This Week in Marvel

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After what happened at the polls this week, the Riri Iron-man books, feels like a discarded foot note in Marvel's social justice warrior agenda. I can't see Disney wanting to be considered subversive, so no more M.O.D.O.K Trump jokes. What is eluded to here is the fact Tony Stark might have been killed off in Civil War 2. So Marvel is really spitting in the faces of it's fans by taking away a third character we know and love. Three from the cinematic universe, if they continue to commit marketing suicide. This week it was obvious we are tired of being politically correct, so give us back the original characters living and dead.

All- new X-men brings back the Inferno arc and seems like it is setting the ground for their next Monsters on the Loose cross over, though we know some of that is coming from the Cho-Hulk series. Amazing Spider -Man's Renew Your Vows feels good as a story until you consider where this is going to fit into to continuity.  Speaking of outside continuity that go back and tell a classic Avengers story on the 1.1 Avengers book. Why not just make this line-up the new team and kick the imposters out? This eliminates the margin for error more ret-conning can cause. As for ret-conning gone wrong, the seventh issue of Captain America, finds this hail Hydra story line muddying the waters even further. The 13th issue of Daredevil is a waste of time as Murdock is barely in the book which focuses more on his side kick we could not give a shit about and the serial killer chasing him in the sewer.

Ret-conning continues with the second issue of the Clone Conspiracy. The Jackal brings back everyone who has died on Spider-man's watch with what he implies to be the best intentions and they do handle the two Gwen Stacey's as well as one could deal with that without killing them off, which is what is best. This does raise the question of if this will create more problems than it solves. The Uncanny X-men was a slight improvement, but the Uncanny Avengers was much better as they square off against the Hulk who is resurrected by the Hand. The team sees that they are out classed. Though Rogue goes into the fight thinking she can hand with any version of the Hulk. This version can't talk but doesn't seem to be totally mindless as it has enough memory to fight out of instinct. Not sure Cable is going to help much.

Movie Review : " Dr. Strange"

My wife will tell you how I have been talking about this movie for the past three years. Dr. Strange stands along side the Hulk and Thor as my favorite Marvel characters. Until Spider-man was announced I was pretty adamant that this was going to be one of the last great Marvel films. Once you see this movie you will begin to question just how great were those other Marvel films. I still feel pretty strongly about the first Captain America and Iron-man, but I would say Dr. Strange is better than those. Perhaps it is because of the freedom the movie has to throw the suspension of disbelief out the window. Magick is not explained away as science like it is in the Thor movies.

My only slight concern with this is magick is not given limits or shown as taxing them in any way once it is mastered. In the original comics this was how it was presented, and there are some Greatest American Hero moments with the Cloak of Levitation. I suppose we also see what happens when you use the dark dimension to supplement your powers. The cast didn't have any weakness either from Strange to Mordo the cast could do no Wong. I do think Wong's role should shift once Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme. I did not catch what they said in the London Sanctum to the character defending it if he was Jericho Drumm or not...Brother Voodoo. I think at wink toward's Clea would have been nice and if I was making a fan boy wish list one of the Acolytes could have been Damien Hellstorm.
Yes, Rachel McAdams is the same character as Rosario Dawson in the Net Flix shows. So that is awkward. See I did not complain about Tilda Swinton's Ancient one cause she is great so take that social justice Ghost Busters.

The effects were the best of any Marvel movie to date, though it looks like they are stepping it up on the trailer to the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer so the bar is high. Were there elements that bring to mind the Matrix and Inception. Yes, but it was not a deal breaker for me, Swinton could have almost asked him to pick the red pill or the blue pill at one point. The action was well paced. The fight scenes were martial arts based, but creative enough though a common theme was lets keep running as we fight. The fight in the astral plane was pretty awesome and one of the movie's high points along with the showdown with the big bad who if you do not know is in the movie I will not utter his name here, but could have used a little more flame on his head, but closer to the comics than Galactus was in Fantastic Four, or Dr. Doom if we are talking about the last movie. No major issues, laughed more than I thought I would it was endearing and you can go into this movie knowing less about the character than you did for Ant-man. Would see it again in theaters if I was bored. I saw it in 3d, which was expensive, but effective.

Catching Up With Marvel

So we have had 12 issue of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and so fat they have led to next to nothing ? It leads up to Kid Kree professing his love to her and then Devil Dinosaur wrecking a Lego land science fair? That is bull shit and my last time wasting another minute with this book. All New All Different Avengers was more flash back story telling this time with the real Thor in the flash back so it felt more like an Avengers book. The 6th issue of Captain America only offered Steve Rogers perspective on Civil War, and we have already begun to see how this HYDRA arc is tying into it. Speaking of Civil War the 6th issue of it didn't do much aside from show Black Panther switch sides and the kids run off to hide Miles So far the series has been a flop and a vehicle to show boat Danvers. Other show boats that sank include the Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme, which is too bogged down with characters from other realities.


The 17 issue of New Avengers and it is clear why there are too many Avengers books, this one is cluttered and makes it hard to care about any one in it. The new Avengers book with the new Wasp and Hercules, is not the worst written book, but the art is a little too much for what is going on here.   the 10th issue of Agents of Shield got a little convoluted in how it was written but it was entertaining. The way the series ended made me wonder if it is getting canned.The 15th issue of Extraordinary X-men is becoming a reprise of Inferno. The 12th issue of Ms .Marvel continues to be a waste of paper. She works much better as a member of the Champions who have a pretty decent second issue going to prove none of these characters need their own books. Death of X finds conflict that should have happened in the first issue finally going down in the 3rd and the X-men should slaughter the In-Humans. The 12th issue of Scarlet Witch was alright, not great, which is a let down considering she is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Unsure about this new arc she is going on and how they are diminishing the impact of her being a mutant and emphasizing her as a witch, when I think balancing the two would be best, just like balancing the two sides of Dr. Doom the science and the magic is important.

While it was entertaining and in most ways felt like either a Bat-man or Punisher book the 6th issue of Night Hawk was pretty good even though I am sure this book is getting canned. Another black super-hero book that was better than it had the right to be is the first issue of the Prowler. The art is some of the best, I can't see the him being able to hold down his own even with it being this tied into their new Clone Saga. The best Civil War moment might have been the Gamora vs Danvers fight in the 13th issue of  Guardians of the Galaxy that finds that team falling apart. This book also had great art. The first issue of Fool Killer is really a surprise , sure with Moon Knight crazy costumed anti-heroes are covered, but this book is less surreal and more like Dexter is some ways. Speaking of Moon Knight it gets crazier and crazier. I think they have brought it too a cross roads that makes more sense. The 13th issue of Spider-Woman finds shit getting real and setting her up to have major beef with the Hob-goblin, I have always felt she needed to tap more into Spider-man's rogues gallery since she doesn't have that compelling of a rogue gallery on her own.