Maintenance #8: A fun outer-space romp in the mold of Star Wars via Futurama. This Oni title came recommended by a few people so I figured I'd give it a shot. A recap page of some sort would have been helpful; think I will wait for a trade paperback on this one so I can catch up.
Rating: B+
Ultimate Spider-Man #118: I bought this for the "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" on the cover, but I could not be more disappointed. The majority of this issue features a bunch of teens, some of which have superpowers, doing an emo "OC" type jibber-jabber. What the hell? Where's Angelica Jones? Not a good jumping-on issue for new readers.
Rating: C
Buffy The Vampire Slayer #11: I haven't read an issue of this since #2, so I'm a bit rusty continuity-wise; but Whedon is fairly adept at catching up readers. Dawn is still big, one of the chosen has a crush on Buffy, and the latest Big Bad Twilight almost reveals himself in a cute, patented moment of Whedonesque levity.
Rating: B+
Spider-Man: With Great Power #1: Yes, we've read Spidey's origin story like a billion times, but have you done it with such exquisite Tony Harris art? Writer David Lapham gets into the psyche of pre-hero Spider-Man, and, well...Peter is a bit of a dick. Almost hate to continue buying the floppies on this one, as I'd like to get a hardcover.
Rating: A
Birds of Prey #113-114: These were good issues, dammit!
Rating: A
Teen Boat #7: Remember the cartoon "Turbo Teen," where he'd get upset and his arms would turn into wheels and you would totally get freaked out? This is better. Read more of the free web comics here.
Rating: A
The New Avengers Annual #2: Not a bad issue, though way too many guns for a book called "The Avengers" and the opening sequence with Tigra almost made me stop reading.
Rating: B
Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift Director's Cut: I didn't catch this the first time when it was a free comic. Go figure. Gives me a better perspective on the Brand New Day thing and Phil Jimenez' art is truly gorgeous. Worth it just to read Tom Breevort's 5-page "Spider-Man Manifesto."
Rating: A
Well, let the new pile commence!
New readers will be mega-confused unless Angelica Jones is around!
ReplyDeleteI think American comics needs to get past the whole writing each issue as if it were someone's first comic book thing. I think writers should just write the story and have a page in the front re-capping the book. I mean, there's no such thing as new mainstream comic book readers anymore, so why pretend there is? Any comic book reader can pick up any mainstream comic and figure out both from context and their own knowledge basically what's going on.
ReplyDeleteWho on Earth is Angelica Jones?
ReplyDeletecrazy. ultimate spider-man should up the OC quotient. cage-fighting, modest mouse appearances--the less like regular spidey and the more like the Fox network, the better.
ReplyDeleteI believe Turbo Teen's transformations were partially temperature triggered. Maybe just the transition from car back to boy, though. I remember a scene of them having to put the car in a shower to cool it down . . .
ReplyDeleteSo Turbo Teen was about sex then, I guess, huh?
Considering how long Firestar has been kicking around the main Marvel universe without really getting off the D-list of superheroes, I think we can forgive them for not anticipating that her emergence in the Ultimate universe would be an event issue that would bring new readers to the title. Otherwise, teen and emo are the usual for the Ultimate Spider-Man, although it usually has more beat-em-ups than Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane – which had Firestar was in for a little bit a while back (number 4 of the trades). As a regular reader, I’m very pleased who the new Firestar is. She has her own history and traits in the series which bring interesting story elements to our brand new mutant, without tipping off that she would be Firestar way back in the first issues. Much better than trying to shoehorn Mary Jane-clone Angelica Jones into the story. (Sorry, Val.)
ReplyDeleteIt's not the Firestar thing that I really object to, it's
ReplyDelete1) There was no story
2) The issue made no sense to any body that hasn't been following this title -- not new-reader friendly.
Whedon does emo teens better.
Is there a difference between teen angst/emotional growing pains and emo anymore?
ReplyDeleteEmo is just the word the current goth-punk-beat segment of teens came up with to pretend their generation of angst is new and intensely miserable. Give them a few years, and they’ll call it something else. God, I’m old.
ReplyDeleteI suspect an analysis of the run of Ultimate Spider-Man would reveal that most of it is written for the trade, and individual issues suffer because of it, which would explain but not correct both problems 1 and 2. But don’t ask me, cause I’m too lazy to take apart the individual issues. I’ve been trades for over a decade now.
Greg: I pray you're joking!
ReplyDeleteBack in *my* day, it was called Goth! And the music was actually decent, not just some pop-punk reheated crappy Greed Day mess! And only grown-ups wore red ties!
ReplyDelete...god, I'm old. 8( I just miss the days when subcultural cliques meant somthing more than a Hot Topic clothing line...