AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #660Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by STEFANO CASELLI
“Parental Supervision Required”
THIS ISSUE IS PACKED!!! The SINISTER SIX versus SPIDER-MAN and the FF... and by FF, we mean ALL of the Future Foundation! Know what’s not a good place for children, even super powered kids? A full-scale battle with the world’s deadliest super villains! It’s not “Bring Your Kids To Work” Day, not a field trip, and it’s definitely not a game! This is a high stakes battle and there’s no way it will end well....
You also get part 3 of the death-defying team up of Spider-Man and Ghost Rider by Rob Williams and Lee Garbett. And also this issue...our 2nd in a series of “Infested” preludes leading to this summer’s top secret Spidey event! Phew!
40 PGS./Rated A ...$3.99
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #661Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Penciled by ReIlly Brown
Cover by Ed mcGuinNess
X-Men Evolutions Variant by TBA
GUEST STARRING AVENGERS ACADEMY!
After his work with the new FF wraps for the week, what can the original teenaged superhero teach the worlds most at risk group of super-powered teens? Find out when Spider-Man substitutes at the Avengers Academy! But it’s far from a normal day at school when a field trip is interrupted by a vengeful PSYCHO-MAN armed with hate, doubt and fear! Guest starring the FF, Giant-Man.... and the Malevolent Marvel Monster Mayhem of MONSTEROSO!
Plus a “Day in the Life of Spider-Man” by Paul Benjamin and Javier Pulido!
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99
The covers and guest-stars here kind of intrigue me, and I like the work of all the creators on the main features, but the back-ups kinds of scare me away a bit, as I’m less sure that I’d like those.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #13 & #14Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Penciled by SEAN CHEN & TOM RANEY
Covers by BILLY TAN
Issue #13 Thor Hollywood Variant Cover by TBA
It's Super Hero Prom and the Sinister Six in two big issues of the comic iFanboy named the “Best New Book of 2010”! First the Academy hosts a dance like none you've ever seen, guest starring the Young Allies, former members of the Initiative...and featuring smack downs and smooch downs! Then the trainees get a crash course in big-time villainy as they take on Spider-Man's greatest foes, the Sinister Six, in a story that will have major ramifications when FEAR ITSELF hits next month!
32 PGS./Rated A ...$2.99
Hey, this sounds awfully fun! Of course, I haven’t read a single issue of the series since it started…I wonder if I’ll be able to follow along okay if I start with the prom issue…?
AVENGERS ACADEMY GIANT-SIZE #1Written by PAUL TOBIN
Penciled by DAVID BALDEON
Cover by ED McGUINNESS
Variant Cover by CHRIS SAMNEE
HUMONGOUS-Sized Issue...Guest-starring The Young Allies!
The traps are set and the dice are rolled as the vibrantly villainous Arcade decides to rebuild his tarnished reputation...by setting his sights on the “easy pickin’s” of the Avengers Academy and the Young Allies! But when one of his teenage victims escapes, is it a setback for Arcade, or all part of a master plan to turn the entirety of New York into... Murderworld?
80 PGS./Rated A ...$7.99
This is that Arcade story that was solicited as a miniseries at one point, right? I remember it having more exciting covers than this, but I suppose slapping Spidey and Steve Rogers on it will help move more copies.
FEAR ITSELF: SPIDER-MAN #1 (of 3)Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST
Penciled by MIKE MCKONE
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN
SPIDER-MAN IS ROCKED BY THE EVENT OF THE YEAR!
Manhattan is gripped in violent panic. Peter Parker has not slept in days. Abandoning his friends and family, Spider-Man cannot...WILL not... stop if there are people to be saved. But as the opening salvos of Fear Itself take their violent toll, will Spidey have what it takes to fight his own doubts? Find out here!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99
Hey wait a minute, that title sounds kind of familiar…
AAAAUUUGGGHHH! That is scary!
FEAR ITSELF: YOUTH IN REVOLT #1 (of 6)Written by SEAN MCKEEVER
Penciled by MIKE NORTON
Cover by GUISEPPE CAMUNCOLI
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN
With a growing sense of uncertainty and despair gripping the nation--and the world--the remnants of the Initiative program are sworn in as federal agents charged with keeping the peace. Their ensuing actions, however, threaten to plunge America's young heroes into civil war! Featuring AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE stars THOR GIRL, ULTRAGIRL, CLOUD 9, KOMDO and HARDBALL--plus FIRESTAR, GRAVITY and some very cool surprises--YOUTH IN REVOLT brings the horror of FEAR ITSELF to the doorstep of a generation!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99
This is the first of the Fear Itself tie-ins that has intrigued me so far (a lot of which probably has to do with the fact that the details of the event’s plot are being kept so vague). I’m curious to see what Norton’s art will look like in this, as his style has changed so much over his last few projects at DC (I imagine his calibrating it to the specifics of each project).
I haven’t read any of Young Allies yet (the trade is on the list, though), and I’m going to trade-wait Fear Itself itself, so I guess it will be a while before I get to this.
Oddly enough, the sub-title appears attached to a collection also being solicited this month—Thunderstrike: Youth In Revolt. Someone at Marvel is really enamored of that phrase, I guess…
MARVEL ZOMBIES CHRISTMAS CAROL #1 & #2 (of 5)Written by JIM McCANN
Pencils by TBA
Cover by MICHAEL KALUTA
Gather your family close, board up the doors, and heed well the tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge- a man for whom no fire could warm, whose cold heart pumped ice through his veins, and whose lips uttered a firm BAH! to any sort of happiness. Learn from his experience as he is visited by the undead corpse of his old friend Jacob Marley on Christmas Eve, and join him on his journey to Christmases past aided by another corpse intent on showing Scrooge the origin of the Hungry Death that is consuming the land. God help us, every one!
32 PGS. (each)/Rated T+ ...$3.99 (each)
The title makes this sound like it’s about the zombie versions of Marvel super-characters from the first half-dozen or so Marvel Zombies-branded books, but the actual solicitation copy makes it sound more like a Christmas Carol and Zombies sort of mash-up thing. It will be interesting to see which it is, exactly; the latter sounds like it would be much, much easier to pull off.
The artist’s credit sure doesn’t do much to instill one with confidence that it will turn out very good, however…
THE MIGHTY THOR #2
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL
X-Men Evolutions Variant by DAVID YARDIN
The Silver Surfer has arrived on Earth with a message: Galactus is coming! Thor is the only one powerful enough to stand against the might of the World Eater but he has been weakened from his journey to the World Tree! Loki and Sif join forces to protect Asgard on Earth, but can they manage without Thor? The secrets of the GALACTUS SEED can not stay buried for long...
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99
I see the words “GALACTUS SEED” and I feel that I should attempting a puerile joke about semen, but then when I stop to think of one, I realize I don’t really feel like thinking of one, and wonder if that’s the sort of thing I should be publishing on the Internet.
Does that mean I’m growing up…?
Hey, nice cover, Punishermax!
SPIDEY SUNDAY SPECTACULAR! #1Written by STAN LEE
Pencils & Cover by MARCOS MARTIN
The legendary Stan “The Man” Lee and artist extraordinaire Marcos Martin bring the real world into Spidey’s world in this collection of their two-page Spidey Sunday strips, straight from the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! Get ready for a heaping helping of fourth-wall-breaking, web-swinging wonder in the Mighty Marvel Manner!
40 PGS./Rated A ...$3.99
Are there any Amazing Spider-Man readers out there in the reading audience…? If so, do I want to order this book? The “by Marcos Martin” part makes me think I do, however I’m not sure I really understand what the heck this thing is…
As regards the Spidey Sunday Spectacular... no, you probably don't. The art is gorgeous but the writing is... and there's no nice way to say this... piss-poor. The script tries to be funny, but it simply isn't. It's stupid. Stupid isn't the same as funny (although I know there are producers and directors in Hollywood who might disagree).
ReplyDeleteAs regards Avengers Academy, it's a very fun book and Gage is very good about making each issue accessible. I think it's very much worth your time.
But that's just me...
And, yes, I also noticed that there are hardly any Marvel comics of interest in the May solicitations, and I say that as someone who really enjoys most of Marvel's titles. A part of it may be that "Fear Itself" isn't sparking much interest. All I know so far is that it involves the Red Skull, who I'm tired of, and some Asgardian Serpent or some-such.
Meh.
They already started the Galactus joke by including the sentence "Galactus is coming!" so nobody would fault you for finishing it...
ReplyDeleteRe: The Spidey Sundays one-shot. If you're interested on account of Marcos Martin's art then I would recommend it.
ReplyDeleteThe story is Stan phoning in a simple but (in my opinion) amusing reality jumping/fourth wall stretching caper as an excuse for Martin to draw the hell out of a bunch of two page sequences.
He does some very interesting things with the layout (quickly becoming his calling card), in many cases laying out an entire two-page sequence of action in a single image.