|
|
|
Also this week:
AVENGERS #500 - Er... hmm.
This is the first part of the much-hyped (to put it mildly)
"Avengers Disassembled" storyline. And... well,
basically, things go boom, people die, and it's all extremely
over the top. Frankly, despite some well paced moments,
it all comes across as very silly, which I'm not sure was the
idea. Remember how Mark Millar and Brian Bendis seemed
like a highly unlikely collaboration on Ultimate Fantastic
Four? Well, despite Mark Millar having nothing to do
with this, it's basically the sort of trainwreck you'd expect
from a Millar/Bendis collaboration. The plotting of
Millar at his least subtle, combined with the stop/start
dialogue of Bendis. The result is a comic that seems to
be taking itself slightly too seriously to really go overboard
and relish in the camp, but is way too silly to actually take
seriously. Misfire. C
PLANETARY #20 - At some
point I must sit down and re-read the whole of Planetary,
but I figure I'll wait until the thing's done. At this
stage, quite honestly, I struggle to remember what the plot is
or what was happening last issue. I suppose I could go
and dig out the back issues, but... hell, I'd just have to do
it again for issue #21, wouldn't I? Much better just to
wait until it's all finished. Anyway, this issue has
angels, an alien ship and a version of the Thing, and it's
actually good fun, even if I've completely lost track of the
wider plot. B+
VENOM VERSUS CARNAGE #1 -
Wow. This is seriously ugly, to the point of being
almost unreadable for much of the issue. Clayton Crain
seems to be producing some sort of pseudo-3D computerised art
here, and maybe it looked very nice on a glowing computer
screen. But on paper it's dark, murky, and full of
excessively swirly renditions of Venom and Carnage that are
all but impossible to pick out against the background, one
another, or indeed themselves. Downright unpleasant to
look at. Somewhere in there, Peter Milligan is trying to
make some kind of vaguely twisted comment about parenting, but
it's not one of his better efforts, and the art is such a slog
that it's not worth the hassle. Avoid. C-
There's a new Article 10 on
Monday at
Ninth Art.
Next week, Chris Claremont begins his 18-issue
monolith X-Men: The End. (Six issues was enough
for the whole Marvel Universe, but the X-Men need eighteen...)
The Fury storyline wraps up in Uncanny X-Men #447.
Magneto turns up in Exiles #50, and Gambit's in
Ultimate X-Men #50. Two more short stories in
X-Men Unlimited #4, and the final issue of
Wolverine/Punisher.
Plus, if you're buying the trades, there's
Emma Frost vol 1 (in digest format), and Ultimate
X-Men vol 8 (collecting "New Mutants").
X-Force #1 was originally scheduled
for next week as well, but guess what? It's running
late. What a surprise.
back |
continue |
