Thunderbolts #164 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Fabio D’Auria & Frank Martin (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: A team of Thunderbolts, trapped in WWII, fights Nazis alongside the Invaders.

Review: It’s all good with this comic right now.  I’ve never had a huge affinity for most Golden Age stories, but this is different because we’re seeing our modern Thunderbolts trying to blend in with the “natives” in terms of their speech and attire.  And, they’re not just any Thunderbolts, it’s pretty much the more villainous part of the roster.  Luke Cage and Songbird would’ve had no problem interacting with Captain America and Namor, but these guys are a really nasty bunch, who are just trying to play it cool until they get their bearings in WWII.

The central premise is pretty neat too.  As you can imagine, Baron Zemo plays a role in the story.  So the Thunderbolts are going to face some challenges: Do they play along with the Invaders and maintain their cover?  Or, do they worry that helping Cap curtail Zemo’s activities might screw up the timeline which would be kinda a bummer given all the influence that Zemo has had on the villains’ lives?  Fun stuff….

This issue is also loaded with fun little moments.  You’ve got Cap making an awkward comment towards Centurius (who is African American) about how great “negro soldiers” are doing in the war effort.  Makes you wonder what kinda of awkward comments he made when he got unfrozen…  There’s Satana coming onto Namor, Boomerang getting a patriotic themed costume, Hyde and Troll being too unpresentable to be around the Invaders most of the time, Hyde catching Nazis to feed to Man Thing’s swamp….and about 4-5 other fun times.  And the abundance of these little moments is what makes the issue so great.  That’s really Parker’s formula on Thunderbolts: come up with a basic scenario that puts the characters in a weird position, don’t dwell on anything too long and then focus on how the characters would behave and the funny things they’d say.

It’s almost impossible not to have fun reading Thunderbolts.

Thunderbolts #161 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Frank Martin, Jr. & Fabio D’Auria (colors), Albert Deschesne (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: The Fear Itself version of Juggernaut seems to have gotten away from, but there is no rest for the wicked.

What’s Good: As with Hulk #38 (also out this week), Jeff Parker has really risen to the challenge of crafting a Fear Itself tie-in smack in the middle of his ongoing stories.  We comic fans should really give him a big round of applause for this because every other Marvel writer has just surrendered to Fear Itself and written a 2-3 part story that had almost nothing to do with their ongoing material.  All of these writers have clawed their way to the upper echelon of the profession and should be able to do the same thing.  But, Parker did it, they didn’t.  So, bravo to Parker for flinging his Thunderbolts into a new mission that grows very organically out of this Fear Itself story.

It’s also been really enjoyable watching this team of Thunderbolts grow closer together.  They’re actually starting to gel into a team and care about the well-being of each other and care about completing their missions.  This run of Thunderbolts really started with the characters doing the supervillain equivalent of putting on an orange reflective vest and picking up trash on the side of the road under the watchful eye of a sheriff’s deputy, but they are quickly evolving into anti-heroes.  There’s nothing really wrong with that either.  Gail Simone got almost 40 issues out of a similar concept on Secret Six and was running full steam ahead when DC pulled the plug on that incredible series.  I’d love to see Marvel let Parker continue this work with the Thunderbolts until the story collapses (just because these characters are villainous and will have to double cross the team eventually).

Declan Shalvey continues to throw fastballs and is just great in this issue.  There are really a lot of fussy characters to draw in this series.  Juggernaut is huge and hulking.  Fixer has a fussy uniform with all his tech pieces.  Ghost must be very time consuming to draw because of all his tech, and he is a completely non-standard body-type.  You’ve got Man-Thing.  And then there are characters like Moonstone who you would think is just a “standard” female character, but is actually drawn much more lithe than most female superhero characters (like Satana).

Thunderbolts #159 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin (colors) & Albert Deschesne (letters)

Moonstone story by: Joe Caramagna (writer), Valentine de Landro (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Deschesne (letters)

Ghost/John Walker story by: Jen Van Meter (writer), Eric Canete (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

Crossbones story by: Frank Tieri (writer), Matthew Southworth (art) & Sharpe (letters)

The Story: A medley of stories detailing events on the Raft after it is destroyed by Juggernaut’s Fear Itself Hammer.

What’s Good: For one thing, this is a pretty fat issue.  Checking in at 40 pages for its $4.99 price, you’re getting a double-sized comic for less than double-price.  And none of the 40 pages is junky crap like an old reprinted Thunderbolts story.  Nice one…

This is effectively a Thunderbolts anthology.  I love anthologies, but it isn’t uncommon to get some crummy stories that you just need to skip.  That’s not a problem in this issue as all of the stories are between “solid” and “quite good”.  And, because these four stories are both bulky and from widely different parts of the Raft, it really drives home the enormity of the crisis.  It also continues the general strength of the Fear Itself tie-ins.  This issue adds a lot of local flavor to Marvel’s summer event.

For regular T-bolts readers, the star of the issue will be the Parker/Shalvey Underbolts story.  When we last left these characters, they were contemplating just running for it instead of continuing to serve as “heroes”.  Here we see them helping out with rescue efforts but also building in their own little insurance policy for the future.  This is just classic T-bolts storytelling since these characters are villains and you never want them to feel “safe”.

The other stories all have their moments such as Marvel letterer Joe Caramagna showing us what happens when the female and male prisoners come into contact without any chaperones present or how effectively the anarchist Ghost and the former US Agent, John Walker team-up (and build a grudging respect).

Thunderbolts #157 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker & Declan Shalvey (pencils), Jason Gorder & Shalvey (inks), Frank Martin, Fabio D’Auria & Simpson (colors), Albert Deschesne (letterer), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: The Thunderbolts battle mystical Nazis in Germany with their new (and questionably loyal) team member – Satana – while the “Underbolts” get started on their training.

What’s Good: This issue is typical, romping, 100 mph Jeff Parker story telling goodness.  If you’re read much of Parker’s writing, you know that he is going to keep the story moving along very rapidly and constantly renew his status quo.  This shows a lot of confidence as a writer because he doesn’t seem to let any one idea become so precious that he can’t move on.  It also has the benefit that if you don’t like something in a particular Parker issue…you know it’ll be long gone in a month or so.  It kinda reminds one of comics before the publishers learned about trade paperbacks in that the story is just a constantly running soap opera: even when a story begins or ends, you’re also in the midst of other stories.   He seem to really eschew the traditional 6-issue story arcs.

So what’s cool in this issue: Well, the Thunderbolts fight magical/mystical Nazi zombie-things.  That’s kinda cool.  Along the way they face an enemy who makes them face their worst fears.  That’s kinda cool.  We get to see a bunch of the Thunderbolts being very unsure of themselves and acting all vulnerable and that’s kinda cool too.  Meanwhile, back on the raft…the “Underbolts” B-team of villains is getting ramped up and we get some character development on Gunna, the Troll.  She’s really neat and I want to know more.  And….in typical comics fashion, the Underbolts are going to get sent on a mission before they’re remotely ready and that will be a lot of fun to read about next month.  Cool story stuff all around.

The art is a bit of a mixed bag this month as Walker and Shalvey team up on the issue with Walker handling the mystical Nazi battle and Shalvey doing the action back on the raft.  I really like both of them individually as artists, but think that Walker with Gorder inking really shine in this issue.  Love all the half-tones the duo uses and I’m not sure who is coloring what pages in this issue, but whoever is coloring Moonstone in the Nazi scenes does a wonderful job of making her look soft and lithe compared to characters like Cage, Juggernaut and Ghost.

Amazing Spider-Man #660 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente & Dan Slott (writers), Mike McKone & Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Infestation back-up by: Slott (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man and the FF are forced to square off against the Sinister Six on a Caribbean island.

What’s Good: One of the minor problems I had with ASM #659 was that the Sinister Six just didn’t seem to be a big enough challenge for the Spidey + FF combo (especially once you toss in the FF kids).  I kinda looked at that cliffhanger last issue and thought, “Those bad guys are going to get a BAD beat down!”  Granted, the bad guys always get a beat-down, but the writers have to come up with ways to make the same old villains seem freshly threatening to the same old heroes who have kicked their asses hundreds of times over the decades and we’ve certainly seen Spidey clobber these guys before.  So, it was with some glee that I saw that the danger wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed last issue.  That shouldn’t be surprising since both Slott and Van Lente are really smart writers who simply don’t do pedestrian superhero comics, especially when one of the villains is Mysterio.

Basically any time Mysterio is in a comic, you know that whatever is being shown to you is NOT the true story and I should have known better.  But still, I didn’t anticipate the neat wrinkle that [SPOILER] Mysterio and Chameleon are the only SS members actually in the Caribbean while the rest of the villains are breaking into the Baxter Building and thereby setting up another cool cliffhanger.

It was also really nice to see that Carlie Cooper’s little tattoo adventure didn’t turn out the way it was broadcast in the last issue.  I didn’t see any way getting a Goblin tattoo would turn out well for her, so I’m glad she made a different (though still ironic) choice.  Knowing the dynamics of Peter’s love-life, you know that his time with Carlie is probably coming to an end and that’s a shame because I’m just starting to really like her.

Mike McKone guest stars on art and does a GREAT job.  His style shades much more toward the realism, but he has enough of a cartooning background to pull off some of these crazy scenes where the FF’s powers get all mixed up.

What’s Not So Good: I’m not a huge fan of misdirection in my comics.  I know it is a standard writing tool and I don’t mind when things are left unclear, but it does kinda bug me when you have a scene in #659 where Carlie is pretty clearly picking out the Goblin tattoo only to see that she finally got something else in this issue.  It just seems that talented writers like Slott and Van Lente shouldn’t have to resort to that blunt instrument of deliberately misleading the reader.  They’re too good for that and those two writers plus a nice artist like Caselli could have made a really neat scene that left Carlie’s tattoo choice ambiguous.

Amazing Spider-Man #659 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Fred Van Lente (script), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Bug Time Infestation intro by: Dan Slott (writer), Barry Kitson (art), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider team-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (art), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man goes on a swashbuckling Caribbean adventure with the FF (the Future Foundation)…

What’s Good: I think we’ve found a couple of writers who would do a great job with the FF whenever Jonathan Hickman leaves the title.  Both Dan Slott’s story and Fred Van Lente’s script capture the fun, family dynamic that we’ve come to expect when Spidey interacts with the FF.  These are characters who are comfortable around each other because they’ve known each other for decades.  Heck, the FF all know Spidey’s true identity!  But, Spidey still interjects a slightly different and awkward feel into the group because he is new.  It’s kinda like the difference between knowing someone socially and staying at their home for a week and having them learn about your bathroom habits.

The story itself is fun as hell as the team finds themselves sucked into a Caribbean pirate adventure with the Thing playing dress up!  Basically they go down to the Caribbean to investigate some dimensional anomaly and end up running into zombie pirates guarding Blackbeard’s treasure.  And that is all fun, but this is very much a Van Lente script with his mix of pop culture references and high-level humor.  For example, we have Spider-Man and the Thing enjoying an ongoing Beastie Boys joke with the word “booty” (much to Sue Storm’s chagrin) and Reed Richards being called “Mr. Elongated Man” to which he tells the villager, “I hope you have good lawyers.”  It’s just a great little story that ends up with a bunch of Spidey villains and the FF kids getting into the fun.  Every page has something that makes you smile.

It looks like Van Lente learned how to toss softballs to Stefano Caselli during that Spider Slayer story arc a few months ago, because this art is a LOT tighter than that work was.  I really didn’t see a shaky panel anywhere and the highlight was when Caselli busted out some zombies that reminded me a lot of Rafael Albuquerque’s vampires in American Vampire.  In case you haven’t read my reviews of AV….that is high praise.  Nice coloring too!

Thunderbolts #156 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (pencils), Jason Gorder & Walker (inks), Frank Martin & Fabio D’Auria (colors), Albert Deschesne (letters), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: While the Thunderbolts head out on a dangerous mission with their new magic user, Songbird tries to recruit a B-team of “Underbolts” from the inmates on the Raft.

What’s Good: A common problem with team superhero comics is that they get stale: “We’ve seen this team tackle that bad dude before!  Yawn!”  Jeff Parker isn’t taking any chance of that happening to Thunderbolts as last issue he introduced a new magic-based villain to the team (Satana) and in this issue he has Songbird trying to recruit a B-team of villains to serve as a minor leagues of sorts should any of the Major League Thunderbolts need to go on the disabled list (whether it is the 15 day DL or the more permanent kind).  So, this issue has all the fun of “first mission with the new team member” and “getting the new team together”.  Seriously, how does Parker jam so much into his comics?  I think this is his 12th post-Siege issue of T-bolts and we have covered 4-5 stories.  Pretty amazing when you consider there are a LOT of other superhero comics that can’t do more than 2 stories per year.  Bravo!

The mission for the A-team is pretty cool.  It’s basically just some kinda thing that Parker made up (I think) where there has been a mystical fortress that popped up in eastern Europe and the hero community has known about it for awhile, but was letting the problem wait until some team had (a) time and (b) an appropriate magic-based team member.  It kinda gives the impression that in Steve Rogers office, there is a big “To Do” list on the wall and this problem has been festering because Dr. Strange is busy and Brother Voodoo is dead, so he keeps tasking the various Avengers teams to tackle some other problem.

Satana is a neat addition to the team.  For one thing, the first scene we see her in, she is climbing around on Man-Thing (heh) and covering him with glowing, mystic tattoos.  This causes Cage to yell, “Woman, what are you doing to that Man Thing?”  (heh)  It’s also cool to see how uncomfortable Satana makes Juggernaut, Ghost and Moonstone.  They’re the “core” villains of the team and as readers, we’ve kinda gotten to like them, so having a new teammate who may be tempted to betray them will be fun.

Kev Walker and the rest of the art team really do a bang-up job.  The style of the book is very unique, but I’ve really grown to enjoy it during his tenure on the book because he does such a good job emphasizing the differing natures of the characters on the team.  When you thing about it, this book has to be a bitch to draw because of the character types: Juggernaut (hulking, but w/o muscles ripping through his clothes), Cage (hulking, but WITH muscles rippling through his clothes), Ghost (small, spectral & skinny), Moonstone (basically a lithe female nude with colored-on uniform), Mach V (a mech/tech type character) & Man-Thing (hulking shambling plant).  Tell you what: There are a LOT of artists working in mainstream superhero comics who would struggle with this title because they can’t manage one of those character types, but Walker seems able to draw anything and his versatility allows Parker to put whatever characters on the team he wants to.

Amazing Spider-Man #658 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Javier Pulido (art), Muntsa Vicente & Javier Rodriguez (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters), Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Now that Spidey has joined the FF, what will the first adventure hold? And will it cause any stress in his relationship with Carlie?

What’s Good: It really isn’t correct to say that a writer captures “the voice” of a fictional character.  After all, these are fictional characters and they have no voice other than what is given to them by the writer.  Sure, they can be more or less in sync with what other writers have done with a character in the past, but there really isn’t a correct interpretation of a character.  That being said, Dan Slott writes a great Peter Parker.  His Peter is smart, earnest, socially-awkward, optimistic and funny.  This is the way this reviewer likes to see the character portrayed because it’ll make for such a great contrast when Peter has to get all grim and gritty on a villain during a more serious story arc.

The basic plotline for this issue is: Spidey’s first FF mission.  Fun abounds as Spidey first tries out a costume that doesn’t go over too well with the Thing, but that is quickly forgotten as the gang starts taking on a trio of zany missions that involves them going to France (and having fun with a mime), the microverse and the FAR future.

This issue, we also welcome back Carlie Cooper after Peter’s love life had taken a several issue time-out.  I don’t know about you, but I just don’t feel like it’s a complete Spidey story without the love life angle.  Of course, Peter’s involvement with the FF is going to make it pretty difficult for him to maintain his secret identity and keep Carlie around.  It’ll be interesting to see whether Carlie uses her CSI-skills to figure out Peter’s secret life, and if she does, whether she’ll be understanding or not.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38 – Review

By: John Layman (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor), Alejandro Arbona (associate editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: It’s alternate universe time as Spidey (and Deadpool and Hulk) are sucked into an alternate universe.

What’s Good: This is just a fun alternate universe story with the basic premise being that our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man gets pulled into an alternate reality via an accident at his new job at Horizon Labs.  As with any alternate universe story, the fun lies in seeing what’s the same and what’s different as compared to our world.

We learn much of this through the eyes our Peter Parker as he is forced to fill in for his counterpart as The Spider.  The big difference we find is that The Spider is THE superhero of NYC and is beloved by everyone.  As good as Peter’s life is in our reality, he has in WAY better in this other world (including having the companionship of a people who are dead in our reality).  Hmm… Maybe he should just stay there???   Of course, there will end up being a few tiny little problems with this world and you’ll have to discover those yourself, but the plot twist at the end is pretty neat.

Not a whole lot of Deadpool and Hulk action in this issue.  Surely their stories will be front-and-center in their respective annuals.

Amazing Spider-Man #654 – Review

By: Dan Slott (plot), Fred Van Lente (script), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Garcia (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Venom back-up: Dan Slott (writer), Paulo Siqueira & Ronan Cliquet de Oliveira (pencils), Siqueira, Roland Paris & Greg Adams (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramanga (letters) & Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey deals with a threat to his secret identity while fighting the Spider Slayers.  Oh, also  someone dies.

What’s Good: “Another fast paced and romping issue of Amazing Spider-Man”….  That has been a solid descriptor for every issue since Dan Slott took the reins of this title in issue #648.  Again, this issue is action packed and uses a blend of Spidey’s superhero and scientist sides (with a clever twist on the secret identity).  Slott has really embraced this role as hero/scientists and the series is better for it.

Another thing that I love about ASM is how much it feels like New York.  As much as I love fictional places like Gotham, there has always been something neat about being able to imagine a NYC with Spider-Man in it.  Both Slott and Van Lente are New York guys, so it makes sense that they’d nail it.  Perhaps it is “east coast bias” on my part, but I enjoy the authenticity of a NYC setting way more than stories that are vaguely set in the Pacific NW where it rains all the time.

There is also a chance that we’re going to see some lasting change in J.Jonah Jameson.  Something HUGE happens to the guy in this issue and you can’t help but think that it could change how he views the world.  Let’s just hope that it is a change that sticks.  Jonah is such an important supporting character and it would be nice to see him stretch his legs a little bit.

Thunderbolts #150 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (artist), Frank Martin & Fabio D’Auria (colorists)

The Story: The Thunderbolts celebrate 150 issues this month with a tale that finds the team’s heavy-hitters taking on none other than Thor, Commander Rogers, and Iron Man in a brutal grudge match in another dimension.

The Good: After an incredibly disappointing crossover into the equally disappointing Shadowlands storyline, I am thrilled to welcome Kev Walker back and see that Thunderbolts is once again revved up and firing on all cylinders. I’m even willing to forgive him for leaving us high and dry for two months if it meant he was working on this beautiful slab of entertainment all the while. Walker continues to set the standard of quality at Marvel with art that is crisp and expressive as it is unique and wonderful to look at. When I saw his opening panel of Thor, Iron Man, and Commander Rogers, I’d wished to God that Marvel would let him illustrate all of Marvel’s Avengers comics, his illustrations were so dynamic and powerful. Putting it bluntly, the man can draw the shit out of a comic page and the longer he stays on this comic the better we will all be for it.

Parker continues to prove that he is the right man for this job, and he has truly crafted this disparate team into a unique fighting force that I can’t help but like. Reading this issue, I couldn’t help but be reminded of movies like The Dirty Dozen and the strange joy I felt watching a group of utter bastards come to respect each other and learn to work together if not for the Greater Good, then certainly to spite Authority. The rogue in me respects that more about this team than previous iterations, and Parker draws that quality out of the them with great skill and gusto.

Thunderbolts #148 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (artist), Frank Martin & Fabio D’Auria (colorists)

The Story: Luke Cage’s involvement in Shadowland is explained this month, even though the mini-series is almost over. But whatever. Oh, and the Thunderbolts fight some ninjas…bet you didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

Bitter Random Thoughts: What. The Hell. Was this!? As long as I’ve been reviewing Parker’s run on Thunderbolts I have absolutely adored this book and been a huge admirer of what he and the art team have been achieving. And then I read this issue, and now I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched and slightly betrayed. Was this month’s issue a victim of poor editorial oversight? Of being shoehorned into a storyline it had no logical right participating in? Of being just plain ugly?

Well, yeah.

I have found that the times I’m hardest on this book are when it’s being dragged into stupid fucking crossovers. It happened with Avengers Academy and it’s happened again here with Shadowland. In both instances, this comic was far better than the storylines it was being forced to participate in, but the inclusion of the Thunderbolts in Daredevil’s fall from grace seems especially unnecessary. Cage’s crew haven’t been mentioned in Shadowland once before now, and now all of a sudden they’re lurking in the sewers fighting and being spanked by cannon fodder ninjas!? Sorry, but I’m not buying it. This team is more powerful than that, and the fact that they got their asses handed to them by the fucking Hand is sad and illogical and deeply Wrong. It also reeks of editorial mismanagement, of Parker being told how this story had to go down to fit with Marvel’s larger vision. Which they’re entitled to do, I suppose, seeing as how these are their toys, but God help me why does their vision suck so bad?

Amazing Spider-Man #637 – Review

The Grim Hunt by: Joe Kelly (writer), Michael Lark, Marco Checchetto, Stefano Gaudiano, Matt Southworth & Brian Thies (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) and Joe Caramanga (letters)

Hunting the Hunter by: J.M. Dematteis (writer), Max Fiumara (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

Spider Sundays by Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: Spider-Man becomes the hunter!  Enraged by the death of Kaine and others from the Spider-family, our webslinger goes after the Kravinoffs with a vengeance (or as much vengeance as Marvel editors will let him have).

What’s Good: This is a mostly satisfactory conclusion to the much anticipated Grim Hunt story line.  I have a number of quibbles with this issue, but I don’t want their sheer volume to make people think I didn’t like the issue.  It is more that this could have been epic and it just wasn’t.

One thing that I loved in this issue was getting to see Spider-Man kick ass.  We’re so used to seeing him getting beat up and having weird relationships with his roommate, that it’s easy to forget that when Spidey really applies himself, he is pretty much hell on wheels.  Parts of this issue almost had the feel of a Wolverine comic (without the claws) as Spidey ambushes the Kravinoffs from the shadows while wearing the black suit.

Oh yes… He is back in the black suit.  Partly that is out of necessity since we know that Kaine stripped him naked (which causes a weird mental image, now that I think of it), but part of it was to emphasize that Spidey “is out for blood”.  Frankly, the way this story arc had been unafraid to kill people, I thought we might see something interesting so seeing the black costume built my anticipation for a dramatic ending.

You also really get your money’s worth with this comic.  It should almost be priced by the pound.  The main story is 35 pages long and there are 12 pages of back-up material.  This book actually has some heft to it although I was tired enough by the time I read the main story that I only skimmed the back-ups.

Amazing Spider-Man #636 – Review

The Grim Hunt, Part 3 by: Joe Kelly with Zeb Wells (writers), Marco Checchetto, Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

Hunting the Hunter by: J.M. Dematteis (writer), Emma Rios with Max Fiumara (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

Spidey Sundays by: Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: Surprise!  Peter Parker isn’t really dead, but that doesn’t mean that someone didn’t die as part of the sacrifice to bring back Kraven the Hunter.  However, if the Kravinoff’s didn’t sacrifice the real Spider-Man, isn’t the reincarnation going to be kinda screwed up?

What’s Good: I’ve never been a big fan of all the clone garbage polluting the Spider-Man universe, so I was genuinely surprised to see that the death of Kaine touched an emotional chord in me.  It really wasn’t that big of a surprise that he was dead.  I didn’t see it immediately when I read/reviewed ASM #635 (blame reading it and immediately reviewing it), but in hindsight it was pretty obvious that it was going to be Kaine who died in the Kravinoff’s sacrifice.  But, seeing the poor guy looking really quite dead hit me (and there is NO doubt that dude is dead).  It was kind of like seeing and ignoring a panhandler on the same street corner every day.  You know the poor dude has it rough, but he’s annoying, smelly and in your way.  Then one day you learn that he died and you feel like crap because you were never nice to him.  That’s who Kaine was for me: the smelly bum who I just wanted to leave me alone.

The rest of this issue unfolded in pretty average super-hero fashion: Peter Parker wakes up, shakes off the cobwebs (pun intended) and has to go off chasing the Kravinoffs.  That’s a nice bit of role reversal and I like how the creative team handled it.

Amazing Spider-Man #635 – Review

The Grim Hunt, Part II by: Joe Kelly (writer), Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano & Matt Southworth (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

Hunting the Hunter back-up story by: J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Max Fiumara (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Caramanga (letters) and additional untitled back-up by Stan Lee and Marcos Martin

The Story: The Kravinoff’s continue their quest to catch Spiders, believing that sacrificing them on the altar of Kraven the Hunter will bring their patriarch back to life.

What’s Good: I’ll ask that you please run out and read this issue before reading this review.   This is the type of issue that deserves to be unspoiled for true fans.

That warning out of the way…  Holy crap!  I didn’t see that coming!  This issue kept me off balance from start to finish!  The Grim Hunt has really evolved at a break-neck pace since getting started in the last issue and I give a lot of credit to Joe Kelly for covering a lot of ground efficiently.  This issue had it all…  Fights, big-time villains, damsels in distress, a major bit of plot misdirection and a very shocking ending that builds for about 3-4 brutal pages.  As comic book fans, we’re trained to see our heroes get into dire circumstances but escape in the nick of time.  In a way, those miraculous escapes make us understand what it must be like to be a superhero: You can just wade into danger and somehow, someway…the good guys will escape.  But, this issue ramps that danger up just a little beyond the comfort zone and leaves us with a big payoff.

There…. Hopefully I’ve extolled this issue enough without spoiling it. Go read it twice!

Of course, you cannot have a spectacular issue without some really sharp art.  The overall style is a bit on the muddy side (which isn’t my favorite), but you cannot beat the storytelling and the expressive faces and body language.

Amazing Spider-Man #634 – Review

By: The Grim Hunt, Joe Kelly (writer), Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

Hunting the Hunter, Part One (backup story), J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Max Fiumara (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters)

Back-up Number Two, Stan Lee (writer) & Marcos Martin (art)

The Story: The Grim Hunt finally gets off the ground after ~30 issues of build-up and countless in-comic teases.  The Kravinoffs have a sinister plan in mind for the webslinger and his colleagues!

What’s good: I LOVE comic stories that have lots of build-up.  Sure….many of those stories don’t turn out to be anything hot, but cracking open the first issue of a story that has been building for a long time is a little like Christmas morning: It’s finally here!!!

In this case, the Spider-Man team has been building this story since issue #600 last summer.  When we saw Madame Web get abducted by the Kravinoffs.  Then, the Kravinoffs kept showing up throughout the Gauntlet story line (including hiring Deadpool to distract Spidey so they could kidnap Mattie Franklin).  They weren’t around all the time, but they were around enough to make it clear that they were pulling some of the strings behind this stream of baddies who were giving Spidey such a hard time.  Before getting into this issue, let’s give an editorial tip of the cap to the Spider-Man team.  It can’t be easy to keep a story tight across 30 plus issue and multiple creative teams.  Bravo!

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37 – Review

By: Story A: Karl Kesel (writer), Paulo Siqueira (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters); Story B: Kurt Busiek (writer), Pat Olliffe (art), Steve Buccellato (colors) & Comicraft (letters)

The Story: In one story, we see “the first meeting” between Spider-Man and Captain America.  In the second, we get a light-hearted fictional tale of how the first Spider-Man comic book was launched by Stan Lee.

What’s Good: The art in the first story is just great.  The story is fun too and I’ll get to that, but the star of this entire issue is Paulo Siqueira’s art.  His art is just so detailed and vibrant that it is worth a second look.  That’s how you do it kids!  Also kudos to Fabio D’Auria for busting out an old-school color palate, which is appropriate, considering this is supposed to be an older story.  Buy this issue for the art of this first story alone and you won’t be sorry.

I really enjoyed the story for this Spidey meets Cap issue.  You have to put aside serious continuity concerns and just enjoy it, but the whole thing centers around how Cap is the loved hero while Spidey is the guy who can’t catch a break from the media.  And, just as I was enjoying this little bit of the story, it goes all science fiction on us and time warps in three dorky science-guys with a hot chick who are there to deal with Sandman before he can cause some horrid danger in the future.  The way this whole scenario plays out is just the kind of fun you read Spider-Man comics for.

Amazing Spider-Man #608 – Review

By Marc Guggenheim (writer), Marco Checchetto, Luke Ross, Rick Magyar (art), and Fabio D’Auria (colors)

The Story: The aftermath of the Clone Saga continues to haunt Peter as a deadly enemy of Ben Reiley’s, attacks Peter and his family. We learn more of the life of Ben Reiley and the circumstances of his enemy’s origin story.

What’s Good: Marc Guggehein’s ASM is off to a great start, as this issue is chock full of intrigue and surprise. I have to give credit to the brain trust here with the new villain Raptor, as he could be the most interesting new villain, post-brand new day. Guggehein keeps the story moving while returning to Raptor’s origins in relation to Ben Reiley. Granted, Raptor’s genesis is both cliche’ (scientific genetic mutations) and ridiculous (humanity is evolved from dinosaurs), but his nothing-to-loose, vicious, and go-for-broke attitude makes up for his lame origins. Also, the fact that Raptor isn’t really a villain, just a guy out for revenge, helps make him engaging and relatable.

Between Marco Checchetto handling the art in the present and Luke Ross/Rick Magyar handling the flashbacks, this issue is great aesthetically. I was really impressed with Checchetto’s grainy style, as all the characters looked just right. The feel of this book reminds me of Lark’s recent run on Daredevil, but more clear and detailed. Overall, this could be my favorite visual presentation of Spidey in the past year or so.

To me the best part of this issue (and arc for that matter) is that its a departure from all the MJ and social stuff that has been under the spotlight since #600. I’m not complaining about that angle as its been pretty good, but it’s nice to see Spidey dealing with issues outside his immediate circle. Using the best parts of the Clone Saga as a way to bring something new, yet steeped in Spidey mythos, is a good move for this series. Plus, the surprise ending adds even more depth to this situation.

I also have to praise the funny editorial boxes that take place between Guggehein and Wacker. Guggehein begins the issue by taking a shot at Wacker and the snideness crescendos appropriately, and then disappears at the right time. Good stuff.

What’s Not So Good: I really don’t have much to gripe about. The flash back moments had some defects as some of the dialogue and art didn’t really distinguish who was who in the beginning. The two characters just look too much alike. Also, the dinner scene where Reiley goes to meet Raptor’s family was awkward and confusing. The characters seemed out of, um, character and the dialogue was forced. Why would anyone tell someone’s wife and kids, as a joke, that their father/husband was “doing” co-eds after work?

Conclusion: A great issue in the ASM torrent. A nice turn of serious story after the light Black Cat arc last week. It’s a good time to be a web-head, especially when Web Of Spider-Man launches next week. That will be a sister series and a fill-in for missing details of ASM. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Guggehein’s previous efforts on ASM (especially Character Assassination) but he is at his, and Spidey’s, best on this issue.

Grade: A-

-Rob G.