Take It Or Leave It – November 21, 2012

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Welcome to Take It Or Leave It, where each week we pick out some of that week’s newest comics and give you our opinion on whether it was worth the price and you should take it, or if it was better left sitting on the shelf.

Death of the Family continues in Nightwing, Amazing Spider-Man gets closer to the end, and long time Avengers writer bids the book farewell, a trip to the final frontier, along with recaps of some of the best or worst books on the shelves this week in Take It Or Leave It for November 21, 2012.

And to everyone in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris
The Marvel NOW! books are in full swing, and so far they’ve been pretty good. We’re still getting some final issues though, and you’ll just have to keep reading to see if they were any good.

	Nightwing 14 I like Nightwing, I think he’s a fun character more. I’ve enjoyed most of the last 14 issues too, but this one just feels like it should be happening somewhere else. Like a few of the other Death of the Family tie-in’s this one doesn’t quite fit. There’s a handful of Joker references, but the book is about Dick tracking down Lady Shiva. Frankly considering as soon as Joker showed up he caused a lot of problems (read Batman 13 and 14) I think Lady Shiva would probably be a minor blip on Nightwing’s map. Most likly this story was setup pre-DOTF and DC just rolled it into it, but honestly this would have been better after all of that, it would have made a good callback to the zero issue a few months later too. While it was a decent issue, it’s really not a necessary edition to the story, so if you’re around for DOTF, you can definitely skip it. Verdict: Probably Leave It
	Retrovirus I did a longer review of this that went up on Tuesday, this isn’t a single issue, but a 70+ page graphic novel. The story is really interesting focusing on a scientist that specializes in viruses, who gets the job offer of a lifetime to study a prehistoric virus in Antarctica. I had a great time reading this book, and if you’ve got the extra 13 dollars to spare it’s definitely worth adding to your bookshelf. Obviously if you want to know more, check out our full review of Retrovirus. Verdict: Take It
	Amazing Spider-Man 698 HOLY $#!&, that pretty much sums of 698 of Amazing Spider-Man. We’ve only got 2 issues left till our worlds are rocked, and Dan Slott is already getting started. The majority of this book is pretty straight forward Spider-Man. A lot happens though that fans will be pretty excited to see, but if you’ve been following news, you’ll also be weary since we know something is going to happen to Pete before issue 700 is over. The real payoff in this issue is the last couple of pages, I actually had my draw drop, it was the last thing I expected to happen and anyone who says they saw it coming is a damn liar. If you’re going to start reading Spider-Man make it this issue. You may be a little confused but with a prelude to the final story like this, we’re going to have one hell of a finale next month, and no one should miss it! Verdict: Take It
	Avengers 34 Brian Michael Bendis has been writing the Avengers in one form or another since 2004, he is the longest run in the history of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Issue 34 is a really great way to close off a fantastic run. After over 200 issues this was less of a story arc and more of a farewell. In the last year or so of the book we’ve had some fan favorite characters return, and Bendis ends by bringing one last one back to the team. Issue 34 finishes off the story of finding and rescuing the Wasp, who’s been trapped in the microverse since she ‘died’ during Secret Invasion. There are some great moments in the book as the Avengers fight their final foe under Bendis’ pen. It probably won’t go down as the best issue ever, but I can’t think of a better way to end one run, and begin another. Oh and make sure to stick around and read the farewell page, it’s a pretty nice story about a young writer getting a big chance. Verdict: Take It
	Hawkeye 4 I think I’ve mentioned before how awesome the book is, Hawkeye is one of the best books on the shelves right now. That’s certainly not something you expect to be saying. I’ve always liked Clint, but his solo adventures haven’t always been well received. I guess we’re lucky to have Fraction working his magic on everyone’s favorite archers. This is the first multiple issue story for the series so far, as Hawkeye heads for Madripoor to try and win an auction, but Clint isn’t the super spy that Natasha is. Obviously things go wrong, he gets into some bad situations and it’s a great time the whole way through. The last scene is a really great one too, but I don’t want to spoil anything so just go buy this damn book and enjoy it! Verdict: Take It
	Indestructible Hulk 1 The Hulk generally wasn’t a character that interested me. I liked the Edward Norton film, hated the Eric Bana one, and loved the Hulk of The Avengers. That said, I’ve never really read his books before, I’ve seen him in other books but that’s it. I probably would have skipped the book completely too, but while attending Baltimore Comic Con in September I heard Mark Waid talk about this book during the Marvel NOW! panel. It’s funny how a guy talking about something can sway you, but he was really into it and it made me want to see what it was about. Boy am I glad I did, this was actually really interesting play on Hulk and Banner. Bruce is finally getting over his alter ego and is ready to do some good. He’s a smart guy, right up there with Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Beats, and Peter Parker, but like Spidey before him hasn’t gotten much credit for that. Looks like that’s about to change though, and I’m probably going to be sticking around for the ride. Oh, and ignore the silly armor that he has in the promo stuff, I’ve heard that might not last long. Verdict: Take It
	Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 17 A few things I read for this issue listed it as more or less a heart to heart between Miles and Jessica Drew, the Ultimate Spider-Woman. It isn’t though, it’s just the battle from the last couple issue of The Ultimates from the Wall crawlers side of things. The only part of this story that I enjoyed was back in New York with Miles’ parents, it has me curious as to what exactly is going to happen with them. Otherwise nothing really happens, hopefully they actually get around to having some good interaction between Miles and Jess soon, but this wasn’t it. Verdict: Leave It
	Godstorm 2 I really liked the 0 issue for Godstorm, was a little bored with issue 1 though. There wasn’t to much God stuff going on till the end. This issue, while it still didn’t have a lot of that stuff happening was still really good. Some great references were in there, and we got to see Julian display some pretty cool powers. If the story keeps up like this it’s going to be at the top of the Zenescope list in no time. The only problem I had was it was a bit to much of the same thing from last issue, Tony beating up on the guy who could probably eat him for breakfast and still be hungry. And believe me I do get it, that’s how it goes, the little guy with the ideas will push and boss everyone else around and use them. I just wish it didn’t last so long and the story got to the juicy stuff a little quicker. In the end it was worth the wait and I’m looking forward to next issue a lot, and so should you. Verdict: Take It

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

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