This weeks marks the release of the second Before Watchmen comic, Silk Specter, I was going to review it but then I saw that Brian Michael Bendis’ Spider-Men Issue 1 came out this week, and he’s been hyping this up on Twitter for months, so I picked that up instead, and was very surprised by it. Over in the Batman world Scott Snyder blew our minds once again with Batman 10, the other book I’m reviewing with the revel of who is behind The Court of Owls. I haven’t really looked at what else is going on this week, it’s been pretty hectic, so that’s all I’ve got for this little blurb here.
WARNING: PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THESE COMICS THIS POST MAY CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS OF THE COMICS BEING REVIEWED!
Comic: Spider-Men Issue 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Author: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Sara Pichelli, Justin Ponsor, and Jimmy Cheung
I’m just going to say this straight up, and if you know my comic reading habbits and have heard this before, I’m sorry. I don’t like Marvel Comics all that much, I read X-Men, Captain America and Thor, that’s really it. Once I get a job that pays me well I plan on reading more Marvel, but DC is and always will be my favourite, they have Batman, Marvel can’t do ANYTHING about that. As much as I don’t like Marvel, I REALLY don’t like Spider-Man. Here’s why: Peter Parker is a superhero out of guilt. He tried to use his powers for personal gain, didn’t prevent a robber from stealing money from where he worked, and that robber killed Uncle Ben. Peter found this out, felt guilty and is now a superhero so that he can make himself feel better. To be fair, I do like the movies though. There I’m done, moving on.
Bendis has been plugging this comic on his twitter account for a few months now so I decided I might as well read it, it seemed like an interesting idea. For those of you who have no clue what the idea about it is, it is thusly: Peter Parker died a few months back in the Ultimate Marvel Universe and was replaced by Miles Morales, but in The Amazing Spider-Man story he is still alive, as it is not part of the Ultimate continuity. Spider-Men starts off in the Amazing Universe, Spidy is flinging around when he sees a blast of light from a warehouse, he goes to investigate and discovers Mysterio who says that he missed out when Peter died the first time, implying he is from the Ultimate Universe, he accidently shoots the machine that put out that blast of energy and Peter gets sucked into it. The next thing Peter knows is that he is in New York in the day time, when it was, not two seconds ago, night. He saves a man from getting mugged who says that it was tasteless for him to be dressed like Peter Parker, and Peter of course is confused as to what he means and why he knows that he’s Spider-Man. He heads off and, while on a roof top, runs into Miles Morales.
The issue ends there and I think it was a great place for it to stop, it wasn’t the most fast pace comic, nor did a TON happen but it set up what is to come very well for Bendis’ new Spidy book. I only really had one issue with the book, that was the art, it was pretty standard, nothing special to it, granted nothing BIG happened in this issue that need great artwork, but still the art was just okay. Still it was a good read, grab it up or wait a few months for the trade, it’s only a limited five issue run, so jump on it now before it gets too far.
Spider-Men Issue 1: 7.5/10
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Comic: Batman Issue 10
Publisher: DC Comics
Author: Scott Snyder
Artists: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion
The Night of the Owls story line has ended and now it is time for Bruce to discover who was behind the attack by The Court and it’s Talon’s. The answer to this mystery will change the shape of the Batman Universe forever, issue 11 will be the end of the story that author Scott Snyder has been building up since the DC reboot back in September. This issue has Bruce hunting down the head of The Court of Owls so that he can finally put an end to The Court and make it so that Gotham City will no longer live in the shadow of The Court. I can’t say as much as I would like about the plot of the issue otherwise it will give WAY more spoilers then I’m comfortable giving, I want you to read this comic, it was really well done and it was a great climax to The Court of Owls story line. Next month will be the end, and what will happen? I guess we’ll have to wait.
The story telling was wonderful in this issue and I loved the middle bits where Bruce was talking to the man behind The Court about how he figured out where he would be and who he was. My favourite part of Batman is always seeing and reading the way his mind works and how he gets to the conclusions he arrives at. Batman issue 10 has some of Greg Capullo’s best art yet, throughout the last 10 issues his art has evolved with the story and done exactly what it needs to, at all times, to get across the mood of the story. It constantly shows shadows across every panel and just makes you feel what is in Bruce’s mind and what all of Gotham is going through. I love Greg Capullo’s art work and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the final issue in Snyder’s Court storyline.
Batman Issue 10: 9/10
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That’s it for this week’s Between the Panels, some great books came out this week but as always I only have room to review two of them. For more of this week’s new releases head over to IGN for their weekly roundup. I’d love to hear your comments on the issue’s I’ve talked about this week and any ideas for future reviews, for that sound off below. Life happens between the panels folks, the richer the story, the more interesting the life.
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