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Single Issue Comic Stories

One of the many trade paper backs I bought in 2007 was Batman: Detective. This trade contained five issues on Paul Dini's run on Detective Comics. For those of you that don't know, Paul Dini has worked on many of my favorite cartoons in the DCAU (DC Animated Universe) like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League Unlimited. Having this guy write one of DC's biggest icons had to be a no brainer for the company. But I digress.

As I read the stories in Batman: Detective I quickly realized that each story began and ended in the same issue. No single issue had anything to do with what came before it or what would follow it. As much as I like continuity, stories that start and finish in one book are quiet a treat. These days many writers are so busy trying to wow us with multi part story arcs. A good solo story has all but become extinct. I suppose that could be the of the primary reasons why I enjoy Marvel Adventures Spider-Man so much, even if children are the target audience.

I only picked up two comics at my comic shop this week. Hulk vs. Hercules, which was a one-shot story and Ultimate Spider-Man #121, which was a rarity for USM, a single story issue.

I like the Hulk. He speaks his mind, smashes things he doesn't like and he's probably the only dude in the Marvel universe that can pull off that purple pants look. Guy really knows how to party. Anyway, I figured the Hulk vs. Hercules book was basically gonna be a knock-down drag out fight all over town. There's only a few pages of Hulk & Herc going toe-to-toe but this is still a good read. In a nutshell, Hulk makes friends with some enemies of Herc. Herc kills Hulk's friends. Hulk leaves in despair.
I'm not reading the Hulk or Incredible Hercules, but someone on the Comic Book Resource forums pointed this out: the events in this story could be a setup for a future story. There's even a reprint of Tales of Suspense #79 in this one-shot, which shows the first time Hulk & Herc clashed. Even the original letters page has been repinted.

USM #121 brought back Omega Red (loser) and he was peeved at Jameson about some story he wrote on him. Long story short, Spidey fights Omega Red inside the Bugle, place gets wrecked, Peter gets his project baby that he was supposed to take care of for school charred in the battle that followed. Not the best from USM, but still a decent, funny read and I'd love to see Bendis do more single issue stories like these.

Comments

Tommy said…
Omega Red, eh?

Interesting.


The only time I've seen him and Spidey clash was in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
April 26, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Reggie White Jr. said…
Omega Red appeared in the Silver Sable story arc in the numbered 80s issues. He got beaten in a few pages.
April 26, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Tommy said…
Ah.

I've got a HUGE gap in my Ultimate Spidey collection.
April 30, 2008 at 1:17 PM
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