GeekMom: Comic Book Corner — July 25th, 2012

Happy Comic Release Day! Welcome to another installment of GeekMom Comic Book Corner, where we recap our adventures in comics for the week.

Kelly Knox – Captain Marvel Issue #1
Ms. Marvel stars in her new series, Captain Marvel, and she makes quite the impact in its debut. The issue opens with a newspaper front page announcing that Carol Danvers’ mask is off, and she has donned a new costume and a new hairdo.

The newspaper sets a retro tone for the opening of the book as Ms. Marvel fights alongside Captain America as the Absorbing Man makes a mess of things in New York City. With the villain shouting outdated sexist comments like, “Wouldn’t catch me gettin’ bossed around by no broad” and “just like a woman,” it made me question in which decade the action was taking place. It wasn’t until I noticed some onlookers snapping pictures with their cell phones that I stopped wondering and paid attention to the story again.

If you’re not familiar with Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel #1 takes just a few panels to give you her background and how she obtained her marvelous powers. The series isn’t a reboot of Ms. Marvel. Her long history is still there, and the first issue does a wonderful job of showing her in action to tell you about her personality and career as both a superhero and an Air Force colonel. GeekMom Corrina, who also picked up the issue this week, mentioned, “I thought DeConnick captured Carol as a military officer perfectly.”

As promised, Captain America and Spider-Man make appearances in the first issue, and Cap is instrumental in encouraging Carol Danvers to take up the name of Captain Marvel.

I had high expectations for this series and Captain Marvel #1 paid off. I recommend picking it up.

Dakster Sullivan – Avengers vs. X-Men Round 8

Avengers vs. X-Men Round 8 is far less confusing than Round 7. I actually understood what was going on this time.

I’ll try to give you the basic happenings without spoiling to much. Namour is attacking Wakanda and Black Panther is reasonably ticked. Wolverine has gone with Hope to some ancient city of Kung Fu along with IronMan and Lei Kung, so she can learn how to handle the Phoenix power.

Professor Xavier shows up briefly in Scott’s head and issues a threat that left me with chills down my spine. Scott doesn’t believe him and blows him off. Scott leads the rest of the Phoenix Five to Wakanda to help Namor take out the Avengers. During this time, we see a major change in the balance of power. We are left with the usual “what’s next?” with the Avengers.

Now that I’ve summarized things, here are a few of the things have be curious about the final four rounds.

First, how is Hope going to be prepared to take the Phoenix in this ancient Kung Fu city?

Second, why has the Professor waited so long to intervene, when it’s been apparent for at least two rounds that Scott has gone nuts?

Third, with the major shift in the Phoenix Five, will they finally turn on each other and start trying to go after their own individual agendas?

With Round 9 coming out next week, I’m hoping that at least one of these questions will be answered.

Avengers vs. X-Men is available at your local comic book store, through Comixology, and through the Marvel comic book app. Don’t forget that with each trade edition you buy, you receive a free digital copy of the same issue.

Kay Moore – Catwoman Issues 3 and 4 and Fathom: Dawn of War

I was fortunate to continue reading Catwoman (2002-2008) this week. Catwoman issue 4 was a great read–full of action and visual cleverness. In this issue, Catwoman confronts the villain she has been chasing, responsible for murders and assaults on street women, but discovers that he may need intervention as well as incarceration. They fail to come to an understanding and have a magnificent fight. I especially liked the visual representations of events, action, and characters. This issue is a treat so catch up and come along on the Catwoman journey.

Curiosity led me to Fathom: Dawn of War, a story of conflict between sea-dwellers and humans. I like the art on the cover–it isn’t exploding and full of either darkness or primary colors–it doesn’t look like it is shouting but it still is very fetching. The art supports the story well and every now and then made me stop and really pay attention to a page or series of panels or play of colors. I am not sure yet how the writing shapes up, except that the story shows promise in that there is conflict among the mer people as well as between them and the humans. The story is rated for 15+; so far the violence wasn’t very explicit, but perhaps that will change.

The story starts in issues 0 and 1, at a mountain military base in a vaguely not-here-and-now world, where prisoners in elaborate handcuffs are transferred from a transport to cells; the prisoner described as the leader is traveling in a module filled in an elaborate cell-cum-aquarium filled with water. Elsewhere, an elfen-faced woman with stripey blonde hair, our heroine Kiani, discusses her missing mentor Casque with two accomplices in a bubbly blue environment.

In a flashback we see an underwater base undergoing a search by Kiani and buddies, where she discovers clues to his imprisonment. Read Fathom to see the human world and the undersea world clash and find out if Kiani and Casque can once again team up.

Dawn of War – The Complete Saga is a collection of issues 0, 1, 2, and 3 of the Fathom: Dawn of War series, which comprises 7 issues out of the full Fathom series, which runs 57 issues, but isn’t in production anymore. This is pretty attractive to me since many of the comics that caught my eye in the past turn out to be singletons or only have a couple issues–I don’t want to go on a couple dates and then get jilted just as I start to feel mushy. Issue 0 and issue 1 are available as free samples from Comixology.

Looking for something else, readers? Check out this week’s listed books:

All-Star Western #11 American Vampire #29 Aquaman #11 Batman Incorporated #3 (CP) Batman The Dark Knight #11 Before Watchmen Comedian #2 (CP) DC Comics Presents Wonder Woman Adventures #1 Flash #11 Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #11 Green Arrow Vol. 1 Into The Woods TP Green Lantern #11 (CP) Green Lantern New Guardians #11 Grifter Vol. 1 Most Wanted TP I Vampire #11 Justice League Dark #11 MAD Presents Batman #1 (One Shot) National Comics Eternity #1 New Deadwardians #5 (Of 8) Savage Hawkman #11 Scalped Vol. 9 Knuckle Up TP Spaceman #8 (Of 9) Superman #11 Superman Family Adventures #3 Teen Titans #11 Voodoo #11 Wonder Woman Odyssey Vol. 1 TP

Amazing Spider-Man #690 Astonishing X-Men #52 Avengers #28 Captain America #15 Captain America And Iron Man #634 Daredevil By Mark Waid Vol. 1 TP Dark Avengers #178 Deadpool #58 FF #20 Hit-Girl #2 (Of 5) Incredible Hulk #11 John Carter The Gods Of Mars #5 (Of 5) Marvel Masterworks The Fantastic Four TP Vol. 8 Marvel Previews #108 (August 2012 For Products On-Sale October 2012) Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man #4 Mighty Thor #17 Red Hulk Haunted TP Secret Avengers #29 Secret Avengers By Rick Remender Vol. 1 HC (PE) Thor The Deviants Saga TP Ultimate Comics Hawkeye By Jonathan Hickman TP Ultimate Comics The Ultimates #13 Ultimate Comics X-Men By Nick Spencer HC Vol. 2 (PE) Uncanny X-Force #28 Venom #21 Winter Soldier #8 Wolverine And The X-Men #14 X-Men Legacy #270 X-Men Steve Rogers Escape From The Negative Zone TP X-Treme X-Men #1

Acronym Key: VC = Variant Cover / HC = Hard Cover / TP = Trade Paperback / CP = Combo Pack / PE = Premier Edition

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