The Week in Marvel

It wasn't too bad this week, though it does seem apparent that the social justice warriors of Marvel continue to push their agendas in the wrong direction. The 12th issue of Invincible Iron Man, finds Tony more preoccupied with Riri, than even makes sense of the character to be. Riri like Moon-Girl is a smart black teenager, which Marvel must find to be a novel idea. Sure the fact she could make an Iron Man suit requires some suspension of disbelief. Where did she ge the money to make the first suit which is more complex than the tin cn version of mach 1.  Even with Klaw, Daredevil's Annual was terrible in every respect. "Uncanny In-humans" has it's heart in the right place as it felt more like the In-humans, but it was not very well organized from a story telling perspective.


The chase scene that made up the 10th issue of the Punisher was a lot of fun and found a cinematic tension that pulled you in. The finale of Dr. Strange's first 10 issues was a little on the anti-climatic side. It seemed like this story could have been told in four issues. I generally like this book and Strange is one of my favorite characters, so it was disappointing. Moon Knight continues to not make any sense. The 11th issue of Silk finds Cindy getting webbed up with the ghosts of her ex. This seems like a diversion away from what this book's story really seems to be about. I could not bring myself to read another issue of Deadpool or Vote Loki.Squadron Supreme was fun and the cross over with Spider-man makes sense, I think Hyperion would smoke Blue Marvel so not sure why that is a stale mate , I suppose it places the Squadron on Starks side. While not bad, the Kingpin lost a little momentum in the 2nd issue of his Civil War arc and they have made it unclear how it ties into the bigger story. Uncanny X-men might have the weeks best art within the pages of it's 11th issue.

Weeks of Marvel

Here is a little catching up. First off the second issue of Civil War 2 is better than the first though I do not like what I think is going to happen with Bruce Banner. If Carol Danvers kills him, before he can turn into the Hulk, I'm contemplating just giving up on comics all together. I mean then only Dr. Strange will be left of my top 3 characters since Thor is still m.i.a. I like how Stark took down the In-Humans. Karnak's depiction in every other book that is not his is better than what happened in his solo book. Speaking of In-Humans , both their books were just terrible. Trying to go with these more "diverse" In-Humans instead of focusing on the core is really weakening them. You want an In-Humans book, get Gorgon out of the wheel-chair, then focus on Triton, Karnak, Medusa, Black Bolt, Crystal and Maximus. Sure I'll give you Lash, but none of the others are worth a damn. The cross over in Squadron Supreme, was a fake out if you were to judge the book by it's cover.

The 8th issue of Venom Space Knight, was a little bit of a let down. The new art falls really short of where the old artist held the bar and Flash chasing after Venom, was on the lame side. The second issue of Thunderbolts was really weird the art looked like it was from a 90s comic and now the In-humans are coming out of no-where not sure how much sense it made. The other lets down were the Amazing Spider-man which saw very little Parker and more Regent than anything. Vote Loki's first issue is pretty pointless as was both the obtuse Spider-Gwen and Black Widow.

The 12th issue of New Avengers is a big improvement, the art is great. Squirrel Girl is back to being drawn relatively hot instead of looking like a teenage lesbian. The arc with Dum Dum, might drag this book in a weird place unless they have a show down with the Howling Commandos. I am a little confused with where this falls with the death of magic arc over in Dr. Strange, I am assuming, that was resolved by this point?  The first issue of the "Gods of War" series of Civil War, was fun and pretty much picks up where Hercules left off. The art is very suited for the story being told though the Cho-Hulk is drawn a little oddly. One of the best books over the past couple of weeks was Ant-man, whose 9th issue told a charming story without risking becoming a cliche.  Civil War X-men was much better than Uncanny.

This Week in Marvel 5/11/16

Agent Carter gets cancelled , which is fine by me the show was a snooze fest. Jessica Jones showed how a female lead can work, Carter showed how it can fail, it's really a role of the dice as to how Black Widow and Captain Marvel would pan out. I think the rule of thumb should be if you can't hold a solo title of your own, then a movie more than likely won't work either. This casts a grim light on Black Panther which I won't be seeing in the theaters. But now onto what matters the comics.The second issue of black Panther, supports my theory that Black panther will hard pressed to hold a movie together on his own as the second issue already lost considerable steam.


Deadpool's 11th issue is rough story wise. Magneto showing up was the best part otherwise this arc with Sabertooth was drawn out an issue too long. I'm still unsure about the new Wasp. The 9th issue of the All New Avengers, focus equally on Vision as it does the new Wasp, but it is Jarvis who makes it feel like an Avengers book.Time travel once again becomes a crutch for questionable writing in the All New X-men's 9th issue that finds Kid Apocalypse and Beast blown back in time to do what a better writer col have done with the character in this reality. The 7th issue of the Ultimates might have decent art, but it is a waste of time to just establish Thanos return and that the team disagrees leading into Civil War 2. The 6th issue of guardians OF infinity comes across like an 80's Space opera, a few shades better than Space Balls. Even more silly is the 7th issue of Web Warriors , which is the jumped shark when Ducktor Doom 2099 comes into play. While it' well drawn the 7th issue of Venom Space Knight has some holes in it's story. The 7th issue of Illuminati is a little bit of a mess as the team falls apart.


The second issue of Gwenpool is an improvement. Jane Foster Thor and MODOK helped the book out. But they are trying to make her their Harley Quinn.Uncanny Inhuman has a really well-written 8th issue that has a lot of heart and makes the Medusa & Johnny Storm thing make sense. Which is a much better use of flash back than what happens in Vision's 7th issue, when we are taken back into a history we already know.The 5th issue of Agents of Shield works pretty well in bringing Grant Ward in and makes good use of the Marvel Universe as it's back drop in a way that serves the comics much better than the show.Silk's 8th issue is decent enough, the whole Spider-women arc seems to be holding it back from telling the story the book wants to tell and the Black Cat arc needs to get some where.I do like the fact Black Cat is gaining some traction in the Spider-World lately.

This Week in Marvel : 4/20/16

It was a really rough week for Marvel , books that started off good are now quickly going sour , the second issue of Power Man and Iron-fist being one of those. Uncanny Inhuman's pretty much wasted the issue on politics as if we are not getting enough of that on television these days. Loki spun a tall tale in Thor that is introducing some Hulk-viking, which sounds cool on paper until you realize we have too many Hulks already. The art was pretty terrible during his yarn, but at least Jane Foster was not in this issue. Captain Marvel's 4th issue was an improvement, the art doesn't do a lot for me, and it feels like an off shoot of Sar Trek the way its being written. The 5th issue of Guardians of Infinity is decent the art is great, so that makes up for a lot . The 6th issue of Nova is better than this series has been. the 7th issue of Silk was pretty good even with the inter dimensional mish mash and the alternate take on dr octopus. The third issue of Karnak was absolutely terrible. Sam Wilson's solo book which had as much Steve Rogers just proves Rogers is the dominate character and Sam is nothing more than a side kick when he is around Rogers, and that's how it should be. Do they really think college kids are going to relate to Starbrand and Night Mask? The 5th issue is alright for what it is, but I don't see this book lasting.

 I really couldn't make myself care about the 9th issue of Extraordinary X-men. This Apocalypse story line is boring me to tears at this point. Hyperion's 2nd issue didn't do much for me. Guardians of Infinity wasn't bad despite it was one villains monologue and not much else happening. The Totally Awesome Hulk saw the beginnings of  the air being let out of it's tires, the art was the best thing so the fact they are switching out artists for the current artist of Weird World doesn't feel right for that book. The Enchantress seemed to have too hard of a time enchanting Cho. Sure he might be smarter than Thor, but doesn't have the will power of a god. New Avengers which focuses on the Gamma Godzilla that chants USA when it fights giant robots was on of the better issues this week so that spells trouble.  Wow ! Nova might have been the best book this week. He fights his father or doppelganger or what ever the fuck is going on, which I suppose would be the one flaw in the writing there.

This Week In Marvel 2/24/16

So the big news is Iron Fist has found it's Danny Rand in Game of thrones actor  Finn Jones. Not my first choice, but of course this brought a grumble from the idiots of the inner webs complaining that it wasn't an asian actor. This is the pinnacle in stupidity since Danny Rand is blond. Aren't asians being stereotyped as martial artists in the first place? It would be racist for Rand to not be white. Racism has nothing to do about the color it's being vented against. But that is propaganda for you. Now to comics...bringing Uncle Ben back from the dead in Amazing Spider-man's 1.3 issue , not only made we scratch my head and back track to read previous issues, just doesn't have the impact it should and I can think of many more characters who would benefit from being brought back. I always tell myself Squirrel Girl is never going to be good and I am right, this time I'm sticking to my guns as this last issue was just a waste of time. Angela Queen of Hel,  continues to try to hard to push it's lgbt agenda. I have noting wrong with gay characters, ret-conning and making some one gay after the fact I have a problem with. Karnak's second issue is a mixed bag the plot is a little thin, the art is stylistic but well done for what it is. I don't see him carrying a book on his own for long. Drax's 3rd issue is obviously written by a wrestler, because that is what the plot resembles. Decent art and glad to see an old Hulk baddie in the mix. The 4th issue of the All- New In-Humans continues to be a disappointment and plot hole get bigger. They have a healer and Gorgon is in a wheel chair. What sense does that make? It took me a little bit to figure out what was no clicking for me in Hercules. The answer came after pondering the fourth issue. It's the introduction of the new gods based off modern thought that is weak. The art is fine, the action at least shows motion in the ocean, but the new bad guys are paper thin. The 5th issue of Howling Commandos find the series losing momentum and not keeping me as engaged. Venom Space Knight has Thompson separated from the symbiote and they meet up with a big ass space -panda, really the art is what sells the book as the story has gotten silly.


The art in Dare Devil is great. The book has an interesting use of perspective in the display of it's panels.  Steve Roger's seems to be a little forced in this issue, it's all set up with some action thrown in a good balanced book. The All- New X-men continues to be one of the better books despite the heavy handed teen drama. When Angel breaking up with X-23 is the cliff hanger when the rest of the team is throwing down with Blob, then you are heading in the wrong direction. The art is some of Marvel's best and what help ease the sting. This feels more like an X-men book than the other two titles. New Avengers shows improvement in it's 7th issue. Overall the book has been rather hit or miss. I don't care about White Tiger or Power-Man, but it was a smooth read with decent art. Silk continues to work despite it's art into the fifth issue. I'm not a fan of how Black Cat is drawn, but glad to see she how grown into a bigger player in the crime world. Speaking of poorly drawn but getting better as a book Hell-Cat's 3rd issue felt more like a super-hero book. A villain who controls bed-bugs might be throwing her light weights. Ant-man is becoming one of the better books. Some of the side story lines get a little fuzzy, but overall  it has the classic Marvel feel that I want out of books a balance of plot and throwing down. Unsure about the new Giant-man, I had forgotten Pym was dead. So if that is the way it's gotta be then that is the way it's gotta be, but the new guy needs to start working out.