JLA Avengers, long awaited, and needing a sequel!

Now the New Year is nigh upon us and the Noughties are finally drawing to a close, I got to wondering what the highlights of the past decade have been for me in the comics world.

The decade was ushered in with what remains to me to be one of the greatest JLA stories of all time: World War III by Grant Morrison, and the coming of Mageddon, a weapon left over from the time of the Old Gods. I always regretted that we never saw Morrisson’s creation of Wonderworld again, even if it had been destroyed by the beast.

Of course the geekfest of the decade has to have been the 2004 JLA Avengers, drawn by the ever talented George Perez. This gave everything that one can demand from such a team-up, good characterisation, a virtual tour of both teams massive histories, cameos by everybody who was anybody, and a lasting effect on continuity. Well, on DC’s side of the fence at least. After all, where would Kurt Busiek’s excellent Trinity have been without Krona’s Cosmic Egg?

Trinity has to have been the best of all the weekly series that came out. Both 52 and Countdown had their highlights, including the resurrection of the DC Multiverse. The latter series was not without its critics, with good reason, but nonetheless I found it a good adventure romp, even if it seemed to be a bit of a dumping ground for plotlines that had no other home. And can I ask, did anybody else find the Monarch plotline to have been ‘resolved’ in a most unsatisfactory manner?

Trinity on the other hand had structure, with every element serving a purpose. The masterful stroke here as to have the singular writer, the previous team efforts seemed more than a little unfocused. Still, I would still buy a weekly if one as on offer, and if it purported to be just a general title where the plot itself rather than characters were the star, if it was honest about its reason for being, so much the better.

I cannot look at the decade without celebrating the return of Doctor Who, both to our screens and the news stands. I have mentioned it before, but together with the Transformers re-launch (not that they ever really went away), my sense of nostalgia was enhanced with quality material.

Other re-launches did not fair so well. Where’s my regular Thundercats comic? Well, at least they gained a team-up with Superman. Something that the Masters Of The Universe managed back in the Eighties, not that their title survived either. It makes me wonder if I should make the effort to get familiar with Ben 10, after all in ten to fifteen years no doubt they will have their nostalgia titles hitting the stands.

Taking a quick over at the House Of Ideas, my highlights have to be the resurgence of the cosmic storylines, Annihilation, and Annihilation: Conquest. The Secret Invasion seemed to be the better earth-based crossover, making up for House Of M and Civil War, both of which were a little lacklustre, and seemed to more enrage than satiate the fans.

The greatest triumph of the decade has to be the vast amount of independent publishers, apart from the Big Two, although I rather think nowadays we should call them the Big Four, including Dark Horse and Image.

Avatar, Archaia, Boom (who are my personal favourite), Asylum, Th3rd World Studios, IDW the list is far from endless, but a lot healthier than this time ten years ago. Smaller companies chasing after licensed properties is a good way to get their brand recognised, and many of these companies have done exactly that while giving still more creators work and recognition. And that is the triumph of the decade.

So much attention has been paid to the Blackest Night and it’s prequel the Sinestro Corps War, that it has been easy to forget that Marvel have also been having a big cosmic crossover. And it rocks.

I’ve been as guilty as anyone, I admit. However I started reading comics with Marvel, and I have been blown away with their recent space sagas. Both Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, great epics on their own, have set the scene for the current War Of Kings. And let’s face it, everyone who is anyone on the cosmic scene has been in these, even the most obscure of characters, from Paibok the Power Skrull to Stellaris the Celestial Slayer.

We’ve seen the Inhumans finally grasp the destiny for which they were designed, as the Royal Family adopt the Kree Empire as their ward. The third Summers brother Vulcan launches the Shi’ar into an expansionist phase, and the new Guardians Of The Galaxy stuck in the middle.

(SPOILER ALERT – READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE SERIES BUT PLAN TO.)

Lilandra has now been assassinated. And the culprit Darkhawk.

I have always liked Lilandra, and this one will echo for years if she stays dead, there seems to be nobody to take her place. I for one will miss her.

As for Darkhawk, I always thought he was a character with a lot of potential, and in the capable hands of Dan Abnett this has been realised. This week we have seen the final issue of War Of Kings: Ascension, and Dan has managed to completely revamp the character without contradicting any of his previous history. Christopher Powell has now had the ‘Nova-treatment’ and is finally a force to be reckoned with.

Elsewhere in the MU, Doctor Doom has had a great increase of power, in a story that many may have missed, what with Dark Reign and the War Of Kings hogging the spotlight. Spiralling out of the Marvel 1985 series (and somewhat justifying it), he was apparently slain by the Marquis Of Death, a future version of Clyde Wyncham, the reality altering first mutant of an alternate earth, sent back to the time of the dinosaurs and worked his way forward again step by step. Considering the next issue of the FF continues on from their Dark Reign mini, I hope we will see more of this new uber-Doom. After all, Norman Osbourne will not know how much his ally has changed.

So there’s my recommendations for this week – War Of Kings:Ascension #4 and Fantastic Four #569.