What I got and Why 15/8/2010

Valhallahan
The Weird World of Jack Staff #3 - I've always been curious about Jack Staff. I really dug Paul Grist's Kane, but only with the recent relaunch have I entered the Weird World of Jack Staff. I’m awfully glad I did!

The Walking Dead #76 - Consistently brilliant, it'd take a lot to make me drop this title. In fact nothing short of the (joke) ending to #75.

Scarlet #1 - I thought I’d try this out, because although I'm sick to death of Bendis' Marvel Universe work now, I used to be a big fan. Here’s hoping he's still got some of the old magic in this creator-owned series.

Daytripper #9 - The penultimate chapter of this excellent Mini, and it looks like they're starting to bring it all together. I heartily recommend this series.

Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #1 - I got this because we were going to do it for Swap Shop until Ash hit me with a surprise turkey instead (stay tuned!). It's not bad, but it’s not great either, I was left thinking "The Shroud is actually kinda cool" and "Dear god, why do they still write Silver Sable stories".

CBGB OMFUG #1 - Part one of Boom! Studios anthology series about the legendary New York Punk venue. I like comics I like Punk, it’s not rocket science.

Origins of the Marvel Universe - I went on about the one page origins in that siege freebie a little while back, and this is a whole comic of them. 1 page of 'who they is and what they does' for most of Marvel's major characters. Well worth the price of admission. The Ghost Rider page by Mark Texiera is particularly cool looking, I'd like it on my wall. An excellent buy for a Marvel Newbie.

Jonah Hex #58 - Because it’s Jonah Hex.

DareDevil Black and White - Basically this is the same format as Marvel's Magazines they put out over the last year or so; short black and white stories by interesting creators and a prose story at the end. Looked good to me.

Invincible Volume 12: Still Standing - I really Love Invincible; it's one of the few current series I pick up solely in Trades, it sucks to wait so long between instalments, but like a trip to your mum's house, I'm guaranteed a good long ride for my money each time. This is what superhero comics should be.

Love and Rockets - I really dig L+R, and these trades are a great way to experience it, comprehensive, inexpensive and nice to look at on the shelf. This volume reprints couple of Minis by Jaime, including Women's wrestling drama "Woah Nellie!" and Penny Century.

Vertigo: Winters Edge #1 - A late '90s vertigo anthology; basically a short from each of the main books they were printing at the time, with a House of Secrets framing strip. Highlight at first glance is the Paul Pope Hellblazer story. The book does seem to contain a bunch of nonsense about fauns too though, so be warned.

Avengers #1: Valhallahan's Rebuttal

Valhallahan

Okay, I wasn't going to bother writing about this one, but Action Ash's positive review made me want to redress the balance of 2 Bad Guys. I also read Avengers #1 this week and thought it rather sucked. I had high hopes for this Avengers series, after several years of it I'd grown sick of Bendis' New Avengers and had been hoping this new Heroic Age will bring back the thrill of Avengers old. Well it tries, but it's just... off.

I have two major problems with the plot; it seems Bendis hasn't really read any Kang stories recently, seeing as here he has the character make a big deal out of this being THE ONE TIME we're in this together, FOR ONCE their goals are the same. FOR ONCE Kang's supposed to be on the side of the angels. This is clearly bollocks. Just a couple of months ago he was helping The Guardians of the Galaxy and there was Avengers Forever; a popular, year-long series where he was essentially an Avenger himself, he also started the young Avengers as Iron Lad. In fact in recent years, Kang War epic notwithstanding, it seems he’s spent more time helping the Avengers and other heroes out or thwarting the schemes of his future self, Immortus, than causing any kind of mischief (OK, Kang War was pretty brutal).

My other main issue is that the first big story seems to set up a fight with Wonder Man (who's regrown his mullet and seems to be being turned into the Bishop of the Avengers) and the proposed murder of their own children. Yep, welcome to the Age of Heroes folks! Where Infanticide and beating on your friends is the order of the day. I’m not sure if I'm interested or not that the kids are the ones introduced in the Avengers Next straight to DVD Movie, but it's probably worth noting.

I can't really fault the art, JR JR is dependable as ever, albeit the subject matter makes this more World War Hulk than Kick-Ass, I prefer his work on street level (or rather roof top) heroes, feeling his Big Ass Bold Super Duper Guys work can be a little bit uninspiring, compared to his more human works. It's still great but y’know...

This issue also features "An oral history of the Avengers" or as it should be called "More Bendis Filler Crap" where we have page after page with a bout six sentences of conversation on. Tony Stark thinks Jan is hot; she was with Hank Pym because of Daddy Issues; Pym was married before - I'd forgotten that. That is pretty much all we learn here. It would be a fun addition on the Marvel website or something, but as it is this seems to be the extras that Marvel are using to justify the £3.99 price tag; some Fan Fiction BMB wrote in about 20 minutes accompanied by stock ensemble pictures. See Criminal/Incognito for 'back-matter' done right.

2 West Coast reservists out of a possible First Five.

Avengers #1

Avengers #1
Next Avengers part 1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by John Romita Jr

Action Ash

Hot diggity dog! A silver age style cosmic time travel adventure has begun.

Is this awesome y/n?

Yes! It is!

The new Avengers series kicks off with the beginning of a nice little time travel storyline by mister Bendis. Although there wasn't any chrono surfing just yet, the story is a set up for such hi jinks, and I gotta say, it got me excited. With an appearance from a certain "conqueror" this issue got me excited about the possibilities for this new series.
Romita Jr provides fantastic illustration throughout, although his Thor does look a bit boyish at times. Apart from this, though, the art is great, with his reveal of the aforementioned conqueror (you guys know who it is right?) being my favourite page in comics this month.
Can't wait to see what happens next.

4 blonde Norse gods laying the beatdown on timelords out of 5

p.s. Look out for local celebrity Timothy Stafford in this issue. The mightiest hero of all!