Comic Books Comic Book • Page 456

Well I forgot about her too haha, I have read John's Justice League run so I am familiar with her. I read the first maybe 10 issues of Justice League Odyssey, not sure why I didn't stick with it. Love a good Joshua Williamson book!

 

Finished, SFSX vol 1 is like a Handmaid's Tale that hits a little too close to home for me. It's really good but like, holyfuckingshit. I think I need to take a step back before diving into vol 2.

 

Has the Radiant Black/Massive-verse stuff kept up it's quality? Outside of like Invincible I've never really gotten into non-big 2 superhero stuff, but I was tempted to check it out given all the initial hype. Feel like I haven't heard as much recently, but it certainly seems to be doing ok sales-wise with all the spin-offs.

 

It’s has, yeah. Only misstep has been Radiant Red. Rogue Sun is probably the best of the lot.

 

I didn't.

vol 2 is significantly less traumatizing than vol 1.

now waiting for vol 3 while the author works on other stuff for a while i guess

 

I’ve been meaning to read SFSX for a long time now

 

It's really good! Definitely recommend, just found vol 1 to be a little tough to get through at times

 

I don’t know how it’s gone down here but Jesus I really hate this current ASM run. Moreso than Spencer’s at this point.

 

Absolutely wild take, lol. This is by far the best ASM has been on average since the first half of the JMS run, when it was drawn by JRJR and hadn’t gone off the rails yet.

Truly the best case scenario for a Spidey comic feeling like a natural progression of classic comics, in the spirit of the series’ highs, without being a half-assed retread, while working within the limitations of what Marvel will allow for this character. I don’t like Gleason’s costume design and am bummed that Romita, Dragotta, & Kubert had to draw it, lol. But otherwise… it feels good to be actively reading ASM for once!

 

I love Wells but man apart from a couple of issues most of them just leave me upset and annoyed. I guess I just hate what Marvel editorial see Spidey and Peter as, in fact I loathe it. I hated everything Spidey (except Parker Pete-Man which was golden) in Dark Web, I no longer care “what Peter did”, at this point it’s not going to be worth the wait. I hate the use (and lack thereof) of MJ in it. There are fleeting moments where Wells nails it for me, but on the whole it’s just not landing for me.

and yeah the art is has been pretty terrible. The less JRJR the better haha. Beyond, while convoluted and Ben orientated I thought was a return to form. This, just seems like a step backwards. Maybe if it all comes together I’ll change my mind but it’s perilously close to dropping off my pull which is insane to me for a Spider-Man book. I’ll probably give it one or two issues when Wells comes back into it before deciding. OTOH the new Miles run started off strong!

 

John Romita Jr rules!!! I will forever die on this hill, lol. His cover game has been a bit off lately, but his interiors inked by Scott Hanna have been so visceral and high energy and lived in. It feels like a Spider-Man book to me again. The Dragotta one-off was excellent, too, as were those couple Dark Web issues Kubert drew. I think the Gleason issue is the only one I’ve been visually mixed on in this volume.

And, this Peter has felt spot on to me. Marvel will never let him be canonically above his mid-20s, but Wells & Romita & friends make him feel like a down-on-his-luck Peter in his 30s, in a very relatable way, lol. I wish he could be with MJ, but shame on anyone who expects corporate to allow that at this point, so I’m glad Wells is doing a best-case-scenario with what’s permitted. (So much better than that terrible Spencer run, which was truly emblematic of all the stupidest temptations of modern Big 2 comics.) I’m very interested in his dynamic with Felicia, now that she’s been fleshed out for years by MacKay, and how that intersects with Felicia & MJ’s dynamic. It finally feels like a natural progression of the soap opera again. The Osborn stuff is also fascinating. And, love Kamala in the mix.

Dark Web was weird in that it was marketed like a big epic “event,” and then was actually sillier than the main run. But, once I got over the dissonance and accepted it for what it was, I had fun with it! This is definitely just the beginning of the Chasm story. I do like the way they contrasted him with Maddie and established him as messed up and unwilling/unable to think rationally. Don’t know if Kaine is out there somewhere, but if so, hopefully he and Chasm eventually cross paths.

The mystery thing seems to be a big hang-up for a lot of people, which I personally don’t get. It’s gonna be answered at the end of year one, and unlike other mysteries (like that centipede villain in Spencer, whatever the fuck his name was), this really hasn’t been the focus most of the time. It’s just a thing that happened in between runs to get to where this needed to start, while also having a modest, fair tease of a future arc (that starts next month).

All that to say… I really love this run and am bummed you haven’t been able to click with it!

 

There are good points in there that I’ve definitely *almost* felt about the book. Just nothing is clicking. I do fundamentally disagree that this Peter feels like a good down on his luck Peter. I think this is mostly an editorial problem but including #20 in this, this Peter just seems like a straight up fucking loser, to the point where I don’t feel any sympathy for him. I think that’s the biggest reason I just haven’t clicked with it.

 

The Ultimate universe thing seems a bit out of nowhere, but it's Hickman, so I'm in.

In no way connected to the Hickman/Schiti thing that got teased awhile ago either apparently.

 

tired: Superman by Joshua Williamson
inspired: Superman in a food manga



It’s hungry work being Superman! That’s why every day for lunch in Superman vs. Meshi, Superman makes a quick stop over in Japan to try a new chain restaurant. Whether it’s a hearty bowl of curry or conveyor-belt sushi, the Man of Steel loves to indulge in the delectable delicacies the country has to offer. He’ll even share a meal with the other members of the Justice League from time to time in the hopes of showing them an incredible culinary experience. Superman vs. Meshi is written by Satoshi Miyagawa with art by Kai Kitagou.

To be serialized in English on the DC Universe Infinite app, and then collected in print later this year.

 

This has been the best write-up of ASM. I fell off pretty early during the Spencer run. It felt like The Force Awakens to earlier years' New Hope: a retread of the past. I wonder if any trades of the Wells' run have been collected yet.

Any other Wells' books to check out? He sounds cool on podcasts, but nothing of his has ever stuck out to me to try.

 

I remember really liking his Brand New Day spider-man story with Chris Bachalo about the snow storm.

 

lol thanks. That’s a pretty good comparison with Star Wars. For Marvel specifically, I always pair Spencer ASM with X-Men Gold by Guggenheim, post-IvX. Both are aggressively mediocre while actively reminding readers of much better comics from before. (Even TFA at least put characters on the table that Rian was later able to play with!)

And, yeah, there are at least two Wells ASM trades out so far. Maybe three? One early issue was the oversized #900, so between that and double-shipping, trades are able to come pretty quick!

If you’re an X-fan, his recent Hellions run was great, and his New Mutants from a decade ago was also pretty strong. And, yeah, lots of scattered Spidey work over the years, often with very good artists.

Either that or another Brand New Day story of his (can’t fully remember) is factoring into his current ASM run very soon, lol. Love when a writer in Big 2 is like, dang it, I’m just gonna keep connecting my various works together! He’s also already overlapped with his Hellions book.

 

Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain was a huge disappointment for me. I love the set up, love that the leads are a lesbian couple. Hell, I loved the end of Excalibur and Knights of X. But god damn Tini Howard writes too much. There’s so so much text saying absolute nothing at all in her books. Knights was a step in the right direction in terms of focus, but her Catwoman and now this just have far too much in them. It makes each issue a slog to read. I’m really worried about Harley Quinn now.

 

Just read Skim, I think I prefer This One Summer, but not by much

 

For some reason Dynamite is doing Disney Villain comics?

This Maleficent one looks begrudgingly pretty good, lol. Written, drawn, and colored by Soo Lee (who just drew a really cool Carmilla: The First Vampire graphic novel written by Amy Chu). And, one of the covers is by Jae Lee.

Assuming they eventually get around to doing my favorite evil Disney bitch Cruella, I hope they get a strong creative team for that one.

 

What would be your ideal Cruella creative team?

 

It’s hard to say for sure when the first couple of these haven’t come out yet. Christopher Priest is the best writer in the Dynamite mix, but I don’t know that a Disney classic animation spinoff is his vibe?

Dynamite in general is a publisher that doesn’t necessarily have, like, a consistently high bar, especially with interior artists. But, then they’ll pull out some surprising up-and-coming or veteran talent, lol, especially on the writing side. They did put award-winning writer Chuck Brown on Scar! So, it’s probably less of a prediction/pitching game for me, and more of me hoping to be happily surprised.

 

I have every iteration of the Villainous board game, and the Disney Villain tarot deck just for the artwork, I don't even do tarot. I'm a bit iffy on the YA books on Disney villains buuuut if it's in graphic novel format I miiiight wanna take a look

I'm literally at B&N about to buy Camilla when I saw that post lolol