Wednesday, February 22, 2012

#38 - SPAWN : THE CLAN- POETIC JUSTICE


Spawn#30 The Clan: Poetic Justice
Art and Story by Todd McFarlane 
Additional Art by Greg Capullo 


Review by Hector Ramirez

Welcome back Clashers to another action packed edition of the Comic Book Clash. This week, we’re taking things back to April of ’95. In honor of Black History Month, we’re taking a look at Spawn #30; a true testament to karma and poetic justice. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

After his fight with the Anti-Spawn, Al gets stuck down south. On his trek back to New York, he comes across an African-American gentleman, Brad Armstrong; who’s just had his lawn set ablaze by the KKK. Being a black man himself, Spawn decides to go after the culprits himself. Upon confronting the clansmen, Al takes a bullet to the head and is lynched. Brad finds him lynched and gets into an altercation with two clansmen but is saved by Al, who they believed to be dead. Brad, who was knocked out when his attackers were dispatched, takes the matter to court but the case is thrown out. Unknown to Brad, the judge was the clansmen’s leader. One by one, Spawn goes after the clan leaving the leader for last, waiting until the rest of the clan was nearby; Al turned him into a black man so that his own clan would lynch him. He then gives Brad files that prove the clan’s guilt, and thusly justice is served.

The irony behind the judge’s death was poetic justice at its finest. This was little more than a filler story but as far as filler stories go, it was pretty good it had a message to it and went to some pretty far lengths to get that message across. The story itself was kind of weak it had nothing to do with any other storylines in the series. Truth is besides spreading the message, and the side story with Sam and Twitch, there was little point in printing this issue. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, the art was great the usual McFarlane style the message was gotten across in a big way and part of the plot moved forward. All in all the series could have probably survived without the issue but I’m glad Todd wrote it. That being said I give this book a Red Robin. Spawn books rarely disappoint this issue being no exception. Until next time friends, keep clashing.        

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

WEB OF LOVE: THE MANY APPLE'S IN PETER PARKER'S EYE


    Hey there Clashers! Love is in the air as we hit Valentine’s day and one guy who knows quite a bit on the subject is our friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Peter has built up quite the little black book over the past 50 years how about we check it out. Sorry guys but phone numbers are not available for these lovely ladies.


By Hector Ramirez

LIZ ALLEN
Let’s start off with the first girl he ever liked, Liz Allen. Although Peter never had  a relationship with Liz it wasn’t for lack of trying.  Peter was always into Liz but it wasn’t until he started to exhibit a newfound confidence after becoming Spidey that she took interest in the shy bookworm. Liz eventually agreed  to go on a date with Peter but he had to miss it because of his crime fighting duties. It upset them both and although they never tried again Liz remained interested in Peter until she eventually married his best friend, Harry Osborn.

BETTY BRANT
Wanting to pitch in to help with bills at home Peter starts taking pictures of himself as Spiderman to sell to the Daily Bugle. It’s there where Peter meets the lovely Betty Brant. Filling in for her sick mother as Jameson’s personal secretary. Betty was a quiet girl, impressed by the bravery of Peter in taking pictures of  Spiderman. But after her brother died in the crossfire of a fight between Spiderman and Dr. Octopus, Betty started to hate the web slinger and distances herself from Peter . She is currently in a relationship with Flash Thompson .

GWEN STACY
After graduating high school Peter went on to Empire University where he met Gwen Stacy. Although she at first was not interested in Peter she soon found herself wooed  by his charm and they fell in love. Due to his life as Spiderman their relationship was rocky to say the least and Gwen’s father  dying while during a fight between Spidey and Doc Ock did not help the situation . But through it all  they stuck it through until tragedy strikes…After recovering from slight amnesia and remembering that Peter is Spidey Norman Osborn kidnaps Gwen and  takes her to the Brooklyn Bridge. She’s pushed off and when Spidey shoots a webline to save her the sudden jerk snaps her neck.

DEBORAH WHITMAN
After  losing  Gwen, Peter was distraught but he eventually started to date again. The shy Deborah Whitman  was very interested in Peter but Pete wasn’t really into her. Deborah, a schizophrenic soon became obsessed with  the possibility that Peter was Spiderman. To save her sanity Peter confessed to her but she refused to believe his confession. She then ran off with an old flame Biff Rifkin.

FELICIA HARDY
After discovering her fathers true origin as a famous cat burglar, Felicia  Hardy decided to follow in his footsteps. Becoming the Black Cat she perfected the art of cat burglary.after Spiderman failed repeatedly at catching the beautiful thief  she started to fall for the webslinger. In order to win his heart she turned over a new leaf becoming his partner in crime fighting and love. Feeling she could help her lover better with powers she acquired bad luck powers. Only problem was those close to her including Peter fell victim to her powers. Pete enlisted the help of Dr. Strange to remove the powers behind her back; getting her seriously hurt. Feeling betrayed, Felicia ended it with Peter.

MARY JANE WATSON
Although  May Parker and her friend  Anna Watson have tried to set Peter with Anna’s niece  Mary Jane since they were 14, it took until they were in college before they actually dated. But their romance ended when Peter fell for Gwen so MJ dated Harry Osborn until  Harry became addicted to drugs. After Gwen’s death MJ comforted Peter  and they ended up together. Although she knew about Peter’s double life, she highly disapproved  of it interfering in their relationship but through all the ups and  downs the two truly loved each other and were eventually married and things remained just as hectic if not worse. After Peter reveals his identity to the world things get real bad and to fix things they gave up their marriage to Mephisto. They remained good friends and, to me, it seems they could get back together.

SARAH RUSHMAN
At one point Mary Jane goes missing, believing her dead, Peter starts dating Sarah Rushman, who turned out to be Marrow of the X-men. Upon Mary Jane’s return their romance ended.

MS. MARVEL/CAROL DAVERS
Spiderman has worked with Ms Marvel on many an occasion,  at one point Spidey requested a date in return for his help and she agreed. The date went horribly but after being possessed by the Venom symbiote for a bit it was revealed that Ms. Marvel was also attracted to Peter as well. Although they never pursued a relationship the two remained close friends.

MICHELE GONZALES
Michele Gonzales is the sister of Vin Gonzalez a cop who roomed with Peter for sometime. When Vin went to prison for trying to frame Spidey as a serial killer, Michele moved in with Peter. They never really got along. She grudgingly agreed to accompany Peter to Aunt May’s wedding. Peter gets nervous due to Mary Jane’s presence and gets extremely drunk and ends up in bed with Michele. The next morning he remembered nothing so in her rage she tried to kick him out. But the Peter she attempted to kick out was in fact  the Chameleon who seduced her into letting Peter stay. Upon Vin’s release, Michele returned to Chicago.

CARLIE COOPER
Harry Osborne was dating the lovely Lily Hollister until she was revealed as Menace and to be sleeping with his father. Her best friend, NYPD CSU officer Carlie Cooper, alienated her but continued her friendship with Harry and Peter. At a going away party for Harry, Peter proposed a relationship with Carlie who accepted. Soon, she too was upset about  Peter’s constant disappearances, as were his girlfriends before her. So upset, in fact, that she almost got a goblin tattoo to piss him off. Instead, she got a Spidey tattoo which Peter was thrilled with. When Peter was way too in tune with his spider powers during Spider-Island, Carlie deduced he was the real Spiderman and left him for his dishonesty.

Well that concludes our show for this evening folks please tune in for our regularly scheduled program. Until then friends keep clashing.



Wednesday, February 8, 2012

#36 SAVAGE DRAGON/HELLBOY & GORILLA HITLER?!


Savage Dragon/Hellboy Crossover: Attack of Gorilla Hitler

Written & Art by Erik Larsen 


Savage Dragon created by Erik Larsen


Hellboy created by Mike Mignola


Review by Hector Ramirez


Hey Clashers, Hector here, reviewing a crossover from the 90’s that probably should have stayed there. I’m talking about the 2 part Savage Dragon/Hellboy crossover from Dark Horse and Image. This is going to be a bumpy ride folks so strap in and hold on tight.

Our story starts in 1945 Romania where Hellboy is fighting what appears to be a big Nazi robot, but then he knocks the head piece off to reveal Adolf Hitler who had been believed to have committed suicide years before. Amidst the battle Red hit’s the robot suit in its chest causing it to explode with Hitler inside leaving nothing but his head. A masked Nazi takes the head in hopes of salvaging Hitler’s brain. Fast forward to the 90’s where a pissed off gorilla, with a brain in a bowl on his head, named BrainApe, is chained up being told if he wished to be free he would have to serve the new leader of the sinister circle. BrainApe is sent to kill Savage Dragon and grudgingly agrees. BrainApe finds Dragon at a train yard helping Hellboy in a fight. Upon seeing Red, memories of….wait for it…..Hitler’s life come rushing back to BrainApe and his hatred for our demon friend puts him in a frenzy. He uses his telekinetic powers(yes Hitler Gorilla is telekinetic) to turn Dragon and Hellboy against each other hoping they will kill each other getting his revenge and completing his task in one shot. Dragon overpowers Red easily and takes the fight out of BrainApe’s telekinetic range giving him the chance to fight the gorillas hold. Dragon then knocked Hitler’s brain off of the gorilla but the brain…..I cant believe I’m about to type these words….the brain grew legs and started to run away. Dragon throws a knife at it killing Hitler’s brain for good.

So yeah. Hitler’s brain on an ape. um….WTF!?!?!?! What in God’s name was the writer thinking?! That being said, it wasn’t that bad of a story. It wasn’t overbearing or forced, like some crossovers are it just kind of worked. The art was pretty good; I had no complaints. I’ve come to expect that with my experience with Image comics. So all in all, the story telling was good, art was good. It is just elements were just out of  left field insane. That being said, I give this crossover a Red Robin. Until next time friends, keep clashing.