Review: Amazing Spider-Man #617

Aaaaannnddd we're back...Once again, I'm sorry for the extraordinary delay between posts. I won't waste any time with excuses--Let's get down to business!

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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #617
WRITER: JOE KELLY
ARTISTS: MAX FIUMARA & JAVIER PULIDO
COLOR ART: FABIO D'AURIA & MATT HOLLINGSWORTH
COVER BY PAOLO RIVERA
MARVEL COMICS $3.99

Peter and his Frontline co-worker Norah are enjoying a night out at a local casino when they bump into Aleksei Sytsevich--The Rhino. But, if the Rhino is in a tuxedo standing next to Pete, who's the guy in the horned battle armor that just busted through the wall?!

I've been about 50/50 on the current "Gauntlet" storyline that's been running through Amazing Spider-Man for the past few months. I just didn't buy the whole "Electro: Man of the People" angle in the Electro story arc, but I really enjoyed the Sandman two-parter. This issue offers two stories featuring one of my favorite Spidey villains, and it's my favorite issue of the "Gauntlet" so far.

The lead story by Joe Kelly, Max Fiumara, and Fabio D'Auria introduces the new Rhino, and he is scary as hell. The new character's design is a cross between the classic Rhino and the all-robot Ultimate version, and I like it a lot! I'm a sucker for a nice "bad guys gone good" story, and this one strikes all the right chords for me. The former Rhino has found love, and is trying to make a serious attempt at staying on the straight and narrow. I'm glad to see Kelly remembered Rhino's past as a Russian agent. Gone is the dimwitted version of the last several years, replaced by an older, more run down man who's realized the futility of his past actions. I love Kelly's characterization of Sytsevich, and I hope to see him return down the road. A character that I'm not 100% sold on, however, is Norah (or "the blond Mary Jane," as I like to call her). Her whimsy is a bit TOO cute, to the point that it takes me out of the story a bit. Her being a comic book character aside, no one acts like that in the face of mortal danger. The scene at the end of the main story, where Sytsevich prepares to do the unthinkable to protect his wife, is wonderful. The dialogue between Spider-Man and Sytsevich is perfect. The scene ended with me rooting for the former super-villain and genuinely believing in his reformation.

The back-up story by Kelly and Javier Pulido sheds more light on Sytsevich's life after his release from prison. It's a great little tale about the character's struggle to make a new life for himself. No one wants to hire him because of his criminal past and the only people that will give him the time of day are criminal scientists and chatty waitresses. The only thing in the story that rings false to me is the little speech Sytsecich's future wife gives him at the diner. She rattles off a really painful bit of dialogue about how ex-cons keep falling in love with her. This is how she talks to customers--customers that have just gotten off the bus from the nearby prison?!

The art in both stories is just phenomenal. Max Fiumara and Javier Pulido are welcome additions to the rotating cast of Spider-Man artists. I'd love to see more of Fiumara's portrayal of Spider-Man in the future. Both Fabio D'Auria and Matt Hollingsworth do an outstanding job coloring their respective stories. D'Auria's work on the main story has an almost painted feel, while Hollingsworth uses a flat color palette to go with Javier Pulido's art style. The shadows and light are conveyed with the inks, not Photoshop trickery, and the combination of Pulido's inks and Hollingsworth's colors combine to create a "simple" style that I love.

With a rotating set of creative teams, Amazing Spider-Man can be pretty hit and miss for me. For every Dan Slott/Marcos Martin gem, there's a Marc Guggenheim story that calls back to the Clone Saga. Thankfully, when it hits, it hits hard. This issue, the previous Sandman issues, and the Slott/Martin Mysterio story currently running are an example of Spidey comics done right.

Review: Siege #1

So, I hope we all understood that when I promised "regular" updates, what I really meant was "whenever my XBox schedule allows" updates... I exaggerate, of course! Sorry for the delay in posting. Blogging is a more time-intensive activity then I realized, and I let the days get away from me... I will strive to improve!

I'm sure the four of you reading this wonder what my thoughts about the recent releases are and I assure you, I DO have thoughts to share! Unfortunately, I left my stack of recent comics in the car and I am in my Guitar Hero pajama pants, riding out Snowpocalypse III (THIS time, it's personal!). I may not be as dedicated to updating this new blog as I'd like, but I am FIERCELY dedicated to the practice of staying out of the snow once I've put on my lounge wear. On the bright side, I do have this week's most anticipated release sitting in front of me--Marvel's SIEGE #1.

I hope it goes without saying, but all of my reviews should be read with an expectation of SPOILERS! I will avoid revealing ALL of an issue's key plot points, but some spoilage is inevitable in any kind of comic analysis... We good? Okay... ONWARD! Read. Absorb. Discuss.

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SIEGE #1
WRITER: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
PENCILLER: OLIVIER COIPEL
INKER: MARK MORALES
COLORIST: LAURA MARTIN
COVER BY COIPEL, MORALES, and MARTIN
MARVEL COMICS $3.99

Loki, God of Mischief, has partnered with Norman Osborn, Director of H.A.M.M.E.R., on a plan to overthrow Asgard, home of the Norse Gods. Asgard has been hovering over a small town in Oklahoma for the better part of a year, a situation which Norman finds unacceptable and Loki finds ripe with opportunity. Unbeknownst to Norman, Loki is playing him like Brillo-headed fiddle, and is trying to pit Osborn (with the full might of the Initiative) and the Asgardians against each other. Meanwhile, Norman has been slowly losing his already fragile grip on sanity and Steve Rogers has returned ready to put an end to Norman's dark reign once and for all.

I've been looking forward to Siege ever since it was announced several months back. I've enjoyed the Dark Reign theme that's been a part of Marvel's story lines this past year, but the ending to that story has been foreshadowed since the moment it began, and I've been eager to see Osborn crash and burn. Does Siege #1 deliver on a year's worth of hype? So far, I think it does!

The spark that ignites the conflict is shown in the issue's opening pages and ties thematically to the opening of Civil War, one of Marvel's past events. The scene helps to illustrate the connection between the two events--if the superhero Civil War hadn't happened, there wouldn't have been a Dark Reign--without seeming repetitive. Bendis delivers an excellent script here, and does a great job building anticipation for the titular siege, setting the stage for what's to come. The writer juggles a huge cast here, and all of the characters are spot on. Bendis has a reputation for decompressed storytelling, and has, in my opinion, had a bad habit of stretching story lines out for too long in the past. Sometimes his excellent knack for dialogue and character development makes up for it, sometimes it doesn't. In Siege #1, Bendis's trademark dialogue is delivered, and is done so without wasting a single page...The pacing is perfect.

Bendis's words are brought to life beautifully by the art team of Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales, and Laura Martin. I've had a soft spot for Coipel's art since I first encountered it on DC's Legion of Super-Heroes a few years back and he's gotten better with every project. The amount of detail packed into every panel is astounding. Morales and Martin make those details pop off the page. It was a treat to see all of the obscure villains under Norman's command (though my Nerd Alarm went off when I saw Diamondback--a character shown to be working undercover AGAINST Norman in Avengers: The Initiative--in the group of villains that took down Thor). I took special note of all of the old New Warriors villains that appeared throughout the book. I wonder if Coipel shares my passion for that hidden gem from the 90s. Whether they're illustrating intense action or talking heads, the art team brings their best to these pages.

My complaints with the issue are few. I feel that the final scene with Thor should have played out "live" on the page and in greater detail, rather than as news footage being watched from the sidelines. It took some of the punch away from the last couple of pages for me. Joe Quesada's "how cool are we" summary of Marvel's last several events was a necessary evil, I suppose, but it would have served better as part of the dramatic recap page at the beginning of the issue, rather than as a tongue-in-cheek prose piece at the end. I had mixed feeling about the "transcript" at the end of the issue. It stretched out a scene already depicted in the actual story and seemed superfluous. Plus, it was misprinted, repeating one page of text and omitting another, so part of the transcript is missing from the book entirely (though Marvel has already posted the corrected transcript for free on their website). I would have liked the main story to have a few more pages. For an event book, 21 story pages (22 counting the recap page) feels a bit light. That said, if you flip through the book, you'll notice that there is only ONE ad in the entire book (disregarding the back and inside covers)--not too shabby. The book wraps up with a Hulk preview, but it looks like that's featured in all of Marvel's books this week, so it has nothing to do with this issue in particular.

So, Siege is being hyped as the culmination of SEVEN years of storytelling dating all the way back to Avengers Disassembled. Looking back, though there were some rough patches along the way, I can see how Marvel has tied each event together, leading us to where we are now. I have to give them credit for that. It's a stretch to say that Siege #1 offers any hint to how everything is going to tie up, but it sets up the larger story very nicely. I'm very excited to see where the Marvel Universe is headed, and I'm especially eager to see the "heroes as outlaws/villains in charge" atmosphere make way for a return to a more heroic age in the Marvel Universe. Siege #1 is an excellent first step on the road to what's ahead. It's not a perfect book, but it's well worth your time and your $3.99.