Hulk Smash

Hulk Smash

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Another Week of Marvel Now





Well it was a disappointing week for... Indestructible Hulk 18 I read the issue , a deceptive cover is one thing, but I even read solicits that promised in black and white a Hulk/Iron-man fight, I read re-red it to make sure I didn't skip over it , when it just didn't happen.

Let's do the time warp again. getting things mucked up like D/C and all their varied numbered Earths , Avengers 25 brings the original Avengers back from another time, setting them up to fight the current Avengers, yes it feel like we have been here before in All New X-men. Speaking of which this weeks issue, works beyond "the some where in time" gimmick and is a lot of fun leading into the Guardians of the Galaxy cross over.

Mighty Avengers continues to lack focus. Spider-man gets punched by Jessica Jones but talkes about suing them more than whipping her ass, which doesn't seem likea Doc Ock thing to do . She-hulk shows up and that's the issue's best moment the Inhumanity cross over seems forced and only gives more clues to the thing most people know , that Ronin is Blade.Forced  Inhumanity cross-overs continued in Iron Man 20, which wasn't a bad issue, as it served mainly for the origin of the new villain the Exile. who is also one of the ring bearers for the Mandarin, whose rings are finding wearers like the Green Lantern Corps.

 The second issue of Avengers World is rather plodding, nothing sets it apart from the Avengers book, it focuses on Smasher, who is not really an Avenger in the first place. The art is pretty killer and makes it worth skimming through. X-factor did much better with it's second issue, not sure how consistent the art is an the three person team needs more than the mix of powers it currently has .

Captain America 15 was helping to get things back on track until Dr.Mind Bubble the psychedelic super- soldier shows up, and thats not a joke. Though I wish it was. All New Invaders looks to have some promise the first issue had great artwork and was full of action, even if it mainly focused on the Original Torch. The Johnny Storm Torch was largely absent from FF 16, which thankfully came to its final issue. The Scott Lang figures out how to use Pym Particles , Ret-con was cool and smart enough for me to accept it. Though it seemed like it was written in so he could school Doom.

Cable and the X-force is gaining momentum, though one X-force book is enough. With the all female X-men book,.the Enchantress is really the only interesting element when she hands a beat down to Monet. Wolverine and the X-men has made it to issue 40, this one is a scattered mess of chaos but they manage to throw in a pretty worthwhile scene with Cyclops having a drink with Logan.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Marvel What Now?



It would be nice to stop renumbering and revamping and re-branding , because the Marvel Now launched last year is already being re-branding with another Now label and new set of books, It's tiring really and the 2nd time around losses it's significance. They announced the return of Peter Parker which I commented on when the original Superior thing came about is that it would never stick when the movie came around and I was proved right.

Superior Spider-man was a great read,  the art was a little iffy at time and there is no way Thor should not have wiped the floor with him by himself, the ghost of Peter shows up and we see the beginning of the end for the Ock Spider.

Iron-man 20 proved to be a much improved read on every front. The art work was much better, the story less convoluted it felt like a classic comic, as they squared off against Red Peril, who is like th Chelsea Handler of super villains if she was a flaming ginger.

Thor 17 was an improvement from the blasted god-slayer arc, the art work is not as good as it was when the book was first called god of thunder and I would like to seem more action on Midgard or at least a balance.

Savage Wolverine, number one needed to be renumbered only because of the different the book has taken, which is under whelming though  I  can see where someone might like the art work but it really isn't my thing. Wolverine 13 was ok not great , it looks to be the last issue before the relaunch and the new Wolverine 1.


Leading the X-pack hands down is All New X-men, issue 21 keeps up the good work and works them into the bigger picture of the Marvel universe with out being too heavy handed.Otherwise As far as obtuse X-titles go Cable and the X-force was pretty decent. The Bishop/Hope fight was nothing special, but there's a better fight they followed it up with in the ever confusingly titled Uncanny X-force, yes there's two X-force titles now.

The words final issue on the cover of Fantastic Four only means the final issue of this numbering, or like on t.v, the final episode of this season, next season they will be back with a new number one. The mash up with the Doom, Kang Annihilus was a little silly ,as the merging of the Fantastic Fours, but the art was decent.