"Carnage: Web of Carnage"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Carnage: Web of Carnage” as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format, written by J.M. DeMatteis, Larry Hama, David Michelinie, Warren Ellis, Dan Jurgens, Tom DeFalco, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago & David Quinn.

            Cletus Kasady was a criminal who was about as worse as they could come, a prisoner on Riker’s Island serving twelve life sentences. His cell mate Eddie Brock claimed to have been bonded to an alien called a symbiote and was the super villain Venom. The symbiote broke Eddie out of prison, but left a piece of itself behind during the escape. That excess symbiote bonded with Kasady and gave birth to the psychotic super villain Carnage. Kasady had been locked away in Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane for the crimes he committed as the Carnage.

Peter Parker was arrested for the worst of all crimes, which were actually committed by Kaine. The mysterious Judas Traveller transported Peter/Spider-Man and Kaine to a fictional courthouse where Traveller placed Spider-Man on trial to prove if his actions as a super hero were as beneficial as Peter has been led to believe or if they had unintended consequences that made things inadvertently worse for other innocent people, placing Carnage as prosecutor of the case.

            A video game called “Carnage Unleashed” has been created, starring Carnage as the villain and Venom as the hero. This game featured online capabilities. While unable to actually make the money he technically deserved for having been made the star of the video game, the staff at Ravencroft allowed Carnage screen time. He was allowed to play the game. Wary of this fact, Eddie decided to travel to New York to pay Kasady a visit. Kasady was subjected to inhibiters which prevented him from becoming Carnage. Kasady learned a new trick while playing this game. Kasady sent his symbiote through the internet to bond with a player of the game. This possessed player was then able to hack the security systems of Ravencroft and release Kasady/Carnage from his cell. Fortunately, Venom’s arrival in New York was timely, as he was able to defeat Kasady/Carnage, place him in a coma and return him to Ravencroft.

            After an encounter with Spider-Man, Eddie decided he had had enough with the symbiote and enough with being Venom and cast out the symbiote. The symbiote was not happy about this and sent out a distress call to other symbiotes, which led to a symbiote invasion of earth. Eddie found himself in an alliance with Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider to fight back against the symbiotes with sonic cannons (symbiotes are weak against loud sonic frequencies and fire). Ben had accidentally picked up the Venom symbiote along the way, which decided to bond back with Eddie again, dismayed about seeing what it’s species was doing to it’s adopted planet. Unfortunately at this point, Kasady emerged from his coma, releasing Carnage, who then absorbed several of the invading symbiotes, creating a giant symbiotic monster. The combined might of Venom, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider were able to defeat Carnage and force back the symbiote invasion.

            Ravencroft head psychiatrist Doctor Ashley Kafka invited world renowned psychiatrist Doctor Matthew Kurtz to Ravencroft in an attempt to rehabilitate the recaptured Kasady/Carnage. During the course of the interviews and treatments, Carnage dragged Kurtz into Kasady’s memories, making Kurtz actually live the moments in Kasady’s life that led to Kasady becoming the criminal he grew up to be, and this mind bombing drove Doctor Kurtz completely insane.

While Kasady was in Ravencroft, a Carnage impersonator was terrorizing New York City. Ben Reilly/Spider-Man went to investigate and found that Kasady had been separated from his symbiote and had little time left to live, while the symbiote was attached to Ravencroft head of security John Jameson. Ben Reilly/Spider-Man engaged Jameson/Carnage, and the symbiote decided it wanted a stronger host, and left Jameson and attached itself to Ben, giving birth to Spider-Carnage. Spider-Carnage went on a rampage through New York City, ruining Spider-Man’s reputation. Peter Parker confronted Spider-Carnage at the risk of his own life. Spider-Carnage instinctively went to Ravencroft, where the symbiote left Ben Reilly/Spider-Man and rejoined with Cletus Kasady.

Kasady’s treatment continued, but Carnage attempted another mind bomb by dragging Doctor Ashley Kafka and John Jameson into his own made up, insane, twisted, pocket reality, turning John into his Doctor Kafka into an insect metamorphic creature and Jameson into the Man-Wolf.

Eddie Brock was placed on trial for his crimes as Venom, represented by Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Eddie was given a serum that prevented him from becoming Venom. Kasady, being Eddie’s former cell mate, was called to testify. Kasady was given the same serum as Eddie, yet still transformed into Carnage, and Daredevil, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Venom had to team up again to take Carnage down once again.

 

Some of you may recall I am a huge fan of Carnage. I’ve previously reviewed the “Maximum Carnage” event as presented on Marvel Unlimited and “Carnage: Born in Blood” as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format on this blog site and gave high scores, so if you’ve read either of those, you probably know. If you didn’t know, well, now you do.

So, let’s talk about my reactions. First off, I will say I liked most the stories in it. But here is where we have the problem: these issues are not all consecutive and were gathered from points between 1994-1997, and only included issues with Carnage. It really jumped around. For example, it included two issues of “Amazing Spider-Man,” but they were #403 & #410. On top of that, most of this book took place during “The Clone Saga” and the little previously blurbs just aren’t enough if you don’t know the story. I have reviewed “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” as presented on Marvel Unlimited on this blog site, but the list ended when Ben Reilly became Spider-Man, and this graphic novel goes past that point, so even I don’t know the full story. Some of you who have read previous posts know this has also been a problem before, such as in “Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising” and “Hawkeye: The Avenging Archer” in particular, which I have previously posted on this blog site. I will say that Marvel Epic Collections have singular focuses, such as how “The Silver Surfer: The Infinity Gauntlet” didn’t actually have any of the six issue limited series “The Infinity Gauntlet,” just the issues of “Silver Surfer” from around the time. Also, the titles of Marvel Epic Collections are the ones Marvel thinks will sell best, such as “Captain America: The Coming of… the Falcon” who only appeared in three issues of the book. “Web of Carnage” was only four parts, and there are eighteen issues in this book, but Marvel clearly thought that “Web of Carnage” was the catchiest and slapped it all over the book. But I TOTALLY digress, terribly sorry. Let me emphasize my point. The start of the book was “Amazing Spider-Man” #403, which was part of a four issue crossover story, but since this issue was the only issue with Carnage in it, that was the only one they included. And even “Venom: On Trial.” It was a three issue limited series, but Carnage wasn’t in #1, so only #2-3 were included. When reading a comic book storyline, I feel like two issues are most important: the first issue and the last issue. I’m not saying that I don’t think that everything in between isn’t important, but I like to know how a story starts so I get a feel of what’s going on. The exclusion of #1 made the graphic novel kind of confusing. The fact that this whole book was selections from an extensive event only including minimal amounts just makes it hard to fully follow. I will also say that one of the number one reasons I purchased this graphic novel was because it contained “Amazing Spider-Man” #410, which was actually the first Marvel comic book I ever got, so it was rather sentimental to me, plus it was part two of a four part crossover story I never read the other three parts of and have wanted to read the others for twenty-seven years, so when I heard about this book I had to get it. I really enjoyed that storyline, Ben Reilly is a favorite character of mine, so him becoming Spider-Carnage was pretty cool. And I enjoyed the “Venom: Carnage Unleashed” limited series, especially the irony that Cletus would have been rich over his use in the video game if he weren’t a prisoner. I thought that was a good joke. The psychological issues just didn’t do it for me, though. I’ve been a mental patient (not a serial killer), but I didn’t feel the depictions were right. I felt like the writers needed to do better research there. As far as Planet of the Symbiotes, I really enjoyed rereading this (since it was in “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga”) in context now. And let’s discuss the artwork. Previous readers may know how I feel about mid-to-late ’90s and early ’00s artwork, but if you’ve never read a post from me before, that is my favorite period of comic book art. There was just such a quality to it that wasn’t there before and isn’t followed anymore, and I totally miss that standard. Just like all art, there a periods that have distinct features, and I just loved that period. I will say that the artists of “Carnage: Mind Bomb” and “Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life” let me down a little, but not too badly.

Now, I’m going to alter the order I do my reviews in a little and say that I only recommend this book to Spider-Man fans who know about “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” or else I feel like you will have NO idea what is going on and the previously blurbs are just not enough to guide you through it. I feel like this book is just NOT a point for new comic book readers to start with, even if you are a Carnage fan from any of the cartoons, movies, or video games. Back in 1996, I read “Amazing Spider-Man” #410 and had no idea what I was reading, I just didn’t have the background and context at the time, especially the whole who is really Peter Parker and who is the clone, it did feel a bit convoluted. Did I like this book? Personally, yes, but still, it’s not an easy book for me to recommend, but hey, what do I know? If you like this review and want to read this book, go right ahead. I know I always say that, but it’s true. We all have our own thoughts and opinions, I can’t tell you what to do. It’s just a really expensive book and I hope I don’t lead you to disappointment, so buyers beware.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: my numeric score. Some of you know the deal: one to ten, one’s the worst, ten’s the best. Simple as that. I’ve been going on for quite some time now and I hope you’re still here because I’ve been writing this for almost three hours and I hope I haven’t wasted my time, so if you’re still reading this, you are THE BEST! So, here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. I give it… an eight. When you look at a graphic novel, you have to take everything into account: story and art. It can have a story that’s amazing but the art is just an eyesore, or the story is awful but the art is just spectacular. So in this case, I liked most of the stories, I liked most of the art, so, yes, the score is an eight.

Okay, I’ve been ranting for almost 2000 words, you probably want to do other things on the internet, so I’m letting you go. As you could tell, I’ve done reviews before (actually literal dozens), mostly Marvel stuff, but I write short fiction and nonfiction, free-verse poetry, essays, editorials, and several other types of content, so feel free to keep browsing my blog site. I post frequently, I actually get an Epic Collection every month, so keep an eye out for that. Tell your friends. And now, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"X-Force: Zero Tolerance” by John Francis Moore & Joseph Harris with Jay Faerber

 

            The following is a review of “X-Force: Zero Tolerance” graphic novel by John Francis Moore & Joseph Harris with Jay Faerber as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format.

            X-Force is a mutant strike team, organized by Nathan Summers/Cable, to fight for mutant rights in a world that hates and fears them. Recently, the United States government has instated Operation: Zero Tolerance to arrest mutants to be held in a detainment facility. It is headed by Bastion. The Sentinels are giant mutant hunting robots, but Bastion has become deceptive and created the Prime Sentinels, robots that either look like or are partially ordinary human beings, so effective that telling a human being or Prime Sentinel apart by looks alone is almost impossible. X-Force has now found themselves in the crosshairs of Operation: Zero Tolerance.

            Gloria Munoz/Risque finds herself on the run from the mutant Caliban, who is able to locate other mutants. Risque had been romantically involved in the past with X-Force member James Proudstar/Warpath, but the relationship ended after Risque’s betrayal to X-Force, and since Warpath’s romantic feeling for X-Force deputy leader Theresa Rourke/Siryn, who only thinks of Warpath as a best friend. Risque escapes, but X-Force is able to subdue Caliban and bring him to their base, the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, where Cable takes care of Caliban’s fractured, childlike psyche. Meanwhile, Risque has forced Warpath into working for the mutant Sledge, whose friend the teleporting mutant the Vanisher has been stuck between dimensions. X-Force associate Domino, who goes by many different aliases, has been taken in by the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.), where she finds out that former New Mutants member Danielle “Dani” Moonstar is actually an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

            Dani has infiltrated the Mutant Liberation Front (M.L.F.), a mutant terrorist organization founded by evil mutant Stryfe, a clone of Cable, believed to now be vanquished. Zero Tolerance has found the location of the M.L.F. and sent in a task force to apprehend the extremist mutants.

            In the past, Warpath and his now deceased older brother John Proudstar (the mutant who would go on the be called Thunderbird) along with fellow Apache Native American Michael Whitecloud had encountered twisted geneticist Doctor Edwin Martynec, who has purposely mutated himself into a monstrous being in his illegal genetics laboratory where he was attempting to create a race of warped super beings.

            Back in the present, X-Force is assaulted by Zero Tolerance commander Ekaterina Gryaznova, a Prime Sentinel with a grudge against Domino. X-Force members Tabitha Smith/Meltdown, Julio Richter/Rictor, and Shatterstar are all apprehended, and Zero Tolerance launches an assault upon the Xavier Institute, forcing Cable and Caliban to escape. Domino is apprehended as well, and Gryaznova placed in implant into Domino, which negates Domino’s probability powers and slows down her movements. Once all the members of X-Force are reunited, Cable sets up the members with false identities, but this causes a schism, and X-Force decides to cut their ties with Cable and hit the road on their own.

            Roberto DaCosta/Sunspot, finds his trust fund blocked and X-Force realize they are broke, and between stops they must stay at cheap, seedy motels. At one stop, X-Force rescue Richie Alegria, a young man from a rich family, who offers to hire X-Force to be his bodyguards. Dani, Sunspot, and Meltdown agree, but they discover Richie to be less than savory, and the team again leaves.

            Meanwhile, Siryn and Warpath hunt down Michael Whitecloud, who has information about the massacre of Warpath’s tribe. Also, Reignfire starts his evil machinations to torment Sunspot, who are believed to be the same entity, but Reignfire was actually an escaped lab experiment. On the trail of information, Siryn and Warpath have an encounter with Edwin Martynec, who is also searching for the same information that Warpath is. Martynec then sends Warpath to the underworld where he has an encounter with Stryfe. Dani, who has had a connection with the Valkyries, is able to lead the rest of X-Force to rescue Warpath.

            The team then travels to Texas during the Exploding Colossal Man Shindig and Hullaballoo, an eclectic yearly festival. Unbeknownst to X-Force, this is also during a convergence, which evil mutant Selene wishes to take advantage of the event to gain incredible, godlike powers. Warpath is able to intercept this, but accidentally gives powers to the Exploding Colossal Man effigy. At the festival, Sunspot and Meltdown start to feel a mutual attraction, but exploration to these feelings is interrupted by the arrival of Samuel Guthrie/Cannonball, former member of X-Force, current member of the X-Men, Sunspot’s best friend, and Meltdown’s current long-distance boyfriend.

            Villains Mojo and Arcade attempt to defeat Domino by setting up a trap, forcing her to enter into gladiatorial battles to save the life of Rictor.

            Cannonball accidentally discovers Meltdown and Sunspot kissing and leaves X-Force, which he was considering rejoining, but leaves after the betrayal of his best friend and girlfriend.

            X-Force stop at the town of Almost Reno, New Mexico and investigate a series of mysterious deaths.

            X-Force stops at the home of old friend, Sally Blevins/Skids, who wishes to stay out of the super hero gig and goes to college.

            Reignfire then takes Siryn, Dani, Sally, Meltdown, and Sunspot hostage in Las Vegas, but doesn’t take into account the absence of Warpath, who comes to his friends’ and teammates’ aid, forcing a major confrontation between X-Force and Reignfire. Sunspot, whose trust funds had been frozen due to the belief that Sunspot and Reignfire were the same person, gets his fortune back and purchases a warehouse in San Francisco to serve as X-Force’s new base, but first, the team takes a vacation to Hawaii, where the find themselves in conflict with Risque, Sledge, and Vanisher to prevent the species known as the Deviants from setting off every volcano in Hawaii and destroying the islands, teaming up with Hawaiian goddess Pele.

            Upon returning to their base, they find that a mutant named Jesse Aaronson has found his way in. Jesse is looking for his missing brother. Jesse had been aiding Domino to get her revenge on Gryaznova in exchange for her aid in finding his brother. Gryaznova now goes by the name Gryphon. X-Force reluctantly agree to accept Jesse as a probationary member of the team.

            Cannonball returns to his hometown of Cumberland, Kentucky to visit his family, reconsidering his membership in the X-Men and ends up aiding Deviants to escape from the Sword. Arcadia, a Deviant, accidentally teleports X-Force into the heat of the battle, and after the successful rescue mission, Cannonball asks to rejoin X-Force.

 

            If you’ve never read a review of mine, I will inform you that this was a synopsis of a Marvel Epic Collection, a graphic novel which contains a rather large amount of content. As you can tell by my more than 1,000 words that a lot happened in this book.

            I have to say that I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I’d never really read much of the original run of X-Force, so I thought upon purchase that I may have some difficulties reading something I know nothing about, especially since this book was only one side of a comic event called “Operation: Zero Tolerance” which I have never read before, but I picked up on the story right from the beginning. I will say, don’t confuse this graphic novel with the graphic novel “Operation: Zero Tolerance” because the content of that graphic novel has very little connection with this graphic novel I am reviewing, pretty much aside from the title. Also, the entire graphic novel was not reserved to “Operation: Zero Tolerance,” there was a lot of other content as well, as you could probably tell if you’re still actually reading this (and if you’re still here and plan to keep reading this, you are THE BEST!). It’s somewhat rare for me to enjoy every story in an Epic Collection, but I will say I enjoyed pretty much the entire graphic novel’s stories. And, of course, this is a GRAPHIC novel, which means that the stories are accompanied with art. I’ve talked about that with almost every Epic Collection I’ve reviewed. I always think of a graphic novel as half-and-half: half of the book is the story, half is the art. You could have a graphic novel with the most amazing story you’ve ever read, but the artwork was a complete eyesore, or one with a horrendous story, but the artwork just makes up for it slightly. I found the artwork in this graphic novel to be amazing. I’ve said before that comic book art has standards depending on the time period of the penciling. I’ve also said I love comic book art from the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s, and the content of this book were published between 1997-1998, which was basically why I picked this Epic Collection to purchase. Let me tell you, this book did not disappoint with the artwork. I’ve also said that because of comic book art changing over the years that it is good artwork for the time or just good art. I have to say in my opinion that the artwork in this graphic novel still holds true today. I feel that this was just good art, period. My eyes were very pleased to look at the artwork in this graphic novel. So, I loved the stories, I loved the art, I just loved the graphic novel, one of my better purchases, I have to say. Some of my reviews have talked about how dismal I found the graphic novel to be, whether story, art, or both. Nothing in this book disappointed me.

            I will say that if you are considering reading this book, I feel like you should have some background knowledge about the characters before you read this, whether you’ve read Marvel X-Teams graphic novels either before this was published or from more recent years, but otherwise, I feel that this is easy enough to pick up with little knowledge. To me, the book felt pretty much self-contained and doesn’t require you to have read the entire series before this, but I still feel you might need a little background knowledge if you’re considering reading this book based on just this review, this might not be the perfect jump-in point or to start reading this even if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before, but I still think first timers should be able to pick it up easily enough.

            Next up is, in my opinion, the most important part of the review, but feel free to disagree with that statement: my numeric score. It’s simple enough to explain. It’s based on a scale of one to ten, one being the worst score, ten being the best score. In this case, I have to take everything about this graphic novel into consideration, the story and the art. Now, you can expect a great score based on how I ranted and raved for so long. BUT! I just can’t quite call this perfect. Sadly, I have to give this a nine. There’s just something, I don’t know what, but there’s something preventing me from giving this graphic novel a ten. I felt this was a great graphic novel, but it’s just not perfect. There must have been a little flaw in one of the stories, I can’t quite place its exact location.

            Anyway, you probably want to know if I recommend reading this graphic novel? Now, if you’ve read this entire review and are now curious about if you should read this or not, then just read it. I wasn’t disappointed, and if you read the actual graphic novel, I have a hunch that you’ll probably like it. I hope that I didn’t give too many spoilers in this review, there’s possibly a chance of it, but I hope I didn’t ruin too many surprises, I tried to be as vague as I could. Still, if you liked this review and are interested in reading this graphic novel, I say go for it.

            Now, before I let you go after 2,000 words, I will tell you that this blog has dozens of reviews, mostly Marvel prose novels, Marvel comic events, and Marvel Epic Collections, but you might find some other things here and there. I am an unsuccessful journalist, so I do this blog to feel like I’m doing something in the field I have a bachelors’ degree in, and I do this for free, so I hope you appreciate it, but I also write editorials, essays, short fiction, short nonfiction and poetry on this blog as well, so please feel free to keep browsing, I’ve done over 100 posts, you might find something else you like. Please feel free to like, comment, or share this or whatever you do on these websites, and I leave you with the words: Tim Cubbin… out!

"X-Men: Mutant Genesis"

 

            The following is a review for the graphic novel “X-Men: Mutant Genesis” by Fabian Nicieza, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio Chris Claremont, & Peter David with Len Kaminski, as collected in Marvel Epic Collection format.

            The X-Men are a team of mutants, those born with a genetic anomaly that grants them powers beyond those of ordinary humans. They were gathered by telepath Professor Charles Xavier, who dreams of peaceful coexistence between mutants and baseline humans. The X-Men pledge to try to make this dream a reality. The roster has changed many times over the years. The original X-Men reunited many years after leaving the X-Men to create X-Factor. Professor Xavier founded the New Mutants after the presumed deaths of the X-Men, but the New Mutants left Charles Xavier’s tutelage to study under the mutant Cable to become X-Force.

In Kuwait City, Freedom Force (formerly the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, now government agents) is assigned to transfer German physicist Reinhold Kurtzmann from a resistance safe house to allied forces and not allow the Iraqis to get him. This transfer is interrupted by a super powered Iraqi team calling themselves Desert Sword.

            The terrorist organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) schemed to recreate Proteus, a powerful reality warping mutant who the X-Men vanquished several years past. To that end, A.I.M. hired mutant mercenaries Harness and Piecemeal. Superhero team the New Warriors and X-Force traveled to Muir Island, home of the original Proteus’ mother, geneticist Doctor Moira MacTaggert to warn her of the plan, but Moira had been possessed by the psychic mutant entity, the Shadow King. Moira has her assistants Multiple Man, Siryn, Legion and Polaris intercept the two arriving teams. A skirmish ensues, and all parties fail to prevent Piecemeal from merging with Kevin MacTaggert’s essence and resurrecting Proteus. The New Warriors and X-Force are able to contact X-Factor to help defeat Proteus once and for all. Meanwhile evil mutants Toad and Gideon literally play a game of chess, plotting against the mutant heroes in the X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force.

            X-Factor’s greatest nemesis, evil mutant En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse resurfaces and uses X-Factor’s sentient headquarters, Ship, in an all-out assault upon Manhattan. X-Factor teams up with fellow super hero teams the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. X-Factor arrives on the moon and teams up with the Inhumans, a race of super beings created long ago by the alien race, the Kree. Apocalypse abducts X-Factor leader Scott Summers/Cyclops’ infant son Nathan Christopher and infects him with a techno-organic virus that the present has no cure for, and Cyclops made the difficult decision of sending Nathan with the mysterious mutant the Askani, Nathan’s only hope for survival, with the possibility Cyclops may never see his son again.

            Meanwhile, the Shadow King has invaded Muir Island, enslaving the X-Men to lure Charles Xavier, who cost the Shadow King his corporeal body many years past to enact his revenge. Xavier contacts X-Factor to help defeat the Shadow King and free the X-Men from the Shadow King’s control.

            Following this battle, the mutants of X-Factor decide to rejoin the X-Men at their mansion headquarters Professor Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in Salem Center, New York. However, this grouping is considered too big and the X-Men divide into the Blue Team and the Gold Team. They X-Men are contacted by the global peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D. to inform them that their old enemy Magneto has established a haven for mutants called Asteroid M, hovering in orbit by Magneto’s magnetic powers over Russia during the height of the Cold War, kidnapping several human astronauts and risking the threat of nuclear retaliation. A new group of mutants the Acolytes pledge themselves to Magneto’s cause of mutant supremacy. Upon hearing of the nuclear threat, Magneto returns to earth in an attempt to disarm the planet of their nuclear weaponry, but the X-Men Blue engage Magneto. After his defeat, Magneto retreats to Asteroid M and to the supposed care of Fabian Cortez, who is actually planning to eliminate Magneto and usurp control of the Acolytes and the mutant supremacy cause. During his attempted recuperation, Magneto discovers an anomaly in his system. Several years past, Magneto had been reduced to infancy. During this time, Moira MacTaggert had been entrusted with the care of the baby Magneto. Moira attempted to prevent Magneto from being corrupted by his power by genetically tampering with his genetics. Magneto and the Acolytes again returned to earth, where the X-Men Blue Team was abducted. Magneto also abducted Xavier and Moira, and brought them all to Asteroid M. He then used the powers of the Acolytes to subvert the X-Men Blue Team to his cause. Meanwhile, the powers that be upon earth all globally agree to enact the Magneto Protocols and obliterate Asteroid M. The X-Men Gold Team then must mount a rescue effort to save the X-Men Blue Team and evacuate Asteroid M.

 

            I figured this Epic Collection would be a huge joy for me, it has been on my radar for several years. Unfortunately, I was relatively disappointed. When I first started collecting Marvel Comic Books, I went to a comic book store and bought the first three issues of X-Men (1991) from a three for a dollar bin, which were contained in this graphic novel, but I never read the issues leading up to the X-Men (1991) premier, which is why I picked to purchase this book. The first three issues of X-Men (1991) were arranged at the conclusion of this graphic novel. Now, I love those three issues, I’ve read them literally dozens of times I kid you not, so I figured that this would be a great book. And that is where my complaints begin. During the late 1980s and early 1990’s, Marvel published their Annuals as crossover events (if you’ve read my posts before, you might recall this). The problem is, the Epic Collections only feature the Annuals for the titular characters. This Epic Collection again followed suit. The main crossover was “Kings of Pain.” This Epic Collection featured an excerpt from New Mutants Annual #7, but not the “Kings of Pain” story, which I felt made no sense. This Epic Collection contained the entirety of X-Men Annual #15 and the “Kings of Pain” story from X-Factor Annual #6, but it still felt very out of context, leaving out two parts of the story from other Annuals from that year (every issue in this book were originally published in 1991). I will give credit that this contained Annuals aside from X-Men, but it still didn’t give the whole story, which was highly disappointing. I will also say that I figured this would be mostly Uncanny X-Men, which is the series that X-Men Epic Collections mainly follow. The majority series in this Epic Collection, however, was X-Factor. Also, X-Men Annual #15 really didn’t feel like X-Men story as there was literally no appearance of the X-Men, aside from a revisited origin and a Wolverine short story that I found to be rather flat. Otherwise, X-Men Annual #15 belonged to X-Force and the New Warriors. The original New Warriors are one of my Marvel weak points, I really have not read much of their run. Another thing that bothered me was the appearance of both Cable and Nathan Christopher Summers in the same point in time since (spoiler alert) Cable is Nathan returned from the future. That just seemed weird to me, but Marvel time travel has very different rules when compared to time travel in other written and visual works. He was both an infant boy and an older man at the same time. Like I said, weird. I will say I found the X-Factor “Endgame” storyline to be enjoyable and a good Apocalypse storyline. Yes, there have been good and poorly written Apocalypse stories (don’t get me started on the “X-Men: Apocalypse” film, ugh) and I felt that this one was pretty good, especially the heartbreaking sacrifice of Nathan Christopher at the end. I thought that was a great ending. The “Muir Island” saga, however, felt mediocre to me. The saving grace for me though, was X-Men #1-3, which I’ve already talked about, so we can move on from there. This graphic novel just didn’t live up to my expectations. And X-Men #3 was supposed to be Chris Claremont’s final issue, but his retirement didn’t last, which was a relief for me because he has been my favorite X-Men writer and I think his work is brilliant. And now, let’s turn to the “graphic” part of “graphic novel.” I felt like the art was high quality. Previous readers of my reviews know how I feel about artwork in comic books, but I still have to say it to you newbies. The art styles of time periods has certain common traits. As I said earlier this paragraph that every issue in this book was from 1991. I love late ’80s-early ’90s artwork, there was just something about it that just stood out. I have also previously mentioned in my blog that there is art which reflects on either good/bad art of the time or good/bad art period. In other words, some artwork may be good for the time it was released, but it can’t be considered good art by the standards of other times of art. To me, I feel this artwork is good in general, and not just for 1991, and the artwork in this book felt to me like the epitome of art of the time. The art in this book totally stands out to me and even now, thirty-two years later, I still feel it is great. And now, I want to talk about the costumes. The original X-Factor and the Uncanny X-Men had mostly generic outfits that all looked pretty identical. That lack of individuality just didn’t make the characters stand out. Yes, military, police, and other organizations have standard uniforms for their profession, but I just feel like it doesn’t work for mutant teams in visual form. Look at the original X-Men from 1963. You could only tell them apart from Cyclops’ visor, Angel’s wings, Iceman being covered in ice, Beast not wearing gloves and shoes, and Marvel Girl being female. Now, you can counter me with the Fantastic Four all wearing the same costume, and that works, and I will agree with that. But look at the Avengers: they all wear different costumes and you immediately know who everyone is because of that, and viewers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like that, the representation of the characters. You can counter me again by saying the X-Men in the films all had the same outfit. But think about supervillains; they all wear different costumes and you know Magneto when you see him, or Doctor Doom, or Thanos; you just see them and know who they are. In my opinion, the X-Men, all being different, deserve to look different, to show off who they are. And again, there have been times where the X-Men in the comics have all dressed the same, but there were customizations that made them stand out. But, when X-Factor joined the X-Men and the X-Men Blue Team and X-Men Gold Teams were created, the costumes changed and I just totally loved that visualization. The X-Men Blue Team and X-Men Gold Teams were drawn with some of the most iconic appearances of the X-Men in all of Marvel history. If you watched the “X-Men” animated series from 1992-1997, these were the costumes you know. I grew up with that, so the appearances of the costumes in the new teams were familiar to me and I enjoyed those costumes. Seeing these just felt right. So I must give a shout out to Jim Lee for creating these iconic costumes, I thought they were brilliant, so thank you for contributing to my childhood!

            So we have a few more pieces of subjects to consider. What do I think you should know about Marvel history in order to understand this book? First off, if you have never read Marvel Comics before, especially from the 1970’s-1980s, this is not the right book for you. It is absolutely not an introductory point to start at. I barely know the New Warriors and the Annuals’ story is incomplete, so it’s easy to get confused by just that (heck, even I was confused). Also, almost every character had been established before and none of their backgrounds were explained and it continues almost directly from storylines that had already started prior to this book. It is not at all a jump-on point.

            Next, we’ll do the ever important and pretty much only reason that you’re still here after over 2,000 words: (and if you are here still, you are THE BEST!) my numeric score. As some of you may already know, I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the worst, ten is the best. In this case, I have to take in everything about the graphic novel before I score it, which means both story and art are considered. I was highly disappointed by some of the story. BUT! The artwork did not fail to impress. So, all the eggs in one basket, I give it a score of… (drumroll please!)… seven. There were stories I disliked, but it had several stories I really enjoyed, and the artwork just amazed me, so I scored it at a balance. If it were just a story as a prose novel, I would have given it a lower score, but the artwork totally upped it, so the score went higher. I will say that I didn’t think it was a bad book, I just didn’t quite get what I was hoping for. I should also be said that Marvel published another graphic novel called “X-Men: Mutant Genesis” which actually does NOT contain the same stories. If you read my review of “The Silver Surfer: The Infinity Gauntlet” you may recall that I said it was not “The Infinity Gauntlet,” but only the issues of “The Silver Surfer” from the year around it, and this is much the same. Epic Collections only contain specific stories from mostly a singular point of view. Were you to get the other edition of “X-Men: Mutant Genesis,” you would be reading X-Men (1991) #1-7, so if you are actually interested in reading this book, check the contents first to make sure you are actually getting the right book (it will have the words “Marvel Epic Collection” on the top of the cover). And I have an upcoming review about to sit on my desk called “X-Force: Zero Tolerance” which surrounds the “X-Men: Operation: Zero Tolerance” crossover event, but only features the X-Force issues. If you want to read more of my work, at the moment it should be posted in about a week, so keep an eye out for it.

            Next, I will tell you if I recommend this book. I totally don’t know what to tell you. I can’t quite say I recommend it, but at the same time I can’t tell you to just completely avoid it. All I can really say is if you want to read it, then go for it, but if you don’t feel like reading this book, then I say you should follow that instinct. It’s all totally up to you. In all my reviews, this has never truly happened before, which is weird for me, but I leave the decision up to you.

            As I said before, I have the “X-Force: Zero Tolerance” Epic Collection getting close to being on my desk, so keep an eye out for it. Otherwise, I have literally written dozens of reviews, I’ve made over 100 posts, I write short fiction, short nonfiction, poetry, essays, editorial, reviews and plenty of other content, so if you liked this post, I totally say you should read more of my posts, you may find something else you like. If you read to this point, you are THE BEST, and all I can say is, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" by Stan Lee

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format, written by Stan Lee.

            Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist. Susan Storm is the woman he loves. Johnathan Storm is Susan’s young brother. Benjamin Grimm is Reed’s best friend. At the height of the “Space Race,” Reed invented a ship that could travel to space in order to study cosmic rays. Reed, Sue Johnny and Ben ventured to space, but Reed had not properly reinforced the shielding of the ship and the rays bombarded the four travelers. After crashing to earth, the four realized that they had been imbued with super human powers. Reed could stretch his body to great lengths and became Mister Fantastic. Sue could turn invisible and became the Invisible Girl. Johnny could fly and create and control fire and became the Human Torch. Ben’s body became stone and he gained super strength and became the Thing. The four as a team became known as the Fantastic Four. The team soon discovered that there were now such things as super villains and the Fantastic Four became a team of super heroes to stop those who wished to inflict evil upon the Earth.

            The Mole Man, who lived deep under Monster Isle, decided to destabilize the surface world by destroying atomic facilities to ensure his rise to new ruler of earth.

            The race of intergalactic aliens, the shape-shifting Skrulls, traveled to Earth and impersonated the Fantastic Four, the only beings who could prevent a Skrull invasion of Earth.

            The mysterious Miracle Man wished to prove himself better than the Fantastic Four with his amazing feats of magic.

            Namor, the Sub-Mariner, having gotten over a case of amnesia, returned to his underwater kingdom, only to find it destroyed, and swore vengeance against the surface world, whom he blamed for the devastation of his home.

            Reed’s college rival, Doctor Victor von Doom, abducted the Fantastic Four, and forced Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and Thing to travel to the time of Blackbeard in order to spare the life of the Invisible Girl.

            The Invisible Girl struggled with her romantic feelings for both Mister Fantastic and Sub-Mariner. When Doctor Doom and Sub-Mariner teamed up, it was the mutual attraction between Invisible Girl and Sub-Mariner caused the alliance between Doctor Doom and Sub-Mariner to fail and bring Sub-Mariner to the aid the Fantastic Four against Doctor Doom.

            Kurrgo, the Master of Planet X, mentally turned Earth against the Fantastic Four in order to enlist the Fantastic Four to prevent the destruction of Planet X.

            The Fantastic Four met the blind sculptress, Alicia Masters. There was an immediate attraction between Alicia and Thing. Alicia’s stepfather became the Puppet Master and used radioactive clay to create figures that he could mentally control.

            As the imminent threat of bankruptcy descended upon the Fantastic Four, the team reluctantly accepted parts in a Fantastic Four action film put out by S.M. Studios to save their home, the Baxter Building.

            Doctor Doom invented a device that swapped his body with Mister Fantastic’s body, and Mister Fantastic had to both convince the Fantastic Four of the swap and return Doctor Doom and Mister Fantastic back to their proper bodies.

            Mister Fantastic continually tried to cure the Thing from his rocklike body, always to only temporary results. The Fantastic Four also found themselves as media darlings swamped with fan mail. The fun-loving Impossible Man from the planet Poppup arrived on Earth and caused chaos that only the Fantastic Four could bring to an end.

            The Fantastic Four were summoned by General “Thunderbolt” Ross to attempt to defeat Ross’ most pressing problem: the Incredible Hulk, a rampaging monstrous being. Mister Fantastic was paired with scientist Bruce Banner, who secretly under times of great anger, fear or stress, transformed into the Hulk.

            The Fantastic Four traveled to the moon to defeat the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.

            The Puppet Master took control of the Sub-Mariner in his revenge against the Fantastic Four.

            The Mad Thinker, a man capable of calculating any situation before it happened to the instant, used his Awesome Android in his attempt to defeat the Fantastic Four.

            Doctor Doom used his shrink ray to send the Fantastic Four to the Micro-World, a quantum realm that he had taken over. The Fantastic Four then had a team-up with the size changing Ant-Man to defeat Doom and return to their proper sizes.

            Doctor Doom then unleashed his “Followers” to disrupt the Fantastic Four at inopportune moments.

             The Skrulls genetically enhanced a Skrull Warrior to become the Super-Skrull, an agent with all the powers of the Fantastic Four at a higher strength level.

 

            I personally highly enjoyed this graphic novel. Stan Lee is my absolute idol and the artwork of Jack Kirby has always thrilled me ever since I started regularly reading Marvel Comics, having gotten a collection of classic X-Men issues written by Lee and illustrated by Kirby, and I always thought they were an excellent team. This graphic novel contained “Fantastic Four” #1-18, originally published between the years 1961-1963. Some current readers might say that this was too corny. Yes, I can admit to the level of cheesiness. Some of the inventions did sound kind of lame or dumb, like “The Pogo Plane” or “The Fantasti-car,” just to name a few. Some of the jokes were not actually funny. Some of the comments might be considered offensive were they published today. Take into consideration this was the time of the Cold War and the “Space Race.” For that reason, the technology that the Fantastic Four used for space travel and other details about space and space travel has modernly been debunked. And yet, I was mostly able to overlook these flaws. I also have to discuss the art. This artwork is iconic for comics of the time period. I’ve said this in a lot of my reviews that every time period of comics has basic standards in artwork. I felt like Kirby epitomized the art of the time. But, it is just that: art of the time. It’s the same as old horror movies; kids these days might see a monster in a classic horror movie and laugh at the absurdity of the monster. Kirby’s drawings of Thing and the Human Torch’s “flame on” design were pretty wonky. And Doctor Doom’s face plate mouth did have different expressions, which realistically should not happen. But I honestly did my best to ignore all these things, and succeeded pretty well at it.

            I make it a point with my review posts to explain accessibility, or to say what readers may need to know to fully enjoy the story content. “Fantastic Four” #1 was the start of the “Marvel-Age of Comics” and is very classic, so honestly, it’s a gateway book for Marvel Comics. A reader could have never picked up a Marvel comic book or watched a Marvel comic book movie or TV show or played a video game based off of a Marvel comic and still completely will have no difficulty with picking up on the storylines and understand the book.

            Now, I’ve got to get to the moment of truth: my numeric score. I score on a system of 1 to 10. 1 is my lowest score, 10 is my highest score. Now, when I score a graphic novel, I take everything into consideration, the art and the story. So, all considered, I give it an 8. It’s as high as I can go with the corniness of the story and the wonkiness of the art. I really enjoyed it anyway, but there were flaws which had to be addressed that prevent me from scoring any higher.

            Well, I do have just one more thing to address in this paragraph, then next paragraph I’ll wrap it up: Do I recommend this book and to whom do I recommend it to? If you’ve never read a Marvel comic book before and are considering starting to read comics, whether because of movies and television shows that interest you, or have no Marvel knowledge whatsoever, then this is the perfect book for you. If you’re a Fantastic Four fan but have never read the issues in this book, I totally recommend this to you. I’ve been reading Marvel Comics for over twenty years and never knew how it all started, so this was very informative and enjoyable for me. I totally recommend this book to pretty much anyone who wants to start reading Marvel comics or is a current reader who never experienced the classics. So, basically, if this review interested you, then read this graphic novel.

            So, a few more notes before the torture ends. (If you’re still here after all my blathering, you are THE BEST!) I’ve been away from this blog for a while, but now I’ve got things sorted out and I am officially back. I have literally written dozens of Marvel reviews and other reviews, so if you liked this post, there are dozens more like this, so feel free to keep checking them out. I also write short fiction, short nonfiction, poems, editorials (particularly my B’ings series that will be returning in the next few weeks, if you don’t know what it is, check it out), essays and several other forms of writing, so feel free to keep perusing those. I will also be posting on a fairly regular basis, so you can keep checking for my if you like my posts. So, until next time, as always, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

            The following is a review of the NOVEL “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling. It is NOT a review of the FILMS of the same title. I advise you not to read this review unless you have already read or watched the first six stories in the series as this review contains details from the first six stories that you might consider “spoilers.”

            Harry Potter is a seventeen-year-old wizard. As a baby, he was targeted for death by the evil wizard Voldemort, who wished to kill Harry due to a prophecy predicting that Harry is the only one who will be able to destroy Voldemort. Due to the power of love from his mother, a power Voldemort never understood because he was an orphan, Harry was protected from Voldemort’s killing curse, which rebounded and hit Voldemort, robbing Voldemort of his powers, but not killing the dark wizard. Voldemort fled and was believed finished off for good. Harry was left with his magic-hating Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley Dursley, who wished to keep Harry from knowing that there were witches and wizards.

            Growing up, Harry’s Aunt, Uncle and cousin treated Harry like garbage, hoping for him to never know he was a wizard. However, when Harry was eleven, he received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry inviting him to attend and learn magic. Harry was unaware that he was famous in the wizarding world, and was expected to do great things. He became best friends with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. He made enemies with Draco Malfoy, a fellow student. He was antagonized by Professor Severus Snape, who had bad history with Harry’s father, James. Harry, Ron and Hermione skirted around the rules in their six prior years at Hogwarts, going on many fantastic and dangerous adventures. They were closely watched by Hogwarts’ Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore.

            In Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry witnessed Voldemort’s return to power, but was believed to be a crazy liar by many who fervently wished for this not to be true, particularly by the Ministry of Magic.

            In Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts, the wizarding world discovered that Voldemort had, indeed, regained his former power and began and was now attacking both the magic and non-magic communities.

            In Harry’s sixth year, Harry had now become believed to be “The Chosen One” who would be able to defeat Voldemort for all time. Dumbledore revealed Voldemort’s past as Tom Riddle to Harry before Dumbledore was murdered by Professor Snape.

            Wizards and witches are considered to be of age at seventeen years old. The Dursley house had been protected by magic as long as Harry was underage, and now the Dursleys had to leave their home for safety and would never see Harry again. The Order of the Phoenix, a group of witches and wizards dedicated to battle Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, were to bring Harry to safety, but Snape relayed these plans to Voldemort, resulting in the Death of Mad-Eye Moody, a former Auror (Dark Wizard catchers), and injury to George Weasley, one of Ron’s twin older brothers. Harry and Ron’s younger sister Ginny had fallen in love.

            Harry had now been given the mission by Dumbledore to defeat Voldemort by destroying Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes, items that held pieces of Voldemort’s soul that prevent Voldemort’s death. Voldemort was somewhat of a sentimental collector, and most of the Horcruxes are items to do with the founders of the Hogwarts Houses or his family. To find the Horcruxes, Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided not to return to Hogwarts for their seventh year and were now to complete the mission left by Dumbledore after his death. The new Headmaster of Hogwarts was not Professor Snape, and several of Voldemort’s Death Eaters had been instated as members of Hogwarts staff. Dumbledore’s will contained several odd items left behind for Harry, Ron and Hermione.

            The three set off after the wedding of Ron’s older brother Bill to complete their mission. Voldemort’s Death Eater Pius Thicknesse was now Minister of Magic. Harry was now Undesirable Number One, and the Muggle born were now considered thefts of pureblood wizards are locked up and denied the use of magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione infiltrated the Ministry of Magic to obtain a Horcrux.

            After a conflict between Harry and Ron, Ron left Harry and Hermione behind. Harry and Hermione decided to travel to the birthplace of Harry, Godric’s Hollow, barely escaping with their lives. They also peruse a tell-all book by journalist Rita Skeeter, “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore,” revealing to Harry some of the darker and unflattering points of Dumbledore’s life that damaged Harry’s perception of the man he considered his hero.

            Harry and Hermione reunited with Ron to visit Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler, a magazine that strongly supported Harry, who tells the three “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” a wizarding fairy tale about the Deathly Hallows, three items that when all collected could make it’s holders the Master of Death. They learn of the Hallow the unbeatable Elder Wand, an item which Voldemort deeply wants. They also learn that Harry’s Invisibility Cloak may be a Hallow itself. The third Hallow is the Resurrection Stone, an item that returns the dead to life. The three again escaped the Death Eaters twice more, and resumed their mission to destroy the Horcruxes.

            When Voldemort discovered the trio’s mission to destroy his Horcruxes, he returns to Hogwarts, the resting place of a Horcrux and Harry and Voldemort battle at Hogwarts with the fate of the entire wizarding world hanging in the balance.

 

            As far as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” goes, it was the most different of all the books. The primary reason behind that was the fact that Harry, Ron and Hermione didn’t go to Hogwarts as students. But if you were to read the book having read the other six, you might see my reasoning as to why I think that is important. I honestly don’t think it would have worked otherwise. In my opinion, Harry, Ron and Hermione attending Hogwarts with Professor Snape as Headmaster and Death Eaters on staff just wouldn’t have worked. I just can’t imagine that. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite book in the series. It has nothing to do with the conclusion, rather than just the fact that I felt like there were just too many deaths that made this rather depressing. That is also not to say that I disliked the book. I rather enjoyed it. But if I just had to say that I had a least favorite “Harry Potter” novel, this was it. I did not feel like there was a lot of time wasted on trivialities. The pace felt right to me. There were almost no parts that bored me or I felt dragged on too long, but there were also moments I just wanted a little more details. I appreciated the humor, and Mrs. Weasley had my absolute favorite “Harry Potter” quote. I enjoyed how Rowling ended the series, but there were a few things more at the ending I’d like to know, the fates of several characters. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.

            As for if I actually recommend this book to others, that is a definite yes. If you enjoy fantasy novels and magic, I recommend you to read the series. And don’t say that “Harry Potter” is just a kids’ book. There was some rather heavy profanity at points that I wouldn’t let my kids read until they’d be about eleven, Harry’s age at the start of the series (and I don’t have kids at the moment). And my grandmother started reading “Harry Potter” when she was in her eighties and rather preferred romance novels about things we are not going to talk about on a G-rated blog, so this was a different genre than what she usually enjoyed. I personally grew up with Harry and in my school if you didn’t read “Harry Potter” you weren’t cool, and a writer writing an 800 page book that can get middle-schoolers to read anxiously isn’t common anymore these days. But to say that “Harry Potter” are kids’ books I’d say would be an insult to Rowling.

            Okay, I’ve been going on for quite a while, so let’s get to business: my numeric score. I score on a scale of one-to-ten. One is horrible, don’t read; ten is read this book right now. I’m usually very hard to please as my prior readers will know, so a good score from me is a very good recommendation. That said, this book falls a little short. So unfortunately, for me, I rank it at seven. I enjoyed the book, but giving it any higher just doesn’t feel right to me. But I will state, this review is all my opinion. You can take or leave my view, you’re more than welcome to disagree with me, and if you want to, feel free to respond to this post to tell me how you feel about “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” or just anything “Harry Potter,” I’d love to hear from you.

            So, as we bring this to a close, I’ll just say I’ve done dozens of book reviews (mostly Marvel comics), and I write short fiction and nonfiction, free-verse poetry, essays, editorials, and plenty of other content, feel free to check anything I post. I post on a common enough basis, so you can keep checking back for more content from me, and ‘til next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

 

            The following is a review of the NOVEL “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling. It is NOT a review of the MOVIE.

            Harry Potter is a sixteen-year-old boy, who also happens to be a wizard. He lives with his magic hating family Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and cousin Dudley Dursley after his parents were murdered by the most evil dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort. He attends the magic school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is going into his sixth year. His best friends are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. His worst enemies are fellow student Draco Malfoy and Professor Severus Snape.

            Lord Voldemort was diminished of his power after attempting to kill Harry and having his spell bounced back at him. He has since returned to his full strength. Harry was witness to Voldemort returning to power, but for the past year been accused of lying and possibly insanity. Now the Ministry of Magic has seen the restored Voldemort, and Harry is now believed to be “The Chosen One” who will end Voldemort once and for all.

            The Wizarding World and the Muggle World have been separated, and the muggles are unaware of the true existence of witches and wizards. Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge has been replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour. However, Voldemort’s follower, the Death Eaters, have been attacking the muggles, and Britain’s Prime Minister has been made aware of this, after the mysterious occurrences.

            Draco Malfoy has been given a task by Voldemort. Draco’s father Lucius has been arrested for being a Death Eater and now resides at Azkaban, the wizards’ prison. Draco’s mother Narcissa makes the Unbreakable Vow with Snape for Snape to protect Draco and make sure Draco succeeds in his mission.

            Hogwarts’ Headmaster Albus Dumbledore arrives at Harry’s home of Number 4 Privet Drive to take Harry from the Dursleys to spend the rest of the summer before the Hogwarts term begins with the Weasley family’s house, the Burrow. Dumbledore takes Harry on a mission along the way to convince Horace Slughorn, a former teacher at Hogwarts, to return to his post. Harry succeeds. Dumbledore also tells Harry that Harry will be having special lessons with Dumbledore, but for what exactly they will be, Dumbledore has not disclosed.

            At the Burrow, Ron’s older brother Bill is preparing to marry witch Fleur Delacour, a fact that many of the other Weasleys are less than thrilled about. Harry also realizes he is developing romantic feelings for Ron’s younger sister Ginny.

            While shopping for school supplies at Diagon Alley, Harry, Ron and Hermione observe Malfoy entering the dark magic shop Borgin and Burkes and making an unsavory deal, what it is, they are not sure.

            While returning to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express train, Harry finds Slughorn developing interest in several students who have famous ancestors and inducting them into the “Slug Club,” and Harry, Hermione and Ginny are all brought into it.

            Harry has expected Slughorn to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, a post that seems to be jinxed as the past five Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors have never lasted more than a year. However, Slughorn is the new potions Professor, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor is Snape. Snape has been a Death Eater, and claims to be reformed, something Dumbledore has forgiven and has placed his trust in Snape. Because of his past history, Snape had been placed as Potions Master, despite wanting the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position.

            The first five years at Hogwarts prepares students for their O.W.L.s exams. After the O.W.L.s, students move on the N.E.W.T.s level to prepare for their desired career. Harry wants to be an Auror, a dark wizard catcher, but his potions grade was not enough for Snape to accept him as a N.E.W.T. student, so Harry’s dream seems like it will not happen. However, Slughorn accepts Harry’s Potions grade and accepts him as a N.E.W.T.s student. Not having expected to be taking Potions, Harry had not purchased the new Potions textbook. Harry takes one from storage, a book which has been marked with notes on potion making by a person who called themselves the Half-Blood Prince. Harry follows these directions and becomes the top Potions student, Slughorn believing Harry to have inherited Harry’s mother’s talent.

            Harry starts his private lessons with Dumbledore. Dumbledore uses a device called a Penseive to show Harry memories pertaining to the history of Tom Riddle, the boy who would become Lord Voldemort.

            Harry has been promoted to be captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a team which he must now assemble. Harry accepts Ron as Keeper, but Ron suffers from nerves and his performance is often spotty.

            While visiting the wizard village Hogsmeade, student Katie Bell comes into contact with a cursed necklace and almost loses her life, ending up in the wizard hospital St. Mungo’s.

            As Harry’s lessons with Dumbledore progress, Dumbledore shows Harry an incomplete and altered memory from Professor Slughorn, and Dumbledore tasks Harry with obtaining the true and complete memory from Professor Slughorn, a task that proves to be more difficult than Harry expected it will be. This memory may be the key to defeating Lord Voldemort.

            Despite Hermione’s objections, Harry keeps the Half-Blood Prince’s book, which ends up saving Ron’s life. It also contains spells that turn out to be rather dangerous.

            Dumbledore locates an object that is essential to defeating Lord Voldemort, a task that turns out deadlier than anyone would ever expect, and in the process, Harry discovers the true and shocking identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

 

            I do have to say that this ranks up there as one of my favorite novels. I know a lot of people that think “oh, Harry Potter’s a kid’s book.” In all honestly, I disagree. My Grandma (Rest in peace) started reading the “Harry Potter” series when she was in her eighties. (Sadly she passed away after only four books were published.) I knew teachers and staff when I was in college who were older and read Harry Potter. (Doctor Lutz, I DO NOT want to hear your take on Quidditch, thank you very much.) I will say that I grew up with Harry. I was in elementary school when “Philosopher’s Stone” came out, didn’t start reading until “Prisoner of Azkaban” came out, and by then, if you didn’t read “Harry Potter,” you were not cool. And Rowling is one of the few authors who can get kids to read a 600 page book. But I can look back on these books as a thirty-four-year-old and still heartily enjoy them. On top of that, there were a few words here and there that a little kid SHOULD NOT be repeating, but we won’t go there, this blog is G-Rated. Yes, these books are books kids can enjoy, but they appeal to adults as well. Rowling never dumbed “Harry Potter” down, she didn’t talk to the readers like we’re idiots, didn’t use little kiddie words as substitutes for adult words. I just think she wrote “Harry Potter” as high-quality, fun, exciting, interesting, and compelling books, each with their own mystery which unravels as you read the books, with surprise twist endings. The identity of the Half-Blood Prince rather surprised me, and I’m a writer myself who writes twists and turns, and I feel like I probably won’t rank anywhere near the popularity Rowling gets. But to me, to call “Harry Potter” kid’s books is just not accurate. I get also that certain religions and beliefs find these books to be sacrilege and blasphemous (I’m Catholic and I don’t feel that way), but if a person enjoys fantasy books, these are good reads. Honestly, if you’ve seen the movies and enjoy them, I feel like the books are so much better and worth the long hours to put into reading them. I always felt the books went at a perfect pace, didn’t linger too much on unimportant aspects but contained all I needed to know. I’ve honestly read “Deathly Hallows” at least eight times and still return to these books every once and a while, I enjoy the books that much. Not every writer can do that for me. I will say that if you want to read “Half-Blood Prince,” read the first five books in order or you will have no idea what you’re reading, Rowling didn’t repeat too much out of the first five books, so it’s essential to read all of them. And in all honesty, I feel like this review does not do the book justice. So if you’ve been reading my “Harry Potter” reviews and never read the books and enjoyed my reviews, you should totally be reading the books. And totally read “Deathly Hallows” if you’ve read “Half-Blood Prince.” (I can’t possibly see why you wouldn’t.) But, if you want to disregard me, feel free to. This review is all my opinion and I totally accept that you may not agree with me, and I totally think that’s fine. We all have our own opinions that we are allowed to have, so please, and I totally mean this, feel free to disagree with me, and you can even Tweet or comment or whatever you can do to let me know how you feel about “Harry Potter.” (No one’s done that yet and I really wish somebody would.)

            Now, I’ve been going on for over 1,500 words and you may be getting bored with me if you’re still here (and if you are still reading this, you are THE BEST!), so I’ll get down to the nitty-gritty: my numeric score! Every book review I do, I give the book a numeric score. I score out of one-to-ten. One means if you actually read this whole review, I think you wasted your time reading this and don’t even look at the cover. Ten means that if you’re reading this review and are interested in this book, buy it, ask for a friend to lend it to you, go to a library, just get your hands on the book and read it ASAP. As you can probably tell, this is not getting a low score as I’ve had nothing bad to say about this book. BUT! I just can’t quite give it a ten. I give it a nine. There’s just something, je ne se quoi, holding me back. I would honestly love to give it a ten, but I just can’t. I just don’t think it’s perfect.

            So, I’ve been babbling enough about this now, I’ve been typing for over an hour-and-a-half (these reviews literally take hours), my wrists are griping, I can’t feel my fingers, so let’s wrap this up, shall we? Okay, so, you’re here at the end with me. If you liked this review, keep coming back for more. I have literally done dozens of reviews of books on this blog (mostly Marvel Comics related) and have much more planned. I’ve already written reviews of the first five “Harry Potter” books (if you haven’t read them and liked this review, just go on back), and in a couple of weeks I’ll be reviewing “Deathly Hallows” so keep checking back for that. I also write short fiction and nonfiction from time-to-time, I write poetry, I have B’ings (if you don’t know what they are, just read one and you’ll totally hate me), I write essays and editorials (being a certified journalist but not actually working in the field), and other stuff. I post pretty frequently, I have two other projects sitting on my desk right now, expect them in the next three or four days, keep looking for that, you can probably find something else to like on this blog, so stay tuned, and as always, ‘til 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!