The Amazing Spider-Man [2015] #7 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 7, April 2016

Defended by Editor “Non-Negative” Nick Lowe for depicting Peter Parker with “classic Iron man trappings, Issue Seven of “The Amazing Spider-Man” contains a Dan Slott narrative which arguably focuses “less [upon] spreadsheets and power point presentations, and more [upon] action and high adventure” as Webhead goes toe-to-toe with the evilly-influenced Cloak & Dagger for almost the entirety of this comic’s second half. In fact many of this book’s 75,357 readers in February 2016 probably felt they were holding an entirely different magazine in their hands once the action centres upon “the bad guy’s drug lab” at the Putuo District’s Sunny Day Cleaning Supply Company, and the Wall-crawler calls in Chief Inspector Sun for some much-needed reinforcements.

Sadly however, in reaching such a dynamically-charged sequence as the titular character battling Bill Mantlo’s human mutates, this twenty-page periodical’s audience must first have endured a seemingly endless carousel of supposedly inter-connecting scenes which in brief allow Aunt May’s nephew to identify Mister Negative’s target, covertly attach a micro spider-tracer onto Tyrone Johnson, further upset Doctor Wu, alienate Lian Tang, observe the domestic life of Harry Osborn and re-introduce the super-powered Regent, who was last seen in this publication’s opening edition. Admittedly most of these tiresomely tedious insights, such as Mister Quinghao publically planting a tree, only last half a dozen panels or so. But others are significantly longer and as a whole make the flow of this comic’s storyline feel extremely choppy and uncoordinated.

Fortunately once Spider-Man does start “quipping in foreign countries” and desperately dodging Tandy Bowen’s darkforce energy blasts, the American author’s writing at least improves as far as this comic’s pacing is concerned. Indeed in some ways his narrow victory over Martin Li’s mind-controlled minions, courtesy of kicking a box load of Shade over Dagger, harks back to the old days when “Peter was a standard bloke with standard gear” and had to rely more upon his quick-wits than technological advancements in order to best his foes.

Disappointingly though, the same cannot be said for Dan Slott’s unconvincing dialogue, which sounds unrealistically forced throughout this book, especially during the heat of battle. It certainly seems odd that anyone would verbalise such a poorly constructed sentence as “The mindless banter. Ugh. Tyrone, tell him”, even if they had been surprised by the appearance of Peter Parker’s alter-ego and never found his repartee “funny. Honestly. None if it.” 

The variant cover art of "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" No. 7 by Michael Cho

Doctor Strange [2015] #5 - Marvel Comics

DOCTOR STRANGE No. 5, April 2016

It is evident from his narrative for Issue Five of “Doctor Strange” that Jason Aaron has some very strong views as to the price magic user’s must ordinarily pay for the use of their supernatural abilities within the ‘Marvel Universe’. Indeed almost the entirety of this twenty-page periodical’s opening half is dedicated to reinforcing the Sorcerer Supreme’s realisation that “every punch comes with a cost” when he is forced to use Atlantean Black Magic in order to stop the dread Dormammu “a few years ago” and subsequently suffers the grisly ‘sight’ of having his eyes bleed; “Oh. Okay. That’s new.”

However, the Alabama-born writer’s belief that this mystical tab would eventually lead to the manservant of Steve Ditko’s co-creation covertly setting up a Himalayan-based “Secret Disciples of Strange” simply to spread the mutilating side-effects of the former surgeon’s conjuring across more than “a dozen monks” must have baffled many of this comic book’s 47,933 readers, and is arguably taking the magic-users need to persistently barter away his “soul and sanity”, a “price he can’t possibly pay on his own”, a step too far. It’s certainly somewhat dispiriting to believe that without these human “batteries to be used up and tossed away” the New Avenger would have died from over-exerting his magical abilities many years ago…

Fortunately the American author does eventually follow up this rather heavy-handed “Pound Of Flesh” sub-plot with a tense, if not somewhat short, action sequence concerning a pack of Witchfinder Wolves ambushing Strange in the Temple of Watoomb. Somewhat comical in its depiction of the Doctor’s “dwindling number of [magical] tools”, and disorientating failure to cast “the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak” and “Mystic Mists of Munnopor”. The claustrophobic confrontation does at least allow the mighty magician to once again demonstrate the power of his famous “Eye of Agamotto”.

Tasked with illustrating such an arguably lack-lustre script, Chris Bachalo certainly produces plenty of well-detailed breakdowns with which to catch any disillusioned bibliophile’s eyes. In particular the Canadian artist seems to enjoy populating his panels with occasional nods to the New York-based publisher’s rich history, such as his Jack Kirby-inspired Wundagore architecture and his hidden glimpse of the red-eyed Man-Thing deep within the Florida Everglades.

The variant cover art of "DOCTOR STRANGE" No. 5 by Michael Cho

Free Comic Book Day 2016 (Civil War II) #1 - Marvel Comics

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2016 (CIVIL WAR II) No. 1, May 2016

Despite the brevity of Brian Michael Bendis’ actual narrative, this “opening salvo of Civil War II” must surely have whetted the appetites of “Marvel Worldwide” fans everywhere with its utterly outrageous action-packed plot concerning War Machine, She-Hulk and Captain Marvel literally going toe-to-toe with Thanos in a desperate bid to prevent the Titanian Eternal from acquiring the Cosmic Cube. The Free Comic Book Day ‘exclusive’ certainly lives up to its pre-publication hype of being a magazine “no fan can afford to miss out on” and it’s extremely doubtful many of its readers didn’t immediately hunger for the crossover storyline's official opening issue in order to ascertain just how badly hurt Jennifer Walters and James Rhodes actually were having been badly battered during their short-lived confrontation with “The Mad Titan”. Little wonder the New-York based publishers were so “proud to officially peel back the curtain on…” their summer 2016 blockbuster multi-title event and let people “get their very first taste of the ensuing war…”

Indeed within the space of just eleven pages the five-time Eisner Award-winner’s short story not only provides plenty of exposition as to the Inhuman behind “the escalating conflict” and their seemingly formidable precognitive ability. But additionally mixes some rarely seen emotional tenderness in with the terrifically entertaining carnage of The Avatar of Death’s attack upon Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.; “The Cosmic Cube does not belong on Earth… It belongs to me! You will not keep me from my prize!”

Fortunately Jim Cheung’s stunningly detailed artwork is precisely the sort of quality pencilling needed to depict this “snapshot of the conflict that will split the Marvel Universe in two!” The British illustrator does a superb job of making Captain Marvel’s deep-felt affection for War Machine abundantly evident in her facial expressions. Whilst his drawing ability equally excels in representing the ferocious power Thanos can wield with a single-punch and the impact such a devastating blow can cause a mortal man; albeit it one who wears a Variable Threat Response Battle Suit.    

Issue One of “Free Comic Book Day Civil War II” is also noteworthy for containing “a special secondary story from All-New, All-Different Avengers writer Mark Waid and legendary artist Alan Davis.” Debuting the “sting” of Nadia’s Wasp, this brief introductory tale makes it tantalisingly unclear as to whether the “mysterious new character” is actually “friend or foe” by portraying the teenager successfully invading the internal workings of the Vision.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Penciler: Jim Cheung, and Inker: John Dell

Daredevil [2016] #4 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL No. 4, April 2016

It’s easy to imagine that a number of the 43,741 collectors who bought Issue Four of “Daredevil” felt somewhat misled by the twenty-page periodical's action-packed cover illustration. For although Charles Soule’s narrative does indeed partially concern Bill Everett’s co-creation foiling “the whole bomb maker’s Pantry” in the Red Hook neighbourhood of Brooklyn. The costumed crime-fighter doesn’t actually do so in the company of the “veteran super hero” Captain America, and seemingly prefers instead to undertake the distinctly solo mission with the silver-haired Sentinel of Liberty simply providing communications support from his supposed vantage point outside in the street; “He might not be doing the fighting himself, but the problems get solved.”

Equally as frustrating, though perhaps less ambiguous, is the Brooklyn-born writer’s secondary suggestion that Matt Murdock’s alter-ego has actually turned to the elderly Steve Rogers for some much needed guidance in dealing with the blind lawyer's current foe, Tenfingers. The entire sequence depicting Hornhead’s fraught mission to defuse the detonator before it takes “down the whole damn building” is painfully punctuated with the athletic acrobat’s hopes that the World War Two veteran can help dispel his personal doubts as to how best to defeat the Chinese crime-lord. Yet at the end of the magazine when the former Avenger asks him why “you called me in the first place”, the supposed Man Without Fear simply mumbles “Just… reassurance, maybe.”

Admittedly, Samuel Chung’s revelation to his eight-fingered mother that he is the Church of the Sheltering Hands’ mysterious “enemy” she so earnestly wishes to personally eliminate, does in some way further progress the title’s over-arching story concerning the disfigured magician’s plans to build “a power base in Chinatown.” But even their subsequent enthralling exchange of blows is short-lived as a result of The Hand’s abrupt return, and infuriatingly only hints at the potential exploration of an infinitely more complicated relationship between illegal immigrant and his misguided parent in a future publication.

Ron Garney and Goran Sudzuka’s pencilling for this comic book is also rather disappointing in many respects. The creative collaborators' breakdowns showing Daredevil’s billy club zinging around the residential apartment block, brutally battering the bombers’ heads and legs are well enough dynamically drawn. However the same cannot be said for some of their illustrations of Steve Rogers, the actual bombers or Blindspot’s mother.

The variant cover art of "DAREDEVIL" No. 4 by Michael Cho

Amazing X-Men #9 - Marvel Comics

AMAZING X-MEN No. 9, September 2014

Whilst it’s somewhat clear from a creative perspective as to just why collaborators Craig Kyle and Chris Yost penned the script for Issue Nine of “Amazing X-Men” to flit along its “World War Wendigo” timeline, it’s doubtful many of this title’s 40,562 strong audience appreciated it in July 2014. For although the narrative provides the comic with an introductory hook courtesy of its portrayal of the X-Men’s Blackbird unexpectedly crashing into a Canadian residential area "Forty Two hours after [the] initial outbreak”. The fact the book then takes its audience rapidly back in time to “one hour earlier…”, then “Fifty minutes ago”, “Forty minutes ago…”, “Four minutes ago”, “Three minutes ago”, and then “Two minutes ago…” within the space of a handful of pages arguably makes what follows both incomprehensible and unenjoyable.

Indeed despite depicting Wolverine bloodily raking the bodies of numerous Wendigos with his Adamantium claws, as well as the highly anticipated arrival of Alpha Flight’s Talisman and Puck, it seems highly unlikely that much entertainment was actually garnered by this magazine during its first reading as a result of its audience frequently having to turn back to previous panels in order to work out the storyline’s actual sequence of events. It’s certainly hard to appreciate the X-Men battling to save the life of a luckless Canadian pilot from the fangs of a horde of white-furred monsters or the unexpected cameo by Avengers Thor and Captain America, whilst having to repeatedly reread what has previously occurred before…

Fortunately once Kyle and Yost’s writing does finally start to portray ‘present proceedings’ and the Mutant super-team actually begin brutally battling the cannibalistic creatures en masse, the pace of this twenty-page periodical really takes off and contains some genuinely impressive punch-ups as the likes of Iceman, Storm and Firestar bring all their powers to bear upon the ferocious Wendigos. The “fan-favourite” authors even manage to end the comic on a cracking cliff-hanger as Elizabeth Twoyoungmen is potentially mortally wounded just as she is about to successfully cast “a powerful counterspell to the curse” which would suppress the infestation; “It’s happening… I can contain it, I feel it working, the spell is -- Hkk!”

Possibly also contributing to the initial confusion of this books’s opening half is Carlos Barberi unexpectedly taking over this story-arc’s pencilling duties, despite his predecessor illustrating the title's main cover. The former Mexican Independent Comics artist arguably provides something of a “seamless transition from Ed McGuinness’ work in the last issue” in the majority of his breakdowns. But seemingly struggles when it comes to depicting the likes of Colossus and Captain America.

The 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' variant cover art of "AMAZING X-MEN" No. 9 by Mike Perkins and Andy Troy

The Punisher #1 - Marvel Comics

THE PUNISHER No. 1, July 2016

Penned by “the very first female writer to tackle the murderous mind-set of Frank Castle”, Issue One of “The Punisher” proves to be something of a ‘play-by-the-numbers’ publication which, despite its dynamically-worded “Marvel Worldwide” sales pitch, disappointingly depicts the former “decorated Marine… upstanding citizen, and a family man” somewhat effortlessly gunning down a run-of-the-mill illegal drugs operation. In fact the “force of cold, calculated retribution” fails to confront any opposition even slightly formidable within this magazine, except perhaps an underweight junkie, who having overdosed on the narcotic he was supposedly guarding, momentarily transforms himself from a ‘shrimp into a soldier’. However even this wide-eyed, impervious underling is eventually bested by Becky Cloonan’s incarnation of Castle, once the skull-wearing vigilante has shot the youth in the chest, gouged out both of his eyes, and finally electrocuted the hoodlum by spearing him through the torso into a high voltage electrical panel; “I don’t need eyes, I’ll smell out this piece of &*@# and bite his neck out!”

Arguably far more successful is the Pisa-born writer’s introduction of a veritable “slew of [new] characters, (both good and bad, helpful and harmful)”. Indeed within the space of just three pages, the “contemporaneity comic book luminary” has populated the Punisher’s blood-splattered world with DEA operatives Ortiz and Henderson, twin gang-members Lloyd and Luther Luckett, Condor’s right-hand man Face, and one of Frank’s former commanding officers Olaf.

Admittedly the smart-mouthed brothers unsurprisingly don’t survive longer than mid-way through the periodical. But the two law enforcement agents appear suitably frustrated by Castle’s gunplay threatening to derail their “carefully constructed case against Condor” under “a pile of dead bodies” to be worthy of future appearances as supporting cast characters. As does the drug baron’s brown-skinned lieutenant, who disconcertingly seems to be cut from the same cloth as “DC Comics” gruesome villain Dollmaker, what with his predilection for tearing off the faces of those enforcers who disappoint him and nailing them to a wall as trophies.

Sadly “Quintessential Punisher artist” Steve Dillon’s breakdowns probably aren’t all that this comic’s readers thought they should be seeing either. For despite the Englishman having previously supported “Garth Ennis’ scripts [for The Punisher] with his personality-filled pencils”, a number of his panels for this comic book appear disconcertingly one-dimensional and flat. Whilst his Frank Castle, wordlessly sporting a close-cropped crew-cut, also takes some getting used to.

The 'Action Figure' variant cover art of "THE PUNISHER" No. 1 by John Tyler Christopher

Harrow County #2 - Dark Horse Comics

HARROW COUNTY No. 2, June 2015

Grotesque in both its deeply dark themes as well as Tyler Crook’s graphic illustrations of mutilated corpses, Issue Two of “Harrow County” is undeniably not a comic book for the faint-hearted, and definitely lives up to Jeff Lemire’s front cover promise of the narrative being “disturbing and genuinely brilliant at its core.” In fact its doubtful many of this title’s 9,295 collectors in June 2015 didn’t feel somewhat uneasy as soon as they opened the twenty-two page periodical and spied the storyline’s opening panel disconcertingly depicting a bloodied Emmy tearing through a claustrophobic wood with the still murmuring skin of a young boy tucked tightly between her arms; “Be still I said. Or I’ll wrap you around a stone and chuck you in the creek.”

Chillingly however, the eighteen year-old girl’s fearful flight from the forest and subsequent realisation that all her thorn vine scratches have miraculously healed is only the beginning of this magazine’s journey into the truly macabre, as Cullen Bunn pens an especially disconcerting plot which involves the youth’s own father agreeing with the rest of the local townsfolk to kill his daughter on account of her “showing signs” of witchcraft. Such an unnatural discussion and decision, eerily relayed to Emmy by the ghastly yellow-eyed corpse of the skin she keeps stored in a bedroom drawer, genuinely proves a horrifyingly unsettling development. Especially when the parent, seemingly believing that his unforgivable betrayal is for the best, earnestly chides his child for running for her life on account of his having to now ‘hunt her down’ only making matters “worse.”

Somewhat interestingly though, once the teenager has flown from her father’s farm and ‘escaped’ into a nearby coppice, there is a noticeable shift in the Cape Fear-born novelist’s pacing for this “backwoods horror”. One which allows the reader to dwell upon the enormity of the frightened girl’s parental perfidy, whilst simultaneously demonstrating that just because she can cope with talking bodiless spirits and fleshless abominations, doesn’t mean the "child" can’t still become frightened of a familiar place “in the dark.”  

Conjuring up images of “ghosts and goblins haunting secluded places” and “plenty of encounters with ghostly forest denizens” within the mind’s eye, Tyler Crook’s artwork for this second instalment of Bunn’s “Countless Haints” story-arc is simply breath-taking, right down to the American cartoonist utilising twigs, rocks and a cooperative snake in order to create the title ‘Harrow County’ for the comic’s inaugural double-splash.

Script: Cullen Bunn, Art and Lettering: Tyler Crook, and Pinup Art: Joelle Jones