Reviews: Morbius The Living Vampire #7 and AVENGERS VOL. 2: THE LAST WHITE EVENT

Morbius The Living Vampire #7 (Marvel, cover date September, 2013)

Writer: Joe Keatinge

Artists: Valentine De Landro and Felix Ruiz

Colorist: Antonio Fabela

The so-called Superior Spider-Man (read: Doctor Octopus' mind in Peter Parker's brain) teams up with Morbius to battle Nikoletta Harrow. I wonder if she is supposed to be the daughter of old school minor league villain Doctor Jonas Harrow. In any case, her ridiculously large gloves/fists make her seem silly. Of course the Rose is still there pulling the strings. Morbius finally gets a costume, an updated take on his original duds. Things end with a bang. 

Two more issues to go and then this series will be finished. I am sad. This is likely the last shot Morbius has at his own series, as it is apparent that comic fans don't love Morbius as much as I do. If I were Keatinge, I'd say screw it and throw Werewolf By Night, the Living Mummy, and It! The Living Colossus in the final two issues and have them team up with Morbius to battle Mephisto. What's the worst thing that Marvel could do, cancel the series?

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5. 

Review- NEW AVENGERS VOL. 1: EVERYTHING DIES

NEW AVENGERS VOL. 1: EVERYTHING DIES (Marvel, 2013; Hardcover)

Collects New Avengers (Vol. 3) Nos. 1-6 (cover dates March- July, 2013)

Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Artists: Steve Epting with Rick Magyar

Colorist: Frank D'Armata

This is the second relaunch of the New Avengers, making this the New New New Avengers. Cripes. The roster of this team is roughly the same as the New Avengers: Illuminati mini-series. We have Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Namor The Sub-Mariner, Iron Man, the Black Panther, and Captain America. At least, Captain America was a member until he wasn't.

There are plenty of talking head moments here, but at least they are necessary in order to convey the story information and not just filling out pages with bad “witty” dialogue. Hickman's writing is good for the most part. He uses the movie version of Tony Stark, which seems to be the way that his personality will be portrayed in the comic books from here on out. I do have some issues with the heroes not acting completely heroic, including what they do to Captain America, but this is, all in all, a satisfying read. 

The team is dealing with something called the Incursion, where multiple Earths from the Multiverse are colliding into one another as the result of a tiny contraction in the Multiverse timeline. There is a chain reaction, with Earth crashing into Earth as our heroes are scrambling to find a way to stop it. The Infinity Gauntlet rears it's ugly head (or glove as the case may be), and I can't help but suspect that this whole thing will be spun off into the upcoming Infinity mini-series and crossover event.

The cover of this book by “Jock”, which was originally used for issue 1, is a complete joke. Not only is it ugly, but the way that everyone is posed makes them look like a lame '90s Alternative band, all standing around looking in different directions, pretending not to be interested that there is a camera there when in reality they thought long and hard about how to look “cool”. Not much curb appeal. If I weren't an Avengers completist I wouldn't be the least bit inclined to pick it up based on the cover art. Thankfully the interior art is done by the always brilliant Steve Epting. I can't imagine why the existing cover was chosen for the final product.

Why is the Beast wearing goggles that make him look like Hellboy?

That gripe aside, I enjoyed this and am looking forward to Vol. 2 of the New New New Avengers.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Good god, talk about moving backwards. Marvel is now using chapter break pages in these Marvel Now! Premiere Hardcovers and moving the covers to a gallery in the back of the book. It's sick and it is wrong. It goes against the very laws of nature. Stop the madness, before it's too late! Won't somebody please think of the children?

DVD-style Extras included in this book: The following variant covers are featured in the cover gallery in the back of the book.

#1 Variant by Skottie Young

#1 Variant by Steve Epting

#2 Sketch Variant by J. Scott Campbell

#2 Variant by J. Scott Campbell & Nei Ruffano

#2 Variant by Simone Biachi & Simone Peruzzi

#4 Variant by Stepahnie Roux

#3 Variant Pencils by Dale Keown

#3 Variant by Dale Keown & Morry Hollowell

#6 Variant by Joe Quinones & Matthew Wilson

Paper rating: 3 out of 5. The glossy coated stock paper is a bit on the thin side. The warping is ridiculous. The printer seriously needs to let those green trees cure a bit before turning them into paper. These shriveled, semi-warped books are getting old. My books are stored in a 100% climate controlled environment, so this is unacceptable. It also happened with the DC Before Watchmen hardcovers which were printed at the same time by the same printer, R.R. Donnelley, Inc. The Chinese made hardcovers do not have this problem.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding. That free digital download code card glued into the casing needs to be done away with. It makes reading the last issue of these books a pain in the butt. These hardcovers are shrinkwrapped, so why not just throw the card in and seal the book?

Hardback cover coating rating: 4.5 out of 5. The coating on the dustjacket-free hardback is remarkably durable. It has a dull matte finish and I thought that it would be easily scuffed. I am happy to be wrong.

Buy NEW AVENGERS VOL. 1: EVERYTHING DIES HC at InStockTrades!

Reviews- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fifth

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fifth

Note: Free Comic Book Day will be referred to as FCBD from here on out in these reviews.

This is the fifth and final installment of my reviews of the books that I picked up on my daylong, multi-county (okay, it was only two counties), multi-store marathon on FCBD 2013.

2000 AD Free Comic Book Day 2013 (2000 AD, cover date 2013)

Writers: Various

Artists: Artists

This is a compilation of material from 2000 AD Progs 47, 525, 1241, 1398, 1750, and Judge Dredd Megazine (Vol. 5) No. 5, with publication dates ranging from 1978- 2011. This was the rarest of the FCBD issues, at least in this neck of the woods. I only saw one store carrying it, and it was the very last one that I went to. This is chock full of great stuff. Future Shocks: Red Moon, is one of the most delightfully fucked up stories that I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The Visible Man is also incredible, and it will be collected in the forthcoming trade paperback 2000 AD Presents Sci-Fi Thrillers, available December, 2013. I'm totally in for that one. The Judge Dredd stories are both good. Insurrection is available as a trade paperback which I have already scooped up. The purpose of these FCBD issues are to spur sales, and this one has definitely sucked some money out of my wallet. Bravo!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5. 

Barack The Barbarian No. 1 (Devil's Due Publishing, cover date June, 2009)

Writer: Larry Hama

Artist: Christopher Schons

Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg

I had always intended on buying this but never got around to it. There was an Amazon fish* floating around for a trade paperback for a while but the book was never officially solicited. Then Devil's Due was dropped by Diamond Distributors and nearly imploded, leaving this series in limbo.

(*Amazon fish is a term originally coined by Jeph York on the Masterworks Message Board. The term is used to describe books which pop up on Amazon through the book market channels before they are officially solicited through the Direct Market. These are often unreliable as contents, page counts, and price points change before the book becomes an official release. The denizens of the MMB have used this term for nearly a decade. It is now common fan vernacular, even used in articles on Bleeding Cool. All because of Jeph York.)

Regardless of your political stance, this is a hilarious spoof of our then-new President of the United States, Barack Obama. His admitted childhood love of Marvel Comics, particularly Spider-Man and Conan, endeared him to nerddom. Here we have Obama recast as a barbarian in a story titled Quest For The Treasure Of Stimuli!, where Barack journeys to Warshingtun . Filled with groan-inducing yet highly amusing puns, this silly and painfully dated read is worth a chuckle.

This was not a proper FCBD comic, rather it was one of those excess store stock, please help us get rid of it comics. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would still buy a trade paperback of it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5. 

Tabula Rasa (Image, cover date September, 2006)

Writer: Shannon Eric Denton

Artist: Matt Jacobs

This was also not a proper FCBD comic, rather it was another one of those excess store stock, please help us get rid of it comics. I enjoyed this well enough.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Arrow #1 Special Edition (DC, cover date December, 2012)

Writers: Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti, and Geoff Johns. Back-up story by Judd Winick

Artists: Omar Francia; Back-up story by Freddie Williams and Rob Hunter

Colorists: Rex Lokus; Back-up story by Richard & Tonya Horie

Did it really take 4 writers to do 11 pages of story? Good god, talk about waste. This is an underwhelming preview for the new CW television series and is a waste of time. The only redeeming quality is the Mike Grell cover art.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 1.25 out of 5. 

My Favorite Martian FCBD (Hermes Press, cover date 2012)

Writer: Unknown

Artist: Dan Spiegle

I love old stuff, but some stuff is just lost on me. Nothing about this reprint of Gold Key's My Favorite Martian No. 2 from 1964 works for me. It's a horribly dated read from a horribly dated concept. Hermes Press has issued this in a deluxe Archives hardcover for those who have nostalgia for this series. Given the lackluster quality of the story and the mediocre restoration techniques used when prepping the material for digital, I think I'll pass. Your mileage may vary.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 1.75 out of 5. 

 

And that's it for my FCBD marathon for 2013! I had a lot of fun going to all of these shops with my kids. My son and I have gone a for a few years in a row but this was the first year that my daughter went along too. She was quite the trooper and hung in there the whole day. I look forward to repeating this again in 2014.

 

Review- AVENGERS: WEST COAST AVENGERS- LOST IN SPACE-TIME

AVENGERS: WEST COAST AVENGERS- LOST IN SPACE-TIME (Marvel, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) Nos. 17-24, Fantastic Four No. 19, and Doctor Strange No. 53 (cover dates October, 1963; June, 1982; February- September, 1987)

Writers: Steve Englehart, Stan Lee (Fantastic Four No. 19), and Roger Stern (Doctor Strange No. 53).

Artists: Pencilers- Al Milgrom, Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four No. 19), and Marshall Rogers (Doctor Strange No. 53); Inkers- Joe Sinnott (Nos. 17-21), Dick Ayers (Fantastic Four No. 19), Terry Austin (Dr. Strange No. 53), and others (Nos. 22-24).

Steve Englehart was on a roll with this title. What were once merely entertaining, serviceable superhero stories have blossomed into a full bore centuries spanning epic lasting 8 issues. There is no way that this could be done today, as endless company wide crossovers would interrupt the flow of this title. Most titles lose steam along the way, but Englehart was like a locomotive here. Slow to start, but once things got cooking he was impossible to stop.

I always smile when people refer to Brian Michael Bendis as the greatest Avengers writer of all time. Roger Stern, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart...these are the cats who wrote the classics. Englehart's character development is worlds beyond anything that Bendis did, and he did it with greater efficiency. Hank Pym's growing despondency and thoughts of suicide, the growing arrogance of Wonder Man's new-found confidence, the increasing friction between he and Iron Man, Hawkeye's progression from unlikable upstart to guiding light for the team when the chips are down...these are all real, organic character developments, done within the confines of the story, and done without the sacrifice of action or fun. No snarky dialogue, no condescending attitude toward superheroes...in short, just great comic book writing. 

The gist- The West Coast Avengers head to Albuquerque to find Firebird and offer her membership on the team. Once there, they run into a dead end...and four supervillains named Sunstroke (who looks exactly like Stingray with different colors), Gila, Butte, and Cactus. Yes, Cactus. As in a walking, talking humanoid Cactus. The villains flee but Iron Man manages to track them down to their cave hideout, where they find their leader, Dominus. Dominus is from the same alien race as Lucifer (Silver Age villain), and he traps the team in Doctor Doom's malfunctioning time machine. It sends them backwards in time but cannot return to the present. All of this occurs in one issue. Bendis would have milked that for an entire trade paperback and then launched it into a company wide crossover spanning 50 issues.

Englehart certainly knows his Marvel continuity. In the Lost In Space-Time mega-arc he refers to his classic '70s run and includes characters steeped in Marvel lore like the Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, the Ghost/Night/Phantom Rider, and Rama-Tut. The team ends up jumping backward in time a few times trying to repair their broken time machine. They go all the way back to ancient Egypt to enlist the help of Rama-Tut, who traveled thousands of years back in time himself. This is another nod to Englehart's '70s run, as Rama-Tut/Kang/Immortus all figured into the classic Celestial Madonna arc.

The ranks of the team swell with the addition of La Espirita (formerly Firebird), Doctor Pym, and Moon Knight. Doctor Pym is a horrible character name and idea, and he dresses like the Phantom Stranger. God awful. Englehart created the shrinking things other than himself aspect to Pym's power, something which is utilized to this day. There is an interesting development with Moon Knight's weapons, with Englehart inserting a continuity porn aspect to them which diehards will love. 

Note Doctor Pym's costume in panel 2. Looks just like the Phantom Stranger.

I love how the story keeps splitting into an extra part with each issue, culminating with 8 parts in the final issue. The splash page for part two has two panels, and it increases by one panel for each subsequent issue. The story continually adds layers and grows more complex but Englehart didn't miss a beat. The guy was juggling plotlines like plates and didn't break a single one. I'm even betting he didn't need a “creative retreat” to pull this off.

The Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange issues are included as a sort of bonus because both of these issues intersect with the events of the West Coast Avengers Rama-Tut/ ancient Egypt time travel adventure. Very cool and very fun. The Roger Stern-penned Doctor Strange issue is a treat, with artwork by the team of Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. Of course the Stan Lee/ Jack Kirby Fantastic Four are great. It was fun to re-read that one again.

This was a great read, the best run of this title thus far. I am looking forward to the next hardcover, which I already have in queue.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The late, lamented Marvel Premiere Classic line was sort of a junior Masterworks line. Classic material presented in hardcover with nice paper and sewn binding at a much lower MSRP. 
Extras: None. 

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. The restoration is excellent throughout the book.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Heavyweight thick coated stock paper with a slight sheen.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Sewn binding. The book lays completely flat because the casing is not glued square to the spine, allowing for a good deal of flex.

Buy AVENGERS: WEST COAST AVENGERS- LOST IN SPACE-TIME HC at InStockTrades!

Review- THE HIGH WAYS

THE HIGH WAYS (IDW, 2013; Softcover)

Collects The High Ways Nos. 1-4 (cover dates December, 2012- April, 2013)

Writer and Artist: John Byrne

Colorist: Leonard O'Grady

John Byrne has been doing his finest work since the '80s with his creator owned titles over at IDW. He has done multiple Star Trek mini-series (all of which are collected in a beautiful hardcover which I own and will someday read), revived Next Men, launched Cold War, Trio, and now The High Ways. Byrne is no stranger to outer space or science fiction, and this title combines that with the topsy-turvy nature of the Next Men.

This shifts gears so many times that you have to go back and flip through what you had already read to make sure it lines up. You almost need a scorecard to tell who is playing who, and why. I think that it all evens out in the end...or does it?

Byrne's artwork has been great again these past few years, and I look forward to seeing what he does next: Doomsday.1.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The covers are inserted in their proper chapter marker spots before each issue, something that IDW has not always done in the past. I am thankful that they have chosen to do it here and hope that it will become standard operating procedure.

Extras: By popular demand, I am adding a list of the extras included in all collected editions from here on out. People who buy the single issues are always curious if these books are worth upgrading to, so I will answer that question for them. I am all about people being able to make informed choices in their collected edition purchases and see this as a natural extension of The OCD zone. Unlike the other categories, I will not be rating the extras, as they are just that: extras.

The extras in this trade paperback are the incentive covers for issues 2 through 4. They are black and white versions of the regular covers.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Extremely thick glossy stock. Sweet smelling Korean ink.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. IDW has upped their game, using a high quality lamination for their cardstock covers.

Buy THE HIGH WAYS TP at InStockTrades!

Reviews- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fourth

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fourth

Note: Free Comic Book Day will be referred to as FCBD from here on out in these reviews.

The Walking Dead: FCBD 2013 Special (Image, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Charlie Adlard

Colorist: Cliff Rathburn...if you consider gray tones to be a color, that is.

Ah yes, The Walking Dead...the savior of and modern day benchmark for Horror comics. I really wish that I had heard of this title before everyone and their brother hyped it up as the second coming, because by the time I was given the first deluxe hardcover as a X-Mas gift a few years ago I already had a chip on my shoulder toward this title. Instead of Hey, let me check this out, it was more like Fine, I'll read the goddamn thing to see why everyone won't shut up about it. I honestly don't see what all the hoopla is about it.

This FCBD issue is pretty good, more of a character story than a full on zombie story. I gave the first 11 issues of this title a chance but it wasn't my cup of tea. I am happy that everyone loves it, and I'm happy for all of the recognition that it has brought back to comic books. We have boatloads of Horror comic books to choose from these days, more than at any point in the past 40 years, so thank you for that, Robert Kirkman. I just don't see what makes this title mean so much to so many people. I realize that the problem must lay with me since everyone and their brother loves this book. Hey, at least folks are reading comic books again.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Valiant Comics FCBD 2013 Special No. 1 (Valiant, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Various

Artist: Various

Colorist: Various

This is a sampler of various Valiant titles as well as a sneak preview of their Harbinger Wars crossover. X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, and Quantum & Woody are all interesting concepts and are decent reads. My plate is too full and my wallet is stretched too thin to check all of this stuff out, though. It's all well done and highly readable.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H. a/k/a FCBD 2013 Avengers/ Hulk No. 1(Marvel, cover date May, 2013)

Writers: Joe Caramagna, Paul Dini, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and others.

Artist: Clips from the forthcoming animated series formatted as comic book panels

Well this is interesting. Marvel/Disney use stills from the forthcoming animated series Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H. and Avengers Assemble cartoons and issues them as a FCBD sampler. It would be nice if they used the visibility of the animated series to remind folks that comic books still exist. The general population is unaware that these things are still published month in and month out.

This is all ages reading, but the Hulk series doesn't even come close to resembling the comic book version. The Avengers is closer to the movie versions of those characters. I honestly didn't care for this comic but my six year old son loved it. Given the target audience for cartoons I'd say that this is a success. I'm happy that he is interested in superheroes. Now if only they could figure out how to make the comics appeal to adults and children again...

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 

DC Nation FCBD 2013 Super Sampler (DC, cover date July, 2013)

Writers: Mitch Watson, Scott Beatty, and J. Norres

Artists: Luciano Vecchio and Todd Nauck and Lary Stuker

Colorist: Heroic Age

...and in answer to Marvel's all-ages animated series FCBD sampler, we have DC's Cartoon Network shows, the new Teen Titans Go! and the forthcoming Beware The Batman. Unlike the Marvel animated comic, this one collects two stories from DC's all ages comics. The Batman story was originally presented in DC Nation Super Spectacular No. 2 and the Teen Titans Go! story is from Teen Titans Go! No. 12.

My son loves these cartoons, and I watch some of them with him. I'm more inclined to pay attention to Batman than I will Teen Titans, which is offensive to me due to the horrid art style. Again, I understand that these are directed toward children, and since my son loves it, mission accomplished.

I have read these stories to him a few times and enjoyed the Batman one a lot. I found Anarky's costume to be a complete and total ripoff of Moon Knight, which is ironic because Moon Knight is a complete and total ripoff of Batman. Doug Moench created Moon Knight and would go on to write Batman during the 1980s.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 

Banshee Origins (IDW, cover date December, 2012)

Writer: Jonathan Tropper

Artist: Mike henderson

Colorist: Jeremy Colwell

Many stores put out all of their freebies and preview books on FCBD. I snagged this since I went to seven stores that day and I was running out of things to grab. I guess that this is a prequel to the Cinemax series.

I've got level with you: I absolutely hate it when creators use comic books as a funnel system or test market for their “IP”, and as a comic fan I find it insulting to be treated as a test market or “brand buzz builder” for Hollywood. Make a comic book or make a movie. If it is good then expand into either/or. I dislike calculated marketing like this. Worse still, I remember nothing about this title. I know that I read it on the plane on my flight home from our vacation, but when I flipped through it just now to refresh my memory I have a big fat blank. Nothing stuck in my mind and everything about this leaves me cold. That's worse than sucking, because at least that is an emotional response to a piece of work. This is just nothing.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 0 out of 5.