It’s Wednesday true believers and that means it’s time for another edition of Marvel Rundown. Once again, The Beat’s team of writers take a look at this week’s release of Marvel books. Our main review features the latest relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man from Joe Kelly and Pepe Larraz. Additionally our Rapid Rundown this week looks at Daredevil, Uncanny X-Men, and The Ultimates!
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Amazing Spider-Man #1
Amazing Spider-Man #1Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
I’ve been pretty clear in this column about my general approach to reading Amazing Spider-Man, which at this point hinges on taking the series issue-by-issue and story-by-story. After the last few runs started off strong and faded, it’s hard to hold out hope that this editorial regime will deliver consistent, envelope-pushing stories, or even necessarily comics that dive into Peter Parker and his motivations or challenge him to grow. Still, I want Amazing Spider-Man to be good and I can’t help root for its success. Aside from the stellar art, the latest relaunch for the wallcrawler falls well-short of “Amazing.”
First, it needs to be said that the artwork by Pepe Larraz is a showcase. Larraz, who has long proven his ability to draw massive action and epic scope, especially through his work on House of X and X-Men, imbues this issue with a level of visual sophistication and drama that far eclipses the script he has to work with. The Rhino has never looked so intimidating and dangerous. It’s not just the size difference and sense of scale but the way Larraz composes the scene. In the dramatic two-page spread, Rhino, dramatically foreshortened, crashes out from a two-point perspective image where the lines on the page meet, making his massive form central and appear even more imposing. It gives him a massive visual presence and the use of the motion lines, the smashed, tumbling car, and Spider-Man’s webs all capture a sense of motion in the static image.
The book is not all action, though, and indeed much of the story follows Peter Parker in his day-to-day life. Larraz is just as adept at these intimate moments. His figures and faces are full of expression, and those skills of framing action are used to great effect in selling the civilian moments of surprise and drama or excitement. Marte Gracia’s color work is similarly excellent. Gracia is one of the best colorists in the game and the way the palette shifts to accentuate the tone of a given scene, in ways subtle and obvious, adds additional depth to the visual storytelling. Each scene has its own sense of mood. Joe Caramagna continues his supporting role on Amazing Spider-Man, and he is clearly having fun dancing around Larraz’s dynamic artwork. There’s a liveliness to the SFX and the word balloons that is equally as dynamic as the line art layouts.
All of these terrific visuals are in service to a story and script that is, at best, disjointed and derivative, and at worst actively grating. Joe Kelly’s style is very humor-forward, which saps this issue’s setup, Peter Parker’s search for a stable job, of any real sense of conflict. The book seems unable to take any of its material seriously, going for quick gags and pounding metacommentary about “Parker Luck” into the ground. The specific references to Peter’s various failures over the last decade not only accentuate how unrealistic the Marvel sliding timescale is, but it paints Peter as totally hapless. It was also an almost identical setup to Nick Spencer’s first issue. The pacing of the issue adds to the problem. We are immediately bombarded with a string of failures, of Peter failing and hapless. That bombardment of criticism is full of quips and unfunny attempts at humor. Scenes shift rapidly, and the pace of the whole issue is frantic to such a degree that it’s hard to even identify what Kelly really wants us to care about. Is the important part of this story that being Spider-Man interferes with Peter’s personal life, the mystery about Rhino’s rampage, or is it the newly introduced character from his past and his new job? A whole lot is thrown at us with mountains of dialogue and snark. No visuals, even what might be some of Pepe Larraz’s best work of his career, can makeup for the messiness of the story. This is another issue of Amazing Spider-Man that feels completely unable to put a finger on what it wants to say with or about this character.
VERDICT: Skip.
The Rapid Rundown
- Daredevil #20
- Well after 19 issues, Saladin Ahmed’s Daredevil run finally enters a new story arc. This new jumping on point introduces readers to a new status quo… that revives characters and concepts that haven’t been seen in almost 30 years outside of nostalgia based mini series. Get ready for the return of Daredevil’s black armor look! Remember when Daredevil briefly lost his memory, went by the name Jack and had a girlfriend named Nyla Skin? Well a 35 year old story is now the status quo! Still Matt Murdock as a Catholic priest lasted longer than expected. It’s maybe more surprising that Ahmed looks to be reviving the idea of Murdock as a freelance legal advisor from the Ann Nocenti/John Romita Jr. run. Though most of this issue is Daredevil running around in his old black armor looking for a missing girl. The story tries to justify why he’s wearing it but was anyone really clamoring for the return of that costume? Even after 30 years, the design by artist Scott McDaniel still looks needlessly complicated for a character that is basically a ninja. The new art team of penciler José Luis Soares and inker Oren Junior at least takes advantage of the graphic possibilities of that oddball 90s design. They play a with the mostly black design of the costume to use as a focal point on the page. But even as a jumping on point and a new direction, this still suffers the same problems as the rest of Ahmed’s run. There’s not a lot happening in this issue. The bulk of the book either sees Matt Murdock brooding or Matt Murdock brawling. There’s little room for actually trying to get under the surface of the character. Daredevil is one of the best characters Marvel has but you really wouldn’t know it from this current run. – DM
- The Ultimates #11
- From the original run with Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, The Ultimates concept has always been about big ideas and cinematic money shots, and it is very clear with issue #11 that writer Deniz Camp and artist Juan Frigeri understood the assignment. This issue is an Asgardian-centric story that follows Thor and Sif around the Realms, looking to overthrow Loki and take back the Kingdom. We have to give major props to Frigeri and color artist Federico Blee for the stunning work they put into this issue. When we discuss the craft of visual storytelling or the difficulty that cover artists have conveying a story in a single page, they give us a collection of dynamically gorgeous full pages that show us the scale of Thor and Sif’s task. Each page can be a cover. And about that story, Camp is on a “good trouble” kick in this issue, using Thor’s fledgling rebellion, he showcases the problems of the working class, the results of a gluttonous ruler, control of the media, and the cost of dealing with a devil, but the most important allegory of the story is the reget of the Vanaheim peoples. The Vanaheim thought that Loki’s actions had nothing to do with them, that they would be safe, but we know what happens when they come for one, they come for all. But this is a comic, so we shouldn’t read too much into it, or should we? -GC3
- Uncanny X-Men #13
- After 12 issues of X-Men set down by the bayou we are finally getting some southern gothic X-Men stories! I will admit my faith in this current run on Uncanny was starting to waver. The raids and manhunts have really broken the pacing and my spirits, but with Uncanny X-Men #13 we are starting to see this series realize its potential. Writer Gail Simone begins to weave together three plot threads in this tale—The progression of Gambit possessing the mystical Left Eye of Agamotto, the Outliers teens, and introduction of the highly teased Henry Benjamin character. Simone leans one what has been successful with the title with the focus on Gambit. She writes a delightful Gambit that is sweet and sincere, but roguish. It works so well. The Outliers have been taking a bit more of a focus in recent issues. It has helped flesh them out a bit more compared to my last review of Uncanny. Here is where we get into the southern gothic aspects with this mysterious tomb under the swamp (Yes it is ridiculous, but it is obviously something mystical and intended to be absurd)It feels like Simone is starting to explain why teens were driven to Haven and tying that in with Henry Benjamin. With Benjamin, Simone begins to wade into the intersection of Mutant Metaphor and Race. There is great effort to show the segregated world Benjamin lives in and how her mutant status only makes it worse. I am not sure if it is effective just yet, but I am curious to see where Simone takes this story that few X-Men writers have tackled in recent years. Artist David Marquez is back this arc, and his art is lovely as always. He has a tall order this week with Dragons, Dinosaurs, Man-things, turn of the century Americana, and the regular cast of the book. He has an effortless style that, alongside the wonderful colors by Matt Wilson, captures the mood of the story so well. The more fantastical Gambit story is illustrated with more ethereal designs and colored with these off-putting purples and greens. The southern gothic sections in Haven are atmospheric and spooky with the Spanish moss and fog fills the page. It’s a really beautiful book. I was debating on dropping Uncanny X-Men from my pull list as of late. Yet, Uncanny X-Men #13 has changed my mind. It’s a strong reset for curious readers and much like its sister title, a good jumping on point. I recommend checking this one out. -JJ
Come back next week for more reviews or go through our archives to read past reviews from the Rundown team!
- After 12 issues of X-Men set down by the bayou we are finally getting some southern gothic X-Men stories! I will admit my faith in this current run on Uncanny was starting to waver. The raids and manhunts have really broken the pacing and my spirits, but with Uncanny X-Men #13 we are starting to see this series realize its potential. Writer Gail Simone begins to weave together three plot threads in this tale—The progression of Gambit possessing the mystical Left Eye of Agamotto, the Outliers teens, and introduction of the highly teased Henry Benjamin character. Simone leans one what has been successful with the title with the focus on Gambit. She writes a delightful Gambit that is sweet and sincere, but roguish. It works so well. The Outliers have been taking a bit more of a focus in recent issues. It has helped flesh them out a bit more compared to my last review of Uncanny. Here is where we get into the southern gothic aspects with this mysterious tomb under the swamp (Yes it is ridiculous, but it is obviously something mystical and intended to be absurd)It feels like Simone is starting to explain why teens were driven to Haven and tying that in with Henry Benjamin. With Benjamin, Simone begins to wade into the intersection of Mutant Metaphor and Race. There is great effort to show the segregated world Benjamin lives in and how her mutant status only makes it worse. I am not sure if it is effective just yet, but I am curious to see where Simone takes this story that few X-Men writers have tackled in recent years. Artist David Marquez is back this arc, and his art is lovely as always. He has a tall order this week with Dragons, Dinosaurs, Man-things, turn of the century Americana, and the regular cast of the book. He has an effortless style that, alongside the wonderful colors by Matt Wilson, captures the mood of the story so well. The more fantastical Gambit story is illustrated with more ethereal designs and colored with these off-putting purples and greens. The southern gothic sections in Haven are atmospheric and spooky with the Spanish moss and fog fills the page. It’s a really beautiful book. I was debating on dropping Uncanny X-Men from my pull list as of late. Yet, Uncanny X-Men #13 has changed my mind. It’s a strong reset for curious readers and much like its sister title, a good jumping on point. I recommend checking this one out. -JJ
