love when im playing Ace Attorney and i have no idea wtf going on and Phoenix pulls out some “actually 😏 i have the evidence here 📄 to prove you commit the crime ☝️” and im like fuck we do?
The destruction of the entire universe and every soul in it is a truly depressing ending. Just because God replaced it with another universe that looked similar doesn't change anything - this is Job and his children all over again. Job doesn't want new children, and neither do I.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a professional comic reviewer, and my opinions are purely my own. They're not objectively correct, so don't take them as such.
I'm trying something new and posting my pulls for the week! Gonna start doing these every week as a way to both interact more with the comic community and share one of my hobbies!
This week was a big one, with Ultimates #18 officially concluding the last arc of Camp's run. And what a fucking RUN! Plus, the 2nd half of the Marvel/DC crossover also dropped this week with Batman/Deadpool. So let's get onto the reviews!
SPOILERS BENEATH THE CUT!
DC / Marvel: Batman / Deadpool #1 - 4/5 stars | 8 out of 10
The 2nd half of the Marvel/DC anthology crossover was both a step up and also a step down for me. While the main story "The Cosmic Kiss Caper!" with Deadpool and Batman was very hard to follow in places (Deadpool especially was super hard to enjoy, also there's so much dialogue bloat and half of it doesn't add anything) and in my opinion overly head-hurty, the side stories are where the issue truly shines.
Still hilarious to me that the in-universe excuse for a crossover is "the incomprehensibly vast embodiments of the Marvel and DC universes hooking up and making out sloppy style"
The Constantine/Doctor Strange story "A Magician Walks into a Universe" had incredible paneling (or lack of it) and I liked the dialogue between the two, but it definitely wrapped up too quickly which reduced the mind-meld-fix-the-universe finale to a single 2 page showcase.
The Wolverine/Nightwing story "Sticks & Snikts" was definitely my favorite. The dynamic between Laura and Dick (and later Gabby) was really good, and I enjoyed the parallels drawn between both of them and the legacies set by their parents. I also really liked how much their inner thoughts almost felt like an unspoken conversation they were having throughout the story. They mesh surprisingly well together. Also Barbara was there I guess.
Big fan of both Wolverine and Nightwing praising each other internally, but while Dick puts himself down, Laura lifts him up
The Harley/Hulk story "Harley & Hulk's Amazin' Saturday!!!!" was barely anything. Hulk hardly spoke and Harley barely had a personality beyond "ditzy woman". Man, they REALLY took away all of Harley Quinn's nachos, huh?
Finally, the Ms. Marvel/Static story "New Friends in Old Places" was a nice, simple one: Kamala and Virgil have trouble dealing with their families, they end up meeting each other and quickly establishing a friendship. It was short, but it had nice vibes that made me smile at the end. Sometimes that's more than enough for a story.
Oh, also the art was amazing. Dan Mora as always is impeccable (I'm so happy that man is being let free from DC's basement), and I also really really liked Bruno Redondo's art with Adriano Lucas' coloring for the Wolverine/Nightwing story.
Radioactive Spider-Man #2 - 1.5/5 stars | 3 out of 10
Man. Where the fuck do I even start.
Look, I genuinely wanted to give this series a fair shot. I saw so many people bashing it from day 1, but I came into it with an open mind, and the 1st issue did pull me in with the general concept and the May cliffhanger. HOWEVER, issue #2 immediately took Radioactive Spider-Man from "interesting" to "shat itself" in record time. The only positive thing I can even say about it (and the only reason it doesn't have an even lesser rating) is because I do find the situation/dilemma with Aunt May compelling to a certain extent. But just to go over SOME of the negatives:
MJ fridged immediately and Peter barely giving a shit, Peter paired up with Cecilia for some reason which adds nothing to the story, Miles being an out-of-character asshole to Peter for no reason (he has every right to be frustrated with Peter but he would be sympathetic to his situation), Peter holding on to Aunt May like his life depends on it (MARVEL LET THAT FUCKING WOMAN DIE!!! I LOVE HER BUT COME ON!). But the most egregious fault of this fucking series is calling Miles Spin.
FUCKING SPIN!?!?!?!?
FUCKINGGGGG. SPIN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (also they made Miles' suit an ugly yellow I hate it)
What is their fucking obsession with stripping Miles of the Spider-Man title? He IS Spider-Man in every way, shape or form. He fucking EARNED that title! He's currently the star of one of the biggest animated movies of all time with his face and Spider-Man being plastered on the cover!!! "Oh but people/the kids are gonna get confused that there's two Spider-Men!" BRO LOOK OVER AT DC AND SEE HOW FUCKING RIDICULOUS THAT ARGUMENT SOUNDS. Blatantly disrespectful, stupid and racist.
Also Peter looks horrible with a buzz haircut, get that shit outta here.
Spider-Man: Holiday Spectacular #1 - 4.5/5 stars | 9 out of 10
What an unexpected joy this story was! I came into it expecting something nice and cozy for the holidays, but Rainbow Rowell completely surprised me. Digging into Peter's self-image issues and how much he cares for May, everyone on the superhero community (to quote Logan) "fighting like divorced parents over who got to have [him] for Christmas", all the fun and enjoyable interactions throughout all the different holiday parties (the "I need a buffer" bit was fucking KILLING me), Daredevil taking Spidey out to leave kid's presents because he didn't want to be alone for the holidays.
The sentient multiverse-hopping city in space asking Peter to be his buffer with Jarvis is where I started losing it
And of course the ending, where Logan sums up to Peter how much the super community genuinely appreciates Spider-Man, and him getting to spend the holidays with May + go on a fun cruise with her for New Years. Such a lovely holiday story. I need Rowell to write more Spider-Man, or at least Spider-Man team-ups.
Also, what banger art team with Paco Medina, Luciano Vecchio, Nathan Stockman, Bob Quinn and Matt Milla. Beauuuutiful art for the entire book.
The Ultimates #18 - 6 stars | 12 out of 10 [ALL-TIMER]
Holy shit. I love you Deniz Camp.
Such a good finale for the final arc "Rescue Mission" and for The Ultimates in general, bringing the whole story back around and using Iron Lad's speech as a throughline for the entire issue as we see the impact the Ultimates have had around the globe. The blinds are open, and everyone on Earth is made aware of The Maker and his council. Tony puts the entire thing on blast all around Earth and calls for everyone to be Ultimates and rise up. And god is it fucking beautiful.
The only reason I don't put this one higher than it already is currently is that the Janet-spy twist didn't really go anywhere, and also we still haven't seen what happened to Jim/Human Torch (although I have a personal theory). But still a fucking banger of a finale.
"They are scared of us. Scared of you. They know what I know: We outnumber them. And they're vulnerable. So... they stole your future. Do you want it back? We are the Ultimates! Together, we will fix the world! [...] So I say to every one of you, my brothers- and sisters-in-arms, my Ultimates... RISE UP! RISE UP! RISE UP!"
Genuinely read this one for yourself. There's not enough praise I could give this issue that would be better than reading through it fresh.
I will say, fucking hilarious that Ultimate Mid-verine is entirely absent from the issue.
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