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!
Showing posts with label Invincible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Invincible. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
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!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Invincible #100
First review of this week? That'll be the 100th issue of Invincible. This series was once right at the top of my must read list, but has recently fallen way down that list... I don't know what it is, but this title has lost something after the Viltrumite War. Nothing really important has happened. The past 25 issues or so are just a blur. Here's hoping THIS is the issue that turns all of that around, and begins a new era of greatness for this series.
Invincible #100
Summary: This issue begins with Dinosaurus killing Invincible off(!?!). Well, I figured that was a possibility, but that was pretty low on my list! But wait! It turns out Dinosaurus had switched the real Invincible with a clone, which he had learned how to create during his time on the Viltrumite ship, meaning Invincible was still alive... Well, that was a fast death and rebirth! Dinosaurus tells Invincible that with everybody thinking he was dead, they could continue their work(really!?). Invincible basically has my response to that, which is, "really?!", and tells Dinosaurus that instead of pushing humanity towards doing things differently, and looking towards cleaner energy, their actions may have had the opposite effect, leading humanity to stagnation and the same old ideas. Dinosaurus realizes that Invincible was right, and asks Invincible to kill him, which he seemingly does, but off-panel, so who knows. Invincible walks out of Dinosaurus's base, and is met by Cecil Stedman(Yeah!!). Cecil and Invincible talk, and Invincible learns that Dinosaurus's plot killed nearly 1 million people. Invincible is ready to head off to jail for his role in Dinosaurus's mad plans, but Cecil offers him an alternative... Work with Cecil and the government again, and there's no prison. Invincible agrees to this idea and heads home to see his parents and Eve. This issue ends with Eve telling Invincible that she was pregnant... Again...
Thoughts: Hey, this issue wasn't bad! This issue was actually going to decide for me whether or not I'd continue buying this series or not. After reading this? Yeah, I'll be sticking around for a while. Invincible basically admitted that he had been making all the wrong decisions and basically acting like a jerk, which is what's been bothering me with him for several issues now. Now he's working with the awesome Cecil again, and Eve is pregnant again. Yeah, this isn't exactly breaking any new ground, but hey, this is what I liked about Invincible when I got hooked on the series. I also liked the fact that NOBODY died! Well, except for maybe Dinosaurus and like a million people, but none of the characters in this series! So kudos to Robert Kirkman for avoiding the old tried and true, "It's an anniversary issue, somebody big MUST DIE!!!!!" So I'll be hanging around for the near future.
Score: 8 out of 10.
I wish I could just blame everything on a clone...
Invincible #100
Summary: This issue begins with Dinosaurus killing Invincible off(!?!). Well, I figured that was a possibility, but that was pretty low on my list! But wait! It turns out Dinosaurus had switched the real Invincible with a clone, which he had learned how to create during his time on the Viltrumite ship, meaning Invincible was still alive... Well, that was a fast death and rebirth! Dinosaurus tells Invincible that with everybody thinking he was dead, they could continue their work(really!?). Invincible basically has my response to that, which is, "really?!", and tells Dinosaurus that instead of pushing humanity towards doing things differently, and looking towards cleaner energy, their actions may have had the opposite effect, leading humanity to stagnation and the same old ideas. Dinosaurus realizes that Invincible was right, and asks Invincible to kill him, which he seemingly does, but off-panel, so who knows. Invincible walks out of Dinosaurus's base, and is met by Cecil Stedman(Yeah!!). Cecil and Invincible talk, and Invincible learns that Dinosaurus's plot killed nearly 1 million people. Invincible is ready to head off to jail for his role in Dinosaurus's mad plans, but Cecil offers him an alternative... Work with Cecil and the government again, and there's no prison. Invincible agrees to this idea and heads home to see his parents and Eve. This issue ends with Eve telling Invincible that she was pregnant... Again...
Thoughts: Hey, this issue wasn't bad! This issue was actually going to decide for me whether or not I'd continue buying this series or not. After reading this? Yeah, I'll be sticking around for a while. Invincible basically admitted that he had been making all the wrong decisions and basically acting like a jerk, which is what's been bothering me with him for several issues now. Now he's working with the awesome Cecil again, and Eve is pregnant again. Yeah, this isn't exactly breaking any new ground, but hey, this is what I liked about Invincible when I got hooked on the series. I also liked the fact that NOBODY died! Well, except for maybe Dinosaurus and like a million people, but none of the characters in this series! So kudos to Robert Kirkman for avoiding the old tried and true, "It's an anniversary issue, somebody big MUST DIE!!!!!" So I'll be hanging around for the near future.
Score: 8 out of 10.
I wish I could just blame everything on a clone...
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Invincible #99
Hey guys and gals, JT here with what will be a VERY quick review, as this issue was... like ALL full page panels... It was like when you look at one of those comicbooks that are just books of covers, so... yeah, let's get to it.
Summary: Things start off with Dinosaurus explaining that not everyone will die, he did this to thin out the herd so to speak. Invincible is pissed because he stood up for him and now he'll never be able to live this down, as well as all of the deaths because of him. The two engage in a brutal fight, beating the crap out of one another as we see Robot and the Guardians of the Globe going around and saving everyone they can. We also see the Viltrumites on a space ship as Thragg tells them not to interfere and save people, even the humans they care about or they'll have to answer to him, since he doesn't want the Earthlings aware that they are on the planet. Back with Mark and Dinosaurus, they continue to fight with Dinosaurus saying Mark has never been able to beat him, and if he wants him to kill him so he doesn't have to live with the title of failed hero, he will. The issue comes to a close asa nearby helicopter tapes Dinosaurus as he squeezes Mark's head with both of his hands, trying to kill Invincible.
Thoughts: I get why they did splash pages, to cover up the fact that nothing really happened here. I stretched the summary out a bit but this could've easily been summed up as, "Mark and Dinosaurus fight while the Guardians of the Globe save people, Dinosaurus tries to kill Mark as the issue ends." This was more filler to get us to issue #100, and while this issue wasn't bad, I'm not into this series as much as I used to, it's like it lost it's luster after the Viltrumite War, and sadly issue #100 may be my last issue unless it completely blows me away. As for this, it was more filler than anything, so I'll give it a middle of the road score.
Score: 6/10
Invincible: I thought we could save the world. Instead you've made me your accomplice in destroying it!
Invincible #99
Thoughts: I get why they did splash pages, to cover up the fact that nothing really happened here. I stretched the summary out a bit but this could've easily been summed up as, "Mark and Dinosaurus fight while the Guardians of the Globe save people, Dinosaurus tries to kill Mark as the issue ends." This was more filler to get us to issue #100, and while this issue wasn't bad, I'm not into this series as much as I used to, it's like it lost it's luster after the Viltrumite War, and sadly issue #100 may be my last issue unless it completely blows me away. As for this, it was more filler than anything, so I'll give it a middle of the road score.
Score: 6/10
Invincible: I thought we could save the world. Instead you've made me your accomplice in destroying it!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Invincible #98
Hola X-Maniacs, JT here with my final review of the comic week, and it's ending with Invincible #98. This is the beginning of the "Death of Everyone" storyline. So let's see how exactly Everyone dies!
Summary: We kick things off Mark, now healed and wearing his Blue and Black Invincible suit, telling Bulletproof that he thinks he should continue to be Invincible in his classic suit, and he appreciates his help. He tells him that it will give Mark more time to focus on the big picture, and free him up to do more good, and Zandale agrees to continue being Invincible. From there Mark visits Dinosaurus, who tells him he didn't know if Mark was going to return to full power, if he didn'the wouldn't have done what he's done. Mark asks him what he's done, and Dinosaurus says he's run calculations and millions must die in order for billions to survive. Mark attacks him, demanding he tells him what city he's endangered, and he says Los Angeles, so Mark flies to L.A. with his super speed to try to stop Dinosaurus' plans. From there we see Angstrom Levy (?!?!?!) living on a planet that he's helped turn into a Utopia by grabbing things from countless dimensions to help them for saving his life, so they grant Angstrom his freedom, which will of course lead to revenge against Mark Grayson. Back in L.A., Mark calls Cecil and tells him about Dinosaurus' plans, which Cecil says the blame is on Mark's head if anything happens, since he broke him out of jail. Mark says that's fine but there are more important matters, so Cecil sends the Guardians of the Globe to L.A. to help Mark search for Dinosaurus' evil plan. While flying in the sewers Mark comes across one of the bombs Dinosaurus planted and calls Cecil for help, so they send Robot there to look at it. After some time he realizes it's not a bomb but a machine that uses sonic beams to cause an Earthquake. Robot and the rest of the Guardians start destroying the multiple machine's placed around the city as Mark confronts Dinosaurus, but Dinosaurus says this was all just a distraction from his real plan. It seems Dinosaurus has blown up the polar ice caps, which causes everywhere from New York to Paris to Japan to become overcome by flooding, leading Mark to the realization that Dinosaurus' plan was to kill everyone.
Thoughts: This issue.... was... odd. I don't understand it... I mean, Bulletproof clearly wanted to be his own man and not in his brother's shadow, so why would he continue to take another guy's Legacy? That was weird to me, then the fact Dinosaurus planned on flooding the planet is just... absurd... I mean... why? And it really makes me hate Mark more than anything else because he broke the guy out, and now he's upset that he's going to the extreme. You KNOW he's an eco-terrorist. He already obliterated Las Vegas! And lastly... you're flooding a planet, that has Viltrumite's living on it... so is he planning to make it so only the super-powered people and the Viltrumite's live there? I just didn't understand why any of the people here made the choices they did... Well Angstrom Levy popped up here, so that was awesome.
Score: 4/10
Angstrom Levy: I must have my revenge! I've have waited long enough!
Invincible #98
Thoughts: This issue.... was... odd. I don't understand it... I mean, Bulletproof clearly wanted to be his own man and not in his brother's shadow, so why would he continue to take another guy's Legacy? That was weird to me, then the fact Dinosaurus planned on flooding the planet is just... absurd... I mean... why? And it really makes me hate Mark more than anything else because he broke the guy out, and now he's upset that he's going to the extreme. You KNOW he's an eco-terrorist. He already obliterated Las Vegas! And lastly... you're flooding a planet, that has Viltrumite's living on it... so is he planning to make it so only the super-powered people and the Viltrumite's live there? I just didn't understand why any of the people here made the choices they did... Well Angstrom Levy popped up here, so that was awesome.
Score: 4/10
Angstrom Levy: I must have my revenge! I've have waited long enough!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Invincible #91
We'll stick with Image and tackle the latest issue of Invincible.
Invincible #91:
Story Points:
-Invincible and Dinosaurus(in his human form) are hiding out in Dinosaurus's base.
-Eve learns from Thragg that Dinosaurus absconded with Invincible, and sets out with find him with Bulletproof, Allen and Oliver.
-The quartet do find Invincible, but by this point Dinosaurus has turned back to himself and naturally, we get a misunderstanding.
-Invincible tries to stop the fight by punching somebody(I forget who, maybe Allen?) and his arm shatters, revealing to him, us and the rest of the characters, that his powers seemed to gone.
Thoughts: Another good comic in a long line of them for me this week... Awesome! I loved the reveal that Invincible wasn't exactly Invincible anymore, and look forward to seeing what that leads to going forward... Maybe the Scourge Virus DID have a lasting effect on him? Anyway, this was a good issue, with a good cliffhanger. No complaints from me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Invincible #91:
Story Points:
-Invincible and Dinosaurus(in his human form) are hiding out in Dinosaurus's base.
-Eve learns from Thragg that Dinosaurus absconded with Invincible, and sets out with find him with Bulletproof, Allen and Oliver.
-The quartet do find Invincible, but by this point Dinosaurus has turned back to himself and naturally, we get a misunderstanding.
-Invincible tries to stop the fight by punching somebody(I forget who, maybe Allen?) and his arm shatters, revealing to him, us and the rest of the characters, that his powers seemed to gone.
Thoughts: Another good comic in a long line of them for me this week... Awesome! I loved the reveal that Invincible wasn't exactly Invincible anymore, and look forward to seeing what that leads to going forward... Maybe the Scourge Virus DID have a lasting effect on him? Anyway, this was a good issue, with a good cliffhanger. No complaints from me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Invincible #90
And the final review of the night is, as promised, from Image. Yup, it's time for some Invincible.
Invincible #90:
Summary: With Invincible still out cold and being worked on by the Viltrumites, Bulletproof is still standing in for him in his Invincible Inc. venture. After taking care of some over-sized monster, Bulletproof heads back to visit Eve and seemingly hits on her(?!). The hell?! Things get a bit awkward until Eve finally tells Bulletproof to leave. Meanwhile, Oliver still hates the Earth. Back on the Viltrumites moon base, Thragg has decided to kill Invincible since it turns out Invincible is related to some old Viltrumite king that was supposed to take the Viltrumite throne(which would knock Thragg out of power). Thragg sneaks into Invincible's room and decides to strangle Invincible, that way he could simply claim the Scourge Virus killed Invincible. However, before Thragg can carry out his plans, Dinosaurus enters the room and attacks Thragg... With disastrous results since Thragg's skin is too tough to puncture with Dinosaurus's claws or teeth. Thragg figures he would simply kill Dinosaurus, at least until Dinosaurus reveals that he had planted explosives around the ship that were wired to his heart. Since there was no Viltrumite homeworld anymore, the ship was invaluable to Thragg, and after realizing that Dinosaurus was telling the truth(due to several explosions taking place while the two were fighting), Thragg is forced to leave Dinosaurus behind to try to undo the damage done to the ship. As for Dinosaurus, he climbs aboard a Viltrumite ship with Invincible and manages to crash on Earth after passing out. This issue closes with a very confused Invincible waking up near the bloodied Dinosaurus.
Thoughts: Eh. This issue wasn't bad or anything, it was solid, it just didn't showcase any if the characters I care about... Oliver got a single page, Cecil Stedman got a single page, Eve didn't really do much and Invincible himself only woke up on the last page. Not being a fan of Dinosaurus or Thragg definitely hurt my enjoyment of this one. I will say this though... Ryan Ottley's art? Amazing! That guy doesn't get nearly enough credit for his work on this series... He MADE that battle between Dinosaurus and Thragg. Plain and simple. In a way this issue was a lot like this week's issue of New Mutants... It was a solid story, but it just wasn't my particular cup of tea.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
That top panel is 21 different flavors of awesome.
Invincible #90:
Summary: With Invincible still out cold and being worked on by the Viltrumites, Bulletproof is still standing in for him in his Invincible Inc. venture. After taking care of some over-sized monster, Bulletproof heads back to visit Eve and seemingly hits on her(?!). The hell?! Things get a bit awkward until Eve finally tells Bulletproof to leave. Meanwhile, Oliver still hates the Earth. Back on the Viltrumites moon base, Thragg has decided to kill Invincible since it turns out Invincible is related to some old Viltrumite king that was supposed to take the Viltrumite throne(which would knock Thragg out of power). Thragg sneaks into Invincible's room and decides to strangle Invincible, that way he could simply claim the Scourge Virus killed Invincible. However, before Thragg can carry out his plans, Dinosaurus enters the room and attacks Thragg... With disastrous results since Thragg's skin is too tough to puncture with Dinosaurus's claws or teeth. Thragg figures he would simply kill Dinosaurus, at least until Dinosaurus reveals that he had planted explosives around the ship that were wired to his heart. Since there was no Viltrumite homeworld anymore, the ship was invaluable to Thragg, and after realizing that Dinosaurus was telling the truth(due to several explosions taking place while the two were fighting), Thragg is forced to leave Dinosaurus behind to try to undo the damage done to the ship. As for Dinosaurus, he climbs aboard a Viltrumite ship with Invincible and manages to crash on Earth after passing out. This issue closes with a very confused Invincible waking up near the bloodied Dinosaurus.
Thoughts: Eh. This issue wasn't bad or anything, it was solid, it just didn't showcase any if the characters I care about... Oliver got a single page, Cecil Stedman got a single page, Eve didn't really do much and Invincible himself only woke up on the last page. Not being a fan of Dinosaurus or Thragg definitely hurt my enjoyment of this one. I will say this though... Ryan Ottley's art? Amazing! That guy doesn't get nearly enough credit for his work on this series... He MADE that battle between Dinosaurus and Thragg. Plain and simple. In a way this issue was a lot like this week's issue of New Mutants... It was a solid story, but it just wasn't my particular cup of tea.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
That top panel is 21 different flavors of awesome.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Invincible #89
Two reviews on tap for tonight, with the first one being this week's Pick of the Litter... What is that book? Invincible. I'm quite curious to see what Robert Kirkman has up his sleeve for this issue...
Invincible #89:
Summary: So Invincible is deathly ill due to his being exposed to the Scourge Virus last issue. The king of the Viltrumites, Thragg, has taken it upon himself to try to assist Invincible, and has taken three of his men with him(as well as a mess of heroes) to the secret Viltrumite ship on the moon to try to discover a cure before it was too late. Meanwhile, Allen the Alien brings Dinosaurus to the moon ship, where Dinosaurus offers his assistance to Thragg and his goon squad. Thragg initially turns the offer down, but Dinosaurus manages to convince Thragg that they both wanted Invincible better for their own reasons, so Thragg allows Dinosaurus to remain behind. However, Thragg tells everybody else that was present(the Guardians of the Globe, Cecil Stedman, Allen, Oliver, Atom Eve) to leave since they were only serving as distractions. Back on Earth, Eve gets a call from Invincible Inc for some assistance in defeating a monster, so Bulletproof steps up, hops into one of Invincible's outfits and heads off to battle. Other than that, Thragg learns from one of his scientists that Invincible is “a match” for something, and this knowledge causes Thragg to murder the scientist so nobody else would discover that fact. And that's about it here.
Thoughts: Um, not much of anything happened here... The issue ended pretty much that same way it began, with Invincible in the throes of the Scourge Virus. Besides the whole “match” thing, there really weren't even any major character development/set-up for the future events in this one... Yeah, I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more from this comic...
Score: 6 out of 10.
There had to be a neater way to kill that guy!
Invincible #89:
Summary: So Invincible is deathly ill due to his being exposed to the Scourge Virus last issue. The king of the Viltrumites, Thragg, has taken it upon himself to try to assist Invincible, and has taken three of his men with him(as well as a mess of heroes) to the secret Viltrumite ship on the moon to try to discover a cure before it was too late. Meanwhile, Allen the Alien brings Dinosaurus to the moon ship, where Dinosaurus offers his assistance to Thragg and his goon squad. Thragg initially turns the offer down, but Dinosaurus manages to convince Thragg that they both wanted Invincible better for their own reasons, so Thragg allows Dinosaurus to remain behind. However, Thragg tells everybody else that was present(the Guardians of the Globe, Cecil Stedman, Allen, Oliver, Atom Eve) to leave since they were only serving as distractions. Back on Earth, Eve gets a call from Invincible Inc for some assistance in defeating a monster, so Bulletproof steps up, hops into one of Invincible's outfits and heads off to battle. Other than that, Thragg learns from one of his scientists that Invincible is “a match” for something, and this knowledge causes Thragg to murder the scientist so nobody else would discover that fact. And that's about it here.
Thoughts: Um, not much of anything happened here... The issue ended pretty much that same way it began, with Invincible in the throes of the Scourge Virus. Besides the whole “match” thing, there really weren't even any major character development/set-up for the future events in this one... Yeah, I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more from this comic...
Score: 6 out of 10.
There had to be a neater way to kill that guy!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Invincible #88
Tonight we'll be checking out a pair of indie comics(Image is still considered an indie company, right?), with the first series being from Image.
Invincible #88:
Summary: Thragg and Invincible confront Allen and Oliver above the Earth and Thragg basically tells Allen that his plan to unleash the Scourge Virus in the Earth's atmosphere was faulty and wouldn't guarantee the death of the Viltrumite's, since Thragg insinuates that all of the Viltrumites weren't on Earth. The only guarantee was that if Allen DID disperse the Scourge Virus on the Earth, the Viltrumites would once again declare war on the Coalition of Planets. Allen, who was wrestling with his own doubts about the plan, realizes that Thragg was right, and decides not to go through with his plans of planetary genocide. By this time the Guardians of the Globe show up in space to take Invincible into custody for his recent actions, which leads to a fight. During the fracas, Oliver swipes a sample of the Scourge Virus from Allen and heads down to Earth to do what Allen wasn't man enough to do himself(!). Invincible sees what his half-brother was up to and chases after him, catching up to Oliver, but causing Oliver to drop the sample. Invincible manages to catch it before it opens, and is attacked by an incensed Oliver who realizes that unleashing the Scourge Virus was the best way to end the Viltrumite threat, even if it costs the life of everyone on the Earth. During the struggle, Oliver accidentally blasts Invincible in the face with the Virus(!!), sending him falling to the Earth. Allen, who saw what was transpiring from space, charges over and tells Oliver to stay away from Invincible, since there was a chance Oliver could become infected by Invincible. Allen manages to catch up to Invincible, who seems fine and uninfected... At first... This issue ends with Invincible bleeding from the eyes and nose, meaning he was indeed infected with the fatal virus.
Thoughts: Alright, good stuff here! I enjoyed just about everything we got in this one, with the glaring exception being Allen deciding not to use the Scourge Virus on the Earth. For somebody who was so gung-ho about unleashing the Virus last issue, Allen sure did a 180 quick in this one. Yeah, Thragg did make a few good points, but even if there WERE a few Viltrumites not on Earth, I STILL say killing everybody on the planet would be worth it if you could eliminate ANY Viltrumites. So yeah, I'm totally on Oliver's side of this argument. As for the ending, I can't wait to see how Robert Kirkman writes his way out of this one! Now THAT was a great cliffhanger!
Score: 8 out of 10.
HA!!!
Invincible #88:
Summary: Thragg and Invincible confront Allen and Oliver above the Earth and Thragg basically tells Allen that his plan to unleash the Scourge Virus in the Earth's atmosphere was faulty and wouldn't guarantee the death of the Viltrumite's, since Thragg insinuates that all of the Viltrumites weren't on Earth. The only guarantee was that if Allen DID disperse the Scourge Virus on the Earth, the Viltrumites would once again declare war on the Coalition of Planets. Allen, who was wrestling with his own doubts about the plan, realizes that Thragg was right, and decides not to go through with his plans of planetary genocide. By this time the Guardians of the Globe show up in space to take Invincible into custody for his recent actions, which leads to a fight. During the fracas, Oliver swipes a sample of the Scourge Virus from Allen and heads down to Earth to do what Allen wasn't man enough to do himself(!). Invincible sees what his half-brother was up to and chases after him, catching up to Oliver, but causing Oliver to drop the sample. Invincible manages to catch it before it opens, and is attacked by an incensed Oliver who realizes that unleashing the Scourge Virus was the best way to end the Viltrumite threat, even if it costs the life of everyone on the Earth. During the struggle, Oliver accidentally blasts Invincible in the face with the Virus(!!), sending him falling to the Earth. Allen, who saw what was transpiring from space, charges over and tells Oliver to stay away from Invincible, since there was a chance Oliver could become infected by Invincible. Allen manages to catch up to Invincible, who seems fine and uninfected... At first... This issue ends with Invincible bleeding from the eyes and nose, meaning he was indeed infected with the fatal virus.
Thoughts: Alright, good stuff here! I enjoyed just about everything we got in this one, with the glaring exception being Allen deciding not to use the Scourge Virus on the Earth. For somebody who was so gung-ho about unleashing the Virus last issue, Allen sure did a 180 quick in this one. Yeah, Thragg did make a few good points, but even if there WERE a few Viltrumites not on Earth, I STILL say killing everybody on the planet would be worth it if you could eliminate ANY Viltrumites. So yeah, I'm totally on Oliver's side of this argument. As for the ending, I can't wait to see how Robert Kirkman writes his way out of this one! Now THAT was a great cliffhanger!
Score: 8 out of 10.
HA!!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Invincible #87
Okay, we're going to do things a little bit differently this week. Seeing as that I have nearly 20 books to get through, unless otherwise requested, most of this week's reviews are going to be rather short on details. Wherever I can condense things, I will. With that out of the way, here's this week's Pick of the Litter!
Invincible #87:
What Happened: Invincible and Dinosaurus are still doing their whole “Save the world... By ALMOST any means necessary” thing. They do take time out to halt a would be world conquerer when Dinosaurus bites the villain's head off, presumably killing him... And Invincible is okay with this?? Later, Invincible visits Atom Eve for the first time in a while to try to explain why he's working with a notorious murderer. While they're talking, the awesome Cecil Stedman teleports in to try to talk Invincible out of his current idiotic plans. Before Cecil can really get too far along debating Invincible, he receives word that Allen the Alien was heading towards Earth, so Invincible heads up to say hello to his old friend. Allen has brought Oliver along with him, and Oliver and Allen tell Invincible about the Coalition's plan to kill the Viltrumites remaining on Earth. Invincible opposes it and is promptly attacked by Oliver and Allen. However, before Allen or Oliver can beat any sense into Invincible's think skull, the Viltrumite king flies over to stand with Invincible.
The Good: Robert Kirkman sure isn't slow-burning the Coalition/virus storyline, is he? As always, Ryan Ottley's artwork was great... Seriously, I have a hard time envisioning this series without Ottley on it... Cecil Stredman and Oliver were in this issue, and are my two favorite Invincible characters(weird, no?) so that was a good thing.
The Bad: Oddly enough, I find myself liking Invincible less and less every time I see him... So he's working with Dinosaurus and being defended by the Viltrumite king... Am I the only one who sees that as a major problem? When you are siding with and being defended by villains, that's probably a good indicator of what kind of character you are... The cover for the next issue sees Invincible pounding Oliver with a right hand... The very thought of that angers me! Invincible seemed oddly unaffected by Dinosaurus's murderous antics in this one...
The Verdict: This was a good issue of this series(as per usual), but not a great issue... And why wasn't it great? For me anyway? Because the focus went back to Invincible for the first time in at least two issues... I know I said it before, but it bears repeating, I really don't like Invincible as a character right now. I don't know what the deal is, maybe the horrors of the Viltrumite War, coupled with Atom Eve and the (possibly) aborted/miscarried child, have just caused Invincible to get slightly off keel. But seriously, I just don't like HIM. I still thoroughly enjoy the series because of the ultra-strong supporting cast, but the main character? He needs a good ass-whupping.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
You had to know I'd be scanning a page featuring either Oliver or Cecil.
Invincible #87:
What Happened: Invincible and Dinosaurus are still doing their whole “Save the world... By ALMOST any means necessary” thing. They do take time out to halt a would be world conquerer when Dinosaurus bites the villain's head off, presumably killing him... And Invincible is okay with this?? Later, Invincible visits Atom Eve for the first time in a while to try to explain why he's working with a notorious murderer. While they're talking, the awesome Cecil Stedman teleports in to try to talk Invincible out of his current idiotic plans. Before Cecil can really get too far along debating Invincible, he receives word that Allen the Alien was heading towards Earth, so Invincible heads up to say hello to his old friend. Allen has brought Oliver along with him, and Oliver and Allen tell Invincible about the Coalition's plan to kill the Viltrumites remaining on Earth. Invincible opposes it and is promptly attacked by Oliver and Allen. However, before Allen or Oliver can beat any sense into Invincible's think skull, the Viltrumite king flies over to stand with Invincible.
The Good: Robert Kirkman sure isn't slow-burning the Coalition/virus storyline, is he? As always, Ryan Ottley's artwork was great... Seriously, I have a hard time envisioning this series without Ottley on it... Cecil Stredman and Oliver were in this issue, and are my two favorite Invincible characters(weird, no?) so that was a good thing.
The Bad: Oddly enough, I find myself liking Invincible less and less every time I see him... So he's working with Dinosaurus and being defended by the Viltrumite king... Am I the only one who sees that as a major problem? When you are siding with and being defended by villains, that's probably a good indicator of what kind of character you are... The cover for the next issue sees Invincible pounding Oliver with a right hand... The very thought of that angers me! Invincible seemed oddly unaffected by Dinosaurus's murderous antics in this one...
The Verdict: This was a good issue of this series(as per usual), but not a great issue... And why wasn't it great? For me anyway? Because the focus went back to Invincible for the first time in at least two issues... I know I said it before, but it bears repeating, I really don't like Invincible as a character right now. I don't know what the deal is, maybe the horrors of the Viltrumite War, coupled with Atom Eve and the (possibly) aborted/miscarried child, have just caused Invincible to get slightly off keel. But seriously, I just don't like HIM. I still thoroughly enjoy the series because of the ultra-strong supporting cast, but the main character? He needs a good ass-whupping.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
You had to know I'd be scanning a page featuring either Oliver or Cecil.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Invincible #86
Alright! Here's a comic I've been looking forward to reading since the last issue came out! Oddly enough, taking the title character OUT of the series made it 100 times more enjoyable for me... Weird. Anyway, this issue should have a HUGE Allen the Alien/Nolan showdown, as well as Oliver, who along with Cecil Stedman NEED their own series!! Enough intro, let's get to it.
Invincible #86:
What Happened: Quick reminder of the events of the last issue... Allen has revealed to Nolan that the Coalition had managed to perfect the Scourge Virus, which is one of the few things that could kill a Viltrumite. With all of the remaining Viltrumites in the universe hiding out on Earth, Allen plans on releasing the virus on Earth, which would eliminate the Viltrumite menace once and for all. The problem? There's a good chance the virus would also kill every human on Earth since their DNA was so similar to Viltrumites. Allen sees this as a risk worth taking, while Nolan thinks that potentially wiping out the entire human race is the wrong way to deal with his people... This issue opens with Nolan and Allen taking their battle into outer space so as to not damage/kill anyone on the Coalition homeworld. Allen gains the initial advantage, but Oliver soon joins the battle and attacks Allen to aid his father. Before the two can really take advantage of Allen though, a mess of Coalition soldiers appear on the scene. With the soldiers momentarily preventing Nolan and Oliver from attacking, Allen again tries to reason with Nolan, telling him that a) it wasn't 100% guaranteed the virus would kill humans, and b) even if it did, those billions of deaths would prevent several billion more in the future. Nolan counters by saying that living on Earth changed him from being one of the most hardened of Viltrumites to somebody who was willing to stand against his conquest hungry people. In Nolan's eyes, the longer his people lived amongst the humans, the more likely they'd turn out like he did and recant their ways. After hearing both side, Oliver sides with Allen and the Coalition over his father and declares that if the death of all humans was what it took to rid the universe of the Viltrumites, so be it. Seeing that Nolan wasn't going to change his mind here, Allen tells his soldiers to restrain Nolan so he could get his mission over with. Nolan knocks the soldiers around and makes a move towards Allen, but is stopped by Oliver, who slugs his father. Nolan goes to attack Oliver, but can't bring himself to strike his son. With that, Allen attacks Nolan anew which leads to a battered and beaten Nolan retreating. Allen lets him go and asks Oliver to accompany him to Earth since it was almost assured that Invincible would be as bullheaded as Nolan was. This issue ends with Nolan returning to his wife Debbie to tell her that they had to get to Earth to warn Invincible, before collapsing.
The Good: Um, everything? Seriously, there wasn't a dull moment in this comic. Every page, every scene, every piece of dialogue was just perfect here. Not only that, but the story itself is full of so much gray! You can EASILY understand the argument both Allen and Nolan were making, and could see why Oliver sided the way he did.
The Bad: Nothing I can think of...
The Verdict: Yeah, this comic was perfect, no question about that. I love stories that aren't totally cut and dry, and this one fit that bill completely. It's rare when a comic book can actually give you a story where you can easily see both sides of the argument presented. Usually in a comic book when you are presented with an argument that is supposed to be shades of gray, it's STILL easy to see which side is “right”(I'm looking squarely at YOU, Civil War!)... If you want to know which side of this argument I fall on, it really wasn't that difficult of a decision for me to make... I am fully on Allen's side here. Yep, I'd be willing to potentially kill all life on Earth in order to save future generations from the horrors of the Viltrumites. I totally get what Nolan is saying here(that the Viltrumites may soften as he did and no longer threaten the universe with enough time spent on Earth), but what if Nolan WAS an aberration to his people? What if the rest of the Viltrumites DON'T soften their stances and DO go through with their long range plan, which would be to have children on Earth. Children who would eventually grow up to help the Viltrumites conquer the universe? Then again, what if Nolan ISN'T an aberration and living on Earth, living as a human, DOES change the Viltrumites? See, it's NOT that clear cut. But for my money? If I were in Allen's position, hoping the Viltrumites change isn't worth the risk. So yeah, needless to say, I can't wait for the next issue as the Coalition forces begin their move towards the Earth...
Score: 10 out of 10.
I really do love Oliver...
Invincible #86:
What Happened: Quick reminder of the events of the last issue... Allen has revealed to Nolan that the Coalition had managed to perfect the Scourge Virus, which is one of the few things that could kill a Viltrumite. With all of the remaining Viltrumites in the universe hiding out on Earth, Allen plans on releasing the virus on Earth, which would eliminate the Viltrumite menace once and for all. The problem? There's a good chance the virus would also kill every human on Earth since their DNA was so similar to Viltrumites. Allen sees this as a risk worth taking, while Nolan thinks that potentially wiping out the entire human race is the wrong way to deal with his people... This issue opens with Nolan and Allen taking their battle into outer space so as to not damage/kill anyone on the Coalition homeworld. Allen gains the initial advantage, but Oliver soon joins the battle and attacks Allen to aid his father. Before the two can really take advantage of Allen though, a mess of Coalition soldiers appear on the scene. With the soldiers momentarily preventing Nolan and Oliver from attacking, Allen again tries to reason with Nolan, telling him that a) it wasn't 100% guaranteed the virus would kill humans, and b) even if it did, those billions of deaths would prevent several billion more in the future. Nolan counters by saying that living on Earth changed him from being one of the most hardened of Viltrumites to somebody who was willing to stand against his conquest hungry people. In Nolan's eyes, the longer his people lived amongst the humans, the more likely they'd turn out like he did and recant their ways. After hearing both side, Oliver sides with Allen and the Coalition over his father and declares that if the death of all humans was what it took to rid the universe of the Viltrumites, so be it. Seeing that Nolan wasn't going to change his mind here, Allen tells his soldiers to restrain Nolan so he could get his mission over with. Nolan knocks the soldiers around and makes a move towards Allen, but is stopped by Oliver, who slugs his father. Nolan goes to attack Oliver, but can't bring himself to strike his son. With that, Allen attacks Nolan anew which leads to a battered and beaten Nolan retreating. Allen lets him go and asks Oliver to accompany him to Earth since it was almost assured that Invincible would be as bullheaded as Nolan was. This issue ends with Nolan returning to his wife Debbie to tell her that they had to get to Earth to warn Invincible, before collapsing.
The Good: Um, everything? Seriously, there wasn't a dull moment in this comic. Every page, every scene, every piece of dialogue was just perfect here. Not only that, but the story itself is full of so much gray! You can EASILY understand the argument both Allen and Nolan were making, and could see why Oliver sided the way he did.
The Bad: Nothing I can think of...
The Verdict: Yeah, this comic was perfect, no question about that. I love stories that aren't totally cut and dry, and this one fit that bill completely. It's rare when a comic book can actually give you a story where you can easily see both sides of the argument presented. Usually in a comic book when you are presented with an argument that is supposed to be shades of gray, it's STILL easy to see which side is “right”(I'm looking squarely at YOU, Civil War!)... If you want to know which side of this argument I fall on, it really wasn't that difficult of a decision for me to make... I am fully on Allen's side here. Yep, I'd be willing to potentially kill all life on Earth in order to save future generations from the horrors of the Viltrumites. I totally get what Nolan is saying here(that the Viltrumites may soften as he did and no longer threaten the universe with enough time spent on Earth), but what if Nolan WAS an aberration to his people? What if the rest of the Viltrumites DON'T soften their stances and DO go through with their long range plan, which would be to have children on Earth. Children who would eventually grow up to help the Viltrumites conquer the universe? Then again, what if Nolan ISN'T an aberration and living on Earth, living as a human, DOES change the Viltrumites? See, it's NOT that clear cut. But for my money? If I were in Allen's position, hoping the Viltrumites change isn't worth the risk. So yeah, needless to say, I can't wait for the next issue as the Coalition forces begin their move towards the Earth...
Score: 10 out of 10.
I really do love Oliver...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Invincible #85
Next up, one of the two Image comic books I buy. Um... That's really all of an introduction I can think up, so let's get to the review!
Invincible #85:
What Happened: After a long flight to the Coalition planets headquarters, Nolan and Deborah arrive and Nolan tells Allen about the deal that Nolan and Invincible made with the Viltrumites back on Earth. Allen is very unhappy about this, and coldly tells Nolan to leave so he could consider everything. From there we get some bonding scenes with Oliver and Nolan and Deborah, before we head back to Nolan, who meets with Allen the following day. Allen informs Nolan that the other members of the Coalition thought leaving the Viltrumites alone of Earth was a disastrous decision and as such Allen was going to head to Earth personally to introduce the Scourge Virus, which would kill all of the Viltrumites on Earth, as well as possibly kill all of the humans there as well. Needless to say, Nolan isn't about to let that happen, and this issue ends with Nolan and Allen preparing to square off.
The Good: Well, the ending was better than good, it was phenomenal! The way this comic built from the first page to the last was pretty impressive. Seeing Oliver again, alive and well, after what happened to him during the Viltrumite War was great. No Invincible in this comic was, believe it or not, a good thing... I think a few issues away from him while we focus on the supporting cast will help when we get back to Earth and Invincible's own story.
The Bad: You know, even after he fought for the Coalition against his own people, it still bothers me to see that Deborah has so readily forgiven Nolan... I mean he basically called her a pet on national TV when he was trying to murder Invincible, the fact that the two were going at it like a couple of rabbits bugged me.
The Verdict: Now THIS is more like it! This series, while solid, has been faltering a bit lately(to me at least). This issue reminded me of what got me so hooked on this series in the first place. The storytelling was great, the art was great, the twist at the end was great, it was all great. And like I said above, I think this series can benefit by getting away from Invincible for a few issues, because for the past few issues I've found myself getting more and more annoyed by Invincible's antics. After how good the cliffhanger here was, I can honestly say that the next issue is almost a shoe-in for the Pick of the Litter whenever it comes out.
Score: 9 out of 10.
It's good to see Oliver around again.
Invincible #85:
What Happened: After a long flight to the Coalition planets headquarters, Nolan and Deborah arrive and Nolan tells Allen about the deal that Nolan and Invincible made with the Viltrumites back on Earth. Allen is very unhappy about this, and coldly tells Nolan to leave so he could consider everything. From there we get some bonding scenes with Oliver and Nolan and Deborah, before we head back to Nolan, who meets with Allen the following day. Allen informs Nolan that the other members of the Coalition thought leaving the Viltrumites alone of Earth was a disastrous decision and as such Allen was going to head to Earth personally to introduce the Scourge Virus, which would kill all of the Viltrumites on Earth, as well as possibly kill all of the humans there as well. Needless to say, Nolan isn't about to let that happen, and this issue ends with Nolan and Allen preparing to square off.
The Good: Well, the ending was better than good, it was phenomenal! The way this comic built from the first page to the last was pretty impressive. Seeing Oliver again, alive and well, after what happened to him during the Viltrumite War was great. No Invincible in this comic was, believe it or not, a good thing... I think a few issues away from him while we focus on the supporting cast will help when we get back to Earth and Invincible's own story.
The Bad: You know, even after he fought for the Coalition against his own people, it still bothers me to see that Deborah has so readily forgiven Nolan... I mean he basically called her a pet on national TV when he was trying to murder Invincible, the fact that the two were going at it like a couple of rabbits bugged me.
The Verdict: Now THIS is more like it! This series, while solid, has been faltering a bit lately(to me at least). This issue reminded me of what got me so hooked on this series in the first place. The storytelling was great, the art was great, the twist at the end was great, it was all great. And like I said above, I think this series can benefit by getting away from Invincible for a few issues, because for the past few issues I've found myself getting more and more annoyed by Invincible's antics. After how good the cliffhanger here was, I can honestly say that the next issue is almost a shoe-in for the Pick of the Litter whenever it comes out.
Score: 9 out of 10.
It's good to see Oliver around again.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Invincible #84
Let's start this weekend off with a look at one of the two Image comic books I read, in this case, Invincible. This series has been in a bit of a lull since the end of the epic Viltrumite War storyline, let's see if things pick up with this issue.
Invincible #84:
What Happened: Cecil Stedman brings Invincible to the former site of Las Vegas to show that the government had decided to erect massive solar panels in the place of the city which would provide cheap power throughout much of the west. Invincible realizes that was what Dinosaurus's plan was all along and decides to spring Dinosaurus from the Pentagon with the hope being they could use Dinosaurus's ideas to help the planet without all of that pesky city destroying and people killing that most of Dinosaurus's plans entailed.
The Good: The blurb for the next issue showed Invincible's little brother, Oliver! As usual, Cecil Stedman stole the show, because he is, as I've stated on numerous occasions to anybody who'd listen to me, awesome.
The Bad: Invincible siding with Dinosaurus, a known murderer and the individual responsible for destroying Las Vegas is ALL kinds of wrong. Invincible and Dinosaurus easily escaping the Invincible-Reanimen was pretty sad... We STILL don't know how Robot and Monster Girl got older and what went wrong with their relationship... I'm starting to think we'll never learn what happened...
The Verdict: Well, this issue was interesting. And not necessarily for the right reasons... I don't see how Invincible can possibly rationalize teaming with Dinosaurus after what happened to Las Vegas. That would be like Batman suddenly realizing that Ra's Al Ghul was right all along and the human race DID need to be cut down a bit. All I can think is that after the Viltrumite War, learning about Atom Eve and his baby, and the destruction of Las Vegas, Invincible is headed towards a massive, Hank Pym style nervous breakdown. Because really, that's the only explanation for his recent actions.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
I'm not exactly sure what Cecil is doing, but I'm sure whatever it is, it's awesome.
Invincible #84:
What Happened: Cecil Stedman brings Invincible to the former site of Las Vegas to show that the government had decided to erect massive solar panels in the place of the city which would provide cheap power throughout much of the west. Invincible realizes that was what Dinosaurus's plan was all along and decides to spring Dinosaurus from the Pentagon with the hope being they could use Dinosaurus's ideas to help the planet without all of that pesky city destroying and people killing that most of Dinosaurus's plans entailed.
The Good: The blurb for the next issue showed Invincible's little brother, Oliver! As usual, Cecil Stedman stole the show, because he is, as I've stated on numerous occasions to anybody who'd listen to me, awesome.
The Bad: Invincible siding with Dinosaurus, a known murderer and the individual responsible for destroying Las Vegas is ALL kinds of wrong. Invincible and Dinosaurus easily escaping the Invincible-Reanimen was pretty sad... We STILL don't know how Robot and Monster Girl got older and what went wrong with their relationship... I'm starting to think we'll never learn what happened...
The Verdict: Well, this issue was interesting. And not necessarily for the right reasons... I don't see how Invincible can possibly rationalize teaming with Dinosaurus after what happened to Las Vegas. That would be like Batman suddenly realizing that Ra's Al Ghul was right all along and the human race DID need to be cut down a bit. All I can think is that after the Viltrumite War, learning about Atom Eve and his baby, and the destruction of Las Vegas, Invincible is headed towards a massive, Hank Pym style nervous breakdown. Because really, that's the only explanation for his recent actions.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
I'm not exactly sure what Cecil is doing, but I'm sure whatever it is, it's awesome.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Invincible #83
I figured I'd use the DC format for reviewing this comic... Why? I don't really know... Here it is regardless though.
Invincible #83:
What Happened: Um, not much... The heroes throw a party welcoming Robot and Monster Girl(Monster Woman?) back and Magmaniac and Tether Tyrant are sent by Titan to attack fellow villain, Machine Head. After Magmaniac gets killed, Tether Tyrant allows his... um, tether(?) to take over his body before he snaps out of it four hours later while battling the Guardians of the Globe. He surrenders immediately. Oh, and Robot and Monster Girl have a secret of some sort from the world they had been living in for the past several years.
The Good: This series is always good for a nice, fast, fun read, even when nothing all that interesting is going on. As always, Ryan Ottley's artwork was top-notch. I'm hopeful that whatever happened between Robot and Monster Girl will lead to storyline gold.
The Bad: This comic just didn't do it for me storywise. It basically followed Magmaniac(great name btw) and Tether Tyrant... Invincible and Atom Eve's interaction was kind of creepy, especially in Invincible's parent's bedroom... Nothing all that interesting happened...
The Verdict: That last line in The Bad section pretty much sums up my thoughts on this one perfectly... The past few issues nothing all that interesting has happened. Things have been in a lull since Atom Eve told Invincible about their baby. Speaking of which, I'm STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop with that. There was a time when this was one of the series I most looked forward to reading. Now? It's just another comic in my pile. I'm sure Robert Kirkman can(and almost definitely WILL) turn things around, but for now I'm just kind of sleepwalking through this series.
Score: 6 out of 10.
This scene was just weird to me...
Invincible #83:
What Happened: Um, not much... The heroes throw a party welcoming Robot and Monster Girl(Monster Woman?) back and Magmaniac and Tether Tyrant are sent by Titan to attack fellow villain, Machine Head. After Magmaniac gets killed, Tether Tyrant allows his... um, tether(?) to take over his body before he snaps out of it four hours later while battling the Guardians of the Globe. He surrenders immediately. Oh, and Robot and Monster Girl have a secret of some sort from the world they had been living in for the past several years.
The Good: This series is always good for a nice, fast, fun read, even when nothing all that interesting is going on. As always, Ryan Ottley's artwork was top-notch. I'm hopeful that whatever happened between Robot and Monster Girl will lead to storyline gold.
The Bad: This comic just didn't do it for me storywise. It basically followed Magmaniac(great name btw) and Tether Tyrant... Invincible and Atom Eve's interaction was kind of creepy, especially in Invincible's parent's bedroom... Nothing all that interesting happened...
The Verdict: That last line in The Bad section pretty much sums up my thoughts on this one perfectly... The past few issues nothing all that interesting has happened. Things have been in a lull since Atom Eve told Invincible about their baby. Speaking of which, I'm STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop with that. There was a time when this was one of the series I most looked forward to reading. Now? It's just another comic in my pile. I'm sure Robert Kirkman can(and almost definitely WILL) turn things around, but for now I'm just kind of sleepwalking through this series.
Score: 6 out of 10.
This scene was just weird to me...
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Invincible #82
Next up is the ONLY non-Marvel comic I picked up this week, Invincible. So while I didn't pick up any DC books, I did pick up an Image comic... How weird is that?! Anyway, Invincible is usually a great read, let's see how things turned out this month.
Invincible #82:
Summary: We get started with a suddenly older Robot meeting up with The Man himself, Cecil Stedman... Um, what the HELL happened to Robot!? Sheesh! I get the feeling I missed and/or forgot something... Anyway, Cecil tells Robot about all the bad stuff the villains have been up to as of late, including destroying Las Vegas and Paris(two cities that were also ravaged by Marvel recently... What do comic book companies have against those two cities!?). Cecil tells Robot that the world's heroes were too spread out and that he wanted Robot to try to coordinate the heroes in the event of a major villain attack. Robot, who seems rather preoccupied, agrees to do whatever he could to help. From there we head to Invincible, who meets up with Universa in jail. Long story short, Invincible understands why Universa attacked the Earth(to save her own world), and offers a solution... He'd see if the government would give her some energy, which she could return to her own world with to help her people. Universa agrees, and Cecil allows Invincible to take Universa to various power-stations to power-up. Once she has an adequate amount of energy, she says her thank yous and good-byes to Invincible before heading off world. Invincible is pleased to have solved a problem with his brains instead of his brawn for a change, and Cecil asks to meet with him at the Pentagon in the White Room. Cecil asks if he could trust Invincible to help the world if there was major trouble, and Invincible says that when needed, he'd respond. With that out of the way, Cecil tells Invincible that he wanted to tell him that he was keeping things from Invincible that might upset him, at which point he shows Invincible the Invincible-reanimen the government created.
Thoughts: Not bad, but not exactly great either... The funny thing about this series is that even when it's not off-the-charts amazing, it's still very good. Now, nothing really happened here... Invincible spoke to Universa, Cecil spoke to Robot, Dinosaurus's human form turned himself over to Cecil, Eve had a lunch date with Dupli-Kate, and Invincible talked to Cecil... I like all of these characters enough that even a comic filled with them simply talking to each other was enjoyable, but since the Viltrumite War ended, this series has kind of been in cruise control... I'm not sure if Robert Kirkman is slow-burning another awesome storyline, if he's taken on too many projects and the quality of Invincible is suffering slightly for it, or if he's simply run out of stories to tell, which would be understandable, as writing 82 issues of a series is nothing to scoff at. Regardless, I do enjoy reading my (sometimes) monthly copy of Invincible, and will be interested in seeing if things begin to pick back up again with the next issue.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Sweet! A conversation about salad!!
Invincible #82:
Summary: We get started with a suddenly older Robot meeting up with The Man himself, Cecil Stedman... Um, what the HELL happened to Robot!? Sheesh! I get the feeling I missed and/or forgot something... Anyway, Cecil tells Robot about all the bad stuff the villains have been up to as of late, including destroying Las Vegas and Paris(two cities that were also ravaged by Marvel recently... What do comic book companies have against those two cities!?). Cecil tells Robot that the world's heroes were too spread out and that he wanted Robot to try to coordinate the heroes in the event of a major villain attack. Robot, who seems rather preoccupied, agrees to do whatever he could to help. From there we head to Invincible, who meets up with Universa in jail. Long story short, Invincible understands why Universa attacked the Earth(to save her own world), and offers a solution... He'd see if the government would give her some energy, which she could return to her own world with to help her people. Universa agrees, and Cecil allows Invincible to take Universa to various power-stations to power-up. Once she has an adequate amount of energy, she says her thank yous and good-byes to Invincible before heading off world. Invincible is pleased to have solved a problem with his brains instead of his brawn for a change, and Cecil asks to meet with him at the Pentagon in the White Room. Cecil asks if he could trust Invincible to help the world if there was major trouble, and Invincible says that when needed, he'd respond. With that out of the way, Cecil tells Invincible that he wanted to tell him that he was keeping things from Invincible that might upset him, at which point he shows Invincible the Invincible-reanimen the government created.
Thoughts: Not bad, but not exactly great either... The funny thing about this series is that even when it's not off-the-charts amazing, it's still very good. Now, nothing really happened here... Invincible spoke to Universa, Cecil spoke to Robot, Dinosaurus's human form turned himself over to Cecil, Eve had a lunch date with Dupli-Kate, and Invincible talked to Cecil... I like all of these characters enough that even a comic filled with them simply talking to each other was enjoyable, but since the Viltrumite War ended, this series has kind of been in cruise control... I'm not sure if Robert Kirkman is slow-burning another awesome storyline, if he's taken on too many projects and the quality of Invincible is suffering slightly for it, or if he's simply run out of stories to tell, which would be understandable, as writing 82 issues of a series is nothing to scoff at. Regardless, I do enjoy reading my (sometimes) monthly copy of Invincible, and will be interested in seeing if things begin to pick back up again with the next issue.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Sweet! A conversation about salad!!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Invincible #81 & Teen Titans #98
After reviewing 8 straight Marvel comic books, I think it's time to take a break from the House of Ideas and take a look at Image's Invincible, as well as DC's Teen Titans. Invincible is almost always a great read, while I can't imagine this issue of Teen Titans being as bad as the past few issues have been... I mean it's just not scientifically possible!!
Invincible #81:
Summary: Thanks to Dinosaurus, Las Vegas was destroyed last issue, something that is greatly weighing on Invincible, since he was unable to stop Dinosaurus from setting off the bombs that destroyed the city in time. Needless to say, Invincible is a bit depressed, but the super-heroics must go on, so Invincible heads out and stops a bank robbery from being committed by Gravitator and his gravity gun... And no, this is a different guy than the last guy who tried to rob a bank with similar equipment. Invincible and Atom Eve make quick work of Gravitator before Invincible scares Gravitator into telling him where he got the equipment from. Sure enough, Gravitator brought it off of the guy who invented the tech. Invincible confronts the inventor of the gravity gun(and accessories!) and the inventor explains that he didn't know who else to sell the stuff to, so he sold it to Gravitator. To rectify this situation, Invincible takes the inventor to Cecil Stedman at the Pentagon and Cecil decides to put the inventor to work for the government. Upon leaving, Invincible is jumped by Powerplex, who was still blaming Invincible for the deaths of his sister, wife and child. Invincible tells Powerplex that the death of his sister was due to Invincible's battle with his(at the time) crazed father, while it was actually Powerplex who inadvertently killed his wife and kid. Upon hearing this from the man he held responsible, Powerplex realizes that Invincible was right, and that he was to blame. Powerplex dissolves in tears and Cecil and the feds show up to lock Powerplex away. Cecil compliments Invincible for the way he handled the situation, and goes on to tell Invincible that while Invincible was off-world Powerplex had been a pretty good hero, so hopefully this breakthrough would help Powerplex become an even better hero down the road. Cecil then tries to get Invincible to rejoin Cecil's band of heroes, but Invincible turns him down. From there, Invincible returns home to meet with Atom Eve, where he complains about how even with their powers, the world just kept getting worse.
Thoughts: Huh, this was the first time in a LONG time an issue of this series didn't absolutely floor me at some point. It was good, but it wasn't it's usual great. This just seemed like a one and done, placeholder issue. Nothing THAT important happened. Invincible isn't dealing with the destruction of Vegas well, and that's about all that really happened here... While okay, this is the type of comic I'll have forgotten about in a few hours time, something that I never expect to say about an issue of Invincible.
Score: 7 out of 10.
I'm still waiting for the Cecil Stedman series... I'd buy three copies of every issue!
Teen Titans #98:
Summary: This issue begins by revealing that Superboy Prime had been sucked back into the mainstream DCU thanks to the Teen Titans battle with Headcase a few issues back. From there we head back to the present where we see the Teen Titans doing whatever they do during their downtime(train, talk to each other, fight, etc). Not that far from Titans Tower, somebody attacks a building in San Fransisco, which naturally brings the Teen Titans over to take care of it. The Titans manage to stabilize the building, and are shocked to discover that it was Prime and several of the Titans various enemies behind the attack on the building. Who are Prime's allies? Roll call! We have Prime, Zookeeper, Indigo(!), Headcase, Sun Girl, Persuader and Inertia(although it appears to be a different version of Inertia I know and love...). Anyway, the Titans pick an opponent and engage them in battle. While the fight is going on, three blurs attack the building again, and when they slow down they appear to be three different versions of Superboy from three different time period!
Thoughts: This was a massive amount better than the past few Solstice heavy issues. Like him or hate him, Superboy Prime is a great villain for the Teen Titans to periodically face. He has a personal connection to the team, plus he's as powerful as Superman. I'm a bit curious as to a) how Prime managed to gather his army of evil without raising any suspicion, b) who this Inertia is(possibly an older version of the original?), and c) what the deal is with the three Superboys. For the first time in a long time I'm actually looking forward to an issue of this series, and that's a great feeling!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Hey check it out, Tim Drake's fantasy come to life!
Invincible #81:
Summary: Thanks to Dinosaurus, Las Vegas was destroyed last issue, something that is greatly weighing on Invincible, since he was unable to stop Dinosaurus from setting off the bombs that destroyed the city in time. Needless to say, Invincible is a bit depressed, but the super-heroics must go on, so Invincible heads out and stops a bank robbery from being committed by Gravitator and his gravity gun... And no, this is a different guy than the last guy who tried to rob a bank with similar equipment. Invincible and Atom Eve make quick work of Gravitator before Invincible scares Gravitator into telling him where he got the equipment from. Sure enough, Gravitator brought it off of the guy who invented the tech. Invincible confronts the inventor of the gravity gun(and accessories!) and the inventor explains that he didn't know who else to sell the stuff to, so he sold it to Gravitator. To rectify this situation, Invincible takes the inventor to Cecil Stedman at the Pentagon and Cecil decides to put the inventor to work for the government. Upon leaving, Invincible is jumped by Powerplex, who was still blaming Invincible for the deaths of his sister, wife and child. Invincible tells Powerplex that the death of his sister was due to Invincible's battle with his(at the time) crazed father, while it was actually Powerplex who inadvertently killed his wife and kid. Upon hearing this from the man he held responsible, Powerplex realizes that Invincible was right, and that he was to blame. Powerplex dissolves in tears and Cecil and the feds show up to lock Powerplex away. Cecil compliments Invincible for the way he handled the situation, and goes on to tell Invincible that while Invincible was off-world Powerplex had been a pretty good hero, so hopefully this breakthrough would help Powerplex become an even better hero down the road. Cecil then tries to get Invincible to rejoin Cecil's band of heroes, but Invincible turns him down. From there, Invincible returns home to meet with Atom Eve, where he complains about how even with their powers, the world just kept getting worse.
Thoughts: Huh, this was the first time in a LONG time an issue of this series didn't absolutely floor me at some point. It was good, but it wasn't it's usual great. This just seemed like a one and done, placeholder issue. Nothing THAT important happened. Invincible isn't dealing with the destruction of Vegas well, and that's about all that really happened here... While okay, this is the type of comic I'll have forgotten about in a few hours time, something that I never expect to say about an issue of Invincible.
Score: 7 out of 10.
I'm still waiting for the Cecil Stedman series... I'd buy three copies of every issue!Teen Titans #98:
Summary: This issue begins by revealing that Superboy Prime had been sucked back into the mainstream DCU thanks to the Teen Titans battle with Headcase a few issues back. From there we head back to the present where we see the Teen Titans doing whatever they do during their downtime(train, talk to each other, fight, etc). Not that far from Titans Tower, somebody attacks a building in San Fransisco, which naturally brings the Teen Titans over to take care of it. The Titans manage to stabilize the building, and are shocked to discover that it was Prime and several of the Titans various enemies behind the attack on the building. Who are Prime's allies? Roll call! We have Prime, Zookeeper, Indigo(!), Headcase, Sun Girl, Persuader and Inertia(although it appears to be a different version of Inertia I know and love...). Anyway, the Titans pick an opponent and engage them in battle. While the fight is going on, three blurs attack the building again, and when they slow down they appear to be three different versions of Superboy from three different time period!
Thoughts: This was a massive amount better than the past few Solstice heavy issues. Like him or hate him, Superboy Prime is a great villain for the Teen Titans to periodically face. He has a personal connection to the team, plus he's as powerful as Superman. I'm a bit curious as to a) how Prime managed to gather his army of evil without raising any suspicion, b) who this Inertia is(possibly an older version of the original?), and c) what the deal is with the three Superboys. For the first time in a long time I'm actually looking forward to an issue of this series, and that's a great feeling!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Hey check it out, Tim Drake's fantasy come to life!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Invincible #80 & Daken: Dark Wolverine #10
We kick this week off with the two comics I'm most looking forward to reading, Invincible and Daken: Dark Wolverine! What more is there to say except let's kick off the awesomeness!
Invincible #80:
Summary: This issue gets started with Invincible and Atom Eve moving into Invincible's parents home since his folks were going to head off into space to see alien planets and visit with Oliver and stuff. From there Invincible goes around meeting with various people after his one year absence in space. He picks up his comics, meets with William(and learns William is gay), stuff like that. Eve gets a call that Las Vegas was under attack by Dinosaurus, so Invincible rushes off to Vegas to take care of it. Dinosaurus tells Invincible that he was trying to evacuate the city since he was planning on blowing it up for the good of nature. Upon learning Dinosaurus planned on “blowing up” the city, Invincible rushes off and returns with a bomb, figuring the problem was solved... Instead, Dinosaurus reveals that he had placed over 50 bombs around Vegas, and before Invincible could try to find them, they all go off. This issue ends with Invincible waking up surrounded by the nothingness that had been Las Vegas.
Thoughts: Um, okay... I guess... So Dinosaurus destroyed Las Vegas... I really don't know what to think of that. I kind of like that Robert Kirkman is trying to give Invincible a new foe, and Dinosaurus does have a pretty cool look, but destroying Las Vegas? It seems a bit far fetched to me... I mean, didn't the people hanging out in Vegas notice a giant, 9 foot tall, red dinosaur walking around hiding bombs? The first half of this issue was a lot of talking, and for once, I didn't thoroughly enjoy it... I don't know, for whatever reason, this issue just didn't click for me...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Nudity!!!!
Daken: Dark Wolverine #10:
Summary: This comic starts off hopping back and forth in time, so I'll just start at the beginning of Daken's story here. Figuring the Los Angeles crime scene would be easy pickings with the Pride(yes, the same Pride from the Runaways!) out of the way, Daken tries to move in, but in his time spent on the Left Coast, Daken hasn't been able to figure out WHO took over the Pride's old holdings, meaning he had no idea who he had to kill... With no real clues, Daken gets himself invited to Hollywood parties, and winds up being given “heat pills”, some kind of new drug. Daken swallows three of them and goes to see if he could get into the room with the a-list celebrities. The burly bodyguards tell him to stay with the nobodies, so Daken smashes one of the guards in the face, breaking the guy's nose. Before he could make a move on the second guard, the heat pills kick in and leave Daken with a high his healing factor couldn't overcome. Needless to say, Daken soon passes out babbling about his healing factor. That night, another member of the party who also took the drugs wound up seeing disturbing visions and was torn apart by something with claws of some kind. As for Daken, he wakes up at the movie star's house, since the star had to make sure Daken wouldn't OD(since that would make bad headlines... HA!). Now down from his high, Daken destroys the two bodyguards and uses his pheromones to convince the movie star to sleep with him. With the deed done, and the star well under Daken's thumb(as well as other areas I'd imagine...), Daken orders the star to tell him everything there is to know about the LA crime scene, who controls it, and where he could get more of those drugs from the prior night. This issue ends with an FBI agent investigating the dead body of the guy who died when he was leaving the party. This agent, Donna Kiel, seems obsessed with Daken, and seems to have convinced herself he was the responsible party in the death.
Thoughts: Not bad. Not bad at all! While it is still kind of jarring not to see the name Way or Liu on the cover of a Daken comic, I can see myself getting used to seeing Rob Williams name there. In the first two issues Williams has written, he's shown a great understanding of Daken, and the way Daken uses his powers, ALL of his powers, to get what he wanted. The drug angle is still a bit of a mystery, but I can definitely see Daken getting quickly addicted, since, thanks to his healing factor, he can't become addicted to any other narcotic. There are a LOT of ways this series can go, WAY too many for me to start guessing yet... Instead, I'll simply sit back and enjoy the ride!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
I guess I should have put this on the picture blog...
Invincible #80:
Summary: This issue gets started with Invincible and Atom Eve moving into Invincible's parents home since his folks were going to head off into space to see alien planets and visit with Oliver and stuff. From there Invincible goes around meeting with various people after his one year absence in space. He picks up his comics, meets with William(and learns William is gay), stuff like that. Eve gets a call that Las Vegas was under attack by Dinosaurus, so Invincible rushes off to Vegas to take care of it. Dinosaurus tells Invincible that he was trying to evacuate the city since he was planning on blowing it up for the good of nature. Upon learning Dinosaurus planned on “blowing up” the city, Invincible rushes off and returns with a bomb, figuring the problem was solved... Instead, Dinosaurus reveals that he had placed over 50 bombs around Vegas, and before Invincible could try to find them, they all go off. This issue ends with Invincible waking up surrounded by the nothingness that had been Las Vegas.
Thoughts: Um, okay... I guess... So Dinosaurus destroyed Las Vegas... I really don't know what to think of that. I kind of like that Robert Kirkman is trying to give Invincible a new foe, and Dinosaurus does have a pretty cool look, but destroying Las Vegas? It seems a bit far fetched to me... I mean, didn't the people hanging out in Vegas notice a giant, 9 foot tall, red dinosaur walking around hiding bombs? The first half of this issue was a lot of talking, and for once, I didn't thoroughly enjoy it... I don't know, for whatever reason, this issue just didn't click for me...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Nudity!!!!Daken: Dark Wolverine #10:
Summary: This comic starts off hopping back and forth in time, so I'll just start at the beginning of Daken's story here. Figuring the Los Angeles crime scene would be easy pickings with the Pride(yes, the same Pride from the Runaways!) out of the way, Daken tries to move in, but in his time spent on the Left Coast, Daken hasn't been able to figure out WHO took over the Pride's old holdings, meaning he had no idea who he had to kill... With no real clues, Daken gets himself invited to Hollywood parties, and winds up being given “heat pills”, some kind of new drug. Daken swallows three of them and goes to see if he could get into the room with the a-list celebrities. The burly bodyguards tell him to stay with the nobodies, so Daken smashes one of the guards in the face, breaking the guy's nose. Before he could make a move on the second guard, the heat pills kick in and leave Daken with a high his healing factor couldn't overcome. Needless to say, Daken soon passes out babbling about his healing factor. That night, another member of the party who also took the drugs wound up seeing disturbing visions and was torn apart by something with claws of some kind. As for Daken, he wakes up at the movie star's house, since the star had to make sure Daken wouldn't OD(since that would make bad headlines... HA!). Now down from his high, Daken destroys the two bodyguards and uses his pheromones to convince the movie star to sleep with him. With the deed done, and the star well under Daken's thumb(as well as other areas I'd imagine...), Daken orders the star to tell him everything there is to know about the LA crime scene, who controls it, and where he could get more of those drugs from the prior night. This issue ends with an FBI agent investigating the dead body of the guy who died when he was leaving the party. This agent, Donna Kiel, seems obsessed with Daken, and seems to have convinced herself he was the responsible party in the death.
Thoughts: Not bad. Not bad at all! While it is still kind of jarring not to see the name Way or Liu on the cover of a Daken comic, I can see myself getting used to seeing Rob Williams name there. In the first two issues Williams has written, he's shown a great understanding of Daken, and the way Daken uses his powers, ALL of his powers, to get what he wanted. The drug angle is still a bit of a mystery, but I can definitely see Daken getting quickly addicted, since, thanks to his healing factor, he can't become addicted to any other narcotic. There are a LOT of ways this series can go, WAY too many for me to start guessing yet... Instead, I'll simply sit back and enjoy the ride!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
I guess I should have put this on the picture blog...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Invincible #79 & Super Dinosaur #1
Well, here it is, my FIRST all Image review post. You can all thank DC for sucking so hard lately for my recent foray into the worlds outside Marvel and DC. I've managed to read every issue of Invincible(except for that damned issue #72!!!), so I am psyched to start reviewing Invincible on a regular basis. As for Super Dinosaur, it's written by Invincible scribe, Robert Kirkman, and the owner of the comic shop I frequent convinced me to give it a shot, so if I wind up liking it(say a score of 6 1/2 or higher), it'll probably be making it's way on to the old pull list. Okay, intro over, reviews begin!
Invincible #79:
Summary: We begin with Invincible(Mark Grayson) heading to his tailor to get his costumed tweaked... Again. However, instead of something new, he goes back to the original Invincible costume, complete with dumb kneepads... Personally I loved the black and blue costume. From there Mark heads to the home of his plumper than usual girlfriend, Atom Eve, who is pretty self-conscious about her weight. Mark keeps trying to reassure her, but to no avail. While with Eve, Mark gets a few calls to deal with super-villains, and we get several sweet, sweet panels of Ryan Ottley artwork as Mark takes care of business. Mark heads home and finds his mother talking to Eve, which kind of freaks him out. It seems that while Mark was out in space, Eve and Debbie bonded. After some uncomfortable moments for Mark, he leaves with Eve to visit the Immortal and his wife, Dupli-Kate. Mark and Eve enter the house and Eve is immediately uncomfortable when she sees Immortal and Kate's twins. The two couples have dinner(during which Immortal regales his guests with tales from back when he was Abe Lincoln... I love this comic!), and after dinner Kate takes the twins in for a bath. Eve goes with her, but freaks out when Kate asks her to hold one of the babies, running outside in tears. Mark follows and asks what happened, and Eve finally drops the bombshell... While Mark was in space she aborted the child she was pregnant with, since she didn't know what else to do. This issue then ends with the two sharing a tearful embrace.
Thoughts: Well. The beginning parts of this story were kind of slow, but after the breakneck action that took place during the Viltrumite War, that's really no shocker. Hell, I wouldn't be that surprised if Robert Kirkman deliberately pulled back on the action a bit as a breather after the past several issues. But honestly, the first 15 pages or so weren't important. It was Eve's reveal that I've been waiting to hear since... Oh, issue #70 or so. What did I think about the reveal that Eve aborted her and Mark's child? I think it was genius! Seriously, that may just have been the BEST move Kirkman could have made here! It leaves SO many doors open for the future... If Eve actually DID have the abortion(and who knows, maybe she was lying for some reason), the fetus could have been collected by either Cecil Stedman or some villain(Angstrom Levy, anybody?). That way the child could show up later on as either an ally or(more likely) an enemy of the parents who didn't want him/her. Then there's the possibility that Eve was lying to Mark for some reason. When Mark walked in on Eve and Debbie, it sounded like they were talking about babies, and Eve wasn't crying, she was laughing at a joke... Could Eve have given the child up for adoption? Is she hiding it from Mark for some reason? Then there's Eve's weight gain. If she had aborted the child before the third month(which is most likely), she would have had over seven months to have gotten back into... um, super-hero shape. The fact that Eve is so self-conscious about her weight would lead me to believe that she didn't want to have those extra pounds on her, and as such would have lost them. Now if she HAD the baby, that would mean she was just one month removed from delivering the child, which WOULD explain the extra weight. Then again, what do I know? I'm a guy. Anyway, as I said, the abortion angle was probably the BEST possible move Kirkman could have made, since, as I stated, it leaves the most doors open. All in all, this was yet another great issue from this series, which is quite honestly, no surprise.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Ooo, pretty...
Super Dinosaur #1:
Summary: We begin with the obligatory introductions... Right off the bat we meet the main protagonists of this series, Super Dinosaur(who is a talking dinosaur! I know, who'd have thunk it?!) and Derek Dynamo, his preteen best friend. Derek and SD spend most of their time battling against Max Maximo, who has an army of evil talking dinosaurs working on his evil behalf. In case you can't tell, Max is EVIL! After a quick skirmish with a pair of Max's evil dinosaurs(who were trying to steal the ultra rare and ultra powerful mineral, Dynore), Derek and SD head home, where SD's harness needs some repairs. There we meet Derek's father, Dr. Dexter Dynamo, who is(was?) a genius, but has been having memory lapses lately. However, Derek usually manages to fix/finish anything his father was working on since Derek didn't want anybody to know(including his father) that his father was slipping up lately, since their entire organization could be shut down. The government sends a husband and wife team of scientists(as well as their two daughters) to live at Dexter's base, the Dynamo Dome, in order to assist with any repairs SD's harness might need. Derek doesn't like this since the outsiders could see that his father wasn't doing that well, which could get them shut down. Anyway, the scientists meet Derek, Dexter and SD and before long, some alarms go off meaning some dino-related crisis was going on. Derek has to leave without SD since his harness was still being repaired by the two scientists and Dexter. Derek meets the mysterious Tricerachops, who used to work with Max before they had a falling out. Derek attacks Tricerachops, all while waiting(and hoping) that SD's harness would be fixed up so he'd have some back-up. Back at the Dynamo Dome, the scientists manage to fix the harness, but without any help from Dexter, who seemed kind of confused the whole time. SD gets into the harness and joins the battle against Tricerachops, which causes Tricerachops to retreat from the battle and escape in a giant spacecraft. Upon arriving home, one of the scientists confront Derek about Dexter's confusion concerning SD's harness. Derek admits that he had been doing many of his father's duties, unbeknownst to his father, since he didn't want the government to shut down SD's operation. The scientist promises to keep Derek's secret, but Dexter managed to overhear the whole conversation, and while he is overjoyed by how intelligent his son is, he's a bit depressed over his own shortcomings.
Thoughts: This is like the PERFECT comic for a younger kid. You know, like a 5-11 year old. It's kind of a great starting point for a kid just getting into comics... Unfortunately, I'm not quite in that age range anymore. I mean there wasn't anything wrong with this comic, it just didn't do anything for me. It was a quick and simple read, with easy to identify characters, each with easy names to remember. Will I be picking up issue #2? That's a good question... Here's the thing, I actually didn't like Derek. He was a real know-it-all sort of kid, you know the type, the kid who would always correct the teacher, or try to force his knowledge on people. In other words, the kind of kid you'd want to smack around! So yeah, I'm very undecided on whether or not I'll be picking up issue #2... I guess we'll find out next month.
Score: 6 out of 10.
That dinosaur isn't wearing any pants!!!
Invincible #79:
Summary: We begin with Invincible(Mark Grayson) heading to his tailor to get his costumed tweaked... Again. However, instead of something new, he goes back to the original Invincible costume, complete with dumb kneepads... Personally I loved the black and blue costume. From there Mark heads to the home of his plumper than usual girlfriend, Atom Eve, who is pretty self-conscious about her weight. Mark keeps trying to reassure her, but to no avail. While with Eve, Mark gets a few calls to deal with super-villains, and we get several sweet, sweet panels of Ryan Ottley artwork as Mark takes care of business. Mark heads home and finds his mother talking to Eve, which kind of freaks him out. It seems that while Mark was out in space, Eve and Debbie bonded. After some uncomfortable moments for Mark, he leaves with Eve to visit the Immortal and his wife, Dupli-Kate. Mark and Eve enter the house and Eve is immediately uncomfortable when she sees Immortal and Kate's twins. The two couples have dinner(during which Immortal regales his guests with tales from back when he was Abe Lincoln... I love this comic!), and after dinner Kate takes the twins in for a bath. Eve goes with her, but freaks out when Kate asks her to hold one of the babies, running outside in tears. Mark follows and asks what happened, and Eve finally drops the bombshell... While Mark was in space she aborted the child she was pregnant with, since she didn't know what else to do. This issue then ends with the two sharing a tearful embrace.
Thoughts: Well. The beginning parts of this story were kind of slow, but after the breakneck action that took place during the Viltrumite War, that's really no shocker. Hell, I wouldn't be that surprised if Robert Kirkman deliberately pulled back on the action a bit as a breather after the past several issues. But honestly, the first 15 pages or so weren't important. It was Eve's reveal that I've been waiting to hear since... Oh, issue #70 or so. What did I think about the reveal that Eve aborted her and Mark's child? I think it was genius! Seriously, that may just have been the BEST move Kirkman could have made here! It leaves SO many doors open for the future... If Eve actually DID have the abortion(and who knows, maybe she was lying for some reason), the fetus could have been collected by either Cecil Stedman or some villain(Angstrom Levy, anybody?). That way the child could show up later on as either an ally or(more likely) an enemy of the parents who didn't want him/her. Then there's the possibility that Eve was lying to Mark for some reason. When Mark walked in on Eve and Debbie, it sounded like they were talking about babies, and Eve wasn't crying, she was laughing at a joke... Could Eve have given the child up for adoption? Is she hiding it from Mark for some reason? Then there's Eve's weight gain. If she had aborted the child before the third month(which is most likely), she would have had over seven months to have gotten back into... um, super-hero shape. The fact that Eve is so self-conscious about her weight would lead me to believe that she didn't want to have those extra pounds on her, and as such would have lost them. Now if she HAD the baby, that would mean she was just one month removed from delivering the child, which WOULD explain the extra weight. Then again, what do I know? I'm a guy. Anyway, as I said, the abortion angle was probably the BEST possible move Kirkman could have made, since, as I stated, it leaves the most doors open. All in all, this was yet another great issue from this series, which is quite honestly, no surprise.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Ooo, pretty...Super Dinosaur #1:
Summary: We begin with the obligatory introductions... Right off the bat we meet the main protagonists of this series, Super Dinosaur(who is a talking dinosaur! I know, who'd have thunk it?!) and Derek Dynamo, his preteen best friend. Derek and SD spend most of their time battling against Max Maximo, who has an army of evil talking dinosaurs working on his evil behalf. In case you can't tell, Max is EVIL! After a quick skirmish with a pair of Max's evil dinosaurs(who were trying to steal the ultra rare and ultra powerful mineral, Dynore), Derek and SD head home, where SD's harness needs some repairs. There we meet Derek's father, Dr. Dexter Dynamo, who is(was?) a genius, but has been having memory lapses lately. However, Derek usually manages to fix/finish anything his father was working on since Derek didn't want anybody to know(including his father) that his father was slipping up lately, since their entire organization could be shut down. The government sends a husband and wife team of scientists(as well as their two daughters) to live at Dexter's base, the Dynamo Dome, in order to assist with any repairs SD's harness might need. Derek doesn't like this since the outsiders could see that his father wasn't doing that well, which could get them shut down. Anyway, the scientists meet Derek, Dexter and SD and before long, some alarms go off meaning some dino-related crisis was going on. Derek has to leave without SD since his harness was still being repaired by the two scientists and Dexter. Derek meets the mysterious Tricerachops, who used to work with Max before they had a falling out. Derek attacks Tricerachops, all while waiting(and hoping) that SD's harness would be fixed up so he'd have some back-up. Back at the Dynamo Dome, the scientists manage to fix the harness, but without any help from Dexter, who seemed kind of confused the whole time. SD gets into the harness and joins the battle against Tricerachops, which causes Tricerachops to retreat from the battle and escape in a giant spacecraft. Upon arriving home, one of the scientists confront Derek about Dexter's confusion concerning SD's harness. Derek admits that he had been doing many of his father's duties, unbeknownst to his father, since he didn't want the government to shut down SD's operation. The scientist promises to keep Derek's secret, but Dexter managed to overhear the whole conversation, and while he is overjoyed by how intelligent his son is, he's a bit depressed over his own shortcomings.
Thoughts: This is like the PERFECT comic for a younger kid. You know, like a 5-11 year old. It's kind of a great starting point for a kid just getting into comics... Unfortunately, I'm not quite in that age range anymore. I mean there wasn't anything wrong with this comic, it just didn't do anything for me. It was a quick and simple read, with easy to identify characters, each with easy names to remember. Will I be picking up issue #2? That's a good question... Here's the thing, I actually didn't like Derek. He was a real know-it-all sort of kid, you know the type, the kid who would always correct the teacher, or try to force his knowledge on people. In other words, the kind of kid you'd want to smack around! So yeah, I'm very undecided on whether or not I'll be picking up issue #2... I guess we'll find out next month.
Score: 6 out of 10.
That dinosaur isn't wearing any pants!!!
Friday, April 22, 2011
10 Thoughts on... Invincible #71-78
Not that long ago I posted a 10 Thoughts post for a Y the Last Man trade and I admitted that I REALLY wasn't pleased with the way these 10 Thoughts posts were coming out. I mean I was basically reviewing the damn trades, just in bullet format, and I didn't want to do full reviews for those trades... It takes too much time, and I've always disliked the way I review trades... What can I say, that's just me. So I'm going to try to change the way I do these posts. First I'm going to do a QUICK little synopsis about what the trade/comics I'm looking at are about, then I'll list 10 random thoughts about them. As always, drop me comments about the post, what you like/didn't like, how smart/handsome I am, etc. Consider this 10 Thoughts version 1.5, not quite what I want yet, but getting closer...
Invincible #71, 73-78. Yeah, I could never get my hands on issue #72...
Synopsis: Invincible, his brother Kid/Young Omni-Man, his dad Omni-Man and Allen the Alien have collected several allies and are now ready to take the battle to the Viltrumites. However, the Viltrumites aren't going to go down without a fight. Can Invincible and the Coalition of Planets finally end the Viltrumite menace and free the universe? Well I know because I read the story, and if you read this post, you'll know as well!
-Man, Invincible's dad(who I'll be calling Nolan since that's easier to type than Omni-Man) has some set on him, no? I can't believe he decided to pay his ex(?)-wife a visit before leaving Earth with Invincible and Young Omni-Man(who will now be know as Oliver because, well, you know why!). Once you call a woman no better than a pet, it's going to be hard to win her back... Trust me...
-I've got to admit, once Nolan decided to take Oliver with him and Invincible, all sorts of warning bells were ringing in my head...
-I am SO pissed that I don't have issue #72, since that's the issue Invincible finally kills that pompous ass, Conquest! Dammit!!! If anybody wants to send that issue my way, I'll send you... um, my best wishes?
-Never trust a fat alien. Those are my key words to live by.
The Viltrumite leader has one sweet cape...
-”Your balls are inferior”... Oliver is awesome!
Jerk face!
-Which is why I was so pissed when I thought he was dead! Blast you and your mind games, Robert Kirkman!!! Seriously, if he wouldn't have been revealed as alive later on, I'd have been VERY angry!
-The Viltrumite leader “killing” Nolan had less of an impact on me. Sorry Nolan, but you were a jerk. AND you don't wear shoes!
I don't know why Nolan's lack of shoes bothers me so much, but it does...
-I totally brought that the Viltrumites had headed to Earth and destroyed everything. When Cecil Stedman died, my heart... It almost didn't make it... Luckily though, Cecil's death was simply a figment of Invincible's overactive imagination. Because if it wasn't...
No, not Cecil!!!
-The swerve with the Viltrumite's deciding to live on Earth and interbreed? GENIUS!!!
-Okay, so Atom Eve put on some pounds while Invincible was away. Now he was gone for 10 months, and we know she was preggers before he took off... Obviously(or at least I think it's obvious) that extra weight is baby weight. So, did she lose the baby, did she have the baby and give it up for adoption, or did she have the baby and hide it?
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10. The ONLY thing keeping this from a perfect score is the way almost EVERYBODY no-sold dying! Invincible, Nolan, Oliver, it's like, unless you see somebody's head fall off, they're almost definitely NOT dead!
Invincible #71, 73-78. Yeah, I could never get my hands on issue #72...
Synopsis: Invincible, his brother Kid/Young Omni-Man, his dad Omni-Man and Allen the Alien have collected several allies and are now ready to take the battle to the Viltrumites. However, the Viltrumites aren't going to go down without a fight. Can Invincible and the Coalition of Planets finally end the Viltrumite menace and free the universe? Well I know because I read the story, and if you read this post, you'll know as well!
-Man, Invincible's dad(who I'll be calling Nolan since that's easier to type than Omni-Man) has some set on him, no? I can't believe he decided to pay his ex(?)-wife a visit before leaving Earth with Invincible and Young Omni-Man(who will now be know as Oliver because, well, you know why!). Once you call a woman no better than a pet, it's going to be hard to win her back... Trust me...
-I've got to admit, once Nolan decided to take Oliver with him and Invincible, all sorts of warning bells were ringing in my head...
-I am SO pissed that I don't have issue #72, since that's the issue Invincible finally kills that pompous ass, Conquest! Dammit!!! If anybody wants to send that issue my way, I'll send you... um, my best wishes?
-Never trust a fat alien. Those are my key words to live by.
The Viltrumite leader has one sweet cape...-”Your balls are inferior”... Oliver is awesome!
Jerk face!-Which is why I was so pissed when I thought he was dead! Blast you and your mind games, Robert Kirkman!!! Seriously, if he wouldn't have been revealed as alive later on, I'd have been VERY angry!
-The Viltrumite leader “killing” Nolan had less of an impact on me. Sorry Nolan, but you were a jerk. AND you don't wear shoes!
I don't know why Nolan's lack of shoes bothers me so much, but it does...-I totally brought that the Viltrumites had headed to Earth and destroyed everything. When Cecil Stedman died, my heart... It almost didn't make it... Luckily though, Cecil's death was simply a figment of Invincible's overactive imagination. Because if it wasn't...
No, not Cecil!!!-The swerve with the Viltrumite's deciding to live on Earth and interbreed? GENIUS!!!
-Okay, so Atom Eve put on some pounds while Invincible was away. Now he was gone for 10 months, and we know she was preggers before he took off... Obviously(or at least I think it's obvious) that extra weight is baby weight. So, did she lose the baby, did she have the baby and give it up for adoption, or did she have the baby and hide it?
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10. The ONLY thing keeping this from a perfect score is the way almost EVERYBODY no-sold dying! Invincible, Nolan, Oliver, it's like, unless you see somebody's head fall off, they're almost definitely NOT dead!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
10 Thoughts On... Invincible Vol. 13.
Guess what??? It's time for me to unleash a BRAND NEW feature here at Ye Olde Blog! One thing I've always had problems writing was reviews for trades/multiple issues of something. I mean I CAN do it, but it always takes a REALLY long time, and the review is oftentimes unbearably long(for example, I once did an almost 3,000 word, four page long post on the JLA/Avengers mini-series!). So how do we rectify that? Well, not that long ago, JT mentioned to me that people like lists... Don't ask me how THAT conversation got started, but it did. That revelation(whenever JT tells me something it's a revelation) got me to thinking, why not do trade reviews but FORCE yourself to stick to a set number of points? I mean when I was at my laziest I used to do bullet point reviews, so what's stopping me from doing a set number of points to talk about a mini-series, trade, or even a plain, old back issue? Nothing! So with those thoughts prancing around my head, “10 Thoughts on...” was born. Damn do I SUCK at thinking up titles... Anyway, consider this post a test run. If it comes across relatively well I'll probably do a whole series of these types of posts. If it sucks, blame JT. Oh, and in closing, any similarities between this post and JT's “What I Learned From” posts is purely coincidental... *ahem* With all of that out of the way, let's get to the post!
Invincible Volume Thirteen: Growing Pains. Collecting Invincible #66-70 as well as Invincible Returns #1.
-There seem to be less than 50 Viltrumites left running around the universe, making their hold on their empire tenuous at best.
-It's REALLY weird to me that Omni-Man is flying through space wearing nothing on his feet... I mean what is that all about? Allen the Alien is wearing strange little metal foot things, why isn't Nolan wearing... I don't know, anything?!
-So Nolan and Allen have managed to gather a bunch of people/weapons to strike at the Viltrumites, in the upcoming “Viltrumite War” storyline. The only thing left to do is pick up Invincible from Earth...
-I guess Atom Eve and Invincible should have used some protection... The potential child of Atom Eve and Invincible has SO much potential it's mind-boggling. I mean Robert Kirkman can take that angle in so many different directions.
Whoops!
-God help me but I really like the Sequids! I don't know what it is about the little body-snatching devils, but I really enjoy them! That's why I was so bummed to see them completely and totally defeated...
Those poor Sequids...
-I'd SO buy and read a Cecil Stedman series! He out Nick Fury's Nick Fury! Oddly enough, I find myself siding with Cecil for the most part throughout this series. Even when he does things that I KNOW should bother me, I still tend to see his points. I mean why shouldn't he use D.A. Sinclair and his Reanimen to make the world a safer place? Plus that scar on his face is badass.
-I'm also glad Kirkman seems like he's ready to pull Invincible away from the brink and have him stop killing everything! I mean I get that Kid Omni-Man is quite brilliant, but should Invincible really be taking super-hero advice from his kid brother?
-The Universa stuff wasn't that bad at all, but why does it always seem Invincible is being battered by pretty much EVERYBODY he fights? I mean is he really the guy you want to bring into a battle with foes as fearsome as the Viltrumites?
Once again, not very invincible.
-I don't know about anybody else, but I'm going to miss the all black and blue Invincible costume. It's not like the yellow, blue and black costume was bad or anything, but I thought the black and blue variant was pretty snazzy. Yes, snazzy!
-Things come to a close here with Nolan and Allen finally arriving on Earth to pick up Invincible so he can go to war against the Viltrumites... So much for the whole, “No more killing” edict, huh? I was a bit disappointed that Atom Eve didn't tell Invincible that she was pregnant, although I can fully understand her keeping the information to herself considering the fact that her boyfriend was going off to fight in an intergalactic war. With this trade out of the way I'm ALMOST caught up on the Invincible series, meaning I can FINALLY do regular reviews for them! Hooray!
Score: 9 out of 10. I can honestly say I've enjoyed every Invincible comic I've read thus far... That's a real rarity for me! I mean every issue/storyline has been good to great. I can't think of one instance where I could point at something and say, “Well that sucked!” If I was wearing a hat right now I'd take it off for Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. But I'm not, so I can't. But I would.
Invincible Volume Thirteen: Growing Pains. Collecting Invincible #66-70 as well as Invincible Returns #1.
-There seem to be less than 50 Viltrumites left running around the universe, making their hold on their empire tenuous at best.
-It's REALLY weird to me that Omni-Man is flying through space wearing nothing on his feet... I mean what is that all about? Allen the Alien is wearing strange little metal foot things, why isn't Nolan wearing... I don't know, anything?!
-So Nolan and Allen have managed to gather a bunch of people/weapons to strike at the Viltrumites, in the upcoming “Viltrumite War” storyline. The only thing left to do is pick up Invincible from Earth...
-I guess Atom Eve and Invincible should have used some protection... The potential child of Atom Eve and Invincible has SO much potential it's mind-boggling. I mean Robert Kirkman can take that angle in so many different directions.
Whoops!-God help me but I really like the Sequids! I don't know what it is about the little body-snatching devils, but I really enjoy them! That's why I was so bummed to see them completely and totally defeated...
Those poor Sequids...-I'd SO buy and read a Cecil Stedman series! He out Nick Fury's Nick Fury! Oddly enough, I find myself siding with Cecil for the most part throughout this series. Even when he does things that I KNOW should bother me, I still tend to see his points. I mean why shouldn't he use D.A. Sinclair and his Reanimen to make the world a safer place? Plus that scar on his face is badass.
-I'm also glad Kirkman seems like he's ready to pull Invincible away from the brink and have him stop killing everything! I mean I get that Kid Omni-Man is quite brilliant, but should Invincible really be taking super-hero advice from his kid brother?
-The Universa stuff wasn't that bad at all, but why does it always seem Invincible is being battered by pretty much EVERYBODY he fights? I mean is he really the guy you want to bring into a battle with foes as fearsome as the Viltrumites?
Once again, not very invincible.-I don't know about anybody else, but I'm going to miss the all black and blue Invincible costume. It's not like the yellow, blue and black costume was bad or anything, but I thought the black and blue variant was pretty snazzy. Yes, snazzy!
-Things come to a close here with Nolan and Allen finally arriving on Earth to pick up Invincible so he can go to war against the Viltrumites... So much for the whole, “No more killing” edict, huh? I was a bit disappointed that Atom Eve didn't tell Invincible that she was pregnant, although I can fully understand her keeping the information to herself considering the fact that her boyfriend was going off to fight in an intergalactic war. With this trade out of the way I'm ALMOST caught up on the Invincible series, meaning I can FINALLY do regular reviews for them! Hooray!
Score: 9 out of 10. I can honestly say I've enjoyed every Invincible comic I've read thus far... That's a real rarity for me! I mean every issue/storyline has been good to great. I can't think of one instance where I could point at something and say, “Well that sucked!” If I was wearing a hat right now I'd take it off for Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. But I'm not, so I can't. But I would.
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