Comic Reviews Continuation- ASM 561 and others!

So yesterday, we tackled Invincible Iron Man #2, Avengers/Invaders #2, Daredevil #107 and Secret Invasion #3. Today, we’ll be reviewing the four other comics I picked up over the week- Amazing Spider-Man #561, Immortal Iron Fist #15, New Avengers #41, and Thor: Search for Odin.

This time around, we’ll have five out of five Leonardos as a perfect score.

Let’s begin!

Amazing Spider-Man #561

Written by Dan Slott/ Art by Marcos Martin 

This issue gives us a glimpse at Paper Doll’s origin; it’s actually quite standard for super villian types, so I’m a bit disappointed. However, it does work n terms fo the story. We understand the why of how she came to be and her obsessions.

We’re treated to a lot of Spidey action, to a lot of his quips and the level of athleticism. Plus, we see the arc end with the capture of the villian, although that’s not really the juicy bits of this arc, especially not in this issue. Here, we get a lot of hints that either MJ really is Jackpot or MJ knows about the deal with Mephisto or both… OR NEITHER! We get to see Sara Ehret again, too. And if you’re like me, the type who likes to get teased around a bit, you’d enjoy something like this.

What I really loved about this issue is that it shows Peter’s morality. Spidey is defined by that. He’s a good guy, through and through.

ASM #561 gets 3.5 Leonardos out of 5. It’s a great issue, but something’s just off. Maybe it’s the art, though I enjoy that, too.

Immortal Iron Fist #15

Written by Matt Fraction/ art by Khari Evans

This is another one of the Immortal Iron Fists from history- a concept that really added to the mythos of Danny Rand, our generation’s Immortal Iron Fist.

The formula is familiar, this is the second, after all. But for some reason, I really liked the first one better. It was a lot more playful, and it created more drama for me. Even though I am still Matt Fraction’s bitch because the way it was told is still superb, and it really reflects his style.

It mixes a lot of cultures and a lot of mythologies and religions (in a way), and it worked out really well, because the Iron Fist power now seems very ethereal, so it mixes with all these mythologies really well.

It doesn’t push the story of Iron Fist further, but it explores the past in such a way that you understand the extent of Danny’s powers and how much he hasn’t tapped. Well, to me, at least. I don’t know if Matt Fraction decided to do that. However, that’s not to say that this wasn’t a good tale, for it was- an exceptional tale, at that.

Something I’ve noticed is that the knee-to-the-face thing, ala Triple H, is an Iron Fist thing.

Iron Fist #15 gets 3 and a half turtles out of 5! If you want a good one shot, this is perfect.

New Avengers #41

Written by Brian Michael Bendis/ Art by Billy Tan

This issue focuses on Ka-zar and Shanna of the Savage Land and it ties into past issues of New Avengers. Apart from an issue-long exposition, nothing much happened until the last page.

Unless you count that there may be a hint of a Skrully weakness in those pages, it doesn’t really do much.

Art’s inconsistent, too. There’s one panel that shows Iron Man in his classic gold and red costume, and in the next, it’s in the High-G suit.

Surprisingly, though, Bendis wrote a pretty good Spider-Man here, for all the few pieces of dialogue he got.

New Avengers #41 gets 2 out of 5. Not very good, in my opinion.

Thor: Search for Odin (collects Thor 7 and

Written by J. Michael Straczynski (wow, that was hard to spell)/ Art by Marko Djurdjevic

FUCKING EPIC. Two issues, and it was able to extend Marvel Norse mythology to the past and way into the future. JMS is one HELL of a writer, and of course, Djurdjevic is one hell of an artist.

The story weaves in and out of Thor’s and Blake’s lives, that involves Odin and Sif and of course, the female Loki. The way it was told was just spectacular.

Okay, I really can’t do it much justice by just talking about. But here’s the thing, I never collected Thor before, because I couldn’t afford it, however, this issue made me decide to start.

4 and a half turtles out of five! Why didn’t it get a full five? Because Thor didn’t slap a bitch around so much.