Yearly Archives: 2013
Review: Scarlet Spider #16
I’ve been writing a lot lately about how my favorite comic book stories are the ones that focus on the characters as people first and superheroes second. I want to read about heroes who have real lives to worry about, with real drama, real friends, and who act like real people. Scarlet Spider is a comic that definitely gets it, but at the same time, it makes one crucial mistake: Kaine is the center of his social life, and everyone revolves around him. And considering the character and the story, that shouldn’t be the case at all, and it’s a little weird.
Scarlet Spider #16
Still, Scarlet Spider remains an entertaining comic. Here is a done-in-one story about love and romance, which I very much enjoyed, but which was hampered by terrible art.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
The sooner Khoi Pham is gone from this comic, the better. I’ve disliked his style since he started drawing Scarlet Spider, and this is his worst issue yet. There’s a big, climactic moment towards the end of the issue that writer Chris Yost has been building towards for some time, and Yost nails the scene, but Pham fails to stick the artistic landing. And it’s a real shame too, because I thought the story served the moment very well. At least Pham draws a very good Armadillo.
Anyway, as I was saying, the one problem with Scarlet Spider is that Kaine is the center of his social life. According to the story, Kaine simply arrived in Houston one day, and just happened to meet Wally, Donald and Annabelle over the course of his first few days in the city. That they became friends isn’t the issue, it’s that Wally, Donald and Annabelle don’t seem to have lives outside of Kaine. One would think that they had their own friends and family, and entire lives in Houston before Kaine randomly showed up. Yet everything they do seems to involve Kaine, each other and Aracely. It’s a weird gripe, I know, but it reinforces the fiction of it all.
Still, it always makes for a good comic when your love story involves Scarlet Spider fighting the Armadillo at a rodeo!
X-Factor Cancelled; Life As We Know It Is Over!
Why!? Oh why!? One of my favorite comic book series for the past nearly 10 years is coming to an end! Marvel Comics and writer Peter David announced the official cancellation of X-Factor today at the C2E2 comic book convention in Chicago!
I know the feel, bro
The final issue will be X-Factor #262 in September, so just in time for my birthday. Curse you, cruel hand of fate!
We’ve known for a long time now that the next story arc is going to be called ‘The End of X-Factor’, but I thought that was just a clever name for some kind of shake up, or something along those lines. I didn’t think it needed to be taken literally. I’m also holding out hope that X-Factor will merely be relaunched with a new #1 issue as part of Marvel NOW! Wave 2. But based on that interview I linked from Newsarama, this cancellation sounds pretty final.
Peter David had this to say:
“It was basically decided that the ‘Hell on Earth War’ was as major a storyline as we were going to do,” David said. “I’d been building toward it for so long that it simply seemed a logical culmination to the entire series. So we decided to wrap it up. It’s been going for 10 years, after all.”
For those who don’t know, X-Factor is a spin-off of the X-Men series of comics. But instead of starring more popular characters like Wolverine or Storm or Cyclops, X-Factor took some of the lesser known characters and gave them their own series, characters like Wolfsbane, Rictor, Shatterstar, Siryn and, my all-time favorite comic book character, Multiple Man! This was Multiple Man’s series. He was the star! For years, I had to satisfy myself with Multiple Man showing up in small cameos or guest appearances. But then in 2004, Peter David came along and wrote a brilliant mini-series about him called MadroX, and it was amazing! That mini-series was so successful that Marvel decided to give PAD a whole series about Multiple Man and his friends!
Some friendlier than others
So seriously, for the past nearly 10 years, I have been able to enjoy a great, well-written comic book series starring my all-time favorite character. I should and do consider myself very lucky for that.
But apparently the time has come for an ending.
PAD said the final story will be a bunch of short stories starring each of the characters, giving them proper send-offs, I guess. One issue will be about Polaris interacting with Quicksilver.
Because why not
And another issue will focus on the mysterious connection between Longshot and Shatterstar.
Because also why not
No word on how Multiple Man will be left after the series. PAD has always been hinting at having some kind of secret behind Multiple Man’s powers. Will he finally reveal that secret? Or will he just give Multiple Man a happy ending? I’m hoping for the latter.
In the interview, PAD also hints that he has a top secret Marvel project coming up. So I suppose there’s still a sliver of hope that this is all just a feint, and he will reveal a new version of X-Factor to come along, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
As it stands, all I can really do is thank writer Peter David and Marvel for giving this comic book geek an amazing 10 years. What more can a guy ask for? X-Factor has been brilliant from beginning to no doubt what will be a fantastic ending! So three cheers everybody!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
*sniff*
The Greatest Justice League Video Ever Produced!
This may be the greatest Justice League anything ever produced!
The animation is amazing, the jokes are hilarious, and the voice acting is stellar. Wow. That is a tour de force of awesomeness! I’m even willing to ignore the Robin jokes. I live for cartoons this good. If I had this kind of skill, I would spend my life making movies like these and hope that I could find someway to get paid for them. The video was made by ForestFire Films, with help from Sean Willets.
I bow to their greatness.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/27/13
Wanna know a surefire way to eat up an afternoon and sap your will to read and review comics? Have a root canal. Ouch. My tooth is still sore a day later. I do not recommend sitting through one of those if you can help it. Of course, I also highly recommend eating as much candy and junk food as you want. So I guess it’s a double-edged sword. Or that I’m full of bad advice. Either way, the latter half of my week was a little busy, so today’s reviews will be a little shorter than normal, as in I skipped a few books I normally would have reviewed. But I also took this time to try out Young Avengers again, because if you guys and gals have any recommendations you’d like me to try out, and I more than willing to listen.
That doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily enjoy the comic the same way that you do – as you’ll see in my Young Avengers review – but I’m still more than willing to give any comic book a try. Though I will always love my favorites. This week, FF #6 wins Comic Book of the Week for its usual mix of hilarity and awesomeness. Though I think Guardians of the Galaxy wins joke of the week.
Marvel really, really hope Rocket Raccoon will work
I’m still not liking Guardians of the Galaxy very much, but it was legitimately a little bit funny this week.
Comic Reviews: Batman Incorporated #10, FF #6, Guardians of the Galaxy #2, New Avengers #5, Talon #7, Uncanny Avengers #7, Uncanny X-Men #5 and Young Avengers #4.
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #22
Oh Miles. Poor, poor Miles. In this issue, our young hero finally learns the price of being Spider-Man. And it’s not just a dead uncle. Miles learns the hard way that Spider-Man can’t save everyone. That no matter the power or the responsibility, you’re going to let people down, and that not everything is under your control. And that there will always be giant rampaging monsters to contend with. They never go away. Writer Brian Michael Bendis gives us the most emotionally devastating issue of the new Ultimate Spider-Man yet, and it’s as powerful as you’d expect from such a great comic.
Ultimate Spider-Man #22
I’m saddened by both the actual loss and pain Miles goes through, and the loss of potential that I don’t think this series managed to sufficiently explore. Still, amazing issue nonetheless.
Comic Rating: 5/5: Great.
I’m not going to spoil the big moment just yet. I’ll save that for the synopsis. Suffice to say, it’s a doozy, and I’m excited to see what it does for Miles’ growth as a hero. Granted, that sounds a little morbid, but you’ll see what I mean when we get to it. I’m also disappointed in what this moment takes away from the series. Some people might say this moment was inevitable, but at 22 issues into the series, I didn’t think anything was inevitable. And even when the previews started hinting that something bad was going to happen, I definitely didn’t imagine this.
I read somewhere that this might be the end of the unofficial Act 1 for Miles’ superhero career, and I can believe it. Bendis has been telling a fantastic story over the course of these 22 issues. Miles has been an incredible hero, from humble beginnings, through a lot of highs in his superhero career, and with the occasional lows. I definitely look forward to seeing what comes next.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Henchman-4-Hire 