Tpull's Weekly Marvel Comics Review

There could have been two sections of Marvel reviews this week, but due to the price increase, I only bought five titles for the old $2.99 price. All the others were $3.99, so I passed. Here's an easy review for everything else that came out this week: not worth $3.99...

The Amazing Spider-Man 597

by Joe Kelly and Marco Chechetto

Spidey is undercover disguised as Venom, but his spider-sense does not go off when Osborn declares, “I know exactly where my enemies are at all times.” Parker should have had raging alarms going off inside his head. Daken strikes first, acting like a loner despite joining the Dark Avengers team. Kelly gets in a couple zingers finally, adding back some Spidey zest into his dialogue. For the second time, he uses his spider-sense sort of like Daredevil uses his radar sense, and I just hope they don’t start to lose sight of the difference between the two.

When all the bad guys catch up, Harry stays loyal to Norman, who knew all along Venom was just Spidey in disguise. Bullseye hits Spidey in both legs with a couple arrows, and where was his spider-sense then? Let alone his incredible agility? The writer always seems to be inconsistent with the spider-sense, depending on where he wants the story to go. Those little gripes aside, it was a good story. Ten bucks says Osborn will use Spidey as a guinea pig for the “American Son” tests.

Fantastic Four 567

by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

If something seems “off” about the first few pages of this issue, you’re not alone. Trust in the creative team, though, it all pays off. Bryan Hitch gives us as stunning a visual spectacle as ever, and it’s all part of the “Master’s” plan. It’s hard to write any review of this without spoiling part of the story, so I can only say it was my favorite Marvel story this week, and there’s a new sheriff in town. Depending on how well things are executed, I wouldn’t mind if he stayed around for a while.

Seriously, I’m not saying anything else. Go get this comic.

Uncanny X Men 511

by Matt Fraction, Greg Land, and Terry Dodson

Who would have thought such a good book could fall so fast? There is almost nothing left of any previous plotlines involving San Francisco, the Beast’s new science group, Colossus’ recent struggles… this is all just a conclusion of the exercise for Land and Dodson to draw a bunch of sexy females. Even Fraction seems to be at a fraction of his own writing prowess, blending a little current narrative into the character identification blocks, in a way that doesn’t serve either method well.

In the meantime, are we really supposed to believe Scott is upset that Wolverine kept a lock of Jean’s hair? Everyone knew how he felt about her. It’s a lock of hair! Nonsense. The art is sloppy, with a ton of gray panels for background, and an inconsistency between the inking styles that doesn’t help the overall visual look of the book. In the meantime, Madison is tricked into occupying a “normal” corpse, and we are supposed to believe with her telepathic powers, she couldn’t pick up that trick from anyone else.

The quality of most of the X-books is just not what it was, and it feels wrong for such a good reboot to have shaken things up, with Brubaker on Uncanny, Whedon on Astonishing, and cool stuff over in the Legacy title, I was looking forward to a much longer ride of enjoying my favorite mutants again, but the interaction between the different mutants has withered. If they spent half as much time on characterization as they do on panoramic shots and mindless action sequences, they could improve a lot. I’m probably harsher with this title than most others, but that’s because they gave us a glimpse of some really good stuff, and I know they can do it again, but they have to work at it.

Wolverine 74

by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert, Daniel Way and Tommy Lee Edwards

We now return you to our regular Wolverine scheduling (we hope). They put the one-percenter story up front this time, but it’s not very memorable. We get ten or eleven pages of people that I don’t care about, and nothing new happens to make me care what happens to any of these people. Their manipulations and intrigue is strictly bush-league, and it all seems like it’s not worth Logan’s time. Consequently, it’s not worth our time either. It’s a big diversion from everything else that has been going on.

The second story gives us an Aaron/Kubert finish, with Spider-Man taking a stab at confronting Wolverine about his recent behavior. Quite a bit of talking heads, but Kubert draws it well, and Aaron handles the dialogue like a pro. Logan remembers everything in his past now, and that’s a bit much for him to handle, considering all of the death he’s dealt out. He explains his frenzy of activity as his attempt at redemption, even when he can’t quite forgive himself. I have no idea why they split up two stories into two two-parters, but both stories would have read better if told in their entirety one at a time.

The scheduling isn’t perfect, because we still have to wait for a special issue that gives us the end of the Old Man Logan story arc, but we’re all crossing our fingers that the rest of the title will be published in a more normal manner from now on.

X-Factor 44

by Peter David, Marco Santucci and Valentine de Landro

Madrox is in an alternate future, making out with a grown-up Layla and starting in on a mystery of disappearing people. Monet has flipped out on hearing the word “cortex,” and decides to start flirting with Darwin when she settles down. The trick of it is, she’s either been possessed or replaced somehow, reminiscent of Warlock and his techno-organic look. It’s a quick read, and part of a greater story arc, so it’s hard to judge as a stand-alone, but it read okay to me.

Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

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