The Marvel Thread

[murs47]

I think my favorite Marvel book of the week was Thunderbolts. I really loved the exaggerated art and the cliffhanger. The only thing that bothered me was the Man-Thing...thing. It was just too complex feeling more like a DC tactic. Also, why the prison guards didn't hose down Ghost is beyond me.

[Previsionary]

Avengers Prime #1 (3)

Another week, another Bendis book. Why does he have a monopoly on the Avengers when he can barely write 4 distinct characters? I'll never know. Marvel, recognize his strengths already. Gritty street books is his forte. It's what he keeps returning to (see: Scarlet). That's not what the Avengers are, but I'm fine with him keeping his pet book unless Jason Aaron wants it. . So, remember when Bendis said that Tony, Steve, and Thor would resolve their issues in a talk-filled mini. Here it is. Was Avengers Prime any different (or actually needed) from Avengers V4 #1? Check the review.

Spoiler

Almost immediately after Siege, Marvel's [forced] prime 3 watch as Asgard burns away. Thor is a bit distraught, and Steve asks what he'll need to help with the rebuilding of Asgard. Ironman makes it a point to mention that anything can be rebuilt and usually for the better. This sets off the "talking" we were waiting for. Steve and Tony begin to exchange words, and we can tell how much vitriol remains between these characters despite one of them being "dead" for a few years and the other suffering from a forced mind blanking. Eventually, Thor breaks them up and they head for Heimdall's observatory where we learn that the rainbow road is broken and that it'll have to be blocked off. Before anything can be done, however, Ironman, Thor, and Steve find themselves whisked away, and separated, in... um... the only appropriate word would be "fantasy/mystical land."

The book ends with all three characters dealing with their fair share of drama. Tony must repair his armor as something off screen confronts him, Steve gets into a match between a house of trolls (I suppose) and takes some of their gear, and Thor is caught off guard and attacked by The Enchantress.

This book.... Allow me to collect my thoughts. When Bendis promoted this a few months ago, it was built up as a series where Steve and Tony would finally resolve their issues. Well, when that moment comes in issue 1, it's broken apart before we actually get to anything new. This was just a rehash of what was going on between them in their Civil War days except the roles are reversed and Thor is alive. Before we can get anymore characterization, all three characters are whisked away into three separate locations where the fallout of Siege and Civil War are tossed aside, and it becomes an action adventure comic. I question the ideology behind that decision. We're not given a reason for why these characters are whisked away or why they ended up in different locations, though we can infer, but I can only hope the next 4 issues (which I'm sure this could be a 3 issue tale realistically...) make up for issue 1's faults. The art is nice to look at though, but I'm left wondering how long after Siege this issue took place since Steve is in his black costume (which he had in New Avengers but not in Siege...), Tony is still in an old armor, and Clint is in his Hawkeye gear instead of his Ronin stuff. I give it a 3. Passable, but not very intriguing.

[Podmark]

Isn't Prime Bi-Monthly? This is going to be a long mini...

[Previsionary]

Yep, bimonthly. By the time it's done, it'll probably be another case of "what was the point of this book again, and why did it take so long to complete?" I'm thinking it's to give Davis time to finish, but this thing would have been better off as a "talky" one shot where they actually got to the point instead of shoving it aside in order to give us unneeded and unseemingly connected action. This point is especially clear since by the time it completes, Tony, Thor, and Cap will have already moved on by almost a year's time, and they already appeared to be fine in Siege #4 and Avengers #1. Seems like a misstep giving the circumstances. I mean, Tony is already in new armor, and people are complaining about the Steve/Tony scene in the beginning of the book where Steve was considering whether or not Tony needed access to his OLD armors after Siege, but OK then.

*note: That scene didn't even come across as much of a big deal to me*

[Podmark]

It's gotta be Davis. Bendis has never had a problem being late with multiple books a month.

[marhawkman]

Considering Amora's personality, Thor doesn't have much to worry about. :p  (she'd rather sleep with him than kill him)

[herodad1]

ahhh thor....what a rough life he has.

[Previsionary]

X-men #1 preview: http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.12753.sneak_peek~colon~_x-men_%231

I must say, there's nothing there that interests me at all. I feel like I'm growing further apart from the team that initially caught my interest everyday. Also, I wish they'd stop showing previews months in advance when they have a giant "status changing" event going on. It just doesn't make sense to me. I can do with less Pixie as well.

[Podmark]

Well it didn't turn me off, but it doesn't have me all excited either. I'd really like if this series was good, I'm not expecting it but another good X-Men book is always a plus for me.

Also I can add 4 more to my list of X-Men that survive Second Coming.

[pr1983]

X-men #1 preview: http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.12753.sneak_peek~colon~_x-men_%231

I must say, there's nothing there that interests me at all. I feel like I'm growing further apart from the team that initially caught my interest everyday. Also, I wish they'd stop showing previews months in advance when they have a giant "status changing" event going on. It just doesn't make sense to me. I can do with less Pixie as well.

eww.

[BlueBard]

Vampires?  The Curse of the Mutants?

You've got to be kidding me.  That's the best Marvel's got?  Jump on the latest round of vampire fads?

Eccch.  Less than zero interest.

[hoss20]

   Could someone please fill me on why Thor and Tony aren't at odds? After their confrontation in Thor #3 and subsequent meeting during Secret Invasion (where Thor informs Tony that their reuniting to face a common enemy changes nothing), I completely missed where they resolved anything. I was wondering how Tony ended up in Oklahoma at the start of Siege. I assumed that Donald Blake may have had a hand in Thor and Tony smoothing things over. I haven't picked up an Iron Man comic in ages, so I'm sure I missed something.
   Also, if Thor had an issue with Tony and his part in constructing Ragnarok, shouldn't he also have an issue with Reed Richards and Hank Pym?

[Podmark]

   Also, if Thor had an issue with Tony and his part in constructing Ragnarok, shouldn't he also have an issue with Reed Richards and Hank Pym?

Hank Pym did no such thing. The skrull who was impersonating him however...

[Previsionary]

The reasons why Tony ended up in Oklahoma were explained adequately in Fraction's Ironman issues. I reviewed a few of them. That wasn't a problem (more of a error was Ghost, as I pointed out during Siege 2 or 3, being in Oklahoma when he was sent to the other side of the world). Donald Blake doesn't have an issue with Tony, Thor does. Tony and Thor haven't completely made up yet, but they were on the path to friendship again while Siege was going on and just after.  Nothing smooth, but this is Bendis we're talking about. He often ignores other people's continuity (which is why a lot of old school fans still hate him), and he's now ignoring his own, so don't bother trying to figure it out.

*Thor, Donald, Bucky, Dr. Strange, Rhodey, and Steve actually came to Tony's aid during Invincible Ironman to make sure he lived when Tony was on the run from Osborn and wiping his own memory.*

Thor and Reed haven't actually been in the same area of each other since Janet's funeral until now in X-men. It was a common complaint that Reed got off scott-free for his actions while Hank, Tony, and even Spider-woman had a more difficult time. It's something that was just wiped under the table. Stuff like this happens in an event oriented industry. Just look at Dark Reign. Individual parts are fun/good... but nothing big was accomplished at all. None of the villains are any better off and none of them took advantage of the surroundings at the time. Norman wasn't even actively chasing heroes (or even Ironman for that matter) and often found himself punked more so than on the winning side. Heck, despite Moonstone, Venom, and Bullseye being all over the place, none of them really got developed and they were subverted in the actual Dark Avengers book. And I don't even have words for Daken and how wildly he's portrayed. He went from interesting to one note again. Maybe his Punisher crossover will make the writers remember that he's lacking in development. And they never did explain his pheromone powers.

*Side note: I wish War Machine was still an ongoing book. I just got around to reading more issues of it. I was wondering when Rhodey stopped being Cyborg... I mean Cyborg like).

[hoss20]

Donald Blake doesn't have an issue with Tony, Thor does.

That's why I thought Don may have tried to reason with Thor about making up with Tony. Thanks, Prev, for the update. I agree with you on the comment you made regarding the current comics' price tag. I already collect only a scant few titles because of the cost. It doesn't help that I can actually recall collecting comics for 35 cents (wow, I'm old) and the outrage when the cost eventually hit $1.

Thanks for the correction, Pod. I forgot all about Henry being a skrull at the time. 
Just goes to show what a lasting effect the current regime has when I can't even remember what happened a year or so ago.

[daglob]

Donald Blake doesn't have an issue with Tony, Thor does.

That's why I thought Don may have tried to reason with Thor about making up with Tony. Thanks, Prev, for the update. I agree with you on the comment you made regarding the current comics' price tag. I already collect only a scant few titles because of the cost. It doesn't help that I can actually recall collecting comics for 35 cents (wow, I'm old) and the outrage when the cost eventually hit $1.

Thanks for the correction, Pod. I forgot all about Henry being a skrull at the time. 
Just goes to show what a lasting effect the current regime has when I can't even remember what happened a year or so ago.

I vaguely remember them changing from 10c to 12c...

[lugaru]

Donald Blake doesn't have an issue with Tony, Thor does.

That's why I thought Don may have tried to reason with Thor about making up with Tony. Thanks, Prev, for the update. I agree with you on the comment you made regarding the current comics' price tag. I already collect only a scant few titles because of the cost. It doesn't help that I can actually recall collecting comics for 35 cents (wow, I'm old) and the outrage when the cost eventually hit $1.

Thanks for the correction, Pod. I forgot all about Henry being a skrull at the time. 
Just goes to show what a lasting effect the current regime has when I can't even remember what happened a year or so ago.

Dont get me started... In the early 90's I used to buy Spider-man in Mexico and each "magazine" (I might as well call it that) had two issues inside, comic and pop culture news, puzzles and pin ups. I think I used to pay 2 pesos (2000 back then but that is a different story) aka 20c.

[hoss20]

Well, it's nice to see I'm not the only old-timer here on the boards. 

[thanoson]

Had some 15 centers I believe.

[BWPS]

When I started reading em in my early teens, comics were $3.99 and I ordered them from my home computer! The art was all done in some fancy digital programs, and there were these huge convoluted overarching storylines! Everything else always took exactly 5 or 6 issues to do so they could sell the funny books in bigger funny books! There were only two or three good writers in the whole business at a time, and one of them was a lady! Batgirl was in a wheel-chair, every villain wasn't bad enough unless they turned into a rapist or a cannibal and often both, Aquaman had a hand made out of WATER, and I read books where criminals with guns were the heroes!

[Previsionary]

Aquaman had a hand made out of WATER

How dare you, BWPS. We don't talk about Aquaman here... unless it's about the aquaman that keeps killing innocent fish and summoning dead whales that try to eat him. Obviously, Arthur is now an ironic comedy or something. He could never be cast in Free Willy at this point. Long Live King Namor!

[murs47]

New X-Position with Yost & Kyle. Our very own Podmark gets one of his questions answered by them. That is too cool.

[Previsionary]

New X-Position with Yost & Kyle. Our very own Podmark gets one of his questions answered by them. That is too cool.

So, I was right? Elixir high tailed it off that island.

[Talavar]

New X-Position with Yost & Kyle. Our very own Podmark gets one of his questions answered by them. That is too cool.

So Elixir is Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film re: Second Coming?  Seems lazy.

[Podmark]

New X-Position with Yost & Kyle. Our very own Podmark gets one of his questions answered by them. That is too cool.

Not the first time either 

See now all this could have been avoided if they'd just said that at the end of X-Force. I'm just going to assume Warpath and Hepzibah high tailed it to Hawaii until told otherwise too.

[Previsionary]

Hepzibah never played a big part in X-force, so it wasn't their job to touch up on her. That fell into Fraction's hands, so she's probably hovering around that island all aimless like.

Actually, when Beast came back for the funeral, I was surprised (and I still am) that Lockheed, Brand, and Hepzibah didn't get off with him.

[Podmark]

Oh I just mention Hepzibah because she's Warpath's girlfriend and she hasn't appeared in Second Coming yet. So I'm just guessing James just decided to take her on a vacation after he got sick of killing people.

Anyway from a logical perspective the X-Men shouldn't let Elixir out of their sight. Bastion has tons of resources and could easily pick off Josh if he's just hanging around Necrosha by himself. With his healing abilities and killing abilities he's a high value target. But when you're working with multiple writers and you have limited page counts it's difficult to handle all the logical aspects of every story.

[Previsionary]

Didn't Uncanny come out today (and yesterday)? Anyone wanna review it or the newest Avenger book... Avenger Academy?

Speaking of Avenger, a fan recently asked Dan about his Mighty Avenger run, and I found it interesting, so I'm gonna post it. Is that OK with you all?

I have to admit Mighty Avengers wasn't a homerun for me (it's ok, it happens) but I was wondering if you knew when you signed on that it would be limited run (ending with Siege) or if you thought/hoped it might be open-ended?

to which he responded with:

Okay, here goes...

When I was given the assignment it was open ended.

At the start there were some big bumps-- mainly which characters I could-and-couldn't use, and my own personal reluctance to "graduate" Initiative characters up into Mighty-- which in hindsight, would've made my life a heck-of-a-lot easier. (And YET another time when I can put a check in the column that reads: "Listen to Tom Brevoort, he's usually right.").

As I struggled in the beginning, I had a hard go at getting multiple MIGHTY AVENGERS scripts in a month (while getting multiple ASM scripts in at the same time). This lead to scheduling problems, where Khoi would need a script, but I'd just finished a script for a guest-artist. That wasn't Khoi's problem-- that was MY problem. And then the cycle would continue.

In that regard, I wish I could've been faster. You were getting an issue a month-- or, during a rare slip, you'd get two issues the next month. Thanks to Chris Gage coming in to co-script-- when I was working on things like the triple-sized ASM #600 and other projects-- we had licked. So again, thanks to Chris for that help!

Okay... That said...

By the time I was moving into "The Unspoken" arc, I got offered a REALLY great assignment at Marvel. But, with my speed (about 2 issues a month... plus change), that editor wisely said, "You can't do this ON TOP of your current workload, that's just not going to work. You have to give something up."

And that was MIGHTY. At THAT moment, I knew my time on MIGHTY was finite. Originally, BEFORE I was given MIGHTY, back when I was on INITIATIVE, I knew where I wanted to take THAT book into the HEROIC AGE. But to take MIGHTY, I had to leave INITIATIVE. Once I was on MIGHTY, I knew what my plans were for THAT title once IT became part of the HEROIC AGE. But once I knew I was leaving MIGHTY there was a hard choice for both myself AND editorial to make: WHEN?

I waffled back-and-forth on this for some time. There were times that I just wanted to move onto the NEXT assignment and jump off MIGHTY right after THE UNSPOKEN arc... But that felt too soon. That would have been LESS than a year on the title. As a fan-- I HATE it when creators have short runs on titles. If someone invests their time and money following your title, you owe it to them to put in the time and give it your all. (That's my take.)

So if I WAS staying on-- there were a number of stories I either wanted to tell (Ultron) or felt I needed to tell due to the premise of this part of the run (a Thor/Loki story and a Mighty Avengers/Dark Avengers conflict). There were other stories I wanted to tell as well... I wanted to do a Change-the-Roster story, a Squadron Supreme universe-related story, some stuff with the Elders of the Universe, and my infamous (some day I WILL get to it) Reckoning War story. But ANY of those would've (due to time) put me half a YEAR into the Heroic Age. And that wouldn't be fair to the NEXT Avengers team OR the readership-- because I'd be setting up a NEW Heroic Age status quo for Mighty, telling ONE story arc, and then leaving. And with the approach of the NEW project, there was no way (timing-wise) I could've stayed on for 1 or 2 more story arcs.

So...

It was decided. I shouldn't leave right after THE UNSPOKEN, there were stories I needed to tell, and I couldn't stay for the Heroic Age. And all of that came into focus during the early issues of THE UNSPOKEN arc.

And there's your behind-the-scenes, long-winded answer. ]

Things like this is one of the reasons I have a lot of respect for Slott despite not really loving much of his Mighty run or that Spidey one-pager in Age of Heroes. He's one of the few active creators who consistently responds to his fans regardless of whether or not they're giving him praise or critiques. More writers/artists should be that way. It's also one of the reasons I often don't read CBR interviews. By comparison, they seem to ignore a lot of the better questions just to let the writers off easy, which is not helping anyone and usually makes the article come across as pointless or "fluff."

Anyway, Dan answered this on his formspring, so if you care enough to ask him a question or keep up with his answers, click

[Podmark]

I'll review Avengers Academy sometime later but I liked it.
I got Uncanny too, it was a little blah. I still believe Second Coming will read pretty well as a whole story but the individual chapters need work. They just don't have enough to them and/or need a to be more focused as an individual episode in a series.

Thanks for posting that Prev. I never would have seen that and it was something that really interests me. I'd been hearing about this big project Slott got, it's supposed to be announced in July I think. I like Slott, and I enjoyed parts of Mighty but other parts were pretty poor. It's good to hear about the problems he had, and I really wish he had put Initiative characters on the team. Also interesting to know that he had Heroic Age plans for Initiative before he left. Marvel really does plan this stuff out. He made the right choice staying after the Unspoken arc, that would've been a pretty short run and I found the stories after that more enjoyable anyway.

[Previsionary]

Review time!

Young Allies #1 (3):

This is one of the books I was looking forward to in the "Heroic Age." It has Gravity in it, who hasn't done a whole lot since BEYOND! and Firestar, who spent a lot of time off panel until last year where she got cancer. It also features the return of Toro, a character that was dropped sometime in the 90s when the Marvel verse returned to normal. How will this book hold up? Is it worth investing into? Well, let's check it out.

Spoiler

Opening with a young Benito and his sister reading, the book immediately heads into action with the characters being attacked by military men, who take Benito and several other children and force them to learn procedures such as firing a gun and physical combat. These children have been chosen to carry on the future of their glorious leader, with or without their consent. Years later, Benito and the others are completely trained, loyal to the cause, and have no qualms over killing (this includes prostitutes). The first portion of the issue ends with Benito going through a painful experiment in order to become Toro, a being similar to a demon.

Present day: The remainder of the soon to be created team is living their lives as normal. Rikki Barnes/Nomad and Anya Corazon/Arana (in a new costume to boot -- see ASM) are battling a bunch of middle school creeps while discussing their new found dynamic, Greg Willis/Gravity is having a debate with some friends about murderous villains constantly escaping jail (possibly theme of this arc?), and Angelica Jones/Firestar is running around campus trying to reach class. But just like any day in NYC, trouble starts and the heroes head into action where we meet a bunch of new villains: Mortar, Aftershock, Ember, Singularity, and Warhead... the "Basticks" of Evil!*

The book ends with the Young Allies and their newly acquired foes (the sons and daughters of villains) battling it out while Warhead (son of Radioactive Man) does something drastic....

*I censored their true team name. You can figure it out.

I'm a little mixed on how I feel about this series. As of issue #1, they're just like the Avengers (which makes them compete directly with the YA), The Champions, or even the Defenders... heroes that just happen to be at the same place at the same time when evil breaks out. There's nothing there that makes them inherently unique, different, or needed. The only thing going for it IS the characters. If you missed any of these heroes, then you'll be glad to see them back in action in the hands of a writer that "gets" them. You'll also get to see some more villain children, who refuse to live by established dynamics and want to make their own statement -- they don't actually have a reason to be attacking... they just do, which is an interesting concept to explore if done correctly. Because this book takes place AFTER Spider-man Grim Hunt, which isn't out yet, there is a pretty big outcome spoiler in regards to Arana and what happens to her during the storyline, so if you don't want to be obtain vague information about the outcome of her, then I'd suggest holding off on this book. On the other hand, this book has some tolerable art and it's quite the average read. Nothing extraordinary, but it's not horrible either. Tis a 3. My only real problem with this book was the decision not to identify the villain kids. A caption box would have been appreciated rather than relying on dialogue that sometimes came after the villain in question was off the page.