COMICS!

Saturday was such a lovely day for travelling into London to buy comics. So nice that I decided to sit in Hyde park and read some of the comics I picked up from Forbidden Planet. I didn't purchase as many comics as I thought I would but I did get a few things that I was quite looking forward to reading. Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1 and Avengers Prime #1 - the beginning of Marvels' Heroic Age. I'm not a "traditional" Avengers fan, I only started reading the book when Brian Bendis took it over and swiftly Disassembled it. I was all about the X-Men as a kid and the Avengers always seemed old fashioned in comparison. Bendis and Finch really gave the book a shot in the arm and in doing so, made the Marvel Universe such an exciting place to hang out. I think before this I was only reading Bendis and Maleevs' Daredevil, Morrison and Quitely's X-Men and Millar and Hitch's Ultimates. I just didn't care at all about what was happening in the larger Marvel U.

Anyway, Avengers #1. With the exception of the usual Bendis funny and that hammer blow ("that would be what it's like to be on the Avengers with Thor") this book seemed to have a lot of that old fashionedness of the pre-Bendis era. I mean, Kang? Another dystopian Marvel future? The Avengers' children? Who cares? Of course, the gorgeous Romita artwork will keep me around for a couple more issues but I suspect that New Avengers (once it's relaunched) will remain "my" Avengers title.

Secret Avengers #1 was a better read, for me. Interesting cast of characters, good interaction and a really intriguing last page (what does that mean?).

I picked up Avengers Prime mainly for the Alan Davis artwork and the great man did not disappoint. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the colour work on this book. I do not know of another artist that has been so ill served by various colourists as Alan. Take a look at his miniseries, Fantastic Four: The End. That's how you colour an Alan Davis book (gawd bless yer, John Kalisz). Strangely, this feels like the most un-Bendis like Bendis book I've ever read. I'm still going to pick up the rest of it, though( it's Alan Davis for goodness sake!).

Right, That'll do for now.

Take care.

THEY KILLED RORY!? YOU BASTARDS!

Er, is it too late to insert a spoiler warning?

Absolutely gutted that Rory has been killed off. Ok, we knew that something bad was going to happen to Amy and Rory. Of course we did. Moffett wouldn't have had the "older" Amy and Rory appear at the beginning of this superb two-parter just for the sake of a throwaway line. It was supposed to lull us into a false sense of security. And it bloody well worked! It's such a shame as I was really, really enjoying the new dynamic with Rory on board the Tardis. I was a bit wary of Amy Pond at first. She seemed a bit too cocksure, a bit too willing to follow the Doctor anywhere and everywhere, regardless of the potential danger. I've always felt that this show was at it's best when there was somebody around to hold the Doctor to account for his actions, to remind the viewer of just what can be at stake whenever the Doctor rushes toward mystery and danger in the name of adventure. That is what Rory brought to the show. He made Amy and the Doctor more interesting.

Oh well, off to Forbidden Planet this weekend with the intention of spending loads of money on comics (Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1, Avengers Prime #1, Second Coming, and lots more hopefully) so that should cheer me up.