Hey all, X here to kick off what looks to be a pretty slim Best of the Rest post. Both JT and I had lighter than usual comic weeks, meaning we really don't have a load of books to look at. So yeah. But hey, JT(whose reviews will be in blue text) will probably grace us with more than the measly one review he gave us last week... Probably...
Nightwing #20: After some digging around, Nightwing manages to find the Prankster, who he suspects will be able to help him find Tony "The Man Who Killed Dick Grayson's Parents!" Zucco. However, the two get off on the wrong foot when Nightwing interrupts Prankster trying to kill a corrupt businessman. After a bit of a tussle, Nightwing ends up getting trapped in a glass box(really), with Prankster telling him the only way he'd escape was to remove his mask, thus revealing his identity. This comic was okay, I guess. I still think Prankster has some potential as a vigilante, even though he was coming dangerously close to becoming just another run of the mill villain. On the positive side, Tony "The Man Who Killed Dick Grayson's Parents!" Zucco only appeared on two pages, and that makes me happy. Score: 6 out of 10.
X-Factor #256: The team heads after Mephisto in an attempt to send him back to Hell. Meanwhile, Tier kills all the Hell-Lords Mephisto had locked up. Mephisto kills Shatterstar and Rictor before he is attacked by Tier. Before Tier can kill Mephisto, Guido kills Tier, which makes Guido the new king of Hell. Guido brings Monet back to life and then banishes her from his sight. So yeah, wow... This was a big miss for me... Guido as the devil? Tier, Shatterstar and Rictor dead? Mephisto unable to figure out to teleport away from Tier when he was attacked? Tier killing like 6 Hell-Lords in a small room? Yeah, bad, bad stuff here. Score: 4 out of 10.
FF #7: Wizard and his newest incarnation of the Frightful Four(himself, Blastaar, a brainwashed Medusa, and Bentley-23, who doesn't want to be there) attack the FF. Bentley-23 predictably betrays Wizard, which frees Medusa from Wizard's mind-control, leaving Wizard and Blastaar as the Not-So Terrible Two. After Wizard is defeated, Black Bolt takes him into custody for brainwashing his wife(AGAIN!) and decides to have words with him... Meh. The story didn't really do much for me, but dammit do I LOVE Mike Allred's artwork! Seriously, it's like the perfect art for a comic book, and you all know I don't usually care about art in a comic! So yeah, oddly enough, if not for the artwork, I'd probably have scored this comic lower. Score: 6 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #9: Hey, check it out, I'm still getting this comic! Weird... A mystery man is constructing gamma powered Crimson Dynamo units to be used in terrorist activities. The T-Bolts manage to take down a few of the units and are able to trace the units back to the man behind them, Elektra's brother. So yeah, I don't get why exactly I'm still collecting this series... I don't think I've given any issue a score over a 6! Methinks I'll be rectifying that when I get to the comic shop on Wednesday... Score: 5 out of 10.
Avengers: The Enemy Within #1: Yon-Rogg sends Captain Marvel and her teammates after various menaces to keep them distracted so he could steal the piece of the Psyche-Magnetron that CM had stored at her apartment. After saving her elderly neighbor from dinosaurs(way cooler than I just made it sound, actually), CM returns to her place with Spider-Woman and realizes that she had been burgled. Spider-Woman promises revenge. Finally, a good comic! Huzzah!!!!! Man this week has been brutal comic-wise for me... I enjoyed this one, and think it set-up the upcoming Avengers Assemble/Captain Marvel crossover nicely. This feels like an Avengers story should feel, which is a nice change of pace from Bendis and Age of Ultron... Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Iron Man #10: 451 tells Tony a story about how he first met Tony's father before Tony was born. Basically Tony's dad went searching for 451 after learning that he and his wife were unable to procreate. 451 then makes vague comments about Tony having more parents than he knew of... UGH!!! What the hell is happening here!? THIS is the story they think are going to grab movie-goers who just saw Iron Man 3?!? Really?! Come on, Marvel, this is a DC-esque bungle! You're better than this! Yeah, in case I haven't made it clear, I think this entire storyline is idiotic. Dumb, dumb, dumb. All I know is that we better discover that 451 was lying the whole time to be an ass or something. Anything else will be horrible. Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
Or, maybe JT won't review anything at all... Huh, go figure! I'm sure he'd blame his lack of reviews on me taking Nova #4, but don't buy JT's lame excuses! He's a slacker!! Slacker!!! On the plus side, unless he somehow manages to do -1 reviews next week, he'll definitely have more reviews next week than he did this one. But enough about that guy. Check back tomorrow for a Throwback post by yours truly. Until then? X out.
Showing posts with label FF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FF. Show all posts
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Best of the Rest! April 24th edition.
X here with the final Best of the Rest post of April. Yep, we're almost in May! Which is kind of surprising, because it seems like the winter JUST ended... But yeah, summertime and all that stuff. Anyway, this isn't a weather report, it's a comic post, so I should probably get to that. As always, I'll toss a few thoughts on the various comics I picked up this week, followed by JT the Great, who will post a few reviews as well, only in blue text. Um, other than that, get ready for a new Throwback Tuesday coming up tomorrow, typed up by none other than JT himself. I'm sure he'll have something more to say on that coming up. Okay, enough delaying, here's the first comic.
Teen Titans #19: Wonder Girl leads the Titans against Trigon, who's attacking New York. This surprises Raven, since she was randomly brainwashing Beast Boy(seriously, where the hell did THAT come from?!), and hadn't been told an attack was coming. Raven and Beast Boy join up with Trigon and attack the Titans, while Trigon gives Psimon(who was caught in the crossfire of this fight) enhanced powers. The army shows up to deal with Trigon, and somehow this all leads to Psimon killing the army guys with a mind blast. Trigon then magically disappears, while Raven seems pissed that he committed murder... As for the Titans, they seem to think Trigon did all this to make them look bad in the court of public opinion... First off, a confession... I read this comic right after I read Young Avengers #4, and in plain English, the writing in YA makes this series look like crap. Literal crap! But, even if I hadn't read a series that's everything THIS series SHOULD be, I'd still call this issue garbage. It made NO SENSE!!! Trigon, the ruler of his own dimension, staged a fake attack on Earth to discredit the Titans?! And Raven was angry that this led to murder?! Wasn't she just mind controlling Tim a few issues back?! In a battle between Trigon and the Titans, PSIMON is the guy who's instrumental in the finish?! What the hell is wrong with Scott Lobdell?!?!? Score: 3 out of 10.
Invincible #102: Thragg attacks Nolan, and we learn that Nolan was the rightful ruler of the Viltrumites by blood. However, Nolan tries to tell Thragg that he has no interest in the throne. That falls on deaf ears though, as Thragg is determined to kill Nolan. However, the other Viltrumites randomly appear on the moon and attack Thragg, having heard his admission of guilt. Nolan tells the Viltrumites to let Thragg go, and he takes over as their king. Plus, Mark proposes to Eve. What a weird issue... SO MUCH happened! I was chatting with JT, and he said it best, imagine if you missed this issue?! You'd be SO lost come issue #103! So yeah, Nolan is suddenly king of the Viltrumites(where did THAT come from!?) and Mark is getting married... Okay then. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
I, Vampire #19: Last issue! Mary comes back to life empowered by Heaven(I think...) and helps Andrew defeat Cain and Lilith, as well as save the planet. Cain ends up with Lucifer, who intends on tormenting him for the rest of time. Tig is still alive(WHY?!?), and still evil, and leaves with another evil vampire. Mary dies, having fulfilled what she had to do, and redeemed herself. Andrew pledges to go after the evil vampires with his vampire dog. I liked this issue. Everything wrapped up kind of quick, but this was the last issue, and that happens in finales I'll miss this series, and I'll definitely miss Andrew and Mary. Joshua Hale Fialkov did a good job here giving us some interesting characters. Score: 7 out of 10.
Morning Glories #26: So I was going to review this comic, but when I was done, I legit had no idea what I had just read... And I don't mean in a "It sucked so bad I was confused" sort of way, I mean I literally don't know what I just read... This is a series I should probably start reading 6 issues at a time instead of monthly, 'cause it's confusing as hell! Score: NA
FF #6: Dragon Man realizes Bentley and Medusa are gone, so Scott sends She-Hulk and Ahura to inform the Inhumans. Meanwhile, Scott and Darla humble the Yancy Street Gang. This one ends with the Baxter Building being teleported to the Negative Zone. I liked this issue. It makes me feel like I kept the right Fantastic Four series. I like the main characters, I finally like one of the kids(Ahura), and I'm hoping this Yancy Street Gang junk goes way on the back burner now. Score: 7 out of 10.
A+X #7: First story sees Iron Man and Beast have to face an out of control Hulkbuster(that was reprogrammed by a slick Bruce Banner), while story #2 has Iceman and Thor battling Frost Giants. Hey, you know what? This issue? It was actually GOOD!! Like, both stories! That may be the first time that's happened since this series kicked off! I personally liked the Beast/Iron Man tale more, but both were solid, so hey, a win for this series! Huzzah! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Injustice: Gods Among Us #4: This issue starts with Superman confronting Batman about not helping find his parents in the last issue, with Superman ripping the cowl off of Batman's face in a moment of rage. Their conversation ends when Aquaman starts attacking some hunters that are hunting whales. Green Lantern, Shazam and Wondy show up, but so do the Atlanteans, and they make the major mistake of attacking Wonder Woman. They engage in a fight which leads to Aquaman calling the Kraken to deal with his allies, but Superman shows up and makes Arthur call it off, while holding him by the neck. Aquaman calls it back but makes a power play bu having his forces stand at every beach around the world, to show Superman who runs the sea. Superman retaliates by having Hal encase Atlantis in an orb which Superman, Shazam and Wonder Woman lift and move to the Sahara desert. Well damn. Aquaman meets with Wonder Woman and agrees to pull his forces back if they return Atlantis, and asks her to tell Superman he's sorry about what happened with Lois. The issue ends with Wonder Woman telling Superman of Aquaman's deal, but not mentioning his condolences for Lois, further driving a wedge between the two men. I enjoyed this issue, it really goes a long way in showing how unreasonable Superman has become, how powerful Aquaman is, and how far this Wonder Woman will go to get what or should I say who she wants. Score: 8/10
Scarlet Spider #16: This issue opens with Madame Web, Julia Carpenter's letter to Kaine from a few issues back that he never received. It basically says he should leave and go to Mexico like he planned because "she" is going to kill everyone, whoever that is...maybe Aracely? The rest of this issue takes place at the Rodeo with Kaine and his wacky cast, with Kaine mistakenly hurting Annabelle's feelings by saying they can't be together. This is interrupted by a drunk hero-turned-villain named The Armadillo (Think Rhino...but as an Armadillo..) who shows up, breaks down the walls (Jericho style!) and cries about how his girlfriend, Daisy, left him. Scarlet Spider tries to stop his reign of terror by telling him he needs to let her go, because sadly the monster's never get to be with the girl, but she surprisingly runs up and takes him back, saying she didn't think he loved her anymore because he was distant. This inspires Kaine to try to be with Annabelle, which he does after knocking out her meathead ex-boyfriend and plants kiss on Annabelle, but unbeknownst to Kaine, Kraven and his daughter are watching from afar. The issue ends with a flashback to two days ago, as we see Annabelle burning the letter for Kaine from Julia. I really enjoyed this issue, they're still doing the monster card but this was better and we got some growth for Kaine, but we see Kraven is still in the game, and Aracely's powers are being used more. And I didn't see the ending coming at all, maybe Annabells is bad news. Man, these are supposed to be short reviews!!! Score: 8/10
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22: In this issue, Miles tries to convince Maria Hill that he's not Spider-Man, but once word comes in Venom is attacking the hospital where his dad is, she tells him he'll get there first, and to save people but wait until the Ultimates are there to face Venom. He takes off, scaling a building in front of her and pursues Venom while his mom watches on. Venom manages to absorb Spidey but Miles' mom, Rio, starts shooting Venom with a gun she picked up off of a unconscious officer, telling Venom to give back her son. Venom grabs Rio but that upsets Miles enough for him to power out, sending the symbiote flying everywhere, leaving the man in the suit vulnerable as he's gunned down by police. Surprisingly, Venom is not Eddie Brock, but a black man named Marcus Conrad. Miles checks on his mom but finds that she's been shot very close to her heart, she's clearly proud of Miles but with her dying words tells him not to let his father know, as she dies in his arms. The next day Miles wakes up at Ganke's house as reality sets in that his mother is gone. He cries and rips up his suit, yelling "No More!" as the issue comes to a close. I really enjoyed this issue, with Hill knowing Miles' secret, seeing how proud Rio was of her son, you could see her face, excellent job by Sara Pichelli. The only problem I had was the fact that the villain was basically a no one but held a grudge against Spider-Man and his family, that seemed...odd but I'm sure they'll explain why he hated them so much. We've seen Peter throw the costume away a few times, but this seemed different, although we know Miles will stay Spidey. Score: 9/10
Man.... I really gotta make these reviews more brief! Ah, what can I say, I like to paint a picture with my words. Anyway, that's it for this week's best of the rest post. I'll be back tomorrow with a comic picked by mi hermano, X, for Throwback Tuesday, and If you thought Perry White's Magic Cigars were crazy...wait until you see what the Man of Tomorrow was doing like sixty years ago. Anyway, til then, this is JT, signing off!
Teen Titans #19: Wonder Girl leads the Titans against Trigon, who's attacking New York. This surprises Raven, since she was randomly brainwashing Beast Boy(seriously, where the hell did THAT come from?!), and hadn't been told an attack was coming. Raven and Beast Boy join up with Trigon and attack the Titans, while Trigon gives Psimon(who was caught in the crossfire of this fight) enhanced powers. The army shows up to deal with Trigon, and somehow this all leads to Psimon killing the army guys with a mind blast. Trigon then magically disappears, while Raven seems pissed that he committed murder... As for the Titans, they seem to think Trigon did all this to make them look bad in the court of public opinion... First off, a confession... I read this comic right after I read Young Avengers #4, and in plain English, the writing in YA makes this series look like crap. Literal crap! But, even if I hadn't read a series that's everything THIS series SHOULD be, I'd still call this issue garbage. It made NO SENSE!!! Trigon, the ruler of his own dimension, staged a fake attack on Earth to discredit the Titans?! And Raven was angry that this led to murder?! Wasn't she just mind controlling Tim a few issues back?! In a battle between Trigon and the Titans, PSIMON is the guy who's instrumental in the finish?! What the hell is wrong with Scott Lobdell?!?!? Score: 3 out of 10.
Invincible #102: Thragg attacks Nolan, and we learn that Nolan was the rightful ruler of the Viltrumites by blood. However, Nolan tries to tell Thragg that he has no interest in the throne. That falls on deaf ears though, as Thragg is determined to kill Nolan. However, the other Viltrumites randomly appear on the moon and attack Thragg, having heard his admission of guilt. Nolan tells the Viltrumites to let Thragg go, and he takes over as their king. Plus, Mark proposes to Eve. What a weird issue... SO MUCH happened! I was chatting with JT, and he said it best, imagine if you missed this issue?! You'd be SO lost come issue #103! So yeah, Nolan is suddenly king of the Viltrumites(where did THAT come from!?) and Mark is getting married... Okay then. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
I, Vampire #19: Last issue! Mary comes back to life empowered by Heaven(I think...) and helps Andrew defeat Cain and Lilith, as well as save the planet. Cain ends up with Lucifer, who intends on tormenting him for the rest of time. Tig is still alive(WHY?!?), and still evil, and leaves with another evil vampire. Mary dies, having fulfilled what she had to do, and redeemed herself. Andrew pledges to go after the evil vampires with his vampire dog. I liked this issue. Everything wrapped up kind of quick, but this was the last issue, and that happens in finales I'll miss this series, and I'll definitely miss Andrew and Mary. Joshua Hale Fialkov did a good job here giving us some interesting characters. Score: 7 out of 10.
Morning Glories #26: So I was going to review this comic, but when I was done, I legit had no idea what I had just read... And I don't mean in a "It sucked so bad I was confused" sort of way, I mean I literally don't know what I just read... This is a series I should probably start reading 6 issues at a time instead of monthly, 'cause it's confusing as hell! Score: NA
FF #6: Dragon Man realizes Bentley and Medusa are gone, so Scott sends She-Hulk and Ahura to inform the Inhumans. Meanwhile, Scott and Darla humble the Yancy Street Gang. This one ends with the Baxter Building being teleported to the Negative Zone. I liked this issue. It makes me feel like I kept the right Fantastic Four series. I like the main characters, I finally like one of the kids(Ahura), and I'm hoping this Yancy Street Gang junk goes way on the back burner now. Score: 7 out of 10.
A+X #7: First story sees Iron Man and Beast have to face an out of control Hulkbuster(that was reprogrammed by a slick Bruce Banner), while story #2 has Iceman and Thor battling Frost Giants. Hey, you know what? This issue? It was actually GOOD!! Like, both stories! That may be the first time that's happened since this series kicked off! I personally liked the Beast/Iron Man tale more, but both were solid, so hey, a win for this series! Huzzah! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Injustice: Gods Among Us #4: This issue starts with Superman confronting Batman about not helping find his parents in the last issue, with Superman ripping the cowl off of Batman's face in a moment of rage. Their conversation ends when Aquaman starts attacking some hunters that are hunting whales. Green Lantern, Shazam and Wondy show up, but so do the Atlanteans, and they make the major mistake of attacking Wonder Woman. They engage in a fight which leads to Aquaman calling the Kraken to deal with his allies, but Superman shows up and makes Arthur call it off, while holding him by the neck. Aquaman calls it back but makes a power play bu having his forces stand at every beach around the world, to show Superman who runs the sea. Superman retaliates by having Hal encase Atlantis in an orb which Superman, Shazam and Wonder Woman lift and move to the Sahara desert. Well damn. Aquaman meets with Wonder Woman and agrees to pull his forces back if they return Atlantis, and asks her to tell Superman he's sorry about what happened with Lois. The issue ends with Wonder Woman telling Superman of Aquaman's deal, but not mentioning his condolences for Lois, further driving a wedge between the two men. I enjoyed this issue, it really goes a long way in showing how unreasonable Superman has become, how powerful Aquaman is, and how far this Wonder Woman will go to get what or should I say who she wants. Score: 8/10
Scarlet Spider #16: This issue opens with Madame Web, Julia Carpenter's letter to Kaine from a few issues back that he never received. It basically says he should leave and go to Mexico like he planned because "she" is going to kill everyone, whoever that is...maybe Aracely? The rest of this issue takes place at the Rodeo with Kaine and his wacky cast, with Kaine mistakenly hurting Annabelle's feelings by saying they can't be together. This is interrupted by a drunk hero-turned-villain named The Armadillo (Think Rhino...but as an Armadillo..) who shows up, breaks down the walls (Jericho style!) and cries about how his girlfriend, Daisy, left him. Scarlet Spider tries to stop his reign of terror by telling him he needs to let her go, because sadly the monster's never get to be with the girl, but she surprisingly runs up and takes him back, saying she didn't think he loved her anymore because he was distant. This inspires Kaine to try to be with Annabelle, which he does after knocking out her meathead ex-boyfriend and plants kiss on Annabelle, but unbeknownst to Kaine, Kraven and his daughter are watching from afar. The issue ends with a flashback to two days ago, as we see Annabelle burning the letter for Kaine from Julia. I really enjoyed this issue, they're still doing the monster card but this was better and we got some growth for Kaine, but we see Kraven is still in the game, and Aracely's powers are being used more. And I didn't see the ending coming at all, maybe Annabells is bad news. Man, these are supposed to be short reviews!!! Score: 8/10
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22: In this issue, Miles tries to convince Maria Hill that he's not Spider-Man, but once word comes in Venom is attacking the hospital where his dad is, she tells him he'll get there first, and to save people but wait until the Ultimates are there to face Venom. He takes off, scaling a building in front of her and pursues Venom while his mom watches on. Venom manages to absorb Spidey but Miles' mom, Rio, starts shooting Venom with a gun she picked up off of a unconscious officer, telling Venom to give back her son. Venom grabs Rio but that upsets Miles enough for him to power out, sending the symbiote flying everywhere, leaving the man in the suit vulnerable as he's gunned down by police. Surprisingly, Venom is not Eddie Brock, but a black man named Marcus Conrad. Miles checks on his mom but finds that she's been shot very close to her heart, she's clearly proud of Miles but with her dying words tells him not to let his father know, as she dies in his arms. The next day Miles wakes up at Ganke's house as reality sets in that his mother is gone. He cries and rips up his suit, yelling "No More!" as the issue comes to a close. I really enjoyed this issue, with Hill knowing Miles' secret, seeing how proud Rio was of her son, you could see her face, excellent job by Sara Pichelli. The only problem I had was the fact that the villain was basically a no one but held a grudge against Spider-Man and his family, that seemed...odd but I'm sure they'll explain why he hated them so much. We've seen Peter throw the costume away a few times, but this seemed different, although we know Miles will stay Spidey. Score: 9/10
Man.... I really gotta make these reviews more brief! Ah, what can I say, I like to paint a picture with my words. Anyway, that's it for this week's best of the rest post. I'll be back tomorrow with a comic picked by mi hermano, X, for Throwback Tuesday, and If you thought Perry White's Magic Cigars were crazy...wait until you see what the Man of Tomorrow was doing like sixty years ago. Anyway, til then, this is JT, signing off!
Monday, April 1, 2013
Best of the Rest! Week of 3/27/13.
Hey all, X here to finish this week off with a BotR post! Last week I was joined by my king, the illustrious JT. This week? This week I'm not sure if JT is here or not... So yeah... If he does decide to add a few comics, you'll know it's him by the blue text. If he doesn't decide to join in? Then just ignore everything I just typed... Okay, with that taken care of, let's get into it.
Fantastic Four #6AU: This was the obligatory Age of Ultron tie-in issue. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "But X, aren't the F4 doing the whole Swiss Family Robinson thing? How are they involved in this event?!" To that I respond, "Marvel wants money!!! And event crossovers equal cash!" Basically, Black Panther somehow contacts Reed through space and time and tells him that Ultron had attacked the Earth. The F4 leave the kids behind and return to Earth, where they are killed one by one by Ultron's droids. Only Sue survives, and she ends up with the resistance. I actually enjoyed this issue. But I think it was the Ultron fan in me who enjoyed this and not really the F4 fan. I can't help but enjoy a comic that sees Ultron masquerade as Dr. Doom, and then proceed to kill the Thing. Yeah, there were some holes and the F4 being a part of this event felt a bit forced, but still, I liked it. Score: 8 out of 10.
Teen Titans #18: Ah Scott Lobdell... This issue opens with five pages of Tim Drake crying over Damian Wayne's death. He literally cried for FIVE straight pages! I don't know when Tim and Damian became so close, but there ya go. From there, Tim heads to the Titans and complains about them not doing enough to protect teenage heroes. To that end, Tim and the Titans attack the Suicide Squad since Amanda Waller had captured a teenager with powers. But wait, it turns out Waller did no such thing, and that Tim only went after the Squad to make a mysterious deal with Waller. And then Trigon flew through the sky on a three-headed horse. Really! I don't even know what to make of this series anymore... Last issue Tim was possessed by Raven and making out with his female teammates left and right. This issue Tim wasn't possessed by Raven... Maybe... Unless he was when he was with Waller... Possibly... So by this point, I have NO clue as to whether Tim is possessed or not... But Trigon DID fly around on a three headed horse. Of that I am sure. Score: 6 out of 10.
I, Vampire #18: This was the penultimate issue of this series. All I can really say about this is that it looks like Tig finally died(YAY!!!) and Mary came back from the dead. Again. This issue just flat-out didn't click for me. Of course it didn't help that Constantine-lite was hanging around. So yeah, sadly, I didn't enjoy this one. Still, I'll miss this series when it's gone, because the early issues were great. Score: 4 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #7: The "team"(and I use that term as loosely as possible) are now on-board a submarine. Flash wants to mutiny against Rulk because Rulk hasn't been forthcoming with information... Or something. Rulk beats everybody up, and then tells them that he had been using them to clean up areas where there were gamma bombs. But wait! It turns out Rulk was wrong and that somebody has been creating gamma batteries instead of bombs. Meh. I'm giving this series two more issues, if it doesn't improve? I'm done. Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
A+X #6: Two stories in this comic, as usual. The first one stars Wolverine and Captain Marvel. They're playing poker, they argue a bit, a villain attacks, but ends up joining the game. The second story gives us Thing and Gambit beating the Yancy Street gang in poker... Yup, two stories, two tales about poker... And yes, that is indeed very weird. I enjoyed the Wolvie/Marvel story more out of the two, but I can't say I'd recommend either story unless you're a hardcore fan of the four characters here. Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
FF #5: Hey look, it's another FF comic! In the same post! Madness!! This comic has nothing to do with the Age of Ultron storyline, which is especially weird, since it would make more sense for this team to deal with Ultron since they're still on Earth and all... Anyway, Old Torch goes crazy after some guy touches his coat and tries to torch a neighborhood. Scott and the gang end up defeating him and let Herbie watch over him. Alex heads to Latveria to seemingly warn Doom of Scott's plans. The reveal at the end shows us that Medusa is secretly working with Wizard... Damn it! This is a series that I would drop without a second thought... If it would get bad! Instead, I find myself enjoying this series, when I know I shouldn't! If I'm being honest, I can see myself dropping F4 before I drop this title... How weird is that! Score: 8 out of 10.
Hey crew, JT here with two reviews for the BOTR post so we can end things on a good note. So here are my reviews for Scarlet Spidey and Morbius, The Living Vampire.
Scarlet Spider #15: This issue featured Aracely running from Los Lobos, but she's eventually caught by the sibling Werewolves. Before they can do anything, a blood thirsty, six eyed, freaky looking Kaine shows up and engages Los Lobos. Kaine manages to rip out the brother's eye, and stabs him through the chest with his... spider...leg or whatever their called. He then pulls a Superboy Prime and rips the Werewolves arm off, causing the sister to pick up her brother and run. Kaine goes to attack Aracely but she somehow connects with him, through her powers and I guess Kaine's memories, and he sheds his horrible skin and is himself again, with a long beard and shaggy hair. From there, Aracely helps Kaine get back to his normal self by cutting his hair, going to get his tattoos redone since they've been removed due to his full body healing, and he gets back to his life, but now he knows he doesn't have to wonder if he's a monster, he definitely is. From there we see Julia Carpenter, still in her coma, whisper Kaine's name, as well as see someone else saying The Culling will soon began. No one tell Marvel that DC did a story called The Culling like a year ago. The issue comes to a close with Aracely being possessed and the Male Werewolf being killed by some old dude with a beard. (This review was way longer than I expected.) So basically, this entire story was pointless, everything is how it was before except now Kaine has given into The Other, knows he's a monster...for now, and Aracely is possessed. Score: 4/10
Morbius The Living Vampire #3: In the last issue we saw Morbius bite a chunk out of Noah the gangster's neck. He's immediately shot at but dodges the bullets until Noah's hideous girlfriend shoots Morbius in the neck. Once Morbius wakes up from...being shot in the neck, she tells Morbius to use his doctor skills to save her boyfriend or she's going to torture Morbius and kill his friends, a girl by the name of Becky, and the kid she babysits, Henry. Morbius agrees to help and fights his blood lust to do so, but Noah wakes up halfway through and attacks, so Morbius slams him down and kills him in the process. Oops! The issue ends with Noah's ugly girlfriend entering the room to see Noah dead then yelling that Morbius and his friends are dead!!!! Well...this issue was not as strong as the first two. Nothing happened in this issue either really, it was kind of filler. Morbius bit a chunk out of a dude's neck in the last issue, he tried to save him and he died in this one. So you literally could've skipped this issue if issue two ends with Morbius biting Noah and issue four starts with Noah being dead. So... yeah. Score: 3/10
And that's it for us, thanks for dropping by the check out the best of the rest post for this week, and be sure to check out my review tomorrow for Injustice: Gods Among Us #3. On behalf of my buddy X, and myself of course, this is JT, signing off!
Fantastic Four #6AU: This was the obligatory Age of Ultron tie-in issue. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "But X, aren't the F4 doing the whole Swiss Family Robinson thing? How are they involved in this event?!" To that I respond, "Marvel wants money!!! And event crossovers equal cash!" Basically, Black Panther somehow contacts Reed through space and time and tells him that Ultron had attacked the Earth. The F4 leave the kids behind and return to Earth, where they are killed one by one by Ultron's droids. Only Sue survives, and she ends up with the resistance. I actually enjoyed this issue. But I think it was the Ultron fan in me who enjoyed this and not really the F4 fan. I can't help but enjoy a comic that sees Ultron masquerade as Dr. Doom, and then proceed to kill the Thing. Yeah, there were some holes and the F4 being a part of this event felt a bit forced, but still, I liked it. Score: 8 out of 10.
Teen Titans #18: Ah Scott Lobdell... This issue opens with five pages of Tim Drake crying over Damian Wayne's death. He literally cried for FIVE straight pages! I don't know when Tim and Damian became so close, but there ya go. From there, Tim heads to the Titans and complains about them not doing enough to protect teenage heroes. To that end, Tim and the Titans attack the Suicide Squad since Amanda Waller had captured a teenager with powers. But wait, it turns out Waller did no such thing, and that Tim only went after the Squad to make a mysterious deal with Waller. And then Trigon flew through the sky on a three-headed horse. Really! I don't even know what to make of this series anymore... Last issue Tim was possessed by Raven and making out with his female teammates left and right. This issue Tim wasn't possessed by Raven... Maybe... Unless he was when he was with Waller... Possibly... So by this point, I have NO clue as to whether Tim is possessed or not... But Trigon DID fly around on a three headed horse. Of that I am sure. Score: 6 out of 10.
I, Vampire #18: This was the penultimate issue of this series. All I can really say about this is that it looks like Tig finally died(YAY!!!) and Mary came back from the dead. Again. This issue just flat-out didn't click for me. Of course it didn't help that Constantine-lite was hanging around. So yeah, sadly, I didn't enjoy this one. Still, I'll miss this series when it's gone, because the early issues were great. Score: 4 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #7: The "team"(and I use that term as loosely as possible) are now on-board a submarine. Flash wants to mutiny against Rulk because Rulk hasn't been forthcoming with information... Or something. Rulk beats everybody up, and then tells them that he had been using them to clean up areas where there were gamma bombs. But wait! It turns out Rulk was wrong and that somebody has been creating gamma batteries instead of bombs. Meh. I'm giving this series two more issues, if it doesn't improve? I'm done. Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
A+X #6: Two stories in this comic, as usual. The first one stars Wolverine and Captain Marvel. They're playing poker, they argue a bit, a villain attacks, but ends up joining the game. The second story gives us Thing and Gambit beating the Yancy Street gang in poker... Yup, two stories, two tales about poker... And yes, that is indeed very weird. I enjoyed the Wolvie/Marvel story more out of the two, but I can't say I'd recommend either story unless you're a hardcore fan of the four characters here. Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
FF #5: Hey look, it's another FF comic! In the same post! Madness!! This comic has nothing to do with the Age of Ultron storyline, which is especially weird, since it would make more sense for this team to deal with Ultron since they're still on Earth and all... Anyway, Old Torch goes crazy after some guy touches his coat and tries to torch a neighborhood. Scott and the gang end up defeating him and let Herbie watch over him. Alex heads to Latveria to seemingly warn Doom of Scott's plans. The reveal at the end shows us that Medusa is secretly working with Wizard... Damn it! This is a series that I would drop without a second thought... If it would get bad! Instead, I find myself enjoying this series, when I know I shouldn't! If I'm being honest, I can see myself dropping F4 before I drop this title... How weird is that! Score: 8 out of 10.
Hey crew, JT here with two reviews for the BOTR post so we can end things on a good note. So here are my reviews for Scarlet Spidey and Morbius, The Living Vampire.
Scarlet Spider #15: This issue featured Aracely running from Los Lobos, but she's eventually caught by the sibling Werewolves. Before they can do anything, a blood thirsty, six eyed, freaky looking Kaine shows up and engages Los Lobos. Kaine manages to rip out the brother's eye, and stabs him through the chest with his... spider...leg or whatever their called. He then pulls a Superboy Prime and rips the Werewolves arm off, causing the sister to pick up her brother and run. Kaine goes to attack Aracely but she somehow connects with him, through her powers and I guess Kaine's memories, and he sheds his horrible skin and is himself again, with a long beard and shaggy hair. From there, Aracely helps Kaine get back to his normal self by cutting his hair, going to get his tattoos redone since they've been removed due to his full body healing, and he gets back to his life, but now he knows he doesn't have to wonder if he's a monster, he definitely is. From there we see Julia Carpenter, still in her coma, whisper Kaine's name, as well as see someone else saying The Culling will soon began. No one tell Marvel that DC did a story called The Culling like a year ago. The issue comes to a close with Aracely being possessed and the Male Werewolf being killed by some old dude with a beard. (This review was way longer than I expected.) So basically, this entire story was pointless, everything is how it was before except now Kaine has given into The Other, knows he's a monster...for now, and Aracely is possessed. Score: 4/10
Morbius The Living Vampire #3: In the last issue we saw Morbius bite a chunk out of Noah the gangster's neck. He's immediately shot at but dodges the bullets until Noah's hideous girlfriend shoots Morbius in the neck. Once Morbius wakes up from...being shot in the neck, she tells Morbius to use his doctor skills to save her boyfriend or she's going to torture Morbius and kill his friends, a girl by the name of Becky, and the kid she babysits, Henry. Morbius agrees to help and fights his blood lust to do so, but Noah wakes up halfway through and attacks, so Morbius slams him down and kills him in the process. Oops! The issue ends with Noah's ugly girlfriend entering the room to see Noah dead then yelling that Morbius and his friends are dead!!!! Well...this issue was not as strong as the first two. Nothing happened in this issue either really, it was kind of filler. Morbius bit a chunk out of a dude's neck in the last issue, he tried to save him and he died in this one. So you literally could've skipped this issue if issue two ends with Morbius biting Noah and issue four starts with Noah being dead. So... yeah. Score: 3/10
And that's it for us, thanks for dropping by the check out the best of the rest post for this week, and be sure to check out my review tomorrow for Injustice: Gods Among Us #3. On behalf of my buddy X, and myself of course, this is JT, signing off!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
FF #3
Well, with how horrible the past two comic books I've reviewed tonight have been, this comic almost HAS to be better than them! I mean the only way it could get worse is if this issue was written in backwards pig-Latin. And gave me a paper-cut... So on that note, let's see just what we have here...
FF #3
Summary: We find out right off the bat that they guy who popped up at the end of the last issue was a much older version of the Human Torch. He goes on to tell the FF that he had been running through space and time trying to get home after the Fantastic Four were attacked by a combination of Dr. Doom, Kang the Conqueror and Annihilus... All in the same body! Doom the Annihilating Conqueror I LOVE that name!!) wound up killing(probably) the rest of the Four, which is why Johnny wanted the portal at the top of the Baxter Building closed, so Doom the Annihilating Conqueror wouldn't be able to get through. Realizing that he needed the full FF together to deal with this, Ant-Man(Scott Lang) heads to Darla Deering's apartment to try to convince her to come back to the team. The two end up getting hassled by the Yancy Street Gang(well, she IS going by Ms. Thing), which leads to Darla deciding to head back to the team. This issue ends with Scott deciding that the best thing to do was to eliminate Doom from human existence.
Thoughts: Well, this was WAY better than the other crap I've read tonight! This was a good little issue. There was nothing overly fancy about it, we learned about older Johnny, we get Darla back on the team, and Scott decides to end Doom. That last part, Scott deciding to go after Doom, is the main reason I picked this series up. After Doom killed Scott's daughter, Stature, in Children's Crusade, I've been eagerly anticipating Scott's eventual meeting with Doom. This issue brought us a step closer to said meeting. So while nothing huge happened here, we did lay the foundation for future stories(get it? "foundation" "future"??), and got solid writing and good art. And really? That's good enough for me.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Why can they only say the name of their street? Is there something wrong with them?
FF #3
Summary: We find out right off the bat that they guy who popped up at the end of the last issue was a much older version of the Human Torch. He goes on to tell the FF that he had been running through space and time trying to get home after the Fantastic Four were attacked by a combination of Dr. Doom, Kang the Conqueror and Annihilus... All in the same body! Doom the Annihilating Conqueror I LOVE that name!!) wound up killing(probably) the rest of the Four, which is why Johnny wanted the portal at the top of the Baxter Building closed, so Doom the Annihilating Conqueror wouldn't be able to get through. Realizing that he needed the full FF together to deal with this, Ant-Man(Scott Lang) heads to Darla Deering's apartment to try to convince her to come back to the team. The two end up getting hassled by the Yancy Street Gang(well, she IS going by Ms. Thing), which leads to Darla deciding to head back to the team. This issue ends with Scott deciding that the best thing to do was to eliminate Doom from human existence.
Thoughts: Well, this was WAY better than the other crap I've read tonight! This was a good little issue. There was nothing overly fancy about it, we learned about older Johnny, we get Darla back on the team, and Scott decides to end Doom. That last part, Scott deciding to go after Doom, is the main reason I picked this series up. After Doom killed Scott's daughter, Stature, in Children's Crusade, I've been eagerly anticipating Scott's eventual meeting with Doom. This issue brought us a step closer to said meeting. So while nothing huge happened here, we did lay the foundation for future stories(get it? "foundation" "future"??), and got solid writing and good art. And really? That's good enough for me.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Why can they only say the name of their street? Is there something wrong with them?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Birds of Prey #14 & FF #6
And we've made it to the end of the comic book week(which runs from Wednesday to Tuesday in case you were wondering)! Miraculously, I managed to keep my word and delivered every review on the day I had promised I would! How about a round of applause for YOUR Comic Book Malefactor?? No? Meh, whatever. Here are the final two new comics from last week's pile, before I bring home what I'm sure will be an obscene amount of comics tomorrow to start this mess all over again.
Birds of Prey #14:
Summary: This is one of those comic books that mixes the past with the present, making for a tough review... First I'll deal with the stuff from the past, 1950 Argentina to be precise. The Phantom Lady, Black Canary(that would be the first one, Dinah's mother) and Lady Blackhawk are escorted to a small village in Argentina by a US army officer with orders to hunt down a Nazi war criminal who was hiding in the village. Upon arriving, the foursome are met by a mess of kids with guns, dressed up like little soldiers. The army officer winds up getting shot in the head saving Phantom Lady, ending the flashback. The story in the present details Phantom Lady, Lady Blackhawk and Black Canary(the current one) visiting a VA hospital, meeting up with the old soldiers. Eventually Phantom Lady meets up with an old soldier with advanced Alzheimer's, and as she was passing by, he grabs her arm and stares menacingly at her. Eventually Phantom Lady gets free and continues making the rounds. Once Phantom Lady is out of sight, the Alzheimer's patient gets up and sends a message in Morse Code to somebody... Later on, Barbara Gordon invites Blackhawk, Phantom Lady, Canary, Huntress and Manhunter out to dinner. Phantom Lady excuses herself and heads to the bathroom, getting jumped by a mess of guys with electrical powers. Wondering what was taking Phantom Lady so long, Blackhawk heads into the bathroom, and it's second verse, same as the first. Before being knocked out though, Blackhawk manages to scream, alerting the other women that there was danger. By the time they reach the bathroom though, there's no sign of the attackers, Phantom Lady or Blackhawk. This issue ends with Phantom Lady and Blackhawk waking up in some sort of wacky laboratory, with Blackhawk realizing that the men who captured her had something to do with the mission from 1950.
Thoughts: Yeah, this comic was a bit confusing, especially since we never actually find out what happened in Argentina in 1950, but I found myself enjoying the pacing of the story. It moved along briskly, and I'm sure everything will come together next issue. Plus there was no Hawk or Dove, making this the best issue of BoP since the series relaunched! Huzzah!! The bottom line here is that this was a slightly confusing, but otherwise perfectly acceptable comic book.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Look out, it's a bunch of creepy kids with guns!!!
FF #6:
Summary: We begin by recapping how Black Bolt died after the War of Kings. Yes, died. From there we flashback to a few weeks ago and wander aimlessly around the capital of the Kree empire, Hala, seeing what the Inhumans were up to. Then we flashback AGAIN, this time a few thousand years back to Hala, where some Kree scientists are telling the Supreme Intelligence about how well their genetic experiments on other alien races were going. The Supreme Intelligence begins to look over the information being fed to him, with most of the scientists within him applauding the info they were seeing. However, a religious leader steps forward and warns the Supreme Intelligence that he was noticing something the scientists hadn't realized, that one of the genetically modified beings would be capable of destroying the Supreme Intelligence several thousand years into the future. After conferring with the voices in his head, the Supreme Intelligence orders the genetic programs stopped and the scientists behind them killed. Before the last scientist is killed, he manages to destroy the data of where all of these experiments were taking place, leaving the Supreme Intelligence with only 94% of the worlds. From there, the Supreme Intelligence orders all of the genetically modified beings killed lest they trouble him someday. We then go somewhere else where we see Black Bolt floating around in space with his eyes suddenly lit up.
Thoughts: Well, I think this'll be the issue where Hickman's Fantastic Four run jumped the shark for me. This was easily the worst comic book I've read in quite some time actually... And that's really saying something, because I read A LOT of comic books in a month! First off, I hate Black Bolt. So that should help some of you understand where I'm coming from here. On top of that, I REALLY like Vulcan... So yeah, you should be able to put one plus one together on where my anger is coming from... Black Bolt and Vulcan died together in the War of Kings mini-series. Now Black Bolt is suddenly alive again? I call bullshit. And there didn't even seem to be any reason for Black Bolt coming back to life! He just sort of wakes up! What the hell is that?! I'm going to have to think hard about whether or not to pick up the next issue of this, thus far, terrible series. I don't know, maybe I'll just wait until the Human Torch comes back before I start collecting the FF's adventures again. If Hickman is still writing it, at least we know how Johnny will come back. He'll inexplicably return to life in the Negative Zone one day, floating peacefully in the sky...
Score: 0 out of 10. Yup, the dreaded imperfect score... Take a bow, FF #6, you've earned it!
Yeah, because Black Bolt will somehow make this series suck less.
Birds of Prey #14:
Summary: This is one of those comic books that mixes the past with the present, making for a tough review... First I'll deal with the stuff from the past, 1950 Argentina to be precise. The Phantom Lady, Black Canary(that would be the first one, Dinah's mother) and Lady Blackhawk are escorted to a small village in Argentina by a US army officer with orders to hunt down a Nazi war criminal who was hiding in the village. Upon arriving, the foursome are met by a mess of kids with guns, dressed up like little soldiers. The army officer winds up getting shot in the head saving Phantom Lady, ending the flashback. The story in the present details Phantom Lady, Lady Blackhawk and Black Canary(the current one) visiting a VA hospital, meeting up with the old soldiers. Eventually Phantom Lady meets up with an old soldier with advanced Alzheimer's, and as she was passing by, he grabs her arm and stares menacingly at her. Eventually Phantom Lady gets free and continues making the rounds. Once Phantom Lady is out of sight, the Alzheimer's patient gets up and sends a message in Morse Code to somebody... Later on, Barbara Gordon invites Blackhawk, Phantom Lady, Canary, Huntress and Manhunter out to dinner. Phantom Lady excuses herself and heads to the bathroom, getting jumped by a mess of guys with electrical powers. Wondering what was taking Phantom Lady so long, Blackhawk heads into the bathroom, and it's second verse, same as the first. Before being knocked out though, Blackhawk manages to scream, alerting the other women that there was danger. By the time they reach the bathroom though, there's no sign of the attackers, Phantom Lady or Blackhawk. This issue ends with Phantom Lady and Blackhawk waking up in some sort of wacky laboratory, with Blackhawk realizing that the men who captured her had something to do with the mission from 1950.
Thoughts: Yeah, this comic was a bit confusing, especially since we never actually find out what happened in Argentina in 1950, but I found myself enjoying the pacing of the story. It moved along briskly, and I'm sure everything will come together next issue. Plus there was no Hawk or Dove, making this the best issue of BoP since the series relaunched! Huzzah!! The bottom line here is that this was a slightly confusing, but otherwise perfectly acceptable comic book.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Look out, it's a bunch of creepy kids with guns!!!FF #6:
Summary: We begin by recapping how Black Bolt died after the War of Kings. Yes, died. From there we flashback to a few weeks ago and wander aimlessly around the capital of the Kree empire, Hala, seeing what the Inhumans were up to. Then we flashback AGAIN, this time a few thousand years back to Hala, where some Kree scientists are telling the Supreme Intelligence about how well their genetic experiments on other alien races were going. The Supreme Intelligence begins to look over the information being fed to him, with most of the scientists within him applauding the info they were seeing. However, a religious leader steps forward and warns the Supreme Intelligence that he was noticing something the scientists hadn't realized, that one of the genetically modified beings would be capable of destroying the Supreme Intelligence several thousand years into the future. After conferring with the voices in his head, the Supreme Intelligence orders the genetic programs stopped and the scientists behind them killed. Before the last scientist is killed, he manages to destroy the data of where all of these experiments were taking place, leaving the Supreme Intelligence with only 94% of the worlds. From there, the Supreme Intelligence orders all of the genetically modified beings killed lest they trouble him someday. We then go somewhere else where we see Black Bolt floating around in space with his eyes suddenly lit up.
Thoughts: Well, I think this'll be the issue where Hickman's Fantastic Four run jumped the shark for me. This was easily the worst comic book I've read in quite some time actually... And that's really saying something, because I read A LOT of comic books in a month! First off, I hate Black Bolt. So that should help some of you understand where I'm coming from here. On top of that, I REALLY like Vulcan... So yeah, you should be able to put one plus one together on where my anger is coming from... Black Bolt and Vulcan died together in the War of Kings mini-series. Now Black Bolt is suddenly alive again? I call bullshit. And there didn't even seem to be any reason for Black Bolt coming back to life! He just sort of wakes up! What the hell is that?! I'm going to have to think hard about whether or not to pick up the next issue of this, thus far, terrible series. I don't know, maybe I'll just wait until the Human Torch comes back before I start collecting the FF's adventures again. If Hickman is still writing it, at least we know how Johnny will come back. He'll inexplicably return to life in the Negative Zone one day, floating peacefully in the sky...
Score: 0 out of 10. Yup, the dreaded imperfect score... Take a bow, FF #6, you've earned it!
Yeah, because Black Bolt will somehow make this series suck less.
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Iron Age #1 & FF #5
We head back to the Marvel Universe to take a look at the first issue of the Iron Age mini-series event and the latest installment of FF. One of these books was thisclose to a perfect score... If you're curious as to which one, read on!
Iron Age #1(of 3):
Summary: With the Earth destroyed in the present thanks to the machinations of Dr. Birch, it's up to a time displaced Tony Stark to try to undo the damage to the present, starting in the past. To that end, Tony needs to find several pieces of the time platform which brought him to the past and figures what better place to look for help than from his younger self... Unfortunately, Tony's younger self is in the middle of his raging alcoholic stage, and can offer no help to his older self. Disgusted by his drunken younger counterpart, Tony grabs a spare Iron Man outfit and flies off towards Avengers Mansion to seek help from his Avengers teammates. Tony enters the mansion and comes across several of his former teammates and asks to talk to Captain America and Thor. The team points Tony to the meeting room, where Cap, Thor and Wasp were discussing what to do with Tony in light of his recent(for them) alcohol-driven behavior. Tony is unprepared for the shock of seeing the Wasp alive again, and winds up falling over since he wasn't used to piloting his older, clunkier armor. Tony gets up and starts to tell the trio of Avengers that he was a future version of Tony Stark and he needed help in saving the future... Can you guess what the three Avengers think after hearing that? Figuring Tony was on a drunken bender again, Thor tells him that he wouldn't allow Tony to run around in his armor, possibly endangering others. Realizing he was in major trouble, and not wanting to waste any time being imprisoned by his teammates, Tony decides to fight his way out of the Mansion, BARELY succeeding. With no help coming from the Avengers, Tony tries Reed Richards at the Baxter Building, but learns Reed was out exploring another dimension. Wracking his brain for a genius to help him fix the time platform that brought him to the past, Tony decides to meet with Hank Pym, who had left the Avengers during this time due to personal reasons... Reasons that included Tony shacking up with his ex-wife, Wasp! Needless to say, Pym isn't happy to see Tony, but Tony manages to convince Pym that he was actually a future version of Tony Stark, not the current drunken gigolo version. Pym reluctantly decides to help Tony search for the broken time platform components, and their search leads back to New York... And Ultron!! It seems that Ultron has discovered the piece of the time platform and is in a pitched battle with the Avengers since Ultron wanted to use the piece of the platform to head back to the dawn of humanity and kill the first humans, thereby destroying all of humanity... That is SO awesome! Tony and Pym arrive on the scene and join the battle, and thanks to Tony's knowledge of this particular version of Ultron(this is Tony's past and all), Tony is able to guide Pym through Ultron's body, allowing Pym to retrieve the piece of the time platform and destroy Ultron from the inside out. From there, Pym hands the piece of the time platform over to Tony, and Tony is suddenly shunted through time again, since the time platform was attempting to reassemble itself. Tony now finds himself in England, and has to take on the STRIKE organization in order to reach the next piece of time platform. Eventually Tony convinces Capt. Britain to help him, and the two heroes manage to retrieve the piece of platform, which sends Tony into the timestream again, ending this issue.
Thoughts: Can you tell which story I enjoyed more? First things first. The Avengers story was written by Christos Gage, while the Captain Britain story was done by Rob Williams. On top of that, I am a HUGE Avengers fan(especially the old school roster in this issue), and have never been that fond of Capt. Britain, who has always come across as whiny, arrogant and annoying to me. Now, if this issue only contained the Avengers story, it's an EASY perfect score. Probably one of the easiest perfect scores I've given out all year. The story was PURE 80's Avengers perfection. I mean you can tell Gage KNOWS those Avengers characters! It was literally like picking up one of my old Avengers trades or back issues and reliving a past story! That's how good this issue was! Every character's voice sounded just right. Thor, Cap, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Capt. Marvel, Wasp, even Starfox! I mean I can't compliment Gage's work enough here. Add the AWESOME dialogue between Tony and his younger self, throw in a battle with Ultron(my favorite Avengers villains, fyi), and you have a perfect comic book... Until you reach the second story... I hate to say it, but the second story annoyed me so much that I found myself skipping large portions of it simply so it would end. I don't like Captain Britain. I don't care about STRIKE or whoever this Vixen woman was supposed to be. There was one good moment where Tony came across the unconscious form of a younger Dr. Birch and had to weigh whether he should kill him in the past in order to possibly prevent what Birch does in the future, but that was the only part of the second story I enjoyed. To close this review out all I'm gonna say is this... Christos Gage has been awesome as the writer of Avengers: The Initiative and Avengers Academy... Isn't it about time he gets a shot writing one of the main Avengers series? I know Marvel loves Bendis and all, but damn can Gage write himself some AWESOME Avengers stories!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
I loved EVERYTHING about this page! From Hawkeye's banter with Ultron, to Ultron's plan, to Cap calling Ultron insane.
FF #5:
Summary: Sue confronts Mole Man and Evil Reed #1 at the site of Old Atlantis, and is blasted by Evil Reed #1, since she thought he was her husband. Whoops. While that's going on, Alex Power is getting his arm broken by some of Mole Man's creatures, leaving Spidey to deal with Mole Man's army of creatures. That goes about as well as would be expected(that's to say not very well at all!), and Evil Reed #1 finishes a big ray gun that destroys Old Atlantis, since that helps the Coalition of Evil Reed Richards's's's somehow... I'm still a bit foggy on the details... Anyway, with Old Atlantis destroyed, Evil Reed #1 and Mole Man take off, leaving Sue to contact Namor for help in relocating the now homeless old Atlantians. From there Sue, Alex and Spidey return to the Baxter Building, where Sue voices her displeasure about Reed keeping secrets from her, namely the fact that he knew there were evil alternate versions of himself running amok. From there, the Evil Reeds and Mole Man head to the Forever City and make some sort of a deal with the denizens of the city. Before they can begin working on whatever it is they're working on, Attilan returns to Earth and begins to land at the site of the Forever City. Oh yeah, and leading the Inhumans on Attilan? The supposedly dead Black Bolt.
Thoughts: Boooo! Of all the Fantastic Four's various allies and enemies, I think I dislike the Inhumans the most. I was perfectly fine with Black Bolt being dead, because as I just stated, I don't like the Inhumans. So that page really hurt my enjoyment of this issue. Well that and the fact that I'm still not completely clear on what the Coalition of Evil Reeds are up to... I THINK they're trying to destroy this Earth to get to another dimension or something, but obviously I don't care enough about this storyline to remember what was going on from one issue to the next! Hey, when you read like 60 new comics a month and a zillion back issues, a few small details end up getting forgotten!
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Evil Reed #1's line here pretty much made this issue for me.
Iron Age #1(of 3):
Summary: With the Earth destroyed in the present thanks to the machinations of Dr. Birch, it's up to a time displaced Tony Stark to try to undo the damage to the present, starting in the past. To that end, Tony needs to find several pieces of the time platform which brought him to the past and figures what better place to look for help than from his younger self... Unfortunately, Tony's younger self is in the middle of his raging alcoholic stage, and can offer no help to his older self. Disgusted by his drunken younger counterpart, Tony grabs a spare Iron Man outfit and flies off towards Avengers Mansion to seek help from his Avengers teammates. Tony enters the mansion and comes across several of his former teammates and asks to talk to Captain America and Thor. The team points Tony to the meeting room, where Cap, Thor and Wasp were discussing what to do with Tony in light of his recent(for them) alcohol-driven behavior. Tony is unprepared for the shock of seeing the Wasp alive again, and winds up falling over since he wasn't used to piloting his older, clunkier armor. Tony gets up and starts to tell the trio of Avengers that he was a future version of Tony Stark and he needed help in saving the future... Can you guess what the three Avengers think after hearing that? Figuring Tony was on a drunken bender again, Thor tells him that he wouldn't allow Tony to run around in his armor, possibly endangering others. Realizing he was in major trouble, and not wanting to waste any time being imprisoned by his teammates, Tony decides to fight his way out of the Mansion, BARELY succeeding. With no help coming from the Avengers, Tony tries Reed Richards at the Baxter Building, but learns Reed was out exploring another dimension. Wracking his brain for a genius to help him fix the time platform that brought him to the past, Tony decides to meet with Hank Pym, who had left the Avengers during this time due to personal reasons... Reasons that included Tony shacking up with his ex-wife, Wasp! Needless to say, Pym isn't happy to see Tony, but Tony manages to convince Pym that he was actually a future version of Tony Stark, not the current drunken gigolo version. Pym reluctantly decides to help Tony search for the broken time platform components, and their search leads back to New York... And Ultron!! It seems that Ultron has discovered the piece of the time platform and is in a pitched battle with the Avengers since Ultron wanted to use the piece of the platform to head back to the dawn of humanity and kill the first humans, thereby destroying all of humanity... That is SO awesome! Tony and Pym arrive on the scene and join the battle, and thanks to Tony's knowledge of this particular version of Ultron(this is Tony's past and all), Tony is able to guide Pym through Ultron's body, allowing Pym to retrieve the piece of the time platform and destroy Ultron from the inside out. From there, Pym hands the piece of the time platform over to Tony, and Tony is suddenly shunted through time again, since the time platform was attempting to reassemble itself. Tony now finds himself in England, and has to take on the STRIKE organization in order to reach the next piece of time platform. Eventually Tony convinces Capt. Britain to help him, and the two heroes manage to retrieve the piece of platform, which sends Tony into the timestream again, ending this issue.
Thoughts: Can you tell which story I enjoyed more? First things first. The Avengers story was written by Christos Gage, while the Captain Britain story was done by Rob Williams. On top of that, I am a HUGE Avengers fan(especially the old school roster in this issue), and have never been that fond of Capt. Britain, who has always come across as whiny, arrogant and annoying to me. Now, if this issue only contained the Avengers story, it's an EASY perfect score. Probably one of the easiest perfect scores I've given out all year. The story was PURE 80's Avengers perfection. I mean you can tell Gage KNOWS those Avengers characters! It was literally like picking up one of my old Avengers trades or back issues and reliving a past story! That's how good this issue was! Every character's voice sounded just right. Thor, Cap, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Capt. Marvel, Wasp, even Starfox! I mean I can't compliment Gage's work enough here. Add the AWESOME dialogue between Tony and his younger self, throw in a battle with Ultron(my favorite Avengers villains, fyi), and you have a perfect comic book... Until you reach the second story... I hate to say it, but the second story annoyed me so much that I found myself skipping large portions of it simply so it would end. I don't like Captain Britain. I don't care about STRIKE or whoever this Vixen woman was supposed to be. There was one good moment where Tony came across the unconscious form of a younger Dr. Birch and had to weigh whether he should kill him in the past in order to possibly prevent what Birch does in the future, but that was the only part of the second story I enjoyed. To close this review out all I'm gonna say is this... Christos Gage has been awesome as the writer of Avengers: The Initiative and Avengers Academy... Isn't it about time he gets a shot writing one of the main Avengers series? I know Marvel loves Bendis and all, but damn can Gage write himself some AWESOME Avengers stories!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
I loved EVERYTHING about this page! From Hawkeye's banter with Ultron, to Ultron's plan, to Cap calling Ultron insane.FF #5:
Summary: Sue confronts Mole Man and Evil Reed #1 at the site of Old Atlantis, and is blasted by Evil Reed #1, since she thought he was her husband. Whoops. While that's going on, Alex Power is getting his arm broken by some of Mole Man's creatures, leaving Spidey to deal with Mole Man's army of creatures. That goes about as well as would be expected(that's to say not very well at all!), and Evil Reed #1 finishes a big ray gun that destroys Old Atlantis, since that helps the Coalition of Evil Reed Richards's's's somehow... I'm still a bit foggy on the details... Anyway, with Old Atlantis destroyed, Evil Reed #1 and Mole Man take off, leaving Sue to contact Namor for help in relocating the now homeless old Atlantians. From there Sue, Alex and Spidey return to the Baxter Building, where Sue voices her displeasure about Reed keeping secrets from her, namely the fact that he knew there were evil alternate versions of himself running amok. From there, the Evil Reeds and Mole Man head to the Forever City and make some sort of a deal with the denizens of the city. Before they can begin working on whatever it is they're working on, Attilan returns to Earth and begins to land at the site of the Forever City. Oh yeah, and leading the Inhumans on Attilan? The supposedly dead Black Bolt.
Thoughts: Boooo! Of all the Fantastic Four's various allies and enemies, I think I dislike the Inhumans the most. I was perfectly fine with Black Bolt being dead, because as I just stated, I don't like the Inhumans. So that page really hurt my enjoyment of this issue. Well that and the fact that I'm still not completely clear on what the Coalition of Evil Reeds are up to... I THINK they're trying to destroy this Earth to get to another dimension or something, but obviously I don't care enough about this storyline to remember what was going on from one issue to the next! Hey, when you read like 60 new comics a month and a zillion back issues, a few small details end up getting forgotten!
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Evil Reed #1's line here pretty much made this issue for me.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Mighty Thor #2 & FF #4
Hmm... I really don't have a clever introduction for these two comics... Um, they're both published by Marvel! There, at least I tried...
Mighty Thor #2:
Summary: We kick things off with Thor and Sif attempting to train the Brigade of Realms by having them face off against a Stone Colossus. Unfortunately, the Brigade kind of sucks, which leads to Thor and Sif stepping in to put the Colossus down. Later on, Sif notices that Thor was still favoring the wound he'd received last issue at the World Tree. Thor decides to deal with the wound(which was seeping with strange energy) by ignoring it, figuring it would go away... Probably not the doctor recommended way to deal with the situation, but what can you do? Odin, still acting a bit crazy, places the seed Thor retrieved from the World Tree inside the Destroyer armor for safekeeping, and then makes Heimdall swear that he'd always be loyal to him. From there the Silver Surfer arrives on Earth and heads to Broxton, warning the citizens of the town that their best move was to vacate their homes immediately... Uh-oh... From there the Surfer heads to the site of Asgard and tells Odin that he sensed great power coming from the city(the World Tree seed), and that he wanted to give it to Galactus, since the power would satisfy Galactus's appetite for a while. Odin says nuts to that, so the Surfer gestures at Odin menacingly, indicating that an attack was imminent. The Surfer's attack is interrupted by a blindside attack by Thor, which ends this one.
Thoughts: Well, I loved pretty much everything about this one. From the mystery of Thor's non-healing wound, to Odin acting weird, to the REAL Silver Surfer(not that horrible Greg Pak version) showing up at Asgard, to the impending Thor/Surfer, Thor/Galactus battles, I didn't have a single complaint. I only picked up the first issue of this series on a whim, and boy am I glad I did! I've NEVER been that interested in Thor, but if Matt Fraction keeps up the awesome work, he'll have converted me into a full-fledged Thor fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Ooooo, it's gonna be ON now!
FF #4:
Summary: While Reed Richards and the Council of Doom(roll call: Dr. Doom! Valeria Richards! Nathaniel Richards! The High Evolutionary! Diablo! The Wizard! The Wizard's AIM lackeys! The Mad Thinker!) debate how to deal with the menace of the alternate dimensional EVIL Reeds, Invisible Woman gets a call from Old Atlantis asking for her assistance since a faction of Old Atlantians were making a power grab against the throne. With Thing gone(he stormed away after one of those annoying Future Foundation kids bothered him), Sue decides to head to Old Atlantis with Spider-Man, who was hanging around the Baxter Building eating sandwiches, and Alex Power. The arrival of the Not-So-Fantastic Three helps the rightful rulers of Old Atlantis gain some ground against the revolting parties. However, the revolting Old Atlantians stand around smirking, which causes Alex to throw a hissy fit... Weird... We soon learn that the revolting Old Atlantians were smirking because their allies, the Mole Man and One Of The EVIL Reeds, had arrived to join the battle on their behalf. Sue, having been kept in the dark about the whole, “EVIL Reeds” thing, is shocked to see her “husband” arrive on the scene. And that's where this one leaves off.
Thoughts: Meh. That's pretty much the first thing I thought when I put this issue down. It wasn't actively bad or anything, it just did nothing for me. The Council of Doom parts were kind of boring, especially since it's obvious that Nathaniel knows what needs to be done, making the entire Council itself unnecessary. The parts with Thing bugged me, because I could care less about the FF kids, while Sue's parts were just okay. In other words, meh.
Score: 6 out of 10.
But... But, WHY WOULD THEY BE SMILING?!?!?!?!?!?
Mighty Thor #2:
Summary: We kick things off with Thor and Sif attempting to train the Brigade of Realms by having them face off against a Stone Colossus. Unfortunately, the Brigade kind of sucks, which leads to Thor and Sif stepping in to put the Colossus down. Later on, Sif notices that Thor was still favoring the wound he'd received last issue at the World Tree. Thor decides to deal with the wound(which was seeping with strange energy) by ignoring it, figuring it would go away... Probably not the doctor recommended way to deal with the situation, but what can you do? Odin, still acting a bit crazy, places the seed Thor retrieved from the World Tree inside the Destroyer armor for safekeeping, and then makes Heimdall swear that he'd always be loyal to him. From there the Silver Surfer arrives on Earth and heads to Broxton, warning the citizens of the town that their best move was to vacate their homes immediately... Uh-oh... From there the Surfer heads to the site of Asgard and tells Odin that he sensed great power coming from the city(the World Tree seed), and that he wanted to give it to Galactus, since the power would satisfy Galactus's appetite for a while. Odin says nuts to that, so the Surfer gestures at Odin menacingly, indicating that an attack was imminent. The Surfer's attack is interrupted by a blindside attack by Thor, which ends this one.
Thoughts: Well, I loved pretty much everything about this one. From the mystery of Thor's non-healing wound, to Odin acting weird, to the REAL Silver Surfer(not that horrible Greg Pak version) showing up at Asgard, to the impending Thor/Surfer, Thor/Galactus battles, I didn't have a single complaint. I only picked up the first issue of this series on a whim, and boy am I glad I did! I've NEVER been that interested in Thor, but if Matt Fraction keeps up the awesome work, he'll have converted me into a full-fledged Thor fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Ooooo, it's gonna be ON now!FF #4:
Summary: While Reed Richards and the Council of Doom(roll call: Dr. Doom! Valeria Richards! Nathaniel Richards! The High Evolutionary! Diablo! The Wizard! The Wizard's AIM lackeys! The Mad Thinker!) debate how to deal with the menace of the alternate dimensional EVIL Reeds, Invisible Woman gets a call from Old Atlantis asking for her assistance since a faction of Old Atlantians were making a power grab against the throne. With Thing gone(he stormed away after one of those annoying Future Foundation kids bothered him), Sue decides to head to Old Atlantis with Spider-Man, who was hanging around the Baxter Building eating sandwiches, and Alex Power. The arrival of the Not-So-Fantastic Three helps the rightful rulers of Old Atlantis gain some ground against the revolting parties. However, the revolting Old Atlantians stand around smirking, which causes Alex to throw a hissy fit... Weird... We soon learn that the revolting Old Atlantians were smirking because their allies, the Mole Man and One Of The EVIL Reeds, had arrived to join the battle on their behalf. Sue, having been kept in the dark about the whole, “EVIL Reeds” thing, is shocked to see her “husband” arrive on the scene. And that's where this one leaves off.
Thoughts: Meh. That's pretty much the first thing I thought when I put this issue down. It wasn't actively bad or anything, it just did nothing for me. The Council of Doom parts were kind of boring, especially since it's obvious that Nathaniel knows what needs to be done, making the entire Council itself unnecessary. The parts with Thing bugged me, because I could care less about the FF kids, while Sue's parts were just okay. In other words, meh.
Score: 6 out of 10.
But... But, WHY WOULD THEY BE SMILING?!?!?!?!?!?
Sunday, May 15, 2011
FF #3 & Amazing Spider-Man #660
The two reviews posted here both revolve around the FF... How's that for convenient? It's almost as if I planned on reading and reviewing these comics at the same time...
FF #3:
Summary: This issue begins with the various members of the FF heading out into the world to hand out invitations to their various enemies... Yes, really. It seems that Dr. Doom was calling in the FF's smarter enemies(Roll call! The High Evolutionary, Diablo, The Mad Thinker & The Wizard) and asking them to join him at the Baxter Building to figure out a way to finally defeat Reed... Yes, really. Not suspecting a trap(because these villains are obviously not as smart as they're supposed to be), all of the villains show up and meet with Doom, Reed and Reed's daughter, Valeria, who put all of this into motion. It turns out that Valeria used the portal in Reed's lab to go to the Council of Reed Richards's's's, just as it was being destroyed by the Celestials a few months back. Four alternate Reed's follow Valeria back to the Baxter Building and decide to start a war between those four cities Jonathan Hickman introduced back in the Fantastic Four series for what I'm sure will be some nefarious reason. The Reed's visit the four worlds and manage to convince three of them(Old Atlantis, the Forever City & the Negative Zone) to assist them, while the forth Reed fails to convince the Universal Inhumans due to Centauri telepathy and Dire Wraith... um, tongue-pathy. This issue ends with the three remaining evil Reed's wondering whatever became of Reed #4, but agreeing that he wasn't needed to carry out their agenda.
Thoughts: You know, as I started reading this comic, I figured I was going to hate it... I mean REALLY hate it. Think about it, this issue starts with the FF members heading to the lairs of 3 of their worst enemies(and the High Evolutionary) to hand out invitations to the Baxter Building. That made me start thinking, “If the FF KNOWS where the Wizard(or Thinker or Diablo) is holed up, why the HELL haven't they dropped the hammer on him yet?!?” That just makes no sense. Luckily, that gets glossed over quickly, and the rest of this comic finally tells us why Valeria made that deal with Doom all those months back, not to defeat her father, but to defeat the renegade Reed's. If you can overlook the stupidity of those first few pages, this was a very good comic that starts setting the stage for what I'm expecting will be a HUGE battle between the renegade Reed's and the FF.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Of all the ways to go, having an alien stick it's tongue through my skull would probably rank right near the bottom of the list...
Amazing Spider-Man #660:
Summary: The FF and Secret Six continue their battle from last issue until the Invisible Woman realizes that they were actually only battling the illusion creating Mysterio and Chameleon. Valeria, being smarter than EVERYBODY, goes a step further and realizes that all of Mysterio's henchmen were robots. The FF cut loose on the robots and make quick work of them, while Mysterio and Chameleon manage to escape. It turns out that Dr. Octopus created this entire charade in order to get the FF out of the Baxter Building, so he could break in with the other members of the Secret Six. Octopus manages to steal something from the Baxter Building and escapes before the FF and their kids return. This issue ends with Spidey heading home and meting up with his distraught girlfriend. She asks where he had been, and Spidey makes up a lie that convinces her, at which point they make out.
Thoughts: Meh. That's pretty much all I have to say about this one... The story was okay, but nothing more. It wasn't actively bad, so I really can't complain about it, but it was a BIG step down from the quality of stories that this series had been telling before the FF stuff. Oh well. I'm definitely looking forward to next issue, which is written by Christos Gage and guest stars the Avengers Academy characters.
Score: 7 out of 10.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for those full page pictures.
FF #3:
Summary: This issue begins with the various members of the FF heading out into the world to hand out invitations to their various enemies... Yes, really. It seems that Dr. Doom was calling in the FF's smarter enemies(Roll call! The High Evolutionary, Diablo, The Mad Thinker & The Wizard) and asking them to join him at the Baxter Building to figure out a way to finally defeat Reed... Yes, really. Not suspecting a trap(because these villains are obviously not as smart as they're supposed to be), all of the villains show up and meet with Doom, Reed and Reed's daughter, Valeria, who put all of this into motion. It turns out that Valeria used the portal in Reed's lab to go to the Council of Reed Richards's's's, just as it was being destroyed by the Celestials a few months back. Four alternate Reed's follow Valeria back to the Baxter Building and decide to start a war between those four cities Jonathan Hickman introduced back in the Fantastic Four series for what I'm sure will be some nefarious reason. The Reed's visit the four worlds and manage to convince three of them(Old Atlantis, the Forever City & the Negative Zone) to assist them, while the forth Reed fails to convince the Universal Inhumans due to Centauri telepathy and Dire Wraith... um, tongue-pathy. This issue ends with the three remaining evil Reed's wondering whatever became of Reed #4, but agreeing that he wasn't needed to carry out their agenda.
Thoughts: You know, as I started reading this comic, I figured I was going to hate it... I mean REALLY hate it. Think about it, this issue starts with the FF members heading to the lairs of 3 of their worst enemies(and the High Evolutionary) to hand out invitations to the Baxter Building. That made me start thinking, “If the FF KNOWS where the Wizard(or Thinker or Diablo) is holed up, why the HELL haven't they dropped the hammer on him yet?!?” That just makes no sense. Luckily, that gets glossed over quickly, and the rest of this comic finally tells us why Valeria made that deal with Doom all those months back, not to defeat her father, but to defeat the renegade Reed's. If you can overlook the stupidity of those first few pages, this was a very good comic that starts setting the stage for what I'm expecting will be a HUGE battle between the renegade Reed's and the FF.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Of all the ways to go, having an alien stick it's tongue through my skull would probably rank right near the bottom of the list...Amazing Spider-Man #660:
Summary: The FF and Secret Six continue their battle from last issue until the Invisible Woman realizes that they were actually only battling the illusion creating Mysterio and Chameleon. Valeria, being smarter than EVERYBODY, goes a step further and realizes that all of Mysterio's henchmen were robots. The FF cut loose on the robots and make quick work of them, while Mysterio and Chameleon manage to escape. It turns out that Dr. Octopus created this entire charade in order to get the FF out of the Baxter Building, so he could break in with the other members of the Secret Six. Octopus manages to steal something from the Baxter Building and escapes before the FF and their kids return. This issue ends with Spidey heading home and meting up with his distraught girlfriend. She asks where he had been, and Spidey makes up a lie that convinces her, at which point they make out.
Thoughts: Meh. That's pretty much all I have to say about this one... The story was okay, but nothing more. It wasn't actively bad, so I really can't complain about it, but it was a BIG step down from the quality of stories that this series had been telling before the FF stuff. Oh well. I'm definitely looking forward to next issue, which is written by Christos Gage and guest stars the Avengers Academy characters.
Score: 7 out of 10.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for those full page pictures.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
FF #2 & X-Men #10
FF #2:
Summary: Mr. Fantastic reveals to Thing that Doom was living with them for the time being, which chases Thing(and Dragon Man) to a nearby bar. Reed asks Sue to go after Thing to try to talk some sense into him, and Sue decides to leave, mainly because she didn't want to be in the same building as Doom either. Reed, his father, Spider-Man and all of those annoying kids get together and try to figure out how to fix Doom's brain, with Valeria being the one who comes up with the solution... The solution being to go to Latveria, where Kristoff could be used to give Doom his missing memories back, basically a reversal of the process Doom(or his Doombots actually) had done to Kristoff when they thought Doom was dead. So Reed, brain-addled Doom, Spidey, Reed's father and Valeria go to Latveria, where Kristoff is all too happy to go along with the plan... Um, okay. Everything goes according to plan, and the only real drama is the one split-second when Reed has the chance to either purge Doom's memories or transfer them. Being a do-gooder, Reed transfers the memories instead of, you know, ending the threat of Doom in the most humane way possible. With his memories restored, Doom reveals that he had made a deal with Valeria a while back, and was a man of his word. That deal? For Doom to defeat Reed.
Thoughts: This comic left me with quite the dilemma... Usually when I finish reading something I immediately give it score, that way I'd have that number prepared for when I type up the review. With this comic, for the life of me, I just couldn't decide on a score... I mean, I knew I wasn't going to give this comic anything under a 7(which is pretty much my score for a good, perfectly acceptable comic), but I wasn't sure if this comic should have been in the 8's, since that's reserved for comics I feel were better than average. This comic was just sort of there. It was nothing we really haven't seen/read a million times before. Unnamed Villain has some sort of malady. Unnamed Hero has to decide on whether or not he should help Unnamed Villain. Unnamed Hero(sometimes with some help from Unnamed Family Member/Friend/Ally) finally decides to help fix Unnamed Villain, at which point the fixed Unnamed Villain moves to attack Unnamed Hero. Just replace Unnamed Hero with Reed, Unnamed Villain with Doom, and Unnamed Family Member with Valeria, and you've got this comic. Should Reed have helped Doom? NO! When given the chance to purge Doom's memories from both Kristoff and Doom's mind, should he have? YES! Does he? NO! So now all of the terrible things Doom does in the future can be directly attributed to Reed not pulling the plug on Uncle Victor's brains.
Score: 7 out of 10.
This went on for TWO pages!!!
X-Men #10:
Summary: With Wolverine, Storm, and Gambit turned into giant lizard-like creatures thanks to Dark Beast's machine, it's up to The Whore and Spider-Man to figure out a way to reverse the process before they're torn apart by The Whore's feral teammates. Spidey tries to come up with this long-winded way of fixing the X-Men(creating and then rigging up a device to counter the waves that were responsible for changing the X-Men), while the Whore wants to take a more practical approach... Smash the machine with a wrench. Hey, that would work too! The lizard X-Men attack the duo, and Spidey decides to hold the lizards off while the Whore went back to the machine and made with the smashing. Upon finding the machine, the Whore is confronted by Dark Beast and his lizard assistant who toss her around the lab, but allow her the chance to free the Lizard, who had been caught and experimented on by Dark Beast, and was none too happy about that fact. Lizard smashes Dark Beast's lizard making machine, which frees the X-Men(and all of Dark Beast's other lizard experiments) from their lizard-like states. Lizard then smashes Dark Beast over the head with his tail, and warns him to never step foot in his sewer domain again, or else. By this point a very beaten up Spidey, along with the X-Men arrive on the scene and help the Whore take Dark Beast into custody. Back on Crazy Mutie Island, Lord Summers gloats, I guess just to make me deduct a 1/2 point from the final score...
Thoughts: Man, this storyline really reminded me just how awesome Dark Beast is. It also made me want to pull out the Age of Apocalypse x-over again... I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed this entire storyline. Too bad I'll be dropping this series since Yost is taking it over... Oh well. Hopefully he leaves after one storyline and Victor Gischler comes back, because Gischler was really starting to hit his stride in this series...
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Yes, Dark Beast IS awesome.
Summary: Mr. Fantastic reveals to Thing that Doom was living with them for the time being, which chases Thing(and Dragon Man) to a nearby bar. Reed asks Sue to go after Thing to try to talk some sense into him, and Sue decides to leave, mainly because she didn't want to be in the same building as Doom either. Reed, his father, Spider-Man and all of those annoying kids get together and try to figure out how to fix Doom's brain, with Valeria being the one who comes up with the solution... The solution being to go to Latveria, where Kristoff could be used to give Doom his missing memories back, basically a reversal of the process Doom(or his Doombots actually) had done to Kristoff when they thought Doom was dead. So Reed, brain-addled Doom, Spidey, Reed's father and Valeria go to Latveria, where Kristoff is all too happy to go along with the plan... Um, okay. Everything goes according to plan, and the only real drama is the one split-second when Reed has the chance to either purge Doom's memories or transfer them. Being a do-gooder, Reed transfers the memories instead of, you know, ending the threat of Doom in the most humane way possible. With his memories restored, Doom reveals that he had made a deal with Valeria a while back, and was a man of his word. That deal? For Doom to defeat Reed.
Thoughts: This comic left me with quite the dilemma... Usually when I finish reading something I immediately give it score, that way I'd have that number prepared for when I type up the review. With this comic, for the life of me, I just couldn't decide on a score... I mean, I knew I wasn't going to give this comic anything under a 7(which is pretty much my score for a good, perfectly acceptable comic), but I wasn't sure if this comic should have been in the 8's, since that's reserved for comics I feel were better than average. This comic was just sort of there. It was nothing we really haven't seen/read a million times before. Unnamed Villain has some sort of malady. Unnamed Hero has to decide on whether or not he should help Unnamed Villain. Unnamed Hero(sometimes with some help from Unnamed Family Member/Friend/Ally) finally decides to help fix Unnamed Villain, at which point the fixed Unnamed Villain moves to attack Unnamed Hero. Just replace Unnamed Hero with Reed, Unnamed Villain with Doom, and Unnamed Family Member with Valeria, and you've got this comic. Should Reed have helped Doom? NO! When given the chance to purge Doom's memories from both Kristoff and Doom's mind, should he have? YES! Does he? NO! So now all of the terrible things Doom does in the future can be directly attributed to Reed not pulling the plug on Uncle Victor's brains.
Score: 7 out of 10.
This went on for TWO pages!!!X-Men #10:
Summary: With Wolverine, Storm, and Gambit turned into giant lizard-like creatures thanks to Dark Beast's machine, it's up to The Whore and Spider-Man to figure out a way to reverse the process before they're torn apart by The Whore's feral teammates. Spidey tries to come up with this long-winded way of fixing the X-Men(creating and then rigging up a device to counter the waves that were responsible for changing the X-Men), while the Whore wants to take a more practical approach... Smash the machine with a wrench. Hey, that would work too! The lizard X-Men attack the duo, and Spidey decides to hold the lizards off while the Whore went back to the machine and made with the smashing. Upon finding the machine, the Whore is confronted by Dark Beast and his lizard assistant who toss her around the lab, but allow her the chance to free the Lizard, who had been caught and experimented on by Dark Beast, and was none too happy about that fact. Lizard smashes Dark Beast's lizard making machine, which frees the X-Men(and all of Dark Beast's other lizard experiments) from their lizard-like states. Lizard then smashes Dark Beast over the head with his tail, and warns him to never step foot in his sewer domain again, or else. By this point a very beaten up Spidey, along with the X-Men arrive on the scene and help the Whore take Dark Beast into custody. Back on Crazy Mutie Island, Lord Summers gloats, I guess just to make me deduct a 1/2 point from the final score...
Thoughts: Man, this storyline really reminded me just how awesome Dark Beast is. It also made me want to pull out the Age of Apocalypse x-over again... I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed this entire storyline. Too bad I'll be dropping this series since Yost is taking it over... Oh well. Hopefully he leaves after one storyline and Victor Gischler comes back, because Gischler was really starting to hit his stride in this series...
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Yes, Dark Beast IS awesome.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Quick Hits: 3/26/11
Justice League of America #55:
Summary: This comic was actually telling two stories, the regular storyline that had been going on with Eclipso, and the Reign of Doomsday stuff. First let's cover the Eclipso portions. Eclipso and his army of possessed shadow characters attack the Emerald City on the Moon in an effort to possess Jade. The JLA's forces are split(we'll get to that later with the Doomsday stuff), which basically leaves Donna Troy and Jade alone against Eclipso's forces, since Jesse Quick was forced to rush the paralyzed Alan Scott to safety. Eclipso's forces are too much, and in the end he manages to possess Jade, just as he planned. The other half of this story starts in the remains of New Krypton. Supergirl had asked Batman(Dick Grayson) to remove the shattered planet from the Earth's orbit so she could try to forget about her loss, when Green Lantern Boodikka arrives to survey the damage for the Guardians. Doomsday chooses this moment to attack, tearing into Boodikka and destroying Batman's spaceship. Luckily for Bats, he's still safe in his spacesuit, but is pretty much helpless. Supergirl moves in to attack Doomsday, but Doomsday seems WAY more interested in Boodikka than SG. Bats figures Doomsday was going to kill Boodikka and then SG, so he tells Starman to get to the location to spirit the two women away. Instead, like an idiot, Starman decides to attack Doomsday, which does little more than slightly distract Doomsday. Doomsday knocks Starman away, and Bats takes that opportunity to teleport SG and Boodikka to the JLA Watchtower. Doomsday quickly follows, and this issue concludes with Cyborg Superman rising from Boodikka, which is apparently where he chose to hide after his most recent defeat.
Thoughts: Hey, this was yet another good issue of this series! I mean two months ago I was primed and ready to cut my ties with this series and drop it, but last issue helped change my mind, and this issue proved that I made the right choice. The Doomsday stuff was very well done, and it leads in to the Superman/Batman annual where Doomsday will be facing Cyborg Supes. The Eclipso stuff was also very good, even though the Doomsday story took center stage. Since I enjoyed both stories, there's really not much to complain about... Well except for the fact that Saint Walker showed up in this issue for absolutely NO reason... Let's PLEASE keep Chairman Johns' garbage in Chairman Johns' comics.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Yeah, my money's on Doomsday in a battle between the Big D and Starman.
FF #1:
Summary: We get started with Reed listening to a video recording from the now deceased Human Torch. In the video, Johnny tells Reed to keep fighting the good fight, and to have Spidey replace him on the team. Spidey arrives at the Baxter Building and is greeted by Sue, who takes him around, showing him the sights. Spidey meets some of the freaky kids Reed has there, and bumps into the Thing, who completely blows Spidey off. Sue presents Spidey with his FF uniform, and the foursome are immediately called to go to the PAVLOV facility, which was under attack by AIM agents. The FF arrive on the scene and attack the AIM agents, but AIM has managed to free the Wizard from captivity, teleporting away with him while he spewed threats at Reed... Oh, and as a total aside that has NOTHING to do with the story, I had to laugh at the fact that the Wizard was nude in his prison cell when the AIM agents broke him out, and all they gave him was that dumb-ass helmet he wears, which Wizard went and put on his head! You'd think he'd have placed the helmet in a more... strategic area, but no, he stood there with his helmet on his head, wearing nothing else while he yelled at Reed... Back to the story, Reed heads back to the Baxter Building and is met by his daughter Valeria and his father, Nathaniel. Valeria tells Reed that she made a deal with Dr. Doom which infuriates Reed, but Reed's father, being the resident time traveler, tells Reed that Valeria did exactly what she was supposed to do. This issue ends with Reed, Valeria and Nathaniel meeting up with Doom in the bowels of the Baxter Building to welcome him into the Future Foundation.
Thoughts: This was NOT what I was expecting here... I mean, I don't really know what I was expecting, but this most certainly wasn't it. Everything in this comic seemed slightly off... Spidey joining the team was done with absolutely NO fanfare, Thing's mood swings were just all over the place(one minute he's moping in his room, the next he's eating dinner with everybody else), the stuff with Wizard made me laugh, and Doom joining the FF? Um yeah, like that doesn't have dumb idea written ALL over it! I honestly expected this issue to take the FF in a drastically new direction, and all it did was change their costumes. I can honestly say this issue left me pretty disappointed.
Score: 6 out of 10.
It's mopin' time!!!
Deadpool #34:
Summary: Deadpool is still on a mission to kill the rogue moon, Id. You see, Ol' Pool was hired by some aliens to kill Id since Id snorted their homeworld... Hey, what do you want, it's a Deadpool comic! The angry aliens want to sacrifice a small farming world to distract Id, but Pool nixes that idea. Instead, Pool rescues the aliens on the farming world, taunts Id, and leads Id on a chase through the galaxy while promising the wary aliens that he had a great plan. This issue ends with Pool landing on a third alien planet to begin enacting his undoubtedly ingenious plan.
Thoughts: Yes, I know that was a very brief summary, but I have like a bazillion other comic books to get through this weekend, so a few are going to get the short end of the stick, this comic being one of them. I actually liked this comic a lot, it had that trademark Deadpool humor that all of us Poolaholics love. The only problem I had with it was Deadpool's “plan”... I haven't the foggiest notion WHAT DP was up to for most of this issue, but then again, it was Deadpool coming up with the plan, so maybe it was for the best that I had no clue what he was planning. Anyway, good, fun stuff here, so no real complaints!
Score: 8 out of 10.
It's always a good idea to go with the plan from your brain.
Summary: This comic was actually telling two stories, the regular storyline that had been going on with Eclipso, and the Reign of Doomsday stuff. First let's cover the Eclipso portions. Eclipso and his army of possessed shadow characters attack the Emerald City on the Moon in an effort to possess Jade. The JLA's forces are split(we'll get to that later with the Doomsday stuff), which basically leaves Donna Troy and Jade alone against Eclipso's forces, since Jesse Quick was forced to rush the paralyzed Alan Scott to safety. Eclipso's forces are too much, and in the end he manages to possess Jade, just as he planned. The other half of this story starts in the remains of New Krypton. Supergirl had asked Batman(Dick Grayson) to remove the shattered planet from the Earth's orbit so she could try to forget about her loss, when Green Lantern Boodikka arrives to survey the damage for the Guardians. Doomsday chooses this moment to attack, tearing into Boodikka and destroying Batman's spaceship. Luckily for Bats, he's still safe in his spacesuit, but is pretty much helpless. Supergirl moves in to attack Doomsday, but Doomsday seems WAY more interested in Boodikka than SG. Bats figures Doomsday was going to kill Boodikka and then SG, so he tells Starman to get to the location to spirit the two women away. Instead, like an idiot, Starman decides to attack Doomsday, which does little more than slightly distract Doomsday. Doomsday knocks Starman away, and Bats takes that opportunity to teleport SG and Boodikka to the JLA Watchtower. Doomsday quickly follows, and this issue concludes with Cyborg Superman rising from Boodikka, which is apparently where he chose to hide after his most recent defeat.
Thoughts: Hey, this was yet another good issue of this series! I mean two months ago I was primed and ready to cut my ties with this series and drop it, but last issue helped change my mind, and this issue proved that I made the right choice. The Doomsday stuff was very well done, and it leads in to the Superman/Batman annual where Doomsday will be facing Cyborg Supes. The Eclipso stuff was also very good, even though the Doomsday story took center stage. Since I enjoyed both stories, there's really not much to complain about... Well except for the fact that Saint Walker showed up in this issue for absolutely NO reason... Let's PLEASE keep Chairman Johns' garbage in Chairman Johns' comics.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Yeah, my money's on Doomsday in a battle between the Big D and Starman.FF #1:
Summary: We get started with Reed listening to a video recording from the now deceased Human Torch. In the video, Johnny tells Reed to keep fighting the good fight, and to have Spidey replace him on the team. Spidey arrives at the Baxter Building and is greeted by Sue, who takes him around, showing him the sights. Spidey meets some of the freaky kids Reed has there, and bumps into the Thing, who completely blows Spidey off. Sue presents Spidey with his FF uniform, and the foursome are immediately called to go to the PAVLOV facility, which was under attack by AIM agents. The FF arrive on the scene and attack the AIM agents, but AIM has managed to free the Wizard from captivity, teleporting away with him while he spewed threats at Reed... Oh, and as a total aside that has NOTHING to do with the story, I had to laugh at the fact that the Wizard was nude in his prison cell when the AIM agents broke him out, and all they gave him was that dumb-ass helmet he wears, which Wizard went and put on his head! You'd think he'd have placed the helmet in a more... strategic area, but no, he stood there with his helmet on his head, wearing nothing else while he yelled at Reed... Back to the story, Reed heads back to the Baxter Building and is met by his daughter Valeria and his father, Nathaniel. Valeria tells Reed that she made a deal with Dr. Doom which infuriates Reed, but Reed's father, being the resident time traveler, tells Reed that Valeria did exactly what she was supposed to do. This issue ends with Reed, Valeria and Nathaniel meeting up with Doom in the bowels of the Baxter Building to welcome him into the Future Foundation.
Thoughts: This was NOT what I was expecting here... I mean, I don't really know what I was expecting, but this most certainly wasn't it. Everything in this comic seemed slightly off... Spidey joining the team was done with absolutely NO fanfare, Thing's mood swings were just all over the place(one minute he's moping in his room, the next he's eating dinner with everybody else), the stuff with Wizard made me laugh, and Doom joining the FF? Um yeah, like that doesn't have dumb idea written ALL over it! I honestly expected this issue to take the FF in a drastically new direction, and all it did was change their costumes. I can honestly say this issue left me pretty disappointed.
Score: 6 out of 10.
It's mopin' time!!!Deadpool #34:
Summary: Deadpool is still on a mission to kill the rogue moon, Id. You see, Ol' Pool was hired by some aliens to kill Id since Id snorted their homeworld... Hey, what do you want, it's a Deadpool comic! The angry aliens want to sacrifice a small farming world to distract Id, but Pool nixes that idea. Instead, Pool rescues the aliens on the farming world, taunts Id, and leads Id on a chase through the galaxy while promising the wary aliens that he had a great plan. This issue ends with Pool landing on a third alien planet to begin enacting his undoubtedly ingenious plan.
Thoughts: Yes, I know that was a very brief summary, but I have like a bazillion other comic books to get through this weekend, so a few are going to get the short end of the stick, this comic being one of them. I actually liked this comic a lot, it had that trademark Deadpool humor that all of us Poolaholics love. The only problem I had with it was Deadpool's “plan”... I haven't the foggiest notion WHAT DP was up to for most of this issue, but then again, it was Deadpool coming up with the plan, so maybe it was for the best that I had no clue what he was planning. Anyway, good, fun stuff here, so no real complaints!
Score: 8 out of 10.
It's always a good idea to go with the plan from your brain.
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