Free Comic Book Day 2016 Ryan’s Reviews

 Its Free Comic Book Day once again and with it comes a slew of stories to review and at the top of the list is the Dead No More Prelude by Dan Slott. Does the story hold up? How does it compare to the introduction of Civil War II? All-new, All-different Avengers and of course Steve Rogers: Captain America #0? Read on to find out true believer.

Peter Parker stops by in San Francisco to see his old boss, Max Model and ends up coming between a fight between the Rhino and the Kingpin and learns that a few people he thought were dead are alive again.

WRITER: Dan Slott

ARTIST: Javier Garron

COLOR ARTIST: Frank D’armata

LETTERER: VC’s Travis Lanham

EDITOR: Nick Lowe

STORY: Peter decides to talk with his old boss Max (from his New Horizon Days) and ends up having to swing into action to save the Kingpin (who is alive) from the Rhino (who is also alive). After taking down the Rhino he discovers that someone tried to cut a deal with the Kingpin by bringing his dead wife, Vanessa back from the dead. Leading to Peter to realize he saw the Rhino’s dead wife walking around alive too, when they shouldn’t be. Meanwhile, the man in red tells the Rhino it is time to give Spider-Man “one hell of a deal” as he reveals a very alive Gwen Stacy with him.

THOUGHTS: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s here, Dead No More, teased and talked about since issue one of the current volume is getting ready to kick off and it’s actually a good story. Dan Slott introduces the setup pretty well with the Rhino’s return and even involving the Kingpin in a logical way. Since the subplot kicked off, the man in red has been making deals with various villains by bringing their loved ones back from the dead as long as they do as he says. However, when the Kingpin sees his wife back, he loses it and kills her leading to the fight. Even better, Peter as Spider-Man uses his brain to take down the Rhino in a very smart way and guess what? He didn’t call for help or even have the Kingpin help him out. Peter even realizes he needs to start looking into this more and the ending does leave you with a great cliffhanger, even if we knew it was coming. Hard to believe, but this FCBD issue really wants me to read the rest of the story, but will Dan Slott deliver or end up fizzling out like he has in previous stories? Only time will tell.

Grade: B+

 

Civil War II: Intro

Thanos arrives on Earth again and his newest attack will tear the superhero world apart… again!

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis

ARTIST: Jim Cheung

COLOR ARTIST: Matt Hollingsworth

LETTERER: VC’s Cory Petit

EDITOR: Tom Brevoort

STORY: War Machine joins up with Captain Marvel (his new girlfriend) and A Force to learn about the new inhuman who can see the future and sends them on a path of destruction when Thanos attacks Project Pegasus to claim the Cosmic Cube. The resulting battle leads to War Machine brutally injured and She-hulk in a coma and it’s all Ulysses fault.

THOUGHTS: First of all. Leave it to Bendis to drop us right in the middle of the story before the story even begins. No, really. As soon as I moved passed the cover, James Rhodes arrives at A Force’s base, says hi to Captain Marvel and the two start making out before the Inhumans show up and introduces Ulysses (Nuhuman) who can see the future with pinpoint accuracy. After joking about getting his name wrong, he sees Thanos showing up at Project Pegasus and the entire team of heroes heads to cut Thanos, who is surprised to see them waiting for him  at Pegasus. The resulting battle, is just a mess to say the least. First of all, I get how powerful Thanos is, we all know this. He has fought the Hulk hand to hand and not backed down. He has survived being screamed at by Blackbolt and crashing from space and then he survived the death of the universe and its rebirth.

  So, even though he is caught off guard by the Avengers and A Force, he is still no push over. However, to then have it where the fight leads to an accidental missile hitting She-hulk and putting her into a coma? What was this special missile that did this? Why didn’t War Machine fire it at Thanos? Then how is it that of all people, Thanos decides to take out War Machine, when Captain Marvel would have been the better target? What’s worse? We don’t know if this was really happening or if this was Ulysses’s vision. No really. The story is crafted to it either happening or we might be seeing this all in Ulysses’s head and warning the Avengers and A Force about it happening this way. So, all this and it might not have happened or it can still happen and that’s why we are getting the second superhero Civil War because Captain Marvel doesn’t want to lose her boyfriend and Tony Stark rather have him die instead of possibly saving him.

  So, you know what? Even though the setup grabs you by the seat of your pants and the art work by Cheung is beautiful. I’m sitting this one out folks. I’m going back to see Captain America: Civil War three more times than spend that same money for this mini series.

Grade C+

Steve Rogers: Captain America

Steve Rogers is back as Captain America and he is going to bring down the new HYDRA, which is what the Red Skull wants.

 

WRITER: Nick Spencer

ARTIST: Jesus Sriz

LETTERER: VC’s Joe Caramagna

EDITOR: Tom Brevoort

 

STORY: In the aftermath of Standoff, Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter are back to their youth and with Rick Jones on their side, they are going to take down the new HYDRA that the Red Skull and his forces are building. Along with help from Falcon Cap and the All-new, All-Different Falcon. However, it’s just what the Red Skull wants.

THOUGHTS: Yes, Captain America is back! Not that I didn’t love Sam Wilson as Cap and he still is, but I just love Steve Rogers and Spencer nails his return and characterization perfectly. I love Steve’s new costume and shield and just jumping back into action. The reintroduction of Sharon Carter and Rick Jones’s new status quo is well balanced with the action and main story unfolding. I also enjoyed the use of the new Falcon in the story and how he reflects a bit of Sam Wilson’s early days as the Falcon right up to the humor. This is a nice story and I like how this new HYDRA is being introduced and why they exist. HYDRA the last few years outside of the MCU have been really generic or just plain cannon fodder. Here Spencer gives their new status quo a nice introduction and showing they are going to be a threat from now on. Well Done.

 

Grade: A.

 

Story: Buzzed

Meet the All-new, All-Different Wasp. Who is she? Why is she attacking the Vision from the inside out?

WRITER: Mark Waid

ARTIST: Alan Davis

COLOR ARTIST: Matt Hollingsworth

LETTERER: VC’s Cory Petit

COVER ARTIST: Alex Ross

EDITOR: Tom Brevoort

STORY: Meet Nadia, she is the All-new, All-Different Wasp and she wants to join the All-new, All-different Avengers and she is doing it by taking down the Vision from the inside out. No really.

THOUGHTS:   When I first read about we were getting a new Wasp I didn’t get up in arms like other fans (Yes, we exist). I did however wonder how Mark Waid was going to do this and make it so we cared about her. In the few pages for this FCBD story, he and Alan Davis find a very compelling way to introduce her. However, what really works for the story is how Nadia intends to get the Avengers to want her on the team, which is very interesting. Nadia doesn’t come across as sadistic, she comes across as a the new kid on the block who wants to make an impression and her motivation is very interesting. It also works with the current subplots left over from Uncanny Avengers and Rage of Ultron graphic novel on Hank Pym’s current status quo. With the popularity of the MCU Hope Pym and the upcoming Ant-Man and Wasp movie. I see why they went this way to introduce the All-new, All-Different Wasp and I’m ready to see the story unfold.

 

Book Grade: B