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Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 19: Assassin Nation by Gerry Conway, David Michelinie
crookedtreehouse's review
3.0
I read this as part of my Venom read-through. Like many of these early volumes, I'm getting over a dozen issues of story, where Venom usually shows up for one or two issues. But it's still a fun read.
This is the last gasp of the Spider-80s. I mentioned to a coworker how it's really fun watching the writing evolve from the ashes of the Bronze Age into more teleplay-like plotting and dialogue. Michelinie throws all sorts of characters and villains at the wall in this run, and a few of them stick. There's the title storyline where Spidey, Captain America, Paladin, and Silver Sable have to stop an assassination, the weird Atlantis Attack crossover that in no way reminds me of The Atlantis Attacks storyline, the Inferno saga where an X-Men villain turns New York into a hellish realm, and a primer rehashing of Peter and MJ's relationship origins.It's a lot to take in, and while the writing is consistent, the quality of the plots vary wildly.
The actual Venom issues are pretty good. This is his second real battle with Spider-Man, and while learn virtually nothing new about Venom, it's still a fun series of action sequences with very late 80s zingers, and a ton of behind the scenes plots with MJ having her own enemy that gets them kicked out of their new condo, Peter repairing his relationship with Aunt May and doing favors for her boyfriend Nathan, and lots lots more.
It's a great late 80s Spider-book, but if you're just trying to read through Venom, you can skip these Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collections, and pick up the [b:Venom Epic Collection Vol. 1: Symbiosis|52723600|Venom Epic Collection Vol. 1 Symbiosis|Tom DeFalco|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602778918l/52723600._SY75_.jpg|78662523] instead.
I rarely mention art unless it's awful or fantastic, as I'm more of a story person. The art in this book is clear, classic, and easy to follow, but I did find myself reacting negatively to McFarlane's style in this collection. I liked it in the original Venom Epic Collection, but the faces felt huge for much of this volume, and the anatomy was off enough that I noticed, which is something that rarely happens to me outside of the late 80s/early 90s future Image Comics founders era of Marvel books. It unsettled me here.
This is the last gasp of the Spider-80s. I mentioned to a coworker how it's really fun watching the writing evolve from the ashes of the Bronze Age into more teleplay-like plotting and dialogue. Michelinie throws all sorts of characters and villains at the wall in this run, and a few of them stick. There's the title storyline where Spidey, Captain America, Paladin, and Silver Sable have to stop an assassination, the weird Atlantis Attack crossover that in no way reminds me of The Atlantis Attacks storyline, the Inferno saga where an X-Men villain turns New York into a hellish realm, and a primer rehashing of Peter and MJ's relationship origins.It's a lot to take in, and while the writing is consistent, the quality of the plots vary wildly.
The actual Venom issues are pretty good. This is his second real battle with Spider-Man, and while learn virtually nothing new about Venom, it's still a fun series of action sequences with very late 80s zingers, and a ton of behind the scenes plots with MJ having her own enemy that gets them kicked out of their new condo, Peter repairing his relationship with Aunt May and doing favors for her boyfriend Nathan, and lots lots more.
It's a great late 80s Spider-book, but if you're just trying to read through Venom, you can skip these Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collections, and pick up the [b:Venom Epic Collection Vol. 1: Symbiosis|52723600|Venom Epic Collection Vol. 1 Symbiosis|Tom DeFalco|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602778918l/52723600._SY75_.jpg|78662523] instead.
I rarely mention art unless it's awful or fantastic, as I'm more of a story person. The art in this book is clear, classic, and easy to follow, but I did find myself reacting negatively to McFarlane's style in this collection. I liked it in the original Venom Epic Collection, but the faces felt huge for much of this volume, and the anatomy was off enough that I noticed, which is something that rarely happens to me outside of the late 80s/early 90s future Image Comics founders era of Marvel books. It unsettled me here.
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