Spider-Man's Sidekick Gets the Spotlight

A few months back, we learned that Spider-Man was getting a sidekick. Later, we learned that his name was Alpha and he was a total douche. Now, beginning in February, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Nuno Plati will do their best to change our minds about the character in a new 5-issue mini-series from Marvel.

Fialkov, who recently wrote a spectacular back-up tale in The Amazing Spider-Man #692 with Plati (not to mention that he writes the always rad I, Vampire at DC), told USA Today, ""He was a freak and then he became famous, and now he's infamous and powerless essentially as far as the world knows. He's that creepy kid who used to be on a sitcom when he was 5."

We'll meet up again with the depowered Alpha before his mini-series in The Amazing Spider-Man #700, the events of which will lead directly to the Alpha mini-series. "It's a classic Marvel situation where you've got a kid with power who is making some wrong decisions," added Spidey overlord/editor Stephen Wacker. "That's an inherently dramatic story, watching someone screw up and learning along with them and seeing how they change."

Alpha will move to a new city -- Pittsburgh, PA -- in Marvel's further efforts to spread their heroes, particularly of the spider variety, outside of New York. Why Pittsburg? "Look, any way I can ingratiate myself back to my hometown city and somehow inspire a free trip and free Primanti Brothers sandwiches, I'm 100% behind," joked FIalkov. "It's actually a city about reinvention. It's a city that has transformed itself over and over and over again."

As for Alpha's levels of super-douchery, Fialkov told the paper, "I genuinely believe that Alpha is not a [jerk] like everyone says. He literally is just us. The tragedy in his life is that he was given this great gift and then it was more or less taken away from him. So let's explore what that means and what that does to a kid."

For more on the new Alpha mini-series, head on over to USA Today.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

Source : ign[dot]com

Spider-Man's Sidekick Gets the Spotlight

A few months back, we learned that Spider-Man was getting a sidekick. Later, we learned that his name was Alpha and he was a total douche. Now, beginning in February, writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Nuno Plati will do their best to change our minds about the character in a new 5-issue mini-series from Marvel.

Fialkov, who recently wrote a spectacular back-up tale in The Amazing Spider-Man #692 with Plati (not to mention that he writes the always rad I, Vampire at DC), told USA Today, ""He was a freak and then he became famous, and now he's infamous and powerless essentially as far as the world knows. He's that creepy kid who used to be on a sitcom when he was 5."

We'll meet up again with the depowered Alpha before his mini-series in The Amazing Spider-Man #700, the events of which will lead directly to the Alpha mini-series. "It's a classic Marvel situation where you've got a kid with power who is making some wrong decisions," added Spidey overlord/editor Stephen Wacker. "That's an inherently dramatic story, watching someone screw up and learning along with them and seeing how they change."

Alpha will move to a new city -- Pittsburgh, PA -- in Marvel's further efforts to spread their heroes, particularly of the spider variety, outside of New York. Why Pittsburg? "Look, any way I can ingratiate myself back to my hometown city and somehow inspire a free trip and free Primanti Brothers sandwiches, I'm 100% behind," joked FIalkov. "It's actually a city about reinvention. It's a city that has transformed itself over and over and over again."

As for Alpha's levels of super-douchery, Fialkov told the paper, "I genuinely believe that Alpha is not a [jerk] like everyone says. He literally is just us. The tragedy in his life is that he was given this great gift and then it was more or less taken away from him. So let's explore what that means and what that does to a kid."

For more on the new Alpha mini-series, head on over to USA Today.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Amazing Spider-Man #693 Review

After two issues, Alpha isn't exactly proving himself to be a memorable addition to the cast of Amazing Spider-Man. The idea of Peter Parker mentoring a young hero with plenty of power but no sense of responsibility is perfectly sound. The problem is that the execution feels half-baked. Like the debut chapter, issue #693 spends plenty of time telling readers how powerful and important and special Alpha is without actually proving it. Meanwhile, Alpha's personality is lacking, and the character is almost wholly unlikable at this point. Looking at Joshua Fialkov's backup feature from issue #692 and certain portions of AvX, it's clear that pairing Spidey with a young, inexperienced foil can yield great results. But not in this case.

Another element that drags this arc down is the return of the Jackal and his science projects. Dan Slott put the villain to perfectly good use during Spider-Island. However, nothing in this story suggests he needed to return to menace Spider-Man so soon. Jackal's latest plot seemingly begins and ends in this issue, and it just reads like a lump of poorly paced filler material that doesn't do much to grow the relationship between Spidey and Alpha.

Humberto Ramos' artwork is at least reasonably well suited to the tone of the story. His rendition of Alpha is brimming with energy, and he delivers some more creepy Spider clones. As usual, it's really the civilian characters who suffer. Aunt May and Mary Jane are too stylized to be convincing, with the former sporting some wonky facial work and the latter taking on an overly masculine appearance at times.

There's some decent character work to enjoy in this issue as Peter interacts with Max Modell, his family, and various superhuman allies. Sadly, none of it involves Alpha himself. As poorly executed as these two issues have been, my enthusiasm for the series and the build-up to Amazing Spider-Man #700 is beginning to wane.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Alphas: "Alphaville" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

"Alphaville" might have had its fair share of exciting moments (I'm looking directly at you "Cameron shoots that stealth Alpha right in his stupid toe shoe!"), but it didn't quite leave me feeling all-together satisfied. By the end, with regards to Stanton Parish's mysterious hospital tech, we only discovered what we already knew. That the light oscillations cause an amplification of Alpha abilities. And then Dr. Rosen inadvertently burned down a bunch of peaceful Alphas homes and we were done.

Still, it was great to see Summer Glau back on the show as Skylar Adams, the super-genius Forge-style mutant who knows her tech. This time around, Skylar's struggling as a mom to a hyper-active Alpha kid. And while that storyline might have fallen a bit flat - as well as Nina tagging along and doing nothing - the most interesting thing to come out of it was Parish's proposition to Skylar at the end. And seeing as how Skylar's doing everything in her life for Zoe right now, no matter how miserable it makes her, she might actually join up with Parish's camp.

I liked watching Dr. Rosen come face to face with a bunch of Alphas who weren't too crazy about him blabbing their secret out to the world - but all he got was scolded. Right before he made all their lives even worse. Claude, the bee-whisperer, could have been more (and had a better power), but instead he was just too much of a peace-loving nature-protector to do anything more than lecture Rosen. Which, I suppose, was a good thing for Rosen. But nothing ever came of their mini-confrontations, and in the end all Claude could do was say "Haven't you done enough?" as Rosen tried to help the residents of the tucked-away summer camp evacuate their land due to a Scipio-caused forest fire. And at no time (and perhaps this might even be one of the best things about Rosen) did Rosen ever retro-doubt his decision to go public. No, with him it's ever-forward, with hardly ever a chink in his ideological armor.

There were some fun character moments here, namely from Gary, who went from forest-hater to a guy who could spend his time "listening to the sun." Gary's at his best when he's semi-cranky, but at his worst when the stubbornness brought upon by his mental condition causes him to make dumb decisions that put him and team in danger. But, for the most part, Gary's venture into his first ever signal "dead zone" was a hoot. Rachel, who became an unwitting test subject for Parish's device, found herself overwhelmed when all of her senses went haywire. But in the end, it helped "cure" her of the over-reactions she was having when she was set on "normal." It felt like a teensy bit of a cheat, but I'll allow it. Season 2 seems to be about figuring out solutions to the character-specific hurdles from Season 1.

It's also fun to watch how certain Alphas can have the same, or similar, powers to others. The stealth Alpha reminded me a bit of Rebecca Mader's "Griffin" character in "Blind Spot." And Cameron found himself battling Trisha - a chick with crazy-ass agility like his own. As for the rest of the episode? Well, the inevitable reveal (to the team) that Dani is the mole could be good. But we've known her for such a short while, and we were just hit with the fact that she and Cameron were a couple. I just don't think it will wind up having the impact something like that should. I'm wondering if this all should have been kept a secret from us too, instead of playing out in a dramatically ironic fashion. Too late for that though. No sense in retrofitting.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN. WARNING: No Nudity!

Source : ign[dot]com

Hulk #56 Review

The odds aren't looking too great for Red Hulk as the fourth chapter of  Mayan Rule opens. The majority of Alpha Flight and his gamma-powered allies have been drained by the rejuvenated Mayan gods, and only his robotic companions are left to aid Red Hulk in the fight. But when have the odds ever been in his favor?

Issue #56 offers less of an action-packed romp and more of a downbeat adventure that sheds more light on the nature and motivations of the gods. Some of this material seems a bit counterproductive. With so many religious and mythological pantheons co-existing in the Marvel Universe, why do the Mayan gods need a more logical, scientific explanation for being? Still, these revelations cast the conflict in a new light and should make for an interesting finale.

This approach also allows Machine Man to step up to the plate again, which is never a bad thing. Red Hulk is about as battered and weakened as he's ever been in this issue, and Parker takes the opportunity to reinforce just how much Ross has come to depend on both Aaron and Annie. What began as an ensemble storyline has become far more intimate and contained. But while it's disappointing that Alpha Flight have been relegated to the background, Parker is focusing on the character dynamics that have made the series such a blast from the beginning.

Dale Eaglesham's artwork isn't quite up to the quality established in the previous issues. Some of his framing is a little odd, with characters seeming to fade out of focus and into the background. On the plus side, the lengthy flashback to the origins of the gods allows Eaglesham to branch out and tackle some more unusual, non-super-heroic imagery. Hopefully Eaglesham will be back in top form for the finale issue.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com