A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks

There's a couple reasons why I haven't talked about comics for a few weeks. One reason was that I was busy with other projects, as I've already mentioned. One was that the couple weeks prior to this one were relatively light for me. Another was that I picked up my books on Thursday so it left me less time to talk about them before the rush of the weekend. One week none of the books demanded discussing, neither excellent or awful, just decent. I guess technically that's a few reasons. Whatever.

Muppet Robin Hood #4 came out last week and completes the miniseries. I've discussed the joy of this story before and therefore will focus on the Monty Python like twist in this issue to explain to you why you want to read this book. Early in the issue we find out that the Merry Men can hear the narration of the book. They track down the narrator and he's identifiable to us as the Muppet Newsreader. They get ahold of his script and find the ending to the story isn't a happy one. The Narrator gives them the address of the book's writer and, well, it gets weirder for awhile. This is laugh-out-loud funny stuff. Very recommended.

The Marvels Project #2 was also from last week. The mini-series seeks to fill in the gaps during the WWII era and tell the 'origin of the Marvel Universe'. What we're seeing is the early days of the modern superhero with masked men without powers fighting crime as well as the early days of the original android Human Torch and the build up to the creation of Captain America. At the same time, we are being told a story by a Dr. Thomas Halloway. He narrates the story in flashback, apparently having lived through this already as both Dr. Halloway and as the hero known as the Angel. It's written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Steve Epting, the team from the regular Captain America book. If you've been enjoying Cap, then this is for you as well.

Speaking of Cap, Captain America Reborn #3 came out this week. The story continues to bounce between the present day and the time periods that Steve Rogers is revisiting. This story is being told by Ed Brubaker and artist Bryan Hitch. Here we have a wild action adventure with great dollops of science-fiction that, for me at least, has been holding together surprisingly well. Each issue has advanced both storylines carefully, at a pace that neither feels too rushed nor too slow. There are still mysteries to resolve but the pieces to resolve them are building up so it doesn't feel like the series is just a big waiting game for the final issue. Good stuff, as it should be!

Invincible Iron Man #18 is the 11th part of the 'World's Most Wanted' storyline. Good grief! In non-story terms, this story's goal appears to be redeeming Tony Stark in the eyes of the fans, after his 'heel turn' during the Civil War a few years ago. The Civil War storyline could be seen as Captain America vs Iron Man and many fans sided with Cap because, well, as readers we trust in Cap. This 'World's Most Wanted' storyline has seen Tony Stark on the run from the new regime lead by Norman Osborn. In order to prevent the information in his head from falling into Norman's hands, Tony set up a virus in his head that's deleting his mind. Over the course of the story, Tony's been getting dumber and dumber, having to revert to older Iron Man armors as they are easier to operate. In this issue, he returns to the original 'tin can' armor. The storyline has been interesting, with a number of twists and turns that start to pay off in this issue. It's also been interesting to watch Tony's reactions to the situation he put himself in, having to relearn things and deal with the emotions of knowing that certain tasks that he can't accomplish would have child's play for him a week previous. While I'm reasonably sure that we'll have a super-intelligent Tony Stark back in the Marvel Universe soon enough, I'm keen for the next issue to see how this will end.

Transformers – All Hail Megatron #15 holds two flashback stories, setting up how Kup and Perceptor came to be the way they were for the main AHM storyline. Kup's recovery, and how incomplete it may be, is detailed as well as Perceptor's need to be more useful on the battlefield. The issue gets points for me as the first story shows how Prowl's abilities as a tactician work and how devious that can make him in a positive way. It added a lot to the Prowl character for me.