Catching up - last week's comics

Graduate school comes first!

Marvel Comics:

Ultimate Iron Man #4: Orson Scott Card writes a comic book! Despite some similarities to his other work (good child genius fights psychopathic child genius) this is a well told tale. This issue is the best one so far, with the stakes clearly amped up, and with the Iron Man armor finally taking shape.

Fantastic Four #531: Haven't I already seen this on Babylon 5? I mean, JMS is a great writer and all that, but haven't we already sang this song and done this dance a few too many times?

Hulk: Destruction #3: The Hulk (well, Bruce Banner) finally arrives, after 3 issues of backstory on the abomination. Methinks he artist needs to work on his interpretation of the script. In one scene, the art made me think Mercy (the lady) was trying to seduce her boss, yet the dialogue indicated she was upset because she found out she had a terminal illness and not long to live, so her boss was offering her the chance to undergo crazy, weirdo experiments to try and cure it. Bizarre dichotomy.

Defenders #3: Okay, DeMatteis and Giffen are funny guys, but male rape is hardly a joke. Yeah - it's the Hulk getting raped, but still - they'd never get away with this if was the Hulk raping Umar. But when Umar rapes the Hulk, it's a barrel of laughs, I guess.

[Of course, now that I think about it, male rape is a joke, apparently. In The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, Matt gets raped several times and the narrative (as well as many other characters in the tale) regards it as a joke. I get it - men getting raped is comic gold!]

Daredevil #77: Don't you just hate it when you're getting "alone time" with your wife, and then several of your half naked, drop dead gorgeous ex-girlfriends show up? Nope, neither do I. But I'm guessing Daredevil does. Oh, yeah - there's something about the Kingpin in here too.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1: A quick tour of all the "alternative" universes in the Marvel Megaverse. Useful for the newbie who wants to understand what the heck is going on and for the old time fan who needs to refresh his/her memory.

IDW comics:
Angel #4: This series started out strong, but this was a weak, confusing issue. Here's hoping the conclusion will be better - Especially since it looks more and more likely comics will be the only place to get Whedon approved post-TV series Angel tales.