Marvel first issues catch-up
I already typed this up once and then my computer restarted and ate my notebook file, woo. Anyway, here is my foray into Marvel first issues from...whenever they were giving them away. I hadn't read that much Marvel before this. I read some of the old black-and-white Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four anthologies when I was a teenager, and I've read a little of Miles' Ultimate Spider-Man and a couple issues of Hawkeye. But other than that, I mostly had just seen the movies. NOT ANYMORE.
Anyway, there are 15 issues in here. Reviews kept short and approximately sorted by...costume theme? Or something?
Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #1: Mostly bored by this. Expected more interaction between Peter & Felicia, didn't care about the Russian conspiracy (why is it always Russia in Marvel?), and had trouble following the layouts/dialogue flow.
Spider-Men #1: I am pretty sure Peter Parker and Stephanie Brown were separated at birth. Mostly Peter runs around inner monologuing to himself things like "Wow...talk about personal growth. It only took me 3535 times to figure out not to burst into a place like this when I have no idea what's inside." Then he gets dumped into Ultimate Marvel Land and inner monologues some more. It is completely adorkable and hilarious and really the only thing to complain about is that Miles doesn't show up until literally the end. But there are, like, four more issues in this miniseries so I assume he does stuff in those.
Hawkeye #1: Pizza dog saving Clint from the Mafia was adorable, but where is Kate?
Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1: Ugh, I had to force myself to finish this. It was really boring to me and when they got to Mockingbird's rape-y backstory I was just like, please stop.
Young Avengers Vol. 1 #1: I liked this a lot more than I expected to. And Kate is indeed, as everyone has told me, kind of the best. Sadly, my library system seems to have lost its copy of the first trade of Young Avengers.
Young Avengers Vol. 1 Special #1: I really liked the sequence with Billy and the Scarlet Witch--it had really gorgeous art that fit its mood really well. And in general, it was a nice issue.
Young Avengers Vol. 2 #1: Kate saving outer space in her pajamas was lots of fun and I would have read a whole comic just about that. The rest of the issue was kind of a letdown after that kind of opener.
X-23: Innocence Lost #1: This was a lot more compelling than I expected it to be, especially considering it's from Dr. Kinney's perspective and not Laura's. It also makes a really good single "chapter" of the miniseries, as compared to Target X #1, which is sort of disorienting to read by itself.
Target X #1: I think this...does not really stand by itself very well? I did not feel very compelled to read more of it. It also seemed really violent.
X-23 #1: I really liked this, especially the art, and I have a lot of feelings about assassin babies ~finding their humanity. But then I bought the trade, and things got all X-Men-y and weird really fast and I was super confused. More about that some other day.
Wolverine & Jubilee #1: I liked this so much I went and bought the trade, which I talked about here.
Captain Marvel #1: Carol is the best and I love that she and Spider-Man are buddies and that the comic totally supports her in being a tough, hardcore, somewhat grumpy lady who has stars in her eyes. AND SHE CAN FLY. I really like ladies who can fly, okay?
Captain Britain & MI-13 #1: I had literally no idea what was going on the entire time.
Captain Britain & MI-13 Annual #1: Still confused. Somewhat less so, but still confused.
New Avengers #1: I got really confused and spent several minutes Googling trying to figure out when Spider-Woman had a baby with Nick Fury before I realized that I was looking at Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. (Nick Fury is apparently only black in Ultimate Marvel, and has an eye patch, DUH SELF.) Other sources of confusion: Who is that blonde lady that looks like Carol but isn't Carol? Is that Hawkeye, or Captain America in a turtleneck? SO MANY QUESTIONS, and from a first issue no less. And very little Carol, boo.
Anyway, there are 15 issues in here. Reviews kept short and approximately sorted by...costume theme? Or something?
Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Black Cat #1: Mostly bored by this. Expected more interaction between Peter & Felicia, didn't care about the Russian conspiracy (why is it always Russia in Marvel?), and had trouble following the layouts/dialogue flow.
Spider-Men #1: I am pretty sure Peter Parker and Stephanie Brown were separated at birth. Mostly Peter runs around inner monologuing to himself things like "Wow...talk about personal growth. It only took me 3535 times to figure out not to burst into a place like this when I have no idea what's inside." Then he gets dumped into Ultimate Marvel Land and inner monologues some more. It is completely adorkable and hilarious and really the only thing to complain about is that Miles doesn't show up until literally the end. But there are, like, four more issues in this miniseries so I assume he does stuff in those.
Hawkeye #1: Pizza dog saving Clint from the Mafia was adorable, but where is Kate?
Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1: Ugh, I had to force myself to finish this. It was really boring to me and when they got to Mockingbird's rape-y backstory I was just like, please stop.
Young Avengers Vol. 1 #1: I liked this a lot more than I expected to. And Kate is indeed, as everyone has told me, kind of the best. Sadly, my library system seems to have lost its copy of the first trade of Young Avengers.
Young Avengers Vol. 1 Special #1: I really liked the sequence with Billy and the Scarlet Witch--it had really gorgeous art that fit its mood really well. And in general, it was a nice issue.
Young Avengers Vol. 2 #1: Kate saving outer space in her pajamas was lots of fun and I would have read a whole comic just about that. The rest of the issue was kind of a letdown after that kind of opener.
X-23: Innocence Lost #1: This was a lot more compelling than I expected it to be, especially considering it's from Dr. Kinney's perspective and not Laura's. It also makes a really good single "chapter" of the miniseries, as compared to Target X #1, which is sort of disorienting to read by itself.
Target X #1: I think this...does not really stand by itself very well? I did not feel very compelled to read more of it. It also seemed really violent.
X-23 #1: I really liked this, especially the art, and I have a lot of feelings about assassin babies ~finding their humanity. But then I bought the trade, and things got all X-Men-y and weird really fast and I was super confused. More about that some other day.
Wolverine & Jubilee #1: I liked this so much I went and bought the trade, which I talked about here.
Captain Marvel #1: Carol is the best and I love that she and Spider-Man are buddies and that the comic totally supports her in being a tough, hardcore, somewhat grumpy lady who has stars in her eyes. AND SHE CAN FLY. I really like ladies who can fly, okay?
Captain Britain & MI-13 #1: I had literally no idea what was going on the entire time.
Captain Britain & MI-13 Annual #1: Still confused. Somewhat less so, but still confused.
New Avengers #1: I got really confused and spent several minutes Googling trying to figure out when Spider-Woman had a baby with Nick Fury before I realized that I was looking at Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. (Nick Fury is apparently only black in Ultimate Marvel, and has an eye patch, DUH SELF.) Other sources of confusion: Who is that blonde lady that looks like Carol but isn't Carol? Is that Hawkeye, or Captain America in a turtleneck? SO MANY QUESTIONS, and from a first issue no less. And very little Carol, boo.