It's a new year and maybe I'm still alive. Even if I'm not, I've got a few blog posts to carry into 2022. Since people are probably still hungover from celebrating, here's a post about some comics I read that no one will care about.
Common Grounds: My Blogger buddy Arion was talking about this and it sounded interesting. Like Astro City in the 90s, it involves superheroes but isn't a traditional superhero story. It's an anthology series that mostly takes place in the titular chain of coffee shops that were created as a neutral place where heroes and villains can hang out and shoot the shit without fear of reprisal. The first story features a reporter interviewing a Flash-type speedster. The reporter thinks being a superhero would be awesome, but he soon realizes it's not all it's cracked up to be, like the speedster has to eat a lot of donuts to keep his strength up. (This is something I addressed with my speedsters in Girl Power and Speed Demons with special protein bars and patches to provide essential nutrients in large doses.) There are other stories about a waitress who tricks a psycho into thinking she has flame powers, a Jewish superhero who counsels a young female superhero, a sidekick searching for his mentor who's actually shrunk down sub-atomic size inside one of the coffee shops, and a catering truck goes to an island populated by weird monsters taken from crappy 50s comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, etc before Marvel became Marvel. The final story is neat in that it brings everything together resolving some plots like the sidekick one and otherwise just showing a lot of the characters from other stories while focusing on the founder of the place. There are a few different artists so the quality varies a little. The real problem for me was I couldn't find it on Comixology so I had to buy a paperback. It was used and some of the pages stuck together and it had a little water damage, but it didn't mar my enjoyment too much. (4/5)
With the Venom sequel coming out last year, there were some free comics on Amazon Prime featuring Venom and his offspring Carnage.
Classic Carnage: This is a volume of 90s comics that starts with the origin of Carnage. Basically Eddie Brock was in jail with murderer Cletus Kassady and his Venom symbiote gave birth to Carnage, who bonded with the serial killer. And then there are a bunch of other comics that detail other times Carnage reappears, usually fighting Spider-Man or other times Spider-Man and Venom. A couple of other ones feature a professional interrogator trying to control Carnage but subsequently getting controlled by Carnage. In a particularly weird one, a Dr. Kafka and John Jameson go inside Cletus's mind, where she turns into a giant bug (Kafka, bug, get it?) and Jameson turns into a werewolf (because he was a Man-Wolf or something) and they at least temporarily manage to get Cletus trapped in his own mind. But most of it was just kind of meh with all the 90s art that looks very 90s. (2.5/5)
Maximum Carnage: This was a 14-issue series after Carnage's birth and it's part of the basis for the movie because he teams with a woman named Shriek and together they go on a rampage along with a four-armed Spider-Man clone that is basically like an animal. The whole thing goes on much, much too long and most of it is Spider-Man whining about how he doesn't want to kill Carnage and yet Carnage keeps getting away and on and on and the whole thing probably could have boiled down to five issues at most. There is a guest appearance by Firestar, a character created for the old 80s series Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, only here she looks like the 90s post-Death of Superman Superboy with the leather jacket and yellow sunglasses. Ugh, 90s comics. (2/5)
Venom vs Carnage: This title is misleading because most of this 4-issue miniseries they're actually working together. In the same way that Venom gave birth asexually to Carnage, Carnage gives birth asexually to Toxin. Venom wants to teach his new grandson while Carnage would as soon see it dead, but they decide to work together when the new symbiote merges with a police officer. Except for the unfortunate title, this was really good as it focuses a lot on the cop and his life and how Spider-Man inspires him to make the most of having superpowers. The art is also done better than the 90s. It's not quite Alex Ross paintings, but it's closer to that style. (4/5)
Carnage: The One Who Got Away: A pretty forgettable collection from the 2015 or so relaunch. It's kind of like Aliens as a group of soldiers including John Jameson and Eddie Brock (now the host of Toxin) are trying to capture Carnage in an old mine using a woman who escaped from Cletus Kassady as bait. But then it leads to this whole thing about a cult that worships Carnage and blah, blah, blah, who cares? (2/5)
Absolute Carnage: This 2019 series was supposed to harken back to that 90s series, but it's another forgettable miniseries. It's the kind where it might be better if you actually read the other comics to go along with it, but the main series isn't all that interesting. Carnage is killing to try to get bits of symbiote left in people who at one point have had a symbiote, which includes heroes like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America. (2/5)
Venom Vol 1 (2011): This is the beginning of former Spider-Man bully Flash Thompson becoming the new Venom. After losing his legs in Iraq, Flash agrees to become the new Venom but the caveat is he's not supposed to stay bonded to it for 48 hours or more or else the bond will become permanent and then the military will kill him. In the first 5 issues, Flash pretty much does nothing right and gets his butt kicked multiple times and the only reason his girlfriend is saved in one issue is he tells Spider-Man where to find her. The sixth issue was better as it focused on Flash and his alcoholic father instead of slugfests that Flash would lose. (2.5/5)
Venom Vol 1 (2017): The cover teases Eddie Brock retaking the Venom symbiote, but actually that doesn't happen until almost the last panel of the last issue. Instead, Venom bonds with some ex-soldier named Lee who's a wanna-be henchman in Black Cat's crime syndicate. The Venom symbiote is somewhat mentally challenged at this point and doesn't like Lee using it to up his standing and try to become a crime boss. And in the end it finds its way back to Eddie. Like I said on Goodreads, Lee's tenure is about as memorable as one of those 1-term 19th Century presidents like Millard Fillmore or Franklin Pierce. (2/5)
Venom Vol 1 (2019): This kicks off the Donny Cates era--he's the writer not the host of the symbiote. Eddie/Venom meet an old guy who had a symbiote of his own and together they take down some other old guys who had symbiotes. It's the beginning of a long arc that culminates in the "King in Black" event I haven't read yet. (2.5/5)
Venom Vol 2 (2019): Continuing the story, this is the kind of volume that's mostly just moving pieces on the chessboard and so by itself isn't very interesting. Eddie starts remembering things and realizes a kid he thought was his dad's is actually his son and that he was remembering a sister who didn't exist because the symbiote was fucking with his head to try to make him feel better. Eddie and the symbiote part company at the end, but obviously it's not the end. (2/5)
Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2: The Nick Spencer soft reboot continues with Peter still poor and down on his luck, but now at least he has Mary-Jane again. He has to work with a villain and Black Cat to track down and stop the Thieves Guild, who manage to steal a lot of superhero shit like Iron Man's suit, Captain America's shield, and Thor's hammer! It was fun though not all that memorable. I still have a couple more volumes to get to. (3/5)
And with the Eternals movie coming out, there were also some Eternals comics free on Amazon Prime.
Eternals by Jack Kirby, Vol 1: This is the original series from the 70s. It's not cool to disparage "the king" but this has all the weaknesses of old comics. Everyone talks in exclamation points! All the time! And a lot of 3rd-person omniscient narration. The story feels like Kirby's version of Scientology as it features gods or "Celestials" coming to Earth long ago and creating 3 races: humans (you know, us), Eternals (superpowered dudes who were often mistaken for gods), and Deviants (monsters who can't breed consistently). A woman and her scientist father get mixed up in all this stuff as a Celestial comes to Earth and Deviants start attacking and so on. Honestly, I just kind of skimmed the last few issues. (2/5)
Eternals by Neil Gaiman, Vol 1: This reboot from the 2000s during the Civil War era of Marvel comics updates the Eternals for the 21st Century. When it starts out, most of the Eternals think they're normal humans. Markkari is a medical student, Sersi a would-be party planner/socialite, Thena a weapons designer for Stark Industries, Druig the leader of a breakaway Soviet republic, Sprite a TV star, and Zuras a homeless guy. As a couple of Deviants try to awaken a Celestial who was buried in San Francisco by other Celestials a long time ago, the Eternals start to realize who they really are and what they can do. This is far less corny and old-fashioned and I would actually read more of it. (4/5)
Eternals by Kieran Gillen, Vol 1: This is the latest iteration of the Eternals that was probably greenlit because the movie was coming out. It starts with Ikaris waking up as the Eternals are being resurrected after...something or other. It doesn't really say exactly how they died and I haven't read enough Marvel to know. Shortly after he comes back, Ikaris frees Sprite and then finds out their leader Zuras is dead and someone has tampered with "the machine" so he can't be brought back. "The Machine" is actually the Earth and as it malfunctions, the weather and such start getting fucked up. Then it turns out Thanos is involved. Ikaris finds out about a boy who's going to die and so tries to protect the kid with Sprite's help, but there's that whole Greek tragedy thing. This wasn't as good as Gaiman's version but better than Kirby's. Gaiman's was better at humanizing the Eternals while in Gillen's they aren't as interesting. But it's not as corny as Kirby's. The art was OK except Sprite is supposed to be a girl but it's hard to tell. Just saying. (2.5/5)
With the Hawkeye show coming out there were also a couple of comics for that but I'd already read the one so I just read one focusing on Kate Bishop.
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) Vol 1 Anchor Points: Kate sets up shop in Venice Beach presumably to look for her dad for...reasons that would probably be evident if I'd read anything before this. She's hired by a girl who's being harassed online and stumbles into a conspiracy. Her next case involves a missing woman and a dragon. It was OK. It's fun but it feels a little generic and formulaic as the hero moves to a new locale and recruits a motley crew of associates to help her. I doubt any of this crew is still around 5 years later. Jessica Jones shows up in a couple of issues probably to help promote her TV show on Netflix, which was starting up around this time. (3/5)
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