Diary of an up and coming sociopath

Today was the big day for comics purchasing. Finally, I get to go buy them by way of walking 2 minute up the road. Sheer excellence.

Some capsule reviews for the uninterested masses. I forgot I was going to do these, and next week there aren’t even any out, so don’t get too interested. As luck would have it, the last time I did this contained AOA #5, and Phonix #4, so if you want to see what it was like last issue, go right ahead! Otherwise, read on:

Daredevil #72: Decalogue, Part 2 - It’s hard to know what to say about this. it’s a good character piece, but it’s a good character piece for a character we’ve not really met before, and likely won’t again. In it, the son of a criminal put in jail by Daredevil gets in over his head while attempting to continue his father’s work, but overcomes adversity to triumph. Et cetera. It’s formulaic, but the characters are written believably enough that it doesn’t seem clichéd, it just leaves me wondering how this is going to tie in later on. He did blow up a bar full of criminals, that’s quite morally ambigious as it is, but the format of this story leaves me uncertain that there’ll be any resolution to that specific plot. Everyone’s morally ambiguous as it is. I’m a big fan of his, but i’m consisteingly being left with the impression that Bendis hasn’t been firing on all cylinders for some time. I’m pretty sure this is the penultimate arc for what’s been a great run, but it’s tailing off right now and it’s probably best to leave before it turns to crap. It’d be nice to see a bit more of Daredevil’s direct influence on these characters, though. Maleev’s art is superb as always. B-.

Age of Apocalypse #6 - I dunno. It could’ve, nay, should’ve been so excellent. To say nothing of the contiuity problem’s it’s utterly riddled with (AOA psylocke turning up, as a purple-haired ninja being the big “WHA?!” moment) the plot’s gone nowhere and to end it with Phoenix is just…I want to suggest it’s gratuitouly raiding the success of some recent, much better comics, btu then that’s what the entire series has been ABOUT, so it’s hard to criticise it for this so far into the game. I’m just glad it’s over before it got too bad. I loved the original AOA, and this is but a pale imitation. The world here barely resembles to world of the original. Gah. And so many characters were wiped out by fucking CLOAK of all people. Yes, Cloak. Ugh. Akira Yoshida took a good stab at it, the problem seems to be that he just hasn’t read the originals. Or possibly he did, but didn’t really understand them. Chris Bachalo’s art is either a dynamic design-based narrative, or a complete visual mess depending on what mood I’m in at any given time. He used to be way more coherant that this, but this issue is definitely at the “decipherable” end of his range, unlike some previous issues in this series. C-. Avoids a D only because of the art. I’ll give this the Turkey of the week award, which I just invented for horrible comics such as this.

New Avengers #5: Breakout, Part 5 - This is Bendis getting things much better. Finch does a great Wolverine cover, and I’m feeling that the entire premise of the book, “The New Avengers in the Savage Land” is so stupid that it’s a real affirmation of the writing talent that it works, and even more so, manages to be funny. Spider-Man was never this funny in his own book. I’m not a big fan of the artwork, but I’m not sure if I don’t like Finch’s artwork, or if it’s the dark colouring, or what, but it’s not hitting any of the right notes. Some damn messy panel layouts too. When someone who’s been reading comics as much as I have has to strugle to figure out what direction the panels are supposed to flow in (and this coming from someone who has no trouble reading manga, where you literally do it all backwards) then you know there’s been a breakdown in storytelling somewhere. It looks like Finch has just drawn the panels inside a Mondrian piece. B+. I feel like I should score it higher, but my gut is telling me this isin’t quite an A. Maybe next issue.

Phoenix: Endsong #5 - See, this is the business. I could do with 4 comics like this each month. The whole series has been the utter pinnacle of X-Men writing - action-packed, character-based plots that draw on the past while heading towards the future. Give this team (Greg Pak, Greg Land, Matt Ryan) a regular X-Men gig, for god’s sake. I want to see what they can do with the other X-Men characters. This is like the unofficial bridging series between Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, and every Phoenix arc ever written. I cannot praise it highly enough for the respect it gives the original works. If you’re reading this review, and you’re reading X-Men comics, then you need to read Phoenix: Endsong. It’s just that simple. It’s a comic so good, with art so stunning that I actually found myself wanting to buy the second printings for the variant covers, and that’s the kind of crap I never do. Take note, Akira Yoshida, this is what a story looks like when the author has tried reading the work he’s sequelising. Some real great moments, too. Quentin’s rejection is hilarious. I’ll even forgive the “Care Bear” ending where everyone joins together to display their love for Jean on the grounds that it’s not a lame plot point (Harry Potter, I’m looking at you) but more of a send-off that they never got to give to her the first (er, most recent) time she died.A+. A+++. A++++ would deal with again.

In other news, after buying comics at lunchtime we went and got a sandwich. I had beef. It was rare done. As in, red. I hope intentionally so, else I’m currently nursing the mother of all food poisonings. It wasn’t that bad, but I certainly prefer my cow meat to be cooked, or at the very least, fully dead before I eat it. The quest for a new sandwich distributing outlet will continue.