Shadowland: Spider-Man #1

Overall: In theory this is a Shadowland tie-in issue. But I reiterate, that's in theory... The main gist of this comic is that Mr. Negative is trying to take advantage of the Daredevil created carnage in New York and is making a move to expand his crime empire from Chinatown to Hell's Kitchen. Shang-Chi and Spidey decide to halt Negative's advance, but Shang ends up corrupted by Negative's influence and decides to kill Negative, the Hand and Daredevil in order to set up his own world order. After some fighting, Spidey manages to reach Shang by comparing him to his father, and Shang ends up fighting off Negative's corruption. As for Negative, he escapes to menace Spidey another day.

You know, I really hate when x-over tie-ins have either very little or nothing at all to do with the main storyline. Sure there were a few Hand ninjas roaming around, but if you were to have skipped this issue, you wouldn't have missed a thing about the main Shadowland story. So while the story was okay, it was also a complete waste of time.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.What's funnier than a bunch of undead ninjas acting confused?

Talking about comics, blogs and stuff.

Hey there X-Maniacs, I don't have any new reviews to put up tonight, but I wanted to do a post regardless. Today was the first day of the fall semester for me, so my review schedule may become a bit more erratic then usual until I'm settled in. I'll still try to post at least three or four reviews a week, but it all depends on the homework/study load from this current batch of classes.

So that's the news on the personal front. Let's move over to the blogging front next. First off, my last post was number 300 for the year, which is pretty impressive. Even more impressive then that though is the fact that this post is the 1,400th one I've published on this blog! 1,400 posts... That's A LOT of inane rambling! On top of that, this strange little blog is rapidly approaching its 2 year anniversary. You can be sure that I'll have something special planned for that day.

But enough about this blog, I also wanted to hit on something else tonight. You see, me and JT(whose blog you can find here)were chatting over at his blog LATE this past Saturday, and somehow we decided to put together a mock Barry Allen worship blog... So at like 3 o'clock Saturday night/Sunday morning the All Hail Saint Barry Allen blog was born. So far the site has been a real blast to work on, so I'd definitely recommend checking it out. You have my utter insanity coupled with JT's awesome sense of humor. What's better then that?! If you like it then I take full credit for coming up with the idea. If not, well then blame JT! :P

And now we finally get to the comic book front. I should have a Picto-Review up for the Shadowland: Power Man #1 comic up tomorrow(which was surprisingly good!). Depending on a few factors(homework, how tired I am, etc)I might also try to put up a review for Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow #1. After that I'll have a New Comic Day post up for Wednesday. I'm also just about done with the second Invincible hardcover(which I'm LOVING!). It's SO good that I placed an order on Amazon for the next two Invincible hardcovers(3 & 4). If you like super-hero comics, then read Invincible! Besides that, I finished off the Spider-Man: American Son trade today at school(hey, I had a two hour break between classes!)and I have to say that it was awesome! It actually made me want to start collecting Spider-Man comics again, something I didn't think I'd ever want to do again after the One More Day/Brand New Day garbage. Umm, I think that'll have to do it for tonight. After I publish this post I'll be heading over to the Saint Barry blog to post something there, and then it's off to bed for me. Thanks for reading, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!

It's about time I posted an X-Man pic! From Amazing Spider-Man #420(Feb. 1997).

Siege: Spider-Man #1

Hey all, tis your most gracious host(the all but omnipotent X)taking a break from studying for finals to post some quickly put together comic reviews! The two reviews I'll be posting tonight are definitely not my finest work(which is really saying something!), but since I didn't really care for either comic, I'm fine with that fact. Whoops, I guess I spoiled the scores for both reviews, didn't I? Oh well. Tomorrow I'll have two more Marvel reviews up, and they should be much better then tonight's reviews are... Hopefully...

Siege: Spider-Man #1: Writer: Brian Reed. Artist: Marco Santucci.

Review: This issue begins with Venom running rampant in Asgard(prior to it's crash in Siege #3)eating Asgardians... You know, if Venom is able to pull these “gods” apart and eat them, maybe the Asgardians should stop calling themselves gods and start calling themselves losers or something... Anywho, the perpetual thorn in Venom's side, Spider-Man, arrives on the scene and they have a good old fashion super-hero throwdown, ultimately landing in the streets below Asgard. Ms. Marvel heads to the scene to tell Spidey that he's needed up in Asgard, and she proceeds to rip Mac Gargan out of his Venom costume to halt his rampage. Since it was separated from its host, the costume attaches itself to Ms. Marvel and begins to attack Spidey anew, this time with the added power of Ms. Marvel. After a bit of a battle, Spidey tricks Ms. Marvel Venom into crashing into some power lines, which severs the symbiote's connection to Ms. Marvel. The symbiote crawls back over to Gargan and reattaches itself to him, so Ms. Marvel just picks Venom up and tosses him away. With Venom gone, Marvel and Spidey head back up to Asgard to continue the fight.

What I Thought: Meh. This comic really didn't do much for me, probably because I'm not now, nor have I ever been a fan of Ms. Marvel. I'm not really sure why she was the focal point of a comic called, “Siege: Spider-Man”, other then the fact that Brian Reed wrote her entire recently canceled series, and really must like the character. If that was the case though, why not call this comic Siege: Ms. Marvel or Siege: New Avengers or something along those lines? Eh, to be honest, this comic really wasn't good enough for me to spend that much time thinking about or talking about, so I might as well end this post now.

Score: 6 out of 10.Yeah, I didn't much care for this comic, but the "kiss me" line did get a laugh out of me.

A LAZY look at Dark Reign The List: The Amazing Spider-Man #1

Writer: Dan Slott. Pencils: Adam Kubert.

Score: 6 out of 10.

What I Thought(In 150 words or less!): Meh. This was an OK story, but it went a long way in exposing one of the main problems with the entire Dark Reign storyline, Norman Osborn... Osborn was the absolute worse choice for the big villain behind the entire DR storyline, and Spidy pretty much makes my point for me during this comic. Osborn is a criminal. A big one. Always has been and always will be. The idea that everybody in the Marvel Universe loves him because he's wrapped in the American flag is just plain ludicrous. Anyway, the art was good, but Spidey was Spidey, and since I'm currently on my "I hate Spidey" kick, he annoyed me more then anything. When you start rooting for Norman Osborn to wipe the smug look off Spidey's face, you know it's time to put the comic down.Come on, blast him! You know you want to!!!

So that's the new Batman!

I placed my order for "Batman: Battle for the Cowl" #3 on Wednesday and I have to say I'm pretty excited about getting my hands on that comic book, since it should reveal the identity of the new Batman. While I figured it was a forgone conclusion that Dick Grayson would be the new Batman, imagine my surprise when I discovered a different super-hero would be donning the cape and cowl. Set your eyes to stunned as you gaze at the next Batman!
I know, it's shocking isn't it! All I can say is at least it wasn't Wolverine... He's in enough comics as it is already.

He DOES have a point...

I kind of have to agree, Spider-Man isn't really that inspired a choice of name. It is pretty catchy though. "Super-Man"??? Pfft, NOBODY would EVER go by such a plain name!

So maybe Tony Stark isn't that bad.

I know I'm tough on Tony Stark, but hey, at least he apologized as he tried to kill Spidey!

What's new?

I actually read the entire "Absolute Hush" hardcover my sister gave me for Christmas today. I guess I'll eventually post my thoughts about it here pretty soon, but since I'll be up pretty early tomorrow morning(grumble, grumble)I had better try to catch some sleep, as opposed to writing about 12 issues of Batman(even though I really want to!).

If tomorrow goes anything like today did, I plan on reading the "Batman & Son" hardcover again, "The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul" hardcover and maybe, if my family gives me enough free time, the "DC: The New Frontier" mini-series. Since I come from a family of early birds, I'm sure I'll be up bright and early again tomorrow morning... You know the funny thing? I get more sleep when I'm going to school, as opposed to during my vacation!

Oh, before I forget, I watched most of the "Spider-Man 3" movie for the first time yesterday... Wow, it seemed pretty bad!(to be fair, I'm only judging what I saw, which was the last half of the movie) I really enjoyed the first 2 Spidey movies, but his one just seemed bizarre. I kept rooting for Venom to eat Spidey! Damn was Peter Parker annoying! One thing about Spidey 3 was that unlike the prior two movies, it didn't seem to leave any dangling plotlines. For the most part I rarely watch movies. I usually never feel like sitting and watching a movie for 2 hours. I always feel like I could be doing something else(like reading more comics!). That's why I still haven't seen "The Dark Knight". I really want to watch it, but I can never find the time to just sit there to watch a 2- 2 1/2 hour movie.

What have they done to you, Spider-Man?

Back in the 90's, Marvel published a Spider-Man crossover that was arguably so bad, that to this day the mere mention of it causes some fans of Spider-Man to begin to suddenly shout out almost incomprehensible obscenities. The name of this hated Spidey event was called the Clone Saga.

The idea basically revolved around the idea that the Peter Parker we had been reading about for some 15-20 years was actually a clone created by the Jackal, under the direction of Norman Osborn, I think... I too tried to block much of this storyline out. Anyway, the Spider-Man comics were taken over by Ben Reilly, who Marvel wanted us to believe was the real Spider-Man, who had been travelling the country with amnesia. To make a LOOOOOONG story kind of short, Peter and Ben had their blood tested, and it was reviled that Ben was the true Spider-Man, and Peter was the clone.

Peter winds up moving out of New York, I think to Seattle(?), while Ben then takes over the mantle of Spider-Man. Well, needless to say, Spidey's fans began to nearly froth at the mouth upon learning this revelation, and bombarded Marvel with enraged letters, demanding the return of Peter Parker. Marvel bowed to public pressure, and killed of Ben, revealing that all along he was the clone, and returning Peter to the role of Spider-Man.

Why in God's name would I bring up the hated Clone Saga? You'll see in a moment. In the early 2000's, Marvel decided that since their main heroes had been around for a good 40 years, it was difficult for newer fans to start to read comic books. In other words, Marvel figured the average new comic book reader wouldn't be able to get into Spider-Man, because there was so much history behind the character, and too much to learn. To rectify this perceived problem, Marvel started up the "Ultimate" line of comic books, starting with Ultimate Spider-Man.

Ultimate Spider-Man, dealt with Peter Parker as an adolescent, just like when he first appeared in the 1960's, but updated for today. The idea at the time was actually brilliant, because Ultimate Spider-Man was more accessible to newer fans, and older fans like myself were able to read about Young Spidey, as well as his older, married, with a job counter part in the main Spider-Man comics. This all changed when Marvel made the worst decision since the Clone Saga, and concocted the Brand New Day storyline.

Before I rip into the Brand New Day story, let me give some background into why Marvel decided to follow through with this terrible idea. During the Marvel comics crossover, Civil War, Marvel made the WORST decision in comic book history, in my opinion, when they had Spider-Man unmask publicly at a news conference. Peter Parker's entire life revolved around keeping his identity secret, and revealing himself in such a manner was the absolute last thing in the world Peter would have ever done.

Anyway, Marvel sold thousands of comics based on Spidey unmasking, but after the initial shock of the unmasking was over, then what? Spider-Man was no longer some mysterious vigilante, he was a man like every one else, and his foes decided to strike at his family, gunning down his elderly Aunt May. Aunt May lingered on life support for a while , but was headed towards the pearly gates. So what does Spidey do? He makes a deal with Mephisto, Marvel's version of the devil, to save Aunt May's life, and remove all public knowledge of his identity, but it would come at the expense of Peter's marriage to Mary Jane.

Mephisto would basically retcon everything that had happened in the Spider-Man comics for the past 15 years or so. So, in other words, to save Aunt May, who is like 100 years old anyway, Peter decides to throw his marriage to Mary Jane away, since it would have never happened. Peter takes the bargain, and thus begins the Brand New Day story line... Now, we have an unmarried Peter Parker STILL living with Aunt May, while working at the Daily Bugle, barely making ends meet. Sound familiar? It should, because it is practically the same damn premise that Ultimate Spider-Man is all about! So now we have two comic books about a young, unmarried Spider-man living with his Aunt May...

Why? Marvel ####ed up when they revealed Spidey's identity, they must have realised that, but to retcon 15 years of Spider-Man comics, to me is the height of unacceptability! So basically, all the time I spent buying and reading the Spider-Man comics of the 90's, Amazing, Spectacular, Web of, and adjective less Spider-Man, meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I might as well run outside and start a bonfire with these comic books, since Marvel, and by Marvel, I mean Joe Quesada, has decided that all those Spidey comics never happened, and therefore don't matter.

I love the character of Peter Parker. Stan Lee created him as one of the deepest comic book characters of all time. I love the way Peter uses Spider-Man as his outlet to act and do things he would never do as the bookish Peter Parker. Spider-Man, is the wise cracking, tough guy that Peter himself never really was. Now though, even though Peter is one of my all time favorite comic book characters, I can't bring myself to read the disgrace that is now Amazing Spider-Man.

The only time I will ever pick up a Spider-Man comic book is when Marvel comes to their senses, and undoes the effects of the Brand New Day storyline. Until that day comes, I will never spend another penny on any Spider-Man related comic book. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, Marvel could care less if they lose one reader, but hopefully I'm not alone in my disappointment, and others will also boycott Amazing Spider-Man. Yeah, I know, that will never happen, but a guy can dream can't he?

WHAT!!!!! Spider-Man Cereal!

Why was I never aware of this product! My God, if I had known there was a Spider-Man cereal as a kid, I would have eaten it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! The artwork on the box is a little weird though... What exactly is Spidey getting ready to do to that bowl of cereal? It looks like he wants to attack it!