What I Got: 5.9.07

Well, I've gotta say, with the rate of speed I'm getting reviews out, this may become a nostalgia blog before long. What the hell, let's face it, I'm mostly putting stuff up here so I don't have to talk to myself about it. Anyhoo, enjoy some late remarks on last week's books. Hopefully, I'll actually hit the shop on Wednesday this week, so there won't be as big of a delay.

Nova #2

I enjoyed this issue quite a bit, but it suffered from felling like 'half-a-story" since it's continued next month. Richard rider has come home for a quick breather after literally saving the universe. While home, he gets chewed out by his father for having the temerity to be a super-hero and he gets (figuratively) wined & dined by Tony Stark to join up with the government in hunting down his old buddies. Not exactly a vacation. I'll be happy when Nova dumps Earth to get back into space.

Immortal Iron Fist #5

Now this is how to tell a 6 issue story and still make each single issue filling. We get the conclusion of Danny and Orson's battle with Hydra in the subway, and man is it cool. Check out this page that Chris Sims scanned for an example. Wicked cool that is.

We also get a very good Luke Cage and Daughters of the Dragon cameo that'll bring some added drama (and ass-kicking).

The writers of this book are adding some great stuff to the whole Iron Fist mythology. For all of the origin ret-conning that's going on these days, this is a great example on how you can expand the world/history of a given character without hurting what came before.

Cover Girl #1

So I picked this up since I consider the writer an "internet friend". I enjoy his blog and belong to his forum, so I feel pretty bad that I didn't like this book. The premise is that a failing actor saves a mysterious woman on his way home from an audition and instantly becomes a star. Once that happens the men who were trying to kill the mysterious woman, come to kill him. Now his bosses want a bodyguard on him, but one that won't make him look like a wuss to the public (as they're selling him as an action hero) so, enter the title character, a hot-chick bodyguard that doubles as arm-candy.

I have two criticisms here:

1. It's obvious that they want to make fun of hollywood, specifically action movies, but this whole book reads as a pitch for the very type of hollywood action movie it would like to make fun of.

2. The whole idea that having a bodyguard would hurt the image of a star in our society is stupid. Hell, look at rappers, they are pretty much the definition of testosterone gone awry these days, and if they DIDN'T have thirty bodyguards surrounding them at all times, people would think they were less hard.

None of this is to say it's bad, it just wasn't compelling enough to justify $4 from me monthly. Sorry Kevin, I'll still read the next series you write (along with your webcomics), but this one's not working for me.

Comics I Didn't Buy

Countdown #51

I loved, loved 52, so I figured that another weekly from DC would be a prescription for happiness for me. I was wrong. I read the first full issue (and 10 pages of #2) on MySpace and wasn't sucked in. I think the biggest thing is that this series just doesn't have the same draw for me that 52 did. Since the main characters of 52 were some of my favorites, the book had me hooked from Week 1. The other problem with Countdown is that since we're no longer dealing with DC's "missing year", this book will cross-over into other books, and that's a bad thing. The book could very easily turn into a preview of what's happening in other DC books each week, with little or no context to clue people who are only reading Countdown in (see #2's pages with Batman and Karate Kid. If you didn't read JLA you'd be completely lost).

I'll keep checking it out on MySpace as long as they keep posting the issues, but unless there's some significant changes to the story, I'll sit this year out.