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.

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).

Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #4 – Review

By: Jen Van Meter (writer), Javier Pulido (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: This Black Cat mini comes to a close.  Will Black Cat be able to save her Mom from the Kravinoff’s?  Will events tie into Amazing Spider Man?  And what will happen with all the stolen loot?

What’s Good: This was a really refreshing end to what has mostly been a fun little series.  All of the confusion that started to plague Issue #3 is gone as this story quickly became very streamlined: Save the Mom and escape from the Kravinoff’s.  There is also a lot of wrap up in this issue that ties events nicely into the continuity of Amazing Spider-Man, including a few really good Black-Cat/Spider-Man scenes.

Ms. Van Meter does a wonderful job capturing Black Cat’s “naughty but not evil” persona.  If you like the character Black Cat, you should be reading this series or at least watch for the trade when it comes out.  Ms. Van Meter also continues to develop Ana Kravinoff into a really neat character.  She just has the gleefully murderous aspect to her that makes her fun and one hopes that the next creator to fiddle with Ana continues the momentum her character has because there is a kernel of a new villain here (but they shouldn’t make her too evil as her childishness is what makes her special).

Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #3 – Review

By: Jen van Meter (writer), Javier Rodriguez & Javier Pulido (art), Matt Hollingsworth & Rodriguez (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: The somewhat confusing story of Black Cat being forced to steal items for the Kravinoff family continues.

What’s Good: Honestly, not a whole lot.  If you are a die-hard Black Cat fan, this will be essential reading, but otherwise….

There are also a whopping 4 pages of art by Javier Pulido that look nice even if they are clearly rushed.

What’s Not So Good: Sheesh did I lose the narrative on this comic.  My most common thought as I was reading was: “Huh????”  I was honestly having a hard time remembering who was scheming against Black Cat and who was trying to help her.  It probably isn’t really that hard to figure out, but the story wasn’t captivating enough that I wanted to put forth the effort to flip back through the issue a second time, much less dig out issues #1 and #2.

The story is also leaving me flat because I had kinda had enough of the Kravinoff family after The Grim Hunt story arc in Amazing Spider-Man.  I know that was only about a month ago, but it seems like ancient history and I just don’t want to see the Kravinoffs again so soon.  This series probably should have run in the month leading up to Grim Hunt.

Black Cat #2 – Review

By: Jen van Menter (writer), Javier Pulido & Javier Rodriguez (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: The stakes are raised as an attendant of the Kravinoff family kidnaps Black Cat’s mother to force her to steal precious items that used to belong to the Kravinoff family.

What’s Good: I really like Javier Pulido’s art in this issue.  After a little bit of an uncertain style in Black Cat #1, his art really sings in this issue.  For starters, I love the whimsical style that Pulido is using.  It is perfect for a character like Black Cat.  Working nicely with this style are the white panel borders he leaves between panels.  I wish more artists would do this.  Panels do not always need to touch!  Nor do panels all need to be rectangular or of uniform size; Pulido really mixes it up with his panel designs and layouts.  Finally, I really enjoy the flat colors that Hollingsworth is using here.  It’s a perfect fit with the art.  All in all, this is a striking book from a visual standpoint.

Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #1 – Review

By: Jen van Meter (writer), Javier Pulido (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters); Grim Hunt Prologue: Joe Kelly (writer), Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: Someone is stealing priceless Russian artifacts and trying to frame Black Cat.  But why?

What’s good: This issue has an unadvertised back up story that is a prologue to The Grim Hunt (ASM #634).  I really wish I’d known that before reading #634 and I don’t understand why Marvel didn’t put a note on the cover hyping this prologue because it is really good.  By the same creative team as #634, it really sets the stage well for The Grim Hunt.

I bought this issue mostly because Javier Pulido was handling the artistic duties and although the art was a mixed bag (more on that below), there are some great pages and panels (especially a page where Black Cat surprises the impostor-thief and goes looping down the impostor’s zip cord).  In fact, a few odd panels aside, the art is very good in this issue.

The story is serviceable.  This is really a tie-in of sorts to The Grim Hunt as the Kravinoffs are involved in the theft of these Russian artifacts.  So far this story promises to be “okay”, but nothing special.

What’s Not So Good: There really isn’t much weight to this story.  Here’s a funny thing: I probably wouldn’t have bought this if it were pitched as a “Grim Hunt” tie-in.  But, that is really what we’re dealing with: this is a tie-in to a 4-issue story arc in Amazing Spider-Man.  That’s what we’ve fallen to folks: a comic that comes out 3-4 times every month has a tie-in miniseries.