Remember, I like me some SPOILERS!
Avengers Next #5: If you really like old-school Avengers action, where everyone talks their motivations and actions aloud, you’ll like this. I’m not a big fan of the style, but I think it’s nice that there are still comics that cater to this style.
Civil War: The Return #1: Through a fluke accident involving the extradimensional prison used in Civil War, Captain Marvel is grabbed from the past. Yawn. The world’s smartest men seem to not worry about the possible time paradox (even while mentioning that there’s a time paradox) and instead immediatly ask him to guard the super-prison. And in the second feature, we learn that the Sentry is insanely powerful, and that he registers. Will both these stories matter in Civil War #7? Somehow I doubt it.
Connor Hawke #3: It’s like the game Werewolf, but with arrows! Pretty solid issue, with some neat moments… taking place in Green Arrow’s bedroom.
52 #38: The Island of Dr. Morrow produces “the four horsemen” which seem to be genetically engineered beasties. And a LONG time is spent with Renee dragging the Question around in an attempt to find Nanda Parbat. Pretty boring issue, though the Question’s mask filling with blood was a nice touch.
Dr. Strange The Oath #4: Brian K. Vaughn seems unable (or unwilling) to create a bad comic these days, and he’s also getting his choice of comics. “It’s incinerated every Sorcerer Supreme since the 1500’s.” “What are you going to do?” “Defy expectations.” We see the full origin of the bad guy (and it seems like something that has to have been used before, but if not, genius), and the full ramifications of the cure for cancer that Strange found.
Eternals #6: Iron Man and Yellowjacket, after being totally pwnd, try to convince the Eternals that they all have to register. Priceless. Whatcha gonna do now, Tony? Send some more SHIELD agents? Send Morbius the Living Vampire after them? Hmmmm?
Fables #57: Mike Allred’s art works great for Fables. In this issue Bigby, Snow, and the kids fly to the North Wind’s castle, and we find out why Bigby and his father don’t get along. But Bigby uses diplomacy to convince him to join the Fabletown side in the war. I don’t know if Fables has a decided endpoint or not, but it seems to be heading for the Big War. So this arc is gathering allies, next it the Big War, and afterwards, trying to get along with Mundys after the secret is out?
Heroes for Hire #6: Humbug tries to help a kid recover his reprogrammed Doombot (?) from the Headmen (??). And in the not nearly as fun and downright boring side story, the rest of the team is captured by weapon stealing new super-terrorists.
Invincible #38: Kirkman’s vignette style is in full force here. The big thing was that the long-brewing romance from nearly the beginning of the series finally starts to pay off, at least partly because his girlfriend denied him sex. Good stuff… he is a college student after all…
Silent War #1: First off, Frazier Irving’s art is gorgeous here. I didn’t think it would work for a modern superhero tale (and I’d still love to see him work on some more fantastical books) but it works great here. The only thing that bothers me about this book is that it has to take place pre-Civil War, but post House of M and related fallout. This could be a pretty big event, so why have it compete against Civil War (in real time) and have it happen pre-Civil War (Marvel time) so that we know there are no major consequences? And when combining this book with Civil War, we see that the true boogeyman of the MU is the US Government.
Spiderman loves Mary Jane #14: Gwen Stacey knows Peter Parker’s secret, but tells everyone that she knows he has a secret. Both MJ and Peter are pretty pissed about this. But don’t worry guys, Gwen will be dead shortly. Ohhh… too soon?
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #26: Uhhh yeah, as always, a neat looking and sounding book, but very difficult to keep a handle on what’s going on and which characters are which. We’re told that Supergirl is going back to the present day, so maybe they’ll bother to explain why she’s there in her own book, or maybe not?
The Flash #8: Lesse… Impulse’s archvillian decides to stage an elaborate, James Bond villian style trap that involves a photon gun that “outruns the speed force.” Flash/Impulse manages to outrun it anyway and disarm the trap and beat the villian who teleports away. Sorry, I thought it was pretty lame. Then they’re attacked by the other recent recurring villian, who’s beaten in a more traditional Flash sort of way, using speed in an inventive way. At the end we find out that the Flash is going to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. We’ll have to see what the next creative team does with this book, but I don’t have high hopes.
Wolverine #50: Another 7 Soldiers alum takes over the art, this time Simone Bianchi, who makes this pretty typical Wolverine vs. Sabertooth fight at least fun to look at. My guess? Another two issues of random fighting with some plot twists, while there’s a lot of exposition and flashbacks while we find out who Sabertooth is once and for all… despite the fact that we kinda know already from Wolvering: Origin? And then there’s a strange backup feature that presents a director’s commentary (by Wolverine) of his first meeting with the Hulk, which attempts to explain older comic-writing styles with the newer.
X-Factor #15: Madrox is brainwashed by Hydra… and it fails spectacularly. You really do have to read this issue for yourself, the way it plays out is a lot of fun. But man, first Wolverine, and now Multiple Man… it seems pretty easy for them to just kidnap superheroes and brainwash them, they should keep doing it!
I’ve read the first five issues of The Eternals, and I really feel like Gaiman effortlessly integrated Civil War into what essentially was a book that could have been above the whole nonsense. Similarly, Peter David used Civil War as an opportunity to show how the team reacted to the ongoing bruhaha in Marvel U. Mostly though, I just can’t wait for this ‘event’ to end.
Yeah, he’s done a good job with it (I mean, he’s Neil Freakin’ Gaiman) but I don’t think it’s added anything. It could be somehow important in Eternals #7, and it could be important in Civil War #7, but if it isn’t, why was it included, other than Marvel editorial edict?