Of Course, Yeah!: 10/12/05 Reviews

Yeah, yeah, its late. Reviews for today, 10/19/2005 will be up this weekend. Does any one care? Nah. This week's comics(last week's actually) had one from the pull list and three that I picked up just cause. I also picked up a copy of Alan Moore and Gene Ha's Top Ten: The 49ers which I haven't found the proper time to sit down and read. Really want to give that a good hour or so which I can't find to save my life, as you can see by the lateness of this entry.

Ok, on to the reviews...

The Goon 25 Cent Edition

Yeah, this is good. Was there any question? Eric Powell doing what he does best: delivering beautifully rendered art with a dialogue that is both smart AND funny. Hell, if The Goon comics had a full time job and didn't live with her parents, I'd probably ask her out.

This is meant as an introductory issue of sorts, what, with the $0.25 price tag. With Halloween around the corner, it probably couldn't have come out at a better time. As far as introductory issues go, was this a good one? Me being the new reader, am I able to jump into the world of The Goon and not fell hopelessly lost and without a clue because of strict continuity that makes me sense to my amateur eyes?

This issue doesn't do much to explain The Goon and all the nuances of The Goon's world. Instead of explaining it, it SHOWS it. The Goon knocks heads for an offscreen mob boss who OMG! SPOILERS! actually doesn't exist. What this revelation means for the world of The Goon is definitely something of interest, but not a new reader like myself. The Goon is such a simple concept on the outside with just the right amount of silliness, that you can't help but want to go back and see what else there for one's reading enjoyment.

Thank God for that Fancy Pants collection.

Marvel Monsters: Where Monsters Dwell # 1

Week 2 of Marvel's Monster Halloween comics. Last week was so damn good, that its a shame that Week 2 didn't really offer all that much. The first story, "Bring On The Bombu" is a nice little gag written and drawn by Keith Giffen(with inks by Mike Allred!) about an Big Headed Alien Guy that's trying to take over earth. However, his luck sucks and his resistance to electricity isn't much better. Watching him get berated by his superiors that are off planet is classic and the best part of the little story.

The rest of the issue? Some weird Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type schtick where GASP! SPOILERS! the protagonist is really the bad guy, and a story about how Peter Alan David is upset because somebody in Hollywood used creative telepathy to steal his idea for Commander-In-Chief so he's gonna get back at them by returning as a writer to the Incredible Hulk. Seriously. That's what its about. Pretty crappy, I know. And there's a reprint of "I Was Trapped By Titano" from a happier time in the world when stories about huge crabs getting their asses kicked by MacGyver-like improvisation with a glacier was a good thing.

I would have paid $.50 for the Giffen story, but they charged $3.99. It could be worse. I could have been Canadian and been charged $5.75. Dumb ol' Hockey loving Canucks..

House Of M # 7

Oh my. Yeah, umm, I- I, well, yes....

Hmm.

...

Let's take a look at this whole little Scarlet Witch fiasco that Bendis has put us Marvel fans into. True, he didn't start the Wanda-Iz-Krazee business, but he sure is in love with the idea of it. Something about flawed women that just really turns Bendis's crank.

So Wanda is crazy distraught sad because she was pregnant with the Vision(an Android created by the mechanically mad Ultron who turned sides against his maker)'s kids and lost them. No surprise there, but this is comic books so the idea that a robot could inseminate a human female is one that we will take for granted. She is a mutant after all. Throw in Agatha Harkness, queen supreme witchness monster who is somehow involved with Wanda's magical past, and the whole thing is just gangbusters with trouble.

Now Wanda's situation is one that I'm somewhat familiar with, but from the perspective of a fellow Avenger who knows what's up, but didn't get too involved because I was starring in my own book as well as being a full time Avengers kind of way. It involves my old apartment and my fellow roommates. It breaks down like this:

Instead of Earth-616, its Apartment-173. Spencer is Iron Man. He is the swanky billionaire technofetishist playboy that's constantly getting into all kinds of trouble with the ladies and the booze. Spencer's a good guy that you definitely want on your side, but he can get a bit mired in his own self-inflicted destruction from time to time. One of Spencer's roommates, Chaka, is Captain America, the Super Soldier, recently released from dating hybernation to both lead and inspire us to be better super heroes. When shit gets hectic, he is always there to come through and make you feel like you're the coolest Avenger in the Mansion.

Our Scarlet Witch is a mutant from the Midwest with a disposition that requires therapy. And I'm not trying to be "all girls iz crazy" about it, but I do mean she is without a doubt one of these people who would benefit greatly from counseling with a licensed psychologist on a weekly basis. When you break your arm, you see a doctor. When your head's bugging, you see a shrink. There is nothing wrong with that, that's just how it is. Then there is Vision, the android, who was once a fascinating character in our little cast of characters is now a boring plot device. His main use in the pages of the Avengers of Apartment-173 is now one of those bold tales of a robot that is in search of its humanity and is doing so by falling in love. There's a four issue mini series about it.

Captain America and Iron Man are happy for them. Maybe one day they'll make it to on-going status.

In Apartment-173: Dis-assembled, the Scarlet Witch and Vision suffered the same unfortunate events that the Scarlet Witch and Vision suffered in the Earth-616 version of the Avengers comic, sans all stupid shit.

My point in all this? Its makes sense that Wanda would go fuck nuts crazy. Had the Wanda of Apartment-173 had Chaos Magick at her emotional disposal, BangFocuses would have landed in our living room killing the furry butler, Jonas. I am not making light of my old roommates situation. Not at all. But I can see the picture that Bendis is painting here. It is an ugly one that seems a logical path for our heroes and villians would find themselves going down. High emotional stress and Chaos Magicks would be something that all the Avengers of Apartment-173 would be very concerned about. In the end, the Avengers of Apartment-173 pulled through it together without the aid of a Dr. Strange monologue. We are a lot closer as a team because of it.

So Bendis is not wrong for choosing this plot device to run with, he's just not pulling it off. Wanda's crazy seems very stereotypical with her being this innocent, coy little thing who just wants to play with her toys until she is poked and prodded enough to snap. And for all of this to come out of the blue last year in Avengers: Dis-assembled makes it even less believable.

The only thing about this issue that made me get excited was OMG! SPOILERZ! watching Magneto kick some Quicksilver ass. The whole time we have this pensive Magneto who just stares out into wide open spaces while reciting the words to Sunny Day Real Estate in his head. The dude brought some serious whoop ass on his son and all you could do was say "fuck."

That was about it, though. The big battle was really just a few pages of random stuff. You kind of get an idea of what's going on, but not really. All you see is heroes and villians going off on each other, but you don't really know how, unless you count super powers flying ablaze while Nightcrawler teleports everywhere. I believe Copiel doesn't speak english, so its understandable that there might be a little break down in communication, but Bendis has never been one who is good at directing fights.

And then there is the end result of all this House Of M madness: