Thunderbolts #126 - Review
November 23, 2008 by Mike Haynes · 2 Comments
I’m not going to sugarcoat things. I’ve been disgusted by Thunderbolts as of late. After an amazing 12-issue run by Warren Ellis, the book plummeted into the darkness with Christos Gage at the helm. With a new creative team taking control with this issue, things can really only get better.
Taking on the role of writer is Andy Diggle who is responsible for titles such as Green Arrow: Year One and The Losers. Having never read either of them, I don’t know how well his writing of Thunderbolts compares but it’s good nonetheless. In what seems like an entire issue of twists, he manages to shake up the entire team and set the tone for his run within a matter of panels. It’ll be very interesting to see how things escalate from here. He’s no Warren Ellis but he’s certainly a step up from Gage.
As for Roberto De La Torre, who replaces Fernando Blanco, his first issue as the new Thunderbolts artist is very impressive and will undoubtedly bring back memories for many of Mike Deodato’s work on the title. De La Torre’s style is rough, dark and totally fitting of the writing style Diggle uses. The duo work very nicely together and seem to bring the team back to what it was a couple issues back.
Overall, unlike most comics as of late that run through three or four issues before finally getting to the point, Thunderbolts #126 shakes up the whole setting in a matter of pages without feeling too “over the top”. Andy Diggle’s done a great job with this issue and I’m definitely excited to see where things go from here. This might not be the greatest point for new readers to jump on but it’s a solid book in a title that’s needed an issue like this to save itself.
Thunderbolts #126
8.7 out of 10 stars
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Thor #11 - Review
November 22, 2008 by Mike Haynes · 3 Comments
I’ve been finding it harder and harder to review Thor as of late. I’ve read and then reviewed nearly every issue of the book, (Don’t bother looking for them on here, they’ve since been removed because of server issues.) and I feel like I’ve literally run out of words to describe exactly how good this comic truly is. Thor #11 is definitely no exception to that.
I was never really a big fan of Thor before this book kicked off. Even when the first issue came out, I wasn’t overly intrigued by it. The first issue had come out and I had heard good things but didn’t really bite as hard as most people. One week, when there were far fewer comics in my box than usual, I decided to pick up the first couple issues and check it out. Since then, I’ve been a pretty huge fan. With issue #11, J. Michael Straczynski keeps the ball rolling by exposing Thor to more of the Marvel Universe. This time, rather than have him beat the snot out of Iron Man, we see Thor visit the grave site of Captain America and pay his respects to his former teammate. The result is one of the most emotional scenes since the book kicked off over a year or so ago.
As usual, Oliver Coipel brings Straczynski’s wonderful script to life with fantastic visuals that will no doubt please longtime fans of the book as well as any new readers that jump on with this issue as well. With great fight scenes, a full page transformation from Blake to Thor and the reunion between the God of Thunder and Captain America, Coipel continues to impress with his top notch artwork.
Overall, like the ten issues before this one, Thor #11 completely rocks. It’s somewhat difficult to see exactly where this whole story is actually going but, because of how well put together Straczynski’s writing is, I don’t really care. I’m just hoping that the ride keeps going. If you’ve been avoiding Thor, stop doing it. You’re really missing out.
Thor #11
8.6 out of 10 stars
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First Look At Marvel’s New “Dark Avengers”
November 21, 2008 by Mike Haynes · 11 Comments
A couple of months back, Brian Michael Bendis announced that, following Secret Invasion, he’d be working on a brand new Avengers book. Since then, both he and Marvel have been pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing…
…until now.
“What he does isn’t very nice.”
“Back in black.”
“Not such a straight arrow.”
“Men fear a powerful woman.”
“The greatest hero in the Marvel Universe.”
I really like the throwback to the original New Avengers cover that was released when that series launched back in 2004. It’s fairly obvious who most of the characters are but there’s still a number of questions regarding the identities of the heroes that will be making up the roster. From what we can see, you can assume the team will be made of from the following core group:
- Iron Patriot
- Spider-Man (Black suit)
- Ms. Marvel (Retro)
- Wolverine (Retro)
- Hawkeye
Marvel teased this possibly new character a couple weeks back. While most people are pretty well sold on the fact that it’s Iron Man, the continuity of this idea just doesn’t sync up with the current Iron Man book and couldn’t possibly work.
It’s blatantly obvious that Spider-Man, in some form, will be on the team but, much like Iron Man being the new Iron Patriot, the idea of Spider-Man running around in his black suit just doesn’t mesh with the stories and ideas that are appearing in Amazing Spider-Man currently.
Once you see the star logo on the only female character’s chest, you know it’s Ms. Marvel’s vintage outfit. Having always been a fan of her older suit, I’m happy to see her toss it back on. Although I don’t read her solo title so I don’t exactly know if she’ll be wearing it throughout the whole Marvel U or not.
Another old school outfit? Well, I guess a Marvel book just wouldn’t be a true Marvel book if Wolverine wasn’t in it. I would go into detail about the continuity errors that Logan’s presence brings to the book but that got thrown out the window the moment the company initiated the “Wolverine must appear at least three times in every single issue of every single book we publish” rule.
After teasing his return multiple times in Secret Invasion, it appears that Clint Barton will finally be getting his old purple suit back, complete with bow and arrow. I’ve already talked about the levels of awesome that this act is teetering on so we’ll just leave it at that.
While making assumptions is fun and all, there’s really no way to tell exactly what we’ve got heading our way in the pages of Dark Avengers. We’ll just have to wait until January to see just what Brian Michael Bendis and the gang at Marvel have in mind.
