing.

-I'll pick up the first issue of Red Robin, but whether or not I stick around is going to depend a LOT on that first issue. Wow me, Yost & Bachs.

-That's probably going to be it for the Bat books this month. My apologies to Paul Dini.

-I'm just as surprised as you are that I enjoy ALL of the Superman titles (even Supergirl... I know!), especially since they're almost all sans Superman. Although the one book Supes is in, World of New Krypton is easily shaping up to be the best of the bunch.

-I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for Flash: Rebirth... You've got my expectations sky high, Mr. Johns, and I have full faith in you. Please don't disappoint me.

-As much as I've been loving Green Lantern by Geoff Johns, I really don't think Hal Jordan needs to wear every single color of ring throughout this series. It's just getting a bit improbable that he'd be in that situation, what? 7 times? Can John or Guy or Kyle snag a new ring at some point? Hell, throw the indigo one to Kilowog. I don't care. I just don't want to see a repeat of 'Hal gets/doesn't want/fights off a new ring' this many times. I know there's a lot of speculation on the internets about Hal becoming the 'White Lantern,' but I can't see it. I can't see DC bringing back Hal as the 'definitive GL', and now Barry as the 'definitive Flash', just to change Hal's role again. Kyle would be a perfect White Lantern. John would work pretty well, too. Not so much Guy. But definitely not Hal.

-I really hope JSA can keep up its continuing level of excellence with a new creative team on board.

-I'll probably be picking up Absolute Justice. I remember liking it when it started out, but just lost interest with the shipping delays and whatnot. It'll be nice to read it all in one shot. Plus I'm a sucker for Absolute/Omnibus/Deluxe/Whatever Other Fancy Term Hardcovers.

-I really don't know what to make of the DC Comics Classics Library. I had high hopes for this line. But 6 issues of George Perez's Justice League of America... for forty bucks? I will politely decline.

-I love Fables, so this thrice monthly crossover shebang should be fun.

-Aaaand DC Direct gives away another Black Lantern's identity. Well, technically they did it last month, but it's officially solicited this time around. I hope surprise isn't a big element of that story.

That's about it for DC in June. Thoughts on the Marvel solicits tomorrow!

Wolverine: Origin Addendum

Just a quick afterthought to my Wolverine: Origin review. Wolverine was what? 12? 14 when his parents died? And Wolverine Origin probably takes us up to when he's about 18 or so. So, for a good 4-6 years, he's just moping around British Columbia, hauling rocks, running around with wolves, and getting his ass handed to him by a fat tub of idiocy named Cookie who would probably serve pretty well as the Kingpin's stunt double.

Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, witnessed his parents death when he was 8, maybe 10. I'm sure he did some crying in there, but the next thing we know, he's in Asia learning eighteen different types of martial arts and figuring out how to take down the Gotham City Mafia. Granted, Bruce Wayne had a lot more money than Wolverine, but if Wolverine had really wanted to man up and get some revenge, he could've done it.

For a character who's supposedly comics' ultimate badass, there was very little evidence of it in this story.

Thoughts on Watchmen

I saw Watchmen at its midnight showing with three friends. One had read the book, two hadn't, so I think we had a pretty good cross section of opinions. As we left, one of my friends who hadn't read the book said, "For a superhero movie, there sure was a lot of talking." I think that probably summed up its lack of mainstream appeal.

This may be the first time I've ever said this, but the movie was too much like the book. It was basically a perfect panel for panel/shot for shot reconstruction of the graphic novel, and it just didn't work.  My friend who had read the book and I decided that it was like taking a poem written and Spanish, and translated it word for word into English. Sure, you get the gist of the thing, but all the nuance and complexity is lost. This movie was a word for word translation, instead of an adaption. 

I really think they should have taken some more risks and taken full advantage of the different medium. Yeah, Alan Moore would've been pissed, but really, there wasn't any way he was going to praise the movie. And since it ended up being basically a moving comic book, why not just read it in its original intended format? 

The things I liked best about the book (for instance, Dr. Manhattan's life reflections while on Mars) just didn't work that well on the screen. There were lots of things I liked: the actors were great, the look of everything was excellent, and the soundtrack was amazing. (The opening montage explaining America's alternate history set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" was flat out awesome.) But even with all those things that I liked, overall, I didn't really like the movie. At the end of it, I just kept thinking, I wouldn't read a novelization of ANY movie as opposed to just watching the movie, so why would anyone want to do the reverse?

Wolverine: Origin Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Origin

Plot: Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, & Paul Jenkins

Script: Paul Jenkins

Pencils: Andy Kubert

Inks: Richard Isanove

Collects Wolverine: Origin #1-6; originally published 2001-2002

I should probably start off by saying that I'm more than a little biased against Wolverine. I really do like the character, and you're lying to yourself if you say you don't at least like the basic concept of an indestructible badass with claws. But he really works best as a supporting character. Don't get me wrong, I love the X-Men and am all for any additional stories they want to tell. But I love Lord of the Rings too, that doesn't mean I have any interest in watching/reading/hearing about Gimli: Origin. So, I guess I'm not so much biased against the character of Wolverine, but of Marvel's marketing him. He's really not that complex of a guy... does he really need four solo titles (Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class, and the soon to be launched Wolverine: Weapon X), plus starring roles in at least four other team books (Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, and X-Force... and I may be missing some)? That's not even counting one-shots, limited series, and guest starring roles in other books. That's almost 200 pages a month for an indestructible badass with claws. People are obviously buying them, but still, that's a bit ridiculous. Can I just throw out a suggestion that his next solo ongoing book be titled the Ubiquitous Wolverine?

Okay, that rant is over (for now). On to the review: I've had this book for a while, but was putting off reading it for a couple of reasons. I bought it because it's one of the Marvel Premiere Classics, and I love that line of books. Top of the line quality all the way. But I knew some vague details about this story which made me put off reading it. I knew it introduced the concept of Wolverine's claws being made of bone (which I hate) and I had a pretty good idea that it established Wolverine as being a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny English boy. I was close. He was apparently a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny Canadian boy. And the fact that the setting of the first three issues was in Canada wasn't really ever made clear either. His babysitter turned love interest kept wanting to talk about "what happened in Alberta," and I just kept thinking, "wait, what happened in Alberta? Should I know what they were doing in Alberta?" until I realized that Wolverine's childhood home was in Alberta instead of somewhere in England. I mean, I knew Wolverine was Canadian, but I just kind of assumed he adopted that nationality along with the name Logan while he was in British Columbia since he didn't know about his past, and since everything in the first few issues looked so Victorian-era-England-esque.

And for as much as this story supposedly touts itself as the finally explaining Wolverine's past, there sure was a lot left unexplained. For instance, what exactly was the relationship between Logan (the original farmhand one) and Wolverine's mother? I kind of got the impression he may have been Wolverine's real father. And who was it that had the other set of bone claws? The ones that slashed up Wolverine's mother's side? Logan? Wolverine's brother? According to his gravestone, he was 12 when he died which is when his mutant powers would've kicked in. If that's the case, did either of Wolverine's parents have mutant abilities? I'm assuming not his mother, since she freaked out and shot herself when she found out Wolverine had them, but what about his dad? It just seems unusual that two brothers would have the same powers if neither of the parents did.

Okay, on to the bone claws. Here's why I hate that idea. Wolverine's story seems so much more tragic to me without them. If Wolverine's only mutation is his healing factor (I'll include his heightened senses with that too), then Weapon X basically hunts him down and captures him just so they can do whatever kind of twisted experiments they want on him and see what happens. I mean, don't the people at Weapon X seem so much more sadistic if they're just sitting around thinking about experiments to do, and one of them sits up and says, "Hey! I've got it! How about we give him claws?" As if they could have decided to do absolutely anything to him. "Hey! Let's replace his blood with acid!" or "Hey! Let's see if another set of arms will stick!" or "Hey! I wonder if we can give him wings?" If he's already got bone claws, all Weapon X did was lace/replace his skeleton with metal. Like they just found him, started putting the adamantium in, and said, "Oh, how 'bout that, he's got claws. Better metal those babies up, too."

I just really don't like this notion that Wolverine has to be this tragic hero. As if he's not likable unless he's a tortured soul with a heart of gold. His tragedy is that he just wants to be left alone, but because of his mutant powers, people consistently want to use him just to achieve their own ends. And he finally has found a home with the X-Men because they accept him as a person, and treat him as family, not as weapon to accomplish their own agenda. I want to think of him as a loner who is fiercely loyal to his friends, but will just as soon claw your face off if you mess with him or those he's close to. 

This is a tragic story, sure, but it really doesn't explain why a man would end up that way. Weapon X does, Origin does not. I guess if Marvel wants a more "mainstream" hero instead of the traditional anti-hero Wolverine is usually portrayed as, Origin sort of establishes that. But when the anti-hero persona is what made the character popular enough to merit 200 pages of comics a month, I'm not sure why they'd want to change that.

Anyway, the art was great, and the presentation was excellent (nice hardcover, quality paper, lots of extras) but the story did nothing for me. I guess I just don't like thinking of Wolverine as a wuss.

Final Verdict: 4/10

Welcome!

Greetings fellow comic book fans. This is probably going to end up being a completely superfluous blog, since there's plenty more out there, but I love doing stuff like this, and it seems like a good time to start this up. (Primarily because I just finished writing a book and need a new outlet for writing, and I have no reason not to.) Anyway, I'm envisioning this blog to be a lot of reviews - mostly collected editions, and some actual issues. I'd say I'm going to be ambitious and write a review of every issue I read, but I already know that's not going to happen, so I won't tease you and lead you on. There will probably also be some essays and random thoughts about comic books and anything even tangentially related to them. Anyway, I'm planning on reading either Powers Vol 12 or Wolverine: Origin tonight, so check back later for a review.