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Avengers vs. X-Men #2 [Review]

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Walt

Round 2

Story: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Scott Hanna
Colors: Laura Martin
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Art: Jim Cheung and Laura Martin
Assistant Editor: John Denning
Associate Editor: Lauren Sankovitch
Consulting Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Published by: Marvel Comics

The battle breaks out here, as the Avengers attempt to take the beach while the X-Men seek to shove ’em back out to sea. The issue is primarily a big brawl, a long fight-scene, with snippets of stuff sure to be expanded on in the Vs. mini-series and/or tie-in issues. While the two groups duke it out, Cyclops is focused on seeing Hope to safety, while she wants to be in the thick of things, fighting rather than being fought over. By issue’s end, we see the toll the fighting’s already extracted from everyone–and possibly what’s to come as it’s pushed Hope to new levels, and Cap’s “away team” in space finds shock and awe in the approaching Phoenix force.

Story-wise…I’m not too impressed here. There’s more fighting than anything else (at least when taken for face value–there’s more depth than there looks, despite my summary above). It’s definitely interesting seeing some of the match-ups…and the Captain America/Cyclops slugfest made me think perhaps the cover of Avengers #25 is the REAL tie-in of that issue, as I’d swear that cover was yanked right out of this issue. Definitely liked the Iron Man/Magneto match-up…the narrative boxes surrounding that initial fight worked extremely well for me in summing up both characters’ strengths and natural bents.

Visually, little to complain about. The issue was action-packed enough that I honestly did not notice any of the AR logos except on the cover, so I’m even LESS impressed here than I was with ’em on the first issue. Romita‘s art isn’t my favorite, but a darned sight better in my eyes than a number of other artists, and I liked the work in this issue in general.

On the whole, this is another solid issue that moves things in the overall story forward–the battle is joined (not teased and put off til mid-arc), we see further development of things with Hope and the role she seems to be destined to play, and there’s enough to the individual fights that while they can clearly be expanded, it’s not just a panel here, panel there, go read another issue for the actual battle.

And as with the first issue, this issue does leave me looking forward to the next issue. Though I may not feel this way in the end or if I think too hard about the price tag…on the whole I kinda like that this is biweekly. 12 is a large number of “core event title” issues, but biweekly this should be over by early Fall…quite a bit crammed into half a year.

Recommended.

Story: 7.5/10
Art: 8.5/10
Whole: 8/10

Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Avengers #25 [Review]

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Walt

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Walter Simonson
Inks: Scott Hanna
Colors: Jason Keith
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover: Daniel Acuna
Assistant Editor: John Denning
Associate Editor: Lauren Sankovitch
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Published by: Marvel Comics

Well, this one really didn’t contribute anything of much worth toward the crossover! We see Cap shouldering the heavy burden of being a world leader, taking the blame for all the crap that’s going on and gone on–from the Secret Invasion to Fear Itself to stuff between. In the midst of Cap’s brooding, Thor shows up and tries to cheer him, followed shortly by Noh-Varr with a lead on an AIM hideout. Springing into action, several of the Avengers bust up the AIM hideout, adding a “win” to Cap’s ego, while Noh-Varr gains a new directive to his mission on Earth.

The story itself’s not bad, though honestly–it’s not one I really care about. I know there’s all this continuity from the past decade playing about, and I love that it’s there, at least in a subtle way for longer-time readers. But I bought this issue for being part of AvX, and feel REALLY cheated. There’s a two-page silent spread of the Avengers and X-Men mixing it up, and then the rest of the issue is basically a “flashback” to “Then” (shortly before AvX kicked into gear). But honestly…this issue has no other direct tie to the crossover, the vast majority of it takes place before the crossover, so it’s like they sacrificed a couple pages so they could say “but it contains part of the battle, of COURSE it’s an official tie-in!”

So if you’re a long-time reader, or already reading Avengers….I’m sure this issue continues ongoing plotpoints and otherwise has stuff that you’ll appreciate.

Visually, no huge complaint….I’m even shocked that one page DARES to have a whopping NINE panels. Nine, and there’s dialogue in six of them…MULTIPLE dialogue boxes in each of those! As opposed to, y’know…silent double-page spreads and full splash-pages that seem more filler than anything else. I skipped the credits on initial read-through, and though I have no complaint with the art, it doesn’t exactly blow me away (except again, that this isn’t half a dozen splash pages and a couple double-page spreads). I really liked when Thor showed up…the character looks good, and seemed to have a genuine joy about him, flying in to catch up with his old friend. Count me surprised to learn the art of the issue is by Walter Simonson–a name I’m more familiar with as a name than with his actual art.

In general, this is a solid issue of Avengers (to a guy who hasn’t touched the Avengers books since the #1s due to the $3.99 price tags). It’s got Cap, Iron Man, and Thor (and others), they’re facing classic-ish villains (well, as much as a bunch of science-worshipping terrorists are ‘villains’), and Simonson art, to boot (a ‘classic’ artist I associate with Thor).

But if you’re looking for AvX stuff? Nuh-uh…you’ll want to pass on this issue. Nothing here for that except the seemingly slapped-in spread of a scene we’ve already seen at least twice (in AvX #1 and last week’s New Avengers #24).

All in all, solid, but I’m dinging the story and the issue as a whole for wasting my time and money for a “red skies” tie-in to something I was–before this–having a bit of fun with jumping in whole-hog (and now am suddenly a LOT more concerned about the wisdom of doing so, “fun” or not).

Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Whole: 6/10

Filed under: Avengers, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

New Avengers #24 [Review]

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Walt


Full review posted to cxPulp.com.

Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, New Avengers | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Avengers vs. X-Men #1 [Review]

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Walt


Full review posted to cxPulp.com.

Story: 4/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5

Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Avengers vs. X-Men #0 [Review]

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Walt


Full review posted to cxPulp.com.

Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Ultimate Spider-Man #160 [Review]

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Walt

Death of Spider-Man: Part 5 of 5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Andy Lanning with Andrew Hennessy
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Art: Bagley & Ponsor
Assistant Editor: Sana Amant
Senior Editor: Mark Paniccia
Published by: Marvel Comics

So, this issue is mostly one big fight scene. Seems the Green Goblin’s been busy, and it’s all come back down to Norman Osborn vs. Peter Parker. But unlike that first time the Goblin came back–when it was Mary Jane who was thrown off a bridge, playing on readers’ knowledge of what happened to Gwen in the regular Marvel Universe–this time, it just feels like little more than a ripoff of a two-decades-old Superman story. Yet, it works.

The villain apparently rose…many have fallen, and it’s down to the titular hero to save those around him from said villain.

Face it…the title of the story, the branding of the last few issues of this title and the Ultimate Avengers thing–it gives it all away. Much like knowing weeks before the story even began that Doomsday! was a tale that would end with the death of Superman. It was the journey to get there, watching the hero gradually take more and more of a beating, attempting to dish it back, and ultimately making a final sacrifice to save those he loves from a monster’s rampage.

The story itself–pretty simplistic. I haven’t read the first four chapters of it in this title, and bought (but wound up only skimming) the issue where Peter takes the bullet for Cap….yet, the recap page at the beginning of this issue sum things up pretty succinctly–I don’t need those chapters to “get” this.

The art–maybe not fantastic, but after recently reading the first tpb of the post-Ultimatum Ultimate Comics Spider-Man…Bagley‘s art–which I’ve always enjoyed and associated with Ultimate Spider-Man–is SUCH a thing of beauty. The characters actually look like I’d expect, as I got used to. The way they looked over the course of all those practically biweekly issues in college and all those TPBs after that when I went back to the series last year and caught up on over 60 issues of story.

As a whole…not truly worth the $3.99 cover price. Not even with that black plastic bag with the hero’s logo in red on it. But y’know? I missed out on Ultimate Spider-Man #1; I wasn’t able to acquire any issues til #4 or so, and was only able to get back to #3. But by and large (I got the first hardcover with those first 13 fantastic issues) I got in at the beginning. So I couldn’t bring myself to entirely “pass” on this ending.

If you’re already buying this title, sticking with the singles after the Ultimatum stuff and the renumbering and the re-renumbering, the changes in art and all that…if you read the earlier chapters of this story…again, face it: you were already going to or have bought this issue already. If you’ve sat things out, wondering at simply waiting for the collected volume: keep to that route. You’ll get a full story. If you’ve avoided this story on principle…hold to it.

This isn’t going to be for everyone. In many ways, I should be appalled at this. To see the character I so enjoyed reading about–and the supporting cast–put in this (albeit fictitious) situation, to see things come to this…it’s horrible. Heart-wrenching. But when you come down to it…this issue makes this version of Peter Parker, Spider-Man, much more real, at least in the moment. We saw his origin. His beginnings. His career. And now, his end.

If you can find this issue, without being taken for a marked-up price…I recommend it. If you’re a lapsed fan of the series, it might be worth getting to be there for the end. If nothing else–consider the collected volume.

Story: 4/10
Art: 9/10
Overall: 7/10

Filed under: MARVEL, Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Siege #2 [Review]

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Walt

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Olivier Coipel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: Coipel, Morales & Martin
Associate Editor: Lauren Sankovitch
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Published by: Marvel Comics

This issue is largely a lengthy fight-scene. Ares vs. Balder. Ares vs. The Sentry. Dark Avengers vs. Thor. And while these battles are going on, Steve Rogers rallies the Avengers, with Nick Fury providing transportation. And the issue ends on a ridiculously annoying note.

While I like the visuals overall, something about the Sentry comes across like some totally ticked-off child, if not some sort of demon-possessed child. The other characters all look pretty good–and are quite recognizable. The only part where I really had any trouble following the action in the visuals was the most gruesome image of the issue–you’ll know it when you see it. Though the gore makes it clear the character has been killed, it seems to come out of nowhere. If the final page of actual comic store didn’t have “To Be Continued” I’d be asking why a page was left out–what seems to be done for cinematic/dramatic effect feels extremely anticlimactic, and does nothing to make me want to get the next issue. The sequence–in my eyes–should have been played out.

The story itself seems very simplistic…we see things going awry and Norman losing control of the situation as he’s closer to being exposed publicly. Characters fight, someone dies, etc. The fight sequences make the issue read far too quickly–there’s too much quick action and too little dialogue. I’d almost prefer to see a tie-in mini to flesh out the action, and let the main series involve more dialogue and interaction as the event goes down.

In and of itself, there’s not much of anything here to recommend this issue. Marvel only makes it worthwhile as it’s part of the story that ends the Dark Reign, and we’re almost–almost–to the point where Osborne’s gonna start to get some of what’s coming to him. This is an “event book,” and the “core mini” at that–this seems the bare minimum one should get if specifically following Siege. While there’s loads of other stuff surely going on, this has been doing a decent job–for what I’ve read–of having the main stuff unfolding here rather than in the tie-in/crossover issues.

Not wonderful, but there’s plenty worse out there to be read…plenty that doesn’t at least have as its end result a brighter tone to come for the Marvel Universe.

The text piece at the end held no interest to me–it may have some stuff for context, but I couldn’t even get through it.

Story: 3.5/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 5/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2010, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Siege, Siege (Event) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 [Review]

Posted on December 21, 2008 by Walt

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist and Cover: Alex Maleev
Color Artist: Dean White
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Production: Joe Sabino
Assoc. Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics

A week late and a dollar short…that about describes this.

Picking up where Secret Invasion #8 left off, this issue follows the “dark Illuminati”–a group of fairly villanous Marvel characters that serves here as a counterpart to the Illuminati group revealed in the “Road to Civil War” era. We see what Norman is willing to offer these individuals, and for what price, as well as some of their initial reactions to the offer and what they could do with it.

The story isn’t too bad–for what it is. What it is isn’t all that much–basicaly just a wordier description with pictures of the “premise” behind this whole “Dark Reign” thing kicking off (a sentence about what brings each character to the table would suffice).

The art is fairly stylistic–not something I’d consider terribly realistic, though it is by no means bad. It’s got a gritty feel to it that seems out of place for characters I’d consider to not be part of a “gritty” story. On the whole, though, you could get a lot worse. The main weakness is that Namor doesn’t look like Namor–he looks to me like some drunken, unshaven guy off the street put in Namor’s clothes.

As a whole, this issue is almost entirely uninteresting. I was only slightly curious as to what details might be provided heading into Marvel’s Dark Reign event, and enjoyed Bendis when I read Ultimate Spider-Man, so was thinking a “talking heads issue” given the context would actually hold me interest and feel like a good story. This felt quite short…only 26 pages of story, plus NINE pages of “previews” for three other titles.

This was NOT worth its cover price to me–better to have paid $2.99 for the main story and have NO previews. Hardcore Marvel fans and those actually enjoying the overall direction the Marvel Universe has been taking will probably enjoy this, especially if picking up a bunch of titles from across the Avengers/X-Men families of books. If you’re a casual fan or not chomping at the bit for stuff following that last page of Secret Invasion, don’t bother with this issue. The previews and price actually detract from the overall experience of the issue for me, hence the final rating falling below the story/art ratings.

Story: 6/10
Art: 6/10
Whole: 5.5/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2008, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Secret Invasion, Secret Invasion (Event), Secret Invasion: Dark Reign | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Secret Invasion #8 [Review]

Posted on December 7, 2008 by Walt

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Production: Irene Lee
Assoc. Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover: Gabrielle Dell’Otto
Publisher: Marvel Comics

That’s it?!?

This issue presumably picks up from where the last issue left off–but I’m not 100%, because I have only gotten certain beats of this story, being a reader who took ’em at their word that one would be able to just buy the main series and get a full story.

The Wasp apparently was turned into some sort of biological weapon (wha? when?), and rather than see the action moving forward, we’re treated to an opening sequence that seems to be more of a time-jump, going from a current in-your-face event to “well, now that we’re DONE, what exactly HAPPENED out there, Guys?!?” retrospective. Though The Wasp (insert arbitrary long-standing character here) died, the Skrulls were defeated, and now that the Skrull Plot has been brought to light, let’s see those who can take the fall do so, to shake things up for yet. another. “new.” “status quo.

The art on this issue isn’t horrible, but there’s something to it that doesn’t quite seem what I’d expect from Yu. While his style worked very well for me when he was on Wolverine a number of years ago, his style here isn’t really to my liking–many of the characters look odd to me…something much different from the “gritty” style I liked. Still, the art mostly shows what’s going on, and characters are recognizeable, so no huge fault there. (You can flip through the issue and determine if you like the visual style or not, as it maintains a consistent style throughout).

The story…

Well, I’m not satisfied. I bought the first issue of the series to check it out, and despite knowing better, I was hooked and bought the second issue. At that point, I’d bought a quarter of the series, so figured I’d grudgingly give it a shot for a few more issues, just to see if I could be proven wrong…and with this “8th” and “final” issue (I use quotes there because frankly, it is absurd to believe you can read a “core mini-series” for a Marvel event and not have to buy the umpteen specials, mini-series and tie-in issues as the event went on, and there are even epilogue/follow-up Secret Invasion issues BEFORE we even launch into the new “event” hot on the heels of this year-long monstrosity.

This issue was choppy, and tried to cram way too much in–we had at least three issues that did virtually nothing and now we have an issue with everything but the kitchen sink crammed in almost more to set up the next story than to truly provide an ending to this story. We hit a cliffhanger, then get a couple pages of resolution (tack those pages into the previous issue, and call this an epilogue/transition).

If you’ve been following the series, sure….pick this issue up. If you’re looking for surprises…well, avoid anything Marvel-related until you read this in one format or another. I’m not interested in where things are going, and maybe am not the target audience.

Story: 3/10
Art: 5/10
Whole: 4/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2008, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Secret Invasion, Secret Invasion (Event) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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