Bottom of the Pile: December 31st, 2013

The last comics of 2013.  What up.

Aquaman 26


When a creative team switches, it's customary for you to give the next team at least one issue to see if they've got the stuff.  If they don't, you stop reading; no harm, no foul.  Fortunately, it seems as if writer Jeff Parker does indeed have that "it" factor necessary to keep me reading.  Which is apparently Godzilla-sized crustaceans.  Well, that and continuing what Geoff Johns started in showing Aquaman and Mera to be complete bad-asses. 

 Flash 26


This book wins purely off the virtue of having a Flash fact.  Oh, and being a one-shot.  That's truly impressive, all things considered.  The new team for this takes over in either February or March, but I do hope we see Christos Gage on more DC stuff.  They could use more writing on this level.

Guardians of the Galaxy 10
 
 

The interesting thing about this book is the idea of seeing Angela's "people".  If you didn't already know, Angela's people are from Image comics, unless Neil Gaiman got THAT in the lawsuit as well.  If not, well...retcon incoming, I suppose.  Either way, this was a fairly hilarious book involving two ass-kicking ladies doing what they do best. 
 New Avengers 13


Holy SHIT this book is fucking bleak. Last issue teased the other threats the Illuminati would have to deal with if they were to stop this incursion of universes, mentioning a number of fearsome-sounding opponents.  This issue we get to see one of them, the Black Kings.  And what you see there is the result, albeit on a team from a different universe.  Jonathan Hickman has been using NA to ask such interesting questions, and the one presented to us this time is: What makes our heroes any different from these?

If you notice Bottom of the Pile is taking on a different form.  Less review, more overall commentary.  I only review comics I like anyway, which means every week I have to come up with different ways to say "Pretty pictures" and "This book wuz gud".   New year, new changes.  Hopefully what comes out of this will be more interesting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sage Spoils The Plot: Kamen Rider Decade

Image
Starting a new section today, entitled Sage Spoils The Plot. I pondered over this name for quite a while, but as I thought about it, I realized calling it commentary or blogging or whatever is just bullshit. What you're REALLY doing is spoiling the plot and adding your own brand of shitty humor. So, why not be honest? Plus, Sage Spoils The Plot has kind of a ring to it. For the first section we're doing the new Kamen Rider series of 2009, Kamen Rider Decade. Kamen Rider checks a lot of "totally fucking awesome" boxes for me. A lot of people might call it, "Japanese Power Rangers" (which is untrue from the start since that already exists) due to the suits and the fight scenes. I accept this. That said, its proof that anything done right can be cool--so when you get rid of the over-acting, toss in a good plot (exceptionally good plots actually), add in some well done characterization, and tone down the stupid-level of the fight scenes and make them look less l
Read more

The New 52, Corrected: Justice Legion A

Image
What Happened: It’s another replacement book.  This time we’re getting rid of Legion Lost.  What I’d Change: Enjoy the adventures of the Justice League of the 853rd century.  Why: Put simply?  Legion Lost didn’t have enough legs to function as an ongoing series.  A group of the Legion’s best members go to the past to combat an alien virus...and then what.  They get stuck?  Meh.  The appeal of the Legion is they’re from the future.  This could have been a great MINI-series; something with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  As an ongoing I got bored, really fast.  So instead let’s replace them with a book about the Justice League of the far future. DC's got a terrible habit of making up awesome concepts and then leaving them by the wayside, this is one of DC’s greatest and its only been revisited like, twice.  (Once by Geoff Johns with Booster Gold 1,000,000 and once with Chris Roberson with some Superman/Batman comic.)   It helps lighten the hit that came with Flashpoint
Read more