Ultron and the Dynamite Gang Visit Planet Rusty
Hey there folks! Truth be told, this was a little bit of a quiet week for yours truly in the world of comics. But don’t worry, I still got things to talk about (don’t I always?)
First off, let’s talk about a book that I’ve decided to drop, Age Of Ultron from Marvel. You know, I was a little excited about this book cause I always thought Ultron was a great baddie in the Marvel Universe, one of the ones that needs to be rolled out for an event or big storyline. But hopes can always be dashed.
Hopes started to sink with issue six, when we started to see what I was fearing was going to happen, someone (Sue Richards and Wolverine) goes back in time to do something to alter the time line (killing Hank Pym so Ultron is never created), and in doing so it changes the present possibly with worse ramifications.
Sigh
IT’S BEEN DONE BEFORE!! MANY OTHER TIMES!! I EXPECT MORE FROM YOU, BENDIS!!
I’m sorry, but the idea of changing time is played out, so is the alternate versions of the Marvel Universe, IMO!!! And the rumor mill is already swirling out there with an end result of this story being that Wolverine loses his healing factor (been there, done that), and possibly leading to his “death” (still a rumor and speculation mind you, but we’ve all been down this road a few times!).
Groan
Ok, I’m just going to let this go. You know what? I needed something after all that, a little bit of fun escapism with a book that I can just turn off the brain to an extent (no offense to this book, but that was my take on it), and to be quite honest, play some catch up cause I’m a little late to the game with this book and opted to wait till the Trade Edition came out. You know, there might be some folk out there who didn’t pick this one up with the single issue run, so I’m doing this for you folks out there!!
That’s right, from Dynamite the Trade of Prophecy from writer Ron Marz and artist Walter Geovani out this week. Long story short, this is Dynamite giving us their version of Destroy All Monsters or one of the House of movies from the classic Universal Monsters series where we have, (taking a deep breath here) Vampirella, Red Sonja, Dracula, daughter of Dracula, Eva, Pantha, Herbert “Re-Animator” West, Ash “Army of Darkness” Williams, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Athena, and Alan Quatermain (whew!) teaming up through time (sort of and I’ll get into that) to stop sorcerer Kulan Gath from bringing about the Mayan Apocalypse. You know, that thing that was supposed to happen last year? Yeah, that rings a bell!
When I first heard about this book, there were things that I was expecting and I got ’em!! I wanted natural enemies teaming up but some friction and I got that between Vampirella, Dracula, and Red Sonja. Drac and Vampi are enemies, and Red Sonja ain’t fond of vampires in the first place and a shape shifter like Pantha don’t help matters so there you go. You know what else I wanted to see when I heard about this team up? Ash, you know him, you love him, the bumbling goof hero whose always trying to get a little “sugar”, on a team with some scantily clad beautiful women. Cause if you know how these characters act you know oil and water is gonna be an understatement with Ash and these ladies, a “groovy” understatement (that was a bad one I know).
But there can always be a down side to an undertaking like this and yep, in my humble opinion, there are a couple. Remember how I said all these folks “sort of” team up through time? Remember My comparison to the House Of movies? Here we go………
The Sherlock Holmes/Alan Quatermain subplot of this book? Really not much to do with the rest of the main story. It’s like how in any House Of movie, or Destroy All Monsters for that matter you have someone just pop up in there to say, “look how many characters are here!” that don’t really do anything to really move the plot along. Granted, I understand that the main story is pretty to the point, and yes the ante is upped with a plot turn for Red Sonja that turns the tables on her personally, but doesn’t add much more there. Our main story is entertaining, but pretty thin, so I can understand having a subplot, but I was hoping for more of a payoff there that tied into our main story.
My other complaint? Herbert West. Now I haven’t read much of his comic exploits, but in the Re-Animator film you’ve got a guy who’s cocky as all get out, knows how smart he is, and isn’t afraid to tell everyone. Instead writer Ron Marz gives us a wide eyed coward version of West. He is a value to the team, you gotta have the brainy guy, right? But I’d think that a self confident genius, who annoys everyone with a superiority complex would add more to a group that already would naturally hate each other. Maybe Marz thought it would be a little much to have another cocky jerk in the group besides Ash, but I say bring him on, heap on more conflict for a better payoff in the end! You know? Maybe adding that would throw a little more meat on the story and eliminate the need for sub plots that don’t really do anything.
I know that sounded pretty harsh back there, but in general terms I liked this story! Not every comic book that I (or you) read has to be deeper than the Grand Canyon, with deconstruction of a protagonist, character changing upheavals, criticism of society, government, culture, etc. for pity’s sake, sometimes I wanna read something FUN with a good handful of characters that gives me excitement, tension, a little drama, a little humor! Prophecy, despite the couple minor flaws does just that! I’m hoping that Dynamite sees fit to do a series like this again, this time I’ll start with the first issue instead of waiting for the trade!
That does it for me this time around friends! Hope you’re digging the ride so far, because I have more to come! I got some things I wanna get off my chest, I wanna talk about the good old days, and I wanna share the experience of getting out and spreading my wings at some comic shops outside of my normal stomping grounds. A guy has to expand his horizons, right?
