The Week of March 16 in Review Preview – Done in Five Part Harmony

So this week a snippet from each part.

The Kid’s Are Not Alright – Avenger’s Arena #6 – A Commentary – Part 1 of 5 The Week of March 13 in Review

This book made me realize that Marvel has sucked when it comes to making kid characters I care about. I have limited interest in Young Avengers, especially when the core of the book appears to be about a gay romance. I don’t give a whit about them being gay, I just don’t want to read Young Romance and if I do read Young Romance I’d rather read something I can relate to a little more (of course a happy marriage about a guy in his fifties and his wife would probably not sell). The bottom line is that regardless of the story I find it hard to stay with Young Avengers and Avengers Arena. Oddly Kate Bishop in the Hawkeye book appears to no longer be a kid hero and I love her in that book.

Random Thoughts The Week of March 13 in Review Part 2 of 5

The bru-ha-ha caused by Jerry Ordway is all over the place. When I read it I felt Jerry’s pain a little. He was bemoaning the fates that he signed an exclusive and had not worried about asking about guaranteed work. Not sure what the exclusive deal did for him then, but it is common mistake that when dealing with a corporation you forget they have lawyers drawing up this stuff. People trust the person they are dealing with and mistake the person for the company. I tell people all the time a corporation is a soulless entity and will do what ever it needs to do that best serves its goal which is to make money.  There are people in those companies who will treat people fairly, but you can’t depend on that. Jerry was lamenting the changing of the guard that goes on in every walk of life.

The Week of March 13 in Review – DC I Read Some DC – Part 3 of 5

Before Watchmen Ozymandias #6 (of 6) by Len Wein and Jae Lee was a good issue but suffered from wrapping it up and tying back into Watchmen. The last panel is Ozy kicking in the door to kill the Comedian. Jas Lee’s artwork has been fantastic. His stylized panel design is interesting and often adds to the story. It creates a different narrative flow that suited the way the story was being told. I’m curious as to how Wein and Lee worked on this book as many writers give art direction by Wein grew up with the “marvel” method. We have one last Before Watchmen book left. I want to re-read Watchmen and then read the collected editions of these books down the road. Which is a vote to drop a book like Suicide Squad to give me more time to re-read and read other stuff I own.

Marvel Now – Image Later? – The Marvel Books Part 4 of 5 – The Week of March 13 in Review

Thor God of Thunder #6 by Jason Aaron, Butch Guice and Tom Palmer was a fail in my view. First off Butch Guice is a great artist and I own two pages from his work on the Sword of Atlantis stuff done a while ago. He was wrong for this story. Second the story itself of Gorr is was rather uninspired. I love the actual series right now and the three Thor approach has been brilliant, but Gorr is not that menacing of a character in a design sense. He is almost the Jar Jar Binks of Thor villains. His origin was rather bland. He has a horribly tough life, bitches out his gods and suddenly god like beings (conveniently dressed in Gold and Black)   drop into his lap. He manages to steal their power or something and flies off to kill gods. I’m sorry if that is the best you have for his origin, we would have been better left off with no origin at all. Why is this guy such a great warrior and able to kill all of the different gods.

The Alternative Publishers Review – Part 5 of 5 of The Week of March 13 in Review

The Walking Dead #108 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard was a decent issue. My whole feeling towards this series is being impacted by the TV show which sucks. This issue we meet Ezekiel who is the leader of yet another group and he is going to help lead a charge against Negan. We have four different groups that have been introduced so far and I guess it all goes back to the idea that Rick and company are discovering a larger world. Tribal communities are spring up and the Zombies are less of a focus of the story. The pace is always a problem with this book as it all takes too long for anything to happen. I still like the series I just don’t feel any pizzazz this issue.

Come back Monday and Tuesday for all five full length posts!