Review: Marvel Comics Siege #2

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

Marvel Comics’ Siege continues this week with issue two of the four part mini-series. The issue returns to the scene of the battle in Oklahoma where Norman Osborn, HAMMER, and the Dark Avengers are battling it out with Thor and the citizens of Asgard. All look lost as Norman Osborn stands over a defeated Thor, but he’s saved by Maria Hill using a bazooka, which blows Norman out of the way.

Ares discovers quickly that he’s been duped by Norman into helping lead the invasion of Asgard. Ares decides to make good on his promise and rip Norman’s head off when the Sentry comes in to protect Norman. They duke it out and in a shocking big splash page moment, the Sentry rips Ares in half. I knew someone was going to die in this issue and I had a feeling it would be Ares, but in no way did I see him meeting his end this way. Very cool!

Issue one left off with an angry Steve Rogers watching the footage of the invasion of Asgard. We pick up here with Steve gathering the New Avengers, the Young Avengers, and Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors so they can all head to Oklahoma to defeat Osborn once and for all. Also with this group is Bucky the new Captain America. He hands over the shield to Steve stating he believes if they are going to do this, it has to be done right and Steve must wield the shield once more.

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Review: Marvel Comics Siege #1

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

Marvel Comics is promoting their latest blockbuster crossover Siege as a project that has been seven years in the making. It began with Avengers #500 when writer Brian Michael Bendis first took over the title. The storyline was called Avengers Disassembled where the Scarlet Witch went crazy, the Vision was destroyed, and Hawkeye and Ant Man (Scott Lang) were killed off. It was a good story and a huge turning point for the team that left many fans very angry as fan favorite Hawkeye was killed in an unsatisfactory manner and the New Avengers were then launched with a non-traditional lineup which included the Sentry.

As the years have gone by, we’ve had various crossovers such as Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign which further complicated the lives of the Avengers and the Marvel Universe in general. All of this has lead us to Siege, which is a storyline that will focus on Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers invading Asgard to expel it from the Earth. This was a very good start. Osborn wants power and looks at Asgard as a roadblock. With the assistance of Loki, Osborn is able to get a reason to invade Asgard.

During the Civil War, innocent civilians were killed during an incident involving the New Warriors. Loki is able to replicate a similar incident using the Asgardian Volstagg who battles the U-Foes which results in the death of thousands of civilians at Soldier Field in Chicago. Osborn’s Dark Avengers are not too willing to go along with the invasion - especially Ares who promises Osborn if this is a trick of some sort, he will kill him personally. 

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Marvel Comics Review: Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ****
Well, I’m not sure why Marvel Comics released this one-shot epilogue to Captain America: Reborn when the series still has one issue to go, but it’s here. Reborn was originally slated to be a five issue mini-series, but at some point it was decided that an additional issue was needed to tell the story. So Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield is shipping on schedule because last week should have been the last issue of the Reborn series. I’m not sure why Marvel did not just push this issue back to ship the same day issue six comes out or make issue five a double sized issue. Money? Probably, but you could still make money by doubling the price of a double sized issue.

Whatever the case may be, Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield still stands as a great comic book even with all the nonsense of it coming out prior to the completion of Reborn. Even before Reborn was even announced, we all knew that Steve Rogers would come back to land of the living at some point. It was only a matter of when, the how was almost meaningless because fans just wanted their guy back in action. The issue opens with a flashback to the days of World War II and Cap and Bucky fighting I believe the Japanese - not the Germans, as you normally see during Cap flashbacks to the war.

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Marvel Comics Review: Captain America: Reborn #4

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2

After a delay of about a month, the mini-series Captain America: Reborn continues. I’ve really enjoyed this series so far and would recommend it to non-Cap fans as a good example of a good Captain America story. After reading this issue, however, I’m starting to get a bit disappointed. We know Steve Rogers will be “resurrected” and return as Captain America, but we’ve wondered exactly how the story will end with that conclusion. Well, after reading this issue, I think I’ve got the conclusion figured out. It should be good, but I was hoping for something new and different. Maybe I’m wrong and there will be something different, but I doubt it. Before I give my theory of the conclusion, a quick recap.

The Red Skull has more than nine lives. He’s cheated death once again and is now inhabiting a new robotic body. The Red Skull, his daughter Sin, and her boyfriend Crossbones have arrived in Latveria the homeland of Dr. Doom. Doom has the machine that the Skull needs to recover Captain America, who is currently stuck in time. Sharon Carter is the key to getting Steve back; she has surrendered herself because the Skull’s accomplice Norman Osborn revealed to the media that she was the second shooter in the assassination of Captain America.

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M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay #1: Ryan Dunlavey

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

I love comics that stand out from the rack, and I particularly love them when they make me laugh. Out. Loud. M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay #1 is one of those comics and Ryan Dunlavey is my new favorite Marvel creator. Pitched as a tie-in to Marvel’s Dark Reign event, this one-shot is only tangentially but humorously connected through an opening sequence of phone messages from MODOK to Norman Osborn. I suspect someone in marketing needed a reason to slap a Dark Reign logo on the cover to boost sales. Well, I’m all in favor of anything that’ll sell more copies of things I like.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby over 40 years ago, MODOK is a great choice for this kind of comic. He combines two great comic book archetypes: the character with the big head (like Steve Ditko’s The Leader), and the chair based being (like Kirby’s Metron).

And here he’s used for great comic effect in a story that has Osborn sending him to Erie, Pennsylvania to get him out of the way although MODOK thinks that “surely, Erie is the linchpin in the path of total world domination!” It’s also where his family lives and he’s just in time for his high school reunion. Dunlavey also manages to weave in MODOK’s high school backstory, a giant robot fight and abused minions who long for a better life.

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Marvel Comics Review: Spider-Man: The Clone Saga #1

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ***

Finally, Marvel will be returning to the infamous Clone Saga storyline with a mini-series that is set to tell the story of the Clone Saga as it was meant to have been told. As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, I was a big fan of the Clone Saga when it first began and have always liked the character of Ben Reilly. So this week, issue one of the revisited Clone Saga storyline hit the stands, and while it did not blow me away, I was entertained. Two of the writers working on Spider-Man back in those days have come on board to tell the tale: Tom Defalco and Howard Mackie.

Before I go into my review for this issue, I must profess my love for the Spider-Girl title in which Defalco worked on. Defalco’s Spider-Girl/M2 universe sprang from the stories that were created during the Clone Saga, and he was able to make a grown up Spider-baby May Parker work well along with continuity of those storylines. Marvel completely abandoned the characters for years in the regular 616 universe until the upcoming Who was Ben Reilly? storyline that we’ll see next month in Amazing Spider-Man. 

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Marvel Comics Review: Captain America: Reborn #2

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

Another very good issue from the team of Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch.  Captain America: Reborn picks up right where issue one left off.  Steve Rogers is not dead and his friends in the Marvel Universe are trying to rescue him.  Steve is stuck in time as his consciousness is living inside his body in the past.  He keeps jumping from one moment in his life to the next.  In the last issue, we saw Steve as he stormed the beaches on D-Day and in this issue we see moments such as a battle between him and Master Man and Steve visiting President Roosevelt.  He also goes back to the moment where he took the Super-Soldier Serum - more on that later.

Back in the present, the current Captain America, Bucky Barnes, and the Black Widow are battling the Dark Avengers and Norman Osborn’s HAMMER.  They are looking for the device that the Red Skull and Arnim Zola used that resulted in Steve Rogers getting stuck in time after his assassination.  Unfortunately, the Dark Avengers are able to defeat and capture them.  They are interrogated by Norman Osborn.

Under the influence of the Red Skull, Sharon Carter shot Steve Rogers.  However, there was another assassin who took part in the crime: Crossbones.  To the general public, he is the lone gunman and has been incarcerated for the crime alongside his girlfriend, the Red Skull’s daughter, Sin.  Norman Osborn has a discussion with them and a deal is struck.  Which brings us back to Bucky and the Black Widow.  Osborn is interrogating them and reveals that he has released the information to the public that Sharon Carter was in on the assassination and that she is now wanted by the law.  Bucky and Widow are angry of course, but they’re powerless as Osborn tells Black Widow that he is going to release her, but she must bring Sharon Carter back with her or he will kill Bucky.  Why is Norman doing this?  Power.  The deal he made with Crossbones and Sin is to help bring about the return of Steve Rogers as Captain America and I think he needs Sharon to help bring this about.

A Captain America leading his Dark Avengers, under his control?  How deliciously evil!  Go, Norman!  Norman Osborn has really become the number one bad guy in the Marvel Universe over the past year.  Kudos to Marvel for really using the character in this manner after years of simply just being another resurrected Spider-Man villain.  Norman has become Marvel’s answer to Lex Luthor.

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Marvel Comics Review: Captain America # 600

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ****

This month’s “Captain America” hits the stands this week as the announcement is made that Steve Rogers is returning as Captain America in the mini-series “Captain America: Reborn”. As we all know Steve Rogers was shot and killed by a brainwashed Sharon Carter in “Captain America” (Vol.5) #25. Cap’s long thought dead partner James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes assumed the role of Captain America in issue #34 of the same series. There are numerous stories in this extra-sized issue of #600, but it is the main story of the book that sets the table for “Reborn” and the return of Rogers as Captain America.

The main story takes place on the one year anniversary of Steve Rogers’ assassination and focuses on all of the supporting players that we’ve seen in Captain America life: Sharon Carter, Bucky, Falcon, Patriot, etc. The story goes from character-to-character and each one has their own little tale. Sharon is remembering the events of the day she pulled the trigger and she remembers handing the gun off to some man. Sharon enters the home of that man and discovers that like her, he was brainwashed on the day of the assassination. After shooting Steve, Sharon unconsciously handed the gun off to the man. She finds the gun and takes off.

One of the characters that is shown in this story is Rikki Barnes the female Bucky that Cap teamed up with during the “Heroes Reborn” series. She has traveled over to the 616 Marvel Universe and aligns herself Eli Bradley The Patriot from the Young Avengers. I like that Marvel has decided to bring this character over into the 616 universe, however things are getting a bit crowded with Cap’s supporting cast. Hopefully writer Ed Brubaker can juggle them all.  Still I welcome the character and see potential.  Maybe they can pair up Rikki and Eli in a relationship.

With the one year anniversary of Captain America’s assassination, the people of New York plan to gather to remember him with a vigil in Central Park. Falcon and the non-registered Avengers plan on attending the vigil which is threatened with being shut down by Norman Osborn’s HAMMER organization. Osborn doesn’t shut it down, but uses it instead to paint himself in a positive light with the public.

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Review: Invincible Iron Man 10

Posted by Todd Matthy Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Run to the hills, Marvel has unveiled their “Iron Maiden”. Okay that was lame, but I couldn’t resist it. Now let’s get down to business… reviewing another solid issue of “Invincible Iron Man”. Month in and month out, Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca have been giving us the Iron Man movie on paper. I can’t believe I had reservations about this book when it debuted (I mean did we really need another Iron Man book), but I finally caved, bought the first three issues, and have been coming back ever since.

Anyway, this issue Norman Osborn continues his destruction of everything Tony Stark has ever built. But while Tony’s friends and employees suffer the Green Goblin’s wrath, Tony continues to play it calm, play it cool, and relieve “stress” with Maria Hill as he destroys his armory and goes on the run. And he’s not alone. Building off of events in previous issues, Pepper Potts finally takes up the mantle Fraction had been hinting at since the last story arc, the Iron Maiden, and not a moment too soon because Stormin’ Norman’s stormtroopers are on her tail. (You can thank the Spider-Man movie for that one).

As for Larroca’s art, the character’s designs are a continuation to the actors from the movie, but are unique enough that they aren’t direct traces. Much of this is enhanced by the coloring of Frank D’Armata giving the book an energetic realism.

Overall, if you’re not reading this book, get the first trade then catch up by buying the issues you missed. Trust me it’s worth it.

Random Thoughts - 1.30.09

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Oh, it’s not our Final Crisis but the Monitor’s Final Crisis? Does that mean we have our own Final Crisis to endure? And, if I read it right (a big IF) did the Monitor’s existence fade away? Who exactly has the power to do this? Uotan? He did tell his fellow Monitors to “make your peace,” but he was reborn in Metropolis. So is his BFF reborn somewhere else? And if he’s reborn why wouldn’t the rest of the Monitors regenerate. Maybe they have their own resurrection ship like on Galactica. And how did I miss the ship on the next-to-last page that obviously carried Batman to Australia? Could someone tell me where in the previous story did this ship come from? Darkseid always hated music? Who knew? Do you think the DC Aborigine knows the Marvel guy? And, finally, Superman can wish for one thing and wants a “happy ending”? Wow, the jokes could be endless. Me love Superman long time.

Well, Final Crisis Revelations sure revealed a lot didn’t it? So to find out all of Hercules female conquests, we need the “Who’s Who of Super Heroines”? Told you last time. Why didn’t Herc and Cho invite Athena to join them for pizza? Now I like the FOE covers, but my customers having to keep asking where their favorite books are ? The covers are all black and the white Black Adam obscures the title of the book. People couldn’t find Booster Gold because of the Enemy Ace name. Over in the war that time forgot (too easy to say book that people forgot), I pity the fool that picks up the first six-issue compilation and tries to figure out the plot. And what’s with the rumor that Smallville has shot two different season ending episodes with one being a series-ender? My DC rep promises to investigate.

In Marvel land they really seem to be killing off half the Ultimate Universe characters. Just like raising almost everything to $3.99 will kill off half their sales. Still, I did like Kitty Pryde telling the reluctant subway passengers to “Take my hand if you want to live.”  They really concluded the Daredevil storyline neatly huh? Except they didn’t. Now we know to not mess with Orono because she really jumped in power level, didn’t she? Finally, I loved New Avengers because they are heading for a grand confrontation with no opaque motivations, so far. But, even the President knows Norman Osborne is nuts? Gotta love politics.