Final Issue of Guardians of the Galaxy

"Blam, murdered you" -- Rocket

If you can write a better line in a comic book, you should be a millionaire. I read a lot of comics. It takes some pretty heavy lifting to get me to slow down and laugh at something you've written. That did it. Excellent work.

Gamora's big decision and Star-Lord and Kitty's talk really moved me. I don't know what it is about Bendis's penchant for delivering those big emotional moments in a comic, but he does it better than anyone in the modern era, maybe better than anyone ever.

I know that this is the end of an era for a stupendous book -- what's been my favorite superhero fare for some time now -- and I'm glad it went out like it came in: with a fair amount of humor and some truly personal moments of story-telling.

Battleworld: Ranking the first 15 Marvel Comics Secret Wars Tie-Ins

Secret Wars is Marvel’s big summer cross-over event. Following in the footsteps of the New 52 from DC, Marvel also relaunched nearly its entire line and released a host of new books telling the tales of this world ruled by Doom, judged by Strange, informed by Sue and Valeria Storm, and enforced by the Thors of an infinite multiverse. I’ve read every issue from the first two weeks of releases and have provided a ranking and review for each.

15. Secret Wars 2099 – Honestly, not a bad book. I didn’t like the art, but I’ve overlooked that on other titles. Marvel, of course, has no excuse for putting out a low quality product given their resources. Peter David’s story is fine, but not particularly exciting. The rendering of the future Avengers is neither particularly gripping nor irritating, though. Some of the characters are needlessly “futured up”, like the Vision. Others are macabre mixes of modern era characters, like Hawkeye. Generally, a mixed bag. Still, probably the best 2099 book I’ve read.

14. Secret Wars Journal – A pretty weak entry, but with some notable moments. Luca Puzzari’s art on the Khonshu story was very solid and Ramon Bachs does a stellar version of Kate Bishop (but terrible rendering on the male leads, 1602 versions of two other Young Avengers). My general feeling that the 1602 universe sucks may have colored my reading of the initial story, but I found it both boring and trite. I suspect it’s a vehicle for explaining some future Bishop-oriented material which I will hopefully like far more (I enjoy that character, esp. the work Matt Fraction has done in the amazing Hawkeye/-guy solo book). The Moon Knight second half was ok, but a bit rushed and had some story gaps. Anthology books are what they are though. It’s medium.

13. Inferno – I can already predict the lashout from 1990’s X-Men fans. Look, I grew up and cut my teeth as a comic book fan on this stuff. I loved Madelyne Pryor. I still love Magik. Great characters. Awful storyline, pretty bad resurrection. The art is subpar for sure. It’s a bad mix of cartoony and realistic, combining the worst elements of both. It reminds me of when Salvador Larocca first made the transition from anime style art to his more modern realism. It’s just a mess. The story is ok. I hate Colossus and Domino as an item. It makes no sense. Boom Boom is one of my least favorite mutants, so that’s not helping. Colossus isn’t the type of person to throw fits. The saving grace for this book is Nightcrawler and the final panel (which I won’t ruin). And Magik. Magik rules.

12. Secret Wars: Battleworld – Another anthology book. I understand that this particular cross-over has to have this kind of material. There are like 50 new “worlds” throughout the Marvel U. that all need some backgrounding. And the overall picture of what is happening in the post-singularity Marvel U. is far more clear having read all of these books than it would have been had I merely read the Secret Wars main title. But, these stories do suffer from not being given much attention. I think I’d prefer to see them done in graphic novel or maxi-format and collected all at once rather than as these tiny snippets for the regular price tag. Anyway, about the book. The Strange/Punisher story is pretty nifty. Parts of it I liked a lot. The MODOK story is not great, which is weird because the MODOK solo book is top notch. I think both the art and story on the MODOK tale could use a lot of improvement. At any rate, not a bad entry, especially for an anthology.

11. Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars – This isn’t really a Battleworld book since it’s a flashback story explaining what Deadpool was doing during the original Secret Wars. That said, I suspect it has some tie in to modern continuity at some point. I felt like it was a little clunky, but still better than almost any other Deadpool I’ve read in the last 7 or 8 years. I generally feel like the character has been both overexposed and overly typecast. It’s just too rote of a serious of fart jokes at this point. That said, a massive context change did improve the content, at least momentarily. And the book looks good. The art is above average for a mainstream comic. Never say never. I’m reading a Deadpool book and it’s not a form of punishment by the gods.

10. Where Monsters Dwell – I keep wanting to rank this book higher. I love Ennis. The tone of this book is great. The humor is perfect. It feels like an Indiana Jones book set in the Marvel U., something that the super serious, at times too adult, comic book world could use more of. I like the swashbuckling rogueness of the protagonist. That said, some of the art is not up to snuff. It needs improvement. Dinosaur books can kiss my ass. I’m over them. I wish that this wasn’t a dinosaur book. This is a pretty well-done book, but definitely in the lower half of the tie-in’s.

9. Ultimate End – The choices just get really difficult here. This new Marvel line-up is that good. Ultimate End is penned by Bendis, illustrated by Bagley, and still can’t crack the top 5 of the newest releases. I think this book struggles from two things: a lot of confusing, sort of contrived drama between the Avengers and the Ultimates and the vast disinterest I, and I’m sure many others, have in the Ultimate universes at this point. I don’t care. I know that the Ultimate universe is ending and I don’t care. As long as Miles and Ganke make it out, I couldn’t care less what happens to this shell of a once proud modernized Marvel U. Bagley’s art is slipping; Bendis is carrying this book with his, as usual, excellent dialogue and pacing. So, this book would for most companies be their 2^nd or 3^rd best book, at least. For Marvel’s new roster, it comes in at 9.

8. Infinity Gauntlet – This is probably an unfair ranking. If I liked Nova more, I’d likely have this in the top five. Of all of the books below it (and a couple above), it has the best art. Dustin Weaver is murdering the competition on this book. The story is pure sci-fi, very reminiscent of Annihilation-era Marvel (a good thing). The two big reveals at the end of the book are carefully placed to avoid stomping on the story’s true action climax. For a book with almost entirely new characters, I was impressed with how involved I became with the characters. I look forward to reading more of this title. I won’t be shocked if it’s a big hit and some of the characters become staples.

7. Inhumans: Attilan Rising – I’d never have guessed 5 years ago that I’d rank an Inhumans book higher than an Ultimate book written by Bendis and an Indiana Jones clone scripted by Ennis, but welcome to the future. Charles Soule has proven himself to be a skilled writer capable of carrying a hit book. I think Inhumans will be that thing for him. This entire book is well put together. Visually, it’s striking. The new versions we see of familiar characters here are planned well and written well, great synergy between the script and the art. The mystery behind the conspiracy to unseat Doom is exciting. It also features a cameo by my now favorite Spirit of Vengeance. This book is the real deal.

6. Spider-Verse – I’ve read other Mike Costa stuff, notably during the actual Spiderverse event, and didn’t think much of it. I was wrong. This book is great. First off, the pencils by Andre Araujo are on point. Spider-Man is a tough character to work on because there are so many iconic images at this point. Araujo combines those standards into the new, multiversal versions of Spider-Man in a way that is equal parts tribute and progression. It’s quite impressive. Norman Osborn is one of the worst characters to see drawn poorly and Araujo nails it. I can’t wait to see his Goblin. The writing, as I’d alluded to, is stellar. I love Spider-Gwen here, more so than any of the other titles she’s appeared in. The last panel and the backup story are what’s great about comics, Marvel, and the world. I won’t spoil it, but you’ll know what I meant.

5. MODOK Assassin – Color me surprised. I’m not sure I’ve read more than 10 books MODOK has actually appeared in, a pretty impressive feat given that I’ve read around 10,000 Marvel comics (conservative estimate if you’re doing the math at home). I love this book. I don’t know how to explain it. MODOK just murders everyone (and some things too). There is a plot. It does explain a crucial element of Battleworld. But it features MODOK killing villains and heroes alike, a trait most consistent villains would hold for sure. The art direction is apropos, but nothing special. If it was slightly better (maybe less cartoony), I would probably have bumped this title up one or more spots. I liked it that much. I would read this book every month for a long time before getting tired of it. The first issue was rock solid.

4. A-Force – This book was moderately disappointing. I expected it to be 1 or 2. I almost ranked it fifth but then I reviewed the art again and realized it was even more impressive than at first glance. Jorge Molina is drawing the hell out of this book. The action is intense. The emotional moments are equally well rendered. The detailing is spectacular and there’s a lot of it. Only two books on this list have more impressive art and one of them is the very best book on the shelves. The plot of the book is well crafted. I love the immediate sense of internal strife that Wilson introduces to the team. I’m excited about the team members (I love the Runaways so seeing Nico in such a primary role is awesome). I will say, though, that I wished that the dialogue would have been better. Wilson writes better banter than Bennett does, so I feel comfortable saying that the dual writing must be a Wilson script with Bennett doing the actual writing finishes. It’s not bad, it’s just not what I’ve grown accustomed to with Wilson and what I was hoping for from this title.

3. Master of Kung-Fu – I was excited about this book from the start. I don’t pick up too many titles involving literally no one I’ve ever heard of. I will do that for Shang-Chi. Boy, was I right on about this. If you’re a fan of eastern cinema of any kind, this book has all of the tribute moments you’re looking for. If you love 1970’s Marvel comics, this book features a lot of great Bronze Age Marvel goodness. If you just like weird martial arts stories, this book is great. Some excellent parallel universe version of mid-range Marvel villains, like Typhoid Mary, some interesting mixtures of various Marvel martial arts traditions, and some great paneling Talajic really add a lot to this incredibly badass book. This could be as good as the Brubaker/Fraction Iron Fist series, an incredibly strong compliment from someone who believes that to be one of the 5 best Marvel series of the last 25 years.

2. Planet Hulk – Words cannot do justice to the awesomeness that is Captain America riding Devil Dinosaur into a continent filled with various Hulks. It’s pointless for me to keep writing. If that sentence doesn’t make you want to read this book and understand why I love it, then you suck.

1. Old Man Logan – Predictable. STILL better than I expected. Andrea Sorrentino is a rock star. If you missed the Bendis X-Men annuals this year, find them. She knocked them out of the park. This one, she launched into orbit. I truly love her pencils, her paneling, her facials expressions, her use of shading and kinetics to demonstrate action; it’s all so good. She’s a top five artist right now with potential to be the very best. I like Logan as a killer. I just do. I think that’s what I hated so much about Wolverine and the X-Men. I couldn’t stand the idea of the beast being caged that way. I wanted to see him do what he does best. So much of modern Marvel has run from that tradition. It’s good to see a book come back to it. I am excited to find out more about Luke and Jessica’s daughter. I was moved by the Emma’s story. This book has so much in it. ULTRON! It’s wonderful. This is why comics are made.