Comics are awesome.

[Sparky Prime]

Bendis said it will stick. In the case of "Ultimate Spiderman", (his book), that is good enough for me.

I'll believe it when I see it. Even in the Ultimate Universe, some characters have had a habit of returning from death.

[Dominic]

I can understand your skeptical attitude good sir. But, let us be optimistic. I will read it until they backslide.


Reviews:

As I am planning to cut back to 5 books next week, I made a final "sampler" run.


Ultimate Spiderman #160:
The "Death of Spiderman" arc ends with, as the title might lead one to expect, the honest to golly-gosh death of Peter Paker. Holy shit. This story was billed as "the one people would be talking about". And, there certainly was talk at Newbury yesterday. Apparently Bendis has said "this is real and it is sticking". In terms of content, this issue is the end of Parker's final ordeal. He starts off the issue after apparently having been shot and generally abused. A fight with Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn goes badly. He dies. Even with the "HOLY SHIT" value of this issue, it is more interesting for what is promised as a follow-up. This book just got added to my pull-list, if only because I want to reward comics that actually change the status quo. (Okay, I am not reading "Spawn" or nothing. And, I probably should. But, I am still a little biased against Image.) On a related note, I am dropping "Batman Inc."
Grade: A


Fear Itself (general):
McGuffin hammers fall from the sky. Characters get wacky power ups and turn heel. A buncha stuff happens. Typical even book. Some titles, (those written by Fraction), tie in a bit more. (I read the first two issues of the core book, and a couple of cross-overs.) There is nothing hugely wrong with this book. But, like most of what Fraction churns out, there is nothing to get overly excited about. Competently written event filler. Not adding this to my pull list. Grade: C


Action Comic #901 and #902:
Paul Cornell's showing on "Dark X-Men" was strong enough to warrant me occassionally picking up and flipping through other stuff he does. "Reign of the Doomsdays" made it on to my "buy" list this week. Assuming I am reading it right and that I am understanding Cornell's MO, "Reign of the Doomsdays" looks to be a stylistic riff on 90s comics. Doomsday, about as "90s" a character as one is likely to find, is made even "kewler", even being set up with a half-assed face turn when the even worse Doomsday (a cyborg Doomsday from another dimension or something) shows up. There are a few scenes with really clumsy dialogue, but those are likely intentional if I am reading this correctly. Not good enough to add to my pull list. But, if it is compiled, I might pick this arc up. Grade: B/C


Cobra #2:
Ain't read it yet. Gonna go back and read the first four compilations first, and maybe have that done by the time the fifth comes out.


Dom
-still floored by "Ultimate Spiderman".

[Sparky Prime]

I can understand your skeptical attitude good sir. But, let us be optimistic. I will read it until they backslide.

You, optimistic about something sticking in a comic book!? You've been touting on other creators for making the same claim, despite that we've seen them keeping to their word. Why the sudden change of heart on this one Dom?

[Dominic]

It is a question of credibility. While Bendis does not own the book in any legal sense, he owns it creatively. Marvel generally seems to leave him along on "Ultimate Spiderman". And, as I recall, you have spoken highly of this book, and by default Bendis, several times in the past. Honestly, your skepticism is perplexing.

The original "baggage free" model for "Ultimate" Marvel is gone. The books have been around for well over a decade. It is time for soemthing new. And, with mainline Spiderman regressed to the lat 70s, and Bendis writing Spidey over in the "Avengers", the time is right for the book to change. (And, the consequences of leaving Parker dead are far less, because there is still the 616 book.)


Dom
-not really missing "Batman Inc.", even in theory.

[138 Scourge]

The comic store I go to has this neat punchcard promotion wherein you buy a certain number of books, and you get a free one. So I hit that number today and bought Ultimate Spider-Man #160 just out of curiosity. Stupid polybag, I'd forgotten Bagely was on this book, if I'd been able to tell from looking at the cover, I might have passed on it. He's one of those guys that are like Jim Lee: People seem to be excited for them to be drawing a book, but I just can't stand either one of 'em. But in this case, and this is something I never thought I'd say, Bagely's art actually looks pretty decent here. I don't know if dude's gotten better (and, as much as he does put out, he's bound to have developed as an artist), or if it's the inker, or what, but dude's art had the same kind of vibe to it in places as Leonard Kirk. That, to me, is giving high praise. Of course, in other places he was still drawing the same faces that I just don't like looking at, but it was more tolerable.

The story, well, I can tell I came in at the "Action-Packed Finale!" part of a longer story. It was straightforward enough to make sense, though. Not a world-shakingly good read, but a pretty decent big fight comic. I did like that Peter's last act was

Spoiler

to basically beat Osborn to death by bashing him repeatedly with a U-Haul truck.

If you're gonna go out, go out big. I don't know, I feel like people forget that Spider-Man is crazy strong. Not Hulk class, but definitely capable of picking up a boat and throwing it right over a hedge. And I gotta give Bendis credit for not doing the ol' "Nobody could have survived that blast!" method of temporarily killing off a hero.

Will it stick? Eh, I dunno. I suppose it depends on how invested Marvel is in the Ultimate line these days. If it's something that's gonna keep going for years and years, and outlast Bendis' involvement, then yeah, Peter'll probably be back at some point. But if Bendis wants Ulti-Spidey to stay dead, I suppose it's possible. Like Dom said, you got the original kicking around in the main MU, so the corporate pressure to bring back the original might be off.

Man, the Ultimate line is kind of weird in general anymore. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but definitely weird.

[Sparky Prime]

It is a question of credibility. While Bendis does not own the book in any legal sense, he owns it creatively. Marvel generally seems to leave him along on "Ultimate Spiderman". And, as I recall, you have spoken highly of this book, and by default Bendis, several times in the past. Honestly, your skepticism is perplexing.

"In the past" being the key word(s) there. I dropped all of the Ultimate titles shortly after "Ultimatum". Ultimate Spider-Man was still pretty good, but, it just didn't have the same feeling behind the story anymore. It's like they'd forgotten what the Ultimate Universe was supposed to be all about. And killing off the title character of their best selling Ultimate title doesn't make me want to start reading it again. If anything, it pushes my interest even further away. Frankly, I'm tired of how Marvel has been handling their stories. It really seems to me that they've gotten lax on trying to tell good stories, instead they're pulling these stunts to boost sales which only works for the short term.

And yes, I am skeptical Peter's death will stick. Bendis said the same thing when he killed Gwen. But eventually she was cloned and brought back good as the original.

[Dominic]

It is only a stunt if the go back on it.

I may not always be happy with what Marvel does. But, I can respect them for sticking to a decision. Hell, if this works in the Ultimate line, maybe we will see events that stick and linear storylines in more comics.


Dom
-totally supporting this.

[138 Scourge]

instead they're pulling these stunts to boost sales which only works for the short term.

Yeah, they've been gimmicky as all hell. I almost expect 'em to just relaunch everything at #1 any day now.

As for only working in the short term, isn't half the reason DC's going balls-out in their "Get attention and draw in new readers" move this September because they've been #2 in sales behind Marvel for awhile? Not far behind, from what I gather, but not #1.

Besides, the big thing about Marvel's stunt moves they've pulled lately is that...most of 'em are actually pretty good. That FF series I've been talking about, f'rinstance. Gimmicky as all hell, what with a major character being killed off, new costumes, Spider-Man being a new member, and a "bold new direction". But it's actually really well-written, enough so that I've kept coming back for more after checking out the gimmick #1 issue. I'm an easy mark for FF stuff, admittedly, but if it was dumb, I wouldn't mess with it. Which is why I haven't seen much of the movies, or much of Mark Millar's run, for example.

[138 Scourge]

It is only a stunt if the go back on it.

Dude, it's a "Death of Major Superhero" issue in a black polybag. That's as stunty a stunt as you can get. But it's a solid enough read, though. Like I said, Marvel can back up their stunts.

[Sparky Prime]

It is only a stunt if the go back on it.

Killing off a character is a stunt, regardless of whether or not they go back on it. Marvel has unofficially said that they'd kill a character off every quarter just to help boost their sales.

I may not always be happy with what Marvel does. But, I can respect them for sticking to a decision. Hell, if this works in the Ultimate line, maybe we will see events that stick and linear storylines in more comics.

Sticking to a decision has yet to be seen from Marvel. And the direction Marvel has been moving in doesn't suggest to me that they'd make events stick or do more linear storylines. They seem content to pull stunts to temporarily boost sales, forget about it and then repeat the process.