Hot damn! Garth Ennis' new Image mini kicks things off with a shotgun blast. A few of them actually.
Back to Brooklyn's central protagonist is Bob Saetta, the number two man in the borough's notorious Saetta crime family. Bob's just walked into a police station and offered to give up every sordid detail about his organization. He's got something big- big enough to cause his brother Paulie to murder six uniformed police officers and hold Bob's wife and family hostage so that it doesn't get out. Bob convinces the Feds to let him go back into Brooklyn- alone- secure his family and then turn himself back in when they are safe.
I read a lot of Ennis. I buy anything with his name on it. Even when he's off his game a lil, I'll still tell you he's awesome. So it's really interesting that there's something about this book that seems so...refreshing and new. Maybe it's the fact that Jimmy Palmiotti is co-writing. Maybe it's the AMAZING artwork from newcomer Mihailo Vukelic. Whatever it is...I don't care. I'm excited about issues 2 - 5 and I want to read them all right now.
Despite what the cover wants you to believe, this isn't the issue where Toby leads the heroes of the Marvel Universe charging into his parallel world to fight the villains that have taken over. In fact, the only one that makes an appearance is Spider-Man (but he IS in the symbiotic costume- bonus points there). Even the super villains who are destroying Toby's Earth are given limited panel time.
While a completely enjoyable idea, Marvel 1985 has spent the bulk of it's first 5 issues concentrating more on the "real world" characters like Toby and his dad. Maybe that's the point. However, I was expecting something a little more epic when I picked up the first issue and it only has one issue left to deliver on my initial expectations. Hopefully Issue 6 will be the money shot, with a big knock down drag out fight between the heroes and villains.As it stands right now, Kick Ass is still the best bet out of the current Millar trilogy of "superheroes in the real world" storylines.
Here's a quick rundown of what I've read from this weeks pile so far:
Captain America #42
Ed Brubaker finally concludes the looooooooooooooong three act storyline "The Death of Captain America". Spoiler: the good guys win. Bucky is starting to feel more comfortable with the mantle and celebrates by making out with The Black Widow on his couch (noice!). Sharon Carter puts a few bullets into The Red Skull, but he's ultimately saved when Arnim Zola encapsulates him in the same type of contraption that Zola is in. Overall, not a bad year and a half arc. Due to Brub taking his time with the story and pacing, I imagine this reads much smoother in the collected format as opposed to having to wait a month between issues.
The New Avengers #45
Continuing to fill in the blanks of events leading up to Secret Invasion, this issue focuses on the House of M era. I never read House of M, so I'm not totally clear on what exactly goes on here, but it's still far more captivating than any issue from the proper Secret Invasion event.
Northlanders #10
Couldn't agree more with Amy's earlier post about this. This is not only one of the better Vertigo titles to emerge in a few years, it's also right up there with some of the best current comics being written period. Hearing that not many people are reading this makes me nervous that it might not last much longer. If you are the type of person that only reads superhero books but were one of the first ones in line when 300 opened up, you owe it to yourself to give this a try. It's that good.
Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder #10
No matter what else is in my pull for the week (and keep in mind I read a LOT of Ellis, Ennis and Morrison) this is always at the top of the "What The Eff?" pile. I guess some people love it, some people hate it. What do I think? I'm not sure yet. Why am I still reading it? Because it's Frank Miller and Jim Lee's take on my favorite comic character. And I have a little bit of hope that even though this seems so ridiculous and so far off the rails that when it's all done there will have been a point to it all.
What else did I get this week? So nice of you to ask!
1985 #5 (of 6) The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and The Death Queen of California (one shot) Back to Brooklyn #1 (of 5) - new Ennis! Madame Xanadu #4 (Matt Wagner's Vertigo book- so far, so good) Jack of Fables #26 Project Superpowers #6 Samurai #1 (of 4)
Seriously, how is this book so good? I was surprised to hear from my comic shop guy last night that only a few people at the store were picking it up; it is easily one of my favorite monthly books. Considering it was pretty tough to sell me on reading it (not usually a huge Brian Wood fan), that's a big deal. Really fantastic writing, tons of beautifully drawn violence, and c'mon, VIKINGS! So cool! So different from anything I'm reading or have read! #10 ended a 2 part mini-arc, I can't wait to see what comes next.
I was feeling ill after work yesterday so I didn't get my books (naughty, naughty.) It's a pretty light week, anyway:
War Heroes #2 Walking Dead #52 Scalped #21
At least those are 3 quality books, no guilty pleasures or anything.
Oh yeah, when I went to that Mark Millar/Tony Harris signing Comic Book Resourcesinterviewed me and they posted a snippet of it on their site. Check it out. (Note: I am not the cosplay chick.)
Secret Invasion #6 BPRD: The Warning #3 Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3 Ex Machina #38 (yaaaay finally!) Young Liars #7 Criminal 2 #5 Goon #28 The Lone Ranger #13
Last week was pretty lackluster, save The Boys and Invincible Iron Man (which continues to be a really enjoyable mini series.)
I was pretty darn disappointed in the new Runaways (that art, ugh.) Criminal is great, Northlanders gives me a big ol' nerd boner, and Kickass keeps getting better and better.
Namor rules Atlantis. In the real world, Atlantis is one of the most mysterious and fabled places of all time. What happens when man goes and tries to find it? Sub-Mariner: The Depths explores that question.
This first issue centers around Doctor Stein: a man of science who has no time for fantasy. A Golden Age mythbuster if you will. His initial scene is of his expedition to the Himalayan mountains where he is hard at work disproving the existence of the Abominable Snowman. He unveils the true culprit at a flashy, press laden presentation- the yeti is really a Red Himalayan Bear. Score one for science.
Afterwards, Stein is approached by two men who ask if he is interested in trying to find the lost city of Atlantis. Turns out, a previous explorer by the name of Marlowe (whom we get an enticing peek of at the beginning) may have already made the discovery. If Atlantis may have already been discovered, what do they need Stein for? Well, rumors abound that ol' Marlowe might be a Red and the U.S. doesn't want the underwater city to fall into the hands of the Communists (*snicker*).
Stein takes them up on this challenge, hoping to debunk yet another fairy tale, and begins the deep descent with a submarine and her crew. Things get tense as men of the ocean tend to err on the superstitious side and this obviously clashes with the good doctor's matter of fact attitude. The issue ends with some spooky rattling of the ship and the spotting of a shadowy figure swimming around in the dark waters surrounding them.
Gotta say- I really enjoyed this first issue. I wasn't planning on buying this (in fact I wasn't even aware of it), but I tend to pick up anything new in the shop that looks slightly interesting and flip through it to see if it hooks me. I'm a sucker for some good underwater storytelling, especially when submarines are involved (Das Boot!). Never been a big fan of Namor, but then again I've never outright disliked him either. This seems like a refreshing point of view on a legacy character.
Peter Milligan, fresh off his "sure, why not?" mini The Programme has script duties, with beautiful painting supplied by EsadRibic.
I won't hold it against you guys if this ends up sucking hard, but if it's this excellent for all five issues...I'll take you both out to dinner.
Wow. Another week and still no new reviews. The good news is I've been powering through my backlog of comics this past week and I'm almost darn near caught up. Planning on posting a few new things in the next couple of days including some features on OMG! approved books you should be reading, as well as a nice wrap up of that most recent Garth Ennis arc on The Punisher (which was damn near cinematic).
Let's get to the important stuff:
House of Mystery #5 Vinyl Underground #12 Eternals #4 (this is goooood!) Invincible Iron Man #5 Twelve 1/2 (wha? what is this?!) Universal War One #3 (#3? How did I miss #2) Universal War One #2 Boys #22
Semi-light week means you might actually get those aforementioned reviews!
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