Guardians of The Galaxy #1

Hey faithful readers, JT here with my first review for the Guardians of the Galaxy series. The issue before this was amazing, so hopefully this one keeps the momentum.

Guardians of The Galaxy #1

Summary: We start things off with Peter in a space bar, being approached by his father. Peter's dad tells Peter to stay away from Earth, as it's been declared off-limits from now on by the Council of Galactic Empires. Peter says that would only make the Earth a target for people who want to give a giant screw you to the council, including a guy like Thanos. Peter's dad, J'Son, tells Peter not to worry about Earth, and that he should accept his role as Starlord of Spartax instead of going around fighting crime, but the conversation is cut short by Gamora's appearance, which causes Peter to leave with her. Meanwhile, Iron Man is flying around space is soon attacked by the Badoon, so the Guardians show up to even the score. The Badoon decide to escape in a smaller ship and kamikaze their ship, taking the Guardians by surprise and taking Stark out of action completely since his suit starts malfunctioning. The Guardians save Stark and regroup on their ship, which leads to Gamora telling Peter she thinks his father set him up, knowing he'd do the opposite of what he requested. Peter asks why she thinks that, and she reveals that the Badoon are headed to Earth to attack, and she believes that if J'Son can't have Peter or Earth, he's content with sending them both to hell, as this issue comes to an end.

Thoughts: This issue was a bit slower than the last issue, which was fantastic, but this was far from a bad story. I enjoyed Tony Stark realizing he needs to take himself out of the moment and look at things on a more cosmic scale by joining the Guardians of the Galaxy. I also thought the character development of Peter's dad, from being a suave, debonair alien that landed on Earth, to the very smug, master of mind games and tyrannical ruler that we saw here. All in all, this issue wasn't as great as the last one, but it did a good job of showing the team, showing us what to expect, and giving us a look at the current relationship between Peter and his dad.

Score: 7/10

J'Son: Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the universe.
Peter: Jealous?
J'Son: Yes.

Uncanny Avengers #5

Hey all, X here with your Saturday night review!  Tonight we have a single review, but it should be a good one, if the first four issues are anything to go by.  Let's see what Rick Remender has in store for us as we kick off the second storyarc here in Uncanny Avengers!

Uncanny Avengers #5:

Summary: We kick things off with Kang heading to the Akkaba base and meeting the Apocalypse twins.  Seems he has plans for them...  From there we learn that Wasp was serving as the Avengers PR director, and wanted the team to hold a press conference to try to halt the recent anti-mutant feelings the Red Skull stirred up.  Wonder Man has joined the team as a favor to the Scarlet Witch, who feels everybody on the team hates her.  Sunfire also joins up, as a favor to Wolverine and to honor the memory of Prof. X.  The team holds their press conference, which sees Havok unmasking and telling the surprised press that he was the brother of mutant terrorist and failed world conqueror Cyclops.  The press conference is interrupted by the Grim Reaper(!), who wants to kill the Scarlet Witch, who he blames for bringing him and Wonder Man back to life.  With the element of surprise on his side, and lots of members of the press in the way, Reaper manages to take most of the team down and moves in to kill Scarlet Witch.  However, Rogue manages to swipe Wonder Man's powers and socks Reaper in the face, apparently killing him, and ending this issue.

Thoughts: Good stuff here.  I have no real complaints...  Well, except for Rogue's continued bitchy/childish behavior, but besides that, no major complaints.  I like the addition of Wonder Man to the team, and look forward to him being redeemed after the way Bendis had used him.  As for Sunfire, the jury is still out on that one...  I've never been a fan of the character, but I'm more than willing to see what Remender can do with him.  Now, I AM a fan of the Grim Reaper.  He's a great old school Avengers villain, and with Bendis disregarding Avengers history for most of his long Avengers run, he's been sitting on the sidelines for way too long, so I was glad to see him pop up here.  Ditto for Kang.  I really am happy to see Remender actually using AVENGERS villains in this Avengers book, unlike Bendis, who wanted to use Spider-Man villains, street-level villains and Fantastic Four villains as the Avengers nemeses.  So as usual, good stuff here.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Huzzah for the return of classic Avengers villains!!

Superior Spider-Man #6.1 (Age of Ultron Tie-In)

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my first review of the week, Superior Spider-Man! This issue was written by my boy Christos Gage, so I'm expecting great things for this Age of Ultron related Spidey issue, so let's get to it.

Superior Spider-Man #6.1

Summary: (Hey all, X here to chip in on the review!  Wherever you see red?  That's me.  Hit it, JT!)We start this issue by finding out that Doc Ock is still Peter Parker, and has just been putting on a good act(too good an act if ya ask me...), which actually works for continuity. Ock is looking at the destruction, something he'd dreamed of causing in the past, but now he's mourning Mary Jane and May, since he wasn't there to save them. He blames Peter, saying he was so tired from cleaning up his mess of a life that he slept through it when people needed him most(I loved Doc's self-righteousness here, and the way he blamed Peter). Doc's anger is put on pause, as he's approached by Tony Stark(Ock battled Tony in an issue of Iron Man during Matt Fraction's run.  It was really good!) with a Hail Mary plan to dispatch of Ultron, using a device that can move an entire area to the Negative Zone, but they need Negative Zone Tech, which is supposedly at Horizon Labs, which is where Spidey comes in, since Peter worked there(That was the LONGEST sentence in the history of humanity!  Damn, JT!!). Stark sends Ock and Quicksilver to Horizon, and Quicksilver goes to place the devices around Ultron's location. Doc Parker decides he's not going to listen to Alcohol-damaged brain of Tony Stark(HA!!), and instead heads to his lab. He then uses his Spider-Bots to take over a few Ultron Droids, giving him control of them and takes the fight to Ultron's Central Intelligence, only to discover that it isn't Ultron's main body. Having failed and now having Ultron know of his location, the Ultron droids quickly close in on Superior Spider-Man. Doc heads after the tech that Stark sent him to get but it's destroyed by a droid, the droids then blow Horizon labs to smithereens, but Doc manages to escape through the sewers. When he arrives back at the hero hideout, he tells Stark he failed, but Stark said he must not have had enough time to charge the device. Doc, clearly ashamed, says that Stark is right, although the device would have had time to charge if he'd followed Stark's original plan. Stark tells him not to beat himself up, and it probably wouldn't have worked by Doc tells him it would have worked, which is a big gesture from Doc(I guess Tony's alcohol-damaged brain worked after all!). Stark says it doesn't matter now, maybe Luke and She-Hulk will be able to come through, and joins the rest of the heroes. Doc watches on, thinking how he always treated his teammates as lackeys, beings that only made him weaker, but this is different. The issue comes to a close as the Superior Spider-Man joins with his fallen comrades, no longer just looking out for himself.

Thoughts: This issue really worked in my opinion. Christos Gage (one of my favorite writers)(Mine too!!) really understood what made Doc Parker tick here, and did a great job of showing a ton of different emotions for him in the span of this issue(That's a good point...). The funny thing is this issue probably wouldn't even have happened if Spidey wasn't Superior Spider-Man right now. The situation of Ock as Peter choosing to disobey orders from a supposed man of lesser intelligence like Tony Stark for the sake of trying his own plan, partly because he wanted to be the hero, then failing, not only himself but his fellow heroes as well, then having to live with the knowledge that Stark's plan probably would have worked and being humbled(Heh, you said "humbled"...) by that fact was great(Dude, what is up with you and the run-on sentences today?!). Every action here made sense, the way he blamed Peter for his failings, the anger at not being able to save May or Mary Jane, the quiet shame of letting down everyone when he returned to Tony, knowing he may have cost everyone a chance at beating Ultron, and realizing that Peter being an Avenger didn't make him dependent, it just strengthened a powerful individual even more(Damn, you were poetic here, JT!  Nice!).

Score: 8/10

Superior Spider-Man: I beat death... But Death, it seems... does not like being cheated.

Young Avengers #3

Last review of the night is none other than Young Avengers...  You know, the book I most look forward to reading.  So yeah, let's skip this whole intro nonsense and get into the action!

Young Avengers #3:

Summary: Miss America saves the boys from Laufey, and Loki teleports everybody to the safety of Mary Jane's nightclub...  Wha-huh!?  By this point, Hulkling's mother and the rest of the evil parents seem to have a lock on the group.  Anyway, Loki tells the group that Wiccan could cast a spell that would rid them of their evil parents.  However, learning/casting the spell would take a long time, which would leave the evil parents alone to do all sorts of evil parent-y things.  To circumvent the time issue, Loki tells Wiccan to lend his powers to Loki so Loki could cast the spell faster and end the threat of the evil parents.  Needless to say, Wiccan has no interest in lending Loki any powers.  By this time, the evil parental units arrive and beat the crew into unconsciousness.  This issue ends with the group waking up to Hulkling's mother telling them she was going to eat their souls, or something equally nefarious.

Thoughts: You know I enjoyed this comic.  So let's get that out of the way right off the bat...  I liked this comic!  It was really good!  I enjoyed the Miss America making the timely save.  I loved Loki trying to convince Wiccan to lend his powers over for ten minutes.  I liked learning a little bit about Miss America's background.  I liked the boys texting Kate...  Could we have gotten a little more action?  Or learned how Miss America knew where to find the group?  Or learned just what Hulkling's mother's deal was?  Sure, but this issue was still very strong.  And before I end this, I have to say, Kieron Gillen is doing a fantastic job with the dialogue here...  The characters sound more realistic than most of the comic characters I read about do.  So yeah, like I said, very good!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

The art in this comic is also top-notch.  The facial expressions here are fantastic.

Age of Ultron #3

Hey there X-Maniacs, X here to start this comic week off right!  As evidenced by Monday's Best of the Rest post, I had to sift through a lot of mediocrity last week.  This week?  This week I'm hoping for BIG things!  And tonight, we'll get started with Marvel's big event, the Age of Ultron.  That's up right now.  After that, it'll be Young Avengers.  This should be a great comic reading night...  Here's hoping!

Age of Ultron #3(of 10):

Summary: Captain America has come up with a plan!  Which is a good thing, since prior to this point, all he's been doing is sitting in the corner moping.  Anyway, Cap's plan is to trade one of the heroes to Ultron, since it appears that Ultron has been bartering with criminals for heroes.  Luke Cage and She-Hulk both think they should be the one to get traded, since they were both strong and tough to kill.  In the end, Shulkie "wins"(if you can call it that...) and is knocked out by Luke, who carries her to Ultron's space ship.  Luke gets inside and is shocked to see the Vision as the apparent leader of the Ultron droids.  Besides that, Black Panther, Red Hulk and Taskmaster are stealing Ultron heads in Chicago.

Thoughts: This issue went by FAST!  I mean it took me like a minute or two to breeze through it!  And to be honest, I liked it better than the first two issues.  That's not to say that I loved it, as there were some things I didn't get, but it was, for me, a step in the right direction.  Would I have sent both Luke and Shulkie, my two remaining powerhouses, into the jaws of Ultron?  Probably not.  Do I believe for a second that Vision is the true leader of the Ultron droids?  Nope.  But I am looking forward to the next issue, and am hoping my enjoyment of this series continues to grow.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

If you've never used "Sweet Christmas" in your everyday life, you should.

New Comic Day! March 27th edition

Hey guys and gals, it's that time of the week once again, New Comic Day! As always, I'll list the books I plan on getting, mi amigo X will do the same below, and then we bombard you guys with reviews. This week, I plan on picking up Deathmatch #4, Aquaman #18, Injustice: Gods Among Us #3, Age of Ultron #3, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Morbius The Living Vampire #3, Scarlet Spider #15, Superior Spider-Man #6.1 Age of Ultron Tie-In, Uncanny Avengers #5, Uncanny X-Force #3, and Young Avengers #3. That brings my total for this week to eleven books, and I plan on reviewing Superior Spider-Man 6.1, Injustice: Gods Among Us #3, and Guardians of the Galaxy #1! (I figured you had enough X...and I'm not touching Scarlet Spider-Man with a stick til The Other stuff ends.) So expect those reviews on my regular days, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Now I'll head things over to X, til next time, this is JT, signing off.

And as promised, X here to polish this here post off.  Here are the books I'll be getting this week...  Deathmatch #4, I, Vampire #18, Teen Titans #18, Clone #5, Fatale #13, Morning Glories #25, A + X #6, Age of Ultron #3, FF #5, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Scarlet Spider #15, Superior Spider-Man #6AU, Thunderbolts #7, Uncanny Avengers #5, Young Avengers #3.  Damn, 15 books this week...  That's a lot.  There are a few good books here, and a few books that are barely hanging on to my pull list.  So an interesting mix.  I'll be reviewing Age of Ultron and Young Avengers on Thursday and Uncanny Avengers on Saturday.  Most everything else will get a mention in the Best of the Rest post on Monday.  And that'll wrap things up.  Until tomorrow?  X out.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #21

Hey X-Maniacs, the final review of the comic week is by yours truly, JT, and we're gonna check in with the Ultimate Universe Spider-Man. The last issue ended with Miles' dad being taken to the hospital after an attack by Venom, so let's get to the fallout!

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #21

Summary: We pick up this issue with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane, after seeing the footage of Venom's return, running off to meet up with Miles. Miles is still beating himself up about how this is his fault because he's Spider-Man and how that villain came after him and hurt his dad. Miles' pity party is interrupted by Gwen and MJ's arrival, and they go into his building to discuss some things about Venom, something Det. Maria Hill notices. We also see Venom has dragged himself back together, and wastes no time in absorbing/eating civilians. Back with Miles, Ganke, Gwen and MJ catch the boys up on Venom, the symbiote, and they tell them about how Gwen was a symbiote, since she's basically a clone of her dead self from the other Ultimate Spider-Man series. (Seems kinda odd they'd bring up that extremely convoluted story, but whatever.) The story time is cut short when Detective Hill shows up in Miles' apartment, and basically says she finds it weird that Miles' dad was attacked by Venom, Miles' uncle, The Prowler, was recently killed in a battle with Spider-Man, and now Miles is talking to Peter Parker's ex-girlfriend and the girl that lives with his Aunt, and says if he has anything to share, he should, before someone else gets hurt. Gwen and MJ run interference and get Hill o leave, since she doesn't have a warrant or anything, leaving a conflicted Miles. The issue comes to a close as the Doctors come to get Rio Morales and take her to her husband, but before they she can learn anything about his condition, Venom bursts through the doors of the hospital as this issue ends.

Thoughts: This issue fell kinda flat for me. I get why Miles was feeling sorry for himself and everything but it seemed like it went on too long, and it kinda took the wind out of the sails for Ganke's story about when his dad died. I did like seeing MJ and Gwen as Miles' support system though, since I really like those characters after reading the entire Ultimate Spider-Man series over the past few months, especially Gwen. Like I said above, I didn't get why they mentioned the whole Gwen was dead and was part symbiote thing unless it comes into play in the future, because it would've just confused me had I not read that series. Also, it seemed like Miles is really trying to get found out as Spidey, talking about it with Ganke in public when there are civilians, medics and police around. All in all this seemed like an issue where not much happened, Miles and Ganke talked with MJ and Gwen, Venom attacked the hospital. Pretty forgettable overall.

Score: 5/10

Gwen Stacy: It took my...my life juices... (Because out of context, that's hilarious.)

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/20/13

Hey all, X here with his final post of the week.  Yes, it's time to take a look at the Best of the Rest!  This time with 100% more JT!  Yes, mi hermano, JT, will be pitching in this week.  Probably to bring the post quality waaaaay down... But at least I'm here to bring some respectability to the proceedings.  Huh, it probably wasn't that smart to insult JT right off the bat since he'll be closing this post out, and as such will get the last word...  If I was smarter I'd delete the insults...  Meh.  So here's how it'll work.  I'll post my thoughts on a few comics, JT will post his thoughts in a different color, and then JT will close things out.  Boom, simple.  Like JT!!!  HA!!!!  *ahem*  Anyway, let's get this bad boy rolling.

Daredevil #24:  This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post...  Which doesn't bode well as we move forward...  Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was.  Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not.  Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt.  Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here.  Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs!  What more could one ask for?!  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth.  Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away.  Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them.  And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto.  Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me.  I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place...  We were in Mephisto's hell.  And on the streets.  And watching demons fight.  And in a hotel room.  It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series.  But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Saga #11:  First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!!  With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me.  Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life.  Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well.  That's really the extent of the main storyline here.  I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing.  I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed.  Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died.  If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got.  Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again.  This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road.  Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody.  That about sums this one up.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me...  I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great...  Score: 6 out of 10.

Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels.  Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk.  Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing...  I never connected with this issue...  Yep, again.  There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story.  It was okay.  But that's all.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic...  Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth.  There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight...  But he gets killed by Tigra.  Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic.  See, now this comic?  This comic was bad.  Not okay, just bad.  I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me.  Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers.  We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team...  Score: 3 out of 10.

DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10

Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10

Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10

New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10

And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!

All New X-Men #9

Hey guys and gals, my second review of the week is All New X-Men. The last issue fell a bit flat for me so hopefully Bendis and the crew can bounce back for this one.

All New X-Men #3

Summary: This issue gets things started with Kitty taking the O5 into Times Square for a training exercise for taking on Sentinels. The team decides to do their own thing instead of working as an actual team, which is weird considering they worked as a team in their own time period... Anyway, they fail the obvious simulation (Kitty sat there with her arms crossed the whole time, like Jason Todd in a Bat-Family book) so you could tell they were never in danger. Afterwards, Kitty tells them what they did wrong, including telling Cyclops he did a good job but his team didn't listen to his orders, even though she and Storm declared Jean the leader of the team privately, but whatever. Angel cuts this short by asking what this training has to do with anything, but Kitty says she's training them to make sure they don't die while their under her guidance. As everyone leaves, nosy ass Jean Grey (that Kitty has already scolded twice in this issue for reading her mind) asks Cyclops who Mystique is, which also makes Kitty ask where he met her. Scott tells them to get out of his head and walks off, with Kitty following after. Next we see Maria Hill bringing Sabretooth to The Raft, but of course it's actually Mystique, and Sabretooth takes out the guards as she goes to meet up with Lady Mastermind. Mystique basically says she's ready to use her powers to get rich as hell, and invites Lady Mastermind along for the ride, which she accepts, and the three make their way out of The Raft before the Avengers can arrive. From there we see Angel asking Beast about the "Mutant Genocide" he mentioned, and Beast basically tells him that hopefully, it's been avoided, as he brought them here to snap Scott out of his ways and hopefully their appearance will make him come to his senses before the Mutant Genocide is pushed to that point. Beast's words are cut short when he and the rest of the school notice that Cyclops, Magneto, Emma and Magik have arrived on the school grounds, continuing from Uncanny X-Men #2, as this issue comes to a close.

Thoughts: I love that this issue and Uncanny X-Men ended at the same spot, makes it feel like you're reading about one big world instead of a bunch of different stories. Also, that team looks SO much better in this book instead of Bacchalo's art in my opinion, although I hate that Emma and Lady Mastermind are wearing the same clothes basically, and both them and Magik feel the need to wear black costumes and show their cleavage. (Or cleavage and thighs for Emma and Magik.) Must just be some big female villain website they order their outfits from... That stuff aside, I gotta say, Iceman is REALLY rubbing be the wrong way, he's not coming off funny or likable, he just seems like an idiot. I mean, he's pretty much an adult, if not a late aged teen, and he's asking Kitty if they can go to Toys R Us?! And Jean probing everyone's mind every chance she gets is making her pretty unlikable to me, hell I can see why Scott eventually goes crazy if he has to put up with her and Kitty and everyone staring at him like he's Hitler's son at a Synagogue. An

Score: 7/10

Cyclops: To me, my X-Men.

Nightwing #18

Hey all, X here with a Saturday night review.  Tonight I'll be tackling the Requiem issue of Nightwing.  Now, going in to this one you should know that I HATE the fact that Damian was killed off, mainly because it adds nothing to the Bat-stories.  If anything, it detracts from them.  We've already SEEN how Bruce reacts to the death of a Robin.  Same with Dick.  Yes, Damian was Bruce's son, but Jason was his adopted son!  So basically we've lost Damian and are getting stories that were already told back in the late 80's...  Yay.  I guess...

Nightwing #18:

Summary: So yeah, Damian randomly died in a comic that most of us weren't even aware was in continuity   Dick isn't taking the death very well, sine he had a special bond with Damian from when he was Batman.  Having lost his circus(which is a weird thing to ever type) and his little brother, Dick is mad at the world, and tries to push people away.  People like Sonia Zucco, who, in case you are unaware, is the daughter of Tony Zucco.  Tony was behind the deaths of Dick's parents.  And Dick takes every opportunity to scream that at Sonia.  Seriously, every time Sonia appears Dick screams it at her!  I wouldn't even have noticed had JT not pointed it out to me...  But now I always see it!  Anyway, after Dick is finished ranting at Sonia, Batman comes by to swing around the city with Dick for a while, saying nothing for a good half an hour.  Eventually Bats tells Dick that the Dealer was in Gotham and he was auctioning off Dick's father's Flying Grayson costume.  After unleashing some snark at Bats, Dick heads off to bust some heads.  Dick drops in and beats up the Dealer's goons, but the Dealer manages to set the auction house ablaze(ain't nobody got time for that!), trapping the sickos who were bidding on Dick's father's costume inside.  Dick decides to save the lowlifes, which allows the Dealer to get away and lets his dad's costume burn.  From there, Dick heads back to Damian's grave and tells Damian that he was going to take Damian's advice from last issue and would start trusting people again.  Sadly, this issue doesn't end there, because if it did, I'd only have praise for it...  Instead, the scene shifts to Sonia'a apartment, and Sonia reveals to Dick that her father(who was behind the deaths of Dick's folks, in case you didn't know), was actually alive, and operating out of Chicago...

Thoughts: Yeah...  So if you take away those last three pages, this comic was an easy 8 1/2 to a 9 for me.  Kyle Higgins had Dick down perfectly here.  He brooded for a while, he bitched at people, but in the end, he was still Dick Grayson.  Sure, this story was done before, you know, back when Jason died, but still, I enjoyed reading this.  And then we got the Tony Zucco reveal...  Ugh...  It doesn't even make sense if you really think about it!  So basically, Zucco faked his death and went to Chi-town, where he became a high-ranking mobster...  And, Batman?  Didn't realize that Zucco was alive?  Being the world's greatest detective and all, I have to doubt that.  Which means he DID know, but for whatever reason a) didn't tell Dick, and b) allowed Zucco, the man who killed Dick's folks, to have free reign in Chicago...  It makes no sense!!  Besides that, why wouldn't Babs know?  Or Dick?  Or hell, Damian, or anybody!  It's not like the members of the Bat-clan are dumb, and it's not like Zucco was hiding out in a smokey warehouse ..  He was standing right in public, bossing his goons around!  So yeah, like I said, ugh...  Basically, read this comic, but skip the final three pages.  You'll be way happier that way...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Huh, I'm gonna miss Damian...

Superior Spider-Man #6

Hey True Believers, JT here, imitating Stan "The Man" Lee, with my first review of the week. Today's comic is the most recent issue of Superior Spider-Man. After Spidey took a life in the last issue of Superior, I can only imagine what's going to happen in this issue.

Superior Spider-Man #6

Summary: Things start off with Mayor Jameson announcing he's shutting down The Raft, since so many criminals break out of there anyway. His press conference is cut short when Screwball and Jester, who are basically villains who are inspired by the show Punk'd, show up and use their speed and wacky exploits to pie and pants Mayor Jameson like an old Three Stooges episode. We see Norah, Phil Urich, and others laughing when it goes viral, including Peter, but his laugh is cut short when Spider-Man receives a message from Jameson asking him to meet him. Spidey meets with Jameson and after a bit of back and forth, Doc agrees to help Jameson by apprehending Jester and Screwball. from there we see the Avengers deciding that they may have to cut Spidey loose, considering how brutal he's been and the fact he recently killed a man, but surprisingly, Wolverine sticks up for him, saying everyone there has blood on their hands and it doesn't seem right to ditch Spidey when he may need them the most, so the Avengers agree to keep an eye on the Web-crawler and play the waiting game. As Doc arrives at college and notices some idiots making fun of his newest friend, Anna Maria, for being a little person, Doc thinks about when he was bullied as a kid. This causes Peter Parker, who has been absent for this issue so far since he's going through Doc's mind to try to find a way to get his body back, to go along for the ride, as every time Doc remembers a memory, Peter sees it too. Anna Maria keeps Doc Parker from beating up the goons and says she invited him to talk to his professor and apologize for the "Schnoz" comment. While their having coffee, Jester and Screwball are spotted by a Spider-Bot so Ock excuses himself and heads after them.Turns out everytime someone links to the video Screwball and Jester did with Jameson, their programs phish through their security systems for passwords and credit card info, which is a genius plan. Spidey engages the duo and they go live, with Spidey being temporarily distracted after punching Screwball in the boob.... well, I laughed, which also led to Spidey being hit in the crotch by a slingshot, which also made me laugh, because I am a child apparently. They blast Spidey with balloons filled with paint which blinds him, causing him to rip the lenses off of his glasses, and Jester steps on them, which pisses him off because in the flashback from earlier, a kid stomped his glasses. Spidey goes wild and beats Jester and Screwball senseless, repeatedly slashing with his claws as Jameson watches on smiling, Mary Jane watches in disbelief, and Wolverine admits that the Avengers will have to act. Peter finally comes top-side to see the aftermath, as Screwball and Jester are left a bloody mess with Superior Spider-Man towering over them.

Thoughts: Man.... this was a pretty awesome issue. This issue revolved around bullying as the central theme, with Spidey helping Jameson due to Spidey's past-bullying, the idiots bullying Anna Maria, and Spidey snapping and beating down Jester and Screwball because he was just taking out years being bullied on them now that he's in a position if power, as seen by Peter popping up and saying how Doc's memories were jumping around. The stuff with Screwball/Jester and Jameson was fun, and it made sense he'd call in his new buddy Spider-Man to deal with them. I also enjoyed the stuff with The Avengers debating about Spider-Man, but his actions pretty much making them have to get involved. I'm also surprised at how likable Slott has manages to make Anna Maria after only two appearances. I think the best thing here was keeping Peter to a minimum, because if he's searching Doc's thoughts it allows Doc to get away with more since Peter isn't influencing his conscious. Overall, I really enjoyed this comic, there was a bit of humor, some action, storyline development with The Avengers, Anna Maria, MJ's brief appearance and Phil Urich's at the beginning of the issue. Overall this was a good issue and made me very excited for the next one.

Score: 8.5/10

Superior Spider-Man: You're not laughing now?! ARE YOU?!

Nova #2

Last review of the night is the second issue of Nova.  I liked the first issue and am intrigued to see where Jeph Loeb takes this story.

Nova #2:

Summary: Picking up from last issue, Sam freaks out, what with being confronted by a talking racoon and a green assassin and all, and makes the mistake of calling Rocket Raccoon a talking raccoon...  But his name has raccoon in it!  Anyway, Rocket takes great offence at that and blasts Sam's pillow to pieces, which leads to Sam running out of the hospital room in terror.  Gamora chides Rocket for his behavior since Sam was their "last, best hope."  Sam fetches a nurse, and when he returns to his room with the nurse, Rocket and Gamora are naturally gone.  Sam falls asleep, but is awakened by his father's Nova helmet, which fell under his bed when Rocket started shooting up the place.  Sam takes the helmet outside(what kind of hospital would let a kid in a gown wander outside in the middle of the night?!) and punts it away, but that leads to the helmet shooting energy up into the air.  Sam decides to put the helmet on, and becomes Nova.  It also activates a message from his father telling him the standard, "I'll miss you, should have spent more time with you, etc" stuff that holographic recordings tend to say.  After hearing that(and crash landing in the parking lot), Sam heads back inside.  The next morning, Sam's doctors tell his mother that he was 100% healed, so she takes him home.  Sam decides to put the helmet back on later in the evening, and turns into Nova again.  This time he flies around, but ends up going too fast and winds up on the moon.  This issue ends with Sam looking up to see the Watcher staring down at him.

Thoughts: Good stuff here. Sam is still really likable, and I like the pace at which Loeb is telling this story.  I like the focus being on Sam, and not on any villains.  Build up the character first, and then bring on the bad guys!  If I had a complaint, it would be Rocket going all rabid on Sam, but maybe he IS rabid...  I mean he is a raccoon and all...  But yeah, good strong work here leaves me with no complaints.

Score: 8 out of 10.

So wait, you can't call him a raccoon?

Captain America #5

Hey all, X here with the first of two reviews for the night.  Tonight it'll be Captain America and Nova, and on Saturday I'll have Nightwing up and ready to go.  As for Monday?  That will be a massive, huge, gala Best of the Rest post with around 8 comics in there.  Or at least that's the plan...  Before we get there though, we have to get through tonight.  And the very first book I read this week was Cap.

Captain America #5:

Summary: We start off with Cap and Ian on their way to Zola's castle and a way back to Earth.  However, Cap notices smoke from his camp and realizes that Zola's forces had found the Phrox and would undoubtedly be trying to kill everybody there.  Cap heads back to camp and engages Zola's forces, with Ian right at his side.  Jet Black spots Cap and attacks him, since both her and Zola were under the mistaken impression that Cap had killed Ian.  Jet beats the hell out of Cap, and is preparing the killing stoke when Ian jumps in, distracting Jet, who rapidly realizes that Ian had to be her thought to be dead brother.  Ian strikes Jet in the throat, knocking her down, and Cap forgoes killing Jet, instead diving back into Zola's forces.  Jet telepathically tells Zola what she had seen, so Zola tells his forces to back off, since he didn't want Ian harmed.  Once that is done, Zola attacks Cap himself, since Cap did kidnap his son and all.  Cap is no match for Zola by this point, and Zola has his way with Cap.  Jet seems like she wants to let Cap live, since he didn't kill her when she was down, but Zola has no interest in mercy as he blasts Cap off a cliff.  From there, Zola tells his men to kill all of Phrox men and children, while taking the women for experimentation.  A short while later, Cap wakes up to the taunts of the Zola virus that had embedded itself in his chest.  Tired of having to hear it, Cap stabs himself in the chest, which causes the virus to ooze out.  This issue ends with a bloody and beaten Cap swearing that he would take his son back.

Thoughts: Bravo!  That's really all I have to say about this issue...  I enjoyed it from the front cover to the back, and can't wait to see what happens next issue   Hell, forget about next issue, I can't wait to see where Rick Remender takes this storyline!  What a great series this is...

Score: 9 out of 10.

Zola smash!!!

New Comic Day! March 20th edition.

Hey comic fans, X here to welcome in yet another New Comic Day!  Huzzah!!  And it's the first day of spring to boot. Although you couldn't tell that where I live...  Anywho, hows about I get into which comics I intend on picking up today...  Nightwing #18, Red Hood and the Outlaws #18, Invincible #101, Comeback #5, Saga #11, All New X-Men #9, Captain America #5, Captain Marvel #11, Daredevil #24, Dark Avengers #188, Indestructible Hulk #5, Nova #2, Superior Spider-Man #6, X-Factor #253.  That's a lot of comics...  Oh well.  My review days are Thursday, Saturday and Monday, with Thursday and Saturday being regular reviews and Monday being a Best of the Rest post.  And that'll just about do it for me.  It's time for me to tag out to mi amigo, JT, but not before giving a quick X out.

Thanks X, JT here with my half of the New Comic Day post. So let's jump right into it shall we? I plan on picking DC Universe Presents #18, Nightwing #18, Red Hood #18, Saga #11, All New X-Men #9, Captain Marvel #11, Indestructible Hulk #5, New Avengers #4, Nova #2, Superior Spider-Man #6 and Ultimate Spider-Man #21! So, with a total of  eleven comics, you can expect to see reviews from me for Superior Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, and as always, All New X-Men. And you can expect those on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Now that's it for me, until next time, this is JT, signing off!

Uncanny X-Men #3

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my final review of the week, Uncanny X-Men! We left off with The Avengers raining down on the Cyclops and his X-Men, now let's see how the new students and my favorite X-Team deal with Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Uncanny X-Men #3

Summary: This issue starts things off with a flashback to Eva as a child, giving a report on her favorite hero, Captain America. So you can imagine her surprise when he and the Avengers rain down outside of her home as Eva, her mother and the rest of the Uncanny X-Men watch on. The Avengers tell Emma and Scott to come with them, but of course that's not happening. The two teams debate about who's to blame, with Emma saying Iron Man is the one that split the Phoenix Force and it took them, something they didn't want, then they did good with the powers like trying to end world hunger and wars, but the Avengers are quick to say that Cyclops killed Xavier and the Phoenix Five basically enslaved the Earth. Ms. Marvel recounts how the X-Men took her in and helped her when she was down on her lucky, and Cyclops asks Carol to join them, and surprisingly she doesn't say no, but she doesn't say yes either. The students stick up for the X-Men, saying how they were beiong persecuted and Scott and the team saved them, but The Avengers don't want to listen, they want Cyclops behind bars for killing Xavier. Eventually the two groups decide talking won't work, so the Avengers attack, but Eva manages to freeze them all in one of her chronal blasts. The heads back to their base and Cyclops quickly deduces that they were betrayed, which leads to Magneto saying it was him. Before Cyclops can get angry enough to attack, he gives Erik a chance to explain himself, and he reveals he's basically been a double agent, much like I would say when I was a kid playing secret agent. He says he's playing their stooge so he can keep up with what their doing, so that he and the X-Men know what to expect. Scott still doesn't seem to fully trust Erik now, and says he wishes Emma could still read minds. The issue comes to a close with Cyclops and the team realizing the Avengers were still stuck in time, so they decide to pay a visit to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this issue. I liked the bit with Eva at the beginning, as we got a bit more development for her, plus seeing her stand across from her hero seemed like a bigger moment because of it. I also really loved the big argument between the Avengers and the X-Men, both teams made excellent points, and while I side with Scott and Emma, I couldn't help but notice how many good points Captain America, Iron Man and Hawkeye made. This is one of those comics with hardly any action but such great dialogue that I'd highly recommend it. Plus with Scott and his team going to the Jean Grey school in the next issue, only awesome things can come from this.

Score: 8/10

Magneto: You keep referring to yourself as our leader but I don't remember voting.

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.

Hey there X-Maniacs, X here with some explaining to do...  So I've become horribly obsessed with Civilization 5, and have been spending entirely too much time playing that game.  At the expense of the blog. Yeah, I know, bad X...  Truth be told though, it's not completely my fault, as the past two weeks have seen me bring home a ton of mediocre books...  I've been giving out 7 out of 10's like there's no tomorrow!  To rectify things(and to make sure I post more than JT!), I'm gonna dust off that old tried and true blog post, The Best of the Rest!  Basically, I'll take a quick look at everything I've read(and haven't reviewed), and throw some thoughts out there.  Don't expect in depth reviews(or competent work, but if you're reading this, you probably don't expect anything competent to begin with!), just some thoughts, and a score.  Okay, we set?  Great.  Let's get this polished off.

Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger...  Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are.  Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side.  I enjoyed this issue, as always.  Kirkman is always strong here.  Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go.  He's a fantastic villain...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series...  I really do...  But so far I'm just not feeling it...  This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...).  But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent.  I mean, I should like everything going on here...  Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet.  I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing.  Score: 4 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!!  And it was pretty good, as expected.  We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens).  Like I said, this was a good issue.  Would I have liked to see some Thor?  Yes, of course.  Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues...  It's been SIX issues now!  And the team is STILL doing their first mission!!  Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already!  Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?!  Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle...  Weird...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Superboy #18:  This series continues to be oddly readable.  Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage.  Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind.  Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason...  To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs.  A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus).  Simple.  Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic!  From DC!  Go figure.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria?  I have?  Good, because this issue did nothing to change that.  Those two are so annoying.  Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster.  On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition.  But on the negative side?  Everything else.  Score: 3 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series...  It's really not bad...  If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde...  How is she the leader of mutantkind...  I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE!  But yeah, back to the story.  Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that.  It's really not bad.  I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto.  But Kitty...  Grrr...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Huzzah, I'm done!  Seven comics, one post.  I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday.  That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday.  But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change.  Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.

Batman and Robin #18

Hey crew, JT here with my second review of the week, as we continue on with the Requiem of Damian Wayne. This issue is rare because it's completely silent, there's hardly any text, save for a letter near the end. So let's see how this worked out.

Batman and Robin #18

Summary: We start things out with Bruce sitting in Damian's room, looking at his notebook that's full of sketches, including a robin, Titus, Bruce, Alfred and Bruce's parents graves. Alfred is seen crying at the family painting of Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian and Alfred from the first issue of Batman (I think it was that.) and coincidentally, Damian's picture is unfinished. Bruce walks over and closes the curtains over the painting then carries it away. From there, Bruce slides down the pole to the Batcave, suits up and goes to fight crime, the whole time seeing memories of Damian, and how happy he was to team with his father. The memories of Damian make him even more upset and he takes it out on villain after villain, leaving them all on the roof by the Bat-Signal, leaving Gordon and Bullock in awe. Bruce eventually returns home, battered and bruised and showers before heading to the lockers where they keep their gear. He mistakenly bumps Damian's locker, causing it to open and finds a note his son left him. The note says he's sorry for disobeying him and going to fight Leviathan but Bruce needs him by his side.  He also delivers an amazing line I'll post below as the line of the issue. Bruce sheds a tear as he reads Damian's letter then just snaps, he starts breaking everything and screaming before cradling Damian's costume as this issue comes to a close.

Thoughts: Amazing. Simply amazing. Tomasi scripted a hell of an issue in pure silence basically, which seems like a very hard thing to do. But he and Gleason, major props to Gleason, manage to show so much emotion through these pages. You can see the hurt on Alfred's face, the regret on Bruce, as well as not just his anger but his depression and the somber tone of the issue. You can even see the sad and bit of scared look on Titus' face while watching Bruce breakdown at the end of an issue. There's so many issues of comics that I love because of the dialogue, hell Batman #18 was one of them, but this took the opposite approach and gave me the same result, a comic I thoroughly enjoyed. This issue was perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Score: 10/10

Damian's letter: Because it will be hard for me to say these words face to face, I want you to know that Mother may have given me life, but you taught me how to live.

Avenging Spider-Man #18

Hey all,  X here (and JT!) with one review on tap for tonight.  The book I'll be tackling has been 100% JT's up to this point, (meaning the reviews were awesome.) and that would be Avenging Spider-Man.  But if you saw the title of this post, you probably already knew that...  Anyway, here's hoping this issue is as strong as the previous few have been. (And the same for the review.)

Avenging Spider-Man #18:

Summary: Electro is back, and having been defeated by Thor during the Ends of the Earth storyline, wants revenge.  Having been monitoring for Electro's energy signature, Doc Spidey heads to Thor to warn him of Electro's return, and probable revenge scheme.  Thor simply laughs the warning off since he can't fathom Electro giving him any trouble. ( don't blame him, I would have done the same.) Doc Spidey is pissed about Thor's insolence and angrily leaves.  Meanwhile, Electro heads to AIM, who think they have a way to help him kill Thor. (Did they help for free or did he pay them or what?) Basically they turned him into an anti-matter version of himself, figuring Thor wouldn't be able to affect him. (That's....surprisingly genius.) Spidey ends up finding Electro at one of AIM's labs, but is a little too late, and Electro flies off to enact his revenge.  Spidey reaches Thor first, (HOW?!) and tries to warn him about Electro again, but once again, Thor shrugs the warning off.  At least until he is attacked and hurt by Electro.  Thor prepares to blast Electro with some lightning of his own, but is stopped by Spidey, who warns him that his positive electricity colliding with Electro's anti-matter could result in the destruction of all of New York State. (That's why you did this review... too much Science stuff, who am I, Walter White?) Spidey has a plan, but he needs time to put it into action, so Thor agrees to take a beating from Electro to buy Spidey the needed time.  In the end, Thor manages to stand his ground long enough for Spidey to concoct a device that ends Electro's threat.  Thor kind of apologizes for not heeding Doc Spidey's earlier warnings, but tells Spidey he didn't like his attitude, while Doc Spidey feels smug that he managed to save a god. (He reminded me of you, except his smugness is deserved. HA!) This one ends in one of Doc Ock's old labs, where we see that Doc Spidey had managed to collect Sandman and Electro and imprisoned them there. (Superior Six?! It's happening...or..you know...we're all doomed).

Thoughts: This was a nice little one and done story.  The story was simple and easy to understand, and the team-up between Spidey and Thor didn't feel forced or anything.  If I had a complaint it would have been that Thor came across as really arrogant,(He is arrogant... it's part of his charm!) and was kind of out of line by calling Spidey disrespectful after the battle...  I can't really recall Spidey doing anything that could have been considered disrespectful. (He told Thor to get his hands off him when Thor touches his shoulder and said he wasn't worried about Electro. BOOM!) Thor was the one who was disrespecting Spidey!  Besides that very minor quibble though, no complaints here.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Man, Thor is kind of an ass here... (Yep, like earlier, reminds me of you.)

Batman #18

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my first review of the week. With Damian Wayne now laid to rest, let's see how Batman handles not having a Robin for the first time since the death of Jason Todd.

Batman #18

Summary: This issue gets underway with Harper Row and her brother Cullen going to see their dad in Blackgate Penitentiary. Not surprisingly, their dad is an asshole and refers to Harper's gay brother, Cullen, as his other daughter, which hurts Cullen and causes him to leave the room quickly. Harper lashes out at her dad verbally and he implies that he knows she sent her friend after him to get him locked up, but Harper doesn't know what he's talking about. From there we see Harper has been going on patrol for months, with a make-shift grappling hook going around the city and tracking Batman, as Bats has been relentless in taking down villains, so much so he's getting sloppy because he hasn't taken a break. Bats eventually bites off more than he can chew when taking on a muscle-head that does dogfights with dogs he injects with venom. The dogs attack Bats and since their bigger and stronger than most dogs, and Bats is tired, things look to end badly until Harper shows up with a device that makes a high-pitched sound that drives the dogs away, allowing Bats to knock out the meathead. Harper tries to get some praise from Bats but instead gets socked in the face. Bats tells her that this isn't a game, and people who have trained longer and harder than her have died doing what she's trying to do, and to go home. Harper stands her ground and says she isn't expecting Bats to take her in and show her the ways, she doesn't wanna know who he is because people let her down, and he's an idea, not a person as far as she's concerned. Batman doesn't want to hear it and tells her to go home, before taking off. Broken nose and all, Harper isn't giving up, so the next morning she heads to meet Bruce Wayne, and catches him since Bruce was roped into being in the office after falling asleep there on a break from being Batman. She tells Bruce she wants to get a message out for Batman because if he continues on like he is, he'll kill himself, and she figured he could help since he finances Batman. Bruce agrees to help and we later see Harper on a rooftop met by Batman, as she tells him what she did and that the message is something her mom would always tell her before she was murdered. She leaves Batman on the roof and says she hopes the message means something, and he whispers to himself that it does, as letters light up on Wayne Enterprises that says "Resolve", leaving Batman standing on the roof across from it as the issue comes to a close.

Thoughts: I've suspected Damian would die since about November or so, and I mentioned that to X and we came to the realization that if he did die, Harper would inevitably be the next Robin. Now I'm not 100% sure she'll take that mantle, she may take another name, but all in all, I was against it, because it doesn't make sense for Bruce to take in another kid, especially after losing his son. That aside, if she's going to do it anyway, he's going to take her in if only because he knows she's less likely to get hurt with his training than she is with none. But that aside, this issue, Harper won me over. I didn't care for her prior to this, but in this issue I felt like she encompassed the determination of Cassandra Cain, the brains of Babs Gordon, and the humor as well as the ability to stand up to Bruce that Stephanie had. All in all, she seems kind of like an amalgam of the three Batgirls, with a bit of a twist. So I like the character and the conversations with both Bruce and Batman were great to read, they really gave you a sense of where Bruce was mentally, hurt but not outwardly mourning, so content with punching things and fighting crime until he exhausts himself, which is classic Bruce.So all in all this issue gave me some great conversations, so great characterization for Harper Row, and Cullen Row, as well as introducing their sleazebag of a father, who will undoubtedly be back in the future.

Score: 9/10

Batman: This isn't a game, Harper, If you pursue this, you will die, do you understand ME?!

Alpha: Big Time #2

Alright, it's Alpha time!!  This is definitely the comic I'm most looking forward to reading every month, so the hell with a fancy intro, let's get right in to the action!!

Alpha: Big Time #2(of 5)

Summary: So yeah, last issue Alpha totally decked some mugger and may have killed him.  Not knowing what else to do, Alpha takes said mugger to the hospital and prepares to turn himself over to the cops for hitting the mugger too hard.  The cops aren't interested in arresting Alpha since the guy he hit was a scumbag, and let Alpha walk.  The whole episode weighs on Alpha's mind, so he decides to head to Horizon Labs so Peter Parker can take away his powers.  Again.  However, on the way there he runs into, and defeats, a massive monster.  Defeating the monster gives Alpha some second thoughts about giving his powers up, but he goes to Horizon anyway and waits for Peter.  While waiting, he spots a newspaper that says the mugger he hit last night was going to survive, so Alpha decides not to tell Peter about what happened, and leaves with his powers.  From there he heads to the hospital to apologize to the unconscious mugger, but is shocked when the mugger grabs his arm, ending this one.

Thoughts: This issue was okay...  I guess...  I loved Alpha's inner monologue, where he was completely conflicted about giving up his powers.  I mean, who wouldn't be conflicted?  If anything, it shows growth as a character that he was even considering giving up his powers.  Other than that though, nothing really happened...  Alpha fought a big energy monster.  And went to a coffee house.  And was grabbed by a mugger.  So yes, I enjoyed this one because I'm about the biggest Alpha fan you'll find, but honestly?  This comic was kind of skippable...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

If I was more artistically inclined, I'd write songs dedicated to the awesomeness of Alpha.

Age of Ultron #2

It's X, and I'll be kicking the week off with the second issue of Bendis written Age of Ultron.  The first issue wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, however, I am still hopeful that we'll see things pick way up with this issue.

Age of Ultron #2(of 10):

Summary: We get started in San Francisco, where we see destruction similar to last issue and Manhattan.  Black Widow(now sporting a massive scar on her face) and Moon Knight are seemingly the only heroes left out there, are working out of one of Nick Fury Sr's safe houses and intend on shoving nuclear weaponry up the metallic ass of Ultron... *shrugs* I just type what I read...  From there we head back to New York, where Spider-Man tells the gathered heroes what had happened to him while he was captured by Hammerhead and the Owl.  Hint: they taunted him a lot.  The heroes are curious as to why Ultron would need mooks like Hammerhead and Owl bringing him somebody like Spider-Man.  This issue ends with Captain America finally getting out of the corner and announcing he had a plan.

Thoughts: Yeah, nothing really happened in this comic...  We established that Ultron's attack took place in more than New York(at least Washington and San Francisco were also hit), and that Widow and Moon Knight were in San Fran.  Spidey told the heroes about Manhattan's destruction, and that he saw a figure in a cape(Ultron in a cape? Strange...) before he was felled.  And Cap got up.  If you skipped this issue, you honestly wouldn't have missed a single thing.  That's not to say this issue was bad, it wasn't, it was just unnecessary.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Get those stinking fleshbags, Ultron!!

New Comic Day! March 13th edition.

Hey guys and gals, JT here and it's that time of the week, New Comic Day! After an awesome haul of comics last week, let's see what this week has for us. My comic haul consists of Batman #18, Batman and Robin #18, Todd the Ugliest Kid on Earth #3, Walking Dead #108, Age of Ultron #2, Alpha: Big Time #2, Avenging Spider-Man #18, Secret Avengers #2, Thor: God of Thunder #6, Uncanny X-Men #3 and Wolverine #1. So with a total of eleven comics this week, you can expect to see my reviews on my usual days, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. As for what I'm reviewing, I plan on reviewing Batman #18, Uncanny X-Men #3, and Batman and Robin #18. Yep, I'm abdicating Avenging Spidey to X so I can see what happens in Batman and Robin, so it better be good! Now I'll hand things over to buddy, X. So til next time, this is JT, signing off!

Hey, it's X, and I've neglected to work on this post until the very last minute...  So before JT lambasts me for my sloth, here are the books I'll be picking up later on...  Batman #18, Superboy #18, Team 7 #6, Walking Dead #108, Age of Ultron #2, Alpha: Big Time #2, Avenging Spider-Man #18, Fantastic Four #5, Secret Avengers #2, Thor: God of Thunder #6, Thunderbolts #6, Ultimate X-Men #24, Uncanny X-Men #3.  13 books for me means I beat JT this week!  Ha HA!!  Anyway, I'm going to try to get two or three reviews up for Thursday, expect reviews for Age of Ultron and Alpha definitely though.  Besides Thursday, I'll be busting out reviews on Saturday and Monday.  And that's it from me.  Until next time, X out!

Green Arrow #18

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my final review of the comic week, and it's issue two of Jeff Lemire's Green Arrow run. His first issue was pretty good as he basically stripped Ollie of everything, so let's see how Ollie reacts to the news that he, just like the cast of Lost, should have never left the island.

Green Arrow #18

Summary: This issue starts with Ollie in the desert, about to give up and die when he thinks back to learning how to use a Bow and Arrow and he's given some words of encouragement about not quitting from his dad, so he powers on. From there we jump back about three weeks and Ollie gets a note from the mysterious Magus, telling him to check the office of Emerson. Ollie decides to check the office, but first calls Steve Trevor and asks him to hold off the Cops, FBI and the heroes from coming after him for a murder he didn't commit, as well as give him time to try to solve this mystery hat is his new life. Trevor gives him 48 hours, because apparently he's got pull like that, then Ollie heads off to get some help. Ollie goes to some guy named Henry Fyff, he'd fired before that had a ton of potential but was fired personally by Ollie for stalking Naomi at Queen Industries. He reveals to him that he's Green Arrow and needs his help, and instead of laughing at him then selling him out to TMZ in an instant, Fyfe decides to help him, because... I have no idea. Anyway, with Fyfe helping him as his tech guy and controlling the camera's in the office to give Ollie a heads-up on anyone who may be there. Meanwhile, Komodo has apparently staged the death of Ollie's friends, Jax and Naomi, and tries to get them to sell out Oliver and track his locations. Jax says no and gets an arrow to his forehead for his loyalty, and Naomi sells him out immediately, saying she'll help Komodo. We also get introduced to Komodo's daughter, who I can best explain as a tiny, version of Lady Shiva, sans fighting skills. Back with Ollie, he searches Emerson's office and finds a secret room with a bunch of weapons, as well as a pic of Ollie's dad, Emerson and Komodo together on the Island where Oliver was stranded. Magus is also there, waiting for Ollie, and tells him to go to Black Mesa, Arizona, but Ollie wants answers. Too bad for him the police show up in a chopper and try to arrest him for trespassing at a crime scene. Ollie shoots and arrow and swings from his bow down the line, when his line is broken by an arrow, causing Ollie to drop as this issue comes to a close.

Thoughts: I'm kind of conflicted on this issue. I like the mystery of Ollie's dad's past, as well as Komodo knowing him and them all being on the island together for some reason. I found it kinda surprising that Naomi was willing to sell out Ollie, I mean Jax didn't and he died instantly so I could see how she'd be afraid, but I mean, what's gonna stop him from killing you after you help him? I mean, everyone already things you're dead... So yeah, that aside, plus the absurdity that Fyfe would help his former boss who fired him after he reveals he's a vigilante, especially since he's not even helping him for money since Ollie is dirt poor and Komodo is basically buying Queen Industries in his civilian identity. Also, I hate those cliffhanger endings. Don't show me that he's about to die in the desert then flashback three weeks and tell me I should be worried about the fact he's falling. It makes no sense... I KNOW he didn't die and if he got remotely hurt badly, he wouldn't be in the desert because he'd have never left the city. That stuff aside, I am finding myself caring a bit more about Oliver than I have since they rebooted his amazing history, so I guess that's a plus.

Score: 5/10

Fyfe: What the hell are you doing here?! You didn't come to kill me too did you?!

Winter Soldier #16

One final review for ol' X and it's time for another New Comic Day.  Now, normally I try to do two reviews a night, but this week?  Man did I end up getting some sucky books!  And I'm not talking about books that were bad but fun to review/blast, but just plain bad...  So yeah, I'm gonna push this review out as quick as possible and then move on to next week and hopefully better books!

Winter Soldier #16: 

Summary: Bucky and his sidekick, Joe Robards, head out to an island to find a little girl who Bucky took in for the KGB back during his Winter Soldier days.  Meanwhile, a retired Nick Fury talks to Maria Hill about Bucky and does some fishing.  Bucky has Joe drop him off at the island, called The Orphanage.  The Orphanage was used to train children to be be soldiers and Bucky suspected the KGB sent the girl he was looking for there a few years back.  However, upon arriving, Bucky discovers that the children had overthrown The Orphanage's leaders and were running around Lord of the Flies style.  After some fighting, Bucky learns that the girl he was looking for had graduated from The Orphanage a while back but had recently returned, killing all of the "teachers".  So basically, Bucky is back to square one in his search for the girl, now called the Electric Ghost.

Thoughts: Bad, bad, bad...  That just about sums up my thoughts on this one.  I don't know why we're supposed to care about anybody in this series...  That's one of the things Ed Brubaker did such a magnificent job with here, he made me care about Bucky, and Black Widow, and hell, even Agent Sitwell!  Here though, I don't have any reason to care about Robards.  Or this Electric Ghost character...  The story is all over the place and I don't feel a connection to the characters...  That is a recipe for me dropping this series...

Score: 2 1/2 out of 10

Hey look, Bucky is beating up some guy!