- Batman #17 - Death of the Family Finale!
- Demon Knights #17
- Katana #1
- Superboy #17
------- Marvel Reviews
- Fantastic Four #4
- Avengers Assemble #12
- Powers: Bureau #1
- X-Treme X-Men #10
Showing posts with label Avengers Assemble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Avengers Assemble. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Week (Feb 13-19, 2013)
------- Featured Review
------- Marvel Reviews
------- Marvel Reviews
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Featured Review: Avengers Assemble Annual #1
(w) Christos Gage
(a) Tomm Coker, Mike Mayhew, Mike Deodato, Luke Ross, and Valentine de Landro
The Vision hasn't really been around much recently. Eight years ago, Brian Michael Bendis killed the character off in the pages of Avengers: Disassembled along with Hawkeye, Scott Lang, and a zombified Jack of Hearts. While all the deaths had major weight and significance, the Vision's was especially haunting because the murderer, or course, was Wanda Maximoff, Vision's wife. It's taken years, and a lot of savvy storytelling, but all of the characters who bit the dust due to Wanda's reality-warping freak out have come back (sans Jack of Hearts, due to his kind of already being dead).
And again, Vision's resurrection was unique in that his reconstitution came at the cost of his memory, meaning he was only a shadow of a friend the Avengers held dear for so long. Later on, Vision regained his memories and adult form, but that's kind of where the story ended until Avengers Assemble Annual #1. Christos Gage has used the 'Annual' format in one of the best ways I've seen in recent memory: reintroducing an old character that hasn't been used in a while but who has major significance in the greater scheme of things.
The plot of "Company Man" is seems pretty run-of-the-mill at first; Dr. Arthur Dearborn is dying because of experiments conducted on him by his employer, Roxxon Corporation, and now he wants revenge. The situation gets a big more complicated when Dearborn claims Roxxon is purposefully letting him die because they have replacement subjects for their ongoing gene-altering experiments. Unlike many disgruntled employees, Dearborn is dying because his body is composed of living energy and it's slowly degrading. Now, after forsaking him in his time of crisis, Dearborn simply wants to destroy Roxxon completely.
Gage doesn't hide the fact that Dearborn's situation mirrors that of the Vision. Both are men solely invested in their respective organizations, only to be taken for granted by said organizations they've given their lives to serve. For Dearborn, that means being left to die. For the Vision, that means being forgotten by the only family he's ever known while the world went to hell a few times over (see Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, etc.) Like the android he is, Vision logically understands why the Avengers couldn't reassemble him earlier, but that doesn't make the pain any less real for him.
The last work I read by Christos Gage was The First X-Men, a series I started reading and stopped after the second issue. I found the entire concept to be completely unnecessary. On the flip side, Gage's story in Avengers Assemble Annual #1 is a stunning example of how the writer can handle a story with a little more significance under its wings. The Vision is a fan-favorite character that's been absent for too long, and Gage brings him back in style while also forging an exciting new path for the android who has served everyone but himself since he was first switched on.
(a) Tomm Coker, Mike Mayhew, Mike Deodato, Luke Ross, and Valentine de LandroThe Vision hasn't really been around much recently. Eight years ago, Brian Michael Bendis killed the character off in the pages of Avengers: Disassembled along with Hawkeye, Scott Lang, and a zombified Jack of Hearts. While all the deaths had major weight and significance, the Vision's was especially haunting because the murderer, or course, was Wanda Maximoff, Vision's wife. It's taken years, and a lot of savvy storytelling, but all of the characters who bit the dust due to Wanda's reality-warping freak out have come back (sans Jack of Hearts, due to his kind of already being dead).
And again, Vision's resurrection was unique in that his reconstitution came at the cost of his memory, meaning he was only a shadow of a friend the Avengers held dear for so long. Later on, Vision regained his memories and adult form, but that's kind of where the story ended until Avengers Assemble Annual #1. Christos Gage has used the 'Annual' format in one of the best ways I've seen in recent memory: reintroducing an old character that hasn't been used in a while but who has major significance in the greater scheme of things.
The plot of "Company Man" is seems pretty run-of-the-mill at first; Dr. Arthur Dearborn is dying because of experiments conducted on him by his employer, Roxxon Corporation, and now he wants revenge. The situation gets a big more complicated when Dearborn claims Roxxon is purposefully letting him die because they have replacement subjects for their ongoing gene-altering experiments. Unlike many disgruntled employees, Dearborn is dying because his body is composed of living energy and it's slowly degrading. Now, after forsaking him in his time of crisis, Dearborn simply wants to destroy Roxxon completely.
Gage doesn't hide the fact that Dearborn's situation mirrors that of the Vision. Both are men solely invested in their respective organizations, only to be taken for granted by said organizations they've given their lives to serve. For Dearborn, that means being left to die. For the Vision, that means being forgotten by the only family he's ever known while the world went to hell a few times over (see Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, etc.) Like the android he is, Vision logically understands why the Avengers couldn't reassemble him earlier, but that doesn't make the pain any less real for him.
The last work I read by Christos Gage was The First X-Men, a series I started reading and stopped after the second issue. I found the entire concept to be completely unnecessary. On the flip side, Gage's story in Avengers Assemble Annual #1 is a stunning example of how the writer can handle a story with a little more significance under its wings. The Vision is a fan-favorite character that's been absent for too long, and Gage brings him back in style while also forging an exciting new path for the android who has served everyone but himself since he was first switched on.
GRADE
8/10
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The Week (Feb 6-12, 2013)
------- Featured Review
Avengers Assemble Annual #1
------- DC Reviews
---------- mini DC reviews
------- Marvel Reviews
---------- mini Marvel reviews
Avengers Assemble Annual #1
------- DC Reviews
---------- mini DC reviews
- Animal Man #17 - Rotworld: Conclusion, Part 1
- Swamp Thing #17 - Rotworld: Conclusion, Part 2
------- Marvel Reviews
- All-New X-Men #7 PREVIEW
- Avengers #5
- The Superior Spider-Man #3
---------- mini Marvel reviews
- Iron Man #6
- New Avengers #3
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
REVIEW: AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #9
(w) Kelly Sue DeConnick
(p) Stefano Caselli
Well, I'll be damned if Avengers Assemble #9 isn't the best 'Marvel NOW!' title I've read yet. I should have guessed -- being married to Matt Fraction and all -- that Kelly Sue DeConnick would bring a much different approach to the Avengers than we've seen in the past eight years with Bendis at the helm. Instead of nonstop adventures and constant threats against humanity and the Avengers themselves, DeConnick has opted to give readers a look at the Avengers when they're not avenging as much, and it's one of the most refreshing takes on a current team that I've read in a while.
Only a few pages of Avengers Assemble #9 include any fighting, and it's against an unknown, grey group of enemies that doesn't yet have a purpose. Other than that short foray at the end, DeConnick takes the time to flesh out these characters she's just been given. We get to see how Bruce Banner and Tony Stark are polar opposites when it comes to their processes and world views, but almost the same concerning their scientific intellect. It's this dynamic between these two characters that provides the catalyst for a friendly competition between Tony and his partner Thor, and Bruce with Spider-Woman. Both teams will scout out a science lab gone silent after their lead scientist went missing, and the first one to complete the mission gets "bragging rights, then! Whoever wins gets the satisfaction of having the other recognize their point of view and general superiority."
DeConnick is similar to her husband in her ability to write amazingly grounded dialogue. There's no Shakespearean flair here or flowery vernacular. Even Thor's natural high dialect is toned down under DeConnick's hand. And I'll reiterate how refreshing it is to read these characters in a light that's not completely blood-soaked and desperate. Steve Rogers? I can't remember the last time I saw him in an issue out of costume. I was not expecting to like the 'Marvel NOW!' imprinted Avengers Assemble as much as I have. DeConnick's work on Captain Marvel has been phenomenal, but I was worried that her witty reparte would be lost in a team-based series. Fortunately, I stand corrected.
(p) Stefano CaselliWell, I'll be damned if Avengers Assemble #9 isn't the best 'Marvel NOW!' title I've read yet. I should have guessed -- being married to Matt Fraction and all -- that Kelly Sue DeConnick would bring a much different approach to the Avengers than we've seen in the past eight years with Bendis at the helm. Instead of nonstop adventures and constant threats against humanity and the Avengers themselves, DeConnick has opted to give readers a look at the Avengers when they're not avenging as much, and it's one of the most refreshing takes on a current team that I've read in a while.
Only a few pages of Avengers Assemble #9 include any fighting, and it's against an unknown, grey group of enemies that doesn't yet have a purpose. Other than that short foray at the end, DeConnick takes the time to flesh out these characters she's just been given. We get to see how Bruce Banner and Tony Stark are polar opposites when it comes to their processes and world views, but almost the same concerning their scientific intellect. It's this dynamic between these two characters that provides the catalyst for a friendly competition between Tony and his partner Thor, and Bruce with Spider-Woman. Both teams will scout out a science lab gone silent after their lead scientist went missing, and the first one to complete the mission gets "bragging rights, then! Whoever wins gets the satisfaction of having the other recognize their point of view and general superiority."
DeConnick is similar to her husband in her ability to write amazingly grounded dialogue. There's no Shakespearean flair here or flowery vernacular. Even Thor's natural high dialect is toned down under DeConnick's hand. And I'll reiterate how refreshing it is to read these characters in a light that's not completely blood-soaked and desperate. Steve Rogers? I can't remember the last time I saw him in an issue out of costume. I was not expecting to like the 'Marvel NOW!' imprinted Avengers Assemble as much as I have. DeConnick's work on Captain Marvel has been phenomenal, but I was worried that her witty reparte would be lost in a team-based series. Fortunately, I stand corrected.
GRADE
9.5/10
9.5/10
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