Kevin's Five Favorite Comic Book Issues

Recently, my fiancee asked me what my favorite comic book was. I had to think and realized I didn't have an immediate answer. With as many comic books as I own and have read over the years, I could not think of what I would qualify as my favorite comic book.

When I thought a little MORE, as is my way, I couldn't just settle on one book. I had to pick five. Usually I'm more decisive, but here, I narrowed it down to five, that have their own reasons.

Don't read anything into the order of how I talk about these, but below is my list. I've decided that I will write about my memories of these books and what I thought. Then I will re-read them and give my reaction to that, to see if my memories of these books are still held with such high regard. I hope I don't ruin them...

Fantastic Four #348 (Marvel)
My Memory: This was an issue I read early on in my budding comic book nerdiness. Ironically, it is a Fantastic Four book that barely stars the Fantastic Four. This had a 90's ass team of four heroes that were replacing the Fantastic Four. You have Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and the Grey Hulk. Funnily enough, two of those characters are in my top five favs! I remember that the differences in these characters were really played up and put on display. I forget the reason WHY they were together, but I remember this being a lot of fun. Also, I still love the cover of this book.

Reality: The make up of the New Fantastic Four is definitely as 90's as it gets. I was spot on with what I remembered about that aspect of it. Like I had mentioned, they really play up the differences between all these characters and their interactions with each other. I forgot how aggressive the relationship between the Grey Hulk and Spider-Man was. The artwork by Art Adams was really good here. This issues featured the skrulls, some of the great Fantastic Four villains. Also, this issue showed how much of a dick Reed Richards can be. A skrull replaced his wife and he is playing along, but makes a comment about how he's MORE attracted to this skrull than his actual wife! Watch out for Reed, man. I think this was a fun issue, but if I am being honest, I liked the cover of the issue more than the actual issue itself. I think that is why it has stuck out in my mind.

Amazing Spider-Man #375 (Marvel)
My Memory: Now this memory is very specific. I remember buying this issue when I lived in Germany. I think I had ridden my bike about fifteen minutes away to the small Air Force base and bought this book in a little trailer that sat outside of the BX. I was starting to get into Spider-Man and I was loving Mark Bagley's art on this book. At the time, Venom was like, the villain for Spider-Man. The threat was real because Venom was the one guy who's Spider-Man's spider-sense could not detect. That made him super dangerous. I remember the fight scenes being so dynamic with a satisfying conclusion. The only downside was this was in the middle of an arc where Peter Parker's parents had seemingly come back from the dead. The less I say about that, the better.

Reality: This one does not live up to my memory. I was spot on about the basis of the story. This is an anniversary issue, but it is about as cookie cutter as it gets. This epitomizes the 90's. The Mark Bagley art definitely holds up and it is the saving grace here. This essentially a fight between Spider-Man and Venom. You even get 90's ass characters like Silver Sable and the Wild Pack showing up here. If that doesn't jog a memory inside you, congrats. You escaped the 90's without having to live through this. Since this is an anniversary issue, there are also some nonsense backups that are included. Other than the art, if there is one plus I can say about this issue is that it read fast. Unlike the next issue I'm about to talk about...

X-Men #4 (Marvel)
My Memory: Thanks to the X-Men cartoon, I dived in with both feet into the world of the X-Men. I think I bought this book out of sequence with the other issues and slowly worked my way backwards. In fact, this was one of those rare comics that I had to replace because the condition got so bad that I could not deal. Anyways, that aside, I remember that it started out with a cool scene of some of the X-Men just playing basketball. It was Wolverine and Jubilee versus Gambit and Rogue. This was a point when that romance between Gambit and Rogue was just starting to begin. I remember after a brief fight between all these characters, Rogue and Gambit decide to go on a date. They are attacked by Omega Red, an unforeseen villain from Wolverine's past. What made this book so awesome was the Jim Lee art. This is when he was truly a force of nature in the comics world.

Reality: I forgot how overly worded these comics were back then. First of all, the Jim Lee art was super solid back then. This was when his star was on the rise. There is that fun basketball game between Wolverine/Rogue vs. Gambit/Jubilee. What was annoying is the overtly scientifically way that Beast's dialogue was. He sounds like a guy that uses big words to sound smart. This criticism is aimed at the writers. I don't know what they were trying to prove here, but it is very ham-fisted. It is laughably bad. The action looked good, but man, the writing was not. Unfortunately, this one didn't hold up as well as I thought. It is wrought with 90's schlock.

X-Men #25 (Marvel)
My Memory: At this point, I had been reading all the X-books (X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Force and X-Factor), so I was all in. This issue was the big turning point in the Fatal Attractions story line that was running through all the books. It's a big deal because this is when Magneto pulls all the Adamantium out of Wolverine's body! The pain of this was captured in scary detail by the pencils of Andy Kubert. This in turn caused Professor Xavier to retaliate by completely wiping the mind of Magneto. This issue would have long lasting ramifications for the X-Universe for many years. From this story, it is revealed that Wolverine had bone claws all along, not created when the adamantium was added to his body, debunking that long held plot point. Xavier's actions would lead to the eventual creation of Onslaught, another X-Men big bad that would be the thing around 1998.

Reality: This issue is almost a time capsule of what comics were in the 90's. I forgot that back then, you would see characters smoking all the time. There are no less than five different scenes with characters smoking. You see The Thing stepping out of the shower with a stogie in his mouth! Nick Fury is smoking a cigar somewhere on the Shield Hellicarrier. Wolverine is shown smoking a cigarette before going on a mission and Gambit is too! They have done away with all that in comics today. Oh right, the issue itself. Fabian Nicieza must have gone to the Chris Claremont school of writing because this issue is overwrought with dialogue. What did come across is how dire the mission was to stop Magneto this time. The Andy Kubert art was really good, but there were a lot of shots of characters standing around, looking off into the distance. Also, some of the action scenes were framed really weird. The scene where Magneto rips the adamantium out of Wolverine is very visceral. Xavier's reaction to that was just as powerful, as he was a man who was finally fed up. If anything was weird to me, it's the makeup of the team. It's explained, but seemed weird giving all the X-Men running around at the time. Also, Jean Grey is brought along to back up Xavier in what feels really sexist in the way she's used. The 90's man. I think this issue holds up, but like I said, it took a while to read. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Fantastic Four #60 (Marvel)
My Memory: At this point, I had been out of comic books for about five years. Yes, believe it or not, when I went to college, I gave up comic books, cold turkey. This was a combination of a number of things. There was a horrible clone saga story line going on with the Spider-Man books. Onslaught lead to the Heroes Reborn and so on. So my cousin told me about this issue and I saw that it was only 9 cents. So with that price point, you know the idea is to try and hook new readers. Well, it was so well written and true to the spirit, that I was hooked once again. Mike Wieringo's art was dynamic and the humanizing touches that Mark Waid reminded me of what I liked about the Fantastic Four in the first place. This is the book that jump started my return to comics.

Reality: Yup. My memory of this comic was accurate. It is well written in a way that not many "introductory" type issues are. It uses a clever device of having an outsider join the Fantastic Four to chronicle their daily lives as part of a campaign to improve their image. In comics, there is always destruction by the heroes to save the day, but it's rarely shown the impact of that. The purpose of this PR campaign is to improve their "Q-Rating". What I loved about this issue is how playful the characters are with each other, which shows how much of a family they are and not just a team. Also, it has what I think is the best description of some of their powers that you will ever hear. Mr. Fantastic's stretching is described as the sound you make when you drag your hand over a balloon. The Thing's every action is described as rocks rolling around in a clothes dryer. That's genius stuff. The art is wonderful, but with all this explanation of the characters and their relationships, there is a mystery as to who funded the campaign for the group. It is revealed that it was Mr. Fantastic himself. He feels guilty about the hubris he showed in his experiment that gave them all powers and how that changed their lives. Especially Ben Grimm, which has been a plot point for many years. Honestly, if there was one book out of these five I would recommend to any person, it would be this issue.

So if I had to pick a winner here, it is clearly Fantastic Four #60. It reminded me why I love the Fantastic Four so much. All in all, I think this was a fun experiment. This ended up being Marvel focused, so maybe I will pluck five DC books at some point and go through those.

Cloak and Dagger

There seems to be an abundance of riches these past few years as far as comic book shows go. I can count at least nine comic book series I have watched. JUST THIS YEAR! Thankfully with each new show that comes out, they all have something fresh to offer.

This is what I felt about Cloak and Dagger. Look, I know this will sound like I have said this about a lot of things on this blog, but it is true. I've been a Cloak and Dagger fan for years. Unlike the other characters I have talked about loving before, I can't even determine when I started to like these two. I'm not even going to quantify it.

I say all that to set up that I was looking forward to this show. This might be a minor complaint, but it is something I am noticing with more of these shows. There is a definite slow burn that is happening. Since it's not serialized television, you have a long running arc that goes throughout the season. What I had worried about here is that this show was a super hero show based on all the ads. That is barely what this show is about. So, I feel like those that came to this show expecting super heroes are going to be disappointed. Yes, they do have powers, but half the season are these two trying to figure it all out. They don't even appear in costume.

However, I did actually like this show. I just felt like it dragged a little in the middle. Also, knowing that these two are a couple in the comics, I kept shipping them hard and being disappointed when it wasn't going in that direction. This is my OWN baggage. I am at least thankful that it kept me guessing.

I also want to say that I loved that they chose New Orleans as the setting. In the comics, damn near every super hero is based in New York. These two are no exception. It's nice to see that with some of these shows, they are willing to move the characters to completely different locales. This is a city I don't see much of, so it's a refreshing change. The city also plays a part into many elements of the story.

As silly as their origin seems here, it's a lot better than the original conceit. Marvel really loved to tie all their super heroes to drugs in some way. Other small things that changed for the better, is they got rid of Tyrone's stutter, which was a big part of his personality within the comics. He didn't need that as a crutch. Giving him a somewhat happy home life helped flesh him out.

If I have a criticism, it's that not all of the actors are strong. This is a cable TV show and I feel like that shows. The main actors playing Tyrone and Tandy are good, it's just some of the periphery characters. I'm thinking of most of the cops that show up. Tandy's mom was a tad annoying too.

I am so glad that we didn't get a cartoony, comic book type of villain. These two are not fighting a costumed super villain. There are a lot of shades of grey here. I got wrapped up in the main mysteries of the season. That being the duel vengeance for the death of Tyrone's brother and Tandy's father. You wanted to see justice done and guess what, spoiler, it gets resolved. I now look forward to see where they go with their main quests achieved. There I am hoping they will be in some form of their costumes. All of the promo material had them looking like that, so I feel like that was the biggest bait and switch.

Would I recommend this show to others? Absolutely. The only caveat I would make is that this is a show aimed at teenagers, so you will have to deal with teenage angst. For me, I already watch Riverdale unabashedly, so I'm fine with teenage angst in my life.

Fantastic Four #1

They're back!!

I know it has been a few weeks since this book came out, but I needed to talk about it before I completely forgot.

I've documented many times on this here blog that I am a huge Fantastic Four fan. Well, as of two weeks ago, they are now officially back in the Marvel Universe! After a lengthy hiatus, they returned in Fantastic Four #1. The book continued the exploits of Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm, which is a thread that has been running over in Marvel 2 In One.

The reason I wanted to talk about this book is that it is rare these days that I genuinely feel something from a comic book. I've become jaded and cynical. Not much truly moves me. This issue did for a number of reasons.

At least with this first issue, writer Dan Slott has lovingly acknowledged the past of the Fantastic Four while keeping an eye on the future. In what was one of the more shocking developments, Ben Grimm proposed to Alicia Masters! How has this not happened?! All the stuff they have been through over the years and they are just now about to get married. This is one of those truly sweet relationships that you rarely find in comics. A blind sculptor who falls in love with a guy made of orange rock. Okay, it doesn't sound as sweet when I say it like THAT, but it is. Just trust me.

I've stated before how Ben Grimm is one of my favorite characters and I am glad to see him find a little bit of happiness here.

On the other side, we've been watching Johnny Storm slowly begin to unravel. In speaking of the past, we get an appearance from Wyatt Wingfoot AND She Hulk all in one issue, also acknowledging their past. I swear it's like this issue was written for me.

Not to be outdone, we also get a little bit of a view in the what Dr. Doom is doing.

What I said before is real. When I put this issue down, I was truly happy. I felt like I was back home again. It's a hard feeling to describe, but you know it when you feel it.

Surprisingly, this first issue did not feature the team getting together at all. However, you could feel their impression within the book and the anticipation for their return. The FF used to be the center of the Marvel Universe and they were the beginning of it. I hope with this new iteration, that can get pushed back there and maybe we can push the Avengers to the side a little...

Luke Cage - Season 2

I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but to the surprise of no one, I watched another Marvel Netflix show. This time it was season two of Luke Cage. Honestly, I liked this season more than the first. This show wasn't perfect and it had a few flaws. However, they were a lot less glaring for me than the first season. If we want to get REALLY specific, I hated Diamondback. Hated him. He's gone, so that makes this season infinitely better. Enough with this conversation, let's get into my review.

As usual, I will try to avoid spoilers, but I'm not human. They MAY happen.

To start off, what I really liked was the villain for most of the season. The villain this time around is John McIver, a.k.a. "Bushmaster". Here we have a compelling villain with an understandable motivation. He is coming after Mariah Dillard and Harlem just happens to be the collateral damage. First of all, I loved the portrayal of him by actor, Mustafa Shakir. I've never seen him in anything before, but this show made me a fan. We have a guy that is just as physically imposing as Luke Cage and feels like a real threat in a way that Diamondback never did. Also, unlike the first season, you have a villain that Luke Cage can actually fight. Secondly, I loved what his inclusion brought to the table of this series. We have a subtext of Jamaican black people versus American black people. You see how these two different cultures co-exist within Harlem. To me, this is fascinating and my not be something most people would even think about. Also, given his motivations, you kind of root for the guy in a way. You get where he's coming from and we get an interesting dynamic where he begins to become the talk of the town as Luke cage loses the faith of people. The two are diametrically opposed and watching that play out is compelling.

All of this leads me to something else I liked about this season. The arc of Luke Cage. This goes hand in hand with Bushmaster. At the beginning, Luke is Harlem's hero and he is reaping the benefits of that. We are introduced to D.W. Griffith, who I would consider is a deep cut for those familiar with the Power Man and Iron Fist series of the late 70's/early 80's. When Luke gets beat by Bushmaster, which is filmed, people lose faith in him and his popularity begins to wane. With this, Luke starts a series of questionable choices that lead him to where he ends up by the season's end. All I will say is that every villain is the hero in their own story. This is the path that Luke begins to walk as he begins to lose relationships due to his own uncompromising sense of morality. In a way, like the people of Harlem, you begin to turn on Luke Cage and I think the series does a good job of that. You start to question his choices and if this is the hero Harlem needs. If that is too subtle, pay attention to what D.W. says to him at the end of the last episode. Luke has lost his way and it will be interesting to see how he gets it back.

To give you a series of quick hits of other things I liked about this season, let me present to you the following in the next couple of sentences. I absolutely love Misty Knight and how she is portrayed in this series. She also gets her own arc and she is an example of characters that get screen time that is well worth it. After losing her arm in "The Defenders", we find her struggling to deal with that. For a brief moment, we get a glimpse into a Daughters of the Dragon team up, as she hangs out with Colleen Wing. This is another nod to the comics that pleased me to no end. In my eyes, seeing these two together almost justifies all we suffered through with the Iron Fist show. I get to finally see this team up realized, in the way I always wanted. Now that we got a taste, I would LOVE to see more of this pair together. Actress Simone Missick is fantastic.

I forgot to mention above, but there is an episode where we also get an appearance by Danny Rand, a.k.a., Iron Fist. We finally get the dynamic that Defenders tried to cultivate. Iron Fist finally felt right after his dreadful series and an appearance in the Defenders that had me second guessing him being around. I still don't like Finn Jones as Iron Fist, but at least here I had less problems with it. If we can get more of this, that would be much appreciated.

Before I move on, like the first season, I absolutely love the music in this series. It still remains fantastic and keeps the blaxploitation feel that I loved.

So I spent a lot of time talking about what I like and I know they were super specific cases, but those are the things that still stick with me months after finishing the series. Now as for what I didn't like, that is also fairly easy.

I read over my review of season one, and I realized how kind I was and neglected to say a few things. Above, I mentioned how i hated Diamondback, but that old review was more glowing. This is what happens when you get older and crankier, folks. What I am trying to get at is I glossed over Alfre Woodard's, "Black Mariah" character. I think it worked in the first season, but in this second season there is such a thing as too much. That is what she was here. In the Bushmaster vs. Black Mariah fight, I was easily rooting for Bushmaster. She comes off as more crazy and unhinged in this season. Also, the tics that Woodard portrays her with starts to grate on my nerves. She does crazy eyes very well, I will give her that. She becomes a mustache twirling villain in this series.

We also have to see her relationship with Shades play out and it's so hard to get a read on the relationship. On the one hand, given the way Shades has been portrayed, you expect him to be playing her the entire time. However, they show that he is hopelessly in love with her. On a side note, I liked that they introduced Comanche into the series, which is another deep cut from Luke Cage lore. So like I was saying, their relationship is weird. Her whole arc and the inclusion of her daughter in this season don't help in humanizing her, but more firmly establishing that she's the worst. Wow, this went on way longer than I thought it would. The one saving grace is that she masterfully manipulated Luke Cage into the place where he ends up by the series end.

I've talked on long enough, but for those that are on the fence, I will say that I think that this season is good. I have talked with a few people that didn't like it or couldn't make it past the first few episodes. I get that, but I will say if you push through, I think you will get something that you will like. Season three is positioned to be really interesting.