"Guardians of the Galaxy: Somebody's Got to Do It"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Guardians of the Galaxy: Somebody’s Got to Do It” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            When the technological alien race the Phalanx began their invasion, the alien race the Kree needed a team to stop them. The Phalanx infect and assimilate with organics to subvert them into their collective. The Kree recruited Terran space adventurer Peter Jason Quill/Star-Lord, Kaliklak warrior Bug, Shi’ar murderess Deathcry, Celestial Madonna Mantis, Terran hero Gabriel Vargas/Captain Universe, enhanced life form Rocket Raccoon, and Flora-Organism King Groot for the mission. They had to go into a Kree facility on the Kree capital world Hala that was infested with Phalanx and destroy their replication machine with no technology since the Phalanx were able to control all technology, which meant they had to go in with basic weapons and uniforms that dampened their heat signatures to avoid detection by the Phalanx. Rocket and Groot formed an immediate bond, but Deathcry did not approve of Captain Universe saving her life as it went against Shi’ar creed. As they battled the Phalanx, Captain Universe and Deathcry got into an argument that ended in the friendly fire demise of Deathcry. Groot was also blown up by the Phalanx, but was able to survive as a sprig offshoot. Captain Universe had to cleverly use the power of the Uni-Force that gave him his abilities to defeat the Phalanx and complete the mission. However, the Kree were not quite so eager to give up on this new team.

            Following the Phalanx Conquest, Star-Lord was able to convince Mantis, Rocket, Groot, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Phyla-Vell/Quasar and Adam Warlock to form a strike force to protect the galaxy from future threats such as another invasion. They took up a base at Knowhere, the severed head of a Celestial and established a liaison with Cosmo, the head of security at Knowhere and used the Continuum Cortex to provide rapid transit via passport bracelets. Their first mission pitted them against the Universal Church of Truth, who used their beliefs to give them strength, on their Templeship the Tancred, to destroy the Font and prevent it from falling into a fissure. Another fissure opened around the vicinity of 56 Hydronis, which the team investigated, where they discovered Vance Astrovik/Major Victory of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a spacefaring team of adventurers from an alternate future. The team took him in, but he was suffering from a form of amnesia. He knew he was there for a purpose, where and when he belonged, but he couldn’t remember why. Another fissure opened near Binary Stasis Twelve Dyson Sphere, an artificial habitat shell with s caged sun at its heart. The team, now christened the Guardians of the Galaxy, attempted to come to the rescue of its fifty-two hundred inhabitants, but they had all been fused into one biomass. The Universal Church of Truth attacked again, while on Knowhere, a villain called Starhawk attacked and damaged the Continuum Cortex, preventing the Guardians from using their teleport passports. The team was able to survive, but Gamora was severely burned.

            Back on Knowhere, it was discovered that there were Skrulls, a species of shapeshifting aliens, who had infiltrated the station and that anyone could be a Skull. This caused great distrust among the Guardians, and the Administrative Council on Knowhere gave the team a hard time for setting up shop upon Knowhere without permission. Drax attacked three Luminals, leading to suspicion that he might be a Skrull. Quasar discovered Drax setting up synaptic disruptor charges, while Starhawk reappeared, this time in a female form, claiming the future tense was in flux and claimed she had to destroy Knowhere to save the future tense. Meanwhile, Warlock discovered Cosmo hiding a group of Skrulls on Knowhere. Before anyone could attack, Drax set off the charges, temporarily killing everyone on Knowhere so he could locate the Skrulls. Upon revival, the Guardians were able to apprehend Starhawk. Cosmo was able to convince the Guardians of the Skrulls upon Knowhere’s innocence and purpose upon Knowhere. Following this, Drax revealed the secret truth behind the forming of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a secret Star-Lord and Mantis had been keeping the whole time, a secret that imploded the entire team.

            Rocket and Groot stayed with the Guardians, adding Mantis and Major Victory as active members, and recruiting Bug to the team. The Guardians went up against the alien race the Badoon, who conquered the galaxy and exterminated the human race in Major Victory’s future. Meanwhile, Warlock and Gamora went off after the Universal Church of Truth, which Warlock intended to lead, while Drax and Quasar went off in search of a girl named Cammi who had a mysterious importance to Drax. Meanwhile, Star-Lord went after the Kree to protect them from the Skrulls, but was caught by Ronan the Accuser, who accused Star-Lord of crimes against the Kree and banished him to the Negative Zone, where Star-Lord ran afoul of Blastaar, newly crowned King of the Negative Zone. Blastaar ordered Star-Lord to get him into 42, the Initiative Prison located in the Negative Zone, so Blastaar could enter it to access its portal to Earth so he could invade. Star-Lord broke in, where he was taken in by vigilante Jack Flag and his crew, who refused to believe his story about the Guardians of the Galaxy. Meanwhile, Drax and Quasar went to Titan, home of the Eternals, to ask Mentor if he could locate Heather Douglass/Moondragon, Quasar’s lover and Drax’s daughter, but instead Mentor killed them both. Star-Lord was able to contact the Guardians of the Galaxy to break him out of 42 and prevent Blastaar from entering Earth, while Warlock and Gamora met with the Matriarch of the Universal Church of Truth to convince them to believe in him, but the Matriarch had a coccoon that contained another Adam Warlock, lending doubt to the authenticity of the Adam Warlock that had been trying to sway the Universal Church of Truth to his sway. While in their death state, Drax and Quasar ran into Maelstrom, who tried to steal the Quantum Bands from Quasar and feed them to the Dragon of the Moon, a creature that Heather had transformed into upon her death.

            Okay, that’s the synopsis with as minimal amounts of spoilers as I could, but let’s face it, it’s hard to review a 400+ page book with multiple stories without giving away spoilers. Anyway, let’s talk about my opinion about this book for a little bit, then I’m going to give a numeric score to this book and tell you if I personally recommend this book to you or not. So, I will say that I found this book to be relatively enjoyable. Personally, I’m a fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy, so reading about how the modern team formed was actually quite pleasurable to me, and it was an experience I liked. I thought the Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord story was well-written. His ragtag team was quite interesting to read about, and their adventure was entertaining to read. I liked the stories about the fissures. The Secret Invasion tie-in story was quite enjoyable to me, and I really found the ending to be quite a shocker and thought that was brilliantly written. The remaining adventures were all fun to read, and I had a fun time while I did. Now we’re going to talk about the art. Modern Era Epic Collections often tend to have multiple artists, and that can often hurt my enjoyment of the consumption of these graphic novels. I have to say, I honestly have no complaints about the art. I found all the artists to have done an excellent job, and it was consistently pleasing to my eyes.

            Now, before I go into my numeric score, there is something I have to discuss first, that being accessibility. When I say accessibility, what I mean is how easy it is to just pick up, read, and understand this book, even if you have little or no prior knowledge about the Guardians of the Galaxy or Marvel Comics. I will say this book is pretty accessible. Yes, it occurs during two events, those being Annihilation: Conquest and Secret Invasion, and that often hurts understanding of a Modern Era Epic Collection, but in this case, I honestly don’t feel it’s a problem. Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord is actually a four issue limited series and is pretty much stand-alone, so not actually reading the rest of Annihilation: Conquest really doesn’t feel like a hindrance in my opinion, and I will tell you that I never read the rest of Annihilation: Conquest myself and was able to follow this story just fine. As far as Secret Invasion goes, this doesn’t impact the rest of the event, which takes place on Earth, so not reading the rest of Secret Invasion will have absolutely no effect on understanding the tie-in issues contained in this book. Yes, there are a few things knowing more about Marvel would help with, such as the existence of 42, which stems from Civil War, but if you’ve never read anything Marvel before and are looking for a place to start, I feel like this is actually a pretty safe bet for you. And if you’ve never heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy and think this sounds interesting, I think you’d be able to pick up this book pretty easily and get most of what is going on in the story.

            Okay, it’s time to go into what I feel is honestly the most important part of any Tim Cubbin review: the numeric score. My scoring system is extremely basic: I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the worst score I can give and means that this book probably truly deserves to be avoided at all costs and if you want to read this even after I’m telling you how horrible this is, I truly pity you. Ten is the highest score I can give, and that means that this is one of the best books I have ever read, and it should truly be read by everyone as soon as is humanly possible. Now, while I did find it enjoyable, I will say that I don’t feel like it’s anywhere near a ten. It was good, truly, but it was far from perfect. Honestly, if I have to give it a numeric score, and of course I obviously do since this is a book review, I’d have to give it a score of… an eight. Hey, that is still really good. I’m a pretty harsh scorer; I’m not in the business of just giving out tens. In all honesty, a default starting score is a nine, so since I didn’t find this perfect, I had to give it an eight. And that’s also good because I found no fault with the art, which could easily have brought the score down to a seven or even a six potentially, so getting an eight is actually pretty impressive. So, I say to the writers and artists of this graphic novel, excellent job!

            Now, as promised, I’m going to tell you if I recommend this book personally, and regardless of if I give it my personal recommendation or not, to whom do I recommend this book to. Now, you can pretty much guess that by the way I’ve been talking for the past three paragraphs that this book is going to get my recommendation, and if you’ve made that guess that I do, you are completely correct. This book emphatically gets my recommendation. As for to whom I’d recommend this book to, if you’re looking for a graphic novel of cosmic adventures, this is the book for you. If you’re a fan of Marvel from the movies or cartoons or video games or shows and are looking for a graphic novel to get into, I feel like this is an enjoyable book for you. If you’re a Guardians of the Galaxy fan of any form, this is the perfect book for you. If you’re reading this review and are interested in reading this book now based solely on what I’ve just spent the past several hours typing, I say go for it. Honestly, I’d recommend this book to just about anybody.

            Okay, I’ve been going on for quite a while, and I feel like it’s time for all of us to move on with our lives, so I’m going to wrap this up now. Before I go, though, there are a few more things that I have to say first. Starting with, this blog has tons of content. I’ve written almost 150 posts at this point, so there is plenty more to read. I have written several short stories, some poetry, a bunch of editorials, a few essays and articles, and dozens of reviews like this one. So, if you liked this post, keep browsing, there’s so much more for you to enjoy. I will say that I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection that gets released and will review it when I am completed, so there are reviews posted quite frequently. There are a few in my possession I have yet to review, and I do hope to rectify that eventually. At the moment, you can expect another review upcoming within the next two weeks, so keep checking back for that. And with that, I believe I’ve said all that needs be said for the moment, so I shall leave you with just three more words: Tim Cubbin… out!

"Thor: The Siege of Asgard"

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

            Asgard had been relocated above Broxton, Oklahoma. For killing his grandfather Bor, Thor was exiled from Asgard and Balder was named king of Asgard. Thor’s hammer Mjolnir was damaged. Thor’s adopted brother Loki had secretly been plotting with the villainous Doctor Victor Von Doom. Doom offered the Asgardians a home in Latveria, the country he ruled, claiming it would be more suitable for the Asgardians. The Warriors Three Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral agreed to join Thor in exile from Asgard. Young Broxton local Bill was in a romantic relationship with Asgardian goddess Kelda and left for Latveria with her. Loki revealed to Thor that “her” new female form actually belonged to Thor’s lover, the Lady Sif, and that the actual Sif’s consciousness was trapped in a mortal’s form that was yet to be restored to her Asgardian self like the other Asgardians Thor had reawakened when he restored Asgard following Ragnarok. Doctor Jane Foster, Thor’s former love, discovered Sif was actually contained in Mrs. Chambers, one of her terminal cancer patients who was about to die, and if she died, Sif would be lost for eternity. To save Sif, Thor required a repaired Mjolnir, so he turned to his ally Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts to perform the magic to fix his hammer. Strange warned Thor that while he could do this task, it would require depleting the Odinforce from Thor and that should Mjolnir ever be damaged again, Thor would die along with it. Thor agreed to this deal, and Doctor Strange was able to repair Mjolnir and Thor was able to restore Sif to her true body before Mrs. Chambers expired. Bill found himself bullied by the Asgardians in Latveria, who were unable to accept Kelda taking a mortal lover, but Kelda came to Bill’s defense.

            Egyptian god Seth learned of Thor’s exile from Asgard and saw this as the perfect opportunity to slay his foe and sent his agents, including Scarab, Gog, and Grog to do the job. Thor was hiding in a cabin in his mortal guise of Doctor Donald Blake. Grog attacked a highway, and Thor came to the rescue, saving a woman from being crushed, then quickly reverting to Don Blake. Blake then visited the woman in the hospital, but the facility was attacked by Grog, who wished to draw out Thor. Thor then had to find the strength to defeat Grog and Seth’s other agents.

            Sif decided to stay in Broxton with Thor under the cover of Sylvan, a “model from New York.” The Warriors Three took over the restaurant Bill vacated. Doctor Doom began performing experiments on Asgardians. Bill discovered this and paid the ultimate price for this discovery, but he did not go down alone, and he was avenged by Balder. Thor and his allies had to fight for their lives as Doom sent his Doombots to Broxton to slay them and collect their forms for his experiments. Kelda learned of Bill’s death and that Loki had responsibility in her lover’s demise and swore revenge against Loki.

            Doom’s plans involved taking parts from Asgardians in order to obtain immortality for himself. Loki attempted to lie his way out of responsibility in Bill’s death and was taken into custody to await trial. Doom used his experiments to battle the Asgardians until Thor arrived to fight Doctor Doom, who imperiled Kelda, then retreated. Loki revealed he could save her with Thor and Balder’s help, but Thor first had to battle Doom in his new Destroyer armor.

            Loki encouraged Commander of H.A.M.M.E.R. Norman Osborn to attack Asgard. He then contracted the Dísir, former All-Father Bor’s Valkyries who could only feed on the spirits of deceased gods and were believed to be a myth as deceased gods either went to Valhalla or Hel. Because of Ragnarok, Hel was inaccessible, and Hela, goddess of death, had no Hel to rule over. Loki made a contract with Hell-Lord Mephisto to give Hela a slice of his hell for one thousand and one years in exchange for the service of the Dísir for one hundred and one days. He also brokered a deal with Hela that when he died, he would not be bound to Hel.

            Volstagg was arrested for attacking a football stadium, a crime he didn’t directly commit. Asgardian seer Knut entered an Asgardian banquet, warning of the end of Asgard, but Heimdall did not perceive a threat, and Knut was not taken seriously. Loki then eliminated Knut and trapped Heimdall. Kelda visited Bill’s family to inform them of Bill’s demise. Volstagg released a video on the internet proclaiming his innocence. Norman Osborn arranged an attack upon Asgard. Volstagg was released from prison and was attacked by Thor’s evil cyborg clone calling himself “Ragnarok.” Tyr, God of war, led the Asgardian army against the forces of H.A.M.M.E.R. The organization also went to Bill’s family’s house to go after Kelda. The real Thor arrived at the ruins of Asgard to join the battle, despite the penalty of death placed upon the violation of his exile. Balder fought Loki and learned the truth about Loki’s part in Bor’s death. Following the siege, Thor’s exile was ended, but he refused to accept the role of King of Asgard again, leaving it to Balder and instead offering to serve on as an advisor. Kelda found the entry to Valhalla and saw Bill was there but could not get in herself. Ragnarok came to Asgard and Thor and Ragnarok had a fight.

            The New Mutants were staying at the Inferno Club in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Hela was holed up. Dani Moonstar, who had formerly been a Valkyrie, was contracted by Hela to usher in the dead from the siege of Asgard to her Hel. During her mission, she was attacked by the Dísir and teamed up with the not-so-dead Tyr to battle them.

            Mephisto made a deal with the Dísir: in exchange for favors, he would allow them access to a feast in Hela’s Hel. Hela contacted the Asgardians, who saw firsthand the threat the Dísir posed when their name is spoken. Thor and Tyr travelled to Mephisto’s Hell to combat them. Thor learned of the sword Eir-Gram, which would be able to defeat the Dísir, but the Dísir had already stolen it and placed a spell on it so that only the one whom it belonged to would be able to withdraw it. Thor learned that Mephisto was using Hell to torment the spirit of Gaia, Thor’s mother. Meanwhile, Kelda was planning to poison Balder, whom she blamed for Bill’s death. Thor and Tyr had to defeat the Dísir and end the conflict between Hela and Mephisto.

            Okay, so the synopsis is now covered, let’s get to my part of the review. First off, let me say, I really didn’t enjoy this book. Honestly, the stories just didn’t grab me. I found them to be relatively bland. First off, the Asgardians relocating to Latveria made no sense. They know this is Doctor Doom’s country. They know he’s a villain. They know he’s up to schemes. Why would they go there? Especially since Loki was orchestrating the whole thing. How could Balder possibly think he could trust Loki? And the whole thing of Thor’s exile was also kind of dumb to me because again, Balder was trusting Loki. And Loki getting Sif’s body so Sif couldn’t be restored with the other Asgardians also made no sense to me. There were a lot of things there that made no sense. “The Hand of Grog” was a subpar storyline in my opinion, I actually found it kind of boring. As far as Kelda goes, I actually found her to be a bit of an annoyance. I admit she furthered the storyline, but she just wasn’t a character I liked. “Latverian Prometheus” was another storyline I didn’t like. As far as “Siege” went, “Siege” was actually published during a time when I wasn’t a regular reader, and I never actually read the main event, and Modern Era Epic Collections don’t actually contain events if they are published about specific characters, and since this was “Thor” there were no issues of the main event in it, and I found myself rather confused by not knowing the full story of exactly what was going on in the story itself. The inclusion of “Hel’s Valkyrie” to me made no sense considering it was an issue of “New Mutants” and this book was “Thor” and Thor doesn’t even actually appear in that issue, so I honestly have no real idea as to why the editors thought it was important to include this specific issue in this Modern Era Epic Collection as it really did nothing to the rest of the book. And “The Fine Print” was a storyline that actually confused me a little bit, I didn’t fully understand what was going on in the story, and you can probably even tell that based specifically upon my explanation of the synopsis being a little weak. All around, I just found the stories in this book to be highly disappointing. And as far as the art went, most of the time, I was displeased. I just found the styles to be in general unappealing. This whole book was just not my cup of tea.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. Now, when I say this, what I mean is how easy it is to pick up and read this book, even if you know nothing about Thor or Marvel Comics. As I mentioned before, this book contains the Thor issues of “Siege” but doesn’t actually include any of the main event, which makes this book highly inaccessible. Plus, it picks up directly where the previous Volume of the series left off following on the knowledge of said Volume, so missing that is missing a substantial chunk of the story, too. I’ve been reading Marvel Comics on and off regularly for twenty-four years now, and I missed this storyline and I was lost reading this graphic novel, so imagine being a reader with no experience with Marvel at all just picking up this book and trying to read it, I just don’t think they’d be able to follow the story. This is not an entry level graphic novel. So, if you’re a fan of the MCU and want to start reading Marvel Comics because you love Thor that much, I’m telling you, this is not the right book to start with.

            Okay, let’s get to the main reason we’re all here, or at least what I think is the most essential part of a Tim Cubbin review: the numeric score. My scoring system is quite basic: one to ten. One is the lowest score, meaning that this book should be avoided at all cost, ten is the highest score and that this book should be in every comic book collector’s collection. So, you can obviously guess that this book is nowhere near earning a ten. Now, I had to think really hard about giving this book its score, and I honestly feel that it is… a one. I’ve very rarely given out a score of a one, but I feel like this book deserves it. It was just an all-around disappointment, and I just found it highly unenjoyable upon careful consideration. The stories were just so bland, and the art was subpar, I just can’t possibly give this book a good score. So yes, this book gets a rare one.

            Next up, we’re going to talk about if I recommend this book with my personal seal of approval, and regardless of that, to whom do I recommend this book. I think you can pretty much guess that I’m not going to give this book my recommendation. I honestly do not recommend this book at all. If you’re actually a die-hard Marvel fan and read “Siege” and want a companion book, I would say this might be an enjoyable book for you, but if you haven’t read “Siege,” I would tell you to avoid this book at all costs.

            Okay, I think at this point that I’ve gone on for quite long enough, you and I both want to get on with our days and do whatever else we need to do. But I do have a few parting notes first. Starting with this blog is updated on a very frequent basis. If you liked this review, there are dozens of other posts like this, including “Thor: Reborn from Ragnarok” if you want to check that one out for comparison purposes and get a little more background on this book. Most of this blog is reviews of Marvel graphic novels, and at the moment my project is buying and reading all the Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections released and when I read them, I will post a review. There are a few I haven’t reviewed yet because when I last read them, I didn’t have a laptop but hopefully I will be able to rectify that problem. As it stands, I have two more reviews lined up to be posted in a time than less than over the next four weeks or so, so you can keep an eye out for them. I was an English major with a concentration in journalism in college, which is why I do this blog for you, without pay, out of the kindness of my heart. I’ve also written short stories, poems, articles, essays, editorials, and other kinds of content for this blog, over one hundred and forty posts at this point, so if you liked this, keep browsing on timcubbin.blogspot.com, there is tons of other content available for you to enjoy. I’m going to sign off for now, but I’ll be back in less than two weeks with a new review, so keep checking. And so, I’ll just say until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Iron Man: Stark Disassembled"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Iron Man: Stark Disassembled” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Tony Stark was injured in a jungle in Vietnam and taken into captivity. He had shrapnel close to his heart. With the help of Professor Ho Yinsen, Tony was able to create a magnet to prevent the shrapnel from reaching his heart, and a suit of armor that allowed him to escape captivity. With the help of James Rhodes, Tony was able to return to the United States, where Tony became the superhero Iron Man.

Many years later, Norman Osborn became the leader of the corrupt government organization H.A.M.M.E.R., formerly S.H.I.E.L.D., which Tony Stark had been in charge of. Tony felt he couldn’t let Osborn obtain the database of the superhuman secret identities and the secrets of the Iron Man technology, so he did the only thing he could do; deleted the data. But that included wiping his own mind. It put him into a persistent vegetative state. He left Pepper Potts, his right-hand woman, with a suit of iron and a repulsor generator of her own before this. He also had his second-in-command at S.H.I.E.L.D. Maria Hill obtain a hard drive with the assistance of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Pepper, Hill, and Widow gathered with Bucky Barnes/Captain America and Doctor Donald Blake/Thor to revive Tony.

Tony Stark was trapped in a repeated simulation in his own mind with his parents Howard and Maria Stark. In the real world, Tony’s allies watched a video which instructed them on how to prepare to revive Tony. Pepper, having lost her husband Happy Hogan, was hesitant about this, wondering why it was Tony who got to come back from the dead. Meanwhile, Osborn, who had placed a bounty on Tony Stark with a consortium of supervillains, called it off. Madame Masque, however, refused to let this go since her grudge with Tony went deeper, so she called on the supervillain Ghost to finish Tony Stark completely. She arranged a “Ghost Phone” which would allow Ghost to teleport to Tony’s location simply by making a phone call. Steve Rogers/Captain America returned from the dead and arrived in Broxton, Oklahoma, where Tony and his allies were hiding. The repulsor unit in Pepper had to be removed and implanted into Tony’s chest. The data drive Hill had obtained kept a backup of Tony’s memories, and they had to be implanted back into Tony. However, Thor’s attempt to revive Tony with a lightning bolt failed. Ghost was able to locate Tony at the Sooner Inn. Hill, Pepper, Doctor Lisk, and Mrs. Sooner moved Tony to the basement of a middle school to escape Ghost, where they called in Doctor Stephen Strange to perform a mystical surgery on Tony. Rhodey arrived but was immediately attacked by Ghost. In Tony’s mind, Doctor Strange tried to convince Tony that he had a life worth returning to but was pulled away from the surgery to fight Ghost, who defeated Strange. As Hill was losing to Ghost and Ghost was about to finish off Tony, Pepper made a phone call to H.A.M.M.E.R. to report on Ghost’s illegal activities, and as Ghost was about to attack Pepper, Tony returned to consciousness and defeated Ghost. However, Tony’s backup drive was not recent, and there were many things that Tony didn’t know.

Pepper imagined a conversation with her deceased husband Happy, where she recalled her time as the armored hero Rescue. Her suit wasn’t made to fight, but it was made to help save lives. Tony gave it to her while she had the repulsor technology in her and she used it while she was on the run from H.A.M.M.E.R.

Mother and daughter business team Justine and Sasha Hammer pitched the idea of a new mechanical force called Detroit Steel to the United States Army but were turned down. Tony Stark learned that he had given his company Stark Industries to Pepper before he erased his mind and that he was essentially broke. Tony decided to plan his new business venture, one that no longer involved making weapons. The Hammers bought decommissioned H.A.M.M.E.R. technology to plan their move against Tony Stark. Tony founded Stark Resilient and pitched making his proprietary repulsor tech available to the everyday consumer to replace fossil fuels. The Army got back in touch with the Hammer girls. Tony partnered with carmaker Carson Wyche to build a new car that ran on repulsor power and not fossil fuels. Pepper told Tony she wanted the repulsor disc Tony had removed from her replaced back into her. Tony agreed. Bambi Arbogast, a former Stark Industries employee, signed on with Stark Resilient. During Pepper’s surgery, the Hammer girls staged a terrorist attack in Shibuya, Tokyo in order to promote Detroit Steel. Iron Man and War Machine flew in to help fight, but were made to look like fools, especially since the tech the terrorists used were old Stark Industries technology. Stark Resilient hired Cababa, Macken and Pimacher to help build their new car. The Hammer girls build drones to assist Detroit Steel, and created a “game” app, tricking players into thinking they were assisting Detroit Steel in a game, when in actuality they were flying these real drones and assisting the actual Detroit Steel. Tony created a new Rescue armor for Pepper. Stark Resilient planned to debut their new car at the 21-Green International Expo in the following six weeks and had to build two cars within that time limit. Rhodey pitched placing War Machine under military supervision as liaison to Stark Resilient, but General Babbage refused, preferring Detroit Steel. Stark Resilient held a Gala, inviting the Hammer girls. Tony took Sasha Hammer on a private ride, where she attacked him with cybernetic upgrades. Iron Man and Rescue fought her, but Sasha was still able to escape. Tony’s Alpha car was sabotaged and exploded during its test run, and only Tony’s implanted Iron Man armor was able to save his life. Because of the attack, the 21-Green Expo was cancelled. Tony decided to have the Betty car tested at their factory. As the test began, Detroit Steel and the drones attacked. Tony, Pepper and Rhodey suited up as Iron Man, Rescue and War Machine and fought the drones. Tony’s team discovered that the drones were being controlled by the gamers and that they were locking on to repulsor signatures, so Rhodey and Pepper powered down. It would take twenty minutes to shut down the cellular transmissions, but Pepper and Rhodey could only survive for fifteen minutes without repulsor power. Tony had to race against time to defeat Detroit Steel, survive the drones, and save Rhodey and Pepper.

Luna Inc. created Luna City, a community on the moon. They used an old Stark Industries machine that could control the weather, and it was having a negative effect upon the earth. Iron Man and Thor had to team up, fly to the moon, and stop Luna Inc.

Okay, so now we’ve done the synopsis, let’s get down to the Tim Cubbin part of this review. Obviously, you want to know if I liked this book or not and what I thought about it. While I did find this book to be somewhat enjoyable, I honestly can’t rave about it. I found it to simply just be mediocre. There honestly wasn’t anything special about it. The stories really didn’t stand out. While it was readable, it just didn’t have a super high level of enjoyability. We start off with a reprint of the first Iron Man story and a classic Iron Man story that got severely retconned and was actually somewhat offensive that I really couldn’t go into much detail about it in this review since I’m a nice guy and I don’t want to offend anyone who reads this blog, I want people to keep coming back for more, so I don’t want to do anything to scare people away. The story of Tony Stark trapped in a self-imposed simulation and needing to be rescued and revived really didn’t grab me, and I couldn’t find the suspension of disbelief required to believe in Tony’s revival. The way he deleted his memories and had them reimplanted just wasn’t plausible enough for me to accept. I can say, however, that I do enjoy reading about Pepper as Rescue. As far as the “Stark Resilient” storyline went, however, that at least saved the book for me a little bit. I enjoyed the concept. I liked how Tony had to start a new business venture, and I thought that the car was an interesting idea. I liked Sasha Hammer as a villain. I liked the drones being piloted as a gaming app, and while I thought the idea was brilliant, I also found it to be slightly predictable, as soon as they started talking about the drones, I knew exactly how they were going to be used, but it was still a great idea to include. I enjoyed the dynamics between Tony, Pepper, and Hill throughout the course of the book, their grudge against Tony for a reason I can’t talk about in a G-Rated blog, but I thought it brought good humor and drama to the stories. As far as the Iron Man/Thor “Fair Weather” team-up, I found that to be entertaining. As far as the main artist Salvador Larroca goes, he’s an artist that I love to hate and hate to love at the same time. His artwork is inconsistently good and bad. There are times when he totally nails it, and there are times when he totally fails it. There were points where his artwork was just totally amazing, and there were times when I just thought it was awful. Usually when I give a bad art review on an Epic Collection, it’s because there are a lot of different artists, and while this book did have several artists, Larroca was the main artist, and he was the one who disappointed me the most. As far as this book goes all around, this was not one of my favorites.

Next, I’m going to talk about accessibility. I’ve literally said this at least three dozen times at this point, but I always have to do it again for my new readers since I know some of you have never read a Tim Cubbin review before and have no idea what I mean when I say “accessibility.” So here goes: Accessibility means if a person who has little or no knowledge about Iron Man or Marvel can pick up this book, read it, and fully comprehend what they are reading. In this case, I will say this book is highly inaccessible if you have not read the previous volume “World’s Most Wanted” as this book directly continues out of the storyline from that which was not finished in the previous volume, so if you have not read it, you have missed a significant chunk of the story and will have no idea what is going on at the start of this book. The entire story of Tony erasing his memories was told in the previous volume and he was left in a vegetative state, and that’s where this volume picks up. There are also many other threads that carried over from the previous volume that not having read it will have negative impact on a reader’s ability to fully comprehend what they are reading, including Pepper’s original run as Resue, why Tony had to be kept hidden, the fall of Stark Industries, Tony’s disconnection from Extremis, and the start of the dynamic between Tony, Pepper and Hill which I can’t talk about in a G-Rated blog, just to name a few, and one I can’t discuss that would spoil the ending of “Stark Resilient.” This book is marketed as Vol. 4, and while Vols. 1 and 2 have not been released at the moment of my writing this review, Vol. 3 is an essential read prior to reading this book.

I’ve been going on for quite a while now, and I’m sure you’re starting to get bored of me, so let’s move on to the most imperative part of a Tim Cubbin review: the numeric score. I score on a very basic scale: one to ten precisely. One means this book is a flaming piece of trash. Ten means this book is one of the best things I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Now, you can obviously guess at this point that this book is nowhere near getting a ten, and you would be absolutely correct. However, I wouldn’t completely call this book a flaming piece of trash, either. So, of course, we must take into account that this is a GRAPHIC novel, so art is just as important as story when I write my reviews. So, we have a mediocre story and inconsistent qualitied art, so you can imagine this score is going to be on the low side. So, imagine no further, as I am now going to tell you my score. Taking everything into consideration, I throw it all together and spit out… four. This book was readable, but it is not going to be on the list of one of my favorite graphic novels.

Next up, I’m going to tell you if I give this book my personal recommendation, and regardless of that, to whom do I recommend this book. Okay, so this book does not get my recommendation as it honestly really did not stand out to me. If I were to recommend this book to anyone though, I would say it would honestly mostly be for Iron Man fans of the comics from 2000 on, but the origin story that went on to be retconned is a huge turn off to fans from said period, and writer Matt Fraction even writes into the story that it was retconned just to redeem the change. Honestly, though, I do have a hard time recommending this book to anyone.

Well, I think we’re at the point where we should be parting ways, but first I do have a few things I have to say first. First off, this website has dozens of reviews just like this if you enjoyed it, so feel free to keep browsing timcubbin.blogspot.com, check out my “Iron Man: World’s Most Wanted” review, too, you’ll probably find that enjoyable. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, editorials, essays, articles, and several other kinds of content that you can check out, I’ve done quite a variety of work on this over the past four and a half years. There are almost 150 posts now, I’m sure you’ll find something else you can enjoy. My reason for doing this blog is because I have a degree in English with a concentration in journalism and currently remain unemployed in the field but still wish to remain active in it. I post on a very frequent basis, literally any time a new Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection comes out, I buy it, and I will review it. There are a few I haven’t reviewed due to the lack of having a laptop at the time, but they will probably eventually receive reviews. I have another review coming up, expect it sometime within the next two weeks. I guess that’s really all I have to say for now, so I’ll finish with just a few more words: Tim Cubbin… out!

"New Avengers: Civil War"

The following is a review of the graphic novel “New Avengers: Civil War” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Luke Cage, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Logan/Wolverine, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman and Robert Reynolds/Sentry united again a common threat and became the New Avengers to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand.

Tony Stark and Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four were called to the Louisiana Bayou to investigate a spaceship which had been discovered, a ship that had been buried for a long time. The ship was transported to Stark Tower, where the Avengers and the rest of the Fantastic Four Sue Storm-Richards/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/Thing attempted to open it. Upon being successful, the two teams were attacked by a crew of Kree Warriors who had been sent long before to secure the planet as a battle station for the Kree Empire before the Skrulls could. The Kree and Skrulls had been at war for a long time, but the war had ended years ago on the Kree Homeworld. Tony Stark had to convince the Kree that Earth was not home to the Skrulls and not worth the Kree attempting to take over.

Captain America turned to Matt Murdock/Daredevil for assistance in stopping Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai, a supervillain who had recently escaped from the prison the Raft the night the New Avengers were formed and was brought to Japan by an organization, potentially the Ninja assassins the Hand or Clan Yashida, a Japanese Crime family. Murdock refused to join the Avengers, afraid that the recent exposure of his secret identity as a superhero would bring bad press to the Avengers, but offered Ronin, who had the same training, fighting styles, and knowledge of the Hand and Clan Yashida as Murdock. The Avengers traveled to Japan to find the Silver Samurai with Viper/Madame Hydra along with the forces of Hydra and the Hand. The Avengers fought Hydra and the Hand, and Viper attempted to escape. Spider-Woman cornered her, and the two discussed their secret deal before Viper allowed herself to get captured. The Avengers then confronted the Silver Samurai. The Avengers then boarded their Quinjet to return home, where Spider-Woman released the hatch, allowing Viper to escape. Upon returning home, Captain America confronted Spider-Woman to learn where her loyalties lied. Jessica had joined Hydra at an early age but had defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually she lost her powers, but Connely, an agent of Hydra, offered to give them back. Jessica turned to Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who told her to take the offer and feed Hydra information about S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to eventually get enough information about Hydra to take the organization down. Jessica underwent the procedure and got her powers back better than ever, and her and Fury’s plan worked… until Fury was forced to go underground, and Maria Hill was named Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jessica revealed her situation to the Avengers while in touch with Fury. Fury refused to reveal his location, but informed the New Avengers that they were about to have to go public because speculation about the Sentry’s watchtower atop Stark Tower was drawing notice. The Avengers called a press conference and revealed the formation of the new team to the world at large.

Following an event that went on to be called “the House of M,” most of the world’s mutants woke up to discover that they had lost their powers, but the truth that Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch had altered reality was kept hidden from the general public to keep the remaining few hundred mutants safe from anti-mutant hysteria. An energy blast from space came down onto North Pole, Alaska and obliterated the town, save one man, with powers, who was going on a destructive spree into Canada. The Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight was called in by S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight the man, but they were easily defeated, and the man continued. The New Avengers, who were doing impact police work in Detroit, were called in by S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man asked Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel for assistance, and Captain America asked Maria Hill for assistance from S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Daisy Johnson. However, the Sentry refused to answer the call along with the rest of the New Avengers, afraid that his antithesis the Void would arrive should he use his powers. Iron Man confronted the man, who revealed his name to be Michael, and the two were in dialogue, with Michael almost calmed down, when Ms. Marvel misinterpreted the situation and attacked Michael, enraging him, and reigniting the cosmic level powers she used to have as Binary. Iron Man called in the android former Avenger the Vision, who had the hard drive files belonging to the Avengers, to discover if Michael was a threat they had faced before. The Avengers, including the Sentry, battled Michael, and lost. They discovered that while they had never fought Michael before, they had fought his power sources before: the combined powers of the mutants who lost their abilities following the House of M. Spider-Man, who had been aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, was knocked out and apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents so Maria Hill could learn about the House of M. The Avengers followed Michael to the former mutant island nation Genosha, which had been destroyed by Sentinel robots a while before, where the former mutant Eric Lensherr/Magneto had been living in hiding. Michael’s powers went into Magneto, granting Magneto the powers, and the power source was revealed to be Xorn, a former enemy of the X-Men. The New Avengers, Daisy Johnson, and Ms. Marvel then had to fight the Xorn powered Magneto.

Yelena Belova/Black Widow had been burned during a previous encounter with the New Avengers. Hydra offered a chance at revenge and the return of her pretty face if she were to join them. They teamed up with Advanced Idea Mechanics to turn Yelena into a Super Adaptoid, able to absorb any powers used against her and be able to use them herself. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, who had just had a baby together, decided to get married. Yelena attacked Stark Tower and fought the New Avengers. Following the fight, Luke and Jones tied the knot.

Many years ago, Iron Man, Doctor Stephen Strange, Charles Xavier/Professor X, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Namor and T’Challa/Black Panther met in Wakanda to have a discussion. Following the Kree-Skrull War, that the gathered parties all had prior bits of knowledge about before the conflict hit Earth, Tony Stark pitched the idea of the group of them all pooling their resources and information and working together so this kind of situation would never happen again. The others were not receptive of this idea, and all turned down this proposition. However, they did settle on forming a secret committee, where they would regularly discuss situations, but none of their family members, friends, or teammates could have knowledge of this committee… all except T’Challa, who advised them not to do this. Many years later, the group met to discuss how to manage the threat of the Hulk. The plan was to exile Hulk into deep space where he would no longer be a threat to anyone or himself again, and while Namor did not approve of the plan, the other set it into action. The committee met for the final time to discuss the proposed Superhuman Registration Act, which would require anyone with superpowers to register with the government, reveal their identity, and submit to training and a job as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Refusal to do so would be considered a federal crime. The discussion did not go well, and the committee fell apart.

After Stamford, Connecticut was destroyed in a fight between the New Warriors and a group of supervillains, the Superhuman Registration Act came closer to becoming law. Iron Man decided to come out in favor of it. Captain America was called upon to hunt down his fellow heroes who were in defiance of the Superhuman Registration act, but he chose to oppose it and became a public enemy in the process. Captain America was able to find an ally with Sam Wilson/Falcon, but when he turned to Hank Pym, he was turned down. When the Superhuman Registration Act was passed, Tony Stark went to Luke Cage to attempt to convince him to register. Luke refused and told Jessica Jones to take the baby and leave the country and not to watch the television. Luke was targeted by a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, who attempted to apprehend him, but with the help of Captain America, Falcon, and Daredevil, he was able to escape. Spider-Woman’s double agent status was uncovered by Maria Hill, who called in a S.H.I.E.L.D. team to arrest her. She was brought aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which was attacked by a Hydra squad that tried to crash the Helicarrier and rescued her. She managed to escape Hydra and turned to Captain America’s resistance team. The Sentry tried to stay out of the superhuman Civil War that was occurring and went to the moon. He was attacked by the Inhumans, who then invited him to dinner and an overnight stay. Iron Man arrived and recruited Sentry to his pro-registration movement but caused a conflict with the Inhumans in the process. A disgruntled former Stark Industries employee infiltrated Avengers Tower and shut down Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor and attempted to set off a bomb that would wipe Avengers Tower from existence. Maria Hill had to use S.H.I.E.L.D. tech to sneak into Avengers Tower and rescue Tony and save Avengers Tower.

Following the conclusion of the Superhuman Civil War, Tony Stark was forced to consider if the cost of the war was worth all the outcomes.

Alright, we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, now let’s get to my part of the review. First off, let me say that I loved this book. I totally thought the stories were great. Some of my longtime readers have seen that I’ve done reviews of “Civil War” before, but this one is actually quite different from the others based on the content contained in it. Not all of the stories in this book were Civil War, so there’s actually new material to review this time. I recently reviewed the previous volume and stated that I am a huge fan of the work of Brian Michael Bendis, and I really feel like he hit the mark on this book. I highly enjoyed the Fantastic Four story; I thought the ending was just so cleverly written. The Ronin story was great, and I loved the double agent story with Spider-Woman. I liked the story with the reveal of the New Avengers, then ending with the Daily Bugle was truly unexpected based simply on the writing at the start of the issue. I thought the House of M follow-up story was interesting. The wedding issue was well-written, Yelena’s fate just blindsided me. The Illuminati issue is one I have literally read over one hundred times, and I never get tired of it, I enjoy it every time. The Civil War stories were all great ways of highlighting the characters. The Confession issue truly depressed me, though, but I honestly can’t talk much about it without giving away spoilers, so I’ll leave off from there. The problem for me was that there were too many artists, and some of the artists just didn’t do it for me, I hate to say it. There were just some issues with artwork that didn’t appeal to my eyes. Overall, though, I thought this was a really superb book.

Next, let’s talk about accessibility. I know some of you may not understand what I mean by this, so I will have to explain. I mean if a person with no knowledge of the New Avengers can just pick up this book and read it. I will say this book has incredibly low accessibility. This book actually focuses on two events without actually including those events within its pages, House of M and Civil War. So, if you don’t know either of these stories, you will probably have great difficulty understanding this book. I will say that even though this book is called “New Avengers: Civil War,” it is not actually a “Civil War” graphic novel, it just contains some issues that tie in to “Civil War” and they slapped the title “Civil War” on it because that’s what will sell the book, but if you’re buying a book hoping for “Civil War,” this book is not actually it. This book also calls on knowledge of what happens to Captain America after “Civil War.” So, I will say if you don’t know Marvel Comics at all, you will not be able to read this book very well. It’s not a jump-on point for new readers.

Okay, let’s move on to my numeric score. I’ve been going on for quite a while now and you’re probably starting to get bored of me. So, here’s how the scoring works. I go on a scale of one through ten. One is the lowest score I can give, which means this book is absolute trash. Ten is then obviously the highest score I can give, and that means that this book is perfection, and I have hardly ever read books better than this one. So, you’ve probably gathered that this is not getting anywhere near a one, since I have given this book such high praise. However, I can tell you that this book is not a ten. Now, we must consider that this is a GRAPHIC novel, which means that I must take two things into consideration when I score this book: both story and art. As I stated before, I had some problems with some of the artists, and that means I must dock something there. I will also say that the stories, while quite good, even on their own, were this all a prose novel, still would not be a ten. So, we’re looking at docking there. So, as I take everything into consideration on this book, both story and art, throw everything into the blender, make a smoothie, and churn out the score, I rate this book at… seven! Look, I would love to give it an eight, but the stories alone would be a nine and the art was just too inconsistent that I just had to dock two points. So, the seven is my final standing. I loved the stories, yes, but there were just too many different artists in one book, and that just caused such a complication for me, but a seven considering all that is still fairly good.

Next up, we’ll talk about if I give my personal recommendation and regardless of that to whom I’d recommend this book. So, I loved this book, so yes, it gets my recommendation. But again, this is not actually really a “Civil War” book, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I don’t recommend this book to you. If you’re a fan of “New Avengers” then yes, I recommend this book to you. If you’re a fan of Spider-Woman in particular, this is a perfect book for you as I feel this really highlights the character. If you’ve read House of M and Civil War, then I feel you should definitely read this book if you haven’t read these issues, they’re a good complement to those stories.

Okay, so I’ve kept you for quite a while and I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I feel like it’s time to wrap this up. I will tell you that this blog has a ton of content on it, as I said, I’ve written reviews of “Civil War” before, if you want, you can look for those, those were at the start of my time doing this blog so they go way back, but I feel like they’re worth looking at, you can see how my writing style has evolved over four years. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, editorials, articles, and other kinds of posts, so feel free to keep browsing on timcubbin.blogspot.com. I have another review coming up definitely sometime within the next three weeks, and I post very frequently, so you can always keep an eye out for new content. I think that this is all for now. So, I say to you, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

 

"New Avengers: Assembled"

 

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

            One day, Earth’s mightiest heroes had to unite to face a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were assembled, a team to combat the forces that no single hero could face alone. Over the years, the lineup and their funding changed, but their mission always remained the same.

            The Avengers faced the worst day they ever had to face. It started as a typical day at Avengers Mansion, and it turned into a catastrophe. Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Janet Van Dyne-Pym/Wasp, Kelsey Leigh/Captain Britain, and Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk were enjoying a meal when they were alerted of a security breach. They rushed outside to find Jack Hart/Jack of Hearts, an Avengers believed to be deceased, standing in their back court. Ant-Man attempted to talk to him, but Jack detonated, taking out Ant-Man in the process. Meanwhile, Tony Stark/Iron Man, United States’ Secretary of Defense, was giving a speech at the United Nations, when he inexplicably has a breakdown similar to an old pattern of his he had given up, and despite not giving into this pattern, he still exhibited its behavior. Hank Pym/Yellowjacket tried to calm him down, but his attempts failed as he threatened the delegate from Latveria. Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch attempted to comfort Tony, but the Avengers Code White alerted them to trouble at the Avengers Mansion. Steve Rogers/Captain America Sam Wilson/Falcon and a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents arrived at the Mansion just as an Avengers Quinjet came in for a crash landing on the Mansion. Android Avenger the Vision stepped out of the Quinjet and released five Ultron robots, one of the Avengers’ greatest enemies. The Avengers were able to defeat the Ultron robots, but She-Hulk went out of control and attacked the Avengers and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Iron Man arrived and ended She-Hulk’s rampage, but Captain Britain and Wasp were critically injured, and Vision was destroyed. After a visit to the hospital, Captain America, Falcon, and Hawkeye returned to the Mansion to find every reserve member of the Avengers gathered outside, a gathering Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. did not approve of. The alien Kree armada suddenly arrived on Earth and began an attack. The Avengers battled the Kree until Hawkeye made the ultimate sacrifice to destroy the lead warship. The Kree then retreated. Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts arrived to inform the Avengers these attacks were all being caused by magic and revealed the Avengers’ true enemy. The Avengers confronted their enemy and were able to put a stop to the attacks, but the cost was great.

            The Avengers reunited at the destroyed Mansion. Tony Stark had no choice but to step down from his position as Secretary of Defense, and the United States government, who had been funding the Avengers, decided to end their association with the team. Tony decided not to rebuild Avengers Mansion, and with no funding for the team, the Avengers felt like they had no choice but to disband and all go their separate ways. As a final tribute, the former Avengers discussed their favorite stories about the history of the Avengers, often stories that each member wasn’t even an active member of the team for. Then the Avengers were over.

            Six months later, Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four asked lawyer and outed superhero Matt Murdock/Daredevil to go to the Raft, the supervillain prison, to speak to an inmate named Robert Reynolds/Senty, who had been accused of killing his wife. He came with his associate Luke Cage and law partner Franklin “Foggy” Nelson and was escorted by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and superhero Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman. During this visit, supervillain Maxwell Dillon/Electro executed a prison break, shutting down the power at the Raft and releasing all the inmates from their cells. Peter Parker/Spider-Man hitched a ride on a helicopter to the Raft to investigate and was greeted by Captain America. The gathered heroes battled to contain the villains, and Iron Man arrived on the scene. Though the heroes were able to keep forty-five villains from escaping, forty-two supervillains were able to escape from the Raft. Captain America was reminded of how the original Avengers came together by pure happenstance, and took this prison break as fate, and asked Tony to reform the Avengers. Cap was able to recruit Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Spider-Woman, but Daredevil turned down his offer. The heroes met at the newly established Stark Tower and Tony offered the top three floors to the new team. S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director Maria Hill was informed of this development, and she was not happy with the idea of a new Avengers team, but since Cap had Full Champion License with S.H.I.E.L.D., he had the authority to assemble any team he saw fit to go on any mission he saw fit. The new Avengers were able to discover it was Electro who staged the prison break and were able to track him down and apprehend him. They then learned the prisoner he had been hired to break out was Karl Lykos/Sauron. As they tried to access the S.H.I.E.L.D. files pertaining to the breakout that Jessica had access to, they learned that the S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost in the Savage Land had gone offline, and the Savage Land was the place Lykos liked to call home. Upon arriving in the Savage Land, the new Avengers encountered X-Man Logan/Wolverine, who had gone to the Savage Land to find Lykos, who had previously been an adversary of the X-Men. The heroes were attacked by a group of mutates working with Lykos and were apprehended and brought to Lykos’ castle. While they were able to escape, Lykos was able to transform into Sauron, but the heroes and the villain and mutates were suddenly attacked by Yelena Belova/Black Widow and a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. A confrontation ensued, and by the end, the Avengers learned S.H.I.E.L.D. engaged in some questionable activities they did not approve of. Tony also decided to invite Wolverine to join the Avengers as their last missing ingredient.

            Tony met with his associates in his superhuman alliance the Illuminati to discuss the new Avengers and the Senty, while Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and Wolverine went to Long Island to apprehend the Wrecker, an escaped villain from the Raft who had gone looking for his mystic weapon that gave him his powers. Iron Man and Captain America were able to track the Sentry to the Nevada Desert, where they brought his wife who was very much alive, and Paul Jenkins, a comic book writer who was the only person who left any records of the Sentry’s entire existence. The Sentry was paranoid of his enemy the Void, who would come because Sentry used his powers, and whom Sentry was sure had killed Sentry’s wife. Sentry escaped from Nevada and went to New York, where he was confronted by the new Avengers, the astonishing X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Inhumans. While the Void attacked, Reed Richards and Emma Frost of the X-Men tried to discover the reason no one remembered the existence of the Sentry.

            Okay, so now that we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, let’s move on to my own personal opinions about this book. Let me say, I’m a huge fan of the works of Brian Michael Bendis, and in this book, I feel like he did a fantastic job. Ending the Avengers the way he did was so tragic. Ending several key members of so iconic a team and having them completely disband was a very bold move, then putting together a new team with heroes who have never truly been team players was a stroke of genius, then adding a character who already has an affiliation with another team was just excellent, and I thought Bendis pulled this all off exceptionally. Coming up with a reason for heroes to work together is always important, and I thought forming a team after a prison break like this was just brilliant. I enjoyed the concept of the Sentry being an established superhero that no one could remember, I thought that was totally inspired. I’ve always been a fan of Spider-Man ever since I was a little boy, so seeing him on an Avengers team back in 2004 when this series first came out was such a thrill for me. And I liked Wolverine being on a team of heroes other than one affiliated with the X-Men or other mutants, it was a welcome change. I enjoyed the humorous moments that were cleverly interspersed throughout this book, they were greatly appreciated. Spider-Man is known for being a wise-mouth, and Bendis did an excellent job writing him. The artwork, however, did not consistently appeal to me. Avengers Finale and New Avengers #7-10 didn’t quite please my eyes. Steve McNiven is an artist I really am not a fan of, I’m sorry to say, so seeing some of his work featured in this book was a bit of a turn off for me. It didn’t totally ruin the book for me, but I had a tough time enjoying the four issues he illustrated. Otherwise, I really can’t find much to complain about in this book.

            Next, we’re going to discuss accessibility. I know I’ve said this about five dozen times by now, but I know that there are still people who have never read one of my reviews before and may not understand what I mean by it, so I have to explain what I mean again, as much of a pain as it is for me to do. So, accessibility means just how easy it is to pick up and read and completely understand this book, particularly if you have no knowledge about Marvel or the Avengers. I’d say accessibility is a little low on this book. The first story, “Chaos” features some relatively unknown or underrated and underused characters, particularly Captain Britain, who is so obscure that I wasn’t even aware of her existence before reading this book. There’s a lot of history involved in this book as well. Also, Luke Cage and Spider-Woman are more obscure characters. And a lot of the villains featured in the Raft scene were lesser-known characters. Yes, this is listed as Vol. 1 and it is an origin story, but there’s so much backstory that may confuse readers who know nothing about Marvel Comics. I honestly can’t tell you what kind of knowledge would be minimally required to understand this book because I’ve been reading Marvel Comics for twenty-four years and know all these characters, but I don’t feel like this is a book for a person who has never read anything Marvel or seen any Marvel films or television shows. If you’re looking to start reading Avengers comics, this may seem like a perfect jump on point, and I would agree except for the fact that this book includes the ending of the original Avengers series, and I feel like that detracts from the accessibility, but hey, that’s just my opinion. All that said, this book also features New Avengers: Most Wanted Files, which is a dossier issue which gives profiles of the villains, so that does help clarify some of the history of the villains, so it’s not completely inaccessible with the obscure characters.

            Speaking of my opinion, I’ve been going on for a while now, and you’re probably getting bored of my driveling on, so let’s get to the point of why we’re here: my numeric score. So, let’s just get right to it then. I score on a very basic scale. I score between one and ten. One means this is a flaming pile of garbage. Ten means this is a mountain of gold. Now, you can probably guess the score of this book is going to be relatively good, considering all the praise I gave two paragraphs ago, and you would be completely right. However, this is a GRAPHIC novel, and I have to include both story and art when I distribute my numeric score in these reviews. So, while yes, I did love the story, there were some art issues that I just can’t look past. All that said, however, I’m still able to give this book a great score. And that great score is going to be… an eight! I loved this book so much, but the artwork forces me to detract some points, and the book wasn’t perfect enough to earn a nine, as much as I wish it were. But still, eight is a really good score.

            Next up, I’m going to tell you if I give this book my personal recommendation, and regardless, to whom I would recommend this book to. First off, it’s pretty obvious that I give this book my personal recommendation, but I must actually state it, or else it’s not official, so yes, indeed I recommend this book personally. As for to whom do I recommend this book to, if you’re an Avengers comics fan and have never read this book, I’m telling you, you need to read this book, it is essential. If you’re a fan of the Avengers from any other form of Marvel media and are looking to get into comics, I would recommend this book with a slight warning that you might not know every character in this book, but I still think you would enjoy it. If you’re reading this review and are interested in reading this book but don’t know anything about Marvel comics, I can’t quite recommend this, but I’m not going to tell you not to read it because I thought it was a really good book and don’t want to ruin some potential enjoyment time. Plus, the dossier issue is really informative and highly enjoyable, and I think it clarifies the history, so I can’t tell you not to read that.

            Okay, I think we’ve gotten to that point where I’ve said all that needs to be said about this book at this point, so I’m just going to start wrapping things up right now. First off, if you’re still here and reading at this point, thank you, you are THE BEST! I totally enjoy doing these reviews and will keep on doing these. I’ve literally written about five dozen reviews at this point, and there’s no end in sight. I have another review that should be coming up within the next four weeks, so keep an eye out for it. I’ve also written short stories, free verse poetry, articles, essays, and editorials. I’ve written some pieces called B’ings which are a total waste of time but are actually pretty funny if you want to check those out. I’ve written a review for the prose novel “New Avengers: Breakout” a long time ago with actually was an adaptation of one storyline contained in this book if you want to check that out for comparisons. Well, I’ll leave you to be doing whatever else you’d rather be doing with your life now, all I have left to say now is Tim Cubbin… out!

"Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format. It is NOT a review of any of the films, television series, or video games.

            It is a period of insurgence. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base on s moon of Yavin, have won a shocking surprise victory against the rightful reign of the Galactic Empire. The Empire’s ultimate peacekeeping force, the Death Star, was destroyed due to an unforeseen design flaw. Without this deterrent, the rule of law is in danger. Chaos looms. For the nineteen years after the vanquishing of the Jedi and his painful rebirth of volcanic Mustafar, Sith Lord Darth Vader has faithfully served his master. But now, he has failed the Emperor and must pay the price.

            Darth Vader, on a mission from Emperor Palpatine, traveled to the planet Tatooine to make a deal with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. In the process, Vader hired Jabba’s best bounty hunters Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan. Fett was to the pilot who was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star and Krrsantan was to find the agent engaged in secret work for the Emperor. Grand General Tagge assigned Vader an adjutant, Lieutenant Oon-Ai, and sent him on a mission to learn the source of pirates who had been raiding the Empire. Vader was able to learn that the leak actually was Oon-Ai. Darth Vader turned to rogue archeologist Doctor Aphra in search of private resources and troops on unquestioning loyalty. Aphra had just stolen the Triple-Zero personality matrix and used it to create 0-0-0-, a protocol droid specialized in torture, and to animate a Blastomech BT-1assassin droid. Aphra had heard from the Droid Gotra of a Droid Factory on the planet Geonosis, a planet that had been sterilized. Vader and Aphra traveled to Geonosis, where they found a surviving Queen and who thought of the droid producer as a womb and the droids as her children. Vader and Aphra were able to defeat the Queen and obtain the producer. Krrsantan found the Emperor’s agent Doctor Cylo-IV, and 0-0-0 was able to torture the information that the Emperor was planning to replace Vader before Cylo-IV expired. Vader found Cylo-IV’s base and discovered Cylo-V and his creations. Vader battled the cyborgs to the Emperor’s pleasure. After the fight, Fett returned to Vader with the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star: Skywalker, Vader’s own son, whom he believed had not survived childbirth.

            Vader and Aphra returned to Tatooine to search the house of Luke Skywalker but found nothing. They then went to Son-tuul to steal the Son-tuul fortune for the Empire. Aphra then hired a crew to steal the fortune while it was in transit to its new home in order to secure some money for Vader’s needs. Vader was assigned a new adjutant, Inspector Thanoth, and was tasked with taking down the Plasma Devils, a criminal organization that was considered an opposition to the Empire. Aphra went to an informant called the Ante and learned the location of Commodex Tahn, the mortician that dressed Padme Amidala, wife of Anakin Skywalker, the man Darth Vader used to be. 0-0-0 tortured Tahn into revealing that Padme had in fact given birth to a son before she died and that this son had in fact survived childbirth. Vader and his Stormtrooper army were tasked with finding the person responsible for stealing the Son-tuul fortune, and the trail led right to Aphra. Aphra had made a deal with the Ante in order to ensure her survival: she learned the location of Luke Skywalker before the Ante was slain. Sure enough, Vader allowed Aphra to escape. Vader later tracked Aphra down and extracted the location of Luke Skywalker to Vrogas Vas, but as it turned out, one of Vader’s competitors was listening in on this conversation.

            Vader traveled to the planet Shu-torun to bring an item from the Empire to its King. However, the King was planning to have Vader assassinated during this meeting. Vader was trapped in the bowels of Shu-torun with the King’s daughter Trios and forced to fight for his survival.

            Okay, so now that we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, let’s talk about my own personal opinions about this book. First off, I will say that I found this to be a highly entertaining book. In my opinion, Darth Vader is one of the greatest cinematic villains of all time, and him getting his own ongoing comic series was just fantastic, especially since I feel it was written so well. I thought Kieron Gillen did an exceptional job scripting these stories. I’ve read some of the “Star Wars” comics from recent years, and Doctor Aphra has actually been my favorite “Star Wars” comics created character, and I would love to see her appear in an upcoming television series or movie, so seeing her first appearance was an enjoyable experience for me. I loved the dynamic between her and Vader. That was actually my favorite thing about this book. The whole “I’ll let her live as long as she’s useful to me” deal was just brilliant. And I love her murder droids. As far as the art goes, I thought it was excellent. Salvador Larroca did an exemplary job illustrating this graphic novel. I’m usually a fan of his work, and in this book, he did not fail to impress me. I have to say, all around, I was greatly satisfied with this book and thought it was an entertaining read.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve literally typed this at least thirty times, but I know for some of you newbs I have to do it again, so I have to explain what I mean when I say “accessibility.” What that means is how easy this is to just pick up, read, completely understand, and enjoy, even if you know nothing about Star Wars or Darth Vader. So, I will say that this book does require knowledge of “Star Wars” to actually understand. Mostly you’d need to have seen “Episode IV: A New Hope,” but seeing “Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” “Episode II: Attack of the Clones,” and “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” would really help, too, but I feel like you could get away with having only seen “Episode IV: A New Hope,” but that is a prerequisite to actually get anything out of this book, or you will have no idea who these characters are or what’s going on in the story, it’s just essential. “Episodes I-III” are referenced in it, talking about Darth Vader’s history, particularly Padme, but I don’t feel like you absolutely have to have seen them in order to understand this book. However, “Episode IV” is a must see.

            Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty: my numeric score. Now, I score on a pretty simple scale: one to ten. One is the worst, ten is the best. If I give this book a one, it means that every copy of this book should be taken off the shelves, burned, and never reprinted. If I give it a ten, the only reason it shouldn’t be on the shelves is because every copy was sold out by the influx of readers who want to read this exemplary graphic novel. Now, I’m going to explain what a ten means. A ten means perfection. That means this book was written perfectly and the artwork was consistently pleasing to the visual palate. Now the question is, was this book a ten? So, I have to say… it just is not. Yes, the artwork was perfect. It’s exceedingly rare for me to say that a Modern Era Epic Collection had consistently pleasing art. I often find fault in one or more of the artists. Larroca and Yu did not disappoint me with their work. And Gillen did an excellent job with the stories. And yet it just wasn’t perfect, I’m sorry to say. Yes, the stories were all above par, but they just weren’t at the top shelf. I just can’t quite give this book a ten. I can, however, give it a solid nine gladly. This book was excellent, no doubt, but there’s just something holding me back from giving it a ten. I don’t quite know exactly what it is, but I just can’t, in good faith, just hand this book a ten if I don’t feel it deserves it. It does deserve the nine I gave it for sure, and that’s still really good. And to be honest, I’m really not often in the business of handing out tens. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve given out a ten on this blog before, without using a thumb, and this book just doesn’t belong on that hand, sadly to say.

            Next, we’re going to talk about if I give this book the Tim Cubbin personal recommendation and regardless of that, to whom do I recommend this book to? You would probably think that the answer to the first question is “yes,” and if that is your guess, you would be absolutely correct. I do give this book my personal recommendation. As to whom do I recommend this book to, that answer is to any “Star Wars” fan. If you like, enjoy, or love “Star Wars” in any capacity, this book is for you. I just say go get your hands on a copy of this book as soon as you can and read it, I think you will enjoy it.

            So now, we have reached the parting of ways. I can tell you that there are over one hundred posts on this blog, so if you liked this post, please do consider reading more from timcubbin.blogspot.com. You can look for my review of “Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes” if you want another “Star Wars” Modern Era Epic Collection review, and I’ve reviewed over ten other Modern Era Epic Collections at this point, so there are plenty more to read if you liked this. I post on a very frequent basis, so keep checking back frequently for more content. I should have another post coming up sometime in the next two weeks, so keep an eye out for that one. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s all kinds of posts you can read, you’ll probably find something else you’ll enjoy. If you like my book reviews, there are dozens of them on this blog, and there’s a new one coming up soon. I think we’ve come to the point where I have nothing more to say, so I’ll let you get back to your life and do something that’s actually important. I’ve wasted a few minutes of your life, this has been four hours of mine, but I honestly don’t mind doing it for you folks. Feel free to drop a comment, like, share, retweet, whatever you want to do on this site. If you read all the way up to this point, you are THE BEST! And now, all I can say to you is, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Spider-Girl: Keeping the Faith"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Spider-Girl: Keeping the Faith” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            May “Mayday” Parker/Spider-Girl is the daughter of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson-Parker. She has the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider, adhesive fingertips and toes, and a unique precognitive awareness of danger called “Spider-Sense.” She fights crime in the legacy of her father.

            May got a tip from ex-boyfriend and fellow superhero Jack “JJ” Jameson/Buzz that the supervillain Doctor Jade might be back in the game. Jack was living with his grandfather J. Jonah Jameson in the absence of his parents, who were in Europe due to Jack’s mother’s lecture tour. Jonah informed Jack that Jack’s parents would be coming for a visit, but Jack was not happy about this prospect because he figured his parents would jet off again right away. May had just quit her high school basketball team due to the expulsion of Nancy Lu, a student and teammate who was outed as a mutant and May thought this treatment was unfair. This put her at odds with her former crush Brad Miller, who turned out to be anti-mutant and her best friend Davida Kirby, who outed this student as a mutant. May was worried about Jack’s erratic behavior and placed her father’s “Spider-Tracer” on Jack so she could keep track of his location and see what he was up to and to get a lead on Doctor Jade. Another of May’s former crushes Normie Osborn was recovering in the hospital, watched over by his girlfriend Brenda Drago/Raptor, another superhero. Buzz tried to bust one of Doctor Jade’s operations and was almost captured in the process, but Spider-Girl was able to swing to his rescue, a fact that only made Buzz angry at Spider-Girl.

            May needed to recover the Spider-Tracer from Jack and invited herself over to his house to study, which was also an effort to evade Brad. John and Ashley Jameson were there arguing with Jonah. John and Ashley wanted Jack to come back to Europe with them, which Jonah was not happy about, but the choice was left to Jack. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane had their hands full with their new baby Benjamin “Benjy.” John Jameson was abducted while getting his gear from the airport, which led to Ashley Jameson confessing to Jack that John and Ashley weren’t really on a lecture tour, they were treating patients who had been mutated by a rogue genetic engineer. Jack swore to prevent his parents’ work from being exploited. Meanwhile, May turned to her ally Darkdevil to look for John Jameson. Spider-Girl was signaled by a man calling himself Chesbro who served as an envoy for the crime boss the Black Tarantula, who agreed to give Spider-Girl John’s location in exchange for a favor, an offer Spider-Girl accepted. Spider-Girl found Doctor Jade and her ally Carolyn Trainer, the new Doctor Octopus, already in conflict with Buzz. The evil Doctors were able to mutate John into the Man-Wolf. Spider-Girl fought with Doctor Jade, Doctor Octopus and Man-Wolf to try to help Buzz save his father. Following this fight, the Black Tarantula contacted Spider-Girl.

            Spider-Girl teamed up with Avenger J2 to fight invisible monsters. Jack discovered the Spider-Tracer and he and his handler Richie decided to use it to try to learn Spider-Girl’s secret identity. They followed it to the Midtown South Police Station and falsely assumed Spider-Girl was a cop. May learned of the Spider Shoppe, a store devoted to Spider-Girl memorabilia. Spider-Girl and J2 turned to Doc Magus, Sorcerer Supreme, to combat the invisible monsters, believing them to be magic based.

            Mary Jane hand washed May’s Spider-Girl costume while May was at school. May was contacted by Chesbro, who informed May that Lady Octopus was attempting to recruit allies, including Handsome Richie Valentine, a member of the Canis crime family. Canis was in jail for taking down Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. Chesbro also informed May that Normie was in trouble. May was in a rush to be Spider-Girl and put her costume in the dryer. She swung to the hospital to check on Normie, who seemed to be okay, while Brenda informed Spider-Girl that Brenda was preparing to talk about engagement with Normie. Spider-Girl then went to Valentine Motors, where she battled Lady Octopus again. During this battle, Spider-Girl’s costume began to rip. When Brenda spoke of marriage with Normie, Normie instead decided to end their relationship. Following this fight, Spider-Girl was again contacted by Chesbro.

            Fellow student Christopher Jarkoer was majorly crushing on May. He was trying to ask her out when May thought she saw a sign of Lady Octopus. She swung in as Spider-Girl, only to discover it was a cat burglar calling himself Claw. As they fought, Claw hit on Spider-Girl. Agent Weadon, who oversaw a team led by former mercenary Kaine and including Raptor, was contacted by authorities who believed Spider-Girl was fighting Lady Octopus, and the team went in to bust up the fight. Chesbro informed Spider-Girl to look in on Normie and discovered that the reason Normie wouldn’t marry Brenda was because he was already “married” to Élan DeJunae.

            May went to watch a high school basketball game. While this game was on, Canis was being transferred from Riker’s Island to the courthouse. Lady Octopus busted up this transfer and freed Canis. Spider-Girl was contacted by Chesbro, who informed her of Canis’ escape. Spider-Girl swung in and fought Lady Octopus and Canis but was unable to prevent this escape and had to be rescued by Darkdevil.

            Spider-Girl received support from Black Tarantula, including training from Elektra Natchios and a strike force headed by two women called April and June. Kodiak, an agent of Canis, went after Handsome Richie Valentine for ignoring promises to Canis. Spider-Girl swung to his rescue in her new black costume, which she bought to replace her tattered red and blue.

            May’s new costume scared Mary Jane, who was reminded of Venom, a supervillain who had a similar appearance. Canis and Lady Octopus planned a crime summit so Canis could stake his claim as the new undisputed Kingpin of Crime. Kaine and Darkdevil instructed May to contact them if she saw Élan, who was the daughter of a major European crime boss. May busted up another of Canis’ agents trying to establish Canis as the Kingpin of Crime, and June was injured in the fight. Black Tarantula provided May with a whole closetful of Spider-Girl costumes, both red and blue, and black.

            Black Tarantula prepared for the inevitability that Spider-Girl would turn against him after Lady Octopus and Canis were apprehended. Kaine contacted Spider-Girl to inform her Kaine had orders to bring in Black Tarantula dead or alive. Canis attempted to start his crime summit, only to realize that he had been double-crossed by Lady Octopus and that the actual crime summit to establish the Kingpin of Crime was being held in a different location by Black Tarantula. Spider-Girl called in assistance to apprehend Canis, then went after Lady Octopus and Black Tarantula. Kaine’s team was called in as well and instructed to treat Spider-Girl as hostile. Meanwhile, Élan revealed to Normie that she was a member of the Order of the Goblin, a cult dedicated to Normie’s grandfather Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. Spider-Girl returned to her red and blue and attempted to call Normie, but Élan had Normie tied up.

            Élan planned to use the Goblin Serum on Normie to turn him into a true Goblin. May considered a romantic relationship with Chris. While with Raptor, Spider-Girl received a phone call from Élan, who told her she had Normie. Spider-Girl and Raptor rushed to Normie’s aid to fight the Goblin Queen. During the fight, Spider-Girl was injured.

            Kevin Hartman was a student at Midtown High School who was bullied. He turned to Carlton T. Hackmutter/Dragon King, former custodial engineer, now mutated supervillain, in an attempt to get revenge on his bullies. Courtney Duran, May’s best friend, encouraged May to repair her friendship with Davida. Davida and May stumbled upon Dragon King, but May was forced to resolve the conflict without changing to Spider-Girl in order to protect her secret identity. Courtney’s boyfriend Moose Manfield had been acting odd for a while, and he finally opened up to May about exactly what was going on in his life that was bothering him so much.

            Spider-Girl fought supervillain Allison Dillon/Aftershock, the daughter of one of Spider-Man’s villains, Max Dillon/Electro. Normie and Brenda actually got engaged. Electro turned himself into the Avengers and asked to speak to Spider-Man. He was unable to touch his daughter due to different frequencies in their electrical auras that caused physical pain upon contact. He didn’t want his daughter going down the same path he went down and ending up in jail like he did. Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, the Avengers and Electro confronted Aftershock to try to convince her to end her criminal ways.

            May invited Chris to Normie and Brenda’s engagement party. The Goblin Queen crashed the party and threw the Venom symbiote at Normie, turning Normie into Venom. The Fantastic Five tried to fight Venom but were impeded by the Goblin Queen. Reilly Tyne/Darkdevil and Spider-Girl swung in to fight, but Darkdevil was severely wounded by Venom, and the villains were able to escape. Spider-Girl brought Darkdevil to the Avengers, who called in Doc Magus and Doctor Strange to try to save him. May’s “Uncle” Phil Urich/Green Goblin flew in to fight Venom and the Goblin Queen, and May donned her black costume again.

            Okay, so we’ve had a very thorough synopsis of the book where I tried to leave out as many spoilers as I could. So, since I’ve rattled on for so long, I’m going to try to make my parts a little briefer, so I don’t totally waste your valuable time, and also, I have been working on composing this post for over two hours now and am getting ready to move on. So, the first thing you’re wondering is did I enjoy this book. I can absolutely confirm that I did, in fact, enjoy this book. However, I will say this is not exactly what I expected. First let’s talk about what I enjoyed. I found the stories to be of excellent quality and highly entertaining. I felt like the high school drama, the family life, and the superhero struggles were all in good balance and made for an enjoyable read. I found myself invested in and caring about the characters and what happened to them and what they were going through. I liked how they utilized new characters inspired by older characters from previous comics. I will say that I must complain about the artwork slightly. There’s something about the shape of the characters’ heads that bothers me in almost every issue in this graphic novel. I want to like the artwork, and I mostly do, but the heads are just a little wonky and off-putting in my opinion. Now, when I say this is not what I was expecting, I say this because of the cover. On the cover, May is wearing her black costume. This intrigued me before I purchased this book, leading me to believe May was going to get the Venom symbiote. Her not getting the symbiote in this book was a disappointment, but I was still able to enjoy the book for what it was.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. Now when I say this, I mean how easy it is to get into this book, especially if you know little or nothing about Spider-Girl or Marvel Comics. I will tell you that the accessibility rating of this book in my opinion is low. It does draw on a lot of history from Spider-Girl and her universe. What doesn’t help is that this is Vol. 5 and the only other Spider-Girl Modern Era Epic Collection available at the moment is Vol. 1, so at this exact point in time of my composing this post, there is a lot of Spider-Girl history unpublished in Modern Era Epic Collection format. I will tell you there is a lot that left even me, a twenty-three year Marvel veteran, lost because I’ve never actually read Spider-Girl before and these Modern Era Epic Collections are my first times experiencing her stories. So, if I was lost, there’s a chance you might be lost if you don’t know anything about Marvel Comics. In other words, if you’re looking to get into Marvel Comics, this is not the right place to start.

            Now, we’re getting to the most important part of the review: my numeric score. I work on a very simple scale. I rank my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One means this is trash and should be burned, ten means this is outstanding. Now, this book was really good, but like I said, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, and I feel like it detracted from my enjoyment of this book slightly, and the artwork did have a mild displeasing look here and there. So, I do have to give it a high score, but I do have to take a little away. So, since I absolutely must do this, I’m going to score this book at… eight. For what it was, it was really good, but the artwork just had to take off a point, and the story just wasn’t total perfection, so I do have to deduct another point there, but otherwise, I really found it to be an enjoyable read.

            Next, we’re going to talk about if I actually give my own personal recommendation of this book to you, my readers, and regardless of if I actually personally recommend it, to whom do I recommend this book. So as far as giving it my personal recommendation, I give it a resounding yes, this book is highly recommended by One Tim Cubbin. However, it does come with a caveat. As I said, this book does have accessibility problems, and I can’t recommend it to just everyone who reads this review. However, if you are a fan of Mayday Parker from any point in Marvel Comics history, this book comes highly recommended by me, I’m telling you that you should read this, I think you will find it extremely enjoyable. And if you do want to read this book with no Marvel knowledge at all, I mean, hey, that’s your choice, that is all up to you, I can’t stop you, I just don’t recommend you do that. But if you do read this book, please feel free to leave some kind of comment, I’d love to hear your opinion, too. I’ve never actually gotten a response from a reader before and I would love for you to be the first, that would actually be really cool.

            Okay, so I feel like it’s time to say goodbye for now. I’ve rambled on for quite some time, and if you’re still here, you are honestly THE BEST! I will tell you that I post on a very frequent basis, you can expect another post sometime within the next four weeks, probably sooner than that. I have written over one hundred posts, including dozens of book reviews just like this one, and you can expect plenty more to keep coming. I literally buy every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection that comes out as soon as I’m able to get it, so there’s going to be plenty of content keeping on coming to this blog. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s plenty more to read. I’ve written a bunch of things called B’ings if you want to totally waste some time. Just keep looking at timcubbin.blogspot.com and keep coming back for more, I’ll be here. And so, I say to you until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!