Tag: marvel comics

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Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Volume One (Part Two)

 This is part two of my review of Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Volume One. You can read my review of the first part here. I have most of the original issues of Rom stored in an attic somewhere, but one of the advantages of aging gracefully is the fact that I don’t recall what I ate for breakfast two days ago.

The upshot: I don’t remember most of this series, although I do recall enjoying it. First off, this is a horror comic disguised as a superhero comic. Rom has a meta-story that lasts 70+ issues, albeit with a number of side stories. Unlike superhero comics, it has a beginning and a definite end. The monsters, the sense of paranoia that permeates this book, and the weird conspiracy theories remind me of The X-Files, but unlike the X-Files Rom hasn’t jumped the shark…yet.

The other reason this is a horror comic is the body count. The creators (Mantlo & Buscema) use a cast of mostly new characters. There are cameos by Marvel heroes – in this volume we get the Torpedo, the X-Men, Power Man & Iron Fist, Nova, and the Fantastic Four – but they make sense in the context of the larger storyline, which is earth’s invasion by the Dire Wraiths. Bottom line: many of the characters are new, and the creative team has no qualms about killing them. This can be unsettling, because cast changes in superhero comics tend to remain static. In practical terms, this means that nobody is safe.

The highlights of this volume are Rom’s battle with Hybrid, the offspring of a human mother and a Dire Wraith father. Hybrid – who is also a mutant, and whose character design is totally grotesque – wastes no time killing his parents. His battle with Rom is interrupted by the arrival of the X-Men, searching for the new mutant. A number of misunderstandings ensue, which leads to the X-Men attacking Rom.

The second highlight is Rom’s return to his home planet of Galador, which leads to an encounter with Galactus, who wants to eat the planet. Rom strikes a deal with the planet-eater and leads Galactus to the Dark Nebula (the Dire Wraiths’ home planet), but who will consume who?

Mention should also be made of the arrival of The Torpedo, the Grade Z hero Rom chooses to protect his adopted home town of Clairton, WV from the Wraiths. So far, his record is 0-1, as Clairton is overwhelmed by a mystical fog in Rom’s absence. The Torpedo seems like a nice guy, and he does his best, but sometimes that’s not enough…

Highly recommended!

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Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Volume One

 This is part one of a review of Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Volume One. Because this is a longer graphic novel (thirty issues), I’m going to review it in two parts. One of my goals for the New Year is to read longer material. I started reviewing graphic novels in 2023 because at this point in my life I have trouble finishing longer books. Reading two issues per day isn’t a lot of work, but it’s additive. In 2023, I read and reviewed fifty-four graphic novels.

On to the review. Rom was a toy released by Parker Brothers in the late 1970’s. The toy company went to Marvel, who have written material for properties such as The Micronauts, Planet of the Apes, and G.I. Joe, for help in fleshing out the character. Writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema filled in the blanks, and the rest is history.

Rom is a Spaceknight, hailing from the planet Galador, and he’s fighting a war against the evil Dire Wraiths. The Wraiths are shape-changers like Skrulls, but they depend on magic as much as science. They’re written as being evil with a capital ‘E.’ In one of the first issues, they shoot a dog. They let a man die on the operating table. You get the idea.

Rom – who has been pursuing the Dire Wraiths for two hundred years – crash lands on earth. He sets foot in West Virginia, and is almost run off the road by Brandy Clark, his future love interest. Rom uses his analyzer to determine that Brandy isn’t a Dire Wraith. When Brandy sees Rom seemingly kill humans, she’s a tad upset, but Rom explains to her that they are actually Dire Wraiths in disguise. He isn’t killing them, but banishing them to Limbo with his Neutralizer.

I am guessing the banishing to Limbo bit has to do with an edict Jim Shooter, the editor-in-chief of Marvel at the time, made about Marvel heroes not killing. This is used to great advantage here. Rom’s Neutralizer banishes the Dire Wraiths to Limbo, but to human eyes it looks like he’s killing human beings. All that’s left of the Dire Wraiths is a pile of ashes. Nobody believes Rom but Brandy and her boyfriend, Steve.

Rom, Brandy, and Steve soon become enmeshed in a bizarre love triangle. Rom is a cyborg; his nervous system has been bonded to his armor. This makes him very powerful, but since he’s partly human he’s also very, uh, lonely. Unfortunately, at this point he’s mostly robot. Rom soon falls in love with Brandy, who senses Rom’s noble spirit, and Steve doesn’t like any of it. Unlike Rom, Steve has a functioning penis, so you’d think there wouldn’t be much suspense as to how this love triangle ends, but appearances can be deceiving.

I stopped reading when Brandy is about to marry a Dire Wraith disguised as Steve, and Rom strides into the church. Sort of like that scene in The Graduate, except instead of Dustin Hoffman a eight-foot silver robot bursts into the church. Anyway, really good stuff. Highly recommended.

Part Two coming soon!

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Marvel Masterworks Daredevil Volume Three

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks Daredevil Volume Three. You can read my reviews of the first two volumes here and here. Thus far, this series has been uneven. I can sum up this particular volume in four words: great art, awful writing. Matt Murdock takes his identity hijinks to the next level when he starts pretending that he has an identical twin brother named Mike Murdock.

Matt tells Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, his law partner/friend and secretary/potential lover, that Mike is Daredevil and not him. Apparently they believe him, even though Matt and Foggy roomed together in college and Matt never mentioned having a twin brother. Oh, and Matt and Mike are never in the same room. Writer Brian Michael Bendis adapted some of this material as fodder for his own Daredevil series, where DD’s secret identity is treated as an open secret and he’s portrayed as an out-and-out narcissist.

In this volume, Matt’s antics are portrayed as funny – I guess? To me, it seems a little weird to be lying to friends, coworkers, and potential lovers. This seems like the type of storyline a kid might find funny. The Cobra/Mr. Hyde storyline starts out dopey, with Daredevil swinging around Manhattan dressed as Thor, but becomes interesting when Mr. Hyde manages to deaden DD’s other senses. Unfortunately, the climax of this storyline strains credulity.

On the plus side, we have the debut of the Leap Frog, another great weirdo Daredevil villain. The Leap Frog dresses up in a green frog costume and hops around as he robs banks. He joins the Stilt Man, The Owl, The Gladiator, and The Purple Man in the pantheon of Daredevil’s rogue gallery. Verdict: you can see the holes in the writing a mile away, as the writer is so obviously phoning it in, and the art can only take this series so far.

For Daredevil completionists only.

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Excalibur Epic Collection: The Sword is Drawn

This is a review of Excalibur Epic Collection: The Sword is Drawn. This graphic novel is written by Chris Claremont, who wrote Excalibur along with most of the X-Output in the 1980’s. I read a lot of Chris Claremont comics growing up.

Excalibur consists of five members, three former X-Men (Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, the Rachel Summers Phoenix) along with British superheroes Meggan and Captain Britain. All but Captain Britain are mutants – or muties, in Claremont Parlance. Sidenote: I don’t consider an X-title finished unless some stupid human says muties. The events of Excalibur take place after the Mutant Massacre, a famous (or infamous) crossover that shook up the X-Books.

Excalibur has all the elements of a Chris Claremont book: ensemble cast, soap opera histrionics, and short, punchy storylines. Characters say things like – “I know you’re a hero. But let’s see if you’re a man!” It’s amazing that a title whose feature characters are Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde lasted over a hundred issues. I think it likely that the wonderful art by Alan Davis – who went on to write the book after Claremont left – has something to do with that.

Excalibur’s origin story lasts exactly one issue, and then we are off to the races. Honestly, the team has no real reason for existence, but who cares? Whatever they did worked. Excalibur has no problem finding its legs. The title comes roaring out of the gate, as the members fight bounty hunters from outer space, interdimensional werewolves, Arcade, and the Nazi versions of themselves. There’s also a two-issue crossover with the X-Men, an Inferno storyline in which Excalibur is so superfluous none of the crossover’s major players even know they are there.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this. The first time I read Excalibur, I was still a kid and some of this title’s more, uh, grown-up elements flew over my head. The creators like dress-up and cosplay, because this title features lots of costumes -some sexy, more often outright bizarre. There are also a few gratuitous underwear shots, mostly female. As a kid I didn’t mind; as an adult, it’s embarrassing. If you find this offensive, I’d avoid this graphic novel.

A good read for fans of the 1980’s X-Men.

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Moon Knight Epic Collection Vol. 1: Bad Moon Rising

This is a review of Moon Knight Epic Collection Vol. 1: Bad Moon Rising. When I was a youngster back in the early 1980’s, comics sold for cheap. I bought most of Marvel and DC’s output, but never purchased a single issue of Moon Knight. Looking back on it, I don’t know why. Maybe I didn’t like the art? Or did I think Moon Knight was just a low rent Batman?

Who knows? I made my acquaintance with Moon Knight two weeks ago when I started reading this hefty graphic novel. Moon Knight is Marc Spector, mercenary. He’s also Stephen Grant, millionaire. And then there’s Jake Lockley, cab driver. The idea of a superhero keeping multiple identities in his back pocket is intriguing, but it turns out that Moon Knight is a) mentally ill; b) touched by the Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god; c) a frustrated actor; d) all of the above.

Apparently Moon Knight lives in a reality where a person can have three fully formed personalities. Since this is a comic from the early 80’s and the split personality trope recurs even today, I don’t think it’s a big deal, but YMMV. The comic’s treatment of gay people (mostly confined to a single issue at the start of the run) isn’t very good, but I also came away with the impression that Moon Knight might be gay himself.

Most of the art in this graphic novel is by Bill Sienkiewicz. Mr. Sienkiewicz’s pencils are not always to my tastes; it depends on who his inker is. For the record, I like his art here. The colors of a number of the issues seemed washed out, but not a big deal.

The stories have lots of action. Moon Knight fights a werewolf, makes a cameo in the Defenders, and then it’s all solo stories, baby! We have a villain with steel teeth (Moonraker homage), a psycho wearing a Halloween mask, a homage to the Maltese Falcon, etc. Many of the tales in these pages resemble adventure comics more than superhero comics.

A special shout-out to Moon Knight’s lover, Marlene. In the course of this graphic novel she’s suspended upside-down over an alligator pit, shot on two separate occasions, stabbed by a psycho, called a slut, been in a car crash, tied up, almost raped, strangled, and pistol whipped. I might be missing one or two instances, but you get the idea.

Anyway, this graphic novel has a few rough passages but I mostly liked it.

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Marvel Masterworks Ms. Marvel Volume One

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks Ms. Marvel Volume One. Ms. Marvel is a Kree warrior with super strength who can fly and has a seventh sense, which does the same thing as Spider-Man’s spider sense AND gives her visions of the future. Ms. Marvel is also Carol Danvers, a human woman. They have two bodies (I think) but occupy the same space. I am unsure where one goes when the other is present. Maybe Limbo? I don’t know! Author’s note: this is all explained in Issue #13.

Carol Danvers works for the Daily Bugle as the editor of “Woman” Magazine. I might not have a seventh sense like Ms. Marvel, but I don’t think she’s long for the Daily Bugle. By the by, the most unrealistic thing about this graphic novel is the fact that Carol is a writer and can afford a penthouse apartment in New York City. Carol has migraines, which trigger her transformation into Ms. Marvel. At first neither is aware of the other, but that soon changes, and the question becomes ‘what’s going on?’

The what’s-going-on plot is firmly B-story, because this title has plenty of action! Ms. Marvel fights The Scorpion, Grotesk, DeathBird, AIM, and M.O.D.O.K. Lots of POWS, BLAMS, and THWOCKS. That’s fine, but what makes this graphic novel interesting is Ms. Marvel’s character, which is in flux. Credit for that goes to writer Chris Claremont (of X-Men) fame, who takes on the writing reins starting with the third issue. The art, handled by Jim Mooney, Carmine Infantino, and Sal Buscema, is excellent.

Ultimately, Ms. Marvel is written by male creators for a male audience. How do I know this? Well, in one issue, Carol Danvers fights a super-villain in a red bikini. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Spider-Man fight crime in a Speedo, but maybe I’m wrong. Writer Gerry Conway said in the Introduction, ‘we meant well,’ and I’ll take his word for it!

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Marvel Masterworks The Defenders Vol. One

This a review of Marvel Masterworks The Defenders Vol. 1. This graphic novel looks to be an attempt to catch lightning in a bottle with some of Marvel’s offbeat (i.e., less popular) characters. The Defender’s first appearance features The Sub-Mariner, The Silver Surfer, and The Hulk. The Surfer is gone by the second storyline, mainly because Stan Lee didn’t want anyone not named Stan Lee writing the character. He’s replaced by Doctor Strange.

The first stories, written by Roy Thomas, are okay. Very workmanlike. The same plot is recycled – a demon/elder god/whatever tries to sacrifice a Defender – several times. The series finds its legs with the addition of writer Steven Englehart, who pens stories about wizards with rat friends, talkative Doomsday Machines, etc.

Mr. Englehart adds fan favorite The Valkyrie to the team, and she stays until the bitter end (when I started reading The Defenders over a decade later, she was still a member). As an added bonus, Sal Buscema does a few issues of the art. Mr. Buscema draws my favorite version of the Hulk – big, green, and dumb with purple pants.

Fun read.

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Marvel Masterworks Daredevil: Volume One

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks Daredevil: Volume One. For those not in the know, Daredevil is a masked crimefighter who dresses up in a red devil costume and swings around town on a trick billy club, which he also uses to beat up muggers. Daredevil’s alter ego is Matt Murdock, attorney. His gimmick is enhanced senses – four of his senses are hypercharged and he has a ‘radar sense,’ like a bat. Daredevil got his powers when a barrel of toxic waste hit him in the face, blinding him but enhancing his other senses, thus continuing the Marvel tradition of radiation granting superpowers instead of cancer.

Unfortunately, the first two issues of Daredevil don’t come flying out of the gate. My biggest problem with the first issue is the tone. Reading Spider-Man’s origin story, it’s obvious that Uncle Ben’s death is one of the top three traumatic events in Peter Parker’s life – the other two being Gwen Stacy’s death and the death of his Aunt May, which led to Peter making a deal with the devil and retconning his marriage out of existence.

Or it might be Peter discovering that his arch-nemesis the Green Goblin had sex with the aforementioned Gwen Stacy when she was just a teenager, leading her to give birth to secret twins before the Green Goblin threw her off the Brooklyn Bridge. Years later, those babies grew up to become little Green Goblins who delighted in tormenting a 30-something Peter Parker (in 2023, Peter is now a decade or so younger). Or maybe it was the time Peter grew four more arms, or when he transformed into a lizard-man, or when he smacked his ex-wife in the face. All of which happened. Whatever. The point is, Uncle Ben’s death is shattering and forever changes the course of Peter’s life.

When Matt Murdock’s father is murdered in the first issue, he doesn’t react at all. His attitude is like, ‘welp, time to catch the gangsters who murdered my father.’ He actually kills the guy who murdered his dad, but does it in a sneaky way (heart attack), all the while musing how it’ll save the state the expense of a trial. Sounds like a guy I’d want as my lawyer!

The second issue wastes no time bringing in the guest stars, in this case The Thing of the Fantastic Four. The FF want Matt to do an inventory of the Baxter Building, even though he’s blind and can’t see anything. Coincidentally, Electro tries to rob the Baxter Building at the same time. Electro is a member of Spider-Man’s rogue gallery, another bad sign. It’s true that two heroes can share the same villain (read: The Kingpin), but it can also be a sign of desperation.

Long story short, Electro dumps Daredevil into a rocket and blasts him into space. Daredevil’s super senses enable him to reverse the rocket and land in Central Park. This is exciting when it’s happening, but falls apart when you think about it because Daredevil’s superpower isn’t piloting rocket ships. I also started to wonder why Electro didn’t just electrocute him or stick a knife in his ribs.

This graphic novel finds its legs in later issues, when we get appearances by other members of Daredevil’s rogue gallery, The Owl, The Purple Man, and Stilt-Man. Most of the villains are outright goofy, although The Purple Man is later retconned as a serial killer. There’s also a standout issue featuring the Sub-Mariner that’s the highlight of this volume. But my favorite villain is the Eel, whose superpower is lubing himself up so he slips out of people’s grasp.

Perhaps coincidentally, the addition of artist Wally Wood coincides with the jump in the quality of this graphic novel. Mr. Wood redesigns Matt’s costume, changing the canary yellow duds to the red devil outfit we’ve all come to love. He also gives us an in-depth diagram of Matt’s billy club/cane. I learned that Daredevil’s horns double as transmitters, which I didn’t know. You learn something new every day!

Matt Murdock’s personal life isn’t as interesting, featuring a puerile love triangle between Matt, his partner Foggy, and their secretary Karen Page. Matt and Karen are in love, but Matt doesn’t say anything because he can hear heartbeats and he knows Foggy is in love with Karen, and – in his words – that wouldn’t be right. Karen doesn’t say anything because she’s unsure if Matt loves her, which he doesn’t because they’ve never even dated. As far as I can see, the only person in the love triangle who acts like an actual adult is Foggy, who proposes to Karen. I mean, this is some teenager shit– which makes sense, because the book’s aimed at teenage boys.  

I can see Matt not wanting to crap where he eats, as the earthy old aphorism goes, but he’s the guiding light of the law firm. He doesn’t really need Foggy. I guess he doesn’t want to hurt his partner’s feelings? This is truly shocking, because modern Matt Murdock has been written as a horndog if not an outright misogynist. Here, he’s likable with an endearingly goofy rogue’s gallery. Bottom line: once this graphic novel finds its legs, its very good.