CrazyforRAMU's Profile

It's absurd. It's madcap. It's a screwball comedy. It's aimed at the funny bone and nothing but.

If that style irritates you, you're gonna have a bad time.

But if you DO like your superheroes ridiculous and bonkers, boy, are you in for a treat. The humor is non-stop and top-notch, and the artist's exaggerated faces and frantic blocking perfectly suit the tone of the script.
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Team-ups! Character interaction! World-building! Plot development! It's everything I thought was missing from this title, all combined with another tasty dose of gorgeous, unique art.

It feels like the stage is finally set, and Peach Momoko has done a superb job of renewing my interest in what comes next.

Despite my modest expectations, this turns out to be one of my favorite issues of the whole event. Part of it is that the second protagonist came to me as a pleasant surprise (though they're an obvious pick in hindsight). Part of it is that the characterization is insightful, empathic, and deadly serious.

But the really big assets here are the art and the ethics.

The art is glorious gore. Plenty of artists took the event as an excuse to get bloody, but few have done it with more care and gruesome logic than Robert Gill. Blood flies in cinematic gouts, sure, but Gill thinks up uniquely horrifying ways to put Wolverine claws into vampires and then blocks the fight scenes around them so that you cannot look away. (Plus, he remembers Laura's foot claws when so many artists forget them.)

On the philosophical side, this issue strikes at the questions I wanted to see spread wider in the Blood Hunt tie-ins: Where is the line between irredeemable monster and unwilling captive? What role is left for free will under supernatural compulsion? How soundly should a hero sleep after killing a vampire that was running a bodega the day before?
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The art is a constant delight, polished, dynamic, and satisfying. The writing displays a bunch of features that always hover on the knife-edge of quality: flowery pretension, copious exposition, deep continuity cuts, gratuitous world-building. But for once, they're all in balance, and the result is an engaging story with the highest of high stakes.
It probably helps that I have a decent work ing knowledge of (and appreciation for) the Griever, Moridun, and (especially) the Never Queen. I think this would be a lot less fun for a reader who was unfamiliar with these characters.

Sass: Steve Orlando sure is proud of knowing how to pluralize "nexus," isn't he?
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Dracula fighting blood monsters is all well and good. The artist certainly makes it look exciting.

But it's the mindscape conflict between Brielle and the monster possessing her father where the creators really go for broke. Surreal art and daring language evoke Brielle's challenges in both logical and emotional ways. Her attempts to contact her mother throughout the series pay off gran dly, giving the entire story a steel-hard spine. This is character-driven storytelling of the highest order, and it turns this series into a real highlight of the event.
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The language is pompous and melodramatic, but it's otherwise free of faults, and who deserves "pompous and melodramatic" more than Namor? The art is gorgeous (in the contemporary scenes, at least).

Content-wise, I see a bit of a contradiction. This issue explores where Namor is at, physically and mentally. It's a great show-don't-tell character study. In terms of plot, though, it's the reverse. All it does is establish a problem for Namor to solve, and it does it with a mountain of belabored tell-don't-show exposition from Stingray.

On balance, it's an enjoyable issue. Time will tell where the series goes.
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I was looking forward to this, having thoroughly enjoyed the author's last run with the character. But I was also somewhat worried, because I found her subsequent works underwhelming.

This kind of hits my expectations head-on. There are parts that are good edging toward great. Elektra's voice, in her head and out loud, is brilliant. The art is wonderfully dynamic (though the faces are s ometimes inscrutable).

It's the shape of the plot that worries me. Alice, Elektra's would-be sidekick, is fun, but I engage with her story in direct proportion to her proximity to Elektra, and this arc seems to be about separating them. On the villain side, we have Crossbones, Marvel's ultimate contemporary jobber, and Silvermane and Count Nefaria, two cuckoos who are hard to take seriously even when they're not allegedly running a 70s-style Italian crime family.

And we top it all off with Joe @#$%in' Garrison, the Great Value Punisher. Yikes. (I'll repeat my favorite joke on the character: We've gone from Frank Castle to Joe Garrison; the next stop will be Bob Militaryplace.)

Best case here? I'm looking for a well-written and well-drawn Elektra to deadpan-snark and clobber her way through some ABSURDLY stupid situations. But these creators have demonstrated that they just might do it SO well that it comes off good or even great.
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The biggest point to hold against it, as far as I can see, is that the author totally shaved the serial numbers off a Red Lantern story and slapped it into the Marvel universe.

But he did it well enough that I'm okay with it. Stunning art by Pete Woods does a hell of a lot for the overall quality/enjoyability, too.

The backup "strip" continues to fail to convince me that ther e's any value in single-page installments.
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This is an artistic tour-de-force, for sure. Nic Klein uses a softer line-style, but he doesn't stint on the detail or the horror. The result is a perfect sense of unreality and otherworldliness.

I think the plot progress is still a touch too slow, though. It's a Catch-22, of course; loading in more plot development might compromise the incredible mood the visuals are evoking here. And I feel similarly about the ties to previous volumes. The appearance of this "Hulkscape" teeters on the line between homage and retread regarding the Hell at the end of Immortal Hulk. And the callback to Donny Cates's Hulk is a little simplistic.

Final positive visual nitpick: The swipes from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights are the best kind of Easter Eggs.

The B-Strip: I love Ryan North, but this doesn't convince me he can write Deadpool all that well. And no matter how funny and well-crafted this story ends up, I doubt it has a prayer of emerging from the shadow of the very similar, contemporaneous D&W movie.
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There's a lot of intriguing, well-crafted material here, but for now, it's all connected by delicate little threads of foreshadowing, not big badass ropes of plot or character development.

The art has excellent finishes and some great colors, even by David Curiel's formidable standards. But it's not terrific at clear visual storytelling, and that becomes a problem when the narration ha s its own priorities.

The prose is good, but it moves at a laborious pace. This IS an excellent kickoff for a reader who's not too familiar with Jean Grey. The repeated fawning over her wisdom, power, and grace is already getting tiresome, though--and that doesn't do the pace any favors, either.
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I have to squint really hard to see how this issue is rated so high. Admittedly, I have a bias against the author; I snorted when he claimed in the adios letter that this title was NEVER a second priority behind the X-Men.

But though this feels stretched and some of the concepts were weak (Emma giving Tony the Hellfire Club's money is brilliant; the telepathic stock fraud is just hat-on -a-hat page filling), there were some genuinely nice moments, and it produced a satisfying feeling of closure. Plus, the art was uniformly excellent throughout. So I'll call it a good comic.
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The still-excellent art combines with some solid plot logic and endearing characterization to boot this series back toward "good comics" territory as it heads for its climax. The writing isn't world-class, but neither is it disappointing.

As the story plods toward a finale, there are few surprises and few ambiguities. The art remains vibrant and exaggerated in a (mostly) positive way. The characterization remains simplistic, and the pace drags due to painstaking exposition designed to eliminate any confusion about the plot.

Where there is ambiguity--mainly in the cloning subplot--it fails to intrigue or excite.

It's a thoroughly average comic. Or, again, I leave open the alternative reading that it is a good comic that I am way too old for.
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This is a logical conclusion to the story. All the pieces line up, the pace is brisk, and the dialogue is decent. The art is mostly good, though the eleventh-hour artist switch is unfortunate.

The missing piece throughout has been a compelling hook. The only character that gets a truly satisfying resolution is Morbius, and he's not the protagonist. For Spidey and Misty Knight, this is j ust a Thing That Happens--and ultimately, that means that this is just a Comic You Read.
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A: This is beautiful, thoughtful, and terribly frustrating--but it's by design. It's the event frustrating the Silver Surfer, not the creators frustrating the reader.

B: Vampires get uppity with Satana. Vampires get dead. A foregone conclusion, and the creators don't go past the elevator pitch.

C: Now we're talking REAL frustration. The creators don't commit any great storyte lling sins. Except that they have COMPLETELY sapped my enthusiasm to read on about a team-up that, based on its members, I WANT to be thrilled about.
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This is a thoroughly satisfying end to the arc. The art maintains its frantic, scruffy dynamism, still as clear and evocative as ever. The character interactions deliver endless delights, portraying the heroes with both humor and heart.

Jed MacKay is an all-around great writer, but this arc demonstrates that he's a particular treasure when he gets a little silly.

When you stand back, this issue doesn't evolve the plot too much. Matt butts heads with Fisk again, making no great progress. At least Bullseye makes a move and faces a mystery.

But even though the game pieces are familiar and the author doesn't move them very far, stellar storytelling brings this issue to the edge of greatness.

The scenes are fast and sharp. Some dialogue ra ises tension; other lines beautifully illuminate the characters and their relationships. The edge of frustration painted on Elektra's feelings (in ways both subtle and explicit) is especially nice.

"Beautiful illumination" is an apt description when it comes to the art, too. The blocking is clear and dynamic, framing actions and reactions perfectly. The artist provides detail with economy and confidence, enhancing their work without cluttering the panels.
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This is a welcome return to form! An ongoing story, intriguing mysteries, and excellent art. The jokes and the plot developments are a little simplistic due to their ongoing accessibility for younger readers. In contrast to #8, though, the total package once again has crossover appeal for grown-ups, even jaded geezers like me.

Plus, that sinister first scene creates the potential for so me serious drama.

Sass: Araña is the designated magic spider-variant, and this issue isn't the first that shows she's really not great at it. Shouldn't she intern with Doctor Strange or something?
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It's a quiet, atmospheric horror story with a lot of room for contemplation. But that's balanced by some shocking, gory art when the vampire-fightin' finally kicks off. While this is thoroughly non-essential to both the event and the ongoing Hulk title, its tone nicely suits them both.

This was a solid Silver Surfer yarn, if not a monumental one. I like that it displays and even calls out one of the Surfer's key faults: For all his heroism and honor, he is a VERY vain and proud cosmic being. Add in some solid art and a few good jokes, and you've got a thoroughly enjoyable story.

The reprint is good in its own right, and it makes a more organic match with the new strip than many of the selections in this Giant-Size series. Plus, it's nice to highlight the Debut of Ganymede, given that she's had a little resurgence in the Scarlet Witch and She-Hulk lately.
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