Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles Comic Reviews

Well, as I mentioned in a recent post, I have not been reading much these days, but I do have two stories to review. 

The first is The All New Atom #17&18.  Written by Gail Simone, Pencilled by Mike Norton, and a Cover by Landronn.  Simone seems to lack consistency, but she hits far more often than she misses.  This one is definately a hit.  Ryan Choi gets a second date with Dr. Zuel, aka Giganta.  Soon Wonder Woman arrives on the scene asking Ryan to wear a wire to help them figure out a mystery of some sort.  Things go sideways when a strange guy with the power of making suggestions gets Giganta and everyone else around trying to kill the Atom and Wonder Woman.  I am not going to offer a lot of spoilers here, but I will say that the story is really good.  The interaction between the characters is really clever and funny, especially the scenes where Ryan starts telling Wonder Woman about all the fantasies he has had involving her.  He somehow finds it impossible to lie to her, and also impossible to shut up.  Wonder Woman should be insulted, but she realizes that he cannot help himself, and is actually flattered.  So I am rating the story 5/5.  The covers were not so good.  They were… let’s see, how should I put this… they were ugly!  2/5.  Inside the art was very good.  I could see what was going on, and the women in this story looked very sexy.  The action scenes needed no explanation and the colors were really good.  4/5 for art.  As far as historical significance goes, I always struggle in this area when reviewing DC comics.  I will give it 4/5 because we have a guest appearance by Wonder Woman, who has battled Giganta on several occasions.  We also have the Atom joining the Justice League.  I could be wrong, but it seems like those should be pretty significant events.  Total score is 15/20.  If you are not reading the All New Atom, I suggest you start.  As long as Gail Simone is writing, I think you can’t really go wrong.

The second story I will review is the Amazing Spider-man #565-567, Kraven’s First Hunt.  This one is written by Marc Guggenheim with art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning.  Basically this story has Kraven’s daughter making the scene and stalking Spider-man.  Of course she gets it wrong and kidnaps Peter’s roommate.  She dresses Vin up in the Spider-suit and injects him with something to give him super strength.  Meanwhile, Pete has no costume, so he goes and borrows one from Daredevil.  SO… Marvel put Daredevil on the cover, and advertised Daredevil to bring in the readers.  But Daredevil is really not so much involved in this one.   I have to admit that the way Marvel is marketing Amazing right now is pissing me off.  So in a nutshell, Kravena or whatever, takes “Spider-man” into the sewers where she runs into Vermin.  She kicks the heck out of Vermin without even getting out of breath, causing him to run away.  When Spider-man (Daredevil?) tracks her to the sewers, he runs into a beat up Vermin, who just naturally knocks the snot out of Spider-man (Daredevil?).  But Spidey comes back.  He goes down and finds Kraven-chick and he and Vin Gonzales (Spider-man?) battle Kraven-the-Crackhead, but they are fighting a losing battle.  But they are saved when Vermin comes back to the sewers and attacks Kranky-PMSing-Kraven.  Spidey (Daredevil) and Gonzales (Spider-man) run away like frightened women and Spider-man (Daredevil) tells Gonzales (Web-head) that he keeps costumes with certain people like Peter Parker to throw his enemies off the scent.  It is later revealed that Kraven-Some-Attention defeated Vermin yet again and is plotting revenge on Spider-man.  Everybody, repeat after me.  Kraven is dead.  Let him rest in peace.  We do not need a Kraven knock off, particularly a female version.  This story is so bad it borders on stupid.  Let me get this over quickly.  Story 1/5.  Covers 4/5 (They are quite good!).  Art 4/5.  And because this is part of the Brand New Day storyline, I give this one 1/5 for significance.  Total score is 10/20.  Where Amazing Spider-man is concerned, my advice is to save your money.  I am only collecting this series now in the hopes that these issues will be hard to find in the future and I can turn a buck on them. 

So, that’s it for today.  I am not sure where my reviews will go from here.  I am planning to try and review some of this Secret Invasion stuff, but I have lost interest so badly that I am not sure if I will actually buy the rest of it. 

The last word goes to Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles which has just made the move from EBay to Comic Collector Live.  Go to http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Seller.aspx?id=cc0608d3-03c2-4b73-81dd-40662b76b9c9 and check out the titles I am offering for sale.  Please remember to consider the cost of shipping as part of the total price.  You will find my prices are often the lowest available.  I have also come across some really nice 1970’s Mego Star Trek Action figures which I am listing on EBay.  If you go to EBay, and enter the community section, you can search for me under the user id xuthl69 and see the items I have for sale.

Also, if you collect current comics, I encourage you to consider ordering your books from me.  I charge cover price plus $3 shipping and handling for the first book and an additional $1 for each book after that anywhere within Canada.  This may sound expensive, but with the cost of gasoline continually rising you really can’t lose.  This is also ideal for readers living in cities and towns without a local comic shop. 

Lastly, if there is a book you are looking for but can’t find, drop me a line and I will see what I can find for you.  I have a good network of sellers and have had great success in the past.  Feel free to contact me at xuthl@yahoo.ca.