Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #19 - Why did I buy this? It's Spider-Man versus Fing Fang Foom, which means it'll probably have a repeat appearance when I start up my Spider-Man: Giant Slayer series of posts (to occur in that far-flung future where I have a scanner and quick access to my entire collection).
Peter is spending a rainy day at the Natural History Museum, because you know, he's a nerd. That fact is jokingly pointed out by an airheaded Liz Allen, who's been dragged there by her parents, for the purpose of edumacating her. But they're in luck because Professors Lee and Kirby have found a dragon encased in ice. Which is really cool, until it gets hit by lightining. Which makes it wake up. Which is an awesome display of science.
After some quick costume readjustment, Fing Fang Foom is ready to rock, and it's up to our friendly neighborhood arachnid to stop him. Good luck with that. Liz - playing the role of hostage/information source - succeeds only in annoying the hell out of the big fella, at which point Spider-Man tries to stop him again.
Ultimately the conflict is resolved, though Spidey does very little to make it happen, so a bit disappointing in the respect. But it wasn't all bad, and Liz displayed some depth when dealing with Foom, so not bad. 3.9 out of 5.
The Punisher #37 - Welcome to the opposite end of the spectrum, and not just because this is about as far from "all ages" as you can get. We're also going from a book that starts and concludes a story in one issue, to one that moves at a much more. . . deliberate pace. But that's how Garth Ennis rolls, and I'm afraid to think of what he might do to me if I complained too much. Seriously, think of all the twisted stuff he probably comes up with that could never be put in his comics, not even Preacher. Congratulations, now you'll have nightmares.
Still, I've got hopes for this, as it ties into the first storyline from this book (The Return of Micro arc), as well as "Mother Russia" and "Up is Down Black is White". We've got O'Brien, the lady Frank's been pursued and saved by. She doesn't actually encounter Frank, as she's a little busy getting some payback on some old acquantances, but her ex-husband Rawlins is planning to use her to draw Castle out, and into the sights of General Zakharov, who has a score to settle, what with Frank breaking into a Russian missile silo and stealing the only existing sample of a dangerous virus.. See how nicely it all ties together?
Of course, Frank doesn't find out about any of this until near the end of the issue, but he keeps busy by killing a top crack dealer, as well as all of his subordinates who were unfortunate enough to come along for the ride. You'd think at some point survival instinct would tell criminals to just give up on New York, because no matter how much money, manpower or connections they have, eventually Frank Castle kills them. I thought people grew out of that whole "I'm invincible!" stage once they got past their teens. Oh well, gives Frank something to do in between being targeted by entire governments and corporations. Kind of a slow start, or maybe I'm just becoming desensitized to Ennis' depravity.
Still, Leandro Fernandez is back on the pencils, which I love, and I like O'Brien, so I'm in for the long haul, though I got a suspicion this is the end of the road for O'Brien and Rawlins at least. Zakharov has probably got at least one more appearance left in him after this arc. 2.8 out of 5.
1 comment:
We're about due for a Fin Fang Foom solo series. He's appeared three times in the past couple of years, and the centre cannot hold.
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