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REVIEW: “Superior Spider-Man” #23

(Marvel Comics, 2013)

Review by Kenneth Kimbrough

Writers: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Pencils: Humberto Ramos
Inks: Victor Olazaba
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

Sometimes, all you want from a Spider-Man book is some symbiotes, spider-bots, and subplots. In this issue, Dan Slott and Christos Gage deliver that in spades. After the previous issue’s exposition-heavy script, I’m glad to see many of the story threads move forward. Continue reading

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REVIEW: “Black Science” #1

(Image Comics, 2013)

Review by Shawn Warner

Written by Rick Remender
Artwork by Matteo Scalera
Color Artwork by Dean White
Letters by Rus Wooton

I was out of breath by the time I reached the final page of Black Science #1, exhausted and elated I had just experienced sequential storytelling perfection.  Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera and Dean White have created Continue reading

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REVIEW: “Superior Spider-Man” #22

(Marvel Comics, 2013)

Review by Kenneth Kimbrough

Writer: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Pencils: Humberto Ramos
Inks: Victor Olazaba
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

It can sometimes be difficult to gauge the quality of a story arc from its first issue. If I were to make a list of things I’m sad we didn’t see in the inaugural meeting between Flash Thompson in the Venom identity and his hero, Spider-Man, then those very things could happen in the next issue. Continue reading

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REVIEW: “Captain America” #9

(Marvel Comics, 2013)

Review by Shawn Warner

WRITTEN BY:  Rick Remender
BREAKDOWNS BY:  John Romita Jr.
FINISHES BY:  Klaus Janson with Scott Hanna & Tom Palmer
COLOR ARTWORK BY:  Dean White

We are breathlessly approaching the conclusion of Rick Remender and John Romita Jr’s epic opening story arc, with one issue remaining the complex multi-layered plot shows no signs of slowing. Continue reading

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REVIEW: “Captain America” #7

(Marvel Comics, 2013)

Review by Shawn Warner

WRITTEN BY:  Rick Remender
PENCILS BY:  John Romita Jr.
INKS BY:  Scott Hanna & Klaus Janson
COLOR ARTWORK BY:  Dean White

There is light at the end of the tunnel but will Cap survive to reach it and if he does will he be in one piece, recent events in Zolandia would make this a tough call. Issue number seven begins with a flashback two years prior to the events currently taking place. Continue reading

REVIEW: “Uncanny Avengers” #4

(Marvel NOW!, 2013)   -   Reviewed by Feral Fang

Uncanny-Avengers-4I should begin this with saying I am one who really enjoyed last year’s “Avengers Vs. X-Men” crossover event, and honestly think it was one of the most fun events since the whole ‘House of M’ imaginative craziness.  That said, I am very excited and surprised at how Marvel has used the large number of crossovers it has had in the past decade or so and woven so much of them into current continuity.  Titles from all over the Marvel spectrum have been the direct result of these events and major story arcs, like the “New Avengers” focus on the Illuminati, “Civil War” still being mentioned and the ramifications still felt.  This is the kind of Marvel Universe they had always teased at since I was a kid.  Instead of guest starring roles, hero-vs-hero battles, and team-ups to integrate the Universe, it feels to me like they have done a damn good job running the threads from these into the titles they have today.  Which brings us to this title, “Uncanny Avengers”.  This is one I came in a little late on, but since issue #2 I’ve had nothing but excitement for this book.  I really enjoy the ‘casting’ so to speak, and feel they have already become a cohesive team.  I was at first annoyed at Captain America being a member, but when he named Havoc as team leader I felt a bit better about it.  It still bothers me a bit, but - hey! - it’s an “Avengers” related title, so you get what you get.  Mainly, Cap and/or S.H.I.E.L.D.  And that’s fine.

The first arc for “Uncanny Avengers” have been a blast, and that’s both a pun and a truth.  After the events of “A vs. X”, Professor Xavier is dead, and the Red Skull has a plan - take Xavier’s brain, somehow attach it to his own, and gain Professor X’s psychic powers.  The ‘Uncanny Avengers’ team, while being formed as a sort of publicity stunt to show the world mutants and humans can work together in peace, quickly finds themselves in their first adventure - and one that just might kill them.  Red Skull, using the powers of Xavier’s brain as a device for mind control, sets his S-Men and the now-enthralled civilians of the surrounding area against the team, and even mutants as a whole.  As people are given the ability to see the mutant in people who may or may not know it, they become a mob of murder, beatings, and blood.  Heroes are beat to bulging versions of themselves, a God is controlled by Skull - so much goes bad in the first three issues that it left me waiting for this newest one with an almost ‘happy panic’.  So, I got it, and read it.  And, even with some things that stuck out in a bad way, I really, really enjoyed it.

Crafting such a smooth and excitingly told story in only four issues is a feat for any writer, I’d imagine, but Rick Remender once again rises to the occasion.  The characters, while well known already, have found a new space to grow in this title, and Remender has used it to it’s maximum potential.  Rivalries and tempers still flare from “A vs. X”, Havoc’s fear of failure is strongly developed, and given even more depth with a flashback scene of young Alex and Scott, surviving a horrible situation.  In that tiny scene it explains the brother’s constant struggles without needing more (for now), or not being enough.  The writing and script, through all four issues, is just like that, as well.  Not too much or too little, just a well written arc with some very interesting character development and high-end action and drama.  It really hits you as this story unfolds, the scale and scope of what is happening, and by the time you arrive at issue #4 you feel like you’ve been through the same violent and disturbing fight the team themselves had just been through.  The story is rough, takes no prisoners, and is as brutal as it needs to be.  Again, there’s that balance.

I do have one beef with the writing, and that’s in the way Remender handles Cap.  As stated, I know it’s almost always a guarantee that he will be in any “Avengers” oriented book in one fashion or another.  It’s his crew, I get that.  But a lot of times, and especially in this title, he never really feels like more than a cardboard cut-out of Captain America, even when he fights aside or within whichever team.  That’s why it disappoints me so much in this particular comic, because of the great character building that the title is filled with.  Captain America has been around a long time, and his story and character has been explored in more ways than most comic book characters in history, but there *has* to be more, or something else you can add to the legacy.  Really, there has to be growth, which I don’t see at all in “Uncanny Avengers”.  It’s just stereotypical Cap doing what Cap does.  The entire situation around him is becoming worse than a nightmare, and the only character not written like they’re actually in the midst of such a battle is, of course, Cap.  It’s awkward, and makes me wonder why he’s even here in the first place.

My main problem with this title is, no matter how much I love it and enjoy reading it, I can’t get around John Cassaday’s art.  His art is workable, and isn’t exactly horrible or even bad, it’s just boring.  Sadly, as the issues go onward, his work gets a bit worse each issue, until we get the seemingly hyper-rushed mess that is the art in this fourth issue.  Some scenes look pretty good, but then you’ll get a handful of panels that look more like rough sketches that were accidentally inked.  His work is mostly clean and clear, as it tends to usually be, but some of the work in this title has made me even less of a fan of his, and to be honest I wasn’t really one to begin with.

This title is awesome, fun, huge, and deeply character driven in the down-time.  It is one I will be gladly buying as they’re released.  I just wish they’d get somebody else on the artwork.  Sorry, Cassaday, but you and Cap are the weight on this otherwise effortless comic.

WRITING:  8 / 10

ARTWORK:  6 / 10

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:  7.5 / 10

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REVIEW: “Captain America” #2 (Marvel NOW!)

(MARVEL NOW!, 2013)   -   Reviewed by Feral Fang

Captain-America-Marvel-NOW-2-cover-665x1024The Marvel Now! ‘Captain America’ title keeps getting better and better, and I was already excited after the first issue, so this makes me happy.  Opening up one year after the end of issue #1, we find Cap and his new side-kick roughing it - no shelter, hardly any food, dangers around every corner.  Steve Rogers has grown long hair and a beard, and the boy he is protecting (Ian) also sports a more aged look, even with it only being a year that has passed.  This shows you how much the two have gone through in the past 12 months - the battles and the hunger has nearly broken them, causing Cap to momentarily consider ending their lives.  He only toys with the idea for a split second before regaining his composure, but it was an option for a second, that’s how bad things have gotten for them.  Still trapped in Dimension Z, they deal with dangerous sand storms, a hostile environment on all fronts, and an attack by ‘the Mutates’, creatures that resemble how it might look if you mixed the Brood with Venom.  Genetically engineered ‘evil’, these creatures have varied powers and vehicles with which to attack.  This fight leads into an awesome creature reveal, which then leads us to the end of the issue, with both Cap and Ian in a very deadly situation.  The writing by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr.’s artwork are still perfectly executed, and I was excited to see more flashbacks to the younger Steve Rogers, the vulnerable and powerless kid with the world crashing around him.  The character study underlining the main storyline is great and flows perfectly from scene-to-scene.  This is still my favorite Marvel Now! title so far, and once again the team behind this book have created something really special.

- 5 out of 5 Murder-Slices

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REVIEW: “Captain America” #1 (Marvel NOW!)

(MARVEL COMICS, 2012)   -   Reviewed by Feral Fang

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I have never been much of a Captain America fan.  I guess I just always found him to be cheesy, either in character or his costume, or even a mix of both.  I used to regard Superman in the same way, but that changed over time to a full-on love, and the same thing is happening for me with Captain America.  Mostly based on his steadfast ‘voice of reason and safety’ position during the whole “Avengers Vs. X-Men” and it’s lead up story lines, since I’m not exactly all that well versed on his comic adventures.  The film “Avengers” made up for the somewhat crappy earlier Cap film, so I’m sure that helped, as well.  Either way you look at it, Marvel NOW! has launched with Captain America #1 being one of the main titles, and this is a book of high quality.  The pulp-y feel of this title (heightened by the first ‘present day’ scene of Cap fighting in a WWII era bomber) brings a timelessness to Cap, making it seem all at once his past and our present.  A large part of this perfectly crafted first issue is the always awesome John Romita Jr., who seems able to capture any setting or character without it looking awkward or out of his artistic range.  He’s been quite the fun artist to watch - from the old flat noses he used to have on just about every character’s face, to the damn beautiful work he’s done in Amazing Spider-Man.  I’ve enjoyed his work throughout, and this was no exception.  With the amazing Klaus Janson on inks, the images jump off the page, powered by the perfectly rendered artwork.  I was surprised to see the book open on a flashback scene to the 1920′s, with Steve Rogers/Captain-to-be as a child.  His father is in the middle of abusing Steve’s mother as he hides under the kitchen table.  What struck me the most was the Father’s mention of ‘ever since we moved to this country’, and how they were Irish immigrants.  I had never seen this portrayed in such a way before, and it struck me - Captain America, the old-time, classic American figure, was probably the first of the family to be born in the United States (he’s rather young in the flash back), but it’s that idealistic dream of this country, the one never realized, where every nationality, race, etc. meant nothing as far as status or worth. America was you and them, all of us as one solidified country.  It was a nice idea, and by now mostly nostalgic in its truth, but that was the dream.  Having Steve Rogers as a part of one of our country’s experiments with mass-immigration, that wonderful dream of a ‘melting pot’, makes him all the more American, in my eyes.  Rick Remender’s script is tightly woven, and a damn good story, if a bit quick to get to some scenes.  If you’ve seen any of the advertising for this book (and there was quite a lot), you know that this first adventure has Cap traveling (not by choice) to a place known as ‘Dimension Z’, an unearthly ‘Dimension’ where he will have to fight to survive.  This is actually one of the things that made me so excited to get my hands on this - I had wondered how they would treat the new title, and this premise is both unique and creative in many ways.  Take Cap out of his element.  Awesome.  I recommend a lot of books on here, but if you are even remotely interested, I’d say go for it - jump in the ride and see where it takes you. You might be very happy you did.

- 5 out of 5 Misplaced Superheroes

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