In other news...

[angelophile]

... been working my way through my comic purchases and have already made a sizable dent. So far:

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume 2 TPB - Damnably fine, an improvement on the first which concentrated rather too much on the steam punk elements for me, although it had its moments. Here my main complaint was the main charaters didn't have much to do on the whole, with Hyde getting the most development. Mina and Quartermain came out of the book well but poor Nemo and Griffin seemed to be rather neglected this time round. But the Tripods were pretty much perfect and the wrapping of the books' plot around War of the Worlds woked particularly well. It left me hungry, less for more League, more for more War of the Worlds. I hope the upcoming movie manages to be period, but I suspect not.

Transformers 8 gave some well deserved character development to some of my faves - Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Jazz. The art on this book is a real pleasure as far as the transformers are concerned and the plot was good fun for this two parter. Howver, the layouts are poor, often so swapped with dialogue or just muddy that its hard to tell what's happening and while Don Figuera draws mean looking Transformers his humans are painfully bad, something not noticed til this arc that's had more interaction between the Transformers and fleshlings. Still, gooey, squishy bug Insecticons made for good schlock horror entertainment.

Astonishing X-men was great this week, but one of the poorer issues of the run so far. After last month's Colossus unveiling and the perfect dialogueless reaction from Kitty, nothing could live up to that, but the book was still superb. Just not -as- superb, although it's hard to imagine how it could have been. Even so there was some great great stuff here - Scott in his new...er... costume. Complete with tutu. The return of Jean, Emma's weirdness, the reactions to Colossus's return, all good, although the 'oh, I wasn't dead really' explanation to Piotr's return leaves me less than satisfied. Henry and Cecilia are really bad doctors it seems. You know, check for a pulse next time guys.

Uncanny was also a lot of fun and I've enjoyed the art from Marvel's Young Gun Oliver Copiel. Some major pluses to this weeks issue - Storm getting fiesty, Logan teasing Bishop, the return of the Hellfire Club (and not just as a drinking den), Alistaire Stuart making an appearance, cheesy fun dialogue and also Arcade's appearnce of sorts. The explanation given for Arcade's visage on the London Eye seemed to be poor and deliberately misleading - why use it at all if it wasn't relevent? Gives me hope Arcade may be involved a little more heavily further down and the line and I hope that's the case. He'll sertainly fit into the corny, nostalgic fun that Uncanny is pouring out since Reload and I've been loving it.

Daredevil 2099 was a great take on the character, probably the best 'twist' on a character I've seen since the Iron Man of 2020 and it's great to see the lines between hero and villian not just blurred but stamped all over. Has potential for a lot more than just a one shot, but I can't imagine it'd materialise, but this was a solid read and worth picking up.

Avangers Disembled is one of those storylines anyone with any regard for the Avengers is hating. However, since I don't give a damn about any of them, Bendis has actually made a book I'm willing to pick up and enjoy, unlike any Avengers I've read before. Captain America has always been one of my least favourite characters but here the heroes being made flawed and human is something that's interesting to read and the whole 'shit hits the fan' approach actually grips me, with my vague understanding of the Avengers. I may even stick with it and start picking up New Avengers. You never know.

Finally, X-men, which was actually not a bad read this week. Austen's attempt to clear house meant that one character met with their final end this week and it was deliciously nasty, surprisingly so for the book. So much so, in fact, that the gaping plot holes and annoyances and OH SO OBVIOUS plot twists could be accepted and the book enjoyed. Though I'm sad to see the character in question go, it was a good and fitting end.

Comments

[shadow-weaver.livejournal.com]

Piotr's back? How? do tell? I thought they killed Jean again?! I am so lost.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

Piotr's back indeed. Apparently his body was solen and he was revived and has been a guinea pig for evil scientists for the past few years.

In fairness, while the concept of bringing him back was not something I'm happy with, the comics themselves have been very good indeed...

Jean's 'return' was just in an hilluniation experienced by Scott after he'd been shot. There was also funny moment of him picturing himself in a tutu and parody of the nineties awful costumes.

Maybe I should buy you the trade when it comes out. :)