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Marvel Comics August 2019

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Introduction

I think I wrote in my last article that it was going to be the final one written in that format. So, i present to you my review of Marvel Comics for August 2019. The comics are actually from last month, but that’s more recent than the first reviews. So, as I’ve said a few times, unless I get famous and they start sending me reviewer copies, this is as recent as I get.

I’ve also reconfigured “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”. I still have 3 categories, but I’ve renamed them. If you’ve been reading this whole time, you know why. If not, allow me to explain quickly. I’m sure this will be a standard note at the top of future articles.

I’m a reviewer who tries to find the good in creative things. You might think this is dishonest. Sometimes people think that positive reviews are simply to get in good with companies for free stuff. While I wouldn’t turn down free stuff, that’s not my motive. I’m a frustrated self-published writer, so I try to encourage creativity whenever possible.

The Great (I Have a Feeling These May Not Change Much)

Amazing Spider-Man #25 and 26 (Zeb Wells, Keaton Patti, Nick Spencer, Kev Walker, Humberto Ramos, Ryan Ottley, Todd Nauck): I was worried that the book might suffer after what was a really good story in “Hunted”. However, the follow up story has been excellent, as well. I wasn’t too sure about Mysterio because it felt like cross promotion in the worst way. I’m glad to be wrong. The Mysterio story has been interesting. Also, they are introducing (? They’re new to me) the Sinister She Six and MJ’s and Spidey’s relationship are no longer on the rocks. All in all, a solid book.

Venom#16 (Donnie Cates and Juan Gedeon): This has probably been my second favorite ongoing Marvel book behind the new Hulk. They have done a slight retcon on the origin of the suit. Again, I’m not positive about that. However, that retcon has added a bit of a horror element to the book that is appealing. Plus, the “new” Venom with the dichotomy of Lethal Protector is awesome as far as I’m concerned.

The Immortal Hulk #20 and 21 (Al Ewing and Joe Bennett): Truth be told, this book is the main reason that I decided to rework the format of reviews for the page. I couldn’t ever think of a bad thing to say about the book, let alone ugly. Like I texted to Chris, this and Justice League Dark have just been solid books since the relaunches and I don’t think there has been a bad issue with these teams. Keep up the great work.

The Good (Avengers and Dead Mutants)

Uncanny X-Men 21 and 22 (Matthew Rosenberg and Salvador Larroca): Chris and I were texting about books that we have been enjoying lately and I mentioned this one was getting good again. He replied, “I might be wrong, but I thought they killed it.” FFS, sure enough, he’s right. Well, add this one to the pile with Weapon X of books that died right as they were getting good.

Avengers #21 (Jason Aaron and Jason Masters): I haven’t enjoyed the Avengers comic book as much as I have the movies. I will say that I’ve enjoyed Tony Stark in the Avengers book more than his solo book. But, more on that later. This issue was some clean up from War of the Realms. This is the first “event” that I didn’t read in quite some time, but Chris said it wasn’t that good, so I’m glad I missed it. With that being said, this issue was a bit slow, but it was a nice set up for what’s to come.

The Decent (This Would Make for an Odd Team Up Issue)

The Punisher #13 (Matthew Rosenberg and Szymon Kudranski): I have never been a huge fan of the Punisher. Oh, sure, when I was a teenager, he and Deadpool were the anti heroes that I needed. Now, however, it’s just more of the same. I will say that I enjoyed the part where the Punisher took it to the cops that thought he was doing right. An interesting take on current events.

Thor #15 (Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo): I texted Chris after reading this issue to say that War of Realms seemed like an overly complicated way to get Mjolnir back to Thor. Sure, that’s a big deal and all, but did they really need to do a whole event? I got the idea just from this issue. Oh well, what’s done is done.

Tony Stark, Iron Man #14 (Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Valerio Schiti): Tony Stark by himself is insufferable. I don’t mind him in the Avengers book, but I just can’t stand this version of Tony Stark. I do like the story of him not being sure if he’s real or not, but I don’t know how long they can keep it going.

Doctor Strange #16 (Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, and Scott Koblish): Normally I am a fan of both Doctor Strange and Mark Waid. However, this issue just fell a bit flat for me. It revolves around a Pyrrhic victory. Or, is it a Faustian bargain? Either way, the issue was fine, but doesn’t make me want to keep reading.

The Verdict (Overall Marvel Comics August 2019 was a good month)

I was going to do a “Forgettables” section, too, with Absolute Carnage. I obviously haven’t read it yet, but I’m not a fan of just retelling the same stories over and over again. That’s why I’m glad that recent reboots have gone out of their way to not have origin stories. Also, hopefully the reboots are done for a while.

But, I digress. I then learned that the Venom team was going to work on Absolute Carnage and that changed my mind. As mentioned above, I enjoy the Venom book very much. So, I will at least give Absolute Carnage the old 2 issue try to see if they can capture that same magic.

As far as Marvel Comics August 2019, these books overall were entertaining. The last four in the decent category have been uneven overall, but I have enjoyed them all on some level. Many of the books I’m reading seem to be getting cut from the lineup, so what i fear is that I’m no longer the target audience. Don’t ever grow up, kids. It’s a trap.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

Marvel Comics Week of 06/30/19 Review

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Introduction

Note: While this is listed as the Marvel Comics Review for the Week of 06/30/19, the comics reviewed are actually from a few months ago. Some might be more recent, but I’m still catching up on my reading, so most will be older.

I think that this might be the last of the retro review articles for a couple of weeks. With the release of Core Set 2020, next week I am going to focus on Magic the Gathering. Then, hopefully, the week after, I will do some more recent comic reviews. The boys have gotten into Marvel Puzzle Quest recently, so I want to piggy back off that momentum plus the release of the new Spider-Man movie.

Tony Stark, Iron Man #7-9 (“Stark Realities” by Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti)

The Good (I Like Dan Slott)

I’ve been a fan of Dan Slott on Spider-Man and enjoy what he’s been doing with Fantastic Four, too. When I saw that he was writing the new Iron Man book, I figured I would continue collecting after issue 600. Admittedly, it’s been a mixed bag, but hopefully things will pick up soon.

The Bad (This Story is Kind of Meh)

I said that this title has been a mixed bag so far and it starts with the story. There’s some sort of virtual game or other program that Tony created that became very popular. Now, the thing has gone haywire and it trying to kill it’s users. It might have even crossed over into real life in some way or another. I’m just not interested.

The Ugly (Tony Alone is too Much)

I think I texted Chris when I first started reading this title and the new Avengers book that I liked Tony much more in the Avengers than in his own title. I don’t know if it is the writing or just because Tony by himself is too much. I like it better when he is reduced in his role because the writer has to pay attention to other characters.

Uncanny X-Men 18 (“Something Hellfire Club” by Matthew Rosenberg and Carlos Villa)

The Good (Mr. Sinister and Emma!)

Two of my favorite villains were in this issue and that kept me going through what is another uneven offering from the House of M. I was genuinely excited about this title when it was announced that they’d be doing away (?) with the X-Men color series and consolidating into a single Uncanny title (which is the only X-Men title that should exist in my oldbie opinion), but this one hasn’t grabbed me. Again, maybe it will get more exciting.

The Bad (What is this team?)

This is not my Uncanny X-Men. I can’t even remember who all is on this team. That’s how bad it is right now. I mean, you bring out the Z team for X-Men Fuschia, not Uncanny. Please, for the love of all that is holy, give me my Uncanny X-Men. I’ll even understand if Logan is off doing his own thing. As long as the rest are there.

The Ugly (How many times…?)

How many times are they going to do this extermination of the mutants story? They just did an extinction event and before that was the 187. Is that literally the only story that they have for these characters at this point? Just stop already.

Captain America #7-9 (“Captain of Nothing” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Adam Kubert)

The Good (Cleaning Up after Secret Empire)

I’ve mentioned before. I wasn’t much of a Captain America fan until Brubaker somewhat redefined the character in the 90s. Then, the movie version became one of my favorite characters. Secret Empire did some damage to that fandom, but I did want to see how they were going to clean up after that. It was a bit messy at the end of the event. Now, though, I like the direction that things are going.

The Bad (The Aftermath is Bad)

This is to be expected. When you take one of the most popular characters and completely retcon them to be the opposite of what they were, things are bound to get bad. When that is compounded by what is actually happening around us, it approaches ugly. While they’ve done a good job of trying to fix things, it will take some time to get back to normal (if ever). God, I hate writing that.

The Ugly (Not Quite as depressing as Secret Empire)

This story isn’t quite as depressing as Secret Empire. However, with things the way they are in real life, things are still pretty ugly. I’m hoping that changes soon. It seems like I’m saying that a lot in these books. I can see now why Marvel hasn’t been as popular in the comics scene as in the movies.

Venom #12 and 14 (by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman)

The Good (Love that Horror Vibe)

When Marvel relaunched after Secret Empire, there were two books that I enjoyed. One was expected (Hulk) and the other was a bit of a surprise (Venom). Both had a distinct horror vibe in common. I’m glad to see that they haven’t changed their minds about that for this book and Chris says that Hulk is still nailing it, too. Who knew? I’ve never been much of a horror book fan.

The Bad (Another Retcon?)

I’m not sure if this is a retcon or I missed the notes, but it feels like they’ve changed the origin of the symbiote suit. There’s some weirdness in here that I can do without. It doesn’t make things not enjoyable. It just takes me out of the narrative a bit when they start in with the new stuff.

The Ugly (Eddie’s Family Past)

This doesn’t feel like something new, but it might be, too. There’s some story in #12 (I think) about Eddie’s father and the abuse that Eddie suffered. I don’t remember that from the original story way back when Venom was introduced, but it makes sense. Abuse in any form is ugly, but it does make the character a bit more well rounded.

The Verdict (Marvel Comics Week of 06/30/19 Review)

The books that I read this week were uneven. Tony Stark is not my cup of tea so far. Uncanny X-Men has a long way to go to become enjoyable for me. Both Captain America and Venom are very good and I will continue reading them to see if they can keep it up.

I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to read the first two books, but definitely check out Captain America and Venom. If nothing else, read Venom and Immortal Hulk. Those are probably the best two Marvel books out there right now. Until next time, Excelsior! (Old joke now made a bit melancholy thanks to Stan Lee passing away.)