Comic Book Classics Revisited: The Avengers (vol. 3) #19

This is the week we fans have been waiting for… By Thursday night, we will all be able to get tickets to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron in theaters. If you’re lucky to live outside North America, like the UK for example, you have already been able to see it and those of us in the Western Hemisphere hate your guts for it. Anyway, to round out the Ultron Handbook, I saved my all time favorite Ultron story, “Ultron Unlimited”, to start the same week of the film’s release!

Star Wars #4

Our heroic band of rebels barely pulled a victory out of their last mission, and they are recovering and assessing things in this issue. It’s sort of a catch your breath issue, with some seeds for future plots. Those can be great issues if they’re done well, and this is, for the most part.

Daredevil Episode 3: Rabbit In A Snowstorm

Episode 3 of Daredevil, “Rabbit In A Snowstorm,” focuses a lot more on Matt Murdock, attorney, than Daredevil the vigilante not that he’s been called that yet. A lot of the action this time around is in the courtroom, and, oddly, an art gallery. We both see how clever Matt can be when he’s using his brain instead of his fists, and get some depth to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, who also hasn’t gotten his better known alias yet.

Ms. Marvel #14

I’ve got to admit, I had a lot of doubts about this title when I heard about it. But I’ve been enjoying it a lot, and it’s because of a very fine line they manage to walk. It’s not a book about a “Muslim hero.” it’s a book about a young hero who happens to be Muslim. It’s a subtle distinction, but it’s there, and it makes all the difference.

Thor #7

The new Thor has caused a lot of upheaval in the Marvel Universe. You’d think the one with the biggest problem with the new wielder of Mjolnir would be Thor Odinson himself, but it seems to be Odin. He’s got such an issue, he’s unleashed the Destroyer, one of Asgard’s most powerful artefacts (and something familiar to those who have seen the first Thor movie).

Daredevil Episode 2: Cut Man

The second episode of Daredevil is titled “Cut Man.” In fighting, a cut man is someone who takes care of a fighter between rounds and after a fight. This works on a few levels for this episode.

SHIELD #4

I’m generally not a huge fan of Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. She’s just never been a favorite character of mine. But I was curious to see how they used her in a solo story in SHIELD 4. I was also amused that the famed member of the Fantastic Four was in issue four, but I don’t know if that was deliberate or not.

Spider-Man 2099 #11

Miguel’s had a rough few issues. He’s been caught up in the Spider-Verse crossover, sent to the future, seen a really nasty version of it, and dealt with the Maestro. You’d think after all that, he’d deserve a break. But, along with spider-powers, Miguel shares a trend for bad luck with Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man.

Agents of SHIELD: Afterlife

There’s a tradition of good SHIELD agents being on the run from bad elements in the organization. It’s happened in the comics a lot, especially with Fury. This was also a good bit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That tradition continues here, as Coulson and Hunter are being pursued by Gonzales and his version of SHIELD in “Afterlife,” this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD. Coulson and Hunter have a very entertaining scene with a used car salesman to open the episode.

Daredevil: Into The Ring

Marvel has been doing a fantastic job of expanding their Cinematic Universe. I was really impressed with the concept of Agents of SHIELD (a bit less so with the execution at times), tying together a tv show with a series of hit movies. So when I heard about the Netflix series coming up, my two reactions were, “Those could be really amazing,” and “Damn, I guess I finally need to get Netflix.” Yeah, I’m the one guy who didn’t have it before.