Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Volume 1

Writer:  Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons

Artist: Ethan Van Sciver

I know next to nothing about DC.  I know vaguely each of the major players, but beyond the Superman and Batman movies, I’m ignorant.  I was told by several people to read the Sinestro Corps storyline in Green Lantern.  There were a lot subtleties that I probably didn’t pick up on, but I have to say that I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would.  It was clearly built on a solid history, and there were points that I had no idea what the characters were talking about, but the current story was strong enough to hold my interest, and got me wanting to read more about Green Lantern.

The bad guy Sinestro has found a Yellow Power Ring and is amassing an army of followers, giving them all rings.  This army stands in opposition to the Green Lantern Corps, and they are called, ironically enough, the Sinestro Corps.  Their goal is to spread fear throughout the universe, to bring all worlds under Sinestro’s rule, and impose order on a chaotic universe.  They kill a lot of Green Lanterns, the Lanterns fight back.  That’s basically the story.

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New Avengers Volume 1: Breakout

New Avengers Volume 2: Sentry

New Avengers Volume 3: Secrets and Lies

New Avengers Volume 4: Collective

New Avengers Volume 5: Civil War

New Avengers Volume 6: Revolution

The past weekend I decided to reread all of Brian Michael Bendis’s New Avengers, the six trades that are out.  This was to prepare for the forthcoming seventh trade and to prepare myself for the Secret Invasion.  Clues abound in the series on the extent of the Skrull infiltration.   New Avengers truly is Marvel’s flagship title.  It touches on every major Marvel event in the past three years and ties them all together, leading the universe to the inevitable showdown between Earth’s heroes and the Skrull invaders.

The make-up of the team is interesting.  Marvel clearly gathered some of their most powerful and popular characters and united them in a single book.  Wolverine and Spider-man are both well placed in the public eye because of their highly successful movies.  Iron Man and Captain America are both standards in the Marvel Universe so they get in.  The inclusion of the little known Jessica Drew as Spider-woman was interesting.  I had never heard of her before New Avengers, but her role as a triple agent, lying to everyone about what her true motivations are, make her one of the best characters in the series.

Keep reading, True Believers

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The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

Fanboy is your standard geek.  He’s in to computers and comics.  He’s constantly bullied at school and has no where to turn.  His mother is pregnant and his stepfather is just another bully.  His only refuge is the comic book he’s creating in the middle of the night, and his only dream is to meet Brian Michael Bendis, who will surely help Fanboy get his book published.  Then he meets your standard goth girl Kyra, and they become friends based on their shared hatred of the same bullies.

Barry Lyga’s book has a great blend of humor and drama.  Most of the humor is very sarcastic.  Fanboy makes hysterical comments about high school society in his very dry, sardonic voice.  There are also lots of in-jokes about the world of comics.  If the reader doesn’t know comics well, most of these jokes may be lost.  This use of humor based on the world of comics would make me recommend this to a person who has read a lot of comics but doesn’t read a lot of traditional novels.  Fanboy’s cynical voice and wry observations of high school and the world of comics makes for an enjoyable book.

The book is also, at times, very dark and depressing.  There is a constant threat of violence throughout the book.  Fanboy has a List, a running tally of all those who have ever tormented him.  These are not petty bullying episodes, they are violent incidents that are completely unjustified.  Fanboy is quiet, keeps to himself, is viewed as weak, and is therefore a target.  It is at times difficult to read and you question why he just won’t stand up for himself.  In addition to the List, he carries a bullet with him at all times, reaching for it almost like a religious icon when he is being bullied.  Kyra is far more vocal about her violent tendencies, and one of the central stories of the book is learning why she is so angry.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that the two title characters are not romantically involved.  They have great banter, constantly bickering with each other but developing a great friendship.  So many books of this sort show the weak hero all of a sudden coming into his own and finding the love of his life.  Fanboy definitely begins to stand up for himself, but he isn’t shown getting a relationship.  Not every milestone has to happen before the age of 18.

I felt this book was very relatable without being too preachy, and I never felt that this was an adult writing.  This is pretty much a pitch-perfect angsty teenager who is being pushed to the edge by bullies.  I especially liked the book because not everything was resolved at the end.  Fanboy is slightly more assertive, but you see that he is still a work in progress.  His relationship with his mother and stepfather seem to get better, but it’s still not perfect.  I highly enjoyed this book, because this was me in high school.  Cynical, angry at the world, feeling like there is no place to turn, and learning that there are people out there ready to listen if you are willing to open up.  I would recommend this to everyone, and I’m going to close this by saying I’m glad high school is over for me.

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Endangered Species

Written By: Mike Carey, Chris Yost, and Christos Gage

Art By: Scot Eaton, Mark Bagley, Mike Perkins, and Andrea De Vito

Issues:  X-Men: Endangered Species One-Shot, 17 8-page chapters.

Endangered Species is the X-Men event that works to lead into Messiah Complex.  The story follows Beast as he searches for a cure to the depowering of the world’s mutants.  He begins a world tour, meeting with all of Marvel’s top minds, heroic and villainous.  Beast pairs with his corrupt counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse, Dark Beast, and search the world for answers, from the ruins of Genosha to the Neverland mutant containment facility.

The series does some good things and some bad things.  Most of the bad comes from the format.  17 short 8-page stories doesn’t give much time for development.  The characters don’t really go anywhere.  I said the same thing about Illuminati, but I feel this is more from inadequate space to develop the characters more than too many heavy-hitters on the page.  The story is likewise just filler.  While pegged as the lead in to Messiah Complex, I don’t see how this should be required reading.

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New Avengers: Illuminati

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed

Art: Jim Cheung

Issues: Illuminati #1-5

I have been waiting for this book forever.  There are times that I regret waiting for the trades.  I’m impatient, but I definitely prefer reading the whole arc at once.  I have loved the concept of the Illuminati since their first appearance in New Avengers.  Marvel’s strongest characters banding together to take on monumental tasks.  Pretty cool stuff.  However, I was slightly disappointed by their actual miniseries.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, but I had it built up far more in my head, and the big revelation at the end had already been spoiled for me.

The Illuminati team is made up of six of Marvel’s strongest characters, each representing another team in this sort of meta-team.  Charles Xavier represents the X-men, Reed Richards is here for the Fantastic Four, Namor for Atlantis, Black Bolt for the Inhumans, Iron Man for the Avengers, and Dr. Strange representing all the magic users in the Marvel Universe.  The team first gathered together after the Kree-Skrull War, to determine how to safeguard Earth so such an event never happens again.  This mini-series shows their decision: Travel to the Skrull homeworld, make some threats, and blow up the Skrull emperor’s ship.

Keep reading!

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Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters

Writer: Warren Ellis

Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Issues: Thunderbolts #110-115, Thunderbolts Special

What is it about villains that we find intriguing in fiction?  Darth Vader.  Sauron.  The evil aliens from Independence Day.  Is it wrong that I was secretly rooting for each of them?  That must be the basis for Thunderbolts, a team of reformed super villains fighting crime, etc.  This is the first trade I’ve read of Thunderbolts, and really enjoyed it.  Set in post-Civil War Marvel America, the Thunderbolts are under new guidance, Norman Osborne and the United States government, and are tasked with tracking down unregistered heroes.

Even without knowing the detailed history of the Thunderbolts team, the book was very enjoyable.  From what I understand, much of the line-up is new, including Daredevil’s nemesis Bullseye and the new Venom.  Character development isn’t a huge part of the plot, it really is more about the situation than the characters.  They have been sanctioned by the government to brutally take down unregistered combatants.  It shows how they make the fights look worse than they really are, to show that the person being brought to justice was a threat, even though the real threat is having a team of insane villains working with government sanctions.  These people have been made into celebrities by the media, having shows and toys where the enemy is Captain America and his crew.  One can’t help but wonder what will happen when the political currents change and they are no longer needed as heroes, how will they react?

I really enjoyed this book.  If you enjoyed Civil War, I’m positive you’ll like this examination of where Marvel is going.  Until next time, folks.  Keep waiting for those trades.

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The Amazing Spider-man Volume 8: Sins Past

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Issues: The Amazing Spider-man #509-514

This is the trade that I wanted to read when I started reading Straczynski’s run on Amazing Spider-man.  I’d read about what happens in it, really wanted to read it, but got myself convinced that I should read the seven volumes before.  So for the past few months, I’ve been slowly getting caught up on Peter Parker’s adventures.  I’ve been satisfied with what’s gone on up to now, but not blown away.  Straczynski’s writing is great, his dialogue is dead on, but some of the villains were boring for my taste, and too much on the supernatural side.  But then came the Sins Past storyline, and I am in love with Spider-man once again.  I’m choosing to ignore Mephisto’s appearance in current issues, preventing him from ruining my reading past issues.

Sins Past revolves around a pair of villains confronting Spider-man, threatening his family, and trying to wipe him off the face of the earth.  Pretty standard villainry, actually.  They feel Spider-man has wronged them and are questing to make things right.  I tinkered with the idea of keeping this spoiler free, but since these were published years ago, I’m not going to worry about it.

My spider-sense says you should keep reading…

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