Friday, January 9, 2009

Comics this week

Secret Invasion: War of Kings- Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning revamped the cosmic section of Marvel with some impressive work Annihilation, followed it with a solid series in Nova, did an encore in Annihilation: Conquest, continue it with another monthly series in Guardians of the Galaxy, and they have the upcoming War of Kings miniseries. Secret Invasion: War of Kings is a one-shot that serves as a prelude for War of Kings. The story is how the Inhumans (or more actually their king Black Bolt) went into the stars to exact vengeance on the surviving Skrulls. I like how this one-shot show just what the Inhumans are about. They are the most powerful race on Earth but their peaceful ways have been mistaken for weakness for far too long. I mean Black Bolt is the most powerful individual on Earth barring maybe the Sentry and the Hulk. After being abducted and tortured by the Skrulls, it’s time for some revenge. As this is a prelude, SI: Inhumans also show how Black Bolt comes into conflict with Vulcan and the Shi'ar Empire. As these 2 are the kings that will be involved in the War of Kings series, this is necessary but the reason seems like a throwaway afterthought. The attack on the Kree was kind of surprising as there is royal marriage arrangement between these 2 parties. The upcoming marriage between Ronan the Accuser and Crystal was supposed to seal an alliance between the Kree and the Inhumans; why would Black Bolt attack the Kree when they would become allies sooner or later? It smack of the writer’s need to make Black Bolt the king so that he can match up against Vulcan, but outside this detail SI: War of Kings is a success. If nothing else, it makes me look forward to the War of Kings.

Secret Six #5- Villain books need to sick and twisted; I mean they are books about villains right? And in the sick and twisted stakes, Secret Six is a winner. The end to this issue is so twisted that you will wonder how this book ever see print. As I have said before, I’m not a fan of Bane but Gail Simone is slowly but surely winning me over to the character. Bane’s character fit the Six a lot better than I thought it would and his relationship with Scandal Savage is interesting to say the least. Another solid issue in an excellent series

X-Men Noir #2- When you think of the X-Men, you think of the powers they have. So much of their character is based on their powers; sometimes you can’t help but wonder how they would be without their power. How would a powerless Rogue be like? X-Men Noir answers that question very, very well. Writer Fred Van Lente really put some thought into the reimagination of the X-Men. That plus a solid story make this a good read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you know comics are drawn as well, right?

Ghost said...

Yes but I'm more drawn to the stories than the art. To me good story with bad art is better than good art with bad story. Others might feel different, but that's my view