comics round-up 6 November 2008

Amazing Spider-man 576
This issue finishes off last week's Hammerhead return. It's again drawn like a dark teen comic, contains some clunky 'keep the kids off the streets' polemic about disadvantaged black youths falling into gang culture but being saved by Spidey and a rather gruesome jaw disloaction/relocation scenario. But the storyline is good. Hammerhead is going around the Bronx recruiting gang members into Mr Negative's fold... or else. The consequences are far too brutal to discuss on a family forum but basically, they don't die easily. Spidey prevails and beats off Hammerhead saving the day in his own abrasive way. Brand New Day picks up again after its world beating New Ways to Die arc. I might well go on about this for the rest of my years.

Daredevil and Captain America: Dead on Arrival
This one shot teams Cap with Double D in a macabre tale of death by touch and disappearing bodies. As Daredevil investigates the disappearance of a child and the reappearance of an old foe, The Deathstalker. Strangely, Captain America is on his trail too. In a storyline reminiscent of a Star Trek standard, this takes in temporal anomalies and quantum physics, alternate realities and the possible destruction of the world if your past and future were ever to appear. It's a good story, made with some great fight scenes and funny interplay between Cap and DD. Worth picking up especially for Daredevil fans who don't always get as much in terms of one shots compared to other big Marvel names.

Venom: Dark Origin 4 (of 5)
As we near the end of our introduction to Eddie Brock and his initial bonding with the symbiote, we follow him as he develops a sense of twisted justice, as Eddie fights with the bond between him and the symbiote to be complete. The symbiote shows him a glimpse of its own origins. Eddie eventually relents and goes on the hunt for Spiderman. Because, as he soon learns, the symbiote knows everything about our hero. And now we get to see the other side to the iconic image of Mary Jane Parker, frightened half to death by Venom. We watch him torment her as the symbiote and the love interest tussle over who would eventually win the affections of one Peter Parker. Conclusion next month. Definitely interesting stuff.

Weapon X: First Class 1 of 3
We cast our minds back to Wolverine's early times with Professor Xavier at the school. Professor X wants to help Logan unlock the memories that stay hidden from him but can't do it without Wolverine entering his own head and becoming a sort of spirit guide. Wolverine finds some pretty garbled images in his head, some he recognises, others he cannot decipher. He meets his old foe Sabretooth who leads him to where his mind was wiped, where he was turned from a secret agent for the Canadian government into Weapon X. The second storyline deals with Sabretooth, an evil freak who has decided that if humanity will choose to shun him, he shall shun it and give it the freak it thinks he is. He meets Professor X who asks him to help bring in Wolverine to the school. Sabretooth, jealous of Wolverine always being better than him slowly builds himself into a deadly frenzy.

Wolverine: Chop Shop
Wolverine investigates organ stealing and beats up a lot of people after he gets chopped up himself. Good, if bunfy.

X-Men and Spider-man 1 (of 3)
Kraven, still smarting from his latest defeat at the hands of Spidey, outs him as a mutant to draw him out into the open. Spidey carries on his life, not realising the X-Men are looking for him to help him deal with his mutantry. As they convene at the hip banging (for this is way back when) Coffee bean with Jean Grey, MJ and Gwen Stacey swapping partners, Kraven and the Blob strike, leading to a brilliant retro Spidey and original X-Men team-up before we realise that Kraven was not working alone and Mr Sinister wants something with the precious X-DNA. Brilliantly drawn retro fun.