Join Infinite Speech, Decapitated Dan, and the Southern Sensation each week as they gather around the water cooler of stories to talk about comics.
This week the Clergyman is back, and the guys are all read to talk comics! Listen in as they go over this weeks picks Scooby Doo Where Are You #24, Spider-Men #4, Deadworld: War of the Dead #2 and Archer and Armstrong #1.
All that and more can be found here, each week on Tales From the Water Cooler!
Amazing Spider-Man #691
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli & Mario Del Pennino [Pencils], Klaus Janson & Daniel Green [Inks], and Frank D’Armata [Colors]
Concluding Dan Slott’s Lizard epic, “No Turning Back,” Amazing Spider-Man #691 finds Spider-Man face-to-face with the Lizard-in-human-form Curt Connorsback at Horizon Labs.
If you’ve missed an issue or two, Spider-Man seemingly turned the Lizard back into Curt Connors in Amazing Spider-Man #688 with the help of Morbius, but the Lizard personality was still in control. After causing Morbius to lose control of his vampiric hunger as a means of distracting Spidey, Lizard-Connors got to work trying to return himself to his reptilian form while testing his formula on unsuspecting members of the Horizon team. Ultimately, however, he discovered through a series of new sensory experiences that the human body was the superior form.
At the beginning of this issue, having taken care of Morbius in an uncharacteristically merciless fashion, Spider-Man returns to Horizon to find it overrun by lizard people–but all is not what it seems. The Horizon Labs lizard people are all behaving rather friendly, and per Horizon team member and “amateur herpetologist” Sajani, Spider-Man is informed that humans and lizards are not natural enemies–with the exception of the Komodo dragon. Thus, he is lead to believe that perhaps Curt Connors’ own resentment for the loss of his arm, his wife, and his son was the driving force behind the Lizard’s villainous ways all these years.
It’s an interesting and different take on the character, but before you can consider it for very long, Lizard-Connors’ hand is forced by Spider-Man’s return and he injects himself with a new, improved formula that transforms him into a much sleeker, almost gecko-like form as he promises that this time, there’s no returning to human form. It’s actually pretty close to his original appearance, as opposed to the more iguana- or Komodo-like shape he’s taken on over the years. Ultimately, to the Lizard’s surprise, bits of his humanity have begun to seep through, leaving him distracted as Spider-Man tries out yet another cure serum on him, and the results are somewhat surprising.
Overall, “No Turning Back” is another strong arc in Dan Slott’s superior run on Amazing Spider-Man, but it’s not without issue. For a long-time Spider-Man fan, it’s a bit of a stretch to believe that Spidey would be so uncharacteristically merciless to a character like Morbius, who has been reformed for quite a while now and even saved the world in the Marvel Zombies 4 mini-series, assuming that’s canon. I get that there’s been a lot on Peter Parker’s plate as of late and that all of this is leading into the upcoming “Danger Zone” arc and issue #700, which I’ve heard are supposed to be somewhat darker stories, but it just feels a little bit out of character in this instance. Other than that, though, this arc was a fun roller coaster ride with fantastic art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Co, and a recommended read for fans of the Lizard. The joke about the annual Horizon softball game being people who were turned in lizards versus people who were turned into spiders last summer was an especially nice touch.
Oh, and speaking of “Danger Zone,” the lead-in tease at the end of this issue is sure to make Hobgoblin fans happy.
Join Infinite Speech, Decapitated Dan, and the Southern Sensation each week as they gather around the water cooler of stories to talk about comics.
This week join Infinite Speech and Decapitated Dan as they take a look at Merciless – The Rise of Ming #3, Harvest #1, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #13 and Deadworld: War of the Dead #1.
All that and more can be found here, each week on Tales From the Water Cooler!
Only two issues in and I can already say that this has the makings to be one of the best titles of the year. Last issue set all the characters into play and left a pretty crazy cliffhanger to boot. This issue starts six months after and immediately sets the tone by showing the New American Christians or N.A.C leading a protest and possible siege of the island and boat that the show takes place on. For as many fans the reality show has gained there are just as many people who are ready to end the life of the child and mother.It’s a heavy concept that Sean Murphy tells fearlessly.
While the main character may be the little boy from last issue who’s grown up as a hired mercenary, each other supporting character feels fleshed out as well. These are complex characters that feel real and are well-defined in this world. Murphy is slowly easing every character into the foreground and it makes for an exciting read.Put simply you care for these people.
I can’t say enough about Sean Murphy’s art. His work has always been amazing but he takes advantage of the black and white format to really show off his skills. He has a gritty style but can easily show a range of emotions. He draws everything from a smirking producer to a crying mother who feels helpless in this issue and manages to drive whatever emotion he wants you to experience through his art. Each page is full of detail and his work here never feel stale due to the fact that he seems to constantly experiment with layouts and perspectives from page to page.
Amazing single page from issue 2 of Punk Rock Jesus
A single event sets the action and story in motion half way through the book. That feels like a significant moment in a book that’s only two issues in. Iit will be interesting to see where Murphy takes his huge supporting cast of characters from here for the four remaining issues. Punk Rock Jesus is a high concept book told incredibly well. This is a story that resonates with me as soon as I finish each issue and makes you think about what the world would be like if this were to happen. It’s a great story that’s made better by the great character work and art. It’s a great example that comics don’t always have to be about superheroes and horror to be great and a book everyone should pay attention to.
Join Infinite Speech, Decapitated Dan, and the Southern Sensation each week as they gather around the water cooler of stories to talk about comics.
The gang is all here this week so make sure to listen in to some WWISD’s and of course stick around for this weeks picks Aquaman #11, Axe Cop: President of the World #1 and Debris #1.
All that and more can be found here, each week on Tales From the Water Cooler!
This week Matt chats about Marvel Comics Avengers vs. X-Men #9 and Image Comics Harvest #1. Jason Aaron does a great job writing Spider-Man, he deserves to write a Spider-Man book. Bring back Web of Spider-Man!
Avengers Vs. X-Men #9
Written by Jason Aaron. Illustrated by Adam Kubert.
• Their numbers dwindling, the Avengers stage a daring raid on the X-Men’s prison to rescue their captive members-and you won’t believe where it is!
• Alliances begin to change as the nature of the Phoenix becomes apparent!
• And in the end, it all comes down to Spider-Man!
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If you would like to be part of the weekly chat as a guest email Matt at sardo@chicagocomicvault.com
Mature Readers
Human traffickers. Rogue medical teams. Yakuza run organ mills and a six year-old drug fiend. Welcome to Dr. Benjamin Dane’s nightmare. His only way out? Bring down the man who set him up by reclaiming organs already placed in some very powerful people. If Dexter, ER and 100 Bullets had a three-way and that mind-blowing tryst somehow resulted in a kid, that kid would read HARVEST. Medical Grade Revenge. TAG: New from the author of Cowboy Ninja Viking and Term Life!
Story: 9.5/10 • Artwork: 9.5/10 • Overall 9.5/10
What is better than awesome? Harvest #1 is a close as you get to a perfect ten! A.J. Lieberman interweaves three stories to a climax that makes the reader scream in anticipation for issue two. The main character is a drugged-out ex-surgeon, when you find yourself liking him you know Lieberman’s writing is good. The pace of the book is very solid with five pages that jump out at the reader and stir emotions straight to your core.
If Lieberman wrote a great book, Colin Lorimer took his vision to the next level. Three pages in Lorimer gives the reader a bone chilling splash page that will give me nightmares tonight. Harvest lends itself to blood and gore but Lorimer puts emotion behind each scene. He creates this emotion by the detail that he puts into every page. These little details are what make a great comic book artist. I read Harvest #1 three times and each time there was something new that I didn’t notice before.
Harvest #1 is guide to new writers on how to write a first issue. Smack the reader in the face three or four times and then give them a mind-blowing last page. Terrifyingly awesome!
Join Infinite Speech, Decapitated Dan, and the Southern Sensation each week as they gather around the water cooler of stories to talk about comics.
This week the Southern Sensation is back and the guys are ready to talk comics! Listen in as they discuss this weeks picks Mars Attacks #2, Saga #5 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #11.
All that and more can be found here, each week on Tales From the Water Cooler!
With the 700th issue of Amazing Spider-Man coming up this December, it’s only right that I, the Comic Vault’s resident diehard Spider-Man fan, weigh in on what may or may not happen in this momentous issue. There are a lot of crazy theories floating around right now, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Current scribe (and the best writer on the book since Roger Stern or David Michelinie in my opinion) Dan Slott stated via cell phone at Comic Con a few weeks ago that this is going to be the biggest thing he’s ever done in comics, which is saying a lot coming from the guy who penned the phenomenal Amazing Spider-Man #600 just three years ago. It’s even been said that what he’s doing in #700 will be so controversial among fans that he’ll have to go into hiding after the issue hits stands, or that this might possibly be his final arc on the book. (Damn you, “Marvel NOW!”)
With the ’90s Clone Saga and J. Michael Straczynski’s “Sins Past” and “One More Day” story arcs, Spider-Man fans have a high threshold for controversy. At this point, what could possibly be more controversial at this point than Peter Parker’s clone Ben Reilly being revealed as the real Peter Parker and taking his place, Norman Osborn knocking up Gwen Stacy prior to her death, or Peter and Mary Jane trading their marriage to Mephisto (the “devil”) in exchange for Aunt May’s life?
Really, Marvel? What were you thinking? That “o” face in the bottom left corner is the stuff of nightmares. And Gwen… You desecrated poor, sweet Gwen!
Maybe resurrecting Gwen Stacy could top the scenarios above, but Slott has already said he (thankfully) has no interest in doing that, as Gwen is much more meaningful dead.
Over at the CBR boards, members have been posting a plethora of crackpot theories regarding what will happen in the issue. Some have taken a statement that Slott made at Comic Con regarding the future not looking good for Madame Web as a hint that the new Madame Web, Julia Carpenter, will be kicking the bucket soon. Personally, I think they’re reading a bit much into this and Slott was just being Slott. Madame Web is a clairvoyant and only has visions when something terrible is about to happen–of course the future doesn’t look good for her.
“The future…always…looks…TERRIBLE…to MEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
Regardless, below is a list of my favorite theories from that thread:
Black Cat shows up with a baby.
Norman Osborn is Peter’s father.
Peter pulls the plug on Doctor Octopus and then goes crazy.
Peter gets flung back in time, is stuck, and in a nod to his clone brother, names himself Ben Parker. He then meets a lovely girl named May Reilly.
Peter gives up being Spider-Man to be with Mary Jane or Peter ends up getting killed, with either scenario leading to new sidekick Alpha taking his place.
Peter moves to Japan and gets a giant robot.
Peter goes crazy and becomes the new Green Goblin.
Kaine is the real Peter Parker.
Batman subcontracts Peter to become his new gadget man in Batman, Inc. as part of a cross-promotional deal between Marvel and DC.
J. Jonah Jameson is actually a 1940s reporter covering the war in Europe. He is wounded by a grenade blast, which kills his soldier body guard Steve Rogers. For two months, Jameson has been in a coma, and it’s revealed that the whole Marvel Universe is taking place in his mind.
Black Widow becomes Spider-Man’s new crime-fighting partner and Spider-Man has a clone baby from an alternate reality with Mystique.
That’s a lot of outlandishness to digest, huh? As promised in the first paragraph, though, I also have my own predictions as to what might happen in #700.
The cover for Amazing Spider-Man #700 is a preexisting collage by a French artist named Pascal Garcin. You could say that this makes the presence of certain characters on the cover arbitrary, but I like to think that Marvel chose to use this cover for that issue for specific reasons. If you look closely near the bottom, to the left of the center, there’s a Carnage hidden among all of the Spider-Mans.
Hey, look…It’s a schooner!
This leads me to believe that Carnage has some involvement in this issue, perhaps killing a beloved character like Mary Jane Watson. Despite wreaking havoc in Spider-Man’s world in two mini-series over the last two years and continuing to do so in an upcoming Venom/Scarlet Spider crossover, it’s been years since Carnage has committed mass murder in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. This site’s owner, Matt Sardo, even claimed to me in an e-mail that during Comic Con’s Spider-Man panel, “[The panelists] were asked what character they wanted to work with or draw. [Humberto Ramos] mentioned Carnage and then said, ‘Oh, wait. I’ve drawn Carnage,’ and then he got dirty looks.” What better time for Carnage to show up and do something chaotic than the book’s 700th issue, 24 years after the character’s “father,” Venom, debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #300?
Speaking of Venom, the border of the eyes on that collage is composed of the character. I’m going to go ahead and also predict that if Peter doesn’t find out by then that Flash is the guy wearing the Venom symbiote by #700, he’ll probably find out there.
If I’m wrong about Carnage, then the next likely scenario is that the Roderick Kingsley Hobgoblin, rumored to return in the upcoming “Danger Zone” arc, shows up and kills someone. Either way, I think someone is dying in #700. Mary Jane is a likely choice, though I’d rather not see that happen. Sardo wants Aunt May to die, and I have yet to figure out what he has against sweet, little old ladies. Her husband, J. Jonah Jameson, Sr. may be a more likely candidate for the grave, or possibly other characters that have grown on fans in recent years–like NYPD forensic detective/most recent Peter Parker ex Carlie Cooper or Daily Bugle reporter Norah Winters.
Or maybe in their infinite wisdom, Marvel, seeing that it worked so well in Ultimate Spider-Man, actually do decide to kill off mainstream (Earth-616 for you nerds out there) Peter and replace him with his new sidekick Alpha, at which point they’ll lose me as a reader. Just because something worked in one universe doesn’t mean it should be spread to the others.
But seriously… Keep any sweet, elderly women you hold dear away from this man.
The Comic Vault is using the technology of Google+ and their Hangout feature to create a weekly hangout for the Comic Vault and its fans. If you like comic books hangout with us. We will also use this feature for round table discussions with the writers of the Comic Vault and one-on-one interviews. Follow us @comicvault on Twitter for dates and times of hangouts.
This week Matthew Sardo talks about Amazing Spider-Man #700, “Dark Knight Rises,” Image Comics’ Debris #1, Marvel Comics’ Hit Girl #2, FF #20 and DC Comics’ Green Lantern #11. Sardo talks about politics and how mainstream comics need to take care of their customers.
