Thanks to everyone who commented on my Angel/Twilight post, though I admit the story itself prompted attention more than my own meagre critique. However, despite the occasional tone of belligerence, many good points were made. Enough, at least, that I honestly don't know where I stand at the moment.
The Buffy Series 7 comic has that unfortunate trait of several monthlies wherein every time a new one comes out, I struggle to remember what exactly happened in the previous issue. (This happens for me lately with Bendis' New Avengers and anything Tony Daniel ever writes.) I never thought I'd associate that lack of memorability with anything Buffy related, but there it is. And while I enjoy the 5 to 10 minutes it takes me to blow through an issue (yeah, I'm still used to my Buffy doses coming in 42 minutes) I honestly don't think about it very often until a new solicit pops up on whedonesque.com, or the next chapter is on the shelves.
In short, I've adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards Meltzer's whole arc. Obviously, I would never just give up on something considered Buffy canon, but sadly I can't manufacture excitement. Hell, TNT's reruns of Angel Season 4 has been getting me more excited than the comic, and I've seen them a few times before. (And yes, I said Season 4. Urgh.)
Moving on, I thought I'd do another little pop/culture round-up, since I've become so reprehensibly infrequent in my blog postings. Just 'cause I don't write anything, doesn't mean I'm not blowing all my money on comics, or counting down the days (with a Buffy like mix of joy and confusion) till the new Doctor Who premieres. So let's get to it.
COMICS
Marvel Cosmic Universe:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!! Flarkin' fantastic. Completely my favorite comic being made right now. Went back and read Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, then all GOTGs and Novas. Loved everything. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are my new heroes, and I'm reading everything I can find by them (Realm of Kings). Never used to be into the cosmic stuff at all, but I've now read all the Thanos/Warlock Infinity stories, even all the Avengers space battles (Kree/Shi'ar War, Korvac Saga, Galactic Storm, etc.) Thanos Imperative looks pretty sweet, though I'm not entirely sure what it'll consist of (twisted versions of heroes from The Fault versus Nova, Star-Lord, and Thanos? Must be a lot more to it than that, and I can't wait to find out.)
Hard even to pick a favorite character. Never knew I liked Richard Rider so much, or that his dorky annoying younger brother could turn out so cool (smacking down Strontian? Sweet.) Peter Quill? Goldmine. Phyla-Vell? Remarkably useful for a 'failure'. Mantis? Incredibly cool to read Avengers: Celestial Madonna and then go back to her and Moondragon hanging out on Knowhere. Vance Astro? New Warrior and Avenger in Space!! (Here's hoping Nova jogs his missing future-timeline memory.) Rocket Racoon, Groot and Cosmo? Possibly the three greatest comic book characters ever. Can't get enough. Hell I even like Jack Flag now, and look forward to a possible Bullseye reunion one day. Many thanks to www.richlovatt.com for recommending the work of DnA highly, not to mention being a staple of my internet browsing--er, 9-5 serious work hours on a daily basis.
Siege:
Very pretty. Cap's Back. Love seeing Young Avengers side by side with the A-listers. Story's okay, but it seems its entirely about The Sentry, who it seems will be dead in a month or two, based on solicits.
Also, I'm currently rereading the classic Marvel Knights' Inhumans' miniseries by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee and am a bit surprised by the similarities. An ancient, apparently-impenetrable city of God-like humanoid creatures who live in isolation from Earth under the protection of a noble strong King, come under siege by twisted human forces who have been manipulated and aided by the King's own mad, power-hungry, jealous brother.
Hmm...
I'm sure I'm not the first one to make the connection between Loki, God of Mischief and Maximus the Mad but, thought Bendis was a bit more original. Kinda feels like a vehicle to get us to Heroic Age. And I think I'm all right with that. Optimism in comics? @*&! yeah.
Blackest Night:
Still going on? Oh.
Only one more issue to go? No way.
Sinestro as Great White Light? Meh.
Geoff Johns? Turn gay and go out with me.
X-Men:
1. Second Coming. Not looking forward to this 14 chapter plodding, sprawling epic. Even Messiah Complex wasn't that long, but goddamn it felt like it. Hope's got the Phoenix powers. A bunch of X-Men are gonna die (my money's on a couple students, Nightcrawler, and then Rogue closer to the end of the series. Kinda want to be wrong about Rogue though) Don't like the paint-y covers so far, but it's not as if I'm not gonna buy them all. Just hope it's better than the last few X-crossovers. (Speaking of which, isn't Necrosha still going on? These monthly comics are all about the cliffhangers, and yet they space them out so much that it becomes completely anticlimactic. I MISS ONE-SHOT COMIC BOOK STORIES. Used to be, you pick up an issue of Uncanny X-Men and you had a full story, that fit into continuity, but gave you something different and independent.)
2. X-Men Legacy. Best X-comic out there right now, by a long shot. Rogue as the star? Perfect. Love having her powers under control, her personality as an intelligent, compassionate leader in full use, and even her new costume. Again, hope she doesn't die, but Carey pretty much gave it away when Destiny said goodbye to her an issue or two ago.
3. Utopia. Second Coming better end with them getting the hell off that stupid, cult-like, commie experiment island. And while they're ditching the whole socialist society thing, might as well get out of California as fast as possible.
4. KITTY PRYDE IS RETURNING!!!!!!! Fraction hasn't won me over with his work on the X-Folks, but this pretty much makes up for any Sisterhood/whatever-group-that-other-group-was crap storylines he's done. Course he could write her horribly, or Colossus, or the whole story, but she's back! And no one can get rid of her for awhile! That's all that matters.
Red Robin:
Best DC book for me by far (Batgirl's pretty close, actually.) Yost has done a crazy good job with Tim Drake, my favorite superhero character. I'm increasingly impressed with his writing skills, and think he's becoming one of the absolute best. Even felt sad when I heard Fabien Nicieza was taking over. Mostly cause, while I love all that Nicieza has done over the decades (Robin, Batman, X-Force, New Warriors, etc. etc. etc.) and the man's kind of a living legend, he still feels a bit stuck in the old style of comics while trying to be modern. Worried he'll make it a boring, standard super book, with some lame Gotham crime and a few brand-new, uninteresting villains trying to get into Tim's rogues gallery. Also, how does Brightest Day impact Tim? Just Bruce returning? Or maybe he can cut the cowl a bit, let his lovely hair blow in the Gotham breeze?
Upcoming:
Young Allies? Not sure 'bout this. Don't like the art. Not crazy about Nomad, or most of the characters really. Except, of course, Firestar. (Re-read old early New Warriors recently, and really really want to find the back issues of all their interactions with Emma Frost, Hellions and New Mutants.)
Avengers family: New Avengers looks like it's the same book so far, the main Avengers looks pretty cool (especially when Captain Britain and MI:13 come to visit!), Secret Avengers I dunno what to make of yet, though I'll give it a shot (especially if Beast is an Avenger again) and Avengers Academy I will not buy...unless they really have Nova as one of the teachers.
Return of Bruce Wayne: Screw Grant Morrison. Hasn't he spat on Batman enough? Can't believe they gave him this story too. Not gonna like it. Still gonna buy it. MOSTLY CAUSE TIM DRAKE WAS RIGHT WHILE EVERY OTHER SUPERHERO WAS WRONG. That can't be emphasized enough, in my opinion.
TELEVISION
Best New Show: ARCHER. Hilarious.
Most Underrated: Parks and Rec.
Most Anticipated: DOCTOR WHO.
Pretty happy it's time again for more new Doctor stories. I'll admit, I'm nervous about Matt Smith and Steven Moffat and the entire new production team. Even little nervous that the red-headed companion will be lame, despite being pretty. But I still squealed when I saw the new extended trailer. Despite the whole 'no past characters' thing, which I hate (I mean, Rose and the DonnaDoctor are living out a nice life on alternate earth, and all our fave peeps are still on our Earth) they have Cyberman showing up, Daleks, River Song, Weeping Angels....I guess Moffat means 'no past RUSSEL T. DAVIES characters'. Fair enough.
Alright, I'm fairly sure there's a whole lot more to discuss, but the phone's are off the hook and as the lowest member of this particular hierarchy, I must be available for random callers to yell at me. But don't feel too bad--I've got an hour long lunch break, and Jenkin's Inhumans waiting for me. And then post-5 I'm thinking pizza, beer, and DVR-ed Angel and Castle. Not too shabby.
