Amazing Spider-Man #620 - Finally, a comic that delivers precisely what the cover promises. I suppose the Hulk books do that as well, since they always promise Hulk or Red Hulk fighting someone, and hey, they fight them, but I prefer to ignore Hulk books. My doctor said exposure to Red Hulk increases my chances of aneurysm. This cover says Spidey will smash Mysterio's bubble head, and he did. Then Mysterio kneed him in the groin, which the cover didn't mention, and I'm not sure whether it would have increased or decreased my desire to buy the comic if it did.Carlie plants a Spider-Tracer on the man claiming to be her father. This leads Spider-Man to Mysterio. Mr. Negative and his cannon fodder also arrive, with special poison gas that will kill only people with Spidey's DNA. Wow, they've held that in reserve since early 2008 haven't they? Negative acquired Spidey's blood way back when Brand New Day had just begun. Mysterio tries to escape, Spidey pursues, Mysterio does escape eventually, minus all his cash. So probably not a win for the web-slinger. Lots of people (mobsters, but still people) died, the bad guy escaped, and Carlie dislikes Peter Parker because she feels he uses people.
Slott's writing is fine. His Mysterio is more of a ham than I'm used to, but it works. Anyone who dresses like Mysterio would have a theatrical streak. I'm not clear on why Negative hates Silvermane so much, but there was at least a footnote directing me to a possible resource. As for Marcos Martin, his art is swell. He still does some odd extreme close-ups on Spidey's eye or foot I don't understand, but he has some beautiful page layouts, like the Spidey-Mysterio fight in the fog, and you can always earn points for incorporating sound effects into the panels.
Amazing Spider-Man #621 - Comic I didn't order #1. Spidey asks the Black Cat to steal his blood back from Mr. Negative, so he won't have to worry about deadly gas anymore (except when he eats Chinese food with energy drinks. It's a Paul Jenkins' run on Spider-Man joke). She agrees, but Spidey can't let her go alone. It probably would have been better if he had, as he gets slapped through a couple buildings by Mr. Negative. They do successfully recover the blood. Carlie captures her thought-long-dead, dirty cop of a father. Then she chews Pete out. Aunt May continues to be evil, Harry Osborn moves into MJ's apartment, and Curt Conners prepares to do something stupid. Again. That guy really ought to give up on science.I enjoyed that issue more than I thought I would. Maybe because the Black Cat was in it. It's nice to see her having fun stealing things and teasing Spidey, even if he is a putz. How about a little gratitude, Webs? Sheesh. Maybe Carlie has a point. I'm not usually a fan of Michael Lark's work, because I think it looks stiff, but it worked pretty well here. It suffers in comparison to Martin's art, but so does most people's.
Amazing Spider-Man #622 - Comic I didn't order #2. Perhaps this is why Peter is not grateful to Felicia. She sold his blood to a vampire-wannabe club to turn a profit on her caper in #621. Pete tries to blend in, fails, is bewitched by a vampire, tracks down Morbius (who bought his blood) is used to invite the other vamp (Morbius' old girl Martine) inside, gets thrown through windows, and inadvertently helps Morbius end Martine's existence. You know, I remember when Spidey used to actually win fights outright, rather than having to hope for a draw. We learn why Morbius wanted Spider-Man's blood, and Spidey agrees to help him, so maybe it's a victory of a different sort. Also, there's a story about Flash Thompson trying to recover from losing his legs. Let's move on.Actually, I don't know if I have anything else to say. Little surprised Felicia would sell his blood, but only a little. Joe Quinones' art reminds me a bit of Amanda Conner's, especially in the range of facial expressions. Thinner lines, and not quite the level of background detail, but pretty good.
Avengers vs. Atlas #2 - The Avengers arrive in the present, and immediately attack the Agents of Atlas. I didn't realize the Marvel Rules of Misunderstanding Battles had been established that far back, though I guess they were in effect as soon as Spidey tried to join the FF by fighting them. Atlas holds their own (at least), but Jeff Parker presents it in such a way I didn't think he was having the Avengers job to them. Atlas knows all about the Avengers, while the Avengers know zilch about them. Atlas is also more used to working as a team than that group of Avengers, if this was shortly after their first run-in with Kang. The teams eventually stop fighting, until Thor tries to fend off the portal/person thing and makes things worse. Now the Hulk is on the scene. There's also a quick back-up story written by Scott Kurtz about Jimmy Woo trying to shut down an evil Atlas Organization Sushi place. It's fairly lighthearted, and it's OK.There's not a lot to say. It's a big fight issue, I was entertained, Gorilla Man had several good lines, including telling Iron Man that the reason M-11 wasn't losing power was because his 'armor was filled with more machinery instead of boozy millionaire'. Iron Man being insulted never gets old. Even when it's an Iron Man that hasn't committed all sorts of acts of flagrant stupidity.
Booster Gold #29 - Comic I didn't order #3. Not sure how Jack sent this my way, since I dropped Booster Gold last summer, but it's here, I'm here, you're. . . wherever you are, so what the hell. Michelle, Booster's sister, is living in Coast City, and Cyborg Superman just showed up. So Coast City is about to go bye-bye, serving as the impetus for however many hours it took Geoff Johns to come up with Giant Yellow Fear Bug.Rip tells Booster to go there and make sure things go the way they did, because there's a rogue element threatening to change things. Oh no, someone is trying to save 7 million lives! How awful! Someone punch Rip Hunter in the throat, please. The rogue element, Sondra Crain, possibly sways Booster to her side of things. Good for her. Save those lives, because I don't buy Rip's line about Coast City's destruction spurring greater heights of heroism. It may be a moot point, as the destruction is kicking off as of the end of the issue. There's also a Blue Beetle back-up strip, where Jaime has gone evil, or is being controlled by the scarab, and Peacemaker has to stop him from doing something. Possibly conquering the world, I wasn't clear on it. That's what happens when you refuse to have recap pages, DC! At any rate, the day is saved, so hooray?
I'd like to see Booster rebel against Rip and save Coast City, except, unfortunately, I've seen what happens when does that. He saved Ted Kord, and everything went to hell. Then again, I'm not sure how Booster could save Coast City. He's up against Cyborg Superman and Mongul, which means he's sorely outclassed.
That's it for reviews today! Tomorrow, six more comics!
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