"Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve” as presented in Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection format.

            Osborn Industries was founded by businessman and scientist Norman Osborn. His most recent breakthrough was an enhancement formula he called Oz. He was testing it on several animals, including a spider. The spider managed to escape captivity due to careless handling. Peter Parker was a nerdy high schooler living in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. He was often picked on by bullies such as Flash Thompson and Kong. He was orphaned and lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. He had a crush on his high school friend Mary Jane Watson, and the feeling was mutual, but neither said nor did anything to act on it. Peter’s best friend at Midtown High School was Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn. Harry was popular and an athlete but was unable to prevent his teammates from bullying Peter. Harry was ignored by his father and often looked down upon by Norman. One day, Peter’s high school class went on a field trip to Osborn Industries for a tour. During that tour, Peter was bitten by the escaped Oz 00 arachnid and passed out. Norman and Osborn Industries covered Peter’s hospital bill hoping to prevent a lawsuit and Norman decided he wanted to keep an eye on Peter. The next day at school, Peter was about to be kicked from behind by Kong, but before Kong could connect, Peter sensed it, caught Kong’s foot, and flipped him. Peter then passed out and was taken to the hospital. Norman had one of his employees swipe Peter’s blood work with normal blood so he could see the effect Oz was having on Peter and saw that the drug was killing Peter. Norman than had that employee attempt to kill Peter by running him down with his car, but Peter was able to sense the car and jump over it before the car hit him. Norman then had the kill hit on Peter aborted in the hopes of studying him further. Peter did research in his basement lab and saw that his blood did not appear normal and also found on the internet that some spiders can detect movement before it happens. He got in a fight with Aunt May and Uncle Ben for skipping school and studying in his lab all day. That night, Peter discovered he could stick to walls like a spider. While in school, Peter accidentally broke his desk and discovered that he had suddenly grown muscles. While in gym class, Peter saw Flash harassing Mary Jane and threw a basketball at him. Flash challenged him to a fight after school. Peter attempted to block a punch from Flash and accidentally broke Flash’s hand. Norman learned of Peter’s prowess and asked Harry to invite Peter to his lab for a personal tour. Flash’s family sued Uncle Ben and Aunt May for Flash’s hospital bill. Peter ran off that night to test his powers and discovered he was strong enough to lift a car. While at Osborn Industries, one of the scientists, Doctor Otto Octavius, took a sample of Peter’s blood against Peter’s will. Norman observed that the Oz had stabilized and was giving Peter the enhanced abilities of a spider. Norman decided he wanted to mix the Oz formula with a sample of his blood and infuse it into himself to give Norman enhanced abilities. Peter and his schoolmates went to a wrestling event where challengers were invited to wrestle with Crusher Hogan. If they won, they would receive $500. Peter dressed up in sweats and a mask and took Crusher down. He won the money and was asked to return to the wrestling ring under the name Spider-Man. He then gave the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May in an envelope signed from teachers from his school saying they were donating the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May to cover Flash’s hospital bill. Peter developed athletic skills and was invited by his high school’s basketball coach to replace Flash on the team, and Peter accepted, leading the team to victory. Peter refused to share his identity with the wrestling coordinator and was given a new full body costume to mask his identity and look professional, causing him to neglect Mary Jane in the process. He continued to give the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May under the teachers cover story. Norman Osborn performed the procedure of injecting to Oz into himself, and during the process, his laboratory blew up, killing and injuring several of the scientists. Among those injured in the lab were Otto Octavius and Harry. Peter continued his wrestling career as Spider-Man until he was accused of stealing the petty cash and was forced to quit the gig. While on his way home that night, he ran into a burglar who was robbing a store but allowed the burglar to escape with the money he stole, figuring this wasn’t his problem. He came home to Uncle Ben and Aunt May upset with a progress report they received from his school, showing his grades were in decline. Peter fled from home and ran to the first person he could think of hiding with: his teammate Kong. Kong agreed because his parents were out of town. While Kong was throwing a party, Uncle Ben was able to discover Peter’s hiding place and came to collect him. Peter ran from Uncle Ben. A monster burned down the Osborn Mansion, killing Harry’s mother in the process. Peter returned home to find a burglar had broken into his home and shot and killed Uncle Ben. Peter ran off as Spider-Man to find the man responsible for murdering his uncle. He found the man hiding in a warehouse surrounded by cops. Peter defeated him and discovered that Uncle Ben’s killer was the same burglar he allowed to run past him the night his wrestling career ended. He gave the burglar to the cops and learned that with great power then must come great responsibility and vowed to use his powers as Spider-Man to help others in need and never let his Uncle Ben down again.

            J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the metropolitan newspaper the Daily Bugle, wanted more coverage on Spider-Man. Peter managed to perfect a project his scientist father had been working on before he died, a molecular adhesive. Spider-Man now had webs. Peter quit the basketball team, a decision Mary Jane supported, saying basketball wasn’t him. Harry returned to school. Peter felt an odd sensation right before several explosions rocked his high school. While the school was evacuated, Harry was afraid that someone was coming for him, and Peter ran off to sneak out of his high school to switch into his Spider-Man costume, fearing if Spider-Man was seen in school, other students would figure out that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. The attacker of the school was the same monster who burned down the Osborn Mansion. Spider-Man fought the monster in the school, and the fight went off the school grounds, where the monster uttered the name “Parker.” The monster threw Spider-Man, who then used his newly invented web shooters to save his life. Spider-Man returned and fought the monster on top of a bridge, until the police arrived and started shooting at both the monster and Spider-Man. After the fight, and Peter returned to school and pretended to have been trapped under a chalkboard during the entire fight. Harry revealed the identity of the monster and was taken away by the police, who believed him to be insane.

            Spider-Man stopped a burglar called the Shocker. Peter learned the Daily Bugle was paying for pictures of Spider-Man and tried to cash in by posing for selfies as Spider-Man. Peter brought the pictures in, but did not get the money he wanted. He did, however, get a job at the Daily Bugle working on their website after he prevented their website from crashing. Peter learned that his Uncle Ben’s murderer used to run with a group of gangsters called the Enforcers who worked for Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin. While known as a crime boss, no one was ever able to bring down the Kingpin. Spider-Man took on the Enforcers, where he learned from their underboss Mr. Big that Fisk was throwing a gala at Fisk Tower that Friday night and goaded Spider-Man into crashing the party. Spider-Man was branded in the Daily Bugle as a mob menace, despite the presence of the Enforcers. Mary Jane asked Peter out on a date to see a movie, and Peter agreed for that Saturday. Spider-Man broke into Fisk’s office at Fisk Tower that Friday night and observed a camera in his office. He was able to associate the tingling he felt to be a warning sign of impending danger right before the Kingpin confronted him. Spider-Man fought Kingpin’s electric-powered bodyguard called Electro and lost spectacularly and was knocked out. Kingpin unmasked Spider-Man, then threw him out of the window. Spider-Man came to in time to save his life. Peter returned home to Aunt May, who questioned if Peter even liked her due to his constant absence from the house. Peter cancelled his date with Mary Jane, which made her very angry. Kingpin learned Mr. Big had informed Spider-Man of Kingpin’s gala and put Spider-Man’s mask on Mr. Big before destroying the underboss. Because of the Spider-Man mask, Spider-Man was considered a suspect in Mr. Big’s death. Peter had to think of a way to return to Fisk Tower, take down the Kingpin, defeat the Enforcers and Electro, and make things right with Mary Jane.

            Okay, so we now have the synopsis out of the way, let’s get on to my own personal contribution to this review. Let me just start by saying this is my first Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection review, I’ve done Epic Collections and Modern Era Epic Collections, this is a brand-new line and the first of its kind. I don’t know how many more there will be or how often Marvel will be doing them, but this is where we start. Next, I will say that this book really takes me back. The original Ultimate Marvel Universe was a whole new universe that set Peter Parker back to fifteen years old and becoming Spider-Man for the first time, with a whole new history. This was around the time I was first getting into Marvel Comics, so this was one of my introductory Spider-Man series, since it threw away thirty-seven years of history and made everything fresh and new from the beginning again. And Brian Michael Bendis’ original run on “Ultimate Spider-Man” has actually been one of my all-time favorite comic book series. From the beginning, I have been a huge fan of his work. I thought his reimagining of Spider-Man for the 21^st century was absolutely brilliant. I was a bullied teenager myself at the time, so I found myself easily relating to Peter Parker. All these years later, having bloomed into a huge Marvel fan, I’ve always loved how Bendis retold Spider-Man’s origin story, but still stayed true to the work of the GOAT Stan Lee. I loved how he did a full build-up of Peter’s origin. When Stan wrote it, he did it all in one issue. Bendis stretched it out over the span of five issues. What I respect the most is the fact that the readers really get to know Uncle Ben better and relate to him more since he isn’t killed until issue #4, making his death all the more tragic. But the readers get to see Peter testing the limits of his powers and not just intuitively figuring them out like in Stan’s work. He didn’t discover his super strength until issue #2. He didn’t have his webbing right away, it was his father’s invention that he had to figure out how to make in issue #6, and he didn’t instinctively know how to use it at first either, he had to learn it under the stressful condition of fighting a monster in issue #7. He also didn’t fully figure out his “Spider-Sense” until issue #10. I also liked that Spider-Man didn’t win his first fight with Electro. Yes it’s sad to see our hero beaten, but Peter was cocky and unprepared and Electro was above his power level, so realistically losing this battle made a lot of sense and made me really enjoy the rematch, wondering how he was going to win this time when he was beaten once before. I think I enjoyed his showdown with the Kingpin a lot more when I was younger due to the content of Spider-Man’s quips, but even now it is still enjoyable. Issue #13, which I’m not going to discuss to avoid spoilers, is actually one of my all-time favorite single issues of a comic book ever printed, I think it’s hysterical. Aunt May and Mary Jane are great in it is all I’m going to say. But I think one of my absolute favorite parts of the start of “Ultimate Spider-Man” was Mark Bagley’s artwork. I have loved his artwork ever since I first saw it. He is my all-time favorite comic book artist. I just think he’s amazing. His art looks comic booky while still being stylish art. His tiny details are just fantastic. He does facial features like eyes spectacularly. He had always wowed me. I thought his character designs were stellar, they all looked great, I just loved the way he made every character in the series look, especially his villains. The man knows how to draw villains. I have literally read these issues over the course of the past twenty-four years since its original publication at least a hundred times, and that is not an exaggeration, and every time I read it, I still love it just as much. This book, in my opinion, is what a reimagined Spider-Man comic book should be and is my favorite retelling of Spider-Man that has been produced thus far. All-in-all, this book is simply absolutely amazing.

            Next up on our agenda of a Tim Cubbin review, if you don’t know, is accessibility. Now, I know some of you have been here before and know what I mean, but I know there are plenty of newbs here too that have to be informed as to what the word means when I use it, so I simply must do it again, despite having done so about thirty times at this point. Anyway, accessibility, simply put, just means how easy it would be for someone who has somehow miraculously never heard of Spider-Man before to see this book in a bookstore, be intrigued by it and decide to buy it, and be able to fully understand every detail of what they just read. So, I will tell you that this happens to be one of the most accessible books I have ever reviewed on this blog in my entire five years of doing this. As I said before, this is a new universe where everything is given a fresh start, so all of Marvel’s extensive history has been ignored and none of what Marvel has ever published before has happened. This was literally the way the Ultimate Universe started, so this is a perfect starting point for new readers. I feel like if you wanted to start reading Marvel Comics for any reason, whether just being intrigued by the name “Ultimate Spider-Man” or being a fan of Spider-Man from any other media and wanting to branch off into reading comics, this book is the perfect starting point for you. I honestly don’t think I could think of a better place you can start reading comics at, actually.

            Okay, I have been going on for quite a while at this point, so now we’re just going to move on to the single most important part of a Tim Cubbin review. My previous readers already know what I’m going to say, but I’ll say it again anyway for all you newbs here. The single most important part of a Tim Cubbin review is the score. I give everything that I read and review a numeric score. My system is rather simple. The score is done on a scale of exact numbers ranging from one through ten. If I give the book a score of a one, that means that it was so horrible that every copy should be pulled off the shelf and incinerated rather than have people spend their money on such an awful piece of trash. Ten, on the other hand, means that this book was literally sheer perfection and that it should have to be reprinted very frequently because every copy should have been purchased off the shelf and have found a home in a reader’s collection. Now, my previous readers know that I’m not in the business of handing out tens to books unless they are absolutely perfect, and that is something that I very, very rarely feel a book deserves to be called. And yet, surprisingly, ones aren’t all that common either, I usually find something to like in a Marvel Comic Book. But now we have this book that I’ve literally read over one hundred times and love, with an amazing story and exceptional art. And we have a big question here: does this book deserve to be scored at a ten by Tim Cubbin? Usually, I make a whole big dramatic thing that I drag out and leave you in suspense with before I give my score, and this time it is not going to be any different. So, we’re going to take everything about this book, the story, and the art, and throw it into my figurative blender. Next, we’re going to turn it on and blend it up really good. Then we’re going to pour our mixture out into a cup to see our score and… oh, look! It’s a ten! Yes, I feel that this book actually deserves to receive a ten. I do think that Bendis and Bagley achieved perfection with this book. It’s extremely rare for me to say this, but in this case, I do feel it is perfect. In my opinion, it’s exactly what a Spider-Man comic reimagined for the 21^st century should be.

            Next on the docket is if this book gets the personal Tim Cubbin recommendation and then regardless of this or not who I think would enjoy this book the most. I think it obviously goes without saying that this book gets my personal recommendation, so I really don’t need to go into all that, but yes, I would definitely give this book the old Tim Cubbin recommendation. As far as to whom I’d recommend this book to, I would literally say everyone, but I think I need to be a little more specific than that, so I’ll just be a little more elaborative on the subject. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man in any capacity, be it from the movies or cartoons or video games, whatever you know him from, but are not a comic book reader, I recommend this book to you. If you are a reader of Marvel Comics from the original Ultimate Universe but have not actually read the first “Ultimate Spider-Man” issues #1-13, I totally say you should read this book. If you are a fan of Marvel Comics from any other reality but have never read this, I give you this recommendation. Finally, if you’re reading this review and just want to read this book now based solely on my words, I think you should get your hands on a copy of this book as soon as you possibly can. After all, I didn’t tell you how everything ended, so you might want to read it yourself to find out how Spider-Man pulls through all the difficulties he faces against the monster, Kingpin, the Enforcers, and Electro since I didn’t give spoilers. Otherwise, how else will you know the ending?

            Anyway, we’re getting to the point where I’m going to start wrapping things up. There are a few things that I’d like to say first before I log off, though. First off, if you read this book, I’d love to hear from you your own opinion on this book. After all, everything on this blog is just my personal opinion. As human beings, we’re all entitled to our own opinions on everything, and I’d love to know if you’ve read it how you felt about this book. Do you agree that this was fantastic, or do you feel like I’m completely mental for liking this book? I want to know. Leave a comment or a tweet or something to let me know. And at the point of my drafting this post, no one has ever done this yet. Next, I will say that this blog has over 150 posts at the point of my drafting this particular post, so there is plenty more content for you to read. While what I mostly do are book reviews, I have also written some short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s plenty more Tim Cubbin content to read and like. I also post very frequently, so keep checking timcubbin.blogspot.com regularly, there’s always plenty more posts coming. I collect every Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection and buy them as soon as I possibly can, then, if possible, I write a review for this blog, so there’s always plenty of reviews you can look forward to every month. You can probably expect my next post to come in about a month from the publication of this post. Okay, now I feel like I’ve said all that really needs to be said at this point. I’ll leave you to go on doing whatever you feel like doing on Facebook or X of Instagram, whatever site you found this post on, unless you feel like exploring more of this blog, and if you decide to do that, you are literally THE BEST! I work very hard on this blog, and I don’t even get paid. I just do it because I have a degree in English with a concentration in journalism and feel like I should use the skills I developed in class in something, so I do it in this blog. I need to move on with my life, too, I have things to do as well. I shall be back soon, and I hope that when I am, you will join me. Feel free to share this site with all your friends, I always love having new readers. It really fulfills this hobby. And so, I say adieu, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Following the revelation that businessman Norman Osborn was the monstrosity dubbed “the Green Goblin” created by one of his own experiments, Osborn Industries was shut down. One of their projects was the Oz formula that had been injected into a spider that was responsible for turning teenager Peter Parker into the superhero Spider-Man. There was also another spider that had been injected with the Oz formula that was not secured before the closure of the Long Island laboratory facility of Osborn Industries. When the serial burglar called the Prowler broke into the shuttered Long Island facility of Osborn Industries to steal an item and money, the Oz spider also snuck into his bag. Young Miles Morales won a lottery admission into the Brooklyn Visions Academy. In his excitement, he went to tell his uncle Aaron Davis the good news. Aaron and Miles’ father Jefferson were estranged due to a past criminal history that caused a riff in the family where Jeff had gone straight but Aaron did not truly give up his criminal ways, a fact Jeff could not forgive. While at Aaron’s apartment, Mile’s was bitten by the stolen Oz spider. Aaron had to call Jeff after Miles passed out in reaction, and while the two argued over Jeff’s suspicion Aaron had given Miles something, Miles ran away. While running, he turned invisible, showed feats of amazing acrobatics, and when held up by a gang of teenage thugs, he let off an electric discharge that stunned his accoster. Freaked out, he went to his best friend Ganke Lee to show him his new powers and share his fear that he might be a mutant. Jeff found Miles and told him off his criminal history, not wanting Miles to walk down the same path. Ganke equated the emergence of Miles’ powers with the spider bite and compared it to that of Spider-Man. Miles then discovered that he could also walk on walls. Ganke encouraged Miles to test out his new powers, but Miles was resistant to this, until while on a walk the two passed a fire. Miles rescued two people from the fire, but left the scene before he could be identified, but Miles insisted to Ganke that he didn’t want to be like Spider-Man. Miles and Ganke started at Brooklyn Visions Academy in a triple dorm room with their new roommate Judge. One night, news of a superhero fight called all the students out of bed, and the news broke that Spider-Man had been shot. Miles snuck out of school to see the scene for himself and watched teenager Peter Parker die. Watching the death of Spider-Man was the push that made Miles decide he himself wanted to be a superhero. Ganke gave Miles a Spider-Man Halloween costume and while out on patrol, Miles found the criminal called the Kangaroo attacking a bar. Miles defeated the criminal, but was told by witnesses the Spider-Man costume was in bad taste. Upon returning to his dorm, Miles and Ganke caused trouble with the dorm guard when Judge was locked out of their room, where doors were not supposed to be locked, and students were only allowed to leave school on weekends. Miles continued to go on patrol and was caught by Spider-Woman and brought to the Triskelion, headquarters of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and their team the Ultimates, where he was interrogated by director Nick Fury. Maxwell Dillon, the supervillain Electro, who was being detained following the death of Peter Parker, escaped and went on a rampage. The Ultimates went to try to recapture him and failed, but Miles jumped in and managed to take the villain down. Miles was allowed to leave the Triskelion, and the next day was presented by Spider-Woman with his very own Spider-Man costume.

            Aaron went to Mexico City to deliver the stolen item to the crime boss Maximus Gargan also known as the Scorpion, but the deal changed, and the two fought. Aaron tried to use tech given to him by the villainous mechanic known as the Tinkerer, but the tech didn’t do what Aaron thought it would do, and Aaron was arrested. Miles continued his new career as Spider-Man, and news of a new Spider-Man on the streets broke out. Miles decided to hide his identity as Spider-Man from his parents after hearing his father’s distaste for Spider-Man at a family dinner. Aaron returned to New York and took his revenge on the Tinkerer. He also did the math and deduced that his nephew was the new Spider-Man. News of the new Spider-Man reached as far as Paris, France, where Peter Parker’s Aunt May and her ward Gwen Stacy had retreated to following Peter’s death. Aaron confronted Miles at Brooklyn Visions Academy and told Miles he knew he was Spider-Man and that he could help train him. The Scorpion arrived in New York with the ambition to become the new Kingpin of crime in the city. Miles defeated the supervillain called the Ringer and had a run in with the police. Captain Frank Quaid, out of respect for Peter Parker, allowed Miles to leave the crime scene. Miles barely covered his escapades from the dorm guard, and Judge got annoyed. Aaron had a fight with the Scorpion and decided he couldn’t win this fight on his own and contacted Miles. Aaron tested Miles’ abilities in a fight and then informed Miles that Miles and Aaron were going to be working together. Miles attempted to refuse, but Aaron blackmailed Miles with the threat of going with the truth to Jeff. The two fought the Scorpion and were successful in stopping him, but Miles’ alliance with the police did not hold up and he barely managed to escape arrest. Aaron also managed to escape the scene, but Aaron texted Miles that he wasn’t done with him just yet. Meanwhile, Aunt May and Gwen Stacy returned to the United States, where May used her connections to speak with Tony Stark, the Ultimates member known as Iron Man, wishing to get in contact with the new Spider-Man. Miles confronted Aaron about ending their deal, and the two fought for the last time.

            In another universe, Peter Parker is still alive, is an adult, and is Spider-Man. One night, while on patrol, he saw a strange light and went to investigate. It led him to a warehouse where he confronted the supervillain Quentin Beck/Mysterio. During their fight, Peter was sucked into the light. When he emerged, New York was not exactly correct. He swung around and ran into Miles. The two fought, and Miles won. Not sure what to do with there now being a Peter Parker swinging around as an adult, Miles brought Peter to Nick Fury. Peter was surprised to learn that everyone knew his identity, and Fury wanted to investigate the dimensional rift. Mysterio used an avatar to attack Peter and Miles. After winning the fight, Peter swung away and went to see this universe’s Aunt May and Gwen Stacy. At first, the two were not happy to see him, thinking him an imposter sent to insult them, but after a while, the group began to talk, giving Aunt May and Gwen their much-needed closure. Nick Fury called in Peter and Miles to join him and the Ultimates to find Mysterio, defeat him, return Peter to his universe, and destroy the dimensional rift.

            Okay, now that we have the synopsis out of the way, let’s get to my own personal opinion on this book. First off, I have to say that I found this book to be highly enjoyable. I thought it was extremely well written. The character of Miles Morales back in 2011 was a character I was a little hesitant about at first, I will admit. After all, we just had Peter Parker as Spider-Man since 1963 (with the exception of his clone Ben Reilly in the 1990s for a while). So having someone completely new being Spider-Man was something that was uncharted territory. And flat-out killing Peter Parker to set this up was a huge shock. And while Miles is not my favorite Spider-Man, after a few issues, I grew to be able to accept him. So here I am, fourteen years later, revisiting his origin story and writing this review. Miles has become extremely popular over the course of this time, and I’ve come to enjoy reading his stories, so going back to the beginning was an experience that I was happy to partake in. So, after reading this book, I will say that his origin story was well executed. I’ve always enjoyed the work of Brian Michael Bendis, his run on the original “Ultimate Spider-Man” was one of my favorite comic series, and I’ve always thought he was a brilliant writer, on par with the late, great Stan Lee. He did so much work for Marvel, created so much, and I’ve just always loved reading his comics. I’ve reviewed several of his works on this blog before, I think what hurts his reviews weren’t his stories per se, more so the artwork of his partners was what deducted points from my scores. With this graphic novel, I thought his work was brilliant, and I loved the artwork of Sara Pichelli and David Marquez, but Chris Samnee did fail to please me visually. Now, let’s talk more about what I enjoyed about Bendis’ work on this book. I liked that while he created a new Spider-Man, he didn’t insult Peter Parker in the process. Yes, it was very sad that he killed Peter Parker, but he created a new hero with a whole new story. And Miles even has some powers which Peter didn’t have and is actually much cooler. And I enjoyed his decision not to give Miles webbing intrinsically or give him instinctual knowledge of how to create webbing on his own. I liked how Miles didn’t immediately want to be a superhero and was hesitant to use his powers and had to be inspired to actually use them. I like the character of Ganke, Miles’ best friend, and I liked how the two had to constantly cover Miles’ escapades from the dorm guard, I found those moments to actually be quite amusing. I liked Bendis’ subtle blend of comedy in with the action, and how Miles was able to wisecrack on par with Peter. And I liked the crossover between 616 Peter Parker and 1610 Miles Morales, I thought that their meeting was quite entertaining, especially Peter’s visit with Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, it was quite an emotional segment. Almost all-in-all, I found reading this book to be an excellent experience, with the exception of the two issues illustrated by Samnee, I’m a nice guy, I’m not going to elaborate on what I actually thought of his artwork because I don’t want to be insulting to Samnee, who I’m sure tried their hardest when doing their work, but I just didn’t find it to be artwork that I could find enjoyable. Otherwise, I thought this book was stellar, and I totally had a great time reading it.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I know I’ve said this over thirty times at this point, and I’m frankly getting tired of doing it, but I know some of you have never read one of my reviews before, so I am obligated to explain what I mean when I use that word. When I say “accessibility,” what I mean is how easy it is to pick up this book and read it, even if you know absolutely nothing about Marvel Comics. I will say that this book is extremely accessible. I’d say this is perfect entry level Marvel work. This is a brand-new character with a brand-new story. It honestly doesn’t call on knowledge from other comics to understand what is going on in this book. I’d say you can never have heard of Spider-Man before (which seems totally impossible, but hey, it could actually be possible) and still be able to pick up this book, read it, and know what’s going on in it. There are also no events going on from other series at the time, so there are no missing pieces in the story. And while there are two series in this book, they compliment each other, so it doesn’t seem out of place having that being in this book. I’d say if you’ve never read Marvel before and are looking for a place to start reading, this book is actually perfect for you.

            Now we’re getting to the part of my review that is the most important part, the one you’ve mostly come here for: my numeric score. My scoring system is extremely basic and easy to follow. I score on a scale of exactly one though ten. One is the lowest score I can give and means that the book is total garbage and should be avoided at all costs. Ten means that this book is perfection (and I have very rarely given tens because it is very hard to be perfection). Now, to be a ten, the story has to be incredible, and the art has to be consistently pleasing. To be a one, the story has to be horrible, and the artwork has to be consistently awful. Now, you can probably guess that this book hits neither extremity, and if that is your guess, you would be absolutely correct. Now, the story was excellent, not going to lie, but it wasn’t quite at the exact level of perfection. And the art was not consistently pleasing at all points. So, for these reasons, points have to be deducted. So, when taking everything into account when giving this book a score, combining the story and the art, throwing it all into a blender and turning it on, mixing it up, then pouring out a score, I’m looking into the cup and the score I see is… a seven! I honestly wish I could give it a higher score than this, but for some reason I just can’t quite put my finger on, I can’t in good faith give this book an eight, even though I would love to, so I just have to settle on giving it a seven and stick with it. Still, it’s not a horrible score, all things considered. I have surely given worse. But I found reading this book to be an enjoyable experience, all things said.

            Next on the agenda is if I give this book my personal recommendation and regardless of this or not, to whom do I recommend this book to? Now, you can probably guess by the way I described that I enjoyed this book that I’d personally recommend it, and if you guessed that, you would be absolutely correct. This book does, in fact, get my very own personal recommendation. Now, as to whom I’d recommend this book to, if you’ve seen any of the “Spider-Verse” movies and enjoyed them, I’d say you’d definitely enjoy this book, and I recommend it to you. If you are looking into getting into Spider-Man and haven’t hit a starting point yet, I’d recommend this book to you. If you are a fan of Miles Morales in any capacity, this book is something I feel you absolutely must read and should get out and read it as soon as you possibly can. And if you’re reading this review and liked it and want to read it now based solely on the content of this review, I totally recommend this book to you.

            Okay, I’ve gone on about this book for a very long time, I think it’s time we all moved on with our lives. So, in conclusion, there are a few more things that I feel I need to say before I go. I have been doing this blog for almost five years now and have done over 150 posts, so there is plenty more content you can read if you liked this review, so feel free to keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more posts. I have literally done over thirty reviews at this point, and I’m not stopping. I post on a very frequent basis, so you can always expect more content to keep coming. I get every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection when it comes out and if I can review it, I do so, so there’s going to be plenty more posts coming up. You can expect another one coming up in about a month from now, so keep checking back for it. I’ve also done other content, I was an English major with a concentration in journalism in college and have a bachelor’s degree in the field, so I am very experienced. I’ve written several short stories on this blog and have even ventured into poetry. You can find some articles and essays here too, and my editorial series B’ings as well, which are totally pointless but a fun way to kill a few minutes. If you have the time, keep exploring, there’s plenty more you might like. And now at this point I feel like I’ve said all that really can be said, so I am now going to part ways and let you go back to doing what you were doing with your life and I’m going to upload this now and then go pay rent, which is something I actually have to do, and while I love doing this blog and I do a thorough job, it really doesn’t pay the bills but I do it anyway. Well, enough about my personal life, you didn’t come here to read about me, you came here to read about Miles Morales. So, I am now officially done and will just now say to you a few final words, and those words would happen to be… Tim Cubbin… out!

"Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            The X-Men had been going through some highs and lows. Emma Frost/White Queen had been secretly meeting with the Hellfire Club (Sebastian Shaw, Cassandra Nova, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Perfection) while serving as co-leader of the X-Men and headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The X-Men’s training gym, the Danger Room, had recently broken its programming and become the Artificial Intelligent being Danger. Peter Rasputin/Colossus, who had been thought dead, had been discovered alive and rejoined the team and began to rekindle his romantic relationship with fellow teammate Kitty Pryde. The organization S.W.O.R.D. had been revealed and taken the alien Ord, who had been a nemesis to the X-Men, into their custody. Emma Frost had fallen in love with co-leader of the X-Men and headmaster of the Xavier Institute Scott Summers/Cyclops. Emma began to act erratically and psychically broke Scott down, causing him to lose his connection with his optic blasts, his constant curse which he had no control over. Meanwhile, S.W.O.R.D. discovered the identity of the mutant who was prophesied to destroy Ord’s homeworld, the Breakworld, the reason he had come to Earth in the first place: Colossus. Cassandra Nova used her psychic powers on both Henry “Hank” McCoy/Beast, causing him to lose touch with his humanity and truly become a beast, and James “Logan” Howlett /Wolverine, causing him to revert to childlike mentality. Sebastian Shaw tricked Colossus into attacking him so that Shaw could take Colossus down. Negasonic Teenage Warhead caused Kitty to lose control of her phasing powers. Just like that, the X-Men were all taken out of the picture. Meanwhile, Danger broke Ord out of S.W.O.R.D. custody. Kitty managed to regain control of her powers and returned to the Institute. The Hellfire Club tried to break into a locked box in the Xavier Institute but found themselves unable to, needing Kitty to break into it for them. Kitty confronted Emma, and was psychically manipulated into breaking into the box, which contained Cassandra Nova’s consciousness, which she planned on implanting into Kitty’s body. Ord and Danger returned to Earth and arrived at the Xavier Institute, where they fought student Hisako Ichiki. The X-Men all managed to regroup and learned the truth about the Hellfire Club’s assault on them. They were then attacked by Ord and Danger, but then the X-Men, Ord, Danger, and Hisako were all teleported onto the S.W.O.R.D. spaceship.

            S.W.O.R.D. was heading for the Breakworld, which had a weapon pointed at Earth. The Breakworld armada intercepted S.W.O.R.D. and shot them out of space. Abigail Brand (Director of S.W.O.R.D., Cyclops, Beast, and Emma Frost landed in one location, Kitty Pryde and Colossus in another, and Wolverine and Hisako (now called Armor) in yet another and the other S.W.O.R.D. agents also in another. Brand, Cyclops, Beast, Emma, Wolverine and Armor were able to reunite, while Kitty and Colossus were found by Aghanne, a Breakworld Auger, who believed the prophesy of Colossus destroying the Breakworld may have been misinterpreted and wished for it to occur. Brand and Beast went looking for a way to stop the weapon, Wolverine and Armor went to look for Kitty and Colossus, and Cyclops and Emma went out to look for the other S.W.O.R.D. agents. Cyclops and Emma were shot down by Danger, but Emma managed to break Danger’s programming and make Danger subservient. The X-Men and Brand were able to reunite, but to cover their escape, Cyclops had to be captured by Powerlord Kruun, ruler of the Breakworld. Wolverine and Armor were also defeated and captured. Brand and Beast were able to decipher how the Breakworld could be destroyed. Colossus and Kitty found Aghanne. During torture, Cyclops’ powers returned, and he was able to free himself, Wolverine and Armor. Once all united, the X-Men had to decide just how far they were willing to go to stop the threat the Breakworld posed to Earth and stop the Breakworld weapon from destroying Earth.

            Okay, we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, now it’s time for my personal opinion on this book. I apologize if my synopsis doesn’t seem quite thorough, I tried to avoid spoilers and not give points in the story that seemed too irrelevant. Anyway, I will say that I thoroughly loved this book. I know that Joss Whedon caused problems with Disney/Marvel when he did the movies, but his work on the comics was undeniably brilliant. His run on “Astonishing X-Men (2004)” is actually one of my all-time favorite comic book runs, along with Grant Morrison’s run on “New X-Men (2001),” Joe Casey’s run on “Uncanny X-Men (1963),” Peter David’s run on “X-Factor (2005)” and Brian Michael Bendis’ run on “Ultimate Spider-Man (2000).” His stories just absolutely blew me away. Emma Frost is a character I have always loved, whether she’s a villain or a hero, so seeing her doing both roles in one book was just fantastic. I loved the whole reasoning behind her schism, but I just can’t go into it here without giving you spoilers, and it really stinks that I can’t, because I really do want to. But the truth behind the Hellfire Club’s attack and the identity of Perfection were just such surprises I didn’t see coming, and I honestly think that Whedon did a fantastic job with that. And I loved the irony of the Breakworld prophesy; Ord came to Earth to prevent a mutant from destroying his planet and inadvertently saved the life of the mutant who was predestined to destroy his planet. I just thought that was dramatic irony to the highest extent. There was one moment I thought was hysterical where Brand asked Colossus if he was as mystified as everyone else that he was destined to destroy the Breakworld and he replied “No. I’m not. I have been planning to destroy the Breakworld since I was a child.” And everyone looked at him, and he shrugged and said “This is why I don’t make so many jokes. I never know when is good.” I laughed out loud at that part. There were also a few other funny moments, but they’re not appropriate for my all-ages blog, so I can’t talk about them, but some of them really made me laugh. And there was a moment that I didn’t talk about in the synopsis that I would like to bring up because I thought it was so well-written; at one point, the X-Men talked about their secret weapon “Leviathan.” This was actually just a ploy to trick Powerlord Kruun’s spies to spare Cyclops’ life during torture and interrogation. I know that plot devices like this have been used before, but I thought Whedon did this so perfectly. The scene where Emma broke Cyclops by using Jean Grey/Phoenix and preying on his insecurities was so brilliantly done as well. And I enjoyed the scenes between feral Beast and childish James Howlett, I thought they were hysterical, especially the ways they were able to revert back to their normal selves, but I don’t want to give the details, I’ll leave that up to you to find out if you decide to read this book. And next, let’s talk about the art. John Cassaday (R.I.P.) was a brilliant artist. I loved his work, and it is such a shame he passed at such a young age. I just thought his artwork in this book was exceptional, top class comic book art. I just thought this was an all-around amazing book.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve said this over thirty times by now, but I know I have to say it again for you new readers to my blog because I know some of you have never read a Tim Cubbin review before. When I use the word “accessibility,” what I mean is, can you read this book and understand it, even if you know nothing about X-Men or Marvel Comics prior to picking up this graphic novel? This book is a direct continuation of two previous story arcs, and I do feel it is imperative to read those stories prior to reading this graphic novel if you truly hope to fully understand the content of this graphic novel. Now, as far as the question of can you read this book, which is marketed as Vol. 2 without reading Vol. 1? I would definitely not recommend that course of action since so much of what happened in Vol.1 is continued in Vol. 2 and missing Vol. 1 is a lot of content missed, and it will be extremely hard to follow. Now, I won’t say it’s impossible, but I would not recommend that. That said, there are no crossovers, events, or other series contained in this book, so if you have read the previous two story arcs before this book, then you will have no problem with reading this book at all.

            Okay, I’ve prattled on for a while, I think it’s time we went on to the main reason why we’re here: my numeric score. I mean, let’s face it, you read a book review, you want to know how good a book is. So, my scoring system is extremely basic: one to ten. One means that this book is absolute trash and should never be read. Ten means that this book is sheer perfection and should be read by everyone. I think that you’re probably figuring that this is going to get a really good score. Now, I’m not in the business of giving out tens very often, a book has to be absolutely perfect to get a ten. But the question is, was this a perfect book? Well, let’s throw in everything into a big old blender, the amazing story, the exceptional art, turn it on, and pour out a score, then look into the cup and it’s… a nine! I’m sorry, but there’s just something holding me back from giving this book a perfect score. It was an excellent book, but I just don’t quite believe it to be perfection.

            Finally, I’m going to tell you if this book gets my personal recommendation, and regardless of that, to whom do I recommend this book? So, of course, this book gets my personal recommendation. As for to whom I recommend this book to, I’d recommend it to any X-Men comics fan from any point after 2004. If you’re a fan of X-Men from other media like the Fox “X-Men” movies of animated series like “X-Men ’97,” I would recommend reading “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted” Modern Era Epic Collection first, then reading this book and I think you will find this book highly enjoyable.

            Okay, so we’re at the point where we’re going to wrap things up. I do have just a few more things to say before I go, though. First, this blog has over 150 posts, including “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted” in both prose and graphic novel formats, so feel free to check those out if you found this post interesting. Second, I do a lot of reviews and have literally done dozens of them and have another one which should be upcoming in the next three weeks. Third, I have also written short stories, poetry, editorials, essays, and articles, so there’s more than just book reviews on this blog, so there’s plenty more to like. Fourth, I post very frequently, so you can always expect plenty more content, and I buy every single Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection when I can and review them when I can, so you can expect plenty of reviews of those upcoming. Well, I guess I’ve said all that really needs to be said at the moment, I honestly can’t think of much more. If you’ve read up to this point, you are THE BEST, and I really appreciate your support. Feel free to like, comment, retweet, do whatever you can on the site you’re on, that would be great. And so, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Young Avengers: Not What You Think"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Young Avengers: Not What You Think” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Following the disbanding of the Avengers, four teenagers took to the streets in the fashion of their icons: Nathaniel Ricards/Iron Lad, with a suit of advanced technological armor; Elijah “Eli” Bradley/Patriot, super soldier; William “Billy” Kaplan/Asgardian, able to generate lightning and spellcasting; and Theodore “Teddy” Altman/Hulkling, shapeshifter with super strength. The New York newspaper dubbed them the “Young Avengers.” Editor in Chief J. Jonah Jameson tasked reporter Kat Farrell and private investigator and former teenage superhero Jessica Jones with finding out everything they could about these young “heroes.” Former Avengers Steve Rogers/Captain America and Tony Stark/Iron Man decided that they couldn’t endanger any young children and intended to shut the teenagers’ team down. A hostage situation occurred at a wedding at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and the young heroes crashed into the rescue. One of the hostages, Kate Bishop, assisted the team in stopping the crisis, but the teenagers almost burned the Cathedral down in the process of taking down the bad guys. Following this, the team retreated to the destroyed Avengers Mansion to discuss the goal of the founding of the team: to stop Kang the Conqueror when he returned, since there were no adult Avengers to combat him. After Asgardian, Hulkling and Patriot left, Iron Lad was discovered by Captain America, Iron Man, and Jessica Jones. Iron Lad revealed to the adult heroes that he himself was actually the person destined to become Kang the Conqueror and that he had travelled back from the thirtieth century to prevent himself from the fate of becoming the villain. He had tried to contact the former Avengers so they could unite against Kang when he came looking for Iron Lad, but his attempts failed, so he found the one Avenger who could help, one who had perished during the ending of the original Avengers: the synthezoid the Vision. Iron Lad download the Vision’s operating system and data files into his armor, which activated the failsafe, informing Iron Lad of just whom he had to contact and unite should the Avengers ever become unavailable. Meanwhile, Cassie Lang, daughter of deceased Avenger Scott Lang/Ant-Man, wanted to look for the Young Avengers with the intention of joining. She wished to use the Pym Particles that powered her father to aid the team, so she and Kate Bishop both went looking for the heroes. Kate and Cassie took their search to Avengers Mansion, where they were confronted by Asgardian, Hulkling and Patriot. During the confrontation, Cassie got angry and discovered her previous exposure to the Pym Particles had actually given her size changing powers, but the shock of using her powers caused her to pass out, and her crashing from giant form alerted Captain America, Iron Man and Jessica Jones to the presence of the teenagers on the grounds of Avengers Mansion. The teenagers introduced themselves to the adults, then the gathering of heroes was attacked by the Growing Man, who had come looking for his master, Kang. The heroes battled Growing Man, who multiplied into smaller versions of himself, but they Growing Men sent a signal to alert Kang they had found his young counterpart. For their safety, the adults locked the teenagers in the Avengers Mansion’s training room with the intention of contacting the teenagers’ parents. The adult Kang arrived from the future and revealed that if Iron Lad did not come back with him and fulfil his destiny of becoming Kang the Conqueror, reality as it currently was would cease to exist. As reality began to change, the adults realized that Kang was correct, and that Iron Lad would have to go forward in time with the adult Kang. The teenagers escaped from the training room, and wanted to protect their friend. During the conflict between the teenagers and Kang, Iron Lad slew his adult counterpart. As reality began to change, Iron Lad realized that he had no choice but to go back to the future to set everything right. Following this, the adults informed the teenagers that if they ever put their uniforms on again, the adults would shut the teenagers down, unless they had parental consent and training. The teenagers refused the parental consent request, got new uniforms, and decided to embrace the name “Young Avengers.” Cassie decided to be called Stature, and Asgardian changed his codename to Wiccan, while the others tried to get Kate to be either Hawkeye or Hawkingbird.

            As the Young Avengers decided not to come out to their parents, Patriot investigated a Mutant Growth Hormone operating ring. He discovered it was being operated by supervillain Calvin Zabo/Mister Hyde. Meanwhile, Captain America went to Eli’s grandparents and Jessica Jones went to Cassie’s mother to inform them of the teenagers’ activities as superheroes. Both the Young Avengers and Captain America discovered that Eli’s powers didn’t come from a Super Soldier Serum blood transfusion from his grandfather Isiah Bradley like he claimed, but rather that Eli was taking MGH. The Young Avengers defeated Mister Hyde, but Patriot quit the team.

            Jessica Jones investigated the histories of each of the Young Avengers and encouraged them to give an exclusive to Kat Farrell.

            The Young Avengers tracked down Eli and encouraged him to rejoin the team, saying he was the only one who could lead them. Right after he refused the offer, the team was attacked by the Super-Skrull, who claimed he was there to bring Teddy home to the Skrull Empire. The Young Avengers fought to protect Teddy and retreated to Billy’s parents’ apartment, where Teddy’s mother was waiting. The group was attacked by the Super-Skrull, who revealed to them that Teddy’s mother wasn’t actually his mother, rather a Skrull agent. The Super-Skrull then killed “Mrs. Altman” and abducted Teddy and informed him he was really Dorrek VIII, Heir to the Skrull Empire, and had been sentenced to death as an infant upon the discovery of the identity of his father. Teddy and the Super-Skrull were then attacked by the Kree Imperial Armada. Meanwhile, the Young Avengers decided they needed more help and went to recruit the Vision to find more Young Avengers from the failsafe program. They learned of Thomas “Tommy” Shepherd, who was a speedster and able to blow things up. Unfortunately, he was in a juvenile detention center for enhanced individuals. While the Young Avengers broke him out, they noticed his uncanny resemblance to Billy. As the Young Avengers and their new recruits Vision and Tommy came to rescue Teddy, Teddy learned his father was Kree Imperial Officer Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel. The Young Avengers rescued Teddy and the Super-Skrull from the Kree, and the Super-Skrull informed Billy and Tommy they were the sons of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision, a possibility Vision confirmed and Billy believed due to Billy and Tommy having the same powers as Wanda and her twin brother Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver. The Young Avengers and adult New Avengers then found themselves caught in the middle of another Kree/Skrull war over the custody of Teddy.

            Okay, now that we have my professional synopsis out of the way, let’s get to the point where I give my personal opinion on this graphic novel. I will say that I found this book to be highly enjoyable. I honestly thought the stories were great. I found them to be engaging, well-written, and exciting, with good plot twists. Right off the bat from issue number one, with the Iron Lad/Kang the Conqueror reveal, I thought it was great. I especially loved the first battle between the Young Avengers and Kang where reality was changing and young Iron Lad had to make the impossible choice of embracing his villainous destiny. I thought that was superb writing. I was shocked when it was revealed that Eli really wasn’t a super soldier and that he was actually getting his powers from a drug. That was just a brilliant surprise. And Teddy being the Skrull Emperor/Kree Imperial Officer and Billy and Tommy being the sons of the Scarlet Witch and Vision were surely great shockers at the time, but twenty years later I already knew all this, but still, I thought that was a great way to tie the Young Avengers to the previous teams of Avengers. And as far as the artwork goes, I thought it was great, excellent work. I was consistently visually pleased the entire time I viewed this graphic novel. I just have to say I thought it was a fantastic job all around, both story and art, and I thoroughly enjoyed perusing this graphic novel.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve said this about thirty times by this point, but I know I have to say it again because I know some of you have never read one of my reviews before and don’t know what I mean when I use the word “accessibility” like this. I mean it very simply: how easy is it to just pick up and read this book and understand completely what you are consuming, even if you have absolutely no prior knowledge of the Avengers or Marvel Comics? I am incredibly pleased to say how accessible this book is. I think if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic before and have never seen any Marvel films or television shows or played any Marvel games or have absolutely any kind of prior knowledge of Marvel at all, you could still pick up this book and completely follow the storyline. It has no direct connection to any other Marvel Comic series prior or during it. Yes, there are plenty of other references, obviously, but this introduces a slew of new characters with a new origin story that is told totally independently of any other Marvel series. There are no events or crossovers, so this doesn’t have any missing pieces in the narrative. I feel like if you’re brand new to Marvel and want to start with something and are totally just for some bizarre reason reading this review on a whim because you personally know me and feel a commitment to me and read everything I post regardless of knowing nothing about Marvel, this is actually a perfect pick to start your experience with. And if you do know Marvel, which, if you’re reading this, you probably do, but have never actually touched a comic book before, the same thing applies in this case. In my opinion, it’s not going to be contradictory to what’s established in other Marvel media, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so if you’re a fan of the MCU and want to get into comics but don’t know where to start, I would definitely say this book is a fantastic choice. I just feel like this book is perfect Marvel Comics entry level. And if you are a lapsed reader of Marvel, say from like any time prior to 2005 when this series started, this book will still be understandable. It’s pretty self-explanatory once you start reading it, so it really shouldn’t give you a problem. And if you’re a regular Marvel reader from any time post 2006 when these issues were originally published, this will be a total breeze to read through and understand and will probably even fill in a lot of gaps.

            Okay, I feel like I’ve gone on about that long enough, you probably want to move on to the single most important part of this review and the reason why we are actually here: my numeric score of this book. I score on a very simple scale: one to ten. One is the lowest score I can give, and that means that this book is a flaming pile of trash that should be avoided at all costs. Ten is the best score I can give, and that means that this book was sheer perfection. Now with me, basically every book starts at a nine and goes lower, I’m really not in the business of giving out tens. It’s just exceedingly rare for me to feel that a book is a perfect ten. Now, we’re looking at this book, which I found to have exceptional stories and astonishing art and no actual complaints from me. But the question is, is this a ten? I would honestly love to say it is, but it’s not what you think. There is just something holding me back from scoring this book at a ten. It’s just not quite perfection. Yes, it’s amazing, the whole book was just a joy to go through, but I can’t claim it to be perfect. I don’t know exactly what’s holding me back, I really just can’t quite say it, I can’t pinpoint it, I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s just something going on here that makes me say that this book just isn’t a ten. Now, this raises another question, of course: is this a nine, instead? So now, I’ll stop teasing you and just give you a numeric score of the book because I feel like I’ve rattled on long enough on how it’s not perfect. So, we’re going to take everything in this book, the stories and the art and throw it in a blender and turn it on to mix out a score. I’ve turned it on… I’m pouring it out… and it’s… yeah, it’s a nine. I honestly can’t find any further reason to deduct points from my score, so if I can’t give it a ten, then no duh, it’s got to be a nine. That’s still really darn good. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading the stories and looking at the artwork and I consumed this book and I really have nothing I can complain about here from this graphic novel, so yeah, I give it a solid nine and say that’s about as good a score as it could hope to get.

            Finally, I’m going to tell you two more things: One: do I give this book my personal recommendation? Two: regardless of the answer to question one, to whom do I recommend this book to. So, as you can imagine my answer to question number one, in this case, it is what you think. Yes, I most certainly do, one hundred percent, absolutely, positively, for sure give this book my personal recommendation. As far as to whom do I recommend this book to, that’s actually a very broad group of people. First off, if you’re a teenager interested in Marvel Comics, this book is perfect for you. If you are LGBTQ+ and interested in Marvel Comics, I would absolutely say you would love Wiccan and Hulkling’s relationship. If you’ve watched Marvel movies and shows such as “WandaVision,” “Hawkeye,” or “Agatha All Along,” you already know some of the characters and I feel you would enjoy reading more about them in this graphic novel. And, of course, if you’re a fan of “Young Avengers” from any point or a fan of any of the characters featured in this graphic novel and have yet to read these essential issues, I will tell you this is the perfect book for you. Oh, and if you’re reading this review and are interested in reading this book now, I will tell you to go for it. I found it to be highly enjoyable, and I am a very picky person, so if I can rave about it this much, it probably really is good. And I will say, if you do read this, feel free to leave a comment or a tweet or whatever to tell me what you thought of this book, I would really love to hear your opinion from you. Of course, this entire review is all my opinion, I leave you free to completely have your own opinions, you do not have to agree with me on this, I even welcome dissent, I’m honestly not telling you what to think, I leave everything up to you. That’s the beauty of life; we all have our own opinions on things, and I love that you have yours, so please, if you feel different about anything I said, let me know, again, I’d love to hear from you.

            Well, I think we’re at the point where I’m going to say goodbye to you. I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’m sure you’re getting bored of me and want to get on with your life, so let’s just move on now. I will say a few more things before I sign off first. I post on this blog very often. I have made over 150 posts on this blog, so there is plenty more content you could see if you liked this. I’ve done about thirty reviews at this point, so if you liked this review, feel free to check out some more. I can tell you that you can expect another review to get posted sometime in the next three weeks, so keep an eye out for it, it’s definitely coming. I actually purchase every single Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection that’s released and try to review it if possible. There are a few I’ve yet to review, hopefully that can change, but at the moment I’ve done almost all of them. I’ve also done other kinds of content on this blog, such as short stories, free verse poetry, articles, essays, and editorials. If you’re looking for a laugh and a pointless read for several minutes, check out my B’ings series, they’re actually quite entertaining. They’re just me rambling on for a few minutes about a topic that really doesn’t mean anything and yet I make a big deal out of it anyway somehow. I hope to post more short stories and poetry in the future, I do have a few ideas in mind, I just need to find the time to get them down on my laptop. Well, I guess I’ve said all I have to say at this point, so I’ll end it with just a few more words, and they are: Tim Cubbin… out!

"Daredevil: King of Hell's Kitchen"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Daredevil: King of Hell’s Kitchen” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format. This is NOT connected to the Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again” in any way.

            Maya Lopez/Echo is able to mimic any movement she is able to visibly observe. She was born deaf. Originally, she was not believed to be deaf as she was able to skillfully read lips and talk and was labeled an insulting diagnosis instead. She communicated through her love of art. After she was diagnosed as deaf, she learned sign language. She was Native American and went to the Reservation with her father where she enjoyed learning the stories of her culture. She also learned of the ritual called the Vision Quest. When she was nine years old, her father died, and she was raised by his business partner Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. She excelled in schools so well she went from a school for children with handicaps and learning disabilities to a school for prodigies, able to master musical instruments, ballet, sports, and martial arts. Eventually, Maya began to work for Fisk and his criminal empire but turned good after meeting Matthew Murdock/Daredevil. Maya and Matt had a brief romantic relationship, but in the end, it didn’t work out and they went their separate ways. After Matt’s secret identity as Daredevil was outed in the press, Maya came looking for him, hoping to reconnect, but Matt rejected her. After a meeting with Fisk, Maya decided to embark upon her own Vision Quest. She returned to the Reservation and visited the Chief and asked him for guidance to perform the ritual. As she participated in the Vision Quest, she came upon James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine, whom she believed to be a “Spirit Animal,” something one comes upon during a Vision Quest. The two had a conversation, and during this conversation, Wolverine told Maya a story he had heard, a story that was originally told by Maya’s father before he died, a story Maya didn’t understand at the time, but upon Wolverine’s telling of the tale, it clicked in Maya’s head just what her father meant. Upon the completion of her Vision Quest, Maya returned to Hell’s Kitchen to say her final goodbye to Matt before moving on with her life.

            Daredevil defeated Kingpin and declared himself the King of Hell’s Kitchen and defeated all the gangs. After winning one of the largest class action damage settlements in the history of New York state over a newspaper outing him as Daredevil, Matt, and his new girlfriend Milla Donovan gave the money to the development of Hell’s Kitchen. After his takedown of Fisk, Matt was confronted by fellow superheroes Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Doctor Stephen Strange, and Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, who could not support Matt’s course of action. Nearly a year passed, and the FBI were still trying to find proof Matt was Daredevil. During a fight with the Yakuza, Matt went missing, and Milla, now Matt’s wife, turned to Daily Bugle investigative reporter Ben Urich to find her husband. Ben had long known Matt was Daredevil but never said anything, and Matt helped Ben gather information for his investigations. However, after Matt’s outing, Matt and Ben had ended their “professional” relationship. Ben turned to Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, Matt’s law partner, to ascertain Matt’s location. After finding him in a private hospital, Ben suggested that Matt’s recent actions could all be a nervous breakdown following the death of Matt’s lover Karen Page. Upon his return home nine days later, the Yakuza attacked Hell’s Kitchen and Daredevil teamed up with Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand/Iron Fist to take them down. Matt asked Foggy to stay with Milla to protect her, and Foggy suggested the nervous breakdown theory to Milla. Following his battle with the Yakuza, Milla confronted Matt, asking if their marriage was all just a part of his nervous breakdown, going as far as filing an annulment.

            S.H.I.E.L.D. were able to apprehend Viper/Madame Hydra in Bulgaria. The Pentagon wanted Madame Hydra to answer for her crimes in the United States of America, but the Bulgarian government refused to turn her over without a trade. In return, they wanted Natasha Romanova/Black Widow. Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. informed Natasha to hide as she became wanted by the American government. Natasha turned to her former lover Matt Murdock for his assistance in evading capture. Daredevil and Black Widow went into action to take down Billy Russo/Jigsaw. Following the fight, Matt and Natasha returned to Matt’s place. Matt turned down Natasha’s advances but signed Milla’s annulment. Jigsaw confronted Matt at the offices of Nelson & Murdock, where Matt denied being Daredevil. The next day, Matt and Natasha went to lunch, where they fell into the crosshairs of Quinn, who had been hired to kill Natasha. The two barely survived. Jigsaw and his gang invaded Matt’s home and Natasha had to fight to stay alive until the police arrived. Upon discovering who hired Quinn, Fury was able to remove the warrant on Natasha.

            Alexander Bont, the Kingpin before Wilson Fisk, received early parole. The FBI was advised due to their continuing investigation on Matt and the fact that Matt was Bont’s lawyer.

            Daredevil’s adversary Bullseye killed Karen Page, but what if she had lived? Matt would have gone on a hunt to find everyone involved in the attack that almost took his lover from him. The trail would eventually lead him to Wilson Fisk. In an act of blind rage, Matt would have accidentally killed the Kingpin. Matt would have been outed as Daredevil and arrested before he could turn himself in. Matt would have gone on trial for the murder of Wilson Fisk. And Matt would have been found guilty and sent to jail.

            Okay, I know I haven’t done one of these in a while, and I apologize, but I’m here now. Anyway, let’s get to my personal parts of this review. First off, you’re probably wondering just what I thought of this book. I will say I have mixed feelings. There were things I liked about this book, but there were also things I disliked. Let’s start with what I liked. I felt that the story was mostly enjoyable. “Echo” was fairly good, but the story was a little difficult to follow for two reasons. Reason number one was that there were points where the story was told out of order, which I really disliked. Reason number two was that the script wasn’t completely printed in speech bubbles or word boxes and knowing what to read and where to read, it wasn’t always immediately obvious, which again was relatively annoying. That said, when the story was clear to read, it was enjoyable. I especially liked the appearance of Wolverine. However, I will say that the story Logan told Maya actually is an old Native American story and was not actually originally told by Maya’s father as the story says, I know this for a fact because I have actually heard this story before, it was not new to me, and I am sure that there are a lot of people out there who will corroborate with me. I found “The King of Hell’s Kitchen” to be interesting. I liked all the plot twists, which I’m not going to get into because I don’t wish to give any further spoilers, which I feel like I did more than enough of in this review. “The Widow” was actually my favorite story in the book, I liked the team-up between Daredevil and Black Widow, and the scene at Matt’s house with the Black Widow fighting Jigsaw’s gang was just hysterical. That said, we have to talk about the things I disliked in this book, and there were a few things. First off, I wasn’t a fan of the artwork. I just did not find it to be enjoyable at all. I’m a nice guy most of the time, and I don’t wish to insult anyone, and I’m sure the artists worked their hardest to produce this art when they did it, so I won’t say anything bad or more, but it just wasn’t visually appealing to me. I especially didn’t like the art in “Echo,” and I didn’t like how in “The Universe” there were multiple artists, it just made the issue feel so disjointed. Also, I really disliked the issue “What if Karen Page Had Lived?” I totally didn’t like the story, with Matt going nuts and killing Kingpin. It just totally ruined the character. I know that the reader is supposed to accept this as Matt being in a blind rage, but Daredevil being a killer just isn’t acceptable. Also, the issue felt extremely rushed, especially the ending. The pacing felt all wrong and there were certain details that I felt like should have been more elaborated on or focused on. I felt like if the issue were a little longer it might have been more enjoyable. All-in-all though, I will say I found there to be more to enjoy about the book than to complain about.

            Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I say this every time I write a review, so I know there are some of you who have read this many times before because I know I do have people who regularly read this blog, but I also know there are people who have never been to this blog before, so I have to explain it for you newbs. Okay, so when I say “accessibility,” I mean just how easy it is to just pick up and read this book, particularly if you know little or nothing about Daredevil or Marvel Comics. I will say this book is relatively easily accessible. First off, when I read it, I didn’t feel like it completely forces you to have to have read any previous Daredevil comics, but it would certainly help you to understand this book. Yes, it picks up on previous storylines, but it’s not like the previous volume did a “To Be Continued…” at the end, so having to have read the last volume didn’t seem completely necessary to me. Second, it doesn’t cross over into any other events or series, so it’s not like there are missing pieces or gaps in the storyline either, so you don’t need to read other graphic novels to understand this one. As far as saying if this is a perfect starting point for new readers to Marvel Comics, I won’t say this is it, but it’s not off-putting either.

            Now we get to the nitty-gritty part of my review, the part that we’re all here for: the numeric score. My scoring system is extremely basic: I score on a scale of one to ten. If I give this book a one, that means it’s a piece of trash and should be avoided at all costs. If I give this book a ten, that means this is sheer perfection and should belong in every Marvel reader’s collection. Now, I will say I am a very harsh scorer, so a low score from me doesn’t necessarily mean anything, I’m just really particular, it’s a high score that’s impressive. Now, as far as this book goes, I found the story to be relatively good, my main problem was the art, so this book is getting a relatively average score. So, taking everything into account, I’m throwing everything into the blender, turning it on, and pouring out… a five. I honestly can’t give this book anything higher than that, I hate to say it. I just honestly can’t get past the artwork’s consistent displeasure, it really hurt the book that badly for me. And “What If Karen Page Had Lived?” was just totally disliked, so I had to deduct for that. So, all said, I have to score it at a five. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean this book was bad. There was plenty to like about it, the first three stories were all great in my opinion, but there was also a massive amount to dislike that I just had to deduct from, so I feel that the five is justified.

            Now, the next part of my review is my personal recommendation. By this, do I, myself, Tim Cubbin, say this book is worth reading? And then, regardless of that, who do I think would most enjoy this book? So, I’m going to start off by saying that, yes, I do recommend this book personally. As to whom I recommend this book to, I would say to fans of Daredevil mostly, and if you like Black Widow, her story in this book is really good, too. And if you’re a fan of Brian Michael Bendis, he did a rather decent job writing this book. And if you’re into Native American stories, this book would be interesting to you. And if you are a fan of Echo, I think this book would be appealing to you as well.

            Okay, so I’d say we’re at the point where it’s time to start saying goodbye. First, though, I will tell you there are over 150 posts on this blog, so there is plenty more content to check out. If you liked this “Daredevil” review and want more Daredevil, you can check out my reviews of “Daredevil: Underboss” and “Daredevil: Out” as well, you’d probably enjoy that. I have written dozens of reviews at this point, but there are also short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and all kinds of other content on this blog, so keep scrolling, I’m sure you’ll find something else you’ll like. I have another review planned, it should be up in the next week, so keep an eye out for that. I post on a very frequent basis, I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection as it comes out and try to review it as soon as possible, so there’s always plenty more content on the way. Well, I guess I’ll let you get on your way, I’ve wasted enough of your time as it is, you probably want to move on with your life and I’ve been doing this for almost four hours, so I’m ready to move on to, so I’ll speed you on with just a few more words, and they are: Tim Cubbin… out!

"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!