Best of Marvel: Week of December 11th, 2019

Best of this Week: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14 – Tom Taylor, Marguerite Sauvage, Ken Lashley, Rachelle Rosenberg and Travis Lanham

There’s a reason Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular hero.

He’s the everyman. The guy that everyone of any age can relate to to some degree, or at least want to be even a little. Sometimes he’s down on his luck, but he always pushes on. He somehow manages to juggle work-life balance with superheroism thrown into that awful mix. He has family and friends that care about him so much as he cares about them and though sometimes he’s late or missed things, it’s always for a good reason, because he’s saving the world. What’s a better way to repay all of his devotion than by being there for him for even just one night?

That’s the entire premise of this issue and it absolutely builds off of the rest of this run to produce an almost tear inducing finale that made everything worth it. As sad as I am that this down-to-Earth superhero story is ending, it’s certainly going out on a high note.

Ever since Aunt May’s cancer diagnosis in, I think, issue #4, her health has always been this lingering concern throughout the book. Even before Peter found out about May, we got an amazing issue where Spider-Man teamed up with his new sidekick, Spider-Bite, and we got that reveal that he had a potentially terminal disease. It was wonderful because Spider-Man showed that he was never too high in the clouds to remember who he was fighting for. Even when the kid wanted to give up, or didn’t have hope, Spider-Man was there for him and it was beautiful. Peter found a way to give that kid strength against all odds.

Peter, however, upon finding out about Aunt May’s diagnosis, didn’t have the same strength. He didn’t want to believe it. He stormed off, not knowing what to do. He had saved the universe, billions of lives and there was effectively nothing he could do for his ailing Aunt. It’s such a real, but childish response to horrible news like that. However, for Peter, it’s normal. Peter’s done everything under the sun to protect Aunt May in the past, even going so far as to sell his love and marriage with Mary Jane to Mephisto in order to save May’s life for another decade in our time. All May really needed was Peter to be there for her and he realized as much.

Aunt May, ever the tough cookie, didn’t respond to the news with defeated grief. Instead she reopened the FEAST center for New York’s homeless to do something good with whatever time she had left and without a doubt helped the community despite the many times it was destroyed or threatened by supervillains. She wasn’t going to let cancer stop her from being the amazing woman that she always has been.

This book begins with a flashback sequence drawn by Marguerite Sauvage. Colored in red and white, Aunt May consoles a crying Peter after he gets yelled at by Uncle Ben for running away. He misses his parents, but May is there to assure him that he’s never alone and that as he goes to sleep, she will be there when he wakes up. It’s a touching scene made great by Sauvage’s warm coloring, soft shadows and sweet body language that shows the affection between them.

When the flashback ends and we cut to the modern day, May goes in for her first round of treatments and Peter makes the same promise to her that she made for him, that he’ll be there when she wakes up. Of course, given the good old Parker luck, a supervillain manages to crash New York’s power grid, causing the hospital to lose power as well. Initially, Peter wants to stay in the hospital and drink their bad coffee, but his guilt convinces him that he’s needed in the city and he shoots off to fight whoever may be thinking of taking advantage of the darkness.

Initially, I thought this issue was going to be another one of Peter’s gauntlets where he’d have to go up against all of his villains and save the day alone and it sure seemed that way. Ken Lashley sets up a conflict with Shocker, making him look cool and dangerous with Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors making his energy waves look devastating. Just as the two are about to fight, Shocker gets THWIPPED away by Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Miles tells Peter that he’s not supposed to be out in the city tonight and asks his mentor to follow him.

Lashley stuns with a sequence of many of Peter’s friends protecting Spider-Man’s neighborhood for the night. Rumor, the newest elderly superhero that’s made her name in this series, Human Torch, Iron Man, Ben Grimm, Ms. Marvel, Mr. Fantastic, Miles and the Defenders (Jessica, Luke and Danny) all show up for him. Spider-Man may not get the respect from the public at large, but he has managed to cultivate amazing friendships among his own fellow heroes and what more could he possibly ask for?

Spider-Man returns to the hospital and tries to sneak back in when he’s stopped by a kid who gives him a bit of information on who might have caused the blackout. He manages to get a hold of Detective Sebbens, the officer he befriended early on in the series and she gives him an address. It leads him to a suburban neighborhood which is hilarious as Ken Lashley draws him running around like a nerd. Spider-Man finds the home and the perpetrator, a simple high school kid.

This is the bit that made me absolutely love this issue.

Peter understands that the kid is just that, a kid, so he calmly asks him to reboot the city’s power. The kid, Darick, does so, to the surprise of Spider-Man. He cites the many many times that Spider-Man has saved the world and even apologizes for making Spider-Man’s life harder. Spider-Man doesn’t come down hard on him. He sees that Darick’s a smart kid, able to hack the Social Services website into showing that he had a family when he’s been alone. Pete says there’ll be consequences, but promises to be there for him and says that he’ll talk to other people he knows about Darick – hopefully putting him on the right path.

The last beautiful shot is a mirror of what Aunt May said to Peter all those years ago as he’s there when she wakes up.

Tom Taylor knows how to write a damn good story. He understands what Spider-Man is all about; the little guy, the man on the street. Universe eating monsters be damned, Spider-Man will take on any threat, but what makes him so special is that he’ll always remain grounded. He didn’t have to go see the sick kid in the hospital and he certainly could have just thrown Darick under the jail, but he didn’t. He sees the good potential in everyone and gives them a chance to improve the world with that hope. That’s what’s made Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man such a refreshing story to read.

Sure, all of it may not have focused on small things, but it did focus on helping everyone. The Undercity, pensioners, how the people that Spider-Man’s saved feel about him. It’s been a wonderful ride, especially with the art teams. Ken Lashley and Marguerite Sauvage absolutely made this issue feel so personal with their stellart art.I only hope that we get to see more stories like this for other heroes. Not everything can always be the most dire of straits, sometimes it’s good to stop and smell the roses.

Best of DC: Week of September 4th, 2019

Best of this Week: DCeased: A Good Day to Die #1 – Tom Taylor, Laura Braga, Darick Robertson, Richard Friend, Trevor Scott, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte

This was absolutely insane from start to finish.

DCeased as an event has been dire, hopeless and gory beyond all reason and while there has been some travel to different places like Keystone City or Atlantis, most of it has been confined to Metropolis and focused on Superman, Green Canary, Jon Kent and Damian Wayne. A Good Day to Die shifts the focus to an entirely different cast of characters and how they’re dealing with the Anti-Life infection.

Starting with an amazing shot of Mister Miracle, Scott Free, and Big Barda using a Boom Tube to look at the destroyed remains of Apokalips, the book establishes just how bad things have gotten for even the worst being in existence. Darkseid is more than likely very dead. Surrounded by the White Light of safety, the couple look on share a tender kiss full of love with Scott saying that seeing Apokalips decimated debris makes him feel pretty good, like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulder, especially since there were nothing but awful memories there. One of the first themes we get here is the love that he and Barda share throughout.

Soon after, we cut to Mister Terrific conducting a myriad of test on a captured but infected Captain Boomerang. There is never a reason given for why he has Boomerang, but his studies ultimately lead nowhere as he too is stumped about how to solve this problem. What makes this interesting is that, Michael Holt is one of the smartest minds in all of the DC Universe. He has almost as many resources as Batman has with double the mind power to piece together a solution, but he’s got nothing. So he turns to the only two people that may have a first person perspective of things – Scott Free and Barda who have just returned to Earth.

Taylor makes one of the first of many jokes as Terrific knocks on their door, but Scott is convinced that it’s a zombie with their bloody stump until he rings the doorbell, Braga then pulls in close on Scott’s face with the most serious look with him saying, “Answer the door.” and I just couldn’t contain myself. After Barda explains that Apokalips holds no answers as it too was destroyed, we cut to Blue Beetle and Booster Gold holed up in Kord Industries office building. Ted notes that the door is made of titanium and that nothing could get through it… Until Barda gets through it. Scott and Terrific cut down the zombies with ease, allowing the group to escape to Blue Beetle’s Bug on the way to another hope!

Truly, the only thing that could have made this better would have been an appearance from Guy Gardner for most of a Justice League International reunion. This was alluded to by Ted when Barda first showed up and while this does get some more creedence later on, it is far more gruesome than I would have expected, but it was a fun nod to some old history.

After all of that, we venture to the wonderful land of Liverpool, England where John Constantine is being chased by hordes of the Undead and yelling at Chas to start the car. Unfortunately for him, Chas had been looking at his phone and succumbs to the virus himself, forcing John to incinerate his best mate.

Darick Robertson is the artist for these pages and he does an excellent job of drawing a crowd of zombies with bloody faces. He’s even better at setting a scene in only a few panels, showing John running from them at a distance, and keeping that same shot, bringing John closer and closer as we see just how dense the horde is. John is absolutely lucky that he manages to survive. The sheer terror on his face as he runs ragged away from danger is a delight and actually makes me feel horrified for him too.

Terrific and the others save John, asking if magic might be able to help them, but John retorts in his normal snide manner that if it could, he would have done it already. Not before making fun of their superhero names, John says that he’s going to wait to die while being drunk off his arse in typical fashion.

With little options left, Terrific places his faith in the hands of Booster Gold who still has a working time machine somewhere. Even Booster acknowledges the idiocy of that idea, but what else can they do? Booster says he left it in the hands of some trusted friends and where do we go? Malibu! The home of Fire and Ice, the other two members of the JLI as mentioned earlier! Unfortunately for Mister Terrific’s team, both Fire and Ice lost the fight against the hordes and succumbed to the infection themselves. Seeing no other option and quickly being overcome, Scott and Barda sacrifice themselves so that the others may escape. They share one last kiss before getting completely overwhelmed.

Laura Braga’s art shifts between the gruesome and the beautiful so often in this book that when Scott and Varda are on screen, they stand out well amongst the drab browns and reds of the zombies. While this is mostly thanks to Rain Beredo’s great use of colors in Barda’s iconic dark blues and yellows as well as Scott’s distinct greens, yellows and red, credit should be given for Braga’s amazing posing and scene setting. Seeing Barda and Scott so in love and having it juxtaposed against impending doom is just a wonderful sight to see.

The groups efforts are further impeded when Waverider, a “time cop” comes to prevent Booster from using his time machine to save the universe. Constantine returns out of guilt in the nick of time to try to save the universe, headbutting Waverider for a distraction when ZomBarda crashes through a wall and kills Mister Terrific. This keeps Booster away for time to take its toll as Waverider tells him that Superman apparently finds the body of Barry Allen in some rubble in Keystone, causing Booster and the future to start fading away.

I actually almost teared up as I tend to do when things involve Booster and Beetle. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have the most adorable bromance in the history of comics and watching Ted frantically try to calm his dissipating friend is nothing but heartbreaking. Booster apologizes to Ted that he’ll never know him and it’s almost too much, even in this series.

Things just tumble down from there as Ted allows himself to be infected and Constantine keeps Waverider locked in place so that he has to face the consequences of what he’s allowed to happen. Ted kills Waverider just as Doctor Fate and Zatanna show up to try and rescue Constantine.

The biggest and best change here is John’s unwillingness to let this universe fall. John’s never been one for superheroics, but seeing just how close Terrifics team came to actually having something of a solution and knowing that he could have been a great help makes Constantine see that the world can still be saved.

DCeased has me far more involved at this point than I ever expected. Even if it’s not a canon story, I really do feel for each character in it. This particular spin off is even better because it has some of my favorite characters and shows just how they’d deal with a rapid zombie infection. Tom Taylor must have been reading old issues of Justice League of America/International because he captured some of the essence that made that series so hilarious with great characterizations and gags.

Laura Braga’s art stuns by being every bit as violent as Trevor Hairsine’s on the main book while also being very distinct from it with thick lines, excellent facial expressions and good backgrounds. Her cities feel desolate, even with zombies roaming the streets and the way she drew Blue Beetle’s Bug brought me back to my love for the character and the wackiness of the vehicle.

I really hope that this spin off continues to every part of the DC Universe and that even when the main series is over there will still be more stories to tell. Like Marvel Zombies, there’s a lot of ground that can be covered and it can’t just be contained to a six issue miniseries. I mean, it can to avoid over-saturation, but I love this so far.

Best of DC: Week of August 7th, 2019

Best of this Week: DCeased #4 – Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte

This book went out with a bang and it’s only been four issues of the six!

Captain Atom is one of the strongest heroes of the DC Universe. He’s right on par with Superman and under the reigns of the government, he’s an asset that they have complete authority over. The Atom, likely Ray Palmer, has dived into the body of an infected girl to see if there were a way to solve the crisis before it gets any worse, but then he goes dark. Captain Atom tells Amanda Waller to just way for The Atom to chime back in, but she orders him to go outside and clean the mess up.

He does so, but soon realizes that something is horribly wrong. The next thing we see is The Atom tearing his way through Captain Atom’s body, infecting him with the Anti-Life Virus.

We cut to the aftermath of the last issue with Clark bringing Martha Kent to the Daily Planet, crying about Jonathan as the entire Kent Family embraces each other over the loss. One of the big themes of this issue is the loss of family as there will he two big examples later on, each feeling more devastating than the last.

Soon after Superman returns, he’s ready to go back out there and rescue more people, but Dinah reminds him of the danger everyone could be in if he were to become infected. He counters that with the fact that he’s been using x-ray vision to counter the effects of the virus as it’s transmitted through screens. Lois makes a transmission to any hero or villain still alive and tells them to all come to the Daily Planet building.

It’s one of the few bits of hope that we get in this issue as we see that some people have boarded up their homes, some of the Titans are still alive and even Lex Luthor is listening in. Best of all, the transmission makes it to Themyscira and Wonder Woman makes her presence felt as she tells her mother and an arriving Mera that she’s going to Metropolis.

In Keystone City, Superman and Green Lantern Canary find Flash and Kid Flash who are doing their best to stay down as them becoming infected would be a nightmare for the world. In Gotham, Harley is being rescued by Ivy, who kills the infected versions of Catwoman, Huntress, Batwoman and Batgirl. I really liked this because, on top of finally getting one over on the Joker, Harley is saved by the true love of her life, albeit in a gory and bloody manner that I’d hoped I’d never have to see for some of my other favorite characters. But they do make for a really adorable couple.

Back in Metropolis, however, things have taken a horrible turn for the worse. Hairsine struts his stuff in an amazing double page spread that shows an infected Giganta tearing her way through the city like a Kaiju. She looks absolutely monstrous with a giant scar running down her face, eyes and clothes caked with the blood of untold tens or hundreds of people that she’s likely killed or eaten. With only Black Lightning, his daughters, Green Arrow, Robin and Superboy to defend the Planet, things look incredibly dire.

That is, until a surprise Batwing appears and distracts her… only to get knocked out of the sky, but saved by a returning Canary, Superman and the two Flashes. Wonder Woman also appears and prepares to cut the head off of the infected Giganta as she is knocked over by Superman. However, he stops her, pleading that there may still be something left there.

The little bit of hope that he may have had is crushed as Cyborg reappears and blows a hole straight through her head, explaining that none of them are alive anymore. While it’s a mostly clean shot, the few bits and blood that do fall out feel gnarly as hell and her dead eyed expression is enough to send chills down the spine.

While the other heroes are talking, the Batwing’s hatch opens and Damian somehow expects it to be Batman only to be met by Alfred. He hugs his grandson and tells him Bruce’s last words before his untimely passing and we’re brought back to another tearful embrace.

*HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD*

But this somber moment doesn’t last as Hawkgirl appears, crashing down into Diana’s arms, telling everyone that Captain Atom is infected and that he’s about to explode. Superman and Wonder Woman do their best to contain it, but the sheer power of Captain Atom proves too much as his eruption destroyed Washington DC, then Baltimore and eventually…Metropolis where Black Lightning tells his daughters to close their eyes as he embraces them, the bright light engulfing them all.

*SPOILERS OVER: PRESS ON*

DCeased has gone way beyond the gimmick that a lot of us thought it might have been. Exploring themes like the loss of family, love and hope versus hopelessness, we see these characters placed in a new light where they have to adapt to a harrowing situation that no one was prepared for. Black Canary taking over as Green Lantern after Hal gets infected is a new and fresh take for her and she absolutely fits the role like a glove. Superman having to dissociate in order to keep himself focused on saving people gives him more depth as it clashes with who he is as a hero. Diana is far more willing to cut the head off of Giganta where normally she would try to talk her down or knock her out, she’s ready for the high stake over the situation. Also seeing Damian actually show his feelings, crying as Alfred hands him the briefcase of Batman’s gear, gives a lot more humanity as he’s been showing a lot of it because this is legit one of the first times he’s been truly afraid and didn’t have a plan.

Trevor Hairsine’s art by itself is enough to sell the book on. It has a flavor of horror that hearkens back to some of DCs Vertigo stories, but also has the color and flair of normal superhero stories. The feelings of despair are very clearly shown and the gore, for how little there is in this issue is still unsettling to see. It’s all very high quality and appropriate for the story. Unlike most Marvel Zombies books, I’m actually scared for everyone here and I love it. High recommend.

Best of DC: Week of July 3rd, 2019

Best of this Week: DCeased #3 – Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte

Hope is dead.

Tim Drake, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne lie dead on the floor of the Batcave as Alfred makes his way to the Batwing, unable to mourn their deaths and wanting to help stop the zombie threat. Harley Quinn finally gets the catharsis that’s she’s been looking for by pumping an infected Joker full of lead. With her face full of glee, it soon turns into a look of determination as Batgirl, Catwoman, Huntress and Batwoman are set upon her, bloody and rabid with infection.

These first few scenes are horrific and shocking to the extent of which this infection is spreading. The Batfamily is normally the most prepared for things like this to happen, but in one fell swoop, they’re almost all gone. That’s the brilliance of Tom Taylor’s plotting with this story, the inability to know what the hell is going to happen next. Batman would have come up with a cure, a plan, but with Tim and Dick being infected and him unable to fully prevent himself from succumbing to his wounds, the world’s greatest planner is no longer a factor. Barbara would have been an excellent second, but any hope of that was lost the moment she showed up covered in blood.

The world has turned to hell and even Superman can’t bring himself to smile or be hopeful as he looked into the faces of friends and companions, their eyes replaced with the rabid rage of infection and none of the love that they once had. He removes the infected from the Daily Planet office and shores up defenses on the outside before promising Jonthan that everything will be okay before he flies back home to Smallville.

The best way to describe Clark’s emotions as he makes his way through the Planet is hope being replaced by despair. The captions say it best, the hardest part of dealing with the infected is dissociating. These people are no longer Clark’s colleagues. They’re rageful monsters bent on killing, thankfully none of them can make a scratch on him, but the internal scars are far more painful than anything on the outside. Even when he promises that he’ll be back to his son, there’s this underlying feeling of doubt. We don’t know that he will, he doesn’t know that he will, but he’s Superman, right? He has to have hope?

Elsewhere, Garth and Mera are working to make his magic stronger before noticing the sky grow darker, dark with blood. They watch as Aquaman tears through Atlantis’ warriors, infecting and spilling their blood as it flows through the water and gets Garth. Mera barely escapes, but the fear on her face is palpable, she knows that all is lost.

Even Atlantis isn’t impervious to all of this, granted it’s because Aquaman was attacked by infected diving out of a boat, but that doesn’t make things any less terrifying. This also helps us to learn that the infection can spread through blood and given how fast Aquaman and Tempest can swim through water, and how far spread the infection already is, nothing is safe.

On his way to Smallville, Superman does his best to save anyone not infected along the way. He catches up to Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning, and his daughters, telling them to head to the planet before reaching the home of the Kents. Martha is okay, but Jon… Superman makes one final act of kindness before flying his mother to safety, leaving any hope that he might have had in the barn with his father.

That’s what I loved about this book. It is hopelessly nihilistic because of how tragic everything is and how all of it can even break Superman. Hairsine’s art invokes the feeling of terror that I felt the first time I watched 28 Days Later, seeing these ridiculously fast and violent killing machines tear through everything in their path. The shading on everything makes the inkers inks feel even more dark and bleak especially as Aquaman is slicing through Atlantis in a nice double page spread with a black background.

DCeased is definitely much better than I initially gave it credit for. With Hairsine’s art and Taylor’s bleak writing, this is definitely worth checking out, high recommend!

Best of Marvel: Week of May 22nd, 2019

Best of this Week: War of the Realms – Land of Giants #1 – Tom Taylor, Jorge Molina, Adriano di Benedetto, David Curiel and Joe Sabino

Leave it to Tom Taylor and Spider-Man to make me almost tear up about horses.

An upside and downside to these one-shot team up books is that they put on very unexpected teams together. The Darkforce Avengers are okay, but the War Avengers are just awful. The team sent out to rescue Thor, consisting of Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, however, are perfect. These guys know each other and play off of each other very well, making them an impressively cohesive unit.

Spider-Man sits at the heart of this team, acting as the narrator and the only one that chooses not to kill the Frost Giants. Everyone else does of course, and this even affects their weapon choices later in the book. Cap takes Thor’s axe, Iron Fist takes twin swords, Luke takes a hammer, Wolverine is his weapon and Spider-Man takes a shield and Wolverine gives him a helmet.

Each man mounts a flying horse and with Daredevil’s help, enter Jotunheim, the land of the Frost Giants. Immediately they’re attacked by archers who kill every horse aside from Spider-Man’s, who he has affectionately named Buttercup and protects with fury. After the fight, Spider-Man finds that the helmet allows him to communicate with Buttercup, revealing herself to be named Queen Arctorious, leader of the horses. She sends the group away to find Thor and says a prayer for her fallen comrades.

What Tom Taylor does especially well is weaving these somber moments into this action packed and sometimes jokey story. Spider-Man is written like a goof here, but when he needs to be serious, he’s treated as the most honorable and bravest of the team. The others are also written well enough with Luke and Danny being their monk and hard selves, Logan being the morbidly hilarious one and Cap taking the lead as always.

Coming upon Thor in a Berserker Rage, all of the team, sans Spider-Man, remark of times when they’ve gone into similar states of blind fury. They then help Thor tear through the armies of Frost Giants. Throughout the book, Jorge Molina struts his stuff as an artist alongside Curiel and Benedetto. While hits and falls don’t feel like they have the serious weight that they should, everything is beautiful to look at. Colors are bright and stand out greatly against the mostly white backgrounds and of course every hero is distinct by body type and fighting style. Even the art depicting the deaths of the horses is amazing.

The very end of the book is extremely heartbreaking and really makes this particular one-shot worth reading. While War of the Realms is very expansive and has to give a little bit of focus to everything going on at once, it is nice to have these stories being smaller scale. High recommend!