Acts Of Vengeance: Spider-Man & The X-Men

Acts of Vengeance

by David Michelinie, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin

Loki's villainous machinations pit Spider-Man and the X-Men against unfamiliar foes! Spidey has his hands full with powerful sparring partners like Graviton, Magneto and the terrifying Tri-Sentinel - but when a cosmic upgrade boosts his powers, the ruthless Doctor Doom puts Spider-Man in his crosshairs! Meanwhile, the X-Men take on the Mandarin - and Psylocke is transformed! Teeth meet claws when Wolverine battles Tiger Shark! Nitro and the Vulture target the New Mutants' Rusty and Skids! And it's tyrant vs. trickster when Apocalypse faces Loki! Plus: Alpha Flight tackles an unholy alliance of super villains - including Nekra, the Scorpion and the Owl! COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 326-329; SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 158-160; WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) 59-61, 64-65; WOLVERINE (1988) 19-20; ALPHA FLIGHT (1983) 79-80; NEW MUTANTS (1983) 86; UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 256-258; MATERIAL FROM X-FACTOR (1986) 50

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Science Fiction, Fantasy, X Men

493 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 19, 2021

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that has hurt the comics industry IMHO is the annual crossovers that run through most of the titles of a given company. I do not single out any specific company, because they all do it as a way to stimulate excitement (translated as cha-ching) in titles that may not be doing as well as expected (meaning that the title is not making as much money as corporate deems possible.) Do not get it twisted. Some of the crossovers work organically. I was a comic shop owner in the late 80s to early 90s and the Death of Superman was very lucrative and engendered a lot of excitement in the entire DC comics line. Acts of Vengeance on the other hand, did not do so well because it was an attempt to crossover titles that really did not organically mix.

Here, in the trade paperback starring Spider-Man and the Mutant-titles, there is a deliberate collecting of the most salient aspects of the story and made cohesive involving the specific heroes. The Act of Vengeance was a collection of Mastermind villains (Magneto, Dr. Doom, Mandarin, Kingpin, and Red Skull) engineering a mass exodus from the Vault (the prison for super-powered bad guys) and setting them up against heroes they have never fought in order to create better outcomes. Great collection of stories with exceptional talents writing and drawing. Loved that the stories are edited for clearer understanding. This is some of Michelinie's best editorial work.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with this. I've always loved the idea behind Acts of Vengeance where the villains decide they can win by switching up their nemeses. All of the Spider-Man books are one big story with all of these heavyweight villains coming in to kill Spidey. Gravitron, Titania, Goliath, Magneto, the Grey Hulk. Fortunately for Spider-Man, he's just been given the Power Cosmic.

Out of the X-Men books, Uncanny X-Men was my favorite. Psylocke gets brainwashed by the Hand and becomes an assassin for the Mandarin in Hong Kong where Wolverine and Jubilee cross her path. This is the origin for where Psylocke gets her Asian body and psyknife. I always thought Psylocke was pretty useless until she got this makeover and became a badass. Plus Jim Lee on art so it looks fantastic.

[Markus Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sou suspeito pra falar de Atos de Vingança. É minha mega-saga preferida dos anos 90. Não sei se por saudosismo ou porque ela é boa mesmo. Tenho quase certeza de que é a primeira opção. Mas ela é divertidíssima, e tem uma premissa das mais básicas: 6 dos maiores vilões da marvel se juntam, sob coordenação de uma figura misteriosa (que a princípio se apresenta apenas como um servo da causa deles) e decidem que a melhor estratégia pra acabar com seus inimigos é trocar de oponentes. Um vilão que normalmente luta com os X-Men vai atacar o Homem de Ferro, enquanto um vilão do Homem de Ferro ataca o Justiceiro, e um do Justiceiro ataca o Homem-Aranha, e assim vai. E essa é uma saga que não tem uma mini principal, ela se passa mas revistas de linha da editora. Em todas as revistas de linha tem alguma coisa referente aos Atos de Vingança. Isso pode ajudar ou atrapalhar o escritor do título, com as histórias que vinham sendo contadas pra encaixar o crossover. Nesse encadernado temos todas as histórias que são ligadas ao Homem-Aranha e aos mutantes. No caso do Aracnídeo, apesar da quantidade de títulos que ele tinha, na época eles contavam uma única história, ou seja, o que começa em Amazing Spider-Man continua em Spectacular Spider-Man, que continua em Web of Spider-Man. E os roteiristas aproveitaram pra colocar vários vilões que o Aranha nunca tinha enfrentado mas juntou com um plot que foi bastante querido pros aracnofãs, o Homem-Aranha Cósmico. Ele teve poderes cósmicos do Capitão Universo por um breve período, que coincidiu com os Atos de Vingança. Tanto que depois das histórias que compõem o crossover, temos uma espécie de epílogo, onde o Aranha enfrenta os mesmos vilões que ele enfrentou durante a saga, mas agora sem os poderes cósmicos. Indo pra metade mutante do encadernado, o arco da Tropa Alfa é ruim. Os roteiros, desenhos, diálogos, nada se salva ali. A história do Wolverine é divertida, principalmente pelos desenhos do Byrne, que foi quem concebeu essa saga pra começar. Novos Mutantes tem os desenhos do Liefeld, e estava começando a conceber o que viria a se tornar a X-Force, com a aparição da Frente de Libertação Mutante. X-Factor teve uma participação ínfima, na verdade, quem participa é o Apocalipse, enfrentando o Loki. Já X-Men tem o arco que transforma totalmente a Psylocke. E a mudança é tão significativa que ela se torna permanente. Mas começou aqui, numa história com a participação do Tentáculo e do Mandarim. Esse título dos X-Men estava numa fase esquisita, onde não existia uma equipe e os membros estavam todos espalhados, e o título ia passando de personagem em personagem, mas ajudou a consolidar como um dos campeões de venda da editora. Outra curiosidade é que esse encadernado tem a participação de quase todos os principais fundadores da Image, algum tempo depois: tem o Larsen e o McFarlane em Homem-Aranha e o Lee e o Liefeld em X-Men. Ficou faltando só o Silvestri. Enfim, essa foi uma releitura extremamente divertida e me fez ter vontade de ler os outros encadernados com as outras partes da saga.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the Acts of Vengeance books, this one probably had the least to do with the main arc but also ended up being one of the better ones since they had solid stories on their own.

As advertised on the cover, the bulk of this book involves what Spider-Man was doing during the Acts of Vengeance. And while he did have unusual battles with the likes of Trapster and Titania, as was in theme with the event, what was surprising (to me at least) was that this was also when Spider-Man gained the Uni-Power and eventually (but only temporarily) becomes Captain Universe. Thus he has a leg up when dealing with all his unusual super-villain challengers with these additional cosmic abilities. But don't worry, he still has to defeat them all over again once the Uni-Power fulfills its purpose.

The second big arc included in this book is when Psylocke becomes Lady Mandarin as some twisted effort to utilize her as an assassin once more. This than brings the likes of Wolverine and Jubilee trying to rescue her with very mixed results. This arc went on a little longer than expected and the Mandarin barely makes reference to the ongoing Acts of Vengeance he's supposed to be participating in. But that doesn't matter because the weird story is actually pretty solid and works well without trying closer to the crossover event.

[Erik J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know most people look back on Acts of Vengeance with disdain. However, most likely through rose tinted nostalgia glasses, I have always been fond of the storyline. This book encapsulated a bunch of issues I never originally read back in the day and I really enjoyed it!

My only gripe really is the third part of the X-Men issues ... it wrapped up WAY too fast for my liking.

Overall - 4/5

[Omar Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acts Of Vengeance – Spider-Man & The X-Men (TPB) (2021). Calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Colecciona:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #326-329
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #158-160
WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #59-61, 64-65
ALPHA FLIGHT #79-80
WOLVERINE #19-20
NEW MUTANTS #86
MATERIAL de X-FACTOR #50
UNCANNY X-MEN #256-258


Escrito por David Michelinie, Gerry Conway, James D. Hudnall, Archie Goodwin, Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Colleen Doran.

Arte por Sal Buscema, Alex Saviuk, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, John Calimee, John Byrne, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Terry Shoemaker.

Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Estos issues los leí de niño y mi interés era volver a tenerlos otra vez, para mi sale sobrando el cuarenta por ciento del libro restante.

Doctor Doom esta interesado en robar los poderes de Captain Universe y Loki lo sabotea.

Con y sin los poderes de Captain Universe, Spider-Man derrota a Graviton, Titania, The Trapster, Brothers Grimm, Goliath, Mr. Joe Fixit, Hydro-man, Rhino, Shocker, Dragon Man, Sebastian Shaw, Tri-Sentinel y Chameleon. 

Enviados por los miembros del Cabal de Actos de Venganza Loki, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Wizard, Red Skull, Mandarin. Se le invitó pero rechazaron la unión Namor, King Cobra y Apocalypse.

Alpha Flight estuvo regular con eso de la acta de registro de super-poderes.

Los issues de Wolverine John Byrne mi dibujante favorito, pero que no quiso dibujar el comic con gran calidad a propósito y la historia fue como Licence to Kill (1989) pero diluida.

Luego The New Mutants pero ¿A quien le importan?  Louise Simonson satura de dialogos el arte como lo hacía Chris Claremont o Kurt Busiek y no dan ganas de leerlo.

X-Factor, Caliban fue ideado por John Byrne como una bestia horrible que sería el compañero de Kitty Pryde, pero Claremont lo hizo distinto. Aquí se volvió Caliban más salvaje como realmente fue ideado.

Luego X-Men donde Jim Lee hace lo que mejor sabe dibujar traseros femeninos como el de Elizabeth Braddock y creo me agradaba más de rubia, Claremont la hizo un marimacho prepotente y bravucona. Debió salir Chris Claremont de los X-Men en 1981.

Claremont seguía metiendo a Carol Danvers como fuera, con calzador. Tonterías de Lady Mandarin, eyepatch. Parecía esto Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Claremont le hacía mal ver películas de video club se robaba las frases "make my day" The Dead Pool (1989) y “Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?” Batman (1989).

Wolverine tuvo para matar a Mandarin, lo hubiera hecho.

Aquí Jim Lee todavía no pulia su estilo artístico.