a.j.howard09

November 22, 2012 3:15 pm Isn't this one of those weird renumbering issues where it takes a doctoral to sort out? If I remember correctly, Journey Into Mystery eventually became Thor. There was at least two relaunches of Thor, with the Jurgens run in the '90s and JMS' run in 06-07. The JMS volume lasted twelve issues before switching back to the Journey Into Mystery/Thor vol. 1 numbering so Marvel could sell a #600 issue. That numbering lasted for over 20 issues before the Thor movie came out, and Marvel wanted to relaunch a new Thor series, which became The Mighty Thor. At the same time, Marvel launched Gillen's Journey Into Mystery, using the numbering from the recently ended Thor vol. 1, which hadn't been titled Journey Into Mystery for decades. Yeah, let's just say you shouldn't worry about numbering.

November 20, 2012 5:25 pm People talk about over-saturation, and they may have a point. But I'd argue the Wolverine and the X-Men isn't really a Wolverine book. His name is in the title, and he may be the "lead character," but that book's much more about the school than it is about any specific character. I can think of a handful of issues that Wolverine where isn't even around. It's as much a Wolverine book as West Wing was a show about Jed Bartlett.

November 14, 2012 6:08 pm Man, the past three months have seen this series go from "pretty solid" to "probably one of the best comics being published right now." It's like I always forget how good it is. I'm never that excited about it, but I'm always completely engrossed and engaged within a few pages. This issue might have been the best one yet.

October 25, 2012 3:58 pm Isn't one of the core tenants of heroic fiction that you don't use the overwhelmingly powerful object that tends to corrupt it's user? I mean the way it works with these things is that you can start out with the best intentions but it doesn't tend to work out well. Whether it's the one ring of power or the "dark side" of the force, resorting to the easy source of overwhelming power tends to not work out well. I'm not that well versed in Marvel history, but didn't Jean Grey kill a few billion living beings when she was under the influence of the Phoenix force? Didn't the whole episode end with her offing herself because she saw no other way out? The last issue of AvX didn't prove Cyclops right. Mutants only started reemerging after Hope and Wanda wished the Phoenix force out of existence. It wasn't the use of the Phoenix force that saved mutants from existence, it was Hope's conviction that even though she could accomplish great good with unlimited power, that was not the way things should be done. If Hope is Frodo, then Cylcops is Boromir, the guy who is willing to risk all of existence in order to serve his own noble, but ultimately self-serving interests. And if you happen to disagree with not ly these ends, but the means he uses to reach the ends, you should be disposed of. Cyclops wasn't right, Cyclops was a pompous and vainglorious diva.

October 18, 2012 6:18 pm Maybe I'm misreading you, but I don't know how you can say that the series release structure has been lackadaisical. Every week has seen one Before Watchmen release since June, which is pretty impressive when you consider the reputation of some of the creators involved. I'm pretty sure all of them have been released in their intended order too. I can see how if you're not reading them now, it could look a little confounding though. I guess what I'm saying is qualitative and existential questions aside, you gotta give DC credit for making the trains run on time.

October 15, 2012 5:52 pm Jesus, is that the Schindler's List font on the Weapon X book? " Sinister's List? Really? "Soft Targets" is awesome. That JSA cover is gorgeous too.

October 10, 2012 5:40 pm "I am frothing with rage over the fact that Marvel has the audacity to change the adjective of a title and renumber the book for the second time. In response, I will bitch about the decision for three months, passing up no opportunity to publicly shout my rage to the mountaintops, even though the mountains do not listen, or really care. I do so because it makes me feel superior (ironically enough). However, once my disdain has been properly expressed, I will probably buy the issues in January, just so I can have something new to bitch about. Because this is the way..."

October 10, 2012 2:06 pm Yeah, I think Dick was a mole in an effort to take control and eventually eliminate organized crime in Bludhaven. Unfortunately for him, this was rendered obsolete when Bludhaven was destroyed during Infinite Crisis. I recently read these issues, and don't remember strongly disliking them. I always enjoy Phil Hester pencils though. I certainly liked this more than the Bruce Jones arc that followed.

October 10, 2012 2:00 pm This actually is a good place to mention a storyline that has been bugging the hell out of me since I read it. I've been reading the excellent second volume of Daredevil. I started with the Kevin Smith #1 and actually just read Bendis' last issue this week. But between the Bendis/Mack arc and the proper start of the Bendis/Maleev run Bob Gale wrote a six issue arc, drawn by a couple of different artists. The story is that a someone has hired Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson in an effort to sue Daredevil for damaging his green house during a recent encounter with a bad guy. The problem is (spoiler alert) Matt IS Daredevil and he knows that he was nowhere near his client's property on the night of the incident. Okay, so that's a bit of an undisclosed conflict of interest on the part of Nelson & Murdock. I'm a law-school graduate, and I try to keep in mind that most people don't have the same training that I do, but Gale proves again and again to be startlingly ignorant. He seemingly doesn't know what a deposition is. He doesn't know that there's a different standard of guilt in criminal trials than in civil trials. But the biggest problem is that he doesn't come close to comprehending the gravity, of what he has Matt and Foggy do. Matt and Foggy throughout the arc work covertly against the interest of their own client in furtherance of their own interest. This is just about the worse thing an attorney can do. If they were caught, Matt and Foggy would be instantly disbarred and probably thrown in jail. They would never have a prayer of getting enrolled in any state's bar for the rest of their lives. This isn't just bending the rules to catch the bad guy, this is flagrantly violation of an ethical principal that has existed in the legal profession since its beginning. The closest analogy I can give you is if somebody wrote a story about Nixon's coverup of the Watergate break-in's, depicting Nixon, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Gordon Liddy as noble heroes. One last thing about how bad this writing is. The arc opens with Matt in court, defending a client who has been accused of wrongful termination. The plaintiff is saying that he was fired because Matt's client was racist, but in cross-examination Matt gets the guy to admit that he was actually fired for gambling at work. After the jury finds for Matt's client, he brags to Foggy that he was able to tell the guy was lying because he could hear his heartbeat, and took advantage of it during cross. Gale is reminding readers of this specific ability of Matt's, and it comes up later in the issue. But.... wait a sec. Matt is representing the person who fired this guy for gambling. What kind of idiot gets sued for racial discrimination, and forgets to mention to his attorney that he actually justifiably fired the guy for gambling at work. "Well counsellor, I do hate black people, but all the same, I feel like there's something I'm forgetting." Sheez. Just a complete disaster of an arc marring an incredible volume of comics.

October 10, 2012 12:56 pm Anybody read that Adam Strange mini by Diggle and Ferry from several years ago? I thought that was really good.