12/28/07 – last pull of the year!

And it wasn’t really anything all that special, but there was some good stuff.

Avengers: Initiative #8

This title hasn’t failed to impress yet. More madcap happenings both above and below ground at super-hero-u. Clone more MVPs you say? That sounds like a brilliant idea! And yet, nothing ever works out quite that well does it?

The new Ant-Man shows up….and somehow Hank doesn’t recognize his design that went awol from shield. Really?? That would be the one spot of really poor writing in an otherwise awesome series. Slott is very attentive to continuity normally, so I have a feeling he has a fix worked out for this one. Hopefully it will be spelled out on paper somewhere.

More character reveals (I like lizard girl more now), Hardball continues to be an ass, although the ass-ness pays off here, and he has a nice not-ass moment. When did “Thor-girl” join? Did I miss that? I remember reading the Thors with her, but I have no idea what her deal is…will have to look it up.

Starjammers 4, err I mean X-Men: Emperor Vulcan 4

I’m still enjoying this series and curious how it is going to wrap up. I don’t like the “reveal” that the MKraan just found the crystal too, this cheapens their initial position somewhat – although it was their homeworld, at least at that point in time.

How is Havok going to deal with his brother is beyond me, but I’m sure they’ve got something in mind. Because, really, leaving him alive at this point is stupid.

Lilandra’s continued ignorance of actual Shi’ar behavior seems a bit out of character though, she was never naive before, why should she be about this? I guess that’s what happens when you mix religion into politics.

X-Men 206

Small cover shot because it’s so fucking ugly. But, that was the intent afterall. 9 issues in and the “future” plot thread is still shaping up to be a waste of time. I mean, I’m sure it matures at some point, but WTF?

We get a “traitor” reveal, but I’m sure it’s not what it looks like, telepathy or something I’m sure. If it is what it looks like, well, shucks. There goes 30% of the minority X-Men ;p.

Oh, and Warpath gets more bloodthirsty. Dude, you haven’t talked to Caliban in years…you just have to admit to yourself that you really weren’t that close. And he was really stupid, trying to take a bullet for a bullet-proof friend.

Giant-Size Avengers 1

Pretty much a fluff piece here, in retrospect I shouldn’t have picked it up. The “Spider-Man learns respect” thing was stupid, and the Emperor None or whatever thing was moderately funny, but I’m pretty sure the punchline there (hint: Wolverine) has been done before, or at least done in a spoof.

Some good cheesecake shots of the “Ladies of Avenging” lounging by the pool if you’re into that kind of thing though.

Serious continuity flaw on one of the first pages though. Pretty sure I saw Diamondback in there with the Serpent Society ladies…and she joined the Initiative over in #8…that and isn’t she an LMD or something? I seem to recall something happening with her not too distantly in Captain America, not sure what though.

I haven’t gone through the reprint material yet, it might be worth it, I just don’t care enough.

New Warriors 7

I’m really enjoying this incarnation, and hope it lasts a while, the writer is doing a great job of going in a different direction than other series and giving it a distinct role. There are also some nice reveals and moments for old school New Warriors fans here (although it just happened to concern a period during which I wasn’t reading – second volume maybe? I’ll have to check).

One thing I’m not sold on is the art, I really don’t like the way some of the characters look…and I’m still not sold on Angel looking totally different (PS who is watching their 15 kids?). I have to look up Stacy and see what she looked like de-powered, but she also looks pretty different here.

I also picked up the final available volume of Y trade (v. 9) and got the Planet Hulk trade from Amazon. Both are great reads.

Oh, I almost forgot, grabbed X-Men Messiah Complex: Mutant Files

Bunch of retread source material for the most part, but I was curious what clues might be in here for the coming year.

Sure enough, I think there were some – or some of the stupidest red herrings ever.

So it would have all the standard stuff you would expect of a current-related sourcebook (ie stuff that’s been featured recently): Marauders, Illyana, Predator X, Kimura, the Deadly Genesis stuff, 198 stuff, new Starjammers, etc.

What it also had was: Savage Land Mutates (W T F?), Phoenix (please sweet comic deity don’t rez her yet, wait for everyone else to finish their corpse runs!), Lifeguard & Slipstream, Trish Tilby. So, I suspect those 4 will be chewing some scenery this year, because otherwise there was less than zero reason to update their info. Unless, of course, maybe it’s totally accounting style and LG & SS never had an entry before? I suppose that is possible. I would like to see LG again though, but SS was stupid. I’m thinking LG/SS would fit right in with the Exiles and they are Claremont creations…./shrug. Mutates…ok, so someone is going to the Savage Land. Trish? Moving into one of the books supporting casts I guess.

The back cover also mentioned “Ghoul”, but I couldn’t find him/her/it inside. Hmmm?