Category Archives: Marvel
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews
I’ve been wanting to do this style of comic book review for a long time, but I never end up reading all my new comics before the weekend. However, I’ve got some time on Wednesdays now, so I really want to start. My long reviews take awhile to write, and I can’t do one for every comic I read. So from this week forward (hopefully), I’ll be providing some shorter, quicker reviews on the week’s new comics.
I buy a large smattering of comics across both DC and Marvel, and a few Indy titles. If there is any comic you’d like me to review, let me know via e-mail or in the comments.
Let’s begin!
Amazing Spider-Man #696
Amazing Spider-Man #696
Writer: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Phil Urich is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. His brief series as the good Green Goblin in the 90s was the first comic book series that I ever bought and read with my own money. So of course his transformation into the villainous, perverted Hobgoblin was sad. I preferred him as a down-on-his-luck hero. But with a character as minor and obscure as Phil, I’ve mostly just been grateful that he’s even appearing anywhere. So I’ve been following his career as the new Hobgoblin, and it comes to a head in this issue, as original Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, returns to New York City to crush Phil for good – and, of course, Spider-Man is caught in the middle.
I’ve mostly been enjoying Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man run. He brings a light-hearted feel to the wall-crawler, with brightly colored adventures and really personal stories. This one is no different. Peter Parker has just been outed as the man who builds all of Spider-Man’s gadgets at Horizon Labs, so the Hobgoblin kidnaps Peter for the Kingpin. They want to hold him hostage so that Spider-Man will turn over a special briefcase he’s holding, little knowing that Peter actually is Spider-Man. So it’s up to Peter’s boss, Max Modell, to bring the briefcase in an attempt to free Peter. But just as the exchange is about to go down, Roderick Kingsley attacks, determined to kill Phil.
In the chaos of the Hobgoblin War, Peter and Max escape with the briefcase – which holds a key to Norman Osborn’s entire Goblin arsenal!
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
This was a fun adventure, and your typical Peter Parker in trouble story. The Hobgoblin War idea is pretty cool, as the characters look absolutely wicked under Camuncoli’s pencils. Seeing them battle is the highlight of the issue. Orange is always a great color for super-villains. I’m hoping Phil puts up a fight, and the idea that Roderick is threatening Phil’s girlfriend might bring some heroism out of Phil. One can hope. The Peter action was fun as he pulled off some web-slinging skill, while simultaneously trying to keep Max from deducing the truth. So yeah, entertaining story, fun characters and the hope that one of my all-time favorite comic book characters gets to shine.
Join me after the jump for more! Including AvX: Consequences, Batman Incorporated, Invincible Iron Man, Talon and Wolverine MAX!
6 Best and 6 Worst Male Superhero Halloween Costumes
We are living in a golden age of dressing up as a superhero for Halloween. The success of the superhero film industry has made them the #1 choice for any Halloween party-goer or trick-or-treater. Heck, The Dark Knight alone had to have raised the Joker costume quotient by 2,000%! And I would hope to see a ton of Avengers costumes this year.
Exactly right
I did a List of Six last year about the best and worst female superhero costumes, and it’s been a pretty popular list this fall. So I decided to revisit the idea and do a list of the best and worst male superhero costumes. Being the nerd that I am, the list is based on two things: costume quality and accuracy. This isn’t about the most popular costumes. The girls’ list was also judged on sluttiness, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for men. Superheroes should be an obvious Halloween costume, because the heroes are wearing costumes themselves. So one would think that designing a Halloween costume should involve just recreating the superhero’s costume as accurately as possible.
Apparently not. But sometimes they get it right. All of these costumes were found online available for sale.
When You Stare Into the Iron Man 3, the Iron Man 3 Stares Back At You
The full trailer for Iron Man 3 has hit the Internet, and it’s actually kind of depressing.
Don’t get me wrong, it looks cool, but it also looks very, very depressing. Don’t they know that it’s the second act where the hero is supposed to be at their darkest? I fear that it may be too depressing. I’m sure everybody remembers the awesome Iron Man flying with jets moment from the very first trailer for Iron Man. That’s the kind of thing that gets people pumped for movies.
Not Tony Stark having an existential crisis. Or maybe a mid-life crisis?
Normally it might work, but I’m fairly certain I read somewhere that Marvel and Disney aren’t going to do Devil in a Bottle, the legendary Stark alcoholism story. So all of his depression comes from the awesomeness of the things he saw and did in The Avengers. At least that’s what he says in the trailer. Nice reference to the previous film, by the way. And that last shot is harrowing, but I dunno…are people going to respond positively to a dark, somber Iron Man film?
This isn’t Batman
We also got to see some of the major villain in this film, the Mandarin. While I liked his narration, I don’t think it had the villainous oomph that it needed to really sell this guy’s menace. It could have done with some more, I dunno, outright villainy maybe. Still, I’m sure we can count on Ben Kingsley to pull it off. And for the record, I have zero problem with the Mandarin not being Chinese and not being called the ‘Mandarin’, if that’s the case. I’ve thought that was a silly name all the way back to the 90s Iron Man cartoon…which I’m sad has never been revived or put on DVD following the new success of the Iron Man character.
Oh well. Here’s Kingsley as the ring-slinger:
Hoboish, but I like it
Oh Hey, Someone’s Making an Iron Man 3
The first trailer for Iron Man 3 is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Until then, enjoy this trailer for the trailer:
Not much to see, I’m afraid. Pepper looks like she’s in trouble. And it appears that Robert Downey Jr. is back. As is Iron Man. So all good news! I don’t think we know much about the story yet, only that it will involve the Mandarin (who probably won’t be called that) and possibly Extremis, the funky intravenous Iron Man armor.
Or you could read the laughable official movie synopsis:
Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
I’m fairly certain that describes not only every Iron Man movie so far, but almost every movie ever made, period.
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #16
Brian Michael Bendis still doesn’t seem to have any idea what to do with this Divided We Fall/United We Stand storyline, so apparently he decided to just throw HYDRA at the problem. What should have been a fun issue of Miles trying to join the Ultimates instead quickly descends into a mindless, random fight scene for almost the entire issue. And not a very interesting fight scene either. It’s a dark, rainy battle against an army of identical henchmen, with art that doesn’t necessarily work in sequence.
Ultimate Spider-Man #16
That’s not to say this is a bad comic. It’s fun, well-written and full of action. It just feels like pointless filler is all, at a time when we should be getting some really exciting and fulfilling stories about young Miles Morales’ life.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good.
This is a big moment in Miles’ development as a superhero. He’s decided to volunteer for the Ultimates now that the country is falling apart. At only 13-years-old, he’s decided to step up and be a man, to accept all of the responsibility that his powers have unfairly placed on his young shoulders. And he’s doing so while keeping it all a big secret from his parents. Bendis has weaved a rather delightful web in Miles’ life. But this stupid crossover is just mucking everything up. It feels a little like Bendis’ is flailing, not sure how to handle something so momentous when his Spider-Man is only 16-issues-old.
This should be a big moment for Miles. He should be making character-defining decisions. It’s a little too soon for him to deal with something of his magnitude, but now that it’s here, Bendis should be making the most of it. He’s a skilled enough writer. And while there are hints and whispers of the potential, he doesn’t reach the finish line. Like I said, this is just a big, boring fight scene, but it could have been so much more.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more view!
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