Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Marvel's April previews reviewed

Here's what Marvel plans to publish this April.

Here's what I have to say about it:

I would think fighting the Sandman would be the one time Black Widow would have to zip up.


Amazing Spider-Man: Hooky #1
Susan Putney (W) Bernie Wrightson (A/C)
•Spider-Man Vs. The Horrific Tordenkakerlakk In The Dimension Of Cloudsea!
•Can Spidey And The Spirited Spindrifter Overcome A Foe That Becomes More Powerful – And More Terrifying – Each Time It’s Defeated?
•A Macabre Masterpiece Illustrated In Disturbing Detail By Horror Master Bernie Wrightson!
•Reprinting Marvel Graphic Novel #22: Spider-Man – Hooky
.64 Pgs./Rated T+ …$4.99


Bernie Wrightson!

I have never heard of Susan Putney before.

I really like some of the words in the solicit, though. I think I’ll buy this if my shop carries it.


Avengers Academy #28
Christos Gage (W) Karl Monline (A)
Cover By David Lafuente_• Guest-Starring The Runaways!
• Romantic Sparks Fly Between An Academy Student And A Runaway! But Between Who?
• Jurassic Fans Rejoice: An Appearance By Devil Dinosaur…And The Return Of Old Lace!
• Plus: Will Nico, Chase, Victor, Klara, Karolina And Molly Finally Stop Running And Join The School?
32 Pgs./Rated T …$2.99


Oh hey, The Runaways! I remember those guys! I used to read their comic! I had planned on checking out their guest-appearance in Daken recently, but I heard it was pretty terrible, so I changed my mind. I wonder if this will be better…?

If nothing else, it will have at least two dinosaurs in it, so there’s that.



Avx: Vs #1 (Of 6)
Cover By Adam Kubert
...
The Premier Tie-In To Avengers Vs. X-Men!
• All-Out Action Featuring Cover To Cover Battles, Each Issue Expanding On Fights From The Main Avx Book In Ways You Can’t Imagine!
• This Issue: Iron Man Vs. Magneto And Thing Vs. Namor!
32 Pgs./Rated T+ …$3.99


I like that mindless, unnecessary (to the story) violence is right there in the pitch Marvel's offering their readers, and this seems like a better way to go with the “premier tie-in” series to one of Marvel’s big events. Previously, the premier tie-in would be an anthology book about the reporters covering the event, how some minor characters are reacting to the event and maybe something hideously offensive, like comparing the emergency forces who died trying to save the victims to 9/11 to Wonder Man’s inability to choose who he likes better, Captain America or Iron Man.

I like the cover, too, mainly as a design as opposed to the illustrations. The actual title of the book, however, is masked by that design. This book is called Avengers Vs. X-Men: Vs #1? That makes it sounds as if the “#1” is one of the combatants in a three-way battle.

The matches in this first issue don’t really seem that exciting—Guy Who Controls Metal should beat Guy Covered In Metal pretty handily, right?.

Finally, I wonder if Marvel charging $4 for a $3 book will seem more grating to their loyal fans than usual when those 20-22 pages of story are literally nothing but fighting.

Wait, one more thing: Isn’t it kind of weird that there’s no creative team listed for this thing…?

Okay, let's move on...


Moon Knight #12
Brian Michael Bendis (W) • Alex Maleev (A/C)
• The Conclusion Of Marvel’s Maddest Mercenary Moon Knight Is Here!
• After All He’s Been Through, Will There Be Anything Left Of The One-Man Avenger?
32 Pgs./Rated T+ …$3.99


Er, aren’t all the Avengers One-Man Avengers? Or one-woman Angers?


Look, artist Ryan Stegman gave Scarlet Spidey 90s feet!


What’s up with Vision’s face on this cover (which is of Secret Avengers #26, by the way). Is he colored differently now? Also, anyone know who the guy in the background in the astronaut suit is? He looks like a Darkstar to me, but that’s the other superhero universe…


I think I say this, or something very similar, every month, but I hate Kaare Andrews’ Ultimate Comics covers so much. I think I hate them more than I would if they were done by someone I didn’t know was a great artist.

By the way, is the stretchy guy up there on the ultimate Comics Ultimates supposed to be Mr. Fantastic...? Because I thought they killed him off for some reason. But I don’t know; I haven’t read anything Ultimate since the Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimatum tie-ins.


Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures #1
Man Of Action, Dan Slott & Ty Templeton (W) Nuno Plati (A)
• 2012’S Most Anticipated Tv Show Is Now The Comic Book You Can’t Miss Out On!
• By Day, He’s Peter Parker, Mild-Mannered High School Student. But By Night, He’s The Ultimate In Super Heroics – Spider-Man! And He’s Just The Beginning Of A Super-Hero Universe…
• From The Minds Of The Men Behind The Hit Tv Show!
32 Pgs./All Ages …$2.99


Wait a minute...the new all-ages Spider-Man comic, the one based on the upcoming cartoon, which is going to be called Ultimate Spider-Man, is entitled Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures? Not to be confused with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, the new title of the old Ultimate Spider-Man, or the old Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. Sheesh.

That's a pretty nice creative team; I wish Templeton was on art, though. Nuno Plati might be good—I have no idea—but I really like Templeton’s art, and it’s been far too long since I’ve seen it in a mainstream super-comic.

UPDATE: So it turns out Plati is good, awesome even. I'm really curious to see what his art looks like in this comic, however, as I can't imagine it will be drawn in the same style as the images in the linked-to post.


This Wolverine & The X-Men #9 cover by Chris Bachalo is the only Avengers Vs. X-Men-related cover this month that doesn’t really suck at al. It’s not that great—I don’t like that high-contrast image of what looks like a photo of 9/11 wreckage dropped in in lieu of an actual background, for example—and it’s still just a bunch of folks posing, but compared to the rest of them, it’s a freaking masterpiece.

7 comments:

  1. Is that the Golden Age Vision?

    And yeah, Ultimate covers are bad these days.

    I'm curious to see how well USM Adventures plays out with that many writers. Could be awesome or it could be too many people in charge.

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  2. "I have never heard of Susan Putney before."

    As the solicits say, this is a reprint of one of the graphic novels they did back in the 80s. I'm guessing that she didn't do much beyond this. Amazon only has the OGN listed under her book page.

    You can actually check out a preview at scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1989810.html. Weird stuff. I can see where Norm Breyfogle got some of his influence from. There are panels that look like he drew them.

    Marvel actually did a bunch of these OGNs back in the 80s. They were oversized, similar to European GNs. You can actually find them fairly cheap on eBay (or at least you could--haven't looked for them in a long time).

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  3. I own Marvel Graphic Novel #22: Spider-Man – Hooky and from what I remember the art was great but the story was only so-so. It has been awhile since I read it though, so take that with a grain of salt.

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  4. My recollection is the same as A Hero's...it's a story about Spider-Man teaming up with a teenage girl who has some kind of reality altering dream power (I think, I haven't red it in at least 15 years). I also remember that the monsters are beautifully painted in Wrightson's usual style, but Spidey was done in pencil and ink, and looked flat and boring by comparison.

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  5. Also, the astronaut on the Secret Avengers cover is Beast.

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  6. That's my recollection, too. Good art, meh story. It may have been worse than meh.

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  7. Also, the astronaut on the Secret Avengers cover is Beast.

    Oh, I noticed that. There's another one in the background, between Thor and Vision's legs. He might just be a generic guy, but it seemed like it everyone was chosen for the cover for being a "Name" character....

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