Let's Get Comical!

Welcome to another edition of Let’s Get Comical!

We have a big week this week, with lots of highly anticipated titles, including pretty much all of my favorite series! NINE reviews in all this week, so let’s get right to it!

Purchased This Week (1/18/12): Amazing Spider-Man #678, Avenging Spider-Man #3, Batman #5, Daredevil #8, Nightwing #5, Ultimate Spider-Man #6, and Uncanny X-Men #5

Also Purchased This Week: Older comics Batwoman #2, Batwoman #3, Batwoman #4, Daredevil #5, and Daredevil #6!

Batman #5

Let’s start off with what has clearly become my favorite comic series since beginning comics in August and OH MY GOD. Batman has been missing for eight days, leaving Commissioner Gordon to ponder whether or not to turn the Bat Signal off or not. He’s leaving it on for Robin, Alfred, Nightwing, the people who KNOW Batman and want to see him return. It’s also a reminder to the criminals that the city is not theirs, at least not yet. Batman is trapped in a maze known as the Court of Owls, where he is slowly going mad. He tries to stay in the dark but has to sporadically reemerge at a fountain to get water. A fountain with a giant Owl statue. Batman keeps encountering different rooms that each tell a story. One room will have photos of all of the people the Owls have killed in that very maze, while another room will have caskets with photos of children. And the Owl assassin is always just behind him. Meanwhile, Batman is trying to outsmart the mind games since he’s Batman and invented these tricks. I should point out the awesomeness of this issue’s design, where we as readers have to flip the book sideways, and eventually upside down in a personification of Batman’s slowly growing insanity. Eventually Batman encounters his parents, but knows they’re fake. He rips them to shreds and then sees his crazed self in the mirror. Suddenly a camera snaps a picture of him, and Batman is suddenly stabbed from behind by the Owl assassin in a creepy visual. The book then flips right side up for the final page where GCPD destroys the Bat Signal until Robin emerges and tells them to set it back up. AWESOME STUFF yet again, and I was generally creeped out by Batman’s growing insanity as well as his death. I know he’ll return to life but DAMMIT I WANT MORE AND I DON’T WANT TO WAIT ANOTHER MONTH. Unlike Dave Chapelle and the titties, I wish I had four hands so I could give this comic four thumbs UP. Highest recommendation.

Nightwing #5

This one was weird. This month’s circus stop is N’awlins (New Orleans) where a weird chick is in a graveyard summoning a spirit to help her reclaim something. Meanwhile, one of the clowns of Haly’s Circus is growing increasingly nervous returning to a city where bad things have happened to him in the past. The spirit shows up in the middle of a show and kidnaps the clown, but Nightwing is hot on the trail. The spirit takes the clown back to the cemetery where the weird chick apparently once had a relationship with the clown and wants to “become one with him” in an unholy alliance I guess. So Nightwing puts a stop to everything by kicking the spirit back into its headstone and tying up the weird chick. The next day the clown is alright but warns Dick Grayson to leave his past behind him. Meanwhile the Saiko killer is seen conspiring with Raya, Dick’s hot red headed friend with benefits. Saiko is unmasked and makes out with Raya, who calls him Raymond (no clue who he is, sorry) and they talk about how I guess they’ll be the ones killing Dick. A weird issue, and very uneventful at that, although the last page did move the story along. I’d say pass on this one.

Batwoman #2

Continuing along with my Batwoman catch-up here. Cameron Chase, the Government Agent specializing in the paranormal from the last issue has arrived in Gotham and is hell-bent on finding Batwoman. She speaks with Batwoman’s girlfriend, Margaret Sawyer, telling her that she has a list of suspects she assumes to be Batwoman, and tells Margaret to call her if she has any information. Speaking of Batwoman, she has an offer from Batman to join Batman Incorporated, a worldwide group of Batmen that Batwoman is hesitant to join. As the Weeping Widow kidnaps another Hispanic child after a funeral, cops are called to the scene of a gang fight between two rival Underworld gangs, gangs composed of mythical creatures. Batman and Batwoman watch, impressed with the detective work of Margaret, and Batman warns Batwoman that Chase will tear Gotham apart trying to find her. Batwoman then gets a clue about the Weeping Widow case from a photo in Margaret’s apartment, and after Margaret catches her breaking and entering, she calls Chase and tells her where Batwoman is going. It’s a dock, where an arm grows from the water and sucks Batwoman in as she hops in the shallow water. I’m still not sold on the story but the artwork is awesome. I do slightly dislike the layout, however. I have 3 issues left to read until I catch up, but I still have faith. We’ll see how this goes.

And thus concludes our DC portion of the week, so let’s flip to Marvel!

Uncanny X-Men #5

Kind of sad that Uncanny X-Men, which launched in November, already has the same number of issues as the DC New 52 reboots, which launched in September. That’s a lot of X-Men each month! Anyway, Cyclops has gathered a group of mutants into the Extinction Team, and they head to Montana to investigate a nuclear explosion which suddenly was concealed by a dome (looking similar to the EPA Dome from The Simpsons Movie). After a few days, the dome crumbled, revealing a very prehistoric looking land they call Tabula Rasa. The X-Men teleport there and are immediately attacked by some weird pterodactyl-like creatures, which retreat when Storm covers up the sun. The group then splits up to explore the territory, which ends with Colossus exploring his inner soul, Cyclops falling through a hole and Magneto and Psylocke uncovering a tribe of aliens that are painting murals. They believe Magneto and Psylocke to be gods, but their timeline also shows another, larger, robotic god. Which appears before them at the end of the issue. Weird stuff, as is the norm with new storylines, so we’ll see where this goes. Can’t really recommend it at the moment though.

Daredevil #3

Continuing my weekly catch-up of the Daredevil series. Daredevil has been caught and strapped to a weird machine by Klaw, who was apparently transformed into a weird sound wave by the Fantastic Four. Actually, it’s not Klaw, but a duplicate, disintegrating and eager to build an antenna to locate the original Klaw. So Daredevil escapes the antenna and is able to destroy it, but the Klaw clone is hot on his case. But after a while, the clone disintegrates. Daredevil asks him who helped him, but he couldn’t hear what the clone said. So that’s the end of that. Meanwhile, Foggy and Matt find a way to help Mr. Jobrani win his case – they guide him while he represents himself. This leads to a funny closing scene where the two go out for beers and Matt hits on chicks and reveals that he and Foggy are starting a new business helping clients represent themselves! This one went by a little TOO fast, to be honest, but the end result was actually pretty funny. Mediocre, but I give it a thumbs up.

Daredevil #8

This is the thrilling conclusion to the story started in last week’s Amazing Spider-Man, which would have pissed me off in retrospect if I weren’t reading both series now. And just like Daredevil #3, it goes by way too fast. Hopefully reading this one doesn’t spoil the rest of the issues I need to read in order to catch up. Spider-Man, Daredevil and Black Cat eventually stop beating each other up and decide they need to help each other find out who blamed Black Cat, and why. The inventor of the stolen hologram device framed himself, but the dumbass told the unnamed criminal organization, an upstart telecom company, how to use it, so obviously he’s poisoned. Spidey takes him to the hospital while Black Cat and Daredevil infiltrate the company’s facility and dispatch of the crooks, quite easily actually. Then the two proceed to hook up and have the secks until Foggy calls Matt with some urgent news regarding a case the two had taken a liking to, involving building over a cemetery that contains the grave of Matt’s dad. The bad news is that Matt’s dad’s coffin is gone, and the gravesite is just a giant bottomless hole. Like I said, this one went by way too fast, not because it was THAT good (I did like it, don’t get me wrong) but because it seemed they just wanted to conclude the story and drew and wrote everything in hyper speed. That being said, I still recommend it, although I don’t really want to see any more of these one-shot crossovers that will be forgotten next issue. Keep those to special comics, or extend the crossover a few issues.

Amazing Spider-Man #678

Okay, this one was AWESOME. Peter Parker shows up for work one day to double check his coworker Grady’s work on his latest invention. That invention is a doorway that sends the person walking through 24 hours into the future. Grady walks through the break room door and produces tomorrow’s edition of the Daily Bugle. It’s like the TV show Early Edition come to comic book form, and THERE’S your obscure television reference of the column. Anyway, Peter steps through and suddenly sees New York blown to smithereens. Apparently Peter “skipping” Monday does something that causes the destruction of the world on Tuesday. So with Grady as his sidekick, Spider-Man uses the future edition of the Bugle to go through his day and do everything the paper says he does. All of it is miniscule stuff, however, and none of the good deeds (stopping purse snatchers, delivering a woman’s baby) changes the future. Spidey wants to get help from the Avengers and the FF but Madame Web makes an appearance and warns him that they have their own destinies, and any involvement from them would make the future worse. It all boils down to the event occurring at 3:10 P.M. and it’s 3:09 and Spidey has no clue what he’s supposed to do. We end on a cliffhanger as a supervillain named “Flag Crusher” and his gang set up a bomb to explode in the middle of a parade honoring the creation of some new small nation. This was AWESOME, even if you disagree with the time travel “rules” Dan Slott chose to use for this one. But it flew by and was a really fun read, and I want to see what happens, exactly! Pick this one up for a fun time. It even has a COLLEGE FOOTBALL REFERENCE with Madame Web in street clothes wearing a Colorado Buffaloes t-shirt. I figured I should point that out considering that college football was the original reason why I created this blog!

Avenging Spider-Man #3

This is the conclusion to the Mole Men in the Underworld storyline, and it... kinda sucks. Red Hulk has perished at the hands of the massive mole monster Ra’ktar, and now he’s seeking to destroy the rest of the underdwellers. But Spider-Man has other ideas. He gets J. Jonah Jameson to safety and then has the rest of the mole people take him back to the surface and Manhattan. This doesn’t please Ra’ktar, who wants to kill the mole people, and decides that Spider-Man wants to fight him. And fight they do. And Spidey gets his ass KICKED. So Spider-Man, as a last resort, uses his webbing to grab a sharp stone and swings it around like a Wildman. It hits Ra’ktar right in the groin, but does no damage due to his thick armor. However, the stone does shatter the chains holding the armor up, thus exposing his naughty bits to everybody in a hilarious bit of hilarity (actually Spidey’s reaction is pretty funny). It is announced that Ra’ktar has been shamed in battle, meaning that Spider-Man wins! At the same time, Red Hulk regains consciousness and is eager for a fight, but is disappointed when Spider-Man informs him of what happened. So the evil mole warriors leave the mole people alone and Spidey returns to Manhattan with an angry Rulk, who tells him not to ask him for any favors again. Jameson is mad that Spidey left the translator, apparently a huge villain and leader of the mole people, alive to fight again, but Spidey thinks kindness will do them well in the long run. Meanwhile, the same mole leader dude is plotting his next attack and we fade out. REALLY lame ending to a series I was digging, although I am more disappointed in it than anything. Next month’s issue starts a crossover with Hawkeye, and I guess if that sucks then I’ll drop this one. Take a pass on this one as well.

Ultimate Spider-Man #6

Saving the best for last, obviously. Right off the bat I notice that there’s a new artist, and it kinda sucks compared to the art featured in the last 5 issues. The beginning sees Miles’ uncle, the Prowler, meeting the Scorpion in Mexico, except now the Scorpion is a big Mexican thug. They’re making some kind of deal that goes horribly wrong, as expected, and Prowler escapes, but is captured by the Mexican police and incarcerated. Meanwhile, Miles is getting the hang of web-slinging around the city when he hears a woman cry for help; some thugs are trying to snatch her purse. And it’s Spider-Man to the rescue! The “fight” here is hilarious, as the thugs aren’t scared of Spidey, and he just kinda sorta barely beats them up. The cops arrive and want to arrest Miles, even though he was the hero, and he escapes. Betty Brant records everything and attempts to blackmail J. Jonah Jameson into giving her her reporter job back in exchange for the footage. Miles returns home and talks with his mom about his dad’s past and his relationship with his uncle, but the heartfelt talk is interrupted by Ganke (no awesome t-shirt this issue) who gives Miles a Spider-Man Direct-to-DVD movie about Spider-Man that he pulled out of the Wal-Mart DVD Death Bin. Ganke tells Miles to study the film (made after the REAL Spidey crashed the set of a film while battling Doc Ock) and study Spidey’s moves, i.e. making Peter Parker his Mr. Miyagi. Meanwhile, the Prowler receives a Spanish newspaper in prison that claims that there is a new Spider-Man, which angers the Prowler. The writing for this one continues to be awesome, although the artwork is really a letdown compared to the previous issues. But the writing still rocks, so we’ll let it slide. Highest recommendation.

Overall, a great week for comics! Definitely go out of your way to pick up Batman and Ultimate Spider-Man. Daredevil is coming along nicely, although I’m kind of waiting for Batwoman to pick up. A strong issue of Amazing Spider-Man too. The only letdowns were Nightwing and Avenging Spider-Man, to be honest. I’m on the verge of dropping Uncanny X-Men, though I’ll stick with it for a few more issues.

Coming Next Week (This Week): Justice League! Teen Titans! And more in another heavy week! And I’ve had Fantastic Four #600 sitting on my desk for two months now, and they’re already on issue 602. Will I EVER read the special 600^th issue?