So here are my Marvel and Independent Comics mini-reviews that I call Bullet Points. These reviews will mention the highs and lows, favourite moments, and contain general discussion about each issue. The fourth and final part will finish my Marvel reviews as well as completing my Independent ones. Only comics that I have purchased will be reviewed. Also I should mention that there be SPOILERS in these reviews. You are warned!
________________________________________________________
Fantastic Four #611
This is it. The last issue of Hickman’s Fantastic Four and the last issue brings us…Doom. Doctor Doom that is. Hell, the first words are “DOOM”. In fact the first page is very creatively laid out as all the panels have a background with the words “Doom, Doom, Doom” repeated. These chants of “Doom” are coming from his Doombot followers that he has created. Love that fact that this issue also uses a lot of narration boxes as if we are being told a fable such as “The promise of endless power was not enough. Promise would never be enough–Doom needed it to be real.”
Doctor Doom decides to accomplish this by stepping through a bridge to another universe, the one associated with his Infinity Gauntlet that he now wields. This universe is a blank slate, an empty canvas on which Doom can do whatever he pleases. Narration: “And on the first day, Doom spoke ‘Be’ and then there was life” Doctor Doom is acting like God from the Holy Bible and the narration follows suit talking about on the __ day and such. Doom keeps creating his new universe one with two sides to it: magic and science but as he continues he comes to a startling conclusion: “It was then, on the seventh day, that Doom realized a mistake had been made. He had made a universe in his own image.” Uh Oh.
We shift over to Future Valeria who is waking up Reed Richards to tell him Doom is in fact still alive much to his surprise as younger Val told him he was dead. She tells him not to trust her, especially at that age, but regardless Doom needs their help. They are joined by Nathaniel Richards but before they cross through the gate, Reed questions “How do we know that he’s alive?” Nathaniel: “Because Val knows.” Reed: “I thought you said don’t trust you.” Valeria: “Well, sometimes you should.” Reed: “So sometimes I should and sometimes I shouldn’t…is that right? Seems…a bit imprecise.” Valeria: “What can I say, Dad…parenting’s tough. Suck it up.”
The trio arrives at the former HQ of the Council of Reeds and are met by the Doombots. They find the gate to “Doomworld” and go through to find that Doom was overthrown by six rebel leaders with each one taking a gem from the Infinity Gauntlet for themselves. Reed and Nathaniel petition for Doom’s return and five of them agree to let him leave. Narration: “For even if your father was a monster, killing him only makes you the same.” But the one that voted no sends his two best warriors riding a giant monster in pursuit. The heroes rush towards the gate but are going to be caught until Doom says “Be! Not!” Narration: “And their doubt, coupled with his conviction, was enough for us to make our escape. Or so it seemed.”
A giant tongue from the creature grabs Doom from the other side of the portal but is eventually defeated when the Doombots rush through the gate to save the day. With himself no longer a prisoner, Doom has come to a realization: “I was a god, Valeria.” Valeria: “And?” Doom: “I found it…beneath me.” Val kisses him on the cheek: “Say thank you.” There’s a pause. Doom: “…Consider us even, Richards.” Reed: “Good enough. Let’s go home, Victor.” It’s scenes like that that is going to make me miss Hickman. I hope Fraction keeps this cute relationship between “Uncle Doom” and Val alive in the new volume as well.
Nathaniel then informs Reed that he is going to stay at the Council of Reeds to use the Nexus to reach the other Reeds who are orphans because of his actions and Future Valeria also decides to stay to help him out. The issue ends with a touching letter to us fans from Hickman. He talks about his mission to regain the tagline of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” and tells us it’s been an honor. It has been an honour for us as well.
RATING: 
________________________________________________________
Uncanny Avengers #1
It’s time for the grand kickoff of Marvel NOW! with yet another Avenger title. What makes this one different? Why the team consists of both X-Men and Avengers working together (hence the title Uncanny Avengers). The main question is it any good?
The issue opens with an extreme closeup view of someone’s eyeball that has the Phoenix silhouette of Scott Summers shown in it. We slowly keep pulling back until we reveal that this individual is having his head cut open by an unknown surgeon. This surgeon proceeds to cut out a section of his brain and place a mysterious device in its’ place. Who is this individual? More on that later.
Elsewhere, we cut back and forth between Wolverine delivering an eulogy for Professor X and Alex Summers (Havok) visiting his brother Cyclops in prison. The Summers brothers argue about the events of AVX which crescendos to this point – Cyclops: “I spent my entire life fighting for Professor X’s dream, Alex. I learned better.” Havok: “You didn’t learn anything. You forgot everything Charles taught you. And then you killed him.” Great dialogue going on between these two characters. As Alex is leaving he is met by Captain America and Thor. Captain America: “Come have a cup of coffee with me” Thor: “The place we go also makes lattes if you prefer. I do.” Nice one Thor.
Captain America then asks Alex to lead a new team formed of both X-Men and Avengers to set an example of cooperation. Alex doesn’t want to do it as he has seen what leadership has led Scott and Charles to. Before they get more into it, their conversation is interrupted by the individual from the beginning (turns out it is Avalanche) tearing apart the city. The trio try to save as many people as possible and Avalanche seemingly commits suicide. What? That can’t be it for him.
We leave this devastation to shift over to the Scarlet Witch who is paying her respects at Xavier’s tombstone. Rogue appears and is upset with her claiming it is all Wanda’s fault because if she didn’t cause M-Day none of the events of AVX would have happened. Scarlet Witch: “I’m so bored with this martyrdom routine. This halo you X-Men all love to polish. Self-described soldiers adorned in “X” with no dedication to what it actually stands for–” This monologue earns her a punch to the face from Rogue but still Scarlet Witch does not wish to fight and does not want to use her powers against her. Rogue has no qualms and tries to take Scarlet Witch’s Hex powers but is surprised when it doesn’t work.
The “fight” is interrupted by a big explosion and the appearance of a new batch of baddies. They attack the duo and Wanda throws herself in front of a blow to save Rogue who is then subsequently knocked out. The bad guys claim they got what they came for and are seen dragging away an unidentified body. We fast forward to their boss: “Why chase relics when the most powerful weapon on Earth is unguarded in clear sight?” The last page reveals the speaker is the Red Skull and in his hands is the newly cut out brain of Charles Xavier. Red Skull: “With the brain of Charles Xavier, the Red Skull will eradicate the mutant menace!”
An alright start. I’m still on the fence on this series but I’ll give it another chance next issue, if only because of Remender.
RATING: 
________________________________________________________
Halloween Eve #1
Kickstarter and Image comics proudly bring to you Halloween Eve with the very talented artist Amy Reeder. Is it a holiday classic or simply a rotten pumpkin?
I have to say I love the opening sequence where the panels sort of float down into a larger one with a sort of cascading effect to them. The main character, Eve, works at a costume shop with Raymond who has a crush on her, Carlos the manager, Bernardo, and Ingrid. Eve hates Halloween so much that she’s practically the Ebenezer Scrooge of the holiday and refuses to dress up on Halloween even though it is deemed mandatory at the shop.
It’s the day before Halloween, which is the shop’s busiest day. Everyone is very enthusiastic except Eve with her constant cynicism. There’s a nice montage of the various events during the day but as the day wraps up, Carlos decides someone needs to stay behind and clean up the mess. He reminds everyone to come in costume tomorrow and Eve protests once again: “Playing dress-up is kid’s stuff.” Carlos: “You need to grow up.” Eve: “…but…” Carlos: “If you think anyone cares what you think, you’ve got a real active imagination.” Eve: “…but…” Carlos: “And you just volunteered.”
Raymond sees that she’s hurt and tries to consul her but she’ll have none of that and she proceeds to snap at everyone. Raymond offers to stay and help but she tells him to go home, that she doesn’t need anyone. Eve is cleaning up when she comes to some mannequins. She dresses one up like Raymond and starts talking to it. She dons a witch costume to spite “Raymond” but is caught off guard when someone says she looks lovely. The objects in the shop start talking and then the Devil appears. What is going on?
The “Raymond” mannequin moves towards Eve and takes her away from the Devil. They escape through a mirror and wind up in a bizarre world: Halloween Land. That’s right Halloween Land not Town. This isn’t The Nightmare Before Christmas you know. There Eve meets a talking pumpkin and a female knight who tell her that Halloween Land is great because you can be anything you want to be. The mannequin proves this point by changing out of his jester costume into an admiral outfit. Pumpkin: “It’s not the mask that’s important–it’s what’s underneath it.”
The Devil appears and tells her she doesn’t belong. “You can’t stay in Halloween Land if you don’t know who you want to be” The mannequin asks her: “Are you so afraid that wearing a monster mask will scare people off?” Eve: “You guys don’t understand girls. Nothing is more scary to us then looking ourselves in the mirror.” Eve wakes up in a Dorothy Gale dress (Wizard of Oz) complete with a Toto masquerade mask. Around her are Carlos (dressed as a devil), Raymond (admiral outfit), Bernardo (pumpkin), and Ingrid (football player – sort of a modern-day knight). Eve has completely changed: she is happy about Halloween. She talks to Raymond: “I never noticed but…no matter what you’re wearing, your hearts always been in the right place. You don’t know how frightening it is for me to wear my heart on my sleeve…” Eve has realized she hides behind a mask in real life all the time but no more as she kisses Raymond to end the issue.
Eve’s sudden transformation was a little abrupt. The issue could have definitely benefited from being longer to help in that regards. The art was fantastic but did you expect anything less? Overall, an alright comic but sadly one that will eventually be forgotten come this time next year.
RATING:
________________________________________________________
And that is the end of my comic reviews for 10/10/12. Agree/Disagree? Comment below!
The Speech Bubble 
In the New 52 sales chart, Firestorm has been occupying the 49th spot for months. This means that, in the last months, only Blue Beetle, Grifter and G.I.Combat sold less than Firestorm.
In a normal situation, it would have been cancelled with the 16th issue, but DC repeatedly preferred to close some series which were selling more: first Legion Lost and Frankenstein, now DC Universe Presents and I,Vampire. Why DC is so hellbent on keeping Firestorm alive, in your opinion?
“Why DC is so hellbent on keeping Firestorm alive, in your opinion?”
I have no clue, no clue at all. As the Riddler would say “”It’s a mystery. Broken into a jigsaw puzzle. Wrapped in a conundrum. Hidden in a Chinese box”.
P.S.: This is the New 52 sales chart of December. Actually it consists of 51 titles, because G.I. Combat had been closed and Threshold hadn’t replaced it yet.
1) Batman
2) Justice League
3) Detective Comics
4) Batman and Robin
5) Aquaman
6) Batgirl
7) Nightwing
8) Green Lantern
9) Teen Titans
10) Red Hood and the Outlaws
11) Action Comics
12) Batman: The Dark Knight
13) Suicide Squad
14) Earth 2
15) Batman Inc
16) Superman
17) Green Lantern Corps
18) Flash
19) Green Lantern: New Guardians
20) Wonder Woman
21) Red Lanterns
22) Catwoman
23) Batwoman
24) Swamp Thing
25) Animal Man
26) World’s Finest
27) Talon
28) Supergirl
29) Justice League Dark
30) Superboy
31) Birds of Prey
32) Phantom Stranger
33) Green Arrow
34) All Star Western
35) Legion of Super Heroes
36) Dial H
37) Ravagers
38) Frankenstein
39) Stormwatch
40) Team 7
41) Demon Knights
42) Batwing
43) Legion Lost
44) Sword of Sorcery
45) Hawkman
46) Deathstroke
47) I, Vampire
48) DC Universe Presents
49) Firestorm
50) Blue Beetle
51) Grifter
What do you think about it? Sales reflect the quality of the various titles, or you think that some titles deserve to sell more, and some others to sell less?
Titles that Deserve To Be Higher Up:
15) Batman Inc
20) Wonder Woman
29) Justice League Dark
Titles that Should Be Lower:
9) Teen Titans
10) Red Hood and the Outlaws
12) Batman: The Dark Knight
13) Suicide Squad
That’s my opinion. How about yours?
“That’s my opinion. How about yours?” You know how much I love Blue Beetle and Grifter, so I would like them to be at the top of the sales chart, and not at the bottom. But I can justify Grifter’s readers for leaving the title, because it had several changes of the creative team, and each change caused a big drop in quality. If I hadn’t loved the character so much, I would have left the series too. Yesterday I ordered the Grifter T – shirt, by the way.
Another title that should be selling a lot more is Team 7. At the beginning that title was selling more or less the same quantity of the Phantom Stranger, but, in the following months, the Phantom Stranger kept all his initial readers and even catched some new ones, while Team 7’s sales sank deeper and deeper each month. This proves that the Phantom Stranger found a public and therefore it will probably survive for a long time, while Team 7… well, if the drop in sales stops now, it will have some chances to last more than 12 issues, but, if the hemorrhage goes on, DC will be waving goodbye to this series in a matter of months.
4 titles that should be selling a lot less are Catwoman, Green Arrow, Stormwatch and Batwing. I can see Catwoman and Green Arrow making decent numbers despite having an awful writer, because both of them have a lot of fans who read the title no matter what (as I did with Grifter), but Stormwatch and Batwing… I really can’t see why someone should spend 2,99 $ each month for them. I wouldn’t read Stormwatch even if DC paid me 2,99 $ to read it, because my free time is too precious to be wasted for such an unpleasant read. Batwing is not that boring, but I still believe its creation is a wrong choice. A Batman – like character in a not urban setting is like a fish out of water: I’m surprised that DC management didn’t think the same, before deciding to let this series start.
A last comment about the sales chart: I love too see Nightwing in the top ten, selling a lot more than an iconic character like Superman. I know that this result largely depends on the fact that Nightwing is involved in the Death of the Family Story arc, but, as a huge fan who’s been following him since he made the first steps as Nightwing, it’s an indescribable and priceless pleasure. Thank you for your replies! : )
“Yesterday I ordered the Grifter T – shirt, by the way.”
Excellent. Does it take very long for them to make it?
“I wouldn’t read Stormwatch even if DC paid me 2,99 $ to read it, because my free time is too precious to be wasted for such an unpleasant read.”
Wow! It’s that bad? Never read an issue so I wouldn’t know.
“Batwing is not that boring, but I still believe its creation is a wrong choice. A Batman – like character in a not urban setting is like a fish out of water: I’m surprised that DC management didn’t think the same, before deciding to let this series start.”
I agree with you. Why did this character deserve to get a solo series over so many others that didn’t? I’m surprised it isn’t closer to the bottom. Must be a good read? I wouldn’t know because, once again, I’ve never read a single issue.
“A last comment about the sales chart: I love too see Nightwing in the top ten, selling a lot more than an iconic character like Superman.”
I always said that if DC wants to expand their live-action superhero TV shows they should do a Nightwing series. You could pull it off much easier than their proposed Wonder Woman one and you could also utilize those Batman villains that will never make it to the big screen.
“Excellent. Does it take very long for them to make it?” 2 weeks. In this period they are very busy, so at present Grifter is at the bottom both of the sales chart and of their to do list.
“Wow! It’s that bad? Never read an issue so I wouldn’t know.” Yes, Stormwatch is the worst New 52 series I’ve ever tried. I had ordered the 10th issue because I had read that Milligan was the writer, but, when it came into my hands, I found it so boring that I couldn’t finish it.
“Must be a good read? I wouldn’t know because, once again, I’ve never read a single issue.” I ordered 3 issues of Batwing: the 3rd to know whether it was a worthy read, the 7th and the 11th because of Nightwing making a guest star appearance. All the Batwing issues I read didn’t worth the money they cost. But at least I finished all of them.
“I always said that if DC wants to expand their live-action superhero TV shows they should do a Nightwing series. You could pull it off much easier than their proposed Wonder Woman one and you could also utilize those Batman villains that will never make it to the big screen.” Exactly. I can’t see why DC is not making a movie or a TV show focused on Nightwing now that he’s at the top of his popularity. Pretty much the same situation of Marvel and Deadpool: it is crystal clear that this is the moment to make a Deadpool movie, but Marvel is still hesitating. You’re losing a unique chance, Marvel guys!
Thank you for your replies! : )
“Pretty much the same situation of Marvel and Deadpool: it is crystal clear that this is the moment to make a Deadpool movie, but Marvel is still hesitating. You’re losing a unique chance, Marvel guys!”
Marvel’s got so many movies/TV shows in development it’s crazy. I guess they’re waiting for Ryan Reynolds to free up some time before they get too serious on the Deadpool movie?
Concerning Nightwing, I really don’t know why they don’t do this but thank goodness they didn’t pull the trigger on that Dick Grayson pre-Robin show they were going to do. The whole show was going to be about him growing up in the circus. Think Smallville, but with no crime fighting…
“I guess they’re waiting for Ryan Reynolds to free up some time before they get too serious on the Deadpool movie?” That’s the only plausible explanation.
“Think Smallville, but with no crime fighting…” Crime fighting is the whole point of superhero stories, no matter if it’s a comic book or a TV show, so I agree that it would have been a sure failure.
A series focused on Dick Grayson would have so many starting points to exploit: his love affairs (Babs, Starfire and so on), his troubled relationship with his mentor, the contrast between his sunny character as Dick and his serious attitude as Nightwing… and even the crime fighting part would be easy to write, because Gotham has the best and widest gallery of villains we’ve ever seen in comics.
Let’s hope DC will think about it. And, most of all, let’s hope that Dick won’t get killed in the Death of the Family story arc.
“A series focused on Dick Grayson would have so many starting points to exploit: his love affairs (Babs, Starfire and so on), his troubled relationship with his mentor, the contrast between his sunny character as Dick and his serious attitude as Nightwing… and even the crime fighting part would be easy to write, because Gotham has the best and widest gallery of villains we’ve ever seen in comics.
Let’s hope DC will think about it.”
You have me pumped just by that paragraph alone. The possibilites are endless, but alas they probably won’t bother as “it would interfere with their movie version of the character and confuse people”. Hopefully the Wonder Woman series will change their stance in this regards unless it is supposed to be a prequel to her involvment in the Justice League movie?
“And, most of all, let’s hope that Dick won’t get killed in the Death of the Family story arc.”
He’s safe. Each passing week I get more and more worried that it’s going to be Damian… Say it ain’t so!
If it’s Damian, Snyder will face the same situation of Dan Slott: from hero to zero. With “zero” meaning zero popularity, not zero talent, of course. Nobody can touch that, luckily. Thank you for your replies! : )
“If it’s Damian, Snyder will face the same situation of Dan Slott: from hero to zero. With “zero” meaning zero popularity, not zero talent, of course. Nobody can touch that, luckily.”
After reading this week’s books I’m more inclined to think it will be Alfred’s death that will end the arc. We’ll find out in one short month…