HeroMachine Character Portrait Creator

Avenging the Broodling

By: Andrew Hines

Apparently Wolverine's popularity is tied to his healing factor somehow.   He's been running a school for the last 19 issues. It's been his place to finally put his decades (more like a century) of knowledge and experience to good use. There've been some developments and I'm not even talking about Kitty being "pregnant". Well, I guess I am now. I mean before that, there was the Hellfire Club ('s children) attacking the school. Then we found out that a Krakoa was the school grounds, Angel came back all amnesiac and finally normal-looking-ish and Broo was shot in the head last issue. Any questions?

Jason Aaron has been doing a bang-up job of writing this series. This one, however was a little clunkier than the rest have been. It's mostly because he doesn't follow one simple storyline in this issue. The issue is broken up into three overlapping parts, with Kitty taking a more administrative role by interviewing prospective instructors, Beast doing his medical stuff and Logan doing "what he does best". The dialogue is good and fitting of every character, which seems to be something Aaron does rather well. The pacing is good and the ending gives us all just what we need. It's a good continuation of the events from the previous issue and a great lead into what could be one of the best arcs of this title.

The art from Nick Bradshaw, shown at right without any text, is actually as good as any of the previous issues. The way he depicts everyone is actually pretty cool, especially Beast and Iceman. I have a hard time not liking his art in general. Then there's the inks from Walden Wong, which are good and allow the colors to really pop. That brings us to colorist, Laura 'DePuy' Martin. Really, the colors she brings really bring out the effects. Even something as simple as the solution that Bro's lying in is wonderfully colored. It's little touches like that that really bring a page to life. The art here is damned good.

With that, I have to give this another "A-". There doesn't seem to be anything really missing from the issue. Even the very end is amazing. Oh, and did I mention that there's a classic X-Men member joining the teaching staff? That's kind of important. For that surprise and the great writing and artwork, you should really pick this up.

Enter the Man of Green

By: Andrew Hines

The annuals are still coming along. The great thing about this one is that involves a new villain that we've never seen before with a very personal grudge against the Man of Steel. Then there's the return appearances of Lex Luthor, General Lane, and John Henry Irons. This seems to be one of those "return of the supporting character" issues. It's fun to see all of these characters in the same place, just over a year after the introduction of the New 52. This may be one of the few annual issues that acts as both a standalone comic and a continuation of  events in Action Comics.

Sholly Fisch (yes, that's his real name) has penned a great annual issue here. Introducing a new version of the old and fairly obscure Kryptonite Man, he also brings in some old favorite supporting characters, as previously mentioned. Being as it's an annual issue with more pages than a regular, there was more room to be creative and write a great issue. That seems to have been more or less accomplished. You get a lot more for your money here. There's a better intro for the villain and with references to the first eight issues of the title. The dialogue is decent and the panel/page transitions are pretty good. Honestly, the greatest part of this issue was the tie-in to the original Action Comics #1 back in 1938, in Superman's original debut.

The art from Cully Hamner is good, for the most part. I actually like Hamner's art quite a bit. He was the concept artist for many of the New 52 costume designs. The art is great and somewhat simplistic due to Hamner pulling an artistic hat trick (triple-threat, trifecta, whatever) by putting up the pencils, inks and colors. As you can see at right, there are some great flashback moments here. The art is ink-heavy, but not in an off-putting way. The colors are rich and vibrant in the right places. Honestly, I still think John Henry Irons' (aka the hero formerly known as Steel) suit is a little odd. Not movie version "odd" but still. That design is probably the only artistic problem of this issue.

This comic has some great elements, both in the writing and the art. Therefore, it deserves an "A-". This could have been a little better, but not my too much. I definitely recommend that you buy this if you're a Superman fan or a completist.

P.S. I also recommend viewing the silent backup story here written by Max Landis and illustrated by Ryan Sook. We see a classic Superman villain being "born". He'll be quite interesting to see in later issues.

Day of the Hobgoblins

By: Andrew Hines

With the end of the current series fast approaching, Peter Parker is in for what may be one of the craziest adventures of his tenure as Spider-Man. We've already seen him put the end of the world on the back burner (ba-dum tssss), possibly cure Dr. Connors for good and put the world's worst sidekick in a permanent time-out. Now, with both his life and identity on the line, two hobgoblins dueling it out and Madame Web seeing visions of a dark future, this is the beginning of the end for our web-headed friend.

Dan Slott has done a fantastic job in the nearly two years since his run on Amazing Spider-Man began back in 2010. The recent partnership with Christos Gage has been a really good one. There are all kinds of great characters in this issue. The story picks up after the events of #695, and the pacing continues steadily. The dialogue is great and in parts I found myself reading it in the voices of the old animated series of the 90s. The story's good enough and tackles the two-part arc pretty well. The character interaction is pretty good and the ending is just enough of a teaser to keep you interested in the next issue.

This is one of the best single pages of ASM in recent memory. The art team does very well with Giuseppe Camuncoli as the penciller and Dan Green as the inker. Camuncoli's art works well and Antonio Fabela's colors are the dominant force in this issue. This page to the right is one of the greatest intro pages I've seen in a Spider book for quite some time. The best part is the inclusion of the majority of the issue's cast. You really see just how dire it is for Spidey at this point. The framing and the scale of the page are just phenomenal.

This get's an "A-" simply because it's a little on the nose for Haloween being just around the corner. It's a good issue and a great middle point in this three-part arc, but the fact that it is the mid point doesn't help it. Buy this one. At the very least it leads us into the end of ASM. As a piece of that history, it's worth owning.