The Bill November 17, 2010

Somehow even though some of my favorite books are being or have been cancelled, I still ended up bring home a huge (for me) haul this week. How does that work? What craziness did I buy? What did I think of them?

Well, let's stop wasting time and find out. Shall we?



Worst Chaos War Tie-in of the Week:
Chaos War: Chaos King
Writer: Brandon Montclare
Artist: Michael Wm Kaluta


I had no idea what to expect from this one.

Well, I take that back. I expected this issue to be all about the major antagonist, maybe giving us some major backstory on him and/or his motivations. Hell, maybe give us a glimpse of what it was like the last time he was in charge of things. I most certainly didn't expect what the issue actually was.

I'll tell you, I'm a hard sell when it comes to otherworldly books. Be it Thor, Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, or The Silver Surfer, I always have a hard time connecting with those types of foreign stories. It's hard for me to find the center, and as a result I find myself not caring.

This issue was otherworldly squared: It focused on the Gods from Norrin Radd's old digs, Zenn-La as they fended off the title character. Needless to say, I was under impressed.

Add to this the overwrought dialogue and the unclear art and you have a nearly incomprehensible read. It was just a chore to get through, devoid of any of the fun that runs through the other (Dead Avengers) parts of this crossover have in spades.

Do yourself a favor and leave this one on the shelf. And if you really need a Chaos War fix this week, do yourself a favor and pick up Dead Avengers instead.



Not A Promising Start of the Week:
Avengers # 7
Writer: Brian Bendis
Artist: John Romita Jr.


I don't know what to do about this book.

On the one hand, I'm a crazy fanboy when it comes to the Infinity Gauntlet and would love to see it brought back. On the other, I hate Bendis' pacing. To be fair, this isn't really a terrible issue. It's just very unsatisfying.

In this installment we follow ol' Bendis favorite Parker Robbins (AKA, The Hood) as he searches for another replacement for his powers, this time in the form of the Infinity Gems. Also, Iron Man and Thor have a mild heart to heart with Wonder Man, who was last seen breaking shit in the Avengers Tower five months ago. It's... interesting?

See, here's the thing. The book isn't horrible, it's just kinda... underperforming for me. There's some interesting things going on here, but there's not enough of it. It's almost typical Bendis where he takes his sweet time with stealth action scenes, has some nice interplay moments, only incrementally inches the plot forward, but this time it just feels very empty.

I dunno. I know I said this before, but I think I'm going to give this book one more chance and then no more.

It's up to you issue 8, don't let me down.




And there you have it. I bought a few other things too, like Thunderbolts and Osborn, but I'll talk more about them on my twitter. You should stop on by and say hi.

Or you can drop a line here, whatever works for you.