Category Archives: Avengers
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/27/13
We check back in with a few different comics this week that I’ve skipped over in the past, namely Uncanny Avengers and Wolverine and the X-Men. The latter impressed me, if only for its superb use of Toad, while the former was kind of disappointing. The Marvel Universe is an odd place these days, and I just don’t think Uncanny Avengers really has a place in it. Maybe a few years ago it would have been something special, but these days, it’s lost in the shuffle.
Fortunately, Marvel is also publishing the excellent Superior Spider-Man comic, and I’ve finally given in to fan demand and read Avenging Spider-Man, now renamed Superior Spider-Man Team-Up. I liked it a lot, but this week it pals in comparison to the outright awesomeness of the Comic Book of the Week, Superior Spider-Man #14! Otto Octavius finally embraces his new Spider-Man persona, and it is glorious to behold!
How have we gone this long without Spider-Man henchmen?
Comic Reviews: Justice League Dark #22, Larfleeze #2, Superior Spider-Man #14, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #1, Uncanny Avengers #10 and Wolverine and the X-Men #33.
Marvel Studios Panel Rocks All of Our Worlds
Have you heard about the Marvel Studios Panel from Comic-Con last night? If you’re anything like me, you read the news on half a dozen different nerd websites, and your jaw is still on the floor. I wish I’d been there to cover it live, but as I’ve been lamenting all weekend, I’m not at Comic-Con International. San Diego is a really long ways away. Still, if you haven’t heard the news yet, allow me to share what I’ve learned with you. I’ll keep the SPOILERS after the jump, just in case you don’t want to learn anything just yet. I’m cool like that.
So the panel featured new information on this year’s Thor: The Dark World, next year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, and then Avengers 2. How insane is that lineup of movie news? It’s only missing Ant-Man, but that’s still a long way’s off. That lineup is brilliant. And Marvel had footage, or at least a teaser, for each of those movies. People at Comic-Con got to actually see footage from Guardians of the Galaxy.
There is already footage available. That blows my mind. They’ve only been filming for two weeks!
Join me after the jump for all the news! And stay tuned to the blog over the next few days in case the footage hits the web. I’ll be posting that stuff so fast it’ll make your space raccoon head spin!
The 6 Characters on My Avengers Team
San Diego Comic-Con is this weekend, and to celebrate, I’ve put together a List of Six that may be one of the purest forms of comic book geekery: what is my ideal Avengers lineup? What is my dream team? We’ve played this game several times before with the Sinister Six and X-Force, well now I’m setting my sights on the big guys. The game is simple, and as a comic book geek, I think it’s fantastically fun: if I were hired to write an Avengers comic, and had free reign over what characters to put on the team, who would I pick? Who would you pick?
The Avengers are very different from the Justice League over at DC Comics. I could never do one of these lists for the Justice League, because my ideal lineup for that team is the same as everybody else: use the top 7 classic Justice Leaguers: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. That’s the perfect Justice League, hands down. No need to debate. But the Avengers are very different. The Avengers are not just made up of the top superheroes over at Marvel. The Avengers are their own little family of superheroes, known more for being Avengers than for being solo heroes. And if I were to make a team of Avengers, I definitely wouldn’t put popular characters like Spider-Man or Wolverine on the team just because they sell.
I have my own ideas. And I’m sure you have yours. Join me after the jump for the characters I would put on my Avengers team. And please share your own ideal lineup in the comments!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/6/13
Alright, guys and gals, this is the last time I change up my rating system. I know I changed it just a few months ago, but now that I’ve been trying it out for awhile, I realize just how confusing it might be. I started out with a scale of just 0-5. Then I added decimals, because that seemed like the thing to do, and I wanted my reviews to be a little more nuanced. Now I’ve decided that the decimals just add a lot of unnecessary clutter. But rather than do away with them, I’ve decided to take my 0-5 system and upgrade it to a 0-10 instead. I think, in the long run, this will just be easier.
Let’s do a quick run down:
0 – Abomination; 1 – Terrible; 2 – Very Bad; 3 – Bad; 4 – Pretty Bad; 5 – Alright; 6 – Pretty Good; 7 – Good; 8 – Very Good; 9 – Great; 10 – Fantastic!
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, on with the reviews!
Short week, this week, with only a handful of comics coming out on my buy pile. Avengers continues their big storyline, Batman Incorporated draws ever close to the finish, and the new writer on Green Lantern settles into his new role of storyteller. All quality comics, and I enjoyed each and every one. But the real standout this week is The Superior Foes of Spider-Man! I’ve been eagerly anticipating this comic since it was announced, and it did not disappoint (though the name could stand to be a little less complex). Superior Foes is about a handful of Spider-Man’s B and C-list foes banding together into a new Sinister Six (which would have been a fine title). The comic takes the down-to-Earth, personal appeal of a book like Hawkeye and adds a dash of villainy. The characters here aren’t out to rule the world. They’re just out to make a living, and costumed crime is the path they’ve chosen. This is exactly my kind of book, and The Superior Foes of Spider-Man easily wins Comic Book of the Week.
It’s the little stuff that matters. Like Shocker and Speed Demon arguing over the keys.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #15, Batman Incorporated #12, Green Lantern #22, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/22/13
Age of Ultron is the worst Big Event Comic that Brian Michael Bendis has ever written. The man is a writing god when it comes to small comics – like Ultimate Spider-Man or his current X-Men series – but he just can’t handle Big Events. He can come up with some really neat ideas, but for some reason he just can’t execute them. I don’t know what it is. How did the man who created Miles Morales write Age of Ultron? Whatever. It’s over. Age of Ultron is done and it’s just as bad as the rest of the series. But now we all have Angela to look forward to…so…yay? I guess. Ugh.
Thankfully, the rest of the comics this week are all winners. From Avengers and New Avengers carrying through with some grand ideas to comics like Batwoman and Superior Spider-Man continuing their general greatness. Quality reads through and through. As for Comic Book of the Week, that distinction has to go to Wonder Woman #21, for Brian Azzarello for really amping up the action and excitement, and actually getting me to like a New God.
I never thought I’d live to see the day.
Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #10, Avengers #14, Batman and Batgirl #21, Batwoman #21, Green Lantern: New Guardians #21, New Avengers #7, Superior Spider-Man #12, and Wonder Woman #21.
Henchman-4-Hire 