Marvel - Review - FA Online

New Avengers 7

There’s a lot to be said against Brian Michael Bendis’ writing, and I’ve said most of it already; his overrated, sprawling style has become the industry standard, padding out storylines endlessly to fill the all-important Trade Paperback, with a multitude of costumes all saying the same ‘cool’ things in exactly the same voice, characterisation being subverted to a plot point or a ‘witty’ punchline.

Incredible Hulks 618

Marvel and DC’s business strategy to the symptom of plummeting sales seems to be this: spin off your most popular characters into second and third and fourth books. Spin-off the spin-offs. Then involve them in one long, universe-threatening, cross-over.

Deadpool MAX 1-2

Deadpool MAX, the inevitable “but now he can say ‘fuck'” iteration of Spider-Man-with-pouches. With David Lapham on scripting chores and Modern Master Kyle Baker on art – both idiosyncratic cartoonists with little aversion to journeyman dalliances, what rough beast will emerge?

Uncanny X-Men 530

This is the first X-Men comic I’ve read since the end of Grant Morrison’s run, and it’s not bad. Not great, but not bad either.

Avengers 7

You can’t deny that at times Bendis is keen on LONG conversations with very little happening. He defines the tendency towards ‘decompression’ – which means telling stories that in years past would have taken one issue over six issues.

Ant-Man & Wasp 1

I am genuinely surprised that comics as bad in every way as this get published by a major professional company.

Avengers vs the Pet Avengers 1

Remember the 1960’s, when Marvel was ‘cool’ because they did flatulent cosmic bollocks like Silver Surfer, and DC wasn’t because they did all the stuff with Super-Pets? Well, time for us uncool ones to get our smug on, because Marvel, unexpectedly, has reversed the trend and restored fun to comics again.

Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the United Kingdom that our American cousins, unencumbered as they are by a great deal of history, (my local pharmacist having existed for almost as long as the United States) tend not to fully apprehend historical requirements in reinterpretations of classic literature.

X-Women 1

Even the people who thought that dedicating a year to ‘The Ladies’ wasn’t sexist, with the implicit subtext that said ‘Ladies’ should bugger off to the kitchen or the bedroom every other year…Even they were smart enough to steer clear of this’n!

Strange Tales II 2

Marvel lets a bunch of indie/underground types (most notably Los Bros Hernandez) at their characters, with variable but mostly enjoyable results.