Astonishingly Awful's Profile

A confusing and convoluted issue. I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get a satisfying conclusion to this mess next issue.

Great story. The art is fine, nothing special, but really shines in the Red Hulk scenes.

Yet another artist change, back to “regular” artist Valerio Schiti. There are some confusing panel transitions, but overall, it’s passable work.
The writing is becoming a problem for me though. The reveal of the villain was so predictable. Plus, the allegories to current political events are so in-your-face, it’s not really fun reading this anymore. When did comics stop being an escape from r eal life? Captain America in particular should emphasize idealism, not moral relativism.more

Horrible, horrible art. And this nonsense about Galactus being a "universal constant" is insane, considering he's killed billions of people.

The art has its moments, but the story - although based on an interesting idea - doesn’t really work.

Phillips’s story is readable, but just not that exciting. The art is a mixed bag as well - mostly solid, but very sketchy and not something you really want to look at.

Ramos is not my favorite artist for the FF, but at least he knows how to draw dynamic action - and this issue has a lot of it. The story works surprisingly well too, which isn’t often the case with Ryan North.
All in all, this is probably one of their better issues, which doesn’t say much, since it’s still the worst run in the history of the FF.

I would prefer having no Storm series at all over this garbage. Another character ruined.

A new artist already? With Stefano Raffaele we don’t get the weird inks this issue (except in the flashbacks Buckingham did), but unfortunately, the facial expressions come across as bland and emotionless, which creates a weird contradiction to the story that focuses on the human side of superheroes. All in all, I still thought this was fun and entertaining.

A satisfying conclusion to an underwhelming story with excellent art.

Pretty violent issue. How is this different from Punisher: Red Band?
Also, I miss the artist from that series.

I didn’t hate it. Extra points (not really) for Nightcrawler speaking correct German.

“Our Kryptonite” by Meltzer/Larraz
Okay, I admit, I read this comic mostly because I love Pepe Larraz. However, I ended up enjoying this story a lot. It was a smart move by Brad Meltzer to build his story around the different power sets and personalities of these two iconic characters, that everybody, even the most casual comic reader, is familiar with. The result is a timeless tale, perfectl y illustrated by Larraz, that has the power to reinvigorate one’s love for comics. 12/10

The backup stories are a mixed bag.

“Metropolis Marvels”
by Slott/Martin
A charming retro tale. Marcos Martin is just the perfect artist for this one. 9/10

“Sweethearts”
by Kelly/Ramos
Sorry, can’t read this. Humberto Ramos is my Kryptonite. 4/10

“Identity War”
by Johns/Frank
Everything Gary Frank draws is elevated, and Geoff Johns is one of my favorite writers (I love their Geiger), but sometimes less is more. 8/10

Ghosting”
by Simonson/Nauck
While I don’t hate Nauck‘s art with the same conviction as Ramos‘s, I’m not interested in reading anything he has drawn, even if it’s written by the fabulous Louise Simonson. 5/10

“Remarkable”
by Phillips/Noto
I like Phil Noto, but sometimes his art can look a bit stiff, which is the case here. Paired with Stephanie Phillips’s super power of boring the reader to death, “Remarkable” is a story that is just not… remarkable. 6/10

“The Only Thing…”
by Bendis/Pichelli
The same is true about this story. Sarah Pichelli‘s art used to be stellar, now it’s average. 6/10

“The Wondrous and the Worthy”
by Aaron/Dauterman
Russell Dauterman’s art is beautiful, but just too pretty for a superhero comic, bordering on lifeless. Another average story, but with better art. 7/10

“One of those Days”
by Loeb/Cheung
This is the perfect epilogue for this book, but it could have been longer. 8/10

All in all, an expensive book if you only care for the main story. One could argue though, that Larraz’s art is always worth a higher price.
more

The art is better than last issue, however, I don’t like it when there’s a new artist almost every month. This is how you lose readers, even if the story is as strong as this one. Just settle on a fricking regular artist, Marvel. My favorite would be Delio Diaz.