Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025 #1

Picked this up at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA on Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025
Issue: 1 
Date: 2025
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Ryan North, Jason Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Chip Zdarksy
Artist: Humberto Ramos, Iban Coello
Colorist: Edgar Delgado, Brian Reber
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna, VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Martin Biro, Annalise Bissa, Tom Brevoort

Free Comic Book Day freebie just in time for the upcoming FF film. The Fantastic Four story is adorable, featuring alien children engaging in some very familiar spooky fun and accidentally "summoning" the Fantastig Four from Earth. Johnny has... a mustache, apparently? Anyway, this was adorable.

The second story was a reboot of the New X-Men, previewing a, well, reboot of Giant-Sized X-Men #1. This was just Cyclops beating everyone else up in the Danger Room, and is probably the kind of thing that will generate a lot of outrage on the internet because Scott makes everyone from Logan to Ororo to Thunderbird (remember him?) look like jobbers. Oh, and Ms. Marvel is in it, just to give it a bit more of an update, I guess. She's apparently already made the team, so is saved the indignity of getting beat up by Cyclops.

The last story is Wolverpool and Deadverine, and it's just trying so hard to be even more meta than meta. This story has never "meta" fourth wall it didn't want to break. Nice to see a two-panel appearance by Ox, though. 

Rating: 5.5/10

The Avengers: Free Comic Book Day 2009

From the random stack of unread comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2009.

Title: The Avengers: Free Comic Book Day 2009
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: May, 2009
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Jim Cheung
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: John Rauch
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort, Jeanine Schaefer
Cover: Jim Cheung, Laura Martin

The frost giant Ymir has invaded New York, and it's going to take two teams of Avengers to stop him. In this rather crowded book, narrated by Spider-Man, we've got the post-Civil-War Avengers, currently outlaws, and the government-sanctioned Dark Avengers, led by Norman Osborne wearing the Iron Patriot armor.

As mentioned, you need a scorecard to keep track of everyone here, and it doesn't help matters that you've got two Spider-Men (one is actually Venom), two Wolverines (one is the original's son... X-24, I guess? Or is X-24 some other dude?), and two Captain Marvels (neither of which is Mar-Vell OR Shazam; both are women).

While I realize that having all of these duplicates is part of the point, it does not make for a good story. Most of this book was the various team members trudging through the snow to find some super-powered sword, which they didn't even really need to use on anyone. Just breaking the thing out of its display case was all that was needed to save the day.

Oh, and then the two teams almost-fight.

This was a lot of buildup to a massive fizzle of an ending. The only think holding this together was Peter Parker's snarky narration, and even that felt forced at times.

Rating: 3/10

 

Jessica Jones #2

Last of the small batch of comics I bought in the US (at Newbury Comics, Braintree MA) in November during my short trip home.

Title: Jessica Jones
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January, 2017
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort, Alanna Smith
Cover: David Mack

Luke Cage confronts Jessica over the whereabouts of their child, and Jessica tries to find a safe place to rest after the case she's working on falls apart around her.

There was a lot to like in this story. The conflict between Luke and Jessica is great because there is no clear objective right or wrong, just two parents who love their child and are trying to protect that child as best they know how.

I also love the appearances of superheroes in the background, keeping the story gritty and street-level while constantly reminding the reader that Jessica Jones resides in Marvel's New York City, which super-powered beings are part of the background of everyday life.

There were some intriguing plot twists and good pacing as the story moved along. A flashback added some depth to the relationship between Luke Cage and Jessica Jones without overstaying its welcome. Ending was a solid cliffhanger.

Rating: 7/10

Jessica Jones #1

Last week I got the news that my Grandmother passed away. She was 92 years old, and my only living grandparent. I made a quick decision that I needed to be there for the wake and funeral, and bought a ticket to head home. This was last Tuesday. I flew out from Ho Chi Minh City just before Midnight on Wednesday, and through the magic of the rotation of the Earth, arrived in Boston on Thursday afternoon. Wake was Friday. Funeral was Saturday. I left Boston for Vietnam on Sunday morning and was back at work on Tuesday. The rest of this week has passed in a bit of a jetlagged haze, which I am now finally somewhat recovered from.

During the brief trip home I got to see a lot of family members and celebrate Nana's life together with them.

I also managed to catch a showing of Arrival, which was not released in Vietnam (loved it!) with a friend, and met up with a bunch of friends at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree on Saturday night for dinner.

Since I got to the mall early, I also visited Newbury Comics and bought a somewhat random selection of five recent comic releases, which will be featured in my next few reviews.

Title: Jessica Jones
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: December 2016
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover: David Mack

I know almost nothing about Jessica Jones. I completely missed her earlier appearances in Alias and other Marvel titles, and I've never watched the TV show. Really all I know about her is what little I've read from reviews of the show, which was quite popular with a lot of my friends.

So I saw the second issue of this series (from Marvel's "Marvel Now" soft reboot) in the "new releases" section at Newbury Comics, and also saw that they had #1 in stock, so I figured I'd check it out.

Sound decision so far. This was really good on a lot of levels.

The characters, Jessica especially, make sense. There is a gritty feel to the story, but it's still grounded in the full-fledged Marvel Universe. It has a snarky sense of humor, including the occasional in-joke, but the pacing is such that the jokes enhance, rather than detract from the overall story.

That story begins with Jessica being released from jail and trying to get back to work. She's got a case that may involve parallel universes and Spider-Man, or it might just be a husband who has gone a bit crazy and a wife who wants to find out why.

And she's also got some personal problems that are showing up at her doorstep in the form of costumed heroes for hire.

The story had excellent pacing, and most importantly for me, it served as a really good introduction without having to retell an origin or over-explain. By the time I was done with this issue I felt fully invested in the story.

Looking forward to reading #2.

Rating: 8/10

Uncanny Avengers #1

I stopped by my local Newbury Comics recently and picked up a couple of the recent Marvel Now debut issues. This is the second of those. My review of Thor: God of Thunder #1 was posted yesterday.

This week I'm gearing up for the Arisia convention this weekend in Boston. My small-press comic company, Dandelion Studios will be in the dealer room all weekend. In addition, I'll be doing a reading of some of my prose fiction (along with authors Resa Nelson and Daniel P. Dern) at 10 AM on Saturday, and I'll be on a minicomic panel Saturday at 10 PM. I'll also hopefully be picking up some new comics to review throughout the weekend.

But for now, on to the business at hand.

Title: Uncanny Avengers #1
Date: December, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Rich Remender
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Daniel Ketchum, Tom Brevoort, Axel Alonso

First issues of team comics tend to fall into formula, simply because there is limited space and a fairly fixed agenda that needs to be accomplished. Team members need to be introduced and recruited, and by the time that is done there is usually just about enough space to introduce the villains and jumpstart a bit of plot.

This book was further saddled with a load of continuity baggage as it worked through the aftermath of the recent Avengers vs. X-Men storyline.



SPOILER WARNING



Charles Xavier is dead.

Well, actually he's Marvel-dead, and since his name isn't Uncle Ben that means he's not really dead. But we're all supposed to pretend that he is so that characters like Wolverine and Havok can wax emotional. There was nothing wrong with these opening scenes; it just all felt like going through the motions.

From there Captain America and Thor show up to recruit Havok to lead Cap's new mutant/nonmutant super team. Cap is handled well. Thor plays big goofy comic relief, which in this case is actually fairly funny. About halfway through coffee, a villain starts wrecking the neighborhood, and the heroes leap into action in what was essentially a jobber squash to show off the heroes doing their thing.

We move on to Scarlet Witch and Rogue, who have a well-written and genuinely intense verbal confrontation. Wanda is a character that I really haven't ever seen featured all that much here, and her response to Rogue's righteous bluster is really good.

Sadly the whole thing gets interrupted by a group of generic villains, and a character is mauled because, well, there really hasn't been any gratuitous gore so far, and we can't have one of the female character go and steal the show, now can we?

Ends with a big villain reveal that was okay for what it was.

This has potential, a fact that I may not have actually conveyed all that well. Unfortunately, the limitations of the Marvel Universe (even the sorta-rebooted Marvel Now), and the fallback to cliches keep this from getting me interested enough to want to read any more of it.

Rating: 4/10

Avengers Assemble #1

Title: Avengers Assemble #1
Date: 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Danny Miki
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Alex Alonso, John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

This is the (cute!) Newbury Comics cover variant. The team looks like pretty much the lineup from the upcoming movies (and Hawkeye spends most of his scene contemplating his own mortality! Uh, oh!). For the six or seven of you out there who haven't seen the trailer, that would be Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye.

We open with the formation of a rather lazily designed villain team based on the signs of the zodiac. Conveniently, they are also named the Zodiac. Apparently they all have star-sign-related powers, and they are after some unknown maguffin which will give them even more powers.

Aquarius steals the thingy from the Army in a battle that Hulk gets involved in. The thingy then ends up in Latveria, where Clint and Natasha are doing some covert... um... taking out of sentries, I guess. It's never really explained what they're doing there, but they end up hijacking the truck carrying the thingy ("The Ark has been put on a truck." "WHAT truck?"). This brings in Zodiac member Taurus, and the Avengers retaliate with Iron Man and Thor. Brawl. To be continued.

The rest of the book is the same preview pages for Avengers vs. X-Men that appeared in the X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide.

I liked the fact that the Zodiac were depicted as inexperienced with their powers. That was fun. But the entire Zodiac concept is just such lazy writing that it raises the goofiness factor of this book to the point that it detracts from the story.

Rating: 4.5/10

The Avengers #1

Title: The Avengers
Issue: #1
Date: 2010
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Klaus Janson
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Cover: John Romita Jr., Jason White
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

Sadly, not John Steed and Emma Peel. This is a 2010 reboot for Marvel's long-running superhero team comic. The roster on the cover features Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Spidey. and Wolverine. What? No Giant Girl this time around? Actually, by the time we're on page 4, you've actually got more than 25 prospective team members being recruited. But still no Giant Girl. Unless they changed her costume. There were some I didn't recognize. So it's Steve Rogers (out of costume) doing the recruiting, and they finally settle on the characters from the cover (including some other dude as Cap) plus Spider-Woman and Hawkeye. Oh, and a woman named Maria Hill, Agent of SHIELD, apparently, as team leader.

Within moments of the getting-to-know you stuff it's "Let's do the time plot again!" (feel free to sing along), as Kang shows up to warn Stark about some device he hasn't invented yet. Stark: "It's a doomsday device." Thor: "You invented a device who's purpose is doom?" Ha!

At this point it degenerates into silliness involving Ultron, the "children" of the Avengers, and some dystopian future that is supposed to be distinctive from all of the other dystopian futures that Marvel heroes have confronted over the years. Spidey manages a few more witty lines before everything fizzles out and we get to the backup feature, a reasonably interesting prose history of the (retconned) Avengers. Oh, and the lovely pinup by Arthur Adams and Laura Martin that features just about all past and present Avengers? Still no Giant Girl.

Rating: 4/10