BREAKING INTO COMICS THE MARVEL WAY #1 (OF 2)

Review by: ohcaroline
WRITER: Mike Carey, Peter David, Kevin Grevioux, Jonathan Hickman, Simon Spurrier & Frank Tieri
PENCILS: Matteo De Longis, Tommasso Bennato, Jon Ennis, Lost Fish, Stephen Thompson, Shaun Turnbull & Gabriel Hernandez Walta
COLORED BY: Tom Brennan, Jim Charalampidis & Gabriel Hernandez Walta
LETTERED BY: Dave Sharpe

Size: pages
Price: 3.99

I wasn’t sure what this comic was when I saw it on the shipping lists, and I was going to give it a pass, but my friend mentioned there was a fun Spider-Woman story by Bendis, so I decided to check it out.  Basically, as far as I can tell, the stories in this were drawn by artists discovered in a Marvel talent search.  However the writers are established comics writers, which led to some pretty interesting combinations.  It’s hard to give an overall rating to an anthology like this so I’ll just say a couple things about each story.

1: A Spider-Man story by Marc Guggenheim and Damion Hendricks.  This really reads like an audition piece, narrated by Spider-Man, who does a lot of cool action-y things, with plenty of appearances by other heroes.  This was pretty well executed but it all felt kind of rote.

2. An X-Men story by Chris Yost  and Paul Davidson.  Narrated by Havok, this story takes place after Jean Grey’s death (from costumes and other details, I’m guessing her original death back in the day, not the recent one).  Basically, all the X-Men go into the desert to fight in order to help Cyclops get his emotions  out.  It’s a neat concept, but ultimately kind of a pointless story.  I didn’t like the art on this one at all. 

3. Icarus’s Wings by Stuart Moore and Joe Suitor.  This is an Iron Man story and I loved it.  Just the kind of well-intentioned, grandiose-and-maybe-kind-of-insane Tony that I want to read about.  This is another story that takes place in the past (during the Armor Wars) and I’m not sure how the plot details work with canon but, whatever, it’s a great slice of Tony craziness.  I went back and forth on the art.  Some pages I liked a lot, others didn’t do much for me.  Joe Suitor seems to mixing a lot of different styles and media.  It’s certainly interesting,, and a good fit for this story. Of all the artists in this book, I’d like to see what he does next.

4. Let Sleeping Devils Lie by Mike Benson and Michele Bertilorenzi is a Bullseye story that’s pretty derivative (of Silence of the Lambs and the psychiatrist chapter of Watchmen, among other things), and really uninteresting to me. The art was also uninteresting, except that it was sometimes extra gross.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see this guy get more work, though, as it seems to be a style lots of people like.

5. It’s Not Lupus by Kathryn Immonen  and Serena Ficca is a Runaways story, and basically anybody who is craving more of Immonen’s Runaways will enjoy this.  It also might be good if you’re curious about her take on the book.  If you didn’t care for that run, you won’t care for this.  Ficca’s art is definitely different, but i didn’t particularly care for the character designs.  They all look too young, but I think it’s more a taste thing.

6. Finally, Modern Love by Brian Bendis and Christian Nauck is a HILARIOUS New Avengers story.  It involves a relationship between Spider-Woman (though technically Skrull Spider-Woman, for continuity nerds who want to know if this counts!)  and Iron Fist.  If you enjoy Bendis’s humor and his little touches of characterization, this is a great showcase for them.  The art is really playful and goes with the topic too.  Great story.

Basically, I loved 3 and 6, liked 5, and could have done without the others.  For an anthology, especially a newcomers anthology, that’s not a bad record, and with the variety of stories, I bet most Marvel readers will find something to enjoy here.. 

Story: 3 - Good
Art: 3 - Good

Comments

  1. Nice review! I completely overlooked this, assuming it was some kind of how-to manual. Now I’m somewhat curious…

  2. @daccampo  Yeah, I only picked it up by accident, too.  I have to say this was POORLY MARKETED — perhaps they overestimate the percentage of the audience that is made of aspiring comics artists.  It’s at least worth flipping through for the Bendis story

  3. Can I ask you a question? IS iron fist and misty still together? If he and SPider-woman had sex, he is either cheating, or he and misty arent together. COuld you let me know?

  4. According to the book, Danny & Misty are not together at the point when this happens — it’s not really clear where this fits in continuity, I think Bendis just figured Danny was single at some point and threw in the line to make it clear he wasn’t cheating.  The story strikes me as being ‘just for fun’ but it did make sure Misty wasn’t ignored. 

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