It's been eight months since Marvel Comics swapped Peter Parker's mind with that of his arch-nemesis Doctor Octopus and it seems that the title has seen its best sales in years.
When Marvel undid Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson courtesy of One More Day, there was quite a bit of buzz, and the old adage "there's no such thing as negative publicity" held true for the first year or so after the new status quo, but soon it became clear that apart from the occasional "event" story line, like 2010's Big Time or 2011's Spider-Island, the title was simply not capable of maintaining its sales levels prior to One More Day. Now, though, that they've replaced Peter Parker with Doc Ock and have not given any indication as to when, or even if Peter will be back, Marvel's got the book selling in the high 80,000s every issue, sustained sales that the book hasn't seen since J. Michael Straczynski left in 2007.
It's a curious thing that a superhero book in which the title character has been replaced by his worst enemy is being more enthusiastically received than when when he was actually in it, but having followed the new status quo for fifteen issues now, I think I finally understand the appeal of it all...enough, I daresay, to hazard a guess as to the appeal of the title right now, as opposed to its lack of appeal coming off the "relaunch" of the then newly-single Peter.
My theory behind the lackluster sales, even years after "One More Day" was because audiences knew for sure that Peter Parker's marriage was never coming back, even though they were lured back by the occasional event, they would eventually go back to the realization that the status quo they desired would stay gone, and would leave the title as soon as the event was done.
By introducing this new development, Slott has basically challenged the readers, and more likely himself, to see how long he can sustain a somewhat anomalous status quo, the way Ed Brubaker was able to keep Captain America out of his own book for two years. And by gum, it seems to be working.
To my mind, there has been no significant spike in the quality of Slott's storytelling; I liked the stuff he did even when Peter Parker was still occupying his own mind and body. Slott hasn't exactly raised his game, and even though some of the artists working with him, like Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman, have, I don't think they could have influenced sales this much without something else at work.
The big difference, I think, is that Slott has put the character in a place where the readers know he isn't supposed to be, and basically teases them with the possibility of restoring a status quo that they will accept. Basically, he continues to tease the readers with the possibility that Spider-Man's supporting cast will see past outward appearances and will recognize that Peter is no longer in charge of his own body, and ultimately, with the possibility of Peter's return, but so far, Ock has beaten the odds every time and has stayed in control. It's the tease and frustration, I think, that is the key to the book's success. Basically by tantalizing readers with the promise of bringing back the good guy and then denying them at the last possible minute, Slott manages to string them...us...along month after month. It helps, I think, that he's giving some pretty good stories in the process.
After all, this isn't a case of Doctor Octopus living life exactly as Peter Parker would have, which was basically what the late Ben Reilly did. He is still every inch the murderous egomaniac he was when he took over Peter's body, and therefore Marvel and Slott are making it clear that he's no hero, and that for all of his delusions, he isn't the "superior" Spider-Man he fancies himself to be. Also, Slott seems to strongly suggest that the house Otto Octavius has built for himself is basically a house of cards which will come crashing down on his head quite soon.
The only question, then is when, not if, "good" will triumph and all will be restored to the way it should be. It's my theory that the mere possibility of that happening, perhaps, is what keeps people coming back. Of course, the alternative would be to suppose that readers like their Spidey dark and capable of crippling or murdering people on a regular basis, which is a somewhat sadder prospect I would rather not contemplate.
Personally, I maintain that Ock will stay in charge until it's time to promote the next Spider-Man movie, but with sales as brisk as these, who's to say Marvel won't let him stick around for awhile? It's clear he hasn't quite worn out his welcome just yet.
But then, there's also the possibility that the "ultimate" version of Spider-Man, Miles Morales, who will be moving to the "616" Marvel Universe by the end of the year, could be the one to take Ock out and assume the mantle of Spider-Man. THAT would be a very interesting prospect indeed...
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Infinity #1
(w) Jonathan Hickman
(a) Jim Cheung (pencils) Mark Morales, et al (inks) Justin Ponsor (colors)
Two words, however, were able to entice me to pick up Marvel's latest event, Infinity, after what I can only describe as severe event fatigue: Jim Cheung. I've been a huge fan of the guy's work since the first run of Young Avengers started in January 2005, and I have tried to pick up every book he's drawn since then, like the odd issues of New Avengers, and the New Avengers: Illuminati miniseries. Much to my annoyance, he never seemed to have a regular, or even sustained gig.
That changed with Avengers: Children's Crusade, a massive nine-issue limited series which actually led into Marvel's last publishing event, Avengers vs. X-Men. When I missed the first few issues of ACC due to being preoccupied with other things, I consoled myself with the thought that I would just pick up the trade paperback someday. Unfortunately, however, the trade paperback has proven to be extremely difficult to find. As a result, when I found out Jim Cheung would be drawing an over-sized first issue of Marvel's summer event Infinity, I knew I had to get my Cheung fix.
Not having been a fan of writer Jonathan Hickman's work in Secret Warriors, and not having picked up any of his Avengers or Fantastic Four books in the last couple of years, I really wasn't getting this book on his account, or because of the "next Marvel event" hype. I was just eager to see 40+ pages of glorious Jim Cheung art, and on that front Cheung most definitely delivered. The fact that Hickman's story is actually quite engaging, if not quite accessible, was basically just gravy.
To make a long story short, Thanos the Mad Titan is gunning for the Earth (again). There seems to be a tad more to his machinations than just launching an all-out invasion; he sends one of his emissaries, a nasty customer called Corvus Glaive, to a world called Ahl-Agullo to exact a tribute, then later sends another, a hideous four-armed, eyeless assassin to the Inhumans' world of Attilan to quite literally pick the brain of their king, Black Bolt, for secrets which remain undisclosed to the reader. Black Bolt chases the creature off Attilan, but not, it seems before it has obtained certain knowledge from him. In the meantime, threats across space are coming to the attention of the Avengers, as races such as the Kree start sending out distress signals, and it becomes clear that the Earth is in the path of what seems to be an imminent invasion. A team of Avengers headed by Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) heads off into space to head off the threat, leaving Iron Man (Tony Stark) behind to secure the Earth if they fail, and not knowing that they may well be playing right into Thanos' hands.
When Hickman co-wrote Secret Avengers with Brian Bendis, basically revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been run by its archnemesis HYDRA for years, if not all along, I was taken right out of the story by what I felt was a gratuitous, shock-for-shock's-sake story twist and pretty much avoided anything Hickman wrote after that, including his Avengers relaunch from earlier this year. However, I cannot find any fault with his writing here; he builds suspense, he presents the action clearly and coherently, and writes some pretty crisp dialogue. I still have issues with the accessibility, though, as things have quite clearly changed for the Avengers since I last picked up an Avengers-related book, which was not even too long ago. The good news is that Hickman's run does not appear to be absolutely required reading, as the story seems easy enough to follow.
Still, this story could have been written by a hack like Scott Lobdell, Chuck Austen or almost anyone who worked on a Marvel book from the mid-to-late 1990s and I would still probably give this issue at least three full stars; Cheung's work here really is just THAT good. Maybe it helps that Hickman, an accomplished artist himself, has given him a script that plays to his visual strengths, but even if that's the case Cheung takes Hickman's script and elevates it. It's worth pointing out that Cheung designed many, if not most of the new characters, all of them bad guys, that appear here, and they really look quite fearsome.
Of the "Young Guns" promoted by Marvel in 2004, Cheung has most consistently impressed me over the years; I got tired of David Finch quite some time ago, the quality of Steve McNiven's work seems to have declined over the years, especially every time he's given books with monthly schedules to finish, and Trevor Hairsine just seems to have vanished. Olivier Coipel is probably the only other artist of that bunch who's even near Cheung's level right now, having improved quite a bit since I first saw his work, but he just isn't quite there. I'm interested to see what Dustin Weaver and Jerome Opena, who share art duties on this miniseries with Cheung, have to offer, and considering that the little I've seen of their art is thoroughly impressive, I think that as far as pretty pictures goes, Marvel has pretty much a winner on their hands here. I just hope the story is up to snuff as well; I wouldn't want to have the series to give three star ratings all the time.
4.5/5
(a) Jim Cheung (pencils) Mark Morales, et al (inks) Justin Ponsor (colors)
Two words, however, were able to entice me to pick up Marvel's latest event, Infinity, after what I can only describe as severe event fatigue: Jim Cheung. I've been a huge fan of the guy's work since the first run of Young Avengers started in January 2005, and I have tried to pick up every book he's drawn since then, like the odd issues of New Avengers, and the New Avengers: Illuminati miniseries. Much to my annoyance, he never seemed to have a regular, or even sustained gig.
That changed with Avengers: Children's Crusade, a massive nine-issue limited series which actually led into Marvel's last publishing event, Avengers vs. X-Men. When I missed the first few issues of ACC due to being preoccupied with other things, I consoled myself with the thought that I would just pick up the trade paperback someday. Unfortunately, however, the trade paperback has proven to be extremely difficult to find. As a result, when I found out Jim Cheung would be drawing an over-sized first issue of Marvel's summer event Infinity, I knew I had to get my Cheung fix.
Not having been a fan of writer Jonathan Hickman's work in Secret Warriors, and not having picked up any of his Avengers or Fantastic Four books in the last couple of years, I really wasn't getting this book on his account, or because of the "next Marvel event" hype. I was just eager to see 40+ pages of glorious Jim Cheung art, and on that front Cheung most definitely delivered. The fact that Hickman's story is actually quite engaging, if not quite accessible, was basically just gravy.
To make a long story short, Thanos the Mad Titan is gunning for the Earth (again). There seems to be a tad more to his machinations than just launching an all-out invasion; he sends one of his emissaries, a nasty customer called Corvus Glaive, to a world called Ahl-Agullo to exact a tribute, then later sends another, a hideous four-armed, eyeless assassin to the Inhumans' world of Attilan to quite literally pick the brain of their king, Black Bolt, for secrets which remain undisclosed to the reader. Black Bolt chases the creature off Attilan, but not, it seems before it has obtained certain knowledge from him. In the meantime, threats across space are coming to the attention of the Avengers, as races such as the Kree start sending out distress signals, and it becomes clear that the Earth is in the path of what seems to be an imminent invasion. A team of Avengers headed by Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) heads off into space to head off the threat, leaving Iron Man (Tony Stark) behind to secure the Earth if they fail, and not knowing that they may well be playing right into Thanos' hands.
When Hickman co-wrote Secret Avengers with Brian Bendis, basically revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been run by its archnemesis HYDRA for years, if not all along, I was taken right out of the story by what I felt was a gratuitous, shock-for-shock's-sake story twist and pretty much avoided anything Hickman wrote after that, including his Avengers relaunch from earlier this year. However, I cannot find any fault with his writing here; he builds suspense, he presents the action clearly and coherently, and writes some pretty crisp dialogue. I still have issues with the accessibility, though, as things have quite clearly changed for the Avengers since I last picked up an Avengers-related book, which was not even too long ago. The good news is that Hickman's run does not appear to be absolutely required reading, as the story seems easy enough to follow.
Still, this story could have been written by a hack like Scott Lobdell, Chuck Austen or almost anyone who worked on a Marvel book from the mid-to-late 1990s and I would still probably give this issue at least three full stars; Cheung's work here really is just THAT good. Maybe it helps that Hickman, an accomplished artist himself, has given him a script that plays to his visual strengths, but even if that's the case Cheung takes Hickman's script and elevates it. It's worth pointing out that Cheung designed many, if not most of the new characters, all of them bad guys, that appear here, and they really look quite fearsome.
Of the "Young Guns" promoted by Marvel in 2004, Cheung has most consistently impressed me over the years; I got tired of David Finch quite some time ago, the quality of Steve McNiven's work seems to have declined over the years, especially every time he's given books with monthly schedules to finish, and Trevor Hairsine just seems to have vanished. Olivier Coipel is probably the only other artist of that bunch who's even near Cheung's level right now, having improved quite a bit since I first saw his work, but he just isn't quite there. I'm interested to see what Dustin Weaver and Jerome Opena, who share art duties on this miniseries with Cheung, have to offer, and considering that the little I've seen of their art is thoroughly impressive, I think that as far as pretty pictures goes, Marvel has pretty much a winner on their hands here. I just hope the story is up to snuff as well; I wouldn't want to have the series to give three star ratings all the time.
4.5/5
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Born Again: A Look at Mark Waid's Take on Daredevil
Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer who moonlights as a superhero clad in red tights called Daredevil, has been one of my favorite comic-book characters since 1993, when I read the miniseries The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller and John Romita, Jr. Some top-level creators have worked on the character over his fifty-year publication history, including Miller, David Mazuchelli, Bill Sinkiewicz, Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, and Brian Michael Bendis among others. The latest creative heavyweight to take on Marvel's sightless crusader is award-winning, fan-favorite writer Mark Waid, of Kingdom Come and Fantastic Four fame.
I had actually quit Daredevil several years ago, almost a year before Brian Michael Bendis left the title. I actually have almost all of the issues written by Bendis and drawn by his collaborator, Alex Maleev. I was a fan of Waid's work on Fantastic Four, but had not really seen the need to pick up Daredevil, which, from what I had heard, had sort of spiraled into a bit of silliness a few years back when some geniuses in Marvel editorial decided to build a publishing event around him and have him get possessed by a demon.
Then the positive reviews started pouring in for Waid's approach, which was actually a bit of a throwback to the pre-Miller, pre-noir days of the character, and I sat up and took notice. By that time I was no longer regularly collecting comic books, but the thought that one of my favorite characters was getting some love from the critics prompted me to seek out the trade paperback of Waid's first six issues on the book, which proved to be surprisingly elusive.
Then, the pot was sweetened when Waid was teamed up with artist Chris Samnee, whose five-issue run on the series Captain America and Bucky absolutely captivated me, and I ended up buying an issue that took place right smack in the middle of a storyline. As has so often happened to me, I bought the later issues first and ending up driving from my usual haunts in Quezon City to virtually the southernmost tip of Metro Manila, namely Alabang, just to buy the earliest issue of the story, and I have to say, it was worth the trip. Not only that, but I finally found, in Fully Booked, the collection of the first six issues. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Of course, I should have expected no less from Waid, but I was struck by how much he seems to get the character. I was also delighted to see that he could handle Matt around a courtroom just as well as the action sequences. To my knowledge, Waid isn't a lawyer, so it's clear he has done at least some homework on the things that lawyers have to know, certainly a lot more than lesser talents (whom I will not name) who have worked on this character ever bothered to do. While he has distanced the book's overall tone from the noir atmosphere with which the character has been most commonly associated since Miller's run, Waid expressly acknowledges the character's history (with a somewhat humorous reference to one of Miller's single most influential stories, "Born Again") and even throws in a couple of dark little story twists of his own, including a pretty tragic one that continues to unfold, involving Matt's law partner and longtime buddy Foggy Nelson.
With these stories, Waid has really crafted an era for the character that is at once entirely consistent with some of the best stories that have ever been published featuring him, and that is at the same time completely its own thing. If a lot of people appreciate this book the way I do, then in the years to come, people will talk about Waid's run with the same fondness they have for Miller and Bendis.
The icing on the cake, for me, is the work by not only Samnee who is easily one of my favorite comic book artists these days, but Waid's other previous collaborators on this book, like Paulo Rivera and Marcos Martin. This is a run I can definitely see myself picking up in collected edition form someday.
I had actually quit Daredevil several years ago, almost a year before Brian Michael Bendis left the title. I actually have almost all of the issues written by Bendis and drawn by his collaborator, Alex Maleev. I was a fan of Waid's work on Fantastic Four, but had not really seen the need to pick up Daredevil, which, from what I had heard, had sort of spiraled into a bit of silliness a few years back when some geniuses in Marvel editorial decided to build a publishing event around him and have him get possessed by a demon.
Then the positive reviews started pouring in for Waid's approach, which was actually a bit of a throwback to the pre-Miller, pre-noir days of the character, and I sat up and took notice. By that time I was no longer regularly collecting comic books, but the thought that one of my favorite characters was getting some love from the critics prompted me to seek out the trade paperback of Waid's first six issues on the book, which proved to be surprisingly elusive.
Then, the pot was sweetened when Waid was teamed up with artist Chris Samnee, whose five-issue run on the series Captain America and Bucky absolutely captivated me, and I ended up buying an issue that took place right smack in the middle of a storyline. As has so often happened to me, I bought the later issues first and ending up driving from my usual haunts in Quezon City to virtually the southernmost tip of Metro Manila, namely Alabang, just to buy the earliest issue of the story, and I have to say, it was worth the trip. Not only that, but I finally found, in Fully Booked, the collection of the first six issues. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Of course, I should have expected no less from Waid, but I was struck by how much he seems to get the character. I was also delighted to see that he could handle Matt around a courtroom just as well as the action sequences. To my knowledge, Waid isn't a lawyer, so it's clear he has done at least some homework on the things that lawyers have to know, certainly a lot more than lesser talents (whom I will not name) who have worked on this character ever bothered to do. While he has distanced the book's overall tone from the noir atmosphere with which the character has been most commonly associated since Miller's run, Waid expressly acknowledges the character's history (with a somewhat humorous reference to one of Miller's single most influential stories, "Born Again") and even throws in a couple of dark little story twists of his own, including a pretty tragic one that continues to unfold, involving Matt's law partner and longtime buddy Foggy Nelson.
With these stories, Waid has really crafted an era for the character that is at once entirely consistent with some of the best stories that have ever been published featuring him, and that is at the same time completely its own thing. If a lot of people appreciate this book the way I do, then in the years to come, people will talk about Waid's run with the same fondness they have for Miller and Bendis.
The icing on the cake, for me, is the work by not only Samnee who is easily one of my favorite comic book artists these days, but Waid's other previous collaborators on this book, like Paulo Rivera and Marcos Martin. This is a run I can definitely see myself picking up in collected edition form someday.
Loki, Loki and More Loki: Young Avengers #5
(w) Keiron Gillen
(a) Jamie McKelvie, Mike Norton (line art) Matthew Wilson (colors)
This is the first (and, I hope, the only) time I will be reviewing an issue so long after its original release, but I enjoyed Young Avengers #5 so much that it's worth the much belated review.
After "borrowing" Wiccan's powers at the end of issue #4 and seemingly leaving the rest of the Young Avengers to fight a losing battle against magical copies of their dead parents, this issue basically opens with Loki apparently being taunted by the soul of the child whose body he is currently occupying. He is basically faced with the dilemma of what he wants to do, which is not yet clear, and what he has to do, which is to help the Young Avengers out of their jam. Considering that the series is called "Young Avengers" and not just "Loki," it should be pretty clear how he decides, and the ass-kicking battle that follows is some of McKelvie's best work that I've seen so far. Gillen, however, doesn't just tie things up neatly; he leaves Loki's true motivations a mystery that will probably reverberate through this series in the issues to come.
Gillen and McKelvie have put together a five-issue story arc which, while slightly decompressed at times, is still eminently readable and will probably stand up to multiple re-reads.While the first issue, and arguably this entire storyline, was kick-started when Wiccan cast a spell he shouldn't have, basically it's Loki who finishes what Wiccan started, but not without some lasting effects; basically the whole lot of them, including those of them who swore never to be superheroes again, now have to stick together. As reasons for forming superhero teams go, the one presented here feels more believable than the usual story trope of wanting to unite in order to dispense justice and all of that; these kids are stuck together because their lives depend on it, apparently, and a great deal of them, with good reason, have little to no trust for Loki, who seems to be the glue holding them all together. It's a highly combustible mix that could make for some really good reading in the months to come and which, in Gillen's and McKelvie's capable hands, probably will.
4.5/5
(a) Jamie McKelvie, Mike Norton (line art) Matthew Wilson (colors)
This is the first (and, I hope, the only) time I will be reviewing an issue so long after its original release, but I enjoyed Young Avengers #5 so much that it's worth the much belated review.
After "borrowing" Wiccan's powers at the end of issue #4 and seemingly leaving the rest of the Young Avengers to fight a losing battle against magical copies of their dead parents, this issue basically opens with Loki apparently being taunted by the soul of the child whose body he is currently occupying. He is basically faced with the dilemma of what he wants to do, which is not yet clear, and what he has to do, which is to help the Young Avengers out of their jam. Considering that the series is called "Young Avengers" and not just "Loki," it should be pretty clear how he decides, and the ass-kicking battle that follows is some of McKelvie's best work that I've seen so far. Gillen, however, doesn't just tie things up neatly; he leaves Loki's true motivations a mystery that will probably reverberate through this series in the issues to come.
Gillen and McKelvie have put together a five-issue story arc which, while slightly decompressed at times, is still eminently readable and will probably stand up to multiple re-reads.While the first issue, and arguably this entire storyline, was kick-started when Wiccan cast a spell he shouldn't have, basically it's Loki who finishes what Wiccan started, but not without some lasting effects; basically the whole lot of them, including those of them who swore never to be superheroes again, now have to stick together. As reasons for forming superhero teams go, the one presented here feels more believable than the usual story trope of wanting to unite in order to dispense justice and all of that; these kids are stuck together because their lives depend on it, apparently, and a great deal of them, with good reason, have little to no trust for Loki, who seems to be the glue holding them all together. It's a highly combustible mix that could make for some really good reading in the months to come and which, in Gillen's and McKelvie's capable hands, probably will.
4.5/5
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