What I Need From Marvel in 2019

You might have noticed I began to cover more comic book related media and less about the actual books themselves. I have kept reading them, but did not feel inspired enough to write about them.  They have not been bad per se , in fact they have improved now that we have corrected problems like Steve Rogers not behind the shield, Banner not as Hulk, Jane Foster the impostor Thor and Toney Stark being MIA. So going back into finishing what is less of a review and more of an over view, we will look back to see what they have done so far and where it needs to go.The Avenger's book has been treading water , Ghost Rider doesn't fit on the team. I am also fine with Dr. Strange not being on it despite him being one of my favorite characters I think he works better in the context of the Defenders. I liked when they brought Namor in , but that story kinda fizzled. We know the Squadron Supreme is showing up and Coulson is a bad guy now.This year will bring the Avengers into 3 big events . The War of the Vampires, No Road Home and a big Asgard themed event the War of Realms . At present they are no faring as well in their solo books. Thor has gone in a weird world direction. The last issue of Captain America focused too much on the side story of the bad guys, while he is being framed for the murder of Gen. Ross, I think they could do better than recycle this tired old spin,  Iron Man's current conflict with the Controller might be the most interesting story of the big 3 Avengers with proven track records for holding their books down.

Black Panther is hit or miss with his inter-galactic story arc, but at least they have him out of Wakanda,because when he is stuck there they tend to tell the same stories over and over again and due to his limited rogues gallery it gets boring quick. While we are on Avengers with limited Rogues galleries it looks like the newest run of Captain Marvel, is resorting to alternative universes and even then she has Spider-woman tagging along. I think Jessica Drew holds her own book down better than Capt. Marvel which is going to prove a detriment to trying to mine sequels out of a Capt . Marvel movie. The same thing could be said for Black Panther.


The Immortal Hulk is being praised as horror book, but I am not sure it's much different than any other version. He is in Hell at the moment, which lends it self to Clive Barker like dark streak, but I am not sure I am totally sold on the direction they are taking it. I did like the ass kicking he gave the Avengers a few months ago.The first issue of the new Guardians Of the Galaxy worked for me. I am fine with Moondragon and Beta Ray Bill on the team. It looks like Gamora is going to be pulled in at some point. When it comes to the cosmos, the return of the Fantastic four should find Marvel's first family, pulling it all together if they are smart. They have gone right for Galactus and Doom, which you can guess will be the focus of any movie coming down the road. The key to their success lies in getting Dr Doom. right. Spider Man Far From Home could have also served as a place to introduce Doom. Spider-man 's book as long as they stay away from convoluted plot points with clones are fairly consistent. It is too bad Miles did better in Into the Spiderverse than in his own book.

X-men are trying to shake things up with almost another no more mutants trick.  I like the fact two of the New Mutants, Magick and Wolfsbane are on the main team.Though the New Mutants are not that new any more. It seems like a very contrived way to bring  Cyclops back. Matt Fraction is coming back to Marvel and may or may not be on an X-book. An Eternals vs X-men books could be cool as you know with a movie pending they are going to need more fleshing out. If they are planning to make Ikaris gay, though most people have assumed it will be him though it could be Sersi, which I would find more interesting, though Ikaris' Prince Valiant hair cut is kinda gay . Also we can expect more Nova and Shang -Chi in the coming years . It will also be interesting to see how they blend Conan into the universe proper.

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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 2/3/16

A-Force's second issue finds me becoming increasingly unimpressed with not only G Willow Wilson's writing, but knowledge of the Marvel Universe. She tries to make Medusa as powerful as She- Hulk and Medusa's whole head of ginger can only lift close to two tons on a good hair day. So how is that strong enough to throw a being the size of Galactus? The art needs works not sure why She-Hulk and Medusa were the same height. Dazzler surfaces, not sure about her new look and roller derby is not for the biggest pop star in the world who has managers that ensure her face as part of the contract. So too much suspension of disbelief on the basics.The Vision's 4th issue finds the book treading the same water as his wife keeps taking wrong turns every step of the way I appreciate that fact the book is dark, but I would rather have more of the actual Vision in it, this isn't a t.v drama where all the character arcs have to be given time, it's super heroes. Uncanny X-men begins to lose a little of its momentum in the third issue, though the plot is ironed out and Fantomex makes his appearance. If that is all you need from an X-men book then it might work a little better for you it just felt stiff to me.The 2nd issue of Captain Marvel, is not as good as the first , but it is still hands down better than anything Kelly Sue ever did.  I was going to skip the 4th issues Howard the Duck , but despite feeling more like an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy it was better than the first three. Dr. Strange lost some of it's magic in the latest issue, there was a little too much Wong. Not sure about the temple of monk's trained to absorb his karmic repercussions either.

The Invincible Iron - Man is trying real hard in it's 6th issue but is losing some of the momentum, Deodato is my favorite Marvel artist, but the colorist is working against him. Sure War-Machine has gotta show, but the actual Iron Man is stuck trading blows verbally with Victor Von Doom in a Waffle House. Thanks to Bendis Miles Morales , who I used to hate has now taken a place in the Marvel Universe that makes sense, the whole presentation is pretty endearing, but if Blackheart took out a whole team of Avengers Morales is not powerful or experienced enough to hang. But for a first issue it's a good read and might be the weeks best book. However, this doesn't mean that super-heroes are like Barbie and it's fine to three versions of each one in order to look politically correct and market it like Mickey Mouse, who Disney could tell Marvel the value of what makes Mickey an icon, because there is only one of him, sure there is Minnie, but she is not a girl mouse taking on the mantle of Mickey, like She- Hulk isn't a girl claiming to be the Hulk and Spider-woman is a entity unto herself never trying to replace Peter Parker. Silk is her own character and the best job they have done at making diversity make sense and more suited than Kamala Khan.Scarlet Witch is improved in its 3rd issue, different art she now doesn't look like a housewife.The 3rd issue of Guardians of Infinity is really strong, a big throw down and then a second story with Groot and Ben Grimm teaming up. Speaking of space books, not only was Nova more grounded in the most recent issue he was under grounded and trying to disrupt a civil war between the Mole Man's dynasty. The appearance of Miles and Kamala was a little forced, I think they just need to throw the three of them on a new incarnation of the New Warriors.

Catching Up With Marvel

Unfortunately , The big bang lately hasn't been on the shelves, but on-line with the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer springing up and  the dishearteningly underwhelming Fantastic Four re-boot, which does a race flip with Johnny Storm, for no good reason. Guardians is going to be strong and prove sticking more closely to the source material works every time, while Fantasitc Four will flop, much like the impending Amazing Spider-man sequel.

Last week nothing really wowed me,  the high point has been a Thor story that is bringing him back to earth. this week is getting better

Avenger's World issue 3  has Shang -chi, who has no business being an Avenger, getting his butt kicked by Gorgon. When this character was created as the Master of Kung-fu it was an attempt for Marvel to have their own Bruce Lee, so I am surprised they still have him going. ...Note to my self as a Marvel writer... Kill him off,.

Captain America number 17 sees the series taking a turn into...shaky ground as this Dr. Mind Bubble arc begins. Superior Spider-man team , has some great art, and t he sotry worked with the main title, so I can't complain much about it.

Amazing X-men 4 was a lot of fun recaptured more of an old 80's  X-men feel. I think this is my favorite line-up currently in print. The worst continues to be the X-men book. Enchantress is not enough to keep my interest.  The Mean while.. story in the back of the book was better than the main story in every respect.

Daredevil 36 closes out a fairly iconic run, the book continues to impress despite my rather lackluster attitude toward the character. Murdock outs himself in court and the next series is going to pick up in San Francisco. Speaking of characters that once underwhelmed me the first issue of New Warriors was pretty impressive, it's a book that I want to see where it's going and hope New Salem , remains a fixture.

Punisher issue two had a weird feel, the art work tried to be overtly stylistic and felt like the writer had been watching too much Breaking Band and Sons of Anarchy. Electro is showing up in the next issue so it should keep the book more grounded in the Marvel u.