Amazing Spider-Man #673
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Stefano Caselli & Frank Martin
What happens when an entire city of New-Yorkers-turned-spider-monsters are suddenly cured? A whole city of New Yorkers wake up naked on the street.
Few writers could pull off such a scene tastefully (think Austin Powers), but Dan Slott manages to do so by exploring the humor of such an event. The Hercules panel alone is worth the price of admission.
Thankfully, though, Slott’s storytelling ability extends beyond nudie jokes and the amazing spider-scribe weaves several status-quo-altering events into the “Spider Island” epilogue. Kaine, for one, looks as though he will indeed be the new Scarlet Spider in Marvel’s upcoming title of the same name (due out in January). Where he’ll be based is still up in the air, but more on that should be revealed in next week’s Point One #1 collection.
Perhaps an even bigger development is Carlie Cooper discovering that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and promptly ditching him. How was she able to figure this out in spite of the “psychic block” spell that Dr. Strange placed on the world to keep that identity hidden following Pete’s unmasking during 2006’s Civil War? Well, as Strange explains to Pete, he inadvertently revealed his spider powers to everyone during “Spider-Island” — they just haven’t made the connection because everyone had spider powers at the time.
Anyways, the takeaway here is that going forward, people still don’t remember he unmasked during the Superhero Civil War, but they can now learn his identity, so he has to be more careful again. And, of course, Pete being single again sets up the possibility for the Peter/Mary Jane relationship to be reinstated (don’t say you never saw that coming).
Overall, this is an excellent epilogue to an exceptional event storyline — one Marvel should learn from (along with the X-Men: Schism event) with its universe-wide events going forward. Slott maintains a steady pace despite having minimal action, shifts the status quo while keeping fans on their toes, and plants seeds for future Jackal storylines (Surprise! He didn’t actually die, one of his clones did.).
Caselli’s art pops off of the page, and is made even more brilliant by the coloring work of Frank Martin. It’s a bit different from the more cartoonish work of Humberto Ramos, and more along the lines of what I prefer, but both artists are amazing in their own right and I’m continually stoked that they’re both on my (full disclosure here) favorite book.
Part 1 – Is today Halloween? I’m pretty sure it’s Halloween.
In honor of today’s holiday, and because I take joy in complete lack of editorial oversight, I’m going to write about my favorite horror movies, as well as bunch of other shit that has little or nothing to do with comic books. Dig, these are MY favorite horror movies. I make no claim to knowing a lot about horror films in general. Ergo, it would be foolish and irresponsible for me to claim that these are history’s BEST horror films, so I won’t do that. I try my best to only be irresponsible OR foolish, not both at once.
I have film biases: I prefer films from the ‘MPAA Ratings Era,’ that being the late 1960s onward; While a movie doesn’t HAVE to have the word “fuck” in it to be good, I like it better if they CAN have it when they want. So, none of the great Val Lewton-Jacques Tournier films make the list, although I liked [amazon_link id=”B000A0GOF0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Cat People[/amazon_link] and am quite partial to [amazon_link id=”B0000694WH” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Night of the Demon[/amazon_link]. In fact, I absolutely LOVE the footage at the end of [amazon_link id=”B0000694WH” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]NotD[/amazon_link], despite the fact that it was forced upon the creators by the studio. It still looks totally baller to me. Another bias, I haven’t seen many J-Horror films – not [amazon_link id=”B002C8YSCE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Audition[/amazon_link], not [amazon_link id=”B000088NQR” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ringu[/amazon_link], not [amazon_link id=”B00005JNJR” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ju-On (The Grudge.)[/amazon_link] I’ve seen [amazon_link id=”B0037C1WF0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Suicide Club[/amazon_link] and that’s about it. I’m not a HUGE foreign film guy in general, although I have seen every movie ever directed by Sabu ([amazon_link id=”B001EI5C5A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Unlucky Monkey[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”B002MOE9FO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Monday[/amazon_link], The Blessing Bell, etc.,) and 95% of Luis Bunuel’s films and most of Stephen Chow’s output (in the vain hopes of seeing anything NEAR as awesome as his [amazon_link id=”B000F9RB8A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Kung Fu Hustle[/amazon_link].) I’m way weak on Italian and British horror too. No Argento, Bava, Hammer Studios, Quatermass films, nothing with Triffids… Jesus Christ, why am I even doing this? I suck! Oh well, here goes. All of the following are in English, unless otherwise noted (I think only one isn’t.)
[amazon_link id=”B000RO9PUU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Witchfinder General (a/k/a/ The Conqueror Worm)[/amazon_link] (D: Michael Reeves, 1968) I saw this for the first time as a child on TV. It was on a local ‘Creature-Feature’ show hosted by “The Son of Svengoolie,” a comedy-oriented character played by Chicagoan Rich Koz. This movie is NOT a comedy – it is a paean to the hopelessness of nobility. It aired under its alias, and I expected (for real) some kind of giant Godzilla of a worm; instead, this flick blew my fucking mind. Vincent Price is the antagonist, vile real-life “Witchhunter” Matthew Hopkins, a creature of Cromwell’s England. He abuses his power to indulge his sadism and to rape and torture women that catch his fancy, with the aid of a brutish assistant. Reined in mercilessly by director Reeves, Price gives the performance of his life, not allowing a single iota of camp sensibility to creep in – he is just EVIL, a human monster. Then at the end, the bad-guy dies, but the film’s protagonist loses, his love loses, ALL OF HUMANITY loses. After completing this film, its director, Michael Reeves, killed himself (overdose of booze ‘n’ pills, probably accidental, still…) Now THAT is talkin’ the talk and walkin’ the walk. P.S. There’s no giant worm.
[amazon_link id=”B000F3UA8E” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Cemetery Man (a/k/a Dellamorte Dellamore)[/amazon_link] (D: Michele Soavi, 1994) YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. Sorry to shout, that was rude of me. This film is really amazing, though. I love this film even more than I love compound sentences. It’s hard to describe this one. It’s not straight-up horror – in fact, it’s close to being not frightening at all, although it does have busloads of gore. It’s an existential tragi-comedic zombie film about madness and, y’know, death and love. And loving the dead, and killing the loved, and mixin’ it up a bunch. Rupert Everett is the engineer, er, I mean cemetery caretaker. Anna Falchi is the exemplar of sexual lust itself, her that sends Everett’s blood rushing to the place where blood rushes. They live, they love, they die, they love some more, they live some more, and the whole world doesn’t really exist. I mean actually, not in the movie. Just saying that apropos of nothing.
Searches for Cemetery Man images yield a LOT of pix of Anna Falchi's bazooms. This isn't one such.
[amazon_link id=”B000FS9FE4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Texas Chain Saw Massacre[/amazon_link] (D: Tobe Hooper, 1974) “An insane movie, directed in an insane way.” That’s how my college film teacher, the late and great Dr. Richard DeCordova, described this journey from normality in America to the heart of nihilism. The final shots, Leatherface’s mad dance of hatred, his lust to destroy and consume his victim, the land, the world, the sun itself… those visions tattooed themselves painfully onto my skull. Deservedly a classic.
[amazon_link id=”B003KGBIRK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Videodrome[/amazon_link] (D: David Cronenberg, 1983) All hail the new flesh. Profoundly weird, weirdly profound. James Woods at his peak, when he used to ooze danger from every acne scar on his face. Debbie Harry, young and hot and perverted, saying, “Want to try some things?” “Brian O’Blivion,” the prophet who only appears on a TV screen because he believes that the cathode ray tube is more real than reality. Assassination, cultism, cable TV perversion, nightmare clay-walled torture rooms, suicide. And videocassettes… they’re BETTER than bug-typewriters, because they have TWO rectum-objects, which is clearly why this film is better than Naked Lunch.
"And THAT's not my belly button! Oh, wait..."
[amazon_link id=”B000GBEWH0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Dead Zone[/amazon_link] (D: David Cronenberg, 1983 – not a typo, Cronenberg was just a MUTHA in 1983.) Stephen King didn’t think much of this adaptation, nor does the world in general, but I thought it was fantastic. In one of his too-few lead roles, Christopher Walken is at his peak, being weird and poignant and angry and heroic. As doomed psychic Johnny Smith, he nails it in every scene. Martin Sheen gets to play the President of the USA for the first time (kind of) and is… notably illiberal. Plenty of other excellent supporting players – Tom Skerritt, Brooke Adams, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe – but this is Walken’s film all the way. His delivery of the line, “God’s been a real SPORT to me!” is golden. Yeah, they made a TV series of it too.
[amazon_link id=”B0002CHK1S” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Thing[/amazon_link] (D: John Carpenter, 1982) Just a totally cool movie. Paranoid suspense locked in with you. CLEAR!
[amazon_link id=”B005HT400A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Blue Velvet[/amazon_link] (D: David Lynch, 1986) Dennis Hopper’s portrayal of sociopath Frank Booth is amazing, and here’s why: The first few times I saw this movie, he scare the living shit out of me. Then, as time went by, his performance AMUSED the shit out of me. Seriously, I now crack up at his readings of lines like this one to Jeffrey (Kyle McLachlan): ” Do me a favor. Don’t be a good neighbor to her anymore. Or I’ll send you a love letter…[shouting] straight from my heart, fucker! Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fucking gun, fucker! You receive a love letter from me, and you’re fucked forever!” It’s one of the most amazing performances of the ’80s. Hopper was not a large or imposing man, but the madness he sent to his eyes was shocking and delirious. And the subtext is pretty cool too, but I’ll let you figure that shit out for yourself.
"Hnngh! Hnngh! What're these?!?"A laff riot, I'm tellin' ya.
[amazon_link id=”B000UJ48WC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Shining[/amazon_link] (D: Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Another Stephen King adaptation. This one, he out-and-out HATED. King is just NOT a very good judge of his adapted works. Two hours plus of nearly nothing BUT slow burn, capped by a final shot that tells us: Hell is in the world; Evil is forever.
[amazon_link id=”B005J9ZE5I” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn[/amazon_link] (D: Sam Raimi, 1987) You know what’s fun? FUN, that’s what.
[amazon_link id=”B004CP2566″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Repulsion[/amazon_link] (D: Roman Polanski, 1965) Catherine Deneuve is beautiful and batshit cuckoo insane in this one. Roman Polanski outdoes his later [amazon_link id=”B00003CXCF” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Rosemary’s Baby[/amazon_link] in this suspense tour-de-force. Every minute that goes by, the viewer thinks more and more and more, “Something BAD is going to happen.” It does.
[amazon_link id=”B0002I84DK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning[/amazon_link] (D: Grant Harvey, 2004) Please look past the awful title. The kinda-sequel to [amazon_link id=”B002PSSNZE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ginger Snaps[/amazon_link] (D: John Fawcett, 2000), if sequels took place 120 years before their predecessors but depicted the CONSEQUENCES of the earlier film. This film is my favorite of all the great “menstruation-is-a-monster” movies ([amazon_link id=”B00005K3NR” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Carrie[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”B00006G8H3″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Company of Wolves[/amazon_link], etc.) The story benefits from being transported to a setting where witchcraft hysteria has a role to play… somewhat hilariously, since werewolves and witches are totally different, right? Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins reprise their roles again (there was a more conventionally set sequel released the same year) as the sisters who have a wee problem with the beast within. Great and weird in the way Canadian horror often is. Ask David Cronenberg. Or Neil Young. (Neil hasn’t made any horror stuff that I know of, but it would still probably be fun to talk to Neil Young.)
It IS a riding hood, I would venture to say.
[amazon_link id=”B0026ATDQE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Host[/amazon_link] (D: Joon-ho Bong, 2006) Mostly in Korean, with a little bit of English from an appropriately near-sighted and cross-eyed American. A reinvention of giant monster films like, you know, Mothra and such. Cloverfield is a good point of comparison, but this film breaks more conventions and carries more emotional weight as well as metaphoric heft. It’s entertaining and edifying, which is nice.
Honorable mentions:
[amazon_link id=”B000ID37KY” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Bride of Frankenstein[/amazon_link] (James Whale, 1935) The perfect reaction to being rejected romantically? Destroying the mansion you’re in so it falls upon you and everybody within, while announcing to everybody there, “We belong dead!”
[amazon_link id=”B00000K3TO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Night of the Living Dead[/amazon_link] (George Romero, 1968) Invented the modern zombie story, scary as a knife dancing around your eyes.
[amazon_link id=”B001NHN7TU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tremors[/amazon_link] (Ron Underwood, 1990) Has the funniest use ever of a right wing gun nut survivalist shelter. Pretty good otherwise too.
[amazon_link id=”B000MKXEME” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Re-Animator[/amazon_link] (Stuart Gordon, 1985) Stylistic brother to Evil Dead 2, plus boobs!
Part 2 – Hell, while I’m just doing whatever I feel like, here are some of my favorite webcomix.
The links from the titles mostly go to the FIRST episode. Sometimes, it takes a little while for the series to find its sea legs, but these things are all free and all awesome. In fact, I’m not going to write any commentary for any of these, because while I probably could paraphrase the words “This rules!” ten different ways, the pictures tell more than I really could. Hence, pictures. Mangia!
Amazing Superpowers by Wes & Tony- I couldn’t find their full names anywhere.
Kukuburi by Ramon Perez Axe Cop byEthan Nicholle and Malachai Nicholle – no image here. Come ON, you don’t know [amazon_link id=”1595826815″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Axe Cop[/amazon_link] yet? Go know [amazon_link id=”1595828257″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Axe Cop[/amazon_link]! I consider (spoiler!) President Axe Cop’s prayer to God at the end of [amazon_link id=”1595828257″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Bad Guy Earth[/amazon_link] to be THE single funniest thing I have ever read in a comic book, and I’ve read a LOT of comic books. Like, more than seventy!
Hark, A Vagrant by Kate Beaton – this one’s really a gimme as well. Who in the world doesn’t know [amazon_link id=”1770460608″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Hark, A Vagrant[/amazon_link]?
Dar by Erika Moen – I ran into Ms. Moen by way of Bucko, the webcomic on which she collaborates with Jeff Parker. Bucko is great too, but I didn’t include it here because frankly I think I talk about Jeff Parker too much.
Awesome Hospital by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, Matt Digges, and Josh Krach
Not named on-panel (from R to L): Dr. Luchadore, Dr. Motorbike, and Nurse Holding-A-Dark-Gray-Rectangle.
Bun Toons by Ty Templeton. The usual Bun Toon is too long for me to grab and paste here, but the creator of [amazon_link id=”0921451024″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Stig’s Inferno[/amazon_link] and lots of other stuff is still hilarious and great.
And that’s a wrap! I think this might be the first post I’ve submitted before 2:00 AM, so you’d think I’d be able to come up with a not-so-abrupt way to end what I’m saying. Sorry! I’m not good at endings.
The Mighty Thor #7 is about the untold story of Odin and his brother Cul. How Cul becomes the Serpent God of Fear and how Odin loses his eye and the coming of the prophecy of the world tree.
This book is well written and there is so great dialogue between Odin and Cul. Pasqual Ferry’s art is top-notch. The coloring by Frank D’Armata really makes Ferry’s art shine.
The problem with this book and with the Mighty Thor series is continuity or quality control. There is a panel that takes place before the dawn of time in this book and it has Juggernaut, Thing and Absorbing-Man as heralds of the God of Fear. How can this be? Before you blow up your brain trying to figure time travel pause for a second. Is it that hard to create new concept characters for six panels. You already have the designs. One of the other heralds looks like Hulk but he/she is a different color and you can’t tell for sure and the same for the others. Even if you left out the Thing’s rocky look and used his body type.
I wouldn’t find this an issue if it was the first time, but I made sure to reread the Mighty Thor series before issue seven and found several continuity problems. Thor would have a beard and then he won’t. Thor would have armor on, then it would be off. I know that sometimes artists draw pages out-of-order but Fraction might need to communicate better with his artists and make sure the details are straight. The problem when a book is for teens plus and that adults catch these things and expect more when your spending your own money.
Deadpool #45
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Salva Espin & Guru eFX
What happens when the recently-deceased chick who was your therapist/stalker has a freezer full of your dismembered body parts? [Oooh! Oooooh! I know! One of the most bizarre murder cases since Jeffrey Dahmer?]
Actually, they thaw out and heal back together into an evil twin with two right hands. Or at least that’s what they do when you’re Deadpool.
For most of the issue, Daniel Way contrasts what the real Deadpool and Evil Deadpool are doing on their journey from England back to the States. The issue opens with Evil Deadpool hijacking the private jet of an unnamed [and rather douche-y, might I add] billionaire. Meanwhile, the real Deadpool is hiding in the belly of a freighter and eating dog food.
As Evil Deadpool decides he doesn’t want money as much as he wants to set the billionaire on fire and throw him out of the plane, the real Deadpool is having a crisis of conscience. It turns out the freighter he is on is full of kidnapped women from Eastern Europe. Realpool takes out the traffickers as Evilpool kills the jet’s pilots and flight attendant. You get the idea. [And teary eyes when you see the “Good travels, daddy” written on one of the pilot’s lunchboxes.]
[DIDN’T YOU LISTEN LAST TIME, SECOND VOICE? GO AWAY!]
Sometimes, a new artist can be a jarring switch, but Salva Espin’s début as the book’s artist isn’t too much of a departure from Carlo Barberi. Way’s 30-issues-and-counting story of Deadpool trying to find a place to belong or figure out how to die continues to feel fresh without backtracking over the same material. Seeing how dealing with an evil twin of himself makes Wade further explore his conscience as this story arc progresses will be interesting.
[Coming November 16: Flying-On-Fire-Guy #1!]
Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
[amazon_link id=”B005YDB4VM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Deadpool #45 on Amazon[/amazon_link]
Wolverine and the X-Men #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Chris Bachalo & Tim Townsend
The dust from the climactic showdown between Wolverine and Cyclops during Schism has settled. Feeling that the young mutants among the X-Men needed a chance to be children and not warriors, Logan has returned to Westchester with Beast, Iceman, Kittie Pryde, Gambit, Rogue and Rachel Grey to start a new school in the place of the destroyed Xavier School.
Of course, he named it the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Who else would he name it after?
The first issue of the all-new, all-exciting Wolverine and the X-Men opens with Professor Xavier touring the newly rebuilt school, giving Logan his advice on being a headmaster and offering warnings on the ups and downs of being in charge of a school for teenage mutants. Is that Doop in the background at the school’s front desk? I know a few people who will be overjoyed that writer Jason Aaron found a way to bring him back.
The rest of the issue revolves around Logan and headmistress Kitty Pryde giving inspectors from the New York State Department of Education a tour of the facility, essentially serving as a primer on the book’s cast. Various panels show Idie Okonkwo, Rockslide, and Anole in a psychic self-defense class with Rachel Grey, and Husk teaching “Introduction to Mutant Literature.”
Toad is shown as the school’s janitor, trying to tell Logan of some, ahem, structural issues with the school that Beast built. Of course, it’s not a good time to point these things out considering the inspectors are there.
The inspection continues to spiral down until Iceman finally tells Logan that there’s a kid at the gate who wants to see him. That kid turns out to be Kade Kilgore, the 12-year-old Black King of the new Hellfire Club who masterminded the events leading to the falling out between Scott and Logan. Aaron establishes Kilgore and the Hellfire Club as this book’s first major villains in the following panels, as the pint-sized profligate promises to destroy all that Logan has built.
I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with Bachalo’s work over the years, primarily about proportion and being able to discern what’s going on in some panels. Why is the 12-year-old Kilgore the same height as Logan? I know Logan’s supposed to be somewhat on the short side, but the same height as a 12-year-old? Aside from that and not being quite sure what was going on in the last page of the issue, however, I really enjoyed the art. It was up there with his “Shed” story arc from Amazing Spider-Man last year.
As a first issue, this issue covers all the bases a series début needs to. Aaron plants a lot of seeds for future plotlines and introduces readers to the book’s major players in the least confusing manner possible (which is especially important in the character heavy X-books). The diagram in the back-breaking down the Jean Grey School’s faculty and students is a nice touch, as well as the mock-up of a class list brochure. Choir with Professor Doop? Sign me up.
Story: 9/10
Art: 7/10
[amazon_link id=”B005YF92TQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Wolverine and the X-Men #1 at Amazon[/amazon_link]
After a solid first issue from Geoff Johns , this issue of Aquaman moves by at a very slow pace . In fact not a lot happens story wise this issue. We see the carnage that is left after the Piranha looking creatures introduced last issue have had their fill of “food”. This prompts a local detective to track down Aquaman so that he can lend his unique skills to the investigation. The quieter scenes inside of Aquamans lighthouse apartment with Mera are good. You can tell she is completely enamored with him and you believe that they truly belong together.
This leads Aquaman and Mera to go and investigate the crime scene and all hell breaks loose. Again Reis and Prado knock the art out of the park with this book. The action scenes are all framed perfectly and there is a great sense of weight with each movement and attack . The creatures themselves are full of great detail including several tears in their skin and a very cool slimline yet grotesque body.
My biggest complaint is that these Piranha creatures continue to have only one motivation , which is to eat . The ending however does show that they may have found their purpose for coming ashore now, and that is Aquaman himself. It ends with us being teased a future in which we will learn more about our antagonists and that’s just enough to make me hooked for the next issue. There is solid work continuing to be done here and I’m hoping for some answers come next issue .
The Walking Dead #90
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
“We Are The Walking Dead!”- Rick Grimes, Issue #24
They must be, cause there sure aren’t any zombies to be found in this issue. Usually, I wouldn’t be okay with such madness, if it had been in any other zombie medium. But with Kirkman at the helm, you’re sure to get a great character pieces.
This issue, like always, follows directly after the cliffhanger of the previous book. Which in comparison to dozens of other past issues, this one is fairly light. The community, that Rick and company resides in, are beginning to fear them as they’ve shown a heavy dose of violence (competence) to recent life-or-death situations. As our gang is well oiled in almost every post-apocalyptic scenario imaginable (note to self *Not Possible.) this sheltered community fears they’re abrasive-ness and their will to survive in any given situation. They’re the alpha dogs and of course Rick nails the point in. The whole time Rick spouts a speech, stating that he doesn’t want to kill anyone that came before him, but he wants to protect everyone, while holding a gun dead to the face of the communities instigator. Don’t get me wrong, I believed every word that Rick said, just someone should have pulled him aside and said: “This is kinda why they fear us”.
As I’ve said before, there is not one zombie to be found in this entire issue; so kudos to Robert Kirkman for scene after scene of progressive character development. Like I’ve said in past reviews, I can’t help but get excited when I know the writer of a comic has passion and is excited as well to work on a project. This goes doubly for Kirkman as he is the creator and writer since the beginning of this series. So every character feels completely genuine to me. I never doubt if Rick is acting out of character, or if Carl is jumping in front of the wrong bullet. Some issues can get redundant, with minimal characterization. But then you get issues like this one and you can’t help but fall in love all over again. I can only hope that when Kirkman is finished, that Image Comics allows him to put the series to a close… and we’ll always have the television show which has endless material to play in and if you’re not watching AMC’s The Walking Dead, shame on you.
Charlie Adlards art is what we’ve seen issue in and issue out. He hits all the emotional beats, as he’s greatly improved drawing proportionate faces, which adds to weight of the drama. Though I’d say his backgrounds have taken a slight hit from the latter; but with great dialogue, the focus on the close-ups proved effective throughout the book.
This issue ends with yet another cliffhanger; not of terrifying proportions, but on the note of love. A love I’ve been dying to see come to pass! Cause again, with Kirkman at the helm, it just feels right.
Story: 9.5 Art: 8.5
And to send you all off, check out what my boyfriend bought me this weekend:
Amazing Spider-Man #672
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, Victor Olazaba & Karl Kesel
Venom #8
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Tom Fowler & John Rauch
When we last saw Flash Thompson in Venom #8, he was at the bedside of his just-deceased father with his blogger-journalist-girlfriend Betty Brant. The drama of his father’s ailment played out over the past several issues, with Flash wondering why he should care. After all, his dad was an abusive drunk who, if you think about it, is the cause of Flash being such a douche earlier in life when he was the constant high school tormentor of now-friend Peter Parker.
Anyhow, as Betty hands Flash a letter his father wrote to him in his last lucid moments, he receives a call from good ol’ Uncle Sam letting him know that Venom is needed to kill the Queen (who was revealed several issues of Amazing Spider-Man ago to be the true villain behind Spider-Island). Flash gives Betty — who of course doesn’t know that her boyfriend is secretly moonlighting for the government as Venom because, hey, he got his legs blown off in the war — the excuse that he needs to run off to find a safe evac point for her.
As Flash goes off to fight the Queen, the contents of the letter are displayed in captions throughout most of the rest of the issue, revealing that the elder Thompson actually regretted his actions as a father and was, indeed, proud of his son. Unfortunately, the letter will never be read because it falls out of the Venom suit mid-battle and lands in a fire. Sorry, Flash…Looks like you’ll have to go through life still believing your dad was an alcoholic asshole who never cared about you. Although it feels like this gets played out often in storytelling, it’s a nice plot device that Remender is wise to use in this situation.
The fight between Venom and Queen shuffles through a lot of dominance double-entendres until eventually, the now-cured Captain America (remember, he was the Spider-King for a bit) shows up to aid Venom and remind the Queen that there are laws against public fornication in the city of New York.
This leads us right into the beginning of Amazing Spider-Man #672. Part of the brilliance of how this event has been set up is that you don’t have to read every tie-in to get it. If you aren’t following Venom, the opening pages of ASM essentially recap the last moments of Venom and Cap’s fight with the Queen before she mutates into a giant spider beast (complete with weird, random boobs!).
Fade to Peter Parker and his clone, Kaine — who he cured in the last issue — still in Horizon Labs as they hear people approaching, namely Mr. Fantastic and Pete’s Horizon Labs coworkers. Pete takes off the Spidey suit and gives it to Kaine because the scruffier clone of Peter Parker is just going to be confusing to everyone. There’s some great back-and-forth between Pete, Kaine and the rest of the supporting cast as they round the corner to find Pete standing next to Spider-Man, as Mr. Fantastic, the Avengers and Mary Jane are the only ones who know he’s Spider-Man.
After this issue, and pending any random surprises, I think it’s safe to say everyone has a good idea of who the new Scarlet Spider is going to be. Of course, putting Kaine in a Spidey outfit and having him run off to save the day with Pete would also be a good way to confuse readers.
As Peter, Kaine and several Marvel heroes try to stop the now-giant-spider-creature-with-weird-boobs Queen, Mary Jane says something to Peter that leads to him realizing how to save everyone. Essentially, being in mental control of all the spider monsters she’s created from the entire population of Manhattan Island has made the Queen a god, so if Spider-Man somehow cures them all, she becomes much less powerful.
I won’t spoil anything any further, but it’s really quite ingenious of Dan Slott to keep pulling up random plot points from past issues. It really gives the book a feeling of consistency. He deserves even more praise for continuing to throw fuel the “Restore the Peter/MJ Romance” fires. (Seriously…Pete forgot entirely about current girlfriend Carlie Cooper after she turned into a spider monster, and instead of going off to find her after he cures everyone, he has a moment with Mary Jane on top of the Empire State Building.) He’s building up some good potential conflicts and drama here.
If anything, the only thing that really jumbled this story up was the overall amount of characters. With so much going on at one time, it sometimes makes things a bit jumbled and harder to follow. Venom flowed a bit better this issue because its felt more focused, but this is not unexpected in an event storyline, where you have a macro-focused main book and micro-focused tie-ins.
Ramos’ work continues to pop, as well, and that’s equally due to the fantastic coloring of Edgar Delgado. The same can be said for the Fowler/Rauch team over in Venom.
All that considered, I’ll be surprised if there isn’t some sort of heated debate on message boards about the sex references by Slott and Remender in both books, as well as the boobs on the giant spider-creature version of the Queen. While the spider-creature boobs did weird me out a bit, the sex references advanced the story and added character depth. Both of these books carry at least a “T” rating, and there is the entire Marvel Adventures line if you can’t handle that.
In which I present the last week in review (aside from bad Marvel “event” stuff) but dispense with the device of numbering the discrete elements of this piece.
This cover is by the team that did the interior art. How delightfully novel!
Words: Brian Clevinger Art: Scott Wegener Colors: Ronda Pattison Letters: Jeff Powell Editing: Lee Black
Here’s what a fan can find in Atomic Robo: Excellent art, snappy patter, good gags in the minutiae of background details, fidelity – and even fondness – for the world of science (caveat in next paragraph), near-unparalleled action set-pieces, stylistic bravery, and a self-contained universe that builds upon itself exponentially with each volume. I sincerely believe that the world of Atomic Robo is beginning to deserve comparison to Mike Mignola’s universe of [amazon_link id=”1593079109″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Hellboy[/amazon_link] and the [amazon_link id=”1595826726″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]B.P.R.D.[/amazon_link] in its scope and ambition. In fact, the most apt way to describe the Roboverse might be something like, “The Mignolaverse, but with physics and adventure replacing demonology and horror.” And that is HUGE praise.
The premise itself does need a comics-sized suspension of disbelief. It is: Nikola Tesla created a sentient nuclear-powered robot in secret a hundred years ago. Tesla has become THE go-to guy for steampunk sci-fi unlikelihoods. Off the top of my head, he is a deus ex-machina in [amazon_link id=”B000L212HC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Prestige[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”1582406057″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Five Fists of Science[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”1888963204″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]RASL[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”0785144226″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]S.H.I.E.L.D.[/amazon_link], and this. I think that [amazon_link id=”1888963204″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]RASL[/amazon_link] is the only one that gives him credit for both the [amazon_link id=”B000096IAC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Philadelphia Experiment[/amazon_link] AND the Tunguska Event. What the hell, go with it, Tesla invented sentience a hundred years ago, why not? You’d be a fool to miss this fantastic world but for that. You don’t want to be a fool, so that’s settled.
As this issue opens, our hero – Robo – is falling. Credit the cover with truth in advertising on top of its other virtues. Robo had launched into the stratosphere on a mere seven hours notice in a desperate attempt to save some astronauts… but his craft got creamed by a NASA satellite. So, this:
We've all been there, am I right?
Man. Look at that. The struggle and desperation to live explodes off the page pounds ya right in the viscera until what you have left is a totally pounded-to-hell viscera. Ouch! Do I even need to continue? Last week was a pretty flippin’ good week for comics, and this one was the best. You know what to do.
Best re-issue of the week: [amazon_link id=”B000WOVVC0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]DC Comics Presents Superman: Secret Identity[/amazon_link]
Now, that is just lovely.
Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist (pencils, inks, colors): Stuart Immonen Letters: Todd Klein
On his Twitter feed, Kurt Busiek opines that this is among his very best work. He ain’t wrong, and considering that he has also written [amazon_link id=”1401229840″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Astro City[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”078514286X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Marvels[/amazon_link], and the Avengers’ [amazon_link id=”0785107746″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ultron Unlimited[/amazon_link] storyline, that’s saying something. It’s NOT a tale of Kal-El, the last son of Krypton. It is, instead, the tale of a young man who constantly gets teased with “Superman” references because his parents – name of Kent – misguidedly named him “Clark.” Oh, and when he’s seventeen or so, he becomes an actual superhuman. As J. Jonah Jameson might say, “What are the odds?”
But Busiek rocks the premise from honeymoon to Brigadoon, and Immonen does perhaps the best work of HIS excellent career – yeah, better than [amazon_link id=”0785144617″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.[/amazon_link] or [amazon_link id=”1603090495″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Moving Pictures[/amazon_link]. The guys inspire each other to heights in this story that is NOT about becoming Superman, but about becoming a man. Except nowhere close to as cheesy as that sentence I just wrote. It’s about friendship and love and trust. And it’s about being a young man and getting captured by the government for the first time, and resenting it.
Kind of a 'flames' theme to the images so far, eh? Hey, where's his weiner?
Honestly, I’m an ENORMOUS fan of what DC is doing in their reissues of their most fantastic work of the last two decades in this format, which splits the difference (price-point-wise) between monthly floppies and trade paperbacks. This $7.99 magazine does NOT, as it happens, have the entire series, just the first two issues. You’d never be able to tell. This is a must-own.
Also very good: [amazon_link id=”B005WD4VLO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth: Russia#2 (of 5)[/amazon_link]
Cover by Dave Johnson - hot damn tamale, last week was a great week for COVERS too, hanh?
Story: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi Art: Tyler Crook Colors: Dave Stewart Letters: Clem Robins
“Every few years, [Mignola and cohorts do some totally awesome Abe Sapien stuff.] Then, five years later, they drop some huge callback on you letting you know WHY it all happened. ” – Me, 10/5/11.
Nailed it! (Okay, okay, The Abyssal Plain came out June & July of 2010. Still...)
Awesome series, awesome world-building, awesome excuse to toot my horn.
Scarface up there is the boss of Russia’s BPRD analogue. He got the job, so he says, because his having been dead for 40 years makes him a natural for paranormal type stuff. This issue demonstrates that he did NOT get the job because of his people skills. Beyond that, I don’t know what to say – what have you been doing with your life if you aren’t reading BPRD by now? You can’t see it, but now I’m slowly shaking my head in disappointment.
I’m digging this series too: [amazon_link id=”B005VSHFQI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Vengeance #4 (of 6)[/amazon_link]
Well, Loki there!
The credits are right there on the cover, cut me some slack.
Another lovely cover, this one by Gabrielle Dell’otto, and one that proves that a picture of nothing but a single character – not even so much as a background – can still be quite un-boring. The angle of the shot, facial expression, color choices, the medium itself (looks painted, I’d say) all add up to Something New on this cover. Actually, I dropped the ball this week and don’t have a Boring Cover of the Week, which is too bad, because I’m sure there must have been another cover of SOME comic last week with just a lone figure that just sucked. Wait, I’m being boring. Sorry about that!
This series is interesting – I still don’t know where it’s going, but I sure as hell want to find out. The forces of neutral continue to take on the forces of evil and, this issue, an uncharacteristically malicious Kid Loki – it doesn’t look to me like Joe Casey and Kieron Gillen are on the same wavelength with future Legionnaire Loki-Lad, but that’s no big whoop – he IS the god of chaos and mischief, after all. He’s earned the right to be mercurial.
Hey, I just heard a suspicious noise from downstairs, I’ll be right back.
Part 1 – Everything that was right about Fear Itself #7 and the event in general (Kinda spoiler free, maybe?)
1. It totally made sense and was pretty cool when Captain America picked up [that one thing.] Right?
2. I dug how Hawkeye looked kinda pissed because he WANTED missing a shot to be a possibility.
Sucks if he's trying to do that thing where you shoot a chandelier so it falls on somebody. Oh, all FI#7 art is Stuart Immonen, and/or Wade Von Grawbadger (who drew with vines?), and/or Laura Martin "with Ponsor & Milla" - Jesus, even the CREDITS are stupid and fucked up.
3. [amazon_link id=”B005CWOQ1K” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Fear Itself: Deadpool[/amazon_link] ruled the roost. BIG UPS to Christopher Hastings (W), Bong [!] Dazo (Pcls), Joe Pimentel (Inks), Matt Milla (Clrs), and Simon Bowland (Ltrs).
It happens, you know.
4. [amazon_link id=”078514840X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Journey Into Mystery[/amazon_link] was the big winner among the non-limited series (in theory) tying into FI. I’ll be talking about last week’s issue at length NEXT week, since the next issue drops Wednesday, but Kieron Gillen womped like a MUTHA in Loki’s adventures. My quick take: This series killed the ass off Superman Beyond 3D, Grant Morrison’s shorter but similarly-themed adjunct to [amazon_link id=”140122282X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Final Crisis[/amazon_link]. Really.
5. [amazon_link id=”0785163891″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Fear Itself: The Home Front[/amazon_link] had a lot of good stuff. I’m a fan of Mike Mayhew’s particular brand of painted photo-realism, so I’m glad to have seen a bunch of that. BUT, his stuff really pops for me when he has garish colors to work with, so it was a li’l bit sucky that Christos Gage had him (and colorista Rain Beredo) draw so many normal schmucks and baddies whose costumes were just black. Anyhow, the series still had plenty of good stuff, with the standout pieces being most of Howard Chaykin’s pages, the awesome American Eagle piece in #5 by Si Spurrier & Jason Latour, and the always-welcome Great Lakes Avengers/Defenders/X-Men/JLI, by Elliott Kalan, Ty Templeton, and David Curiel.
6. [amazon_link id=”0785157018″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt[/amazon_link] (W,A,C,L: McKeever, Norton, Gandini, and Cowles) was a worthwhile read, and it has this:
You say Meta, I say LaMotta.
7. [amazon_link id=”B005PHT6G2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Fear Itself: The Monkey King[/amazon_link] (a Fialkov-Doe-Quintana-Lanphear joint) was more fun than watching Joyce Carol Oates foolin’ around with a monkey. Which I have imagined many times.
That’s the good stuff. Any parts of the Marvel [Publishing] Universe that tied into Fear Itself and were good – the best F.I. moments from Invincible Iron Man or Thunderbolts or New Avengers or whatever – do NOT get especial credit, because they would have been just fine WITHOUT the big event. Well, maybe the MODOK thing from Hulk needed a suitably big world threat to help Ole’ Big-Head learn to love. Hard to say.
Part 2 – The BAD things about Fear Itself #7 and the event in general
1. Odin’s plan was absolutely moronic, unrealistic, cowardly, contemptible, poor strategy, and generally asinine. Nobody anywhere doesn’t think this.
2. Captain America using shotguns to easily blow Nazi red-shirts robots out of the sky. Look at all the piled-up wiped-out robot-VolksWagen things:
That grumpy old dude sure wants them to come on!
Golly, if only they had this amazing “shotgun” technology available in Washington, D.C., which those things supposedly totally destroyed. Instead, all they had available in Washington were tanks, fighter jets, bazookas, grenades, and EVERY PIECE OF WEAPON TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD BE BOUGHT WITH 50% OF EVERY FUCKING AMERICAN TAX DOLLAR FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS.
3. Humanity all simultaneously Not Being Afraid was predictable from roughly one second after we found out that the big bad, The Sears Pants, is powered by human fear.
4. The “death” of Thor while he has a current ongoing series has about as much dramatic heft as the death of Kenny in episode #29 of [amazon_link id=”B00023P49M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]South Park[/amazon_link]. Also, what did he die of, exactly? Anvilitis? The only question on anybody’s mind is how long Marvel will pay lip service to the idea of Thor being dead. But Thor is immortal – not because he’s a “god,” but because he is a corporate property. A corporate property will not and cannot be made to stay in the grave as long as it can be monetized.
5. Just, in general: Fuck prophecy. Don’t like it. Crap story device, except when Loki wields it.
6. BTW also, Heimdal can suck it. What a tool. He just basically does nothing ever except watch Odin act like the king of all assholes, followed by blindly obeying whatever whack shit Odin demands of him.
7. The dialogue in the main series was bad. All of it.
8. If I gave a shit about continuity, I would point out sloppy errors like Captain America’s un-scarred shield in his new series (or the OBVIOUS problems with aerodynamics this would create), or Cap’s WAY continuity-sloppy appearance in Daredevil. Suffice to say, there’s no clear idea what happened when ANYWHERE. (Can you order Fear Itself, Spider Island, Schism, FF’s War of Four Cities, etc? I sure as shit can’t.)
9. I regard Fear Itself (Main Series), Book of the Skull, Hulk vs Dracula, The Deep, FF, and The Fearless (Issue #1 only, not buying the rest) as a fucking waste of sixty bucks. I spent money on all of this, I don’t get review copies (and probably never will with an attitude like this!)
10. So, here is Sin at the end of the big Fear Itself battle.
WAKE UP, SIN, I HAVE TO BE SURE YOU HEAR ME READ YOU YOUR RIGHTS!
Let’s ignore the fact that her face is a red skull because of horrible burn scars that are suddenly smooth. Instead, I want to know if she was jailed in any of the prisons that held Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, or Mohamar Ghaddaffi. Oh, wait a sec, it slipped my mind, those guys – who ADDED TOGETHER killed about 5% of Sin’s headcount as the cause of Fear Itself – got killed the fuck dead as soon as ANYBODY laid eyes on them. Seriously, did Captain America fistfight the entire population of Asgard to keep them from chopping off her head? In what silly-assed world is she alive, other than as an act of a god who has a product to move?
11. This:
As dental models.
"On my face."I hate this fucking word.
Are event comics ALWAYS money-grabs by desperate companies who hope the jump in sales makes up for the rotten aftertaste that never, ever goes away? Hey Marvel, keep searching for the new Jim Shooter, okay?
Part 3 – And now, a word from the medium of comics
And from me. Me and comics, both at once somehow.
"So... wanna go to my place?" "... All right." Art: Larroca Color: D'Armata Plot: Fraction
The above is my favorite scene from Invincible Iron Man #509, which I have profaned by replacing Matt Fraction’s words with MY OWN treatise on What Is Good, which differs shamefully from that of Conan the Barbarian. End of column, thanks!
What happens when an entire city of New-Yorkers-turned-spider-monsters are suddenly cured? A whole city of New Yorkers wake up naked on the street.
