"Carnage: Prophecy of the Darkhold"

 

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

            Separated from the Carnage symbiote, serial killer Cletus Kasady was serving his sentence in Kramer Penitentiary in Hague, New Jersey, placed in general population. The symbiote was under observation on Spider-Island 2. One day in prison, Kasady was violently assaulted and was not expected to survive the night. The symbiote on Spider-Island 2 died, but a smaller piece of the symbiote was also being researched in Morse Laboratories in Albuquerque. Scientist Carla Unger stayed late to run a test on a piece of the symbiote one night. Carla’s test was interrupted by a phone call from Carla’s irate husband Will, who demanded Carla return home. Suddenly, the piece of the symbiote Carla was testing went into Carla’s eye. Carla destroyed the remainder of the symbiote and returned home. Will screamed at Carla, and Carla turned into Carnage and Carnage made sure Will would never yell at Carla again. Carla then went on the run. The symbiote and Carla were not compatible and Carla could not survive merging with the symbiote, so the symbiote steered Carla towards a gas station so the symbiote could claim a new host. The symbiote continued going through hosts, hoping to reunite with Kasady. Kramer Penitentiary’s Doctor Jenner, hoping to become the new Carnage, made sure Kasady was not an option for the symbiote to return to. The symbiote managed to make its way to Kramer Penitentiary’s warden, who found Kasady in the morgue. Jenner tried to coax the symbiote to bond with Jenner, but the symbiote left the warden and re-bonded with Kasady, whom the symbiote was able to resuscitate. Carnage took out Jenner. Carnage found the man who attacked Kasady, a man who had been paid by Jenner to take Kasady out, and Carnage got revenge for Kasady. Carnage then tore through the prison and escaped.

            Carnage took out a diner on the Kansas State Line. In New York City, Wade Wilson/Deadpool saw a news report about Carnage’s attack and decided that since Deadpool and Carnage thought on similar wavelengths, Deadpool would be the one who could put an end to Carnage once and for all. Deadpool tracked Carnage down to outside Tulsa, Oklahoma and Deadpool attacked Carnage. The two fought, and Deadpool managed to overpower Carnage. Deadpool was about to take out Carnage for good when Carnage’s lover Frances Barrison/Shriek joined the fight and the two were able to defeat Deadpool and escape. Upon reviving, Deadpool tried to get his gear from his storage locker, but due to missed payments, the contents had been auctioned off. Deadpool tracked down the buyer, Doverton, who helped Deadpool relocate Carnage and Shriek. Deadpool found Carnage and Shriek on a highway and took out Carnage’s car, knocking out Shriek. Carnage and Deadpool fought again, and Carnage once again defeated Deadpool, then kidnapped a family and forced the family to take Carnage and Shriek on a road trip, leading to the base of Mercury Team, a government task force given symbiotes and assembled to take out Carnage. Mercury Team failed to take out Carnage, with the reverse effect actually happening. Deadpool found the facility too late, but the symbiotes joined with Deadpool. Carnage and Shriek took over Carrington Cottage Psychiatric Hospital. Deadpool tracked down Carnage and Shriek. Deadpool tricked Shriek into thinking Shriek had attacked Carnage, and Shriek ran off. Carnage and Deadpool fought again, and Deadpool used the symbiotes to trick Carnage into attacking Shriek. In horror, Carnage surrendered to the police. Deadpool separated from the symbiotes and went off in search of his next target.

            During a superhero fight, a spell was cast that inverted the moral centers of several heroes and villains, including Carnage. Carnage found himself compelled to do good. However, Carnage’s methods were those of a vigilante and not a true hero. The deceased serial killer the Sin-Eater returned and continued his murderous spree, taking out newscaster Chris Rollins. Carnage saw Alice Gleason reporting the murder and decided Carnage needed Alice’s help to learn how to be a true hero. Sin-Eater targeted Alice, and Carnage rescued Alice from Sin-Eater. Alice promised she would teach Carnage to be a hero. Alice began to give Carnage lessons. The police believed Carnage had kidnapped Alice and began a manhunt for Carnage. Sin-Eater continued looking for Alice. The police caught up with Carnage and attacked Carnage, and Carnage was separated from Alice. During that time, Sin-Eater abducted Alice. Carnage vowed to find Alice. Carnage tracked down Alice and confronted Sin-Eater. Carnage let Sin-Eater absorb Carnage’s sins, and Sin-Eater grew to enormous size. Carnage fought Sin-Eater and confessed Carnage’s worst sin of all, which was enough to destroy Sin-Eater. Alice then shot Carnage and tried to turn Carnage over to the police, but Carnage was able to escape and realized he would have to learn to be a hero on his own. The inversion spell was eventually broken, and Carnage reverted back to his old ways.

            Before the inversion spell was broken, Sam Alexander/Nova revealed Nova’s secret identity to Carnage. The reverted Carnage decided to go after Nova. Carnage went to the diner in Carefree Arizona where Sam’s mother Eva worked. Nova flew in to rescue Eva and fought Carnage, telling Carnage that Nova had given Carnage a fake name and that Sam Alexander was not Nova’s real name. After escaping Carnage, Sam went to school. Carnage followed Sam to Carefree High School to attack Nova again. Sam’s sister Kaelynn put on Sam’s Nova helmet and flew above Carefree High School to trick Carnage into believing that Sam was not really Nova. Carnage went on a rampage on Carefree’s Main Street. Sam came back as Nova and fought Carnage. Nova defeated Carnage, and Carnage revealed that Carnage wanted to get rid of Nova because Carnage didn’t want anyone alive to remember Carnage when Carnage was good. Nova then delivered Carnage to Ryker’s Island in Manhattan.

            United States FBI Special Agent Claire Dixon went to Afghanistan to recruit Air Force Colonel John Jameson to use the Air Force’s test sonic defense system to catch Carnage.

            Kasady caught a new bulletin detailing that Manuela Calderon, survivor of Kasady’s first confirmed mass murder at St. Este’s School for Boys, was hired to oversee security operations at Grey Ridge Mine in West Virginia. The FBI was using Calderon as bait to lure Carnage in. Also assigned to that detail were Claire Dixon, John Jameson, and Eddie Brock/Toxin. Brock’s symbiote was on a switch and would only be activated if Dixon saw fit. Carnage arrived at the mine to end Calderon. Calderon lured Carnage to the sonic cannons, but the force of the cannons caused a cave in, causing Carnage and several FBI agents to fall into the mine. Jameson and a team were sent in to rescue the agents trapped in the mine with Carnage. Dixon was suspicious of Managing Director of Grey Ridge Investments, Barry Gleason, since Gleason had assured Dixon a cave in could not happen. The team was tracking Carnage until the power went out. Gleason had disappeared before the power outage. Eddie and Calderon found the main control panels at the power station had been smashed but were able to turn on the backup emergency generators. Dixon lost radio contact with Jameson and Jameson’s team. Jameson’s team was attacked by Carnage, and when the team used their sonic weapons, the roof collapsed. Dixon, Eddie, Calderon, and a team went in to rescue Jameson and Jameson’s team. Gleason gassed the agents still remaining in the Executive Office Building. Trapped with Carnage, Jameson turned into the Man-Wolf. Gleason took out the agents topside and went into the mine. Man-Wolf and Carnage fought until Carnage removed the gem that caused Jameson to transform into Man-Wolf, and Carnage knocked Jameson deeper into the mine. Dixon, Calderon, and Eddie arrived, and Dixon was about to let Toxin out when Gleason shot the switch out of Dixon’s hand. Calderon jumped after the switch. Eddie fired a sonic cannon, causing another cave in. Gleason found Carnage and brought Carnage to a temple hidden in the mine. Gleason was part of the Cult of the Darkhold. The Darkhold, an ancient magical book, prophesied the Red Slayer, whom the Cult of the Darkhold believed to be Carnage, could awaken the elder god Chthon if the blood of the Red Slayer was spilled on the altar. Calderon pressed the button and allowed Eddie to transform into Toxin. The Cult attacked Carnage and caused Carnage to bleed on the Darkhold. Carnage was able to possess the Cult. Toxin, Calderon, Dixon, and Jameson found Carnage and the Cult. Gleason read from the Darkhold, Calderon tried to take the Darkhold from Gleason but only succeeded in ripping out a page. Jameson transformed into Man-Wolf again, but Calderon was able to calm Jameson enough to cause Jameson to revert back to human form. Dixon, Calderon, and Jameson escaped from the mine. Carnage wanted to obtain the Darkhold to obtain more powers. Toxin found Venom. Dixon ordered Jameson to activate the sonics to trap Carnage in the mine, not caring if Eddie was trapped as well. Jameson activated the sonics, but not at full power, giving Eddie a chance to escape. Carnage escaped and confronted Calderon. Calderon tried to use sonic weapons on Carnage, but the Darkhold spell caused Carnage to be immune to sonics. Calderon detonated a bomb, but Toxin rescued Calderon from the explosion, and Carnage got away. Carnage found Gleason and put an end to Gleason, then stole the Darkhold.

            Dixon took heat for the botched attempt to catch Carnage, particularly for using Calderon as bait and using Toxin. Dixon was approached by Victoria Montesi from the Children of Midnight, a group who had similar interests with Dixon’s. Carnage went to San Francisco to see Roger Felwood Junior, the man who sold Gleason the Darkhold, demanding Felwood teach Carnage how to use the Darkhold. Felwood told Carnage that Carnage needed to spill blood on an altar and told Carnage about Brother Gregori and the Chthonic Brotherhood in Jakarta, Indonesia. Dixon went to recruit Jameson and Calderon to join Dixon and Montesi in recovering the Darkhold. Calderon agreed as long as Eddie was allowed to join the operation. Eddie was being held in an FBI Black Site Prison Compound. Man-Wolf broke Eddie out, and Eddie joined Montesi’s operation. Carnage and Montesi’s group headed to Jakarta. In Jakarta, Carnage met the Darkhold Dwarf, who tried to warn Carnage away from using the Darkhold. The Chthonic Brotherhood abducted Carnage using magical runes to defeat the symbiote. Carnage escaped confinement. Brother Gregori told Carnage about an altar on an uncharted island. Carnage and Brother Gregori chartered the boat the Caspian Sea and headed for the island. Montesi and the operation went after the Caspian Sea. The operation discovered members of the Chthonic Brotherhood whom Carnage had infected who were dying and were then attacked by several of the still-living Carnage-possessed Brotherhood members. Carnage abducted Dixon and bonded her with a symbiote, now called Raze. Jameson and Singh, Montesi’s second-in-command, placed explosives, and Jameson had to transform into Man-Wolf to protect the explosives. Singh was able to cause Jameson to revert back to human form. Montesi released Toxin, who fought Raze. The explosives went off, with not all of the operation managing to escape. Boater Jubulile Van Scotter found an injured Cletus Kasady in a raft at sea and brought Kasady onto Jubulile’s boat the Cinga. Kasady recovered and tried to possess Jubulile. Jubulile escaped on a raft and blew up the Cinga. The surviving members of the operation found Jubulile adrift at sea. Jubulile gave the operation members the coordinates of the island where Carnage was headed.

            Okay, now that we have the plot synopsis out of the way, we’re ready to move on to the Tim Cubbin bits of this review. As I always do in my reviews, I’m going to start by giving my own personal opinions about the book. Some of my long-time readers will recall that Carnage is my favorite Marvel villain. I highly enjoyed the stories in this book. I love when Carnage gets his own solo series, and I love that he actually got an ongoing series rather than just limited series like he had gotten in the past. “Superior Carnage Annual” #1 was enjoyable, seeing Doctor Jenner trying to have Kasady offed so he could be the new Carnage, only to end up meeting his own demise was a great turnaround. The “Deadpool Vs. Carnage” limited series was great, seeing two of the craziest characters in the Marvel Universe fight each other was highly entertaining. The “Axis: Carnage” limited series was entertaining, seeing Carnage trying to be good and not going about it the right way, then battling the Sin-Eater, it was a great story. The Nova story was fun, seeing Sam doing all he could to protect his secret identity after making the mistake of unmasking in front of Carnage was an enjoyable read. “Night Work” was a good set-up piece and an interesting way of showcasing Carnage. “The One That Got Away” was an excellent storyline, in my opinion, I loved how it had so many twists and turns, particularly the mine hiding the temple and Gleason being a member of a cult that wanted Carnage and including Man-Wolf and Toxin as secret weapons gave for some fantastic fight scenes. “Sea Devil” was also fantastic, I liked how the operation became a team, and I liked how the two storylines had such a complex narrative that was allowed to run on for so long and left off with a promise for more instead of just being a short, limited run. All that said, however, we must not forget that this is a graphic novel, and the artwork has to be taken into account when I do my reviews as well. The art in “Superior Carnage Annual” #1 could have been better. I felt like the characters had a lot of unnecessary markings and lines on their faces that detracted from me liking them, and I feel like I actually could have enjoyed the artwork if it were not for the facial markings. Otherwise, I felt like Salva Espín, Germán Peralta, John Timms, and Mike Perkins did fantastic jobs illustrating the rest of this book. Another thing I critique in my reviews is the title. I evaluate how appropriate I feel this title is for this particular volume. This book did have a few choices for title given, “The One That Got Away” and “Sea Devil” top among them, yet the editors picked “Prophecy of the Darkhold” which wasn’t even a title of an issue collected in this volume, and I have to say that I actually do feel like this is a good pick. This title applies to about half of the entire book, so I feel like it is a majority enough that it’s appropriate to slap this title on the cover. Speaking of the cover, I also assess if I feel the cover is a proper representation for the volume. What I’m primarily looking for is for the cover to deliver on the promise it shows on the front of the book on the pages contained within, with a secondary look that it also captures the main essence of the book and illustrates what the book is mostly about. The cover of this book is rather stylized, showing Carnage with his mouth open and his tongue sticking out wrapping around in curls, with members of Montesi’s operation standing on Carnage’s tongue. So, essentially, yes, this does not actually happen in this book, but I feel like it does capture the essence of the book, since it features Carnage and characters like Man-Wolf, Toxin, and Victoria Montesi on it, so I do feel like it actually is an appropriate cover for this book. Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable experience, but the one artist could have been better.

            Next up, we are going to discuss accessibility. I know I’ve been over this meaning over seven dozen times at this point, but I know that every time I do a review, I have new readers who have never read one of my reviews before and have no earthly idea what I mean when I say “accessibility” about a book, so for those of you who already know my whole spiel already, please bear with me while I explain myself to the newbs. So, when I use the word “accessibility” in application to a book, what I’m saying is how easy it is for a reader who has absolutely no outside knowledge of Carnage or Marvel Comics in general to obtain this book, read the comics cover-to-cover, and understand everything as it is written without reading anything else. I will say that this book does have problems with accessibility. This book is marketed as Vol. 2, but that’s not the problem. It doesn’t continue directly out of the previous volume. The problems are the “Axis: Carnage” limited series and the “Nova” story. “Axis” was an event that several Marvel series at the time tied in to, and Carnage’s part in this seems to be missing a beginning and a resolution to properly explain his involvement in the event. “Nova” was an ongoing series at the time, and this book only contains two complete issues of the series and had an ongoing narrative that these two issues were part of but were not the beginning of this narrative. Aside from these two factors, the rest of the book isn’t too hard to follow, but not having outside knowledge of the “Axis” event, nor the Sam Alexander/Nova character made be slightly detrimental to comprehending this particular volume. If you’re brand new to Marvel Comics and looking for a point to jump in on, I would not recommend this book as a first choice.

            We are finally up to the segment where I give the book a numeric score. I know some of my readers consider this segment the most important segment in the entire review, but I’m not marginalizing the importance of my other segments either. Every segment in this review has value, but it is true that the numeric score is extremely vital to my reviews. I should start off by first explaining how exactly I score a book. I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one through ten. One is the lowest score I can possibly give, and that means that this book was one of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune of reading in my entire life, and this book does not deserve to be printed any further and I pray other people don’t make the same mistake I did and buy this book. However, ten means this book was sheer perfection and one of the best things I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading in my entire life, and I will not understand how this book will not be a bestseller. It is not easy for a book to get a ten from me. I have to be able to find absolutely no complaints about the story, the art has to be consistently visually appealing throughout the entire book, and the title and cover have to be proper representations of the content of the book. I will say that while I found the story in this book to be highly entertaining, there is a little something about it that I don’t find to be deserving of reaching the status of perfection, and the art also had a little room for improvement, but the title and cover were, in my opinion, appropriate for this volume. So, all said and done, when dishing out my score, what I’m serving is… an eight! This was a highly enjoyable read for me.

            Next up, we’re doing the recommendation segment. The points of this segment are first to say if I, Tim Cubbin, would personally recommend this book to you, my reader, and second to say who would be a good audience for this book, based on the characteristics of the book. As to the first point, yes, I would definitely recommend this book. If you’re reading this review and have been interested in reading this book based on what you’ve been reading me write, I would definitely tell you to hop on to your favorite online retailer, go to your local bookstore, comic shop, or library, or try to find this from a friend and give this book a read. As to the second point, I feel like this is a horror comic, so fans of the horror genre could possibly find this book entertaining. This book could also be enjoyable to people who enjoy reading about fictional paganistic cults.

            Okay, we are now in the home stretch. I do have a little bit more to say before I wrap this up. The first thing is, I’ve been doing this blog for six years now. In that time, I’ve posted over two hundred times. If you have some free time left after finishing this review, feel free to check out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content. I have posted short stories, poems, essays, articles, and editorials, as well as plenty of other reviews. My reviews include prose novels, manga, comic book events, and over seven dozen other reviews of Epic Collections just like this one. The current focus of this blog is to review Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I’m a devoted Marvel fan and purchase every single one of those as soon as I can after they are released and put up a review as soon as possible. If you have the time and are interested, feel free to search for my review of “Carnage: Carnage U.S.A” for more Carnage content. I post on a basis of at least once every two months, but I’m usually a lot more active than that, it all depends on how many releases there are a month. In case you’re interested, my next review is going to be “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Into the Gwenverse” which you can expect to see posted within the next four weeks following the posting of this review. I plan to keep on doing this blog for as long as I can, so don’t expect it to stop anytime soon. I would like to state that everything I post on this blog is my own personal opinion. I do not expect any of my readers to agree with what I write. If you’ve read this book as well, please feel free to drop a comment letting me know what you think of this book, whether you agree with me or disagree, I would enjoy reading what you think. I would love to hear from any of my readers about anything, you’re always welcome to leave me a comment, what you think about my posts, things you want to see, things you want me to change, I’m all eyes. Please like, share, retweet, tell your send to your friends, promote me out there, I’d love to reach more people. That’s really all I have to say for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Island"

 

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

            Peter Parker/Spider-Man had recently lost his Spider-Sense, a precognitive ability that warned Peter of imminent danger. Julia Carpenter/Madame Web had become aware of Spider-Man’s severance from the Web of life. Madame Web conferred with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu, aware that a great danger was coming that Spider-Man had to prepare for, but asking for Shang-Chi’s instruction must be Spider-Man’s choice. Madame Web had Shang-Chi watch as Jerome Beechman/Mandrill attempted to commit a robbery, using his pheromone powers to control Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, but Madame Web instructed Shang-Chi not to assist. Spider-Man was able to break Mandrill’s control over Spider-Woman, and Spider-Man and Spider-Woman teamed up to defeat Mandrill. Spider-Man asked Shang-Chi to teach Spider-Man Kung-Fu. Shang-Chi began instructing Spider-Man, telling Spider-Man that Spider-Man had to learn the Way of the Spider.

            One night, Eddie Brock/Anti-Venom stumbled upon a vigilante called the Wraith taking down a group of Martin Li/Mr. Negative’s Demons, and saw Wraith unmask as Jean DeWolff, deceased former NYPD Captain. The next day, Peter was featured in an article in American Science Journal. Peter’s Aunt May Jameson and her husband Jay Jameson, Sr. were at Li’s F.E.A.S.T. Shelter, handing out copies of the American Science Journal when May made physical contact with Li. May had previously discovered Li was Mr. Negative, but Mr. Negative had used Mr. Negative’s powers to make May forget. This contact caused May to pass out. The NYPD, led by Captain Yuri Watanbe, were called to investigate the crime scene of the Wraith’s bust from the night before, including Peter’s girlfriend, NYPD C.S.I. Carlie Cooper. As Mr. Negative left the F.E.A.S.T. Shelter in a limousine, Anti-Venom attacked Mr. Negative’s limo, intent on ending Mr. Negative. Spider-Man, unaware Martin Li was Mr. Negative, fought Anti-Venom, and Mr. Negative’s limo was able to escape. Anti-Venom overpowered Spider-Man and webbed Spider-Man up, then told Spider-Man Li was Mr. Negative, but Spider-Man did not believe Anti-Venom. Anti-Venom left Spider-Man webbed up and went after Mr. Negative again. Li donated a collection of Terracotta Warriors to the Metropolitan Museum, with product hidden inside that Mr. Negative intended on having his Demons extract that night. Anti-Venom overheard Mr. Negative and his Demons discussing their plans for the product extraction. Carlie continued investigating the Wraith, suspicious Captain Watanabe was hiding something about the case. Anti-Venom brought Spider-Man to the Metropolitan Museum to witness Anti-Venom stop Mr. Negative and the Demons. Mr. Negative incapacitated Anti-Venom, but Spider-Man and Wraith picked up the fight. Wraith used facial recognition technology in her mask to confirm that Li was Mr. Negative and sent it out as a broadcast. Mr. Negative, now exposed, managed to escape. Anti-Venom left the crime scene, leaving Spider-Man to deal with the cops. Carlie identified the Wraith’s true identity. Carlie asked Peter the truth about Peter’s connection with Spider-Man. Peter told Carlie that Peter made technology for Spider-Man.

            Peter and Betty Brant got together for a movie night on the first Friday of every month. Betty really wanted to see a movie that was a limited engagement, but Peter said Peter couldn’t go because Peter had to work. Betty decided to go alone. On the way to the theater, Betty was mugged and the locket Betty’s mother gave Betty was stolen. Betty was discovered and brought to the hospital. All of Betty’s friend came to the hospital, except for Peter, who went looking for the mugger as Spider-Man. Spider-Man found Betty’s mother’s locket at a pawn shop and found out the mugger’s name was Harlan Finch. Spider-Man went on a vendetta looking for Finch. Aunt May called Peter and told Peter that Peter’s place and responsibility was to be with Betty. Peter gave up looking for Finch and went to the hospital and watched a movie with Betty in Betty’s hospital room.

            Spider-Man had a night where his misinterpreted situations and leapt into action at the wrong time, and his help was not needed and not appreciated.

            Jay and May invited Peter, Carlie, and Mayor J. Jonah Jameson to dinner to tell the family that Jay and May were going to be moving to Boston. Carlie discovered she was developing abilities similar to Spider-Man.

            Professor Miles Warren/Jackal unleashed bedbugs upon New York City whose bites gave the bug’s victims powers similar to Spider-Man. Shang-Chi continued to train Spider-Man, under the watchful eyes of Madame Web.

            Jackal resurrected Peter Parker’s clone Kaine Parker and transformed Kaine into Jackal’s new Tarantula. Abby-L, clone of the deceased Gwen Stacy, attacked Jackal and Tarantula, intent on ending the Jackal’s threat once and for all, but failed in Abby-L’s quest for revenge. The Jackal made a new ally in his machinations.

            Mayor J. Jonah Jameson’s approval ratings were at an all-time low due to his Anti-Spider Patrol. Peter presented his new invention, the Cryo Cube, to Peter’s boss at Horizon Lab’s, Max Modell. Carlie’s powers continued to get stronger. Phil Urich/Hobgoblin saved Peter from getting hit by a bus. Daily Bugle reporter Norah Winters told Peter of reports of multiple Spider-Man sightings at the same time. New York citizens were hospitalized after developing Spider-Man-like powers. Jackal began to recruit an army of spider-powered soldiers. Madame Web challenged Spider-Man to a fight. Spider-Man was able to hold his own in the fight until Madame Web revealed to Spider-Man that Madame Web had been grooming Spider-Man and that Spider-Man would have to use a killing stroke in the battle ahead, a move Spider-Man intended to refuse to make. Jackal’s ally brought Jackal Steve Rogers/Captain America to transform into the monstrous Spider-King. Carlie revealed to Peter that Carlie had powers. Jackal had his army dress up in Spider-Man costumes and commit crimes. Peter and Carlie brought May and Jay to the airport. A group of superheroes arrived to fight the Spider-Men attacking New York City and ended up fighting the real Spider-Man as well. Norah Winters wanted to report on the happenings and called Phil Urich to be Norah’s cameraman. Phil had been watching Norah for a while and knew Norah was going to call and purposely planned to take Phil’s time answering, but Norah gave up and called Norah’s boyfriend Randy Robertson instead. Randy raced to the scene of the action where Norah was, where Randy was attacked by Hobgoblin. Randy fought back, using spider powers, including some Spider-Man himself didn’t even possess. Norah recorded the whole fight. In Randy’s anger for Norah’s obsession with getting a story with no regard for Randy’s safety where Norah had an opportunity to help, Randy broke up with Norah. Hobgoblin escaped, and Phil returned to the scene where Norah and Phil got together. Shang-Chi and James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine identified Peter as the real Spider-Man, and Luke Cage told Peter for Peter’s safety to leave the fight. Carlie and the Anti-Spider Patrol joined the fight. As the heroes were losing the battle, Peter made a rallying cry to the spider-powered people of New York to be superheroes and led a group of spider-heroes into the fight, and the spider-heroes were able to turn the tide of the battle. Horizon Labs was chosen to work on a cure for the people of Spider-Island. Reed Richard/Mister Fantastic of the Future Foundation (which Spider-Man was currently a member of), was called in to lead the work for a cure. Peter was selected to repurpose the confiscated gadgets in the superhuman evidence locker in the police department into gear for the Anti-Spider Patrol. Carlie figured out the Jackal was behind Spider-Island and got a lead on Jackal’s location. Peter and Carlie went to an abandoned lab at Empire State University, where they were attacked by Steven Hudak/Scorcher, Lorina Dodson/White Rabbit, and Nicholas Powell/Chance. Peter and Carlie defeated the villains, and Carlie told Peter that Carlie wanted Peter to bring Spider-Man to the precinct so Carlie, Peter, and Spider-Man could talk. Horizon Labs created Spider-Sense Jammers that would create a psychic barrier that would quarantine Spider-Island and prevent the infected from leaving the Island. Reed discovered that the virus had been carried by bedbugs but was now airborne. Reed also discovered that mutants and superhumans were immune to the virus. The Jammers were inhibiting Madame Web’s ability to see the future. Anti-Venom was curing the infected of their spider-powers through physical contact. Spider-Man met with Carlie. Spider-Man and Carlie went to a crime scene to fight Herman Schultz/Shocker, who was mutating. Jackal’s ally, Adrian Soria/the Queen, began transforming the infected into giant spiders, including Carly. Mary Jane Watson, Peter’s ex-girlfriend, remained unaffected by the virus. Anti-Venom set up a base at Our Lady of Saints Church, where Anti-Venom was curing the infected. Mayor Jameson teamed up with Spider-Man. Flash Thompson/Agent Venom had been impersonating Spider-King and was with the Queen when news of Anti-Venom curing the infected reached the Queen, news that Agent Venom shared with Venom’s handlers at Project Rebirth. This news was then relayed to Reed, who wanted to get Anti-Venom immediately so Reed could formulate a cure. Mayor Jameson brought Spider-Man to see the imprisoned Allistaire Smythe/Spider-Slayer to learn how to stop a city of spiders. Mary Jane began to exhibit spider-powers. Agent Venom caught Anti-Venom and brought Anti-Venom to Reed. Reed asked for Anti-Venom’s help in curing Spider-Island but told Eddie it would mean giving up being Anti-Venom. Mayor Jameson mutated and attacked Smythe and Spider-Man, but Spider-Man was able to web up the mayor. The Queen mutated Horizon Labs scientist Sajani Jaffrey. Reed tested Reed’s cure on Sajani, and the cure worked. Madame Web came to Horizon Labs to tell Max Modell that the Jammers were inhibiting Madame Web’s visions, and that Spider-Man no longer had Spider-Sense. Max got all the scientists in Horizon Labs working on a way to fix Spider-Man. Spider-Man went to Peter’s lab at Horizon Labs and was attacked by Tarantula. Jackal had provided Tarantula with a toxin that would contaminate Reed’s cure. Tarantula was going to throw Spider-Man into the cure along with the toxin, when Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense was restored. Spider-Man overpowered Tarantula and knocked Tarantula into the cure. Kaine emerged from the cure in a human form still possessing spider-powers. Jackal told the Queen that Jackal no longer had contact with Tarantula. The Queen discovered her powers were amplified to god-like proportions and used them on Jackal. Steve Rogers and Agent Venom battled the Queen in Central Park. The Queen transformed into the gigantic monstrous Spider-Queen. Ben Grimm/Thing, Spider-Woman, and Mary Jane arrived at Horizon Labs. Spider-Man and Kaine pulled a quick costume change before Max, Thing, Reed, Spider-Woman, and Mary Jane arrived in Peter’s lab. Peter gave Kaine Peter’s Stealth Suit, and Spider-Man, Kaine, and Mary Jane joined Steve Rogers, the X-Men, the Avengers, Agent Venom, and several other superheroes as they fought the Queen and to deliver the cure and put an end to Spider-Island. Carlie figured out Peter was Spider-Man. Carlie forced Peter to admit that Peter was Spider-Man, then left Peter. Peter went to Doctor Stephen Strange and learned that Doctor Strange’s spell was now weakened and people would now be able to figure out that Peter Parker was Spider-Man without Peter unmasking to them, due to Peter’s actions during Spider-Island. Peter took a dose of the cure to give to Mary Jane, who never fully transformed.

            People were flocking to New York City, hoping to gain spider-powers. Tiberius Stone offered the Spider-Sense Jammer tech plans to Wilson Fisk/Kingpin. A young man was recruited to the Flock and dubbed Michael, along with Angela Death, Lucifer, and Gabriel, armed with flying technology. The Flock committed robberies and brought their loot to their leader Adrian Toomes/Vulture in exchange for keeping their flying technology. Carlie was investigating deaths caused by the Flock. Peter and Carlie met accidentally at the Coffee Bean and agreed to a Spider-Man/Carlie Cooper joint investigation. During a heist, Michael tried to keep a piece of loot for himself. Vulture, who kept track of the weight of each member of the Flock, tried to send Michael to the ground as punishment, but Spider-Man saved Michael and fought the Vulture and the Flock. Carlie went to Mary Jane to talk about their relationships with Peter Parker and Spider-Man.

            The Sinister Six (Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, Flint Marko/Sandman, Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon, Aleksei Systevich/Rhino, Max Dillon/Electro, and Quentin Beck/Mysterio) went to Russia to prevent the Intelligencia from taking over the world and to get the organization of the smartest super villains on Earth to admit that Otto had the superior intellect. When Mysterio questioned Doctor Octopus about why the Sinister Six saved the world, Doctor Octopus informed Mysterio that it was because the Sinister Six would be taking over the world themselves.

            Okay, now that we have that highly lengthy plot synopsis out of the way, we can move on to my individual bits. We’re going to start where we always start, with my own personal opinions about the book. I loved the stories in this book. I thought they were fantastically written. I enjoyed Madame Web throughout the course of this book, the way Madame Web shaped Spider-Man to prepare Spider-Man for the great battle and using Shang-Chi to teach Spider-Man the Way of the Spider was really interesting. “The Return of Anti-Venom” was enjoyable, I loved how Wraith exposed Mr. Negative. I loved “Crossroads,” especially when Aunt May guilted Peter, that part was heart-wrenching and a great moment, extremely powerful. Aunt May and Jay leaving for Boston was unexpected, and the emotional impact it left was really touching. The Jackal is one of my favorite Spider-Man villains, and I loved that he resurrected Kaine. “Spider-Island” was my favorite story in the book, and it had a lot of great moments. Peter using his spider-powers openly as Peter Parker was one of my favorite parts of the book, and I love that it had huge consequences. Mayor Jameson getting spider-powers was a great ironic moment, hating Spider-Man so much for so many years and then becoming one was just great divine punishment. I loved watching Carly develop throughout the book, seeing her detective skills improving, from learning the identity of the Wraith, to figuring out her boyfriend was Spider-Man, to investigating the Flock, it was fun just seeing her as an intellect, and I totally respected her decision to leave Peter the way she did. The aftermath of Spider-Island was hysterical, and the panel with Hercules, I just can’t. The Sinister Six issue was also very entertaining, seeing Spider-Man’s villains fighting to save the world just so they can conquer it later. Now, of course, this is a graphic novel, so I would be remiss if I did not talk about my opinions about the art. I will say in general, I enjoyed the artwork. There were a lot of panels by Giuseppe Camuncoli that just did not appeal to me. It was just the faces of the human characters, they just don’t quite look right to me. The superhero faces and actions look fine most of the time, it’s just the regular people that just don’t always appeal to me. Humberto Ramos is an artist who, for me, is great because his proportions are distorted, and yet somehow, are still pleasant to look at, which I can’t explain, because usually that is an immediate turnoff for me, but something about his work is still enjoyable to me. Ryan Stegman and Stefano Caselli also did fantastic jobs illustrating this book. Next up, I will go and get nitpicky and talk about the title. Seeing as the majority of this book pertained to the “Spider-Island” storyline, I will say that choosing to call this book “Spider-Island” was the appropriate choice for a title. Getting even more nitpicky, I will evaluate the appropriateness of the cover. This cover depicts Spider-Man, along with Cloak, Dagger, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Hulk, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Captain America, Spider-Woman, and Thing all wearing various costumes that Spider-Man or Spider-Man’s clones wore at points in the past. I feel like this is a misleading cover as this does not happen in this book. None of the heroes ever wear Spider-costumes. In fact, Hulk does not even appear in this book at all. As such, I feel like this cover does not properly represent this particular volume. In summation, as stories go, I found this book to be well written, and the artwork was, for the most part, appealing to me, but I feel like the cover should have been one that delivered on its promise and gave the readers what it showed on the front of the book, but the title was absolutely spot on.

            Next up on the agenda is accessibility. I’ve done over seven dozen reviews like this, and I’ve explained every time my meaning of using this word, but I know every time I have readers who have never been to this blog before and don’t know what I mean when I use the word accessibility in application to a graphic novel. As such, I will explain it once again for you newbs. Accessibility means how easy it is for someone who knows absolutely nothing about Spider-Man or Marvel in general to obtain this graphic novel, read the entire story, and understand the content as written with no outside context or prior knowledge. I feel like this book has accessibility with a few takebacks. It continues on stories previously established, but it does not pick up directly from a previous story at the start of this volume. It features the main storyline of an event and includes two tie-in issues. It does not contain issues from any other ongoing series. I feel like this book could be considered standalone, but it is not complete. There are references to moments from other series in the event that are not contained in this volume. If you’re just starting to read Marvel Comics and are looking for a first book, this is not the perfect starting point, but it’s not a book that I would discourage you from picking.

            Moving on, I’m going to give a numeric assessment of exactly how good I feel like this book was. This means I’m going to give my score for this book. I know some people come to this blog with the score as their main interest in the post, but I know that the plot synopsis is the most enjoyable part, but every segment in this blog has value and is important to different people for different reasons. As I said when I discussed accessibility, I always have new readers every time I do a new post, so I have to explain how things work. So, I must explain my scoring system. It’s fairly basic; I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one to ten. One is the lowest score I can give, and that means that this book is a flaming pile of trash and should be avoided at all costs. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, and that means that this book is sheer perfection and belongs on the bestseller list. I’m not in the business of just handing out a ten. To get a ten, a book has to have a story I can find no faults with, consistently appealing artwork, and a title and cover that appropriately represent the content within the pages inside it. We’ve already established that I loved the stories, found the art to be appealing for most of the book, the title was proper for the book, but the cover did not deliver on the promise it presented. So, taking all those factors into consideration, the score we’re looking at here is… an eight! This book was a fantastic effort, but it could have used visual improvement and a cover that showed events that actually happened inside the book.

            As we continue, we have now come to the recommendation segment. This segment is meant to achieve two goals. The first is to answer the question of if I, Tim Cubbin, would personally tell you, my readers, to actually read this book. The second is to establish the best audience for this book, beyond just fans of Marvel, Spider-Man, or the creative team, based on qualities or characteristics or story elements or areas of interest from this book that appeal to readers that I feel would make this book be enjoyable to them. So, we’ll start off with asking do I recommend this book? The answer is a definite yes. If you’re reading this review and now, based solely on the words you’ve just spent the past few minutes perusing, you’re interested in reading this book, I would tell you to head to your local bookstore, comic book shop or library, hop onto your favorite online retailer, or try to find a friend or relative with this book, somehow get your hands on this book and read it, you will definitely enjoy it. As for establishing an audience, I feel like those interested in the martial arts could be interested in this book. Fans of stories about viral contagions could find this book to be entertaining. This book could also be of interest to people who enjoy stories about physical metamorphoses. This book would also be interesting to readers who enjoy books about everyday people stepping up to do the extraordinary.

            Okay, I think we’ve reached the cooldown point. This is where I explain a few things about this blog before I let you move on with your life. First off, I have been doing this blog for six years now. During that time, I’ve posted over 200 times. If you enjoyed this post and have more free time, check out more on timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my work. If you think all I do is book reviews, you’d be wrong. While I have reviewed over seven dozen books just like this one, I have also reviewed prose novels, comic books events, and manga, and I’ve even written a few short stories, poems, essays, articles and editorial, so there’s plenty more content to view. If you liked this post and have more free time, search for my reviews of “The Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home” “The Amazing Spider-Man: The Life and Death of Spiders” “The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Past” “The Amazing Spider-Man: Big Time” “Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn’t it Bromantic?” “Spider-Man/Deadpool: ’Til Death Do Us” and “Spider-Man/Deadpool: Road Trip” for more Spider-Man content. This blog currently focuses on reviewing Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase each one as soon as I can after it is released and post a review of it as soon as I can upon completion of reading it. As such, I usually post at least once every two months. My next post is going to be a review of “Carnage: Prophecy of the Darkhold” which you can expect to see on this blog within the next two months of this posting. I hope you will be back with me. I would like to go on the record as saying that everything on this blog is my personal opinion, a fact I accept. I don’t expect you to agree with me about everything I say. If I ever review a book, and you read it, you can leave me a comment about how you feel about it, if you agree with me, disagree with me, whatever you’d like to say about the book, you are always welcome to voice your opinion. If any reader ever has anything to say about anything on this blog, feel free to do so. I’d love to hear from you. This honestly does not happen, and I really would like for it to, I’d love to have discussions with my readers. Please like, react, share, retweet, get me out to your friends, I’d really love to reach more and new people. That’s all I have to say for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"The Ultimates: Gods and Monsters"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “The Ultimates: Gods and Monsters” as presented in Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection format.

            A year after saving the Earth from an alien invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s superhuman defense team the Ultimates (Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Janet Pym/Wasp, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver, and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), led by General Nick Fury, continued to fight terrorism. Hank Pym/Giant Man had been expelled from active duty, Thor quit the team, and Bruce Banner/Hulk was imprisoned, but Banner’s identity as the Hulk was withheld from all unauthorized personnel and the general public. Steve and Jan were exploring their relationship following Jan and Hank’s separation following domestic abuse. Tony and Natasha had also begun dating. Hank was trying to find a way back onto the Ultimates under a different codename, workshopping the identity of Ant-Man. Bruce, while in lockup, was working on more potential super soldiers for Ultimates membership, but was meeting with no success. Bruces’s identity as the Hulk was leaked to the press. This proved there was a leak from deep within S.H.I.E.L.D. and shed a bad light on Fury and the Ultimates, who had pretended for over a year to be unaware of the Hulk’s true identity or origin. Steve tracked down Thor, who was the suspected leak, but Thor denied any involvement in leaking Bruce’s identity, knowing that exposing Bruce was basically a death sentence as the Hulk was implicated in mass murder. Bruce went on a highly televised trial as the Hulk, with Matt Murdock defending Bruce. Betty Ross, Bruce’s ex, begged Bruce’s forgiveness, feeling guilty for Bruce turning Bruce into the Hulk, but Bruce refused to forgive Betty. Bruce was found guilty and sentenced to death. Bruce’s execution was carried out by sedating Bruce and setting off a one-megaton bomb, but unknown to S.H.I.E.L.D., Bruce survived the explosion. Tony gave Natasha a suit of armor similar to Tony’s own Iron Man armor. While on a test run, Tony flashily proposed to Natasha. Natasha accepted Tony’s proposal. The Ultimates were called to Europe to meet with the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s European Defense Initiative, James Braddock. The Ultimates were introduced to the European super soldiers Brian Braddock/Captain Britain, Umberto Landi/Captain Italy, Carlos Fraile/Captain Spain, and Hugo Etherlinck/Captain France. The Ultimates also met a man claiming to be Gunnar Golmen, head of the Norwegian team, who had been working on technology that had been stolen by his brother Thorlief, the man the Ultimates knew as Thor. Thor had been going throughout Europe aiding in protests using the alleged stolen technology. The Ultimates went to Norway to confront Thor to put an end to Thor’s activities and take the technology back. During the confrontation, Thor claimed that Gunnar was actually Loki, Asgardian God of Mischief, trying to trick the Ultimates. After a battle, the Ultimates, with the aid of the European Defense Initiative super soldiers, were able to subdue Thor. Thor was restrained and placed in a holding cell in the Triskelion. Loki visited Thor in Thor’s imprisonment to gloat and to tell Thor that there was a traitor among the Ultimates.

            Hank joined up with fledgling wannabe superhero team the Defenders (Nighthawk, Black Knight, Hellcat, Power Man, Son of Satan, and Valkyrie. Hank had been trying to give S.H.I.E.L.D. androids Hank called Ultron and Vision Two to aid the Ultimates, but Fury did not want to accept Hank’s gifts. The Defenders were primed to make their big superhero debut, stopping a robbery at a cigarette warehouse. This bust failed miserably, with Nighthawk badly injured, Hank landing in the news indecently exposed, and the perps getting away.

            Jan had been meeting with Hank, unsatisfied in her relationship with Steve. Steve wanted to spend so much of Steve and Jan’s time with Bucky Barnes (Steve’s World War II buddy) and Bucky’s wife Gail (Steve’s ex-fiancé whom Bucky married after Steve was presumed dead), while Jan wanted to spend time with people Jan’s own age. The wolf in the fold and several enemy agents visited Clint’s house and shot Clint and executed Clint’s wife and three kids, then took Clint. Steve and Jan had a fight and Steve left to think. Security footage of the attack on Clint’s house revealed the agents who assaulted Clint and Clint’s family to be led by Steve Rogers. While visiting Greenwood Cemetery with Bucky, Steve was apprehended by a S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical team led by Fury. The Liberators (Colonel, Abomination, Crimson Dynamo, Hurricane, Swarm, Perun, Schizoid Man, and Loki) launched an assault on the United States of America, attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers, the Triskelion, and New York City, aided by Hank and Hank’s androids. Natasha revealed herself to be the actual traitor inside the Ultimates. Natasha took out Tony’s butler Jarvis and planned to have Tony wire Natasha money, then execute Tony as well, but Tony revealed the armor that Tony had given Natasha had nanites that Tony could control, and Tony subdued Natasha. Clint managed to escape his captors. Schizoid Man and several agents of the Liberators came to put down Steve, but Jan had already released Steve and Steve and Jan subdued the would-be assassins and went to free Thor, but Thor had already escaped. The Liberators went to Washington, D.C., abducting Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. The Ultimates followed and battled the Liberators at the White House, where they were reunited with Hawkeye. The Hulk also made a reappearance and joined the Ultimates as the Ultimates, Nick Fury, and Betty Ross fought to survive against the Liberators. As the battle turned in the favor of the Ultimates, Loki summoned an army. Things looked bad for the United States of America until Thor appeared, aided by an army from Asgard. The two armies fought, with the fate of the country hanging in the balance.

            Retired assassin Mister Nix was called out of retirement to kill Nick Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. was working on a reserves team for the Ultimates, to add to the core team, or to act as replacements should anything happen to the active members. The Defenders recruited Whiz-Kid to their team.

            Okay, we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, it’s time to move on to my individual segments of this review. We’re going to start, as we always do, with my personal opinions on this book. First off, I’m going to talk about the story. I will say I was not fully pleased with these stories. I thought the first six issues and the annual were great. I totally loved them. It’s once we get to the point where Black Widow takes out Hawkeye’s family where I started to feel offput. I thought executing an innocent woman and three young children, including a baby, was too much. I originally thought the domestic assault in Vol. 1 was bad, this just totally surpassed that on a scale of one-to-totally messed up. And Jan confiding in Hank about her insecurities with Steve just totally ruined my impression of Jan, that Jan would even want to breathe the same air as the man who put Jan in the hospital is beyond me, considering everything that happened between Jan and Hank. The whole battle with the Liberators seemed messy and a little disjointed. The epic-ness of the battle also detracted a little bit from potential story development. All that said, what I did find enjoyable was the trial of the Hulk, the introduction of the European Defense Initiative, the Ultimates versus Thor, the introduction of the Defenders, and the hit on Fury. Next up to discuss is the artwork. I will say that I enjoy Brian Hitch’s work a lot. I love his stylizations; I think they’re totally amazing. I particularly like when he draws closeups of faces, the details he draws are amazing. Sometimes, when he draws characters from a distance, it does go a little wonky, but I generally enjoy his artwork. I will say that Steve Dillon did a fair job with his illustrations, but there’s just a little something about the faces he draws that just doesn’t quite look right. I didn’t find the artwork to be totally offensive, but at the same time, the appeal wasn’t consistent. The next thing I’d like to discuss is the appropriateness of the title. I know, I’m very nitpicky, but I have to do an in-depth assessment of this book, and the title is an important part of that, in my opinion. So, this book was titled “Gods and Monsters.” In my honest opinion, I feel that is a fair title for this book. Considering we have the conflict between Thor and the Asgardians against Loki and his army, as well as Hulk and Abomination as a key focus in this book, the title is an appropriate way to describe this book. And to get even more nitpicky, I will also assess if the cover is appropriate. The cover shows the Ultimates and the European Defense Initiative standing and flying together. I feel like this is a good way to advertise this book. It properly captures the essence of the interior, showing the characters battle-ready. I feel like the marketing for this book was proper and describes and depicts the contents of what the reader can expect when they go to experience this graphic novel. Overall, this wasn’t a terrible graphic novel, in my opinion, but there was just a line that got crossed too far that changed my experience quite drastically, and not for the better, but the illustrations were relatively appealing for the most part of this graphic novel, which did improve the experience immensely.

            Next up on the list of things we’re going to discuss is accessibility. I know I’ve talked about this over seven dozen times by this point, but I know that every time I do a book review, I have new readers who don’t know what I mean by this, so I have to explain myself, so if you’ve been with me before, please bear with me while I go over the meaning of accessibility in application to a graphic novel once again. So, by doing this, I’m asking if a book is accessible, meaning can a person who knows absolutely nothing about the Ultimates or Marvel in general obtain a copy of this book, read it, and understand everything they’ve read based on just the content in this particular volume, with no outside knowledge or context. My answer to that is yes. This book is relatively self-contained. The contents are all thirteen issues of Ultimates 2 and Ultimates Annual #1. This does not tie into any events or crossover into any other comics series. While having read the first volume of The Ultimates helps understand this book more comprehensively, I will not say that I feel like it is required reading. The story starts fresh, not continuing directly from where the previous stories left off while still following the threads established in the first volume of The Ultimates. If you’re interested in starting to read Marvel Comics and have never done so before, while I wouldn’t describe this as the best or perfect place to start your adventure into reading Marvel, I also would not deter you from choosing this volume as your starting point. I would encourage you to read “The Ultimates” #1-13 prior to reading this volume, but I wouldn’t tell you that it’s essential to do so if you just want to read this book.

            Next up on our agenda is the numeric score. This is the part of my review that establishes just how good I feel a book is and is one of the most essential paragraphs in my reviews, but I am aware that some people come to hear about the stories as well, so I wouldn’t say that this is the most important paragraph. Anyway, if you’re new to my reviews, you don’t know how I score books, so I’m going to have to go over that again for those of you joining me for the first time. My system is fairly simple: I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one through ten. The lowest score I can give is a one, which means that this book is a horrible read that I wish I could go back in time and make it so that I never even knew this book existed, let alone bought or read it. Ten is my highest score, which means that this book is sheer perfection and I will read this book again when I feel the urge and love every second of it every subsequent time, I reexperience this book. A ten has specific requirements for me. It has to have a captivating story that is enjoyable from start to finish. The artwork has to be consistently appealing through every panel of the book. And the title and cover must properly market the majority of the content contained within the pages of the book. We’ve established that this book did not have a story that was enjoyable throughout the entirety of this book, and the artwork did have inconsistencies, but the title and cover were proper representations for this book. So, laying everything out on the table and dishing out my score, what we’re looking at here is… a six. This book was only half enjoyable story-wise, and the art left a little something to be desired, but I do score it on the higher side of midrange.

            Next up is the recommendation segment. This segment is designed for two purposes. The first is to express if I, Tim Cubbin, would personally tell you, my wonderful readers, to go out and get your hands on a copy of this book and read it. The second purpose is to describe what kind of interests a reader would have that would lead them to enjoy this book, besides fans of The Ultimates, Marvel, or the creative team. Let’s start with the first point. If you’re interested in reading this book now based solely on the words you’ve just spent the past few minutes reading, I would tell you to hop onto your favorite online retailer, or check a local bookstore, comic shop, or library, or try to see if anyone you know has this book because this book gets my recommendation, but it doesn’t get my highest one. As for the audiences who would most appreciate this book, I would say it would be people interested in mythology, or stories about wars on terrorism, military, espionage, or technology.

            Okay, we’re getting to the point where we’re almost ready to say goodbye. There’re a lot of things I do have to say first. First off, I’ve been doing this blog for almost six years now. In that time, I have posted 200 times. If you liked this post and have some free time, please continue exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for tons of more content. I have written several short stories, poems, essays, articles, and editorials, as well as reviews of prose novels, manga, comic book events, and over seven dozen other Marvel Epic Collections. The current direction of this blog is to review Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase each one as soon as I can after it is released, and if possible, put up a review as soon as I can after I finish reading it. I post on a very frequent basis, usually at least once every two months. If you liked this post and have some more time to kill and want to read a similar post, I invite you to search for my review of “The Ultimates: Super-Human” for more Ultimates content. I would like to state that I am aware that everything I say on my blog is my opinion. You are free to agree or disagree with me. If you’ve read this book and have differing opinions, feel free to leave a comment, or if you agree, I’d really like to know. I’d love to hear what my readers think. Please always feel free to drop a comment on anything you want to say, if you like my work, you don’t like what I’m doing, you want me to do something different, there’s something you want to see, anything at all, I’m always receptive. In case you’re wondering, my next post is going to be “The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Island” which you can expect to see posted within the next three weeks following this post. If you read with me all the way through this, you are THE BEST! I’m going to keep doing this blog for as long as I’m able to, so don’t expect this to stop anytime soon. I hope you’ll be back with me next time. Until then, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Sitting in a Tree"

 

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

            Miles Morales was having difficulty with his dual life as both a student at Brooklyn Visions Academy in New York and as the superhero Spider-Man. He couldn’t keep a date and his grades were slipping. Miles didn’t have a lot of people he could confide in about his secret identity, just his best friend Ganke Lee, his father Jefferson Davis, and a few of his fellow superheroes. Miles’ declining grades were becoming a concern to Miles’ mother, Rio Morales, who was becoming suspicious that something was going on in her son’s life. Blackheart, Prince of the Underworld, came to Earth, intent on laying claim to it. The Avengers all fell in battle with the demon. Miles left school to fight the demon. Miles chased off Blackheart and was left standing alone over the defeated Avengers. Peter Parker/the Amazing Spider-Man found the scene and misread the situation. Peter expressed he wished to rethink giving Miles Peter’s blessing for Miles to go by the name “Spider-Man.” Blackheart returned and knocked Peter unconscious. Miles then fought and defeated Blackheart singlehandedly. The revived Avengers kept the cops from apprehending Miles, and Peter gave Miles Peter’s renewed blessing for Miles to be Spider-Man. Miles went to his parents’ house to find that Rio had called Miles’ grandmother Gloria to straighten Miles out. Gloria confiscated Miles’ phone, saying Miles could have it back when Miles earned it. Miles’ friend and fellow teenage superhero Lane Baumgartner/Bombshell came to visit Miles, but Gloria turned her away, convinced her presence there involved illegal substances. Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, concerned that Miles missed a meeting with their superhero team the Champions, came to visit Miles, and was almost caught by Gloria. Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, looking the secure her place as a leading crime boss, formed an alliance with fellow New York crime boss Hammerhead to go eliminate the new Spider-Man. Brooklyn Visions Academy welcomed a new student, former X-Men trainee Fabio Medina/Goldballs. Ganke was a huge fan of Goldballs, and Ganke told Fabio that Miles was Spider-Man, hoping to build a bridge between Miles and Fabio. This angered Miles, and Miles left to go web-swinging. Ganke invited Fabio to room with Miles and Ganke, and Fabio accepted. Black Cat and Hammerhead sent missiles after Miles and shot Miles down, then kidnapped Miles. Gloria, determined to find out Miles’ secret, hired private investigator Jessica Jones to investigate Gloria’s grandson. Black Cat and Hammerhead tried to learn Miles’ secret identity by scanning his fingerprints but were unable to due to S.H.I.E.L.D. placing a restriction on Miles’ personal information in case anyone was to ever try to identify Miles in exactly such a way. Miles broke loose from being tied up and took down and webbed up Hammerhead and left Hammerhead for the police, but Black Cat escaped. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill talked Jefferson into returning to his position as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

            Tony Stark/Iron Man called Miles to talk to him about Ulysses, a newly emerged Inhuman with the ability to allow people to view a potential future. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel wanted to use Ulysses’ power to take action to prevent crimes from happening, which Tony viewed as profiling, something that Miles sympathized with. Rio went to Jessica Jones, feeling that Gloria had gone too far by hiring a private investigator to follow Miles, and offered to pay Jessica to give up the investigation, but Jessica refused, saying she would only give up the investigation if Gloria called it off. Ulysses showed a vision of Bruce Banner/Hulk losing control and killing all the superheroes. Jessica Jones and her husband Luke Cage came to Miles to tell Miles that Jessica had figured out Miles was Spider-Man, but as a profession courtesy would not tell Gloria, but did tell Miles that Miles needed to be more careful with guarding Miles’ secret identity because Jessica had a very easy time figuring it out, and if Jessica could find out this easily, the wrong person could do so as well. Miles was called to the Triskelion with a gathering of superheroes by Captain Marvel to confront Bruce Banner. On the mission, Clint Barton/Hawkeye put Banner down. Ulysses had a vision of Miles killing Steve Rogers/Captain America on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Intent on proving this vision would not come to pass, Miles hopped a train to Washington, D.C. Miles’ teammates in the Champions Ms. Marvel and Sam Alexander/Nova came to Miles’ parents’ apartment looking for Miles and ran into Jefferson. Ms. Marvel and Nova informed Jefferson that Miles was missing. Goldballs went to Bombshell, concerned about Miles, but Bombshell told Goldballs that Bombshell was not worried about Miles. Ganke went to Spider-Man obsessed social media poster Danika Hart to inform Danika that Spider-Man was missing, hoping Danika’s influence could help locate Spider-Man. Jefferson went to Maria Hill to ask Hill about Miles’ location, worried that Hill may have already arrested Miles, but Hill informed Jefferson that Hill did not know where Miles was. After the climax of the second superhuman Civil War, Miles returned to Brooklyn Visions Academy and relayed the events of the final confrontation to Ganke, Fabio and Ms. Marvel.

            Hill called Jefferson in for a simulated S.H.I.E.L.D. test to see if Jefferson had the resolve to go back in the field. Jefferson passed, and Hill sent Jefferson on a real mission. Rio, concerned when Jefferson did not return home, called Miles to share her fears.

            Hill contacted Miles to tell Miles that Jefferson had been sent on an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. operation to obtain a piece of tech that allowed travel between dimensions but was now missing in another dimension. Hill told Miles that Hill needed Miles to rescue Jefferson because the mission Hill had sent Jefferson on was unsanctioned and Hill could not send any S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives because of this fact. Hill gave Miles a dimensional transporter that would get Miles to the dimension that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s science division last tracked Jefferson’s location to. Miles traveled to that dimension and ran into that dimension’s version of the supervillain the Ringer. Miles defeated the ringer and ran into that universe’s Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman, whom he had previously met in another interdimensional crisis. Miles told Gwen his situation. Miles and Gwen were confronted by Matt Murdock/Kingpin and the Hand. Murdock had been supplying Gwen with the serum that gave Gwen spider powers, courtesy of the evil organization S.I.L.K. Murdock told Miles and Gwen that Jefferson was causing problems for S.I.L.K., which also caused problems for Murdock and gave Gwen a VIP pass to Club Scorpion where Jefferson was known to be, instructing Miles and Gwen to bring Jefferson to Murdock. Gwen went to Club Scorpion, where an auction for the tech that former head of S.I.L.K. Cindy Moon had stolen when she traveled to another dimension. Gwen was recognized at the auction and was attacked. Miles came to Gwen’s rescue, and ran into this dimension’s version of Jefferson Davis, who was the crime boss called Scorpion. Miles called Scorpion “dad,” but Scorpion did not acknowledge Miles as Scorpion’s son and attacked Miles. Miles and Gwen defeated Scorpion and webbed Scorpion up. The police arrived and arrested Scorpion. Miles tried to go back for his father, but Gwen webbed Miles up. The cops came after Miles and Gwen, and Gwen activated Miles’ dimensional teleporter to travel to another dimension to escape the cops, then return back to Gwen’s dimension in a safe location. Miles got a signal of his dimensional transporter to return to origin point, so Miles and Gwen traveled back to Miles’ universe. Peter Parker had already webbed up a group of S.I.L.K. agents who had been attempting to steal batteries for Scorpion. Miles and Gwen came across the S.I.L.K. agents, who suddenly teleported away. Scorpion was trying to make his own teleportation technology and used it to help his agents escape and needed the batteries for Scorpion’s device. Scorpion was enraged his agents failed to obtain the batteries and sent another group to steal batteries. Miles gave his dimensional teleporter to Gwen and followed the S.I.L.K. agents through their portal, telling Gwen to follow Miles using Miles’ teleporter. Miles fought Scorpion until Gwen arrived, and Miles and Gwen were sucked through a portal. Miles and Gwen traveled through several more universes together, until they were separated. Miles arrived in Gwen’s universe, where he found his father. Gwen arrived in a universe where Gwen and Miles had been married for twenty years and had two children, Max and Charlotte, who were being babysat by Peter Porker/Spider-Ham while Miles and Gwen were celebrating their anniversary by going on a second honeymoon. Gwen had to return to her universe to have the ultimate team-up to stop Scorpion, save the multiverse, and help Miles rescue Jefferson. Miles and Gwen then had to decide where they wanted to take their relationship, seeing that there was a potential future for Miles and Gwen as a couple.

            Okay, we have the plot synopsis out of the way, let’s get on with my own individual bits of this review. We’re going to start with, as we always do, my personal opinions about this graphic novel. First off, let’s talk about the stories. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories in this book. As many of my regular readers know, I am a huge fan of the work of Brian Michael Bendis, and I feel like he was once again on the ball with writing these stories. I also enjoyed Jason Latour’s work in the Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen crossover. I will address some of my highlights from this collection. I loved Gloria, the nightmare grandmother. I actually thought she was the greatest villain in the whole book. Gloria’s extreme tough love that went too far could have been a true threat, and I like the resolve of how Jessica Jones extended Miles the professional courtesy of not ratting him out. I liked the addition of Goldballs to the cast. Ganke wanting to unite his two heroes by outing Miles was not well thought out, but it did give Miles a new confidante, so it balanced out in the end. Black Cat is one of my favorite Spider-Man costars, and her first meeting with Miles was entertaining. I enjoyed the “Civil War II” storyline with Miles trying to disprove Ulysses’ power. I loved that Miles’ father was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I loved the titular “Sitting in a Tree” story arc Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen crossover. Some of my longtime readers may recall seeing this story reviewed in “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” a couple of years back, although admittedly I didn’t go into as much detail back then, and also back then I wasn’t as big a fan of it, possibly due to not having the same context then as I do now, because two years ago, I had not read the Spider-Man issues leading up to this storyline, so I didn’t have the same details then as I do now, so now that I know both sides of the story, I think I appreciate it better. Oftentimes when I revisit stories after a great length of time, I find my opinions on them change, and it’s been over two years since the release of “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” and almost a year since the last time I visited this story, so that’s plenty of time for opinions to vary. Next up to discuss my opinions on is the artwork. I will say I enjoyed the majority of the artwork in this collection. My dislike comes from the three “Spider-Gwen” issues illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez. For the rest of the book, the artwork was adequate. It wasn’t the best artwork I’ve ever seen in a comic book, but it wasn’t visually off-putting and was still tolerable to the eyes. Next, I have to talk about my opinion on the title. Yes, for those of you who have never read one of my reviews before. I critique the title and cover and how appropriate it is for the collection. There were really only two obvious choices, “Civil War II” or “Sitting in a Tree,” and “Sitting in a Tree” was the only storyline in this entire volume given a title, so it seemed like the only real option. This storyline also took up six issues, which was over a third of the book. Given these facts, I won’t dispute “Sitting in a Tree” as an adequate title for this collection. However, I do find fault with the cover. The cover features Miles Morales/Spider-Man in the foreground, with an assortment of other superheroes in the background, including Iron Man, Captain Marvel, both Captains America, Thor, Ms. Marvel, Quicksilver, Deadpool, Medusa, and Spider-Woman. While most of these characters don’t play a significant role in the stories, some don’t even grace these pages at all. Therefore, I do not feel this cover delivers on what it depicts and cannot say it was a good choice for this collection. That said, I have more of a positive opinion of this book.

            Our next topic of discussion is accessibility. Some of you newbs who have never read one of my reviews before may be wondering what exactly do I mean by the word “accessibility?” I’ve explained this to my readers over seven dozen times by this point, but I shall do it once again because of said newbs who don’t know what I mean by my usage of the word “accessibility” in application to a graphic novel. Simply put, accessibility is how easy it is for someone who knows nothing about the source material (Miles Morales, Spider-Man, and Marvel in general) to obtain this book, read the book from cover to cover, and comprehend everything they have just consumed. This book is not easily accessible. There are a few things about this book that cause this. This volume is marketed as Vol. 4, but it is the first volume to take place in the 616 Marvel Universe, whereas the previous three volumes took place in the 1610 Ultimate Universe. However, this book ties in to “Civil War II,” a major event at the time, and has issues from a crossover with “Spider-Gwen,” a whole separate ongoing series. These require extensive outside knowledge of Marvel Comics outside what is just contained within these pages to understand the event, and the crossover expects knowledge of Spider-Gwen’s stories as well as Miles,’ which makes this book highly inaccessible. If you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking for a place to start, I would very much not recommend this volume as your first introduction into the Marvel Comics universe.

            It’s about time we moved on to one of the most essential segments of a Tim Cubbin review: the numeric score. I know this is not the only reason people come to read my reviews, but it is a very important part of my reviews to feature as it illustrates exactly how good I think what I am reviewing is. I’ll start off by explaining the system I use when I score media. It’s a fairly simple scale, exact whole numbers ranging from one through ten. One is my lowest score, and that means that this book is one of the worst things I have ever read and that this book deserves to be removed from circulation and never reprinted so no one else can purchase this atrocity and suffer the way I suffered by spending the money I did purchasing and reading this book. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, and that means that this is one of the best things I’ve ever read and if it’s not a comic bestseller, I will never understand that. I only give a book a ten if I feel like it is absolutely perfect. I can find no flaws in the story, no complaints in the art, and the title and cover fit the book adequately. So, when we take all my opinions about this book into consideration, the score I am going to give this book is… an eight! While I loved the story, there were a few issues where the artwork was not visually pleasing, and the cover just did not deliver on the prospect of what it depicted actually happening inside the pages of this book. Still, I genuinely found reading this book to be an enjoyable experience.

            Moving on, the next segment is the recommendation segment. This segment focuses on two major points, answering two key questions. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers? The second question is, regardless of if I would recommend this book to you or not, who is the best audience, and this goes beyond fans of Marvel, Miles Morales, Spider-Man, or the creators, I mean what qualities, characteristics, values, interests or types of readers would find this book to be interesting? In answer to the first question, yes, I absolutely recommend this book. If you’re reading this review and now, based solely on the words you’ve spent the past few minutes reading, you want to read this book, I would now tell you to hop onto your favorite online retailer, or head to your local bookstore, comic shop, or library, or try to find a friend or family member with this book, just somehow get your hands on a copy of this book and give it a read. I think if you enjoyed reading my words, you’ll enjoy reading the book even more. As for the best audiences for this book, Miles is African American and Latino, so those demographics can find Miles to be a relatable character. Also, Miles is a teenager, so that’s another demographic that might see themselves in Miles. This book may also be interesting to readers who enjoy spy/espionage stories. This book may be appealing to readers who like stories about interdimensional travel and alternate universes. This book could hold the interest of readers who enjoy stories about prophecies or predicting the future. And this is a book that might appeal to readers who enjoy stories where heroes fight other heroes.

            Okay, we’re nearing the end of this review. There are a bunch of more things I have to say before I hit publish. If you have more time right now, or if you want to come back another time, feel free to keep exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my posts. I am nearing the six-year anniversary of starting this blog. This is also my 200^th post. This blog features several types of content, including short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and over nine dozen reviews. These reviews include prose novels, manga, graphic novels, comic events, and over seven dozen other Epic Collection reviews. The current focus of this blog is to review Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase all of these said graphic novels as soon as I can after they are published and at my earliest availability, I post a review on this blog. Since I do this, I post on a very frequent basis, at least once every two months. If you enjoyed reading this particular review and want more similar content, feel free to search for my posts “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training” “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More” and “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Revivals and Revelations” for more Miles Morales content. As a heads-up, I’m announcing that my next post is going to be “The Ultimates: Gods and Monsters” which you can expect to see within the next three weeks following the posting of this review. I will tell you that I love doing this blog and will keep doing it for as long as I can, so don’t expect this to be done anytime soon. That’s really all I have to say for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Spider-Girl: Comes the Carnage!"

 

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

            After nearly perishing in a battle with the supervillain Roderick Kingsley/Hobgoblin, young superhero May “Mayday” Parker/Spider-Girl was convinced by her mother Mary Jane Parker to give up the webs and live a normal life. As a result, her grades went up, she had more time with her friends and even found a boyfriend in Eugene “Gene” Thompson, son of Coach Eugene “Flash” Thompson, high school rival-turned friend of Mayday’s father, former Spider-Man now forensic scientist, Peter Parker. With the support of her best friends Courtney Duran and Davida Kirby as her campaign managers, Mayday was running for student council at Midtown High School against the popular Simone DeSantos. Fellow Midtown High students Jimmy Yama and Reynard “Wes” Westin were drawing and illustrating a Spider-Girl comic book. Mayday and Courtney were volunteering at St. Andrews Shelter under the supervision of Caitlan Leiber. One of the women staying at the shelter, Mona Carlo, was sought out at the shelter by her ex, Charlie Kurkle, but Caitlan turned him away. Mona had an item that Charlie was sent by the Hobgoblin to obtain. It was a disk that contained information on all the people that the deceased Wilson Fisk/Kingpin had ever paid off, information that would boost whoever possessed it to the status of the new Kingpin of Crime. Fabian LaMuerto/Black Tarantula, current Kingpin who was hiding out in South America, also wanted that disk. Unhappy that Charlie did not possess the disk, Hobgoblin sent one of his stooges to take out Charlie. Mayday was on her way to Café Indigo to meet her friends, including Gene, when she came upon the scene of Charlie about to be put down. Covering her face, Mayday sprung into action and saved Charlie. Charlie returned to St. Andrews, where Mayday had to prevent Charlie from starting a fire in an attempt to lure Mona out. Mona, knowing she was at risk for carrying the disk, went on the run. Mayday then joined her friends at Café Indigo. Hobgoblin went to St. Andrews and attacked Caitlan looking for both Mona and a list of Caitlan’s teenage volunteers, under the impression that Spider-Girl was secretly volunteering at St. Andrews and was the daughter of Hobgoblin’s archnemesis Spider-Man. The police were called to the scene, including Detective Vincent Drasco, who was secretly in the employ of the Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin planned to send two of his stooges, Rudy and Barney, after the teenage volunteers, aided by a battle armor Hobgoblin had come into possession of. On her school lunch break, Mayday went to St. Andrews looking for clues and ran into Hobgoblin’s stooges. Mayday barely escaped, but the stooges were not under the impression they had just battled Spider-Girl. Mayday returned to school late for class, where she was caught by assistant principal Slattery, who gave Mayday detention and Simone leverage in the student council election. While in detention, both Peter and Mary Jane attempted to call Mayday to warn Mayday that Hobgoblin was looking for the teenage volunteers, which only irritated Slattery, but when Slattery answered Mayday’s phone and spoke to Mary Jane, Mary Jane was infuriated Slattery dared to answer Mayday’s phone and sprung Mayday from detention. Mary Jane returned Mayday’s Spider-Girl costume, telling Mayday that Mary Jane could not accept it if Spider-Girl were prevented from saving lives because of Mary Jane, but to keep this a secret from Peter. Spider-Girl returned to battle Rudy, now called Reverb, to save Courtney. Following Reverb’s arrest, Mary Jane took back possession of the Spider-Girl costume.

Former St. Andrews refugee Betty Forest/Bitter Frost returned to St. Andrews, intent on revenge against Caitlan, who failed Betty when Caitlan first started as a social worker years before. Mona contacted Handsome Richie Valentine, attempting to find a buyer for the disk. Bitter Frost went after her abusive ex-boyfriend Wayne, intent on ending him. Caitlan and Drasco went after Bitter Frost to prevent her from succeeding, but their lives were put in danger. Mayday stole the Spider-Girl costume and swung in to save the day. Mona came into contact with Chesbro, representative of the Black Tarantula.

“Mad Dog” Rassitano, reality television bounty hunter, announced his intention to catch Hobgoblin, a task he had done once before. Mayday’s return as Spider-Girl was beginning to have an impact on her school and social life. Jimmy and Wes made a deal with Deacon, owner of Deacon’s Den, a local comic book show, that if Deacon sole Jimmy and Wes’s Spider-Girl comic book, Spider-Girl would come to the release day event herself. Jimmy intended to have his girlfriend Heather Noble dress the part of Spider-Girl since Jimmy was not convinced Jimmy and Wes could get the real Spider-Girl to promote the comic book. Mad Dog went to Hobgoblin’s brother Daniel Kingsley for information on Hobgoblin’s location. Daniel, who was hiding his brother, sold Mad Dog a location the Hobgoblin was going to be at. However, this was an ambush, and Hobgoblin was not really going to be there. Spider-Girl helped Mad Dog take down the thugs who ambushed Mad Dog, and Mad Dog promised not to televise Spider-Girl’s presence on the scene, mostly because Mad Dog thought being rescued by Spider-Girl on national television would look bad for his reputation. This skirmish caused Mayday to miss a date with Gene.

Drasco and Black Tarantula both obtained Mona’s location. Drasco and Chesbro both went to attempt to get the disk. Spider-Girl swung to Mona’s rescue but needed an assist from Mad Dog. Spider-Girl managed to obtain the disk. Mayday almost missed her campaign speech, but in a turn of events, dropped out of the race and nominated Davida in Mayday’s place, saying Davida would be a better candidate. Hobgoblin learned that Spider-Girl was scheduled to appear at a launch event at Deacon’s Den.

Mayday turned to her confidante Felicity Hardy/Scarlet Spider to try to crack the information on the disk, but Felicity was unable to get past the decryption. At the launch event, Hobgoblin abducted Heather, but realized Heather wasn’t the real Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl saved Heather and lied to Hobgoblin, saying that Spider-Girl had destroyed the disk. Hobgoblin believed Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl was saved from Hobgoblin by Chesbro and one of Black Tarantula’s snipers. Spider-Girl gave the disk to Drasco, unaware Drasco was in the employ of the Hobgoblin. Mayday told her parents that she had returned to being Spider-Girl and intended to keep being a superhero.

Rosetta Morgan/Ladyhawk sought revenge on the Hobgoblin for ending the heroic career of Rosetta’s sister Regina Morgan/Ladyhawk. Harlem crime lord Morgan arranged a meeting with Hobgoblin. Spider-Girl and Ladyhawk came to Morgan to get information on the Hobgoblin. Morgan gave Spider-Girl and Ladyhawk a fake address to the meeting between Morgan and Hobgoblin. Morgan’s meeting with Hobgoblin was actually an attempt to take Hobgoblin out of the picture. Drasco heard shots, and Drasco and the police prevented Hobgoblin’s demise, and Hobgoblin escaped. Mayday realized how much strain being Spider-Girl put her parents through and promised to stop being Spider-Girl until Mayday’s parents said otherwise.

Mayday’s fellow Midtown High classmate Sara Hingle manifested her mutant powers in class. Sara was taken into custody. Mary Jane and assistant principal Slattery visited Sara’s parents Duane and Cindy Hingle. Duane was not handling the fact that his daughter was a mutant very well. Duane decided to send Sara to a mutant boarding school, despite Cindy wanting Sara to stay with Duane and Cindy. Sara escaped custody and tried to return home. Mary Jane tried to talk Duane out of Duane’s decision, saying Duane should love Sara no matter what Sara was. Mayday revealed to Sara that Mayday had powers and promised to try to help Sara live a normal life. Sara’s parents decided to let Sara stay at home. Slattery was impressed with Mary Jane’s empathy and offered to discuss a position for Mary Jane at Midtown High as a guidance counselor. Peter and Mary Jane decided that Mayday was ready to be Spider-Girl and gave Mayday back the Spider-Girl costume.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill came to government special agent Arthur Weadon and his team of rehabilitating convicted supervillains (Earthshaker, Mr. Abnormal, Killerwatt, and Kaine) with the mission of guarding an item code-named Specimen 297. Kaine turned to Reilly Tyne/Darkdevil for assistance in watching the transfer of the bioweapon that was being transferred to a government lab because it was believed the specimen might have medical benefits. Courtney’s boyfriend Maurice “Moose” Mansfield, whose father was in a hospital dying of cancer, was staying in New Jersey and not getting in touch with Courtney. Courtney learned Moose was coming to Midtown Medical Center to see Moose’s father and Courtney decided that Courtney wanted to see Moose to see where their relationship stood. Slattery offered Mary Jane a job at Midtown High. Courtney arrived at Midtown Medical and found Moose with another girl. The transfer of Specimen 297 was attacked by a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Contessa Valentina Allegro De Fontaine. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team obtained Specimen 297. Spider-Girl attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, and in the confusion, Specimen 297 escaped. Specimen 297 was one piece of the Carnage symbiote, which had been broken apart and was held in government custody. It was now believed that the symbiote could cure cancer. The escaped symbiote bonded with Moose, and a new Carnage was born. Moose was insistent on trying to curb Carnage’s murderous tendencies. Carnage attacked Café Indigo and scared Courtney and Davida, but Mayday fought Carnage until Carnage decided to leave. Weadon tasked his team with apprehending Spider-Girl. Kaine and Darkdevil contacted Spider-Girl to warn her about Carnage. Mary Jane went to school with Mayday to speak with Slattery about the guidance counselor position. Slattery offered the position to Mary Jane. Mary Jane said she would get back to Slattery with her decision. Carnage came to the Parker’s home and abducted Peter and Ben, Mayday’s baby brother. Spider-Girl went after Carnage and fought the symbiotic being. Peter managed to escape from Carnage’s imprisonment. Carnage went to Midtown Medical Center to find Moose’s father. Spider-Girl fought Carnage, and Carnage fled. During their fight, Carnage infected Ben with a piece of the symbiote. Ben attacked Spider-Girl. Hill and Weadon’s team tried to apprehend Spider-Girl but failed. Carnage took Ben back to Midtown Medical. Kaine and Darkdevil found Val and her agents and learned the truth about Specimen 297. Courtney found out the woman she saw Moose with was Moose’s cousin Donna Mansfield. Peter came to Midtown Medical with the Reverb armor, which fired sonic blasts, Carnage’s weakness. Peter faltered when he realized Carnage had infected Ben, so Spider-Girl took the sonic blaster and shot the symbiote off of Ben, causing Ben to have hearing loss. Mayday defeated Carnage before Carnage could infect Moose’s father, causing Moose, a huge Spider-Girl fan, to hate Spider-Girl, saying if Moose’s father died, it would be Spider-Girl’s fault. The doctors told Peter they had to run more tests to determine if Ben’s hearing loss was permanent.

Mayday felt overwhelming guilt over Ben’s predicament, but Peter and Mary Jane did not blame Mayday. Peter and Mary Jane brought Ben to the doctor. Hobgoblin disguised himself as his brother Daniel and locked up the real Daniel Kingsley. The day of the student council election came. Hobgoblin turned to William Turner/Mindworm to form an alliance against Spider-Girl. Gene, feeling neglected in his relationship with Mayday, broke up with Mayday. Ben began to manifest spider powers in front of Mayday. Gene moved on with Simone DeSantos. Hobgoblin went searching for Madame Web, hoping to learn a way to defeat Black Tarantula, and found Anya Corazon/Araña, disguised as a priestess. Araña told Hobgoblin the “heart of the spider” was the only weapon that could defeat the Black Tarantula. Moose announced he would be coming back to Midtown High, accompanied by his cousin Donna. The Parker family’s observed “May’s Special Day” arrived. Mindworm began to psychically implant illusions of Spider-Girl’s enemies into Mayday’s mind. Normie Osborn helped the Parkers arrange an appointment with Dr. Milton Kaplan, one of the nation’s top ear, nose and throat specialists. Mindworm learned Ben had an appointment with Dr. Kaplan, and Hobgoblin kidnapped the doctor. Mindworm attempted to manipulate Spider-Girl to learn about the “heart of the spider.” Hobgoblin abducted Spider-Girl and tried to force her to reveal the “heart of the spider.” Spider-Girl’s allies Darkdevil, Ladyhawk, Jack Jameson/The Buzz, the Fantastic Five, Mad Dog, Weadon’s team, the Avengers, Green Goblin, and more came to Spider-Girl’s rescue and fought off Hobgoblin and Mindworm. Mayday returned home to celebrate her special day with her family.

Okay, now that we have that lengthy plot summary out of the way, let’s move on to my individual bits of this review. As always, we’re going to start off with my own personal opinions about this book. I will say that I loved this book. I thought the stories in it were fantastic. Let’s talk about what I enjoyed the most. I loved watching Mayday trying to find her identity as both Mayday Parker and Spider-Girl. Her conflict between wanting a normal life and wanting to be a superhero was explored in a phenomenal way. Mayday tried to get her grades up and run for student council and because of Spider-Girl ended up in detention and her best friend had to take Mayday’s place in the election. Mayday tried to have a boyfriend, and Spider-Girl led him into the arms of her rival. I also loved how Mayday had to face the consequences of her battle with Carnage. Spider-Girl turned her greatest supporter into a Spider-Girl hater, and caused hearing loss in her baby brother, and then had to deal with the guilt of her actions. I enjoyed watching the Hobgoblin’s war against Black Tarantula with Spider-Girl caught in the middle, and that Spider-Girl wasn’t even Hobgoblin’s main concern, just an annoyance on the side. I enjoyed Mary Jane’s developments, from not wanting her daughter to be a superhero, to encouraging her daughter to be a superhero, then confronting the Hingle’s on how they should love their daughter no matter what she was and being offered a position as a guidance counselor at Mayday’s school. I enjoyed seeing the villains double-crossing with fake meeting locations and ambushes. I liked watching Slattery being an antagonist and assistant to Mayday and Mayday’s family, and particularly when Mary Jane stood up to Slattery after Slattery put Mayday in detention and answered Mayday’s phone. There was so much about this book that I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I will say that I do feel like the artwork did go wrong a lot. For the most part the art was relatively good, but there were just moments where the faces and bodies just didn’t look right. Now, I’m also very nitpicky about the title and cover being appropriate for the content of the book itself. Every issue in this book had a different title, and there were fifteen issues in this book, so including each individual issue title and the option to make an original title not taken from the title of any issue in the book, there were sixteen potential choices for a title. The title “Comes the Carnage!” was the title of an issue in this collection. The Carnage storyline was an ongoing storyline in this volume, and while I don’t particularly feel it was “the best” title for this book, I will say that I will approve this as an appropriate title. As for the cover, it very simple portrays Spider-Girl web-swinging through New York City. I feel like this simple cover is perfect. It offers the promise of seeing Spider-Girl swing into action in this book, and this book delivers on that promise. So, I will say that all in all, this book was an amazing production, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time going through it.

Next up on the list of topics we need to discuss is accessibility. I know I’ve explained my definition of this over seven dozen times at this point, but I feel obligated to explain myself again because I know that there are some readers here who have never been to this blog before to experience a Tim Cubbin review. So, for you newbs here, when I use the word “accessibility,” what I’m saying is how easy it is for someone who knows absolutely nothing about Spider-Girl or Marvel Comics to obtain this book, read it, and understand it as it is written with no outside knowledge on the source material. So, when asking if this book is accessible, I will say that, yes, it is. This book contains the first fifteen issues of one new series, and contains a recap issue (which I did not discuss, I only cover actual comic-style material and not expository-style material when reviewing a graphic novel, so since that issue was not written in a comic narrative style, I didn’t include that in my review), and it does not pick up directly off of any previous stories, crossover into any other series, or tie into any events. As such, getting into this book is actually pretty easy. If you’re looking to get into reading Marvel Comics and are looking for a good place to start, this book offers an excellent jump-on point.

Okay, moving on, we’re going on to the numeric score. I know that some people consider this section the most important segment in my reviews because it cements exactly how good I feel a book is. I also know that some of my readers come to these reviews primarily so they can read about the stories. I know that to different people, every segment in my reviews is the most important to some readers. But this is one of the primary segments of my reviews. So first, I will explain exactly how I score graphic novels. I work on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one to ten. One is the lowest score I can give, and if I give that score, I felt like this book is not even worth reading. If, however, I give a book a ten, that is my highest score, and that means that this book is sheer perfection and should be the top seller at all the retailers. To get a ten, a book has to have a story that is enjoyable all the way through, artwork that is consistently visually appealing, a title that fits the content of the book, and a cover that delivers on what it shows on the front of the book. So, when I take all these factors into consideration, the score I’m giving this book is… a nine! I loved almost everything about this book, and while I do feel the art could use some improvement, I thought this was a great effort.

Next up is the recommendation segment. This segment answers two separate questions. The first is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers? The second question is, regardless of whether I approved of this book or now, whom do I think would be the best audience, aside from the obvious fans of the characters, Marvel Comics, or the creative team? To answer the first question, yes, I do recommend this book. If you are reading this review, and now, based solely on the words you’ve just spent the past few minutes reading you’ve decided you want to read this graphic novel, I would tell you to go to your favorite bookstore or online retailer, or your local comic book shop or library, or your Marvel obsessed friend or family member, and try to get your hands on a copy of this book at your earliest convenience, you will definitely enjoy it. As for the best audience, I would recommend this book to teenagers or people who like reading stories about teenagers, females or people who enjoy reading about heroic female protagonists, people who like stories about characters trying to discover who they are, and people who like soap operatic stories.

Well, we’ve come to the ending paragraph of my review. There are still things that need to be said before we move on with our lives. If you have any spare time, please continue checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my content. I’ve been doing this blog for six years now. In that time, I’ve published over 190 posts. Some of these posts are short stories, some are poems, some are essays, some are articles, some are editorials, but the majority are reviews. You will find a few reviews of prose novels, manga, and comic book events here. Primarily, you will find over seven dozen other reviews of Marvel Epic Collections just like this one. The current focus of this blog is on Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase every one as soon as I can after it is released and post a review of it as soon as I possibly can. As such, I post on a very frequent basis, so expect to see plenty of content from me pretty often. If you liked this post and have some spare time, please feel free to check out my reviews of “Spider-Girl: Legacy” “Spider-Girl: Keeping the Faith” and “Spider-Girl: Family Ties” for more Spider-Girl content. As for the future of this blog, keep checking back because sometime in the next four weeks, you can expect my next review “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Sitting in a Tree” to be published. You can also keep expecting to see more content coming from me for a long time, I intend to keep doing this blog for as long as I can, and I don’t think anything is going to stop me soon. If you have anything you’d like to say, feel free to leave a comment, please like, share, retweet, reply, spread the word, do whatever you can to get me out there and let me know what you think of what I’m doing. I’d really love to hear from you guys. That’s really all I have to say for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!