Hey all, Vampire X here with the second part of my laziest idea ever, A Quick Look At...! I should be able to get a few real reviews done Sunday night or so, which means I can post some reviews Monday... Probably. But until then, it's lazy Vampire X to the rescue! I have to say, it's a REAL good thing JT is doing posts here, because if it was just up to me, this blog would be a sad place... Or a sadder place. I think that's more appropriate. Anyway, here's the rest of the books I picked up on Wednesday, in two sentences... Or less!!!
America's Got Powers #2: This was another good, strong issue of this series. The characters are interesting, the story is engaging, and with Bryan Hitch doing the art, it goes without saying that the art is great.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Batman Annual #1: JT pretty much said everything I'd have said about this comic, but better! This was a fantastic one and done issue that puts a whole new spin on the Mr. Freeze character.
Score: 10 out of 10.
Astonishing X-Men #50: This issue actually made me remember how much I enjoyed reading Marjorie Liu's work... I'm not a huge fan of any of the characters here, but Liu tells a story that's good enough to have me interested in the next issue.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Ravagers #1: This comic was good! I'd have liked it better without Beast Boy, and I'm not sure if I'll snag issue #2, but I'm at least pondering picking up the second issue, which is more than I expected.
Score: 7 out of 10.
And that'll do it for me. After a quick bite to eat(heh heh...) it's back to the casket until tonight. Until later, Vampire X out!
Showing posts with label Astonishing X-Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astonishing X-Men. Show all posts
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Astonishing X-Men #30
This is the final issue of "Ghost Box". All I can say to that is THANK GOD!!! This was easily one of the worst X-stories I've ever read. The writer for this travesty is Warren Ellis. Jeez, I don't know what Warren was thinking here. I know he's a good writer, but he just totally missed the mark with this storyline. For me anyway. Maybe I'm crazy and this was actually a great storyline... Nah!
-The X-Men meet with Forge and discover that yes, he has indeed gone insane(like I have after having read this storyline!). Forge explains that he created new mutants to replace the ones who were lost during M-Day. Beast counters that all Forge has created were monsters, which prompts Forge to rant and rave for a few panels about how he had to create new mutants to defend this dimension from the mutants who were arriving from an alternate dimension.
-Forge brings in some of his monstrosities and the X-Men slowly begin to realize that Forge has a mutant power inhibitor hidden somewhere around them. Forge tells the X-Men to follow him and when they do they realize that Forge has managed to create a Ghost Box of his own. Forge explains that instead of allowing the alternate dimension mutants to attack, he is going to send his pseudo-mutants into their dimension in a preemptive strike. Forge decides that he'll send the X-Men away as well.
-While Forge is having his big, dramatic evil moment, Armor's phone rings, and she tells Forge the call was for him. Forge takes the call and on the other end is Agent Brand, who tells Forge if he doesn't cease and desist, she'll destroy the entire mountain with a laser beam from her satellite.
-Forge(being crazy)refuses to listen to reason, and instead CONTINUES his evil speech. By now Wolverine has deducted that Forge hid the mutant power inhibitor in his prosthetic leg and Wolvie lops Forge's fake leg off. In return, Forge opens the Ghost Box and orders his phony mutants to throw the X-Men in. Beast takes Armor's phone and places it on top of the active Ghost Box and tells Cyclops that they should leave immediately. The team begins to retreat and Forge reveals that it was Storm's marriage to the Black Panther that drove him insane.
-By this point a huge metal hand begins to emerge from the Ghost Box and the X-Men rush back into their plane and get in the air just as Brand fires her laser into the mountain headquarters of Forge, obliterating the entire base.
-This issue ends with Beast explaining that the laser not only destroyed Forge's base, but that it also entered the Ghost Box, destroying the invading mutants entire world. And on that happy note this storyline mercifully ends.
Wow... What more can I even say here. This story was just terrible. I'd love to hear from somebody who actually enjoyed this storyline so they can point out something positive, because I can't find anything positive at all. I'd easily call rate this among the ten worst comic book stories I have EVER had the misfortune of reading. I just can't find a single good thing to say about this storyline. Well, that's not totally true I guess. Although the story was painfully bad, Simone Bianchi's artwork was top notch. For a score I'll give this issue a 2 out of 10. I almost can't believe a writer of Warren's caliber was behind such rubbish. Yuck!
-The X-Men meet with Forge and discover that yes, he has indeed gone insane(like I have after having read this storyline!). Forge explains that he created new mutants to replace the ones who were lost during M-Day. Beast counters that all Forge has created were monsters, which prompts Forge to rant and rave for a few panels about how he had to create new mutants to defend this dimension from the mutants who were arriving from an alternate dimension.
-Forge brings in some of his monstrosities and the X-Men slowly begin to realize that Forge has a mutant power inhibitor hidden somewhere around them. Forge tells the X-Men to follow him and when they do they realize that Forge has managed to create a Ghost Box of his own. Forge explains that instead of allowing the alternate dimension mutants to attack, he is going to send his pseudo-mutants into their dimension in a preemptive strike. Forge decides that he'll send the X-Men away as well.
-While Forge is having his big, dramatic evil moment, Armor's phone rings, and she tells Forge the call was for him. Forge takes the call and on the other end is Agent Brand, who tells Forge if he doesn't cease and desist, she'll destroy the entire mountain with a laser beam from her satellite.
-Forge(being crazy)refuses to listen to reason, and instead CONTINUES his evil speech. By now Wolverine has deducted that Forge hid the mutant power inhibitor in his prosthetic leg and Wolvie lops Forge's fake leg off. In return, Forge opens the Ghost Box and orders his phony mutants to throw the X-Men in. Beast takes Armor's phone and places it on top of the active Ghost Box and tells Cyclops that they should leave immediately. The team begins to retreat and Forge reveals that it was Storm's marriage to the Black Panther that drove him insane.
-By this point a huge metal hand begins to emerge from the Ghost Box and the X-Men rush back into their plane and get in the air just as Brand fires her laser into the mountain headquarters of Forge, obliterating the entire base.
-This issue ends with Beast explaining that the laser not only destroyed Forge's base, but that it also entered the Ghost Box, destroying the invading mutants entire world. And on that happy note this storyline mercifully ends.
Wow... What more can I even say here. This story was just terrible. I'd love to hear from somebody who actually enjoyed this storyline so they can point out something positive, because I can't find anything positive at all. I'd easily call rate this among the ten worst comic book stories I have EVER had the misfortune of reading. I just can't find a single good thing to say about this storyline. Well, that's not totally true I guess. Although the story was painfully bad, Simone Bianchi's artwork was top notch. For a score I'll give this issue a 2 out of 10. I almost can't believe a writer of Warren's caliber was behind such rubbish. Yuck!
A Quick Look at: Astonishing X-Men #29
This is the penultimate chapter of "Ghost Box". The writer is Warren Ellis.
-The X-Men compare the stories they've received from the attacking mutants, and they learn Forge has been creating artificial mutants to fight mutants who were arriving in our dimension with the intent on conquering the planet. The mutants from the other dimension were sent to gather intelligence on our Earth and then to report back home. Somewhere along the line they seem to have run afoul of Forge, who is, according to Beast, "a little crazy". Forge then took it upon himself to create an army of phony mutants to battle the invaders... This whole story is really making my head hurt!
-Thanks to one of the captured phony mutants, the X-Men learn Forge is operating out of Wundagore Mountain. The X-Men contact Forge and he allows them to land on the Mountain after acting super paranoid. This comic ends with the X-Men coming face to face with their former teammate.
This was another dull, action-less issue in this series. This entire comic was dedicating to trying to explain just what the hell was going on here. Usually when it takes an ENTIRE issue to get readers up to speed with what's happening in the story, that isn't a good sign. Jeez, I really don't like this storyline at all... For a score I'll go with a 3 out of 10. Thank god next issue is the final part to this story!
-The X-Men compare the stories they've received from the attacking mutants, and they learn Forge has been creating artificial mutants to fight mutants who were arriving in our dimension with the intent on conquering the planet. The mutants from the other dimension were sent to gather intelligence on our Earth and then to report back home. Somewhere along the line they seem to have run afoul of Forge, who is, according to Beast, "a little crazy". Forge then took it upon himself to create an army of phony mutants to battle the invaders... This whole story is really making my head hurt!
-Thanks to one of the captured phony mutants, the X-Men learn Forge is operating out of Wundagore Mountain. The X-Men contact Forge and he allows them to land on the Mountain after acting super paranoid. This comic ends with the X-Men coming face to face with their former teammate.
This was another dull, action-less issue in this series. This entire comic was dedicating to trying to explain just what the hell was going on here. Usually when it takes an ENTIRE issue to get readers up to speed with what's happening in the story, that isn't a good sign. Jeez, I really don't like this storyline at all... For a score I'll go with a 3 out of 10. Thank god next issue is the final part to this story!
A Quick Look at: Astonishing X-Men #28
This comic contains the forth part of Warren Ellis' "Ghost Box" storyline.
-After sending Wolverine and Armor away to investigate the other rooms in the floating city, Cyclops and Beast are attacked by mutant with the ability to blend into it's surroundings. The two founding X-Men manage to take the mutant down with little trouble.
-Meanwhile in the destroyed city, Storm and Emma are attacked by a mutant with the ability to inhibit the mutant powers of others(ala Leech).
-At the same time, Wolverine and Armor are attacked by a third mutant, this one with the ability to shoot laser beams from his fingertips. The laser shooting mutant manages to damage Armor, but Wolvie manages to take him down with relative ease.
-Storm also manages to take down her attacker and when questioned all three mutants claim to be the enemies of Forge.
I'm glad this issue contained some action for a change, because that gives us the opportunity to see some fight scenes done by Simone Bianchi. The thing that should have made this comic interesting/memorable, the revelation that Forge was somehow behind the appearance of the mysterious mutants was totally ruined by the fact that the team kept mentioning Forge before the "surprise" revelation! I really can't fathom why Warren would do that... By constantly mentioning Forge, the potential surprise the reader may have had at the end of this issue was completely lost. For example, if I continuously tell people that Barack Obama is coming to my house for dinner, nobody is going to be surprised when he shows up! For a score, I'll give this issue a 3 1/2 out of 10. I hate to say it, but by this point I've lost all interest in this story...
-After sending Wolverine and Armor away to investigate the other rooms in the floating city, Cyclops and Beast are attacked by mutant with the ability to blend into it's surroundings. The two founding X-Men manage to take the mutant down with little trouble.
-Meanwhile in the destroyed city, Storm and Emma are attacked by a mutant with the ability to inhibit the mutant powers of others(ala Leech).
-At the same time, Wolverine and Armor are attacked by a third mutant, this one with the ability to shoot laser beams from his fingertips. The laser shooting mutant manages to damage Armor, but Wolvie manages to take him down with relative ease.
-Storm also manages to take down her attacker and when questioned all three mutants claim to be the enemies of Forge.
I'm glad this issue contained some action for a change, because that gives us the opportunity to see some fight scenes done by Simone Bianchi. The thing that should have made this comic interesting/memorable, the revelation that Forge was somehow behind the appearance of the mysterious mutants was totally ruined by the fact that the team kept mentioning Forge before the "surprise" revelation! I really can't fathom why Warren would do that... By constantly mentioning Forge, the potential surprise the reader may have had at the end of this issue was completely lost. For example, if I continuously tell people that Barack Obama is coming to my house for dinner, nobody is going to be surprised when he shows up! For a score, I'll give this issue a 3 1/2 out of 10. I hate to say it, but by this point I've lost all interest in this story...
Saturday, August 1, 2009
A Quick Look at: Astonishing X-Men #27
This is the third part of the "Ghost Box" story. Once again the writer is Warren Ellis.
-The X-Men return to San Fran with the mysterious box from last issue along with the corpse of the pyromaniac. Beast decides to call in his(girlfriend?)Agent Brand from SWORD to help him figure out what the box was for.
-Upon looking at the DNA of the dead pyromaniac, Beast learns he was indeed a mutant, but a mutant whose X-gene was on the wrong chromosome. Basically what this means is the pyromaniac was a mutant from an alternate dimension.
-Brand arrives and tells the team the box was a Ghost Box. She explains that a Ghost Box opens gateways to parallel Earths, which would explain the pyromaniac. Brand tells the team that since the pyromaniac is from off-world, the whole investigation was now under her jurisdiction. Cyclops manages to convince Brand to let the X-Men deal with things, but she only gives them a limited time before she has SWORD take over.
-After consulting the journal of the dead fake mutant from the first part of this story, the X-Men decide to pick up their investigation in a place called "tian" which is in a cloaked part of China.
-Upon arriving at "tian", the team discovers a floating island with a beautiful city sitting on it. Under the hovering island, they spot a destroyed city. Cyclops splits the team up, sending Emma and Storm to the demolished city. In the floating city, Cyclops' group discover several long dead corpses, and after looking at some computer files Beast learns that Tian was the secret home of the Chinese version of the X-Men.
That's it??? What a bizarre way to end a comic book... To call this story underwhelming would have to be an understatement. This whole story is just taking forever to develop. I like a good, slow developing storyline as much as the next guy, but Warren just isn't providing us enough pieces of the story to keep things interesting(for me anyway). We're 3 issues into this story, and if you were to ask me what was going on, I doubt I'd be able to give you an answer. For a score, I'll give this issue a 3 1/2 out of 10. There was absolutely no action in this issue, which is a terrible waste of Simone Bianchi's marvelous artistic talents. Oh well, on to issue #28.
-The X-Men return to San Fran with the mysterious box from last issue along with the corpse of the pyromaniac. Beast decides to call in his(girlfriend?)Agent Brand from SWORD to help him figure out what the box was for.
-Upon looking at the DNA of the dead pyromaniac, Beast learns he was indeed a mutant, but a mutant whose X-gene was on the wrong chromosome. Basically what this means is the pyromaniac was a mutant from an alternate dimension.
-Brand arrives and tells the team the box was a Ghost Box. She explains that a Ghost Box opens gateways to parallel Earths, which would explain the pyromaniac. Brand tells the team that since the pyromaniac is from off-world, the whole investigation was now under her jurisdiction. Cyclops manages to convince Brand to let the X-Men deal with things, but she only gives them a limited time before she has SWORD take over.
-After consulting the journal of the dead fake mutant from the first part of this story, the X-Men decide to pick up their investigation in a place called "tian" which is in a cloaked part of China.
-Upon arriving at "tian", the team discovers a floating island with a beautiful city sitting on it. Under the hovering island, they spot a destroyed city. Cyclops splits the team up, sending Emma and Storm to the demolished city. In the floating city, Cyclops' group discover several long dead corpses, and after looking at some computer files Beast learns that Tian was the secret home of the Chinese version of the X-Men.
That's it??? What a bizarre way to end a comic book... To call this story underwhelming would have to be an understatement. This whole story is just taking forever to develop. I like a good, slow developing storyline as much as the next guy, but Warren just isn't providing us enough pieces of the story to keep things interesting(for me anyway). We're 3 issues into this story, and if you were to ask me what was going on, I doubt I'd be able to give you an answer. For a score, I'll give this issue a 3 1/2 out of 10. There was absolutely no action in this issue, which is a terrible waste of Simone Bianchi's marvelous artistic talents. Oh well, on to issue #28.
A Quick Look at: Astonishing X-Men #26
This is the second part of the "Ghost Box" storyline. The writer is Warren Ellis.
-The team makes it to Indonesia and Emma manages to locate the man who murdered the faux mutant from last issue. The murderer appears to be in a hovering spacecraft.
-Armor tosses Wolverine into the spacecraft and Wolvie discovers the murderer trying to complete some sort of sophisticated looking box. Wolvie tells the guy to surrender, but the guy instead sets Wolvie on fire.
-The rest of the team finally arrives and Storm manages to put Wolvie out. The evil pyromaniac goes back to his strange box and sets the room ablaze in an effort to keep the X-Men at bay.
-The pyromaniac begins to power the box up with the ships batteries and Cyclops tells the team to abandon the ship and for Storm to strike the entire thing with a massive lightning bolt. Storm does as told and the ship crashes.
-The team returns to the downed ship and confront the pyromaniac who is pissed that they stopped his weird box from powering up. Before the X-Men can apprehend the pyromaniac, he blows his own head off to keep the X-Men from learning his secrets.
Eh, this issue was a tiny bit better then the last one, but the same flaws from last issue plagued this comic. The story just isn't coming together for me. It's just too vague. The X-Men find a dead body, Beast discovers that the corpse contains an artificial X-gene, the team lucks into a journal which tells them where the guy's murderer was headed, they find said guy, stop him from powering up a mysterious box and said guy kills himself while spouting some nonsense. WTF?!? Plus Armor was still in this comic. Warren has managed to make her into one of my least favorite comic book characters in recent memory. Congratulations for that I guess. This issue Armor decided to beat an unfunny joke about Wolverine being fat into the ground... Over and over and over again... For a score, I'll give this issue a 4 out of 10. Onto issue #27!
-The team makes it to Indonesia and Emma manages to locate the man who murdered the faux mutant from last issue. The murderer appears to be in a hovering spacecraft.
-Armor tosses Wolverine into the spacecraft and Wolvie discovers the murderer trying to complete some sort of sophisticated looking box. Wolvie tells the guy to surrender, but the guy instead sets Wolvie on fire.
-The rest of the team finally arrives and Storm manages to put Wolvie out. The evil pyromaniac goes back to his strange box and sets the room ablaze in an effort to keep the X-Men at bay.
-The pyromaniac begins to power the box up with the ships batteries and Cyclops tells the team to abandon the ship and for Storm to strike the entire thing with a massive lightning bolt. Storm does as told and the ship crashes.
-The team returns to the downed ship and confront the pyromaniac who is pissed that they stopped his weird box from powering up. Before the X-Men can apprehend the pyromaniac, he blows his own head off to keep the X-Men from learning his secrets.
Eh, this issue was a tiny bit better then the last one, but the same flaws from last issue plagued this comic. The story just isn't coming together for me. It's just too vague. The X-Men find a dead body, Beast discovers that the corpse contains an artificial X-gene, the team lucks into a journal which tells them where the guy's murderer was headed, they find said guy, stop him from powering up a mysterious box and said guy kills himself while spouting some nonsense. WTF?!? Plus Armor was still in this comic. Warren has managed to make her into one of my least favorite comic book characters in recent memory. Congratulations for that I guess. This issue Armor decided to beat an unfunny joke about Wolverine being fat into the ground... Over and over and over again... For a score, I'll give this issue a 4 out of 10. Onto issue #27!
A(mercifully)Quick Look at: Astonishing X-Men #25
I've finally gotten around to reading Warren Ellis' initial storyarc for the Astonishing X-Men. The storyline, "Ghost Box" is 6 parts. Well, here we go...
-The members of the Astonishing X-Men(Cyclops, Beast, Emma, Wolverine, Storm and Armor)visit a crime scene at the request of the San Fran police department. It seems some guy was murdered, but he was murdered by somebody with fire powers.
-The X-Men manage to put the corpse out, and Beast takes a blood sample, since the dead man doesn't fit the profile for one of the 198(or is it 199 now?)known mutants. Beast discovers that this guy was an artificial mutant, with an implanted X-gene.
-After reading a journal the dead man had with him, the X-Men discover that the dead man was tracking his own killer, and that the final destination for the murderer was a spacecraft graveyard located in Indonesia. This issue ends with the team deciding to pursue.
This comic was horrid. The lone saving grace was the art of Simone Bianchi, which was wonderful. However, you need more than pretty pictures to make a good comic book, and both the story and dialogue here was pretty abysmal. Besides the lousy writing, the team itself could be MUCH better. I did like Storm and Beast, but Cyclops was incredibly irritating, Emma was a bitch(as usual I guess), Wolverine was acting chipper(which is WAY out of character), and then there was Armor... Is it written somewhere that the X-Men are required to have a spunky(annoying!)teenage girl on the team at all times? Every scene with Armor made me want to throw the comic across the room. She adds nothing to the story, and for some awful reason, Warren had her constantly repeating the same unfunny lines over and over again ad nauseam! I get it, she doesn't like her codename... How the hell can't I get it when she reminds the team(and the reader!)every few panels!!! For a score, I'll give this a 3 out of 10. Do things get better next issue??? Keep reading to find out!
-The members of the Astonishing X-Men(Cyclops, Beast, Emma, Wolverine, Storm and Armor)visit a crime scene at the request of the San Fran police department. It seems some guy was murdered, but he was murdered by somebody with fire powers.
-The X-Men manage to put the corpse out, and Beast takes a blood sample, since the dead man doesn't fit the profile for one of the 198(or is it 199 now?)known mutants. Beast discovers that this guy was an artificial mutant, with an implanted X-gene.
-After reading a journal the dead man had with him, the X-Men discover that the dead man was tracking his own killer, and that the final destination for the murderer was a spacecraft graveyard located in Indonesia. This issue ends with the team deciding to pursue.
This comic was horrid. The lone saving grace was the art of Simone Bianchi, which was wonderful. However, you need more than pretty pictures to make a good comic book, and both the story and dialogue here was pretty abysmal. Besides the lousy writing, the team itself could be MUCH better. I did like Storm and Beast, but Cyclops was incredibly irritating, Emma was a bitch(as usual I guess), Wolverine was acting chipper(which is WAY out of character), and then there was Armor... Is it written somewhere that the X-Men are required to have a spunky(annoying!)teenage girl on the team at all times? Every scene with Armor made me want to throw the comic across the room. She adds nothing to the story, and for some awful reason, Warren had her constantly repeating the same unfunny lines over and over again ad nauseam! I get it, she doesn't like her codename... How the hell can't I get it when she reminds the team(and the reader!)every few panels!!! For a score, I'll give this a 3 out of 10. Do things get better next issue??? Keep reading to find out!
Friday, July 31, 2009
It's Friday and I'm feeling lazy!
The title of this post pretty much says it all. Since I am feeling a bit on the lazy side tonight, I'm not going to be posting any new reviews... Heartbreaking, no? ;) Anyway, I'm going to start reading Warren Ellis' initial arc on Astonishing X-Men before passing out tonight, and by tomorrow night, I should have Astonishing #25-30 finished and posted(in Quick Look format). That's the plan anyway...
Let's see, what else can I put in this post so it isn't a total waste of time? Oh yeah, has anybody picked up that new Green Lantern animated movie? I think it came out this past Tuesday. I hardly watch any movies(the last movie I watched from start to finish was X-Men 3 a few years back), but if I hear some good things about this movie I might be willing to pick it up or download it on my PS3. Personally I'd rather spend three hours playing a video game than watching a movie, but that's just me. That's pretty much all the comic related stuff I can think of right now. After I publish this measly little post, I'll probably head to the few blogs I follow and see what they've got up. It must be better than what I've posted tonight!
Let's see, what else can I put in this post so it isn't a total waste of time? Oh yeah, has anybody picked up that new Green Lantern animated movie? I think it came out this past Tuesday. I hardly watch any movies(the last movie I watched from start to finish was X-Men 3 a few years back), but if I hear some good things about this movie I might be willing to pick it up or download it on my PS3. Personally I'd rather spend three hours playing a video game than watching a movie, but that's just me. That's pretty much all the comic related stuff I can think of right now. After I publish this measly little post, I'll probably head to the few blogs I follow and see what they've got up. It must be better than what I've posted tonight!
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