Weekly Comics Revview for 11/21/12

More of Marvel’s relaunches and the second issue of Iron Man already. What’s up with all these bi-weekly comics lately? Honestly, as much as I’d love to get more of stories I want to read (not necessarily referring to Iron Man here) but given the cost of comics nowadays, that can be expensive. It’s bad enough that DC relaunched all their titles to #1 issues to boost sales but now Marvel is doing the same to so many of their big titles. (I’m really surprised all the X-titles haven’t done the same yet.)

Captain America #1 – I picked this up to see where the new title would go. I really wasn’t impressed. The art is very rough and sketchy. We start off with Steve as a kid and jump to him fighting someone called the Green Skull. (Really?) Then he leaves the villain with a random cop doing a traffic ticket (REALLY???) to meet Sharon Carter for a date of all things. He acts like an awkward kid on his first date as if he’s fresh out of the ice block. He blunders into a trap, ends up in another dimension with Arnim Zola and a baby. This book was the biggest turn off for following the title I could think of. I really don’t think there was anything redeeming at all about this comic.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #14 – Rise of the Third Army – Kyle continues his training, starting with Indigo-1 where he is adept at teleporting. He then moved on to Arkillo where he has more trouble but is able to channel yellow as well. This just leaves him to train with Larfleeze of all people. Meanwhile, Carol confronts the Zamarons and almost loses her ring. This part is the only tie in to the story arc.

Harbinger #6 – Kris returns to the fold when Faith approaches her to come see Peter. Despite the barely tolerate/hate (There’s definitely no love.) relationship she has with Peter, the stuff that Harada has done to her and Joe makes her want to join in on this. She even booby traps her own house to get to him and his team. This fight is building up fast and a war is definitely on its way.

Hawkeye #4 – Someone actually has a VHS tape of Clint killing a bad guy. (Interesting since he was all “Avengers Don’t Kill!” when Mockingbird did that.) This supposedly will get the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the President in big trouble. (Ummmm…. ok….) He heads off to Madripoor with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s credit card (Yes, it gets worse.) which seems to be his biggest worry the whole time. The art is still horrible and the cover is still the white with black and purple mess that it’s been. I love Hawkeye but this book is becoming painful to read.

Iron Man#2 – It’s the continuation of the Extremis storyline. Tony tracks it down to Symkaria where a number of people in more simplified armor are calling it the Grail and using name references from the Knights of the Round Table. (It’s an interesting concept and not as bad or deranged as it may sound.) Tony’s battles with the knights and a woman from his past that he had already embarrassed is interesting. The best part though is the art. After the other books that were average to horrible, this book actually has some of the best artwork that I’ve seen in a LONG time. I can honestly say the book is worth checking out just for the art alone.

Legion of Super-Heroes #14 – Element Lad and Chemical Kid track down the Braalians with Brainiac 5’s assistance and take them down. Meanwhile, there are short updated on the Comet Queen and Fatal Five storylines. Nothing very interesting and, while it isn’t as bad as Captain America or Hawkeye, the art in this book leaves a lot to be desired too. I’ve always love the Legion but the stories in this series are just not up to par as compared to their previous titles.

Nightwing #14 – It’s Nightwing vs. Shiva. There’s some other stuff but most of it was that and she could have taken him out a couple times but didn’t for some unknown reason. Plus, Joker makes a cameo on the last page leading up to Death of the Family.

Stormwatch #14 – Etrigan continues battling Midnighter and Apollo while the rest of the team shows up. The connection between Stormwatch and the Demon Knights is discussed more. There’s dissension in the ranks as the Engineer makes some unpopular decisions. Plus, Apollo and Midnighter discuss their future as they try to figure out their place on the team. To make matters worse, the Shadow Lords become infiltrated. This is getting quite messy quite fast. I am enjoying watching how Apollo and Midnighter have to deal with their growing relationship. It’s rare enough to find gay characters in comics let alone a decently explored relationship. (And then it’s usually with a civilian, not 2 heroes.)

There’s really very limited options for the Top 3 this week as turned off as I was by most of the artwork. I’m going with Harbinger, Iron Man, and Stormwatch this week. I’m ready to start pruning my list a little the way things are going.

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