Mighty Avengers #11 – Review

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Greg Land (Penciller), Jay Leisten (Inker), Frank D’Armata (Color Artist), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer), Francesco Francavilla (Cover Artist)

The Story: 

Who’s the black New York cop
On the “freak beat” with a hero squad?
DAD! Ya damn right.

Who is the man that would throw down
With a were-beast man?
DAD! Can you dig it?

Who is the cat that will team up
With Afro Blade and his goggles?
DAD! Right on.

They say that Cage’s dad
Is a bad mother – (Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ ’bout his DAD – (We can dig it)

He’s a complicated man
Who’s been hidin’ all this stuff from his son
(Luke Cage!)

The Review:
I’m not sure how much it was planned to have this issue coincide with Father’s Day weekend in the U.S., but it sure was appropriate. This issue is all about Luke Cage’s dad, James Geary, and an untold tale of what we can dub the “70s’ Mighty Avengers.”

I’d like to get the familiar criticisms out of the way and take the opportunity to add one more. First, yes, Greg Land displays his usual strengths and weaknesses. In particular, I’d point out the double-page spread of the Kaluu-Blade fight as a strength, and the utter lack of any visual context with the page-turn appearance of “the Bear” that does nothing more than serve as an opportunity to show a very Land-y fashion pose. The colorist is also to blame on that one. Really, the only thing connecting that “panel” to the ongoing story is the dialogue.

Mighty Avengers #10 – Review

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Greg Land (Penciller), Jay Leisten (Inker), Frank D’Armata (Color Artist), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Story:
Sad times on the Blue Area of the Moon, and prices aren’t the only things being slashed at the Biggest Buy store.

The Review:
One thing that’s rapidly characterizing Al Ewing’s run on Mighty Avengers is a good, conscientious use of continuity, both in context of the book itself and in the Marvel universe overall. This issue in particular picks up ongoing subplots and, even with a cross-over into the narrative of the Original Sin, does well to stand on its own as a solid example of comicbook storytelling.

The events of the Original Sin storyline show up twice here: One, as the Avengers battle a Mindless One in New York, and Two, as Blue Marvel checks in on the Watcher’s family. The battle sequence is quick– only three pages– although it offers Photon a key moment, where she builds a powerful attack that lays the monster low. It’s a nice moment for Photon, where she also explains a bit about her previous experience with NextWave. Unfortunately, it’s not a very clear explanation. It’s equally unfortunate that after her attack she only appears one more time, if you count being in the background of a small panel with her head cut off by the frame as “appearing.”

The more extensive use of the event brings Adam Brashear/Blue Marvel to the Watcher’s “family,” namely Ulana, his “wife,” and their baby. This naturally extends from the Brashear’s friendship with the Watcher (long-standing continuity, apparently), but it also provides a way for him to deal with the events of previous issues and the loss of his own family. It’s effective characterization for Brashear, while also providing a lot of humanity (for lack of a better word) in memorial for the Watcher. (That “humanity” is doubly ironic since the scene explores many quite alien concepts.)

Avengers A.I #4 – Review

by Sam Humphries (Writer) André Lima Araujo (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: Vision tries to calm the people of the Diamond from Dimitrios while the rest of the team try their best to pick up this A.I. city.

The Review: Better be ambitious than be dull. From my perspective, it’s always more entertaining to see an author try to infuse some newer or expansive elements rather than play it safe. It’s not always the safest way to write a solid issue in terms of plot and characterization, but comics have a particular potential for craziness, especially cape comics.

It is why it’s especially disappointing to read this issue of Avengers A.I., as Sam Humphries barely use many of the interesting additions he created for his series. While he does try to add some twists to the conflicts of the book and to some characters, it either doesn’t go far enough or simply never connect in a relevant way to the issue as a whole.

The first place where Humphries seems to go astray is with the Diamond, the strongest concept of the series so far. Full of potential and with some of the better concepts already in place thanks to the previous issue, the advancements and some of the good ideas seems to be dropped in favour of the plot, with Dimitrios and Vision being put to the forefront instead of any development of this decidedly great idea. It’s a shame that the Diamond is delegated to the background, both literally and figuratively to put super heroics to the forefront, diminishing in the process what could have separated this title from the more regular cape fare.

Avengers A.I #3 – Review

Sam Humphries (Writer) André Lima Araujo (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: Vision learns about a whole society of A.I living in a place called the Diamond as the rest of the team discovers how humanity resents robots now that Dimitrios just did his thing with their bank accounts.

The Review: New series have a hard time. They have to sell you their concepts, their characters, their themes and make sure they can hold on the reader’s attention for the long game. Whether they are independent titles or capes, they have much of the same trouble, though of varying degrees if they try something that hasn’t been tried before.

Such is the woe of Avengers A.I, a title that try to incorporate the idea of sentient artificial intelligences trying to be accepted as peoples by the regular populace. While the idea of a whole slew of beings having trouble being recognized isn’t anything new (cue X-Men joke), there were some decidedly interesting ideas that could be developed from such a premise. However, the previous issues never really did take advantage of the setting and the themes, which was definitely disappointing. Still, does Sam Humphries manage to make the most of it this time around?

Surprisingly, yes, as he brings a very interesting idea that truly does relate to the theme of artificial intelligence in a scene focusing between Dimitrios and Vision. Introducing the Diamond, a whole digital city full of various artificial persons and programs living in a society that is unique to them. It is a wonderful concept that gets explored in a small dose in this issue, as some of the rules, their roles and how they perceives themselves is touched upon a bit while Vision and Dimitrios share some small dialogue between each other. It’s almost a shame that the humanity versus A.I debate is one of the bigger focus of this issue, as this concept has so many potential, it demands to have more focus put on it.

Avengers A.I. #2 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), André Lima Araujo (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: As the team deals with a Sentinel, Dimitrios appears on stage to preach his message.

The Review: Pacing is important. It may seem like an obvious and bland statement, yet it is also true. If a comic goes on too fast or does not allow enough space for its plot and character to properly develop and become interesting, it makes for a mess of a comic that turn out to be rather unsatisfying for the readers.

In an unfortunate matter of fact, this is exactly what plagues this issue of Avengers A.I. as Sam Humphries storm through a lot of concepts, ideas and scenes in order to bring it to a point that could have been explored further down the line. While the idea of a quantum hyperactive being, a sentinel gaining sentience and the arrival of Dimitrios could make for some potentially good action and plot, everything seems rushed in order to arrive to a certain point, leaving these elements as vague or simply laid out in inconclusive terms.

One of those elements that could have benefited the most from a slower pace would be Alexis, a new character that had been introduced as the big reveal in the final page of the latest issue. Instead of revealing to us who she is or how the character reacts to what she is, she is simply thrown in, moving her from point A to B without us readers seeing how and why she got there. The introduction of the character is not helped as she is barely explained, without motivations or true showcase of her ability beyond origami. Mystery characters can become interesting, yet there is a need for a basis for the readers to care, something that Humphries does not provide.

Avengers A.I #1 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), André Lima Araujo (Colorist) Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The self-replicating virus that killed Ultron is kind of becoming a problem. Thankfully, Hank Pym has a solution.

The Review: Sam Humphries is a strange beast. No, I do not think that he is a rather weird creature rather that he kind of baffles me as a writer. He seems to be able to bring new ideas to the table, to be willing to shake up the status quo in the books that he is writing, yet not all of these qualities managed to give us a book that I can truly say satisfied me. I’ve read his Uncanny X-Force a bit and I am kind of sorry to say that I was less than impressed by his tenure on Ultimate Comics: Ultimates, which made me drop the title. Why am I actually giving him a chance then when he has disappointed me a number of times?

Simply enough, it is because I like robots and Hank Pym, which made me willing to give him a chance on this title featuring both these elements. However, does he succeed in giving us an issue that is compelling enough for us readers to warrant coming back for another issue?

New Avengers #6 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Steve Epting, Rick Magyar (Artists), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: Another Earth is set to collide on the main Marvel Earth, appearing above Latveria. The Illuminati, in the domain of Doom, needs to act against this new type of intrusion to their universe.

The Review: If there’s one thing that Jonathan Hickman knows how to do, it’s building up a conflict or a situation in a way that can makes us readers feel invested. The stakes are getting higher, the many elements are explained to us in ways that feel expensive and full of potentials, it’s great. However, as much as building can be great, it is another matter entirely to properly capitalize on what was constructed.

Avengers Assemble #15 – Review

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Butch Guice (Penciler), Tom Palmer with Rick Magyar (Inkers), Frank D’Armata (Colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

Review: Jesus, is Age of Ultron still going on? Feels weird to think so sometimes…and I’ve been reviewing each and every issue. The thing is, it lacks a sense of importance; and some of that can be put down to the lack of tie-ins. Sure, there are many justifiable grievances held against Marvel’s usual approach to tie-in culture (gumming up the flow of our favourite series mid-run etc.) but one thing’s for sure: in the case of Secret Invasion, Siege et al, you at least felt like the events of those books were dramatically affecting the breadth of shared continuity. Not so much with AoU and the feint corona of books that illuminate it.

New Avengers #5 – Review

Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Steve Epting, Rick Magyar (Artists), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The Illuminati returns from the colliding Earth as they recruits Black Swan, who proceeds to explain a lot of things about just what may be happening with the multiversal problem.

The Review: Here we are, back at the incredibly dense and tense read that is New Avengers, a book that focus on the much darker side on the type of conflicts superheroes must deal with. Universes dying, being destroyed one against another as the group cannot seem to trust one another, yet must in order to make sure their universe survives, that is the kind of thing superheroes exists for, yet nothing is so simple.

This should probably be the very motto for this book in general, as Jonathan Hickman goes very far in the conceptual end of the comic stories spectrum, where most of the things explained here could be further developed with years of stories. In many ways, this issue does something that should not work at all, bombarding us with tons of information, giving us lengthy scenes of heavy exposition while the characters merely talk to each other, giving us mostly a ‘’talking head’’ issue. It should not work, yet the ideas thrown here are so interesting and shown in such a dynamic way that it kinds of transcend the potential problem it may cause and gives us something to ponder about instead. Here, we are given a big great hint toward the true cause behind the multiversal imbalance; just who and what are the Black Swans, what the team might be able to do to save their universe and so on. It’s griping stuff and it makes the exposition truly enjoyable.

However, there is another reason why the comic is so enjoyable and that would be the characters themselves. Hickman seems to get just how they act and most of their history together, creating some kind of tensions between each others. There are sub-groups within the Illuminati, like Black Panther and Reed Richards, or Namor and Doctor Strange, which shows that the history between each of these characters shall be referenced and even become important to the plot. How characters react to the tale told by Black Swan, a fascinating character in her own right, is spot-on, like Namor telling her not to beat around the bush with tales, or how T’Challa and his distrust of many things she says. It’s pretty interesting to see how even in the face of such radical things being explained to each other, these men still have their own quirks coming out from time to time to peppers the plot a bit.

Avengers Assemble #14 – Review

By: Al Ewing (Writer), Butch Guice (Penciler), Tom Palmer (Inker), Frank D’Armata (Colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles

Review: For better or worse I’ve reserved myself a copy of every tie-in issue allied to the Age of Ultron event. Not done that for a while, maybe not since Secret Invasion…and that was a buttload of (mostly interminable) comics. Still, AoU has a wallet-pleasingly small amount of titles attached, and most are done-in-ones which purport to shed light on interesting bits of backstory tied to the main book which I was keen to see addressed. This is especially true of Avengers Assemble #14 which deals solely with Black Widow.

Avengers Assemble is a title I’ve shied away from so far. It’s not had the worst of creative teams but its all-ages remit coupled with its perceived existence outside of regular Avengers continuity combined to make it an easy omission from my Pull List. However, this does make the series a prime candidate for the repository of stand-alone tales; I can’t see this issue fitting in anywhere near as well with any of Hickman’s Avengers titles, for instance.

New Avengers #4 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (Writer) Steve Epting, Rick Magyar (Artists), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The Illuminati each tries in various ways to find a solution to the colliding Earths problem as they venture into the other Earth.

The Review: How can you top the last issue? That was the very first thought that occurred to me as I opened up this month’s issue. The previous issue had ton major events in them which helped ground the title and proclaim how serious it was in its agenda. It was big, catastrophic and ripe with so much potential for the whole of the Marvel universe, it was clearly impossible for Hickman to even come close to this level.

Unfortunately, it seems I was right in that assumption.

Now, this may seems that I will bash the book because it did not keep the same level of drama and importance that was shown previously, but that would be a serious error. There are several things to like, even love in this issue, starting with the voice Hickman has found within each of the characters. While they may all be optimistic characters or people clearly used to having huge responsibilities, we can see in each scene how this kind of event affects each of them. He gets how these characters think, with the ever so noble, yet utterly prepared and dangerous Doctor Strange, the arrogant Namor to Beast who seems out of his league in such a group. Things are big, dangerous and it seems there are close to no right answers for the group considering what the noble thing to do is.

Cable and X-Force #5 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (Writer), Salvador Larocca (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist), VC’s Joe Sabino (Letterer)

Review: Much like I did with X-Men Legacy a while back, I caught up with Cable and X-Force by inhaling issues #1-5 in one sitting. The effect was akin to turning up late to an ice-cream party to find that the only flavor left is Peanut Butter Crunch and you’ve got to chug 5 scoops immediately in order to catch up with everyone else. Oh, and you’re allergic to peanuts. And you’re lactose intolerant. Come to think of it, why the smeg did you agree to this ice-cream party in the first place? What the hell is an Ice Cream party!? A more pertinent question: why have I spent $19.95 of my hard-earned Earth Dollars on Cable and X-Force? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why; no dodging the bullet on that one.

New Avengers #3 – Review

By Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Steve Epting (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The Illuminati gains a new member and tries to use the Infinity gems to deal with the incoming problem that plague their universe.

The Review: Jonathan Hickman was not kidding at all when he said this book would be the dark counterpart to his lighter and more optimistic Avengers title. Even though he promised big threats and big things in both his runs, I never thought he’d actually go this far with three mere issues in. This is something I absolutely commend and I have only one thing to say about these developments and twists: congratulations.

Of course, this would not be much of a review if I stopped here. Something that works very well in the issue, just like the latest one, is the tension. Here, though, it is tension created with the relations between each character, not only by the situation. Hickman does not let us forget what is at stake, yet he is capable of adding the past relationships between characters in several key moments, be it with a snippet of dialogue or a simple action. People who have followed some of these characters for years will easily recognize that Hickman truly manage to capture the essence of each of the Illuminati quite easily, even in such situations and in such a tone.

It is not only the characters that Hickman manages to capture, as he also manages to make the problem seems even bigger in this issue with a single moment that tells a lot of the scope he wants to write in this series. This moment, which I will not spoil, is impossibly big and important. Unlike the latest issue which was mostly talking, there are some very big moments, notably two of them, another one at the very end of the issue, that push the title in a very interesting direction. Those moments seems even surreal in their scope, breaking the taboo of what we could potentially think would happen in this series. Like I always say about Hickman, he has a plan and so far, it is a fascinating one considering the problem and the trouble that goes along with it. Let’s just say that those interested in the Marvel universe as a whole must read this issue. No kidding.

New Avengers #2 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Steve Epting, Rick Magyar (Artists), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The Illuminati gathers in the dead city of Wakanda to discuss a particular threat to their universe discovered by Black Panther.

The Review: Double-shipping on books can be both a blessing and a curse. It permits people to get the complete stories by the authors that much faster, but it has a cost that goes beyond the pockets of the customers. Sometimes, it makes the artist or the author much too rushed in their work, creating small missteps in the writing or the art. It can also lower the general quality of a book and the appreciation of the customers when such things happen, especially when the only reason that can be perceived by them is to get more money out of them. However, there are some exceptions, as sometimes it is to create momentum and give a general idea of what the series will be about in a quicker fashion than usual.

New Avengers #1 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Steve Epting (Artist), Frank D’Armata (colorist)

The Story: Black Panther travels to a different dimension and encounters a threat that is so big he has to call the Illuminati for help.

The Review: Jonathan Hickman is a man with a plan. In close to every long-term series that he has written, he has shown us that he does things meticulously, with an attention to detail that is sometime uncanny. It has leaded us to incredible stories during his tenure on Fantastic Four and FF. This kind of plotting can be very interesting to follow, with every hints and tease dropped with each subsequent chapter that manage to create a larger direction and narrative throughout the story. It can also, unfortunately, create cryptic chapter or things that make close to no sense until later in the book, creating a sense of incompleteness in a particular issue.

It is unfortunately the latter with the opening issue of this very promising series, with much that is teased, yet never truly explained or absolutely shown to us readers. There are a lot of interesting elements presented to us in this issue, mind you, but none of them are explained in context. Putting readers in the shadow and in doubt can produce various degrees of interest in a storyline, but here it is just confusing. What is the place where Black Panther has landed? Who are these people he is fighting? What does the machine that strange woman is holding? We need some proper context if we are to truly enjoy the issue and understand the action and significance of them.

Cable and X-Force #1–Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (writer), Salvador Larroca (Art), and Frank D’Armata (colors)

The Story: Cable is back, and the first thing he does is make himself and his teammates fugitives. Way to go, Nate.

The Review: Vibrant art, vibrant writing. That’s the best way to describe Cable and X-Force. There is a lot of dynamic here that Larroca, Hopeless, and D’Armata bring to the comic, but this doesn’t mean that it’s a perfect book. The best comparison is the new Thunderbolts. Both books are about how the team comes together, but the difference is in the execution. This incarnation of X-Force is partly chance and partly planned. Cable  needs Forge and Dr. Nemesis, so he recruits them. But Domino and Hope arrive by other means…and Colossus’s role is not yet defined. This works well. It shows a team becoming something rather than Cable sipping tea in France watching Domino kill mimes (or whatever the hell that scene was in Thunderbolts with Deadpool). There’s a progression and a purpose. The problem is, the first issue doesn’t give us an idea of what that purpose is. We see them all on the run, not able to explain a lot of dead bodies to Havok and the rest of the Uncanny X-Force, and they have matching uniforms. They become a team–but why? This could be just a casualty of “writing for the trade.” But it didn’t leave me anxious for the next issue.Hopeless is good with the individual characters, developing them and letting us get to know them, but the plot is weak.

Amazing Spider-Man #691 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli & Mario Del Pennino (pencils), Klaus Janson & Daniel Green (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The Lizard has turned most of the Horizon Labs employees into lizards and things look bleak for the remaining humans.

A few things: 1). Interesting spin on the Lizard. – Perhaps someone who has read all the Spider-Man comic books will correct me, but this seems like a pretty unique spin on the Lizard and Curt Connors.  During the course of this story arc, Dan Slot has had a lot of fun playing mix and match with the personas and the bodies.  It’s almost like Slott is repeatedly rolling a d4 to see what combination of Lizard/Conners personality mixes with which lizard/human body.  It all comes to a pretty tragic end for the character by the end of the issue.  If superhero comics insist on continually gluing retreads on ancient villains, they should do it as Slott has here where he’s really trying to reach for something cool and fresh.

Amazing Spider-Man #690 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson, Daniel Green & Camuncoli (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Chris Eliopoulos, Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The saga of a lizard in man’s clothing continues.

A few things: 1). Slott found the “go” button. – This was a really fun issue that recalled the magic from the beginning of Dan Slott’s ASM run (~20 months ago).  The stories have all been quality since then, but I found myself not enjoying them quite as much; it was as if those early stories were a 10/10 and the others were an 8/10.  I attributed some of it to whether Humberto Ramos was doing the art, but I think another thing might have been some of the writing.  This issue just had a “snap” to it that has been missing for awhile.  This issue felt like Slott had a BLAST writing it and was fully engaged.  I don’t know what goes on in the guy’s private life, but we all have times when we’re doing a “competent” job at work and other times when we transcend.  Stuff throws you off: fight with your wife, sick dog, new boss, etc.  The sad thing about superhero comics is that when the stories get down to the “competent” level, they start to feel like glorified fan-fiction….as in, “I could totally write this stuff.”  An issue like this one makes me realize that there is a reason why Dan Slott is a professional writer and the rest of us aren’t.

Amazing Spider-Man #688 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Lizard is back and Spidey is a little annoyed at him.

A few things: 1). Surprised to see no wrap-up issue from Ends of the Earth. – Am I the only one who was surprised that we lept right into the next story?  It just seems like every other “major” superhero story requires at least one issue (sometimes a 12 issue, bi-weekly miniseries) of characters sitting around and talking about what just happened.  How nice that Dan Slott didn’t waste our time (and money) that way!  Keep the story moving!

Mighty Thor #13 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Pepe Larraz (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: Thor enters a vault containing an ancient evil while Donald Blake tries to make a deal with the devil (NOT Mephisto).

The Review: After last month’s incredibly hollow conclusion, I said I probably wouldn’t be around for issue 13.  What can I say?  My love for the Odinson has made a liar out of me.

In many ways, this issue lets Matt Fraction get back to basics.  Thor unleashes an ancient evil and spends much of the issue hammering the snot out of monsters.  For Thor fans such as myself, while that’s not necessarily the  makings for the most groundbreaking or shockingly awesome issue, it’s definitely within a certain comfort zone.  There will always be an innate satisfaction in seeing Thor smash stuff up with Mjolnir.  New supporting character Hreidmar, a guy who looks like a goblin accountant, makes the whole thing a bit more fun and light-hearted as well.

Mighty Thor #12 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (art), Frank D’Armata (colors)

The Story:  With Asgard under siege, Thor battles his imposter while Freyja steps down to challenge Karnilla.

The Review: This issue reminded quite a bit of Fear Itself’s failings.  There were a lot of really big things that occurred in this issue, a lot of big events that should’ve had me nailed to my seat.  The siege of Asgard!  Thor vs. Ulik!  Freyja vs. the Queen of the Norns!  Thor killing the Demogorge!  If there’s one thing Fraction gets, it’s epic scale, and he’s shown that time and again throughout his run on Thor.

The problem though, is that scale and good ideas alone aren’t enough.  They need to be developed, character-work must be done, motivations must be explored.  Put simply, despite the big events occurring on the page, Fraction really hasn’t given much of a reason to care.

Part of this is certainly due to Fraction’s leaving Karnilla and Ulik horridly underdeveloped.  They’ve been nothing more than stock villains with broad, generic goals.  Their places in the plot could’ve been occupied by pretty much any other villain.  So when Freyja and Thor battle them, it’s hard to really care all that much.  Even Fraction himself, in the narration of the book, acknowledges that there’s essentially nothing fueling Thor’s hatred for Ulik.  The villains have failed to distinguish themselves or their motivations and they have minimal ties to any of the heroes.  There’s no emotional investment for readers when it comes to the central conflict.

Amazing Spider-Man #681 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Chris Yost (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The conclusion of a 2-part story where Spidey & Human Torch try to save Col. Jameson from a doomed space station.

A Few Things: 

1. Massive credit to the editorial staff. – Big respect to the editorial team (Wacker and Pyle) for working with writer (Slott) to keep this series humming along.  When you consider that ASM ships 2-3X per month, they need to have multiple artists working on the series at the same time.  That means that someone needs to keep coordinated with Slott well in advance on the stories and make sure that the scripts are handed in on time.  And it means that the artists and editors have to be candid about how quickly the artists can work.  Someone has to know that we needed this to be a 2-issue arc to give Humberto Ramos enough time to catch back up.  It’s just impressive how it all runs like a top.  And, because this whole team clearly has such dedication and professionalism, a small, 2-story arc like this one still fits vitally into the main ASM story.  A lot of other editor/writer/artist teams would have just wasted a 2-issue story like this on fluff OR stuck with a predictable formula of alternating 4-6 issue stories.  I wish the X-editors would do an internship with Wacker!

2. Fun, action, humor… (again). – Why should this be surprising?  ASM has been fun, action-filled and funny for several years now and has only become more so since Slott became the sole writer.  As I said about last issue, this is really just a Marvel Team-Up on the space station with Torch and Spidey alternately being heroic and making fun of each other while they save the day.  The whole thing is light-hearted enough that I didn’t groan at a few of the convenient technologies that help to save the day; actually, reading a comic like this might be a good way of judging whether you are a “comic optimist” or not… Can you accept Spidey’s convenient special webbing without demanding an explanation?  But…in the end, this story flows us right into the Doc Ock-centered Ends of the Earth story that Marvel has been pumping for months now.  This is a great lead-in and I’m excited.  This is what comics should do: one-flows into the next and builds excitement!

Amazing Spider-Man #680 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Chris Yost (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: There’s an emergency in space and it’s Spidey to the rescue.

A Few Things: 

1. Fun bouncy adventure. –  What has made Slott’s ASM run so good is that he (and his co-creators) are mostly nailing these “fill-in” arcs.  I mean, Spider-Island was great and I fully expect Ends of the Earth to be great, but now that ASM has become event driven it’s also important to give us something to help us surf between events.  And that’s what this story arc is.  The set-up is simple: pages 1-2 show us the space station in danger, pages 3-4 show us Spidey headed to the Baxter Building to hitch a ride into space and BOOM… we have a Spidey + Human Torch Marvel Team-Up issue in space.  Humor + Action!  The rest of the issue is similarly bouncy and I’m sure the entire arc will be over pretty fast.  And, that’s great….this is an appetizer comic (with Ends of the Earth being a main course).  Love that Slott and team keep the action bouncy and realize that not everything needs to be a 6-issue epic story.  Sometimes we just want to have fun….

2. Jameson’s human side. – It’s nice how Slott is making Jonah Jameson more of a human being.  Sure., he still likes to yell at PARKER! but between his wife dying and his natural concern for his son in this issue, he is coming off as more human than a lot of other Spidey writers have made him.  It’s funny how life works.  Most of us have someone in our lives (maybe at work) who we think is an insufferable jackass, but sometimes you see them with their family and realize that their wife and kids actually DO love them.  Jameson is kinda that guy.

Amazing Spider-Man #675 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor), Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey & Carlie Cooper work together to take down the Vulture gang.

Five Things: 

1. Glad to have “Classic Vulture” back. – As I think I mentioned last issue, the redo of Vulture into this mutated, sub-verbal creature was one of the only low-lights of The Gauntlet storyline that ran through ASM ~50 issues ago.  So, I’m very happy to have “classic” Vulture back.  He is such a different threat than other villains with because he is old and crafty.  Old Adrian Toomes is never going to try to simply smash Spidey. He’s always got minions or a science trick up his sleeve or a clever “old-man plan.”  It’s a nice change of pace for the series.

2. Fun wrinkling of the Carlie/Peter/Spidey relationship. – I was a pretty big fan of the Peter/Carlie relationship when they were together, so it isn’t surprising that I’m enjoying watching them work together now that Carlie KNOWS the big secret.  What’s special is watching it dawn on Carlie that she might have judged Peter too harshly for “keeping secrets” as she starts to hear little things about what a screwed up life he has and how he is still a hero in spite of everything that happens to him.  And she also sees how a villain will attack her to get at Spidey, thereby screwing up his crime-fighting.  Seeing it revealed to Carlie in this fashion also helps the reader step back and appreciate those same things about Peter/Spidey.  He really is an admirable guy.  How could you not like him?

3. Mostly enjoy Camuncoli’s pencils.  – Most of the things that Camuncoli does in this issue are pretty good.  He tells the story well and mostly draws the characters competently.  It’s interesting that his drawing is so much stronger when he is drawing a character in profile or 2/3 profile than when it draws faces facing directly towards the camera/viewer/reader.  It’s kinda eerie when you start looking at it.  Those full-on images of Carlie and the Vulture kids are weird.

Amazing Spider-Man #674 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island is over and a certain winged foe of Spidey is back.

Five Things: 

1. Much better approach to the Vulture!  When ASM freshened up all of Spidey’s classic rogues during the Gauntlet storyline (ASM #612 – #633), most of the updated versions were pretty hot stuff.  The only one that didn’t quite work as well was the new Vulture who was this weird mutated, non-verbal mafia hit man who vomited acid and had a BAD underbite.  Marvel, recognizing that error, had Punisher kill that guy in the new Punisher series (at least I think he killed him….I dropped that series pretty fast).  This approach to the Vulture makes a lot more sense because it’s going to be the same basic character….just a little older and with a new approach to make up for his advancing age.  In a way it reminds me of the early story arc in the original Web of Spider-Man (around issue #3) where the Vulture gave wings to a group of fellow criminals and they ganged up to pound on Spidey.

2. Revisiting the Peter-Carlie relationship.  Not wanting to start another riot in the comments thread (since we all have strong feelings about who Peter should be dating), but it was nice to see that Slott isn’t dropping Carlie Cooper as a character.  I wasn’t happy about the dumping that happened during Spider-Island, but a few readers talked me off the ledge by saying that they were sure she’d still be around.  I like this new dynamic where they still have to work together as crime fighters and it’ll be interesting to see if there is still a chance for romance.

3. Pretty nice art.  It’s hard for me to review any ASM issues after I’ve gotten a steady diet of Humberto Ramos because Ramos is just one of my absolute favorites.  Camuncoli isn’t quite at Ramos’ level and he is less stylized in his approach, but this is still really nice art.