It’s time for Bullet Reviews #135! It’s short and sweet this week but that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of great titles out there so while these are books we can certainly recommend (or suggest you avoid) we always suggest you look through the new issue racks at your LCS and try something new! This week we look at: A+X #13, Fables #135, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #6, and Wolverine MAX #13
A+X #13 (Marvel)
So Magneto and Doc Ock Spidey sounded like a pretty fun team up, and when Magneto started very ironically making fun of super villains, I thought we might at least get some interesting deconstruction talk, but really all it was was another excuse for the Superior Spider-Man to comically flip out whenever someone insults Doc Ock. As for the story, should we even care what happens? The snarky little intro just bashes on continuity and while I guess they think they’re being funny, they basically make a great case for why I shouldn’t even care. But basically it’s just an origin story for a possible mutant villain who you may never see again, but if you do will probably start from the beginning anyway, with at most a reference to this disposable story. It was kind of cool to see Magneto trash MODOK with just a hand gesture, because there probably should be more one-sided battles that end that quickly, so thanks for an entertaining page at least.
There are a couple of things I got a kick out of in the Cyclops and Captain America team up, but it’s still just too juvenile a comic for my tastes. The S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house visit for some intel was probably the most interesting thing in the book, and it’s kind of interesting that they have protocols in place for when you have to make alliances with known fugitives. Maybe once we have the full Ckye/Cap story that’ll be good for a read, but for now there are definitely better places to spend your money. – Scorpio Moon
FABLES #135 (Vertigo)
Fables writer and creator Bill Willingham recently shocked the comics world with his blockbuster announcement that this long-running, multi-award winning series will be ending in 2015 with issue 150. This means that after over a decade and over one hundred issues we are suddenly down to 15 more issues before this ground-breaking series comes to an end.
Before that sad day comes, however, we still have a lot going on that will continue to make this the only title I read that I like more than Superior Spider-Man. We are still hoping that the Witches are able to revive Bigby but they have hit a snag: while they have been able to locate most of the Wolf, there is still a nice chunk missing and it’s in the possession of… well, we don’t know who but it’s someone who apparently thinks we’re better off without him. And speaking of women doing things on the shady side I have to wonder what’s going on with Snow White. Granted, she wasn’t happy with the way her sister handled the arrogant Prince Brandish, I happen to think allowing Snow to kill him would have been preferable, but is she really going to keep her cubs from Rose Red AND sabotage her attempts to revive the order of the Round Table? There is so much going on here that the next 15 issues will certainly feel like more than that. Willingham has created a fantastic world that I, for one, will be sad to leave when the time comes. But until then, I’m still enjoying the hell out of this series and I still recommend it to you folks who love shows like Grimm and Once Upon A Time. Fact is if it wasn’t for Fables you wouldn’t have those shows. -Skott Jimenez
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP #6 (Marvel)
There are chinks in the armor of the Superior one and they are beginning to show. Big time. The problem, as it has been since the beginning of this era, is the ego of Otto Octavious. Since he took over the body of Spider-Man he’s been thinking countless steps ahead of everyone else, problem is he’s been missing a few things here and there and it’s beginning to come back at him. Here is a fine example: he sought to take mental control over his former Sinister Six teammates and remake them into his own Superior Six. It worked, for a while, but then things got way out of control, much faster than Otto probably figured on, and he’s suddenly out numbered as the he controlled are now free of said control and gunning for him.
For a while there I was a little worried that too many Superior Spider-Titles would dilute the pure fun and originality of this concept but I was wrong. These new books and stories have expanded his world to match the size of his ego making it easier to see just how fast he’s losing control and how bad it’s going to be. But considering the way this man’s mind works… it’s going to be much worse than we can imagine. There is one more part to this story and if the ending of this issue is any indication then Otto is one his way to a superior butt-kicking and while I’ve enjoyed the Superior Era since it started even I know he deserves to be taken down a notch… or 50.
Plus the covers by Paolo and Jack Rivera for this run have been nothing short of amaz- er, Superior! -Skott Jimenez
WOLVERINE MAX #13 (MAX)
Wolverine MAX #13 is a bit of a let down, but after that silly A+X stuff it’s a nice change of pace to read something a little dirtier. And that’s probably the best compliment you can give this book, the visual art does set a perfect tone for a stripped down Wolverine story, and as far as stories go, this would probably work better as one of those “lost years” Wolverine tales that took place between his origin and his superhero days, when he was kind of a journeyman gun for hire. But to make a boring story short while Wolverine is on the run with his trailer trash buddy, he realizes he’s being strung along and manipulated, and finally decides to retaliate. When a mysterious stranger in a limo shows up offering to help Wolverine out of his latest jam, Wolverine agrees to go with him not caring whether he’s trustworthy or not, because he’s so depressed he really doesn’t care what happens to him. There’s evidence that they seem to get Wolverine on at least a very basic level. You have the idea of him as a living weapon, but unfortunately for him it’s often other people pulling his trigger, as well as this idea that he can feel pain that no one else can possibly feel, because pain at that level is only associated with injuries that would normally cause death, and I do love him blowing out his own brains to scramble the hypnosis. I guess a lot of his stories do just wrap up with – and then Wolverine killed everybody, the end, but they can’t seem to find a balance between telling a basic meat and potatoes Wolverine story, and challenging him with villains on his level. -Scorpio Moon
