MARVEL AT THE AMAZING COMIC REVIEWS BY STU! 8/16/17

Welcome to my weekly comic book oriented article here at Flipside Gaming.  Last week Parker Industries finally fell to the ground, a cosmic cube piece was barfed up, and there was finally daylight for the heroes stuck in the Secret Empire. This week we see Generations continue with Wolverine and the mystery of the 616 Miles Morales is further explored. Excelsior!

Reviews

Amazing Spider-Man #31

This issue marks the end of Parker Industries. Instead of letting it fall into the hands of Dr. Octopus, Peter decides it would be better for all of the employees to destroy their work and keep it out of his hands and Hydra’s. I think Spider-man works better as the down on his luck everyman and I am excited to see him return to his roots as a photographer and working at the Daily Bugle

Captain America #25

This was the start to the most impressive stretch of issues in Secret Empire. Sam Wilson had finally had enough of sitting on the sidelines and the heroes start to be proactive. The highlight of the issue was when they raided an Inhuman prison camp that the Secret Warriors are currently attacking. There they meet Barf who is nothing like his Spaceballs counterpart. Instead he produces a piece of the Cosmic Cube. Let it not be said that Marvel was not willing to pull something out of left field to make this memorable!

Secret Empire #8

Although I thought the turning point would come a lot sooner, this is the first time in the main storyline that the heroes start to win. There were quite a few emotional highs and lows throughout the issue and the framing of the story was fantastic. I don’t want to spoil too much since this one of the best issues I have read in a long time. I will say that if you have been reading this event from the beginning it feels like a whole new day by the end of the issue.

Generations: Phoenix & Jean Grey #1

Someone or something is taking the newer generation of heroes placing them back in time alongside their legacy counterparts. Whether this is done just as a framing device or it is part of a larger story arc like DC’s Rebirth we will not know until the main Generations storyline starts. It was interesting seeing a younger Jean Grey seeing her future self, standing in awe of how in confidant she is as well as how much control she thinks she has over the Phoenix. A surprise visit by Galactus and Terrax make this issue really feel like an older Marvel comic.

Previews

Astonishing X-Men #2

With that is essentially a new version of X-Force, the team takes on their first challenge of the Shadow King. The surprise is that Charles Xavier’s soul is trapped by his oldest enemy. It was not quite a “Hail Hydra” surprise, but if there was ever a way to get Charles back into the main Marvel Universe this would be how. As we get closer to Generations and Legacy I can see Marvel doing this to start to repair the old core of the X-men teams.

Generations Wolverine & All-New Wolverine #1

Another time displaced hero meets their predecessor where X-23 meets a younger Wolverine who is quite not ready to accept he has been cloned or has a surrogate daughter. This will also have an emotional impact on Laura since she will have to struggle to tell or not tell Logan what has happened to him in the future and how his death has inspired others to take up the mantle of Wolverine.

Invincible Iron Man #10

I am not quite sure where in the Marvel timeline this is occurring. I am going to have to think it is before Secret Empire since the Tony Stark A.I. in that series has been pretty helpful. The Tony Stark in issue #10 is far less willing to help. It is like taking everything that makes Tony Start and putting it into an A.I. that is going to want to do what is best for humanity without the soul to stop from going too far. Sounds like Ultron to me but we will have to see!

Spider-Men 2 #2

Just as we start to get a clear picture of who the 616 Universe Miles Morales is, an alternate reality Taskmaster appears and threatens these heroes. I am really hoping that they do not detour too far off on who the new Miles is because that is one way to make an arc go south quickly. I think in the end the series will have a good payoff but I do not want to lose an issue in the middle just make it got 5 issues when 4 was perfectly reasonable.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to stop in any Flipside Gaming in East Greenbush to pick up or reserve your copies of these titles today!

 -Stu Somers

Stu is a former M:TG Pro Tour competitor and avid comic book fan. He wants to know what you think about his article, so leave a comment below or hit him up on twitter @Ssomers55.