This Week's Comics - 12/7/2011

This Wednesday brings us a pretty thin Pull List, at least for yours truly, whose endeavours to edit down said List and maintain what is commonly referred to as a budget continue in earnest.

With everything I've removed and denied myself, the world of the X-Men are still front and center, and this week's most anticipated title (at least, again, for me) is X-Factor #228.

Check out the rest.



DC

The only possible DC Comic I may pick up today is Stormwatch #4. I haven't read it since the #1 issue, but there's nothing else I'm interested in from DC this week: No Action Comics for me, done with Tony Daniel, even not willing to join Paul Levitz on Huntress' Italian adventure. Besides, I could some Apollo and Midnighter action today. Final Verdict? Undecided.

MARVEL

Defenders #1:  Not gonna do it. After his work on Uncanny and then the boring, disappointing waste of money that was Fear Itself, I am decidedly anti-Matt Fraction. At first Defenders seemed like a cool thing to bring back, and the use of Iron Fist got me excited (since the only Fraction story I've ever really liked was Immortal Iron Fist, but that was probably just Brubaker I was enjoying) but that's just not enough. I also really don't like the shiny, bubbly, artificial art of Terry Dodson. Didn't appreciate my X-Men drawn that way and not looking to recreate the experience with Danny Rand. Maybe I'll buy this one day in the 50cent bins, but till then it's on its own. (Doubt it lasts long.)

Villains for Hire #1 of 5 (?) : Another Undecided. Heroes for Hire got pretty weak by the end, Misty Knight wasn't the magnetic lead I was expecting, and her "team" of heroes was remarkably uninteresting, considering they had Silver Sable in the comic, who used to be awesome. Now that she's assembling villains for some reason, it feels even less original and less likely to have a good payoff. And yet, my love for Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning work (or even if just one of them is writing this) may be large enough to overcome those hurdles. Also, Purple Man is the enemy, so that could get creepy and intense. 5 Issues is a lot though. We'll see.

X-Club #1 of 5 (?):  Again, not sure if I'm grabbing this miniseries. I enjoy the X-Club about 60% of the time, and the characters are pretty interesting if not people I've been invested in for years. Their previous minis and one-shots have left me empty though, and what I've read of Simon Spurrier (Age of X tie in) wasn't my favorite. I might do a quick flip-through and let the art and the quality of X-guest stars determine if I get this one.

X-Factor #228:  The big pick of the week. Last month's story and big fight scene with Bloodbath underwhelmed me and the "big cliffhanger" ending may have surprised me in the moment but has far from convinced me that Jamie Madrox is actually dead. Yes, Lorna and Alex are going to be joining X-Factor soon, and yes Alex may become the leader for some reason and Jamie leave, as per rumors. But after so many years of writing this comic and building these stories, I don't think Peter David's gonna kill Jamie. Least not with some psycho unknown like Bloodbath. Murdered by Rahne on his wedding night with Layla? Well, that prophecy of doom might indeed come true. But that's something to wait at least one more month for.

X-Men #22:  Storm's little power team wraps up their adventure in Eastern Europe by stopping some fictional countries from getting their ethnic cleansing on and joining forces with War Machine. Considering Storm is leading a team, this arc has been lame; War Machine is boring, Jubilee as a vampire does nothing for me, Warpath is often uncool and should just be hanging around with Hepzibah, and Gischler tends to just have Storm be all semi-majestic and hurl some lighting bolts around. Ororo needs some better writing. I'm looking at you, Bendis, with your upcoming Avengers stuff. (Also, why are you leaving?)

Other Cuts:  No more Amazing Spider-Man. Post-Spider Island, it's gonna take some big event/crossover/guests to get me back, sorry Mr. Slott. Also Irredeemable is off the list; I never read Incorruptible so the crossover with Max Damage doesn't get me excited at all. And, not that this was ever gonna get back on the list, but just for funsies: Hawk and Dove. Talk about a bad comic. The 90s flashbacks are painful enough without enduring the dialogue.

So there it is. Not buying a lot, buying a few others, but mostly, heartily enjoying the continuing adventures of Jamie Madrox and his mutant amateur detective team.