Hey X-Maniacs, X here with the first comic review of June! Huzzah!! June is a great month... Summer vacation is almost upon us, we don't have to worry about temperatures in the 30's or snow, and my birthday is coming up! Yup, you gotta love June. Oh yeah, the review. Since I had a really light comic haul this week, and can't read and/or review like 5 of the comics I did pick up, I really don't have much of a choice but to tackle Hulk this post. I've enjoyed this title, but haven't loved the current storyline... Here's hoping things pick back up again here.
Indestructible Hulk #8:
Summary: Bruce discovers that one of his fellow scientists has an incurable disease and was hoping to be smashed to death by the Hulk so that the life insurance on her would go to her father. Meanwhile, Thor manages to open a portal back to Bruce's proper time and dimension, which was what the Frost Giants were hoping for. The Giants stage a sneak attack, quickly taking Thor out. However, they didn't plan on contending with the Hulk, who holds his own until Thor awakens to assist in defeating the Giants. With the Giants done for, Bruce and company head back home, with Bruce hoping his sick scientist would find a new found will to survive having seen magic and gods.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this issue a bit more than the previous ones in this storyline. It was a quick read, and took very minimal thought... Which is good sometimes. So yeah, I really don't have much else to say here... Um, Happy June?
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10
Showing posts with label Indestructible Hulk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indestructible Hulk. Show all posts
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Best of the Rest! May 1st edition.
Hey all, it's time for the first of FIVE Best of the Rest posts in May! Yep, May is one of those months where we're gonna end up with five Wednesdays, so I'll be getting even more comics, which means you guys will be getting even more reviews! So it's a win/win! Or a lose/lose, depending on your prerogative. Anyway, the usual rules apply here. I'll get this party started with a few reviews, and then JT will take over with a few reviews of his own, but in blue text. And if the last few BotR posts are any indication, much longer reviews than I've been busting out... Seriously, JT, when did you become Mr. Wordsmith!? I'm gonna hear it for that remark... Anyway, let's get this party started.
Thanos Rising #2: This issue brings us a 15 (or so) year old Thanos, who is on a quest to discover why he is different from all of his fellow Eternals. To that end, he's been dissecting various creatures, but has yet to find anything. The girl who is still hanging around him(who I STILL say is Death), recommends Thanos ply his trade on something more complex... To that end, Thanos kidnaps and kills two of his classmates, in the name of science. Or at least that's what Thanos tells himself at first. However, he soon realizes that he enjoys the torture and murder, and that when he is killing, he doesn't feel alone. Still, Thanos craves answers about why he's different, so this issue ends with Thanos capturing and preparing to dissect his own mother. Now THIS is more like the Thanos I remember! Sure, the stuff with the girl/Death probably doesn't need to be in here(I don't like the idea that Death had a role in Thanos's obsession with her), but I still could be wrong about her being Death... Who knows, maybe she's actually the woman who ends up bearing Nebula... Regardless, this mini-series is still hitting almost all the right notes for me. Score: 8 out of 10.
X-Factor #255: Mephisto ends up defeating the other Hell Lords and puts an end to the Hell on Earth war. He makes himself a palace and has apparently become the ruler of not only Hell, but the entire world. Tier decides that instead of hanging back he'd go and face Mephisto. Mephisto is aware of this and relishes Tier's challenge. Plus, Monet apparently dies while fighting Guido and Madrox is still a demon. I enjoyed this issue way more than the past few Hell war issues. Maybe that's because this storyline is coming to a close... I don't know. Anyway, this storyline is actually what the Age of Ultron SHOULD be. A self contained story in one of the Avengers titles... Just sayin'. Score: 8 out of 10.
Iron Man #9: Iron Man hires Death's Head to help him track down 451. However, it turns out 451 hired Death's Head first, and Death's Head leads Iron Man into 451's clutches. This one ends with 451 revealing he had been working with Tony's old man... Wha?! Um, yeah, this one was weird... I'm not even going to say anything about that ending yet... I'll give Kieron Gillen another issue before I flip out about Tony's father working with an alien who hadn't even been around until 3 issues ago... THIS is the story they wanted to coincide with Iron Man 3!? Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #7: After some brawling between the Frost Giants and Thor and Hulk, one of the Frost Giants transforms into one of Bruce Banner's assistants and infiltrates the group... Didn't know Frost Giants could do that... The Frost Giants want access to Banner's portal technology, thus the ruse. However, SHIELD shut the portal down, which has left Banner and company stranded. Oh, and it turns out that Hulk actually didn't lift Thor's hammer last issue, it was only moving because Thor was calling it back to him... Which is what I was hoping to see here. Besides that, not much to say here. I'm not really feeling this storyline... It's not horrible or anything, it's just not my cup of tea. Score: 6 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #26: The all-female power struggle continues!!! Kitty and Mach 2 join forces since the US government wanted to take Utopia's land back. Jean decides to help them since she didn't want Utopia toppled by the government, because Jean wanted to absorb the Utopia mutants into Tian. And we find out that Psylocke has been manipulating both sides to her own ends. I don't know what the hell Brian Wood is going for here... He's already writing one X-Women book, why is he turning this series into another!? And how is Psylocke able to spy on, and mask her actions from Jean, who is, presumably, more powerful that Psylocke?! Seriously, if it wasn't for Jimmy Hudson, I would be SO done with this series... Score: 6 out of 10.
Invincible Universe #2: Stedman's forces manage to hold off the dragon long enough for Robot to fix up Liu. Liu manages to reabsorb the dragon and teleports away, not even thanking an irked Stedman. On top of that, Stedman's assistant dies during the dragon attack, which leads to us seeing a softer side of Cecil. So I liked this comic... Sue me. What can I say, I was always a mark for Cecil, so yeah, this comic hits just the right notes for me. Plus I've been a fan of Todd Nauck's work since Young Justice, so that helps. Anyway, if you're a fan of little known, obscure characters, like I am, then this is a series you should definitely check out. Score: 7 out of 10.
Detective Comics #20: In this issue we see Batman finally pursue Ignatius "Emperor Penguin" Oglivy after robbing a bank. Batman arrives at the former home of the Oswald Cobblepot and is met by the Emperor Penguin who is now a monster of a man. Having tampered with and used Man-Bat serum for speed, a serum from Poison Ivy to give him tough, bark-like skin, and venom to make him extremely strong. Emperor Penguin surprisingly beats the hell out of Batman and then ties a chain around his neck and hangs him from a tree. Batman is then saved by Cobblepot of all people, who wants his life back and is willing to help Batman to beat Oglivy. Batman takes the fight to Emperor Penguin a second time, this time fighting him as a monster instead of a man, and manages to take him down with acid and a high-powered taser. Afterwards, we see Cobblepot give Bruce Wayne back the building he'd stole from under him, renaming it after Martha Wayne, then telling Bruce he can have the spotlight, he just wants the shadows. In the epilogue we see Emperor Penguin take out the main boss in Blackgate Prison and deems himself "Emperor Blackgate". I liked this issue, Emperor Blackgate's backstory made sense, he's been built as a threat and I can easily see him taking the role Black Mask once had. This has been a pretty awesome first arc by Layman and I'm interested in what he has planned next. Score: 8/10
Earth 2 #12: In the most recent issue of Earth 2 we see the newly christened Doctor Fate finally engage in battle with Wotan. Across the world in China, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern investigate the death of GL's dead boyfriend and stumble upon a shipping container full of a bunch of dead Parademons. GL's ring notifies him that he's needed elsewhere and he heads off to join Flash in Boston while Hawkgirl continues the investigation. While the two mystical beings face off, Flash and Green Lantern run interference and keep the peace while protecting civilians and taking down the government officials that attack the heroes. Fate eventually takes down Wotan and banishes him to another dimension. Afterwards, Fate, Flash, Flash's Mom and Green Lantern, who reveals his identity of Alan Scott to his allies, offers them a place to stay, since the government knows who Jay and his mother are and are after them. Before they can take him up on his offer, Fate informs them that the evil Steppenwolf has taken control of a dangerous country named Dherain. This was a fine issue, nothing great but far from bad. My only problem was how Wotan was built as a threat in the last few issues and talked about how much better he'd become to best Doctor Fate, then he's easily dispatched in Fate's first battle as the new Doctor Fate. It hurt the credibility they'd used the past issues to establish. Score: 6.5/10
And that's it for Mr. Wordsmith! I planned on reviewing Green Arrow but due to an extremely busy weekend that leads into an extremely busy week, I didn't have the time. But it was my last issue, so sadly I don't plan on reviewing anymore issues. Now let me end this post before I give X more ammo to call me names for giving you guys detailed reviews. Speaking of which, be sure to check X's Throwback Tuesday post tomorrow for a good laugh. Til next time, this is JT, signing off!
Thanos Rising #2: This issue brings us a 15 (or so) year old Thanos, who is on a quest to discover why he is different from all of his fellow Eternals. To that end, he's been dissecting various creatures, but has yet to find anything. The girl who is still hanging around him(who I STILL say is Death), recommends Thanos ply his trade on something more complex... To that end, Thanos kidnaps and kills two of his classmates, in the name of science. Or at least that's what Thanos tells himself at first. However, he soon realizes that he enjoys the torture and murder, and that when he is killing, he doesn't feel alone. Still, Thanos craves answers about why he's different, so this issue ends with Thanos capturing and preparing to dissect his own mother. Now THIS is more like the Thanos I remember! Sure, the stuff with the girl/Death probably doesn't need to be in here(I don't like the idea that Death had a role in Thanos's obsession with her), but I still could be wrong about her being Death... Who knows, maybe she's actually the woman who ends up bearing Nebula... Regardless, this mini-series is still hitting almost all the right notes for me. Score: 8 out of 10.
X-Factor #255: Mephisto ends up defeating the other Hell Lords and puts an end to the Hell on Earth war. He makes himself a palace and has apparently become the ruler of not only Hell, but the entire world. Tier decides that instead of hanging back he'd go and face Mephisto. Mephisto is aware of this and relishes Tier's challenge. Plus, Monet apparently dies while fighting Guido and Madrox is still a demon. I enjoyed this issue way more than the past few Hell war issues. Maybe that's because this storyline is coming to a close... I don't know. Anyway, this storyline is actually what the Age of Ultron SHOULD be. A self contained story in one of the Avengers titles... Just sayin'. Score: 8 out of 10.
Iron Man #9: Iron Man hires Death's Head to help him track down 451. However, it turns out 451 hired Death's Head first, and Death's Head leads Iron Man into 451's clutches. This one ends with 451 revealing he had been working with Tony's old man... Wha?! Um, yeah, this one was weird... I'm not even going to say anything about that ending yet... I'll give Kieron Gillen another issue before I flip out about Tony's father working with an alien who hadn't even been around until 3 issues ago... THIS is the story they wanted to coincide with Iron Man 3!? Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #7: After some brawling between the Frost Giants and Thor and Hulk, one of the Frost Giants transforms into one of Bruce Banner's assistants and infiltrates the group... Didn't know Frost Giants could do that... The Frost Giants want access to Banner's portal technology, thus the ruse. However, SHIELD shut the portal down, which has left Banner and company stranded. Oh, and it turns out that Hulk actually didn't lift Thor's hammer last issue, it was only moving because Thor was calling it back to him... Which is what I was hoping to see here. Besides that, not much to say here. I'm not really feeling this storyline... It's not horrible or anything, it's just not my cup of tea. Score: 6 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #26: The all-female power struggle continues!!! Kitty and Mach 2 join forces since the US government wanted to take Utopia's land back. Jean decides to help them since she didn't want Utopia toppled by the government, because Jean wanted to absorb the Utopia mutants into Tian. And we find out that Psylocke has been manipulating both sides to her own ends. I don't know what the hell Brian Wood is going for here... He's already writing one X-Women book, why is he turning this series into another!? And how is Psylocke able to spy on, and mask her actions from Jean, who is, presumably, more powerful that Psylocke?! Seriously, if it wasn't for Jimmy Hudson, I would be SO done with this series... Score: 6 out of 10.
Invincible Universe #2: Stedman's forces manage to hold off the dragon long enough for Robot to fix up Liu. Liu manages to reabsorb the dragon and teleports away, not even thanking an irked Stedman. On top of that, Stedman's assistant dies during the dragon attack, which leads to us seeing a softer side of Cecil. So I liked this comic... Sue me. What can I say, I was always a mark for Cecil, so yeah, this comic hits just the right notes for me. Plus I've been a fan of Todd Nauck's work since Young Justice, so that helps. Anyway, if you're a fan of little known, obscure characters, like I am, then this is a series you should definitely check out. Score: 7 out of 10.
Detective Comics #20: In this issue we see Batman finally pursue Ignatius "Emperor Penguin" Oglivy after robbing a bank. Batman arrives at the former home of the Oswald Cobblepot and is met by the Emperor Penguin who is now a monster of a man. Having tampered with and used Man-Bat serum for speed, a serum from Poison Ivy to give him tough, bark-like skin, and venom to make him extremely strong. Emperor Penguin surprisingly beats the hell out of Batman and then ties a chain around his neck and hangs him from a tree. Batman is then saved by Cobblepot of all people, who wants his life back and is willing to help Batman to beat Oglivy. Batman takes the fight to Emperor Penguin a second time, this time fighting him as a monster instead of a man, and manages to take him down with acid and a high-powered taser. Afterwards, we see Cobblepot give Bruce Wayne back the building he'd stole from under him, renaming it after Martha Wayne, then telling Bruce he can have the spotlight, he just wants the shadows. In the epilogue we see Emperor Penguin take out the main boss in Blackgate Prison and deems himself "Emperor Blackgate". I liked this issue, Emperor Blackgate's backstory made sense, he's been built as a threat and I can easily see him taking the role Black Mask once had. This has been a pretty awesome first arc by Layman and I'm interested in what he has planned next. Score: 8/10
Earth 2 #12: In the most recent issue of Earth 2 we see the newly christened Doctor Fate finally engage in battle with Wotan. Across the world in China, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern investigate the death of GL's dead boyfriend and stumble upon a shipping container full of a bunch of dead Parademons. GL's ring notifies him that he's needed elsewhere and he heads off to join Flash in Boston while Hawkgirl continues the investigation. While the two mystical beings face off, Flash and Green Lantern run interference and keep the peace while protecting civilians and taking down the government officials that attack the heroes. Fate eventually takes down Wotan and banishes him to another dimension. Afterwards, Fate, Flash, Flash's Mom and Green Lantern, who reveals his identity of Alan Scott to his allies, offers them a place to stay, since the government knows who Jay and his mother are and are after them. Before they can take him up on his offer, Fate informs them that the evil Steppenwolf has taken control of a dangerous country named Dherain. This was a fine issue, nothing great but far from bad. My only problem was how Wotan was built as a threat in the last few issues and talked about how much better he'd become to best Doctor Fate, then he's easily dispatched in Fate's first battle as the new Doctor Fate. It hurt the credibility they'd used the past issues to establish. Score: 6.5/10
And that's it for Mr. Wordsmith! I planned on reviewing Green Arrow but due to an extremely busy weekend that leads into an extremely busy week, I didn't have the time. But it was my last issue, so sadly I don't plan on reviewing anymore issues. Now let me end this post before I give X more ammo to call me names for giving you guys detailed reviews. Speaking of which, be sure to check X's Throwback Tuesday post tomorrow for a good laugh. Til next time, this is JT, signing off!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Best of the Rest! April 3rd edition.
Hey X-Maniacs, X here to start another Best of the Rest post. As always, I'll toss a few reviews out there, and then my erstwhile lackey, JT, will add a few reviews. JT's reviews will have blue text. And yeah, enough talk, let's knock these reviews out.
Indestructible Hulk #6: Bruce and his science crew use some uru Thor lent SHIELD(that's weird...) to find some mysterious element in Jotunheim(where the Frost Giants lurk). Thor from the past shows up(wha?!) as do Frost Giants. Bruce hulks up, and all of this leads to Hulk lifting Thor's hammer... Yeah, under no circumstances should Hulk ever lift Thor's hammer. So I'm guessing either a) the hammer rose because it was heading back to Thor, or b) this is a wacky alternate dimension where anybody can lift the hammer. Regardless, this issue seemed kind of average-ish to me. With Mark Waid and Walter Simonson, I was expecting more than this. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Stormwatch #19: What the HELL happened to this comic?! Ugh... This issue was horrible, and nearly impossible to figure out... Some aliens kill Adam One at the beginning of time(?), which alters reality(you'd think DC would shy away from doing THAT...), leading to Stormwatch being called Skywatch. with (some) different members. It was a mess and it ended with a Lobo appearance. So yeah, I hated it and hope that Jim Starlin rights this ship really fast. This used to be my favorite DC comic... Score: 3 out of 10.
Hypernaturals #10: We seem to be inching ever closer to finding out that Sublime was right and that the Quantinuum AI may just be up to no good. Or maybe it's just trying to protect humanity... Regardless, Sublime has had more than enough of working with the Hypernaturals and takes off. As for Evil Sublime, he's attacking Thinkwell's homeworld. So yeah, I finally managed to read this series, from issue #1-10, and I liked it. DnA doing a space tale is always a good thing, and this series is no different. Sublime is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine too. Score: 7 out of 10.
Venom #33: This issue revolves around Toxin(Eddie Brock) battling against the mysterious(still unnamed!) cannibal from last issue. The cannibal escapes from Toxin and ends up running into Venom. This one ends with Venom knocking the cannibal out and coming face-to-face with Toxin. Which is what I've been waiting for!! This issue proved something important to me... If Cullen Bunn stays away from all the demonic and supernatural junk, he CAN write a good Venom series! He proved it with the U-Foes and he proved it again here. Eddie vs a cannibal? Flash vs the cannibal? Flash vs Eddie? Yes, please! Here's hoping Bunn stays away from demons and lets Flash face the types of threats you'd expect a spider-family member to face. Score: 8 out of 10.
Winter Soldier #17: So yeah, some stuff happens and this issue ended... *sigh* Fine, I'll try a bit harder than that... Nick Fury's disembodied head tells Bucky to go after the Electric Ghost, who went all Super-Joker and committed like 57 terrorist acts in one day. Bucky ends up going to the Ghost's satellite(wait, what?!) and is defeated by her. Oh yeah, and Bucky's elderly sidekick, Robards, defeats a mini-MODOK off panel because why not. Yep, I'm done with this series. This comic was as bad as anything I've read all year, and I'm not gonna waste my money anymore. Bucky, you deserve so much better than this... Hopefully this book gets cancelled and a better writer gets a new series down the road. Score: 0 out of 10. The first imperfect score in quite some time...
Ultimate X-Men #25: Jean heads to Utopia because Kitty is an arrogant bitch in Jean's mind and shouldn't be leading the mutant people. Amen, Jean!!! Besides that, Jimmy is plotting with Warpath from Mach 2's crew and Psylocke is plotting against Mach 2. So basically, we have a 4 way power struggle brewing between Kitty, Mach 2, Jean and Psylocke... Um, couldn't there be ONE male character trying to take leadership of Utopia?! I mean, FOUR women are vying for the throne!? Very, very weird... Needless to say, I'm in Jean's corner, because Evil Jean is awesome. Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
Green Lantern #19: We pick things up with Hal Jordan who now inexplicably looks exactly like Geoff Johns for some stupid ass reason still in Black Hand's ring as he contemplates his next move. Sinestro's returned to Korugar to get help from his people to take on the First Lantern, but he shows up and feeds off of their emotions. When Sinestro manages to save his people, the First Lantern changes it so he didn't, cause he can change time or something. Anyway, The First Lantern destroys Korugar, leaving Sinestro floating through space and his planet's debris when he finds himself in front of his Yellow Lantern. Also, Hal decides to kill himself while in the ring so he can wield the Black Hand's Black Lantern powers, so he flings himself off a cliff. Well, I hated this. I don't know much about the lantern because I refuse to follow GL Corps, New Guardians and Red Lanterns to keep up with this storyline. The way he changed it so Sinestro lost after winning was a giant screw you to the readers, and it looks like Sinestro will be wielding fear again. Plus, Geoff Jordan annoys me... how do you just randomly change Hal to a pudgy faced Geoff Johns? Ugh. Score: 2/10 only because Geoff Jordan killed himself.
Green Arrow #19: After the odd cliffhanger of Ollie falling to his death in the last issue, we see Ollie survives (SHOCKING!!!) and engages Komodo in battle. Surprisingly, Oliver manages to get the drop on Komodo, but Oliver is suddenly shot with an arrow by Komodo's daughter. Komodo's unhappy about her showing up and Ollie uses the distraction of her and the police to get away. The issue ends with Oliver being picked up by his newest tech guy and pulling an arrow out of his leg before blacking out in pain. This issue fell flat for me, the first two issues started out promising but Komodo and his daughter and the mystery of Oliver's longtime dead dad is not keeping me interested. I'll probably give this series one more issue and if things don't turn around I'll end up dropping it. Score: 4/10
And that's it for this week's Best of the Rest post! I had a few books I wanted to include but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so ah well. Due to my busy schedule, X is going to post a scan or something tomorrow since the only two books I've read and planned on reviewing were better as blurbs than full reviews. Anyway, til next time, this is JT and his erstwhile lackey X, signing off!
Indestructible Hulk #6: Bruce and his science crew use some uru Thor lent SHIELD(that's weird...) to find some mysterious element in Jotunheim(where the Frost Giants lurk). Thor from the past shows up(wha?!) as do Frost Giants. Bruce hulks up, and all of this leads to Hulk lifting Thor's hammer... Yeah, under no circumstances should Hulk ever lift Thor's hammer. So I'm guessing either a) the hammer rose because it was heading back to Thor, or b) this is a wacky alternate dimension where anybody can lift the hammer. Regardless, this issue seemed kind of average-ish to me. With Mark Waid and Walter Simonson, I was expecting more than this. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Stormwatch #19: What the HELL happened to this comic?! Ugh... This issue was horrible, and nearly impossible to figure out... Some aliens kill Adam One at the beginning of time(?), which alters reality(you'd think DC would shy away from doing THAT...), leading to Stormwatch being called Skywatch. with (some) different members. It was a mess and it ended with a Lobo appearance. So yeah, I hated it and hope that Jim Starlin rights this ship really fast. This used to be my favorite DC comic... Score: 3 out of 10.
Hypernaturals #10: We seem to be inching ever closer to finding out that Sublime was right and that the Quantinuum AI may just be up to no good. Or maybe it's just trying to protect humanity... Regardless, Sublime has had more than enough of working with the Hypernaturals and takes off. As for Evil Sublime, he's attacking Thinkwell's homeworld. So yeah, I finally managed to read this series, from issue #1-10, and I liked it. DnA doing a space tale is always a good thing, and this series is no different. Sublime is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine too. Score: 7 out of 10.
Venom #33: This issue revolves around Toxin(Eddie Brock) battling against the mysterious(still unnamed!) cannibal from last issue. The cannibal escapes from Toxin and ends up running into Venom. This one ends with Venom knocking the cannibal out and coming face-to-face with Toxin. Which is what I've been waiting for!! This issue proved something important to me... If Cullen Bunn stays away from all the demonic and supernatural junk, he CAN write a good Venom series! He proved it with the U-Foes and he proved it again here. Eddie vs a cannibal? Flash vs the cannibal? Flash vs Eddie? Yes, please! Here's hoping Bunn stays away from demons and lets Flash face the types of threats you'd expect a spider-family member to face. Score: 8 out of 10.
Winter Soldier #17: So yeah, some stuff happens and this issue ended... *sigh* Fine, I'll try a bit harder than that... Nick Fury's disembodied head tells Bucky to go after the Electric Ghost, who went all Super-Joker and committed like 57 terrorist acts in one day. Bucky ends up going to the Ghost's satellite(wait, what?!) and is defeated by her. Oh yeah, and Bucky's elderly sidekick, Robards, defeats a mini-MODOK off panel because why not. Yep, I'm done with this series. This comic was as bad as anything I've read all year, and I'm not gonna waste my money anymore. Bucky, you deserve so much better than this... Hopefully this book gets cancelled and a better writer gets a new series down the road. Score: 0 out of 10. The first imperfect score in quite some time...
Ultimate X-Men #25: Jean heads to Utopia because Kitty is an arrogant bitch in Jean's mind and shouldn't be leading the mutant people. Amen, Jean!!! Besides that, Jimmy is plotting with Warpath from Mach 2's crew and Psylocke is plotting against Mach 2. So basically, we have a 4 way power struggle brewing between Kitty, Mach 2, Jean and Psylocke... Um, couldn't there be ONE male character trying to take leadership of Utopia?! I mean, FOUR women are vying for the throne!? Very, very weird... Needless to say, I'm in Jean's corner, because Evil Jean is awesome. Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
Green Lantern #19: We pick things up with Hal Jordan who now inexplicably looks exactly like Geoff Johns for some stupid ass reason still in Black Hand's ring as he contemplates his next move. Sinestro's returned to Korugar to get help from his people to take on the First Lantern, but he shows up and feeds off of their emotions. When Sinestro manages to save his people, the First Lantern changes it so he didn't, cause he can change time or something. Anyway, The First Lantern destroys Korugar, leaving Sinestro floating through space and his planet's debris when he finds himself in front of his Yellow Lantern. Also, Hal decides to kill himself while in the ring so he can wield the Black Hand's Black Lantern powers, so he flings himself off a cliff. Well, I hated this. I don't know much about the lantern because I refuse to follow GL Corps, New Guardians and Red Lanterns to keep up with this storyline. The way he changed it so Sinestro lost after winning was a giant screw you to the readers, and it looks like Sinestro will be wielding fear again. Plus, Geoff Jordan annoys me... how do you just randomly change Hal to a pudgy faced Geoff Johns? Ugh. Score: 2/10 only because Geoff Jordan killed himself.
Green Arrow #19: After the odd cliffhanger of Ollie falling to his death in the last issue, we see Ollie survives (SHOCKING!!!) and engages Komodo in battle. Surprisingly, Oliver manages to get the drop on Komodo, but Oliver is suddenly shot with an arrow by Komodo's daughter. Komodo's unhappy about her showing up and Ollie uses the distraction of her and the police to get away. The issue ends with Oliver being picked up by his newest tech guy and pulling an arrow out of his leg before blacking out in pain. This issue fell flat for me, the first two issues started out promising but Komodo and his daughter and the mystery of Oliver's longtime dead dad is not keeping me interested. I'll probably give this series one more issue and if things don't turn around I'll end up dropping it. Score: 4/10
And that's it for this week's Best of the Rest post! I had a few books I wanted to include but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so ah well. Due to my busy schedule, X is going to post a scan or something tomorrow since the only two books I've read and planned on reviewing were better as blurbs than full reviews. Anyway, til next time, this is JT and his erstwhile lackey X, signing off!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Best of the Rest! Week of 3/20/13
Hey all, X here with his final post of the week. Yes, it's time to take a look at the Best of the Rest! This time with 100% more JT! Yes, mi hermano, JT, will be pitching in this week. Probably to bring the post quality waaaaay down... But at least I'm here to bring some respectability to the proceedings. Huh, it probably wasn't that smart to insult JT right off the bat since he'll be closing this post out, and as such will get the last word... If I was smarter I'd delete the insults... Meh. So here's how it'll work. I'll post my thoughts on a few comics, JT will post his thoughts in a different color, and then JT will close things out. Boom, simple. Like JT!!! HA!!!! *ahem* Anyway, let's get this bad boy rolling.
Daredevil #24: This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post... Which doesn't bode well as we move forward... Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was. Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not. Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt. Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here. Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs! What more could one ask for?! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth. Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away. Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them. And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto. Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me. I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place... We were in Mephisto's hell. And on the streets. And watching demons fight. And in a hotel room. It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series. But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Saga #11: First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!! With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me. Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life. Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well. That's really the extent of the main storyline here. I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing. I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed. Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died. If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got. Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again. This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road. Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody. That about sums this one up. I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me... I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great... Score: 6 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels. Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk. Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing... I never connected with this issue... Yep, again. There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story. It was okay. But that's all. Score: 6 out of 10.
Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic... Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth. There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight... But he gets killed by Tigra. Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic. See, now this comic? This comic was bad. Not okay, just bad. I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me. Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers. We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team... Score: 3 out of 10.
DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10
Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10
Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10
New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10
Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10
And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!
Daredevil #24: This was actually the high-point of this week's BotR post... Which doesn't bode well as we move forward... Basically DD is inching closer to finding out who the mystery villain who has been putting the screws to him was. Foggy learns that he had a rare type of bone tumor, and the doctors weren't sure if it had spread or not. Yeah, this comic is great, no doubt. Mark Waid has a little something for everybody here. Heroes, villains, secret plots, some drama, AND mutated dogs! What more could one ask for?! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
X-Factor #253: We get some escalation in the Hell on Earth war, as the various devils begin to wage war upon each other on Earth. Satana tries to kill Tier(because Satana is frigging AWESOME), but Tier chases her away. Polaris decides the best course of action was to sic Tier on the Hell-Lords, since he can hurt them. And Madrox is a demon thanks to Mephisto. Sadly, this comic didn't really do it for me. I mean it was all right and all, and I LOVE that Peter David showed that other heroes were involved in battling the demons, which you don't often see in a story like this, but the narrative was kind of spread all over the place... We were in Mephisto's hell. And on the streets. And watching demons fight. And in a hotel room. It just didn't gel for me, which is very rare for this series. But hey, I'm sure I'll be heaping praise on the next issue, so one not-so-good issue isn't a big thing. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Saga #11: First things first, I LOVE the hell out of this series!!! With that out of the way, I have to admit, this issue didn't really do it for me. Basically Marco's father helped the group get away from the space baby, but at the cost of his life. Marco and his mom naturally don't take the death well. That's really the extent of the main storyline here. I've got to admit, Marco's dad dying here was a bit disappointing. I thought that character had some legs, and figured he'd slowly fade away as the issues progressed. Instead he popped up a few issues ago and died. If he would have stuck around a bit, the impact of his death probably would have been greater, but sadly, that's not what we got. Even though this wasn't my favorite issue of this great series, it still wasn't bad, which shows you the quality of this title. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #101: So yeah, Eve is pregnant again. This time though, she has a doctor who specializes in super-human biology, and learns that she can't use her powers while she's pregnant, which you KNOW will come into play down the road. Robot hates Mark, Cecil hates Nolan, and Thragg hates everybody. That about sums this one up. I hate to sound like a broken record, but again, this issue just didn't hit the mark for me... I don't know what the problem was, but I just never connected to this comic. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great... Score: 6 out of 10.
Indestructible Hulk #5: Hulk manages to defeat Attuma with some help from Lemurian rebels. Plus one of the Lemurians makes out with Hulk. Here we go again, you know the song I'm gonna be playing... I never connected with this issue... Yep, again. There was some good here, namely Attuma, who Mark Waid wrote brilliantly, but I never fell into this story. It was okay. But that's all. Score: 6 out of 10.
Dark Avengers #188: Oh boy, this comic... Um, the Dark Avengers are still trapped in an alternate Earth. There's some sort of mystery there concerning AIM(I think...) and the Spider-Man of that world is worshiped as a god by the likes of Shang-Chi and Misty Knight... But he gets killed by Tigra. Oh, and Moonstone died, but came back over the course of this comic. See, now this comic? This comic was bad. Not okay, just bad. I was willing to go along for the ride at first, I've repeatedly stated that I love alternate dimensional tales, but this one simply isn't working for me. Probably because we have like zero character development going on here. Seriously, I have NO reason to care about ANY of the Dark Avengers. We REALLY need to get away from the main story here and shine a light on the characters on this team... Score: 3 out of 10.
DC Universe Presents: Starfire #18: Basically we see Starfire as a slave, then free, then allowing herself to get caught so she can free more people. The former top dog that wanted to free everyone was jealous, so he attacked her and she sliced his hands off with his sword. Upon gaining the chance to free everyone, the slaves were so afraid of Starfire they just wanted her to go, which she did. So... useless story sadly, nothing really happened, if only it showed that Star's a tough S.O.B. and scares people. Sad thing is, Joe Keatinge's last issue that starred Roy Harper was pretty good. Score: 2/10
Captain Marvel #11: Captain Marvel's been diagnosed with a lesion on her brain that expands every time she flies, it's not fatal but if she continues to fly it'll wipe away her memories, so now she's using a hover-bike, which she hates. We find out that she has some mysterious man stalking her, and he's been sending a new Deathbird, dubbed Newbird by Carol to her apartment building. Carol heads off to find Newbird and engages her in a fight in the sky, with her hover-bike of course. This was a pretty good issue, Carol continues to be written likable and fun, and the story of her not being able to fly, after putting so much emphasis on her love of flying throughout the series has been great. Score: 7/10
Justice League #18: The League is looking for new members because a few of them are busy with their cities or ruling Atlantis. Possible recruits are Black Canary (She's on the BoP...), Black Lighting, Blue Demon, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Vixen, Zatanna and Platinum of the Metal Men. Platinum goes crazy, predictably, and the League and candidates take her down, with the help of The Atom. By the way, Atom is a Hispanic woman now. The League ends up picking Atom, Firestorm and Element Woman over Vixen, Zatanna and Canary because they're stupid, and Nightwing isn't interested in joining. The issue ends with them finding out their recruitment files have been hacked, so someone has info on all these heroes now. Oops! I was flabbergasted that they didn't pick at least one of the three women I named... but whatever. That aside, this issue was kind of predictable, especially with Platinum's heel turn. Score: 5/10
New Avengers #4: With time running out until Earth crashes into another Earth, the Illuminati decide to go to the other planet and try to use their Infinity Gems to blow it up, since the Illuminati's Gems broke in the last issue. Once they arrive, they see on this planet the Statue of Liberty is replaced by a statue of the Master of Magnet himself, Magneto. They also see Galactus is already about to eat this planet, but instead of counting this as a win, they decide to fight his Thanos-like herald, because why not? This issue was fine and dandy until the weird ending where they decided to fight a villain on a planet that's dying... the same planet they came to destroy. Also, I was expecting more with the fallout of them mind-wiping Captain America but not too much came of that. Score: 6/10
Red Hood and the Outlaws #18: This is Lobdell's last issue of RHATO, and after surprisingly enjoying issue 19, I was looking forward to this issue. Jason came to the realization that the reason he has lashed out at Bruce and the rest of the family is because he was trying to escape his past, but he needs to embrace it instead of run away from it. We also find out his face is going to be fine in the future thanks to Alfred's handiwork. We end things with Jason finally waking up and he's about to apologize but Bruce cuts him off and hugs him as the issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, Jason finally being welcomed back to the fold is something I've wanted for a while as a Jason Todd fan, so this issue was a huge plus for me. Plus it really made sense for Bruce, after losing Jason once, then losing Damian, I doubt he wants to risk being distant with Jason any longer. The only thing I really had a problem with was this being billed as "Requiem" issue and Damian was never mentioned once. Score: 9/10
And THAT'S how you do a best of the rest post! Not like that farce X did last week. Anyway, I can see this being a weekly thing if mi hermano is up for it, so we can knock out even more books, considering sometimes people want info on books we read but don't review. So, look forward to me guiding X like the giant idiotic man-child he is through these posts on a regular basis. So that's it for me, until my final review of the week tomorrow. So til then, for myself and X, this is JT, signing off!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Indestructible Hulk #4
Two reviews on tap for tonight, both of them from the awesome Mark Waid! The first review is going to be Hulk, a character I've never been a fan of... (He's never been too fond of you either...) At least before Waid became the writer. Now? Now it's safe to say that I'm becoming interested in Hulk. (Jeez... buy him dinner first, X.) There's a line I never thought I'd be typing! So yeah, let's see if Waid can keep the magic up here...
Indestructible Hulk #4:
Summary: We find out that SHIELD has given Bruce Banner his own little town to live in... Well, sort of, as it's a former atomic testing site in Nevada and is filled with mannequins instead of people... And yes, that is a little creepy. (A little?! Wait til he starts dating one.) Bruce meets up with his science team, but is called away by Maria Hill, who needs the Hulk's help in dealing with Attuma, who has claimed the entire Pacific Ocean as his sovereign domain. (He must have an amazing realtor...) Bruce is loaded up into a missile and fired into the ocean, where he comes face to face(s) with Attuma and his sea creatures. Unfortunately for Hulk, one of the sea creatures gets a hold of him and drags him deep into the drink, (The drink? Who are you, Davy Jones?) with no air, no light and crushing pressure. (That's how I feel when I read a Scott Lobdell comic.)
Thoughts: Eh. This issue was solid and all, but it felt oddly rushed when compared to the first three issues of this series... We bounce from Bannerville,(And he calls Tony Stark conceited.) to Bruce meeting his science team, to a Hulk mission at breakneck (Gwen Stacy, Never forget!) speed. It was good and all, but I kind of wanted to see Bruce interact more with his science team. (You would, you nerd.) Instead it was, "Hey Bruce, here's your team! Say hello and good-bye, you have a mission!" So yeah, like I said, a bit rushed. But rushed or not, this was still a good, solid(if unspectacular) read.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Hope ya can swim, big guy!
Indestructible Hulk #4:
Summary: We find out that SHIELD has given Bruce Banner his own little town to live in... Well, sort of, as it's a former atomic testing site in Nevada and is filled with mannequins instead of people... And yes, that is a little creepy. (A little?! Wait til he starts dating one.) Bruce meets up with his science team, but is called away by Maria Hill, who needs the Hulk's help in dealing with Attuma, who has claimed the entire Pacific Ocean as his sovereign domain. (He must have an amazing realtor...) Bruce is loaded up into a missile and fired into the ocean, where he comes face to face(s) with Attuma and his sea creatures. Unfortunately for Hulk, one of the sea creatures gets a hold of him and drags him deep into the drink, (The drink? Who are you, Davy Jones?) with no air, no light and crushing pressure. (That's how I feel when I read a Scott Lobdell comic.)
Thoughts: Eh. This issue was solid and all, but it felt oddly rushed when compared to the first three issues of this series... We bounce from Bannerville,(And he calls Tony Stark conceited.) to Bruce meeting his science team, to a Hulk mission at breakneck (Gwen Stacy, Never forget!) speed. It was good and all, but I kind of wanted to see Bruce interact more with his science team. (You would, you nerd.) Instead it was, "Hey Bruce, here's your team! Say hello and good-bye, you have a mission!" So yeah, like I said, a bit rushed. But rushed or not, this was still a good, solid(if unspectacular) read.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Hope ya can swim, big guy!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Indestructible Hulk #3
Next review of the night is going to be the thus far exceptionally good Indestructible Hulk series. I think this is the first time JT or I reviewed this series here at the blog, but it definitely deserves a good, early week review, especially after how great the prior issue was. Anyway, let's see what kind of magic Mark Waid weaves with this issue.
Indestructible Hulk #3
Summary: Some AIM goons break into an old professor's home and put a fancy electronic hood on his head. However, before the AIM agents can leave they are met by SHIELD, who were apparently watching the house. The two sides have a firefight, and the AIM agents manage to escape with the professor. Or do they?!? At the AIM base, the AIM agents pull off the hood and are shocked to see Bruce Banner! It turns out SHIELD swapped Bruce and the professor during the shoot-out and Bruce immediately Hulks-up. The head of this faction of AIM, Colin Thirty-Three, manages to make his way to a huge AIM robot called the Quintronic Man, hops inside and activates it. Hulk and the robot fight, and the two fall into some magma, with the Quintonic Man figuring he could survive the heat and pressure, while the Hulk couldn't. That proves to be a costly miscalculation, as the Hulk breaks into the robot, which lets the magma fill it, presumably killing Thirty-Three. With that, Bruce Banner wakes up in a SHIELD hospital and this one comes to a close.
Thoughts: Eh, this issue was one of those "Hulk Smash!!!" types of Hulk comics. It was an okay action romp, but I prefer the issues like last issue where we get Tony Stark and Bruce Banner talking, as opposed to Hulk smashing. Things were being set up for the future, which is good, as we got SHIELD hiring Bruce's science team, and Bruce being saddled with a robot that would monitor him for SHIELD, something Bruce wasn't fond of. Bottom line? This was a good comic, but not a great comic, as the two issues before it had been.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Yeah, let's shoot the Hulk with a gun... That's SURE to work!
Indestructible Hulk #3
Summary: Some AIM goons break into an old professor's home and put a fancy electronic hood on his head. However, before the AIM agents can leave they are met by SHIELD, who were apparently watching the house. The two sides have a firefight, and the AIM agents manage to escape with the professor. Or do they?!? At the AIM base, the AIM agents pull off the hood and are shocked to see Bruce Banner! It turns out SHIELD swapped Bruce and the professor during the shoot-out and Bruce immediately Hulks-up. The head of this faction of AIM, Colin Thirty-Three, manages to make his way to a huge AIM robot called the Quintronic Man, hops inside and activates it. Hulk and the robot fight, and the two fall into some magma, with the Quintonic Man figuring he could survive the heat and pressure, while the Hulk couldn't. That proves to be a costly miscalculation, as the Hulk breaks into the robot, which lets the magma fill it, presumably killing Thirty-Three. With that, Bruce Banner wakes up in a SHIELD hospital and this one comes to a close.
Thoughts: Eh, this issue was one of those "Hulk Smash!!!" types of Hulk comics. It was an okay action romp, but I prefer the issues like last issue where we get Tony Stark and Bruce Banner talking, as opposed to Hulk smashing. Things were being set up for the future, which is good, as we got SHIELD hiring Bruce's science team, and Bruce being saddled with a robot that would monitor him for SHIELD, something Bruce wasn't fond of. Bottom line? This was a good comic, but not a great comic, as the two issues before it had been.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Yeah, let's shoot the Hulk with a gun... That's SURE to work!
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