Amazing Spiderman #648

          Amazing Spiderman has only been a decent series, the last arc was an improvement but it still wasn't enough to make this a great series. Spiderman is one of the more brilliant characters ever developed, and the only reason I've stayed with Amazing Spiderman as long as I have is purely because of the character, not the stories or the writing.
          In this issue Spiderman leads the Avengers into a city full of Dr. Octopus giant robots.But this is all a diversion for Chamilion and Electro to brake into an army base and plant some weird Doc Oc toys. Doctor Octopus then sets all of the giant robots to explode, and while Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic are trying to figure out what to do, Peter Parker (science wiz) figures it out. Michelle moves out of her apartment, and by doing so also kicks Peter out. At Raft Maximum Security Prison they are ripping the Venom from it's host for examination, and Peter gets a job at Horizon. Also Fisk sends the Hobgoblin to Horizon.
           I don't even know where to begin when I'm trying to describe how good this issue was. This is the issue I have been waiting for. The issue where Marvel says, here is Spiderman, here is Peter Parker, here is his life. Mainly what Marvel did was give structure to Spiderman again. While trying to make him relatable Marvel only succeded in making him complicated. He was hated by the mayor, an out of work photogropher, the whole thing with MJ, plus the whole thing with Michele and all of the evolving villains, somewhere along that road I just stopped caring. But now that his life is put back together I'm very happy. I also like that the "nerdy" part of Peter Parker is being shown again, it disappeared for a while, and with it part of Spiderman, but like many other things this issue, it's back. This issue also established a couple main villains are back in action, like Venom and Hobgoblin, and the little bit in here about Green Goblin. Besides that the writing in this was really good, and the art was extremely well done. This was a funny, happy issue, and I'm going to put it on the must buy list.




Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Captain America #605

           This was a fantastic conclusion to a fantastic story arch, one of the best I have ever seen in my comic reading years. In this issue Bucky broke free of the Bad Cap's control, (using his metal arm) and Falcon got in a helicopter and flew above to help defeat "Captain Un-America," before he blew up Hoover Dam. In this comic there was a couple thought bubbles that intrigued me very much.

[This is during the fight between Bucky and Bad Cap]

"My biggest problem here isn't the watchdogs or how strong this crazy cap is...
Or even the bomb their scientist is assembling.
No. My trouble is that I've read this guy's [bad cap's] secret file.
I know all about him
Well... Okay the bomb is a problem too
but this guy, he started out with the best intentions. As a patriot.
Wanted to be just like Cap an' me.
To fight for what's right
But the chemicals that made him a super-soldier drove him crazy...
Twisted him all around.
Turned him into a guy who's willing to use bombs to make a point.
And I know firsthand, a bomb only has one thing to say.
But somewhere inside this guy...
there's a good man who thinks he is doing the right thing."

For a while I had been wondering about villains like this, people who think that they are doing the right thing. What happens then? Especially for a WW11 character like Captain America, this comic related to WW11 a lot. Did Hitler think that he was doing the right thing? What was going through his head?
But even besides the relation to WW11 and Bucky's thought bubble, this comic was really good. One thing that I noticed when I went back to this comic, was the panels, I love the way they are thrown like cards onto the page, it makes the comic slightly more fun to read.
        There is one thing that I noticed and did not like. Flacon was talking to a scientist, and they were wondering how to get off a high speed train full of explosives, and then from nowhere he picks up a watchdog and interrogates him. (mind you that he already threw all the watchdogs off the train. But after thinking about that one panel for a while you disregard this and go back to praising the book. I am concerned that Captain America or even Marvel will  be able to top this story arc in the next ten to fifteen years.

Grade: A
buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Amazing Spiderman #628

                  This issue did not have a clever little plot, it was a guy named Captain Universe trying to blow past Spiderman and get to the Juggernaut. That was it really, except that you learned barley anything called the Enigma Force. I'm a huge DC fan, so I really like the Riddler, so I know what the word Enigma means.

enigma |iˈnigmə|
noun ( pl. -mas or -mata |-mətə|)a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.• a riddle or paradox

Really they just called them selves the Puzzling force, or the Difficult to Understand Force. I can put up with names as lame as Mr. America, but the Enigma Force, come on! But besides the lack of creativity that Marvel has, this comic was pretty good. I spend allot of my time trying to understand a difficult story, and it was nice to have just a random "beat-em-up." This issue reminded me of Superman Dooms-Day, and epic battle that goes across many cites with an indestructible man. One thing that I didn't like was that, after Captain Universe knocked him senseless, the Juggernaut lost his helmet, so he took an arm restraint and fashioned himself a new one. For one this restraint was not red, yet somehow the Juggernaut made it red, and second, it was absolutely perfect, smooth and everything, and I never imagined him to be a master sculptor. But those were only minor details, the rest of the comic was very good, and I was glad to see Parker's humor back. Lastly, Marvel always has this very block of color thing, and for some reason it really stood out to me this time and was easy on the eye, and ever since I thought that Marvel had messed up it's series I have been reading only DC, and they don't have that kind of color.


Grade: A-
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Marvel's Blackest Night

            I don't know what has gotten inside the head of the people at Marvel, but they need to straighten out and quickly. Hulk being red, and not Bruce Banner, Bucky being Captain America and Peter Parker being fierd. I don't know if Siege is their attempt at bringing back the old Marvel Universe that I used to know and love. (I used to like Marvel better than DC, now it is the opposite, and very, very in favor of DC) Manly I want the recreation of the Hulk, Now that Abomination out of the way, it will be easier to make him his own villain, but before we get their, Marvel has to make Bruce Banner the Hulk again. After that they have to fix the main characters of Marvel: Spiderman, Captain America. All I want, are two comic universes like the original ones.

Amazing Spiderman #623

             The title Amazing Spiderman, had lost its "pizzazz," well I am happy to say that this issue made up for all that.  This issue is just Hell on earth, Electro braking the Vulture out of prison, Vulture hunting down people who he thinks deformed him, and Spiderman is stuck fighting a reality show wannabe named Simple Simon. Vulture is seriously messed up, he hunts down a man, and nearly eats him, but the almost entrée redirects the Vulture, saying that the person to blame for his disfigurement was J. Jonah Jameson. Of course, the new Vulture goes to his office and takes him.
            One thing that I like about this comic is that the tables have turned with Spiderman and mayor Jameson, now people are blaming him for the creation of not just the Vulture, but the Scorpion as well.
            The art in this comic is to be praised, it almost looks like the illustrator took a picture of the background and then drew in the characters. I usually thank the penciler for the art, but in this case it has to be the colorist, Andres Mossa is the best colorist I have ever seen.
              I hope the character Simple Simon returns. I don't want it to be even the Killer Moth for Spiderman, more like KGBeast, their but not constant. It would be cool to see a villain, who is villain just to be on a reality TV show. I know that the idea has probably been used before, but this character is just to ridiculous to pass on.
             The last person I want to thank, well actually two people, Michael Lark & Jodi Wynnee, the makers of the cover. It was simple, to the point and vibrant. What could be better?

Grade: B+
buy at: www.mycomicshop.com