Weekly Comic Review for 7/3/13
OK. I’m caught up on my reading. Now to just get the reviews up.
Avengers A.I. #1 – Just what the world needs — another Avengers title. It’s right up there with another X-Men title. This one spins out of the Age of Ultron storyline… which I didn’t read.It had Victor Mancha from the Runaways though so I thought I’d check it out. In addition to him, we have the Vision who seems to have put on some weight and lost all his abs along with getting a new costume. Then we have a Doombot. Really? Add in Henry Pym, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and some blonde that I don’t know and may just have been introduced in this issue and you have the new team. A team based on being robots seems about as good as the X-title based on being all women. Boring. Not sure how long this will last and don’t really care.
Dial H #14 – We walk in in the middle of a battle in a different dimension. Someone has “fixed” the problems with at least one of the dials. Finally, the team miraculously gets the answer on how to get to the Exchange. I’ll actually be glad when this title is over. If it wasn’t about to end, I’d be dropping it. I really need to go back and read ANY of the old series just to clean this one out of my brain.
Earth 2 #14 – Green Lantern, Flash, and Dr. Fate decided to take the battle right to the doors of Dherain to grab a little good press. (It helps when a member of the team owns a broadcasting company. Sadly, the World Army doesn’t agree with the plan and sends in Atom, Sandman and his team, and new member Red Arrow. (Makes me wonder who he will be as Red Arrow was JLA, not JSA.) To make matters worse, Steppenwolf send his minions out to take on all the heroes. This is getting quite messy in an interesting way. I can’t wait til the team actually builds up to what it’s meant to be. Though, technically, it’s about the world, not the JSA in particular.
Green Lantern #22 – The battle with Larfleeze continues. (And I’m reassured in his look. Yes, the art in Larfleeze’s title sucks.) Saint Walker and a Star Sapphire show up to help just before everyone’s rings go one the blink. No one knows why though. They come back on and the battle continues long enough for the Star Sapphire to get killed and another not so friendly alien to take her place. At least we see that the rings don’t just go to those who love a person and love in a positive way.
Phantom Stranger #10 – The issue is labeled with “Trinity of Sin” though it doesn’t seem to be directly related to the Pandora/Trinity War storyline. The Stranger makes it to Heaven to find his family but he’s told he can only take one back. Tough choice. His guide through Heaven is none other than the New 52 version of Zauriel. (He looks totally different.) His family decides for him though and they all stay in Heaven. Instead, he brings back Chris, the kid who has been babysitting his children. With his social life gone, what will the Phantom Stranger do? And will Chris be a new part of his life? Guess things are starting fresh.
Shadowman #8 – After seeing what was going on with Dox in the real world, Shadowman takes Samedi into the Darkside. They are a little outnumbered though. It should be interesting to see what Jack’s plan is going to be.
Stormwatch #22 – As things inch towards the end, the battle with Lobo continues and it takes all of Stormwatch’s power to take him down. What do they do with him? Make him a member, of course. Really? Really?!? We also get to see how strong Jenny Soul really is as she takes on the Kollective. Still a good thing that the series is ending. It seems like if they are going to end a title, they are going to see how bad they can make it before it goes.
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1 – After cameos here and there (and Easter egg appearances in the original New 52 titles), Pandora finally gets her own title. We also get to see her origin and how she came to open the skull-shaped box. Like with Phantom Stranger, we see her walk through time. In her case, she has to see the work on the Seven Deadly Sins that she released, being that consider her “mother”. She also crosses paths with Vandal Savage. (There sure are a lot of immortal characters in this universe.) It should be interesting to see where this all goes, how she’s linked to the creation of the New 52 universe, and if she will lead us back to the old one.
OK. We’re almost 2 years into DC revamped universe. When will is stop being “The New 52”. After 2 years, it’s not all that new any more and a lot of the original titles are gone anyway. The Top 3 were an easy pick for this week — Earth 2, Phantom Strangers, and Trinity of Sin: Pandora. I’m not sure why they had to add the “Trinity of Sin” part instead of just calling it Pandora, but I’ll never understand a lot of the choices they make.
