Weekly Comic Review for 4/9/14
All-New X-Men #25 – The book is starting it’s third year. A 25th issue is often considered an anniversary issue of sorts being 1/4 of 100. The commemoration of this for the original X-Men… sucks. You start with Henry McCoy laying in bed talking to someone. We then end up talking about what ifs and maybes. Different artists doing different pages. Some of it serious, some of it humor. All of it leading to the revelation that he was talking to the Watcher. It matches the “what if” theme but given the $4.99 cover price, it’s a severe let-down.
Avengers Undercover #2 – The kids track down Bloodstone and find him in a den of villains. Oddly enough, they each find their reasons to be drawn to the people there. The odd mix allows for some interesting character views. By the end, the group ends up magically transported to another party where we find Arcade and discover that Bloodstone is still after him.
Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #21 – It’s Bloodshot vs. Armstrong, Archer vs. H.A.R.D. Corps, and this issue vs. good artwork. The issue is pretty bad, up to and including when Granite says she is in love with Kozol and eventually kissing him.
Green Lantern Corps #30 – The Lanterns learn about the history of the Durlans while they track down the Durlan infiltrators on Mogo. This all leads up to the Uprising storyline in the next few issues.
Iron Fist: The Living Weapons #1 – As things always start, we have a flashback back to Danny in the snowy mountains on this way to eventually becoming the Iron Fist. The other part of the story? Danny vs. ninjas. And I’m not impressed with the artwork in this comic either. It’s a pretty disappointing way to start things off.
Justice League 3000 #5 – As Firestorm joins the team (only to help a little since he’s not actually a member now… just ask him) with a “new” Flash, the Five start pulling themselves together. Both sides are building up but no word of Hal or Locus this issue. I’m not sure if the internal bickering and identity issues are more annoying or more of a draw. Right now, they are treading a thin line where they could go either way.
Nightcrawler #1 – Riding on the coattails of his return to the living in Amazing X-Men, Kurt gets his own title. I enjoyed the short lived one he had before so hopefully this will be good. We start out with a little sparring in the Danger Room and some catching up with former Excalibur teammate Rachel as Kurt gets used to what’s going on in the real world again. Then it’s time to follow up on some more fun as he (and the bamfs) visits his old flame Amanda Sefton. I’m really glad to see her as she’s always been an interesting part of his storyline. Good things only last so long as they get attacked by someone called Trimega. He just got back to Earth. Can’t we cut him a little slack? Guess not.
While there’s something to be said about comic art not being cookie cutter and identical across the board, it seems like they try to get so many varieties out there that there are a lot of comics I can’t really even bear to look at any more and if I can’t look at the art, I won’t be reading the words. Iron Fist will not be picked up again. The only thing saving Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps is that it’s had a decent history. It won’t make the Top 3 though. That honor goes to Avengers Undercover, Justice League 3000 and Nightcrawler.
