Marv Wolfman
Batman: Black and White 3 (January 2014)
Most of this is very lame. Lee Bermejo’s opening story, for example, featuring a revisionist take on Robin’s training… very lame. Beremjo goes for tough and real, then ends on a bad joke. But it’s nothing compared to Damion Scott’s entry, which has Bruce Wayne’s internal narration a hip hop song. Even if one likes […]
MoreThe Man Called A-X 1 (October 1997)
The Man Called A-X is a strange and awful thing. It’s pronounced “A 10,” but “A ex.” I wasn’t sure it mattered, but then the hard cliffhanger reveals it does matter. The comic is a near future thing with androids. Marv Wolfman definitely saw Universal Soldier. He tries to be very topical with the Gulf […]
MoreThe Night Force 8 (March 1983)
Wolfman splits the issue–an “epilogue” to the first arc (which is really just the last chapter) and then the beginning of a new arc. None of the regular cast appear in the second story, except Baron Winters, and it seems like Wolfman made the readers suffer through his bad characterizations for nothing. It’s additionally frustrating […]
MoreThe Night Force 7 (February 1983)
Marv Wolfman’s understanding of the American legal system is amazing. Baron Winters escapes arrest because his lawyer says they have a restraining order against the cops who are questioning him. Not sure that tactic is possible. It’s a really lazy issue of Night Force, both for Wolfman and Colan. Wolfman has a bunch of terrible […]
MoreThe Night Force 6 (January 1983)
Night Force quickly plummets from its high point last issue. Wolfman splits the story into two parts–one in Russia, which plays like Raiders of the Lost Ark again, and the other in Maryland, with Baron Winters playing hide and seek in his house. Now, Wolfman clearly thinks he’s being subtle in his writing–though his bad […]
MoreThe Night Force 5 (December 1982)
This issue of Night Force should be the pits. I mean, it opens with a Russian science fortress. Why Wolfman–who’d been working with Colan for almost ten years at that point–would give him a boring Russian fortress to draw is beyond understanding. Colan and Smith do a competent job, but it’s excruciatingly dull. And then […]
MoreThe Night Force 3 (October 1982)
Well, Wolfman certainly didn’t try too hard with this issue’s cliffhanger. The good guys are about to be run over by a boat, or whatever that situation is called. For a comic book about the supernatural, most of Wolfman’s Night Force action is pedestrian. And when it is supernatural… the scenes never last very long. […]
MoreThe Night Force 2 (September 1982)
The second issue is a little better. Colan’s art isn’t as concentrated on creating Tomb of Dracula stand-ins and Wolfman doesn’t have anywhere near as much exposition. Plus, Baron Winter has a far reduced presence, which seems to help. But Wolfman does have his “hero,” reporter Jack Gold, knock boots with a twenty year-old girl […]
MoreThe Night Force 1 (August 1982)
It’s all so mysterious! Marv Wolfman finishes the issue with a letter to readers, maybe to convince them they haven’t just read a knock-off of Tomb of Dracula. Damage control, I guess. Wolfman isn’t doing too much of a rip-off, I suppose, he’s just setting Gene Colan up with Dracula-like situations and characters. Whether it’s […]
MoreSpider-Woman 5 (August 1978)
Wolfman edited Spider-Woman too? I guess I hadn’t paid much attention. Now a lot more makes sense. Without any editorial oversight, Wolfman can keep going with whatever he thinks works (to be fair, Spider-Woman did run fifty issues–five years–so he must have been in sync with readers) and what does he go with? A dream […]
MoreSpider-Woman 4 (July 1978)
Can this series make any less sense? I mean, I’m not even going after Wolfman’s characterization of Spider-Woman as a social outcast who has a great vocabulary, not even mentioning the whole, everyone hates Jessica Drew thing. I’m getting the feeling I’d hate Jessica Drew too, if Wolfman were scripting her. I don’t even know […]
MoreSpider-Woman 3 (June 1978)
At least Spider-Woman’s stalker doesn’t show up in this issue. It’s kind of sad how phoned-in Infantino’s artwork is on this series. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do Marvel before and he’s just completely disinterested. Some of his subsequent DC work is a lot better, so it’s not like he couldn’t do the […]
MoreSpider-Woman 2 (May 1978)
Vixen. A spiteful or quarrelsome woman. Vixen. Marv Wolfman refers to his protagonist as a vixen in this issue. Not so sure he knows what the word means and for someone so flatulent in his writing, he really ought to have a dictionary handy. I’m not entirely sure what’s wrong with this comic book, whether […]
MoreSpider-Woman 1 (April 1978)
Wow, does Wolfman like to write exposition. I mean, he just loves it. It really made this issue incredibly boring. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I had no idea–until a few pages into it–the issue is taking place in London. I’m also not sure if Jessica Drew is English or not. I mean, does […]
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