The Pull List

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #622: The Gauntlet Continues! Okay, let me start with the good because there is a major bad with this issue that Marvel needs to be aware of and that I've not seen touched on anywhere else.
Last week Spider-Man and the Black Cat broke into Mr. Negative's hide out to steal back a vial of Spidey's blood. This issue picks up the next morning. Spidey and Cat did some adult stuff then Spidey finds out the Cat sold his blood. Naturally this doesn't sit well with Spidey who tracks the vial down to a goth club. This is where he discovers that 'goth' isn't as interesting as it used to be. People still try to dress like vampires but for some reason they are covered in glitter. A sign of the end times, I believe.
Anyway, he tracks the vial down with the help of a mysterious woman who leads him to Morbius, the Living Vampire. The long a short of it is Morbius bought the blood in hopes the presumed healing abilities of it would help him cure Jack Russell from the Zombie Plague he was inflicted with in Marvel Zombies 4.
The woman turns out to be Martine, Morbius' former girlfriend who became a vampire in Morbius 90's series. Things kind of fall apart from there.

Now for my problem with this issue...there are 2 actually. The first one is with this Morbius story. He was hyped for it and got a really nice cover...but what was the point? This story doesn't help the overall Gauntlet progress at all.
Then there is the length of the story. This was an extended issue with a hiked cover price, $3.99 rather than $2.99, but the Morbius part was less than half of the issue. The rest? We got to see he rehab of Flash Thompson who lost his legs in Iraq. Why did this need the length of a regular issue? It didn't. It really didn't need to be in this issue at all. Marvel could have tossed this story in Web of Spider-Man or the upcoming Annual. I didn't care for this at all and it really soured the series for me. Marvel tosses these random issues out with more pages and a higher price for no apparent reason. I still love the series but really hope Marvel doesn't do this again.



DEADPOOL #20: Let me start by saying I do NOT like Hit-Monkey. To me this is a really lame, useless and pointless character, or non-character, and doesn't have much use here. To have a character like Deadpool actually being afraid of him is even worse. Now, if this monkey could talk and interact with DP that would probably help some but I doubt it would help much.
So, Hit-Monkey is in New York apparently gunning to DP who is trying to learn how to be a hero from Spider-Man who wants nothing to do with either of them.
The interactions between DP and Spider-Man are fun and fluid, not on the same level as Joe Kelly's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #611 but it could be worse. This part of the story is fun...where it falls apart is the monkey. I really can't say anything good about it and this just seems more like a filler issue, just waiting for something good to come along. One more issue and I think we're done with the monkey for now...hopefully for a very long time.




FANTASTIC FOUR #576: There is a lot of new discoveries in this current run of the FF. Last issue we saw the birth of a new nation created by High Evolutionary and run my intelligent Moloids, this time we learn the true meaning of Atlantis.
A meeting of three separate undersea races make up what they claim to be the true Atlantis. To them, in their mind, Atlantis is the entire sea. They have been in hiding and have now decided to make their presence known.
What makes this issue is the underwater battle where the characters were unable to speak to each other. It was a silent fight between the FF and AIM. The art made this sequence work perfectly. Honestly, the art of Dale Eaglesham works for this series perfectly. His style has been criticized by some as being off scale but that didn't really bother me. It's kind of hard to see Sue as a frail woman considering all the things she's been through over the years. It just makes sense that she would have a mild build.
It's Sue's personality that gets me. She seems to be more forceful and more in control of things. I like this. Especially when the Kings of Atlantis ask who speaks for man and she steps up as the mouth piece of mankind. Kudos and I have to say after the confusing mess of the previous issue, this one redeems it all.

NEW AVENGERS #62: Siege Continues! This series is somewhat out of sync with the main story. In SIEGE #2 we see the New Avengers, lead by the returned Captain America, showing up at Asgard and joining the assault.

This issue takes us back maybe a few hours as Cap is still regaining his gear and others are finding he's returned. Cage and Nick Fury both are very shocked to see Captain America alive and kicking, naturally.

The second story is kind of a throw away story with Spider-Man and Spider-Woman fighting some third tier villains that no one really cares about. Hardly worth mentioning.

But here's hoping NEW AVENGERS #63 is more in sync than this one. In an event the size of Siege that last thing you want is a lot of rehashing of events you saw weeks ago.

THOR #607: Siege Continues! Thor is down, Osborn's Dark Avengers have attacked and seem to be winning. What could happen next?

The real question is how could this happen? In a word: Loki. He's been able to shield Osborn's actions from the Asgardians which allowed the assault to begin in earnest. The one person who could have warned people, a blind soothsayer called Knut, knew what what coming and tried to warn everyone. Loki silenced him very effectively.

The real story in this issue is the tale of Volstagg. He turned himself in to the local authorities after the attack that began this. Over the years he'd been depicted as a God with a heart as big as his stomach and this issue really shows that. He expresses his grief and sorrow over this incident by way of technology he never used before. His reaction and apology is truly something to read.

But before you can see him return to his brethren he is attacked by the Clone of Thor who now calls himself Ragnarok. I've never seen any of the Warriors Three take a beating like this!