Amph ***OFFICIAL*** Comics Thread

Picked up and read Ben Riley: Scarlet Spider #1. I flat out loved it but I COULD see how certain people could hate it, and saying it's going grimdark Ben Riley for no reason whatsover. But I don'd mind that direction because A) Clone Conflict grimdarked Ben Riley already anyway as The Jackal. B) the creative team is up to snuff for the tone. Peter David and Mark Bagley, two of my favourite comic book people in general, are on the book. David took Spider-Man 2099 in a darker direction but that felt a little round peg square hole. I think it works here, Riley is genuinely freakin nuts this time around, often jabbering to mental projections of classic Scarlet Spider or his version of the Jackal. I mean, they had to take Riley in a different direction it couldn't just be Also Spider-Man But A Clone. So this is a unique tack, even though on the surface people may gripe about it being grim and gritty to be kwel.

He has a great scene early on when Ben saves a damsel in distress, Riley proceeds to shoot the robber, and then the gal says "how can I ever repay you?" and he says "100 bucks ought to cover it" (She only has 50 so he says he'll come back for the rest). Also later on he meets a slot machine elderly lady addict named "June" ("not May but close enough") so he calls her Aunt June, she doesn't care, she just plays the slots and her husband says he's dead to her. So it's a really twisted Uncle Ben / Aunt May dynamic that Ben Riley made up on the spot in his head. He makes jokes too, Parker does that often but for Ben they're usually pretty dark. Solid book, not very action heavy but mostly getting inside Ben's head (literally!) but definitely twisted.

 

actually here's the i09 review and they have a few pages / panels. I dig it lots!

http://io9.gizmodo.com/ben-reilly-is-back-as-the-scarlet-spider-and-more-mess-1794709631

 

Well, you know how it might have been thought Marvel's PR trainwreck that is Secret Empire couldn't get worse? Well about that:

http://screenrant.com/captain-america-evil-hydra-thor-hammer-mjolnir/

 

Reading those pages of the new Scarlet Spider ongoing just confirms that this whole idea is ridiculous and continues to **** on the character.

 

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday!

This week:

Batman 22, even though this is the Button part 3, it does not say so on this issue even though the adverts for it do.
X-Men Gold 3
Bane Conquest 1, says he is moving beyond Gotham. I have no other idea what this will be about.
Iron Fist 3. This feels like they are trying to go a bit Brubaker with a tournament and a new magic-ish location.
Bullseye 4
Black Bolt 1
Predator Hunters 1 of 5
Secret Empire #1...this is a thick book.

 

Yep and once again, I'll get to reap the benefits of a 50% sale at Dragon's Lair. Along with the free stuff from their own stock.

 

For Free Comic Book Day I picked up:

The Incal
The Looking Glass Wars Crossfire
Legend of Zelda
Guardians of the Galaxy
Steam Wars Strike Leader
Catalyst Prime
Lady Mechanika
Secret Empire featuring Spider-Man

I liked Secret Empire #1 btw. Hydra has literally taken over the world and is rewriting history in classrooms.

 

So.

Cap lifted Thor's Hammer as leader of Hydra. A quick search reveals this is not a trick, he is lifting it. So, perhaps Cap is still Cap and he'll wreck hydra from within and the hammer recognizes this?

Not seeing Thor without her hammer in the Mighty Thor though. Guess it's all not happening at the same time.

 

Or maybe Mjolnir is just a **** and thinks Cap's way is better. Especially since all Asgardian gods aren't really worthy.

I only got Wonder Woman, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Tick. I also was able to snatch up all the remaining issues of "Transformers: Generation 2", from the free boxes. This year, Dragon's Lair had moved the free stock over to where they normally have back issues, so there was more room and more material to browse through. Last year, they were having to refill pretty quickly after opening. This also leaves more room for people going up to the registers and getting to the newer stuff that was free. I also got some more Superman stuff and over at Half Price Books, I managed to get all but the first issue of Kevin Smith's Green Arrow run, for fifty cents per issue. They were also giving away one free comic for the third straight year. This time they had two DC short boxes, divided up alphabetically. A short box and a long box for Marvel, and a short box for independents. I took from Marvel and got The New Mutants Special Edition from 1985, a nice grab.

 

Oddly, I can buy Ben Riley going dark as opposed to Cap going full supervillain, if only because it makes more sense for Ben to go batty cuz he's a blank slate, a clone, literally, who was killed and reassembled dozens of times which sort of wrecked his brain. Cap, by contrast, just seems odd. And I read the spoiler about who died in Secret Empire #1 and it just seemed ... unnecessarily nasty.

 

The haul:

X-Men Gold 3
X-Men Blue 3
Wonder Woman 22
Old Man Logan 23...I feel like this journey through time reliving his life is gonna turn Old Man into Young Man. We'll see.
Weapon X 3. Finally, Domino.
All New Wolverine 20
Green Valley 8, saw that it appears this is a 9 issue series so I'll finish it off.
Kingpin 4
Rocket #1. Now, Why they didn't just keep the other title of Rocket going so this continued the other is beyond me.

 

Here's what it looked like in Dragon's Lair on Saturday. This was after I left, but the whole row with people browsing is where you could get the ten free comics from the store's inventory.



Dean Cain over at Krypton Comics.



This year's Make-A-Wish comics at Legends Comics.

 

Looks like it's gonna be awhile before the Watchmen stuff is gonna happen

November.

 

This week:

X-Men Gold 4. Gambit in this issue. I was never a fan but this could be interesting.
Ultimates^2 #7
The Mighty Thor 19, new Ultimate Thor in this.
Secret Empire 2
Lucifer 18
Low 18
Daredevil 20
Flash #22 with the throwback hologram cover. It does not say it is another The Button issue but a quick flip through shows it.

 

Ok so that was not new Ultimate Thor, it was Odinson.

A couple of standout moments this week.

1. A Steve Rogers shows up at the end of Secret Empire 2 claiming to be Steve Rogers looking to go home.

2. The hand of Dr Manhattan picking up the discarded smile pin with lines from his talk with Laurie on Mars.

 

THIS WEEK

X-Men Blue 4
Wonder Woman 23, great shot last time of a newly located Ares out of his armor and not appearing as some scary monster sort.
Seven To Eternity 6. No really, go read this.
The Hellblazer 10
Doc Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme 8
Elektra 4
Steve Rogers Cap 17
Infamous Iron Man 8. Looks like The Torpedo on the cover?

 

Catching up on, like, 5 issues of Saga. this book kind of reads better in binges to be honest but I still dig how spectacularly messy it can be at times.

 

THIS WEEK:

Cable #1. I never got into this character. Never saw what the big deal was. But I'll give it a go.
Rebirth Wonder Woman Annual
Old Man Logan 24. I assume at some point Old Man will just be Logan after getting youth back. I just hope they don't start with another "#1".
Thanos 7, Thanos without his powers.
Secret Empire 3
Secret Empire Uprising 1.
Moon Knight 14
Hulk 6
Cap Sam Wilson 22
Doc Strange 21
Saga 43!

 

hahah, I had issues of Saga sitting around for months and then got all caught up and the new issue is out this week. No gap for me!

As for Old Man Logan he is still going to be Old Man for the forseeable future because we got the new team coming in for an Old Man Logan VS Maestro arc. Which I am really pumped about! Whooo! Old Hulk and Old Logan!

Sill dig Scarlet Spider #2 mostly cuz I love Bagley and Peter David working together, although this is a real dark book. Not like dark as in distasteful but pretty darn dark for a superhero Spidey title.

 

Week 2 of no Infamous Iron Man

This week:

X-Men Gold 5
Darth Vader 1. I'll give this a go. I am never confident when it comes to non-film SW.
Predator Hunters 2
Iron Fist 4
Black Bolt 2, 1 was certainly good enough to keep getting this.
Rocket 2
Doctor Strange 20
Daredevil 21
Bullseye 5
Bane Conquest 2
AND OH LOOK a free comic book I didn't know was slipped into my bag. Wonder Woman Day Special Edition 1.

 

The free Wonder Woman comic was okay, although it seemed a lot of Steve Trevor grousing and Wonder Woman sort of stalking in a forest and not doing much else. If they wanted to get people hooked on Wonder Woman right after seeing the movie, they could have picked a better issue.

New Darth Vader comic, whoohoo!

 

They picked it because it was the first issue of the current series. It's the same way that "Green Lantern: Secret Origin" #2 was picked when the GL film came out.

Oh and then there's this in Batman #24...

Spoiler

 

How will they be married? Will a judge marry them as their superhero names and give them legal standing?

So, I read that new Darth Vader. Yeah see, so Palpatine asks "Do you know why Sith sabers are red?" See, it's because Jedi use synthetic crystals and Sith use a Kaibur crystal and they Force their pain into it and those crystals are alive so they are bleeding into the saber. YOU GOTTA BE ******* KIDDING ME WITH THIS CRAP!

 

Well, they'd either do it like Lois and Clark did.



Or like Oliver and Dinah did.

 

It would be amazing if Batman and Catwoman got married at City Hall in the middle of the day wearing their capes and cowls. Just go full on Silver age / Batman '66 on it. "The Riddler's spiked the punch, holy hangover, Batman!"