Reading Comics 202 "Third LCS Visit 2017"

American Gods #1 (Dark Horse)
An adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel, which is soon to be debuted in another adaptation, for television.  I haven't read the book in years, but I liked it quite a lot.  Still, reading some of it in comics form makes me realize it really has been years, so I may have to reread it.

Batman #19 (DC)
Tom King sets up an epic clash between Bane and Batman.  He continues to write sensationally.

Divinity III: Stalinverse #3 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt likewise continues to write sensationally.

The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (Marvel)
Dan Slott's epic run continues, this time with Norman Osborn.  I actually picked this up because Stuart Immonen begins his run (he's done Peter Parker before in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man) with the issue.  Thankfully he retains his return to streamlined work previously seen in Empress and other recent work.  Actually, the most notable thing about the issue is Slott introducing...the Superior Octopus.  Which is really, really awesome.

Star Trek: Waypoint #4 (IDW)
The first Enterprise-focused comic ever!  Phlox was featured in a doctors confab a few years ago, but this is the first time the fifth live action series has gotten its own comics adaptation.  The writer somewhat flubs the opportunity, but still rightfully puts Porthos in the spotlight.  It's always about Porthos!

Superman #19 (DC)
Action Comics #976 (DC)
Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are their usual sensational selves in the first issue, while Dan Jurgens continues to struggle to adapt to modern storytelling in the second.  But I like the "Reborn" concept and how Mxyzptlk was revealed to be behind the Clark Kent mystery, and how Jurgens gets to unique disparate continuities in the conclusion, which feels right regardless of my other qualms.

X-O Manowar #1 (Valiant)
Matt Kindt again, in this quasi-reboot of the franchise, completely nailing it.  Might be viewed as the Dark Knight Returns/"Old Man Logan" for comics' most famous Visigoth.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1 (Marvel)

writer: Dan Slott

artist: Adam Kubert

To call this disappointing would be an insult to disappointment.  One of the many spin-off titles from Secret Wars that in no way ape what DC just did with Convergence, Renew Your Vows seemed like Spider-Man I actually wanted to read again.  Because it hearkened back to the era where I most wanted to read Spider-Man, the bi-weekly period where a team of writers wrote one excellent story after another, culminating in "O.M.I.T.," the sequel to "One More Day," the story that kicked it off.  Otherwise known as the end of the Peter Parker/Mary Jane marriange.  Which Renew Your Vows is supposed to correct.

Yeah, so that doesn't really happen.  And I don't know, but does this pretty much mean the whole Dan Slott era that succeeded the bi-weeklies really wasn't for me?  Because Slott's time with Spidey continued the arc-heavy period that he succeeded, but at the cost of distancing the wall-crawler from most of what he had once been.  This was the period where Peter finally got the hi-tech job that made him stop having to mope around all the time because things never work out for him (even though the greatest success from this career turn seems owed to Doctor Octopus from the Doctor Spider-Man era that was...much more of a Doc Ock story than it was a Spider-Man story).

Slott's the writer of Renew Your Vows.  He seems to have been absolutely the wrong choice.

This happy return to the marriage era is immediately presented as less than ideal, MJ depicted as a nagging wife.  And so why are we even doing this?  I have no idea.  Then we find out Spider-Man is doing a lot of overtime because other superheroes aren't doing their part to catch bad guys.  Then we find out why.  Then we meet Amazo Regent.  And for some reason, Venom is the villain who threatens everything Spider-Man holds dear.  Again, I have no idea why.  What does Venom have to do with Spider-Man's secret identity?  Slott doesn't explain.  It would make far more sense if, say, Norman Osborn or any villain remotely related to "One More Day" or anything from the "Big Time" (bi-weekly) era were involved...But no, Venom.  For some reason.

Then Spidey resolves this by killing Venom.  Then we fast-forward a bit and the bouncing baby Adam Kubert can't quite pull off early on is older, and we learn that Peter has consciously decided to let Regent rule New York...And on the cover for next issue?  Apparently...Venom.

It's a nightmare!  And I will not be bothering to check back in.  I've seen people complaining about the overall quality of the Convergence spin-offs.  I personally questioned the value of Convergence: Superman, which finally gave us a story with Lois and Clark having a baby.  I mean, a little late, right?  (Except that's a trio that might show up again if DC ever follows up on their role in helping sort out Crisis On Infinite Earths as suggested in Convergence #8.)  Renew Your Vows ends up like a bad rephrasing of "Old Man Logan," a Wolverine arc that has also been revived for Secret Wars.  (I nearly decided to buy that first issue from last week after all.  I could still do so.  We'll see.)  I have fellow bloggers gushing over Secret Wars so far.  But if the rest of its spin-offs are like this...

The Amazing Spider-Man #700.5 (Marvel)

via Comic Book DB

writer: Brian Reed, Kevin Grevioux

artist: Sean Chen, Lee Weeks

So, I don't know if you've heard, but Peter Parker's back.

In order to properly appreciate this fact, you've got to understand that he was actually gone for a while.  Instead of dead (technically) he got body-swapped with Doctor Octopus.  I call it the Doctor Spider-Man era.  But it's over.

So this is one of the incidental celebratory issues Marvel released.  Marvel does a lot of weird things with numbering.  They're not the only ones, but they're getting weirder.  Amazing Spider-Man #700.5 is meant to signify that the issue harks back to the old series, rather than the recently concluded Superior Spider-Man (featuring Doctor Spider-Man) or the relaunched Amazing Spider-Man.  The actual #700 was the issue where Peter "died"/body-swapped (or concluded "dying"/body-swapping, because for those of you who think these issues might become valuable nonreading material, that occurred in #698).

Anyway, I figured this would be worth checking out.  Out-of-continuity stories can be fun.  Most of recent Spider-Man under Dan Slott has been part of some arc or another.  I was not disappointed.

The lead story, from Brian Reed and Sean Chen, is a throwaway nonsense adventure featuring time travel and the Fantastic Four.  Completely nonessential harmless fun.  But key word: fun.  Because one of the things readers ought to associate with Spider-Man is the ability to have fun reading him.  (Most of the time.  This is a character who can handle comedy and pathos with equal aplomb.)

The backup, from Kevin Grevioux and Lee Weeks, is the real selling point.  It's the other end of Spider-Man, explaining what makes him special beyond his penchant for quippy remarks.  It's the message of the character that isn't "With great power comes great responsibility."

Basically, perseverance.  Never giving up.  Always getting back up.  Ignoring the odds.  Accepting the consequences.  It's a tale featuring a teenage boy who takes all this to heart, and helps Peter recognize this as his true legacy, too.  It's the real message of the recent The Amazing Spider-Man 2, by the way.  Reading this comic beforehand was a fine way to prepare for it, but it was a real hidden gem.  Backup story.  This should have been the lead.  But perhaps better to close the issue strongly, I suppose... 

Quick Hits: Doctor Spider-Man (Marvel)

As everyone knows by now, one of the biggest comic book stories at the close of 2012 was Doctor Octopus switching minds with Peter Parker and thus becoming Spider-Man, and obnoxiously continually plugging the name of the new series that would replace the long-running Amazing Spider-Man.

All of this began in Amazing Spider-Man #698, in which the switch actually occurred.  I finally picked up a copy at Barnes & Noble, because this story for better or worse is a big deal.  It's Amazing Spider-Man #700, however, that everyone latched onto, an oversized celebration that forced Otto Octavius to relive Peter's greatest moments, the ones that helped shape his life, and therefore made Doc Ock realize what a complete joke his criminal career had been, thereby making the transition into Spider-Man not just about being his own worst enemy but a curious kind of redemption.

Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 will probably be overlooked by just about everyone forever, but it's a nice transitional meditation on the whole affair, and I'm glad it was available when I finally decided I cared and everything else wasn't.  

Superior Spider-Man #1, meanwhile, is pretty much exactly what you'd expect.  Otto isn't quite as benevolent as Peter's Wonderful Life might have led readers to believe, but most readers weren't really paying attention to the details, and neither was writer Dan Slott, who appears to be as conflicted by the whole story as his lead character.  On the one hand he's had to acknowledge for impatient and bothered readers that this is all temporary, and on the other he's had to pretend that it is.  In the meantime it's all a game of trying to exploit it to the best possible degree.  Slott calls this the biggest and best story he's ever wanted to tell, and in a lot of ways it is.  It was pretty awesome when Sylar and Nathan Petrelli did it in the fourth season of Heroes, too.  

Doctor Spider-Man really exists because of the Brand New Day era, where everything old was made new again, which somehow left dear Otto on the verge of death for years, constantly attempting one last desperate ploy after another.  Slott himself, once he launched his Big Time era, seemed to leave Otto out of his plans, and now here he is, in the middle of the biggest plan of them all.  All pretty shocking for an iconic villain who starred in the most popular of the Spider-Man movies.

Everyone knows that Peter will get his body back.  Will Otto have changed at all when he's evicted from his superior footing?  Will he even survive?  Only time will tell.  Fascinating stuff told tolerably well in the meantime...

The Amazing Spider-Man #673

writer: Dan Slott
artist: Stefano Caselli

I still want to go on record as stating that Slott is easily the best option to go with as a successor to the team that wrote Brand New Day for a couple of years, as he's exceedingly imaginative, and that's important when you're writing a character with as big an ADHD problem and complete lack of introspection as the legendary Spider-Man, and so I initially welcomed Big Time with open arms. Perhaps my biggest problem is that I had to par down my comics reading around that same time (before QUITTING COMICS ALTOGETHER this year), and so never really got into the feel of what he intended to do past giving Peter a job that actually made sense. This is the first regular issue of the comic that I've read in 2011 (aside from a Free Comic Book Day edition). It happens to follow Spidey's first big crossover event (ever?), Spider-Island, and is in fact the epilogue. Everyone in New York (or at least the part that was affected) is transitioning back to their normal lives, and that partially involves setting up the new Scarlet Spider, and reflects on the continuing efforts to keep Peter and MJ apart for reasons that no longer seem natural.