Marvel Comics in 2026

It's been four years since I last posted about the comic books. They seem to be almost forgotten by Marvel themselves as the company shifted the brand's focus to movies, which did make them huge amounts of money, well...Disney perhaps is the man behind the curtain on this. Yet comics keep being made, and I keep reading them, but it is hard for me to imagine buying a physical copy of one at this point, as they are so inconsistent. To keep abreast of what was really going on, you would be blowing a hundred dollars a month on what?  Characters that are not being respected? 

How is this disrespect to the characters happening? Well, their stories are being bastardized. How many people have worn the Spider-Man mask in the past year? Wel that first requires you to answer the next stupidest question, who is Spider-man? If the answer is not Peter Parker, then the legacy of this character is in trouble. When I tell you, Norman Osbourne was wearing the red and blue suit while Parker was in space recently, then you might understand how sharks have been jumped, and poor editorial decisions have been made, and they are affecting most characters. This bleeds over into their delusion of what will work on the big screen or television, and things compound. 

I am going to look at 10 other comics aside from Spider-Man, featuring the 10 charaters that matter the most to me aside from Parker, and see where the problem lies. It makes sense to give my favorite character a look first, so let's see how ole Bruce Banner is doing.

The Hulk

Just got finished reading the lastest issue of the Infernal Hulk. The latest gimmick.  I approve of taking the Hulk in a more horror-oriented direction, and like the Immortal Hulk series, some of those books would have been worth buying. Maybe one day I will grab a trade paperback. For Infernal, I will break it donw like this an Anicent demon , yanked Banner from Hulk and now wears the Hulk as it has possessed him to wage war against god, not a bad concept in theory I am not opposed to it the execution is jumping ahead of it self as it has this Infernal Hulk taking on the Marvel Universes incarnation of God, the One Above All, or so the fight was billed but it was reallyu for of an Arch angel andd the Infernal Hulk crushed it, not Stark is about to put on some fancy armour and right him. It's dark, reminds me a little of Alan Moore Swamp Thing days when it comes to the art. Give it a B+

The Sentry

He just got a new series. It is not clear where this falls on the timeline in terms of  Canon; it looks like  New Avengers' era or an alternate Universe, he did get ripped apart by Knull a while back, and I do not recall reading an reasonable explanation for his reincarnation, but as his power set, I am not asking too many questions. Jenkins wrote this, so it should come together it seems the Void is acting on its own accord at times. I will see where it goes. Give it a C+

    Thor

Well, his book is now called Mortal Thor, so you can guess he came back from the dead with no powers, does not remember that he is Thor, nor does anyone really remember him as Thor, so magic is afoot in this regard. His son is about to take the throne in Asgard. It is a case of writers who should not be writing a character that they do not know what to do with at full power, as this has been done before, so why recycle the story? The art is decent. Give it a D +

Doctor Strange

He is in Asgard, being a wizard with Angela in tow. The writer is obviously into Dungeons & Dragons, it would be nice to see him more grounded in a 9th Gate type story, moving in a more Lovecraftian direction, but here we are, give it a C

She-Hulk 

She is now on Skaar, Planet Hulk, in a more involved soap opera of a storyline; they brough her boyfriend Jack of Hearts to fight her. It looks like after six issues, she might be heading back to earth as they milked it for all it was worth, very Star Wars-like story and action, give it a C

the Punisher

Another reboot finds Marvel repenting for being apologetic for the character after his iconic symbol was almost cancelled by stupid Millennials. He is back in the proper costume being treated the right way with great art. The first issue of the new series is some of their best work in years. Give it an A

Iron Man

Only on the 2nd issue of the new series so too hard for them to screw it up, but they are working with what is tried and true, which is the formula they should stick with. Give it a B

Captain America

With the Avengers disbanding their current roster, it means we have to use Steve Rogers, the heartbeat of what is going on at the center of the Marvel Universe. He does have General Ross (the Red Hulk) in the periphery of his stories, but things have not really come to a head with that. Seems like he has just been on an endless mission the past few years that digs deeper into things, but there is no clear story. Give it a C

Scarlet Witch

Not the best at holding down her own series, she is now the Sorceror Supreme, not the first time. The art is very 90s, and in some ways it works, but we got her fighting Agatha for four issues, and that got old. Not a fan of how she is drawn, not really as hot as she used to be in the 80s and 90s, she can still be curvy and powerful, it kind of kills their whole feminist vibe by not letting this happen ou are saying that those concepts are mutually exclusive- give it a C

Will try to get more regular with writing about the comic books, but the comic books should be more inspiring and not a second thought to the movies. 

Film Review-Avengers Infinity War

 This is the ten year culmination of what we have been building up to. For some actors this means they have become very comfortable in their roles.With many of the actors contracts running up we knew going into this things were going to change, which translates to characters were going to die. Before we get into the meat of things in that regard, which can't be the elephant in the room because I think it is what gave audiences the strongest reactions, lets address that is what we are going to talk about at some point. So rather than shouting spoilers and being overly sensitive to your needs in that regard the fact of the matter is if you waited ten years for this and still haven't seen the movie by the time you are reading this, then it was much of a priority to you in the first place so who cares what gets spoiled or not.

Here I weigh things heavily against the comics, since this is a comic book blog not a movie blog. They pulled from various incarnations of the Infinity Gauntlet Saga. Obviously since the Black Order is a more recent invention. There were big difference in the story due to the fact people like Sliver Surfer and Adam Warlock are not involved. Mar-vell is coming and being played by Jude Law, but that is not where we are when we get to this film. The first device they use is having Thanos first whip up on Thor , Hulk and Loki to establish what kind of threat he is. This is the only real appearance of the Hulk as Banner is impotent to become him in this regard for the bulk of the movie also meaning they faked us out with fake trailers since the scene with the Hulk running behind them on Wakanda never happens.

The stars of this movie are really Thor, Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch. Iron - Man has some moments but like Thanos says he does a lot of work for just a drop of blood. Spider -man is out powered holding his own better against the Black Order than Thanos. The Guardians of the Galaxy have some great moments with Thor and Mantis is more fleshed out. What what do Captain America and Black Widow do? Less than Vision thats for sure. Black Panther reaffirms the fact when he is not the sole super hero in the room, he falls back to being next to useless. He did very little in this movie and nothing against Thanos. In fact it was Thor who rescued Wakanda. Wakanda for ever held less weight as it was more "Wakanda for the next twenty minutes" or "Wakanda until we need a Nordic god to save us". Captain America did not do much more , but contributed more when it came time to throw down , being able to hold his own against Proxima Midnight, when both Black Widow and Shuri were getting their butts kicked by her later.

Dr. Strange should have had Thanos on the ropes midway into the movie. Scarlet Witch was able to hold him back with one hand. As a bad guy Thanos was one of the better ones to grace the screen. Not as clever as Loki, but more complex than he was in the comics. The only two complaints that are coming from the movie are the end. Who died and the general ignorance of people going into it not realizing this was only the first half, The Black Panther death got under the skins of some. Mot only did he get killed at the box office by this movie , but he got killed on screen. I think this took the gas out of the hype machine, I would prefer to have lost Scarlet Witch, Spider-man and Dr. Strange, but if that's how things went , it defied my expectations, so I am fine with it if this is a permanent death. I'll lend my theories on how they could work around this in the future in another entry, but right now this is what we got. I think Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch certainly went out on a high note. Sure I could have used more Hulk. but they are juggling lots of pawns and I am fine with the Hulk not being in it at all as he is more of a loner , but oh well. This is one of the better Marvel movies for sure.

Catching Up With Marvel

So we have had 12 issue of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and so fat they have led to next to nothing ? It leads up to Kid Kree professing his love to her and then Devil Dinosaur wrecking a Lego land science fair? That is bull shit and my last time wasting another minute with this book. All New All Different Avengers was more flash back story telling this time with the real Thor in the flash back so it felt more like an Avengers book. The 6th issue of Captain America only offered Steve Rogers perspective on Civil War, and we have already begun to see how this HYDRA arc is tying into it. Speaking of Civil War the 6th issue of it didn't do much aside from show Black Panther switch sides and the kids run off to hide Miles So far the series has been a flop and a vehicle to show boat Danvers. Other show boats that sank include the Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme, which is too bogged down with characters from other realities.


The 17 issue of New Avengers and it is clear why there are too many Avengers books, this one is cluttered and makes it hard to care about any one in it. The new Avengers book with the new Wasp and Hercules, is not the worst written book, but the art is a little too much for what is going on here.   the 10th issue of Agents of Shield got a little convoluted in how it was written but it was entertaining. The way the series ended made me wonder if it is getting canned.The 15th issue of Extraordinary X-men is becoming a reprise of Inferno. The 12th issue of Ms .Marvel continues to be a waste of paper. She works much better as a member of the Champions who have a pretty decent second issue going to prove none of these characters need their own books. Death of X finds conflict that should have happened in the first issue finally going down in the 3rd and the X-men should slaughter the In-Humans. The 12th issue of Scarlet Witch was alright, not great, which is a let down considering she is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Unsure about this new arc she is going on and how they are diminishing the impact of her being a mutant and emphasizing her as a witch, when I think balancing the two would be best, just like balancing the two sides of Dr. Doom the science and the magic is important.

While it was entertaining and in most ways felt like either a Bat-man or Punisher book the 6th issue of Night Hawk was pretty good even though I am sure this book is getting canned. Another black super-hero book that was better than it had the right to be is the first issue of the Prowler. The art is some of the best, I can't see the him being able to hold down his own even with it being this tied into their new Clone Saga. The best Civil War moment might have been the Gamora vs Danvers fight in the 13th issue of  Guardians of the Galaxy that finds that team falling apart. This book also had great art. The first issue of Fool Killer is really a surprise , sure with Moon Knight crazy costumed anti-heroes are covered, but this book is less surreal and more like Dexter is some ways. Speaking of Moon Knight it gets crazier and crazier. I think they have brought it too a cross roads that makes more sense. The 13th issue of Spider-Woman finds shit getting real and setting her up to have major beef with the Hob-goblin, I have always felt she needed to tap more into Spider-man's rogues gallery since she doesn't have that compelling of a rogue gallery on her own.

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.

Movie Review: Captain America: the Winter Soldier

Thor 2 aside , Marvel keeps getting closer to getting it right and the sequel to Captain America comes the closest yet. I liked the first movie and in someways think it stands out from this one in the way it juxtaposed the two time period where this movie comes across like a straight up action flick, a more over the top version of one of the Bourne films. This over the top element it what a comic book movie needs. A good question to ask is if this was in the pages of the book would it be a good read? This felt closer to the comic book than previous marvel films, with the first Iron Man, right behind it in this regard.

It is placed firmly in the Marvel Movieverse and is not unlike the Agents of Shield show it was good to see the characters from that show cross over into this and word is the movie is cross back over into the show. Right off the bat they were throwing in more characters from the comics with Batroc the Leaper the first threat. Arnim Zola turned out to be one of the masterminds behind the whole thing and Baron Von Strucker marches his way into the lead in they provide to Avengers 2 ...and then there was my favorite moment the appearance of Quicksliver and Scarlet Witch. Is it me or did Scarlet Witch come across a lot like Drusilla?

I thought Sam Wilson was handled well. I have little emotional attachment to the character and was much more excited to hear Stephen Strange's name mentioned, in the discussion of possible threats. There was a lot more of Black Widow in the film than I expected, her combat moves stay the same as they did in Iron Man and Avengers, and to be honest, I would not mind her getting phased out of Avengers 2  to make more room for Wanda and Captain Marvel, since we won't get Wasp until after Ant-man.

As for Bucky Barnes, it was funny how much of the audience was shocked to find he was the Winter Soldier, I would have expected more comic book readers in the theater , but when a movie is raking it in like this one is I guess realistically it makes sense. But this goes to show a movie can do well while sticking to the source material. Chris Evans is well settled into the role and with this films success it lives no doubt that there will be a third film. Maybe the Serpent Society or Modok for the next one, though Baron Zemo needs to show up at some point to prep for the Masters of Evil, which would be good for Avengers 3.

Overall I am pleased with this one, it kept me entertained and gave me enough easter eggs to keep me satisfied. I can't say Cap is in even my top twenty heroes, but I respect him and value his place in the Avengers and the Marvel U.  

Faster Than the Speed of Sense

Comics continue to not really inspire and the plague of alternate universes / time travel to weasel their way around continuity and make readers really give a shit less , is most pronounced in Age of Ultron but books like the Indestructible Hulk where the team up with the Walt Simonson Thor occurs and while mildly entertaining at least more so than other books I read this week I don't feel like for all the talent working on it it really lived up to it's potential , the Avengers books continue to be mired down in cosmic goobly gook , this includes new Avengers, I'm not sure if I forgot to read Dark Avengers or it it really left that little of an impression on me.

While we are on the subject of poor first impression , X-men one did little to dispel the notion that an all female team can't carry a book. It was less than memorable with Rogue the only character worth caring about and Jubilee who didn't appear to be a vampire with a baby. While the art in Savage Wolverine was pretty good and had a guest spot with a Hulk from where and why is he mindless? the story was weak.

What's there to look forward to ... mmm the Daredevil arc of the Hulk can go either way , I think Superior Spider-man has more promise than any of the X or Avengers book though Uncanny could get back on track making Fantastic Four pretty much a lost cause.


 
in other news

It's no secret now that Quicksliver and his sister the Scarlet Witch will be in the sequel to the Avengers, though now Fox and Disney/Marvel get to slug it out over the fine print concerning Marvel's speedster who has already been cast for the X-men film, as Evan Peters from American Horror Story fame playing the role. In the X-men film the Avengers can't be referenced and the Fact Magneto is their father can't be referenced in Avengers nor can the word mutant, so genetic freak is o.k? I'm sure Joss can work around it if it's justa matter of verbiage and hopefully this will mean skipping over origins all together.  Scarlet Witch runs neck and neck with Tigra  for being may favorite female Marvel character, I like Wasp, Carol Danvers and She-Hulk as well but I know at least Jennifer Walters will never see the light of an Avengers Movie.

Other news to be raising their prices over the years Dragon-con is certainly lacking any interesting guests so far the only ones I give a shit about are

James Marsters

Traci Lords

 Doug Jones

Laurell K Hamilton

Jim Butcher

Richard Lee Byers

 and then geeks in general might care about but I don't really give a shit about
 

Billy Dee Williams

George Takei

William Shatner