Tom Holland is pretty great as Parker/Spider-Man, espcially the 15-year old rookie part of it.  Michael Keaton's Vulture falls into the mid-range of Marvel villains, right on the edge of the top tier, as he has actual motivations and some personality beyond I Am The Bad Guy.  Among the character cameos is a very stealth set-up for Miles Morales using Donald Glover.  Oh and Jacob Batalon's sidekick/best friend Ned was pretty good.

The chemistry between Garfield and Stone is probably the best part of this movie.  Which makes the decision to adapt a certain piece of old comics canon seem foolish.  Beyond that, good acting from lots of talented people (except the scowling ghost of Dennis Leary who I'm pretty sure was just a cardboard cut-out they kept showing) and some excellent action scenes.  Pity they were all wrapped around a fairly muddled movie with unclear direction and too many sub-plots...

A pretty good movie with a cast that in many ways is better than the Raimi trilogy. Garfield's Spidey is much more quippy than McGuire's. And I say the chemistry seems better between him and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey than the previous Parker/MJ thing. Rhys Ifans as Doc Conners/the Lizard doesn't quite measure up in the doomed scientist role the way Doc Ock did, but being the singular bad guy (even if he's not in most of the movie) is a definite improvement over the Venom/Sandman/Goblin 2 three-way from the last film. Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May were also pretty great. Though I could have easily done without having to go thru the whole origin and what-not again. And it was kind of weird how the movie did all it could to avoid just having Sheen use the "with great power comes great responsibility" line...

Really the only thing that really bothered me about the film, aside from the doing the origin again, was how kind of pointless it felt. Maybe it was just going into it knowing that it was made for the most part so that FOX wouldn't have the film rights to the character revert back to Marvel/Disney...

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Amazing written by Paul Tobin, Pencils by Matteo Lolli & Scott Koblish, inks by Christian Dalla Vecchia, Terry Pallot, Scott Koblish and Andrew Hennessy, colors by Sotocolor, letters by Dave Sharpe

The roommate picks up the trades for the current Spider-Man books every so often. Which means I can then look over them. And they're all very..ok. Sometimes even pretty good. But they never click with me. Nice enough books, even with growing out of a stupid, stupid set-up (like a lot of Marvel books for the last 5, 6 years). But not really doing anything for me...

Unlike the Marvel Adventures version. I don't know if its Tobin's writing or the low-impact continuity. Or just the knowledge that things like Deals with the Devil (regular Marvel) or 90% of the people being total tools (Ultimate Marvel) aren't there. Probably a combination of all that. Heck the entire line essentially rebooted in the last year or so and its barely noticeable...

As to this specific volume, collecting the first four issues of the new MA Spider-Man. Its got Pete and some low-end teen dating angst and a new girlfriend character (who can talk to animals) and ninjas and cute pug dogs and an owl and the Blonde Phantom and gangsters and JJJ yelling and wraps with a nasty fight against Bullseye. Who comes off as very creepy and menacing. All in a all-ages book. Remember, Marvel Adventures where all-ages means ALL ages...

Well, comic anyway. With the Unwritten being the sole title from my pulls to arrive this week. Tom and his friends continue to investigate the proto-super-hero, the Tinker. And the Conspiracy goes around murdering everyone associated with Tom's life. Or possibly his father's life. Or at least the books...

Since it was such a light week I also grabbed the first two collections from the relaunched Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. I love this line and Tobin's writing on this version of Peter Parker...

Spider-Man writer Marc Guggenheim "defends" Brand New Day story-arc:

"Part of the problem with the controversy behind One More Day is the understanding of what was retconned overstates the extent of what was done. Everything that happened in the last twenty plus years of comic book history happened! The only difference is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson weren't married. They still dated. They still lived together. They still love each other. They just weren't married. Judging from the letters and death threats we received, I think some people were confused. It all still happened. Here's my attitude, if anyone is upset about the marriage going away, then they must all be pro gay marriage. Because if you're pro gay marriage, you understand the distinction between a marriage and a civil union -- that a civil union is not equal to a marriage. We downgraded Mary Jane and Peter to a civil union. If that bothers you, then you're pro gay marriage."

From haikuninja

Yoinked from spoonyone