Marvel 2017 Update

This has been floating around for a while so forcing myself to finish it. The comics have been so uninspiring it is hard to get inspired enough to write about them. So Kevin Feige announced that the Marvel movies are done at 22. So Dr. Strange will get a sequel , but not a 3rd movie? Or the tie-ins will stop and everyone has to stand on their own two feet. If the Spider-man sequel does well I have a  hard time imagining that they wont make a third. In cases it would be clearly going to the well too many times. Is the focus going to shift on tv? With In-humans proved to be a bust. This is too becomes a gamble. The actors are dropping from the contracts so re-booting is imminent. Though they have learned their lesson from the comics and Legacy finds them returning to the status quo. Jane Foster will die. Iron-heart could never get off the ground. I was going to write separate reviews for The Punisher and Runaways shows , but I can sum them up in a few sentences. The Punisher, had it's moments and ended strong. Too many extra story lines, and Jigsaw should have been a thing and not just an old Army buddy. More ties into organized crime would have been nice. My major complaint is no costume, having a costume is an establishing an identity which is like the crest of his shield that symbolizes what he is fighting for. Without this he is not a super-hero or anything but another character in a crime drama. The Runaways gets a good feel of the characters. It wastes too much time with origins and gets mired down into a soap opera with their parents that eclipses the kids. I keep telling myself if this doesn't change I am giving up on the show.

The bottom line is numbers talk and bull-shit walks so the cancellations this year now include The Un-believable Gwen-pool gets cancelled, Luke Cage ( a good character not meant to support a book of his own), Hawkeye, Gen X, and America Chavez. Can Squirrel-girl be far behind one wonders. Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers and X-men Blue are said to be Marvel's biggest selling books. As of Amazing Spider-Man 793, it's been reduced to haphazard mess,  this time is one with Venom symbiotes taking over people and the new Flash Thompson Anti-Venom is the only hope, as Spider-Man himself is possessed by a symbiote. Black Cat who is taking a much larger role as a villain seems to be stepping up to orchestrate this. X-men has some focus and now they have become a cluster fuck of mindless stories that feel like the kind of plot chaos that goes on in your average issue of Justice League. Avengers is not much better they are going into "No Surrender" so far it seems murky something with Kang, or High Evolutionary and building into another Infinity War in time for Infinity War to go to the big screen.


Planet Hulk is Greg Pak trying to recreate what they had with Banner using Cho-Hulk and it falls flat, though the last page of issue 711 shows Cho and Thor about to go at it. This trend continues as the go into a "World War Hulk" coming out of Planet Hulk, as this point Banner Hulk will be back so Cho-Hulk will be a mute point. Maybe he will get killed off, we can only hope, but not likely since Pak is writing it. The comics trying to cash in one the movies. Speaking of movies cashing in Black Panther continues to prove that Black Panther is a great supporting character who works in the context of the Avengers or Fantastic Four, but can't support his own book. They throw in other black characters from the Marvel Universe to try to offer support in the comic and it seems forced. The movie looks like a video and while it will be rallied behind since it is the politically correct thing to do, the story will suck, because there are no memorable Black Panther solo adventures to pull from, unless you are talking about his feud with Dr. Doom, which isn't happening in this movie.  Iron Man is taking to long to bring Tony back and in the process things could not be more convoluted than they already are.


The best news of the year is Dr. Strange bringing back THE SENTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Loki is stealing Strange's thunder and we know Sentry has ripped one god in half, and Are's is tougher than Loki. When he actually gets into action by making a triumphant return to Asgard. Moon Knight is showing some promise. The art looks like it is drawn by the same due who does Crossed, which is a good thing.

More from Marvel

This week comics are off to a better start as "Uncanny Avengers " was pretty fun despite it being so Deadpool heavy. Punisher was a mess that did not have enough actual Frank Castle in it, so you see how that can be a problem. The first issue of the Unbelievable Gwenpool is pretty stupid. The art is kind of anime, and the character really lacks anything of substance relegating her to a running joke of mixing Gwen Stacy with Deadpool. Looks like to things that could sell on paper, but put into practise there is nothing holding it together. Speaking of Deadpool, the 20th issue of Deadpool is pretty lack luster and doesn't play to the characters strengths and instead finds him trying to be a voice of reason that comes across as being out of character. Howard the Duck finds this character being dragged down the drain by bad writing in an attempt to remember what worked with this character back in the 70s when he was higher pro-file. Moon Knight's 7th issue is a mixed bag. I like the fact the art work looks like it is from Heavy Metal magazine, but the story is so crazy and scattered is barely makes sense. Old Man Logan finds this story line really beginning to drag in the 12th issue. While it's not bad I don't see this Solo series going very far, he is like a Punisher who can tele-port. Thunder-Bolts finds this series treading water. The art was great and the plight of finding food wasn't epic in scope it gave the room to breathe, but they need to get this series moving in a better direction.

Mosaic's first issue is as bad as you probably feared. You do not give a shit about the main character, and the story line is jagged at best. Don't see this book flying or fathom a reason any one would give a shit abut it. The 12th issue of Dare Devil gives us a short but cool fight between Daredevil and Karnak. This serial killer takes a back seat and kind of flushes the argument down the toilet that events don't have to cross over unless they make sense and this seems a little like the In-Humans were being forced into the series. But aside from that little flaw it's a pretty good issue. The first issue of the Great Lakes Avengers is pretty good. I like the art. I am not sure these characters can hold the book and it might need Squirrel Girl. Power-man and Iron Fist is so far one of the better cross-overs into Civil War 2. I wanted to see Luke Cage and Carol go at it more.

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.

More Marvel April 1st 2015

Things got a little better  with Marvel this week so we will get the bulk of the bad news out of the way first  first which is I am not sure why i decided to read Operation S.i.N issue 4 as it was bad all the way around. Agent Carter bored me to tears I couldn't get through an entire episode which should make people scared for Captain Marvel if that is the best they can do with a female hero in a solo outing. I think Skye from Agents of Shield is way more interesting than Carter. Not sure why I bothered with Cyclops 12 the whole black vortex thing is what happens when comic book writers try to write the X-men into star wars , the idea sounds good sitting around the bong but put into motion no so much. The art is decent , but way too happy. Darker inking might have helped put lead into that pencil.Speaking of lead the Punisher has plenty of it, while the art is not my favorite it is drawn using some creative camera angles. The Punisher vs Sam Wilson fight was entertaining , but not as accurate as that might go down considering Wilson is not as experienced as Castle, I won't spoil the outcome, but it is resolved in the milk toast way most battles of this sort turn out... and no Doctor Octopus doesn't show up causing them to team up. The Punisher also popped up in Spider-Gwen 3  the first issue that was worth the paper it was printed on. I like the look of her costume, but can't stand how the book is drawn, the use of the gas in this issue seemed like it was creating a smoke screen for the bad art, story wise vast improvement, I'll keep reading and give it another chance...see I'm not so harsh after all. I love comics and want to like them, the quality has just slipped in recent years.

The Guardians of the Galaxy team up was cute, I love She-hulk, but she has become was too focused on her career and not busting out of her clothes enough. This issue was inconsistent in her size. She teamed up with Gamora of course. Vs Drax would have been more interesting.She-Hulk like punisher made multiple appearances this week as she was in Wolverines 13, the re-creation of Hulk 181 was pretty funny even if the fight with Deadpool as short lived...of course he didn't win. Avengers the Rage of Ultron assembled a jumbled mix or varied version of Avengers, but when a character slices off the Hulk's head with Captain America's shield then it was clear the writer had never cracked open and issue of Hulk or really researched the character since that would never happen. Of course there was no blood so it could be android, but despite decent art it was a flop went put against Uncanny Avengers or Avengers 43. Uncanny keeps it's High Evolutionary story line going and Avengers is just setting up Secret Wars, which I will give a run down of what looks to be the winners and losers of that debacle next week.

Book I avoided this week was Rocket Raccoon, since it's largely drawn like Calvin and Hobbs.

Marvel Now Phase 1

We are now entering phase one of the 2014 Marvel Now. All New Invaders lives up to it's hype with the second issue, the artwork is the best the company has going. For fans of this Sliver age team, this book is a must, they don't cut corner, even the original Vision makes and appearance of sorts when they are recalling the old days, the next issue should have more Namor, in it who only comes up in conversation this issue.

The first issue of Loki Agent of Shield... err Asgard , seems interesting. I like the art work, the Avengers make an appearance as he sneaks into Avengers tower to purge Thor of some corruption left in him that in turn seems to have become the original or more traditional depiction of Loki in the marvelverse, Leaving the question well now with two Lokis?

New Avenger's 14- seems to be lost the way many D/Ctitles are with too much dimensional jumble as other earth's collide. The Dr. Strange arc is worth following as Stephen sells his soul for more power.

Iron Man 21... was a decent superhero comic , the Mandrains' power ringer's continue to plague Toney, the art work is crisp like something from a D/C book, very Super-man in the scope of it's action.

Punisher and Wolvering both kicked off this week with new number one titles and truth be told neither was that gripping, the art work in Wolverine was good , which is much more than can be said of the Punisher, who appears to be drawn rather scrawny, sure a new version of the Howling Commandos are going to be popping up, but the appearance of the Superior Spider-man in the new Wolverine book is much more likely to give me reason to check it out. The Wolverine book also seems much more firmly rooted in canon.