Nice that this issue came out so quickly after the first one. It was a nice, strong start for this sequel and hopefully it delivers more of the goods here. With that fantastic cover by Jaime Hernandez it’s nice to the eyes already.

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“Let Loose the Watcherdogs of War!” (Nick Bertozzi): I’m not sure whether to laugh or be disturbed at what Philip does with these Dogs. Nice parody of Woody Allen at the end though. (5/5)

“Old-School Rules!” (Gilbert Hernandez): I’m not sure what to think of this story in terms of writing. It’s not bad, but the pacing of it felt weird. I thought it was gonna go one way with Iron Man loving his original costume too much. But then it turns into this random fight involving Toro and The Leader. The art by Hernandez is pretty great though; and I love the old school aesthetic to it. If anything it’s all worth it for the good art. But it’s not that strong of the start like last time with Rafael Grampa. (Story: 2/5; Art: 5/5)

“Love and the Space Phantom” (Jamie Hernandez): Here we have the other Hernandez bother doing a pretty ridiculous 60’s style beach story. Never heard of Space Phantom before but his plight to hang out with the ladies of Marvel is pretty funny. It is a bit creepy how Phantom seems to love going into the bodies of women. But once again more fantastic art and I like how Jamie makes these girls look really attractive without going too over the top. I think this is much of an improvement over his brother’s story. (Story: 4/5; Art: 5/5)

“Indecision” (Jeffrey Brown): The fact that Professor X wipes Scott’s memory constantly so he doesn’t need to listen to him cry about Jean was hilarious. Also hilarious was the observation on just how the X-Men handles the Sentinels every single time. It plays very well with Brown’s pencils and the panel with Wolverine getting burned was gorgeous. (Story: 5/5; Art: 5/5)

“Ghost Badge” (Sheldon Vella): Well this is easily the strangest story out of the bunch. Wasn’t expecting Ghost Rider to come out with a fire stache’ and play heavy metal. But it strangely works and Vella’s really looks like something out of a heavy metal album. I know I’d read this as a full blown comic if it were every to happen. (Story: 4/5; Art: 5/5)

“Little Lies” (Paul Maybury): Now it says Paul Maybury but it really looks like Paul Pope here. I know it isn’t, the characters outside of costumes aren’t nearly as strange looking as Pope’s designs would be. But the fight sequences look like something out of Pope’s work and I’d love to see Maybury do a ASM issue in the near future. Plus this is a hilarious observation on how much Parker has to lie about getting beat up. Poor little hampsters….(Story: 5/5; Art: 5/5)

“Mettle Mirror” (Paul Hornschmeier): The first time Hornschemeier did a story for this series; it was a bit confusing. Cause it felt like nothing from before, or basically it was more straight forward then the other tales. Here, this is more of the same. But I like the message he is giving us with Colossus fighting with himself. Plus a great mix of regular comic art and then expressionistic art really makes this a joy to look at. (Story: 3/5; Art: 5/5)

“Brand Pickled Herring” (Tony Millionare): Yeah……. (Story: 1/5; Art: 3/5)

“Wolverine and Power Pack” (David Heatly): A strange story but it has a great heart to it at the end. I like how the story feels like it was drawn by a little kid. That isn’t a slam on him by any means. Just a nice, aesthetic choice to tell the story. (Story: 4/5; Art: 5/5)

“You Won’t Feel a Thing” (Farel Dalrymple): This is a very depressing story since Farel continues to add more layers of sadness to it. It’s kinda more of a realistic approach to how Parker feels about his life then in regular ASM issues. The art is pretty good here but it is ballsy that Farel admits he stole an entire page from ‘How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way’ to do a sequence. Very ballsy. (Story: 3/5; Art: 3/5)

“Crisis–In the Lair of MODOK” (Jon Vermilyea): MODOK and nose picking goes a long way baby. (Story: 3/5; Art: 5/5)

This was a good second issue, but not the strongest stories in the bunch. Jeffrey Brown’s and Paul Maybury’s are easilly the best here. Overall though there is some great artwork in this which makes the purchase well worth it.