Secret Avengers #1

This issue begins with Black Widow and Valkyrie undercover. They steal a package from a Roxxon employee and escape with Steve Rogers. Rogers and Beast realize that it isn't the item they thought it was. They're looking for the Crown of Serpents. Having struck out Rogers sends Moon Knight and Ant-Man to the Roxxon HQ and has them steal information for him. During the raid we see Rogers recruiting MK and AM to the Avengers and their motivations.

Rogers, Beast and War Machine look over the recovered information and discover some strange things have been happening with Roxxon's Mars operation. It appears all of the employees involved with the operation have disappeared without a trace. Rogers says that he will have someone check it out.

We skip ahead and Rogers has gathered his team together and announces they'll be going to Mars for a rescue mission. He sent a scout and hasn't heard from the scout since. We get a flashback of Nova escaping an attack on Mars. He finds this underground temple and approaches an object that looks similar to what they stole earlier. The object reacts to Nova's approach. The issue ends with Sharon Carter being taken out and Nick Fury reveals himself and mentions something about the Shadow Council.

My Take: This book was very different from Avengers and New Avengers. The art is much darker and the team is about operating in the shadows and finding the hidden threats to challenge. It's a little weird that they ended up in space but I'll get to that a little later.

I really like the roster that's been set up for this team. Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, Beast, War Machine, Ant-Man, Moon Knight, Black Widow, Valkyrie and Nova make for a very offbeat yet interesting team. I really hope Marvel lets this roster get a few storylines together before they add or subtract people. I am thrilled to have Beast back in the Avengers too. He hasn't been a full time Avenger since the early 80s and he's been long overdue for a return.

Ed Brubaker is writing this book and he's perfect for the job. It really feels like an extension of the current Captain America series and that's just fine with me. My only real issue with the writing is that they ended up on Mars. I feel like a covert ops book should be more grounded and more street level. Let the Avengers go to Mars and deal with some big outer space threat. That was my main gripe with the book but it's mostly a small one.

I really enjoyed the issue though. I like offbeat groups of heroes like this. I loved Marvel Knights and I feel that this book is kind of a continuation of that. The amount of mystery and intrigue was really good. I thought the art was great and really fit the tone of the storyline. I'm looking forward to issue 2 of this series.

I've seen some negative reaction to three Avengers books. I really don't see the big issue with it. You have three very distinct books and three fairly distinct teams. I read all three first issues and I felt that each was a really unique book. Granted, there was some variables to the quality but I think all three titles were worth it. It seems to fall down to Avengers is your classic Avengers, New Avengers is a continuation of what Bendis wanted to do with the last series and Secret Avengers is a cloak and dagger book. I think it works and I hope they can sustain the quality of the books.

I'd give this a B+ for coming out of left field and really surprising me with a different experience than what I'm used to getting from an Avengers title.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #29

Cover Date: July 1939

Plot Overview: Dr. Death and has minion Jabah plan a trap for Batman. They put an ad in the paper for Batman to see and when he arrives Jabah shoots him in the shoulder. Batman escapes with the help of gas. Dr. Death is not pleased with this outcome but sends Jabah out to kill another doctor.

Bruce Wayne manages to save the man and follows Jabah back to Dr. Death. Batman chases Dr. Death and as a result Dr. Death is killed in a fire.

My Take: That was a really short review of the plot but there really was barely anything to this week. There was literally an entire page of Batman climbing a wall. So this issue was 10 pages of a lot of filler and a little bit of plot.

What can I say about this issue? It was bad, brutally bad. It was poorly written, unoriginal and just not worth your time. If you want good stories in this vein, go find the Shadow radio show from this era. It's better written and it has Orson Welles doing the early episodes.

This is just a mess. The art is bad, the writing is clunky and poorly executed and the stories have no real value on a literary level. I can see why comics were seen to be as child fodder around this time. I really don't know what else to say about it. It's so bad that it's hard to even point to specific things in it that were wrong. This issue actually made me regret deciding to do this feature on this blog. I really hope this gets better soon.

Some points of interest in this issue. Batman has a utility belt now. He stored some gas pellets in his belt in this issue.

This gets an F for being a throughly awful experience from start to finish.

New Avengers #1

Most of this issue is divided between two storylines. The first storyline involves possessed versions of Dt. Strange and Daimon Hellstrom attack Dr. Voodoo in an attempt to capture the Eye of Agamotto.

The other storyline invovles Luke Cage rebuilding his Avengers team. Luke buys Avengers Mansion from Tony Stark for $1 and Steve Rogers tells him to run the team how he wants to. Luke and Iron Fist arrive at the Mansion to find Victoria Hand waiting for them. After some conflict, Luke agrees to have her on the team in a consultant type of role. The scene shifts to the new team having dinner and Cage trying to convince the Thing to join the team.

They're interrupted by the Eye of Agamotto appearing followed by Dr. Strange and Daimon Hellstrom. They claim that Dr. Voodoo is dead. The issue ends with Luke and the Eye of Agamotto having some sort of reaction.

My Take: I really enjoyed this issue. It felt like less happened here but I think I enjoyed the issue a little more than I did Avengers #1. I really like the lineup to this team as it feels really off beat compared to the more classic lineup in Avengers.

I like the different feel to both books too. Avengers feels like a return to the Avengers of the 60s to the 90s. It feels like a classic lineup taking on classic threats. New Avengers feels like a continuation of the original New Avengers title. It feels like I'm getting the best of both worlds with these books right now.

The characters also have some good relationships going. Veronica Hand is hated by everyone on the team due to her former connections to Norman Osborn. Jessica Jones in particular wants to kill Hand. The Thing seems happy to be there as it's a change of scenery from the Fantastic Four. I look forward to seeing how the character relationships will develop in the book.

I liked the art quite a bit for this issue. I think it was better overall than the Avengers book. My only complaint with the art is that I felt it was too bright. In my opinion the New Avengers should have darker art overall. Don't ask me why, that just feels right.

I like how the there were two storylines going on throughout the book and they combined to end the issue. It was nice seeing the team get together and set itself up while the threat was also moving and shaking it's way to them. I'm really looking forward to the next issue of this as I really have no idea where they'll take the story.

I'd give this issue a solid A- for a good story and pretty good art.

Walking Dead Top 5 Shocking Moments

Due to Halloween this week and the Sunday premiere of the Walking Dead on AMC, I thought I would do a short little article on the top 5 most shocking moments in the comic. I thought it would be a fun little stroll down memory lane. So let's kick it off and see what we've got here.

5. Carl Kills

This is actually two separate events in the comic. Carl originally kills Shane in defense of his father Rick. And then later kills the surviving twin so the adults wouldn't have to. I found this interesting as it shows the harsh reality of the world the characters live in. There's no innocence to be had now.

4. Rick Loses His Hand

Death is a constant in any story really. You're always ready for it in literature and even in life to some degree. But permanent disfigurement? Now there's something that doesn't come up much in literature and honestly, people don't think about much. It was a quick moment as the governor sliced his hand off and Rick's been dealing with the loss of that hand ever since. I find it interesting that characters have died left and right in this book and I was most shocked by Rick getting his hand chopped off.

3. Tyrese Dies

I found this to be one of the most brutal scenes in the entire series. The governor chops his head off with a sword and it doesn't go so easy for him. It takes multiple cuts and you're left to wonder how long Tyrese was awake to find out what happened.

2. Lori Dies

As the survivors escape the prison Lori is shot in the back and dies along with her newly born daughter. Rick was devastated of course. The comic lives by the tag line that no one is safe but you always kind of felt that Rick's family was a little more safe than the people around them. That, of course, proved to not be very true.

1. Michonne Assaults the Governor

As payback for raping her earlier in the series. It was extremely graphic and brutal. In fact, it makes me a little uncomfortable to even think about. Needless to say, you need a strong stomach for that scene.

There you have it, my top 5 most shocking moments in the series. Stay tuned next week, I'll be doing a review of the Walking Dead premiere on AMC. I'm really looking forward to it.

Walking Dead #78

Plot Overview: A small band of survivors head off to locate the gunshot they heard. The gunshot came from Rick shooting Pete in the last issue. We shift gears to the town where Rick and company are preparing for a funeral for three of the recently departed in the town. Douglas objects to Pete being included but Rick points out that he was a father and husband despite how his life ended.

Rick gives a speech during the funeral. He wonders if they are who they are or if they're created by their surroundings. He asks that people remember Pete for the man he was. Not the man who killed Regina at the end of his life. Rick's speech is interrupted by a gunshot.

They head outside and the leader of the band of survivors is at the gate. He makes several threats to try and gain entrance but Rick calmly explains how they do things here. Andrea takes out the survivors' sniper and then takes out the leader of the survivors. The other survivors try to force their way in but Rick's band makes short work of them. Nearby zombies react to the gunfire as the battle ends.

Later on, the town is ending the funeral. Mayor Douglas tells Rick that the town needs Rick instead of him. Rick saw the evil in Pete and put Andrea in the sniper tower. The mayor walks off leaving Rick as the final shot of the issue.

My Take: Great issue here. I had been really down on the Walking Dead since they entered the town. I felt the series had really slowed and that it had become too safe for the characters. But now we're getting the challenges of the position they're in. People are going to try to get in by any means necessary and a huge horde of zombies are most likely going to be finding them soon.

Rick yet again finds himself being thrust to the leadership role that he never seems eager to take. I'm curious to see if he'll take on that role this time or if he'll convince Douglas that he needs to remain as the mayor. Either way, I'm guessing the town is going to be destroyed by the zombies very shortly. The cast has gotten pretty large again and I imagine we're due for another purge of the characters. I'm actually curious to see how much longer Andrea and Glenn are going to last. They've been around since the beginning and I imagine one of them will probably end up dying soon.

Let's throw speculation aside though. This issue really picked up the pace that the last 4 or 5 issues had been lacking for me. It's building up to a big fight with the zombies that should be really soon. Rick seems to be less crazy now and more back to the man that has survived longer than almost anyone else. The art was also great in this issue. I love the black and white art for this comic. It really adds to the atmosphere of the book.

This is an easy A+ for me. The book seems to have regained it's focus over the last 2 issues and I find myself excited for the next issue.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #28

Cover Date: June 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne disguises his voice as Commissioner Gordon's to get information on a recent string of jewel robberies. Later that night Batman arrives on the scene. He takes out one of the criminals and then throws the other one off the side of the building. Batman stops and reaches for the jewels just as police arrive on the scene. Batman makes his escape to the surprise of the police.

Batman reveals that this was part of his plan. He wants to make the criminals more careless and easier to spy on. Frenchy Blake is the head of the gang and Batman spies on them as they plan the next robbery.

This time Batman easily foils the robbery and catches both criminals. He calls in Gordon to pick them up and then heads after Frenchy. He ties Frenchy to a rope and hangs him out of a window until he agrees to confess. Frenchy writes his confession and then tries to attack Batman. Batman hits him a few times and Frenchy surrenders. Batman drops Frenchy off at the police station and the issue ends with Commissioner Gordon reading a letter from Batman.

My Take: This was an okay read despite the glaring flaws with it. The grammar is really clunky and the art isn't the greatest thing in the world. I think that's a product of the time. They had 6 pages to tell a story and the artistic ability was limited. So the clunky grammar seems to show up as they have to describe the situation.

The original Batman is interesting though. He kills without question and he's in a weird spot. He's this horrible creature of the night but he seems to also be a little sarcastic and willing to smile. Again, the amount of violence in this issue is pretty jarring. For as primitive as the art is, they really seem to capture the devastating consequences to the violence that Batman uses. It's very gritty in that sense.

With all that said. I actually enjoyed the story. It was a quick read and I enjoy seeing early stories of iconic characters like this. It wasn't groundbreaking and it wasn't even really good. It was just a fun little piece of nonsense to start my Saturday off with.

I'd give this issue a D+.

My Pull List

This isn't everything I read. This is just a small selection of what I read during a given month. These books will also be the most likely to show up in reviews.

My Top 10 titles:

1. Walking Dead
2. The Boys
3. Invincible Iron Man
4. Captain America
5. Darkwing Duck
6. Green Lantern Corps.
7. Batgirl
8. Daredevil
9. Usagi Yojimbo
10. Avengers

Other titles that I pull for the general sake of future reviews:

New Avengers

Secret Avengers

Uncanny X-Men

New Mutants

Thor

Thunderbolts

Hulk

Incredible Hulk

Fantastic Four

Young Allies

The Flash

Green Lantern

Red Robin

Batman and Robin

Batman

Detective Comics

Outsiders

Teen Titans

Legion of Super-Heroes

JLA

JSA

Zatanna

I'm always behind so don't be surprised if I'm not on top of things outside of my top 10.  Don't be surprised if I'm behind on my top 10 too.  Also feel free to recommend books to me at any time.  I'm always willing to check something out.

Avengers #1

Coming out of the events of Siege, we have new Avengers book. This issue starts off with Immortus fleeing from young versions of the Avengers. The scene shifts to Captain America inviting a variety of heroes into the new Avengers lineup. He offers Wonder Man a spot and WM refuses stating that the Avengers have caused the most recent issues. Cap and WM part ways agreeing to disagree.

We shift scenes as Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman and Hawkeye are gathered as the Avengers team before Steve Rogers. Iron Man and Rogers talk as IM has concerns about them getting along. Rogers reveals that he won't be working with this team and introduces Maria Hill as their consultant of sorts.

Suddenly Kang appears and Thor reacts by blasting him out of Stark Towers. The Avengers follow to continue battle but Kang pulls out a strange device. IM stops everyone and explains that it's a doomsday device. Kang explains that in the future their children are going to destroy the universe. He is not going to help them but he expects IM to build a time machine to get them there.

The Avengers speculate on who could help IM build a time machine. Wolverine claims to know the perfect candidate for the job. The issue ends with Kang in the future and an old Hulk saying he's smarter than all of the Avengers.

My Take: This was a solid way to start a new series. The team got put together in the first issue. One of my biggest pet peeves with comics are books that take forever to get the team together. I hated when the most recent Justice League book took 4-6 issues to actually have the team together. So right off the bat having the team together is a huge plus to me.

The story itself was pretty interesting. It wasn't revolutionary or anything but it made me want to read the next issue. I like the build of this team as it does feel like that more classic Avengers lineup. I'll be interested to see where the next few issues of this book go.

The art was decent. Your mileage will vary depending on how you feel about Romita Jr.

I'd give this issue a solid B grade.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #27

Cover Date: May 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne is visiting Commissioner Gordon when Gordon has received a call. A man is dead and the man's son's finger prints are on the knife. Gordon and Wayne arrive on the scene and the son swears he didn't do. He explains that he found his father stabbed to death and pulled the knife out. He reveals that his father had three former business partners. A man named Steve Crane calls and says that he too has been threatened. Bruce Wayne excuses himself out of boredom at this point.

The scene shifts to Steve Crane after the phone call. A man shoots him and steals a piece of paper. The man meets a cohort on the roof when the Batman attacks. He ends up throwing one man off of the roof and disappears. Gordon arrives on the scene and we see the Batman driving somewhere else.

One of the other partner named Rogers has gotten worried and gone to see the remaining partner Stryker. Stryker's assistant attacks Rogers and puts him in a gas chamber. Batman arrives just in time to save Rogers. Batman and the assistant battle until Stryker arrives on the scene. He reveals that it was him all along. Batman saves Rogers again and explains that Stryker was killing them off so he could take control of the company and not pay out the money. Stryker tries to pull a gun on Batman but Batman hits him and he falls into a vat of acid. Batman finds it a fitting end.

Later, Commissioner Gordon is relating the tale to Bruce Wayne and Wayne calls it a fairy tale. Gordon muses that Wayne is a nice guy but has no interest in anything. The issue ends with Bruce Wayne revealing himself to be the Batman.

My Take: What's striking about this issue is the violence connected to it. The early scene with the stabbed man shows his corpse with the knife still in. They really don't pull any punches with the violence in this. The action is brisk and brutal. Batman doesn't do anything fancy, just whatever gets the job done at the moment.

The story itself was pretty bland. It read like any radio episode of the Shadow from this time frame. There wasn't anything overly original about it either. The art was also pretty basic and bad in this.

I find this issue interesting for a lot of reasons. I think people would be shocked to not see Batman's origin story in his first appearance. I also think that people would be stunned by the violence and how Batman has no real issues with killing people or letting people died. The final part that I don't think people realize is that this was just a six page story. Golden Age comics never just feature a single comic story. They usually featured 4-6 stories inside. Comics were a lot bigger then. This book was probably 80 pages if you add in advertisements. They only shortened comics and went to one story later on when they were trying to keep costs down without raising the cover price.

There you have it. The first appearance of Batman. Join me next week for more Batman fun.

I'd give this issue a C+ for purely historical reasons. The story is very forgettable and the art is not good at all.

Welcome

I also write for Mighty Marvel Reading Project. That is my project where I'm reading the Marvel Universe in order from Fantastic Four #1 to current.

This is my partner blog where I'll be writing about comics in general. This will be new comics, old comics and sometimes even manga if I feel like it. There will be some regular or semi-regular features on here. For instance. Saturday will be Saturday Morning Batman. With that I will be starting with Detective Comics #27 and coming forward with Batman. That is the only planned feature I have currently. I will also just post my thoughts on comics and the industry itself.

I'm aiming for an article a week plus the Batman feature.