‘Marvel’ Archives
Thunderbolts #110-121
In the next few days, I'll be reading the various Avengers-related titles during the Dark Reign period. However, before I do that I need to catch up on this Thunderbolts run by Warren Ellis, which is the basis for the whole Dark Reign stories. Norman Osborn is in charge of Thunderbolts, and he transforms them into a group of superheroes who [...]
Amazing Spider-Man #589-600
Catching up on Amazing. Issue 589 is a standalone story about Spot and the Russian mob. Nothing fancy, but good. Dan Slott writes the next two issues with Barry Kitson on art, starring the Fantastic Four. The adventure takes place in the Macroverse, but what's interesting here is the explanation that Peter knows about Mephisto's mindwipe. [...]
Daredevil v2 #056-081 by Brian Bendis & Alex Maleev
Bendis and Maleev are back for the second part of their epic saga. They picked a perfect place in the story to take a break, because the first arc "King of Hell's Kitchen" takes place 1 year later. Matt has really cleaned up his district, nobody dares to do crime in his territory. However he only pushed the problems to different areas, which is [...]
Daredevil v2 #051-055: Echo by David Mack
After 25 issues, David Mack comes in to give Bendis and Maleev a rest, before they continue their epic run. Mack previously wrote an arc drawn by Quesada, and drew an arc wrote by Bendis. This time he both writes and draws, so it really feels like a "David Mack" comic, like Kabuki. There's not much plot in this arc. Echo comes back to NY to [...]
Daredevil v2 #026-050 by Brian Bendis & Alex Maleev
This is the run I've been wanting to read for years. To me, this was the peak of Bendis writing skills, before he started writing Avengers. Here he is reunited with his collaborator on Sam & Twitch, Alex Maleev. I loved that series, so I was happy to see them together on Daredevil. Their run is mainly a crime comic, smoothly mixed with [...]
Daredevil vol2 #20-25: Playing to the Camera
This next arc is written by Bob Gale, with art by Phil Winslade and Dave Ross. This story focuses on Matt's day job as a lawyer. In fact, not only is Matt working as a lawyer, but he's helping his client sue Daredevil! That's a great idea that brings to many interesting situations. Daredevil hires a lawyer but keeps his identity secret. He's [...]
Daredevil vol2 #009-019: Parts of a Hole & Wake Up
Issues 9-14 are Parts of a Hole, written by David Mack with continuing art by Joe Quesada (minus the fill-in issue 12). This introduces Maya Lopez who is the perfect mate for Daredevil. Her powers are to mimic any physical activity by just looking at someone else. So she can mimic someone playing piano, acting or fighting. This is not a [...]
Daredevil vol2 #001-008: Guardian Devil
Another series that I've always wanted to read is Daredevil. Ever since Quesada started Marvel Knights, this series has been well reviewed. I actually read a few story lines, but I never went beyond 3-4 arcs. So I thought I'd start from issue 1, even though it's been recently changed to the old numbering. This first story arc is the one that [...]
Ultimate Human
This is a mini-series pitting the ultimate versions of Iron Man and Hulk against each other. It's not actually a battle between the two, even though there is one fight between them. But the main reason behind this team-up is that Bruce wants Tony's help in trying to remove the Hulk. After figuring out how the Hulk works, Tony actually manages to [...]
Uncanny X-Men #500-512
Here is the first year of Matt Fraction's run on Uncanny. This title hasn't been that great lately, so I'm happy to see a new hot writer taking a stab at it. It all starts with the anniversary issue 500, which lays down some of the upcoming stories in the series. The X-Men are relocating to San Francisco, but Magneto comes back only to be [...]
Captain America #600, 601
Here is one of the many re-numbering at Marvel, counting all different series relaunch as part of one big ongoing series. I actually don't mind this, I think a big number does not intimidate me into trying a new series, it's the bad quality that takes care of that. So I never liked the relaunching of the series with a new number 1. That said, [...]
Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk
This mini has been a long time in the making, but luckily I didn't read it when it first came out, so I get to enjoy the whole story all at once. I enjoy Lindelof's writing in Lost, so I was curious to check out how he does writing a comic. I wasn't disappointed, as this is just a fun story with plenty of action and some twists. It's an over [...]
Captain America #43-50
I have no time to write a full review, so I will just put my notes here. SPOILERS! 43-45) In 1942 Cap, Bucky and Human Torch were part of a secret operation to rescue Prof Zhang Chin. That's when the boy started to be fascinated by Torch. In 1968 the Winter Soldier was to kill the prof, but the Man With No Face stopped him. He saw the prof [...]
X-Infernus
Summary: Pixie brings X-Men to limbo, looking for Magik. Belasco's daughter wants to reclaim Limbo, and gets the amulet. Even takes another piece of Pixie's soul. In the end Illyana goes back to X-Men, with her soulsword without amulet. She doesn't have a soul, but Kurt tells her she has a choice. This mini aims to evoke the classic Inferno [...]
Wolverine by Jason Aaron
Here are some random issues of Wolverine by Jason Aaron before his new ongoing Weapon X starts. 56) (art by Howard Chaykin): Wendell shoots at Wolverine in a pit. He starts talking to him, telling him about his mother died at childbirth. Then his dad beat him, and he beat others as a cop. So he wants to die, and frees Wolverine, but Wolverine [...]
Cable #6-12
These issues are a slight improvement over the first 5, I am more interested in these shorter stories, even though we still don't know much about the baby. Issue 6 is a departure from Cable's future. It stars Cyclops in the present worrying about Cable and the baby. It's a nice issue that sets up future storylines and ends with a typical [...]
X-Force #1-13
X-Force is the darkest of the X-Titles, not only in art but content. The Purifiers are the villains in the first arc. Their leader Risman resurrects Bastion and puts his head on Nimrod's body. But more classic x-villains are coming back: Bastion brings back Graydon Creed, Donald Pierce, Stephen Land, William Stryker, Leper Queen, Cameron [...]
X-Men: Legacy #215-218
Xavier's journey continues with another story filled with past histories. This time he goes to Cyclops trying to find if Sinister put any mental blocks. Instead he's taken on a walk-through by Emma. They revisit his past mistakes and let him deal with them. He seems to be accepting them just so he doesn't have to think about them. [...]
Amazing Spider-Man #584-588: Character Assassination
As much as I liked New Ways to Die, I think this arc blows that out of the park. JRJR is back for this arc, but this time a lot happens. Whereas New Ways had a lot of action but not much in terms of resolution, this arc is where it's all revealed. The Spider tracer killings are finally solved, and it felt more like a crime story than a [...]
Amazing Spider-Man #574-583
After New Ways to Die, we're back to shorter stories by a variety of creators. First up there's a Flash story about his time in Iraq. This is a controversial story about the war, that is played realistically, but it also features a superhero inspiring a soldier. Some might think it trivializes the war. Towards the end we also find out that [...]