Nightcrawler #1 – Review

By: Chris Claremont (writer), Todd Nauck (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist)

The Story: The original BAMF returns.

The Review: If the name Chris Claremont doesn’t set off bells in your head one way or the other, you probably aren’t familiar with comics history. While he’s not as well known as Stan Lee, Claremont effectively created the X-Men as we know them today. He wasn’t the first to write Jean Grey, Storm, or Wolverine, but to many his is the last word on these characters. I mean the man wrote Uncanny X-Men for sixteen years, while expanding their world into two acclaimed Marvel Graphic Novels and a pair of long-running spinoffs!

Late last year it became apparent that Claremont was still under an exclusive contract with Marvel, making his absence from their line a very strange omission. Regardless, after many months of waiting, fans can walk into their comic shop today and pick up an in-continuity X-Men title from Chris Claremont once again. But with all the legendary hype, how does this one stack up?

A large portion of this issue feels like Claremont getting his feet in a new world. Especially for a writer famous for working within his own universe, Claremont does an admirable job of plunging into the current status quo. Apparently if he can’t write the whole of X-Men anymore, he’s going to be sure that he makes it his own in this little corner. It’s a somewhat effective pairing of writer and story as Nightcrawler continues to adjust to the rather drastic changes that have occurred in his absence. You can just feel Claremont latching onto ideas that he wants to play with, like Wolverine’s new vulnerabilities.

Wolverine and the X-Men #41 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer), Pepe Larraz & Todd Nauck (artists), Matt Milla (color artist)

The Story: “You can’t tell by looking at a frog how high he will jump.” – American proverb

The Review: I will be honest and admit that I have not been a huge fan of how Jason Aaron has treated the Toadf since he arrived at the Jean Grey School. The character had been slowly growing as a person ever since he appeared in X-Men (2000), but Wolverine and the X-Men cast him as comic relief, making him uglier and simpler than ever. All things considered, it’s about time that Toad got another moment in the sun and, thankfully, with just two issues left, Aaron provides him one.

Unfortunately it’s nearly impossible to craft an appropriate ending to Toad’s time at the Jean Grey School without referencing some of the weaker elements of the series, namely the unsteady beginning to “The Hellfire Saga” and Mortimer’s relationship with Paige Guthrie. Ten issues later, Aaron has finally deigned to explain just what was going on with her and, whether it’s due to the lateness or not, it reeks of convenience.

In a turn that’s admittedly far more similar to the actual treatment of mental conditions than any comic book madness, Paige is trying to sort out her life now that she has a diagnosis and, with touchingly vapid sincerity, she attempts to figure out Toad’s place in it. What results is a simple, effective story that is very much the logical conclusion of Toad’s lot in this series. While there are several ways the story could go, the way it chooses is nothing revolutionary. Aaron opts to focus on tone and the struggle that Toad is going through rather than complexity of plot.

Inhumanity #2 – Review

by Matt Fraction (Writer), Nick Bradshaw, Todd Nauck (Artists), Antonio Fabella, Andres Mossa (Colorists)

The Story: The world begins to react to the massive terrigenesis as Medusa begins to act as the queen she needs to be.

The Review: However you approach it, there are some comics that are made for specific purposes. While entertainment will always be a factor in the production of serialized stories, there is always the matter of building up events, scenes and many other things in order to entice readers to check out what might come next. Some comics, of course, do it better than others.

This comic, sadly, has the task of setting up many elements for an eventual ongoing starring the inhumans, a whole franchise that might set itself more clearly in the Marvel universe. While the characters and concepts are sound, events from Infinity and the need to set up many elements in other places makes this issue kind of a chore in many aspects.

One of the main problem of this issue is the constant reminding of what just transpired, with some events that are unfortunately already known to the readers who were actually aware of much of what happens in the Marvel universe. While the way Medusa informs Captain America of what is happening and how she reacts to the disappearance of her husband and son does inform new readers, there is a certain lack of surprising reactions or actions from her part. There aren’t many twists and turns to what is shown here, which does make for some dull reading.

That’s not saying that there aren’t any, however. Matt Fraction does try, in some ways, to add some characters and potential problems to the ongoing narratives that is the emergence of inhumans. Factions, cults, new characters and hidden agendas are in this comic, providing some potential to the future stories that should be told from all of this. Where it fails a little, however, is that there isn’t that much context nor is there any explanation given to most of these things. While the arrival of a liberator of inhuman cocoons and the general research done on those newly affected beings does makes for some rather interesting story ideas, here it is used merely as a pretext for actions scenes and a few ominous lines at best.

Amazing Spider-Man #628 – Review

By: Main Story: Roger Stern (writer), Lee Weeks (art), Dean White (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters); Back-up Story: Mark Waid & Tom Peyer (writers), Todd Nauck (art), Andres Mossa (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: Spidey tries to save Juggernaut (of all people) from the new Captain Universe, meanwhile in the back-up story, Peter’s attempts to resolve his employment issues are thwarted by an untimely villain.

What’s Good: I’ve always loved Spidey versus cosmic entities! One of my favorite Spider-Man arcs when I was a kid was in ASM 269/270 when Spidey faced off against Firelord.  This was during a phase when Marvel (via Secret Wars) was showing that “your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” could hold his own against the meanest and baddest folks in the Marvel U.

Thus, I was excited when Captain Universe was revealed at the end of ASM #627.  As if Spidey + cosmic entity wasn’t enough, this issue also features Juggernaut (one of my favorites), so this issue was just a bundle of goodness.  The big questions are: “Who is the new Captain Universe?” and “Why is he trying to kill Juggernaut?” I’m fairly sure Captain U’s alter-ego will be someone known to us, but I can’t wait to find out who he is.  I would also love it if he somehow crossed over into the Marvel Cosmic titles, but that might be too much to hope for.

Spider-Man: The Clone Saga #1 – Review

By Tom Defalco and Howard Mackie (writers) Todd Nauck (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks), and Javier Tartaglia (colors)

The Story: As Aunt May lies in critical condition on a hospital bed, Peter is confronted by his clone, Ben Reiley, as a mysterious villain strikes against the duo. Meanwhile, Mary Jane learns she has a condition that will effect her and Peter’s for the rest of their lives.

What’s Good: A little disclaimer here: I never read the original Clone Saga as it launched right after my gradual hiatus from reading ASM. So, I come to this mini-series with fresh eyes and an open mind (sort of; more on this below). Those readers that were bothered and up-in-arms over the original Clone Saga will probably have a different experience with this read and I’d like to hear what you guys think of this issue in the comments section.

Anyway, this comic has its strong points in its heavy nostalgic feel with it’s early nineties style. It rings true as a representation of an era when the likes the likes of McFarlane and Larson were telling their stories and Peter was at a stable point at his life as far as maturity while his life was twisted by ridiculous dramas like Robots in the form of his parents invading his and MJ’s life.

After reading the most recent ASM annual, I was intrigued to learn more about this Ben Reiley character and his effect of Spidey’s continuity. To this end, Defalco and Mackie did a good job in making Reiley a solid character with a logical personality for being a clone that knows who he is. The dialogue between he and Peter normalized and became quite good in characterizing their relationship.

The art was decent, like a glossy version of 90’s Spidey, The action scenes, which was most of this book, were skillfully done with detailed scenes full of momentum.

What’s Not So Good: Well, this is whole project is pretty much Spider-Man’s version of X-Men Forever. Like Chris Claremont pining for his X-Men series that should have been, Tom Defalco and Howard Mackie were apparently losing sleep and chomping at the bit to tell their vision of the Clone Saga that never was. Look, I understand that writers/creators need to create, but part of me questions the whole validity of this product. Here is the safest thing that I can say in this vein: Comics today are much, much better than comics in the mid 90’s. MUCH BETTER. There may be no remedy to correct whatever creators and editors were drinking when they came up with the gruel they shoveled out in front of the hungry fanboy. Seriously, for the most part, comics back then were non-sensical, self-righteous, and overly dramatic affairs that turned many of us off of comics completely.

All that being said, this comic should be criticized for how it stands on its own. In this regard, I found the breakneck pacing very mechanical and cliché’.  This wasn’t an organic story, but rather everything was methodically told by the characters. Perhaps things will become more natural and flowing in the future, but this issue seemed forced and predictable. Let’s not forget that the villain remained unseen by the Parker and Reiley, and just threw stuff at them like a car, a water tower, and a biological weapon. Yeah, pretty lame.

Also, despite the action scenes being well done and Spidey looking pretty good, the art in all was uneven. Faces were inaccurate and never looked the same page-to-page. Also, the heavy shadow and tone left much to be desired.

Conclusion: As a web-head, Spidey junky I’m compelled to buy this issue. But truth be told, I didn’t really want to. It felt like spending time with an old-friend you’ve grown apart from. I will say that this issue was decent and even exceeded my low, low expectations. I think there are elements to work on here to make future installments better than this first one, but the bellowing question of “Why print this series” will continue to paint this whole affair in mediocrity. Oh, did I mention this was 4 bucks?

Grade: C

-Rob G