Marvel Comics Review: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ****

Another great issue by Brian Michael Bendis. The artwork is good too with artist David LaFuente. I complained before about how I thought Peter Parker looked like he was 12 years old instead of 16, but that doesn’t really bother me all that much. The way he tells the story panel-to-panel is reminiscent of Mark Bagley’s work on the original Ultimate Spider-Man title. I think LaFuente is becoming more the true air to the title than Stuart Immonen. No disrespect to Immonen, but I think both Bagley and LaFuente’s styles are better fit for the characters than Immonen. I hope LaFuente stays around for a while.

Bendis continues his masterful run on the Spider-Man character, which began almost 10 years ago. It’s always fascinating to see a writer stay with a character for that long and see the amount of different stories they can tell.

In typical Bendis fashion, the plot is moving along slowly, but you’re not bored. It’s like having a fine meal and you’re slowly enjoying yourself. So far Peter is still dealing with his new house guest the Human Torch and the drama of dealing with his past and current girlfriends Mary Jane and Gwen. The villain is still Mysterio and this new hooded superhero that first appeared in issue one makes another appearance. Is this new character an Ultimate version of the Hood - the villain Bendis is using over in Avengers? Maybe the Hood is a hero in the Ultimate universe.

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Marvel Comics Review: Marvels Project #2

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ****

The work that’s been done by James Robinson and Geoff Johns at DC over the past 10 years with the DC Golden Age characters has been amazing.  These men took these characters and have told some great stories.  Well, thanks to Ed Brubaker, it looks like Marvel has their own guy to work some magic with their Golden Age characters.  I know very little about Marvel’s Golden Age when they were then known as Timely Comics.  Other than Captain America and the Invaders (then known as the All-Winners Squad) I really didn’t know much about anyone else.  So when Ed Brubaker introduced the character of Thomas Halloway, The Angel in the first issue of the Marvels Project, I had to back track and do a Wikipedia search for the character to find out more about him.  In this second issue, Halloway dons a costume and begins fighting crime as the Angel. 

Other Golden Age characters make their appearance as well and begin fighting crime including: Fiery Mask, Mister E, and the Phantom Bullet.

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Marvel Comics Review: Marvels Project #1

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

I forget where I first read the preview for the mini-seriesThe Marvels Project.  I heard about this series prior to reading the preview and I didn’t really have an interest in picking it up.  It sounded cool, but with limited funds, I decided I was going to pass on this one.  However, after reading the preview, I was hooked and committed to picking up the series. 

Our story begins in 1938 at the dawn of the Marvel Universe.  An old man is dying in a hospital bed and tells a doctor about the coming age of the super heroes.  The doctor doesn’t believe him of course and the old man dies shortly after telling his story.  He does however leave the doctor a gift.  The gift is a wooden box that contains a pair of six shooters and it is then the doctor realizes that the man who died - Matthew Hawk - was the famed Two-Gun Kid.  Now for those of you who don’t know, the Two-Gun kid is hero within the Marvel Universe who existed in the Old West within the Marvel Universe.  He did however join the Avengers for a period after traveling through time. 

The story then flashes forward a year later to FDR and the coming US involvement in World War II.  We also see Namor the Submariner battling Nazis who are “fishing” for Atlanteans in order to use them for experiments.  Namor is of course not too pleased about this and takes these guys on.  During World War II, the super heroes that battled the Nazis consisted of Captain America, Bucky, Namor, and the Human Torch.  The Torch is also introduced here as we see his origin in how he was invented and then encased in concrete as his creator Professor Phineas Horton could not control him from bursting into flames.  The original Human Torch was an android and the people of the time were angry that scientists created this artificial being.  To some it was a sin and against the laws of nature which was another reason why he was encased in concrete.

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