Considering how light my reading was this week, the Moments of the Week are actually jam packed with scans and there were even some I left on the cutting room floor due to just how many I was featuring already.Most surprising was that my personal Moment of the Week was from a comic I didn't even buy - Mighty Avengers #23 - which featured Iron Man verbally abusing the hell out of Hank Pym, much to my delight.
Anti-Moment of the Week went to the Oracle - The Cure mini and the ridiculousness of the phantom pain, Oracle not knowing what an online avatar from an MMO was and for someone's head exploding because she used a computer.
Catch these moments and more on the flip side.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #589
I'm sure that's not the first time the Spot has done something like that to Spider-Man, but it never gets old.
BATTLE FOR THE COWL: ORACLE - THE CURE #1
The world's greatest hacker, someone who spends 24 hours a day online, can hack into every major government's private servers and take control of satellites at a whim, doesn't know what an online avatar is nor what this Second Life or random MMORPG is. The next moment sums up my expression while looking through this issue.
Yes, that person in the background had her head explode from using that game above. Sure, there was some Anti-Life Equation nonsense involved, but poor Oracle has the right idea here. Only thing you can do with this type of storytelling is to facepalm and facepalm hard.
DAREDEVIL #117
Dramatic, but does anyone think they'll kill the Kingpin off? He survived two 5ft long katana stuck through his back down through his torso in the last issue and countless other near deaths in the past. It'll take Sentry throwing him into the Sun to kill him at this rate.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #12
Just a really cool looking splashpage.
This is actually a throwback to an old Quasar story where Maelstrom cut Wendell Vaughn's hands off in an attempt to gain control of the Quantum Bands.
That is Lord Oblivion, Malestrom's master. The small square in the upper corner is actually a cross section of the "afterlife area" where Drax and Phyla had just been and where Maelstrom is currently monologuing at. I'm not sure if the "end war" is the name of an upcoming event or in reference to the War of Kings.
However, I think it's something to look forward to in Guardians of the Galaxy, as War of Kings has been hyped and solicited as nothing but Inhumans/Kree vs Vulcan/Shi'ar with the Nova Corps and Guardians caught in the middle. Can't see how powerplayers like Lord Oblivion would fit in with that nor why it would be revealed in a non-War of Kings labelled book.
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #127
This is how you ruin a great splashpage by sticking a giant sound effect in the middle of the page. One of the more obnoxious looking sound effects I've ever seen and it spoils an otherwise fantastic splashpage.
For those that didn't read the issue, Norman actually met with Hera earlier in the book and it just made his line about being shocked here that much better. Hopefully the Dark Avengers don't get jobbed out to everyone in yet another appearance in another book next month.
JACK OF FABLES #32
Jack's father's identity is revealed here and it turns out to be Prince Charming, which I thought was an excellent choice. The only problem is that Jack has been shacking up with just about every single one of Charming's illegitimate daughters, leading to some hilarious reactions in the second page above.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #31
This month's JLA was hilarious. Both the best and worst comic I've ever read as it's a commentary on everything that has gone wrong with McDuffie's run on the book due to editorial mandates and meddling.
This image, which started this issue, just continues to the trend of mess ups in DC's highest profile title by having the artist not know what Dinah (aka Black Canary) looks like and drawing Diana (aka Wonder Woman) instead. And, no, there's no excuse for this. Wonder Woman is off sparring with Superman at the Fortress of Solitude and not even at this meeting that started the issue, so don't even try to explain this horrible editing error away.
I'll let Dwayne McDuffie explain this scene for everyone.
Poor McDuffie. He's a good writer on his dream job and DC won't let him catch a break. Add this to the forcibly taking the Big 3 away from him and letting another writer take Hal and form a new JLA to undermine both Black Canary and McDuffie as a writer and all the other crap he's put up with for tie-ins and general mandates and the guy just can't catch a break.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #23
The page prior to this scene had Hank Pym demanding to know why Iron Man gets to be leader instead of him and Iron Man replied with the line, "Three words.", which was followed up by one of the sickest burns I've ever read.
And continuing with Iron Man's Superdickery-level of awesomeness is yet another put down at Hank Pym's expense.
No Avengers is complete without a super solider or god. And if you order now, we can throw in one snivelling wife beater to complete the team! Wife not included.
The final panel of this month's Mighty Avengers revealed that the Scarlet Witch wasn't actually involved in this adventure and it was Loki all along, mirroring his inadvertent creation of the original Avengers. Except this time, he wanted them formed. But why? Almost tempted to start picking this book up based on the moments this month and this Loki reveal at the end.
MS. MARVEL #37
The energy absorbing Ms. Marvel absorbed too much energy and blew up. She's supposedly dead now after making fireworks in the second page. Has this 'absorb too much energy' cliche ever actually killed a hero and stuck before? My guess? She faked it to go in hiding to do something with the information Essential gave her a few issues ago. That or she faked it to get out of having to go on a date with Spider-Man (see Ms Marvel #34 for more on that!)
With Ms. Marvel dead, Norman has informed Moonstone she gets her own book now! She'll be taking over the Ms. Marvel book as, well, Ms. Marvel. Almost tempted to pick up Ms. Marvel to read more about Moonstone, who's had maybe 10 lines of dialogue since Ellis took over Thunderbolts back during Civil War and maybe two sentences under Bendis' loving care.
NEW AVENGERS #51
Goddamn, that's one creepy looking Hood.
QUESAAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!!!
This would have been funnier if Jessica Jones had mentioned it 25 issues ago when she first found out he was Spider-Man, but before she forgot and not after she found out again (I hate comics sometimes). Still a funny scene.
NOVA #23
We knew this was going to happen based on the cover, but still a very cool splashpage.
RUNAWAYS #8
Pouches. We need more pouches! And guns bigger than our heads!
SUPERMAN #686
This is not from a coloured manga picture. It's actually Mon-El with a haircut. He used electric clippers to cut his invincible hair. Don't ask me how he spiked it like that though. Not sure why he joined the Science Police. Not the best way to acclimate yourself nor what I'd call a "normal life" on Earth.
WONDER WOMAN #30
Zeus has created his own child from clay to lead his Manazons, mirroring Wonder Woman's origin. No, I can't explain why Zeus looks like an extra from Star Trek, but I hope Achillies her never mentions his real name to people or there's going to be a mighty quick fight if he's anything like the real Achilles.
No! Bad tiara, bad! This tiara boomerang thing is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Just stop it. Don't mention it and don't let me see it every again. It completely undermines any kind of dramatic effect you were shooting for here.
You're awesome Faustus. If only you were smart enough to do this before you thought it would be smart to f--- with Black Adam.
Couldn't find confirmation on this nor was it mentioned in the scan, but is Etta Candy dead here? The whole 'come back to me' line has me thinking 'back from the dead', not from unconsciousness.
X-FORCE/CABLE: MESSIAH WAR PROLOGUE #1
Deadpool sporting some artillery from Halo here as well as a 10 pack of abs. His pecs have their own abs for Christ's sake.
Okay, this scene was hilarious. Who knew Wolverine had telepathy powers?
This, and all the Stryfe Strike Files, were awesome. Didn't catch who the artist was, but he did a bang up job on all the Strike Files. Posting this one, in particular, because it features Apocalypse, who I pegged as the mystery villain that Cable was showing to X-Force, but never actually showed the reader in the prologue.
X-INFERNUS #4
Really cool scene of Illyana wearing Mercury as a costume and Mercury pulling the ol' sneak attack.
In light of the recent X-Force issue, this ending is rather ill timed. Cyclops says here they never leave anyone behind, yet he forcibly yanked the X-Force squad away and let Boom-Boom die last week and the fates of Surge and Hellion were left undisclosed. In fact, this in-character moment for Cyclops is probably the most out of character depiction of Scott sinceMessiah, which heralded him authorizing kill squads, abandoning friends and being a general dick for the past couple years.
X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #4
What's so important about this scene? Not much in regards to the Kingbreaker story or even War of Kings. However, based on the June solicit information, it looks like the Pheonix Force is being stripped from Rachel here so Fraction can stick it in Madelyne Pryor for his storyarc.
I'm sure that's not the first time the Spot has done something like that to Spider-Man, but it never gets old.BATTLE FOR THE COWL: ORACLE - THE CURE #1
The world's greatest hacker, someone who spends 24 hours a day online, can hack into every major government's private servers and take control of satellites at a whim, doesn't know what an online avatar is nor what this Second Life or random MMORPG is. The next moment sums up my expression while looking through this issue.
Yes, that person in the background had her head explode from using that game above. Sure, there was some Anti-Life Equation nonsense involved, but poor Oracle has the right idea here. Only thing you can do with this type of storytelling is to facepalm and facepalm hard.DAREDEVIL #117
Dramatic, but does anyone think they'll kill the Kingpin off? He survived two 5ft long katana stuck through his back down through his torso in the last issue and countless other near deaths in the past. It'll take Sentry throwing him into the Sun to kill him at this rate.GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #12
Just a really cool looking splashpage.
This is actually a throwback to an old Quasar story where Maelstrom cut Wendell Vaughn's hands off in an attempt to gain control of the Quantum Bands.
That is Lord Oblivion, Malestrom's master. The small square in the upper corner is actually a cross section of the "afterlife area" where Drax and Phyla had just been and where Maelstrom is currently monologuing at. I'm not sure if the "end war" is the name of an upcoming event or in reference to the War of Kings.However, I think it's something to look forward to in Guardians of the Galaxy, as War of Kings has been hyped and solicited as nothing but Inhumans/Kree vs Vulcan/Shi'ar with the Nova Corps and Guardians caught in the middle. Can't see how powerplayers like Lord Oblivion would fit in with that nor why it would be revealed in a non-War of Kings labelled book.
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #127
This is how you ruin a great splashpage by sticking a giant sound effect in the middle of the page. One of the more obnoxious looking sound effects I've ever seen and it spoils an otherwise fantastic splashpage.
For those that didn't read the issue, Norman actually met with Hera earlier in the book and it just made his line about being shocked here that much better. Hopefully the Dark Avengers don't get jobbed out to everyone in yet another appearance in another book next month.JACK OF FABLES #32
Jack's father's identity is revealed here and it turns out to be Prince Charming, which I thought was an excellent choice. The only problem is that Jack has been shacking up with just about every single one of Charming's illegitimate daughters, leading to some hilarious reactions in the second page above.JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #31
This month's JLA was hilarious. Both the best and worst comic I've ever read as it's a commentary on everything that has gone wrong with McDuffie's run on the book due to editorial mandates and meddling.This image, which started this issue, just continues to the trend of mess ups in DC's highest profile title by having the artist not know what Dinah (aka Black Canary) looks like and drawing Diana (aka Wonder Woman) instead. And, no, there's no excuse for this. Wonder Woman is off sparring with Superman at the Fortress of Solitude and not even at this meeting that started the issue, so don't even try to explain this horrible editing error away.
I'll let Dwayne McDuffie explain this scene for everyone."Do you actually enjoy writing JLA?" - Random FanOh wait, wrong quote. I meant:
"No, I don't." - Dwayne McDuffie
"I wrote a scene set at their gravesite that I recently had to quickly rewrite into something not very good." - Dwayne McDuffieThe reasoning behind this? DC decided to change the fact Hawkman and Hawkgirl died in Final Crisis and forgot to tell McDuffie they weren't dead anymore. They couldn't get new art for it, so left this "park", which is filled with headstones and looks eerily like a graveyard, in and rewrote the dialogue for everyone to the joke that it turned out to be.
Poor McDuffie. He's a good writer on his dream job and DC won't let him catch a break. Add this to the forcibly taking the Big 3 away from him and letting another writer take Hal and form a new JLA to undermine both Black Canary and McDuffie as a writer and all the other crap he's put up with for tie-ins and general mandates and the guy just can't catch a break.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #23
The page prior to this scene had Hank Pym demanding to know why Iron Man gets to be leader instead of him and Iron Man replied with the line, "Three words.", which was followed up by one of the sickest burns I've ever read.
And continuing with Iron Man's Superdickery-level of awesomeness is yet another put down at Hank Pym's expense.
No Avengers is complete without a super solider or god. And if you order now, we can throw in one snivelling wife beater to complete the team! Wife not included.
The final panel of this month's Mighty Avengers revealed that the Scarlet Witch wasn't actually involved in this adventure and it was Loki all along, mirroring his inadvertent creation of the original Avengers. Except this time, he wanted them formed. But why? Almost tempted to start picking this book up based on the moments this month and this Loki reveal at the end.MS. MARVEL #37
The energy absorbing Ms. Marvel absorbed too much energy and blew up. She's supposedly dead now after making fireworks in the second page. Has this 'absorb too much energy' cliche ever actually killed a hero and stuck before? My guess? She faked it to go in hiding to do something with the information Essential gave her a few issues ago. That or she faked it to get out of having to go on a date with Spider-Man (see Ms Marvel #34 for more on that!)
With Ms. Marvel dead, Norman has informed Moonstone she gets her own book now! She'll be taking over the Ms. Marvel book as, well, Ms. Marvel. Almost tempted to pick up Ms. Marvel to read more about Moonstone, who's had maybe 10 lines of dialogue since Ellis took over Thunderbolts back during Civil War and maybe two sentences under Bendis' loving care.NEW AVENGERS #51
Goddamn, that's one creepy looking Hood.
QUESAAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!!!
This would have been funnier if Jessica Jones had mentioned it 25 issues ago when she first found out he was Spider-Man, but before she forgot and not after she found out again (I hate comics sometimes). Still a funny scene.NOVA #23
We knew this was going to happen based on the cover, but still a very cool splashpage.RUNAWAYS #8
Pouches. We need more pouches! And guns bigger than our heads!SUPERMAN #686
This is not from a coloured manga picture. It's actually Mon-El with a haircut. He used electric clippers to cut his invincible hair. Don't ask me how he spiked it like that though. Not sure why he joined the Science Police. Not the best way to acclimate yourself nor what I'd call a "normal life" on Earth.WONDER WOMAN #30
Zeus has created his own child from clay to lead his Manazons, mirroring Wonder Woman's origin. No, I can't explain why Zeus looks like an extra from Star Trek, but I hope Achillies her never mentions his real name to people or there's going to be a mighty quick fight if he's anything like the real Achilles.
No! Bad tiara, bad! This tiara boomerang thing is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Just stop it. Don't mention it and don't let me see it every again. It completely undermines any kind of dramatic effect you were shooting for here.
You're awesome Faustus. If only you were smart enough to do this before you thought it would be smart to f--- with Black Adam.
Couldn't find confirmation on this nor was it mentioned in the scan, but is Etta Candy dead here? The whole 'come back to me' line has me thinking 'back from the dead', not from unconsciousness.X-FORCE/CABLE: MESSIAH WAR PROLOGUE #1
Deadpool sporting some artillery from Halo here as well as a 10 pack of abs. His pecs have their own abs for Christ's sake.
Okay, this scene was hilarious. Who knew Wolverine had telepathy powers?
This, and all the Stryfe Strike Files, were awesome. Didn't catch who the artist was, but he did a bang up job on all the Strike Files. Posting this one, in particular, because it features Apocalypse, who I pegged as the mystery villain that Cable was showing to X-Force, but never actually showed the reader in the prologue.X-INFERNUS #4
Really cool scene of Illyana wearing Mercury as a costume and Mercury pulling the ol' sneak attack.
In light of the recent X-Force issue, this ending is rather ill timed. Cyclops says here they never leave anyone behind, yet he forcibly yanked the X-Force squad away and let Boom-Boom die last week and the fates of Surge and Hellion were left undisclosed. In fact, this in-character moment for Cyclops is probably the most out of character depiction of Scott sinceMessiah, which heralded him authorizing kill squads, abandoning friends and being a general dick for the past couple years.X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #4
What's so important about this scene? Not much in regards to the Kingbreaker story or even War of Kings. However, based on the June solicit information, it looks like the Pheonix Force is being stripped from Rachel here so Fraction can stick it in Madelyne Pryor for his storyarc.
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11 comments:
Great choices for Moments of the week. And wow..just...wow, lots of great stuff. Might consider some of these comics.
The best part about Douchbag Summers' line in X-Infernus was that they just left Pixie behind them in Limbo and NO ONE, including Cyclops, seemed to notice that she didn't came back with Colossus, Mercury and Co.
The New X-Men are less than garbage for the adult X-Men. At this point I just want Nanny and Orphan Maker to come back and kill them all for the way they treat their children.
New Avengers: I was desapointed that we didn't see Jessica Jones' reaction when Peter unmasked before OMD. But now I'm glad they did't show it, since it would have been redundant with this issue. (and considering they had to show Peter unmasking in front of the whole team on pannel, since it's a biggest deal now than before OMD and Secret Invasion).
JLA: Perhaps DC should rethink their policy of respecting delays at every costs, including the quality of the comics. With more time, the artist could have fixed the Wonder Canary mistake and draw another page about Connor and Hawkgirl.
Oracle: I actually liked it. Except Barbara ignoring Second Life (Sally Floyd should slap her in the face), it was well written and the exploding head was kinda funny (didn't see that coming)
Mighty Avengers: well, didn't like the first issue and for what I can see, it's getting even worse. I'm a big fan of what Slott did on other comics, but every pannel screaming "this is classic Avengers!!!" and the oh so subtil portraying of Stark make me want to stay the hell away from this one.
I really liked the Amazing Spider-Man issue from this week. I loved it when Peter tried to replicate Christian Bales Batman voice to intimidate some thugs.
Hey, great job as always, but two quick points:
1) Jack shares a mother with the Page sisters (Prose Page) not a father. That's how they're half-sisters.
2) Diana says "She's non-responsive. Shock, or worse" in regards to Etta Candy, indicating that she's alive, but barely.
Deadpool's line of being "Emperor of America" reminded me of that issue of Sandman (which was based on a real person).
The Iron-dickery was incredible funny, although a bit blatant on Slott's part. The Scarlet Witch/Loki reveal was very, very good.
The splash page of Lord Oblivion was very striking, but like you said, I don't think it's going to play a big role in War of King.
Oh man, I hadn't even considered Maddie Pryor. I just thought that Jean was back...again.
As for Ms. Marvel's death, a huge explosion with no body? She's definitely alive. I would like her to go back to the Starjammers.
I was very annoyed by Stark's portrayal in the latest issue of Mighty Avengers. I really don't like this version of Tony. Thank God for Invincible Iron Man.
It's also annoying that some writers keep bringing up the wifebeaterpast of Pym. It's been two decades ago, Jan and Hank got back together happily (well, atleast in Busiek's Avengers run), it's all been sorted out.
Everytime when a character, especially Iron Man, brings it back up again it makes the character look childish.
I still can't stand Pham's art, it looks way to amateur for such a high profile book. The plot twist at the end is nice, but doesn't bring enough excitement to bring me back for future issues.
What was a great moment, is the one between Jessica and Peter in New Avengers. :)
Wolverine's claws poppin' trough Deadpool's face was fun, but maybe a bit too over the top.
I hated Mighty Avengers. I mean, the plot points and ideas behind it were good, the Loki reveal was amazing, but the story itself... argh. Slott was able to turn an Elder God, something "you would find in HP Lovecraft stories" into a joke. There was no moment where I felt the heroes or the world were threatened.
But I think Slott was just eager to get the team together and not very concerned about the first story, so that he could quickly go to the real stories he want to tell.
Re: GOTG/cutting hands off
Thanos blew up Quasar's hands in Infinity Gauntlet as well. At this rate, who would dare to wear those damn things? I hope poor Nova is adept at using his feet!
Re: Etta Candy dead
"Dead"? Remember that this is DC Comics, where death is as permanent as having a cold. She'll be back as a Pink Lantern or something.
I can't believe that tooth swallowing page from Elektra didn't make it into the Moment's Of The Week! Come on, that was priceless! PRICELESS!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Mighty Avengers is sucking! I'm sorry, it just is. And if they don't get a new artist on that title and STAT, it's a goner. I hate ragging on an artist, but really, Khoi is not cutting it on that title. I can't tell if the storyline has been just straight up bad, or if that art has simply underminded all that Slott was trying to achieve, because it's torture reading that book each month (which I'm one step from dropping.)
The ONLY thing (in my opinion) it had going for it was Scarlet Witch, and she's not even real! And the whole shoe horning in of making Hank Pym into a new positive hero was too obvious. I mean, I LOVE Hank Pym! He always gets a bad deal, but that ending with the entire world chanting his name and carrying him on their shoulders (ok, I slightly exaggerate, but still) was too much. But I think again, it's like another reader on here said, I never felt the world was in THAT much danger, to make the storyline have that extreme of an ending for Hank. Next issue is a guest artist, then Khoi comes back for one issue, then another guest artist! They need to really get the art set for this book. Rant over.
@Nathan Aaron - I actually couldn't find a single scan of the Elektra issue outside of those shown in the preview, so couldn't feature any. Was surprised at the lack of discussions on it. wonder if the sales were low or just people didn't bother posting any scans.
No way is Etta dead. Simone's not the kind of writer who'd fix an awful character, have them fill a unique role in the book ... and then kill them off to show how uberbadass the new villain is. My guess is that Etta's soul is damaged.
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