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!

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!

I, Vampire #16

Final new review of the night for me is the latest issue of the soon-to-be staked I, Vampire.  I don't really get why DC bothers releasing anything other than Justice League or Batman titles, since they just cancel everything else...  Oh well, here's hoping this series goes out in a blaze of glory.

I, Vampire #16:

Summary: Mary and the good guys start this issue out listening to Cain tell his story.  Cain yammers on for a while about how he became the first vampire, and about his wife, Lilith, etc.  Eventually Mary has heard enough and heads out into the night to get some fresh air.  Meanwhile, Andrew and the bad guys are finishing off the last of the Van Helsings and have found something(a rock? a spell?) that will take Andrew to where he feels he needs to go to... um, do whatever evil act he feels is necessary.  Back with Mary, Constantine walks over and tells her that they had to stop Andrew before he did whatever bad things he was planning on doing.  Constantine knows Andrew is at the Van Helsings' castle, so Mary collects the good guys and Constantine takes everybody to his teleporting home, the House of Mystery.  However, the door to the House won't open...  Why is that?  Because Andrew and his vampires have teleported inside and have taken over.

Thoughts: Meh.  Much like the first comic I reviewed tonight(Dark Avengers #186), this comic didn't do anything for me...  That probably explains why these two comics were at the bottom of my pile...  I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, I simply read it and moved on...  Maybe it's the impending cancellation, or maybe it's the length of time between issues, but I just couldn't bother getting all that worked up about this issue...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Hey, it's not that easy to tear somebody's head off...

I, Vampire #9

Last review of the night is the usually strong I, Vampire. Let's see if this series can shake off the craptitude from that Rise of the Vampire's x-over and get back to telling great stories.

I, Vampire #9:

Story Points:
-It turns out that Andrew and Mary(as well as every vampire on Earth) have gone to Utah... Sure, why not.
-Andrew won't let the vampires eat anything but cow's blood, and they aren't pleased about that...
-However, none of them are strong enough to defeat Andrew, who's still super-charged after the defeat of Cain.
-Meanwhile, Tig and the Professor meet the Van Helsings and tell the vampire hunters that Andrew wanted to see them...
-Needless to say, the Van Helsings are interested in heading to Andrew's location to kill him and all of the other vampires.
-This one ends with Mary challenging Andrew for leadership of the vampire horde.

Thoughts: I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this issue as much as I did the pre-Rise stories... I'm not exactly sure where we're going here... I mean it's obvious that Andrew isn't evil, but most of the vampires with him are... And then there are the Van Helsings, who you'd think were the good guys on account of them being vampire hunters, but are being portrayed as the bad guys. Plus there's Mary, who I guess is at the least crazy, and at most evil. And on top of that all, Andrew still has god-like powers... It looks like this series is still trying to find it's feet after the Rise storyline. Hopefully it finds it's feet quickly!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I, Vampire #8

Last review of the night is the last issue of the Rise of the Vampires x-over. Here's hoping it picks up big time...

I, Vampire #8:

Summary: It seems that Andrew has returned to life and is able to siphon the magic powers away from Cain and use them against Cain. First Andrew kills all of Cain's vampires and then brings them all back, but under his control. Andrew sics his vampires on Cain and heads over to Mary to make out for a while, apparently forgiving her for, you know, trying to kill him and murder everybody and all. When he was done sucking face(heh, get it, “sucking”? Yeah, it was lame...), Andrew simply decapitates Cain, ending his threat... From there Andrew decides to take the vampires away from Gotham and hide them away somewhere since they had already revealed too much of their secret lives to the world. Andrew uses his uber-vampire powers to erase all records of the day from the minds of the world(except for the JLD and John and Tig). With that, he goes to leave, but not before telling John to enact “Plan B”... What is Plan B exactly? Plan B is to find the Van Helsings, who are vampire hunters and are, according to John, worse than the vampires.

Thoughts: Well, here I was hoping this x-over would make JLD better. In actuality, this x-over made I, Vampire worse! How annoying is that! This series was rolling along nicely until the x-over with JLD, let's hope the Rise of the Vampires was just a minor bump in the road and now that it's finished this series will get back on it's roll of solid comics.

Score: 5 out of 10.

So Andrew is kind of/sort of/maybe evil now?

I, Vampire #7

First review of this Saturday night is the second part of the JLD/I, Vampire x-over. The first part(which I reviewed yesterday) was okay, let's see if this issue reaches higher than simply “okay”.

I, Vampire #7:

Summary: Andrew Bennett is dead, and his death has unleashed Cain, the first vampire onto the world. Andrew ends up “In the between”, which is where dead vampires go... I guess? While there, Andrew hears a voice telling him his work wasn't finished yet and that he had to return to Earth. Andrew isn't keen on that idea though... Back on Earth, Cain steals all of Mary's vampire minions, which naturally pisses Mary off, and leads to her joining up with the JLD members who were in Gotham City trying to halt the vampire madness. This issue ends with Cain further empowering the vampires in Gotham, while Gotham's defenders fight a losing battle.

Thoughts: I know I've said it before, but it needs to be said again... Meh. Much like JLD #7, this comic wasn't terrible, but if somebody was to stop me tomorrow and ask me what happened in it, I'd be totally blank. It just left no impact. The vampires were acting crazy under Cain's thrall, Andrew isn't really dead dead, since he's talking to a disembodied voice “in the between” and the JLD did nothing of any major note here. This crossover may have made JLD into a slightly better read, but it looks like it's going to be hurting I, Vampire, which I thought was a damn strong series prior to this x-over...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I already told you who it was! A disembodied voice!

I, Vampire #6

Hot damn, I did it! After this review I'll have read and reviewed 6 I, Vampire comic books in a single night, a feat I haven't done since WAAAAY back in my Nightwing days when this blog was just getting off the ground and I'd stay awake all hours of the night typing out Nightwing reviews. But enough about the past, let's get this final review taken care of so I can FINALLY rest!

I, Vampire #6:

Summary: While Batman, Tig and John try to stay alive fighting Mary's newly created vampire army, Andrew is surveying the scene, looking for the vampire who created the horde, since he knew killing that vampire would free the newly turned vampires of their curse. Eventually Andrew figures out which vampire was responsible for siring the others, a young boy. Andrew moves in to kill the child vampire, but is halted by Batman, who is still trying to operate under his whole, “NO killing!” mantra, even amidst a horde of angry vampires. Being faster and having a multitude of powers allows Andrew to get past Bats at which time he kills the vampire kid, freeing the people the child had turned. However, not all of the people change back, since some were Mary's own vampires, and as such were way stronger. Andrew wades into Mary's vampires and starts killing them, at which time Bats tells Tig and John to take the confused humans out of the area. While heralding the people to safety, John tells a confused Tig that killing the sire of a vampire freed that vampire from the curse. Tig takes off before John can finish by telling Tig that trick only works if you kill the sire within 72 hours of the vampire being turned... Back at the battle, Mary taunts Batman, while Andrew tries to take out as many of Mary's vampires as possible. Unfortunately for Andrew, Tig sneaks up from behind him and stakes him, figuring that would cure Mary and all of the vampires she had created... Idiot... For some reason, killing Andrew unleashes an ancient vampire named Cain, the apparent sire of all vampires.

Thoughts: Damn that stupid Tig! See, I told you she was nothing but damned trouble! Now I really DO hope she winds up as a vampire's snack! I have to say this, the ending here TOTALLY took me by surprise! I mean it sure looks like Andrew had died(although I kind of remember reading in one of the earlier issues that a vampire as old as Andrew could only be killed if he wanted to die), which would make Mary the star of this series... I guess? It seems pretty obvious that Cain(DC sure likes that name...) is going to be evil, as is Mary, and I doubt evil vampires are going to be the stars of a comic(although I guess Scott Snyder is proving me wrong there with “American Vampire”), which means Andrew will inevitably return to life, more than likely by the end of the upcoming Rise of the Vampires crossover. Whether Andrew comes back or not, I have to admit that this was my least favorite issue of this series... The ending, while surprising, managed to annoy me, which is a good way to get me to give out a mediocre to bad score. Oh well, here's hoping things pick back up again with issue #7... As for me, I am FINALLY done with my I, Vampire reviews tonight! Huzzah!!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

D'oh!!

I, Vampire #5

Only two more reviews to go! Ol' X is in the homestretch now! Let's get this issue taken care of so I can get to issue #6 and get myself all caught up!

I, Vampire #5:

Summary: Some of Mary's vampires kill a few people in Gotham City, which sends Andrew, John and Tig to the scene of the crime. Andrew decides to take a closer look and mists away, rematerializing on a rooftop where he naturally runs afoul Batman. Bats attacks Andrew and before the fight can get good, the two are discovered at which time both pull the old disappearing act in a cute scene. Andrew hooks back up with Tig and John, while Bats watches from afar and sends their images back to Alfred to dig up some info on them. After some hunting, Andrew can sense Mary in the old Gotham City Court House, and proceeds to enter the building with his posse. Bats confronts the trio and demands answers as to what Andrew is. John, once again tries to play peacemaker, while Tig tries to convince Bats to kill Andrew(huh?). Ultimately Andrew proves to Bats that he's not the bad guy by sneaking up on Bats with a sword, showing that he could have killed Bats, but chose not to. Now having an uneasy truce, Bats reveals that dozens of people had gone missing the past day and a half. Andrew tells Bats that the newly turned vampires could be reverted back to humans if the vampire who sired them(presumably Mary) was killed within 72 hours of the transformation. The quartet head down to the bowels of the building where they are attacked by a horde of angry vampires led by Mary.

Thoughts: Once again, this was a good, strong issue of this series. Really, all five of the issues of this series I've read thus far have been quite good. This series is really one of the hidden gems of the DC reboot. Hell, I'm close to saying this is the best series out of ALL the DC books I'm reading. I mean score-wise, this series has been really consistent, which is a great indicator of how good a writer/creative team on a book is. One thing about this issue before I move on though... Since Batman was a guest star here, and is probably one of the two most popular comic characters out there, why wasn't he actually shown on the cover? Instead we get a little, tiny bat-signal in the background with the words, “Shadow of the Bat!” on the cover... Last issue Constantine guest starred and on the cover it said something to the effect of “Constantine is in this issue!” while showing Constantine ON the cover. You'd think actually showing Bats on the cover(with his name!) would have boosted sales a bit, but what do I know?

Score: 8 out of 10.

Yeah, this scene was really quite fantastic.

I, Vampire #4

Okay, last issue was the first time this series scored under an 8, let's see if we rebound here.

I, Vampire #4:

Summary: After arriving in Gotham City, Andrew leaves John and Tig behind to catch some Zzz's while he heads out to try to figure out what Mary's game was. While out and about, Andrew meets a fellow pacifist vampire and shares some tricks on becoming more powerful with this vampire before heading off. Unfortunately, the sudden rush of newfound power causes this vampire to run amok at a Gotham bar, running afoul John Constantine, who was in Gotham because... well, I'm not sure why. Let's say business and leave it at that. Constantine attacks the rampaging vampire with some magic, and manages to bring the vampire down. Before he can kill the vampire though, Andrew appears on the scene and knocks Constantine out. Andrew realizes that this vampire wasn't strong enough mentally to wield the power he was shown and prepares to kill him. Before dying, the vampire hands Andrew a pendant and begs Andrew to find his wife and daughter to tell them he wasn't a bad person. Andrew takes the pendant and kills the vampire. Naturally, the pendant reveals to a shocked Andrew that the vampire was actually Tig's father.

Thoughts: And the clichés continue! Yes, the vampire who wanted to be a good guy but failed was naturally Tig's father. And Andrew killed him(instead of Constantine for whatever reason). You KNOW Tig is going to end up discovering this, which will almost definitely lead to a Tig/Andrew confrontation down the road. Blah. Besides that, everything else in this one was really enjoyable. Andrew was given a bit more depth to his character, as we see him trying to teach tricks to other vampires, while also showing us that he is MUCH stronger mentally than other vampires since he could use his more powerful abilities and NOT lose control. We took a bit of a break from Mary here, but I was okay with that since that'll stretch out the main story in this series a bit longer.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Constantine's line here about the shotgun was all sorts of awesome...

I, Vampire #3

After I'm done with this review, I'm halfway to my goal of reading and reviewing all of the I, Vampire books in one sitting. Let's keep going.

I, Vampire #3:

Summary: After fighting his way through Mary's forces last issue, a banged up Andrew heads to the house of a friend to rest up. After resting, Andrew and his friend, an intellectual type named John, go out hunting for Mary's evil vampires. Andrew can sense some vampires hiding in an abandoned train station and enters the station, finding a spunky teenage girl instead. We learn the girl is the obligatory teenage vampire hunter, and is named Tig. Tig attacks Andrew until John can talk some sense into her. Tig reveals that she had chased the vampires away, and after a quick look around, Andrew spots a message left for him by Mary, telling him to find her in Gotham City.

Thoughts: This issue, while still strong, took a bit of a step back for me. Now, I can deal with John, the intellectual who wants to help his vampire friend, but the spunky teenage girl vampire hunter is just SUCH a cliché!! Ugh! Everything about Tig screams unoriginal! Here's hoping she ends up being more than an unstoppable vampire killing machine(as popular culture has taught us all teenage girls are), and actually has some depth and weakness to her character. Otherwise, here's hoping she winds up as vampire food.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Hey, it's Buff... I mean, it's Tig: Vampire Slayer!

I, Vampire #2

Moving along, let's take a look at the second issue of I, Vampire to see if it can keep up the momentum from last issue.

I, Vampire #2:

Summary: This issue shows Mary rallying her “children” and telling them that vampires were the future and humans were simply food(if I ever got into politics, that would SO be my slogan!). From there Mary goes after Andrew and wants to know why he won't join with her forces. Unfortunately for Mary, Andrew is one of those goody-two-shoes vampires who doesn't want to harm anybody. Andrew and Mary have a brief battle, but ultimately Mary leaves Andrew behind and lets him kill a bunch of the vampires she sired, figuring that act would make Andrew that much more hated in the vampire community. Being WAY older and stronger than the other vampires, Andrew manages to fight his way through them, while Mary happily surveys all of the damage her ilk had brought to the world.

Thoughts: Much like the first issue, this was another enjoyable read. Again we see Mary and Andrew state their opposing views of how vampires should live, although in this issue Mary was a bit crazier... Last issue I could kind of agree with her argument since she wasn't simply saying, “Hey, we're vampires! Let's take over the world!” She was saying, “Hey, aliens and superhumans are taking over the world... We've been around longer than they have, why should we remain in the shadows?” This issue Mary was more in line with the first quote than the second. Maybe she was just trying to rally her troops before sending them loose, but her rhetoric was more “crazy vampire” than “angry vampire”. Regardless, I still liked this issue and look forward to the next one, which I'll be reading in a few.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Agreed!!

I, Vampire #1

Okay X-Maniacs, X here with a rather ambitious project scheduled for tonight... See, thanks to my good friend, blog collaborator and noted madman, JT, I finally received a copy of I, Vampire #2. As such, I was able to get I, Vampire #3-6 from the comic shop last Wednesday(well, actually #2 as well, but let's disregard that for now...). Lisha, whose opinion is one that I value highly, since we're pretty simpatico with our comic related views, told me the I, Vampire books were really good. On top of that, my sister, who is an even harsher comic critic than I am(imagine THAT!), recommended that I read the I, Vampire books sooner rather than later(which is HUGE praise coming from her), since she read them before I did due to my ungodly work schedule. All of that leads us to tonight. I am going to try to read and review ALL six I, Vampire books, in one sitting! And yes, I'm going to re-read and re-review I, Vampire #1, because I'll be damned if I remember what happened in that comic after 5 months and a zillion other comics. So here we go, first review of the night? I, Vampire #1.

I, Vampire #1:

Summary: Since I DID already do a review for this comic before, I'm gonna stick with the basics here. You have two vampires, Andrew and Mary. Andrew turned(or, in vampire lingo, sired) Mary several hundred years ago, and the two have more or less kept away from humanity. However, Mary has gotten sick and tired of watching aliens and other assorted superhumans make a play for the Earth, and wants vampires to be the dominate species. Andrew couldn't disagree more and feels that the best bet for vampire-kind(“vampire-kind”? Really, X?) is to live off the blood of cows and blood packs. This issue shows us the two having their big disagreement and ends with Mary sending loose a horde of vampires she had created behind Andrew's back to attack several cities.

Thoughts: Huh, I really enjoyed this issue. Like a lot! I'm REALLY curious to take a peek at what I scored this one back when I first reviewed it... Anyway, this was a great scene-setting issue, that brings us the two opposing forces in vampire-kind, the pacifist Andrew, and the warlike Mary. Both make good arguments as to why their way is the right way(I can't help but agree with Mary when she asks why leave the Earth to aliens and the like), and all in all this issue was interesting. Now, I don't know how long Joshua Hale Fialkov can drag the story of Andrew and Mary out for, but I'll sit back and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10. A quick search of the blog shows that back on October 4th I gave this issue an 8 out of 10, so check that out, five months later and my score is about the same!

Why are all vampires so damn good-looking nowadays?

I, Vampire #1

Well here's a series I picked up at the absolute last minute on a total whim. This is one of those series that I only plan on picking up for the first three issues, unless one of those three issues wows me. Will X get wowed here? Here's hoping.

I, Vampire #1:

What Happened: We have two 400 year old-ish vampires here, Andrew and Mary. Mary feels that the vampires should stop hiding and take over the planet as opposed to the aliens and masked men dominating the world, while Andrew feels they should continue living in the shadows. The two debate the topic for a while before sleeping together, because besides drinking blood, vampires LOVE to bang. Andrew wakes up and finds a note in Mary's place, telling Andrew that she was declaring war on the humans today. Outside Andrew finds a mess of corpses, and discovers they were the secret vampire army Mary was amassing. While Andrew tries to figure out what to do, the vampires attack a train-full of people.

The Good: You know what? I liked this issue! The story was well done, and even though these were new characters(to me at least), it was easy to understand their motivations. Andrew didn't want to victimize humans, Mary did. Simple. Add their obvious romantic attachment to each other, and you've got a winning formula. The art-style fit the story being told.

The Bad: I can't imagine this series has a long shelf-life... It's one vampire vs another vampire. When Mary gets staked, then what? How can a massive vampire attack occur in a world that boasts Superman, Wonder Woman and a plethora of other heroes?

The Verdict: What can I say? It looks as if I'll be sticking with this series for the foreseeable future. I definitely didn't expect that, but I guess life is full of surprises.

Score: 8 out of 10.That's a lot of vampires...