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"These reviews are based on the Sneak Peek
titles sent out by Marvel, DC & Image. It's not everything that's shipping for
the week, but it is a real good cross-section of this weeks releases. Check the
bottom of the page (after you read my reviews) for a link to some SNEAKY PEEKIES
of future titles" |
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 BOOK
OF THE WEEK:
THUNDERBOLTS #103
Comic Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Writer: Fabian Nicieza, Artist: Tom Grummett
The role of the Thunderbolts is defined here with their
tie-in to Civil War which really does have Zemo and Iron Man
shaking hands as they do on the cover. We begin in the
middle of action as Peter Parker is on TV revealing his
biggest secret (so if you pick up Civil War #2 you can read
that there or in here) and half of the T-Bolts are fighting
the villain Quicksand. We get a clue of how the villains of
the Marvel Universe feel about the Registration Act (since
they have records it isn’t that big of a deal to them) as
they deal with a successful job before the arrival of the
rest of the team at the Department of Homeland Security.
From there we see the conference between Zemo and Stark (as
well as Yellowjacket and Reed Richards) and see that what we
would have expected to happen doesn’t because what Stark
proposes has everything to do with the villains and nothing
at all to do with the heroes of the Marvel Universe. We see
the first mission under the new directive here and the
celebration that follows before Nicieza leads us to an
ending that we don’t see coming at all. That final two page
spread by Grummett suggests that something major is going to
happen within the ranks of the Thunderbolts as well as the
Marvel community at large.
MSRP: $2.99,
Alternate Reality Price: $2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All
Week Long!) |
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MARVEL ROUND UP…
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 (of 4) moves us closer along to the massive battle
that will begin when the Annihilation limited series begins. The Skrull has a
small army with him on his part and here we got a lot of talking and even with
that there is a fair amount of destruction…Spider-Girl #99 in the next to last
issue of the series that just will not die (they should have tossed Matt Hardy
in an issue as a joke) so here we get lots of small fights as all the players
are set up for the extra-sized end game in a month. The book is loaded with
action and shows that comics can be fun but it is still amazing that this book
lasted as long as it did…Sensational Spider-Man #27 concludes the Feral arc and
shows us more cool things that the Spider suit can do as we see why all these
things were happening. Angel Medina returns as artist and it is a shock to see
the great Clayton Crain cover then have to look at Angel's completely out of
proportion art….Wolverine: Origins #3 shows us the origin of Nuke and how James
made him the combination of metal and plastic that he is today. It’s a creepy
story and we see a side of Wolverine that we generally don’t and that makes us
feel sorry for Nuke. The issue ends with the appearance of another player
wearing red, white and blue that promises a spectacular fight next issue…Marvel
Adventures: Fantastic Four #13 is a cool issue drawn by Juan Santacruz and
written by Justin Gray. It takes place on Ego, the Living Planet and even though
this is a younger readers book I think everyone can enjoy this…Marvel Romance
Redux is just another collection of silliness that makes the day go faster.
Whoever came up with the idea of reprinting classic romance comics and redoing
the dialog should be commended…Ms. Marvel #4 returns an old villain of hers that
frankly I forgot but it leads to a guest appearance of Dr. Strange that is fun
and makes perfect use of him…Two Gun Kid is 40% OFF this Wednesday and is the
first book in the Mighty Marvel Western Event. The issue combines new stories (a
sweet little tale from Dan Slott and Eduardo Baretto, a funny short one about
the world’s smallest cowboy) with a classic one (a three part Rawhide Kid tale
about the Terrible Totem).
DC ROUND UP…
Red Sonja/Claw #4 ends the limited series with the expected fight between the
stars and a resolution that is just a set up for the regular Claw series that
begins shortly and will probably end shortly as well…Elric: Making of a Sorcerer
#3 finally ships and I would bet that most people have forgotten the book even
existed. The over-sized book is entertaining but after all this time I do wonder
what the point was of releasing it. This would have been better served being
completed as a trade because I have doubts this issue will even sell 1,000
copies…American Virgin #4 finishes the initial arc and has our lead in Swaziland
(along with his sister and a mercenary) trying to find the killer of his friend,
Cassie. He does find what he is looking for but not all the answers he was
seeking. Very well written, the art fits the book and I have no belief that this
book will last more than 12 issues. The Vertigo books that have worked had
characters or situations that fans could get into and here we are following a
virgin who the moment he loses his virginity causes the conclusion of the book.
Yes, Steve Seagle does kill the woman he was going to lose it to in the first
arc but that does nothing to suggest a long series…Firestorm #26 shows us more
of what is happening with Professor Stein as he is being held captive by the
strange looking Pupil and sets up a scenario that will be played out in the next
issue. The Firestorm Matrix is still screwed up and still have no idea who is
interested in finding out everything there is to know about Firestorm. Stuart
Moore does do a fine job here and what he sets up does raise a very interesting
question of the whole concept of merging with someone…100 Bullets #73 is part
four of ‘A Wake’ and is another example of Azzarello and Risso moving the pieces
across the board a little at a time before the major move. We get our usual
moments of quiet time before a final act of violence that always sets up a
bloodbath or two before everything is said and done…Batman: Legends of the Dark
Knight #207 begins a tale by Bruce Jones and Ariel Olivetti that has Bruce Wayne
get his swerve on with a member of a family that (as in Raymond Chandler’s Big
Sleep) has a wild sister and a mature sister. The atmosphere here is thick
enough to cut with a knife and Olivetti has a chance to show us one impressive
looking Batman.
IMAGE ROUND UP…
The Portent #3 (of 4), the limited series by Peter Bergting is just about over
and this installment has an exhausted Milo and Lin trudging away thru winter
before dropping right before Lin’s friend, Alkuin who returns from the dead to
help. We have a flashback, then a battle before seeing more dead people (who
have food just in case someone living drops in to warm up) and then finally
castle that these stories always seem to have shows up…Fear Agent #5 marks the
debut of new artist Jerome Opena and that promises us that future issues will
appear more regularly. Here our hero is bleeding like a stuck pig but gets saved
by the buggy looking creature on the cover as he drifts deep in the ocean. We
see that his partner continues to work on the ship right before the Agent wakes
up in a whole new body. Things naturally don’t go well on the surface or
underwater so we are left in a chair edge sitting situation waiting for the next
issue. There is also a tight short Agent adventure included that is cool…Battle
Pope #8 finally arrives and its loaded with butt kicking Pope goodness…Unbra #1
(of 3) is a crime drama set in Iceland that surprisingly involves a cavewoman
who seems to shop at the Benetton store before she was shot. The lead character
and her supporting cast are interesting and the boss has "1st DAY SALE'D" this
issue (cutting the price to $3.59) so it's more affordable. The book is written
by someone named Murphy (no first name or is it the last?) and drawn by the
Coffin’s Mike Hawthorne.
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"See, I told you I'd be
down here. We've got a bunch of SNEAKY PEEKIES of future
MARVEL, DC and IMAGE titles right
HERE" |
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All
Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2006
by their respective owners. No rights given or implied
by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2006 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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