Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/23/13
The biggest draw of this week’s comics would have to be X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. Both are fresh of Battle of the Atom, and both get right down to business of telling entertaining X-Men stories. And the fact that both issues focus on lesser tiered X-Men is just a hoot. Let Wolverine have his solo titles, I want to read about Karima Sharpandar and Benjamin Deeds!
Not that the rest of this week’s comics are anything to scoff at. Avengers started to wrap up Infinity, while Wonder Woman is still in the early stages of her next story arc. One of the biggest issues this week is Batwoman, where new writer Marc Andreyko takes over from the bombastic team of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman. Unfortunately, Andreyko’s Zero Year tie-in leaves a lot to be desired. But like I said, both X-books are strong. Comic Book of the Week goes to Uncanny X-Men for an issue focusing on new recruit Benjamin Deeds, and his oddly The Graduate-esque team up with Emma Frost.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #23, Batwoman #25, Uncanny X-Men #14, Wonder Woman #25, and X-Men #7.
Review: Scarlet Spider #23
I wonder if, when all is said and done, the theme of this Scarlet Spider series is going to be ‘failure’. I don’t mean that to be rude, because I’m a huge Scarlet Spider fan and I’ve really enjoyed this comic. But surely everybody going in had to know it probably wouldn’t last. There just isn’t a big enough fan base for the character to warrant several years of publication. New comics these days are lucky to last two years, and I’m grateful that we made it all the way into the 20s. But writer Christopher Yost had to have known his run would have an ending, and I wonder if he planned from the beginning on having Kaine fail as a superhero.
Scarlet Spider #23
It would be a bold stance on a series like this. Not everybody is destined to be the world’s greatest hero, and maybe a sadsack like Kaine just couldn’t cut it. If his final battle with Kraven is any indication, maybe he just doesn’t have what it takes.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
The final battle between Kaine and Kraven is upon us, and it lives up to almost all expectations. Yost has been building this one for awhile, and I’m excited to see Kaine throw down with an established Marvel super-villain. He may be a second-stringer like Kraven, but at least he’s got the chops to be devastating. And Yost makes the stakes pretty damn high, with all of Kaine’s friends on the chopping block. But for all the fun of this final confrontation, I don’t think Yost went far enough. In the end, Scarlet Spider is still just a second-stringer itself, and it’s so close to cancellation that it just doesn’t matter. So Yost just couldn’t deliver as deeply tragic or as powerful an issue as I would have liked.
I would have hoped that a book like Scarlet Spider wouldn’t have the constraints of a normal Spider-Man comic. Kaine is hardly an important, long-lasting character. His supporting cast will probably never be seen again. The villains he faces aren’t very important. I feel Yost should have had a lot more freedom to really push the envelope. Instead, we get a comic where that seems like it might be the case, but where Yost has to pull back at the last second.
What a shame. But it’s an even bigger shame that this comic is coming to an end soon.
Robin Watch: Batsgiving
There hasn’t been too much Robin news lately – other than that day everybody mistakenly thought the new Robin was going to be black – but I’m still keeping a close watch on who might be the next Robin. As you may recall, the leading contenders are Carrie Kelley, an alternate reality version of the female Robin that appeared in Frank Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns, or Harper Row, the street-smart electrical engineer groomed by DC Comics’ current golden boy Scott Snyder.
Speaking of Snyder, he Tweeted a picture yesterday teasing the upcoming new weekly series Batman Eternal.
Why did they invite freakin’ Professor Pyg to dinner!?
The picture is full of Easter Eggs, like the little robin sitting on the back of Titus the dog, Alfred in a straight jacket, possibly a blonde Nightwing, and the first look at New 52 Stephanie Brown (she’s the one in the purple hoodie). So it’s definitely a neat picture. But our interest is in what it means for the new Robin.
If you look at everyone in the picture, you’ll see Harper Row plain as day in a very important position. I think Carrie Kelley might be that orange-haired woman sitting between Catwoman and Batwing, but it’s hard to tell. She’s not wearing her normally signature glasses. Heck, that might not even be Carrie Kelley.
But that’s definitely Harper with the blue streak in her hair sitting next to Red Robin. She’s the one sitting directly behind Batman. She’s also holding a drumstick in her hand, making her the only other person eating Thanksgiving dinner with Batman. She’s also sitting among Red Robin, (a possibly blonde) Nightwing and Stephanie Brown, so clearly that’s the ‘Robin Table’, as it were.
Maybe I’m reading too much into the picture, or maybe I’m reading exactly what Snyder wants me to read. His Tweet was bragging about all the Easter Eggs in that picture, after all, Easter Eggs for the Batman books in 2014. So I suppose we’ll still just have to wait and see.
This has been another edition of Robin Watch!
The Top 6 Fire-Themed Comic Book Characters
Brrrr, it sure is getting chilly outside. I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but here in Central New York, it gets cold in the winter, and it gets cold fast. I’m going to have to break out the winter coat soon. So how about we delay the onset of Jack Frost with a little bit of fire! Hot, sweltering fire is exactly what we need!
I could totally go for some s’mores right now
I tried this once before with snow and ice-themed comic book characters, but who wants to think of something like that on a chilly day like today? Let’s get roasty toasty with some scorching hot heroes instead!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/16/13
The week after Marvel puts a new Thor movie in theaters, they put a new Thor comic on the shelves. I hope someone in their publishing division got a promotion out of that genius move. The comic even has Malekith in it! Talk about synergy! Marvel should also be grateful that Jason Aaron writes an awesome Thor. Who could have guessed that the Asgardian God would be such a hot commodity these days?
He’s not alone, we’ve got swell comics for Batman, Nightwing, Spider-Man and the X-Men. Though Superman and Wonder woman break the streak with their ho-hum attempt at romance. Oh well. Love isn’t for everybody. But it might be for the teenagers in the original X-Men. Those kids are all about feelings. The hilarious and adorable All-New X-Men #18 wins Comic Book of the Week with ease. Check out their fancy new costumes!
I wish I had a costume that cool
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #18, Batman #25, Nightwing #25, Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5, Superior Spider-Man #21, Superman/Wonder Woman #2, Thor: God of Thunder #15.
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