Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine TPB

So yeah. I thought this was going to be a straight-up team-up book, with a big name writer and artist combining two huge names. Most of my suppositions were correct. This is NOT a straight-up story. Instead, it features a notorious but confusing villain that often stars in weird, niche books. Don’t get me wrong, the villain works, and I absolutely love Spidey’s reaction when he learns who’s involved. But it’s an odd choice to team up these two characters and put them in such strange, strange situations.

This book is full of crazy Jason Aaron ideas. Robotic Devil Dinosaur. The Phoenix Gun. Time traveling drug-dealers. And the ORB! I love that guy! (And he gets a headband and everything!) Even the Time Variance Authority shows up. So Aaron clearly knows his Marvel U, but again, what an odd choice. Maybe I was just confused on the whole “Astonishing” brand. Accessible this is not.

In the end, I half wonder if the greatest thing to come out of this mini is the return of Wolverine’s brother, Dog. He gets bumped into the present during the proceedings, and I’ve got to think Aaron has plans for him. (And it is great seeing Adam Kubert use the Origin style again. This fits right in.)

There’s a long bit about a new love interest for Spidey, and it is tragic and in character, it is another strange storyline. I do like that at the end, Spidey and Wolverine might actually like each other. All they had to do was live for a year in the old West.

Kubert’s design work is great. Evil planets, alternate costumes, and even the Phoenix gun all have nice, iconic looks. His bedazzled Spider-Man is pretty darn special, in particular. The design for Czar and Big Murder is a little odd (and sort of dated, I think), but they are funny. But they’re a little hard to take seriously.

Fair

Winter Soldier #5

I have to open with an observation: Butch Guice draws a hell of a Dr. Doom. It’s like a realistic Kirby drawing walked onto the page every time ol’ Vic shows up, and it’s a great look. The different inkers do a nice job too. I’m not sure who inked the opening conversation on the shuttle, but Black Widow looks incredible. THAT should be the model sheet for the character. She retains her sweet 70’s look while still being modern. Well done to Guice and whoever else worked on that.

I know I’m a bit simple, but I’m disappointed we didn’t get more of the super apes fighting Winter Soldier. It just doesn’t’ seem fair putting them up against Dr. Doom. Lucia Von Bardas, at least to me, only has vague cyborg powers, so I wasn’t too worried about her either. So while I enjoyed the super-villain elements of this story, I think I liked Ed Brubaker’s last Bucky Cap run a bit more. Unicorn and Ursa Major seemed a bit more out there, and so a bit more fun.

I do like that not all the sleeper agents turned out to be totally evil. You’ve got to figure that at least some of these brainwashed guys would be darn confused. And leaving one out there at the close of the story is a smart move too. The only question now is if he’s a new character, or this is a shocking reveal for an existing character?

Fair

Avengers #26

This sure feels more like a missing chapter from Secret Avengers than the newest Avengers title. Perhaps it’s because of the odd way the Secret Avengers title has been pre-empted by a bunch of “core” Avengers, but this was an odd issue.

It sure looks like Bendis is getting ready to move Protector off the main stage. He hasn’t made a full heel turn yet, but betraying your teammates is a good way to get booted off the team. There are a whole lot of pages dealing with Protector saying goodbye (and perhaps setting up his girlfriend as a replacement), but my problem is I’ve never really loved the character. So the quiet, poignant moments are a bit lost on me.

The rest of the issue was portrayed more strongly in last month’s Secret Avengers. I appreciate that Thor is once again the big dog putting down the threat, but the story seems oddly split.

Walter Simonson is still a great artist, but this issue looks really rushed. The pages with Protector on Earth are sketchy, and the faces in the space bound portions are inconsistent. For every great panel of Thor bringing it to the Phoenix, we’ve got a chubby-cheeked Ms. Marvel looking too young. The Beast’s look is pretty inconsistent too, going from ape to cat from page to page. Clearly, Simonson can bring it, look at that cover. I wonder why the inside doesn’t hold up as nicely.

Average

AvX #4

This is the slowest chapter so far in the AvX hullaballoo. Jonathan Hickman’s work doesn’t always connect with me, and that’s the case again here. I know Cap split up the Avengers to look for Hope last month, but the separation and battles are so disjointed, I feel like I missed an issue. (In a 12 issue “epic” like this, we shouldn’t feel that way.) The random teams just show up, look around, pound their opponents for less than a page, then wander off. What the heck is the point of that?

I suppose the plot moves a bit forward when Wolverine and Hope link up to go up to the Moon. Once again, I find Wolverine’s allegiances to be mighty odd, and his choices this issue negate the great fight he had with Cap last month. Kind of pointless now.

And goodness, the X-Men have GOT to get some of their bigger names on the main battle team. Magik? I like her but she should NOT be on the main team. Hell, Colossus in his Juggernaut armor shouldn’t be there. Get the recognizable names like Rogue and Iceman there, and get Wolverine to switch sides. The X-Men have got NO CHANCE right now. It’s getting old seeing them get whupped.

It’s starting to feel like you can measure John Romita Jr’s interest by the page. Some of the pages are just gorgeous. Anything featuring Wolverine is fantastic, and Emma Frost looks gorgeous in the opening pages. Contrast that with any group shots of the Avengers or X-Men. Lumpy faces and blurry lines. Is it just me?

Average

AvX: Versus #2

Man, poor Gambit doesn’t get too much respect in this one, does he? Cap spends the entire issue talking with Iron Man on the phone while Gambit desperately tries to get Cap’s attention. It’s a great battle, with Steve McNiven delivering some great visuals with Gambit’s powers. Gambit has been around long enough that he seems like he should be able to stand up to Cap for a bit longer than this, but Cap’s powers are almost off the charts these days. Immense mainstream popularity seems to be a nice power-boost in the source material!

The art is the star of the show, of course. McNiven gets to write a bit, but it’s hardly high-level drama.

In the second story, Spidey takes on the new Juggernaut-ified Colossus. I was pleased to see the underdogs finally get a win here; too bad it’s taken four rounds for it to happen. And in fact, Spidey doesn’t totally lose this encounter; it’s more accurate to say that nothing he does fazes Colossus in the least. In fact, Colossus spends the entire issue begging Spidey to give up so that he doesn’t kill Spidey by accident!

I’m not up to date on the Cyttorak powers that Colossus has, but it’s a tad disappointing that Salvador Larrocca has to draw this issue featuring Colossus with this obviously intermediate look. There is no way this is the long-time status quo for Colossus. I really missed Larrocca’s “pencil” work, his Invincible Iron Man material is all so digital and textured looking. I’m really excited to see him working in his old style. I remember loving his Ghost Rider work that looked a lot like this!

Fair

Avenging Spider-Man #7

(Don't worry, I finally made it to the comic store for more recent books. Newer reviews start tomorrow!)

She-Hulk is one of my favorite heroes. She's tough, smart, and best of all, she has a lot of fun being a super-hero. It's not surprising that I'm fond of her, since Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and other goofballs like that tend to be my favorite heroes. It's fun seeing her as the MORE serious partner in a team-up, like we do here.

The story is fluff; It involves Spidey and She-Hulk trying to avoid a hostile takeover from an Egyptian cat-god. (This does involve She-Hulk brielfy growing a tail. I'm sure there's some very specialized fan out there just pleased as punch over this development.) In the end, Spidey's smarts are the key to victory, allowing him to have a small moment where he's not annoying Shulkie.

It's interesting, I wonder how these two would get along on a more ongoing basis. They're both smart asses, and Kathryn Immonen does a nice job with the banter. I almost wish we would have gotten a classic villain for these two to knock around.

Stuart Immonen's art? Awesome. As usual. This is lighter stuff than his recent Fear Itself work, but you can't fault the guy for taking a breather. This is fun, comedic stuff. I like that Marvel still puts out books like this. Again, I think I would have dug a more classic foe, but I will say that Immonen is good at drawing cats.

Fair

Invincible #91

Robert Kirkman loves riffing on the classics, and it seems he’s about to put Mark Grayson through yet another common super-hero problem. He holds back until the last page, but it’s a lot of fun seeing it pay off. This development does make me wonder about Dinosaurus’ reaction next month. He was sort of working towards good when he respected Invincible’s strength. What will happen now?

That’s not the only development in this issue, in fact, Mark has a pretty limited role. We spend a lot more pages with Atom Eve as she seeks out her boyfriend. I’m not sure why we’re getting so much time with Bulletproof in his civilian identity, but I’m not complaining. He came off as a jerk last issue, so much of his “smoothness” here is suspect, but I find myself wanting to believe in the guy. I’m sure he’s just weak, not necessarily evil; after all, we know he’s a brave dude. I think he just digs Atom Eve’s thickness since his normal girlfriend is a bit smaller. He just needs some variety! He’s a complicated guy; just look at his caption “Artist, lover, and new Invincible.”

Ryan Ottley is making Eve bigger now, isn’t he? I’m not sure what the statement is, if there even is one, but it’s interesting. This has got to be the most zaftig heroine in comics, perhaps ever. She’s still as tough and likable as ever, though. I absolutely love her battle armor when she suits up to take on more Viltrumites. Oliver is starting to look like a bad ass too, with his long hair and extreme heroics. What is his codename again?

This is simply serial storytelling done right. Kirkman delivers every single month in this book, and it’s consistently at the top of my reading stack. Even though nothing huge happens that issue, I’m still gonna tag it with high marks just for consistency.

Excellent