Thursday, January 19, 2012

New Comics that I bought

     Lately I've been trying to make good decisions on what comics to buy. I tend to buy Marvel comics and some independents. I had started to buy DC comics, but then they did their "New 52" and I bailed. I've always been an X-Men fan because it's how I got into comics, but after the recent "Schism" I've had to muddle through a slew of first issues as they restart all the X-Titles. Ughh... I've finally decided which titles to drop and which to keep up with just in time for a new crossover event to (maybe) pull me back.
     Anyway, This week didn't offer me much in terms of worthy titles for reading. Uncanny X-Force #20, New Mutants #36, and Generation Hope #15. After the decent first 19 issues of UXF I've found my interest in the title waining. It's truly solidified itself as essentially a Fantomex solo book. That's all this title has been from the start with lots of recurring guests. This week Fantomex finds himself on trial by the Captain Britain Corps. Ugh... I've never been interested in Captain Britain and any of the characters that showed up in Excalibur back in the day. The only thing that is remotely interesting is the fact that we are trying to deal with the repercussions of Fantomex's decision to kill the En Sabah Nur child 17 issues ago. However, that's what the entire book has been about this whole time. So, we aren't exactly breaking new ground here. Meanwhile Captain Britain's Magic Land is at war with itself and X-Force fall head first into the battle. Yawn...
     Generation Hope #15 found the team back on Utopia with a Mindwiped Sebastian Shaw in tow only to find out that Cyclops (and others) are less than happy to see him again. This title has been very interesting to me from the beginning. I especially enjoyed the title when it steers clear of the rest of the X-Men and does it's own thing. However, since the title has introduced Shaw into the mix and moved more into continuity I'm finding myself cringe. This issue Hope challenges Scott (again) and shows off a bit more power than she's ever shown before. Of course, this is only to tease the Phoenix force storyline coming up entitled Avengers vs. X-Men. Ugh...  The thing I don't understand is why the Phoenix force would even be interested in Hope in the first place. So far, all we've ever seen the Phoenix want out of a mutant is for it to be telepathic. Hope isn't telepathic or even all that powerful. The only reason I can see them doing this is because she has red hair and looks like Jean Grey. Ugh...
     New Mutants #36 finishes up the search for Blink storyline(thank god). This title has been limping along since the beginning. There hasn't been much to make this title stand out and I think it's been coasting on the nostalgia of people who grew up with these characters in the late 80s, but I think recently with the titles new direction that it's really settling into something that could be good. The characters are solidifying and it's tangential role to the other X-Titles is a good thing. I hope it can steer clear of too much continuity and do it's own thing for a while.
     I also picked up Ultimate Comics All-New Spider-Man #6. What a terrible title. Ultimate Spider-Man was such a better title for the book. So, six issues into Miles Morales taking over the title from Peter Parker and we finally have an issue where he actually fights some bad guys! In costume! Hooray! Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man(under any title) has been very consistently good. I've enjoyed every issue of this book. Every single one (i'm counting the almost a hundred and fifty issues preceding this restart), but it's been lagging recently for me. The Miles Morales storyline seems to be taking it's  time getting anywhere. I think it's because we don't know enough about the character yet (not nearly as much as we knew about Peter) and we don't yet see the point of the title. It doesn't have a direction yet. No main antagonist(like green goblin was for Peter) or even a sub-antagonist(like Doctor Octopus was for Peter). I'm sure we'll be introduced to these elements soon, but it needs to hurry if it has any hope of keeping new readers.
     Rounding out my week is Planet of the Apes #10(BOOM! Studios). This title has been so good from the start. The art is great the story is interesting and each issue keeps me wanting to read more. It's weird. This title should have been terrible. It's supposed to fit into the old Planet of the Apes movies continuity. As hokey as those films became this title manages to keep all the good elements of those films while setting itself apart. We don't have the Star Wars Prequel problems of having to show the origin of every main character from the films. Instead we are given a whole new set of characters that we get to know and like. We get invested in these characters even though they aren't familiar at all. This issue gives us flashbacks from three of our main characters: Sully, Alaya, and Nix. We see how their paths first cross at a definitive moment in history. Our other main character, Bako, is absent until the end. A battle is fought between the White Troop and the Ghost Battalion that is very well presented. Just a great title overall. I highly recommend picking it up even if you don't know much about the movie continuity. If you can't find the issues, get the volume 1 TPB.
     I suppose I might start doing this weekly now that I have a little more time to devote to it, but I can't guarantee that will last. So, until next time!

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