Monthly Archives: November 2020

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Great, Good, Decent: Milestone Amazing Spider-Man 850

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Introduction

“Amazing Spider-Man 850 coming soon”. I texted these words to Chris last week as I was organizing my comics for the big October 2020 reviews. He replied with, “Already?” I know that he was very excited for 800. He collected several variant covers for the issue as it was the penultimate before the Legacy renumbering.

Even so, there is some evidence that Marvel might not be all that great at counting in some of these Legacy reveals.

I followed my announcement up with the fact that the the new number 50 came right after number 750. I wondered if they might try to celebrate both anniversaries in succession. Luckily, it looks like they realized the quandary and will use #50 in a different manner by launching a new story. I have to ready myself because this one looks dark. Surprisingly the (spoiler alert) return (again…how many times now?) of Gobby wasn’t. Read more in my Amazing Spider-Man 850 review, starting now.

The Great

Gobby is Back! – I already told you this in the introduction. Granted, I gave it a sarcastic comment. That’s just my nature. Trust me. I’m always here for classic villains returning in any book. I loved it when they introduced Leader into Immortal Hulk. Joker War has resurrected Batman and Detective Comics.

Now, the Green Goblin returns to–

*checks notes*

*rubs eyes*

*puts on reading glasses*

*whispers off camera* Is this right?….Okay, here goes. *ahem*

Now, the Green Goblin returns to fight side by side with Spider-Man. The Sin Eater (more on him later) proves to be a bit too much for our favorite wall crawler. And, so, Norman Goblinizes himself to join the fray. Together, they triumph. Goblin uses the good deed to proclaim his original debt to Peter repaid and returns quickly to his villainous ways. Expect to see more of the Green Meanie in future issues.

The Good

Spider Family – I either misread or misinterpreted the end of the previous issue. The Spider Family is, in fact, back. However, I interpreted them as being back to stop Spider-Man or work against him. While that part is true, their actual intentions became more clear in this issue.

They came back from the future (or an alternate dimension, I guess it isn’t that clear) to help Spider-Man survive the fight with Sin Eater. So, they stopped Spidey from preventing Norman from changing. That allowed the Goblin to help Ol’ Webhead defeat the Sin Eater. I may still be misinterpreting this whole scenario. To be perfectly honest, I just skimmed some books last week to get the reviews done.

The Decent

Sin Eater – I’ve made no secret of the fact that I haven’t been the biggest fan of the Sin Eater arc. He just doesn’t “feel” like a proper Spider-Man villain. He belongs more with Doctor Strange perhaps, with a few modifications. Ghost Rider would prove to be a worth foe. For me, Spider-Man doesn’t match up well against these supernatural types.

With that being said, I like Kindred. He’s back at the end of this book. Perhaps that means he will be part of the next story. I mean, we find out in my Marvel comics review for November on Friday or Saturday. Part of me wants to sneak a peek, but I’ll be good. I already had to warn Chris of potential spoilers in this article.

The Vignettes

Instead of following in the footsteps of DC Comics and filling this issue with short stories, Marvel instead split the main story into 3 acts (how Shakespearean of them) and then featured 3 short stories at the end of the issue. Coincidentally, they split nicely into a Great, Good, and Decent.

The Great (A Family Affair by Saladin Ahmen and Aaron Kuder): Tells the story of Vulture’s granddaughter getting into a scuffle with Spider-Man due to a misunderstanding. Spidey puts her straight (possibly) and she may have a reckoning with granddad.

The Good (Four Shoes by Tradd More): A weird story where Spidey is taken into an alternate dimension via a glowing cube on the Brooklyn Bridge. His mission? Save a dog from some kind of knight/wizard lady? I don’t know. It’s better than I’m making it sound here.

The Decent: (All You Need Is… by Kurt Busiek and Chris Bachalo): I expected more from these names. This story felt like a way to simply jam as many Beatles references into the story as possible. I….am not a Beatles fan, so I don’t see that as a worthy goal.

The Verdict

Amazing Spider-Man 850 is all I hoped for. The return of the Goblin is predictable. However, I didn’t see the team up coming. Also, I enjoyed the history lesson in the second chapter of the story. Sin Eater is gone (good riddance), Kindred returned, and Gobby is on the loose. This books was wavering a bit for me recently. However, similar to Joker War and Leader, this issue might serve to refocus and bring it back to greatness.

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Great, Good, Decent: DC Comics October 2020

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Introduction

DC Comics 2020 is a bit of a misnomer just as Marvel Comics October 2020. First, it is now technically November. Second, I got behind in my reading and reviewing. These are the comics that I received from DCBS in both September and October.

Sue me. Things have been a bit busy at work this year.

However, as I wrote in the Marvel Comics review this (technically last) month, I’m committed to getting back on track by the end of the year. While I committed to that last year as well, I learned some tricks during the quarantine that will help this time. The only weird thing is that you will now be treated (?) to two straight weeks of comics. Think of it as a proper reboot of the page. Comics fans love reboots. Right? Right?!

The Great

Action Comics 1024 and 1025 (Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.): I’ve made no secret of my severe distaste for Superman. If my younger brother Tim ever reads the page, he might disown me for the amount of times I’ve said it. However, BMB has been doing his best to reverse that opinion. Right now, he is succeeding with Action. This story is fun and focused. That was missing from the Leviathan story.

Batman 96-99 (James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez): After reading issue 96, I texted Chris and said, “I’m really enjoying Joker War.” He agreed that it has been really good. This is the story that I’ve been waiting for from Tynion since he took over the title. I hope it continues.

Justice League Dark 25 and 26 (Ram V and Amancy Nahuelpan): I wept when they took Tynion off of this title. It was probably my favorite DC book since Rebirth. It took a few issues, but they found a worthy successor. Ram V is great on this book and I want this to be long term.

Wonder Woman 759-762 (Mariko Tamaki and Mikel Janin): I’ve been looking forward to this since I saw the announcement in the previous issue. Then, she wrote one of the vignettes in the Detective Comics 1027 anniversary issue. Now, I finally get to experience Mariko Tamaki on Wonder Woman. It’s worth the wait and hype. Love it.

The Good

Catwoman 24 and 25 (Sean Murphy, Blake Northcutt, et al): Catwoman has been iffy ever since Joelle Jones left. Ram V filled in nicely for a few issues, but then it went a bit off the rails. It was just inconsistent. I’m not ready to declare Sean Murphy the savior, but these two issues were fun.

Detective Comics 1025 and 1026 ( Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort): Detective Comics disappointed me more than the main title. I knew that Tynion would eventually find his footing. Not so for Tomasi. However, Joker War has focused him and this book. It might be great if not for the main title, which is absolutely killing it.

The Decent

Aquaman 62 and 63 (Jordan Clark and Marco Santucci): As I’ve been looking at the books on Previews World (also where I grab my cover shots), I’ve noticed that many of the creative teams have been reshuffled because of the Covid break. It might explain why it has been so inconsistent. This book is a fine War for Atlantis, but it’s not what I hoped from this story.

Justice League 50-53 (Various, but it looks like they might have settled on Joshua Williamson and Xermanico for the DM tie ins?): Perhaps no title has suffered more this year than good old Justice League. Scott Snyder seemed to have put it at the bottom of his priorities. After they took him off the title, it became a fun team title again. Then, it wandered in the darkness for a couple of months. Death Metal might serve to focus it similar to how Joker War did for the Batman books.

Superman 24 and 25 (Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis): BMB has not successfully changed my mind about Supes in the main title. He keeps introducing new characters that should add to the mythos and make the character more appealing. None of them have. I just don’t care. If I get rid of a book (and I have no plans to do so because I get so few books lately), this is the first to go.

The Verdict

DC Comics October 2020 is much stronger than Marvel this month. There were a couple of good books that I considered making great and the only decent book that I truly did not enjoy was Supes. Join us next week as we do back to back comics in an attempt to get the page back on some sort of predictable schedule. See you in a couple of days for Spawn 310 and 311.