The theme of this batch o’ comics is “random Marvel comics that don’t fit into another category.” Not the world’s most cohesive theme, but hey.
So we’ll start off with Spider-Man. We’ve got here collections of The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott, Marc Guggenheim, and Joe Kelly. Slott and Guggenheim continue to tell the generally entertaining, though fluffy and inconsequential, tales of Peter Parker. Kelly tells an awful story about Hammerhead that is graced by hideous anime-style art, and feels like filler that they put in when the real writers got behind on their work.
As a side note, I keep getting “real” Spider-Man confused with Ultimate Spider-Man these days. I mean, when the “real” comic has retconned the hell out of everything, and they have these reimaginings of classic characters (like a female Kraven), it’s pretty easy to think you’re reading the Ultimate version.
Next up is Iron Man, particularly Daniel and Charlie Knauf’s Invincible Iron-Man volumes (though also a bit by Matt Fraction and Stuart Moore). These are phenomenally disappointing. Iron Man continues to be the most ridiculously underserved character in Marvel’s roster. He’s such a great character, but gets such shitty comics.
Then there’s Matt Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist: The Book of the Iron Fist , which continues the mystical retcon of Danny Rand’s origin story. I’m probably a bigger Iron Fist fan than most people (this turns out to be a low bar to clear), but I’ve been lost in the minutia of this one from the beginning. I feel like one of those people who walks out of The Lord of the Rings going, “Okay, so is Argon Boromir’s father?” So, I don’t really love it, but that may be because I’m failing as a reader.
Finally, we’ve got Peter David’s She-Hulk: Jaded . She-Hulk, as revived by Dan Slott, was a witty, clever, and occasionally way too meta title. As continued by David, it’s... pretty decent. I’ve got nothing particularly bad to say (other than that comic book artists really need to take a lesson in female anatomy before they graft party balloons onto women’s chests), but it’s not particularly memorable, either.
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