"'Cause She's The Music MEISTER!!!"

Comic-Con is always a good time, but some years are less fun than others. 2010 was the unlucky year this time around.

I enjoyed myself, and saw some great stuff, but for a lot of it, I just felt like I was going through the motions. Let’s take it day-by-day, shall we?

Join me after the break.

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I will follow these heroes into Hell itself.

What has come before: Six years worth of comics that had the name Avengers on the cover, but bore no resemblance to the 40 years of Avengers comics that came before those.

Deserved or not, I’ve given Brian Bendis a fair amount of grief for his Marvel output in the last few years. Sure, Siege may have been underwhelming, but at least it tied off some of Marvel’s more annoying plot points (Goodbye Lex Luthor-lite, aka Norman Osborn), and freed us all from any more comics starring the Sentry (for now). I say the end justifies the means, especially if that end is Avengers #1.

This is the Avengers comic I have been waiting six years for. It features a team of A-list heroes fighting epic battles against the biggest threats to the Marvel Universe (Welcome back, Kang; how I’ve missed you). It is new reader friendly, with plenty of bits for longtime fans to chew on (the spread on pages 4-5 are a shout out to both Avengers fans AND Bendis fans). And the art. Oh my God, the art.

John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson are arguably the highest profile art team at Marvel. By placing them on this title, Marvel appears to have committed to making Avengers their flagship title. And they definitely brought their “A” game. Romita draws as if he was possessed by the ghost of Jack Kirby himself, creating highly stylized work that still tells a clear story. And Janson (Romita’s longtime inker) makes it all “pop”. Throw in Dean White’s bold primary color palette (eye-catching without being garish) and the end result is a comic that feels like the comics I remember falling in love with.

So the slate is clean, Bendis. I’m back in. Don’t abuse my trust.

Joss Whedon, director of "CHUD 2099"

As you’ve no doubt already read on Twitter, Facebook, various RSS feeds, and half the Internet at large, Joss Whedon is in final talks to direct Marvel’s upcoming “Avengers” movie, slated for release May 4 2012.

Whedon is, of course, well known for his various Whedonverse series’, as well as his runs on Astonishing X-Men and Runaways. Rumors abound of his potentially reworking the Avengers script to some extent, as well.

Geeks are rending their shirts like pre-pubescent Beatles fans. I, for one, am one part excited, one part hedging my bets completely.

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The final act of the 3ish year overarching plot headed by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost is finally beginning its end. We’re talking a five month crossover story contained within Uncanny X-Men, X-Men: Legacy, New Mutants, and X-Force (similar to what they did back during Messiah CompleX) where you have to buy all of these comics to get the full story.

This is the first issue; a one-shot.

What you need to know: Mutants across the world have been cut down to a mere 198 (well, 181 now according to this current issue) thanks to good ol’ Wanda Maximoff (see also: House of M). The kicker is that no new mutants have been born since then. Out of the blue, BAM, a mutant is born. And every group of bad guys you could think of who has tried to kill off the X-Men finds out. So what happens? Cable ends up finding this girl first–knowing with his memory of the past from his future–that she will save mutantkind. Then what does he do? He jumps into the future to save her, but Bishop follows. Why? Well, Bishop has to kill this girl, as she caused his past in his future to be a terrible place. For 18 years (3 years worth of comic books) the chase through time between Cable & the baby (who ends up with the name Hope) and Bishop goes on, and now Cable and Hope are back. As for Bishop… you’ll need to read Cable #24 to find out.

This is where we’ll start things. *spoilers abound*

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Mysterio! The Gauntlet! Dan Slott! Oh my!

After not reading comics for almost two months, I finally went and picked up all of the comics I hadn’t bought and in this monstrous stack was Amazing Spider-Man #618. Penned by Dan Slott with art by Marcos Martin, this was the issue I have been looking forward to for months (since I heard word of it back in August) that was apart of Spider-Man’s “The Gauntlet.”

In case you haven’t been keeping up with Amazing Spider-Man, what’s been happening is this: all of Spidey’s old villains have been coming back… with a vengeance. The thing is, they’re not coming back to get Spider-Man, but they’re coming back to do what they do best: do selfish things. So far, we’ve had Electro, Sandman, Rhino (2.0) and this weeks baddy–Mysterio.

It’s been all very good so far, but this week’s issue… I wasn’t feeling it so much, which is a huge surprise since I have an absolute love for Dan Slott’s Spider-Man. But let’s talk more after the break.

*some minor spoilery after the break*

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More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
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Do you buy comic books?

That’s my question for you today. Do you buy comic books? If so, why? What keeps you coming back each month to each book you buy?

I’ve stated on many occasions that I’m an avid X-Men fan and each month I come back to my X-books knowing that the story is going to go forward to something great–and also, small hopes that Gambit will make an appearance. Marvel has (pretty much) had solid writing on the part of X-Men for the last 10 years or so and since I started picking up single issues instead of trades (which started roughly a year and a half ago) I’ve been buying at least one X-book a month because they’re that good. Of course, as of right now I’m buying almost all the X-books (Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, X-Men: Legacy, Cable)… because I’m a super nerd.

But I also pick up a lot of non-X-books.

Invincible Iron Man, for instance, is a book I’ve been buying since I read the first issue of “World’s Most Wanted.” Combining the art of Salvador Larroca and the writing of Matt Fraction, the 12 issue story arc has kept me wanting more and more each month. Both the plot and the art are above and beyond what I ever thought possible for a story focused on Iron Man. This is one of the books I’m going to classify as “I’m glad I started reading/buying when I did.”

Incredible Hercules. I have been reading Incredible Hercules since it’s first issue after World War Hulk, but I didn’t start buying it until issue #125 or so. Since then, I have bought the back issues of the comic (back to #112). This is a comic that when I read it, I don’t want it to end. The story and the writing in general is simply fantastic. It drives the comic beyond what I would ever expect from a Marvel comic. It’s strange to say, but this comic is so good, I’m surprised it hasn’t been canceled yet. Do you know what I mean?

Marvel aside, I do grab some DC/Vertigo comics as well as some independents.

Detective Comics. This is the one comic book I never thought I’d see myself reading a year ago. To me Detective Comics and Action Comics are the definitive DC comics and a year ago I wanted nothing to do with DC. I was a fool. On a whim I picked up Detective Comics #854 after a buddy of mine recommended it to me. This is another one of those “I’m glad I started reading/buying when I did” comics as I can not stop loving every piece of this comic. The art alone keeps me coming back each month.

The Vertigo comic I read right now that keeps me wanting more each month is DMZ. A comic I started buying back around issue #35, I wish I owned #1-34 because Brian Wood‘s story is just fan-flipping-tastic. This is probably the best non-super-hero comic I have ever read in my life. Period.

Outside of Robert Kirkman‘s plethora of sexy-time comic books, I read some random independent comics because I always like to try out the indie publishers here and there to see if there is greatness out there. Warren Ellis‘ torrent of comics that he releases tend to keep me buying every month (most recently Supergod and Ignition City), Garth Ennis‘ Crossed, and Mark Waid‘s Irredeemable keep me wanting more every month. With these indie comics, it’s a sick hunger I get for more story each month. Wendigo style.

There are a few others in there I buy but the comics above are the ones I always look forward to the most. But again, I have to know, why do you buy comics? What keeps you coming back to your favorite titles? Let me know in the comments.

If you judged this book by its cover, you'd be absolutely right: it kicks ass.

For the last few months, Marvel has released a series of one shots, collectively called “The List,” in which Norman Osborn enacts devious plots against various heroes in the Marvel Universe. Each issue has been a self-contained story, and for the most part, they have all been rather enjoyable. This week saw the release of the best one to date, which stars Wolverine.

As novel an idea as it may be for Wolverine to star in a comic </sarcasm>, I was more intrigued by the guest stars of this issue: Noh-Varr and Fantomex. Both characters were created by Grant Morrison, and have either been mishandled or ignored completely since Morrison left for DC a few years ago. It’s good to see writer Jason Aaron take these characters (as well as other concepts from Morrison’s X-Men run) and use them to craft one of the most fun comics I’ve read in a long time. This comic has tons of action and is funny as hell. All of the characters get some great lines, particularly Osborn.

Not only does this comic contain a great story, but like a good DVD, it has plenty of bonus features, including Marvel Universe entries for Fantomex and Marvel Boy, and a short Wolverine story written by Aaron earlier in his career.

Highly recommended. You get a lot of bang for your 4 bucks here.

More info about the comics reviewed after the break.

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More info about this video after the break.

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