CrazyforRAMU's Profile

I can't even try to be objective about this.

Dr. Strange collects some of Jed MacKay's other favorite characters and enlists them in a life-or-death game of D&D? With gorgeous fantasy art (including incredible new character & monster designs) by Pasqual Ferry?

If the creators sat down at my kitchen table and asked me to help brainstorm my ideal Dr. Strange story, this is what we would come up with.
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The author dials the content nob WAY up in comparison to the previous arc; this is a much denser issue than any of the last five. And yet, the pace is perfect and the words never get boring. The art is great, though the characters outshine the settings.

I find it hilarious that by expressing herself and striving to find her heroic identity, Jen accidentally launches that classic staple of romantic comedy, a love triangle. This arc should be a lot of fun.
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Quotidian housekeeping nonsense is an integral part of the Avengers formula (one of the many, many sins of Jason Aaron's run was that there wasn't enough housekeeping). Here, the creators display a great aptitude for memorable housekeeping that doesn't eat the entire issue. It's fun and funny, but it's nicely balanced with a significant conflict, one that it even contributes to.

That c onflict, in turn, strikes its own balance between injecting a little action and foreshadowing a much larger threat to come. Wrap it all up with some small but sincere character beats and nicely polished art, and you have a very good standalone issue.
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The filigree around the edges of this story, I don't like much. Neither the tone of the words nor the style of the art suits my subjective taste. (I will say this is some of the author's best Marvel work yet, though.)

I'm still firmly convinced that this is a good comic. The father-son relationships that underpin the whole thing are INTENSE, and the plot develops organically through tho se relationships. For now, it's Carnage's jealousy and cruelty that are driving the story, but I'm eager to see Dylan, Venom, and maybe even Eddie make their own contributions in turn.
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Yes, the banter is funny. The art hits exactly the high note you expect from the Ramos/Olazaba/Delgado team. But in terms of big-picture plot, this #1 was way too stingy with the breadcrumbs for my taste. The supporting characters have done very little so far to justify the narrative attention lavished on them, and the author's illustrious reputation alone isn't enough to convince me that all of t his will jigsaw together into a coherent whole. Those unexplained cutaways combine with the choppy flashback structure to make me think that this story is trying to puff itself up bigger than it is.more

I struggle to find the full value in a plot-driven script like this, particularly when there's so much exposition. The general beige quality of the prose doesn't help. Up to the halfway mark, I thought that the true villain of the piece was Jean Grey in one expository variant or another.

But there's a laudable clarity to this story in both the words and the art (Plus, I'm predisposed to like any story better when it ditches Greg Land). The pace picks up nicely once the exposition is out of the way, and there are occasional snappy lines that add welcome touches of humor and character.

This is a poor launching pad for Jane Howlett, though. She's got bone claws, she comes from 1909, and she talks like she's from even earlier. I'm afraid she'll need a different story, and maybe a different author, if she's going to leave a real mark.
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Meanwhile, in some other corner of the Marvel universe, Dr. Strange is standing on top of a Hydra submarine, saying, "Wait, why is it suddenly MY job to punch out the Red Skull?"

This is an epilogue to Spider-Gwen: Smash. Published, of course, a week before the last issue of that series. Never change, Marvel.

The script has some clumsy moments where the tone veers wildly. The art is pretty solid throughout, though. The character relationships are sincere and heartfelt, which paves over some of the inconsistencies in the prose.

In the big picture, it's a shame that the author couldn't get a better handle on the prose. She's really breathed fresh life into Gwen's status quo on Earth-65, just when the editors have decided to abandon that reality.
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As with the previous issue, I respect the creators' intent, but I think it would be dishonest to deny that there are serious flaws in their presentation. The art is clean, but it's certainly not breaking any new ground when it comes to design and blocking. The characters are sincere--achingly so--but their feelings and interactions are conveyed in such a mass of clichés that they're REALLY hard to root for.

This series leaves a new Sentry-adjacent hero on the shelf, but I can't drum up any enthusiasm for their return unless they're handled with more nuanced storytelling.

Sass-but-sorta-serious: With Miles Morales, Shift, Starling, Ms. Marvel, and now Mallory under her wing, Misty Knight should just go ahead and reboot Avengers Academy.
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The art is pretty clear, but it doesn't have many noteworthy assets beyond that. The script is full to bursting with grandiose intentions, but I think the execution falls far short of the potential. The author can't resist digressing to make a poetic point or a lame joke, and if he thinks his big ideas have earned him the right to an ambiguous ending, he is mistaken.

This is a thorough ly average comic with a seed of greatness inside it.

In hindsight, I seem to react to most Christopher Cantwell stories the same way. An initial burst of style and ingenuity gets me fired up and engaged. Then the author pursues tangents I find strange and off-putting. Finally, he tacks together a finale that fails to satisfy me.

Also, this series' big status quo change is undercut by the fact that Donny Cates and Torunn Grønbekk used the EXACT SAME change in their Thor run (less than a year ago) and gave it a concrete, satisfying resolution.
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This issue is an emotional wringer, and it never lets up. It has some of the same deep continuity connections as the previous issue, but it loses none of its impact if you don't fully grasp them. Storm works well in a supporting role; this is 100% the Magneto show.

The art is nicely refined, but if I had to pick one weak point here, it's that the visual tone doesn't quite match the scri pt's. It's close, but it tends toward overblown melodrama. Sometimes the script is blowing hard itself, but it also has quieter moments.
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The creators stick the landing as hard as possible here. It's definitely great. But not perfect. I would humbly suggest that the difference lies in the fact that the writing and drawing are ever so slightly less formidable than they were in #6. Still terrific, leagues above average, but imperfect.

Where this issue truly shines is in its content. The characters are treated with brillianc e, humor, and insight. Loki's tale comes to a fully satisfying conclusion. There's ample foreshadowing for future developments. Best of all, the creators weave some of the truly outlandish absurdities of Norse mythology into the Thor canon, without turning the whole exercise into a farce.
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It's a delicious overdose of status quo updates, continuity nods, and new and old antagonists. I can see how some readers could be exhausted or overwhelmed, but I love it. The writers pick up on all the nuance and depth Ms. Marvel's Jersey City cast deserves, and the protagonist sounds great, too. (The random X-Men, maybe not so much.) The art is a treat, combining top-shelf polish with the sort o f little background gags that I love (Deadpool the bacon thief!).
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I loved this. The author is finally digging full complexity out of all the disparate plot threads he's laid down, and he has them running toward an exciting convergence. I think Rabble & Spider-Man have tremendous potential, and not just as zappy antagonists.

The art is a pretty solid collaboration, though I prefer the visuals a little more in the front. That may be because that's wher e all the action is, and the fight art (by Partha Pratim?) suited my taste exactly. (Though I still don't like the John Woo doves.)

Ms. Marvel stanning report: I think I like Kamala as a Miles adjunct a little better than as an X-Man. I'm still pulling to see her in a book of her own again, though.
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In the big picture, broad strokes sense, this certainly feels epic. It has some nice lines and some nice splash panels. But the dialogue, characterization, and art don't hold up to close scrutiny. There are a lot of clichés, no character is particularly deep (Bullseye is worth mentioning as the flattest of the bunch), and the visuals are often unclear.

Not to mention, all the panels of Cap's jaw silhouetted in black feel like the artist is DARING us not to make DKR comparisons.
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I'm still enjoying this. The art has a subtle but not overwhelming retro vibe that's perfect for the script. The action is picking up, and we get a peek at a bona fide big bad. I would say this is even better than #1…if not for the overdose on continuity and lore. One of the deep cut characters gets a significant role to play, but the other is just indulgent.

The art remains splendid and nasty, providing a strong narrative skeleton for a well-structured story. The script has some excellent insights into both Carnage and Flash, and their adversarial collision is milked for its full potential (And I only spotted two lines of dialogue that lacked contractions!). But Carnage's sudden pivot toward Venom, though handled with great storytelling skill, comes o ff feeling arbitrary. This title already has some focus problems, and now a left-field turn in its main character's motivation? It smells like an editorial mandate, though, so I'm not blaming the creators too hard.
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The good news is that the art is pretty polished, and all the plot and character developments make sense. The bad news is, sensibility comes at the expense of novelty and surprise. Things fall into place according to the ironclad laws of storytelling cliché. In particular, I found the final-scene "surprise" to be anything but.

Follow-on effect: The predictability of the story developmen ts made the pace feel slow and undercut the artwork's splashiest moments.
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There's some nice plot development going on here, and a few sharp character insights. The writing and art are livened up by the occasional memorable line of dialogue or charged panel.

But the plot and the script are also disjointed. This doesn't feel like a smooth collaboration in any sense; plot threads and narrative tones are at war here. When Logan's narration kicks in in the last ac t, the mood shifts so sharply that I expected the metaphorical clutch to fall right out of the engine.

Silver lining: FINALLY, someone (Quentin Quire, naturally) calls out the rampant homoeroticism of Creed's obsession with Logan. It's not the first time it's been noted, but it's rarely as blatant as it is in this arc.
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Half of this comic is a worthy, character-based continuation of this title and the recent Sabretooth miniserieses. The other half wants to be the grittiest, goriest, macho-est comic of 1994. At least they're interwoven a little, but the tone is still schizophrenic. The most remarkable thing might be that the art team does a pretty good job of harmonizing with both moods.