Avenging Spider-Man #21

Hey OSGuys and OSGals, it's your favorite blogger, JT, with my second review of the week. The last issue of Avenging left off with Spidey about to face to Hulk, while pursuing Chameleon, as he wore a dead Doctor's face.

Avenging Spider-Man #21

Summary: In this issue, Spider-Man frantically tried to find Chameleon while the Helicarrier was attacked by Russians and guys that wore masks and could burn you with their hands. Superior Spider-Man was delayed by The Hulk, but Hulk was soon distracted and then blown off of the Helicarrier by a missile from the Russians that attacked from outside. With Hulk out of the way, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury make short work of the attackers, which allows Spidey to pursue the Chameleon, still posing as a Doctor. Spidey tries to talk to Chameleon, saying he was never this blood thirsty and that he's his responsibility, but Chamaleon gets the drop on a distracted Spidey and stabs him with a syringe. Spidey goes after him and runs into one of the mask-wearing Russians, and manages to knock him out as well as Chameleon. Spidey uses the communicator that the Russian was wearing and sends both unconscious men, the Russian and Chameleon, to the base where he's holding his other former teammates. He then tells Fury that the Russians got Chameleon and teleported him to a nearby enemy ship, so they blow it out of the sky, leaving everyone to think that the Chameleon is dead.

Thoughts: This arc really didn't do it for me. I just couldn't get into the secrets and the Russians attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. and Chameleon only wearing one face for the entire time. It's just odd to me that for the issues with The X-Men team up or the one with Thor vs. Electro, we basically got one issue, self contained stories, but for this story it was two issues, which didn't really seem necessary. But That's my opinion. All in all, this issue wasn't bad but it was far from great or memorable for me.

Score: 5.5/10

Best of the Rest! May 8th edition.

It's Monday, which means it's time for a brand spanking new Best of the Rest post.  As usual, I'll bust out a few reviews, followed by JT, who will bust out a few reviews of his own, but in blue text.  Considering the relatively small comic haul for both JT and myself, this post shouldn't be as long as the past couple of been.  Okay, let's see which comic is up first for me...

Walking Dead #110: Rick takes a group of people to the Kingdom to meet Ezekiel and his group.  Meanwhile, Jesus prevents Kal from betraying everybody to Negan and the Saviors.  Michonne is initially pissed by Ezekiel's king act, but the two have a nice little heart-to-heart and seem to get along very well.  Once we got past the Jesus stuff, this issue slowed way down.  It does turn out that I like Ezekiel now!  Kirkman did a great job of filling out his character, which means one of two things...  Either a) he's going to die next issue, or b) he's going to betray Rick and company to the Saviors.  Hopefully neither thing happens, but after reading as much of this series as I have?  I would not be surprised.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #4: AIM sends the stolen Iron Patriot armor loose, at which time it begins attacking individuals who had been targeted by America.  To avoid a diplomatic incident, SHIELD sends Hulk to destroy the renegade armor.  On top of that, SHIELD sends Nick Fury Jr, Mockingbird, Black Widow and Hawkeye to AIM Island to assassinate the Scientist Supreme.  Meh, meh, and double meh.  I swear, the name Secret Avengers is cursed for me...  Regardless of who the writer is, or how much I enjoy their work, without fail, I can never get into this series...  This one is getting dangerously close to the chopping block...  Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Superboy #20: Dr. Psycho enlists Superboy's help in dealing with HIVE, which had sent agents after Psycho, who has gone rogue from them.  Yeah, and that's it.  Nothing much to say about this one, actually... It seems as if SB randomly bounces from one clandestine organization to another.  Plus we all know Psycho is going to betray SB!  There's one of the failings of the New 52, introducing a brand new character would work way better than slotting Psycho here, who will undoubtedly turn of SB.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Ultimates #24: Cap learns that the leader of California was planning on blowing Sacramento up and heads there.  Meanwhile, Iron Man escapes from the Californian leader and meets Cap in Sacramento   Finally, Thor and Invisible Woman join the two and the four(okay, mainly Thor, Sue and Iron Man) manage to prevent the Stark Space Station from obliterating the city.  This one ends with Cap deciding he didn't want to be president anymore since he was a soldier, not a politician.  I enjoyed this one.  We still have a threat in California and the West Coast Ultimates, and Cap has stepped down, which was pretty much a given.  Good stuff here!  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Avengers Assemble #15AU: This takes place in Jolly Ol' London, where the only heroes left are Capt. Marvel, Capt. Britain, some woman named Excalibur, who is a healer, a guy named Computer Graham, who can enter computers, and a girl who has magic soccer(or I guess in this case, football) powers...  Yep, really...  Poor, poor London...  Anyway, I've already wasted enough time on this rubbish(hey, when in Rome...).  Basically Ultron kills everybody who tries to fight him.  The end.  Yeah, I picked this comic up on a whim and am now cursing myself for wasting the money...  This comic was all sorts of terrible...  A girl with magic soccer powers...  Yeah, that's all for me...  Score: 2 out of 10.

Avenging Spider-Man #20: I can't believe this series is at issue twenty already! Anyway, let's do this. This issue features Superior Spider-Man visiting the SHIELD Helicarrier after he stops a bunch of A.I.M. soldiers/scientists/nerds. It just so happens he's done so while Black Widow and Hawkeye are there for Secret Avenger stuff, while Dr. Bruce Banner is on board, and while the Russians have sent people to kill Chameleon so he doesn't leak government secrets. Spider-Man is there to free Chameleon because he's collecting real life Sinister Six trading cards, and sends his Spider-Bots to find him and cut the power. Before he can get to him, the Helicarrier is invaded by two dudes with skulls for faces that can burn you with their touch. Spidey heads to find Chameleon and finds bodies in his wake, and blames himself for their death's since he freed him, but quickly backtracks, saying if those guys hadn't invaded, he'd have had time to get there and stop Chameleon. We see Chameleon running to his freedom, wearing the face of his Doctor as Spider-Man heads off to find him and is confronted by none other than The Hulk! This was an interesting issue for me because I never really got into it. It just happened and here we are, I have no feelings either way which is kinda... bad if you think about it. Once again, this comic wasn't bad but I doubt I'll remember it this time next week. Score: 6/10

I know! I'm shocked too!!! I know you guys expected more reviews from me but hey, I'm a busy dude! Plus X took all the good books! :P Either way, expect a Throwback review from me tomorrow, and until then, this is JT, and my buddy X, signing off!

Avenging Spider-Man #19

Hey blog readers! It's a JT day so don't worry, you won't have to deal with X unless he unceremoniously crashes this review after I've set it to post. I wouldn't doubt it because he's become a thorn in my side, much like Peter to Doc Ock currently. And that beautiful segue was to get us here, so I could say, It's Avenging Spider-Man Time!

 Avenging Spider-Man #19

Summary: This issue gets underway with Spider-Man waking up in the middle of the street of an abandoned city. He quickly realizes things are not what they seem as he sees a version of himself as a child, Aunt May in a wedding dress, and he's suddenly attacked by a ghostly version of Peter Parker. This is interrupted by a giant Octopus attacking and the Superior Spider-Man is surprisingly afraid and tries to run away. As Spidey has this nightmare, we see in the real world he's basically being controlled while asleep, as he's fighting the Sleepwalker, as he desperately tries to wake Spider-Man up. In his dreams, Ock decides to try to attack this Octopus, which turns into a dark outline of Doctor Octopus, and reveals himself to be Doc Ock's father. The Superior Spider-Man in so scared he can't move, but he's saved by The Sleepwalker enters his nightmare and saves him, while also fighting Spider-Man's demon infested body. Yep... Turns out a Fear Worm (Yep...) had taken control of Doc while he was saving people from someone else it was controlling, and now The Sleepwalker has come to help him. Sleepwaker asks Spidey about all the Doc Ock stuff in his dreams, and Spidey quickly says it must be from guilt from not being able to save Ock before he died. When the Fear Worm returns, wearing Norbert Octavius' face, Doc Ock almost contemplates giving up because he's so afraid of his father, but fights back, saying Otto may have been afraid but he's not Otto, he's the Superior Spider-Man, as he beats the Fear Worm to a pulp, causing it to beg for mercy. Yep... Sleepwalker and Spidey destroy the worm and Sleepwalker apologizes to Spider-Man, which leads to Spidey saying it was his fault it happened and to do a better job keeping those things under control. The issue comes to an end with Ock remarking how he'd beaten that dream, but some things seemed so real, as we see the scene of Peter trying to take his body back from Doc Ock.

Thoughts: This issue was really miss for me. Maybe it's because I don't know much about the Sleepwalker, maybe it's because I immediately realized the fat kid was Otto but he didn't recognize himself as a kid until halfway through the issue... some genius. This issue just fell flat for me. It seemed kind of unnecessary, where at least the other issues Ock was rebuilding the Sinister Six, nothing really happened here. So, I can see some people enjoying this issue, I just wasn't one of them.

Score: 4/10

Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus was one of the greatest geniuses...
Sleepwalker: The Fat Guy with the arms, right?

Avenging Spider-Man #18

Hey all,  X here (and JT!) with one review on tap for tonight.  The book I'll be tackling has been 100% JT's up to this point, (meaning the reviews were awesome.) and that would be Avenging Spider-Man.  But if you saw the title of this post, you probably already knew that...  Anyway, here's hoping this issue is as strong as the previous few have been. (And the same for the review.)

Avenging Spider-Man #18:

Summary: Electro is back, and having been defeated by Thor during the Ends of the Earth storyline, wants revenge.  Having been monitoring for Electro's energy signature, Doc Spidey heads to Thor to warn him of Electro's return, and probable revenge scheme.  Thor simply laughs the warning off since he can't fathom Electro giving him any trouble. ( don't blame him, I would have done the same.) Doc Spidey is pissed about Thor's insolence and angrily leaves.  Meanwhile, Electro heads to AIM, who think they have a way to help him kill Thor. (Did they help for free or did he pay them or what?) Basically they turned him into an anti-matter version of himself, figuring Thor wouldn't be able to affect him. (That's....surprisingly genius.) Spidey ends up finding Electro at one of AIM's labs, but is a little too late, and Electro flies off to enact his revenge.  Spidey reaches Thor first, (HOW?!) and tries to warn him about Electro again, but once again, Thor shrugs the warning off.  At least until he is attacked and hurt by Electro.  Thor prepares to blast Electro with some lightning of his own, but is stopped by Spidey, who warns him that his positive electricity colliding with Electro's anti-matter could result in the destruction of all of New York State. (That's why you did this review... too much Science stuff, who am I, Walter White?) Spidey has a plan, but he needs time to put it into action, so Thor agrees to take a beating from Electro to buy Spidey the needed time.  In the end, Thor manages to stand his ground long enough for Spidey to concoct a device that ends Electro's threat.  Thor kind of apologizes for not heeding Doc Spidey's earlier warnings, but tells Spidey he didn't like his attitude, while Doc Spidey feels smug that he managed to save a god. (He reminded me of you, except his smugness is deserved. HA!) This one ends in one of Doc Ock's old labs, where we see that Doc Spidey had managed to collect Sandman and Electro and imprisoned them there. (Superior Six?! It's happening...or..you know...we're all doomed).

Thoughts: This was a nice little one and done story.  The story was simple and easy to understand, and the team-up between Spidey and Thor didn't feel forced or anything.  If I had a complaint it would have been that Thor came across as really arrogant,(He is arrogant... it's part of his charm!) and was kind of out of line by calling Spidey disrespectful after the battle...  I can't really recall Spidey doing anything that could have been considered disrespectful. (He told Thor to get his hands off him when Thor touches his shoulder and said he wasn't worried about Electro. BOOM!) Thor was the one who was disrespecting Spidey!  Besides that very minor quibble though, no complaints here.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Man, Thor is kind of an ass here... (Yep, like earlier, reminds me of you.)

Avenging Spider-Man #17

Hey guys and gals, it's Sunday so you know what that means, it's a JT day here at the X-Man Comic Blog, I'm still working on getting that name changed, and today's comic is none other than Avenging Spider-Man. It seems like it's been a while since the last issue of Avenging Spider-Man, since we've had like three issues of Superior Spidey in that time, but let's see what Spidey's up to here.

Avenging Spider-Man #17

Summary: This issue gets underway with Superior Spidey arriving at the Baxter Building to meet with the Fantastic Four, but he's greeted by Scott "Ant-Man" Lang, The Sensational She-Hulk (I love me some Shulkie...), Medusa (I'm not typing her whole name) ...er...Medusa, and Darla "Miss Thing" Deering, who Doc has absolutely no information on. The Four are going on a mission to the Micro-verse and ask Spidey to babysit the Future Foundation... He's obviously not happy about this, I mean, they took MISS THING but not the Superior Spidey? I feel your pain, Otto! Whilst doing him best impression of babysitting, Spidey sneaks away to go through Reed's lab, but is confronted by robotic version of Death's Head, as well as a bunch of Time Cops from the Time Variance Authority who want to eliminate the FF from existence. It seems the head cheese of the T.V.A. knows the future and he's aware that Spidey is in fact Doc Ock, but before he can say anything, Doc webs his mouth. Spidey then delivers a uppercut that's worthy of the phrase "You going to jail now!" and knocks off Robo-Death Head's... head. The T.V.A. just pulls another Deaths Head from earlier in the timeline there but Spidey kicks him out of a window. Spider-Man decides that rather than fight a bunch of people, he'd try to rectify whatever crimes the T.V.A. believed the Future Foundation were committing. They tell him that one of them creates something that causes a Chronal Devastation, and everyone looks to Bentley-23, cause he's basically a little version of Doc Ock. Ock tries to do what Peter would do and talk to him but it doesn't work, so he takes a page out of his own playbook and whispers threats to him, which convinces him to destroy the plans for his invention. When the FF arrives back from the Micro-Verse, Spidey tells them he's done babysitting and cleaning up the kids messes while they dilly-dally, and takes off, leaving the team confused. We then see that the Deaths Head from earlier is still alive and is now roaming the city. Meanwhile at the T.V.A., one of the employees gets a look at what will happen eventually with Spider-Man, and asks why don't they just stop whatever will happen, but they can't because it's out of their jurisdiction. The issue comes to a close as we see that Spider was successful in getting what he wanted from Reed's lab, and it was none other than The Sandman!

Thoughts: I was a bit excited for this issue, and I expected a lot of laughs from Spidey babysitting, but instead we got a few laughs and a bit of Time Cops thrown in. I didn't really enjoy that stuff, nor did it bother me, it kinda just happened, and the only purpose it served was to show that Spidey and Doc Ock will tussle and something big will happen, but we probably already knew that for the most part. Other than that, I did enjoy seeing Spidey threaten a kid, and I was pretty surprised to see he'd stolen Sandman from Reed's lab, which is fallout from the events of Ends of the Earth. I'm curious to see why Spidey is doing these things if he's supposed to be trying to be good... does he want to assemble a great team to beat and make himself seem better or does he just want to have a contingency plan in case Peter gets his body back... but I don't even see why he'd be thinking that would happen, so this issue gave us quite a few things to think about.

Score: 6/10

Vil: The Spider-Man made Bentley urinate himself.

Avenging Spider-Man #16

Hey guys and gals, JT here with my second review of the week, which is the first official issue (not a .1) of Avenging Spider-Man, starring the self-proclaimed Superior Spider-Man. So what do you get when you mix Superior Spidey, Wolverine, and a giant arachnid? Let's find out right now.

Avenging Spider-Man #13

Summary: This issue started things off with New York being attacked by a giant Spider. Doc Parker, still getting used to fighting crime instead of inciting crimes, tries to take down the giant spider, which he notices has human-like eyes for some reason. Superior Spidey doesn't get paid by the hour though, hell, he doesn't get paid at all, so he says screw this "figuring it out" nonsense, and plans to just stab it to death with a pointy object. If that's not heroic, I don't know what is. Fortunately for the Exterminators of New York, this trade secret doesn't get out because Spidey's subdued by the X-Men, who decide this is a job for them, since the Spider is part mutant. Thanks to his goggles, which probably include google, Spidey has info on each of the X-Men, including Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Kitty Pryde, Iceman and Rachel Grey. Spidey realizes Rachel being there may be a problem, since she could read his mind and destroy his entire plan. In between his thinking, Spidey leaps into action to save Storm from a blast that the Spider spits at her, after hearing from beast that the spider has three different strands of DNA for some reason, Mutant, Spider and something else. After saving Storm, Superior Spidey manages to stop the spider in an surprising, yet unconventional manner, which rubs Wolverine the wrong way. Wolverine approaches Spidey and pushes him back, leading to Spidey decking Wolverine. He recounts the memories of Logan teasing Peter, but Doc won't put up with it, as he's stronger, faster and superior in every way. Surprisingly, Spidey makes short work of Wolverine, and we find out that the Spider is actually a woman, as she transforms back into a young woman, but when Rachel reads her mind, she doesn't have any memories. Rachel's findings are cut short when Spidey is attacked again by Logan, who tells Rachel to read his mind, cause he's not himself. Doc decides to play the "Parker card" and starts lobbing insults at Logan, to seem like his usual joking self, and asks who hasn't wanted to clock Wolverine, to which his own team agrees. Afterwards, Beast realizes the girl has human, mutant and arachnid DNA, and they say it couldn't be Mr. Sinister since he's apparently dead. The X-Men decide to take the girl as Spidey swings off, already having figured out that the girl is a clone, and he has an idea who's behind it, but he's not looking forward to dealing with it. Turns out Spidey's guess is right, as the issue ends with a shot of The Jackal, who now apparently has access to Mr. Sinister's vials of genetics.

Thoughts: This series just got a whole lot better. I enjoyed the idea of Spidey teaming up with his friends and such, but now, seeing Spidey team with and fight his friends is even better. I loved all the jokes he made here, about Logan, Iceman, calling Storm "Stormy", and such, as well as seeing him fight Wolverine and not pull any punches. The return of the Jackal is always a plus, considering the last few times we saw him were around Spider-Island and of course the amazing Alpha arc. Plus, Jackal vs. Superior Spider-Man has awesome written all over it, especially since he's one of the people who may actually realize he's not Peter Parker... he MAY even be the one to give Peter his own body again... so yeah, a ton of things may have been set up for the future, and this is a great way to start it off.

Score: 8.5/10

Spider-Man: The blue ape or cat or whatever it is...

Avenging Spider-Man #15.1

Hey blog readers, just a warning, this of course includes spoilers to Amazing Spider-Man #700 so if you haven't read that, or X's review of the main story of that issue, please do so first before reading this, now let's get to the review!

Avenging Spider-Man #15.1

Summary: This issue starts the morning after Ock's big win, and he's quite content with himself as he's finally done what no one else could, he's beaten Spider-Man, he's killed Spider-Man, he's won. He basically explains how every time Peter used his tech against him, like controlling his Ock-bots and such, giving Doc Ock access to his mind and how he took his body with the Gold Ock-bot. He also says that in his final battle with Parker he saw what made Peter Parker him, a loving home and desires to do good, and he learned with Great Power comes Great Responsibility, more or less. From there we see Ock creating a new costume, new eye lenses that help show emotion through the mask and things of that nature. We also see him thinking about Mary Jane, and proclaiming that Parker is a fool. While out walking around New York, a criminal runs by after stealing from a store, and Ock says he's sworn to do good but petty theft is beneath him, when he surprises himself and sticks his arm out, clothes-lining the thief. He says it must be instinct, but I think that shows either Peter had an effect on Doc Ock, or Peter's consciousness may still be in there somewhere. After stopping at Horizon Labs, Ock decides to head to one of his many secret bases and come up with some designs and inventions there. He's ambushed by his own security system since they are tailor-made for him, just not him in Spider-Man's body. He's able to overcome his security systems but comes to the realization that no matter how often he ridiculed Spidey or said how much smarter he was than Spidey, Doctor Octopus always lost. He says he has to be better than that, better than what Doctor Octopus was. The issue comes to a close as we see the new Peter suiting up in his newly designed suit, claws and all, he says he's seen himself through Peter's lens now, and Otto Octavius' days of losing are over, as he's now the Superior Spider-Man.
 
Thoughts: And there you have it, the epilogue to ASM #700 and the Prologue to Superior Spider-Man #1. This issue started odd, it seemed like a step back since he was basically regretful for killing Peter at the end of ASM but he seemed happy he won here. But that was quickly rectified with his "instincts", him stopping that criminal was interesting because he didn't mean to, so clearly something is prompting him to, and that will be something to keep your eyes on. Other than that, most of this issue was just seeing Ock make a new suit and then realize that as good as he thought he was, Peter was better, and now he wants to be better than that, and he certainly has the tools with his mind in Peter's body. Also, Yost continues to surprise me, I wasn't a fan of his work when he worked for DC Comics but he's done an amazing job of making Scarlet Spider one of my favorite series and I'm interested in seeing how he writes Superior Spider-Man as he teams up/fights the X-Men, Captain America, and other Marvel Heroes and Villains, hopefully including Venom and Scarlet Spider. All in all this was a important issue that helped set the tone for a time where we don't have Peter Parker as Spider-Man (you know what I mean) in the 616 Universe or the Ultimate Universe.

Score: 8/10 

Peter: Thank you, fat hippy and bald kid. I will look in on you later.

Avenging Spider-Man Annual #1

Hey guys, JT closing off my half of the new comic week with the Avenging Spider-Man annual... that's right, it's been a year already! Let's see how Spider-Man celebrated his year of Avenging.

Avenging Spider-Man Annual #1

Summary: I'm not gonna B. S. you guys with a long drawn out review. This comic was bad. We basically got two brothers, one dumb as a box of rocks, and one slightly less dumb, who are looking for an alien artifact or anything left from a battle in Central Park since that's where the Avengers, The FF and everyone else seem to fight baddies from time to time. They stumble across a box that makes everyone angry and fight, and of course Spidey realizes that everyone is angry and fighting except for the two brothers, so he pursues them. He's cut off by The Thing, who falls under the spell of the device quicker than Spider-Man does, for some unexplained reason. Anyway, the smart brother decides that having everyone fight long enough so they can rob a bank or sell the artifact is a stupid plan, so the dumb brother ditches him, and Spidey pursues him, with the Thing hot on his tail. Eventually, the dumb guy tries to sell the device but things go awry, and when he turns it back on, instead of fighting, everyone wants to hug and love one another. This leads to Spider-Man and The Thing making out.... and it doesn't really matter what else happens here.... The device gets broken, the two idiotic brothers go to jail.. The End.


Thoughts: Well this was bad.... that's not the way you sell a comic, especially an annual. Don't get me wrong, I like comedic comics, I enjoy Deadpool and Empowered and any other comic that tries to get laughs.... but this was horrible and I REALLY could've done without seeing The Spider-Thing kissing hybrid. Instead of a line of the issue, here's a Second Opinion by my buddy X.

Score: 2/10 

"Well this was a terrible comic and a terrible waste of money... No big name villains, no interesting story, and Thing and Spidey making out. I don't know what else to say about this one except don't waste your money on it! Terrible... Score: 3 1/2 out of 10."

Avenging Spider-Man #13

Hey everyone, JT here once again, this time with my last review of the week, Avenging Spider-Man. Last month's issue wasn't all that great so my expectations going into this one aren't that high, but here's hoping Unlucky #13 proves to be quite the opposite.

Avenging Spider-Man #13

Summary: This issue starts off with Spidey finding out he was hypnotized in the last issue by a smooth, jive-talkin, slow walking, criminal by the name of the Hypno-Huster, who also hired Deadpool for the gig, agreeing to help Deadpool die for helping him, since thats what Pool wanted at the time of this story. There's an awesome part where Spidey mentions the last time he fought H.H., and Deadpool has the little editor's box telling us when it happened, then taking a shot at Wacker. Spide plans on making sure H.H. stays in jail, with his roomate, The Tinkerer (who seems to be relaxing while all of this is happening) but Spidey has to deal with a new and improved type of powers by H.H., thanks to Tinkerer. Spidey also has to deal with Deadpool, so Spidey retreats from the cell as Deadpool shoots at him, and H.H. makes it so everyone Spidey see's will be his worst fears. Just when things can't get worse for Spidey, he discovers the criminals have all left their cell's and instead of leaving, they want a piece of Spidey, and thanks to H.H.'s spell, they look like classic Spidey enemies like The Green Goblin, Kingpin, Tombstone and Morbius. Spidey's taken back a bit until he see's the names of the inmates and recognizes some of them as The Painter and Boomerang, to which he promptly cleans their respective clocks. Meanwhile, Deadpool and H.H. (who did not make the list of most awesome super-villain team-ups, I know because Deadpool checked.) H.H. tells DP if he wants him to hypnotize his heart to stop pumping like he wants, Pool has to kill Spidey. DP "ain't down with that jive" but H.H, hypnotizes him to kill Spidey. Deadpool does attack Spider-Man but manages to fight it off since he's schizophrenic and only half of his brain was hypnotized, which is genius. While Spidey tries to help Deadpool snap out of it by telling trigger words, including Ryan Reynolds (Hey, I get it!), Hypno-Hustler collects his things before escaping, which includes a mood ring, a pet rock and socks with toes. While trying to catch up on current events before escaping, he asks Tinkerer in Henry "Fonzie" Winkler ever made it to the White House. Damn... that dude is gonna be ecstatic when he learns about Obama. Before H.H. can leave (Why is he STILL THERE?!) Deadpool comes in with Spidey inpaled on his sword, H.H. takes off his goggled to get a closer look when he's attacked by Spidey and Deadpool, who switched costumes to fool him. Now THAT was genius. They make quick work of him and Spidey webs Deadpool to the floor to keep him there for the authorities as well. Spidey uses H.H.'s goggles to subdue Deadpool, who has the weirdest fantasy ever including a Deadpool version of Spider-Pig named Deadpork and Deadpool dressed like the cross-dresser from Rocky Horror Picture Show, as Spidey heads home to get out of Deadpool's costume and this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: Now that was a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect much from this issue after the last one being so all over the place but I'll be damned if I didn't laugh my ass off. H.H. was awesome here, I'd love to see more of him, maybe as a member of Deadpool's Rogue gallery, along with Doctor Bong of course. And the twist of having them switch costumes honestly caught me by surprise, which made this all the more enjoyable. I never thought I'd say this, but I want more Hypno-Hustler!

Score: 8/10 

Spider-Man: High-lever security? He's got a roommate, for crying out loud.

Avenging Spider-Man #12

Hey guys and gals, JT here with a special guest. I'll give ya a hint, he's kind of a big mouth, he's a bit crazy, and he's harder to get rid of than a cockroach infestation. Nope, it's not X, it's your favorite Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool! (Hey nerds, DP here to add a little flavor to this review for once, I figure since this blog has two geeks writing for it, you need someone with TWICE the awesomeness to make it interesting, so, here...I...am.) Um... yeah, so since Deadpool invaded Avenging Spidey this month, he decided to invade your favorite blog. (I literally JUST said that bro...) So... let's get this over with, quick!

Avenging Spider-Man #12

Summary: This issue starts off with Peter Parker being embarrassed in his dreams, basic being at High school naked nightmare. (Maybe for you! Sounds like heaven to me.) When suddenly, Deadpool (Wooooo!!!) shows up and starts blasting some faces. Deadpool explains that this is a dream that Spidey's in, and someone's trying to access his mind to make Spidey commit a crime. He explains that Spidey's mind is going to make him see the infiltrator as a bully or a teacher, but lucky for him he has help from one of the world's greatest mercs. Deadpool explains that their four levels deep so basically they have to take out the baddie of each level to get Spidey to wake up, so Deadpool blows up the school... cause why not. (I'll tell you why, cause explosions are FUN!) On Level three, Deadpool makes a few funny jokes (Aww... just a few?!) before he targets the R.P.G. kids as the baddies, so he and Spidey attack, but Spidey tells Deadpool no guns. Deadpool begrudgingly agrees and the two take down the Dungeons and Dragons dweebs (Aliteration is fun too. Damn, dashingly devious Deadpool craves chewy chimichangas.) which takes our masked heroes to level two. Doesn't take long for a fight as Deadpool and Spidey take on some shop class goons and quickly dispose of them as well, except Deadpool manages to get his face split open by a circular saw, which was pretty awesome. (Man... you are one sick bastard.)  Ahem, while on the final level, Peter's dream has him staring in the The Breakfast Club, with Peter as the nerd, Flash as The Jock, Mary Jane as Molly Ringwald, Deadpool as John Bender (You know what I got for Christmas this year? It was a banner friggin' year at the old Wilson family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said "Hey. Smoke up Pooly.") and... some mystery chick as our basket-case, which shows she's the infiltrator. Spidey knocks out our mystery chick, and Deadpool's watch goes off, so he kicks Spidey through some glass, which wakes up our favorite Arachnid based hero. Deadpool informs Spidey that he's awake but Pool's the one who was actually infiltrating his mind to make him commit a crime. (WHAT A TWIST?!) Deadpool says he did it so he could get some help from his employer since they discovered a way to kill Deadpool. (This is before Deadpool #50, available at a comic store near you, when I was trying to figure out how to kill myself.) The issue comes to a close as Spidey asks who Deadpool's employer is and Deadpool replies... The Hypno-Hustler?! (Dun dun dunnnn)


Thoughts: This was an interesting issue. The issue itself was subpar in my opinion, but Deadpool's humor was great, and he had a ton of lines that made me laugh out loud. And I'm NOT just saying that because he has a gun to my head. (Keep typing, monkey.) But besides Deadpool's humor there wasn't much, plus I figured this would be a one and done, so I was kinda surprised to see it wasn't and the reveal of Hypo-Hustler... I can't say I'm excited for that. (So... since we're done where do I get my check?) There's... no check. X and I work for free. (What is this... DC Comics? Later nerds.)

Score: 6/10 

Deadpool: Dude! Your imagination has the proportionate lameness of a spider. If you don't step it up they're gonna start calling this Avenging Deadpool.

JT's Take: Avenging Spider-Man #8

Hey Todd Squad, Today's review features the epilogue of the recently ended "Ends of the Earth" storyline from Amazing Spider-Man, so needless to say, they'll be spoilers from that if you haven't finished reading. Now let's get to it.

Avenging Spider-Man #8

Summary: We kick things off with Spider-Man underwater in a scuba suit, looking for Silver Sable's body with the Avengers. Spidey is called up to talk to Captain America, who says he needs him with them while they transport Doc Ock to S.H.I.E.L.D. From there we get a quick flashback of Spidey and Sable working together to stop Dr. Doom from marrying a local princess and moving her to Latveria. Turns out Spider-Man was summoned by Sable and Doctor Strange to marry the young woman who was set to marry Doom. Turns out the woman may be the next Sorcerer Supreme, or give birth to it, so they can't allow her to marry Doom, but she was offered by her Father to Dr. Doom, cause apparently he can do that. Turns out she needs to be married to someone she genuinely loves, and she's had a crush on Spidey for years. Silver Sable offers to compensate Spidey well, but Spider-Man says he has a girlfriend. Suddenly, Spider-Man, Sable, Doc Strange and the bride-to-be are met Dr. Doom, who demands his fiancee. After a fight, Strange teleports everyone across the town away from Doom, and Spidey's admirer seems to think he's not so great anymore after seeing him get knocked around by Doom. Turns out she really loves a guy named Marek, who wants to marry her to save her, but she doesn't want him to get killed by Doom for doing so, which is why she picked Spidey, since she thought he could take Doom. They end up talking her into getting with Marek, so Spidey goes to get him and bring him to her. The two get married while Strange, Sable and Spidey hold off Doctor Doom, but when Spidey and Strange are incapacitated, Sable manages to hold off Doom on her own, long enough for Marek and the Princess to consummate the marriage, thus ending Doom's hold on her. Doom, sensing that he no longer has a use for this bride, leaves before attracting the attention of the Fantastic Four, as Spidey recounted how Silver Sable, a woman with no powers, stood toe to toe with Doom and stalled him long enough to save the day. As they drop off Doc Ock at S.H.I.E.L.D., Spidey states that they've stopped his reign of terror, and his dying legacy will be that of a crazy old man who was stopped by Spider-Man. The issue ends as Black Widow continues to search below the sea for Silver Sable and Rhino, but hasn't found either. As she continues her search we see an Octo-bot surface from underwater.


Thoughts: This issue was pretty fun, and there were a LOT of lines that almost got line of the issue, Strange, Sable, Doom, Spidey, were all written excellently in this issue, Avenging Spidey is quickly becoming a highpoint of my comic collection each month. I really enjoyed this story, It fit well in past continuity, there was comedy, it was a great send-off to Sable is she is in fact gone for good, which I doubt since they couldn't find her or Rhino, plus pretty much anytime I get to see Doom and Spidey together I'm happy. Even Doctor Strange was funny here which was enjoyable. This was nothing amazing, but it was, in the words of my buddy X, a Perfectly Acceptable Comic.

Score:  7.5/10

Dr. Doom: Doom does not bargain for what is already his.

Avenging Spider-Man #7

Last issue was the first issue of this series I picked up, but since it was a part of a crossover with Daredevil and Punisher, it didn't give me a real feel for this series... This issue should go a long way in telling me if I made a good choice adding this one to my pull list.

Avenging Spider-Man #7:

Story Points:
-Spidey and She-Hulk take down some sort of menace, and not a moment too soon, as Shulkie has a gala to attend at a museum about some Egyptian artifact.
-Spidey really wants to go, seeing as that he's an Egyptophile(I wonder if I made that word up...), but Shulkie shoots him down, since Spidey is, you know, really annoying.
-Shulkie heads to the museum and Spidey angrily follows(stalker...), spotting some mysterious cloaked women entering. Naturally, Spidey enters the building to investigate.
-The women sneak into a room with an artifact and are confronted by Spidey and Shulkie, who defeat the women with ease.
-Upon touching the artifact, Shulkie grows a tail(...) and cats all come rushing into the museum(...).
-A giant Egyptian god appears and demands that Shulkie does it's bidding. Spidey saves the day by pretending to be the herald to a different Egyptian god, stating that Shulkie was working for that god, and that the planet was well in hand.
-With that, the Egyptian god, the cats, and yes, Shulkie's tail disappear.

Thoughts: I liked this issue. It was a good, fun little read. It didn't take a ton of thought, and it was what you'd want/expect out of a She-Hulk/Spider-Man team-up, good, dumb fun. This issue fit that bill perfectly, and as such, I'm one happy vampire.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Ect... Week of April 25th.

And now for a new feature! We'll see how long this feature actually sticks around, as I have a tendency to get bored with new features rather quickly... Just look through the annals of this blog for proof of THAT fact! First, a bit of a backstory... Recently, due to my abject awesomeness and all, my job offered me more hours AND much higher pay, but for some genuinely sucky hours... I naturally took the promotion, but that's going to lead to less time spent on the blog as well as me possibly altering my blog posting/commenting schedule... It also means that there's NO way I'm going to be able to do more than 14 reviews a week(2 a night)... Hell, I may have to cut back to 7 reviews(a review a night) depending on how things go. Luckily, JT told me if that were to happen, he'd pick up the slack, 'cause he's such a swell guy and all. But we haven't reached that point yet. Anyway, there are some weeks(such as this week) where I pick up MORE than 14 books... For those weeks? There's this new feature. Basically I'll tell you guys what I read, what I thought about it, give the score, post a scan, and move on to the next book. That way if you read the book and want to chime in with something, you can. As with any new feature, I'm more than willing to change the format and listen to any suggestions on how to make this post better. But for now, this is what we have. Now, on with the show!

Uncanny X-Men #11(AvX tie-in):

Thoughts: I have to say, I enjoyed this issue way more than I expected to. Well, allow me to rephrase that... I enjoyed the Jugger-Colossus vs Red Hulk portions of this issue and wasn't all that fond of the rest. I thought the way the Jugger-Colo/Rulk battle ended was smart, and didn't really hurt either character's standing. Jugger-Colo had the upper-hand for most of the battle, especially while he was in full on Juggernaut mode. When he switched to Colossus mode, he was defeated. Plus he WANTED to lose, so again, no gripes about the way that fight went down. I felt Jugger-Colo could beat Rulk, but that Rulk could beat Colossus. The rest of it, especially Cyclops's ridiculous letter? I hated it. What a weird way to end this one... In the end though, this issue did give me some hope(gah, I hate even using that word now!) that these issues of Uncanny won't be all that bad.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Huh, I'd forgotten that Hope told Wolvie to kill her!


New Avengers #25:

Thoughts: This comic wasn't THAT BAD! That's probably the biggest compliment I can give to an Avengers title, written by Bendis, with this team... Yeah sure, the only member of the Avengers in this book to show up was Iron Fist, and he only popped up on one page, but hey, it didn't suck! I'm not really sure where we're going with the revelation here though... Iron Fist turns on the Avengers to join with the X-Men? But what of Luke Cage??? The Bromance EXPLODES!!! Actually, that could be epic if we get Luke acting like a jilted lover when/if Iron Fist's duplicity is revealed... Eh, regardless of the outcome, at least I can always point to this issue and say, “See that, an issue of New Avengers DID score higher than a 6!”.

Score: 7 out of 10.

???


Avenging Spider-Man #6:

Thoughts: I can't say this issue really got me all hyped up for this Omega Effect storyline... I honestly feel that Punisher should stay FAR AWAY from real heroes such as DD and Spidey due to him being, you know, a criminal and all... Now don't get me wrong, I like Punisher, I just don't like him interacting with a character like Daredevil, who should be trying to take him in on sight. Methinks I chose the wrong issue of Avenging Spider-Man to start collecting the series...

Score: 5 out of 10.

Frank has definitely seen better days... Although in fairness, he's seen worse too...


Daredevil #11:

Thoughts: Ugh, this was pretty bad... So basically, the bottom line here was that we returned to the status quo? DD still has the Omega Drive, Punisher is still on his own, and Spidey is still Spidey... I just don't get the point of it all... On the plus side, at least I didn't waste my money picking up the Punisher issue of this x-over!

Score: 4 out of 10.

Don't worry, this is the nice Punisher, he's not aiming for kill shots!