Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: Andrew Hennessy, Avx, Clayton Cowles, colossus, Comic Reviews, Consequences, cxPulp, Cyclops, David Curiel, Hope, Jim Charalampidis, Jordan D. White, Kieron Gillen, magneto, Mark Brooks, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Namor, Nick Lowe, salvador larroca, Wolverine | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: A + X, cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Now! | Tagged: A plus X, A+X, Albert Deschesne, cable, Cam Smith, Captain America, Clayton Cowles, Comic Reviews, cxPulp, Dale Keown, Dan Slott, Danny Miki, Frank D'Armata, hulk, Jeph Loeb, Jordan D. White, Mark Morales, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Marvel Now, Nick Lowe, ReEvolution, Ron Garney, Wil Quintana, Wolverine | Leave a comment »
I intentionally did not buy Uncanny Avengers. I’m giving AvX: Consequences a pass because it began the week right after AvX 12, is only 5 issues, and is weekly. But I have no desire whatsoever to “support” Marvel Now for a number of reasons, PRIMARILY that I am so incredibly sick and tired of renumbering, tons of variant covers, and the $3.99 price point.
Some of the premises for Marvel Now titles interest me–I’m so totally torn over whether or not to try A+X as a preview showing what looks like the Maestro Hulk and Days of Future Past Logan caught my attention, and having just read Avengers: X-Sanction I’m interested in the Cap/Cable thing, see where they stand. Even though that may put me at risk of interest in Cable and X-Force.
But the biggest problem-title for me is the All-New X-Men. I hate all the retconning of the past decade, and loose/basic time-travel rules tell us all 5 X-Men will eventually return, in order to age into the present without changing history, and they’ll have no memory of stuff after.
But in general, time-travel stories, alternate timelines, etc. often interest me; my favorite for X-Men is certainly the original (mid-1990s) Age of Apocalypse (I care very little for anything done with AoA from 2005-present). So a time-travel X-Men story…ok.
Often we see time-travel stories from the point of view of having the focal character(s) and traveling “with” them into a “possible future.” You have the characters at current status quo, and the future is some possibility, taking outlandish concepts and seeing what events might twist the current characters into vastly different people by the time the future rolls around.
Here with this title, it’s kinda the other way around–we have our “present” that IS “the future” to these characters–we’ve seen the events as they’ve unfolded all these years that brought the characters from their teenage-original-X-Men-years to present. We’ve seen Fatal Attractions, The Shattering, The Twelve, Dream’s End, the Morrison run, Whedon‘s Astonishing X-Men run, House of M, Messiah Complex, Second Coming, AvX, and everything in-between.
Granted, this isn’t an entirely new concept….but to me it’s an intriguing “twist” of sorts. The closest comparison I can think of offhand would be Green Lantern: Emerald Knights when Kyle accidentally brought a young Hal Jordan to the then-present DCU and Hal got to learn of his own future, the Parallax corruption and so on.
I haven’t cared for all of Bendis‘ work…and certainly been “poisoned” a bit on his stuff due to marketing/hype. I avoided New Avengers on principle–Variant covers, as well as renumbering Avengers to #500 just to end at #503 and “relaunch” with New Avengers #1; having variant covers for EVERY ISSUE for the first 6-8 issues, I opted out. 
Then with the Heroic Age relaunching of Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, etc. I was all set to dive in…but was unwilling to actually do so at $3.99/issue.
I loved early Ultimate Spider-Man…quick though the issues are to read, the first 60-70 some issues are probably my favorite Spider-Man comics, period. So I already “know” contemporary Marvel and X-Men, and given his run on Ultimate Spider-Man, trust Bendis to write the young X-Men enjoyably.
Apparently the first 6 issues will be bi-weekly, so…yeah, 6 $4 issues means $24 in only 3 months…but I’m assuming that’s a full 6-issue arc, 
presumably withOUT having to wait a whole 6 months. So I can give the title at least a couple issues, maybe the whole first arc, to win me over long-term…and re-evaluate on a case-by-case basis.
So maybe in that regard, Marvel Now will be a success. And I guess I shouldn’t wish failure on it. I’m just not the primary target audience. But if I can find something to enjoy–great, that’s one more thing TO enjoy. And if I don’t enjoy it, or lose interest…I’ll still be able to fall back on the Valiant titles and IDW‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles books.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: All New X-Men, bendis, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Marvel Now, x-men | Leave a comment »
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: Andrew Hennessy, avengers, Avx, Clayton Cowles, Comic Reviews, Consequences, cxPulp, Cyclops, Hope, Iron Man, Jason Keith, Jim Charalampidis, Jordan D. White, Kieron Gillen, Magik, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Nick Lowe, Ron Garney, Scot Eaton, x-men | Leave a comment »
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciler: Ed McGuinness
Inker: Dexter Vines
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
Lettering: Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne
Cover Art: Ed McGuiness, Dexter Vines & Morry Hollowell
Published by: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $24.99
I found this volume at a Half-Price Books last weekend, and wound up buying it. Not the best deal I’ve ever found–especially for something as skinny as this volume–but not the worst.
As single issues, this story came out I believe December 2011 to March 2012, essentially leading into AvX.
Last year, I was both put off yet intrigued at a new story focusing on Cable. Though the character had supposedly died at the end of 2010’s Second Coming, here he was, back after less than 2 years; barely a year and a half (in other measure: less than 3 6-issue arcs’ time). From what I recall, despite some mild interest in Cable’s return and dealing with the Avengers…it was this being a mini-series priced at $3.99 that really put me off. And then learning it wasn’t even to be a self-contained story, but lead into a major 2012 event. So I passed on it as singles.
Though this only contains 4 issues, it’s priced at $24.99–essentially $6.25 per issue of content (makes $3.99 per issue seem like a steal). Granted, this is an oversized hardcover, and a 4-issue premiere hardcover might be $19.99 (basically $5 per issue of content), so the oversized format could “justify” a higher price. But this sort of pricing is absolutely NOT worthwhile for only four issues, and this story in particular.
I’m actually somewhat regretting paying half of that $24.99 for this as-is.
The Ed McGuiness art is not bad–I liked his work on some of the Superman and then Superman/Batman stuff, and while I wouldn’t consider it exactly “ideal” for this story, it works.
The story itself seems overly simple and “decompressed” to a large degree and really comes out of nowhere. Cable draws Falcon off from a fight and incapacitates him, knowing Captain America would follow. The two fight, and Cap is incapacitated. Next, Iron Man shows up and he, too, is incapacitated. Then Red Hulk shows up, followed by Cyclops, Wolverine, and Hope herself. We learn amidst all this that Cable apparently did not actually die, but reunited with Blaquesmith, and learns that the destroyed world they’re in could be prevented if Hope had lived–having apparently died due to the Avengers. So with just hours to live until the techno-organic ravaging his body kills him, Cable travels to the past to take out the Avengers so that Hope can live and save the world.
While it’s long since become a moot point…I continue to find myself curious about Cable’s techno-organic virus; recalling that in #100 of his series back in the early 2000s, the character made a concerted effort and managed to excise the virus, removing it as a factor in his life. Seeing it back here and playing such a pivotal role seems rather contradictory.
I’m also not convinced that this needed to be its own separate series…if it was really so important, it might have been worth an issue or two of an Avengers title or even one of the X-books. At the least, it could probably have been “compressed” to fit a double-sized one-shot rather than be stretched into 4 issues.
Ultimately, this is a fairly mediocre series/story/volume, and way too quick a read for $25. If you can find it for half (preferably more)-off, the art at least is worth looking at, and while I don’t recall what material is contained in the It’s Coming tpb preceding AvX, this seems like it would have been much better served being billed as a specific prequel to AvXrather than some stand-alone thing.
Filed under: Avengers: X-Sanction, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: Albert Deschesne, avengers, Avx, cable, Captain America, Comic Reviews, Comicraft, Dexter Vines, Ed McGuinness, Iron Man, Jeph Loeb, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Morry Hollowell, Red Hulk, x-men, X-Sanction | 1 Comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3.5/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: Allen Martinez, Avengers vs. X-Men, Avx, AvX Consequences, Clayton Cowles, Comic Reviews, Consequences, cxPulp, Cyclops, Jason Keith, Jim Charalampidis, Jordan D. White, Kieron Gillen, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Nick Lowe, Ron Garney, Steve Kurth, Wolverine | Leave a comment »
Blood and Thunder part 12: Raid on Asgard
Creator/Writer: Jim Starlin
Pencils: Angel Medina
Inker: Bob Almond
Letters: Jack Morelli
Colors: Ian Laughlin
Editor: Craig Anderson
Published by: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.95
Cover Date: February, 1994
It’s been years since I’ve read anything from this title; but when I originally read through what I had of the title–probably back in 2000 or so–this issue was not one of them. And, I haven’t read this Blood and Thunder story, either (other than having maybe read one or two other random chapters, but never have read it as a singular story or all the parts in order). Yet, I’ve had a vague concept of what the story was–Thor goes crazy and some of the cosmic characters had to team up to take him down.
That this had such a cool cover of Thanos, Warlock and a chained-up Thor piqued my interest such that I found myself reading the issue in its entirety despite lacking context of any recently-read earlier chapters of the crossover or any recent reading of any Infinity Watch issues for continuity reminders.
Basically, Warlock, the Infinity Watch, Dr. Strange, and the Silver Surfer show up on the Rainbow Bridge with Thor imprisoned in a stasis field of some sort. Odin sees this and assumes with Thanos in their midst that they’ve–despite proving their Character in the past–shown up with Thor as a hostage, and he sends the forces of Asgard against the group. After a lengthy battle, Odin wades into the fray himself before Sif and Beta Ray Bill intervene, finally putting everyone on the same page. Odin attempts to simply fix things, but it doesn’t work, and so he declares that Thor must die.
The story itself is pretty good–sufficiently “cosmic” for me, which makes sense given the characters involved. And this IS classic Starlin…and given his hand in Warlock and Thanos stuff through the years–particularly back in the early/mid-1990s when this issue came out–can’t ask for much better. I really like the way this plays firmly within what I recall of the ’90s Cosmic stuff–Warlock and his group, Thanos, Thor/Odin/Asgard, even the Silver Surfer is found here. Starlin‘s got a great grasp on his “usual” characters, and seems to do the same with the Thor characters–at least, they all seem within the characterization I’m aware of for them.
My main disappointment in the issue is with the art–for me, as a casual reader, it seems incredibly uneven. I really like the cover–it’s got plenty of detail, and the characters all look quite good–recognizable, detailed, etc.–and that goes for the outer as well as inner cover images. The art for the issue itself seems truly simplistic by comparison, though, with many panels having extremely minimalistic background if anything but solid color–and many of the characters (while they remain recognizable as individuals) are distractingly simplified such that they look ugly, rough, and unfinished or rushed–especially compared to the cover. This may be a stylistic thing–and doesn’t fail to get the story across–but it’s not exactly to my liking at present.
All told, though…this was a very welcome read as something I pulled from a bargain bin sometime in the last few years–I found it a few weeks ago while searching out other comics in my unorganized collection, and set it aside TO read. I’m not certain, but I think this issue and the Thanos/Odin battle may even have been referenced in the Dan Jurgens run of Thor, post-Heroes Return, which makes it that much more satisfying to (even a decade later) have finally read for myself.
Even with the cardstock, die-cut dual cover (you open the main cover to the same image of Thor, but surrounded by all the other primary characters involved in this story) and extra story pages, this issue was only $2.95 cover price–over $1 cheaper than a standard Marvel comic today. And with bargain-bin pricing–presumably 25-50 cents–if you’ve any interest in Thanos in particular–this is well worth the price of admission.
Filed under: The '90s Revisited | Tagged: Angel Medina, Blood and Thunder, Bob Almond, Craig Anderson, Ian Laughlin, Infinity Watch, Jack Morelli, Jim Starlin, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Odin, thanos, thor, Warlock | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3.5/5
Art: 3/5
Overall: 2.5/5
Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe | Tagged: avengers, Avx, Clayton Cowles, Comic Reviews, Consequences, cxPulp, Dommo Sanchez Aymara, Jim Charalampidis, Jordan D. White, Kieron Gillen, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Nick Lowe, Patrick Zircher, Tom Raney, x-men | Leave a comment »
Stranded in an alien world, Sarlet Spider and Venom must join forces to defeat Carnage in this synapse-shattering crossover event!
OCTOBER 2012
Part 1: Minimum Carnage Alpha
Part 2: Scarlet Spider #10
Part 3: Venom #26
NOVEMBER 2012
Part 4: Scarlet Spider #11
Part 5: Venom #27
Part 6: Minimum Carnage Omega
Filed under: Checklists, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Alpha, checklist, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Minimum Carnage, Minimum Carnage Alpha, Minimum Carnage checklist, Minimum Carnage Omega, Omega, Scarlet Spider, Venom | Leave a comment »
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Andrea DiVito, Jon Buran, Nigel Raynor, Mike Bowden, Walden Wong
Color Artist: Wil Quintana
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Art: Adi Granov
Assistant Editor: Jake Thomas
Associate Editor: Lauren Sankovitch
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Published by: Marvel Comics
When I heard that Avengers Season One was going to be included with the Walmart edition of the DVD/Bluray, I was pretty much “sold” on the spot. By the time this came out, though, I’d resigned myself to some sort of DVD-case-digest-size book, probably on crummy paperstock and not at all reasonably worth the added cost (though if it was one of these sets priced the same as the non-set package, it’d totally be worth it!)
The package felt suitably heavy, though, when I finally bought it the morning the thing was available. When I opened the package, seeing the pages-out, I was ready to be incensed at the actual packaging…until I slid out a full-size TPB volume that would easily command a $14.99+ cover price if it were being sold by itself. Even at some “bargain” $9.99 price, in and of itself the book makes the added cost worthwhile if you’re interested in the book itself.
The physical package is your average Marvel paperback. The cover stock and pages, and dimensions are as any other Marvel volume that this would be indistinguishable as an ‘exclusive’ if it wasn’t for the notice on the cover where the pricing would be “Custom Edition Not For Resale.” (That, and that this is a paperback where I believe thus far the other Season One books have been only in hardback).
The writing is solid–and I’d expect no less of David‘s work. He knows these characters and it shows–though in a way it reminds me that I myself do not know these characters particularly well in their pre-1990s iterations. While the writing is solid–it manages to capture these characters in a suitably generic sort of way–they’re recognizable without being placed entirely in the silver age nor the modern age. The relationships seem familiar to what I know of them in the comics, while bordering on adapting the movie versions.
Visually, much of the book is the same way. There are multiple artists (depicting different scenes/settings) which works fairly well as it differentiates what each character is seeing/doing through the story. Though it works, I got a distinct sense that I’m supposed to associate these comics with the characters from the movies, that this story is supposed to fit either the comics or the movie universe according to primary experience.
Sure, that works well enough–it is a tie-in product, after all. But the fact it evoked the movie characters as much as it did took me out of the story and left me unsure where the story’s supposed to be set, and I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if it felt like it was more based in the traditional comics story. I suspect I was also soured a bit by a one-shot I read earlier this year that was set in the movie universe that itself felt like a waste of time.
If this was a $15 paperback or $20+ hardcover being sold by itself, I’d be pretty disappointed despite the creative talent involved and wondering if there’d be some way to get a refund. Standing solely on its own this–to me–is not something worth seeking out specifically.
But as a bonus included with a blu-ray I was already planning to buy, this gets points as a decent read, with art that never felt bad or out of place. And though it’s the size of 4-5ish single issues, I don’t think I paid more for this package than the cost of two standard Marvel comics in addition to the actual blu-ray pack.
All that said–you get a complete story in this volume. There’s no cliffhanger directing you into some other volume or series of volumes; this is not a prologue to a crossover/event nor some epilogue/continuation of a crossover/event. You have the characters, you see their adventure, the threat(s) they face, and you have resolution.
If you’ve seen the movie, the characters don’t particularly contradict the film. Or if you read this and then watch the film, stuff works overall.
And really, on the whole, I’m glad I went with the Walmart purchase for this book. If you can still find the blu-ray/DVD package with this graphic novel at your local Walmart, and want the Avengers film anyway, this is definitely a worthwhile purchase.
Filed under: Avengers: Season One, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Season One | Tagged: Adi Granov, Andrea Divito, avengers, Avengers Season One, Blu-Ray, Captain America, Clayton Cowles, hulk, Iron Man, Jake Thomas, Jon Buran, Lauren Sankovitch, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Marvel's Avengers, Mike Bowden, Nigel Raynor, Peter David, Season One, thor, Tom Brevoort, Walden Wong, walmart, Wil Quintana | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 