Category Archives: Spider-Man
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/30/13
Oof. Who knew that comic books take Black Friday so seriously? There were a metric ton of new releases this week, including a lot of my favorite titles. If I wasn’t already broke, this week’s haul would have done a number on my poor bank account. Fortunately for us, my love of comics feels no shame, and I bought a bunch of issues anyway!
And what a great bunch of issues! Superior Spider-Man and FF remain as good as ever. I still feel bad for anyone not reading Superior out of spite. You folks are really missing out on some neat stuff. And issues like FF #14 make me sad that the comic is coming to an end soon. Speaking of endings, this week also saw the finale for Infinity with issue #6! The end has been a long time coming, and it’s…good, but none of my complaints were ever addressed. There’s no big twist resolving everything.
Infinity ends about as well as one could expect, with the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. At least nobody was needlessly sacrificed in the name of cheap thrills. The same can be said for the end of Aquaman – or, at least, Geoff Johns’ run on the character. He wraps up all his big storylines in glorious fashion and doesn’t kill Mera or anyone else just for shock value.
Of course, neither does Hawkeye #14.
Aquaman #25 almost won comic book of the week. It came close. But then I read the adorable, squeeful Hawkeye #14 and there was no other choice.
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #25, FF #14, Hawkeye #14, Indestructible Hulk #16, Infinity #6, New Avengers #12, Red Lanterns #25, Superior Spider-Man #22.
First Leaked Look at Rhino and Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man 2!
The internet being what it is, some industrious Twitterer found a poster in a movie theater for Amazing Spider-Man 2 that features both Rhino and Green Goblin. The two villains have never before been seen by the public! So this is pretty awesome.
With great box office, comes better costuming
Buuuuut just in case you don’t want to get spoiled, I’ve posted the pictures after the jump. You can find them there!
Review: Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1
Cataclysm is upon us. The Ultimate Universe has been chugging along for more than a decade now, and with Cataclysm, it looks like we might be at the end. We comic book fans don’t yet know what’s going to happen at the end, but all signs are pointing to some kind of cancellation of the Ultimate line. Or maybe a streamlining? Who can really say? All I know is that Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, has crossed the interdimensional barrier and plans on eating the planet Earth in the Ultimate Universe. All of the Ultimate heroes are scrambling to deal with the problem, including our much-beloved Miles Morales – which is a huge shame, since this means Miles’ book might be cancelled. It seems writer Brian Michael Bendis got the memo a little too late.
Cataclysm Spider-Man #1
With the first issue of this Cataclysm tie-in, Bendis proves that he fully intended to just keep writing Ultimate Spider-Man, regardless of whatever cosmic demigods decided to show up. That means this issue is even more bittersweet.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
The last few issues of Ultimate Spider-Man were all about Miles teaming up with Spider-Woman, Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger for a wacky adventure against the Roxxon Corporation. This issue, despite being renamed and renumbered to tie-in to Cataclysm, picks up exactly where the last issues left off, following all four of those characters in the aftermath of their team-up. In all honesty, and some spoilers, Galactus doesn’t even show up until the very last page. This is less a tie-in than it is Ultimate Spider-Man #29. On the one hand, there’s nothing wrong with that, because I could read Bendis writing the daily lives of these characters until the cows come home. But if this is truly the end, if these characters are soon to be gone forever, then it’s kind of a waste of an issue. Bendis could have found a lot more to do in terms of Miles, his family and his friends reacting to the end of the world.
If you’re at all invested in Miles and his Amazing Friends, you should enjoy this issue. I know I did. The art by David Marquez is as amazing as ever. The pencils are a little sketchier than I’m used to, but the art remains top notch. Bendis’ writing is, likewise, a ton of fun to read. There’s a fantastic scene between Spider-Woman and the Ultimates, and solid scenes for the rest of them. It’s clear that Bendis has stories in mind for everyone. I just really hope he gets a chance to tell them to completion.
Review: Scarlet Spider #23
I wonder if, when all is said and done, the theme of this Scarlet Spider series is going to be ‘failure’. I don’t mean that to be rude, because I’m a huge Scarlet Spider fan and I’ve really enjoyed this comic. But surely everybody going in had to know it probably wouldn’t last. There just isn’t a big enough fan base for the character to warrant several years of publication. New comics these days are lucky to last two years, and I’m grateful that we made it all the way into the 20s. But writer Christopher Yost had to have known his run would have an ending, and I wonder if he planned from the beginning on having Kaine fail as a superhero.
Scarlet Spider #23
It would be a bold stance on a series like this. Not everybody is destined to be the world’s greatest hero, and maybe a sadsack like Kaine just couldn’t cut it. If his final battle with Kraven is any indication, maybe he just doesn’t have what it takes.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
The final battle between Kaine and Kraven is upon us, and it lives up to almost all expectations. Yost has been building this one for awhile, and I’m excited to see Kaine throw down with an established Marvel super-villain. He may be a second-stringer like Kraven, but at least he’s got the chops to be devastating. And Yost makes the stakes pretty damn high, with all of Kaine’s friends on the chopping block. But for all the fun of this final confrontation, I don’t think Yost went far enough. In the end, Scarlet Spider is still just a second-stringer itself, and it’s so close to cancellation that it just doesn’t matter. So Yost just couldn’t deliver as deeply tragic or as powerful an issue as I would have liked.
I would have hoped that a book like Scarlet Spider wouldn’t have the constraints of a normal Spider-Man comic. Kaine is hardly an important, long-lasting character. His supporting cast will probably never be seen again. The villains he faces aren’t very important. I feel Yost should have had a lot more freedom to really push the envelope. Instead, we get a comic where that seems like it might be the case, but where Yost has to pull back at the last second.
What a shame. But it’s an even bigger shame that this comic is coming to an end soon.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/16/13
The week after Marvel puts a new Thor movie in theaters, they put a new Thor comic on the shelves. I hope someone in their publishing division got a promotion out of that genius move. The comic even has Malekith in it! Talk about synergy! Marvel should also be grateful that Jason Aaron writes an awesome Thor. Who could have guessed that the Asgardian God would be such a hot commodity these days?
He’s not alone, we’ve got swell comics for Batman, Nightwing, Spider-Man and the X-Men. Though Superman and Wonder woman break the streak with their ho-hum attempt at romance. Oh well. Love isn’t for everybody. But it might be for the teenagers in the original X-Men. Those kids are all about feelings. The hilarious and adorable All-New X-Men #18 wins Comic Book of the Week with ease. Check out their fancy new costumes!
I wish I had a costume that cool
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #18, Batman #25, Nightwing #25, Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5, Superior Spider-Man #21, Superman/Wonder Woman #2, Thor: God of Thunder #15.
Henchman-4-Hire 