Marvel Universe

[Eternal Padawan]

The new Ronin is the source of much speculation. Hints dropped about his speech patterns, his refences to a quasi-relationship to Matt Murdock, etc have the fanboy community all atwitter. His ( or her) true identity will be revealed in N.A. 30. ( I went out on a limb and said Jessica Jones is in there)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

1. By "Death" do you mean grazing bullet? They will NEVER kill MJ. You cannot make Spider-Man a WIDOWER. Divorcee yes, but not a widower. And with his recent track record, I could see Quesada pussying out on killing anybody. including Aunt May. Pussy.

2. What was the point of the "Road to Civil War" return of Thor tease in FF all those months ago? Unless they bring him back in World War Hulk.

3. I think they assumed that you read the sixth months worth of leaks in Wizard and internet rumors that Tony was going to be head of SHIELD. That way they dont take up precious issue space with it.

4. That was the only "cool" moment in the book for me, but then it didn't go anywhere and yeah they didn't do a very good job reasoning why Namor showed up out of nowhere.

I believe Cap's book is going to focus on Winter Soldier and Sharon Carter for a bit. Or maybe Frank Castle becomes the new Cap?

[anarky]

How about Namor coming to avenge his dead cousin? I guess they want to pretend she wasn't blown to bits fighting Nitro (never mind that she was always previously portrayed as having a shitload more common sense).

I still think the whole thing was pointless, formulaic drivel. From what I read, there were far too many deus ex machina moments, too many instances of fanboy wank, etc. These heroes would not be at each other's throats the way they were. One or two, maybe. But not the entire fucking universe.

They should've ended it with some revelation that the mastermind was a presumed-dead supervillain. And with one major character getting killed.

Oh, and Sleepwalker should have kicked Iron Man's punk ass.

[jjreason]

By death, EP, I meant someone close to Peter getting killed as a result of his actions. It wouldn't have to be MJ or May (I'd never suggest they do either), it could have been Flash Thompson or Robbie from the paper, anyone. Having failed so completely in his attempts at making something good come of Uncle Ben's death, Peter would have gone right into a deep depression - somewhere we haven't seen him for years. The angst made for nice characterization way back when, and it's one thing that's truly missing from Spider-Man these days. The self-loathing just isn't there the way it used to be.

All that drivel aside, it would have been a lot more reason for him to back to black.... and take a whole new approach to fighting crime. Will he or won't he take the risks to save people any more, for fear that things might not turn out right? The public could have easily wound up hating him again if it had been on tv or during a large-scale hero battle that his mistake happened... in front of a crowd, if you will, so that it almost looked as if he could have done something differently.

I don't know, I'm rambling, but the biggest Civil War letdown for me is that pretty much nothing happened to Spidey in these books - and really, the same could be said for every hero. In 7 issues, they glossed over a lot of points that were covered in the main comics.... but didn't delve into anything a great deal. It's almost like you could have experienced Civil War just by reading your regular comics.

[Eternal Padawan]

Flash Thompson has been in a coma for the last several years, because nobody could do anything with him. And then Peter David inexplicably wakes him up just to have a douche foil for Peter at his new job as a teacher at MidTown high. It would've so much more poignant to have him succumb to the coma and die. As far as someone close to Spidey dying, why not MJ's mother? That would certainly drive a wedge between them, no? And yes, I can see your point about having him do it in front of everyone, so that they can endlessly hit rewind and play armchair quarterback.

[anarky]

Bringing May back was a mistake.

One of the greatest moments in Spidey history was Peter and May atop the Empire State Building in 1993 (the Amazing with the hologram cover, methinks), when May reveals she's known who he really was all along.

But stupid Marvel had to make her a clone or some shit, because killing May and bringing her back seems to be an annual event.

It's funny: they put Spidey back in black so folks who see the movie won't wonder why he's wearing red in the comic. But doncha think they'll wonder why May is dead, and (likely) Peter is split from MJ.

And have they, in the past ten years, acknowledged the fact that MJ was a fashion model and movie star? Why the fuck is Peter still taking pictures as a side job?

[jjreason]

Okay, so I read 538 today and I have a sad comment to make: Ron Garney should be relegated to a fill-in or backup artist role. He's just not Mike Deodato, Frank Quitely, Jim or Jae Lee, etc.... not enough detail in the pics to be a "main guy" these days.

The story was fine, but May being able to speak after getting hit where it looks like she did with a rifle round just wouldn't happen - there'd be an exit wound on her back the size of a manhole cover. Ahhhh comics.

[anarky]

Ron Garney's always been competent, but sorta a b-lister.

[jjreason]

I remember though when Mark Waid and Ron Garney teamed up for a rollicking 8 (or so, maybe a bit longer) stint on Captain America - and the art was AWESOME. Maybe I haven't seen those issues for so long that I've magnified how good it was or something.

Okay, so now we're on to "Back in Black" in the Spidey books. I read the first regular issues (Sensational 35 and Friendly Neighborhood 17 as it were) - and there was NO explanation of why he was back in black, NO mention of what May's status was (is she dead? in the hospital? was that raspberry jam and she's fine?), and NO significant change in Peter's demeanor.

The stories were fine, as far as Spidey stories go - good action, decent art, and they read fine.... but you'd think there'd at least be a transition to kind of bring all the people who are just jumping on up to speed...... there was nothing. Even those first page narrative breakdowns can work well, but for some reason even those were absent.

[anarky]

Sorry to beat Newsbot to this, but it appears Joe Q didn't puss out exactly. He just didn't include it in the Civil War crossover:

Comic book hero Captain America dies

NEW YORK - Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment editor in chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn't impossible.

Still, the character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.

"We really need him now," said Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to devise Captain America as a foe for Adolf Hitler.

According to the comic, the superhero was spawned when a scrawny arts student named Steve Rogers, ineligible for the army because of his poor health but eager to serve his country, agreed to a "Super Soldier Serum" injection. The substance made him a paragon of physical perfection, armed only with his shield, his strength, his smarts and a command of martial arts.

In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie.

So, in other words, given that this was hush-hush until the issue hit stands today, and it's already in the mainstream news, if you want this issue, you'd better buy it ASAP.

Personally, I'm sorta with Mr Simon on this. Marvel's becoming more and more a case of "How much shit can we dump on these guys?" and less escapism into a world of heroes.

And it's a bit sucktacular to kill a guy's creation when he's so damned old that he probably won't live to see the resurrection, even if that happens next issue.

With Cap dead, Spidey unmasked, May dead, Iron Man a psycho, Thor a cyborg clone, 90% of mutants de-powered, Hulk off in space preparing to lead an alien invasion, etc, EP's theory about fucking things up as much as possible before a complete relaunch seems more and more plausible.

[Eternal Padawan]

He ain't dead. This is how he get's his "Secret Identity" back. It's all a ruse masterminded by SHIELD and Tony Stark.

[Ran]

I saw that article on Yahoo news. Why did they attach this picture to the article?

[Eternal Padawan]

I saw that article on Yahoo news. Why did they attach this picture to the article?

Holy shit. It's Snigtad's dad whoring down on Hollywood Blvd!!!

[jjreason]

This is actually causing me physical stress. I checked Marvel's website to see if you jokers were pulling my wiener again - but you're not. I have little to no money until next Wednesday, what a fucking week to be too poor for comics.

This is huge - fucking huge. Just when you thought the Civil War was for pussies.... they fucking smack you in the head with a dead fish like this.

What significance now does Frank Castle picking up Cap's mask have?

How the fuck did this not leak out?

I'm shocked.

[anarky]

I checked Marvel's website to see if you jokers were pulling my wiener again - but you're not.

Dude, I ain't pulling your weiner again until you give me the $5 you still owe me from last time.

[jjreason]

I thought you really liked me!!!!

I've never felt so alone.