Sara Pichelli

(spoilers, cw: character death)

start to finish, this arc is pretty easily the best stretch of this comic. the only thing that even came close was the first three issues of the series. something i remember from when i was reading ultimate x-men and ultimate spider-man (the peter parker ones) back in the day is that when they were at their best their scope was cinematic. like, yeah, everything looks fucking fantastic on the page, but it also leaps off the page and you can just easily imagine show more it happening on a huge screen with an epic soundtrack blaring in the background. (i was kind of hearing a soundtrack in my head the whole time i was reading this, ngl.)

the most in-your-face impressive bits of this are obviously the two titanic fights between venom & spider-man, but these comics also have some pretty serious range. there’s also the subplot in #16.1 (yeah i kinda hate that gimmick) and #19 of j. jonah jameson not wanting to report on spider-man’s identity no matter how many papers it would sell. it’s just such a tremendous feel good moment, especially since it’s explicitly true that jameson has grown over time.

i think my favorite moment in this arc, though, is when venom is attacking the hospital, and detective hill (who has figured out that miles is spidey) tells him, “you’ll get there faster than we will” and he just rushes off heroically.

one aspect of the story some might struggle with is miles’ mother rio morales dying during the fight with venom. i’m sure there are people who make good faith arguments that this is an example of the pernicious trope of “fridging” female characters to give emotional stakes to the male characters, and i’m not here to tell you that anyone who considers this an example of that trope is wrong, but i will say that i personally do not think it is.

losing a loved one, especially a parental figure, is a massive part of basically every spider-man’s (or spider-gwen’s, or etc) story. the moment felt appropriately massive, and moreover it came on the heels of rio bravely picking up a gun & fighting venom to try to protect her son, despite having seen her husband be critically injured when venom swatted him aside carelessly during the first fight a few issues ago, and despite seeing him mow down at least half a dozen armed cops.

again, i’m not saying anyone who considers her death an example of fridging is necessarily wrong, i just personally really don’t think it is.

in any case, the five issues that make up this arc are not only the best stretch of this particular title, but one of the best stretches of any comic i’ve ever read. show less

it's no wonder that some people drastically prefer miles to peter (i've been among them, fwiw, even just as a filthy casual fan who had seen him in other mediums and was aware of his general vibe), because i just read a whole graphic novel of him not even being spider-man very much, and yeah it fucking ruled. there's just some fantastic character writing in this. it's genuinely one of the best superhero origins i've ever seen.

2021 Summer (July);
Reread of Baby!Jean Arc

Most of these were read in a blur of summer bliss in a hammock in a backyard garden as I finally followed up on my original reads of the baby!Jean storyline that I'd gotten half into before falling out of again. I really do continue to love this storyline mostly for her.

This one is delightful in the fact it continues the warpath the Shi'ar went on after Jean died, when they originally killed everyone in her genetic line in case The Phoenix might show more return to her line. This time, they put baby Jean up for trial on the genocide caused by her older self back in [b:X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga|103111|X-Men The Dark Phoenix Saga|Chris Claremont|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409504820l/103111._SY75_.jpg|99407]. There are so many feelings here and I feel it's actually handled as being the crazy it sounds like. show less

Tony's still hanging with the Guardians, bugging the heck out of them, while being mocked by Rocket. There's a new bounty on Gamora's head, that causes some problems, and then they meet Angela. She's from Heven and has only heard of Earth in stories. She and the Guardians get off to a rocky start, but Star-Lord of all people actually connects to her and they don't destroy each other. Then Thanos tries to destroy Earth and help comes to the Guardians from unexpected sources.

I liked this show more Guardians TPB even more than the first one. The characters aren't static and the writing is the usual good stuff that you get when Bendis is the writer.

I also found it hilarious that with each issue I find myself liking Rocket Raccoon more and more. Weird, I know, but he's growing on me. show less