Or - “Wanna See My New Favorite Comic Book?”

One of the marks of a really good comic book in today’s ‘Event-Driven’ industry (at least for me) is whether you’re tripped up by the question of “Where does this take place?” World War Hulk is a good example… The stories in Incredible Hulk are taking place between panels of the WWH limited series, but both stories are so well-crafted that I don’t worry about it. This book was written BEFORE the events of Civil War, obviously, but has been adjusted to take place AFTER the Stark Era, creating the possibility of those questions, but I’m having such fun with it that I don’t even care what’s up with Mandarin II.

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Not a huge week of sneak peeks from Marvel, but a good dozen should keep you busy for the rest of the weekend. Arriving in stores next week: EXILES 99, FANTASTIC FOUR AND POWER PACK 4, HOWARD THE DUCK 1, IRON MAN: ENTER THE MANDARIN 2, MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN 32, MS. MARVEL 20, OMEGA THE UNKNOWN #1, SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 3, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP/MODOK’S 11 4, UNCANNY X-MEN 491, WOLVERINE ANNUAL 1: DEATHSONG

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Or - “Don’t You Hate It When People Get A Swelled Head About Themselves?”

Man, I hate it when I get behind… It’s virtually impossible to catch up again, and I end up doubling my efforts, which leads to me getting tired, which leads to me taking a day off and getting behind again. Catch-22. Really, it’s very similar to the feeling that MODOK’s minion patrol (aren’t minions small onions?) seems to be encountering in their attempt to knock off a group of quasi-godlike beings called the Infinicide, in which the price of failure is death, and the cost of success is… also death.

So.. their choice is “or death?” Let’s see if anybody has the cojones to choose cake…

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Forget reading the Sunday funnies in your newspaper, here is the place for a whole bunch of sneak peeks for titles arriving this week directly from Marvel. In this batch MS. MARVEL 19, NEW EXCALIBUR 23, NEW WARRIORS 4, SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2, SHE-HULK 21, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP/MODOK’S 11 3, UNCANNY X-MEN 490, WHITE TIGER 6, WOLVERINE 57.

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Or - “There Is No Character Who Cannot Be Interesting In The Right Hands.”

It always makes me angry when the major comics companies decide that it’s time to “clear the decks” and off a bunch of characters in a crossover cluster-schmozz. Sure, it reinforces the illusion that comic stories have lasting consequences, but it usually just leads to an eventual series of resurrections or revamps that make the initial attempt to “clean up” continuity ridiculously laughable. Marvel is in a period of experimentation right now, and the racks are literally flooded with titles whose membership consists of random samplings from the Marvel Universe, but this one is something different. A good rule of thumb is that anything with MODOK, Nightshade, or Rocket Racer is worth a look in my book, so this series hits the rare hat trick…

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Wizard World Chicago is coming to an end, and most of the big announcements have been made. There’s nothing you can do about it now, but perhaps this selection of sneak peeks from Marvel Comics will help you ease into the new week.

In this installment RED PROPHET: THE TALES OF ALVIN MAKER 10, SPIDER-MAN FAMILY 4, SUB-MARINER 3, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP/MODOK’S 11 2, TERROR, INC. 1, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN 112, WOLVERINE: ORIGINS 16

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Or - “I Never Realized George Clooney’s Head Was Quite That Big…”

Well, after reading issue #1, turns out I was wrong in some of my previous assessments of the team assembled here. MODOK is the Danny Ocean archetype, that much seems clear, but it seems it’s Mentallo taking on the Brad Pitt/Rusty Ryan role, with Rocket Racer as Livingston Dell and Chameleon as Matt Damon. I was, however, seemingly on the mark about Puma being the Greaseman. Maybe I shouldn’t look for quite so many direct parallels, but what’s the fun of that? Besides, the Soderbergh movie is fun, clever, and unexpected, so if we have to compare this issue to something, might as well set the bar high, eh?

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