The Pull List

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #624: The Gauntlet Continues! More of the mystery of the new Vulture is revealed and JJJ is proven innocent of having a hand in his creation. Thing is...in order to help JJJ, Peter Parker created a picture which would have done it. Then, to make things worse, JJJ knew it was a fake and even though it was published he called a press conference and announced the photo was a fake and hung Peter out to dry.
So, peter is out of a job and is blacklisted. Things are bad and they are about to get worse.
The Vulture now knows his secret and is on a tear to get revenge for his creation.
Overall, this issue is a great follow-up to last week's issue. After stumbling with the Morbius issue the series is back on track and the Gauntlet story is speeding towards it end. Many Spider-Man villains are back and under the command of the Kraven family and Spider-Man seems to be losing control of his life.
A very exciting story and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out!


THE MYSTIC HANDS OF DOCTOR STRANGE #1: Back in the 1970's, Marvel would do these magazines that were black & white, not always set in continuity, and exempt from the restrictive Comics Code Authority. Generally cult characters like Man-Thing would get them along with TOMB OF DRACULA and RAMPAGING HULK.
That is why I picked this up. I loved reading some of those older books and this one didn't disappoint me.
This one features three traditional stories and one text story. All of them are very interesting and certainly go a long way to recapture the feeling of the Marvel Magazines.
The problem with this is these stories are hard to describe because there seems to be little continuity references here. I can say it's great seeing older characters from the Doctor Strange series like Wong and Clea!
Also, this is something I'd like to see more of. It's great having that old school comics feel, simple yet complex stories designed to do nothing more than simply entertain you.
If you're a fan of 1970's cult comics or a fan of Doctor Strange I cannot recommend this book enough. And who knows, if this sells well enough, maybe we'll get more. Afterall, it just seem right having Doctor Strange as Sorcerer Supreme instead of the current Doctor Voodoo.


PRELUDE TO DEADPOOL CORPS #2 of 5: Kidpool makes his debut in this one and boy, what a debut it is! In this reality Kidpool is an orphan in The Xavier Orphanage For Troubled Boys. It's Kid X-Men basically. We meet Kidpool who doesn't really like Scott Summers (who does?) and gives him a massive wedgie.
This ends up being, so far, the most entertaining part of this dimension hopping quest Deadpool is one as Kidpool is just...well, he's just funny. It's sort of like Charlie Brown with homicidal tendencies. The jokes are well placed and the art is spot on.
Even the ending of the issue where Kidpool meets Deadpool is a great moment.
I know I'm being very vague here, but if I say to much I might spoil some of the better jokes...sorry...


ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS ADVENTURE #1 & 2: Even though the cover read AVENTURE the interior credits call it ADVENTURE, both are right.
Zombies Vs Robots stared a few years ago as a miniseries followed up by ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS VS AMAZONS with the promise of more that, until now, never came.
The premise is a good one and is further explained in this series. What we knew before was the robots were created by man to help fight the zombie menace then later their function was to protect the last remaining human child from the zombies.
This series takes place before the zombies took over. It's broken up into three stories featuring different people and places.
Before the stories begin we are given a quick explanation as to the origin of the Zombie Plague: Someone created a trans-dimensional gateway and while exploring another reality this explorer brought back an infected spoor which started the end of this world.
The first is "Kampf" which tells the story of Sgt. Davis Wade, a married man who lost his children to the zombies and who's wife would rather he stay with her than fight the zombies. He feels it's better to keep fighting in hopes of beating the menace. He uses robots to fight along with a group of people with very special talents. It's very close to a superheros vs zombies story but keep well cemented in a more realistic world and goes over very well.
Up next is "Masques" which tells the tale of a lab janitor who comes across the remains of a scientist while cleaning up the lab. This one goes back to the explanation of how this got started as we see the gateway and the lab where, we assume, the plague began. The janitor becomes the new "master" of the labs robots who help him build a suit of armor, which looks a lot like Iron Man's first armor, and he decides to try and stop the robot who he thinks killed the scientist in the first place. He quickly learns it wasn't a robot...
Finally "Zuvembies Vs Robots" is an interesting one taking place in Haiti. We find a group of men trying to survive. One of them has a plan which requires them to dig up a corpse. What's interesting is this one actually crosses flesh eating zombies with voodoo zombies. The man in charge brings back a dead man, as a zombie, who quickly kills his compatriots. When they return as zombies themselves we learn they are controlled by the man who started it all and they are, seemingly, stronger than normal zombies. An army of zombies to fight zombies.