“Acidman’s” Gut Rumbles blog is one of the best ones out there, not least because he’s willing to rant about topics some of us wouldn’t dare.

Well, that’s not true. If a news article that interested me popped up, I’d be willing to write a post about my opinions on circumcision. I just wouldn’t describe personal experiences to explain. That’s where Acidman’s got me beat.

After House of M, most of the Marvel Universe’s mutants lost their powers because of the Scarlet Witch’s reality-bending abilities. Only those heroes who were involved in trying to set the world right know exactly what caused the mass de-powering of mutants, and they’re not talking, out of fear of causing a worldwide hysteria.

It’s been a week since the mutants lost their powers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wants answers. Knowing that the X-men and the Avengers went to Genosha just before the event, and that her only “witness” keeps muttering “House of M” repeatedly in her padded cell, she calls Tony Stark (Iron Man) looking for information. Tony, one of the heroes who knows the truth, dodges the question and ends the communication. Meanwhile, a super-powered something crashes to Earth in North Pole, Alaska, and begins wreaking havoc.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m enjoying both of the Avengers books that spawned from Disassembled. I hated the Disassembled story, and I can’t think of a single tie-in to that event that was even worth the paper on which it was printed, but the spin-off books, The New Avengers and Young Avengers, are extremely fun reads. I like the way Brian Michael Bendis writes this team (especially Spider-Man, who doesn’t show up in this issue — Iron Man is the only Avenger who does, in fact), even if the stories don’t quite feel like “Avengers” stories.

The first 3/4 of this book is fantastic. The art is wonderful as always, and even without Spider-Man, Bendis tosses in a few funny moments. The problem comes when the Avengers story ends, and we’re “treated” to a backup story starring, um… Kickers, Inc. I have no idea who “Kickers, Inc.” is, and if this short sample is any indication of the quality of their stories, I’m very, very glad of that. Technically, I guess we’re not shorted any pages of Avengers story, but between the 8 pages of Kickers, Inc., and the fact that the first nine pages have a total of eight panels (yes, that’s right — big panel covers two full pages), with absolutely no text on any of them other than the “Previously…” stuff at the beginning of the issue, this issue felt very short, and very, very light on actual Avengers.

All in all, not a bad issue, but it really felt like a prologue that would’ve fit just as well in the first two pages of an issue that actually got us into the story.

I have to admit, while I’ve been enjoying Justice, that this is the first issue that’s made enough of an impression that I can remember the story a couple of days after I read it. I remember thinking that the other issues were cool, and not just because of Alex Ross’s art, but the plot just slipped out of my head almost as soon as I’d finished the issue.

This issue, though, sets the stage pretty well. Supervillains have been acting heroically, healing the sick and doing what they can to make the world a better place. Lex Luthor addresses the people, explaining that, sure, the Justice League has saved the world from various crises, but as soon as they’ve done that, they simply turn their backs, leaving the world in the same suffering state it’s always been in. The “villains”, though, are building cities, cities without disease, without poverty, and they’re inviting people to become a part of it, even while they’re systematically eliminating the Justice League one at a time. Superman is attacked by Bizarro, Solomon Grundy, the Parasite, and Metallo in turn. Simultaneously, heroes all over the world are under assault — Green Arrow and Black Canary are attacked in their(?) apartment, Hawkman and Hawkwoman are attacked at the museum, Wonder Woman is under attack by Cheetah, and The Atom is shot by a would-be assassin. Superman pages the Flash for help, but as Barry’s on his way, he comes to the startling realization that he can’t stop, and he’s running so fast that he’s in some sort of time loop.

As I was reading this one, I decided I have to go back and dig up the old issues to re-read this mini as a whole. Until this point, I have to confess, I was mostly just admiring the art and not paying a lot of attention to the story, other than thinking that there were a lot of individual scenes that I was enjoying. I’m looking forward to the rest of this series now, and I’m anxious to go back and see what I’ve missed.

Superman: This Is Your Life Part Two

I’ve never been a big fan of Superman. Mostly, that’s because he’s always seemed too powerful. Except in the hands of an exceptional writer, Superman stories tend to bore me. Still, I’ve added the Superman titles because the post-Infinite Crisis creative teams are people whose works I tend to enjoy. Crisis isn’t over yet, but I’ve still picked up a couple of the crossover issues, including parts of the “This Is Your Life” storyline. (Unless I’m mistaken, Adventures of Superman has John Byrne on the creative team; if so, I won’t be getting the third part of the story.)

The Superman of the “main” DC Universe (Kal-El/Clark Kent) is fighting his Earth-2 Counterpart, Kal-L. With every punch, we see glimpses of various bits of Superman’s history from the various timelines. By the end of the fight, we’re seeing Kal-L’s interpretation of “where it all went wrong”, and what he would’ve done to make things better.

I only started seriously collecting comics when I started college, and I’ve very rarely read any Superman comics. Other than the glimpses at the beginning of this issue of his actual origin, most of this stuff is only vaguely familiar to me. I don’t know exactly how his original debut in Metropolis went, or whether the version shown here is Kal-L’s history, or Kal-El’s, or some other version that’s long been retconned out of existence. Some of the other things we see, from his first meeting with Batman to the revelation of his identity to Lois Lane, might be from any version of the DCU, and I wouldn’t know the difference. Despite that, I find myself really enjoying the story here. I love alternate reality stuff, in general (though when it’s overdone, it gets tiring), and seeing different versions of various “historical events”, with commentary from Kal-L, is pretty entertaining to me.

On the other hand, I’m not particularly keen on the art. Don’t get me wrong; I like most of the artists who worked on this issue, but they all have differing styles, and the transition from one style to another is jarring to me, even when I understand perfectly well why they’re doing it. The transition in art style is helpful in understanding that you’re seeing a different “universe”, but it’s still annoying.

I had fun reading this one, but it’s not one I can particularly recommend. This whole story seems like just a means to an end so they can start telling the story set “One Year Later”, and with that in mind, it seems kind of pointless. I can’t imagine you’d miss anything if you simply waited until the One Year Later stuff actually started coming out.

I know there was a good wrestling pun there, but I just couldn’t come up with it.

I’m in the process of implementing tags on this blog, so if you see some screwy stuff going on here for the next couple of hours, please be patient.