More from the Marvel Whore

And just as you thought you were safe, the Marvel Whore STRIKES:

More from the marvel whore round-up

So I’ve been away and not expressed my professional (hmm) opinion on what has been going on in the world of marvel for quite some time. This is to be rectified here and now. Due to the amount of time I have been away, it appears to me the best thing to do is a round-up, how have things been in general over the last few months, what has been good as a running series and what has not. Hold onto your angry comments till the end, here we go.

Amazing Spider-man:

So we have been reading new ways to die for awhile now, the return of Norman Osborn and his cadre of Thunderbolts. Thoughts.... anti venom keeps popping up but we will get to that

It’s well known to anyone that posts on the Whatever Comics forum what I think of my favourite super hero since Brand new day, let’s just say‘ outlook bleak’, however

I thought the return of the two greatest spider-man villains might change this. I was wrong. Again I’ll stop and take my time explaining why. The first part of new ways to die was fantastic explaining that Eddie Brock thanks to Mr negative is now cured of cancer, the art was good and the set up for the next issue was enough to peak my interest. And then like everything else in One More Day it let me down. For a start there is a number of glaring problems. Peter Parker himself states ‘nobody knows who I am anymore’, that would suggest he knows about the deal with Mephisto >, that he doesn’t. Norman Osborn not knowing is like the Joker taking anti depressants. Venom also doesn’t know who spider-man is, even though he states that the suit remembers him and can find him.

The main problem I have had is not anti venom (even though that is a problem)

it’s the amount of glaring continuity errors created by Brand New Day.

Now onto Eddie Brock and Anti Venom, oh dear. In the last few issues we have discovered Eddie repenting his sins after finding god again knowing he is going to die. After he is healed he stays a genuinely nice person and when Venom tries to reattach to Eddie Anti Venom is created due to the effect Mr Negative had upon him. See what they did there? Negative? The opposite? Anti- Venom? No, I didn’t care either.

Now at the same time as this series Marvel are producing Venom Origins, a series that covers Eddie Brock’s true personality, a lying cheating, stealing, snivelling bastard that will take any advantage he can get. So how would this guy react the second he is mystically cured of cancer? Not like he is would be the answer

No one in the Marvel team seems to be able to write for spider-man well since BND, all of it has been 2nd if not 3rd rate. What is needed is someone like JMS to take over and create a consistent world where the continuity errors don’t keep popping up like charges in my bank account.

Oh and if menace turns out to be Harry Osborn like I think it is, I’m arranging a Whatever Comic hunting trip to New York Marvel offices, £100 for Joe Q

Secret Invasions many spin off’s:

We all know there have been many of these, but the question is, are any of them worthwhile? Well 2 definitely are, New and Mighty Avengers are as always top notch, but being written by the orchestrator of Secret Invasion will do that. Is there anything else? In my opinion (which is what this round-up is about), NOOOOOO!

Unlike Civil war and very much like World War Hulk the spin of comics are disregardable

The Stories seem to have no effect on the bigger picture

Young Avengers and Runaways have always been bad; this is a new level of ‘care-face’ towards these characters. Thor seems to have stopped in its tracks from being a great comic to being a mediocre one. Ms Marvel really did nothing for me, Thunderbolts was disappointing

Spider-man is beyond words

Strangely the only one I can think of that interests me is Inhuman. As Black Bolt was such an important find as a Skrull his fate seems to be of importance to the plot

The problem with the big events is that the spin offs and side stories don’t seem to have any effect on the main story or even be of interest. Civil War’s many side stories gave a new angle on the effect the super hero registration act had upon people in the Marvel world, even had a point to it. Take note big writers, try and make points of interest in all angles of your story.

Comic of the year (so far)

Now everyone knows I try to read everything I can in the Marvel universe with few exceptions (hence earning the name at the top) and this year has been a difficult one for me. Last year New avengers blew me away with every issue and I was convinced that it would continue through-out this year to be the comic of the year. New Avengers is now tied to Secret Invasion and cannot tell its own story, by no means making it bad but no longer that platinum star it was. The series that has caught me this year was an old love

with my biggest swimming through mounds of continuity errors (can you guess what it is yet?)

X-men:

Nothing but fantastic writing and art in every issue since the end of Messiah Complex. Ok Cable has been a bit poor but we’ll ignore that. Every story has peaked my interest with each of the different comics dealing with an angle as worthwhile as the last. The only complaint have is that the death (?) of Kitty Pryde seems to have been brushed over since Astonishing X-men was in the hands of Joss Weldon.

But it would be unfair to give a series of comics an award and I have thought this through as there is one comic in this collection which has shined brighter than any other

X-Force:

Something of a joke previously, X-Force has become something I don’t believe any of us saw coming. Intensely well written and even more amazingly drawn (issue 7’s one page spread could be called a work of art)

The best thing about this comic is probably the writer’s (Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost) true understanding of the characters they are using. Seeing Wolverine done as the savage yet understanding warrior he should be is always a joy, something I think they do better than

some more of the kind words I have to offer towards a comic that gets to the darker side of the X-men and the mutant battle for survival. I want to mention the art again and again, honestly pick up an issue in the shop and look inside. One thing that should be stated is that X-force should fall into the Marvel Max line; the content is adult only and should not be for the kid who loves X-men. I don’t have anything against this in the same way I have no problem with Punisher Max, Sometime characters just don’t fit in due to the adult connotations of the way they act

This leads me nicely onto

Punisher Max Post Ennis:

Ennis run on a fantastic series ended with more of a whimper than the bang that the rest of the series was. Now we have some local talent working on the series that earned its own rating system within Marvel.

I can’t say I’m not worried writing this as I am to meet the man tomorrow, but so far I’m under whelmed. *Gulp* Now the first point is one that even the previous artists missed towards the end of Ennis run. Frank Castle is meant to be a very old man now

the first few issues of Max, specifically the issues with micro showed this very well and I feel this is something that should be kept in mind when drawing and writing Frank

Second the structure of the second issue is very hard to follow, I constantly had the feeling like I had missed a page or some dialogue was missing in the last half of the issue. I felt lost and I re-read it hoping it was just me at the time, but unfortunately happened again

Now don’t get me wrong here I’m not saying in any way that it’s a bad comic, I like the art style, I like the darkness, I’m not overwhelmed by the plot (I liked the characterisation of the bad guys in the Ennis run), but it’s the first few issues. Also taking over from someone like Ennis must be quite some strain and I hope the guys manage to give it their best. So please do not remove my knee caps claiming it research....or make me read Punisher War journal!