Spider-Gwen #14

I've got to remind myself that when I read a book starring the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman that her story takes place on another earth. She's not from Earth-616. These aren't the characters I am used to. 

It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I even knew this issue existed. A Thanksgiving tale, I promptly ordered this book after doing further research for some Turkey Day reads to get into an early festive mood. After a sucky last couple of school years, I am doing everything possible to stay positive and say no when I need to say no and temporarily step away from it all. This early jump on the holiday season is one of my ways of practicing some self care. 

This issue is essentially 1 complete story, told in two parts. The first part has Gwen Stacy spending her first Thanksgiving away from her father. Captain Stacy has taken the fall to prevent Gwen from being arrested as the vigilante Spider-Woman. Aiding the family is a very corrupt Matt Murdock. Changes in fate have resulted in the blind lawyer secretly taking control of New York's criminal element as the Kingpin of Crime! And for some reason, Murdock has taken an interest in Gwen!

After a fateful meeting with May Parker, Gwen, still mourning the death of Peter Parker, runs into an old friend- a Jessica Drew from some other earth that occupies the Spider-Verse. 

With the arrival of this Jessica Drew as well as a very childlike version of the villain Porcupine, things change tone. For one thing, the art goes from rather streamlined and from the portfolio of Paul Pope-looking to kinda cartoonish and something out of MAD Magazine. I preferred the first style, by regular artist Robbi Rodriguez (Spider-Women). I'm really not sure why the artwork is taken over in part 2 by Chris Visions (Scarlet Witch). However, I can attest that it really wasn't warranted. And since there wasn't an announced change in artists, it was rather striking.

It took me a couple of minutes to figure out that this was the same story. The artwork change was just that so differing, I thought briefly that I was reading a sneak peak of some forthcoming Marvel title. On the plus side, the second half of this story had more of a Thanksgiving day theme.

So technically, I think this is my first real encounter with Gwen Stacy and her world of Earth-65. I've encountered the character in other Marvel titles and animated features. But when I've experienced Spider-Gwen, it's always as a supporting player. This strange new world intrigues me. I think I like a Matt Murdock who isn't on the side of the angels. Should I come across any further Spider-Gwen titles at my local library, I think I'd have zero issue grabbing a couple for a read. Even though this series is 7 years old, it's got a lot of peaked interest in this Madman all of a sudden.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 

Spidey: Freshman Year

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed an issue of Spidey Super Stories. It was a series that ran in the 70s based on the live-action exploits of Spider-Man from the PBS series The Electric Company. In that issue, the web-slinger battled the terrifying Lizard.

Not willing to let a great idea die, Marvel brought back Spidey for a 12-issue run in 2016. I, of course, remembered the 70s version fondly. Naturally, I wanted for the series to be collected to see if the reboot was as good as the original. 

Spidey covers Peter Parker's first days as a super hero. This coincides with his freshman year of high school. During this time, Parker is the best friend of Harry Osborn, the number one target of school bully Flash Thompson and he might be the love interest of one Gwen Stacy- if he can get the courage to ask her out sometime. But above all- this story is about the troubles Parker has balancing being a superhero with responsibilities as a student and teenager. 

This series screams Stan Lee. It's so similar in feel to that of Lee and Ditko's run on Spider-Man, it's scary. Yet, I didn't feel that any of these stories had been told over and over to the point of being stale. Plus, I didn't have any problem with Gwen being a fellow classmate and not a college co-ed unlike some Marvel traditionalists. 

Since Marvel didn't have the rights to The Electric Company, you won't see Easy Reader or Paul the Gorilla. Though it would have been neat to have seen a cameo or two. (There might have been some characters from the 70s popping up in the background and I just didn't recognize them. But alas, no simians in trench coats...) However, the writers to this series do happen to subtlety mention some of the exploits that did occur in Spidey Super Stories, including what happened that last time Spider-Man meet the Lizard in the streets of New York. 

I absolutely loved the artwork of the first 4 issues. Nick Bradshaw (Guardians of the Galaxy) did this amazing job of rendering every last tiny detail. It was so much like that of another personal favorite of mine, Frank Quitely. When the art duties switched over later to Andre Araujo (Avengers A.I.), the art was bad. It just wasn't as magnificently detailed. It's like when your mom goes all out the first day of school with making you a fantastic lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, potato chips and a banana. Then by the last day of school, you're lucky if she puts a raw potato in the lunch bag. You start off with great expectations and end with mediocrity at best. 

Okay- again Araujo's art was good. It was mediocre compared to Bradshaw!

At least the quality of the stories didn't change. Too bad Marvel didn't invest in a series 2. Spidey is definitely an awesome read for the whole family that deserves more attention from the House of Ideas.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Spider-Gwen, Volume 1: Most Wanted? (Marvel Now!)

  After being bitten by a radioactive spider, young Gwen Stacy garners amazing powers and becomes the Radioactive Spider-Woman!

   Spinning from the epic multi-dimensional Spider-Verse storyline from 2014 comes Spider-Gwen! In this universe (Earth-65), Gwen Stacy- NOT Peter Parker, gained powers from a spider bite and becomes everyone's favorite web-crawler- except for the police, led by Gwen's father, Captain Stacy! See, Spider-Woman's been falsely accused of killing Peter Parker, who was inspired by Gwen's exploits to be a superhero himself, only his experiments went terribly wrong and the carnage resulted in his death.

   By day, Gwen juggles being the drummer of the up-and-coming band, the Mary Janes. At night, Spider-Woman tries to save the day while eluding the police who have an APB out for her immediate capture! With Detective Frank Castle now on her trail and the criminal mastermind Kingpin out to make her either his newest accomplice or next victim, the stakes have never been higher for Gwen Stacy...

   Most Wanted? was a great introduction to the character of Spider-Gwen. I had been on the fence about her. Not because it's a female superhero but I thought that outside of this comic's title, I was afraid that the general public of Earth-65 actually referred to this heroine as Spider-Gwen. That's like Superman calling himself Super-Clark. But thankfully, that's not the case.

    The only real problem I had with this book was the angle of Gwen being a drummer for the Mary Janes. Yes- this is an interesting take on Mary Jane Watson being a rival of Gwen's without it being some sort of love triangle with Peter Parker or another boy. But member of a girl band??? Really? Critics argue that comics don't feature enough strong women in comics. But having Gwen have to deal with the petty squabbles of being part of a band seems to me actually detracting from this title's potential girl power. 

   I'm open to reading more Spider-Gwen in the future. I especially want to read Spider-Verse. But if I do get my hands on volume 2 of this series, I hope it matures a little bit. Spider-Gwen might be a fan favorite of girls and cosplayers, but at this point in her legend, she's not in the same league as the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel or Kamala Kahn's Ms. Marvel. Not by the end of volume 1, anyways...

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 1

Ok- I think the cover ruined Spoiler #2.

  

     It's a new series and a new life for Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man. After the assault on Roxxon Corp. Miles has some new allies in the form of SHIELD agent Ultimate Spider-Woman, feisty Bombshell, and the mysterious Cloak & Dagger. He also has a new family dynamic as the teen has been named a ward of the state as it's assumed that his father died during a recent visit from Galactus.

    In reality, Mr. Morales discovered that Miles is Spider-Man and blamed him for the death of his mother. It's been hinted that Miles' dad has a mysterious past and clearly having a son with super powers hit too close to home. But I have no idea when all of this happened nor which series it all takes place. It surely didn't happen in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man! Thankfully, I know of these events now because of flashbacks and conjecture from other characters. But if not for these teasers I would've been clueless to about 50% of what's going on in this series.

   Along with these changes comes another villain from the Peter Parker Spider-Man's past. I don't want to spoil who it is, but it's a huge reveal. There's another big spoil in this book that involves a mysterious character and it very much could result in the end of Miles' claim to the mantle of Ultimate Spider-Man.

 But before any of this takes place, you're invited to a very special gathering of friends and family. It's been 2 years since the death of Peter Parker and Aunt May and Gwen Stacy have thrown a party to reflect and honor the fallen superheroes life. With tons of cameos and surprises, it was a very fun read that made me missed the original Ultimate Spidey series. It had heart, humor, and tons of food. It was perhaps the best recent story I've read in quite a while.

    The new series is just as good if not a teeny bit better than the first Miles Morales certain title. I still don't understand why Marvel needed to cancel that series and then immediately issue a new series (other than trying to cash in on those few readers who think an issue #1 will be worth big bucks one day.) The writing by Brian Michael Bendis is superior as always and the art was excellent. But like I mentioned earlier, if not for some very much needed flashbacks, I wouldn't have enjoyed this volume quite as much as I did.

  Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Amazing Spider-Man 2

              

   After missing it in theaters and then somehow passing it on HBO and OnDemand, I finally got my hands on a copy of Amazing Spider-Man 2. This action romp through the Big Apple on the web-swinging back of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man pits the hero against the armored Rhino, the electrifying Electro, and the creepy Green Goblin all the while balancing love and job in his civilian life as Peter Parker. On paper, this should be a slam dunk. But at almost two and a half hours long the film's momentum is paced sporadically as the plot gets really dragged out and then all of a sudden it gets jammed pack with a dizzying array action and adventure.

   Amazing Spider-Man left me pleasantly disappointed. It has some very good acting. With the exception of Heath Ledger's Joker, that's not really what superhero films are known for. There were some very fun scenes that succeed thanks to the great acting. But overall the film feel flat in areas that comic based films are praised for, especially plot and SFX.

Andrew Garfield's timing and poise as Spider-Man/ Peter Parker is excellent. The way he makes Spider-Man a thriving part of New York and his scenes with everyday people and the real heroes of the city, the NYPD and NYFD, while in costume were perfect.
 
   Then you got Jamie Fox who played a nerdy uberfan of Spidey's named Max Dillon, who is turned into the misunderstood Electro was fantastic as well. There was a real character progression to Dillon that made him a sympathetic foe. Plus there was great chemistry between Garfield and Fox in their few scenes together.

   Speaking of chemistry, Andrew Garfield's Peter and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy got it! Maybe it;s because the two are lovers in real life, but they made ASM2 a kind of romantic comedy in the vein of Tracy and Hepburn. Even Paul Giamatti as Rhino was good though I think his Russian accent needed work because I couldn't understand a word he was saying. (OKAY- maybe it was too good!)

    If this was the only dynamic of Amazing Spider-Man 2 then the film would be an instant classic. But the writers, producers, and director decided to add Norman and Harry Osborn into the mix. Norman, played by Chris Cooper, has some sort of terrible auto-immune disease. His search for a cure is what leads to OsCorp conducting its research with spiders that ultimately bite Parker and give him his powers. With Norman's death, his company is handed over to his son, Harry. When Peter tries to reach out to his old friend, the film spirals into about 45 minutes of Harry trying to find a cure for the genetic condition he inherited from his father. It may be important to understanding Harry's character and motivation, but it really slows the film to a snails pace.

   Harry's search for a cure winds up taking on the mystery behind the death of Peter's folks. Peter finds a satchel that belonged to his father and that spins the film off into yet another tangent. Sure, Peter's search does provide some much needed scientific jargon as to why that spider's bite gave him special powers but that's about all it does to benefit the film.

   Ideally with all of the tangents and sprawling plotlines, this film should have been cut into two movies and Amazing Spider-Man turned into a trilogy. But with a major deal struck between Marvel Studios and Sony to add Spidey to the official Marvel movie universe,  I think the plans to make this film series into a trilogy were scrapped in order to get Spider-Man into 'Captain America: Civil War' as soon as possible. (It's rumored that this is the movie in which Spidey will be introduced to the MMU.)

   Sadly, Andrew Garfield will not be portraying the wall-crawler in the forthcoming Captain America flick. In fact the Peter Parker Spider-Man might not even be featured in the forthcoming Spider-Man cinematic reboot scheduled for release around 2019. ( In an effort for a more diverse Marvel film universe, rumor has it that the half black, half Latino Miles Morales Spider-Man will appear in Civil War.)

  Yes- the Spider-Man franchise is going to get a second reboot in less than 5 years time! And for that reason alone, I feel that that this film tries to do too much because there won't be an Amazing Spider-Man 3 to round out the unanswered questions of the first film. One such question is still unanswered- just who is the guy in the shadows at the prison for bad guys? He pops up again in this film and I still don't know who the heck he is.

   Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a rare type of superhero film. It's acting was far better than the story and don't get me started on the special effects. Maybe it's because I watched this film on DVD but the action scenes involving Spidey were so fake looking. But during Stan Lee's tenure are the mastermind behind the Marvel Age of Comics, his stories were known for being heavy on character and drama and that's what happens here. I just hope Marvel Studios allows Andrew Garfield a much-needed swan song before the pass on the mantle of Spider-Man to whoever is cast as the Miles Morales Spidey.

   Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Heartbreakers #1

 

The ladies of Marvel shine in this one-shot that could be considered a Valentine’s special of sorts. Tales starring Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, Nextwave, Snowbird, and the Dazzler show that the ladies of the MCU are called heartbreakers for a reason. Almost all of the stories are really good. The Snowbird tale involving a pagan Eskimo wedding is the weakest tale. The girls of Spider-man and Nextwave are very funny and well drawn. The Dazzler tale which hearkens towards the end of her solo disco career is a very well-done tale of her origin with romantic overtones.

Overall, a superb one-shot that focuses on the fairer sex of Marvel.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Volume 1

   When the Ultimate Spider-Man/ Peter Parker dies; Fate, Destiny, or Kismet sees to it that a successor is chosen. Enter Miles Morales, a gifted youngster who's been bitten by one of Norman Osborne’s genetically altered spiders.

   The book starts off slow, with it being at least 3 issues before Miles dons the mantle of Spider-man. Adding to the odd flow of the book is that part of the story is of another issue that deals with the first appearance of Morales in the Ultimate Universe. Then after the first arc is completed, the rest of that ground breaking issue is reprinted, but it deals mostly with Mister Fantastic and the X-Men and has nothing to do with Spidey.
   
   Here is my big problem with the book. It’s not that this Spider-man is black. I have no problem with this. I signed the petition years back for Donald Glover to be Peter Parker in this newest Spider-man film and it turns out Glover was what inspired Bendis to create a minority replacement to Peter Parker. My issue with the book is that Morales is in middle school. He’s like 10-12 years old and it just doesn’t seem plausible that Nick Fury would use such a young kid considering how hesitant as he was to use Parker, who was 16, when he first became a costumed hero.

    Thankfully, Milo and his best friend are wonderfully crafted and they make for pleasant reads. Also, I like how Bendis is using Aunt May and Gwen Stacy as mentors giving Miles the “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” mantra that really inspired Peter. I think there is great potential for this book and I'm already standing in line, waiting for more to come.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.



 

 

Spider-Man: The Death of Gwen Stacy

WORTH CONSUMING!

You never think of Peter Parker without Mary Jane Watson. See what life for him was like and why Spiderman I & II did not fudge with the Spidey love triangle mythos quite the way you thought they did. And the Green Goblin art is great….Except what is wrong with Norman and Harry Osborn’s hair???