Wednesday, May 2, 2012

This Week's Comics - 5/2/12


A light week, always a blessing to the budget, though it does incline one to start looking at some trade paperbacks or back issues on sale, thus rendering all previous savings moot. Still, despite being thin, it's far from quiet, as Avengers vs. X-Men keeps moving forward, and a new crossover between Mutants and Asgardians (who have a nice long history of crossovers, come to think of it) begins.

No DC has made the list, a not uncommon occurrence, though to be honest I believe I will flip through some of the Night of the Owls tie-ins, perhaps see what Dick Grayson is up to as the Owls attack Gotham (not interested in the all-new Barbara Gordon, and I've grown quite tired of Damian.) The Pick of the Week is none other than Mark Waid's consistently brilliant and enjoyable Daredevil, as this month we see Matt Murdock making time for romance, and judging by the cover things get a bit steamy.


Read on for full listage.

MARVEL

Avengers Academy #29:  Despite the fact that AvX isn't all that cerebral, I somehow missed the part where the Avengers clearly won the battle of Utopia. Sure I saw a few X-Men fall, but so did some Avengers. I'll have to go back but I'm unconvinced how we went from all out brawl to clear cut victory. Regardless, the Avengers (and Wolverine the bastard) have taken Utopia's youth (and Sebastian Shaw) prisoner/hostage or into protective custody (semantics) and have decided to keep them in Avengers Academy (because for some reason the actual Jean Grey School, their allies, is not acceptable.) Tensions will necessarily rise, X-23 seems due for some berserker fun, as does Sebastian Shaw, and mostly I want to see the X-kids have some fun and glory for once. It's not their book, but me and Christos Gage seem to see eye-to-eye on most things lately.


Avengers vs. X-Men #3:  Wolvie and Captain America come to blows (in what seems to be an abrupt, forced scene) and the large group of Assembled Avengers split up into teams to scour the globe in search of Hope. Hope, for her part, either spends time growing accustomed to her now omnipotence, or turns the tables with some kind of survival/strategy scheme cooked up in a brain trained by Cable. Perhaps she went to Q'un L'un to become the next Iron Fist, I don't really know. But judging by the cover she's struggling with her dark side already. Can we just bring Jean back already?


Daredevil #12:  Matt Murdock finally takes time out his busy schedule to date Assistant DA....McDuffie or something, who has been flirting and teasing him for awhile now, mostly in hilarious attempts to prove he IS in fact Daredevil. Even if there's not a single punch thrown in this comic, it'll be worth reading. The new reckless, fearless, fun loving DD on a date with a ballsy, intelligent woman? Yes please.


Exiled #1:  Other than connecting Thor, Loki and the New Mutants, I'm not entirely sure what the story is here. Something to do with Thor and Loki's past, no doubt. It's going to be a five part series, ostensibly tying into New Mutants, Thor and Journey in Mystery as well, which sounds rather wearying and uninteresting...but despite not loving their recent Marvel street-level/mutant comic work, I still love Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and they know how to do events. I only wish Matt Fraction wasn't going to have a hand in it. Hopefully we'll get a crossover that makes us remember when the New Mutant kids were lost and separated in Asgard. Classic stuff right there.


X-Factor #235:  A villain is killing wannabe superheroes and Madrox and Shatterstar go undercover as, well, wannabes, to find out the truth. Turns out the bad guy looks a lot like Shatterstar and Longshot. Perhaps their relationship will finally be explained---unless Peter David did it quietly and I don't remember--in which case perhaps it will finally be elaborated upon. Hopefully there'll also be some more pages dealing with Alex and Lorna and the new group dynamic, cause to be honest it hasn't be super convincing and interesting just yet. Naturally I have high hopes, but this comic could use about ten more pages a month considering the size of its cast.


X-Men #28:  Victor Gischler once again proves his solid grasp on current cultural trends by giving us a story about Skrulls. (That was sarcasm, natch. Vampires anyone?) Apparently some leftover Skrully folk have infiltrated X-Men and kidnapped Pixie, who waits till she's in Baxter Building to turn the tables on him. I should stop buying this comic. Really. I should. But it has an X in the title and I'm a sucker for that, and they keep putting Storm on the cover which is just unfair. At least we don't have to read about vampire jubilee who alternates between homicidal lust and whiny victim---none of which seems to be in the character's true, familiar voice. Vampires AND Skrulls? That would just be too much. Expect a Hunger Games-style arc from Gischler in, oh, about 15 months.



Happy New Comics Day everybody!!

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