Now fully in the present, the Emissary has returned and his power is so far beyond Spider-Man’s abilities. The heroes may figure out a way to win, but the cost of victory will be so immense that you may hope they don’t… Amazing Spider-Man #26 delivers a finale to the story arc that ends with a thud and a clunk.
Spoiled for a week now, readers finally have a chance to see how things play out in Amazing Spider-Man #26 and none of it comes across well. Written by Zeb Wells, the sacrifice and death of a hero feels hollow for multiple reasons and when a little thought is put into it, makes little sense. The result is a comic that feels like it thinks its epic but comes off as rather shallow.
The Emissary is attempting to sacrifice MJ and has Spider-Man, Norman Osbron, and Ms. Marvel doing what they can to stop him… and a giant dragon nearby. This causes Norman to split off to stop the dragon with the help of the Fantastic Four. That part of the comic gets the short end as it feels like it’s wrapped up quickly to just wrap it up quickly. That’s almost laid out for the reader as Sue Storm tells Mr. Fantastic to shut up and just get on with his plan.
So, that leaves the real focus on Spider-Man, MJ, and Kamal and their battle. As has been spoiled for some time, Kamala sacrifices herself which somehow just makes the bad guy whither away but leaves Kamala presumably dead. Another hero who is sure to return when their television show or movie nears (hint, that’s later this year). Unfortunately the sacrifice makes absolutely no sense at all. While Kamala can shift to look like MJ, she’s unable to shift organs or her body to let the dagger just pass through her? It just feels like an abrupt way with a lack of imagination to stop the bad guy. And, the setup doesn’t help. Bad dialogue causes eye rolling throughout the comic that crescendos into this rather lazy way to end things. It’s been done far too many times and the emotional punch just isn’t there at all.
I stated when this latest volume began that I’m not a fan of John Romita Jr.‘s style. With ink by Scott Hanna, color by Marco Menyz and Erick Arciniega and lettering by Joe Caramagna, the art style especially falls short with this type of story. The blocky faces just lack an emotional aspect to them that’s needed to really drive home this sort of moment.
Overall, Amazing Spider-Man #26 might have had something had it not been spoiled but even then, the end comes off as cheap and short lived. We know Kamala will be back, it’s just a question as to when and how.
Story: Zeb Wells Art: John Romita Jr. Ink: Scott Hanna Color: Marco Menyz, Erick Arciniega Lettere: Joe Caramagna Story: 6.0 Art: 6.0 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
This is it! The mini-event Devil’s Reign wraps up with Devil’s Reign #6 that has emotions running high and the fate of our heroes and New York City hanging in the balance. It nearly nails the dismount with an ending that’s surprisingly satisfying even if in some ways justice doesn’t prevail.
Written by Chip Zdarsky, Devil’s Reign #6 has the heroes attempting to confront Wilson Fisk and his deputized villains as well as Purple Man’s army. They have the difficult task of taking on the hoards of individuals while trying not to hurt them and also fighting villains while the whole city watches. Kingpin has murdered Mike Murdock sending Daredevil and Elektra/Daredevil in a rage. Elektra thinks Fisk has killed Matt while Matt is out for revenge due to the murder of his “brother”. It all creates of a hell of a satisfying battle where we get to see what these heroes are really made of and how much they truly stand and believe in what they’re doing.
Will Fisk face justice?
Zdarsky answers that in a series of endings that shift all over from what might have been a rather unsatisfying finale to one that feels oddly appropriate. It sets up an unknown and intriguing future not just for Fisk but for his son, Daredevil, and Elektra/Daredevil. There’s also the future of Luke Cage who will become the Mayor of New York which has all sorts of potential and feels so right for the character built of grassroots street level activism.
The art by Marco Checchetto continues to be solid. Joined by Marco Menyz on color and lettering by Clayton Cowles, there’s a lot to pack in visually. There’s massive battles with dozens of individuals to the focus of the highs and lows of events emotionally. Everything is solid delivering such great emotional punches when needed. From the sadness to the happiness of loss and discovery to a simple moment of news breaking over the phone, the visuals take us on the rollercoaster of a ride that Zdarsky has set up. There’s so many small details here that really make the story and moments, it’s really solid and impressive work.
Devil’s Reign #6 is a great ending. While I wish it was a bit more self-contained, it’s set up of what’s to come doesn’t quite make you feel like you absolutely need to continue. With one more follow up issue to come, the event is one of the best Marvel has recently released keeping things compact, focused, and delivering actual emotional punches. While in the end the good guys win and the future seems brighter, it’s also a reminder that even in victory it doesn’t mean justice will completely prevail.
Story: Chip Zdarsky Art: Marco Checchetto Color: Marco Menyz Letterer: Clayton Cowles Story: 8.25 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
There’s a certain kinetic flow that can happen with Spider-Man comics. When the writer and artist click, you get a comic that flows with energy and excitement. Non-Stop Spider-Man #1 is that type of comic nailing the chaotic and energetic nature of Spider-Man.
Joe Kelly handles the writing which has Spider-Man taking on a grounded issue that’s a bit fantastical as well. In this debut issue he’s up against drug dealers while a drug called A-Plus is causing college students to overdose. His opponents are a little unclear other than bad guys with tech and tricks but it’s all about the action and visuals.
Chris Bachalo‘s art is over the top. With Tim Townsend on ink, Marco Menyz on color, and Travis Lanham handling the lettering, the comic is a visual treat. What stands out isn’t the contortion that Spider-Man displays and is a standard. What really stands out is the use of panels of the comic . Peter Parker’s life is on display in your standard squares and rectangles, though the page layouts still stand out with that. What jumps is the use of angles. Spider-Man’s action is on full display with comic pages that beg you to turn the page so everything is upright. White space is plentiful and emphasizes the action. It’s a display you rarely, if ever, see in comics today.
There’s a visual brilliance that goes with, and emphasizes, the action and flow of the comic.
But everything isn’t just in the action and visuals. Kelly and the team makes sure to keep things grounded as well. There’s tragedy with individuals overdosing and dying from drug use. It’s a detail that drives the comic but brings a sense of urgency and makes the comic more than a visually amazing fight comic. There’s something more than the action.
Non-Stop Spider-Man #1 feels like non-stop action. It’s a solid debut that visually stands out. There’s nothing (that I know of) that’s on the comic stand that looks like it. Its use of angled panels, really angled pages, is unique and memorable. It exudes enthusiasm and energy about it that fits Spider-Man. You might eye-roll at yet another Spider-Man comic on the shelf, but when it’s this good, it’s worth it and the wait.
Story: Joe Kelly Art: Chris Bachalo Ink: Tim Townsend Color: Marco Menyz Letterer: Travis Lanham Story: 8.0 Art: 10 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
Endings seem to be a recurring theme for this week’s “War of the Realms” books with Giant-Manbeing the first tie-in miniseries to reach the finish line thanks to some incredible weirdness and a wonderful father/daughter team-up from Leah Williams, Marco Castiello, and Rachelle Rosenberg. There’s also the bittersweet end to Cullen Bunn’s work on the Asgardians of the Galaxy series even after it was name-dropped in the second highest grossing movie of all time. Thankfully, Tini Howard and German Peralta’s recently announced Strikeforcewill continue Angela’s journey.
In addition to these titles, Bunn and Iban Coello’s short Venom arc wraps up just in time for “Absolute Carnage”, Superior Spider-Man is way too funny and meta, Champions seems determined to feature every teen Marvel hero, and Ryan North and Derek Charm’sUnbeatable Squirrel Girl is still a wonderful gift with Ariana Grande karaoke and Frost Giants talking shop about, well, frost.
Giant-Man #3
My feelings on the conclusion of Leah Williams, Marco Castiello, and Rachelle Rosenberg’s Giant-Man are definitely mixed. What has been a fairly straightforward adventure yarn set in Florida and featuring Marvel’s size changing heroes gets pretty freaking weird. Apparently, former Thunderbolt/Master of Evil Moonstone has been enslaving the women of Florida to forcibly harvest ice from Ymir to make Ice Giants. It’s definitely a twist and throws a wrench into the whole Ymir assassination mission. The scene where Cassie Lang rescues the slaves and teams up with her dad are heartwarming as well as Raz’s empathy for Ymir, who is in pain and being held against his will. Ymir being a victim and more of a primal force of nature than a baddie is more nuanced and memorable than the team punching him to death.
However, Williams and Castiello do less of a good job introducing and telling the story of Moonstone, the miniseries’ Big Bad. Her powers and motivation fluctuate depending on this scene as she goes from slave master to force of nature and even a redemptive figure depending on the scene. It’s like Williams and Castiello reached the end of miniseries and realized they needed a final boss that wasn’t Ymir and used her past connection with Atlas as a shorthand reason to feature her. Throw in visuals that are hard to follow when the characters change size, and unfortunately, Giant-Man #3 earns an Overall Verdict of Pass.
Asgardians of the Galaxy #10
Asgardians of the Galaxy #10 is a bittersweet comic for many reasons. It features the quirky cast of this book kicking ass together one last time as well as Angela using the MacGuffin from the book’s first arc to get revenge on the Angels of Heven, who abused and tortured her. Writer Cullen Bunn and sharp artists Luca Maresca and Federico Blee give each character a couple of fantastic moments before signing off on a series that had an interesting cast of characters, a fun morally ambiguous space-faring tone, fantastic LGBTQ representation, and was mostly forced to be an event tie-in.
But the fact that it’s a tie-in doesn’t negate Skurge earning redemption as a hero in Valhalla, Angela saving Nairobi, Kenya and finding revenge by beheading her evil adoptive mother, and Ren and Annabelle Riggs being cute while getting cool weapons from the dwarf Urzuul. Maresca’s art has a cartoonish lyricism to him with slash shaped panels when Angela and an army of undead gods lay waste to Heven, or when Okoye gives Annabelle tips on using a Valkyrie spear. He and Bunn do an excellent job wrapping up Angela, Skurge, and Annabelle’s arc while letting this team kick ass in various and sundry ways. Asgardians of the Galaxy #10 earns an Overall Verdict of Buy, and hopefully, it’ll get a revival once Chris Hemsworth signs a deal to be in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Champions #6
Jim Zub, Juanan Ramirez, and Marco Menyz bust out the Disir, the cursed ghosts of Odin’s father Bor’s Valkyries, in their Champions “War of the Realms” tie-in. First appearing in Kieron Gillen’s run on Journey into Mystery, they’re a formidable foe for this team of teen heroes that almost seems to double in membership each issue. Zub and Ramirez are constantly cutting from character to character throughout this issue in different action scenes. However, a few beats land like Power Man realizing the full potential of his “chi”-based powers and basically hulking out and save the team’s asses when he is stabbed in the heart by a magical, undead Asgardian artifact. There is also Kamala Khan, who gets a vision of her dead in a parallel universe and starts to realize that leadership of the Champions may be too much for her.
These two strong character moments stand out in what is mostly a loud, action-driven issue where the Champions are driven up a wall, and it’s hard to get a read on any character personalities between the explosions. Zub does hit on a few cool concepts like Hummingbird joining the team because she saw a distress call on a message board and using her empathy-driven, telepathic abilities to calm the team down. With the exception of the loose cartooning and cool moment where Power Man gets to wreak havoc, Champions #6 pales in comparison to the previous issue’s Cyclops and Kamala-centric tale and reduces powerful enemies to “monster of the week” status. Therefore, it earns an Overall Verdict of Pass.
Superior Spider-Man #7
I haven’t read the previous issues of Superior Spider-Man, but Christos Gage, Lan Medina, Cam Smith, and Andy Troy’s work on this story definitely made me want to pick up the previous six issues. The series has a similar premise to Dan Slott’s Superior Spider-Man, but without the weird mind swap plot devices and is more about a bad guy trying to do good and use the power of science and his intellect to be a better hero than Spider-Man. The first half of this issue is filled with precise storytelling and illustrations from Medina and Smith as Spider-Ock evacuates San Francisco and turns his brain to the cause of Frost Giants invading North America and not just the symptom. As Gwenpool later states, he’s a core miniseries hero stuck in a tie-in.
Oh yeah, and to pile awesomeness on more awesomeness, Gage, and Medina pair Spider-Ock with the West Coast Avengers because he wants to use America’s star portal abilities to shut down the one letting Frost Giants onto Earth. This plan doesn’t work out, but we get fun team-up fights, Gwenpool doing running commentary on event comic structure, and Spider-Ock and Quentin Quire bonding over their shared interest in arrogance. I love how the other characters think she’s raving mad, but the always curious Spider-Ock is out here asking questions about “legacy characters”. For its strong visuals, heavy dose of meta-humor, fun guest stars, and interesting characterization of Spider-Ock, Superior Spider-Man earns an Overall Verdict of Buy.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45
The search for the Frost Giants’ secret base continues in Ryan North, Derek Charm, and Rico Renzi’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45, but due to irreconcilable ethical differences, Squirrel Girl and Ratatoskr break up as teammates fairly early in the story. The split-up and reunion leads to great comedy, pathos, and later, adventure using the power of Frost Giant-induced fast travel. Ratatoskr doesn’t want to save the world; she only wants to create chaos and use her mind control abilities to get whatever the heck she wants. This includes go-kart video games, on command Frost Giant-friendly performances of “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande, and even psychological therapy.
However, the therapy part (Done by a mind-controlled Frost Giant.) named Daisy reveals that Squirrel Girl’s words about Ratatoskr never creating and only destroying have gotten under her skin. (Charm and Renzi draw moment of truth Ratatoskr quite adorable.) This leads to forgiveness and working together to stop the Frost Giant in an ethical, non-mind controlling way. But, there’s one last pit stop before the HQ as Charm and Renzi capture the beauty of snowfall and nature with the help of the (Newly in the public domain) poems of Robert Frost. (Also, North can’t help himself with puns.) It’s a singular moment in a very silly comic with a tongue in cheek ending. For showing that beauty and humor can co-exist with sneaking around a Frost Giant camp, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45 earns an Overall Verdict of Buy.
Venom #15
In the conclusion to their Venom “War of the Realms” arc, Cullen Bunn, Iban Coello, Alberto Albuquerque, Roberto Poggi, and Andres Mossa realize that Jack’o’Lantern is kind of a lame villain and pivot to Eddie Brock battling his own anger with a side of Dreamstone magic. The interplay between Bunn’s narration and the chaotic line art of Coello and Albuquerque creates heavy metal alchemy as Eddie wanders around New York and channels his anger again to remember that he is a “lethal” protector of the innocent, especially his son Dylan. He genuinely cares about the regular people who are caught in the crossfire of the War of the Realms and comes up with a new spin on “We are Venom” to protect them in a fist-bumping moment.
Venom #15, and Bunn and Coello’s overall work on this storyline has been a fantastic marriage of deep emotional turmoil and fun symbiote-meet-dark magic action. This issue is no exception as Eddie has his big moment and the returns to the bunker to protect Dylan and continue their journey to survive. What could have been filler while Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman were prepping “Absolute Carnage” end up telling a tale about Eddie and his son trying to survive in a world without his symbiote and featured memorable visual mash-ups of Asgardian and symbiote iconography. Because of this, Venom #15 earns an Overall Verdict of Buy.
This was truly “War of the Realms'” week of the underdog as characters, like Skurge the Executioner, Squirrel Girl, Gwenpool, Spider-Ock, Annabelle Riggs, and the West Coast Avengers, who get their books canceled or a relegated to second stringers lit up the comics pages thanks to the passion of creators like Cullen Bunn, Ryan North, Christos Gage, Luca Maresca, Derek Charm, and Lan Medina. In particular, Bunn’s letter at the end of Asgardians of the Galaxy #10 about how he wanted to do a story with these characters back in 2015 and then had to shoehorn them into two events shows the pitfalls of having an original spirit in corporate comics. But, hey, we’ll have those ten majestic issues than honestly work whether or not you read “Infinity Wars” or “War of the Realms”.
Panel of the Week
I really hope someone in the Ariana Grande camp reads comics. (From Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45, Art by Derek Charm and Rico Renzi)
