Comics Fondle

On the other hand, Tobin seems to think the last issue is a useful place to totally waste not just the reader’s time but his or her money as well.

This issue is an imaginary story. It’s a few pages of Spider-Man having the power of the Beyonder, then it’s all about how Doctor Doom set Spider-Man up to have that power for a brief instant (Tobin apparently got tired of trying to set actual Secret Wars scenes around Spider-Man and just went for making up his own stuff). Wolverine got the powers too but we don’t get to see Wolverine’s dream life (Peter just keeps bringing Uncle Ben back, though he’s apparently destined to die multiple times a page).

Until now, the comic wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was decent. But this issue is a complete waste of time. Tobin clearly ran out of story ideas.

Parker brings his two stories together to great success, even if Clayton Henry’s art is uglier this time around (last issue they seemed to be going some kind of connection to Pagulayan’s–here it’s clean and bright, kind of like art on action figure packaging).

But, again, Hardman’s art makes up for it. Parker ties his two stories together with a nod toward Brubaker’s recent Captain America flashbacks–seeing Gorillaman in a Brubaker and Epting Cap scene is a little nutty and not at all played for humor, Parker’s way too subtle for it (which makes him a little different from Marvel’s last wunderkind, Dan Slott)–but also with a hint at the depth of the future stories. It’s Levitz’s ABC method, only applied to Marvel (but in a very pre-Didio DC way).

The issue ends with everything brought modern, which gives it a lovely feel. Parker’s just fantastic.

Frank Cho likes women with big bottoms, Clayton Henry likes women with big foreheads. To each his own. I thought Henry was one of those CG artists, but maybe not (didn’t he do that Venom/Carnage limited, the awful one by Milligan?). Anyway, I hate saying it, but I really missed Pagulayan’s grandeur this time around.

Thankfully, Gabriel Hardman is still doing the flashback art and the flashback is the primary story this issue. The split is basically the same–the flashback has this intriguing compelling story, the present day one does some “Dark Reign” lip service but also does some real character moments (this time between Namora and Venus).

There’s some momentum on the “Dark Reign” tie-in building, along with the title tying into the bigger Marvel Universe (is a Bucky Captain America cameo the Marvel equivalent of a Superman cameo or a Batman cameo? Wolverine’s Batman, right?).