Superman / Fantastic Four

 

I never thought I would see the day when I would read the title "Superman/Fantastic Four".

I never thought I would see the day DC & Marvel would release another tabloid size comic book.

I never thought I would see the day I would purchase a DC/Marvel & Tabloid book and think...well you will have to read.

Rather than explain the story here is a great link with the description from CBR: 

www.cbr.com/superman-man-steel-herald-galactus/

Pencils Dan Jurgens & Art Thibert

Inked by Art Thibert

Colours Gregory Wright

Letterers Bill Oakley

Cover by Dan Jurgens & Alex Ross

The concept of Superman / Fantastic Four sounds exciting. First question is WHERE IS JOHN BYRNE?

Well Byrne knows where he is, or was at the time, with both companies. Byrne defined both Fantastic Four and Superman in the 80s, so this was a no brainer, however politics be damned, it wasn’t going to happen.

The crossover itself is mediocre at best and as far as visuals go Jurgens isn’t to my liking in comparison to let’s see, Batman vs Hulk which is a visual masterpiece.

Before everyone defends Jurgens please remember art is relative. I don’t settle when it comes to an epic idea like this. Some fans do settle or have a different palette. Good for them. You want the best out of any creative medium then you need to be able to take constructive criticism. In this case with comics so that we get the best out of characters and creators.

If I like a band and they have 20 albums but not every album is good, then I will critique. Blind love is not a way to go through life.

My friends and I are always a little irked by defensive fans who love blindly. You can be passionate about something but also realistically objective.

Dan Jurgens is a great idea man. Honesty I do like him. I liked him in the 80s. He hasn’t really evolved since the 80s. His art is basically the same angles, hand movements, layout etc. He kind reminds me of how I used to draw in high school: loose, carefree, a bit of a bronze age influence artistically but not the guy you would go to for an epic visual tale. So I like him, for certain aspects and time in comics.

Art Thibert is a great inker, I’m thinking Kevin Nowlan probably could have done some justice to the inks the way he did on Superman vs Aliens which is a visually brilliant!

 

The story as it stands is good. Not great, but really good. However a comic book is 50% writing and 50% art. If one of the 2 is off, you don't have the full potential of what it can be.

I give the book a C+ if not for anything the idea and format. Execution and art? I’ve said what needs to be said, my perspetive.

It’s only comic books folks, enjoy!!!

The Amazing Spider-Man: the Gauntlet

It is well documented with longtime Spider-Man fans that, without question, the Amazing Spider-Man #229 & #230 are among the best stories from that book in the 1980s.

I loved that period for reasons as follows: for one I was a kid and in the Marvel Universe Spidey was king, to me. Secondly I also thought John Romita Jr's take on the character was definitive. With that, Roger Stern gave a hell of a run. As a writer/artist team they were a force on that book, right up there with Lee/Ditko, in my opinion.

However when I was a kid I missed both these issues!

Fast forward decades later and the price for me to pick up the books was beyond what I was willing to pay. I also missed the Spider-Man Megazine from the 1990s that reprinted these 2 stories as well. Any trades or hard covers was either off my radar or too pricey when I got to it.

Which brings us to 2010s the Amazing Spider-Man: the Gauntlet trade paperback.

 

This is sweet. Why? I’m getting the two missing issues of Amazing Spider-Man #229 & #230, but for other reasons to follow............

What lead me to purchase the books was the back up story of ASM #229 & #230, what became the icing on the cake were the “new stories” that were the actual stars of the book.

In ASM #626 we have artist Michael Gaydos beautiful art (and when I say I art he also coloured the story as well). He’s quite a talent. He has that ‘drawing from photo’ look a la Alex Maleev but also has that groovy shadowy semi hyper realistic style of John Paul Leon with a little wink and nod to the story board style of Rodolfo Damaggio. For those story driven the writing by Fred Van Lente delivered the goods, nothing ground breaking but a good old traditional feel to the Spidey legacy storytelling.

I should also mention the colours used, the tones, has a 70s New York crime movie feel but also bright and earthy /meets the 1960s groovy classic Spider-Man cartoon (dig them skies!).

It only gets better from here as Roger Stern is back along with Lee Weeks continuing the momentum in ASP#627 to #629. There is lots going on here, it has the classic Stern feel of his 80s Spidey work along with the amazing art of Lee Weeks.

Both Weeks and Gaydos give us the pre-1990s/McFarlane Spidey eyes, the kind Romita Jr and his predessors drew. I love it. That’s my Spidey. I won’t talk about the story, for the story you would need to read it!

Another story has also found it’s way here by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer, decent enough as it goes and worth the read. 

So why am I writing this review? I’m no critic. I do not wish to critique. What I want to do is praise!

Kudos the talented teams on this book all of whom I applaud and all of which I wouldn’t own a copy if not for the fact that "when I was a kid I missed Amazing Spider-Man #229 & #230".

‘Nuff Said!

#JohnRomitaJr #RogerStern #MichaelGaydos #LeeWeeks #spidermanartists