Crossoveritis

I've been buying a lot of crossovers the past few months and originally I had planned on doing kind of a recurring thing on here where I would review all the different crossover titles and explain their worth as a stand alone and as part of an overarching story. Sadly, I just don't have the time. For some reason I've been picking up practically everything bearing the Secret Invasion header regardless of whether or not I would normally pick up the title. This week I didn't make it to pick up my pulls but I did grab a few comics from the store closest to my house and it just so happened that every book, but one, were crossovers. Here is how that turned out for me...

Deadpool #1: I liked it. I've never followed Deadpool and don't recall even reading one of his staring titles but, for some reason I felt inclined to pick this up. I'm glad I did. Paco Medina is a fun artist and I may be the only person on the planet who enjoys Wolverine: Origins (one of my "wait for trade" titles) so I know what to expect from Daniel Way. I keep hearing him compared to Garth Ennis but this book doesn't remind me of Ennis at all. More like Nextwave-era Warren Ellis. While none of the gags are as hilariously over the top as Nextwave's this still made me chuckle from time to time and props on some hilarious inner monologuing from the title character.
As a tie in it seems to have no effect on the greater Secret Invasion story but it does feature Skrulls as the main antagonists (protagonists?) so I guess it is a tie in. It doesn't even bear the "SI" header however so at least it doesn't try to pawn itself off as something vital to the core title. All in all this was a good read.

Ms. Marvel #30: Wow, a freaking knockout job by Adriana Melo on pencilling this issue. Holy crap. I don't know why this issue bowled me over visually as strong as it did but I was definitely impressed. From a writing stand point this title continues to come across as a late 80's superhero tale and I'm fine with that. I dig it. I have no idea what happened at the end of this book though. Jumps in time usually leave me disoriented particularly when I have no idea who a character is that's obviously recurring.
As a tie-in, again, nothing important to the overall story and, in fact, it kind of confuses me how Ms. Marvel is running around all healthy and in one piece when in the core title she was seemingly wiped out by a horde of Super Skrulls and Nick Fury. Confusing but solid.

Secret Invasion: X-Men #2: Mike Carey impresses me as a skilled writer and Cary Nord used to rock on Conan pretty good so I've been picking this up in hopes that it would be a quality tie in. And it is, just not quite as high quality as I was expecting. Cary Nord seems to be skimping on the details to such a degree that most of the panels seem drenched in fog. Maybe that was the point but, his work here is underwhelming.
The story itself is pretty much a by-the-numbers tie in wherein we're merely seeing how one set of characters is dealing with the events transpiring in the core title from their perspective. Basically it's big on action, small on story. There is some good characterization however, and I'm especially interested in Nightcrawler's Tolkienesque character arc. Overall, good stuff but again, nothing vital.

Secret Invasion #6: Finally I am enamored with an issue of this series. Ever since the first issue I've been feeling that this story was only "good". Now, with only two issues to go, Bendis has punched the little red button. There are your usual assortment of "cool" fanboy moments here but, this time from the first page to the last I was caught up in this story. Heck, I'm going to come right out and admit that seeing all the heroes back together and fighting side by side again gave me goose bumps. Seriously. I can't say enough about how much of an emotional high this issue gave me from Thor's appearance to the two page splashes. Leinil Francis Yu hit his stride with this series and he really brings his all to this issue. Unrelenting awesomeness.

So there you go. I picked up Booster Gold #12 which, sadly, is my last issue to pick up of that title. It was good, but with John's departure and the lack of a really solid writer to come on board I just can't justify spending my money on this. Hopefully it will keep up the pace but I really don't see that happening.

So there you have it. I'll be back with more when I get more. For now I'm off to read my Irredeemable Ant Man digests.