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(Kind of...)The Best of the Rest! June 5th edition.

Hey hey, X popping in with a quick post.  A REALLY quick post!  So yeah, as I said in the last post, I've been staying away from the blog and just reading comics for fun again.  Crazy, no?  It's nice to have a little summer vacation again, I definitely need the time to recharge the old batteries.  Anyway, enough bellyaching from me, hows about I talk comics now?

-Age of Ultron #9 was horrible, as expected.  Two fucking Wolverines...  No thank you, one is enough!  The Wolvies and Sue told Pym about Ultron, and wanted him to put some sort of program in Ultron to prevent him from destroying the world or something equally dumb.  So yeah, sucktacular.  I'm still holding out hope that the aftermath will make this whole ugly experience worthwhile...  5 out of 10.

-X-Factor #257 was okay, I guess.  It was all about Layla Miller trying to wrangle Demon Madrox.  Spoiler: she does.  But he's still a demon.  Supposedly this series is ending soon, which sucks.  I'm sure PAD will bring the big guns as we get closer to the finale.  5 1/2 out of 10.

-All New X-Men #12.  What the hell, Bendis?  Seriously, what the hell?!  This series just keeps spiraling down the Bendis spiral of crap.  We get a lot of talking, Jean acting like a bitch, more talking, and Jean acting like a bitch some more.  You'd thing the first meeting between the O5 X-Men and the Avengers would be better, but nope.  Jean is still randomly reading minds, in this case Wanda's, which leads to her throwing a tantrum and then crying...  So basically Bendis has made me hate Jean, who was my favorite female X-Men.  Kudos, Bendis!  4 out of 10.

-Thanos Rising #3 finally gave me a good comic to read.  It showed us Thanos after he left Titan and gathered his pirates.  It also explained Nebula's creation, which was something I wondered about from as far back as the Infinity Gauntlet story.  So again, really good stuff here.  8 out of 10.

-Superior Spider-Man #11.  I know people like to dump on this series, but I'm still enjoying it.  A lot.  Spidey is tasked with making sure that Alistair Smythe is executed, and does his best to outsmart Smythe, but can't account for The Revenge of the Villains Spidey Brutalized!!  I'm definitely looking forward to the angry villains getting their hands(or wings) on Spidey next issue.  8 out of 10.

-I didn't read Ultimates #25 or Iron Man #11 or Stormwatch #21 yet, so I've got nothing to say about them.

-I have been reading a ton of back issues, and most of them are SO MUCH better than the new stuff!  I've been enjoying some Iron Man action from the mid-1980's, back when Tony was a drunk living in the gutter and Rhodey was taking care of business, Iron Man style.  I also finished off Christos Gage's Absolution series from 2009, and it was GREAT.  It was Brubaker good!  See, it's great comics like that which remind me why I love comics so much.  Anyway, I have some Maximum Carnage comics calling my name.  Until Next time, X out.

So yeah, it's summer...

What with it being summertime and all, and most comics being kind of lackluster to just plain sucky(I'm looking at YOU, DC and Age of Ultron!), JT and I are gonna take a well deserved break now that the weather has heated up.  I'll still do a Best of the Rest type post on Monday or Tuesday, and JT will chip in whenever he has the chance, but things will definitely be slowing down a bit for the summer.  Just a word to the wise.  Until next time?  X out.

Throwback Tuesday: Featuring Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #14

Hey comic fans, it's Tuesday so you know what that means, it's time for a Throwback review! I planned on reviewing this issue last week before I took an impromptu vacation, if you wanna call it that, so here I am this week with my Throwback post. Today I'm reviewing another issue of one of the most goofy comic series to ever exist, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. If the cover below doesn't dissuade you from even reading this, let's see what happened!

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #14

Summary: This issue starts with Clark arriving on the roof of the Daily Planet in the helicopter they have, because that paper has MONEY. He notices Lois waiting for him and he takes his Superman suit off and hides it on the helicopter due to his Clark Kent attire sleeve being burned from a fire he put out as Superman, and he didn't want Lois to see his suit under it. Next we...wait... how did he burn his sleeve of his Kent clothes if he put out the fire as Superman?! Anyway, Jimmy manages to take the helicopter and fly it around, because the paper has so much money they'll let Jimmy pilot a helicopter even though he barely looks old enough to drive. Of course Jimmy manages to crash the helicopter, because he's Jimmy Olsen. He calls Superman for help with his watch but quickly finds Superman's suit on the helicopter and puts it on for warmth for some...odd reason. While walking around in Superman's suit, God realizes he has the chance to kill Olsen and Jimmy's struck with lightning, but sadly for us all, Superman's suit is impervious to lightning. Jimmy stumbles onto a land that time forgot, and is surrounded by hillbillies in Hogfoot Hollow. They think Jimmy's Superman, but he says he's not, so they say he's being modest and give him tests to prove he IS in fact Superman... because yeah. They ask him to move a tree stump from the ground, and in odd Olsen fashion, a boulder happens to fall down and move it while Jimmy pushes it, and no one else sees the boulder. Jimmy soon finds out that the strongest person in Hogfoot is to marry the Mayor's daughter, I guess... age doesn't matter. Jimmy's next exploit is being fed a ton of food he can't possibly eat, but luckily a giant bear reaches through the window and eats all of the food, which impresses the local hicks when they come back to see "Superman" has eaten everything! From there we see Jimmy seemingly scare a bear away, but the bear was actually afraid of a skunk... who wrote this?! When Jimmy finds out he has to marry Petunia, the Mayor's daughter, since he's the strongest guy in the town, but Moose Morton, super hick, is jealous since he wants to marry Petunia. Meanwhile, Clark flies out looking for Jimmy in his work attire. Why... not just take your glasses off... then people will just wonder why Superman is wearing a suit instead of them seeing and wondering why Clark Kent is flying. Moose challenges Jimmy to a fight but is shocked when he sees Clark flying and he faints, causing Jimmy to win Petunia's honor. With the wedding approaching, Jimmy is dressed in his suit by Petunia's brothers... weird. Moose decides to run up behind Jimmy and hit him with a boulder... um...okay, but Jimmy slips on a banana peel.  Moose figures the rock is "kricktynite" and Jimmy takes advantage of that to act powerless and run away. Moose, the potential murderer, then wins the love of the daughter of the Mayor... Anyway, Clark takes advantage of Jimmy being out of the suit and gets it back, then flies Jimmy back to the helicopter and fixes it, but basically threatens Jimmy not to ask why his suit was in the Helicopter. The issue ends with Jimmy telling Clark that being mistaken as Superman isn't fun and to never get caught wearing his suit, while Clark smiles knowingly.

Thoughts: This was sooooooo bad! I mean, I know these people apparently had never seen Superman, but if this is such a hick town that no one has a newspaper with his picture or anything, how did they even KNOW he was Superman? Who says, he's wearing spandex with an "S" on it but omits that he's a super powered flying ginger?! Also, how did Jimmy survive a helicopter crash, being struck by LIGHTNING (Who did HE piss off?! It wasn't even raining!), being narrowly missed by a boulder, surviving coming in close contact with a bear, TWICE, AND fighting a guy who was going to club him to death and then later throw a BOULDER at his head. The worst part is, Superman was around when the guy was gonna hit Jimmy with the boulder and didn't even intervene! He must've been thinking "I'll teach you to wear my suit, Olsen!" And the cherry on top was Superman threatening Jimmy while flying with him. "You ask how my suit got in that helicopter and they'll be asking how you fell out of it!" The trend continues, absurdity at it's finest.

Pages in this story: 8 (Seemed like MUCH more.)
# of Times people call Jimmy "Superman": 18
# of Times Jimmy should have died: 7

Best of the Rest! May 29th edition.

Hey all, X back with his last contribution to the blog this week.  This was a really light comic week for me, and as such, I have hardly anything to review for this post...  Just two measly comics...  Not only that, but JT doesn't have anything else to review!  So basically, this post will consist of two reviews, one of which is a last issue!  Since I'm not expecting anybody to read this, I'm just gonna blow through these as quick as can be.

Venom #35: Crazy Eddie confronts Flash at the High School Flash was teaching at, wanting a rematch of the prior night's festivities.  Before things can get too explosive between the two, the Unnamed Alien from the past few issues pops up, attacking students and teachers alike.  Eddie and Flash put their differences aside and team-up to destroy the Unnamed Alien.  After fighting besides Flash, Eddie decides to leave Flash alone, but threatens that he'd return if Flash proved unable to control his symbiote.  Hey, good stuff here!  I enjoyed this story and really enjoyed the interaction between Eddie and Flash.  I don't get what the hell was going on with the Unnamed Alien, as we learned nothing about it for three issues(not even it's name!), so I'm kind of perplexed as to why Cullen Bunn included it here.  Besides that though, I have no real complaints.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #190(final issue): Basically the Dark Avengers manage to get back to their proper Earth thanks to Alternate Reed forcing the info out of the AIM agents who were wandering around for the past few issues.  In the end, US Agent, Moonstone, Ragnarok, Trickshot and that Witch woman decide to remain as a team, while Skaar takes off(good riddance, bitch) and that Spider-Man lookalike gets stepped on.  And that's about as much time as I want to take on this issue.  The Dark Avengers trip home was way more complicated than I spelled out above, and included slivers of time...  So you should be thankful I bottom lined it, 'cause it was all sorts of weird.  I'm sad to say that I'm not going to miss this series...  It's been treading water for a while, and the storyline with the alternate earth went on entirely too long for my liking.  Oh well.  Score: 6 out of 10.

And that'll do it for this week...  Here's hoping next week is a bit more lively than this week's pitiful display.  Until then?  X out.

Avenging Spider-Man #21

Hey OSGuys and OSGals, it's your favorite blogger, JT, with my second review of the week. The last issue of Avenging left off with Spidey about to face to Hulk, while pursuing Chameleon, as he wore a dead Doctor's face.

Avenging Spider-Man #21

Summary: In this issue, Spider-Man frantically tried to find Chameleon while the Helicarrier was attacked by Russians and guys that wore masks and could burn you with their hands. Superior Spider-Man was delayed by The Hulk, but Hulk was soon distracted and then blown off of the Helicarrier by a missile from the Russians that attacked from outside. With Hulk out of the way, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury make short work of the attackers, which allows Spidey to pursue the Chameleon, still posing as a Doctor. Spidey tries to talk to Chameleon, saying he was never this blood thirsty and that he's his responsibility, but Chamaleon gets the drop on a distracted Spidey and stabs him with a syringe. Spidey goes after him and runs into one of the mask-wearing Russians, and manages to knock him out as well as Chameleon. Spidey uses the communicator that the Russian was wearing and sends both unconscious men, the Russian and Chameleon, to the base where he's holding his other former teammates. He then tells Fury that the Russians got Chameleon and teleported him to a nearby enemy ship, so they blow it out of the sky, leaving everyone to think that the Chameleon is dead.

Thoughts: This arc really didn't do it for me. I just couldn't get into the secrets and the Russians attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. and Chameleon only wearing one face for the entire time. It's just odd to me that for the issues with The X-Men team up or the one with Thor vs. Electro, we basically got one issue, self contained stories, but for this story it was two issues, which didn't really seem necessary. But That's my opinion. All in all, this issue wasn't bad but it was far from great or memorable for me.

Score: 5.5/10

Indestructible Hulk #8

Hey X-Maniacs, X here with the first comic review of June!  Huzzah!!  June is a great month...  Summer vacation is almost upon us, we don't have to worry about temperatures in the 30's or snow, and my birthday is coming up!  Yup, you gotta love June.  Oh yeah, the review.  Since I had a really light comic haul this week, and can't read and/or review like 5 of the comics I did pick up, I really don't have much of a choice but to tackle Hulk this post.  I've enjoyed this title, but haven't loved the current storyline...  Here's hoping things pick back up again here.

Indestructible Hulk #8:

Summary: Bruce discovers that one of his fellow scientists has an incurable disease and was hoping to be smashed to death by the Hulk so that the life insurance on her would go to her father.  Meanwhile, Thor manages to open a portal back to Bruce's proper time and dimension, which was what the Frost Giants were hoping for.  The Giants stage a sneak attack, quickly taking Thor out.  However, they didn't plan on contending with the Hulk, who holds his own until Thor awakens to assist in defeating the Giants.  With the Giants done for, Bruce and company head back home, with Bruce hoping his sick scientist would find a new found will to survive having seen magic and gods.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this issue a bit more than the previous ones in this storyline.  It was a quick read, and took very minimal thought...  Which is good sometimes.  So yeah, I really don't have much else to say here...  Um, Happy June?

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1

Hey blog readers and true believers, JT here, back from a brief hiatus due to injury. This issue should pick up where we left off, with an amnesiac Jason, Roy feeling betrayed, and Starfire feeling despondent. Also, a bunch of assassins are after the team, so unbeknownst to them, Green Arrow is coming to help, so let's get to it..

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1

Summary: This issue starts with Jason sneaking into a room with a master computer to look up the Red Hood, and he's shocked to see numerous pics of him killing people, and his confirmed kill count at eighty-three, which I thought would be higher. From there we see Roy thinking about his past sessions with Hugo Strange as well as when he designed tech for Oliver Queen that Ollie never used but Ollie wouldn't let him come into the field. He eventually goes to check out the alarm that goes off but first tells a pretending to be asleep Starfire that he's not happy about her lying to him about her memories. Roy goes to investigate and finds Green Arrow, who warns him that Roy and his friends are in danger with 500 Million Dollar bounties on each of them. The talking is put on hold as there's an explosion with Starfire enters a room looking for Roy but instead finds a bunch of gasoline left as a trap which explodes when Starfire tries to illuminate the room with her flames. Roy arrives to seemingly see Starfire dead, after inhaling a Toxin by her attacker, Cheshire! Roy and Cheshire fight as Ollie goes to protect Jason at Roy's request. Cheshire and Roy's fight is laced full of her hitting on him and making sexual innuendo, which allows her to subdue Roy and take his hat as a trophy. Cheshire tries to attack her old pal Jason, they've worked together before but Jason doesn't remember, but Ollie and a poisoned Roy try to run interference, but Roy gets poisoned even more as a result. Ollie saves him with some anti-toxin as Cheshire prepares to paralyze Jason and take him with her, but Starfire returns and scoops Cheshire up, flying away with her but Cheshire manages to disappear (she can teleport or become intangible or something now), but not before saying she's keeping Roy's hate to remember him, and next time she may take one of his strong arms. (Ah, nice one Tynion.) Afterwards, Jason yells at Roy for telling him he was good, when he's a killer, and walks off, then Roy yells at Ollie, saying he never trusted him but apparently no one does, as he directs that comment at Starfire and walks off. The issue comes to a close as Roy and Star find a note saying Jason's leaving and not to come after him, we see him stowing away on the bottom of Ollie's helicopter, as well as the next threat for the Outlaws, the League of Assassins, lead by Bronze Tiger!

Thoughts: Does anyone else find it a bit... surprising that Roy invents tech when he was basically a class clown type character for a majority of this series? Also, someone wants to pay One Billion and Five hundred Million dollars for Jason, Starfire and Roy?! WHY?! That stuff aside, I enjoyed this issue. I was a bit wary of Tynion after all the bad stuff we've dealt with during Lobdell's run but this story was fun, it had jokes, we got to see more arguments of the team and it introduced a lot of threats like a bad ass Cheshire that I'm totally a fan of, Bronze Tiger, Roy's time with Strange which will surely come up more in the future. All in all, this annual felt like it was worth it, and I enjoyed it more than the I expected I would.

Score: 8.5/10