Thoughts on Superior Iron Man - #BeSuperior

I got my hands on Superior Iron Man #001 the first day it became available online, but I haven't read the issue until today. My thoughts on this new beginning are written bellow.

I really thought something was going really wrong with Marvel the last year. The Man Without Fear was becoming more of a "Daredevil: The animated series for pre-school children - The Comic Book" and Tony Stark was not eligible for the title of "The Smartest Pure-Human Alive", because he was supposed to be enhanced by alien technology inside his mother's wound (he was still second to Bruce Wayne, but that's another story).

1. Going into Superior Iron Man #001, we know Tony Stark is indeed a pure human, adopted by Howard A. Stark and his wife, Maria. We read on the prologue that after the fight with the Red Skull, a "more sinister Tony Stark evaded changing back", and we see on the first pages that he is back to alcohol drinking. Yet, he doesn't seem prone to alcoholism like every other time this has happened. Plus, he now has an all-new, symbiote-based armor, which is not actually a live organism, but it just works much like a symbiote. This could be not only an upgrade to the Extremis-based armors he could even store inside his bones and neural system, but also another proof that Tony Stark is now smarter and more of a master of himself than ever.

2. Daredevil is out to protect San Fransisco from the villain Tony Stark, and he is not a superhero from a children's TV show. Of course, it's not Bendis or Brubaker Daredevil, but it's way better than the current ongoing series. The story on Daredevil Vol.4 might be getting darker issue after issue, but the pencils and inks are still like a Saturday morning children's show. Tom Taylor needs many more pages to prove this story will be a good one (and I'm counting on him to do it), but Yildiray Cinar only needs one issue; this one.

3. Tony Stark has not become an anti-hero. He's a villain. A drug-lord. And he's much more of a threat to Daredevil (and the rest of the world) than Kingpin.

Superior Iron Man might become one of the best Marvel stories of the 21st century. For me, and not according to my earlier plans, this is the series I will read with every new issue, alongside the new Batman & Robin (and maybe Green Lantern after Godhead ends and I read it all at once). So, please God, don't let them be another clone/impostor/Skrull/Hush stories.

"I let them all feel perfection. Do you have any idea what they'll do to get that back? I want to watch."

- Tony Stark

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2014-2015 update

Hey all. I just wanted to update you on what is going to happen on PsarasComics until next summer. Well, first of all, I'm reading three ongoing series this year: Batman, Green Lantern and Daredevil, but I am also eager to check out new issues of Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians and Batman '66.
After going back to Bendis' and Brubacker's Daredevil during the last months, the new issues are failing to pleasure me, so you won't be reading a lot about the Man Without Fear on PsarasComics for the months to come. On the other hand, the New 52 Green Lantern might be the best ongoing series DC has to offer at the moment. I have always despised crossovers, because you can't be sure if you want to read all the titles until they end, but the way Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, New Guardians, Red Lantern and now Sinestro are crossing paths once in a while is superb. And why did they discontinue the Gonzo series?
As for Batman... well, he is the goddamn Batman. I tried not to follow month-by-month, and all I got was reading 20-30 issues at once as soon as I went back.

And for a concise comic-book review: I bought Deadpool: Soul Hunter, collecting issues 7-12 from the Marvel NOW Deadpool series. I only did it because I remember those volumes were out for about $15, so I considered myself lucky to find it for 15€ (which is more than $15, but because of import fees, taxes etc, I rarely find comic volumes in prices that low). If you like Spawn and have a sense of Deadpool humor, go buy it. It's the closest we're going to get in a "What if Wade Wilson was Spawn" story. We were doing a lot of Deadpool-Spawn fan fiction with a classmate of mine in high school, so I enjoyed the story.

Until we meet again, folks!

Daredevil: End of Days

It's been more than a month since I got my hands on the #1 New York Times Best Seller and I can't tell you how eager I was to finally have some time to sit down, relax, and read it all at once. I wanted to keep this review spoiler-free, but after time of planning on how to do it, I deceided not to. I just want to praise a book in which Mack and Bendis take their awesome run on the Man Without Fear and end it a most astonishing way. The people behind this book are the amazing team of, of course, Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack on the story, Klaus Janson and Bill Sienkievitz on the pencils, Matt Hollingsworth on most of the coloring, and, who else than David Mack drawing the covers and providing some extra coloring.

In the near future, a future that splits from normal Daredevil continuity somewhere between right after Daredevil Vol.2 #50 and #110 (with and extended use of #51-#81 into the storyline, but I'd say right after #50 to avoid even the slightest trace of a plot-hole), Daredevil has killed the Kingpin and subsequently disappeared (and no, he wasn't in San Fransisco). The story starts with his return to the city, only to be killed by Bullseye after a two-hour long fight. The story of Daredevil's death is assigned by J.Jonah Jameson to Ben Urich, who then goes on a 8-issue long adventure, searching for and talking to Daredevil's and Matt Murdock's old friends and foes, all of them revolving about Matt's last word: "Mapone". The book features appearances by almost everybody from Bendis' run and scrambles the significance of the part each of them plays.

The pros:

- Nick Fury isn't Samuel L. Jackson. I haven't stumbled upon the original Nick Fury for more than a year and a half. All I got for this time was the movies and Nick Fury Jr's cameo in Kaine... oops, I meant Scarlet Spider.

- The simplistic approach to Bullseye's personality. Matt Murdock had two or three reasons to call for his daughter before his death (because he loves his daughter and also because she could have saved him, nevermind leaving a clue for Timothy). Bullseye is, throughout the story, said to have crossed the line and killed Daredevil because of his last words, but Bullseye would actually have done it anytime. He would, if he could. So, there you have it: Bullseye is, plain and simple, a psycho killer.

- The coloring. The battle seems like a gateway to hell. The first 7 issues look like a funeral. The funeral looks like a walk in the park. The last issue looks exactly like the (rare) pages in Daredevil Vol.2 where Matt is feeling good, and from before Frank Miller made him darker.

- That, although the story revolves around Ben Urich, superheroes and villains play a greater role than Matt's friends and ex-girlfriends. This is a reminder that even a man like Matt Murdock can die and be forgotten, but Daredevil is a legend and immortal.

- Turk is now a businessman and not a punching bag.

- The cameos. Uncle Ben is mentioned at least once, Miller Brew Beer, and Mack and Bendis made it on the cover.

 

The cons:

- The pencils and the overuse of plain black shadowing, just like Vol.2.

- The one plot-hole everyone seems to be missing. Did Bullseye shoot himself right in the head or not?

- The fact that Daredevil had a dozen of girlfriends, but chose to impregnate Tony Stark's lapdog.

- The Amazing Spider-Man. Marvel, you can use this pose one time for each of Spider-Man's suits, for the time he had six arms, the Ultimate Spider-Man, the new Ultimate Spider-Man, the Manga Spider-Man, the MC2 Spider-Man, an unpushable X-Men spinoff with a spider mutant you're trying to push, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Silk, Venom, Carnage, Toxin, Spider-Ham, Spider-Spider, but NOT ONCE EVERY THREE MONTHS!!

Is it good?

Yes, it is good.

Should you buy it?

Only if you're a Daredevil fan and really in the mood for some more Bendis and Mack. It's definitely not the book to start with if you're not already into the man without fear. I've been revisiting Daredevil Vol.2 for the last months and "Daredevil: End of Days" was a good way to end it and move on to ongoing series again.

Is it the best way to end Daredevil Vol.2?

Absolutely not. Going on to Brubaker's stories and then Shadowland does a lot more justice to the Daredevil universe as it was throughout Vol.2. So, don't forget to check out PsarasComics Essential Shadowland by clicking here.

iOS bookmark Icons

Hi and welcome back from Summer! Just wanted to inform you that from now on, when you add PsarasComics to your iPhone/iPad favorites, bookmarks or home screen, you won't have to cope with an ugly full screen preview of the page or the Blogger logo (which is pretty cool, but you can't tell which blog is which if all of them have the same one). I rescaled and added the logo for iPhone and iPad (Retina display and not). I believe this works for Chrome on Android, too. You're welcome.

Psaras Comics Essential: Eddie Brock as Venom

On almost every comic book that has a double-ID-ed (secret or public) protagonist, we read about three people: The hero, the villain, and the man behind the hero. But there is a man behind a certain villain that has earned the utmost respect by comic book fans: Eddie Brock. Here is an essential collection of Eddie Brock issues and arcs:

1. Web of Spider-Man #18
   Although it has nothing to do with Eddie, I love it when the spider sense doesn't work
2. Amazing Spider-Man #298-#300
3. Amazing Spider-Man #315-#317 
4. Avengers: Deathtrap - The Vault
   also reprinted as Venom: Deathrap - The Vault
5. Spider-Man Special: The Trial of Venom
6. Amazing Spider-Man #374-#375
7. Venom: Lethal Protector
8. Venom: Funeral Pyre
9. Venom: The Madness
10. Venom: The Enemy Within
11. Venom: Nights of Vengeance
12. Spider-Man: The Exile Returns
    which constists of the following issues:
    Web of Spider-Man #118
    Spider-Man #52
    Web of Spider-Man #119
    Spider-Man #53
13. Venom: Separation Anxiety
14. Venom: Carnage Unleashed
15. Venom: Sinner Takes All
16. Venom: Along Came A Spider
17. Venom: The Hunted
18. Venom: The Hunger
19. Venom vs Wolverine: Tooth and Claw
20. Venom on Trial
21. Venom: License to Kill
22. Venom: Sign of the Boss
23. Venom: Finale
24. Spider-Man Family #2
25. Sensational Spider-Man Vol.2 #38-#39
    The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock
26. Venom: Dark Origin
27. 1. That would be all. You can also read Ultimate Spider-Man #33-#39 and Eddie Brock stories after his "Last Temptation", but I won't be doing a PCESS on them anytime soon.
       
       
       Before I say goodbye, I also grab the chance to suggest that you read the underrated "Daredevil: Fall From Grace" storyline, since Eddie appears in it. Goodbye!