Friday, May 13, 2005

Panel to Panel Reviews

Marvel Team-Up #8- One of my favorite things to do with people... is to let them talk it throws them off. People will say much more than they intend to, if you can keep a straight face. I have never quite read a comic like this... not really. I know Bendis likes his talking heads, but this is a bit much, this was like hearing your friend tell that same annoying story he always tells you.... and then repeating it for emphasis. This issue had Blade (The Vampire Slayer) meeting Punisher... while I can believe Punisher might not know there are vampires... I can't believe the readers of this title wouldn't. Blade was very much out of character I thought, he could have essentially been reciting from the phone book. If you were on the fence for getting this issue... don't. Wait for next month, it won't be as hard to catch up as I thought.

Marvel Adventures #3- I am not the target audience... I am not the target audience... I am not the target audience. Ok, for those who read my review of last month's issue.. you know that I had quite a few problems with it... in the aspect of it being a second issue... it made no sense. So, I won't bring that up for this issue, although it still proves a glaring flaw. There was alot of quick fixes in this issue... not surprising. Stan was a master of not only pulling a rabbit out of a hat... but he could seemingly pull several. I did laugh out loud at one point though, Spider-Man was pulled under water by Dr. Octopus while Aunt May watched on, and expressing her concern. J. Jonah Jameson only makes the comment that his cell phone finally has reception. Classic. I think I have a new phrase to pull through ... Sean McKeever is coming to write, well worth the wait.

Arana: Heart of the Spider #4- So, I had a mini rant the other day about not being able to let go of certain comics. This is one of those. It has been consistently... okay. Nothing spectacular. Which brings me to a certain web-headed cameo. Spider-Man was bound to show up at some point... plenty of foreshadowing has tied him to this title from the start. This was your classic Spider-mentor cameo, Spidey comes in for pep talk... the problem being? Well, he seemed to have a purpose for showing up... on top of that almost seeking out the young hero of this book. Yet it is never explained why... the whole issue left me less than impressed.

Fallen Angel #20- This was a finale for this series... sort of. I would like to see Marvel take on this title with Peter David, in their Icon line or something. It has already been strongly hinted that some other publisher aside from DC will pick this up. This issue served as a reintroduction for me, having only read a TPB. This title is dark... without being overbearingly so. The title bleeds corruption from all sides... and there is just enough great character interaction to make one want to follow this title to the ends of the earth. Nice finale ... if you could call it that.

Desolation Jones #1- Okay, some people just are not going to get this. No, I don't mean the comic (although that could be likely too). Some people are not going to get that this reminds me of Bogart... specifically "The Deep". Detective is contacted by an ederly rich man, detective is not your average good guy. One daughter completely full of herself, and far too out of the loop then she could ever know. And another daughter on the run and in trouble far too deep. I don't think Warren Ellis drew his inspiration from that, but I would like to think so. There are similarities, but nothing even remote to link the two. Desolation Jones is a fascinating character... in a fascinating world... tackling the most disgusting of tasks that the citizens of LA toss at him.

Mary Jane: Homecoming #3- I am surrounded with near perfect story telling. This story was aptly titled "The Regret Thing". Mary Jane has worked so hard (through two minis) for this one night. The most important night of her life... next to prom... next to her wedding... next to the birth of a child. Being the recluse that I am... I look fondly back on school dances. For several moments durning the year... these social mating rituals were life or death. Until you put it in the perspective of Spidey. I have to admit that in the little bit of time Spider-Man has in this title McKeever makes him absolutely and flawlessly shine. This is just a fun book, month in and month out.

Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects #1- You know the strangest thing? I knew what was going on... and it is not as if anything plot wise here is a surprise. Four heroes... mutated ... again (for some). It is no secret this is a license tie-in... if the hype did not give it away... the striking resemblance of two characters to their movie counter-parts will. Are characters out of character... yeah. Is it in continuity... no idea. Was it worth it... time will tell. I will give credit where credit is due some of the art is absolutely creepy. Kudos to the artist and colorist for unexpected results here.

Heh, nice spending time with you... blame it on crappy Friday night television.

2 comments:

Kev said...

Well, I might try Desolation Jones after all. I had nothing to pick up this week; but then, I have a pile of trades to keep me going, and some more on the way. So a quiet week for comics is no bad thing.

Will the Mary Jane thing be published as a trade, do you think? On one level, it seems so not my sort of thing, really, but as with other comics, you have wooed me with your descriptions of the issues you have reviewed.

Have a fab weekend :-)

Justin said...

Mary Jane: Homecoming should come to digest. The last one is probably still available somewhere. Alot of it's appeal is owed to McKeever just trying to tell a good story, alot of people either dumb it up too much, or get far to preachy.