Funnybooks I’ve Recently Read

So, I figured that I’d share with all’y’all my thoughts on a bunch of funybooks I’ve recently read. (Just so everyone understands, I’ve been reading comics since around ’61 or so, with much of my early reading done while sitting on the newsstand of my uncle’s grocery store. It was him that called them “Funnybooks” and that name stuck with me so much that when I launched my comicbook imprint, I called it Funnybook City.) But I digress.

To return to the topic at hand, the comics I picked up most recently. First up, issues 1–5 of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (which tie into the eponymous Disney+ series—I’ll review the Disney+ series in a different post). While the comic and the animated series each follow a slightly different path, they both focus in on a somewhat divergent path. Each of them telling the tale of our favorite wallcrawler (According to Google, the series (for both the comic and the TV show, independent of each other) is set in an alternate MCU timeline, specifically one that closely mirrors the main MCU but with key differences, making it a “What If?” scenario. It’s not considered part of the main 616 universe but is still part of the larger Marvel multiverse. The show is designed to explore a Spider-Man story within an MCU-like setting without directly impacting the main continuity. 

To be sure, the core of both the comic and the streaming series are that Peter is in high school, gets bitten by an irradiated spider, and gains the proportionate strength of a spider, then sets out to do good. The comic is written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Eric Gapstur, and it retells the origin of Spider-Man, but in a simpler style targeted towards a younger audience (ironically enough, presumably targeted to an audience the same age I was when I first began reading comics in 1962.)

The origin is mostly the same (young Peter, an irradiated spider) with the addition of some new twists and friends; Nico Minoru, her foster mom, Susan O’Hara, a (much) younger Aunt May, as well as existing in a modern timeframe. Some old characters are also reintroduced, but in updated versions (Silvermane, Man Mountain Marko, The Enforcers). Also, Peter’s first Spider-Costume is very retro different (a tank on his back with web fluid and long tubes conveying the fluid to his wrist-shooters).

The overall story itself revolves around Silvermane wanting to buy the land on which Midtown High sits and the kids (and Spider-Man) not wanting that to happen (all while attending another high school that is specifically for especially talented kids. The story is entertaining, and we certainly hope that Marvel reaches its target audience with this title, and more kids come to have the same appreciation for both Spider-Man, and comics that my association with them resulted from sitting on Uncle Franks’s newsstand when I was that age.

Having recently watched (and reviewed) Thunderbolts*  I picked up the first two issues of the newest comicbook incarnation of their comicbook. It wasn’t until I got them home that I realized that the comic actually came out in 2024. Still, upon reading it I discovered that (while I had read various runs of the previous incarnations of this title, I was still a bit surprised by the nature of this version of the team. Just in case you have only seen the film, let me do a quick recap of the comic here.

A little bit of comicbook history

The first appearance of the original incarnation of the comicbook team, Thunderbolts, (created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley) was in The Incredible Hulk #449 (January 1997). The team itself showed up after the presumed deaths of Avengers and Fantastic Four and consisted of Citizen V, Atlas, Mach-1, Meteorite, Songbird, and Techno. One month later, in February, Thunderbolts #1 hit stands. However, it was later revealed that they were, in fact, the Masters of Evil, led by none other than long-time Avenger villain, Baron Zemo, who was aiming to gain public trust for his nefarious purposes. While this was their beginning, over the years, the team has evolved into an actual superhero team giving us quite a few iterations of the Thunderbolts, each exploring themes of redemption and second chances.

In this ’24 version of the team (by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly as writers, and Geraldo Borges as artist) we are presented with a roster that was quite similar to the cinematic version of the team. Here, the team consists of Bucky (as team leader), a Life Model Decoy of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Sharon Carter as the Destroyer, and Red Guardian, with Black Widow (in a new spidery costume) joining them in issue #2. The White Widow, Chang-Chi, and The Captain (John Walker) also join the team during the series four-issue run.

In the first issue, the team went up against the latest incarnation of The Red Skull, killing him and torching his South American HQ. In the second issue the team goes up against the (then) current incarnation of the Hellfire Club which is being led by Kingpin (who was no longer the mayor of NYC as this was taking place during the Gang War storyline in the Spider-titles with Luke Cage as Mayor). Eventually going up against Doctor Doom himself!

The two issues we read were so good that we were honestly disappointed to learn that the series was over and we were unable to find the other two issues or the trade paperback edition either. Still, it was a really cool spy/assassin and anti-hero team, and we really did enjoy the two issues we read (we may try to fine the other two issues moving forward).

Next on our list is Vatican City #1 (from Dark Horse by Mark Millar & Peter Berg). This is a interesting horror story were a horde of vampires take over the world, save for mankind’s last holdout, which is Vatican City. As we only have one issue, what we have to go on is that one evening, in a coordinated attack (at night around the globe) the vampires come out of hiding and methodically descend on the human population until all that is left is the Holy City of the Vatican. The issue concludes with the vampires breaching the catacombs in an attempt to free their queen.

Perhaps our favorite comic is Metamorpho The Element Man #1. We have fond memories of reading this book when it first appeared (between 1965 and 1968). The character was created by Bob Haney, and initially illustrated by  Ramona Fradon. We recall it being fun, hip, and quite cool at the time. We are happy to report that this first issue is every bit as fun, hip, and cool as we remember, with all of the original elements of what made it so much fun still intact. We can only assume that Rex Mason’s re-appearance in comics is wholly due to his showing up in the new Superman flick. To which we say, Huzzah!

The last book on our list today is Marvel’s Rivals which we are sorry to announce is a dismal disappointment. Truthfully, we really did want to enjoy this comic but couldn’t get past the first few pages as there was way too much dialogue and not nearly enough art to enjoy. The story so obviously takes place in a non 616 timeline (as evidence of a female Galactus) who spent so much time yammering about who could tell what, that it quite frankly simply turned us off to even completing the book.

That will teach me to spend just a little more time pursuing the book before actually buying it. Sigh.