Diary of an up and coming sociopath

A pretty short week, and again, nothing too great to write home about. Still:

Incredible Hulk #81: Tempus Fugit Conclusion - This arc unfortunately ends with the time-tested method of ending a story by saying “It was all a dream!” only, in the Marvel Universe, it’s all a Nightmare created by the character of the same name. This, I believe, has been done to provide an easy way of writing off everything prior to PAD’s return to the title, while simultaneously allowing everything that came before to be valid should anyone wish it to be. There was a good subplot in here which explains how Banner ended up in the army, but I’m not so sure the Hulk as his “imaginary friend” during his teenage years is so easy an idea to swallow, mainly because it seems sort of incredible. No pun intended. Maybe something more will be done with the idea that’ll make it seem a bit less out of place, but I suspect it’s a one-time only deal and that it’s just PAD trying a different take on the “Hulk/Banner as MPD” theme, since during this flashback, Hulk does actually take control of Banner, Tyler Durden stlye, and years before Bruce’s gamma-irradiation incident. Not a bad ending to the arc, in any case, but not a great one either. I suspect, as a whole, it suffers from being originally conceived as a limited run that had to be self-contained and that’s why it doesn’t set up or feature any specific status quo. Highlight of the arc would be the fight with Fin Fang Foom about 2 issues ago, which was action-comedy the way I remember Hulk being written by PAD. C+ for the final issue, B- for the arc overall.

X-Men #170: Golgotha Conclusion - Up until this issue, Milligan’s not been impressing me much with his writing. Admittedly, he’s miles beyond the crap Chuck Austen was writing, but it took a while to actually get up to that speed. Last issue, and especially this one, it feels like he’s found his feet a bit more. It probably doesn’t help that his X-Men team isn’t the most interesting (Rogue, Gambit, Iceman, Havok, Polaris, Wolverine and Frost, though only the first 5 of those are really “his”) but the character moments have been improving. I enjoy the dynamics between Gambit and Rogue, but they’re some of my favourite characters, so that’s to be expected. Far less entertaining is the Iceman/Polaris/Havok romantic triangle plot, which feels kind of recycled from the 70s. Larocca’s art is the place where the book stands up best, but I feel like he’d look even better with a different inker or colourist. I remember his X-Treme X-Men and Fantastic Four work was far more striking. The issue is just some gratuitous action, in space no less, after last month’s suspense-based issue, so it works quite nice as a payoff. B for this issue, C+ for the whole arc.

Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury - Can you say “Cash-in” people? When the gap between books is as large as Secret War has become (I almost said “ridiculously large, but there’re books doing far worse schedules…) it’s not a huge surprise that they’re releasing some filler material. It’s basically an “Official Handbook” style set of character profiles interspersed with some “conversation logs” and the like, such that can be found in the back of the regular Secret War issues. I haven’t read the full thing yet, because it’s mainly text, but it’s fair to say there’s not going to be anything essential to Secret War in here. Not bad for what it is, but still, only a rabid completist like me would be dumb enough to buy it. I think I’ll classify this book as E for Exempt From Classification, and hope the BBFC doesn’t take offense. It’s unfair to judge this against the standards of the others because it’s not a comic in the traditional sense. It’ll make nice addition to my complete set of Secret War issues, but that’s it’s main merit. Had the week been any fuller, this would’ve stayed on the shelf.

Again, not a great week for comics. I’ll be giving Hulk a bit more before I decide whether PAD’s crapped out on his return or not, and X-Men’s just one of those comics which I’m not going to stop buying, because my fondness for the characters transcends quality, though I often wish it didn’t, because for every Grant Morrison, it seems there are several Chuck Austens. Regular readers, though I suspect this is one of my less popular blogging habits, might notice that I’m still trying to figure out a format for the title. I don’t like using the word “review” because that implies a level of professionalism or thought or insight that I’m not even especially aiming for, much less achieving. However, I also hate the phrase “bought and thought” and I only used it in the first place because I nicked it off the SA Forums. I think I’ll keep the format how it’s at now, that should satisfy future generations of internet searchers who’re looking to find out what people thought of these comics when they were released.