Title: The Sting Of Defeat
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Fiona Avery
Penciler: Roger Cruz
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Letterer: VC’s Rus Wooton
Colorer: Udon’s Jeannie Lee
Cover Artist: Mark Brooks
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Creative Consultant (?!): J.M. Straczynski
This is going to be a shorter review on this title, and it’s a very simple reason why.
I picked up the first Amazing Fantasy – if only because of it’s pedigree in name, and the fact that I generally pick up any #1, just in case. I am blessed with a roommate who owns a comic store, so if I don’t like it, he puts it back on the shelf. So, I read issue #1, and it was … acceptable. I even reviewed it here at Nexus. I then, because of my lack of enthusiasm about it – forgot to pick up #2 and #3.
They just didn’t scream to be to be worth it when there are so many great books coming out nowadays.
Seeing that I had to read #4, of course I went and got myself a copy – and lo and behold.. I HAVEN’T MISSED A THING!
Story!
Fiona Avery seems to be doing something badly, and that is being like Straczynski. I do appreciate that she’s tying this into some of the earlier Amazing Spidey plots (if you pay attention you’ll notice some relationships to Ezekiel and The Wasp villain), but reading issue four – the following things have not happened:
-Anya has not recieved her powers yet.
-Anya still doesn’t know what the hell is going on with her mysterious mage friend and his Corp.
-The book is still blatently ripping off the Matrix.
So now she is meeting the directors of WebCorp and being referred to as ‘the next chosen/hunter’ and things of that ilk. It’s just poorly concocted, and if this book had a ‘MARVEL AGE’ sticker on it I would be a bit nicer. It doesn’t though. It’s a book that is seemingly trying to fit itself into Spidey-Continuity. How, no idea.
Oh, and JMS is listed as creative consultant here. I don’t know what that means in the context of this book though.
Art!
If any of you read my reviews consistantly, you’ll see that I have a problem with the kind of cover that this book uses. It’s not only misleading, but it’s fairly pointless. As it appears here, Anya and Miguel are out at night, scoping the city. They seem ready to take down all comers. Yet, these two don’t seemingly have that kind of relationship yet – and ANYA HAS YET TO EVEN SEE ANY OF HER TECH! Grrrr… I will say though, that I like Brooks’ work, and the art is nice – just not informative.
The interior art actually has grown on me since the last review I did of it. I commented that I didn’t like Anya’s nose. I still don’t. The rest of the art though is actually pretty nice. Detailed and action oriented, it feels like an old Top Cow book without the huge boobies and unnecessary splash pages.
Overall!
Amazing Fantasy just isn’t doing anything for me. Like, absolutely nothing. I won’t go as far as to say it’s a horrible title. I will go out of my way to say that it has no audience. There is nothing for me to look at it and say, “Hey, this book is geared towards girls who like Spiderman.” If I wanted to show somebody THAT book.. I’d show them Mary Jane or Spider-Girl. I also would like to hope that Fiona Avery quickens it up a bit, because we are nearing the end of the first arc and we have yet to see the point to this title even existing.
