Category Archives: Comics
Full X-Factor Cast Announced – And I Don’t Care for Any of Them
When Marvel and Peter David announced the new X-Factor series last month, they revealed three members right off the bat: Quicksilver, Polaris and Gambit. The remaining three members were kept a mystery, because that’s how comic books work sometimes. Well now it seems the new Previews catalog has revealed the full lineup, and scans have hit the web courtesy of the CBR forums.
This isn’t it, this is what we’ve already seen
I’ll post the scan after the jump in case you don’t want to be spoiled. Suffice to say, I don’t particularly care for anyone on the new team. It really does seem like PAD threw darts at a wall to pick this cast. Kind of like how Uncanny X-Force ended up with Psylocke, Storm, Spiral and Puck.
Click the jump to see the full roster!
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #28
I apologize for the lateness of this review. These are busy days and I am nothing if not a horrible procrastinator. I picked a bad issue to be late on though because this is the last issue of Ultimate Spider-Man! They say that very thing in the letters page. As we all know by now, Cataclysm begins in a month or so, possibly bringing about the end of the Ultimate Universe. We don’t yet know what’s to come of our hero, Miles Morales, but it’s not looking good. I’ve said before that I don’t want to see him brought over to the normal Marvel Universe, but obviously the decision is out of my hands. All I can do is enjoy the final issue of Ultimate Spider-Man for what it is: a fun superhero romp.
Ultimate Spider-Man #28
The last issue of Ultimate Spider-Man sees an end to the threat of Roxxon in playful fashion. It also reaffirms Miles as Spider-Man – while answering a few questions about his origin – just in time to close the book.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until the end of time: Miles Morales worked, at least creatively. It was a bold move for Marvel to kill off Ultimate Peter Parker and replace him with a brand new character, but writer Brian Michael Bendis made the absolute most of it. Miles lives up to the ideals and character we expect from Spider-Man, but he’s a different sort of man than Peter Parker. He’s quieter, for one. And sometimes it feels like he has a lot more responsibility resting on his shoulders. But he’s as entertaining as Spider-Man has ever been. I would happily read about Miles from now until that very end of time. I want to read about him growing up. I want to read about Miles as an adult Spider-Man. I want him to have the life Ultimate Peter Parker never did.
But the world is unfair and Ultimate Spider-Man as we know it is probably over. This is why we can’t have nice things.
This final issue is a good one. Spider-Man and his amazing friends team up to take down Roxxon, and they make fine work of it. The story isn’t written like an ending. By all accounts, it seems like Bendis is more than ready to keep going. The villains at Roxxon don’t put up much of a challenge at all for our little team, which isn’t too bad. Climactic fights are fun, but I’m a man who likes words and dialogue more than punches, and this issue is good on those. This victory means more to the heroes than the villains. And, of course, it’s all drawn spectacularly by Dave Marquez. The man is a dream artist. I would read Bendis and Marquez on Miles Morales well into the afterlife.
But I can’t, because this may very well be it. Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Review: Saga #15
Saga #15 is a kind of fill-in issue, but that’s not a bad thing. Not every issue of Saga can be a mind-meltingly amazing experience. Sometimes Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples just have to take a step back and move the story along on an issue-by-issue basis. We’ve got plot, we’ve got sub-plot, we’ve got a few fun character moments, and most importantly, we’ve got another good issue of Saga. The story is moving along at a nice little pace, so there’s no harm in Vaughn taking a break to enjoy his world for a moment.
Saga #15
Saga #15 is kind of a way station in the ongoing story. Marko, Alana and the gang are enjoying their time in Heist’s lighthouse, while The Will and his team have their own concerns. The larger narrative takes a step back this issue so that we can enjoy the little things in life.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
I read both of Vaughn’s previous comics – Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina – in tpb form, and that was an excellent way to read each series. Vaughn is a man who writes to the bigger picture. His comics aren’t the typical, never-ending superhero dramas. They have beginnings, middles, and, most importantly, endings. So I’m fairly certain Vaughn already knows the general strokes of where Saga is going and how it’s going to end. So maybe the best time to read Saga is when it’s all over, like a novel. But because I’m such a fan of his work, I decided to go issue-by-issue, and while I’m not disappointed, it does lead to issue like this one.
Again, this is in no way a bad issue. It’s Saga‘s usual greatness. But we’re still no closer to the cliffhanger at the end of Saga #12, which I’m really excited to see resolved. Instead, we pause for some R&R. It’s good, enjoyable R&R, but it’s rest and relaxation nonetheless. I’m also a little surprised/confused by the developments for The Will’s team. I’ll get to it in the synopsis, but for now, I’m just not sure what it means for the story as a whole. The Will deserves his own stories, but is this an example of Vaughn writing for the single issues? Or is this new twist part of the larger narrative?
Read on and we shall see!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/2/13
I come to you today, my friends, with a heavy heart. This week saw the release of The Sandman Overture #1, a return to that famous character by world-renowned writer Neil Gaiman, with artist J.H. Williams III on pencils. There’s a very good chance, considering the subject matter and the creative team, that The Sandman Overture could be the greatest comic book of the year. Like everyone else in the world, I love Gaiman’s original run on Sandman. But I’m sorry to say that I just couldn’t bring myself to review the new first issue. I bought it. I read it. I enjoyed it, but I am a mere mortal. I have no place bestowing a grade on work such as this. And besides, after reading issue #1, it’s clear to me that this is a ‘read all at once’ kind of story. So maybe at the end I’ll write something
For now, let’s stick with the superhero stuff, shall we?
We’ve got the final chapters of both Lights Out and Battle of the Atom to enjoy, though I found both to be a little underwhelming. Two chapters of Infinity shipped this week, but nothing new there. The only real stand-out – and therefore Comic Book of the Week – was Superior Spider-Man #20, in which writer Dan Slott seems to gleefully start tearing down both the lives of Peter Parker and Otto Octavius. Slott’s overall plotting on Superior Spider-Man has been a master class in comic-bookery. everything he’s set up so far is about to come crashing down, and it’s going to be a real pleasure to read.
As for Moment of the Week, our last visit with the Time Traveling Icemen pulls it off with aplomb.
Comic Reviews: Infinity #5, Avengers #22, Green Lantern Annual #2, Superior Spider-Man #20 and X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2.
Review: Teen Titans Annual #2
According to the infinite wisdom of DC Comics, the Superboy we’ve been getting to know all along in the New 52 is going to die. Though I don’t know for sure, because I’m not reading the Superboy series or any of the Superman comics, for that matter. And because I don’t read those, Scott Lobdell hates me. At least that’s the impression I get reading Teen Titans Annual #2. Almost everything that happens in this issue ties closely to the events of Superboy and whatever strange concoction of clones and time travel Lobdell and DC have been building over there.
Teen Titans Annual #2
Not that it really matters, in the end, because Teen Titans Superboy is barely a character in the first place. Just like Teen Titans is barely readable.
Comic Rating: 3/10 – Bad.
I have always felt that the decision-making in the New 52 is haphazard at best. DC changes directions on characters and series at the drop of a hat. If something isn’t working, they will go to extreme lengths to try something else and just kind of hope it all works out in the end. No thought is being given to the bigger picture or the long run, and nowhere is that clearer than in the fate of Superboy. Lobdell said at a recent comic convention that Superboy is going to die. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t joking. Instead, DC are going to forge ahead with someone named Jon Kent, the future son of Superman and Lois Lane. It seems the Superboy we’ve been reading about in Teen Titans is a clone of this Jon Kent fella. Again, I think this is all covered in the Superboy series, but I understand that comic is generally unreadable, so I haven’t bothered.
But it’s apparently required reading if you want to try and understand Teen Titans. I would complain more, but then Teen Titans has always been a dumping ground for tenuous connections to other comics. Multiple storylines and characters from Teen Titans have been shuffled off to other comics for no explicable reason; just another example of why Teen Titans is a terrible comic book.
Teen Titans Annual #2 is the issue where Jon Kent replaces Superboy on the Teen Titans. The switch involves time travel, an editor’s note to read Action Comics Annual, and the Teen Titans being played for chumps. So all-in-all, it’s your typical issue of Teen Titans in the New 52. It’s bland, the characters are wafer thin and more effort is put into exposition and clunky dialogue than actual character building.
I would say that it’s sad to see Superboy go, but it’s really not. The character has been as dull as a brick since Teen Titans began, and his recent hook-up with Wonder Girl was the exact opposite direction I wanted the story to go. So see you later, Superboy! You existed, and that’s probably all that can ever be said about you.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
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