AARON GLAZER:
I want to make a witty openner, but, shit, I want to talk about Daredevil #4 a whole hell of a lot more. This book was AWESOME.
GREY SCHERL:
I really like the new status quo of Nelson and Murdock.
AARON GLAZER:
I love that he fights a freaking LION to open the book.
GREY SCHERL:
There are so few characters that can have good fights against animals in zoos, it’s nice to see DD join the list.
GREY SCHERL:
Daredevil is easily one of Marvel’s top five books, and enough good really can’t be said about it. Mark Waid has fixed a character that was broken through years of “How dark can we go” contests.
AARON GLAZER:
I think right now it’s Marvel’s top 1 book.
AARON GLAZER:
Marcos Martin is the best artist Marvel employs, unless the lady on Ultimate Spidey catches him.
GREY SCHERL:
I have preference with X-Factor, but it’s not far off.
Martin and Rivera alternating on this book is just perfect.
When they used to do Spidey I kept saying “Put the Daredevil artists on Daredevil.”
AARON GLAZER:
I absolutely love FF, but the Black Bolt thing allowed this to sneak ahead.
GREY SCHERL:
That REALLY hurt FF’s momentum.
AARON GLAZER:
I know – it’s back to great now, thankfully. It only needed a page or 2, but got two issues.
GREY SCHERL:
That looked awful.
GREY SCHERL:
I loved Matt mailing a suit to himself so he could travel as DD.
AARON GLAZER:
Either way, everything in Daredevil looks awesome, from the brilliant action scenes to the clever new status quo – I actually *like* Matt for the first time in years.
GREY SCHERL:
This is the best Daredevil in years, and I say this as someone who liked Bendis and Brubaker. This is better.
AARON GLAZER:
Both Bendis and Brubaker looked at new ways to tear him down like Frank Miller did. This isn’t that. This is a new take, and it’s fun.
GREY SCHERL:
It’s bringing him up, brightening him, this is one of the few titles in Marvel that could wear the banner of “Heroic Age” and not feel like a BS cover. Which is funny since it never got that banner.
AARON GLAZER:
Back then it didn’t deserve it. Now, it does. This is what I want from comics. Full stories, innovative art, likable characters.
AARON GLAZER:
Oh and above all, a sense of fun!
GREY SCHERL:
It’s Waid at his best. A solid 9/10 at the least.
AARON GLAZER:
I’m giving it a 9/10, though 9.5 is more likely.
AARON GLAZER:
Let’s move on to another awesome book featuring, the one I think is best of the relaunch – Batman #1.
GREY SCHERL:
My only complaint is how young they made everyone look, mainly Dick. He shouldn’t look 18.
AARON GLAZER:
If he’s 18 now…
GREY SCHERL:
Then he was Batman for a year at 17.
AARON GLAZER:
The relaunch is fairly stupid as far as timing, as Babos pointed out. Either way, this is an excellent plot with very good art. Action Comics and Demon Knights were fun as can be, but this was technically superior.
GREY SCHERL:
It was incredibly well done, and I love Bruce’s new tech.
AARON GLAZER:
Bruce’s new tech is perfect for pacing these detective stories and introducing new characters and concepts. Did you know Joker was Dick?
GREY SCHERL:
I knew it wasn’t Joker, but that just created a shortlist.
AARON GLAZER:
I knew it was Dick the second I saw the acrobatic offense.
The art had me right there.
GREY SCHERL:
Capullo is a brilliant choice for this title.
AARON GLAZER:
Well, no, Jock and Francavilla were brilliant. Capullo is just really smart.
GREY SCHERL:
I prefer his take on action, but for the more cerebral detective stories they were flawless.
AARON GLAZER:
Fair enough. And the big reveal, again, obviously not true, but worthwhile to see what the actual idea is, right?
GREY SCHERL:
Snyder is one of the few writers who can drop a twist like this and not have it feel like an eye roll.
AARON GLAZER:
Agreed – it pays to know how to plot… and to have a proven track record.
GREY SCHERL:
Especially with Bat titles.
AARON GLAZER:
At this point, with anything. I’ve read American Vampire and liked Swamp Thing, who I usually hate.
GREY SCHERL:
Swamp Thing is still a trade book for me, which is better than a not-buying.
AARON GLAZER:
It did what it needed to in order to keep me.
GREY SCHERL:
I’d give Batman an 8.5.
AARON GLAZER:
I give Batman a 9/10 and call it best of the new 52 so far.
AARON GLAZER:
Generation Hope #11 is out, which means we sadly only get one more issue of Gillen on the book.
GREY SCHERL:
It’s an interesting issue, fitting in between the pages of Schism.
AARON GLAZER:
The team decide whether to stay and fight the giant sentinel that’s coming and, well, they all argue over it.
It’s perfect characterization and, at this point, Gillen is my favorite writer in comics.
GREY SCHERL:
The growing rift in the title is well done, and it’s nice to see Transonic finally get some sort of characterization.
AARON GLAZER:
I love the entire cast. Velocidad is the least developed. Transonic has been getting a slow build for a few months now.
GREY SCHERL:
Kenji and Idie are the stars.
AARON GLAZER:
And Hope, of course.
GREY SCHERL:
And Hope.
AARON GLAZER:
At this point Gillen is writing 3 titles I’d score an A. No one else can touch that.
GREY SCHERL:
If Johns hits a homerun with Aquaman then I’d put him up there for right now, but it is pretty rare to see one person with three top notch books at once these days.
AARON GLAZER:
I give GL a B… and JL a C, so that wouldn’t work for me.
GREY SCHERL:
See, I disagree, but personal preference.
AARON GLAZER:
Fair enough. Rating for Hope? I give it a 9/10.
GREY SCHERL:
I’m giving it an 8 just because it can’t stand without Schism.
AARON GLAZER:
I’ve never seen a tie in book be this good.
GREY SCHERL:
I have, but it’s incredibly rare.
AARON GLAZER:
So let’s talk Schsm #4 now.
AARON GLAZER:
It’s my favorite issue of the series.
GREY SCHERL:
Best issue yet.
The last few have been pretty awful, but this was awesome.
AARON GLAZER:
You know why?
GREY SCHERL:
Great characterization, believable threat, Dr. Nemesis, and an awesome fight scene. Oh, and Scott being stretched to wits end and responding perfectly.
AARON GLAZER:
None of those fucking kids.
GREY SCHERL:
I really do still hate how Aaron is writing Wolverine in this, but this wasn’t was so bad once you got past his “I’m for the kids” speech.
AARON GLAZER:
I think he’s being characterized fine. He has been for the kids for awhile now.
GREY SCHERL:
I also want to know where he intended the kids to evacuate to when he pulled out the explosives. Scott already said there were no boats or teleporters.
AARON GLAZER:
The jets are still on the island. There was no way to get anyone to help save the island int ime – they could still run.
GREY SCHERL:
They can swim!
AARON GLAZER:
Half the mutants left are fliers too.
GREY SCHERL:
The best part was the fact that Jean Grey wound up being the cause of the split. It’s been too long since these two fought over the initial source of all of their issues.
AARON GLAZER:
It wasn’t about her so much as it was under the surface and with enough pressure boiled out.
GREY SCHERL:
Yeah, but she was the straw that broke the camels back. I love that.
AARON GLAZER:
I agree. It felt like where they really would go when they were mad enough.
GREY SCHERL:
That is the one thing that no matter what would cause Scott to unleash.
AARON GLAZER:
Scott knows he’s making morally questionable decisions. He doesn’t need Logan of all people to throw it in his face.
GREY SCHERL:
Logan as the moral high ground. I always expected it would be Hank.
AARON GLAZER:
I’m happy it wasn’t Hank. I like that it was the dirty guy too so Scott had a reason to be mad.
GREY SCHERL:
Because Hank actually is the moral authority.
AARON GLAZER:
Right, but that would cause Scott to shut up.
GREY SCHERL:
I like how Scott’s blasts could punch a hole through a giant Sentinel a mile away, but Wolverine could charge at him through it.
AARON GLAZER:
Ha, blame the art. Logan should have moved around it.
GREY SCHERL:
Blame the art? That’s Alan Davis! That’s the best part of the issue!
AARON GLAZER:
I know. It’s gorgeous, but it’s poor storytelling.
GREY SCHERL:
In the AoA some of those shots would have taken Logan’s hand.
AARON GLAZER:
You can make a case that Scott was mad, but didn’t want to really damage… the guy with the healing factor…
GREY SCHERL:
It kinda degraded Scott’s power level after the Sentinel incident.
AARON GLAZER:
It’s just inconsistent.
GREY SCHERL:
Yes.
AARON GLAZER:
Still, I’d rather Alan Davis do that than Greg Land do anything.
GREY SCHERL:
Agreed.
AARON GLAZER:
Rating? I’ll go 8/10. It was a good reason for them to split, which is what I really wanted, and no damn kid Hellfire Club.
GREY SCHERL:
I’ll also go with an 8/10. Hopefully the ending doesn’t suck. This mini has been horribly inconsistent.
AARON GLAZER:
Speaking of inconsistent, it’s Peter J Tomasi’s Green Lantern Corps #1.
GREY SCHERL:
It’s a happy return as Tomasi gets back to the book that made his profile what it is today. Not to mention, when Peter Tomasi writes Guy Gardner good things happen.
AARON GLAZER:
He’s good with guy and makes both he and John Stewart likable. And I usually hate Stewart.
GREY SCHERL:
I agree, this is easily the best John in years. Playing up the architect instead of the marine will do that.
AARON GLAZER:
Still, you liked this issue more than I did.
GREY SCHERL:
I did, it was a well done return to the franchise for him after Guy’s ‘solo’ book being a really different take.
Plus, Isamot Kol is a plus one to this book automatically.
AARON GLAZER:
I didn’t like Guy’s solo book. This I do. It was a good issue, but, well, I’m sick of every third villain mass murdering GLs.
GREY SCHERL:
Is four of them a mass murder?
AARON GLAZER:
Fair point, but you get the idea. The GL books are a bit too full of death for me.
GREY SCHERL:
They did say that the Corps would be going to war with its opening arc, and I mean, this is a hell of a way to stir up that mindset.
GREY SCHERL:
I don’t mind death simply because they’re space cops, and cops deal with homicides.
AARON GLAZER:
Right, but it just kills a lot of the fun of the issue. I mean, they have super light imagination rings – sometimes I want less darkness.
GREY SCHERL:
I don’t mind darkness used to set it up so long as the war maintains excitement more so than suspense.
AARON GLAZER:
I just like a bit more fun in my comics. This was good, but it wasn’t any fun.
GREY SCHERL:
I don’t hinge books on fun so much as enjoyment, I don’t need to laugh to enjoy something. There was great characterization, really nice art, and a cliffhanger that makes me want to see where they go next. That’s enough for me.
AARON GLAZER:
Fun isn’t funny. I like some wonder and excitement. If it’s more serious, then I start looking for thematic relevance and stuff like that… which GL generally lacks or makes childish.
GREY SCHERL:
I don’t let myself get critical to that degree or else I’d wind up not enjoying anything. Like Chris D.
AARON GLAZER:
No idea who that is, but Daredevil is better than this to me mostly because Daredevil feels more fun.
GREY SCHERL:
He wrote that Secret Six review where he thrashed Gail for a few hundred words.
Daredevil is a fun book, GLC isn’t.
AARON GLAZER:
Oh, right, I remember that.
I think I liked Batman with Dick so much because he remembered to be fun.
GREY SCHERL:
GLC is a good book, but it’s tone isn’t fun and fantastic, it’s serious but not too serious.
AARON GLAZER:
Amidst all the murder and craziness.
GREY SCHERL:
Dick is just a great character and a fresh much needed voice in the Bat suit that is soon going to be very missed.
AARON GLAZER:
That’s Kyle in the GL suit for me. It can be Guy, but he’s been so… down or angry lately.
GREY SCHERL:
I think he’ll get back to being himself sooner than later, especially if he returns to the JLI.
AARON GLAZER:
Here’s hoping.
Rating?
GREY SCHERL:
8.5, I really enjoyed it.
AARON GLAZER:
I think it’s a 7/10– a good, but not great comic.
AARON GLAZER:
From here, let’s discuss the worst book of the week…Red Hood and the Outlaws #1.
GREY SCHERL:
It isn’t the worst thing I’ve read this month, but it wasn’t anything really good either. Sex sells is pretty much the tone here.
AARON GLAZER:
The problem isn’t the sex, it’s how brainless and ridiculous it is.
GREY SCHERL:
Starfire being easy isn’t new, but they really didn’t need to have her casually forget everything.
AARON GLAZER:
There’s a difference between easy and absurd. It’s been commented that she acted like a damaged prostitute.
GREY SCHERL:
She was sold into sex slavery by her sister, and she has hooked up with more than a couple of people in the cape community, but her offering sex to Roy was incredibly forced.
I could understand her and Jason, but the Roy scene left a bad taste in my mouth.
AARON GLAZER:
Yes, and if that was what this turned out to be, that might work, but as much as I like Lobdell, that’s amazingly complex and I have no faith in him to write that well enough for me to do anything but be disgusted and shudder.
GREY SCHERL:
It just doesn’t need to be done, it’s not character assassination, but it is something that screams to me that this book is not long for this world.
AARON GLAZER:
beyond that – how does Roy exist when GL is like 20?
GREY SCHERL:
New origin?
AARON GLAZER:
So, what do we know about this guy after an issue? He’s good with bows and will have sex with a personality free character?
There’s no reason for me to come back here – no likable characters, no real plot…
GREY SCHERL:
In all fairness, if that girl offered to fuck you no strings, you’d probably take her up on it. I know I would.
GREY SCHERL:
The end of the book was leading somewhere with Jason, but it was completely over shadowed by slutty Kori.
AARON GLAZER:
No, I probably wouldn’t, but whatever.
Jason is the only character that needed to be in the book. Much like early Secret Avengers, it isn’t a real team book.
GREY SCHERL:
Jason was actually interesting enough to carry a title, and like, I could deal with him and Roy as a duo, but Kori’s characterization is the death here.
AARON GLAZER:
I didn’t think Roy had any real characterization to begin with.
Rating? I’m going 1/10.
GREY SCHERL:
I’m giving it a 5/10. Art was fine, and like I said, I liked Jason. If focus stays on him and not Kori being a whore then it could be a cool book.
AARON GLAZER:
Let’s wrap the week up with the last big release Ultimate Comics X-Men #1
GREY SCHERL:
It was an interesting first issue, but I hope Spencer assembles the group quickly.
AARON GLAZER:
There’s so much going on I want to see about. This could never ever happen in 616.
GREY SCHERL:
616 could never believably institute a kill all mutants on sight policy.
They’ve tried.
AARON GLAZER:
Yet 616 keeps trying. Here it really works. And I love Ultimate Kitty.
GREY SCHERL:
Spencer works her better than Bendis.
AARON GLAZER:
Bendis in the last run made me care about her.
GREY SCHERL:
I didn’t like Ultimate Kitty’s heel turn in UC Spider-Man, but I just really didn’t enjoy that volume as a whole.
AARON GLAZER:
May be my favorite since the first volume.
GREY SCHERL:
The second volume is your favorite since the first or are we talking different books all of the sudden?
AARON GLAZER:
We are, sorry. I mean Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – the last re-launch – is my favorite Ult Spidey since the very start of the Ult Universe.
GREY SCHERL:
The Chameleon arc killed it dead for me, but that happened to me a few times during the initial run too. I like Bendis in short doses but he doesn’t do short doses.
AARON GLAZER:
I loved the Chameleon arc.
it went a bit long but otherwise iw as fine
GREY SCHERL:
My suspension of disbelief was tested a lot. I dunno, it’s just not for me in single issue form.
AARON GLAZER:
Fair enough.
Did you try the new Spidey?
GREY SCHERL:
I did not.
AARON GLAZER:
It was very good.
GREY SCHERL:
I imagine it was, I was just tired of Bendis. I don’t think I’ll have anything left by him on my pull by December.
AARON GLAZER:
I’ll have Spidey. That’s it.
GREY SCHERL:
The Avengers cover lies are sealing that books doom for me more than anything else.
AARON GLAZER:
How so?
GREY SCHERL:
You remember how all the post War of the GL covers were faking us out about who wouldn’t be a GL anymore? But then when we had the issues the covers felt like they were in stock and just being used to get used?
AARON GLAZER:
Yes.
GREY SCHERL:
The cover to Avengers this week is Hawkeye and Spider-Woman to tease their hook up, which happened two issues ago in an issue with a Red Hulk cover (who did not appear in the issue), and then isn’t even mentioned in this issue.
GREY SCHERL:
It’s like, the cover was used to preview the issue it made sense for, but then was released here instead. Little things like that bug me.
AARON GLAZER:
Ha, I’m happy I dropped that.
GREY SCHERL:
When it’s good, it’s good, but when it’s not it’s more frustrating than it is bad.
Though Bendis is getting more mileage out of Bucky’s death than Bru or Frac.
AARON GLAZER:
Sadly.
GREY SCHERL:
Cap in Avengers is well written Cap, that isn’t to say Bru’s isn’t (the book is steadily getting better), but I wanted to see him react to Bucky’s death and now I have it, and it doesn’t really suck. Fear Itself just sucks.
AARON GLAZER:
Fair enough – I’m done with the reality tv sequence thing.
GREY SCHERL:
I still like it, but it is getting over done.
AARON GLAZER:
It got over done a month or two ago for me.
The Daredvil joining through it felt like it took drama away from the issue.
GREY SCHERL:
It was too set up, but I did enjoy those things that made my top 5.
AARON GLAZER:
Let’s get back to Ultimate X-Men – thoughts on Jimmy?
GREY SCHERL:
The less like Wolverine he is the better.
AARON GLAZER:
I think they should be similar, but I don’t want him to be Daken Jr.
GREY SCHERL:
That’s what I mean.
AARON GLAZER:
I can dig that
GREY SCHERL:
Especially with Ultimate Logan, the concept of an Ultimate Daken scares me. Plus, Loeb created him.
AARON GLAZER:
That’s fine – Spencer is good at characters usually.
GREY SCHERL:
He is, but I just hope he doesn’t show his hand too early. That was my issue with Morning Glories, which I still enjoy, but it felt like he gave away the big twist way too soon.
AARON GLAZER:
What twist? I sitll have no idea what the hell is going on.
GREY SCHERL:
I don’t even remember.
AARON GLAZER:
Ha, the story is still building mysteries to date.
GREY SCHERL:
Point.
GREY SCHERL:
Overall I’d give it a 7.5.
AARON GLAZER:
I’d agree to that, 7.5 sounds right. Annnd I’m spent. See you all next week!
