In 2021 I’d like to cross over the 1,000 comics review barrier, meaning reviews that I (Mike Clarke a.k.a. pghhead) contribute to the blog. That’s what this odyssey is about, beginning January 01, 2021. Wish me luck. . . .
# GOAL FOR SEPTEMBER 10 . . . 695 comics documented
CURRENT COUNT . . . . . 672 comics documented
#633 X-MEN GRAND DESIGN: X-TINCTION #1 of 2 (Marvel, 2019) Indie writer/artist Ed Piskor continues his tribute to the best period in the X-Men franchise (in my opinion, others may disagree).
This begins with the birth of Nathan Christopher Summers to Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madeline Pryor and the loss of Storm’s powers. The Marauders wipe out most of the Morlocks, Maddy loses Nathan following a plane crash, as Mister Sinister has plans to clone him. Many X-Men retreat to the Australian Outback to regroup while the world thinks them deceased. The Reavers get in the way. Marvel Girl/Jean Grey returns. Maddy goes mad, makes a deal and emerges as the Goblin Queen as Inferno begins. Whew! A lot happened in a short time back in those days, with one event overlapping another and plenty of foreshadowing.
Piskor summarizes all that plus adds a little extra flavor, all within 40 pages of highly detailed, multi-paneled scenes (script, art, inks, color, letters). Plus, the story unfolds in a very respective manner, revealing Piskor’s vast knowledge/love of classic X-Men lore. He alters his cartoonish style here to reflect his respect/admiration for Jack Kirby.
It’s fun to view this stories again from a different perspective. FOUR STARS.
#634 - #635 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #3, #5 (Marvel, November 2019 - January 2020)
THE KING IN BLACK was intense, one of the best epic events from Marvel that I’ve read in recent years (although, I don’t read that many of them). Donny Cates really runs the character of Venom through a gauntlet. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that he hasn’t been very kind to poor Eddie Brock.
This series, a prelude to the King In Black saga is equally intense. Talk about beating up on your main character! Plus, Ryan Stegman’s art is killing it! Carnage is gathering up the codices (pieces of symbiote genetic material) in order to revive and summon Knull, the King In Black.
Eddie/Venom and Peter/Spider-Man are trying to prevent Carnage from achieving his aims, but the odds are stacked up against them with a horde of new Carnage-controlled symbiotes including recently turned Norman Osborn and others. The Venom symbiote, recognizing that Eddie can’t get it done, takes over Bruce Banner, turning him into Venom/Hulk.
Eddie has been using a machine built by The Maker (evil Reed Richards from another universe) to destroy codices but they were stored instead and Eddie uses them to create a symbiote army to go against Carnage’s army.
#636 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: LETHAL PROTECTORS #3 of 3 (Marvel, December 2019)
This limited series by Frank Tieri and Flaviano takes place right after the events of ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #2.
A fun read, but secondary to the main story. THREE STARS.
#637 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: SYMBIOTE OF VENGEANCE one-shot (Marvel, November 2019) This takes place before ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #1 and was released a little bit ahead of that book.
Carnage has begun his hunt for codices and travels in a big truck full of cloaked disciples to assist him, heading to Nicaragua to take the codice from Alejandra Jones, a former Ghost Rider. Meanwhile, the original Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze, now in hell, recruits Danny Rand to protect her.
A neat, taut little complete-in-one-issue story from Ed Brisson with cool art from Juan Frigeri. The outcome is a bit disappointing but the postscript scene is very satisfying. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
There are plenty of guest stars (especially the Dark Avengers), which was kind of fun, but takes away from the bigger story of this particular group of X-Men.
Some of the more worthwhile things that happened during this run are the Humanity Now! Coalition where Simon Trask introduces Proposition X, mandatory chemical birth control for anyone with X-genes. Rogue’s in isolation, on a soul-searching mission in the Outback. The danger room gets a physical embodiment, and becomes “Danger”, capable of creating holographic projections that seem incredibly real (and dangerous).She gets the attention of Shi’Ar salvagers as well as Professor Xavier and Gambit who seek to Finland assist Rogue.
The next in line to recruit Professor X is Norman Osborn. Full circle. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#643 X-MEN LEGACY #250 (Marvel, August 2011) Legion figures prominently in the three stories here in this over-sized anniversary issue.
Surving a memory-warping event, the X-Men return to the island of Utopia. Of course, the team (Rogue, Magneto, Professor Xavier, Legion, Gambit and Frenzy) discover that not quite everything sit should be.
Two new stories by Mike Carey with art from Khoi Pham and Steve Kurth plus a classic reprint of “Into The Abyss” the first big appearance / encounter (but not necessarily in a good way) with Legion from NEW MUTANTS #27 ($0.65 cover price in 1985!) Chris Claremont always packs a lot into his stories. Plenty of text which requires twice as long to read as a standard comic of today. Doesn’t matter. The amazing art of Bill Sienkiewicz still shines through. FOUR STARS.
#645 X-MEN LEGACY #272 (Marvel, October 2012) Christos Gage wrote this one with help from artists Rafa Sandoval/Jordi Tarragona. Rogue is in an alien dimension and in the middle of a civil war between the armies of the Spartan-like Vray and the hive-mind collective of the Swarm. The art helped carry me through this one. THREE STARS.
The Premise of the various AGE OF X-MEN mini-series was good: everyone is a mutant - special, powerful, individual. No more strife, oppression or dependence. A dream made real. A dream that must be protected . . . at any cost.
The execution (make that x-ecution) however left something lacking.
What if / alternate unverse type of stories should be fascinating and pull you in. Otherwise, why read something out of continuity? I read some other AGE OF X-MEN books - - MARVELOUS X-MEN and PRISONER X — and wasn’t moved by a single one of them. TWO STARS.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker, the Spider-Man of now has his hands full on a mission with sister (?) Teresa (a gun-toting winged fighter/spy) intercepting a deal between The Foreigner and Chameleon for the Infinity Formula. Earlier in the story, there is a small panel during a Parker daydream that foreshadows the coming of Kindred (just showing part of his mask/face).
This issue kicks off the beginning of The Fight For The Future: 2099 crossover event that ran through 14 titles in total, beginning here and running through Amazing Spider-Man #36 and including the obligatory 2099 Alpha and 2099 Omega issues as well as some one shots: Conan 2099 (awful, don’t bother); The Punisher 2099 (meh); and the others I didn’t bother to read: Fantastic Four 2099; Ghost Rider 2099; Venom 2099; Doom 2099; and Spider-Man 2099. THREE STARS.
I pre-ordered this, as I admire what Alan Moore tried to do with the Providence series (based on the life and cosmic horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft) some years back.
I did not realize it was an art book, comprised entirely of pen and ink sketches by Jacen Burrows, Daniel Gete, Gabriel Andrade, Ivan Rodriguez, Renato Camilio and Christian Zanier. All the art is based on and inspired by (nightmares) the Providence series.
But, if you like weird, horrific art this is a bounty of it. Art by Daniel Gete is really spotlighted here, accounting for 80% of this 64-page special. I’ve seen Gete’s art before. It’s very impressive but his work for the major publishers is a bit inconsistent. This is a great showcase for him.
However, I was thirsty for some more Lovecraft-inspired comics which influenced the rating here. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#649 - #652 X-0 MANOWAR #1-4 (Valiant, March 2020-January 2021) Granted, this is a new beginning for X-O Manowar after epic runs by Vendetti and Kindt. It is a fresh start but it's not what I want from X-O Manowar. A full review of the first story arc appears on this blog for September 5, 2021. TWO AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#653 - #657 INHUMANS: ONCE & FUTURE KINGS #1 - #5 (Marvel, October 2017 - February 2018)
This story of the early days of the Inhumans, before Black Bolt became King and brother Maximus went totally mad, is a nice addition to the Inhumans canon.
I read this story in the monthly comics. The backup stories featuring Lockjaw were especially funny and entertaining. Overall, a good read.
FOUR STARS.
I generally will give them a try. However, in many cases I won’t go beyond the first issue. To the creative team’s credit, I stayed with this one for three issues before I’d had enough. Seems a shame I didn’t get the final issue of this four-issue mini-series. I believe that happened more because I didn’t pre-order it rather than general apathy. Because, had I seen it on the comic shop shelves I would have picked it up. I do not regret the loss/absence.
These were pretty episodic anyway, with each issue ending a story line. I did think the super-dysfunctional super-terrorist family in Issue #1 might come back for resolution in Issue #4.
In this series, the step-brothers are themselves wanted by the government. They try to redeem themselves by saving the Senate but don’t get credit for that. They go against an unlikely villain in the mind-slaver Doctor Toilet. They go undercover as substitute school teachers. And, both Quantum and Woody develop new powers/skills.
What kept me engaged was the somewhat cartoonish art of Ryan Browne, often giving me the impression that this is what legendary artist Mort Drucker’s (Mad Magazine) work would look like if colored. THREE STARS.
#661 WOLVERINE/HULK #4 of 4 (Marvel Knights, 2002)
I enjoy the quirky art of Sam Keith, so this was salvaged out of a bargain bin. No where else will you see the ballooned-out-of-porportion anatomy of these two characters.
Interesting story, as they attempt to unearth a older downed plane from the bottom mud of a lake in order to release the spirit/ghost of a young girl. The banter/arguments between Hulk and Wolverine was worth it.
THREE STARS.
#662 RETURN OF WOLVERINE #2 (Marvel, December 2018)
Artist Declan Shalvey gives a different look to Wolverine. I kind of like it. Wolverine is involved in a boat chase to help a woman scientist recover her kidnapped son (supposedly injected with a bioweapon).
There’s a neat fight on the boat with two fighters who swim up to it, sort of ninja versions of Wolverine and Omega Red. Logan doesn’t remember much; and Jean Grey just used Cerebro to locate him.
THREE STARS.
#663 TRUE BELIEVERS: WOLVERINE VS. VENOM (Marvel,July 2018)
This reprints VENOM: TOOTH AND CLAW #1 from November 1996. It’s not the Eddie Brock Venom (well, kind of) versus Logan/Wolverine. It’s a shape-shifting talking rat called Dirt Nap who absorbs Eddie/Venom and becomes a reluctant fighter when he runs into Wolverine.
Not one of Larry Hama’s better stories. The art by Joe St. Pierre/Al Milgrom is a bit cluttered and hard to follow as it tries to climb off the pages.
THREE STARS.
#664 - #665 WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #4 - #5 (Marvel, October-November 2009) “The Adamantium Men”, Part 4 & 5 of 5
I got the feeling that this was meant to be a limited series ending here, but it ran for 16 issues total before Jason Aaron took over for a new volume of WOLVERINE.
Artist Ron Garney was at the top of his form on this storyline. It’s also cool to see seldom-used character Maverick play a role.
Private military contractor Blackguard obtains the Weapon X files and builds a dozen mercenaries called Strikeforce X armed with healing factors, unbreakable skeletons. The U.S. government is interested in funding for an army of these. Not if Wolverine has anything to say about it. He leaks some incriminating data to Melita Garner, a news reporter he begins a relationship with.
After facing off against one mercenary in Columbia and almost dying, Wolverine is determined to wipe them all out. Norman Osborn’s H.A.M.M.E.R. also gets in his way. We know who wins out and saves the day, don’t we? FOUR STARS.
Writer Jason Aaron transplants the main character from the standard Wolverine/Logan storylines and plops Logan in the middle of a horror movie. He doesn't remember who he is, where he is, or how he got there.
The head of Dunwich Sanatorium is Dr. Rottwell, a mysterious butcher known as Dr. Rot. He seems to be aware of Logan's nature and is manipulating him to release his violent tendencies. Dr. Rot's project involves stealing brains, and he's been secretly murdering patients of the asylum. The God Brain Machine will enable Dr. Rot to manipulate people's thoughts or even shut them down.
Add some Mafia gunmen who suspect one of their comrades has been murdered by Dr. Rot, and you have the makings of a classic horror/crime story with sufficient amounts of gore and weirdness. The art by Yanick Paquette evokes images of legendary EC horror comics.
The appearance of Nightcrawler and Psylocke breaks the mood and atmosphere a bit, but is necessary to the storyline. The "Love And The Wolverine" single story is a neat postscript to the proceedings, where Wolverine fears that he's entering another ill-fated romance with reporter Melita Garner, searches his soul and seeks the advice of his superhero comrades. FOUR STARS.
#671 WOLVERINE: WEAPON X #16 (Marvel, October 2010) The final issue of this series goes out on a heartfelt note with this single-issue story that memorializes the friendship between Wolverine and the recently-deceased Nightcrawler.
Nightcrawler’s last request, conveyed to Wolverine by Angel, was to transport a donated grand piano to a church located on top of a Venezuela mountain. Logan has to journey on foot because of washed out roads and no airstrips.
As he struggles to ascend the mountain with his burden, Logan reflects on past encounters and debates with Kurt/Nightcrawler. Very moving. I’m also quite fond of one-shot stories when they are written as well as this. FOUR STARS.
#672 WOLVERINE:WENDIGO (Marvel, March 2010) Speaking of good complete-in-one issue stories, this offers not one, but two great tales.
In the opener by Frank Tieri and Paul Gulacy, the Wendigo is smashing up the Canadian forests, disrupting a film crew making a rockumentary about what else - - the Wendigo. A lot of the story revolves around the questioning by Canadian police of the surviving crew members - and it’s quite funny and tongue-in-cheek. In fact, Wolverine only appears (briefly) in two panels of the entire story.
In “Wolverine Vs Thor” by Tieri and artist Paco Diaz Logan gets into an incredible fight with Thor after drinking a drugged shot from a seductive female bartender (Loki in disguise). FOUR STARS.
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