June 2, 2021: My Pro Reviews for NCBD

Wednesday brings another happy crop of reviews to ComicsTheGathering, three of which were scribed by yours truly!

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Immortal Hulk #47 – 9/10

Immortal Hulk has been a consistent highlight on the top of the Marvel stack for its whole run, and this issue is no exception. A conscious callback to the Hulk’s previous Avengers fight in IH #7, this issue shows off how the characters and creators have evolved. Plus, it pulls Jen “She-Hulk” Walters to the center of the stage and forces her to choose whether or not to roll with Team Hulk. This series is bending toward a conclusion, and all signs point to it going out with a hell of a bang.

Click the cover for my full review.

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Amazing Spider-Man #67 – 7/10

Teresa Parker takes the lead as the first of many supporting characters firing up Chamelon-centric plotlines here. I welcome the focus on Peter’s sister and I like this issue’s passionate art, but it’s of a piece with the whole Nick Spencer run: slow, complicated, and shy about really putting Pete into the action.

Click the cover for my full review.

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Heroes Reborn: American Knights #1 – 6/10

Luke Cage is the police commissioner, Nighthawk is extra Batman-y, and yes, you better believe this gritty street story is a loving homage to Gotham and the Dark Knight. The art’s exciting and the police procedural plot moves along briskly. But author Paul Grist shuns the opportunities this set-up gives him to dive deep into the morality of the Heroes Reborn AU — or to say something meaningful about policing in 21st-century America.

Click the cover for my full review.

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Interested in my other reviews? We don’t index so good at CTG. But you can find a great sortable index of my reviews over at Comicbookroundup.

May 26, 2021: My Pro Reviews for NCBD

Wednesday is New Comic Book Day, which means it’s time for me to post reviews at ComicsTheGathering. I’m covering the teen beat this week, reviewing a pair of youthful #1s.

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Reptil #1 – 8/10

Former Avengers Academy all-star and dinosaur dude Humberto “Reptil” Lopez gets a well-deserved solo series. This new-reader-friendly intro gives Beto plenty of problems to grapple with, even before the inevitable supervillain attack. Solid art and realistic dialogue shepherd you safely through a slightly slow start and get you really engaged in what comes next.

Click the cover for my full review.

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Heroes Reborn: Young Squadron #1 – 7/10

In the upside-down world of Heroes Reborn, Kamala Khan, Miles Morales, and Sam Alexander never got the chance to become Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, and Nova. Instead, meet Girl Power, Falcon, and Kid Spectrum! Writer Zeb Wells provides pure Silver Age cheese (in a good way) while transmogrifying these kids into would-be Squadron Supreme sidekicks. Their inevitable realization that the Squadron is eeeeevil crashes down dramatically, but it’s an artificial development. This is a decent one-shot — complete and satisfying, but not fit for continuation.

Click the cover for my full review.

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Interested in my other reviews? CTG isn’t so hot at indexing. But Comicbook Roundup offers a nice sortable index of my pro reviews.

A Morsel of Content — I Aten’t Dead

My social media activity is attracting the occasional eyeball here. I plan to resume scheduled writing here next month — Disney is launching that Loki series on my birthday and that seems like a good time to get back to Marvel blogging.

I post funny panels from Marvel Unlimited on a more-or-less daily basis. I put the same images on Twitter and Instagram, so follow your preferred flavor. (My Insta captions tend to be longer — that’s good or bad depending on your point of view.)

So, the morsel of content: I use a picture of smilin’ Clark Gregg as my profile image on most platforms. Why? Because Agent Coulson used my real name as an alias once on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 2 episode 4) If I ever meet Clark Gregg, I’m going to ask him to apologize for identity theft and see if he’ll autograph the relevant screen capture. Signing my name, of course.

Insert obligatory “I will also ask Ming-Na Wen to be my wife” joke here.

2018: Where Y’at, Charles?

It’s a new year! I’m going Big Time! My biggest news is that I’ve become a for-realsies Comic Book Reviewer thanks to the good people at Comics: the Gathering.

No, I ain’t making scratch at the gig. So maybe I ain’t quite Big Time. More like Slightly Less Small Time. Still! Progress! I might well be on the same career path that put Kelly Thompson into the Mighty Marvel Bullpen! (Ask me about my spec script …)

Check out my inaugural CTG reviews here:

Phoenix: The Resurrection of Jean Grey #1

Hawkeye #14
(7/10! Way to repay Kelly Thompson for the career inspiration! Who do I think I am?!)

Guardians of the Galaxy #150

Unlimited Hindsight: January 1st, 2018

Let’s face it: Comics are a many-curse-words expensive hobby. Marvel has been particularly shameless about cash-grabbery in recent years, featuring lots of too-big events (Yeah, we’re just dying to know what Jim ☠☠☠☠ Hammond is up to during Secret Empire!), constant cash-in miniserieses (You like Daredevil? Buy these three poorly-conceived solo titles featuring Daredevil villains!), and way too much double shipping (You like Gerry Duggan’s Guardians of the Galaxy? Do you like it enough to drop $8 a month on it? No? ☠☠☠☠ you, no more Guardians for anybody!).

Week of July 24: New Marvel Unlimited Comics

Get a move on, Bendis!

This blog has been running silent for too long. I was working through – let’s just say “general stuff.” The good news is I’ve been reading plenty of comics, enjoying most of what I read, and taking plenty of notes. So I’ll bring this up to date quick-like. Let’s get to work on this backlog with some great U.S. Avengers, some thoughtful Sam Wilson, and some imaginative Mosaic.

Check out the full roster over at Marvel.com, then follow through the jump for my ratings.

(This weeks’ comics were originally published ca. January 18, 2017.)

Week of July 17: Late Round-Up of New Marvel Unlimited Comics

Oh no, oh no, I’m late! This is my round-up for Marvel Unlimited comics published last week. There was so much stuff to get through that it took me too long, plus life nonsense in the way.

This was the week of the twist ending in our new MU comics. Five of the books below have major final-page surprises, and I think I only spoiled one of them. (Sorry, Wolverine fans!) Take a gander at the full release calendar and then meet me below the excited Loki to talk comics.

If you’re wondering about Avengers 3.1, don’t worry – it got delayed for some reason and was added to MU today. I’ll include it in the next round-up.

(This weeks’ comics were originally published ca. January 11, 2017.)

Week of July 10: New Marvel Unlimited Comics Round-Up

IvX? No thanks.

Politics in comics! Would you rather have the possibly naive optimism of the U.S.Avengers or the crass “everyone is awful” humor of Captain America: Sam Wilson? Since I’ve rated the former as my favorite comic of the week and shoved the latter to the bottom of my satisfactory comics section, you can guess where I stand. I say it’s nobler and more useful to inspire empathy than to heap scorn, particularly when your object of ridicule is a strawman of your own invention. Comics are about punching bad guys first and foremost. Mission number two should be reminding us to be awesome, not encouraging us to be negative. This was a pretty light week for new Marvel Unlimited additions, with just 16 new books plus a lonely (and pretty skippable) Deadpool one-shot from the 90s. Check out the release calendar and then hit the jump for my ratings.

(This weeks’ comics were originally published ca. January 4, 2017.)

Week of July 3: New Marvel Unlimited Comics Round-Up

GLA with the winning summary.

Here I am, reviewing this week’s latest additions to Marvel Unlimited with hours, hours to spare before Monday brings a whole new batch. The biggest news of the week, of course, is that our long comics-reading nightmare is over: Civil War II is safely dead and buried. Lord, it was a stinker. With luck, we shall not see its like again. While CW2 #8 wasn’t the only disappointing comic this week (incredibly, it wasn’t even the worst issue), this was a very strong week for MU overall. My ratings skewed heavily toward four and five stars. Get to know a wounded Jennifer Walters, fall in love with an ingenious Hobie Brown, and look at a disturbingly emotional argument in favor of mutants over Inhumans for IvX. Check out the full release calendar and then click through for my rankings.

(This weeks’ comics were originally published ca. December 28, 2016.)

Week of June 26: New MU Comics Round-Up

This was a busy week for me and for Marvel, apparently. It took me over a week to chew through this big block of contemporary additions to Marvel Unlimited. It’s a very good week for Gwens Poole and Stacy, and further down the quality totem pole Felicia “Black Cat” Hardy is experiencing a little fatigue in her continued role as the Marvel universe’s go-to organized crime villain. Take a gander at the full release schedule, then meet me underneath the sweet Gwenpool picture to talk individual comics.

 

Gwenpool knows the importance of branding when painting grenades.