Sunday, April 7, 2013

This week's picks

Small list of comics for this week; 11 books is a nice little vacation from the recent string of 17-20 per week. Didn't stop me from missing a day of reviews and having to squeeze the most into Saturday. Look guys, maybe aim for like, two next week? I nailed it when I just had ASM 700 and Avenging Spider-Man that first time. Killed it. But really, don't not release comics. I...I really like comics, you guys.

Age of Apocalypse 14
I'm very happy with the way this event is turning out so far. The story is moving along pretty rapidly and there are real consequences to the actions of these characters which is...well, I don't want to say that actions don't have consequences in comics, but major actions like this tend to only matter in...well, giant events. Okay, look, I guess I don't know what I'm saying. But compare this event to Age of Ultron. There's not a thing happening in Age of Ultron that I think isn't reversible and won't be reversed. There's a chance of some changes coming out of this event, but nothing like a universe ending. I'm not saying that this X-Termination event will certainly end with people dying and universes ending for good, but the very idea that these things COULD happen is intriguing. And it seems so small billed for something where so much could happen. It's a little sad but definitely a result of the ending of both Age of Apocalypse and X-Treme X-Men. They had the chance to go out with a bang, so they are, which is nice, but it's still a little depressing to find that it takes a couple of cancelled books to make an event feel so real. Still, that's nothing to fault this book for. It's a solid book with great pacing and interesting dilemmas and characters. Looking forward to the next link in X-Treme X-Men 13.

Red She-Hulk 64
I think that this book probably made me the happiest this week. For starters, I've liked this plotline and I've liked how its been paced. We got Jen Walters appearing a few issues ago searching for Red She-Hulk but we haven't seen her since then, until now. It's a nice touch for this book that's especially significant given a couple of books holding our hands as we near a big meet-up. The Venom series has had Toxin knocking on doors for a couple issues now as he makes his way to Philadelphia and I'm SURE that there's another example that's not coming to mind right now but WHATEVER. It's the idea that we can't be trusted to remember that an important plot event is coming. Instead of letting us either quietly look forward to the meeting or letting us forget that things are coming only to be pleasantly surprised when the plot shows up, we're constantly reminded to keep paying attention because PLOT IS COMING. Instead, we're given enough time to forget She-Hulk was on Red She-Hulk's trail only to be reminded as she crashes Fortean's ride. I also really love the way that the relationship between Red She-Hulk and Machine Man has developed and how it feels like a natural progression. Like I said in my review of the book, I didn't know much about X-51 going into this arc but he has won me over. Always exciting to discover a character I didn't know and find that I'm excited by their appearance. Good book, solid arc, great characters.

Ultimate X-Men 25
Most of what I have to say about this issue I covered pretty thoroughly in my review. I was really taken when I realized how tense I was getting reading the issue and realizing in just how much trouble the mutants of Utopia were. I'm intrigued by Mach Two's power too, and Psylocke's motivations. Wood has created a convincing group of worrying mutants who are convincing because of what they seem to represent. Mach Two has seemingly come out of nowhere to turn against Kitty and, though she's still young and often viewed as such by even her followers, she's got some semblance of control over them. But how serious is that control? Two members of her team meet with Jimmy Hudson to agree to cooperate in the case of an outside attack on Utopia. It's a seemingly completely sensible agreement to come to but Mach Two is unhappy with the fact that the two went behind her back and directs Psylocke to mentally torture them. She does, but it seems like she might not be on Mach Two's side for the long run, just in the immediate as she gets what she wants. There's strife within their tiny community, but is it strong enough to send them off their mission of overthrowing Kitty? They still seem organized enough in their belief that Kitty's gone about things the wrong way, so maybe they'll still be able to work together against Utopia. And that's just one of the threats encircling Utopia, waiting to pounce. Boy, they really could be in some trouble, huh? Worth keeping your eye on, everyone.



Just a quick note: I will be gone from the 14th to the 18th, so probably no reviews in that time. Maybe I'll write up a few things and autopost them, maybe I won't. Who knows? I'm a MYSTERY everyone.

No comments:

Post a Comment