Comic book reviews: The Fantastic Spider-Man and Superman Secret Origin
Spider-Man: The Fantastic Spider-Man
Collecting Amazing Spider-Man #658-662 written by Dan Slott, Fred Van Lente and more. Illustrated by Stefano Caselli, Javier Pulido and more.
When Johnny Storm sacrificed himself to stop Annihilus from invading Earth, the Fantastic Four disbanded. Now having named themselves the Future Foundatiion, the new FF is down one member. hey choose Johnny's good friend, the Amazing Spider-Man to take his place. No sooner has Spidey joined the Future Foundation, then Reed Richards detects a trio of dimensional anomalies and adventure is go! Featuring zombie pirates and an appearance from the Sinister Six. Also, Spidey is called in as a substitute teacher for the kids of Avengers Academy. There's also some back-up nonsense with Ghost Rider.
This was a pretty fun book. I hadn't read Spider-Man properly since Civil War. I might go back and catch up on some of the stuff I missed.
There's a neat Scooby Doo reference when the FF are fighting the zombie pirates. There's somebody masquerading as a deep sea diver in one of those old diving suits. One of the FF kids (probably Franklin Richards, it's a little hard to tell with the art) realizes the similarities and the Invisible Woman uses her powers to reveal the diver's real identity. 'It would have worked too if it wasn't for those meddling cosmic powers'.
I don't know why people hate Carlie Cooper, Peter Parker's girlfriend in this arc. Sure she's no Mary Jane, but she doesn't seem that bad.
I was a bit bemused to see Ghost Rider being all snarky in the back-up story (some nonsense about a demon trying to steal his bike). Since when did he have a sense of humour? Oh, well. I thought it was fun.
Superman: Secret Origin
Collecting Superman: Secret Origin #1-6written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank.
Nothing too complicated here, just another retelling of Superman's origin, how a young Clark Kent finds out that he is not of this Earth and how he moves to Metropolis and becomes the Man of Steel. All the usual stuff is there: Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and the Daily Planet.
This was another pretty enjoyable read. I especially liked how Gary Frank's rendition of the adult Clark Kent looks just like Christopher Reeve. His rendition of Lois didn't look like Margot Kidder, however. I also liked how Clark was a lovable goof, just like he was in the 1978 movie.
You have to feel sorry for poor Clark when he find out when the Kents aren't his birth parents. He only wants to be normal, but at least he has two loving parents to take care of him. They may not have given birth to him, but they care for him nonetheless.
The version of Lex Luthor in this book is a mix of an arrogant billionaire and a mad scientist. At one point (when he has just turned John Corben into Metallo) he even goes as far to say 'He's Alive!' I like references in my comics, just as long as they don't seem shoehorned in.
The people in the DC Universe are completely different than those in the Marvel Universe. They're not ungrateful dicks that turn on the heroes at the slightest provocation. You'd think they would have learned to be a bit more grateful after all the times the heroes have saved their sorry arses.
Next time: Wolverine and the X-Men Vol 2. The Jean Grey School is out of cash, so Wolverine gets the bright idea of hitting a planet of casino. Also, Kitty Pryde is pregnant with Brood babies. No, really.