Superior Foes of Spider-Man #12 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Color Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Ron Wimberly (Cover Artist)

The Story:
“I guess it was kinda like the last time after all” (Boomerang, page 17).

The Review:
When the first lines of the story begins “doesn’t it feel like we’ve been standing here a long time?” I find myself with mixed feelings. One, I have to laugh in spite of myself, because it is a very metatextual self-deprecating joke. On the other hand, it’s upsetting that such a joke has to be made in the first place. It takes some time to remember what exactly the storyline was four months ago, from which this scene picks up.

In some ways, however, the exact storyline isn’t really important. This series really shines when there’s a focus on one man, Boomerang, and the rest of the team, indeed even the rest of the villains in the Marvel comics universe as well as the overall plot, are all basically in service to exploring Boomerang as a character. In this issue, Boomerang has to face his teammates and bluff his way back into their good graces, face the Owl and convince him to bankroll a new job, and pretty much pull off the same job from the beginning of the series. This allows Boomerang to engage in some truly humorous dialogue, of that “squirmy, awkward” variety. (Hmm. “Squawkward?”) One of my favorites was when the reader is given opportunity to see inside Boomerang’s head when he catches himself from misspeaking; it results in a virtual stream of consciousness as sentences cascade behind his silhouette in free association.

But you know? In some other ways, the exact storyline really is important. Characterization aside, this is a heist story, and such stories rely on very specific details. It’s awesome that some of these details are left for the artist, with comics being a visual medium of course– in particular, the double-page spread of the target lair is funny. But is it really informative? Again, it actually tell us more about Boomerang, since this is a visualization of his point-of-view and narrative, and less about the actual plot, since the things pictured must be exaggerated, metaphorical, or just made up.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #11 – Review

By: Elliott Kalan & Tom Peyer (writers); Steve Lieber, Carmen Carnero, Terry Pallot, & Nuno Plati (artists); Chris Sotomayor & John Rauch (colors)

The Story: The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem…and that the problem is not Spiderman…

The Review: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man has carved out a fun little niche for itself, examining the hopes and aspirations of a very different class of supervillain, those just looking for the next big score or an ounce of respect. It’s a fascinating corner of the superhero genre that few books have really examined.

While Boomerang has served as our focal point, last issue gave us a look at the other four members of the Sinister Six. Now, with our roster ‘exhausted’, we turn to an even lower tier of crook, the recovering villains that Mach VII introduced Boomerang to way back when. The issue is split into two stories, the first about the Grizzly and the second about the Looter.
The Grizzly story is a pretty funny tale. The former wrestler is down on his luck, reduced to luring drunks into ambushes, but rather than simply mug them he takes just what he needs and splits a pizza with them. It’s a cute concept and one that brings a couple of resonant moments to the issue.

The strongest element of “A Grizzly Situation” is the way that all the parts work together. There are a couple distinct ideas at play in Grizzly’s character but, in the end, it all comes back to nostalgia and self-loathing. It makes sense why Maxwell ended up in a twelve step program.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #9 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber, Rich Ellis (Artists), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: It’s Boomerang versus Bullseye. Who will emerge victorious?

The Review: There is a certain trend that has been going around for a good number of years in the comic market, one that has changed the very way books are written and sold. For a good period of times, arcs and long saga were varying in their lengths, with creators having a certain control over the whole thing. Cue the arrival of the trade paperbacks, hardcover’s and the overall collection of storylines. With them came the popular expression ”written for the trade”, indicating a story that has been created specifically to be collected in one single book, leading to decompression sometimes and a general presentation that creators had to recreate as to get work. Long gone was the approach that made such epics like Walter Simonson’s Thor and other such work.

However, with a more open approach nowadays for creators, there is a certain resurgence of complete stories in a single issue, more stream-lined stories and experimentation more akin to the past of the market. One of the books that is clearly part of the new wave is Superior Foes of Spider-Man, with Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber simply making the story progress with each issue, the book being an evolving arc instead of a series of stories leading to a massive progression made step by step.

This issue, in itself, is a wonderful example of why that is a good thing, with plenty of the plot threads moving forward, yet without sacrificing what makes the title fun to begin with. Continuing the adventures of Boomerang, a loser super-villain, and the rest of his crew, the title entertain not only through its vision of what it means to be a lower-class villain in the Marvel universe, but also through its emphasis on showing them as people and not just as antagonists.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #8 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: As Fred’s problems get bigger, the rest of the Sinister Six begins to understand that their boss might be an absolute crook.

The Review: It’s always fun to see a title that should not work actually managing to do just so. To see a book with a concept that could fail or with characters that aren’t popular enough see success, be it critical or commercial, is something to look forward to. It encourages diversity and it means that some of the less-appreciated stereotypes aren’t always true, as readers can be open to diversity when dealing with capes comics. X-Men Legacy, Hawkeye and, of course, Superior Foes of Spider-Man each does things differently and they are all very good.

However, doing things differently isn’t always a proof of innovation and a certain path to quality, as not every writers can handle everything in the same way. Nick Spencer, for all his worth, can stumble here and there, with even the best of his series getting in a funk once in a while. Is this issue, in a way, the fall in terms of quality for this series?

It would be rather harsh to say that this issue is bad, as it stands far from this approximation in terms of quality, yet it unfortunately isn’t as strong or as funny as previous ones. While this does mean in any way that this is a bad issue, there are certain flaws that makes this issue far less enjoyable.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #6 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Boomerang goes on a date and in more trouble as the other Sinister Six are the captive of the Owl.

The Review: Identity is something impossibly important for a book. In a market where there is a severe load of stories in similar settings, a title needs a hook, a style or something else in order to differentiate itself. There are plenty of zombie, super hero and post apocalyptic stories, yet there is a huge difference between title like Hawkeye and Swamp Thing, like there are differences between Sheltered and Wasteland. Some people may like a specific genre, yet there must be something different between each titles or else the interest of readers would soon become naught. Thankfully, some titles goes out of their way to be different, which may work or not depending on the angle.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man is a title that simply works very well, as its identity, style and angle of presentation are close to unique, with a specific insight on one side of the meta-human equation that doesn’t always get presented as much as it should. However, how does the adventures of a bunch of super hero losers tend to work so well in terms of entertainment?

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: After a few twists and turns, the Sinister Six are finally ready to go ahead and retrieve the head of Silvermane. How can things go right?

The Review: I’ll call it, this issue is Nick Spencer now hitting his stride with this series. Previous issues have been rather fun, some of them great, yet there were always one or two things that was in the way for this title to be the true force of laughter and foolhardiness that it could very well be. There were always a lack of focus on other characters, or one small aspect that kept getting in the way of its potential.

With this issue focusing on the heist, not only is Nick Spencer able to put on display all of his characters, but he is also showcasing all of the title strengths all the while. The humor, the crazy way the Marvel universe’s underworld function, how it is to live as a low-rent super-villain as well as the dysfunctional Sinister Six.

One of the stronger aspect, of course, is the humor as it uses the incompetence of the protagonists as well as the juxtaposition of credible elements with the more surreal ones to inject some ludicrous moments in the story. The fact that the Owl, a psychopathic man who eats rats, seems to love his Prius for some reason, or how the arrogance of Boomerang actually does him a disservice more than anything are only some of the aspects that adds hilarity to the whole that is this issue. The mix between absurd details along with a certain addition of common sense makes a lot of the moments here rather memorable, to say the least.

The way Spencer also use the narration and the perspective of Boomerang adds another level to this issue, making some elements not quite as they seem firsthand. It adds a note of unreliability to the character and to the issue that really add to the theme of scumbags and criminals that this series is good at portraying. The way he never seems to work well around his crew by either belittling their abilities or mistrusting them is solid gold.

Superior Foes Of Spider-Man #4 – Review

by Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: The Sinister Six gets in even more trouble as Boomerang manipulate the others and himself into bigger problems.

The Review: There are times in everyone’s life when we screw up. We might try to make the situation better, only for it to be even worse. It’s a fact of life that can happen in every situations: employment, love, money, friendship and so on. It’s never pleasant when it happens, whether it’s our own person or our friends.

Where it’s fun, though, is when it happens to the characters of Superior Foes of Spider-Man, as the misery and the constant struggles for success of these low-tier super-villains manages to reverse the trend. With their problems being our entertainment, Spencer understand that while they certainly aren’t heroes by any mean, it doesn’t mean that we can’t get attached to them. Written as some kind of hyper-dysfunctional family, the Sinister Six works in a way that allow for their vile nature to not only be very fun to read, but readers may find themselves anticipating what kind of figurative backstabbing will happen next.

With the collective misery of those characters being the main source of comedy for the series, potent examples of success need to be shown in order to draw a comparison, which makes the scenes with Luke Cage and Iron Fist particularly great. Even when they are getting beat down and they try to fight back, their very nature are being sent to the forefront to the readers amusement and to see exactly who they are, like when Overdrive has a fan moment with Luke Cage or when Shocker really do try his very best at fighting back. Not every writers are able to really mix humor, plot progression and character defining moments so naturally in their story, yet Spencer truly does in quite a few ways.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3 – Review

Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Boomerang has to deal with Mach VII trying to reform him as he tries to make sure the job he is about to pull can get done.

The Review: We all love the big noble characters. Those that go on saving lives, fighting evil and trying to be decent people altogether. Thos beams of optimism might not be our favourite characters, yet there is something absolutely endearing about those optimistic do-gooders that can warm the heart of a lot of people and bring in readers.

However, this is not a series about them, as Superior Foes of Spider-Man instead deals with the scumbags, those that are traitorous, egoistical and just plain unsavoury. The characters here cannot really achieve redemption and don’t want to even grasp the concept for themselves as they manipulate, cheat and besmirch each other. It is, without a doubt, inncredibly fun to read as the tale of Boomerang, the villain who bites off more than he can chew, continue trying to manipulate the failures of his life into victories.

Nick Spencer gives us an insight into how the small-time crooks of the Marvel universe see and deal with things, providing the readers with a point-of-view given by Boomerang. Not only are some of the concepts interesting on their own, the way they are delivered on the page is simply hilarious, as the writer balance the serious with a certain dose of realism that manage to make the world of costumed criminals rather silly, or at least as silly as it’s supposed to be. The narration given by Boomerang is simply great, as the character really has a voice that manage to be endearing, funny, yet also show the readers how he thinks. It really brings out some quality entertainment to the forefront of the issue.

Superior Foes Of Spider-Man #2 – Review

Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Boomerang is a manipulative scumbag who bites more than he can chew as he tries to keep his partners happy, the deals he have in check and the law off his back.

The Review: I love villains. While this does not mean that I enjoy evil things being done altogether and that am unable to find satisfaction while reading the good guys, there’s something really entertaining about reading those who are usually antagonist in most stories. Titles like Secret Six and Thunderbolts understood that scumbags and unsavoury characters makes for a fun read, allowing for their rather non-civil traits to dominate their beings as they went into trouble.

The Superior Foes Of Spider-Man begin to show a better handle on what makes villains so interesting. While the debut issue was pretty okay, this issue really start to show what it can do in order to interest us readers in the tales of the Sinister Six and their misadventures.

The first of many improvement start with the characters themselves and their interaction, as we get a bit more from all of them. The way each characters have their defining traits and how they are used in the story makes for a rather likable bunch, amplifying on the fact that they are C or D-lister, taking the likeable loser aspect to a certain magnitude. With Shocker being the naive, yet kind one, Overdrive being the self-obsessed and Beetle being the smart but reserved member, everyone gets a bit more focus on them as it makes the team appear more cohesive in their lack of team-spirit and collaboration.

The Superior Foes Of Spider-Man #1 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (Writer), Steve Lieber (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: We get introduced to the Sinister Six as they try to bust out Boomerang out of jail.

The Review: Villains books are rather hard to do, from what it seems. It can be difficult to make readers care about protagonists that aren’t exactly angels, but rather criminals, the kind of characters that are beaten up in other books. It can, of course, be done as we have seen in the likes of Thunderbolts and Secret Six, putting the villains in starring roles by making them sympathetic although their motivations, goals and methods aren’t exactly noble.

With that point-of-view, it is kind of hard to see what Nick Spencer was trying to do in this book featuring five D-listers (at best) that usually gets beaten up by pretty much any superhero in the Marvel universe. From what we can see, Spencer tries to have the Daredevil/Hawkeye effect, by putting his rather extraordinary characters throughout more ordinary circumstances, creating a rather sharp contrast between the normal world and these colored super-criminals. In some ways, Spencer does achieve that effect of normality, which does create some humor and some interesting moments on their own, yet he is not completely successful on that front.

The Real Thing – ft. Gur Benshemesh (Part 1)

Gur Benshemesh, a native Londoner who now lives in Amsterdam, started his career in screenwriting.  His short screenplay, Morgan Street Watch Company, received critical acclaim and won prizes at several film festivals, including the Colorado Film Awards, the New York Screenplay Contest, and the Oregon Film Festival.  Now he’s venturing into the comic book world.  His first graphic novel, Silence & Co., follows Alexander Marazano, a member of an Italian mobster family, as he makes his name as an internationally renowned hit man.  Along the way, he comes to terms with the nature of his work and his own moral compass.

This interview has been edited and abridged for purposes of length.  Details of Silence & Co. will be discussed during the interview and may spoil parts of the story for those who have not yet read the work.

——-

Silence & Co. is your first graphic novel, yet you got some pretty big names to collaborate with you on the project.  Ron Randall, who does the art, is a mainstay at both DC and Marvel, and your letterer John Workman and cover artist Steve Lieber have both won Eisner Awards.  How did you get them to work with you?

Funnily enough, these things are sort of one step at a time.  I got talking to a couple of guys who put me in touch with Ron; they thought he’d be a good creative match for the project.  He read the script and reacted very strongly to it; he’s kind of into that action-y, hit man, secret agent type thing.  He did some test pages for us and they just looked fantastic.  Once the art started coming through, Ron, I believe knows John Workman through some other work they did together and he sent him a couple pages and John was really, really excited about the book.  Again, it was just a dream—it worked surprisingly smoothly.  From what I understand, Ron is a studio mate at Periscope Studios with Steve Lieber, so we got him to do the cover, which I think came out fantastically.

Hawkeye #7 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Steve Lieber & Jesse Hamm (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story:  In two separate stories, Clint helps a friend secure his father’s house in the face of Hurricane Sandy while Kate finds herself trapped in a swanky hotel and a downtown in lawless ruin.

The Good:  This is the sort of story that could only be delivered within the pages of Hawkeye.  There aren’t any superheroes or superpowers; instead, this is a story that focuses on real people, real drama, and real relationships.  The result is an extremely human comic, one that feels more human and grounded than you might think possible of a Marvel comic.  Clint and Kate seem barely elevated above the average Joe and, indeed, it is those average Joes who are allowed to shine.  In doing this, Fraction delivers a heart-warming message:  that the antics of fictional super-heroes are unremarkable compared to the day-to-day heroism and unity of people in the face of adversity.

Whiteout Vol.1 TPB – Review

By Greg Rucka (writer) & Steve Lieber (illustrator & letterer)

I found out about this comic because of the movie adaptation that’s coming out with Kate Beckinsale as the lead. Why didn’t I hear anything about this great book before? This is sad! There must be lots and lots of great collections that I don’t even know exist. Why can’t publishers advertise and market their great old works more effectively? I just don’t get it.

The story is set in Antarctica. Carrie Stetko, an U.S. Marshall stationed there, is investigating a murder in one of the camps. There are five other people in the camp that have gone missing as well. She needs to complete the investigation in the next two weeks, because the base is shutting down for the winter with most of the staff will be leaving. As the days get colder, she’s forced to deal with bad weather, a population of mostly men, and a loose murderer. Her character is completely believable, with flaws and a troubled past; props to Greg Rucka for fleshing her out so well. The black and white art by Lieber perfectly fits the harsh and barren world of Antarctica.

The trade is only $13.95, cheaper than the usual, but what makes this a must buy is the great story. Oni Press has the first chapter available to read at their website. I also bought Vol.2 and I’ll be reviewing it soon. Lieber told me that there is a 3^rd volume in the works as well. Can’t wait for it! (Grade: A)

-Daniel Yanez