straczynski | the m0vie blog

J. Michael Straczynski’s (and Ron Garney’s) Run on the Amazing Spider-Man – Civil War (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Darren

This April, to celebrate the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, we are taking a look at some classic and modern comics featuring Spider-Man (and friends). Check back daily for the latest review.

Spider-Man is a pretty important character in the whole Civil War event. Indeed, he’s probably the event’s third most important character – aside from Captain America and Iron Man. So it makes sense that J. Michael Straczynsi’s extended run on The Amazing Spider-Man would stop and engage with the massive crossover spanning the entire Marvel Universe. And, from a logistical “structuring a comic book crossover tie-in so it makes any sense to a reader picking up the book” point of view, Straczynski does a great job. You can read The Amazing Spider-Man without needing to even pick up the Civil War miniseries.

However, as a piece of writing on its own merits, Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man tie-in is a mess. Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man run has been collecting trouble aspects for quite some time, particularly when Straczynski seemed to brush up against the editorial demands for the book. Sins Past was perhaps the most obvious example, but with Civil War the comic entered a phase where it was pretty much an editorial means to an end. Everything from this point on was pushing towards One More Day, an event that would wipe decades of continuity from the title. (Including Straczynski’s run.)

Civil War really gets the ball rolling on these sweeping editorially-mandated changes, but that’s not the only problem with the story arc. Given Spider-Man’s importance to Civil War, and his role as defector from one side to the other, it seems like Spider-Man would really be the perfect lens through which Straczynski could explore the issue. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes clear upon which side of the issue Straczynski comes down.

A tangled web…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Civil War, iron man, J. Michael Straczynski, marvel, marvel comics, peter parker, politics, review, spider man, Stark, straczynski, the amazing spider-man, tony stark | 4 Comments »

J. Michael Straczynski’s Run on The Fantastic Four – Civil War (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Thor: The Dark World towards the end of next month, we’ll be looking at some Thor and Avenger-related comics throughout September. Check back weekly for the latest reviews and retrospectives.

J. Michael Stracynski’s Fantastic Four tie-in to Civil War is a strange beast, in that it seems to exist more as a collection of talking points and plot beats than as compelling narrative in its own right. Using the safe camouflage of a tie-in to a massive line-wide event, Straczynski is not only able to sneakily set-up his pending Thor run, but also to vent quite liberally about his own feelings on post-9/11 America. The result is a story which feels disjointed and far too talky, a simplistic and familiar opinion piece dressed up as a Fantastic Four story.

Yes. Yes there is…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, captain america, Civil War, daredevil, dc comics, fantastic four, iron man, J. Michael Straczynski, Karl Kesel, Kieron Gillen, mark millar, mark waid, marvel comics, matt fraction, Mike Wieringo, straczynski | 4 Comments »

J. Michael Straczynski’s (and Mike Deotado’s) Run on the Amazing Spider-Man – The Best of Spider-Man, Vol. 4-5 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Darren

Opinion is somewhat divided on J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man run. the general consensus is that started strong, but that it lost its way somewhere along, before culminating in the much-maligned One More Day arc that effectively wiped decades of character development for Peter Parker and his cast. More importantly for the author of One More Day, it also completely wiped out a large volume of his contributions to the character – which is a bit of a shame. Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man would get tied up in various crossover “event” storylines like The Other, Civil War and Back in Black, to the point where Straczynski’s run went from being driven by the author’s own ideas to being dictated by editorial whim.

The start of the writer’s work with artist Mike Deodato seems to be where Straczynski was placed on a somewhat tighter editorial leash, with Sins Past mangled in the back-and-forth between author and editorial, perhaps a sign of things to come. It’s telling that it remains one of the most controversial facets of Straczynski’s run, even today.

Is it still a blast?

Note: This review or retrospective covers Straczynski’s run with artist Mike Deodato up until the “Other” crossover event. It doesn’t take up the full fourth hardcover, but it starts with the Sins Past story arc. Just so you know.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, green goblin, Gwen, Gwen Stacy, J. Michael Straczynski, marvel, Peter, robert deniro, Robert Redford, Silver Age of Comic Books, spider man, straczynski, tommy lee jones | 2 Comments »

J. Michael Straczynski’s (and John Romita Jr.’s) Run on the Amazing Spider-Man – The Best of Spider-Man, Vol. 3-4 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Darren

I honestly believe that had J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man run ended with his collaborator John Romita Jr., his time on Marvel’s iconic web-crawler would have gone down as one of the great runs. Sure, it is flawed – sometimes significantly so. However, if you divorce it from Sins Past and the mess of crisis crossover tie-in issues and awkward continuity reboots that followed, Straczynski’s early run was bold, exciting and entertaining enough to get away with doing something relatively new to Peter Parker. Given that the run includes the five hundredth issue headlined by the hero, that’s quite an accomplishment in-and-of itself. It’s not perfect, and I don’t think it’s as strong as many of the runs happening simultaneously at Marvel, but it is an intriguing direction for the pop culture icon.

How many iconic villains do you spy dere?

Note: The fourth hardcover also includes the start of Mike Deodato’s run. I am going to cover those issues separately. This review or retrospective is going to be concerned with the second half of the collaboration between John Romita and J. Michael Straczynski, culminating in The Amazing Spider-Man #508.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, arts, brian michael bendis, Doctor Octopus, green goblin, Gwen Stacy, hulk, J. Michael Straczynski, john romita, loki, Marvel Comic, marvel universe, Mary Jane Watson, Mary-Jane, Peter, spider man, stan lee, straczynski, thor, ultimate marvel, West Africa | Leave a comment »

J. Michael Straczynski’s (and John Romita Jr.’s) Run on the Amazing Spider-Man – The Best of Spider-Man, Vol. 1-2 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Darren

It’s easy to forget just how iconoclastic that early parts of the new millennium were at Marvel. The comic company was in the midst of recovering from its bankrupcy, and was going throw a massive creative shake-up. Many would argue that the late nineties represented the company’s creative nadir, and there was a very definite sense of change in the air. Some of that change involved a radical restructuring of core concepts, placing them in the hands of more radical creators.

The early part of the last decade gave us Peter Milligan on X-Force, Grant Morrison on New X-Men and Garth Ennis on Marvel Knights: Punisher. It also saw a number of big-name creators working on these characters. Kevin Smith wrote the introductory arc of the new Daredevil book. While J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man has a controversial and divisive legacy, it was a product of those times. While it was flawed even in its early days, it’s still a bold re-working of an iconic comic book mythos.

King of the swingers…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, arts, Avenger, brian michael bendis, Doctor Octopus, electro, Garth Ennis, grant morrison, J. Michael Straczynski, joe quesada, john romita, literature, marvel, marvel comics, new x-men, Peter, Peter Milligan, spider man, stan lee, Steve Ditko, straczynski | 4 Comments »

Thor by J. Michael Straczynski Omnibus (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Darren

With the release of Marvel’s big-budget superhero action movie Thor this summer, we’re taking a month to celebrate the God of Thunder. Check back each Wednesday for a Thor-related review.

J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Thor is a somewhat controversial one. In fact, this rather wonderful omnibus collection comes with little by way of textual extras. There is no introduction from a recognisable figure, nor any scripts included, nor any commentary or interviews. One can almost sense the discomfort in the air. The saga of Straczynski’s run on Thor is a long and complicated one, but it ended with the author departing both the publisher and the comic a lot earlier than anticipated. To this day, both sides have differing accounts of what occurred, and both insist that they are in the right. That’s a lot of subtext behind one lovely hardcover volume, but it’s something that was always in my mind – particularly as I approached the somewhat “crowded” conclusion. Still, it’s a great epic story, albeit one with a slightly disappointing ending.