COOL SHIT 12-6-12

MINUTEMEN #5:  I’m not too thrilled with this book.  In fact, I think it’s the weakest of the BEFORE WATCHMEN titles, but this issue made an impression on me.  There’s a lot going on in this one.  For example, this is the first time in the Watchmen universe where other superheroes are featured, and these two are based on comic book characters, which makes it all the more unusual.  The reasoning is actually pretty cool, too, considering how the supes in this one are showing off a bit of their racism toward the Japanese (since this is set just after WWII).  This issue also features Hollis and the other Minutemen dealing with a big event, namely the nuclear destruction of the Statue of Liberty.  Super-crime like this is never depicted in any of the other Watchmen books (except for Ozymandius’s plot in the original, obviously).  As if that isn’t enough, we find out why Hollis dislikes Dr. Manhattan so much, we see the Communist witch hunt that drove Justice away, and the solution to the biggest mystery of Moore’s original is supplied:  what the fuck ever happened to Justice?  We get the ugly truth in the last pages, and it’s pretty nasty.  Also, I don’t know if I buy it.  It sounds like something Hollis would have talked about later, but clearly he didn’t.  There’s a bit of a hole there that I’m hoping they’ll close up in the next, final, issue.

TRANSFORMERS:  REGENERATION #86:  Back in the old days, the Marvel TF book had to do things because the toy company came out with new products all the time.  Sometimes, they did a really good job of working shit out, like when the Headmasters came along.  Other times, they screwed the pooch, like when the Action Masters came out.  It was such a fucking awful idea that it ruined the original TF comic book.  For those who don’t remember, the Action Masters were Transformers that . . . COULD NOT TRANSFORM.  Kinda’ defeats the purpose, no?  Anyway, a lot of Autobots were near death, and Grimlock discovered something called Nucleon, and it could save them all.  His primary motivation was to save the rest of the Dinobots.  He tested it on himself first, and he found out that it made him very, very strong, but it took away his ability to transform.  He figured, fuck it, and he used it on all of those Autobots.  *sigh*  This had to stick in writer Simon Furman’s craw, because in this issue, he is working at undoing that piss-poor storyline.  Scorponok has discovered a way to fix everyone who came in contact with Nucleon.  From what I can tell, though, it means becoming a Headmaster.  I like the idea of doing away with Nucleon, but making Grimlock a Headmaster?  That just doesn’t sound right.  At the same time, it seems that Scoponok, whose head (Zarak) is dead by the way, has discovered that ‘bots don’t just choose to be Autobot or Decepticon; it seems to be a part of their CNA.  I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

COMEDIAN #4:  I’m going to say one thing, and it alone is worth dropping what you’re doing now and buying the entire series.  Ready?  Comedian goes to Vietnam, where he drops some acid and murders an entire village.  Holy shit, right?  There’s more.  He’s been hanging out with a couple of Vietnamese kids, and he’s named one Hearts, the other Minds.  Jesus Christ.  We’ve already seen his reaction to JFK’s death, but something tells me we’ll get to see what he does with RFK’s death in the next couple of issues.  Comedian was sent overseas in the first place because he was supposed to be a symbol to inspire people, but he’s decided to actually fight the war while he’s over there.  Why?  Because he actually wants the war to end.  All of the big guys, on the other hand, have a time schedule for the war.  It can’t end until they’re ready.  Wow, things just keep getting more and more fucked up in this book when the most sadistic character in the Watchmen universe is the voice of reason.