Fred Hembeck Sells The Marvel Universe #1 - Marvel Comics

FRED HEMBECK SELLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE No. 1, October 1990

Containing a compilation of fifteen of his “favourite strips from past issues of Marvel Age Magazine”, this Fred Hembeck anthology must have not only given its readership an occasional chuckle in its time, but also provided them with a fair few educational insights into both the formation of the American cartoonist’s career, as well as the history behind a dozen or so of “Marvel Comics” most famous creations. Indeed, arguably one of this thirty-two page periodical’s highlights is its abbreviated history of Stan Lee’s wackiest Wild West villains, which succinctly catalogues such utterly forgettable gun-toting desperados as Red Raven, Doctor Danger, the Purple Phantom and Hurricane.

Equally as informative is the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award-winner’s double-splash page depicting some of the more colourful costumes to have ever graced the ‘Marvel Universe’. Complete with useful annotations as to which titles and editions these garishly-apparelled super-heroes appeared in, and rather splendidly pencilled in the author’s own inimitable style, this ‘article’ really is a visual treat with its coverage of such comic book curiosities as The Thing’s masked costume (“Fantastic Four” #4), Iron Man’s noticeable nose (“Iron Man” #68-#85), The Human Torch’s ‘red rags’ (“Fantastic Four” #132-#159), and Black Panther’s half-mask (“Avengers” #52-#55).

Of course, the “fan favourite artist” is undeniably “best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers” and “Fred Hembeck Sells The Marvel Universe” is crammed full of such skits featuring the likes of Cyclops, Mephisto, Wolverine, Johnny Storm, the Black Knight, Moon Knight and Spider-Man. In fact, the “Alien Encounters” contributor even manages to maintain his “running gag” of belittling Brother Voodoo throughout this entire magazine's length, by initially claiming that this publication was a last-minute replacement for Jericho Drumm’s “low quality” own book, and then later ‘interviewing’ the “sales-levelling guest-star”, alongside the High Evolutionary, on his ‘Talk Show’; “I think you should pick on that kid Quasar more, and me less.”

These live broadcasts, supposedly televised in front of a ‘clap happy’ audience, and featuring Hembeck ‘interviewing’ a variety of characters who are about to feature in their own comic title, provides Fred with a plethora of opportunities to demonstrate his quirky “humorous style”, and genuinely generates some laugh-out-loud moments. Certainly, it’s hard to keep a straight face when the bespectacled “interviewer” is evidently leering at the skimpy costumes of the Black Queen, Emma Frost and Shanna the She-Devil, or thrown by the Punisher’s desire to flog his new fitness video as opposed to talking about his new series. 

Writer, Penciler & Inker: Fred Hembeck, and Colors: Gregory Wright

U.S.Avengers #2 - Marvel Comics

U.S.AVENGERS No. 2, March 2017

Shifting just 29,523 copies in January 2017, a staggering drop in sales of over eighty thousand editions within the space of just a few weeks, it would arguably be easy for critics of this title to claim that this second instalment of Al Ewing’s “Skullocracy” story-arc came as something of a major disappointment to Marvelites everywhere. However, whilst Issue Two of “U.S. Avengers” does predominantly contain plenty of lengthy, dialogue-heavy exposition in order to rationalise the sudden appearance of Captain America 20XX on Earth-616, the British writer’s narrative also comes packed full of action as the alternative version of “Danielle Cage from thirty years on” takes down a number of the Golden Skull’s henchmen in a failed attempt to stop “the son of an environmental activist” from entering a “doorway to a new world!”

Even more engaging though, has to be this twenty-page periodical’s enthralling coverage of Thanos ripping the skull off of Steve Rogers’ shoulders, and then invading Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. in order to “use their tech to build a pair of Cosmic Cube Iso-Gauntlets…” This ‘parallel Earth flashback’ sequence, sublimely pencilled by Paco Medina, comes chock-full of all manner of ‘Marvel Universe” super-heroes fatally falling before the Mad Titan, and only comes to an end when the Black Widow, using a mixture of science and magic, scythes Dione down with the help of the Black Knight and the Hulkling; “Thanos murdered half the heroes of Earth… Just to say he was back.”

In fact, even the comic’s later supposedly humorous infiltration of the Wyne International Hotel in Miami, Florida by the “America-themed team of Avengers” doesn’t actually fail to entertain, despite its depiction of Roberto Da Costa clumsily inviting his tuxedo-adorned colleagues to the location’s Penthouse Ballroom in a doomed effort to circumnavigate “the nephew of the notorious Parnival Plunder” by reaching the billionaires club first. True, the “schmooze” sequence potentially pads out a quarter of the publication and contains some unsubtle moments of absurdity, such as Squirrel Girl badgering a waiter to get her any hors d'oeuvres with nuts in. But the group’s subsequent encirclement by a room full of Golden Skull's Robots proves a chilling cliff-hanger, especially when it becomes clear that Citizen V is already too late to thwart the “super-criminal from a possible future” and his plan “to institute a global kleptocracy.”

Writer: Al Ewing, Penciler: Paco Medina, and Inker: Juan Vlasco

All-Star Batman #8 - DC Comics

ALL-STAR BATMAN No. 8, May 2017

It must have undoubtedly been clear to those loyal 71,809 readers that bought Issue Eight of “All-Star Batman” that Scott Snyder clearly had some far-reaching and broad-canvassed narrative in his mind when he was composing this third instalment to “Ends Of The Earth”. For whilst the twenty-two page periodical almost exclusively focuses upon the Dark Knight’s infiltration of the Mad Hatter’s mansion, located near the “Mississippi Delta... Twenty miles deep in the Batchaloo Swamp”, it continues to pursue the New York-born writer’s plot of Victor Fries releasing a “necrotic patch” spore into the atmosphere and Doctor Pamela Isley subsequently helping the Caped Crusader develop a cure with which to halt the murderous fungi.

Sadly however, in order to do this, the American author relies upon a series of explanatory panels that not only provide a bit of necessary backstory to the titular character’s motivations, but disconcertingly, also start to summarise events within the story-arc which this publication has never actually ever depicted. These ‘narrative leaps’, such as Duke's dutiful deployment to watch the “death patch” and subsequent sudden silence “one hour ago, or the stealthy assailants which have been supposedly “hounding” Batman “every step of the way”, being revealed as the Blackhawks, “a long-vanished strike force known to take down apocalyptic threats”, awkwardly jar with the general flow of the adventure, and resultantly come across as simply lazy penmanship on behalf of the Stan Lee Award-winner.

Fortunately, not everything is amiss with Snyder’s suggestion that Bruce Wayne has been living a chemically-influence hallucination ever since he first encountered Jarvis Tetch back when the mind-controlling scientist tried to sell the billionaire “a hat that would interact with the wearer’s neurology”. The appearance of (fake) Batwoman, Nightwing and Red Hood, and their beating at the hands of their cloaked mentor is arguably worth the cover price of the comic alone, especially seeing as it concludes with a bizarre Giuseppi Camuncoli-pencilled illustration depicting the cowled crime-fighter about to battle a flock of robotic bright pink flamingos…

Yet even witnessing the Dark Knight dispatch an assailant by thwacking him around the head with a squawking feathered fowl, isn’t enough to save a script which dwells far too long upon the protagonist pondering as to whether to press a detonator switch or not, rather than telling a well-paced thoughtful tale. Indeed, Snyder would arguably have been far more successful if he had simply curtailed Batman’s disconcerting visions of his Rogue Gallery clawing at his exposed brain, and not then had to rely upon the book’s Italian artist to rather clumsily compile this comic's cataclysmic conclusion within the space of ten tiny panels.

The regular cover art of "ALL-STAR BATMAN" No. 8 by Giuseppi Camuncoli & Dean White

The Amazing Spider-Man [2015] #27 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 27, July 2017

Rather less action-orientated than one would perhaps anticipate for a narrative supposedly depicting a countrywide revolution by the “citizens of Symkaria” against the Countess Katarina Karkov, Dan Slott’s script for Issue Twenty Seven of “Amazing Spider-Man” is nonetheless packed full of some scintillating surprises which arguably must have delighted the title’s loyal 51,404 followers in April 2017. Certainly, Bobbi Morse’s ‘betrayal’ of Nick Fury and immediate “resignation from S.H.I.E.L.D.” in order to help the titular character is just one of this tome’s more startling revelations which must have caught the odd flat-footed bibliophile somewhat off-guard; “Well, that was a nice career while it lasted.”

The Berkeley-born writer’s development of Norman Osborn as a cold-hearted, calculating, yet oddly vulnerable, homicidal maniac also proves to be one of this comic’s more enthralling aspects. Grotesquely disfigured by Doctor Dragovic’s operation, Harry’s father both demonstrates his inability to resist being goaded into undergoing a bout of less than successful face-changing surgery simply because Spider-Man had previously rebuked him for fearing to ‘show his own face in public’, as well as his complete coolness when under-fire by calmly cancelling “port and cigars” with the countess when his evening meal is interrupted by Silver Sable’s “assault [occurring] sooner than expected.” Indeed, in many ways the “man who deserves respect at all times” is arguably (and perhaps disconcertingly) penned as being a far more charismatically interesting figure to read about than this book’s “crime-fighting super hero”.

Of course, once Spider-Man “has all the forces and weaponry that Parker Industries can gather” arrive close to Osborn’s “main munitions factory” then the Eisner Award-winner’s character exploration somewhat sadly ceases in favour of pure unadulterated conflict. This significant shift in the storyline’s pace starts with the Wild Pack’s assault upon the armament facility as Arachno-Jets, Spider-Mobiles, the Spider-Cycle and Web-Tanks cataclysmically clash with Kingslayer titans and Goblin Gliders, and doesn't stop even when “a proud daughter of the lands” verbally rallies her people around her in order to “see to it that Symkaria is free again!”

Delightfully, all of this exposition and large-scale warfare is incredibly well-drawn by Stuart Immonen, whose atmospheric pencilling throughout the comic’s twenty-pages makes it clear just why Slott told “ComicBook.com” in an interview that “there are moments where I wrote some scenes for certain characters that just had all this extra chemistry going on because of the magic Stuart was bringing to the mix…”

Writer: Dan Slott, Pencils: Stuart Immnonen, and Inks: Wade von Grawbadger

Aliens: Dead Orbit #4 - Dark Horse Comics

ALIENS: DEAD ORBIT No. 4, December 2017

Focusing almost exclusively upon Wassy’s headlong flight through Spacteria 284255 to the supposed sanctuary of the modular station’s Life Support facility, James Stokoe’s script for Issue Four of “Aliens: Dead Orbit” is arguably a tour-de-force of science fiction horror, which seldom lets up even when depicting the engineering officer unwisely delaying his departure in order to collect a packet of cigarettes. Indeed, this twenty-three page periodical’s narrative, which culminates with the sole survivor battling a debilitated drone in outer space, must surely have reminded its 11,598 followers of both Ripley’s terrifying race through the bowels of the Nostromo in the 1979 motion picture “Alien”, as well as her subsequent high-octane battle with the Xenomorph Queen in the movie’s 1986 sequel.

Fortunately however, the Canadian comic book artist’s storyline isn’t simply about the main antagonist running for his life, but also includes some heart-wrenching moments when Wascylewski recalls the gruesome deaths of his team-mates and some of the difficult decisions he has to make in order to ensure his continued existence. Top of these consequence choices has to be the astronaut’s haunting sprint “to observation” alongside Park and his female colleague’s bloody demise at the (taloned) hands of two of the endoparasitoid extra-terrestrial species, with its gripping scene, played as a flashback whilst Wassy is fleeing another of the aliens, really bringing home the sheer terror the central character is experiencing as he tearfully seals his space-suit’s helmet shut and prepares to turn his back on his deceased crew-mates; “Park!!”

Equally as well delivered is Stokoe’s nail-biting battle between the engineer and a drone who seemingly just won’t take ‘No’ for an answer despite taking a face full of mining charge, and later losing a limb in a secondary explosion. Resolute in his course of action as he is mentally traumatised, the Spacteria crewman continually appears to have done just enough to make a successful escape before being once again thwarted by the bloody-minded determination of the Xenomorph. Ordinarily, such a long-winded game of ‘Cat and Mouse’ may well have become tediously tired, yet somehow James’ excellent storyboarding arguably makes the reader want the conflict to continue, even though it soon becomes painfully clear that the human is fast running out of survival options in the coldness of deep space…

Story, Art and Lettering: James Stokoe

Avengers [2016] #4.1 - Marvel Comics

AVENGERS No. 4.1, April 2017

Ordinarily this book’s 22,810 readers would probably have enjoyed a “Showdown With The Frightful Four” and Captain America’s “ragtag team” of Avengers. After all, Mark Waid’s twenty-page long narrative not only includes a wonderfully tense build-up which ultimately sees a rehabilitating Quicksilver petulantly turn his back upon his team-mates as ‘High Noon’ fast approaches, but also focuses upon the Wizard’s dastardly quartet in arguably their Silver Age prime, ruthlessly led by an always arrogant Bentley Wittman who cares little for the welfare of hapless civilians in his villainous ambition to destroy the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; “Give in to it, Medusa, on this day, in this battle, the Frightful Four will take lives.”

Unfortunately however, this entire “frightful rematch” is utterly ruined by the Alabama-born author’s basic premise that (once again) the titular “group of untested [and] untried new recruits” have obtained a distinctly unfair advantage over their criminal opponents “by using the power-enhancing abilities of Cressida” to make the team “stronger -- and more popular -- than they ever could have imagined.” Indeed, apart from the potential break-up of the Avengers at the very start of this periodical, due entirely to the manipulative machinations of the group’s latest addition, the American writer’s narrative contains absolutely no suggestion of threat or physical menace to its leading characters until the book’s cliff-hanger, when Avenger X finally reveals her true traitorous colours and begins to leech the life out of Wanda and Hawkeye “in public!”

Up until this point, the most tense moment created by “Marvel’s Merry Living-End Lineup” is Steve Rogers wrongly accusing Clint Barton of robbing a jewellers and becoming unnecessarily irate when he feels the archer is lecturing him about the Flag whilst the former carnival showman ‘drags it through mud?!'. And even this flash of ‘family friction’ only lasts a single Barry Kitson-pencilled panel before the Sentinel of Liberty apologises to his seething colleague and gathers everyone in the Meeting Room to ‘save the World’ once again.

Perhaps the biggest problem with Waid’s script for Issue Four Point One of “Avengers” though is just how utterly illogical Cressida’s secret plan to “break the Avengers” actually appears. Considering that the Southeast Asian has already succeeded in manipulating the Ox to snap both of Pietro’s legs, and thereby reduced the super-team’s effectiveness by a quarter, why does she then almost immediately heal the mutant speedster’s useless limbs and permit him to potentially participate in “the most indescribably impossible battle in the history of the panelgraphic literature”? In addition, it would surely have made far more sense for Avenger X to just boost the Frightful Four’s powers and let them crush Captain America’s party, than her mystifyingly boost those of the heroes, and only then ‘work her power’ upon the Sandman once things were looking bad for Medusa, the Trapster and Wizard?

The regular cover art of "AVENGERS" No. 4.1 by Barry Kitson & Jordan Boyd

Conan The Slayer #12 - Dark Horse Comics

CONAN THE SLAYER No. 12, August 2017

Whether or not “Dark Horse Comics” knew that “Marvel Entertainment” and “Conan Properties International” had agreed “to bring Robert E. Howard’s famed pulp hero back to the comics publisher” at the time this particular twenty-two periodical went to print isn’t clear. But what is arguably evident is a palpable lack of appetite on behalf of the book’s creative team to print either a fitting end to its multi-part adaption of “The Devil In Iron”, or indeed, any sort of satisfactory conclusion to the series whatsoever.

For starters, Cullen Bunn’s script makes very little sense and whilst inspired by Conan’s exhilarating battle with “the seemingly indestructible Khel”, doesn’t actually add anything to the August 1934 pulp adventure other than to drag the eighty-year old short story out well beyond its natural ending. This unwise decision creates no end of problems for the Cape Fear-born writer’s narrative, as it resultantly relies entirely upon the comic’s audience to believe that having survived “the cursed isle of Xapur”, both Ghaznavi the Wise and the “savage barbarian” would merely ‘flee’ “through yet another of the Vilayet islands” rather than escape the place entirely by sea. Worse, Conan also brings the utterly useless Nemedian Princess Octavia with him on this perilous mission simply because he feels she “should want retribution as much as I do” against the royal advisor for using her “as bait for the snare.”

Sadly, such illogical lapses in the GLAAD Media Award-winner’s narrative are just the beginning, as the Cimmerian soon finds himself embroiled in a bizarre fight-to-the-death against a tribe of cannibal dwarves whose mission in life appears to be to corrupt children into drinking human blood. Quite how this tale supposedly brings a resolution to Howard’s original work is mystifying, especially when the titular character would have been ‘gutted’ on the Sin-Eater’s sacrificial altar if he hadn’t been rescued by the Ghul; a creature who Bunn would have his 7,230 readers believe forever follows (and protects) Conan in order to feast upon the bronze-skinned warrior’s bloody victims.

Equally as alarming as this magazine’s abysmal storyline is Dheeraj Verma’s ill-disciplined artwork. Having been depicted as a brawny, thick-set, steely-muscled barbarian in this adaption’s previous instalments, the “internationally renowned Indian comic book” creator’s decision to sketch the Cimmerian as a fresh-faced adolescent is utterly bewildering... Unless of course it was his hope to imply that the barbarian’s inexperienced youth was the reason behind why the “sword and sorcery hero” was so easily out-fought by a rag-tag group of pygmies; “How could this fool have caused us so many problems?”

Script: Cullen Bunn, Artist: Dheeraj Verma, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh