House of M
// December 21st, 2005 // My Stuff
I just finished reading House of M.This was billed as the event in the Marvel Universe this year. Plus, it was written by Bendis, so obviously I needed to read it. The core of the title revolves around the X-Men, New Avengers, old Avengers up against Magneto and his children (The House of M). Another potential benefit was the Spider-Man: Houes of M mini series. I figured I couldn’t lose.
My expectations were a bit out of whack.
I actually think most people would benefit enough from just reading the core series or maybe just the Wikipedia article…
OK, so my first complaint is that there are a pile of titles related to this overall story. Iron Man, Mutopia, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and more. However, there is no clear reading order published anywhere. In fact, I wonder if the side titles were even coordinated with the central title.
I started with House of M, read through the first 2, then it appeared the continuity jumped to Spider-Man: House of M, but that is where things really stopped making sense. For one, the Spider-Man title was written in way that was horribly out of character for Peter Parker, I know, it was an alternate reality, but I refuse to believe Peter could even have grown up to be as big a jerk as he’s portrayed as here…
OK, so once you jump into the Spider-Man series, there is absolutely no way to get back in the main title without breaking continuity. I’m here to say that is absolute crap. The title is authored by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer need to hang their heads in shame and hope they aren’t stripped of their duties at Marvel. OK enough on that, I’m clearly bitter…
Anyway, after the main title finishes lumbering along, it’s final 2 issues are in fact well done and justify reading this part. In fact the big revelations at the end are certain to have some lasting impact on a lot of the Marvel Universe. I do find it a bit weak that they basically protected all the A-list characters, but I guess that is to be expected.
I was re-engaged enough at this point that I took a stab at reading a couple of the other spin offs (Fantastic Four and Iron Man). Yeah, they’re wretched…
2012 
Having been a big comic book fan when I was growing up, I have to admit that the stuff coming out recently just isn’t very good.
Where is Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller,
There is only one Jim Lee, and with his work on X-Men, Gen13, WildC.A.T.S, Deathblow, and the Punisher, I just can’t stop comparing everyone else to him.
Marc Silvestri did some amazing work with Wolverine, with the Shiva story arc that began with issue 50.
I used to also be a big fan of Todd McFarlane, and loved his work with Spiderman. Something about his artistry just brought those story arcs to life. Spawn was fantastic as well.
These days, I find myself rereading the classics:
Punisher: Return to Big Nothing
Batman: Year One
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Wolverine: Origins
And of course, all the ones I mentioned above…
Should’ve mentioned a link for WildC.A.T.S
[...] After reading and feeling somewhat letdown by House of M, I felt I needed to go back and read the granddaddy of all major company wide super hero crossovers, Secret Wars. [...]