Spider Gwen #11 Review

Writer: Jason Latour

Artist: Robbi Rodriguez

Publisher: Marvel

It's that time of the month, no not that time! It's the time of the month that my favorite comic comes out. SpiderGwen has been my favorite series since it started, and among just a handful of books that I actually look forward to reading each month. So let's jump on in and see how this issues stacks up to issue ten.

We start out with Gwen sitting on a rooftop just trying to clear her head after getting into a fight with Kraven and his lackeys. To top it all off, Kraven and Punisher know who she is know and she had to knock out her own dad to get him to safety. So as she sits on the roof she hears a commotion below as the Bodega Bandit does a dine and dash with some burgers from Bucky Barns Burgers. She yells at him to stop and it catches him off guard. She is not in her costume, so to him she is just some girl on a roof yelling at him. He is distracted enough for the manager to tackle him as the burgers and his pet guinea pig go flying. I would like to see a Marvel Series of the Bodega Bandit and all the wacky ways he gets caught, the poor guy never catches a break, but crime does not pay! 

So back to Gwen as she is with Reed Richards, and her dad is crashed in his bed as he tries to fix the wrist bands that help her use her power ups. They then realize that one is missing...

...Just as Frank Castle brings it to Norman Osborne in hopes of getting his help and in return dropping the charges on Harry. They leave it open ended and we are not sure if Osborne will help or not. Since this is Norman Osborne, I can see him turning the tables and going after Castle and Gwen, but I guess we will soon find out. 

Frank Castle gets confronted by his partner DeWolff, but he is not interested in what she has to say and basically tells her to deal with it or stop him. 

We have Gwen sitting at a park bench wondering who can she go to for help and realizes Jessica has her son, Cindy has a lot of issues right now, and she doesn't want Cap to see her this way. 

The Bodega Bandit approaches her and asks if she was the one who yelled at him. She is shocked that he is out of jail again and he says they always let him out when he calls his dad. I like how he says that he wanted to quit when Spider Woman punched his face. He offers her a stolen burger and we cut away. 

Back at reeds house we see that he fixed the bracelets, and to activate the power up she just needs to bang the bands together. I like this because it is a throwback to some old school comics. Her dad finally wakes up (Man, she really knocked her dad out cold!), and she tells him that she is going to stand up to Castle and end it all. 

So Gwen bangs the bands together and activates one of her five remaining power ups and leaps down to Castle who reveals his Punisher skull shirt. It was a pretty slow issue, but it delivered a good set up for the next issue. This series basically is set up in waves. We get a little action with more story, then we get a lot of action with a little story. It tends to go back and forth in that pattern, but I don't mind since the story always delivers.

 I am sure the next issue will be a slobber Knocker for the ages sense it had a good build up to Gwen vs Punisher. I am also looking forward to seeing more Reed Richards. I really like the way his character is set up in this book, and he is actually more likable than the original Reed from the 616 universe. So in all,  this was a really good issue, but was one of the weakest issues. 

3/5 Beards

Rocket Raccoon and Groot #8 Review

Rocket Raccoon and Groot #8 
Writer: Nick Kocher
Artist: Michael Walsh
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Okay, it's another Rocket and Groot book without Skottie Young, and it feels strange. It strange because I couldn't imagine sticking around on this book without hum, but surprisingly I am still enjoying the book. I can say that Kocher and Walsh are delivering the same type of vibe and yet make it their own. Let's jump on in and see how this issue holds up. 

As my regular reader know, I HATE TIE INS AND CROSSOVERS and I HATE CIVIL WAR II! With that being said we pick up with Rocket and Groot in a team meeting with the Avengers, Inhumans, and Alpha Flight. Rocket is not paying attention to Carol as she goes over information of an invasion. I like how we hear it from Rocket's point of view and get a lot of "Blah Blah Blah", since he is not paying attention. He keeps talking to Blue Marvel  and asking him about Puck and Wolverine. The dialogue between those two was pretty funny as Groot keeps trying to get them to shut up and pay attention to Carol. 

 It turns out there was a large shipment of talcum powder that was stolen, and Rocket wants to take on that assignment. Carol asks him what secret mission he would be taking on instead since she knows as well as we do that there has to be something in it for Rocket for him to request this mission.

It turns out there is another reason why he wants this job. It is to track down an old bounty that got away years back who runs his spaceship off BABY POWDER?! Yip, the guys ship is run on baby powder. So how do Rocket and Groot get to Georgia to stop this guy? They have to pay for coach airline tickets and get reimbursed when they get back. What did the avengers do with their budget?

Anyways our heroes are on their flight and Rocket is telling Groot about how he caught this guy back in the day and how he got away. This old man keeps interrupting the story and getting Rocket all bent out of shape. As Rocket yells at him, I can hear Bradley Cooper's voice in my head, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS ANYHOW!".

 So they make it to Georgia and they are doing a stakeout on the perp when...

...GwenPool snatches the guy and rides off into the sunset! Gwen stops the cops who were in pursuit and is almost free when she gets blocked off by our duo. 

 The perp got away and Rocket was upset and they got into a fight. Gwen slices Rocket's gun and thought she was handling the duo pretty well until Groot knocked her on her butt.

 We cut to the perp and it appears he is shacking up with a lady who has no idea that he is an alien who is trying to get off this planet. He has a communicator device in the restroom and he keeps running in there talking to someone who was trying to help him. In the meantime, Rocket destroys his communicator so that he does not have to report back to Carol or return to the base until he catches his old bounty. 

I love this part where Rocket asks, "Hey rednecks, where's this guy live?" One guy was offended and bent out of shape while the other guy recognized him and told them where to find him. So they are off to get him when they realize that Gwen is in the backseat of their station wagon. She pulls her guns out and makes them drive her back to her bike and ties up our duo. 

Groot breaks the ropes and they chase after her, and Rocket jumps out on to her shoulders and tries pulling off her mask. 

Meanwhile back at the Alien's house, he gets another message from his buddy on the communicator. The guys sends him coordinates and says he has someone to help him get off the planet. We see the guy was tied up the whole time and he was forced to tell him everything including the coordinates to meet at. The guy rips more info from his brain and it appears the guy is still alive, but they really don't show us what happens to the poor dude. I guess we will need to wait till next week to find out. The book ends here, so we don'r know what the situation is with Rocket, Groot, and Gwen other than they are fighting in the front yard of the bounty. 

For a book with not much really going on there was a lot going on! It was a fast read, and there was not much to the plot, but it was still a fun read. I prefer the previous issue from this new team, but I can forgive them since it is only their second issue on the book. The art is unusual to say the least, but it makes sense not to try to emulate Skottie Young since the writing is a bit different. 

There are a few books out there that are not your typical comic book and really shine like this book, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Gwen, and Gwen-Pool. They make reading comics fun and seem to give you a good break from the typical super hero books. I am really looking forward to issue #9, and hope we get over the Civil War II tie ins and get back to our duo blasting from planet to planet and getting into trouble. 

3.5/5 Beards

Venom Space Knight 4: Marvel Unlimited Review

Venom Space Knight 4
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Marvel Comics

As I said in the previous Venom review, this was a book that I wanted to read but for some reason I didn't. I am glad that I saw it on Marvel Unlimited last month and was debating on buying the whole series or just wait each month to read it on Unlimited. I am still leaning towards buying them in trades instead of getting all the individual issues.

We pick up from last issue, which had the symbiote piloting the ship. Flash asks why he never tried separating and doing things on his own before,  and he told him that he couldn't, but he is able to know since he was "Cleansed". It refers us to Guardians of the Galaxy: Planet of the Symbiotes, a story that I have not read yet, but now I need to so I can see what happened to Venom.








We learn that he can be separated for an hour, but he prefers the joined state. Then all of a sudden the ship gets blasted and crash lands.   Venom joins with Flash to protect him from the crash and they try to locate 803 who let them know they are under attack. It reminds me of C3-PO always stating the obvious, but I don't mind it since he brings some good humor to this series.
  803 advises them that they are under attack from Pik Rollo a vicious criminal wanted for murder, treason, and arson in fifteen systems. Pik Rollo looks like a giant panda with a lemur type tail, and she goes in right for the attack on Venom. She knocks his block off and rips 803 in half as he yells, "At last, sweet release".

I wanted to laugh since he has wanted to die since issue one, but I felt bad for the guy and was already thinking about how less fun the book would be without him here for the comedy relief.

Venom and Pik Rollo slug it out, and they beat the crap outta each other and then they both get shot?! Yup shot. A UFO looking spaceship blasted them and two freaks come out talking about their master and how he needs warm bodies. I was thinking the master uses the bodies of great warriors in some sort of "Avatar" way that allows him to take them over...

 ...But instead he has them in an arena with other captured creatures and they need to fight some giant lizard type creatures in a battle to the death.

 The group puts up a pretty good fight, but they all die except Venon and Rollo. Venom asks why she was trying to kill him, and we learn that her baby was kidnapped and she was forced to do the bidding of Mercurio who it turns out is the one responsible for all the crap that Venom was going through in the first three issues. All the weapons and devices that Venom destroyed were his, and he wanted Rollo to kill him,

 Venom offers a deal to Rollo, they make it out alive together and he will help her get her baby back. Since they are both too tough to actually defeat each other Rollo goes down and the master vomes down to speak with Venom the "Lone" survivor. As Venom thought, the master made the mistake of coming on to the battleground. Rollow pops up and rips his head off!

 They get surrounded by the troops and are about to get ready to battle the whole troop when they all knelled down and proclaimed them their masters. Venom told them that they are free, but they said they have to serve their masters.  Venom tells them to wait a moment while they take care of something and they head back to their ship. We learn that 803 survived!! He is pretty tough for a droid with a death wish. It turns out that 803 rebuilt the ship while they were battling in the arena.

 They take off to get Rollos's baby as the book comes to an end. I am not sure why they didn't take the troops with them since they pledged their allegiance to them, Maybe this will be something that pays off later, but they would have better odds if they had more troops helping them out.

We see this image for the next issue and poor Baby Rollo is chained up with Mercurio looks rather menacing. What a jerk! I can't wait to see what happens to this panda baby stealing creep in issue five.

As usual Robbie Thompson delivers the goods, making him one of my favorite writers. The art is still as amazing as ever as well, It really pops and the inks are great. I always dread when I love the artist and writer teams on a book because it usually doesn't last too long. I hope this is not the case here, and that they stay on together for a long time. In all, this was a great issue from a great series. If you are not already reading it, I recommend that you check it out on Marvel Unlimited.

4.5/5 Beards