Branden's Comic Reviews

Reviewer For: Weird Science Marvel Comics Reviews: 39
7.1Avg. Review Rating

Overall, Thor puts out a great emotional, and simultaneously action packed issue, that feels more like what we were previously getting from this series, and seemed to be missing a bit lately. The art even comes through in a big way. If this isn't a title you read regularly, I think its one you should then read.

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Overall, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man gets right back on track this issue, closing out the Under York introductory story, in a fun and heart breaking way all in one issue. Tom Taylor does a great job of lulling you into a very positive state of mind before dropping the hammer here, really striking an emotional chord with the readers, leaving a definite impact, and making next issue a must read if you love these characters. Oh Tom Taylor you've done it again. Must read Spider-Man issue of the month for sure, great art, great story.

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Overall, the Avengers twelfth issue is my favorite book in the series so far since the relaunch by a long shot and I cant wait to see these characters introduced here pop up in later issues interacting with this team of Avengers on a more regular basis. The art shines with some showcase character designs and great detail with care and equal attention paid to the mundane and absurd. More of the Agents of Wakanda soon please.

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Overall, the Soska Sisters, combined with the fantastic art team of Flaviano and Gandini, are crafting a beautifully brutal Black Widow title, that keeps the reader on their toes with some interesting twists and turns, which make me excited to get the next issue in my hands ASAP. After this run of four issues the Soska Sisters have my attention and I look forward to following whatever their name is on next. This is definitely a trade I'd recommend grabbing when it comes out if you haven't payed attention until now.

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Overall, Dead Man Logan continues to be an excellent series, this time with an emotional issue, as we say goodbye to Old Man Logan in the 616, alongside some of his closet allies. Brisson, Henderson, and Woodard have been a great pairing and are giving this character one of the better sendoffs that I've read in a long time. A long time investment in the isn't even necessary to find the enjoyment needed to enjoy the series so far its been so well done.

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As an overall effort for a one-shot comic book Scottie Young pulled off something incredibly enjoyable here. He was able to take an issue with a premise that essentially boils down to Mascot murder, mix in a little heart, and a lot of humor, and with some solid contributions from a Nic Klein on art, put out one of the more enjoyable individual issues of a Deadpool comic I've read in a long long time. Like I said previously the shorter stories really have been working for this series and I hope to keep seeing more.

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Overall Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was an improved effort over the debut issues, with Tom Taylor quickly getting the hang of the voice of his cast, and moving the pacing of the story along at a perfect pace. Most of the humor in this title also hits the mark adding some nice surprises to an already enjoyable story. FNSM is off to a good start, avoiding some common pitfalls some of these other recently rebooted series have gone through in the process, resulting in everything here making me look forward to issue three.

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Overall, Dead Man Logan continues to be a book that tests what you anticipate will happen going into each issue and I find that to be something unique from the big two keeping me intrigued in this title as a whole. Admittedly the middle of the book gets to be mildly confusing, and you need to pay attention to whats going on, keeping close track of who is who, but by the end you appreciate the chances the creative team is taking with its storytelling. Dead Man Logan remains pretty high on my list of go to Marvel titles at the moment giving Old Man Logan the send off he deserves.

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Overall Marvel Comics Presents continues to be worth the price of admission, providing readers with a couple nice one shots featuring various characters from month to month, while keeping a underrated but interesting ongoing Wolverine story running through the first four issues so far. If some of the ongoing titles that are caught up in the War of the Realms currently might be rubbing you in the wrong direction, Marvel Comics Presents is a perfect palette cleanser to get back to some more normal regular adventures, featuring your favorite characters of the Marvel Universe. Each story is worth the price of admission here and coupled with some beautiful art. Percy and Ferreyra's Moon Knight steals the show this issue.

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Overall, Spider-Man: Life Story has thus far been an exciting retelling of the Spider-Man mythos, providing new and old fans alike with something fresh. That ‘new-ness' doesn't neglect a long-term fans investment in the Spider-Man story though, as Zdarsky threads it with callouts and subtle differences, I find difficult to call anything but fun. Coupled with the art of Bagley, Hennessy, and D'Armata Spider-Man life story is off to a very excellent start.

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Overall, Wolverine: Infinity Watch has been a perfect mix of comic book fun, with solid and compelling storytelling to keep me very invested in the narrative at stake, and some great sequential art. The story is in the essence of a crazy buddy cop team up involving Wolverine and Loki attempting to right some wrongs in the universe. It a little bit part Bad Boys (Will Smith and Martin Lawerance) and part Cosmic Marvel all mixed together into a fun mash-up I never thought I'd love every minute of.

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Overall, X-Force as a series continues to stand out to me in a crowded X-Men comic book lineup. The action heavy approach works perfectly, especially because Ed Brission, Dylan Burnett, and Jesus Aburtov do a great job of moving the story forward with these action scenes, meaning it never just serves as filler to eat page space. The story is just never stuck in place which I love. It's like a Fast and Furious movie a bit, some of the team might get a little lost in the shuffle of events, but the series as a whole is a fun experience to me with enough character to keep you invested. I also really really look foward to Dylan Burnett on art and find his take on characters unquie working perfectly with this book right now.

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Overall, Wolverine: Infinity Watch is a fun, fast paced comic book, that really does a great job of showcasing some interesting and funny interactions with the characters at play. After a disastrous return from death in the most recent Return of Wolverine series, Logan has found some new life in the Infinity Watch mini here. Coupled with some great art by MacDonald and Bellaire, Duggan has put together three solid issues, making this a book flying under the radar worth a look.

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As a whole Marvel Comics Presents continues to be a nice little package of stories that you don't need to be heavily invested in Marvel Comics lore to enjoy. The storytelling really adds some depth and characterization to whoever has been featured each month so far, and the benefit of the first story being an on-going appeals to long time readers giving them something to be more invested into.

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Overall, Superior Spider-Man was my ‘Spider book' of the week, moving the story forward in a nice three issue arc that brought some great character moments to the table for both Anna and Otto, while also delivering a satisfying conclusion to the events with Terrax. The art duties handled by Mike Hawthorne add some grittiness to the title, making it stand out from the other Spider books, like Amazing and Miles for example, while adding to the story at hand being told at the same time. Superior Spider-Man seems poised to take Otto into different directions than he was previously headed in his first go around as the character and I'm here for it.

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Overall, Superior Spider-Man continues to take Otto/Elliot down a path to becoming a true blue hero, if he could just match his words to his intentions more often. Honestly isn't that a problem we all could relate to in some way? This issue does a good job of pacing action, with fun, while hitting a few emotional notes, that by the end that feel pretty earned, revealing the heart behind our once hardened villain. It's a standard bad guy gone good story sure, but one with a deserving cast of characters, and intriguing style so far.

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Overall, while not my favorite issue of the Dead Man Logan series, we still get a strong effort here reintroducing readers to the Wastelands in a pretty brutal way. Logan eventually comes into contact with some story threads that have been left lingering since he left to venture off in Battleworld and Earth Prime, between that and the introduction to a new threat by the end of the issue, I was back on board and excited to see Dead Man Logan go out on a high note when the time comes.

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Overall, Superior Spider-Man is a title where we continue to see Otto attempt to make strides in the right direction as a hero and citizen of San Francisco. It doesn't always have the highest stakes compared to other books in the Spider office, but does provide quick, fun, entertaining stories to the readers, while providing character moments for the cast in the issues each month. A highly recommended series thus far with some excellent visuals.

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The Venom series continues to move forward dealing with Eddie's family issues, while forcing him to confront the symbiote, and simultaneously sort out what is reality from fiction within his own mind. All that and the Maker continues to make his presence felt adding yet another layer of intrigue to this mystery. Venom always remains at the top of my reading list each month, mostly for its story consistency and beautiful art, I just hope we start to get some definitive answers about what's really going on before the book falls into War of the Realms and changes teams for a few months.

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Overall, while the story doesn't seem overly integral to the main events of the War of Realms (yet), what we do have is a fun, and very gruesome Punisher story that I look forward seeing continue. Frank's status in this title seems to contradict where he is in the main series at this point, but between the action, and surprising amount of heart in the issue, a place among the crowded War of Realms tie-in market can be found. (Psst little secret … I had a bit more fun here than the main WoR series this week.)

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Overall, Old Man Quill does a pretty good job of picking up the tone established throughout the line of the other ‘Old Man Universe' line of books. While I'm very interested in continuing this story going forward, a negative, of the first issue at least, is it didn't do a whole lot to establish itself as something completely different from what we've seen Star Lord (Quill) or the other ‘Old Man' books do before. Hopefully meeting up with certain old friends doesn't hinder the experience going forward, as some solid art, and enough intrigue in the story make this recommendable for now.

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As a whole the third issue of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man takes some time to setup the threat of Under York that Spider-Man, and his new team-up mate Rumor, deal with in their attempts to rescue his neighbor Leilani. I found the previous two issues of the series a bit stronger, but the art team of Cabal and Woodard continue to give the audience some great looking moments.

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As a whole, Spider-Man: Life Story is a good initial effort for the mini series, however doesn't truly explore the time period to the fullest extent it maybe should have, instead focusing on just one singular event. The twists and turns do a good job keeping any Spider-Man fan on their toes though and I really am excited to see how these differences play out over the next issues going forward. Some good work, that has room for improvement, but still has me looking forward to next issue.

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The Return of Wolverine saga continues only this time in a more satisfying matter. This issue does it's best to sort out the entire mess that was created in the first place, while it stinks of not being the plan initially, I'm still OK with it because for now its just some comic booky fun. What can i say I'm here for Wolverine fighting with a ‘time bat'.

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Overall I find the Hunted to be on the brink of being very interesting, but the book is struggling to find a true focus in my eyes, to make the story feel as epic as the creative team wants us to believe. Sure Kraven has his reasons but, its odd they continue to be different every single issue, moving everything we setup previously behind shifting to something new we then haven't. It's good but not something I'm rushing to recommend it to anyone just yet.

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Overall, Thor is still a series I find enjoyment in, but much less so lately as it feels like it's just been stalling until this ‘war' finally arrives. The art really hurts the story progression and at points even makes whats going on completely incomprehensible. The lack of Thor in his namesake title brings things down a touch as well but Roz's journey this issue is still some fun.

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Overall, Old Man Quill #3 is a solid effort that just doesn't take a lot of chances with the ideas its presenting. The adventures of the Guardians fighting the Universal Church of Truth should be a more cosmic centered adventure, and limiting the setting to Earth at the moment is holding the series back creatively a bit. Despite these complaints I still get enough enjoyment out of this series as a whole, and find its a welcome to the addition to Earth-807128 lore, I just hope it picks up a bit into more of a must read.

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Overall, Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History is a bit of a mixed bag. While it starts off on solid footing, with a very interesting premise and some solid art, it becomes all to repetitive by the conclusion of the first issue. I hope the series has other plans other than story time with Old Frank Castle, because while some of the stories are solid, and I chuckled a bit here and there, it all became long winded and boring by the last page. I'm not sure I need more and a one shot would have sufficed just fine.

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Overall, this issue is filled from start to finish with a knock down, drag out fight between Terrax and Superior Spider-Man. Some of the outside cast introduced so far chips in to contribute a helping hand, but that's all your really getting in this issue which only serves to setup a cliffhanger. The art is good and nothing about the writing here is bad, but this break in the story for a long fight feels like a strange detour right now, especially when the series has yet to establish itself.

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Overall, Uncanny X-Men #11 is a bit of a hit and miss affair, Rosenberg does well making the main story stand out above the others, and had this book just been that one individual story I wouldn't have had many issues with it as it stands. However Marvel continues to ask a lot of X-Men fans wallets, while not always providing the most compelling storytelling at the moment, and this title continues to be guilty of a bit of that. I can't blame people if they wait for the dust to settle with all this tie-in nonsense going on alongside Uncanny, picking and choosing what's for them when it all finally does, but this is passable if you feel like spending $8.00 on a single issue of a comic book.

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Overall as a whole this Spider-Man run is becoming very predictable settling into a very common pattern each issue. This was a three issue arc that didn't move this series forward, did nothing but establish relationships we are already well aware of from other Spider-Man books, and to have the main creative art team return to the title for this feels like a waste for everyone involved. Nick Spencer has had some good issues thus far in his run of Spider-Man this one falls well short of that mark and feels more like filler than anything rewarding to experience.

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If you're brand new to the Amazing Spider-Man title the amount of recap Nick Spencer does each issue might be appealing, but it does nothing for me besides recap things I know or have already read, taking up space that could be used to make things fresh again … this is the Fresh Start Spider-Man after all. Ottley returns for some of the art duties here, and he was sorely missed, but overall this title does nothing to make me want to invest in the .HU tie-ins, and my excitement for Kraven's return has now passed after seeing his plan for a Grand Hunt already being spread thin.

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Overall for the start of a mini event within the Amazing Spider-Man title, two issues into this Hunted story-line, the book has lacked anything really for our title character to do.

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Overall, the Hunted continues to be a frustrating, muddled affair, that thus far refuses to have any sort of focus but hey at least Ramos art gives you something fun to look at. The villain this entire story is centered around is barely mentioned here, while also failing to make an appearance, moving aside for Arcade to take the spotlight. Meanwhile, Nick Spencer chooses to setup his next story instead of deal with his current ‘event' and personally I dont blame him too much because so far the Hunted is a dud.

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Overall, I sound like I'm bagging on this issue a lot, but it's not bad at its attempts to wrap up what are a bunch of ideas thrown at a wall, that just didn't stick or resonate with anyone. The art is a huge step up from what we've previously gotten, but the series is a disappointment as a whole, especially for a return of one of Marvel's bigger characters. Hopefully this series becomes just a minor footnote in the history of the character, with hot claws in the rear mirror never to be mentioned again.

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Overall, while I'm not the biggest X-Men (or X-Man) fan out there, I cant imagine this is what true X-Men fans wanted when they heard Uncanny X-Men was coming back.  While R.B. Silva and crew do a great job at keeping up their end of the bargain on art duties, I think the combination of three writers on one story has led to a bland generic connect the dots X-Men story that I didn't anticipate this early in the titles reemergence, and frankly just continues to be not that exciting.

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Overall my main problem with this series is that there were interesting themes and ideas present at the beginning of all this that everyone involved here has failed to capitalize on. Some average run of the mill art adds to the feeling that just nothing special is happening here, which is an absolute shame because Wolverine is one of my favorite characters ever, and I wanted to really like this. I was even warming up to the idea of ‘Hot Claws', but little to no explanation, or hints at the greater mystery at large mean we're in for whats likely another huge info dump finale, which just doesn't excite me.

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After suffering through some very sub par art, and Secret Empire inspired setup for this upcoming Amazing Spider-Man Hunted story, I just don't look forward to the future of this book much anymore. I'm starting to dream for the days I see new writer on this book already, less than one year into this current run.

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This was an X-Men's greatest hits series done very poorly from start to finish. If you're into nostalgia alone, with next to no substance, good for you, but I need something more out of a story asking so much out of my wallet. If you came solely for the art you wont be too disappointed, with a bunch of different impressive spread pages, that look great. Howeverthis entire series accomplished very little in the scheme of things, and is one of the rare cases of something being so bad it might chase fans away from whats yet to come.

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