Superior Spider-Man #32 – Review

By: Dan Slott (Plot) Christos Gage (Script), Giuseppe Camuncoli (Penciller), John Dell (Inker), Antonio Fabela (Color Artist), Chris Eliopoulos (Letterer), Adam Kubert (Back-Up Artist), Rain Beredo (Back-Up Colorist)

The Story: This looks like a job for Spider-Man. And Spider-Man, and Spider-Man, and Spider-Man, … etc.

The Review: I’m not sure how typical a comic fan I am– I read a lot of comics but virtually no comics-related news and certainly no comics previews. My digital subscriptions show up automatically, and I browse the cover gallery for things that might catch my eye in a given week. So it was with a bit of surprise that I find a new Superior Spider-Man on sale. Thankfully, the cover tells me that “Edge of Spider-Verse (sic?) begins with this over-sized spectacular!” So, since I was also among those who really enjoyed the Octavius-Spidey era (again, not sure how typical a comic fan that makes me) let’s see what this is all about…

Well, any story that has to provide BOTH a “Previously” page and a two-page spread of exposition isn’t off to a great start, I’d think. After another page of exposition, Spidey-Ock stands on a rooftop in a full-page splash that’s meant to show we are in an exciting new future of 2099… by showing us some nondescript buildings? At least throw in a few flying cars or Futurama-style pnematic tubes or something. Aside from the bands on some cone-shaped buildings waaaay in the distance, you’d be hard-pressed to say this was a future cityscape. Things improve a little bit in the subsequent panels with fashion and (finally) flying cars and laser guns, but overall, capital-S Setting should be an important element in this book, especially as Spidey-Ock starts traveling to other times, but these locations don’t seem to be treated with any special care in the art. Instead, it’s all merely in service for the real focus, the set-up for our crossover plot.

Superior Spider-Man #29 – Review

by Dan Slott, Christos Gage (Writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: To say that Otto’s current life is getting destroyed would be an understatement.

The Review: Any arc or story needs to accomplish something. Either for the world or the character, something needs to change or have a certain impact on the ongoing process of something. Call it progression, evolution or development, any story needs to have something exciting happen in order to entice readers and ramp up excitement for whatever comes next.

In many ways, this is what both Dan Slott and Christos Gage manage to do in this very issue, yet in a way that is weird and grim, much like the tone of the series in general. Advancing the final storyline of the title, Goblin Nation, along, both writers gives plenty of things for fans to appreciate, yet doesn’t do so in the best of ways most of the time.

What they do right, though, is present the actual threat of the Goblin King as being credible. Showing his skills, resources, minions and the chaos that he is spreading in the city, the very menace he is does get across quite well. The character himself, in many ways, is no slouch himself, as he toys with Otto both physically and mentally, giving him a challenge that makes him desperate in many ways.

Where it’s a little bit more difficult to appreciate the book is in how dark it is, though. While the comeuppance of Otto has been a long time coming, the general sense of hopelessness and the powerless struggle of Otto isn’t always that entertaining. While it does comes as a natural progression to the storyline of this book as well as a fitting development for the character, it becomes a bit too much after a few scenes focusing on Otto losing badly. They say you usually gets what’s coming to you, but there’s a certain sense of dread at seeing Otto and everyone pays up because of an emphasis on the villain winning right now.

Superior Spider-Man #28 – Review

by Dan Slott (Writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: The Goblin Nation gets even worse as Otto needs to prepare himself to counter-attack. The only thing, though, is that he’s not the only one in that regard…

The Review: Tempering our expectations is something that every enthusiast of anything should learn to do. To have any kind of hope toward something can lead to disappointment, which can be earned or not. Still, with many marketing strategy built around the fact that people must be excited and eager to find out what any product does or can succeed at, it’s something that can be particularly hard to achieve.

It is why the very last storyline of this book has quite a lot to live up to. With the controversial series building up to this particular arc, the creative team has a lot to work with, yet also huge challenges to meet if they want to end this whole experimentation on a high note.

With such information being released to the readers, one cannot help but be a tad underwhelmed by this particular issue for various reasons. While it doesn’t do anything of bad quality or things that are questionable at best, it suffers a bit from middle-chapter syndrome. It brings a lot of elements upfront and explains some details that are vital for the continuation of the story, yet sacrifice some of the better aspects in order to do just that.

Avengers World #3 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer (Writers), Stefano Caselli (Artist), Frank Martin, Antonio Fabela, Edgar Delgado (Colorists)

The Story: It’s Shang-Chi versus Gorgon atop a flying dragon. How much more kung-fu can you get?

The Review: I love martial arts. To be a bit more precise, I love martial arts as depicted in fiction, with their choreography, their effects, the slow-motions and all the hyperbole related to the genre. It might be unrealistic, it might even be a bit of an insult to true masters of physical prowess and perfection, but there’s no denying the fact that as far as visuals go, it can be very entertaining.

Few comics these days actually try to represent the genre at its very core. Even some titles published years before like The Immortal Iron Fist did not solely focus on this particular element, yet shone when they did present it at its best. However, this issue seems like a homage to older Bruce Lee movies, yet one that possess a definite super heroic vibe that makes things even bigger. However, does all this kung-fu action manage to make this issue enjoyable or does it end up only as a mess?

For what it tries to bring to readers, this issue is definitely one of the more enjoyable in the short tenure of this series. Focusing solely on Shang-Chi and his battle against Gorgon, the leader of the Hand and its many deadly ninjas, this issue brings a boatload of action in the best of ways. There is an inherent exaggeration of some regular tropes, yet played in a very serious light that makes this definitely entertaining as far as depiction of violence is done.

Superior Spider-Man #27 – Review

by Dan Slott (Writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: The reign of the Goblin King begins as his handle on New-York baffles Spider-Ock.

The Review: It’s hard to forget the fact that this is somehow the finale arc for this title. While the news that Peter Parker will be back in April does permeate this issue, his return is still in a few months, which makes reading Spider-Ock somewhat of a different experience now. With some actually lamenting the fact that Otto might go away and some happy about his eventual disappearance, this last arc has quite a lot to live to.

Thankfully, it seems that Dan Slott understand this very much, using quite a lot of the build up cemented in the series as a whole in order to amplify things up considerably. With quite a lot happening and many of the plot threads converging, the writer brings a lot here to satisfy fans of this particular experiment. However, does he succeed with his opening issue or are there some weaknesses bringing things down?

In many respects, Slott does a lot of things right here, the first of them being the scenes revolving around Otto Octavius. Still being the generally devious and scheming kind, what’s actually quite interesting here is how the story shows Otto being out of his depths. With all the various moments in the series with him being prepared for anything and being a generally utilitarian and efficient super hero, the stark contrast with him being on the receiving end of an elaborate scheme makes for a rather interesting read, especially due to his reactions. How he interacts with the Goblin King, how he tries to clear the mystery of where he is hiding and how he has difficulty juggling with being Spider-Man and the head of Parker industries does make for a nice extrapolation of Otto’s many faults, which makes him rather interesting to read in this issue.

Captain America #16 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Pascal Alixe (Artist), Edgar Delgado, Antonio Fabela, Israel Silva (Colorists)

The Story: As it turns out, Jet Black really doesn’t like our world. Who knew?

The Review: Liking a character, a concept or an approach does not necessarily means an issue featuring them will immediately be good. While we may have a soft spot for some elements of a particular universe or title, it can somewhat blind us to other undesired elements, resulting in a less-than satisfying read.

I rather like Captain America and Rick Remender as a writer, yet there has been something missing ever since the book got away from Dimension Z. While there have been a good number of earnest attempts at playing with the mythology around the character while adding new layers and new elements around Steve Rogers, there is simply something that does not click as well as it should. Still, with the addition of a new villain and the beginning of a new arc, perhaps Remender can steer this title in an interesting direction?

Unfortunately, this issue isn’t the best of beginnings as far as introductions are concerned. Dealing with how Jet Black, a character Remender hasn’t done much with, deals with the way things are on Earth, her voice becomes clear and very well-defined. Pushing forth the difference in her philosophy, that of a warrior of science, against the outlook of life in New York, there is the beginning of a potentially great character arc on display here. Unfortunately, her demeanour and her vision becomes quickly repetitive, with Jet Black becoming cyclical in her reactions and actions, which hurts the general storytelling. Making her understandable, yet rather unlikable, the issue never lets her advance very far in her personal arc. While this sets her up for a more proactive role in this series in the future, this doesn’t work very well in making it so the readers might possibly want for her to be present.*

Revolutionary War Alpha #1 – Review

by Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (Writers), Rich Elson (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Pete Wisdom and Captain Britain needs to gather the crew back as trouble arrive in the UK with Mys-Tech rearing its ugly head back.

The Review: Marvel has a rather large library of characters. Mutants, magic users, cosmic beings, street-level heroes, monsters, oddities and many more are but a selection of the kind of characters one can see when reading one of their books. While the very same is true for the Distinguished Competition as well, the new 52 reboot kind of crushed this large selection for them in unfortunate ways.

We all have some characters we especially like for various reasons. Nostalgia, a certain cool factor, a presentation or a concept that resonates with what we generally like to read and many others can indicate why we like some characters more than others. One of those character, for me, is Captain Britain. A man that tries to protect the whole omniverse with other people from various universes with the same power sets and similar codenames? Now that’s cool.

My general appreciation of the character made me go out and buy this comic, which was sweetened by the fact it incorporates other elements like Pete Wisdom and writer Andy Lanning, a part of the DnA duo that gave us many excellent cosmic stories. Teamed with Alan Cowsill to revive old UK characters and reintegrate them in the larger Marvel universe and its continuity, this book certainly has potential to be particularly fun.

Superior Spider-Man #21 – Review

by Dan Slott (Writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock confronts a rather stunning woman as he tries to find a way to make sure he gets his doctorate.

The Review: The more I read certain comics, the more I am starting to appreciate those that can get to the point. Decompressed storylines are dimes a dozen these days, with some comics that really elongate their plot to make sure the eventual trade is the right length. While it is a rather pessimistic view on how stories are written, it seems that there is a definite effort from publishers and editors to make this a thing of the past, with titles such as Hawkeye, Abe Sapien, Astro City and countless others simply telling their stories in smaller amounts of pages. It’s something that is rather refreshing in this industry.

It is also a category in which Superior Spider-Man falls in, with some of the larger storylines being only three chapters long. With this arc, Slott tells his story in simply two chapters, with the final one being this very issue. However, does he allow for all of the plot threads to conclude in a satisfactory manner while still providing potential for future stories?

To his credit, Slott does address pretty much everything in his story in a concise manner, be it Lamaze and his rebuttal at Otto’s wish to make Peter a doctor, Stunner’s vengeance along with other smaller points. What’s pretty good is also the fact that the general plot moves along without any unnecessary scenes or pandering, with the story getting to the point on pretty much everything introduced in the previous issue.

Superior Spider-Man #20 – Review

by Dan Slott (Writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock has an encounter with Black Cat, then goes on to make some progress on some of his current projects.

The Review: Dan Slott has put himself in a nice spot right now with this series in terms of plot progression. Currently playing with the Spider-Man mythos in new ways, there is a pattern of smaller arcs with a bunch of two to three issues that serves as larger pieces to the ongoing narrative, followed by smaller issues where Slott either introduce newer elements or fiddle around with those already in place. It allows him to be a bit more playful with expectations while maintaining a certain momentum in his series, yet things must happen in order to maintain a certain interest in everything that is going on. Does Slott use this issue to its full advantage after the big three-parter with Spider-Man 2099?

The writer does allow this issue to work, for the most part, as he develops multiple situations and plot points at once, delivering on unexpected jokes and hooks that may feed this title new threads for its future. Never letting most of his elements in his narrative gets stale or at least unattended, Slott spins a lot of plates in this issue, which let his characters and situations evolve in bold or at the very least fun ways.

The focus on Otto himself work as always, as his arrogance, his methods and his actions all serve a certain purpose, be it to entertain, give exposition or to simply propel things forward. Not all of what is shown here is as exciting, yet the fact that Otto’s trying to build a company or just how he deals with Black Cat are interesting, setting newer possible interactions and a new direction for the series that could work in the long term. Otto, as always, provide a lot of fun with how Slott manage to introduce a good lot of chaos with the Spider-Man mythology with the ambiguity that is Spider-Ock.

Superior Spider-Man #13 – Review

Dan Slott, Christos Gage (Writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, Terry Pallot (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock deals with the Spider-Slayer once and for all as the chaos at the Raft ends.

The Review: It can be hard to have a fitting and decent conclusion to any arc, however long it may be. Most of what is written, be it the action, the conversation, the exposition and so on usually leads to a finale that leads to the next arc or set up something else for the title in question, which is per course for pretty much every superhero books published nowadays. As we have seen Spider-Ock fight a big crisis at the Raft caused by the Spider-Slayer, many other elements went into the situation, as we are now in the very end of the whole deal. Does Slott and Gage manage to give us something exciting in the process of closing that chapter, however?

In many ways, they do succeed admirably in making the most of what Slott had set up in his early run with Peter Parker and with the new character that is Otto. The action is still pretty good, the character work that is to be found here is entertaining and solid and we do get some big surprises along the way. Both writers do a lot of good there, despite some minor fumbles here and there.

One of the most preeminent piece of the story is the action, as we get to see Otto trying to accomplish what he had promised in the previous issue: kill Alistair Smythe, the Spider-Slayer. The confrontation between these two, taking places two times in this issue, reads very well as it is, after all, a villain fight. As Alistair tries to play the nobility and heroism that was more akin to Peter Parker, it is always fun to see just how Otto differentiates from what was previously established. The fight between those two is brutal in some ways and it does show some surprising twist in the second and final encounter between the two. There’s also some other action scenes featuring some of the other characters, like the Lizard, which are actually pretty fun to read too, as the writers uses this character that had been teased during the whole arc. In short, the action is fun and it does play up to may things introduced before in smart ways.

Superior Spider-Man #12 – Review

By: Dan Slott, Christos Gage (Writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, Terry Pallot (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock deals with Alistair Smythe and his goonies inside the Raft as things get rather chaotic.

The Review: If there’s something that a superhero fan needs to face sometime, it’s the fact that a lot of those capes and tight comics are build on a very specific thing: action. Now, many might argue, with legitimacy might I add, that the superhero genre has evolved in the many years of its existence, yet a lot of them are based on the infallible principle that those men in costumes fight evil or crime or whichever cause they see as wrong in violent ways, much to our delight.

We see here the second issue of a three-parter dealing with Otto fighting people he had put in the Raft, a prison for super-humans, enhanced criminals and the likes. As he fights Alistair Smythe, he also has to contend with Scorpion, Vulture and Boomerang, three super-villains that he has beaten quite violently in the early issues of Superior Spider-Man. The issue is mostly fighting, as Slott and Gage moves several other pieces on the board for the conclusion as they try to give us a story that both encompass plot points from Amazing Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man.

Morbius The Living Vampire #2 – Review

By: Joe Keatinge (Writer), Richard Elson (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: If it seems like a long time since the first issue of Morbius: The Living Vampire came out that’s because…well, it was. The most conspicuously late shipping book on Marvel’s slate at the moment is (of course) Uncanny Avengers, but Morbius has probably just nabbed second place – #2 has arrived just under two months since the title’s launch. And right now, that’s probably the most interesting thing about it…

Which is a shame.  Morbius, much like X-Men: Legacy, has positioned its minor league hero in a interesting place; a largely self-contained corner of the Marvel Universe where the character can develop at his own pace, carve a successful niche and, hopefully, garner a loyal critical and commercial following in the process. Instead it’s floundering, and floundering hard. With a fairly glum and uninteresting story, a cut-out cast of characters and a bland, detached art style it is, quite possibly, the worst book to yet come out of Marvel NOW.

Morbius The Living Vampire #1 – Review

By: Joe Keatinge (Writer), Richard Elson (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Morbius gets to Brownsville and try to explain his choice to himself while he gets in big trouble with the locals there.

The Review: Suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing in comics. It is something that makes us forget the fact that most things we see in superheroes adventures are impossible, making us enjoy the sheer concepts and thoughts behind them. It can also make us forgive some small plot holes in favor of how some situations or characters could develop. Truly, it is a marvelous thing. However, there are some times when the suspension of disbelief of readers can be stretched too much, leading to severe plot holes or inconsistency in character or continuity which can hinder the work done by a creative team on some book.

This is unfortunately the case in the first issue of Morbius’ adventures, as there are several actions done by the main character and his entourage that makes absolutely no sense at all considering the background of Morbius the living vampire.

Amazing Spider-Man #700 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks) & Edgar Delgado (colors)

Spider Dreams by: J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors)

Date Night by: Jen Van Meter (writer) & Stephanie Buscema (art)

The Story: A dying Doc Ock swaps minds with Peter Parker.  Can Peter escape before Ock’s body dies?

Review (with SPOILERS): Very mixed feelings on this issue.  It’s a good story that goes very deeply into the essence of Spider-Man, but it is heavy handed and has a strong scent of change-for-change’s sake.

In the main story, the bulk of time is spent with Peter and Ock dueling with each other while in each other’s bodies.  There is a cleverness to this, but it’s nothing earth-shaking.  It’s just a nice little bit of super-hero comic booking that gives us a pleasant twist on a battle we’ve seen a LOT over the years.  You have to mix things up somehow, right?  And it’s fun to see Scorpion and Hydro-Man wondering why “Doc Ock” is so insistent that they not kill anyone or to see “Peter” saying to MJ things like, “Not now woman!”…..but it’s all in the category of the kind of fun that we expect from Slott.  He’s a clever writer and has a knack for capturing little nuances of characters and playing them up.  It’s fun, it’s fluffy, but nothing you’ll ever tell your grand-kids about.

Amazing Spider-Man #699.1

By: Joe Keating/Dan Slott (writers), Valentine Delandro/Marcos Checchetto (artists) and Antonio Fabela (colorist)

The Story: Morbius, the living vampire, reminisces about his life while he gets away from confinement.

The Review: Morbius, as a character, has never been truly one of the more memorable characters in Spider-Man rogue’s gallery or even as a heroic figure. A lot of his appearances are either in team books like Denis Hopeless Legion of Monsters or as a villain in books like Amazing Spider-Man. Considering that there is a book starring him that will debut next month and that this issue is supposed to interest us readers in Morbius as a character, this issue has a lot of things to achieve.

Unfortunately, the story is a little bit bland and unimaginative, retelling the very same origin that has been seen for the character, which was not very original when it was created in the 70’s. We do get to see some of his past and some important figures in Morbius past, yet after reading the whole issue, there is not much to base a whole ongoing upon.

Legends of the Dark Knight #3 – Review

By: Steve Niles (story), Trevor Hairsine (art), Antonio Fabela (colors)

The Story: Batman begins to wonder if the GCPD is even trying anymore.

The Review: I’ve been of several minds with these digital-first comics.  On the one hand, I hate to start turning into the old fogey who dismisses them just because of their medium.  On the other, I don’t think anyone can deny that at least the ones from DC haven’t been that impressive.  At best, they seem like elaborate, well-crafted back-up stories with extra pages: out of continuity, largely unimportant, easily lost among the prodigious output of mainstream titles.

This issue in particular has the feeling of one of Sholly Fisch’s sentimental pieces in the back matter of Action Comics, only it has zero bearing on canon.  The premise itself—Batman reading through bags of letters addressed to him a la Santa Claus—is pretty cloying and, frankly, a very simple and limited basis for storytelling.  The most anyone can really do with that is vary between epistles of gratitude or resentment, and so it goes here.

Blackacre #1 – Review

By: Duffy Boudreau (writer), Wendell Cavalcanti (pencils), Antonio Fabela (colors), Sergio Abad (inks), Aaron Walker (letters)

The Story: A post-apocalyptic society sends out agents to protect their way of life.

Quick review: This comic is just a notch below.  It isn’t terrible by any means and I certainly wouldn’t look funny at anyone who purchased it, but neither is it great and given the number of really high quality comics on the market these days, I wonder where “okay” comics fit into the marketplace.

The story is post-apocalypse with a twist.  Rather than everything being a horrible wasteland, the idea is that some wealthy businessmen saw the collapse coming and bought a big expanse of land from the US government.  There they established a new, self-sufficient society that could survive the apocalypse in high-style.  Not only do they survive, but they still have all the trappings of civilized society: schools, new clothes, politics, etc.  It’s a very different vision of the apocalypse than Rick & Co. from The Walking Dead gobbling expired dog food straight from the can.  Of course, the rest of the world is kinda a mess and the idea is that this civilized Blackacre is willing to go to some pretty extreme lengths to maintain their quality of life and we meet a solider who is about to be turned into one of their unwitting pawns.

Amazing Spider-Man #698 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Richard Elson (art), Antonio Fabela (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: It’s like Freaky Friday except that one of the bodies isn’t very healthy.

Review (with SPOILER): This issue troubles me as a comic fan/reader/reviewer.  It’s no secret that I’ve been drifting away from the Big 2 superhero comics for a period of time because I get sick of the sameness of it all.  It’s like watching a dog chasing its tail most of the time.  Yet, when a comic does something new as in this issue, I kinda yawn and say, “Big deal….”

1). This is something new. – Has a super-villain ever swapped consciousnesses with Peter Parker before?  Not only does it raise questions about Peter and when precisely did this happen, but it is interesting from the perspective of Doc Ock.  His downward spiral over the last 3-4 years of comics has been interesting to watch.  In an era where there are way too many 6-issue story arcs that have nothing to do with each other, it’s kinda refreshing to see a 100+ issues of comics have a coherent story thread.  This is what we say we want.

Amazing Spider-Man #697 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Dan Green & John Dell (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Can the Hobgoblins stop fighting long enough to take out Peter and Max Modell.

Review: This is my definition of an average, Big 2 superhero comic.  I could lock it in a vault and get it out the next time I’m trying to decide if a comic is a “C” or a “C+”.  It is very nicely done and profession, but doesn’t have any of the zip that will make the story stick with you.  It’s disposable fun.

That may sound like a backhanded compliment and I mean it that way, in the truest sense of the term.  Basically, if you take two quality writers like Slott and Gage, a very competent artist like Camuncoli and then have a very sharp editor like Wacker overseeing the project, the output will never be “bad”; there’s just too much talent involved for the work to suck.  Even for readers like me who have mostly drifted away from the Big 2 titles it isn’t hard to see how the Big 2 persists: They got some damn talented people working on the stuff even if the concepts are tied and the publishing practices are annoying.  Talent can paper over a LOT of shortcomings.

National Comics: Madame X #1 – Review

By: Rob Williams (story), Trevor Hairsine (art), Antonio Fabela (colors)

The Story: If only every law firm could have its very own precog to work their cases.

The Review: Maybe I missed a memo that would never come to me anyway, but I’d been under the impression that National Comics, for all its format strangeness, still had a firm place in the DCU.  Allusions to big-name superheroes in Jeff Lemire’s Eternity feature implied as much, but neither Rose and Thorn nor Looker made even that much use of other DC characters.  Very odd, then, that we’d have an issue featuring someone who already stars in not one, but two ongoings.

At first, I tried to square the two versions of Xanadu: the immortal occultist who appears in Demon Knights and Justice League Dark, and the legal consultant with the stage name Madame X.  I failed.  “Nima” is less put-together, and far more narrow-minded when it comes to the kind of magic she believes in.  What sealed the difference, weirdly enough, was her declaration that zombies don’t exist, even though Xanadu in Demon Knights saw her own half-brother as a staggering undead.  So we have something of an Elseworlds tale here, folks.

Amazing Spider-Man #696 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor0

The Story: How in the world can SPIDER-MAN show up to deliver the ransom to save PETER PARKER?  That’s going to cause a problem.

Quick review: Sometimes an issue gets a quick review not because I’m pressed for time, but because there really isn’t much to say.  This isn’t a “terrible” comic book or even a “bad” issue; it is just “fine”–it is “competent”.

Last issue introduced the pretty fun concept of The Kingpin and the new Hobgoblin ramping up Peter’s spider-sense to 11 on the dial.  It was funny to watch Peter suddenly perceive danger from fat men eating burritos!  But, that crispness is not present in this issue.  Although this is a nicely written issue and the central conflict of The Kingpin holding Peter hostage and demanding that Spider-Man bring the ransom (problem!) is kinda clever, this issue suffers from a lack of spark.  Again, competence as opposed to brilliance.

Amazing Spider-Man #695 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The Hobgoblin(s) are back, someone is messing with the Spider Sense & the secret identity is at risk.

A few things (with very minor SPOILERS): 1). Is Dan Slott putting the furniture back where he found it? – There has been a decent amount of speculation about whether Slott will still be writing this title after Marvel NOW happens.  One tell-tale sign could be that he seems to be putting things back where he found them.  I think it was Brian Bendis who said that you can actually change things a LOT when you’re writing a mainstream superhero, but you have to put everything back where you found it before the next writer shows up.  One of the first acts of Slott during his Big Time story arc (beginning with ASM #648) was having Phil Ulrich seemingly kill Roderick Kingsley and take the mantle of the Hobgoblin.  There was a lot of outcry from the fanbase that an upstart like Ulrich would take out a classic villain so easily, but now we’re seeing the initial glimpses of how Slott will put Kingsley back in the suit.  Seriously–will anyone be sad to see a punk like Ulrich get his just desserts?

National Comics: Looker #1 – Review

By: Ian Edginton (story), Mike S. Miller (art), Rex Lokus & Antonio Fabela (colors)

The Story: Careful, boys—these ladies can rip your heart out.

The Review: I’ve often spoken of these showcase titles as being perfect opportunities to explore new characters (or polishing off old ones so they seem like new), but amazingly, I didn’t realize until reading this issue is these titles are also great for exploring some new creators, too.  Having long felt DC’s writing staff could use some new blood (and its gang of artists as well, to a lesser extent), this could be a great way to test folks wanting to break into the mainstream.

With that in mind, you both understand and question Eginton’s reasoning in featuring Looker for his DC debut.  With such a glut of vampire fic already out there, who needs another one?  The choice seems especially unwise considering DC already has a whole series led by unnaturally slender, blood-sucking immortals.  Edginton would have to come at Looker from a completely different angle than Andrew Bennett and Mary, Queen of Blood, to make her worth reading.

X-Men Legacy #259 – Review

By: Mike Carey (writer), Khoi Pham (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors), Cory Petit (letters) & Daniel Ketchum (editor)

The Story: A hitchhiker came back when Rogue, Magneto and gang returned from outer space.

Five Things: [with SPOILERS]

1. Odd time to set a story – This story is set during the break-up phase at the end of Schism.  It’s really weird because for folks who have been following the X-Men on a monthly basis, we’re already 2 issues into the new status quo in most of the other books.  So, it’s off-putting to see the early part of this story revolve around Rogue trying to make her decision about whether to go with Wolverine and Cyclops because that issue is kinda settled.  And even though Rogue is still making up her mind, Logan, Bobby, Kitty, et al are no where to be seen, but Rachel Summers is still lurking in the background.  It’s just an odd hybrid of old and new that falls a little flat.  ONE good thing to come out of this is a nice conversation between Cyclops and his brother, Havok, about the philosophical split between the two camps.

2. Interesting concept for mystery – The way the central mystery of the issue unfolds is pretty cool: Rogue absorbs some of Magneto’s “point of view” to see why he is choosing to stay with Cyclops.  When she does this, she notices that he has a hitchhiker in his psyche and that ALL of the folks who went on the mission to rescue the Starjammers (in the last story cycle) have a hitchhiker.  Who could it be?  Friend or foe? Carey does a nice job of teasing this story along until we finally get to the reveal.

3. Can’t anyone stay dead? – My goodness was it a bummer to see who the hitchhiker was.  Ariel?  Really?  If a character a low-value as Ariel can’t stay dead we know that death is truly ruined in comics.  If you don’t remember, she was killed in Second Coming in a scene that was designed to show the reader that “this is serious stuff.  I mean, people are DYING!”  When I saw that reveal, I almost wondered if Carey was tired of playing second fiddle in the X-office and was annoyed that he’s been stuck doing a good job on X-Men Legacy for years and now he’s watching Keiron Gillen and Jason Aaron waltz in to take the spot-light.  Maybe he had this plotline all cooked up as a way to bring back someone cool like Jean Grey and when he found out he’d not be getting “promoted” off Legacy he said, “Fuck it.  I’ll just bring back Ariel instead.”  It just seemed like less inspired writing than I’ve come to expect from Carey (remembering that this is the guy who writes The Unwritten!).

Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #3 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Ryan Stegman (pencils), Mike Babinski & Rick Magyar (inks), Frank Martin & Antonio Fabela (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Jake Thomas (assistant editor) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: The Fear Itself version of the Hulk is running loose in Dracula’s countryside.  Will the vampires be able to stop him?

What’s Good: If you’ve been following Gischler’s vampire-related stories over the last year or so, you know that he’s been building a bit of a vampire mythology.  Instead of just having Dracula and a bunch of nameless vampire underlings, he’s created a web of political intrigue having to do with Dracula’s extended family and all these different breeds and sects of vampires.  Dracula is King of the Mountain, but he has to control and direct all of these forces and they’ve all got different skills and political goals.  This miniseries also introduced what is basically a vampire superhero team called the Forgiven.  The Forgiven have the customary blend of power sets and are a neat concept as they don’t have an allegiance to any of the vampire sects, so they should be free to leave vampire-land and have adventures with the rest of the Marvel Universe.  Hopefully we’ll be seeing Gischler or other creators telling more Forgiven stories in the near future.

In fact, the Forgiven is probably what puts this miniseries over the top.  Most of the Fear Itself tie-ins where just complete crap because the stories just ran in a circle.  Hulk vs. Dracula actually brought us something new and that is what we’re hoping for when we read superhero comics.  The only other mini that did anything “new” was The Deep, which kicked off the formation of the new Defenders team.  If you didn’t catch this miniseries in single issues, maybe you’ll get lucky and The Deep and Hulk v. Dracula will get paired up in a trade paperback without making you read some of the really bad miniseries.