A little over a year and a half ago I wrote an article about Marvel’s plans to collect the first four issues of this series in a $25 premiere hardcover.  Their plan, at the time, appeared to be finding a way to squeeze every last sale they could out of their biggest ongoing series launch […]

What should’ve been a blockbuster event — Miles Morales confronts Ultimate Venom — falls regrettably flat here.  Bendis skillfully updated one of Spider-Man’s best villains by strengthening the relationship between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock and tying it to research done by their parents.  Such care and planning is virtually absent here.  This version of […]

This title, the second in Marvel’s new line of original graphic novels, has a low bar to clear in terms of quality after Warren Ellis and Mike McKone whiffed it in “Avengers:  Endless Wartime.”  So it’s nice to report that writers Mark Waid and James Robinson have given us an enjoyable, self-contained Spider-story that distinguishes […]

It sounds weird to say this, but the fact that the first volume of “Saga” struck me as only being “good” was probably the best thing about it in hindsight.  With the unanimous praise it received and impressive sales it racked up, I was expecting the world from its initial collected edition and didn’t quite […]

This title went on a hiatus a year ago in order to allow writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque time to take care of some outstanding prior commitments (see:  Snyder on “Superman Unchained” and “The Wake”) and to pursue other opportunities (see:  Albuquerque on “Animal Man”).  I thought it was a good idea because […]

This second volume of the Bendis-written title that focuses on the time-traveling original X-Men team doesn’t have a cohesive plot so much as a series of interconnected character moments.  Fortunately for us, most of them are actually really good.  Seeing Kitty help Jean come to grips with her newfound telepathy is handled well and in […]

…A thoroughly entertaining film that surpasses its predecessor and is only slightly less impressive than “Iron Man 3” as far as Marvel movie sequels go.  One of the main reasons for this is that in comparison to “Iron Man 2” and “Thor:  The Dark World, “The Winter Soldier” actually tells a story instead of assembling […]

We got one half of Bendis’ take on the X-Men, with the time-traveling original team, in the first volume of “All-New X-Men” a couple months back.  Now we’re getting the half that focuses on Cyclops’ outlaw group in this latest relaunch of “Uncanny X-Men.”  If nothing else, the writer owes a real debt to Kieron […]

I had high expectations for Cornell’s take on the title character and they weren’t quite met in the first volume.  The results, however, were serviceable enough and the story ended on a fairly dramatic moment for Wolverine as it was revealed that his struggle against the intelligent viral consciousness had cost him his mutant healing […]

For the last few weeks at work I’ve been taunting… Er, “actively hypothesizing” with my co-workers about how the season finale to “The Walking Dead” would play out.  My scenario involved Rick’s crew meeting up with the other refugees from the prison at Terminus and having what passes for a nice reunion scene in this […]