Amazing Spider-Man #596
Creative Team
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Paulo Siqueira
Inker: Amilton Santos
Colorist: Jeremy Cox
Story – American Son Part 2
Review
Part two of American Son was just a great entry to what looks to be one of the best Spider-Man stories we have gotten on this title in a long time. Joe Kelly just has a great handle on what makes Peter thick. Kelly is able to realize what makes a good Spider-Man story that is that the story feels like it is a Peter Parker story and not a Spider-Man one.
I like how the bulk of this issue deals with everything Peter is going through with Norman in power and that we really only see him in costume in the latter part of the issue. His interactions with Harry, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson Sr., and Norah were all spot on. And Kelly did a nice job injecting some of these scenes with comedy when needed.
One of my favorite scenes of the issue was Peter visiting the grave of his former love, Gwen Stacy. I think it is the first time in Brand New Day that we see Gwen’s grave. It was a really nice scene and helps to reinforce how much history Peter has dealing with Osborns.
My other favorite scene in this issue was Spider-Man’s fight with Venom. It was just a fun scene were I found myself cracking a smile throughout the whole fight. I love the use of Invisible Woman and Hawkeyee/Bullseye in that scene as it brought a lot more comedy to already a great scene. And with the ending it will be interesting to see how long Peter’s infiltration plan will work before he is found out.
Issue Rating
Story: 9.3/10 – Kelly’s dialogue continues to be a joy to read as he nails the personalities Peter and his supporting cast.
Art: 8.5/10 – Siqueira provide plenty of solid artwork. He did a nice job replicating Jimenez’s art in order to keep a consistent look from the last issue to this one.
Overall: 8.9/10 – The second part to “American Son” was a great read. For anyone that has been away from Spider-Man because of BND or sooner I highly recommend coming back as Amazing Spider-Man has been a well written and drawn book these past few months.
Batman and Robin #1
Creative Team
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quietly
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Story – Batman Reborn: Domino Effect
Review
For the past few months I have given Morrison’s work a lot of negative reviews. It has only been because I know that Morrison can do a lot better than he has been doing lately. Both Batman R.I.P and Final Crisis showed us the extremes of his high concept style of story telling. But Batman and Robin #1 is a perfect example of how Morrison’s high concept style really works well when he focuses on one set of characters, in this case Batman and Robin.
This issue, like All-Star Superman, was just a lot of fun to read. It is not surprising since Quietly’s art helps deliver the imagination of Morrison’s writing. All the scene’s were spot on with both the writing and the artwork. I really like how Quietly draws Dick as Batman as he has much more acrobatic physique while he draws Damien with constant scowl on his face.
What was great about this introduction to the new Batman and Robin team is that Morrison never tried to make Dick into Bruce and Damien into Tim. Instead he understands that both these characters each brings a new dynamic to the Batman and Robin team. Even as Batman Dick continues to be more light hearted than Bruce and is reminiscent of how Bruce acted before Jason’s death. As for Damien, it has only been under Morrison’s writing that I have like the character and he continues to show why Damien is a nice addition to the Batman lore. Damien is basically a younger less experienced Bruce Wayne and under Dick’s tutelage he should develop into a much more likable character to the rest of the Batman family.
Also I like that for this first arc that Morrison is not focusing on having Dick and Damien fight old Batman villains but gives them new villains to fight that fits with Dick’s circus background. And the previews for the next issue and the future of this title really got me pumped for what we will get in this series.
Issue Rating
Story: 9/10 – Morrison did a great job nailing the personalities of Dick and Damien as they form the new Batman and Robin team.
Art: 9.7/10 – Quietly artwork was just astounding in this issue. He does a great job packing each panel with a lot of energy.
Overall: 9.35/10 – Batman and Robin #1 is a great start to the new direction of the Bat-books. Hopefully this great start will be carried over to the other Bat-books launching this month.
War of Kings #4
Creative Team
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Paul Pelletier
Inker: Rick Magyar
Colorist: Wil Quintana
Story – King Takes Queen
Review
After the last issue let loose with wall to wall action DnA use this middle chapter to give some down time to react to what has happened since the beginning of the war. While these type of slow down issue sometimes feel like a writer(s) stalling for time till the end of the issue DnA use this issue to develop all of the underlying plotlines during this war.
Still this does not mean that there was not a lot going on as we see Crystal’s continuing growth (which has been one of the highlights of this series), Vulcan losing control of his Empire, War of Kings: Ascension being tied into the series, and we see that Lilandra coup d’etat is not completely welcomed by everyone in the Shi’ar. Crystal’s growth especially has been one of the best things to follow as she and Ronan could become their own faction to against Black Bolt and Medusa’s current rule.
While mentioning Black Bolt, I think the only negative against this series so far has been that Black Bolt has not gotten much attention during this war. And with two issues left and everything that happened in this issue Black Bolt needs to become much more hands on than he has been if he wants to win this war against the Shi’ar.
As for the main focus of this issue it was interesting that DnA showed that Lilandra trying to regain control of the Shi’ar Empire isn’t completely welcomed by the Shi’ar people, and that there are people in Shi’ar that love Vulcan’s rule. The riot that occurred and the death of Lilandra at the hands of Darkhawk, who is helping Vulcan along with the rest of the Fraternity of Raptors, helps to make this war much more unpredictable as so far we have been lead to believe that Lilandra would regain control of her empire. But now I have no idea what is going to happen.
Issue Rating
Story: 8.3/10 – DnA continue to weave a very layered story and with this issue made this story much more unpredictable
Art: 9.4/10 – Pelletier continues to impress me with his artwork. His art improves with each issue as the war get bigger and he gives this story the epic feel it should have.
Overall: 8.85/10 – War of Kings #4 was another great entry in what is quickly becoming one of the best events we have had from either Marvel or DC. I cannot wait to see how Black Bolt will become more involved in these final two issues that should lead to his fight with Vulcan.