Henry10WHAT I READ THIS WEEK - 22-03-08
March 22nd 2008 09:10
It's occured to me that I read a lot of comics new and old, but I don't talk enough about them here on The Comic Nerd. So I'll be trying to do that from now on. Every Friday or Saturday I'll say a few brief words about every single thing that I read during the week. So let me begin, with the inaugural installment of the prosaically named - WHAT I READ THIS WEEK! Ah, that's got a majestic ring to it, that does...
CONAN #35-38
by Timothy Truman, Paul Lee and Cary Nord
Ah, Conan. Nothing can stop its sheer awesomeness. After nearly a year of fill-ins and tales set in the future it still powers on, and if anything it keeps getting better.
The first arc here, in issues #34 and 35, are set during Conan's time as king, just after the short story 'The Phoenix on the Sword'. Conan gets in a war with the barbaric Picts, but is brought low by their Prophet. To beat him he has to cross the ocean in a boat with the skeleton of a long dead king, fight a giant squid, and just flip out and behead people in general. Classic Conan-style story, and the art by Paul Lee is top notch.
The second arc sees Cary Nord back on the art, and it's a prologue to the classic Conan tale "Rogues in the House' (see Apes, Conan vs.). Mostly this is build-up, and shuffling characters around so that they'll end up where Robert E. Howard had put them at the start of that story. But Truman still makes that entertaining, as he's done with every one of his issues so far. Currently the title is always dealing with stories that are connected to Howard's works, and that's as it should be - there's never been a Conan book more respectful of the original material.
GHOST RIDER vol. 6 #12-13
by Danial Way and Javier Saltares
Well, that was quick. Six minutes? Yep, that's how long it takes to read two Ghost Rider comics from 2007. And that's if you pause to look at the pretty pictures.
Now, that said, the story is fine. It's a World War Hulk tie-in, and a basic excuse for scenes with the Hulk fighting Ghost Rider. Normally I'm down for that sort of thing, but come on, six minutes? The story would have worked well in a single issue, and even then it would have been stretched for substance, but at two it's really pushing things. It looks great, though.
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #6-8
by Fred Van Lente, Graham Nolan, Rafa Sandoval and James Cordeiro
While Iron Man is acting like a total prat in the regular Marvel Universe, it's always good to know that there's a title out there where he's still a cool hero. Marvel Adventures Iron Man, with its focus on self-contained stories for all-ages, is it.
All three show Iron Man at his best, in light-hearted action romps. The highlight is issue #7, where Tony has to infiltrate Latveria to save his friends and outwit Dr. Doom to escape. Fred Van Lente has a knack for enjoyable super-hero tales, and it's on good display here. Issue #8 was something of a let down though, getting touch too preachy with its tale of Tony stuck in a village that has forsaken technology (it later makes up for things by having Tony invent some awesome steam-powered armor).
Still, the single-issue focus of the Marvel Adventures line is for me its greatest weakness. The great Marvel eras featured tales and subplots that built on top of what had come before, whereas the Marvel Adventures line is almost completely self-contained - it just feels like there is a little something missing.
SPIDER-MAN: SWING SHIFT DIRECTOR'S CUT #1
by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez
This was originally given away on Free Comic Book Day, but with a whole lot of dialogue changed to keep the dissolution of Spider-Man's marriage a secret. Not many were fooled, and now we have the original, with dialogue restored.
Say what you want about the path they took to get there (and gawd have I), but the new Spider-Man is so awesome. I've believed it for a while, and the new stories demonstrate it amply - single Spider-Man is far more entertaining than married Spider-Man.
This one is another fun Slott story, with Spidey getting involved in a battle with Overdrive and his funky car. It introduces Mr. Negative, the current villainous mastermind of Amazing Spider-Man, as well as Jackpot, registered super-heroine who may or may not be Spidey's former wife Mary Jane. Slott packs it full of amusing touches, like Overdrive being a massive Spidey fanboy, and there's the obligatory bit where Peter Parker misses his Aunt's birthday. It just feels more like Spider-Man than the book has in a couple of decades.
STAR WARS: LEGACY #14-19
by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema
I love me some Star Wars, but I haven't read the Dark Horse comics since the very early days of Dark Empire. But the premise here had me intrigued - what does the Star Wars universe look like some 130 years after the films? The book stars Cade Skywalker, descendent of you-know-who, who is kind of a cross between Luke and Han Solo. The Sith are back in control and ruling over another empire, and Cade has been using his Jedi skills as a bounty hunter for less than altruistic purposes. It's a good set-up, albeit treading a lot of familiar ground for Star Wars fans, but it manages to put just enough of a twist on the familiar themes to work. The big problem is that it has a staggering reliance on continuity from the novels and the comics. I haven't read any of the novels since Vector Prime, and the comics in an even longer time, so several of the supposed 'big reveals' of this arc had me scratching my head. The plot still works adequately in spite of that, but I get the feeling that this series is aimed squarely at the fanatics, and that's not me anymore.
CONAN #35-38
by Timothy Truman, Paul Lee and Cary Nord
Ah, Conan. Nothing can stop its sheer awesomeness. After nearly a year of fill-ins and tales set in the future it still powers on, and if anything it keeps getting better.
The first arc here, in issues #34 and 35, are set during Conan's time as king, just after the short story 'The Phoenix on the Sword'. Conan gets in a war with the barbaric Picts, but is brought low by their Prophet. To beat him he has to cross the ocean in a boat with the skeleton of a long dead king, fight a giant squid, and just flip out and behead people in general. Classic Conan-style story, and the art by Paul Lee is top notch.
The second arc sees Cary Nord back on the art, and it's a prologue to the classic Conan tale "Rogues in the House' (see Apes, Conan vs.). Mostly this is build-up, and shuffling characters around so that they'll end up where Robert E. Howard had put them at the start of that story. But Truman still makes that entertaining, as he's done with every one of his issues so far. Currently the title is always dealing with stories that are connected to Howard's works, and that's as it should be - there's never been a Conan book more respectful of the original material.
GHOST RIDER vol. 6 #12-13
by Danial Way and Javier Saltares
Well, that was quick. Six minutes? Yep, that's how long it takes to read two Ghost Rider comics from 2007. And that's if you pause to look at the pretty pictures.
Now, that said, the story is fine. It's a World War Hulk tie-in, and a basic excuse for scenes with the Hulk fighting Ghost Rider. Normally I'm down for that sort of thing, but come on, six minutes? The story would have worked well in a single issue, and even then it would have been stretched for substance, but at two it's really pushing things. It looks great, though.
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #6-8
by Fred Van Lente, Graham Nolan, Rafa Sandoval and James Cordeiro
While Iron Man is acting like a total prat in the regular Marvel Universe, it's always good to know that there's a title out there where he's still a cool hero. Marvel Adventures Iron Man, with its focus on self-contained stories for all-ages, is it.
All three show Iron Man at his best, in light-hearted action romps. The highlight is issue #7, where Tony has to infiltrate Latveria to save his friends and outwit Dr. Doom to escape. Fred Van Lente has a knack for enjoyable super-hero tales, and it's on good display here. Issue #8 was something of a let down though, getting touch too preachy with its tale of Tony stuck in a village that has forsaken technology (it later makes up for things by having Tony invent some awesome steam-powered armor).
Still, the single-issue focus of the Marvel Adventures line is for me its greatest weakness. The great Marvel eras featured tales and subplots that built on top of what had come before, whereas the Marvel Adventures line is almost completely self-contained - it just feels like there is a little something missing.
SPIDER-MAN: SWING SHIFT DIRECTOR'S CUT #1
by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez
This was originally given away on Free Comic Book Day, but with a whole lot of dialogue changed to keep the dissolution of Spider-Man's marriage a secret. Not many were fooled, and now we have the original, with dialogue restored.
Say what you want about the path they took to get there (and gawd have I), but the new Spider-Man is so awesome. I've believed it for a while, and the new stories demonstrate it amply - single Spider-Man is far more entertaining than married Spider-Man.
This one is another fun Slott story, with Spidey getting involved in a battle with Overdrive and his funky car. It introduces Mr. Negative, the current villainous mastermind of Amazing Spider-Man, as well as Jackpot, registered super-heroine who may or may not be Spidey's former wife Mary Jane. Slott packs it full of amusing touches, like Overdrive being a massive Spidey fanboy, and there's the obligatory bit where Peter Parker misses his Aunt's birthday. It just feels more like Spider-Man than the book has in a couple of decades.
STAR WARS: LEGACY #14-19
by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema
I love me some Star Wars, but I haven't read the Dark Horse comics since the very early days of Dark Empire. But the premise here had me intrigued - what does the Star Wars universe look like some 130 years after the films? The book stars Cade Skywalker, descendent of you-know-who, who is kind of a cross between Luke and Han Solo. The Sith are back in control and ruling over another empire, and Cade has been using his Jedi skills as a bounty hunter for less than altruistic purposes. It's a good set-up, albeit treading a lot of familiar ground for Star Wars fans, but it manages to put just enough of a twist on the familiar themes to work. The big problem is that it has a staggering reliance on continuity from the novels and the comics. I haven't read any of the novels since Vector Prime, and the comics in an even longer time, so several of the supposed 'big reveals' of this arc had me scratching my head. The plot still works adequately in spite of that, but I get the feeling that this series is aimed squarely at the fanatics, and that's not me anymore.
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