Descent into Dorkness

This post is all about the geekery. Regular readers may wish to check in later.

This week saw the release of Frankenstein #4, the last issue of the last mini-series in the Seven Soldiers Project. Now all that's left is Seven Soldiers #1 (which, I understand, is delayed until summer). And the crying.

'Cause I'm gonna miss this when it is all done. The project had it's misses but it also had a lot of hits. Frank 4 is one of the hits, baby. It kicked all sorts of ass! I was not very impressed with the first issue of this mini but it grew stronger with each issue, creating more connections with the larger story and allowing the bolt-headed one to carve a bloody swathe through it. Frank 4 lays the ground work for what I assume will be the final showdown between the Soldiers and the enemy in this project. Without spoiling too much: the Soldiers need not sweat the small stuff 'cause Frank did all of the heavy lifting for ya!

Speaking of heavy lifting, I also picked up the most recent issue of The Thing. In this issue, he teams up with a bizarre-looking Spider Man (a new costume with mechanical spider-arms?) to take out a couple of classic villains. We get a little soap opera too as Mr. Grimm still carries a torch for an old flame. I am not sure I am cool with the fact that everyone around him encourages him to break up her current relationship (especially since her new boy friend is a nice, normal dude) but fiction is all about conflict, right?

Oh, and Marvel must give Dan Slott a gig writing Spider Man. Between this issue and Mr. Slott's recent turn with the Spider Man/Human Torch mini, I am convinced that he was born to write that character. With my luck, he'll be offered a job writing on Lost and I will never hear from him again.

I picked up Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men but I have not read it. My enthusiasm for this comic is the subject of many posts here on this blog but I am losing interest in this thing. The last story arc lost momentum and the current story relies on some cliches that plague this property. Joss Whedon gives good characterization, and I am willing to stick it out a little longer, but I am not optimistic.

And my buddy Dan "the Man" lent me his copy of volume 1 of Essential Moon Knight this past weekend. I have read only the first issue collected in this omnibus but I am digging it already! I loved this character as a kid in the 70s, when he showed up in issues of Werewolf By Night to kick the eponymous lycanthrope's butt and this collection gave me a fist full of silver! And then follows it up with a savate kick to the jaw with a silver-toed boot! Ouch!