Spider-Women, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Spider-Woman

Spider-Women Alpha, Omega; Silk 7-8, Spider-Gwen 7-8, Spider-Woman 6-7

Conceptually, this is a neat little crossover.  The three Spider-Women have been regularly meeting up for brunch.  This time around, the Cindy Moon from Spider-Gwen’s Earth rears her villainous head, causing trouble for our heroes.  They all fight, the good gals win.

In execution, though, I wish the endeavor had a more detail-oriented editor.  There are far too many continuity errors and leaps in logic between issues that bugged the heck out of me.  Silk’s call to Jessica in Spider-Gwen 7 is completely different from the one in Silk 7. Silk 8 ends with good Cindy setting off to steal some equipment with Black Cat in the Avengers vault.  But when we next see her in the finale, she’s found some way to teleport back to her earth (even though she had no teleporter access), locate Super-Adaptoid armor, and get it back to Earth 616.  Where’d Black Cat go? So confused!

As bad as the story problems are, the art is even worse.  Vanesa Del Rey is abysmally horrible in the Alpha issue. I can see how it would be suitable for some other title, but it does not work on any level for this.  

Gaahh.  Those eyes!

Sure, they look like Pablo Picasso, but I wouldn't want him drawing Spider-Women either.

It was unfair of Marvel to mislead us with these covers.  (Stacey Lee)

Yasmine Putri.

That Bengal is able to submit work that’s even worse in Spider-Gwen boggles the mind.  At least Del Rey’s storytelling was clean. Bengal produces sequences where I could not tell what was going on.  The fight scene at the end of issue 8 confused the heck out of me. I think there was shrinking involved, but the angles and compositions he used made it hard to tell what was going on.  And then there’s this monstrosity:

WHAT IS GOING ON THERE IN THE LOWER LEFT CORNER???

Which isn’t to say there weren’t great stretches.  Seeing Joelle Jones on the Spider-Woman issues brightened my day.  There was even a housewife fight, which I chose to read as a homage to her work on Lady Killer.

Love the body language, that little sway as she jingles her keys.

Two parents who understand priorities.

And Nico Leon rocks the Omega issue of Spider-Women.  

It's SO perfect.

All in all, I’m looking forward to returning to our regularly scheduled Spider-Woman.  Just as soon as I make my next trip to the comic store to get the next trades.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Ending with some J Scott Campbell, who did a four-piece cover for this crossover.

Gratuitous MJ.

Spider-Woman

Spider-Woman Vol. 5 4-10, Spider-Woman Vol. 6 1-5

So much fun.  Jessica Drew reboots her life with a new costume, new artist, and new career.  I applaud all three. I love the new costume so very much. It’s superior to her old costume in every way, and this is from someone who couldn’t help but ogle at this:

This new version looks way more practical, and looks awesome without sexualizing her.  I love everything about the jacket, from the cut to the colors. Kris Anka’s illustration of the wings makes me so happy.

The change in artist is instrumental to the title.  Just like the redesigned outfit, Javier Rodriguez’s work doesn’t distract from the story the way Greg Land’s does.  But at the same time, it doesn’t give an inch which it comes to how wonderful it looks. Rodriguez shines, and he excels at quiet moments, slapstick humor, massive fight scenes, and complex splashes.  It’s all a joy to look at.

Love the pose, the outfit, the ease.

In volume 5, Jessica starts her private investigation service, adds Ben Urich and Porcupine Man to her little band, and looks into the disappearance of the families of D-list villains.  The twists are telegraphed, but the solid execution pulls it through. It also helps that the families formed their own community after they got sick of their horrible relationships with their D-list SOs.  Very empowering.

Then Hopeless and Rodriguez blow it out of the water with volume 6.  Set a year after the previous volume, Jessica’s on the verge of having a baby.  And while there’s a whole wonderful action set piece involving a pre, then post-water breaking, THEN post-C-section Spider-Woman fighting a space station full of Skrulls, the real highlights come in issue 5.  The new mother behaves as realistically as this not-parent can imagine. The exhaustion, paranoia, fear, and love are all there as plain as day in everything that she says and does.

(It's all Rodriguez art from here.)

I love how he draws Skrull chins.  Such a minor detail, but it's so distinctive.

It all sounds true.  Can't wait.

 Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Pretty good

What If, Spider-Woman

What If 12, 49, 50, 64

I’ve always loved the concept of this series.  The premise of every issue was baked right into the title, and I instantly knew if I wanted to flip through it.  There was a comfort in knowing that the posited question would be answered in 22 concise pages, and I wouldn’t need to invest in more than the one issue to find out.  

The four issues I have are fine examples of the format.  “What if the X-Men had stayed in Asgard?” is a wonderful follow up to a classic Art Adams two-parter.  “What if the Silver Surfer possessed the Infinity Gauntlet?” is rather generic in its prognostications, and while Scott Clark’s still in the growing phase of his pencilling career, something about the simplicity still speaks to me.  “What if the Hulk had killed Wolverine?” provides a series of fights as fun as the original Fall of Mutants story. “What if Iron Man sold out?” succeeds purely on the uncredited Geoff Senior art. (I had always thought it was Leonardo Manco for some reason.)

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Spider-Woman 1-4, Marvel Spotlight 32

I picked up the Dennis Hopeless run based on the strength of the one issue I read a couple of weeks ago.  I’m quite pleased that I did, these are a ton of fun. Greg Land draws the first 4 issues, and I really wonder how differently they would read if it had been done by another artist.  I’ll continue to maintain that it’s pretty art, but it’s always going to overshadow the quality of the story with the unnecessarily overt sexuality.

What is that last pose???  Is that some sort of sex bike contraption?

But looking past all that, there’s good, entertaining writing to be had, along with some quality Spider-Gwen lines.  (Someone put Hopeless on her title!)

Hee, Spider-Crouch!

I much prefer Gwen's perspective to the one we're used to.  Also that 'fridging' is a term canon to the Marvel Universe.

This is all prologue to the real heart of the Hopeless run, which I’ll get to tomorrow.  (The Marvel Spotlight issue featuring Jessica Drew’s first appearance was reprinted in the trade as well.)     

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes (No for Marvel Spotlight)

Rating: Nice (Didn’t suck for Marvel Spotlight)

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Uncanny Avengers, War Machine

I’ve been reading way more than usual.  Getting ahead of myself. Anyway, let’s go:

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 4

I keep reading good reviews for this title.  Every time I have the chance, I’ll give it a read in the bookstore, borrow it from the library, or in this one case, buy an issue.  Every time I come away amused but not sold.

There’s so much to love here, from the self-aware fourth wall breaking to the genuinely funny humor.  The footnotes are hilarious. I love the idea that Squirrel Girl and Galactus are buddies. Ryan North and Erica Henderson have created what should be a comic that I wholeheartedly love.

And yet, and yet.  I group this comic with Moon Girl, Unstoppable Wasp, and Ms America, titles starring a new group of Marvel superheroines.  But aside from the gender of the protagonists, they also share that irreverent sense of humor and uber-competence, which I love reading.  So why is Wasp the only one that I never stopped buying? No idea. I wish it were otherwise.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Uncanny Avengers 1-4

Right after the events of AvX, Red Skull steals the brain of the dead Professor X and somehow gains his telepathic abilities.  Captain America calls on Havok to start a new team comprised of both X-Men and Avengers to help ameliorate human/mutant tensions.  Fighting happens after Red Skull stokes anti-mutant hatred to a riot pitch.

I bought this for John Cassaday’s art.  So beautiful.

Laura Martin on colors.

Love the composition on the first panel.

The retro concentric circles remind me of Jim Steranko.

Rick Remender continues to do fine but unspectacular work.  Not even Cassaday’s art could overcome the meh of it all. I’d like to read it all someday just to look at the pretty pictures, but not enough to buy it.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

U.S. War Machine 1-12

Holy jeez.  This is a trainwreck that I could not tear myself away from.  I can’t deny that I was entertained, but this series is filled with one unfortunate decision after another from the much-maligned Chuck Austen.  (I don’t hate him the way the internet does, and I actually like part of his JLA run. On the other hand, I never read his infamous X-Men.)

A partial list of the questionable stuff:

• The sexualization of Josephs.  Rhodey’s more professional than that.  
• The shoehorned discussions of black politics.
• Horrible storytelling.  That first mission in particular was incomprehensible.  
• What was up with the Darkhawk nonsense?
• Bad choice to do this in black and white.  When there are six War Machines in a battle, blurry face paint is not sufficiently distinctive enough to distinguish them from each other.
• That Doom armor in issue 11.

It's the neck that really kills me.

This title gets a ‘Huh’ from me.  I can't, in good conscience, give it a positive rating. But for all its faults, I never wanted to stop reading it, which is more than a lot of the things I’ve gone through.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Huh

Skyward, Ultimate Daredevil, Ultimate Elektra, Ultimate Iron Man, All-New Ultimates

Skyward 2-3

This is a really fun series, and I’m really happy that I picked it up.  It’s got that Y the Last Man alternative future vibe, but I hope it holds my attention for a longer stretch.  The art continues to sell the world, and while Lee Garbett’s interiors are strong, it’s his covers that really shine.

Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra 1-4

Ultimate Elektra 1-5

In my mind, there’s fake violence and there’s real violence.  The former is the sort that makes for an enjoyable media experience - The Terminator inexorably working his way through a police station.  The throne room lightsaber duel in The Last Jedi. Anything in Garth Ennis’ Preacher. Billy’s Balloon.

It’s easy for me to separate that kind of pain from anything in reality.  It’s clearly fake, and I’m able to appreciate it from an entertainment standpoint.  It’s not that they lack an emotional component or verisimilitude, but it’s generally the “this is awesome!” part of my brain that’s being tickled.  

Scenes like the storming of Normandy beach in Saving Private Ryan edge a lot closer towards the “this is making me uncomfortable” line.  Knowing that it’s depicting actual suffering has a lot to do with it. But at the end of the day, the artistry and noble sacrifice on display puts it firmly in the “I like this” camp.

Then there’s the stuff that crosses over into material that I generally hate reading or watching: Bullying and sexual assault.  The combination of physical and emotional helplessness elicits a primal revulsion that I can not easily dismiss.

Which is my long winded way of saying Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra has both, and I really don’t like it.  A rich college boy rapes Elektra’s friend and gets away with it. Elektra wants to kill him when the police drop the charges.  Matt Murdock insists there’s a better way (without offering one). Elektra breaks up with him.

Greg Rucka goes through all the unimaginative cliches with this reimagining of Daredevil and Elektra.  Mike Carey does only a little better with the follow up arc. While it’s a little more original, a story about a money laundering scheme involving Elektra’s father, the Kingpin, and Bullseye isn’t any more interesting.  These are all easy cuts.

(Though I do like this cover by Salvador Larroca.)

Regret buying? Yes

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Hated (DD/Elektra), Stupid (Elektra)  Cutting everything.

Ultimate Iron Man 1-5

Ultimate Iron Man II 1-5

Orson Scott Card was an intriguing choice to write this title.  Ender’s Game is one of my favorite books ever, and while I really don’t think elementary schoolers talk or behave like those Battle School kids, I’m willing to grant the premise that Card’s got a knack for writing hyper-intelligent children.  

He does a decent job here with teenaged Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes, but he was too successful with Obadiah Stane.  Card really knows how to write infuriating little pricks. With Peter Wiggin, he balanced his smug superiority with other redeeming qualities.  Obadiah’s got nothing positive going for him, so I just want to smack the shit out of him. Sometimes that can be done well (though nothing springs to mind right now).  Not here. I’m cutting the second series purely on his annoying presence throughout the entire story. (Also because the labyrinthine plot about arms dealers and Howard Stark’s first wife is stupid.)

The first series is worth keeping around just for the batshit crazy ideas that Card throws around.  Tony’s brain is distributed through his entire body? He can regenerate? He needs to be coated in a protective lotion so that he isn’t in constant pain?  Even Marvel thought it was too kooky, choosing to retcon the entire run. Even so, Card gets points for audacity in my book.

Regret buying? No (Yes for the second series)

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes (No for the second series)

Rating: Fine (Stupid for the second series.  Cutting it.)

All-New Ultimates 1-2

I gave this a shot because it’s an absolutely killer lineup of Ultimate characters - Miles Morales, Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger, Jessica Drew, and Kitty Pryde.  Also, the covers by David Nakayama are absolutely gorgeous. (They’re almost enough to make me keep these issues.)

It’s too bad that the writing by Michel Fiffe and the interior art by Amilcar Pinna drove me to ditch it after two issues.  I actively hate Pinna’s style (It’s a worse version of Mike McKone, who isn’t that good to begin with), and Fiffe chooses to obscure the awesomeness of the heroes at his disposal behind a stultifyingly boring drug war.

But those covers!

Regret buying? Yes

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Disliked (Cutting)

Thunderbolts, Runaways, Man of Steel, Justice League

Starting off with some new comics from the week.

Runaways 10

That ended exactly as I expected, and I’m okay with that - Julie Power gets restored to her normal age, which means that Molly’s friend Abigail will be stuck at thirteen forever.  Julie breaks up with Karolina and Molly loses her best friend.

Everyone stays consistent with their characters, and there’s something very reassuring about that. The team takes care of their own, and if that comes at the expense of an outsider, so be it.  Given what they’ve all been through, I can respect that.

Justice League 2

I was extremely disappointed last week when I discovered that Jim Cheung was only drawing issues 1 and 7 of this story arc.  But Jorge Jimenez’s art passed muster during the in-store flip-through, so I took the issue home with me. (Oh, he did the pencils for Super Sons.  I didn’t realize. Makes sense that I like the art here.)

Storywise, Snyder’s...fine.  The Totality is feeling like the ultimate MacGuffin, and I’m really not caring about the stakes here.  But as long as I get scenes like this, I’ll stick around for a little while longer:

Man of Steel 4

What a perfect splash page:

You and me both, Superman.

I’m going to try to remember this guy’s name right now, having read and forgotten it for the past four week: Rogal Zaar.  Okay, how close was I?

Rogol Zaar.  Pretty close.  He’s about as interesting as Doomsday, which isn’t very.  I’m also getting sick of the constant “Dad, what is that?” flashbacks.  Revealing an additional page every week isn’t making me any more invested in the scene.  

This is deconstructed storytelling at its worst, and it’s all the more disappointing coming from the pen of a master of the device.  

Back to the box.

Thunderbolts 144-147

Did I read good things about Jeff Parker’s Thunderbolts?  Is that why I picked up this trade? Maybe it was Kev Walker’s art, I do like his stuff.  

This team is a major letdown for me after just reading Warren Ellis’ version.  It hews too closely to DC’s Suicide Squad, which never really sung to me. All of the villains’ motivations aren’t nearly as deep or interesting as the previous group’s.  While both teams had nanotech and other such implanted devices to keep them in line, I never felt that they were the actual reasons Ellis’ team members behaved - They had other reasons to stick around.  “A clone of the dead sister I have unspecified feelings for” is far more compelling than “Years off of my sentence.”

Oh right, summary: At the request of Captain America, Luke Cage reforms the Thunderbolts, using inmates at The Raft (Juggernaut, Moonstone (she just can’t quit this team!), Crossbones, and Ghost, with the help of Songbird, Mach V, and Man-Thing).  He spends an issue demonstrating how they can’t escape, then another leading them on their first mission against big blobby things. They wrap things up preventing another breakout on The Raft.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Ellis Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts 110-121, Thunderbolts: Breaking Point

Man, Warren Ellis writes a great dysfunctional team.  He doesn’t even pretend that these people are good at their jobs, or that there’s a chance they’re going to get away with this masquerade.  Led by a slowly unravelling Norman Osborn, it’s clear that they’re going to fail. And it’s utterly engrossing to watch.

Summary: The new incarnation of the Thunderbolts consists of Songbird, Moonstone, Swordsman, Bullseye, Venom, Radioactive Man, and Norman Osborn.  They showcase their incompetence while apprehending some D-list heroes (Jack Flag, Steel Spider, Sepulchre, and American Eagle), then completely implode when some E-list telepathic characters (Caprice, Mindwave, Mirage, and Bluestreak (who???)) infiltrate the T-Bolts headquarters and start tweaking minds in just the right way.  

Ellis really knows how to show his readers a good time.  I had so much fun reading this. Everyone on the team has their own agenda, and watching them collide with each other is a treat.  Since most of them are despicable anyway, I have no emotional investment in who wins, I get to just enjoy the show. It’s the rare case where not caring about the protagonists works for the story instead of against it.  

The one sympathetic character, Songbird, more than holds her own amidst this wretched hive of scum and villainy, so I don’t have to spend the whole run worrying about how she’s going to make it out of this in one piece.  (Penance doesn’t count. I dislike him less for what he did (heinous as it was) than how he chose to deal with it. His woe-is-me act evokes no sympathy from me.)

The difference between Mike Deodato’s art in Thor from a few days ago and his work here is immeasurable.  Part of it has to do with the advancements in coloring, but the improvements in storytelling, anatomy, and action are crystal clear.  It’s as if he learned a thing or two in the thirteen intervening years :P

Rain Beredo on colors.

He certainly does a nice Tommy Lee Jones.

Other things that I liked:

Moonstone’s blatant ambition.  I’ve already called her out her Starscream tendencies here and here.  It’s refreshing that she never changes, especially since she never succeeds.  As hard as she tries, as smart as she thinks she is, she will never be good enough.  She’s always going to get smacked down, and I love it. This time around, it comes in the form of a horrible statue, an arrow through the wrist and a thrashing at the hands of Leonard Samson and Penance.  

Norman Osborn’s insanity.  He’s got Spider-Man on the brain, and he can’t hide it.  

That last line goes on the favorites list.

Venom just wants to eat things.  I can respect that. Swordsman has a messed up relationship with his dead sister.  I’m less okay with that. Their fight is a visual feast by Deodato.

Songbird’s decency.  Like with Jolt in yesterday’s Thunderbolts, this could have come across as corny, but she’s earned it over the years.  She’s a genuinely good person caught up in crummy circumstances, and her ability to stay on the light side is admirable.  She's the focus of the random Breaking Point one-shot that came in the middle of this run. It's fine, but lacks the pop of Ellis. (Christos Gage did the writing.)

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes (No for Breaking Point)

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Really good. (Fine for Breaking Point)