The "feast or famine" schedule continues along May; last week was a huge week and this week is small, with the next even smaller. As always, spoilers will be in big heaps.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 5/23/12:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #686: Artist Stefano Caselli returns to regular art chores after the end of a stint by Humberto Ramos to pencil this penultimate chapter of writer Dan Slott's second annual ASM epic, "ENDS OF THE EARTH". As virtually every review of this arc seems to mention, Slott is once again offering a superior alternative to Marvel's current crossover spectacle within the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN itself. Marvel hasn't considered this a crossover, although it did spawn a spare one-shot and will have an epilogue chapter in an issue of spin-off series AVENGING SPIDER-MAN. At any rate, this story promises what seems to be the ultimate Sinister Six story which Slott (and some other Marvel titles) has built up for a couple of years. It certainly will be hard to imagine a Sinister Six story in the future which could top this one.
Picking up from the last issue, Spider-Man and "Spidey's Angels" (Black Widow and Silver Sable) seemed to be in the midst of Dr. Octopus' grand scheme to enrich his colleagues while setting the world on fire with his "global warming" boosting satellites. Naturally, since there are another two issues left in this arc, all wasn't what it appeared to be as the heroes found themselves in the midst of a dangerous game of illusions and cons set up by Mysterio and Chameleon for the purpose of buying Doc Ock time to finish up the endgame. While Spidey actually manages to convince one of those villains into switching sides in the face of a potential apocalypse, it may not be enough as Ock has taken command of a new squad of enthralled minions to replace his defeated Six members. The conclusion of the issue has Spider-Man come to a horrified conclusion which puts his entire BIG TIME era circa November 2010 into perspective, and perhaps a conclusion.
This story opened with a battle between the Avengers and the Sinister Six, although it has gone on to split up the members of the Six across each chapter to break up the action as well as to make the battles and settings diverse. Caselli's artwork is always a pleasure to behold, managing to have a lot of detail while also being fluid enough to provide kinetic fight scenes; it also well flanked by Frank Martin Jr.'s colors. The pace of the arc by this stage is very quick, and while there are some moments of levity as well as some peaks at Spidey's supporting cast, it is able to maintain a great deal of suspense and Hollywood blockbuster style action.
Spider-Man may end up saving the world, but he may wind up in a similar boat as Iron Man; learning that developing new inventions is often akin to opening Pandora's Box since they can be used to good or ill ends. It would be a shame to see him leave Horizon Labs, but at this point how his status quo will be effected by the end of this arc is unknown. At any rate, Slott is once again displaying his mastery of continuity, imagination, and a mingling of comedy and action towards crafting this latest masterwork on what is quickly becoming a seminal run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. In fact, the biggest challenge may be topping it; which is a challenge all great writers face head on. Unraveling the secret of how to overcome that is a riddle for the future; in the present, ASM is in high gear for the second summer in a row, and is one of Marvel's biggest and best ongoing titles.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #12: This long term (albeit recently relaunched) ongoing series helmed by writer Ed Brubaker continues its upswing with the second part of "SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM" alongside new artist Patrick Zircher. While the series continues to over rely on battles against HYDRA grunts in stock action sequences, the overall gist of the arc is a new Scourge vigilante is on a killing spree - this time murdering retired villains in witness relocation. Prior Scourge stories had been told in CAPTAIN AMERICA (as well as brief U.S. AGENT series) historically, so it makes a great degree of sense to see it return. While this continues the long term struggle between Cap and the dark WWII hero Codename Bravo, it allows that saga to turn to a chapter which suits Brubaker's narrative strengths better. The new Scourge has claimed his latest victim as well as having nearly killed Cap's ex (and another former villain) Diamondback. While it is a shame that Diamondback was dusted off and trucked out in this story in her first appearance since 2010 merely to be pummeled into a coma, Cap's reaction is effectively told. Scourge was redesigned in THUNDERBOLTS several years ago, with the mask still looking very much like Rick Taylor's "terror mask" from the "SPLATTERHOUSE" series of video games. Zircher's art (alongside Paul Mounts' colors) suit the piece well, with a darker and more grounded tone than the Alan Davis issues. While it seems that old figures such as Henry Gyrich and D-Man have become twisted against the U.S. system, they appear to be pawns in a greater scheme. D-Man is a character who has certainly gone through a lot of upheavals in his history. Once a tag along partner for Cap, he's gone from being a crazed hobo to a champion pie-eater to a member of the "Revengers" to his turn here. At any rate, the spark which once flourished within prior arcs of this series under Brubaker has arisen with this one, and it is a truly great thing to see again.
FANTASTIC FOUR #606: It has been announced that Jonathan Hickman will soon be ending his near three year run on the long running title of "Marvel's First Family", and issues such as this seem to make that apparent. While this is a perfectly charming and entertaining issue, it is also an issue which seems quite quaint and random. As the cover suggests, this is the Four's attempt at a story which pays homage to "FANTASTIC VOYAGE", a 1966 sci-fi film which involves people shrinking down to the size of cells to enter a human body. Virtually every cartoon series as well as many comic book films have imitated or flat out ripped off this premise since, including WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN lately. Ron Garney provides art for this issue, with Jason Keith on color art, and as usual does a bang-up job. The issue itself tries to make the fact that the Fantastic Four's latest adventure is inside a human body into a mystery despite the fact that the issue's cover gives that mystery away. It turns out to be the Four's method to remove an inoperable tumor from the brain of their longtime friend and mail-man, Willie Lumpkin. While it is a sweet story, it also showcases how easily and willingly superheroes are able to overcome very real and very incurable diseases when it comes to their friends while offering zero attempt to duplicate such things for everyday citizens. Dr. Strange, for example, was unable (or unwilling) to save Peter Parker's Aunt May from her gunshot induced coma in 2007, yet he was willing to travel to other dimensions to mix a magic elixir to save his chum Wong from his own brain tumor. Despite that caveat, this is a solid if simple FF adventure story, done in one sitting without any stress.
SECRET AVENGERS #27: Rick Remender had taken over on SECRET AVENGERS as the first writer who planned to write more than six issues of the title since Ed Brubaker left it after a year; immediately he earned goodwill with a delightfully zany black ops battle against some evolved Adaptoids and cyborgs. Unfortunately, the AVX crossover has immediately arisen for the second arc, and this has seen a dip in both narrative and artistic quality. While Renato Guedes is a perfectly fine artist, it is a step down from Gabriel Hardman, with two colorists in tow. This crossover tie-in chronicles a team of Secret Avengers tasked with fighting the Phoenix in space before it hits earth. While that included regulars such as Beast, Valkyrie, and Capt. Britain, and a return of War Machine, and guest appearances by Thor, Ms. Marvel, and Protector. This quest has diverged into a story in which some rogue Kree have capitalized on the Phoenix to enslave the rest of planet Hala to the point that even Protector and Ms. Marvel are enthralled. They are led by an apparently resurrected Mar-Vell, who is following their whims and taking on the heroes. The Phoenix battered heroes were already reeling and no match for them, with half the team captured for public execution. The issue focuses mostly on the revived Mar-Vell, or at least his narration, as his old memories and ties conflict with his current directives. Considering that Carol Danvers is fixing to become the new CAPTAIN MARVEL in a new title and may even get a film, now is an odd time to have a story where she's reduced to Mar-Vell's weepy lover. Protector continues to do what he usually does in AVENGERS titles; be marked "present" and that is it. I did like the bit where Thor doesn't believe this is Mar-Vell and assumes it is an impostor, which irks him greatly. Overall, though, this was a "meh" issue of a "meh" arc, and it is a shame to see a team book which had been in an upswing diminished by an obligatory crossover tie-in.
