What's the opposite of Amazing?

Amazing Spider-Man #300
(Todd McFarlane art)

Amazing Spider-Man should change its title to Opposite-of-Amazing Spider-Man.  Why?  It's so...average.  I remember back in the 80s how cool (and monthly) ASM was.  It featured breakout artist Todd McFarlane, Peter Parker and his longtime crush Mary Jane married, and it introduced the black costume that would one day become Venom.  Cool stuff.
Lately, ASM has been mediocre.  I re-joined the series after the highly criticized "Brand New Day" storyline that apparently wiped everyone's memories of Spider-Man's secret identity and, with it, Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane.  I've been fairly underwhelmed with the stories that are printed thrice monthly. 

Amazing Spider-Man #641

Recently, I read the "One Moment in Time" storyline (Amazing Spider-Man #638-641) which reversed the memory-wipe from "Brand New Day."  Seriously, what's real and what isn't anymore then?  I'm so confused. 

At $3.99 each, Amazing Spider-Man issues are also higher priced than many other comics.  Three times a month.  That's $12 per month, which could possibly be some kid's monthly allowance.  This past week, both issue #641 AND #642 were released.  Why?  Scheduling/printing conflict, Marvel says.  Okay...but why not just push everything back then?   Since it's published practically every week, I hardly doubt someone's going to miss it if a week goes by without a new issue of Not-So-Amazing Spider-Man.  It's not like they have to wait another month; they'll just catch it the next week.  What kind of logic is that?  So, basically I spent $7 on crap this week.  (#642 was only priced at $2.99 and, by the artwork alone, it's really only worth 99 cents.  But I'll get to that in a moment (in time).)

From Amazing
Spider-Man #642

The worst thing about printing an ongoing weekly comic series?  The writing and art become very inconsistent issue to issue.  To catch up, it seems like Marvel is hiring any old artist off the street for one of their oldest and most popular titles, not giving Spidey the respect he deserves.  Cheap unknown writers, cheap unknown artists, figuring people will buy the title just based on the character Spider-Man alone.   Check out a panel of the latest issue (#642).  Is that Mary Jane and Peter Parker?  What's wrong with them?  Has Mary Jane contracted rickets and turned Asian?  Does Peter have cerebral palsy and Frankenstein bolt-head disease? 

From Amazing
Spider-Man #642

Trying to produce a comic that's published so often is really harming the image of Amazing Spider-Man.  A little depth, good storytelling, and great art go a lonnnnnnng way. 

(se)X-Factor

One of my favorite comic books in the 1980s was Marvel Comics' X-Factor.  It revived the original X-Men team and brought Jean Grey back to life (the first time). 

The team today is very different than the team of yesteryear.  It focuses on X-Factor Investigations, which is a detective agency made up of mutants.  And some of the team consists of characters that I've never had a particular fondness for:  Madrox, Longshot, and Shatterstar.  On the other hand, Wolfsbane (one of the original New Mutants) and Rictor (one of the young mutants the original X-Factor takes under their care) are also team members and I've always liked the two of them.  

I read an article that the powers-that-be were pairing up Rictor and Shatterstar as a gay couple and it intrigued me.  To throw an even bigger twist into the storyline, Wolfsbane shows up seven months pregnant, carrying Rictor's baby, and catches the two of them together.  Whoa.  Talk about drama. 

I gave X-Factor #207 and #208 a try.  I was extremely impressed with writer Peter David's character development, as it gave me a greater appreciation toward characters I've always liked, as well as those that I never particularly cared for.  And the scenes involving Rictor, Shatterstar, and Wolfsbane were fantastic.   A special thank you goes out to Peter David and Marvel Comics for including scenes between Rictor and Shatterstar that were not limited to a hug or pat on the back.  They're shown as a regular romantic couple trying to work out their problems.

Peter focuses more on the interaction of the characters, by giving them their own lives and stories, rather than using the characters to just fight battle after boring battle.  He moves the characters forward with real-life events that will forever change their lives.  Unfortunately, this doesn't happen enough in comic books.  Oh, and I was happy to discover that Longshot no longer sported a mullet and Shatterstar no longer looked like a samurai with a ponytail.  

As long as Peter David stays on as the writer, I'm definitely adding X-Factor to my list of monthly comics.

A Mediocre Joker

In The Joker graphic novel, we meet minor criminal Jonny Frost. He loses his girlfriend and joins Joker's gang, giving us a story from his viewpoint of what it's like to be side-by-side with this madman.  Although not specifically labeled, the graphic novel seems to take place in an "Elseworlds" universe. It doesn't take place in the regular DC Universe.  Regular Batman villains appear as slight variations of themselves: Harley Quinn is a killer stripper, Killer Croc is just a large man with alligator-type skin, and the Riddler is a feeble, crippled man who uses a question mark-shaped cane to walk. The Joker himself resembles Heath Ledger's silver screen version.

I liked the concept of this graphic novel, but the story didn't really draw me in that much, despite spot-on craziness from the Joker himself.  Usually when comic book stories are chosen to be placed in graphic novels rather than in a regular comic book, they're meant to be epic. Take, for example, The Killing Joke.  Unfortunately, that's where The Joker fails.  I guess I was expecting to get inside the mind of the Joker himself.  Some of the recent Joker's Asylum comic book stories have been much better.  They're better written, and have better artwork.

And, speaking of, most of the illustrations in The Joker appear like rough sketches rather than completed artwork. The characters have too many jagged edges for my taste. Ironically, some of the panels are a lot more detailed and beautifully illustrated. It seems as though the artist couldn't be bothered to do the rest of the graphic novel in a similar style. When I'm paying over $10 for a single story/issue in a hardcover format, I guess I expect a bit more effort put into it. Again, see Brian Bolland's flawless art in The Killing Joke. 

Skip The Joker graphic novel and head straight for the Joker's Asylum stories. You'll get much more value for your dollar. 

Avengers Discombobulated

When I heard that the Avengers were going to have a fresh start with the Heroic Age after the dreaded Dark Reign cloud that hovered over the Marvel Universe, I was elated.  I have fond memories of the Avengers from the 80s and wanted to recapture that excitement.  I've picked up the first three issues of The Avengers, the first two issues of The New Avengers and the Avengers Academy, and the first issue of The Secret Avengers.  Color me unimpressed.  The only one that has interested me so far is the Avengers Academy.


The Avengers Academy takes a group of relatively unknown teenagers and allows them to interact, working out their personality differences, learning how to use their powers together, and coming to terms with why they were chosen for the group.  This is great storytelling.   

What isn't great storytelling?  Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers.  The stories have been pretty bland and generic and aren't a very good starting place for newcomers.  The characters aren't given enough time to interact before they're thrust into battle with some other worldly villain.  We never get to really know them and, frankly, at this point, I don't even want to.

My main pet peeve: why are Spider-Man and Wolverine on both the Avengers and the New Avengers teams?  Furthermore, they each have their own comic book series (Spider-Man's is published thrice monthly), and Wolverine is in the Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Astonishing X-Men, and the new plain ol' X-Men comic. Talk about overkill.  I wish I had that much free time.  No wonder they created clones of Spider-Man.  Then there's the addition of the Thing who is and will always be a member of the Fantastic Four.  I think there are plenty other Avengers out there with good tales to tell that could use a wee bit o' screen time.

Unfortunately, Marvel missed the boat on this "revamp" of a classic series and team(s).   2010 isn't so much the "Year of the Heroic Age" or even the "Year of the Avengers."  It'll be remembered by me as the year I wasted $3.99 a comic on some crappy Avengers wannabe series.  

Check out: Avengers Academy: Permanent Record

Grim Hunt

It's been a challenge trying to keep up with the Amazing Spider-Man since his comic is published thrice monthly, but I just finished reading the four-part "Grim Hunt" storyline that ran in issues 634-637.  (Side note:  at this rate, ASM is going to bypass Superman's and Batman's monumental 700th issues which, to me, is kind of cheating.)

"Grim Hunt" featured the return of Kraven the Hunter (whom I didn't realize -- or remember -- was dead).  Thankfully, Marvel Comics published a free companion comic that came out for Free Comic Book Day that gave a detailed history of Kraven.  This proved immensely helpful before I read "Grim Hunt."  It gave me the background of his suicidal death, as well as insight into his family members, including his half-brother the Chameleon, the many women he's bedded, numerous kids, pets, etc. 

Over the past year or so, the Kravinoff family has been secretly running Spider-Man through a "gauntlet," bringing back his most dangerous villains in order to weaken our Friendly Neighborhood hero before they brought Kraven back to life.  The stories haven't had much depth to me, and that's probably because of how many times a month the series is published.  You can't have quality and consistency when you have to have a variety of writers and artists to keep up with the hectic publishing schedule.  They're not all going to write or draw the same.  In fact, some of the writing and art has been horrendous and jarring.  Still, I held on to the series. 

In the process of this "gauntlet," Marvel also updated all of the "old" villains, making them more dangerous than ever before.  For example, the Vulture is now somebody else who wears a red costume (instead of green) and has new deadly powers.  Oh, and he eats people.   The Sandman and Rhino storylines in "The Gauntlet" had the potential to be very good because of their emotional impact...but in the end, they both fell apart.  The only well-written story I read was kind of a "filler" issue featuring the vampire Morbius.  It was a self-contained single-issue story that was cleverly written. 

Anyway, back to "Grim Hunt."  The Kravinoff family is after the entire Spider family:  Spider-Man, Madame Web, Spider-Girl, Arache, Spider-Woman, Arana, Spider-Man clones, etc.  Basically, anyone with a spider emblem on their chest, a spider-theme to their name, or Peter Parker's DNA in their body.  It's all kind of silly, really.  Clones?  Seriously? 

The Kravinoff family resurrects Kraven from the dead by sacrificing Spider-Man over his grave.  (I won't spoil it for you.)   Fights ensue, unimportant people die, and Spider-Man saves the day.  (What?  You really thought he was dead?  His name is on the cover.  How could he be dead?  Again, I won't spoil it for you with the whos, hows, and whys.)  In the process, Spider-Man almost kills Sasha, the mother of Kraven's daughter, Ana, by doing something painful to her face, but I couldn't quite tell what.  I had to go back and re-read it several times because it was so out of character for Spidey.  He also tries to kill Kraven, also out of character. 

So, this is what "The Gauntlet" was all leading up to?  It was a pretty disappointing finale from a disappointing lead-in, although I did gain some respect for Kraven that I didn't have before, now that I know him a little better.  Gone are the days when Kraven wore his leopard pants, fur jacket, and ballet slippers.  Thankfully, now the only place that you'll find someone sporting that combination is at your local Walmart. 

Besides the "Grim Hunt" storyline, Marvel Comics justified jacking up the price of each issue to $3.99 by running a second storyline which featured an "untold" tale of Kraven and Kaine, the long-haired Jesus-looking Spider-Man clone.  It sort of ties into "Grim Hunt," but really it's just filler.  Even the artist couldn't even be bothered to do a great job.  He made Kraven look like Gru from the animated movie Despicable Me.

Lastly, there was a third storyline going on in the issues of ASM.  These were two-page "stories" written by Stan Lee that were a combination of the original 1960s Spider-Man stories...and Pinky and the Brain.  Yeah, you heard me. 

What do I think of Spider-Man?  Meh.  I wish Marvel Comics would get Spider-Man back on track with some good storylines, good writers, and good artists.  Not one, but two, Spider-Man clones?  Spider-Man loses a portion of his life, so he's single again and no longer married to Mary Jane?  Aunt May acting all rude and freaky with a storyline that's going nowhere?  Whatever happened to Spidey's heyday with the black costume saga and Todd McFarlane's art?  Can't somebody come up with something equally entertaining but not silly?  For $3.99 a pop three times a month, we readers deserve better.  And, frankly, so does Spider-Man.