The Bill May 11, 2011

It doesn't happen very often, but from time to time I have weeks like this one: I got nothing. Not in a creatively devoid kind of way, rather a I-had-no-books-come-out-this-week kind of way. It was a very sad Wednesday indeed.

Have no fear though, I won't let a silly thing like a slow wednesday ruin a good time. I'm sure I got something around here to review. Meet me after the banner, and let's see what I can dig up.




The Best of FCBD:

Captain America/Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers
Writer: Roger Langridge
Artist: Chris Samnee


In what should be a desperate cash grab (or, I guess, 'desperate bid for attention'), we get what essentially amounts to a lost issue from one of the greatest, but shortest, Thor series ever. And boy, do they make it a doozy.

This issue follows the Thunder God as he's teleported through time with Captain America into Camelot where they're forced to battle Loki for the belt of Merlin. Now, if you're not impressed by that sentence (both in terms of content and construction, because come on, that's crazy!) I think you might be reading the wrong comic reviews. If you're like the rest of us, and you're interest is at all peaked, you need to make it your business to get this book. You won't be disappointed.

As a side, I want to say how impressed I am with Marvel when it comes to Free Comic Book Day. In an era where everyone is claiming the death of the comic industry is right around the corner (for realz this time!), there's Marvel putting their best foot forward on the day that really counts. Where some other companies **couDCgh**only put out crummy reprints, it's great to see someone out there is taking the initiative to publish something high quality and special to bring in new readers. Kudos to you, Marvel!

Anyway...



Stay in the Quarter Bin:

Punisher 2099 # 7
Writer: Pat Mills and Tony Skinner
Artist: Tom Morgan


I recently found myself in possession of the first ten issues of this futuristic tale of vengeance, and figured I'd be in store for some awesomely crazy 90s antics.

Oh how wrong I was.

Man, Punisher 2099 is THE WORST! The art is frightening, the story is incomprehensible at times, and all the big ideas that are introduced are squandered. Nothing proves this point more than issue 7.

To me, this was the turning point of the entire series, where things went from potentially interesting to definitely disappointing. It was the issue that promised Future Ninjas, but instead delivered Construction Workers in Black Pajamas. The issue where The Punisher's alter ego successfully seduced his psychiatrist by proving that she was right about her hunch that he was a psychopath. I can read bad comics, but I got to have something that keeps me intrigued in it, this was just complete nonsense for 22 pages. Or rather, for ten issues.

I don't know if this series picked up at all as Doom took over the world and P2099 here became his security officer, but from what I've read, I'm totally okay not finding out.




And that's how it's done. What to look out for, and what to seek out. I wish I could do this every week. Hey, now there's an idea....