Amazing Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy & Super Sons all get the review treatment this week – here’s what I thought…
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25 from MARVEL Comics
written by Dan Slott art by Stuart Immonen
Content wise, this is no better or worse than an average issue of ASM (at least for the main story). Art wise, having Stuart Immonen back on a spider book is a cause for joy. You may not remember, but he took over for Mark Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man when Bagley’s amazingly long run ended. I like Bagley-going back to the Marvel Try Out Book pages- he’s got a great emotional feel for faces, his layouts are clear, and his pencils are consistent enough to basically look the same under any inker. Its a rare talent these days. When I tell you the Immonen issues were the best of any of the USM until Sara Pichelli came on, I hope that gives some context for what I’m talking about here.<br><br> That’s the best of the issue. The worst is the 9.99 price tag. There a whole gaggle of stories here. Dan Slott is on the record somewhere saying that none of it is intended to be filler. He’s a liar at least twice over, as there are a Tsum Tsum story and a ‘Pete gets a pet’ story.
He’s also gone on record saying that the final story will be huge moving forward in ASM and Secret Empire. That checks out as ‘true’ at Politifact, the superior fact checking site. I can see skipping this issue for the price, but not w/ the content running first and last.
7 out of 10 Grahams
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #18 from MARVEL Comics
Written by Brian Michael Bendis Art by Valerio Schitti
Bendis’ run on GOTG is coming to an end. That’s a good thing. This is another single character story after the team is trapped and separated on Earth. Here we get Angela. She fights a guy. The guy is powerful. He has information that presented clearly would have left the last 4 pages for additional story OR ads. The ads might have been better. The best thing about the issue is Valerio Schiti’s art. It seems to have some Joe Quesada seeping into it. It reminded me of the Daredevil work he did w/ Jimmy Palmiotti. Surprising to see that here, but Angela lends herself to that art style. It might be a stylistic choice for this character, but it worked. Look for a big ‘JAM!’ issue to come along and send this series out with a whimper next month.
4 out of 10 Grahams
SUPER SONS #2 from DC Comics
Written by Peter Tomasi Art by Jorge Jimenez
I’m sure its a coincidence that Super Sons has the hero boys tracking down a villain boy. There’s just no way that could be a metaphor to show what could happen with great power and a responsibility to put dad’s head through an air conditioner.
Things take a decidedly darker tone with that action, so we leave it to Damion to lighten things up while breaking into Lex Corp. He’s a hoot, making Jon and Lex both look the fool enough times to have his foot end up in his own mouth. I can’t wait for the first real throw down between the super sons, where Damion has to decide that if there’s even a 1% chance that Jon might turn evil that he has to take is as an absolute certitude to stop him. I sure hope Jon’s mom’s name is secretly Talia ‘Lois’ Lane.
8 out of 10 Grahams
