On Trial

     In some farce of justice, Pluto has decided to try Zeus an Athenian-style court of law in the pages of Incredible Hercules.  And all Hercules does is make Pluto and his cohorts’ arguments for them.  Pluto also grants Amadeus Cho the chance to go see his family, and Aegis escorts him there.  On the way, they bump into Uncle Ben, who has apparently becomes friends with them in the afterlife.  Pluto calls Cronus and Typhon as witness, and they both give rather damning testimony.  In the end, Zeus yells at everyone, saying that if they get rid of him, they won’t have God to blame anymore.  He also claims that having Hercules was a mistake and that Hercules is an idiot.  Even so, Hercules insists on getting his chance to testify (despite the fact that, thus far, nothing he has said has helped), and Pluto calls forth his baliff: the shade of Hercules from when Hercules’ mortal self died.

     Although this arc is still as good as everything else this series has seen, it has been far more disjointed, so I feel like it’s rambling.  I miss the more carefully constructed elegance of the first two arcs.  Even still, Greg Pak and Fred van Lente have singlehandedly brought depth and life to Hercules and the Greek gods in a way that no other Marvel writer has ever done.  It’s quite nice to see a character who has so long been a part of the Marvel Universe finally get his dues.  It’s also interesting to see how they build off previous storylines, including the Ares miniseries.  Ryan Stegman’s art has improved vastly since he started on this series, and now, he earns his place among the many artists who have only gotten a brief chance to work on this title but deserved to stay longer.  Rodney Buchemi’s brief work in this issue was even better, and he would also be a good longtime artist.  But alas, this series will likely never see that.  At any rate, this arc ends next issue with a possible split between its main characters.  I wonder what will bring that on…

Plot: 8.6      Art: 8.5      Dialogue: 8.8      Overall: 8.6

Cameos Galore

     So, apparently, Ms. Marvel is doing so poorly that Brian Reed had to shove three cameos into one issue just to convince people to read it.  I haven’t seen any numbers to substantiate that claim, but that what it seems to be to me, based on the issue itself.  The Dark Avengers, Ms. Marvel most prominently, face off against the mysterious energy being trying to steal the Storytellers.  It becomes very obvious that they’re manipulating Ms. Marvel into loving them.  Norman Osborn decides to hide them in Thunderbolts Mountain.  Monica Rappaccini and A.I.M. want them back, so she hires Deadpool to track them down.  Meanwhile, more of the energy beings meet Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Wolverine, and it becomes clear that they are actually the real Ms. Marvel, or at the very least are related to her.

     So, Brian Reed picks three of the most popular characters in Marvel Comics today and sticks them on the front cover.  Spider-Man and Wolverine’s involvement is pointless, and Deadpool could have easily been replaced with some other assassin type character.  Then again, this series is so bad that seeing them is rather welcome.  Even if Brian Reed’s Wolverine is just strange.  Wolverine making Danielle Cage laugh?  That’s just weird.  And the main core of the issue is the usual snoozefest.  Nobody thinks Moonstone is a sympathetic character, so she’s not very compelling.  And the story itself is just something left over from when the real Ms. Marvel was a character.  Sana Takeda is a pretty silly artist, and there’s one panel with Iron Patriot that looks like something out of Dragonball Z.  Luke Ross’ little bits of art are welcome, as they don’t look terrible.  If War of the Marvels isn’t spectacular, I’ll bet that this series will get canceled.  So since I have little faith in Brian Reed, the future of Ms. Marvel is clear.

Plot: 2.8      Art: 6.0      Dialogue: 4.3      Overall: 3.8

The Lady Returns

     In the newest issue of Thor, Jane Foster finally figures out where Sif has been hiding all this time.  Okay, so technically, the dying old lady tells her.  But still.  Donald Blake tries to transform into Thor, and although it is successful, Thor gets knocked out for a bit.  Bill Jr. tries to pretend that he isn’t cold and tries to explain to Balder that Dr. Doom is seriously bad news, and that they shouldn’t trust him.  Loki also struts around Latveria as a man for the first time in a long time.  Thor wakes up and flies to Dr. Strange to try and get him to fix Mjolnir.  Strange is successful, but Thor loses the Odinforce, and his life force is now tied to the hammer.  He rushes to Jane Foster and manages to save Sif at long last.  Bill Jr. gets harassed by Asgardians, Kelda saves him, and Heimdall prophesies the coming of death.

     Well, for the first time in a while, I feel like this series is slowing down.  The vast majority of it was still superb, especially the little scene with Loki and Dr. Doom.  As I’ve said many times, I love what J. Michael Straczynski is doing with Loki.  Unfortunately, with the end of his run on this series coming soon, things don’t quite feel as exciting.  Almost every scene is great individually.  It just doesn’t add up to the superb whole it did before.  Also, I don’t know how I feel about Dr. Strange’s cameo.  He was written well, but there are two problems.  First, how does this fit in with his appearance in New Avengers?  I assume it was before.  Second, why does he look so sinister?  Was that just Marko Djurdjevic’s art style, or was that fortelling of something?  Also, Djurdjevic’s art seems to be degrading a bit.  It’s still superb, but it’s not his best.  Anyway, those are my only real beefs.  This is still one of the best comic books you can find, and if this is the worst it gets, I’m fine with that.

Plot: 9.3      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 9.2      Overall: 9.2