Scouring out the weekly singles scene … in comics!
Marvel’s DARK REIGN storyline, which puts the power in the hands of Norman Osborn (aka The Green Goblin), continues in a series of one-shots. Written by Brian Michael Bendis with pencils by Marko Djurdjevic, DARK REIGN: THE LIST — THE AVENGERS #1 finds Ronin (aka Hawkeye) sick and tired of Osborn’s iron grip, so he vows to kill him. His fellow Avengers try to talk him of out it, but he slips out in the dead of night and infiltrates Osborn’s tower. Just as he does so, and the story is getting good, it quits. Nearly the entire back half is taken up with previews for two other one-shots in this series, involving Daredevil and X-Men. I’d rather have something entirely self-contained if it’s labeled “one-shot”; instead, this is yet another piece of a much larger puzzle.
DARK REIGN: THE GOBLIN LEGACY #1 is more like it. Of course, that’s because it’s mostly a reprint book, comprised of two back-to-back issues of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN from 1966, in which Peter Parker learns of the The Green Goblin’s true identity, and vice versa. It’s hard to remember that there was once a time when we didn’t know that Norman Osborn was the man behind the mask, and these stories show you the reveal, with what looks to be new coloring jobs. Karl Kesel and Mike Mayhew have added a new framing sequence to tie it directly to the Osborne-centric DARK REIGN, and miscellaneous, text-based “secret files”-type fluff fills the rest of the pages.
Four more all-ages adventures await readers of Marvel’s SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #7, which is still fun, if still pricey at $6.99. Spidey is featured in half the stories; in the first, he’s trippin’ dimensions above his city to keep it safe from Doctor Doom, while in the second, he’s exposing the popular stage magician known as Mysterio for the super-villain that he really is. Once again, Power Pack proves the highlight, here happening upon Doctor Doom’s castle and robot army while on a camping trip, with The Fantastic Four nearby to aid in the scuffle. Finally, in an Iron Man story, Pepper Potts turns into a Poison Ivy-ish person at the hands of an evil, green-thumbed mastermind who calls himself Plantman. Ooh, scary!
And don’t forget WOLVERINE MAGAZINE #3. It’s normally superior to SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE, but not this time. On the plus side, Wolverine and Kitty Pryde battle a slew of Russian supervillains, and Power Pack joins forces with X-Men’s Nightcrawler at a circus taken over by criminals who’ve hypnotized the audience. On the minus side, the WEAPON X: FIRST CLASS story is tiring, because it seems like the same ol’ thing as the previous ones, with Wolverine delving into his memories once more. And part 3 of Marvel’s THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK adaptation is here, too, but with two months having passed since the previous installment, I sure don’t remember much of what’s already happened.
It’s that time of year when publishers supply a short slate of free mini-comics for Halloween. Fantagraphics offers POPEYE: POPEYE VS. THE ‘GHOSK’, collecting ye olde E.C. Segar strips in which Popeye encounters a ghost — or “ghosk,” as he says — on his ship. Dark Horse has CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST AND LITTLE LULU HALLOWEEN TREAT 2009, with a black-and-white Casper story about the pint-sized specter missing out on trick-or-treating, and a color Little Lulu story in which she tells a tale about a witch. Also look for STAR WARS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2009 (Dark Horse), DOMO: THE MANGA (Tokyopop) and ARCHIE & FRIENDS ALL-STARS PRESENTS: BETTY COOPER CONFIDENTIAL (Archie). All are 16 pages each … and zero cents! —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Spider-Man Magazine #5
- Wolverine Magazine #1
- Spider-Man Magazine #4
- Wolverine Magazine #2
- SERIOUS ISSUES >> 8.3.09
