Hulk Smash

Hulk Smash

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

2017 : Marvel Should be Ashamed



The fact that it takes an act of sheer willpower for me to power through and write about comics, after having a blog devoted to them speaks volumes to the sad state of things. Marvel Should be ashamed of themselves. It's not just me that feels this way. I went into a local comic book store and talked to the owner . He told me things are rough for Marvel and fans are not pleased. He said it's a great time to be a D/C fan because you watch Arrow on TV and then go open a comic book and those characters are generally the ones you loved from the show. People go to a Marvel movie and then pick up a comic book and are confused. This diversity trend is hurting things just like I predicted.

 Are things getting better this year?  well with half the heroes replaced by impostors it can't get worse. U.S Avengers is another take on the New Avengers it follows the former Sun-spot and gets mired down slightly by a time line hopping Danielle Cage, the art is great and it has the Red Hulk in it so I am hopeful s he seems more like Hulk than Cho. The two big events on the front end of the year to follow up the underwhelming Civil War 2 that seemed just a vehicle to kill off more of the old favorites are the In-humans vs X-men and this Monsters Unleashed. Of the two Monsters Unleashed might be another vehicle to promote their new teen characters , but is also has more of a classic Marvel feel. I like the fact Ilsa Bloodstone is in this, of the newer characters she is one of my favorites .It is more like a D/C story line as it's just a bunch of random fighting. The In-humans vs X-men might also be a bunch of fighting, but it doesn't pack the punch it feels like it should.

The Clone Conspiracy is not terrible, but I am not sure if it is really making anything any better in the long run. Avengers comic books are mired down in another Kang thing, Glad Hercules is back in the mix, but the stories are disjointed. Thor's Unworthy book is decent. The Mighty with Jane Foster another story that feels forced. Solicits for Sam Wilson's book shows him back in the Falcon costume, it just won'r sell as many books if the title was Falcon. Black Panther is so terrible there is no way that movie can't be a disaster. Guardians of the Galaxy are being spread thin in solo books, and the main one which finds them on Earth is not what it once was. Scarlet Witch is a mess and Dr. Strange which has been the strongest title is heading in that direction. It's also hard to care about anyone on a street level as Daredevil had potential that is now kind giving us stories we have read before, and I am finding it hard to care about the Punisher. We won't even start on how bad Iron-man is .

For me to almost not want to even bother reading comic books is a problem I have been reading them for over thirty years, Marvel you should be ashamed of your self.