Leftovers 10-15-14

As I said on Tuesday, there were a whole bunch of comics out this week so let's dive right into it with these much shorter, much quicker reviews. Let's also hope that they're much shorter and much quicker than I tend to be, even in these.


Avengers World 14

The Next Avengers help Sunspot, Cannonball, and Hyperion bring down Barbuda and free Smasher from their control as Shang-Chi gets his revenge on Gorgon, replacing Madripoor in the process, and Druid, who was killed while in the land of the dead, giving him the ability to stay with them and now giving him access to the language he needs, successfully brings the dead back and closes the portals while the Avengers and Euroforce beat up Le Fay. Success all around! These three sweeping stories come to a close in a pretty clean way, but one that follows well enough from the rest of the series. Strong writing and wonderful art anchor this one. Total Score: 5/5








Deadpool's Art of War 1
Deadpan gets hired in some strange chrono-bending way to kill Sun Tzu, author of Art of War and he gets real interested in the work, deciding to re-write it and publish it, claiming it as his own. His would-be publisher demands he find a new way to write the story as many have already done just that and he decides it should take the angle of a survivor's guide. He decides to start a massive war so that he can test his theories out surviving just such a war and pits Loki and Thor against each other, trolls and frost giants against Asgardians. However, his advice to Loki gives Loki the upper hand and Loki actually wins the inciting fight. There is maybe an interesting story in here but I've yet to really see it. It's also not nearly as fun as you'd want a Deadpool story to be with only really a handful of fun moments even attempted and almost all of them missing the mark. With Loki standing over a beaten Thor on the last page, Deadpool asks us "Isn't this fun?" Nope, but thanks for asking such a specific question. Total Score: 2/5


Edge of Spider-Verse 5
The final EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE shows us little Peni Parker, someone who I will not be talking about in the possessive sense, set to replace her father as SP//dr, a premiere crimefighter of her world who relies on a genetically keyed spider-suit to fight crime, which she does well, even despite her youth. After a run-in with Mysterio and some gangs (and a team-up with that universe's Daredevil), she's accosted on the train by two other Spiders from different universes, who warn her of the coming Morlun and other Spider-Killers. She agrees to go with them to help strengthen the Spiders. It's a pretty strong book (though I tend to have a distaste for books wherein some song plays and the lyrics show up as text in the book, particularly when the book is written by the frontman of My Chemical Romance, a band whose music I do not care for, but this is getting real nitpicky now and very nearly petty so let's close up this parenthetical) and the art is particularly strong. Overall, with a couple of missteps, the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE precursor mini-series has created some interesting characters and should get readers pretty interested for the main course, starting in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 11
She-Hulk meets with Wyatt Wingfoot and they discuss how Johnny's in trouble and how everything else seems to have broken the wrong way for Marvel's first family. The duo agree to team-up and try to figure out who is behind all of this before whoever it is can figure out they're on his or her trail. On his way home from the meet-up, though, Wyatt is attacked by a mysterious archer, saved only when Spider-Man pops in, also called by She-Hulk to give a hand. Oh, and Thing keeps getting beaten up in prison with a pseudo ally in Sandman and Reed is doing stuff and Sue is still crying. Really continue to not like this book but I do think this might have been a stronger issue than the last few, almost because the F4 weren't in it as much. That, uh, that still didn't make the book good, I should specify. Still way too narrative heavy and hand-holding and painted with such a broad stroke to be dark and menacing to actually feel that way. Total Score: 2/5


Hulk 7
Doc Green, fresh on his de-gamma-ing of Rick Jones, meets with Hulkling, who promises him that his powers are based on mixed alien heritage, not gamma in a fun little scene. Green's next real target is Skaar, son of Hulk (who Green claims not to be any more), so he travels to the Savage Land. After a vicious fight, Green manages to inject Skaar with the serum and watches him revert to something more resembling human (though with Skaar's strange background, no one really knows what he is now). His next targets seem to be the Red Hulks, both he and she, but first he has to deal with what's going on inside him, which seems to be a rebellion from Banner and even Hulk, still locked away in his mind. Some interesting things afoot here. I still don't like and/or care about Doc Green, which is the only thing the book is slipping on but I have a feeling now that it's intentionally slipping on that point. With the reveal that Banner and even Hulk may be still in Doc Green's mind, showing that the Hulk and Doc Green might really be separate entities, it's probable that Doc Green isn't the one we're really meant to be pulling for. Some interesting stuff and I'm surprised by how excited I've become to see the other Hulks in this series. Apparently I like those guys. Total Score: 4/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 7
Doom has trapped current Loki in time stasis after the villainous Loki showed Doom that he would destroy the world in the future. With Doom distracted, though, by Red Onslaught's hate-wave affecting Latveria, Verity reveals herself to Valeria and explains that Loki should be freed, the logic of which hits Valeria pretty quickly. They go and break down the time cube then, with Loki and his truth-sword released, they construct a way to broadcast the sword's inherent truth to Latveria, freeing the civilians from the perceived hatred they'd been feeling. As Doom and Loki debate what to do next, Magneto shows up and tells them they're needed to fight the Red Onslaught or else watch the world burn. Though I still can't help but eye-roll at Verity Willis (that name! What a specifically correct name PRE-DISCOVERY of her powers! Which are still undefined!), this is a pretty strong issue. There are an appropriate amount of funny moments and clever twists and turns. Valeria in particular gets a solid performance, with Ewing nicely toeing the line between naive child and brilliant wunderkind well (a line that so few others manage to hit). Best part is when Verity asks what makes hate easy and Val mutters "Mommy and daddy." Aww, poor angry kid. Also, great art from Jorge Coelho. Total Score: 4/5


Magneto 11

Hey, we just talked about this guy! Anyway, we see a bit of the last issue of AXIS as Magneto flees the fight with Iron Man on the verge of being crushed. He returns to his base with Briar Raleigh, wondering if maybe he isn't the massive villain the world thinks him to be, after unleashing Onslaught a second time and causing so much destruction once more, all while never actually helping his chosen people. Briar plays him a video she made of all of his greatest hits, which are mostly violent and despicable from the outside, but ends with a clip of a civilian mutant saying that, though Magneto was angry in all of this, he saved her life and she's happy, if a bit scared, that someone like him is on her side. Rejuvenated, Magneto travels to the ends of the Earth to gather a number of villains including Mystique, Sabertooth, Carnage, Doom, Loki, Absorbing Man, Hobgoblin, and Deadpool (who actually comes to him), to take on the hero-killing Sentinels Red Onslaught has at his command. Though this certainly wouldn't be required reading to understand what's happening in AXIS (we know by the end of issue two that Magneto left and got some villains and came back, which is pretty much all we need to know to continue), this one actually really does add a lot of depth to the stories, both the story of AXIS and the story of Magneto. It's extremely well-done and fits nicely with what Bunn has been establishing all along for Magneto. Great work. Total Score: 5/5


Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 6
While the Green Goblin recovers from his gunshot-to-the-head wounds and promptly kills J. Jonah Jameson for them, Miles and Maria Hill talk to Peter and MJ, trying to ensure that he's the real deal. As they keep questioning him and he keeps basically saying that he is Peter but he doesn't know how he's alive, probably something to do with science or whatever, Gwen and Aunt May also show up, suddenly aware that he's still alive. Unfortunately, the reunion is cut short when Goblin turns up on the front lawn. Miles demands Peter get his family and friends to safety while he takes on Goblin. With a series of attacks revolving around his venom blasts, Miles takes down Osborn with ease. Hill calls for backup to restrain Osborn while the powered-down Norman pleads with Miles to help him, promising that he'll tell him the truth about Miles' own powers and DUN DUN DUN his real father. EYE-ROLL. I actually enjoyed this issue (though it came with a lot of the sort of back-and-forth dialogue that seems to only serve to extend the pages...now we're getting into different styles of Bendis writing) right up until that last page, where Norman promises to tell him about his REAL FATHER. I suppose there has to be more drama to the return of the Green Goblin than just "oh, Miles' venom works absolutely GREAT on that guy" but I really don't need more daddy issues in comics or, you know, anywhere else, thanks. It's possible this will be some sort of fake-out or won't have the desired effect on Miles, but I'm reviewing this issue for this issue, not for the future, and GEEZ, trope alert. Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin Annual 1

We get a look back at the days when Fury took the job to be the new Man on the Wall in the stead of Woodrow McCord. Fury, eager to know more about McCord, is shown around the moonbase by Howard Stark, who shows him McCord's diary. In it, McCord explains what happened between himself and the man he replaced, a man named Stafford, and what the job has done to him in turn. I went into this book with a lot of skepticism because I don't tend to love Annuals and I really don't tend to love Annuals for events or for one-year only comics and I already didn't love ORIGINAL SIN. To say, then, that this issue is absolutely the best thing to come out of ORIGINAL SIN feels a little like the truth and a bit misleading at the same time. It's the truth because this book really does feel, to me, like it outstrips anything in ORIGINAL SIN, thanks to the quality of ORIGINAL SIN, and it's a bit misleading because this book really is genuinely very good. It's an extremely well-written character piece about Woody McCord and, on the outsides of that story, about Nick Fury. There's a lot here and Latour does a great job to really make the Man on the Wall stuff compelling and interesting. I couldn't help remembering that Latour was the last person to write a WINTER SOLDIER series before this newest incarnation and that I'd absolutely have loved to see him as the writer on this current one, as a guy who clearly has a compelling take on the Man on the Wall thing and who knows Bucky well. Great stuff here. Really worth checking out for a single issue sort of thing. Total Score: 5/5


Spider-Man 2099 5
Miguel insists that Alchemax no longer do things like hire criminals straight out of prison and suggests that they instead work on building supervillain prisons, an idea that Liz Allan is onboard with. However, Miguel is bothered by searing pains in his head as Miguel O'Hara's from different worlds are killed by Morlun. He escapes to the roof and switches to his costume right as the Miguel O'Hara who linked all of his fellow Miguel's heads together in a misguided attempt to team them up opens a portal to 616. Before he manages to enter it, though, Morlun catches up with him and kills him, dropping the body to the 616 but shies away from entering himself, remembering that world as the one in which he died. Miguel takes the body and realizes he has to find Spider-Man. Interesting issue all around. There's maybe an attempt at a little too much backstory from the other universe's Miguels especially considering it's quite clear they're going to die before they have a huge impact on the story, but our Miguel does well here and it seems like he'll be our messenger for the SPIDER-VERSE entry point coming very soon. Total Score: 4/5


Storm 4

Storm, hurt by the loss of Wolverine, expresses her grief out a safe distance from Earth before settling down and moving forward. She finds Wolverine's phone on his desk, which instantly gets a text from Yukio, asking for him to come down to help. She instead travels to Las Vegas where she tells Yukio what happened to Wolverine and promises to accompany her to whatever she needs help with. Believing this could be a bad idea as Storm is bound to not like what's coming, Yukio leads her to an underground meeting with the heads of a few clans of the world. The four bosses talk and try to figure out land issues with two clans clashing over one AIM base drifting between their territories. To solve the dispute, the four bosses and Storm go into an arena where two champions for the sparring clans face off. Disgusted by the fight-to-the-death mentality, Storm intercedes, with Yukio pleading her not to, saying that these fights keep the civilian casualties down from these gangs. Storm can't abide it, though, and the head of the third clan challenges Yukio for supremacy after her champion broke the rules. The pain of the loss of Wolverine is handled nicely in this issue, with Pak and Ibañez dedicating about five pages to her overwhelming grief before having her refocus and continue forth. It's pretty much what you want from Storm. The fighting clans are a little confusing to write about in an attempted brief summary but work alright in the book (though the areas they're claiming are a little vague). It's also a nice example of the differences between Wolverine and Storm, with Wolverine abiding these fights because he understands that it could keep civilian casualties down and Storm unable to abide these fights for any reason. Total Score: 4/5


Superior Foes of Spider-Man 16
The penultimate issue of SUPERIOR FOES finds the Sinister Six ready to step up as the heads of the Maggia with the head of Silvermane in tow. Unfortunately for them, Overdrive, Beetle, and Speed Demon all made deals with various other mobs and now the pier is a war zone about to get even crazier as Punisher, Mach VII, and Shocker head that way for their own reasons. Boomerang, though, got everything he wanted as he had stolen Chameleon's shape-shifting serum from his vault and poses as a Mets rookie pitcher to get to pitch once more for his team. As ever, really fun, really engaging issue. Great stuff from Speed Demon and Boomerang and a couple of twists that work really well for the issue. It's been a really fun ride for this team and I'm sad to know it's coming to an end in the next issue, but glad that we managed to get 17 out of it. Guys, 17 issues for a funny book that stars a supervillain C-team is kind of a massive win. Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 10-1-14

Alright, let's get right into it because you and I both have some Smash Brothers to play.


Edge of Spider-Verse 4

In an alternate universe, a creepy kid named Patton Parnel gets bitten by a radioactive spider and it begins to turn him into something close to a living spider. Patton begins to eat people, starting with his bully Gene and his Uncle Ted before really just uncorking and going for everyone, including his beloved next-door neighbor Sara Jane. Before he can capture Sara Jane, Morlun shows up and finishes him, though all is not well for Sara Jane, who has a number of spider eggs in her from a bite she sustained. Creepy twist on the Peter Parker origin story here as EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE gets a horror comic entry. It's certainly readable though the connections between this world and the 616 are almost distracting. Writer Clay Chapman clearly chose these names for a reason, he's not shy about telling us that this is meant to be similar, but it does border on over-repetitive, a forced wink and nod. Total Score: 3/5



Fantastic Four Annual 1
Sue goes to Latveria to get Val back but Val wants to stay and Sue freaks out and attacks Doom, who reveals that someone else is in her head and Val stops Sue before she can kill Doom and I still do not care one bit about this book. I really don't like any of these characters and again, the exposition here is just SO HEAVY (and not like Marty McFly's "heavy"). It's unbelievable and clunky and obnoxious. I also like Val in certain scenarios but you really have to balance out the genius with the child thing for me, you can't just have a precocious "spouting exposition" and "using big/formal words" child to illustrate who she is. I know that Sue has something going on in her head right now, but it's still such a terrible rendering of this character, a character that I just don't have any interest in reading, regardless of what's in her head. Total Score: 1/5

Guardians 3000 1
The Guardians of the Galaxy in the year 3000 (or 3014, to be exact) are under attack from the Badoon. The Guardians are Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Yondu, and Starhawk and they have a refugee, named Geena Drake, from a Badoon camp in tow. They had met up with other powerful space entities fighting the Badoon in what was supposed to be a safe place, but they were ambushed and everyone died. However, there are issues with time right now and Geena seems to be a key to it. She wakes up 30 minutes before they all die trying to escape and she begins to remember, eventually picking up a gun and fighting back. Groundhog Day (the more popular reference) or Edge of Tomorrow (perhaps the more applicable reference), whatever you want to call it, that's happening. It's mixed in with a ton of exposition as if this is the only issue this creative team is going to get and they have to get everything out now. The only reason to believe maybe they have more time than they're letting on is that they won't stop saying made-up words and I get that we're a thousand years in the future and language changes but COME ON, STOP WITH MADE-UP WORDS. I really do not like them. They're always distracting and clumsy and obnoxious. Seriously, it drags the book down and slows the pacing badly, even when the exposition does that plenty. Total Score: 2/5

Legendary Star-Lord 4
Okay, we gotta speed things up again. Star-Lord tracks Thanos to the moon and wants to kill him, what with his guilt about letting him get back into the universe. The Mandalay Gem gets him to a point where he can kill Thanos but he won't do it because it would possibly blow up the moon and then the Earth would be in some real trouble. Meanwhile, Kitty's mad at him but he wins her over again, SOMEHOW, and Mr. Knife wants to steal a powerful artifact. It's hard to get on board with the cast of this book and this one just serves as another of the multitudinous books where I'm beginning not to like Kitty Pryde, who freaks out when Peter travels near Earth and won't see her (irrational and weirdly needy in their line of work) and then forgives him when he GOES TO EARTH AND LEAVES A MESSAGE FOR HER OUTSIDE OF HER PLACE BUT CONTINUES NOT TO SEE HER. There are things happening in this book but it's hard to really care about them if you don't care about the people involved in said things. And I don't right now. Total Score: 2/5

Moon Knight 8

There's a hostage situation in a building in New York and Moon Knight goes to put an end to it. He alternates between his three personalities, all of whom have a very specific way of dealing with problems, and eventually he ends up killing the hostage-taker, only to learn from the news later that the bomb the purported terrorist had was his company's agricultural accelerant that, though harmful, wouldn't have killed his hostages. Now, thanks to news reports of his brutal dealings, Moon Knight has been revealed and exposed as a brutal vigilante, all according to Knight's doctor's plan. There is a lot of interesting stuff here, particularly the multiple personalities we see and another look at Khonshu, but the overall pacing is a little slow here. It's a different sort of layout, almost meant to read more as a picture book than a comic, with dialogue (occasionally ambiguous as to who said it) and narration printed neatly on the sides of smaller panels. Although it's a kind of neat look, it doesn't quite hide the fact that there's a lot of pace-slowing explanation and prose there. Still pretty strong stuff and it's clear with his second issue on the series that Wood is intent on following Ellis' tone for the strong series. Total Score: 4/5

Silver Surfer 6
After a series of requests that try Surfer's patience, Dawn demands they get the best ice cream in the universe, leading them to Planet Prime, a planet where perfection reigns and everyone is the best there is at what they do and what they do is a very specific task, such as Banker One or Tour Guide One or Street Sweeper One. Their actions on the planet inevitably lead to Warrior One, the most perfect warrior, to attack Surfer. He struggles under the might of the warrior, nearly losing the fight, before Dawn tells him to simply remove the Warrior's badge, promoting Warrior Two to his spot and calming things as the new Warrior One calls for an end to the fight, but leading the new Warrior Zero to swear his revenge. As ever, the book strives to be fun and light and mostly hits, occasionally going a little far in one direction or another. It's hard not to draw certain comparisons to Doctor Who, as we have an extremely powerful and knowledgeable alien leading an Earthgirl around on a series of adventures but these issues are self-contained, typically, small anecdotes from a larger story and with very little ongoing drama. The smartest thing about this book is the inclusion of Michael and Laura Allred, whose art and colors grant this book the energy that they'd probably be lacking with anyone else. It's such a specific tone for this book and the Allreds make sure to convey that tone in everything they do. Total Score: 4/5

Spider-Man 2099 4

Scorpion, with a legion of Spider-Slayers at his disposal, is dead set on killing Spider-Man 2099, who he believes to be regular-type Spider-Man. He's succeeding until Miguel gives them the slip just long enough to have his computer Lyla turn on his regular clothes hologram. With no spiders to target, Scorpion begins to threaten the civilians around, believing Spidey won't let them die. Miguel tosses Lyla on to Scorpion's back with direction to hologram him up to look like Spider-Man. The Spider-Slayers attack him and he only barely survives, destroying them in the process. Meanwhile, Tiberius' captor dies saving him from the collapsing building, causing him to have a change of heart and not sell the Slayers to the warlord dictator, even going so far as to oust him with his own legion of Slayers. It's a very strong issue out of this young book, one that moves pretty well and finds Miguel using his smarts and his skills to win the day in classic Spider-Man fashion. The art is strong and the tone is right where it needs to be. I'll be interested to see if this book can fit in with EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE, where it's headed next. Total Score: 5/5

X-Men 20
The mystery deepens as hunters return to their original ship, forcing Rachel, Monet, and Psylocke to take them all down. They discover security footage in the ship and learn about Sharada Darthri, a being who seems intent on creating and cultivating new life, even if it's at the expense of old life (this may be a little vague and/or wrong because they still haven't actually figured out her intents), which is why she's so interested in the Shi'ar/Kree/mutant child of Deathbird. Under Darthri's command is SWORD's Manifold Tyger, who is directed to kill everyone at the Peak. He attacked Storm already and now aims to take out Cecilia Reyes. It's an interesting story so far, even if it's a little tough to follow, and the writing continues to be pretty strong here, though there are maybe a few too many asides and interjections. I'll be interested to rate this one a little more thoroughly once we've seen it all and once the plot is cleared up a bit more. Pretty strong stuff though otherwise. Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 9-3-14

There are still too many books left.

All-New Doop 5

Doop has learned that his mother is also his father and it's shaken him a bit. Still, with the help of Wolverine, he's able to settle himself down and restore the story to its rightful place, even wiping the memories of everyone involved so they can get back to the main narrative and he can return to his place in the margins. It's a nice conclusion for Doop and there's a nice moment between him and Kitty but still the limited series remains baffling to me, even insofar as why it exists. It's not helped by how much I disliked BATTLE OF THE ATOM. Total Score: 2/5









All-New X-Factor 13
Quicksilver's press conference has shaken things up a bit for X-Factor as Polaris stands up for her half-brother to Harrison Snow and then helps him stand up to Gorgon of the Inhumans, who attacks Quicksilver as he takes Luna and Georgia on a trip to Pennsylvania. Gorgon is furious that Quicksilver betrayed the Inhumans and "stole" Luna away, though Luna stands up for her father. Though Quicksilver is prepared to accept his punishment, ex-wife Crystal shows up to calm the situation a bit, taking Gorgon home to Attilan and allowing Luna to stay with Pietro a little longer. Still some good heart in this series as the team begins to stand up for one another and as Quicksilver gets some more development to bring him back to a more respectable place in the Marvel Universe. Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 12

The Avengers and the new Euroforce work together to try to battle Morgan Le Fay in her new City of the Dead. After a quick bit of origin for each of the new Euroforce characters, Druid shows up to aid the team. Unfortunately, Le Fay quickly kills him. Bit of a surprise there. Anyway, another pretty strong showing here as Spencer does some quick work to create a bit of intrigue for Euroforce, begging us to ask where they've come from. I continue to quite like Checchetto's art. Total Score: 4/5










Deadpool vs. X-Force 4
Deadpool has inauspiciously teamed with Hitler to help Talbot control the world in the present. At Deadpool's disposal is a special gun that will erase its target from all of existence. After some attempts to set the past right, Cable shows up to have a final battle with Deadpool and Talbot. As Deadpool turns the gun on Cable, Cable uses his as-yet unrevealed telekinesis to redirect the blast to hit Talbot, erasing him from all of time and creating something of a paradox but fixing all of the past as Talbot never hired Deadpool in the first place. Not a bad ending but not necessarily a series that I believe needed to exist. Total Score: 3/5


Hawkeye vs. Deadpool 0

A hacker has been targeted after stealing the HR records of every active SHIELD agent. On Halloween, he attempts to get help from Hawkeye, who mistakes him for another ungrateful trick-or-treater and turns him away. He runs into Deadpool on his way out and slips his flash drive into the merc's candy basket. The hacker ends up murdered by a pair of goons dressed up like Punisher and Daredevil and quoting patriotic aphorisms. Deadpool and Hawkeye don't want to team up to solve this murder and protect SHIELD but it looks like they may be forced to, particularly as it seems like they may be going up against Black Cat sooner or later. Pretty fun first issue here as Duggan and Lolli play with Deadpool's typical writing and with homages to Hawkeye's current series that mostly hit the mark. Could be a fun team-up. Total Score: 4/5




Legendary Star-Lord 3
Star-Lord has been captured by the Badoon and wakes up in a Badoon jail along with a young Badoon child and a spy. With some help from Kitty Pryde in the form of a hologram, the trio break out of their cell and head for safety. Despite a hatred for the Badoon, Star-Lord is won over by the young Badoon child who leads Quill to a nice new ship, which he uses to bring the child to the orphanage he robbed in the first issue. Next stop: Earth for a confrontation with Thanos. I continue to believe that this series isn't living up to its potential, which I think could be a pretty high ceiling. Instead, it feels like, as I said last issue, the opposite of ROCKET RACCOON, seemingly trapped in the Marvel Universe and too attached to the new mythos of Guardians of the Galaxy (complete with a terrible "OOGA CHAKA" reference). Give me something fun and crazy, not something that feels tied down. Total Score: 2/5


Punisher 10

Punisher is in prison after his last run-in with Black Widow but prisons mean very little Frank Castle, who quickly enrages the right people and causes a prison riot, allowing him time to go talk to an older man in the prison named Hector Ruiz. Meanwhile, LA has exploded in crime rates and the police officers find themselves becoming more violent in response, with many getting suspended as a result of their actions even as the Dos Sols prepare for another strike. Edmondson keeps the tension up here though this one is still rather a break issue, giving us a chance to settle back into the LA storyline after a bit of time removed. Strong work and I really like that cover right over there. Total Score: 4/5







She-Hulk 8
An elderly Captain America has gone to She-Hulk for help after a deathbed confession from a ninety year-old man questions whether or not Cap killed a man decades and decades ago. As She-Hulk attempts to take the California-based case, she runs into a handful of problems and concerns, only to have them reach their breaking point when she learns she's going up against friend and fellow hero Matt Murdock in court. This book continues to be rather unlike any other book out there right now as it acts as half procedural and half superhero book. The case gets more and more complicated but it's happening on a backdrop of excellent character work and really strong Javier Pulido art. Total Score: 5/5


Spider-Man 2099 3
Miguel O'Hara worries what his reveal to Liz Allan will bring him at work and learns quickly that it will bring him something just short of blackmail, as she requires he accompany Tiberius Stone as Stone goes to a war-torn nation to sell Spider Slayers to the government, despite his objections. Sure enough, as soon as the two arrive, Stone is kidnapped by the rebelling forces. Unfortunately for those forces, Spider-Man 2099 isn't the only protection Stone has, as the corporation had already sent Scorpion to help against the uprising and that the Spider Slayers are already active in the country. There are some interesting ideas here but it's so far a little hard to stay invested in these characters, as David insists we care to some extent about what Liz Allan has to say about things and about Tiberius Stone, whose survival O'Hara counts on for his own life. Certainly not all bad but also not compelling enough to differentiate itself. Total Score: 3/5


Superior Foes of Spider-Man 15

Shocker yells at his old team for betraying him but ends up, of course, betrayed again as the new Sinister Six suddenly finds themselves winning all over the place after a successful raid of Owl's compound and now sitting on the head of Silvermane that could make them heads of the Maggia. After a successful fight against some of their hired help, angry to be cut out of the deal, things seem to be looking up for the villain team...until Owl teams up with Chameleon to find Boomerang, Overdrive makes a deal with Mr. Negative to give him the head of Silvermane, Beetle gives Tombstone the info about the head of Silvermane, and Speed Demon offers the head of Silvermane to Madam Masque because she's hot. Still plenty of fun with a lot of laughs and some great moments, particularly as the issue winds down and we start to see, juxtaposed with Boomerang's pride in the team, the many betrayals upcoming. Total Score: 4/5



Uncanny X-Men 25
The will of Charles Xavier includes, as we learned last time, the fact he married Mystique but it also includes the revelation that there is an extraordinarily powerful mutant out there named Matthew Malloy who Xavier met when Malloy was a child and who he realized was too powerful to allow to continue his regular life. Xavier installed a series of mental blocks to dampen the child's power and visited him yearly in the guise of another child until Malloy caught on to Xavier's trickery and asked him what was really happening. When he learned, he wanted all of his memories removed and the mental blocks reinforced. Now, with Xavier dead, the responsibility of checking in on Malloy falls to his X-Men, a task that may be trouble as Malloy's mental blocks have been removed and the young man finds himself burdened with immense power. There's an interesting story here but it's absolutely buried under narration, dialogue, petty fights, and banter. Also, the story isn't that interesting, let's calm down, okay? Total Score: 2/5


X-Men 19
Jubilee, with some consultation help from Beast, manages to reboot the Peak's systems and repair the shielding while the psychics on the team take out the attacking Sidrian Hunters. Monet, Psylocke, and Rachel Grey take a shuttle out to the last place Deathbird had shown them in her memory, meeting up with a few Shi'ar on the way. Meanwhile, Storm tries to repair the Peak but runs into complications as she's already exhausted from the last battle and is asked to generate electricity herself (not the way her powers work) and power up the ship. She may be in trouble as the suspicious Manifold Tyger attempts to "aid" her while the psychics discover that Deathbird had been brought by the Brood to a place where she and other creatures were experimented on. Some of the experiments, sadly, are still there and ready to attack. Like the last issue, some of the ideas are pretty strong and the dialogue and characters are particularly well done here. It's a good story that's utilizing every member of the team pretty well. Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 8-13-14 PART TWO

Alright, let's try this again and hope this is the conclusion of this two part arc on the blog. I can DO IT.

Nightcrawler 5
Claremont (w) and Nauck (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

Total Score: 2/5

Nightcrawler is sad about Amanda and sad that the X-Men appear to be in such disarray but sometimes you just gotta grit your teeth and move on, so Kurt accepts a job at the Jean Grey school teaching whatever he can. For his first teaching assignment, he leads a handful of students in Danger Room exercises. Later that night, he takes the Blackbird out for a spin along with bug-like student Rico, who bonds with Nightcrawler over scary physical mutations. While out, Storm sends them to find a new potential student, a genius girl named Ziggy Kurst (??) but, unbeknownst to the X-Men, Ziggy has already been targeted by a group of aliens looking to profit off the girl's potential. Claremont's strength was always in building characters even in the midst of big, sweeping stories. Let's hope that strength comes to bear here as he's re-energizing the reborn Nightcrawler but the plots and the ancillary characters have left me less than interested.

Brief detour here just to note that if all goes well, I'll be finishing up this post today but I'm hoping to go even faster as I'm only able to keep working on this today because I'm out sick from work but ALSO I'm sick so lucidity might be right out the window and staring at a small computer screen almost certainly is.

Nova Special 1
Ryan (w) and Timms (p) and Poggi (i) and Redmond (c) and Cowles (l)

So this story continues as the bounty hunter Monark Starstalker has kidnapped Cyclops, who turns out to be the wrong Summers brother, and asks Nova's help to smooth things over with the man for whom Scott was kidnapped. Meanwhile, Scott's students try to track their teacher and Iron Man tries to track the kids who tricked and evaded him. The story ends up being better and more fun than I had expected though I can't help but still feel like it's a bit of a strange choice as some weird characters get teamed up here. Still decent fun and solid writing and art propel this one high enough that it's worth a read if you're interested in any or all of these characters. Total Score: 4/5


Spider-Man 2099 2
David (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miguel has been trying his hand at the heroing business in the present and finds the same sort of ease with street criminals and the same sort of anger with cops as the modern Spider-Man. He also deduces that his building's super is sick and boss Liz Allan deduces that he's the Spider-Man who "broke into" Alchemax, though he convinces her he's just a man from the future hoping to investigate Alchemax at its roots. She kisses him and leaves. There are bits and pieces of this issue and, so far, of this series that are interesting but there are plenty that are predictable and uninspired. I like Peter David and I think his strengths tend to be in dialogue, though his habit of tongue-in-cheek winks to the audience about the comic format (referencing how often people die and come back, pop culture references, and mentions of superhero tropes in casual conversation) do tend to wear a little thin, particularly, for some reason, here. Total Score: 3/5



Thunderbolts 29
Acker and Blacker (w) and Jacinto (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

Punisher is still pretty mad about the assassination attempt on him (here we learn that everything in his safehouses is bomb- and bullet-proof so the mini-fridge in which the bomb was placed softened the blow) and takes it out on the team by tracking and destroying each member. First is Deadpool, who he cuts up and places in jars despite Deadpool's protests that he quit the team. He also has a long and impressive battle with Ghost Rider that ends a little differently than Frank would like as he frees Ketch of the Spirit of Vengeance, but it works well enough as the threat is removed. Finally, Elektra tries to talk to him but it seems Punisher isn't in the mood to talk. MEANWHILE, Hawkeye keeps his search up. This is really an extreme Punisher story as we learn that Frank has long been planning, as you would assume, the ways to kill his teammates and now starts to enact his plots. Some cool stuff and a fun twist on the Ghost Rider fight but the end of the series looms large over this one. Total Score: 4/5


Ultimate FF 6
Fialkov and S. Moore (s) and S. Moore (w) and Araujo (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

Sue is having baby as a portal to a dangerous world opens outside her hospital room. The thought is that it's the baby of Sue and Reed, as recommended by Miles Morhames to save their universe, but Sue reveals once the little girl is born that it is, in fact, boyfriend Ben's child, which Reed helped to obtain and artificially Sue with. Not a way to make that sentence sound good. Anyway, they fight off the aliens and then the series ends. I feel bad for Fialkov, who I think has largely done well in his time with Marvel, that the series ended so abruptly here before he could really get into the crazy designs he seemed to have. Still, not a particularly strong series. Total Score: 2/5


Wolverine 11
Cornell (w) and Woods (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Wolverine strikes Sabretooth's compound with SHIELD's help as Sabretooth prepares to start his new world with the help of the orb. Wolverine breaks out Lost Boy and Pinch and together they catch and interrogate Mystique before knocking her unconscious. In pursuit of Sabretooth, Lost Boy and Pinch get trapped behind a forcefield as Wolverine moves on to his final test, another friggin mall. I think there's stuff in this series and in the last that could work if it wasn't so incredibly full of itself. This one is complete with, as the mall is revealed, a sudden and inexplicable narrator announcing dramatically the "zen joke" of the mall. I also really hate this Sabretooth, which negates pretty much this entire series for me. Could he use an update after decades of pretty much being a one-note act? Sure. Is it weird businessman with a sense of irony/humor? Nope. Total Score: 2/5




Wolverine and the X-Men 7
Latour (w) and Veltri, Deering, and Messina (a) and Silva and B. Smith (c) and Cowles (l)

Wolverine's ex-girlfriend Melita Garner wants to write a book about her old boyfriend, hoping to show a human element to him as opposed to just some cartoon monster and is undeterred even when she's given a cease and desist by Wolverine's lawyer Daredevil. She explains what she wants to do and he goes to present the case to Wolverine, also telling him that he can't live in fear. The speech at least works to the extent that Logan calls Storm to ask her on a date. Meanwhile, Idie sulks about what she's seen and Fantomex wonders who the Jean Grey School's enemies will fear with a powerless Wolverine. Plenty going on here and lots of places for the book to go as it focuses on Wolverine and his story but certainly keeps a light on the rest of the school. The art changes with just about each scene change and sometimes it works well and sometimes it falls a little flat. Not a bad book but certainly not a great one either. Total Score: 3/5


X-Force 8
Spurrier (w) and Kim (a and c) and Sabino (l)

With Volga thought defeated, we follow a British army troop as they, with mega top secret clearance, try to show themselves capable in the Middle East to win a contract to take over superhuman affairs back home. Embedded with them is an American journalist, from whom we get all the narration. The team itself seems to have powers, though they attempt to keep them hidden but they also keep getting guerrilla attacked by X-Force out in the desert, eventually provoking them to use their powers and signaling to current British superhuman affairs contract-holder Pete Wisdom and MI13 to come check the situation. They had been monitoring it for a bit and the only discrepancy they found was dodgy paperwork allowing the journalist, who Wisdom quickly attacks, revealing MeMe controlling a robotic body and forcing X-Force to reveal themselves. Certainly one of those issue where I can't really judge the content because it's clearly so tied to the coming issue(s) and this is just a set-up for that. It's a confusing issue for sure and one that merits reading over a couple times, though it drags a little more than this series usually does, undoubtedly a drawback of such a new story with so many new characters. Still some fun parts and more than enough happening (and enough leeway) to rep going with this series. Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 7/9/14

100th Anniversary Special: Amazing Spider-Man 1
S. Ryan (w) and I. Lee (a and c) and Cowles (l)

Another glimpse into the future as we see where Peter Parker might be in another few decades, battling Kingpin over a techno-symbiote, a Venom that grants him access to the world's electrical data. In a city where even the cars are connected to a giant grid, it gives him unparalleled control and the ability to hunt Peter at any turn. Peter manages to escape into the technology-less Central Park and make himself a torch, which he wields as Venom approaches. He dives at Kingpin with it and manages to burn off the suit, taking Kingpin down. He returns home and we learn that he's recently lost Aunt May (hard to feel too bad, she lived to maybe 700 years old, given the way she looks in early SPIDER-MAN) but he's ready to keep fighting. It's not a bad in medias res book (though it claims to be 8 of 8 and it's the first time Kingpin is revealed as the villain, so it's indicative of a pacing problem in the arc) and Sean Ryan's writing doesn't over-explain too much (as would be the temptation as you jump into a whole new world and the end of an arc) while In-Hyuk Lee's art is very impressive. Strong stuff, certainly entertaining enough to read, though it seems a little heavy-handed about the role of electronics and the pace of technology and so forth. 4/5

All-New Invaders 7
J. Robinson (w) and Laming (a) and Guru eFX (c) and Petit (l)

Torch continues to explain to SHIELD agent Malloy what happened with Radiance, which leads to a story within a story within a story and ALL OF THEM ARE BORING. The original Invaders were set to cause a tsunami in Japan that would likely end the war but Golden Girl, Radiance's grandmother, could not abide the loss of innocent lives the tsunami would cause. She and the Kid Commandoes fight against the Invaders and eventually cause them to see the innocent people and they all refuse to go through with the plan, prompting the army to drop the bombs. Radiance backs off, ashamed that she took such steps to nearly really hurt some people, and Torch takes the fall for her and he explains it to Malloy and Malloy is apparently an alien AI and I DO NOT CARE. This book has SO MUCH over-exposition, kicking off with Malloy literally saying "let me list what you've said" at one point and it's just stuff like that that make this one of the most poorly written and therefore boring books I've seen. 1/5

Amazing Spider-Man 1.3
Slott (w) and R. Pérez (a) and Herring (c) and Caramagna (l)

As the science fair approaches, Peter decides to enter a magnetic device he used against the Vulture. It fails to impress but it works well when Clayton Cole shows up at the fair in his Clash get-up and Peter assumes the worst, changing to Spider-Man and attacking before Clash can hurt anyone. Of course, it makes matters worse and Clash is more powerful than he was before. Spider-Man forces him to flee with the magnetic device but has earned the ire of everyone around and his turned Clash even more against Spider-Man. This is a fairly slow issue with equal time given to the new storyline as to the old ones (like the Vulture fight) so you already know a lot of the stuff that's happening. More than that, though, it reverts Spidey to his original personality maybe a little too well, making him far less likable and more reactionary. He is rather the cause of all of these troubles (with a generous helping of Clayton Cole's insanity). 2/5

Avengers Undercover 7
Hopeless (w) and Walker (p) and Gorder (i) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

Chase is in neurosurgery even after Nico uses her power to heal his chest and it rather sends her off the deep end. She's been training with Alex, her evil, one-time, thought dead boyfriend, who has determined that her power is legendary but her willingness to use it is holding her back. When Chase returns near death, she flips and decides to give up, letting in to her more wrong desires and kissing Alex. Meanwhile, Maria Hill, Hank Pym, and Steve Rogers lament the loss of AIM's prisoner, a SHIELD agent named Crenshaw who pretty much built their entire communications security and who is now in Zemo's grasp and Cammi, kept quietly in a cell, creates a peephole to see where she's being kept only to find out that it's right above Zemo's living room. She sees them celebrating, Zemo's hand around the waist of a woman with her back to the cell, and can't figure out what the celebration is for, leading her cellmate, the still alive Arcade, to offer some theories. Really interesting book as these kids only get more interesting and as their situation seems to get more dire. Lot of fun with a couple of good twists and turns and the promise of the next issue zooming us three months into the future. 5/5

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 3
M. Benson (w) and Huat (p) and Yeung (i) and Aburtov (c) and Sabino (l)

Shang-Chi, with the help of the Daughters of the Dragon and MI6, follows after White Dragon and a mysterious friend, learning that they've taken hold of a book of powerful dark magic. Shang is joined by sometimes adversary Skull Crusher, also believing White Dragon is up to something too sinister to continue. They sneak into the White Dragon's lair and come upon him, managing to subdue him but ultimately succumbing to the magic in the room. Then Dragon's friend appears, revealing himself to be Midnight Sun, brother to Shang-Chi, who is set on taking his father's place and running the crime world of England. They've already killed most of the Triads' leaders, using their heads for their enchantments, and White Dragon offers up his own to Midnight Sun, who takes it and then proceeds to take Skull Crusher's. Things look as bad as they have for Shang-Chi, who is facing quite an adversary in his own brother. The book moves well and doesn't over-explain, though still gives enough of a sense of things for unfamiliar readers to get a foothold in the story. I'm also particularly partial to Huat's art after X-MEN LEGACY so this book is doing pretty well in my book, though it does get a little too deep into Shang-Chi's story for the casual reader. 4/5


Deadpool 31
Posehn and Duggan (w) and J. Lucas (a) and Staples (c) and Sabino (l)

While Deadpool and Dazzler keep pulling apart the vampire nests, Preston meets with Butler's brother in Chicago. She meets Ellie, who has something of a fondness for violence and gore, but she's asked to leave by Utler before anything really happens. However, a separate task force appears to capture Ellie and Preston manages to all but fight them off. When she's shot and taken out in the process, though, she manages to spend a text to Deadpool to tell him what's happening, which sends him looking for any help to get him to Chicago quickly. After exhausting all his likely allies, he happens upon Thor at Avenger's Mansion, who allows him to hang on to Mjolnir while he throws it for Chicago. The book moves pretty well and advances the plot nicely, though the vampire hunt seems to be taking something of a backseat to the Ellie situation, which feels a little strange. The art is maybe a little more disconcerting than I'd like but otherwise, pretty strong showing. 4/5

Fantastic Four 7
J. Robinson (w) and Kirk and Haspiel (p) and Haspiel and Kesel w/Magyar (i) and Aburtov and Woodard (c)

Johnny ruined Reed's chance to help Ben in the past and now Thing remembers it all and demands Johnny not speak to him again. He leaves Johnny's apartment and heads to the bar, where he gets a call from Alicia saying she's been kidnapped by her step-father, the Puppet Master. He rushes to her, calling Reed to come help on the way. When Reed arrives, he finds Thing standing over the body of Puppet Master, swearing that he didn't do it. Much of the first half of the issue is dedicated to the ORIGINAL SIN flashback, which is rather unnecessary as we pretty much got the gist of it last time. There's still plenty going on with Puppet Master and it feels like this is the sort of crime/trial/mystery that could go on for a while and maybe have an easy wrap-up. Still, the book reads alright, though a little over expository, and the differing art styles (Haspiel for the OS flashback and Kirk for the rest) work for their parts. 3/5

Nightcrawler 4
Claremont (w) and Nauck (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

The Trimegas attack the school and Wolverine and Nightcrawler find that Margali has escaped after dismantling Storm and Beast to just their memories. Amanda sets to work repairing them but finds that they have memories missing, specifically the ones about Kurt's return. Her plan seems to be to go to Heaven and conquer that world with her Trimegas and her magic but Kurt and Amanda find and stop her out on the lawn, though not before she opens a portal between the two. Amanda dives into it to help close it from that side but Kurt is barred access, already having chosen to leave Heaven. She refuses to let him try, fearing he'll erase himself from eternity of he tries (??) but promises she'll be waiting for him and the portal closes. The adventure is a fairly strong one and it intends in classic Claremont fashion but the issue is bogged down a little by unnecessary dialogue and explanation, such as Nightcrawler's inner monologue that runs through his list of everyone fighting, something that has come up in just about every issue so far and which wasn't even necessary the first time. There are things here that are interesting but they'll have to get past the bogged down presentation to really unleash them. 3/5

Original Sins 3
Inhuman: Soule (w) and Browne (a) and Delgado (c) and Cowles (l)
Young Avengers: North (w) and Villalobos (a) and Gibson (c) and Cowles (l)
J. Jonah Jameson: Slott (w) and Bagley (p) and Rubinstein (i) and Mounts (c) and Cowles (l)

An Inhuman named Lineage learns that Black Bolt started a war with the Kree, the Young Avengers are convinced to make a mini-Cerebro for the Hood to learn everything they can from the drug addicts who took too many secrets, and J. Jonah Jameson fires a young reporter who digs a little too deep into Spider-Man's past only to learn that Jameson had once reviewed Spidey's one-man show positively. The INHUMAN story, written by INHUMAN writer Charles Soule, seems to indicate more coming, the YOUNG AVENGERS story continues to be well-written with a lot of fun moments but ultimately a little slow, and the Jameson story is a fast enough read that it's just a cute little one-off. Can't complain too much on this one. 4/5

Spider-Man 2099 1
David (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miguel O'Hara, posing as Mike O'Mara in the present, is the Spider-Man of 2099 but he's trapped in 2014 and trying to make ends meet. He works for Alchemax, the company that will go on to ruin the world by his time and he rents a pretty crappy apartment in the city. He's chased by something of a timecop, sent back to destroy him before he changes anything, but he manages to outmaneuver it, causing it to blow its own head off instead of his or Alchemax owner Liz Allan. As Spidey 2099 leaves her office, Liz has her assistant verify that no windows have been broken, believing that this Spider-Man is on her payroll somewhere. There are interesting things happening as this series kicks off, particularly with the added twist of an intelligent Liz Allan immediately taking steps that seemingly no one else has ever taken for Spider-Man, but the issue starts to get a little too cute as banter slows things down and makes the timecop (from future agency TOTEM) almost comical at times while being threatening and cold at others. Still, strong first entry and only a couple times with Miguel saying future-swear "shock." 4/5

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 13
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Cowles (l)

Chameleon managed to get away from the crime scene as the cops and Mach VII showed up, but most of the other guys were taken away. Boomerang and his team, though, successfully snuck out with the portrait, planning to head to a safehouse. Meanwhile, Shocker and the head of Silvermane make it out of their predicament when Shocker realizes he can use his gauntlets to fly away from Hammerhead and his goons. He lands at the safehouse before Boomerang, setting Shocker and his old team for a reunion. The book drags a little bit when it focuses on Shocker and Silvermane but overall it's an incredibly fun book with a lot of truly funny moments. Many books that go for funny fall a little flat because they seem to come out of left field or the situation doesn't really call for funny or something like that but this book reliably manages to hit just the right tone and to keep the book fun. Strong showing for this one. 4/5


Wolverine 10
Cornell (w) and P. Woods (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Sabretooth has access to the weapon now and is ready to transform New York entirely, making it truly Darwinian world, one where his strengths should set him up to be the ruler of all (which seems to work in counterpoint to his new CEO Sabretooth appearance). Meanwhile, Wolverine tracks him with help from the X-Men, to whom he apologizes, and prepares to attack with the help of his Guerica Bar pals, to whom he apologizes, Thor, to whom he apologizes, and SHIELD, to whom he apologizes. Wolverine has decided to accept help finally and now it'll be a matter of timing about whether Wolverine's forces can stop Sabretooth before he unleashes his weapon. Things are shaping up here for a big final showdown but it's still slowed by the stupid Guernica Bar stuff, the maudlin Wolverine, some weird art, and CEO Sabretooth. 3/5

Superior Spider-Man 31

Superior Spider-Man 31
Slott (s) and Gage (w) and Camuncoli (p) and Dell and Pallot (i) and Fabela (c) and Eliopolous (l)

Peter Parker is back and he's ready to start setting things right. Carlie explains a little of what's happened to him at Parker Labs and he sets off, gaining the trust of Spider-Man 2099 on the way and helping where he can as he moves towards the Green Goblin and Anna Maria. The two spiders fight their way to the Alchemax building and "rescue" Liz Allan and son Normie, as well as Tiberius Stone (all of whom are still, you know, pretty evil, but they pretend they're not). As 2099 leads them out, Peter heads for the roof where Goblin has Anna Maria strapped to a pumpkin bomb. Goblin quickly realizes it's Peter, not Doc Ock, and begins to flee. Peter follows and unmasks him, revealing that it is Norman Osborn but with a completely different face, one that will be less recognizable. Peter's mini-spiderbots flood Norman's face and inject him with the goblin cure just as Anna Maria frees herself from her bonds and flings herself from the roof. Spider-Man catches her and Goblin and brings them back down to the ground, where Goblin still manages to escape with the help of Liz Allan. Goblin is devoid of his strength and stamina but he's also cured of his madness; the next time he goes after Spider-Man, it'll be at full mind power. Spider-Man meets with Anna Maria and learns that she's totally in love with the Peter she knew and he realizes that not everyone gets to win.

Story
This is it, the big finale of the 31 issue SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. It's a strong issue, one that wraps up GOBLIN NATION nicely and one that ensures that the right people know Spider-Man is back to being Spider-Man. There are still plenty of hints at new possible stories and a bonus mini-issue at the end (written by Gage with art from Will Sliney and Edgar Delgado) shows where some of the people in his life might end up now (MJ is out of his life but still in the city, Carlie's leaving New York, Jonah Jameson has resigned). It's a story people knew was coming but no one anticipated a 30-issue run and it wraps up neatly here, setting Peter Parker up for a totally fresh start in just two weeks with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1. 5/5

Character
Peter Parker is back from the kind-of dead so that's really the big character change to look at. He's instantly back to quipping and helping out non-lethally, returning immediately to "no one dies" mentality. The idea that his personality is so pervasive, that it's so intimately known to everyone, plays a role here as people begin instantly to trust him again, even despite everything that's happened. It's a nice moment when he quips at Goblin and Goblin instantly realizes it's Peter and not Doc Ock and it's a testament to the strength of Peter Parker. There are some things that feel maybe like they're being set right a little too quickly if only because we're expecting him to have a hard road back to being a hero, but it all works here and it's nice to see. 5/5

Writing
Spider-Man books still have a bit of a tendency to over-explain and this issue is no different. Typically I'd have issues with that but somehow Spider-Man feels grandfathered in to over-explanation (I don't always feel this way with Spider-Man but I'm feeling good that Peter's back). Still, I'm not sure I needed shots of what seems like everyone he knows going "well geez, at least he seems to be back to normal!" You can leave some things for us to find out. Also there's a bit too much 2099 talk here and UGH do I hate 2099 talk. Nervous about when the new SPIDER-MAN 2099 series kicks off because I'll have to put that hatred aside. Anyway, certainly on par with SPIDER-MAN writing, maybe a hair better. 4/5

Art
I often confuse (on name alone) Giuseppe Camuncoli with Marco Checchetto, which is totally unfair and often hurts how much I like the art in a book. I tend to be lukewarm on Camuncoli's stuff and I really like Checchetto's. In this issue though, Camuncoli shines. The art is easy to follow, even considering how much ground Spider-Man is covering, how many fights he's entering into, and how many characters look similar to one another. With Peter Parker's return, he has to come face-to-face with a slew of people and Camuncoli does them all justice. Solid work. 5/5

Miscellaneous
What more is there to say? Peter Parker is back.

Total score: 5/5




Sorry guys, got a bit of a busy day today so I'll be back later to review the other books I have scheduled for today but for now, this is just a single-issue review. Figured if any book deserved to have a light shined on it this week, it'd be this one. The blog kicked off with a single-issue review of the death of Peter Parker, seems fitting to dedicate a single-issue review to his rebirth.

New Spider-Man 2099 series announced

Marvel has just announced the start of what seemed to be an inevitable new SPIDER-MAN 2099 series, slated to launch in July. The series will be written by comics pro and current ALL-NEW X-FACTOR scribe Peter David (who broke the news on his blog at http://www.peterdavid.net/2014/03/27/spider-man-2099/ - sorry, the app doesn't allow hiding that link dudes and dudettes) and drawn by former FEARLESS DEFENDERS artist Will Sliney. Hopefully there won't be too many future swear words but what are the chances of that? 

Marvel's "Next Big Thing" Announced: SPIDER-VERSE

Hey everyone. Quick word as news just broke on this yesterday after a teaser image last Friday. Marvel has announced in one of their "Next Big Thing" press calls that one of the next big events will be the SPIDER-VERSE, a coming-together of every Spider-Man-ish creature created by Marvel, not to mention a few that haven't yet been created. That's right; everyone from Spider-Man 2099 to Noir Spider-Man to Spider-Ham and so on and so forth will join forces with (or face off against, as it's being teased) Peter Parker's Spider-Man.

It's still a ways out so details are a little sparse but the event will be headed by Dan Slott, of course, and Olivier Coipel, probably best known for his work on THOR. Slott and Spider-Man group editor Nick Lowe have also confirmed that the initial villain of the series will be Morlun, a Spidey villain created back in 2001 and responsible for actually killing Spider-Man (he was later reborn thanks to SPIDER-LORE and suddenly had more spider-like attributes to him including organic web-shooters, just like in the movie that was released TOTALLY COINCIDENTALLY right around that time). More details on this one as they emerge. So, you know, over the next eight months. But for now, just check out that promo image and think about, even if it's perhaps a little gimmicky, how cool this could be.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 5, Superior Carnage 4

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 5
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Alchemax has hardly opened its doors and already its the site of a supervillain attack as the Wrecking Crew start busting their way in, in search of an experimental particle engine. Spider-Man 2099 is inside getting ready to fight them when the Superior Spider-Man shows up with his own team, his new Superior Six. Finally we learn Doc Ock's plan for his former Sinister Six teammates as the villains he's captured are now working for him, mind controlled to fight and move on his behalf. It is...sketchy, morally, but it's effective. Spidey admits to himself that maybe he brought them out a little too early and he requires a little help from a new Sun Girl (apparently a hero! Wikipedia has little to say of her as yet) to bring the Wrecking Crew down. They scamper back to their boss Lightmaster, who assures them that next time they will have a bigger team to fight off this new Superior Six. Meanwhile, Spidey settles things out at home with the imprisoned ex-villains and Sun Girl, who was knocked unconscious during the fight and brought back to Spider-Island while she recovered.

An interesting repurposing of the Sinister Six that fits with this new do-what-it-takes Spider-Man and which has just the right level of absolute sketchiness and kind-of brilliance. It also slots nicely into the current events of Superior Spider-Man as we catch a glimpse of Spider-Man 2099 (albeit being very ineffective) and the newly formed Alchemax. Clearly there are some big plans going forward in the Spider-Man universe that will involve everything going on right now on both sides of the ball. How the superhero community (and the civilian community) will react to the new Superior Six is still up for debate and won't be answered immediately but BOY, someone's going to have to start realizing that, as off as Spidey's been acting lately, he's branching out into all new levels of crazy. Right? Like, one person will have to be like "hey guys, I know we already scanned him with our non-scientifically inclined people, but maybe we should like, kick the tires again?" Right?

Superior Carnage 4
Shinick (w) and Segovia and Chrisostomo w/Mexia (a) and J.D. Ramos, Gandini, and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man was lying in wait for the Wizard, Klaw, and Carnage at City Hall but it turns out even Spidey might not be enough to stop them. They out-power him at every turn before he eventually grabs Wizard, the one clearly in control of the situation (sort of) and escapes with him. He holds him above an ally in an attempt to get him to call off Carnage but Wizard reads his mind briefly and realizes he's Octavius, which causes Spidey to drop the villain onto a car below. Wizard's hold on Carnage is released and Carnage goes to town, killing Spider-Man's minions and following Klaw out to where Spidey and Wizard are talking. Spider-Man admits to Wizard that he is Otto and promises to get him to his son if he controls Carnage and puts him down. Klaw, thinking Spider-Man's attacking Wizard, charges him before being run through himself by Carnage's secret vibranium weapon, taken from Wizard armory. Klaw explodes in a burst of sound, launching Carnage off of Dr. Malus and onto Wizard.

Solid penultimate issue as we get an impressive fight scene with the ever-threatening Carnage managing to put the fear into the typically collected Superior Spider-Man. Wizard continues to shift back and forth between dastardly genius and sad, old man trying to reconnect with and impress his son, adding some pathos for both the character and the crowd who overhears his hopes. Spider-Man, for his part, keeps trying to fight what keeps looking more and more like a losing battle and whose only serious misstep is allowing Wizard to fall after hearing his own secret identity revealed. As Carnage launches from Malus to Wizard, we're in for an exciting last issue that could certainly go any direction and might even keep Wizard, a longtime Marvel villain, from completely losing his mind. Or maybe it will accelerate that EVEN MORE. Who knows? Certainly not me. Absolutely fantastic cover too, one that would certainly makes me interested in picking up the book if I saw it in my LCS. Mission accomplished, you guys.

Superior Spider-Man 19, Fantastic Four 13, Guardians of the Galaxy 7

Superior Spider-Man 19
Slott (w) and Stegman and Livesay (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man knocked out Spider-Man 2099 for some perceived slight and now finds himself at the center of an imploding space-time portal at Horizon Labs. He and Max Modell set the other scientists to work building a device that they hope can defeat the portal but it requires a formula Peter came up with his very first meeting with Max. Doc Ock can't remember it and zones out for a while trying, significantly reducing the amount of time he has to figure out how to stop things. Max evacuates the building, though Spider-Man stays in, as does the recovering Spider-Man 2099, who is holding Tiberius Stone. He's had a bit of a change of heart and seems ready to destroy Stone to destroy the future that revolves around Alchemax, even if it means destroying himself. At the last second, he recants and the two flee from the explosion. Spider-Man is able to contain it to just that area, saving the future and the present, but he disappears in the blast. Tyler Stone strands Spider-Man 2099 in the present, where he gets a job as Tiberius' personal assistant at the newly formed Alchemax. Modell and company manage to rig up a device to pull Spider-Man out of the time flux and save him, though Max sees it as the two of them evening up and leaves him behind as they set off to sea to do science in open waters. Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper and Wraith have tracked the money that Spider-Man used to hire his private army back to Otto Octavius.

Plenty of things changing for the Spider-Man universe as Spider-Man 2099 finds himself stuck in the present and guarding his own great-grandfather while ultimately trying to bring down his company. Doc, meanwhile, finds himself removed from Horizon Labs, though he's trying to recruit at least former co-worker Sajani, who was also left behind by Max. Last but not least (well not quite last either, MJ also distanced herself from Spider-Man), Carlie seems to recognize the link between the stranger and stranger actions of Spider-Man and Doc Ock's money. Still, the writing of this one is a little bogged down by the plot and the changes it needs to facilitate, making this one of the weaker issues for character and writing even though it's a significant event in this Spider-Man's run. This arc, seemingly coming to a close though the events it kicked off certainly are just starting, was not my favorite arc of the new run (far from it) but it seems to have done its job in changing the status quo a bit. I'll be interested to see where the book goes from here.

Fantastic Four 13
Fraction and Kesel (w) and Bagley and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

Slightly confusing issue as we see what exactly happened in Old John Storm's universe before he found himself in the 616. Like his 616 counterparts, the Fantastic Four of his universe left to explore the cosmos, with John accompanying his brother Stevenson Storm and Stevenson's wife Sue, as well as their friend Ben Grimm as the Fantastic Four (their powers are essentially the same). In their universe, Doom, Kang, and Annihilus have teamed up to take over the world but find themselves blocked by the F4. They've considered jumping universes but prefer, for now, to end the F4 and do what they need to rule this universe. Despite a solid plan by Stevenson and the FF, someone in the F4 seems to have betrayed them and forewarned Doom about an attack, which ended up making their powers useless against Doom and leaving them without any sort of way to protect themselves (which is how John lost his eye). It's at this point that John wakes up in the 616 again and finds our F4's powers rapidly deteriorating. However, the dream seems to have jarred something loose as suddenly he knows a way to fix their powers, though it will leave them, as he says, "doomed."

Alternate universe are and always will be tricky things to handle. When they're done well (like so much Jeff Parker's Dark Avengers run), they're entertaining and challenging, typically twisting characters we already know into something we don't know them as but which we can understand. In this case, we get a few changes that seem more than a little strange and a few non-changes that seem altogether entirely too coincidental to be ignored. They still choose the same successors to lead the FF in their absence, Doom has still killed Scott Lang's daughter, the same kids (majority) are still involved in the FF, the original X-Men are in the present again (though Jean Grey seems less obsessed with staying there), and so on. The conceit of a lot of these other universes is that tiny changes all over the universe have resulted in massive, sweeping changes as time went on. It's essentially the butterfly effect but in a parallel universe, or the idea of timeline-splitting. Here, it seems like little changes here and there have resulted in just very little change at all in the superhero community. Granted, this is a small window into that community so it's maybe best not to judge, but it's a strange decision, just as it's a strange decision to reveal this much to us. Sure we needed at some point to explain Old John Storm away but this seems like a lot we didn't necessarily need to see. I guess we'll see if that's the case moving forward.

Guardians of the Galaxy 7
Bendis (w) and Pichelli and Schiti (a) and Ponsor (c)

Angela's past is explained as she gives a brief history of her home, in her dimension. Her home is called Heven and it sounds more or less like the stories we know of Heaven, though with a darker and grittier twist of everyone there being hunters, essentially. As I've said before, I don't know Angela prior to this so all of this information is rather new to me. Like us hearing of Heaven, she's heard about Earth and she wants to see it for herself. She describes seeing what Starlord saw when the time-space continuum ruptured and he decides that she's telling the truth and that they should let her go. She moves to Earth with the understanding that Earth is full of super-people and that she shouldn't pick any fights there. She goes, with them following to make sure they didn't screw up in letting her go, and she's blown away by how much it matches the description she had. She's still lost and a bit confused in this universe and so Starlord gives her a comm so she can call to them if she needs help while she finds her way and she departs into the stars again while the Guardians discuss what else might have come through.

Not a bad issue as this continues to be, for my money, the best book Bendis is writing. I think the characters do tend to stray a little far into his generic personalities but he manages to reel them in well enough to keep them distinct. I heard an interview on the Nerdist Writer's Panel: Comic Edition podcast with one of the writers for the first Thor movie and, when asked what he's liking right now in comics he cited Bendis and said that he recognizes complaints that say Bendis loads books with a disproportionate text to story ratio but he thinks the dialogue is wonderful in building character. I still disagree on the whole as I think Bendis mostly writes the same personality or the same couple of personalities for every character. I've talked about this more than enough on here but I do think it diminishes character when you could read just about any dialogue block without looking at who it's attached to you would have about five guesses at who it could be. The best written characters are one where you can read the dialogue and you know who's talking, even if you don't see them. I think Guardians is Bendis' best book to try to do that with but, even in that, there are a couple of personalities; there's the Tony/Quill/kind of Rocket personality and there's the Gamora/Drax personality. Take out the names and pictures in this issue and it's a little hard to discern who's who but it definitely keeps itself closer here. Next issue claims to be about Infinity, which should kick off a tie-in just as Infinity begins wrapping up. Strange choice but a choice, I suppose, nonetheless.