"Carnage: Carnage U.S.A."

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

                Tech billionaire Michael Hall recovered the body of Cletus Kasady/Carnage from space after Carnage had been ripped in half by the superhero the Sentry. Francis Barrison/Shriek, Carnage’s lover and a supervillain patient at Ravencroft, a sanitorium bought over by Hall Industries, was being transported to a Hall Industries facility. The Spider-Doppelganger, who thought of her as its mother, sensed her presence and attacked the truck carrying her. Shriek’s psychiatrist, Doctor Tanis Nieves, tried to use her car to run the truck off the road. Tony Stark/Iron Man and Peter Parker/Spider-Man came to stop the creature, but Shriek used her mind control powers to incite an angry mob against the heroes. Two tech powered employees for Hall Industries, Royal Blue and Firebrick, joined the fight and shot the Spider-Doppelganger, hitting Nieves as well. The truck got away, and the mob quieted down. Nieves was outfitted with a high-tech prosthetic arm from Hall Industries that was laced with a piece of the Carnage symbiote. Spider-Man visited Nieves in the hospital, suspicious of Shriek’s part in the riot, and Nieve’s confirmed she was Shriek’s doctor but did not implicate Hall Industries. Stark found traces of the Carnage symbiote left behind from the skirmish with Royal Blue and Firebrick and told Spider-Man, who had a long history with symbiotes. Nieves demanded to see Shriek during the middle of an experiment, and the symbiote in her prosthetic arm took over and attacked. Stark pieced together that Hall was involved, and Iron Man and Spider-Man went to Hall Industries, where they were attacked by the tech soldiers Paris Green, Firebrick, Royal Blue, Burnt Orange, and Gun Metal. Nieves freed the Carnage symbiote, and the symbiote attached to her. The tech soldiers were called in to fight Carnage. Iron Man and Spider-Msn joined the fight. As Shriek was being moved, the Spider-Doppelganger tried to rescue Shriek. The Hall employees moving Shriek fought the creature, and Shriek attacked the guards to save the creature. Carnage found its way to the cell where Cletus Kasady was secretly being kept alive. The symbiote left Nieves and rejoined with Kasady. Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Hall tech soldiers fought Carnage, but Carnage pulled the symbiote tech from the soldiers and added it to himself. Shriek found Nieves and informed her she was carrying Carnage’s baby. Tanis cut off her prosthetic arm to try to prevent bonding with a symbiote. Shriek attached the arm to herself, then joined Carnage in the fight, mind controlling all the civilians to her side, along with the Spider-Doppelganger. The tide turned against the heroes, and as it looked like the heroes were losing, Nieves became the symbiote hero Scorn. Scorn forced Shriek to use her sonic powers to destroy Carnage’s armor, but Carnage himself was able to escape. Nieves was then placed under Stark’s care.

                Carnage escaped to Doverton, Colorado, where he took over the entire town. Kasady sent the sheriff out with his demands. The Avengers, Spider-Man, James Howlett/Wolverine, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Steve Rogers/Captain America, and Ben Grimm/Thing were called in to rescue the town. Upon arriving, they encountered Kasady, who expanded the symbiote and corrupted the Avengers, except for Spider-Man. The government, in response, sent in two contingency plans, all symbiote powered agents, Contingency A was Scorn. Contingency B was soldiers Marcus Simms/Lasher, James Murphy/Agony, Rico Axelson/Phage, and Howard Ogden/Riot. Spider-Man was rescued by the citizens of Doverton who were able to escape from Carnage and were hiding on the Ralsby Estate outside Doverton. Carnage sent the wife and children of one of the escapees to the Ralsby Estate to kill their family. They were unable to go through with their mission. Carnage briefly lost control over Captain America, and Cap called in a third contingency plan: Eugene “Flash” Thompson/Venom. Spider-Man and Contingencies A and B fought Carnage and the symbiote civilians of Doverton and the symbiote Avengers until Venom arrived. Scorn set up a trap that separated symbiotes from their hosts and plowed Carnage into it, but unintentionally also drove Venom into it as well. Flash and Cletus fought without their symbiotes. The government fired on a localized area of Doverton to destroy the symbiote mass, and Cletus Kasady was arrested and detained.

                Carnage managed to bust out of custody from the Thunderbolts Mountain Maximum Security Prison. Venom was called in to hunt him down. On the footage of Carnage’s escape, Venom saw a small creature. Venom called his contact, Daily Inquisitor reporter Katy Kiernan, who sent him a report about the Prometheus Pit in Houston, Texas. Kaine Parker/Scarlet Spider, who operated in Houston, found a survivor of a crime scene, who seemed to be afraid of him. Katy flew to Houston to investigate the story and met with Doctor Ketola, who had built a version of the Prometheus Pit at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Carnage attacked the Space Center, and Scarlet Spider swung in to try to stop him. A group of small creatures joined the fight and forced Ketola to activate the Prometheus Pit. Carnage grabbed Katy and stepped through it. Venom arrived at the scene and lost control of the symbiote and attacked Scarlet Spider. After a brief fight, Flash regained control of the symbiote, and Scarlet Spider and Venom stepped through the Prometheus Pit. The two arrived in separate locations in the Microverse. Venom was discovered by the Enigma Force. Scarlet Spider arrived in front of the Redeemer. Carnage was brought to the Body Banks. Enigma Force traveled through the Microverse with Venom to fight Marquis Radu. The Redeemer brought Scarlet Spider to Marquis Radu’s location, where they were attacked by Carnage. The Redeemer was endangered, and Scarlet Spider broke off the attack. Marquis Radu abducted Venom, the Enigma Force, Katy, and Carnage and brought them to the Body Banks. Marquis Radu used the Venom and Carnage symbiotes to create an army of symbiote soldiers. The Enigma Force and Katy managed to break free. Carnage escaped from the Microverse. The Redeemer used his powers to return Scarlet Spider, Venom and Katy to Houston, but they did not arrive full-sized. Scarlet Spider and Venom battled the symbiote soldiers until they returned to regular size. Venom detonated a sonic bomb, destroying the symbiote soldier and knocking out Carnage. Scarlet Spider then lobotomized Cletus Kasady. Carnage was apprehended and sedated.

                Bentley Whitman/Wizard staged a prison break to recruit Carnage for his Frightful Four, along with Ulysses Klaw and Karl Malus. Wizard was dying due to dementia caused by a fight with Black Bolt and wanted to impress his estranged clone/son Bentley-23 before he passed away. However, Wizard was unable to bend Carnage to his will. Wizard decided to control Carnage, Wizard would have to change Carnage’s host. Wizard performed a blood transfusion between Cletus Kasady and Malus. Wizard decided the Frightful Four would stage an attack on City Hall in New York City and take down Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. As the Frightful Four attacked City Hall and entered the mayor’s office, they were greeted by Otto Octavius/Spider-Man and his Spider Patrol. The Superior Spider-Man then had to fight the Frightful Four and the Superior Carnage to save City Hall.

                Okay, I think that’s a good enough synopsis summary. Now it’s time for my personal input for the review. We’re going to start, as always, with my own personal opinions on the book. Some of my longtime readers may recall that Carnage is my favorite supervillain. So, of course when I found out Marvel was putting out a “Carnage” Modern Era Epic Collection, I was super excited. And I will say that I loved this book. Mind you that I did read these stories years ago, but it’s been at least twelve years on parts of this book, so the refresher was needed. But I thought these stories were excellent. I’ve always been a fan of Carnage, and I also enjoyed Flash Thompson/Venom and Kaine Parker/Scarlet Spider, so having all three of these characters featured in one volume was a huge thrill for me. Some of my longtime readers may recall that the “Minimum Carnage” storyarc was also featured in “Venom: The Savage Six,” so the story has been reviewed before in my review of that graphic novel, if you would like to compare them. Anyway, “Carnage” was interesting to me, I liked how Hall made his technology out of the Carnage symbiote, and Scorn was an interesting new character in my opinion. “Carnage U.S.A.” was highly enjoyable to me, the whole concept of Carnage taking over a whole town was highly entertaining. I loved “Minimum Carnage,” the Scarlet Spider/Venom crossover event was a great idea, in my opinion, taking these two vastly different characters and forcing them to try to achieve the same goal was genius. “Superior Carnage” was compelling, watching the Wizard making a last-ditch effort to impress his son almost made me root for the villain, which I actually felt was quite a brilliant twist. While I loved the stories, the art presents a little bit of a problem. For the most part I enjoyed it, but I have a few complaints. While I enjoyed Clayton Crain’s work on “Carnage” and “Carnage U.S.A.” I will say that I felt that his coloring was a little too dark. Also, I was not a fan of Declan Shalvey’s work on “Venom” in “Minimum Carnage.” That said, the rest of the art was, in my opinion, fantastic. But the biggest problem I have with the art is Cletus Kasady’s legs. Crain drew Kasady as he had been torn in half by the Sentry, with a prosthetic lower body. This lower body was destroyed during his fight with Flash Thompson during “Carnage U.S.A.” However, all the other artists who drew Kasady in human form gave Kasady flesh and blood legs. This inconsistency greatly bothers me. I feel it is something the editors should have noticed. Otherwise, I felt this book was a stellar Modern Era Epic Collection and hope to see more “Carnage” Modern Era Epic Collections in the future. Also, I felt that the title “Carnage U.S.A.” was highly adequate.

                Next on our list of things to discuss, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve explained this at least six dozen times at this point, but I know I always have new readers every time I do a post who don’t know what I mean when I use the word, so I shall explain myself once again. When I say “accessibility” I mean if a person who knows nothing about Marvel Comics can pick up this book, read it, and completely understand what they have just read. I will say this book does have some accessibility factors, but there are some details that are off-putting to readers who are unfamiliar with the comics. First off, Flash Thompson is not the best-known Venom, Kaine Parker is not the most well-known Scarlet Spider, and readers who don’t know Marvel would have difficulty with Otto Octavius being the Superior Spider-Man. But it does have a standalone kind of feel to it, particularly the fact that most of it is limited series. This volume is comprised of three limited series, two one-shots, and four regular issues from two ongoing series. Would I recommend it as a first read for someone who wants to start getting into Marvel Comics? Not particularly, but it’s not the worst place a new reader can start.

                Okay, now that I’ve been prattling on for a long time, I think it’s high time I move on to the point that is one of the key components of my review: the numeric score. I’m not going to say it’s the single most important part of my review, everyone reads my reviews for different reasons, but the score is a very integral part of any of my reviews. So, I score on a very basic system, on a scale of one through ten. One means this book is smelly garbage that should be avoided at all cost. Ten means this book is sheer perfection. People who have read my reviews before know I’m very particular about what I consider perfection and I’m not in the business of just posting every book I read is a ten. And I will say this book is just not perfection. While yes, the stories were fantastic, the art had its problems, with the color pallet being a little dark in Crain’s work, and Shalvey’s work didn’t appeal to my visual tastes, and yes, there was the forgetting of Cletus Kasady having been cut in half. However, I still thought this was an excellent book, and I feel like the score I give should reflect on that. So, when I put the book into my metaphorical review-mixing blender and turn it on and mix this book until it’s a fine liquid, taking everything in this book into account, the fantastic story, the relatively decent art, the adequate title, and I pour it out into my metaphorical cup, this score is… an eight. I felt like this book had an exemplary story, and if a different artist had been selected for “Venom” and if the artists had remembered to follow continuity on Kasady’s body, the score could have been higher, but for what it was, this book was a phenomenal effort.

                Next on our list of things to do is the recommendation. In this segment I do two things. The first is I tell you, my readers, if I personally recommend this book to you, or if I were to talk to anyone about this book, would I recommend it to them? The second thing I do is say regardless of if I would recommend the book or not, whom do I think would be the best audience to read this book. So, to answer the first question, you can probably already guess at this point based on the excellent review I’ve given that this book gets my personal recommendation. And if you guessed that, you would be absolutely correct. I do recommend this book to anyone within the sound of my voice and anyone reading this review who is interested in reading this review based solely on what I am writing right now should definitely make every effort to try to obtain this book, either going to your favorite online retailer, or bookstore, or if you’re really lucky your local library might have it, just do whatever you can to get your hands on it, I think this is an exceptional book and well worth the read. As to whom I think the best audience for this book is, I would say anyone who is a fan of Carnage or any symbiote storylines. I would also say people who like horror comics would really enjoy this. And I would also say people who like psychological comics would definitely be a target audience.

                Okay, we’re getting to a point where we are just about ready to part ways. There are a few things I have to say before I go. The first is that I have been doing this blog for five years now and have done over 170 posts. Over seven dozen of them are book reviews just like this. I purchase every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after publication and post a review as soon as I possibly can after I read them. I post on a very frequent basis because of this, usually at least one post a month. You can expect to see my next post “Annihilation: Desperate Measures” within the next week after my publishing this post. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s plenty of other content on this blog to check out if you enjoyed this post. I’ll be back soon, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"The Ultimates: Super-Human"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “The Ultimates: Super-Human” as presented in Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection format.

            In 1945, the Nazis had created a super-weapon that was aimed at Washington, D.C. that would potentially bring an end to World War II. The United States Army sent in a platoon to try to disable the weapon, led by a super-soldier named Steve Rogers, codenamed Captain America. Along with his teenage friend James “Bucky” Barnes, and the rest of the platoon, they charged on Germany. Not all of the platoon survived the assault, and they were unable to stop the weapon from being launched. Captain America jumped on the missile and detonated a grenade that knocked the missile off course and prevented it from hitting its target, and Captain America disappeared into the waters of the North Atlantic, leaving behind his fiancé Gail Richards.

            In 2002, newly posted Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. General Nicholas Fury reignited the Super-Soldier Program with the hopes of preventing super-powered threats from becoming a problem for the United States of America. He met with Doctor Robert Bruce Banner, who had attempted to recreate the serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America and had instead turned Bruce into a creature called the Hulk. Bruce had been leading the Super-Soldier Research Facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but when hired by S.H.I.E.L.D., the condition behind his substantial paycheck was he was demoted to number two, behind his prior assistant Henry “Hank” Pym. Hank was married to Janet “Jan” Pym, a mutant with the ability to shrink in size and gifted with wings, who also had some unfortunate bug-like qualities. Jan called herself the Wasp. Hank, using Jan’s DNA, had created a serum that allowed him to grow in size to almost sixty feet in height, the maximum height the human body can support. Hank took on the codename Giant Man. S.H.I.E.L.D. also hired tech genius businessman billionaire Anthony “Tony” Stark, who had an advanced technological suit of armor and assumed the identity Iron Man. Bruce’s ex Betty Ross was hired as the Director of Communications for the Super-Soldier Program. As they were preparing to move forward with the project, Captain America’s body was found frozen in the Arctic Ocean. Miraculously, Steve Rogers had survived frozen in ice for fifty-seven years and was able to be revived. At first, Steve was unaccepting of his new surroundings, and it took some convincing to acclimate him to now living in the 21^st Century. Nick Fury brought Steve to the house of Bucky Barnes, now an old man and now married to Steve’s ex-fiancé, Gail. While Steve and Bucky had a tearful reunion, Gail refused to come see Steve. Steve also found out most of his family had passed away in the fifty-seven years he had been in suspended animation. The Ultimates were announced at the Triskelion in the Upper Bay of Manhattan, their new headquarters. While Giant Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Captain America were introduced as the faces of the Ultimates, Fury was also attempting to recruit a man claiming to be Thor, Norse God of thunder, a protestor and former mental patient who was gaining notoriety in Norway and gaining a group of followers. Thor, however, refused to join Fury’s little gang. Held back from the launch were Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, who were awaiting rewritten histories to cover up past indiscretions, and in the background were Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, children of the mutant terrorist Magneto and former members of his Brotherhood of Mutants, who were unable to be shown as public faces due to their genetic statuses. Time went by after the launch of the Ultimates, but the team had no threats to face. While Betty began to move on from Bruce with Freddie Prinze, Jr., Bruce made the drastic decision to inject himself with Captain America’s blood and the Hulk serum. This created an even more powerful version of the Hulk, who went on a destructive rampage through Manhattan, fixated on finding Betty and winning her back for Bruce and removing Freddie Prinze, Jr. from the picture. Captain America, Iron Man, Giant Man, and the Wasp were dispatched to stop the Hulk, and Thor joined in to aid in the fight. The team was able to calm the Hulk and revert him back to Bruce Banner, and Bruce was put in a holding unit, while his identity as the Hulk was withheld from the public and the Ultimates were hailed as the heroes who saved Manhattan. As the Ultimates were invited to Tony’s penthouse for a black-tie dinner, Hank and Jan got into an argument that turned horribly violent. While Thor refused to accept a S.H.I.E.L.D. paycheck as a member of the Ultimates, he agreed to come to the aid if ever the need arose. Jan was taken to the hospital, and Hank was wanted for spousal abuse charges. Jan was quickly transferred back to the Triskelion, but her assault went public. Steve went out on a hunt for Hank. Clint, Natasha, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were introduced to Tony and Thor, who were all briefed on the presence on Earth of an alien race called the Chitauri since 1777, who were able to assume human form and had been in part responsible for the rise of the Nazis during World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D. had believed them to have been completely annihilated after World War II, but several Chitauri had then been discovered to be hiding on Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Psi-Division recovered the location of a Chitauri base near Micronesia. Before Fury could order against it, Steve found Hank in a bar in Chicago and had a S.H.I.E.L.D. team bring him to Hank’s location. Steve put the beat down on Hank, and Hank was apprehended. While in his holding unit, Bruce and Betty began to reconnect. Steve visited Jan in the Triskelion infirmary, but Steve’s actions against Hank and butting into Hank and Jan’s personal business only served to upset Jan. While Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow and Fury flew with a S.H.I.E.L.D. Unit to Micronesia to assault the Chitauri base, Jan discovered that S.H.I.E.L.D. had already been infiltrated by the Chitauri, and their leader Kleiser was already on the Triskelion. Jan was caught by Kleiser and brought to the Chitauri base in the Arizona desert, while the Chitauri base in Micronesia was just a decoy base and was detonated, killing most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Unit, but Thor had managed to teleport several of the Unit to safety, including Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and Nick Fury, and they arrived at the Arizona base. The Chitauri began their full-scale assault of Earth, with the intention of destroying the Earth. Captain America fought Kleiser, Iron Man and Thor flew in to stop the weapon, Black Widow came to rescue Jan, and Hulk was unleashed to destroy the invading ships and the Ultimates battled to save the Earth from the threat of Chitauri destruction.

            Okay, so now we have the synopsis out of the way, let’s get on to my own personal take on this graphic novel. Essentially the Ultimates are the Marvel Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers, but I will say that this is a vastly different take on their story, and I will also say that I found that to be a good thing. When Stan Lee created the Avengers back in 1963, they assembled by happenstance, all joining in to fight against a common threat and then realizing that working together as a team was beneficial. In Mark Millar’s Ultimates, the team is assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a combat unit to fight threats ordinary units couldn’t. This is a completely different origin story. And I feel that it actually worked. I liked the idea of the Ultimates being a military unit. I thought the Hulk story was great, I loved Millar’s choice of hooking up Betty with Freddie Prinze, Jr., I thought that joke was pretty funny. I liked how Bruce and Betty’s relationship played out after that while Bruce was in a holding unit, it was actually quite humorous. I liked how Millar made Wasp secretly a mutant, but I wish he would have taken a little more of an opportunity to play up on that more than he actually did, it was just mentioned once and it was never brought up again throughout the rest of the graphic novel. I liked the concept of having a black ops unit within the Ultimates, keeping Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in the shadows because of their statuses keeping them from being public faces. I especially liked Quicksilver’s comments of how he and Scarlet Witch had actually been helping if you looked at the tapes and slowed them down, those gave me a good chuckle. I liked the Chitauri as the enemy that was the true test of the Ultimates as a team. I liked that Thor wouldn’t join S.H.I.E.L.D. on principal but would aid anyway because it was the right thing to do, and his characterization as a former mental patient now messiah activist was, in my opinion, rather brilliant, rather than just outright saying that this was truly the God of thunder. What I didn’t like was the spousal abuse story. I felt like Millar went a little too far with that one and that it was rather unnecessary with how graphically it was illustrated. I felt that it negatively portrayed mental illness, and I honestly did not approve of that storyline. I did enjoy Brian Hitch’s work as the artist, I thought he did an amazing job illustrating this graphic novel, I really like his artistic style. I loved how I read that Millar had told Hitch to make Nick Fury look like Samuel L. Jackson and that when Disney finally made the movies, they actually did contract Jackson to play Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I actually totally geeked out the first time I saw the post-credits scene in “Iron Man” when they introduced Jackson as Fury, having read this comic series after it was originally published back in 2002-2004 prior to the release of the “Iron Man” film and there was actually a scene in this graphic novel where the group discuss who would play them in films and Jackson was named as Fury. In general, I rather enjoyed this graphic novel.

            Next up on our agenda of things to discuss, we’re going to talk about accessibility. For those of you who know what I mean, please bear with me while I explain this to my new readers who have never read one of my reviews before and don’t know what I mean by using the word “accessibility.” So, what I mean by that is, if you know nothing about the Ultimates or Marvel Comics at all, can you pick up this book, read it, and understand what you’re reading? This is the first volume of the series from a universe that was relatively new at the time and had very little background history. It has no direct ties to any other series published by Marvel. There are no crossovers or events occurring during this graphic novel. It has a self-contained origin story. So, yes, this book is extremely accessible. If you’re new to Marvel and are looking for a good place to start, this is an exceptionally enjoyable book to pick up and begin your Marvel journey.

            Okay, now we’re going to get to the point that you’ve all been waiting for: my numeric score. So, my scoring system is extremely basic. I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the lowest score and means this book is complete trash and is not even worth reading. Ten is the highest score and means this book is perfection. On principal, I generally don’t give out tens very often because perfection is extremely hard to publish, but there have been occasions where I felt that this score is appropriate. As far as this book goes, I do not feel like a ten is an appropriate score for this book. I found some faults with the story, especially the spousal abuse storyline that highly detracted from my enjoyment of the story. And while I generally enjoyed Hitch’s art, there were moments where I felt like his artwork had a few mishaps. Unfortunately, there was also some content that doesn’t hold up over twenty years later, especially the inclusion of President Bush. But overall, I found this book to be high-quality and extremely enjoyable, so when I give it a score, I am compelled to score it at… an eight. It was entertaining to read, and the art was, for the most part, nice to look at. I feel like it deserves a particularly good score, but it’s not quite near perfection, so a minor deduction is required, but it shouldn’t be impacted harshly for the few problems I had with this book.

            Next up, we’re going to discuss if I give this book my personal Tim Cubbin recommendation, and then, regardless of that fact or not, whom do I think should be reading this book. If you’re guessing that I give this book my own personal recommendation, you would be absolutely correct. This book does, in fact, get my seal of approval. Moving on to whom do I recommend this book to, the answer is to anyone who likes the Avengers and wants to see a different take on what the team could be like. So, if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and have an interest in the Avengers, I highly recommend you read this book, this is a totally interesting twist on their origin and worth the read. If you’re already a Marvel Comics fan and have never read this, I recommend this book to you, this is a whole new reimagining of what the Avengers could be, and I think you will enjoy this. If you’re just reading this review and have gained any vested interest in reading this graphic novel based solely on what you’re consuming right now, I’d recommend you get out there and pick up this book, if you enjoyed my review, you will definitely enjoy actually reading the entire story as there is obviously so much more than what I can describe on this blog and I think you should make the effort to get the complete story and enjoy this work for yourself.

            Well, I think we’ve gotten to the point where I’ve said pretty much all there is to say at the moment. There is a little more to add in conclusion, however, so don’t quite give up on me yet. First off, if you liked this post, there are over four dozen other reviews like this one to read, so keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my work. I am a huge collector of Marvel Epic Collections, I buy every Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after they are released and if possible, I try to put up a review right after I finish reading them. So, obviously, I am going to be working with a lot of potential content. I currently have a Modern Era Epic Collection in my possession I am preparing to read, so you can expect to see a review of that one coming up some time in the next couple of weeks after this post, I have to finish reading it first, then find a day where I can actually sit down and write a review of it, but I will promise you it is coming soon. I have 160 other posts on this blog and there is no end in sight, so keep checking it out for more content if you’re interested. If you go really far back on my blog, I’ve actually written short stories, poetry, articles, essays, and editorials, but right now my main focus is on writing reviews. If you think these seem highly professional, it’s because I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in journalism, so writing this kind of thing is what I should professionally be doing, but due to circumstances, it’s not something I’ve actually been able to secure, so I currently work in a grocery store and work for free on a blog in my spare time. But it’s in my nature and I don’t mind doing it, it is the job I honestly should be doing but just can’t actually manage to get hired for due to the situation in my life that I don’t want to talk about and you honestly don’t care about. But enough about that. Keep checking back regularly for more, as there will definitely be plenty of upcoming content on the way, I’ll be doing this blog until I am physically unable to do it anymore, so that’s probably going to be a long time. I’ve already been doing this for five years at this point. And at this point, I’m just rambling on unnecessarily and boring you with useless details about my personal life that you really don’t want to know, so I’m going to let you go now and move on with your life while I move on with mine. But I will be back soon, and I hope you come back with me. And so, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"New Avengers: The Initiative"

 

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

            And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat! On that day, the Avengers were born – to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand!

            Years ago, a war between the Kree and the Skrulls, two interstellar races with unimaginably advanced technology, raged not only across the stars, but on the surface of the Earth itself. The mighty Avengers were able to keep the threat at bay, eventually disabling the Skrull attack fleet and bringing the conflict to an end. The Illuminati is a secret organization comprised of several of the world’s most powerful heroes: Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans, Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men and mutant rights activist, Reed Richards, founding member of the Fantastic Four, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Ruler of Atlantis, and Iron Man, founding member of the Avengers. These six men have worked together to mold and shape the status of the superhuman world and the world around it. To keep the trust between the group members, the Illuminati’s existence is a secret to everyone including their teammates and family. How and what they have done together has remained a mystery… until now…

            Following the Kree-Skrull War, the Illuminati travelled to the Skrull Homeworld to inform the Skrull Emperor that they would not tolerate another invasion attempt on the Earth, something the Skrulls were planning on doing since it had been foretold that their world would be destroyed and they would overtake the Earth as their new Homeworld. As they attempted to leave, the Skrulls apprehended the Illuminati and performed rigorous tests on the organization. Though they were able to escape captivity using their vast abilities, the Skrulls were able to harvest samples from the Illuminati for future plans of attack upon the planet Earth.

            The Infinity Gems grant cosmic-level abilities to their wielders. There are six Infinity Gems: Power, Mind, Space, Time, Soul, and Reality. The Mad Titan Thanos constantly quested to obtain all six Gems in his insane quest to bring “balance” to the universe. Reed Richards decided the best way to stop the Gems from ending up in the wrong hands was for the Illuminati to obtain all six Gems. They were successful, but the temptation of the Infinity Gauntlet almost overtook Reed Richards, so he gave one Gem to each member of the Illuminati for safekeeping.

            The Beyonder had once gathered an assortment of thirty-seven heroes and villains from Earth and forced them into a Secret War to fight to the death for whatever they deeply desired. Charles Xavier used his telepathic abilities to discover that the Beyonder was a mutant Inhuman and tracked his location to a planetoid named Ceres. Black Bolt did not remember a mutant going through the Terrigen Mists to obtain his Inhuman abilities, and the Illuminati believed that his presence was a threat to the universe and traveled to Ceres to convince the Beyonder to leave.

            A young Kree soldier named Noh-Varr who called himself Marvel Boy attacked Earth. He was overwhelmed by Earth forces and imprisoned, but the Illuminati visited him in the super villain maximum security penitentiary the Cube to try to convince him of human-Kree coexistence and to earn his way out of his imprisonment.

            After being reborn during the “House of M”, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who died when Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch lost control of her powers and caused the original Avengers to disband, went to Doctor Stephen Strange, hoping to find Wanda and obtain the closure he felt he needed. Doctor Strange warned Clint that he probably would not find either Wanda or the closure he was looking for. Clint traveled to the foot of Wundagore Mountain in his search and stopped a woman from having her purse snatched. Upon meeting her, he passed out. When he woke up at her home, the woman introduced herself as Wanda Maximoff, but this woman did not have either the powers or the memories of the woman Clint was looking for. They connected, but Clint left afterwards, having not found the closure he was looking for.

            Following the passing of the Superhuman Registration Act, the superhero Civil War and the assassination of Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, now Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. set the Initiative into motion, a plan for training and policing superheroes. While taking down the supervillain Paul Duval/Grey Gargoyle, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, who did not register and was now considered a criminal, encountered registered superhero Carol Danvers/Ms. Mavel. Ms. Marvel informed Spider-Woman that Captain America was alive and was being kept on the Raft, a maximum-security prison for supervillains, then allowed Spider-Woman to escape. This angered Iron Man as Captain America was, in fact, dead and not being kept on the Raft.

            Maya Lopez/Ronin sent an email to Matt Murdock/Daredevil, informing him she was in Japan fighting the Hand, a group on Ninja assassins led by Matt’s ex-girlfriend Elektra Natchios. During their confrontation, Elektra slew Maya in combat but the Hand resurrected Maya to use for their own purposes. Matt, however, was in jail and did not get the email.

Following the Civil War, a group of former Avengers and currently unregistered superheroes, Luke Cage, Logan/Wolverine, Danny Rand/Iron Fist, Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were hiding out at the Sanctum Sanctorum, home of Doctor Strange, which the Sorcerer Supreme was using his magic to make look like an abandoned building and future Starbucks. Following her encounter with Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman informed the group of Captain America’s imprisonment, and the team decided to rescue their friend. The team teleported to the Raft, where they were almost arrested. They returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum, which Iron Man tried to track the team down at, but Doctor Strange’s magic was so powerful that even with the aid of sorcerer Brother Voodoo, Iron Man and his Avengers were unable to locate the resistance team’s secret base. The team received Maya’s email and decided to go to Japan to come to her aid. Clint Barton arrived at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Luke was resistant to letting Clint join the team, but Doctor Strange performed a spell to convince Luke of Clint’s pure intentions and his identity as Clint Barton, but Clint refused to return as Hawkeye. Spider-Man informed Clint the team was costumes only, and Clint joined the team as the new Ronin. The team teleported to Japan, where they fought Elektra and the Hand. During the fight, Maya killed Elektra. Upon her death, the Ninjas left, but Elektra turned out to be a Skrull in disguise. This revelation that a Skrull had infiltrated the Hand and achieved the status as the organization’s leader led to distrust among Luke’s team, leaving them all to believe that anyone could be a Skrull in disguise. Spider-Woman suggested bringing the Elektra Skrull’s body to Tony Stark, who may have been a Skrull himself, to see his reaction, and if Stark were a Skrull, now the Skrulls knew the heroes were on to them. While flying in Iron Fist’s plane home from Japan, the plane lost power and crashed. The team was all knocked out except for Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman then took the Elektra Skrull’s body and left the team.

Parker Robbins/The Hood, a supervillain who shared a body with a demon, began an organized crime ring, employing the greatest supervillains in the underworld with promises of great wealth and protection and setting them against the superheroes. The Hood obtained Luther Manning/Deathlok and planned to unleash him upon Avengers Tower. A Symbiote bomb was dropped on New York City, turning everyone it touched into Symbiote monsters. Luke’s team was infected except for Luke, who aided Iron Man’s Avengers team, who remained unaffected, in stopping the crisis. Following the end of the Symbiote invasion, Stark allowed Luke and his team to leave as a sign of gratitude. During the situation, Luke discovered that Spider-Woman had switched sides and was now allied with Tony’s team. Luke’s team went to Avengers Tower to warn the Avengers of Deathlok’s impending attack but discovered that Deathlok had already been stopped. Luke’s team found the Hood’s organization and came into conflict with them. The heroes were successful, and several of the Hood’s crew were apprehended. The Hood, who promised protection, was true to his word and sprung his crew from custody, and the crime ring then turned their sights on revenge against Luke’s team.

Iron Man called the Illuminati together to show them the Elektra Skrull’s body to inform the group of a possible Skrull invasion, and the group discovered that they had already been infiltrated by the Skrulls and were attacked. The Skrulls had been so well insinuated that they were undetectable, even by telepathy. They uncovered that a Secret Invasion by the Skrulls was already underway and that no one, not even their friends, family, teammates, or each other could be trusted.

Okay, now that the lengthy synopsis has been taken care of, let’s move on to the personal Tim Cubbin part of my review now, shall we? Okay, first things first, I have to complain about the title of the book itself. This book was given the title “New Avengers: The Initiative.” I found this to be a complete misnomer. Following Civil War, there was, in fact, a series titled “Avengers: The Initiative” but not a single issue of that series was collected in this volume. The closest thing this Modern Era Epic Collection had to that was the one-shot “Civil War: The Initiative,” but that was just one issue. The entire rest of this collection had absolutely nothing to do with the Initiative at all. I will say that this had tie-ins to “The Mighty Avengers,” but calling this “The Initiative” to me felt like the wrong title as Tony’s team was not itself the Initiative. I feel like the proper title of this book should have been something like “The Secret Defenders,” which is a quote of what Clint Barton asked Luke if this was what his team was called. That would have, in my opinion, felt like a more appropriate title for this book. As far as the story goes, I was not a fan. When “Civil War” came out, I was a freshman in college. The Superhuman Registration Act had such a negative impact on the Marvel Comics, and I actually fell out of regularly reading comics for several years following this. I just hated what the Superhuman Registration Act did to some of my favorite heroes, turning them into fugitives, despite that fact that during “Civil War” I found myself supporting the Superhuman Registration Act and Iron Man’s team, but it really bothered me that it turned some of the focus away from heroes fighting villains and into heroes running from other heroes while sometimes fighting villains. And this book only collected issues of the team that was against Registration and spent most of the book trying to evade the Registered heroes, so that also detracted from my enjoyment of this book. And don’t even get me started on how “Civil War” eternally ruined “Spider-Man” in the Marvel Universe, you do not want to go there. So, this whole book, with the team being on the run from Iron Man, the Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. really didn’t appeal to me. The “New Avengers: The Illuminati” limited series also held minimal appeal to me. The fact that each issue was from a different point in the timeline and was not continual just felt fractured and the inconsistency just didn’t do it for me. I also disliked how the story was not presented in timeline order and that there were jumps back and forth in the story, so it wasn’t told linearly. The disjointedness just made it hard to follow and was frustrating to put together. I feel like the decision to make reveals of what happened as past events just didn’t work and was very confusing and made it difficult to find a sense of enjoyment while reading this book. Also, Spider-Man was wearing his black costume in this book. I know a little bit about the situation myself from having read some of the issues of the multiple “Spider-Man” ongoing series around that time, but this book offered no explanation as to that, and honestly would be confusing to anyone who hadn’t read any of those stories. And the artwork also was mostly not to my liking. The art in every issue of “New Avengers” in this book was just so unlikeable to me. I found looking at it to be an eyesore. Having artwork that was so visually displeasing and a disjointed story that really didn’t appeal to me, plus a title that didn’t fit the story just made this book so unenjoyable. I was highly disappointed by this book. And I am usually a big fan of the work by writer Brian Michael Bendis, but this book was, to me, not on par with my usual expectations of his standards of writing. Granted, he had to work with what Mark Millar and the other writers did to the Marvel Universe at the time, so this isn’t entirely his fault, but what he put out in these stories was just not his best work.

Next up, we’re going to discuss accessibility. Now, if you’ve never read one of my reviews before, you may not know what I mean when I use this word, and if you have read any of my reviews before, you already know what I mean, but bear with me anyway. So, when I say “accessibility” I mean if you can just pick up and understand the entire book without any outside context. So basically, I’m answering the question: can I know nothing about the previous story and still be able to understand this story? My answer to that is no. This book is highly reliant of outside information. So much of this book spins out of “Civil War” there are parts that tie-in to “The Mighty Avengers” from the time period that not knowing other Marvel stories from the time makes this book extremely difficult to follow. If you never read “Civil War,” I do not recommend trying to read this graphic novel. There are many moments that pick up from points where the previous volume of “New Avengers” in Modern Era Epic Collection format left off, as well, particularly the entire “Ronin” story arc. Not having read previous stories is very detrimental to the consumption of this book, and I really do not recommend this book to new readers.

Okay, I think I’ve gone on long enough at this point and you’re starting to get tired of me, so I’m just going to move on to the main event of my personal part of the review: the numeric score. So, the system I score on is pretty simple: one to ten. One means this book is a flaming pile of trash and should be avoided at all costs. Ten means that this book is perfection. Tens are very rare for me to give. So, there are several factors that I’m deducting points for. First off, the story was disjointed and unappealing to me. Second, the art was just a visual eyesore and looking at it was impossible to enjoy. Third, this book had the wrong title. So, factor all those problems in and we’re taking off a lot of points. So, yes, we’re going to throw everything into my metaphorical blender, the story, the art, and the title, all of which I take fault in, we’re going to turn it on and thoroughly let it all blend together, leaving it on for quite some time, then we’re going to pour it out into my metaphorical cup, and as we look at it, we are looking at the number… three. This book was just not one that I enjoyed, and honestly, that is hard for me because I usually love Bendis’ work, so him writing this dud is just disappointing to me, and I hope that if Marvel continues to release Modern Era Epic Collections of “New Avengers” there is improvement on the dynamics of the storylines and a better balance of superheroes actually being superheroes and not superheroes being turned into fugitives trying to evade other superheroes as was the focus of this book. I also hope for a different assortment of artists, as much of this book was just not enjoyable for me to look at.

Next on the docket is my recommendation. This segment is me telling you two things. The first is if I, myself, Tim Cubbin, recommend this book to readers. The second thing I’m going to tell you is, regardless of the fact if I tell you that you should or shouldn’t read this book, who the best target audience for readers of this book would be. So, let’s start with the first question of do I recommend this book personally. My answer to you is no. This book does not get my recommendation at all. I read this book, and I cannot, in good faith, tell you, my readers, that you should now read this book. Now, if you do actually want to read this book, that is up to you, I cannot stop you, you can read this book and totally disagree with everything I’ve just said in these past four paragraphs, and I leave that up to you, that is the beauty of being a human being, we all have our own opinions, and if you read this book and feel different than I do, I would totally love to hear from you, feel free to leave some form of communication to me to say “Tim Cubbin, I think you’re wrong, I think this was a good book because…” and that would be totally great. Now, as far as who the target audience would be, I would say it is for fans of the Avengers comics who have a particular interest in villains such as the Hand, the Skrulls, and any of the Hell’s Kitchen underworld, as well as fans of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange and Echo and would like to see them in association with the Avengers. Other than that, I find it hard for me to actually give a recommended audience.

Okay, I’ve rambled on for long enough, it’s time for all of us to move on with our lives. Now, before I go, there are a few final notices I must give. First off, this site has over 150 posts on it, I’ve been doing this for five years now, there’s plenty more to see. If you liked this review, feel free to look for “New Avengers: Assembled” and “New Avengers: Civil War” for more New Avengers content, as well as any of my other over four dozen reviews. I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection at my earliest convenience and try to get a review out if possible. I currently have two more volumes in my possession, so expect another review coming up in the next week or so. I post very often, so there’s always plenty of content to read as I usually get about three books a month, and I am usually able to get a review of every one of those books up right after I’ve read them. I do have a few I haven’t reviewed because at the time of reading I had no computer and couldn’t compose a post, so there’s a chance those could eventually come up, and there’s one book I didn’t review that I hope will eventually be able to receive a review on this blog. I also have composed other kinds of posts than book reviews, but those are my primary source of content. But if you keep looking at timcubbin.blogspot.com and From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, there’s also other types of posts, such as short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so I’m not limited to being a one-trick pony. Granted I mostly just have book reviews as my focus, I do have a few other ideas I am considering working on, so there’s a chance you could see a short story eventually pop up, or I might write another one of my B’ings, which are just total ways to waste everyone’s time, it’s just me going on for several minutes finding a totally pointless topic and complaining about it, but it’s actually usually pretty amusing, so if you’re interested in that, you can search for those as well. You can also make requests for me on what you would like to see on this blog, and I will try to take that into account as well and attempt to satisfy you. I want to keep you guys coming back, after all. So, I think for the moment I’ve said everything there is to say, really, so I’m just going to sign off now. It’s been a pleasure. Tim Cubbin… out!

"Hawkeye: The Reunion"

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

            Clinton “Clint” Barton/Hawkeye is the world’s greatest marksman. He has been a carnival archer, a villain, an Avenger, the vigilante Ronin, and a husband. Barbara “Bobbi” Morse/Mockingbird has been a spy, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., an Avenger, believed dead for years, and a wife. The two met and fell instantly in love and married nine days later. Both were active members of the Avengers for years, and even left to lead the West Coast Avengers. But their marriage hit a snag, and right as they were talking divorce, a shapeshifting alien replaced Bobbi called a Skrull that died impersonating her and she was held captive on the Skrull Homeworld for years. Clint was killed when the original Avengers disbanded. Years later, Clint returned to life as Ronin and Bobbi returned to Earth.

            Clint and Bobbi’s relationship did not begin again based on trust. In her time back on Earth, Bobbi had founded the World Counterterrorism Agency. Clint followed her on one of her missions to a hospital that turned out to be a front for the terrorist organization A.I.M., who Bobbi found out were planning to set off a bomb at a scientist ceremony in Spain. Bobbi refused to allow the Avengers to get involved with her plans to stop the bomb, but she did allow Clint to tag along on the mission. Bobbi still tried to keep Clint at arm’s length on the mission, not fully sure if she could trust him. She confirmed to him that their divorce was finalized and that she had filed the divorce papers before she was kidnapped by the Skrulls and that she and Clint were no longer legally married. Clint and Bobbi were able to work their way into the ceremony with false identities and invites. While searching for the bomb, Bobbi fainted, having flashbacks to her time on the Skrull Homeworld. Clint and Bobbi discovered a bomb and discovered that Bobbi was set up by A.I.M. Scientist Supreme Doctor Monica Rappaccini and that the bomb was planted specifically to lure Bobbi in particular right into Monica’s trap. Monica attempted to kill Clint but failed. Clint and Bobbi then had to find a way to defeat Monica, stop the bomb, and save the scientists. Following this, Clint and Bobbi decided to start dating again, and Clint officially joined the W.C.A.

            Clint then decided to go back to his Hawkeye identity.

            Clint and Bobbi’s old enemy William Cross/Crossfire returned to target the pair. A transport truck carrying artifacts belonging to the Slade family was hit. Jaime Slade was the daughter of Hamilton Slade and a descendent of Lincoln Slade, both of whom were known as the Phantom Rider. Lincoln Slade had tortured Bobbi in the past. Jaime picked up an urn that was cracked and the spirit of the Phantom Rider was transferred into her. Fearing for Bobbi’s sanity, Clint searched for Bobbi’s family and found her mother and brother were still alive but had been told Bobbi was dead. The reunion was not as happy as Clint thought it would be. Jaime/Phantom Rider sought revenge against Bobbi and Clint and formed a partnership with Crossfire. Their first strike was against Bobbi’s mother, who, with great luck, survived the attack. Bobbi, Clint, and W.C.A. member Dominic Fortune went after Jaime and Crossfire but were led into a trap that Dominic barely survived. Clint and Bobbi reached out to the other current Phantom Rider, Jaime’s father Hamilton Slade, who told them he could exorcise the spirit of Lincoln’s Phantom Rider out of his daughter. The ritual almost succeeded until Crossfire took Hamilton out of the picture, but Clint and Bobbi were able to overpower both Crossfire and Jaime. Following the battle, Clint and Bobbi broke up and Clint’s time with the W.C.A. was supposed to have been ended, until Steve Rogers/Captain America, informed Clint Bobbi’s life was in danger.

            A new Ronin had emerged and started killing spies around the world. A treaty over disputed territory between Russia and Japan was on the horizon, and this new Ronin was a threat to destabilize this potential peace. The Ronin’s kills got personal to Bobbi when he killed a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent she was friends with. Clint, Bobbi, and Dominic went to Russia, where they ran into Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Ronin had hit the Red Room, the facility where Natasha received her training. Clint was accused by the Supreme Soviets for all the murders due to his past identity as Ronin and targeted for arrest. Bobbi, Dominic, and Natasha were able to help Clint defeat the Supreme Soviets and escape arrest. While doing recon, Clint and Natasha encountered the Madame, who gave away to Natasha the identity of the new Ronin. Clint, Bobbi, Dominic, and Natasha, along with some unexpected help from the Supreme Soviets, then had to battle to Ronin and his clan the Dark Ocean to ensure that the peace treaty between Russia and Japan happened.

            While in a battle between the Avengers and the Lethal Legion, Clint missed a shot. Upon returning to Avengers Tower, he was examined by Doctor Donald Blake, who informed Clint he was going blind. Tony Stark/Iron Man produced some technology that would help Clint’s vision while he still had his sight but would not prevent the blindness from happening. Buck Chisholm/Trick Shot arrived at Avengers Tower to warn him he was in danger from another archer and his “Benefactor” before he passed away. The Benefactor was longtime Avengers villain Baron Zemo, and the archer was Clint’s long thought deceased brother Barney Barton, who was brainwashed and now wanted his brother dead. Clint struck out on his own without the Avengers to take down Zemo and his brother before he lost his sight.

            Okay, so let’s get to my opinion. First off, Hawkeye is one of my favorite Avengers. He has no actual superpowers, yet he is a valuable member of a team with a guy with a suit of high-tech armor, a literal god, a super soldier, and a superstrong rage monster. I find that to be so impressive. HOWEVER! This book just didn’t do it for me. It felt a little disjointed. The reason for this being the case is that this book did not contain any ongoing series, it was just a collection of limited series and pieces from one-shots, and I feel like that hurt the focus a bit. I feel like I was promised Hawkeye and that’s not exactly what I got. It might be one of those cases where I expected something and didn’t get what I expected. I’ve said this before a few months ago with “Hulk: Who is the Red Hulk?” if any of you recall that. I expected one thing and that’s not what I got and that was disappointing. I’ve also reviewed another Hawkeye Epic Collection “The Avenging Archer” before over a year ago and this disjointedness happened in that as well, but I must say this book wasn’t as bad as “The Avenging Archer.” This did have a little more, shall we say, cohesiveness than that. Still, this was disappointing. And I just didn’t find the stories themselves to be all that interesting, either. They were all subpar or less in my honest opinion. That said, the art was decent. I found that at least to be enjoyable. But the book just wasn’t what I was hoping for overall.

            Next, we’re going to talk about the accessibility level of this book. So, for those of you who don’t know what I mean by accessibility, I mean just how easy it is to get into this book for a new reader. So, if you’ve never heard of Hawkeye from Marvel before, I wouldn’t say it’s too hard to get into this book. This is marked as Vol. 1 and it does not directly pick up from any previous stories, cross over into any other stories, or continue into any other stories. So, if you’re reading this review and find this book to sound interesting, I wouldn’t think you’d find it too difficult to understand. I feel like it’s self-explanatory. If you’re a fan of Hawkeye from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his story here is a bit different, I will say, he doesn’t have kids, his wife was not Laura, but the character’s essence is still there, you just must realize he doesn’t have a wife and kids in this universe, and you should be able to grasp it well enough. If you’re a previous Marvel reader, meaning you read in the past before the original release dates from this book, 2009-2011, but stopped and are looking to get back in, I’d say you could still be able to pick it up again easily enough, or if you’re a current reader from after those dates looking to backtrack, I think it's something that you should have no problem understanding. In other words, this book is accessible.

            Okay, now for the section we’ve all been waiting for: my numeric score! Just how good of a book did I think this was? Obviously, you can tell this isn’t going to be the greatest. So, of course, this is a graphic novel, so we must take everything in this book into consideration; the art and the story. As I said, the stories were subpar or less, and I felt like it was highly disjointed. That’s going to deduct a lot of points there. The art was decent, so that’s going to give some points there, but it won’t save it too much for me. I really hate giving low scores, but I really don’t feel like I can just feel happy giving every book I read a high score, either, but this book just MUST get a low score, I’m sorry. So, all considered, everything thrown into the blender and mixed and the score comes out, it’s a… four! I really hate doing this to you Clint, but this book just missed its mark for me.

            Now we’re going to talk about if I recommend this book and to whom I recommend it. So, let’s start with this: do I recommend this book? HECK NO! I just can’t in good faith tell anyone to go read this book. I’m a huge Hawkeye fan and I was HIGHLY disappointed by this book, so I just can’t say you should read this, too. That said, I can’t tell you what to do, that’s up to you. If you read this review and are interested in reading this book now, you can totally read it if you want, I can’t tell you not to. Hey, you can read it and leave some kind of communication for me to let me know how you felt about it! I’d love to hear from you, that would be great! No one has ever reached out to me on this blog, and I would totally love to hear someone’s opinions of the same things I read! Please feel free to be the first! If you liked it, I want to know! If you didn’t like it, I want to know! Whatever! But I don’t recommend you read it.

            So, let’s start wrapping up here, I’ve been droning on for quite some time now. So, I’ll say a few more things before I log off. First off, I write a lot of book reviews, I’ve done dozens of Marvel Epic Collection reviews, and you can expect another Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection review within the next couple of weeks. I post very frequently, I buy every new Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and review them, so expect the reviews when they come out. There are actually a few I haven’t reviewed that I plan to go back to eventually, I just didn’t review them because I didn’t have a laptop at the time I read them, but I will probably review them eventually when I reread them, because I usually reread previous volumes when new ones come out, so backlogged books will probably come up. Second, I write other content, including short stories, free-verse poetry, articles, editorials, and essays, so you can check those out, too. I’ve done a bunch of B’ings in the past, if you want to waste time on something pointless, and there’s a chance I might do more. I’ve been sitting on a short story idea for months now, I hope I’ll eventually be able to sit down and write it, I’m just a busy guy, I have a job, I do activities, I just don’t always have the time to just sit down and write, and when I do, it’s usually reviews. But hopefully that short story gets done soon, it’s going to be entertaining. And with all that said, I’ll leave you to go back to doing whatever you were doing before you decided to spend a little bit of time with me. Thanks for reading, if you’re here, you are THE BEST! I appreciate you! I’ll be back soon, and so, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Hawkeye: The Avenging Archer"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Hawkeye: The Avenging Archer” as presented in Epic Collection format.

            Clinton Barton and his brother Barney Barton were orphaned at a young age. They were put in the foster system together, and bounced from home to home. Finally, after being placed with an abusive foster father, Clint and Barney ran away. On the run, Clint and Barney found a travelling circus led by the swindling Swordsman. Clint was picked to be trained to amaze and amuse the audiences as an archer, while Barney was picked to steal from the audiences. Clint trained so well and became such an expert marksman that he did not miss. He was billed as “Hawkeye.” Eventually, Clint and Barney were disheartened by the Swordsman and moved on with their lives. Clint stayed as a carnival attraction while Barney got involved with the mob.

            One night at Coney Island, New York, Tony Stark (secretly the superhero the Invincible Iron Man) and his secretary Virginia “Pepper” Potts go on a date. The date was supposed to be for Tony’s friend Harold “Happy” Hogan, but Pepper misread the signals and went with Tony. Hawkeye was a performer there, but really was not impressing the audience. Suddenly, the Flying Pinwheel went out of control, and Tony ran off, switched to Iron Man, and saved the day. Dismayed by this turn of events, with Iron Man stealing his thunder, Clint decided he wanted the attention the same way Iron Man did and to become a superhero himself. He devises a series of trick arrows with different functions and creates a costume. Unfortunately on his first night out, he stops a jewel thief but is misinterpreted as the criminal himself. As he goes on the run, he meets Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. The two fall in love. The Black Widow riles Clint up, and Clint decides he wants fame, and what better way to do that than to defeat Iron Man? The battle comes to an end when the Black Widow is gravely injured, and Clint escapes with the Black Widow.

            Tony Stark later finds himself gravely injured and must remain in his Iron Man armor until he is recovered. However, Tony’s absence is not unnoticed and finds himself suspected in his own disappearance. Black Widow convinces Clint that this is the perfect time to raid Stark’s weapons plans to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. He is discovered, and in an escape attempt, Clint takes Pepper hostage. Iron Man battles Clint and rescues Pepper. Clint and the Black Widow are separated, but again both manage to escape.

            Black Widow designs a new costume with some new trick gadgets. When Clint and the Black Widow are reunited, the two kidnap Happy and Pepper while on a date to attract Iron Man’s attention. Black Widow and Iron Man battle, but when Black Widow is defeated, Clint and Black Widow again make their escape.

            Clint returns to appeal to join the Avengers (Hank Pym/Giant Man, Janet Van Dyne/Wasp, Tony Stark/Iron Man, and Steve Rogers/Captain America). The Avengers, believing Clint’s desire to reform himself, accept Clint’s application. However, Giant Man, Wasp and Iron Man decide to take a leave of absence from the team, leaving Captain America to pick replacements. Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, (both former of members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) apply, seeking redemption from their past crimes. Captain America accepts and the new Avengers are formed.

            Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch leave the Avengers, Hank Pym (now Yellowjacket) and Wasp (now Mrs. Pym) return, and T’Challa/Black Panther and Vision join the team. Black Widow is now an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division). Black Widow is kidnapped by Egghead, the Mad Thinker, and the Puppet Master. The Avengers are sent by Nick Fury on a rescue mission, but Hawkeye, being too involved, is asked to stay behind. However, the Nick Fury who calls the Avengers to action is actually a Life Model Decoy, and the team is sent on a wild goose chase. Black Widow is able to contact Clint and is able to inform Hawkeye of her real location. Clint decides Hawkeye just isn’t enough and takes Hank Pym’s growth particles and takes on the mantle of Goliath. Goliath is able to rescue the Black Widow.

            The defeated villains don’t stop there. The Avengers then race to space, where Clint is reunited with his brother, Barney. The Avengers find themselves being manipulated by the Puppet Master’s dolls, and Barney pays a terrible price to save his brother and his teammates.

            But blasts from Clint’s past don’t end there. The Swordsman also returns, teaming up with Egghead and forces Clint to make a difficult decision.

            Clint returns to his Hawkeye identity and teams up with Spider-Man against the cyborg Quasimodo.

            Clint also teams up with Two-Gun Kid against Zebadiah Killgrave/Purple Man.

            The Avengers continue to expand and they even receive government sponsorship. Their liaison Henry Peter Gyrich decides that the team is too big and forces Clint off the team. Clint finds employment with Cross Technological Enterprises as head of security. One of his first opponents to protect CTE is the Shi’ar alien, Deathbird.

            Spider-Man and Clint team up once again against the villainous Mister Fear.

            Clint’s next opponent is El Aguila.

            Next Clint goes to the circus and teams up with Scott Lang/Ant-Man against the Taskmaster.

            Bobbi Morse goes from being the Huntress to becoming Mockingbird, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

            Mockingbird then teams up with Spider-Man to save S.H.I.E.L.D. from an inside threat that could destroy the agency’s reputation.

            While on a date, Clint meets Mockingbird when she breaks into CTE. Their encounter does not go very smoothly at first, but after mutual rescues engaged by both parties, Clint and Bobbi form a partnership that quickly turns into romance. The team-up leads them against villains such as Bombshell and Oddball. Clint and Bobbi are defeated and brought to the true mastermind behind this plot, Crossfire, who tries to turn Clint and Bobbi aggressively against each other. After their daring escape, Crossfire tries to beat Clint at his own game, with bow and arrow, to permanently take Bobbi out of the picture.

            Darren Cross is kidnapped by Hawkeye and Mockingbird’s enemies, who use a juggling act taken to a violent level, and Steve Rogers/Captain America and Clint team up once again to save Clint’s boss.

            Clint goes on a solo retreat after losing confidence in himself and his abilities as an archer and must regain his skills during a mystic encounter.

 

            Okay, I know that’s a lot to take in, but my prior Epic Collection review readers know the length by now, containing several related storylines in one massive graphic novel volume. Now, some of my prior readers probably think I pick Epic Collections at random considering my portfolio, but I do have a process in my selection, but I won’t bore you with that as this review has already been lengthy enough, but I do have my reasons. Almost no one knew this before, but Hawkeye is my favorite male Avenger, due to the fact that he has no true super powers, but still proves invaluable to those with powers and rightfully proves he belongs on the team. That said, though, this book was seriously flawed. First off, the selection of issues in this book. This just went all over the place, with seemingly random selections ranging from 1964-1988 and marketed as Volume 1. This included several key points in Hawkeye’s early history, but there was a major lack of consistency. Yes, for a Volume 1, you need choices such as a first appearance, but the gaps in the choices was just too extensive. I’ve talked about this exact sort of thing in my review of “Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising.” Hawkeye has been an on-and-off member of the Avengers since 1965, so he has a lot of history, but most of the issues highlighted were not in any true continuation. There were actually only two storylines in this book that were sequential, meaning more than one consecutive issue in a row. No, the stories contained in this book were appealing and enjoyable to me, I actually liked most of the content, so I didn’t dislike it per se, but if this wasn’t so jumbled, it might have been more enjoyable. It should be noted, however, that up to this point, Hawkeye had actually never had a solo series, which explains the mess, just like the aforementioned “Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising.” In fact, the only series that was a Hawkeye solo series was a four issue limited series from 1983, with no other issues of that year contained in this volume, including a significant gap between the times of these storylines. The biggest difference between the two volumes I reviewed were the selective options. Moon Knight had considerably less appearances in the years contained in that volume than Hawkeye did in this volume, so Moon Knight’s selections that seemed random was more cohesive than Hawkeye’s Epic Collection. Also, Hawkeye has been on several teams with continuous storylines, several of them having Epic Collections. I think this would have worked better if it focused on just solo Hawkeye series rather than highlight stories. I will say that I reviewed another Epic Collection that had no solo series, “Carnage: Born in Blood.” The big difference there is that the two major stories in that volume were continuous and not just random highlights. Also, the two Mockingbird stories seemed superfluous. They had absolutely nothing to do with Hawkeye and as I read them, I internally questioned their validity in a Hawkeye Epic Collection. Again, I liked most of the stories contained in this volume, it was just a hot mess. Now, lest we forget, this was a “graphic novel,” which means that I also have to weigh in on the artwork. Now, comic book art has varied in style over the years, and having a book that spanned 24 years totally showcased that. So I honestly cannot critique the artwork in this book due to different art styles from the time. There are a few things that seem inappropriate to mention, so I’ll avoid those. What I will critique was Hawkeye’s costume. First off, in the first issue in this book, it looked like Hawkeye was wearing a tutu. Highly embarrassing. Even later, it looked like he was wearing a loincloth over his costume, which I know is classic, but I always thought it was dumb, so I totally have to blame the artists at the time that created, what I considered to be, an atrocity. And why purple and blue? I’m not much for fashion, but I still feel that the colorist made the costume colors clash, it just wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to me. And yes, I know this is his iconic look, so I’m not blaming contemporary artists, they just have to keep true to the history, but I still disliked what the original artists created for Hawkeye. And Black Widow then looked nothing like the contemporary Black Widow looks like, a look I did not enjoy. And my regular Epic Collection review readers will know that I say if I felt that the art was good or if it was just good for the time. It’s very rare for me to say this, but I felt that the art was good for the time due to the creation of what I felt was a horrendous crime of a costume. Maybe back then a purple and blue costume was cool, but today? Not so much. And there was a black-and-white issue that just didn’t appeal to me. If you think I dislike black-and-white, not that I have reviewed manga and love old black-and-white movies, so that is not the case. So, all around, this book disappointed me. Just how disappointed, we’ll get to that in a couple of paragraphs.

            First off, let’s talk accessibility. This means what I think you need to know to understand and enjoy this book. Can I saw, woof? This is just not a book for new readers just getting into Marvel comics. Most of these issues are not Hawkeye solo issues, he just guest starred, so the history of these characters will not be known to new readers. And again, the gaps between the release dates are too major. So if you read this book, it should be known that this is not just Hawkeye. Many of these characters have not appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or else the characters have different backgrounds than the movies. Hawkeye was not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and in fact, started as a villain. I just don’t think MCU fans who have never read comics before would find this book enjoyable. I’ve been reading Marvel Comics regularly for twenty-one years now, so my opinions are very different. I am knowledgeable in Marvel history at this point, but this book is probably not appealing to non or casual fans. I’m not saying not to read the book, I’m just saying knowledge of the Marvel Universe is required before reading this book, because I just don’t feel this is a jump-on point. I guess since we’re on the subject, it does not get my full recommendation, not even to Hawkeye fans like me. But this is all my opinion, I’m not forcing you to feel the same way with anything I post on this blog, in fact, I invite you to feel differently and let me know. The choice to read this is up to you. I just not personally endorse this book.

            Now, as I said, I’ll tell you just how I felt about this book by giving it a numeric score. I score on a scale of one-to-ten, one meaning I feel that this is garbage, ten meaning that this ranks up with one of the best books I’ve ever read. Obviously you can tell this is not getting a ten. When it comes down to it, taking in every single one of the 2,350 words I’ve already typed into consideration, soup to nuts, I have to rank it right in the middle and give this book a five. It just was not what I was expecting and my expectations were just not met.

            Okay, I think I’ve bored you long enough and I have actually been working on this review for almost five hours now and I want to stop with this, too. So, before we go, I have to tell you about this blog. Yes, I’ve written literally dozens of reviews, most of them Marvel, but I throw in a few different books here and there.  I also write short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, editorials, and essay and several other projects. I have another review idea sitting on my desk and will post this probably in two or three days, so keep a lookout for that. I usually post with frequency and have plenty of other ideas. I have a complaint series called B’ings, I’m not telling you what it’s about so you might actually consider reading it. I’m a certified, unemployed journalist and want to get my words out there, this is why I do this blog. So feel free to read what’s already here, expect lots more soon, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!