written by Rainbow Rowell
illustrated by Andres Genolet (with Niko Henrichon)
colored by Matt Wilson
As much as I had enjoyed this resurrection of the Runaways ongoing so far, with the departure of series "co-resuscitator" Kris Anka, I was quite saddened and not really looking forward to the next volume without him. I was pleasantly surprised, then to find that his replacement Andres Genolet (who gets an ever-so-slight helping hand from Niko Henrichon) did a more than adequate job filling in his shoes.
Following their nearly lethal encounter with the children of the Gibborim, the Runaways manage to return to a semblance of their normal lives. Molly chases after Alex, who leaves the group dejected after having briefly rejoined them to fight the Gibborim, Chase tries to figure out how to repair the Doombot that one of the Gibborim destroyed, unaware that Gert, his nominal girlfriend whom he rescued from dying in the past, has started a relationship with Victor. Victor still has nightmares about his past and potential future, and Karolina, whose misadventures have resulted in her dropping out of college, experiences an existential crisis and decides on a new path, one she hopes Nico will join her on. Meanwhile, the remaining child of the Gibborim remains with the team, unable to eat anything they try to feed him and yet suffering from hunger pangs that, apparently, only millions of sacrificed souls will satisfy.
The book is packed to the gills with story and character development, and Rowell keeps things both engaging and brisk. As in the previous volume, what really keeps things engrossing is how she plumbs the depths of the characters. In particular, Rowell takes us inside the heads of Chase, Victor, and to a lesser extent, Alex. This story arc marks the first time, since Chase rescued Gert from her death back in the very first incarnation of the series when Brian K. Vaughan was still writing it, that Rowell has finally given Chase a away out of the extremely awkward situation he's been in for the last two years, as a 20-year-old with a minor for a girlfriend. It's a nice little sequence involving a supermarket attendant that played out innocently enough, but when Chase dismissed the girl's advances with "I have a girlfriend" as a reader who knew what Chase didn't, I found myself wincing, almost out loud. There's always been something distinctly tragic about Chase not being able to act on his feelings for Gert despite having saved her from the dead and despite the fact that she still loves him, and Rowell finally has this come to its awkward head.
Speaking of which, Victor, having survived the Gibborim attack, nonetheless still has nightmares about it, and vague visions (or fears) of the future. As a character, he used to be defined by his fear of what he could be, and in a sense, he still is, but now he carries the guilt over what he's done, in particular to Vision's deceased son Vin. Fortunately, he rises above both fear and guilt to save the relationships he values, in this case his friendship with the Doombot. But the specter of what he's done, and what he may yet do, still loom over him.
Speaking of people who've done some pretty terrible things, Alex Wilder's appearance may be brief, especially when compared to the last story arc, but Rowell manages to leave an impression with it nonetheless.
As strange as this may sound, even though he is clearly the same kid who betrayed his friends back in the BKV days, Alex is as engaging a character as he has ever been. Having kept him around for the entirety of the last volume, Rowell only keeps him around for a single issue as a sort of epilogue to the last arc, but manages to drop a nice tease for the first time: apparently Alex, being sort of undead, now has a kind of super power. It's not quite as spectacular as the demonic powers he put on display in his brief, ill-advised (in my opinion) turn as a supervillain over in Heroes for Hire (which, it turned out, weren't even really his), but it could have interesting implications in the future. Also, because of what has happened to him, Alex doesn't have a grand plan, whether it's to be a superhero or restart the Pride (again) or anything like that. He basically just finds his parents' old home and kind of just settles in. He still has basic human decency, as he shows when he gets a sexual predator to leave Molly alone (not that she needed the help) with his macabre powers, but Alex is clearly neither hero nor villain at this point, but just someone living with the aftermath of some really bad decisions, a trait he actually shares with some of Marvel's most celebrated characters (and with much of humanity, for that matter). I honestly can't wait to see what Rowell has in store for him.
It helps quite considerably that, contrary to my expectations, the artist who succeeded Kris Anka on this title, Andres Genolet, is not only hugely talented, but by and large he also captures the youthful vibe that has made the runs of not only Anka but the likes of Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa and even Humberto Ramos memorable. Genolet had some fairly big shoes to fill, and with the exception of one of the later issues in which the quality drops ever so slightly, he does it in fine style.
I had thought my collecting this series would wind down with Anka's departure, even though I've enjoyed Rowell's writing, but it looks like with another talented artist on board, I'm staying around for quite a bit longer.
8.5/10
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Making Amends: A Review of Ms. Marvel, Vol. 11, "Destined"
written by Saladin Ahmed
penciled by Minkyu Jung
inked by Juan Vlasco
colored by Ian Herring
It seems somehow wrong that I regularly review comic books as a hobby, and yet have neglected to review so much as single collected edition of the adventures of Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, the publisher's very popular Pakistani-American superhero, whose adventures I have been following quite diligently since 2015. However belatedly, I intend to right that particular wrong with this review. It's just a pity, though, that the volume I am finally reviewing happens to be the first one not written by Kamala Khan's co-creator G. Willow Wilson.
In essence, Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel and her family are kidnapped by aliens, who believe her to be a great being destined to free them from her oppressors. Of course, things are not quite what they seem and Kamala has to take a stand when she learns the truth. Also, one of her family members has a terrible secret which, when revealed, will shake Ms. Marvel to her very core.
I'll be honest; of the eleven volumes of Ms. Marvel that I've read over the years, I have to say this is among the weaker ones. Ahmed gets a lot of the core aspects of Kamala Khan right, like her kindness and brashness, but he does her no favors by dropping her into a story that can only be described as hackneyed, including the "twist" which is telegraphed from the word "go." I've seen very little of Ahmed's work, such as his Amazing Spider-Man annual from last year (which I quite liked) and his first volume of "Miles Morales" which I found to be just O.K. This ranks well below both of them in terms of creativity and storytelling craft, though I do think he has a gift for snappy dialogue. The art by Minkyu Jung is decent but a far cry from the renderings of the series' best, like co-creator Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa.
Still, Ahmed does pick up the various threads that Wilson left hanging and opens up one heck of a thread of his own, so it'll be interesting to see where he takes the character and her cast from here. Still, I had kind of hoped for a better first effort from this writer, whose work I genuinely liked.
6.5/10
penciled by Minkyu Jung
inked by Juan Vlasco
colored by Ian Herring
It seems somehow wrong that I regularly review comic books as a hobby, and yet have neglected to review so much as single collected edition of the adventures of Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, the publisher's very popular Pakistani-American superhero, whose adventures I have been following quite diligently since 2015. However belatedly, I intend to right that particular wrong with this review. It's just a pity, though, that the volume I am finally reviewing happens to be the first one not written by Kamala Khan's co-creator G. Willow Wilson.
In essence, Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel and her family are kidnapped by aliens, who believe her to be a great being destined to free them from her oppressors. Of course, things are not quite what they seem and Kamala has to take a stand when she learns the truth. Also, one of her family members has a terrible secret which, when revealed, will shake Ms. Marvel to her very core.
I'll be honest; of the eleven volumes of Ms. Marvel that I've read over the years, I have to say this is among the weaker ones. Ahmed gets a lot of the core aspects of Kamala Khan right, like her kindness and brashness, but he does her no favors by dropping her into a story that can only be described as hackneyed, including the "twist" which is telegraphed from the word "go." I've seen very little of Ahmed's work, such as his Amazing Spider-Man annual from last year (which I quite liked) and his first volume of "Miles Morales" which I found to be just O.K. This ranks well below both of them in terms of creativity and storytelling craft, though I do think he has a gift for snappy dialogue. The art by Minkyu Jung is decent but a far cry from the renderings of the series' best, like co-creator Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa.
Still, Ahmed does pick up the various threads that Wilson left hanging and opens up one heck of a thread of his own, so it'll be interesting to see where he takes the character and her cast from here. Still, I had kind of hoped for a better first effort from this writer, whose work I genuinely liked.
6.5/10
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Absolute Carnage Crossover: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #30 and 31
written by Nick Spencer
penciled by Ryan Ottley
inked by Cliff Rathburn
colored by Nathan Fairbairn
The line-wide Absolute Carnage crossover comes to the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, in which the mysterious new centipede-infested villain known only as Kindred makes a major move against Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, who, as a direct result, has to fight for his life, as well as those of Normie Osborn and Dylan Brock, against a symbiote-infused, possessed Norman Osborn.
Not being a fan of Carnage, I was grateful that Nick Spencer, apart from a page or two to provide exposition, provides very little connective tissue between this story and the main "saga," choosing instead to focus on Peter, and everything that he's lost to Norman Osborn, something that apparently he and his mysterious supernatural antagonist have in common.
These two issues, more than serving as a crossover for the Carnage event, serve a very specific purpose and that is to raise anticipation for Spencer's mystery villain to a fever pitch, and in this they are a rousing success. Spencer plays around with a non-linear storytelling format which is interesting but which doesn't quite click with me. It's been done better by other writers, in my opinion. Still, now I REALLY want to get my hands on the big story finally revealing who Kindred is. This character is apparently tied quite intimately into who Peter is. It irks me that Spencer will leave off his big reveal for another few months as the next couple of months will showcase a 2099 crossover, but I'm willing to wait. All I can say is that Spencer had better make the payoff worth the nearly two years we've waited to see who this character really is.
Also, and I know I'm going out on a limb here, I hold out hope that Spencer will finally take the opportunity retcon "Sins Past" out of existence once and for all.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ryan Ottley's art, which is the strongest it's been in quite a while. I suppose it helps that Spencer gives Ottley the opportunity to draw the gratuitous bloodletting he was used to depicting over in Invincible, (and what better way to draw lots of red fluid without running afoul of the book's age rating than by depicting Carnage's red symbiote?), but Ottley effectively nails the action beats as well, which kind of makes me wistful for what could have been had Ottley illustrated "The Hunted" instead of Humberto Ramos. I don't know how much longer Ottley will stay on this title before moving on to other Marvel books, but I sure hope we get more issues like this before he finally goes his merry way.
8/10
penciled by Ryan Ottley
inked by Cliff Rathburn
colored by Nathan Fairbairn
The line-wide Absolute Carnage crossover comes to the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, in which the mysterious new centipede-infested villain known only as Kindred makes a major move against Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, who, as a direct result, has to fight for his life, as well as those of Normie Osborn and Dylan Brock, against a symbiote-infused, possessed Norman Osborn.
Not being a fan of Carnage, I was grateful that Nick Spencer, apart from a page or two to provide exposition, provides very little connective tissue between this story and the main "saga," choosing instead to focus on Peter, and everything that he's lost to Norman Osborn, something that apparently he and his mysterious supernatural antagonist have in common.
These two issues, more than serving as a crossover for the Carnage event, serve a very specific purpose and that is to raise anticipation for Spencer's mystery villain to a fever pitch, and in this they are a rousing success. Spencer plays around with a non-linear storytelling format which is interesting but which doesn't quite click with me. It's been done better by other writers, in my opinion. Still, now I REALLY want to get my hands on the big story finally revealing who Kindred is. This character is apparently tied quite intimately into who Peter is. It irks me that Spencer will leave off his big reveal for another few months as the next couple of months will showcase a 2099 crossover, but I'm willing to wait. All I can say is that Spencer had better make the payoff worth the nearly two years we've waited to see who this character really is.
Also, and I know I'm going out on a limb here, I hold out hope that Spencer will finally take the opportunity retcon "Sins Past" out of existence once and for all.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Ryan Ottley's art, which is the strongest it's been in quite a while. I suppose it helps that Spencer gives Ottley the opportunity to draw the gratuitous bloodletting he was used to depicting over in Invincible, (and what better way to draw lots of red fluid without running afoul of the book's age rating than by depicting Carnage's red symbiote?), but Ottley effectively nails the action beats as well, which kind of makes me wistful for what could have been had Ottley illustrated "The Hunted" instead of Humberto Ramos. I don't know how much longer Ottley will stay on this title before moving on to other Marvel books, but I sure hope we get more issues like this before he finally goes his merry way.
8/10
Late Post: Spidey and MaryJane Sitting in a Tree...
written by Nick Spencer
drawn by Francesco Manna
colored by Carlos Lopez
Given that I'm posting this review at least a month late I was initially tempted to not post anything at all, but given the content of the story and what it may portend for Peter Parker and Mary Jane, I really couldn't help but drop a few lines to share my thoughts on this story.
Following the tumult of "The Hunted" and just before Nick Spencer finally starts to unravel the mystery of the walking centipede farm named Kindred, he and guest artist Francesco Manna tell a relatively quiet tale about Peter and MJ's relationship. MJ has just taken an acting job (for, unbeknownst to her, Mysterio) which will take her away from New York and out to the West Coast. Peter wants to see her off at the airport, but instead gets drafted by his long-lost sister, superspy Teresa Parker (who was introduced as a retcon in an original graphic novel over five years ago and who has periodically popped up since then) into a mission to save a fellow agent. Anyone familiar with Spidey's stories will know how this turns out.
On its face, this seems to be a pretty innocuous, throwaway story between big events, with decent art and some nice character moments, particularly a heartwarming couple of pages of dialogue between Peter and Aunt May, but thanks to the last-page revelation (which I won't spoil) I'd say there's a bit more to it than that. With the exception of "The Hunted" I've quite enjoyed Spencer's run so far, and I'm starting to understand why: like me, Spencer appears to have grown up on comics of the 80s, which would explain his misguided love letter to "Kraven's Last Hunt," and one of the seminal storylines of that era was--what else?--the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Is that where Spider-Man is headed? I sincerely doubt it; while Marvel endured far more grief for the infamous "One More Day" than they would have wanted, they did get to their end-goal of an unmarried Peter, and to be fair, in the eleven years that have passed since then, writers like Dan Slott have done a fairly respectable job of telling the kind of stories that Marvel had hoped to tell with a single Peter. Spencer may flirt with the idea of undoing "One More Day" and maybe one day he'll even pay off the last of the mysteries it teased, like the woman in red, but personally, I sincerely doubt Marvel will let him take the plunge.
It was fun to enjoy this little bit of nostalgia, though, which hearkened back a little bit to the David Michelinie/Todd McFarlane issues I enjoyed in elementary and high school. Next issue it's back to regular programming, with the Absolute Carnage crossover.
8/10
drawn by Francesco Manna
colored by Carlos Lopez
Given that I'm posting this review at least a month late I was initially tempted to not post anything at all, but given the content of the story and what it may portend for Peter Parker and Mary Jane, I really couldn't help but drop a few lines to share my thoughts on this story.
Following the tumult of "The Hunted" and just before Nick Spencer finally starts to unravel the mystery of the walking centipede farm named Kindred, he and guest artist Francesco Manna tell a relatively quiet tale about Peter and MJ's relationship. MJ has just taken an acting job (for, unbeknownst to her, Mysterio) which will take her away from New York and out to the West Coast. Peter wants to see her off at the airport, but instead gets drafted by his long-lost sister, superspy Teresa Parker (who was introduced as a retcon in an original graphic novel over five years ago and who has periodically popped up since then) into a mission to save a fellow agent. Anyone familiar with Spidey's stories will know how this turns out.
On its face, this seems to be a pretty innocuous, throwaway story between big events, with decent art and some nice character moments, particularly a heartwarming couple of pages of dialogue between Peter and Aunt May, but thanks to the last-page revelation (which I won't spoil) I'd say there's a bit more to it than that. With the exception of "The Hunted" I've quite enjoyed Spencer's run so far, and I'm starting to understand why: like me, Spencer appears to have grown up on comics of the 80s, which would explain his misguided love letter to "Kraven's Last Hunt," and one of the seminal storylines of that era was--what else?--the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Is that where Spider-Man is headed? I sincerely doubt it; while Marvel endured far more grief for the infamous "One More Day" than they would have wanted, they did get to their end-goal of an unmarried Peter, and to be fair, in the eleven years that have passed since then, writers like Dan Slott have done a fairly respectable job of telling the kind of stories that Marvel had hoped to tell with a single Peter. Spencer may flirt with the idea of undoing "One More Day" and maybe one day he'll even pay off the last of the mysteries it teased, like the woman in red, but personally, I sincerely doubt Marvel will let him take the plunge.
It was fun to enjoy this little bit of nostalgia, though, which hearkened back a little bit to the David Michelinie/Todd McFarlane issues I enjoyed in elementary and high school. Next issue it's back to regular programming, with the Absolute Carnage crossover.
8/10
Sunday, October 13, 2019
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
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
Thursday, September 5, 2019
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
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
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
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