CB Reviews the Marvel (Comics) Universe

[calgaryballer]

Finally finished X Force/X Statix. Amazing on both counts. Subversive, funny, well drawn in that charming 90s way (though Allreds work on FF right now looks very similar to what he did on this). Can't recommend it enough!

Also reading the Scarlet Spider series that launched out of Spider Island. The Leeds library has some random choices. Enjoying it a lot. More than I expected. Full reviews hopefully coming this bank holiday weekend

[calgaryballer]

No full reviews right now because work has been crazy and I am a lazy bum. However, a brief recap of what I have been reading. Hoping to hear what everyone else is on as I've hit a dry spell in terms of what I want next:

Captain Marvel: the new De Connick version staring Carol Danvers. Really liked it. Cover art is amongst my favorites of late and I thought she nailed it on the story. Rotating artists are mostly all good, though the first story arc was a bit disjointed with time travel. Read issues 1-10, excited for more. 4/5

Spider Man/Human Torch mini. Loved this! It's a limited run series taking a look back at famous moments in both characters history. However, you see more context around the bromance that Johnny and Peter have. When Gwen dies, Johnny is there to listen. There is competition about who's dAy is harder, with a great bit of police work by Johnny. Capped off with a touching view of the Parker/ff relationship. I've mentioned how much I loved Hickmans handling of Johnny's death and peter joining the FF. This book provides a great base for why it mattered. 4.5/5

Punisher/Frankencastle. I remembered reviews of the Frankencastle story being positive. So I began from the start. It's Remender, who I really like. However, I don't think the Punisher is really a character I care for. I might go back and read War Journal sometime because I love fraction, but...eh. The first half of the series is about the Punisher taking a shot at Osborn during Dark Reign and then dealing with the Hood in retaliation. Hood doesn't do it for me so I found it hard to be invested. Art was also hit and miss. In the List one shots Dark Wolverine (Daken) kills Punisheron Osborns orders. He is resurrected as a Frankencastle. Tony Moore of Walking Dead joined here and I found the art really matched the tone of the story, silly and expressive. I liked this part but still wasn't booked. I love comics that take risks and just enjoy the medium, so 3.5/5.

I've read a couple other things lately. God Loves, Man Kills was really good. Tried to read Joe Kelly's Deadpool as I've heard that's the best run, but I think Deadpool may not be for me. I liked him in Uncanny X Force but I think it helped there were others to balance him

Now on Avengers Academy. Only one issue in, but I think this is my next series to go deep in.

[JeremyHight]

I signed up for Marvel unlimited last month. It is absolutely great for reading a lot of this stuff. I would look at the Dark Avengers series, it is one of my favorites. Right now I am reading the guardians of the galaxy series.

[IamMedellin]

I stopped reading Remender's Punisher after the Dark Reign 1shot, the frankencastle arc felt like a copout after how that ended...

been reading the Battle for the Atom crossover, nothing amazing and the interesting Beast/Jean dynamic has been completely forgotten

Are you grabbing the Remender X-Force Omnibus, I actually cant wait to pick it up

[calgaryballer]

I signed up for Marvel unlimited last month. It is absolutely great for reading a lot of this stuff. I would look at the Dark Avengers series, it is one of my favorites. Right now I am reading the guardians of the galaxy series.

Yah, it's definitely on the list. I enjoyed Ellis' run on Thunderbolts, and I have a feeling there will be a similar feel. The new GotG or the 2007ish version? I found this - http://i.imgur.com/FUM3v.jpg - and it has me thinking a cosmic Marvel run may be in order. I've read the two Annihilations, but lost it at War of Kings

I stopped reading Remender's Punisher after the Dark Reign 1shot, the frankencastle arc felt like a copout after how that ended...

been reading the Battle for the Atom crossover, nothing amazing and the interesting Beast/Jean dynamic has been completely forgotten

Are you grabbing the Remender X-Force Omnibus, I actually cant wait to pick it up

Torn on Frankencastle. I enjoyed it, but it did feel like they knew they were getting cancelled and said fuck it.

For the Omnibus, not right away. Being in the UK, picking up a 5 lb massive book doesn't help for packing

[calgaryballer]

I signed up for Marvel unlimited last month. It is absolutely great for reading a lot of this stuff. I would look at the Dark Avengers series, it is one of my favorites. Right now I am reading the guardians of the galaxy series.

Also, how are you enjoying Unlimited? What are you using to read?

I'm on an asus transformer tablet, and when it works, it's great. However, there are points where it can't launch or crashes or does any number of stupid things

I've used comixology, the normal marvel app and the dark horse app. All of them are better than Unlimited. I have no idea why Unlimited is programmed like such shit

[JeremyHight]

I use a Google Nexus 10 to read on Unlimited. It is by no means a perfect app (like if you come back to it after a long time, it will say the app crashed, but it just means you have to open the comic again), but it does get the job done, IMO. Plus with Unlimited, you can read on the computer, but I don't do that ever. Overall, it is about an 8/10 overall for Unlimited. If the app was better, it would be a 10/10. I don't get the newest comics, but that is fine because I am reading older stuff anyways.

As for cosmic Marvel, I thought I would hate it, but I really love it. Gave it a shot with the 2007 GotG, liked it, read the War of Kings because it was tied to GotG, liked that too. Now I'm going backwards and reading older cosmic stuff. I am now reading the Thanos series from 2003 which is a lead up to Annihilation. It takes a little getting used to and some basic backstory stuff, but cosmic is growing on me.

I'd still say my favorite series/event though is Planet Hulk. It was absolutely great writing, art, and overall, just a great read in every way.

[kmanharris]

CB should focus on FM

[calgaryballer]

CB should focus on FM

Lol. Same reason I can't review comics is the same reason fm has taken a break. It's all simmed to the latest update, I just need an uninterrupted hour to get it written

[calgaryballer]

After going to the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds two weeks ago, I am going to try and make this a more regular thing. I've got a blog going to track and store them all in once place, so it may expand a bit past Marvel in the future. Starting with the next one

[calgaryballer]

Mara 1-6

Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Ming Doyle
Colours: Jordie Bellaire

So many places to start with a review of this book. It's that good. In fact, the only criticism I could possibly level is that I want more of this universe. But alas, we must make do with the six issues that this wonderful creative team has put forward.

The world of Mara is based in a future where athletics and military achievement is the highest form of success. In a world obsessed with war, the populous looks to athletics as a distraction. Our protagonist, seventeen year old Mara, is the largest star in the world's most popular sport: volleyball. Over the course of the series, we follow Mara as she struggles to adapt to a series of new found abilities. Essentially, she becomes the worlds first Superwoman. It's at once a story of how a teenager struggles to fit in to a world that she is now an outsider in, and more broadly, a story of how we as a species has become so singularly focused on athletics and war to the detriment of more noble achievements like education and culture.

The metaphor, while rather obvious, works on a number of levels. First, Wood does a great job of making us care about and relate to Mara. He only has six issues to show us the stress she feels negotiating multi-million dollar deals with sponsors; with having camera's on her at all times; with being the idol of every little girl. This empathy makes the changes that transpire even more painful. We want to see what becomes of Mara, but with every evolution, she moves further and further away from her friends and the world she knows. You'd think that in a celebrity obsessed culture, this would make her more of an idol, but it instead makes her a pariah. Forced to flee in to the waiting arms of a military who wants to use her to play an epic game of brinkmanship with their enemies, Mara is forced to confront what the point of it all has been. Where is the value in forcing girls to play volleyball from six years old?

I think the choice of volleyball for this book is also interesting. If you're a sports fan, you're probably thinking that volleyball is nowhere near as good of a game as the Big Five of soccer, football, basketball, hockey and baseball. But what really separates volleyball from those sports? Popularity? At their core, a sport in which six players volley a ball around (for a lack of a better description) is no more or less silly than a game in which players skate on a frozen rink and shoot a rubber disc into a net. And I think that's what Wood is trying to highlight. We use war metaphors to describe sports all the time. Football players are 'in the trenches.' Teammates 'go to battle for each other.' But if we were forced to say them about volleyball players? I think many would scoff. Athletics is not the same as war, and to say so can trivialize the shock and impact of war.

Finally, the art. I included the colorist in the header, as frankly, Doyle's art and Bellaire's colors work in harmony. Some of the scenes in the later issues, when Mara begins to understand the truly magnificent reach of her powers, are awe inspiring. Doyle is able to portray a sense of movement within the volleyball scenes that I think other artists would struggle with. The art team does a very good job of portraying a sense of scale, while also doing a very good job getting the emotions that Mara struggles with across in a real way.

All in all, this is one of the best series that I've read in a long time. Hopefully this team can get together for more in the future.