Marvel 2 in 1 continues to be great. That Chip Zdarsky is pretty good at this comics thing
I don't like the idea of the FF's powers "tethering" them together. They're a family. Their love should be what holds them together. But, that's just a me nitpicking. It's a very good read.
Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows #2 is excellent!
Shade the Changing Woman #2 is ... interesting.
Batman, I am Suicide (TPB Vol 2). I didn't think much of the I Am Gotham trade. Vol 2 is really good. I want to read this again.
I read the second volume of Briggs Land by Brian Wood, Mack Chater, Lou Loughridge, and others. This collection is of what was released as the Briggs Land: Lone Wolves mini.
I'm still on board with this and looking forward to more. It was a cinematic but quick read, and so I am glad I waited for trade on it, and then borrowed that trade from the library. I think the first collection was stronger, and I hope the next miniseries or volume of issues focuses more on Grace Briggs herself, as I think her character is the most interesting one in the series, and she had less to do in this story. But I liked it, even though I banged through it pretty quick.
Exiles #1 Javier Rodriguez is the perfect artist for this dimension hopping book. Like Saladin Ahmed's Black Bolt, this is a perfect match of artist and writer.
Domino #1 Gail Simone p. much picks up where she left off. Not only is Domino here, so are Outlaw, Agent X and Deadpool.
The curious thing is the villain - Topaz.
Characters seem to assume she's the Marvel witch and Jack Russell ally, but when we finally see her, she looks nothing like either of the character designs she's had. Outside of skin colour, she's closer to the Ultraverse Topaz.
Isola was a little less compelling of a story, but boy Karl Kerschl's artwork is just stunning.
I liked Isola quite a bit, though I agree that Kerschl’s artwork is the book’s biggest strength. Did you read the Prologue story that ran as a backup in the first five issues of Motor Crush?
I liked Isola quite a bit, though I agree that Kerschl’s artwork is the book’s biggest strength. Did you read the Prologue story that ran as a backup in the first five issues of Motor Crush?
I did not. In fact, I only learned of its existence in the last few days. I may try to track it down, haven't really decided yet.
I enjoyed Green Lantern Earth One Vol. 1. I don't know if some of it would've worked better in the GL movie and fixed some of the problems it had, but it was a good sci-fi read and an interesting take on GL and the GL Corps.
I liked Isola quite a bit, though I agree that Kerschl’s artwork is the book’s biggest strength. Did you read the Prologue story that ran as a backup in the first five issues of Motor Crush?
I did not. In fact, I only learned of its existence in the last few days. I may try to track it down, haven't really decided yet.
It's only 10 pages of content in total. Probably not worth it if that's all you're interested in. Although Motor Crush is a pretty good book in its own right. It's a near-future sci-fi book with some elements of grindhouse thrown in. A fun book with fantastic artwork.
I liked Isola quite a bit, though I agree that Kerschl’s artwork is the book’s biggest strength. Did you read the Prologue story that ran as a backup in the first five issues of Motor Crush?
I did not. In fact, I only learned of its existence in the last few days. I may try to track it down, haven't really decided yet.
It's only 10 pages of content in total. Probably not worth it if that's all you're interested in. Although Motor Crush is a pretty good book in its own right. It's a near-future sci-fi book with some elements of grindhouse thrown in. A fun book with fantastic artwork.
Looks like the prologue is actually available on line.
I enjoyed Green Lantern Earth One Vol. 1. I don't know if some of it would've worked better in the GL movie and fixed some of the problems it had, but it was a good sci-fi read and an interesting take on GL and the GL Corps.
Thanks for the review it's in my "to read" stack. Is it similar to any of the other Earth One books, at least tonally?
A blindspot in my comics reading is Hellboy. I might have some early appearances or issues stashed away in the boxes at my parents house, but given that those comics got going right as I was heading to college, and paying less attention to my reading, I got behind. Once the early '00s came around and I started reading comics regularly again, I just felt too far behind, there was so much other great work just getting started around then, and figured I would get to it eventually.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
A blindspot in my comics reading is Hellboy. I might have some early appearances or issues stashed away in the boxes at my parents house, but given that those comics got going right as I was heading to college, and paying less attention to my reading, I got behind. Once the early '00s came around and I started reading comics regularly again, I just felt too far behind, there was so much other great work just getting started around then, and figured I would get to it eventually.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
Hellboy proper is pretty consistently great. BPRD drags at times, perhaps due in part to them not wanting to get too far ahead of Hellboy—that’s the way it felt anyway—but overall it was really good, and at times better than Hellboy. When Guy Davis left, the series seemed to falter a bit—still good, but I started losing interest in it. Read Abe Sapien if you really want, but as far as I'm concerned you can skip it. Witchfinder adds some to the backstory, and it's a good read (better than Abe Sapien), but not necessary. Lobster Johnson adds some backstory as well, and isn’t really necessary, but it's a much better read—particularly any of the arcs drawn by Tonci Zonjic.
A blindspot in my comics reading is Hellboy. I might have some early appearances or issues stashed away in the boxes at my parents house, but given that those comics got going right as I was heading to college, and paying less attention to my reading, I got behind. Once the early '00s came around and I started reading comics regularly again, I just felt too far behind, there was so much other great work just getting started around then, and figured I would get to it eventually.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
Hellboy proper is pretty consistently great. BPRD drags at times, perhaps due in part to them not wanting to get too far ahead of Hellboy—that’s the way it felt anyway—but overall it was really good, and at times better than Hellboy. When Guy Davis left, the series seemed to falter a bit—still good, but I started losing interest in it. Read Abe Sapien if you really want, but as far as I'm concerned you can skip it. Witchfinder adds some to the backstory, and it's a good read (better than Abe Sapien), but not necessary. Lobster Johnson adds some backstory as well, and isn’t really necessary, but it's a much better read—particularly any of the arcs drawn by Tonci Zonjic.
A blindspot in my comics reading is Hellboy. I might have some early appearances or issues stashed away in the boxes at my parents house, but given that those comics got going right as I was heading to college, and paying less attention to my reading, I got behind. Once the early '00s came around and I started reading comics regularly again, I just felt too far behind, there was so much other great work just getting started around then, and figured I would get to it eventually.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
Hellboy proper is pretty consistently great. BPRD drags at times, perhaps due in part to them not wanting to get too far ahead of Hellboy—that’s the way it felt anyway—but overall it was really good, and at times better than Hellboy. When Guy Davis left, the series seemed to falter a bit—still good, but I started losing interest in it. Read Abe Sapien if you really want, but as far as I'm concerned you can skip it. Witchfinder adds some to the backstory, and it's a good read (better than Abe Sapien), but not necessary. Lobster Johnson adds some backstory as well, and isn’t really necessary, but it's a much better read—particularly any of the arcs drawn by Tonci Zonjic.
Thanks! Lots to look forward to.
Addendum: When Tyler Crook came on to BPRD for a while, that eased the pain of Guy leaving. And the other artists are all fine, but Guy’s just so damn good.
A blindspot in my comics reading is Hellboy. I might have some early appearances or issues stashed away in the boxes at my parents house, but given that those comics got going right as I was heading to college, and paying less attention to my reading, I got behind. Once the early '00s came around and I started reading comics regularly again, I just felt too far behind, there was so much other great work just getting started around then, and figured I would get to it eventually.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
Read Abe Sapien if you really want, but as far as I'm concerned you can skip it. Witchfinder adds some to the backstory, and it's a good read (better than Abe Sapien), but not necessary. Lobster Johnson adds some backstory as well, and isn’t really necessary, but it's a much better read—particularly any of the arcs drawn by Tonci Zonjic.
I have never read a single issue of witchfinder I'm glad to hear that it is worth picking up. It's on the next digital dark horse sale list.
I always felt like Hellboy's stories were more "stand alone" even though they were connected and weaved in and out of BPRD's more serialized format. I purchased a bunch of the trades when the first film came out so that I could get some background on the character and fell in love with the stories and characters. My favorite characters, other than the main characters are Roger the Homunculus and Capt. Daimio. One of my fondest memories was reading through 3-4 trades while on vacation one summer. I've since collected most of both Hellboy and BPRD in trade and for the most part, they are solid through and through. You'll likely enjoy them. You may be able to do without the ancillary titles as @nweathington stated, but if you're jonesing for more Hellboy universe, they'll definitely help with that.
Read Titan’s The Prisoner #1 tonight—got the Kirby/Allred cover. Kind of appropriate follow-up to reading Mister Miracle. Anyway, it was about as good as I was expecting. It’s certainly not the best thing Peter Milligan has ever written, but it's not the worst either. The artwork by Colin Lorimer is pretty average, but at least it's better than the typical Dynamite book.
My biggest problem with the book is we learn the protagonist’s motivations, and worse yet we hear his interior dialogue. One of the great things about the original show was that we don't really know what, or even if, No. 6’s big secret is. We don't know what he’s thinking until it plays out on screen. It adds to the mystery and suspense and the tension of the stories, and this first issue could have used more of that. But as a big fan of the original series, I'll give the comic another issue or two to fully make its case. I give this one a B-.
I picked up Highest House #1 today after seeing some of the love here. Great book, so glad I did. I love the oversized format, even if it's not going to really fit into any of my storage.
I picked up Highest House #1 today after seeing some of the love here. Great book, so glad I did. I love the oversized format, even if it's not going to really fit into any of my storage.
I have tons of magazines I keep as reference, so I have magazine boxes. But I'm keeping these on a bookshelf in nice looking magazine file holder, with some other like-sized things.
I just finished the Thanos series written by Donny Cates. It was a fun read. I mean that in the biggest compliment I can make. It was fun to just sit down and read a story and enjoy the journey. I'm really loving everything Cates is putting out right now. But I really wanted to post about the Thanos Annual #1. Multiple writers and artists worked on the issue. I thought it had some short stories that were so different and interesting that as soon as I finished I thought "I need to post a comment on the boards". The story of Thanos showing up on every one of a kid's birthdays each year was hilarious! I was just wondering if there was anyone else who picked this up and enjoyed it as much as I did?
Read Titan’s The Prisoner #1 tonight—got the Kirby/Allred cover. Kind of appropriate follow-up to reading Mister Miracle. Anyway, it was about as good as I was expecting. It’s certainly not the best thing Peter Milligan has ever written, but it's not the worst either. The artwork by Colin Lorimer is pretty average, but at least it's better than the typical Dynamite book.
My biggest problem with the book is we learn the protagonist’s motivations, and worse yet we hear his interior dialogue. One of the great things about the original show was that we don't really know what, or even if, No. 6’s big secret is. We don't know what he’s thinking until it plays out on screen. It adds to the mystery and suspense and the tension of the stories, and this first issue could have used more of that. But as a big fan of the original series, I'll give the comic another issue or two to fully make its case. I give this one a B-.
Sounds like they didn't "get" the show. They probably thought the only thing wrong with it is that no knows what's going on and no one knows who's thinking what. So they "fixed" it.
However, the sequel done years ago by DC (Shattered Visage, by Dean Motter) was quite good, I thought.
On Spiderfan.org, a very well-respected website for reviews on Spider-Man comics, I remember reading a review for the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man annual and how it claimed that the annuals prior to that one had been of mediocre quality. Being someone who enjoyed not only this 2011 annual, but also the 2010 one featuring Captain America, I beg to differ.
I've always loved dark stories... when they're done well. When done well, they can explore some very frightening concepts we're normally uncomfortable in thinking about. In the case of this annual, it poses a disturbing question: what if Spider-Man sacrifices his sense of responsibility for the sake of power?
THIS is what I love about Spider-Man stories. It can be difficult to keep on exploring the two concepts of power and responsibility for over 50 years, let alone keep such exploration refreshing, but this annual has done exactly that. It features an alternate universe where Spider-Man is popular among everyone (even Jolly ol' Jonah Jameson), he's rich, he has his own secret lair (so yes, a lot like Batman), and he's so powerful he defeated Thanos, Annihilus, and Galactus all on his own (literally; this world has no other superheroes like Iron Man or Thor because it doesn't need other heroes).
Of course, like all dark tales, this power came at a very heavy price.
Damn, I still love that shocking revelation. I already felt that something was off before it was revealed, like how Aunt May's hands were shaking when offering the original Peter Parker some tea. But I never expected things to be so... twisted. I guess I just didn't fathom how evil they could make Uncle Ben, the man who was the root of Peter's sense of responsibility.
I could only wish for more stories like this to exist. I mean, too much of it can be exhausting for the readers, something I believe Marvel is well aware of after their edgy '90s line-ups. But once in a while, when you come across a "Tales from the Crypt/Twilight Zone/Black Mirror" sort of story like this... it can be so satisfying, especially when it reaffirms just what the real Peter Parker stands for - responsibility, sacrifice for the good of everyone, all that good stuff. This story was easily more entertaining than Spider-Island.
And then there's one problem. Just a very minor one. This is part 1 of 3, and the remaining two parts are in the books of two other characters, Deadpool and Hulk. I'm not really interested in their books, so I won't really bother to see how it all concludes. But that's not a problem either and doesn't affect (much) the rating for this story because it still works as a standalone tale. You don't really have to read the two other books (AFAIK) to enjoy it.
Read Titan’s The Prisoner #1 tonight—got the Kirby/Allred cover. Kind of appropriate follow-up to reading Mister Miracle. Anyway, it was about as good as I was expecting. It’s certainly not the best thing Peter Milligan has ever written, but it's not the worst either. The artwork by Colin Lorimer is pretty average, but at least it's better than the typical Dynamite book.
My biggest problem with the book is we learn the protagonist’s motivations, and worse yet we hear his interior dialogue. One of the great things about the original show was that we don't really know what, or even if, No. 6’s big secret is. We don't know what he’s thinking until it plays out on screen. It adds to the mystery and suspense and the tension of the stories, and this first issue could have used more of that. But as a big fan of the original series, I'll give the comic another issue or two to fully make its case. I give this one a B-.
Sounds like they didn't "get" the show. They probably thought the only thing wrong with it is that no knows what's going on and no one knows who's thinking what. So they "fixed" it.
However, the sequel done years ago by DC (Shattered Visage, by Dean Motter) was quite good, I thought.
I have to think that the idea of a largely silent comic—because the show had long periods of silence—frightened them a bit. And if that's the case, it's certainly understandable.
I liked Motter’s Prisoner for the most part as well. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it came pretty close to capturing the essence of the show. This first issue of the new series is all set-up and backstory. Something the show never gave outside of the opening credits; it just threw the viewer into the deep end of the pool and charged ahead. The new protagonist doesn't even get to the Village until the last page of the issue. But now that he's there, maybe things will go a little differently.
I think what Milligan was going for with that Prisoner comic was examining the TV show through the eyes of a modern British spy thriller archetype.
McGoohan already had that baggage from Danger Man, so no need to examine No. 6 before he enters The Village. Here we have a character made from whole cloth, so we have the majority of issue establishing his character type.
I don't think Milligan is trying "fix" The Prisoner or recreate it or modernise it. It felt like an attempt to look at it from a new angle and see what it says about the original.
That being said, it didn't work for me.
While Lorimer was fine at the modern spy stuff, his rendition of Portmeirion didn't really capture the charm of the location. And the elements that worked the best were the bits felt like Milligan rather than The Prisoner or a 21st century spy thriller i.e. the weird thefts and invisible rotating walkway.
Well, this is certainly a vast improvement over the first story arc of this book. I double-checked to see what changed from the last three issues, and the only switch in staff is the artist, from Joe Madureira to Greg Land this time. I guess the editorial board realized much as I did that the fourth-wall banter didn't really fit well within a Spider-Man story. Too bad the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon that came shortly after this book's release didn't get the same memo...
So this issue displays the strength of Marvel Team-Up; strong characterization and great, meaningful interaction between the team-up partners. It's not the meeting of two heroes from different books, it's not the wacky and outrageous storyline that so often appeared in MTU, it's the character writing that made MTU so everlasting and such a longrunning book. This issue not only sheds a light on Hawkeye's image problem (that he's just a guy with bow and arrow), but it once again maintains Spidey's moral integrity, or in this case, his humility for the sake of his partner.
The buddy cop banter here is as witty as the last team-up with Rulk and Spidey, and that's always welcoming. I mentioned in my review of the last issue (I'll post it in the "What comics didn't work for you" thread) that I hope the book would give me reasons to care about this book, and the solid writing here this issue has done so perfectly.
McGoohan already had that baggage from Danger Man, so no need to examine No. 6 before he enters The Village. Here we have a character made from whole cloth, so we have the majority of issue establishing his character type.
Of course, while the Danger Man/Secret Agent link is certainly implicit in The Prisoner, the show was informed just as much by James Bond and every other spy show/film of the era. I don't think there would have been a need to examine him even without Danger Man. Likewise, Milligan could just have easily foregone a full issue of backstory and just dumped us (the readers and our spy) into the Village and relied on our knowledge of spy fiction to provide all the basic info we really need if he (and editorial) was so inclined.
And the elements that worked the best were the bits felt like Milligan rather than The Prisoner or a 21st century spy thriller i.e. the weird thefts and invisible rotating walkway.
I agree, and frankly even those bits didn't feel particularly Milligan-y. If I hadn’t seen his name in the credits, I wouldn’t have known Milligan wrote this book. In other words, I don't think this book has a voice yet. I'm giving it another couple of issues to find one.
It's the end of the week. Here's the rest of the comics that I liked this past week:
The Amazing Spider-Man #679.1
"People like vampires that sparkle now!" - Spider-Man
Whew. Finally, a Dan Slott story I could get into. After the revelation over the last few issues that Carlie Cooper has returned, I wasn't enjoying the book very much. The story arc that precedes this one was kinda fun, being about time travel and making references to Back to the Future and Dr. Who, but it just didn't entertain me that much.
By now, you would have noticed the trend that I don't rate comedic and "fun" stories very high. Well, this story would be the exception, because there's a lot of fun stuff I like here. Spidey's jokes are on-point and I actually laughed for once. Best of all, a supporting character is further developed: Uatu, Peter's co-worker at Horizon Labs. His gimmick as a monster-hunter kid is so much fun, and I hope they explore more of that and show Uatu's other monster-hunting equipments. I was a bit concerned that they would have Morbius kill off the kid here just for shock factor, considering how 'gritty' the book has been over Brand New Day, but I'm glad they didn't do so. It would have raised the stake, but it would have also wasted an interesting character.
Not sure why this is the only story out of all the other 'fun' stories recently that work for me. Probably the monster-hunting bit. I'm a big fan of Universal monsters.
8/10
Avenging Spider-Man #5: Spider-Man & Captain America
From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I knew I was gonna love it. A team-up between Spidey and Cap while exploring the relationship they have with each other? God, sounds like Christmas. Of course, the fact that it misleads readers into thinking the two are going to have a fight or something is a bit annoying.
That minor gripe aside, this was a perfect story. The Avengers team sits down and have a little fun amusing themselves with Captain America's old drawing, a comic book sketch about Roger Stevens selling liberty bonds. This eventually led to Spidey fanboying all over Cap, thinking that he and ol' Winghead have a lot in common.
On a sidenote: I recently wrote an article on this sentiment - the two characters' similarities - largely because of this issue. That article talked more about their uncompromising values in the face of armageddon; this issue, on the other hand, is a little lighter in its comparison.
At the end of the book, there's a nice scene where Steve and Peter share a moment together. After turning him down on his offer (and wounding Peter's ego), Steve finally decided to sit down with Pete and come up with ideas together for another comic sketch. Just two fellow geeks hanging out. It's a sweet and tender moment. In fact, I think this scene practically proves that Steve was faking it during the lifting of that Mjölnir in Age of Ultron, so as not to wound Thor's ego. Or at least, it has established that particular head-canon in me.
Last issue, we saw Peter doing the same thing for Hawkeye, swallowing his own pride to protect his partner's ego. This issue, however, both Peter and Steve walked away a little more mellow and mature; Peter feels embarrassed about his fragile confidence, while Steve learns to embrace his weaker and 'nerdier' childhood self rather than be ashamed by it. It's strong and engaging character development like this that continues to make this book much more entertaining than the 'Amazing SM' main title, and I hope it would keep up the momentum.
10/10
There's also Ends of the Earth, which I liked more than Spider-Island, but it's too bad Slott dropped the ball near the end as the conclusion felt rushed. More on that in my huge review of it coming soon.
All New Wolverine #35 - The finale of Tom Taylor's fantastic run. I had no interest in X-23 as a character going into this, and it's completely changed my opinion on that front. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that Mariko Tamaki's X-23 is going to pick up the Orphans of X dangling subplot (where Laura, Old Man Logan, Daken and Sabretooth were going to bring to justice people who had used them as killers in the past), as Hunt for Wolverine - Claws of a Killer already tramples over some of that this week, but Taylor's still writing Gabby and Laura in X-Men Red, so maybe it will end up in there.
Daredevil #602 - Mike Henderson is a great Daredevil artist and Matt Murdock may be just as bad a mayor as Wilson Fisk.
Quicksilver - No Surrender #1 - Great Eric Nguyen & Rico Renzi art and the great idea of Quicksilver ending up in the sort of weird story more familiar to The Flash than Marvel's speedster.
Infinity Countdown - Daredevil #1 - in which we find out how Turk Barrett ended up with the Mind Stone and what he's doing with it.
Comments
Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows #2 is excellent!
Shade the Changing Woman #2 is ... interesting.
Batman, I am Suicide (TPB Vol 2). I didn't think much of the I Am Gotham trade. Vol 2 is really good. I want to read this again.
I'm still on board with this and looking forward to more. It was a cinematic but quick read, and so I am glad I waited for trade on it, and then borrowed that trade from the library. I think the first collection was stronger, and I hope the next miniseries or volume of issues focuses more on Grace Briggs herself, as I think her character is the most interesting one in the series, and she had less to do in this story. But I liked it, even though I banged through it pretty quick.
Domino #1 Gail Simone p. much picks up where she left off. Not only is Domino here, so are Outlaw, Agent X and Deadpool.
The curious thing is the villain - Topaz.
Characters seem to assume she's the Marvel witch and Jack Russell ally, but when we finally see her, she looks nothing like either of the character designs she's had. Outside of skin colour, she's closer to the Ultraverse Topaz.
https://isola.ca/readonline/
I'll read it, though with everything else that's coming out right now I may not keep up with this one. We'll see.
Well, on the plus side, there is now an enormous amount of comics I should have read and enjoyed long ago that I can read now. And there is inter-library loan. So I got out a whole pile of trades the last week or two, and you don't really need me to tell you how great Hellboy is, right?
On the downside, I was already behind on my current reading, and now I just want to read those ~50 books of Hellboy/BPRD/etc. now and nothing else.
My biggest problem with the book is we learn the protagonist’s motivations, and worse yet we hear his interior dialogue. One of the great things about the original show was that we don't really know what, or even if, No. 6’s big secret is. We don't know what he’s thinking until it plays out on screen. It adds to the mystery and suspense and the tension of the stories, and this first issue could have used more of that. But as a big fan of the original series, I'll give the comic another issue or two to fully make its case. I give this one a B-.
But I really wanted to post about the Thanos Annual #1. Multiple writers and artists worked on the issue. I thought it had some short stories that were so different and interesting that as soon as I finished I thought "I need to post a comment on the boards". The story of Thanos showing up on every one of a kid's birthdays each year was hilarious! I was just wondering if there was anyone else who picked this up and enjoyed it as much as I did?
However, the sequel done years ago by DC (Shattered Visage, by Dean Motter) was quite good, I thought.
Amazing Spider-Man 2011 Annual
On Spiderfan.org, a very well-respected website for reviews on Spider-Man comics, I remember reading a review for the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man annual and how it claimed that the annuals prior to that one had been of mediocre quality. Being someone who enjoyed not only this 2011 annual, but also the 2010 one featuring Captain America, I beg to differ.
I've always loved dark stories... when they're done well. When done well, they can explore some very frightening concepts we're normally uncomfortable in thinking about. In the case of this annual, it poses a disturbing question: what if Spider-Man sacrifices his sense of responsibility for the sake of power?
THIS is what I love about Spider-Man stories. It can be difficult to keep on exploring the two concepts of power and responsibility for over 50 years, let alone keep such exploration refreshing, but this annual has done exactly that. It features an alternate universe where Spider-Man is popular among everyone (even Jolly ol' Jonah Jameson), he's rich, he has his own secret lair (so yes, a lot like Batman), and he's so powerful he defeated Thanos, Annihilus, and Galactus all on his own (literally; this world has no other superheroes like Iron Man or Thor because it doesn't need other heroes).
Of course, like all dark tales, this power came at a very heavy price.
Damn, I still love that shocking revelation. I already felt that something was off before it was revealed, like how Aunt May's hands were shaking when offering the original Peter Parker some tea. But I never expected things to be so... twisted. I guess I just didn't fathom how evil they could make Uncle Ben, the man who was the root of Peter's sense of responsibility.
I could only wish for more stories like this to exist. I mean, too much of it can be exhausting for the readers, something I believe Marvel is well aware of after their edgy '90s line-ups. But once in a while, when you come across a "Tales from the Crypt/Twilight Zone/Black Mirror" sort of story like this... it can be so satisfying, especially when it reaffirms just what the real Peter Parker stands for - responsibility, sacrifice for the good of everyone, all that good stuff. This story was easily more entertaining than Spider-Island.
And then there's one problem. Just a very minor one. This is part 1 of 3, and the remaining two parts are in the books of two other characters, Deadpool and Hulk. I'm not really interested in their books, so I won't really bother to see how it all concludes. But that's not a problem either and doesn't affect (much) the rating for this story because it still works as a standalone tale. You don't really have to read the two other books (AFAIK) to enjoy it.
10/10
Amazing. Please write more stories like this!
I liked Motter’s Prisoner for the most part as well. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it came pretty close to capturing the essence of the show. This first issue of the new series is all set-up and backstory. Something the show never gave outside of the opening credits; it just threw the viewer into the deep end of the pool and charged ahead. The new protagonist doesn't even get to the Village until the last page of the issue. But now that he's there, maybe things will go a little differently.
McGoohan already had that baggage from Danger Man, so no need to examine No. 6 before he enters The Village. Here we have a character made from whole cloth, so we have the majority of issue establishing his character type.
I don't think Milligan is trying "fix" The Prisoner or recreate it or modernise it. It felt like an attempt to look at it from a new angle and see what it says about the original.
That being said, it didn't work for me.
While Lorimer was fine at the modern spy stuff, his rendition of Portmeirion didn't really capture the charm of the location. And the elements that worked the best were the bits felt like Milligan rather than The Prisoner or a 21st century spy thriller i.e. the weird thefts and invisible rotating walkway.
Avenging Spider-Man #4: Spider-Man & Hawkeye
Well, this is certainly a vast improvement over the first story arc of this book. I double-checked to see what changed from the last three issues, and the only switch in staff is the artist, from Joe Madureira to Greg Land this time. I guess the editorial board realized much as I did that the fourth-wall banter didn't really fit well within a Spider-Man story. Too bad the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon that came shortly after this book's release didn't get the same memo...
So this issue displays the strength of Marvel Team-Up; strong characterization and great, meaningful interaction between the team-up partners. It's not the meeting of two heroes from different books, it's not the wacky and outrageous storyline that so often appeared in MTU, it's the character writing that made MTU so everlasting and such a longrunning book. This issue not only sheds a light on Hawkeye's image problem (that he's just a guy with bow and arrow), but it once again maintains Spidey's moral integrity, or in this case, his humility for the sake of his partner.
The buddy cop banter here is as witty as the last team-up with Rulk and Spidey, and that's always welcoming. I mentioned in my review of the last issue (I'll post it in the "What comics didn't work for you" thread) that I hope the book would give me reasons to care about this book, and the solid writing here this issue has done so perfectly.
9/10
The Amazing Spider-Man #679.1
"People like vampires that sparkle now!" - Spider-Man
Whew. Finally, a Dan Slott story I could get into. After the revelation over the last few issues that Carlie Cooper has returned, I wasn't enjoying the book very much. The story arc that precedes this one was kinda fun, being about time travel and making references to Back to the Future and Dr. Who, but it just didn't entertain me that much.
By now, you would have noticed the trend that I don't rate comedic and "fun" stories very high. Well, this story would be the exception, because there's a lot of fun stuff I like here. Spidey's jokes are on-point and I actually laughed for once. Best of all, a supporting character is further developed: Uatu, Peter's co-worker at Horizon Labs. His gimmick as a monster-hunter kid is so much fun, and I hope they explore more of that and show Uatu's other monster-hunting equipments. I was a bit concerned that they would have Morbius kill off the kid here just for shock factor, considering how 'gritty' the book has been over Brand New Day, but I'm glad they didn't do so. It would have raised the stake, but it would have also wasted an interesting character.
Not sure why this is the only story out of all the other 'fun' stories recently that work for me. Probably the monster-hunting bit. I'm a big fan of Universal monsters.
8/10
Avenging Spider-Man #5: Spider-Man & Captain America
From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I knew I was gonna love it. A team-up between Spidey and Cap while exploring the relationship they have with each other? God, sounds like Christmas. Of course, the fact that it misleads readers into thinking the two are going to have a fight or something is a bit annoying.
That minor gripe aside, this was a perfect story. The Avengers team sits down and have a little fun amusing themselves with Captain America's old drawing, a comic book sketch about Roger Stevens selling liberty bonds. This eventually led to Spidey fanboying all over Cap, thinking that he and ol' Winghead have a lot in common.
On a sidenote: I recently wrote an article on this sentiment - the two characters' similarities - largely because of this issue. That article talked more about their uncompromising values in the face of armageddon; this issue, on the other hand, is a little lighter in its comparison.
At the end of the book, there's a nice scene where Steve and Peter share a moment together. After turning him down on his offer (and wounding Peter's ego), Steve finally decided to sit down with Pete and come up with ideas together for another comic sketch. Just two fellow geeks hanging out. It's a sweet and tender moment. In fact, I think this scene practically proves that Steve was faking it during the lifting of that Mjölnir in Age of Ultron, so as not to wound Thor's ego. Or at least, it has established that particular head-canon in me.
Last issue, we saw Peter doing the same thing for Hawkeye, swallowing his own pride to protect his partner's ego. This issue, however, both Peter and Steve walked away a little more mellow and mature; Peter feels embarrassed about his fragile confidence, while Steve learns to embrace his weaker and 'nerdier' childhood self rather than be ashamed by it. It's strong and engaging character development like this that continues to make this book much more entertaining than the 'Amazing SM' main title, and I hope it would keep up the momentum.
10/10
There's also Ends of the Earth, which I liked more than Spider-Island, but it's too bad Slott dropped the ball near the end as the conclusion felt rushed. More on that in my huge review of it coming soon.
Daredevil #602 - Mike Henderson is a great Daredevil artist and Matt Murdock may be just as bad a mayor as Wilson Fisk.
Quicksilver - No Surrender #1 - Great Eric Nguyen & Rico Renzi art and the great idea of Quicksilver ending up in the sort of weird story more familiar to The Flash than Marvel's speedster.
Infinity Countdown - Daredevil #1 - in which we find out how Turk Barrett ended up with the Mind Stone and what he's doing with it.