Social Justice Activism Meets Some Old-School Heroics: A Review of Champions Vol. 2

written by Mark Waid
drawn by Humberto Ramos (p) and Victor Olazaba (i)
colored by Edgar Delgado with Nolan Woodard

After coming up with five issues that were more notable for their advocacy than their actual craft, writer Mark Waid and penciler Humberto Ramos clearly sat down, cracked their knuckles, and decided to infuse their "evangelism" with a bit more narrative punch for the next few issues. The results speak for themselves; Champions, Vol. II, or "The Freelancer Lifestyle" is, despite a few niggles, a noticeably stronger effort than the first compilation of issues.

The first and only multi-issue story arc in this collection deals with the Freelancers, a group of young mercenaries who are essentially the antithesis of everything the Champions stand for. They prey on the weak on behalf of the strong, and are concerned solely with the bottom line. Facing off against them proves to be (so far) the Champions' biggest challenge as a team. Other stories, all of which are one-shots, include a solo adventure of Viv Vision in which the character of Red Locust is introduced, a couple of done-in-one "Secret Empire" tie-ins, and a nice, old-school superhero story focusing, on, of all people, Cyclops.

Waid's advocacy is still the driving force behind this book, and the first three issue arc works pretty well, certainly better than the "Secret Empire" tie-ins, but it's nice to see Waid indulging in more traditional superhero storytelling, particularly in the Cyclops and Viv Vision solo stories. It's nice to see this team starting to gel, as it makes the stories flow a little more easily, and even the overt "SJW" arguments feel a bit more organic. I never thought I'd say this, but I dare say I'm enjoying his work here more than I am his supposed "A-list" work over on "Captain America" with Chris Samnee. He seems to have kind of stalled out of the gate with that one.

Ramos' artwork is pretty consistent with what he's done before and his work still pops in the right places, but he gets a little sloppy in some of the issues, even by his sketchy standards. Samnee's still the guy for me, though like I wrote before, Ramos is really a good fit, not just for this book but for these characters. I also quite like the new character he and Waid have introduced: the Red Locust. It's nice to see a person of color in an all-new role as opposed to someone who just assumes a previously established character's name/mantle (e.g. most of the Champions themselves).

Things should get interesting with the next collection as the Champions will find themselves locked in conflict with their former mentors and idols, the Avengers themselves.


8.5/10

Coming Home: A Review of Runaways #4

written by Rainbow Rowell
drawn by Kris Anka
colored by Matt Wilson

As the first story arc of the revival of the Runaways comics series nears its conclusion, things take an abrupt left turn as a most unexpected character makes a decision that shocks nearly everyone else, possibly including most readers.

The newly-reassembled Runaways (Nico, Chase, the time-displaced Gert, along with the, um, silent head of Victor), having failed to recruit Karolina Dean, who is happily enrolled in college, pay a visit to Molly Hayes, only to find her nicely-settled in at her grandmother's house, something readers have known for a few issues now. Understandably, Molly isn't keen on leaving with them, considering that unlike the time that Gert was yanked out of, these days there's nothing to run away from. Gert has a bit of a heart-to-heart with Molly's grandmother, whose murderous daughter and her husband were members of the Pride, the criminal organization who were actually the Runaways' parents and who met their grisly end several years ago. Things don't quite turn out as planned.

Resurrection of a dead character, by one means or another is such a well-worn story trope over at Marvel that it is genuinely refreshing to see Rainbow Rowell's take on how a resurrected character, in this case Gert Yorkes, adapts to her new lease on life. Having failed to convince Karolina to leave her new life behind, Gert, in her effort to lure Molly away, comes across as desperate and, later broken. It's interesting reading, although it's clear that Rowell is far from done with this story; there are surely twists in store, and I'm eager to see what they are. It was also nice to finally see one of the returning team members putting in some face time. To say more would spoil a pleasant surprise. I know this story is setting up at least another six issues, but for once, I don't mind. Such is the case when the story is as well-put together as this one is.

Finally, Chris Anka knocks yet another issue out of the park. These two really are a fantastic creative team, and this book looks the best it has since the days of Adrian Alphona. I can think of no higher praise.

Anyway, I know there are only two issues left in this story, but I'm hopeful they'll be good ones!

9/10

Emblematic: A Review of Astonishing X-Men #6

written by Charles Soule
illustrated by Mike del Mundo

The first arc of the new Astonishing X-Men series ends (spoiler alert) on a distinctly anti-climactic note. Quelle surprise!

Professor Xavier finally makes his move; having lulled the Shadow King into complacency, he strikes, breaking his hold over the possessed X-Men, but not, unfortunately, over the hapless citizens of London, who remain zombified somehow. Meanwhile, with Warren Worthington having uncorked his deadly alter ego Archangel, the question now arises of whether or not he'll be able to rein in his murderous impulses, especially with the impending threat of a bomb about to be dropped on London to cleanse it of its "infection."

This issue is really a shame. Mike del Mundo's art is fantastic; arguably the best this book has seen since Jim Cheung launched it six months ago. Unfortunately, it can't save a disjointed and woefully anticlimactic story. I remember when Joss Whedon launched this title's first iteration in 2004; the first six issues really popped. I remember how Whedon and collaborator John Cassaday followed up Grant Morrison's well-loved run on the X-Men books by going in a completely different direction. They replaced the Matrix-inspired black leather and somber, surreal tone with straight-up, full-color superheroics, and it was glorious. The first six issues alone (out of his eventual run of twenty-five) were a joy to read, and wonderfully self-contained. I remember how the return of Colossus, who up until that point had been believed dead, made issue #4 an event in and of itself.

This strange hodgepodge of different artists is a far, far cry from the glory days of Whedon and Cassaday, and is emblematic of some of the really poor editorial choices that have plagued Marvel in the last several years. It's no secret that Marvel's sales have been dropped, behaving in inverse proportion to the box-office performance of their movies. I imagine it's decisions like this that cost erstwhile Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso his job.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Axel.

5/10

Keep Your Friends Close...And Your Enemies Closer: A Review of Daredevil #596

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Stefano Landini
colored by Matt Milla

Following the shocking revelation that Daredevil's arch-nemesis Wilson Fisk, also once known as the Kingpin of Crime, has been elected mayor of New York City, DD, who ended the last issue with a harsh exchange of words with Mayor Fisk, quite literally finds himself in the crosshairs of the New York Police Department, having been (of course falsely) accused of attacking the mayor. It's a close call for Matt Murdock, who receives timely assistance from one of his allies. In the end, Matt realizes that to really take the fight to Fisk, he will have to do the unthinkable.

Charles Soule takes his ambitious storyline in a very interesting direction with this issue, and honestly has me wondering just what Matt will do next. What really gratifies about this story, and where it appears to be headed, is that whatever Murdock will do, his wits will be integral to his victory. Clearly, he's not going to be able to punch his way out of this one, and it's really interesting to see where Soule is headed with this. Bashing Marvel's printed output is quite en vogue these days, and I get that, but most respectfully, I'll have to submit that this title is an exception to that rule. Soule gets Matt quite well, and having reconciled his run and its dark tone with what came before it, using a device that is completely in continuity, he's really put his stamp on DD in the same way Mark Waid did. A pity Soule doesn't have a collaborator quite as capable as Chris Samnee was when he and Waid worked on this book together.

Speaking of the art, Stefano Landini delivers another well-drawn issue, and my only regret is that he apparently won't see the entire story arc through; series regular Ron Garney returns to illustrate the last two or three parts of this story. As much as I've come to appreciate Garney's work on this series, I'd really have preferred some consistency. As my reviews of Astonishing X-Men have made clear, I'm no fan of rotating artists, especially not within a single story.

Of all the comics I'm reading these days, this is the one that's got me waiting with bated breath for the next issue, especially now. This was a really good way to bring the character into his 600th issue, and I hope the payoff is every bit as good as it promises to be.


8.5/10

Home of the Brave? More Like Travels of the Timid: A Review of Captain America #696

written by Mark Waid
drawn by Chris Samnee
colored by Matt Wilson

Cap's post Secret-Empire status quo continues as Steve Rogers continues his road trip across America, this time stopping over in Sauga, Atlanta, where he is mobbed by an adoring public, and where he happens to run into--surprise, surprise--another bad guy, this time the masked villain Swordsman, or at least, someone new assuming the guise.

When Mark Waid and Chris Samnee launched a new status quo for Daredevil three years ago, they started off with a very strong, done-in-one first issue, then, with the second issue, launched into a genuinely interesting story involving the Shroud, a one-time hero who had fallen on hard times and had sort of turned to the "dark side," and one of DD's longtime foes, the Owl. It was absorbing stuff, and though there were some flaws in the execution, Waid and Samnee still turned in excellent work.

Here, two issues into their new, highly-anticipated run on Captain America, the dynamic duo already appear to be stuck in a rut. For the second issue in a row, they have Cap traveling to a small town in America and facing off against a B-list villain. I get that there's a theme running through these first few issues, but it would help if the storytelling didn't feel distinctly bland. Both creators (yes, even Samnee, whose work I usually adore) appear to have been sleepwalking through this one. Notably this issue doesn't even bother to acknowledge that not too long ago, Cap, or at least someone wearing his face, was the biggest supervillian in the entire Marvel universe, not even with a line of throwaway dialogue, like they used last issue.

Now, it strikes me Waid has plans for this character and that these initial, vanilla stories are to lull readers into complacency before he shows his hand, but really, that's no excuse for this kind of perfunctory storytelling. I'm having a hard time believing how safe Waid is playing things, especially considering how, over in other books, he is more than willing to weather fanboy ire with his "social justice warrior" advocacy over in his Champions book. Here, it's basically just "villain of the month" every month so far, and I know that, even in the short span of two issues, Waid is capable of so much more, and so is Samnee.

I'm still waiting for this new team to come good; such is the goodwill they have that I am willing to forgive issues as conspicuously mediocre as this. But at the equivalent of over four dollars a pop for a paltry twenty pages, things had better start getting better real soon.


6/10

The Spiritual Sequel to "Coming Home:" A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #791

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Stuart Immonen (p) Wade von Grawbadger (i)
colored by Rain Beredo

This issue marks the conclusion of the first story arc since Marvel restored the original numbering of the series. It's the third part of an arc that contained three self-contained stories, and while it's not exactly the status-quo-shattering saga it was hyped up to be, it's still a good read.

As hinted last issue, Joe Robertson offers Peter Parker, who has just run his own company into the ground, a job at the Daily Bugle as the paper's science section editor. It's a decision that clearly rankles some of the Bugle staff, but Peter is grateful for the opportunity, and hits the ground running, thanks to an exclusive provided to him by his current girlfriend Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird, who works at a tech startup that manufactures personalized robots. As Peter and his reporters visit the company, he notices something amiss with the robots, something that Spider-Man will have to investigate.

Even though Slott telegraphed the conclusion to the arc from the word "go," it's still nice to see Peter settle into arguably the most suitable status quo he's had since he taught at his old high school. While Peter's first adventure in his new status quo comes across as a tad contrived, and nowhere near as emotionally affecting as J. Michael Straczynski's school shooter story, which marked the beginning of his career as a teacher, Slott tells a straightforward, reasonably entertaining tale that offers Peter a moment of success following months of disgrace, and lays before him the challenges that will face him in his new career. Slott surrounds Pete with a nice new supporting cast of characters, the most prominent of whom being ace tech reporter Rubylyn Bato, a woman who, judging by her name and the way she's drawn is, I suspect, of Filipino descent. Slott's actually created some fairly eclectic and memorable supporting characters in his nearly decade-long tenure, and I hope Bato turns out to be one of them.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention Stuart Immonen and Wade von Grawbadger, who continue their winning streak with this issue. The pair of them came back strong after taking an issue off, but this time they aren't joined by their frequent collaborator colorist Marte Gracia, but rather by Rain Beredo. The difference isn't too glaring, but I confess I miss Gracia's brighter palette a bit. In any case, Immonen and von Grawbadger still turn in another keeper of an issue, for which I'm particularly glad given that the whole team will be taking a sabbatical as the title switches to a crossover to be drawn by the ever-capable Ryan Stegman, followed by an arc with a different artist. I'm sure they'll be back in time for the landmark 800th issue. I'll certainly miss them all until then.



8.5/10

Tired of Running? A Review of Runaways #3

written by Rainbow Rowell
drawn by Kris Anka
colored by Matthew Wilson

Former Runaways Nico Minoru and Chase Stein, together with their formerly deceased teammate Gert Yorkes, whom they rescued from death through a combination of time travel and sorcery continue their mission to get the group back together again. Their next stop is Karolina Dean, who is currently enrolled in college, and is, in a word, happy. This could spell trouble for their reunion plans, which Chase is taking so seriously that he's been carrying around former teammate Victor Mancha's severed robotic head since last issue, convinced, perhaps not without reason, that he can be "rebooted." It's also bad news for Gert, who, having been snatched out of the time stream, remains a child even as the majority of the group have made the awkward transition into adulthood.

The new team of Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka and Matt Wilson finally appears to have hit its creative stride, having gotten all of the messy exposition out of the way, by posing the team's first real dilemma: What's the point of even getting back together? What exactly is left to run away from? It's an entirely valid question, especially considering the circumstances under which the group got together in the first place. It's interesting that this problem is viewed from two distinct viewpoints, that of Gert, for whom the past was basically just yesterday, and that of Nico who, despite all the years and adventures that have gone by, basically hasn't found anything better to do. While Gert was basically ripped out of her original timeline, it's Nico to whom readers who have grown up with this title may better relate. Her childhood has come and gone, with a couple of harrowing experiences to show for it, but adulthood hasn't quite been what she'd hoped for, and so reliving her childhood with a time-displaced Gert may not seem like such a bad idea. Chase, whose misadventures catalyzed this series, has apparently never left his childhood in the first place.

Kris Anka really brings his artwork to life in this issue in a way he didn't quite manage in the first couple of outings. The highlight, for me, is Gert's conversation with Chase while he tinkers with Victor's apparently inert head. She is just wonderfully expressive here, especially when the reality of her situation hits her square in the gut and she basically breaks down. The emotions feel palpable here, and Anka's art perfectly captures the moment that Rowell is going for with her script.

Of course, the fact that we're already halfway through the first arc and still just discussing whether or not the group should even get back together is points against the book overall, but since this series relaunched two months ago, I feel this is the first real sign of life it's shown so far.

8.5/10

Mayor Tru...err...Fisk is Now Running the Show: A Review of Daredevil #595

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Stefano Landini
colored by Matt Milla

Daredevil comes back from his adventure in China that spanned three issues and an indeterminate period of time, only to find that his arch-nemesis, Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin has been elected mayor of New York City. It's not a trick or a magic spell; it appears that Fisk, despite his past as a notorious crime lord, has tapped something primal in the public consciousness and has run on a single platform: to bring order and accountability to New York City. Still incredulous, Murdock, fresh off his victory for superheroes in the Supreme Court, is now looking at the prospect of his hard-won victory coming undone. As ever, though, Murdock is not about to take this revolting new development sitting down, but this may be a fight too big, even for Daredevil.

It is with cautious optimism that I approach this new story line, which has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Its reference to the global rise of populism is so blatant that it couldn't possibly be more on the nose if the villain had been named Donald Trump or Rodrigo Duterte. And I have to say, if that story arc ended with Daredevil punching the lights out of either of those people I certainly wouldn't mind. I have no issue with the politics of this issue.

What I do have some concerns about is that this is not the first time a major comic book publisher, or even Marvel Comics, has had an outright villain occupy a legitimate position of power. Lex Luthor was "elected" president of the DC comics universe in the year 2000, around the same time George W. Bush, the man previously known as the worst America president in history, was elected to the first of two terms, coincidentally or not. Just under a decade ago, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, was appointed head of H.A.M.M.E.R., an organization created to replace S.H.I.E.L.D. in the wake of the events of Secret Invasion. In comparison, Wilson Fisk taking over a city, apart from being nothing new, is small potatoes, and I'm sure Soule, who I'm pretty sure is part of Marvel's brain trust with Brian Bendis flying the coop to DC, knows this all too well. I'm sure Soule also knows that both of those extended story lines ended with the super villains in question basically getting a punch in the kisser (more or less) and the balance of power shifting back to the good guys with Pete Ross taking over from Luthor and Captain America taking over from Osborn.

That kind of resolution to this story won't work anymore; the rise of today's populists today is so much more nuanced than a case of "the bad guys taking over." It's definitely unpleasant and difficult to stomach, but it's a conversation that cannot, and should not, be reduced to a case of discrediting and then punching out the villains of the story yet again. In deciding to take this issue on, Soule owes us readers better than that.

The thing is, after delivering his thoroughly readable "Supreme" arc, I feel reasonably confident that Soule has something much more interesting up his sleeve than another prosaic "good guy takes down the bad guy in power" shtick. Soule has rarely disappointed on this title since he took over two years ago.

I also take encouragement from the fact that, even though series regular Ron Garney has taken this arc off, his replacement for the moment, Stefano Landini, is not only both a capable artist and a good fit for this story line, but based on future solicitations, will apparently be sticking around for the duration of this story. "Supreme" was hamstrung by having more than one artist, and not particularly good ones either. Landini still isn't quite the A-lister this title deserves, but he is at least on par with Garney.

The good news is that this arc is off to a reasonably strong start even as it feels all too familiar. The real question is whether or not Soule can give us readers a truly exceptional ending.

8/10

Still a Gimmick: A Review of Astonishing X-Men #5

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ramon Rosanas
colored by Nolan Woodard

Charles Soule's Astonishing X-Men epic continues, with yet another artist taking up the reins, and with Charles Xavier's plans kicking into high gear.

Professor X explains to the three X-Men whose consciousnesses he has rounded up, Rogue, Mystique and Fantomex how he came to be in the astral plane, and what he plans to do to defeat his jailer, Amahl Farouk, aka the Shadow King. Meanwhile, the Shadow King has taken possession of both Logan and Gambit, who are now wreaking havoc on London even as Psylocke, Bishop and Angel try their best to stop them. It's starting to look increasingly like Angel will have to take off the kid gloves fairly soon, though.

It would be incorrect for me to say this narrative approach is getting a little old for me. The truth is that it's BEEN old, for quite a while, and there are no signs of improving on the horizon.

The thing I really dislike about what's been going on is that, to be honest, I like the work of every single artist that's been featured so far, some more than others. I would read a six-part story featuring the work of any one of these artists, even Mike Deodato, Jr., of whom I am not the biggest fan. I like Rosanas, too, and have picked up three series featuring his art: Spider-Man 1602, Night of the Living Deadpool, and even Ant-Man, so clearly I have no issues with his art.

This story, however, is just borderline unreadable. All of these visual shifts just continuously take me out of the story, which is otherwise actually quite decent. It's not unlike watching five episodes of a television story and seeing the cast change every single episode. This is utterly ridiculous.

Like I said in an earlier review, this would work if each issue contained both a complete story and the reference to a larger arc, but what's happening here is just a straight-up serialized approach. This issue, like the one before it, is a conspicuously incomplete part of a whole that never feels complete because of each of its parts feels do glaringly different.

In truth, I'm done with this series the moment I get the last issue of this story line. I've seen a lot of gimmicks used to drive up sales in over three decades of collecting comic books, and I have to say, this is one of the worst.

5/10

My Most Anticipated Comic Book of 2017: A Review of Captain America #695

written by Mark Waid
drawn by Chris Samnee
colored by Matthew Wilson

In my review of one of the final issues of the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee run on Black Widow, I wondered aloud what the pair's next collaboration would be. I was honestly afraid that they'd be split up, considering that Waid works on something like four or five different books for Marvel and even Archie Comics, and that Samnee would be shunted off to some Avengers or X-Men book with one of Marvel's writers du jour.

It was to my utmost shock and delight, then, when Marvel announced that not only were they not breaking this wonderful creative team up, but that they would be putting them on a book that was an absolute perfect fit for their combined talent: Captain America. Waid has written Cap many times before, dating back to the 1990s, and Samnee drew five issues of "Captain America and Bucky" for writers Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko, in which Cap basically took a backseat to Bucky Barnes, his one-time sidekick and now the Winter Soldier. This issue marks the first time these two superstar creators have worked on this character together.

The book opens with a one-page recap of Captain America's origin, followed by a brief six-page action sequence in which Cap saves a small town in Nebraska from a gaggle of white supremacists. Ten years later, and following the highly turbulent events of "Secret Empire" in which an evil version of Cap basically tried to take over the world, Cap returns to that same town, where he makes a few surprising discoveries, and runs into several familiar faces.

As first issues go, I have to say, this was a bit more subdued than what I was expecting. It's not that Waid and Samnee scrimp on the action (as there is plenty of it), but as far as establishing an interesting new status quo for the lead character goes, it seems decidedly timid. The fact that the events of "Secret Empire" have established Cap as a widely-hated man is utterly disposed of in this issue with a single line of dialogue. It's clearly a conversation Waid and Samnee want to save for another day. Given that this run was hyped up as exploring Cap's new situation, and given the caliber of this creative team, this issue disappoints ever so slightly, even though the issue was a pleasant enough done-in-one affair.

When Waid and Samnee relaunched "Daredevil" back in 2014, with Matt Murdock's first adventure in San Francisco, they hit the ground running, with a fast-paced adventure that saw Matt embracing his brand new status quo as he took on a threat with his skills and quick thinking. When they relaunched "Black Widow" last year they delivered a brilliantly staged 20-page chase sequence. That series may have tapered off pretty quickly in terms of quality, but Waid and Samnee made one hell of a first impression with that one issue. In contrast, Waid and Samnee don't make quite as strong an impact with this first issue. It's not that this issue is bad by any means; it's just that I know that these guys are capable of so much more. This is a far cry from their best work.

That's not to say they don't deliver at all; although the first six-issue action sequence is a little minimalist for Samnee, he quickly picks up steam and manages to deliver a solid visual experience. Also, even though Waid delivers a somewhat muted script given Cap's current status quo, he still manages some memorable dialogue, such as Steve's conversation with a hotdog vendor who is convinced that Captain America being pulled out of ice by the Avengers was nothing more than a PR stunt and that it's really a "modern" person in the suit. I could be reading too much into it, but the scene vaguely feels like a subtle jab at the era of "fake news" in which people make up, and live by, their own truth.

In any event, this issue, while not quite up to the usual Waid/Samnee standard, nonetheless delivers in ways that count, and if nothing else definitely has me looking forward with bated breath to the next one.

7.7/10

Masterful Distraction: A Review of Daredevil #28

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla

Just when it seems that Matt, having been lured his former protege/sidekick Blindspot lured to China to sacrifice to "The Beast" which is apparently the god of the ninja clan The Hand, appears to be stuck up a creek without a paddle, Blindspot finally decides to grow a conscience and help him out. The real drama, however, awaits when Matt finally gets home; something deeply shocking has happened.

The real purpose of this arc, which wraps up quite nicely, becomes evident on the very last page of this issue, and it's a doozy. It's distinctly clever how Soule, following Matt's landmark Supreme Court victory, managed to take him off the proverbial chessboard while a seismic status quo shift took place. I dare not say more, lest I spoil the issue's big reveal (though Marvel's marketing department has done a pretty good job of that all on their own).

I still think Soule gave Sam Chung, aka Blindspot, short shrift in terms of this brief arc, but at least we got a glimpse of his origin, and Sam gets a nice little monologue at the end of the story. I'm glad this wasn't his swan song; Matt will definitely need him around in the months to come, what with this crazy new situation.

Garney and Milla turn in good work here, and I'm honestly a little sorry that they won't be around for the next big arc, though I suppose that, having relaunched this book in 2015, they'll be here for the landmark 600th issue.

7.5/10

The Downward Spiral Continues: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #790

written by Dan Slott (plot) and Christos Gage (script)
illustrated by Stuart Immonen (pencils) and Wade Von Grawbadger (inks)
colored by Marte Gracia

Dan Slott, this time joined by his longtime collaborator Christos Gage, continues his first post-Parker Industries story line by having Peter Parker apologize to and settle accounts with his former employees at the company he founded...and then destroyed. Still, there are a lot of reparations to be made, and even with the help of Pete's best friend Harry Lyman (formerly Osborn) Peter is going to have a really, really hard time compensating the people who invested time, effort and money in his company. Harry has a radical solution that could help defray costs: sell the Baxter Building, the one-time home of the Fantastic Four. This does not go down well with Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, who has a few choice words for Peter. Also, another of Peter's disgruntled employees, Clayton Cole, having resumed his costumed identity as Clash, is intent on taking his own tech back from Parker Industries before it, too, is sold off. Unfortunately for Peter, Cole's henchmen have other ideas.

Interestingly, though, it seems as though not all may be lost for Peter, as an unexpected but familiar figure from his past comes calling.

This is the third done-in-one comic book in a row that Slott has delivered, and even though this issue and its immediate predecessor serve a larger storyline, each one is a full, enjoyable read on its own. This storytelling style hearkens back to the comic books I read as a kid, specifically David Michelinie's and Todd McFarlane's run, which consisted largely of single-issue stories, with only occasional multiple-issue arcs. I am glad to see this kind of writing in Spider-Man books, as it feels like a welcome return to Spidey's roots. I liked how the writing here showed Peter as downtrodden and utterly despondent without having him completely regress to the Sad Sack he used to be. I also liked how Slott wrote the Torch; his reaction is entirely understandable and expected. I also had some appreciation for how Slott handled Clayton Cole; even after everything that's happened he still hasn't crossed the threshold into full-blown supervillain territory, at least not yet.

On the art side, team Spidey knock yet another issue out of the park as Immonen, Von Grawbadger and Gracia continue to fire on all cylinders. This team, anchored by Immonen, is really the best thing to happen to this book in quite a long time and I'm definitely keeping this book on my monthly pull list for as long as they're on it. I am really excited for the landmark 800th issue now!

8.5/10

SELECTED TITLES FROM JAIME ARROYO’S COMIC BOOK COLLECTION AS OF OCTOBER 16, 2017

ARIA/ANGELA #1 and 2 by Holguin and Anacleto PHP400.00
ASTONISHING X-MEN #26-27 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi – PHP400.00
AVENGERS #25 by Kurt Busiek and George Perez – PHP200.00
AVENGERS #500 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch PHP400.00
AVENGERS FINALE by Brian Michael Bendis and Various PHP300.00
BATMAN #613-614, 618 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee - PHP900.00
BATMAN#1 by Grant Morrison and David Finch – PHP240.00
BLACK WIDOW #2-6 by Jeff Nathanson and Phil Noto – PHP1,000.00
BLACK PANTHER #1, 2 by Reginald Hudlin, John Romita, Jr. – PHP600.00 (Issue #2 features the first appearance of Shuri)
CAPTAIN AMERICA (2001) #21-26 by Robert Morales and Chris Bachalo – PHP1,200.00
CAPTAIN AMERICA (2011) #1 to #5 by Ed Brubaker and Steve McNiven – PHP1,000.00
CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #1 to #6 by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch – PHP1,200.00
CAPTAIN AMERICA: TRUTH #1 and #6 by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker – PHP300.00
CAPTAIN AMERICA: FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN by Ed Brubaker and Butch Guice – PHP200.00
CRIMINAL #1 to 5 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips – PHP1,000.00
DAREDEVIL (1998) #3-4, 6-8 by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada PHP -1,000.00
DAREDEVIL: THE TARGET #1 by Kevin Smith and Glenn Fabry – PHP100.00
FALLEN SON (CAPTAIN AMERICA) by Jeph Loeb and David Finch – PHP180.00
GEN13 #6-7 by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi – PHP300.00
GEN13/GENERATIONX and GENERATION X/GEN13 by Brandon Choi, Arthur Adams (Gen13/GenX), James Robinson and Salvador Larroca (GenX/Gen13)– PHP500.00
HULK: GRAY #1, 6 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale – PHP400.00
HULK #1-6 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness – PHP1,200.00
HULK #7-9 by Jeph Loeb, Frank Cho and Arthur Adams – PHP600.00
INCREDIBLE HULK #36 by Bruce Jones and John Romita Jr. – PHP200.00
INHUMAN #1 to #3 by Charles Soule and Joe Madureira – PHP600.00
IRON MAN: EXTREMIS #1 (Double): Warren Ellis and Adi Granov – PHP400.00
IRON MAN: INEVITABLE #1 to 6 by Joe Casey and Frazer Irving – PHP1100.00
JUSTICE LEAGUE (2011) #1 to 6, 9 to 12 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee – PHP2000.00
MARC SPECTOR: MOON KNIGHT #29 and 30 by Terry Kavanagh and Stephen Platt PHP300.00
MARVEL MANGAVERSE: SPIDER-MAN #1 by Kaare Andrews – PHP150.00
MARVEL KNIGHTS: PUNISHER #1, 3 by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon – PHP360.00
MARVEL KNIGHTS: WOLVERINE AND PUNISHER #1 to 4 by Christopher Golden, Mike Sniegoski and Pat Lee PHP600.00
MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #1 to #6 by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Jay Anacleto PHP1100.00
NEW AVENGERS #1-6 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch PHP2,000.00
NEW AVENGERS #7-10 by Bendis and McNiven – PHP1200.00
NEW AVENGERS #11-13 by Bendis and Finch – PHP900.00
NEW AVENGERS #14-15 by Bendis and Frank Cho – PHP500.00
NEW AVENGERS #21, 22, 24 and 25 (Civil War tie-in) by Bendis and Howard Chaykin, Lienil Yu (signed), Pasqual Ferry and Jim Cheung – PHP1,500.00
NEW AVENGERS #31 by Bendis and Leinil Yu (signed by Yu) – PHP500.00
PROPHET by Stephen Platt – PHP50.00
PUNISHER/BATMAN by Chuck Dixon and John Romita, Jr. – PHP200.00
PUNISHER: A MAN NAMED FRANK by Dixon and John Buscema – PHP300.00
SAVAGE DRAGON by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi –PHP100.00
SENTRY #1, 8 by Paul Jenkins and John Romita, Jr. PHP360.00
SHADOWHAWK #0 by Rob Liefeld –PHP50.00
SPIDER-MAN/BLACK CAT #1 to #6 by Kevin Smith and Terry Dodson – PHP1100.00
ULTIMATE GALACTUS SERIES (includes ULTIMATE SECRET #1 to #4 by Warren Ellis, Steve McNiven and Tom Raney and ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #1 to #6 by Warren Ellis and Brandon Peterson) – PHP1,800.00
ULTIMATE WAR #1 to #4 by Mark Millar and Chris Bachalo – PHP600.00
ULTIMATE X-MEN #36-37 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch – PHP400.00
ULTIMATES Vol. II #1 to 13 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch (plus Annual #1 by Mark Millar and Steve Dillon, total 14 issues) – PHP3,000.00
THE WALKING DEAD #100 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Aldard PHP300.00
WILDCATS #1, 3, 4, 8, 9 by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi PHP500.00

The Return of the Parker Luck: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #789

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Stuart Immonen (p) Wade Von Grawbadger (i)
colored by Marte Gracia

As Marvel's most renowned superhero comic book returns to its original numbering, Dan Slott marks the occasion with a return to the kind of storytelling that made Spider-Man one of the most relatable and endearing superheroes around.

While Peter Parker's decision to flush his entire company down the toilet during the events of Secret Empire was motivated by the honest belief that he was acting for the greater good, he now comes face-to-face with the fallout of that decision: thousands of his employees out of work, investors' money down the drain, and a great many people who now hate his guts. He tries confronting Joe Robertson at the Daily Bugle about a scathing editorial Robertson wrote about him, only to realize that every unflattering word is true. He can't bring himself to meet up with his friends, even as they try to reach out to him, because he is deeply ashamed of how badly he's messed things up. He spends the issue at Mockingbird's place, and it is through her that he finally finds something that he desperately needs: purpose.

It's gratifying to see Slott finally draw to a close what felt like a distinctly unnatural status quo for Peter Parker with the emphatic return of the infamous "Parker luck," with a nice "done in one" first issue, no less. Slott's clearly got a lot planned for this new/old direction in which he's taking the character, but rather than end the issue on a blatant cliffhanger he goes for something a little more subtle, setting the stage for what's coming up but at the same time giving this particular issue a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

I wrote in a previous review that I was quite happy with the whole high-school teacher status quo that J. Michael Straczynski had established for Peter Parker, which basically endured throughout his run and ended with the events of "One More Day." It seems to me that, after experimenting with a variety of situations for Peter which have included returning him to his old haunt, the Daily Bugle, giving him a dream job at Horizon Labs during the "Big Time" story line, and finally, having him run his own company, Dan Slott is looking at establishing a status quo a bit similar to what Straczynski set up for Peter in that, while it isn't exactly glamorous like his CEO position was, it at least feels like the sort of thing that a person with Peter's considerable intellect would do. Of course, I'm not sure what that is yet, but Slott drops some hints during Peter's brief visit to the Bugle.

After taking an issue off, the stellar art team of Immonen, Von Grawbadger and Gracia are back to hit this one right out of the park. Even though Slott's now hitting his stride, this art team still remains the highlight of the book for me, and this issue maintains the standard of quality they've established since they took over several months ago. It's somewhat amusing that Peter looks even more gangly and disheveled than usual as Immonen and crew play up the "Parker luck" look.

Slott and his team have gotten this new direction off into a fine start; here's hoping the keep the momentum going.


8.5/10

Another New Character Takes a Turn for the Worse: A Review of Daredevil #27

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla

As Matt Murdock discovers that his old protege, Blindspot has turned to questionable means to restore his eyesight, which was taken from him several issues ago by the Inhuman serial killer muse, we readers get a glimpse at the character's "secret origin."

The Soule/Garney team delivers a story that, finally explores the character they introduced to this series when they relaunched it in 2015. It's a little disappointing to me that Sam only has a three-issue story arc devoted to his back story considering that when Garney rotates back onto the book it's usually for a four or five-issue story arc, and perhaps even more disappointing that Sam seems to have made a somewhat poor life choice. I will grant that there's probably a twist somewhere lurking in the next issue, and I certainly hope so because otherwise I'm not a fan of the direction in which they're taking this character.

When Chris Samnee and Mark Waid took on Black Widow last year, they introduced a new character called the Weeping Lion, who had a fairly interesting back story in that he had actually witnessed Black Widow murder a loved one. There was potential for the character, but it was squandered when the creators killed him off just before they ended their run. It was a shame, but no great loss.

Soule's Blindspot deserves better than this, though. There are precious few non-white-male characters in superhero stories, and even fewer Asians, so it would really be nice for Sam to stick around. While I remain optimistic that Soule has better plans for this character than to discard him summarily, I honestly wish he'd given his origin story at least one extra issue to breathe a bit. Sure, Sam may have started off life as a sidekick, but with his skills and tech he could yet become so much more.

Garney's art tapers off a bit; his work last issue was stronger than what we see here, though not much. I am hoping for a nice, bombastic throwdown next issue between Matt and his newfound enemies.

Anyway, there's but one issue left in this story arc before Soule launches into his somewhat-hyped Kingpin storyline, which will see DD's longtime nemesis ascending back into power, and while I'm fairly certain this isn't the last we'll see of Blindspot, I hope they at least end this story well.




7/10

Welcome Back: A Review of Runaways #1 and #2

written by Rainbow Rowell
drawn by Kris Anka
colored by Matt Wilson

What people who read this blog may not know is that I am actually a big fan of one of Marvel Comics' more recently created titles, Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways, which unlike such titles as Spider-Man or Hulk, which have over 50 years of publishing history behind them, only came into existence this millennium, specifically, in 2003. Unlike those other titles, and despite a lot of love from its publisher, Runaways has had a troubled publishing history, having been canceled and relaunched several times, with the last attempt at a regular series ending something like nine years ago. I missed out on the original run but have been hunting down collected editions ever since, and I have gathered most of them by now. Because the comics are as old as they are I have never reviewed them.

But now, with Marvel about to launch a television series starring these very characters, they are taking one more shot at giving these characters the glory they deserve, and while I'm not quite as blown away as I would have wanted to be by a brand-spanking-new Runaways series, I'm just glad these guys are seeing the light of day again rather than staying in character limbo.

Essentially the story in issue #1 starts with Nico Minoru by herself, looking back briefly on her time together with her fellow Runaways, and on her brief stint with the ever shorter-lived "A-Force." Both teams are basically defunct, and Nico is pining for them both. Suddenly, fellow former Runaway Chase Stein barges in, having traveled forward from the past, where he went to rescue his dead girlfriend Gert Yorkes who died waaay back when. Through Nico's haphazard spell casting, the impossible happens.

In issue #2, fans of the series who haven't really been following what's going on since it ended get brought up to speed on what has happened to the various characters since they went their separate ways. It's not exactly pleasant.

I suppose it's inevitable, given how long the characters have been away from this title, that anyone bringing the team back together would have to catch up on years of backstory. Rowell faces an unenviable task of getting new fans into this book and bringing old fans who may have walked away from comics altogether after the last Runaways story ended back into the fold. Exposition is a necessary evil, and it's to Rowell's credit that she gets a big chunk of it out of the way for the first two issues. I hope there's less of it to come in future issues.

More disappointing for me, though was the normally reliable Kris Anka, whose work on the first issue looked pretty good and up to his usual standards, but whose work on the second issue gave the impression of having been rushed. I got into this guy's work on the strength of his covers, and I have to say he's not quite as strong when working on interiors. I found myself missing the steady pen of Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa, who, I understand it, alternate over on Ms. Marvel nowadays.

For all its disappointments, this is a reasonably good effort to revive this series and I will be watching its progress with hope in my heart.

7/10 issue #1
6.5/10 issue #2

Coming to a Head: A Review of The Astonishing X-Men #4

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Carlos Pacheco (p) Rafael Fonteriz (i)
colored by Rain Beredo

Marvel's vaguely experimental approach to "blockbuster" storytelling continues as its purported flagship X-Men book sports its fourth high-profile artist in as many issues, this one being Spanish superstar Carlos Pacheco.

This issue takes a peek at what's been happening to the characters Mystique, Fantomex, Rogue and Gambit since they went their separate ways in the astral plane back in issue #2. Meanwhile, Old Man Logan, possessed by the Shadow King, is about to wreak havoc on London, forcing the usually benign Angel's hand as he unleashes his deadly alter ego, Archangel.

Last issue was somewhat more interesting in that it gave readers the slightest glimpse at Professor X's game plan, and this one is a little less so. To be honest, I wasn't crazy about how this issue was paced; Soule devoted a number of pages to Mystique reliving past glories, and Gambit trying to rekindle an old romance with Rogue, while the really urgent concern, Shadow King by-way-of Old Man Logan, got the most fleeting exposure, and Warren's decision to engage Logan, which will undoubtedly trigger the release of Archangel, is poised as a sort of cliffhanger. In short, in contrast to the last issue, which felt a little weightier in narrative despite its cliffhanger ending, this one feels a bit more like Soule spinning his wheels to justify a six-issue, rather than five-issue story arc. There are quite a few talking heads for an issue that's supposed to be conveying urgency.

Pacheco draws pretty pictures, but he's not quite on the level of Ed McGuinness, much less Jim Cheung, who kicked off the series with a bang. We won't even have time to get used to him as next issue yet another artist will take on the reins, and another still after that.

I gotta say, I am not a fan of this format.

6/10

Back in Action: A Review of Daredevil #26

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
inked by Matt Milla

Following a five-issue story line that was primarily a bunch of talking heads, writer Charles Soule puts Matt Murdock and his alter ego Daredevil right back in the thick of the action with a tale that brings Matt to China, in search of his protege Sam, aka, Blindspot, who, after being blinded by one of the Inhumans a few story arcs back, has disappeared. Matt has been taking up Blindspot's mantle as protector of Chinatown, thanks to Blindspot's sister, a struggling barista who has reluctantly taken on the task of translating the requests that people used to leave for Sam, when she finds a request addressed to Daredevil himself, or as the Chinese literally translates, "Night Devil Hero," and in fairly short order, Matt takes a leave from his job at the District Attorney's office, who are now hugely grateful to him for his incredible feat before the Supreme Court, and heads to China.

Following the engrossing "Supreme" storyline that was actually heavy on consequence but light on action, Soule, joined here by series mainstay Ron Garney, delivers a perfectly judged return to chop-sockey action for the hero of Hell's Kitchen, and while we only get the action towards the end, it promises to be a very interesting three-issue arc as we discover what has become of Sam.

Soule expands Matt's new world a little bit by introducing another new character, Sam's barista sister who flat out resents her brother for not helping her out more and brings a nice bit of variety to Matt's generally noble cast of characters. She doesn't get much "page time" but there's potential for this character.

Garney's in fine form here. He's no Stuart Immonen (the last person to draw a major Marvel book set in China), but it was really nice to see him render a new environment for DD in the form of the mountains of rural China.

Part of me can't help but wonder if Marvel, first with its "Parker, Inc." storyline over in the pages of "The Amazing Spider-Man" and now this, isn't taking a page out of Hollywood's book and deliberately setting stories in China in an attempt to hook Chinese readers and basically expand their readership. It's not too far-fetched an idea. Personally, I won't mind if the stories are well-conceived, like this one is.

8/10

Astonishing X-Men #2 and #3

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Mike Deodato (issue #2), Ed MGuinnes (issue #3), Mark Morales (issue #3)
colored by Frank Martin (issue #2), Jason Keith (issue #3)

After being blown away by the first issue of this series, I found the second issue surprisingly underwhelming, even as the third one recovered a bit.

Essentially, the second issue continues the journey of five X-Men ("old man" Logan, Gambit, Fantomex, Rogue and Mystique, who was previously masquerading as Beast) to the astral plane, where they seek to confront and defeat Amahl Farouk, aka the Shadow King. Meanwhile, Psylocke, who is enabling them to enter the plane, remains in London, accompanied by Angel and Bishop, and all three of them are in a standoff with British authorities. Each of the X-Men has to fight off the illusions constantly being cast by the Shadow King in this realm.

In issue #3, the X-Men find themselves separated in the astral plane, and the focus falls squarely on Logan, who makes his way past Farouk's non-stop barrage of illusions, only to find himself confronting Professor X himself.

Personally, I don't get the merit of this concept of having writer Soule team up with one superstar artist after another; the narrative feels somewhat disjointed, and even though Soule tries to address this by giving each issue a "done in one" feel, for me it undermines the overall flow of the story. While he started out strong with the first issue, the second one kind of felt like it was treading water, though to my mind he recovered nicely with the third issue, which seems to finally give the story some direction, though I imagine he's only got two to three more issues to wrap up this story arc, at best.

I've never been much of a fan of Mike Deodato, but to my mind this is the best work I've seen from him in a while. Still, it didn't really help what I felt were some pacing problems. I am, on the other hand a fan of Ed McGuinness, though this issue isn't the best I've seen from him, even when compared to his recent work like Spider-Man/Deadpool.

Knowing as I do that this series won't regularly feature the work of Jim Cheung, as I mistakenly believed when I picked up the first issue, I'll probably move on after the first arc is done, unless someone amazing in the vein of Arthur Adams comes along.

6.5/10 for issue #2
7.5/10 for issue #3

Norman Osborn's Spiritual Journey: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #32

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Greg Smallwood
colored by Jordie Bellaire

I'll admit, when I saw the cover for this issue, I groaned. After all, Slott had only just finished a four-part story pitting Spider-Man against the Green Goblin, and for him to revisit the character so soon felt like a creative cop-out. I was pleasantly surprised by what I actually read.

Humiliated by his most recent defeat at the hands of Spider-Man, Norman Osborn agonizes over ways to restore his Green Goblin persona, which Spider-Man has since suppressed through the introduction of nanites into Norman's system which biologically suppress that part of Norman's personality. Therapy doesn't work, surgery doesn't work, and when Eastern medicine fails Norman as well he is at the end of his rope, when he receives a suggestion from his acupuncturist to visit a place somewhere in Asia, which Norman promptly does. He stumbles on a monastery where three old monks greet him and offer to teach him their ways...provided he can pass their test.

This issue doesn't really serve any narrative purpose and I think its only real point is to give the series' stellar regular artist Stuart Immonen a well-deserved break after consistently amazing work on the past two storylines. It's pretty much a throwaway issue, albeit a pretty good one, thanks in no small part to Greg Smallwood's excellent art and Jordie Bellaire's nicely textured coloring. Slott looks like he's taking easy here as well, having fun with this little done-in-one.

7.5/10

The Fate of Parker Industries: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #31

written by Dan Slott
drawn by Stuart Immonen and Wade von Grawbadger
colored by Marte Gracia

The "Secret Empire" tie-in story of this title draws to a close as Spider-Man makes a last stand against a new and improved Doctor Octopus, who is determined to take Parker Industries and all of its secrets from him. This was, after all, the empire Doc Ock had started to build while using Peter's stolen body, and Otto Octavius feels distinctly entitled to it, but he has no idea of the lengths to which Peter is willing to go to protect the world from the arch-villain's bloated ego, even if it means giving up everything.

I wonder exactly how Dan Slott would have written the conclusion to his "Peter Parker as a CEO" storyline without this whole "Secret Empire" event providing a convenient backdrop. It never felt like a long-term storyline, and personally I feel that it doesn't really suit him all that well. That said, I am glad that there was at least one writer who decided to take Peter down that road instead of having him perpetually living paycheck to paycheck. I'm still partial to the Straczynski days where Peter was a youthful schoolteacher, but I recognize that after a while that could feel stagnant as well. In any case, Slott makes good use of the storyline by having Peter make a well-intentioned, if somewhat rash decision to fight Doc Ock and HYDRA, and bring this particular storyline to a reasonably satisfying conclusion, albeit one that raises the inevitable question: what's next?

I liked how, more than some prosaic desire to "take over the world," Doc Ock was motivated more by hubris and a sense of entitlement than anything else in his drive to wrest Parker Industries from Peter. After having seen a more nuanced portrayal of the character in the best-selling Superior Spider-Man title, I wouldn't have much cared for a more traditional, two-dimensional motivation for the character. The thing is, this isn't the Ock that realized his own inadequacy and willfully ceded Peter Parker's body back to him; that one's gone for good. This Ock's consciousness was pulled from slightly earlier in the timeline thanks the time-traveling arc in Superior Spider-Man back in 2013, and later, a universe-jumping story arc in the massive Spider-Verse crossover. Confusing? I agree, but I do understand that Slott had to give the character wiggle room to still be a bad guy, or else his sacrifice and redemption in the penultimate issue of Superior Spider-Man would have gone for naught.

While Slott attempts to redeem Peter from his poor decision-making that led up to this moment, he is, in my opinion, only partly successful, as I maintain that Ock would not have gotten as far as he did, even with HYDRA's help, without Peter being ridiculously careless. After all, Peter was getting the better of Doc Ock back when he was still a kid. In any event, Slott's scripting is a step up from the last issue, and I apologize for thinking that this story was going to be artificially stretched out into four issues when, in fact, it's been nicely wrapped up in three. Nice work by Slott.

I'd be remiss at this point if I didn't mention the amazing art by Immonen, Von Grawbadger and Gracia. It's worth saying that this team has managed to deliver consistently outstanding art for nine straight issues, without fill-in artists or delayed shipping schedules. This is a feat virtually unheard of these days, and even my favorites like Chris Samnee have had to take a breather every now and then. Immonen's work here is the best I've ever seen from him, and I've been following a lot of his work since he teamed up with Warren Ellis on Ultimate Fantastic Four back in 2004. These days I find myself fantasizing about a one-shot or OGN featuring Immonen's pencils painted over by cover artist Alex Ross. That would really blow me away.

As "Legacy" draws near I find myself interested to see what plans this team has for Peter, as they supposedly involve a "different" role with the Daily Bugle. It'll be nice to bring Peter back to a familiar element of his life and I hope Slott's scripting is more sure-footed than it's been these last few issues. At any rate, as long as Immonen et al are onboard, then so am I.


7.5/10

Murdock's Turn to Shine: A Review of Daredevil #25

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Alec Morgan
colored by Matt Milla

And so "Supreme" draws to a close as Matt Murdock makes his case before the United States Supreme Court for allowing confidential superhero testimony in criminal prosecutions. It's a tense moment; the most fearsome opponent Matt faces here are Wilson Fisk's lawyer and the ten justices of the Supreme Court, and the outcome of this confrontation has the potential to change everything.

The ending of Soule's courtroom epic, while quite straightforward without any special, last-minute twists, is nonetheless everything I hoped it would be, and is basically Matt Murdock's finest moment as an attorney in the character's fifty-three year history. Even without punch-ups (though a pretty funny symbolic one takes place as Matt Murdock argues his case) the issue is genuinely exciting, and ends on an extremely high note, something not often seen in this iteration of Daredevil, which has marked a throwback to the the gritty storytelling of the 80s. There's little more I can say about this story, even though I certainly would certainly like to sing its praises, without spoiling plot points, so I'll leave it at that. Soule has written a significant milestone for this character, and he managed it without having him throw a single physical punch. It's refreshing to see storytelling that doesn't involve the hero saving the day through feats of physical derring-do, and Matt's dialogue late int he issue about the difference between his work as Daredevil and his work as a lawyer is downright inspiring: as Daredevil, he gets to save the world, but as a lawyer, he gets to change it.

While I still am not a fan of Alec Morgan, who's been drawing this story for three issues straight, I will admit that he's a good fit for this type of story, and that the issues I had with him in his past work aren't really evident here.

It's nice to know that Marvel has some pretty big plans for this character as evidenced by their advanced solicitations, because with the work Soule's been turning in, especially with this specific story, it's good know that DD will be getting his moment in the spotlight again, and not just as one of the Defenders.


8.5/10

Superior Doc Ock Out to Ruin Peter's Life...Again: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #29-30

wrtitten by Dan Slott
penciled by Stuart Immonen
inked by Wade von Grawbadger
colored by Marte Gracia

The "Secret Empire" crossover makes its way into the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man as the newly-minted Superior Doctor Octopus--who's basically Otto Octavius in a cloned body of Peter Parker, complete with Octo arms--teams up with Hydra to take back the company he founded, namely Parker Industries. Peter, who naturally rebuffed Doc Ock's initial attempts to take over the company, is caught up at first in the battle against Hydra, led this time by Captain America, of all people, but when he realizes that Doc Ock is gunning for his last standing operation in Shanghai, he makes what he fears may be Parker Industries' final stand.

As a long-time reader of Spider-Man (30 years and counting), I get that "CEO Peter" is not the most relatable iteration of the character. I also get that Spider-Man is at his best when he's being put through the wringer, as Slott is clearly doing now, and the end goal is to basically strip him of his company, which seems to have been made clear by the writing and marketing of future issues. Sure, Peter's company may have been working on things like curing disease and renewable energy, but Marvel's already got one billionaire scientist superhero, so it's high time for Spidey to get "demoted" back to lovable loser, right?

Well, I have no problem with Slott taking the character back in that general direction, or at least away from a direction that has Peter looking too much like Tony Stark lite, but I confess I'm not at all crazy about how he's going about it.

I don't have any problem believing that Doc Ock could outwit Peter; I accepted that he was able to do it in the events leading to his tenure as the "Superior" Spider-Man, but the story conceit that Doc Ock could still pull surprises on Peter regarding his own tech and his own company is just bad writing. After all, Ock basically killed Peter, for all intents and purposes. One would imagine that Peter would exert utmost care when it came to dealing with anything that Ock might have had a hand in developing, including all the Parker Industries tech, especially after finding out, over in "The Clone Conspiracy," that Otto was still alive. Otto shouldn't have been able to pull the surprises on Peter that he has pulled so far. I'll grant that maybe Slott still has some surprises up his sleeve, but the fact that Otto's gotten this far with Peter without having been shut down is either Peter being incredibly crafty or incredibly stupid. Either way, the writing just feels unnecessarily contrived to justify a four-part arc to fill up yet another trade paperback.

It's a good thing for this story, however, that Stuart Immonen and his frequent collaborators Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia are around. I am a huge Immonen fan; I have all twelve issues of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., the first eleven issues of All-New X-Men, and even the six issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four he drew for Warren Ellis. The guy is just supremely talented, both as a storyteller and an illustrator, and the remarkable thing about his work on this book so far, six issues into his tenure, is that he seems to have gotten even better than he already is, which is really saying something. He's just drawing on a whole other level here, and I want to be around for every issue of it. Had it been Giuseppe Camuncoli or even Humberto Ramos drawing these stories I'd already be gone because of how disagreeable I find Slott's scripting. Wade von Grawbadger inks him just about better than anyone else, and Marte Gracia make his already vivid images pop even more.

Thanks for saving this book for me, Stuart, Wade and Marte.



6/10

A Book Finally Worthy of the Epithet: A Review of Astonishing X-Men #1

written by Charles Soule
penciled by Jim Cheung
inked by Mark Morales
covered by Richard Isanove and Rain Beredo

It's been a while since I've followed any of the X-Men books with any regularity, so when I picked this book off the shelves I knew very little about it, except that Charles Soule, a writer whose work I am increasingly warming up to, and Jimmy Cheung, an artist whose work I adore, were working on it. I hadn't even read any of the marketing materials, so I had next to no expectations, and I gotta say, even if I had gone there with expectations, they would have almost certainly been exceeded.

A mysterious force begins attacking psychics all around the world, claiming the lives of the weaker, isolated psychics, before it finds Psylocke, one the X-men and a particularly formidable target. The assailant attacks her just the same, prompting to reach out with her powers to whichever X-Men are close enough to help. Those who come to answer the call are Bishop, Angel, Rogue, Gambit, (Old Man) Logan, and Fantomex. They converge on the scene of the trouble, in London, not a moment too soon, as the psychic attack has caused Psylocke's powers to go wildly out of control, with a lot of destruction as a result. Can they stop the destruction and go after the real threat before it's too late?

When Charles Soule tried (unsuccessfully) to launch an Inhumans book two or three years ago with superstar artist Joe Madureira, I was almost emphatically underwhelmed by the story and left the title as soon as Madureira did.

Maybe it's because Soule has grown as a writer or maybe it's just because the X-Men are somehow more interesting than the Inhumans, but this book works a lot better than the Inhumans relaunch did. For me it was down to a number of things, like a good handle on characters, good pacing and a nice, done-in-one vibe to the issue which nonetheless kicks off something bigger. And Jim Cheung's art sings to me more than Madureira's did. As a kick-off issue that has to juggle an ensemble cast, it doesn't always hit the marks, but it does set up the action very efficiently, and offer the tiniest bit of exposition as to the characters. It's worth pointing out, though, that it won't make that much sense to anyone picking up an X-Men book for the very first time, though people who've been exposed to the characters through the movies will recognize most of the characters. As a push of the "refresh" button on the X-Men, this works for me. I still prefer Soule's more intimate work over in "Daredevil" but he's shown he's up to the challenge of relaunching an X-book.

As for Jim Cheung, well, as high as my expectations were upon learning he was drawing this book were, he's somehow managed to exceed them. The difference between this and his previous work could be down to Mark Morales' inking or Richard Isanove's brilliant colors, but Cheung absolutely shines here and sets the bar really high for Mike Deodato Jr., who's set to draw the second issue. Whether it's the action sequences (which dominate the book), or the quieter moments, Cheung really hits all the marks, and with a huge splash-page/money shot at the very end of the book he's got me absolutely hooked for the next issue.

The storytelling pace is good and the art is out of this world, though in some instances, for some reason, the dialogue doesn't work all that well for me, especially with the inter-team banter, but it's early days for this iteration of the Astonishing X-Men, and that feels like a distinctly minor quibble.

I don't know if I'll stick around for more than the first arc, but if nothing else this book is off to a solid start.

8.5/10

BFFs: A Review of Daredevil #24

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Alec Morgan
colored by Matt Milla

Matt Murdock loses his bid to have the courts declare the testimony of masked vigilantes as admissible evidence, with the New York State Court of Appeals voting against him 4-3. His only recourse is now to elevate the case to the Federal Supreme Court on certiorari. Mortified, the District Attorney's office, for whom Matt works, keeps him on board but cuts off all support for his efforts to pursue this case. Matt needs to find co-counsel for his petition to the Supreme Court, and only one person comes to mind: Foggy Nelson. However, their relationship having been strained lately, it'll be an uphill battle for Matt, especially since Tombstone, still acting on the orders of Wilson Fisk attacks Matt for the second time in as many issues.

The issue opens with a newspaper headline reading that Matt has lost in the Court of Appeals. Soule doesn't waste any time getting to the meat of the story, i.e. Matt will need Foggy's help but for some reason this issue did not quite ring true with me. For one thing, the meeting-in-a-bar-only-to-be-attacked-by-Tombstone shtick virtually replicates what happened last issue, only this time without She-Hulk nearly pounding Tombstone into pulp. It was probably deliberate on Soule's part, but it felt no less redundant, and this time the three or four pages of Matt fighting Tombstone really feel like a "token action sequence" to break the monotony of the talking heads.

The thing is, here, I LIKED the back and forth between Matt and Foggy. Things have been tense between them since this title took its new direction, and when it was explained that this was because after the Purple Man's kids made everyone forget Matt's secret identity, he had revealed himself to Foggy and Foggy alone, I thought that this had a lot of story potential. The action sequence could easily have been swapped out for more dialogue between Matt and Foggy and the story would have had no less impact.

For me the opening dialogue between Matt and his boss about the loss, the dialogue between Kingpin and his victorious lawyer about Matt's next move, and ultimately Matt's dialogue with Foggy are more than enough to drive the issue forward. The fight scene really feels tacked on.

Also, Alec Morgan's art has gone from just about competent to downright bad, especially when compared to the art of the next two books I will review, one of which was also written by Soule.

As an aside, I have to say I'm not happy about the fact this story has Foggy drinking beer and chowing down on hotdogs six nights a week so soon after he recovered from cancer, which was a major plot point near the end of Mark Waid's run, and which was even directly referenced by Soule in his flashback story. As someone who's seen cancer ravage family members I know that it can be a really life-changing experience, and to have a character revert to old habits as if nothing happened just a few years ago seems somehow disrespectful to what was clearly an attempt by Waid to pay some form of homage to cancer survivors.

This does not bode well for the conclusion of this arc, but I remain cautiously optimistic just the same.

6.5/10

For Anyone Who Has Ever Wondered What Happens to Supervillains After Superheroes Leave Them Tied Up for the Cops: A Review of Daredevil: Supreme (So Far)

written by Charles Soule
illustrated by Goran Sudzuka, Alec Morgan (issue #23)
colored by Matt Milla

In "Running with the Devil" Charles Soule reconciled the ending of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's bright, cheery run on "Daredevil" with his gritty, noir-inspired status quo, even if it did involve a somewhat liberal interpretation of Purple Man's mind control powers and a fairly convenient plot device (i.e. a power amplifier), and delivered the best story I'd seen from him since he started his run on this book.

Little did I know, however, that he was just getting started.

"Supreme" sets out to answer a series of related questions that I am certain many comic-book fans with even just passing interest in the criminal justice system have asked: what happens after the superheroes have left the crooks with the cops? How are the crooks convicted in court? Do the superheroes testify during the trial? How does the court appreciate their testimony? These are the kinds of thoughts that could even arise from watching the new Spider-Man movie considering (mild spoiler) that after a bad guy is captured, it is mentioned that he is scheduled to go on trial.

The question is also posed in this very story line, and who better to approximate an answer to a hypothetical question that will, of course, never be answered in real life than an actual, honest-to-goodness lawyer? Yup, Charles Soule's legal background is an advantage he has over just about every other prominent writer in DD's history, and he puts his knowledge to good use here writing a storyline which, if Soule's dialogue for Matt is to be believed, has been percolating in the writer's mind since the very beginning.

To make a long story (one that's spanned three issues so far) short, Matt has a grand plan, which he shares with his colleagues and superior at the District Attorney's Office, to make it possible for superheroes to testify in court as to the criminals they've captured...without ever having to unmask and expose themselves. Their test case involves, as a witness, no less than Daredevil himself. The outlandish plan gains momentum by hurdling the trial court and is elevated on appeal. Suddenly, criminals with a lot to lose if this case establishes doctrine, take notice, specifically DD's longtime nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin.

It's kind of tragic that, even as one of the most interesting superhero stories in recent memory is playing out, Marvel seems unduly preoccupied with yet another line-wide reboot to pump up flagging sales. They couldn't even be bothered to hook Soule up with an A-list artist. I mean, with all due respect to Goran Sudzuka and Alec Morgan, who are entirely competent, this story, at minimum, merits the work of the series' mainstay Ron Garney, and would be much better served by the work of an even higher-profile artist. At the very least they could have stuck with one artist instead of rotating these two. Such an uneven experience with the art really doesn't do the overall story any favors.

Still, the writing is riveting, and the pacing impeccable. Soule walks a tightrope here; it's easy for the storytelling to be dominated by talking heads, which is really the meat and potatoes of the story, but he injects the right amount of action into each issue, with the latest issue featuring a fight with the gangster and Spider-Man bad guy Tombstone and an appearance by no less than She Hulk.

Given the length of the story arcs this series has had so far, this one probably only has two more issues to wrap up, but however this plays out it will have lasting ramifications for the Marvel Universe, and not in some hopelessly contrived, cosmic kind of way but in a very practical, down-to-earth manner. I honestly cannot wait to see how this ends because I don't see any cop-out endings working here.

8/10

So THAT'S How They Did It: A Capsule Review of "Running with the Devil" (Daredevil Issues #18 to #20)

written by Charles Soule
illustrated by Ron Garney and Marc Laming (issue #19)
colored by Matt Milla and Miroslav Mrva (issue #19)

As much as I wanted to review each of these issues as they came out, life kind of got overwhelming and the hobby had to give way to my obligations. In any case, I write this for anyone contemplating picking up the inevitable collected edition of the "Running with the Devil" story line, which to my mind was one of the very best that Charles Soule has given us since he took over this book nearly two years ago.

The story kicked off with issue #17 (which I reviewed) in which Matt goes to confession to Fr. Jordan, who is basically a sort of plot device that enables Matt to explain to us readers how he went, at the end of the Mark Waid run, from living in San Francisco with a beautiful girlfriend, a multi-million dollar book deal, and a publicly-known superhero identity, to New York, working for government wages in the District Attorney's office, with no more girlfriend, and no one even knowing who he is except for Foggy Nelson.

The good news is that there's no out-of-left-field reason for this happening like a deal with the devil or something equally ludicrous; it's just some good old-fashioned storytelling, using characters right out of DD's library, like the Purple Man, who featured prominently during Mark Waid's run, and his kids, whom Mark Waid and Chris Samnee actually created. While I won't go so far as to spoil what happened in the story, suffice it to say that amplified mind control was involved, and as a result, nobody remembered who Daredevil was anymore, absolutely nobody, including people he didn't necessarily want to forget. Still, as subsequent events have made clear, Daredevil took the opportunity to start off with a clean slate.

I waited a year and a half for this story, and if I may be honest it was worth the wait. The fact that the reason for the status quo change was nowhere near as radical or outre as I thought it would be actually came as a relief, and the story was written with such fealty to the tone that Mark Waid had established in his old run that it may as well have been written by Waid himself.

Garney, who leaves behind the noir setting he's established in the few issues he's drawn for this book, acquits himself quite well, though with full color I find myself missing Chris Samnee quite a bit. Fill-in artist Marc Laming, who steps in for issue #19, one of the more crucial issues of this four-part series, does a solid job, albeit one noticeably inconsistent with Garney's jagged lines, which makes for a slightly jarring reading experience. I quite enjoyed the sequences in issue #19 that take place inside Matt's head, though, and I think Laming nailed that quite well.

Overall, though, this is some really fine work by Soule, with a great conclusion, which sets it apart from his "serial killer" storyline which ended on a distinctly anticlimactic note. The good news is that I think his very best story is yet to come, as my next review will show.

8.5/10

SPYder-Man, SPYder-Man: A Review of "The Osborn Identity" in The Amazing Spider-Man issues #25 to 28

written by Dan Slott
penciled by Stuart Immonen
inked by Wade Von Grawbadger
colored by Marte Gracia

When Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli relaunched "The Amazing Spider-Man" in 2015 as a sort of "spy epic" to contrast with Miles Morales' more down-to-earth adventures as over in Brian Bendis and Sara Pichelli's "Spider-Man," I confess I lost interest in the title after having followed it religiously for over a year, and before that, having followed the controversial "Superior Spider-Man" book in which Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker's body. I also wasn't a big fan of Camuncoli's art, having endured it on the aforementioned titles, and as a result I stopped collecting the title altogether.

Late last year, though, Slott managed to lure me back with his five-part miniseries The Clone Conspiracy, in part because he revisited a storyline with which, I felt, I had unfinished business, and in part because his collaborator on that story, Jim Cheung, happens to be one of my favorite artists.

Shortly thereafter, back in the regular "Amazing" title, Marvel did a bit of a "refresh" by pairing Slott with the well-loved and extremely talented Stuart Immonen, and by reintroducing an old enemy of Peter's, Norman Osborn, this time without the Green Goblin persona but with an equally ruthless disposition. The results were, well, mixed, at least in my opinion.

In this story, Spider-Man is tracking down Osborn, who is currently working as an arms supplier for the tyrannical monarch of Symkaria. He finds an unexpected ally in the Silver Sable, whom he had previously believed dead, as well as former Avenger Mockingbird, but the odds against him, even with the resources of Parker Industries at his disposal, are ominous. Furthermore, his plan to invade a country and attack a sitting head of state does not sit well with Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D., which also happens to be Parker Industries' biggest client, so there's the question of what the right thing to do under the circumstances is. Of course, Peter being Peter there's only one way for things to go...

Honestly, I wasn't particularly hooked by the "Osborn vs. Parker" showdown, and in fact I found Norman's last major appearance that I had read, the final issue of "Superior Spider-Man" to be distinctly anti-climactic. Also, I didn't quite get where Peter's sudden wave of rage against Osborn came from, but then, I hadn't been reading the regular "Amazing" book for a while. That shouldn't really have mattered, though, considering that this book was billed as a perfect "jumping on" point for new or returning readers. In setting up a big showdown between a hero and his supposed worst enemy, therefore, Slott's script falls short.

That said, the rather contrived rivalry aside I thought it played out well, with a good blend of intense action and the patented Spidey humor, though things might have gotten a little too goofy towards the end. Immonen is an excellent fit for this book and elevated a story that, had it been illustrated by Camuncoli or another artist of similar caliber, would probably not have really popped for me.

It was a reasonably solid first story for a very talented new creative team, and considering that the next issue pits Peter against the all-new and improved Superior Doctor Octopus, it appears they've got quite a bit in store for the web slinger.

7/10

Daddy Issues: A Belated Review of the Spider-Man/Deadpool Story "Itsy Bitsy"

written by Joe Kelly
illustrated by Ed McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales and Jay Leisten (inks)
colored by Jason Keith

Between an increasingly busy schedule, the inability to pick up my comic books on time and a general disenchantment with pop culture these days (something I'll explore more in a future post), I've found it harder and harder to review forms of entertainment that used to be a staple of this blog.

In the last couple of weeks, though, I've read comic book storylines that, even though the single issues are several months old, will only just start coming out in trade paperback form lately.

One such story line is "Itsy Bitsy," the second and final story by series creators Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness, which features an old familiar face to Deadpool, and a brand new psychopath cobbled together by infusing an anonymous small-time crook with Spidey's and Deadpool's abilities. Unfortunately this new villain gets it in her head to make the world a better place, by murdering pretty much everyone in sight who, to her mind, is making it a bad place. It's a pretty intense story, one that sees Spidey being pushed yet again to the limits of his own personal code that stops him from killing bad guys, except that what he doesn't know is that this time, someone is counting on him to cross that line. Ironically enough, it's up to the mass-murdering gun-for-hire Deadpool to stop Spider-Man from killing someone.

As much as this book is billed as a team-up, it's really mainly told from Deadpool's point of view. In the first arc he agonized over his contract to kill Peter Parker, which he fulfilled but ultimately undid through some black magic. In this arc, while a lot of focus is on how Peter is basically going off on the deep end, it's Wade that faces the moral quandary of whether or not he should let Spidey cut loose or do everything he can to stop him. The ending can reasonably be described as predictable, but as with most stories nowadays it's the journey that counts, not the destination and both Kelly and McGuinness have given fans a story that, to my mind at least, will go down as a pretty memorable one. Kelly even managed the trick of milking something useful out of the much reviled "One More Day" storyline.

Considering that Kelly has written a number of Spidey stories prior to this one, though, the real star here is McGuinness, who was apparently as excited to draw the character as fans were excited to see him work on Marvel's single most iconic character. I'm so happy he did it that it's actually an item ticked off my bucket list; now all that has to happen is for Jim Lee to do even just a brief stint on a Spidey book.

Following this book over several months was a distinctly jarring experience considering the repeated delays and fill-ins, but it was to Marvel's credit that they didn't let any other artist step in to work with Kelly on this book, and reading the issues from start to finish is a much more pleasant experience, and I'm certain it will look spectacular in trade paperback form. I won't bother grading the individual issues anymore, but suffice it to say that as a whole, this arc is a more than decent read and a good addition to the Spider-Man canon (which the only canon I'm really familiar with as I don't follow Deadpool quite as much).

8/10

Truly Worth Championing: A Review of Champions Volume I

written by Mark Waid
drawn by Humberto Ramos (pencils) and Victor Olazaba (inks)
colored by Edgar Delgado


Following the events of Civil War II, three of the All New, All Different Avengers, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova (Sam Alexander) and Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), have all quit the team, disillusioned as they are with their former idols and mentors. Rather than just go their own separate ways, however, at the insistence of Ms. Marvel, the three of them try something else altogether: they form their own team. Together with Totally Awesome Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Viv Vision, daughter of the Vision, and the X-Men's Cyclops (Scott Summers), they are the Champions!

These kids aren't keen on slugging it out with supervillains of the day, though; they fight decidedly more mundane, "real world" threats like human trafficking, religious extremism in South Asia and even small-town racism. Even more notably, rather than just save the day by punching the bad guys, they do something even more remarkable; they help people find the courage and determination to help themselves.

This may sound like hyperbole, but I think I've been waiting for this comic book my whole life.

As much as I loved reading the adventures of Peter Parker and various other Marvel superheroes as a kid, it dawned on me fairly early just how different I was from the heroes whose adventures I read, beginning with the color of my skin as opposed to theirs.

It also occurred to me, early on, that the problems that my heroes faced, while occasionally were the sort of thing I could relate to, like Peter Parker's money problems, were, by and large not really the kind I or anyone I came into contact with on a regular basis faced every day. Over time, while I still enjoyed reading their adventures, the fact that the concerns they faced were far removed from the experiences in the world I lived in made it increasingly harder to read out of anything more than habit.

Also, as I got older I found myself increasingly annoyed by the tokenism I was seeing in entertainment in general, whether it was in the comics I read or the movies or television shows I liked to watch. Asians (when I was growing up) were virtually nonexistent in American pop culture, save for a few Chinese, Japanese, and the occasional Korean character, and it was perhaps this rarity that caused me to gravitate more towards African American characters, and even then, with few exceptions like Will Smith and Denzel Washington in the movies, I observed that entertainment was still largely a white man's world. In comic books, leading black characters were exceedingly rare and the few that showed up in Marvel Comics, like War Machine or Falcon, were usually sidekicks. Asian characters were virtually nonexistent, and the only Filipinos in the comics I read were the ones who drew them. After a while, I just gave up and decided to just read the darned things with no expectations.

In fact, so jaded had I become over the years that, even when Marvel started introducing a more ethnically diverse line of superheroes like the African American Spider-Man Miles Morales, the Latin American Nova Sam Alexander and the Pakistani American Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, I was almost entirely dismissive of them, thinking that they were nothing more than "PC" bait. I was relieved to find that the stories told by creators like Brian Bendis, Sara Pichelli, David Marquez, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa were quality narratives and about far more than some ham-handed effort at tokenism.

There was something different about Wilson's Ms. Marvel stories, though. As a female Muslim-American, Kamala Khan represented two key demographics that were not only underrepresented in mainstream comic books, but who continue to suffer a great deal of discrimination in the real world. Her stories, to my mind, even if they weren't about racism or Islamophobia or hate crimes, paved the way for a book that could address these questions head-on. Her character had the potential to be a lightning rod for controversy, but because of some really quality storytelling by Wilson and her team of artists, she instead became a rallying point for the kind of superhero fans didn't realize they needed: a non-WASP, non-male protagonist.

For all of that, though, her stories stayed conspicuously safe.

Leave it to comic book veterans Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos to finally grab the bull by the horns and tell stories that, all things considered, can only really be effectively be told with this cast of characters.

In the Trump era of reinvigorated racism, this book is as important to the pop-culture landscape as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's X-Men were to the civil rights turmoil of the 1960s. Waid is surely aware of the era he's evoking, here, as I have a feeling his inclusion of Cyclops in the lineup is a nod to that earlier advocacy. Sure, the stories being told here are a bit of a blunt instrument, but considering how dim a lot of Trump-loving comic book readers are, these stories may be exactly what the doctor ordered. Yes, the stories are preachy and without any subtlety whatsoever. No, this isn't Waid's best work by a long shot, but it is some of his most ballsy.

And yes, Ramos' work here is, well, as can be expected. It seemed to me that he was trying to refine his approach to Spidey when he rebooted The Amazing Spider-Man back in 2014 with Dan Slott, but here he's pretty much gone back to the big-eyed, gangly figures for which he's best known. The good news is that when he draws kids this way, as he did back in 2008 when he did a stint on Runaways, it works somehow. I'm still not a fan of his dubious take on human anatomy, but I must say he's got a good storytelling sense here.

I applaud Marvel for putting this book out every month. I'm glad they've decided to roll the dice with these characters, and that they've rankled the fanboys who think comics should be the way they always were.

I don't know how long Marvel will be able to continue publishing this title, but as long as they're publishing it, I'm buying it.

8/10

Late to the Party: A Review of Black Widow #12

co-written by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid
drawn by Samnee
colored by Matt Wilson

This review is over a month late, but I'm posting it anyway for some sense of closure.

Last March Chris Samnee and his co-conspirators that included writer Mark Waid, colorist Matt Wilson and letterer Joe Caramagna delivered the last issue of their twelve-run on Black Widow, which will probably be rebooted in a few months' time after the whole "Secret Empire" business has worked out. The last issue saw Natasha Romanov's deadly rival Recluse bring her six young recruits to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. at a remote facility, and this issue resolves everything. At the risk of sounding spoilery, suffice it to say that this issue, and the series in general, does not upset any character's status quo, which should give you an idea of how this ends.

When Samnee and Waid set up the climax to their year-long story with a threat to the very existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. I groaned out loud, and this issue is really no different as they trot out yet another well-worn story trope to wrap up all the loose ends.

As an exercise to help Chris Samnee get his feet wet with the whole writing thing, I think this series was definitely worth picking up. His art is better than it's ever been, and doing his own plotting has given him a degree of freedom I don't think he's ever had before. As a visual storyteller, this guy is right up there with the best of them, though I confess I am not a fan of the story he put together.

All told, I end the series with no regrets, but at the same time I hope that Samnee's next creative endeavor is something that manages to achieve the narrative as well as visual heights of his work with Waid on Daredevil.

6/10

Anticlimax: Black Panther #11 and #12

written by Ta Nehisi Coates
drawn by Chris Sprouse, Brian Stelfreeze

For the most part I genuinely enjoyed Ta Nehisi Coates' overtly political take on the Black Panther series, largely because of Brian Stelfreeze's distinctive art, and also because of Coates' discussion of government and of the deceptiveness of revolutionary movements. It felt like heady stuff for a comic book, and even though the discourse often got in the way of effective story pacing, I was willing to see the arc through.

Well, with issues 11 and 12 the revolution comes to a head as T'Challa and his allies, who include his newly-resurrected sister Shuri, Australian ex-Avenger Manifold, and Stateside recruits Storm, Luke Cage and Misty Knight, go head to head with insurgents Tetu and Zenzi and their army of insurgents. T'Challa has also won over, through the intervention of Shuri, his two rogue Dora Milaje Aneka and Ayo. Issue #11 presents the climactic confrontation, and in issue #12 the characters take stock of how it all went wrong in the first place, and what needs to be done from here. Some loose ends are left hanging, clearly baiting readers for the next story line.

I have to say, for a series that started with such promise and which contained genuinely interesting ideas, the climax it presented disappointed me quite a bit, both visually and thematically. The normally talented Chris Sprouse presented a rather subdued set of action sequences, and even Coates didn't bother to stage anything particularly dramatic, which is the sort of thing that would certainly be appropriate to close out a year's worth of stories with.

Issue #12 fares somewhat better than issue #11, as Brian Stelfreeze returns to help tie up the series' first "season," but I really couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed by such a muted conclusion to something that started with much fanfare. Still, even though Coates action narrative falters, his commitment to the conversation he started stays the course, and for that he deserves some credit, even though I, as a reader, have pretty much shown myself the door as far as collecting this series on a monthly basis is concerned. Maybe I'll come back for the trades, but for now, I'm done with this book.

6/10 issue #11
7/10 issue #12

The Story I've Been Waiting For: A Review of Daredevil #17

written by Charles Soule
drawn by Ron Garney
colored by Matt Milla

Two years ago, Mark Waid ended one of the longest runs on Daredevil that had been seen in the character's recent history, having relaunched the title scarcely a year before with artist Chris Samnee and colorist Matt Wilson. He left the character on a high note; Matt had just defeated the Kingpin, his relationship with Kirsten McDuffie was going strong, Foggy Nelson's cancer had gone into remission, and Matt had secured an eight million dollar book deal. At the end of the book, he was basically living it up in San Francisco. It was as close to riding off into the sunset, happily ever after, as a character in an ongoing series could ever get.

Months later, the book was relaunched in the hands of Charles Soule, with all of that having been completely wiped away. Matt was back in New York, working as an assistant prosecutor (and not a very effective one, it must be said), his relationship with Foggy was a cold one, while his relationship with Kirsten was a thing of the past.

What intrigued me as a reader, though, was that writer Soule constantly teased at how this status quo came undone. Was it a deal with the devil, Spider-Man style? No, Soule asserts quite quickly in this story that finally, finally answers the questions I've had since this book rebooted two years ago.

Matt narrates what happened to the warrior-priest he met in the last story-arc, and Soule is quite thorough in revisiting this era. He explores the implications of the fact that Matt has been outed as Daredevil, taking pains to point out the fact that, though Matt may be authorized to practice law in San Francisco despite his disbarment in New York, he no longer can as it compromises all of his cases. Basically, his new status quo as a rich and happy swinger with a beautiful woman on his arm is everything a reader would imagine it would be, until it isn't, and starts to get a tad boring. It is at this point that Soule ends the issue on a twist, with a teaser as to why things really started to unravel.

Interestingly, though, Soule frames the narrative through a Catholic confession, which is interesting because even though Matt technically isn't confessing his sins, clearly what has happened to him has burdened his conscience somehow, which makes the story all the more intriguing.

Garney departs from his scratchy noir-inspired style to picture Matt as he was at the end of Waid's and Samnee's run, surrounded by bright, vibrant colors. It's a welcome change from his usual style, and while I still much prefer Samnee's art, Garney does a commendable job of capturing the atmosphere that Waid and Samnee, with their "happy" take on Daredevil created.

This is a story I have been patiently waiting 16 issues to read, and I have to give credit to Soule and Garney for getting it off to a very, very good start.

9/10