October Comics Briefly Catch-up: Batman Incorporated #4, Captain Marvel #5, Star Trek/Doctor Who #6, Sword of Sorcery (Amethyst) #1, Uncanny Avengers #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #18

Been super busy the past few weeks and I’m re-evaluating the sustainability of my budget for comic issues, but I do have several weeks worth of new comics to talk about:

To sum up:
The Best: Sword of Sorcery
The Good: Captain Marvel, Batman Inc.
The In-between: Wolverine and the X-Men
The Bad: Star Trek/Doctor Who, Uncanny Avengers


Batman Incorporated #4
Writer: Grant Morrison, Artist: Chris Burnham

I don’t really understand the last few pages, but other than that this was a strong action-oriented issue in which the (male, un-rebooted) members of Batman Inc. go up against the League of Assassins. Pretty fun stuff, although the characters I actually like were under-used in favor of the D-listers.


Captain Marvel #5
Writer: Kelly Sue Deconnick, Artist: Emma Rios, Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

A lot of great moments in this issue. I might not be completely on board with the “jumping through time” plotline yet, but there’s a lot of good stuff to be had. Carol trying to interact with Helen, who she knew/will know at a very different time is interesting, and the way they spark off each other is fun.


Star Trek/Doctor Who #6
Written by Scott & David Tipton, Pencils by Gordon Purcell, Art by J. K. Woodward

The plot picks up a little, but this story is really dragging on too long, and the art continues to be rather slapdash and terrible. If there were more than two issues left, I would quit this series right now.


Sword of Sorcery (Amethyst) #1
Writer: Christy Marx, Art: Aaron Lopresti, Colors: Hi-Fi

Yay Amethyst! This picks up right from the end of Issue #0, and I’m really enjoying this so far! I love how Amy’s training kicks in, while her reaction to the horror of actual battle feels real. I love that the book is layering in some complexity to Amy’s wicked aunt. She’s a prototypical wicked queen in many ways, but she’s still a person with feelings and doubts. So far I like the looks of the different clans quite a bit, too. The Beowulf back-up is still completely uninteresting.


Uncanny Avengers #1
Writer: Rick Remender, Artist: John Cassaday, Color: Laura Martin

I’m intrigued by a lot of the titles coming up with ‘Marvel Now!’ Writers who I have liked are taking on Sif, Iron Man, and Thor, and a lot of the previews I’ve read are kind of neat. I should have listened to my instincts and stayed away from this one, though. It picks up in the aftermath of AvX and deals with the repercussions... sort of. I mean, if “let’s dudes talk about form a new team while the ladies have a cat fight” can really be called dealing with anything. There are neat things about it, and some moments I liked, especially around Wolverine. Someone online pointed out that the ending is fantastically camp, looked at a certain way, and maybe I could get behind that, but it really threw me, as is, and didn’t make me interested in picking up the next issue.


Wolverine and the X-Men #18
Writer: Jason Aaron, Penciler: Jorge Molina, Inker: Norman Lee

This issue has a decent sum-up of the end of AvX, and an assortment of good character moments. That doesn’t quite make up for the upsetting ending. Seriously, if this book wants to kill/wreck my favorite characters and doesn’t want to be my fun-feel-good Marvel book anymore, I’m dropping it for Young Avengers.