ENGLENTINE

As first issues go, this one doesn't exactly let us know who the characters are. With the exception of Northstar and Aurora, nothing outside of what they can do is really said about the characters. It's a good book don't get me wrong, but if you were not already familiar with them, this would not end up helping. That being said, both John Byrnes art and story telling techniques work here. I guess you would have to wait for the next issues to find out who these people really are. Oh, it is also pretty obvious, the character of Puck is going to take the Wolverine roll. I guess at the time ( 1983, has it been 25 years since this book came out? Wow I feel old. ) every team needed a Wolverine style tough guy. Not bad, I just wish the writing was up to par.

There are two different stories in this book. The first, is the story that sets up the rivalry between Spiderman, and newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Here Spiderman saves his astronaught son John as his spaceship is going to crash. JJJ feels this takes publicity away from his son, "the real hero" and goes on a crusade to stop Spiderman. The second story is Spiderman Vs. The Chameleon. Realizing Spiderman must be desperate for cash, the Chameleon, poses as Spiderman for some robberies. Both stories are written in the same simple style that was the norm for most books of that time. Sometimes the dialogue just mimics what we are looking at. " I will shoot him with my webs," and the picture shows Spiderman shooting the guy with his webs. Still, I would say the story , art, and dialogue all stand above the other books. It's easy to see how this character became so popular. Still a fun book to read.

So, She Hulk has been working for Shield looking for the "Hulk". This issue she finds out,, that she has been targeting Hulk level threats so Tony Stark could experiment on them and try to nuetralize there powers. She Hulk gets mad, and a battle RAGES!!!! Well, commences. At least it's drawn for a couple of issues. Really , considering what's promised on the cover, with the ground crushing beneath the weight of both heroes. Also taking into account how Mad She Hulk was meant to be, it was a pretty tame fight. No real epic to it at all. Nope, but the story and the dialogue do carry this issue. Also they got it right, and Tony won. Let us not forget he is the Batman of this Universe. It's a decent chapter in the story, it just needed something to illustrate how much damage a fight between these two would cause.

This book reads like the first fifteen minutes of a movie watches. It's mostly set up, one or two pages are spent on each female character we are going to meet somewhere down the road, all interstwined with a conversation between Yorrick ( the soon to be "Last Man" and his girl friend Beth, who at the point of this story is in the Australian out back. Ultimately this is a book that belongs to it's writer. Given the short time he spends with each character, he manages to bring to life intiguing and vivid characters. granted he goes a bit far with the pop culture references, almost turning Yorrick into a caricature. Still he is Juno when Juno wasn't even thought of yet. One thing of note, is how quickly the book read. It really is a breeze. I like that. Most of the best comics read like that.

Yorrick Ventures out of his apartment to find his family. He instead finds a supermodel and a garbage truck. One of the two wants to sell him for food. This is the kind of thing that makes this series great. Showing the dangers in the simplist of situations. Not to spoil what happens in the beginning , but it continues when he does make it to Washington DC to see his mother. Once again, and I will probably say this in many reviews of this series. This is a character driven series, and it is interesting even when the pages are filled with people doing nothing but talking. Also in this issue, we meet 355 again, this time she is bringing the Secretary Of Agriculture , who being the highest ranking female cabinet member, has just become the President O the United States. Then... The Republicans attack.

So the wives of the dead congressmen come to DC to forcably take their dead husbands seats. Yorricks mother meets them outside and what happens is actually a pretty cool debate. What would be the political ramifications of a world where suddenly all the men died? If you were looking for action in the way most comic books give it this book would not come off well. Seriously all this book is is a long political discussion... with the presence of guns. There are a few people who get shot. One of them through the head at close range. Yet most of this book is women arguing politics. We also get a bit more insight as to how good of an escape artist Yorrick is. All in all this is a well paced, and solid chapter of the story.

I feel with this book the series is finally taking off. That's not to say the series has been bad. One look at the scores tells that isn't the case. It's just that with 355 and Yorrick on the road, we get to see how the "plague" effected the rest of the world. Let me go off on a tangent though. Okay, I can not see any reason to have the only man in the world risking his life on a quest, when there are any number of bunkers and hide outs they could have placed him in. There is no reason to endanger humanity to go see a doctor who could have easily been brought back and given any number of labs to work with. That is probably the weakest part of Brian K. Vaughns story. Of course it negates the entire series, so lets move on shall we? Getting past the glaring flaw in the cloth, what we do have is an exciting story, that shows the rider at least thought of things halfway through. In this issue we meet the radical " Amazons " who want to destroy all evidence of man being on earth. This sets up some dramatic tension and action, but the best part of the story comes from a quiet scene between a disguised Yorrick and a woman who has realised "The Rolling Stones are dead" . A very good entry to the series.

Yorrick has a dream, a pretty bad one. A good touch I thought, too many of these holocaust type films or books have the characters responding way to well to traumatic experiences such as these. Nightmares should be expected. With the addition of Dr. Mann to the equation the humor of the book picks up quite well, a good thing in a series about a serious subject. The drama with the Amazons made the book for me. I hate zealots and extremists no matter their beliefs. It also shows the hold the leader of the Amazons Victoria , has over those who choose to follow her. I would like to see a bigger reaction to Yorrick when he reveals himself. Too many times already he has revealed himself to women only to have the mildest of reactions. I am not so sure how truthfull that is. A solid ending to chapter one of the series.

Seriously, I never understood why the vulture was not one of those villains who just went away. As villains goes, his look is one of a very old and frail man, and why is it that just because he has wings he can take a punch from a man who can lift 10 tons ( according to the Marvel Universe handbook ) ? I understand comics were not as mature as they are today. Back then they were still seen as something only kids read, on that level the two stories here work pretty good. The way the vulture story is written, Spiderman has to beat the Vulture using his brains instead of ALL the other powers he could use on a man whose sole power is a winged suit. The Tinkerer story, that is just filler. Really another villain who lasted seemingly because he was one of the first villains. This isn't a bad comic, it's just that I would expect better.

The first appearance of Doctor Octapuss, the only villain to defeat Spiderman, while sporting Man-boobs. Over all I like this book. The art is top notch for the time. Stan Lee does have a flair for the dramatic prose " You dare to challenge me, the great Dr. Octapus" yet it flows and for some reason works. Even though my brain is yelling at me about how cheesy the dialogue is. Once again, a villain is able to take a punch from Spiderman even though he has no physical super power. Oh, also something I have noticed reading these early Spiderman stories. He is able to use his Spider sense as a tracker. I don't belive I have seen him do that in later issues. If you get the chance, this one is lots of fun.