New MCU Movies: The resounding success of The Mandalorian, Disney+ has kicked into high popularity, but still to know if the Marvel TV shows will have the same kind of success. People with surprise said that it was an irrelevant question to be asked because; whatever Kevin Feige touches turns to gold. However, there is nothing to bother off, weather people will watch the shows or not. There is no doubt in it. It is certain that people will watch

But the real question stands, if people really need to watch these shows to understand the movies? 

Read more: latest entertaining bollywood updates

In 1963, Amazing Fantasy issue #15 saw the debut character Spider-Man, written by Stan Lee and co-written and drawn by Steve Ditko. It became an instant hit among comic readers and launched its own comic book series. Many years later as we came to know of, Spider-Man was adapted into 7 live-action motion pictures that depicts Peter Parker's teenage years and his daily problems as a superhero, and a teen in love. For the general public of movie-goers, this is what they know but in 1999, Peter Parker as we know it, is no longer a teenager. He is now an adult, on temporary separation with his wife Mary Jane Parker and his life, as always, spiraling down. Still, as a superhero, he uphold and care for the city of New York... until he meet someone (and older) with similar powers like him. Ezekiel became Parker's interest as these two embark on a journey which lead to one of the best written work with artwork by John Romita Jr.. Still, its not that its without faults but overall, its a story worth reading.

Collecting from The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) issues #30-58 & #500-514, this massive whooping 1120 pages thick omnibus has every thing from how Peter discovers that his powers may not be from a radioactive spider to how Aunt May discover Peter as Spider-Man and the need to accept for who he really is as a superhero and how Peter's life and MJ comes to terms between them, every thing as how it is is the true spirit of the characters that started since the beginning. One important story included that became an instant bestseller was issue #36 - the 9/11 story. Powerful and beautifully written.

While the art from John Romita Jr. is breath-taking, after he left the series, Mike Deodato Jr. took over the drawing board with what is this volume's arc-storyline Sin's Past, which to my opinion, isn't good. It does felt forced and truly, it felt like as if the reasoning writing this story is nothing but shock-value. Overall - I always love J.Michael Straczynski's work and this is one of the best of his worth picking up and read.

Comics that I know of is never this good. Here's some thing honest coming out from me - I stop reading comics after the year 2002. It was then, I had no idea what was going on in the comic world. Who are the great writers of its time (except Geoff Johns because of his writings on The Flash; I never knew he went and wrote other great titles like Green Lantern & Aquaman) and who are the popular artists at that time. After more than a decade, and out of my own comfort zone of the past that I finally gave The Vision a try. This was because, recommended by someone whom had been reading comics for the past decade, Tom King is an author, that I was being told, had changed the way comics was written. After I had read The Vision...

... I never would have thought there are writers like Tom King change the way comics is written now.

The Vision isn't exactly a marketable character to have his own solo series. When Marvel Comics had asked Tom Kingto write, what will he actually deliver, was the question I had when I first heard of a solo series. Would it be like any other series that fail? Is it another attempt of just making money for any Marvel fans to buy? How interesting is The Vision can it get? After reading this edition, I never thought what comics to the general public understands would deliver a dark, creepy and weirdly read that is comic from the house of ideas. There are many writers that has such caliber of the weird (Grant Morrison to name a few; I can't seem to remember others) and Tom King, not only he is consistent in delivering The Vision, the kind that is monotonous in speech and that is faithful in his robotic, not human self, but writing a synthezoid who tries to be normal, isn't really normal to be normal. Here's what this solo series is about.

The Visions is currently living at 616 Hickory Branch Lane, Arlington, VA, 21301. Its a suburbs where normal people goes to the city to work. They have nothing to talk about except the heavy traffic and they are trying to fit in. Things are different when the appearance of The Grim Reaper attacks the Visions family when The Vision is away, every thing that The Vision strife to fit into being normal, has a whole different meaning to a path that is as dark as humanely possible.

This is what I had read that leads to how the ending is. This is not an action-pack comic book where Avengers will appear and fight against the villains. This is not your normal kind of superhero comic book where good wins against evil. This is definitely not the kind that what you had watched in the movies, you will received such high adrenaline action sequence that will leave you awe and wow. No, this is The Vision, seeing through his eyes and his experience that leads to a path so deep, how his family wants to live to be normal but what is normal, in order to fit in? This is the darker part of Marvel, without the tag Marvel Knights or MAX that includes foul languages except its without. Its the path where it leads to the unknown unspeakable tale that what we do, is madness. And to read is what brings this comic book, a masterpiece that deserves its attention that it should be read.

With such writings, the art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta brings the right tone to it. The expression of each characters brings life as it should be. The colors are vibrant and the feeling is grit. This hardcover deluxe edition is what I would call the director's cut as it includes not just the entirety of 12 issues run but also includes the sketches of the comic cover pages, the realization of the visuals, the entire behind-the-scenes script of the 12 issue run plus all the letter fan page letters printed in one. I am happy to say this has now being one of my favorite reads this year (even though it was released in 2015) and I am looking forward to read any Tom King material when I go pick up my next comic book read.

A required read for my Readings in the Graphic Novel class, but it was a fun one. I've never read any of the Captain Marvel books, so I came into this fresh. It's fun to discover this series without any preconceived notions. In the discussion, classmates brought up some issues that I didn't necessary see initially. 

I think that this one is geared towards a younger audience than the typical Marvel books, and the writing bears that in mind. The storytelling is a shade simplistic, and the illustrations jump rapidly between panels. The drawings are more sketchlike, lacking a clean rendering and finish. Some classmates thought the creators must have been under a tight deadline, and that's why the final version lacks polish. The conflict seems unfinished, and it was hard to follow exactly who the villain is and what their motives were. 

Overall, I liked this a lot. They're some hidden layers to this book that came out on a second read. While the portrayal of Kamala might have been in some way problematic, I still think it's powerful for young Muslim kids to read this book and see someone like them in their superhero books. In these charged times, it's also good for non-Muslim readers who don't know much about what it's like, so they can see that demonization of people who are different or share different beliefs and cultures is wrong. It was also good to Kamala's evolution from being ashamed of being herself, to the degree she wanted to escape her culture and heritage to fit in so badly. Instead, she learns that it's a part of her and it makes her stronger.

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Baron Zemo forge a temporary alliance to...accomplish something. I didn't really follow along very well. Something about Hydra (Strucker's folks) gaining power and Zemo gaining access to research Strucker had acquired that's based on work originally carried out by Zemo's father.

The Avengers first become aware that something's up when the Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man's date is interrupted by an apparently indestructible Dreadnought. Wonder Man is kidnapped. At approximately the same time (I think), the Vault, which used to be a maximum security prison intended for supervillains and is now being modified to house broken/inactive supervillain technology instead, is broken into by Hydra. The Thunderbolts just happen to be in the area, for reasons I can't recall.

Strucker, Zemo, and Techno manage to produce a mindless and obedient super-powered army of creepy golden people. The Avengers and the Thunderbolts have to work together and somehow figure out how to defeat them and foil whatever it is they're planning.

This was published back in 1999 and begins with an editor's note stating that it takes place shortly after the Marvel comic Avengers (Vol. 3) #12. I haven't read an Avengers or Thunderbolts comics in at least 10-15 years, so this information didn't really mean anything to me. What I can say is that it seemed to take place after the Thunderbolts comics I vaguely remembered reading. In the ones I read, the Thunderbolts were still villains under the direction of Baron Zemo, pretending to be superheroes. In this book, the Thunderbolts have been found out and are trying to figure out how to clean up their image, regain people's trust, and become true superheroes, with Hawkeye as their new leader. As far as the Avengers chronology went, the Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man were dating, and there was a bit of tension between them and the Vision.

I've owned this book for ages. Every time I thought about getting rid of it, I felt a burst of vaguely remembered fond feelings for the Thunderbolts and just couldn't do it. Now I've finally read it and...meh.

There was so. Much. Exposition. So much. I don't know if Askegren thought it was a good idea or if Marvel required him to include it, but it bogged things down and still didn't provide me with quite enough information to get a good handle on all the characters, their relationships, and any other relevant background info. I spent a lot of time browsing Wikipedia pages.

There were hints of character relationship info that interested me a lot more than anything Strucker and Zemo were doing: MACH-1's worries about going to prison and leaving Songbird; Moonstone's shadowy motivations; Jolt and Atlas's sibling-like relationship; Hawkeye's empathy for the Thunderbolts; and the tension between Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and the Vision. But the book wanted to focus on the Avengers and the Thunderbolts vs. Strucker, Zemo, and Techno, so that's what I got.

Even if the things that most interested me had gotten more page-time, I'm not sure how enjoyable they would have been, due to the limited page count and many, many characters. A few people got a little more page-time than others, but I don't think that anyone in particular stood out. Iron Man battled a Dreadnought. Thor stepped in and provided assistance multiple times. Techno and the Vision fought one-on-one. Askegren occasionally reminded readers that Firestar and Justice existed. Jolt worked undercover at a fast food place (it was the only place where they figured a teenager wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb). Captain America spent some time tied up, and Moonstone enjoyed it more than someone who wanted to be seen as a superhero probably should have. Wanda (Scarlet Witch) and Simon (Wonder Man) went on a date at a monster truck rally. As soon as I got my bearings with someone, the narrative switched to someone else.

All in all, this really wasn't for me, and I'm not sure it would have been that much more appealing if I had read it back when I was plowing through my uncle's boxes of comics.

Extras:

Each chapter begins with a black-and-white illustration. The book ends with a chronological list of Marvel novels and anthologies published by Byron Preiss Multimedia Company and Berkley Boulevard Books between October 1994 and May 1999.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)