Showing posts with label Dan Slott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Slott. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Morbius the Living Vampire (2013) # 1-9, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) # 699.1


(I originally read these comics in mid November 2016)

After escaping from super-prison the Raft in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man # 699.1, occasional, mostly reluctant Spider-Man antagonist Morbius the Living Vampire settles in the slum area of Brownsville, New York. He soon crosses punk gang leader Noah St. Germain who has mysterious backing, gets blasted in the chest with a shotgun, recovers (obviously) and befriends a street urchin. From here, Morby is gradually established as Brownsville's protector. 


   
  
  


I was halfway through reading this series when it dawned on me I didn't care about the story or the cast. And I'm a Morbius fan. The real Morbius, that is. Though he's still prone to the occasional bout of throat-ripping, make no mistake this is a watered-down, prettified version of the character. (He even lacks the pug nose that Gil Kane originally endowed him with, no doubt so he could draw up-the-nostrils shots from any angle.) The comic as a whole is bland, choosing to depict Michael as a hoodie-wearing bum and playing down any horror aspects. His fellow slum residents (mostly noble minority types, of course) are also far too accepting of a chalk-white, red-eyed bloodsucker amongst them for it to remain credible. Things take a super-heroic turn halfway through with the reveal of St. Germain's benefactor (SPOILER: It's the Rose. Or a Rose, whatever...) and a two-issue guest spot from the Superior Spider-Man. It's around this time Morbius gets an updated costume, no doubt another low sales-inspired concession to traditional, super-hero storytelling. It's too little too late, though, and the series was prematurely truncated after the ninth issue. Writer Joe Keatinge at least gets to wrap everything up neatly and even allows a little ray of hope to penetrate the roiling, black sky of our tortured protagonist's life, but I wouldn't be tempted to seek out more of his work based on this. However the art, mostly by Richard Elson, is very attractive. It's just a shame he never got to illustrate the Morbius I know, ie, the one presented on the first issue cover to (blood)sucker in the horror freaks. 

Morbius the Living Vampire lacks bite. ...Yeah, I said it.


As an extra, here's Ed McGuinness' variant cover for Morbius the Living Vampire #1.




Amazing Spider-Man (1963) # 699.1 and Morbius the Living Vampire (2013) # 1-9 are collected in:

Softcover:

Morbius the Living Vampire (2013) # 1 is collected in:

Hardcover:



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Friday, 14 October 2016

Amazing Spider-Man (2014) # 1, 1.1-1.5


(I originally read these comics in early December 2015)

'Learning to Crawl' is a miniseries by current Spider-Man writer Dan Slott and a retroactive tale that fits between the gaps of Amazing Spider-Man # 1 and 2. It's the old, "You only knew HALF the story" schtick, but is quite enjoyable nonetheless. Peter is already Spider-Man and is in the early 'TV star' stage of his career. The focus is as much on Clash, a Spidey-inspired new hero who nevertheless due to his own envy and desperate need to prove himself ends up being dubbed a villain. 


  
  


(I included the Amazing Spider-Man (2014) # 1 variant cover by Alex Ross here as I'll be damned if I'm gonna desecrate this blog with Humberto Ramos "art.")


Amazing Spider-Man (2014) # 1/1.1-1.5 are collected in:

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Softcover:



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Monday, 19 September 2016

Incredible Hulk (1968) # 426-467, Prime versus the Incredible Hulk (1995) # 0, The Savage Hulk (1996), Cutting Edge (1996) # 1, Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed (1996) # 1, Hulk/Pitt (1996), Incredible Hulk: The End (2002), Doc Samson (1995) # 1-4, Abominations (1996) # 1-3


(I originally read these comics in early/mid July 2015)

Finally finished reading Peter David's run on 'The Incredible Hulk,' a run which lasted eleven years. It's often held up as being the best Hulk run ever but I can't help thinking he stayed on it at least 30-35 issues too long, as his final few years are mediocre and meandering. To be fair, some of this coincides with the editorially-mandated 'Onslaught' crossover, where Marvel's non-mutant heroes were whisked away to a "pocket universe" for a year in a bid to revitalise their flagging sales. Banner is separated from the Hulk in the process and there's a feeling of the comic just biding time till he comes back. 


   
   


Notable events during the run include Nick Fury being killed by the Punisher (which actually takes place outside of the Hulk title, in the 'Double Edge: Omega' book, though his funeral is in Hulk # 434), the return from death of General 'Thunderbolt' Ross after having been killed off over a hundred issues previously (# 330) and the death of Betty Banner via radiation poisoning in David's penultimate issue, # 466. She wouldn't stay dead either... *Sigh*


  
   
 
  


'What Savage Beast' is a novel which utilises plotlines David was forbidden from using in the comic. It was probably a mistake for me to read this now as although it picks up from the comic storyline, it subsequently spins off into its own continuity that can't possibly be reconciled with the comic. However, some minor aspects of the novel are later recycled in the monthly. I'd actually read the novel before, years ago, with little prior knowledge of the comic at the time, and had enjoyed it thoroughly, though slightly less so this time. The cover of the paperback edition makes the bold claim that "the characters have never been written better," and it's probably right. It's almost four hundred pages long, but I read it in five days.




The Doc Samson limited series (the first; a second followed in 2006) is an early work by Dan Slott and is utter crap. The 'Abominations' one, a sequel to 1992's dystopian 'Future Imperfect' series, isn't any better. 


   
   
   
    
   
 
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   


'The End,' published four years after Peter David's ousting from the main title, presents a 'Last Man on Earth' scenario with an aged Bruce Banner the sole survivor of a nuclear conflagration only because the Hulk inside refuses to let him die. Dale Keown provides lush pencils but the caption-heavy script betrays its origins as a prose vignette in which not much actually happens.


Incredible Hulk (1968) # 426 is collected in:

Softcover:

Incredible Hulk (1968) # 444/445, Cable (1993) # 34 and Onslaught: Marvel Universe # 1 are collected in:

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Softcover:

Incredible Hulk (1968) # 444 and Cable (1993) # 34 are collected in:

Softcover:

Incredible Hulk (1968) # 445 is collected in:

Softcover:

Onslaught: Marvel Universe (1996) # 1 is collected in:

Softcover:

Incredible Hulk (1968) # 449 is collected in:

Softcover:

Hulk: The End (2002) is collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:



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