Hey there X-Maniacs, Vampire X here with an unexpected post... Which is better than no post at all... Well, I guess that depends on the person, but I say it's better than no post at all. Although some people would vehemently disagree... Anyway, pointless rambling aside, I read almost all of the comics I picked up at the comic shop yesterday during my lunch break, and figured I'd just throw a quick post out with the score and what I thought of each book in two sentences or less... Yes, in two sentences or less... What?! I have to get to sleep soon! So yeah, I'll do this post today, and then I'll later on in the week I'll try to get a few proper reviews up and posted around here. So that's the plan, let's see how it works out!
American Vampire #27: There's really nothing to say except this comic was good as usual. The ending sets up some great stuff going forward, which is always a good sign!
Score: 8 out of 10.
Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This issue was way better than I expected it to be. Wolverine surprised me a bit here, but in a good way for a change.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
New Mutants #43: Boy am I glad this x-over with Journey Into Mystery is over... Who'd have expected two books that I really enjoy reading to put out such a crappy x-over...
Score: 5 out of 10.
X-Men Legacy #267: If you are a fan of Rogue then THIS was the comic book for you! I'm not much of a Rogue fan(she's alright, I guess...), so naturally this WASN'T the comic for me!
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39: This comic was actually a pleasant surprise... The story was strong(if a bit predictable), and it was basically a good read.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Wolverine #307: Yep, this definitely should have been this week's Runt of the Litter... I can't think of a single good thing to say about this comic, so I think I'll just end things here...
Score: 3 out of 10.
I figured I'd do a post like this in case anybody really wants to talk about one(or more) of these books. Now there's a place to post comments about them, plus you basically know what I thought about each comic. In two sentences or less... And hey, look at that, this post only took me a whopping 10 minutes to do, which is great because now I can close my casket and sleep until the sun sets! Until later, Vampire X out.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
New Comic Day! May 30th edition.
Hey all, it's the MIA Vampire X here to welcome you all to the official New Comic Day post! Huzzah!! Seeing as that this is the fifth Wednesday of the month, I'm not really expecting to pick up very many comics at the comic book shop later on today. Well, let's see what I do plan on picking up when the sun sets and it's safe for me to travel... X-Men Legacy #267, Wolverine and the X-Men #11, Wolverine #307, New Mutants #43, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39, America's Got Powers #2, Walking Dead #98, American Vampire #27, Batman Annual #1, Ravagers #1 & Astonishing X-Men #50. So 9 comic books, eh? With the past two weeks totaling in at over 40 books, it's about time I get an easy week!
This week's Pick of the Litter is... um, American Vampire #27, I guess... Nothing on that list is really jumping out at me... So yeah, let's go with that. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Wolverine and the X-Men #11. It was definitely going to be a book with the word “Wolverine” in the title, but my hatred of the non-Wolvie characters in WatXM overrides my hatred of the dumb story taking place in Wolverine, so WatXM gets the nod. As for my posting schedule this week? To be honest, I don't know when/if I'll do any reviews this week... I may do a post later on in the week with write-ups for all of the books I picked up this week, or I may not do any posts at all... Time will tell. On the plus side, JT has stepped up and said he'd do some reviews(probably for the two annuals), so there's that to look forward to. But for me? I just don't have that blogging fire back in my heart again. Yet. I'm sure it will come back in time, but right now it's just a dim flicker. But enough of that, as I stated, I should have something about this week's comics posted, probably by Monday. Until then? Vampire X out.
This week's Pick of the Litter is... um, American Vampire #27, I guess... Nothing on that list is really jumping out at me... So yeah, let's go with that. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Wolverine and the X-Men #11. It was definitely going to be a book with the word “Wolverine” in the title, but my hatred of the non-Wolvie characters in WatXM overrides my hatred of the dumb story taking place in Wolverine, so WatXM gets the nod. As for my posting schedule this week? To be honest, I don't know when/if I'll do any reviews this week... I may do a post later on in the week with write-ups for all of the books I picked up this week, or I may not do any posts at all... Time will tell. On the plus side, JT has stepped up and said he'd do some reviews(probably for the two annuals), so there's that to look forward to. But for me? I just don't have that blogging fire back in my heart again. Yet. I'm sure it will come back in time, but right now it's just a dim flicker. But enough of that, as I stated, I should have something about this week's comics posted, probably by Monday. Until then? Vampire X out.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Taking a breather...
After some thought, I've decided not to review the rest of the comics I picked up last week, mainly due to a) being tired as hell from work, and b) the comics not being particularly good... So, for the record, the comics I won't be reviewing are Journey Into Mystery #638(which I'd give a 5 to), Voodoo #9(which was probably a 5 or so), Mighty Thor #14(which was around a 3), Secret Avengers #27(which I'd go with a 0 for), Teen Titans #9(which was about a 5 1/2) and Batman Inc #1(which I'd give about a 6 to)... So yeah, not exactly anything to write home about there... With the scores for those books being as lackluster as they were, I just couldn't get myself to spend the time punching out reviews for them. On top of all that, the blog has been feeling more like work and less like fun as of late, which is always a sign that it's time to take a step back and reconsider things... Anyway, I'll be back (after a very short break) on Wednesday with a fresh New Comic Day post, but until then? Vampire X out.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Amazing Spider-Man #686
Alright, we're back to Marvel tonight with the penultimate part of the Ends of the Earth storyline. What more need I say?
Amazing Spider-Man #686:
Story Points:
-Spidey and Black Widow are running around Symkaria trying to find survivors, while Silver Sable mourns her people.
-Widow eventually tells Spidey it made no sense to help the people in Symkaria since Doc Ock's ray would do the same to the rest of the Earth in time...
-But wait! It turns out the whole burning of Symkaria was an illusion put together by Mysterio to keep Spidey and his allies occupied.
-With Widow about to leave, Chameleon changes into his Doc Ock armor and attacks the heroes.
-Silver Sable spots “Ock” and attacks with murderous intent, causing Chameleon to break character.
-It's at that point Spidey realizes that the entire set-up was wrong scientifically and that Mysterio was probably behind it. Spidey manages to turn Mysterio to his side since if Spidey was right and Ock DOES try to destroy the world, Mysterio's money would be meaningless.
-Mysterio leads Spidey and the women to Ock's secret base(a Mayan pyramid), and Ock responds by sending his newest Secret Six members after Spidey's quartet... The brainwashed Avengers!
Thoughts: What can I really say here? As usual, this issue was really good. This storyline is really good. I can't wait to see how it ends, and the fallout from it going forward.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Amazing Spider-Man #686:
Story Points:
-Spidey and Black Widow are running around Symkaria trying to find survivors, while Silver Sable mourns her people.
-Widow eventually tells Spidey it made no sense to help the people in Symkaria since Doc Ock's ray would do the same to the rest of the Earth in time...
-But wait! It turns out the whole burning of Symkaria was an illusion put together by Mysterio to keep Spidey and his allies occupied.
-With Widow about to leave, Chameleon changes into his Doc Ock armor and attacks the heroes.
-Silver Sable spots “Ock” and attacks with murderous intent, causing Chameleon to break character.
-It's at that point Spidey realizes that the entire set-up was wrong scientifically and that Mysterio was probably behind it. Spidey manages to turn Mysterio to his side since if Spidey was right and Ock DOES try to destroy the world, Mysterio's money would be meaningless.
-Mysterio leads Spidey and the women to Ock's secret base(a Mayan pyramid), and Ock responds by sending his newest Secret Six members after Spidey's quartet... The brainwashed Avengers!
Thoughts: What can I really say here? As usual, this issue was really good. This storyline is really good. I can't wait to see how it ends, and the fallout from it going forward.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
I, Vampire #9
Last review of the night is the usually strong I, Vampire. Let's see if this series can shake off the craptitude from that Rise of the Vampire's x-over and get back to telling great stories.
I, Vampire #9:
Story Points:
-It turns out that Andrew and Mary(as well as every vampire on Earth) have gone to Utah... Sure, why not.
-Andrew won't let the vampires eat anything but cow's blood, and they aren't pleased about that...
-However, none of them are strong enough to defeat Andrew, who's still super-charged after the defeat of Cain.
-Meanwhile, Tig and the Professor meet the Van Helsings and tell the vampire hunters that Andrew wanted to see them...
-Needless to say, the Van Helsings are interested in heading to Andrew's location to kill him and all of the other vampires.
-This one ends with Mary challenging Andrew for leadership of the vampire horde.
Thoughts: I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this issue as much as I did the pre-Rise stories... I'm not exactly sure where we're going here... I mean it's obvious that Andrew isn't evil, but most of the vampires with him are... And then there are the Van Helsings, who you'd think were the good guys on account of them being vampire hunters, but are being portrayed as the bad guys. Plus there's Mary, who I guess is at the least crazy, and at most evil. And on top of that all, Andrew still has god-like powers... It looks like this series is still trying to find it's feet after the Rise storyline. Hopefully it finds it's feet quickly!
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
I, Vampire #9:
Story Points:
-It turns out that Andrew and Mary(as well as every vampire on Earth) have gone to Utah... Sure, why not.
-Andrew won't let the vampires eat anything but cow's blood, and they aren't pleased about that...
-However, none of them are strong enough to defeat Andrew, who's still super-charged after the defeat of Cain.
-Meanwhile, Tig and the Professor meet the Van Helsings and tell the vampire hunters that Andrew wanted to see them...
-Needless to say, the Van Helsings are interested in heading to Andrew's location to kill him and all of the other vampires.
-This one ends with Mary challenging Andrew for leadership of the vampire horde.
Thoughts: I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this issue as much as I did the pre-Rise stories... I'm not exactly sure where we're going here... I mean it's obvious that Andrew isn't evil, but most of the vampires with him are... And then there are the Van Helsings, who you'd think were the good guys on account of them being vampire hunters, but are being portrayed as the bad guys. Plus there's Mary, who I guess is at the least crazy, and at most evil. And on top of that all, Andrew still has god-like powers... It looks like this series is still trying to find it's feet after the Rise storyline. Hopefully it finds it's feet quickly!
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Justice League Dark #9
Let's go to DC today, starting with Justice League Dark, which has a new writer in Jeff Lemire.
Justice League Dark #9:
Story Points:
-Steve Trevor comes to Constantine asking for help in retrieving a magician(Dr. Mist I think was the guy's name...) who had been captured by Felix Faust.
-After Trevor agrees to allow Constantine access to the US government's top secret room where they stored tons of magical artifacts, he agrees to the job.
-Constantine manages to bring Deadman, Andrew Bennett, and Zatanna on board after telling Zatanna that he saw her father's hat in the picture of the secret room Trevor showed him
-The group(along with Black Orchid, who was the government's “babysitter”) head to Peru(I think?) and locate Faust, who's WAY stronger than they expected.
-In the end, the group defeats Faust and rescues Mist.
-They also find the object that was powering Faust, a magical cube that was a map to the locations of the most powerful magical artifacts on Earth.
Thoughts: Now THIS is more like it! I mean I love Peter Milligan's work on Hellblazer, but his work on this series just never clicked for me. But Lemire seems to have a strong grasp of the characters in this series, as well as a good storyline set up and ready to go! This is probably the first time since issue #2 that I'm not dreading the next issue of this series!
Score: 8 out of 10.
Justice League Dark #9:
Story Points:
-Steve Trevor comes to Constantine asking for help in retrieving a magician(Dr. Mist I think was the guy's name...) who had been captured by Felix Faust.
-After Trevor agrees to allow Constantine access to the US government's top secret room where they stored tons of magical artifacts, he agrees to the job.
-Constantine manages to bring Deadman, Andrew Bennett, and Zatanna on board after telling Zatanna that he saw her father's hat in the picture of the secret room Trevor showed him
-The group(along with Black Orchid, who was the government's “babysitter”) head to Peru(I think?) and locate Faust, who's WAY stronger than they expected.
-In the end, the group defeats Faust and rescues Mist.
-They also find the object that was powering Faust, a magical cube that was a map to the locations of the most powerful magical artifacts on Earth.
Thoughts: Now THIS is more like it! I mean I love Peter Milligan's work on Hellblazer, but his work on this series just never clicked for me. But Lemire seems to have a strong grasp of the characters in this series, as well as a good storyline set up and ready to go! This is probably the first time since issue #2 that I'm not dreading the next issue of this series!
Score: 8 out of 10.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Deadpool #55
Awesome, it's Deadpool! So last issue Deadpool was cured of his healing factor and as a result his face and body aren't deformed anymore... What's next for Pool? Let's find out!
Deadpool #55:
Story Points:
-Pool decides that he didn't need his healing factor and that he had to reestablish his reputation, and as such needs to make a splash...
-That splash? Taking down the Intellencia.
-The Intellencia are having a meeting to discuss... Well, nothing. MODOK has decided to let the heroes tear each other apart and then his group could pick up the pieces.
-At that moment Pool attacks and sets off explosives.
-With the Intellencia's base being underwater. Pool figures they'd all drown.
-However, they use Wizard's anti-gravity tech to escape and the Trapster goes after Pool.
-With the Trapster having the advantage of the high ground due to the anti-grav platform, he manages to DEFEAT Deadpool!
-After some time, Pool wakes up floating in the water and comes to the horrific realization that he had just lost to Paste Pot Pete!!!
Thoughts: This issue was a blast to read... From Deadpool's lame attempt at shaving, to his hilarious zinger about the Hulk(and then wishing the Leader was there since it would have had a bigger impact), to just about everything here. This was a great issue. It was funny, there was a strong story, it had everything a great comic needs. After the ending of this one, I'll be interested to see what Pool does with himself after that humiliating defeat...
Score: 9 out of 10.
Deadpool #55:
Story Points:
-Pool decides that he didn't need his healing factor and that he had to reestablish his reputation, and as such needs to make a splash...
-That splash? Taking down the Intellencia.
-The Intellencia are having a meeting to discuss... Well, nothing. MODOK has decided to let the heroes tear each other apart and then his group could pick up the pieces.
-At that moment Pool attacks and sets off explosives.
-With the Intellencia's base being underwater. Pool figures they'd all drown.
-However, they use Wizard's anti-gravity tech to escape and the Trapster goes after Pool.
-With the Trapster having the advantage of the high ground due to the anti-grav platform, he manages to DEFEAT Deadpool!
-After some time, Pool wakes up floating in the water and comes to the horrific realization that he had just lost to Paste Pot Pete!!!
Thoughts: This issue was a blast to read... From Deadpool's lame attempt at shaving, to his hilarious zinger about the Hulk(and then wishing the Leader was there since it would have had a bigger impact), to just about everything here. This was a great issue. It was funny, there was a strong story, it had everything a great comic needs. After the ending of this one, I'll be interested to see what Pool does with himself after that humiliating defeat...
Score: 9 out of 10.
Captain America and Hawkeye #631
It's Friday night which means I spent all of my “lunch” break(it's hard to call it “lunch” when it's 2AM...) Thursday night/Friday morning typing up reviews! The first two “lunch” reviews for the night are Cap and Hawkeye(this post) and Deadpool(which is scheduled to go up in a half an hour). Let's get to it.
Captain America and Hawkeye #631:
Story Points:
-So now Cap is a symbiote-dinosaur... That's still probably a step up from the time he was a woman... Not sure where that ranks with werewolf though...
-Hawkeye, with some help from Cap's strong mind, manage to get the symbiote off of Cap thanks to a sonic arrow head.
-The two lurk around the underground and find Stegon's(sp?) lab, and eventually, Stegon.
-Stegon tells Cap that he knows now he made a mistake teaming with the symbiotes and offers to tell Cap what he knew about the creatures, such as the fact that the queen symbiote had tried to bond with Cap due to his physical perfection.
-Cap and Hawkeye decide they had to get back to the surface to try to figure out what to do about this mess.
-Upon getting to the surface, they meet up with Kash(I think that was her name...), who was trying to leave the base with her men.
-Hawkeye sees that as the actions of a guilty woman, but before anymore arguing can take place, the queen symbiote bursts out of the ground having taken possession of a massive snake-like creature.
Thoughts: Eh. This storyline has rapidly lost my attention... The first part was perfect, but the next issue, and this one just weren't up to the first part's lofty standards. It's alright I guess, but I'm just not all that interested in anything going on here... For whatever reason, this story just isn't grabbing my attention as it had. Maybe it's just me...
Score: 7 out of 10.
Captain America and Hawkeye #631:
Story Points:
-So now Cap is a symbiote-dinosaur... That's still probably a step up from the time he was a woman... Not sure where that ranks with werewolf though...
-Hawkeye, with some help from Cap's strong mind, manage to get the symbiote off of Cap thanks to a sonic arrow head.
-The two lurk around the underground and find Stegon's(sp?) lab, and eventually, Stegon.
-Stegon tells Cap that he knows now he made a mistake teaming with the symbiotes and offers to tell Cap what he knew about the creatures, such as the fact that the queen symbiote had tried to bond with Cap due to his physical perfection.
-Cap and Hawkeye decide they had to get back to the surface to try to figure out what to do about this mess.
-Upon getting to the surface, they meet up with Kash(I think that was her name...), who was trying to leave the base with her men.
-Hawkeye sees that as the actions of a guilty woman, but before anymore arguing can take place, the queen symbiote bursts out of the ground having taken possession of a massive snake-like creature.
Thoughts: Eh. This storyline has rapidly lost my attention... The first part was perfect, but the next issue, and this one just weren't up to the first part's lofty standards. It's alright I guess, but I'm just not all that interested in anything going on here... For whatever reason, this story just isn't grabbing my attention as it had. Maybe it's just me...
Score: 7 out of 10.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Captain America #12
And now we'll take a look at the most recent issue of Captain America... The last issue got my hopes up that maybe, POSSIBLY, Jack Monroe was under the mask of the new Scourge... Will we learn the identity of the new Scourge this issue? We'll know in a few...
Captain America #12:
Story Points:
-It turns out the new Scourge beat Diamondback into a coma. Dum Dum Dugan is just fine though... Strange how that worked out.
-Sharon locates a Hydra base and Cap, still pissed about what happened to Diamondback, takes Dum Dum and invades the hideout.
-The good guys easily defeat Hydra...
-But even Cap realizes they won too easily...
-It turns out Hydra wanted Cap to locate that base and find footage of Hydra hypnotizing Henry Peter Gyrich into working for them.
-Cap is angry.
-As for Gyrich, he's giving information to the media about the criminals in the witness protection program getting killed while simultaneously working with the Scourge.
-This issue ends with the Scourge unmasking to reveal... D-Man... What a HUGE letdown...
Thoughts: Well, I hate to say it but I saw that coming... I recall typing somewhere that I was hoping the Scourge didn't turn out to be somebody like D-Man, and sure enough, that's who it is... I've NEVER liked D-Man as a character. He does nothing for me. And now he has a kick-ass look and name. Eh, no sense harping on it I guess, it's already happened. I'll be honest, this issue was extremely good. To the point where I was actually pondering if it was perfect score material as I approached the end. And then the Scourge unmasked and REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this one. In the end, this was a great comic, but one that I think missed a golden opportunity to be a perfect comic...
Score: 9 out of 10.
Captain America #12:
Story Points:
-It turns out the new Scourge beat Diamondback into a coma. Dum Dum Dugan is just fine though... Strange how that worked out.
-Sharon locates a Hydra base and Cap, still pissed about what happened to Diamondback, takes Dum Dum and invades the hideout.
-The good guys easily defeat Hydra...
-But even Cap realizes they won too easily...
-It turns out Hydra wanted Cap to locate that base and find footage of Hydra hypnotizing Henry Peter Gyrich into working for them.
-Cap is angry.
-As for Gyrich, he's giving information to the media about the criminals in the witness protection program getting killed while simultaneously working with the Scourge.
-This issue ends with the Scourge unmasking to reveal... D-Man... What a HUGE letdown...
Thoughts: Well, I hate to say it but I saw that coming... I recall typing somewhere that I was hoping the Scourge didn't turn out to be somebody like D-Man, and sure enough, that's who it is... I've NEVER liked D-Man as a character. He does nothing for me. And now he has a kick-ass look and name. Eh, no sense harping on it I guess, it's already happened. I'll be honest, this issue was extremely good. To the point where I was actually pondering if it was perfect score material as I approached the end. And then the Scourge unmasked and REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this one. In the end, this was a great comic, but one that I think missed a golden opportunity to be a perfect comic...
Score: 9 out of 10.
Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth #1
This was one of those random pick-ups at the comic shop. See, now that I have a full-time job and have extra spending money, I can make random purchases that I normally wouldn't... Hmm, maybe that's not actually a good thing...
Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth #1:
Story Points:
-We have two stories here, the first one stars Titanium Man, Union Jack, Kangaroo and Sabra(I think that's all of them...).
-Basically, those aforementioned heroes are trying to prevent Doc Ock from launching his satellites into space.
-They all fail except for Union Jack(big surprise that...)
-And then there was a second story about Big Hero 6...
-The only thing I can say about that story is that it starred a mess of characters I could care less about and the story was literally unreadable... And yes, I know what “literally” means. I literally couldn't read that story, it might as well have been written in Cantonese...
Thoughts: Well, THIS was a waste of $4... This would teach a smarter individual to be more choosy with the comics he spur of the moment buys at the comic shop, but hey, I've got extra money, so I can afford to buy the occasional stinker, and that is exactly what this issue was... Unless you are the most die-hard of Union Jack fans, this is a comic that really should be skipped... Hell, I wouldn't even recommend reading it at the comic shop because it probably won't even lead to anything storywise going forward...
Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.
Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth #1:
Story Points:
-We have two stories here, the first one stars Titanium Man, Union Jack, Kangaroo and Sabra(I think that's all of them...).
-Basically, those aforementioned heroes are trying to prevent Doc Ock from launching his satellites into space.
-They all fail except for Union Jack(big surprise that...)
-And then there was a second story about Big Hero 6...
-The only thing I can say about that story is that it starred a mess of characters I could care less about and the story was literally unreadable... And yes, I know what “literally” means. I literally couldn't read that story, it might as well have been written in Cantonese...
Thoughts: Well, THIS was a waste of $4... This would teach a smarter individual to be more choosy with the comics he spur of the moment buys at the comic shop, but hey, I've got extra money, so I can afford to buy the occasional stinker, and that is exactly what this issue was... Unless you are the most die-hard of Union Jack fans, this is a comic that really should be skipped... Hell, I wouldn't even recommend reading it at the comic shop because it probably won't even lead to anything storywise going forward...
Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.
Hellblazer #291
And this brings us to the final part of the Constantine goes to Hell storyline... Although Constantine is already out of Hell and has randomly decided to go after his EVIL demonic twin... I'm not sure why he's going that route, but hey, here's hoping it's good!
Hellblazer #291:
Story Points:
-After a lot of preparation for a spell to use against his EVIL demonic twin, Constantine manages to convince his niece Gemma to assist him in drawing the fiend out.
-Gemma lays in a crypt and Constantine calls out his EVIL twin, telling him Gemma was a sacrifice.
-However, Gemma pops up and shoots Constantine's evil twin with two magic darts, nearly killing the demon.
-However, she chooses not to fire the final dart at the demon, a dart which would surely kill it.
-Constantine is surprised, but the choice is Gemma's, and in the end, Gemma decides to keep the gun, making a veiled threat at Constantine himself about the final dart.
Thoughts: This was a pretty good issue, I guess. Gemma finally got some closure after being raped by Constantine's EVIL demonic twin back during Constantine's wedding, Constantine is done with his trek to Hell, and we are rapidly approaching issue #300(!). Now, personally I'm hoping we explore more about Constantine's nephew, because a younger version of Constantine could bring all kinds of awesomeness to this series. The more I think about it, this storyline really left a lot of loose ends for further storylines, so kudos to Peter Milligan for that.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Hellblazer #291:
Story Points:
-After a lot of preparation for a spell to use against his EVIL demonic twin, Constantine manages to convince his niece Gemma to assist him in drawing the fiend out.
-Gemma lays in a crypt and Constantine calls out his EVIL twin, telling him Gemma was a sacrifice.
-However, Gemma pops up and shoots Constantine's evil twin with two magic darts, nearly killing the demon.
-However, she chooses not to fire the final dart at the demon, a dart which would surely kill it.
-Constantine is surprised, but the choice is Gemma's, and in the end, Gemma decides to keep the gun, making a veiled threat at Constantine himself about the final dart.
Thoughts: This was a pretty good issue, I guess. Gemma finally got some closure after being raped by Constantine's EVIL demonic twin back during Constantine's wedding, Constantine is done with his trek to Hell, and we are rapidly approaching issue #300(!). Now, personally I'm hoping we explore more about Constantine's nephew, because a younger version of Constantine could bring all kinds of awesomeness to this series. The more I think about it, this storyline really left a lot of loose ends for further storylines, so kudos to Peter Milligan for that.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Irredeemable #37
First new review for this week? The final issue of Irredeemable... This series has been, for lack of a better word, brilliant. Has every issue been a perfect 10? No, but every issue HAS been solid, and this series was built on a magnificent premise... What if Superman went bad? And I don't mean, stopped helping people or used his powers for his own profit bad, I mean went totally Dr. Doom levels of bad? That idea has given me 37 issues where I have been actively(and happily) routing against the main character in a comic. Here's hoping this issue finally gives us the Plutonian FINALLY getting his comeuppance.
Irredeemable #37(Final Issue):
Story Points:
-Before the Plutonian could kill him, Qubit teleports the bullet he stole from Bette Noir all of those issues ago into the Plutonian's heart... The same bullet that could actually kill him... IF Qubit stopped thinking about it.
-Now with this piece of blackmail hanging over his head(or more appropriately, in his chest), Qubit tells the Plutonian to circle the Earth and to collect all of the radiation poisoning the planet.
-The Plutonian does as asked, since Qubit had promised to give Plutonian a new chance at life to get it right.
-Having collected ALL of the radiation, the Plutonian flies back to Qubit, who opens a teleportational portal and sends the radiation into it, saving the Earth.
-However, the radiation has absolutely decimated the Plutonian's body, leaving him weakened and on the brink of death.
-The Plutonian asks why Qubit lied to him, and Qubit explains that he didn't lie, he was going to disperse Plutonian's essence through thousands of alternate realities with the hope that in one of those, the Plutonian could be redeemed...
-And that's it. The Plutonian's world has finally been saved and the Plutonian is gone...
-Or is he???
-This issue ends with two very young comic book creators by the names of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster having suddenly come up with the idea of a certain superman...
Thoughts: Needless to say, this issue was rather bittersweet... This is the last time I'll get to read about Qubit(who had become a favorite character of mine) or Kaiden, or anybody else from this universe... However, I guess it's NOT the last time I'll be reading about the Plutonian since he lives on in Superman! THAT was a sweet piece of storytelling by Mark Waid, which should come as no surprise to anybody. Waid is one of the top writers in all of comics and it's no shock that he ended this issue so wonderfully. In the end, the Plutonian DID kind of get redeemed, as he was reimagined as the greatest hero in the DC Universe. My heart tells me this was a perfect comic book, my head tells me it was a really, really good one. In the case of this comic, I'm definitely going to go with my heart.
Score: 10 out of 10.
Irredeemable #37(Final Issue):
Story Points:
-Before the Plutonian could kill him, Qubit teleports the bullet he stole from Bette Noir all of those issues ago into the Plutonian's heart... The same bullet that could actually kill him... IF Qubit stopped thinking about it.
-Now with this piece of blackmail hanging over his head(or more appropriately, in his chest), Qubit tells the Plutonian to circle the Earth and to collect all of the radiation poisoning the planet.
-The Plutonian does as asked, since Qubit had promised to give Plutonian a new chance at life to get it right.
-Having collected ALL of the radiation, the Plutonian flies back to Qubit, who opens a teleportational portal and sends the radiation into it, saving the Earth.
-However, the radiation has absolutely decimated the Plutonian's body, leaving him weakened and on the brink of death.
-The Plutonian asks why Qubit lied to him, and Qubit explains that he didn't lie, he was going to disperse Plutonian's essence through thousands of alternate realities with the hope that in one of those, the Plutonian could be redeemed...
-And that's it. The Plutonian's world has finally been saved and the Plutonian is gone...
-Or is he???
-This issue ends with two very young comic book creators by the names of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster having suddenly come up with the idea of a certain superman...
Thoughts: Needless to say, this issue was rather bittersweet... This is the last time I'll get to read about Qubit(who had become a favorite character of mine) or Kaiden, or anybody else from this universe... However, I guess it's NOT the last time I'll be reading about the Plutonian since he lives on in Superman! THAT was a sweet piece of storytelling by Mark Waid, which should come as no surprise to anybody. Waid is one of the top writers in all of comics and it's no shock that he ended this issue so wonderfully. In the end, the Plutonian DID kind of get redeemed, as he was reimagined as the greatest hero in the DC Universe. My heart tells me this was a perfect comic book, my head tells me it was a really, really good one. In the case of this comic, I'm definitely going to go with my heart.
Score: 10 out of 10.
Daredevil #13
This issue promises to finally end the Omegadrive stuff that's been dominating this series for so long now... Here's hoping that's really the case, because while the Omegadrive stuff has been good, I'm ready for it to end...
Daredevil #13:
Story Points:
-Daredevil heads to Times Square with the Omegadrive to have it out with the various crime groups that wanted to get their hands on the device.
-After a bit of a battle, a bunch of members of the Black Spectres show up, even though they were thought to have been taken apart two issues back.
-The arrival of the Spectres make a chaotic situation that much more chaotic and ends up with the Spectres snatching the Omegadrive from DD and taking off.
-So DD's been publicly humiliated...
-Or has he?!?
-In actuality, the Spectres were members of the Avengers, who were asked by DD to publicly swipe the Omegadrive to get the other crime groups off his back.
-DD tells the Avengers to ship the Drive off to Reed Richards and thus finally ends the saga of the Omegadrive.
Thoughts: That was some slick writing by Mark Waid right there! DD rid himself of the Omegadrive, did it publicly and in a way that doesn't imperil anybody else, since there are no Black Spectres anymore. AND it ended that Omegadrive storyline, which is an added bonus in my eyes! Overall, this was a good issue that has me looking forward to the future of this series.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Daredevil #13:
Story Points:
-Daredevil heads to Times Square with the Omegadrive to have it out with the various crime groups that wanted to get their hands on the device.
-After a bit of a battle, a bunch of members of the Black Spectres show up, even though they were thought to have been taken apart two issues back.
-The arrival of the Spectres make a chaotic situation that much more chaotic and ends up with the Spectres snatching the Omegadrive from DD and taking off.
-So DD's been publicly humiliated...
-Or has he?!?
-In actuality, the Spectres were members of the Avengers, who were asked by DD to publicly swipe the Omegadrive to get the other crime groups off his back.
-DD tells the Avengers to ship the Drive off to Reed Richards and thus finally ends the saga of the Omegadrive.
Thoughts: That was some slick writing by Mark Waid right there! DD rid himself of the Omegadrive, did it publicly and in a way that doesn't imperil anybody else, since there are no Black Spectres anymore. AND it ended that Omegadrive storyline, which is an added bonus in my eyes! Overall, this was a good issue that has me looking forward to the future of this series.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Avengers #26
Yup, it's time for Bendis and his Avengers madness... All I can really hope at this point is that I can get through this comic with my sanity intact...
Avengers #26(AvX x-over):
Story Points:
-The Space Avengers are bummed that Beast's anti-Phoenix device didn't end the threat of the Phoenix and that the space bird was still headed towards Earth.
-However, Protector realizes that Thor's hammer managed to absorb some of the Phoenix's powers, which ends up leading to a Plan B for the space team...
-Thor heads out against the Phoenix, ALONE, and attacks it with his hammer.
-Shockingly, he actually harms the Phoenix to the point of it retreating, but is absolutely thrashed in the process...
-But with the retreat of the Phoenix the Space Avengers at least have SOMETHING to hang their collective hats on, as well as some new data collected from the battle between Thor and the Phoenix.
-Unfortunately, Protector turns on the team, proclaiming that he had to take all of the Avengers data on the Phoenix and send it to the Supreme Intelligence, who he was secretly working for.
Thoughts: Wait, did my eyes deceive me, or was Bendis's name on the cover of this comic!? This was EASILY one of the best Avengers issues he's written since the early issues of this series(say issues #1-6 or so). I mean wow, Bendis didn't do all of the things I usually complain about in this one... The dialogue WASN'T out of control, and DIDN'T take away from the artwork, the story DID make sense, and none of the characters annoyed me with their constant chattering... Maybe THIS is the team of Avengers Bendis should stick to writing, because he did a fantastic job!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Avengers #26(AvX x-over):
Story Points:
-The Space Avengers are bummed that Beast's anti-Phoenix device didn't end the threat of the Phoenix and that the space bird was still headed towards Earth.
-However, Protector realizes that Thor's hammer managed to absorb some of the Phoenix's powers, which ends up leading to a Plan B for the space team...
-Thor heads out against the Phoenix, ALONE, and attacks it with his hammer.
-Shockingly, he actually harms the Phoenix to the point of it retreating, but is absolutely thrashed in the process...
-But with the retreat of the Phoenix the Space Avengers at least have SOMETHING to hang their collective hats on, as well as some new data collected from the battle between Thor and the Phoenix.
-Unfortunately, Protector turns on the team, proclaiming that he had to take all of the Avengers data on the Phoenix and send it to the Supreme Intelligence, who he was secretly working for.
Thoughts: Wait, did my eyes deceive me, or was Bendis's name on the cover of this comic!? This was EASILY one of the best Avengers issues he's written since the early issues of this series(say issues #1-6 or so). I mean wow, Bendis didn't do all of the things I usually complain about in this one... The dialogue WASN'T out of control, and DIDN'T take away from the artwork, the story DID make sense, and none of the characters annoyed me with their constant chattering... Maybe THIS is the team of Avengers Bendis should stick to writing, because he did a fantastic job!
Score: 9 out of 10.
New Comic Day! May 23 edition.
It's Wednesday. It's an indiscriminate time in the middle of the day. I'm probably sound asleep after a night at work... You know what all of those things added together mean, don't you??? That's right, it's time for a freshly minted edition of New Comic Day!!! Huzzah!!! I am, and always have been your host, Vampire X, and this week looks... Well, instead of me talking about it, how about we first take a gander at which comic books I intend on picking up in a few hours time... Irredeemable #37, I, Vampire #9, Justice League Dark #9, Teen Titans #9, Voodoo #9, Amazing Spider-Man #686, Captain America #12, Captain America and Hawkeye #631, Deadpool #55, Journey Into Mystery #638, Mighty Thor #14, Secret Avengers #27, Ultimate X-Men #12. I also plan on getting Batman: The Dark Knight #9, Hulk Smash Avengers #4(starring the West Coast Avengers!) as well as MAYBE picking up Astonishing X-Men #50 & Batman Incorporated #1 too... So that's a definite 13 books, up to a possible 17 books, if I do get those extra books... 13? That's a perfect number for a week. 17? Not so much.
Anyway, this week's Pick of the Litter could go to a number of books, because there's not really one that jumps out at me. Well, that's not exactly true... This week's #1 pick, and the first book I plan on reviewing is going to be Irredeemable #37, the final issue... Irredeemable has been a fantastic series. Mark Waid has done a fantastic job with this series. I am going to be genuinely sorry to see it end. For those of you who don't know, Irredeemable is/was a series that examined what would happen to the world if Superman went totally insane and decided he was going to punish society instead of helping it. All I'll say is I honestly hope this series ends in one of two manners... Either the Plutonian finally dies to answer for all of his horrendous acts(and NOT in a heroic fashion!), or the Plutonian kills the final few people who could stand up against him(namely Qubit) and this series simply ends with the Plutonian continue to batter his hapless world into submission. I really hope this series doesn't end with the Plutonian being redeemed in some way, shape or manner... But enough about that, on the other end of the spectrum is this week's Runt of the Litter, Voodoo #9... This is a series I was hoping for so much from. Unfortunately, it's been going nowhere since the SHOCKING clone-related swerve from a few issues back. After the mess with Spidey in the mid-90's, you'd think comic writers would have learned to avoid changing main characters with clones(and vice-versa), but alas, they haven't. Now, I SHOULD have that post for Irredeemable up tonight(as well as two reviews left over from last week), and I'm hoping to get another fresh review up for tomorrow(along with the remainder of last week's books), before getting back into my two new books a night groove. But as always, my plans tend to be very fluid... And that's that. Until later on tonight, Vampire X out.
Anyway, this week's Pick of the Litter could go to a number of books, because there's not really one that jumps out at me. Well, that's not exactly true... This week's #1 pick, and the first book I plan on reviewing is going to be Irredeemable #37, the final issue... Irredeemable has been a fantastic series. Mark Waid has done a fantastic job with this series. I am going to be genuinely sorry to see it end. For those of you who don't know, Irredeemable is/was a series that examined what would happen to the world if Superman went totally insane and decided he was going to punish society instead of helping it. All I'll say is I honestly hope this series ends in one of two manners... Either the Plutonian finally dies to answer for all of his horrendous acts(and NOT in a heroic fashion!), or the Plutonian kills the final few people who could stand up against him(namely Qubit) and this series simply ends with the Plutonian continue to batter his hapless world into submission. I really hope this series doesn't end with the Plutonian being redeemed in some way, shape or manner... But enough about that, on the other end of the spectrum is this week's Runt of the Litter, Voodoo #9... This is a series I was hoping for so much from. Unfortunately, it's been going nowhere since the SHOCKING clone-related swerve from a few issues back. After the mess with Spidey in the mid-90's, you'd think comic writers would have learned to avoid changing main characters with clones(and vice-versa), but alas, they haven't. Now, I SHOULD have that post for Irredeemable up tonight(as well as two reviews left over from last week), and I'm hoping to get another fresh review up for tomorrow(along with the remainder of last week's books), before getting back into my two new books a night groove. But as always, my plans tend to be very fluid... And that's that. Until later on tonight, Vampire X out.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Saga #3
I've been enjoying this series through the first two issues... It's been good. However, as we move along I'm expecting it to go from “good” to “great”... Hopefully that transformation begins in this issue.
Saga #3:
Story Points:
-With Marco near death and the Horrors surrounding her and Hazel, things look bleak for Alana...
-At least until the Horrors reveal they have no ill will towards Alana or Hazel.
-It turns out the Horrors were the ghosts of the indigenous children of the planet where the war between Alana and Marco's people was taking place.
-One of the Horrors, Izabel(I may be off with the spelling, I don't have the comic here at work with me...), offers to bring Marco to a place where there was snow, which is what Marco needed for a healing spell to save himself...
-In return, Izabel wanted to be bonded to Hazel's soul...
-After some thought, and getting a guarantee that no harm would come to Hazel with this bonding(at least until Hazel died), Alana agrees and Izabel takes the trio to a magic boat.
-This one ends with the delirious Marco swearing his undying love to his beloved Gwendoline(sp?), which shocks the hell out of Alana.
Thoughts: We're getting there... We're slowly getting to that “great” region I'm hoping to see... The story is still moving forward, the characters are slowly being filled out(including the Stalk, the Will and Prince Robot, who I didn't even mention in this review), the art is already strong, same as the dialogue, I'm telling you, within three more issues I'm seriously expecting this series to be amongst my monthly favorites, as well as pulling down 9's and 10's as scores. For now though, we'll go with an...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Saga #3:
Story Points:
-With Marco near death and the Horrors surrounding her and Hazel, things look bleak for Alana...
-At least until the Horrors reveal they have no ill will towards Alana or Hazel.
-It turns out the Horrors were the ghosts of the indigenous children of the planet where the war between Alana and Marco's people was taking place.
-One of the Horrors, Izabel(I may be off with the spelling, I don't have the comic here at work with me...), offers to bring Marco to a place where there was snow, which is what Marco needed for a healing spell to save himself...
-In return, Izabel wanted to be bonded to Hazel's soul...
-After some thought, and getting a guarantee that no harm would come to Hazel with this bonding(at least until Hazel died), Alana agrees and Izabel takes the trio to a magic boat.
-This one ends with the delirious Marco swearing his undying love to his beloved Gwendoline(sp?), which shocks the hell out of Alana.
Thoughts: We're getting there... We're slowly getting to that “great” region I'm hoping to see... The story is still moving forward, the characters are slowly being filled out(including the Stalk, the Will and Prince Robot, who I didn't even mention in this review), the art is already strong, same as the dialogue, I'm telling you, within three more issues I'm seriously expecting this series to be amongst my monthly favorites, as well as pulling down 9's and 10's as scores. For now though, we'll go with an...
Score: 8 out of 10.
New Mutants #42
So this is the third part of that Exiled storyline that's crossing over with Journey into Mystery... I didn't really like the first part, but enjoyed the second part. What will the third part bring???
New Mutants #42:
Story Points:
-The New Mutants and Loki go around collecting various items/pieces from the former Asgardians.
-The plan is for Loki to create a spell to undo the first spell he gave Sig that transformed all of the Asgardians into their current Non-Asgardian forms.
-Loki does the spell and when the New Mutants ask if he had fixed everything, Loki tells them off course not... Since he really didn't get his memories back and was just role-playing with the New Mutants...
-HA!!!
-Upon walking outside though, the New Mutants and Loki see that he did do some sort of spell, as weird demons were menacing the community, ending this issue.
Thoughts: Okay, I really wasn't enjoying this issue all that much. I mean it was okay, but not something I was all that enthused about. But that twist with Loki was genius! Never once did I imagine that he DIDN'T have his memories and was just playing along with the New Mutants. It makes such perfect sense too, because Loki in his current, non-Asgardian form was a really lonely kid, so it makes sense that he'd play along with the New Mutants spell-making “game”. So yeah, that twist alone brought the score for this issue to the point of respectability.
Score: 7 out of 10.
New Mutants #42:
Story Points:
-The New Mutants and Loki go around collecting various items/pieces from the former Asgardians.
-The plan is for Loki to create a spell to undo the first spell he gave Sig that transformed all of the Asgardians into their current Non-Asgardian forms.
-Loki does the spell and when the New Mutants ask if he had fixed everything, Loki tells them off course not... Since he really didn't get his memories back and was just role-playing with the New Mutants...
-HA!!!
-Upon walking outside though, the New Mutants and Loki see that he did do some sort of spell, as weird demons were menacing the community, ending this issue.
Thoughts: Okay, I really wasn't enjoying this issue all that much. I mean it was okay, but not something I was all that enthused about. But that twist with Loki was genius! Never once did I imagine that he DIDN'T have his memories and was just playing along with the New Mutants. It makes such perfect sense too, because Loki in his current, non-Asgardian form was a really lonely kid, so it makes sense that he'd play along with the New Mutants spell-making “game”. So yeah, that twist alone brought the score for this issue to the point of respectability.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Red Hood and the Outlaws #9
So the Nightwing issue of the Night of Owls was okay, let's see if the Red Hood issue can go higher than just okay...
Red Hood and the Outlaws #9:
Story Points:
-The Court of Owls have targeted Mr. Freeze, so Red Hood sends Arsenal & Starfire to save Freeze from the Talons...
-Freeze doesn't appreciate the help.
-As for Jason, he gets to face a Talon who ends up leading Jason to an abandoned circus area.
-The Talon and Jason have a heart to heart about having died and starting over again...
-Really!
-In the end, the Talon doesn't appreciate it's half-life and asks Jason to kill it. Jason does as asked.
-After some difficulty, Arsenal and Starfire save Freeze from the Talons, knock him out and drop him off at the GCPD.
Thoughts: Huh... I don't know about the way Scott Lobdell wrote that Talon here... That was pretty weird... All of the Talons prior to this were pretty much one-minded, emotionless machines programed to follow the Court's orders... Except for this Talon, who wasn't... Like I said, it was weird. For the most part this was a good issue, but that stuff with the Talon really bugged me...
Score: 7 out of 10.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #9:
Story Points:
-The Court of Owls have targeted Mr. Freeze, so Red Hood sends Arsenal & Starfire to save Freeze from the Talons...
-Freeze doesn't appreciate the help.
-As for Jason, he gets to face a Talon who ends up leading Jason to an abandoned circus area.
-The Talon and Jason have a heart to heart about having died and starting over again...
-Really!
-In the end, the Talon doesn't appreciate it's half-life and asks Jason to kill it. Jason does as asked.
-After some difficulty, Arsenal and Starfire save Freeze from the Talons, knock him out and drop him off at the GCPD.
Thoughts: Huh... I don't know about the way Scott Lobdell wrote that Talon here... That was pretty weird... All of the Talons prior to this were pretty much one-minded, emotionless machines programed to follow the Court's orders... Except for this Talon, who wasn't... Like I said, it was weird. For the most part this was a good issue, but that stuff with the Talon really bugged me...
Score: 7 out of 10.
Nightwing #9
Oh boy, it's time to take a trip to the DCU... Let's see if the Night of the Owls stuff can continue giving us strong issues from this series.
Nightwing #9:
Story Points:
-Nightwing gets the pleasure of battling against the Talon that was his ancestor.
-We know this because the Talon continues to tell Dick that he was ashamed of him.
-The Talon(who's rather chatty) tells Dick his secret origin and explains how he became the “strongest” of the Talons.
-Dick manages to save the mayor and outsmart and defeat the Talon... Probably while the Talon was talking...
Thoughts: Well, this issue WAS better than the issues of Nightwing from before the Night of Owls stuff. But it wasn't great or anything. It was, pretty much, a one and done issue that did a number on Dick's origin... From the way this issue tells it, Dick's ancestors were born into money, but his evil Talon ancestor took a baby Grayson from his cushy home and gave him to circus folk... Or something like that. Meh. I'll just ignore all that and say this was an okay issue.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Nightwing #9:
Story Points:
-Nightwing gets the pleasure of battling against the Talon that was his ancestor.
-We know this because the Talon continues to tell Dick that he was ashamed of him.
-The Talon(who's rather chatty) tells Dick his secret origin and explains how he became the “strongest” of the Talons.
-Dick manages to save the mayor and outsmart and defeat the Talon... Probably while the Talon was talking...
Thoughts: Well, this issue WAS better than the issues of Nightwing from before the Night of Owls stuff. But it wasn't great or anything. It was, pretty much, a one and done issue that did a number on Dick's origin... From the way this issue tells it, Dick's ancestors were born into money, but his evil Talon ancestor took a baby Grayson from his cushy home and gave him to circus folk... Or something like that. Meh. I'll just ignore all that and say this was an okay issue.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
X-Factor #236
Ah, here's a series that's always good for at least a 7 1/2 for a score, X-Factor! Based on the last issue I kind of expect that trend to continue.
X-Factor #236:
Story Points:
-Shatterstar narrowly avoids getting killed by Scattershot.
-From there, the two fight some more and Shatterstar learns that Scattershot had come from Mojo's world and his actions were a part of a Mojoverse reality show.
-Shatterstar convinces Scattershot to fight him without weapons...
-In other words, Shatterstar promised not to use his weapons, while Scattershot did likewise...
-However, Shatterstar didn't promise not to use Scattershot's weapons, and ends up killing the villain with his own gun.
-And that's pretty much it.
Thoughts: First off, I liked the retro-ish cover... Yeah, that's neither here nor there, but there it is. As for this issue? I liked it. A lot. It focused almost solely on Star, which I'm just fine with. Yeah, there are like 50,000 characters on this team, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't get an issue here and there that only focuses on one character. I liked the battle between Star and Shot, and liked the way Star outsmarted his bigger and stronger opponent. All in all? Good stuff here.
Score: 8 out of 10.
X-Factor #236:
Story Points:
-Shatterstar narrowly avoids getting killed by Scattershot.
-From there, the two fight some more and Shatterstar learns that Scattershot had come from Mojo's world and his actions were a part of a Mojoverse reality show.
-Shatterstar convinces Scattershot to fight him without weapons...
-In other words, Shatterstar promised not to use his weapons, while Scattershot did likewise...
-However, Shatterstar didn't promise not to use Scattershot's weapons, and ends up killing the villain with his own gun.
-And that's pretty much it.
Thoughts: First off, I liked the retro-ish cover... Yeah, that's neither here nor there, but there it is. As for this issue? I liked it. A lot. It focused almost solely on Star, which I'm just fine with. Yeah, there are like 50,000 characters on this team, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't get an issue here and there that only focuses on one character. I liked the battle between Star and Shot, and liked the way Star outsmarted his bigger and stronger opponent. All in all? Good stuff here.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #174
This is the last issue of the Thunderbolts... Kind of... The series title switches over to Dark Avengers starting next issue, but as is Marvel's bizarre way, the new Dark Avengers series is getting the Thunderbolts numbering... Go figure...
Thunderbolts #174:
Story Points:
-Thanks to Fixer killing his younger self in the past, all of reality is falling apart.
-The Evil T-Bolts from the future(current) time and the original T-Bolts figure out a way to prevent the end of everything by trying to make the world turn out exactly as it was supposed to...
-That entails making corpses disappear...
-Erasing the past 6 hours from the minds of the original T-Bolts...
-And finally cosmetically making Fixer look like his younger self, AND erasing ALL of his memories of the future.
-That actually works, and the Bad Bolts leave Fixer behind, realizing he'd always be trapped in a never-ending loop where he'd kill himself and then become his younger self... Trippy!
Thoughts: This was another in a nice, long line of comics that I enjoyed reading. While things could have gotten REALLY confusing, Jeff Parker did a good job of dumbing down the whole “reality collapsing onto itself” thing, and as such I understood and enjoyed most of what I read here... Could you IMAGINE what this issue would have been like if Grant Morrison had written it?!? Anyway, I am sad to see Fixer go(presumably for good, since he theoretically couldn't exist past this issue), but I am curious to see where this series is going with this Dark Avengers business...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #174:
Story Points:
-Thanks to Fixer killing his younger self in the past, all of reality is falling apart.
-The Evil T-Bolts from the future(current) time and the original T-Bolts figure out a way to prevent the end of everything by trying to make the world turn out exactly as it was supposed to...
-That entails making corpses disappear...
-Erasing the past 6 hours from the minds of the original T-Bolts...
-And finally cosmetically making Fixer look like his younger self, AND erasing ALL of his memories of the future.
-That actually works, and the Bad Bolts leave Fixer behind, realizing he'd always be trapped in a never-ending loop where he'd kill himself and then become his younger self... Trippy!
Thoughts: This was another in a nice, long line of comics that I enjoyed reading. While things could have gotten REALLY confusing, Jeff Parker did a good job of dumbing down the whole “reality collapsing onto itself” thing, and as such I understood and enjoyed most of what I read here... Could you IMAGINE what this issue would have been like if Grant Morrison had written it?!? Anyway, I am sad to see Fixer go(presumably for good, since he theoretically couldn't exist past this issue), but I am curious to see where this series is going with this Dark Avengers business...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Invincible Iron Man #517
Last issue Tony Stark decided he was done with being Iron Man. This issue? Well, I guess we'll find out in a few...
Invincible Iron Man #517:
Story Points:
-We open with Tony Stark, the elder Hammer girl and General Babbage going to see Reed Richards to remove the Iron Man components from Tony's body.
-Reed isn't pleased to do it, but he does.
-So that's it, Tony Stark no longer has the Iron Man tech in his body...
-Spy-Master sneaks around trying to kill members of Stark Resilient but is confronted by Tony's head of security, Bethany Cabe.
-Cabe alerts Tony of what was going down, and he tells Reed that he had some back-up Iron Man tech he needed put in him... I think...
-Detroit Steel breaks into the home of the younger Hammer girl and menaces her.
-Ezekiel Stane manages to remove the bomb the Mandarin put in his chest.
-This one ends with somebody in a new suit of Iron Man armor(Rhodey?) doing hero stuff.
Thoughts: Matt Fraction is doing a great job of slowly moving all of the pieces around the chessboard here... Stane has freed himself from the threats of the Mandarin, without the Mandarin knowing, Tony has freed himself from the eyes of the government since he relinquished the Iron Man tech to them, while still maintaining the pieces necessary to turn him back into IM again, we got some more stuff with Spy-Master, and there was another Iron Man flitting around at the end of this one. This was a very good read.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible Iron Man #517:
Story Points:
-We open with Tony Stark, the elder Hammer girl and General Babbage going to see Reed Richards to remove the Iron Man components from Tony's body.
-Reed isn't pleased to do it, but he does.
-So that's it, Tony Stark no longer has the Iron Man tech in his body...
-Spy-Master sneaks around trying to kill members of Stark Resilient but is confronted by Tony's head of security, Bethany Cabe.
-Cabe alerts Tony of what was going down, and he tells Reed that he had some back-up Iron Man tech he needed put in him... I think...
-Detroit Steel breaks into the home of the younger Hammer girl and menaces her.
-Ezekiel Stane manages to remove the bomb the Mandarin put in his chest.
-This one ends with somebody in a new suit of Iron Man armor(Rhodey?) doing hero stuff.
Thoughts: Matt Fraction is doing a great job of slowly moving all of the pieces around the chessboard here... Stane has freed himself from the threats of the Mandarin, without the Mandarin knowing, Tony has freed himself from the eyes of the government since he relinquished the Iron Man tech to them, while still maintaining the pieces necessary to turn him back into IM again, we got some more stuff with Spy-Master, and there was another Iron Man flitting around at the end of this one. This was a very good read.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Venom #18
Here's a comic I'm expecting a hell of a lot from, Venom. This issue begins the Savage Six storyline.
Venom #18:
Story Points:
-After his failed assassination attempt on Crime-Master, Venom is worried about his friends and loved ones, starting with his ex-girlfriend, Betty.
-Jack O' Lantern confronts Betty at a coffee shop and Venom luckily leaps in, spiriting Betty out of there.
-However, Betty thinks Venom is a super-villain and is terrified of him.
-Venom manages to hide Betty and avoids three of Crime-Master's goons, including the Eddie Brock version of Toxin.
-Betty runs for her life, terrified by the whole situation, so Venom corners her and reveals that he was really Flash(!!!), hoping that would calm Betty down, as well as explain his recent actions.
Thoughts: I have to say, this comic was ALMOST perfect... Almost... The only thing keeping it from perfection was how brief the Toxin/Venom confrontation was... I was expecting a bit more from that, and it was just so meh... Venom was like, “Oh, Toxin is Eddie Brock now, moving on...” It seemed like that meeting should have been more important... Besides that VERY little gripe? This was a great comic.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Venom #18:
Story Points:
-After his failed assassination attempt on Crime-Master, Venom is worried about his friends and loved ones, starting with his ex-girlfriend, Betty.
-Jack O' Lantern confronts Betty at a coffee shop and Venom luckily leaps in, spiriting Betty out of there.
-However, Betty thinks Venom is a super-villain and is terrified of him.
-Venom manages to hide Betty and avoids three of Crime-Master's goons, including the Eddie Brock version of Toxin.
-Betty runs for her life, terrified by the whole situation, so Venom corners her and reveals that he was really Flash(!!!), hoping that would calm Betty down, as well as explain his recent actions.
Thoughts: I have to say, this comic was ALMOST perfect... Almost... The only thing keeping it from perfection was how brief the Toxin/Venom confrontation was... I was expecting a bit more from that, and it was just so meh... Venom was like, “Oh, Toxin is Eddie Brock now, moving on...” It seemed like that meeting should have been more important... Besides that VERY little gripe? This was a great comic.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
JT's Take: Justice League #9 with Brightest Day Rules
Hey X-Maniacs, JT here once again with the commenter requested Justice League review featuring Brightest Day Rules! After the last issue of this series' review was pretty well received, I've been looking forward to this comic for once and it's finally here! Before I get started, anyone new or anyone who wants to get reacquainted with the Brightest Day Rules, feel free to do that by clicking here, now let's get things started!
Summary: We start things off four years ago, seeing a sickly man named David, the man who wrote the book about the Justice League saving the world five years ago, basically told by his doctor that he's going to die because he's sick, he recommends he tries contacting the League but David says the League can't help him. So David pulls out a gun and kills the doctor, because why the fuck not, right? From there we come back to the present day, where we see the Paparazzi annoying Steve Trevor and asking if Wonder Woman left him for Batman or Superman... after that he goes to see his sister for dinner. Next we see Batman listening to some news report asking why Batman continues to worry about the den of Crime that is Gotham instead of dealing with the world with the League all the time, but it;s interrupted by a report that a villain by the name of The Key breaking into Arkham. Next wee see Lois Lane buy everyone lunch except Clark because she forgot him I guess, anyway he gets a text from Bruce asking if he's busy, so he heads to Arkham to help Bruce deal with the break-in, as does Cyborg. We jump back to Steve Trevor to see him arrive home and notice something is awry, and he's soon confronted by David, the book writer, but cloaked, who says he knows Steve Trevor is more than just Wonder Woman's Ex. We also cut to Green lantern and Flash, arguing about who has to clean up rubble from a fight, and then about who gets to be Bad Cop in an interrogation, and Hal let's Barry be bad cop. Um...okay. They interrogate Weapons Master and Saint Barry screws up so they have Wonder Woman use her lasso to find out that David Graves didn't want him to build him weapons, he just wanted to know how to hurt them. Back in Arkham, Bats, Cyborg and Superman discover The Key was trying to lock himself up because Graves went him his mind and stole everything he knew about the League. You're kidding me right? We then see Steve Trevor is tied up and bleeding from being worked over by Graves, who is dressed in his full villain garb, and threatens to kill Trevor's family in front of him unless he tells him what he wants to know, he concedes as the issue ends.
Thoughts: First things first I'm gonna go -10 for David just pulling out a gun and killing his doctor, that was random and kind of unnecessary, I get that he's a villain now but it came outta nowhere and served no purpose other than, he's bad! -15 for them asking Trevor is Wonder Woman slept with Superman or Batman. +5 for everyone having flashbacks but -25 for Aquaman not being included in this issue at all. -20 for a young Bruce Wayne delivering the line "I don't have a favorite color anymore." Ugh, your parents are dead, don't take it out on colors. And clearly you do, Black is a color. -15 for splitting up Lois and Clark and thinking I'm gonna give a damn when you have him pine after her again. -20 for Barry being a sucky bad cop but +40 for Hal being great at being good cop. Matter of fact, +15 for this series making me like Hal, it may suck but he's been pretty funny. +20 for them acknowledging the fact that even though Flash does stuff quickly, it still seems like forever to him. +20 for Jim Lee's awesome artwork, and another +15 for the way he makes Wonder Woman look radiant like few artists can. -45 for Graves being able to go inside of people's minds and steal their memories... They haven't explained how but until they do I'm calling shenanigans. This issue didn't make me groan as much as previous issues so I'll give it +5 for that.
Score: -20!? Man I am being too nice!!! X-Man would roll over in his grave, or casket, considering he's a Vampire at how nice I've been lately. Or maybe, this issue is just not as bad as the last one? Time will tell, but that's it for me, hopefully things stay this positive in the future for the Justice League series.
That's it for me guys and gals, feel free to let me know what ya think, as well as any other books you think deserve Brightest Day Rules treatment, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off.
Justice League #9
Thoughts: First things first I'm gonna go -10 for David just pulling out a gun and killing his doctor, that was random and kind of unnecessary, I get that he's a villain now but it came outta nowhere and served no purpose other than, he's bad! -15 for them asking Trevor is Wonder Woman slept with Superman or Batman. +5 for everyone having flashbacks but -25 for Aquaman not being included in this issue at all. -20 for a young Bruce Wayne delivering the line "I don't have a favorite color anymore." Ugh, your parents are dead, don't take it out on colors. And clearly you do, Black is a color. -15 for splitting up Lois and Clark and thinking I'm gonna give a damn when you have him pine after her again. -20 for Barry being a sucky bad cop but +40 for Hal being great at being good cop. Matter of fact, +15 for this series making me like Hal, it may suck but he's been pretty funny. +20 for them acknowledging the fact that even though Flash does stuff quickly, it still seems like forever to him. +20 for Jim Lee's awesome artwork, and another +15 for the way he makes Wonder Woman look radiant like few artists can. -45 for Graves being able to go inside of people's minds and steal their memories... They haven't explained how but until they do I'm calling shenanigans. This issue didn't make me groan as much as previous issues so I'll give it +5 for that.
Score: -20!? Man I am being too nice!!! X-Man would roll over in his grave, or casket, considering he's a Vampire at how nice I've been lately. Or maybe, this issue is just not as bad as the last one? Time will tell, but that's it for me, hopefully things stay this positive in the future for the Justice League series.
Green Lantern: You could do it in like five seconds, Flash.
The Flash: Relative to you. Relative to me, it's going to take hours.
The Flash: Relative to you. Relative to me, it's going to take hours.
That's it for me guys and gals, feel free to let me know what ya think, as well as any other books you think deserve Brightest Day Rules treatment, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Winter Soldier #5
This series has been heating up lately, and this issue should bring everything to a head concerning Doom, Lucia Von Bardas and the sleepers.
Winter Soldier #5:
Story Points:
-Doom is working with SHIELD to reformat a teleportational device constructed by Reed Richards in order to get himself, Bucky and Black Widow into Latveria before Von Bardas launched her nuclear assault.
-Think about that last line for a moment... DOOM was working with SHIELD!!!
-Oh, and Doom and Nick Fury's banter here was absolutely suburb.
-Anyway, Doom is as good as his word and gets the trio near the missile base.
-Von Bardas, the Red Ghost and his super-apes and the Russian sleeper are no match for Doom and company, as Doom destroys the super-apes and Von Bardas, while Bucky is forced to kill the sleeper.
-The Red Ghost however, escapes.
-With the threat over, SHIELD takes Von Bardas to question her about the location of a third sleeper, and Doom promises to keep his knowledge of Bucky being alive to himself provided Bucky and SHIELD didn't mention his nuclear weapons program.
-SHIELD learns where the Red Barbarian(who sold the three Russian sleepers to Von Bardas) was located and Bucky assassinates him.
-This one ends with Von Bardas telling SHIELD that she was never given the third sleeper, meaning there was still one out there somewhere...
Thoughts: I LOVED this issue! Seriously! Doom + Bucky + Nick Fury = awesomeness to the third power! There's really not a bad thing I can think to say about this comic... I loved the set-up, I loved the fight scenes, I loved the dialogue, I loved everything! And you know what that means...
Score: 10 out of 10.
Winter Soldier #5:
Story Points:
-Doom is working with SHIELD to reformat a teleportational device constructed by Reed Richards in order to get himself, Bucky and Black Widow into Latveria before Von Bardas launched her nuclear assault.
-Think about that last line for a moment... DOOM was working with SHIELD!!!
-Oh, and Doom and Nick Fury's banter here was absolutely suburb.
-Anyway, Doom is as good as his word and gets the trio near the missile base.
-Von Bardas, the Red Ghost and his super-apes and the Russian sleeper are no match for Doom and company, as Doom destroys the super-apes and Von Bardas, while Bucky is forced to kill the sleeper.
-The Red Ghost however, escapes.
-With the threat over, SHIELD takes Von Bardas to question her about the location of a third sleeper, and Doom promises to keep his knowledge of Bucky being alive to himself provided Bucky and SHIELD didn't mention his nuclear weapons program.
-SHIELD learns where the Red Barbarian(who sold the three Russian sleepers to Von Bardas) was located and Bucky assassinates him.
-This one ends with Von Bardas telling SHIELD that she was never given the third sleeper, meaning there was still one out there somewhere...
Thoughts: I LOVED this issue! Seriously! Doom + Bucky + Nick Fury = awesomeness to the third power! There's really not a bad thing I can think to say about this comic... I loved the set-up, I loved the fight scenes, I loved the dialogue, I loved everything! And you know what that means...
Score: 10 out of 10.
Avengers Academy #30
Okay, first review I'm typing up at work this week is the comic that very easily could have been my Pick of the Litter, and on a normal week would have been, Avengers Academy.
Avengers Academy #30(AvX x-over):
Story Points:
-This issue mainly revolves around X-23, who is in the unique position of knowing the X-Men kids who were being held at Avengers Academy, as well as being a part of the Academy.
-Also of note is Sebastian Shaw, who broke free last issue and was lurking around the sewers of the Academy.
-X-23 talks to many of her fellows in the Academy trying to figure out her stance on the whole AvX thing.
-As for Shaw, he takes down Tigra, Hercules and Madison Jeffries, who were hunting for him.
-In the end, X-23 decides that the Avengers were probably right about the Phoenix being bad news...
-But she disagrees with Wolverine's decision to force the younger mutants on Crazy Mutie Island to stay at the Academy, and as such sides with them, demanding their freedom.
-This one ends with Shaw appearing before all of the kids, telling them that he agreed that they shouldn't be forced to stay on the Academy grounds.
Thoughts: Really good stuff here. Whiz Kid actually brought up the whole Japanese internment camps argument, just like Alien did here at the blog last issue, so kudos to Alien for picking up on that. I really have no complaints about this one... X-23 gave pros and cons for both sides, and in the end she kind of agreed with different mindsets from both sides. It was nice to see X-23 actually, you know, think for once.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Avengers Academy #30(AvX x-over):
Story Points:
-This issue mainly revolves around X-23, who is in the unique position of knowing the X-Men kids who were being held at Avengers Academy, as well as being a part of the Academy.
-Also of note is Sebastian Shaw, who broke free last issue and was lurking around the sewers of the Academy.
-X-23 talks to many of her fellows in the Academy trying to figure out her stance on the whole AvX thing.
-As for Shaw, he takes down Tigra, Hercules and Madison Jeffries, who were hunting for him.
-In the end, X-23 decides that the Avengers were probably right about the Phoenix being bad news...
-But she disagrees with Wolverine's decision to force the younger mutants on Crazy Mutie Island to stay at the Academy, and as such sides with them, demanding their freedom.
-This one ends with Shaw appearing before all of the kids, telling them that he agreed that they shouldn't be forced to stay on the Academy grounds.
Thoughts: Really good stuff here. Whiz Kid actually brought up the whole Japanese internment camps argument, just like Alien did here at the blog last issue, so kudos to Alien for picking up on that. I really have no complaints about this one... X-23 gave pros and cons for both sides, and in the end she kind of agreed with different mindsets from both sides. It was nice to see X-23 actually, you know, think for once.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
AvX: Vs #2
Check me out, here's another review being posted a day earlier than I had expected! Bah, see that, a full time job and I'm STILL managing to keep this blog somewhat up to date!
AvX: Vs #2(of 6):
Story Points:
-The first story is drawn AND written by Steve McNiven, which should give a big hint at who's winning. Btw, the first fight is Captain America vs Gambit in the Savage Land.
-Cap spends the beginning portion of this fight talking to Iron Man, thus pissing Gambit off.
-Gambit manages to snag Cap's shield, charge it up and throw it back at Cap, narrowly missing him.
-Cap manages to get his hands on Gambit, but Gambit proceeds to charge Cap's UNIFORM, blowing it up, at which point he figures he'd won the battle...
-In actuality, all he's done is managed to get Cap's undivided attention, at which point Cap thrashes Gambit, adding another victory for the Avengers.
-Next up, Spider-Man vs Colo-naut in Latveria.
-Spidey tries to use all of his old Juggernaut strategies against Colo-naut...
-That goes poorly for Spidey as Colo-naut is a way more skilled fighter than Juggy was.
-There's literally nothing Spidey can do to stop Colo-naut's barrage.
-In the end, DD arrives and tells a battered Spidey that Hope wasn't in Latveria, at which point Spidey and DD take off, leaving Colo-naut victorious, and giving the X-Men their first win.
Thoughts: Again, much like the last issue, I really love this concept. No stories, no real thought, just a full-on fight. So this issue puts the Avengers up 3-1, as well as making my guesses 3-1 as well(damn Namor/Thing fight...). I liked the way the Cap/Gambit fight went, because, let's face it, the only way Gambit had a chance was if Cap was distracted, and once Cap wasn't distracted? Game over. Now, I WAS a bit surprised that Spidey took the loss to Colo-naut... Spidey is probably the most popular Marvel character(if not the most popular character in all of comics), so while logic dictated that he should lose to Colo-naut, I wasn't sure if he'd find a way to emerge victorious. Honestly, I'd have been fine if he did win, but with that said? The more powerful character definitely won. Much like after reading issue #1, I'm eagerly anticipating the next issue.
Score: 9 out of 10.
AvX: Vs #2(of 6):
Story Points:
-The first story is drawn AND written by Steve McNiven, which should give a big hint at who's winning. Btw, the first fight is Captain America vs Gambit in the Savage Land.
-Cap spends the beginning portion of this fight talking to Iron Man, thus pissing Gambit off.
-Gambit manages to snag Cap's shield, charge it up and throw it back at Cap, narrowly missing him.
-Cap manages to get his hands on Gambit, but Gambit proceeds to charge Cap's UNIFORM, blowing it up, at which point he figures he'd won the battle...
-In actuality, all he's done is managed to get Cap's undivided attention, at which point Cap thrashes Gambit, adding another victory for the Avengers.
-Next up, Spider-Man vs Colo-naut in Latveria.
-Spidey tries to use all of his old Juggernaut strategies against Colo-naut...
-That goes poorly for Spidey as Colo-naut is a way more skilled fighter than Juggy was.
-There's literally nothing Spidey can do to stop Colo-naut's barrage.
-In the end, DD arrives and tells a battered Spidey that Hope wasn't in Latveria, at which point Spidey and DD take off, leaving Colo-naut victorious, and giving the X-Men their first win.
Thoughts: Again, much like the last issue, I really love this concept. No stories, no real thought, just a full-on fight. So this issue puts the Avengers up 3-1, as well as making my guesses 3-1 as well(damn Namor/Thing fight...). I liked the way the Cap/Gambit fight went, because, let's face it, the only way Gambit had a chance was if Cap was distracted, and once Cap wasn't distracted? Game over. Now, I WAS a bit surprised that Spidey took the loss to Colo-naut... Spidey is probably the most popular Marvel character(if not the most popular character in all of comics), so while logic dictated that he should lose to Colo-naut, I wasn't sure if he'd find a way to emerge victorious. Honestly, I'd have been fine if he did win, but with that said? The more powerful character definitely won. Much like after reading issue #1, I'm eagerly anticipating the next issue.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Wolverine and the X-Men #10
Hey look, it's last week's Runt of the Litter! I'm expecting nothing from this issue, so here's hoping it surprises me... In a good way!
Wolverine and the X-Men #10(AvX x-over issue):
Story Points:
-Wolverine returns to his school after the initial skirmish with the Brotherhood on Crazy Mutie Island.
-Lord Summers and the rest of the Brotherhood soon arrive at the school and Lord Summers assures Wolvie that he only wanted to talk.
-While strolling through the school grounds, the two discuss who had the better idea for the X-Men...
-As well as the destructive/healing attributes of Phoenix Force...
-In the end, neither man budges from their stance.
-With that, Lord Summers and the Brotherhood leave.
-This one ends with the Shi'ar Death Commandos arriving on Earth to kill Hope before the Phoenix arrived.
Thoughts: Well, if you love debates, then THIS was the AvX comic for YOU!! I'm not really sure why I gave this comic the score I did... I'm typing this post up about 4 days after I read this issue, and it doesn't seem to deserve the score I gave it... Maybe I was sleep-deprived or temporarily insane or something after I put this one down... Regardless, I seemed to think this comic wasn't that bad(four days ago). Looking back though, I don't see what I found so interesting about it... I don't know, maybe I'm forgetting something awesome that I really enjoyed. Or maybe I secretly love debates... Who knows.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Wolverine and the X-Men #10(AvX x-over issue):
Story Points:
-Wolverine returns to his school after the initial skirmish with the Brotherhood on Crazy Mutie Island.
-Lord Summers and the rest of the Brotherhood soon arrive at the school and Lord Summers assures Wolvie that he only wanted to talk.
-While strolling through the school grounds, the two discuss who had the better idea for the X-Men...
-As well as the destructive/healing attributes of Phoenix Force...
-In the end, neither man budges from their stance.
-With that, Lord Summers and the Brotherhood leave.
-This one ends with the Shi'ar Death Commandos arriving on Earth to kill Hope before the Phoenix arrived.
Thoughts: Well, if you love debates, then THIS was the AvX comic for YOU!! I'm not really sure why I gave this comic the score I did... I'm typing this post up about 4 days after I read this issue, and it doesn't seem to deserve the score I gave it... Maybe I was sleep-deprived or temporarily insane or something after I put this one down... Regardless, I seemed to think this comic wasn't that bad(four days ago). Looking back though, I don't see what I found so interesting about it... I don't know, maybe I'm forgetting something awesome that I really enjoyed. Or maybe I secretly love debates... Who knows.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #11
This series has been SO bizarre! There have been times when I've flat out wanted to drop it, while other times I've enjoyed it. As it is, this series is my lone link to the Ultimate Universe, so here's hoping it's good.
Ultimate X-Men #11:
Story Points:
-The Nimrod Sentinels attack Camp Angel.
-John Walker helps the mutant children(and Storm) escape from the Sentinels.
-With the Nimrod's being unstoppable and all, the president of the United States ceded control of the southwest to the Sentinels... Wait, what?!
-This one ends with the Sentinels creating a Mastermold Sentinel in the desert.
-Oh yeah one more thing, that Mastermold had better not be Stryker...
Thoughts: This comic FLEW along. There wasn't a slow moment, and the story just flowed from one page to the next. I can't say there was ever a moment when I was bored or anything. As for the story itself, it was pretty good... It wasn't great, and I'm curious to see where Nick Spencer is going here, but it WAS a good read, which is all I ask for.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #11:
Story Points:
-The Nimrod Sentinels attack Camp Angel.
-John Walker helps the mutant children(and Storm) escape from the Sentinels.
-With the Nimrod's being unstoppable and all, the president of the United States ceded control of the southwest to the Sentinels... Wait, what?!
-This one ends with the Sentinels creating a Mastermold Sentinel in the desert.
-Oh yeah one more thing, that Mastermold had better not be Stryker...
Thoughts: This comic FLEW along. There wasn't a slow moment, and the story just flowed from one page to the next. I can't say there was ever a moment when I was bored or anything. As for the story itself, it was pretty good... It wasn't great, and I'm curious to see where Nick Spencer is going here, but it WAS a good read, which is all I ask for.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Wolverine #306
Yeah, so this storyline is about Dr. Rot, an evil doctor obsessed with brains... What more can I add to that?
Wolverine #306:
Story Points:
-Wolvie manages to find Dr. Rot's father, who has been tortured by his son and wants the release of death. Wolvie gives the old man what he wants, but first, Rot's father tells Wolvie where Rot had holed up.
-Wolvie heads to Rot's base and is attacked by three of Rot's freaks.
-Wolvie manages to tear apart one of the freaks, but tortures the freak for too long, allowing the freak to say some sort of words that put Wolvie in a trance.
-When Wolvie wakes up, he's strapped down and surrounded by Rot and his freaks, with Rot apparently planning on making Wolvie into one of his freaks.
Thoughts: Eh. This comic wasn't awful, but I'm just not feeling this storyline. I don't really care for Rot, and I didn't like the fact that Wolvie had a mental switch in his head... You'd think somebody(Rachel Summers!!) would have seem that while in Wolvie's head during one of his mental training sessions... Regardless, this could have been worse, so I'll take what I can get until this storyline is over.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Wolverine #306:
Story Points:
-Wolvie manages to find Dr. Rot's father, who has been tortured by his son and wants the release of death. Wolvie gives the old man what he wants, but first, Rot's father tells Wolvie where Rot had holed up.
-Wolvie heads to Rot's base and is attacked by three of Rot's freaks.
-Wolvie manages to tear apart one of the freaks, but tortures the freak for too long, allowing the freak to say some sort of words that put Wolvie in a trance.
-When Wolvie wakes up, he's strapped down and surrounded by Rot and his freaks, with Rot apparently planning on making Wolvie into one of his freaks.
Thoughts: Eh. This comic wasn't awful, but I'm just not feeling this storyline. I don't really care for Rot, and I didn't like the fact that Wolvie had a mental switch in his head... You'd think somebody(Rachel Summers!!) would have seem that while in Wolvie's head during one of his mental training sessions... Regardless, this could have been worse, so I'll take what I can get until this storyline is over.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Avengers vs X-Men #4
Hey, I have about an hour or so before I have to go to work, so I figured why not do a post for this week's Pick of the Litter tonight instead of waiting until Friday?! So here we go, the forth issue of Avengers vs X-Men.
Avengers vs X-Men #4(of 12):
Story Points:
-Hope hunts down Wolverine in the Antarctic(where Cap tossed him) and asks for Wolvie to trust that she could control the Phoenix. Wolvie is dubious, but the two decide that Wolvie would stick close by and that if Hope DID go out of control, Wolvie would end her. With that, the two decide they needed a spaceship and Hope takes a nap...
-The Avengers and X-Men battle in the five different locations they thought Hope was at but come up empty.
-Using Cerebra, Emma manages to gain access to Captain America's mind(damn her!) and learns that the Avengers had discovered where Hope was going.
-Wolvie and Hope knock over an AIM base and steal an AIM spacecraft, heading to the blue area of the moon with it.
-Upon arriving, Hope can sense the Phoenix drawing closer, but is shocked to find the Avengers waiting there for her. Wolverine reveals that HE contacted the Avengers while Hope was napping and told them where she was headed.
-However, the X-Men arrive as well(since they learned of Hope's whereabouts through Cap's mind) and demand Hope as well.
-The two teams skirmish again, at least until Thor comes crashing to the moon...
-The two teams look up and sure enough, the Phoenix has arrived!
Thoughts: This issue was interesting... It was all about getting us to the cliffhanger, with everybody on the moon and the Phoenix arriving. Really, nothing else mattered. Well, Wolvie and Hope teaming up was pretty important, but the rest of this issue was just a bunch of random fights. Now I DID have one little problem with this one... Cap tossed Wolvie out of the plane last issue because he didn't want Hope murdered, just taken into protective custody, right? Wolvie and Hope meet up in this issue and Hope takes a nap WITH Wolvie flying her plane... If Wolvie really wanted Hope dead, since that was probably the surest way to make sure the Phoenix Force DIDN'T possess her(if that's even it's intention), why didn't he simply kill her while she slept? He easily could have, AND nobody would have known a thing... That was really strange to me... I guess Wolvie's actions here have now and forever firmly planted Wolvie in the ranks of the Avengers, because he not only didn't kill Hope, he took her right to them. Bottom line, this issue was a set-up issue. Now the next issue? That should be FULL of fireworks!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Avengers vs X-Men #4(of 12):
Story Points:
-Hope hunts down Wolverine in the Antarctic(where Cap tossed him) and asks for Wolvie to trust that she could control the Phoenix. Wolvie is dubious, but the two decide that Wolvie would stick close by and that if Hope DID go out of control, Wolvie would end her. With that, the two decide they needed a spaceship and Hope takes a nap...
-The Avengers and X-Men battle in the five different locations they thought Hope was at but come up empty.
-Using Cerebra, Emma manages to gain access to Captain America's mind(damn her!) and learns that the Avengers had discovered where Hope was going.
-Wolvie and Hope knock over an AIM base and steal an AIM spacecraft, heading to the blue area of the moon with it.
-Upon arriving, Hope can sense the Phoenix drawing closer, but is shocked to find the Avengers waiting there for her. Wolverine reveals that HE contacted the Avengers while Hope was napping and told them where she was headed.
-However, the X-Men arrive as well(since they learned of Hope's whereabouts through Cap's mind) and demand Hope as well.
-The two teams skirmish again, at least until Thor comes crashing to the moon...
-The two teams look up and sure enough, the Phoenix has arrived!
Thoughts: This issue was interesting... It was all about getting us to the cliffhanger, with everybody on the moon and the Phoenix arriving. Really, nothing else mattered. Well, Wolvie and Hope teaming up was pretty important, but the rest of this issue was just a bunch of random fights. Now I DID have one little problem with this one... Cap tossed Wolvie out of the plane last issue because he didn't want Hope murdered, just taken into protective custody, right? Wolvie and Hope meet up in this issue and Hope takes a nap WITH Wolvie flying her plane... If Wolvie really wanted Hope dead, since that was probably the surest way to make sure the Phoenix Force DIDN'T possess her(if that's even it's intention), why didn't he simply kill her while she slept? He easily could have, AND nobody would have known a thing... That was really strange to me... I guess Wolvie's actions here have now and forever firmly planted Wolvie in the ranks of the Avengers, because he not only didn't kill Hope, he took her right to them. Bottom line, this issue was a set-up issue. Now the next issue? That should be FULL of fireworks!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Scarlet Spider #5
After missing issues 2 & 3(I got 4 but didn't review it, or at least I don't think I did...), we're back and giving this series another try thanks mainly to JT, who just kept pestering me to pick this series back up... Emails, comments, chats, you name it, he just kept promoting this comic... JT, this issue had better be good, my friend!
Scarlet Spider #5:
Story Points:
-The Watchdogs, a hate-group, have placed a dirty bomb somewhere in Houston. It's up to Scarlet Spider and his cop friend(whose name I'm blanking on...) to find and disarm the bomb.
-Kaine contemplates simply leaving the city, as that's the easiest thing to do, but ultimately decides on the heroic course of action and decides to stay and help.
-Kaine uses his spider-power(and I mean that literally, as he can “see” through the eyes of spiders...) to locate the bomb.
-Kaine and his cop friend find the bomb, but it's a few minutes from detonation, which wouldn't give the bomb squad enough time to arrive and defuse it.
-With 5 seconds left, and nothing to lose, Kaine simply tears out ALL of the wires in the bomb, defusing it... HA!
Thoughts: You know... There was a part of me that expected that bomb to go off, if nothing else then to add to writer Chris Yost's already impressive comic book body count... I swear, that man has killed more comic book characters than the Joker! Seriously though, this was another(in a long line) of good comics I've lucked into reading this week. I liked Kaine's thought process, as he's still not quite the complete hero like Peter, but he's getting there as evidenced by this issue. It would have been easy for him to gather his friends and vacate the city, but he didn't, which is the important thing. So yeah, so far I'm happy I started collecting this series again... Nice job, JT!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Scarlet Spider #5:
Story Points:
-The Watchdogs, a hate-group, have placed a dirty bomb somewhere in Houston. It's up to Scarlet Spider and his cop friend(whose name I'm blanking on...) to find and disarm the bomb.
-Kaine contemplates simply leaving the city, as that's the easiest thing to do, but ultimately decides on the heroic course of action and decides to stay and help.
-Kaine uses his spider-power(and I mean that literally, as he can “see” through the eyes of spiders...) to locate the bomb.
-Kaine and his cop friend find the bomb, but it's a few minutes from detonation, which wouldn't give the bomb squad enough time to arrive and defuse it.
-With 5 seconds left, and nothing to lose, Kaine simply tears out ALL of the wires in the bomb, defusing it... HA!
Thoughts: You know... There was a part of me that expected that bomb to go off, if nothing else then to add to writer Chris Yost's already impressive comic book body count... I swear, that man has killed more comic book characters than the Joker! Seriously though, this was another(in a long line) of good comics I've lucked into reading this week. I liked Kaine's thought process, as he's still not quite the complete hero like Peter, but he's getting there as evidenced by this issue. It would have been easy for him to gather his friends and vacate the city, but he didn't, which is the important thing. So yeah, so far I'm happy I started collecting this series again... Nice job, JT!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Grifter #9
Welcome to Hell, Grifter, as Rob Liefeld has taken over the story-writing for this series... Because he did such a fantastic job with Hawk and Dove, which was, you know, canceled... On the plus side, the hugely underrated Frank Tieri is doing the dialogue for Liefeld's script, so this might not be THAT bad...
Grifter #9:
Story Points:
-Grifter is being attacked by the Daemonite's special super-soldiers.
-Grifter is saved by some woman named Nico(Cheshire?)
-Nico tells Grifter that the Daemonites were planning a full-scale invasion of Earth, thus explaining the presence of the super Daemonites.
-Nico also tells Grifter he is the “chosen one” and that's why the Daemonites have targeted him
-Grifter agrees to help Nico and meets the rest of the human resistance, including Deathblow.
Thoughts: Wow, this issue was WAY better than it had any right to be... Seriously, I was expecting garbage and I got a good story. I mean it wasn't great, but we had some good groundwork laid here, and hopefully this series will continue to impress. I was a bit annoyed by the “Nico” thing... Is she Cheshire or not!? Other than that? No real complaints, much to my utter shock.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10..
Grifter #9:
Story Points:
-Grifter is being attacked by the Daemonite's special super-soldiers.
-Grifter is saved by some woman named Nico(Cheshire?)
-Nico tells Grifter that the Daemonites were planning a full-scale invasion of Earth, thus explaining the presence of the super Daemonites.
-Nico also tells Grifter he is the “chosen one” and that's why the Daemonites have targeted him
-Grifter agrees to help Nico and meets the rest of the human resistance, including Deathblow.
Thoughts: Wow, this issue was WAY better than it had any right to be... Seriously, I was expecting garbage and I got a good story. I mean it wasn't great, but we had some good groundwork laid here, and hopefully this series will continue to impress. I was a bit annoyed by the “Nico” thing... Is she Cheshire or not!? Other than that? No real complaints, much to my utter shock.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10..
The Week in Pictures. May 9th - May 15th.
Hey hey, it's new feature time here at the blog! I used to add a comic scan from every comic I read to each review I do, but unfortunately, work has halted me from using my scanner when I'm typing up my reviews... However, I still want to post some pictures, so that's what this post is. I'll take about 5 comics from the past week, scan 'em, post 'em and comment on 'em, thus bringing some color to this blog. But enough talk, let's get to the scans!
Wolverine and the X-Men #10
Oh just stab him already!!
Captain America and Hawkeye #630
Cap has the worst luck with weird transformations... Cap-Wolf anybody?
Deadpool #54
Huh, Deadpool is one handsome devil!
Batman and Robin #9
FINISH HIM!!!
Avenging Spider-Man #7
I love the bottom two panels of this page...
Journey Into Mystery #637
Heh... Nate rules...
Wolverine and the X-Men #10
Oh just stab him already!!
Captain America and Hawkeye #630
Cap has the worst luck with weird transformations... Cap-Wolf anybody?
Deadpool #54
Huh, Deadpool is one handsome devil!
Batman and Robin #9
FINISH HIM!!!
Avenging Spider-Man #7
I love the bottom two panels of this page...
Journey Into Mystery #637
Heh... Nate rules...
New Comic Day! May 16th edition.
Hey all, it's Wednesday, which means it's time for a new edition of New Comic Day! Huzzah!! I'm still trying to juggle working nights full time, as well as manage this blog, so I actually have a few reviews from last week left over to post this week... But before we get to all that, let's take a look at which comics I'm picking up from the comic shop in a little while... When I wake up that is... Hellblazer #291, Nightwing #9, Red Hood and the Outlaws #9, Supergirl #9, Saga #3, Avengers #26, Avengers Academy #30, Avengers vs X-Men #4, Avengers vs X-Men: Vs #2, Daredevil #13, Invincible Iron Man #517, New Mutants #42, Thunderbolts #174, Ultimate X-Men #12, Venom #18, Winter Soldier #5, X-Factor #236. On top of that, I'm also planning on picking up that Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth one-shot. Adding that all up, it looks as if I'll be picking up 18 comics this week... That's quite a lot of books, actually... Although it IS down from last week, so I guess I should be happy about that... This week's Pick of the Litter is the same as it was two weeks ago, and as it will be two weeks from now... It has to be Avengers vs X-Men #4. There are a lot of other really good looking books here(Avengers Academy #30, Vs #2, Winter Soldier #5, X-Factor #236, etc), but how can I pick against Marvel's big event? Especially since it's actually been delivering the goods storywise? On the other end of the spectrum is this week's Runt of the Litter... That's actually an easy pick, as the comic I'm least looking forward to reading is Avengers #26. So yeah, Avengers vs X-Men is the comic I most want to read and Avengers is the comic I least want to read... Go figure.
Now, the posting schedule for the week is going to be a bit strange... Tonight and tomorrow I'll be posting the final 5 reviews from last week. Come Friday, I'll post reviews for, at the very least, Avengers vs X-Men #4 and Vs #2. I wish I could get those two reviews up sooner, but alas, work and my crazy schedule preclude that from occurring. Later on today, I intend on posting a bunch of scans from the comics I read last week... So yeah, lots of stuff coming up this week. Until then though, Vampire X out.
Now, the posting schedule for the week is going to be a bit strange... Tonight and tomorrow I'll be posting the final 5 reviews from last week. Come Friday, I'll post reviews for, at the very least, Avengers vs X-Men #4 and Vs #2. I wish I could get those two reviews up sooner, but alas, work and my crazy schedule preclude that from occurring. Later on today, I intend on posting a bunch of scans from the comics I read last week... So yeah, lots of stuff coming up this week. Until then though, Vampire X out.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Legion Lost #9
More CULLING(!!!)!!!
Legion Lost #9:
Story Points:
-The combined forces of the Legion Lost crew, Superboy and the Titans can't make a dent against Harvest and his Null Field.
-Harvest REALLY loves talking about his Null Field.
-Harvest keeps dropping hints that he's from the Legion's time, and that he instigated them coming back in time.
-Timberwolf realizes that Kid Flash was from their time period and wants to attack a confused Kid Flash, but is prevented by his teammates.
-Wildfire(presumably the most powerful of the Legion Lost members) unleashes the full force of his powers against Harvest, but Harvest's Null Field(!)(yes, his Null Field now gets an exclamation point as well) holds up, and this issue ends with Harvest telling the two teams to surrender or die.
Thoughts: Again, like with Superboy, I really enjoyed this issue. It was basically one long battle against Harvest, but several tantalizing hints were dropped about Harvest, his motivations and origin, as well as Kid Flash's origin which kept the battle interesting. I did ignore the Rose/Fairchild stuff because it didn't really seem to lead to anything, but they were here as well. I have to say, this storyline is shocking the hell out of me with how strong it is.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Legion Lost #9:
Story Points:
-The combined forces of the Legion Lost crew, Superboy and the Titans can't make a dent against Harvest and his Null Field.
-Harvest REALLY loves talking about his Null Field.
-Harvest keeps dropping hints that he's from the Legion's time, and that he instigated them coming back in time.
-Timberwolf realizes that Kid Flash was from their time period and wants to attack a confused Kid Flash, but is prevented by his teammates.
-Wildfire(presumably the most powerful of the Legion Lost members) unleashes the full force of his powers against Harvest, but Harvest's Null Field(!)(yes, his Null Field now gets an exclamation point as well) holds up, and this issue ends with Harvest telling the two teams to surrender or die.
Thoughts: Again, like with Superboy, I really enjoyed this issue. It was basically one long battle against Harvest, but several tantalizing hints were dropped about Harvest, his motivations and origin, as well as Kid Flash's origin which kept the battle interesting. I did ignore the Rose/Fairchild stuff because it didn't really seem to lead to anything, but they were here as well. I have to say, this storyline is shocking the hell out of me with how strong it is.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Superboy #9
A CULLING(!!!) crossover issue! What more needs to be said!?
Superboy #9:
Story Points:
-Superboy, the Titans and the Legion Lost crew take on Harvest's Ravagers.
-The battle is actually really good and pretty even, with Warblade shining during his battle with SB.
-Eventually the good guys win, and this one ends with Harvest showing up to deal with those meddlesome kids himself.
Thoughts: Well I'll be damned, I liked this issue! This may be the first issue of SB since the reboot that I can actually say that I liked! And it was a part of The CULLING(!!!) too! Go figure. This issue was mainly a lot of mindless violence, and with the prospect of this long-running SB/NOWHERE/Harvest/Teen Titans story seemingly ending soon, that just makes this all the better!
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Superboy #9:
Story Points:
-Superboy, the Titans and the Legion Lost crew take on Harvest's Ravagers.
-The battle is actually really good and pretty even, with Warblade shining during his battle with SB.
-Eventually the good guys win, and this one ends with Harvest showing up to deal with those meddlesome kids himself.
Thoughts: Well I'll be damned, I liked this issue! This may be the first issue of SB since the reboot that I can actually say that I liked! And it was a part of The CULLING(!!!) too! Go figure. This issue was mainly a lot of mindless violence, and with the prospect of this long-running SB/NOWHERE/Harvest/Teen Titans story seemingly ending soon, that just makes this all the better!
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Monday, May 14, 2012
New Avengers #26
Okay, Bendis gave us some really strange story last issue about a girl with red hair and Iron Fist's mystical city. It all had something to do with the Phoenix(I guess...) so let's see how Bendis ties last issue and this one to the greater AvX event.
New Avengers #26(AvX x-over... Supposedly...):
Story Points:
-I don't even know what to say here... Stuff happens in Iron Fist's mystical city before his time.
-Leonardo Da Vinci is involved for some reason.
-The Phoenix has always had a thing for red heads apparently.
-Da Vinci build something to keep the Phoenix away from the random red head...
-This issue was weird.
Thoughts: That cover? The one on this issue? Ignore it, because neither characters appear in this one... As a matter of fact NO Avengers, New or otherwise showed up here... God does Bendis hurt my brain at times... I have NO idea what to give this issue score-wise... I mean it wasn't terrible, but what the hell did it have to do with AvX?!
Score: 5 out of 10.
New Avengers #26(AvX x-over... Supposedly...):
Story Points:
-I don't even know what to say here... Stuff happens in Iron Fist's mystical city before his time.
-Leonardo Da Vinci is involved for some reason.
-The Phoenix has always had a thing for red heads apparently.
-Da Vinci build something to keep the Phoenix away from the random red head...
-This issue was weird.
Thoughts: That cover? The one on this issue? Ignore it, because neither characters appear in this one... As a matter of fact NO Avengers, New or otherwise showed up here... God does Bendis hurt my brain at times... I have NO idea what to give this issue score-wise... I mean it wasn't terrible, but what the hell did it have to do with AvX?!
Score: 5 out of 10.
Journey Into Mystery #637
Okay, the bar for this comic is set REALLY low, as a result of the first part of this storyline. Seriously, it'll be hard for this comic to actually be any worse than Exiled #1!
Journey Into Mystery #637:
Story Points:
-The New Mutants are trying to figure out what happened to the Asgardians when they are teleported to their apartment, seemingly with no memory of what happened...
-Expect for Nate, who has seen his fair share of reality manipulation, and snaps the team out of their trance, getting them back to searching for the Asgardians again.
-Nate is awesome, obviously.
-The New Mutants run into Thor, who thought he was a mechanic, and wouldn't listen to any nonsense from the New Mutants about him being the God of Thunder.
-The team then runs into Loki, who they manage to snap out of the spell since Loki is the trickster god or something like that... *shrugs*
-Loki and the New Mutants go to Sig's apartment where they find Sig's, who gloats about ridding the world of the Desir. He tells Loki and the New Mutants that they'd surely fix things, but that with the Desir gone, he felt smug and safe.
-This one ends with the Desir, apparently remembering everything, eating dogs and such.
Thoughts: Well this issue was 20 times better that the first part of this storyline! I liked the New Mutants role in this one, with them trying to fix the mess with the Asgardians, I liked Loki running around role-playing by himself, and I liked the ending here A LOT. Good stuff.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Journey Into Mystery #637:
Story Points:
-The New Mutants are trying to figure out what happened to the Asgardians when they are teleported to their apartment, seemingly with no memory of what happened...
-Expect for Nate, who has seen his fair share of reality manipulation, and snaps the team out of their trance, getting them back to searching for the Asgardians again.
-Nate is awesome, obviously.
-The New Mutants run into Thor, who thought he was a mechanic, and wouldn't listen to any nonsense from the New Mutants about him being the God of Thunder.
-The team then runs into Loki, who they manage to snap out of the spell since Loki is the trickster god or something like that... *shrugs*
-Loki and the New Mutants go to Sig's apartment where they find Sig's, who gloats about ridding the world of the Desir. He tells Loki and the New Mutants that they'd surely fix things, but that with the Desir gone, he felt smug and safe.
-This one ends with the Desir, apparently remembering everything, eating dogs and such.
Thoughts: Well this issue was 20 times better that the first part of this storyline! I liked the New Mutants role in this one, with them trying to fix the mess with the Asgardians, I liked Loki running around role-playing by himself, and I liked the ending here A LOT. Good stuff.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Avenging Spider-Man #7
Last issue was the first issue of this series I picked up, but since it was a part of a crossover with Daredevil and Punisher, it didn't give me a real feel for this series... This issue should go a long way in telling me if I made a good choice adding this one to my pull list.
Avenging Spider-Man #7:
Story Points:
-Spidey and She-Hulk take down some sort of menace, and not a moment too soon, as Shulkie has a gala to attend at a museum about some Egyptian artifact.
-Spidey really wants to go, seeing as that he's an Egyptophile(I wonder if I made that word up...), but Shulkie shoots him down, since Spidey is, you know, really annoying.
-Shulkie heads to the museum and Spidey angrily follows(stalker...), spotting some mysterious cloaked women entering. Naturally, Spidey enters the building to investigate.
-The women sneak into a room with an artifact and are confronted by Spidey and Shulkie, who defeat the women with ease.
-Upon touching the artifact, Shulkie grows a tail(...) and cats all come rushing into the museum(...).
-A giant Egyptian god appears and demands that Shulkie does it's bidding. Spidey saves the day by pretending to be the herald to a different Egyptian god, stating that Shulkie was working for that god, and that the planet was well in hand.
-With that, the Egyptian god, the cats, and yes, Shulkie's tail disappear.
Thoughts: I liked this issue. It was a good, fun little read. It didn't take a ton of thought, and it was what you'd want/expect out of a She-Hulk/Spider-Man team-up, good, dumb fun. This issue fit that bill perfectly, and as such, I'm one happy vampire.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Avenging Spider-Man #7:
Story Points:
-Spidey and She-Hulk take down some sort of menace, and not a moment too soon, as Shulkie has a gala to attend at a museum about some Egyptian artifact.
-Spidey really wants to go, seeing as that he's an Egyptophile(I wonder if I made that word up...), but Shulkie shoots him down, since Spidey is, you know, really annoying.
-Shulkie heads to the museum and Spidey angrily follows(stalker...), spotting some mysterious cloaked women entering. Naturally, Spidey enters the building to investigate.
-The women sneak into a room with an artifact and are confronted by Spidey and Shulkie, who defeat the women with ease.
-Upon touching the artifact, Shulkie grows a tail(...) and cats all come rushing into the museum(...).
-A giant Egyptian god appears and demands that Shulkie does it's bidding. Spidey saves the day by pretending to be the herald to a different Egyptian god, stating that Shulkie was working for that god, and that the planet was well in hand.
-With that, the Egyptian god, the cats, and yes, Shulkie's tail disappear.
Thoughts: I liked this issue. It was a good, fun little read. It didn't take a ton of thought, and it was what you'd want/expect out of a She-Hulk/Spider-Man team-up, good, dumb fun. This issue fit that bill perfectly, and as such, I'm one happy vampire.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Uncanny X-Force #25
This is a $5 comic, so it better be really good! That is all.
Uncanny X-Force #25:
Story Points:
-Wolverine sends Deadpool into some sort of high tech assassin dealership, where they customize assassins to go after particular targets.
-Psylocke tells Fantomex that what they had was a one night stand and absolutely nothing else. Fantomex is devastated.
-Psylocke tells Wolvie she was leaving the team, since she'd been battered recently with the death of Warren(kind of...) and her brother Jamie.
-Fantomex leaves as well, claiming it was the lack of Warren's money, with the obvious reason being Psylocke leaving.
-AOA Nightcrawler decides he'd stay on.
-Pool gets in trouble and calls for back-up, at which time Wolvie and Nightcrawler are attacked by some lab-grown versions of Omega Red called the Omega Clan, who all seem to hate Wolvie.
Thoughts: This was a welcome issue after the junk we've been dealing with as of late... We got to see that Psylocke IS really hurting as a result of everything that happened to her recently, we saw that Fantomex DOES seem to care more about Psylocke than as a conquest, and we see that AOA Nightcrawler seems to want to stay in this world. This was a really strong first issue for this storyline, although it sure as hell wasn't worth the $5 Marvel was selling it for... Ah Marvel...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Uncanny X-Force #25:
Story Points:
-Wolverine sends Deadpool into some sort of high tech assassin dealership, where they customize assassins to go after particular targets.
-Psylocke tells Fantomex that what they had was a one night stand and absolutely nothing else. Fantomex is devastated.
-Psylocke tells Wolvie she was leaving the team, since she'd been battered recently with the death of Warren(kind of...) and her brother Jamie.
-Fantomex leaves as well, claiming it was the lack of Warren's money, with the obvious reason being Psylocke leaving.
-AOA Nightcrawler decides he'd stay on.
-Pool gets in trouble and calls for back-up, at which time Wolvie and Nightcrawler are attacked by some lab-grown versions of Omega Red called the Omega Clan, who all seem to hate Wolvie.
Thoughts: This was a welcome issue after the junk we've been dealing with as of late... We got to see that Psylocke IS really hurting as a result of everything that happened to her recently, we saw that Fantomex DOES seem to care more about Psylocke than as a conquest, and we see that AOA Nightcrawler seems to want to stay in this world. This was a really strong first issue for this storyline, although it sure as hell wasn't worth the $5 Marvel was selling it for... Ah Marvel...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Captain America #11
Man, I am TOTALLY blanking on this issue... I can see that I gave it a VERY high score, but I'm having a tough time remembering anything... Oh well, hopefully once I start typing it'll all come rushing back to me...
Captain America #11:
Story Points:
-A new Scourge is running around killing criminals... Criminals who were in the witness protection program.
-Cap sends Diamondback and Dum Dum Dugan to investigate, because when you need a case solved, look to the guy named “Dum Dum”...
-Cap brings three agents into his office and demands to know which one had been leaking the locations of the hidden criminals. One of the agents screams, “Hail Hydra”, thus outing himself and leaps out a window. Cap follows, but the Hydra sleeper takes some poison, killing himself.
-While protecting a member of the Serpent Society/Squad, Diamondback and Dum Dum are attacked by the Scourge. He handles the two heroes with little problem, and this one ends with Diamondback recognizing Scourge's voice.
Thoughts: I did like this issue, and I DID start to remember what happened in it as I started typing, so hurrah for me! So yes, Cap is STILL dealing with the Hydra Queen and Bravo, but they didn't actually appear in this one, which is a huge plus for me. Oh, and one more thing... Please, please, please let this Scourge be Jack Monroe(Nomad)... It wouldn't be the first time he was the Scourge, Diamondback WOULD know his voice, and I really want him to come back...
Score: 9 out of 10.
Captain America #11:
Story Points:
-A new Scourge is running around killing criminals... Criminals who were in the witness protection program.
-Cap sends Diamondback and Dum Dum Dugan to investigate, because when you need a case solved, look to the guy named “Dum Dum”...
-Cap brings three agents into his office and demands to know which one had been leaking the locations of the hidden criminals. One of the agents screams, “Hail Hydra”, thus outing himself and leaps out a window. Cap follows, but the Hydra sleeper takes some poison, killing himself.
-While protecting a member of the Serpent Society/Squad, Diamondback and Dum Dum are attacked by the Scourge. He handles the two heroes with little problem, and this one ends with Diamondback recognizing Scourge's voice.
Thoughts: I did like this issue, and I DID start to remember what happened in it as I started typing, so hurrah for me! So yes, Cap is STILL dealing with the Hydra Queen and Bravo, but they didn't actually appear in this one, which is a huge plus for me. Oh, and one more thing... Please, please, please let this Scourge be Jack Monroe(Nomad)... It wouldn't be the first time he was the Scourge, Diamondback WOULD know his voice, and I really want him to come back...
Score: 9 out of 10.
X-Men Legacy #266
It's AvX time! You had to know it was coming at some point during the week! Well, let's get to it.
X-Men Legacy #266(AvX x-over issue):
Story Points:
-Rachel and Iceman decide to join up with Lord Summers and his Brotherhood. The rest of the staff is either undecided or would rather watch the students.
-Falcon, She-Hulk and Moon Knight head to the school and complain about Iceman and Rachel assisting Lord Summers.
-Rogue basically tells the trio of Avengers that the two were their own people and could make whatever choices they wanted, at which point the Avengers decide they wanted to watch the school... What jerks!
-Rogue agrees, but tells the Avengers to stay 100 yards away so as to not instigate the kids or staff. The Avengers agree and go 101 yards away... Again, what jerks!
-Frenzy heads over to the Avengers and taunts Moon Knight, causing him to attack. Rogue spots this and heads out to play peacemaker.
-Hellion, Match and Glob Herman figure that Rogue and Frenzy had been attacked and rush over to assist their teachers.
-She-Hulk does the Hulk-clap at the kids, injuring Hellion and royally pissing Rogue off, causing her to attack the Avengers for real.
-Falcon calls in his secret weapon, and this issue ends with Iron Man(!) responding to Falcon's distress signal.
Thoughts: Wow, this was the first time the Avengers were written in a totally unlikable way! Kudos to Christos Gage for doing the impossible and getting me to look at the Avengers in a different(and negative) light. Who are they to decide to put a school in lockdown because TWO(and only two!) members of the staff headed off to help Lord Summers and his Brotherhood?! That seemed very heavy-handed of the Avengers and kind of unacceptable. It's not like the entire school joined the Brotherhood, it was only TWO people, and two people with very strong ties to Lord Summers(Iceman was an original X-Man with Lord Summers while Rachel is his alternate daughter). The Avengers showing up, and the fact that they were led by Falcon(which leads me to believe they were sent by Captain America himself), continues to show the cracks forming in Captain America's leadership and the way he's dealing with this event. All around good stuff here.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
X-Men Legacy #266(AvX x-over issue):
Story Points:
-Rachel and Iceman decide to join up with Lord Summers and his Brotherhood. The rest of the staff is either undecided or would rather watch the students.
-Falcon, She-Hulk and Moon Knight head to the school and complain about Iceman and Rachel assisting Lord Summers.
-Rogue basically tells the trio of Avengers that the two were their own people and could make whatever choices they wanted, at which point the Avengers decide they wanted to watch the school... What jerks!
-Rogue agrees, but tells the Avengers to stay 100 yards away so as to not instigate the kids or staff. The Avengers agree and go 101 yards away... Again, what jerks!
-Frenzy heads over to the Avengers and taunts Moon Knight, causing him to attack. Rogue spots this and heads out to play peacemaker.
-Hellion, Match and Glob Herman figure that Rogue and Frenzy had been attacked and rush over to assist their teachers.
-She-Hulk does the Hulk-clap at the kids, injuring Hellion and royally pissing Rogue off, causing her to attack the Avengers for real.
-Falcon calls in his secret weapon, and this issue ends with Iron Man(!) responding to Falcon's distress signal.
Thoughts: Wow, this was the first time the Avengers were written in a totally unlikable way! Kudos to Christos Gage for doing the impossible and getting me to look at the Avengers in a different(and negative) light. Who are they to decide to put a school in lockdown because TWO(and only two!) members of the staff headed off to help Lord Summers and his Brotherhood?! That seemed very heavy-handed of the Avengers and kind of unacceptable. It's not like the entire school joined the Brotherhood, it was only TWO people, and two people with very strong ties to Lord Summers(Iceman was an original X-Man with Lord Summers while Rachel is his alternate daughter). The Avengers showing up, and the fact that they were led by Falcon(which leads me to believe they were sent by Captain America himself), continues to show the cracks forming in Captain America's leadership and the way he's dealing with this event. All around good stuff here.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #91
We'll stick with Image and tackle the latest issue of Invincible.
Invincible #91:
Story Points:
-Invincible and Dinosaurus(in his human form) are hiding out in Dinosaurus's base.
-Eve learns from Thragg that Dinosaurus absconded with Invincible, and sets out with find him with Bulletproof, Allen and Oliver.
-The quartet do find Invincible, but by this point Dinosaurus has turned back to himself and naturally, we get a misunderstanding.
-Invincible tries to stop the fight by punching somebody(I forget who, maybe Allen?) and his arm shatters, revealing to him, us and the rest of the characters, that his powers seemed to gone.
Thoughts: Another good comic in a long line of them for me this week... Awesome! I loved the reveal that Invincible wasn't exactly Invincible anymore, and look forward to seeing what that leads to going forward... Maybe the Scourge Virus DID have a lasting effect on him? Anyway, this was a good issue, with a good cliffhanger. No complaints from me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #91:
Story Points:
-Invincible and Dinosaurus(in his human form) are hiding out in Dinosaurus's base.
-Eve learns from Thragg that Dinosaurus absconded with Invincible, and sets out with find him with Bulletproof, Allen and Oliver.
-The quartet do find Invincible, but by this point Dinosaurus has turned back to himself and naturally, we get a misunderstanding.
-Invincible tries to stop the fight by punching somebody(I forget who, maybe Allen?) and his arm shatters, revealing to him, us and the rest of the characters, that his powers seemed to gone.
Thoughts: Another good comic in a long line of them for me this week... Awesome! I loved the reveal that Invincible wasn't exactly Invincible anymore, and look forward to seeing what that leads to going forward... Maybe the Scourge Virus DID have a lasting effect on him? Anyway, this was a good issue, with a good cliffhanger. No complaints from me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Morning Glories #18
Ah, here's probably my favorite non Marvel series on the market today! Let's see what type of awesomeness Nick Spencer brings us here.
Morning Glories #18:
Story Points:
-Jun gets attacked by his no good brother.
-Jun is saved by a kid named Guillaume, who Jun knows from the past...
-Flashback time! Guillaume and eventually Jun were sent to Morning Glories Academy to bring it down and/or rescue Abraham, who had trained both boys. Guillaume was a bully to Jun back then, but apparently he was bullying Jun to get Jun's attention...
-Back in the present, Guillaume tells Jun that he had made it turn to night and made the teachers disappear.
-While in a classroom, Jun and Guillaume make out, and then some!
-The two are interrupted when the hear Jun's brother roaming around the halls with his goons.
-Jun's brother is planning to sacrifice a goat, which screws with Guillaume's plans, so he has to retreat to the woods to meet with his contact(I think...).
-This one ends with Zoe standing over that girl she stabbed a few issues back.
Thoughts: Okay, first things first, I love the reveal that Jun is gay. Jun was probably one of, if not the most boring student in this series, so him being gay, and having a lover in Guillaume actually makes him into a more complete character, so I liked that a lot. Story-wise though, this issue was kind of everywhere... Sure, the character development with Jun was great, but I have NO idea what was going on with Guillaume, or Zoe, or, well, anything else. But here's hoping that gets fixed up some the next issue, which is the conclusion to this storyline.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Morning Glories #18:
Story Points:
-Jun gets attacked by his no good brother.
-Jun is saved by a kid named Guillaume, who Jun knows from the past...
-Flashback time! Guillaume and eventually Jun were sent to Morning Glories Academy to bring it down and/or rescue Abraham, who had trained both boys. Guillaume was a bully to Jun back then, but apparently he was bullying Jun to get Jun's attention...
-Back in the present, Guillaume tells Jun that he had made it turn to night and made the teachers disappear.
-While in a classroom, Jun and Guillaume make out, and then some!
-The two are interrupted when the hear Jun's brother roaming around the halls with his goons.
-Jun's brother is planning to sacrifice a goat, which screws with Guillaume's plans, so he has to retreat to the woods to meet with his contact(I think...).
-This one ends with Zoe standing over that girl she stabbed a few issues back.
Thoughts: Okay, first things first, I love the reveal that Jun is gay. Jun was probably one of, if not the most boring student in this series, so him being gay, and having a lover in Guillaume actually makes him into a more complete character, so I liked that a lot. Story-wise though, this issue was kind of everywhere... Sure, the character development with Jun was great, but I have NO idea what was going on with Guillaume, or Zoe, or, well, anything else. But here's hoping that gets fixed up some the next issue, which is the conclusion to this storyline.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Batman and Robin #9
Now we'll see what that murderous little scamp, Damian is up to during the Night of Owls stuff.
Batman and Robin #9:
Story Points:
-Damian is sent to protect a member of the Gotham City(New Jersey?) National Guard.
-Naturally, the Guardsmen aren't keen on the idea of a 10 year old sneaking onto their base, at least until a Talon attacks.
-The Talon shrugs off being shot, and kills several Guardsmen, with Damian managing to get the target away.
-The Talon follows, but the Guardsmen regroup and follow Damian's lead as he calls strategy.
-Damian's tactics work, as he manages to decapitate the Talon, which is an injury I'm pretty sure it won't be coming back from.
Thoughts: This was another good read, probably a bit better than Batman #9 in my opinion. Yeah, this comic DID make the National Guard look like a bunch of scrubs(a 10 year old was leading them!!! they couldn't beat ONE man!!!), but there was a part of me that enjoyed seeing Damian in a military situation... In a way, that's where he belongs. Plus this issue gave Damian another kill(granted, against a reanimated corpse, but still), bringing his kill total up to 2 for the series. Go Damian!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Batman and Robin #9:
Story Points:
-Damian is sent to protect a member of the Gotham City(New Jersey?) National Guard.
-Naturally, the Guardsmen aren't keen on the idea of a 10 year old sneaking onto their base, at least until a Talon attacks.
-The Talon shrugs off being shot, and kills several Guardsmen, with Damian managing to get the target away.
-The Talon follows, but the Guardsmen regroup and follow Damian's lead as he calls strategy.
-Damian's tactics work, as he manages to decapitate the Talon, which is an injury I'm pretty sure it won't be coming back from.
Thoughts: This was another good read, probably a bit better than Batman #9 in my opinion. Yeah, this comic DID make the National Guard look like a bunch of scrubs(a 10 year old was leading them!!! they couldn't beat ONE man!!!), but there was a part of me that enjoyed seeing Damian in a military situation... In a way, that's where he belongs. Plus this issue gave Damian another kill(granted, against a reanimated corpse, but still), bringing his kill total up to 2 for the series. Go Damian!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Batman #9
Time to go to the DCU, starting with Batman.
Batman #9:
Story Points:
-Batman and the Talons battle in the Batcave, while Bats waits for the temperature to drop low enough to put the Talons into hibernation.
-That gamble works, but nearly gets Bats killed by the plethora of Talons.
-Bats heads out to the nearest living person the Talons had targeted, Lincoln March.
-Bats is too late, and March is dying, but lives long enough to give a dramatic last speech, basically telling Bats to tell Bruce Wayne to continue trying to drag Gotham upward to the future.
-March also tells Bats that he had narrowed down the leader of the Court of Owls(see, I told you his death scene was long!) and gives Bats three names.
-This one ends with Bats declaring he'd take the battle to the Court's home now.
Thoughts: Not bad. I still don't see why this story is encompassing more than just Batman, but DC needs a x-over to compete with AvX, I guess. This issue was, as usual, good. It wasn't great, and I haven't the slightest how March was able to track the Court down to three names when Bats couldn't(unless March IS a member of the Owls and is trying to get rid of his fellow bird-brains by faking his death), but it was a better than average comic book.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Batman #9:
Story Points:
-Batman and the Talons battle in the Batcave, while Bats waits for the temperature to drop low enough to put the Talons into hibernation.
-That gamble works, but nearly gets Bats killed by the plethora of Talons.
-Bats heads out to the nearest living person the Talons had targeted, Lincoln March.
-Bats is too late, and March is dying, but lives long enough to give a dramatic last speech, basically telling Bats to tell Bruce Wayne to continue trying to drag Gotham upward to the future.
-March also tells Bats that he had narrowed down the leader of the Court of Owls(see, I told you his death scene was long!) and gives Bats three names.
-This one ends with Bats declaring he'd take the battle to the Court's home now.
Thoughts: Not bad. I still don't see why this story is encompassing more than just Batman, but DC needs a x-over to compete with AvX, I guess. This issue was, as usual, good. It wasn't great, and I haven't the slightest how March was able to track the Court down to three names when Bats couldn't(unless March IS a member of the Owls and is trying to get rid of his fellow bird-brains by faking his death), but it was a better than average comic book.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Avengers Assemble #3
(As a note, you should probably check out THIS post first for an explanation of what's going on here)
Really, all I can say here is which Bendis will we get? Good Bendis, who can write a good story, or bad Bendis, whose dialogue gets TOTALLY out of control? We shall see...
Avengers Assemble #3:
Story Points:
-The Avengers and the Zodiac battle, with the prize being the Ultimate Nullifier.
-Cap has the Black Widow take the Nullifier and hide, while the rest of the Avengers try to deal with the Zodiac.
-Hulk manages to beat one of the Zodiac so badly they lose their powers, at which point Iron Man realizes the Zodiac's powers were being beamed to them.
-Iron Man rigs up a device to disrupt the powers being sent to the Zodiac, thus depowering them.
-The Avengers demand to know who was supplying the Zodiac with their powers, at which time THANOS shows up(!!!), ending this one!
Thoughts: Yeah, the ending totally saved this one for me! The Thanos revelation was excellent, and actually makes sense story-wise, so props to Bendis for that. The Ultimate Nullifier not only destroys whatever it's aimed at, it also destroys the user, so it makes perfect sense that Thanos would want it(through the Zodiac as his minions), as it could, possibly, end his life, as well as several others. Sure, this one dragged in the middle, and the dialogue did get a bit crazy at times, but or a Bendis comic? This one was pretty good, with a damn good ending.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Really, all I can say here is which Bendis will we get? Good Bendis, who can write a good story, or bad Bendis, whose dialogue gets TOTALLY out of control? We shall see...
Avengers Assemble #3:
Story Points:
-The Avengers and the Zodiac battle, with the prize being the Ultimate Nullifier.
-Cap has the Black Widow take the Nullifier and hide, while the rest of the Avengers try to deal with the Zodiac.
-Hulk manages to beat one of the Zodiac so badly they lose their powers, at which point Iron Man realizes the Zodiac's powers were being beamed to them.
-Iron Man rigs up a device to disrupt the powers being sent to the Zodiac, thus depowering them.
-The Avengers demand to know who was supplying the Zodiac with their powers, at which time THANOS shows up(!!!), ending this one!
Thoughts: Yeah, the ending totally saved this one for me! The Thanos revelation was excellent, and actually makes sense story-wise, so props to Bendis for that. The Ultimate Nullifier not only destroys whatever it's aimed at, it also destroys the user, so it makes perfect sense that Thanos would want it(through the Zodiac as his minions), as it could, possibly, end his life, as well as several others. Sure, this one dragged in the middle, and the dialogue did get a bit crazy at times, but or a Bendis comic? This one was pretty good, with a damn good ending.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Deadpool #54
(As a note, you should probably check out THIS post first for an explanation of what's going on here)
Last issue Deadpool got his wish and lost his healing factor, becoming mortal... However, doing so has left his only friend, Hydra Bob, to the mercies of Tombstone... What's a Merc with a Mouth to do?
Deadpool #54:
Story Points:
-Pool, not wanting to die anymore due to the fact that Hydra Bob would certainly die the moment Pool was gone, convinces Wolverine and X-Force to give him three days to try to set everything right with Bob and Tombstone.
-Tombstone tries, and fails to kill Pool and Bob, with Pool telling Tombstone that Tombstone wasn't good enough to kill Pool... Oh, burn!
-Pool and Bob take off their masks in order to hide amongst the public, since without his healing factor, Pool looks perfectly normal.
-This one ends with Tombstone offering a team-up with Kingpin to get Pool, but being turned down after Kingpin learned from Daken that Tombstone had played everybody. Kingpin sends the Hand after Tombstone.
Thoughts: I liked this issue a lot, actually! It leaves all sorts of doors open with Pool, since he now looks normal, has no healing factor, but still has all of his skills. There are A LOT of ways Dan Way can go with Pool's story now. If anything, that healing factor had become a crutch story-wise, so I hope Pool doesn't get it back immediately, especially now since he doesn't want to die. Oh yeah, and hopefully this means MORE Bob!!!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Last issue Deadpool got his wish and lost his healing factor, becoming mortal... However, doing so has left his only friend, Hydra Bob, to the mercies of Tombstone... What's a Merc with a Mouth to do?
Deadpool #54:
Story Points:
-Pool, not wanting to die anymore due to the fact that Hydra Bob would certainly die the moment Pool was gone, convinces Wolverine and X-Force to give him three days to try to set everything right with Bob and Tombstone.
-Tombstone tries, and fails to kill Pool and Bob, with Pool telling Tombstone that Tombstone wasn't good enough to kill Pool... Oh, burn!
-Pool and Bob take off their masks in order to hide amongst the public, since without his healing factor, Pool looks perfectly normal.
-This one ends with Tombstone offering a team-up with Kingpin to get Pool, but being turned down after Kingpin learned from Daken that Tombstone had played everybody. Kingpin sends the Hand after Tombstone.
Thoughts: I liked this issue a lot, actually! It leaves all sorts of doors open with Pool, since he now looks normal, has no healing factor, but still has all of his skills. There are A LOT of ways Dan Way can go with Pool's story now. If anything, that healing factor had become a crutch story-wise, so I hope Pool doesn't get it back immediately, especially now since he doesn't want to die. Oh yeah, and hopefully this means MORE Bob!!!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Captain America and Hawkeye #630
(As a note, you should probably check out THIS post first for an explanation of what's going on here)
The first review of the week is none other than this week's Pick of the Litter, Captain America and Hawkeye. With a title like that, how CAN'T that be this week's Pick?! Anyway, this is the first review I'll be doing from work, so I won't be able to add a scan or get too in depth with the review, as I'm going by memory since the comic books are at home right now... So in other words, this should be a real mess!
Captain America and Hawkeye #630:
Story Points:
-Cap and Hawkeye battle symbiote-possessed dinosaur people(really...)
-The two wind up getting separated when Hawkeye tries to take some heat off of Cap with an explosive arrow.
-Cap bumps into the leader of the dinosaurs, some goof named... um, Stegon(or something, I'm doing this from memory!). Stegon(or whatever his name is) tries to convince Cap that he was doing something righteous by mutating people into dinosaurs or something...
-Hawkeye bumbles around the depths of the caverns, using his stealth to remain unnoticed.
-This issue ends with Cap, now possessed by the dinosaur symbiote stuff, attacking poor Hawkeye.
Thoughts: Eh, I didn't enjoy this issue nearly as much as the prior one. The thing I loved about the last issue was the spot on dialogue, here, Cap and Clint were barely together, so that awesome banter was nowhere to be found. Other then that, the story isn't that gripping, what with Stegon(or whatever his name is) making symbiote dinosaurs and the research company secretly being up to no good(to the shock of nobody!)... So while this issue wasn't awful, it wasn't great either...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
The first review of the week is none other than this week's Pick of the Litter, Captain America and Hawkeye. With a title like that, how CAN'T that be this week's Pick?! Anyway, this is the first review I'll be doing from work, so I won't be able to add a scan or get too in depth with the review, as I'm going by memory since the comic books are at home right now... So in other words, this should be a real mess!
Captain America and Hawkeye #630:
Story Points:
-Cap and Hawkeye battle symbiote-possessed dinosaur people(really...)
-The two wind up getting separated when Hawkeye tries to take some heat off of Cap with an explosive arrow.
-Cap bumps into the leader of the dinosaurs, some goof named... um, Stegon(or something, I'm doing this from memory!). Stegon(or whatever his name is) tries to convince Cap that he was doing something righteous by mutating people into dinosaurs or something...
-Hawkeye bumbles around the depths of the caverns, using his stealth to remain unnoticed.
-This issue ends with Cap, now possessed by the dinosaur symbiote stuff, attacking poor Hawkeye.
Thoughts: Eh, I didn't enjoy this issue nearly as much as the prior one. The thing I loved about the last issue was the spot on dialogue, here, Cap and Clint were barely together, so that awesome banter was nowhere to be found. Other then that, the story isn't that gripping, what with Stegon(or whatever his name is) making symbiote dinosaurs and the research company secretly being up to no good(to the shock of nobody!)... So while this issue wasn't awful, it wasn't great either...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
A Post!
So I managed to type up 8 “reviews”(and I'll explain the quotation marks in a few...) at work earlier today/last night. But here's the thing, I was pretty bare-bones with the actual reviewing due to, you know, limited time and only having an hour and not having the comics on hand and such. I also won't be able to post any scans for said comics, due to the fact that I didn't have my scanner with me at work. I MIGHT try to scan every comic I read and then just do a post(or two) of scans towards the end of the week(on one of my two days off), but we'll see how it goes. Consider the reviews I post later on today(say in about 12 hours) the beta test for what the blog will look like going forward. Naturally, comments and recommendations are appreciated on the upcoming reviews, as I'll use them to try to continue testing things out until I'm happy with what I post. That's it for me, the sun is out, therefore I have to go to sleep. Until later, Vampire X out.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
New Comic Day! May 9th edition.
Hey X-Maniacs, Vampire X here to welcome you all to brand new New Comic Day post! Huzzah!! Now, I'm typing this up at 4 in the morning, and will set it to post sometime Wednesday afternoon because I'll almost definitely be sleeping. When I wake up, I plan on hitting the comic book shop, that way I'll have all of my new comics to read during my hour break while I'm at work tonight. Here's the thing though... If I read all my books tonight, I won't have the time to type up any posts, which means I won't have anything new up tonight OR tomorrow night... However, I WILL try to type up as many posts as humanly possibly Thursday night. That way I'll have SOMETHING to post Friday. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, aren't I? Hows about we first check to see exactly what I'll be coming home with from the comic shop! Batman #9, Grifter #9, Superboy #9, Fatale #5(I won't be reading this yet), Invincible #91, Thief of Thieves #4, Walking Dead #97(I won't be reading this yet), Avengers Assemble #3, Avenging Spider-Man #7, Captain America #11, Captain America and Hawkeye #630, Deadpool #54, Journey Into Mystery #637, Scarlet Spider #5, Ultimate X-Men #11, Uncanny X-Force #25, Wolverine #306, Wolverine and the X-Men #10, X-Men Legacy #266 On top of that, I'm also planning on picking up Legion Lost #9 and New Avengers #26, which aren't on my pull list... So in other words, it's entirely possible that I'll be buying 22 comics this week... Needless to say, it's times like this that raise really comes in handy! The weird thing about this week, and all of those comics, is the fact that there's not one that REALLY stands out... I guess we'll go with Captain America and Hawkeye #630 as this week's Pick of the Litter... I gave the prior issue a perfect score, so here's hoping that trend of perfection continues. As for this week's Runt, I'll go with Wolverine and the X-Men #10... I just haven't been able to get into this series yet, and I don't expect that to change here. And that'll do it. I have NO idea exactly when I'll post the first reviews for this week, or how many I'll post when I do... Things are very much in the air this week. On the plus side, once I see how things work out this week, I'll know what to expect over the next couple of weeks. Until later, Vampire X out.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #5
One more review this week, and it's probably the comic I least wanted to pick up from the comic shop last Wednesday... And yet it wasn't my Runt of the Litter... Go figure. Anyway, if not for the fact that I had picked up the other four issues of this mini-series(and since I'm a compulsive collector I'm pretty much obligated to finish the series), there's no way I'd buy this one. So with that rousing endorsement, let's get to the review!
Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #5(of 5):
Summary: Quintin Quire's attempt at shutting down the VR world he created(and subsequently got himself, Wolverine and Armor trapped in) by pushing the off button winds up failing. Now totally desperate and running out of ideas, Quintin tells Wolvie to kill him, figuring that if he died in the VR world, it would shut down and free everybody... Of course, Quintin has no clue as to what doing this would do to his mind/body in the real world... Naturally, Wolvie complies and drives his claws through Quintin, which does indeed free the three from the VR world. Quintin ends up waking up fine, and begins to pack his stuff, figuring for sure this would get him expelled and sent to prison by Wolvie. Instead, Wolvie tells Quintin his punishment would be to help Wolvie build up stronger mental defenses, which Quintin smugly agrees to.
Thoughts: Yeah, sure. Let the guy who screwed with your head to begin with train you to have stronger mental defenses, because there's NO way he'd know how to circumvent said defenses... Poor, stupid Wolvie... Anyway, this issue wasn't terrible, which is the best thing I can say about it. I didn't care enough about the story to care how it ended, especially since we knew that there would be no real ramifications coming out of it, what with Quintin being a major part of Wolvie and the X-Men and Wolvie being Wolvie and all. In the end, this issue better than I ever expected it to be, so I'd consider that a win, although it doesn't save this mini from being one of the worst ones I've read so far this year.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Snikt!
Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #5(of 5):
Summary: Quintin Quire's attempt at shutting down the VR world he created(and subsequently got himself, Wolverine and Armor trapped in) by pushing the off button winds up failing. Now totally desperate and running out of ideas, Quintin tells Wolvie to kill him, figuring that if he died in the VR world, it would shut down and free everybody... Of course, Quintin has no clue as to what doing this would do to his mind/body in the real world... Naturally, Wolvie complies and drives his claws through Quintin, which does indeed free the three from the VR world. Quintin ends up waking up fine, and begins to pack his stuff, figuring for sure this would get him expelled and sent to prison by Wolvie. Instead, Wolvie tells Quintin his punishment would be to help Wolvie build up stronger mental defenses, which Quintin smugly agrees to.
Thoughts: Yeah, sure. Let the guy who screwed with your head to begin with train you to have stronger mental defenses, because there's NO way he'd know how to circumvent said defenses... Poor, stupid Wolvie... Anyway, this issue wasn't terrible, which is the best thing I can say about it. I didn't care enough about the story to care how it ended, especially since we knew that there would be no real ramifications coming out of it, what with Quintin being a major part of Wolvie and the X-Men and Wolvie being Wolvie and all. In the end, this issue better than I ever expected it to be, so I'd consider that a win, although it doesn't save this mini from being one of the worst ones I've read so far this year.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Snikt!
Ch-ch-changes.
So I'm actually typing this up at 2:21AM and am on my lunch break at work. As I mentioned before, I was offered a full-time spot at the job I'm working at, at a higher pay rate! However, it's not all flowers and sunshine, since I'll be working overnight, and sleeping most of the day. In other words, I've become a vampire! Just without the flawless looks. And constant craving for blood. Now, this backwards way I'll be living until the next promotion/job change is going to obviously have some major ramifications for the blog... For one thing, my posts are going to become very sporadic. I'll be able to read the comics I get during my lunch breaks, and possibly even type up a quick review, but I won't be able to add scans or post anything until I get home from work. Sadly, I can see the blog suffering a lot from my added job responsibilities... Hopefully not to the point where I'll have to call it quits, but you never know... Worry not though, I've been doing this blog for a good 4 years now, I'm sure I'll figure something out. I just figured I'd let you guys know what was up and to expect lots of changes to my blogging schedule over the next few days/weeks... Well, that's it, the sun has risen so I'll be heading to sleep now, until later, Vampire X out.