[Dr Kain]

X-Men Omnibus Volume 2 Update - I just hit the Marvel Tales stuff, but I'm not sure why they are in the book before X-Men 151-153 since they came out like 7 months after those issues.

Honestly, I've got to say that issues 145-150 were kind of weak. I liked the one with Cyclops and Man-Thing, but it ends with Lee in the hospital. Suddenly, in the next issue Cyclops and Lee are stranded on some island. WTF? Instead of telling us this happened, they should have shown us this happen because that is a pretty god damn important event. How did they get from the hospital to being on the open sea? What happened to her crew? Were they with her? Did they survive? Also, I felt the story with Garrock was mediocre and didn't make sense.

Another thing that bugs me was the Avengers annual being in the middle of this story arc. Issue 150 seems to have the X-Men on their way back from the battle with Garrock, but the story with Rogue takes place over the course of several weeks and Miss Marvel is with Prof X in 150. Huh? So how long were Scott and Lee guests of Magneto? It ddn't seem like they were there for more than a few days.

On the other hand, I'm going to guess this is where they really started to turn Magneto into more than just a one dimensional villain, right? None of the other issues I have read seemed to talk about Magneto's imprisonment during WWII. If so, then issue 150 does have some major revelations to it, which boosts it up quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed these issues, but I don't feel they are up to par with everything that occurred before them.

Oh, and X-Men Annual 5 was average. I didn't like how Sue seemed to be vastly inexperienced and needed support to help her both emotionally and physically just to handle a situation. That felt very out of character with the Sue Storm I have read about. The stuff dealing with Arkon was not bad this time around, but I just don't think he is all that great of a character. The scene between Thing and Colossus arm wrestling was priceless though.

Lastly, it seems like the letters page is not present on the vast majority of issues in this book. What gives? Were they too damaged to remaster or did they just not exist to begin with? Well that is all I have to report on my X-Men reading at the moment.

EDIT: I finished X-Men Evolution today and overall, it was an average series. Hell, most of the series was more of a high school drama than a super hero show. It also never made sense at times because we had one episode where the second door to Apocalypse was opened, but then the next episode has the team on a cruise. WTF?! Yeah, let's forget that the world is close to coming to end so we can have a trip to the Bahamas.

Also, except for the Brotherhood, none of the villains were every truly developed and there were a lot of loose plot threads that were left hanging. Like what was the point of introducing Legion and having him leave saying he would be back if he actually wasn't? Oh, and while I liked the stuff with Apocalypse as a whole, the main attraction was barely on screen and pretty much did nothing. In fact, he was just as bad as the current movie version we have. WOW!! The Four Horsemen didn't even make sense because there was nothing in their powers to make them resemble the characters. Magneto was probalby war, but Xavier, Storm, and Mystique do not fit the bill for the other three Horsemen.

Another thing I didn't like was how Wolverine stopped using his brownish orange costume to suddenly wear a black, maskless outfit. What the hell was up with that? It was a pointless change and didn't fit when no one else changed their costumes.

The animation was pretty good for the most part though and the music was adequate. Some of the voices were completely miscast though while others, like Kitty, were purrfect. Although, since I had just come of watching Gundam Seed and Destiny I couldn't help but make references to the characters they voiced there (like Moonstar being Flay and the Hydra Scientist being Ramius).

In the end, this show was a mixed bag. It had a lot of entertaining moments, but there was just way too much fluff and filler without enough super heroing around. My favorite episodes would have to include Dark Horizons, Walk on the Wild Side, Self-Possessed, and Ghost of a Chance. My least favorite episodes are really anything that featured Spyke as the main focus and Sins of the Son. I'm just glad I didn't spend money to see this series over again.

Oh, and Hulu also seems to have the 90s Spider-Man cartoon on it, so I guess I've got a little less than a month to get through it before my free trial ends. Why can't they just put it out on DVD?

[Electric Turahk]

Started watching Ultimate Spider-Man because the current Spider-Verse story arc sounds really cool. Plus I got the first 5 episodes free by playing Avengers Academy. Didn't realize just how many there were to go before catching up...

Not sure I will.

I really, really don't like this fourth wall business. I doubt it'll change much as the show goes on either. Might just cherry pick the story arcs that sound interesting rather than watching everything and hope for the best.

[Dr Kain]

So I finished the 90s Spider-Man toon and boy was that final season terrible. The Six Forgotten Warriors arc was down right boring and I do not like how lackluster they treated both Red Skull and Cap. However, that is nothing compared to the insulting MJ is a water clone that followed it. That was a total cop out and one of the biggest middle fingers they could have given their audience. Whoever thought that was a good idea was a stupid idiot and this show deserved to get canceled after that abomination of an idea. Now, I have never read Secret Wars, so I have no idea if the storyarc was even remotely close to the comics, but I have a feeling it was not. The treatment they gave Cap continued to be detrimental to the character and this is exactly the reason why I never bothered to try to be a Cap fan back then. This show did the character a horrible injustice. Of course, they couldn't even get the FF right here. Hell, the movies have done a better job at portraying the family that this travesty. Ben is written to be a complete and utter moron and Sue is even more useless. Not just that, but Doom doesn't even speak in third person. At least they got his arrogance right.

Finally, we come to the original Spider-Verse. I do like the idea that Spider-Carnage is the final villain for the series, but this story should have really been a five parter as it is extremely rushed and we don't even get a proper ending for Peter and MJ.

Overall, I am so glad to be done with this show. It was not what I remembered it to be which is a shame because I expected to feel less about X-Men and that show holds up quite well today. This show is the exact opposite of that with poor animation, terrible editing, bad characterization and the plot is god awful, especially for the final two seasons. I have no idea why they chose to go with a children's version of The Death of Gwen Stacy for the end of the third season, but that was a far better ending than what we got. Either way, MJ is lost, but at least it would have had some dignity left. The voice acitng is really its only saving grace as everything else is just a mess. If I had to choose a favorite episode or two it would be Goblin War!, The Hobgoblin, Framed, and The Man Without Fear. As for the worst episodes of the show, that is hard because there were so many, but The Return of Hydro Man, Rocket Racer, The Lizard King, and Partners are definitely up there. Actually, The Return of Hydroman are probably THE worst episodes of the series.

The stock animation throughout the series was pretty awful and obvious. The animation itself is so cheap looking, choppy, poorly edited with a lot of unnecessarily long close up shots of character heads, broken line that look like the animators wanted the viewers to play "Connect the Dots," lip movements that didn't match up with the dialog, and outdated CGI. Now bad CGI can be ignored when a good narrative is involved (look at Beast Wars), but ultimately, this show is not the least bit spectacular to keep you distracted from. The music is cool at times, but it's like they stopped making new music for it after the first season and just reused the same music over. Oh, and did they really need to recap the same whiny tones at the beginning of every episode? Lastly, what was up with the Sinister Six being called the Insidious Six? Was the name Sinister trademarked?

In the end, I give this show a 5/10. It's pretty average as far as a comic book show goes and the amount of villains used seemed to regress into the same few after a while. I love Scorpion as a much as the next guy, but why did it take 60 episodes to bring in Electro? Not to mention their treatment of him was down right insulting. What about the Enforcers? Or the Tinkerer? Beetle? Big Man? Carrion? Shriek? Rose?

Well, that is pretty much it outside of finishing Ultimate Spider-Man's third season on Netflix unless I can find a site that is streaming Wolverine and the X-Men and Silver Surfer.

[ZeoRangerV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Finally, we come to the original Spider-Verse. I do like the idea that Spider-Carnage is the final villain for the series, but this story should have really been a five parter as it is extremely rushed and we don't even get a proper ending for Peter and MJ.

Because it got cancelled. They had an ending planned, they just never got to do it.

Quote:

I have no idea why they chose to go with a children's version of The Death of Gwen Stacy for the end of the third season, but that was a far better ending than what we got.

Because the show was censored to hell and back. You watched the whole thing and DIDN'T realise that?

Quote:

Lastly, what was up with the Sinister Six being called the Insidious Six? Was the name Sinister trademarked?

See above. It was THAT ridiculous. Spider-Man couldn't even throw a punch.

Quote:

I love Scorpion as a much as the next guy, but why did it take 60 episodes to bring in Electro?

They weren't allowed to use him. He was tied up in movie rights that never came to fruition.

[Paladin]

From what I recall, the planned original ending to that show involved finding Mary Jane in Victorian England, where Carnage had become Jack the Ripper.

maybe it's for the best the show got canceled.


If you want a QUALITY show, check out "The Spectacular Spider-Man."

[ZeoRangerV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladin

From what I recall, the planned original ending to that show involved finding Mary Jane in Victorian England, where Carnage had become Jack the Ripper.

maybe it's for the best the show got canceled.

Maybe for you. I'd have loved to have seen that.

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladin

From what I recall, the planned original ending to that show involved finding Mary Jane in Victorian England, where Carnage had become Jack the Ripper.

maybe it's for the best the show got canceled.


If you want a QUALITY show, check out "The Spectacular Spider-Man."

I own Spectacular on BD. I was just rewatching the 90s show because it was on Hulu and I wanted to make my free trial worth more than just X-Men Evolution.

[Guyver Spawn]

I still like the 90's Spider-Man TV show. Sure it can be very cheesy at times, but I still enjoy it. Censorship back in the 90's was different compare to now, so they are limited on they can get away with. I feel like Spider-Man Unlimited and The Avengers: United They Stand where the worst of the 90's Marvel animated shows in my opinion.

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyver Spawn

I still like the 90's Spider-Man TV show. Sure it can be very cheesy at times, but I still enjoy it. Censorship back in the 90's was different compare to now, so they are limited on they can get away with. I feel like Spider-Man Unlimited and The Avengers: United They Stand where the worst of the 90's Marvel animated shows in my opinion.

See, that doesn't make sense to me. Batman, Gargoyles, Beast Wars and Animaniacs got away with A LOT more than what Spider-Man did and they all aired on the same network.

[Matrixbeast]

I don't remember what aired where, but I'm pretty sure the Disney cartoon Gargoyles aired on Disney.