The Week of June 4 in Review Preview

A slight different slant as I find I can never have a consistent format.  It is only three parts this week.

                               

The Week if June 5 in Review Part 1 of 3 -   Three Marvel Books

Onto the reviews or thoughts I had about books I read this week. This part of the series of posts I want to talk a little bit about what themes intentionally or unintentionally Marvel is writing about in some of there books.

I’m starting with Superior Spider-Man #11. I realized the book is making an interesting point about what it is to be a hero. Peter is now gone and Otto is totally in charge. The book has become more vibrant and alive then it has been in a long time and brought me back into the fold. The reason is that we have the illusion of change and what a great illusion. It is Peter Parker, but he is no longer the Peter we knew, it is now his greatest enemy taking over Peter’s life. Otto seems to be better at it in many ways and is perhaps still a little too aggressive in other ways. From what I have seen the sales are sky high and maybe Otto remains Spider-Man for a long time. Heck he is Peter Parker, so the change is internal and plays to the comic fans while keeping the corporate masters happy. The question becomes what makes someone a hero. Is Superior Spider-Man a hero?

The Week of June 4 in Review – Part 2 of 3 – Five Books That Rocked

The last book in this group is Suicide Risk #2 by Mike Carey and Elena Casgrande. It is pretty funny to see BOOM start to become a viable choice for creators with Paul Jenkins and Mike Carey making there home there. Both of their books would have been projects once done by Vertigo or even Image, but I’m guessing Vertigo is no longer a viable option for many of these projects. Carey’s Suicide Risk continues to build from last issue. Our main character Leo now has super powers and is starting to learn how to use them. The mystery of who the hell gave him these powers is right below the surface. In this issue we are starting to see the impact the powers are having on him as he is having strange dreams. …

The Week of June 4 in Review Part 3 of 3 – Everything Else

Green Arrow #21 by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino I want to like more then I do. I’m a fan of Jeff Lemire’s work like Essex County, Underwater Welder, Sweet Tooth and enjoyed his run on Frankenstein. Sorrentino’s art is dark and moody and highly enjoyable, so this series should be awesome but it isn’t. I read that Lemire likes to have an ending in mind when telling a story and maybe long term this series will pay off, but right now it has been all about breaking GA down to more of a street level hero with a smaller back up team that almost echoes the TV show. On the other hand we now have introduced a deep mythology and put Ollie squarely in the middle of it. Mysticism and cults and Green Arrow are a different mix. I’m not 100% sold, but will give Lemire and Sorrentino a lot of rope.

Buy it.

Come back Monday and Tuesday to see the full length thrillers.