Monday, November 20, 2006

State of Comics 11/20

It's been a while since I last touched on comic books, so I figured now is as good a time as any. I titled this "State of Comics" because I will be looking into where Civil War and 52 are at this moment in time.

Civil War

There is a good series going on in the Marvel Universe, but it isn't this one; in fact, it is Annihilation. If you haven't been picking that series out you've been missing out on the best that Marvel has to offer. Civil War has, so far, been a hugely hyped series that has not reached the level it could. I'm not sure if it is Millar going into different gears or whether he's planned out the end and is slowly getting to it.

The reason I bring up gears is because this series was promising during issues 1 and 2. After that, everything seems to have gone downhill and the series seems to have slowed down. Granted, I talked about this back in June that issue #2 would be the high point and that there was no chance Millar could top himself after having Spider-Man unmask. That big of a reveal that early (which of course got the mainstream press in a tizzy) is a dangerous thing to unleash and maybe Millar is starting to realize that. Issue #3 wasn't bad, but it was the start of the slippery and slow slope that the series has taken.

Issue #5 was simply bad in my mind. It was cool to see Spider-Man against the new Thunderbolts team (that will now be missing 2 characters...heh), but what I don't understand is how Spider-Man didn't do anything to defeat them. Yes, he had his run-in with Iron Man and SHIELD, but he should have been in a pissed off state of mind and ready to kick some ass against those guys. Bad writing in my estimation, it was just a way to get the Punisher into the story; a very lame way.

I am interested in this week's Civil War tie-ins, but I don't have much hope for the series as a whole. I still say pick up Annihilation, a far better read.

52

As a series, 52 has its good and bad weeks. I was about ready to write it off after Week 24, but since then the series has kept me interested. I am still bummed about Booster's death and I am very interested in what the heck is going on with Skeets. I think the strongest sections of this series revolve around Booster and Skeets; Ralph and the Fate Helmet; Question and Montoya; Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange; and the Black Marvel Family. Those make the strongest of the stories so far in this series. The Magnus and Morrow stuff as well as Steel's sections have gotten a bit long in the tooth. I am wondering where the heck Supernova has been though, haven't seem him in a while.

We're into the second half of the series now and things are ramping up on all fronts. I certainly hope no one I like dies, but it could very well happen. I'll keep reading this series and so far it is better than Civil War, but there are far more issues available here than that series.