Stopped, For Now: Unstoppable Wasp Unlimited Vol. 2

written by Jeremy Whiteley
illustrated by Alti Firmansyah, Gurihiru

Jeremy Whiteley's second Unstoppable Wasp series comes to a close, this time with a compassionate look on the challenges of being a teenage girl, whether it's because you're struggling with bipolar disorder, having a hard time coming out as gay to your authoritarian parent, or being recruited by a supervillain organization to fight their battles for them.

Nadia still grapples with her bipolar disorder, but with the loving help of Jan, her therapist, and her friends, the indefatigable members of G.I.R.L., she comes to terms with her condition and realizes that she cannot simply "conquer" it like she does other challenges in her life. In the meantime, G.I.R.L. member Shay, who is now in a relationship with fellow G.I.R.L. member Ying, struggles to come out to her overbearing soap opera actress mom. Finally, the agents of A.I.M. strike again, but this time the agents of G.I.R.L. won't be such easy targets.

Whiteley's story is nicely compact and, like I said earlier, compassionate, but it's not terribly compelling stuff. For one thing, there's a rather anemic subplot involving Mockingbird and special guest star the Winter Soldier which feels like a half-hearted attempt to goose sales a bit (not that Bucky is much of a draw), and apart from Nadia's and Shay's plots, there isn't really all that much going on, which feels like a bit of a contrast to the first volume, which had a lot more going on.

I liked the art, even though Gurihiru took a break for the first two issues, as Indonesian artist Alti Firmansyah turns in work that is pretty consistent with the overall vibe of the book. I was glad to have Gurihiru back to close out the story, though. These two deserve some A-list work, in my opinion, especially since this book's come to an end.

6/10

Savoring Spencer's Superior Spidey Streak: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #28

written by Nick Spencer
art by Kevin Walker (pencils) and John Dell (inks)
colors by Laura Martin

Nick Spencer's three-and-bit issue story featuring the all-female "Syndicate" comes to a close with a number of humorous revelations for the characters involved, and yet another unexpected team-up for Spidey following his already cringe-inducing team-up with supervillain Boomerang.

I quite liked how this arc shaped up over the last few issues, and I'm happy to say that Spencer ends it on a high note, pretty much banishing the bad taste that "The Hunted" left lingering in my mouth. This was a story full of humor and heart, and even though Spidey took a bit of a backseat here to characters like the Beetle, her gang and Boomerang, I surprisingly didn't mind. I quite liked Boomerang's zingers, and I have to say my curiosity's been piqued by his killer revelation about why Kingpin has it in for him, one which Spencer is keeping from us readers for the time being.

It helps, again, that Kev Walker and John Dell deliver some really strong art to wrap the issue up. If these guys aren't going to be the regular artists on this book, I hope they at least rotate every now and again with whoever is coming on board.

I know we only have a few issues left before Spencer unleashes his next big story arc, and while I'm still a little nervous about it considering what a hash he made of his grand Kraven story arc, smaller arcs like this have me cautiously optimistic for what the future holds.

8.5/10

Celebrating 80 Marvelous Years: A Review of Marvel Comics #1000

written by Al Ewing and Various
art by Various

I'm not the biggest fan of anthology comics, or of "jam" comic books which feature the works of different writers and artists crammed into one massive volume. Sometimes they work for me, and other times they don't. This issue, which presents a multitude of different stories with one story threading through many of them, is a little bit of both and in my opinion, at least it does manage to work.

Marvel Comics #1000 is an unabashed celebration of 80 years of Marvel's existence as a comics publisher, which started way back in 1939 when they were still called Timely Comics, and as a result readers are treated to characters who have appeared in the publisher's books dating all the way back to the Golden Age, with one-page stories as envisioned by top-flight creators, some of whom have never actually worked on a Marvel Comic book before like the incomparable Brad Meltzer, who had previously only ever worked for one of the Big Two, namely Marvel's Distinguished Competition.

More than just an anniversary bash, though, main writer Al Ewing, who writes the most content of the army of writers, uses the occasion to launch a new story, specifically one dealing with the mystery of the black mask, one worn by the Enclave who created Adam Warlock, and which may hold the key to the future of the Marvel Universe. As cliche as that may sound, I have to say Ewing does a fairly good job of selling it, embedding his underlying narrative thread in a way that doesn't disrupt the festivities happening all around.

It's hard to rate an issue like this with so much disparate talent on display, but I was really thrilled to finally see Meltzer work on a Marvel comic book, and on my favorite character no less, Spider-Man. I was also thrilled to see a number of other Spidey one-page stories, including a cheeky little comment on his origins by Into The Spider-Verse architects Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, as well as a much-welcome sequel/epilogue of sorts to Spider-Man vs. Wolverine by the original creative team of Priest and Mark Bright! For me the cherry on top, though, was finally seeing Marvel acknowledge, in a way, how regrettable the execrable "Sins Past" storyline was in a one-pager by the author himself, J. Michael Straczynski.

There's way more to the book, of course, than three pages of Spider-Man stories. It was really quite an impressive feat to pull this all together, and to weave a coherent narrative throughout all of this. Apart from Ewing, credit, I think, must go to Marvel editor-in-chief, C.B. Cebulski, who reportedly conceived this project, and the editors who pulled everything together.

On the downside, though, it was quite pricey and I can't quite bring myself to scream "it was worth every penny" but I can honestly say I enjoyed it quite a bit.

7.5/10

Enjoying Marvel-Produced Spidey the Only Way I Can (For Now): A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #27

written by Nick Spencer
penciled by Kev Walker
inked by John Dell
colored by Laura Martin

It's been a painful last few days with the news that Walt Disney Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment have failed to reach a new deal over the shared use of the Spider-Man character to replace the one reached in 2015 and that expired this year, as a result of which Spider-Man will no longer appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was in this context that I picked up the latest issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #27 basically out of habit, having been disenchanted with the title since Nick Spencer's meandering mess The Hunted concluded a few months ago. The last two issues, including the oversized #25th issue, weren't quite able to snap me out of my indifference, but there's something about this one that has inspired me to write, even if it's just a brief little snippet.

This issue is basically part two of a new storyline featuring an all-female team of supervillains led by the Beetle, and they're out to get Fred Myers aka Boomerang aka Peter's roommate, because Kingpin has put a bounty on him, and the only person around to even help the former Superior Foe of Spider-Man is, well, Spider-Man himself.

With its humor and its interesting art style courtesy of Kev Walker, this issue has piqued my interest, even though it's already the second part. I didn't realize how much The Hunted, with its bloated story and awful Humberto Ramos art, had turned me off to this book until this issue finally snapped me out of my stupor; I couldn't even enjoy the extra-sized issue #25 properly.

Anyway, the last issue felt a little slow out of the gate, as did the disjointed issue #25 which mostly teased future storylines, but this one, with its banter and action, plus some refreshingly different art from Kev Walker, really clicked with me. I am really, really glad to be rid of Ramos and I look forward to more fresh faces like Walker and upcoming regular artist Patrick Gleason. I started on this book last year because Spencer and Ryan Ottley promised a fresh take on this character, and this is the first issue in some time that really feels true to the spirit of that endeavor.

There's one issue to go before Spencer begins his "Kindred" arc in earnest, and after enjoying this issue, I feel cautiously optimistic once more, and I will stay this way for so long as Marvel keeps Humberto Ramos far, far away from this book.

8/10

Breaking Sports Cliches: A Review of Fence Volume #3

written by C.S. Pacat
drawn by Johanna the Mad
colored by Joana LaFuente

And so, the first year of C.S. Pacat's and Johanna the Mad's manga-inspired sports saga Fence finally comes to a close, with the Kings Row Boys School fencing team tryouts finally coming to an end and the fates of all of the aspiring fencers, including series protagonist Nicholas Cox, finally being revealed.

It's been an interesting year following this series, and if I'm honest, this series really has provided me with a welcome break from my steady diet of superhero comics. Funny thing is, I was never really much into sports-related fiction, even through while I was growing up movies like the Rocky series and Hoosiers were all the rage, so it really was just C.S. Pacat's storytelling that drew me in, and the honesty with which she imbues her characters. There's something really engaging about how she eschews many sports-story cliches, like the stoical team captain, the hot shot who never loses a fight, or my personal pet peeve, the Rocky-style comeback. It was nice to see that the story not only played out differently, but also in a way that would tend to reflect how things happen more frequently in real life.

This is clearly Nicholas Cox's story above all the others, but without going into spoilers it pleases me to say that at all times Pacat is keen to remind both Nicholas and the readers that it's not only his aspirations that matter. We're all familiar with the adage that everyone is the hero of his own story, and it's refreshing to see a lead character being a hero in someone else's story as well. We've been riding with Nicholas all this time, getting familiar with his obsessions and insecurities, but as the hero reaches this crucial point in the overarching narrative Pacat really gets to the heart of the pain and sense of rejection that drives him, and it is utterly compelling to behold. Not only that, but Pacat lets us glimpse a bit the lives of a lot of the supporting characters, like Aidan Kane, Eugene Labao and, only very briefly Seiji Katayama, who flies into a rage at the thought of his defeat against Nicholas' half-brother Jesse Coste.

Unfortunately, even with a nicely-scripted third act for this year-long tale, Fence Vol. #3 falls short of the potential it promised because more than at any other point in this series, Johanna the Mad drops the ball on the art. Her covers remain drop-dead gorgeous, of course, but the ratio of her "super-deformed" manga-esque characters to the more traditional, "serious" rendering of the story's characters is notably lopsided here, and it's not fun to look at after a few pages. It's not too different from her previous work but there's just way too much of it here, and it feels distinctly like taking shortcuts with the art. There are some panels that utterly stand out, such as Nicholas' reaction to his coach's declaration that she is proud of him, but in previous volumes pieces of art like this used to be the rule and not the exception. This is somewhat disappointing, especially when her work is measured up against the more polished work of the Gurihiru tandem over at Marvel's now-defunct Unstoppable Wasp series.

From this point onwards--and things are just starting to get really interesting--the story's format will change from monthly issues to OGNs, and I'm kind of hoping this will give Johanna the Mad a little more breathing room to produce the best art she can offer because Pacat's pretty much firing on all cylinders these days and deserves the best her artist can offer.

6.5/10

Legends Reunited: A Review of The Incredible Hulk: The Last Call

written by Peter David
penciled by Dale Keown
inked by Mark Farmer, Marc Deering, Walden Wong and Scott Hanna
colored by Peter Stiegerwald and John Starr

Of all the creators that have worked on the character of the Incredible Hulk since the character's creation over fifty years ago, apart from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby there are two arguably two names that stand out more than others, and that's Peter David and Dale Keown, who are to the Hulk what Chris Claremont and John Byrne are to the X-Men, what Frank Miller was to Daredevil, and what Byrne was to the Fantastic Four. What all of these creators have in common is that following Lee and Kirby (and Bill Everett, in the case of Daredevil) it was their work that really helped define these characters. It really is a pleasure to see David and Keown working on a Hulk book again after all these years.

Rather than have these legendary creators catch up with Bruce Banner and his giant green alter ego in his current status quo, David and Keown go with the "untold story" route, revisiting a time in the character's life when Betty Ross Banner, his wife, had just died (she got better eventually) and he was yet again suicidal. He calls a suicide hotline (hence the title) and shares a bit of his history with the counselor Veronica, but even as we get a bit of retrospective about his history with Betty, a new threat is just around the corner.

What defined Peter David's run, which spanned over a decade and involved collaboration with at least five different artists, was how he plumbed the depths of Banner's and Hulk's shared mind, and this came to a head with his run with Keown, which saw the birth of the "Professor Hulk" persona, which was basically Banner's and Hulk's ids merged into one. It's fitting, then, that instead of going for a particularly bombastic story to mark this nostalgic one-shot, they go for a more subdued approach. David's gift for dialogue isn't quite as evident here as it is in his stronger work, especially since he sets the story at a time when Hulk was less articulate, and as a result, Hulk gets a lot less exposure than I would have preferred, which means that Keown doesn't quite get to shine as much as he could. Still, it's a reasonably satisfying, if kind of forgettable self-contained story. No status-quo shattering going on here, and for those of us who just stopped by to reminisce (like me) that's just fine.

I kind of wonder at the choice of villain in this particular story, but I do recall the one time that David wrote this character, Keown wasn't drawing him, so perhaps this informed the choice. I don't know. I also found the cameo of a certain fourth-wall breaking box-office superstar a tad gratuitous, but I won't begrudge the creators their fun.

7.5/10

A Lesser Sequel to "Kraven's Last Hunt": A Review of "The Hunted" (MAJOR SPOILERS)

written by Nick Spencer
art by Humberto Ramos and various

Thirty-two years ago, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod created a story pitting Spider-Man against one of the goofier villains in his rogue's gallery, the leopard-print-wearing Kraven the Hunter, whose weapons arsenal included a vest that shot electric blasts out of its nipples. Together, they accomplished the extraordinary; in six issues they turned Kraven from a chuckle-inducing, ballet-shoe wearing ball of camp into one of Spider-Man's most fearsome villains...and then they killed him. It was a harrowing story that has aged very, very well and stands out as one of the best Spider-Man stories ever to see print.

A little over twenty years later, though, a brain trust of writers working on The Amazing Spider-Man, shepherding the character through his post-supernatural divorce story arc called "Brand New Day" came up with the ill-advised idea of basically raising Kraven from the dead in a story called "Grim Hunt," and not only did they bring him back, but they then included an irritating "curse" that prevented him from ever going to his grave again unless "the Spider," meaning Spider-Man, killed him.

I could be wrong but when I read about stories like this I get the impression that one reason that characters rarely stay dead in Marvel, no matter how poignant and effective their "death" stories are, is that every few years after a major death, some writer or editor fueled by nostalgia and egomania pitches to Marvel the "best (insert-dead-character-here) story" and corporate Marvel, wanting to bring in the bucks regardless of artistic integrity, give it the go signal. Kraven's poorly conceived resurrection feels like just such a situation.

Anyway, fast forward another eleven years to find Nick Spencer, current writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, who attempts to do the impossible by putting things right with Kraven while at the same time leaving the door open for more Kraven stories for the next cocky egomaniac years down the line. The end result of this is "The Hunted," a meandering mess of a mega-arc spread over about a dozen or so issues.

The long and the short of it is that Sergei Kravinoff, aka Kraven the Hunter comes up with a grand scheme to trap all animal-themed supervillains in Central Park with a bunch of robotic drones made to look like Kraven himself, all of which are being controlled by affluent game hunters. The twist is that the game hunters, who control the drones from a hidden compound, aren't as safe from harm as they think. In the midst of all this, Spider-Man is captured, drugged and brought into the picture, for a grim purpose that is known only to Kraven and his games master, the villainous Arcade.

To be clear, I agree with Spencer that Kraven's death at the end of "Kraven's Last Hunt" definitely needed to be reinstated, and I applaud him for taking the initiative to do it (just as I hope he will one day undo the despicable retcon of Norman Osborn siring children by Gwen Stacy), but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the story he wrote to do it.

For one thing, at over a dozen issues, the story is far too long and takes way too long to make its point. There's a continuing thread about how Kraven wants to punish weekend trophy hunters, who seem loosely based on the douchebags we see online posing with their safari kills. It's actually a worthwhile advocacy, one that could have been told without all of these hamhanded allusions to an older, and much better Spider-Man story. So Kraven's plan is basically to get Spider-Man to kill him, and in exchange he offers to spare all of the lives of people he holds in thrall. Now, why this took so many issues to tell is honestly beyond me, and the various subplots, such as Vulture assuming a leadership role of all the trapped villains, or the army of clones of Vermin, a crucial character from the original Kraven saga, don't really cut it. This arc was obviously intended as a big event in Spencer's tenure, but to my mind it falls far, far short of its intended impact, in no small part because it is much longer than it needs to be.

Another thing that unfortunately undercuts the story quite a bit is the lackluster art. I've already said many times how I feel about Humberto Ramos' art, and while he has his good days, apparently none of them were while he was drawing this story. When Nick Spencer came on board last year, I felt distinctly relieved that he was bringing in fresh blood in the form of Ryan Ottley, and groaned when he brought Humberto Ramos back after just five issues, and then had Ramos draw his single longest arc on this book yet, with an odd mishmash of other artists as well. Ottley shows up for the epilogue, but barely makes an impression. The original "Kraven's Last Hunt" worked as well as it did in no small part because of Mike Zeck's moody, wonderfully-rendered artwork, and Ramos and his gaggle of supporting artists don't even come close.

I didn't want to review the individual issues because I wanted to see where Spencer was taking this story, and considering how long he took to wrap things up and how much filler he jammed into it with all these ".HU" issues, I really feel that this could have, and SHOULD have been better given the story to which it was serving as a sequel. There is one individual issue that has genuine emotional resonance, and it's the death of Martin Blank, aka the Gibbon, but apart from that the rest of the story just feels so very hollow and a poor follow-up to the story to which it purports to pay homage.

That said, I like that Spencer finally seems ready to pay off the second thread he started with this new series, the one featuring the mystery villain with a penchant for centipedes. I quite enjoyed Spencer's first arc with Ottley, and even his issues with Ramos that featured Boomerang, so his goodwill isn't completely spent as far as I'm concerned, but it's definitely been diminished quite a bit, and I am hoping for a return to form.

5/10