This Two Week's Comics! July 1 & 8

Yeah, so I went on a mini-vacation last week and missed updating you on the comics I bought.  Now you get two weeks worth and I get to tell you about some really great comics!  Let's not waste time, let's get right to it!

We'll start with the second issue of A-Force.  I was pretty interested in where this was going and the second issue didn't really disappoint.  I think the weakest part of this series is Battleworld itself.  The A-Force team is very interesting, but the "rules" of Battleworld both set the stage for the action and restrict the potential for what the team could be.  Super-hero teams need to work in a world that is grounded with known rules and status quo.  When the world that serves as the backdrop is still very new and a jumbled mix of other worlds, it makes it hard to fit the new team in a proper context.  I think I'll like A-Force more post-Secret Wars, but I'll stick with the team until we get there.



Next up, another second issue, Starfire #2.  If you recall, this was another "wait and see" comic that was going to be purchased solely on the value of the cover.  Well, obviously the cover was good enough to warrant a purchase and the interiors don't disappoint either.  If you are looking for a lighthearted alien super-hero comic, this will scratch that it.  I'm in.

Back to Secret Wars action with what might be the best mini-series of the lot.  1872 is the Old West, Marvel style, but very low on the steampunk or super-powers that you might be worried about.  Based on the first issue, this is a straight Western, just with characters you know.  Steve Rogers is the Sheriff, Tony Stark is the local inventor, and the Kingpin is the Mayor.  Things get dicey when Red Wolf wanders into town with a mission.  This might be the best comic I have bought in two weeks.  Highly recommended!  Can't wait for the next issue!

And before we leave the realm of Secret Wars satellite titles, let's take a look at the let-down of the week: Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows.  The first issue was a little shaky, but I was ready to give it a chance.  The second issue didn't honor that chance.  I am now more convinced than ever that Dan Slott has no idea how to write Spider-Man or Peter Parker.  And, just like with A-Force, the fractured world of Battleworld is far too strange to provide a reliable background for really good storytelling.  Even so, this comic went from rocky to disaster in two issues.  This was a chance to really see the Peter Parker everyone wants, the one with a wife and child and the burden of still being Spider-Man.  Slott kind of gives us that story, but Battleworld complicates things unnecessarily and anything Slott may have been trying to do doesn't stand a chance.  Couple that with his failure to understand the characters he is working with and you've just got a mess.  I've committed to my comic shop to buy this entire series, but I'm going to see if I can get out of it.

With that out of the way, we can now turn to a couple of winners.  First, Princess Leia #5.  A great finish to a great series.  This story reaches it's conclusion in a very satisfying way.  Unlike the other two Star Wars launch titles, this comic simply set out to tell an adventure starring Leia Organa, not shock you with its incredible "Star Warsiness." I'll say no more and suggest you go out and read the whole thing start-to-finish and enjoy!

And when you've finished Princess Leia's series, pick up Lando #1.  In the exact same vein, this series seems to be satisfied to tell a great Lando solo tale (well, Lando and Lobot...).  Basically, this is a heist story with tons of Billy D level suave and smooth.  I had confidence in Charles Soule, one of the best writers in comics today and he did not betray that confidence. Staying very true to the character and not shoving Star Wars up your nose at every turn, this comic looks poised to pay out big returns!  Go get!

Which brings us back to "Do." And by "Do" I mean Secret Wars #4.  This is a big issue in the series.  With the set-up concluded in issue #3, we finally get some action and important action at that.  Since most of what happens is a big spoiler, all I will say is that the core series is far better than most of the satellite series I have read.  Secret Wars is a big event and it has everything a big event needs.  Thus far it has been pretty satisfying.  I see what Marvel was going for with the whole company-wide mega event, but now that we are into it, maybe this would have been better as a maxi-series that relaunched the entire universe, rather than taking the universe with it.  But, that's a bigger discussion.  On the small scale, the Secret Wars series is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of the Marvel Universe.  (I opted for this really cool Captain Marvel, or is it Ms. Marvel, who can tell these days..., alternate cover because I thought it looked way spiffier than the original cover)

And that will do it for these two weeks.  Some pretty good stuff overall.  If you are looking for solid reads, go get 1872 and Lando #1, and maybe chase it with Starfire.

All-New, All-Different Reaction to Marvel's New Line-Up

I'm reading all kinds of inside-the-industry responses to Marvel's 45 title post-Secret Wars line-up this week.  All most all of it glowingly positive.  Everyone seems to be excited about this creative team's take on this, or the mixed-up roster for that X-men team, or esoteric character Y getting his/her own comic.  And while I admit the information dump is a lot to take in, this old school comics fan isn't quite so ready to ask Axel Alonso to marry him.  (I have a few emails from Axel from back in my letter writing days when he was getting started at Marvel, so I feel like I have an "in" if nuptials are in order).

My initial reaction was almost entirely negative, jaded skepticism.  One discussion with my local comic shop owner and that skepticism has been tempered with some guarded optimism and a slightly more open mind.  Listen, I'm going to be honest with you, long-time readers know that I have lost a LOT of faith in the past 10 years.  They absolutely destroyed my favorite character (Spider-Man) beyond recognition, and they seem to have no idea how to handle the rich history or their universe.  It is VERY hard for me to have a completely open mind for anything Marvel does.  When you have been burned as badly as I have, you're just not going to get unbridled enthusiasm.  I think anyone who honestly sits there and tells you that you are looking at 45 issues of pure gold is lying to you.  There are dogs in this lot.  I promise.

So, in the interest of doing more than just writing a bitter, scathing critique of Marvel's new line-up, I decided to wait a few days and chew on the big picture, then give you a quick-hit review of my first impression of each of the 45 titles.  I know it sounds like a lot, but all we really have to go on are some covers, some blurbs, and a couple of interviews, so some of these are going to be pithy at best. At the very least, maybe I will be able to provide some much needed counterpoints to all of the industry cheerleading that is going on out there.  You'll also notice that I am far less up the butts of the creators involved than most of the people out there.

Carnage:  Why does Carnage get his own comic book?  I know he's been a bit of a fetish for Marvel lately, but I just don't see this character carrying an entire comic, even with the legendary Gerry Conway at the helm.

Venom: Spaceknight:  I am so over Venom there really isn't much more to say.  Honestly, the character lost something the minute he became the Lethal Protector.  Larsen ruined him with the tongue and once he left Eddie Brock, there was no reason for him not to just become Carnage.  Now, he's off in space doing god knows what?  Is he still Flash Thompson?  I'll pass.

Ultimates:  Galactus and Black Panther are together on a super-hero team and you expect me to pay money for that?  No.

Web Warriors:  I'm going to call it now, this book does not see an issue #5.  Peter Porker?  In a universe with "real" human people, we have a Fred Hembeck cartoon.  Never mind the rest of the "Spider-verse" nonsense that is here, Spider-Ham is the final straw.  I don't even think the fan-ravenous Spider-Gwen can save this mess.

Spider-Man 2099:  I would be all over this one, actually, but the "Smack to the Future" blurb is so blowful that any excitement I had gets undermined.  I am hoping Peter David will prove me wrong.

Spider-Woman:  If you are 8 months pregnant and you even think about doing anything super-heroic, then you are a bad person.  Shock value will get everyone in the door, but I'm not convinced that there is more here.

Daredevil:  DD is one of those characters where I honestly feel that every story has already been told for Matt Murdock. Unless you just drop him back to street level and let his heroics be the outlet for his need for justice that is not met by his lawyering by day, you really can't do more to DD than has already been done. There is some intrigue that results from the Gambit-esque protege, but that's about all.

Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D.:  This one is so bizarre it will either work like nobody's business or it will be done before Christmas.  I like the line-up of monsters, but I'm not convinced the premise works.

Amazing Spider-Man:  Like with Daredevil, all of the good Peter Parker stories have been told.  All of the best ones were told before issue #401.  Marvel has finally admitted this and they've just gone ahead and made him Iron Man, down to having Spider-Man be PP's body guard.  Yes, it's that bad.  I'm already working out the retcon for this one.  Dan Slott has had a long run on Spider-man comics, but he's done very little that demonstrates he understands the character at all.  I can't believe I'm going to say this, but they should have left Doc Ock's mind in there.

Spider-Man:  Our only hope for a good Spider-Man comic lies with Miles Morales.  He's still a kid, I think, and he's still street level, I pray.  This is the only chance we have.

Ant Man:  I'm ready to skip over this one, but the supporting cast of C-List villains is giving me pause.  If it's handled correctly, this might be the dark horse of the lot.

Silk:  I know nothing of Silk.  I gather she is a shining beacon of goodness that emerged from the smoking pile of crap that was "Spiderverse," but I honestly know nothing.  It's the taint of Spiderverse that keeps me from seeing what this is all about.  I'm sure I'm missing something, but again, the taint.

Uncanny Avengers:  Let's reach into our character grab bag and the first 6 characters we pull out, we'll team with Deadpool and Spider-Man because those two sell a LOT of comics.  No.

Uncanny X-men:  Pick 4 mutants that no one cares about (sorry Psylocke) and let's team them with Magneto.  No.

All-New Wolverine:  Never mind the fact that, if this comic book makes it, a name change will be in order in a couple of years, I've never cared for X-23 in any way, but I am heartened to see a status shift handing the Wolverine mantle off to a different character, even if it is a full grown daughter from another universe, time line, dimension, something.

All-New X-men:  Again with the name thing, but honestly if an X-men comic has a chance, it's this one.  The 60's X-men were an interesting gamble when they were brought into the current Marvel U, and they were a fresh commentary on how dumb the X-men had become.  Can they avoid the same fate as those they came to mock?

Extraordinary X-men:  Look pretty ordinary to me.  And Ramos cartooning up the art chores will not help.

Old Man Logan:  This one is likely worth reading.  Everyone is nuts over this grizzled older version of the furry runt, so there is probably something here worth seeing.  At the very least it's a fresh take on a character that has been done to death.  (why no Old Man Peter Parker?)

Nova:  He's never been able to carry a book before.  Why now?

Karnak:  Another book that is so unlikely that it will work or flop right out of the gate.  Warren Ellis is capable of doing some great stuff here, but I'm not sure Karnak is the right platform.  It will take Paul Jenkins level work to breath life into this character.

Hawkeye:  This is another case of "50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong."  I'm willing to give this one a pass just on the fan excitement.  Will I read it?  Probably not.

Sam Wilson: Captain America:  I don't know why we need the "Sam Wilson" part of this, but I'm pretty excited to see a real successor to Steve Rogers that makes sense.  I only hope they commit to it and really give Sam a chance to be the great Cap I know he can be.

New Avengers:  You know who's counter-culture popular right now?  Squirrel Girl. Can she carry a team comic?  Maybe, but just in case, let's toss in Hawkeye and the Young Avengers.  No.

Illuminati:  Bendis so loved the Hood that he made him way cooler than he ever should have been.  But he had his day in the 00's.   This one doesn't get into the double digits.

Scarlet Witch:  And the Vision also gets his own comic.  Neither one should be able to carry a solo book.  Untapped potential?  Maybe.  Riding the coattails of House of M and hoping for a popularity resurgence?  Likely.

Star-Lord:  Guess who's red hot popular right now:  Guardians of the Galaxy.  Guess who the leader is?  Star-Lord.  Let's stretch the readership extra thin by giving him his own comic.  If they make him Space Han Solo, they have a chance.

Guardians of the Galaxy:  The curse of Venom ruins this for me.  I liked the "original" new team back in '08, but this has morphed into something I cannot recognize.  And the original original Guardians fan in me is screaming for justice.  No.

Spider-Gwen:  I know the fans are all hot and bothered about this, but for me, Gwen Stacy fell off a bridge and died in EVERY MARVEL UNIVERSE ever.  Having her become Spider-Man (woman?) is the dumbest thing I can think of, apart from her having kids with Norman Osborn.  She wasn't anywhere near the accident that created Spider-man, alternate universe or no.  And calling her Spider-Gwen is incredibly stupid too.  Fans are hungry for more Gwen Stacy, I get it.  That's what caused the whole clone saga which, in light of the past 20 years, now looks like a Marvel Masterwork.  It may be well written, it may be popular, but to me any thing that resurrects Gwen Stacy diminishes both her and Peter Parker.  I just can't go with you on this one.

Ms. Marvel:  I know next to nothing about this one, but I give Marvel props for trying to shake up the status quo.  Not enough there for me to be interested though.  It's possible this one just isn't for me.

Drax:  Maybe this is the new Silver Surfer comic for those looking to get their cosmic fix?  None for me thanks.

Angela:  Asgard Assassin:  The best thing Marvel has done in the past decade is acquire a new character they hadn't already written every possible story for.  Now they've mixed her in with Marvel's resident, accessible godhead? I'm in.

Howard the Duck:  Didn't work in the '80's.  I see no reason why he works now.

Deadpool:  If there is one character who defines all that is wrong with Marvel Comics it is this one.  Ever since they decided he would break the 4th wall and be a commentary on comic books, he became a never ending Jay Leno monologue: not quite actually funny, but funny enough to keep going long past the natural end of the gag.  Any attempt to actually develop the character is undermined by his self-awareness.  People will buy this for the same reason plenty of people watched Leno, but that doesn't mean either one are actually worth watching.

Squadron Supreme:  Has this long suffering team finally found a regular comic they can call home?  Maybe, if you like D-List Avengers who walk the line between super-hero and anti-hero.  In the past that has been hardly anyone...

The Mighty Thor:  I am so glad this isn't called "She-Thor" or something miserable.  Still, it's Thor, just the title passed to Jane Foster.  Probably worth a look in the post-Secret Wars era.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I can't wait to read a boring comic book based on a boring TV show.  Oh, wait.  Turns out I can.

The Vision:  I like the Vision more than I like the Scarlet Witch, but I haven't really followed the character in years. Is he still a kid?  I'll probably thumb through this and then make a call.

Uncanny Inhumans:  I like Charles Soule.  I'm bored of the Inhumans.  For my money Paul Jenkins had the first and last word on this group.  But I still like Charles Soule.

Contest of Champions:  If this is what it looks like, then the Maestro is going to pit Marvel characters against one another in gladiator style combat.  If that's what this is, and that's all there is to it, I'm in.

Captain Marvel:  Just not a character I have ever had much affinity for.  If she's your favorite, then I hope they do her justice.

All-New, All-Different Avengers:  Why is Miles Morales on this team of otherwise heavy hitters?  Because the Avengers cannot exist without a Spider-Man, dammit.  Spider-Man means sales.  Otherwise this is a strong team.  But Miles has school.

Doctor Strange:  If I had to pick a hyper-stylized artist to like, it would be Chris Bachalo.  I've liked his Doctor Strange in the past.  Let's hope the Sorcerer Supreme can make another go at a regular comic.

Totally Awesome Hulk:  I hear it's not Banner.  Speculation is that it's Amadeus Cho.  As long as we are done, done, done with all of the Red Hulks, Purple Hulks, Yellow She-Hulks, and so on, I'm willing to give the Hulk another look.  But you have to promise me we are done with all of that.

A-Force:  I'm kind of liking this during Secret Wars, so if I still like it when Secret Wars is over, I'll likely keep going.

Invincible Iron Man: We already have an Iron Man book in this announcement.  It stars Spider-Man.  This book is redundant at best.



So all in all I'm looking forward to about 4 of these books, Spider-Man, Contest of Champions, Angela, and Captain America.  There are a lot of iffy titles, and plenty of outright "no thank you" books out there.  It will be interesting to come back in a year and see what still stands.  My bet for first blood is Web Warriors.  That thing has Slingers written all over it.  If you haven't seen all of the covers and blurbs for all 45 announced titles, you can check them out at CBR here.

The Original All-New, All-Different...

The PURGE: Marvel Comics Presents #49

I still recall purchasing this comic book.  It could not have been more exciting.  My (then) favorite artist drawing my all-time favorite hero and a popularity-juggernaut mutant.  The cover alone was staggering to my teenage brain.  Well balanced, striking, with both characters large and bold against a background of webs, this thing practically leaped out into my hands.

The interiors were equally awe-inspiring.  Honestly, apart from a few issues during the Return of the Sinister Six storyline in Amazing Spider-Man, this might be some of Larsen's best work from this era.  I'm going to spend this entry gushing about the art, so be forewarned.  The story (and the additional stories in the comic) are really secondary to the quality of the artwork put out in the feature.  Briefly, some bad guys have kidnapped a young mutant and it is up to Spidey and Logan to liberate her.




Maybe it's Joe Rubenstein's inks, which are a perfect compliment to Larsen's pencils, or maybe Larsen was just on fire at this point in his career, but in these scant 8 pages are some of the best drawings of Wolverine and Spidey I have seen from this era of comics.  Check out this panel of Wolverine and Spider-Man bursting into action:

Spider-Man's anatomy is absurd, a trademark of Larsen's tenure on the character, but it's a good absurd.  It's dynamic and spider-like, only with half the appendages.  And check out Logan at front.  Sure, that left thigh is kind of crazy, but man, what a splash!  He's mad, he's ready for action, and he's just busted through the ceiling of a seaside warehouse.  This one panel alone tells you this is going to be one hell of a rumble.

Since Marvel Comics Presents is basically Wolverine's comic at this time, the web-head takes a back seat in the action, but he does get one exceptional solo panel that is less exaggerated and more traditional, but no less striking and awesome:

It should be noted that Larsen also wrote this story and honestly handled the webslinger's zany dialogue without overdoing it, or relying on instantly outdated topical humor, something so many writers seem incapable of doing.  But that shot of Spidey above is classic.  As a kid I would have given anything to have drawn a Spider-Man that good.

Again, the real focus here is Larsen's Wolverine.  It doesn't matter whether it's larger action shots like these:

or smaller incidental panels like this one (I apologize for the dreadful lighting):

Larsen really nails the character.  The costume is exaggerated a bit as is the anatomy, but never so much that it becomes the over-stylized mess that permeates the work of artists today, like this:

Sure, Larsen likely opened the door for travesties like the one above (sorry Ramos, you are capable of better work than this, I've seen it), but his work had more restraint and skill.  Those action panels of Logan fighting the claw woman, whose name escapes me, are exciting and dynamic.  I wasn't a huge X-men fan at the time, but work like this got me really excited about the Wolverine character.  Larsen just made him look so cool!

And while we are talking about Erik Larsen art in MCP, check out his amazing inks on the legendary Steve Ditko's pencils from this Human Torch story from MCP #83.  Honestly, this is as good as Ditko art had looked in years.  Larsen manages to add the dynamic touch that Ditko's plush dummy figures need to really pop.

I'm not trying to ding a true legend, I mean the man is responsible for Spider-Man, but his later stuff has trouble holding up to the work of the then-masters like Larsen, Lee, and McFarlane.  Look at that last panel, the close-up of Moth's face.  That is only possible through Larsen's inking skills.

I've always thought Erik Larsen was one of the best, most consistent talents in the industry and looking back at his work in Marvel Comics Presents only confirms that belief.  Needless to say, I'm keeping this run of comics.  Thanks for looking back with me!

This Week's Comics 6.3.15

A surprisingly large week for me, just getting back into the hobby.

We'll start where we left off last week with Archie vs. Predator #2.
And I'm proud to say that my fears of last week have been alleviated.  Page 2 of issue #2 pays off the entire set-up from issue #1.  Juxtaposition is the heart of comedy and this page proves it.  The rest of the issue continues to pay it out in a very bizarre way.  The Riverdale gang is thrown up against something the likes of which they are totally unaccustomed to, but rather than just freak completely out and cower in the malt shop, like maybe they totally should, they take the offensive and try to figure out just what is hunting them down.  Can they do it?  I'll be picking up issue #3.




Next up is Secret Wars #3.  You may recall I was looking for this issue to also pay off a couple of issues of set-up.  I'm not yet sold on the entire premise of Battleworld, mainly the Doom is God stuff.  It just seems a bit much.  BUT, issue #3 FINALLY introduces the surviving heroes from the original and Ultimate Marvel universes into Battleworld.  Since they are really the only characters we have any history with, it is refreshing to have them as anchors in what has otherwise been a mad, mad world.  There are some interesting revelations and thankfully enough steam to keep me going for a few more issues unless something gets really stupid.  Marvel needed a save here, and they managed to eek it out.



While we are on Secret Wars related comics, the first issue of Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows hit this week.  This is the only Spider-Man comic I have had any interest in for years.  This is supposed to be as close as we are going to come to the real Spider-Man starring in a comic again.  (for those of you who don't know, Amazing Spider-Man #400 was the last issue to star the real Spider-Man, after that Marvel just simply lost all notion of how to handle the character and spent the next 300 issues systematically destroying the character.  It's like the Simpsons...)  I was extremely nervous about reading this as my faith in Marvel's ability to handle my favorite character has been betrayed like my faith in Star Wars to have meaningful movies beyond the original trilogy.  And despite a few bumps: the Parker child is named Annie for some reason, not May, this issue delivered a good story about Peter Parker in a post-baby era.  There are rumblings that the overall story is going to take a galactic-level bent, but for at least this issue the story was kept pretty street level with Venom showing up to attack the Parker family and Spider-Man giving him a beat down the likes of which we have never seen.  Being a parent DOES change you.  Will future issues hold up?  I'm in for #2 and I'll let you know.

Finally, we come to Princess Leia #4, the penultimate issue in the limited series.  This comic has delivered every single issue.  The story is tight, the art is great, and it manages to stay true to the original characters and universe.  Issue #4 continues that trend and ramps up the story as we build to next issue's presumably awesome climax.  If you've not been reading this, and you like the REAL Star Wars, go catch up.  You will not be sorry!

One critical note:  take a look at the panel below.  While the art has been solid every issue, this one panel bugs me.  It looks like Artoo was originally drawn thinner, more narrow (hence the hatching shade like along his backside), but somewhere along the line someone said, "he looks too thin," so someone went back in and made him thicker.  He doesn't look quite rounded.  He looks a bit lumpy on the back side and the inking isn't quite a smooth.  It's a minor detail in an otherwise wonderful comic, so I'm not busting too many chops, but it does look off.

So those are this week's comics.  All in all, a good week.

Marvel Comics: House of M

As I am making my way through the letter "H" during my comics PURGE, I ran across the House of M limited series from 2005.  I remember being moderately satisfied with it at the time, but ultimately saw it as just another piece of the flawed attempt to resuscitate the floundering House of Ideas. However, upon my second read this weekend, a decade later, my eyes were opened to what is actually a rather good story with some really strong, character defining moments.  Let's take a look:


Just after the turn of the century, Brian Michael Bendis, for all intents and purposes, acquired complete control of the Marvel Universe with the goal of bringing it back from the brink of disaster.  Heroes Reborn/Return had flopped, Spider-Man Chapter One was yet another disaster in the life of that franchise, and the rest of the Marvel U was just all over the place.  Bendis swept into the Marvel offices like a less skeevy Rasputin with a grand plan to save the comics giant from becoming another DC.  His plan centered around completely destabilizing the status quo of most of the signature characters and then filling in the gaps with extremely solid characterization and a lot of "realistic" dialogue.  Whether he was successful or not is really a matter for debate and, at least for me, hinges upon how much you loved the Marvel Universe before about 1995, but either way, Bendis undeniably changed the way Marvel Comics were written, thought about, and executed.

It was also during this time that the "Marvel Way" became synonymous with "write for trade."  And for good reason.  Bendis is the king of the big picture.  His strength is in writing the long story.  His single issue work is extremely hit and miss, with a lot of misses, but when it comes to writing a 6 or 9 part story (or longer in the case of his absolutely riveting run on Daredevil), he is a master.  House of M demonstrates this better than any other series of his I've read thus far.

The story is a bridge between two of Bendis' main events.  The preceding event, Avengers Disassembled, was a huge story that rocked the world's greatest heroes to their core, Marvel-killed* a few major players, and led to the creation of a very different kind of Avengers team.  This event was caused by the Scarlet Witch losing control of her powers after going quite mad.  (*Marvel-killed, of course, means that the character "dies" with the full intention of bringing them back as soon as sales dwindle or fan reaction is negative enough).  House of M was the next step in the plan.  After determining that the Scarlet Witch was the cause of the crisis, all of the major players in the Marvel Universe came together to decide what to do with her.  This sets the stage for issue #1 of the House of M limited series.

The story is a little slow to start with the first four issues slowly establishing the world we are about to play in.  First we see the world in the aftermath of Avengers Disassembled and the major players deciding the fate of Wanda Maximoff.  Then, in a literal flash the world is remade into one where mutants reign supreme.  Magneto is the monarch of a world in which humans are the minority.  One of the interesting side effects is that all of the heroes involved in the Avengers Disassembled event have been given their most cherished desires.  All would be just fine, except that one very important character remembers things the way they were (and are supposed to be).  That character is Wolverine, whose greatest desire was to have complete memory of his past.  Unfortunately, that level of recall also allowed him to remember that things used to be different.  Armed with this knowledge, Logan realizes it is up to him to set things right.  Along the way he encounters another mutant, a new character named Layla Miller, who can awaken the same realization in other people.  Together, they set out to convert the other key players and find a way to reverse the effect of the House of M.

All in all a good premise and a pretty good superhero yarn.  And then we get to issue #5.  Issue #5 firmly plants this story into the Marvel Archive as one of the classics.  In this issue we get the full impact of the consequences of the House of M because it is here that Logan must show Peter Parker that his ideal life is a lie and must come to an end.  Peter does not take it well.  Nor should he.  In the House of Magnus world he has it all.  He's married to Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben is alive and well, he has a child, and he is famous for being Spider-Man.  He has everything he could ever want and it is all as real as anything could be.  There's no "too good to be true" aspect to his life, it's just his ideal life realized.  So, of course, Logan has to come and literally destroy all of that by having Layla awaken the reality inside him.

Bendis shines in his depiction of Peter's suffering as a result of the loss.  His grief and rage are real and powerful.  From this point forward, the character of Spider-Man should really never be the same.  (sadly, that becomes all too true, but not in a good way)  As a reader and life-long fan of Spider-Man, I can honestly say Peter's turmoil hits home hard.  It is painful to see the character put through these paces and presented with such profound anguish.  But because Bendis is smart and a true character writer, it is also a very satisfying read.

The story goes on as planned with the heroes banding together to right the wrong that created the House of Magnus alternate universe.  I'll not spoil some of the better twists of the story here. Very entertaining and all in all a good superhero plot, but the real strength of the writing is the handling of the characters and their various reactions to learning the truth.  Peter's reaction is the one that really resonates with me, but there is a lot of great character work being done in this series.  When the awakened heroes all get together to plan their attack, Cyclops is laying out the battle plan explaining that there will be three strike teams.  Then Jessica Drew interrupts with the apt question as to whether or not reverting things is even the right thing to do, suggesting that maybe this was meant to happen and is the right thing to have happen.  The heroes all go down that theoretical path with her for about a page and then Cyclops basically says, "are we all done with that?  Good.  There will be three teams..."  It is an incredible moment for that character as well; perhaps one of my favorite Cyclops moments of all time.

There is also a nice moment with Spider-Man and Logan, shortly after Spidey learns the truth, where he emotionally crosses a moral barrier he once held sacred.  I'll let the comic speak for itself here:

If you are a classic Spider-Man fan of any measure, that is a huge moment.  Bendis makes it very easy to get caught up in the moment with Peter.

And then of course, there is the iconic moment at the end of the series where the Scarlet Witch strikes again with her incredible power, this time in reverse, wiping out all mutants except for a tiny handful. This sets the stage for the next big Marvel event.  The Bendis era at Marvel was defined by yearly, mythos-shattering events that constantly rewrote the Marvel status quo.  The only real downfall in the House of M is the lack of a truly satisfying ending. The end of this series is really just a prologue to the next big event as the Marvel Universe deals with the sudden near-extinction of the mutant population and it feels like the story is more of a transition than a fully told tale.  If this story was allowed to have a more complete end, it would easily stand up next to classics like Days of Future Past or the Dark Phoenix Saga, but since the end feels more like a prologue, the denouement of the main plot is a little hollow.

But if you want a good look at how to tell character driven stories in a microcosm, you really cannot do much better than House of M issues #5-8.  Bendis gives a clinic in how to take established characters and put them through their paces.  I am extremely, pleasantly surprised to rediscover this series after nearly dismissing it a decade ago.  There is some tremendous work here if you are a fan of classic Marvel.

Marvel Movie Project #1: Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 is by far the best movie on this list and maybe one of the best comic book movies of all time.  Spider-Man 2's #1 ranking is predicated upon its ability to do what few other movies on this list have managed to do with much success, completely and accurate replicate the experience of reading a comic book on film.  Spider-man 2 feels like a classic issue of Amazing Spider-Man.  Well, considered how Doc Ock heavy this movie is, maybe an issue of Spectacular Spider-Man, but let's not split weblines...

Because it so perfectly captures the essence of what made classic Spidey comics so great it hits all the right notes at all of the right times.  With the origin story behind us, this sequel is able to put Peter Parker and his alter-ego through there paces without having to clog the lines with lots of exposition.  What exposition we do get is done very smartly through the illustrations in the opening credits (much like was done in the Incredible Hulk). There is a lot of great storytelling that can be done in 128 minutes when the burden of exposition and Spider-Man 2 takes full advantage.  The other smart thing that this movie does is keep it simple.  The first Spider-Man movie tries to cram the origin story and the Green Goblin greatest hits all into one film.  The third Spider-Man movie is a complete disaster because it tries to cram about 10 years of comics into one film.  Spider-Man 2 crams nothing.  It tells a straightforward story with a likeable, relate-able hero and a villain that is complex and compelling.



As a matter of fact, let's start right there with Doctor Otto Octavius.  A constant thorn in Spidey's side in every possible way in the comic books, Doc Ock is really Spider-Man's greatest foe, not the Green Goblin or Venom.  Doc Ock handed the web-head his first defeat, tried to marry his aunt, formed an all-star team out of Spidey's rogues' gallery, and has most recently switched bodies with him in an attempt to kill him.  Doc Ock really is Spider-Man's greatest foe.
Because he has such a long and storied history, capturing the essence of that in a movie can be really tricky. It took 3 movies for X-men to fully develop the complex character of Magneto.  Somehow, though, SM2 nails Octavius on the first try.
When we are introduced to pre-Doc Ock, Otto he is charming and intelligent, if a bit arrogant.  That arrogance will be his downfall, and its counter, his humility, will actually make Otto both the hero and the villain of this tale!  Otto has an upbeat attitude and does not come across like a man who would plot to take over the world.  He is a genius and a mentor to Peter Parker.  In so many ways you find yourself actually rooting for him not to become Doc Ock.
But he does.  And when he does it is tragic because he is clearly a man at odds with himself.  The chip that is implanted to control the arms and keep the arms' AI from influencing his brain wages a powerful war to assert its dominance over Otto's personality.  Eventually it wins and Otto takes a back seat to the cold, murderous arms.  Sure we can nitpick about the nature of the arms' AI or whatever, but as with most of these movies you have to give some allowance for Thunder Gods, frozen soldiers who don't die, and vampires.  The main thing here is that Otto Octavius and Doc Ock are clearly two different characters.  This kind of characterization is very smartly done, very well handled and brilliantly portrayed by Alfred Molina.

I give Otto a few bonus points for having a smoking hot wife as well!

But I thought she was hot back in Star Trek: Insurrection also, so I may be biased...

Sticking with the characters for a moment, our hero and his supporting cast also shine in Spider-Man 2.  Tobey seems to have settled into the role of Peter Parker well and, while not quite the bookworm that comic book PP is, seems much more comfortable.  We get to see a bit more of Peter as a successful student and we also get the ol' Parker luck rearing its ugly head.  This is an excruciating point in the film and one all too familiar to fans of the comic.  Nit-pickers will point out that all Peter had to tell MJ was that he was hit by a car while riding his scooter to the play.  A valid excuse, but I suppose PP was so rattled and so used to making excuses that the truth eluded him.  Regardless, the PP character is better here than it has been or will be.

MJ is still a bit weepy and whiny, but I think that is where Kirsten Dunst was taking the character anyway, less vivacious and saucy and more thoughtful and introspective.  That's ok, it works as it goes, but she can come across as a bit of a mess at times.  Even so, I would rescue her from Doc Ock's nuclear reactor, or whatever.
JJJ is always the star of any Spider-man movie, honestly.  J.K. Simmons really understands the character and nails it once again.  I could seriously watch a whole movie of just Spidey vs. JJJ.  The rest of the supporting cast is great also.  Aunt May is a nice juxtaposition of strength and frailty.  And Harry Osborn walks a fine line balancing his friendship with Peter, his hatred for Spider-Man, his grief over his father's death, and the dangerous cocktail of emotional conflict that creates.  Franco's Harry is better here than it was in Spider-Man where it felt a little unfocused.  The scene with him and the mirror is incredible and sets up an incredible story that the third film fails to realize.

When you have great characters and actors that are comfortable in their roles, a great story almost flows naturally.  At its core, Spider-Man 2 is the story of Doc Ock.  His rise and his fall.  Our hero, Spider-Man is along for the ride, but he's more of an agent in the story and less of the focus and that's just fine.  Spider-man comics have historically been the tale of Peter Parker who gets away from his troubles as Spider-Man.  Not making the web-head the sum focus of this film reveals an understanding of what makes Spider-Man stories great.  We should be watching Peter and Otto as their stories develop, the battle of their alter-egos is just the icing on the cake (and visual manifestation of their inner and external struggles if you want to get deep.


And oh what icing that is.  Spider-Man 2 features some of the absolute best action sequences in a super-hero film ever.  (The Avengers would later match the level of awesomeness of these sequences)  This is one of the first movies to pull the camera back and fully show the action between characters.  The battles on the side of the building and on the train are visually amazing and depict the action just as it might have been, panel-for-panel from the pages of a comic book.  The tendency in films like this is to keep the camera tight on the action.  This is supposed to make the action more intense and also help hide flawed special effects and awkwardly scripted fight scenes (go see Daredevil).  Spider-Man 2 is bold enough to show the entire scene and keep both combatants in the frame.  A risky gamble that pays off here and is very welcome.  Those fights are epic.

Great characters, simple yet moving story, incredible super-hero action sequences, a complex villain and a familiar champion, all of the elements to create an incredible comic book movie, that is the recipe for Spider-Man 2.  It may not tell a sprawling epic tale; it doesn't need to.  Great stories are sometimes the smallest ones.  It is the heart and soul of the story that makes it great.  Spider-Man 2 has a lot of heart and thanks to the brilliant portrayal of Doctor Octopus a richness of soul.  But for me, the bit that pushes Spider-Man 2 to the top of a list of pretty great movies, is that it manages to capture the experience of reading an issue of a Spider-Man comic book (at least from when I was a kid, the modern comics are rubbish).  No other film on this list does that and that means that Spider-Man 2 is something special.  I can watch it any time and be transported back to my childhood, reading the exploits of Spider-Man and Doc Ock again for the first time.  That is why Spider-Man 2 is the #1 movie of the Modern Marvel era.

Marvel Movie Project #8: Spider-Man

How timely.  Fast on the heels of this summer's Amazing Spider-Man release we find its predecessor, the original Spider-Man movie dialing in here at #8 and unsurprisingly they both suffer from the same shortcoming: the plight of the origin story.

Spider-Man is the poster movie for what can go wrong in an origin story.  It simply tries to do too much. Since no one could be sure that this movie would not be Spider-Man's one shot at the big screen, there was a lot of pressure to cram every single iconic thing about Spidey into this film and it really shows.  The Origin, the Green Goblin, girlfriend goes off the side of the bridge, death of Green Goblin, Aunt May has money problems, Peter Parker in high school, Peter graduates high school, Peter in college, MJ is an actress, MJ is a nerdy student, Peter and Harry share an apartment, Peter is a prize student, Peter is a photographer, the Daily Bugle.  It's just too much for a single movie.  Toss in a huge World Day celebration (I think it held over from X-men) with Macy Gray (oh my have we just dated ourselves) and it;s just too much.

Despite this, Spider-man ends up being a pretty enjoyable movie that manages to capture many, if not all, of the things that have made the web-head my favorite super-hero since childhood.  The origin story is pretty much intact so the responsibility subtext (not always so "sub") is strong and gives the film direction.  Peter is sufficiently nerdy, even though Tobey Maguire's portrayal is a bit heavy handed.  My biggest complaint with Maguire is that his Peter is too emotional.  Peter in the early comics was a well meaning young man, but he was distant from almost everyone due to the burden of his responsibilities both as himself and as Spider-man and the difficult juggling act of keeping them separate. It was that distance that contributed to his awkwardness and made his a loner.  The Peter in this film wears his problems all over his soft exterior and comes across a bit weaker than his source material.

The Green Goblin is handled pretty well here as well.  The character design is smart replacing the rubbery goblin costume for body armor, even if the mask turns out to be laughable and very rigid.  Willem Dafoe is exceptional as Norman Osborn and does his best to overcome the difficulties of his costuming.  The downside is that the Green Goblin story wants two, maybe three, movies to tell, so the character is a bit short-shirted here.

Kirsten Dunst is a decent MJ, but she's not given a lot to do apart from being the girlfriend.  You feel for her character, but you don't get invested enough to have her tossed off the bridge in this film.

However, there is one thing that Spider-Man gets right, perfectly right:  The Daily Bugle.  J.K. Simmons nails J. Jonah Jameson like Hugh Jackman nails Wolverine.  He is spot on and he makes every minute in the Bugle offices an absolute treasure and leaves us wanting more time there and less at the Macy Gray concert.  A nod to Bill Nunn for his quietly perfect Joe "Robbie" Robertson as well.

I realize that this is the #8 film on our list and yet it reads harsher than our #15 review, but that is only because expectations were so very high for this movie.  Spider-Man is Marvel's flagship character and this movie came fairly early in the era, so it had to really knock it out the park or the entire future of Marvel Comics based movies could have been doomed.  I'm also particularly hard on this film because we are nearing the top five and being so-so isn't going to cut it.

Spider-Man is a great movie.  Lots of fun, packed with action, and true to the source material, this film gets the important stuff right even if it overachieves and fails on some of the finer points.  For an iconic character's origin story you could  do a lot worse.

Aimee's Take

I love Spider-Man, the character. I debated missing my senior prom to go see this movie (opening was the same day). In retrospect, I'm glad I went to prom, but it's not a reflection of the quality of this film. It's pretty good. At the time, I think I was just happy to see Spidey on the big screen.

Now that time has elapsed a little, I think Spider-Man suffers from the same issues that X-men has; overall, it's pretty solid, the characters are mostly right... but the story is a little lacking and overblown, and has to include an origin of sorts for the uninitiated. Stan already nailed it but for me the whole "World Day"/Macy Gray fiasco is my primary problem with the plot. There's no need to make these characters somehow globally relevant. It's passable for the X-men, I mean, they go to space and whatnot, but Spider-Man is a street-level guy with street-level problems. 

I'm also not a big fan of MJ in this movie. MJ was, in the comics, introduced as a ray of vibrant light in Peter's complicated life. She got more complex as time wore on, but initially she was a bubbly answer to his demanding life, not caring too much about anything and seeking only thrills. This MJ is a little morose for my taste. She's a good-girl/girl-next-door in the way that Gwen Stacy is, although Gwen is more upbeat and, frankly, more competent. All in all she's just too beaten-down and grounded to be believable as a struggling actress; this MJ would go to community college at least, and follow it up with an uninspired job.

What the movie does perfectly, in my mind, is capture the Aunt May character; it also manages to completely master the atmosphere of the Daily Bugle, as Stan mentions above. Enough elements are spot on in this outing that I'm willing to extend it some slack for trying to do far too much in far too short a time.

Spider-Man is fun. It does a lot of things good, some things, great, and most others passably. That's why it's #8. There's nothing glaring here, and it manages a very high production value without becoming bogged down in (too much) Hollywood nonsense.