In the late 90’s, myself and a few friends were avid comic book readers. Every Wednesday we would dutifully pick up our comics at the local shop, read them, and share quick reviews with each other. It was fun and we did it pretty much every week from 1996 to around 2005. We tapered off as some stopped reading, random bouts of apathy intervened, and some of us just lost touch with one another. As this blog has grown over the last 4 years, I feel a need to write more things for all of you to read. So, Comix this week is reborn. Comic books are one of the great loves of my life, and I hope that all of you enjoy this weekly jaunt into this amazing world. As with my movie reviews, this is not comprehensive. I cannot afford to read every comic, nor will I illegally download them, I respect the medium too much for that, but I don’t judge any who do. Every week there will be a “pick of the week”. I may do a year-end retrospective sometime around new year’s day. I use cover images in my reviews. These images are from various comic companies, such as Marvel, DC, and Image in today’s case. They own this stuff. I do this for fun, not money.Enjoy.
August 13th, 2014
Walking Dead #130
I frequently feel I am at an impasse with this comic. Should I stay or should I go? I think I have broken through this week, I am staying.
The newcomers to the Community don’t buy Negan’s bullshit attempt to convince them that Rick is evil. Meanwhile, Rick and Carl arrive at the Hilltop, now a thriving town with Maggie as their leader. Carl wants to become a Blacksmith assistant and Rick is grappling with letting his son move away and be independent. I was starting to think that the comic would morph into an old west frontier type of series, and I may be correct, but at the very end we are thrown a curve ball. The Walkers are SPEAKING. Holy shit.
Amazing Spider-Man 5
Black Cat has teamed up with Electro to destroy Spider-Man, but attacking Peter Parker! They figure a good way to draw out Spidey is to threaten to kill his “pal”. What they don’t expect is Silk, the Spider-Woman to attack instead! J.J.J. finally gets back on track this issue as he finds a new niche, and a perfect one at that- loudmouthed talking head on “The Truth Channel”. Awesome.
Captain America 23
The mysterious armored person breaks into Avengers Mansion, fights and defeats the Avengers and finds Steve Rogers. He reveals himself to be….IAN! Cap’s long lost son from Dimension Z. The old “misunderstanding fight” which ends with them all being friends, is the way he is reintroduced. They team up and charge on Zola! Good issue. I can see why Falcon is becoming Cap, but Ian is a good option as well. Maybe he will become the new Falcon? Or maybe that role is being saved for Jet, Ian’s sister.
Original Sin 7
Nick Fury versus the world. The Avengers fight him on the moon and in space as Nick fights to choose a successor as Earth’s secret Defender/Avenger. Of note in this issue is that he whispers a secret to Thor. Somehow this secret is powerful enough to cause him to drop the Hammer and become unworthy to pick it up. It ends with an army of Watchers about to descend on the moon to, presumably, kick Fury’s ass.
Spider-Man 2099 2
Miguel discovers that his Landlady is dying of cancer. Also, Liz Allen discovers that he is from the future, but not that he is Spider-Man. A set up issue where we get to know more about the characters.
Wolverine 11
Wolverine storms into Sabretooth’s hideout in a battle to save the innocent lives of his former criminal teammates. As Logan moves in, the Avengers/Shield prepare a full out assault. This has been interesting as Logan has come to terms with a lot of things, how to work as a team mate, the importance of friendship, and a reminder of what honor is. Death of Wolverine should be fascinating.
Batman 34
After the WAY too long Zero Year storyline, an actual year, we get a current story where Batman is dealing with the imprisonment of Jim Gordon, death of Robin, and the splintering of his Bat-Family as even Dick Grayson is moving on with his life. Batman hits the streets to help Dr. Thompkins with a serial killer that is targeting the homeless and destitute. A surprisingly evocative issue that examines how the problems of the ‘worthless” remain hidden from the public eye, even that of The Batman.
The Skinny from the Fatty 