Drunken Comics Rage

I was really planning on posting a lot of stuff on Monday, but my Internet connection had other ideas. The damn thing died, and it was like some sort of sick joke to get AT&T to fix it. They're terrible. Everyone I talked to was really nice, and acted like they wanted to help, but pretty much everything that anyone said to me was flat out wrong. I could go on all day about their bad service, but let's just get to the comics.

Skaar Son Of Hulk #1

Story wise, there's wasn't a hell of a lot going on here, but I actually enjoyed the comic. They give the background at the beginning to get everyone caught up a little bit, and then there's just a lot of fighting and killing.

To give you some background, in Planet Hulk, several heroes con The Hulk into a shuttle, and shoot him off into space. Hulk lands on a world called Sakaar, and goes from being a gladiator to becoming the king. Hulk even takes a wife, and gets her pregnant (insert your own poor taste Hulk sex joke here). Well, the shuttle blows up, and wipes out everything, killing Hulk's wife and unborn child. All that leads to World War Hulk, where The Hulk comes back to get his revenge.

Well, it seems that Hulk's wife had a few tricks up her sleeve, and manages to protect her unborn child. The child comes into the world, and pretty much begins wailing on, and eating, anything that gets in his way.

DVO mentioned that he was hoping that it would be very Conan like, and it really seems that it is. I mentioned before there wasn't a lot going on here, and that's pretty much because it's an origin story of how he was born, and made it through the world, until the actual story starts. I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out since it seems to have a lot of potential.

Titans #3

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I bought it. Why? I have no idea. It's like some sort of train wreck I need to see.

Well, first off let's talk about the story. There is none. There, glad we got that out of the way. Alright, I guess I should explain a little more, but it won't take much. 

In this issue, they know that Trigon took three brides (other than Raven's mom), so they go to track them down.  The team splits up, finds that each of the brides is supposed to be dead, and then each team gets a little weird. Donna and Flash yell at each other, Nightwing and Starfire have sex, and Raven, Arsenal, and Beastboy get into a fight. Exciting stuff there.

The idea is that it's envy, lust and rage and it seems to be part of the powers that Trigon's three sons, who show up on the last page, got from their father. That's pretty much it. Not a damn thing else happens. It's all just one big long set up to have My Three Sons show up at the end.

This seems to be a really bad trend in the first three issues. The issue isn't about a story, it's really just a setup for the last page or two. Now, all comics do that to a certain degree. You want to leave a cliff hanger kind of ending, so that the reader wants to buy the next issue. The difference is that normally, there's an overall story, and each issue is a part of that story. The Titans comics so far just seem to start with what they want to reveal at the end, and then just make the rest of the issue fit to the ending. That's just really poor writing, or maybe just not bothering to put any effort into it.

The Last Defenders #4

I started out this series thinking that I was probably going to regret it. It picked up a little in the second and third issues, and now that I've read number four, I'm happy I've been getting them.

This issue wraps up the fight they had on the oil rig at the end of last issue, and the consequences of Nighthawk putting together a team of hired guns. I think what really makes the issue for me is the exchange between Nighthawk and Stark, and the little bit after that where Nighthawk talks about their history.

There's also some more foreshadowing concerning the Son of Satan, and Yandroth whose been popping up here and there. I'm actually really interested to see how everything is going to come together, and what the payoff is going to be. I am a little worried though that there are only two issues left, and it might feel kind of rushed. We'll see how it goes.

Salvation Run #7

I can actually say that this ending didn't disappoint. This is another one where I was worried about how it was going to end. With all of the big name bad guys in the book, you know they're going to get back to Earth, so there was never really going to be a surprise ending or anything. It was just going to be how well they got to that ending, and I think they did it pretty well.

I'd really like to talk a little more about it, but anything I say will ruin some of the surprises. Sure, I gave away the ending to Titans, but that's because I'm trying to save you from making the same mistake I did, and actually reading it.

I'll also say that I really liked two parts. I liked the narration by Captain Cold in the beginning and end. I'll admit that it's gets a little cheesy in places, but overall I liked it. I also enjoyed the egomaniacal rant that Luthor goes on right before everyone leaves the planet. I thought it really showed what he thinks of himself, and a little bit about his character.

I still have Final Crisis to go through. I've read it, and I pretty much have no freaking idea what's going on. I didn't hate it though. We'll see how long that lasts. I think I'm already behind in that I don't know a lot of what's recently happened, and by issue two, I'm wondering if there's five tie-ins that I'll need to have read to get anything out of issue two, and I think if that happens, I'm not going to bother with 3-7.

Hopefully I can get that, and Trinity 1 and 2, and possibly #3 now (I haven't been to the comics shop this week yet). When AT&T fixed my DSL though they managed to screw up the phones, and they have to come back out and fix that…so there's a chance my Internet link will go to hell. I already have my fingers crossed. 

Filed under: DC Comics, Ghostshark's Rants, Marvel Comics