Post by Doctor Doom on Jun 28, 2007 16:40:53 GMT -5
Doom's Deconstruction: Songbird, Penance, Radioactive Man and Venom confront Steel Spider, American Eagle and Sepulchre. Sepulchre projects a giant darkforce attack and Songbird decides enough is enough- she tells Radioactive Man to temporarily blind the others so she can get rid of Bullseye as she doesn't want him on her team. She's finally being a hero. He makes a large burst and Venom recovers and attacks Steel Spider.
Bullseye lands with his two guards. Songbird sneaks up to him and tells him that his nanochain is disabled so he can run. Bullseye, being Bullseye, kills both his guards and then decides to kill American Eagle anyway. Venom and Radioactive Man get owned by Steel Spider while Songbird confronts the other two. She tells them to stay calm, that she'll help them.
Steel Spider downs Radioactive Man but Venom leaps on him and rips his arm off, veeeery bloodily. Songbird shouts "NO!" and then Sepulchre smashes her into the ground. Radioactive Man tries to help the downed Spider and calls for help from Penance- but Penance is busy being emo and smashing his head into a wall, having completely psyched-out.
Elsewhere, the main event. Bullseye hurls a knife at American Eagle, who catches it. Eagle calls Bullseye a bully and a thug and tells him that his time is up. He then tells him he gets one free shot. Bullseye lunges- American Eagle knees him and smashes him in the face. Bullseye gasps "What happened to the first shot?" American Eagle replies: "I lied."
Swordsman gets up and warns Moonstone that Bullseye is free. Moonstone orders his nanochain triggered- turns out Songbird lied too because Bullseye basically erupts with lightning. American Eagle then smashes him across the head, snapping his neck. Elsewhere, Sepulchre takes the shop she was offered- getting the hell out of the country.
Back at Thunderbolts Mountain, Osborn is told Bullseye is lucky to be alive. He has significent brain damage and temporaru paralysis. He can't speak, and for now, he's trapped inside what is "for all intents and purposes, a dead body". Close-up of Bullseye's horrified eyes, unable to move.
End issue, end story.
The View of Doom: Say it with me, "AWE-SOME!" This issue is absolute DEFINITIVE proof that despite what Balok has said, we really are supposed to be rooting against the Thunderbolts. Every second of the righteous beating inflicted on Bullseye is a second too few, and we cheer as he is shocked to the ground!
Of course despite that, it's still true that we need someone to root for. At the start of this arc, it seemed like the people to root for would be the z-listers they hunt- but Ellis is too clever to leave it at that. He goes deep into each z-lister: We got one issue for Jack Flag, two for each of the three in this arc (And I hope to see the survivors again!) That's one and two just spent developing the character, showing us their lives, making us care about them. And it works. Because we DID care about Jack Flag when he was stabbed and we DO care about these z-listers. We know Steel Spider is totally nuts but we want him to win anyway- and just to note, Ellis has now made American Eagle totally kick ass. American Eagle.
But rather than leaving it there, Ellis has divided the team itself. Though it wasn't evident at the start of the arc it is now clear that there at least two members of the team itself we can root for- Songbird and Radioactive Man. These two are heroes trapped on a team of villains and they are determined to bring their team back to the glories of it's heroic days, while Swordsman and Moonstone scheme against them and Venom just wants to kill everyone.
There is also a beautiful symmetry in the ending of this issue. We started the first issue of this arc with Bullseye being interviewed by Osborn, during which he was terrified by the memory of when he had severe brain trauma and Daredevil threatened him (An actual occurence from Miller's run.) and Osborn threatening him with it again. And how do we end the arc? With Bullseye, trapped inside his own body, paralyzed just as he was before, his effective "Worst nightmare." For a second, we can almost feel sorry for him- almost, and that is testament to Ellis's writing skills.
Speaking of Bullseye, Ellis sure as hell knows how to use him effectively. When I think about it, Bullseye was only used ONCE before this issue... but there's still enormous suspense in waiting for him to strike. We saw a chilling, almost scary isnight into his character in 110, then we saw him deployed with gruesome success in issue 111, and a further insane and frightening look into his mind just after. But in this, the moment Bullseye sdtabs his guards, we're thinking: "Oh... crap..." And the entire issue, throughout the fight, we're just waiting for him to strike, dreading it. This is again wonderful work by Ellis.
If I was to make one character crticisim it would be Venom and even then it's a personal one- I MUCH prefer Venom as "The anti-Spider-man" (See Spidey 3) to the "Slavering, Drooling Monster". It's totally up to the individual, I just am not a fan of monster Venom. Ellis is winning me over a bit with the idea in his portrayal of him, but I still can't get to grips with this being Venom!
My other criticism is that this issue was over too fast. Ellis has not once balanced action and down-time, he's adopted a strange- intentional, no doubt- pattern of "Down-time issue", "action issue" with no space devoted to the other each time. In this case that means we only get two pages of wrap-up for the entire arc after the big fight, which are totally dedicated to Bullseye. I wish the fight could have been shorted a bit so we could see what happened to the others, and about the media reaction etc.
Mike Deadoto's art continues to rock the house- I wouldn't like it on many titles, but it's perfect for this one, and to say I'm enjoying this title is an understatement. It's official, this is my third favourite marvel comic!
Doom Decrees That This Issue Shalt Be Given.... Nine Gold Dooms Out Of Ten.
Doom Decrees that the arc: "FAITH IN MONSTERS" shalt be given... Nine Gold Dooms Out of Ten[/u]
Bullseye lands with his two guards. Songbird sneaks up to him and tells him that his nanochain is disabled so he can run. Bullseye, being Bullseye, kills both his guards and then decides to kill American Eagle anyway. Venom and Radioactive Man get owned by Steel Spider while Songbird confronts the other two. She tells them to stay calm, that she'll help them.
Steel Spider downs Radioactive Man but Venom leaps on him and rips his arm off, veeeery bloodily. Songbird shouts "NO!" and then Sepulchre smashes her into the ground. Radioactive Man tries to help the downed Spider and calls for help from Penance- but Penance is busy being emo and smashing his head into a wall, having completely psyched-out.
Elsewhere, the main event. Bullseye hurls a knife at American Eagle, who catches it. Eagle calls Bullseye a bully and a thug and tells him that his time is up. He then tells him he gets one free shot. Bullseye lunges- American Eagle knees him and smashes him in the face. Bullseye gasps "What happened to the first shot?" American Eagle replies: "I lied."
Swordsman gets up and warns Moonstone that Bullseye is free. Moonstone orders his nanochain triggered- turns out Songbird lied too because Bullseye basically erupts with lightning. American Eagle then smashes him across the head, snapping his neck. Elsewhere, Sepulchre takes the shop she was offered- getting the hell out of the country.
Back at Thunderbolts Mountain, Osborn is told Bullseye is lucky to be alive. He has significent brain damage and temporaru paralysis. He can't speak, and for now, he's trapped inside what is "for all intents and purposes, a dead body". Close-up of Bullseye's horrified eyes, unable to move.
End issue, end story.
The View of Doom: Say it with me, "AWE-SOME!" This issue is absolute DEFINITIVE proof that despite what Balok has said, we really are supposed to be rooting against the Thunderbolts. Every second of the righteous beating inflicted on Bullseye is a second too few, and we cheer as he is shocked to the ground!
Of course despite that, it's still true that we need someone to root for. At the start of this arc, it seemed like the people to root for would be the z-listers they hunt- but Ellis is too clever to leave it at that. He goes deep into each z-lister: We got one issue for Jack Flag, two for each of the three in this arc (And I hope to see the survivors again!) That's one and two just spent developing the character, showing us their lives, making us care about them. And it works. Because we DID care about Jack Flag when he was stabbed and we DO care about these z-listers. We know Steel Spider is totally nuts but we want him to win anyway- and just to note, Ellis has now made American Eagle totally kick ass. American Eagle.
But rather than leaving it there, Ellis has divided the team itself. Though it wasn't evident at the start of the arc it is now clear that there at least two members of the team itself we can root for- Songbird and Radioactive Man. These two are heroes trapped on a team of villains and they are determined to bring their team back to the glories of it's heroic days, while Swordsman and Moonstone scheme against them and Venom just wants to kill everyone.
There is also a beautiful symmetry in the ending of this issue. We started the first issue of this arc with Bullseye being interviewed by Osborn, during which he was terrified by the memory of when he had severe brain trauma and Daredevil threatened him (An actual occurence from Miller's run.) and Osborn threatening him with it again. And how do we end the arc? With Bullseye, trapped inside his own body, paralyzed just as he was before, his effective "Worst nightmare." For a second, we can almost feel sorry for him- almost, and that is testament to Ellis's writing skills.
Speaking of Bullseye, Ellis sure as hell knows how to use him effectively. When I think about it, Bullseye was only used ONCE before this issue... but there's still enormous suspense in waiting for him to strike. We saw a chilling, almost scary isnight into his character in 110, then we saw him deployed with gruesome success in issue 111, and a further insane and frightening look into his mind just after. But in this, the moment Bullseye sdtabs his guards, we're thinking: "Oh... crap..." And the entire issue, throughout the fight, we're just waiting for him to strike, dreading it. This is again wonderful work by Ellis.
If I was to make one character crticisim it would be Venom and even then it's a personal one- I MUCH prefer Venom as "The anti-Spider-man" (See Spidey 3) to the "Slavering, Drooling Monster". It's totally up to the individual, I just am not a fan of monster Venom. Ellis is winning me over a bit with the idea in his portrayal of him, but I still can't get to grips with this being Venom!
My other criticism is that this issue was over too fast. Ellis has not once balanced action and down-time, he's adopted a strange- intentional, no doubt- pattern of "Down-time issue", "action issue" with no space devoted to the other each time. In this case that means we only get two pages of wrap-up for the entire arc after the big fight, which are totally dedicated to Bullseye. I wish the fight could have been shorted a bit so we could see what happened to the others, and about the media reaction etc.
Mike Deadoto's art continues to rock the house- I wouldn't like it on many titles, but it's perfect for this one, and to say I'm enjoying this title is an understatement. It's official, this is my third favourite marvel comic!
Doom Decrees That This Issue Shalt Be Given.... Nine Gold Dooms Out Of Ten.
Doom Decrees that the arc: "FAITH IN MONSTERS" shalt be given... Nine Gold Dooms Out of Ten[/u]
