29 April 2010

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

This was a rather sizable week for books so I'll be focusing my attention on a few rather than trying to touch on everything. The 'everything' way is fun though. Well, we'll see.

I believe the book of the week for me was Invincible Iron Man #25. One of a number of books to feature at least a scene set after the events of 'Siege' (which is awkward as that series is not yet complete), this issue seeks to set up Tony Stark's post-Siege status. He admits to some stupid mistakes (just because he's one of the world's smartest men doesn't mean he's perfect), works to restore his company, and starts restoring some of his good-will amongst his older friends that haven't trusted him in awhile. The book also features a new suit of Iron Man armor as well as a tie-in of sorts to the upcoming 'Iron Man 2' movie. I found it to be an excellent starting point for the upcoming future, one part remembrance, one part starting anew, without flushing away the stories we'd been reading of late. Very excellent.

Transformers #6 features a Combiner that can't quite get it's head together and Optimus Prime stomping some tail. The overall situation of the Autobots changes but things still aren't rosy and happy. This is good stuff. Every issue makes that live-action Transformers movie more of a distant memory.

Secret Warriors #15 pushes things forward on a number of different fronts. One of the early complains of the book was that the shock ending of issue #1 changing everything we knew about certain spy agencies that had existed in the MU for years. As the book has gone on, the details (the 'true' details if you will) have been fed out so that the 'shock ending' seems more and more fleshed out and reasonable. The change may still be annoying (like the erasing of Peter and Mary Jane's wedding in Spider-Man) to some but the stories we've gotten from the change have been solid and entertaining. I'll admit I'm surprised that i'm still enjoying this and that the book has managed to survive this long.

Hack/Slash #32 is the end of the 'superhero' storyline. The twists are good and the ending is, well, not bad, not impossible given the story, but just kinda 'whoa'. I think part of my increasing ambivalence towards the title is the main character's attitude. She's dark and brooding and has every right to be so but her 'tough-gal' style is getting a little old.

The Mighty Avengers ends with issue #36. The Ultron storyline is wrapped up in a clever manner, different from earlier encounters with the robot consciousness. There are some additional 'wow!' ideas to be explained and it still feels full of concepts. A scene near the end of the book seems to give away a twist from Siege #4. Boo to that. Otherwise very enjoyable.

Fantastic Four #578 does a few things. It explains the text endings of late. It re-introduces another classic concept, fleshing it out for future use. It also starts to move forward some of the concepts from recent issues, moving them towards the 'epic' mode I've been expecting. Love it.

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