Marvel Now: A Roundabout Review

Marvel

 Now:

A 

Roundabout 

Review

I have made it known before and I'll make it known now, I dislike the whole posturing for a new number one comic book companies seem to thrive on. I enjoyed the (*) notation and would look in the lower portion of the panel to figure out what I had to read to understand more. DC started their New 52 a little over a year ago and I planned to try numerous different titles. I started with four and am currently at two. 

When Marvel decided to do the same I silently lowered and shook my head. I wasn't going to write them telling them they would lose my business. I enjoy the hobby too much. What I did decide was to limit what I would collect because as much as a number one is a good jumping on point; it’s also good to jump off. I planned to give each Marvel title the first story arc; then again the plan to give DC a try on sixteen titles didn't work either.

I gave Iron Man a try, along with All New X-Men, Captain America, Avengers, Cable and X-Force, New Avengers, and Uncanny Avengers. I skipped entirely Avengers Academy, Indestructible Hulk, X-Men Legacy, and Uncanny X-Force. I dropped Captain America along with Cable and X-Force, but I picked up Indestructible Hulk to replace it. Then of course there is Superior Spider-Man and as much as I've enjoyed Dan Slots current story, issue two just seemed full of redundancies. I get it. As much as I enjoyed the secret reveal at the end of #1, I felt dissatisfied after the second. I still think this series has the greatest potential.

In Avengers #1 they got straight to the action, it's a new world and the Avengers have to get bigger. What I don't get is how all the titles fit together. How is Iron Man going off in space in his title, the Hulk works for one of the agencies that chased him for decades, and there are a bunch of characters now ranked as the “greatest”. In the eighties the continuity was easier to follow. Now that I'm an adult I feel like I just turned on General Hospital and it has the cast of Days of our Lives, Dallas, and Fantasy Island. As many questions as this number one gave me I stuck around for number two, the hopes that Cannonball would finally be a contender had me part with my $3.99, again. I was even OK with the buildup of a possible six issue story arc.

I was disappointed at the end of issue three, what could have been a battle to destroy the heavens only reminded me off the fireworks in San Diego on July 4th, 2012 when the night long celebration erupted prematurely  in fifteen seconds. Issue four lost more momentum still. I was unimpressed with the J.J. Abrams flashback storytelling quality that Jonathan Hickman did not pull off as well as he did in the previous issues.

Cable and X-Force didn't get past issue #1. I stopped Captain America after issue #2, the Fantastic Four and FF were not worth picking up, and I was scared to try Uncanny X-Force for fear they would destroy the image of Puck I retain in my head. The New Avengers feels like it has the chance to really propel itself along but will issue three be a silent fizzle. So far the one that has surprised me was the Indestructible Hulk. After issue three I'm looking forward to the next one. Then of course you have the one title that is not a Marvel Now and probably more of a Marvel Then is Daredevil by Mark Waid. Month after Month I look forward to this title, maybe that's why I decided to follow the exploits of Bruce Banner and S.H.I.E.L.D.



To be fair, I will continue a little longer on some of these titles while others I might wait for a convention and purchase them at a dollar. I did give DC a bit longer before I opted to go from four titles to only two. The thing that Marvel has over DC with me is history. I have always enjoyed the Marvel Universe more. I'll continue with Avengers, New Avengers, All-New X-Men, Indestructible Hulk, Uncanny Avengers and Superior Spider-Man but at the moment I'm really looking forward to "Age of Ultron" that Michael Brian Bendis hinted at before the whole Marvel Now exploitation. And then is it right for a company to start in a new direction and still use storylines from its previous incarnations?

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Are Statues Worth It? A Roundabout Review

In my teens my expenses were minimal. I had no living expenses, no insurance needs, no utilities, and not many excuses to purchase anything other than my hobby needs. I purchased new comic books every week and once in a while I would purchase something more. In this case, statues.

I was envious when a friend of mine picked up a Sandman statue. I wasn't surprised that it was sold out. I purchased the second Sandman statue that came out, but before I purchased that it was a statue if Batman that caught my eye. I followed these purchases with its matching Robin statue and a statue of Death to compliment Dream. The final statue I purchased was one of the best villains of all, Darth Vader.

Higher ticket items became harder to purchase. I purchased two lightsaber replicas, Star Wars cookie jars, and the occasional older back issue. The only thing that was different were my expenses. I had rent, insurance, utilities, and a beautiful baby boy. It was another twenty years before purchasing another statue, this time from Sideshow Collectibles.


I no longer have an excuse that statues are to expensive to purchase, after all I now have a comic I spent $625 on in my collection. My expenses are still expansive but I budget better then I used to. Spending three hundred dollars each on a pair of "Magik" statues. They sit on top of my entertainment center and I love that I was able to afford them, a third one was sold out before I could budget for it.

At NYCC I found another DC character I decided should adorn my collection : Harley Quinn. I still have yet to find out where to place it but I do love having the three dimensional characters sit silently on my shelves. I have another one on order and am terribly afraid to see what will be at the comic cons this year to tantalize more money out of my wallet.


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Battling for my Dollars: a Roundabout Review

Where do your hard earned dollars go? I mean the ones you still have after paying bills, taxes, and other daily expenses that continue your life perpetually forward. The extra that should be left over, what nectar of life do they purchase? Is it a new wardrobe, a good meal, or maybe a few drinks with friends on the days off that seem to be too few in life? If you're reading this I either got lucky you are here or like me you spend the remainder of what's left every week on comic books.

Comic books are a lot more expensive compared to when I started to collect. A$3.99 cover price today is up about 565% from the days when my allowance bought me my weekly drug. I never thought about the politics of publishing a comic book, I bought what I liked, I still do, but I don't have to speculate what sells and what doesn't. I don't need to figure out which variant cover should be cost optimized by quantity purchased or if I send a book into CGC for grading then my profits will catapult towards my rent being paid by one book. My pleasures are a bit simpler. Is the comic book good?

DC and Marvel are the big two and have been so since the silver age. My first LCS was set up in four sections, Marvel, DC, Back Issues, and everything else. As I grew up independent publishers started clambering for more shelf space. Dark Horse and Image come to mind predominantly but First, Innovation, and Valiant are others that were always competing with Spider-Man and Superman. The market expanded, constricted and exploded again.

DC tried something, something that has been tried before, but never on such a scale. They took one final moment, one Flashpoint, and started over. Marvel waited and finally felt after the success of DC had they should start their own revolution and instead of leading, followed suit, creating their new world negating years and years of story continuity.  The problem is my dollars have not expanded or have grown exponentially, in fact they remain stagnant. The new number ones were supposed to be a fresh beginning, a beginning to allow readers to jump on and not be lost, or as with some titles, it gave me the chance to jump off.

Marvel began again but so has Valiant, three companies are battling for my dollar and as I tighten my purse strings I realize it's Marvel that has the most to lose because that is the majority of what I collect. I gave Iron Man the first story arc but fear it might go. Cable and X-Force couldn't get past to #2 and Morbius sat on the rack as I walked on past.  Give me a collected universe with ten books a month with story and art and you'll have my money, but if things keep progressing the way they have I fear I might just continue to go to my LCS and buy some books from the silver, bronze, and copper age.

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Superior Spider-Man #1: A Roundabout Review

Superior Spider-Man #1: A Roundabout Review

Wednesday arrived and I left work to go home and change for my weekly ritual. This consists of coffee with my Dad and a trip to my Comic Book store. My Comixology.com e-mail was checked through my iPhone and my weekly pulllist had the comics I am waiting for, primarily Superior Spider-Man #1.

I picked up Star Wars #1, Shadow-Man #3 and decided to stick with a digital download only for Non-Humans #2. With only three books to read on the way home from Fat Jack’s Comic Crypt in Center City Philadelphia, it was the twice a month Superior Spider-Man #1 by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman that I waited until I got on the twenty bus to start reading. When I got home, I read it again.

Previously in Amazing Spider-man, and if you are reading Superior #1 before ASM #700, then shame on you, Peter Parker dies. Yes, Marvel allowed the one of the main bread winners to receive a dirt nap. Otto Octavius reigns supreme in the body of Aunt May’s favorite nephew and for anyone who remembers, this has some gross overtones because Otto almost married Peter’s Aunt May. I truly hope this is a story thread they never follow up on. So how does one of the greatest villains on the planet become a 100 percent rehabilitated super hero in the body of his greatest adversary? The answer is he doesn't.

Spoilers Abound

The sinister six arrives on the scene which includes The Shocker, Speed Demon, Boomerang, Living Brain, Beetle, and Overdrive which brought to mind the cover of issue #183. I don’t understand what it is about a big wheel. For a change of pace it was actually pretty enjoyable to watch Boomerang call the shots. Of course who else but Dr. Octopus would be so insulted about a new Sinister Six, and I find it quite ironically pleasing that this is the Superior Spider-Man’s first battle. Otto/Pete seems so enraged he rips into them but seriously realizes how hard Peter had it when Speed Demon pummels him repetitively to the point Otto decides to flee. By the way, Dan pulls off all this action in the first six pages and that includes Peter paying his respects at Otto’s gravesite.

          So Otto being Otto, he runs, but Spider-man being who he is, returns as he sees an innocent cop about to get in the way of a deadly boomerang. Without even fully understanding why Otto/Pete is saving someone who "states the obvious" he also would make Wolverine proud by slicing Boomerang with claws? Later Peter is being talked to by Max Modell and on these two pages I almost feel like I should be listening to Dr. Horrible’s singalong.

               Another two pages and Peter hits the Jackpot. Mary Jane interacts with Peter in a way she never did before, she wasn't passed off for him to go run and be Spider-Man even though Otto/Pete is listening into the Sinister Six’s next conspiracy through “eighty nano-spider tracers”. Otto/Pete is much more interested in the dinner,drink, and the view.

Dan Slott keeps the comic rollingalong in a smooth flow of story worthy of being a #1 issue.

               The action speeds up again as Otto prepared for the Sinister Six, and instead of a six Issue story, he wraps them up in one measly issue, which makes me wonder, is the Otto Spider-Man really that superior. He’s vicious, calculating,and arrogant, many things Peter never was, so as he pummels Boomerang with the intent of ending his life we have none other than his subconscious staying his hand from the killing blow, or is it something more. I’m not going to spoil everything, read the book and figure out for yourself if Dan Slott is the story weaver you think he is.

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Amazing Spider-Man #700: A Roundabout Review

I have been collecting Amazing Spider-Man since issue #251,titled “Endings”. I do have a few other books before that one, but it was thegloved hand coming through the water holding up Hobgoblin’s mask that enticedme.  I followed Peter Parker when he wastransported with hero and villain alike to participate in the Beyonder’sexperiment throughout the 12 issue Maxi-Series, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.His own series with issue #252 was sold out before I got out of school topurchase it. I didn't even realize I missed its release. Remembering back, itall started with a very well read copy of Issue #181, the origin of Spider-Man.I have an idea how I got that issue, but that's a story for another time.

Over the years I collected the adventures of Peter Parker. Ifollowed as he asked Mary Jane to marry him. I watched as he took on newvillains and old ones alike, each time reciting what he believed in "WithGreat Power Comes Great Responsibility". At times he was beaten, but hefought back. He never gave up, he never quit, a real life lesson.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I am a huge Star Wars fan and ever since Vector Prime by R.A.Salvatore killed offa vital character to “its” universe, I was shocked. I understood the reasoning,how could you fear for the characters you love if they would always survive in the end. A line from The Never EndingStory rings truer than anything else at the moment when the old man in thebook store told Sebastian "You're books are safe". Spider-Man issue#700 was not safe.

The comic book is packed, but after reading the first portionof the book, the important portion consisting of the first fifty pages wasenough to destroy any thought of being safe again. The Ultimate Universe wasfun to be part of and when they started to kill off major characters likeSpider-Man, I’m considering if it was just a test run. I mean seriously, howwould the media and the fans actually accept the death of Peter Parker, theAmazing Spider-Man?

Dan Slott has kept fans riveted with his story telling prose.As other artists joined Peter on his journey none I felt were as strong asDitko and Romita Sr and Jr. Many characters were slain, most by villains, andmaybe none as well known as Gwen Stacey by either the hands of the Green Goblinor Spider-Man himself in an effort to save her, by the superior skill of GerryConway, nothing against the legend and creator himself, Stan “The Man” Lee. 

Marvel is trying to capture the magic that DC initiated withthe New 52. Their attempt of rebooting their universe reminds me of a band aidbeing pulled of wounded skin. The only Marvel Now book that I thought wasworthy was Indestructible Hulk, a book I was hesitant to collect. Both Avengers#1 and Cable and X-Force #1 I found lacking. Thor I have heard good thingsabout but I think it's going to be The Superior Spider-Man that is goingto be pivotal in my monthly rotation of comic books. Mark Waid, you have beenwarned, please keep Daredevil my favorite title.

R.I.P. Peter Parker, you deserve it.

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