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Take it Or Leave It – September 19, 2012
We’re a little later than usual this week, but we’ve still got your weekly dose of Take It Or Leave It. Now it’s time to tell you folks what we thought about the books we bought.
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Spider-Men 5 Spider-Men has been an interesting story, and really it needed to be in order for it to be “a story that matter” as Brian Michael Bendis put it when the story was announced. The problem is, this was the first time the Standard 616 Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe crossed over and it left a lot open. Now that in itself isn’t a bad thing, if it was just plotlines for other future crossovers I’d be okay with it. But with a story that is suppose to matter it’s pretty hard to figure out where this falls. It’s obviously before Divided We Fall since Nick Fury is in charge at shield and the world doesn’t look like it’s in disaster mode. And maybe I read it wrong, but when Miles meets Gwen and Aunt May in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man a few issues back that seemed to be their first meeting, but he was there with Pete during this book. I’m obviously being a little to critical but it’s still a plot hole that considering the same guy is writing both books shouldn’t exist. And by all means if you have a different impression of the events let me know in the comments. As far as this final issue goes, I was a little underwhelmed. It wasn’t a bad issue, and as a standard Ultimate Spider-Man or Amazing Spider-Man, or even Avenging Spider-Man it would have been good. But as the end to a limited series it seemed just there. Mysterio is pretty much no threat at all, there’s no real fight at the end, no struggle Pete just goes home. The final page was cool though, and I’m looking forward to seem what comes after that. This is definitely one of those instances where if you haven’t been enthralled by the story so far you can probably skip this one. If you’ve enjoyed it for the most part and what to see how it plays out in the end then go for it. Verdict: Take It If You Must |
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Nightwing 0 I actually really like Nightwing, it’s one of the few DC books I follow monthly and I actually started reading Batman comics when Dick Grayson was the Dark Knight. I just find him to be a more well rounded and likable character, I’m sure a lot of people do. Bruce Wayne is Batman, there is no denying it but it’s not an interesting character most of the time. Some writers do a better job with him, like Scott Snyder current Batman books. Dick is usually a fun character though, and 0 sheds a lot of light on the past of the New 52’s original Robin. As any DC fan probably knows at this point Batman’s entire career has only been happening for about 6 years. So in those 6 years he’s had 4 Robins, and somehow a 10 year old son, who after reading Batman and Robin 0 I assume was either genetically aged faster with the Lazarus Pits or was conceived while Bruce was still training. That’s not what we’re talking about here, this is about the original Robin, we get his origins, how he became Robin. It’s a story every Batman fan knows, he was with the circus, his parents died, he tried to avenge them, Batman trained him and he became Robin. Not a ton of new story here, but the story plays out as Dick telling us a story, so his thoughts add a lot to it. We find out that by the time he truly becomes Robin he was no longer doing this for revenge, but to make sure no one else suffers his fate. That is one of the biggest differences between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, the things that drive them are so different, but still the same. I really enjoyed this book, but I wish we could have seen what went down that got Dick Grayson back in the Nightwing costume, and just how long was he running around as Batman. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if they ever touch on it. Verdict: Take It |
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Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 15 I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I really haven’t been enjoying Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. I know a lot of people have, but it’s just not been interesting to me. It’s not that the writing or the art are bad, both are superb I just don’t find myself caring at all for Miles. He’s just not a likable character, maybe it’s his age he’s barely a teenager and even though Pete was only 16 the different between 13 and 16 is a lot more than 3 years. I also don’t like his supporting cast, his friend annoys me, and that’s really all he’s got right now. Who knows maybe I’m just jaded because the last few issues with characters like Aunt May, Gwen, and Captain America have all actually been pretty good, now that we’re back to just Miles being stupid and his friend being annoying I couldn’t give a damn again. Hopefully the coming books feature enough interesting characters, and maybe Miles starts to get a decent supporting cast whether they know who he is or not. For now though, I wouldn’t recommend Ultimate Comics Spider-Man to anyone but the most die hard fans. Verdict: Leave It |
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Ultimate Comics The Ultimates 15 I loved the original Ultimate when Mark Millar did it, and even Ultimate 3 was pretty good with Jeph Loeb. After Ultimatum the books seemed forced, like they were just there to be there. Even with that I was excited to see what Jonathan Hickman could do with these characters, and while his run was good, like Nick Spencer’s run of Ultimate Comics X-Men it was just too big. The global scale stuff is awesome, but we need to learn more about these characters. I still barely know anything about the current Black Widow other than that she’s a mom and she’s Nick Fury’s ex. There are a lot of things left unanswered, because of the scope of the stories. Sam Humphries has brought the book back around though and has us on a more focused trajectory. America’s in the shitter and the Ultimate are here to help. Cap is back, Nick Fury is working with the Mutants after being kicked out of the government, the pieces are all starting to line up for one hell of a book. That said, the big ‘surprise’ at the end of this book feels kind of stupid. For those who have managed to not have it spoiled I’m going to avoid doing so. But lets just say if it wasn’t this time of year the story wouldn’t be happening at all, and I’m sure it won’t last long afterwards. It’s almost like filler, lets hope Humphries can pull something off with it though. Verdict: Probably Take It |
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Venom 25 Venom is a fun book, the current arc with the Son of Satan was a little boring. But it ended on a high note and we’re getting a look at what was foreshadowed back at the end of Circle of Four. As a native of the Philadelphia area I’m looking forward to the future of this book, and I’m really glad to see Flash getting his own supporting cast finally. Yeah Betty is great and all, but she’s been around since the 60’s we need something new. I have high hopes for where this book is going, it’s been a fun ride so far so lets hope it keeps up. Verdict: Take It |
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Avengers 30 This was probably the weakest comic this week, even with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man on the list. The story had a cool concept, but it brought in a boring villain in the form of Mr. Negative who to my knowledge hasn’t really been used since the Cloak and Dagger Spider Island tie-in. And on top of that the whole issue was just an argument between Hawkeye and Spider-Woman. I felt a little confused about the whole history with the Scarlet Witch thing too, I didn’t really read Avengers pre-Heroic Age so I don’t know everything that happened. I do know that Hawkeye slept with a Doombot that looked like Wanda, unless that was retconned or something which wouldn’t surprise me. Regardless we don’t really have a reason to care about the relationship between Hawkeye and Spider-Woman, they haven’t really spent any time on it so the argument is just boring. Maybe if the argument was over something that happened with Mockingbird or Black Widow it would make more sense since they have a much more detailed history with Hawkeye. Verdict: Leave It |
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 Chris
talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time.
You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook |
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