Archive for Vision

Miles Ahead

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Spider-Man #1

Well, I never read the previous Miles Morales comics, because I generally avoided the Ultimate universe once it got so pointlessly screwed-up. So a lot of this is backstory I’ve never been aware of, and some of it is stuff that I’ve learned by reading what other people have to say about it.

So let’s start from the top. Miles Morales is the Spider-Man from the Ultimate universe, and he now lives in the main Marvel Universe. He’s not alone — his family is here, too, including his mother, who actually died several years ago. Some of his friends are here, too, including his best pal Ganke. But all is not rosy in Miles’ new world — he’s not doing well in school, and he has to cut class to go fight supervillains.

And the latest supervillain is a doozy. By the time Miles shows up on the scene, he’s already beat the stuffing out of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Vision, and Scarlet Witch. His name is Blackheart, and he’s a huge and absolutely terrifying demon — and he’s way out of Miles’ league. So why does he beat it so quickly? And why does that make Peter Parker so angry?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of cool character work on Miles and his supporting cast, and the action is good, too. My lone quibble — this is the first Marvel comic I’ve seen in ages that didn’t come with an intro page summary — and this one really needed it for people who weren’t more familiar with Miles.

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Captain Marvel #2

Carol and the members of Alpha Flight explore the derelict spacecraft that crashed into the space station last issue. It’s dark and spooky and unpleasant, and there’s goo everywhere, and some dead aliens, and way too many automated defense systems. Even when they get back to the space station, the trouble isn’t over. The enemy attacking them is probably aboard the ship — and Captain Marvel sustained more serious injuries from the ship’s defense systems than she thought…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fantastic horror-movie atmosphere on board the spacecraft, and it’s great to see Alpha Flight doing more than standing around looking purty.

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Klaus #3

Lord Magnus’s men sic a bunch of dogs on Klaus, but his wolf Lilli scares them off. By the time the guardsmen make it to the square, they find Klaus’ footprints and Lilli’s pawprints — and they start worrying they’ve got a werewolf on their hands. The captain orders his men to watch every door, so Klaus will have to find another way to get toys to the poor children in Grimsvig. Meanwhile, children are sending their wishes up chimneys, Magnus’s wife is keeping secrets, and there’s something horrible hiding inside the mines.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good story, fun art — but with another four issues to go, we won’t finish this Santa Claus origin story ’til summer. That’s just poor planning, y’all.

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The Vision #4

With Viv recovered and back home, it seems that happy days are back for the Visions — but Virginia still has her mysterious blackmailer holding the secret of the Grim Reaper’s murder over her head. Most of the kids at school don’t like Vin or Viv — except for Viv’s lab partner, Chris Kinzky, who Vin beat up after she was injured. But Chris likes Viv a lot — which is going to make it really uncomfortable when it turns out that his dad is the blackmailer…

Verdict: Thumbs up. As creepy as always — and now starting to read as much like a Greek tragedy as anything. There’s no way anyone is getting a happy ending out of this, not a chance in hell.

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A-Force to Contend With

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A-Force #1

You’ll get more out of this issue if you followed the A-Force comic during the recent Secret Wars crossover — which I mostly didn’t. But Singularity, a humanoid quantum singularity, appears in the Marvel Universe and starts encountering characters she knew from the first miniseries, only to learn that they no longer remember who she is. Soon, she’s pursued by a humanoid wad of antimatter. Captain Marvel fights the antimatter being but is apparently knocked out. Singularity also enlists She-Hulk’s aid — but Queen Medusa may not be so eager to assist.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It seems fine, though nothing particularly amazing so far. We don’t get to meet Nico Minoru or Dazzler yet, even though they’re on the cover.

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Spider-Gwen #4

Gwen knows that Harry Osborne, in his new identity as the Green Goblin, is coming after her, determined to kill Spider-Woman for the death of Peter Parker, but not realizing that she’s actually his old friend Gwen Stacy. She battles Harry mostly to a standstill — but knows she’s making the same mistakes she made with Peter — fighting to humiliate her opponent and not to defuse a conflict she doesn’t actually want. Can she get the fight back under her control before she — or another friend — is dead?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a great knock-down-drag-out battle — and it brings up an interesting point about Gwen’s (and Spider-Man’s) tendency to wisecrack in comics — it’s fun for us to read, but it just makes his opponents that much angrier…

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The Vision #3

Well, the Vision family continue to do weirdly creepy things. Virginia scares off some vandalizing kids by beating them up through her own garage door. Vision channels a vast amount of electrical power to heal his daughter Viv. And Virginia seduces her husband, leading us to consider what the heck sex is like for a couple of robots. And enfolded around all this, we get Agatha Harkness, alive, dead, or both, feeding a pet cat a mystical flower, stabbing it in the neck, and then fighting it off when it turns into a large black panther. And then she cuts it open and eats its stomach so she can foresee the future of the Visions…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Super-creepy. Yeah, the Visions were fairly weird, but it ain’t nothing like watching an old woman eat a panther’s innards raw and then babbling predictions of the future…

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You’ve Got Mail

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The Vision #2

Last issue, the Grim Reaper attacked the Vision’s robotic family, severely injuring Viv before Virginia beat the villain to death. She’s decided to keep the Reaper’s death a secret from her husband. She tells the Vision a story about driving him away. Meanwhile, Viv is on mechanical life support, and her twin brother Vin is not adapting well to the near-death of his sister. He attacks a rude classmate and almost kills him — and when the Vision is called to the school to talk to the principal, he uses his status as a superhero to cow the principal into not punishing his son. But things are not all okay for the Vision family. Someone knows what Virginia did, and they’re going to make her pay.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This comic is so very creepy. It’s so creepy and inhuman, I want to take every issue, lock it in a metal box, lock that box in another metal box, bury it in the backyard, and set the backyard on fire. And then, because I really, really love creepy comics, I want to then dig up the backyard, take the comic out of the box… and lick it.

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Howard the Duck #2

In our last issue, Howard was rescued by a couple of gender-switched clones of himself and Rocket Raccoon. In this issue, we get their backstory. After Howard and Rocket escaped from the Collector during the first series, the girls — Linda and Shocket — were cloned from their DNA, and one of the Collector’s minions, Dee, was assigned to be their foster parent. When it’s decided that the girls are going to be frozen — or maybe even killed — Dee flees with them, and they rent a time machine to send them 25 years into the past so the Collector’s henchmen won’t pursue them. But Dee is eventually killed, leaving the girls on their own — and the Collector back on their trail.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It looks like Linda and Shocket are about to be very important characters — hence the origin story. It’ll be interesting to see what Zdarsky and Fish have planned…

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All-New All-Different Avengers #2

A Chitauri calling himself Warbringer has just effortlessly kicked Iron Man’s, Captain America’s, and Spider-Man’s butts, but the Vision shows up to assist. Meanwhile, Nova flies into town to confront Warbringer, only to find that Ms. Marvel is already on the scene. Nova and Ms. Marvel don’t really get along. Warbringer gets away from them, too, but they team up with Spidey, Iron Man, Cap, and Vision to confront Warbringer one more time. It looks like it’s all over for the alien after Thor makes an appearance — but Warbringer has an unseen ally on his side…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Got the whole team together in just two issues — that’s a record for new team comics these days! Good story, good art, excellent team conflicts getting set up — all around, a lot of fun.

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Revival #35

Jesse Black Deer, the terribly burned reviver, has been ordered to kill Em Cypress — and in fact, he attacks her and tears out her heart. But that can’t kill a reviver, and her heart grows back. But by then, he’s got her trussed up and is about to cut her head off — he’s going to bury her head and body separately to keep her alive but helpless. But Em’s sister Dana lures Jesse’s soul to him, and Jesse burns down to ash. But one of the guards is in on the scheme, and he’s going to behead Em — at least until Dana shoots his jaw off. But now the sisters are forced to go on the run to flee the authorities.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Looks like the end of a storyarc, and it’s a pretty good one, too. Definitely upsets the old status quo — and it’ll be fun to see where the story goes from here.

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Lightning Round

Well, thanks to getting a ton of comics last week and being just plain bored with blogging lately, I’ve gotten way, way behind on my reviews. So let’s see how fast I can do a bunch of reviews…

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Starfire #6

An alien bounty hunter pursues Starfire and isn’t shy about killing humans. Can Kory stop him, or is her head going on a pike?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good humor and action, very pretty art, and that cover is a solid winner.

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Spider-Gwen #2

While tracking down the Lizards, Spider-Woman meets up with a much different Captain America than we know. Can Gwen handle the Lizards and Cap — while handcuffed?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fun story. Loved the new version of Cap — complete with a full backstory! Now I want to read more about her adventures, too…

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All-New Hawkeye #1

Another new number-one issue! MARRRRVEL! (shakes fist at sky) Most of our story is set in the future. Clint Barton is a washed-up old coot, and Kate Bishop is rich and bitter and pretty damn good at her job. They’re trying to make up for the mistakes of the past — and that means they’ll run afoul of the Mandarin.

Verdict: Ehh, good enough for a thumbs up. Artwork and personality conflict are what sell this story the best.

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All-New Wolverine #1

Laura Kinney, better known as X-23 and Logan’s gender-switched clone, has taken over the mantle of Wolverine. She’s trying to stop a sniper atop the Eiffel Tower — but she doesn’t have an adamantium skeleton to bounce bullets…

Verdict: Thumbs up. I wasn’t expecting to like this one so much. The art is cool, the action is excellent, and the dialogue and characterization are fun. I reckon I’ll be picking up a few more issues of this one.

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All-New All-Different Avengers #1

Man, they’re gonna run out of Avengers titles before long. The members of this team include Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spider-Man. Ahem, that’s the Sam Wilson Captain America, the Jane Foster Thor, and the Miles Morales Spider-Man. Not all the characters have even met yet, but the stories around them are plenty fun.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to seeing Mark Waid writing these characters. This is probably one of the new Marvel titles I’ve been looking forward to the most.

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Illuminati #1

Titania has been released from jail and plans to give up the criminal life. She’s doing her best, but it’s hard for ex-supervillains to get jobs anywhere. She-Hulk is willing to help her, but they’ve been rivals too long, and Skeeter rejects her aid. She manages to get a crap job as security at a pawn shop, but a robbery attempt ends with Luke Cage and Iron Fist assuming she’s the villain. And then she gets “rescued” by the Hood, who’s putting together a new gang of under-the-radar super-crooks.

Verdict: Ehh, it’s not bad, but I’m not sure I’ll be picking it up. We barely meet any of the characters aside from Titania and the Hood, and though Titania is a fun character, I don’t think there’s enough here to make me feel like I need to keep reading.

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The Vision #1

In an attempt to be more human, the Vision has created his own family — his wife, Virginia, and their twins Viv and Vin. The entire family is deeply weird, terribly ominous, and they’re all utterly, utterly unhuman.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wow, this one was amazing — an astonishingly creepy comic about robots pretending to be normal human suburbanites while actually being skin-crawlingly weird. It is so, so good.

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The Ultimates #1

Yet another branch of quasi-Avengers, this team consists of the Blue Marvel, the Black Panther, Captain Marvel, America Chavez, and Monica Rambeau. They’ve got an extremely ambitious and wide-ranging plan to neutralize Galactus — and it’s not what anyone expects.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Another comic where I love all the characters — and at this point, I’m willing to read almost anything Al Ewing writes. And lookit, a comic book without any white male characters — and with that many serious powerhouses on the team, they may be Marvel’s toughest badasses…

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Magical Mystery Tour

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Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

For some reason, I thought Marvel was done with their 70th Anniversary Specials, but I’m very pleased to see that they’re still being released. This one features (along with one of the finest covers I’ve seen in ages) the adventures of a guy called the Phantom Reporter. He’s a normal reporter trying to track down the tough stories, hunting for the leads that will let him discover who killed a childhood friend-gone-bad. But when he gets too close to the truth, the criminal syndicates come after him, and he puts on a gag mask to try to disguise himself, then ends up unleashing ungodly amounts of whupass on the mobsters. And after that, he realizes he doesn’t have to play by the rules of journalism to get at the truth of who killed his friend — he can just hit gangsters ’til they tell him what he needs to know. But his final opponent may be too tough to beat. After the main story, there’s a classic story from the Golden Age about the Phantom Reporter and his multiple secret identities…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Absolutely outstanding noir adventure. You got your mask-and-fedora hero who’s willing to bend the rules, you got a mourning mobster willing to talk to someone who’ll help him get justice, you got a femme fatale who may have dark secrets, you got complete scoundrels running the whole show. They could’ve made this a movie serial back in the ’40s…

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Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

More noir adventure, this time with a magic twist — namely a Golden Age hero called the Vision, a crimefighter from another dimension who can manifest through clouds of smoke. The mob is desperate to rub him out — after they hear about some weird lights coming from a local professor’s home, they sneak a gangster into the home to work undercover as a gardener, and he soon learns that the Vision is really an interdimensional traveler named Aarkus who has become trapped in our world. An experiment to send Aarkus back to his world is disrupted by the fake gardener, and the resulting accident with the dimensional gateway releases a cosmic monster able to induce horrific hallucinations in any humans it encounters. And again, once the main story is over, we’re treated to an old story about the Vision, this time drawn by Jack Kirby as the Vision faces attacks by werewolves…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Great magical adventure pulp, with a great dose of horror. I loved the creepy zombie who menaces the professor and his daughter, and the hallucinating farm family trying to kill each other are chilling, especially after the Vision banishes their illusions, and they realize they may have already killed another family member. And the backup story with King Kirby illustrating a werewolf story is also wonderful.

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