Happy Monday everyone! To start the week off we are checking how things turned out in Amazing Spider-Man #68, Detective Comics #1037, and Mighty Morphin #8.
In case you missed with it we have reviews of Batman: Urban Legends #4, Justice League: Last Ride #2, and X-Men #21 with full spoilers that you can check out as well.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #68
Creative Team
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artists: Marcelo Ferreira, Carlos Gomez, and Ze Carlos
Inkers: Wayne Faucher, Carlos Gomez, and Ze Carlos
Colorists: Morry Hollowell, Andrew Crossley, and Erick Arciniega
Story Rating: 3 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
The Good: It will be saying a lot but the most interesting part of Amazing Spider-Man #68 is the opening two pages. In these two pages Nick Spencer is at his best showing how he uses his understanding of Spider-Man’s long history to tell a compelling narrative around the ongoing trouble Teresa Parker finds herself in. Chameleon’s role in Teresa’s story and how he brings in The Finisher to create even more questions about Teresa’s true backstory made this the best part of the entire issue.
The Bad: Unfortunately everything quickly falls apart after the first two pages of Amazing Spider-Man #68. This is yet another example of how Spencer just tries to do to much with the non-Kindred related stories. This issue is packed with several developing storylines that don’t mesh well together.
Betty Brant and Ned Leeds story overstays its welcome as Spencer tries to fit as much in to make up for the fact we haven’t seen either character during his run. There is just so much exposition trying to explain every little detail, including Betty and Ned’s backstory, that you just become bored by their conversation with Peter.
The story involving Peter’s lab partner, Jamie, further pushes how boring this issue is. Jamie has just not been well developed enough to make you care about where his narrative is going. Which all goes back to how poor of a job Spencer has done in making sure Peter’s life is developed outside of being Spider-Man and how Kindred is manipulating his life.
It does not helped that we have several pencillers, inkers, and colorist all working on this issue together. Individually Marcelo Ferreira, Carlos Gomez, and Ze Carlos are solid artists but having all three artists creates many inconsistencies in the look of this issue. That ends making the flow between pages less smooth than it should be.
Overall: Amazing Spider-Man #68 made you quickly realize that “The Chameleon Conspiracy” is nothing more than a filler story. Nick Spencer just tries to hard to pack this issue with as much content as possible that you become bored by every storyline that he is here.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1037
Creative Team
Writers: Mariko Tamaki and John Ridley
Artists: Viktor Bogdanovic, Karl Mostert, and Dustin Nguyen
Inkers: Jonathan Glapion and Viktor Bogdanovic
Colorists: Jordie Bellaire and John Kalisz
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
The Good: Mariko Tamaki has really nailed how to make the people living in Gotham City as an important part of her work on Detective Comics. Adding in regular people for Bruce Wayne to interact with so that Gotham City feels like a city that is lived in. Both the main story and first back-up story that Tamaki write emphasize that. This makes the story with Roland Worth as this imposing figure even when he finally takes on Batman at the end of Detective Comics #1027
In doing this Tamaki is able to strengthen the greater narrative around Mayor Nakano is leading Gotham City to the future where the Magistrate Regime control everything. Having Huntress to be part of the investigation adds to how the entire Batman Family is involved in this story. Huntress working during the day does a good job establishing how she doesn’t just work in the shadows or night like Batman. Which helps further establish how different feel to the investigation as its not just Gotham City at night.
John Ridley and Dustin Nguyen’s back-up that acts as flashback to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson’s time as Batman and Robin did what I would like to see more of. They modernized the original Dynamic Duo’s era in Gotham City while diving into how Lucius Fox factors into that history. This allowed Ridley to continue the narrative around Lucius in the present to get you more into why we would see him work with the Magistrate.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Detective Comics #1037 does everything right with all three stories that it provides for us. Mariko Tamaki does a great job further fleshing out the world of Gotham City with Batman and Huntress teaming up on an investigation. John Ridley’s back-up that flashes back to the past with the original Dynamic Duo works well to further the narrative around the Fox Family in the present.
MIGHTY MORPHIN #8
Creative Team
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Marco Renna
Colorists: Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, and Sara Antonellini
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
The Good: The sense of escalation as Ryan Parrott continues to add to the legacy of the Power Rangers is always impressive. Mighty Morphin #8 is yet another example of how he does this as Parrott and Marco Renna dive further into developing Zordon’s backstory. The big thing that is keeping these opening segments so interesting is that you can tell we are building to a big event with the more we learn. And it is all being done in a way that you are compelled to learn more about what happened in Zordon’s pre-Power Rangers history.
At the same time, the present day with the Power Rangers working to save Angel Grove from the dome that Lord Zedd put the city had some great action. Renna really delivers on making it feel like you are watching an anime with the visuals. That helps enhance the story that Parrott has going as the Power Rangers continue to go up a powered up Lord Zedd and his forces. How that has Aisha in particular step up and show her leadership abilities was a cool thing to see happen. It adds to how the chemistry with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team is different here compared to the show, in a good way.
The Bad: The ending does come across as very rushed. Everything around Matthew Cook’s narrative with being the Green Ranger just doesn’t hit the way it should. There is an unnatural way his character acts that doesn’t get you behind where his character ends up at the end of this story. It makes the future of Matt continuing to be the Green Ranger less interesting that you would expect it to be.
Overall: Mighty Morphin #8 does a solid job concluding the introduction of the new Green Ranger to the team. The way this introduction challenge the team and who steps up was a lot of fun to see. Delving into Zordon’s pre-Power Rangers history adds to how invested as a fan you are in seeing where Mighty Morphin will go next.
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