Spider-Men 01

Writer - Brian Michael Bendis

Artist - Sara Pichelli

Colorist - Justin Ponsor

Letterer - Cory Petit

I came into this read with extremely negative expectations. I remember way back when the Ultimate Universe was still in its infancy and it was outright stated that they were never going to do a crossover. But that was 10 years ago and as Bendis has pointed out in an interview about the crossover, "Things change." It just seemed gimmicky and lately, gimmicky has taken precedence over quality content and depth, such as with Marvel's AvX and DC's New 52 for the most part. Lately Bendis has just not been impressing on a lot of his titles. There is one thing that Bendis knows how to do well and I have always enjoyed and that is his writing on the Ultimate Universe. One of the reasons I had such reservations about this arc was because this arc would be a crossover of a universe that Bendis writes that I love and a universe that he writes that I have been thoroughly disappointed. 

After having read the first issue, I am tossing all that fear and those pesky reservations out the window. I enjoyed this series so much I was shocked. Bendis was writing like he was BENDIS again. The writer that can do no wrong. The writer that creates a story that you cannot help but get sucked into. Funnily enough, it only featured regular Spider-Man almost the entire time. Bendis has certain flare for comedic writing where Spider-Man is concerned. If only AvX was written like this. But to be fair, I think Bendis has a stronger understanding of Spider-Man than the characters littering AvX, he has been writing Spider-Man for a decade (even if it was the Ultimate Universe one).

The art is a knockout. Ultimate Spider-Man readers will recognize the work of Pichelli right away. She has been on most of the new Ultimate Spider-Man run and did a few issues from Death of Spider-Man. It just fits perfectly with Bendis Spider-Man writing. Comedy in comic books is just as much on the shoulders of the artist as it is with the writer and I can think of few artists that could be better for this mini. Something about it reminds me of Amanda Conner, one of my favorite comic book artists. The action is solid as well. It just looks realistic. No issues with the art at all for this one. Pichelli was someone I have kept an eye on for a few issues but now she is climbing the favs list. 

The story is pretty straightforward. Spider-Man (the regular one) is thinking about how he loves New York and beating up a few baddies when he sees some energy blast come from a dilapidated building. Turns out someone got their hands on Stark tech and that someone is Mysterio! Punch, kick, quip and webs ensue and Spider-Man is thrown into the energy coming from the Stark tech. Suddenly he is in a New York that is familiar, yet different. Hilarity ensues as he attempts to be the hero he is and people react to his costume. For those of you who do not know why... shame on you!

Overall I felt this first issue did its job of getting me interested and then some. I most certainly will be getting the next issue that comes out and I hope you do as well. It is a solid 4.8/5. My only gripe is that this issue had a lot of splash pages. Splash pages are great but sometimes, less is more and it felt like an extremely fast read because of it. 

Scarlet Spider 006

Writer - Chris Yost

Artist - Ryan Stegman

Colorist - Edgar Delgado

Letterer - Joe Caramangna/Ryan Stegman

I have been loving this series so far. Kaine has been a thoroughly enjoyable character that has very human struggles. He is a man that is good at his core but struggles with who he used to be and because of his past, he sees himself as a villain. But beyond that, what makes him interesting is that he wants to be good. 

This issue was really good. We got to see so much; how the city of Houston saw him, his internal conflict, his friends and some crazy fighting. I did not like a few things. They gave Kaine a tattoo. This is a problem for me for two reasons. One is that he is supposed to have durability enough where something like a tattoo needle would have no effect. He also has a healing factor, not on the order of Wolverine but over time, I would think his body would erase the tattoo, so getting one is pointless. Then there is the fact that the tattoo just looks ugly. I love tattoos but I think if you are going to get one, you might as well make it something that looks good and not like that ridiculous crap he put on his arm. This is just something that artists will have to deal with later. I hope they just phase it out like it never happened because it just looks terrible. 

Other than that, the issue was spectacular. I hope this issue is getting the number to support an ongoing series because this is one of the few titles Marvel is putting out that is worth buying. The art is enjoyable in a cartoony kind of way. I personally prefer a more serious or dark kind of art, especially for a series that deals with a protagonist like this but other than that, there is nothing wrong with this art at all. Stegman does a fine job and is consistent throughout his time on the series and it is appropriate during the light moments of the series such as his time with his friends, especially with Aracely. 

The fight with Ana was very well done. He is well beyond her in stats but he also does not have a spider sense like Spider-Man does and she seems to be the superior fighter. It also helps that she prepped the fight and had a few advantages. But both characters were treated with respect and I love that in a character fight. 

Overall this issue was a 4.4/5 for me. Loved it but it was not the best issue for the series to date. I am eager to see what happens in the next issue though with the reveal on the last page. This series is only 6 issues in so I seriously recommend picking it up. Doubly so if you are not interested in the AvX event that is going on right now with Marvel. 

Age of Apocalypse 004

Writer - David Lapham
Artist - Roberto De La Torre/Renato Arlem
Colorist - Lee Loughridge
Letterer - Cory Petit

This series is my second favorite post apocalyptic dystopian comic series next to The Walking Dead. It does not play at being edgy like DC's New 52, it outright is hardcore edgy comics. Never does an issue arrive that is not packed to the gills with blood. One of the coolest things about it is pretty much what was one of the coolest thing about this series when it came out in the 90s. We get to see some of our favorite characters in a dark mirror. Like Star Trek's Mirror Universe. Often the bad guys in the regular universe are now the heroes and the heroes in the normal universe are now the big bad scaries. There are some characters that are already standout favorites of mine. Jean Grey and Prophet. They are just oozing badass. If you read last month's issue, you know how much of a BAMF Jean is now. She sweep kicked some dude! Top ranked fighter for sure!

This issue dealt mostly with Fiend's capture. She had killed Abyss upon his resurrection and destroyed some necessary plasma lines to Beast's equipment before being caught. Elsewhere Goodnight is trying to convince Bruce Banner to become The Thing and help his friends out. Without giving away too much of the issue, Prophet shows up and does what he normally does, which is show his complete genius where tactics are concerned. He also intentionally brings a mutant back to life, which surprised me a great deal but it seems to me that out of all of the humans, he is one of the few that have no hate for mutants as a species, seeing them only as humans with power. The mutant he brought back to life is one of my favorite lesser known mutants in the 616 universe (that is the normal universe to you comic noobs). As far as choices go, this is probably the best one considering the mutant's power set.

I was a little let down in the issue due to the cover. It implied that we were going to have a major smack down, drag out fight between Weapon Omega (Wolverine) and The Thing (Hulk) but all we get is a few panels. The fight could barely be called that. I know we have seen Wolverine vs Hulk a million times so maybe the writers just felt like it was so overdone that we could just skip it, but in my opinion, it is overdone because people love seeing it.

That is really my only complaint. The art is fantastic in a dirty, gritty kind of way and the plot is not overly complex but leaves a few things in the dark so we want to come back next month and see what happens. I honestly wish more comics would take a page out of this book's bindings and follow its formula, especially the more "popular" titles.

If you are a first time reader, this issue will not leave you in the dark. Assuming you can read the two paragraphs on the first page, you will be brought up to speed on everything you need to know. So I would even recommend this issue to new readers. Overall I give this issue a 4.7/5. A mostly pleasing issue with the only problem for me being the Hulk/Wolverine fight. However, this also will have my favorite mutant in the upcoming months so it almost made up for it.