Last week in Marvel and DC (7 October 2017)

Some cool things happened this week. Here’s what caught my eye.

Dark Knights Metal Tie-ins: What if the Green Lantern Ring chose Bruce Wayne post parents’ death? How does the green light of willpower react with the darkness of Batman? Will this dark Lantern be too much for Hal Jordan?

“As all worlds begin in darkness, so too they shall return.” Batman: The Dawnbreaker

Venomverse 5: All in all, this wasn’t a super exciting tie-in. Edge of Venomverse was much better. However, the epilogue shows that the events of Venomverse may not be over.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.” Venomverse 5

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 11: What happened to Richard Rider’s brother? Why is the Brotherhood of Raptors after the Infinity Stones?

“Find all of the [plot devices] so we can rule the galaxy” All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 11

Batman: White Knight 1: Batman goes too far. Joker is… cured?! and he’s suing Batman? Everything is upside-down in this series.

“Maybe the hero we need right now?” Batman: White Knight 1

Iron Fist 73: Someone from Danny’s past has returned from the dead, and it’s up to Iron Fist to convince his old foe to help track this villain down. Meanwhile, another dark plot brews with the Rat of 12 Plagues.

Orbitz for that good, clean feeling. Iron Fist 73

Highlights of September 2017

A lot of cool stuff happened this month. Here’s what I liked. SPOILER ALERT

Everything is okay. Nothing to see here. Move along. From Batman: The Murder Machine

Dark Knights Metal + Tie-ins: What could be worse than an evil Batman? A ton of them. Where did the real Batman go? Earth’s Heroes

HE’S BACK!!! From Marvel Legacy #1

Marvel Legacy: There’s way too much to discuss. READ THIS BOOK! With a crossover nowhere in sight, a lot of things are about to shake the Marvel Universe…

I told you she’d be back. I told you. From Totally Awesome Hulk 23

Totally Awesome Hulk 23: I know Amadeus Cho has been in a lot of controversy since his taking Bruce Banner’s mantle, but the upcoming Planet Hulk return arc and character development (facing his inner Hulk) has me pretty optimistic of this book’s future.

Once you black, you never go back. From Spider-Gwen 24

Spider-Gwen 24: I’ve been waiting for Gwenom for the past year; it was worth the wait.

“Join us and together we’ll rule the galaxy” From Action Comics 987

Action Comics 987-988: We finally figure out who Mr. Oz is. What is he doing exactly? What is he trying to prove to Superman?

What comics should I buy?

My Marvel Comics to read. Rights belong to Marvel.

Exactly what the title says: what comics should I buy? Specifically ongoing, new comics. If you’re a die-hard fan of a certain character, you should buy their comic. E.g., I love the character Spider-Gwen, so I buy every issue of Spider-Gwen. In fact, I have a subscription list of every comic I want to buy at House of Cards so I never miss an issue (shameless plug!). This can be difficult when the writing is subpar, but it’s also why I specified die-hard fan. This guideline also applies to writers you may really love.

Most likely, you aren’t a die-hard fan of anything in particular, and you just want a good read. That’s perfectly reasonable, so I’ll give you what I think are good comic reads. I read mostly Marvel and DC comics, so all of my recommendations are from these Big Two publishers. Another disclaimer, I can’t guarantee you’ll like what I like; I’m not an authority on people’s tastes — just a guy who buys comics and writes a blog.

Marvel Comics

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy by Gerry Duggan: All your favorite guardians from the recent movies in a fast-paced adventure. Each member (including Groot) has received a lot of character development so far. With many classic Marvel cosmic characters returning, this comic is a thrill to read.

Defenders (2017) by Bendis: My review is similar to All-New Guardians: Punisher, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Daredevil star in their own fast-paced, crime-fighting series. Lots of well-developed characters, including a villain who was thought to be long dead.

Iron Fist (2017): Whether you liked the Netflix series or not, this comic is better. Mysterious villains putting Danny in a all-or-nothing tournament, an internal struggle within Danny, reappearances of other Marvel martial artists, and kick-A action.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool: I don’t know why people don’t buy this book. The art is unique but pleasing. The character is likable and hilarious. The meta-humor and fourth-wall breaking is side-splitting. If you’d like to see Deadpool without powers, gore, or raunchy humor, Gwenpool is your book.

DC comics

DC comics to read. Rights belong to DC.

Dark Nights Metal: It’s a crossover, but it is insanely good. Batman has been keeping some big secrets from the Justice League. The DC universe is under attack from a dark multiverse. What do these mysterious metals have to do with it? Why is Batman in the center of it. I won’t say too much more, but it’s worth the read.

Batman (Rebirth) and Detective Comics (Rebirth): DC comics has a lot of good story books, which is why I’ve combined Batman and Detective Comics into one field. These two comics are all about Batman, with Detective Comics focusing more on the lives of Clayface, Batwoman, Spoiler, and Orphan. Read about how this new Bat-Family faces a paramilitary threat, the League of Assassins, and the loss of one of their own. In Batman, the titular character deals with the advent of two heroes named after Gotham, return of Bane, and the criminal civil war between the Joker and the Riddler.

Superman (Rebirth) and Action Comics (Rebirth): Like with the Batman comics, I’ve grouped the Superman comics together. Superman follows the Kent family: Clark, Lois, and… their son? Where did he come from? Wait, didn’t Superman die? Action Comics still follows this new Kent family but with a little more spotlight on Lex Luther, who has strangely declared himself Metropolis’ hero.

Flash (Rebirth): This book is obviously fast-paced. In this series, Barry has already had to deal with the common people gaining super-speed, the return of his rogue’s gallery, and gaining negative Flash powers all while trying to be a forensic scientist and romance Iris West. Will Flash keep it together? The suspense keeps me going!

Silk (Cindy Moon)

I’d like to continue my Spider-family series by talking about Silk, one of the newer characters. She currently has two complete runs.

Cindy Moon was bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers. Her family, fearful of the spider-villain Morlun, locked Cindy in a bunker. Thirteen years later, Spider-Man eventually found and freed Cindy. With a new lease on life, Cindy took up the name “Silk” and fought crime alongside Peter. As a result of receiving their powers from the same radioactive spider, Cindy and Peter are strongly hormonally attracted to each other. Due to the irrational nature of their attraction, Spider-Man and Silk tend to work separately, with Peter managing his company and with Silk working with S.H.I.E.LD. to gain information on her missing family.

Silk has similar powers to the original Spider-Man: super-strength, precognition (though named “Silk-sense), and enhanced agility. However, Cindy can shoot webs (or “silk”) from her fingertips without the use of webshooters. These webs can be manipulated into a quasi fabric; her costume is composed of her webbing, and she has made clothes for others on occasion.

Unfortunately, Silk has no ongoing comic series as of September 2017. She was last seen accepting a job at S.H.I.E.L.D. Her character might be currently shelved, but I doubt Marvel has forgotten her. I’m hoping for another tie-in with the current Hulk.

Too many comics?

With the past two decades of superhero movies, superheroes are now the mainstream. We live in an interesting time, an age where not only comic books affect movies, but comic book movies affect their source material. Despite this new era of comic book coolness, I feel there are too many comics to stay on top of these days.

Marvel currently publishes over 70 ongoing series, while DC publishes almost 60 series. That’s a lot of books to keep up with – maybe too many. A lot of these books, especially some new series seem a little out of place. In this post, my goal is to inform my readers (or just document) which current comic books are worth reading and buying, and which comics are excessive. Aspects I weigh heavily are 1) story quality, 2) uniqueness, 3) importance within its own universe, 4) enjoyment reading the book. These are just my personal opinions/recommendations, not gospel truth. Obviously if you’re a fan of the character, book, or the author, you should support that book and disregard my opinion.

Amazing Spider-Man (2015) Worth reading. Pros: good story, lots of dead characters are back. Cons: lots of catch-up to do (ASM 2014, Spider-verse, Superior Spider-Man) to understand where Pete is right now.

Spider-Gwen (2016) Worth reading. Pros: great take on an alternate Spider-woman, recent romance with another Spider, funny. Cons: I have minor complaints about changing the nature of Gwen’s powers, BUT LaTour is making it interesting.

Spider-Man/Deadpool Worth reading. Pros: hilarious but sometimes serious story, Spidey and Deadpool, LOTS of references. Cons: need to know a little about Deadpool and Spidey

Spider-Man (2015) Irrelevant. Cons: basically a palette-swapped Spider-Man before he got rich. Little to no coherent story. Recently disconnected from the main stream. Pros: Spidey for younger people

Silk (2016) Irrelevant. Cons: artwork makes Cindy look more like a kid than the adult she is. Story is forgettable and trite. She’s basically a post college Peter Parker. Pros: Clone Conspiracy crossover is over. Book cancelled…

Spider-Woman (2016) Irrelevant. Cons: I’m kinda torn about her having a kid. She’s also moved far from the mainstream spotlight of Marvel. Pros: heartwarming development of a new mother trying to get back into super-heroism. Book cancelled…

Gwenpool (2016) The gift that keeps giving. Pros: A comicbook geek living in a comicbook world with no powers whatsoever, a less bloody Deadpool, the story takes hilarious turns every issue. Cons: need to know basic information about Marvel’s characters.

Doctor Strange (2015) Intriguing. Pros: Doctor Strange is weakened, so he can’t recite overpowered spells to solve his problems. I don’t know if he’ll defeat his (now) more powerful foes. Cons: it’s sad to see one of Marvel’s heavy hitters take a drop in power level.

Hulk (2017) a change in pace. Pros: a different direction on She-Hulk. Why doesn’t she Hulk-out anymore? What happens if she does? Cons: not a lot of action just yet.

Ms. Marvel (2015) Good writing. Pros: Lots of recent character development without being a social justice poster-child. Light-hearted drama and action.

The Ultimates2 (2016) Cosmic quality. Pros: get to understand what’s happened to Marvel’s multiverse. Why is Eternity trapped? Galactus builds worlds now?! solid, diverse cast of characters. Cons: hard to keep up with every character.

Thanos (2016) to die for. Pros: Thanos is weakened (dying). His son wants to kill him. I don’t know who’s going to live! Cons: need to look into Marvel Infinity crossover for Thane.

Unstoppable Wasp (2016) Wasted Potential. Pros: long lost daughter of late Ant-Man. Cons: a very boring way of telling girls to go into science. Even an all-girl team would have been better than becoming a talent scout…

Jessica Jones (2016) Mystery. Pros: have to piece together the backstory, has multiversal insights, tantalizing mysteries. Cons: Need to know that Jessica is married to Luke Cage and has a little daughter named Danielle.

Invincible Iron Man/Heart (2016) Schrodinger’s Armor. Pros: New “Iron Man”. Decent character design for Riri Williams (misunderstood middle-class genius). Cons: no material amount of Tony Stark. Has yet to fill Tony Stark’s really large shoes in terms of story and character development. I’m still hoping…

Venom (2016) What is going on? Pros: new Venom host and different symbiote/host relationship. Cons: it’s been announced that Eddie Brock is returning as Venom; what was the point of the 5 issues with the new host?! Not awesome yet

Iron Fist (2017) Better than Netflix. Pros: a tournament of chi-masters, Danny’s chi on the line. Fast-paced. Cons: need to know basic knowledge of IF to understand.

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2016) Cute. Pros: No Dan Slott retcon. Spidey and MJ are still together. Easy to get into. Cons: Read eponymous Secret Wars tie-in to get complete backstory.

That’s all I want to talk about right now. I think I’ll go back to Spider-People next post… Drop by House of Cards and Collectibles if you’re ever in town!

Drew’s recommendations

Comics have a very special place in my life. When I was a little boy, they were inspiration for the action figures I played with. Now I buy and collect comics as pieces of art and history. Though I mostly collect comic books, I’d like to share a few ongoing comics I have recently enjoyed reading. Warning: Nostalgia

Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy (and tie-ins)

Remember that time when Marvel toyed with clones of Peter Parker (Spider-Man)? Remember the Jackal? Remember all those Spider-Man villains who died since the original Clone Saga? Remember the confusion that ’90s story arc created? Marvel wants a do-over. The Jackal (the guy who clones people) is back, and he has brought the aforementioned villains back from the dead. With surprise appearances from some of my favorite characters, I can’t wait to see how this Clone Conspiracy ends.

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

Remember when Spider-Man was married? Remember when Dan Slott and Joe Quesada retconned Spider-Man’s happily ever after? Still miss Peter and MJ? Good news! Peter and Mary Jane and their daughter Annie are all Spider-Heroes. This series is a really cute story of how the Parker family deals with fighting crime and going through everyday life.

The Unworthy Thor

To be honest, I was devastated to find out someone replaced Marvel’s original Thor. Since losing his “worthiness” and thus his hammer, Odinson has been made brief cameos in various comics and for the most part, has faded into obscurity, leaving many Thor fans to wonder “where’s Thor [Odinson]? and when is he going to become relevant again?” Read The Unworthy Thor to find out!

Ultimates<sub>2<sub/> (2016)

Since the conclusion of 2015’s Secret Wars, the Marvel Multiverse has been reconstructed. What’s going on with the Marvel Multiverse?  Who chained up Eternity? With a diverse cast of some of Marvel’s heavy-hitters, the sequel to The Ultimates is bound to be an adventure of cosmic proportions.

Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy)

The death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121 is one of the most important moments in Spider-Man’s run. Some even venture to say Gwen’s death ended the Silver Age of comics. Others have never forgiven Peter Parker for failing to realize that though webs can stop a person’s fall, whiplash can still kill a beloved character. Gwen Stacy would never return to Marvel’s main continuity (except as clone in the original Clone Saga and in the current Clone Conspiracy).

Origin

In 2014, Marvel began the Spider-People crossover event Spider-Verse, in which many versions of Spider-Man from many different universes. One of these Spider-People was a version of Gwen Stacy (universe 65) who had been bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spider-Woman (Spider-Gwen on the cover of her comics). Her Peter Parker (universe 65), enthusiastic about Gwen’s spider-derived powers, accidentally turned himself into The Lizard, lost his sanity, and rampaged their high school’s prom. Peter died during the battle fighting against Gwen; the world thought that Spider-Woman had murdered Peter Parker. Unlike Spider-Man, Gwen has revealed her identity to her father, Police Chief Stacy, who has since helped his daughter fight crime. Spider-Gwen is mainly a street level hero, fighting criminals such as The Lizard (Kurt Connors), Green Goblin, a Donald Trump inspired MODOK, her universe’s Punisher and Daredevil.

Powers 

Spider-Gwen has all the powers of the Amazing Spider-Man, including wall-crawling, spider-sense, and the proportionate speed and strength of a spider. Having been lost in the Spider-Women crossover event, her abilities are now temporarily activated by a special device that supplies doses of radioactive isotopes to her body. Though it has not been explicitly stated, I believe that she will eventually regain her former powers.

Currently

After losing her powers, Spider-Gwen has recently been considering  quitting the super-hero life to live a normal life. Her father has since turned himself in to the police for aiding Spider-Woman, but Gwen has made a deal with her universe’s Matt Murdock (Kingpin/Daredevil) to represent her father in return for her services as Spider-Woman. She still has a few ‘spider-power doses’ left, but I am optimistic that she will regain her powers. Somehow, she and Miles Morales will have a crossover romance in the coming months.

Do stop by House of Cards and Collectibles in San Antonio!

Comics of the week, 5 October 2016

This was a pretty cool week in comics. Here are my picks. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by House of Cards and Collectibles. As a reminder, I do not own these characters and images.

Amazing Spider-Man 19

The Jackal seeks to win over the Kingpin to pursue revenge on Spider-Man! This was an awesome lead-up for the upcoming Dead No More: Clone Conspiracy arc. Watch out for the plot twist at the end.

Death of X #1

Ever wonder what happened to Cyclops? Find out in Death of X. Cyclops and friends investigate the Terrigen Mists. The tension between the X-men the Inhumans start to escalate…

Champions #1

The young members of the Avengers are sick of being looked down upon and start their own team, the Champions. I loved the chemistry between the relatively new characters. Like many have stated, this new series is basically Marvel’s Teen Titans (robot, spaceman, shapeshifter…), and it’s awesome.

Spider-Man (Miles Morales)

Quite confusingly, Marvel has more than one hero under the name of Spider-Man. In the last Spider-Family post, I wrote about Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man. This time, I’m going to try to summarize the relatively new Miles Morales, Spider-Man. As a reminder, I don’t own the images and character. Furthermore, I have paraphrased some information from this page (marvel wiki is awesome for learning about comics!).

Origin

Back in the 2000s, Marvel came out with more modern, “Ultimate” versions of their popular characters to appeal to younger people and those new to Marvel comics. Not surprisingly, “Ultimate Spider-Man” was one of the most popular. The series was pretty similar to The Amazing Spider-Man in that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, gaining super-powers, fighting crime, and having many love interests. However, this version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man would meet his unfortunate demise at the hands of the Ultimate Green Goblin. Two months before Peter’s death, one of Oscorp’s radioactive spiders would find and bite an unsuspecting Miles Morales. Unlike Peter, Miles was more cautious and hesitant about using his powers. Similar to how Peter’s negligence caused his Uncle Ben’s death, Miles’ hesitance/inaction indirectly caused Peter’s death; Miles might have saved Peter if he had fought alongside Spider-Man. Miles would eventually take on the mantle of Spider-Man, fighting many of villains his predecessor faced.

More about Miles

Miles is half African-American (father) and half Puerto Rican (mother). His series Spider-Man (2015) focuses on balancing life as Spider-Man, a member of the Avengers, and as a teenager (school, friends, grades). While Peter Parker was a junior in high school when he became Spider-Man, Miles was only 13 (end of middle school, beginning of high school). Miles is extremely intelligent, gaining entrance into a prestigious private school and understanding temporal paradoxes. The radioactive spider bite gave Miles all of the powers of previous Spider-Man (enhanced strength, speed, durability, wall-crawling). Additionally, Miles possesses natural camoflauge; this allows him and whatever he is wearing to blend into his surroundings. He also has some control over his body’s natural electricity, allowing him to stun his enemies.

Current and future

Recently, Miles has arrived into the mainstream Marvel universe, after the multiverse ending/rebooting “Secret Wars” (2015). Miles has little to no recollection of his time in “Ultimate Spider-Man”.  He currently serves on Tony Stark’s Avengers along with Ms. Marvel, Nova, Thor, Vision. In Civil War II, most of Marvel’s heroes are hunting Spider-Man because of a vision about a crime he will commit. Post Civil War II, Miles will eventually quit the Avengers after Civil War II and join the new Champions team with other younger superheroes. Miles and Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy) may start a romantic relationship (read Spider-Man #12 and Spider-Gwen #16 in January).

I still have 4 more spider characters to write about. Be sure to check out my comic picks of the week on Wednesday/Thursday. If you’re ever in town, come by and visit House of Cards and Collectibles.