Month: August 2023

Posted on

Wolverine Epic Collection: Madripoor Nights

This is a review of Wolverine Epic Collection: Madripoor Nights. Wolverine, aka Logan, is one of Marvel’s most popular characters. Something about a guy with nonexistent social skills and a nasty temper resonates with comic readers. Wolverine is a mutant whose abilities include enhanced senses and the ability to heal from almost any wound. He also has metal bones and a set of matching claws that retract and unfurl at his command.

Wolverine is a member of the X-Men, but became so popular Marvel gave him his own series. The setting is Madripoor, a carbon copy of Casablanca. Logan hangs out in a bar dressed in a white tux and eyepatch and tells everyone to call him Patch. He thinks he’s incognito, which is stupid because he’s so recognizable, but it turns out everyone was just pretending not to know him, because you don’t upset a guy with nonexistent social skills and a rotten temper.

 The first storyline features a character called Tyger, who wants to be a crime lord. To do so she must kill the current crime lord, who commands a pet succubus and a guy with knives for hands. Wolverine helps Tyger because her brain was scrambled by villains in an issue of the X-Men. Other storylines include a sword that possesses its wielder, an encounter with Mr. Fixit (aka The Hulk), and fledgling crime lord Tyger’s first gang war!

One of the good things about this series is that the writer (Chris Claremont) does a fine job of producing credible villains. As the years passed, Wolverine has gotten more and more powerful, until he became an unstoppable killing machine. Nothing can kill Wolverine, which is dull as dirt. In this graphic novel, Logan gets his ass kicked all over Madripoor.

Anyway, good series with lots of action. Recommended.

Posted on

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume Two

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2. You can read my review of the first volume, here. In this volume, the classic Ditko/Lee run continues. The rogue’s gallery fleshes out, as we meet Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, and The Green Goblin. Spider-Man has a great rogue’s gallery, right up there with Batman and The Flash.

Speaking of rogue’s galleries, who is Spidey’s arch-nemesis? I myself think it’s Doctor Octopus, but the Green Goblin is a fine choice also. Spider-Man’s first two encounters with the Green Goblin end in a draw, whereas by that point Spidey had beaten Doctor Octopus multiple times already. OTOH, Spider-Man has a longer history with Doc Ock, because Norman Osborne spent over a decade on the shelf (read: dead) before the powers-that-be resurrected him. Bottom line: they’re both good choices.

Peter’s personal life changes. He starts dating, Betty Brant and Liz Allan. Aunt May, who at this point is only 40,000 years old, has a heart attack. Peter also quits being Spider-Man for a few issues. Spider-Man throwing his costume in the trash has happened often enough that at this point it’s a cliché, but it wasn’t back then. Bottom line: this is a creative team working at the top of their game. A must-read for fans of Spider-Man and fans of superhero comics.

Posted on

The Flash: The Death of Iris West

This is a review of The Flash: The Death of Iris West. A few firsts. Flash #278, which resides in this volume, is the first superhero comic I read. Well, it might be Fantastic Four #210, which I bought around the same time, but my memory says it’s the Flash. A second first: the title of this volume is The Death of Iris West, aka Mrs. Barry Allen (as she’s referred to in this volume), aka The Flash’s wife. If you don’t want the details of her fridging, don’t read any further.

This volume doesn’t come flying out of the gates. The Flash fights a villain named The Clown. At first glance, this is a mismatch – The Flash can run faster than light and has total control of his molecular structure (I have no idea how these two powers are related). The Clown throws cream pies. Thus, it comes as a surprise when The Clown nails The Flash in the face with the aforementioned cream pie. Heck, it comes as a surprise that any fight with The Flash lasts more than two seconds. Thank god I’m not the writer, who has to think of creative ways to make the Flash’s villains seem like credible threats.

Maybe The Flashster has other things on his mind. He’s been neglecting his lovely wife, Iris, who responds by pulling out the stops – romantic candlelight dinners, new hairdo, etc. The Flash claims he’d like to spend more time with his wife, but Gorilla Grodd has a hangnail or whatever, and he needs to deal with that. Then there’s the 16-year-old psychic teen with a crush on The Flash. Since Barry is thirty and could be her dad, this seems creepy, especially considering what happens to his wife.

I am not saying I didn’t enjoy this volume, because I did. The art is good, and I like writer Cary Bates’ scripts. It wasn’t Mr. Bates decision to kill Iris Allen. This was an editorial call, done to boost sales (I read this in an interview with Cary Bates). There’s no build-up or foreshadowing to Iris West’s death. Barry and Iris go to a costume party, which is crashed by ex-convict-Clockwork-Orange-fan-psychic-vampire Clive Yorkin. BTW, Yorkin is one of the best things about this volume. The Flash, shot up with angel dust, makes the mistaken assumption that Yorkin killed his wife. He’s wrong. The killer is Professor Zoom, denizen of the 25th century, who takes up supervillaining as a hobby because he’s bored.

If you’re a Flash fan, this is an important chapter in Barry Allen’s life, even though I’ve lost track of the number of times his character has been rebooted. If you’re not a Flash fan, it might take a few issues to figure out what’s going on. Still an enjoyable read.

Posted on

Batman: Prelude to Knightfall

This is a review of Batman: Prelude to Knightfall. I read Knightfall when it came out in the early 90’s. Since this is the prelude, I didn’t read most of the issues in this volume. The plot is simple: Bane is a superhuman steroid freak who wants to break Batman. His timing is impeccable; The Dark Knight is suffering from heavy-duty burnout, driving himself to go without sleep or food. To further wear Batman down, Bane releases all the lunatics in Arkham Asylum, where his greatest foes are housed.

The writing of this graphic novel, which features Doug Moench and Chuck Dixon, is good. The art is a little uneven, but we do get a few issues drawn by Jim Aparo, one of my favorite Batman artists. There are a few nice touches, such as Batman wearing a black Superman armband (Superman had just been ‘killed’ by Doomsday).

The creators of this volume understand Batman. At one point a cop tells The Dark Knight that he is the one who attracts all the weirdos and lunatics that plague Gotham City, an argument Batman doesn’t even try to rebut. The other eye raiser of this graphic novel is how burnt-out Bruce Wayne becomes, which adds a touch of realism. Honestly, a guy who dresses up like a bat, gets no rest, has no real friends, social life, or sex life, and is constantly injured would burn out.

Standout villains in this volume include The Black Mask, a misogynistic would-be crime boss; a pumped-up Riddler; and The General, an underage Napoleon with a penchant for assault rifles. We also meet Jean Paul Valley, aka Azrael, who gets put into a backbreaker while posing as Batman. The creators are foreshadowing future events, and not even being all that subtle about it.

Vintage Batman.