ANIL RICKLY’S MARVEL COMIC RANT 2009 – for comic lovers at CBM PART 1
We don’t deal with comics as much as we can on CBM so here’s an article for comic lovers – Sora, Josh, Dellamorte etc; this has something for all – Marvel and DC. I hope this is an amazing article…cuz I love my comics like to the bone!!!
Well folks, 2009 was an immaculate year for comics, gave me the same feeling that I had when Marvel’s Civil War was abound, and the giddy feeling each week for DC’s 52!
Some may say the industry is tiring and needs to cut the main events, crises, cross-overs etc but I luv em…SO KEEP EM COMING!!!
My review is for Marvel comics and DC comics for 2009…I include no artwork or covers etc so feel free comic lovers to insert in your posts. If I missed any comics in this review, plz inform me
Firstly,
MY FAVE MARVEL COMICS 2009 –
1. Thor – need I say more. After Ragnarok, JMS really outdid himself by returning Asgard and the Asgardians back in fine fashion, and in 2009, his story continued. The machinations of Loki throughout this book bears second to none. Doom had a demonic year and rightfully deserves his comeuppance in Doomwar (after all, nearly killing T’challa, working with Nightmare to usurp New Sorcerer Supremem Bro Voodoo, dealing with Dracula and co. in Britain, plus providing haven to Asgardians at the behest of Loki, and joining Osborn’s Cabal, Doom wracked up a dirty list indeed. Hard to place anyone ahead of Doom or the new maniac at power Normie Osborn for 2009 villain of the year, but Loki takes the cake. Sure Normie has Dark Avengers, T-bolts, his Dark X-men, plus several dealings with The Hood, Taskmaster, his other Cabal heads etc, and he even waged war on X-Men til’ Emma and Namor jumped ship. His secret weapon, I say Beyonder, was there since the first Cabal meeting, and made Doom quiver, so we know it’s a big one. Also, in Civil War, a shadowy figure seemed to be manipulating him, especially after he attacked the Atlantean contingent. Is this related to his secret weapon, I don’t know. But with the Sentry in his corner too, along with a vendetta against Daredevil, Daken’s Punisher-chop up, Nick Fury and warriors, Elektra, all other Avengers young and old, and basically everyone on his list (say HI Spidey!!), Norman bested Doom for villain of the year…But who bested Norman…LOKI! His façade as Wanda which bred a new Mighty Avengers, who unlike New Avengers, cause much more public adoration and pain to Norm, plus his devilish ways which saw him time-travel, manipulate Odin, his father Bor, Loki’s own dad (and he hacked his Frost Giant Dad up pretty damn fine this year), have Thor exiled, Balder installed as King, plus having Asgardians move to Latveria, only for Doom to experiment upon their immortality, not to mention resurrect the Destroyer suit…Loki is amazing. Whilst manipulating Asgardians, it is hard to say who is manipulating who between Loki and Doom, but this God of Mischief is proving to be the real element behind Dark Reign…cuz he is also manipulating Ozzie and his Cabal. From re-powering Hood, to influencing the explosion that caused Siege, even Osborn can’t withstand Loki’s deviousness…hence he is VILLAIN OF THE YEAR!!! This book reeked of his devilishness but the writing of JMS, language, interactions, intricately tying all together from issue 1 to his departure, only positive things came. We felt at home with King Thor and Mjolnir. Djurjdevic and Coipel on art reeks of heaven, and the plot never meandered…even when slow. Action, romance, drama, old friends (lovely interludes with Steve and Tony LOL), this book was out of mainstream MU but made one feel as he were listening and seeing this tale of Asgard unfold before their eyes. I had to re-read all issues since JMS started…cuz it is bliss!!! Gillen has not skipped a beat surprisingly, and is delivering the limping Donnie goods again – and with Thor set to return along with the heroic age to MAINSTREAM MU, it is in the hands of Fraction to deliver us from evil next year. Safe hands indeed!
2. Dark Avengers – Deodato on art rocks, and simply put, Bendis did amazingly by having villains masquerading as Avengers after Secret Invasion. Norman as Iron Patriot kicked ass wherever he popped up, but the sexual machinations and psychotics of Moonstone-Marvel, the bisexual whims and fancies of Daken-Wolverine, the bloodthirsty diabolical rants of Bulls-Hawkeye, the need to eat humans by Gargan-Spidey, the soldier God of WAR Ares, all made a magnificent group of faux-heroes. Screw the individual dark-books cuz this Avengers book had all we needed. I felt it slowed a bit in the last 3 issues, and I didn’t like how Sentry was being kept mysterious to us, but after his Owen Reese-abilities manifested, I am eager to hear the rest of his story, as are Norman and cronies I’m sure. Dialogue and plots were spot on, I still felt that the Thunderbolt-graduates should have spent more time hunting after New/Mighty/Young Avengers etc but this book rocked. The only downside was a wasted Noh-Varr as he was pointless and should have been left to Young Avengers, Initiative or Pym’s team. Will this book stay on? I doubt cuz Dark Reign is ending, but I’ll miss it hard!
3. Secret Warriors – the reveal that HYDRA ran SHIELD was outta the loop for me cuz I think Fury and company would have realised that at some point, and I found it too unbelievable. Well it has made for an interesting series. Fury and his warriors (heck there may be more teams than Hickman let on), his ole pals, Countess lover Madam Hydra, the Howling Commandos and Dugan returning etc has been good fun. Espionage is full and with Daisy Johnson leading a young inexperienced team, I luv all the action. The Ares-Phobos dilemma holds even more promise than before, and the whole LEVIATHAN scheme just adds more WTF moments to readers. But the HYDRA cabal is menacing and Strucker is at his worst again. The fight scenes, especially sword-play, depicted in this book is amazing, and Caselli/Vitti do an amazing job with blood and the color red. Such artists are a joy to watch but with Hickman (whose FF4 I hate thus far) knowing only where his flow chart will take this book, the amazing (slow paced) storytelling keeps me on edge. The only downfall is that Norman and co. weren’t as involved with this book, after all, Normz doesn’t know SHIELD was HYDRA before he formed HAMMER??? How stupid of Osborn?? Duhhh…What does HAMMER stand for? Jeez!!!
4. Captain America – Brubaker may not be a fave to many but I love his Cap work, and the assassination to me was amazingly BRILLIANT. The return of Bucky, only to find himself thrust with a dark reign and the shield, and a new home with the New Avengers was spot on. The romance with Natasha, the stay-away from Tony Stark, the refusal of leadership onto Ronin, the redemption for sins past, whiles trying to make the legacy Steve left seem glorious again was done with excellence. He didn’t want to be Cap but Bucky is Cap, same as when Steve first grew in the costume…and whilst Bru mucked up by having Rogers’ return, I am very happy for the foreseeable future, that Bucky is gonna be wielding the Shield. The Red Skull I felt was under-used but with fine Epting/D’Armata artwork and plot-telling, this book was amazing. Reborn came and it is what it is, but Bru still kicked ass with this
5. New Avengers – Bendis was straight forward with this book, find villains, throw em at Barton, Cage etc and let em at it. The Dark Avengers and Normie I felt should have opposed them more but with the Hood and his thugs, Dormammu etc there were a lot of fights going down. I still was surprised that Ms. Marvel so easily made it back into the ranks, and I still think she is expendable and uninteresting, but with Barton going crazy to kill Ozzie (and I think it will be Clint, not Spidey to take Ozzie’s head) and Cage, Bucky etc along with Jess Jones, Mockingbird returning to the fray, it was ultimate fun. Spidey and his quips were golden, Wolvie was Wolvie, but I’d have loved Iron Fist, Echo (whose disappearance after Sec Inv is YET TO BE EXPLAINED) and the rest of the team were the ideal Ocean’s 11 outlaws. The last few RESCUE LUKE CAGE issues showed why Immonen’s art and Bendis’ simple plots make this book action packed and exciting to the tee!!! Oh and make sure our hideout-home aint shot to shit!!!! HAHA
Honourable mentions –
• Avengers Initiative – where did Fraction’s The Order go? Who cares cuz with the Avengers Resistance (and ex-New Warriors) taking a stand, the Initiative took a dark change. With Hood and Taskmaster at hand, we saw young aspiring heroes, villains for blood, Thor clones, Spidey-suit clones, deals and devils, Nightmares, Penance and Pain…and oh yeah…Taskmaster gaining a promotion that sees these Initiative kids INVADE ASGARD!!!! Gage was amazing in scribing these tales, and the art of Sandoval showed why this book kicks ass – and with rumours of Avengers Academy brewing, well yummy!!!
• Wolverine Origins – loved the story told by Way – the gauntlet of killing Cyber, Wildchild, Omega Red etc to see who usurps the ever-theatening Romulus, was spot on to me. Romulus looked awesome and this tale seemed better with Daken in the fold. Few support this book but the art also keeps me in
• Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, War/Realm of Kings – not much needed to say…amazing art, amazing work by DnA. The cosmic MU has never been better and all these books rock to the core. Black Bolt vs Vulcan is gold!!! These tales are wicked and prove Jack Flagg wrong when he says ‘I hate space!’…also, remember ‘Magus’ and note that anyone can die here at anytime in space…and you gots the recipe for a helluva time…DnA rocks
• Daredevil – Bru rocked it here by leaving Matt in charge of the Hand, and with Diggle on board, this has a bright future. The dark art makes for better stories and I cant wait to see 2010 for Murdock, whose hands are gonna be dirtier than ever
• Captain Brittain – loved Cornell’s stories since Sec Inv, and the artwork was fine. Doom throwing Meggan back to the heroes was crappy cuz that ended Dracula’s hopes, but Blade, Wisdom, Spitfire and co were all so well written. Loved this book despite cancellation
• War Machine – team War Machine messed with Norman a lot and I loved this. The plots got muddled at times but Rhodes showed why he ain’t Tony. Wicked cool!!! And Matina’s covers are the best out!!!
• T-Bolts – the new class came in after Dark Avengers came out, and these new heads were misfits indeed. Nicely done and interesting guys like Mr X and Ant-Man were welcomed. The Yelena plot sucked and so does Scourge but Jeff Parker seems to have a new direction for this book. I’d personally love for Barton to lead this team
• Moon Knight – Hurwitz told lovely dark stories and the art kicked ass. This hero needs more time in the spotlight, maybe t-bolts!!!
• X-force – love the darkness, killing and the bad-ass Wolverine!!! Necrosha is a damn fine plot to me…despite DC’s Blackest Night…and with Nate Grey returning, maybe we’d get something special when the dead stays..ummm…dead!!!! While the art get muddled at times, chracters such as Warpath and Archangel make this book so sick
• Uncanny X-men – well after a shitty Maddie plot, and a showdown with Dark Avengers that was anti-climatic, we get Utopia…Magneto’s rock, Magneto, Umm…Namor and his horny self, Emma/Void…and all mutants welcome aboard Utopia. Fraction keeps seeding nice plots but his resolutions suck indeed. I hope that Hope, Nate Grey, Magneto/Charles re-powered help this book but I give it benefit of all doubt…just cuz the future plots seem interesting. This barely makes the cut…ps – we need Onslaught or Apocalypse or Sinister
• X-factor – started off well, but Peter David floundered with the Summers’ Rebellion, and not even his witty writing and sexual connotations were helping, amidst a shitty Layla Miller reveal/origin, I was prepped to drop this..til issue 200 and Nation X X-factor came out. David barely pulled it back onto the light side…and I love that lesbian fling with Monet and Theresa!!! And Guido’s homophobia is fun to laugh at
• Invincible Iron man – slowest plot on earth and surprisingly Ozzie went after Tony more than he did Spidey, which is a shame. But he tore into Stark and all his props with a venom and also with a pissed off Illuminati-vendetta hating Namor, and this book gets kudos cuz it depicted the best villanous DARK REIGN OZZIE…better than Bendis’ DA…which is quite a feat!!! I love how Stark is being broken down to the core, and all the interactions with Hill, Potts, Widow, Bucky, Thor to resucuitate him…are brilliant. Fraction wrote well, Larroca isn’t pleasant to my eyes but what wins is that on his way to redemption, Tony would not apologise for all he did wrong cuz he did what he did cuz he thought it was right and in way of justice. Suck that Thor and Stevie Rog. Can’t wait for him to come in late in Siege and rock the shit, and Fraction is gonna write Thor this year so whoopee cuz Thor and Iron Man need to have it out more…and who better to bring both these guys back into mainstream MU than Fraction
• Black Panther – having T’challa taken out by Doom, and his sis running around investigating is blehhh…but throw in Storm, a scapegoat Namor and internal political conflict, and you have got a nice smooth read. DOOMWAR approach!!!
• Ghost Rider – heaven is on fire…art is weak but Aaron has immalculate story to tell and the plots/twists/diatribes/villains/conflict bet Danny and Blaze are oh so sweet…they should be banned like candy at pre-school…AMAZING BOOK!!!!
Dislikes –
• ASM – you’d think the reign of Osborn would impact more on Spidey’s world but nope…except for American Son, Ozzie’s pregnation of Lily a la Gwen Stacy, Harry bitching out, MJ annoyingly returns, Mr. Negative crap-fest, and WTF HAPPENED IN OMD???...there were few sweet arcs…far between. Disappointing to me but still hopeful for 2010 answers
• Deadpool – love this guy, but he popped up everywhere and saturated the market. Nuff said
• FF4 – nope. Hated these books. Hickman and Eaglesham have lots to prove to me. Their interaction with Ozzie’s Dark Reign was so lame…and I’m waiting for Thor and Rogers to kick asses for the Thor clone!!!
• Hulk – too many Hulks, too many books, too many Hulk-offsprings…all I wanted was to find out who was Rulk? Screw You Loeb
• Ultimatum – Loeb is a douche and this random killing made Finch’s art a waste…the plot started well with Doom having WANDA killed, but then Magneto took a good plan, and well…the Departed film kicked in cuz heads were busted from all around…gore and unnecessary gore. Thank god it ended ULT XMEN AND FF4…Millar is back on ULT AVENGERS…but Bendis’ USM I wish stayed dead…this universe will not survive much longer methinks…saleswise!!!!
• Punisher – rocked after trying to kill Ozzie…he went toe to toe with amazing pp leg Sentry, but having him diced by Daken via shitty Romita art sucked…and Remender’s new Frankencastle sucks a$$...made me vomit and took away all the good work done entire year
• Cable – WTF so damn dragging…bring Hope back and kill Bishop already? Too much hide and seek? And screw Jean Grey’s return!!!
• Messiah War – not cool, and didn’t define anything except that time travel makes you vomit. Apocalypse and Stryfe were so poorly handled
• X-men Legacy – nope…too boring…Scott grooming Rogue in case he dies? Maybe but still, after Charles plot ended, so should this book. Seems like unnecessary filler material
• What if – these plot suck a lot of times, rarely do they seem superb…so please give them a rest
• Mighty Avengers – I felt this should be the sci-fi/X-files Avengers book. Hence why characters such as Noh-Varr, Blue Marvel should be here. This roster is unimpressive bar Pym and Jocasta. Why is Jarvis not alongside Potts and co in this dire hour? These stories are weak and only the Quicksilver-Terrogen crystals seemed interesting. Leave it to Inhumans to save this book. Thank god Loki’s Witch proved enjoyable. The pissing off of Ozzie was fun to watch also but this book lacked a lot I left. This title is too strong for mediocrity. I hope Beast joins this team and maybe they investigate the real deal behind ‘No more mutants’…along with Young Avengers…but I’m not that lucky
• Bro Voodoo – the art is grimy and I find Remender’s plot thus far weak…he is frickin Sorcerer Supreme…though still a noob…but Remender is using Jericho and Bro as if they are retards vs Doom/Nightmare…not a fan of Remender at all!!!