"Captain America: Reborn"

 

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

Sharon Carter, former Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D., was struggling with the guilt of killing her lover Steve Rogers/Captain America while Sharon was under the control of Dr. Faustus and Johann Schmidt/Red Skull. Sam Wilson/Falcon was searching for William Burnside. Burnside had been the Captain America of the 1950s and currently believed himself to be Steve Rogers. Sharon reunited with her old friend Dave Cox. Sharon’s repressed memories of being pregnant returned and Sharon remembered the loss of Sharon and Steve’s child due to a fight with Synthia Schmidt/Sin. The return of this memory also caused Sharon to remember she had seen a figure when Red Skull and Arnim Zola utilized Sharon in operation of Dr. Doom’s time platform, which was destroyed before it could reach full operational status.

            On James “Bucky” Barnes/Captain America’s birthday, Bucky battled members of the militia group, the Watchdogs. The battle brought back Bucky’s memories of Bucky’s previous birthdays during World War II, before Bucky apparently died and was turned into the Winter Soldier. Following the fight, Bucky returned home to find the Avengers had prepared a birthday party for Bucky.

            A year after the death of Steve Rogers, Sharon found the weapon that had been used to kill Steve. A candlelight vigil in Central Park was planned in honor of the one-year anniversary of Steve’s death. Eli Bradley/Patriot encountered Rebecca “Rikki” Barnes, Bucky’s granddaughter from another universe. Rikki followed Patriot, hoping Patriot could introduce Rikki to Bucky so Rikki could train to be Bucky’s partner. Patriot told Rikki Bucky wasn’t looking for a sidekick, but invited Rikki to join Patriot and the Young Avengers at the vigil. Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, who was in prison for being the sniper involved in the death of Steve Rogers, learned that Sin was being held in the same prison that Crossbones was incarcerated in and did everything Crossbones could to be reunited with Crossbones’ lover. The Avengers planned to attend the vigil, despite their fugitive status and the fact that Norman Osborn and Osborn’s Dark Avengers would be in attendance. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow had to convince Bucky not to attend in Bucky’s Captain America uniform because this was Osborn’s opportunity to arrest Bucky. The Dark Avengers identified the Avengers at the vigil, but Osborn chose not to cause a scene and told the Dark Avengers not to make a move on the Avengers. Sharon came to the Avengers and told the Avengers Sharon thought there could be a way to save Steve Rogers.

Bernadette “Bernie” Rosenthal, Steve’s ex-girlfriend, who had been at the scene when Steve was killed, and Josh Cooper scattered the ashes of their friend Mike Farrel, who died saving Bernie.

An auction was held by Joseph Paglino for pieces of Captain America memorabilia.

Norman Osborn had one of Osborn’s H.A.M.M.E.R. agents interrogate Sin, offering Sin a place in the Thunderbolts if Sin revealed who the second shooter in the death of Steve Rogers was. Sin tried to fight Sin’s way out of the H.A.M.M.E.R. facility, but was stopped by Osborn’s Dark Avenger Bullseye, who was pretending to be Hawkeye. This interrogation led Osborn to question the deaths of both Steve Rogers and Red Skull.

Bucky and Black Widow infiltrated the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier to acquire the remains of Red Skull’s time platform. Sharon and Falcon went to Vision and Hank Pym/Wasp to analyze the weapon that had killed Steve. Hank confirmed that the weapon was Doom-tech. On the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier, Bucky and Black Widow ran into the Dark Avengers Mac Gargan/Venom who was pretending to be Spider-Man and Ares. Arnim Zola went to Osborn and told Osborn that the gun used to shoot Steve Rogers actually locked Steve’s body in time and space and that the Red Skull had tried to use Sharon as the constant with the time platform to pull Steve out of the timestream so that the Red Skull could supplant the Red Skull’s consciousness into Steve’s body, thus having claimed the ultimate defeat of Captain America, and that due to the destruction of the time platform, Steve was now unstuck in time. Steve found himself reliving moments of his past but being unable to act or change them. Bucky and Black Widow were defeated on the Helicarrier. Falcon and Vision went on a recon mission to find Bucky and Black Widow. Osborn made a deal with Crossbones and Sin. Osborn leaked to the press Sharon’s involvement in the death of Steve Rogers to blackmail Black Widow into bringing Sharon to Osborn, or else Osborn would kill Bucky. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four and Namor discovered that Steve’s body had disappeared out of Steve’s coffin. The Thunderbolts (Ghost, Scourge, Paladin, and Eric O’Grady/Ant-Man) were transporting Bucky. Falcon found the Thunderbolts’ plane and attacked. Ant-Man turned traitor on the Thunderbolts and released Bucky from Bucky’s shackles, and Falcon and Bucky were able to escape. Sharon turned herself in to H.A.M.M.E.R. custody. Crossbones and Sin located Red Skull and headed to Latveria to meet with Doctor Doom. Vision discovered that Steve had left a message in the Vision’s memory banks and brought the message to Reed and Hank. Red Skull used Doctor Doom’s time platform and Sharon to pull Steve out of the timestream, then implanted Red Skull’s consciousness into Steve’s body. Red Skull, Crossbones, Sin, and an and A.I.M. contingency flew with Sharon to Washington, D.C. The Avengers (Bucky, Black Widow, Falcon, Clint Barton/Ronin, Wasp, and Vision) flew after the A.I.M. transport to rescue Sharon. Vision tried to sneak onto the A.I.M. transport but was caught. The Avengers’ plane was shot down. Crossbones released the Super-M.O.D.O.K. Squadron on the Avengers. Bucky engaged the Red Skull in Steve’s body in combat. Steve managed to gain dominance of Steve’s body and purged the Red Skull from Steve’s body. Red Skull was sent back to a robotic body. Red Skull was bombarded with Pym Particles and grew to a gigantic size. Steve, Sharon, and the Avengers had to fight the giant Red Skull, Sin, Crossbones, and the Super-M.O.D.O.K. Squadron and escape before Osborn and the Dark Avengers arrived. Steve, who had been unstuck in time, had been confronted by two futures, and was left wondering which future was true and how Steve could fight to prevent the dark future Steve saw before Steve.

Bucky was left wondering about Bucky’s future as Captain America now that Steve was back from the dead. Calvin Zabo/Mister Hyde escaped from the Raft. Bucky and Black Widow went to apprehend Hyde, with Steve monitoring the fight. Steve then had to decide who would wield the shield.

While on a U.S.O. tour in Bastogne, Belgium during World War II, Steve and Bucky had encountered several of the U.S.O. soldiers who had been turned into vampires and attacking Steve and Bucky. Steve and Bucky learned it was not Steve and Bucky’s enemy Baron Blood creating these vampires and had to learn who was the source of this plague of vampires and put a stop to it.

Okay, we’ve now completed going over the plot summary, it’s time for my individual bits of this review. I’ll start off, as I always do, by sharing my own personal insights about the book. I will say that I found the stories in this book to be highly enjoyable. I have to admit, it took a little bit of getting used to the idea of Bucky being Captain America. Killing Steve Rogers was not a Marvel plot maneuver I supported. I especially disliked that the kill-shots came from Sharon. But I liked how she was the constant in bringing Steve back from the timestream. I actually didn’t mind the fact that Brubaker made this that Steve wasn’t really dead, he was just lost in time. Sometimes that plot maneuver doesn’t really do it for me, but in this case, I’ll let it fly. I enjoyed the total scope of the Red Skull’s plan to ultimately defeat Captain America, going from beyond killing his greatest enemy to actually becoming his greatest enemy, I thought that was a brilliant plot, and I’ve loved watching it build over the four volumes of this series. I also enjoyed Norman Osborn’s part in this drama, even when he’s not the Green Goblin, he’s still a dangerous villain. I would’ve enjoyed a little more presence from the Dark Avengers; I would’ve liked to have seen a full-on fight between Bucky’s Avengers and Osborn’s Dark Avengers. Still, the final battle between the Avengers and the Red Skull’s forces was satisfying enough for me. In the One Year After issue, I liked all of the vignettes, seeing all the substories was extremely entertaining for me, particularly “The Youth of Today” with Patriot and Rikki Barnes. Now, since this is a graphic novel, I also have to evaluate the graphics of this book as well as the story, which is just as important. There were a lot of artists in this book, and I did, for the most part, enjoy most of their work. There were a few here and there I disliked. I will say that I love the stylizations of Bryan Hitch, and his work in this book was outstanding in my opinion. I also enjoyed Luke Ross’ work in this book in particular. I would also like to go on the record as saying that I think that Bucky’s Captain America costume is a lot cooler than Steve’s. Another aspect of Marvel Epic Collections I evaluate is the title. I judge how appropriate I feel a title is for the book. This book is titled “Reborn.” The majority of this book is the “Captain America: Reborn” limited series, as well as the “Captain America: Reborn” Digital Prologue and “Captain America Reborn: Who Will Wield the Shield?” one-shot, so I will agree that “Reborn” is the most appropriate title for this book. And though it seems extremely nitpicky, I do also evaluate the appropriateness of the cover for the book. What I’m looking for is two things. The first is if what is shown on the cover actually happens on the pages inside the book. The second is if it properly represents the main essence of the book as a whole. This book’s cover features both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes as Captain America charging into battle. I will say that this is a perfect cover for this book. This book features both Steve and Bucky as Captains America running into battle, and the two are the primary foci of this book, so I have absolutely no complaints about this as the choice of the cover. For the most part, I found consuming this book to be a positive experience, and the marketing for this book is absolutely appropriate.

Our next topic of discussion is accessibility. I’ve done over seven dozen reviews like this, and each time I explain the meaning of the usage of this word in application to a graphic novel because I always have new readers every time I do a review who don’t know what I mean when I use the word, so if you’ve ever read one of my reviews before, please bear with me while I explain myself to the newbies. So, when I use the word “accessibility” when talking about a graphic novel, what I mean is how easy it is for someone who knows absolutely nothing about Captain America or Marvel in general to obtain this graphic novel, read the comic from cover to cover, and understand everything they have just read, with no outside context. So, when evaluating the accessibility of this book, I have to bring up that this book is marketed as Vol. 4, and it does continue a thread that’s been building over the previous three volumes. Not having read the whole storyline is extremely detrimental to following the story in this volume. That said, I will point out a few things that help with accessibility, as well. This book does not pick up directly from a story begun in the previous volume. It also does not tie in to any events going on at the time. All the series contained in this volume are Captain America titles. This book does not contain any crossovers into other ongoing series. However, if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking for your first volume, I would not pick this one as a first choice.

Moving right along, we’re up to the scoring. The numeric score is one of the most essential aspects of my reviews. I know I have people who come primarily just to see how good I think a book is before they commit to reading it, but there are people who love coming here so they can read about the story, but every segment of my reviews holds a point of value, so there’s no saying that any one paragraph of my review is the most important to everyone. So, on that note, I think first I should explain my scoring system. It’s extremely simple. I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one to ten. One is the lowest score I can possibly give, and that means that this book is so horrible that I wouldn’t even tell the people I dislike the most to read this book, as it’s a total waste of time and money and should be avoided at all costs. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, reserved only to books of absolute sheer perfection. To get a ten from me, a book has to have a storyline that totally engages me and I can find no faults with, artwork that is consistently visually appealing, a title that perfectly describes the main point of the content in the book, and a cover that accurately depicts what a reader can expect to see and perfectly captures the essence of the book. It is extremely difficult for a book to get a ten from me, I don’t often find a book to truly be what I consider perfection. So, upon careful consideration, when taking every one of those factors and analyzing the entire comic, I would score this book at… an eight! The story was, for the most part, enjoyable, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best reads I’ve ever had. In general, the art was relatively decent, but there were a few artists here and there that were just not visually palatable. The title fit the book very well. The cover captured the essence of what was contained within the pages of this book. Overall, I thought this book was an outstanding production, and I highly enjoyed consuming it.

Continuing on, we’re going to my recommendation segment. This segment is designed to answer two questions. The first is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my wonderful readers? The second is, regardless of if I give this book my personal stamp of approval, who is the perfect audience for this book, going beyond the obvious of fans of Marvel, Captain America, and the creative team, and looking at key components of this book that reading demographics could find appealing? To answer my first question, yes, this book does get the Tim Cubbin recommendation, so if you were considering reading this book based solely on just the words I’ve been typing for the past several hours and were waiting to see if I would tell you to read it, I will, so hop onto your favorite online retailer, head to your local bookstore, comic book shop, or library, or hit up someone you know who collects Marvel graphic novels, and get your hands on this book and read it. If you enjoyed reading this review, you will definitely enjoy reading the actual book. As for who would be the perfect audience, I would say it would be appealing to people who served in the military or fought in a war, as there are a lot of war scenes, and Captain America and Bucky Barnes are relatable to people who have been in the military. If you’re interested in World War II fiction, this book does have several scenes that come from the time-period, so they could be appealing.

Okay, we’re getting closer to the finish line. There are things I need to say before I hit publish and let you go about your business. First off, feel free to keep on exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for tons more content. I’ve been working on this blog for six years now and have done over two hundred posts. I’ve posted several short stories, poems, essays, articles, and editorials, as well as reviews. I’ve reviewed prose novels, comic book events, and manga, as well as over seven dozen other Epic Collection reviews just like this one. The current primary focus of this blog is on Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase every one of those as soon as I can after they are released and put up a review of it as soon as possible. Seeing as this is the case, I publish posts very often, usually at least once every two months. If you enjoyed this review and want to read something similar, search for my reviews of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” “Captain America: Death of the Dream” and “Captain America: The Burden of Dreams” for more Captain America content. For those of you curious about what’s coming next, my next review is going to be “Hulk: Fall of the Hulks” which you can expect to see within the next two months following the posting of this review. I’m going to be doing this blog for as long as I’m able to, so don’t expect there to be any end to Tim Cubbin content in sight. If you have anything to say, please feel free to drop a comment on this blog page or on whatever site you’ve found this review on, and please like, share, retweet, and tell all your friends about this page, spread the word, I appreciate all the love and support from my readers. That’s all I have to say for this review. Until next I post, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Into the Gwenverse"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Into the Gwenverse” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Gwen Stacy/Ghost-Spider of Earth-65 decided it was time to further her education and go to college. But with her dual identity as a superpowered individual public, she couldn’t go anywhere without attracting attention and decided going to college in her universe just wasn’t going to work. Peter Parker/Spider-Man of Earth-616 invited Gwen to his universe and with the help of Doctor Curt Connors/Lizard arranged a meeting for Gwen with the dean of admissions at Empire State University. Gwen was accepted under the Tony Stark Scholarship which accommodated for students outside the range of what would be considered “normal,” being a dimensional traveler falling under the qualifications. On Earth-65, Gwen’s father, New York Police Department Captain George Stacy returned to the force following a heart attack. On Captain Stacy’s first day back, New York City Mayor J. Jonah Jameson ordered the release of Jameson’s son, crime lord John Jameson/Man-Wolf, from police custody under the grounds that since John was a werewolf, he was not in his right mind when he committed his crimes and therefore could not be held accountable. On Earth-616, Gwen ran into Professor Miles Warren/Jackal, working at E.S.U. under the guide of Professor Guarinus. Warren had been obsessed with the Gwen Stacy of Earth-616 before Gwen died. Peter told Gwen the reason her symbiote was causing Gwen troubles was that the symbiote was underfed and that the symbiote needed cellulose. Earth-65’s Miles Warren, who was working for Man-Wolf, was researching a way to defeat Ghost-Spider. On Gwen’s first day as a student at E.S.U., Gwen made friends with fellow students such as Kosei Sato and Benji Jones. Unbeknownst to Gwen, Benji was working for Warren, having uncovered Guarinus was a cover identity. Warren instructed Benji to befriend Gwen so Warren could gather more information about Gwen, and in return, Warren would give Benji powers. Warren gave Benji a serum that temporarily gave Benji powers. Before the powers wore off, Benji was able to discover Gwen was Ghost-Spider and was a dimensional traveler. On Earth-65, Ghost-Spider stopped a grocery store robbery, but Ghost-Spider’s “nemesis” the Bodega Bandit was at the grocery store shopping and was shot and brought to the hospital. When Benji presented Warren with the information about Gwen, Warren eliminated Benji, calling her mission a failure. On Earth-65, Ghost-Spider ended a hostage situation at the hospital, where Man-Wolf’s underlings held the hospital hostage trying to get one of their gang members, who had been shot, out of the hospital before the police could file a report. Warren discovered a way to kill Ghost-Spider’s symbiote. On Earth-616, Gwen’s spider-sense went off, and she returned to Earth-65, but Earth-616’s Jackal followed Ghost-Spider through the portal. Jackal found himself face-to-face with Earth-65’s Miles Warren. Man-Wolf’s thugs trapped and apprehended Ghost-Spider and brought Ghost-Spider to the two Jackals. Gwen’s band, the Mary Janes (Mary Jane Watson, Betty Brant, and Glory Grant), concerned when Gwen missed band practice, tracked Gwen’s phone, and found Ghost-Spider. Jackal of Earth-616, feeling that Warren of Earth-65 was an unworthy ally, eliminated Warren of Earth-65. Jackal also tried to attack the Mary Janes, but Ghost-Spider was able to break free and save Gwen’s friends. Ghost-Spider was unable to prevent Jackal from escaping.

            On Earth-616, following a day of classes at E.S.U., Ghost-Spider landed on a rooftop, where she was dropped into Arcade’s Murderworld, which had been designed with Spider-Man in mind, offering Spider-Man a chance to redeem one of Spider-Man’s biggest mistakes. Ghost-Spider was faced with robotic versions of several of Spider-Man’s foes, including Lizard, Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, Green Goblin, and Rhino, before facing robotic versions of Daredevil and Punisher. Ghost-Spider defeated them all, before the final challenge of a robotic Spider-Man, who was threatening the life of a robotic Gwen Stacy. Ghost-Spider then had to defeat Spider-Man, save Gwen, and escape Murderworld.

            Sue and Johnny Storm, social media influencers and children of serial killer Doctor Franklin Storm and disgraced socialite Mary Storm, who had gone missing in Latveria four years before, suddenly appeared in Times Square, with no memory of the previous four years and unaware that they had been missing for any time at all. While rescuing a woman from a mugger, Ghost-Spider was mysteriously aided by a ball of fire. Aware that in other realities, Sue and Johnny Storm had superpowers and were members of the Fantastic Four, Ghost-Spider visited Reed Richards, a young genius of Earth-65, but a superpowered member of the Fantastic Four in other realities, asking Reed if Reed knew about any realities where Sue and Johnny had powers and Reed didn’t, and if it could possibly be happening in this reality, but Reed had not answers for Ghost-Spider. On Earth-616, Peter pulled Gwen aside to tell her about the C.R.A.D.L.E. Laws, which made operating as an independent superhero under the age of twenty-one illegal. Gwen was furious about the law. On Earth-65, Sue and Johnny invited Ghost-Spider to a superhero team up. Ghost-Spider set the time and place, and Ghost-Spider, Sue and Johnny stopped a drug shipment being orchestrated by Man-Wolf’s thugs. Gwen was happy to have other superpowered people to fight with, since superheroes were rare on Earth-65. Sue and Johnny ordered another meeting with Ghost-Spider, where Sue told Ghost-Spider New York was Sue and Johnny’s city now and Ghost-Spider had to find somewhere else to protect. When Ghost-Spider refused, Sue and Johnny attacked Ghost-Spider. Sue threatened Ghost-Spider that Sue could doctor a video to get Ghost-Spider sent back to prison if Ghost-Spider didn’t leave New York. Faced with no choice, Ghost-Spider left Earth-65.

            On Earth-616, Knull, God of the Symbiotes, launched an assault. Ghost-Spider fought Knull’s symbiote dragons but realized this was a fight she could not win. On Earth-65, Jackal had abducted Mary Jane Watson and tried to bond a piece of Gwen’s symbiote to Mary Jane. On Earth-616, Ghost-Spider attempted an interdimensional transportation, but the teleport failed and instead brought Mary Jane to Earth-616. Mary Jane formed a bond with the symbiote and due to years of resentment towards Gwen, fell under Knull’s control and became Carnage. Knull, however, was unable to control Gwen’s symbiote. The symbiote’s connection to Mary Jane was also unstable and killing Mary Jane. Gwen had to fight to defeat Carnage, free Mary Jane from Knull’s control, and save the life of her friend.

            In the future, at the End of Time, Finale, the Ultimate Artist, united her allies the Terminal Six (Dr. Cecil Cephalopod, Vincent Stegron/Fossil, Calypso Hardy/Black 13, David Doughty/Roach-Man, Barton Hamilton/Glam Goblin, and Gwen Stacy/Nightbird) to steal time travel devices so Finale could separate Finale into five parts and exist in five time periods and be immortal like the heroes of legend. Finale used the life energy of Finale’s followers to power Finale’s machine. In the present, Ghost-Spider was using Ghost-Spider’s dimensional transporter. Ghost-Spider was having an internal struggle and hating Gwen’s life when Ghost-Spider initiated the teleport and was caught by Finale’s machine and was separated into five other pieces throughout time. In transit, Ghost-Spider met Spider-Zero, a spider hero with a connection to the Web of Life and Destiny. When Spider-Zero returned Ghost-Spider to Earth-65, the split changed the timeline. Spider-Zero told Ghost-Spider that Ghost-Spider had to travel through time and collect the templates that changed the timeline and stop them from committing the acts that would ultimately alter the timeline. First, Ghost-Spider traveled to Norway circa 800 CE, where Ghost-Spider met Gwendolyn Janus/Thorgwen. In the future, Finale became aware that Finale’s machine did not do what it was supposed to have done and ordered the Terminal Six to hunt down the Gwens through time and eliminate them. Dr. Cephalopod and Nightbird traveled to 800 CE, but Ghost-Spider and Thorgwen had already traveled to upstate New York in 1951 to recruit Gwen Rogers/Captain America. Ghost-Spider told Captain America the story, and Captain America believed Ghost-Spider until information about Captain America was released that caused Captain America to think Ghost-Spider and Thorgwen were Skrulls sent to embarrass the country. Captain America went to the Viz on Halloween night, where Captain America encountered Gwen Howlett/Wolverine, the source of the leak. Captain America and Wolverine fought, and Ghost-Spider and Thorgwen tried to break the fight up, but Roach-Man and Fossil joined the fight. The Gwens were able to win the fight and put their differences behind them. Witnesses to the fight were young Howard Stark and Norman Osborn. Norman was injured in the fight, and Howard promised Norman that Howard would make Norman armor so Norman would never be hurt again. The Gwens traveled to 1983, where OSS-Tech (founded by Norman Osborn, Howard Stark, and Toni Stacy) were doing a presentation at the Transmode Expo. OSS-Tech revealed Toni Stacy/Iron G.W.E.N. in the guardian ware exo network. Black 13 and Glam Goblin crashed the expo and fought the Gwens. Osborn mutated into the Green Goblin and attacked the Gwens, jealous that Toni got the armor that Howard had promised Norman. Iron G.W.E.N. took down the Green Goblin, and having ruined OSS-Tech, went along with the other Gwens. The Gwens fought Dr. Cephalopod and Nightbird but failed to defeat the members of the Terminal Six. The Gwens next met Gwen Jones/Captain Marvel, who had unknowingly been sent by the Kree Supreme Intelligence to prepare Earth for a Kree invasion. Captain Marvel fought Yon-Rogg, who used the Psyche-Magnitron to transform humans into Mandroids. The Gwens teamed up with Captain Marvel to destroy the Psyche-Magnitron. Dr. Cephalopod and Nightbird also joined the fight, and Captain Marvel did not survive the fight. Ghost-Spider fought Nightbird, and Ghost-Spider’s symbiote tried to bond with Nightbird, curing Nightbird and freeing Nightbird from Finale’s control. United, the six Gwens traveled to the end of time to fight Finale and try to restore Earth-65 back to the way it was before Finale used the machine and then teach Ghost-Spider to learn to like Gwen.

            Okay, now that we have the plot synopsis out of the way, it’s time to move on to the Tim Cubbin bits of this review. I’ll start off, as I always do, with my own personal opinions about the book. I will say that I found the stories in this book to be highly enjoyable. I loved the concept of having Gwen come to college on Earth-616 since Gwen’s identity was public on Earth-65. I feel like the Jackal is a very underrated supervillain and I love seeing him. Yes, Jackal’s fascination with Gwen is creepy, but Jackal makes for a good villain, and seeing Jackal become a villain for Gwen herself was an interesting twist in my opinion. I also love me a good Arcade Murderworld story, and Gwen fighting a Spider-Man Murderworld to save herself made for what I would consider to be a good Murderworld story. I loved Johnny and Sue being narcissistic influencers and turning into borderline villains. I thought that was a great twist, and it established all of the members of in Fantastic Four on Earth-65 (Reed Richards being a boy genius and Ben Grimm being a police officer), so it was interesting to finally have all of that information. I liked Mary Jane becoming Carnage, and it reflecting on her resentment towards Gwen and Mary Jane’s narcissism. I loved all the alternate Gwens, I thought it was fascinating to see all the what ifs of Gwen being all the different characters. I do have a few complaints about continuity. At the start of this book, George Stacy returns to the police force as Captain following a heart attack. In the previous volume, there was no mention of a heart attack, and George had quit the police force and had faced prosecution for aiding and abetting Gwen as Spider-Woman, so I don’t see how/why George would be returning as captain, especially since George never previously vocalized this intention. After Jackal from Earth-616 kidnaps Ghost-Spider, Jackal took Ghost-Spider’s dimensional transporter necklace, and there is no on panel explanation of how Ghost-Spider got the necklace back. Also, in “Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse,” Tim Seeley seems to have completely forgotten/ignored Seanan McGuire writing Gwen out of Earth-65 so Sue and Johnny could be New York’s heroes, and also refers to George as a former cop, where there is no mention of George leaving the force again, so the two writers seem to be completely contradicting each other’s work. As far as the stories themselves go, though, for what they were, I really enjoyed them. Now, lest we forget, this is a graphic novel, which means we must also discuss the artwork. For the most part, I found the art enjoyable. That said, I didn’t enjoy Flaviano’s design of Mary Jane as Carnage. The rest of the artwork I really can’t complain about, by the Mary Jane/Carnage just didn’t look right to me. Another thing I have to discuss is the title. I know that may seem odd, but it’s actually really important to me that these Epic Collections have a title that truly fits the contents inside the book. Three of the storylines in this book tie for the longest length issue wise, “Gwenverse” being one of them. Allowing that, and as there is so much interdimensional travel in this volume, I will say that “Into the Gwenverse” is a pretty fair title for this book. Another thing I’m evaluating is the cover. I know that really seems like such a minor thing to analyze, but I do feel like a book’s cover should deliver on the promise of what it teases to the reader on the front of the book, and that it also captures the essence of the book in general. On the front cover of this book, we can see an assortment of Gwens, in the forefront being Ghost-Spider, Captain America, Wolverine, Nightbird, Captain Marvel, Iron G.W.E.N., and a bunch of unclear Gwens further back. Were it just the six clear Gwens on the cover, I would say this would be a decent cover for this book. However, there are only seven Gwens inside the book, and the cover shows more than there actually are, and the Captain Marvel outfit on the cover doesn’t match the Captain Marvel outfit inside the book, so I unfortunately cannot say that this book delivers on what it promises, and is, in fact, a bad representation for the contents inside this book. I know that this seems very nitpicky, but that’s just how I feel. As far as consuming this book goes, I do feel it was a positive experience.

            Next up, we’re going to discuss accessibility. I’ve reviewed over seven dozen Epic Collections at this point, and every time I do, I explain what I mean when I use the word accessibility in reference to a graphic novel, so if you’ve been here before and know what I’m about to say, please bear with me while I explain it to the newbies, because I know every time I do a review, I have new readers who don’t know what I mean by accessibility. In short, accessibility is how easy it is for a person who knows absolutely nothing about Gwen Stacy or Marvel Comics in general to obtain a copy of this book, read the issues in this book, and with no outside knowledge, understand everything they have just read. This book is marketed as Vol. 4. The first issue in this book is a #1 issue that picks up directly where a previous series left off but starts a fresh storyline that would make this book accessible, up until we hit “King in Black.” “King in Black” was an event that the majority of the Marvel Universe tied into, and this volume does not do a sufficient job explaining the event itself. It gives a brief blurb about the backstory at the start of “King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage” #1, but there is no follow-up explaining the conclusion of the event and how things were properly resolved, leaving what feels like a significant missing piece in the story. This highly lowers the accessibility factor. As such, I would say that this book is not very easily accessible. If you’re new to Marvel Comics and are looking for a first book to start with, I would tell you that this book is not the jump on point for you.

            Moving on, we are now up to my numeric score. This is something my reviews would not be complete without. While explaining the story is important, and my other segments all hold value, having a numeric score is one of the most essential components to my reviews. I have to start off by explaining my scoring system to the newbs, so to those of you who have been here any of the other seven dozen times I’ve done a review, please hang tight while I once again explain myself. So, my scoring system is extremely simple. 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 is so bad that every copy should be pulled off the shelves and destroyed, then Marvel should delete any possible method of reprinting this book so this abhorrence can never be replicated and no other poor unsuspecting soul with buy this book and live with the regret of the decision of buying this piece or garbage. Ten, on the other hand, is my highest score, and that means that this book was absolute perfection and reading this book was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my entire life. Now, I’m not in the business of giving a book a ten unless it absolutely deserves it. A book that’s a ten has to have an engaging, compelling, gripping story, visually pleasing artwork throughout the entire book that I can find nothing to complain about, a title that perfectly captures the content of the book, and a cover that illustrates the essence of the book and delivers on the promise it portrays on the front of the book on the pages inside the book. Getting a ten from me is not easy. Let’s review what we’re putting into the blender first. The story was good, but there were continuity lapses and contradictions. The artwork was, in general, good, but one of the character designs was unfavorable. The title was adequate for the book, but the cover had a deception. So, when we turn on the blender, and mix all these contents up until they are thoroughly mixed and we have a score, what we are looking at is… a seven! While I found this book to have an enjoyable story, the contradictions were a huge detriment, and I couldn’t get past the Mary Jane/Carnage design, and also the cover didn’t deliver on what was promised, so all these factors led to deductions. That said, though, reading this book was a positive experience.

            Continuing on, we’re up to the recommendation segment. This segment answers two key independent 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 give this book my personal seal of approval or not, who should be reading this book, going beyond the obvious of fans of Gwen Stacy, Marvel Comics, or the creative team, and looking at characteristics of the book and traits of the content that readers would find compelling. So, let’s start answering the first question. Yes, this book gets my personal stamp of approval. To anyone reading this review who is considering reading this graphic novel based solely on the words I’ve typed, I would say they should hop on to their preferred online retailer, or head to their local bookstore, comic shop, or library, or try to find that friend or family member who has this book, find some way to get this book and then read it as soon as they can. As for a target audience, I think this book would resonate with female readers, teenage readers, a combination of both, or people who like reading about teenage or female characters. I also think it’s good for readers in college or who enjoy reading about characters in college. Readers into alien invasions or monster attacks could find this book interesting. And this book could appeal to readers who enjoy characters who question themselves or are trying to find acceptance with themselves.

            Well, I think we’ve now come to my conclusion paragraph. This does not mean we are done yet. There is more I have to say. If you have more time, please continue exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content from yours truly. I’ve been working on this blog for six years now. In that time, I’ve published over two hundred posts, so there’s plenty more to see on this blog. I’ve written a variety of content, including short stories, poems, essays, articles, editorials, and of course, plenty of reviews. I’ve reviewed prose novels, manga, comic events, and over seven dozen Epic Collections just like this one. If you enjoyed this post and want to read more similar reviews, feel free to search for “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Edge of Spider-Verse” “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” and “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Gwenom” for more Gwen Stacy content. I would like to state that everything I post on this blog is my own personal opinion, I accept that, and if you’ve read this book and feel different, I welcome that. If any of my readers has anything to say, whether it’s something you like or dislike about this blog, something you feel about the post, something you’d like to see on this blog, something about this blog you want me to change, if you’ve read this book and want to agree or disagree with what I say, please feel free to leave a comment, I would love to hear from you, my readers, I welcome all your opinions. I will say the primary focus of this blog is currently 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 post a review as soon as I can after reading it. I usually post at least once every two months, but the publication rate is usually a lot more often than that. My next review is going to be “Captain America: Reborn” in case you wanted to know, so keep an eye out for it. It should be up sometime within the next two months, but it will probably be posted a lot sooner than that. That’s it for now. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"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!