John Berry

4-22-09 (earthday)

--------It is Wednesday afternoon and I just got back from the comic book shop. I got the couch set up and my trusty laptop off to one side. I did my girlfriend faction-grinding mission of laundry and I got a full glass of Coke Zero. I am ready to get busy. So this afternoon I went to the shop and picked up my bag. Inside was Thor 601, Fantastic Force 1, New Avengers 52, Hulk 11 (this one I was really waiting for), Hercules 128, and Omega flight 1-5. My guy put in the Omega flight for me since it had Beta Ray Bill in it. I also decided to pick up The Mighty Avengers 21-24. Since I am reading two other Avengers titles I might as well pick this one up.

--------Ok so lets start with Hulk 11. Issue 10 set us up with a stand off between a smart green Hulk with the aid of his Defenders versus a red Hulk and the enemies of said Defenders. Apparently they are going by a team name called the Offenders. That part I found to be kind of stupid. Now the Silver Surfer, Namor, and Doctor Strange are all plucked from earlier points in their own timelines. They were all gathered from times when they had just lost their loved ones. Hulk was promised Jarella, his girlfriend from the old days in the Microverse. Is that where the Micronauts live? The rest of the Defenders are all promised back their girlfriends as well. Also the elder that picked the Hulk team made the Green Hulk intelligent again. This is a good thing; my favorite Hulk incarnations have always been the smarter ones. Now from the pictures and the setup I had expected a four on four rumble. Instead the teams are separated and placed in the home turf of one of their teammates. This means we get the red and green Hulks battling in Atlantis. The other Defenders face off against their enemies in various locals. One battles on the Surfer’s home world, we got a microverse fight, etc etc. Here is the part where things get good. Last night I had already started writing a paragraph about the lack of Hulk-sword in comics today. During the Hulk fight Green Hulk picks up a trident. It’s no Hulk-sword but I was glad to see him actually use it. Now granted he only used the butt end of it and the red Hulk ended up getting a hold of it and stabbing the green Hulk in the back with it. BTW does anyone actually think that Marvel is going to give all these characters their girlfriends back?

----------I have been reading the new Thor comic since issue 1. It has been pretty damn good too. The art is awesome, although the pacing is a little slow. Foe some reason Marvel likes to drag crap out. So after several issues the Thor title went from the early teens to 600. Issue 600 definitely delivered with Thor being manipulated by Loki into killing his grandfather, thereby getting himself exiled from Asgard. Issue 601 has Thor with a broken Mjolnor and Balder meeting with Doctor Doom about moving his people to Latveria. Pretty good read, however it was quite lacking in action.

----------New Avengers 52 showed recaps of the fight between the Hood and Dr Strange. This was good as I felt a little gypped by issue 51. Either way all the New Avengers are hooking up with Doc Strange and helping him to find the new Sorcerer Supreme. My money is on Doc Strange getting the title back. After reading a few of these I would say my favorite part is the dialogue between the New Avengers. It is a good mix of characters with well-defined personalities. If they ever got rid of Spider-Man it would suck. He is the glue that holds it together.

----------Now Hercules 128 was a treat. I am never excited about reading Hercules. I only picked it up because it got stuffed into my box with the whole taking over the Hulk thing. I came close to canceling it a couple times. The whole boy wonder side-kick thing was never an element I felt that comic books benefited from. In this comic Athena has taken to referring to Amadeus Cho as Hercules’s Eros. Yuk! That being said this issue delivered. It opens up with a three way battle between Hercules and friends, the Dark Avengers, and the Olympus Group. It proved to be a very satisfying fight.

----------Fantastic Force 1. I am having a tough time getting into this one. I didn’t read the story that lead to this. The recap is pretty thorough so I don’t think that was the problem. We got a Hulk guy there, but does he really need to wear glasses? I think my biggest complaint is The Hooded Guy. He is supposed to be Wolverine from 5oo years in the future. Definitely a cool concept, but the costume sucks. I cant even tell from his face that he is Wolverine. It’s only a 5 issue arc so I’ll probably keep reading it. I will keep you posted.

----------So of course I was watching the Lakers game last night. This is the time of year that I get to enjoy my Lakers. Postseason games get shown on the East coast. During regular season I only get a Lakers game every two weeks or so. I guess there are not a lot of Lakers fans on the East coast. Either way I love watching basketball on TNT. Charles Barkley, or C-Bark, as I like to call him always finds a way to crack me up. Tonight they had him arguing with Kenny Smith over who is tougher, Gambit or Wolverine. Now I am sure they both know who Wolverine is, but do you think either one of them has ever picked up an Xmen comic book? Regardless watching C-Bark pop out Wolverine claws certainly has entertainment value.

--------------------------------------See you next week.