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  • My Thoughts on Amazing Spider-Man #25

    So the last time I paid $8.00 for a comic book, it was December of 2012, and Spider-Man died! Trepidatious is probably an understatement on my state of mind when picking up Amazing Spider-Man #25, the first milestone comic in Spencer’s run, and slapped with a $8.00 price tag. “60 pages of Spider-Mania!!!” the front cover touts (and yes, with three exclamation points). I picked it up, I read it cover to cover, and here are my thoughts.

    This was very unexpected. Usually with these milestone issues, Marvel goes big. So I was thinking there was going to be an all out battle with Kindred, he makes some big move, some grand entrance, establish why he’s a threat, who he is, and how he’s going to give Spidey a hard time. None of that. In fact, Kindred had a rather small role in this issue, which is actually a tad frustrating because I want to know more about him. But I did read an interview with Nick Lowe in a recent Previews issue, and he suggested that while #24 and #25 are important, Kindred is going to be a whole thing, so I guess we’ll have wait longer.

    Mysterio was still alive, which was nice, but come on. Did we really think they were off Beck with Far From Home out this year? The more interesting part is the script Kindred gave him, that Beck himself apparently wrote. And the fact that it stars May Jane. I’m actually quite excited for that story.

    On the topic of MJ, we know she’s got a comic coming, The Amazing Mary Jane. The Previews also suggested that this would be a set up issue, so I think MJ’s story here was more to that end. But if the Mary Jane comic is anything like this little adventure, then sign me all the way up. MJ and Carlie Cooper vs. the female Electro, saving an old acting rival of hers? It was so much fun, and I loved every second of it. This Syndicate story seems intriguing as well. I’m a classic Sinister Six guy myself, but we’ll see where this goes.

    Next is Spider-Man. Why am I 5 paragraphs in and just now getting to Spider-Man? Maybe because his story was more of an action-packed pep talk to get Curt Connors back on his feet. I don’t know why, but I always get the feeling Lizard is going to die whenever he shows up, which I really don’t want to happen. But even in the Slott era, they always made it seem like Curt Connors’s next transformation will be his last. They keep putting the poor guy through the wringer, and I really hope he can just find some peace with his family, because I do love the Lizard, and I do love a happy ending!

    So, paragraph 5 ended up being more about the Lizard. Paragraph 6: Spider-Man! Gee, nothing really happened with Pete! I mean, he decided to go back to school, and he fought those weird color-alien-robot things with Jameson, but… Wow. This Amazing Spider-Man comic had very little Spider-Man in it. I don’t know how I feel about that.

    I will say, however, that my absolute favorite part was the tease of Miguel O’Hara falling from the sky and smashing into our time! And back in his blue suit no less! I read Spider-Man 2099 when it relaunched off Superior Spider-Man, and it was my favorite comic of the time. I unfortunately didn’t finish the run (I stopped around the Civil War II tie-in), but that’s a Marvel Unlimited binge for another day. Especially now that O’Hara is back!

    Other than that, there was a little funny story about having a bot write a Spider-Man comic. The issue was pretty good, though if I had to complain about something, I’d say that it was a lot of setup and very little payoff. I guess I’m used to the milestone issues being the payoff issues, but if anything #24 had more plot reveals and master planning than this one (including the Chameleon!) But hey, at least Spider-Man didn’t die this time! Amazing Spider-Man #25 put a lot of pieces into place, and I for one can’t wait to see how they play out!

  • Face Front Strike Force Alliance Tickets now Available!

    For 20 Face Front Tokens, you can purchase an Alliance Ticket from the Token Shop and become an instant member of the Face Front Blog Alliance in Marvel Strike Force! Are you ready to join a winning team? Because we need you! Quantity is limited, so don’t dally! Click Here for more information on our alliance.

  • Giant-Man Unleashed!

    Upon seeing the Marvel Legends Giant-Man re-release, I got all nostalgic and wanted to play with mine. Giving him the lamppost is the best thing I’ve ever done with this figure by the way. I don’t know why Hasbro didn’t think to give him something like this or a chunk of concrete for the re-release, but oh well. Guess us collectors have to think of everything!

  • Comic-Con 2019 is Cancelled

    -ALERT-ALERT-

    S.H.I.E.L.D. LEVEL 7 THREAT ACTIVE

    THREAT CLASS: Cosmic

    TARGET: Sam Wilson AKA The Falcon

    IMAGE OF INCIDENT:

    THREAT DESCRIPTION:

    Samuel Wilson, the Avenger known as The Falcon, has gone rogue. Wilson came into possession of the Infinity Gauntlet with intent to use it. A team handpicked by Agent Phillip J. Coulson consisting of Anthony Stark, Steven Rogers, and Thor Odinson was dispatched to detain and Wilson. The mission was a failure, and the power of the Gauntlet was unleashed.

    RESPONSE PROTOCOL:

    Catastrophic fallout from the ‘snap’ is still being assessed. All Face Front personnel are to immediately cease Comic-Con 2019 celebrations to aid in the effort of restoring the universe.

    PUBLIC RESPONSE VIDEO:

  • Avengers: Infinity Showdown

    Avengers: Infinity Showdown

    The Avengers are facing a new enemy that wields the Infinity Gauntlet! But this one hits close to home, for this new foe is also an old friend! Do the Avengers have what it takes to stop him? Or will the reality as we know it be rewritten?

  • Me and the Boys

    I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself…

  • 4 Marvel “What If?” Comics that Actually Happened!

    You know that awkward moment when Marvel’s been around so long that some of their “What If?” stories start making it into the canon?

    Let’s take, for instance, what if Captain America had been elected President of the United States? You mean, like in the Ultimate Comics United We Stand arc?

    How about this one: What if Hulk had become a barbarian? Can someone say Skaar, son of Hulk!? Because I sure can!

    Ooh, I got one: What if Spider-Man’s clone lived! No, but Ben Reilly got hit by the Goblin’s glider and turned to dust! There’s no way he can come back from that! You know, unless Miles Warren gathers the dust and revives and kills Ben repeatedly until he breaks free and becomes the new Jackal.

    This can’t be! How many more? Is Marvel really making comics out of “What If” stories? Okay, here’s one they could never have done! What if… stay with me now… what if somehow Jane Foster became Thor! Yeah, because that could never happen.

    I’m out True Believers. I’ll see you in the Multiverse. Unbelievable…

  • Marvel Legends Beast & Gambit

    Check out the unboxing video of my new Marvel Legends Beast and Gambit! Straight outta the 90’s, these two get me one step closer owning every mutant in that classic show! Now I just need Jean (who I could already have, but… story for another day), Storm in her white outfit (because I already have, like, 3 Storms), and Professor X in the hover chair, which I didn’t think I’d need since I’ve got one in the wheelchair, but life clearly has other plans. Check out the shots of my new figures below!

  • I Played Ultimate Alliance 3! (And got some swag!)

    So this past Wednesday, I drove straight to Best Buy right after work and made it there just in time to get my hands on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order!

    I pulled up at about 7:30 pm, and the demo went to 8:00, so lucky me. When I walk in I’m greeted by a very friendly woman who tells me that they’re demoing UA3. I gleefully tell her that’s why I’m there, and she directs me to the back, where after two people finished up their turn, me and Jake (the guy I was playing with, who introduced himself at the end) got to play!

    So this was my first time playing a Switch, and I kind of got the controls mixed up. The Nintendo Rep told us to go to a S.H.I.E.L.D. command point, very reminiscent if not the exact same thing as the first Ultimate Alliance game. He said to press A to access it, so I looked down at my controller and I pressed A. Then he said to go to the character select and press A. And I, used to PlayStation controls where X is your select button, hit B and backed out. After that I went back in, and wouldn’t you believe it, I pressed B again. I told them I was used to PlayStation controls, but I finally did press A and we got to pick our characters!

    Now they stressed that the game has over 30, but this demo only had 13. I grabbed my boys Spidey and Miles of course. Jake got Deadpool, and Star-Lord was… just there. I didn’t swap him because I figured, well hey, I’ll pick 2, and Jake picks 2, but he just seemed interested in Deadpool. So after that, we were off!

    We met with Jessica Jones (Season 3 was great btw) and she was saying something about Kingpin having an Infinity Stone (bad news!). Jake and I decided to skip the dialogue because they were getting ready to close up shop and there were some little kids behind us that wanted to play. And I’d feel terrible if some little kids couldn’t play because of me, a 26-year-old man. So we began traveling through a Chinese-looking landscape, and were ambushed by scores upon scores of Hand ninjas. They were coming from left, right, all around, and chaos ensued.

    Now, maybe the only complaint I have is that when the action was happening, it got really hard to keep track of my character. I know that single-player has that over the shoulder mode, which I absolutely plan on using. But co-op forces you to use the top-down view, and there were so many ninjas, not to mention that Spider-Man and Deadpool both wear red, like the Hand. The demo TV was also pretty small. Regardless, that was really the only issue I had.

    But it played great. The web-slinging was awesome, even though I was restricted when Jake fell too far behind, but that’s just co-op for you. The swinging was tied to my ability meter, however, which sucked because then when a group of Hand showed up, I was out of abilities! Spider-Man and Miles both have web-balls, but Miles get some venom-blast action (his heavy attack is a venom-blast). Spider-Man also has a web wrecking ball that he slams into the ground, which unlocked when Jake and I leveled up. It seemed like everyone in the party leveled up, I’m interested to explore that more.

    There were some destructible boxes and flaming barrels you could throw. Some gave items, such as ISO-8. I don’t know what ISO-8 is doing in this game, up to this point it’s been relegated to mobile games, and not even recently anymore, but we’ll see. We ran into Jessica again, and she knocked down a bridge, and got into a flirty conversation with Luke Cage over comms, a nice touch. We fought and fought until we got stuck at a big, giant door. The Nintendo Rep then pointed out an objective box in the corner of the screen (that I had failed to noticed before exactly that moment) stating that we had beaten 29/30 Hand ninjas. We found the last one and pummeled him, resulting in a cut scene where Iron Fist proves why he’s the freaking Iron Fist.

    So he then joined our party as an NPC and we fought more Hand. Then Nintendo Rep pointed us to a special meter that was filling up rapidly in this particular room. Jake and I pressed the Switch equivalent of L1 and R1 together (I’m a PlayStation guy! Give me a break!) and all of the heroes unleashed a super whammy! Spider-Man did the yo-yo and started shooting web-balls everywhere! Miles did his ultimate venom-blast! (He got dizzy after it though, poor Miles!) And Deadpool and Star-Lord did… something, I was watching Spider-Man and Miles.

    So that was the end, and the Rep gave us some swag, pens, notepads, Nintendo themed microfiber cloths, and an awesome Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 key chain (seen above)! I had a great time, and I definitely need to buy a Switch. Ultimate Alliance 3 is a game 10 years overdue, and I can’t wait to play it again! Anyways, Face Front True Believers, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse!

  • Ghost-Spider is so Much Better than Spider-Gwen

    Spider-Gwen (2015)

    Spider-Gwen vol. 1 and 2 were weird. Let’s face it, they were. My best friend Eileen told me when she first saw Into the Spider-Verse that she squealed with excitement when Gwen came onto the scene. She said that even though she’d never read a Spider-Gwen comic, she had been aware of her character and aesthetic for years. Upon hearing this, I desperately wanted to suggest some comics to her, but they’re all… just strange.

    Let’s start with the big-bad, Matt Murdock. Why? I get that he’s Earth-67’s version of Kingpin, it’s all flip-flopped, but… why? It was just such a strange choice for her main villain. She was constantly fighting with his army of Hand ninjas, then she was working for him for a bit… It was strange. Not to mention her ongoing feud with Frank Castle. Again, why?

    Then we veered off into super crazy stories, like entire issues centered around two Watchers arguing with each other, and then Gwen going to Madripoor to fight MORE ninjas and Wolverine! It was just so oddball, and strange, and sometimes it didn’t really feel like the writer, Jason Latour, even wanted to write a Gwen Stacy story.

    Spider-Gwen (2015) #21

    It wasn’t all bad. Turning Gwen into the quintessential dimension-hopping Spider led to fun adventures like Sitting in a Tree and the time she hung out with 616 Gwen Stacy, creating the splinter 617 universe. I loved that story. There was also Spider-Women, with Silk and Jessica Drew, where an evil Cindy Moon terrorized Gwen and took her powers! Gripping storytelling!

    The personal, more Gwen-centric issues were the ones I favored. I liked watching her try to save Harry from himself, or struggle to tell Uncle Ben she’s the reason Peter died, or try to keep her dad safe, or come to terms with the Gwenom Symbiote. I have to say though, the Mary Janes were CRIMINALLY underutilized. She was always blowing them off, for something or another. And granted, that’s a classic Spider-Hero staple, but it was just so easy sometimes to forget she’s a drummer in a band. Seriously, the issue with Mysterio and the haunted house was, I honestly think, my favorite of those original volumes.

    And then the whole thing ended with her publicly outing herself and going to jail. Like… What!? I just think that, for my friend Eileen, who can get pretty nerdy but not that nerdy, the original Spider-Gwen comics weren’t very accessible. She’d disconnect when it came to all the Hand and Matt Murdock and freaking Frank Castle stuff. And that was a lot of the stuff.

    This leads us to Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider. Seanan McGuire’s so-far 9-issue run has quickly become one of my favorite comic books, and a great, accessible, Spider-Gwen story. Actually, let me back up. From issue 5 and up, because the first 4 were forced to tie into Spider-Geddon, which I do not blame her for. And even those had a cool story arc! (Also, what’s with #1’s launching inside of big events now? I don’t think that’s a great idea, but that’s a topic for another time, as is Spider-Geddon.) But once McGuire was free of the tie-in shackles, she picked up where Latour left off and ran with it!

    Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #1

    These stories are personal. Gwen’s trying to date Harry, and form a better connection with her band. They’re action packed. Her fight with the Man-Wolf in issue #9 was nothing short of epic. They’re heroic! Gwen’s become something of a ‘Hero for Hire’, but when she leapt into that massive fire in issue #7 to save as many people as she could, honestly one of the best sequences I’ve read this year. The Gwenom Symbiote is slowly unraveling, creating challenges for our hero to overcome in and out of battle! She’s getting a better, more relatable relationship with her dad. But most importantly, McGuire is setting up a big-bad who should have been in the Spider-Gwen comics from the start:

    MILES WARREN! You all remember him? Everyone’s favorite pedophile with an obsessive hangup on Gwen Stacy! He’s also known as the freaking Jackal! Okay, hear me out. Go back to vol. 1 and 2, and replace Matt Murdock and the Hand with Miles Warren and a clone army. Replace Frank Castle with an Earth-67 version of Ben Reilly or Kaine. I mean, right? A clone with Peter’s face haunting Gwen for her original sin? The Jackal writes himself as a Spider-Gwen antagonist!

    Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider (2018) #5

    Listen, I have nothing against the original Spider-Gwen comics. Without them we wouldn’t even have Spider-Gwen as a character. But we forget that she was meant as a one-off for Edge of Spider-Verse #2, kind of like Peni Parker, help out in the Spider-Verse storyline and never be seen or heard from again until the likes of Spider-Geddon. And maybe stretching a one-off character story into an entire comic series because she took off in popularity may not have been the best idea in hindsight. Of course Spider-Gwen merch was flying off the shelves (like Eileen said, the aesthetic is so unique), but the comics weren’t really representative, I believe, of what a Gwen Stacy with Spider powers story should be. The Ghost-Spider comics, however, are knocking it out of the park. Which begs the question, why are starting at #1 AGAIN in August!?!? Anyways, Face Front True Believers, enjoy the Mary Janes hit single Face it Tiger below, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse.