Meaningless Awards of the Week- 1/17/07
Spoiler of the Week- the cover to 52 Week 37
DC has a nasty habit of spoiling the story inside 52 with what’s on the outside. Here, we get confirmation that Booster Gold is Supernova on the cover before it’s confirmed in the actual story. They’ve done it before, with the “death” of Booster Gold. Go figure.
Justification for Civil War of the Week- Mr. Fantastic explains himself, Fantastic Four #542
For months, fanboys have been waiting for an explanation of why any superhero would be pro-registration. So far Marvel has offered “it’s the law.” You know, because there’s never been an unjust law in the history of the United States. But thanks to new FF writer Dwayne McDuffie, there’s a pretty damn good reason. Mr. Fantastic is the smartest man on the planet. He’s so smart, in fact, that he created a field of science called psychohistory. “I can predict societal trends to an extremely high degree of accuracy,” he explains. “I’ve been able to do it for decades.”
And according to his calculations, the s**t was about to hit the fan, regardless of what he or anyone else tried to do. Supporting the Superhuman Registration Act was the lesser of not two, not three, but thirty one evils. That’s what the smartest man on the planet concluded after studying the problem over and over again. Yeah, I’d say that’s a valid reason for supporting the SRA. But don’t worry; Iron Man is still a horrible guy. According to Mr. Fantastic, Tony Stark came to the same conclusion based on “hunches.”
Splash Page of the Week- The Spirit #2, by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone and Dave Stewart
Really, I should just start calling this The Spirit Opening Splash Page of the Week.
Cop Out of the Week- Power Princess quits, Exiles #90
Fans of Exiles have known for quite a while that when Chris Claremont took over the book, Psylocke was going to become a member of the team. Since there are only six members on the Exiles team, that meant somebody had to go. Fortunately it was Power Princess, the least interesting member of the team (except for Sabretooth, but I knew they weren’t getting rid of him). Unfortunately, Claremont didn’t even try to give an explanation as to why Power Princess would leave the team. Essentially, it came down to, “she had stuff to do back home.” I guess that’s a valid reason for going home, but it’s a completely arbitrary time as far as the Exiles timeline is concerned. If anything, it’s a really bad time to have her go home, with Morph on the DL due to him housing a genocidal maniac in his brain. Wouldn’t it have made a lot more sense if Power Princess quit once Psylocke joined the team? Oh, sorry, I forgot Chris Claremont was writing this. In that case, it makes perfect sense.
Twist of the Week- Manhunter goes rogue- Birds of Prey #102
I was really looking forward to reading Manhunter in the pages of BoP, but it appears as though I might not be doing so for much longer. At the end of issue #102, Oracle reveals to Spy Smasher that she’s not behind Manhunter re-entering the prison she and the other Birds of Prey broke into in BoP #100. Not only that, but Gypsy (who’s been conspicuous by her absence from the team since Black Canary quit) is helping Manhunter out. It could be all be yet another ruse by Oracle, but something tells me Gail Simone’s not planning on having a six-woman team (and that’s not even counting Oracle, Misfit or the new male member that’ll be joining in a few months). Secrets get a little harder to keep when there’s that many people involved.
The Manhunter series is getting canceled, though, so you’d think she’d probably stick around in Birds of Prey, since she’s still a (somewhat) marketable character.
And I don’t read Exiles, but when I heard Claremont was taking over, I figured Psylocke would be involved. Is Chris Claremont married? And, if so, is his wife jealous of Psylocke?
Power Princess quiting was weird. It was just “I’m going”, “Ok”. and that was the end of the entire scene. She was rushed out in 4 or 5 panels and the team had little to no reaction.
It was odd that she would quit, seeing as she joined to keep an eye on Protomorph and he seems to be getting closer to losing it.
I have to say though, over then that this was a great issue. I love Bedard but this book really picked up what it was lacking (and Tony himself said to me he felt he needed this)… a bit more downtime. The team hanging out, trainging, joking etc. I think Exiles should be just fine in Claremont’s hands.
[…] 2) Mr. Fantastic. He and Iron Man have been responsible for some pretty horrible acts as leaders of the pro-reg movement. Even though Mr. Fantastic has a very logical reason to support Iron Man, he still comes off as a pretty bad guy. Killing him off as a result of Civil War would certainly generate some sympathy for the recently hated character. But Mr. Fantastic has died and came back before, so doing it again wouldn’t have the same impact. Plus, they need him in July… […]