"No longer like a toad in these foul cellars will I secret the venom of hatred -- for you shall bring me love!" - Erik
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« Comics: January 2015 | Main | Comics: March 2015 » ComicsSuperMegaSpeed Reviews Ms. Marvel #12 - Fun. I thought the mini fight sequence was a little weak, but i loved the Brooklyn Viking Hipster stuff and the truth serum. She-Hulk #12 - So the dramatic conclusion of this series is a retcon wiping out the entire history of a character i never heard of? Yay? This really has been a disappointing book, in part because it had a lot of promise. But a lot of the series was wasted - the really bad fill-in art, the weird Captain America trial, and, it turns out, the overarching Blue File plot. Charles Soule says in the end note that with these 12 issues we got "exactly the tale I wanted to tell", so that means it seems he never intended to resolve the mystery of Angie and her monkey. I'm also really unclear on when the flashback sequence was supposed to take place, with Dr. Druid hanging out with Shocker and Vibro. Very odd combination and at best another unexplained mystery. Captain Marvel looks to have her original hairstlye but i guess i can't go by that (and lord knows i shouldn't expect a footnote). Also, i've generally liked Javier Pulido's art but as with last issue's Titania/Volcana fight, the action here is another total fail. So a bust of an issue all around. By fnord12 | February 25, 2015, 2:26 PM | Comics | Comments (2)| Link This letter ran in pretty much every Dec 80 Marvel comic's lettercol. By fnord12 | February 22, 2015, 2:25 PM | Comics | Link Lookit Baron Karza enlarging himself so he doesn't have to sit with the other Micronauts. By fnord12 | February 22, 2015, 2:23 PM | Comics | Link Pretty much the only question i ask myself when thinking about the Historical Significance Rating for the introduction of a new character. Ok, i actually think about the number of appearances, the number of appearances outside of a single series, the number of appearances by creative teams besides the one that introduced him, and several other factors. But i did think of this comic, which i remember from a Peanuts book i read as a kid (although i think the version i remember only had the 3 critical middle panels), while doing some recent reviews. By fnord12 | February 22, 2015, 2:18 PM | Comics | Comments (1)| Link Thanos vs. Hulk #3 - My local reading circle is not too enthused with this mini, but i'm enjoying it. It's very straightforward superhero stuff, but that's exactly what i've been missing. The Hulk vs. Blastaar, with Blastaar acting intelligent enough to not be overconfident while fighting the Hulk. And beyond that, an important development for Annihilus, even if it will probably really just be about restoring him to his classic status quo after the Annihilation Wave storyline. It's true that that Starlin's art isn't up to the cosmic awesomeness of his 70s work, and the Hulk's dialogue is a little weird (but who knows what's normal for the Hulk anymore), but i still think this is a fun fight story. I guess it's worth noting that the titular Thanos doesn't actually appear in this issue. Ms. Marvel #11 - Don't get me wrong. I definitely enjoy this book. But i feel like it could be better. Artwise, i think Alphona's style is right for the book but he could sometimes do better with depicting Kamala's powers, like when she was stretching/squeezing inside the Inventor's big robot thing. Storywise i still think it gets a little to precious with the empowerment message; all the kids banging ineffectively against the robot while the Inventor got alarmed about the fact that they were working together didn't really work at all. And what really struck me was when i read the note in the lettercol saying that now that the big 11 issue (!) arc against the Inventor was over, they're going to start getting into things like showing Kamala dealing with her Inhuman roots and getting a love interest. Those things should have been happening all along; they shouldn't be put on hold during the first entire year of her book. This complaint is really part of the larger "decompression" problem that i have with modern comics, but if you think back over the course of the past 11 issues it really has been pretty content lite, with really no developing subplots alongside the main story. It's been good, and there's lots of fun moments; i loved in the beginning of this issue when Kamala hurled a bunch of insults at the Inventor and ended with "I think you're a bird", and that's the one that upset him. But it seems like there should be more depth to the book. What this book represents, with its non-white non-male lead character, is important in its own right, and it's been good regardless of that, but i feel like it could/should be great regardless of that. By fnord12 | February 15, 2015, 12:30 PM | Comics | Link I've seen the ads for years and i've probably even seen other people blog the songs before, but i never actually attempted to listen to anything from Reflections of a Rock Superhero until now (or is it Rock Reflections of a Superhero?). Having done so, i can't say for sure whether my earlier inclination was the right one or not. Here's an older write-up of the album by Chris Sims. And i just have to reproduce the back cover: P.S. i refused to give this post a "Music" tag. By fnord12 | February 10, 2015, 9:47 AM | Comics | Comments (3)| Link It seems Marvel Dracula fought on the side of the South during the Civil War. Good thing one of the Union soldiers was an Austrian ex-pat that knew how to deal with vampires. This is why we should embrace the fact that we're a nation of immigrants. Also in this issue - Aug 80's Tomb of Dracula Magazine #6 - there's this weird image that Min can't explain to me. I still think it's a skeleton dancing with a dog dressed up in armor. By fnord12 | February 5, 2015, 11:52 AM | Comics | Link Here's Marvel's reaction to the DC Implosion wherein DC suddenly canceled more than two dozen comic series in 1978. Way to rub it in, guys. There wasn't actually a Marvel "explosion" at this time (as opposed to the official "DC Explosion" that subsequently resulted to the implosion). All of the titles listed were already ongoings, and in fact this ad runs in Tomb of Dracula #59 one month before that book is put on a bi-monthly status. Daredevil had also gone bi-monthly a little earlier than this. Ironically, Marvel's relatively new (or revived) series, X-Men, isn't even shown here. By fnord12 | February 3, 2015, 12:03 PM | Comics | Link Saw this on Tom Brevoort's page today: Pretty awesome. It was apparently originally in a Marvel 75th anniversary book. ROM is actually fighting NFL Superpro while Godzilla fights a Shogun Warrior (Raydeen?) and the Micronauts look on. I know there's only so much room on the cover, but i assume the Human Fly is lurking in the background somewhere too. By fnord12 | February 3, 2015, 10:10 AM | Comics
& Godzilla | Link |
