Vision and the Scarlet Witch #12

The second, and so far final, miniseries starring the android Vision and the mutant Scarlet Witch, comes to a close. Wanda finally gives birth to her miracle child. But there's a twist! It's twins!

It's a total family affair in this extra-large finale. Vision's spiritual brother Simon Williams- AKA Wonder Man, is on hand for the joyous occasion. So is recently resurrected from the dead evil brother, the Grim Reaper. Plus, there's the zombified body of the real Simon Williams, who for some reason is decked out like Rambo with the arsenal to boot! Oh, and we can't forget grandpa Magneto, who was recently revealed to be the real father of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. 

There's essentially 2 stories going on here. Vision is with Wanda, whose delivery has taken some tricky turns. Meanwhile, on the streets below, Wonder Man and Magneto have teamed up to stop the Grim Reaper and the Simon Williams zombie, who are trying to enter the hospital to kill the expectant parents. 

This issue has got to be the most underrated or understated appearance of Doctor Strange in a comic book. The Scarlet Witch chose him to be her OB-GYN. There's not a single act of magic conducted by the Sorcerer Supreme. Unless you consider delivering twins to be magical. Otherwise, the presence of Stephen Strange just seems unnecessary here. 

Though this issue doesn't take place on Mother's Day, I feel like the holiday theme was at play here. Wanda does give birth in the month of May. And you can't get much more motherly than giving birth. So I guess this issue counts as a Mother's Day issue. Though probably only by technicality.

This was an enjoyable series. Having the holiday themed issues, which except for the Thanksgiving issue, was unexpected by me, was a delight. Steve Englehart crafted a fun maxi-series and having completed it now makes me want to watch WandaVision. Sadly, I know the truth about Wanda's children and I am more than aware of the tragedies that befall the Marvel Universe as a part of that eventual revelation. Avengers: Disassembled and House of M both have their origins here. Required Marvel reading. I just wish things would have ended positively for the starred married couple.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Vision and the Scarlet Witch #3

While an attack on the life of Nuklo resulted in the mutant being cured of his radioactivity, the results of last issue's battle have let the family of Wanda Maximoff and the Vision in tatters. Robert Frank, the Whizzer, is dead while Vision is left mangled, minus an arm and in a sort of coma. As the Vision's brain patterns were taken from that of Wonder Man, the Hollywood Avenger is called to the Big Apple to help restore the synthezoid hero's mind.

This was a trippy issue as the majority of the story takes place in the mind of the Vision. The level of action is upped by the addition of the Grim Reaper who blames both Viz and Wonder Man for the death of Simon Williams, which confuses me because I thought Wonder Man was Simon Williams. Internally, both Vision and Wonder Man must battle Ultron, as a small part of the Vision's creator still lingers in the Avenger's brain and has been trying to kill him ever since the hero rejected the influence of his creator!

I've figured out the theme of this miniseries. It's family and its many facets on people. Family sometimes is who you are born into. Other times, family is who you care about the most. It's that latter version of family that is sometimes the closest and the most meaniful. 

Being that so much of this story is based on symbolism and the exploration of the deepest recesses of the psyche, this is the kind of tale that my wife would be a fan of. As for me, it's just a little too metaphysical. Not the worst story. Just not my taste.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #119

Two new multi-parters debut in this issue. First up has Ghost Rider teaming with the duo of Cloak & Dagger. Dagger has been kidnapped by an inter-dimensional being called Grimbat. He's like an uglier, meaner version of Kitty Pryde's dragon Lockheed and he's decided to make Dagger his new bride!

In the second, the villain turned mercenary Constrictor is hired for a job that involves an abusive father and his son. The crime boss pop has kidnapped his kid from the mom who's got legal custody. Only this job is bringing up memories of his abusive childhood and it's severely affecting Constrictor's ability to do the job he was paid for as well as his conscience to do the right thing.

The one and done story has Simon Williams, Wonder Man, taking an acting job with that wicked media mogul, Mojo! Mojo's staff have tricked Wonder Man into an unbreakable contract. But with the help of Simon's agent, Neal Saroyan, who might just have a few tricks of his own to get Wonder Man out from under Mojo's thumb.

As for the Wolverine/Venom story, it's really not going anywhere. 3 parts have progressed now and Nightmare hasn't even officially shown up yet. It's really just a battle between mutant and symbiote. For early 90s comics fans, this was a dream come true. But for me, it's just boring.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Present #44

The complete origin of the entity at the center of the Wolverine story is revealed. And our baddie is a really, really fat guy! Man, Marvel sure likes its villains to be obese. The Blob. Kingpin. Whatever this things real name is. Talk about fat shaming. 

The Avengers bring out the really, really big guns in an attempt to end the Enchantress' thrall over Wonder Man. Enter Captain America and Thor!

The Doctor Strange 8-pager was my favorite story. Doctor Strange has a new student- the Bull-like humanoid Rintrah. Strange is about to go out for a night on the town and encourages his apprentice to practice his magic. But a missed spell causes a mound of trash to take on a monstrous form. Now it's killing New Yorkers indiscriminately. Can Rintrah take out the trash on this baddie before it's too late?

Lastly, there's another one-and-done with another Native American hero: the Puma. I've never encountered this character before. And I must admit that my first encounter was forgettable. I honestly cannot remember what happened in this story. 

This issue wasn't terrible. But when you can't remember what happened in 25% of the book, I don't really think you can give this anything close to a perfect grade.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars. 

Marvel Comics Presents #42

A sacrifice makes the Wolverine story start getting decent.

Hank Pym and The Wasp join Iron Man in the attempt to redeem Wonder Man from the influence of The Enchantress. 

Union Jack is joined by the Invaders in a mission to repeal Axis forces during World War II.

But the star of this issue was the 8-pager involving Colleen Wing and Misty Knight: The Daughters of the Dragon. The kung-fu detective pair go undercover at a circus to uncover a murderer. 

I've read a few things starring the Daughters of the Dragon. It was decent stuff. But this story by Jo Duffy was really super. I know that Duffy wrote several issues of Power Man and Iron Fist. But I don't know if she ever wrote about Wing and Knight in that series. Regardless, I do know that Marvel never had Jo Duffy conduct a series starring just the duo. And they really should have!

In just 8 short pages, Duffy created a backstory, an intriguing mystery, 80s action movie level action and added a little bit of sex appeal. I might not have read such a series new as my teenage comic book tastes were rather different. But if it did exist, you could be sure as soon as I finished this issue, I would have been on Amazon or other used comics site and gotten my hands on it ASAP!

A very good issue with a great 8-page Daughters of the Dragon story!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #41

The one-and-done story involves a corner of the Marvel mutant universe that I wasn't aware of: Freedom Force. Mystique along with several members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants agree to work deadly missions for the government in exchange for pardons of their past sins. 

I'm assuming this was the House of Ideas' answer to DC's Suicide Squad. Still, I liked it. 

When a Senator is kidnapped by another group of rogue mutant baddies, Freedom Force is called to the rescue. But will these reformed villains carry through with the extraction when they discover their mission is to save the strongly anti-mutant Sen. Robert Kelly?!

The Hercules story wraps up. It took the final chapter to get good as there is an assassination attempt on the life of both Herc and his progeny. 

Wonder Man's story continues to amuse. Hank McCoy, the Beast, is out of action (and in traction) thanks to the events of the last issue. So stepping up to stop the Avenger actor on a rampage next is Iron Man himself- Tony Stark.

Still can't really get into the Wolverine story. He's hanging around a group of Hong Kong pirates that are on the hunt for an entity that is killing indiscriminately. It's some kind of negative and positively charged being. Only it operates at the same time. The action is good. I'm lost with the backstory plot. 

A better offering after a couple of previous issue duds. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #40

There's a fan-favorite issue of The Avengers that guest-stars David Letterman. From 1983, Wonder Man is invited to the NBC late night talk show to discuss his latest flick. 

Jump ahead to 1990 and Simon Williams is back on the talk show circuit hawking the new movie he's making while under the enthrall of The Enchantress. Instead of Dave and company, Wonder Man is in Burbank to meet with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon! There's also The Beast, Hank McCoy, on site hoping to break the hold Asgardian goddess has on the acting Avenger. We've also got Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy who calls for the government to stop the terror that is Wonder Man. 

I liked the Reagan cameos. But I'm not sure why they're here because by 1990, George H.W. Bush was president. Bush 41 and VP Dan Quayle are mentioned in this chapter. But why aren't they involved? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. 

Again, only 1 out of 4 stories were enjoyable. The Wolverine story is typical Logan fodder. Gritty. Corny. Overblown. The Hercules story just doesn't connect with me. Maybe it's because I've not read the miniseries that sets up just where the Roman Hero is at this moment in the Marvel Universe. 

And I'm not familiar at all with the character known as Overlord. I think he's an Eternal. Not sure. Of all the Jack Kirby properties, The Eternals is probably my least favorite. Just as I've been nonplussed to see Eternals on screen, I have very little enthusiasm with this 8-pager.

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #38

The 25-chapter long Black Panther story 'Panther's Quest' is finally over. And T'Challa's replacement in Marvel Comics Presents is.... drum roll... Wolverine!

Big surprise.

Really, Wolverine. Again?

The story is interesting however. In the middle of Hong Kong, an entire city block has just disappeared. Something so big and sweeping doesn't seem to be Wolverine material. So I am intrigued to know where this one is gonna go. 

Wonder Man, Simon Williams, is the star of another multi-parter. The Avenger actor has been hired to portray the original android Human Torch in a major blockbuster. This is rather ironic since Wonder Man has a connection with the World War II era character in the creation of another Avenger, The Vision. 

Lastly, the Excalibur adventure comes to a close. The 80s Excalibur series was an wild ride and this conclusion is no different. Especially when the heroes create further Warner Bros. inspired android opponents to battle the Loonies. Too bad they didn't create Disney inspired characters. But I am sure such a thing would have been a lawsuit waiting to happen. 

With a Mr. Fixit one-shot rounding out the line-up, this was a pretty good issue. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

"Wonder Man: My Fair Super Hero”

Imagine My Fair Lady, only fighting replaces the singing and it stars superheroes. A novel concept, and if the writer would have stuck to this premise, I’d give it 5 big stars. However, the whole Henry Higgins boot camp to reform a brutal assassin ends ups being this jumbled ploy to destroy the Avengers. (I feel like I’ve read that story sometime in the past).

The best parts are the scenes that take place in the distant future. It’s a bleak outlook for planet Earth, with the only superhero remaining is Wonder Man (I didn’t know that WM was immortal, didn’t breathe, or turned purple when he used his maxmium powers until I read this story). Now, the big question is does this “future” exist in the same universe as the “Old Man Logan” storyline or somewhere else? I know that Wonder Man was written first, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen as the same time.

Predictably, the story also starts to looks less like “Pygmalion” and more like “Beauty and the Beast.” And of course, you know that when a superhero falls in love, it never ends well.

Worth Consuming, well at least the first 4 chapters are.