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Episode 1550 - Off the Racks: The Multiversity: Mastermen #1, Secret Identities #1, & Spider-Gwen #1
Pants
Posts: 567
Off the Racks goes 'elseworlds' in this episode, featuring reviews of stories set in the alternate reality of Earth-65 (Spider-Gwen #1), the parallel universe of Earth-10 (The Multiversity: Mastermen #1), and the strange nether-realm of Toronto (Secret Identities #1)! Also, Pants shares some bin-diving stories from the Great Philadelphia Comic Con. (1:35:06)
Listen here.
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Comments
I would recommend reading the Spider-Verse mini-series first. I didn't and I felt like I was playing catch-up the whole issue. So it wasn't as strong a first issue as I was hoping, but I see a lot of potential. The artwork is gorgeous, the world is interesting (lots of familiar faces in very different roles), and I really like that Gwen is/was a drummer in a band led by Mary Jane—here’s “Face it, Tiger” performed by Married with Sea Monsters under the band name The Mary Janes.
So while I think this first issue is a little choppy story-wise, I'm going to give it a few issues to settle in before I decide whether to carry on or drop it.
I will add that the second issue is much better than the first. Four words: Spider-Ham as spirit guide.
Also, while Javier Pulido was the regular artist on She-Hulk, I believe the name Murd was looking for was Ron Wimberly who did a two-part fill-in and used extreme foreshortening throughout his story.
Every Multiversity has been an easy "buy" for me. Phenomenal series and the "Master Men" issue, in particular, was fantastic. Love "What If" type storylines, so this one was right up my alley.
I give "Secret Identities" a strong "borrow." Love the idea of a villainous "mole" infiltrating the team, and I also especially love how none of the "heroes" are very "heroic" in their personal lives. Wasn't crazy about the artwork. I had a hard time distinguishing who some characters were and had to read certain passages a couple of times to figure out what was going on (eg - The bit with the white samurai looking
chickdude(?) and the car chase?). I'm a big fan of Ancient Rome, so the "Vesuvius" character has me intrigued. Putting my flag in the sand on him being the cause of the eruption itself that destroyed Pompeii."Spider-Gwen" didn't do it for me and so I'm going "pants" on this one. I read a lot of the "Spiderverse" story, but even with that this book just didn't grab me. I liked some of the shoutouts to the 616 universe, but overall it wasn't enough to bring me back for issue #2.
Including, of course, Japanese TV Spider-Man.
I thought the story was going to be hard to follow going into it, but I wound up pleasantly surprised in all the right ways.
As for Spider-Gwen, I completely agree with the comparisons to Spider-Girl (who also happens to play a pivotal role in Spider-verse, I might add). And yeah, not a DeFalco fan either, but I feel like Spider-Girl was the only book he actually knew how to write well.
Also agreeing with the CGS guys, this title is giving younger kids an open door into the Marvel Universe, and that is NEVER a bad thing. For me, I feel like if you were a fan of books like Scott Pilgrim, then you will probably dig Spider-Gwen. I totally am into the art style and coloring on the book, which almost gives me a Paul Pope vibe at times, only less exaggerated. I'm going to read issue two now, and I think I'm in for the long haul. So it's a buy for me.
Still haven't read Silk, but once I do I I'll give my thoughts on that as well; I have been reading Spider-Woman and am enjoying that more than I thought I would. And that new costume is not only functional, but really cool to look at.
It's nice to see three female protagonist titles in the Spider books these days.
And best of all, I think I know what I'll be sending my friend's soon to be 12 year-old for Christmas this year once the TPB comes out!
I agree that the writing is not particularly good and it would be nice if Ditko could move away from his ideological diatribes veiled as comics and actually tell an exciting story. That said, I've still enjoyed reading much of his recent offerings and would say that his artistic storytelling is still pretty great. This piece from The Comics Journal, on the subject of Ditko's art is a worthwhile read, for anyone interested - http://www.tcj.com/steve-ditkos-cartooning-abstraction-word-vs-picture-motion/
-chris
Enjoyed the first two issues of Spider-Gwen, but I think I'm going to trade wait on it going forward, and if anyone out there still hasn't followed the links above to hear the Mary Janes' song made real, what the hell are you waiting for?
As for DeFalco's Spider-Girl, I used to not like it, but I figured out that most of my ire was directed toward that awful second-person narrative device ("You're May "Mayday" Parker, you're 16 years old, you're the daughter of the one, true Spider-Man, you probably stopped reading this sentence 30 seconds ago..."), but if you can get past that, it's actually a pretty decent book. Not a favorite, but it's fun, and Mayday herself was pretty likable, definitely the product of both of her parents' personalities.
And I did indeed pick up a copy of SECRET IDENTITIES. As a big fan of what Faerber was doing on NOBLE CAUSES and DYNAMO 5 I placed an order for this series the minute I saw his name attached. And I wasn't at all disappointed. I agree with everything you said regarding the series. It does indeed have that great Copper Age feel while at the same time giving you the interpersonal moments and secrets so associated with Faerber's work on the aforementioned series. And given that the second issue has also come out things are continuing on a very interesting and fun front.
Like @ShaneKelly, I debated whether or not I wanted to follow this on a monthly basis or in trades as I tend to follow most of the Image series I enjoy in a trade format. They're a much better read all in one sitting and I enjoy seeing them on my bookshelf as opposed to hidden away in a longbox in the garage. But I enjoyed the two available issues so much that I've decided to show my support for the series for a bit by "double-dipping" (a practice I reserve only for the most enjoyed of series) and getting the monthlies as well as the trades until the series is certain to continue (or until we're beyond issue 12). I then intend to switch over to trade-only purchases like I do with INVINCIBLE and VELVET.
Looking forward to the next episode of OFF THE RACKS as well. I'm anxious to hear Shane's thoughts on PASTAWAYS and CHRONONAUTS. I know which I enjoyed more. ;-)
There's something incompatible between this alternate Vulture being an Objectivist while also being an "entitled" fame-seeker. This is especially so in light of Ditko's own personal reclusiveness. I'd like to say that there is actually something complicated and interesting going on here, that Latour is making a psychological point about a character's hypocrisy or flawed logic or something... or maybe "Mr. Z" is actually the opposite of Mr. A and thus not a hallmark of Ayn Randian thinking at all... But really I think the writer himself just didn't think about any of this beyond a cheap, petulant, uncalled-for desire to poke fun at Ditko and Rand for absolutely no reason whatsoever. (You're going to poke fun at the guy who created Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy in the first issue of this comic? Uh--Why?) In the process Latour reveals that he doesn't understand much about the ideas in play, but, hey, as long as we're piling on and making fun of something that is trendy to make fun of, then who has time for things like logic or internal consistency. I'm not a Rand follower, and I do think that many of Ditko's Objectivist comics are dubious at best (I find them basically unreadable)... but I'm even less a fan of cheap knee-jerk political "points" made in superhero comics. When you conflate Ayn Rand with "entitlement", you can't really be any more wrongheaded.
That said, I do like the series, all three issues so far. Others on other sites have made the comparisons before, but you really have to go back to Deadpool and Harley Quinn to find a Big two character with more appeal or staying power than Spider-Gwen. She seems to fill a void that's gone unfilled for a long time. And DeFalco's Spider-Girl was a decent fit for that void, but I think that property's relative success says more about fandom's desire for a female Spider than it says about the quality of Spider-Girl. (It wasn't "bad", but it always seemed a bit too retro and implicitly dated, something that would catch on much more with 40-year-old Spider-Man fans who enjoyed Ron Frenz artwork and Silver Age callbacks than with anyone resembling a new, young, female comic fan.) Unlike almost any other alt-reality in recent memory, Spider-Gwen and her world seem fresh and worth exploring. The alternate versions of these characters (especially Frank Castle and Matt Murdock) seem interesting enough in their own right; they have a point to them beyond just the interest longtime fans might have regarding how they're different from their 616 counterparts.
I thought Rodriguez's art was really good. Not great, but really good. The Paul Pope comparison is apt. I can see where some people might find the stylization to be off-putting, but I think that's mostly a matter of the guy being a relatively young artist. Not to say that his "fundamentals" are lacking, but I think there's still room for him to grow. To me it's always seemed like stylization works better when there's an implicit basis of fundamental realism underneath it all, and Rodriguez doesn't seem to have mastered all the rules that his stylization breaks, if that makes sense. Again, not to say that he's bad at storytelling or doesn't understand anatomy, but I sense that he's still growing or whatever. In other words, I think that has his career progresses he'll probably only improve.
Spider-Gwen#1: BUY! - except for the art, I really loved this comic. I think it's partially because I saw SO MANY cosplays of Spider-Gwen at Emerald City Comic Con. The result was that I was MORE interested in reading the comic. Unlike Murd, I liked the fact that S-G was mostly in costume. Unlike Chris, I thought the story was pretty dense in some ways. I liked the backstory of that Bodega Bandit guy getting upgraded, so we know he will be back! And unlike Shane, I didn't think the book was meant for a younger set or maybe I'm just young at heart. I liked the Mary Janes as supporting characters and I thought the Vulture was cool. Also, thanks @i_am_scifi for the song link. I really liked that song, Face It Tiger!
The Multiversity: Mastermen #1: BUY! - I liked the story for sure, and the artwork was good! Unlike Chris, though, I do agree that there maybe could have been a better artist (Chris Sprouse, the Tom Strong guy?) to do it. Like Shane said, it was fun!
Secret Identities #1: BORROW - Though I did like it, I was slightly underwhelmed. The artwork was a little muddy for me because it was TOO BRIGHT (because of the coloring?) and I did have trouble telling who-was-who when they went from their costumed identities to their civilian identities. I did like how the "heroes" were portrayed as not being all that heroic in their real lives.
Oh, man! Murd was muddled...I was too as I played along, but I almost got that George Tuska question. I think he also did the interiors for that issue. However, I said "John Buscema" thinking that maybe he did the cover, but not the interior art.