Now, some reviews of some comics you have to pay for! Spoilers ahead!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3: Even more stuff from the show that I don’t remember makes it hard to follow still, but you can definitely tell that Whedon is having fun. Looking forward to seeing where it’s going on its on legs, but for now, MEH
Y the Last Man #56: Some really great character stuff between Yorick and 355. And two scenes you’ve been waiting for the whole time, but I’ll only spoil one: Yorick addresses a skull. Still, the other supporting cast still doesn’t appear to be doing anything… and not much time left! HIT
Invincible #41: Funny that the cover happens off-panel. A lot of stuff is wrapped up pretty neatly (or so we thought) but we’ll see what the long term effects are. Really hard to sum up everything that happens in an Invincible issue in a few sentences. HIT
JLA Classified #38: A second
Countdown #51: Nobody on the Internet liked this one. In fact, it seems to be universally dispised. I wasn’t impressed, but I’m not ready to write it off yet. I just wish that most of it made sense. Gotta love the Mary Marvel getting rained on though! MISS
Green Arrow #74: While we knew that Black Canary and Green Arrow were getting back together (so as to launch their new series after #75), I seemed to have missed the actual transition part from not back together to together. This issue, she shows up, they have a lot of sex, and are back. MISS
Amazing Spiderman #540: Not much of a story: Spiderman tracks the guy who killed his aunt, finds out that the Kingpin was behind it, which the audience already knew from page one. Spiderman has a very serious, broody narrative voice here, which of course totally doesn’t jive with other titles he’s in. MEH
Black Panther #27: Invincible negative zone bugs! Magic frogs! Skrulls! Marvel zombies! Wha? I want to recommend it, but it all just seemed so… contrived. A shame because the title has been so strong lately. MEH
Ghost Rider #11: “Do you know how hard it is to raise a zombie army? Do you even CARE?” Good stuff, with only a slightly unsatisfying ending. HIT
Green Lantern Corps #12: Guy Gardner framed for murder is the central conflict, as he flees to Mogo. One thing I like about this series is how effectively they handle a large cast of characters, one of whom is a living planet (though they seem to have a lot of excuses to visit Mogo) HIT
Immortal Iron Fist #5: Who’d have thought that superheroes, kung-fu, and humor could be so well blended together in one book. I was under the impression that this was a limited series, but I couldn’t see sign of that, and I saw signs of a long term storyline. Totally recommended, and I hope it does become a series. HIT
JLA Classified #38: The Justice League vs. Free Will! Not really, mostly just philosophy and the JLA being voyeurs. I expected more from this creative team. MISS
New Avengers #30: “Bub, you never stall ninjas!” –Wolverine “Well! I’m fighting ninjas again even though I SPECIFICALLY said I was done fighting ninjas.” –Spiderman. Do I need to say more? Oh yeah, we find out who the new Ronin is, probably. That part seems a little rushed and easy. HIT
Thunderbolts #114: Hmm, still can’t decide about this one. There’s no Green Goblin this time, just a few mixed up superheroes getting beat on by the Thunderbolts, and yet more dissension in the ranks. Gotta stick with it because I think major crazy stuff is going to hit any time now. MEH
Issues I refused to read: Hawkgirl #63, Nightwing #132, Wolverine Origins #14
I didn’t think Countdown was all that bad. I’m kinda intrigued to see where they are going with it, and why Jason Todd aka Red Hood is now acting all heroic now. I also like the whole breakup of the Marvel Family thing. I wonder how Uncle Marvel is holding up.
Then again, I do have a bad habit of liking this others don’t and vica versa.
and, maybe I’m missing something integral, but is there any reason you refused to read those comics listed as refused to read?
I’m willing to give Countdown a few more issues before I drop it. 52, on the other hand, started good, went bad, then near the end became great. Specific content aside, Countdown really needed to grab the reader more. (By the way, for those of you who can stand Myspace can read the first full issue of Countdown online, and the first half of the second issue.)
The issues I refused to read I opened, but then couldn’t stand to work my way through. That’s a rating below a “MISS”.
I think DC needs a shakeup to revitalize Nightwing and The Outsiders (or is it good again)? At any rate, both books are ones in principle I want to buy, but have been unreadable since I perused them post OYLish. On the other hand, does anyone expect Origins or Hawkgirl to pull themselves out of the crapper?