A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Big week so I'll focus on just a few books.

Fantastic Four #576 continues one of the best runs of this book in ages. The FF have had some rough times and some great times. In an era where stories run for six issues at a crack or are tied into some company-wide crossover, this run has seen stories that run for a single issue and have nothing to do with any big crossovers. The stories are interesting and well crafted, adventurous. The art is exceptional and detailed. This may well be the best book that Marvel is producing at the moment.

Three Generation One Transformer related comics were released this week. All managed to be different yet fit together enough. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 continues a story set in outer space. Autobots and Decepticons continue to battle. Detailed mysteries continue to swirl around the Wreckers and the histories of the individual characters. Interesting stuff. Ultra Magnus appears in this story but is on his way to the subtitle-less Transformers book. Here, on duty and faced with a situation that he finds indefensible, he becomes more strict in his vocal patterns. The focus of the story here is on Hot Rod's breakaway group of Transformers, a mix of Autobots and Decepticons that (at least claim) to understand that the war is over and they need to find a new way. The key to the success of this issue is Thundercracker's observations of human life. At one point he reflects: "Even the youngest of us is thousands of years old. And for as long as we've functioned, we've fought the same battles in the same ways, held the same allegiances, lived the same lives. We call ourselves Transformers. Where's the transformation in THAT?' Fascinating. The Bumblebee series focuses on the earth Autobot group and Bumblebee's ability to make friends with humans, even when he has to do so for the wrong reasons and feels guilty about it. They're all different books and that's a good thing.

Muppet King Arthur #2 continues to feel weird but I think I have it figured out now. The earlier mini- series have been like Muppet movies but this story feels more like one of the themed episodes of the Muppet Show, like when they did 'Alice in Wonderland' with Brooke Shields. It's more silly than character based. This issue is filled with running gags and reality television parodies and really bad puns. That's really quite Muppety when you think about it.