Tag Miles Morales

A Miles Morales: Spider-Man #4 Micro-Review – Wrestling with Rabble

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Miles Morales Spider-Man 4, cover, March 2023, Dike Ruan, Alejandro SanchezTITLE: Miles Morales: Spider-Man #4
AUTHOR: Cody Ziglar
ARTISTS:  Federico Vicentini, Bryan Valenza (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer). Cover by Dike Ruan & Alejandro Sanchez.
RELEASED: March 15, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I like the costume design for this new villain, Rabble. Cool stuff.

The mentor/student dynamic between Miles and Misty Knight is endearing, and becomes more so as the issues progress. I feel like we don’t see a female mentor and a male student as often as we should.

The stakes for this story are also nice and high, with the tension, again, amping up as the issues progress. I’m not as familiar with Miles’ adventures in the main Marvel Universe, as opposed to the Ultimate Universe. But he’s definitely in good hands right now.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 Micro-Review – The Spider-Man of Milwaukee?

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**This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Miles Morales Spider-Man 3, cover, February 2023, Dike Ruan, Alejandro SanchezTITLE: Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3
AUTHOR: Cody Ziglar
ARTISTS: Federico Vicentini, Bryan Valenza (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer). Cover by Dike Ruan & Alejandro Sanchez.
RELEASED: February 1, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This issue goes by pretty fast. But it does give us a backstory for our villain, who we see on the cover. It’s a pretty good one, too. One that, in hindsight, I’m surprised wasn’t thought of sooner.

A thought has stuck with me through these last three issues: Does New York City really need two Spider-Men? Couldn’t Miles have branched out to another city? Like say, Milwaukee? (Which happens to be the closest major city to me.) I mean, Milwaukee could be ripe with supervillains! All dying for a chance to steal that statue of the Fonz…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 Micro-Review – The Honey Punch?!?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1
AUTHOR: Cody Ziglar
ARTISTS: Federico Vicentini, Bryan Valenza (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer). Cover by Dike Ruan & Alejandro Sanchez.

RELEASED: December 7, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

There’s a bee-themed villain in this issue called Bumbler, and he hits Miles with a move he calls the “Honey Punch.” I really shouldn’t have laughed as hard as I did…

I consider myself more of a casual Marvel fan. And by casual Marvel fan standards, I probably couldn’t have asked for much more from Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1. The art in particular is very strong. It’s got an edgy quality to it that compliments a street-level Spider-Man very well.

This is a solid jumping-on point for new readers, as any good first issue should be.

Email Rob at PrimaryIgnition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Champions #4

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“Weekly Comic 100s: Future State: Dark Detective #3“***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Champions #4
AUTHOR: Eve L. Ewing
ARTISTS: Bob Quinn, Federico Blee (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Toni Ifante.
RELEASED: February 17, 2021

Good issue, with Quinn and Blee killing it on the art. Champions has once again become one of my favorite books at Marvel.

Cyclops helps the team out in this issue. He’s an adult now, but remembers his time with the team, despite it taking place amidst weird X-Men time-traveling shenanigans. I’m not even going to try to figure that out…

The Champions have breakfast in this issue, and nobody makes a “Breakfast of Champions” joke? I mean, that one’s a lay-up, is it not?

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Batman #100, Champions, and More!

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***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Batman #100
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Jorge Jimenez, Carlo Pagulayan, Danny Miki (Inker), Tomeu Morey (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Variant cover by Francesco Mattina.
RELEASED: October 6, 2020

In the end, “Joker War” was pretty unremarkable. Though at least not flat-out offensive the way “City of Bane” was. It wound up being, in my opinion, as much about Harley Quinn as it was about Batman. That’s exactly what I was afraid it would be.

To his credit, though, Tynion gives Barbara Gordon a pretty awesome moment in this issue.

And hey, we got a “Jokerized” Batsuit out of the deal that’s just dying to be made into an action figure or a Funko Pop. So there’s that I guess.

TITLE: Champions #1
AUTHOR: Al Ewing
ARTISTS: Simone Di Meo, Federico Blee, Clayton Cowles. Cover by Toni Ifante.
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

I like this angle on the Champions. Superheroes under 21 are outlawed, which gives them something to rebel against. Teenage defiance and all that. This series isn’t starting off with the same sort of real-world intrigue the 2016 Mark Waid book did. But it’s making up for it with superhero drama.

So wait, Kamala Khan is the face of the law banning teen heroes, but Ms. Marvel is the leader of the Champions? How does that work? Superhero logic, I guess…

TITLE: Star Wars #7
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Carlo Pagulayan.
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

Charles Soule starts to get this book on track here, as we get a pretty darn good origin story for our new villain, Commander Zahra. The Zahra character was mentored by Grand Moff Tarkin, who Soule has historically been very strong with.

This is our second time seeing Carlo Pagulayan this week. He impressed me with this cover. It reminded me quite a bit of Olivier Coipel’s work. For my money, that’s a compliment.

Ramon Rosanas turns in a strong performance as well. A suitable replacement for Jesus Saiz on this series.

TITLE: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #2
AUTHOR: Al Ewing
ARTISTS: Simone Di Meo, Mariasara Miotti (Color Assistant), Andworld Design (Letters)
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

We Only Find Them When We’re Dead is a gorgeous blaze of vibrant colors. Truly wondrous from an artistic standpoint.

The trouble is, and perhaps this is just my ADD talking, I’ve been having some trouble following along. We’re learning about some intriguing characters. But there’s a lot of spaceship tech jargon in here, much of which feels like fat to be trimmed. My hope is the book starts to take off (pun intended) as we get into the real meat of the story.

TITLE: Batman: The Adventures Continue #13
AUTHORS: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
ARTISTS: Ty Templeton, Monica Kubina (Colorist), Josh Reed (Letterer). Cover by Becky Cloonan.
RELEASED: October 1, 2020

One of the things Batman: The Adventures Continue does is answer certain questions left unanswered from the show. Including one I didn’t think to ask: Why isn’t Leslie Thompkins in The New Batman Adventures? Hint: It involves Jason Todd.

Oddly enough, in this issue Red Hood throws a grenade that’s read and has white “eyes” like his helmet. It looks like he’s throwing a Spider-Man grenade.

That’s right, folk. A Spider-Man grenade. That’s the kind of keen insight you’ll find here at PrimaryIgnition.com.

TITLE: The Department of Truth #1
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Martin Simmonds, Aditya Bidikar (Letterer)
RELEASED: September 30, 2020

This first issue is packed with intrigue and possibility. Not to mention a sense of dread. As if we’re about to learn some horrible secret about how the world works. And we do…kinda…

Simply put, I don’t buy the big twist in The Department of Truth #1. The book is written and drawn like a government espionage type drama. But the revelation is a piece of comic book science so far-fetched that even I don’t buy it. Such a shame, as I’d been looking forward to this for months.

TITLE: Batman/Superman Annual #1
AUTHOR: Joshua Williamson
ARTISTS: Gleb Melnikov, Dale Eaglesham, Clayton Henry, Alejandro Sanchez (Colorist), John J. Hill (Letterer). Cover by Gabriel Rodriguez & Sanchez.
RELEASED: September 29, 2020

Wanna have some fun? Read Mr. Mxyzptlk’s dialogue in Gilbert Gottfried’s voice, and Bat-Mite’s in Paul Reubens’ voice. Just like on those old cartoons.

This annual is about our two fifth-dimensional imps arguing about whether Batman or Superman would win in a fight. It’s played for laughs, and it’s a lot of fun. But most important of all? The story has the right ending.

Remember, kids: Superman and Batman are both heroes. They shouldn’t be fighting. They’d find another way to work things out.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Alex Ross Spotlight: Living with Mistakes

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Every creative person lives with mistakes, or work they don’t necessarily look back on fondly. To an extent it seems counter-intuitive to think of Alex Ross in such a light, as he’s in such a league of his own among comic book and superhero artists. But indeed, the man is vulnerable to the same things any artist is. Case in point, in Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, he’s very critical of the lithography pictured at right. Gorgeous though it may be, Ross is quick to critique his rendering of Superman’s head.

In the latest video from his YouTube channel, Ross talks about living with certain insufficiencies and failures in his work. I’ve juxtaposed it with a video from two years ago, in which he talks about the importance of completing work. As a former journalist, I can very much identify with turning in work you’re not 100% satisfied with. But a deadline is a deadline, and sometimes the bullet simply has to be bitten.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Star Wars Adventures, Lois Lane #9, and..Other Stuff…

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

So yeah…how’s your quarantine been?

Like every other business on Earth, the comic book industry is being hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. As such, comic shops will receive no new issues this week. What exactly will happen with digital releases remains to be seen. But Image, IDW, Dark Horse, and Oni Press have all opted out of digital releases until print issues return to stores.

As for me, “social distancing” kept me out of my comic shop this week. My issues are being shipped to me, but they won’t arrive until….today. Because of course.

But in the spirit of wanting to put something in this space this week, I’ve done some digital shopping of my own. I put some issues in my cart that aren’t the most recent, but that piqued my interest. First among these was Lois Lane #9, which for some reason has alluded me for several weeks now…

As for what’ll be in this space over the next several weeks, all I can say is something will be here. Even if I’ve got to review comics from decades ago. But next time, we’ll get into the issues I’m about to get in the mail. Such issues include Batman/Superman, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, andI Can Sell You A Body, and more.

TITLE: Lois Lane #9
AUTHOR: Greg Rucka
ARTISTS: Mike Perkins, Andy Troy (Colorist), Simon Bowland (Letterer)
RELEASED: March 4, 2020

Batman shows up in this issue, seemingly for no reason other than to pad the story. Still, it is good to see Rucka writing him again. Even like this.

As the cover suggests, there’s an immigration angle here. If, like Batman, it were shoehorned in for no reason I’d take issue with it. But Rucka weaves it into the mystery of who is out to kill Lois. So it works for me.

Also, do yourself a favor and Google “Jessica Midnight.” Just a heads up.

TITLE: Star Wars Adventures #31
AUTHORS: Michael Moreci, Cavan Scott
ARTISTS: Arianna Florean, David M. Buisan, Valentina Taddeo (Colorist), Charlie Kirchoff (Colorist), Jake M. Wood (Inker)
RELEASED: March 18, 2020

I’ve had my eye on this title, as it was recently announced it’ll contain stories set after The Rise of Skywalker. But apparently that’s not until May…

What we get here is perfectly serviceable. First is a story about Rey flying an X-Wing for the first time. I assume that’s meant to foreshadow what she does near the end of Rise. Then we get a back-up about a young explorer in wild space. Frankly, the back-up intrigued me more than the main story did. We haven’t seen much (or any?) of wild space, have we?

TITLE: Outlawed #1
AUTHOR: Eve L. Ewing
ARTISTS: Kim Jacinto, Espen Grundetjern (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Pepe Larraz and David Curiel.
RELEASED: March 18, 2020

This book is here to set the table for yet another Champions relaunch. After the most recent relaunch ended this past October with only 10 issues. I mean…alright? If you’re sure.

This issue feels very Civil War-ish. A big explosion during a battle involving the Champions prompts the government to adopt a law prohibiting those under 21 from acting as superheroes.

This issue on its own didn’t do much for me. But I really liked the Mark Waid/Humberto Ramos Champions line-up. So if this kicks off a good story for them, I’m all in.

TITLE: Marvels Snapshots: Sub-Mariner
AUTHOR: Alan Brennert
ARTISTS: Jerry Ordway, Espen Grundetjern (Colorist), Travis Lanham (Letterer). Cover by Alex Ross.
RELEASED: March 11, 2020

I’ve got the unique perspective of reading Marvels at the same time all this supplemental material is coming out. It’s a lot to take in. But the process has been fun.

Though he comes from Atlantis, virtually a different world, this issue shows us Namor is just as vulnerable to the scars of war as his human cohorts. Set shortly after World War II, and told from the perspective of his love interest Betty Dean, this “snapshot” shows us how Namor both is and isn’t human. Ordway and Grundetjern set the period brilliantly with their art.

TITLE: The Resistance #1 (of 6)
AUTHOR: J. Michael Straczynski
ARTISTS: Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin (Colorist), Sal Cipriano (Letterer). Cover by Rahzzah.
RELEASED: March 18, 2020

Good lord. This one might actually be too timely. Read at your own risk as far as triggers go.

Quick summary: A deadly virus sweeps the planet, killing hundreds of millions. Then suddenly, it goes dormant. In response, a new American president is elected that promises to keep the pubic safe if the virus returns. But some of the survivors have inexplicably acquired superpowers. So what the hell happens now?

This sparked my interest enough to read more. Much of what we see here feels disturbingly realistic, particularly in terms of how the public reacts to certain things…

Email Rob at at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

 

Panels of Awesomeness: Spider-Man Annual #1

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

CREATORS: Bryan Edward Hill (Author), Nelson Blake II (Artist), Alitha E. Martinez (Artist), Carlos Lopez (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

THE SCENE: In his early days as a hero, Miles Morales takes on a Skrull who is impersonating Spider-Man!

WHY IT’S AWESOME: Spider-Man Annual #1 was a welcome read this week, as last month Brian Michael Bendis officially put a bow on the ongoing adventures of Miles Morales. At least for now. My understanding is that a new series is in the works. You’d think there’d have to be, what with the Miles-centered Into the Spider-Verse hitting theaters in December.

In the meantime, most of this annual takes place “years ago,” just as Miles is becoming a hero. The book does a little retcon work here, trying to figure out where our hero was in the main Marvel Universe (as opposed to the Ultimate one, where he debuted) around the time of Secret Invasion. When Miles, Ganke, and their friends are attacked by Skrulls at a party in Soho, Miles is forced to take action. As awful icing on the cake, one of them is impersonating Spider-Man!

The ensuing battle gives us this page…

A bit cliched? Maybe. But when it’s done right, I’m a sucker for stuff like this. It’s important to remember how young Miles is at this point. When we first met him, he was only about 13 or 14. And yet, now he’s facing life or death against a monster. Literally, a monster. So to see him calm himself down, and almost rationalize the situation, is really cool. I love the line, “I can’t do this. But Spider-Man could.”

Then, to top it all off, he delivers a Spidey quip. Not a great one, mind you. But good, considering he’s a terrified teenager in a makeshift Spider-Man costume.

That’s another item to note: Nelson Blake II designed Miles’ makeshift Spidey suit for this outing. I dig it. The shirt is a little on-the-nose for what’s supposed to be a spontaneous costume. But it’s still fun. The goggles even give it a little bit of a Spider-Man Noir vibe.

Email Rob at PrimaryIgnition@yahoo.com, or follow Primary Ignition on Twitter.

A Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree Review – Across the Spider-Verse

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TITLE: Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen: Sitting in a Tree
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Latour
PENCILLERS: Sara Pichelli, Robbie Rodriguez
COLLECTS: Spider-Man #12–14, Spider-Gwen #16–18
FORMAT: Softcover
PUBLISHER: Marvel
PRICE: $17.99
RELEASED: May 24, 2017

***WARNING: Spoilers lay ahead.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Who says there’s no such thing as modern romance? A good love story, especially in a teenage superhero book, can really hit the spot sometimes. But surprisingly, Sitting in a Tree doesn’t hit that spot in that respect. It never really delivers like you think it will.

Miles Morales’ father, now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. again, has gone missing. A mission gone awry has seemingly left him lost in the multiverse. As such, Maria Hill recruits Miles for an off-the-books inter-dimensional search-and-rescue mission. Our hero’s search quickly takes him to Earth-65, a world where Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider, and has become Spider-Woman. The two are already acquainted. So in Gwen, Miles finds a partner in his search. But does he also find an unlikely romance?

Typically, one of the goals of a crossover like this is to get readers of one book (in my case, Spider-Man) to start picking up another (Spider-Gwen). Years of comic book reading have left me pretty callous to such attempts. But as someone with little to no exposure to Spider-Gwen, I found myself pretty intrigued by what I saw. That’s a credit to Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and everybody on that book. Spider-Gwen #16 explores the Earth-65 New York City, as we meet it’s alternate versions of Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and Doctor Octopus. We also get a quick refresher as to how this world’s Peter Parker was different from the one we all know. It’s a great introduction to that character and her world.

More importantly, Robbi Rodriguez’s funky animated style is a treat. Combined with colorist Rico Renzi’s relatively bright palette, what we get is pretty unique. I found myself looking forward to Spider-Gwen just to see what they’d give us next. Renzi in particular gets to show off when we get to the Club Scorpion scene in issue #16 (shown left).

On the subject of art, I can’t find a lot of bad things to say about Sara Pichelli and colorist Justin Sponsor’s work here. Any time they work together on Miles it feels like a homecoming, as they did his earliest stories in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man. That’s why it was so cool to have them on those early issues of Spider-Man. Pichelli gets to play with the multiverse stuff in issue #14, as Miles and Gwen jump into the Spider-Man: Noir universe, the Marvel Zombies universe, and then even the DC Universe for a quick jab at the competition (shown below). The latter got under my skin, but it also got a begrudged chuckle.

So the big selling point for Sitting in a Tree is the blossoming romance between Miles and Gwen. The premise made me think of how amazingly Bendis wrote Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in Ultimate Spider-Man. When he wants to do the teenage romance stuff, he’s as good as anybody…

Which is why it’s a pretty big disappointment that the romance stuff almost gets glossed over until the third act. Even then, we don’t get much. Instead of this being the story where the two get together, it’s the story that lays the foundation for them to get together later. There’d be nothing wrong with that, except the book’s title and cover suggest otherwise. You close the book feeling like you were sold one thing but given another.

Still, it’s fun seeing our creators play with around with the Spider-Verse stuff. Spider-Ham pops up during the third act, and he brings in some extra back-up during the finale. It doesn’t make up for us not getting the inter-dimensional love affair the book advertises. But it’s a cool little bonus.

Sitting in a Tree is…fine. That’s it. Just fine. It’s got elements of an epic crossover between titles, but it comes up short of meeting its dramatic needs. What can I say? Some days I’m a hopeless romantic. I have no idea if they plan to come back to this Miles/Gwen thing at any point. But by God, if anybody can make the cross-dimensional romance thing work, it’s those two crazy kids!

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