This Week In Marvel 4/27/16

Marvel got blasted for "white-washing” in the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One and came out and said they did so because they did not want to offend China. The international movie dollar must make the decisions rather than casting some one who is best for the role. Offended that Tilda is in the role can share in the disdain the rest of us feel when Marvel makes poor casting choices for Heimdall or Sam Wilson taking on the mantle of Captain America which was a move done to market product much like this casting of Swinton. But enough of that lets get onto the comics. More this week can be called into question than praised. While its showing improvement the book remains not a tightly written as it could be Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur stomps on with a plot in it's 6th issue that feels like it could have been a more action packed story told in half the time. I am a little unsure about the 6th issue of Daredevil that brings in Elektra. Her motives seem skewed. She is also missing her booty and too think like the Netflix show. I'm glad Angela Queen of Hel came to an end, just when I was beginning to like that character some writer had to go muck things up by forcing in their lesbian agenda. Speaking of lesbians all the women heroes in Hell Cat continue to be drawn to look like lesbians. The series 5th issue finds itself floundering with Patsy doing very little and She-Hulk doing most of the work. It is not as big of a mess as the 6th issue of the Ultimates that finds Galactus punching cosmic beings and meeting with the Molecule Man, but the team the book is named after is no where to be found. The art is excellent and deserves a much better story to support.

There is a little hope in Amazing Spider man as arduous battle with Zodiac comes to an end in 11th issue. 11 issues guys really that could have been done in four at the most. Even this issue was clunky in its narrative. It looks like Dr. Octopus might be making a comeback as well. Starlord's 6th issue is just plain silly. IT depicts both he and Kitty as being about as mature as teenagers.  The 6th issue of the Squadron Supreme shows the book turning the team’s sights on the In-humans. It is not the most compelling beginning looking at how problems between Dr. Spectrum and Black Bolt began. It really depends on what In-humans are going to be in the throw down, I think Black Bolt, Medusa, Triton, Karnak and Crystal don't have as good of a chance without Gorgon and perhaps Lash. Ms. Marvel gets better in it's 6th issue, but is poorly pace and leaves the major plot points hanging when the wedding could have been a page and everything tied up in a bow. They do begin to show the tension with Danvers and Stark.  Old Man Logan seems like the beginning of a Clint Eastwood movie I have already seen so the 5th issue is exposition with little action.

The wrap up of the Stand off on Pleasant Hill wraps things up by prepping you for the title to arise during civil and the birth of a new Quasar, whom it seems weird that she has an Earth based origin since she should be like Captain Marvel a less grounded character. Dr. Strange continues to kick ass and take names even if the good Dr. who is our protagonist is on the run and the first half of the book was back-story on the new Villain. Spidey's 5th issue re-tells stories we already know, it's a shame they have to go back to this era and can't just make Amazing Spider-man this good.

This Week In Marvel 3/6/16

There will be those who will try to ride the hype and tell the first issue of Black Panther was a masterpiece , but the truth is much different. The truth is while the book is not as bad as I feared it would be, it fails in other ways. T'Challa gets pushed to the side lines as his sister takes a more pivotal role. I like the more Toney Stark approach to things like his suit, but I have a sinking feeling Coates is writing this larger story because he can't tell the smaller story of being able to write in T'Challa's voice. The art is fair some aspects better than others. But be prepared for this book to be put on a pedestal it doesn't deserve. The 9th issue of New Avengers sets it up for some cheese with a giant robot fighting S.H.I.E.L.D's version of Godzilla. The art work is pretty decent. Speaking of decent art work the third issue of Spider-man...the Miles version which is all build up no action.Not a bad read, but the beginning of the air coming out of the book's tires. The 6th issue of Scarlet Witch tried to be very stylistic and ended up a waste of time and she is one of my favorite Marvel characters. One of the hottest and she was drawn like a dumpy old lady, how did her hair color change is another question. The consensus is the art on the first issue of Spider-Women Alpha really does suck. The writing is ok, all three Spider-girls in the same book.



The 8th and "Stand-Off" issue of "Uncanny Avengers" was pretty decent in pushing the Wayward Pines Agenda forward as the heroes begin to wake up and look to for what could be Stark's team. I'm a little torn with the 6th issue of the Vision. It is the problem of him being written out of character based off who we have seem him as for the past 30 plus years. The scene with him working with the dead dog is a little creepy. Wouldn't logic over ride this? What would Harkness  see this leading the Vision of such a cliff. It's an issue that made me think and raises more questions than it answers but in the end it was well done.You don't have to do much in Invincible Iron Man to win me over when Deodato is handling the art. He is my favorite Marvel artists. While Rhodey might be a Navy Seal, I think he is a little out classed when fighting a room of ninjas. Not sure how this leads into Civil War but it's supposed to. Old Man Logan's 4th issue finally ties everything together with the X-titles. Nice every one has the right voice. Last and well actually least of the good pile was Spider-Man 2099, he goes back for seconds on Man Mountain Marko and has a run in with Tempest's mother. Good art  some of the story was more vanilla than others and he is supposed to be the Spider-man with more of an edge.

This Week In Marvel : 2/16/16

The second season of Daredevil kicks off this week. Don't worry I'll post something about it before the weekend is up. But onto the book. Nothing was awesome some thing were just better than others .The first issue of International Iron Man turns out to be a waste of space as it is all a flash back of more ret-conning to come. Another waste of time was the 3rd issue of Captain Marvel which finds the book taking a dramatic plunge and this comes even with her having the Alpha Flight in tow. How bot an issue of the Astonishing Ant-man without Ant-man in it, well that is what happens in the 6th issue where they turn Cassie into the bad-guy Stinger. Scarlet Witch really has the brakes slammed on it in a mess of a 4th issue and Star Brand & Night Mask's 4th issue treads similar ground, but with better art and characters I care much less about.  Web Warriors manages in its 5th issue to be both a snooze fest and a cluster fuck. not really sure what the point of this book is.

All-New In-humans is fractionally better in it's fifth issue , there is the hope Collective Man gets killed, Spider-man makes an appearance for no reason at all. Crystal can't decide when to be a militant Inhuman and brings toilet paper to a knife fight. Silk was not as good as this book has been and the whole goblin nation thing felt anti-climatic, looks like Jessica Drew is going to hunt her down. The book deserves some better art. The 2nd issue of Infinity Entity has better art, but is rather obtuse, almost dream like, making for a cerebral Adam Warlock, which might have always been an element of the character, but want something with more substance. The 5th issue of Squadron Supreme is still a mixed bag even though it' an improvement. All the new character muck things up, I would prefer the original team, not even Thundra replacing their Power Princess eases that for me. Star Lord's 5th issue had some alright moments, the art is great and feels wasted. With this story arc over they should give the book a rest and focus on Quill in Guardians.

Extraordinary X-men holds the line in the 8th issue, story wise it works like an X-book should, even though I am so tired of travel the new Horse-men of the Apocalypse should keep things interesting. Spider- Woman's 5th issue was good. It went off the course into this stylistic deviation from the super-hero formula, but still gave you enough of that to keep a classic Marvel militant like myself engaged. It did raises a few questions, the who is the baby daddy? and the the big one for me is why is her old costume not OK because it sexualizes her when she is crawling around, but it's OK to have a close up of her in green hipster short shorts? I won't hold my breath waiting for that answer. I'm sure it's wanting a more camera friendly costume. Power-man and Iron-Fist's second issue, keeps thing moving in the right direction despite the lack luster art.All New X-men's 6th issue kicked a lot of butt and now finds Toad of all people being a threat, at least to little Summers.

The Week in Marvel : 3/2/16

The 7th issue of "Invincible Iron-man" finds Mary Jane Watson being forced into his story for the bulk of the book. War-Machine is in trouble so he brings in Spider-man to help. The at is pretty killer even if the story is all set up here. While it's clever that the Avenger's Mansion was turned into a sex-club for cos-play, Wrecker's rampage and the Quick Sliver & Dead Pool team up fall short of really packing a punch in the 6th issue. Red Skull is back and Sin is drawn pretty hot.  While the art in Nova is a mixed bag I'm not sure how I feel about the clone of his dad, it seems a little like a cop out to me. The 8th issue of Deadpool was alright, not great but entertaining enough. It seems like a very color by numbers Deadpool story that plays it too safe. While it's well drawn and succeeds on many levels Spider-Man's second issue has some problems. Sure Miles is a teenager and has high school drama, I think Spidey handles this better . The big thing is OK Miles beat Black Heart, but not after he schooled the rest of the Avengers who are far more powerful, I'm not buying it. Nova is another book with high school problems, these might even be more serious. I'm cool with the art. Even the Richard Ryder clone is jumping the shark, but I can handle it. The 5th issue of Nova just doesn't gel in the way it's all handled. If we were watching this on screen it would seem like bad CW writing. A-Force's 3rd issue is just bad, if anyone believes they just killed off Dazzler in this book has money waiting on them from a Nigerian prince. Good art alone can't save Guardians Infinity book. The fourth issue seems to be the choking point for most Marvel arches. I am not sure that they need two Guardians of the Galaxy books as well as solo titles for every one no matter how good the movie did.



The first issue of Black Widow really kills it. I'm not the biggest fan of the pencil work, but it is drawn from an interesting perspective with angles that look like they are from a Die-hard film. The book is also paced like a Die- Hard film. Little dialogue, Natasha is escaping from the Helicarrier with extreme prejudice. My only qualm is Natasha could have been drawn better. She looks like she has the body of a 12 year old. Avenger's Standoff Assault on Pleasant Hill, is damn fine story telling. Yes they are still ripping off  Wayward Pines, but the link to the Cosmic Cube is explained and the Thunderbolts role in all this is pretty clear. They pretty much telegraph, how Steve Rogers gets his groove back. Speaking of Rogers he is next up for issue 4 of Old Man Wolverine. But I am getting ahead of myself, Old Man Logan's 3 issue is pretty damn good. Not a big Kate Bishop fan, but the writers got her voice right, and I love the fact Logan says there is no girl- Thor in the future. In other X-related news Uncanny X-men, has some of the company's better art and aside from a lack luster team everything else you could want from an X-men book. I am going to start another column entitled" Save Your Heroes" where I'll answer the question... so you think you can do better? and layout what I think would be a better direction for the book. I get the fact this book is taking the place of X-force, but it could be done in a more interesting manner.

This Week In Marvel 2/10/16

The big even this week isn't on the shelves , but in theaters as Deadpool comes out. I am not going to see it opening weekend. In fact Dr. Strange might be the last Marvel movie I go to opening weekend. I'm not sure about Civil War, I think it's going to take the Avengers side of the coin into a bad direction. Super hero fatigue is going to be setting in soon after that one when those characters begin to be re-cast. The second issue of Shield, keeps with the tone of the show while setting things up for the Civil War 2 story that is coming. Overall it's a little on the luke warm side. The art doesn't help matters. Weird World has some wacky art, but a story I just can't care about, I will only keep reading it in hopes some one more interesting shows up, like Man-thing or Crystar. Another book with great art wasted on a boring story is the Ultimates.  Not a big fan of the Blue Marvel or the America girl, but you would think the others would do more than just support a Blue Marvel story, which is what the book is turning into. Black Knight loses some of it's charm in the 4th issue, there is only one left and the book is getting the plug pulled on it. I think it would have done better without some much of the Uncanny Avengers, as Dane becomes more of a supporting character.The 3rd issue of Red Wolf finds the book getting dull, they just need to bring in the Texas Rangers, since he was only good as a part of that team. Spider -Gwen has really gone down the toilet. I stopped reading the 5th issue mid way into it. The art is terrible and the story which is trying to be a Netflix drama already is overly dramatic and loses the voice of the main character. Ms Marvel really continues to be a waste of time, its a super hero comic book for people who don't like super hero comic books. Meaning poseurs...


The 4th issue of the All- New Hawkeye, finds the book going in a decent direction, though weighed down with too much back story on Kate Bishop, who really just needs to get put on New Avengers in Clint's place and let him have a solo book rather than trying to balance between two Hawkeyes as we get into the too many versions of the same archetype.
The 5th issue of All New Wolverine, is pretty decent even with the art working against it. Sure Wasp/ Ant-Man shrink down to go inside someone's body and save them is kind of played out concept, they pretty much make it work. One of the clones dies , which is fine by me as why do you need more X-23s running around , that is the problem we already have with too many version of the same hero running around. In All- New X-men X-23 was also the focus as the issue looked at her relationship with the new Angel and in the span of one issue trouble arose in paradise as he began to question her masochistic need to take her healing factor to the limit. Then a beat down from Blob, who I don't remember seeing for some time goes down.This is some of the weeks best art.  What All-New Avengers's fifth issue had going for might not have been what was intended. my take away is that Vision wised up and got the kids kicked off the team. The whole Equinox thing was on the dumber side of things since he is really a Marvel Team Up level of heel. I am glad Foster turned human, the perfect time to kill her off.  She also shows up in Illuminati's 4th issue another comic marred by flawed art, it's a heist plot that is losing a little of the steam.

So things were looking up a little  on the Hulk end. We saw more of Banner's fate in the 3rd issue of Totally Awesome.One of the few books with good comic book art these days. Fing Fang Foom, no longer talks for some reason. Then in this weeks issue of Old Man Logan, Cho-Hulk gets mistaken for the real deal, which you think Logan's nose would have picked up on, so that was a slight fail, but there fight is good and end like most Hulk vs Wolverines , with Logan getting his butt kicked in, despite his healing factor.