MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Doctor Strange #4"

In the last issue, Stephen had discovered the deaths of many Sorcerer Supremes throughout the universe and we were given the title of the next story as Death Has Teeth (yet weirdly, we get the title of The Art of Puking Without Puking instead). We have the dread ramping up for the eventual confrontation between Doctor Strange and the insidious forces of the Empirikul, who now know who he is and are zeroing in on. Will it live up to the hype? Well, you’ve all by now read my views on Last Days of Magic, so it should really be a no-brainer now shouldn’t it?

Just like my constant review schedule where I said we’d get into all this “next” Sunday and it’s now three months later.

Oops.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Exiles #1" (2018)

Ooooh boy. Let's unpack this, shall we? Exiles was a series that basically was Sliders (several of the episodes of which I've reviewed on this very blog) meeting with superheroes. While not officially an X-Men book, it had several characters (and several variation of characters) from the X-Men side of the Marvel universe. There were others, of course, but for the most part it's an X-Men book that wasn't really an X-Men book. The original team comprised of Clarice Ferguson - aka Blink - from the Age of Apocalypse universe, a version of Mimic - aka Calvin Rankin - from another universe, Nocturne - the daughter of Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch from another universe, Thunderbird (aka John Proudstar) and Mr. Misguided Declaration of Heroism himself, Morph.

The first series ran for one hundred issues (absolutely unheard of in Marvel today) and is considered by many to be a classic that is unmatched across the multiverse...at least until Chris Claremont came in for the final leg of the story and turned it into the "Psylocke and all her friends" show.

And people say that Wolverine is a publicity hound.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Spider-Man: One More Day"

We come to it at last, my dear readers! The greatest story ever told in the entire Spider-Man saga! That's right, it's finally time! I promised you all a special review because I missed Saturday (this week was a particular hard week at my job, sorry about that), and here it is. The definitive Spider-Man story. Published in 2007, One More Day is widely considered to be not only the most accurate, but most respectful portrayal of the character as created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Really, Joe Quesada and JMS created a masterpiece here and I am privileged to be able to even talk to you about it.

Our story begins in Amazing Spider-Man #544, back before Marvel took the very brilliant idea of rebooting their series every 25 issues or so to heart. And a good thing, too! Who wants to have an easy way to track the story by issues when we could just jump between different volumes and try to figure out the difference between this #1 and that #1. It's absolutely brilliant! But I'm not here to talk about Marvel's fantastic business practices, which in recent years have brought fans together and created so many beloved characters such as Riri Williams and Squirrel Girl's modern incarnation. No, we're here to talk about Joe Quesada's magnum opus!

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Doctor Strange #3"

The last time we saw Stephen Strange, serious matters were afoot. While he tried to assuage the fears of young Zelma Stanton about the Mind Maggots had had rooted their way into her...the truth was something far worse. Not just for Zelma, but for the world entire - magic was seeing a very dangerous shift. A fairly common spell cast by Strange...produced no effect, almost as though that magic had simply stopped existing entirely. It was definitely troublesome, and Stephen sought to discern just what it was that had happened, unaware that the Sanctum was being visited by an allied force...who was then dragged back through the portal that he had come through by the insidious forces of the Empirikul, who were determined to destroy all magic.

I've mentioned in a few of my reviews since now that the first three issues of the run of a comic tend to set up the status quo for the run so that it can be shaken up by the events to come. I've also said that Doctor Strange didn't really need that, since the characters of Stephen and Wong were very firmly established within the mythos of the Marvel Universe. By this point, the movie hadn't come out yet, so I really couldn't make a crack about how the common man would know as well, but the point is that he was a known figure in-universe, so the first issue of this run really only served as a re-introduction to the character and his world. This was much the same with Issue #2 and continues into Issue #3.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #4"

Last time, Ben Reilly beat up a cosplayer. Also, other things happened, but that was really the main focus on Issue #3. Issue #4 has a cover...that technically lies. It's a pretty good cover, showing Ben Reilly and Kaine - Scarlet Spider vs. Scarlet Spider - seeming to fall from a building and down into Las Vegas as they come to blows. However, there is a slight problem with the image.

It doesn't actually appear in the comic. Sort of.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Doctor Strange #2"

So, pro-tip for those of you wanting to get into internet reviewing - never do almost an entire review of something before going back and finding out that you've already reviewed it. Because, yeah, that happened.

Still, at the very least, it gives me a good base to go off of. If you don't feel like clicking the above link, here's a quick recap of Issue #1. Zelma Stanton, a young woman who worked as a librarian and was "lol snarky" incarnate came to Doctor Strange for some assistance dealing with some magical maggots that had wormed their way into her brain. Then they got out. With Issue #2, we're going to pick up right where we left off - maggot apocalypse already in progress.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #3"

Last time on Dragonball Z...I mean, Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider...

Issue #2 saw Ben coming to grips with the reality of what he's done, doing some twistedly altruistic things, and be a snarky jackass. Issue #2 saw Kaine, on the other hand, running around fake torturing a woman for information about Ben, breaking into an office building in a way that would make John McClane weep with pride, and finding out what it's like to be on the receiving end of more dakka. Where will Issue #3 take us? Well, for starters, it takes us back to Ben Reilly's signature costume as the Scarlet Spider on the cover.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #2"

When we last left Ben Reilly, he had come to Las Vegas in order to hide from not only Peter Parker but also his "brother" Kaine, who was in pursuit of him (though Ben's not aware of that fact just yet). Hitting up an old contact from his brief stint as a super villain, Ben found himself in the office of Cassandra Mercury with a gun in his face. Issue number two picks up with the execution of Ben Reilly, already in progress. Unfortunately for Cassandra Mercury, she's just an average human and no bullet is any match for a prepared Spider family member with their Spider-Sense intact.

"Colt 45...semi-automatic...PLAY-DOH!"

After a bit of a stand-off, Ben gets some more information from Cassandra about her daughter, Abigail. Ben mentions she was suffering from Crooks' Disease, which would not yet be fatal. Cassandra admits that she is not, but she's in a coma that her doctor isn't expecting her to wake up from, so she might as well be dead. Ben asks to see her and is taken.

Kaine, meanwhile, is treating Ben's former associate Rita to a torturing...sorry, it's "enhanced interrogation" now, according to him. Through claiming that he's planning to waterboard her with scalding hot water rather than the usual cold, Kaine manages to intimidate her into revealing a clue to Ben's location - that he was planning to go to Broadway, but not the one in New York, as a flashback tells us. After getting her to reveal her password and her office floor at New U, Kaine reveals that it was just a bucket of dry ice and that he had no intention of actually harming her.

A far cry from the man who brutally murdered Otto Octavius back in the 90's.

...he got better, obviously, but that's neither here nor there.

Mock torturing people really IS an improvement for him.

Back in Vegas, after an awkward elevator ride, Ben is brought to little Abigail. She is, as Cassandra said, completely comatose. Ben comes up to her bedside, stunned into silence, and has a gun pulled on him by Cassandra....who relents the moment that she realizes that Abigail has woken up, asking for a glass of water. Slate and Ben head out into the hallway and end up in a tussle over what just happened Ben politely suggesting (with a gun in Slate's mouth for emphasis) that they just play nice and get along so as not to ruin Cassandra's happy moment.

Not long after, Ben bluffs his way into convincing Cassandra that not only did he cause Abigail to wake up via telepathy, but that he can cure her with some funding and time. As a condition of this, June ends up getting free room and board at the casino as well as all the quarters she can stomach.

Awww, Ben's feeding her gambling addiction!

Meanwhile, Kaine breaks into New U's offices and finds Rita's office. Trolling through the database, he uses the Broadway clue and finds records of Abigail's condition and surmises that Ben has gone there. While Kaine using the records technically makes sense, and he ultimately does deduce correctly, I went ahead and checked Wikipedia for places that are either named or related to Broadway. There are at least fifteen that have no relation to New York or Nevada. Regardless, he's right and is already making plans to go after Ben when two men in tactical gear burst into the office he's in...and open fire on him with some lovely automatic weapons, ending the issue.

The tone has definitely gotten a little more serious here. No comical hallucinations of the Scarlet Spider or the Jackal for Ben, we have Kaine threatening to waterboard a woman (even though he had no intention of doing so), and an almost gratuitous overuse of gun play. We are clearly far and away from the high flying adventures of Peter Parker, this series being a different animal entirely (not to say that Spidey can't be dark). We're starting to see a status quo develop - Ben working for Cassandra to develop a cure for Crooks' Disease, Aunt June living at the casino, Ben trying to become a hero, Kaine's efforts to stop him because he believes he's still a villain (and rightly so). We also get further development on Ben trying to get a grasp on a familiarity to his life as he gets Aunt June room and board at the casino...as well as endless quarters to feed her gambling addiction.

...two out of three ain't bad?

All the ingredients are here for something great, and we'll be getting into it next Saturday!

Face front, True Believers!

*record scratch* "Hi...that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here..."

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #2 comes to us from Marvel Comics.Written by Peter David, Penciled by Mark Bagley, Inked by John Dell, color artist'd by Jason Keith, and lettered by Joe Caramgna. They all did great!

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #1"

The more astute of my readers (and good luck figuring out, between the three of you, who I'm talking about) might have noticed that I am a fan of Spider-Man. I'm not a fan of pretty much anything that Marvel has done with Spider-Man (in the comics, anyway) since about 2007. Why? Because Spider-Man had his entire status quo altered by a very, very poor deus (or should I say devil) ex machima that should have been laughed out of the writer's room in concept, much less ever make it into print. Joe Quesada insists that his magnum opus One More Day is a story about love and sacrifice, when it is really a story about Peter Parker rejecting his own creed of "with great power comes great responsibility".

So yes, it was basically Secret Empire before Secret Empire ever existed. But One More Day at least had the decency to only be four issues long.

However, as you can tell from the title, my hatred of Joe Quesada and Nick Spencer (who both still have jobs and Nick Spencer is due to take over for Dan Slott in writing Spidey - oh joy!) isn't what we're here to talk about. We can save that for another day. No, we're here to talk about the Scarlet Spider!

...no, not that one, though I could see why you might think that. Kaine did have the last ongoing series under the name and he has been, for a few years now, the only active Scarlet Spider, but no. I'm here to talk about the original Scarlet Spider: Ben Muckfothering Reilly.

And yes, that is his legal name.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Angel" #8: Time and Tide, Part Four

And here we are, the fourth part of "Time and Tide". So far, we've had a time traveling adventure where Angel and Fred have gone back in time to an old galleon in search of a mysterious bug creature, met with Angel's earlier self Angelus and former flame Darla, had a fight with said duo, and accidentally unleashed a ship of beetle-breeding zombies before burning it and attempting to escape...only to be surrounded by the undead monstrosities. And that, I think, is enough to get you up to speed and make the first sentence of this paragraph make any sort of sense.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Angel" #7: Time and Tide, Part Three

We now return to our Voyage of the Damned already in progress. When we last left our dynamic duo, Angel and Illyria, they were on a pirate boat in the past where Angelus and Darla had been sent - rather like Team Rocket - blasting off again. While Angel feared for future continuity, he and the depowered Elder God had greater worries, primarily the fact that they were on a boat that was not only under siege by pirates, but had a pest problem that was rapidly getting worse.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Angel" #6: Time and Tide Part Two

Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Hey, Madcap! The last time you did a comic that promised a prize fight, you became the laughing stock of the internet! Because at no point in that comic did either of the two people who were listed on the marquee ever in a fight and, in fact, only had one exchange in which they called each other douchebags!"

Well, I say, "Shut the hell up, voices in my head that compel me to shout random things onto the internet! I actually checked this comic and the title is, in fact, not a lie!"

...I'm secretly very lonely. If you're reading this, please send help.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Angel" #5: Time and Tide, Part One

Angel is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, spun-off from another of my favorite TV shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Say what you will about the stigma around its creator, Joss Whedon, but the shows themselves are very solid works of fiction. If you want a very deep and intricate look at both shows, check out Passion of the Nerd on YouTube. At the time of this writing, he's been doing an episode guide and analysis on both shows and does a damn better job than I could in explaining things in deep detail.

However, for the sake of brevity, I'll give you only the details necessary for this particular quartet of issues I'm going to cover this month, Angel #5-8. In Angel, the titular vampire was once one of the most deranged, bloodthirsty monsters to walk the face of the Earth. However, he failed to follow the horror movie rule of "don't fuck with gypsies" and ended up being cursed with a soul...something the vampires of the Buffyverse (generally), do not have. Thus, he was doomed to remember every evil deed he had ever committed...and be weighed down under that guilt, suffering for all of eternity.

At least until 1999, when he left Buffy's supporting cast to go to LA. Getting together with a wise-cracking half-demon and Cordelia from the aforementioned parent series, Angel opened up a detective agency with the single goal of helping the helpless. Over five seasons, we were both introduced to and came to love a wonderful cast of characters, all of whom grew and develop during the series' tenure in a way that rivaled Buffy's, if not surpassed it's parent show.

Which brings us to where spoilers come in. So, with the final warning given, we begin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Spider-Man vs. Dracula #1"

Spider-Man is my favorite superhero of all time, largely because of what he represents.  More so than a lot of superheroes out there, he stands out to me.  While Captain America is (when written by people who are not Mark Millar) a symbol of integrity, never compromising in the battle to do what's right and Iron Man is (when written by people who are not Mark Millar) a symbol of perseverance, of what people can accomplish through hard work and dedication, as well as a living example of the miracles that science and technology can accomplish, Spider-Man has, to me, always exemplified a single thing:  hope.

Peter Parker was originally crafted as the everyman by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko waaaaay back in the 1960s.  He was supposed to be the average joe who just happened to be a superhero, having to balance the problems that came with squeezing himself into a red and blue onesie with things like relationships with his peers, constantly trying to make ends meet financially, and caring for his constantly-dying Aunt May.

No matter his struggle, no matter the peril he finds himself in - be it dealing with a supervillain preying on his loved ones, having to battle a cosmic being that is hunting other versions of him from across the multiverse, or the simple struggle of making enough cash just to keep his lights on, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will always find a way to bounce back and come out on top.

...yeah, totally sets you in the mind of a Halloween story, right?

And I won't go into how bizarre it is that Dracula is suddenly in a superhero comic, because I have done so already and managed to give a quick, concise history with it all the while. Basically put, Dracula exists in the Marvel universe, being that the Marvel universe operates on a standing policy of "All Myths Are True". So, naturally, throwing Spidey into a knock down, drag out fight with Dracula makes sense.  No, that's not a joke.  After all, one of his biggest villains (and later anti-hero and sometimes partner) was one, so it doesn't seem all that far-fetched.

And honestly, after his battle with the X-Men, it seems only natural to take a big step back and focus on a specific character rather than his efforts against a team.  Simple enough, right? Take a well-known hero, Spidey being a big seller for Marvel in any case, and have a tight, well thought out story that has a satisfying bout between the two that will obviously end with the knowledge (at least to the reader) that Dracula isn't really dead.  They had the potential to do something really neat here.  Did they do it? Well...

...yeah, no, this is...this is not that comic. I won't go so far as to say that it's bad, just that it's really pointless. The worst part about it is that the title is actually a complete and utter lie:  Spider-Man and Dracula do not, at any point, fight in this comic.

I know, I was disappointed, too.

The comic itself begins with Spidey coming across a jewelry store having been broken into. He soon comes across a shadowy figure and they tussle for a bit, but they manage to escape and completely elude the Webslinger.  Notably, during the fight, the webbing doesn't stick and Spidey slips on a patch of ice on the sidewalk...which he notes is odd in the sixty degree weather.  It's a good opening that shows us Spidey's fighting abilities as well as sets up vampires...though we don't actually get any indication that it is a vampire.  It's clearly supposed to be, but it's not Dracula (the figure's silhouette doesn't look a thing like Dracula as he appears later), and there's no follow-up on it later.

But we're not supposed to think much about it before Peter goes to visit his dear Aunt May who, in spite of her instance that she's fine, has picked up some strand of super flu that regular vaccines are immune to.  Her only hope is one A.J. Maxfield, an eccentric doctor who apparently discovered a new vaccine.  However, because of their eccentricities, they won't fly and is coming to America by boat.  Fearing that may be too late, Peter does what any rational superhero would do...hits up the Baxter Building and harangues Johnny Storm until he gives him a rocket to use.

...oh, don't look at the screen like that, you totally saw that coming.

But after that intrusive cameo, Peter somehow manages to have the exact coordinates of the ship bringing Maxfield to America and shoots off to it, arriving and sneaking aboard out of costume.  Coincidentally, Dracula is also arriving at about the same time and the two literally bump into each other, each one thinking about how the other one is an asshole.  And my spoiler from earlier actually gets worse, because this is literally the only interaction that the two of them have during this entire comic.  It's not even like X-Men vs. Dracula where the two at least came into conflict, no.  This is literally the only time the pair of them even speak to one another, much less fight.

The rest of the plot is Dracula looking for A.J. Maxfield because of the vaccine they discovered for...reasons.  Dracula mentions something to do with his "carefully laid plans", but there's no elaboration on it and it's frankly just a little to Vampire: The Masquerade for my tastes.  Nevertheless, while you would think this would bring Spidey into conflict with him, it doesn't...because Spidey has your standard thugs who are also looking for Maxfield.

So, in summation, while Spidey does end up getting Maxfield (who is apparently a she and whose only eccentricities seem to be having her date lie for her and wearing Viking attire) and getting the vaccine...there's...no reason to have called this Spider-Man vs. Dracula.  Besides to simply put it on the cover (and it is a pretty neat cover), which I suppose is the point in the end, but with any crossover, you have to have something to the story.  It's the same reason why Freddy vs. Jason was a forgettable mess of a film.  It tried to go solely on brand recognition without actually bothering to tell any sort of story.

Rather like this comic, in fact.

"Spider-Man vs. Dracula #1" is brought to us from Marvel Comics.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #0"

Say what you will about the early 2000s - thanks, I will!  They didn't have this and thus the childhoods of every single millennial who was born and raised in such a decade is has had an infinitely more terrible life experience because this wasn't on their radar.  Granted, when the original show first aired, I was all of two, but I caught on quick to the hype due to the fact I had a television set and minimal interference in what was on it, so by the time I was able to adjust my eyes to the bright colors and the preachy morality, I was entranced by the five (or six) teenagers with attitude (or not so much, as it turned out) who fought the evil forces of stock footage. I am speaking, of course, of the work of television genius that is...Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills.

...yeah, even I found that joke dated, sorry.

The show goes like this: 10,000 years ago, a sorceress by the name of Rita Repulsa got her ass handed to her by a wizard named Zordon, but not before he was sealed in a jar and only his head was left visible.  In the present that is 1993, she is released by some astronauts and Zordon decides to recruit "five overbearing and overemotional humans" (as opposed to the oft repeated "teenagers with attitude") to fight her and her evil forces instead of, say, alerting Earth's military or recruiting the five greatest martial artists alive.

Needless to say, for a show that was made from the stock footage from a Japanese show (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger for anyone who has the remotest bit of interest), it was received astoundingly well and become a worldwide phenomenon that continues to this day.  But in looking back on the original show...well, it's just not that good.  The plots are generally boring and predictable, the characters are broad stereotypes stretched so thin that they're almost transparent, and the acting is something that makes Sliders post Season 3 look worthy of Emmys.

And yes, to be fair, it did get better later, but much of that is due to an event that is the focal point of this comic...or, rather, this comic is the aftermath of that event.

In the first season, Zordon recruited five teenagers with attitude - Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, and Kimberly with their respective Ranger colors of red, yellow, black, blue, and pink. Throughout the first season, they faced some utterly ridiculous plots and monsters, but always managed to win by the end of the adventure because that's how it went...until one day...

They were all of them, deceived...for another Power Coin was made.

Enter the Green Ranger.  The show did a five part episode known as "Green with Evil".  It's insane to think of a five-part epic, but that is most certainly what it was, and it's one of the few things about the show that isn't held onto fondly just because of its nostalgia.  It was genuinely good and still, mostly, holds up. Rita captured and brainwashed Tommy, the new kid in the town of Angel Grove and brainwashed him to be evil.

It was genuinely intense as, for the first few parts of the story, Tommy is able to completely decimate the Rangers on his own, something that none of Rita's monsters had been able to do beforehand. And once teamed up with her generals, he was even able to wreck the Megazord and send the Rangers scrambling for cover.  While, in the end, the Rangers did actually succeed in breaking the mind control and adding Tommy to the team, it was not without its struggle, but it was probably the first genuinely hard-won victory the team had ever had.

...sadly, once Tommy joined, there was actually little in the way of aftermath.  No deep contemplation about his powers coming from a source of deep evil or suffering with the knowledge that he had hurt so many as the Green Ranger...but then it is just a kid's show, right? We can't really go into such things on a show made for a younger audience without scarring the poor darlings.

We have comic books for that!

And thus we come, after a ridiculously long time, to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #0 by Boom Studios.  Set right after the Green With Evil 5-parter, it seems that Tommy is suffering some PTSD that takes the form of nightmares of his time as a minion of evil, as well as an illusory form of Rita that follows him around and taunts him that he is so much less than he was before when he was evil.  It's actually very much akin to the taunting he received at the end of "Green No More"...but that's getting way too off-topic (not that I haven't been).

This gets to such a point for him that, during a fight against a monster, he locks up and can't deliver a final blow...though the team eventually wins without Tommy dying for the mistake, since dying from being crushed by a monster while Madonna's ghost haunts you is a really, really embarassing way to go. They go back and Jason snaps at Tommy before Zordon teaches them the true meaning of teamwork...or whatever. It basically follows the same structure as the plot of an episode, albeit with Tommy's admittedly rather dark PTSD episodes thrown in.  Light in tone, yes, but hinting at more as time goes on.

The art style is a bit anime for the facial structure and body types, something that I would have normally been put off by, but the expressions are not over the top and for the most part everything looks fairly proportionate save for when they're in the Ranger suits and for some reason they have to look all muscle-y, which wasn't how they looked on the show at all.

Angel Grove also apparently has slid ahead in the timeline and so things like e-mail blasts and cell phones with texting ability exist within the world of 1993...something which doesn't quite fit, but then Power Rangers series rarely, if ever, give an indication of an exact year of where they're set, so I guess we can add at least a little elastic to our suspension of disbelief.

So, if you're high on nostalgia, like I was, go for it.  If you're wanting a good comic to read to pass the time, you could do a lost worse. Especially for a comic book adaptation.  So, if you haven't picked it up (I recommend Thing From Another World, who will mail them right to you) already, do so. And may the Power protect you.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #0 is now available from Boom Studios wherever fine comic books are sold.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Doctor Strange #1"

There are forces far, far beyond the realm of mortal understanding.  There are malignant powers out in the ether of creation so grand and terrible that even the deepest, darkest nightmares of humanity will not dare acknowledge that such horrors are possible.  When those entities come to close to the realm of humanity, they are met by a champion.  But - not unlike the universe of a certain Gallifreyan Time Lord - when the Marvel universe needs a champion, they don't call on the Avengers or the X-Men or any other such team.

When the gates of Hell burst open and the pillars of Heaven shake...

...when the whole of creation stands on the precipice of oblivion....

...when the very fabric of reality is being torn asunder....

...what you need...is a Doctor.

Doctor Stephen Strange, once a brilliant neurosurgeon who lost the use of his fine motor functions in a terrible accident, sought a cure and instead became something far greater - the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension.  He is also one of my favorite characters in all of fiction ever.

This is actually Strange's second time having his own series, though it's been quite some time since he was last on his own.  For many years, he was a secondary character in Spider-Man (which is where I first came across him) and has been shipped around to various books in the Marvel universe since his series ended at some point in the 90s. But now, largely thanks to the fact that he's got a movie coming out next year, he's back! And it's about time the Doctor starting making house calls once again!

And he's off to a good start by saving the soul of a young man from a pack of demons who have possessed him while narrating about his backstory, catching up new readers with the cliff notes in a quick and concise way. Kudos to the creative team on using the older comic panels on the first page, really helps set the mood of the old Lee/Ditko stories of the 1960s, which I think is very faithfully homaged by the artwork of Christopher Bachalo and Timothy Townsend in this issue.

Also of note is the story, which is setting up the storyline in the right way. The good Doctor goes to the Bar With No Doors (not to be confused with the Bar With No Name), and learns from other sorcerers - namely Doctor Voodoo, Shaman, and Scarlet Witch - that more extra-dimensional occurrences like the boy being possessed by a whole pack of demons seem to be becoming alarmingly more common. Something is coming, though none of them know just what it might be. But still, it seems enough of a threat for supernatural creatures to be moving into the Earth dimension to avoid it, which speaks volumes.

We also do, in the Bar with No Doors, get some insight into Strange's psyche.  Keep in mind, while the rest of Marvel has (for the most part) operates on a floating timescale where stories in the past happened more recently (since trying to have a continuity that began in the 1939 stretch out realistically into the present with nobody aging in the meantime would be absolutely insane), Doctor Strange is one of the few that is exempt from this.  All of his stories, so far as I've read, are meant to be taking place on the publishing date...other hero and villain guest stars aside.

Immortal because of his duty as the Sorcerer Supreme, this is a man who has spent fifty-two years in constant battle with forces beyond mortal comprehension. It's rather akin to Linkara's analysis of Tommy Oliver in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder in his History of the Power Rangers series (which you can view here, it's really good stuff). Doctor Strange has been single-handedly fighting this battle against cosmic powers that would mow down the Avengers, the X-Men, and every other Marvel team for a half century.  But it's a war that really doesn't know any end.  As the old saying goes "there's always a bigger fish".

Having a duty that involves constantly fighting Cthulhu and pals on a regular basis has had a deep, resounding psychological effects on Strange. He mentions at one point how he's "vomited up pieces of [his] soul" and can't sleep for more than a few hours every night as proof that he's more than paid the cost of using magic. Even with how debilitating this can be to a person, Stephen still maintains his duty and seeks out the damned horrors that plague humanity, still chooses this life despite the fact that it has been slowly (or not so slowly) tearing away his own humanity piece by piece over the many years he's been doing it.

Mind you, I could just be reading too much into things, but I'd be very surprised if that was not what was intended by that scene and I really enjoy that it was addressed about the character.

And, to close things out, while the Doctor deals with a new task entirely, we get some scenes of a new enemy for him. In the "13th Dimension", a sorcerer by the name of Szandor Zoso tries to get a message out to someone, anyone of his attackers - the Empirikul. Unfortunately, he doesn't get far before he's attacked by some wolves with spiky, metallic harnesses on their backs and a group of those robots from the Doctor Who episode "The Girl Who Waited", led by a figured cloaked in black known only as "the Imperator".

And seriously, this guy is just badass from the jump.  He speaks all of three lines of dialogue, stops Zoso's message by blowing a hole in the wall, and then simply walks out to leave the clean up to his minions as Zoso's home burns to the ground from the explosion. If ever you needed a perfect introduction to your villain, this is definitely it. Kudos!

This is a triumphant return for Doctor Strange to a solo series and a wonderful set up for a series that I have high, high hopes for. Bravo!

...don't screw it up.

Doctor Strange #1 is now available from Marvel Comics wherever fine comic books are sold.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "X-Men '92 #2"

Last time, in X-Men '92 - the X-Men (consisting of the Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, and Jubilee and being led by the esteemed Professor X) were introduced as the heroes of the Battleworld province of Westchester, who defeated Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants as well as a Sentinel uprising...mostly, at least.  However, the emergence of a facility known as Clear Mountain as an evil mutant rehabilitation center gets the attention of the team.  Led by the enigmatic and definitely not-villain Cassandra Nova, the place seemed entirely legit...until she locked all of the X-Men besides Jubilee into chairs and used psychic mindscrewery.

Oh, and possibly telepathically erased Professor Xavier's brain. And is borne out of the Shadow King.

Y'know, just in case you didn't know who Cassandra Nova was from the 616 continuity and thought that maybe she was just a misguided soul.

And I'm aware that I spelled out the entire plot word for word, but in the interest of being concise, I'll hit the high notes.  Cassandra does a brief analysis of the X-Men Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, and Rogue, trying to figure out ways to deal with them using the images conjured by the Mind Field. Wolverine, she breaks down by having him fight illusory versions of himself from various points along his timeline (with various different costumes being put into the 90s series art style in a really cool way) to show him that no matter how hard it fights, it gets him nowhere and only begets more violence...his claws being reduced to roses as his will being broken as he and the other versions of him hug it out, a caption telling us he's "BSP Approved".

Storm she taunts with insecurities that she lives in Cyclops's shadow, as well as her claustrophobia, deeming that she will be the leader of the "new" X-Men because of her kind and selfless heart. Of course Ororo Munroe, being a complete badass, begins to see through the illusions and realizes that Cassandra is the Shadow King returned. Just when it seems she's breaking down, she breaks out of the slowly shrinking cube of psychic energy, declaring "I am lightning! I am Wind! I. Am. Storm. And I say -- NEVER!"

Seriously, real badass moment.

Shame that she gets taken down on the next page and gets a "BSP Rejected" stamp over the panel.

Gambit and Rogue, meanwhile, have been grouped together and wangst about their respective backstories and how they can never be together, despite Gambit declaring that he loves her...the two resolve to take that chance together, it's romantic and sweet and about to be sealed with a kiss...and then Cassandra shows up looking like her eyes are about to rocket out of their sockets and chides them for having sexual tension so thick you can cut it with air.

For them, she chides them for not being good role models for children (demonstrated with a chibi group of Dazzler, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and others) before leading them into a smackdown fight where she kicks both their asses...including beating down Rogue wearing...Carol Danvers' iconic Ms. Marvel outfit.

Ewwwwwwwww!!!!

But basically, more wills are broken and they're puppeted (literally) into having a vow to wait until marriage, and also being BSP Approved.

Beast, finally, only gets one page where he gets rejected for not being a person.  Because that isn't hilariously racist at all.

Oh, and then Beast reunites with Jubilee, who's had a subplot of finding an astral projection and eventually being led to the "Rejects", mutants that for one reason or another didn't pass Cassandra's test in the Mind Field and were sent below to serve as forced labor stripping Sentinels for the "X-Sentinel" project.

Including Caliban. Anyone remember Caliban? I remember Caliban.

Back at the Mansion, however, the X-Force '92 have arrived.  Cable, Psylocke, Archangel, Bishop, Deadpool, and Domino.  Although the description caption for Deadpool is actually closer to Bishop, and vice-versa, which I think would cause some confusion for new readers...but then everyone knows who Deadpool is by now anyway.

Having gotten a psychic summons from Xavier, they burst down the door of the Mansion and find...Professor Xavier is dead! ...which we knew from the end of Issue #1, but I'll give it a pass since it's new knowledge to the characters.

Like Issue #1, I have no complaints. This is still a pretty good idea overall, I think, and a nice way to get people in on the franchise without burying it in years and years of continuity that would drive someone to Lovecraftian insanity.  Cassandra is a hell of a villain and I actually found myself really enjoying as she deconstructs the flaws of Wolverine and Storm, though I found the approach to dealing with Gambit and Rogue a little ridiculous...but they had to make good on the cover, so I suppose I can't hate it all that much.

I will say, they do have me hooked. I've still got the same interest to see what happens in the next issue, as well as how the entrance of the X-Force will shake things up.  So once again, the MadCap stamp of approval on thi-OH, GOD, WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO MS. MARVEL'S OUTFIT?! WHY?! WHY?!

WHY, MARVEL?! WHY?! MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!!!

X-Men '92 #2 is now available from Marvel wherever comic books are sold.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "Lando #1"

"He's a card player, gambler, scoundrel.  You'd like him."

Better words have never been uttered to more accurately describe Lando Calrissian.  Administrator of Bespin's Cloud City, Rebel Alliance hero, and lovable rogue. Even more so than Han Solo himself, Lando Calrissian as played by Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is absolutely awash with charisma and it just oozes through in his performance. Sure he's a conman, sure you're not entirely positive you can trust him, but damn it if you don't want to root for him.

Apparently, when Marvel bought up the Star Wars franchise, they figured this out and set him up with his own comic series.  Set years before he joined the Rebels in their quest to save the galaxy, it is destined to follow Lando as he goes from conman to respected administrator of the Bespin mining facility of Cloud City.  Normally, I'm against prequels, especially in the case of Star Wars, but I have to admit I was suckered right in.  And how could I not be? I mean, it's Lando Calrissian.  The guy's as cool as ice!

The comic starts up with Lando on the planet Castell, somewhere between the Inner Rim and the Core of the Galaxy (it's a planet, in a place, in the galaxy. Don't be a nerd) admiring a mysterious and intricately designed orb.  Like a certain Guardian before him, Lando steals it...but by smooth-talking his way past a foxy Imperial Governor who he's been involved with for some time.

Afterwards, he explains to Lobot about his con.  Lobot, if you remember, was the guy in Empire Strikes Back who had the funky futuristic earmuffs and never said anything.  Here, he's a bit more chatty, giving Lando grief for taking too many risks despite the fact he did win out in the end (despite staggering odds).  Lando presents the Orb to Papa Toren, a crime boss who Lando's in quite a bit of debt to thanks to his gambling.  Instead of calling the debt even, though, Toren cuts off ten percent much to Lando's dismay.

However, if Lando does want to clear up the debt, then Torren has another job in mind...

Cue Gone in Sixty Seconds in Space. Boom.  Torren wants a pleasure craft belonging to some rich Imperial, so Lando and Lobot get a team together to pull the heist. It's a great little story, leading into a massive cliffhanger when we learn just who the stolen craft belongs to.  And without wishing to spoil, I'm afraid Lando and company will be in quite a bit of pain when he finds out...

The opening issue gives just enough to whet the appetite for future issues, with an excellent story written up by Charles Soule, and work on the art and coloring by Alex Maleev and Paul Mounts that faithfully recreates the futuristic feel of Star Wars.  I can't wait for more, and if you haven't picked this one up, you most definitely should.

Star Wars: Lando #1 is now available from Marvel Comics wherever fine comic books are sold.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "X-Men '92 #1"

The X-Men. The Children of the Atom. That rascally group of meddling kids from that mysterious school in Westchester. My exposure to them first came in the form of the 1990s X-Men cartoon on FOX, as well as the 1980s pilot on VHS for them known as "Pryde of the X-Men". The X-Men themselves have been a staple of comic books for years, have gone through many different iterations and even spawning new teams and literally thousands of different characters that all hold the distinction of being a mutant. Not created by a radioactive spider or a gamma ray explosion, they were simply  born with their special abilities, manifested from a specific gene in their DNA.

Kind of a cool concept until you realize it only exists because Stan Lee was tired of explaining himself about where everyone got super powers from.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny the influence that the X-Men have both within the Marvel universe and on comic books in general. At the time of their inception, I don't think even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would have any inkling that that group of five teenagers with attitude and their wise mentor would spawn a mythos that rivals the entire rest of the Marvel universe itself. Because of this, the question I often ask is...why aren't they? But enough about the X-Men and how they and mutants in general really don't fit in Marvel, let's get on with the newest version of an old property...twice over, in fact.  This is X-Men '92 #1.

The 90s cartoon series is probably the most commonly known version of the team, which would definitely make this a good jumping on point for anyone who watched the show and has an overload of nostalgia on it...like yours truly. We are introduced in a quick series of panels to the seven of the eight main members of the X-Men team from the show: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine, partaking in the most 90s activity there ever was - laser tag!

The "fight" is only three pages long and - to the shock of all - Jubilee is the winner. We get some post-combat banter among the team, such as Wolverine mocking Gambit's outfit, as well as some exposition being dropped about Battleworld, Senator Kelly (apparently now Baron Kelly of Westchester), and the enigmatic Bureau of Super-Powers. However, the information faucet gets turned off as Wolverine and Cyclops get into a pissing match as they are oft known to do and the short, hairy Canuck decides to bail....and then the laser tag is attacked by Sentinels!

Of course, this is a team that knows how to handle its Sentinels and start inquiring about what just happened.  Baron Kelly arrives on the scene, explaining that at the end of the "Westchester Wars", several Free-Ranger Sentiels did not receive a shutdown order that was broadcast to bring them all in, though he hopes the "Age of the Sentinel" will be ended soon thanks to the team dismantling one of them.  Here, unlike in the main 616 comics continuity or in many other versions, the X-Men apparently have a good working relationship with the authorities and even peacefully co-exist. Who would have thunk it?

Kelly also drops some exposition about a place called "Clear Mountain", as he explains to the team that after a massive battle between Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants and all of humanity - in which the X-Men fought - there were many mutants who had been recruited by the now-deceased Magneto that knew nothing but the violence of the Westchester Wars. So the Bureau of Super-Powers created Clear Mountain as a rehabilitation center.

Back at the Xavier Mansion, the team meets with Professor X and Beast to debate the validity of the program, The team is largely skeptical, deciding to check it out, except for Cyclops who thinks it might be legitimate...and suddenly I understand why everyone is a Wolverine fan.  He's beginning to doubt whether Westchester needs the X-Men and if Westchester doesn't need the X-Men...then the X-Men won't need him.  After this mission to check out Clear Mountain, he is going to be leaving the team.

The next morning, they journey by Blackbird to the Clear Mountain Facility and meet with the director - Cassandra Nova.  While the comic book affeciandos quietly freak out, I'll explain why. Cassandra Nova - to grossly oversimplify things - is a dark spirit that is a gender swapped shadowy reflection of Professor X.  If you couldn't tell that by her incredibly not at all like Professor X design, of course.

She shows hits on Beast and offers to show the ream around. explaining their therapy techniques in handling former evil mutants.  The first stage is mentoring, done in the courtyard of the facility. It's a judgment-free zone where role models help the former evil mutants learn to be human first and mutant second, which they say is essential for building trust and breaking down fear. We also get a bit where Jean suffers a psychic blackout and Cassandra explains the facility uses a psionic suppressor to keep telepaths from getting ahead in their treatment, apologizing for its usage.

Cassandra is displaying the second phase - in the form of a basketball court where former evil mutants engage in one on one play to accept loss - when Wolvie picks up a familiar scent...Sabertooth! However, from the look of it, Sabertooth has been effectively neutered. He only resists Logan's attacks in a defensive manner and insists that he's reformed, Cassandra's treatments have helped him get right of all that rage and hatred in him. The team looks on all shocked as he actually even goes so far as hugging Wolverine...skeeving him and everyone else out to no end.

Professor X, meanwhile, decides to put Cerebro to use to check on the team.  To his dismay, he finds only darkness as if someone were casting a psychic shadow over Clear Mountain.  Trying to figure it out, Charles hops onto the Astral Plane (trippy as usually) and discovers...a presence.  Cassandra Nova. She claims to now be in control of the dimension, calling it the "Mind Field".  They engage in mental combat while the team is shown the third phase of treatment: integration. Applying what they've learned in the first two stages and accepting that violence is never the answer.

As for the fight, Professor X puts up his A-Game, but it isn't enough as Cassandra basically walks through him before revealing her backstory via a psychic projection. In this version, Cassandra is a clone of the Professor (gender-swapped, of course) created by Apocalypse and possessed by the spirit of the Shadow King...now calling herself the Shadow Queen. Once more, Charles tries to win, but Cassandra curbstomps him and leaves him a broken shell of a man before turning her attention on the rest of the team.

Back at Clear Mountain, Cassandra introduces the team to the fourth and final phase - the Mind Field, a device used to identify antisocial behaviors caused by the X-Gene and quiet them.  The team takes a moment to talk it over, and they're all very skeptical of it and think there's something not quite right in paradise. Of course, they eventually come to the conclusion that if this does help mutantkind, there's really no way they can say no to it. Jean mentions that it might help Wolverine if it helped Sabertooth, which irks him and makes him blab about being first in line for it.

Jubilee, however, cannot go - the Mind Field is not set up for an undeveloped mind. She is taken away while the rest of the team head in to find a bunch of salon hair-drying chairs that they get in...and are immediately secured down to. It's a trap! Or as Cassandra puts it, therapy...leaving us on a cliffhanger as she activates the Mind Field...

I gotta say, I love this comic. It brings back a team I know and love without the dozens of storylines and arcs worth of backstory, has the (mostly) faithful return of the designs based on Jim Lee's work from the early 90s on the X-Men, as well as doing something that is divorced from most of the stuff going on in the big company-wide crossover that is Secret Wars (III) without having to bringing itself all the way in and confuse the living hell out of anyone jumping on, like the ongoing Spiderverse series has been doing.

I also enjoy the plot, though it's admittedly been done to death in fiction - A facility for rehabilitation having an astounding success rate...and having a dark and sinister secret behind it? How incredibly original! - but to its credit it is done well, so hush my mouth I guess. But even if the plot is a little overdone, the pacing is pretty good and feels fairly consistent. The artwork is also pretty good, as I said before, with faithful recreations of the 90s characters that were so beloved in the cartoon, with a few updates here and there (Sabertooth has a bit more of a "human" look in the face and such). All things considered, a good number one and first effort from the series.

I look forward to seeing more of it, which is more than I can say for almost anything else X-Men related these days...

X-Men '92 #1 is now available from Marvel Comics wherever fine comic books are sold.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Comic Reviews - "The Man-Thing #1"

A man of science turned into a monster.  Sound familiar? Well, this particular monstrosity was not born from gamma rays in the New Mexico desert, but in the swamps of the Florida Everglades. Doctor Theodore Sallis was a scientist who, like many, was trying to replicate the Super Soldier Serum that led to the creation of Captain America. Betrayed by his lover, the alluring Ellen Brandt, Sallis was forced to take the only sample of the serum he had concocted and escape with it.  Chased by Brandt and her thugs, Sallis injected himself with the serum on the gamble that it would grant him superhuman abilities...and crashed his car into the swamps...

The serum did indeed give him superhuman abilities as predicted...but even Sallis couldn't have predicted what he would become...

Injected with the serum, enveloped by the swamps, he ceased to be the brilliant Theodore Sallis, losing his intelligence and his mind and becoming the hulking monstrosity known as the Man-Thing, who's touch burns all who know fear. He is doomed forever to wander the Everglades as a creature of pure animalistic instinct. At least, that is, until several armed men kidnap a Dr. Oheimer, a man who is working on a formula for brain cell regeneration. They reveal themselves to be the original backers of the experiments that Sallis was performing...and have somehow worked out the connection between Sallis and the Man-Thing.

With Oheimer's help, they want to restore the mind of the Man-Thing so that he might be able to relay to them the Super Soldier Serum he had recreated. Oheimer agrees, more to help the man than to recover the formula, and a trap is set for the monster...and they catch him! Oheimer does indeed, it seems, begin to work on rehabilitating the Man-Thing.  Slowly at first, of course, much like a child in need of development so that Sallis's mind can be restored to its adult state.  But when the military catches wind of where Oheimer has been taken...those efforts might all have been for not.

This is a great comic. It's absolutely dripping with atmosphere in the beginning and the end, aided by the narration putting the reader into the mindset of the creature, both as an animal...and later, when it regains some semblance of its intelligence.  The Man-Thing cannot speak (or couldn't back then), has no dialogue whatsoever, and yet to feel more for the struggle of Ted Sallis than ever before by the end. Doomed to his fate as the Man-Thing while now remembering what he has lost.  Indeed, one could say that in aiding him to regain his humanity, Oheimer might have been unintentionally cruel to the poor man...lost now, perhaps forever, to the swamp...

But hey! If that's too deep and depressing for you to ponder, there's a helpful ad comic where Captain Marvel keeps the sun from being extinguished with the help of Twinkies...

...yeah...splitting up the last two pages of the otherwise emotionally touching finale to the story.  Seriously, Marvel...could you have placed that anywhere else? I mean, anywhere. It's a thirty page comic, you could have found somewhere to place that besides to break up the finale that really didn't need that kind of breaking up.

Apart from that, though, a very enjoyable comic.  The frightening tale of a man who is turned into a beast..and gains just the tiniest fraction of that back...but will never truly be anything but the monster he has become ever again...

...and now I really want some Twinkies. Damn it, Marvel!

"The Man-Thing #1" is brought to us by Marvel.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.