Category Archives: Spider-Man
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/24/12
Holy mackerel, it’s a big week in comic books for me! I know I buy a lot of comics each week, but for some reason, a veritable ton of books were waiting for me in the comic shop. I’m lucky I managed to get through them all! I may have to start bleeding over some titles into the week after if I get anymore weeks like this. I’m only one man, after all. So what do we have in store for us this week? A nice smattering of DC and Marvel, with a few new Marvel NOW! starts, including The Indestructible Hulk, the title I was most looking forward to. Did it live up to the hype? Maybe. How about the big Amazing Spider-Man surprise? That definitely lived up to the hype.
But surprise, surprise, the Comic Book of the Week turned out to be Captain Marvel #7! I’m glad to see that title finally carrying its weight.
Captain Marvel fights the Iron Giant’s redneck cousin
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #698, Batwoman #14, Captain America #1, Captain Marvel #7, Green Lantern: New Guardians #14, Hawkeye #4, Indestructible Hulk #1, Justice League #14, Nightwing #14, Red Hood and the Outlaws #14, Uncanny X-Force # 34, Wolverine and the X-Men #21, and Wonder Woman #14.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/17/12
AvX: Consequences has been cleaning up as the best comic of the week in all the initial Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews, but DC Comics isn’t about to give up just yet. They launched an onslaught of Batman titles this week (at least 2), playing into their revitalized Joker. Was I impressed? Maybe. Has it changed my opinion at all about the Joker? Well you’ll just have to read on to see. Suffice to say, Batman #14 earns the title of Comic Book of the Week! But don’t count Marvel out completely. They launch new X-Men and Thor comics, possibly for the better. And believe you me, the new Thor may be the best Marvel NOW! has to offer so far!
Yes, yes, we all fondly remember The Dark Knight Returns
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #697, Batman #14, Batman and Robin #14, Thor: God of Thunder #1 and Wolverine and the X-Men #20.
Review: Scarlet Spider #11
Talking about burying the lead. Minimum Carnage was supposed to be a team-up between Scarlet Spider and Venom, as they join forces to take down the super-villain serial killer Carnage. But the two characters haven’t even been in the same room together since the start of the crossover. Instead, this is one big space alien story that just happens to involve Scarlet Spider and Venom on the side. It’s as if writers Christopher Yost and Cullen Bunn were huge fans of the Micronauts back in the day, and Marvel agreed to let them write the ultimate Microverse story, but only if they could slap some existing characters into the tale. Then someone came up with the pun ‘Minimum Carnage’, and they were off!
Scarlet Spider #11
This story is turning out to be a weird, convoluted political tale about characters we’ve either never heard of before or haven’t heard from in decades. No thank you.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
I can’t even be sure if this story has anything to do with the Microverse of the past. I’m only vaguely familiar with the Micronauts, but who is the Redeemer? What is the Enigma Force? Or Marquis Radu? I imagine these are all characters and concepts thought up by Yost and Bunn to tell their story. But none of it has anything to do with Scarlet Spider or Venom, and very little to do with Carnage. They might as well have used any combination of heroes and villains in this story. Nothing that has happened so far, at least as far as I can see, has any direct impact or importance to either hero, especially Scarlet Spider. He is just along for the ride, and doesn’t even particularly want to be there.
The decision to set this tale in the Microverse was the completely wrong decision. Nobody cares about the Microverse anymore. Nobody is interested in that kind of story. A comic where Scarlet Spider and Venom team up to fight Carnage is a good idea for a comic. But Yost and Bunn have instead buried that cool seed of an idea into tainted soil, and as a result, a crummy story has grown. And that’s my metaphor of the month!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
It Will Never Stop Being Funny That the Amazing Spider-Man Uses Bing
Honest Trailers is back, this time parodying The Amazing Spider-Man.
Each and every one of these that they have made has been gold, or at least the ones I’ve seen. And they’re clearly having a lot of fun poking holes in some pretty popular movies. Even though I loved The Amazing Spider-Man, there’s no denying that Screen Junkies are right on the mark about this. No teenage science geek like Peter Parker would stoop to using Bing!
‘Jamie Foxx is Electrifying’ Will Be the New Thing to Say
So it seems that Jamie Foxx has been tapped to play Electro in the Amazing Spider-Man sequel. That’s pretty fascinating, actually. It tells us that Sony doesn’t want to repeat the villains from the first trilogy, and it also tells us that they want to keep things classy. Electro is hardly a marquee villain, but they casting an A-list actor anyway.
For those of you who don’t know, this is Electro:
He’s going to ‘zap’ to it!
Yeah, not exactly…ready for the big screen. That bright gold and yellow leotard might work in comics (or at least comics from the 60s and 70s), but there’s no way it’s going to fly in today’s modern movie market. Maybe in the original Spidey trilogy, but definitely not in the darker, grittier Amazing Spider-Man reboot universe. But hey, don’t worry, there already exists a much better version they can use.
Meet Ultimate Electro:
Much snazzier
He’s the hipper, more modern version of the character introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man. Same powers, same badassery, but much better costume.
As for origin, motivation and character? None of that matters! Electro, or Max Dillon, has never had a solid story based around him like some of the other villains. He’s always been just a workman sort of super-villain, a common criminal who just happened to have electricity powers. So the new movie can do whatever they want with him. Including turning him into a black man.
He will super villain you with his eyes
Though they may have some problems, considering DC already has that covered with Black Lightning…
But anyway, what do I think? I think it’s a fine idea. Jamie Foxx is a great actor, and I’m sure he could do a great job as a menacing super-villain. And Electro is a good choice for villain. His powers are tough, and I bet they’d look great on the big screen. I listed him as one of the 6 villains I’d like to see in this new franchise.
I just wonder what this might mean for the Green Goblin/Norman Osborn appearance…
Henchman-4-Hire 