I feel like this new series forgets that it's meant to be a Spider-Man book. If I wanted to read Dr Strange book I would read a Dr Strange book.

How much longer does Marvel think they can keep shoving this tired version of Peter down our throats? As long as we keep buying this book I guess. This was a train wreck of an issue. It's meaningless and vague to the point of exasperation. The whole deus ex machina moment almost had me stop reading right then and there. Fun and interesting art with terrible dialogue and an asinine plot equal a big miss/mess for what is supposed to be one of Marvel's flagship titles. I'm giving it an extra point for the one joke I liked. The inevitability of bed time line was cute. more

Amazing Spider-Man is dead.

This was nothing but the Demon Cyrios dragging Peter through all of his tragic 'member moments throughout his life. The dialogue was even worse than the previous issue, no improvement at all. Was willing to give it another chance but I'm dropping ASM for good. I lasted 14 issues with Zeb Wells, this lasted me by issue #3. And I mean for good...

Not a single line of dialogue stuck with me, it all went out one ear and out the other, not a single panel had a decent action drawing or just good drawing at all.

The best part about this comic was page 12 or 13 where Peter fools Cyrios punches her down the floor, and she is shown laying down in a sexy position wearing lingerie with her ass pointing right at the reader, no joke.

Amazing Spider-Man is dead, your all just fondling it's corpse at this point and I refuse to support this trash. more

Plot
Iron Man creates a team of Avengers whose foundation is to redeem villains and give them another chance, so he includes Ultron and Blue Bolt, while Spider-woman and War Machine serve as "babysitters."

The team's first mission is almost a failure when they try to stop the terrorist group SOVEREIGN SONS. Spider-woman asks Tony to improve the team's lineup or have a plan B. Tony is unaware that Ultron is plotting something, one of his versions prepares an army of Ultrons with human heads.

This comic begins with a lot of action but without many answers as to why this team arises and why it is different.

Art
It is full of textures and many incomplete strokes that provide a certain dynamism in particular, a retro tone as a tribute to the first comic that existed of this team.

Summary
Iron Man calls for a new team of Avengers where there is room for redemption. more

Plot
The Avengers visit the X-Men in Alaska. What initially seems like a confrontation is actually a friendly baseball game. In this installment, they show the pleasant and fun dynamic between both teams, where Carol Danvers and Cyclops create an alliance because the Avengers fear the upcoming events decreed by Kang, called TRIBULATION EVENTS, and the emergence of Doom as the Supreme Sorcerer is one of them.

Art
Full of details that are elevated to another level of quality with different textures, where it successfully shows the superhuman scales of a baseball game between the Avengers and the X-Men

Summary
The X-Men and Avengers create a strategic alliance to face the new threat that is Doctor Doom more

Plot
Groot and Banner face the infected Avengers, using Iron Man's armor. They manage to get a glove from Cap to analyze it and get the cure, Hulk is infected, so Groot remembers to use electricity because he remembered that Thor while he had Mjolnir used electricity to cure them all.

Banner manages to get the cure but needs Storm to spread it like rain across the planet, but the X-men are still infected.

The end of this saga was very abrupt without causing any kind of impact, without pain or glory.

Art
It is very dynamic and with so much lighting it shows how terrifying this situation is where no one is safe from contagion, not even the Avengers.

Summary
Groot gets the cure with great luck.
Closing of this miniseries more

Plot
Beast is kidnapped by Corina Ellis who takes them to the old Xavier Mansion, converted into the Graymalkin prison. There Beast meets Jubilee and Calico, who are verbally attacked and Beast intervenes, the response is an excessive attack on Beast by the guards.

Cyclops, enraged, launches an attack on the prison with Magik, Juggernaut, Quentin, Psylocke and Temper, where the objective is not to kill anyone but to neutralize them and make them suffer. Just when Blob attacks them, Rogue arrives with the Uncanny X-men division from Louisiana.

Exciting first part of this crossover of X-men titles, where the mutants face off against their main detractor, Corina Ellis.

Art
It is magnificent, organic and with Stegman's imprint everywhere, offering a classic and modern tone at the same time.

Summary
The X-Men have no tolerance for their main enemy, who committed the sacrilege of turning the place where Xavier's dream began into a prison.
Exciting start to RAID ON GRAYMALKIN more

Plot
The death of Tony Stark/Iron Man has left the team fractured, as Thor and Sif leave to attack Asgard and dethrone Loki. Cap and Jim try to go to familiar places to grieve, Doom tries to reason with She-Hulk about not returning home where Hulk and Hawkeye are waiting for her by attacking corrupt corporations. America Chavez decides to help stop the repression at a protest on the anniversary of The Maker's attack.

Tony's body is kept in a special chamber that heals his wounds, so his true state of health is unknown.

This chapter is the calm after the storm and opens the second story arc, where there are only 11 months left until the return of The Maker.

Art
It is organic and textured, giving it the appropriate dynamism and dramatic tone.

Summary
The Ultimates try to overcome their terrible defeat that includes the death of their leader.
more

Really enjoyed the writing and the art is chef's kiss! A great start!

One word...

Excelsior!!!

I just started reading the new Ultimate stuff starting with Spidey and loved it so I wanted to try this. I must say this is excellent and has some really interesting concepts and characters. I actually find Iron Lad' anger toward his father to be a good hook and how they are trying to bring the 616 back.

Marvel is not perfect but certainly between this and Ultimate Spider and Black Panther there is a lot more going on here than at DC unfortunately.


Can't wait to read next issues when I have more time. more

Slightly improved from issue #44 I guess...

...That's not saying much though. While there was more action in this issue the action was predictable, lame and poorly drawn. There's one panel where Harley goes for the final blow with her bat against this generic henchman and it is so bad. The proportion makes no sense and it has no impact at all. That action panel was the perfect opportunity to do a bloody crazy drawing of Harley smashing the dudes face in but no this is Harley for kids I guess. Which is absurd because Harley is constantly letting us know what a horny lesbian she is, because you know tumblr and shipping is just dandy when writing comics.

As I stated previously, this Disnification of Harley is still a mistake that needs to stop, and they need to bring grit and roughness to Harley comics.

The writing is slightly cute and the whole sympathy for the Chicken Fingers character is touching but really it all feels like nothing. Like there's no meaning at all to anything I'm reading here. I get what the author's beef and message is throughout the comic but honestly it is really not a good motivation for Harley. It just feels like reaching for ideas here that aren't really there.

Last issue I gave a 4 and only made this a five because it was a little better in terms of pacing. Still crap though, not diarrhea, its that kind of crap that no matter how hard you try to squeeze it out it just sticks there ya know?

Poor Harley, she deserves better... more

I don't know.. Not bad, but not good either...

Okay so coming from someone who did read the whole Stephanie Phillips run and one of the minority that enjoyed a good amount of it I must say this is not a good start to a new Harley Quinn run. Tini Howard turned me off completely so I've been out of the Harley comics since issue #30 I think? I was pissed then because I thought Phillips was really getting a good beat on Harley and just when it was really getting good (for me personally) they took her off in place of Howard, like why?

So I heard recently that they started a new run with this writer and honestly there is good potential here in the writing style. Elliot certainly has a good grasp of Harley's ebb and flow and how she perceives the world around her but what is really dragging it down is this art style. I am so sick of this Disney cartoon style for Harley Quinn, the anarchist, the "villain" and I guess sometimes anti-hero to but I prefer when she is full evil.

Phillips played around with this good guy bad guy side of Harley but I thought it worked giving the context of each scenario. This comic has no hook at all that makes me look forward to reading the next issue which I am about to do. Of course none of these writers hold a candle to Paul Dini' previous works but we have to work with what we have right now.

Writing is good could use a little less pop culture to it, and a little more grit, art style needs to change asap, this art is crap and totally water down the badass Harley really could be. Harley can still be goofy (I guess) but she needs a badass look or something more that pops. I like the hairstyle she has, but nothing stands out about the costume at all.

Begrudgingly going to read #45 but not enthusiastic to do so... more

Plot
Spider-Man and Black Cat illegally enter Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, since this place is under the control of Doctor Doom the New Supreme Sorcerer, the objective is to take a book that Peter is going to use to learn new spells. Black Cat leaves upset with Spider-Man because he doesn't know that she is currently single. Doctor Strange is training Spider-Man for this dangerous challenge.

Norman Osborn visits Peter and confesses that he closed Oscorp once and for all, it was a place that only brought tragedies to his life, suddenly Peter is transported to another side of New York to face the new Scion of Cittorak, called Cyperion, who challenges him.

This being has control and knowledge of spaces at a quantum level, this installment shows that magic is a science that we do not understand. Peter uses his knowledge of advanced physics, uses his theories to trick him and die in an attack where there is a game with scales and dimensions.

Peter is resurrected and wakes up having dinner with Shay who suddenly turns into a demon.....

Another installment where the balance between magic and science is perfect with touches of cosmic/Lovecraftian horror.

Art
Ed Mcguinness shows his characteristic art full of many details and a dynamism that jumps off the page, each panel is a work of art where he highlights all those super flexible poses of Spider-man and turns them into instant classics.

Summary
Spider-man faces the second offspring, who plays with the purest and most physical definition of spaces. Magic is a science that we do not understand more

I disliked the writing and art in this more than last time. This whole plot is incredibly contrived just to serve as a vessel to bridge the gap to the next big writer where this feels like a place holder. It doesn't feel like a good Spider-Man story. He just doesn't fit in this. It could have been a more seamless transition into this arc but there was no lead up, nothing building to his team-up with Strange and Doom until all of a sudden, BOOM! Spider-Man is throwing magic around. It's like the story of an annual extended over a series of issues.

Peter isn't terrible with women. He's usually pretty great with women DESPITE his idiosyncrasies and overall dorkiness. He can be oblivious but he's not that dumb to just have Felicia blatantly telling him she's single go right over his head. It makes it worse that there is near zero consistency to McGuiness' portrayal of Felicia. She changes in every panel she's in. It's very jarring.

While Norman saying he doesn't believe in magic completely stone faced is genuinely funny, it makes absolutely no sense. He's lived in a world where magic has existed for years. There is no denying it and those who were skeptics have been shown to have no way to quantify it. If Tony Stark believes in magic, Norman Osborn even in all his pride would have no reason to deny it's existence. I do enjoy this change for Norman though. I hold absolutely zero hope that it will be followed up on well at least not in this... run? Series? Not sure what to call this Kelly section of ASM. I think what would be a great way to get Spider-Man and Peter back to what people want is to focus back on his supporting cast. Have him do more with Norman, with Felicia and May. They're there but like the audience, they're just waiting for Peter to remember who they are and what they mean to him.

The ending is a masterclass in rushed pacing. The climax has no real resolution. Largely no buildup or anticipation during the new Scion conflict and as fast as you can blink, it's over. No reverence or weight to add to another death for Peter Parker. Hell there's barely an explanation as to HOW he died. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. There needs to be more impact shown to the reader for it to feel meaningful. I know death means nothing in comics but this is set up to convey how it can impact a character for those readers who might not have read anything off the most popular lines that have had to deal with death. It makes it feel so shallow.

I'm genuinely not trying to be a downer or a hater. I just want more than this book and this editor are giving me. There are good/interesting ideas here but they are not given enough time to shine or be meaningfully fleshed out. Like Kevin. Or Peter's thousand yard state after his "rebirth". He's just casually back to it like he was at the beginning of this issue completely eradicating all of the impact of the end of the last.

I'm rating this higher simply because it manages to continue the story that was established. A story I might not like but at least as opposed to the previous issue, flows into this newly established direction. Whiplash inducing as it may be. more