Comics of August 14, 2013

So I’ve got 12 comics to get through this week. Some of them were great, some of them were just fun, and some of them were, well … let’s get started with my first impressions. Also, I’m ignoring Infinity for now because I’d rather only read one more event this year, and I’m generally more into the X-Men than the Avengers. I’ll still read the tie-ins in the titles I’m already reading though.

The comics I picked up are Superior Spider-Man Team Up 2 and Scarlet Spider 20 (putting them together since they’re a 2-part crossover), Fearless Defenders 8, Uncanny X-Men 10, Thor: God of Thunder 11, Fantastic Four 11, Avengers Arena 13, Wolverine and the X-Men 34, Astonishing X-Men 65, Red Sonja 2, Batman 23 and Batgirl 23. I’ll add links to full reviews as they’re posted.

Wolverine and the X-Men 34 review

Red Sonja 2 review

Avengers Arena 13 review

Superior Spider-Man team up 2 and Scarlet Spider 20 were fun. Together, they form the Sibling Rivalry crossover, where Kaine and SpiderOck meet up for the first time. It’s a fun throwback to 90’s comics. It embraces the weirdness of the Spider-Man comics while making fun of it at the same time. The characterization for both Spider-Men is perfect. If you like either character and/or want to see them in a comic together, this is an easy recommendation.

Fearless Defenders 8 was also a lot of fun. Valkyrie, Misty Knight and Elsa Bloodstone team up for a bit of monster hunting. We also learn the nature of Valkyrie’s sacrifice from the last issue and it could lead to some interesting storytelling. As always for this series, the banter is always entertaining. And at last, it’s nice that Valkyrie finally has a new outfit that’s a lot more dignified than her old one. This is simply a very entertaining comic and I recommend it to anyone who thinks they could enjoy a general team up book with some of Marvel’s best B and C-list women.

Uncanny X-Men 10 was good. The bulk of this issue focuses on character development and moving several plot threads forward. I’m not a huge fan of the art style, but it works well enough for this issue. There’s not much else to say without directly discussing the plot. If you’re an X-Men fan in general though, it’s worth giving this series a chance. Also, this issue should be easy for new readers to understand.

Thor: God of Thunder was slightly disappointing, but still good.  The only disappointment is that the solution to the problem is a little anti-climactic, and that it seems to happen way too soon. The rest of the comic is full of conclusions. These conclusions are good, but it feels as though they could have handled their space more efficiently. Either way, the story of Thor vs. Gorr the God Butcher was vastly entertaining. I’m kind of considering dropping Jason Aaron’s Thor title. Not because I don’t think it will remain entertaining, but because I have no idea how he’s going to top this.

Fantastic Four 11 was a bit confusing on my first reading, but that may be because I had to rush through these 12 comics to get this post up. (I have other things to do today). So I’m not really sure what my impressions are at this point. I liked Valeria Richards’ portrayal in today’s issue though.

Astonishing X-Men 65 is decent. It concludes the story where Iceman nearly destroys the world. It feels a little anticlimactic, but there’s some good character work with Iceman. This storyline’s biggest problem isn’t in the storytelling quality, but that it’s hard to care about Iceman (who is easily the most mishandled of the original five X-men). It’s nice that Marjorie Liu tried, and she’s doing much better than Jason Aaron in Wolverine and the X-men, but I’m starting to wonder if Iceman is a lost cause by this point. At the very least, his character is treated with more dignity here than in today’s WATXM … I’ll get to that when I review that issue. I would recommend this to those who have read the rest of the storyline, but I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone else.

Batman 23 was decent. Whether you should be reading this storyline depends on how much you want to re-read about Batman’s origin again. The storytelling is good, but it kind of feels like an extended version of Batman Begins. Check it out if that interests you.

Batgirl 23 was good. It’s a fairly dark and dramatic issue, but it at least starts off light hearted and fun. For those who are unaware, Batgirl is currently being hunted by Commissioner Gordon for killing his criminal son, not knowing that Batgirl is his daughter and that she had to in order to save her mother’s life. So far, Gail Simone is not wasting the dramatic potential behind this ordeal. An easy recommendation for Batman fans who want to learn more about his extended bat-family.