Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #1 – Review

Christopher Yost (Writer), David Lopez, Andy Owens (Artists), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: The Avengers sees Spider-Ock acting crazily, punching everyone in the street. I guess that means he has to be stopped.

The Review: As superior spider-month goes on, with its new series and the focus on how Otto is moving in new directions, we get here the second series that debuted in this market approach to the character, which is actually a reboot and retool of Avenging Spider-Man. However, does this title go farther in its own tone and status quo, differencing itself from its predecessor and does it actually tell a good story in the process?

In a way, this does feel like an extension to what came before, as Spider-Ock interacts with a lot more characters in the issue, proving the fact that this might be a bigger book and a shift when compared to the ancient title. Having scenes with many of the superheroes living in New York and an encounter with the Avengers in the second half of the book. It does seem a book that is unafraid to go large, using many characters, some of them not even possessing their own book, in favour of the story and the feeling of cohesion of the Marvel Universe.

As far as the story go, though, it’s a mixed bag, as the concept in itself is very good, yet executed in a way that does not do it justice. The problem here lies in the pacing, as we get many scenes involving Spider-Ock punching and fighting many costumed heroes, sometimes to hilarious result (the first one come as a surprise and was very entertaining to see), yet the second half comes too late, leaving not enough page to properly develop the tale it wanted to tell. While many of the scenes of Spider-Ock beating various superheroes lend to humour and deepen the mystery that is viewed by both the readers and the Avengers, there could have been some of them cut out in order to lead more pages to the resolution and to the actual conflict. The problem, mainly, is that when we actually understand why all of this is happening, it ends too soon, leaving us a few funny lines and some bedazzled Avengers and that’s it.

A+X #4 – Review

By: Kaare Andrews, Jason Latour (Writers), Kaare Andrews, David López (Artists), Lee Loughridge, Jim Charalampiois (Colorists), Alvard López (Inker), Clayton Cowles (Letterer) 

The Review: I think it’s safe to say that nobody expected A+X to be quite this good. A quick look at the reviews for the last three issues show that nearly every major comic review website (ours included) has been mighty impressed with the consistently high levels of quality and effort found in each episode. In an era of ‘event fatigue’ and dubious reboots, this series’ amiable modus operandi is refreshing: one X-Man teamed with one Avenger. Them’s the rules, and aside from that anything goes.

This issue could be said to embody that freewheeling spirit more than any other so far; it’s leaking crazy like a broken faucet in Arkham Asylum. Ready the sedatives and wheel out the gurney, this patient ain’t going down without a fight:

Avenging Spider-Man #16 – Review

Chris Yost (Writer), Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco (Artists), Dave Curiel (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock teams up with the X-Men to battle a giant spider in New York City.

The Review: With the Spider-Ock thing now running in the Marvel universe, it was only a matter of time before we saw him interact with the other teams and other super-heroes in New York and the rest of the world. A concept with so much potential as Spider-Ock needed to be exploited in various ways, which makes this team-up book an actually great idea. In this particular issue, Spider-Ock teams with perhaps one of the most, if not absolute, well-loved team of the Marvel Universe: the X-Men, specifically those who work at the Jean Grey School of higher learning. Here, Chris Yost manages to advance the Spider-Ock character, but also write a fun team-up full of action and funny moments all in character.

What Yost manages to do here is make Spider-Ock actually funny, using his arrogance and his analytical mind to its fullest to bring some snide remarks. He is kind of a jerk, yet we can see how he interacts with Beast and the rest of the X-Men in a way that shows much insight into what kind of man he is. Still driving on the point that he thinks he is better than everyone else, his thoughts and dialogue are full of these small tidbits of characterization. When he says that he thinks it right that the X-Men obeys his instructions or that Beast is a cheater of a scientist since he has access to Shi’ar technology, it shows us just what kind of person he is, yet it manages to make him entertaining all the while.

What’s also entertaining would be the action, as the way the threat is dealt with is actually quite interesting, seeing just how the analytical mind of Spider-Ock checks out the power and uses of every of the X-Men around him. There are still a lot of hints about what’s happening and the situation Spider-Ock is unaware of from the ending of Superior Spider-Man #1 and it works quite well. How Spider-Ock wonders why he saved Storm and just how he answered her makes for some deepening of the plot. I know we will most probably see no true development of the character in this series, but it is nice to see that Yost uses what Dan Slott is setting up in the main series.

A+X #2 Review

By: Chris Bachalo, Peter David (Writer), Chris Bachalo, Mike Del Mundo (Artist), Tim Townsend (Inker), Chris Bachalo (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: It may come as a surprise that this series – which could so easily have been treated as a last ditch cash grab trading off any residual Avengers vs. X-Men hype – is actually proving pretty indispensable. It’s not so much that the stories contained within will have any lasting ramifications for the heroes they feature, but more that they offer some high-grade levity amidst a stack of comics otherwise geared towards the long game. Don’t get me wrong, I fell in love with FF #1 this week and was once again left utterly impressed by Thor: God of Thunder, but it’s also nice to have something stand-alone to read that asks for nothing more than the opportunity to brighten up my afternoon. I might have gone in not expecting much, but instead I’ve come up against creative teams that have other ideas. They want to ‘wow’ me for 10 minutes; to get in, drop some popping candy in my brain, and get out. And I’m always open to that.

A + X #1 – Review

By: Dan Slott, Jeph Loeb (Writer), Ron Garney, Dale Keown (Artist), Danny Miki, Cam Smith, Mark Morales (Inker), Wil Quintana, Frank D’Armata (Colorist), Clayton Cowles, Albert Deschesne (Letterer)

The Review: Buying this book was a somewhat difficult decision; lotta great books out this week but only so much cash in my pocket. I’d collected all of AvX Vs alongside the main event book and felt like I’d reasonably gotten my money’s worth, though the $3.99 price point sometimes caused a heavy sigh. The execution is very similar here with a mix of creative teams delivering two done-in-one stories per issue, though in this case the featured Avengers and X-Men have joined forces instead of butting heads. As such, this is pretty much as close to a Marvel Team-Up book as we can get right now and perhaps that’s reason enough to consider a purchase. But does this first issue do enough to entice us back for a few more?

Let’s take a look:

Captain America + Cable: First, forget Cable, they should have called this segment Captain America + Ron Garney! I would pay good money to read an entire issue of Garney drawing nothing but Cap taking a 12 hour snooze or painting a fence. He was (as has often been said) born to draw the character, and with editorial wisely pairing him with Dan Slott, the result is a story that captures some of that classic Waid/Garney magic. With Cap and Bucky taking on a deadly mission behind enemy lines during WWII, Cable drops in through the time stream to lend a hand against Atticus Trask’s diabolical Nazi Sentinels – a perfect set-up.

Slott’s definitely in his element; he writes an assured Captain America who effortlessly orchestrates spontaneous feats of strategy with his sidekick, and styles a brash, cocky Cable for him to spar with. A new twist on the Sleeper concept, Germans getting called “Fritz,” and a sly reference to Bucky’s future as the Winter Soldier – brilliant fun. It’s a lean, compact little story without an ounce of fat, packing a satisfying beginning, middle and end within a tight 11-page window.