Ultimate Spider-Man #52

I got this two summers ago at NJ Gamer Con.

Title: Ultimate Spider-Man
Issue: 52
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: March  2004
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colorist: J.D. Smith
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Nick Lowe, Mackenzie Cadenhead, C.B. Cebulski, Ralph Macchio

This story features a realtively young/inexperienced Peter Parker who has just gotten to know the Black Cat. He agrees to meet her for a rooftop rendezvous, admitting it's against his better judgement, but they are quickly interrupted by the Kingpin's newest assassin, Elektra (also young and inexperienced in this version).

The title of the story is "Catfight", and the resulting match with attempted interference and narration by Peter Parker, is about as male-gaze-y as the title suggests that it is going to be. The whole thing feels like there isn't much at stake, and indeed, little of consequence is accomplished story-wise when it's all done. There are a lot of panels of fighting, but none of them are all that interesting, and in the end, Peter, is left in the same self-esteem crisis that he started the issue in.

There is a bit of plot advancement and character development in the cutaway scenes to Kingpin, but still nothing of great consequence.

This felt like a WWE house-show match where nobody is working to their full potential, and everything has to remain unchanged because it's not being televised.

Rating: 3.5/10

Sigil #6

Here's another random book from the backlog.

Title: Sigil
Issue: #6
Publisher: Crossgen
Date: December, 2000
Writer: Barbara Kesel
Penciler: Steve McNiven
Inker: Batt, Jordi Ensign
Colorist: JD Smith
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Cover: Steve McNiven, Ray Lai, Wil Quintana

I went into this one with low expectations. The art looked a bit too Image-
influenced and the story, a space opera featuring a hero with a mysterious sigil branded on his chest that gives him superpowers, appeared to be a jumbled mess based on the "story so far" segment at the beginning of the book.

But once we got past a somewhat awkward initial fight scene in a spaceship hangar deck, the story started to flow pretty nicely. There was a lot going on here, but it generally made sense, and did a nice job of building suspense as the various characters were brought together so that Sam (the sigil-guy; short for Samandahl actually) can get to face a bad guy with the unfortunate name of Loser in a climactic arena fight.

I particularly liked the character of Zanniati, the runaway wife of another bad guy. She had a nice kind of cool confidence about her that worked well in the story. Former guardsman JeMerik was also fun, but he is annoying close to Sam in looks, and in a book this complicated, and potential character confusion is detrimental.

Still, this had a fun Star Wars kind of feel to it, with quick plot twists and frequent action scenes.

Much better than expected.

Rating: 7/10

Namor #2

Title: Namor
Issue: #2
Date: June, 2003
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Bill Jemas, Andi Watson
Penciler: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Danny Miki
Colorist: J.D. Smith
Letterer: Randy Gentile
Editor: Stephanie Moore, C.B. Cebulski, Teresa Focarile

Namor as The Little Mermaid? This is one of those concepts that seems so totally wrong at first glance, but somehow shockingly manages to work. It's set in the 1920s, and a sixteen-year-old Namor is trying to find his place in an Atlantean society that bullies him for his half-human appearance and heritage. Meanwhile, he's reconnecting with a human girl that he played with on the beach as a child.

The artwork is beautiful, Namor's character is a nice mix of shy stranger and confident teenage boy. Sandy, his love interest, is intelligent, strong, and intriguing.

Even the interactions back in Atlantis manage to rise above the fairly formulaic young-adult novel scenarios they present.

Artwork is gorgeous throughout, especially in the one-on-one interactions between Namor and Sandy.

This is a really good story about a superhero that is most definitely not a superhero story.

Rating: 8/10