It’s been a good couple weeks in comics and I thought I’d talk about a few of the more interesting issues. A couple of awesome Ed Brubaker books have hit that deserve some mention so we’ll start with those.

Secret Avengers #1
First on the docket is the brand new (and much hyped) Secret Avengers #1. While I haven’t been keeping real close tabs on the whole Secret Invasion or it’s Siege-based aftermath, I have noticed that the Avengers sure have been getting some love from Marvel as of late. With a new movie in the works, the team being the centerpiece of both the Civil War and Secret Invasion story lines, and now a bunch of new books, it seems that the Avengers are once again the team of choice at Marvel.

The most interesting thing of this convoluted mess of a universe shake up is how Ed Brubaker has managed to make part of it cool by working in a few of his own storylines. When he killed off Steve Rogers in 2005, we all wondered how he was going to be brought back. While we all knew it was going to happen we can at least thank the comic gods that he held off a good 4 years before bringing him back. While the method in which Steve Rogers was returned to the Marvel Universe was typically cheesy and far-fetched, what I can’t complain about is how they’ve positioned him in the post-Siege world. Deciding to leave the shield and Captain America persona in the hands of his old parter Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers is simply being himself and leading the charge of rebuilding the mess that has been left in the wake of recent Bendis inspired events.

Enter Secret Avengers. The premise of this book has Steve Rogers leading a team of covert heroes that only band together when needed on a mission. The idea is to stay off the grid, in the shadows and take care of business in a more clandestine and old school manner. This type of team really draws from the old days when Steve Rogers ran the Invaders and super heroes did secret government work. I’ve always thought he idea of a small team turning the tide of war in the background was always a cool idea and one that is very “Marvel-esque”. It’s also a premise that Brubaker has explored numerous times in his Captain America books and more recently in the Marvels Project mini-series. To have him create a brand new team with a covert and old school emphasis is a breath of fresh air for the Avengers canon. With pencils by Mike Deodato, this first issue is a very strong start to the series and I can’t wait to see where it goes in the future.
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Amazing Spider-man #592

Written by: Mark Waid

Art by: Mike Mckone

Last issue, upon returning from another dimension with the Fantastic Four, Spidey came home to realize his long time enemy, his constant detractor and the one person who wants to be rid of Spider-man the most just got elected as Mayor. No it isn’t Norman Osborn.

J. Jonah Jameson!

Yes, this Hatfield/McCoy feud between Spidey and Jameson has had its share of ups and downs, but nothing has ever had the impact on ol’ Webhead like this one. And his first order of business as the new mayor? Enacting a 24/7 “Anti Spider Squad” with the goal of finally elimating Spider-man from the city and possibly elimating him all together. The squad storms into the offices after Spider-man attempts to make ammends but fails. Jameson hit the silent alarm and has them kicking in the door and opening fire on Spider-man.

So now that he knows that he is JJJ’s main political platform, Spidey takes some shots of his own. Getting in Jonah’s face non-stop. Sacrificing Peter Parker’s “life” in order to stay in costume and just piss off Jonah.

So while this issue is mostly about fun and games and childish behavior between the two, Peter seems to forget that the Hit Squad will be following him 24/7, with their gun’s “safeties” off.

But something that is even more shocking awaits Peter in the last panel. Unaware that Aunt May has been dating for the past 2 months since he left. Side Note: Although time has passed in our world, around 2 months, when Peter and the FF were in the alternate dimension, every hour there was equivalent to about a week back on Earth. So Peter ends up finding out that Aunt May has been dating, the most awkward way he could ever find out, mind you.

It’s been a while since Peter made that infamous deal with Mephisto in order to turn back time and make the world forget that he ever unmasked back in Civil War. He also had to sacrifice his marriage to MJ, but he decided that he must. Leading up to the controversial Brand New Day, readers shared their thoughts about the whole ordeal, with loud outcry. I for one hated the idea, but soon came to like some of the stories post BND. Getting back to the good old days where Peter had to deal with getting to work and paying rent, instead of having cloned kids and Iron Spider Suits. It all felt real Golden Age to me, and I liked it.

But my point of this rant is this. In the last couple of issues, I’ve started to notice that characters are seeming to recall that something happened to Peter a long time ago, but they just can’t quite recall what. So this leads me to believe that soon we will see an end to this new continuity of Spidey and it will go back to the world knowing who he is under the mask.

I’m not to sure how I feel about this. For one, I thought that MJ and Pete’s marriage was essential to the book. Without MJ, Pete was just not the same. Marvel really gave up a good thing going, all because some writers didn’t know what to do with the two anymore. Before being cancelled and turned into the tri-weekly release as Amazing Spider-man, Sensational Spider-man had an Annual come out a while back just focusing on what was so great about the relationship Pete and MJ shared. It is one of my favorite issues of Spider-man ever. I plan on getting into it in more detail when I finally get around to posting up some of my fav comic books of all time, but that is just due to my extreme laziness.

I do really enjoy the current ASM stories. Utilizing some lesser known villains to tell some great stories, and really just getting back to the roots of what makes Spider-man my favorite and millions of other people’s favorite super-hero of all time. But it can’t be perfect. Essentially writing MJ out of the Marvel Universe all together, but in the mean time, having some really great Spider-man issues. So hopefully, this post Brand New Day world can finally reunite Mj and Peter and still maintain the Golden Age style stories.

I really think that Spider-man has been the best it’s ever been in recent times, but there are still some things I really want need in my Spider-man comics.

So huge rant aside, I do really like that Mark Waid is back on ASM. He is a big proponent of super-heros being good and bad guys being bad. He manages to get in some really funny moments between Jameson and Parker. The two argue like an old married couple, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And Mike Mckone’s art is just amazing. Sorry for the pun. Some really great scenes of Spidey swinging around doing his flips and shit, to the looks on JJJ’s face when he finally thinks he has Spidey trapped. Good stuff.

What’s great about the current tri-weekly release of ASM is that if you don’t like a writer/artist team, you just have to wait a month and a new team comes in. And the stories don’t have too much continuity between the two. Basically just piggybacking off whatever happened the last arc and creating a new story. Plus the DB! style recaps in the front pages really help newbie readers catch up on what’s happening in the Wallcrawler’s world.

I have to give it to Marvel. They really take ASM seriously right now. Devoting alot of man power into making sure that ASM is accessible. And they should. It’s one of if not their biggest flag ship title. So if you haven’t been reading ASM lately, you should. I personally love the classic Webslinger feeling stories. Nothing too high brow and nothing that makes you feel too old to read it. Just good old fashioned Spider-man tales.
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I missed a comic book weekly review so I’m gonna cram two weeks of reviews into one post. So bear with me.

Wolverine #71

Written by: Mark Millar

Art by: Steve McNiven

I don’t want to jinx this book, but I gotta say that every issue of Millar/McNiven’s “Old Man Logan” arc has been outstanding. I’m hard pressed to find anything that I didn’t like in each issue. If you happen to be not reading this either because you hate Wolverine or don’t know about it, you really should be.

So last ish, we are left with a shot of the geezer-y duos next challenge, a T-Rex with the powers of Venom chasing after them through the desert wasteland. Take that concept out of context and you would laugh and tear this issue up in your hands, but for some odd reason, Millar and McNiven make this work. Awesomely.

So back to the giant Venom-y T=Rex. It’s chasing Wolverine and Hawkeye through the barren desert towards their ultimate goal: reaching a place called New Babylon. Even in the ridiculously cool Spider-mobile, the T-Rex is closing in on them. But just when it seems like the curtains are falling on our adventurers, a familiar face shows up in one of the coolest cameos in this storyline and stops the T-Rex dead in its tracks. The softly spoken savior whisks the team down into a secret hideout that is home to some of Wolverine’s past friends, most namely Emma Frost. This series has always seemed to pride itself on showing us future versions of characters that aren’t really there for anything but nifty cameos. Which brings me to my next point: I LOVE THEM! This issue has one of the best cameos and it just solidfies this series as a really cool interpretation of the Marvel Universe’s future. Much like the city of Hammer Falls in a earlier issue that featured a city based around the location of where fallen Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, fell to Earth. In my opinion, this newest “cameo” trumps that one. It’s so great, that McNiven used two pages to show it.

So by now, you should realize from my tone that the current storyline in Wolverine is worth reading. If single issues aren’t available to you, I’d say that you need to mark down the date that the trade is released. So far, barring some unforseen disaster in the last issue, Wolverine “Old Man Logan” is worth your hard earned penny, even in this shitty, crumbling economy. (more…)

Time for some of my more regular reads for the week:

Daredevil #110
Author: Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Michael Lark

This issue marks the end of a four book story arc they’re calling “Cruel and Unusual”. The premise of the arc has Matt Murdock reeling from the events of the past few issues that lead to his wife’s incarceration in the looney bin. He’s tasked with figuring out why an innocent man named Big Ben Donovan, who is about to be executed for slaying children, refuses defense despite new evidence that could set him free.

I’ll leave it at that because, quite honestly, the story isn’t really interesting. Suffice it to say that the book hit a high point with the last story arc that detailed Mr. Fear kicking some serious Daredevil ass both physically and mentally. This arc feels like a bridge. Something to fill the gap before the next big meaningful event in the Daredevil universe unfolds. As such it really doesn’t do much for me. There are some cool action pieces, we get a nice wrap up to the meta story which has Matt Murdock realizing just why he does what he does in and out of costume. There were some cool moments where some minor Daredevil characters get to shine and one big surprising moment that really didn’t get as much play as I was hoping for. The whole thing could have been titled “Come on! Buck Up Little Camper!”, but I understand why that might not grab the attention of the audience.
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