Category Archives: Marvel
I’m Not Made of Stone, People
When someone makes a video of a bunch of adorable Pugs dressed up like the Avengers, you better believe I’m going to post it!
Because what am I doing with this blog if not bringing you videos like this one?
Review: Scarlet Spider #10
It’s crossover time in Scarlet Spider, where our favorite wall crawler teams up with Venom to take on Carnage…and the Micronauts, for some insane reason. I’m not going to review the entire crossover, just the issues of Scarlet Spider that are involved. But I’ll provide recaps to make sure everyone is up to speed. This review will focus entirely on Scarlet Spider #10, the second part of the crossover. It’s a pretty good story, hampered only by the general silliness of the plot itself. It’s just my own personal taste, but I don’t particularly enjoy some of comics more fantastical elements. Especially when writers can’t modernize those elements and make them work with modern day comic reading sensibilities.
Scarlet Spider #10
This is basically my way of saying that I just don’t think it works when street-level or military characters are suddenly thrust into a magical micro land full of wild, random characters. But such is Minimum Carnage.
Comic Rating: 3/5: Alright.
There’s nothing particularly special about this issue or this crossover so far. I like the interactions between Scarlet Spider and Venom, and there’s a…minor sense of menace when it comes to Carnage. I’ve always liked Carnage. I wasn’t reading comics yet when his most famous story, Maximum Carnage,came out in the 90s, but I’ve read an issue or two here or there. And there was this palpable terror in the comic. Carnage is a serial killer given extreme super powers, and Maximum Carnage was all about him cutting free and just killing at random in the streets of New York City. People were terrified, the hospitals were overflowing with the injured and the superheroes were pushed to their limit. The Joker always has some kind of game or plan in the works when he kills people. But Carnage just killed indiscriminately, and few have the power to stop him.
Time, of course, has dulled Carnage’s menace. But there are hints and shadows of it in this series so far, not to mention the fact that Carnage has been treated like a pretty important character in recent years. Minimum Carnage comes on the heels of two separate Carnage mini series, one in which he took over an entire town and captured the Avengers. So Carnage has been on a pretty good streak recently, but this new series kind of goes off the rails…
Still, it’s readable. And it’s nice to see Kaine interacting with some other people from the Marvel Universe.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Marvel Has Got Space Characters Too!
I posted yesterday about Threshold, the new DC Comics space series. Well not to be outdone – especially with a big movie on the way – Marvel revealed their space-based comics at a panel at NYC Comic-Con. First up we have the new Guardians of the Galaxy, written by Brian Michael Bendis.
Young, attractive, blonde male make the best lead characters
As you can see, the team will feature Starlord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Drax and someone who appears to be a space-armored Iron Man. This is the exact lineup as the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie in 2014. I wonder if these will be their movie costumes. The inclusion of Iron Man clearly has to do with the shared Marvel movieverse, considering Iron Man is probably the most popular character from the movies. So why not garner some fan attention for the Guardians by throwing Iron Man onto the team?
Personally…I’m not impressed. I’m a huge fan of Bendis, don’t get me wrong, but I was never particularly fond of his Avengers comics, and I doubt I’ll pick up his Guardians comic. I tend to buy comics based on my favorite characters, and none of my favorite Guardians are going to be in this series. I’m sure it will be great, I’m sure Bendis has some great ideas lined up. I just doubt it’s for me.
But I really do hope this works out for Marvel, and I can’t wait for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie!
Next up we have the new Nova series by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness.
Alas, if only he’d been blonde
Sure enough, the new Nova is revealed to be Sam Alexander, a teenager who has taken up the Nova mantle after original Nova, Ritchie Ryder, was lost in space. Sam Alexander is also the same Nova who is appearing in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. He also had that big cameo in the last issue of Avengers vs. X-Men.
Gotta say, I’m also not interested in this one. I loved Ritchie Ryder’s Nova during and after Annihilation, but I have zero interest in reading a new Nova just for Nova’s sake. And Jeph Loeb’s comics haven’t been too great, as of late. I’m just don’t particularly care.
So it looks like both these comics will pass me by. There’s still one more day of the NYCC though, so there may be even more new series announced that I can get behind!
Review: Uncanny Avengers #1
One thing is pretty clear after reading the first issue of the new Uncanny Avengers: Marvel foolishly seems to think Captain America was the hero of Avengers vs. X-Men. Were they reading the same comic I was? Because I’m fairly certain Cyclops was right all along, and it was Captain America who caused all the problems in the first place. But as I said in my review of Avengers vs. X-Men #12, history is written by the winners. And sure enough, Captain America won the big superhero fight. So he gets to decide how the world of superheroes moves forward, and he and all his buddies get to vilify Cyclops like it was their favorite new hobby.
Uncanny Avengers #1
I wonder if the ending to AvX has anything to do with Captain America leading Marvel’s $1 billion Avengers movie franchise, and the X-Men being owned by a whole different studio?
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
I’ll try to tone down my Cyclops love for this review, because it was a good comic. In the sense that it told a straight forward story, set up several main characters and seems to promise a lot of character-based drama in the issues to come. But I’m not blown away by the new series, and there’s nothing in here that’s truly revolutionary or exciting. It’s kind of just…a superhero comic. One that may be a little too closely tied to Avengers vs. X-Men to stand on its own. Both Cyclops and the death of Professor X weigh heavily on this issue, so I don’t know if it’ll be too daunting for new readers who might have been attracted by Marvel NOW!
The choice of villain has been spoiled for a long time, so his appearance wasn’t a surprise. His choice of henchmen, though, leaves a lot to be desired. They sacrificed one of my all-time favorite X-villains for no good reason, then introduced a bunch of new nobodies that literally made me question what the hell I was reading. And not in a good way.
This comic has a lot of potential as Marvel’s new flagship title. I have a lot of faith in writer Rick Remender, and John Cassaday is a very good artist – though I’ve seen him do much better work. He’s definitely not at the top of his game with this issue. Remender and Cassaday lay the groundwork for some hopefully great work coming up. We shall see.
Sneak Peeks at One of the New X-Forces and a Brand New Young Avengers
New York City Comic-Con is upon us, and comic book and pop culture news is going to be coming out hard and fast. I’m going to do my best to keep up with it, so feel free to keep checking back on my blog to see any new articles. You could probably get the same information on other websites, but c’mon, you know you like the atmosphere at Henchman-4-Hire best of all. Tell your friends!
Anyway, this week saw the release of some details about the brand new Young Avengers series and the revamped Uncanny X-Force, both of which are part of the Marvel NOW! campaign. I had a few misgivings about this new Uncanny X-Force, especially because it was announced on the heels of a similar title called Cable and X-Force. There comes a point where Marvel needs to learn that it’s OK to let titles end. You don’t need to slap a new writer and new characters into a title in the vain hope that it’ll keep selling.
Despite the fact that I would kill for a job like that…
My hypocrisy aside, I wasn’t too enthralled at the idea of Sam Humphries’ Uncanny X-Force…until I saw this preview and interview with ComicsAlliance!
Is that…is that a mohawk?
Join me for more details after the jump!
Henchman-4-Hire 