Thursday, April 29, 2010

Comics Roundup for 2/28/10

The Amazing Spider-Man #629 - Perhaps I'm becoming a sentimentalist, but I really enjoyed the feel-good ending to this story which wrapped up the three-part follow-up to the classic "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut". It's not particularly original nor profound, but I liked the exchange between Juggernaut and Spidey at the end:
Juggernaut: You're right, Webs. We're all here by accident.
Spider-Man: Yeah, but what we do afterwards - that's what matters.
Perhaps it's just because it goes along with my personal philosophy. While I do not believe that anything is caused by some sort of higher intelligence, I am not a nihilist. I do think that what we do here with our lives is important. Anyway, all that aside, I have been lamenting the lackluster art on this series lately. Obviously, it has been really strong with this arc with Lee Weeks doing the pencils. Looks like Chris Bachalo is handling the next story, and that's a good thing. There was a preview for it at the end of this issue, and the Lizard will be returning. I'm hoping that they do something interesting with this. After all, we know so much more about DNA and the human genome than we did back when Stan and Steve did the original Lizard stories. I think that they can put a new spin on an old story.

The Invincible Iron Man #25 - I missed the boat on this series, and I currently have the first three trades. There should probably be a new one soon, and if I'm guessing correctly, this issue marks the start of a new arc (and therefore won't be in the fourth trade). I have to say that this was my favorite comic this week. Turns out that Tony Stark has lost his memory up until the time he got his Extremis armor. That means that he doesn't remember the Civil War, the Secret Invasion, the Dark Reign, or any of that stuff. This could be interesting if it's handled well. I liked Matt Fraction's early Punisher War Journal stuff, but I think that the guy is really hitting his stride with this series. I'm eagerly looking forward to his run on Thor.

Thor #609 - While I do believe that the Siege crossovers are dragging a bit here, I still enjoyed this issue. Still, we get much more of the supporting cast than we do the title character, and that's getting a bit old. It's all wrapping up next issue, and the aforementioned Matt Fraction is taking over after that, so I'll stick around.

Captain America #605 - This story did a good job of proving that the "Bucky Cap" storyline still has somewhere to go. While it was only a decent wrap-up of the current storyline, it was nice to see that he still feels conflicted about what he's doing - especially when it comes to fighting the "crazy" Captain America. I'm hoping that they bring that character back, as he makes for a good foil for either of the two official Captain Americas. He represents the type of American who has great intentions and genuinely loves his country, yet his methods and view of what's right are pretty skewed.

New Avengers #64 - I'm guessing that with the end of Siege, we're also going to see a wrap-up to the whole story of the Red Hood. Basically, this issue just filled in some of the gaps from the main story, and it turns out that he's once again lost the source of his power. Anyway, I'm still wondering why this series is going to continue once the new Avengers title gets underway, but it's been one of my favorite series for some time now, so I suppose I should at least give it a chance.

No comments: