I Bought Comics: Beginning of February 2009

[Wherein I discuss comics that I got in the past two weeks that I didn't review for CBR. Not really reviews or anything. Just random thoughts, impressions... like, you know, whatever!]

Boys #27

The worst issue in a long time... relaxed to the point of who cares... Ennis riffing on St. Patrick's Day and America in ways we've all seen before... not bad, just feels like filler...

Secret Warriors #1

I wish this book was actually called "Nick Fury: Agent of Nothing." That title appears on the cover between the two words of the actual title of this comics and it is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better. "Secret Warriors" is a vague, kind of blah title for a comic, but "Nick Fury: Agent of Nothing"? Fucking sign me up! I don't care who's writing it, who's drawing it, if it costs $1.00 per issue or five bucks, whatever, put that book on my pull list now, because it will rock my fucking socks off. And this issue kind of did that. The art was better than I expected, honestly. Not quite what I'd look for in a comic book, but passable. Hickman's writing is a lot better at what it does than I expected, too. He's never shown a lot of character depth in his work to date, preferring to meditate on ideas than characters. And that's worked really well, so to see him handle characters with deft and ease like this is pretty astonishing. The final page "surprise" isn't THAT big a revelation when you actually read the back-up material, but it's still cool.

Gravel #9

Throughout the first eight issues of this title, characters have called William Gravel dumb, compared him to a dog--and this seemed to annoy him, piss him off, and he killed them. But, here, he does the same thing and I love that Ellis and Wolfer would do that. Those arrogant pricks weren't wrong in calling him thick, in comparing him to a dog, but, fuck, why would you do it out loud and to the face of your attack dog? Lots of emphasis on Gravel's character here, which works well. Nice to see them use this ongoing series to actually put some meat on his bones.

Incognito #2

I liked this a lot better than the first issue. Even the lettering doesn't bother me as much. Don't know what else to say. I am amused that this issue ends on the same plot point as Scalped #25.

Scalped #25

Year three begins and, wow, Jason Aaron does the unexpected by introducing a new character from off the rez. Very fucking good.

Thor #600

Oh hellsssssssssss yessssssssssss... although, I already get the impression that Thor and Balder are playing Loki. Loki hasn't overtly done anything wrong yet, so they're just going with the flow and waiting for a slip-up to nail her balls to the wall. I do find it interesting that the Dark Avengers show up sans Ares and Sentry, the two characters that could really give Thor a run for his money--though I did notice that Noh-Varr is not used at all--no one knows how to deal with him. This book had a slow start, but Straczynski is really building a compelling story here. The bonus stuff is great, too. Stan Lee and David Aja's story is a little... cutesy, but nice. The "Mini Marvels" story is pretty damn funny and recaps the 13-issue run to date well. Plus, bonus Lee/Kirby stories and the requisite "Every cover of the title you're reading to date" thing that Marvel does in every anniversary issue like this it seems.

Also, not "I Bought Comics" related really, but I am rather excited at the news that Joe Casey will be handling Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance, which will centre on the Super Young Team. I still say that Marvel should have tapped Casey to handle Noh-Varr if they weren't going to get Morrison to come back. Here's hoping Casey brings it.