I haven't read as many comics since the last time. There weren't a lot of good sales or anything added to Amazon Prime to read for free. But there were a few things.
Immortal Hulk Vols 6-7: I've liked Al Ewing's take on the Hulk and was glad when there was a sale where I could get the next two volumes for cheap. When it left off, the Hulk/Banner had taken over a secret government facility. Now Banner is sending out messages saying that we need to destroy the world. Not like a nuclear holocaust or anything but that we need to throw off the shackles of capitalism, which I largely agree with. And so do a lot of other people. This worries the head of the evil Roxxon corporation who has recently revealed himself as a minotaur. So he recruits an ancient monster who brainwashes everyone into thinking that it's the Hulk and Banner is an evil supervillain. Everyone believes this--even Banner! But inside of him, the Hulk still knows he's the Hulk and so he saves the day. Meanwhile the villain "the Leader" is disguised as Banner's friend Rick Jones. The second volume ends with a bang as "Rick Jones" explodes the Hulk with an infusion of gamma radiation. A good continuation of the series and maybe someday I'll get more.
Batman: Damned: This "Black Label" title got a lot of attention because it originally showed Batman's dick. The edition I got from Comixology had it shadowed out. Not that it mattered; it was pretty much gratuitous. From what people on Goodreads said this was actually a sequel to Brian Azzarello's Joker that I read a long time ago. If I remembered it better maybe I'd have enjoyed this more. The story starts with the Joker falling to his death from a bridge. Batman feels responsible and starts freaking out and seeing demons and shit. Constantine shows up to "help" though he doesn't really seem to do a lot. Besides the gratuitous dick shot, there was the gratuitous scene where Harley Quinn basically rapes Batman for...reasons. In the end Batman wishes that he died instead of the Joker. So now there's no Batman and the Joker is alive. Yay?
Batman: City of Bane: This was the last two volumes of Tom King's run on the regular Batman title. I got the first volume on sale but the second wasn't. I was sick of waiting to read it so I just bought it at regular price. Overall it was a decent way to end the story arc.
After Bane had taken over Gotham, Batman's father from an alternate universe (the "Flashpoint" Batman) took Batman captive to try to revive his mother (Save...Marrrrtha!) but Batman escaped. In his "Matches Malone" disguise (which looks like Magnum PI) he reunites with Catwoman in some tropical location. There they reconcile and intercept some Venom. Meanwhile, Robin tries to infiltrate Gotham but is captured and in retribution, Alfred is killed.
Without the shipment of Venom, Bane is weakened enough that Batman can take him down. And eventually stops his father too. He and Catwoman don't get married but they're still hooking up, which should play into King's next series, which I suppose DC gave him to make up for cutting his run short and giving the main title to some Scott Snyder-loving hack. Now we start the countdown for Alfred to be brought back. We should start a pool on the date and method: clone, multiverse, time travel, android, alien replica...?
Amazing Spider-Man (2018): After about 10 years of Dan Slott writing the title, Marvel finally switched writers to Nick Spencer, the guy who gave us that whole Secret Empire thing. After losing his company and money and everything, Peter Parker is back to living in New York with a couple of roommates. Things get worse when he loses his doctorate because some computer determines Doc Ock wrote it, which is true because it was back during the Superior Spider-Man thing when Doc Ock's consciousness had taken over Peter's body.
Then things get worse when during a fight with the Taskmaster in a lab, Spider-Man triggers some machine that splits him into Spider-Man and Peter Parker. It's like that Star Trek where there was a good and evil Kirk, only it doesn't so much make Spidey and Peter good or evil. While Spidey has the powers and science smarts, Peter has all the feelings of responsibility and the memories of Uncle Ben's death. At first it seems cool as Peter can hook up with Mary Jane while Spidey kicks villain butt, but eventually Peter finds out if they don't get back together they'll die. Convincing Spidey of that is a bit harder but eventually they make it happen.
Overall the first volume isn't bad. There's not a huge difference between Spencer's writing (so far) and Slott's. I mean Spider-Man is still kind of a dork who makes a lot of bad jokes and Peter is a dork who just can't ever get his life together for an extended period. I'm not all that keen on the idea of bringing back Kraven the Hunter but it's a comic book so no one stays dead forever.
The Boys Vol 2: Get Some: This was added to Amazon Prime about the time as the second season of the TV series, though it bears no similarity at all. This volume contains two stories. In the first, Butcher and Hughie investigate a "superhero" who's sort of like Iron Man/Batman only he has a sex addiction that prompts him to try to put his dick in pretty much anything. One of the last things he put his dick in (or tried to) was his old sidekick, who wound up dead. After being disgraced, the former hero saves Earth by fucking a giant meteor to death. The second half of the volume has Butcher and his team go to Russia, where someone has been using the superhero steroid to create villains to overthrow the government. This second story was better as it was more of a real story with less nasty sex stuff--though still some. Unlike the TV show there was nothing about "the Seven" in this except one mention of Homelander on the phone with someone. Maybe if Amazon adds volume 3 this fall I can see what happens next.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for talking about my comic! It's quite an honor !!
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