Avengers Prime #5(of 5)

Review: This issue begins with Thor rallying troops from all nine realms in preparation for the coming battle with the Goddess of Death, Hela, who has managed to get her hands on the reality warping Twilight Sword, and has begun to turn all of the other realms into her own warped dreams. After some last minute strategy by the heroes, Hela attacks with her legion of corpses. The heroes and their allies manage to hold their ground, until Hela teleports Thor away and has him assaulted by her undead minions. With Thor suitably softened up, Hela moves in for the kill and stabs Thor with the Twilight Sword. Before she is able to decapitate him though, the Enchantress arrives on the scene, heals Thor's wounds and transports him to his hammer. Now healed and reunited with his hammer, Thor returns to his allies and resumes the battle, soon to be followed by Hela herself. The two battle again, but this time the fight is more evenly matched since Thor has his full arsenal of powers at his disposal. Even still, Hela refuses to yield, until Iron Man and the huge dragon Fafnir blast Hela at the orders of Steve Rogers. Hela drops the Twilight Sword, allowing Thor the opportunity to grasp it, ending Hela's threat. At the urging of the Enchantress, Thor puts the nine realms back where they belong, with the exception of Asgard, which he decides to leave on Earth. With the crisis over, Enchantress teleports the three heroes back to Earth, where they are met by several worried Avengers and Asgardians. Iron Man and Steve finally put there differences aside after an apology from IM, while Thor hands the Twilight Sword over to Heimdall, telling him to hide it where none can ever use it again. With that, all of the heroes emerge from the ruins of Asgard, ending this issue.

Thoughts: We had a whole lot of fighting here, as you'd expect from the climax of a mini-series. The battle between Thor and Hela was well done, although Enchantress's return was a bit anti-climatic, since this was like the second or third time she returned from what appeared to be her death in this mini. As I was reaching the end of this comic, I was really pretty undecided as to what to give it score-wise... However, the last scene with Iron Man's apology and Steve accepting pushed the score from very good to great. What can I say, I'm a big sucker for a sappy ending! Overall, this was a VERY good mini-series, one that I'd recommend to Marvel and Avengers fans alike.

Score: 9 out of 10.And with that, Iron Man has finally redeemed himself in my eyes.

X-Files Week #1

Hey X-Maniacs, welcome to the first installment of the X-Files! What is the X-Files? Well, it's basically just me reviewing a bunch of comics in the same post with some random commentary tossed in for good measure, ending with a random comic scan. In other words, it's pretty much the exact same as my Best of the Rest post, but with a snazzier name. Ideally I'll try to get one of these X-Files posts up once a week, say every Sunday, but we all know this isn't an ideal world, so I'll play it by ear. If I have time(and find myself bored enough!)I'll do one of these posts. If not, well then obviously I won't! So that's the long and the short of it. Without further ado, let's get started.

Something smells fishy...
So as I mentioned last week, I finished reading the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern years(or as GEOFF Johns calls them, “The Years That Don't Matter”). That means I can finally begin reading one of the MANY other piles of comic book back issues I have lying around my bedroom. After some thought, I'm going to start reading the Aquaman series from the 1990's. I don't know much about this run other than the fact that Aquaman's hand falls off and Peter David is the writer early on. That second fact is pretty much the reason I brought that series, as I am(and always have been)an unabashed fan of PAD. As I make my trek through those Aquaman books, I'll try to mention on the blog how the series is progressing and what I like/dislike about it.

JMS, we hardly knew ye...
Earlier this week, my good friend(and known super-genius)JT informed me that J. Michael Straczynski was leaving the Wonder Woman and Superman books after only 4 months or so of being the regular writer. It seems the Superman: Earth One(written by JMS)sales were so impressive, DC wants to try to capitalize on things, and as such have shunted JMS away from the monthly books in favor of him creating the second volume of Supes: Earth One. In other words, JMS isn't able to write Supes: Earth One #2, Superman and Wonder Woman at the same time, so he's going to take the job that'll net DC(and himself)the most money/acclaim. To that I say; fair enough. I picked up the Superman: Earth One hardcover and I'll admit, I did like it. I didn't love it, but for the most part, it was a good read. It took the Superman mythos and gave them a bit of a twist. I personally didn't care for the twist, but to each his own. While I liked JMS's Superman: Earth One, I haven't liked his take on the main Superman book. Superman fighting crazed world conquering aliens? Good. Supes matching wits with the diabolical Lex Luthor? Very good. Superman aimlessly wandering across the United States? Um, not so good. I guess JMS has some kind of end plan for the whole, “I'm Superman and I'm going to walk across the country for some reason!” story, but I just found the whole thing to be boring and uninteresting. JMS's WW run left me with more conflicted feelings though. On one hand, I hate the fact that he felt the need to reboot Diana. I mean it's Wonder Woman for crying out loud! One of DC's vanguards. You don't need to reboot her in such a drastic fashion. Once you get over the initial shock of the WW reboot though, there's a pretty interesting story going on in the WW series. So JMS off of Superman is a plus in my eyes, while him leaving WW is more of a mixed package. With JMS leaving these titles, some other writers will finish his stories using his notes/plots, which unfortunately means we'll probably have a good 8 more issues of Superman walking across America, but at least when JMS's Superman plot is done, another writer can move in and give us what we want in a Superman comic... Superman acting Super!

Whew, okay, that takes care of the news portion of this post, let's get to the reviews! Well speak of the devil! I'm going to start things of with JMS's Wonder Woman #604! This issue gives us the confrontation between Wonder Woman and the guy who killed her mother and stole the magic lasso... um, Evil Army Guy? I don't think he was ever called anything other than colonel, so I'll stick with Evil Army Guy, or EAG for short. EAG gives his origin story, since that's what bad guys do when you first meet them, explaining that he was an evil army guy, his evil antics caught up to him, he was nearly killed, but was saved by a goddess, who told him to kill all of the Amazons. So with that pesky origin out of the way, EAG and WW fight. And fight. And fight some more. Eventually they both fall into some magic flames, where Wonder Woman's dead mother was apparently hanging out... Well that's kind of weird. WW's dead mother tells WW to leave EAG to her, and she proceeds to kill EAG as revenge for EAG killing her a few issues back. WW's dead mother knocks WW out of the flames and WW passes out for a while. When she wakes up, all that remains is the magic lasso, which she takes, as she decides to hunt for whatever was behind EAG and his slaughtering of the Amazons. Well, I was enjoying this issue right up until WW's dead mother showed up. EAG's origin was okay, and added some further intrigue into why the Amazons were being hunted, and the battle between WW and EAG was nicely done. But WW's dead mother suddenly popping out of those magic flames? Nope, that didn't work for me! She was dead... Why was she in those flames? And a better question, how did she, a dead woman, manage to kill EAG?! Weird... Score: 6 out of 10.

Next we go to the Marvel Universe and check out Captain America: Forever Allies #4, which is the final issue of this mini-series. Basically, Bucky Cap has been chasing down one of his old enemies from WWII, Lady Locus. Locus(who has demonstrated telepathic and telekinetic skills)has been traveling the Earth in search of a gem that would amplify her telepathic abilities to the nth degree, allowing her to take over the Earth, or steal candy from babies or kick puppies, or some similar nefarious plot device. Locus manages to track the gem down to a temple in the Andes, but is followed by Bucky. Locus spots Bucky arriving and enslaves him mentally, forcing Bucky to traverse through the temple, defeating its traps and collecting the gem for her... Or so she thinks. It turns out that after his Winter Soldier days, Bucky went to SHIELD and had them rig his mind so that it could no longer be controlled by outside sources. Bucky smashes the gem before Locus can get her hands on it, fits her with a psi-damper and turns her over to Black Widow and the Falcon, who were en route in case Bucky actually did fall under Locus's mental domination. With Locus caught, Bucky can put that piece of WWII behind him, ending this mini-series. This issue was good, but not great. I found myself enjoying the flashback portions of this comic, back when Bucky was the leader of the Young Allies during WWII a bit more than the main story. Lady Locus was a good threat, but once Black Widow began trying to explain the history of the power gem Locus was after(it had something to do with the Deviants and Eternals), I was taken out of the story. I've just never had any interest in the Deviants/Eternals, and bringing them into this story just sapped me of my interest. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Sticking with Marvel, here's Namor: The First Mutant #3. Namor has had enough of those infernal aqua-vampires and meets up with an Atlantian sorcerer, who gives Namor a spell that would kill off most of the aqua-vamps. Unfortunately for Namor he has to preform the spell in the middle of the aqua-vamps hidden city. Oh yeah, plus the spell only works if an Atlantian king drains all of their blood upon the conclusion of the spell, meaning that in order to rid the aqua-vamp menace from his people, Namor has to sacrifice his own life. Namor is fine with the whole noble sacrifice thing, and takes some Atlantian soldiers and invades the aqua-vampire city. While his soldiers engage the aqua-vamps, Namor and a young soldier head beneath the aqua-vamp's city to begin the ritual. As the ritual nears its end, Namor informs the soldier that she'll have to complete the spell, since Namor has to kill himself to finish the ritual. The soldier doesn't want to do it, but Namor tries to tell her that his life would be worth ending the menace of the aqua-vamps. Before the soldier can complete the spell, Namor's grandfather, who happens to be a very big, very angry aqua-vampire strolls over for what I'm guessing won't be a very pleasant family reunion. I found the first half of this comic to be kind of boring. It was basically Namor getting his forces together while speaking cryptically with the royal sorcerer. Once Namor's forces arrived at the hidden aqua-vamp city though, things definitely picked up, with the cliffhanger leaving me very interested in getting my hands on the next issue. Score: 7 out of 10.

Next up is I Am An Avenger #3(of 5). Yes, there is a mini-series called I Am An Avenger. Anyway, this mini contains two mini-stories as well as a two page Stingray and a one page Hulk tale. I'm going to skip those last two stories, so to the 2 Stingray fans out there, I apologize in advance. The first story deals with Nova helping Spider-Man deal with some aliens who had broken into a New York City bank to steal an alien artifact that some billionaire collector had mistaken for an ancient vase. This story was written by the team of Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, and had Spidey and Nova in it, so it should go without saying that I really enjoyed it. The other story dealt with Justice and Firestar fighting their younger selves, who were sent into the present by Loki for some reason or another. The younger Justice and Firestar figure that the current Justice and Firestar were evil dopplegangers created by Loki, but by the end of this story, the Justices and Firestars have figured out what Loki had done and have resolved to deal with Loki together. I actually liked this comic more than I thought I would have. I'm a sucker for Nova, and I've always loved his dynamic with Spidey, and the Firestar/Justice story is also beginning to grow on me. The one page Hulk story was kind of funny, while the Stingray story didn't do a thing for me, mainly because Stingray was in it... But all in all, this was some pretty good stuff. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

One more comic before I end this post. We'll finish things up with a look at Avengers: Prime #4(of 5). Things start off with Hela attacking the Enchantress, since the Enchantress betrayed Hela last issue and assisted Thor. Hela handily defeats Enchantress and heads over to Thor's hammer, which was left behind when Enchantress teleported Thor to safety. Hela tries to lift the hammer thinking that Thor might have been dead, but is angered to learn that she couldn't pick up Mjolnir. To rectify this, Hela summons Thor's grandfather and tells him that Thor was dead, and that if he lifts the hammer for her, she'd return him to life. Thor's grandfather tries to lift the hammer, but can't, which leads him to believe that Thor was still alive and that Hela was lying to him. Thor's grandfather goes to attack Hela, but she banishes him back to the underworld. Meanwhile, Thor, Iron Man and Steve Rogers are trying to figure out where they are. At first Thor feels that they have all died and were in the afterlife, but later on he begins to believe that the fall of Asgard during Siege has screwed up the nine realms, and that is what was going on. Regardless of what was going on, Thor begins to rally several different creatures to his side, since he knows that all roads lead to Hela, and that last time they battled, she defeated him with ease. Back with Hela, she is attacked once more by the Enchantress, but Hela puts her down again, this time with the mystical Twilight Sword. Meh. My Norse mythology/knowledge of Thor is kind of rusty, so I'm not really sure what the importance of Hela holding the Twilight Sword is. This issue was okay, although I did find myself enjoying it a bit less than I enjoyed the first few issues. The story kind of dragged here, with the heroes not really doing much, and some of the dialogue irked me, especially Tony Stark, who couldn't seem to stop talking... Overall though, this wasn't that bad of a comic, but it was definitely a step down from the great last issue. Score: 6 out of 10.

Until next week, here's Arsenal, back when he still had a daughter, had kicked his drug habit and two arms!

Vague Reviews!!!

Hey there X-Maniacs, I'm not really in the mood to do any full reviews(hence the lack of a Superman: Secret Origin review)but I figured I could at least throw a few thoughts out there on some of the books I've read lately and see if anybody feels like talking more about them. Okay? Alright! Let's get going then.

First up is going to be X-Men vs Vampires #1(of 2). I bet if you try really hard you can probably figure out what this comic was about... No? Give up? Okay. It was about the X-Men taking on vampires in a couple of mini stories. I think there were 4 new stories(and a reprint of the X-Men taking on Dracula for the first time)and for the most part they weren't half bad. You had a Dazzler story, a Husk story, one about Martha Johansson(you know, the brain in the jar from Grant Morrison's New X run)and a Magneto story. If I had to choose I'd say the Magneto story was the best, but there really wasn't a “worst”, which is a bit of a surprise considering that these type of comics usually suck. Nice work Marvel! I'll give this one a 7 1/2 out of 10.

Next we'll take a wacky trip into the mind of one Grant Morrison with Batman & Robin #14. I'd say that I understood about 35% of what was going on in this comic, which was definitely an improvement, since I usually understand about 7% of what goes on in this series. The good was definitely Joker's interactions with Damian. It was nice to see Grant take Joker and move away from the way he had been portraying Mistah J during the Batman RIP storyline. Sorry, but I like my Joker in the purple suit telling jokes, not in a tank-top with a split tongue. The rest of the story I could have done without. To say that I hate Pyg is a massive understatement and I just don't know where Grant is trying to go with this Black Glove thing. To be honest, I'm kind of shocked that the whole Black Glove story is STILL going on! Score-wise, I'll go with a 4 out of 10.

Staying with DC, I also checked out Red Robin #16. Here we have Red Robin once again butting heads with Anarky. Anarky has been running around killing teenagers who fit the profile of being Red Robin, which Red Robin naturally doesn't take very kindly to. The fight doesn't end conclusively as Anarky manages to escape, although Red Robin does manage to rescue the original Anarky from the clutches of the current Anarky. Confusing enough? First off, I REALLY like the idea of Anarky becoming a reoccurring/arch-enemy type of character for Tim, because let's face it, that's something that he's never really had. As for the story itself, it was good. I can't really think of anything to complain about, so I'll score it a 7 out of 10 and move on.

And I'll end things with the pick of the litter, Avengers Prime #3(of 5). This comic was a blast to read. The story was cohesive, the dialogue was at times laugh out loud funny and the artwork was by Alan Davis, so you know it was good. We get a kick ass battle between Thor and Hela, Steve Rogers scaring off a horde of ogres with a stern look(man is he awesome...)and Tony Stark riding a horse in the nude. What more could you want from a comic?! This one was written by Brian Michael Bendis, who seems to be regaining more and more of my respect with each new comic he puts out lately. Where has THIS Bendis been for the past 4 years?? I mean there was a time when I wouldn't even read a Bendis written comic because I KNEW it wouldn't be worth my time, but since Siege ended, Bendis has been on fire! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself with all of this praise... This comic gets the best score of the night with a nearly perfect 9 1/2 out of 10.

So there you have it, four comics down and posted about. As I said earlier, if you want to discuss one of these books in more detail, drop me a comment and I'll be sure to get back to you. I've got to say, tackling these comics in this format was a lot easier than trying to review every single little thing that happened in the book. I'll leave you tonight with two pages from Avengers Prime #3. Until next time, X out.What can I really add to this?

Avengers Prime #1

Avengers Prime #1: Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: Alan Davis(!)

Review: We open this comic up at the very end of the Siege storyline, with Thor, Capt. Rogers and Iron Man looking over the ruins of Asgard. Cap and Iron Man get into an argument as Cap puts the screws to Tony(in what was actually a kind of funny, if childish scene), before Thor gets agitated that instead of assisting him and Asgard, his two oldest comrades are more interested in acting like unruly children. Thor gets through to the two men, and once everybody calms down, Thor takes Cap and IM to the underbelly of Asgard and shows the fractured portal to the other seven realms(Asgard and Earth being the other two), telling the two heroes that something needed to be done to make sure nobody from Earth snuck into the other realms, and vice-versa. Before the heroes can come up with a course of action, the fractured portal erupts, and sucks Cap, IM and Thor in. IM finds himself alone in an empty field, and decides to tinker with his armor so he can see where he was. While tinkering a large shadow appears behind Tony... From there we head to Cap, who after realizing he was no longer on Earth due to the unusual sky, finds a village and enters what seems to be a tavern full of trolls. Cap apologizes for disturbing the trolls(because he's awesome), before telling the trolls that he was lost, and that he was an ally of Lord Thor. Upon hearing that, all of the trolls decide to attack and eat Cap, but that's a mistake, as Cap beats down dozens of weapon wielding trolls(because he's awesome!). Upon trouncing every troll around him, Cap takes a sword, some chain mail armor, a shield and some arrows and leaves the tavern to continue trying to figure out where he was. Finally, Thor arrives in the realm of Vanaheim(which rhymes with Anaheim), but finds none of its citizens. After some wandering around, Thor is blasted from behind by some strong magic, and turns around to see the Enchantress(with some minions)telling Thor that his days were now numbered, ending this issue.

What I Thought: What the hell!?! This was the BEST BENDIS written comic I've read in quite some time! None of his usual painful dialogue was included, and the dialogue that was here made perfect sense, and showed that BENDIS does seem to have some grasp of Avengers history(which is something I honestly didn't think he had)... I mean, wow! The story was great and engaging, Alan Davis's artwork was exactly what you'd expect from a comic book legend, and the dialogue was excellent(which I can't mention enough!). Iron Man's scene was good, Cap's scene was fantastic, and Thor's scene was great... I really couldn't ask for anything more. One thing though... Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Wolverine didn't show up in this comic, which goes a long way in proving my point that those three characters bring out the absolute worst in BENDIS. If this keeps up, BENDIS will revert back to Bendis, because I'll have no reason to get on his case anymore.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Those poor stupid trolls never stood a chance!