Posts tagged Marvel

The Amazing Spider-Man #677 (Mark Waid, Emma Rios)

The Good

For starters, I have to applaud Marvel in bringing Mark Waid over to write a few issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN while pulling double duty on DAREDEVIL. It’s fitting, because the latter teams up with Spidey in this issue for some hi-jinks.

But here’s the thing: Waid writes Spider-Man and Daredevil in having a kind of comraderie that I never thought them having before. In short, Spidey and Hornhead act like long-time bros in this issue, and it suits them immensely.

Hearing Daredevil saying that his swining routes have changed because of renovations to a building and a lack of “grip points” switched on a lightbulb in my head that made me think “Hey! They do travel using the same method. Why wouldn’t they talk about “traffic conditions” like any other commuter?

Spider-Man has a great personality in this issue, and it shows during certain exchanges with Black Cat; as a recently-dumped dude, his desperation shows, and the boiling over point where he tells Daredevil that he’s “Having a bad day, dammit!” really made me smile. We can tell this is one of the many bad days Peter has dealt with during his life, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.

The Bad

The only thing I can say that I didn’t like about this issue is the art; I find that it was far too messy/gritty for the story it was telling, and at times Peter simply didn’t look like Peter. I know the brown-hair-and-lean build isn’t exactly unique, but there’s always been unique indicators that keep Pete, Pete.

In this issue there was some of those missing, which is a pity, considering the praiseworthy art that’s been present in DAREDEVIL and this title in the past.

The Verdict

Like I said above, this issue makes great use of characters, and has a witty use of technology to involve both Spider-Man and Daredevil’s powers. There’s a bit of misdirection with DD’s blindness that pays off in a big way, which left me grinning.

I think what’s most important to realize in this issue is that it harkens back to the old-school team-up, and it manages to refresh it nicely. No longer does Daredevil “just happen to be in the neighborhood”; Spider-Man finds him due to their past association, and characters from both stories intertwine. I loved seeing continuity between the two titles, and it only served to reinforce that these are some of Marvel’s best books right now.

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So it looks like legendary Thor and X-Factor artist Walt Simonson is going to be returning to draw The Avengers for Marvel for six issues, starting with issue #25. He’ll be drawing Brian Michael Bendis’ scripts, so it’ll be an interesting fusion between old and new here.

Simonson is known by many as the creator of Beta Ray Bill, and the man who turned Thor into a frog for three issues.

I’m terribly excited about this. Thanks, Bleeding Cool.

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[This was originally posted on my ComicVine blog in response to a growing number of comments I’ve received saying that I should be grading books higher based on… nothing really at all. I thought I would write a response.]

Every week, I write four to five comic book reviews for ComicVine as a freelancer. I’ve been working with them since May of 2010, and have enjoyed my time here immensely so far; the quests are fun and it gives me a platform to write about a medium I love.

Since CV requires me to quantify my reviews in a star rating, there seems to be an increasing number of people who take issue with them. While I’d like to say that every review gets at least one comment questioning a score, that wouldn’t be true: four to five-star reviews remain relative feedback ghost towns.

So instead of responding to each comment as they come, I’ve decided to head them off at the pass and post a blog on how I come to my score decisions.

I’d like to preface this by saying that I try to be as honest as possible, and that a book with a large amount of hype is not immune from bad scores. As always, reviews are supposed to be subjective, and the fact that I didn’t like a book doesn’t mean you will, as well.

In short, there’s really no reason to post angry comments saying “this score should be higher” because, really, it shouldn’t. I’m confident in what I gave the book, and stand by it.

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Hoo boy - end of the month already? November kind of flew by and after last week’s bonanza of good books, this week seems a bit slow.

A friend of mine who works at Toronto’s Silver Snail mentioned on her blog that November technically has five Wednesdays, which throws off the shipping of comics a bit. I’ve never considered that before, and it’s kind of interesting.

The off week doesn’t necessarily mean that the books this week aren’t good; check out my picks below!

Marvel Comics (Click names for links)

Thunderbolts #166 - Jeff Parker writes a lovely Thunderbolts story, but I feel like I’ve either missed the last issue of this book, or it hasn’t come out in quite a long time. I’ve been following this book since a little bit before Fear Itself, so it’ll be interesting to see it settle into its own book.

Wolverine #19 - I blogged about the sexy-ass cover to Wolverine #19 a couple weeks ago, and now I actually get to read the issue. Matt Fraction’s Fat Cobra showed up last issue, as well, so the comedy’s going to be laid on thick. It’s no coincidence that #18 was my pick of the week two weeks ago: this story reeks of awesomeness. Bring me my wenches of reading!

Daredevil #6 - Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil has me the most interested I’ve been about the character since he was impersonated by Iron Fist. The art, the story, the old-school vibe: it’s super-heroing without complications, and that’s needed sometimes.

Red Skull: Incarnate #5 (of 5) - Controversy aside, David Aja’s covers for this series are works of art. I love the old-school design, and the story within is gripping, detailed and almost surreal; after years of demonizing the Red Skull, it’s weird to think of his back-story. I’m not saying he evokes sympathy - no, he’s quite the bastard - but Greg Pak gives another side to the megalomaniac murderer.

Image Comics (Click names for links)

Skullkickers #12 - I have nothing but good things to say about Skullkickers, as it tugs at my D&D nostalgia heartstrings while bringing the comedy. I’m heartily enjoying the saga of Baldy and Shorty, and just picked up the second trade, which came out last week.

This week’s issue looks to be a series of short, contained “tavern stories” between major story arcs: give it a look if you want a taste of what the series has to offer.

DC Comics

DMZ #71 (pictured above) - Oh gosh, the series is almost over. This is one of my favourite books of all time, so it’s a bit sad to see Matty Roth get put on trial for war crimes. If you haven’t read this book before, you’ve got some catching up to do before the finale in #72. Author Brian Wood said that this one is “the big one” in terms of story resolution, and I fully expect to be blown away.

Flash #3 - Francis Manapul’s art is awesome, and this comic is the first book to make me care about Barry Allen. I’m really enjoying the giant set-pieces that he’s drawing, and the whole “vibrating a plane through a bridge” scene has been set up/previewed for a long time.

Shade #2 (of 12) - Wait, The Shade’s series is out, and I wasn’t notified? Time to catch up! I wrote a column about why Shade needed his own series awhile ago, but it turns out that web site has stopped publishing; oh well. Bad-ass villain turned bad-ass character.

Image Comics

Invincible #84 - I’ve been a bit disappointed by this book as of late because of the large hangover period that came after the story’s major story arc. Mark Grayson has been making a growing series of bad choices as a superhero, and to see a complete 180 in such a small amount of time is disconcerting. 

Next issue marks the return of Cory Walker to the book, which I’m quite excited for; nothing against Ryan Ottley, but I just prefer the former’s work. This seems a bit dumb, as, well, the latter has been working on the majority of Invincible’s run, but for some reason the latest arc really turned me off.

I don’t really like when comics I usually enjoy reading unsettle me; I’ve written about this before, and sometimes Invincible’s gore and violence make me want to put it down for a bit.

Marvel Comics

Captain America and Bucky #624 - I’m reviewing a bunch of Marvel books for ComicVine this week, and this issue of Cap & Bucky is the first one I’ve ever read. Shall be fun diving into a new series, and I may pick up a couple back issues in order to get an idea of where the series is.

Invincible Iron Man #510 - Quality from Matt Fraction as always; can’t go wrong with Tony, Pepper and the boys at Stark Resilient. Another review for ComicVine on the way.

Mighty Thor #8 - I’ve been liking this series because it’s relatively continuity-light, and they’ve done some lovely things with Galactus and the Silber Surfer. I’m looking forward to the Fear Itself fallout and seeing some of this “New God of Thunder” business.

Secret Avengers #19 - Warren Ellis. Secret-y things. Beast, Moon Knight, Captain America and Black Widow. Hi-jinks. Secret Avengers is like a more serious Nextwave, and I enjoy every minute.

So, taking a cue from my friend Anand, I’ve decided to start doing another comic review a week to keep my skills sharp. Usually I don’t get to review my favourite books at ComicVine (which, sadly, result in a lot of negativity), so I thought I would take the time to point out a book I really liked from last week’s batch.

New Mutants #33 (Marvel) is a great transition between the calamity of Fear Itself and the confusion of Schism; it actually fixes a complaint I had with the New Mutants in that they were becoming a strike force of some sorts and not actually retaining any individual character.

Earlier issues in this series spent as much time on inter-personal development as action, and since the team members are relatively interesting people with a long history together, I considered this a strength of the book. They’re transitioning into the heroes they were always meant to be, after what seems like decades of purgatory.

This panel illustrated the whole point of the issue, because we got a lot of “updates” as to what the individual characters are doing.The wonderful therapist that showed up a story arc ago is back, and he does a lot of talking with the New Mutants to see where they’re at. While it seems hokey, the implementation is good enough that it fleshes out characters that may have fallen by the wayside.

We also get to see how they’ve reacted to the split in the X-verse, and the little scenes like this:

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