Ultimates #16

So last issue Captain America won the emergency presidential election.  That actually gained the Ultimate Marvel Universe some serious mainstream attention(for the first time in a while).  Now we see if Sam Humphries and the rest of the Ultimate crew can make this thing work.

Ultimates #16:

Summary: This issue opens with Cap giving a speech stating he's willing to answer the call of the people and take on the job of president.  After being sworn in, Cap takes off in a jet to try to fix the mess the country has become.  That angers Carol Danvers, who wants Cap to return to the temporary White House, but Cap just tells her to deal with the political crap as his Chief of Staff, while he goes about reuniting the country. With that, Cap takes Thor and Iron Man and they rapidly put an end to the hostilities between North and South Carolina.  Cap then sends Iron Man to the West Coast Nation to convince them to reenter the Union, which Iron Man succeeds in doing.  He asks Thor to head to Wyoming, where a top secret SHIELD facility had fallen off the grid, however, Thor wants to investigate an Asgardian rune that was found in Texas.  Cap tells him the most important thing was to secure the weapons in Wyoming, so Thor dutifully heads off...  Cap hops back in his jet to deal with the Dictator of Detroit and gets a call from Senator Underwood, who tells Cap to stop running around unilaterally and get back to Washington to do things with talk and compromise, not force.  Cap blows him off and continues his mission to bring the country back together.  Underwood gets in touch with acting head of SHIELD, Marvin Flumm(in the 616, Mentallo), and since they were working with the mysterious Morez, who wanted Wyoming left alone so his Hydra forces could ransack it, Underwood tells Flumm to shoot Cap's jet down with a missile.  Flumm fires the missile and Black Widow appears, having been spying on Flumm's conversation with Underwood at a miniature size thanks to Pym particles.  While Widow and Flumm fight, the missile system announces a successful hit, but Cap storms in the room and tells Flumm that the missile had been tricked into hitting nothing by Stark Tech.  With that, Cap destroys Flumm for betraying the country, and you know, trying to assassinate the President of the United States, before calling Underwood and telling him that his time was over, which leads to a defeated Underwood resigning(with the help of a little arm twisting by Hawkeye).  In Wyoming, Morez is annoyed by Underwood's resignation, but has already entered the Wyoming base and was looking over the weapons with the leader of Hydra.  Morez senses Thor nearby and tells the Hydra leader to leave him alone, at which time Thor walks in, figuring Morez was Loki, which would explain why he was sowing such chaos throughout the nation.  But wait!  This issue ends with Morez revealing that he wasn't Loki, but was actually Modi, Thor's son!

Thoughts: Hey, you know what, I really enjoyed this comic!  Issue #1 of the Captain America as POTUS era was a success in my opinion.  I liked Cap basically blowing off all of the politicians and continuing to act as Captain America, a man of action, not President Rogers, a guy sitting in an office signing paperwork.  So yeah, all the Cap stuff was great, as was the way the other Ultimates were used.  Widow being named head of SHIELD, Hawkeye intimidating Underwood into resigning, Iron Man talking to the Silicon Valley jerks and getting them to come back to the Union, and of course Thor...  See, I dropped the Ultimates series a few issues back because I can't stand Jonathan Hickman's writing(for the most part).  The only thing I did like that he did was put Thor's son away in the World Tree, and I'm happy to see Thor's kid popping up here, especially as a villain, because that can lead to a lot of good...  Especially since he seems to be the only person left with Asgardian power thanks to Thor's actions(I think Thor is still using armor that was designed by Iron Man to imitate Asgardian powers) back when EVIL Reed Richards was killing all of the Asgardians.  But yeah, this issue was really, really good, and the future looks damn bright here.

Score: 9 out of 10.

I'd vote for him.

Aquaman #0

Hey guys and gals, after reading and absolutely hating Deadpool, and being able to sum up the entire issue of Invincible in one sentence, I figured I'd review something with more substance, instead of throwing up a review that was a paragraph long, including my thoughts. So, I've decided to sub out Deadpool and Invincible for Aquaman and Batman: The Dark Knight. Hopefully these can save a crappy month of Zero Issues (GL and Shazam excluded).

Aquaman #0

Summary: Our story starts six years ago, because continuity in DC is supposedly important although it isn't... We see that Arthur Curry's dad was attacked by Black Manta, which was payback for Arthur inadvertently killing Manta's dad, as we saw a few issues ago. As Arthur's dad dies, he asks his son to go to Atlantis and tell Arthur's mom that he loves her, as his dying wish. After Arthur's dad dies, we see Arthur at home as a bunch of reporters stand outside, yelling for him to come out and answer questions, not even caring that his father's funeral is today. An upset Arthur runs out of the door stating that he knows he's not one of them now, I guess because of the lack of compassion they showed, as he dives into the sea. We see Arthur swimming for what i would guess is days, looking for Atlantis, when a boat with a young woman and her father are about to crash into a bunch of rocks. Arthur stops the boat using his superhuman strength and stays with the family until morning. The daughter, Jayne, asks how Arthur was able to do that, and after a bit of prodding he says that he's an Atlantean, and he's looking for his mother, the Queen of Atlantis. Jayne's dad says he knows a man who used to claim he was from Atlantis but everyone thought he was crazy, he tells Arthur about the man's last known location and Arthur goes to see him. When Arthur meets the man known as Vulko, Vulko recognizes him immediately as the son of the Queen of Atlantis. He explains how When Arthur's parents met and his mom got pregnant, she wanted to live on land but was imprisoned by her own people. She escaped long enough to give birth and left Arthur with his dad and returned to Atlantis, where she was forced to marry a suitor. While married she gave birth to a second son, Arthur's brother, Orm, On Orm's twelfth birthday, his father was killed, so Arthur's mom planned to escape the next night but she was murdered before she could escape but an unknown person. Vulko believes it was Orm that murdered her, as he became King of Atlantis, but if Arthur returns he'd become King because he's the oldest born.Vulko gives Arthur a map to the armory, where the first King of Atlantis' powerful trident is kept. He tells Arthur that Orm is as charismatic as they're mother but as ruthless as Orm's father, and he's a tyrant of Atlantis. Arthur is undecided but chooses to accompany Vulko for a return to Atlantis as this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: Well, this was a average story. Which is something good in Zero Month with all the other stories I've read and haven't enjoyed. Nothing amazing happened, and we didn't really learn much, besides learning of Orm. The stuff with Orm can be interesting, we've been to that well before but I can't say I mind seeing Orm pop up here. Besides that, this was a slow issue, nothing bad but nothing amazing either. Just average and used for the purpose of setting up future storylines, which I have no problem with at all.

Score: 6.5/10 

Jayne's Dad: He claimed to be from Atlantis, though everyone thought he'd been underwater too long.

Teen Titans #0

Oh boy...  So I've been extremely negative on DC's zero issues.  They have been, in my opinion?  Almost universally terrible.  Especially the ones where the writers decide to take liberties and alter/wreck/destroy otherwise good origins.  And that's exactly what I'm expecting here.  Well, no sense delaying this any longer...  Let's see how Scott Lobdell destroys the origin of one of my favorite characters in all of comicdom...

Teen Titans #0

Summary: This issue is actually pretty close to Tim's original origin in some ways, which is a good thing.  Basically you have Tim trying to figure out who Batman is.  He's realized that the prior Robin(Jason Todd) had vanished and that Batman hasn't been the same(although Bruce is kind of meh about Jason being "dead" in this one).  He sets up a way to meet Batman(something about gunrunners and other weirdness), so Bats shows up, telling Tim that he had tolerated him digging around for long enough and to knock it off, before pulling the famous Batman vanishing act.  Tim takes that as a challenge(which you think Bats would have realized) and ends up making himself a target of the Penguin, forcing Bats to rescue him(and his parents, who were nearly killed in the crossfire...).  With that, Tim's parents end up going into the witness protection program, while Tim doesn't...  For some reason.  So Tim says adios to his folks, and Bats takes him in(some how...).  From there, Tim decides he doesn't want to be Robin, out of respect to Jason dying, and becomes Red Robin('cause that's so much different).

Thoughts: First things first...  This issue seems to give us another case of Bruce being forced to take in yet ANOTHER Robin!  Anyway, this was about 7,000,000 times better than Jason Todd's origin story, and was better than Dick Grayson's as well.  Still, I don't know why we didn't just stick with Tim's original origin story...  For me, Tim's original story was better than this one, due to the weird things that happened here...  Why did Tim's parents go into witness protection, but not Tim?  Why would Tim put his parents in such mortal jeopardy if he's supposed to be so smart?  How did Tim end up with Bats?  Was he taken in by Bruce?  And if he was, wouldn't Tim still be a target of Penguin?  Plus, it appears that "Tim Drake" was the name given to him by witness protection...  Maybe...  Even that wasn't made 100% clear, especially since everybody was calling him "Tim" prior to the whole mess with witness protection.  All of that was glossed over.  The way Tim ended up being adopted by Bruce in the pre-New 52 DCU made a lot more sense than the way he ended up with Bruce here...  If he did...  Eh.  I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.  Things could have been SO much worse(as we saw in Red Hood and the Outlaws #0).  It's funny how low I've set my standards for anything written by Scott Lobdell nowadays...  So I'll say this was an okay comic and move on.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

So Tim's first Robin costume was the Superboy RIP one...  And why are they on the cover of a newspaper?!

Amazing Spider-Man #694

Hola comic readers, JT here with the first review of the new comic week, and who better to start things off than the biggest name in Marvel Comics? One hell of a hero that I hope is in the next Avengers movie... that's right, I'm talking about Alpha! And I guess his sidekick Spider-Man as well. In the last issue, Spidey decided he was going to stop Alpha, will he succeed? Let's find out right now.

Amazing Spider-Man #694

Summary: We start this issue with Alpha skipping his weekly check in with Peter Parker a Horizon labs to go to a appearance in Tokyo. We find out that Peter has been in his lab for days trying to come up with a way to cure Alpha because he's too dangerous, and that Pete hasn't gone out as Spidey or helped the FF or Avengers in a few days. He's even missed seeing off Aunt May, as we see her and Jay Jameson boarding his private jet. Seems like they could've waited since it's his private jet... but whatever. Peter decides to try to rush to see Aunt May off and dresses as Spidey so he can web-sling through town, when he runs into the Avengers, who need his help taking on the giant villain Terminus. Captain America tells Spidey to call in Alpha, as they need a big gun, but Spidey says he doesn't think it's a good idea. Cap persists so Spidey calls Alpha who jumps at the chance and flies from Tokyo to Manhattan in seconds, and attacks Terminus. Spidey is shocked because Alpha's only limitation was that he could only use one power at time, yet now he's used Super-Speed and Flight, showing he now has no limitations. Terminus deflects Alpha's blast and it causes every aircraft within a ten mile radius to shut down. Spidey has Captain Marvel sling him towards Jay's Jet as the rest of the Avengers head off to save the falling planes. Spidey enters the jet and tries to help Jay and May land the plane but the landing gear is stuck, so Spidey manually pushes it out with his feet as they land. After the rough landing, J. Jonah Jameson arrives on the scene and surprisingly thanks Spider-Man for saving his father and his mother-in-law. Back with Terminus, the Avengers defeated Terminus and Alpha fled the scene. The Avengers try to figure out what to do with Terminus and his energy lance but Spidey asks for the chance to study it, and maybe he can cure Alpha. Next we see Spidey calling Alpha to Horizon labs and he has him step into the chamber that Peter uses to check Alpha's power levels. Spidey turns it on and notes that he figured out a way to de-power Alpha, because yesterday was a test and Alpha failed miserably. Alpha begins to cry as Spidey explains his days as Alpha are in the past, and he's to go back to living with his parents and going to school. He'll be teased and laughed at but eventually everyone will forget, but he'll know and Spidey will know that a little bit of power is still in him and always growing, and maybe someday they'll try it again, but with a mask, and not as Alpha, because that's over. Afterwards, Peter visits Aunt May in the hospital and learns that because her leg was injured in the landing, she'll have to use a cane to walk for the rest of her life. Peter convinces Aunt May to move back to New York, to which Jay agrees, and just like that, Jay and May are back. The issue comes to a close as we see Kingston arriving back in New York as well, and he goes to a shipping container and picks up a bag, pulling out his Hobgoblin mask and stating that "he's home."


Thoughts: Dan Slott is great, first things first, Alpha has become a hell of a character after only a Month. And the little things that make this issue even cooler, like the "1 Month of Alpha" label in the corner, like it's a milestone that should be celebrated is awesome. This issue was great because Spidey had to stop Alpha, he was getting way to powerful, and the way he was stopped means he can always come back in the future, and he's a good enough character that he should be brought back somewhere down the line. I don't care much for May returning, she seems to get in the way a lot, but other than that I really enjoyed this issue. Seeing Jameson thank Spidey was surprising but awesome, and seeing how heart-broken Alpha was to lose his powers was great in reminding you that although he comes off as an ass, he was still just a kid. Now with the Hobgoblin storyline coming up as we get closer to issue 700, to say I'm excited is an understatement.

Score: 9/10 

Alpha's Answering Machine: If this is a girl, leave your measurements.

New Comic Day! September 26th Edition.

Hey guys and gals, it's that time once again for New Comic Day! JT here, and since I'm kicking things off with the first review of the week, I figured I'd start off by letting you guys know what I'm picking up. For this week's comics, I'm grabbing Aquaman #0, Invincible #95, Amazing Spider-Man #694, Captain Marvel 4 and Deadpool #61. The JT review days are Thursdsay, Saturday and Tuesday and you can expect yours truly to review Amazing Spider-Man #694, Invincible #95 and Deadpool #61. And with my small haul of comics taken care of, let's see what my buddy X has planned to review this week. Tell em, X-Mayne.

5 books, JT?!  For shame!  Unlike that loser, JT, Ol' X ended up with a few more comics this week...  And when I say a few, I actually mean A LOT!!!  Here's what I snagged...  American Vampire #31, I, Vampire #0, Justice League Dark #0, National Comics: Rose and Thorn #1, Teen Titans #0, Voodoo #0, Invincible #95, Amazing Spider-Man #694, Captain America and Black Widow #637, Deadpool #61, Invincible Iron Man #525, Journey Into Mystery #644, Secret Avengers #31, Space Punisher #3, Ultimates #16, Winter Soldier #11, Wolverine #313 & X-Men Legacy #274...  Yes X-Maniacs, I picked up 18 comics this week...  Since that snake JT took two of the books I was really looking forward to reading(Spidey and Deadpool!), I'm stuck reviewing Ultimates #16, Winter Soldier #11, and yes, Teen Titans #0...  Which should be terrible.  There ya go, until later, X out.

Spider-Men #5

Hey guys, JT here with the last review of this comic week. After a super-mega-boffo-huge post that X made, obviously compensating for something... but I, your humble blogger, will present to you a modest review of the final issue of Spider-Men. How will things end for the partnership of Peter Parker and Miles Morales? Let's find out!

Spider-Men #5 of 5

Summary: This issue gets things underway with Mysterio getting ready to move on and leave Spider-Man suck in the Ultimate Universe, but he can't resist popping in to see Spidey one last time, which of course backfires. He opens the portal and is webbed through it by Spidey, and arrives in the Ultimate Universe, face to face with Spidey, Ultimate Spidey, Hawkeye, Thor, Iron Man, Nick Fury, and a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Spidey prepares to go through the portal and back to his own Universe when Mysterio puts his final plan into action, by using some kinda scarecrow-like gas to make each of the heroes see their fears. Spidey talks the guys through it since he's used to Mysterio's special effects, and Miles snaps out of it in time to see Mysterio trying to escape. Miles tackles Mysterio through the portal and he and Mysterio end up back in the 616 Universe. Miles is in awe and Mysterio tries to take advantage and attack him, but Miles counters his attack and kicks Mysterio back through the portal, as he follows, back to the Ultimate Universe. The Spider-Men dish out some vengeance to Mysterio and he's then arrested by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Spider-Man asks if they're gonna keep Mysterio in the Ultimate Universe and Fury says its for the best, since he knows Peter Parker's secret identity, and that can do much more damage in Pete's universe than Miles'. Before he finally heads back home, Peter gives Miles his blessing, as well as a bunch of advice, including to never get cloned, keep Doctor Octopus from marrying his Aunt May, leave crime scenes ASAP or they make you clean up, and the most important advice, which Spidey doesn't get to say because the portal teleports him back to his Universe. Fury tells Miles that he earned Peter's blessing, now he has to keep earning it. The issue comes to a close as Peter, back at home, decides to look up Miles Morales in his world. He finds his answer, that we of course don't see, as Peter says "Oh my God."

Thoughts: This was a kinda odd comic. I like to imagine they were waiting for days before Mysterio just happened to open that portal and get webbed through it. This mini series was okay, I expected more but it could've definitely been worse. I'm going to be very disappointed if we don't find out anything about the 616 Miles Morales, and it better be big the way Peter reacted. Also, I'm kinda peeved we didn't get to see what Pete's "most important" advice was, that seemed like a cop out, especially when he gave him lesser advice like loaning Wolverine money... All in all, this wasn't a bad issue, but it was far from great, I'd say it was average.

Score: 6/10 

Iron Man: And I would give the opposite advice on almost every subject by the way, if anyone cares.

The Best of the Rest! September 19th edition.

So this was supposed to be the spot I posted my third and final review of the week, with JT closing out the comic week tomorrow with his third review.  But you see, I ended up posting my first review on Wednesday and throwing the whole schedule out of whack(cue JT saying something negative about me...).  Since I've already posted my three reviews for the week, and don't want to leave an empty day(I won't be the first one to do that, JT will!), how's about I cobble together a quick post about ALL of the comics I read this week!  Yeah, that'll work!  Since I didn't really read most of these books with the idea of reviewing them in mind, I don't have any number scores for them...  Instead, I'll use the good old thumbs up/thumbs in the middle/thumbs down system.  What the HELL is that, you ask?  Thumbs up means a comic scored somewhere in the 8 to 10 range, in other words, a good comic.  Thumbs in the middle would be around 5 to 7 1/2, or an okay to meh comic.  Thumbs down?  You guessed it, a comic that falls in the sub-5 range, you know, a bad comic.  I don't really know why I felt the need to explain that...  Oh no, I'm in one of those moods where I can't stop writing!  I'd better get to the meat of this post lest this intro goes on forever!!!

Let's see, we'll get started with Red Hood and the Outlaws #0...  JT pretty much summed up my feelings for this one with his review, so I really don't have all that much to say here...  I will say this though...  If not for the idiotic Joker reveal, I probably would have given this comic a thumbs in the middle.  As it is, it gets a thumbs down and likes it.

Avengers #30 was your basic Bendis/Avengers comic book.  Spider-Woman and Hawkeye discussed their relationship while fighting Mr. Negative's goons...  It was as exciting as it sounds.  Honestly, I wasn't sure what the hell Bendis was going for here, since Hawkeye hadn't actually done anything to wrong Spider-Woman...  Basically she was pissed that Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch MAY have unresolved feelings for each other...  Yeah..  If you like bad soap opera-esque comic books then THIS is the comic book for you!  For me, it was a thumbs in the middle, mainly because it(kind of) focused on Hawkeye, no matter how thin the story was.

Ah, finally a good one!  Daredevil #18 was probably the best comic I've read this week...  No, scratch that, it WAS the best comic I read this week, and if I was giving out scores this one would very likely get a perfect score.  Seriously, this issue was fantastic.  Mark Waid is(unsurprisingly) crafting a wonderful story here, as this issue actually makes the reader doubt DD's sanity.  The entire series has been seemingly building towards this storyline, and I have to say, this issue would be a great jumping on point for new readers...  Just sayin'...  Oh yeah, thumbs WAY up.

Next up is Dark Avengers #181.  All I can really say about this comic is that it happened...  I think I've reached the point now where I just want the Bad Bolts to return to the present and the Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts/whatever they're called to finish their mission.  Thumbs in the middle.

Rolling along it's Mighty Thor #20!  I don't know why I added an exclamation point to that, nor why I'm thinking out loud, but let's go with it...  This was another really good issue in the Everything Burns storyline(I really love that title, btw).  Asgardia is still being hammered by Surtur's forces and Thor is still down and out. However, there was a slight glimmer of hope for us Kid Loki fans, as this issue kind of makes you wonder if Loki betrayed Thor, as it seemed in the prior part of this storyline, or if Loki is actually planning on saving his brother.  I'll go thumbs up for this issue and fingers crossed on Kid Loki not going full blown villain.

New Mutants #49 had Nate Grey in it...  That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about it...  Well, that and the fact that this issue ended the whole Evil Doug Ramsay from the future story.  I've never cared for Doug no matter how much Marvel tries to show he's more than a guy with sucky powers.  This story did nothing to change my opinion of Doug.  Thumbs down...  Sorry Nate...

Ultimates #15 was a comic I seriously considered giving a full review to, mainly due to the fact that it was getting mainstream press attention.  But as you can see, I decided against that course of action...  So yeah, anyway, this comic.  I have to admit that I enjoyed this one.  I've been enjoying the direction the Ultimate Marvel U has been going for a while now, and this was no exception.  This issue, especially in the way it was told, kind of perfectly led to the whole, "Captain America is the president now!" thing.  It didn't seem forced or anything, which was something I was afraid of.  And I can actually see Cap, especially the Ultimate version, ESPECIALLY considering the way things have been going in the Ultimate U, deciding to become the president.  It'll be very interesting to see how this experiment works out going forward.  For this issue though?  Thumbs up.

Oh god...  Not THIS comic...  Ugh, it's Venom #25...  I'm actually surprised, horrified and yes, a bit impressed at how quickly Cullen Bunn took this series from a book I always look forward to reading, to something I barely want to open...  Why would you want to add a supernatural element to this series?!  Who sat there and thought, "You know what this series is missing?  DEMONS!!!"  This is kind of like the mess that Scott Lobdell made out of Red Hood and the Outlaws, in that you take the lead character and put them in a situation that makes no sense...  I don't get why Daimon Hellstrom was used in this mess, I don't get why a battle between the Hell Lords is taking place in this series, I don't get any of it!  Hopefully things straighten out with the upcoming Minimum Carnage storyline...  Thumbs down.

And finally we arrive at X-Factor #244.  This was, as usual, a good, solid issue of this series.  It wasn't as good as some of the prior issues, but it was solid.  I will say this though...  I'm very curious to see where Peter David is going with this story...  He's really breaking the team apart here, it'll be interesting to see how things shake out and who's left standing.  Thumbs in the middle.

Sweet, I'm done!  That means I can go back to playing Borderlands 2!  Huzzah for me!  Until... Um, whenever the hell my next post is supposed to be, X out!

Red Hood and The Outlaws #0 Review/Rant

Hey guys, I'm, not going to give you any false hope. This is probably 20% review, 80% ranting. So if you're not up for that, I'd recommend ya skip this post. So, let's get to it so I can get out some of this anger.

Red Hood and The Outlaws #0

Summary: We start things off with Jason being born, to a red headed woman named Catherine Elizabeth and his father, Willis Todd. They have sex in an alley, which I guess leads to Jason's birth. Jason's life sucked because his dad was a petty criminal and his mom was a drug addict. Willis Todd eventually gets arrested so Jason has to watch after his apparently pregnant mom (?), until she apparently OD's. Jason then lives on the streets, steals, and gets beaten up one fateful night where he's nursed back to health by Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Jason, taking after his parents, steals some prescription drugs from her clinic when he's caught by Batman. Thompkins talks to Batman and convinces him not to take Jason in, and Jason is soon adopted by one of Thompkins rich friends, Bruce Wayne. After some time, Bruce tells Jason he's Batman for some reason, and trains him to take over the role of Robin, to which Jason excels at but plays a bit too rough for Bruce. One day, Jason uses the Batcomputer and comes across a photo of his mom, alive and well in the Middle East and heads out to see her. Three days later he arrives there, reconciles and finds out it was a trap by The Joker. Joker beats Jason with a crowbar and blows up Jason and his mother before Batman can arrive to save them.From there we see Jason buried and he says he eventually came back with use from the Lazarus pit and he says "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." After that, we see that the entire thing, Jason's dad being locked up, Jason's mother "over-dosing" when she was apparently in a state that looked like death thanks to a flower, Jason being found beaten by Leslie Thompkins, and Jason being taken in and eventually becoming Robin was all planned by The Joker, just so he could "giveth and taketh away" to Batman.


Thoughts: Fuck you, Scott Lobdell. For the last four years, Jason Todd has been my favorite comic book character. I've read every Jason appearance from a Death in The Family to now, I've had the highs of seeing Jason, a character everyone referred to as "The Worst Robin" have his own Animated Film with an AMAZING performance by Jensen Ackles that brought Jason to life so much so that when I read a Jason Todd comic I hear his voice. I've had the lows of seeing Jason become a crazy murderer thanks to Tony Daniel, a anthropomorphic blob with tentacles thanks to Devin Grayson, and a pimply faced, red haired goon thanks to Grant Morrison, and I would gladly take ANY of those over what you've done to Jason Todd in the last year. It's not enough you've had this ridiculous All Caste shit, Jason going on intergalactic dates, and not to mention the ridiculously stupid scene you wrote with Killer Croc and Arsenal (another favorite of mine), but now, you write this horrible issue that retcons the entire reason Jason was taken in by Batman, to tell us a story about how Jason's parents met and he was conceived from them having sex in an alley?! Then... on top of that, you tell me, that the reason Jason became Robin, was because of a plan from THE JOKER? The Joker... knows who knows Bruce Wayne is Batman sets out to make a kid so miserable and pitiful that Batman decides to take him in, tell him his secret, then make him Robin, while meanwhile, Catherine, his mother, who KNOWS SHE HAS A SON, is just fine with living in The Middle East for no apparent reason and not asking where her son and husband are. And then, Joker says, ah, enough time has passed, now I'll reunite them and blow them up... Nevermind the fact we apparently just skipped over the whole Jason robbing a store at gunpoint then beating up his colleague for shooting a woman story that was set up in Batman #0, there's no point in even MENTIONING that here.

I suppose this is my fault for giving Lobdell another chance after I finally gave up on this series months ago. He's succeeded in making me drop this and Teen Titans, and now, with an upcoming run in with the Joker next month, I should be looking forward to the next issue of this, and that issue SHOULD be written by the man that deserves to write it, Judd Winick, instead it's going to be written by a non-talented hack that isn't worthy of reading a Jason Todd comic, let alone writing one. This issue just solidified the fact that I will not read any comic Lobdell writes again, including this one. As for this rating, It doesn't even deserve one, if I have it anything it would only be for the great art, but Lobdell's writing has even made me unable to enjoy that. So in honor of Zero Month, I think that's what I'll give this comic.

Score: 0/10 

Me: I'd burn this comic but it's not worth the use of a match.

Nightwing #0

Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it, I haven't REALLY enjoyed a single #0 issue from DC yet. I mean some of them have been okay, but I don't see why we're getting them...  Why interrupt the flow of what ever story is going on for an origin?  Why not just do an annual?  Wouldn't an annual be the ideal way to handle origins in the New 52 DCU?  Plus you could jack up the price and add a few extra pages...  Well, that's my thoughts on the zero issues thus far, now I get to review one.  Yay...

Nightwing #0

Summary:  So this story takes place a vague, "Few Years Ago..."  So it's not five years ago, in case anybody was wondering.  We meet Dick Grayson fooling around in a train yard with Raymond(who becomes Saiko, I think?), which leads to a security guard almost getting flattened by the train.  Dick saves the guard, but ends up being grounded by his parents for his train yard shenanigans.  After Dick's grounding, we learn that it's his mother's birthday, and Dick gives her a bracelet with robins on it because she loves robins...  Ugh...  Anyway, later on that evening, the Flying Graysons get killed in the trapeze accident, and Dick ends up with Bruce Wayne, who offers to take Dick in since he was a material witness to Tony Zucco threatening old man Haly(which actually works for me).  Dick begins sneaking out of Wayne Manor at night to fight crime(because, why not?) and comes across the Batman, who he immediately recognizes as Bruce...  Now THAT doesn't work for me...  Dick doesn't say anything to Bruce, and while Bruce suspects that Dick knows, he doesn't say anything to Dick.  After meeting up a few more times on the streets, Batman takes Dick to the Batcave and Dick calls him "Mr. Wayne," ending the weird game the two were playing.  From there, Bats allows Dick to train with him and follow his exploits on the computer, but doesn't let him go out to fight crime with him.  At least until Lady Shiva comes to town.  Shiva and Bats fight, and Bats ends up poisoned, so Dick dons the Robin outfit he had secretly cobbled together from Batman's scraps(he's the world's greatest detective, ladies and gentlemen!!!), and rushes out to help.  In actuality, he gets beaten up by Shiva as well, but she decides to spare the two of them since she liked the way Dick fought or something.  After getting up, Bruce isn't pleased with Dick putting himself in harm's way, and the two return to the cave.

Thoughts:  Eh.  This was a bastardized version of Dick's origin as Robin...  What's there to really say here?  Personally, I liked the original telling of Dick's origin more, because Bats looked way more competent.  In this telling, Dick discovers Bruce is Batman, Bruce doesn't tell him.  Dick designs his own costume, and he names himself.  AND he goes out on his first mission when he wants, not when Bruce decides he's ready...  Bats really had little to no role in any of this.  I guess Bats was pretty inexperienced at the whole super-hero thing himself back then, but he didn't come across particularly well here.  However, I did like the way Dick ended up with Bruce Wayne.  So there's that.  Oh yeah, and Dick's Robin outfit was horrible.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Okay, what is up with that costume!?  I mean where do the pants end and the shirt begin?  Or is it just one piece?  And if so, how do you put it on?!  Besides that, what's with those weird little knee pad things and the arrow pointing at Dick's crotch?!?

Justice League #0

Hey guys, today's a JT day, and my first review of the new comic book week is none other than Justice League #0. Instead of focusing on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the League, this issue focuses on non-other than SHAZAM himself, the man formerly known as Captain Marvel. So let's get to his origin!

Justice League #0

Summary: We start things where the back-ups in the prior issues of Justice League left off, teenage bad seed (aka asshole) Billy Batson is adopted by a pair of loving parents that also have adopted a bunch of other kids. While out one night with his adoptive brother, Freddy Freeman, Billy wanders off into a magical underground cave where he meets a great wizard, only the Wizard tells Billy that the task he has is not for someone like Billy. Billy is adamant about the old Wizard keeping his distance, and the man asks (I guess the Gods?) if the boy is the mystical one he seeks, and if he's pure good. We see a bunch of flashes of Billy being a dick to everyone, and the Wizard says he knew Billy wasn't pure good. Billy tells the Wizard no one is pure good, good people get swallowed up and become evil or get walked on, there's no one pure. The Wizard starts to think Billy may be right since he's brought many people and no one has been pure yet, but he searches Billy's soul to see if he's got any embers of good, which we also see clips of. Seemingly backed into a corner by the fact that Black Adam is now free upon the world, and Billy seems to be the best he's going to get, The Wizard bestows Billy with the power of SHAZAM, because if someone MIGHT be good, why not give them an excellent amount of power? Worked great for Black Adam, right? The Wizard tells Billy to say SHAZAM with good intentions and belief, as I guess he'll only change if he has good intentions, which may be for the best. Billy, now in the body of SHAZAM, tests his powers a bit as The Wizard explains, but he tells Billy not to waste his powers, The Wizard tells him of Black Adam and how he hopes to free the Seven Deadly Sins, and Billy is the only one who can stop him. As the Wizard takes his final breath he tells Billy that he is now SHAZAM. Billy wastes no time telling Freddy Freeman what happened, while still in the body of SHAZAM. Billy then decides to destroy a man's car because he threatened Billy and Freddy earlier when they were being delinquents. They then decide their going to have Billy buy beer... these powers are so being wasted. Before that can happen, Billy touches a Christmas light which explodes, showing that maybe he can't touch electric things without overpowering them while he's SHAZAM. He then witnesses a mugging, so he swats the mugger away and manages to knock him through a car window since he doesn't know his own strength. The woman that he saved asks what she can do to repay him, and he says he's short on cash... so she gives him twenty bucks and he and Freddy head off to buy beer. The issue comes to a close with Freddy and Billy planning to use his powers to become rich. There's also a quick back up as we see Pandora, the woman from all of the New 52 backgrounds trying to open a skull shaped box, when The Wizard appears. He says he's using the last of his powers to tell her that she shouldn't have been punished along with her other two cohorts who would become The Question and The Phantom Stranger, The Trinity of Sin, and that she was just a curious young woman that did nothing wrong. He then tells her that the box can only be opened by the Strongest of Heart of the Darkest of Heart and they can claim it's power but of course he dies before he can say who. The back-up story ends as we go to Hub City and see The Police find a little girl who was missing, The Mayor's daughter, as well as the man who kidnapped her tied to a lamp post. The police wonder who did it as we see nothing but a blue question mark taped to him (wasn't The Riddler!) and we see The Question, saying that everything is all connected as the issue ends.


Thoughts: Well... this was awesome! I love this annoying, jackass version of Billy Batson! And the way he used his powers for stupid vendettas, got paid for saving a lady, and now wants to use them to make money, he's like DC's version of Alpha or something. This issue was pretty awesome, we learned about Black Adam's past a bit, Billy finally got his powers, he's still using them like a kid instead of being super goody two shoes like he was pre-reboot. This... I guess the term would be hardened Billy Batson has been one of the best things to come out of the DCnU so far and I hope it continues. Plus I can't wait to see what happens when he actually joins the Justice League... Another thing that needs to be mentioned was the amazing artwork by Gary Frank and Ethan Van Sciver, they did both did fantastic jobs on the artwork for this issue. Also, the back up with Pandora that hyped the upcoming Trinity War was interesting. I'm curious as to who can open the box, Strong of heart makes me with Wonder Woman, maybe Bats, but he could also past for Darkest of Heart, either way, I'm interested. Plus... The Question is back, and It looks to be our boy Vic Sage!

Score: 8.5/10 

Billy: Listen, Chester (HA!), that stuff might work like candy on six year olds, but you come any closer and I'll knock out the last of your teeth.

Avengers Academy #37

Second X-review of the week is the fantasic Avengers Academy.  More than anything else, THIS is the series I'm gonna miss the most as Marvel Now! draws ever closer...  Oh well, let's enjoy what we can while it's still here.

Avengers Academy #37

Summary: The Academy students manage to stalemate Jeremy Briggs on the rooftop of his building, but that's fine by Briggs, since he only needs to delay the students long enough for his Clean Slate missiles to get into the Earth's atmosphere and take away all superhuman powers.  Lightspeed heads up to intercept the missiles, and is assisted by Veil, who is in Briggs's control center.  The students manage to chase Briggs's assistant, the Enchantress, away, but Briggs himself is still too formidable a foe for them to take down.  Meanwhile, Veil manages to get Jocasta released from the prison Briggs put her in, and Jocasta ends up taking control of the missiles at which time she sends them to Lightspeed, who can then easily deactivate them.  As for Briggs, he manages to down the students, except for Finesse, who uses the unconscious X-23's claws to stab Briggs in the arm and leg.  Finesse tells Briggs she'd tie off the wounds before he bled out...  Provided he surrendered.  Briggs readily agrees to surrender, since he knows that he wouldn't serve any real prison time, since he had the solution to superhuman battles plaguing the planet and would be willing to trade it to the government for his freedom.  Upon hearing that, Finesse decides not to tie off Briggs's wounds, and he bleeds to death.  When the rest of her teammates come to, she simply tells them there was nothing that could have been done to save Briggs.  With that, the authorities clear the students of any wrongdoing in Briggs's death, and this one comes to a close.

Thoughts: I hate to say it, but this was a pretty underwhelming comic...  I mean I had been enjoying this storyline up to this issue, but for whatever reason this issue just didn't do it for me.  The final battle never really felt in doubt, and the ending wrapped up too neatly for my tastes.  Plus I didn't like Briggs dying...  He seemed to be a character who could have become something...  On top of that, who dies in a comic book by slowly bleeding to death?!  I did like the fact that Finesse let Briggs die, simply because it was in character for her.  I can't help but wonder if Christos Gage had to rush things along here due to the impending end of this series, because this storyline easily could have used another two issues.  Eh, they can't all be gold, I guess.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

All that was missing was a "chico!"

Walking Dead #102

Alright, X-Maniacs, first review of the week, and guess what?  I have it up and posted a full day ahead of schedule!  Crazy, right?  Since I was feeling somewhat productive today and got this review out of the way, I'll probably do 4 reviews this week instead of the three I said I'd do in the NCD post.  As for the identity of that forth review?  I haven't the foggiest notion...  I'll take requests, or I'll just go with my gut and post a review for something that I'm pretty sure will have people talking...  Hell, the mainstream media is already talking about it!  Anyway, that's later on this week, for now, let's tackle my first ever Walking Dead review!

Walking Dead #102:

Summary: We kick this party off with Andrea beating the hell out of the Savior the community had captured while Rick and his party were on the road(and getting Glenn killed).  Rick halts her attack and tells her that the Savior was off limits until he had decided on a course of actions.  As this comic goes on, we see that Rick has apparently had the fight taken out of him with Glenn's death and has come to realize that Negan and his Saviors are too large and too bloodthirsty a group to battle.  As such he calls a meeting of the community and tells them that he has decided to give in to Negan, would be releasing their prisoner and handing over the food and supplies Negan's Saviors had demanded.  Needless to say, many in the community are quite pissed by this turn of events(Andrea, Carl, etc), while others(surprisingly Michonne) understand that the best way to survive this may be to roll over.  With that, the meeting disbands and Rick lets the prisoner leave the gates of the community.  This issue ends with Rick pulling Jesus aside and telling him to follow the released Savior back to Negan, discover all he could about the Saviors and them quietly return to report back to Rick, while making sure that NOBODY knew what the two were really up to...

Thoughts: The last page of this comic took it from a good read to a really good read for me.  This issue had no real action(physical action that is), but had tons of character development, which is probably why I'm such a fan of this story, the development Robert Kirkman puts into every issue.  All issue long it looked like Rick had finally given up and has realized he's met an enemy he can't defeat.  That pisses off Carl, who wants to avenge Glenn's death, and Andrea, who still wants to fight.  Eugene tells Rick that he could probably start making ammunition with the right supplies, but melancholy Rick tells him they wouldn't need the bullets...  Michonne's part with Rick was extremely interesting too, as she revealed that she was also tired of the endless fighting and would understand laying down for Negan.  She also revealed that she blamed herself for the deaths at the prison during the Governor's attack, which was some AWESOME character development because I always wondered if Michonne blamed herself for not killing the Governor when she had the chance.  Personally, I always thought torturing but not killing the Governor was Michonne's gravest error.  So all issue long you have Rick as a defeated man.  And then the last page shows us the real Rick, the guy who has plans inside of plans, and realizes that Negan will just take and take until there was nothing left for his group.  Rick sending Jesus after the released Savior makes perfect sense since nobody in the group knows Jesus well enough to follow his movements, plus he knows the lay of the land and can see where Negan is holed up and what types of defenses he has.  As usual?  This was another very good issue of this series   Another in a LONG line of them.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

That's more like the Rick I know and love!

New Comic Day! September 19th edition.

It's a bird!  It's a plane!  No, it's New Comic Day!  Huzzah!!  And leading you through this week's edition is none other than the original comic book malefactor himself, X.  Same rules as always, I'll list what books I'm getting, then I'll list the three comics I'll be reviewing for the week.  After that, my co-conspirator, the ever dapper JT, will list which books he walked out of the comic shop with, as well as the ones he intends to review.  Got all that?  Sweet, on to the books I picked up!  National Comics: Eternity #1, National Comics: Looker #1, Nightwing #0, Red Hood and the Outlaws #0, Walking Dead #102, Avengers #30, Avengers Academy #37, Daredevil #18, Dark Avengers #181, Mighty Thor #20, New Mutants #49, Ultimates #15, Venom #25 & X-Factor #244...  The first two comics aren't actually new but are books I've been waiting for my shop to get for a few weeks now.  Also, I was supposed to get Hellblazer #295, but that didn't ship with this week's books, so I'll probably have that one next week...  So that means for this week I have the perfect number of new books, 12.  And on top of that, there are actually a couple of really good comics in that bunch.  I think I'll post reviews for Walking Dead #102, Avengers Academy #37 and Nightwing #0...  Yep, I'm leaving JT with NOTHING good to review!  X review days this week are gonna be Thursday, Saturday and Monday, and I'm going to try to have the reviews posted at 8PM every night just to make things somewhat steady.  And that'll do it for me.  Before tagging out to mi amigo, one last thing for me to say...  X out!

And now for your Main Event, JT! Hey guys, since X took all the good books I guess I'll just sit in the corner this week. No, scratch that, I have a duty to give you guys the greatest reviews you never heard of, that's right, I'm the Booster Gold of Blogger, dammit! Anyway, the books I picked up this week are as follows, Catwoman #0, Justice League #0, Nightwing #0 (hope I don't regret that), Red Hood and the Outlaws #0 (See Nightwing), Walking Dead #102, Avengers Academy #37, Spider-Men #5, Ultimate Spider-Man #15, and Venom #25. Of my nine comics, X has decided to review three because he's what we in the industry call, an ass, so you can expect me to review Justice League #0, Spider-Men #5, and... Red Hood and The Outlaws #0. You can expect those reviews on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. As always, let us know what you guys picked up, and we'll see you tomorrow at 8 PM Eastern time, same blog time, same blog website for X's first review of the week. Til next time, JT signing off!

Team 7 #0

There were a lot of comics I could have turned to as my final review of the week(that's what happens when you buy 17 books...  You're spoiled for choice!), but I decided to settle on Team 7.  Sure, Batman #0 or X-Force would have been the more logical route to go, but I'm actually a little excited for Team 7, and if it's done right, it could be fantastic.  Here's hoping.

Team 7 #0:

Summary: This issue introduces us to the premise behind Team 7(there are a lot of super-powered individuals popping up around the world.  The US wants to win this new arms race), as well as the members.  First things first, this comic takes place five years ago...  The first two members are Dinah Drake(Black Canary) and Kurt Lance(I'm guessing BC's future hubby?).  They go around recruiting other members starting with Deathstroke and Alex Fairchild(the father of Caitlin Fairchild).  Next up is James Bronson(???, there was a Tommy Bronson in the old DCU, but I don't think there's a connection here), followed by Summer Ramos(absolutely no idea).  From there we add Grifter, and end things by adding Amanda Waller and Dean Higgins(???).  That actually adds up to nine...  Huh, and I thought Marvel had trouble counting...

Thoughts: This was a total set-up issue, and there's nothing wrong with that.  I have to admit I was disappointed that Midnighter wasn't a part of the team here, as he seemed kind of perfect for the role(plus seeing him and Deathstroke interact would have been awesome).  I have to admit that I'm cautiously optimistic about this comic, as there are a lot of ways things could go, although they are a bit hampered by the fact that this takes place 5 years in the past, meaning we know certain characters(Waller, Deathstroke, Grifter, Black Canary, Kurt Lance) will make it out of this series basically unscathed.  Even still, I will be looking forward to the next issue to see what this group gets into.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Why did I decide to give this comic a shot?  One word.  Grifter.

Batman and Robin #0

Hey guys, JT here with my last post until NCD when a plethora of comics will be released and some will be subsequently reviewed by the best duo since Kenan and Kel, JT and X. So, let's get through this month's Batman and Robin, focusing on the past of Damian Wayne.

Batman and Robin #0

Summary: This issue is about Damian's past, so we start things off a year and a half ago, seeing Damian falling from the sky wielding swords and and fighting a Manbat. Damian says "No more secrets, Mother." or something to the gist of that, as we flashback even further into the past. We see Damian being born in some kind of advanced test tube child scenario, when his mother Talia takes him and lowers him into a pool of water, to show he's strong enough to survive. A woman tells Talia that's not the best idea, ya know, cause it's not... and apparently neither is doubting Talia because she kills the woman with quickness that would surprise Wally West. The woman's corpse and blood fall into the water with Damian, seemingly symbolizing that even out of the womb, he's surrounded by death. From there we jump forward a few years to see Damian and Talia sparring with swords when Damian asks about his father. Talia says he can meet his father when he proves himself worthy, by beating her in a duel on his birthday and earning the opportunity to meet him. Over the next few years we see Damian aging and doing things most people would never dream like, like beheading a Tiger with a scythe (wtf?), Sniping people, killing sharks, and playing classical music, cause he may be a demon spawn, but he knows how to appreciate the fine arts! Each year on his birthday, Damian's mom gives him a gift, the gift of an ass whooping, and the bow she wraps it with is "Happy birthday Damian. You lose." We fast forward to a year and a half ago again, as we see Damian taking out a bunch of his mother's men and a Manbat, before having a brutal fight with Talia where he finally brings the receipt of that ass whooping and exchanges it for his father's name. Talia finally tells Damian about Batman and the issue comes to a close with the exact scene of Damian and Batman meeting that we've all seen before.


Thoughts: Well... Happy Birthday, Damian. You lose. That was my favorite part of this. I can't say I cared for this, but I will explain why. To me, the concept of the Zero issues were either to explain what did and didn't happen, or to show us something completely new. My problem is, we already KNEW all of this. We knew Damian was a test tube baby, we knew he was raised among murderers and criminals, and we know what terms he met Batman under. We didn't really learn anything. This wasn't a bad story, but it seemed like a waste of the Zero issue storytelling. Now if we'd had this issue chronicling a bit about each of the Robin's past, instead of doing that in Batman, then we could get maybe, five or six pages per Robin's past, then the rest could be delved into in other books like Nightwing, Red Hood, and Teen Titans. Or even doing like five pages for those guys and seven or eight dedicated to Damian. That aside, once again, this issue wasn't bad, but I felt it could've explored some different things for Damian's past.

Score: 6/10 

Talia: Happy Birthday, Damian. You lose. (I like mixing it with "YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY SIR!" from Willy Wonka.)

Winter Soldier #10

Now here's a series that's been picking up some major steam the past few issues.  Even though I didn't review it due to my vampirism, I'd have given issue #9 a very high score, probably something between 9 and 10.  Let's see if we can keep that momentum going here.

Winter Soldier #10

Summary: We find out that Black Widow was indeed still brainwashed by Leo and that upon seeing Nick Fury(the old one, not the new one) on the Helicarrier, her brainwashing kicked in all over again and she went to kill Fury.  While she managed to wing Fury, Agent Sitwell sacrificed his life and saved Fury, who managed to shoot Widow, causing her to rabbit from the carrier before it went into full lockdown.  After learning all of this from Maria Hill(who is still acting SHIELD director), Bucky demands to speak to the scientist who brainwashed Widow for Leo.  The scientist admits that there was a second layer of brainwashing that Leo wanted inside of Widow(which is how she fooled everybody until she was on the carrier), and he also tells Bucky that Leo had all of Widow's memories of Bucky wiped out too...  Ouch...  With the Black Widow, one of the most deadly women in the Marvel U, working with Leo, SHIELD brings Captain America in to assist with the mission.  Cap takes Hawkeye and Wolverine along as well(since both men have a personal connection to Widow), at which time Hawkeye and Wolvie learn that Bucky was indeed alive.  From there the heroes plan, while Leo and Widow head to a weapons designer and tell him he was working for them now.  This issue ends with Hawkeye locating Bucky, who was deep in thought about his time with Widow, to tell him that Widow had been spotted in New York...

Thoughts: This was yet another really good issue of this series.  As usual.  Ed Brubaker is one of those writers who once he gets rolling is probably better than anybody else.  Sometimes it takes Brubaker's stories a little time to develop, but once they do...  Pure awesomeness.  This storyline is no exception.  The way Maria Hill went over Widow's attack in the beginning of this issue was fantastic, because you really had no way of knowing how the attack ended, which built up the tension.  Brubaker's pacing of those scenes were great.  Agent Sitwell's death was very well done, and I actually felt a pang of sadness for him since I'd been enjoying Sitwell in this series.  Hawkeye and Wolverine being brought in to hunt for Widow made 100% perfect sense due to their connections with her, and Leo continued being an evil bastard, and is rapidly climbing up the ranks of my favorite villains for 2012.  If I had any complaints it would be how underwhelming Wolverine and Hawkeye's reactions were when they saw that Bucky was alive, but then I guess in their line of work seeing somebody you thought was dead standing in a room probably isn't that jarring.

Score: 9 out of 10.

"Oh, so Bucky's alive.  Meh."

Avenging Spider-Man #12

Hey guys and gals, JT here with a special guest. I'll give ya a hint, he's kind of a big mouth, he's a bit crazy, and he's harder to get rid of than a cockroach infestation. Nope, it's not X, it's your favorite Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool! (Hey nerds, DP here to add a little flavor to this review for once, I figure since this blog has two geeks writing for it, you need someone with TWICE the awesomeness to make it interesting, so, here...I...am.) Um... yeah, so since Deadpool invaded Avenging Spidey this month, he decided to invade your favorite blog. (I literally JUST said that bro...) So... let's get this over with, quick!

Avenging Spider-Man #12

Summary: This issue starts off with Peter Parker being embarrassed in his dreams, basic being at High school naked nightmare. (Maybe for you! Sounds like heaven to me.) When suddenly, Deadpool (Wooooo!!!) shows up and starts blasting some faces. Deadpool explains that this is a dream that Spidey's in, and someone's trying to access his mind to make Spidey commit a crime. He explains that Spidey's mind is going to make him see the infiltrator as a bully or a teacher, but lucky for him he has help from one of the world's greatest mercs. Deadpool explains that their four levels deep so basically they have to take out the baddie of each level to get Spidey to wake up, so Deadpool blows up the school... cause why not. (I'll tell you why, cause explosions are FUN!) On Level three, Deadpool makes a few funny jokes (Aww... just a few?!) before he targets the R.P.G. kids as the baddies, so he and Spidey attack, but Spidey tells Deadpool no guns. Deadpool begrudgingly agrees and the two take down the Dungeons and Dragons dweebs (Aliteration is fun too. Damn, dashingly devious Deadpool craves chewy chimichangas.) which takes our masked heroes to level two. Doesn't take long for a fight as Deadpool and Spidey take on some shop class goons and quickly dispose of them as well, except Deadpool manages to get his face split open by a circular saw, which was pretty awesome. (Man... you are one sick bastard.)  Ahem, while on the final level, Peter's dream has him staring in the The Breakfast Club, with Peter as the nerd, Flash as The Jock, Mary Jane as Molly Ringwald, Deadpool as John Bender (You know what I got for Christmas this year? It was a banner friggin' year at the old Wilson family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said "Hey. Smoke up Pooly.") and... some mystery chick as our basket-case, which shows she's the infiltrator. Spidey knocks out our mystery chick, and Deadpool's watch goes off, so he kicks Spidey through some glass, which wakes up our favorite Arachnid based hero. Deadpool informs Spidey that he's awake but Pool's the one who was actually infiltrating his mind to make him commit a crime. (WHAT A TWIST?!) Deadpool says he did it so he could get some help from his employer since they discovered a way to kill Deadpool. (This is before Deadpool #50, available at a comic store near you, when I was trying to figure out how to kill myself.) The issue comes to a close as Spidey asks who Deadpool's employer is and Deadpool replies... The Hypno-Hustler?! (Dun dun dunnnn)


Thoughts: This was an interesting issue. The issue itself was subpar in my opinion, but Deadpool's humor was great, and he had a ton of lines that made me laugh out loud. And I'm NOT just saying that because he has a gun to my head. (Keep typing, monkey.) But besides Deadpool's humor there wasn't much, plus I figured this would be a one and done, so I was kinda surprised to see it wasn't and the reveal of Hypo-Hustler... I can't say I'm excited for that. (So... since we're done where do I get my check?) There's... no check. X and I work for free. (What is this... DC Comics? Later nerds.)

Score: 6/10 

Deadpool: Dude! Your imagination has the proportionate lameness of a spider. If you don't step it up they're gonna start calling this Avenging Deadpool.

Avengers Assemble #7

So poor JT got stuck reviewing the disaster that was AvX #11 yesterday.  I get to to look at another Bendis scripted book today, Avengers Assemble #7.  Do I hope it will be good?  Yes.  Should it be good?  Yes.  But will it be good?  We shall see shortly...

Avengers Assemble #7:

Summary: This issue kicks off with Thanos summoning the Elders of the Universe to him to show off his Cosmic Cube...  Oh, and to kill them, which he apparently does.  From there the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy team up to take on a massive Badoon warship.  Even though the Badoon have superior weaponary and numbers, the Avengers have Hulk and Thor, and as such send the two brutes out in to space with the hope being that they could get onboard the Badoon ship and Thor could destroy the ship's reactor with his lightning.  Thor manages to do just that and manages to get back to the Guardians' ship with Hulk.  The Guardians warn the Avenhers that the BAdoon wouldn't take this laying down, but before the two teams cn fret over Badoon revenge, they find Thanos.  However, it seems the Cosmic Cube has had some adverse effect on the mad Titan as he is huge, starry and has the Cube trapped in his chest.

Thoughts: No complaints here.  The best thing about the Avengers fighting in space for most of this issue is that Bendis couldn't go dialogue crazy due to nobody being able to hear anything in space.  Besides that, the story was strong and simple, the Badoon teamed with Thanos and are therefore bad.  The Avengers and Guardians fought the Badoon.  They destroyed a Badoon ship, something which could lead to repercussions down the road.  Plus you had Thanos taunting and supposedly killing the Elders, although that action seems to have been what trapped Thanos in the state he was in at the end of this issue.  Honestly, I'm looking forward to the next issue which wraps up this storyline.  I'll be curious to see hos Bendis wraps it all up.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 
Thor and Hulk vs the Badoon army?  Yeah, I'd take Thor and Hulk every time.

Avengers vs. X-Men #11

Hey turkeys, Today's review is the penultimate issue of what seems to be an everlasting comic book, Avengers vs. X-Men. I honestly can't wait for this series to end, I feel like it's been 10 issues so far and nothing noteworthy has happened. Well something has now, but is it enough?

Avengers vs. X-Men #11

Summary: This issue starts off with Captain America and his cohorts recruiting The Big Green Smashing Machine, The Incredible Hulk. Hulk agrees to smash for them, and after every other mutant jumps sides since Scott and Emma are being bat-shit crazy. Emma and Scott meet and Emma says she knows Scott is thinking of defeating her and taking her powers to have the full Phoenix Force, but Scott denies it, saying she must be thinking of it. Emma says she thinks they should destroy the world and start all over again, as she's pretty much fully consumed by the Phoenix. Scott is preoccupied by Charles Xavier, who basically tells him that he's shutting Scott down, Scott denies it but doesn't even realize he's been subdued until he tells Charles to get out of his head, and Scott sees he's in the middle of a giant fight between the Avengers and the other mutants vs. Scott and Emma. After a giant fight, Scott decides he needs more power and attacks Emma, then drains her of the last bit of Phoenix power. Charles pleads with Scott to stop but Scott decides to blast Charles, killing the X-Men founder. Scott says Charles made him do it, as he cries a few tears. Wolverine has Hulk "Fastball Special" him at Cyclops but cyclops burns him up before he can even hit him. The issue comes to a close as Cyclops becomes the Dark Phoenix.


Thoughts: Well... they needed to kill someone I guess? That... weird decision aside, this storyline has been horrible. In the beginning the X-Men were the underdogs, and each team were making valid points, there were no bad guys really. Just different opinions, then they decided to make the "Phoenix Five" into villains for no apparent reason. Anyway, this issue seemed so... odd. It seemed rushed... yet eleven issues into a twelve issue mini-series, you'd think they wouldn't NEED to rush things. Yet, the whole thing with the mutants siding with the Avengers, Charles and Magneto confronting Scott and Emma, the fact Colossus, Namor and Magick are basically just gone as far as this storyline concerns, and the whole thing this issue was built up to be, Scott vs. Emma for the last bit of Phoenix power, barely lasted TWO PAGES! I just don't get it... and now they've made Scott the Dark Phoenix with one issue to basically have him defeated, de-powered and humbled. Sigh... Between this and the last DC event I read (Brightest Day) I'm about to swear off the company events.

Score: 4/10 

Hulk: Yes. Hulk will smash for you.

New Comic Day! September 12th edition.

What time is it?! It's CLOBBERING TIME! And that just happens to be on New Comic Book Day! Per the new format, I'm gonna post what I'll be picking up this week as well as what I plan on reviewing, and under that, my co-host and good buddy X-Man75 will let you guys know what HE picked up and plans on reviewing. So let's get to it.

This week I'm picking up the following comics; Batman #0, Batman and Robin #0, Suicide Squad #0, Team 7 #0, Avengers vs. X-Men #11, Avenging Spider-Man #12, and Scarlet Spider #9! The three comics I plan on reviewing this week are Avenging Spider-Man #12 (Spidey and Deadpool BABY!), Batman and Robin #0 and Avengers vs. X-Men #11. So you guys can expect those on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, with X taking up the other days, so let's see what the other half of the Blogger Tagteam Champions of the Wooooorld ended up picking up. Until next time, JT out! (Yeah, I stole your line. Bwahaha)

Thieving, line-stealing bastard...  And who actually calls me "X-Man75" anymore?!  Anyway, happy New Comic Day all, tis X here, doing his quick pop in for this week's NCD post.  While JT is picking up a paltry 7 comic books, ol' X is snagging a whole lot more!  How many more you ask?  Let's see...  American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #4, Batman #0, Batman and Robin #0, Grifter #0, Superboy #0, Team 7 #0, Avengers vs X-Men #11, Avengers Assemble #7, Avenging Spider-Man #12, Captain America #17, Captain America and Black Widow #636, Journey Into Mystery #643, Scarlet Spider #9, Ultimate X-Men #16, Uncanny X-Force #31, Winter Soldier #10 & X-Men Legacy #273.  So yeah, that would be 17 comics for me...  That's a lot of new books!  The three books I'll be reviewing this week will be Avengers Assemble #7, Winter Soldier #10, and just for the hell of it, Team 7 #0.  Could those plans change?  Sure.  But for now, expect those reviews on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.  And that's it for me.  Until next time, X out! (That's how you do it!)

Green Lantern #0

Hey everyone, JT here with the last review of this comic week, before New Comic Day and the whole new week of comics! Thanks to you guys we're closing this week with the only DC Comics review of the week, which just so happens to be the debut of the newest Green Lantern. So let's get to it!

Green Lantern #0

Summary: We start things off with an Islamic family living in Dearborn, Michigan. They watch as the events of 9/11 unfold, which of course leads to them being picked on and called terrorists throughout their lives, especially Simon Baz and his sister Sira. As an adult, we see Simon, having stolen a car, when he looks in the back and finds out there's an armed bomb in it. Simon calls his sister and tells her to tell his parents he didn't do this, he did steal the van but he didn't know about the bomb. He tells her to get some things out of his safety deposit box and that they belong to him and her son now. He apologizes about Nazir, but he's cut off when he's rear-ended by the police. Simon heads towards and abandoned factory and jumps out of the van as it hits the building and he bomb explodes. Simon is quickly arrested and a few days later we see he's basically suspected of being a terrorist. Simon says he didn't know about the bomb and he isn't a criminal, to which they mention that he stole the van and was arrested for illegal street racing. He was also in a crash, which killed his brother-in-law Nazir. Simon reiterates that he's a car thief, not a terrorist, but the hot heads in charge of National Security want a answers, so they get ready to electrocute them out of Simon. Simon is able to fight his way out until he's stuck staring down the barrel of a gun, when suddenly a Green Lantern ring flies through the wall and onto his finger. The ring tells Simon Baz "he has *ERROR* the ability to overcome great fear." Simon immediately flies through the roof after taking a surge of energy. We then see the main agent in charge of the interrogation notifying Amanda Waller that suspected terrorist Simon Baz has a Green Lantern ring. We then see Cyborg has intercepted that call and notifies Batman that something may be wrong with Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and asks if anyone has heard from him. Simon's story comes to a close as we see him lying unconscious in a field, as his ring says "Message waiting." The epilogue of the story shows us Sinestro and Hal Jordan trapped in Black Hand's ring as the issue ends.


Thoughts: First things first, I'm a Detroit boy, just like Geoff Johns, so I loved the references to streets and things that I know around here like the Detroit Free Press Newspaper, that was cool and definitely made things feel more realistic for me. That aside, this was a good story. I liked the introduction of Simon Baz, the story was interesting, I'm curious as to why he stole that van but we'll know soon enough hopefully. I'm wondering how the fact his ring said error will play a part in Baz's time as Green Lantern. All in all I enjoyed this story, it wasn't perfect but it set up a lot of questions, introduced Simon Baz as an interesting character, and it was new but enjoyable and easy to follow.

Score: 8/10 

Simon Baz: I'm a car thief, not a terrorist!

Venom #24

And this will be my last review of the week(probably...).  Tomorrow is a JT day, and then it's time for New Comic Day.  I've got to say, things HAVE been a lot easier here at the blog now that I'm splitting duties with that sucker my good friend, JT.  Anyway, heeeeere's Venom!

Venom #24:

Summary: Venom manages to escape the currently VERY evil Daimon Hellstrom, and realizes that there was a demon inside of him...  Uh-huh...  Oh, and the symbiote likes having the demon in there with it and Flash, I guess the more the merrier or something.  Anyway, Flash tries to puke the demon out, as that's apparently the way the army teaches soldiers to rid themselves of demonic corruption.  Unfortunately, the puke plan fails, so Flash heads to that reporter from last issue, Katy Kiernan, and tells her he needed an exorcism   Naturally, Katy knows a guy who can preform exorcisms(because, why not?) and the guy summons the demon, which tells him and Katy that it didn't want to be bonded with Venom because he was cramping it's style or something along those lines.  With that, Flash takes control back and the exorcist tells Flash his best course of action was to force the guy who originally put the demon in Flash to undo it.  For some reason Flash decides Hellstrom had put the demon in him, even though it was actually Mephisto(I think).  But I guess Hellstrom is close enough being the Son of Satan and all...  Even though Hellstrom's father was actually a DIFFERENT Satan...  Yeah.  Anyway, Flash tracks Hellstrom down to the Bronx Zoo, which is where all inexplicably evil ex-heroes tend to hang out at night.  The two fight again, but Hellstrom manages to down Venom again(because Flash is apparently really dumb and didn't learn a thing from last issue) before summoning a horde of demons called, and I kid you not, the Monsters of Evil.  This one ends with Hellstrom offering Venom a slot on the Monsters.

Thoughts: Yep, this issue really happened.  Well, first things first, I should be up front with the fact that I'm a huge fan of Daimon Hellstrom and HATE the fact that he's randomly evil.  Why don't I like Daimon's sudden switch to evil?  What's more interesting, a half-demon, half-human son of the devil who turned against his satanic heritage?  Or a half-demon, half-human son of the devil who embraced his satanic heritage?  It's definitely the former for me.  Especially since he's basically nothing more than one of Sin's lieutenants.  On top of that, we have Venom possessed by a demon, that was put in him by Mephisto(or maybe Blackheart, I can't remember), with the demon not even wanting to be bonded with Flash!  Weird.  Does that mean X-23, Red Hulk and whoever that other person who fought Blackheart in Las Vegas are also possessed by demons that don't want to do their jobs?  Plus you have the Monsters of Evil, which, to me anyway, is a really lame sounding name.  I have to say, I was cautiously optimistic when Cullen Bunn took this series over from Rick Remender, but that optimism is slowly eroding away...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

I really hate inexplicably evil Daimon...

Deadpool #60

Hey guys and gals, no your eyes aren't deceiving you, this is a JT post. I've dropped the "JT's Take" titles of my posts, to show a bit more unity. X opened his blog to me, and I figured if we're gonna do the fiddy/fiddy thang, (I don't know why I typed that) why have a title distinction? Anyway, all that aside, today's review is with our favorite Merc with a Mouth, with Black Box putting a hit on his newly handsome head, let's see how the formerly Regeneratin' Degenerate fares.

Deadpool #60

Summary: Sigh... This is gonna be a quick review. We start things off with Deadpool using a gas hose and a lighter and shooting flames from his butt by placing the hose between his legs. He uses them to basically knock out Black Tom and Black Box... somehow. Anyway, while playing with fire he sets himself on fire, ruining his good looks... so now he looks like he did before. Sigh... An explosion then blasts Deadpool away, knocking him unconscious. He regains consciousness later, as we see he was saved by Black Swan, because he took Black Swan to the hospital two issues ago. Black Swan tells Deadpool that he helped him like he said he would, and now Black Tom and Black Box no longer remember that Deadpool doesn't have his healing factor. Black Swan then offers Deadpool a job, Deadpool curses a ton, then the issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: Well this was terrible. This issue was CLEARLY rushed due to the whole Marvel Now thing, and what's worse is Deadpool burned himself up, I can't... It doesn't make sense to me that he would even make a mistake and do that considering how much he was happy to look normal. Now he looks the same and has no healing factor, which is just stupid. I could have seen if someone else set him ablaze or threw acid on him but this was just idiotic. Also, the "no one remembers you don't have a healing factor "One More Day" stuff really annoyed me. And the ending... with Deadpool just cursing... this comic seemed like something Dan Way put out because he had to, so he scribbled it on a napkin and said "Print em up!" Horrible comic all around, I can honestly say I enjoyed nothing in this book. Well no, I take that back, the art was good, so I'll give it a point for that...

Score: 1/10 

Me: Cool, an add for Avengers! Sept. 25th, here I come!

Hawkeye #2

I didn't actually get to review Hawkeye #1, but I would have probably given it a very solid 8 out of 10 or so.  I thought it was a great introduction to the Clint Barton character for people who only knew him from the movie, but for somebody like me, who has loved the character for years, it didn't blow my mind.  Now, with this second issue, I'm hoping for something mind-blowing!

Hawkeye #2:

Summary: Hawkeye(the original, Clint Barton) and Kate Bishop(the Young Avenger named Hawkeye from when Clint was dead and/or a ninja...) have decided to head to a carnival that mainly rich villain-types were going to, since Clint had a bad feeling about it.  Sure enough, the carnival is led by the Ringmaster(of the Circus of Crime), and the Ringmaster does his regular modus operandi, hypnotizing the crowd and then robbing them.  Clint and Kate have some special glasses that negate Ringmaster's hypnotic hat(yes, his hat), and head out to take down the Circus.  Kate handles things very professionally, while Clint gets captured by a sword-thrower who had been trained by Clint's old trainer, the Swordsman.  Kate manages to rescue Clint, after whcih time she shoots the Ringmaster and some of his goons in the eyes(!!).  The sword-thrower then arrives on the scene, looking to take on Clint one-on-one.  Clint responds by banking an arrow off a wall, into the back of the sword-thrower's neck, taking him down(permanently?).  With that, Clint and Kate take the money the Circus robbed from the criminals and drive away on a boat, letting the money blow away in the sea.  Needless to say, the criminals, led by Kingpin(!), are NOT pleased by this turn of events.

Thoughts: Um, this comic just didn't do it for me...  I mean it was okay, but it wasn't great.  But it WAS a Hawkeye comic, so that makes anything better.  Sure, I don't know why the likes of Kingpin and Hammerhead would be dumb enough to go to a show being put on by the Circus of CRIME, nor do I get why the Circus would want to make enemies with KINGPIN, of all people, but whatever I guess.  I was definitely happy to see Kate pop up here and become Clint's partner, because I AM a huge Young Avengers fan, but this issue was strangely lacking for me.  I can't really put my finger on it, but there was something missing here for me...  But hey, it IS Hawkeye, so that's still a huge boost, regardless of the story.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

"And he'll never walk again..." Oh that wacky Hawkeye...