Just picked up NA #10 and #11, and I was impressed by both. I really enjoyed how they wrapped up the Sentry's origin...for those who didn't get it, or don't want to read it: The Sentry is REAL, in the 616 universe. At one point, he was captured and programmed into making everyone (including himself) forget about him...but it wasn't perfect. He was able to communicate his memories and experiences to Paul Jenkins, but not OUR Paul Jenkins...this Paul Jenkins lives and breathes in the 616 universe and did NOT write "Marvel Knights: The Sentry"...the 616 Paul Jenkins wrote the Sentry comics that appear to be from the 70s/80s, which never existed in our reality...only in the 616 universe. See, how there are two Paul Jenkins? The real one and the 616 one, and how BOTH wrote Sentry comics? (OUR Paul Jenkins, though, has images of the 616 Jenkins' comics in "MK: The Sentry"). Makes a LOT of sense, huh? Especially considering how you could have a comic book in the 616 U about characters in the 616 U, and have the characters be true to their roots. All in all, The Sentry arc was actually REALLY DAMN GOOD. The Ronin arc has me intrigued. It's clear that Cap approached Elektra, but was turned down by her..the whole no killing thing. I would NOT be surprised if Ronin isn't Murdock (since when does Ronin so reliant on sight?), but at the same time, it'd be really nice if he was Murdock (considerig how the Daredevil series is going, and how Bendis is leaving that book, it'd be nice to have him be able to use Murdock as a character in NA). So far, the Ronin arc has gotten me more hooked than the Sentry did at this point...but I expect it to end less spectacularly than the latter.
I liked the very last panels tagline (don't have the book with me so I can't QUOTE it per se): LOADS OF NINJAS Awesome.
I picked up all three, issue #9-11 and I must say this whole series is really worth it's price... I mean I have never gotten this many titles of any one Marvel series save for the Spidey books, and now here I am expanding my knowledge and enjoyment of good ol' 616 and getting to see the New Avengers take on the world. I think I'm going to drop Marvel Knights Spidey in favor of this one Marvel title, besides I'll probably get tons of old school Marvel trades, which will make me want to get New School Marvel Trades and then it'd be stupid to waste money on everything. (Besides it seems Pat Lee is going to be involved somehow in the next Spidey arc, spanning MK Spidey, Amazing Spidey and some new book I can't recally the title of... Though it's not Spectacular. And I really don't want to have to get non MK titles just to have a whole arc... Though I'll probably get stuck with the three MK Titles from the series.) Avengers are the best; I look forward to seeing who Ronin is, if they reveal it right away they might just save that for another time. And I can't wait to see who's got Spider-Woman wrapped around their little pinky. (Could it be AIM or Hydra? Or maybe it's COBRA!!!! ) So let me get this straight... Er Possible Spoilers... . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. .. . . . .. . .. . . . Some General guy worked with Mastermind to erase Sentry's memories of ever having been the Sentry, then whenver Sentry used his powers his own sub-concious would create The Void in an effort to punish him/stop him from using his Sentry powers. And he's been living like this for... How many years??? I don't think they said, thus his wife didn't really die; everyone on 616 forgot him ever being The Sentry, though now Reed and Emma Frost happen to know the truth. And The Void no longer exists, so now he can try again and learn to harness his power properly because he didn't get the proper training when he first started out, so he's got like a clean slate/second chance kind of deal. Man talk about Complex.
The New Avengers is a great book. The writing has been really sharp so far, it is currently the book I most look forward to reading each month. Hopefully Bendis will stick around for awhile like he did with daredevil.
Except that, in the new Sentry mini-series (which happens after the events in New Avengers), the Void DOES exist -- as a separate personality which Bob Reynolds is trying to keep repressed, ala Two Face in Batman: TAS. I really do want to pick up The Sentry TP at some point, just because I'm curious about the backstory. -XCN-
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. "The Other" spans 12 issues, 4 each of that one, ASM and MK. But God DAMMIT. I had no idea Lee was going to be doing the MK title during that. I was a little wary of the all-title crossover, a little too mid-90s for my taste, but OTOH, I'm kinda interested what it's all about after ASM 524. On the third hand , I really don't wanna buy anything Lee has a part in.
Bear in mind I don't know which title Lee will be working on; the blurb for this mega crossover listed all the writers and artists for all three titles. If anything I'd say Lee will most likely be working on Friendly Neighborhood Spidey and not MK. Either way I'm not picking up FN, AMA and MK just to read one long story arc that might involve total bulls***. And I am especially not interested in seeing Mister Lee's butchering of Spidey; I mean look at what he did to Iron-Man in the HoM story. (Not that I even read any of that.) So next time I'm in the shop I'll tell them to cancel my MK issues; because of how it works I'll still have to buy the ones connected to all this, but I'll probably bury them somewhere in my pile of comics and neglect to read them.
Slag; and I have to buy those issues even if I cancel this weekend because they order two months ahead... Curses now I'm going to have Pat Lee's boobified Spidey or some such drivel.
