Spoilers After The Break: Spider-Women Alpha #1 Review

I think I read all of Marvel’s Spider-Man related books except for Spider-Woman and Silk.  Now, before you start rolling your eyes, it’s not because they are women, I do read Spider-Gwen.  I’ve just never connected with Jessica Drew and am not a big fan of Cindy Moon.

So one has to wonder why I am reading the Spider-Women crossover event when 2/3 of the characters have no interest to me.  I guess the pull of that 1/3 is strong.  And I am a sucker for crossovers.  I also hate reading a book from a series that is part of a crossover and not read the other parts.  After the break, minor spoilers and a look at the book that kicks off the event: Spider-Women Alpha #1.  (Does it need the “#1”?  Marvel insists, but I think it unnecessary.  Anywho…)

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #60: Ronin

You’ll never guess who’s behind the mask. Seriously. Even I’m not sure here.

When Brian Michael Bendis took over the Avengers titles, he decided to blow up the team.  That was literal in more than a few cases, like Jack of Hearts.  Hawkeye, who Bendis claimed was his favorite character, died in another massive explosion but emerged later thanks to House of M.  These things happen.

But Bendis then brought in a new team that he saw as a chance to do an all-star team like the original Avengers line-up was, but with the all-stars that existed then.  Not all of them made sense, and some of them were questionable picks.  But among the promotional art was a “new” character called Ronin.  Who was Ronin?  Well, that depended on what comic you were reading.

Spider-Man Complete Chronology Update 8 (Couldn’t Stand The Weather Edition)

Everything was going along just fine until disco came along.  I’m probably not the first person to write that sentence.  For our purposes I refer to the fact that even with 3 monthly books and various guest appearances, the wall-crawlers adventures had been pretty straight forward to put in order.  But then came a couple of issues where Peter went to the disco (and then teamed up with the cast of Saturday Night Live) where everything just went all to hell.

Much, much more on this after the break as I try to put this update to rest, not because I’m happy with it…but to save my sanity.  I can’t imagine what this is going to be like when I get to the 90’s…

As usual, spoilers follow from here on out if you’ve missed out on the last 50 years of Spider-Man and are just getting started.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #48: The Sentry

“Look, up in the sky! It’s an expy of Superman!”

Writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee had a surprise hit with an Inhumans mini-series when the “Marvel Knights” line launched, so there was some anticipation for their follow-up.

That would have been a character they said was a long forgotten Marvel hero that predated the Fantastic Four.  They said his name was the Sentry.

Marvel Presents For The 4th Time: Amazing Spider-Man #1

Ugh. That glowing green chest spider. Just ugh.

The All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe begins today.  Yes, Secret Wars is still ongoing.  And with issue 6 out today…it still has 3 issues to go.  But Marvel is soldiering on with the relaunch of their new universe.

With Miles Morales joining the MCU proper and supposedly being THE Spider-Man, Peter jetsets around the world in that horrible new costume.  Does any of this make sense?  Does it hold up?  Will it cause me to abandon Spidey like One More Day?  Find out, (mostly) spoiler free, after the cut.  (I say “mostly” as I touch on the basic premise of the setup for this new status quo, but no real plot points.)

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars XXVI

Not that we need more Secret Wars tie-ins (they are at over 200 and counting), but I feel like Marvel has wasted most opportunities with their Last Days branded books.  None appear to be of consequence (Silver Surfer is making an attempt to be, but likely won’t), few deal directly with the events of the multiverse ending incursions (Magneto, Ms. Marvel) and the rest either use it as an unnecessary framing device or completely ignore it (Punisher, Black Widow).

After the cut I will have a quick look at the following:  Ant-Man: Last Days #1, Silver Surfer #13, Silver Surfer #14, Black Widow #20, Ms. Marvel #17, Ms. Marvel #18, Magneto #21, Loki Agent Of Asgard #17, Spider-Woman #10 and Silk #7.

That’s a lot more issues than I usually cover in an update, but they should be short as I really only cover them in regards to Secret Wars, and most of them had little relevance. Note, this way be spoilers.

Related links:
Secret Wars Power Rankings
Tom’s Road To Secret Wars: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7.
Other parts of this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Marvel’s Badass Females Ranked, Because That Is What We Do Here

Actually, more what they do over at MorphSuits, but we like to spread the love.

After the break, see how you farvorite female Marvel heroes fare.

So You Like Geek Art? This Is Great Geek Art!

While browsing Imgur, I came across some amazing art by a talented creator.  Really interesting pin-up style.  I worry that Gabbing Geek’s own Jenny is going to be unhappy with the Spider-Woman pose, though.  It’s not FULL “rooftop”, but it is slightly “rooftop”….

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Fourteen (Spider-Man Edition)

If you’ve read Gabbing Geek for any more than 8 minutes you probably know that I am a big Spider-Man fan.  Like, super big.  Like, ridiculous levels.  So it’s actually somewhat surprising it’s taken me fourteen Secret Wars posts to dedicate one to my favorite hyphen-ed hero.

After the break I’ll look at Spider-Island #1, Spider Verse #2, Spider-Verse #3 and Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #2.  (And yes, I’m aware of the irony that Spider-Man barely appears or doesn’t appear at all or is dead in 3/4 of those books.)

Also, if you are like me and haven’t read all of Johnathon Hickman’s Avengers run leading up to Secret Wars, be sure to take Tom’s Road To Secret Wars course at gabbinggeekuniversity.com.  The reading materials are online here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six and Part Seven.

And that course is a prerequisite to the other parts of this series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three,Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen

Podcast Reation: The “Do I Really Wanna Go There?” Edition

Technically, I haven’t done a whole reaction-to-Watson article yet. That will not change today.

This week on the podcast, the podcast was late and I did not get to listen to it until Monday.  My non-geek wife wanted to spend the extended holiday weekend down the Jersey shore, which is not that much like that awful MTV show depicted it to be.  We go to a nice, working class vacation town, whereas that show was filmed in a place my wife has been calling “Sleezeside” since well before anyone with a stupid nickname, no discernible talent, and a camera crew ever stepped foot in the place.

But, my parents’ tiny house down there has terrible internet connections, so while I was able to download the podcast, listening to it while trying to do stuff with the missus wasn’t in the bag, and there was a good chance any attempt to post anything here would have been a disaster when the connection cut in the middle of the write up.  So, I gave the show a listen this morning and now, well, now I need to react because it is my (self appointed) job.

In fact, my parents’ unreliable wi-fi connection there means I am a bit behind on my DCAU rewatch and don’t know if Jimmy and I will get through our required three episode discussion before the week is out.

What will I react to?  The fact I probably would have lost that trivia game badly, too?  Or something else?