A terrific ending to the best venom run ever in my opinion. This book did a fantastic job of finishing this chapter of these characters and setting up what comes next. This whole run was a must read for anyone even slightly interested in these characters

I want that fucking jacket

Top tier Venom and Carnage

Im late af but I gotta sing the praises on this for a sec.

This was a tie in arc which I fully expected to be a forgettable side quest. And while it is a side quest it has some phenomenal characterization for venom, absolutely INCREDIBLE art by juan Ferreyra, and awesome callbacks for long time venom fans.

This issue and the previous one sees the series once again acknowledge Lee price, whos short stint as venom kickd off my tenure with the characters comics that has remained since 2016.

But even beyond that, this series brings back side character from venom 150, which was a landmark issue from around 2018 that saw Eddie brock in a particularly low point in life meet a lonesome priest; in an encounter that the priest winds up becoming yet another casuality to venoms effect..this ties in greatly with the internal conflict that venom himself is having right at the same time and shows that no onenis a better continuity nut than al ewing. Juan even draws a couple of panels directly based off of that issue, which was done by tradd more.

My only complaint with this issue is the appearance of meridians in the end is a bit confusing. But seriously... great tie in more

This two-parter was amazing. Ewing's writing is almost always good, but special credit has to be given to Juan Ferreyra, who made this arc truly memorable. I hope we see more of him in Venom, his art fit this really well.

Another fairly strong issue, especially for being an event tie-in. Of course, Ferreyra absolutely kills it on the art again and I'd definitely call that aspect of this book the highlight. However, Ewing doesn't disappoint with the story, either, particularly with the symbiote's side of things. Dylan's side was good and enjoyable, just not great. The stuff with Venom, Captive, and Lee was enthralling and just well-written overall, despite a little bit of a slower start, in my opinion. more

Issue promised a long and brutal fight.

And thats exactly what I got.

I've nothing to complain about. Its incredibly intense.

***Cons***
-Goofy Anime-looking art (Batman looks ridiculous)
-Too Subversive (This was built for the first time read. i doubt the twists will hold up upon re-reads)
-Too Deconstructive (There is only so much you can bend and deconstruct characters before they are NO LONGER the same character. I'll avoid going into spoilers, but you'll know who I'm referring to right from the start of the comic)
-Yet another Brutal Batman that kills (At least this killer-Batman is different in that he stabs and hacks his enemies to bloody bits)
-SOOOO EDGY!!! (I am sick and tired of grimdark edgelord comics)

***Pros***
-At least its not by Tom King
-Thankfully not by Chip Zdarsky either
-At least this Batman doesn't weigh a buck and change, and have to wear armor to compensate.
-Thankfully Scott Snyder refrained from making this as overly-wordy as his prior Batman writing.
-At least this Batman hasn't killed anyone with a gun (At least not yet)
-There might have been another positive? I just can't think of it right now.

I'm going to try re-reading this at some point and see if i feel differently about it later. more

Now that is a comic book. Wow! I'm all in.

Banger.

Excellent.

A great, exhilarating, fun comic. Written by a writer whos been on thus rodeo track before. Drawn by an artist in his prime and knowing exactly what he wants and colored by a colorist in perfect unison.

Everything here works. It doesnt strive to reinvent the wheel but it does strive to give you a good time and it exceeds in doing so. Im not concerned about any of the changes til I see how they affect the story. As they are they don't bother me. Bring more of this! more

This is an absolute banger of a comic. People who still think JR JR isn't amazing have my pity.

You can take out every singer word balloon of this comic and it is still perfectly readable. JR JR is not just a guy hired to draw pretty pictures, no comic artist is, and if you define then by that then you dont truly understand what cartooning is. Cartooning is storytelling, and being a sequential artist is crafting a sequence. JR JR is the cinematographer, the lighter, the rigger and the camera man every time he picks up the pencil. He and his inker did their job here and did it well.

As for the script, I have little to say I didn't like here. From the moment the book opens to the very preview of the next issues cover(seriously I've never seen that done before and I have many years of comics under my belt) this is a non stop intense ride of action. Tombstone crosses the line right from the get go and the rest of the issue is about stopping this unstoppable force. The heroes goal here is simple, as is the villains, but the script makes the interaction highly suspenseful in the best way. Wells is delivering his best arc to close out with, and thats a very good thing.

This is a fantastic comic. I needed to take a breather after reading. more

Plot
Tombstone loads his gun and starts shooting at Janice, not caring that she is his own daughter, she tries to escape until Spider-man comes to help her, it is a brutal fight sequence, where Spidey tries to protect Jackie no matter what.

The fight turns into a chase, where Tombstone is willing to do anything.

Epic chapter of this saga, where Zeb Wells does not skimp on filling it with unstoppable action, so much so that it connects with the next cover in a visual way that is not common in comics, totally original and shocking

Art
John Romita Jr achieves that gloomy and gloomy tone of this situation and incorporates it into the unique body language that he gives to Spider-man with his art. It is a privilege to read comics illustrated by this legend who always evolves by using you. JRJR always shows one or several splash pages that define the comic.

Summary
Janice tries to escape from her father Tombstone, who wants her dead no matter what, only Spider-man can save her.
Shocking and dizzying delivery more

Silent issues are notoriously hard to pull off, and even harder to find a good reason for (remember when Marvel mandated a whole month of them and no one could make it worth the bother except Morrison/Quitely?) so massive credit to all involved for pulling it off so well. Particular credit goes to Jonathan Case, who turned in some truly incredible work on the art and colors this issue. I've enjoyed Batgirls in general, but this is just on another level; this comic was like ordering fast food and finding out they sent you filet mignon more

Gorgeous and uplifting work.

This whole comic being a single image is INSANE.

I mean… Damn

This finale puts to go for a poetic and artistic one rather than one of bombastic action sequence. This decision proves to be the right one.

Ram V and Dan Watters manage to close out every relevant plot thread(although one does get left hanging its handled well enough) and end on a note that provides a final word to the thesis presented at the outside. That alone is worthy of praise.

Further praise should go to the fact that, this story provides what feels like real character development for Bruce, an acceptance of something that has been a part of him from the beginning, and a willingness to utilize it to his advantage if he has to. His relationship and his love for the character and soul of Gotham defines why he does what he does. And it garners both respect and fear in equal measure.

His protégés appear in sight 8nly but their presence is felt. Mr Freeze gets a very interesting development that hints towards a shift toward the good. All of it is steung together artfully well. In this sprawling narrative that has lasted the better part of two years, we've seen batman pushed to his very limits of his psyche and come back stronger. Its been a pleasure reading.

Also, this needs no declaration but the art by Guillem March is beautiful and he continues to stake his claim as one of the best to ever draw the Bat.

9.5 for this issue and the entire gotham nocturne. This is a modern classic Batman story. This can be someone's first Batman story or someone's last, and that makes it a winner. more

absolutely floored with how good this run is

A really, really strong second issue. Michaelangelo is full of depth here but he still feels familiar.

The art is the real star of the show. everything Alberquerque touches turns to gold for me. Some have some qualms with how he renders the turtles but I love it. I love all of it. It has a gritty griey realism to it but he knows how to do excellent flashes of light and kinetic action scenes.

Let's hope this next issue keeps on this trend. more

Incredible, just absolutely amazing. This relaunch has been brilliant. The art was very good and the writing was impeccable. I love the set up that's being built here, showing the turtles alone and struggling. This issue and last both had me on the edge of my seat reading them, just great great stuff.

This issue builds upon the (really good) untold destiny of the foot clan book and has an intriguing raph side arc. Raph is written very well here but the Casey story is phenomenal and has huge implications for its developments. This issue is going to be a must read for future events.

This was much better than last issue. A lot of new story developments and the introduction of interesting characters and a new villain organization. This gives our heroes an obstacle to overcome but first they'll have to discover the true nature of it.

Art is as always fantastic and the character interactions are highly enjoyable

This issue was intense af.

Turns out my prediction was the same one the characters made... and the wrong one. This is one of the strengths wells has that gets overlooked I feel. Our expectations are "Lonnie would never hurt Janice directly, hed just kill someone close" and at the beginning of this run he wouldn't have. Thats something Tombstone practically laid out himself over the course of the run, between gang war and even the planned wedding. He has for the entire run put Janice's wants over his own. Except for two times, the end of gang war and now. This calls all the way back to tombstones flashbacks early in the run, where he was powerless to protect himself. Now with that power in his sight and in his grasp, he isn't willing to let ANYONE get in the way of it. He's become just like Fisk. Its a character shift; and a subversion but one thats been baked into the writing of the character from the beginning.

Hes still the kid being taken on as a child, but now he sees Janice and spider man as the ones doing the harassing, and so the lion comes out.

Also the train thing was a pretty clever and cool ambush both visually and concept wise. It made it seem authentic, something extreme Lonnie would do knowing what he's up against. So it being a ruse is harder to expect.

Wells is going out with maybe his strongest arc. I wish it'd been this consistently great the whole time; but if he sticks the landing ill still give him props for this. more

They stuck the landing on thus arc. This series is becoming a modern classic. Theres nothing particularly deep or existential here.

The comic is just awesome lol. The book manages to make the narrative engaging; the action is exhilarating and the artwork is full for life. The ending is very interesting and takes on a challenge i hope they can deliver.

The bad guys feel old school, they arent complex with sympathetic backstorties, they are just bad, and must be stopped. But they still don't feel antiquated; or non threatening, they feel relevant and exciting to read.

This version of Zorak is the best villain they've introduced yet, and I hope this isn't the last we've seen of him. He's dangerous, dedicated, and surprisingly not completely delusional. Pepose is becoming one of my favorite writers, his team stuff just works and feels dynamic to keep you coming back.

I just had a blast reading the book. Im really glad I stuck around for the series and im in for however long its granted to run. I recommend more people go for it, so that we can continue to get this type of stuff. It stands out among the comic shelves, there's nothing you gotta follow to read; the arcs aren't too long, and the format of an old cartoon is retrofitted well. It's good comics. more

As the others have said, this was really, really strong. Wells on Tombstone has been a tier spidey content snd i wish the rest of the run was on the same level even as someone who hasn't hated this run.

The backups are all pretty solid as well.

Many others have encapsulated my thoughts. Fantastic issue. What DD is all about. Bravo Chip, Bravo.

This issue is a totally nonsensical, complete disgrace of storytelling and an insult not just for X-Men fans, but for the trees that were pointlessly cut down to produce this garbage that pretends to be a comic book.
Thus, a fitting ending to the Krakoan era.

I'm just so glad it's over that I'm not going to criticize the fact that these writers are so dumb they simply can't come up with better ideas to end the story than "the whole island literally just disappears", "it moved to another dimension or something, please don't ask".

That's actually OK, this way I can pretend that the last 4 or 5 years just never happened. I can pretend that the X-Men are not evil, and that they are actually themselves instead of clones, I can pretend they never did the horrible things they did.

Still, Magneto is good and Xavier is evil now, that's weird.

Well, Xavier is a white privileged dude who lives in a mansion, of course he was bad all along, it's just that we were too bigoted to see it.

Being cancelled is no fun, so I won't share my thoughts of the politics in here and the leftist utopia propaganda speech presented by the fairy, diverse, and not very masculine krakoan mutant of the other dimension.

Let's talk about the extras, first, the Chris Claremont short Nightcrawler story:
I would have never thought I would deeply dislike anything written by Chris Claremont, yet here we are. Are we sure Claremont did that?
It feels so weird and off-putting.
There's a reason why Jim Shooter (allegedly) rejected THAT original idea for Nightcrawler's origin, that short story is why.
The worst part is that there's a moment where Nightcrawler says he was tempted to commit murder, which is completely out of character, even worse is that it was his mother Mystique he wanted to kill. I mean, DAMN!

The prologue of From The Ashes was... not bad and... somewhat refreshing? I guess? At least it was nice to look at and it was well put together (unlike anything from the X-office in the past 3 years), it's also pleasant to see that the status quo is somewhat back to normal even though Xavier being a captive villain and Magneto being a hero doesn't make sense and the fact that Jean Grey is now a goddess because she has completely merged with the Phoenix force undermines the great importance of the Dark Phoenix Saga and her first real death, now it was all for nothing.

I guess it doesn't matter if you destroy decades of history of a character if you get in return an empowered female icon so OP that doesn't have any challenges, isn't that right, Carol Danvers?
But how is she still married to Scott? How can they still be a couple if she is out there in the cosmos reigniting suns or whatever? When was the last time they got married? When Jean hooked up with Wolverine during Krakoa, was she Scott's wife? Sorry, I digress.

Another thing that doesn't make sense is that Cyclops' team is supposed to be people he trusts, right?
He trusts Hank, of course, but does he trust Magneto? Or good ol' Juggie? What about obnoxious Kid Omega? Is he the only one who cares about Oya?
I'm sure he trusts my man Colossus, but he is not in the team, her sometimes crazy sister is, does Cyclops trust her? Maybe...
I understand why anyone would like asian Psylocke in the team, but Betty's character (eternally butchered to fit into the lesbian icon category) is not under that body, Kwannon is, and nobody knows anything about her really, other than she is a ninja (and one of the hottest girls in comics), would Cyke trust her?

X-Men needs good character dynamics, if the characters mix well the book will work, but I don't think they will, I'd like McKay to prove me wrong, but I don't think he will.

Inconsistent stuff across the board, but if we get just a couple of good on-going series in a sea of awful mini-series waiting to be announced, it would be a WIN. Problem is, that is unlikely.

Asking for 1 good title is a lot for the big two right now (there aren't good titles), asking for 2 is a dream. No hope. Still, I want them to surprise me.

I'm telling you, if "From The Ashes" doesn't bring any good series at all, I give up on new comics, I can't take it anymore, it's not healthy. more

I assume the grade for this book is so high because most people who actually like X-Men have long since left the book. I suppose someone has to post an alternate view for those in the future wanting to get a read of what this book is like. Avoid this like the plague. This is a disaster.

This book sums up the failure of the Kraoka era. Please note for this review I am not an America and I assume it is this cultural difference which puts a different lens on it for me. I do not take pleasure is segregation or hating my neighbour. This book is almost a love song in some ways to the idea that segregation is right and that things are always better if you just eliminate people who dont have the same views as you. It endorses everything about the fear that sweeps the world (in 2024). It is hard to work together with others. Real life is hard and its hard to do the right thing most of the time. X-men 35 finishes off this era with the bad guys winning, the good guys joining them in a pro-segregation way and the destruction of Xavier's dream. The fact that Magneto gives that speech to Xavier in the dream. You literally have the mutant supremacist giving the good guy speech.

This all felt dirty. It ends and era and starts a new era deeply tainted. Mutants are monsters with many of them seemingly ok with just separating themselves (this Krakoa in a bubble BS). Xavier getting a guy to kill himself at the end is just madness. Like way to establish him as a total monster. Way to ruin his dream. This entire era was a disaster and a terrible 'take' on the X-Men. So If you have loved the old x-men. This isnt it. This era feels like a celebration of hate.

I honestly shouldnt even be rating this book as I dont want (I have hated this series the last while) to but seeing all these 9 and 10/10s baffles me so future readers deserve a bit more of a balanced take.

Phil's art is mostly good. more

We reach the penultimate issue of this 2 year long, sprawling story arc. This issue aims to set up the finale and resolve what can be resolved. Ram V has managed to use over a dozen players over the course of thus story from across Batamns gallery of rogues and allies and has managed to do so effectively for all of them(and he used Joker very, very sparingly too!) Which is no small feat. As an issue, it boasts phenomenal art by Gulliem March which is no surprise. I cannot get over how epic he makes Batman look, but he had a lot to do here and a lot of characters to render and nailed it.

Batmans voice sounds great here, as he is reknewed with the shadows of Gotham by his side as he faces the evil hiding in the light. All I can hope is that the finale lives up to the story that has been excellent since day 1. more