Ed McGuinnessReviews

866

1616

A gente forma um trio e tanto. Capitão Hydra, Tony Coma e Thor Indigno…
CRÍTICA: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-pantera-negra-venom-e-vingadores-novo-comeco...

Love Cable. Find Loeb's writing... obnoxious.

Swashbuckling wonderfulness, as any story about Nightcrawler should be. And gives a nice conclusion to a few of the teasers, foreshadows and loose ends left at the end of Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men series.

Avengers, Volume 6: Starbrand Reborn
Author: Jason Aaron
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publishing Date: 2020
Pgs: 108
Disposition: Hoopla eBook via Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
Starbrand reborn — in the past and present! Brace yourself for an epic space adventure that takes the Avengers to an alien prison the size of a galaxy! There, a mysterious new wielder of the Starbrand has suddenly appeared, unleashing cosmic chaos. But some of the mightiest figures from beyond the stars have been drawn to find the Starbrand as well — and the battle for control of the all-powerful artifact soon rages out of control! Ravaged by their outer space exploits, can the Avengers keep the Starbrand out of the wrong hands? Plus: Get to know the most cosmically powered caveman who ever lived: the Starbrand of one million B.E.!
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Genre:
Comics
Superhero
Marvel Comics
Graphic Novels
Trade Paperbacks

Why this book:
Cause I’ve read the other volumes up to this point and they’ve been pretty good.
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The Feel:
Sort of hamhanded being beaten over the head with the religious allegories.

Favorite Scene:
Dinosaur Starbrand vs the Kree is an awesome image.

So, the Garden of the distant past, A couple in love lived there, deviants attacked it, and a cosmic power awoke. Bet a segment of fanboys lost their damned minds with the way this story was told.

Cover and Interior Art:
Beautifully drawn and colored. I love A good comic when words, pictures, and color come together well.

Hmm Moments:
And a Jesus allegory. This took balls. Surprised they got this passed corporate publishing, much less released as a trade.

The Unexpected:
So…the Garden of Eden, Jesus, and the Three Wise Men. … …alright.

Strikeout:
Caveman Starbrand looking like Red Hulk.
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Pacing:
It’s fast.

Last Page Sound:
Man, this seemed short.
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This story starts out superb. The constant juxtaposition of the two protagonists is of course terribly on the nose, but it's undeniably impactful and gripping. It sets a mood, it makes me instantly remember why these two characters are so iconic and why they're interesting together, and I'm sucked in, wanting to see what happens. I literally get chills from some of the inner monologues, they're so powerful.

There's humour, too, which feels true to the characters and the context, and initially, as a result of all this, I'm seized by the story and excited for the ride.

Sadly, then it gets muddled in flashy spectacle with little substance. A future Superman shows up (and he might as well not have, for all the plot relevance he'll end up having) and attacks them (which makes next to no sense when we later get some context), which derails the story and drowns the character voices out. The rest of the story quickly becomes a cameo parade as Lex Luthor sics the Justice League on them and an asteroid of solid kryptonite is about to destroy the Earth.

I make it sound worse than it is. The action is decent, the protagonist's outer and inner voices remain exciting and on point (if less prominent as the noisy "plot" gets in the way), and while Luthor goes from a scary villain in the early issues to a laughable one in the last, they at least make an in-story explanation for why he's so unhinged. But I can't help but feel what started out as powerful and memorable became a shallow spectacle, wasting a terrific potential. It says a lot about how much I liked the first chapter when I still rate this as highly as I do.½

The first few issues weren't very good, but then the mystery is revealed and everything falls into place.

Was anyone requesting a new Starbrand? Starbrand, anyone? Anyone? We have a new Starbrand here! It's not just a New Universe thing anymore, you know! Starbrand! Starbrand? Hello?

Well, if anyone shows up and cares, know that this is a decent adventure tied around the passing of the Starbrand to a new carrier, with a little bit of the brand's ancient origins thrown in.

An interesting story about Nightcrawler being rescued by the X-Men. The art is pretty good, although the last chapter is a different artist.

See my short note on it here:
[http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/short-booknotes-on-graphic-novels-5.html]

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog in two parts here and here.

In the first story here, Return to Krypton, the sterile Krypton of John Byrne's Man of Steel reboot is revealed to be an illusion, and the "true" Krypton is something closer to the Krypton that we saw in the comics of the Silver Age; Jor-El created fake data about Krypton for Kal-El so that he wouldn't miss his home. It's a little convoluted-- retconning a retcon always is, I suppose-- and probably doesn't really track with the details of Man of Steel, which I remember really liking, though it's been over a decade since I've read it. In that story, people on Krypton no longer bore children, so baby Kal-El was sent to Earth in a "birthing matrix," and thus literally born in Kansas. Return to Krypton makes it clear that Lara bore Kal-El in her body, and then he was placed in the birthing matrix to be sent to Earth, so the story maintains some details of Man of Steel while ignoring its spirit.

Superman learns much of this from a message Jor-El left in his rocket in a crystal. Then, with the help of Professor Hamilton and John Henry Irons, he is able to use thought projection to make an image of Krypton in the Phantom Zone, into which he and Lois travel to see what the planet was "really" like before it was destroyed; the story is ambiguous about whether Clark and Lois actually traveled to Krypton of the past, or if only to a recreation of it. Clark is able to hang out with his parents briefly, but soon events get crazy: he helps Jor-El adjust Krypton's orbit so it won't be destroyed, but this drains his powers so Lara has to rescue him in a rocket, but space travel is against the law, so General Zod comes to arrest Jor-El and Lara, but they all go on the run, and Zod gets angry and deposes the Kryptonian leadership because he blames their complacency for the crisis, and then all of a sudden Jor-El has been made president in a counter-revolution. Whoa.

It's action-packed (particularly part three, Man of Steel #111), which is the big weakness of it all: I feel like this story should have had more emotional weight. This is momentous! But most of the story is spent 1) massaging the continuity to the preferred form of the 2000s writers, and 2) making things explode again and again. The human story gets lost in the middle of it all. I know this is a superhero comic, but I feel like there must have been a way to balance them better than they were.

One thing I do like about these comics is their emphasis on narration. Three of the five issues use narration: the prologue is Pa Kent, while parts one and three are narrated by Lois. This keeps some emphasis on character, and I particularly liked the focus on Lois, who I think could otherwise have very easily gotten lost in the shuffle.

As for the retcons... I dunno. The Stevil2001 criterion for judging retcons is that The new thing must be at least as interesting, if not more interesting, as the old thing being replaced. I did like Byrne's Man of Steel, especially its vision of Krypton, but I'm open to stories about other forms of Krypton being told. But based on this tale, this new old version of Krypton doesn't have more to offer, but I also believe it could. Weirdly, the story indicates Superman might actually have changed Kryptonian history (wouldn't that have wiped him from existence) and kind of hints that the Man of Steel Krypton still exists. I guess I'll see if either of these ideas are picked up in Adventures going forward.

My feelings about the sequel, Return to Krypton II, are more straightforwardly negative. It seems to me that both of these storylines threw away a potentially emotionally powerful premise in favor of a combination of empty action sequences and unnecessarily complicated continuity "fixes." In this story, the Jor-El of the Phantom Zone duplicate of Krypton manages to travel from the Zone into the real world, seeking Superman's help in pushing back against a tide of fundamentalist Kryptonian zealots who don't like Jor-El's new enlightened age. Honestly, for a supposed utopia, Krypton seems like a giant shithole, perpetually on the verge of complete social collapse at the drop of a hat. They ally themselves with General Zod's lackies against the zealots, trying to save Jor-El's wife and baby Kal-El before it's too late. It just all seems like pointless action sequences.

Then in the end, we finally get an explanation for this Krypton. I thought when reading the original Return to Krypton that all this was intended to retcon away John Byrne's Man of Steel vision of a sterile Krypton; that story claimed Jor-El presented a lie of a sterile Krypton to Kal-El so that he wouldn't feel so sad about his dead homeworld. This story rewrites that, so that we learn that after the Imperiex War (I think), Brainiac 13 time-travelled to pre-destruction Krypton (which really was the sterile world John Bryne showed us) and tried to kill Jor-El to stop Superman from being born. He failed, but made off with Jor-El's diaries and the Eradicator Matrix (I guess this is related to one-time Superman villain "the Eradicator," a.k.a. the Cyborg Superman, but I don't know enough to know), which he used in concert to make a fake Krypton as a trap for Superman. Only since Jor-El was a weirdo, his diaries recorded not the actuality of Krypton, but his dreamed, ideal Krypton. So this Krypton is a real place, a planet in the Phantom Zone, but it is not the real Krypton. Phew.

It's not an explanation that convinces. Why would Jor-El dream up a Krypton where the government is a fascist dictatorship that suppresses dissent with lethal force, and where psychotic fundamentalists lurk in every corner? Like, dream up an actual utopia, dude!

And why did Return II even need to retcon the retcon? This was published in Sept. 2002; exactly one year later, Superman: Birthright would begin publication, removing Byrne inventions like the birthing matrix from continuity just as the first Return seemed like it was going to. By the time Return II came out, editor Eddie Berganza had to have known those changes were coming, so I just don't even get why this story-- which retcons the retcon of a retcon-- even exists.

And if you subtract the continuity jiggery-pokery, there's nothing here worth discussing. None of the five Super title crossovers published during Joe Casey's run on Adventures were exactly great, but Return to Krypton II is definitely the worst of them.

(Incidentally, all of these retcons would themselves be retconned! In Superman: Infinite Crisis we're told that Kal-El's backstory changed because of Superboy-Prime punching at the edge of reality, and thus not because of any of these shenanigans.)

I did like that Krypto was in it, I guess, but Superman is not always a good dog-owner.

Pretty epic.
A murder mystery brings together some of Marvel's greatest heroes including the likes of Iron Man, She Hulk and Thor. The non-stop rampage continues until both Red and Green Hulk collide. Only one can survive this epic battle of Hulk proportion!
This graphic novel was very entertaining. The Artistry is very bold and brightly colored as well a Marvel graphic comic should be. There are many characters from throughout the Marvel Universe. The storyline is well thought out and well executed.
The ending was good but it's as should be expected from a Marvel comic. Happy Disney ending all the way! LOL 😋
I personally love Jeph Loeb comics because they tend to take on a little bit darker of a persona then most not done by him. He also has a way of weaving originality into his stories which is very unique to him since pretty much everything that you can do with superheroes has already been done. I really admire his storytelling.
I would definitely recommend this graphic novel to pretty much everyone. 😊

Far, far too long. Some Joker wackiness, okay. But that's the entire book. There's some witty dialogue and meta-jokes toward the end, and an extreme tonal dissonance with Bruce getting tortured to death every day and still remembering it, but there was no particular theme or story or humor for the vast majority of this very large graphic novel, and it's just a slog.

Beautiful artwork!

Star-Lord is forced to confess to what happened in the Cancerverse and how come he's back, without Nova, but that the plans to tap Thanos didn't work at all. It's an interesting reveal and interesting for all. Venom also features, and things change for Flash Thompson.½

This book mesh these two characters together in a way that clearly showed their friendship, their differences, and why there is a need for both of them in the DC Universe. I decided to read this series primarily because I haven't enjoyed much coming out of the NEW 52 relaunch and as a result I had stepped away from comics entirely. I wanted to test the waters to see if it was just the new stuff I wasn't enjoying or if it was comics in general that had taken on a lackluster quality. I discovered while not my favorite comic book story that it is indeed just the new stuff. This gives me hope!

I finished this pretty much in one sitting because it was interesting to see the back and forth between the big two of the DC Universe. They were written in a delightful manner by Jeph Loeb because he understands that while they are different there are still ideas and concepts that squarely make them similar. The situations with their parents, their desire for justice. These elements are the same with just their own individual twist. These were explored and made whole by Loeb's writing style.

I loved a line as well from the book which was "Why don't the "Good" villains ever die", which was asked by Superman. While we know about why from a reader perspective it is something you question if you think of this as a world. Why doesn't Joker ever get killed? and I mean REALLY KILLED!!! not that comic of the week crap where it looks like he blew up. The good guys are defined by their bad guys.

The book is delightful because it explores what happens when one of their villains becomes a prominent member of American society. Superheroes have to align with him that wouldn't have. Superheroes have to try to follow his orders. The joys of a well-written story and to top it all off you can tell this was the beginning of Villains United for the classic and great Infinite Crisis that was released from DC.

I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other.

I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other.

I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other.

I watched the animated movie that was based on this graphic novel a million years ago but never thought to read the book until it was a book club pick for my graphic novel reading group. Unfortunately b/c I was familiar with it and it follows the movie pretty closely I had a hard time looking at it with fresh eyes. It's interesting to see how the big two feel about each other, what they think the other is thinking and when they're right about each other vs. when they are wrong about each other.

The Superman/Batman team up that actually worked. This and the other Jeph Loeb stories after it are great. Beyond volume 4 that's when things get silly.

I enjoyed it. :)

The first absolute edition is printed and created to match all the others. Same height and quality allowing probably the best edition of the artwork ever published in this over-sized printing. The first edition (it is numbered "1" on the spine) contains two story arcs. The first features Lex Luther as the president finding a way to use his position to try to bring about the arrest of Superman. Batman teams up with him to keep this from happening. When these issues were first appearing I picked one up somewhere and got to read thru a fight scene where a small host of enemies attacked Supes and Batman trying to take them down. There is a lot more going on behind the scenes.

The second arc changes artists. The first is slightly cartoony but nicely done. The second features Michael Turner and different colorist and the color scheme and atmosphere is different. Both stories are well illustrated IMHO.

The second story picks up right after the first and introduces someone who appears to be Superman's cousin. But is she real? And why is Darkseid interested in her? This story shows Superman struggling with being overprotective and the proper boundaries with the girl that seems to be his cousin. We do get a look at Darkeid's world, Big Barda and few good fight scenes as the story progresses.


Overall I enjoyed this. Enough that I went ahead and per-ordered volume 2. But, unlike some of the best Absolute stories this one did not grab me emotionally as some others have. I paid less than $60 shipped (Amazon pre-order price) and I would have been less happy were I closer to retail ($99.99). If you do not have any Absolute editions this is not a must have story IMHO unless you have read it in the past and know you will love it.

It has its moments. It really illustrates the principle of the villain leaving the hero alive long enough to defeat him.

Lifetime overload on Summers family melodrama, sorry.½