"Spider-Man/Deadpool: 'Til Death Do Us..."

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Spider-Man/Deadpool: ’Til Death Do Us…” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Wade Wilson/Deadpool’s wife Shiklah is Queen of the Monster Metropolis located beneath the city of Manhattan in New York. One monster, Farcus, wandered into the subway tunnels and was killed by a group of humans. Shiklah, in her rage, claimed Manhattan as the new capital of the monsters on Earth and ordered the humans to vacate Manhattan. Blade the vampire slayer arrived in Manhattan to combat the monsters and teamed up with Deadpool. Blade told Deadpool they needed the help of Camper Van Helsing, the last of a line of vampire slayers. Camper had been working as an R&D engineer at Parker Industries, but Peter Parker/Spider-Man fired her for her continued absences from work. Camper had been obsessed with Versus, an MMORPG she was extremely gifted at and always played as Deadpool. When the monster invasion began, Peter donned his Spider-Man costume at Parker Industries. Shiklah deceived Spider-Man and gained access to Parker Industries’ R&D vault, where she learned of Camper’s sleep-inducing device, the Sandman, which Shiklah then used on Spider-Man and instructed Camper to make it’s effect radius wide enough to work on all of New York City, but Camper tricked Shiklah and decreased it’s effect to zero. Deadpool arrived at Parker Industries, where he, Spider-Man, and Camper made their escape to Camper’s apartment so she could use a stake that could track specific monsters, and in this case, the monster they needed was Dracula. The Mercs for Money (Domino, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Machine Man, Gorilla-Man, Hit-Monkey and Masacre) decided to sneak into Shiklah’s base dressed up in disguise as monsters. This plan went awry when Gorilla-Man fell under Shiklah’s sway, but the team was able to convince Gorilla-Man on his humanity. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Deadpool and Camper found Dracula, and made a deal with him: if he lost to Camper at Versus, he had to come to New York to fight Shiklah. Dracula lost. Shiklah had Morbius the Living Vampire modify the Sandman and activated it, putting every human in New York City to sleep. Spider-Man, Deadpool, Camper and Dracula arrived in New York City, where Dracula united the vampires against the other monsters. Dracula and Shiklah came face to face, and Dracula proposed to Shiklah, and Shiklah accepted. The two were wedded by the Hell Lord Mephisto. Spider-Man and the Mercs for Money battled Dracula and the monster army, while Deadpool compromised Shiklah’s integrity to end the monster invasion of New York City.

            Valeria Colon, widow of Ferraro Colon, came to Peter Parker and asked him to find the negatives of photographs he took of Spider-Man’s first fight with the supervillain the Vulture, a fight that caused the death of her husband, hoping those photos would give her some closure. Peter knew the negatives, if they still existed, would be locked in the archives of the Daily Bugle in New Jersey, so he decided to go as Spider-Man. Spider-Man found Deadpool and told him they should be more serious and to stop cracking jokes all the time and that it was insensitive. To Spider-Man’s surprise, Ms. Colon had also hired Deadpool to get the negatives as well. When the two arrived at the warehouse, they were attacked by the supervillain Slapstick, who had been hired by the mobster known as El Tenor to steal the negatives as well. The three temporarily teamed up against the underlings, but Slapstick double-crossed Spider-Man and Deadpool, but El Tenor double-crossed Slapstick. Spider-Man and Deadpool then had to find El Tenor and recover the negatives while Slapstick had to bargain for his life.

            Spider-Man, Nathan Skreemie, Thornton Blackball, Prof. Seymour Crippen, and Dorothy woke up in Arcade’s Murderworld, designed like a board game, and forced to fight for their lives. Spider-Man’s companions, aside from Dorothy, were all unsavory people. Arcade had invited supervillain the Stinger to Murderworld, but Deadpool stole his invitation. Deadpool arrived in Murderworld, where Arcade told Deadpool he was dying and wanted to leave Murderworld to Deadpool, all Deadpool had to do was help Arcade kill Spider-Man. Deadpool refused, and Arcade revealed he had been lying and dropped Deadpool into the game. The group were forced to struggle through Murderworld to save their lives and had to face off with a leveled-up Arcade to escape Murderworld.

            Parker Industries collapsed, S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, and Deadpool killed Agent Phil Coulson and became a wanted man, even by Spider-Man. Deadpool was seen on television selling S.H.I.E.L.D. technology, and Peter turned to his friend Barbara “Bobbi” Moorse/Mockingbird, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for held finding Deadpool to bring him to justice. Deadpool was based on a stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier with Kate Waynesboro, Hellcow, Screwball, Clay Quartermain and Branch, Manphibian, and super sharks Deborah and Bruce. Spider-Man found the Helicarrier, and he and Deadpool landed in Tabula Rasa where they ran into former X-Man Paige Guthrie/Husk. The three discovered a fake Deadpool and it was supervillain the Chameleon. Deadpool’s team came to the rescue, but Chameleon got his hands on a file about Project Doppelganger.

            Deadpool and his team decided to get their hands on more S.H.I.E.L.D. tech and broke into an old S.H.I.E.L.D. facility called Area 14. Spider-Man arrived and battled Deadpool, but Deadpool escaped with a haul of S.H.I.E.L.D. tech. The Chameleon snuck in and stole a piece of tech that would power up Project Doppelganger, a collection of Life Model Decoys of superheroes and villains. He commandeered a Life Model Decoy of Kraven the Hunter to battle Spider-Man, Deadpool and his team. Chameleon then began an auction on the Life Model Decoys he had stolen. Spider-Man and Cindy Moon/Silk battled a Life Model Decoy of the Hulk, then the two confronted Deadpool, Clay Quartermain and Branch, and Deborah and Bruce. Chameleon then attempted to blow them all up. The group survived. They joined up with Mockingbird, only to be assaulted by an army of Life Model Decoys.

            In the far future, Peter Parker was an old man. He had retired from being Spider-Man after he was nearly cut in half and stitched back together, and he and Wade Wilson were in the same retirement home. Wade had been keeping Peter alive with transfusions of his regenerative blood, a fact Peter was unaware of. After Wade orchestrated a string of robberies in the retirement home, Peter got the fire back in him and decided to be Spider-Man again. Spider-Man and Deadpool escaped from the retirement home and went after a Life Model Decoy of Deadpool. They defeated it, but accidentally activated an army of Deadpool Life Model Decoys. Spider-Man and Deadpool teamed up with the Fantastic Four to battle the Deadpool Life Model Decoys, and Wade decided to travel to the past to fix it.

            Okay, so now that we have the scenario out of the way, let’s get to my part of the review. First off, I will say that I thought that this was a relatively enjoyable book. There was a lot to like about it. The book was a lot of fun to read for me. I thought the titular story was great. I loved how Camper Van Helsing roped Dracula into helping the heroes by beating him at a video game. I thought that was just brilliant. I liked the twist of El Tenor’s identity in the “No Laughing Matter” storyline. I thought that was interesting. The Murderworld storyline was good. “Arms Race” was interesting, I loved the telepathic sharks Bruce and Deborah. “Area 14” was good. “Oldies” was well written, I liked Old Man Parker and Old Man Wilson and the future Fantastic Four, I thought they were engaging. Overall, I thought the writing was decent. As for the art, I thought it was exemplary. I found it to be pleasurable to look at and a visual treat. It made reading a lot more enjoyable to have such great artwork at the points when the story fell a little flat, which happened here and there, but on the plus side, that was not a consistency. I enjoyed having the Chameleon as a villain, having a big-name Spider-Man villain in this series made the stakes a little higher, and I thought that was a good thing. And the assortment of Monsters Underground were familiar faces, and I thought that was entertaining. But there were points where the story did fall a little flat, I hate to say. This volume wasn’t as good as I was hoping, and it was not as good as the first volume, but I guess it could be I had high expectations, and I just didn’t quite get what I wanted and that was a little disappointing and that did detract from my enjoyment factor. I also must complain about how they mixed in the “Oldies” and “Area 14” storylines together in a mishmash that made little sense and got a little confusing.

            Next, we’re going to discuss accessibility. I’ve explained this dozens of times, but I’ll do it again because I know some of you have never read one of my reviews before, so I must explain again. When I say accessibility, I mean how easy it is to pick up this book and read it, even if you know little or nothing about Spider-Man and Deadpool. I feel like the accessibility level for this book is a little low. One of the main reasons I say this is for the titular storyline being a crossover between three series, “Spider-Man/Deadpool,” “Deadpool,” and “Deadpool and the Mercs for Money.” The Mercs for Money are characters that are obscure, some of them even I know relatively little about. Also, there’s reference to other series here and there, like Deadpool killing Agent Coulson, which happened outside this series, and Parker Industries, which changes status in the Marvel Universe outside of this book from a big tech business to being completely shut down, and no explanation is given in this book for it other than a few lines which really don’t do much. Also, there are a few other obscure characters used in this book, like Clay Quartermain and Husk. However, I will say this doesn’t draw too much from the previous volume of the series. I think you could read this book without reading the first volume. So, I will tell you that if you know about Shiklah and the Mercs for Money, you could read this book without reading the first volume and probably not feel like you missed anything. Other than that, there were no events that directly tied-in around this time. But if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before, I don’t suggest this book as a starting point as backgrounds on the characters are not given, so if you don’t know they characters, you will probably not get what is going on with them.

            Okay, I’ve gone on long enough, you’re probably getting bored now and just want me to get to the point, so I think I’ll do that. The main point of all my reviews is my score. I give my reviews a numeric score on a scale of one to ten. One means this is a steaming pile of garbage and should be avoided at all costs, ten means this is pure gold and needs to be read. My regular readers know I’m not in the habit of handing out tens to graphic novels unless they’re sheer perfection, and I’m not sure if that’s ever actually happened with a graphic novel before. Now, of course, you can tell this book is not at the top or bottom of either spectrum based just on all of what I’ve said. This book is particularly hard for me to score. But, of course, I’m obligated to do so, so I’ll have to do it. So, of course, I must take everything into consideration when I score a graphic novel, story, and art. So, taking everything into account, and judging it all together and churning out a score, I give it… a seven. The story was okay, but the art was great, so that really boosted the score there.

            Next, we’re going to talk about if I give my recommendation or not. Now, that’s a definite yes. I’d recommend it to any fans of the Spider-Man or Deadpool comics from the 2010s in particular, but I’d recommend it to just any Spider-Man or Deadpool reader. If you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before, I don’t recommend this as a starting point, however. Still, if you’ve read this review and want to read this book, I think you should go for it, there really should be little stopping you other than not knowing who the Mercs for Money are.

            Okay, I think I’ve said about all I really need to say at this point. So, I’ll wrap up in just a few more sentences. First off, timcubbin.blogspot.com has dozens of reviews of books, so you can check all those out. I post on a very frequent basis. I should have a new review in the next three days, so be sure to check that out. I also have written several short stories, some poetry, a bunch of editorials, some articles and essays, all kinds of content on this site, so if you liked this post, please feel free to keep browsing. Keep coming back for more because I will be posting more. And I say to you, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn't it Bromantic?"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Spider-Man/ Deadpool: Isn’t it Bromantic?” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Peter Parker has the proportionate speed, strength and agility of a spider, adhesive fingertips and toes, and a precognitive awareness of danger. He is the CEO of Parker Industries and the superhero the Amazing Spider-Man.

            Wade Wilson has a healing factor that allows him to recover from almost any wound. He has a succubus wife and is the wisecracking merc with a mouth Deadpool.
            Spider-Man and Deadpool first met when Deadpool supervillain Quentin Beck/Mysterio were hired to discredit politician Jack McPherson. This first meeting led to Deadpool turning on his clients and teaming up with Spider-Man, but it did not exactly make them friends.

Deadpool had just become a member of the superhero team the Avengers, a team Spider-Man was on, but due to his principles, he was unable to accept Deadpool’s appointment to the team and decided to leave the Avengers. Deadpool wanted to learn to be a true superhero, and he thought the best example to learn these skills from was Spider-Man. Deadpool orchestrated a team-up, hoping to win Spider-Man’s trust, but failed, but refused to give up. Of course, Deadpool had to make money on the side somehow, so he continued his mercenary business. His next target was Peter Parker. Deadpool had been given the false impression that Peter Parker was a top-shelf scum bag. Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Miles Morales/Spider-Man and Deadpool inadvertently teamed up to fight the supervillain Mysterio, but the fight left the villain severely injured and in a coma, but Deadpool’s efforts to save the villain’s life made Peter Parker see the merc in a new light and decided to give him a chance. Deadpool showed Spider-Man a day in his life, and a friendship began. And then, after a bro’s night out, Deadpool offed Peter Parker. Deadpool hoped to view Parker’s torture in the underworld, but Parker never arrived. Fearing a mistake was made, Deadpool had his demoness wife Shiklah restore Parker to life, just so Deadpool could unalive him again, but once again Parker never arrived in the underworld, leading Deadpool to realized he had been played and that Peter Parker really wasn’t a bad guy. Parker was, however, trapped with Mysterio in the villain’s near-death state. Deadpool pulled strings with Shiklah to get into Mysterio’s head to rescue Parker, who had been approached by the demon Mephisto. Meanwhile, Patient Zero, the man behind the target on Peter Parker, had impersonated Parker to steal data from Parker Industries. Spider-Man and Deadpool teamed up to fight Patient Zero, but the villain managed to escape. After the fight, Deadpool discovered that his disfigurement that came from the treatment that gave him his powers had been cured and that he was no longer unpleasant to look at. After his escape, Patient Zero performed an experiment on a young woman using the data he stole from Parker Industries, and blood samples from both Spider-Man and Deadpool.

            Deadpool’s lack of disfigurement caused disinterest from his demoness wife. Spider-Man and Deadpool continued their team-ups, fighting the Hateful Hexad following Spider-Man’s “no kill rule,” but the woman Patient Zero experimented on, now displaying the powers of both heroes, violently took out the villain team, left the crime scene, and made Spider-Man and Deadpool look like the culprits. Spider-Man dubbed this villainess “Itsy-Bitsy.” After another encounter with Patient Zero and Itsy-Bitsy, Spider-Man and Deadpool retreated to Weirdworld to lick their wounds, where they hate to save the pocket dimension from a creature called Sl’ur’boroth. Spider-Man then decided that the only way to stop Itsy-Bitsy for the last time was to end her life, a line Deadpool refused to let his newfound friend cross. Deadpool brought Spider-Man to X-Man Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, hoping the mutant priest could talk Spider-Man out of this drastic decision, but this talk did not accomplish what Deadpool desired, but did lead to Deadpool discovering Patient Zero’s true identity, his reason for hating Spider-Man and Deadpool, and why he had to stop Spider-Man from ending the life of Itsy-Bitsy. The two heroes and the monster created from their DNA fought, and the threat of Itsy-Bitsy was ended for the time being.

            The Salmon Stunt Man arrived in New York City to tell Deadpool that Hollywood was making a movie about him, and even wanted him to be in it. He got Spider-Man to join in on the movie by making him an associate producer. However, the fight scenes between the Salmon Stunt Man and Deadpool were attempts to end Deadpool’s life.

            Deadpool took part in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, playing against world-famous magician Penn Jillette. The two made a bet that if Deadpool lost the Penn, then Deadpool would have to switch places with Teller, Penn’s partner in his magic act, for a week. Deadpool lost this bet and had to be Teller in the act for a week, while the real Teller secretly teamed up with Spider-Man to fight a villainess calling herself Tarot, whose powers came from a magical deck of tarot cards.

            On Christmas Eve, Roman God Saturn came to Earth, disgusted with how Christmas had ruined his holiday of Saturnalia. Deadpool held an Avengers Christmas party, but did not invite Spider-Man, a party that Deadpool ended up getting himself kicked out of. Spider-Man and Deadpool decided to spend the rest of Christmas Eve together, when they ran across Saturn, who had gone on a rampage. To end the carnage, Deadpool decided to show Saturn an enjoyable time and prove that Christmas is just like Saturnalia and that his holiday really hadn’t been ruined.

            A coven of prospective young witches kidnapped Deadpool in an attempt to summon Shiklah, Deadpool’s heartmate, but instead summoned Spider-Man to their school, just in time to fight a monster that arrived to wreak havoc on Toronto.

            Okay, so we’ve got the plot out of the way, time for my own personal thoughts. First off, I have to say, I loved this book. I thought the writing was brilliant. And the humor was great. Honestly, I originally would not have thought of putting the two of them together teaming up in one book. On the one hand, we have Spider-Man, the purest superhero in the Marvel Universe, a through and through goody-two-shoes. Then we have Deadpool, who literally kills people for a living, completely remorselessly. The two are complete opposites. Their principles are different. They have nothing in common, other than the fact that while they do their thing, they crack jokes. They’re literally oil and water, they shouldn’t mix. And yet they got put together in this book and the writers made it work. I never thought that would happen. And I never thought this could work as an ongoing series. As a six issue limited series, maybe. A little onetime team up, fight the bad guys, win, go their separate ways. But this series lasted for several years. I just couldn’t believe it. Personally, I loved the ‘Itsy-Bitsy” story arc, I just enjoyed seeing the conflict in Spider-Man, how he was willing to violate everything he believed in and how the immoral Deadpool actually did all he could to keep his new friend from crossing a line and doing something he could never take back. I just thought that was so brilliant. I thought the retro issue was clever, a fantastic addition to the book, I like how they jokingly said they had written it back in the 1960s but never published it. It’s obvious that’s not true, but it was still a great joke all the same. And the Penn and Teller issue was hilarious, I loved how they actually got Penn Jillette to write a comic book, I just thought that was genius. And I’m always partial to a good holiday special, and I thought that “The Spider-Man/Deadpool Ho-Ho-Holiday Special!” was fantastic. And the artwork in this book was excellent throughout the whole book, it was just consistently outstanding, which is extremely rare in a Modern Era Epic Collection, I usually find at least one artist to complain about. I won’t even complain about the retro issue. All-in-all, I just thought this book was stellar. Well done.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I know that I have people who know what I mean, but I know some of you may never have read one of my reviews before and don’t know what I mean, so therefore I will explain myself. When I say accessibility, I mean just how easy it is to pick up and read this book, particularly to people who are not regular readers of the Marvel Comics. So, I will say that there is difficulty with accessibility. This comes from a specific period where Peter Parker had his own tech company, which did not last for a super long time, so that does cause a conflict on being able to just accept the content of this book. Also, this is from a time where Deadpool was a member of the Avengers and had a demoness wife, which also wasn’t a long-term storyline. So, some of the character development moments are a little difficult to grasp for people who have never read the comics, as nothing like this has ever happened in the movies or cartoons or video games (as far as I know), so the context from other forms of media just isn’t there. Also, there is an issue from a crossover event called “Monsters Unleashed,” and this graphic novel only contains the Spider-Man/Deadpool issue, so it’s taken out of context, and the is little foreground to it and no true closure to the story either. So, despite this book being Vol. 1, despite this starting with issue #1, there is a lot of background knowledge required from the time period to truly understand the full story, like just why exactly Patient Zero was able to convince Deadpool that Peter Parker was a scumbag, because that directly pertained to Parker Industries, and that’s just one example, there are many in this book. I really don’t feel that this is an entry level graphic novel for people who have never read a Marvel Comic book before, or even that it’s a good graphic novel for people who have read Marvel comics before but didn’t read them in the early- to mid-2010s. I just feel like this book is highly inaccessible for new readers who are just walking into a bookstore and seeing this book on the shelf and thinking to themselves “Oh, ‘Spider-Man/Deadpool?’ Cool! I’m buying this!” I just feel it’s not the right fit.

            Okay, now that I’ve officially warned off about 97% of my readers, let’s get down to the practical details, my numeric score. Some of you already know the drill, but I have to say it again anyway because I do have people reading right now who have never read one of my reviews before, so it just must be done. I score on a simple scale. I go through one to ten. One means this is utter trash and should not be read at all; ten means this book is pure gold and if you meet the requirements needed to read this book then by all means you should read it. Now, of course, this is a graphic novel, so when I score, I must take both story and art into consideration when I render my judgement. Now, my regular readers know that I’m not in the business of handing out tens for no reason. So, could this book actually be getting a ten? I mean, the story was great! The art was great! Is it a ten…? No. I must score this book as a nine. There’s just some little thing holding me back. I can’t quite tell you what it is, but this book just doesn’t get a ten, sorry to say. Still, a nine is really darn good. It’s just not quite perfection. I can’t put this on the internet and say it’s a ten, then look back after Vol. 3 comes out and say “Why the heck did I give this book a ten? It wasn’t perfect!” (Vol. 2 just came out two days prior to my writing this review, I got this book almost a year ago, I just didn’t review it previously because I didn’t have a laptop at the time I last read this book, just so you know, I just reread this book as a refresher, and you can expect a review of Vol. 2 sometime in the next three weeks.) I really, really wish I could give it a ten, I loved it so much, but it’s just got something that’s not quite ten material.

            Anyway, let’s move on to my recommendation. As much as I loved this book, it is extremely hard to recommend. As I stated before, the accessibility level is pretty low. However, if you are familiar with Spider-Man and Deadpool in the Marvel Comics circa the early- to mid-2010s, I highly recommend this book. It was fun, funny, well written, beautifully illustrated and all around enjoyable, and I feel like any Spider-Man or Deadpool fans would find it worth the read. I mean, even if you haven’t read comics before and read this review and want to read it now, I’m not telling you not to read it, that’s all up to you, I know some people are intuitive, I mean, people start reading comics at any point every day, I just don’t recommend this as a first Marvel graphic novel, but hey, if you want, by all means, go for it, I’m not stopping you. Honestly, I can’t tell you what to do, you don’t have to listen to me, everything written on this website is all just my opinion, I’m not telling you what to think or feel, you can agree or disagree with me about anything you want, I really don’t mind, that’s the beauty of being a human being, we all have our own opinions on anything, you don’t have to listen to me, I’m just saying how I personally feel. So, I guess what I’m saying is I do recommend it, but I do give warning.

            Anyway, I’ve been blathering on for quite a while, so I think we’re getting to a point where we should start wrapping things up. So, I have written dozens of reviews just like this one, and you can keep on expecting more. Like I said, you can expect another review sometime within the next three weeks of Vol. 2 of “Spider-Man/Deadpool” and there will be plenty more after that, so just keep coming back for more Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection reviews. I’ve also written short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and all other kinds of content on this website, so if you’re into that kind of thing, be sure to keep browsing, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other things to like on timcubbin.blogspot.com and there’s not an end in sight. So, I’ll say farewell for now, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Venom: Shiver"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Venom: Shiver” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Edward “Eddie” Brock was bonded with an alien parasitic organism called a symbiote. Together, they were the supervillain named Venom. Venom frequently fought Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who priorly hosted the same symbiote. During one such fight, Spider-Man was losing, and the Fantastic Four (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Susan Storm-Richards/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing) came to his aid and were able to defeat Venom and separate Eddie from the symbiote. During the fight, Venom lost his tongue and a civilian stole it, but an enigmatic scientific agency called The Ararat Corporation, comprised of clones all named Bob, Vic and Frankie stole the tongue from him to try to replicate the Venom symbiote. Meanwhile, Reed Richards continued to study the original Venom symbiote using a self-replicating robotic species he discovered during one of the Fantastic Four’s adventures into deep space. The new Venom symbiote, unlike the original, did not like to keep it’s hosts alive for any length of time and would kill them very quickly. The government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. took both Eddie Brock and the original Venom symbiote to the Vault, a prison for supervillains. The new symbiote was sent to the Ararat Corporation’s Arctic Research Facility in Northern Canada, where Bob unleashed the symbiote upon the scientists there. The symbiote went on a rampage killing all but one scientist. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock and the original symbiote escaped from the Vault. S.H.I.E.L.D. used Reed’s Nanobots to create an agent to go after Venom and sent him to the Arctic.

            United States Army communications specialist Patricia Robertson was sent on an errand to the Ararat Corporation’s Arctic Research Facility with her sled dogs. She found the surviving scientist, who was in shock, and brought him back to U.S. Radar Station “Christmastown.” Colonel Malone figured that the slaughter at the Research Facility was done by a polar bear and brushed it off. The Nanobot agent found the Research Facility as well and decided to follow Robertson to Christmastown. Robertson’s dog Ivan was found near death and brought inside Christmastown for treatment. Unbeknownst to all the military personnel, the symbiote was attached to Ivan and was now inside the base. It then jumped to Malone. The Nanobot agent arrived at the base, and tried to destroy the symbiote, then after failing to destroy the symbiote and save Malone, he tied up Robertson and specialist Jackson, but the symbiote had moved on to Jackson. The symbiote then tried to destroy the Nanobot agent but failed. Robertson was able to escape and found the scientist, who told Robertson the story of the symbiote, which had now killed everyone on the base but Robertson, but as it turned out, the symbiote was in the scientist. The symbiote then took possession of a dog and fled the base. The Nanobot agent then incapacitated Roberston and took her from the base as well.

            Ararat agents Vic and Frankie arrived in Canada searching for the symbiote, a fact that the Nanobot agent noticed and informed S.H.I.E.L.D. of. X-Men member Logan/Wolverine arrived on the scene and fought Venom. The Nanobot agent incapacitated Frankie, while Vic went after Robertson. The Nanobot agent then saw that the symbiote was about to jump onto Wolverine, so the Nanobot agent attempted to kill Wolverine to prevent this, since Wolverine had a healing factor that would sustain the symbiote, eliminating the need for the symbiote to continuously switch hosts. Frankie tried to entice the symbiote to join with her, but the Nanobot agent informed the symbiote Frankie had been cybernetically enhanced with the ability to control the symbiote and prevent it from escaping. The symbiote rejected them all, escaping in a civilian. Vic and Frankie then abducted Robertson and tried to blow up Logan and the Nanobot agent. Both survived and Robertson was able to escape. The symbiote then found Logan and bonded with him, while the Nanobot agent found Robertson, incapacitated her, and cybernetically enhanced her like Vic and Frankie. The Nanobot agent was able to force the symbiote out of Logan and onto Robertson.

            Robertson was able to escape to Manhattan with S.H.I.E.L.D. going after her. Spider-Man found her, thinking she was Eddie, then the original Venom found Robertson. The two Venoms fought until S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived. Eddie webbed up S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury and escaped, leaving Spider-Man to fight Robertson. Bob arrived with a clearance code forcing Fury to stand down on the Venom case. Eddie and Robertson fought again until the Nanobot agent arrived. Eddie fled, and the Nanobot agent counseled Robertson, then caused a blackout in New York City, and brought Robertson to Reed Richards to lure Eddie to the Baxter Building to contain the Venom symbiotes for the last time.

            Okay, so now it’s time for the Tim Cubbin part of the review. So, we’re going to start with my thoughts on the graphic novel. I thought it was enjoyable. It wasn’t a great book, but it wasn’t horrible either. I guess you could say it was just okay. The story was interesting enough. I will say that the story was originally written out of order, with one of the later stories taking place at the start of the narrative, but for this review, I wrote it chronologically, for context purposes. I liked the story with Wolverine. Wolverine fighting Venom was awesome. I thought it was interesting how the Ararat Corporation was able to clone the Venom symbiote from a piece of his tongue. It was almost comedic. And the art was fantastic. It was stylized, which can be dangerous, but in this case, I feel like it worked out right. I’ve reviewed graphic novels before where I’ve complained about stylized artwork, but this stylized artwork gets no complaints from me. But there was a lot I disliked. I disliked how in the first story, almost all the characters were expendable and not fleshed out. I felt like I just didn’t get to know these characters before they were killed off, so I just couldn’t feel for them. I also felt cheated that most of this book did not have Eddie Brock as Venom. I was really hoping for an Eddie story, and I was highly disappointed that I didn’t get it. It would have made the Venom versus Wolverine fight even more epic if it were Logan who fought Eddie instead of just a random no-name character in the symbiote. Still, for what it was, I found the book to be decent.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. Now, my previous readers will know what I mean by that, but for you newbs, I’ll explain. By accessibility, I mean how easy it is to pick up and read this book, particularly if you are someone with little to no prior knowledge about Venom. I have to say, I found this book to be accessible. First off, this is Vol. 1 of the series of Venom Modern Era Epic Collections. Second, the series collected in this book starts at #1. Third, all eighteen consecutive issues in this book are one series. Fourth, there are no crossovers or tie-ins and no events going on at the time. Fifth, it doesn’t directly continue from any previous storylines. I think that if a person were to be in a bookstore and see this on a shelf and think it was interesting, yet know nothing about the character, they’d be able to just pick it up and read it and understand it. If you have knowledge of Venom from the “Venom” movies or Marvel cartoons or video games, I feel like you’d be able to understand this book fine. They provide good background on the character of Venom and I don’t feel like they cause a major contradiction in the portrayal of the character, but I will say I haven’t seen every Marvel animated series or played every video game, so I can’t confirm that with a certainty, but from what I do know, I don’t think they’ll poison your conception of the character too badly, unless you’ve only played “Spider-Man 2” and have no other experience with Venom, that Venom is nothing like Venom from the comics, but I feel like otherwise, you’re good. If at any point in time you’ve read Marvel Comics from the main Marvel Universe and read any stories with Venom in them, you’ll have no problem understanding this book at all, this fits in fine with the continuity. This is a good jump on point. If you’re looking into starting to read Marvel comics and are looking for a good place to start, I feel like this is a good place for you to pick.

            Okay, now we’re going to get into the important part: my numeric score. I score on a basic scale, one to ten. One is the worst, meaning this is a steaming pile of garbage, ten means this is amazing, and every page should be framed and hung up all over your living space. You can guess this isn’t a ten or a one, and that it falls somewhere in-between. If you guessed that, you’d be correct. So, I have two things to take into consideration when scoring a graphic novel: story and art. So, I said the story was slightly disappointing, but the artwork was fantastic. So, I am going to have to score it at… seven! It was good enough that I can give it a high score.

            Next, we’re going to talk about my recommendation, if I personally recommend it and to whom I recommend it. Yes, this book does get my personal recommendation. And I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the character of Venom. If you’re a fan of Venom, I’m telling you that you should make every effort to read this book. I feel like if you are reading this review and are liking what you are reading, I think you should go out and get your hands on this book. And if you are reading this and personally know someone who is a fan of Venom, tell them about this book so that they can read this, because I totally feel like this book is worth it.

            Okay, I feel like I’ve gone on long enough, you have better things to do with your time than reading my drivel, so I’m going to send you on your merry way now. I will tell you that I have written dozens of reviews on this site, so there’s plenty to read. I post regularly, so there’s usually new content available frequently. I have another review planned, expect it in the next week or so. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, articles, essays, editorials, and all other kinds of content on this blog. If you want to leave me a comment or a reply or something, feel free to do so, and you’re welcome to leave a Tweet if you’re reading this on X or a comment if you’re reading this on Facebook, or just communicate with me however you feel like, that would be great, I’d love to hear from you. No one has ever sent me a reply, I would love for you to be the first. So, keep coming back for more because there will be more, and I say to you until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Venom: Space Knight"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Venom: Space Knight” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Flash Thompson was an assistant coach at West Philadelphia High School. He was also the host of the Venom symbiote. One day at work, the symbiote emerged in the middle of class in front of a student named Andrea “Andi” Benton. But Venom had other things to worry about, such as the crime boss Lord Ogre, who was operating in Philly. Venom started busting up his operations, and realized how sick of an enemy he was facing.

Following an incident with Venom and Toxin at the high school, Daily Inquisitor reporter and Venom ally Katy Kiernan came investigating, and Flash feared that Andi could lead her to Venom’s identity. Venom went after Lord Ogre but was defeated by a group of supervillains under Lord Ogre’s employ. Supervillain Jack O’Lantern, mysteriously out of jail, knowing Venom’s identity, and with a major grudge against Venom, attacked Flash’s apartment complex. Andi and her father were Flash’s neighbors. Jack chased Andi into her apartment. Venom arrived to try to protect them, but was unable to protect Andi’s father, but while trying to protect Andi, the Venom symbiote spawned a piece of itself onto Andi. Venom then had to prevent Symbiote Andi from crossing the line to get her revenge on Jack and in the process, Jack escaped. Flash was surprised with how well and how quickly Andi was able to manage the symbiote. Jack returned with the villains who had previously defeated Venom, and with Andi’s help, Venom was able to defeat them this time.

Andi then went on to become the symbiotic vigilante Mania and was trying to take the fight to Lord Ogre to avenge her father. The D.O.A., led by the villain called Crossbones, were going after people who had Hell marks. Venom had previously been marked, but a conversation with Daimon Hellstrom caused Flash to realize that when the Venom symbiote spawned, the Hell mark had been passed on and that Mania now bore the Hell mark and Venom was no longer marked, and that Andi was now a target of the D.O.A. Mania confronted Lord Ogre. Venom swung in to help, and the D.O.A. arrived. Lord Ogre and his army were taken out by demons summoned by the D.O.A., demons Andi discovered she was able to control. Venom decided to try to make a deal with Hell Lord Mephisto to remove the Hell mark from Andi. The D.O.A. crashed the negotiations, and Mephisto summoned the Monsters of Evil, whom Andi were able to control, and following the battle, Mephisto refused to remove the Hell mark.

Months later, Venom became an Agent of the Cosmos, despite not truly knowing what that meant. He traveled off into space. On one mission, he met a robot called 803, whom Venom became the master of. He saved an alien planet from a device that was creating rain toxic to the native alien species. There he met fellow Agents of the Cosmos Myntril and Tarna, the latter also being bonded with a Klyntar symbiote. He traveled to Gorfin-7, a planet of lava and fire which was on the verge of destruction due to a device planted by the alien Mercurio. Venom destroyed the device and made an ally/potential lover of an alien woman named Iqa, and an enemy of Mercurio. Flash discovered the symbiote was now able to function independently of him, something it had never been able to do without a host before. Mercurio, furious Venom had foiled his plans for Gorfin-7, sent alien criminal Pik Rollo to bring Venom to him. Pik Rollo caused Venom’s ship to crash on a planet of robot gladiators. The two were captured and forced into the arena, where the two became allies rather than enemies when Venom learned Pik Rollo was being extorted by Mercurio, and the two decided to team up against Mercurio. The two were imprisoned, but Venom’s new allies were able to come to the rescue.

Tarna arrived to inform Flash that the Venom Klyntar was losing control, was impure, and had to be returned to the cosmos. Both Flash and Venom were resistant and fought and Venom lost control and escaped. Venom went on a path of destruction, and Flash and his allies had to chase him down. Flash and Venom reunited, and Flash was able to calm Venom down. Flash learned the reason Venom was out of control was because when Venom was cleansed when he became an Agent of the Cosmos, a piece was left behind that wasn’t there to complete the cleanse: the Mania symbiote. Flash had to return to Earth and his allies had to get Andi a drink from the Fountain of Purity in the temple on the lost planet Wenb.

Flash returned to Earth, where he visited his mother who was recovering from the mental stress caused by her encounter with Venom. Spider-Man arrived and tried to separate Flash and Venom to contain the symbiote in a lab at Parker Industries. This led to a misunderstanding, to a battle, to a team-up to find Andi and separate her and Mania to fully cleanse Venom and save Andi from her Hell mark.

Okay, so we have the synopsis out of the way, let’s talk about my opinion on the book. In all honesty, I’m very conflicted. I liked parts of the book and disliked parts of the book. Ironically, the parts I liked were all the parts that took place on Earth. The whole Space Knight thing just didn’t work for me. So, once he went to space, I stopped genuinely enjoying it up until the end when he got back to Earth. The rest just really wasn’t all that appealing to me. I didn’t like the design of Venom as an Agent of the Cosmos; the look just wasn’t visually appealing either. And I was really hoping for appearances by the Guardians of the Galaxy, but alas, I did not get that except for in a flashback or two, so I found that slightly disappointing. That said, the Mania storylines were to my liking. I enjoyed the character, and I liked Flash having a sidekick, having responsibility, and the parts in space without Andi just seemed weak without her being there to amplify the sense of responsibility Flash had for Mania. He was fatherlike to her, and I loved that side of Flash, I thought that was well written. He genuinely cared about her in a way he didn’t care about any of the other characters in the book, and I enjoyed their relationship. And I enjoyed the whole story about the Hell mark, I found that to actually be an interesting concept how Flash passed it on to Andi, and I liked how it followed up on “Circle of Four” from “Agent Venom” which was actually one of my favorite stories in the Flash Thompson Venom saga up to this point. But it pains me say it, I just really didn’t like the artwork in this book at all. Sometimes there will be that one artist that makes all the difference for the book, but not a single artist truly visually pleased me, and that was hard to see. I really wanted to like the art, but I just really couldn’t find much to like. The alien designs were very wonky, and I know that aliens are supposed to be wonky, but they weren’t wonky in a good way to me.

Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I know some of you already know what that means, but I also know some of you are new to a Tim Cubbin review and need to be informed, so inform I shall. When I say accessibility, I mean just how easy it is to pick up this book and read it, particularly to people who may have never heard of Venom before seeing this book on the shelf and saying to themselves “Hmm, ‘Venom: Space Knight’ eh? Sounds cool!” So, if you are that person who is saying what I just typed and have no idea who/what Venom from Marvel Comics is, I’m telling you not to read this. This book is highly inaccessible. First off, the first seven issues in this book are the culmination of an entire series that has already been running for thirty-five issues prior to this book and draws on the knowledge of those thirty-five issues. Those stories pick up where the previous two volumes Venom Modern Era Epic Collections leave off, so I wouldn’t even tell you to read this book without reading those two first. Then we get to “Venom: Space Knight.” The issues in this book were originally published between 2013-2016, and there is a gap between the ending of the “Venom” series and the beginning of the “Venom: Space Knight” series with just a brief page that tries to explain a little about what the point of “Space Knight” is, but there’s so much that happened in between that got left out that makes it so hard to follow. There’re storylines set up in other series that establish the events between these two series not included and it really hurts the understanding of this book not having them. It almost seems odd to have included both series in one book considering the complete change of direction in the storytelling, but the one thing that truly ties both series together is Mania, so I guess that’s where the sense is made including both series in one volume, but they’re so different and seem to have not true similarities that it just seems illogical to have compiled this book the way the publishers did. I feel like this book could have benefited from more content in between to maybe establish the background of Space Knight better, rather than just trying to tell the reader a few details in three small paragraphs that essentially accomplishes little and doesn’t fully explain the changes the Klyntar symbiote underwent between the two series, I just don’t feel like it’s enough. I wouldn’t just say this book is inaccessible to new readers, I’m saying it’s highly inaccessible in general if you don’t know Marvel Comics from the time period of 2014-2015, which, heck, even I’m not fully up on, my local comic book shop had closed around that time so I wasn’t a regular reader, so these are details even I’m not fully up on, and people who know me well know I am a diehard Marvel fan, so if I’m having difficulties with a Modern Era Epic Collection, casual or non-fans would definitely have difficulties with this book. I just feel like the editors could have done a little more to make it more understandable because as it is, I don’t feel like they did a particularly decent job. They didn’t do a good enough job for me, so in most likelihood, I don’t think casual or non-fans would find it to be either.

Okay, I’ve blathered on about that long enough, I think it’s time to get to the part that you’ve come to read my review for the most: my numeric score. Now, for those of you who have never read a Tim Cubbin review before, allow me to explain my rules. I score on a simple system, on a scale of one to ten. One is the lowest possible score and means this book is hardly readable at all, ten is the highest possible score and means this book should be read on a frequent basis it’s just that good you’ll want to experience it again and again. Now, I must consider that this is a graphic novel, and therefore the artwork and the stories are both something that must be examined when giving a score. Now, as you know, the stories were to a mixed pleasure level, and the art just was not pleasurable at all. So, I’m taking all of that, throwing it into a blender, churning out a score for this book, and I must give it a score of a… four! This book just wasn’t super enjoyable to me, but I can’t say it was a complete trainwreck enough to go lower than that, but it doesn’t deserve any higher than that either.

Finally, I’m going to either give or not give a recommendation. And in the case of “Venom: Space Knight,” that recommendation is denied. I can’t recommend this book to any reader because of the low level of accessibility, not even to major Venom fans, unless you were actually a heavy Marvel reader from 2014-2016 and know these stories but just want to collect them again all these years later, and even then, I don’t think this was that great enough to recommend. So, unless you are a true collector like I am and want to collect every single Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection like I do, I would issue a pass on this book. I just don’t feel like it’s worth the hefty cost.

Okay, I’ve gone on for quite some time, so I think it’s time to get to our parting words. So, yes, most of this website at this point is me reviewing Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections, but I might be able to produce some other kind of content here and there. I’ve already written short stories, free verse poetry, essays, articles, editorials, and other kind of content for this blog, so if you want, feel free to check out the rest of timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my work, there’s already over 130 other posts, there’s probably something else you might find interesting. Please feel free to comment, if you’re on Facebook, share, if you’re on X, like, retweet, do whatever, pass this along. Expect to see another review in about a month, maybe a little more than that, I’m not sure of an exact date at this point, but more reviews are coming. So, keep coming back for more, I’ll be back doing more. If you’ve read this entire review, you truly are THE BEST, I appreciate you! And now I leave you, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Venom: The Savage Six"

  The following is a review of the graphic novel “Venom: The Savage Six” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

Flash Thompson/Venom was at a low point. The villainous Crime-Master knew his identity and threatened his friends and family if he didn’t do what he said, so Flash made the hard decision that Crime-Master had to be taken down once and for all. As Flash got ready to do the deed, he witnessed Crime-Master initiate the Human Fly onto his team, the Savage Six, also consisting of Crime-Master himself, as well as his right-hand man Jack O’ Lantern, Megatak, and Death Adder. But before Flash could pull the trigger, Eddie Brock tried to take him out. Flash webbed up Eddie and battled Crime-Master’s team, but Flash could not win and swung away. Crime-Master then took the defenseless Eddie Brock and merged him with the Toxin symbiote, who swore to kill Venom. Flash went checking up on his ex-girlfriend Betty Brant, who was on the verge of being abducted by Jack O’ Lantern. Betty was under the impression Jack was an old war friend of Flash’s who met with an unfortunate accident and took pity, and when Venom swung in, she got the wrong idea. Flash protected Betty from Jack, Megatak, and Toxin, and to alleviate Betty’s fear of Venom, revealed his identity to Betty. This only served to anger Betty further, but Betty stopped resisting and let Flash rescue her. While Flash was busy rescuing Betty, the Human Fly went after Flash’s mother, and Jack performed his signature kill on Flash’s brother-in-law and kidnapped Flash’s sister Jessie. Flash was able to save Jessie, but Toxin was able to abduct Betty. Flash rescued his mother from the Human Fly, but inadvertently traumatized his own mother in the process. Crime-Master revealed his identity to Betty, a man from her past she long thought dead. Venom battled Toxin, then faced off against Jack and Crime-Master, only for Crime-Master to meet an ironic ending. After this, Betty told Flash she never wanted to see him again, and Flash decided to be honest with his teammates in the Secret Avengers.

As Flash celebrated his first Father’s Day without his father, Jack O’ Lantern tormented him. The two battled, and Flash finally emerged victorious.

Flash met with Daily Inquisitor reporter Katy Kiernan for information for a mission for the Secret Avengers. She pointed him in the direction of the Department of Occult Armaments. Flash investigated, and met with Daimon Hellstrom, the son of Satan. The two battled, and Flash realized that a demon had possessed Venom. Flash turned to Katy for help, and she hooked him up with a priest, who attempted to exorcise the demon, but learned that Hellstrom was the only one who could separate Venom from the demon. Hellstrom tried to initiate Venom’s demon into his organization, but Flash was resistant, and instead battled Hellstrom’s other demons, and won in an ironic way. 

Flash then learned of a prison break in Colorado. Cletus Kasady/Carnage had escaped from Thunderbolts Mountain Maximum Security Prison, and Venom was called to bring him back. Kasady escaped to Houston, Texas, where he was looking for a device called the Prometheus Pit, a device that would allow him access to the Microverse, a subatomic universe nestled between our own. Beings from the Microverse were responsible for Kasady’s escape. Local superhero Kaine/Scarlet Spider arrived at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center which housed the Prometheus Pit and attempted to apprehend Carnage, but Carnage managed to grab Katy Kiernan, who was there looking for a scoop, and escaped to the Microverse. Flash arrived too late, and the Venom symbiote had a reaction to seeing Kaine. The two battled until Flash was able to regain control of the symbiote. Carnage revealed to Katy that he wanted a reporter alive to chronicle his activities. Flash and Kaine then traveled to the Microverse, but the two were sent to two separate locations within the Microverse. Microverse villain Marquis Radu was attempting to create an army of symbiote soldiers from pieces of the Carnage symbiote. Kasady was resistant to this idea Flash hooked up with the resistance group, the Enigma Force, who were afraid that Venom would destroy the very fabric of the Microverse. Kaine hooked up with the Redeemer. Flash and Enigma Force battled the forces of Marquis Radu, while Kaine battled Kasady. All but Kaine and the Redeemer were captured, and the symbiote army was created. Flash and Kasady battled, and Kaine joined the battle, but Kasady was able to escape back to the Macroverse (main universe). Enigma Force were able to break free and attempted to defeat Marquis Radu, but the villain was also able to escape. Flash, Kaine and Katy were returned to the Macroverse, but were not originally at full size. Flash and Kaine then had to battle Kasady and the symbiote army and decide just how far they were willing to go to stop the threat of Carnage.

After her encounter with Venom, Flash’s mother decided to go to a wellness center. Flash reconnected with a man he used to bully when they were in high school, who now took pity on Flash’s current condition. Following this, Flash decided to move away from New York.

Katy called Flash from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was working on a story, when the U-Foes kidnapped her. They wanted to test an unknown piece of technology on someone, and when they caught Katy snooping, she became their first choice. Flash went to Philadelphia to rescue Katy, aided by his kind-of girlfriend Valkyrie. This led to Flash deciding he wanted to move to the City of Brotherly Love. 

Flash got a job as an assistant coach at West Philadelphia High School. He started his nightly patrols. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock deduced Flash’s identity as Venom and vowed to end him. While out on patrol, Flash discovered a man with evolving technology implanted into him. Flash battled him, but he escaped. The man then ran into Toxin and was again able to escape. Flash came upon him again and defeated the man and was going to put an end to the man’s torment when Toxin arrived. Flash and Toxin battled, and while Flash won, Eddie escaped, as did the evolving technology, which found new hosts. Eddie came to Flash’s job to battle for a final time, but the arrival of the evolving technology possessed people put a halt of Eddie’s plan, and the two had to team up to both survive and to save the lives of all the students, then decide how they wanted to settle their grudge.

Okay, so let’s talk about how I felt about this book. I will say I found this book to be decent, but I didn’t love it. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the previous volume “Agent Venom” (which, incidentally I reviewed yesterday). One of my biggest issues was that Crime-Master announces his “Savage Six” and yet there are only five established members when he makes this announcement. He was planning for Toxin, but Toxin was not there yet. I found that confusing, the boundaries of the “Savage Six” just weren’t clearly established. As far as the identity of the Crime-Master goes, it made me wonder how he could have gone through with strapping her to a bomb, considering their connection. With the way he had been previously established, it just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he would do. I know, blame it on the writers, see what Stan Lee would have said about it. As some of my previous readers may know, I am a major fan of the supervillain Carnage. The “Minimum Carnage” storyline was decent. Yes, I have done a review of “Maximum Carnage,” and I can say that this does not rank anywhere near that. I particularly liked that it featured Scarlet Spider. Now, this was not Ben Reilly, who is my favorite Scarlet Spider, but Kaine as Scarlet Spider for his run was an interesting redemption arc, which I read a very long time ago and barely remember, but I do know I enjoyed it at the time. Having Venom and Scarlet Spider team up like that was an interesting crossover. I also have to say that Eddie Brock/Toxin’s mad-on grudge with Venom made no sense to me. Eddie used to be Venom, why does he now so desperately want to do nothing more than kill his former other half? It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I also have to say, I wasn’t a fan of the design of Toxin. I thought the tendrils around the head looked absurd, and the giant size really doesn’t make sense. The original design of Toxin back in the early 2000s looked menacing. This one just looked kind of goofy. I really didn’t like all the artwork either. Some of the art just fell flat for me. There were several issues here and there with art that I really enjoyed, but for much of this book, I honestly was not a huge fan of the artwork.

Okay, I think it’s time we moved on to something else. Next up is accessibility. What I mean by that is how easy it is for a new reader to pick up this book and understand it, in general, what a person needs to know before attempting to read this book. First off, I will tell you to not even think about attempting to read this book without reading the “Agent Venom” Modern Era Epic Collection first, it is completely essential to understanding this book. It is a direct continuation of the previous volume, picking up on all the threads left behind, so if you didn’t read the volume before it, you are missing so much. “Agent Venom” established every story in this book, attempting to read “The Savage Six” without it is like trying to read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” without reading the first six books before it. This book is also made more difficult to follow because of the “Minimum Carnage” Scarlet Spider crossover, which is from a short-lived, obscure series, with a not very well-known version of the titular character. As such, I would not say this book is easily accessible. It is assuredly not the right book if you’ve never read a comic book before and are looking to start reading now, I can tell you that. If you’re an old school Marvel fan and stopped reading Marvel comic books before 2006 and are considering jumping back in, this is a poor choice to pick to jump back in with first. If you’re a more recent Marvel fan looking for an enjoyable read, this book is a choice if you read “Agent Venom” first. “Agent Venom” is just essential to understanding this book.

Okay, I’ve been going on for quite a while now I think you’re getting a little bored of my ranting and raving, so I’m just going to move on to my numeric score section. I know some of you have been through this before, but I must do it again, so let me explain my scoring system. I score on a scale of one to ten: one being the lowest, meaning that this book should be burned, publication should be halted, and no further copies of this book should be printed; ten being the highest, this book is the best book ever written, there should be so many copies printed that no online store will ever possibly be able to be out of stock of it, they’ll practically have to give them away just to clear space in their warehouses. As many of my previous readers know, I can be a very harsh scorer, I don’t just go around handing out tens to every book I read. Obviously, you can tell I’m not leaning towards a ten for this book. This book was purely mediocre, in both story and art. That is why I must give it the mediocre score of… five.

Next up is my recommendation. Usually for me, saying if I recommend a book or not is easy. In this case, it is a little bit difficult. My reasoning for this is because I feel that to read this book and properly enjoy it, you need to read “Agent Venom” first, and I highly enjoyed that, but this book wasn’t as thrilling to me, so I’d have to be recommending two books if I recommend this book, and that’s what makes this difficult. But in all honesty, I would recommend this book to readers of Marvel comics from recent years who haven’t read this book, I would not recommend this to nonfans or old-school readers, and I will say read “Agent Venom” first.

Well, I think it’s time we wrapped up here, I’ve been going on for quite a while now. So, I will tell you that there is plenty more content on timcubbin.blogspot.com to enjoy, so you can keep browsing. There are dozens of reviews, I’ve also posted short stories, essays, poems, editorials, and other forms of content, and I post very frequently. You can expect another review sometime within the next five days, so definitely keep an eye out for that, and there will be plenty more reviews to follow that, so keep coming back for more. Thanks for reading if you’re still here at this point you are THE BEST! I appreciate you for coming. Share with your friends, feel free to leave a comment in whatever forum you found this on, like, do whatever you can, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Venom: Agent Venom"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Venom: Agent Venom” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Eugene “Flash” Thompson was a corporal in the United States Army, inspired to be a hero by his idol Spider-Man. He lost both his legs. He was recruited to be part of Project Rebirth, where he was joined with the alien symbiote Venom. He would go on twenty missions for the United States government as Venom. He would be separated from the symbiote between missions to prevent permanent bonding. As Venom, Flash had the ability to walk on walls, shoot webs, enhanced strength, increased speed and agility, and shape-shifting capacities. The symbiote was also able to create legs so that Flash could walk. He was assigned to work under Katherine Glover, who had a kill switch. If the symbiote ever took over, she would press the button and fry the symbiote. After the twentieth mission, Flash’s term as Venom would be up, and a new soldier would be assigned to wear the symbiote. He could tell no one he was Venom or even part of Project Rebirth, his cover story was he was a traveling worker for the V.A.

            Flash’s first mission was in Madripoor, where he was to put a tag on Countess Bianca Demonico, who was believed to be part of the terrorist group Ultimatum so she could lead Project Rebirth to their base and leader Flag Smasher. While in Madripoor, Flash met Yusef Kassim, a Middle Eastern banker. Flash’s mission was successful. Flash returned home to find that Marla Jameson had died, and that his girlfriend Betty Brant was grieving. She asked him to talk to his best friend Peter Parker (who, unknown to everyone but Mary Jane Watson, is the amazing Spider-Man), who had shut down. Before he could talk to his friend, though, he was alerted that Kassim had been abducted by Ultimatum and assigned to rescue him. Flash was successful in rescuing Kassim, but during the rescue, Venom became savagely aggressive. Flash and Katherine had lost contact during the mission, so she was unaware of this behavior, and when asked if Flash lost control of Venom, Kassim just said he saw nothing less than a true hero. He returned home to find Betty was disappointed in him for not doing what she asked, and for missing Marla’s funeral, but Flash vowed to do better.

            Flash’s next mission was in Nrosvekistan, where Flash was to detain an arms dealer named Ferid Ekmecic. However, Flash wasn’t the only party interested in Ekmecic. A villain known only as Crime-Master and his adopted son, the supervillain Jack O’ Lantern, were also after the arms dealer, hoping to obtain dangerous, illegal, and powerful new weapons. Venom fought Jack and placed a bomb in his pumpkin, but failed to put an end to the villain, who tried to get away with Ekmecic, but Flash made a move that assured that neither side succeeded in bringing Ekmecic alive. Flash returned home to be lectured by the head of Project Rebirth, and to be accused of returning to his alcoholic ways by Betty, whom he missed a date with.

            Flash’s next mission was to destroy an Antarctic Vibranium mining facility in the Savage Land. He ran into Spider-Man’s longtime nemesis Kraven the Hunter, who mistook him for Spider-Man. They fought in a cave full of giant bats, who used their echolocation and created sonic waves, which weakened the symbiote and exposed Flash to both Kraven and to the Crime-Master, who had cameras in the Savage Land, and he was able to identify Flash’s identity. Flash was able to defeat Kraven and destroy the facility, but a shipment of Antarctic Vibranium was leaving the Savage Land in a helicopter. Flash got to that helicopter, where he was radioed by Crime-Master, who informed him he knew who Flash was and that Jack O’ Lantern had Betty strapped to a bomb and that if Flash didn’t bring Crime-Master the shipment of Antarctic Vibranium in New York, Betty would meet an explosive ending. Flash did as instructed, and Crime-Master told Flash that Crime-Master would call to collect again another day in the future and told Flash Betty’s location. Flash was swinging to rescue Betty, when he encountered Spider-Man. Peter Parker found Betty’s ramshackled apartment and mistakenly believed Venom had taken her. Venom won the fight, but it was Spider-Man who saved Betty. Project Rebirth was able to reacquire the Antarctic Vibranium, and Flash falsified his report, saying he never lost control of Venom except for when battling Spider-Man and omitted that the Crime-Master knew Flash’s identity.

            Venom next battled the Human Fly, whom he easily defeated and captured. He returned to his apartment, where he got a message from his mother that his father had been drinking again and that she wanted Flash to find his father. Flash and his father did not have a good relationship when Flash was growing up. Flash tried to ignore the message and went to cook with Betty but got a call from his mother and agreed to try to find his father. Betty offered to help, but Flash turned her down, instead turning to Peter Parker for assistance. Flash found his father at the police station, but his father collapsed and was taken to the hospital, where Flash and his family learned that Flash’s father had cirrhosis of the liver and was dying, and that drinking was his way of numbing the pain.

            A virus was released in Manhattan that gave regular humans spider powers. Flash was tasked with bringing in a giant spider-beast. Flash was successful in defeating the monster with the help of a young superhero called Gravity and brought the monster back to Project Rebirth base. The creature got loose and attacked the base, and Flash was going to destroy it until it was discovered that the creature was Steve Rogers/Captain America. Flash defeated Captain America again, and they were able to detain Captain America. Meanwhile, Betty was at the hospital with Flash’s dying father. The spider virus was mutating humans into spider creatures, and Eddie Brock/Anti-Venom was able to cure them. Project Rebirth tasked Flash with bringing Anti-Venom to Horizon Labs to synthesize a cure for the spider virus. Anti-Venom did not respond well to Venom’s presence, and the two fought. Venom won in the end, and Anti-Venom was brought to Horizon Labs. Flash made it to the hospital just in time to say goodbye to his father for the last time. Venom then battled the Queen, who was responsible for the spider virus that was plaguing Manhattan and was joined in the fight by a restored Captain America. The two won, but the Queen herself mutated into a giant Spider-Queen.

            After the Spider-Queen was defeated and the citizens of Manhattan were restored back to normal human beings, Flash fought a villain called the Hijacker, who rode around in an impenetrable tank. After watching several innocent people become collateral damage, Flash lost control of the symbiote and put a violent end to the Hijacker. He then returned home to receive a letter Flash’s father wrote to him before he died.

            At Flash’s father’s funeral, Jack O’ Lantern turned up and brought Flash to the Crime-Master, who told him if Flash didn’t do what Crime-Master told him to do, his remaining family, Betty, and friends would join Flash’s father in the grave. Crime-Master told Flash to get the symbiote and go to Las Vegas. Flash went to Project Rebirth, where Captain America arrived to announce the Project was being shut down and that the Venom symbiote would be taken and contained by the Avengers. Before the symbiote could be secured, Flash stole it. Venom battled Captain America, won, and escaped. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock was getting ready to go after all the symbiotes and destroy them. Flash was joined on his escape by Jack O’ Lantern. Captain America tasked General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross/Red Hulk with defeating Venom, securing the symbiote, and bringing Flash in for a court-martial. Flash and Jack O’ Lantern arrived in Vegas, where Flash learned he was supposed to be obtaining the Toxin symbiote for Crime-Master. Venom tried to destroy the symbiote, but Jack intervened. Venom and Jack O’ Lantern battled, and Jack extorted Flash into letting Jack make off with the Toxin symbiote. Flash then called Betty and broke up with her over the phone.

            Blackheart and Gari Oyle planned to bring Hell to Earth in Las Vegas. Blackheart prepared a ritual. Laura Kinney/X-23 learned that Blackheart had obtained samples of her blood and went to Vegas to get it back. Red Hulk found Flash in Vegas. X-23 found a laboratory containing Venomized clones of hers. Alejandra/Ghost Rider arrived in Vegas and tried to stop Blackheart’s ritual and rode through his centrifuge, but instead completed the ritual, and Hell started to spread to Earth, starting in Las Vegas. If Ghost Rider stopped riding through the centrifuge, Earth would be sucked into Hell. Johnny Blaze, the previous Ghost Rider, placed a relic outside Vegas to prevent the spread of Hell, then rode through the centrifuge so Ghost Rider could battle Blackheart. Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and Ghost Rider then teamed up to battle Blackheart, but Blackheart used his mirror to create their Antitheses, The Evangelist, Encephalon, X-666, and Ichor to battle them. The heroes all lost their battles as died. In death, they all got everything they ever wanted out of life, but since they were now in Hell, it all went horribly wrong for them. Mephisto, Lord of Hell and Blackheart’s father, offered the heroes a deal. They all died in Hell, so he was able to restore them, but they had to make an unholy pact with Mephisto. The heroes returned to Vegas, where the Red Hulk joined with both the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom symbiote and were able to defeat Blackheart and Gari Oyle. After the battle, the Spirit of Vengeance returned to Alejandra, who rode off, and the Venom Symbiote returned to Flash. Captain America arrived to arrest Flash, but Red Hulk vouched for Flash, and instead, Flash was recruited into the Secret Avengers. They would keep the Venom symbiote in the Lighthouse Space Station and send it through the phone when Flash dialed their number, using the technology of Pym Particles.

            Eddie Brock went on his mission to destroy all symbiotes, and Flash returned home to lie to his friends and family about his double life.

            Flash was tasked on an Avengers mission to supervise the Human Fly’s transfer to the Raft, when the train they were transporting him on was attacked by the Hobgoblin. Venom battled the Hobgoblin and protected the Human Fly but had to make a difficult decision between protecting the prisoner as was his mission or saving the lives of the other guards helping with the transport.

            Okay, so now let’s get on to my personal thoughts on this book. I thought this was an enjoyable book. I really enjoyed it. The stories were to my liking. I found it an interesting idea to make Flash Thompson Venom. He’s Spider-Man’s biggest fan, and now he’s got similar powers to Spider-Man? I just thought that was brilliant. And the conflict when he battled Spider-Man was so beautifully written, how he was so hesitant and how hard it was for him to fight the man who inspired him to be the man he became. And I loved how the writers also focused on Flash’s personal life with his family and friends, the drama was just so gripping, having to deal with lying to his friends and family about who he was and what he was doing, and having to deal with an alcoholic father and losing him, I thought it was even better than Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s drama. And I liked how Flash was put in such a hard position, having to be in the debt of a literal master criminal (hence Crime-Master) in order to protect his loved ones because he knew who he was, I thought that was even better than the Peter Parker and Norman Osborn/Green Goblin drama. My problem with this book comes from the artwork. I just didn’t like the artwork in this book at all. There were a few issues here and there that I liked, but this book had a smorgasbord of artists, and in general I just didn’t like all their work, I’m sorry to say. But as far as the story goes, it was great.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. Now, when I say accessibility, I mean how easy it is for someone who knows nothing about Venom to read this book. This book has a few caveats. Yes, it has the full origin story of a new Venom, containing the start of his series. Oddly though, this book was the first Venom Modern Era Epic Collection published, despite being Vol. 4. I can tell you that my review of Vol. 1 is coming up in a little over a month from now, so keep a look out for that. I can say though that it can kind of be a bit of a jump on point, and I might have advised it, except for the “Spider-Island” storyline, which was actually an event that was published mainly in “Amazing Spider-Man” with a few spin-offs, but if you didn’t read it, it would be very hard to follow it in this Modern Era Epic Collection, especially since the ending of one issue of Venom actually picks up in “Amazing Spider-Man” and leaves on a literal cliffhanger, and while this book does give a brief description of how “Spider-Island” ended, it’s still not easy to follow if you didn’t read the main event, so I will tell you that if you are a new reader and wish to read this book, I would seriously advise you to read the “Spider-Island” graphic novel as well as this book, because the main event is not covered at all in this book and that’s a serious chunk of needed material left out. Also, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and X-23 aren’t the best-established characters now, so their storylines in “Circle of Four” would be slightly confusing. Heck, I don’t even know Alejandra as Ghost Rider, and I don’t know the origin of the Red Hulk, so if I don’t know all this and I’ve been reading for twenty-four years, a reader who has never picked up a comic before sure as heck won’t know all this either. Also, people who have never read a comic book before would not believe that Peter Parker and Flash Thompson become best friends, people who only know Flash from other media only think of him as Peter Parker’s bully and not as his friend, so this will be hard for a new reader to accept. And Eddie Brock’s transformation into Anti-Venom is also something new readers might find difficult. I wasn’t reading comics at the time, so I know little about Anti-Venom and his true capabilities. And there are just so many symbiotes in this book that other Marvel media hasn’t established yet, so those would be hard to get, especially for those who only played “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” and think of Mary Jane Watson as Scream, as Scream does appear in this book and in the Marvel Universe, Mary Jane was never possessed by the Scream symbiote. Now, I can say that this book contains a level of accessibility on the front that it’s an origin, but there’s just so much backstory and crossover content that using this as your first foray into Marvel comics isn’t the best idea if you only plan on reading this book alone without “Spider-Island.”

            Now it’s time for my numeric score. I’m going to do this quickly because I have been going on for quite a while, so I’ll just tell you my scoring system. I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the worst, which means this was so horrible it shouldn’t be read, ten is the best, which means this book is so good it should be read a million times. I will say I have read this book three times at this point, but I’ve only done that because I read it the first time I got it, then once as each new volume came out, so if you do the math, that means that there are two more volumes now, and the reason I’m reviewing this now is because I didn’t have a laptop to review this book on the first two times I read this book. But anyway, let’s just get to the score. Now, since this is a GRAPHIC novel, I must consider both the story, which I loved, and the artwork, which I didn’t really like. So I will just combine the two as I give this score, and I would love to give this book a really high score because I loved the story so much, but the artwork was just so disappointing I have to knock down the score quite a bit, I’m going to have to churn out the score of… seven. I just did not like the art enough to give it a high score, it just took so much away from my enjoyment of the story that I really had to deduct points, but if they were consistently better, the score would have been higher.

            Next up, we’re going to talk about if I recommend this book or not. I would very much recommend this book; I thought it was a terrific book and very much worth reading. But, like I said, read “Spider-Island” first or you will not understand the story in this book. If you are a regular comic book reader and a fan of anything Venom but have not read this book, I am telling you to read this book, I found it to be top shelf quality. Even if you don’t read comics and like Venom and found this review to be interesting, you should totally read this book, I’ve told you everything you need to know anyway, so you’d get it just by reading my words.

            Anyway, I’ve been going on for way too long at this point, so I’m going to wrap it up now. If you’re still here reading at this point, you are THE BEST! I’ve written dozens of reviews already, I’ve already written fifteen reviews of Modern Era Epic Collections at this point including this one, and there are plenty more on the way, you can expect my next review sometime in the next three days. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, editorials, and other content, so if you liked this post and want to read more, keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content, there’s plenty more like this and my other content on the way, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Deadpool & Cable: Ballistic Bromance"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Deadpool & Cable: Ballistic Bromance” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format. It IS NOT a review of the film “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

            Wade Wilson/Deadpool is a mercenary with a healing factor that lets him recover from about any wound.

            Nathan Summers/Cable is a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic powers.

            Deadpool received a call from Anton Kruch, the Prime Minister of the One World Church in France. Sunic Pharmacopoeia in Germany had invented the Façade Virus, a synthetic virus that enabled shapeshifting. Kruch wanted Deadpool to steal the virus. Cable planned to destroy the virus. Cable and Deadpool arrived at Sunic and had an altercation; Cable won. Cable found out that the Spammers, a group of three graduate students, had already stolen the virus themselves and used it on themselves, planning to cause anarchy. Deadpool and Cable had another altercation; Cable won. Cable found the Spammers, who did not survive their exposure to Façade, but obtained the virus, until he had another altercation with Deadpool; this time Deadpool won and stole the virus, which he brought back to Kruch. Kruch then injected it into Deadpool, hoping Deadpool’s healing factor would be able to stabilize the virus. Deadpool converted to the ways of the One World Church. Cable came to the One World Church and observed Deadpool for several days. He found out that the One World Church planned to use the Deliverance Device to transmit the Façade virus through the optic nerve. The believed side effect is it would turn a person blue. Kruch showed the device to Cable, which also infected Cable, and the side effect on Cable was it blocked his access to his mutant powers. As a child, Cable had been exposed to a techno-organic virus, and his telekinetic abilities were all that was keeping it in check. Cable and Deadpool had another altercation; this time the techno-organic virus completely immobilized Cable, and the Façade virus completely turned Deadpool into goo, until Cable mixed himself with Deadpool, which saved both their lives and restored them to their previous forms. The One World Church had hired Edward Lansky/Lightmaster to release the Façade virus. Cable modified the virus and launched Lightmaster into space. Lightmaster released the virus, that turned everyone pink instead of Kruch’s planned blue, and also did not turn everyone exposed to it into goo. The transformation would only be temporary. Cable had once had a space station that had blown up and been buried. Cable restored all those pieces. He also restored his teleport matrix. He used it to Bodyslide to the Daily Bugle office in New York to see his reporter contact, whom he had been in telepathic contact with over the course of this whole story. Because of their mixing, every time Cable or Deadpool performed a Bodyslide, both would teleport to the same location at the same time. Cable was recognized as saving the world from a destabilizing virus and deemed a savior in the Daily Bugle. Because of his status as a mutant, the X-Men, the mutant superhero team began to plan for the eventuality that Cable would cross a line.

            While in Hong Kong trying to steal an item for a job, Deadpool encountered Shen Kuei, the mercenary known as the Cat. Deadpool battled him and lost, and the Cat obtained the item. They met again in Tokyo where the Cat was trying to steal the second part. This device could be able to stop Cable. Deadpool was able to steal both pieces and Bodyslide away. S.H.I.E.L.D., the world peacekeeping agency, also prepared for the eventuality Cable would turn, and formed the Six Pack, a team consisting of G.W. Bridge, Hammer, Anaconda, Constrictor, Solo, and Domino. Cable established a floating island called Providence and took in refugees who wished for a home with their savior. Cable battled the Six Pack and won, then brought them to Providence and was able to sway them to his side. Deadpool and the Cat both tried to steal a device, but the X-Men prevented it, and took in Deadpool. Cable asked the governments of the world to disarm, or he would throw every weapon on Earth into the sun. Deadpool and the X-Men launched an assault upon Providence, and they battled Cable and the Six Pack. The fight was joined by the alien being the Silver Surfer, who was able to defeat Cable. Providence crashed into the ocean. Cable had Deadpool use the device he stole, which lobotomized Cable.

            After Deadpool took out Cable, public favor turned against Deadpool. Deadpool, wishing to restore Cable, went to Advanced Idea Mechanics and took an extraterrestrial techno-organic embryo. Cable had telepathically called the Six Pack to his Safe House and drew them into his mind, trapping their consciousnesses in his mind permanently until he died. Deadpool turned to P. Norbert Ebersol/Fixer, to fix Cable. Alex Hayden/Agent X was hired to prevent Deadpool from saving Cable’s life. The two battled and Deadpool won. Fixer was able to use the alien embryo to merge with Cable and restore him to consciousness. He and Deadpool then went to Providence.

            Haji Bin Barat, the world’s most wanted terrorist, had taken refuge on Providence. He was found murdered. Deadpool decided to take the case, only to find that he himself was the murderer. Cable then banished Deadpool from Providence. Deadpool then turned to the Black Box to fix himself.

            Instead, the Black Box reprogrammed Deadpool to eliminate the greatest threat to humanity: superhumans. Deadpool returned to Providence to learn that Cable had gone missing after fighting a supervillain called the Skornn alongside his team X-Force. Cable was not on this Earth, so the mutant inventor Forge created a device that would allow Deadpool interspatial and intraspatial travel through his Bodyslides. Theresa Cassidy/Siryn and Sam Guthrie/Cannonball would be able to travel with Deadpool as well, but they would appear three minutes behind Deadpool. Deadpool’s first stop was an Age of Apocalypse, where Cable’s greatest adversary Apocalypse had taken over the world. On this Earth, Cable was Apocalypse’s Horseman Death. Deadpool’s next stop was one where Cable was like unto a God. His third world was one where the techno-organic species the Phalanx had taken over Earth and Cable was the colony leader. On his fourth Earth, Cable was a baby, created in a laboratory by the evil genius Mr. Sinister to be the ultimate mutant. Sinister injected baby Cable with Deadpool’s DNA, hoping to rapidly age baby Cable to adulthood. Deadpool was able to Bodyslide with baby Cable back to the main Earth. X-Force then needed to find a way to break Black Box’s programming over Deadpool and restore Cable to his proper self.

            Okay, so let’s talk about my opinions on this book for a little bit. First off, I love Deadpool, I think he’s great. Cable is also a favorite character of mine, if you know enough about him and you found me on X, you might just get the reference of my handle, but I’m not actually going to spoil it for you, I’ll just leave you to do the research if that’s what you wish to do. Anyway, enough on that. I was so excited to get this book. Some of you now might be more in the line of thinking about “Deadpool & Wolverine” rather than “Deadpool & Cable,” but that’s not how it was back in 2004-2005 when this series was originally published. And I do have to say I thought this book was decent. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. To me, it was just mediocre. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did, but it was not an instant favorite of mine. I guess I can just say it was okay. The stories just didn’t wow me the way I hoped they would. And I just didn’t find it to be as funny as I was hoping it would be. There was just no true laugh aloud moments for me. There were a few scoffs, snorts, and parts that made me smile, but I just didn’t really laugh, if you know what I mean. I can, however, say that I did enjoy the inclusion of the X-Men rosters of the time, having members from all three of the main teams in one book at the same time was nice. And I also loved the artwork in this book. I thought it was great. I will say the funniest moment for me was when Deadpool claimed to look like Ryan Renolds crossed with a shar-pei, considering that issue was from 2004, and in 2009 Ryan Renolds as we all know did in fact start playing Deadpool, so I found that amusing that Fabian Nicieza, the writer, picked who he wanted to play the character five years before it actually happened. Hey, Mark Millar got Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury like he wanted.

            Okay, next we’re going to talk about accessibility. What I mean by that is how easy it is to pick up this book if you are not familiar with Deadpool or Cable comics. I will say this is not an easily accessible book. If you don’t know anything about Marvel Comics, if you’ve never read a Marvel comic book before and want to start, this book is not entry level. I know Deadpool is great and all, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” is killing it in theaters, but if you don’t know Cable, this is going to be difficult. Cable is an extremely complicated character, even I have difficulties with him, and I’ve been reading Marvel Comics for twenty-four years. Also, the X-Force storyline is a little obscure, I think some of that happened in a different comic that was not included in this book, so part of that story got chopped out of this book, which makes understanding that storyline a little difficult. Plus this book did have the House of M issue, which, if you read my review of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” we have talked about this before, but I will say in this book it really didn’t seem to matter since Deadpool was going to alternate Earths, but it might not be clear to a reader who doesn’t know House of M that the Earth with Mr. Sinister and baby Cable actually is the main Marvel Universe, just that the Scarlet Witch messed around with it. But House of M was a separate event that was not elaborated on fully in this book, so a reader who doesn’t know the event may have missed a substantial chunk of Marvel history. Also, there was an Age of Apocalypse visit, which was another event, but it should be said that even Deadpool mentioned this was AN Age of Apocalypse, not THE Age of Apocalypse, but even the concept was something that happened in the comics ten years prior and may be something that might go over the head of a person who is unfamiliar with the storyline, but even that doesn’t seem to be super important to know because it doesn’t reference the content of the event, so I honestly don’t think not knowing Age of Apocalypse will matter, but it would help to know. There were also several other characters, such as the Six Pack, Agent X and X-Force, who are more obscure. I just feel that there’s so much history involved in this book too that just won’t be easy for a new reader to pick up. If you’ve read Cable or Deadpool enough for any length of time, though, I think this book will be understandable, but if you just saw “Deadpool & Wolverine” and saw this book and thought it sounded cool, let me tell you, it’s not what you’re thinking.

            Anyway, I’ve gone on about that long enough, you’re getting a little bored at this point, so let’s get down to the important part: my numeric score. I know that most of you just read these for my synopsis and numeric scores anyway and see if I say I recommend it or not and that’s really all you care about, so I’ll just stop droning on about something you probably don’t want to be reading anyway. So, of course, like I always say, this is a GRAPHIC novel, which means that I must consider both the art AND the story when I give my score. Now, as my regular readers know, artwork has knocked my scores down in the past, or raised the scores. I’ve had some books that were potential tens based on story, but the artwork just couldn’t justify a ten and knocked my score down to a nine, and I’ve had some books get higher scores based on art, despite having awful stories. Like I said, this book was mediocre when it came to the story, but the art was good. So, we’re going to mix a balance here when we give it a score. Now, I score on a scale of one to ten, one being the worst, ten being the best. So, combining everything, all the cards on the table, the story and the art, the numeric score I can give this book is… six. Like I said, it was average, so it just falls right in the middle of the scale.

            Next up is my recommendation. The question is do I recommend this book, and if so, to whom do I recommend it. Honestly, I can say that I do recommend it if you are a fan of both Deadpool and Cable from the comics. However, if you just like Deadpool from the movies and want to read a Deadpool book, I do not recommend it to you. In general, though, this book does not get a high recommendation from me.

            Okay, I know that I have been going on for way too long, so let’s just start to wrap this up. I post on this website very frequently, so you can always expect new content. I write tons of Marvel reviews, every Modern Era Epic Collection that comes out gets added to my collection and as soon as that’s done, that gets a review on this website. There are a few I’ve read that I haven’t reviewed because I didn’t have a laptop at the time to type these reviews on, but I’ll get around to those when new volumes of those series come out. In fact, that’s about to happen. You can expect another review within the next couple of days, so check back then. I also write short stories, poetry, editorials, and essays, so there’s plenty of other content on this website if you’re interested in reading more. So, I hope you will be back for more, because I will be back within the next couple of days, so I’ll say to you that until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!