Marvel Comics Retro 16 by marvelclassics
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Look out here some the Amazing Spiderman vintage hoodie! I am a huge Spiderman fan and seeing this hoodie just makes my mouth water. I don’t know what it is about it, I think it is the vintage look with the modern high quality printing that makes these Marvel Comics hoodies look so cool. What do you think of them of the recent set of vintage hoodies?

I wasn’t even planning to blog today. I was just going to kindly nudge you over my colleague’s site Slow Decade to read his defense of the single issue, then be on my merry way to work on some freelance pieces.

But then I read this.

In the ongoing Amazing Spiderman, The Chameleon pretends to be Peter Parker and seduces his roommate Michelle.

This sparked a debate amongst fans as to whether or not she was raped. Writer Fred Van Lente argued she was not:

My understanding of the definition of rape is that it requires force or the threat of force, so no. Using deception to trick someone into granting consent isn’t quite the same thing.

Seriously? Seriously? Seriously?

A rapist doesn’t need to lurk in the bushes with a goddamn pocket knife or backhand someone into submission a la Watchmen to be a rapist.  It’s the continual perpetration of that myth that keeps women feeling unsafe in the streets and ignorant of the much more common and much more subtle acts of rape that occur every day.

[Spoler Alert]

They just made out. From Van Lente:

Amazing Spider-Man #605, which went to the printer weeks ago, makes it clear that Michelle and Chameleon did nothing more than make out in the kitchen scene in #603.

There was no sex, and therefore no rape.

Well, fine. But you changed your story, and your earlier display of total ignorance still stands.

Here are some comics I strongly recommend picking up this week from Marvel and DC.

Marvel

Invincible Iron Man 18

This is one of the best books Marvel is putting out right now. The eleven issues arc has gotten better and better as it draws to a close. Matt Fraction has found a way to seemingly erase the past few years and remake Tony Stark as a compelling and sympathetic character. I can’t wait to read this each and every month. Great plotting, dramatic scenes and dialogue, excellent characterization of Stark and all his supporting characters. Highly recommended.

Amazing Spiderman 605

A fun book that manages to manages to bring a fun old-school feel while expanding on the Spiderman mythos. In a book like this, Peter Parker isn’t just a comedian or a hero or a nerd or a friend, he’s all those things and more. I figured that the Mary Jane and Chameleon arcs were going to end last issue, but it seems that this issue will actually finish those stories.

War Machine 9

A great book, and completely different from Invincible Iron Man. Pak continues to write an interesting James Rhodes and helps him step completely out of Tony Starks’s shadow. War Machine is a dark, gritty, and realistic (well, realistic in comic book terms) book that combines lots of violence and pathos as Rhodey becomes more machine than man. The art usually perfectly complements the dark tone of the book. Some people have incorrectly labeled this as “Robot Punisher,” but it’s more than that. War Machine has become a one man army in ways Punisher never could be. Instead of targetting gangsters and criminals, he stops and kills governments, armies, and military contractors responsible for genocide and other crimes against humanity. Different from a lot of the other titles a read, but a good book nonetheless.

Some other good comics this week:

Captain America: Reborn 3: The third issues of the series that will bring back Captain America. We all knew it would happen, so it’s interesting to see how Brubaker plans to do it. I didn’t like the first issue because the location of Steve Rogers was a little too far-fetched and stupid in my opinion. However, I thought issue two made the best out of a stupid premise and delivered some competent storytelling. Brubaker’s provided some great Captain America stories before, so I’m sure it will continue to improve.

X-Factor 48: One of my favorite characters and favorite books. Peter David has a unique writing style that makes his characters seemingly realistic and unrealistic at the same time. His dialogue and plotting are often very funny too. The only problem is sometimes the story gets so complicated and disjointed that everything suffers. In addition, the dialogue can sometimes get too tongue-in-cheek, so that it sounds ridiculous. Unfortunately there have been some moments like this in the current arc. Hopefully this book gets a little better.

X-Men Legacy: Annual 1: This is now the official start of the Rogue-centered X-Men Legacy book. This is a great starting point for new readers, and I’m definitely going to give this book a try. I read the crossovers with Utopia, and I noticed that Mike Carey writes a really good Rogue. This should be good.

Thor Annual 1: This has been a really good title. Not a lot of action or comedy, but lots and lots of drama. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching some movie about the rivalries in the British royal family. After the last arc, Loki has tricked Thor and thus stripped him of his title and honor. He’s at an all-time low right now.

Mighty Avengers 29: A fun team book with a classic Avengers feel. For me, one of the most important things in any comic book is a well-written and interesting leading character, and that’s what Dan Slott’s Antman is in Mighty Avengers. Just like Invincible Iron Man, Antman has suffered through several years of writing that turned him into a kind of supervillain. Slott manages to bring back the old-school hero. The book also features Hercules and Amadeus Cho, so it’s pretty cool.

DC

Batman and Robin 4

This has been a fun book exploring the dynamics between the new Batman and Robin. Since it’s written by Morrison, it has some classic, iconic dialogue and some very disturbing villians. Unfortunately, Frank Quitely takes a break from drawing for this arc, but Philip Tan should do a good enough job filling in. This arc looks especially interesting as it introduces the Red Hood.

Blackest Night 3

I don’t love this book as much as some others do, but it’s the biggest thing happening in DC right now, so it’s pretty hard to ignore. Geoff Johns is a talented writer and writes a great Hal Jordan, that’s the main reason I’m still reading this. I find  the tone and dialogue of this book to be sometimes corny, and almost always wrong. It seems like a zombie horror/super-hero book that tries to take the horror seriously, but I don’t think Johns has got it right. Saying that, I liked the second issue more than the first, and the series should continue to get better.

A few other books I like:

Final Crisis: Aftermath 5 (of 6): There’s no reason to pick this up if you  haven’t been following it already, but if you have been reading it, then you’re anticipating this as much as I am. This is a strange, confusing, challenging book that instills as much vertigo in the readers as it does in the characters. It’s weird. I have no idea what’s going on, but I still can’t wait to read each issue. I hope it ends as well as it started.

Brave and the Bold 27: This is the start of J. Michael Straczynski’s run on B&B. To start off, he’s teaming Batman up with Hero for Hire. I always thought Hero for Hire was a funny and interesting concept. I think this will be the start of a good run on the title, and it seems like JMS is intent on bringing together some unique and forgotten characters, which is exactly what this title is for.

Here are some cool comics coming out this week. Just Marvel and DC (no Vertigo), so lots of great comics get left out. First the comics I strongly recommend to anyone, and then some strong maybes.

Marvel

Amazing Spiderman 604

I’ve been loving Spiderman lately. Action, comedy, drama. It’s got it all. The team of writers has brought back some old-school fun to the title, so it’s month-in month-out one of my favorite books. The recent arc by Van Lente has put a really cool spin on Chameleon and his modus operandi. I can’t wait to see how it concludes with this issue.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus 1

Though not as great as his Invincible Iron Man, Fraction has been writing the pants off of the X-Men. This is the end of the big Avengers/X-Men crossover, and it’s supposed to usher in a new status quo for the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel Universe. Fraction has turned Cyclops into a pretty cool leader, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got planned for Norman Osborn and his Avengers.

Incredible Hercules 134

Like I’ve said before, Pak and Van Lente write one of my favorite titles. In Incredible Hercules, they expertly combine Greek and Marvel mythos. They’ve turned the book into a great buddy flick (I mean comic) by featuring the relationship between classic hero Hercules and boy genius Amadeus Cho, and the result is a really funny and exciting book. Currently the two are broken up, and this issue focues on Hercules and his de-aged father (Zeus) fighting evil creatures from Norse mythology (doing a favor for Thor’s brother).

Some other great comics:

Dark Reign: The List- Avengers 1: This is the start of a new Dark Reign event, The List. I’m not exactly sure what this event is about, but this issue is written by Brian Michael Bendis, so it should be pretty good. This issue centers on Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye) and since he’s awesome, i think this might be worth picking up.

Marvel Zombies Return 2: Last week Marvel Zombies Return 1 was awesome. It was gory and disturbing and hilarious. This is written by somebody else, so it may not be good. But on the strength of the first issue, I’m going to recommend it anyway.

Thunderbolts 135: A dark and twisted comic about Norman Osborn’s covert ops team. In the past the Thunderbolts were a team of villians trying to become heroes, but now it’s mostly villains (led by a villian) pretending to be heroes. The first few issues were dark, but kinda bland, and lacking good characterization of some of the members. However, I’ve really liked the last few issues. Everyone’s starting to develop their own voice, and the plot’s becoming more interesting. Hopefully this issue will continue the trend.

DC

Adventure Comics 2

The first issue was great. The Superboy story was fun and charming at times and dark and a little foreboding at other times. The Legion of Superheroes story wasn’t as good, but it was still interesting. I gotta feeling that this title will have some top-notch Geoff Johns storytelling, so I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in Superboy and/or the Legion of Superheroes.

Green Lantern Corps 40

I haven’t loved Blackest Night or the lastest issues of Green Lantern all that much. At the same time, I’ve still been enjoying the Green Lantern Corps issues. Tomasi does a great job balancing the large and varied cast while also making Blackest Night seem more important and interesting than it does in the title book.

Secret Six 13

To be honest, I’m a Marvel guy. I read much more Marvel than I do DC, and I find the writing and characters more appealing. Of my favorite books, they are all Marvel except for this one. Gail Simone has made the Secret Six one of the funniest, most unpredictable, and disturbing teams in comics today. She has taken what are arguably B and C-list villians and turned them into infinitely cool and interesting characters. This current arc is pretty crazy, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out and what effect it’ll have on the team.

Here’s some other cool comics:

Doom Patrol 2: The first issue was alright. It wasn’t that interesting or great, but the Doom Patrol is an inherently interesting team, so I figure it should get better. The best part of the first issue was the Metal Men co-feature. Written and drawn by the creative team behind the great JLI comics of the 80s, the Metal Men story was great because of the hilarious team chemistry. The characterization was completely spot-on. If the Doom Patrol story improves, this could be one of my favorite DC books.

Booster Gold 24: I’ve been reading this title since its beginning, and although it’s had some ups and downs, it’s been pretty consistently enjoyable. I started picking this up because Blue Beetle is one of my favorite characters ever, and after 24 issues, Booster Gold has become one of my favorite characters too. Time travel, comedy, and old-fashioned comic book fun.

Blackest Night Batman 2: The first issue was pretty good, and it featured Deadman, who’s awesome. Personally I liked Blackest Night Superman a little more, but this book is still pretty cool. Long story short dead members of the Batman family have come back to life with the help of Black rings, and now it’s up to Batman, Robin, and Red Robin to figure out what’s going on.

Shield 1: I thought this was coming out last week, but it got delayed. I talked enough about it last week. Looks interesting, and it will be exploring the origins of a new addition to the DC universe.

Alright. Here’s some cool titles this week that I’m reading/recommending. Unfortunately, I read almost exclusively Marvel/DC, so many great titles get left out. First are the titles that I definitely recommend to anyone who wants to read some new comics, and then I’ll offer some other interesting titles that may appeal to different people.

Marvel

Daredevil # 500

Daredevil is one of the best comics that Marvel puts out. It has a kung-fu/noir feel and also has great writing and art. It’s in the middle of a story arc, but it shouldn’t be too hard to follow. Currently Daredevil is working with Kingpin in order to defeat a mysterious new enemy called Lady Bullseye. Brubaker knows how to write Daredevil, and this is something you need to start reading.

X-Factor #47

One of my favorite comics, X-Factor is a comic written by Peter David which combines down-to-earth characters and outrageous storylines. It has a noir feel, but never takes itself too seriously. Interesting and unpredictable writing. Great character moments and humor. To catch you up, Madrox is in a post-apocalyptic future with Layla. The rest of X-Factor is currently fighting someone named Cortex who has the power to take control of other people’s minds.

Other interesting Marvel books:

Amazing Spiderman 603: Mary Jane’s back and so is the Chameleon. Chameleon has been slightly re-envisioned, and he is much more interesting. Kicks off from cliff-hanger from last issue. Humor, action, character moments means classic Spiderman.

Mighty Avengers 28: Dan Slott writes this Avengers book and tries to give it a light-hearted old-school feel. Hank Pym’s characterization is pretty interesting. However, dialogue and humor sometimes fall flat. Also the current story arc is about an ancient Inhuman king, and it doesn’t grab me very much. Still a fun book though.

X-Men Legacy 227: The new writer has a great handle on Gambit and especially Rogue. The current story follows them while they handle the fallout from the X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover. Cool character moments.

DC

Superman Annual #14

Currently Superman is spending a year in space living and working with the residents of New Krypton. During this year, the Superman title has become an ensemble book that follows the adventures of Mon-El, Guardian, and Steel, three periphery characters in the Superman mythology. Mon-El has always been an interesting character who has never gotten much development, so he’s the main draw of the issues. FYI, he’s a Daxamite that was trapped in the Negative Zone and just got out. As a Daxamite, he has all the powers of Superman but is lethally vulnerable to lead instead of kryptonite. That turns out to be a pretty big problem on Earth. Anyways, he’s pretty cool, and since it’s written by James Robinson (Cry for Justice not included), it’s a fairly interesting book.

Other interesting DC books:

Batgirl 1: Don’t know where this is going. There’s been a large amount of promotion for it, so it might be something to look at.

Blackest Night: Superman 1: Just part of the company wide crossover. Follows the Earth 2 Superman’s resurrection and actions. I think it’s Earth 2 Superman.

Brave and the Bold 26: B&B has one-shot stories teaming up heroes that seldom (or never) work together. This issue is teaming up Spectre and Xombi, one of the Milestone characters that just got introduced to the DC Universe. Next month could be more interesting, and it’s the start of J. Michael Straczynski’s (from Thor) run on the title. He’ll start off by teaming up Batman and Dial H for Hero. These issues are kind of a mixed bag. At best it’s light-hearted fun with good character moments and unique character interactions. At worst it’s generic plots and out-of-character interactions.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance 4: Very interesting comic. It’s 4 of 6, so it might be hard to follow. If you like it, I definitely recommend getting the back issues and also checking out their first appearance in Final Crisis. Dance follows Japan’s newest super hero team The Super Young Team. The title explores superheroics, media, and fame in the 21st century. The heroes are all selfish (sometimes), and there’s some existentialist stuff going on. Interesting and pretty cool.

The Red Circle: The Web 1: One of four one-shots featuring J. Michael Straczynski’s re-imagining of classic Impact Comics characters. The first two were average, but nothing exceptional in terms of writing or art. The characters for now don’t seem very interesting or unique, but it is JMS and it’s always cool to see how writers re-invent characters, so it’s something that might be worth checking out.

Not many must-buys this week, but a lot of other cool comics.

So, The Amazing Spider-man Number 600 has been and gone and although it was not as bad as it could have been, it is still not what it could be. The actual plot that revolved around Doc Ock, I found to be weak at best when we think that this is meant to be a ‘landmark’ issue. Although I felt that the way in which the book explained how Ock was close to death (if we believe that) was very realistic and in fact expertly done, the rest of the plot was hackneyed. Can anyone say we hadn’t seen this before: big time villain tries to take over New York city whilst big time hero comes to save the day. Maybe I’m being silly, and ridiculing for the sake of ridiculing, but I feel that the writing in AMS is weak at the moment. It is nothing compared to the work that J.Michael Straczynski did on the strip.

Anyway, though we’ll accept this little flaws. The next problem I had with the book is the idiotic story arc with Aunt May and Jameson’s father. This did not start in this issue (and in fact came to a crescendo here with them getting married) but that does not mean its good or plausible. Am I the only one who thought that Jameson (i.e. the one that Stan Lee wrote) was meant to have been in his sixties at the beginning of Spidey, or at least in his mid fifties. If this is true, after at least what is meant to have been ten years in comic book time with Peter Parker now being in his mid-late twenties, surely Jameson Jnr is close enough to May’s age already. I love Aunt May as much as the next person, but how long can Marvel have May survive and have the book realistic? I mean, Marvel seem to have Aunt May almost omnipotent: she is decrepit, she has been severely sick since the beginning of the book, and yet she seems as fit as a fiddle.

So, get over this terrible story arc and accept it. I had to and it unfortunately doesn’t look like it is going to die soon. Mind you, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world as we saw the return of Mary Jane at the end of the book and yes, it could be argued that the book succeeded in everyway it should have done: with putting MJ’s arrival at the end of the book, it has made me buy the next one and I will be buying the one after that.

Thus, not bad, not brilliant. The main feature was by no means the best part of the actual comic as I enjoyed Stan Lee’s return to the book with a mini story about Spidey going to a psychiatrist funny and what Spidey should be.

Hello blog, long time no see. Anyway, rant time. Today I am ranting about the fact that superheroes don’t properly age. Am I the only one that feels that this is a problem? You see, for me I really would enjoy to see Peter Parker in his sixties if he were still alive from his plight of being a superhero with his daughter taking his mantle. I would much prefer to have characters such as Wolverine be the only ones to survive and the only reason they get such a privilege is because they cannot really die. Now, I believe that if this was done, i.e. heroes aging at the same time as reality, it would make the books so much more interesting. If most of the silver age and golden age stars had died out, this would lead to characters such as Wolverine being able to lead a completely different path than they had previously. We could see how a hero changed over time whilst at the same time feeling that it legitimately happened. Look at Captain Jack in Torchwood. He looses everyone, but he lives through it. He naturally changes as society changes with him. Should this not be the same way in comics? For me personally, DC have got it right at the moment. Bruce Wayne should remain dead forever because you see by making Dick Grayson take the cowl; we are seeing an entirely new set of story arcs that can be created. What is more, obviously I am not saying that Bruce Wayne did not have amazing stories because he did. The Batman stories are some of the best you can get in the comic medium but he’s done his bit. We can always go back to those stories and read them again and again. It should be like life in my opinion: some times things happen that we don’t like, but they end up working for the best. For example, many people hated the idea of Batman ‘dying’, but it may all turn out for the best. Furthermore, there’s no reason that comic book characters should not be youthful forever, but I honestly think that the main universe should age. For me, I felt that Marvel (if they let there Marvel universe properly age) would have been perfect. You had the Marvel universe that could serve as this aging purpose and the Ultimate universe (well till they literally blew it up into tiny little pieces) where the characters never age. Best of both worlds? Glad you agree with me.

ASMA36

Writer-Marc Guggenheim

Aritst-Patrick Olliffe

Although that Annual is yet another week of waiting for the climax of the ‘American Son’ arc it is a week worth waiting for. Guggenheim, a veteran television and Spider-Man writer, was given the reigns of the thirty sixth annual and he does a great job at bring our minds out of the realm of ‘Dark Reign’ and doses the reader with injections of shock and humor.

The story prologues with someone looking a lot like Peter Parker *cough* and the segues into a dinner between Peter, May and the Jamesons. As always, it’s great to see characters outside of the superhero element and when Peter is written correctly it almost always ends up golden. Fortunately for us Guggenheim just happens to be one of those writers who can really make the inner monologue and outer dialogue of Pete shine, defining the character as the lovable photographer we all know and love. There is just some really classic comedy is this issue, from the Hypno Hustler and Megan Fox name drops to the perversions of Peters outlook of his new cousins, Guggenheim really nails it for most the issue. Some of the jokes flop, the “bro” joke has been done, but it’s easily forgiven considering how funny the rest of the issue is. The story takes place in Boston and the accent and Boston jokes that abound make for a number of hearty laughs.

The actual back story of the issue is one that really spins readers for a loop. A villain Spidey has never seen before is claiming he’s a blast from the past but Pete just can’t figure out who he is. I don’t wait to spoil it for you, but spoilers, it turns out the Raptor is looking for a man he claims killed his family, a Mr. Ben Reilly. It’s really an interesting choice of a character to bring up now, in the middle of ‘Dark Reign’ and ASM #600, and it’s a great hook.

The art leaves the reader wanting more. It’s very Comic Books 101 and doesn’t really do anthing out of the ordinary but it isn’t ugly either. To be honest, I really hate the way Olliffe draws Peter Parker and he is the star of the comic so that’s a big factor. Also, a great looking cover from Olivier Coipel is worth a mention. The issue wraps up with a promise to continue sometime in Amazing Spider-Man but where exactly? Well we don’t know. Like I mentioned before, there is a lot going on in Spider-Mans life right now, but it’s a good sign when even amidst all that I’m still excited to see what happens with this story.

Rating:

-Ryanscribbles

So, as I’ve said, I’m a huge comic book fan. I’ve been reading them for years, and my favorites were all of the old classics: Amazing Spiderman, Superman, Justice League/Society, Batman, etc, and that’s really all I read. This year, though, has been the polar opposite. While I still enjoy those books, all of my favorite DC/Marvel/Indie (mostly DC, as I don’t much care for Marvel these days) books have been the smaller titles. I know that there have always been good smaller titles published by the big two and various indie publishers, but this year I feel that there’s been an especially strong push.

For all of the change and major “dark” events promised in the big two companies, I’ve felt that the same stories are being told in the major titles (aside from Green Lantern, which has been my favorite title since Johns took over), and it’s really led to a lack of interest on my part. I tried to branch out this year, and I’ve been reading a few comics that I don’t see a whole lot of people talking about, so I thought I would give them their time in the spotlight.

The Mighty

Writers:Peter J. Tomasi & Keith Champagne

Artist: Peter Snejbjerg

This title has taken me completely by surprise, and I honestly stumbled upon it by accident. Thank god I did, as I haven’t talked to one person who has been reading this title. It’s essentially the tale of a Superman-esque character, Alpha One, and the organization that helps him fight crime, Section Omega. Or at least that’s how it starts off – the series goes from being very happy go lucky, with a hero that is something of a big kid with superpowers, but has quickly turned into a tale of paranoia, betrayal, and murder. Snejbjerg’s art does an amazing job of fitting in with the care free, safe atmosphere of the city, and switching to the dark, paranoid mood that comes when we realize that Alpha isn’t quite what we thought. The story has quickly ramped up in the past few issues, and the latest issue ended on one amazing cliffhanger. There’s only a few issues, so now is a great time to jump in if you have the chance.

Secret Six

Probably my favorite new DC series, Gail Simone’s Secret Six is like the villain equivalent of Exiles, without the weird time stuff. The series started off somewhat laughable, with a battle between Catman and Batman, but the great dialogue following the battle (the rest of the six relentlessly mock Catman for his obvious inspiration from Batman), and the incredible arc that has followed over the past 10 issues was more than enough to draw me in. From the battle over a “get out of Hell free” card, and Bane’s dealing with his addiction, the series packs so much into a single issue, yet never feels cramped. I hadn’t heard of anyone in the Six outside of Bane and Deadshot, but Simone has done a wonderful job of introducing new characters and making them into your new favorites. Each member is so well crafted, you can’t help but like all of them, and then they go and mutilate someone and remind you that they are all psychopaths. I can’t say enough about this comic; it’s hilarious, action packed, and smart.

Cable

Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Artist: Ariel Olivetti

And now, saving my favorite for last, Cable. Before this series, all I knew about Cable was the goofy looking time traveler from the old X-Men Animated Series. Swierczynski has done an amazing job with this series, though, and it’s easily my favorite Marvel title at the moment. I haven’t read a more touching, emotional story in years, or even found myself this invested in a title since Brian K’s run on Runaways. Cable, protecting a small girl named Hope, is no longer able to navigate through time like he used to be, and can now only travel into the future. Unfortunately for him, that future is completely ravaged, desolate, and dangerous. The two survive off what they can, hiding when needed, and traveling further into the future when things get too dangerous. Unfortunately, though, with each jump Cable is hurt, and as the girl begins to grow, Cable begins to die. We see comics like Amazing Spiderman that are praised for being about an “every day guy”, someone we can relate to, but this comic is easily the most relatable for me, as it shows what it is to truly love someone. Cable will do whatever it takes for Hope to survive, and sometimes his actions are heartbreaking. If there is one new title that you pick up this year, please, let it be this one.

As you are probably aware, I am a huge spider-man fan but have been critical of the recent storylines that everyone’s favourite web slinger has been Put through in particular that of the story arch that implemented this ‘great’ change that was felt was so needed: that being brand new day. However, I am not writing this as the grumpy fan that I may have seen to be in other posts. On the contrary, I am writing this with great hope. The hope is of the upcoming amazing spiderman issue 600. I feel that this the great turning point that the character has needed, a turning point back to the sanctum of sanity. The issue promises great things with the return of Stan Lee and John Romita (personally I believe no-one has ever paralleled this duo’s form). Not just that but Stan will be bringing a very special character back in tow: Mary Jane. Again, readers of my posts will know how much I adore this character and how critical I have been of her being written out. Her return will mark my return to buying the book. What is more, if it is the beginning of the end of brand new day, I don’t think there will be anyone more happy than yours truly.

We will have to wait and see. Check back once issue 600 is released for my evaluation

ASM595

Writer-Joe Kelly

Artist-Phil Jimenez

This is it. This is the first issue that makes me a full fledged fan of Amazing Spider-Man. And who did it? What did it? You’d think a big name like Millar or Bendis with Hitch or Wein behind pencils would be what it takes to literally captivate me. No. In fact, it’s the guy who writes Ben 10. Because of underground and overlooked writer Joe Kelly, with verteran artist Jimenez backing him up, my faith is restored.

ASM has a serious problem with not being able to keep one team on the project long enough to build up a flow, a momentum, and it has had a mostly negative effect on the title. It creates a dissonance between the story and the pace. Five issues is too litte to really get a hold of a character! With that said though, Joe Kelly seems set to prove me wrong.

This is the start of the “American Son” arc and it’s one hell of a kick off. Spider-Man has been building up in the last few arcs, he’s angry and upset and confused and a whole plethora of emotions, and this issue is all about letting off steam. All over Norman Osborne’s stupid face. This is a special category of comic that nestles itself in right between “amazingly pleasing” and “near perfect.” It’s nearly flawless.

The comic finds the perfect combination of humor and action but it does so much more than that: it gives the reader a full dose of emotion. We get to see Pete at his most raw unfiltered moment. When nothing is fueling him but his built up hate for Norman. It’s a culmination of years (decades really) of a fury that has not been seen many times from Spider-Man. The dialogue in this issue is simply amazing, a spat between J.J.J. and Pete is some of the most clever banter in comics ever, and this issue starts returning the series back to the basics of not just Spider-Man but the people who make him who he is.

Kelly has had some experience with webhead before, scripting ASM #575 and #576 and another arc, but he’s handled a number of other characters, such as Deadpool and even Superman. He has a bit of credibility behind his name, especially now with his outstanding Bad Dog, and he’s handling the title with an execution the other teams just haven’t been able to manage. That along with Jimenez on pencils, which are clean and well done the whole thing through, equals quite a winning team.

This comic blew me away. My heart raced and I was cheering Spider-Man on, laughing out loud, and ended up being completely satisfied with the end result. I hope Kelly and Jimenez can keep up the steam they’ve got with this arc because it’s by far one of the best our favorite wall crawler has seen in a long time.

Rating:

-Ryanscribbles

This article is directly going to discuss the actions that happened in Amazing Spiderman before the infamous drug issue (issues 96-8) and those very issues. Stan Lee has always argued that this is not the case, however to me it would seem that Mary Jane Watson was called that for a reason. For people who do not know, Mary Jane is a slang term for marijuana. Furthermore, people that are relatively new to Spidey or have only seen the films may not know that Peter Parker and Mary Jane were not together to begin: Peter Parker was with Gwen Stacey and Harry Osborn was with Mary Jane. Before, the drug episodes, Mary Jane splits up with Harry leading him to experiment with pills. Harry becoming a drug addict can be argued led to his downfall as he became the second Green Goblin.

In my opinion, Stan at the time, depicted Mary Jane as the gateway drug that many people believe that marijuana has a tendency to do. This argument can be backed up as in the drug issues, Harry can be seen taking pills. Harry’s drug use can be seen to be drugs such as ecstasy or LSD. Again, the gateway theory is that a person would start on a drug such as marijuana and work their way up to ecstasy and the like when they no longer feel that they are getting the buzz they want. I believe that if my theory that Mary Jane Watson was first used as a method to portray the dangers of drugs, I think it was a brilliant one. The drug issues were an amazing way of opening the eyes of people that did not think that drugs were bad. Stan Lee’s subtle depiction of marijuana illustrates the dangers that the drug possess.

So, am I barking up the wrong tree? Am I saying there is more to the Mary Jane/Harry Osborn split than there was? Whatever you may say, even if I am wrong, the drugs issues are the exact thing that comic books should be doing: raising awareness and addressing the problems of today’s society

Le soluzioni grafiche adottate dalla Marvel su Amazing Spiderman,  restano sempre tra le migliori nel mondo dei fumetti.

Sono le trame che sono da buttare.

Qui potete capire perchè.

This will be a bit of a rant. You’ve been warned.

Spidey has always been my fav character and in my opinion the franchise player for Marvel. Its interesting to me that since the beginning of the 21st century, DC have had to do little to drag me away from everyone’s favourite wallcrawler as Marvel themselves have been the greatest deterrent.

The first attack against their crowning jewel came with Ultimate Spiderman. I am aware that this has been a very successful title but to me I could not see the attraction. I didn’t feel that the original character needed a revamp especially if you have read the original issues of Amazing Fantasy and Amazing Spiderman. The stories were just as fresh as they were when they were written. True I was not alive in the 60s but the fact that I did not feel in anyway that I could not relate to this character I would argue proves that the original stories still work.

But still I gave it a try. First I could not understand why, the character Jameson was basically written out as well as writing out the idea that Peter gets his money from taking photos. Furthermore to me, it would seem that people knew that this did not work because why else would Spidey return to freelancing in the movies instead of being the web page designer. Then There’s Mary Jane. The character that was in the Amazing series was a feisty, smart, exciting character that Peter and the audience fell in love with. In ultimate we get ‘Brainy Jane’ ripping apart alot of what made us all love her as a character. To me, ultimate gwen stacey is closer to the amazing MJ compared ultimate MJ. Next why on earth did Bendis decide it was a good idea to make the Green Goblin an actual goblin?! this led to the character loosing a lot of charm. The one character that could attempt to battle the Joker for the best villain is again weakened. And finally there is the insane plot notion that most of the main villains know who Spidey is?! Again why was this done? Surely if you were a super villain you would just attack May and MJ till there was nothing left of our hero.

So ultimate started the damage. Then came Spidey unmasking. I enjoyed this plot as Straczynski is such a good writer but again I felt it was stupid. A character that has spent 40 years trying to hide his identity, decides to do a 180 just because Stark whispered into his ear for a bit. Then we went back to the black costume. Again, it was written brilliantly but I felt that he did things to the Kingpin that were not reminiscent of Spidey. Also, the unmasking of Spidey could have worked if the plot had not being written out through One More Day

The Films. Now the films in my view are a mix bag. Spidey 1, I thought was a bit of a disappointment especially in line with ‘The Green Ranger’ Goblin. The armor that Goblin was made to wear took away a lot from his character. Spidey’s biggest and in my view best villain was made into a laughing stock. Also Mary Jane, who the films seem to have made into an amalgamation of Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane. I can see the point of this. If You are not putting Gwen in the films, then maybe a mix of the two characters would work best. But again, MJ’s persona in the books is so good that she does not need Gwen mixed in and if anything weakens the Mary Jane character into the damsel in distress. Spidey 2 worked very well as a whole with its best and worst feature being Doc Ock. Ock was perfectly acted by Alfred Molina but I believe that the character should not have been made ‘nice’ before his transformation. Also it annoyed me that the films had made all the villains into having a double personality with Ock saying we (referring to himself and his arms) as well as Goblin. The only two villains who are like this in the books are the Green Goblin and Venom so I think it should have been kept the same. Spidey 3 is the epitome of the mixed bag. Sam Raimi is most to blame for this. Venom as a fan favourite, as a huge villain as big as Doc Ock and Green Goblin should not have shared the stage with The Sandman let alone made the side thought. Just because Raimi does not like the character Venom, does not mean that the rest of the Spidey fans should have to suffer. Furthermore, Venom does not refer to himself as ‘we’ but instead as ‘I’. This makes no sense for the character. Sandman is given a much more detailed plot and in this came the biggest thing that I did not like about Spidey 3: it changes the fact that Spidey did not let the crook go by who killed Uncle Ben because it was Sandman. This just is stupid as it destroyed the key fable that Spidey is built upon ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’ because Spidey could not have done anything from stopping Sandman from killing Ben. What is more, after dilluting Mary Jane, why do we now have Gwen Stacey turn up? It would have made more sense to have had Black Cat as the other love interest and again I believe this would have been something the fans would have loved. On a plus, Harry Osborn (without being able to delve into his drug problems) was dealt with brilliantly.

After all of this, I was still reading every week, every month etc but then finally they rubbed too much salt in the wound through One More Day (OMD). The Loss of MJ was the biggest mistake the creative team has ever made. The thing I hated most about this was that it was in the main Marvel universe this occurred. If it happened in an alternate universe, I wouldn’t have liked it but at the same time i would have accepted it. But taking her out of the main book. Na, I was not impressed. Again, OMD was brilliantly written by Straczynski and the emotion I felt for Pete and MJ was unbelievable as Pete was put between a rock and a hard place. He made the decision that we knew he would: save the two people that he loved the most by destroying his own happiness. Again, however I would have rathered seen this as the end of Spidey completly. Spidey dying would have been a nicer, fitting end to him than loosing MJ becoming a character that to me does not seem to know where he is going.  Since then I made a vow to not by Amazing again till MJ returned to her rightful place. To begin with I vowed to never buy another Marvel book but I have altered this to only Amazing Spiderman.

In my opinion, the writers are completly wrong in thinking that Spidey being married ‘aged’ him too much. Spidey should age. When the book was first released in the 60s, Stan Lee asked the fans whether they wanted Peter to age or to stay the same. They said age and I think that was the correct choice. I have followed him through his school, university years and everything else afterwards. It only makes sense that Spidey should be married and should have a child (the child that again the writers of Marvel believed they shouldn’t have). As I have mentioned in my review of AnimalMan, this is what Spidey should have been. Spidey was truly innovative when he first graced the cover of Amazing Fantasy number 15 and would have continued to innovate by breaking the mould by giving Pete the things that he wanted the most: a loving family. If anything, Spidey having a family would have seen more fresh than throwing him backwards with OMD. We’ve all seen Spidey struggle to get dates etc. Now we want to see him happy. But it would seem that Marvel don’t want that.

Now referring to the belief that MaryJane is not right for Peter Parker by Marvel is again nonsense. Mary Jane is a strong, powerful woman and this is just what Spidey needs. He maybe physically powerful through his spider powers but he relies upon the mental strength of the strong women in his life: Aunt May, MaryJane. They make him the character that he is just as much as he does. Furthermore, MJ has the spunky character that Pete likes. Less out there, normal girls never worked with Pete. Betty Brant and even Gwen Stacey never had the link with Pete that MJ did. As well as this, if people think that MJ is the dumb model/actress, they are wrong again. Time and time again, MJ has proven to be just as smart as Pete in many ways. She may not be able to do the science that he can but she can do everything else. She was the rock that Spidey needed.

Spidey is still firing on all cilinders with his newest cartoon ‘The Spectacular Spiderman’. In my opinion, although it is not as good as the mid 90s cartoon, it is pretty darn good and does everything that all us Spidey fans want it to do. I hope that Spidey returns back to his old self but the question is: has the damage already being done?

Spiderman New Ways To Die

 

PLOT 6/10

 

DIALOGUE 7/10

ART 8/10

The Spiderman “reboot” continues with the virtuoso team up of funny man Dan Slott and, drum roll please, the return of the presently and future legendary artist John Romita Jr on Marvel’s flagship title Amazing Spiderman. Dan’s stories hearken back to olden times before brooding dark anti-heroes and a murder around every corner. That simplicity resonates throughout this tome’s pages and fits Spiderman perfectly unlike some of the early but great nonetheless JMS tales.

One thing that we must get out of the way…yes…this reboot is not for the faint of heart and this is not Dan Slott’s finest work. However, lets put all of that aside for the sake of this review. The story is crisp, fluid and you do not even need a meaningless recap. Thus is the brilliance of Dan Slott. But just in case…ahem…everyone forgot Spiderman’s identity, including Mary Jane, Aunt May etc. Peter Parker is single, friends with Harry Osborn, out of a job,  no more Jonah Jameson at the bugle, half the staff is at a new shindig called Front Line and Spidey faces a bunch of new threats. And in this volume, the overall premise is very simple; Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts come to town to capture Spiderman with bits and pieces of interesting surprises albeit a bit on the corny and laughable side (which just makes you love this book more because that’s the way things used to be back in the day of simple comics but this on the other hand is just written well). I can’t stand most old comics with the way they are written but this book has the feel but not the context of those old books. You’ll know what I mean at the end of each chapter and especially with Eddie Brock’s new uhm persona. Dan also has a propensity to fill every panel with as much word bubbles as possible, I don’t mind it because the story streams off the page like a good bubbly regardless, but it’s preventing my  enjoyment of Romita art. At least for this glorious return…let the man draw!

John Romita Jr’s art is as superb as it has ever been. The man hasn’t lost a beat in drawing the human arachnid. Every panel is filled with as much emotion as issues past, if not better. His pacing of the story is amazing and interpretation of Dan’s script even better. The interaction between each character is as real as it can get for an inanimate superhero book. The man can simply draw Spiderman.

Good book and read, it’s not the greatest Spiderman run on the title, but keep it going Dan and we will all be there to enjoy the ride.

Aquí os dejo para descargar Amazing Spider-Man v1 194, la primera aparición de Black Cat (Gata Negra).

Descarga

These Sneakers Are Amazing!!!

I can not wait till December to cop these SB Dunk Mids. I feel like I’m gonna be able to shoot web out of my arms while I’m wearing these kicks.
The Nike SB Heroes And Villains Pack has been making a big buzz this week on sneaker websites and blogs all around the net. The Spider Man Dunk Mids are my personal favorite. Which ones are yours?

How Sirius Is Your Spider Man Dunk Mid Sole? Are You A Hero or Villain?