Hey all, X here with the forth BotR post of May. How time flies... Anyway, I'll be doing only three reviews in this post(I know, only 3!?), while JT chips in with a few of his own... Or at least that's what I originally thought when I typed this up a few days ago! With JT nursing an injured hand, this is going to be an exceptionally brisk BotR post, since it'll only have my 3 reviews... So yeah, enjoy.
Daredevil #26: Wooo, I love this series!! The most important thing going on here is that after consulting with Foggy, DD realizes that the man behind all of his recent troubles is(drumroll, please), Bullseye!!! DD then manages to find the villain's base and defeat Lady Bullseye(!). This issue ends with DD approaching the iron lung containing the villain(Bullseye), with Ikari approaching DD from behind. Yup, this series is gold. Plain and simple. This was the second consecutive issue where I audibly said, "Holy shit!". In this issue, it was the page before the reveal when I realized what Foggy was drawing. Super, good, amazing stuff here. Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Teen Titans #20: This comic was bizarrely all about Trigon... Yep. Scott Lobdell was all, "You know what people want to read about in a comic book named 'Teen Titans'? A super old demon named Trigon." So yeah, we get Trigon's story, with a heavy emphasis on Raven. And in true Lobdell style, the Raven portions make little to no sense! He left Raven's mother alive so she could teach Raven humanity and love?! And then he STILL expected her to be all, "Yeah, cool. Let's destroy the earth and other relams, dad!" How does that even make sense!? Oh, and to top it all off, it looks like he also retconned the prior issue where Raven was controlling Tim, shifting that instead to one of Raven's brothers. So either a) editorial stepped in and told Lobdell he could no longer run with that story thread(and with DC's editors, that's a very real possibility), or b) Lobdell himself forgot he even did the Tim/Raven thing(also a very real possibility) . Anyway, Trigon's backstory somehow sets up next issue's confrontation between Trigon's sons and the Titans and Raven. This is such a headache to read every month... Score: 5 out of 10.
A+X #8: The first story is about Shadowcat and Spider-Woman trying to keep a magic meteorite away from AIM, Hydra and the Absorbing Man. Kitty actually allows Absorbing to touch the meteorite, thus gaining it's abilities, only so she could defeat the now powered Absorbing Man. Thus proving my long-time point that Kitty is an egotistical bitch. The second story has Hawkeye and Deadpool teaming up to rescue a restaurant owner from Captain Barracuda. Honestly, I should have hated this story, but I didn't... When it started I was thinking, "Hawkeye teaming with Deadpool?! Bah!" And yes, I did think, "Bah!" But by the end, the story had won me over. So yeah, not bad. Score: 7 out of 10.
Showing posts with label Daredevil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daredevil. Show all posts
Monday, May 27, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
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!
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!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Best of the Rest! Week of 3/20/13
Hey all, X here with his final post of the week. Yes, it's time to take a look at the Best of the Rest! This time with 100% more JT! Yes, mi hermano, JT, will be pitching in this week. Probably to bring the post quality waaaaay down... But at least I'm here to bring some respectability to the proceedings. Huh, it probably wasn't that smart to insult JT right off the bat since he'll be closing this post out, and as such will get the last word... If I was smarter I'd delete the insults... Meh. So here's how it'll work. I'll post my thoughts on a few comics, JT will post his thoughts in a different color, and then JT will close things out. Boom, simple. Like JT!!! HA!!!! *ahem* Anyway, let's get this bad boy rolling.
Daredevil #24: This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post... Which doesn't bode well as we move forward... Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was. Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not. Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt. Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here. Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs! What more could one ask for?! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth. Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away. Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them. And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto. Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me. I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place... We were in Mephisto's hell. And on the streets. And watching demons fight. And in a hotel room. It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series. But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Saga #11: First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!! With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me. Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life. Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well. That's really the extent of the main storyline here. I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing. I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed. Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died. If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got. Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again. This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road. Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody. That about sums this one up. I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me... I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great... Score: 6 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels. Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk. Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing... I never connected with this issue... Yep, again. There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story. It was okay. But that's all. Score: 6 out of 10.
Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic... Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth. There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight... But he gets killed by Tigra. Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic. See, now this comic? This comic was bad. Not okay, just bad. I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me. Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers. We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team... Score: 3 out of 10.
DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10
Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10
Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10
New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10
Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10
And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!
Daredevil #24: This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post... Which doesn't bode well as we move forward... Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was. Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not. Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt. Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here. Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs! What more could one ask for?! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth. Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away. Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them. And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto. Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me. I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place... We were in Mephisto's hell. And on the streets. And watching demons fight. And in a hotel room. It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series. But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Saga #11: First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!! With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me. Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life. Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well. That's really the extent of the main storyline here. I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing. I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed. Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died. If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got. Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again. This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road. Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody. That about sums this one up. I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me... I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great... Score: 6 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels. Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk. Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing... I never connected with this issue... Yep, again. There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story. It was okay. But that's all. Score: 6 out of 10.
Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic... Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth. There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight... But he gets killed by Tigra. Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic. See, now this comic? This comic was bad. Not okay, just bad. I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me. Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers. We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team... Score: 3 out of 10.
DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10
Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10
Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10
New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10
Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10
And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Daredevil #23
One more review for the night, and as promised, it is the second Mark Waid written comic of the night. Yes boys and girls, it's time to see what's up with Daredevil.
Daredevil #23:
Summary: This issue gets underway with some guy trying to recreate the accident that gave Daredevil his hyper-senses using convicts and radioactive waste So far he's been unsuccessful... From there we head to DD, who is swinging around the city with Foggy Nelson, who was awaiting the results of his medical tests. The good times are interrupted when DD hears a bunch of people screaming for help, causing him to take off to see what the trouble was. It turns out the man from earlier has released a bunch of convicts with super-senses into Manhattan, and they are going berserk due to all of the sights and sounds. DD manages to corral all of the convicts, and realizes that somebody out there was taking personal shots at him. This issue ends with DD(now as Matt Murdock) meeting up with Foggy at the doctor's office, where Foggy receives some very bad news...
Thoughts: This was a very strong comic. As usual. I really don't have any complaints here... I guess I was a bit confused by the scene at the beginning of this one, since it turned out that the mystery man DID succeed in creating his own Daredevils(kind of). But the stuff with Matt and Foggy? The fight between DD and the DD-lites? DD's thoughts throughout this issue? All really good stuff.
Score: 8 out of 10.
I knew it!!
Daredevil #23:
Summary: This issue gets underway with some guy trying to recreate the accident that gave Daredevil his hyper-senses using convicts and radioactive waste So far he's been unsuccessful... From there we head to DD, who is swinging around the city with Foggy Nelson, who was awaiting the results of his medical tests. The good times are interrupted when DD hears a bunch of people screaming for help, causing him to take off to see what the trouble was. It turns out the man from earlier has released a bunch of convicts with super-senses into Manhattan, and they are going berserk due to all of the sights and sounds. DD manages to corral all of the convicts, and realizes that somebody out there was taking personal shots at him. This issue ends with DD(now as Matt Murdock) meeting up with Foggy at the doctor's office, where Foggy receives some very bad news...
Thoughts: This was a very strong comic. As usual. I really don't have any complaints here... I guess I was a bit confused by the scene at the beginning of this one, since it turned out that the mystery man DID succeed in creating his own Daredevils(kind of). But the stuff with Matt and Foggy? The fight between DD and the DD-lites? DD's thoughts throughout this issue? All really good stuff.
Score: 8 out of 10.
I knew it!!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Daredevil #22
Final review of this Thursday night is going to be the other Mark Waid comic I picked up yesterday, Daredevil. Now THIS one should be interesting as we have the new, Superior Spider-Man and Ol' Hornhead meeting up for the first time. I expect nothing but great things here.
Daredevil #22
Summary: This issue gets underway by showing us that Matt Murdock was very nearly broke after he split with Foggy Nelson after a fight. While Matt is contemplating what to do about his lack of income, he's attacked by Spider-Man, who had been told by Assistant DA McDuffie(who had heard from a drunken Foggy) that Daredevil had gone insane and become a public menace... It's a long story... Anyway, the two fight and Daredevil tries to puzzle out what was wrong with Spidey, especially since physically he had passed all of DD's tests. Before the fight can go too far, Stilt-Man tries to rob a helicopter... Yes, really. The two heroes(I'm not sure I should use "heroes" here, actually...) put aside their differences and even manage some teamwork in taking down Stilt-Man. Afterwards, the two talk and DD manages to convince Spidey that he wasn't insane or a menace. DD asks Spidey if anything was bothering him, but Spidey naturally says no, before swinging back to his own book. From there, Matt buys a pie from Foggy's favorite bakery and gives it to Foggy as an apology, which leads to the two talking out their differences and going back into business However, this one ends with a shock as Foggy reveals to Matt that his doctors believe he had cancer...
Thoughts: Well that ending sure hits close to home... This issue was extremely good, of which I'd expect no less. Waid captured Spidey/Ock's dialogue SO well here, and actually made me laugh out loud a few times, especially when Spidey and Stilt-Man were using the same dialogue. I'm glad somebody, in this case, Daredevil, called Spidey on his super-villain-ish dialogue! Everybody in Superior Spidey seems oblivious to Peter's recent dialogue. The dialogue was great, the story was good, this was a very solid issue with a strong cliffhanger. What more could a DD fan like myself ask for?
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Spidey's dialogue here is epic!
Daredevil #22
Summary: This issue gets underway by showing us that Matt Murdock was very nearly broke after he split with Foggy Nelson after a fight. While Matt is contemplating what to do about his lack of income, he's attacked by Spider-Man, who had been told by Assistant DA McDuffie(who had heard from a drunken Foggy) that Daredevil had gone insane and become a public menace... It's a long story... Anyway, the two fight and Daredevil tries to puzzle out what was wrong with Spidey, especially since physically he had passed all of DD's tests. Before the fight can go too far, Stilt-Man tries to rob a helicopter... Yes, really. The two heroes(I'm not sure I should use "heroes" here, actually...) put aside their differences and even manage some teamwork in taking down Stilt-Man. Afterwards, the two talk and DD manages to convince Spidey that he wasn't insane or a menace. DD asks Spidey if anything was bothering him, but Spidey naturally says no, before swinging back to his own book. From there, Matt buys a pie from Foggy's favorite bakery and gives it to Foggy as an apology, which leads to the two talking out their differences and going back into business However, this one ends with a shock as Foggy reveals to Matt that his doctors believe he had cancer...
Thoughts: Well that ending sure hits close to home... This issue was extremely good, of which I'd expect no less. Waid captured Spidey/Ock's dialogue SO well here, and actually made me laugh out loud a few times, especially when Spidey and Stilt-Man were using the same dialogue. I'm glad somebody, in this case, Daredevil, called Spidey on his super-villain-ish dialogue! Everybody in Superior Spidey seems oblivious to Peter's recent dialogue. The dialogue was great, the story was good, this was a very solid issue with a strong cliffhanger. What more could a DD fan like myself ask for?
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Spidey's dialogue here is epic!
Monday, September 24, 2012
The Best of the Rest! September 19th edition.
So this was supposed to be the spot I posted my third and final review of the week, with JT closing out the comic week tomorrow with his third review. But you see, I ended up posting my first review on Wednesday and throwing the whole schedule out of whack(cue JT saying something negative about me...). Since I've already posted my three reviews for the week, and don't want to leave an empty day(I won't be the first one to do that, JT will!), how's about I cobble together a quick post about ALL of the comics I read this week! Yeah, that'll work! Since I didn't really read most of these books with the idea of reviewing them in mind, I don't have any number scores for them... Instead, I'll use the good old thumbs up/thumbs in the middle/thumbs down system. What the HELL is that, you ask? Thumbs up means a comic scored somewhere in the 8 to 10 range, in other words, a good comic. Thumbs in the middle would be around 5 to 7 1/2, or an okay to meh comic. Thumbs down? You guessed it, a comic that falls in the sub-5 range, you know, a bad comic. I don't really know why I felt the need to explain that... Oh no, I'm in one of those moods where I can't stop writing! I'd better get to the meat of this post lest this intro goes on forever!!!
Let's see, we'll get started with Red Hood and the Outlaws #0... JT pretty much summed up my feelings for this one with his review, so I really don't have all that much to say here... I will say this though... If not for the idiotic Joker reveal, I probably would have given this comic a thumbs in the middle. As it is, it gets a thumbs down and likes it.
Avengers #30 was your basic Bendis/Avengers comic book. Spider-Woman and Hawkeye discussed their relationship while fighting Mr. Negative's goons... It was as exciting as it sounds. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the hell Bendis was going for here, since Hawkeye hadn't actually done anything to wrong Spider-Woman... Basically she was pissed that Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch MAY have unresolved feelings for each other... Yeah.. If you like bad soap opera-esque comic books then THIS is the comic book for you! For me, it was a thumbs in the middle, mainly because it(kind of) focused on Hawkeye, no matter how thin the story was.
Ah, finally a good one! Daredevil #18 was probably the best comic I've read this week... No, scratch that, it WAS the best comic I read this week, and if I was giving out scores this one would very likely get a perfect score. Seriously, this issue was fantastic. Mark Waid is(unsurprisingly) crafting a wonderful story here, as this issue actually makes the reader doubt DD's sanity. The entire series has been seemingly building towards this storyline, and I have to say, this issue would be a great jumping on point for new readers... Just sayin'... Oh yeah, thumbs WAY up.
Next up is Dark Avengers #181. All I can really say about this comic is that it happened... I think I've reached the point now where I just want the Bad Bolts to return to the present and the Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts/whatever they're called to finish their mission. Thumbs in the middle.
Rolling along it's Mighty Thor #20! I don't know why I added an exclamation point to that, nor why I'm thinking out loud, but let's go with it... This was another really good issue in the Everything Burns storyline(I really love that title, btw). Asgardia is still being hammered by Surtur's forces and Thor is still down and out. However, there was a slight glimmer of hope for us Kid Loki fans, as this issue kind of makes you wonder if Loki betrayed Thor, as it seemed in the prior part of this storyline, or if Loki is actually planning on saving his brother. I'll go thumbs up for this issue and fingers crossed on Kid Loki not going full blown villain.
New Mutants #49 had Nate Grey in it... That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about it... Well, that and the fact that this issue ended the whole Evil Doug Ramsay from the future story. I've never cared for Doug no matter how much Marvel tries to show he's more than a guy with sucky powers. This story did nothing to change my opinion of Doug. Thumbs down... Sorry Nate...
Ultimates #15 was a comic I seriously considered giving a full review to, mainly due to the fact that it was getting mainstream press attention. But as you can see, I decided against that course of action... So yeah, anyway, this comic. I have to admit that I enjoyed this one. I've been enjoying the direction the Ultimate Marvel U has been going for a while now, and this was no exception. This issue, especially in the way it was told, kind of perfectly led to the whole, "Captain America is the president now!" thing. It didn't seem forced or anything, which was something I was afraid of. And I can actually see Cap, especially the Ultimate version, ESPECIALLY considering the way things have been going in the Ultimate U, deciding to become the president. It'll be very interesting to see how this experiment works out going forward. For this issue though? Thumbs up.
Oh god... Not THIS comic... Ugh, it's Venom #25... I'm actually surprised, horrified and yes, a bit impressed at how quickly Cullen Bunn took this series from a book I always look forward to reading, to something I barely want to open... Why would you want to add a supernatural element to this series?! Who sat there and thought, "You know what this series is missing? DEMONS!!!" This is kind of like the mess that Scott Lobdell made out of Red Hood and the Outlaws, in that you take the lead character and put them in a situation that makes no sense... I don't get why Daimon Hellstrom was used in this mess, I don't get why a battle between the Hell Lords is taking place in this series, I don't get any of it! Hopefully things straighten out with the upcoming Minimum Carnage storyline... Thumbs down.
And finally we arrive at X-Factor #244. This was, as usual, a good, solid issue of this series. It wasn't as good as some of the prior issues, but it was solid. I will say this though... I'm very curious to see where Peter David is going with this story... He's really breaking the team apart here, it'll be interesting to see how things shake out and who's left standing. Thumbs in the middle.
Sweet, I'm done! That means I can go back to playing Borderlands 2! Huzzah for me! Until... Um, whenever the hell my next post is supposed to be, X out!
Let's see, we'll get started with Red Hood and the Outlaws #0... JT pretty much summed up my feelings for this one with his review, so I really don't have all that much to say here... I will say this though... If not for the idiotic Joker reveal, I probably would have given this comic a thumbs in the middle. As it is, it gets a thumbs down and likes it.
Avengers #30 was your basic Bendis/Avengers comic book. Spider-Woman and Hawkeye discussed their relationship while fighting Mr. Negative's goons... It was as exciting as it sounds. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the hell Bendis was going for here, since Hawkeye hadn't actually done anything to wrong Spider-Woman... Basically she was pissed that Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch MAY have unresolved feelings for each other... Yeah.. If you like bad soap opera-esque comic books then THIS is the comic book for you! For me, it was a thumbs in the middle, mainly because it(kind of) focused on Hawkeye, no matter how thin the story was.
Ah, finally a good one! Daredevil #18 was probably the best comic I've read this week... No, scratch that, it WAS the best comic I read this week, and if I was giving out scores this one would very likely get a perfect score. Seriously, this issue was fantastic. Mark Waid is(unsurprisingly) crafting a wonderful story here, as this issue actually makes the reader doubt DD's sanity. The entire series has been seemingly building towards this storyline, and I have to say, this issue would be a great jumping on point for new readers... Just sayin'... Oh yeah, thumbs WAY up.
Next up is Dark Avengers #181. All I can really say about this comic is that it happened... I think I've reached the point now where I just want the Bad Bolts to return to the present and the Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts/whatever they're called to finish their mission. Thumbs in the middle.
Rolling along it's Mighty Thor #20! I don't know why I added an exclamation point to that, nor why I'm thinking out loud, but let's go with it... This was another really good issue in the Everything Burns storyline(I really love that title, btw). Asgardia is still being hammered by Surtur's forces and Thor is still down and out. However, there was a slight glimmer of hope for us Kid Loki fans, as this issue kind of makes you wonder if Loki betrayed Thor, as it seemed in the prior part of this storyline, or if Loki is actually planning on saving his brother. I'll go thumbs up for this issue and fingers crossed on Kid Loki not going full blown villain.
New Mutants #49 had Nate Grey in it... That's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about it... Well, that and the fact that this issue ended the whole Evil Doug Ramsay from the future story. I've never cared for Doug no matter how much Marvel tries to show he's more than a guy with sucky powers. This story did nothing to change my opinion of Doug. Thumbs down... Sorry Nate...
Ultimates #15 was a comic I seriously considered giving a full review to, mainly due to the fact that it was getting mainstream press attention. But as you can see, I decided against that course of action... So yeah, anyway, this comic. I have to admit that I enjoyed this one. I've been enjoying the direction the Ultimate Marvel U has been going for a while now, and this was no exception. This issue, especially in the way it was told, kind of perfectly led to the whole, "Captain America is the president now!" thing. It didn't seem forced or anything, which was something I was afraid of. And I can actually see Cap, especially the Ultimate version, ESPECIALLY considering the way things have been going in the Ultimate U, deciding to become the president. It'll be very interesting to see how this experiment works out going forward. For this issue though? Thumbs up.
Oh god... Not THIS comic... Ugh, it's Venom #25... I'm actually surprised, horrified and yes, a bit impressed at how quickly Cullen Bunn took this series from a book I always look forward to reading, to something I barely want to open... Why would you want to add a supernatural element to this series?! Who sat there and thought, "You know what this series is missing? DEMONS!!!" This is kind of like the mess that Scott Lobdell made out of Red Hood and the Outlaws, in that you take the lead character and put them in a situation that makes no sense... I don't get why Daimon Hellstrom was used in this mess, I don't get why a battle between the Hell Lords is taking place in this series, I don't get any of it! Hopefully things straighten out with the upcoming Minimum Carnage storyline... Thumbs down.
And finally we arrive at X-Factor #244. This was, as usual, a good, solid issue of this series. It wasn't as good as some of the prior issues, but it was solid. I will say this though... I'm very curious to see where Peter David is going with this story... He's really breaking the team apart here, it'll be interesting to see how things shake out and who's left standing. Thumbs in the middle.
Sweet, I'm done! That means I can go back to playing Borderlands 2! Huzzah for me! Until... Um, whenever the hell my next post is supposed to be, X out!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Daredevil #13
This issue promises to finally end the Omegadrive stuff that's been dominating this series for so long now... Here's hoping that's really the case, because while the Omegadrive stuff has been good, I'm ready for it to end...
Daredevil #13:
Story Points:
-Daredevil heads to Times Square with the Omegadrive to have it out with the various crime groups that wanted to get their hands on the device.
-After a bit of a battle, a bunch of members of the Black Spectres show up, even though they were thought to have been taken apart two issues back.
-The arrival of the Spectres make a chaotic situation that much more chaotic and ends up with the Spectres snatching the Omegadrive from DD and taking off.
-So DD's been publicly humiliated...
-Or has he?!?
-In actuality, the Spectres were members of the Avengers, who were asked by DD to publicly swipe the Omegadrive to get the other crime groups off his back.
-DD tells the Avengers to ship the Drive off to Reed Richards and thus finally ends the saga of the Omegadrive.
Thoughts: That was some slick writing by Mark Waid right there! DD rid himself of the Omegadrive, did it publicly and in a way that doesn't imperil anybody else, since there are no Black Spectres anymore. AND it ended that Omegadrive storyline, which is an added bonus in my eyes! Overall, this was a good issue that has me looking forward to the future of this series.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Daredevil #13:
Story Points:
-Daredevil heads to Times Square with the Omegadrive to have it out with the various crime groups that wanted to get their hands on the device.
-After a bit of a battle, a bunch of members of the Black Spectres show up, even though they were thought to have been taken apart two issues back.
-The arrival of the Spectres make a chaotic situation that much more chaotic and ends up with the Spectres snatching the Omegadrive from DD and taking off.
-So DD's been publicly humiliated...
-Or has he?!?
-In actuality, the Spectres were members of the Avengers, who were asked by DD to publicly swipe the Omegadrive to get the other crime groups off his back.
-DD tells the Avengers to ship the Drive off to Reed Richards and thus finally ends the saga of the Omegadrive.
Thoughts: That was some slick writing by Mark Waid right there! DD rid himself of the Omegadrive, did it publicly and in a way that doesn't imperil anybody else, since there are no Black Spectres anymore. AND it ended that Omegadrive storyline, which is an added bonus in my eyes! Overall, this was a good issue that has me looking forward to the future of this series.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Daredevil #12
It's Monday and I only have two comics left to read in my new comic pile... What that means is the next two nights will see me reviewing two books that I have very little interest in... But as always, I am the eternal optimist and am hoping one of these books(probably this one) gives me a pleasant surprise.
Daredevil #12:
Summary: Matt Murdock and Assistant DA Kristen McDuffie go out on a date. During it, Matt recounts an early meeting between himself and Foggy Nelson, basically explaining why Foggy has always remained loyal to Matt(basically Matt helped Foggy not get expelled from college due to a vengeful professor)... Yeah, there's an interesting date subject... As the date draws close to an end, Kristen and Matt prepare to get romantic, but are interrupted by a member of the Black Spectre organization. The Spectre basically tells Matt to hand over the Omega Drive to the Spectres or they'd make Matt's friends suffer the consequences.
Thoughts: Okay, I have to admit, I liked this comic. It was mainly a story about Matt and Foggy in college, but it worked. I can honestly say I haven't read very many(if any...) “DD in college” stories, so this issue was a treat. Add the ending and you have a good comic here. That's not to say this issue was without flaws, because it wasn't. For example, why would DD decide to go out on a date when he has several crime organizations gunning for him due to his holding the Omega Drive? Why not just paint a nice big target on Kristen's back? They're villains! Of course they're going to go after DD's friends to get what they want! Besides that, DD asked Spidey to keep an eye on things during his date and yet Spidey just sort of vanished when that Spectre taunted Matt, claiming Spidey had been, “diverted”... Nice work there, Web-Head... Overall though, I did enjoy this issue and look forward to seeing how the DD/Omega-Drive story ends up.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Spidey still being hung up about the Black Cat thing is pretty funny stuff.
Daredevil #12:
Summary: Matt Murdock and Assistant DA Kristen McDuffie go out on a date. During it, Matt recounts an early meeting between himself and Foggy Nelson, basically explaining why Foggy has always remained loyal to Matt(basically Matt helped Foggy not get expelled from college due to a vengeful professor)... Yeah, there's an interesting date subject... As the date draws close to an end, Kristen and Matt prepare to get romantic, but are interrupted by a member of the Black Spectre organization. The Spectre basically tells Matt to hand over the Omega Drive to the Spectres or they'd make Matt's friends suffer the consequences.
Thoughts: Okay, I have to admit, I liked this comic. It was mainly a story about Matt and Foggy in college, but it worked. I can honestly say I haven't read very many(if any...) “DD in college” stories, so this issue was a treat. Add the ending and you have a good comic here. That's not to say this issue was without flaws, because it wasn't. For example, why would DD decide to go out on a date when he has several crime organizations gunning for him due to his holding the Omega Drive? Why not just paint a nice big target on Kristen's back? They're villains! Of course they're going to go after DD's friends to get what they want! Besides that, DD asked Spidey to keep an eye on things during his date and yet Spidey just sort of vanished when that Spectre taunted Matt, claiming Spidey had been, “diverted”... Nice work there, Web-Head... Overall though, I did enjoy this issue and look forward to seeing how the DD/Omega-Drive story ends up.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Spidey still being hung up about the Black Cat thing is pretty funny stuff.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Ect... Week of April 25th.
And now for a new feature! We'll see how long this feature actually sticks around, as I have a tendency to get bored with new features rather quickly... Just look through the annals of this blog for proof of THAT fact! First, a bit of a backstory... Recently, due to my abject awesomeness and all, my job offered me more hours AND much higher pay, but for some genuinely sucky hours... I naturally took the promotion, but that's going to lead to less time spent on the blog as well as me possibly altering my blog posting/commenting schedule... It also means that there's NO way I'm going to be able to do more than 14 reviews a week(2 a night)... Hell, I may have to cut back to 7 reviews(a review a night) depending on how things go. Luckily, JT told me if that were to happen, he'd pick up the slack, 'cause he's such a swell guy and all. But we haven't reached that point yet. Anyway, there are some weeks(such as this week) where I pick up MORE than 14 books... For those weeks? There's this new feature. Basically I'll tell you guys what I read, what I thought about it, give the score, post a scan, and move on to the next book. That way if you read the book and want to chime in with something, you can. As with any new feature, I'm more than willing to change the format and listen to any suggestions on how to make this post better. But for now, this is what we have. Now, on with the show!
Uncanny X-Men #11(AvX tie-in):
Thoughts: I have to say, I enjoyed this issue way more than I expected to. Well, allow me to rephrase that... I enjoyed the Jugger-Colossus vs Red Hulk portions of this issue and wasn't all that fond of the rest. I thought the way the Jugger-Colo/Rulk battle ended was smart, and didn't really hurt either character's standing. Jugger-Colo had the upper-hand for most of the battle, especially while he was in full on Juggernaut mode. When he switched to Colossus mode, he was defeated. Plus he WANTED to lose, so again, no gripes about the way that fight went down. I felt Jugger-Colo could beat Rulk, but that Rulk could beat Colossus. The rest of it, especially Cyclops's ridiculous letter? I hated it. What a weird way to end this one... In the end though, this issue did give me some hope(gah, I hate even using that word now!) that these issues of Uncanny won't be all that bad.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Huh, I'd forgotten that Hope told Wolvie to kill her!
New Avengers #25:
Thoughts: This comic wasn't THAT BAD! That's probably the biggest compliment I can give to an Avengers title, written by Bendis, with this team... Yeah sure, the only member of the Avengers in this book to show up was Iron Fist, and he only popped up on one page, but hey, it didn't suck! I'm not really sure where we're going with the revelation here though... Iron Fist turns on the Avengers to join with the X-Men? But what of Luke Cage??? The Bromance EXPLODES!!! Actually, that could be epic if we get Luke acting like a jilted lover when/if Iron Fist's duplicity is revealed... Eh, regardless of the outcome, at least I can always point to this issue and say, “See that, an issue of New Avengers DID score higher than a 6!”.
Score: 7 out of 10.
???
Avenging Spider-Man #6:
Thoughts: I can't say this issue really got me all hyped up for this Omega Effect storyline... I honestly feel that Punisher should stay FAR AWAY from real heroes such as DD and Spidey due to him being, you know, a criminal and all... Now don't get me wrong, I like Punisher, I just don't like him interacting with a character like Daredevil, who should be trying to take him in on sight. Methinks I chose the wrong issue of Avenging Spider-Man to start collecting the series...
Score: 5 out of 10.
Frank has definitely seen better days... Although in fairness, he's seen worse too...
Daredevil #11:
Thoughts: Ugh, this was pretty bad... So basically, the bottom line here was that we returned to the status quo? DD still has the Omega Drive, Punisher is still on his own, and Spidey is still Spidey... I just don't get the point of it all... On the plus side, at least I didn't waste my money picking up the Punisher issue of this x-over!
Score: 4 out of 10.
Don't worry, this is the nice Punisher, he's not aiming for kill shots!
Uncanny X-Men #11(AvX tie-in):
Thoughts: I have to say, I enjoyed this issue way more than I expected to. Well, allow me to rephrase that... I enjoyed the Jugger-Colossus vs Red Hulk portions of this issue and wasn't all that fond of the rest. I thought the way the Jugger-Colo/Rulk battle ended was smart, and didn't really hurt either character's standing. Jugger-Colo had the upper-hand for most of the battle, especially while he was in full on Juggernaut mode. When he switched to Colossus mode, he was defeated. Plus he WANTED to lose, so again, no gripes about the way that fight went down. I felt Jugger-Colo could beat Rulk, but that Rulk could beat Colossus. The rest of it, especially Cyclops's ridiculous letter? I hated it. What a weird way to end this one... In the end though, this issue did give me some hope(gah, I hate even using that word now!) that these issues of Uncanny won't be all that bad.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Huh, I'd forgotten that Hope told Wolvie to kill her!
New Avengers #25:
Thoughts: This comic wasn't THAT BAD! That's probably the biggest compliment I can give to an Avengers title, written by Bendis, with this team... Yeah sure, the only member of the Avengers in this book to show up was Iron Fist, and he only popped up on one page, but hey, it didn't suck! I'm not really sure where we're going with the revelation here though... Iron Fist turns on the Avengers to join with the X-Men? But what of Luke Cage??? The Bromance EXPLODES!!! Actually, that could be epic if we get Luke acting like a jilted lover when/if Iron Fist's duplicity is revealed... Eh, regardless of the outcome, at least I can always point to this issue and say, “See that, an issue of New Avengers DID score higher than a 6!”.
Score: 7 out of 10.
???
Avenging Spider-Man #6:
Thoughts: I can't say this issue really got me all hyped up for this Omega Effect storyline... I honestly feel that Punisher should stay FAR AWAY from real heroes such as DD and Spidey due to him being, you know, a criminal and all... Now don't get me wrong, I like Punisher, I just don't like him interacting with a character like Daredevil, who should be trying to take him in on sight. Methinks I chose the wrong issue of Avenging Spider-Man to start collecting the series...
Score: 5 out of 10.
Frank has definitely seen better days... Although in fairness, he's seen worse too...
Daredevil #11:
Thoughts: Ugh, this was pretty bad... So basically, the bottom line here was that we returned to the status quo? DD still has the Omega Drive, Punisher is still on his own, and Spidey is still Spidey... I just don't get the point of it all... On the plus side, at least I didn't waste my money picking up the Punisher issue of this x-over!
Score: 4 out of 10.
Don't worry, this is the nice Punisher, he's not aiming for kill shots!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Daredevil #10.1
One more review for the night, and I'm gonna admit, it's gonna suck... I am SO tired right now, I'm literally typing this intro up with my eyes closed... Yes, LITERALLY! I'm gonna have a lot of work to do when I proofread this one...
Daredevil #10.1:
Summary: Matt Murdock(for the woefully uninformed, that would be Daredevil) heads to a prison to speak with a criminal who had tried to kill him as per the orders of the Black Spectre organization. The room the criminal is in has a constant racket going on in the background in order to keep the criminal from concentrating, since he could create fire when he concentrated. The racket also ends up distracting DD, to the point that the criminal gets the jump on him and decides to try to bargain with the guards for his freedom with Matt as a hostage. Unfortunately, the criminal doesn't know that Matt and DD are one and the same, which leads to Matt beating the criminal bloody before he is let out of the holding room by the surprised guards. Later on, Matt, as Daredevil, crashes a meeting of the minds between the Black Spectre, Hydra, AIM, the Secret Empire and Agence Byzantine organizations. The idiot criminals still haven't figured out what to do about DD holding the Omegadrive(which is a device that contained TONS of info on all five organizations), and DD is tired of waiting around for the villains to make their move on him. He tells them that the Spectres had tried to kill DD alone, which violates the pact the villains made with each other. DD then reveals that as punishment, he sent out a ton of info about the Black Spectre organization to the media, crippling their operation. With that, DD leaves and the other four representatives from the criminal organizations take out their anger on the Spectre guy, ending this one.
Thoughts: I swear, this comic did not seem like a regular sized, $3 Marvel book... It almost seemed like two different stories, the Matt Murdock one in jail, and the DD one, with the criminal organizations. This is what a point one issue should be! A story heavy comic that basically fills newer readers in on who the main character is(Matt Murdock), what he does(fights crime as a lawyer and costumed hero), and what the main storyline is(the Omegadrive stuff). So while we didn't really cover any new ground for somebody like me, who has been following this series since the first issue, I'd think this was a great comic for newer fans to the series/character, and really, isn't that what these point one issue SHOULD be about.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
There really is only one thing I can say about this scene, and it's this: HA!!!
Daredevil #10.1:
Summary: Matt Murdock(for the woefully uninformed, that would be Daredevil) heads to a prison to speak with a criminal who had tried to kill him as per the orders of the Black Spectre organization. The room the criminal is in has a constant racket going on in the background in order to keep the criminal from concentrating, since he could create fire when he concentrated. The racket also ends up distracting DD, to the point that the criminal gets the jump on him and decides to try to bargain with the guards for his freedom with Matt as a hostage. Unfortunately, the criminal doesn't know that Matt and DD are one and the same, which leads to Matt beating the criminal bloody before he is let out of the holding room by the surprised guards. Later on, Matt, as Daredevil, crashes a meeting of the minds between the Black Spectre, Hydra, AIM, the Secret Empire and Agence Byzantine organizations. The idiot criminals still haven't figured out what to do about DD holding the Omegadrive(which is a device that contained TONS of info on all five organizations), and DD is tired of waiting around for the villains to make their move on him. He tells them that the Spectres had tried to kill DD alone, which violates the pact the villains made with each other. DD then reveals that as punishment, he sent out a ton of info about the Black Spectre organization to the media, crippling their operation. With that, DD leaves and the other four representatives from the criminal organizations take out their anger on the Spectre guy, ending this one.
Thoughts: I swear, this comic did not seem like a regular sized, $3 Marvel book... It almost seemed like two different stories, the Matt Murdock one in jail, and the DD one, with the criminal organizations. This is what a point one issue should be! A story heavy comic that basically fills newer readers in on who the main character is(Matt Murdock), what he does(fights crime as a lawyer and costumed hero), and what the main storyline is(the Omegadrive stuff). So while we didn't really cover any new ground for somebody like me, who has been following this series since the first issue, I'd think this was a great comic for newer fans to the series/character, and really, isn't that what these point one issue SHOULD be about.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
There really is only one thing I can say about this scene, and it's this: HA!!!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Daredevil #10
Final review of the night is going to be Daredevil. Now, normally I hate Mole Man. A lot. He's one of those characters who I see as belonging to a different, more lighthearted time and not fitting in with the present. But last issue Mark Waid took Mole Man in a direction where I could actually see him working in the present... Let's see if Waid builds on Mole Man's new UBER-creepy persona, or if Mole Man reverts back to a Penguin-like joke of a character.
Daredevil #10:
Summary: Daredevil escapes the giant subterranean monster, but finds Mole Man gone. Using his enhanced hearing, DD locates Mole Man, who was chatting up a female corpse... Mole Man gives us the backstory as to why he wanted this woman's corpse(she was nice to him when they were both scientists and Mole Man had a crush on her), at which time DD enters Mole Man's room. The two battle(with Mole Man showing some serious fighting skills for a nearly blind, old, fat man) and DD eventually defeats Mole Man. DD takes some diamonds that were around Mole Man's base and ties Mole Man up, taking the dead woman's body back to the surface with him. Unfortunately, DD realizes that there's really nothing he could do about all of the other remains Mole Man had brought underground while searching for his dead “girlfriend” and instead uses the diamonds to fund the rebuilding and beatifying of the graveyard Mole Man had desecrated. This issue ends with DD finding a letter from Black Cat warning DD that there were some serious baddies hunting him down in an attempt to get that hard drive from him.
Thoughts: This was a good comic. It wasn't great, and there was a warped part of me that was kind of disappointed that Mole Man actually had a reason for stealing that poor woman's corpse, but it was good. I still think the way to go with Mole Man was to just make him as creepy as possible, and have him pillaging graves and swiping bodies like a really sick freak. I mean hell, it's not like the 4 Mole Man fans out there will be that outraged about the change in Mole Man's character, plus it would actually give us(and the various heroes) a reason to really despise him. Eh, again, this was a good read, but not something I'll be talking about for weeks to come.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Did this fight really just happen?!?
Daredevil #10:
Summary: Daredevil escapes the giant subterranean monster, but finds Mole Man gone. Using his enhanced hearing, DD locates Mole Man, who was chatting up a female corpse... Mole Man gives us the backstory as to why he wanted this woman's corpse(she was nice to him when they were both scientists and Mole Man had a crush on her), at which time DD enters Mole Man's room. The two battle(with Mole Man showing some serious fighting skills for a nearly blind, old, fat man) and DD eventually defeats Mole Man. DD takes some diamonds that were around Mole Man's base and ties Mole Man up, taking the dead woman's body back to the surface with him. Unfortunately, DD realizes that there's really nothing he could do about all of the other remains Mole Man had brought underground while searching for his dead “girlfriend” and instead uses the diamonds to fund the rebuilding and beatifying of the graveyard Mole Man had desecrated. This issue ends with DD finding a letter from Black Cat warning DD that there were some serious baddies hunting him down in an attempt to get that hard drive from him.
Thoughts: This was a good comic. It wasn't great, and there was a warped part of me that was kind of disappointed that Mole Man actually had a reason for stealing that poor woman's corpse, but it was good. I still think the way to go with Mole Man was to just make him as creepy as possible, and have him pillaging graves and swiping bodies like a really sick freak. I mean hell, it's not like the 4 Mole Man fans out there will be that outraged about the change in Mole Man's character, plus it would actually give us(and the various heroes) a reason to really despise him. Eh, again, this was a good read, but not something I'll be talking about for weeks to come.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Did this fight really just happen?!?
Monday, February 20, 2012
Daredevil #9
Last review of the night, and it's a series that most everybody is REALLY high on, Daredevil. As for me, I've liked this series, but I'm still waiting for that “like” to turn into “love”.
Daredevil #9:
Summary: Moloids are stealing the caskets of the deceased and taking them deep underground for some reason. One of the stolen caskets in question belongs to Daredevil's father, which naturally sends DD underground to see what was going on. After stealthily following the Moloids, DD is shocked to “see” the Mole Man breaking into each casket he was brought by the Moloids in some sort of insane attempt to find something. This action drives DD into a rage, as he knows one of those caskets could be his father's, so he springs into action and wrangles the Mole Man while demanding to know what he was doing. Mole Man uses his trick cane to fire some electricity at DD, which incapacitates Ol' Hornhead. With DD out of the way, Mole Man continues opening caskets until he finds a woman inside and begins to dance with her(!!!!???!!!). As for DD, Mole Man has the Moloids toss DD into a pit with a large mole-creature's gaping mouth awaiting him at the bottom.
Thoughts: This was a pretty weird comic... Moloids robbing graves, Mole Man dancing with a corpse... Hell, I don't even NEED to list anything else! Just read that again... Mole Man was dancing with the corpse of a woman!!! That is BEYOND creepy! You know, I've never been a fan of the Mole Man. In many ways, he reminds me of the Penguin. Not only in stature and build, but in the fact that I always saw them both as characters that had no business being in modern comic books. They seemed like relics of the more comical 1940's-1960's. You know, joke characters that I could never take serious. After reading this issue, I may have to rethink my view on Mole Man! Mark Waid did a marvelous job taking a character I've always seen as boring and one-dimensional and making him seven different flavors of creepy! All I'm going to say is I seriously hope Waid doesn't even bother to try to rationalize Mole Man's actions here. Just make it look like he's gone TOTALLY off the deep end and leave it at that.
Score: 8 out of 10.
This is definitely an early frontrunner for the What the HELL?!? Moment of 2012!
Daredevil #9:
Summary: Moloids are stealing the caskets of the deceased and taking them deep underground for some reason. One of the stolen caskets in question belongs to Daredevil's father, which naturally sends DD underground to see what was going on. After stealthily following the Moloids, DD is shocked to “see” the Mole Man breaking into each casket he was brought by the Moloids in some sort of insane attempt to find something. This action drives DD into a rage, as he knows one of those caskets could be his father's, so he springs into action and wrangles the Mole Man while demanding to know what he was doing. Mole Man uses his trick cane to fire some electricity at DD, which incapacitates Ol' Hornhead. With DD out of the way, Mole Man continues opening caskets until he finds a woman inside and begins to dance with her(!!!!???!!!). As for DD, Mole Man has the Moloids toss DD into a pit with a large mole-creature's gaping mouth awaiting him at the bottom.
Thoughts: This was a pretty weird comic... Moloids robbing graves, Mole Man dancing with a corpse... Hell, I don't even NEED to list anything else! Just read that again... Mole Man was dancing with the corpse of a woman!!! That is BEYOND creepy! You know, I've never been a fan of the Mole Man. In many ways, he reminds me of the Penguin. Not only in stature and build, but in the fact that I always saw them both as characters that had no business being in modern comic books. They seemed like relics of the more comical 1940's-1960's. You know, joke characters that I could never take serious. After reading this issue, I may have to rethink my view on Mole Man! Mark Waid did a marvelous job taking a character I've always seen as boring and one-dimensional and making him seven different flavors of creepy! All I'm going to say is I seriously hope Waid doesn't even bother to try to rationalize Mole Man's actions here. Just make it look like he's gone TOTALLY off the deep end and leave it at that.
Score: 8 out of 10.
This is definitely an early frontrunner for the What the HELL?!? Moment of 2012!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
A Quick Look At... Daredevil #8
Next up as I try to blitz through this week's comics? Daredevil. This is the second and final part of the storyline that began in last week's Amazing Spider-Man.
Daredevil #8:
What Happened: Spidey, DD and Black Cat head to the home of the scientist who created the missing holographic device that was stolen and discover him hiding in a safe room. DD smells poison on the scientist, who quickly admits that he had been involved with the frame up of Black Cat with regards to the “stolen” device. While Spidey takes the scientist to the hospital, DD and BC track down the device and while DD is returning it to it's case, BC gets an offer to work for the Black Spectre organization in stealing the Omegadrive from Matt Murdock(Daredevil!). We don't learn what BC says, but after the mission, she ends up back at DD's apartment for some sexual situations. However, they are interrupted by a phone call from Foggy Nelson telling DD that his father's body had vanished from it's grave.
Thoughts: Meh. This was an okay story, as usual. I mean I really haven't read a TERRIBLE DD story yet, but I also haven't read a great one either... I'm not exactly sure where all of the love for this series is coming from. Oh well, maybe things will pick up for me next issue.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Poor Spidey...
Daredevil #8:
What Happened: Spidey, DD and Black Cat head to the home of the scientist who created the missing holographic device that was stolen and discover him hiding in a safe room. DD smells poison on the scientist, who quickly admits that he had been involved with the frame up of Black Cat with regards to the “stolen” device. While Spidey takes the scientist to the hospital, DD and BC track down the device and while DD is returning it to it's case, BC gets an offer to work for the Black Spectre organization in stealing the Omegadrive from Matt Murdock(Daredevil!). We don't learn what BC says, but after the mission, she ends up back at DD's apartment for some sexual situations. However, they are interrupted by a phone call from Foggy Nelson telling DD that his father's body had vanished from it's grave.
Thoughts: Meh. This was an okay story, as usual. I mean I really haven't read a TERRIBLE DD story yet, but I also haven't read a great one either... I'm not exactly sure where all of the love for this series is coming from. Oh well, maybe things will pick up for me next issue.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Poor Spidey...
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Daredevil #7
And now we come to a Christmas issue of Daredevil... You know, if I would have realized this was a Christmas issue earlier, I'd have done this review for Christmas, instead of a few days after... Oh well...
Daredevil #7:
What Happened: While taking some blind kids on a trip to the Catskills for Christmas, the bus Matt Murdoch(Daredevil!) was riding in ends up crashing, killing the driver and stranding DD and the eight blind kids. DD keeps up a brave front and tries to lead the kids to safety, but the inclement weather ends up wreaking havoc on DD's radar senses and he ends up falling down a hill and knocking himself silly after hearing a truck off in the distance. Luckily for DD, the eight kids build a makeshift gurney(!?!) and drag him through the snow to an abandoned house where DD could call the cops from. With that, everybody is safe and sound(except for the poor bus driver, who's dead!) and we end this issue happily.
The Good: Until the UBER-hokey ending, I was enjoying this issue. Mark Waid built a great sense of dread here and had me honestly wondering how DD would get out of this one(especially since his clothing had been torn and his DD costume was exposed). The art was solid. I enjoy the occasional one and done comic book to break up all of the 5 and 6 part storylines I'm constantly reading.
The Bad: As I mentioned above, I was thoroughly enjoying this issue until that ending... I get this was supposed to be an uplifting holiday issue but ugh... The kids not only get DD to safety(where he can steal some clothes to hide his DD attire), but they also build a gurney out of sticks!? There's a bit of a cliffhanger depicting a graveyard, but it didn't exactly get me psyched for the upcoming Spidey/DD x-over.
The Verdict: This was a good comic. If there would have been a better ending, I'd probably go so far to say this was a really good or even great comic. But alas, it was not to be. Don't get me wrong, I totally get what Waid was doing here(show that the kids weren't helpless even when the super-powered adult was), but blind or not, what 8-12 year olds(which is where I'm guessing these kids fell age-wise) are going to have the wherewithal to build a gurney and drag their mentor to safety after he's injured himself?! Hell, if I was one of those kids I'd be long frozen to death, not creating stuff out of sticks! Then again, I was a really dumb kid... Eh, regardless, that ending was a bit too sugary for my taste. This is a series that's right on the fence in terms of me dropping it... Most likely I'll stick around for the Spidey x-over and then say so long to ol' Hornhead.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Yup, DD's a loser...
Daredevil #7:
What Happened: While taking some blind kids on a trip to the Catskills for Christmas, the bus Matt Murdoch(Daredevil!) was riding in ends up crashing, killing the driver and stranding DD and the eight blind kids. DD keeps up a brave front and tries to lead the kids to safety, but the inclement weather ends up wreaking havoc on DD's radar senses and he ends up falling down a hill and knocking himself silly after hearing a truck off in the distance. Luckily for DD, the eight kids build a makeshift gurney(!?!) and drag him through the snow to an abandoned house where DD could call the cops from. With that, everybody is safe and sound(except for the poor bus driver, who's dead!) and we end this issue happily.
The Good: Until the UBER-hokey ending, I was enjoying this issue. Mark Waid built a great sense of dread here and had me honestly wondering how DD would get out of this one(especially since his clothing had been torn and his DD costume was exposed). The art was solid. I enjoy the occasional one and done comic book to break up all of the 5 and 6 part storylines I'm constantly reading.
The Bad: As I mentioned above, I was thoroughly enjoying this issue until that ending... I get this was supposed to be an uplifting holiday issue but ugh... The kids not only get DD to safety(where he can steal some clothes to hide his DD attire), but they also build a gurney out of sticks!? There's a bit of a cliffhanger depicting a graveyard, but it didn't exactly get me psyched for the upcoming Spidey/DD x-over.
The Verdict: This was a good comic. If there would have been a better ending, I'd probably go so far to say this was a really good or even great comic. But alas, it was not to be. Don't get me wrong, I totally get what Waid was doing here(show that the kids weren't helpless even when the super-powered adult was), but blind or not, what 8-12 year olds(which is where I'm guessing these kids fell age-wise) are going to have the wherewithal to build a gurney and drag their mentor to safety after he's injured himself?! Hell, if I was one of those kids I'd be long frozen to death, not creating stuff out of sticks! Then again, I was a really dumb kid... Eh, regardless, that ending was a bit too sugary for my taste. This is a series that's right on the fence in terms of me dropping it... Most likely I'll stick around for the Spidey x-over and then say so long to ol' Hornhead.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Yup, DD's a loser...
Sunday, December 25, 2011
The obligatory Merry Christmas post!
Hey there X-Maniacs, X here to take a moment to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! So far today I've been spending time with family and was given an AWESOME haul of comics from my sister(a slew of old issues of Captain America and Dr. Strange from the 70's!), so here's hoping everybody else is having a great day. I won't be able to review anything tonight, BUT, I DID manage to type up a few extra reviews last night, which I've scheduled to post tonight! So that's what'll be coming down the proverbial chimney for all of you good boys and girls later on tonight. As for now, here's a Christmas-y comic scan, and I'm off! X out.
If Marvel ever created a shirt like that? I'd buy SEVEN and wear them every day of the week!!!
If Marvel ever created a shirt like that? I'd buy SEVEN and wear them every day of the week!!!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Daredevil #6
And this is the final new comic book of the week... Already... Man, this is weird. Usually I have new comics to read/review all the way through to Monday or Tuesday, so running out of new comics to read by FRIDAY is just plain bizarre... Oh well, I'll post this comic and then I'll post a retro-review of an older comic I just finished reading for the hell of it...
Daredevil #6:
Summary: Bruiser takes Randall(who betrayed his evil company, Midas) to the boss of the Midas company, content in the knowledge that he had defeated Daredevil. However, DD is far from defeated and is currently hitching a ride under the boat taking Bruiser to meet with the Midas boss. Bruiser drops Randall off in front of the Midas boss, who wanted to show the 5 terrorist groups he was dealing with(roll call!: AIM, Hydra, Agence Byzantine, Black Spectre, Secret Empire) that the three loose ends were taken care of. Those loose ends being Randall, Daredevil(who was still presumed dead) and Austin, the man who started this whole thing by accidentally overhearing something he shouldn't have at Midas's headquarters. Once Austin is tossed into the room, the Midas boss gives Bruiser the word to kill Randall and Austin, but he is halted by the timely arrival of Daredevil. DD can't seem to defeat Bruiser and soon realizes that Bruiser has the ability to shift his mass, making him hit ultra hard or able to handle intense punishment. DD uses his radar senses to pinpoint Bruiser's weakest location, and strikes him there, breaking Bruiser's leg. With everything falling apart, the Midas boss rushes from the room and grabs the Omegadrive, which was basically an unhackable, unbreakable drive to store billions of gigabytes of information. DD catches up to the Midas boss and snatches the Omegadrive from him, ending up trapped by the five representatives from the five terrorist organizations. Annoyed by the failure of the Midas boss, the terrorists kill him, and aim their weapons at DD. However, DD lawyers his way out of this mess by convincing the terrorists that if they killed him(and Austin and Randall) to get at the Omegadrive, they'd then have to kill each other to see which group gets to claim the Omegadrive, which in turn would lead to an all-out war between all of their factions. Not wanting that, the terrorists allow DD to leave with Randall and Austin, with DD realizing that for as long as he had the Omegadrive, he was a marked man.
Thoughts: Eh. I didn't care for this storyline, I didn't care for the villain of the piece(Bruiser has a terrible look and the Midas company just wasn't that interesting) and the thing everybody was fighting over(the Omegadrive) just didn't interest me. Bottom line? I'm glad this storyline is finished, and hope we move onto bigger and better things from here
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
I love that the villains kept one gun on DD and their other gun trained on a fellow villain!
Daredevil #6:
Summary: Bruiser takes Randall(who betrayed his evil company, Midas) to the boss of the Midas company, content in the knowledge that he had defeated Daredevil. However, DD is far from defeated and is currently hitching a ride under the boat taking Bruiser to meet with the Midas boss. Bruiser drops Randall off in front of the Midas boss, who wanted to show the 5 terrorist groups he was dealing with(roll call!: AIM, Hydra, Agence Byzantine, Black Spectre, Secret Empire) that the three loose ends were taken care of. Those loose ends being Randall, Daredevil(who was still presumed dead) and Austin, the man who started this whole thing by accidentally overhearing something he shouldn't have at Midas's headquarters. Once Austin is tossed into the room, the Midas boss gives Bruiser the word to kill Randall and Austin, but he is halted by the timely arrival of Daredevil. DD can't seem to defeat Bruiser and soon realizes that Bruiser has the ability to shift his mass, making him hit ultra hard or able to handle intense punishment. DD uses his radar senses to pinpoint Bruiser's weakest location, and strikes him there, breaking Bruiser's leg. With everything falling apart, the Midas boss rushes from the room and grabs the Omegadrive, which was basically an unhackable, unbreakable drive to store billions of gigabytes of information. DD catches up to the Midas boss and snatches the Omegadrive from him, ending up trapped by the five representatives from the five terrorist organizations. Annoyed by the failure of the Midas boss, the terrorists kill him, and aim their weapons at DD. However, DD lawyers his way out of this mess by convincing the terrorists that if they killed him(and Austin and Randall) to get at the Omegadrive, they'd then have to kill each other to see which group gets to claim the Omegadrive, which in turn would lead to an all-out war between all of their factions. Not wanting that, the terrorists allow DD to leave with Randall and Austin, with DD realizing that for as long as he had the Omegadrive, he was a marked man.
Thoughts: Eh. I didn't care for this storyline, I didn't care for the villain of the piece(Bruiser has a terrible look and the Midas company just wasn't that interesting) and the thing everybody was fighting over(the Omegadrive) just didn't interest me. Bottom line? I'm glad this storyline is finished, and hope we move onto bigger and better things from here
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
I love that the villains kept one gun on DD and their other gun trained on a fellow villain!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Daredevil #5
Here comes... Daredevil! What, that's what it says right on the cover! This is another one of those comic books that I like, but am not expecting all that much from. It SHOULD be good, but I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't.
Daredevil #5:
Summary: Using his hyper-senses, Matt Murdock manages to tackle the blind man he was speaking to last issue before the two of them were riddled with bullets. The would be assassins enter the apartment, but Matt is able to easily take them down. From there he rushes the blind guy to one of his safe houses and encourages the blind guy to remember what he heard that had assassins tracking him. After some thought, the blind guy recalls overhearing two Latvarians discussing Hydra while walking down the halls of the company he used to work at. Matt figures that the blind guy's former boss fired him in an attempt to protect him from the higher-ups in the company, who would try to kill the blind guy upon learning that he overheard such sensitive information. Matt, as Daredevil, manages to track the blind guy's former boss to a yacht, since the blind guy's former boss was now also being targeted by assassins. The blind guy's former boss confirms DD's suspicions and tells him that the company he was working for was in bed with all sorts of terrorist organizations. While talking to the blind guy's former boss, some super-powered guy by the name of Bruiser arrives on the yacht, beats DD up and chucks him into the water, ending this issue.
Thoughts: As you can probably tell from the way I wrote the above review, I didn't care for this issue at all... This story just isn't clicking for me. There's really not much more to say... This is a comic that I KNOW I'll have completely forgotten all about by the time the next issue drops.
Score: 5 out of 10.
That is one of the worst villain outfits I've ever seen!
Daredevil #5:
Summary: Using his hyper-senses, Matt Murdock manages to tackle the blind man he was speaking to last issue before the two of them were riddled with bullets. The would be assassins enter the apartment, but Matt is able to easily take them down. From there he rushes the blind guy to one of his safe houses and encourages the blind guy to remember what he heard that had assassins tracking him. After some thought, the blind guy recalls overhearing two Latvarians discussing Hydra while walking down the halls of the company he used to work at. Matt figures that the blind guy's former boss fired him in an attempt to protect him from the higher-ups in the company, who would try to kill the blind guy upon learning that he overheard such sensitive information. Matt, as Daredevil, manages to track the blind guy's former boss to a yacht, since the blind guy's former boss was now also being targeted by assassins. The blind guy's former boss confirms DD's suspicions and tells him that the company he was working for was in bed with all sorts of terrorist organizations. While talking to the blind guy's former boss, some super-powered guy by the name of Bruiser arrives on the yacht, beats DD up and chucks him into the water, ending this issue.
Thoughts: As you can probably tell from the way I wrote the above review, I didn't care for this issue at all... This story just isn't clicking for me. There's really not much more to say... This is a comic that I KNOW I'll have completely forgotten all about by the time the next issue drops.
Score: 5 out of 10.
That is one of the worst villain outfits I've ever seen!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Daredevil #4
Good lord have I reviewed a ton of comic books this week... It's all starting to blend together! I mean it seems like I JUST reviewed an issue of DD last week! Wait, I did review an issue of DD last week... Huh. Well, here's this week's installment of Daredevil!
Daredevil #4:
Summary: The first couple of pages here detail how the life of Matt Murdock/Daredevil has changed since he began coaching his clients to act as their own attorneys in order to continue practicing law without stepping foot inside a courtroom. Unfortunately for Matt, this has led to a lot of nutjobs coming to the law offices of Murdock and Nelson looking for help. Foggy Nelson(Matt's law partner) has been doing what he could to screen the people with no real cases, and tells DD about one case he was interested in taking, that of a young blind man who wanted to sue his company for wrongful termination. Matt(after stopping a few crimes as DD) heads to the man's apartment and asks about the case, learning that the man worked for Midas Investments, was a well respected translator in the company, and was suddenly fired after he heard some people leaving the office building speaking in Latverian. Matt presses to see if there was anything else he could learn, but the man can't seem to figure out why he was fired. The man wonders if his boss thought that he overheard something he shouldn't have from the passing Latverians, but Matt doubts it since the man's boss never inquired as to what the man may have heard. Ultimately, Matt doesn't think the man has much of a case, and tells him that with his skills he'd be hired again in no time. This issue ends with Matt and the man standing in front of the man's window with several sniper scopes trained on them.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this issue. I like the direction Mark Waid has taken Matt's character job-wise, and DD's more... um, jovial, I guess, attitude isn't as jarring to me as it was the past few issues. I really can't think of all that much more to say that I haven't already said between this post and last week's DD post...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
That's gotta be the WORST villains ever!!
Daredevil #4:
Summary: The first couple of pages here detail how the life of Matt Murdock/Daredevil has changed since he began coaching his clients to act as their own attorneys in order to continue practicing law without stepping foot inside a courtroom. Unfortunately for Matt, this has led to a lot of nutjobs coming to the law offices of Murdock and Nelson looking for help. Foggy Nelson(Matt's law partner) has been doing what he could to screen the people with no real cases, and tells DD about one case he was interested in taking, that of a young blind man who wanted to sue his company for wrongful termination. Matt(after stopping a few crimes as DD) heads to the man's apartment and asks about the case, learning that the man worked for Midas Investments, was a well respected translator in the company, and was suddenly fired after he heard some people leaving the office building speaking in Latverian. Matt presses to see if there was anything else he could learn, but the man can't seem to figure out why he was fired. The man wonders if his boss thought that he overheard something he shouldn't have from the passing Latverians, but Matt doubts it since the man's boss never inquired as to what the man may have heard. Ultimately, Matt doesn't think the man has much of a case, and tells him that with his skills he'd be hired again in no time. This issue ends with Matt and the man standing in front of the man's window with several sniper scopes trained on them.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this issue. I like the direction Mark Waid has taken Matt's character job-wise, and DD's more... um, jovial, I guess, attitude isn't as jarring to me as it was the past few issues. I really can't think of all that much more to say that I haven't already said between this post and last week's DD post...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
That's gotta be the WORST villains ever!!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Daredevil #3
Back to Marvel for a moment as I take a quick look at Daredevil #3. After that, I'll be heading back to DC to review one of their comics... Man, there is just NO rhyme nor reason to my reviewing...
Daredevil #3:
Summary: Trying to buy time to escape from the trap the Klaw echoes had locked him in last issue, DD asks the prime Klaw to tell him how he was alive and not-so-well as opposed to flying around space as a radio wave. The prime Klaw tells a story about how some mystery person(who appears to be female from their silhouette), gave him advice on how to bring the real Klaw back from space. Basically it involves fancy machinery and DD's body. Thanks to Klaw's blabbing, DD manages to get out of the trap by tearing the wires out of himself and yelling really loud. That temporarily discorporates the Klaws, as well as screws up DD's senses. DD escapes outside and blindly manages to fight off Klaw, who was rapidly losing cohesion. Eventually Klaw dissipates and DD returns home with some temporary hearing damage. The next day, DD(as Matt Murdock) and Foggy Nelson coach the victim of some police brutality on the finer points of law so he could serve as his own attorney since Matt and Foggy weren't able to defend him because of the stigma attached to Matt due to everybody knowing he was Daredevil. The man manages to win his case thanks to Matt and Foggy's coaching, and DD seems to think that consulting clients was the way for him and Foggy's law firm to go.
Thoughts: Eh. For whatever reason this comic just didn't do it for me. The Klaw story bored me and Matt's ultra-happy personality STILL disturbs me(he's more Peter Parker than Matt Murdock now). The law consultation plan actually seems like a good idea considering that Matt really can't work a case in court without the opposing lawyer constantly accusing him of being Daredevil. Besides that, I guess we'll learn down the road who the mystery person assisting Klaw was, so there's that to look forward to at least. Overall though, at least to me, this issue was a massive step back from the first two issues.
Score: 5 out of 10.
Well no wonder everybody thinks Matt is DD! His shadow has betrayed him!
Daredevil #3:
Summary: Trying to buy time to escape from the trap the Klaw echoes had locked him in last issue, DD asks the prime Klaw to tell him how he was alive and not-so-well as opposed to flying around space as a radio wave. The prime Klaw tells a story about how some mystery person(who appears to be female from their silhouette), gave him advice on how to bring the real Klaw back from space. Basically it involves fancy machinery and DD's body. Thanks to Klaw's blabbing, DD manages to get out of the trap by tearing the wires out of himself and yelling really loud. That temporarily discorporates the Klaws, as well as screws up DD's senses. DD escapes outside and blindly manages to fight off Klaw, who was rapidly losing cohesion. Eventually Klaw dissipates and DD returns home with some temporary hearing damage. The next day, DD(as Matt Murdock) and Foggy Nelson coach the victim of some police brutality on the finer points of law so he could serve as his own attorney since Matt and Foggy weren't able to defend him because of the stigma attached to Matt due to everybody knowing he was Daredevil. The man manages to win his case thanks to Matt and Foggy's coaching, and DD seems to think that consulting clients was the way for him and Foggy's law firm to go.
Thoughts: Eh. For whatever reason this comic just didn't do it for me. The Klaw story bored me and Matt's ultra-happy personality STILL disturbs me(he's more Peter Parker than Matt Murdock now). The law consultation plan actually seems like a good idea considering that Matt really can't work a case in court without the opposing lawyer constantly accusing him of being Daredevil. Besides that, I guess we'll learn down the road who the mystery person assisting Klaw was, so there's that to look forward to at least. Overall though, at least to me, this issue was a massive step back from the first two issues.
Score: 5 out of 10.
Well no wonder everybody thinks Matt is DD! His shadow has betrayed him!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Captain America #2 & Daredevil #2
I have two number two issues to review in this post... If by chance I gave a 2 as the score for one of these two comics, this would be Two-Face's favorite post ever!
Captain America #2:
Summary: Alright flashback time! Back during WWII, some kid named Jimmy Jupiter had the ability to warp reality and touch people through their dreams. Jimmy was assisting the allies against the Nazis by teleporting allied forces into Nazi bases. One of the allies, Bravo, was in the dimension Jimmy used to move people around when Jimmy gets bashed in the head by a Nazi spy. Dum Dum Dugan was supposed to be watching over Jimmy, and winds up killing the Nazi, but honestly, if YOU had a kid who could warp reality working for you, would you really have a dude named “Dum Dum” watching over this awesome weapon? Anyway, Jimmy lapses into a coma, and Bravo, along with several Hydra agents, gets trapped in Jimmy's alternate reality fantasy land. Back in the present, Captain America(yes, Steve Rogers...), Nick Fury and Sharon Carter attack a Hydra base they thought was associated with Bravo. Cap walks through the Hydra defenses, but is too late to stop the leader of this sect, some random woman who the Hydra goofs were treating as royalty. Having partially succeeded with that mission(they didn't find Bravo, but they DID bust a few Hydra goons!), Cap and Sharon head to a hotel room and go to sleep. Sharon in met in her dreams by Bravo, who flirts her up before kissing her. Sharon wakes up rather disturbed by all of that, and is about to tell Cap what happened when the Ameridroid busts through the wall and attacks Cap.
Thoughts: I rarely say this about anything written by Ed Brubaker, especially a Captain America comic, but here it is... Meh. This was a very sub-par comic for me, as the lack of ANY mention of Bucky is actively beginning to piss me off now... Yes, I get it, Fear Itself is still going on so we really can't mention anything that went on during that event in this Cap series, but not mentioning Bucky makes for a very awkward read here... Bucky was Captain America in the last Captain America solo series, then suddenly we get a new Captain America solo series starring Steve Rogers with NO mention of Bucky or why Steve took up the shield again! Add the fact that Jimmy Jupiter was brained by a typewriter and brain damaged because of that, and Bravo not being a very interesting foe, I've got to say, I'm surprisingly disappointed with this series thus far. I was expecting the kind of awesome that was last time Brubaker started a Captain America series, and instead I'm getting the mediocrity that was the start of Brubaker's Secret Avengers run...
Score: 6 out of 10.
I wonder if Hydra agents ever wake up and actually think that maybe this is the day they'll defeat Captain America...
Daredevil #2:
Summary: This issue gets started with Captain America(yes, Steve Rogers...) trying to arrest Daredevil for DD's role in the Shadowland mess. After a pretty awesome fight(those two always have pretty awesome fights though), DD tells Cap that he had been mind controlled by an evil demon(a likely excuse!), and that in a way, he wasn't any different than Bucky being mind controlled by the Soviets(damn that DD and his lawyer talk!!). Upon hearing that comparison, Cap decides to give DD the benefit of the doubt and allows him to go. From there, DD continues researching the Jobrani case, and after some digging learns that several lawyers had been scared off the case by threatening phone calls. It seems that Jobrani would have EASILY won his case if he had a competent lawyer, and DD learns that Jobrani had been planning on buying back his family's electronics store had he won his case. Figuring that somebody was actively trying to prevent Jobrani from regaining his family's store, DD heads there to investigate and immediately notices weird noises coming from the basement. DD enters the basement and finds a bunch of semi-constructed Klaw drones building something. Unfortunately for DD, Klaw is a being of pure sound, so his senses have difficulty pinning down exactly what he was surrounded by. DD goes to touch one of the Klaw drones, which winds up creating a loud feedback loop that causes DD to pass out. Upon waking up, DD finds himself strapped inside a device that was shaped like Klaw while the Klaw drones continued to rebuild Klaw around the trapped and disoriented hero.
Thoughts: Now this comic was more like it! The DD/Cap battle was great, as their battles usually are. And yes, those two have fought before. More than once if memory serves me correctly... And if I'm really remembering things correctly tonight, Cap has beaten DD every time! DD using his brains to deal with Cap was great, because like I said, I can't remember DD ever beating Cap, so trying to talk some sense into him was almost definitely the way to go. And the DD/Beast-Bucky/Winter Soldier comparison was the perfect way to get Cap to leave Matt alone. Klaw being the villain in this first arc of the new DD series was surprising to say the least, but I'm actually fine with that. I can't recall DD facing off against Klaw before, and with Klaw's sound based powers, he's almost the perfect opponent for DD. I've always been a fan of villains of specific characters(Klaw usually battles the FF or Black Panther) battling heroes they don't have much of a history with. It usually makes for good reading, and with Mark Waid doing the writing here, I'm sure the eventual Klaw-DD battle should be great.
Score: 8 out of 10.
That bottom panel with Cap is about 12 different shades of awesome.
Captain America #2:
Summary: Alright flashback time! Back during WWII, some kid named Jimmy Jupiter had the ability to warp reality and touch people through their dreams. Jimmy was assisting the allies against the Nazis by teleporting allied forces into Nazi bases. One of the allies, Bravo, was in the dimension Jimmy used to move people around when Jimmy gets bashed in the head by a Nazi spy. Dum Dum Dugan was supposed to be watching over Jimmy, and winds up killing the Nazi, but honestly, if YOU had a kid who could warp reality working for you, would you really have a dude named “Dum Dum” watching over this awesome weapon? Anyway, Jimmy lapses into a coma, and Bravo, along with several Hydra agents, gets trapped in Jimmy's alternate reality fantasy land. Back in the present, Captain America(yes, Steve Rogers...), Nick Fury and Sharon Carter attack a Hydra base they thought was associated with Bravo. Cap walks through the Hydra defenses, but is too late to stop the leader of this sect, some random woman who the Hydra goofs were treating as royalty. Having partially succeeded with that mission(they didn't find Bravo, but they DID bust a few Hydra goons!), Cap and Sharon head to a hotel room and go to sleep. Sharon in met in her dreams by Bravo, who flirts her up before kissing her. Sharon wakes up rather disturbed by all of that, and is about to tell Cap what happened when the Ameridroid busts through the wall and attacks Cap.
Thoughts: I rarely say this about anything written by Ed Brubaker, especially a Captain America comic, but here it is... Meh. This was a very sub-par comic for me, as the lack of ANY mention of Bucky is actively beginning to piss me off now... Yes, I get it, Fear Itself is still going on so we really can't mention anything that went on during that event in this Cap series, but not mentioning Bucky makes for a very awkward read here... Bucky was Captain America in the last Captain America solo series, then suddenly we get a new Captain America solo series starring Steve Rogers with NO mention of Bucky or why Steve took up the shield again! Add the fact that Jimmy Jupiter was brained by a typewriter and brain damaged because of that, and Bravo not being a very interesting foe, I've got to say, I'm surprisingly disappointed with this series thus far. I was expecting the kind of awesome that was last time Brubaker started a Captain America series, and instead I'm getting the mediocrity that was the start of Brubaker's Secret Avengers run...
Score: 6 out of 10.
I wonder if Hydra agents ever wake up and actually think that maybe this is the day they'll defeat Captain America...
Daredevil #2:
Summary: This issue gets started with Captain America(yes, Steve Rogers...) trying to arrest Daredevil for DD's role in the Shadowland mess. After a pretty awesome fight(those two always have pretty awesome fights though), DD tells Cap that he had been mind controlled by an evil demon(a likely excuse!), and that in a way, he wasn't any different than Bucky being mind controlled by the Soviets(damn that DD and his lawyer talk!!). Upon hearing that comparison, Cap decides to give DD the benefit of the doubt and allows him to go. From there, DD continues researching the Jobrani case, and after some digging learns that several lawyers had been scared off the case by threatening phone calls. It seems that Jobrani would have EASILY won his case if he had a competent lawyer, and DD learns that Jobrani had been planning on buying back his family's electronics store had he won his case. Figuring that somebody was actively trying to prevent Jobrani from regaining his family's store, DD heads there to investigate and immediately notices weird noises coming from the basement. DD enters the basement and finds a bunch of semi-constructed Klaw drones building something. Unfortunately for DD, Klaw is a being of pure sound, so his senses have difficulty pinning down exactly what he was surrounded by. DD goes to touch one of the Klaw drones, which winds up creating a loud feedback loop that causes DD to pass out. Upon waking up, DD finds himself strapped inside a device that was shaped like Klaw while the Klaw drones continued to rebuild Klaw around the trapped and disoriented hero.
Thoughts: Now this comic was more like it! The DD/Cap battle was great, as their battles usually are. And yes, those two have fought before. More than once if memory serves me correctly... And if I'm really remembering things correctly tonight, Cap has beaten DD every time! DD using his brains to deal with Cap was great, because like I said, I can't remember DD ever beating Cap, so trying to talk some sense into him was almost definitely the way to go. And the DD/Beast-Bucky/Winter Soldier comparison was the perfect way to get Cap to leave Matt alone. Klaw being the villain in this first arc of the new DD series was surprising to say the least, but I'm actually fine with that. I can't recall DD facing off against Klaw before, and with Klaw's sound based powers, he's almost the perfect opponent for DD. I've always been a fan of villains of specific characters(Klaw usually battles the FF or Black Panther) battling heroes they don't have much of a history with. It usually makes for good reading, and with Mark Waid doing the writing here, I'm sure the eventual Klaw-DD battle should be great.
Score: 8 out of 10.
That bottom panel with Cap is about 12 different shades of awesome.
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