Captain Marvel #14

Captain Marvel #14 makes me wonder what Marvel Comics has for killing off their popular and not so popular female characters.    It was not just killing her off but she had to sacrifice herself i.e. commit suicide to win the day.  It is bad enough that this is all part of some multi-part cross over series that actually should have ended in the previous month.   But worst of all she is not really dead.  It says so at the back of the book so all her friends’ mourning is just for effect and not real.  It is fake!  Things will go back to normal next time Captain Marvel returns.  Lame.  If I had not already bought additional comics I would have stopped collecting this series.

Captain Marvel #13

Captain Marvel #13 was entertaining, but misses a key point in suspenseful storytelling.  If the bad guy is supposed to be secret do not give away who the bad guy is on the first page.  I realize this issue is in the middle of some overarching story ark that I did not know about at the time and I missed picking up those other cross over issues.  Anyway this comic has a lot of cameo appearances from famous people and it is all in good fun.  With luck in the end Captain Marvel will be able to fly again at the end of this story and that stupid part of the story will be over.

Fearless Defenders #5!

The Fearless Defenders #5 – Where we continue the Doom Maiden story line.  We first see Moonstar Hippolyta and Valkyrie awaiting the arrival of the Doom Maidens in a remote and far away part of our world.  The Doom Maidens arrive riding dragons, one of which Hippolyta kills.  The fight is interrupted by the arrival of a large number of female super heroes – it is a rather dramatic splash page.  We now add to the battle Spider-Woman, Black Cat, Tigra, Hellcat, Elektra, She-Hulk, Storm, Thundra, Tarantula, Colleen Wing, Black Widow, Captain Marvel and Misty Knight.  While the Valkyrie traveled to the out of the way place, Misty Knight had gone recruiting supers to help in the fight.  Some are destined to be Shield Maidens (only nine actually) but apparently having a few extra heroes is not a bad thing.  We learn a number of things about Annabelle Riggs and Moonstar.  The story here remains very interesting and I cannot wait for the next issue.

Captain Marvel #12

Captain Marvel #12 was a long drawn out full issue fight that ended up being boring and uninteresting.  The fight included a lot of taunting dialog between Captain Marvel and Deathbird.  We also see the story evolving from Captain Marvel’s doctor and another doctor consulting on her case.  The two doctors talk through the problem and figure out it seems that Captain Marvel is being poisoned.  The weakness of this issue might have something to do with this being a tie in issue with an Avengers title.  In fact Spider-Woman makes a non-speaking cameo in a few panels of the comic.  Anyway this issue was disappointing and very subpar compared to previous issues of this comic book.

Age of Ultron #4

Age of Ultron Book Four was interesting.  The Luke Cage and She-Hulk plan failed badly with the She-Hulk throwing Luke Cage out of the building hoping he would get what they learned about Ultron to the other heroes.  The other survivors made their way to the Savage Lands.  The Red Hulk and Taskmaster disagreed and the Red Hulk kills the Taskmaster and then the Red Hulk exits Chicago.  The Moon Knight and Black Widow were hiding in a Nick Furry bolt hole and found that Nick Furry had a plan for when Ultron took over the world or at the very least the end of the world.  When the group of Heroes from the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier reaches the Savage Lands they find that the Savage Lands had also been attacked by Ultron and as in other parts of the world there were survivors; they also find the remains of an Avengers Quinjet.  Almost immediately they meet up with Ka-Zar: Lord of the Savage Lands who leads them to his village.  Here they find a dying Luke Cage whom relays the information from when the She-Hulk and he met with the Vision.  It turns out that Ultron is attacking the world from the future and that is why no one has been able to find where Ultron was hiding.   With that information provided the three groups of heroes meet up with the Red Hulk, Moon Knight and Black Widow make themselves known.  It is now time to go get Ultron the Black Widow says.

A + X #6 !!!

A + X #6 Gambit + Thing and Wolverine + Captain Marvel with this month’s theme being Poker games and bluffing.  Wolverine and Captain Marvel were in a poker game showdown with each trying to get the upper hand in a battle of wills.  They argue and then the Avengers Tower is broken into by someone in a big suit of power armor calling itself the End.  Captain Marvel asks the End a “who would win” question and the next thing you see is Hawkeye and Spider-Woman running into the room to see the three not fighting but playing poker.  The second story of The Thing and Gambit starts with the Thing playing poker with the Yancy Street Gang (well three of them anyway) before the game starts the Gang brings in a ringer who turns out to be Gambit.  Gambit and the Thing have a history that the reader gets to see.  In the end it turns out The Thing and Gambit ran a scam and stole the pot from the Yancy Street Gang.  Both stories were well told and entertaining – I was entertained.

Age of Ultron #3!!

Age of Ultron #3 was good.  This issue moved the story along as the Heroes have finally set on a plan.  She-Hulk and Luke Cage are going to try and infiltrate Ultron’s Headquarters and try to learn something about what Ultron wants and why there are survivors.  That plan has Luke Cage “Selling” or trading She-Hulk to Ultron.  They got the idea from Hammerhead and the Owl who until killed claimed to have bought safety from Ultron by trading (selling) it Heroes.  We then cut to Chicago where we see the Red Hulk, the Taskmaster and Black Panther trying to capture part of an Ultron Unit to examine.  This gives us a chance to see the Red Hulk have a big fight trying to buy time for the others to escape, unfortunately the Black Panther dies; it appears that the Taskmaster does escape.  We then return to Luke Cage and She-Hulk whom are brought to see not Ultron but The Vision (dun dun dun… cue dramatic music).  This issue was a great improvement over issue two as something happened. 

Captain Marvel #11!!

Captain Marvel #11 has an excellent cover I like the retro style poster on the building with Captain Marvel running past.  I fear though that the rest of the issue is seriously lacking in quality when compared to the last few issues.  If I had wanted to read a whiny woe is me the world is out to get me I would read from my collection of Spider-Man or X-men comics from the 1980s.  It is rather obvious who this new mystery villain is and it is just a matter of waiting on the lazy writer to see if I am right or not.  I am seriously disappointed in this issue.

Captain Marvel! #10

Captain Marvel #10 where to make things interesting we make our hero Carol Danvers to stubborn to stick with doctors’ orders and get some rest.  So macho, so much like the stereotypical male why not just bring back the first Captain Marvel?  I am not saying woman cannot be stubborn but sheesh.  I like the to-do list “taped” to the first page of the comic that was an amusing idea.  I am starting to like Captain Marvel’s assistant Wendy who seems to know when to not follow the bosses’ orders.  Saving the subway was well dialoged.  Bringing in Captain America and his flying motorcycle could actually be a good idea if Carol survives to the next issue.  The fight with Deathbird was kind of stupid if not for bringing in the end of issue cliffhanger.

Captain Marvel!

Captain Marvel #9 was a really good Day in the Life of Story.  I loved it!  The story had crazy old ladies, Spider-Woman, random people helping out and dinosaurs.  Oh and thieves or terrorists I’m not sure which or that it mattered to the story.  The story also confirms what should be obvious by now that Tony Stark is an ass.  I guess my only real complaint about this story is the art, the art suck in this issue it was horrible.  I don’t know who told the person credited as “artist” for this book (Filipe Andrade) to use this style but that person should be punished.  Characters are drawn differently in every frame of the comic it is very distracting and detracting from the story.  I really hope the powers that be see this is a bad art path to follow and just go for good solid comic book art.  Otherwise I am going to stop getting this comic and I am fairly sure I am the only one buying copies at my comic book shop.

Captain Marvel!

Captain Marvel #8 staring two that right two different Captain’s Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau team up again to fight a giant robot.  The dialog was nice and entertaining, sharp and witty.  The story was a little silly but it is a super hero comic book so no loss there, the giant robot was supposedly the remains of an Avengers battle but no issue reference was given.  I hope that the comic can continue with this quality.

Comic Books!

I am going to cover four Marvel Comics here.  First up is Captain Marvel #7, this issue is an improvement over the last story line that was just a little over the top time travel silly.  Most of this issue is mostly story and character development between the current Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) and a previous Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau).  Their dialog is witty and well written.  The artwork for this issue was excellent and the underwater scenes were properly creepy.  I was happy to see the Monica Captain Marvel return as she was the first Captain Marvel I really remember from the pages of the Avengers.  I am looking forward to the next issue more than the previous story line.

Next was Hawkeye #4, this issue had a decidedly more serious turn in the story.  Though I am not sure if the writer wants Hawkeye to become the next Deadpool or Wolverine with this story, I still have issues with trying to take Hawkeye seriously as some super assassin.  I am happy with the story but will avoid a spoiler filled summary.  I still have problems with the artwork for this Comic Book.  I realize that they are going for a “style” but comics are supposed to be four colors and I would like to be able to tell the characters apart.  The cover is very different from a traditional comic and at first I thought it was a variant cover issue.

Then comes along the Indestructible Hulk!  I was somewhat dreading what was going to happen to the much misused Incredible Hulk.  Turns out that this reboot was well thought out and written, I even liked the art.  Not a fan with the Hulk’s haircut but can’t have everything.  I had enjoyed the previous attempts to make the Hulk smart or at least make Bruce Banner non-whiny.  So as I read I liked this story more and more.  (Spoilers)!

The Hulk or at least Puny Banner working with S.H.I.E.L.D. has great potential.  Quickly deploying the Hulk against security threats could be a great way to solve a problem if you do not wish to learn more of the villains after the fight. 

(End Spoilers) - So I am very interested in seeing how this comic turns out in future issues.

Then finally comes the comic Captain America #1 another in the string of Marvel Reboots.  We see that Steve Rogers comes from a broken house.  Then we jump in time for a short story.  Then we get the main story that has Captain jump dimensions.  This comic is weak; the story is stupid so far.  The artwork is good.   Disappointed and not looking forward to what is going to happen next.