DeFalco, Tom
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3 out of 5
(2 books)
Spider-Girl: Legacy
(Art by Pat Olliffe, Ron Frenz, Al Williamson and Bill Sienkiewicz)
Marvel's Mightiest Heroes Book 89. More than a decade after Peter Parker retired from his life as a superhero, his teenage daughter May discovers that she too has spider-powers. Learning her dad's secret history she has to choose whether to try to live a normal teenage life or, despite her father's objections, accept that with great power comes great responsibility.
This is an interesting take on the Spider-Man mythos with the relationship between Peter and May being the emotional core of the story. It's interesting to see Peter torn between his own beliefs about power and responsibility, and his certain knowledge that being Spider-Man all-but ruined his life on numerous occasions, not least in a final confrontation with Norman Osborn which cost him a leg. May herself is an clever subversion of the classic tropes too, actually being popular and athletic at school, as well as having her moral compass based on the lessons learned from Peter and MJ, rather than a traumatic loss like her father's. I also really like May's costume, even though I always hated that exact same costume design as worn by Ben Reilly (although that might have more to do with Marvel trying to convince us that Ben was the real Spider-Man instead of Peter in the mid-90s).
There are also some intriguing elements of this possible future world introduced, such as the Fantastic Five led by John Storm, a new version of Venom and the mysterious Darkdevil (implied to be an undead version of Daredevil).
There's basically two parts to this book, with the first part being the 'What if...' story which originated the character. Plot-wise and art-wise it is leagues beyond the rest of the book, even giving May her own incarnation of the Green Goblin to face as her first true test. The rest of the book is a bit sloppier and has some pretty poor artwork in places and the second-person narration rapidly become irritating. There's a reason it's not commonly used like this.
3 out of 5
The Mighty Thor: Alone Against The Celestials
(Art by Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding)
Inadvertently finding himself on the planet Pangoria, Thor discovers that the world is threatened with judgement and destruction by the godlike beings known as the Celestials. Despite being alone and hopelessly outmatched, the God of Thunder vows to do everything in his power, including giving up his life, to save the people of Pangoria.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that this story is a tangential side-story for Thor, dropping him into a brand new world after leaving Asgard and having him return to Earth by the end, none the worse for the experience (spoilers: he survives). This kind of thing often happens when a series has just wrapped up a storyline but the writers haven't finished planning the next arc, so they just have a few pointless mini-adventures for a bit to keep the wheels spinning. All of that is plain to see here from the word go but, surprisingly, this book isn't actually too bad.
Don't get me wrong, it's not great either, but it does have a couple of particularly engaging elements. The first is Thor's determination to save a people he's literally just met even though he knows he's got almost no hope of succeeding. It's a really nice moment of dogged heroism that highlights Thor's implacable dedication to justice. The other element which caught my attention was the Celestials themselves. Usually I don't care for them but I've got a bit more perspective on them thanks to The Eternals movie (which isn't as bad as everyone says but, like this book, also isn't great either). Here, the idea of them being both unimaginably powerful and having minds and motivations beyond comprehension, makes them interesting antagonists.
3 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Fantastic Four: The End Is Fourever (here)
Onslaught 3: Comrades In Arms (here)
Onslaught 5: The Front Line (here)
Onslaught 6: Pyrrhic Victory (here)
Star Trek: Marvel Comics - Part 1 (here)
Superboy: Volume 1 - Incubation (here)
Superboy: Volume 2 - Extraction (here)
The Amazing Spider-Man: Birth Of Venom (here)