Category Archives: Comics
Review: Teen Titans #10
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. I’ve been demanding an issue like this since the very beginning of the new Teen Titans series. And now that I have it, the issue doesn’t live up to its potential. After finally ending the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. story arc, the Teen Titans get a chance to kick up their feet, relax and interact with one another on a personal level. They finally get some down time, and writer Scott Lobdell tries his darndest to write an issue where the characters act like real people first and superheroes second. But considering how wobbly and breakneck the series has been up to this point, he just can’t pull it off.
Teen Titans #10
This reads like a case of a 40-something white guy whose spent his career writing superhero comics trying to write teenagers being teenagers. The fact that they’re dressed in colorful costumes and hanging out on an island filled with dinosaurs doesn’t help.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright!
The biggest problem with this issue is that I just don’t care about the characters as people yet. They’ve been glued to their superhero identities for the entire series so far, attached at the hip to that ridiculous N.O.W.H.E.R.E. storyline. Now that they’re almost free of it and trying to be normal, it just doesn’t feel natural. Lobdell gives it the old college try, and for that it’s not a bad issue, but the emotional resonance that’s supposed to be behind all these scenes just isn’t there. When Kid Flash and Solstice share an adorable moment together, I was wondering when Kid Flash and Solstice were ever an item? When Superboy hugs the Titans like old friends, I asked myself when did that happen? When one character appears to die in the end, I just couldn’t care. The Titans on the page sure looked all broken up, but the series hasn’t spent enough time with these characters to make me care about them as characters.
So I guess this issue is just going to have to be a step in the right direction. Give me more like this, and maybe I’ll start caring. Though for the first time, the art of Brett Booth doesn’t work for me. His style has been a great fit for this series, but his colorful flashiness robs some of the down-to-Earth nature of some of the scenes.
Perhaps I’m just a big old curmudgeon, unhappy even when Teen Titans tries to give me exactly what I asked for. Oh well. Synopsis and more after the jump!
Marvel to Give Us More Punisher
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve stopped reviewing the Punisher comic by Greg Rucka. I haven’t been enjoying it, and when that big crossover hit with Spider-Man and Daredevil, I wasn’t able to buy the other comics and basically I just haven’t been able to work up any interest whatsoever in continuing. If you highly enjoyed my Punisher reviews, let me know in the comments and I can try and continue.
Otherwise, brace yourself for a second ongoing Punisher series…for some reason.
As if Punisher has never fought the Marvel superheroes before
I guess all those teasers from earlier this week that I thought referred to Ultron War were wrong. It’s just teasing a new Punisher series. Or maybe Marvel is rebooting the current Punisher series. I don’t know, but I assume we’ll find out more soon.
I don’t think Punisher needs more than one series at a time. Back in the 90s, he had four ongoing series because the Punisher was very popular…until all four series crashed and burned, and Punisher became radioactively unpopular for a long while. One Punisher series is all that Marvel needs, as far as I’m concerned. I am not like the current series, but a lot of other people do. So good for them.
But for my money, nothing will ever reach the heights of Garth Ennis’ Punisher ever again. I’m very biased.
Spider-Man to Team Up with Poochie
Or at least his own Poochie equivalent: Alpha!
File this new comic book news under ‘eye-rolling’, as Marvel is apparently going to give Spider-Man a sidekick! According to Fox News (of all places), a new character named Alpha is going to be introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #692 in order to celebrate Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary. Marvel has been teasing “Who is Alpha?” for a week or two now, and today they finally revealed that he’s going to be some white kid who accidentally gets super-powers while visiting Peter Parker’s lab.
Someone got paid to design that costume?
Since Peter is going to feel directly responsible for the kid (‘power and responsibility’ kind of being Peter’s thing), then Spider-Man is going to take Alpha under his wing to teach him about being a superhero. And in glorious fashion, Alpha is going to not only be more powerful than Spider-Man, but he’s going to be edgy and have a little attitude. Because that’s exactly what comic book fans want in their shoe-horned characters. Apparently they also want painfully generic black and teal superhero costumes.
When I first saw this announcement this morning, I thought it had to be some kind of joke. This story could almost qualify as an Onion parody about Spider-Man getting a generic, mainstream media-friendly sidekick.
Check out this quote from Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso from that article:
“Part of it is that Spider-Man is grown up. He’s older, more seasoned, but young at heart. He’s still a young man, but he’s been around. It’s interesting because it flips the paradigm. Teen hero Spider-Man is now responsible for this teen hero sidekick. He’s responsible because one of his inventions caused this kid to get his powers. He’s directly responsible for the responsibility this kid now has with his new powers. He feels he has a responsibility to make sure this kid walks the right path, which won’t prove easy.”
Did you guys know that Spider-Man is all about ‘responsibility’?
After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided that Alpha is being trotted out for a mainstream-friendly story designed to reinforce the ‘powers and responsibility’ motto in time for Spidey’s big anniversary. Alpha is going to be an homage to classic Spider-Man stories. There’s no way this kid is a permanent sidekick for Spider-Man. Or even filling in as a replacement Spider-Man. In fact, I think these news stories are using the word “sidekick” a bit too heavily. Maybe he’ll stick around and become a member of the supporting cast, someone Peter is always thinking about and looking out for, but we’re not talking a Robin level of sidekickery. He’s not going to become as intricate a partner to Spider-Man as the Boy Wonder is to Batman. He’s just going to become a new character in Spider-Man’s life because Dan Slott had a great idea about Spider-Man feeling directly responsible for Alpha getting super-powers.
You can check out a preview for issue #692 and the origin of Alpha right here.
Basically it looks like Peter invents some kind of ‘Science Gizmo’ that fires ‘Parker Particles’, which blast the kid and give him super-powers. Ho-hum.
Science!
If Spider-Man were to really get a permanent partner, the people at Marvel Comics could come up with someone a lot more creative than Alpha.
There is no way that the brilliant Dan Slott, current writer of Amazing Spider-Man, came up with such a bland, generic-looking character as a permanent sidekick to Spider-Man. I mean, c’mon. The name ‘Alpha’ is as generic as calling a new superhero ‘Power Boy’ or ‘Vengeance’. And that costume is ridiculous. Not even a mask?
Here’s what Slott himself said on the message boards at ComicBookResources:
As soon as I turned in the first draft of the story, I said, “When news of this breaks, there are going to be 3 comments made IMMEDIATELY on the internet…”
“I dropped Spider-Man shortly after Brand New Day started and I honestly haven’t missed it. This whole, sidekick thing just shows how right I was to drop it when I did.” <– I nailed this one almost WORD FOR WORD!
The other two involve the words “Poochie” and/or “Scrappy Doo.”
🙂Seriously tho– This is going to be a fun storyline and one I’ve wanted to do for ages. It is VERY Spider-Man. It’s SUCH a Spider-Man story straight-to-the-core. In fact it is SO VERY VERY VERY a quintessential Spider-Man story– it’ll be one of the ones where people AFTER THEY’VE ACTUALLY READ IT will go, “I can’t believe the series has been going for 50 years and no one EVER told that story before.”
So clearly Slott recognizes just how generic and impromptu Alpha is, comparing the character to Poochie and Scrappy-Doo. Slott recognizes that idea and dismisses it. So it’s safe to say that he has something else in mind. Which is good to know, because Slott is a great writer, and there’s no way he’d be responsible for such a weak character.
However, I think Slott would absolutely be willing to create such a boring character as a foil for Spider-Man. Because, as he said, this is Spider-Man’s story, not Alpha’s story. Alpha is just a plot point. He’s a character for Spider-Man to react to. He’s someone for Spider-Man to mentor and reinforce his ‘power and responsibility’ motto. This will be like those Public Service Announcement comics. A fluffy, mainstream-friendly story that anyone can pick up and appreciate Spider-Man for Spider-Man.
We love ya, big guy!
Though we can probably anticipate a dark twist or two, like Alpha becoming a villain or something. I doubt Alpha will be immediately dropped after one story. I’m sure Slott has an end game in mind.
And if you want anymore proof that Alpha is just a mainstream-friendly character: Alpha’s real name is ‘Andy Maguire’. In the big screen films, Spider-Man has been played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Come on!
World of Ultron-Warcraft
We may only be halfway through Avengers vs. X-Men, but you better believe that’s not going to stop Marvel Comics from teasing their next big Event Comic! AvX has to stop at some point, right? And Marvel still wants our money, right?
Well say hello to today’s new teasers!
Watch out, Thor!
Oh no, Wolverine!
So I guess both Thor and Wolverine survive Avengers vs. X-Men, at least.
Anyway! What could those teasers possibly mean? How about the infinitely hyped Ultron War that Marvel has been working on in secret for the past year or so. It was the focus of this year’s Free Comic Book Day issue, and both writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Bryan Hitch (one of my faves) have mentioned it as part of their final Marvel blowout. Hitch has left the company, and Bendis is leaving The Avengers series. Ultron War has been hinted at in Avengers comics, Captain America and I think even Iron Man.
So yeah, that’s my prediction for what these trailers mean. I’m sure we’ll learn more at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con when it rolls around next month. I think it’ll be a pretty cool story. It’ll be nice for the heroes to fight villains for a change, and a villain that matters. Ultron is a true classic villain. Not like the Serpent who showed up in last year’s Fear Itself, who showed up, did nothing and got defeated. Yawn.
Bring on the Ultron War!
Review: X-Factor #238
Last issue was a wonderful character-based story where a several members of X-Factor let their hair down, had a good time and settled the darkest demons of their soul. It was great. This issue is very similar, being an entirely character-based story which sees the members of X-Factor acting and interacting like real people instead of superheroes. While definitely a good read, this issue lacks the spark of energy and excitement that the last issue had.
X-Factory #238
Still, any issue where Multiple Man and Strong Guy banter about getting special jackets for their ‘Deathbeaters’ club is a good issue to me!
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
This is more of a transition issue than anything else, moving characters around to continue with the various stories being told. I wouldn’t say the issue suffers from being a transition issue, it mostly just suffers from mediocre writing and less-than-stellar art. Basically, all of the various members of X-Factor bump into each other and have little chats about what they’re up to and what stories they’re a part of, not all of which are connected. They make jokes, there is some humor, but mostly it’s just light, standard chatter. This issue is another example of why the cast of this book is just too big. With so many people making appearances, they only get a few panels and a few lines to make an impression. It doesn’t work for all of them.
Unfortunately, the art also takes a step back this week with new artist Paul Davidson. The characters are OK, and you can tell them apart thanks to their costumes, but it just looks a little amateurish. The art is just not very good.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more!
Henchman-4-Hire 