Throwback Tuesday: Featuring Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #7

Hey X-Maniacs, Todd Squad or whatever you guys prefer to be called, JT here with the second edition of Throwback Tuesday! After the warm reception X got with the inaugural post last week, I've been pretty excited to get my shot at this feature. Just like last week when X let me choose his book, I decided to let him choose what I would review, and I immediately regretted that decision when I saw the cover of this issue. So, let's take a trip back to 1955 and see what the Man of Steel and the Boy of annoyance, Superman and Jimmy Olsen, are up to.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #7

Summary: This issue starts with Perry White announcing how the Daily Planet is covering the Marble shooting contest that Superman will judge for some reason. He says they'll market it like Major League Baseball, which is sad considering how little people seem to care about baseball now. Anyway, Perry means serious business, because this is the biggest headline ever, as it takes up the ENTIRE FIRST PAGE of the newspaper, and there's not even room for a picture. Perry then announces one of the competitors got sick and they need a replacement, and instead of having someone earn that spot, they give it to Jimmy, because why the hell not? Jimmy is told by Perry to put on a shirt that says "MIB Masters" and he'll enter him officially, because they apparently gave Perry a shirt to give to whoever he deemed worthy of flicking Marbles. Perry gives Jimmy multiple afternoons off to practice, because if you have employees that are there to learn, just pay them to play marbles. Great business skills Perry, you must still be smoking those whacky cigars. Superman sees Jimmy practicing and helps because Jimmy is outmatched by competing against people who have practiced for weeks. So... because they worked hard to win a contest they care about, Superman is going to help Jimmy who literally JUST FOUND OUT THIS EXISTED! Jimmy wins the first round and he and Superman scout out the competitors because Superman has nothing better to do with his time or powers, and Perry doesn't give a fuck what his employees do when they should be working. They come across the kid that will inevitably face Jimmy in the finals...since it's on the cover of the comic, and his manager, Cyrus Colby, who makes Target brand marbles. Not that Target. Anyway, Jimmy and Target kid, who must have given up his name and image for this, since that's all he's called for this issue and he even wears a shirt that says "Target Kid", meet up to face for the Marble championship. Jimmy's favorite Aggie, which Google says is a glass Marble, is stolen and replaced by the dastardly Colby! Aw hell naw! Before the finals, Superman shows he's a dick and steals their thunder by shooting marbles with super speed and shooting one through a heavy plate of steel. He then flies to space and brings back meteors and plays marbles with those... thanks Superman... I'm sure the finals will be super interesting after watching that. After further showing off, Superman breaks one marble with another, and the marble he got from Colby has a small bead of metal inside it, so instead of calling him a cheater, Superman takes some time to ponder what this could mean! In the finals, it comes down to 56 points for Jimmy Olsen and 56 points for Target Kid. (It actually SAYS that!) Jimmy misses two shots and Superman notices something fishy and uses his X-Ray vision to find a magnet underground which is messing up Jimmy's shots... cause... Colby went through all this trouble to do this. Superman melts the magnet with his heat vision, but not the grass or ground or anything because THAT would make sense, and Jimmy wins. Superman calls Colby out for cheating, then takes him to jail, because apparently rigging Marble games with a magnet is a crime punishable with Jail time in Metropolis. ("What are you in for? Cheating at Marbles?! You're the third guy this week!") Afterwards, Jimmy sees the former Target Kid crying like a chump because he knows he only won those other rounds because Colby cheated, so Superman flies over and picks him up (?!) and informs him that in Colby's confession he said he only needed the magnet in a few key matches, so the kid has skills. But if you had to win them all, aren't they ALL key matches?! The issue ends when Perry White slips on some Marbles and yells at Jimmy, as we find out their actually sour balls that the marble people sent Jimmy as a thanks for some really stupid reason.

Thoughts: Really Superman? You flew to SPACE....to get METEORS... to play marbles. THIS is what you did with your time? Do you know how many people Parasite is killing while you play these games?! This is why Batman resents you. Also... How the hell do you go to jail for rigging a MARBLE contest?! This is a contest Jimmy got into by putting on a shirt, yet if you're clever enough to make marbles with metal in them, slip them onto your opponent, and use a fucking magnet that you can turn on via remote in 1955, you're going directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect your 200 dollars! Also, who is stupid enough to cheat in anything when you know for a fact Superman will be there to judge the event?! Anyway, if we learned anything from this comic, it's this, Don't waste your life practicing for things or having goals or trying to be good, because Jimmy Olsen will come along and beat you with minimal practice, and even if you decide to cheat, he'll STILL beat you, because he has the most powerful being in the planet in his back pocket, then after he beats you and destroys your dreams, he's going to go fuck up Perry White's coffee order, because while he may be a Demi-God when it comes to winning stupid games, he still can't remember four sugars and two creams.

Pages in this story: 8 (All that review from eight pages?!)
# of Times "Marble" appears: 34
# of Times "Aggie" appears: 9

Best of the Rest! April 24th edition.

X here with the final Best of the Rest post of April.  Yep, we're almost in May!  Which is kind of surprising, because it seems like the winter JUST ended...  But yeah, summertime and all that stuff.  Anyway, this isn't a weather report, it's a comic post, so I should probably get to that.  As always, I'll toss a few thoughts on the various comics I picked up this week, followed by JT the Great, who will post a few reviews as well, only in blue text.  Um, other than that, get ready for a new Throwback Tuesday coming up tomorrow, typed up by none other than JT himself.  I'm sure he'll have something more to say on that coming up.  Okay, enough delaying, here's the first comic.

Teen Titans #19: Wonder Girl leads the Titans against Trigon, who's attacking New York.  This surprises Raven, since she was randomly brainwashing Beast Boy(seriously, where the hell did THAT come from?!), and hadn't been told an attack was coming.  Raven and Beast Boy join up with Trigon and attack the Titans, while Trigon gives Psimon(who was caught in the crossfire of this fight) enhanced powers.  The army shows up to deal with Trigon, and somehow this all leads to Psimon killing the army guys with a mind blast.  Trigon then magically disappears, while Raven seems pissed that he committed murder...  As for the Titans, they seem to think Trigon did all this to make them look bad in the court of public opinion...  First off, a confession...  I read this comic right after I read Young Avengers #4, and in plain English, the writing in YA makes this series look like crap.  Literal crap!  But, even if I hadn't read a series that's everything THIS series SHOULD be, I'd still call this issue garbage.  It made NO SENSE!!!  Trigon, the ruler of his own dimension, staged a fake attack on Earth to discredit the Titans?!  And Raven was angry that this led to murder?!  Wasn't she just mind controlling Tim a few issues back?!  In a battle between Trigon and the Titans, PSIMON is the guy who's instrumental in the finish?!  What the hell is wrong with Scott Lobdell?!?!?  Score: 3 out of 10.

Invincible #102: Thragg attacks Nolan, and we learn that Nolan was the rightful ruler of the Viltrumites by blood.  However, Nolan tries to tell Thragg that he has no interest in the throne.  That falls on deaf ears though, as Thragg is determined to kill Nolan.  However, the other Viltrumites randomly appear on the moon and attack Thragg, having heard his admission of guilt.  Nolan tells the Viltrumites to let Thragg go, and he takes over as their king.  Plus, Mark proposes to Eve.  What a weird issue...  SO MUCH happened!  I was chatting with JT, and he said it best, imagine if you missed this issue?!  You'd be SO lost come issue #103!  So yeah, Nolan is suddenly king of the Viltrumites(where did THAT come from!?) and Mark is getting married...  Okay then.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I, Vampire #19: Last issue!  Mary comes back to life empowered by Heaven(I think...) and helps Andrew defeat Cain and Lilith, as well as save the planet.  Cain ends up with Lucifer, who intends on tormenting him for the rest of time.  Tig is still alive(WHY?!?), and still evil, and leaves with another evil vampire.  Mary dies, having fulfilled what she had to do, and redeemed herself.  Andrew pledges to go after the evil vampires with his vampire dog.  I liked this issue.  Everything wrapped up kind of quick, but this was the last issue, and that happens in finales   I'll miss this series, and I'll definitely miss Andrew and Mary.  Joshua Hale Fialkov did a good job here giving us some interesting characters.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Morning Glories #26: So I was going to review this comic, but when I was done, I legit had no idea what I had just read...  And I don't mean in a "It sucked so bad I was confused" sort of way, I mean I literally don't know what I just read...  This is a series I should probably start reading 6 issues at a time instead of monthly, 'cause it's confusing as hell!  Score: NA

FF #6: Dragon Man realizes Bentley and Medusa are gone, so Scott sends She-Hulk and Ahura to inform the Inhumans.  Meanwhile, Scott and Darla humble the Yancy Street Gang.  This one ends with the Baxter Building being teleported to the Negative Zone.  I liked this issue.  It makes me feel like I kept the right Fantastic Four series.  I like the main characters, I finally like one of the kids(Ahura), and I'm hoping this Yancy Street Gang junk goes way on the back burner now.  Score: 7 out of 10.

A+X #7: First story sees Iron Man and Beast have to face an out of control Hulkbuster(that was reprogrammed by a slick Bruce Banner), while story #2 has Iceman and Thor battling Frost Giants.  Hey, you know what?  This issue?  It was actually GOOD!!  Like, both stories!  That may be the first time that's happened since this series kicked off!  I personally liked the Beast/Iron Man tale more, but both were solid, so hey, a win for this series!  Huzzah!  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Injustice: Gods Among Us #4: This issue starts with Superman confronting Batman about not helping find his parents in the last issue, with Superman ripping the cowl off of Batman's face in a moment of rage. Their conversation ends when Aquaman starts attacking some hunters that are hunting whales. Green Lantern, Shazam and Wondy show up, but so do the Atlanteans, and they make the major mistake of attacking Wonder Woman. They engage in a fight which leads to Aquaman calling the Kraken to deal with his allies, but Superman shows up and makes Arthur call it off, while holding him by the neck. Aquaman calls it back but makes a power play bu having his forces stand at every beach around the world, to show Superman who runs the sea. Superman retaliates by having Hal encase Atlantis in an orb which Superman, Shazam and Wonder Woman lift and move to the Sahara desert. Well damn. Aquaman meets with Wonder Woman and agrees to pull his forces back if they return Atlantis, and asks her to tell Superman he's sorry about what happened with Lois. The issue ends with Wonder Woman telling Superman of Aquaman's deal, but not mentioning his condolences for Lois, further driving a wedge between the two men. I enjoyed this issue, it really goes a long way in showing how unreasonable Superman has become, how powerful Aquaman is, and how far this Wonder Woman will go to get what or should I say who she wants. Score: 8/10

Scarlet Spider #16: This issue opens with Madame Web, Julia Carpenter's letter to Kaine from a few issues back that he never received. It basically says he should leave and go to Mexico like he planned because "she" is going to kill everyone, whoever that is...maybe Aracely? The rest of this issue takes place at the Rodeo with Kaine and his wacky cast, with Kaine mistakenly hurting Annabelle's feelings by saying they can't be together. This is interrupted by a drunk hero-turned-villain named The Armadillo (Think Rhino...but as an Armadillo..) who shows up, breaks down the walls (Jericho style!) and cries about how his girlfriend, Daisy, left him. Scarlet Spider tries to stop his reign of terror by telling him he needs to let her go, because sadly the monster's never get to be with the girl, but she surprisingly runs up and takes him back, saying she didn't think he loved her anymore because he was distant. This inspires Kaine to try to be with Annabelle, which he does after knocking out her meathead ex-boyfriend and plants kiss on Annabelle, but unbeknownst to Kaine, Kraven and his daughter are watching from afar. The issue ends with a flashback to two days ago, as we see Annabelle burning the letter for Kaine from Julia. I really enjoyed this issue, they're still doing the monster card but this was better and we got some growth for Kaine, but we see Kraven is still in the game, and Aracely's powers are being used more. And I didn't see the ending coming at all, maybe Annabells is bad news. Man, these are supposed to be short reviews!!! Score: 8/10

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22: In this issue, Miles tries to convince Maria Hill that he's not Spider-Man, but once word comes in Venom is attacking the hospital where his dad is, she tells him he'll get there first, and to save people but wait until the Ultimates are there to face Venom. He takes off, scaling a building in front of her and pursues Venom while his mom watches on. Venom manages to absorb Spidey but Miles' mom, Rio, starts shooting Venom with a gun she picked up off of a unconscious officer, telling Venom to give back her son. Venom grabs Rio but that upsets Miles enough for him to power out, sending the symbiote flying everywhere, leaving the man in the suit vulnerable as he's gunned down by police. Surprisingly, Venom is not Eddie Brock, but a black man named Marcus Conrad. Miles checks on his mom but finds that she's been shot very close to her heart, she's clearly proud of Miles but with her dying words tells him not to let his father know, as she dies in his arms. The next day Miles wakes up at Ganke's house as reality sets in that his mother is gone. He cries and rips up his suit, yelling "No More!" as the issue comes to a close. I really enjoyed this issue, with Hill knowing Miles' secret, seeing how proud Rio was of her son, you could see her face, excellent job by Sara Pichelli. The only problem I had was the fact that the villain was basically a no one but held a grudge against Spider-Man and his family, that seemed...odd but I'm sure they'll explain why he hated them so much. We've seen Peter throw the costume away a few times, but this seemed different, although we know Miles will stay Spidey. Score: 9/10

 Man.... I really gotta make these reviews more brief! Ah, what can I say, I like to paint a picture with my words. Anyway, that's it for this week's best of the rest post. I'll be back tomorrow with a comic picked by mi hermano, X, for Throwback Tuesday, and If you thought Perry White's Magic Cigars were crazy...wait until you see what the Man of Tomorrow was doing like sixty years ago. Anyway, til then, this is JT, signing off!

Uncanny X-Men #5

Hey comic fans, JT here with my second single review of the week, Uncanny X-Men. Cyclops' team has been one of my favorite things to come out of Marvel Now, so let's see what the Mutant Martyr and his team are dealing with this month.

Uncanny X-Men #5

Summary: This issue focuses on Magik, as we see what happened in the last issue when she broke down screaming. It turns out she'd been pulled to Limbo by none other than Dormammu, who planned on killing Magik and ruling Limbo. He said she was a broken little girl and he'd end her now that she was broken by the Phoenix Force. His attack is put on hold when Illyana becomes Darkchilde and makes quick work of Dormammu's demons and sends him running. Back in the present, we see her explaining this to Scott, who says they'll go o Doctor Strange for help, but Illyana doesn't think that'll work since he's an Avenger. They decide to go anyway and inform the team when suddenly the whole team is pulled to Limbo, but Magik says she's not the one doing it. The issue ends with Scott asking Illyana who did this, as she says it's not her and turns around to show she's now Darkchilde.

Thoughts: This issue was pretty much all about Magik, and while I've never cared for the character much before, since joining Scott and giving a mysterious bad girl vibe, I've come to enjoy her. The stuff with Dormammu was interesting, and I'm wondering what the team will do to help Magik deal with her powers, since they seem to be even more messed up than the rest of her teammates. We also saw some other character development in this issue with Triage trying and failing to hit on the Triplets, Angel and Magneto talking which seems like it should be weird by itself, and Eva apparently having a crush on Cyclops, which seemed to rub Emma the wrong way. All in all, this was a fine issue, and I'm looking forward to how Team Cyclops will fare in Limbo.

Score: 7/10

Young Avengers #4

Next up this week is the series that is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine, Young Avengers.  I can't heap enough praise on this series, or the job the creative team has done thus far.  Since I'm sure I'll be gushing about this issue too, I'm just gonna move right into the review.

Young Avengers #4:

Summary: So Noh-Varr(apparently NOT Marvel Boy any longer!) and Kate arrive on the scene and save the rest of the team.  From there, they beat a hasty retreat in Noh-Varr's spaceship, but are pursued by... pretty much EVERYBODY'S parents.  The spaceship ends up being damaged by Noh-Varr's father, which leads ends up grounding the team.  With time rapidly running out, Loki makes one last desperate attempt at getting Wiccan's powers, telling Wiccan that this whole ordeal could be ended with either Loki borrowing Wiccan's powers or with Wiccan's death...  Wiccan decides to trust Loki and lends him his reality altering abilities, at which point Loki teleports away.  This issue ends with Mother's army closing in on the outmatched team.

Thoughts: Yeah, I still love this comic.  What more can I say?  Everything about it was great.  Loki's constant attempts at manipulation is always fun, finally bringing Kate and Noh-Varr to the rest of the group was something I've been waiting for, and I'm still digging the story.  So yeah, win for me!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my first review of the week. I decided to swap out Ultimate Spidey and review Guardians of The Galaxy, but I plan on reviewing Ultimate Comics Spider-Man in the Best of the Rest post on Monday. Now, let's see what the Guardians are up to in this issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Summary: We kick things off with the Guardians trying to call for help with the Badoon ships that are attacking Earth, but their communication systems have been blocked. The Guardians (sans Groot because he's still a toothpick at this point.) and Iron Man head out to take on the Badoon forces, with each person taking on one ship.We see a quick flashback and see that Peter's dad, J-Son, as well as the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, Gladiator, Young Annihilus, Queen of the Brood, Asgardian All-Mother Freyja, and Y-Gaaar of the Badoon have all come together and deemed The Earth as too dangerous to join the larger community of Space. J-Son cites the fact that Earth has been visited by The Watcher many times, defeated Galactus time after time, has destroyed the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, and has even defeated Thanos, but the All-Mother says Earth is one of her realms, and warns J-Son to stay away from destroying it. J-Son says fine, and declares the Earth off-limits, with a smirk. Back in the present, we see how formidable the Guardians are, with Drax destroying, Gamora...gamoring... (Shut up...) and Rocket Raccoon repeatedly saying "Blam. Murdered you!" whilst murdering. After taking care of the Badoon forces, the Guardians are approached at gunpoint by Spartax's forces, who place the Guardians under arrest as Prisoners of War.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this issue! I loved seeing the team in action, and we got a lot of it here. I'll admit, I found myself laughing at Rocket's "Blam! You're murdered!" type of catchphrase while taking care of his enemies. I also really liked the dialogue here, especially between Quill and Iron Man. Even the meeting with J-Son and the other bigwigs was interesting and didn't seem like it slowed the issue down. I'm interested in seeing how the Guardians deal with being arrested by Peter's dad, since this was obviously his plan from the beginning. Plus, I can see them being broken out by Groot, since he's the only one that wasn't there for the fight/arrest. All in all, this was another really good issue, here's hoping the series continues to be this good.

Score: 9/10

Uncanny Avengers #7

Here's a book I can't wait to read!  The last issue was, in a word, perfect.  I'm hoping for similar stellar results here.

Uncanny Avengers #7: 

Summary: This issue opens near the sun with Genocide summoning a Celestial in order to take Apocalypse's place as... um, the new Apocalypse, I guess.  After finding him worthy, the Celestial prepares to grant Genocide the armor of Apocalypse, but is interrupted by Uriel and Eimin, the Apocalypse Twins.  Uriel attacks the Celestial(!) with Jarnbjorn(Thor's enchanted axe from last issue), and cleaves through the Celestial, killing it(!!!)!  Genocide is livid at this, but is apparently defeated with the rest of the Horsemen.  Back on Earth, SHIELD clears Rogue of the death of the Grim Reaper, but asks Havok to keep her off field missions for a few months...  HA!  Yes!!  Rogue naturally bitches about that('cause that's all she does...), so Havok asks her to investigate Magneto, which leads to Wanda making a hilariously catty comment.  Meanwhile, Wonder Man bemoans his existence and tries to hook up with Wanda.  Wanda tells him she loves him...  Like a brother...  Ouch.  Also, Wasp flirts with Havok, who doesn't seem interested.  Luckily for Havok, the team is called into the meeting room.  Upon arriving, they are told by Captain America what happened to the Celestial, and inform the team that Apocalypse's ship was on a collision course with the SWORD satellite, which was where Cap and Sunfire currently were.  Watching the footage of the Celestial's death is especially profound to Wolvie and Thor, who have a connection with Uriel(in Wolvie's case) and Jarnbjorn(in Thor's case).  Sunfire makes sure Cap gets into an escape pod and prepares to face the Apocalypse Twins on his own.  Havok begins to formulate a plan, but can't find Thor, who ends this issue heading towards the falling wreckage of the SWORD station.

Thoughts: Yet another great issue of this series.  Sure, it wasn't as perfect as the last issue, but yeah, it was damned good.  Lots of little interpersonal stuff went on, all while the main story advanced.  Just like in the good old days of the Avengers.  Plus, Rogue was benched, meaning I hopefully won't have to see her anytime soon!  So huzzah for that!  But yeah, as I said, this was yet another good issue in a long line of them here.

Score: 9 out of 10.

New Comic Day! April 24th edition.

Hey comic readers, JT here with this week's New Comic Day post! As always, X and I will list which books we plan on picking up and which days we plan on reviewing them, if they get that honor! So, let's get to it. Today I plan on picking up Deathmatch #5, Injustice: Gods Among Us #4, East of West #2, Invincible #102, Guardians of the Galaxy #2, Morbius the Living Vampire #4, New Avengers #5, Scarlet Spider #16, Uncanny Avengers #7, Uncanny X-Men #5, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22,  and Young Avengers #4. So with a total of 12 books, you can expect me to review Uncanny X-Men, and Ultimate Spider-Man. Also, I'll post reviews for Injustice, Scarlet Spider-Man and maybe a few other books in the Best of the Rest post.on Monday. So, that's it for me, now I'll hand things over to my Tag partner X, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

Adios, JT, and hello X-Maniacs.  X here with his half of the NCD post.  Here are the comics I'll be snagging in a few...  Deathmatch #5, I, Vampire #19, Teen Titans #19, Clone #6, Invincible #102, Morning Glories #26, Whispers #5, A+X #7, FF #6, Guardians of the Galaxy #2, Morbius #4, Scarlet Spider #16, Uncanny Avengers #7, Uncanny X-Men #5, Young Avengers #4.  Ouch, so 15 books for me.  That's a bit more than I'd like to see...  On the plus side though, there are a couple of really good books there, so that's good.  Thursday and Saturday are my review days, and you can expect to see reviews for Uncanny Avengers #7 on Thursday, and Young Avengers #4 on Saturday.  Everything else?  It'll probably pop up in Monday's Best of the Rest post.  Besides that, JT has the Throwback Tuesday post, so that should be good.  And that's it for me.  Until next time?  X out.

Throwback Tuesday: Featuring Action Comics #436.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here with a new feature here at the blog.  JT and I were talking the other day, and the topic of the Tuesday review happened to come up.  Since Monday has the Best of the Rest post, which usually has like a gazillion comics in it, a standalone review for Tuesday seemed kind of unnecessary...  I mean, instead of doing a post for something on Tuesday, why not just drop that review into the BotR post.  But that leaves us without a post for Tuesday...  We could have put a scan up, but that would mean I have to scan something, and that tends to be a bit of a pain in the ass at times...  We could just not do anything on Tuesday, but JT was oddly against that idea.  So in the end we've decided to review some random comic from the past.  Something from before this blog was started, and preferably something idiotic, and therefore, fun to rip to pieces.  We plan on alternating weeks, so I'll tackle this week, while JT takes over for next Tuesday.  For the record, JT chose this comic for me to review after I sent him a list of books I have.  So, as usual, if this review sucks?  It's all JT's fault!  One more thing, this post is very changeable, and we'll keep experimenting until we hit on a format that feels right.  Okay, now we can go!

Action Comics #436 (June 1974)

Summary: This issue gets underway with some alien hippies levitating a box of magic cigars up to Perry White's office at the Daily Planet.  Once their job is done, the alien hippies teleport back to their planet.  I think I'll call their planet... Um, let's go with Alieppie.  'Cause I combined "Alien" and "Hippy" you see.  Anyway, Perry learns he had won the Pulitzer Prize for a third time, and WGBS-TV wants to do a big piece on him...  Slow news day in Metropolis, I see.  To that end, WGBS-TV sends Clark Kent to get them the story, because he's working as WGBS-TV's anchorman on their six o'clock news...  Wait, so SUPERMAN is the anchorman on the six o'clock news!?  And NOBODY in Metropolis is able to put one plus one together!?  Clark and Perry get together catch a plane to New York, which is where Perry's ceremony is being held.  Unfortunately for the duo, the pilot of the plane passes out, and the plane goes into a tailspin.  Clark gets up to change to his Superman guise and save the day, while Perry sits there and wishes he had the power to do something.  After that wish, Perry leans against the wall of the plane and falls out, at which time he proceeds to fly over to the plane and manages to carry it down for a landing.  It should go without saying that Supes is rather surprised to witness THAT, as is Perry.  However, Perry White suddenly being able to fly and having super-strength isn't important enough for the two to, oh, I don't know, head to STAR Labs to get Perry checked out or something...  Instead, Perry and Clark head to the ceremony where Clark is bullied by a former college classmate.  Perry angrily wishes he could turn the tables on Clark's bully, which causes him to blow a massive gust of wind, knocking the surprised bully over.  The building then begins to shake and a pillar comes loose(Really?!), so Perry flies over and catches it before it can fall on anybody.  The people at the ceremony decide that Perry HAS to be Superman, because they're a blind gaggle of idiots or something. Perry spots something happening outside, and heads out, as does Clark, who by this time has switched to being Supes.  The two spot a massive tank with a drill in front emerging from the ground, and neither man can stop the dread drill-tank...  Really Supes?  THAT'S what you can't beat?!  Supes uses his X-Ray vision on the drill-tank and realizes that it was being powered by a nuclear energy.  Luckily for all of New York, Supes somehow knows that there was a secret nuclear generator underneath the building where Perry was accepting his award(WHY???), and Supes absorbs the nuclear energy from the generator WHAT???), which depowers the drill-tank.  Without his drill-tank, the driver meekly surrenders.  The press surrounds Perry and asks how long he had been Superman, so Perry tells them that he wasn't Superman, but for the past few hours, anytime he asked for a super-power he got it.  And the press seems to accept that as a valid answer!!!  "Oh, that makes perfect sense, Perry!  Sorry to bother you."  Perry decides to ask how he got his powers and is mentally shown the alien hippies delivering him their far-out cigars.  Perry realizes that he had smoked the entire box of cigars except for one(a whole box of cigars in like half a day?  Damn!).  This issue ends with Perry storing the last magic cigar in a wall safe in his office in the event he ever needed super-powers again.

Thoughts: So yeah, this comic really happened...  Back in the mid-70's, somebody at DC actually asked, "What would happen if Perry White smoked magic cigars that gave him super-powers?"  And an editor actually signed off on such a story!  Methinks Perry wasn't the only one smoking magic cigars...  This issue really went a long way in showing how incredibly stupid the press is though...  There are pictures of Superman.  He had been interviewed by the Daily Planet repeatedly.  We know what he looks like.  And yet, the press immediately figured Perry was Superman!  I mean, how the hell does THAT work?!  "He can fly!  He MUST be Superman!"  I mean, if they saw Wonder Woman fly by, would they automatically assume SHE was Superman too?  What a bunch of idiots!  And don't even get me started on Clark Kent: 6 o'clock anchorman...  The 70's must have been SO damn weird...  Anyway, if you're a fan of Perry White, or magic cigars, then THIS is the comic book for YOU!

Pages in this story: 13.
Times Supes exclaims "Great Krypton!": 1.
Times Perry exclaims "Great Caesar's Ghost!": 4!

Best of the Rest! April 17th edition.

Hey all, X back again with a new Best of the Rest post.  Between myself and JT(whose reviews with be in a blue text), there should be plenty of comics to check out.  So instead of talking about it, let's get to it!

Venom #34: Yes!  This is exactly what I want from this series!  This issue starts off with Toxin kicking Venom's ass, which leads to the mysterious cannibal showing up to join the fight.  However, Toxin is all, "Who invited you, bitch?!" and proceeds to BITE the head off of the cannibal!  That in turn leads to Venom biting off one of Toxin's arms!  Excellent!!  Toxin shrugs that off, grows a new arm and continues the ass-kickery.  Venom finally halts the assault by injecting Toxin with the serum that keeps his own symbiote under control.  Toxin rushes off since his symbiote was acting up, and Venom drags his battered ass to a rooftop to recuperate and prepare for round two. So yeah, Cullen Bunn just needs to keep doing this.  Every single issue.  Because this issue rocked.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Iron Man #8: 451 manages to get Tony his armor before Tony is murdered by Death's Head.  That leads to a massive brawl between Iron Man and DH, which 451 uses as a distraction to deactivate the cloaking device the Voldi had been using to hide from the Celestials.  The Celestials arrive and obliterate the planet and everybody on it.  Needless to say, Tony doesn't appreciate 451's actions and announces that he would have vengeance.  This issue was a meh for me.  It wasn't awful by any stretch, the fight between Tony and DH was cool, and I enjoyed 451's swerve, but I'm not going to remember this issue past tomorrow.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Daredevil #25: Matt finally comes face-to-face with one of his tormentors, a guy wearing a facsimile of his original yellow attire named Ikari(which means 'Fury' in Japanese).  Oh, and Ikari?  He has all of DD's enhanced senses.  The two have a spectacular battle across the rooftops of Manhattan, ending up in a sporting goods shop.  DD manages to set off the sprinkler system, and hopes that his foe's inexperience with his hyper-senses will cause him to become totally disoriented by the noise and falling water.  And it's a great plan.  Except for one thing...  Ikari isn't blind!  Ikari beats the ever-loving hell out of a shocked Matt, who has no choice but to turn tail and run away, all while Ikari yells taunts after him.  Yeah, this issue?  Awesome.  I NEVER saw the swerve with Ikari having his sight coming, and when Matt realized Ikari COULD see?  Amazing!  I wanted to scream FOR Matt!  That's how perfect the reveal was.  Amazing work by the incomparable Mark Waid.  Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.

X-Factor #254: Hey, this "Hell" storyline is still going on...  Okay...  Tier decides he doesn't want to kill the Hell-Lords, which pisses Polaris off since Tier kind of has to or everybody is screwed.  Meanwhile, Mephisto is unsurprisingly knocking off the other Hell-Lords, polishing off Hela right after she had killed Asmodeus.  Jezebel, Possessed Madrox and Guido attack X-Factor since Jezebel needed Tier if she had any hope in defeating her father(Mephisto).  That leads to a showdown between Monet and Guido.  This issue was solid.  Much like most of this storyline.  It's okay.  It's not great or anything, it's okay.  To be honest, I'm to the point where I'm waiting for this storyline to just end already...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Nightwing #19: So Dick Grayson is in Chicago now, as he's decided to track down and capture Tony Zucco, who, in case you were unaware, killed Dick's parents.  The cops hate Nightwing because the cops in Chi-town hate costumed heroes, and Dick is broke because he won't ask Bruce for money.  Because they're feuding again after Death of the Family and Damian's death.  But honestly, do those two really need a reason to feud?!  They're almost always pissed at each other for one reason or another!  But I digress...  So yeah, Dick has no money and has to take a roommate in his apartment...  Because that's smart for a masked hero like Dick...  Anyway, it seems Zucco, who was the person who murdered Dick's parents, is the mayor's chauffeur or something...  The mayor is corrupt, it seems.  On top of that, the Prankster is punishing criminals.  So yeah, Dick's first issue in Chicago?  Not perfect.  But hey, it wasn't awful, so there's that!  I have to say, even though he appeared on a grand total of one page, the Prankster seems extremely interesting.  I liked the costume and I liked his brand of vigilantism.  So I'll be looking forward to seeing more of Prankster and less of Tony Zucco, who was the man responsible for the deaths of Dick Grayson's parents.  In case you hadn't heard...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Dark Avengers #189: This is the penultimate issue of this series, and I have to admit, I won't really miss it...  It started off with such promise, but man did it fall apart quickly...  Basically Evil Dr. Strange dies when he randomly explodes.  That frees Skaar from Evil Strange, so Skaar can finally attack Evil Thing.  Ragnarok picks up that dimension's Thor's hammer(wait, how?!), which makes him turn into a guy who looks like the Executioner...  And AIM is still up to something, but damned if I know what!  Yeah, I don't have anything else to add to that issue...  Score: 4 out of 10.

Nova #3: In this issue of Nova, we see our protagonist run into The Watcher. He eventually is able to see through the Watcher's eyes that there are a ton of ships in the distance, but since he doesn't know what to do with that knowledge, he heads back to Earth. On Earth, Sam's mom hints she may know about Sam using his dad's helmet and says he can talk to her about anything. After that, Sam is approached by Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, who tell him he's the last of the Nova Corps and they start training Sam. In the midst of training, the Guardians mention the army that's on the way to attack Earth, and Sam tells them he saw it, thanks to the man on the moon, so they send Sam on recon since his Nova helmet can see the cloaked ships. The issue ends with Nova getting blasted in space by the ships, so I guess they can see him. Oops. I enjoyed this issue, it was nothing spectacular but it was a solid read. Score: 6.5/10

Captain Marvel #12: This issue focuses on Cap Marvel and Deathbird's aerial fight with Cap confined to her flying bike. After a long, tough battle, Cap finally defeats Deathbird, but has to fly at the end to due so, which weakens Cap due to the lesion on her brain. Throughout the issue we see her doctor talking to another doctor, the new one having dealt with a case like this before. It turns out his patient was Captain Marvel's friend, Helen Cobb, although she supposedly died in a fire. The doctors meet Cap at home to give her some news that we aren't privy to until the next issue. The issue ends with the mysterious man in the park revealing himself to be Yon-Rogg, now fully powered due to Captain Marvel's fights with Deathbird powering him. This was another solid issue, I enjoyed the fight with Deathbird but all the Doctor mumbo jumbo kinda slowed things down for me. I'm not familiar with Yon-Rogg but after looking him up and seeing he's the one that kidnapped Carol which led to her getting her powers, I'm excited to see where this goes. Score: 7/10

Justice League #19: This issue opened with Jason Todd and Alfred talking, so yeah, that's a free point from me. The two are attacked as some mysterious man who makes his way through the scan and past Batman's retinal scanner somehow to Bats' contingency room, as he has a case with a plan to beat each member of the League. The mystery man steals Superman's case, which has Kryptonite. Batman eventually returns and Jason is beating himself up for not hearing the intruder sneak up on them but Bruce says she's just glad Jason and Alfred are okay. After some help from Aquaman and Cyborg, they aren't able to figure out how this person got in or what they were after, Batman seems to know but plays dumb. Meanwhile, Superman and Wonder Woman fight some terrorists in Kahndaq, but Americans aren't allowed there, so Kahndaq is contemplating waging war on America. Batman meets with Supes and Wondy and they discuss how they went about things when he reveals he knows their dating, and also that someone came to the Batcave and took something to hurt Superman. The issue ends with Firestorm and the Atom, two of the newest Leaguers being attacked in the Watchtower by none other than Despero, wearing a Kryptonite ring. I enjoyed this issue surprisingly. I definitely didn't expect for this review to be so long. I enjoyed seeing Jason and Alfred, so... do more of that, Geoff Johns. I also enjoyed seeing Supes and Wondy fighting crime, and the odd way they influence one another, kinda reminds me their relationship in of Injustice: Gods Among Us. Lastly, this mystery man that knows Bruce could be interesting if done the right way, I'm curious to see who he is and why he'd help Despero, since I don't think it's him. Oh, and I like the new Atom, she rocks. Score: 8/10

Alright gang, that's it for me and mi amigo. Tomorrow, expect a new type of review from X, which he'll explain then, but until now, on behalf of buddy X, this is JT, signing off!

Red Hood and the Outlaws #19

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with today's review, RHATO #19(X here as well!  I'm crashing this bad boy and JT has no clue!  MWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!). This is the first issue with the series' new writer, James Tynion IV so let's see how Jason, Starfire and Roy fare under his pen(They have to fare better now that Lobdell is gone!).

Red Hood and the Outlaws #19

Summary: This issue basically focused on Starfire and Arsenal going after Jason, as he's heading to the old home of the All Caste. On the way there, they run into a bunch or drama(HA!  Love the in depth review here!), including a woman who tells them to turn back, but they don't listen because they're adamant that Jason needs their help.We then see that the woman was actually Essence in disguise, another member of the All-Caste(Yeah, that part was pretty weird...). On the way there, Roy gets sick from the cold...he's with a girl that has hair made of fire... how... whatever(Dude's a junkie, JT!  Obviously he has trouble making good decisions!). Anyway, Essence invades Roy's dreams to deter him by posing as people in Roy's life like Ollie, Hugo Strange (interesting), Killer Croc (Yep...), and his former dealer. Roy beats them all and wakes up refreshed and feeling great(I also wake up feeling great after I dream about beating up Killer Croc and Roy Harper's former dealer.  And Dan Didio.  That's a big one for me.) as he and Kory arrive at the All-Caste home base. They find Jason but he doesn't know who they are. The issue comes to a close as we see that Jason went there to get his bad memories, like Joker creating him(Boo-ya!!), removed, but instead S'aru removed them all.

Thoughts: Alright, well when I first read this issue, I hated it. I think we'd all agree that this team should be doing more things like The Outsiders did, more street level stuff with maybe a big power person to keep Starfire busy(Yeah, like in Judd Winick's AWESOME Outsiders run!). This team isn't the kind that belongs in Space or doing magical stuff, that's like Dick Grayson finding a Genie's lamp(Named Gene Nee!  HAHA!!!!!  Sorry, Inside joke...) or something. Jason and Arsenal work better as street level heroes doing street level things(Screw you and your logic, JT!  DC doesn't deal with that crap!). So when I saw this issue was about the All-Caste, I was disappointed because I expected to get away from that when Lobdell left the book. But while talking to X(Hey, that's me!), he pointed out that by erasing Jason's memories (we all know he's getting most of them back) that he can kind of retcon the stuff with Joker creating Jason, Jason's face almost being burnt off, as well as all of the All-Caste stuff(That X guy is a damn genius!!!  Seriously, that guy...  He should be named king of the universe or something.  He is the man!). Even if Jason doesn't forget that stuff, he was told by S'aru he wouldn't be welcome there anymore anyway, due to the fact erasing memories is against the All-Caste stands for. So, I'm reluctant but I'm pulling for Tynion to give me some good stories starring my namesake and his band of Outlaws(Well he sure can't do worse than Lobdell.  And that makes me happy.  Much like when people mention me in their reviews...  I like that sort of thing...).

Score: 6/10

Jason Todd: My butler would kick your ass all the way back to Gotham City.

Captain America #6

Ah, now this is what I need!  After the massive miss that was AU #6, I need a good series to sink my teeth into.  And you aren't gonna get much better than this series.  Let's see what happens to Cap as he nears the end of his time in Dimension Z.

Captain America #6: 

Summary: Cap manages to breach Zola's inner castle, and starts the slow fight through Zola's army of idiots.  As for Zola, we learn he is trying to create a perfect clone of Cap, with the intention of sending it back to Earth, where it can betray and kill the Avengers.  With the Avengers finished, Zola figures he'd be able to conquer Earth with little resistance.  Jet is still perplexed as to why Cap chose to spare her during their battle, and ponders if Zola's way is indeed the right way.  Regardless, she collects Ian to meet Zola.  Ian naturally wants nothing to do with Zola, so Zola decides to reprogram him into thinking Cap is an evil man who was always putting children in danger...  No, silly Zola, that's Batman!  Jet takes a shower, and upon exiting it, she is confronted by a crazed Cap, who demands to know where is son was at the point of a gun.  Jet laughs at that, since she doesn't believe Cap will pull the trigger.  However, it seems that he does(!).  This one ends with Ian beginning to see things the Zola way.

Thoughts: Damn is this comic good...  Seriously, it's fantastic!  This issue was no different.  I couldn't wait to turn each page, hoping that Cap would manage to reach Ian before Zola's brainwashing took effect.  Besides the story here, the characters are SO well thought out!  You have Cap, whose only thoughts are of rescuing his son.  You have Jet, and her growing attraction to Cap.  Next, you have Zola, who revealed to us his master plan of conquering the Earth.  Finally, you have poor Ian, who seems to have been brainwashed by Zola's machines.  That's actually the thing I'm most worried about...  That at the end of this storyline, Cap and Jet wind up heading back to Earth, while Ian remains evil and stays with Zola.  I SO want Ian to head back to Earth with Cap, and possibly take up the Bucky mantle.  I'm starting to get the feeling that's not gonna happen though...  Looking past my wishful thinking though, this was a great issue, in a long line of them with this series.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Superior Spider-Man #8

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my first review of the comic week, the always entertaining Spectacular Spider-Man. This is going to be a pretty brief review due to the fact Injustice and comic books have consumed my life even more. So, let's get to it!

Superior Spider-Man #8

Summary: In this issue we see the Avengers take Spidey down long enough to do some tests on him, and much to Peter's dismay, they clear Superior Spider-Man, saying he's not a Skrull. Apparently that's all they searched for, but Doc notices something off with his brain patterns and asks for the scans. Black Widow pulls Spidey aside and says she knows he's probably feeling bad about Silver Sable's death and that's pushed him over the edge, so they bond a bit about how your first kill changes you. She offers Spidey an ear if he needs to talk, and Peter takes advantage of Ock's distraction to write a crude drawing of an Octopus pointing at Spidey, but Widow dismisses it as random scribbles. We also see that Carlie Cooper has brought someone else into the fold to investigate if Spidey is who he claims, but we don't see who it is just yet. From there, Doc Parker decides to head after Cardiac to get his device back, but finds out Cardiac needs it to help cure a girl that was hurt during Ends of the Earth. Ock feels terrible about this and offers to help the girl, doing the surgery himself since only he can understand Dr. Octopus' designs. Doc manages to help cure the girl, causing her to give him her favorite toy, which warms Doc's heart. Back at his lab, he uses the helmet on himself and while being taunted by Peter he let's him know (referring to it as Peter's memories taking a life of their own) that he's aware he's there now, and he plans on removing them once and for all.

Thoughts: I was conflicted about this issue. I enjoyed it, especially the end since it seems like Doc may be around longer than some of us expected after Peter's return in issue one. I also enjoyed the scene with the little girl giving Ock her toy, it was very sweet and helped show that he's not a total heel. Hell, I enjoyed most of this issue but the thing that annoyed me was how stupid the Avengers came off here. Spidey's acting weird so all you do is see if he's a Skrull? You don't bring in Strange or a Telepath or anything to even see if he's a clone or something? They explained it by saying Pym and Stark weren't there, so the rest of the team didn't notice Doc's brain anomaly but it still seemed odd to me. I mean, if you're willing to fight him to make sure he's who he says, giving him the Skrull test only didn't seem like enough.

Score: 7.5/10

Doc Parker: Ready my equipment. I'm going to perform a Parker-Ectomy.

Age of Ultron #6

Oh hey, check it out, it's another Age of Ultron issue!  The best thing about the expedited release schedule of this event is that it should be over really soon.  Yep, I've reached that point with this one.  Well, let's get this done and over with...

Age of Ultron #6:

Summary: Dammit, why can't JT be stuck reviewing this!?  So Wolverine and the Invisible Woman have headed back in time to kill Hank Pym before he creates Ultron, because that won't mess up the future or anything...  On top of that, Captain America, Nick Fury, Rulk, Bendis's it girl, Quake, Storm and Quicksilver have headed to the future to stop Ultron Prime's attack.  The heroes head towards Manhattan, and are immediately attacked by Ultrons.  The Ultrons tear the heroes apart, killing at the very least Cap.  Meanwhile, in the past, Wolvie confronts Pym and tells him he has to die.  The two fight and Wolvie gets the upper hand, but he is stopped by Sue, who is still undecided on whether or not to go through with this plan.  Wolvie keeps throwing her dead family and kids in her face(because he's an asshole), so Sue lets him murder Pym.  With that, the two decide to head home, figuring things would be way better now.

Thoughts: UGH!!!!  This series is so damn stupid!!!  It makes my head hurt!  First off, if the Avengers in the future really want to take out Ultron, why wouldn't they take everybody?  I mean, if THAT is your last stand, why not bring all of your forces in to play?  But that's not what's really bothering me...  How the HELL does Wolverine reason killing Pym is the way to right everything?  It doesn't take a genius to realize that by killing one of the founding member of the Avengers, you're going to mess up the timestream worse than it already is! Here's a simple example...  With no Pym, that means no Wasp.  That means the initial Avengers team will consist of Iron Man, Thor and Hulk.  Hulk leaves in issue #2.  That leaves the "team" as IM and Thor.  Two people does not a team make, so logically, they go their own ways.  At that point, there ARE no Avengers.  So then, who stops the Space Phantom?  Who stops Namor?  Who wakes Cap out of his hibernation?  Who could possibly stop Kang?  Not only that, but no Cap means there's nobody adequate to stop the Red Skull when he ends up returning...  How about a Masters of Evil led by the original Baron Zemo AND the Red Skull!  Killing Pym is just infinitely dumb...  Plus, you know, it goes against the actions of any hero worth his salt.  Frigging dumb-ass Wolverine...  Besides that, if it so easy to just go back and change time(which is what Bendis is apparently saying), why wouldn't Dr. Doom, the man who INVENTED the time platform the heroes used, head back in time and smother Sue Storm in her crib?  Or prevent his mother from making a deal with Mephisto?  Or fix it so that his machine doesn't blow up in his face?  So, so dumb...  So yeah, this issue was idiotic on SO many levels, but the next issue should be interesting...  Depending on which direction Bendis decides to go...

Score: 5 out of 10.

New Comic Day! April 17th edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here to bring in yet another New Comic Day.  Last week I ended up picking up a lot of comics, but, on the plus side, there were some real gems in there.  This week?  We have a shot at another good week!  But I'm getting ahead of myself, here are the books I should be picking up in a few...  Nightwing #19, Red Hood and the Outlaws #19, Age of Ultron #6, Captain America #6, Captain Marvel #12, Daredevil #25, Dark Avengers #189, Iron Man #8, Nova #3, Superior Spider-Man #8, Thunderbolts #8, Venom #34, X-Factor #254.  13 books for the week is right around perfect for me.  I'll be reviewing Age of Ultron #6 on Thursday, and Captain America on Saturday.  The rest of the comics listed there I'll toss into Monday's Best of the Rest post...  Unless JT reviews 'em, then naturally I won't review 'em.  And yeah, that'll do it for me, now I'll hand you guys over to JT and give a cheery X out.

Hey Todd Squad, JT here with my comic haul for this week. Since X has done the intro and all that crap, we'll get right to my books! I plan on picking up Justice League #19 (Undecided on this), Red Hood and the Outlaws #19 (Wooooo, No more Lobdell!!!), Todd the Ugliest Kid on Earth #4, Age of Ultron #6, Captain American #6, Captain Marvel #12, Iron Man #8, Nova #3 and Superior Spider-Man #8. Hm... weird haul. You can expect me to review Superior Spider-Man, Red Hood and the Outlaws and either Justice League or Nova. And as always, expect those on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Now, that's it for me, until next time, this is JT, signing off!

Uncanny X-Men #4

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my final review of the comic week, and this time it's the Uncanny X-Men. In the last issue, Cyclops and Friends visited the Jean Grey School in hopes of recruiting some news students, let's see how they fared. Also... WOO INJUSTICE RELEASE DAY!!! Ahem...sorry.

 Uncanny X-Men #4

Summary: This issue actually takes place at the same time as All New X-Men #10. While Scott is talking to Wolverine and the Jean Grey Staff/Students, we see Emma is having a psychic conversation with the Stepford Sisters. The Sisters quickly realize that Emma doesn't have her psychic powers, so the more malicious of the three invades Emma's mind, seeing what happened.They see when Scott ripped the Phoenix Power from her, which caused her to lose her psychic powers as well, and they apologize although Emma says she expected it from them because they're basically younger versions of her. She asks them to join the school because she needs this, to teach and help someone. From there we jump back to the New Xavier School and see the new students pick their dorms, as well as seeing Triage the healer start to hit on Tempus. While walking around looking for a phone, the kids accidentally trigger the Danger Room and end up in over their heads until Cyclops and the rest return and shit it down. This soon leads to Cyclops introducing the newest members of the team, The Stepford Sisters and Angel from the Original Five X-Men. (Saw that coming!) The issue ends soon after with Magik suddenly being hit with an immense pain, something that's gotta be related to her having the Phoenix Force during AVX.

Thoughts: I have mixed feeling about this issue. On one hand, I'm an avid Emma fan, but I could care less about the Stepford Sisters and considering most of this issue was her talking to them in her mind, I was pretty bored. That aside, I did like Triage, who finally has a codename now, talking to Tempus and being a bit flirty to give him somewhat of a character, as well as Angel joining the team. I'm interested to see how that plays out in All New X-Men, considering Angel wanted to go home and was forced to stay thanks to the rest of the team. All in all, this wasn't a bad issue, but I just couldn't get into the Emma/Stepford parts.

Score: 6/10

Cyclops: Allow me to introduce you to Warren Worthington The Third.

Best of the Rest! April 10th edition.

Hey all, X here to herald in a brand new BotR post.  Not only that, but this is the 3,000th post here at the blog!  That's A LOT of posts!  Speaking of a lot, I picked up a slew of comics on Wednesday, so it should go without saying there are gonna be A LOT of comics covered in this post.  As always, I'll get things started and JT will pitch in towards the end of the review.  JT's text will be in blue.  With so many comics to dig into, let's end the intro and get to the main event.

Alpha: Big Time #3: In this issue, Alpha DOESN'T screw up!  Huzzah for the greatest hero ever!!  He saves that girl he likes in school from a fire(and she naturally knows who he is, because she's not a moron), and talks to Doc Parker about his powers, which seem to be growing.  However, the main villain of Pittsburgh takes umbrage at a hero being and town, and since everybody knows who Alpha is, decides to pay his family a visit.  So yeah, this comic?  You know I loved it!  I read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.  I just can't help but to love this character, and this series.  Alpha is honestly what all teenage heroes SHOULD be.  Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Ultron #1AU: With all of the other Runaways dead, Victor has been saving whatever kids he could find in destroyed Los Angeles.  Luckily for him, the various Ultron patrols can't seem to figure out what he is, and as such haven't killed him.  Oh yeah, and Victor has been hiding his powers from the kids he was rescuing, while subtly using them to hide from Ultron.  At least until one of the kids sees him doing robot-y stuff, and the Ultrons attack.  It's then that Victor decides to stop slinking around in the shadows, afraid of Ultron and finally fights back.  This was another really good comic.  Man, with the exception of AoU #5, I have been having some GREAT luck with my comic reading this week.  I liked the art, and the writing nailed Victor perfectly.  This is a character that needs a much bigger place in the Marvel U.  Score: 9 out of 10.

Walking Dead #109: This issue dealt with Jesus and Rick putting their plan to attack Negan in motion.  Rick informs certain people from his group(Andrea, Carl, Michonne), while Jesus tells a select number of folks at the Hilltop.  However, by the end of this one, Jesus seems to realize that one of the guys he told was in Negan's pocket.  This was an okay issue.  I mean, nothing really happened, I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fine way to kill a few minutes.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Hawkeye #9: This issue gives us a look at the four most important women in Hawkeye's life(Mockingbird, Black Widow, Kate and Spider-Woman).  Plus it advances the story with the mob having it out for Clint by having an assassin kill Clint's neighbor, Grills.  So we had action, comedy, and Kate calling Clint a bitch.  Yup, this one checked all the boxes for me.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #7: Current Thor and Future Thor get together and prepare an attack on Gorr's planet.  Meanwhile, Gorr captures Young Thor and forces Young Thor to work on Gorr's master plan...  A gigantic bomb.  No complaints with this one.  Gorr is still a great villain, and I enjoyed seeing the two Thors interact.  The reveal at the end wasn't something I was all excited over(so Gorr has a big bomb...  Even though he's killed most every god without a giant bomb...), but I'm sure Jason Aaron has a reason Gorr is concocting that bomb.  So yeah, again, good stuff here.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #3: AIM's scientist supreme and a few henchmen drop in on a weapon's expo, claiming they had every right to be there since they were members of a UN recognized country.  Needless to say, that leads to Nick Fury(jr) and Daisy Johnson fighting AIM.  A US senator ends up getting killed during the ruckus, and AIM escapes with the Iron Patriot armor, which they seemed interested in using Mentallo to pilot.  Also, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird find a half destroyed Jocasta at a wrecked AIM base.  Hey, I liked this comic too!  What's going on this week?!  I'm still not 100% sold on AIM as the main antagonists here(they seem too faceless without somebody like MODOK leading them), but I'm slowly starting to get into this story.  Plus, anytime you throw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird into a comic I'm gonna be a happy camper.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #6: Reed decides to take the kids to the Big Bang.  For SCIENCE!!  While there, they find a body floating around in the void and rescue it.  It turns out the body is an older version of Blastaar, and he attacks.  Franklin uses his powers to send Blastaar back outside before the ship is critically damaged.  Ah, there we go...  I knew my comic reading luck was too good prior to this issue.  So yeah, I didn't like this issue at all.  The F4 are too cardboard for my tastes here, and the two kids are incredibly irritating.  Like to the point where I've stopped reading their dialogue because they piss me off so much.  Besides that, there's nothing interesting happening here...  Oh no, something mysterious is wrong with Ben!  Oh no, Reed has a mysterious disease!  Oh no, Sue is pouting!  This series just isn't for me, so I'll be dropping it come Wednesday.  Score: 2 out of 10.

Superboy #19: This issue actually gives us SB's full origin(um, shouldn't that have happened in the zero issue?), as well as Harvest's.  Harvest is from a future where humanity is at war with the meta-humans, who have taken to abusing their powers.  As for SB, he is a clone of Lois Lane and Superman's son, Jon.  Jon was taken in by Harvest after his parents thought he had died.  Why?  Because Harvest intended on using Jon to kill every meta-human, since Jon was the most powerful of the metas.  However, Jon was messed up due to his hybrid Kryptonian/human DNA and wound up in a coma, so Harvest created a clone to try to help Jon(who he came to love like a son).  So yeah, SB is the clone of the son of Lois and Supes, and that?  That is SOOOOO much better than SB as the clone of Supes and Lex, or Supes and a random scientist.  I have to say, this issue was really good.  Like, surprisingly so!  I'm usually blasting Scott Lobdell's work, but he brought his A-game here.  Harvest became a deeper character, while SB has an origin that I like.  I still don't understand why we didn't get this in issue #0, but hey, at least we got it here.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Ultimates #23: The leader of California sends Tigra and Quake from the West Coast Ultimates to attack Cap at the White House.  Meanwhile, WCU member Vision has stolen Tony Stark's nuclear satellite and has sent it hurdling towards Sacramento   The leader of California figures that will be seen as an attack on California and will lead to the west coast states banding together against Cap and the rest of the country.  This issue was kind of a snoozer for me.  I just never got into it.  So yeah, that's all I have to say about this issue, actually...  Score: 5 out of 10.

Batman and Red Robin #19: In this issue we're introduced to Carrie Kelley, a college student that had apparently been tutoring Damian for thousands of dollars, as well as her blonde roommate that wears purple. (Hint, hint?) Anyway, She goes looking for Damian at his home but no one answers. Bruce starts looking into her life and when he tells her that her services are no longer needed, she asks where Damian is, causing Bruce to leave without answering. Also, Batman heads off to find Frankenstein with the intent of having him help resurrect Damian. Frankenstein is not on board with this, and neither is Red Robin, who finally pops up when Alfred asks him to go check out Bruce's location. Tim tries to stop Bruce but ends up getting punched in the face for his troubles. Sensing that Batman will do whatever he has to, Frankenstein blows up his lab/lair, leaving Batman at square one, now very pissed at Tim for interfering on his quest to resurrect Damain. This was a weird issue, considering Red Robin was barely in it and his name's in the title, but it was far from bad, plus Bruce dealt with Denial on his first of the five steps of grief. Next is Anger, and Red Hood is involved! Score: 6/10

Wolverine #2: In this issue, Logan is pursuing a child that seems to be mind controlled by some kind of alien-like being, as we see it's mind controlling other people as well. Logan wants to stop the being without hurting the kid, but he has a laser gun that basically disintegrates people on impact. Logan tries to talk the mind controller down and distracts it long enough to disarm the kid, who then leaps off of the building while still being controlled. Logan leaps after him and catches the kid, then lands with his body taking the impact. Logan and the kid survive, but someone else now has the laser gun, but they're dealt with by Nick Fury, who shows up to help Logan investigate the mind controllers. The issue ends with The Watcher showing up, meaning this is a big problem. I enjoyed this issue, It's weird how a story with Wolverine facing a kid could be this entertaining but it was, also Cornell has a penchant for mind control, doesn't he? Score: 7/10

Saga #12: This issue starts with us seeing some of Prince Robot's time on the front lines during the war, where he's saved by a medic that promptly dies afterwards. From there we see him take a call that basically motivates him to find Alanna and Marko and get home to his family. Prince Robot heads off to meet the author of the book Alanna read when she fell in love with Marko, and the author basically says he wrote it for a check and doesn't believe in what he wrote. He and Prince Robot share some words before the author reveals his son, a former war hero, hanged himself in the bathroom upon returning home from war. Prince Robot calls his son a coward and the author pulls a weapon on him, but Prince Robot shoots him in the leg first. Prince Robot decides to wait at the house for Marko and Alanna, knowing they'd seek out the sympathizer, but doesn't realize they're already there, hiding upstairs and aware of the Prince's presence. I enjoyed this issue, I like that everyone is humanized so no one really feels like a bad guy, everyone has motivation so it seems real. Prince Robot, The Will, Marko and Alanna, even Gwendolyn to a degree. Score: 7.5/10

And that my friends, is the Best of the Rest. I'll be here tomorrow with the final review of the comic week, Uncanny X-Men #4. And I probably will have short reviews for the week after while I play Injustice until my eyes bleed. Lol, anyway, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

Avenging Spider-Man #19

Hey blog readers! It's a JT day so don't worry, you won't have to deal with X unless he unceremoniously crashes this review after I've set it to post. I wouldn't doubt it because he's become a thorn in my side, much like Peter to Doc Ock currently. And that beautiful segue was to get us here, so I could say, It's Avenging Spider-Man Time!

 Avenging Spider-Man #19

Summary: This issue gets underway with Spider-Man waking up in the middle of the street of an abandoned city. He quickly realizes things are not what they seem as he sees a version of himself as a child, Aunt May in a wedding dress, and he's suddenly attacked by a ghostly version of Peter Parker. This is interrupted by a giant Octopus attacking and the Superior Spider-Man is surprisingly afraid and tries to run away. As Spidey has this nightmare, we see in the real world he's basically being controlled while asleep, as he's fighting the Sleepwalker, as he desperately tries to wake Spider-Man up. In his dreams, Ock decides to try to attack this Octopus, which turns into a dark outline of Doctor Octopus, and reveals himself to be Doc Ock's father. The Superior Spider-Man in so scared he can't move, but he's saved by The Sleepwalker enters his nightmare and saves him, while also fighting Spider-Man's demon infested body. Yep... Turns out a Fear Worm (Yep...) had taken control of Doc while he was saving people from someone else it was controlling, and now The Sleepwalker has come to help him. Sleepwaker asks Spidey about all the Doc Ock stuff in his dreams, and Spidey quickly says it must be from guilt from not being able to save Ock before he died. When the Fear Worm returns, wearing Norbert Octavius' face, Doc Ock almost contemplates giving up because he's so afraid of his father, but fights back, saying Otto may have been afraid but he's not Otto, he's the Superior Spider-Man, as he beats the Fear Worm to a pulp, causing it to beg for mercy. Yep... Sleepwalker and Spidey destroy the worm and Sleepwalker apologizes to Spider-Man, which leads to Spidey saying it was his fault it happened and to do a better job keeping those things under control. The issue comes to an end with Ock remarking how he'd beaten that dream, but some things seemed so real, as we see the scene of Peter trying to take his body back from Doc Ock.

Thoughts: This issue was really miss for me. Maybe it's because I don't know much about the Sleepwalker, maybe it's because I immediately realized the fat kid was Otto but he didn't recognize himself as a kid until halfway through the issue... some genius. This issue just fell flat for me. It seemed kind of unnecessary, where at least the other issues Ock was rebuilding the Sinister Six, nothing really happened here. So, I can see some people enjoying this issue, I just wasn't one of them.

Score: 4/10

Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus was one of the greatest geniuses...
Sleepwalker: The Fat Guy with the arms, right?

Uncanny Avengers #6

Well, I decided to review this comic instead of Ultron #1.  After reading Age of Ultron #5, my interest in that event is at an all time low, so I figured I'd change gears and go with Uncanny Avengers.  Rick Remender has yet to disappoint with this series, here's hoping he keeps that up.

Uncanny Avengers #6: 

Summary: Woooo, this was a good one!  This issue mainly takes place in 1013 AD(so a thousand years ago), back when Thor was a brash young god.  Thor is celebrating a battle with his worshipers, when he is suddenly attacked by Apocalypse(!).  Apocalypse wipes the floor with Thor, while Thor can do nothing to harm Apocalypse.  Before he is killed by the big A, Thor retreats from battle, promising revenge.  Apocalypse heads back to his ship, where we learn he was told by Rama-Tut(Kang!!) to kill Thor now, since Thor would prove to be a thorn in Apocalypse's side in the future.  Apocalypse complains that somebody as weak as Thor would never prove a threat to him, and demands Rama-Tut give him the name of a true threat.  And so Rama-Tut does just that, sending Apocalypse after an ancestor of Wolverine(!).  As for Thor, he asks Odin to assist him against Apocalypse and his indestructible Celestial armor, but Odin refuses, telling Thor that if he were to defeat Apocalypse now, he would create a far greater catastrophe in the future.  Thor is steamed over that, so Loki comes over to help his brother out.  Loki tells Thor about a special way to enchant his battleaxe(Jarnbjorn), so that it could cut through Apocalypse's armor.  Thor goes off to do that, at which time we learn that Loki was actually a disguised Kang(!!!).  Meanwhile, Apocalypse sends his Four Horsemen to London, where Wolvie's ancestor was a member of the army.  The Horsemen cleave through Wolvie's ancestor's allies, and are preparing to do the same to him, when Thor arrives on the scene.  Thor kills the Horsemen, while an enraged Apocalypse watches from his ship.  Rama-Tut taunts Apocalypse about this before teleporting away, because Kang is awesome.  Thor arrives on the ship to get his revenge for the earlier battle, but Apocalypse again turns Thor aside.  Not fearing Thor, Apocalypse moves in to finish Thor off, but is nearly cleaved in two by Jarnbjorn.  Needless to say, Apocalypse is shocked, and sets the self-destruct on his ship.  Thor escapes, and figuring Apocalypse to be dead, heads back to Asgard to celebrate his victory.  Odin crashes the party and reprimands Thor for his brash actions, telling him he'd regret what he did in the future.  This issue ends in the present with Kang gaining possession of the now forgotten Jarnbjorn.

Thoughts: Absolutely perfect.  That's what this issue was.  I literally don't have a single bad thing to say about it.  It was absolute comic book perfection.  Thor vs Apocalypse?  Kang manipulating BOTH of them in order to gain a weapon of immense power?  Everything here was fantastic.  This is EXACTLY what this series should be!  You have one of the greatest X-Men foes, as well as one of the Avengers greatest threats.  And it's not like this was one of those lame, "Two villains randomly team-up to pester two groups of heroes" stories, the story was great, and the reveal at the end with Jarnbjorn tied everything together so perfectly.  Amazing work by Remender here, this comic is definitely the front-runner for best single issue of the year for 2013.

Score: 10 out of 10.

Awesome!!

Batman #19

Hey comic readers and true believers, JT here with my first review of the week, and it's Scott Snyder's Batman! The last issue dealt with the recent death of Damian Wayne and Bruce getting a pep talk from Harper Row, now let's see how Batman is reeling now.

Batman #19

Summary: In this issue, we start things off with a bank robbery stand off with the police and none other than Bruce Wayne. Bruce has a hostage with explosives and uses her to make his way out of the building while Commissioner Gordon tries to talk him down. When he asks by a billionaire is robbing a bank (excellent question...) Bruce throws the money and smoke comes out of it. He then climbs on his motorcycle, shoots Gordon in the chest with a shotgun, then rides over him while driving away, all the while managing to not somehow get shot in the head by a bunch of officers, since no one shoots him in the head. For the record, I would've shot him in the head. Anyway, we jump back to six days ago and see Batman watching footage of Damian on his cowl visor that he recorded from when they'd go on patrol. He's interrupted by Alfred, and Alfred tries to talk to him about it but Bruce doesn't want to hear it. When Alfred mentions one of Bruce's friend's has committed suicide, Bruce finds it strange and looks into it. While looking at the dead man's house, Batman finds a very alive version of him and manages to get a bit of blood to sample before he can escape. While sampling the blood, Batman discovers it's Clayface (duh) and that his DNA has started to mutate, so he's no longer Basil Karlo, instead of being an actor and trying to mimic people, he can now fully become them from their DNA. While in his office discussing a new suit Batman needs (Batman Inc. is in continuity now, remember) with Lucius Fox, Lucius attacks Bruce, revealing that he's actually Clayface. The issue ends with Clayface saying he doesn't want Bruce's money, he wants to use him to end Batman, once and for all.

Thoughts: First things first, I'll say I enjoyed Alfred trying to talk to Bruce about Damian's death and mentioning Jason's death. I also really liked that Bruce was watching videos with Damian from hos Cowl, that's definitely something I can see Batman doing. Now that I've said what I liked, let's get to the stuff I didn't enjoy. Okay, well I saw the Clayface thing coming a mile away. It was either that or Ivy was controlling Bruce. I hated that no one felt the need to gun down Bruce, rich guy or not, when he not only shot the Commissioner with a freaking shotgun, but then rode over him as well with a motorcycle. Also, he was wearing Batman gear under his shirt. So is that on purpose? Clayface clearly doesn't know Bruce is Batman, so is he trying to say he is? Then the entire thing of doing a bank robbery, when he could easily just go on TV, say he's disbanding Batman INC. and that Batman is a criminal that shouldn't be trusted that threatened his life, and boom, Batman is vilified at Wayne's hands. Robbing a Bank then realizing, "Oh yeah, I don't need this money. My Bad!" just seemed unnecessary. Yeah, this issue just didn't do it for me, which is a rare miss for Snyder.

Score: 5/10

Bruce Wayne: Yeah, well, sometimes being a hero gets old.