DC, MARVEL, Dark Horse Comics / Graphic Novels, TV Shows, Movies etc

Athrun888 wrote:

First Class was good, my only minor complaint was the underutilization of Emma Frost, although that only really became an issue when she got killed off between two movies

That would have bothered me more if I weren't so unimpressed with the actress and the portrayal of the character. She didn't have anywhere the sass or the bite I want in an Emma Frost.
I'd hoped to squeeze in The Wolverine and Days of Future Past but life got in the way, so I'll rewatch them at the weekend. They were both sufficiently fresh in the memory that tonight I enjoyed

X-Men: Apocalypse
I worry that this film will be forgotten about because it isn't as bad as Batman Vs Superman nor as good as Captain America: Civil War but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn't without flaws: some bits felt rushed, and this was the third X-Men film in a row where the baddies were going to exterminate mankind. I prefer more low-key, civil rights X-Men stories personally, and hope we can something more subtle from the next instalment. As far as big, dumb superhero films go, though, this was fun, exciting and funny with great character stuff. Magneto continues to be the most interesting thing in any superhero film.

I'll admit I wasn't exactly sold on the casting either, alas with her being dead there's no chance of rectifying it now.  



Ultimatum, volume 22 of Ultimate Spider-Man.  As one would expect most of this volume was hella dark, with New York basically getting genocided with tidal waves thanks to Ultimate Magneto's stunt.  

Most, but not all.  The volume kicks off with Anuual 3, a significantly more light hearted affair focussing on funny relationship troubles with Peter and MJ as well as the introduction of Ultimate Mysterio, who is very blatantly set up for more mischief in the near future.

Back to the six issue arc that was Ultimatum, the story did the wise thing and focussed not on the conflict with Magneto, but rather entirely on Peter and his fellows just struggling to survive and comprehend what was going on.  Peter is naturally out there just trying to save everyone he can get his hands on, until he runs in to Ultimate Hulk (UH-OH!)  Highlights of the book include JJJ's big realization that Spider-man is a hero and Mysterio in general.  

The final issue loses a bit of its emotional impact of course, given we all know Peter doesn't die in Ultimatum.  Not in Ultimatum, no. . .

Ultimatum is one of my favorite stories of all, in fact I like most of the Ultimate Spidey arcs. And once I find them (the biggest downside of moving even if a year ago) I am going to read them all or spend a lot and re buy them as they are yeah worth it

Yeah Ultimate Spider-Man really is the best! It's kind of insane looking back and realizing just how good and consistent the entire series is, the worst of the series is merely "pretty good", which says just how good it is!

Fant4stic

It's not a bad film, as such, but it contains only the bare minimum of elements you need to tell a version of the origin story of the Fantastic Four. It's so slender and action-free, I'm wondering why they bothered. It almost makes you wish for Ioan Gruffudd.

For the record, I quite liked the first FF film with Ioan G - Michael Chiklis was a great Thing.

I actually enjoyed the other FF films- fun little romps.
This one seems like it was rushed out so Fox wouldn't lose the copyright, much like the one from the 90s or whenever it was.

To think a comic book can make me tear up.  



Death of Spider-Man

Lets not mince words here, there's only one thing happening in this book with that name.  

deets:

------------------------

So, that was basically the end of Ultimate Spider-Man, the first one anyway (yes, I'll be checking out the Miles series soon).  So lets air some general thoughts about it!  For me Ultimate Spiderman has always been a favourite, the series started back when I was around the target age, so I've always been a particularly big fan of it.  The reimagining of Spiderman was a great success, Bendis nailed the tone and his quip-y style suited the series perfectly.  

From the start the series felt like a cohesive whole, and the grudge of Peter and Osborn was absolute perfection.  The art was great as well, with Bagley nailing the feel of the series visually for the 19 volumes he did (loved that they got him back for the final arc) and perfectly complimenting its style.  


And with that ends the Ultimate Peter Parker Spider-man.  I highly recommend the series to anyone that likes the webcrawler, or just wants a oft times fun and always entertaining series!

So, the Peter Parker saga is covered in 23 volumes? I'm really tempted to check it out- I love the primary Spider-Man but the idea of a Spidey story with a beginning, middle and an end sounds good and I really like Miles so I'd like to read his story in context.

Dat cash money though...

26 actually!  22 cover the initial run from Power And Responsibility up to Ultimatum, then there's another four that pick up six months after Ultimatum with a title rebrand (Ultimate Comics Spider-man) and end with Death of Spider-man.  

Yeah money with comics books is always a issue, picking up the collection took a long time for me and I'm still missing a couple of volumes (thank heavens for the library system!) You might have to grab some of them pre-owned since the series is harder to come by new now.

Full volume list:

Speaking of the rebrand since I didn't mention the books, the three volumes before Death were a lot of fun, Ultimate Mysterio featured very heavily, and there was a fun take on Chameleon too.  Plus having Iceman and Human Torch join the Spidey cast was a ton of fun.  Honestly they make Death hit even harder.

Well if I just pick up one or two a month I could enjoy it over the course of a year or two, I suppose. Hmmmmmmm....

I've managed to find most of my Ultimate Spidey, though I'm missing some volumes myself like death of a goblin and found that I some how have 2 clone saga volumes

Amazing Spider-Man Big Time Collection 1

So, my first foray in to the "main" Spider-man series in the better part of a decade (last time being the first hardback collection of JMS's run around the time I got in to Ultimate eons ago).  Bit of a mixed bag really, started off strong with the first four issues setting up Spidey's new at the time status quo with a fun arc involving the new Hobgoblin, a team-up with Black Cat, and his new job at Horizon.  The next arc was just as good, with Smythe trying to rain hell down on JJJ with an army of insects and a enhanced Scorpion.  

From there the quality started to dip a bit (okay, a lot), the new Venom was introduced in a very nice one-issue story, meanwhile Spidey himself is dealing with the emotional fallout from the Smyth stuff.  Which is all well and good, but coming off of the superb Ultimate Spiderman, which really nails emotional turmoil when bad stuff happens, it was honestly pretty lame.  

Maybe I've just been spoiled by Ultimate Spider-man as a whole.     When it was focusing on the proper arcs the book was great fun, the rest of the stuff, not so much.  

Big Time 2 has started off great, with Anti-Venom showing up determined to show he's neither insane nor any longer a bad guy! Looking forward to the Spider Island arc, so far Slott's run has been at its best on those sorts of storylines so I'm pretty excited to see what the arc has in store!

Amazing Spider-Man Big Time Collection 2

Last post I said this started off great.  I'll cut the chase and happily say it remained so.  Most of the volume was taken up with the event of the year, Spider Island, which for those not in the know, involved everyone in New York gaining Spiderman powers, an idea that could only ever end up amazing or amazingly stupid.  Thankfully it was the former!

The volume also had a short two-parter involving the Vulture and his new street gang, and rounded out the set with a battle between the Sinister Six and Intellgencia.  

All up a much stronger volume.  Unlike the first which sort of petered (   ) out a fair bit after the halfway mark this one remained a higher standard for its duration.  Spider Island was a fantastic arc, and the rest of the offerings never dipped down.  It also set a few things up, such as Horizon's sixth think tank member and continued the set-up for Doc Ock's big scheme.

Spider Island is smashing! How much of it did you have, just the Amazing Spider-Man issues?
I picked up the two big books, Spider Island and Spider Island Companion so I got all the other books that feed into it as well. It was really well done as a big event.

Spoiler:

Yeah just Amazing, and Deadly Foes 1 (the issue which focuses on Hobgoblin Phil Urich, which was awesome!) Might have to pick up the companion for future reads!

Amazing Spider-Man Big Time Collection 3

Not two days passed between my finishing collection 2 before I devoured collection 3.  The fact it was the smallest collection yet was a small reason for this, with the first collection boasting sixteen issues and the second boasting close to that amount 3 was almost a hundred pages smaller.

Did it matter?  Nope.  This volume had two distinct halves that fed in to one another very nicely.  The first half featured a fun two-parter involving Black Cat being stitched up, with Spidey going to Daredevil for help, the full reveal of who Horizon think tank member 6 is (hint: he has fangs), and a light hearted yet dramatic race as Peters coworker finds a way to see a day ahead in time, only for Peter to find what awaits them is the annihilation of New York city because Spiderman did or didn't do something.  

The second half, the bulk of this volume, was filled with the big event Slott had been building up to since the Brand New Day era: Doc Ock's final big masterplan.  It starts with a two-parter rescue mission to save JJJ's son after the Horizon space shuttle goes offline only to find his arch-nemesis behind it.  It ends with Spiderman against the world and the Sinister Five (lolElectro) as Otto goes full Bond Villain and cons it in to thinking his potential doomsday device is to stave off global warming in the epic seven part saga Ends of the Earth.  


A lot of things I liked about the real old days of Spiderman, the planning countermeasures for enemies, has been taken to bigger heights in Big Time, and I have to say I like it a lot.  Spidey creating a suit specifically to counter the Sinister Six seems so obvious, half of the battle in EotE were Spidey and Otto essentially trying to outwit one another in a contest of who could think more steps ahead of the other.  

The story gets points for retaining the humorous hopeful edge that makes Spiderman spiderman, even when in the face of a impending apocalypse.  

What I didn't like, short list though it is, are the slightly rushed ending and at times the stakes feeling a bit too high for Spidey alone.  The ending felt rushed, after all that build-up the final confrontation felt like it could have lasted another issue with a longer epilogue.  Minor complaints though they are I will air them.


Overall a good volume.  Not as good as Spider Island, but still damn good.

Wait... has Doc Ock done "the thing" yet?

If by thing you mean become a Spiderman somehow, not yet.  Right now he's locked up in Shield hq ready to kick the bucket at any time and the Sinister six have all either been captured (Chameleon, Sandman) seemingly killed off (lolElectro and Rhino) or escaped (Mysterio).  Still got a few arcs before Superior starts.


Also if anyone wonders why I keep dumping on Electro, it's because

Ends of the Earth arc spoilers:

The "thing" has occured

But I'll get to that in a bit, first off: Amazing Spider-man Big Time Collection 4

The "conclusion" to the big time era, in this volume we had the Lizard!  A new young irresponsible superhero called Alpha!  A fight with two Hobgoblins!

The volume kicked off with a four issue arc about Morbius who has found a cure for the Lizard in the hopes it could then be used on himself.  Unfortunately things go haywire, as Connors, as a persona, has long since left the building with the Lizard persona as the only tennant.  So Lizard is "cured", and naturally has a bit of resentment for being turned in to a human ape.  Meanwhile Peter is still grieving over the events of Ends of the Earth, as he thinks

Spoiler:

The arc was light on humour as Peter was struggling with the emotional fallout.  I liked the arc, it helped ground Ends of the Earth and give it some proportionate meaning, with some nice creepy Lizard antics on the side.  

Then we had Alpha, a three part story where a irresponsible teen ends up with god like super powers after a science experiement of Peter's.  Peter is promptly given responsibility for the boy, which doesn't go all that well as he can't stand him.  In contrast with the Lizard stuff this was a lot lighter, while there was some good emotional reflection with Peter feeling the responsibility of everything the story itself was relatively light in tone and mostly played up Alpha's antics for humour.  

Finally we had the three part story Danger Zone, with all of Kingpin's scheming about screwing Spidey's spider sense with the Insect Sense disrupting equipment last seen in Spider Island finally coming to ahead.  Naturally this came at the absolute worst possible time for both Peter and Madame Web, the latter of whom got taken out when Kingpin f***ed the web of fate and the former of which had to ignore his spider sense to disastrous consequences.  Oh, and the original Hobgoblin takes Phil Urich to task for pinching the brand, which was awesome!  The story was a good bit of fun, with some extremely ominous tinges around it.  For good reason.

Spoiler:

Dying Wish

It's time.  Time for a new status quo, and an end of an era.  The new era shall be bigger.  Better.  Superior.

Amazing Spoiler-Man:

I don't get why this wasn't included in Big Time 4 to be perfectly honest, it was foreshadowed heavily in the first and last of the three stories of the volume and would have made a perfect accompaniment to them.  Speaking of things that did come in Big Time 4, as an extra they included the five issue Alpha storyline, but as I wanted to see what happened in the final three issues of Amazing Spider-man that's on hold for now.

Ooooh, exciting! Superior is a good run.

Going by the first volume I'll say amen to that!  

The read-through catch-up continues with:

Superior Spider-Man Volume 1: My Own Worst Enemy

Otto's initiation as Spider-man includes the new Sinister Six featuring world shattering villains like Shocker!  Return of the Vulture!  And the return of Massacre!  

Before I begin can I just take a moment to say how much I LOVE Superior's costume!

Spoiler:

Also, because spoilering everything would be a pain, From this point on I will not be spoiler-hiding spoilers for Dying Wish, aka Amazing Spider-Man issues 698-700.  Just in case there's anybody reading my posts who hasn't been following the modern Spider-am comics.  


The opening issue is a great introduction to Otto's new life, the sense of humour is spot on perfection, and the action is fantastic.  The new Sinister Six being made up of C list (hell, even that might be being too high a rating!) villains was great (they even got their own book too, which I'll definitely be checking out down the road!)  Otto's balancing of his duties as Spider-man with his civilian life was brilliant, and dare I say it, kinda refreshing!  Slott's got Otto's voice down pat, making him likeable and great fun to follow despite his obvious personality flaws.

Then, just as I think Otto's going to go too far. . .

!!!:

Cue Issue 2!

So, Peter's back, kinda!  And just in time to see Otto try to put the moves on MJ!  This leads to some great moments, like this!

Spoiler:

Slott's absolutely nailed the feel this series needed!  Love how Otto starts going all Mad Scientist as well, with his creation of the Spiderbots to replace his need to patrol!  The issue hints at Vulture returning, the focus remains on the MJ - Otto/Peter though.

Next issue continues the Vulture storyline, but not before we have a hilarious spoof on the Bat Signal, introducing (and promptly seeing the end of) the SPIDER SIGNAL!

Spoiler:

We finally see a bit of drama this issue, with Vultures new minions turning out to be children which pushed Otto's buttons in the wrong places.  As shocking for Carlie as seeing Spiderman do what he did to Vulture given what he was doing I honestly can't hold it against him.  

Moving on to issue four, part one of the return of Massacre.  Good balance of humour and horrific events this issue, Otto's rage-out over learning Peter never got any proper degrees was absolutely hilarious ("Accessing memories" in front of Horizon staff had me rolling on the floor), as was his reaction to immediately rectify the matter, which leads him to meeting Anna Maria who I'm certain we've not seen the last of.  Peter is being a bit of a buzzkill, but ya can't really blame him for being a bit judgy over Otto's means of handling his own life.  

Meanwhile Massacre escapes, setting the stage for the next issue.  But not before this BOMBSHELL of a cliffhanger!

Superior Spoilerman!:

In the final issue of the book Massacre is on the loose, and the hunt begins!  Massacre decides to approach a softdrink company and offer to tank the opposing company by massacring people wearing paraphernalia of them for a large sum of money.  Otto devises a means for tracking him down that only he would, facial recognition combined with his Spiderbots!  And then, with that done, he. . . Waits!  Peter is unimpressed, however this is where Otto again shows a change in methodology that might just be superior, since his hanging back allows him to out-think Massacre, resulting in his saving the hostages Massacre planned to blow up should Spiderman show up.  

The volume ends with Otto choosing to shoot Massacre dead, and exacting his own brand of justice on the person who hired him.  Just remember, Big Spidey is always watching!


An absolutely brilliant opening to the new chapter of Spider-man, and I am eagerly awaiting my copy of the next part to arrive!

Superior Spider-Man continued in the second hardcover collecting Superior Spider-Man Volumes 2 and 3.  This series just keeps getting better and better, Otto finally goes full anti-hero as he frees himself from the shackles of Peter Parker, quiet literally.  The feels return in force during the battle in his mind between the remnant of Peter Parker and the dominant Otto.  Won't deny even though I know Peter returns someday somehow that that hit me in the feels.  

Moving on to the second arc with the return of Smyth and his plan to escape execution which went about as well as you'd expect with Otto's in charge of stopping it.  I had been wondering just why Otto had been putting up with JJJ given his general scorn for everyone else in Spider-mans life, turns out he was simply playing the long game until he could blackmail him!  The result?

This of course!:

Loved the final story of the book, Hobgoblin Phil Urich is back and quickly thrown in to a pressure cooker as Spidey takes down Kingpin in one fell swoop of an assault on his lair, leaving Hobgoblin without an income and the closing fangs of a Spiderman that kills and the original Hobgoblin who expects a paycheck for the brand he stole. I was rolling on the ground with how Spidey deals with him when he tried to go back underground. Glad it wasn't the end of Phil though, I rather like his villainy.

The pieces of a possible downfall however are starting to emerge! Otto's complete arrogance in his own abilities are letting a certain arch-nemesis of Spidey's to gain more and more power unchecked, and it's starting to very much look like by the time Otto realizes what the Green Goblin is up to it will be far too late. The one big difference between Otto and Peter, the former who cannot believe anything he creates can be bested and the latter who is constantly doubting himself and seeing if he can improve on himself, if this does end up ultimately being the end of Superior it'll be a very fitting one.


And with that I now sit back and eagerly await my copy of the final hardcover containing the rest of the Superior storyline, which I am very eagerly awaiting! Superior has been a absolute blast, a incredibly fun ride so far, and some of the most fun I've had with any Spiderman material, easily up there with the best of Ultimate Spiderman.

I am withholding comment until you finish Superior...

Starting the third hardcover and reading the issues that comprised Superior Spider-Man volume 4 Necessary Evil.  This one kicked off with a crossover between Otto and his 2099 Spiderman counterpart as events in the present begin to wipe him and his evil coorperation leader of a father out of existence!  And all because their ancestor in the present couldn't let bygones be bygones just had to try and revenge on a certain sort-of reformed evil mastermind.  

I'll admit I've never read any Spiderman 2099 before, but after this three issue story that is definitely going to have to change!  The guy was a blast to have around.  And around he looks set to stay, after a double-cross so obvious even the characters themselves said so took place and he got stranded in the present, probably for the better though given Otto's still Spider-man.  

The next issue focused on "Peter's" continued attempts to better his life by gaining a doctorate only to ironically seemingly be foiled because Otto is accused of ripping himself off.  Oh, and a hilarious run-in with Black Cat that would have normally dominated the issue that was promptly ended in two pages as Otto takes her out like every other thief in the city.  Another of Peter's bridges burned!  

Finally Stunner shows up to continue the irony started in the previous issue, and we round out with

Spoiler:

UH.  OH.

Oh man, I'm big into Spider-Man 2099! I read his entire run originally; the 2099 stuff was right at the height of my uncle collecting and me reading, so I was a huge fan. I preferred Spidey to any of the others. Some of them were regular Marvel characters transported to the year 2099, and some were either too similar or too removed from the original character, but Miguel was just right.

I prefer him in his own time, though. Seeing him in modern times, he just feels like yet another Spider-Man running around.