A little bit of peace and quiet

Kids are away to Grandma's house for a few days, so for the first time in a bit I have some quiet time of my own in the house. Hopefully mixed with some Claritin will keep me headache free for a few days. I have a bit of writing to get done this morning, some reviews to post for Super Powered Fiction and then more editing to do, so it isn't like I don't have anything to keep me busy.

Saw Amazing Spider-Man with the oldest daughter last week. I quite enjoyed the film and will probably have a review up sometime later this week at SPF. Garfield makes a solid Spider-Man and a much better Peter than Maguire ever did.

Anyway, off for a bit of food and some work time.

Weekend Con Round up!

It has been made official in today’s Cup O’ Joe panel, Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman of the amazing Atlas will be taking over Hulk. Which means I may just be buying my first Hulk title in over a decade.

The Crossgen Sigil and the year 2011 also made an appearance at the panel, which for long time Crossgen fans like myself is nothing but good news.

Alt-adult site SuicideGirls.com is getting its own comic from IDW with both Steve Niles and Cameron Stewart on board. John Byrne will be the next creator on the Jurassic Park comic. A Bleeding Cool rumor proved true as they announced a new Rocketeer title with an all star lineup of creators. Though apparently slated for the far-away date of December 2011, another personal favorite of mine will be returning at IDW: John Byrne’s Next Man, an all new run by Byrne himself. They finish up with the strangest announcement: a crossover called “Infestation” that ties their licensed books like G.I.Joe, Transformers, Star Trek, CVO, and Ghostbusters together and which may very well be zombie related. Odd.

In the most awesome of awesome video game news (and super-power related at least) is the announcement of new crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken. The awesomenest oozes from the very idea.

The new seventies-style exploitation trailer is extremely red band and makes it clear that Machete is nigh superhuman in his abilities as well. Do to its graphic nature I won’t post a direct link here, but you can check it out at Topless Robot.

The Spider-Man panel also confirmed another major Bleeding Cool rumor, with Amazing Spider-Man going biweekly with Dan Slott as the solo writer under the new banner name “Big Time”. Carnage and Norman Osborn will both get minis as well.

Vertigo announced that most of its former DC characters will be returning to the DCU. What this means for the futures of House of Mystery and Hellblazer is anyone’s guess.

Oh, and Marvel was daring enough to put the Infinity Gauntlet on display for everyone. Thankfully no one stole it and used it to reshape the universe in their image.

Thursday Con Round-up!

Overall it has been a quiet convention so far without too many big new announcements. Most of the panels have focused on material already released or coming very soon. But a few announcements did make it out.

The final variant has been announced for the upcoming Spider-Man: Shattered Dimension video game. Joining the already announced 616 Spidey, Spider-Man Noir, and Spider-Man 2099 will be the black-costumed Ultimate Spider-Man. I am thoroughly excited about this one. Hopefully it plays as good as it looks. Video below.



Marvel also announced several new series: Power Man and Iron Fist by Fred Van Lente and Wellington Alves (featuring Iron Fist and the newly debuted Power Man), Ultimate Thor, Mark Waid back on Cap with Captain America: Man Out of Time, DNA producing Rocket Raccoon and Groot (with a cover by classic Rocket artist Mike Mignola), indy creator anthology Strange Tales II, a new ongoing in Captain America: Fighting Avenger treading the same all ages ground as the recent Thor the Mighty Avenger, and Atomic Robo’s Brian Clevinger writing Captain America: Hail Hydra. Does Cap have a movie coming out or something?

Mike Mignola returns to his second greatest work!

Apparently it wasn’t official yet, but it is now. Joss Whedon is the official director of Avengers.

DC has a “hardcore violent” Suicide Squad game in the works as well. A movie is in development as well, so whether or not they are related is still up in the air. In related news, who decided Suicide Squad was this strong of a franchise?

Super-Powered Comics: Diamond Destinations May 2010 (for July)

We are running behind with Diamond Destinations this month as I seek to play catch up on all my writing post-Script Frenzy. So let’s waste no time and go straight in to the Previews.

p. 24: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1: The classic Gold Key hero returns more than a decade after his Valiant incarnation came to an end. Doctor Solar is a character with great potential, a human with godlike powers and a fragile sense of his own humanity. Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan owes a lot to him, and much like in his Valiant incarnation, writer Jim Shooter knows it. This time his history seems less convoluted than at Valiant. With Dennis Calero’s masterful art, this one came off as a winner in its Free Comic Book Day preview. Let’s hope it stands just as tall when this series debuts.

p. 69: Brightest Day: The Atom Special #1: Ray Palmer gets a new lease on life at DC in this one shot. An interesting creative team is really the selling point here, as celebrated indy writer/artist Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Essex County) teams with former Dynamo 5 penciler Mahmud Asrar to bring the Atom’s further adventures, first here and then in the back-ups in Adventure Comics, also starting this month.

p. 78: Batman: Odyssey #1: I am probably an odd choice to push the merits of Neal Adams’ art. I came to know of the legendary caretor through his old Continuity Comics (pre-Deathwatch 2000, thank you very much). But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see him return to Batman with this six-issue limited series. And bravo to DC for continuing to know that if they want to charge me $4 for a book they better give me 40 pages.

p. 90: Mighty Crusaders #1: DC dropped the ball with their initial two Red Circle offerings. No one was going to jump on two books made up of completely unknown heroes for $4 each. But this second wave might have a better chance as the combined heroes of the Red Circle are now members of a government super team called the Mighty Crusaders. This is only a six issue limited, so I encourage everyone to give this book a try. I think DC has been hit or miss with the Red Circle characters, but this may very well be their last chance to shine.

p. 110: Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #1: I was a huge fan of this book’s initial 12 issue run. Let’s hope they can do as well the second time around.

p. 142: True Blood #1: I enjoy True Blood as a television series but I must express doubt as to its quality as a comic. That being said, David Tischman and David Messina are both solid talents, so you never know with this one.

p. 163: X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan #1: Chris Sims chose in his look at Previews to focus on the other book on this page, Pureheart the Powerful, another fine choice. But I am thoroughly excited to see X-9 by the great team of Goodwin and Williamson collected. I am more than a little disappointed at the continued price of $50 for many of these collections however. I really hope that IDW will realize some of us are on a budget and give us paperback follow ups to these hardcover editions.

p. 170-171: Invincible #75 and Walking Dead #75: I have made it clear I think that I am an unrepentant Robert Kirkman mark, so these two giant size issues have me excited beyond belief. And not just for the third Science Dog adventure. Kirkman likes to throw in big plot changers in his anniversary issues. Expect these two to be no different.

p. 178: Officer Downe: I know absolutely nothing about artist Chris Burnham, but I know Joe Casey can write some really crazy comics. And Burnham has provided this book with art I can only describe as Bruce Timm meets Geof Darrow. It looks freakin’ amazing.

p. 200: Artifacts #1 (of 13): Top Cow under Ron Marz has been building to this book literally for years. I don’t know how meritous it will prove to be, but I for one am just interested in seeing all of the 13 artifacts we were promised.

p. 220: Boneyard: Resurrected #1: I have read this series before, in black and white from NBM. From the sounds of it, I may have been the only one. Now Richard Moore has brought the book back, in color, through his new publishers Antarctic Press. If you haven’t read it before, I highly recommend you check the book out. Moore is an amazing artist, and his story of Michael Paris and the monsters of Raven’s Hollow is one well worth picking up.

p. 265: CBGB #1: I have no idea what the merits of a CBGB comic are, but this does feature a story by Phonogram’s Kieron Gillen and a cover by the always amazing Jaime Hernandez that was worth sharing IMHO.

p. 276: Pat Lee’s Widow Warriors #1: It is rare that I will single out a comic for this reason, but I highly recommend everyone avoid this comic. Pat Less has prven himself one of the douchiest talents in comics, repeatedly taking the money and running. I am honestly disappointed to see Dynamite pick up this book.

p. 280: Green Hornet: Parallel Lives #1: Since I took time to tell you not to buy one of their books, I thought I would take a second to focus on one of their other new titles. I have enjoyed the relaunch of Green Hornet at Dynamite with Kevin Smith’s story starting rocky and really coming together, while Matt Wagner’s Year One was great from the get go. This one is a prequel to the upcoming movie, so make of that what you will. I will say it is written by a great young talent in Jai Nitz though.

p. 292: Avatar of the Futurians #1: I am not going to lie and say that its title is not based on marketing off a certain record-setting motion picture, but I will say that this book does bring back Dave Cockrum’s classic superteam. I own every other issue of the Futurians (all eight) and always thought they were loaded with potential. I hope the new creative team of DAvid Miller and Greg LaRocque can bring out all the potential these characters were loaded with from the beginning.

p.312: I am Legion: John Cassaday draws some really pretty things, and this is a collection of 144 pages of those pretty things. Don’t ask me what its about. Something with World War II and the supernatural. All I know is it was released in France years ago, and has been partially released in America at two different times. This will be the very first time anyone can get the entire series in one package.

p. 314 & 315: Captain Action Season Two #1 and Honey West #1: Two new series from Moonstone continue their tradition of pulp excellence. The classic sixties toy line and the classic spy series are both getting new leases on life there, and I am thoroughly excited about both. But Honey West in the hands of Trina Robbins and Cynthia Martin really stands out as being potentially amazing.

p. 321: Sixth Gun #2: I loved the Free Comic Book Day first issue of this western book, and highly recommend it for fans of supernatural genre benders like Hellboy and The Goon. If you missed the first issue at your comic shop, they are also re-releasing it on the facing page.

p. 322: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour: It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway. Buy this book.

p. 328-29: Hotwire: Deep Cut #1: In the last couple years, Steve Pugh has developed one of the most gorgeous art styles of anyone anywhere. It is on full display here, as he writes and draws the sequel to the series he co-created with Warren Ellis.

p. 362: Back Issue #42: Regular readers have seen me down this route before, but I cannot recommend this magazine enough. This month’s theme is the Wild West, complete with a Jonah Hex cover.

p. 380: Peeping Spidey: I cannot say for sure what it is, but I really love this Marvel t-shirt. Good stuff.

p. 429: Star Wars Chopsticks: After months of delay, these things are finally coming out. And I declare them awesome.

Pulp-Powered Comics: The Perhapanauts

This week I am going to take some time to focus on a few more modern interpretations of the pulp genre. First stop: The Perhapanauts.

More accurately titled Todd and Craig’s The Perhapanauts, the comic first debuted in 2006 as a four issue limited series from Dark Horse Comics. It returned as another limited series a few months later before moving to Image for its current (sporadic) edition.

The book treads a lot of ground with its concept: a secret government agency devoted to unlocking the secrets of cryptids, strange beings that populate the earth in unexplained ways: bigfoot, chupacabra, ghosts, and the like. What makes the Fearless Five-esque unit fun is that they represent those cryptids. Bigfoot (nicknamed Big), the Chupacabra (nicknamed Choopie) and a ghost named Molly are all members of our main team. The mystery guy MG (clever initials there) and team leader Arisa (a psychic) round out the team.

The book tends to take the team’s adventures literally everywhere as they seek to uncover the truth and often haphazardly stumble their way through each adventure. They meet monsters from the Chimaera to the Jersey Demon to Filipino vampire known as the aswang.

In some ways it is similar to the early stories of its fellow modern pulp Hellboy, only The Perhapanauts never gets half as grim as Mike Mignola’s creation. Writer Todd DeZago (Tellos, Sensational Spider-Man) brings a lighter, more exciting prose style to the book. Impulse and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane artist Craig Rousseau’s light pen work and deft character designs turns DeZago’s words in to page after stunning page, all colored perfect by Rico Renzi. The book looks good and can best be compared to the adult cartoonish style of Powers’ Michael Avon Oeming.

After its move to Image, the book failed to bring in enough money for the team to keep it afloat as a monthly title. A few issues have been published sporadically, but Rousseau seems to have moved on to work for Marvel, including the recent debut of Marvel Her-Oes, the worst titled comic since Giant Sized Man-Thing. Trades are still available though, and I highly recommend them to anyone that enjoys a good comic or a good heroic pulp. Highly Recommended.

Note on the links: Though its labeled as volume one, Triangle is actually the third book in the series. First Blood and Second Chances come before it.

Pulp-Powered Comics: Spider-Man Noir

While X-Men Noir told a crime tale featuring various unpowered X-characters filling in the roles, Spider-Man Noir clearly shows that Marvel doesn’t know what the word Noir means. Despite the cool black and white cover, this isn’t Noir. It is pure unadulterated pulp.

Peter Parker is a kid with a union rabble rousing aunt and a dead uncle. He lives in a crime ridden New York, where everything and everyone is controlled by the crime boss Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Goblin. When Pete meets Ben Urich, the reporter takes him under his wing, and the tale really gets going.

Because when Peter learns that the corruption the city faces pervades the police, the newspapers, and even city hall, he begins to understand that only a rogue can stop the Goblin and his freak show minions. Granted a new agility and the ability to cast webs by some kind of spider deity, Peter becomes the black-clad vigilante known as the Spider-Man.

While bad things often happen to good people over the course of our tale, Spider-Man remains a beacon of hope for the city, even as he questions whether to become a killer or not. He quickly puts a damper on the Goblin’s criminal enterprises... which quickly leads to a battle between Spider-Man, the Goblin, and the Goblin’s henchmen like Kraven and the Vulture.

The book is a lot of fun while remaining a great tale. I am unfamiliar with co-writer Fabrice Sapolsky, but David Hine has made a name for himself as a quality down-to-earth style writer. He really shines here, especially with the art of the terrific but hard to spell Carmine Di Giandomenico who previous did some great work on both X-Men: Magneto Testament and the Amazing Fantasy story arc “Vegas”.

The book concludes with some really amazing concept art. I honestly only have one complaint about this collection. Marvel decided to collect this in a smaller cut format, slightly larger than the low price Marvel Adventures cut. But this book is still priced a little high at $14.99. It is still cheaper than the original $4 price for each of the original four issues, especially when discounted by your favorite online bookseller. Still I loved this book and would give it a Highly Recommended.

Oh, and talk about timely, it was just announced that the Noir version will appear in the new Spider-Man game.

Super-Powered Comics: Death of Superman

A note before we get started: Take the Helm’s sister sites are now back online. Sorry for the inconvenience, folks!

The death of Superman goes down in history as one of the greatest marketing events in comic history. At the time, the media didn’t know how to respond to such a story. Despite what just about ever comic fan knew, tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of people thought Superman would soon be gone for good. This drove sales of the Doomsday issues to epic levels. It would be about six months before the one true Superman returned, but in the process the four creative teams of the Superman titles made a unique sprawling epic out of the story.

Sure, the marketing of the comic left a lot of bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth. And subsequent attempts to replicate the concept (Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Spider-Man and the Clone Saga, and even Knightfall/Knightquest) proved to not be as good. But those series failed where Superman’s saga succeeded. Why? You could give any number of reasons, but I will say good planning. Superman’s death and return had a clear beginning, middle, and end. The follow-ups failed (or at least ridiculously delayed) to give the readers the closure they wanted for the concept.

The saga is collected in three trades and I will cover each in turn. It begins with the aptly title The Death of Superman. No title could get more to the point. DC created a character that became synonymous with nineties storytelling in the form of Doomsday. The near-mindless killing machine possessed no origin, no reason for its actions, and no reason to exist beyond being the vehicle of Superman’s demise. Or so it seemed to much later, when his creator Dan Jurgens finally revealed his origins.

But that’s another story. This is about Superman’s death. Over six issues of the Superman titles and one of Justice League America, Superman and his allies in the League battle the oncoming monster. This League, the post-Giffen team, consisted of Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, former Superman villain Maxima, and the exercise in nineties character naming, Bloodwynd (secretly a messed up in the head Martian Manhunter). Despite a decent level of power, the team didn’t work so well together. In the face of Doomsday’s power, they fell with relative ease.

Barring occasional aid by Guardian and Dubbilex of the Cadmus Project, Superman faces the monster alone. And Doomsday seems obsessed with making his way to Metropolis.

This leads to the final few chapters of the story as Superman and Doomsday spar again and again in a cross country battle. The fight ends in a ravaged Metropolis. In the end, Superman barely pulls out a victory over the beast, but at the cost of his own life.

The story is simple and pretty straight forward. At the time, fans hated how Doomsday just appeared to facilitate Superman’s death. I suspect they wanted background on the character and a reason for Superman to die at Doomsday’s hand. But those really aren’t important yet. There would be plenty of time later for long time fans to learn the origins of Doomsday.

The goal was Superman’s death. And in the true tradition of comics, that was just the beginning.

The Complete Clone Saga 8: Players & Pawns and Amazing Spider-Man 400

Spectacular Spider-Man 222 starts the 2 part “Players and Pawns”. We get a bunch of mystery builders in this one with Kaine confronting Jackal and the Scrier, Kaine confronting Peter, and Jackal confronting the Scarlet Spider but no real forward saga momentum. This would become a recurring theme during parts of the Clone Saga as villain-of-the-month plots creep in heavily.

Web of Spider-Man 123 concludes “Players and Pawns” and the fights from the last issue while releasing a third Peter Parker (shown briefly in the previous chapter) on the world. Between this and the annoying imp-like clone sidekick the Jackal has, this issue proves rather atrocious. Thankfully the Terry Kavanagh-written disaster (which may be a redundancy after looking back at much of Kavanagh’s writing career) would soon be mercifully put out of its (and our) misery.

These two issues lead in to the first big turning point of the Clone Saga: Amazing Spider-Man 400 (which comes complete with embossed cover). The issue puts its primary focus on none other than Aunt May. While we do get the revelation that Aunt May isn’t an idiot, she has known that Peter is Spidey for quite some time. But when we get to the story’s end and Aunt May’s death, we get the first big insult of the clone saga. Peter is gone when she dies, leaving the Spider-clone to fill in at her bedside. After thirty years of history, Peter Parker can’t even show up for the death. It serves as a prime example of the bad storytelling that would quickly turn off fans for months and years to come. After the funeral, things get even worse, as Peter is arrested for murder. Ben introduces himself to Mary Jane as the issue ends.

Issue 400 does come with two back-ups. The first is by DeMatteis, Romita Jr., and Romita. (Is this the first time Romita inked Romita Jr?) “The Parker Legacy” picks up directly after the events of Amazing Spider-Man 149 and tells the tale of Ben Reilly’s life. The second back-up is by DeMatteis, scripter Stan Lee, and the art team of Tom Grummett and Al Milgrom. This may be Grummett’s first Marvel work. I don’t know if it is Milgrom’s inks or just an attempt to ape Bagley, but his usually fantastic art looks horrible here. The story is basically a retelling of why Peter never told Aunt May, a story which serves little purpose in this issue. It feels mostly like an add-on just to get Stan Lee’s name in the solicitation copy.

Next time we move in to the post-May era with “Aftershocks”.

Super-Powered Comics: Dark Avengers Assemble

Thanks once again to the fine folks at my local library, I have had the chance to check out the beginning of Marvel’s “Dark Reign” from its focal point, Dark Avengers. Specifically the trade of the first six issues, titled “Assembled”.

The first issue is spent just assembling the new team. In case you haven’t heard, the Dark Avengers are sort of a reverse Thunderbolts, a bunch of criminals dressed up as heroes but still distinctly evil. Two members of Iron Man’s Mighty Avengers hold over, the war god Ares and the Sentry, a character too messed up in the head to go anywhere else. In addition, we have Spider-Man (really the Venom symbiote wearing Mac Gargan), Hawkeye (the assassin Bullseye), Ms. Marvel (former Thunderbolt Moonstone), Captain Marvel (Noh-Varr, the former Marvel Boy), and Wolverine (Logan’s son Daken). Led by new head of HAMMER Norman Osborn in his guise as the Iron Patriot, they are the new generation of Avengers.

Never do we really get an explanation of why Norman decided to go this route. He may have had to work for it, but other Marvel books clearly show that he could have formed a team of less famous but more stable (and manageable) actual heroes. He could probably still keep Moonstone and Daken around with little or no trouble and avoid the high probability of Venom or Bullseye going crazy. But clearly the concept is more important than the reasoning, as we quickly move on to the team’s first (secret) mission: to save Doctor Doom from a crazed Morgan Le Fey.

Now as far as I know the last time we saw Morgan was in the first few issues of Kurt Busiek’s Avengers relaunch in the late nineties. That story gave us a near pitch perfect story starring every Avenger on the roster facing an epic time-warping threat. Here we get some demons and an unkillable woman hellbent on Doom’s destruction. She does a lot of damage, the Avengers kill her repeatedly, and a few issues are wasted on what is basically an extended fight with the team’s own idiocy. I suppose this is supposed to show the team’s inability to work together, but all it shows me is that anyone who bought this wasted $12 for these three issues.

Issue five is straight forward Bendis at work. Norman goes on television for an interview about his history as the Green Goblin and the identity of his Avengers. The other team members interact, mostly like twelve year old schoolboys, with the exception of Noh-Varr and Moonstone, who retreat to her bedroom. Noh-Varr learns that the other “heroes” are really villains and leaves.

Issue six closes the trade with the Sentry murdering an entire legion of Atlantean dissidents. We get another brief meeting of Osborn’s Cabal and hints that Osborn’s Green Goblin persona is pushing for control once again.

Writer Brian Michale Bendis likes his decompression, but I have to say that I would feel gypped if I spent $4 an issue for this at their LCS. Even with my library grab, I feel like I am not getting as much story as this trade should have. The story here seems pointless and far from the flagship of an entire line of titles. If this was my only view of Dark Reign, I would say “:No thanks”. Even though Mike Deodato produces art far and away better than anything he has done before, this book still falls flat on its face. Not Recommended.

The Complete Clone Saga 7: Smoke & Mirror

“Smoke & Mirror” brings the separate stories back together as the deadly Jackal begins to show he is just as alive as Ben Reilly! During a terrible snowstorm, Scarlet Spider comes under attack by the Jackal’s genetically engineered minions and is left unconscious.

Part two in Amazing-Spider-Man 399 opens with a brief scene expanding the mystery of Kaine as the killer vigilante speaks with the mysterious Scrier. Spider-Man finds the downed Scarlet Spider and helps him get his wits about him. The Jackal finally appears and claims that both men are in fact clones. Any fight gets broken down as Jackal takes another figure out of suspended animation: a woman he claims is the original Gwen Stacy!

Part three erases the erasure of the Clone Saga in an earlier “Evolutionary War” annual. The High Evolutionary’s revelations were all fabrications, but to what purpose we do not learn. Peter hugs Gwen, but she quickly suffers a case of clone degeneration. Jackal escapes and leaves the two Spiders with still more questions about their own identities.

Up Next: “Players & Pawns”.

Comics of Yesteryear: Todd MacFarlane's Spider-Man Torment

We are back with a few Christmas week reviews, as Super-Powered Fiction Files finally makes its full fledged return. This week we will take a look back at comics past as we travel through the Comics of Yesteryear.

In the early nineties, comics were very, very different. A speculators’ market was growing, the industry was still selling hundreds of thousands of comics, and superstar artists were taking the market by storm. Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, and Mark Silvestri all came out of the X-books, but Amazing Spider-Man’s Todd MacFarlane was arguably the biggest of them all. So big that when he expressed an interest in writing, Marvel gave him his own new series, simply titled Spider-Man to test his skills in.

As his first foray in to writing, Todd MacFarlane’s Spider-Man: Torment could be far, far worse. Basically an overly drawn out battle between Spider-Man and the Lizard (with a little bit of Calypso on the side), the story would do early 2000’s Marvel proud for its level of decompression. It takes to half-way in to the second issue just for the primary two players to meet. From there, they just keep bouncing around the city, never fighting for more than a couple pages.

Throughout it all, the story is buried under narration so heavy even Chris Claremont would blush. His early Spawn issues may have been wordy, but they offered nothing in comparison to Torment. Check out the page below, and this is not the worst offender by far:



It seems odd that an artist, especially one as popular as MacFarlane would choose to obscure so much of his art with superfulous dialogue. But this book was an exercise in excess. I highly doubt the editor ever said no to his writer/artist. They were both too busy counting their cash.

The art is stupendous. This is probably MacFarlane at his finest, after having honed his craft on Amazing Spider-Man for years. Every page seems to ooze energy from it, even if some of the layouts may make your head wobble a bit. And I do recall this book really made me question what the Comics Coude Authority was for:



Yup, that seems code approved and child friendly.

Despite its flaws, Torment is worth having just for art and the history related to it. The first issue of this book broke records, selling more than 2.5 million copies, a record at the time. Marvel collected it in to a Premiere Hardcover earlier this year. I have yet to see it, but the company usually gives a solid level of production quality for these editions. Give it a looksee sometime when you’re in the bookstore if you appreciate good comic art. Maybe even pick that baby up. Mildly Recommended.

The Complete Clone Saga 6: Funeral for the Octopus

Before we continue with the main storyline of the Clone Saga, a few digressions pop-up. First, Spider-Man artist Tom Lyle writes the eighth issue of Spider-Man Unlimited, drawn by Ron Lim. And in a true bit of eeriness, the story revolves around an attempt to blow up the World Trade Center. And just to add some tension, Mary Jane is among the hostages taken. Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider both go to the tower to settle different scores. They never quite meet, but they both take out their own members of the criminal Terror Unlimited and save the city in the process. Nothing overly ambitious here, and excepting the eeriness of a WTC attack plot, nothing of note.

After those events, we move on to the three issues of Spider-Man: Funeral For an Octopus. In the aftermath of his cure, Peter Parker must deal with the ramifications of Otto Octavius’ death, while Ben Reilly has uncovered a mini-arms race, as an evil businessman as well as four of Doc’s allies in the Sinister Six are all after Doctor Octopus’s weapon cache. As the first issue ends, the Scarlet Spider confronts the combined forces of Vulture, Mysterio, Hobgoblin, and Elektro.

Issue two is for the most part a prolonged fight scene as Scarlet Spider battles the four remaining members of the Sinister Six. He is no match for the combined might and gets left under a crumbled roof. The villains attack a government building looking for Octavius’ weapons. Spider-Man stops them and retrieves an extra pair of Doc Ock’s arms. With their aid, he holds his own. But the arms malfunction and start dragging him away from the battle to parts unknown. As the issue ends, the villains have their own problem... as Kaine arrives!

The arms are running amok outside and attack the security detail at the building. Scarlet Spider breaks free, even as Kaine prepares to slay Mysterio. But he finds that the costume is occupied only by a robotic dummy. He continues to fight Elektro. Spidey tears apart the harness to free himself from the wild octopus arms. He swings off and inadvertently saves Elektro from the mark of Kaine. Meanwhile, Mysterio is actually using his illusions to get the info on Octavius’ weapon from a wayward relative, but Scarlet Spider shows up and stops him. The story abruptly comes to an end here, as does this report.

Next time, back to regular continuity as the Spider-books officially go weekly with “Smoke and Mirror”.


Just as a reminder, I will be going in to Nanowrimo mode for November, so updates will be sparse.

The Complete Clone Saga 5: Web of Death

While Web of Life plays out for the Scarlet Spider, Web of Death occupies the time of our long-time Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Still dying (as he has been for months now), Spider-Man stumbles through the city and collapses as Amazing Spider-Man 397 begins. Doctor Octopus finds him, but refuses to kill him in his current pathetic state.

Stunner trashes a bar, only for Doc Ock to arrive and collect her. They romance for a bit before Stunner suddenly vanishes. A bit later, she beats down Spider-Man. Octopus arrives a bit later to unmask Peter as the first chapter wraps.

Chapter Two in Spectacular Spider-Man 220 (featuring the rock solid art team of Sal Buscema & Bill Sienkiewicz) has Doctor Octopus devote himself to find a cure for Peter. He does so because he cannot watch his greatest foe die at the hands of another, but even his scientific skills prove not to be a match for the poison in Peter’s veins. Kaine continues to stalk Mary Jane, but it isn’t until the final page that we get the surprise of the issue: MJ is pregnant!

Chapter Three is mostly filler, as Spidey celebrates his pregnant wife, worries about his dying aunt, and Doc Ock moves in the shadows. But finally Ock gives Spidey the cure, only for it to drop him to the floor. Peter proceeds to speak with both the recently deceased Nick Katzenberg and Aunt May, before he walks in to the light...

And in to chapter four! We open with chats with Richard and Mary Parker, a dream-state interrupted by the equally dead Norman Osborn (at least at this time). At the same time Doctor Octopus struggles to resuscitate Peter. His cure has worked, but not before Parker suffered heart failure. When Spider-Man awakens, he finds his foe is ready to renew their rivalry, a situation that flabbergasts Spidey. Doc is arrested, but rests assured that he will meet his enemy again. It proves not to be, as the mysterious Kaine first incapacitates Stunner, then attacks the convoy carrying Doc Ock. Otto fights back, but Kaine cracks his neck. Stunner arrives just in time to cradle her lover’s corpse.

And so, you have the first mistake of the Clone Saga. Say what you will about Spider-Man, Mary Jane, and the clone, but I think we can all agree that Doctor Octopus is an irreplaceable villain. Which becomes even more sad, as we move closer to meeting his replacement....

The Complete Clone Saga 4: Web of Life

Seems I am not the only one with an interest to relive the Clone Saga. Dan Slott, co-writer of Amazing Spider-Man, is bringing Ben Reilly back and with it comes a new limited series by Tom DeFalco and Howard Mackie retelling the Clone Saga. Who wants to bet half the characters get written out completely?

“Web of Life” opens with the Scarlet Spider in battle with both Tombstone and a group of terrorist. The Grim Hunter also begins his hunt for the Spider. Otherwise, not much happens. Meh.

Chapter two gives us more Kaine... and man, this guy was emo before emo was emo. Lots of whining and smashing things. In fact, so much of it, that Scarlet Spider looks positively upbeat in comparison. This chapter also gives us Seward Trainer, a scientist with a strange need to where spandex for a man who isn’t a superhero. Apparently, he is an old friend of ol’ Scarlety. Sadly, he will become far too involved in the inner workings of the Spider-books for the next couple years. We also get the first appearance of Phil Raven, the man who wants to arrest the Scarlet Spider for murder! But that story has another year or so to wait.

Chapter three opens with Kaine rescuing a homeless woman, showing us that he isn’t totally evil. But it doesn’t stop him from battling Ben Reilly, even attempting to kill our intrepid hero. But it all comes to a head when Grim Hunter arrives on the scene... with plans to kill Peter Parker. Only Scarlet Spider can hope to save his other self.

In the final chapter of “Web of Life” we finally meet Seward Trainer, even as Ben reveals more of his past dealings, and hatred, for the man known as Kaine. But in the end it comes down to a battle between Kaine and the Grim Hunter, a battle where the son of Kraven dies by Kaine’s hand.

“Web of Life” is where the Clone Saga starts to weaken. Instead of an ongoing saga following Ben, we instead get a lot of padding poorly disguised as “build-up”. But the story was far from over... even as we move over to the other two Spider-books and “Web of Life”.

All Apologies

As you may have noticed, Super-Powered Fiction Files has been down for a few days. No worries. I am working on several projects: getting caught up on my current serials at Metahuman Press, putting some letters on pages for the upcoming Arc comic project, working on the last few pages of the current (and next) Tales of the Living Legends strip.

Hopefully, we will be back up and running with new updates next week!

For now, ponder this:

see more Fail Blog

Super-Powered Web: Have your Own Spidey!

You too can have your own inflatable Spider-Man to protect your home and ride with you wherever you go!

That will be the last web digression for a few days... next week, we will be back with more (and more regular) reviews! Thanks for reading!

The Complete Clone Saga Part 2: Back From the Edge

Yes, I know I owe everyone a review of both last week’s Heroes as well as the current one, but I am behind on my television. Expect reviews of both and the first episode of Dollhouse in the near future. In the mean time, enjoy a look back at a not-so-fondly remembered piece of comics history.

Back From the Edge takes the classic Spidey back in to the lead as he must deal with Nocturne and Puma. With May in the hospital, Peter is dealing with the grief and rage that her sickness causes. This puts him in to a rather annoying Wolverine-style bouts of berserker rage. It sets up the fight between the bestial Puma and the enraged Spidey which goes pretty much nowhere. Thankfully this only takes up the first half of the storyline...

And then we get in to a fight with Daredevil. He questions Daredevil about the “death” of Matt Murdock (part of the Fall From Grace storyline that I will get around to reviewing sooner or later). He wants to end his own secret identity behind, leave his family and friends, and fall in to his current rage. But a battle with Vulture and the Owl leaves him poisoned and quite possibly on the way to death... but that of course doesn’t happen. Daredevil and Spidey team up to go after Vulture and the Owl, get the antidote, and cure Peter. In the process, he realizes his rage is a mistake and heads home to find Mary Jane.

Pretty run of the mill Spider-stuff, with nothing clone-oriented going on... but wait until next time as The Exile Returns...

Clone Saga I: Power & Responsibility

Although it’s been covered in more detail elsewhere, The Clone Saga is one of those storylines in comics history that is renowned for showing everything wrong with the era of comics from which it originated. But the mid-90’s are where I came in to comics, and I for one had a fond memory for some of the stories told back in those days. So, for better or worse, I have taken it upon myself to look back at the Clone Saga, one story arc at a time, and remember it for its good and bad. Expect this looks to pop up sporadically on the blog, as I check back in with all the back issues of the story.

The saga opened with “Power & Responsibility”, a our part crossover between all the Spider-books at the time. Aunt May is in the hospital again, Peter is on edge, Mary Jane is getting sick an awful lot, and Ravencroft Sanitarium is under attack by Judas Traveller and his minions. I remember being drawn in to the story of the Clone Saga less because of the clone than to Mr. Traveller himself. Judas seemed like a truly unique character in the Spider-Man stories; a character who carried the potential to be Spidey’s personal Dr. Doom. He was knowledgeable, cunning, manipulative, and absorbed with his own mysterious goals. What a great character that Marvel would eventually throw under the bus as the Clone Saga continued.

Behind its shiny foil covers “Power & Responsibility” really gave us little more than a standard superhero fight of the time period, albeit with the new twist of a second Spidey running around. But it was clear that the clone wasn’t just going to walk away again... and he would have a whole lot more story in the next couple years.

The back-ups by J.M. DeMatteis and Lima Sharp give us a bit of insight in to the mind of the clone (or is he the clone at all...) as we look at the events of Amazing Spider-Man 149 from his perspective. This serves as the real set-up for a lot of the upcoming storylines of the next six to eight months.

All in all, nothing to cry about so far. Good superhero fare with a whole heck of a lot of potential to open Spider-Man to go in interesting new directions. Too bad it would all just fall apart....

Aunt May fails

The fine folks at Failblog bring us today’s post.

I have nothing more to add to that.

Super-Powered Prose: Spider-Man The Venom Factor

Yes, I did say my first series of reviews was coming soon, just not yet. Hopefully I will have it up by sometime around the next MHP update.

Instead today we are going to look at a classic of licensed super-powered fiction. For much of the 1990’s Marvel produced several dozen novels in conjunction with Byron Preiss Multimedia. The first of these was Spider-Man: The Venom Factor by Diane Duane.

I own the first printing of the paperback edition of the book from November 1995. I remember waiting impatiently for the hardcover to go paperback so I could read it back then. I remembered it as a good read, but what I remembered more about it was the way it handled the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane.

A lot of controversy surrounds the (un)marriage of Peter and MJ these days, and a lot of the reasons I remember hearing for One More Day revolved around the challenges of writing a married character. I thought it was a load of crap when I heard it the first time. After all, some of the greatest dramatic works of our time focus on married couples. So how can we buy that marriage takes “the drama” out of Spider-Man’s life? Isn’t it really bad writing takes the drama out of Spider-Man’s life?

Diane Duane comes at The Venom Factor with a seemingly simple plan: write a compelling Spider-Man narrative that doesn’t shy away from using Mary Jane. So we get a simple formula: sections revolving around Peter/Spidey and sections revolving about Mary Jane. While Mary Jane desperately looks for acting work to help the Parkers make end’s meet, Peter uncovers a plot by Hobgoblin to blackmail the city for a billion dollars using a nuclear weapon. He also runs in to a massive black-skinned, murderous creature that is quickly mistaken for Eddie “Venom” Brock. This of course brings Eddie to town from his usual haunts in San Francisco to find out who or what is framing him for murder.

Spider-Man ends up in the middle of a massive mess of super-villains and sewer creatures, all while trying to stop the possible nuclear destruction of New York.

All in all we get some dramatic tension, lots of financial tension in the Parker household, and a compelling beginning of a three book series by Ms. Duane. Illustrations by Ron Lim open every chapter but despite his talent seem flat and uninspired. They don’t detract from the novel though, and the book definitely receives a Recommended from me.

You should be prepared to see more of these classic Boulevard/Byron Preiss Marvel novels covered in the next few months. I have been working my way through plenty of them in the last couple months and only plan to write more reviews of some excellent (and not so excellent) old novels.