{"id":15364,"date":"2009-07-25T18:25:45","date_gmt":"2009-07-26T00:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=15364"},"modified":"2009-07-25T18:26:03","modified_gmt":"2009-07-26T00:26:03","slug":"bt09-m-is-for-mystery-blogathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-m-is-for-mystery-blogathon.html","title":{"rendered":"BT09 – M is for Mystery (#Blogathon)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Madame Xanadu, vol. 1, “Disenchanted”<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/i>(Vertigo) [collects #1-10]
w. Matt Wagner; a. Amy Reeder Hadley, Richard Friend<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Taking a character who started off as a mysterious tarot card reader and horror book introducer and telling her story to make her a compelling character is no easy task. Wagner accomplishes it with polish, taking Nuada from among the Fae in Arthurian England, to Khanate China, to Revolutionary France to 1930s New York, each time locked in frustrating opposition to the mysterious Phantom Stranger, her own attempts at intervening at impending tragedy often making things worse.<\/p>\n

Good stuff, and a good setup for a character who can doubtless play more than a color role in future DC spookiness.<\/p>\n

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Manhunter, Vol. 3, “Origins”<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/i>(DC) [collects #15-23]
w. Marc Andreyco; a. Javier Pina, Fernando Blanco<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 Manhunter is one of those series I wanted to like, to the entent of following it along in three TPBs. The idea of a vigilante DA is not new (see: “Vigilante”), but arming yourself with super-villain gear from the evidence room was clever, and seeing how Kate Spencer could try (and fail) to keep it all in balance should have been fascinating.<\/p>\n

Alas, no, even though there’s all sorts of personal and equipment origins tied into in this new volume. Just didn’t click for me (though there are two more TPBs out there, so obviously someone has liked it). Oh, well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Mighty Avengers, Vol. 1, “The Ultron Initiative”<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/i>(Marvel) [collects #1-6]
Mighty Avengers, Vol. 2, “Venom Bomb”<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Marvel) [collects #7-12]
Mighty Avengers, Vol. 3, “Secret Invasion, Part 1”<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Marvel) [collects #13-18]
w. Brian Bendis; a. Frank Cho, Michael Bagley, Ivan Reis, Alex Maleev (et al.)<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n New reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Non-comics reader?<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 Post-Civil War, Tony Stark reconstitutes the Avengers as perhaps the most powerful iteration of that team (which is saying something): himself, Sentry, Wonder Man, Ares, Ms Marvel, and with Wasp and Black Widow to round out the pack. Over these 18 issues, they fight Ultron (who’s taken over Tony’s body and armor and, it appears, a StarkTek infested world), a city full of Venoms, Doctor Doom on his home turf, and thus into the paranoia of the whole Secret War \/ Skrull invasion series.<\/p>\n

Bendis is always a delight to read, between his imagination, sense of humor, and gift for dialog. He also brings back the thought balloon to comics, mostly for characters to give snide comments to what they’re saying. On one level, it’s irreverent to the glory of Avengers past, but it also works very well.<\/p>\n

The artwork is also pretty darned fine — Cho (one of the things he’s been doing instead of Liberty Meadows) is clean (and bodacious), Begley (workmanlike), and Maleev (perfect for the gritty spy flick of the Secret War, moreso than the other artists in that volume).<\/p>\n

Good series, the heart of Marvel, and worth my picking up the collections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listening to: Serra, Eric, “The Severnaya Suite (Among the Dead \/ Out of Hell \/ The Husky Tribe)” (Goldeneye))<\/i><\/small> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Madame Xanadu, vol. 1, “Disenchanted” (Vertigo) [collects #1-10] w. Matt Wagner; a. Amy Reeder Hadley, Richard Friend  Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Taking a character who started off as a mysterious tarot card reader and horror book introducer and telling her story to make her a compelling character is no easy task. Wagner accomplishes it … Continue reading “BT09 – M is for Mystery (#Blogathon)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-fortune-and-glory-kid-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":0},"title":"BT09 – Fortune and glory, kid! (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 1:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"Cool -- I'm featured on the main Blogathon page: Dave has been posting fantastic comic book reviews. He\u2019s covered everything from Star Trek to Buffy to The New Avengers and then some. The rating system is separated into four categories: Writing, Art, New Reader, and Non-Comics Reader, which makes it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15308,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-and-so-it-begins-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":1},"title":"BT09 – And so it begins … (#blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 7:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"Everything's ready to rock. Showered, coifed in 2006's Blogathon shirt (they didn't release one this year until this week, alas), coffee made and poured, materials sorted, everything's a go, go, go. The plan is to have my little timer set on the 5-minutes-of mark, to finish up posts before they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15393,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-t-is-for-tots-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":2},"title":"BT09 – T is for Tots (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 1:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Blogathon is down to 151 blogs from drop-outs and no-shows -- but our total pledged is just $9 short of $40K. Woot! If it stays there too long, I may have to donate the difference myself! \u00a0 New Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 4\u00a0(DC) [collects #21-27, Annual #1] w. Marv\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15310,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-a-is-for-aberration-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":3},"title":"BT09 – A is for Aberration (#blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmmm. My iTunes installation is showing Trojan Horses? What the --? No time to work on it right now, but I may need to later on. Gotta have my tunes sooner or later. UPDATE: Hrm. It's my AV program, dammit. Fixed. Abe Sapien: The Drowning\u00a0(Dark Horse) [collects #1-5] w. Mike\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15391,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-s-is-for-special-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":4},"title":"BT09 – S is for Special (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 12:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, as of this post (at 1 a.m my time), the Blogathon is three-fourths over. It's just a short coast of 6 hours to the end. Woot! Having both the following come up this interval is pretty cool, because they are both fantastic books that have nothing to do with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15397,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-t-is-for-thunder-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":15364,"position":5},"title":"BT09 – T is for Thunder (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 1:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Vol. 4\u00a0(Marvel) [collects #371-373, Balder the Brave #1-4] Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Vol. 5\u00a0(Marvel) [collects #375-382] w. Dave Gibbons; a.\u00a0Ivan Reis, Marc Campos\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? The mid-80s were the golden age of Thor comics. Walt Simonson invested the Norse Gods with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}