Category Archives: Reviews
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/28/13
Christmas has come and gone, and both major comic book publishers decided to go really light this week. What’s up with that? Do they think we comic book geeks aren’t going to buy our favorite books just because New Comic Book Day falls on a holiday? For shame! But hey, at least my wallet isn’t complaining.
Even though this week saw only a few books released, they are some big ones. Origin II continues the early years of Wolverine, and Forever Evil and Justice League continue the whole Forever Evil foofarah. I hope it’s going somewhere good. Comic Book of the Week goes to Avengers #24! Jonathan Hickman actually delivers a comic I really enjoyed. I only wish his entire run had been this good.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #24, Forever Evil #4, Justice League #26 and Origin II #1.
Review: Saga #17
Oh man, I am so glad Saga #17 isn’t the last issue before the next multi-month break. The big confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys has arrived, but Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples cut it off with another tense cliffhanger. This issue is the opening salvo of the next big climactic encounter, and it’s pretty devastating in and of itself. But the juiciest stuff is probably being saved for next issue. I can live with that…barely.
Saga #17
Saga #17 sets everything up for a big, exciting battle to come, but it is not without its own charms and horrors.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
Prince Robot is at the door! He has tracked Marko and Alana to Heist’s lighthouse on Quietus, and Vaughn is ready to have some wicked fun with everything he has set up so far. I have no doubt in my mind that he has the entirety of Saga planned out in advance, he simply must. So the events of this issue, I know, are part of a larger, better, bigger story, and that makes them even more exciting. Saga isn’t just Vaughn making it up as he goes along. Saga is Vaughn at the top of his storytelling game.
Taken alone, there isn’t much to this issue. It’s a solid chapter, with some truly exciting moments, but it’s all mostly set up for next issue. Saga #17 is Vaughn and Staples getting the ball rolling, and I’m going to guess next issue is when the ball smashes through the wall and brings the whole darn lighthouse down! Possibly literally!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/21/13
Merry Soon-to-be-Christmas, comic book lovers! Have you got your presents all bought and wrapped? Plane tickets home to visit the family? Menorah put out and safely tucked away until next year? If only the world was such a place that we could give everybody comics and everybody would be happy. Nope! Instead, I actually had to go and pick out specific gifts for everybody. I doubt my aunt would have anything to do with an All-New X-Men tpb.
Speaking of All-New X-Men, it’s in our pile this week, which is – admittedly – a little short. I guess the week just got away from me and I wasn’t able to read too many off my stack. But we’ve got some good titles here, including Wonder Woman and the first issue of the new Harley Quinn series! I bet there are a lot of happy Harley fans out there. I’m only lukewarm at best, and that’s exactly how I feel about this first issue. It’s a fine start, I suppose, but it’s not going to win any awards for creativity.
But if they’re handing out awards for adorkableness, then FF would win’em all! We’re gearing up for the big finish, and the family Allred are pulling out all the stops! FF #15 easily smashes its way into Comic Book of the Week with it’s fantastically fun use of the FF kids and their robotic assault on Castle Doom!
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #20, FF #15, Harley Quinn #1, Wonder Woman #26 and X-Men #8.
Review: Scarlet Spider #25
It is with a heavy heart, but a definite optimism, that we bid farewell to Scarlet Spider, the little comic that almost could. How is it even possible that Marvel took a chance on a comic so deeply indebted to the despised Clone Saga? A comic starring Kaine, of all characters, going by the name ‘Scarlet Spider’, of all names? Sheer lunacy! But writer Christopher Yost made it happen, and through 25 issues, he gave us a pretty darn good comic book. This final issue is, in some ways, a wrap up of Kaine’s adventure in Houston. But it’s just as much a prologue for what comes next in New Warriors.
Scarlet Spider #25
Scarlet Spider #25 is a good finale. The art is back to its usual strength, and Yost gives us a pretty epic battle with which to say goodbye. There isn’t too much soul searching or finality, but this comic is a pretty solid look into the life of the failed clone of Spider-Man.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
I think Kaine is a character with a lot of potential, and it’s a simple potential. Just like the banner read at the start of this series: ‘All the power, none of the responsibility.’ He’s not the anti-Spider-Man, he’s Spider-Man’s neglected kid brother. That has potential. Spider-Man is this great hero, well respected in the superhero community, beloved by many beautiful women, adored by his loving Aunt May and all-in-all, lives a pretty OK life (other than this Otto Octavius stuff, of course). Kaine is the guy living in Peter Parker’s shadow. Kaine didn’t ask for this life. He didn’t choose to give himself spider-powers. He was born into Peter Parker’s shadow, and he isn’t using that to become some kind of heartless, evil villain who just wants to make Peter miserable – like the reveal of Thomas Wayne Jr. as the head of the Court of Owls over in Scott Snyder’s Batman.
And therein, I think, lies part of the problem with Scarlet Spider the series. And why I think DC’s new Harley Quinn series isn’t going to last long: when you remove these characters from the context in which they are most interesting, giving them instead a generic superhero set up, it robs their story of its maximum appeal. Kaine may be an entertaining guy, but I most want to read about Kaine in the context of the rest of the Spider-verse. What do the Avengers think about Kaine? What do Mary Jane and Aunt May think about Kaine? How does Peter deal with having his adversarial clone healthy and alive? I loved the scenes at the end of Spider-Island where the two of them had to work together. Why couldn’t we have a comic about that?
Removing Kaine (or Harley Quinn) from that which defines them is going to make the comic a tougher sell. This is a cruel market, and as you can see, Scarlet Spider just didn’t last.
Hopefully, New Warriors will learn some lessons from Scarlet Spider. Kaine will be interacting with the larger Marvel Universe, with people who will compare him to Spider-Man. Therein lies the best drama, I think. Not that Kaine’s adventure in Houston wasn’t thoroughly entertaining. I would say this was a quaint but forgettable series, hopefully a springboard to launch Kaine into bigger and better adventures.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Review: Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #2
When this issue came out on Wednesday, writer Brian Michael Bendis made a plea to reviewers on the Internet not to spoil the ending. And as much as I want to follow his wishes, the ending is the only thing in this issue worth talking about. Plus, it’s been a few days now, and I don’t think Bendis reads my blog (but if he does, ‘Hi!’). I’ll spoil it when we get to it, just know that the ending says a lot about Cataclysm, and not in any way that I like.
Cataclysm Spider-Man #2
Based on this issue, it looks like Cataclysm is probably changing whatever plans Bendis had for Miles Morales’ story. And that’s a damn shame.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
Of course, this is still a Bendis-penned Ultimate Spider-Man comic, so it’s still entertaining. But this issue is one big generic tie-in fest. Nobody in the world of Ultimate Spider-Man is going to stop Galactus, so this would be an opportunity to show Miles and his cast responding to the end of the world. It’s like that, in a way, but not in any sort of meaningful way. There’s nothing overly touching or very deep in the issue. It all just kind of happens.
Fortunately, the characters remain entertaining and worthwhile. We also get flashbacks to what they were all doing during the last Ultimate Universe catastrophe in Ultimatum, not that any of them were doing anything very interesting. But then was anybody doing anything interesting in Ultimatum?
As I’ve said before, Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man is just too good to be interrupted by a story like Cataclysm. This issue is my evidence why.
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