So here are my reviews that I call Bullet Points. These reviews will mention the highs and lows, favourite moments, and contain general discussion about each issue. The final part will finish off my Marvel comic reviews. Only comics that I have purchased will be reviewed. Also I should mention that there be SPOILERS in these reviews. You are warned!
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Avengers #32
The end is nearing and we’re left with one burning question: who is the mystery woman? With her true identity being revealed in this issue will it bring us a happy reunion or will it leave us utterly indifferent? Read on:
Cover: An okay cover of Captain America that doesn’t really wow me probably because of the choice of background.
Pros:
– The art by Mayhew and Peterson is great.
– The mystery woman’s identity is revealed: Janet’s back!
– It’s appropriate that the majority of the classic Avengers line-up are the ones to partake in the rescue mission to save her.
– Love the scene where Janet kisses everyone (Pym, Captain America, Thor) including Iron Man on his metal chin.
Cons:
– Wonder Man shows up and is gone just like that. A quick and pointless scene.
– Lord Gouzar’s reveal doesn’t have me excited and doesn’t make me believe he will be a villain that stands the test of time. Lord Forgettable is more like it.
– Nothing much really happens in the issue.
Spoilsport: Stark enlists Pym to help him track down the individual that set-off the emergency beacon. The Avengers arrive at the source of the signal and it is the place where the Wasp fell in battle. Pym, Stark, Rogers, and Thor shrink themselves to go in after the mystery woman who is revealed to be Janet. The celebration is short-lived before the villain/ruler Lord Gouzar shows up to end the issue.
Favourite Lines:
Tony Stark: Henry.
Henry Pym: Ah! Tony, I almost had it.
Tony Stark: Almost had what?
Henry Pym: A complete uninterrupted thought.
Spider-Man: And what do we do if something goes wrong?
Iron Man: Sell the place and keep the money. I don’t know. Call Reed Richards and blame it all on Wolverine.
Spider-Man: Do you guys know he is a teacher now?
Wolverine: You gonna let that go?
Spider-Man: No. Never. I’ll never let it go.
Hawkeye: So…
Spider-Man: Anyone want to swing by Grey’s Papaya?
Spider-Woman:Yeah, sure.
Red Hulk: Bring me ten.
Henry Pym: I’m going to go ahead and surmise that we are all alive.
This last arc is really dragging. It’s as if Marvel told Bendis to pad it out a bit so it could last until the relaunch. Nonetheless what should have taken two issues to resolve is going to take double that. We’re only halfway there and already I’m counting down the days until Hickman comes to reinvigorate the title. Yes, I’m happy that Janet is back but I’d rather of had them save her by now and do a more fitting wrap-up to Bendis’ run. Maybe the last two issues will change my mind but I’m not too optimistic.
RATING: 
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Deadpool #63
What was once a quality title has eroded into a shell of its’ former self. What happened here Daniel Way? Where did it all go wrong? Will the last issue before the reboot pull off a last-minute regeneration in quality or does the series deserve to be put out of its’ misery?
Cover: One of my Covers of the Week. To see more check out: https://thegothamrogue.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/covers-of-the-week-102412/
Pros:
– T-Ray presses the trigger to blow up Deadpool not knowing that the trigger itself is the bomb. Nice.
– Deadpool thinks he talked Agent Kemp out of killing him but she stood down because she realized the pointlessness of the whole thing seeing the return of Evil Deadpool from the dead.
Cons:
– The art is absolutely awful. Agent Kemp is drawn the worst and her facial expressions or lack thereof is bad. Really drags the issue down.
– What a waste of bringing back Slayback and resurrecting T-Ray back only to kill them off. Slayback doesn’t even engage in a fight scene.
– We get a cliffhanger that will never really be picked up on. Marvel NOW’s Deadpool won’t probably even reference it and I would be shocked to see Evil Deadpool anytime soon.
– Nowhere near a spectacular ending. In fact it wasn’t even good.
Spoilsport: Deadpool boards Agent Kemp’s flying ship and messes with the power causing the ship to begin to crash. Slayback panics, grabs a parachute, and jumps from the ship. Unfortunately for him, the parachute was rigged to blow and he is killed. T-Ray and Kemp call Deadpool’s bluff causing him to restore power. T-Ray finds Deadpool and beats him up with a dumbbell that Deadpool claims is really a bomb he has rigged to blow with his detonator. T-Ray ties Deadpool up with the dumbbell, takes him to the roof of the ship, and presses the detontor and blows himself up. The detonator was actually the bomb. Kemp decides she’s going to blow herself and Deadpool up but shuts it down when Evil Deadpool appears claiming the serum’s effects were only temporary. He shoots Deadpool and “kills” him to end the issue, though since his powers will come back he is going to be fine for the reboot.
Favourite Lines:
Agent Kemp: I’ve been informed that is on his way.
T-Ray: “On his way.”
Agent Kemp: Yes.
T-Ray: You know what that means, right.
Agent Kemp: Of course I do. He’s already here.
T-Ray: Now I’m going to beat you to death. With a bomb. That you made. You have no idea how happy I am right now.
Agent Kemp: Though my body shall remain broken, I will nonetheless be made whole by your death. Of this I am certain.
Wow. That was bad. I can’t say it enough. I found out that Way was originally going to leave the book after the “Dead” arc but Marvel asked him to stay on until the reboot. What followed were the worst issues of his run and this ending arc was the cherry on top. When this series first came out it was my favourite Marvel book at the time but now looking at it I can only mutter “how the mighty have fallen”. Hopefully Way can redeem himself with Deadpool in his upcoming Thunderbolts run. If not, I definitely won’t be hanging around that book for too long.
RATING:
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Invincible Iron Man #527
Fraction’s run is over. End of an era indeed. Will the last issue deliver a satisfying conclusion or will it repulse all his loyal readers? Find out:
Cover: One of the least impressive covers Salvador Larroca has done on this series. It is a pretty generic image of Iron Man and Marvel should have used the variant cover as the main one as it was a more fitting tribute to a series ending issue.
Pros:
– Stark modified his tech that he was putting out into the world to recognize when it was being repurposed for heinous things and contact Stark himself. Wow, that was a great idea and very responsible.
– Love that Maria Hill can’t believe how Iron Man could possibly of gotten bad code in him to enable the Mandarin to compromise him until Tony subtly hints that it was actually all her fault in the first place due to the events of “World’s Most Wanted”.
– Iron Man has to don the classic Red and Gold Mark V amour from the Avengers Archive since all his other armours are compromised.
– Never leave Ezekiel with a phone. What were you thinking Ms. Cabe?
– Stark tries to warn Justine Hammer that her life is in danger but she proceeds to chew his head off. She gets what’s coming to her… Fitting end for her.
Cons:
– That cover. Yes, I really didn’t like it.
Spoilsport: Tony Stark gets called in by S.H.I.E.L.D. to meet Maria Hill who worries that he is still compromised by the Mandarin but he denies it. Tony Stark proceeds to cut himself off from everyone including Pepper and Rhodes. Stark tries to warn Justine Hammer that her life is in danger from Ezekiel and Sasha but she ignores his warnings and pays the ultimate price. Stark calls a meeting with Stark Resilient and informs them that he is leaving for Space to get his head together and come up with new ideas. He bids farewell and takes off to end the issue.
Favourite Lines:
Iron Man: What, you don’t actually read all those words before you click “I Agree” and start using stuff, right? You should read it sometime. It’d blow your mind if you knew what you give away to use a shiny new cell phone.
Pepper: He took your suit away too, right?
Rhodes: Yep.
Pepper: Do you miss it?
Rhodes: Every damn day.
Iron Man: I need the shock of the new. I can’t sit around waiting for the future to happen to me. I’m going to go hunt the future and come back energized.
Iron Man: I hope you like the flowers. People like flowers, right? I didn’t know how else to say I’m sorry so…so like a breakup, I’m apologizing and I sent flowers. I’m sorry for everything. I’ll do better next time. You might want to step back. Things are about to get bright. Let me tell you about my dreams.
That was a beautiful and satisfying conclusion to what will be heralded as an amazing run on Iron Man. Some may complain about the lack of action but sometimes a grand finale can be just as good with the characters interacting with one another and trying to resolve their issues. This is one of those times. As I’ve said before, I came on late to this series but once I arrived I had to collect it all. This finale proved it wasn’t a waste of my money. Thank you Fraction!
RATING:
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And that is Part 3 complete. Agree/Disagree with my reviews? Comment below!
The Speech Bubble 
Some years ago, the italian publisher who held the rights for DC Comics had a great idea. They chose 12 Batman’s villains (one for each month of the year), and for each of them they published a TP collecting his/her best stand alone stories. All of them had already been printed before, so there was nothing new, but it was a very worthy initiative anyway. That’s why I bought all the 12 trades.
Today I read again the November trade, dedicated to Mr. Zsasz. I bumped into a story which absolutely deserves to be added to the list of my favorite single issues I shared with you last month: “And Red All Over” (Detective Comics # 796, September 2004). It is a perfect combination of story and action, it pleasantly focuses on Bruce’s ethic and way of thinking, it has a very enjoyable atmosphere and, the icing on the cake, the cover is drawn by Tim Sale.
“They chose 12 Batman’s villains (one for each month of the year), and for each of them they published a TP collecting his/her best stand alone stories.”
That was a great idea. In Italy, do they do these type of things often (more outside-of-the-box thinking) or was this a more isolated incident?
“It is a perfect combination of story and action, it pleasantly focuses on Bruce’s ethic and way of thinking, it has a very enjoyable atmosphere and, the icing on the cake, the cover is drawn by Tim Sale.”
I’ll have to see if my LCS has this in the back-issue bin. Sounds great. You had me at Tim Sale but then I see…Stephanie Brown!
“In Italy, do they do these type of things often (more outside-of-the-box thinking) or was this a more isolated incident?” In Italy we reprint everything a lot of times, and in a lot of formats. That’s why it is very difficult for an italian comic book to become a collector’s item: a lot of them are reprinted at least once in a five-year period. And this counts also for the less successful comic books: for example, this year Marvel reprinted the complete X – Statix. Which is good, because that was a great series. Yes, there are a few exceptions (Scalped, Before Watchmen and so on), but generally speaking, if you want to find a comic book in Italy, you don’t have to try very hard.
P.S.: Maybe italian DC and Image comics are a bit harder to find. The reason is simple: Marvel has an italian branch, while DC and Image prefer to sell the rights to italian publishers on which they don’t have any power. This is bad for us readers, because, if those publishers fail (and it happens quite frequently), their comics instantly become harder to find.
I can see Image doing that but it’s strange DC wouldn’t want an Italian branch. Thanks for the info. My day isn’t complete until I’ve learned something new.
P.S.: Now that I think about it, for you the real icing on the cake should be the presence of Stephanie Brown. She appears as Robin in that issue.
Yes! Bring Stephanie back DC! And don’t bring her back so you can just kill her 4 months down the road either…
If you want her to come back, then voting her could help: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=poll&id=105.
I hesitated a long time before voting, because I was wavering between Renee Montoya and Ted Kord. I love Renee because she was starring in one of the most beautiful series ever written (Gotham Central), but I also would love to see an interaction between the old Blue Beetle and the new one. Not only because, as you know, I love when old and new are combined, but also because, when something similar happens in Gotham (former Robins meet each other quite often), it’s always an intriguing situation. At the end, I voted for Renee.
Talking about back issues again, this could be a new section of Bullet Points. You usually review Marvel, DC and indie current comics: from time to time, you could review also an old single issue, so that your readers can buy it on Comixology and discover a gem nobody remembers about. And if they already own it, they can read it again with more attention after your recommendation. But I remember that in one post you wrote that Bullet Points is the most time-needing section of your blog, so probably it’s the last one you’d consider to widen. Anyway, I tried to make a suggestion, and there is no harm in trying. Thank you for your replies! : )
“At the end, I voted for Renee.”
Of everyone one on that list I’m surprised she hasn’t popped up yet. They wouldn’t have her be the Question again but they could still feature her in one of the Batman books. Or Batwoman even? She’ll appear pretty soon, I’m sure of it.
“But I remember that in one post you wrote that Bullet Points is the most time-needing section of your blog, so probably it’s the last one you’d consider to widen. Anyway, I tried to make a suggestion, and there is no harm in trying.”
Thanks for the suggestion. It’s something I’d seriously consider doing but until I catch up on my Bullet Point Reviews from November and December it will have to be put on the backburner. The feedback is always appreciated!
Thank you for your replies! : )