Age of Ultron #10 – Review

By: Alex Maleev, Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary, Butch Guice, Brandon Peterson, Carlos Pacheco & Roger Benet w/ Tom Palmer, David Marquez, Joe Quesada (Artists), Paul Mounts & Richard Isanove (Color Artists), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

Review: I finished Naughty Dog’s PS3 magnum opus The Last of Us last night. It was terrific. I won’t spoil anything for my fellow gamers out there but suffice it to say that it’s got a pretty unexpected ending, far more ambiguous and open to interpretation than many of the potential finales fans suggested. Crowning the entertaining and tension-fueled hours that led up to that point, the ending managed to tie everything off neatly; it faithfully resolved its protagonists’ journeys and was bold enough to make like there won’t ever be a sequel – like it counted – even though such a thing is inevitable because money. That, my friends, is how it’s done. You do not do it like Age of Ultron #10.

 And why not? Because this issue winds up feeling more like a slap in the face than a fulfilling denouement. Even viewed on its own merits this is a troubled comic.

Shadowland (HC) – Review

Written by Andy Diggle, Pencils by Billy Tan

Be Aware! Spoilers may lurk within!

Marvel wasted no time in getting this one on the shelves (in fact, they’re getting even more aggressive with releasing their hardcovers) and I’m kind of glad for that, as I was looking forward to reading this as one collected piece. Sure, I could just read all five issues back to back, but there is still a much different feel when it is in the collected form. I’m also a big Daredevil; I’ve read the entire second volume of Daredevil more than once (and even wrote a paper for grad school on the saga). Being that Shadowland really is the end to that long run started by Kevin Smith, amped up freakishly by Brian Michael Bendis, continued on through Ed Brubaker and finally resting with Andy Diggle, I had to get this collection. Yet I wasn’t always a Daredevil fan. I was reading and very much enjoying Diggle’s Thunderbolts when it was announced that he would be leaving that series to take on the Man Without Fear. That’s what made me decide to read Daredevil in the first place. And in a very short amount of time, I hunted down every trade that came before his run and read them…in four days. And then I read them again. And then, since they were so fresh in my mind, I wrote about them for class, producing one of the best papers in my academic career. Diggle’s run was shaping up nicely, his first arc splendid. I was convinced: any writer who touches this series produces gold (except for one whom Marvel actually decided to skip in the trades. So there are a few issues before Bendis’ run that they don’t want anyone to read—ever). And then Shadowland came out…

My belief sticks. Any writer who worked on the second volume of Daredevil produces amazing content. What hurts Shadowland is that Diggle never intended for it the story to be a big event, seen not only in how the Daredevil series flows into Shadowland (which is a bit choppy), but by the writer’s own words in the spotlight interview at the end of the trade. I actually enjoyed this event very much, but it is certainly not perfect. I don’t blame Diggle for any of those imperfections; I blame the editors. The guys who said “let’s make this into a superhero street brawl.” Nor do I blame Billy Tan. I blame the guys who said, “let’s change the tone of the entire Daredevil run by using an artist with a completely different style.”  Shadowland’s faults are very much at the hands of overambitious editors who promised the fans “no more events” but then realized “wait, events make money” and spawned as many “mini” events as possible. But despite all of that, Shadowland is still enjoyable.  And it’s the collection that shows this.

Amazing Spider-Man #641 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: One Moment In Time lurches toward the finish line.  Will the ending make any sense?  Will Dan Slott punch his boss in the face for messing up this series’ momentum?

What’s Good: I’m going to go ahead and give a SPOILER warning because there is really no way to discuss what I liked about this issue without getting into spoilers.

I am generally a comics optimist.  I enjoy the hobby and have enough passion to spend my free time writing reviews, so I (mostly) just roll with the punches and don’t get too worked up about the stupid stuff that happens from time to time.

And you really need to have that attitude to pull anything good out of OMIT.  Just deal with it and accept that for whatever reason, Joe Quesada wanted to put Spider-Man into a different place with a new status quo.  He’s the editor and he gets to make that decision and for all the people who bitch about stuff like this, just remember that no one is perfect and that Quesada has mostly made okay decisions during his tenure as EIC at Marvel.

Amazing Spider-Man #640 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera (primary artist), Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (pgs 1 & 24) & Joe Caramanga (letters) and Spidey Sundays by Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: So, you thought that Peter saved Aunt May with his superpowered CPR technique, huh?

What’s Good: Paolo Rivera’s art is very nice and he handles the bulk of the art in the troublesome issue.  It’s a shame about the story, because the art is quite good.  It is very clean and efficient and never tries to be inappropriately flashy.

The story has a few moments.  I did think the moment where Peter pulls up his shirt to show the hospital orderly his costume to get his cooperation was pretty cool.  (BTW…the fat orderly was pretty clearly Spidey-editor Tom Brevort)  I also thought that the overall pacing of the story was pretty good and I enjoyed the chase/fight between MJ and the luchador-masked hit man.  And the final reveal [SPOILER] of Peter asking Dr. Strange to give him his secret identity back has me mildly intrigued about how the next issue will wrap up.

Too bad the plot for this issue was screwing things up.

Amazing Spider-Man #639 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art), Joe Caramanga (letters)
The Story: In the second chapter of One Moment In Time, Joe Quesada goes to greater lengths to explain what happened on the day of Peter and MJ’s failed wedding and ties this failure to One More Day.

What’s Good: If you wanted to pick at the scab of One More Day, this is an interesting way to do it that actually has me slightly curious about what will happen in the next couple of issues of this One Moment In Time story arc.

Going back to last issue, we had a couple of revelations: One, that Peter Parker missed his own wedding because a fat guy was lying on top of him.  Two, during the deal with Mephisto in One More Day, MJ also made Mephisto promise to leave Peter/Spidey alone for all time as her condition for giving up their marriage.  Both of those tidbits come into play in a slightly interesting way here.

What I think happened in this issue is that Quesada is telling us that no wedding means no marriage, and no marriage means Mephisto doesn’t show up as Aunt May is dying because there is nothing that he wants to take away.  Thus, I think Quesada has just ret conned One More Day out of existence.  If you’re doubtful about what this means, you’re not alone.  Go read any internet message board on the issue and you’ll find a lively discussion.

Amazing Spider-Man #638 – Review

By: Joe Quesada (writer), Paolo Rivera, Joe Q., Danny Miki & Richard Isanove (art) & Joe Caramanga (letters)  Spidey-Sundays by Stan Lee & Marcos Martin

The Story: Marvel wants to do more Peter Parker and Mary Jane stories in the future and that means they think they need to reconcile some inconsistencies in the continuity that occurred during One More Day.

What’s Good: This issue is very strong from an editorial art standpoint.  We are given a mix of new pages that happen “now”, old pages from ASM Annual #21 (from the late 1980’s) and new pages that are adding additional information to ASM Annual #21.  So, it is impressive that editorial managed to get this all to come off from a technical standpoint.  It reminded me of watching the re-released Star Wars movies in the late 1990’s and trying to guess what elements were new CGI stuff and what was old.

The art teams also do a nice job throughout.  I like how they’ve made MJ look like the girl next door and not some super-model like some artists.  I also think they did a pretty good job of aping the art style of ASM Annual #21 with some of the newly added interstitial pages.

I also think it’s nice that they clearly have some interest in doing some Peter-MJ stories.  As a kid who grew up in the 1980’s, I’m too young to really remember Gwen Stacey as an active girlfriend.  And, I was out of comics in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, so seeing MJ & Peter together just feels “right” and has been missing of late.

Captain America: Who Won’t Wield the Shield #1- Review

Forbush Man: Forbush Kills!
by Jason Aaron (writer), Mirco Pierfederici (art)

This story by Aaron functions as a framing structure for the issue and it’s the strongest of what’s on offer.

Probably what’s most impressive is Aaron’s ability to not only make fun of himself, but to caricature his own style.  His gritty internal monologue by Forbush Man is a clear pisstake on his usual writing style and the fact that he applies this formula, applied in past to badasses like Wolverine and the Punisher, to Forbush Man is pretty hilarious.  When a brutal beating via bucket is narrated in noir fashion, it’s hard not to laugh.

Then there’s how Jason Aaron portrays himself, which is a definite highpoint.  Aaron makes himself into a completely pathetic weasel of a man with a strange fixation for Wolverine related violence.  It’s self-deprecation at its finest and clear evidence that Aaron is having a ball writing this.

Other Marvel writers and editors encounter Forbush Man on his path for revenge, and most of them are a lot of fun as well.  Joe Quesada hanging out, poolside at his palatial manor and Ed Brubaker’s continual concern for his Eisners and his later channeling of his Criminal characters are golden.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase the image of Brubaker firing a gun while screaming profanities.

Forbush Man himself is also well-done.  Aaron basically turns the character into a mouthpiece for bitter, veteran comic book fans.  He attacks the Marvel offices for their making everything “dark and gritty,” as he embodies and voices the “why can’t comics just be fun” crowd.  Eventually, things get metatextual, and even more fun, as Forbush Man realizes that he too, is in a comic and that, in going on a murderous rampage, he too has been made “dark and gritty.”

On the downside, the art isn’t quite right for this story, particularly where the coloring is concerned.  Pierfederici goes for a pseudo-painted style that really wouldn’t be my first pick for a wacky comedy tale like this.  Also, the story’s ending is a bit lame, relying on a flat Marvel Zombies joke.

Grade: B+

Doctor America: Occult Operative of Liberty
by Matt Fraction (writer), Brendan McCarthy & Howard Hallis (art)

This was….completely insane.  If you miss the wacky Fraction that wrote Casanova, well, there are flashes of that here.  The sheer insanity brings some enjoyment.  Better still is how self-aware the story is of its own haphazard nature.  Characters openly reference how slapped together and non-existent the “narrative” is.

FanExpo 2009 Recap

Last weekend, I attended Fan Expo 2009 in Toronto, Canada, a convention featuring science fiction, comics, anime, horror, and games. I paid the most attention to the comics stream (obviously) and attended panels by five publishers and sat in on two sessions by Len Wein (creator of Wolverine, some of the New X-Men, Swamp Thing, etc). Here’s what I pulled out of it, straight to you, hot off the presses.

Aspen MLT Inc

Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Joe Benitez, Micah Gunnall, Mark Roslan, Alex Konat, Dave Wohl and Marcus To did the A to Z of Aspen comics. It’s hard to believe that Fathom is ten years old and finishing its third arc, and that it’s got a movie deal. Soulfire, Aspen’s other flagship book, is five years old. Aspen has lots of other great titles on the go, including Dellec, Shrugged and especially Executive Assistant Iris. Part of this year’s business strategy will be to do more trades so that fans can easily catch up on their books as new story arcs come out. Executive Assistant Iris also seems to be laying the groundwork for other executive assistant books and stories that would really round out that milieu.

Marvel Digital panel

Joe Quesada showed off the Spider-Woman and Astonishing X-Men motion comics. This was the first time I’d seen either one, and I was impressed, but not sold of the medium. I asked a question about the business model, and they’re using access to motion comics through iTunes sales as a platform to reach new audiences. Smart idea, I hope it works. My only question here is, since when did Jessica Drew get a British accent? Maybe I missed something in Secret Invasion.

DC Universe Editorial Presentation

Dan Didio and a big DC contingent talked shop for an hour and answered questions from all comers. One of the most interesting things I found about this was the focus that DC is doing on each of its eight cornerstone franchises. The franchises are obviously Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman, as well as the three team franchises: the JLA, the JSA and the Titans. One question that came up was “Where’s the love for Aquaman?” Didio diplomatically and rightly pointed out that Aquaman was never really that popular (same with Hawkman). Sure, they both have fans, but they don’t have the same draw as the flagship characters. Neither has the same sort of unambiguous, iconic image in the public’s eye that someone like Batman does. And, with a cast of characters as large as DC has, it makes sense to focus on a few flagship brands, make them really good, so that you can do more stuff with the people and characters and situations around them. I think it’s a great decision and I was pleased to hear that Wonder Woman was part of the lovin’ too.

Cup o’ Joe

Joe Quesada took us on a review of the Marvel universe, but mostly answered questions. One of the most important things for me, personally, was hearing the news about Marvel’s submission policy for people who want to write for Marvel. That was why I went to the con, and I was pleased that I was able to talk to C.B. Cebulski afterwards to get more details. In the session, I asked Joe a question about the Immortal Iron Fist, and how I thought it was a really quality book, but since it didn’t hold the readers in numbers to justify keeping it around, what could they have done differently creatively? There were also plans for Danny Rand after the current Immortal Weapons miniseries. They called it a cooling off period to build up anticipation. I hope it works. IIF was a brilliant series. Someone else asked a question about Dr. Strange, and I was glad to hear that Marvel had plans for him as well.

BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios really gave the impression of being dynamic and on the go. They’re hitting new markets, acquiring licenses left and right, looking at new distribution systems, and putting out quality books. Very impressive… They rightly pointed out the sales successes of Irredeemable and Unknown, and especially the artists that they were able to pull in who wanted a chance to work with Mark Waid. Everyone should be keeping an eye on BOOM!

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2 – Review

By Jason Aaron (writer) Stephan Segovia (art) Noah Salonga & Stephan Segovia (inkers) Cory Petit (letterer) Dave Wilkins (cover art)

The Story: Writer Jason Aaron crafts a fine tale of Logan’s exploits in Chinatown. Fifty odd years ago, Logan destroyed the Black Dragon tongs and was cast out of Chinatown and told never to return, under penalty of death. After been recognised (and nailed to a wall with a samurai sword) by Lo Jun, Grand Master of the Wudangquan, Logan is then beaten within an inch of his life by the Black Dragons death squad. Logan manages to escape to the sewers where he is found by Master Po, who offers to train him, Kung-fu panda style, to defeat the Black Dragons.

What’s Good: I’m really enjoying this story from Jason Aaron, he’s probably one of the best writers around at the moment and really gives this mini series a 70’s schlock-fu vibe. On the art side Stephan Segovia’s art is very reminiscent of Leinil Yu’s, giving the book a wonderfully kinetic feel that’s needed to pull off this kind of story. My favourite part at the moment was seeing Logan getting thunder- kicked fifty feet through a brick wall, great stuff!

What’s Not So Good: As you may of guessed I’m really digging this mini series and to be honest there is very little to fault. If you are a fan of kung-fu cinema or the hairy runt you really can’t go wrong.

Conclusion: All in all, another solid offering from Marvel, I’ll definitely be picking up the remaining issues and I urge you to do so, there are certainly worse books than this on the market at the moment and it’s still priced at $2.99, bonus!

Grade: B+

– C.Flanigan