Category Archives: Comics
Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #6
It’s issues like this where patience pays off! Brian Michael Bendis has been building to something good, and this is it! This is the battle, these are the confrontations, this is what we’ve been waiting for! Miles Morales vs. the Green Goblin! The truth about Peter Parker! Even more exciting stuff! The last issue was all about transitioning us into this stellar adventure, and I’m all the more glad for it. I’ve almost always been a fan of Bendis’ decompressed storytelling. I like that he takes the time to build a scene, or build up to a moment, because we get pay offs like this issue.
Ultimate Spider-Man #6
Ultimate Spider-Man #6 is one of the richest, most confident and exciting comics in Miles Morales’ short career.
Comic Rating: 10/10 – Fantastic!
Yep, a perfect score. I don’t do that very often, but if I don’t do it for an issue like this one, then what am I saving it for? Ultimate Spider-Man #6 has it all, and almost all of it is satisfyingly good. This is a big moment for Miles and for the series. Our young hero fully embraces his role. He stands tall as a true Spider-Man, and has more than a few great moments, while his predecessor looks on.
Speaking of Peter Parker…could this really be him? Before now, I was pretty sure this was just some storyline Bendis has been working on. Miles voices the obvious option: he’s a clone. But with this issue, Bendis provides a somewhat reasonable explanation for how Peter could be back from the dead. On top of that, what’s to stop Bendis from bringing Ultimate Peter Parker back from the dead? The latest Ultimate Universe relaunch failed spectacularly. Both All New Ultimates and whatever they called the Ultimate Fantastic Four have been cancelled. The Ultimate Universe is probably on its last legs, with only Ultimate Spider-Man really kicking along.
So why not bring Ultimate Peter Parker back from the dead? Why not give him, his family and this series a happy ending? Leave Miles as the one-true Ultimate Spider-Man and just shuffle a resurrected Peter off to the side. It makes about as much sense as any resurrection in comics. And the reason it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is because nobody really cares about Ultimate Spider-Man anymore.
I think this twist would be pretty awesome. Because considering what Bendis does with Peter Parker and his family in this issue, it would be even more cruel if Peter was revealed to be a fake.
But hey, maybe Bendis is a cruel man.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
Robin Watch: Has the New Robin Been Spoiled?!
The biggest break in Robin Watch may have hit the web this afternoon! DC Comics’ solicitations for January hit the web today, and it seems that DC isn’t going to hide the identity of the new Robin on the front cover of Batman and Robin #38! Because of that, writer Peter J. Tomasi took to Twitter and spoiled the reveal ahead of time!
This could be it! Today could be the day we discover our new Robin!
Pick me, Alfred! Pick me!
For spoiler purposes, I’ll post the picture after the jump. If you don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t click over and don’t read DC’s solicitations today!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/18/14
Nothing like a dentist appointment to derail your comics reading plans! I had to get a filling on Thursday, and while I’m a grown up and can handle that sort of thing like a champ, it still cut into all the comic book reading and reviewing I wanted to do this week. I still think I’ve got a pretty solid stack of books!
I’ve decided to subject myself to Axis week in and week out. I don’t know why I keep going back to these Big Event comics. They’re never any good anymore. I reviewed the first issue for Word of the Nerd last week (the link is below), and I think I’ll keep it to the bench-sized column from now on. Beyond that, we actually have some good comics this week! My favorite, Ms. Marvel, delivers a fun new chapter. And Cyclops gets some strong moments in both Uncanny X-Men and Axis.
But Comic Book of the Week has to go to Batman and Robin #35, because there is very little in the world of comics that gets me more excited than Robin(s) being awesome!
You said it, Titus!
This week at Word of the Nerd, I reviewed the final chapter of Death of Wolverine. It was disappointing, to say the least. Also? He died in probably the creepiest way possible.
Comic Reviews: Axis #2, Batman Eternal #28, Batman and Robin #35, Ms. Marvel #9, Uncanny X-Men #27.
Review: Teen Titans #3
I realized something kind of important after reading Teen Titans #3: I don’t really like any of these characters. I don’t mean that in the general sense, not like ‘Beast Boy sucks!’ or anything like that. I mean I don’t like them as people. I don’t really want to spend any time with them or be seen with them. The Teen Titans are kind of uncomfortable to be around. I realized this because new writer Will Pfeifer is kind of doing exactly what I wanted him to do in the relaunch: he’s treating the Teen Titans as people first, superheroes second…kind of. He’s not exactly there yet, but this new issue is filled with scenes of the teens just hanging out and being friends, and subplots that don’t have anything to do with punching super-villains.
Teen Titans #3
The problem is that DC and the previous writer, Scott Lobdell, have made the Teen Titans so unlikable that I just don’t care that Pfeifer is doing exactly what I want.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
The great thing about this new issue of Teen Titans is that it is filled with character-based subplots. The main plot is still all about that dumb robot chick and whatever ax she’s grinding (I have seriously forgotten), but Pfeifer fills the rest of the issue with actual, worthwhile character interaction. That was the #1 thing missing from Lobdell’s Teen Titans. He was only interested in bringing on new super-villains for the team to fight. Pfeifer, at least a little, views these characters as teenagers. They’re still mostly in costume all of the time, but he’s getting there. He’s mixing real teen drama with superhero drama, and I think it has a chance to be interesting. He just needs to work harder at making me (or anyone) care about these characters.
I think part of the problem might be the art. Kenneth Rocafort is a damn fine artist. He’s great for superhero comics, but I just don’t think he fits Teen Titans. His characters look pointy and fragile. He’d be great on one of those excess Batman books, like Detective Comics, where he could draw awesome pictures of Batman in a big, scary cape. But Teen Titans needs to be a softer book than Rocafort’s style.
For my money, I wish Teen Titans had been given the Batgirl treatment. They need an artist like Babs Tarr to really sell them as likable teen characters. As it stands, Pfeifer and Rocafort have a long road ahead of them to rehab these characters, and frankly, I don’t think both of them are up for it.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
A Bunch More New Comics!
Marvel revealed several new comics at New York Comic-Con this past weekend, and while Ant-Man was my clear favorite, I figured why not talk about the others? These blog posts are free, after all!
The Spider-Man books are going to get a lot more crowded in the new year. Following Spider-Verse, 2014’s big Spidey event, we’re going to get new ongoing series for both Silk and Spider-Gwen!
Everybody else is loving all the female-led books, right?
Silk is Cindy Moon, a new character from Amazing Spider-Man who has the double distinction of being bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers, and having possibly my least favorite superhero name of all time. Silk?! Really? I realize that both ‘Spider-Woman’ and ‘Spider-Girl’ are taken, but Silk? There were no other spider-related words you could come up with?
Anyway, I like Silk well enough in Amazing Spider-Man, so maybe her own comic will be fun. It’ll be written by Robbie Thompson and drawn by Stacey Lee. And at least she’s got a new costume!
Spider-Gwen (which probably won’t be is official name) will be written by Jason Latour with art by Robbi Rodriguez, and it will follow the adventures of the alternate reality Gwen Stacy with spider-powers. I liked her in her brief one-shot appearance on the Edge of Spider-Verse, so maybe she’ll be a lot of fun in an ongoing series. She’s definitely a darling already with the cosplay circuit, that’s for sure.
Of course, her costume is just plain awesome.
Outside the Spider-world, there’s also going to be Gamora, penned by Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman. If you’re going to do a comic about the Guardians of the Galaxy, she’s probably the best choice for writer.
She likes knives
Not much else is known about this Gamora series at this time. I’ll give it a shot, but considering how much I hate the other comic versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I doubt I’ll stick around for long. I don’t know what my problem is, but I can’t stand comic book Rocket Raccoon!
What else…what else…oh yes! Operation S.I.N. is going to be a 1950s period piece that sees Peggy Carter and Howard Stark having fun spy adventures. This 5-issue series will be brought to us by Kathryn Immonen and Rich Ellis.
The very definition of synergy!
It’s also going to feature the ‘Man on the Wall’ guy that preceded Nick Fury from Original Sin. Considering how much I hate that whole concept, I doubt I’ll brother with this series – though Immonen is pretty amazing. Still, I have zero interest in anything here. Watching Peggy Carter’s TV show will be more than enough for me.
There’s going to be a Wolverines weekly series, which seems to be about X-23 and Sabretooth fighting over who gets to be the new Wolverine.
Does anybody else love AoA Sabretooth?
That could be fun.
And the big reveal was a new Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic! It’s going to be a year-long event that takes over from Hickman’s ongoing Avengers and New Avengers, currently undergoing their big ‘Time Runs Out’ storyline. Based on the preview picture, it looks like some kind of epic battle between alternate reality superheroes?
Everybody loves callbacks
That would make sense. Considering Hickman’s is currently telling an epic story about the death of the Multiverse, why not pit a bunch of Multiversal heroes against one another? Sounds like a solid comic book premise to me!
Though isn’t that exactly what Multiversity is doing?
Anyway! Those are the new comics from Marvel for the upcoming year. What do you henchies think about them? I’ll probably buy a few issues of each to see what they’re like.
I don’t remember if DC announced anything new at Comic-Con. Their loss!
—————-
Henchman-4-Hire 