Van looks at three current/recent Marvel comics:
AVENGERS 29
CAPTAIN MARVEL
THUNDERBOLTS

Okay, here we go.  First:

CAPTAIN MARVEL # whatever

Hey! The Micronauts!!
Errr, well, the "Micros!"
As a HUGE fan of the early days of MICRONAUTS (I still rank the first 12 issues among my all-time favorite storylines, and #11 is up there in my Top 10 Favorite Comics Ever), I was *delighted* to see Rann, Mari, and Bug again. This is probably the first story I've read featuring them in about 20 years.

Add to the unexpected visit of Rann & Co. a very clever and nice (if somewhat abrupt and sort of shallow) resolution to the Drax/Jarella's "sister" storyline, and there was enough here for some decent entertainment. As many have pointed out, Genis continues to be the ***LEAST*** interesting character in his own series, which is a real shame, but the other characters almost make up for that shortcoming. I like this version of CM *way* too much to threaten jumping off the (admittedly shrinking) bandwagon any time soon, but I would very much like to see improvement on this title soon. Oddly enough, I actually do like the art, unlike some others here, but I have to say-- those motion/speed effect lines are just odd and very distracting. It looks like people are turning into water or something rather than moving quickly.

Final note about the "Micros"-- it was very apparent from the names (and characters) used (and *not* used) here that Marvel has either lost the license to actually use the name "Micronauts" and the toy names associated with it, or else has decided it would be better to not use them, for whatever reason. Most of the characters whose names were the same as the toys (Acroyear, Microtron, Biotron, etc) were missing entirely, and the ones who *were* named originally from the toys had different names here ("the Baron" for Karza is the best example, though "Arcturus" was never called Space Glider--but then, he rarely was in the series, either.) And of course Marionette and Bug never had toys, that I know of. What's the story with that, if I haven't missed it already, guys?

The whole Rick/Moondragon thing was cute the first time, but a near-full replay again this month was simply tedious.

Overall, I'll give this issue of CM a B-, making it the best issue in a couple of months.

Next:

THUNDERBOLTS # whatever

Fabian, I gotta tell ya, you may be breaking quite a few eggs on this title, but you're also cookin' one hell of an omlette!

When Zemo grabbed the V-Wing, and we saw his reflection as "Citizen V"-- I was SOOOO sure I knew what was going to happen. Zemo was going to reclaim the mantle of Citizen V, and find a way to masquerade as the *next* V, after Dallas leaves the job (if that wasn't pretty much what she was already doing, at the end!). It all made sense: Pressed into a tight spot, with someone about to possibly kill him, Zemo realized what he really needed to be doing. He was ready to make a major change that only such situations as that can produce. So he grabs the V-wing-- a device intimately connected to the Citizen V persona-- and takes off, following a "V" tactic, rather than a Zemo one. Brilliant!! But then--
--Are you kidding me???
GAAH!!!

Very well handled, very shocking. You certainly have my curiousity piqued once again.

I've said from the very beginning-- this series appears to the uninitiated as just another super-team slugfest book. Peel back a layer or two, and it becomes a story about former villains seeking redemption (or not). BUT-- peel it all the way back to the core, and what this series really is is a big, ongoing, mystery/enigma/puzzler book. Kurt set the tone in #1 with the revelation of who the Tbolts actually were. At that time, I begged him, "Please, keep the enigmas and mysteries and puzzles coming! Make this a series where we're never entirely sure who's who and what's what!" And Fabian has, if anything, *increased* this situation.

Great stuff. I enjoy TBOLTS as much as ever, if not more. The thanks go to Fabian (whom I've never seen write better than this), Kurt (of course), Tom B, Bagley, and of course Hanna, whose inks IMO *saved* the look of this series. I could hardly take Bags's art at the start, but-- and I don't recall now whether Hanna came along later, or just suddenly "clicked" with Bagley around issue 9 or 10-- but this book is simply gorgeous now. And of course the colors and so forth are fantastic, too.

I'm going to give this month's TBOLTS an A-.

Finally:

AVENGERS # 29 (I think)

My first thought on being handed this issue was, "Hey, I've already got this one."
No, knucklehead-- you've simply had the cover art on your website for three months.

Great stuff. I haven't read anyone else's take on this issue yet-- I've been avoiding them, till I got to the shop-- but I am very puzzled by the guy hiding in the bushes. My first thought was, "Grim Reaper," given the cover of #31. But I don't think so-- he's going to be associated with *that* story, which probably involves the Vision and etc. I can't imagine what he'd be doing *here,* in this city. I think he's someone who will turn up and be important to #30, and then that will be that. Of course, I could easily be wrong. But who does that leave?? Who else's voice would most of them recognize? Whitney Frost???

Some highlights:

--Iron Man demonstrating his true power to the bird-rider guy. I always like when Tony shrugs off a blow and retorts to the villain that the guy must have been stupid to assume he could hurt Iron Man. Heh.

--The handling of Silverclaw this issue. She's becoming a more interesting character every month.

--The handling of Wanda (hey, get your minds out of the gutter!) She's becoming more confident, and in turn more powerful, every month. There's no reason she shouldn't be at least as powerful as Storm, and, in turn, as strong of a leader; yet she's rarely been allowed to develop in that fashion. I'm happy to see that happening now.

--The handling of Carol. No, wait, that was just me imagining myself handling Carol. Um... nevermind. ;-) (Seriously-- I truly enjoyed Carol's moments in this issue. Dammit, Kurt put her through hell, but he *did* make her more interesting. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she leaves again, but I'm going to savor every second she's here for all it's worth. Her showdown with Triathlon was beautiful.

--Triathlon. What a jerk. Which means, Kurt, that you're handling him perfectly. And especially in terms of having someone say something to him in a big way. Because it was getting a little tedious-- Wasp gives an order, others rush to follow it, Triathlon makes a smart alec retort as he grudgingly obeys. That cycle had to be broken before it wore itself out, and Carol's confrontation with him came at the perfect time. (And was he hitting on She-Hulk? Heh! That could be interesting!)

--You know what? I don't miss Cap yet. I didn't necessarily think I would, really, but he'd become so much an ingrained part of the team... This is good. We could use a break from him for a while.

There was more, but I should wrap this up.

Something I didn't get:

--Why the heck would Tony and Jan want to fly all the way to the capital city, to ask the leader there to order his military not to go forward, when they could have just carried the officer there to the city and quickly demonstrated to him what would happen to him if he passed through the gate? It seemed like they were doing things the *extremely* hard and circuitous way-- not something I expect from two founding and well-seasoned Avengers.

Overall, I'll give this issue an A-, with the continuing understanding that this is relative-- *any* Kurt/George issue is an A+, in my book, in the grand scheme of things.

--Van Plexico