Best of the Rest! April 10th edition.

Hey all, X here to herald in a brand new BotR post.  Not only that, but this is the 3,000th post here at the blog!  That's A LOT of posts!  Speaking of a lot, I picked up a slew of comics on Wednesday, so it should go without saying there are gonna be A LOT of comics covered in this post.  As always, I'll get things started and JT will pitch in towards the end of the review.  JT's text will be in blue.  With so many comics to dig into, let's end the intro and get to the main event.

Alpha: Big Time #3: In this issue, Alpha DOESN'T screw up!  Huzzah for the greatest hero ever!!  He saves that girl he likes in school from a fire(and she naturally knows who he is, because she's not a moron), and talks to Doc Parker about his powers, which seem to be growing.  However, the main villain of Pittsburgh takes umbrage at a hero being and town, and since everybody knows who Alpha is, decides to pay his family a visit.  So yeah, this comic?  You know I loved it!  I read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.  I just can't help but to love this character, and this series.  Alpha is honestly what all teenage heroes SHOULD be.  Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Ultron #1AU: With all of the other Runaways dead, Victor has been saving whatever kids he could find in destroyed Los Angeles.  Luckily for him, the various Ultron patrols can't seem to figure out what he is, and as such haven't killed him.  Oh yeah, and Victor has been hiding his powers from the kids he was rescuing, while subtly using them to hide from Ultron.  At least until one of the kids sees him doing robot-y stuff, and the Ultrons attack.  It's then that Victor decides to stop slinking around in the shadows, afraid of Ultron and finally fights back.  This was another really good comic.  Man, with the exception of AoU #5, I have been having some GREAT luck with my comic reading this week.  I liked the art, and the writing nailed Victor perfectly.  This is a character that needs a much bigger place in the Marvel U.  Score: 9 out of 10.

Walking Dead #109: This issue dealt with Jesus and Rick putting their plan to attack Negan in motion.  Rick informs certain people from his group(Andrea, Carl, Michonne), while Jesus tells a select number of folks at the Hilltop.  However, by the end of this one, Jesus seems to realize that one of the guys he told was in Negan's pocket.  This was an okay issue.  I mean, nothing really happened, I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fine way to kill a few minutes.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Hawkeye #9: This issue gives us a look at the four most important women in Hawkeye's life(Mockingbird, Black Widow, Kate and Spider-Woman).  Plus it advances the story with the mob having it out for Clint by having an assassin kill Clint's neighbor, Grills.  So we had action, comedy, and Kate calling Clint a bitch.  Yup, this one checked all the boxes for me.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #7: Current Thor and Future Thor get together and prepare an attack on Gorr's planet.  Meanwhile, Gorr captures Young Thor and forces Young Thor to work on Gorr's master plan...  A gigantic bomb.  No complaints with this one.  Gorr is still a great villain, and I enjoyed seeing the two Thors interact.  The reveal at the end wasn't something I was all excited over(so Gorr has a big bomb...  Even though he's killed most every god without a giant bomb...), but I'm sure Jason Aaron has a reason Gorr is concocting that bomb.  So yeah, again, good stuff here.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #3: AIM's scientist supreme and a few henchmen drop in on a weapon's expo, claiming they had every right to be there since they were members of a UN recognized country.  Needless to say, that leads to Nick Fury(jr) and Daisy Johnson fighting AIM.  A US senator ends up getting killed during the ruckus, and AIM escapes with the Iron Patriot armor, which they seemed interested in using Mentallo to pilot.  Also, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird find a half destroyed Jocasta at a wrecked AIM base.  Hey, I liked this comic too!  What's going on this week?!  I'm still not 100% sold on AIM as the main antagonists here(they seem too faceless without somebody like MODOK leading them), but I'm slowly starting to get into this story.  Plus, anytime you throw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird into a comic I'm gonna be a happy camper.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #6: Reed decides to take the kids to the Big Bang.  For SCIENCE!!  While there, they find a body floating around in the void and rescue it.  It turns out the body is an older version of Blastaar, and he attacks.  Franklin uses his powers to send Blastaar back outside before the ship is critically damaged.  Ah, there we go...  I knew my comic reading luck was too good prior to this issue.  So yeah, I didn't like this issue at all.  The F4 are too cardboard for my tastes here, and the two kids are incredibly irritating.  Like to the point where I've stopped reading their dialogue because they piss me off so much.  Besides that, there's nothing interesting happening here...  Oh no, something mysterious is wrong with Ben!  Oh no, Reed has a mysterious disease!  Oh no, Sue is pouting!  This series just isn't for me, so I'll be dropping it come Wednesday.  Score: 2 out of 10.

Superboy #19: This issue actually gives us SB's full origin(um, shouldn't that have happened in the zero issue?), as well as Harvest's.  Harvest is from a future where humanity is at war with the meta-humans, who have taken to abusing their powers.  As for SB, he is a clone of Lois Lane and Superman's son, Jon.  Jon was taken in by Harvest after his parents thought he had died.  Why?  Because Harvest intended on using Jon to kill every meta-human, since Jon was the most powerful of the metas.  However, Jon was messed up due to his hybrid Kryptonian/human DNA and wound up in a coma, so Harvest created a clone to try to help Jon(who he came to love like a son).  So yeah, SB is the clone of the son of Lois and Supes, and that?  That is SOOOOO much better than SB as the clone of Supes and Lex, or Supes and a random scientist.  I have to say, this issue was really good.  Like, surprisingly so!  I'm usually blasting Scott Lobdell's work, but he brought his A-game here.  Harvest became a deeper character, while SB has an origin that I like.  I still don't understand why we didn't get this in issue #0, but hey, at least we got it here.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Ultimates #23: The leader of California sends Tigra and Quake from the West Coast Ultimates to attack Cap at the White House.  Meanwhile, WCU member Vision has stolen Tony Stark's nuclear satellite and has sent it hurdling towards Sacramento   The leader of California figures that will be seen as an attack on California and will lead to the west coast states banding together against Cap and the rest of the country.  This issue was kind of a snoozer for me.  I just never got into it.  So yeah, that's all I have to say about this issue, actually...  Score: 5 out of 10.

Batman and Red Robin #19: In this issue we're introduced to Carrie Kelley, a college student that had apparently been tutoring Damian for thousands of dollars, as well as her blonde roommate that wears purple. (Hint, hint?) Anyway, She goes looking for Damian at his home but no one answers. Bruce starts looking into her life and when he tells her that her services are no longer needed, she asks where Damian is, causing Bruce to leave without answering. Also, Batman heads off to find Frankenstein with the intent of having him help resurrect Damian. Frankenstein is not on board with this, and neither is Red Robin, who finally pops up when Alfred asks him to go check out Bruce's location. Tim tries to stop Bruce but ends up getting punched in the face for his troubles. Sensing that Batman will do whatever he has to, Frankenstein blows up his lab/lair, leaving Batman at square one, now very pissed at Tim for interfering on his quest to resurrect Damain. This was a weird issue, considering Red Robin was barely in it and his name's in the title, but it was far from bad, plus Bruce dealt with Denial on his first of the five steps of grief. Next is Anger, and Red Hood is involved! Score: 6/10

Wolverine #2: In this issue, Logan is pursuing a child that seems to be mind controlled by some kind of alien-like being, as we see it's mind controlling other people as well. Logan wants to stop the being without hurting the kid, but he has a laser gun that basically disintegrates people on impact. Logan tries to talk the mind controller down and distracts it long enough to disarm the kid, who then leaps off of the building while still being controlled. Logan leaps after him and catches the kid, then lands with his body taking the impact. Logan and the kid survive, but someone else now has the laser gun, but they're dealt with by Nick Fury, who shows up to help Logan investigate the mind controllers. The issue ends with The Watcher showing up, meaning this is a big problem. I enjoyed this issue, It's weird how a story with Wolverine facing a kid could be this entertaining but it was, also Cornell has a penchant for mind control, doesn't he? Score: 7/10

Saga #12: This issue starts with us seeing some of Prince Robot's time on the front lines during the war, where he's saved by a medic that promptly dies afterwards. From there we see him take a call that basically motivates him to find Alanna and Marko and get home to his family. Prince Robot heads off to meet the author of the book Alanna read when she fell in love with Marko, and the author basically says he wrote it for a check and doesn't believe in what he wrote. He and Prince Robot share some words before the author reveals his son, a former war hero, hanged himself in the bathroom upon returning home from war. Prince Robot calls his son a coward and the author pulls a weapon on him, but Prince Robot shoots him in the leg first. Prince Robot decides to wait at the house for Marko and Alanna, knowing they'd seek out the sympathizer, but doesn't realize they're already there, hiding upstairs and aware of the Prince's presence. I enjoyed this issue, I like that everyone is humanized so no one really feels like a bad guy, everyone has motivation so it seems real. Prince Robot, The Will, Marko and Alanna, even Gwendolyn to a degree. Score: 7.5/10

And that my friends, is the Best of the Rest. I'll be here tomorrow with the final review of the comic week, Uncanny X-Men #4. And I probably will have short reviews for the week after while I play Injustice until my eyes bleed. Lol, anyway, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

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!

Saga #9

I'm not sure if anybody around here is reading this series except for me, but I did say I was gonna review a ton of comics this week, therefore, I'll give this series a post.  Anyway, this series has been fantastic throughout, and is probably in my top ten when it comes to favorite books.  And now, the post.

Saga #9: 

Summary: This issue actually focuses completely on The Will, and not Marco, Alana and their family.  The Will is still trying to figure out how to get Slave Girl off of Sextillion, when he is approached by one of Marco's people, a woman named Gwendolyn.  Gwendolyn wants to know why The Will has ceased going after Marco, as her people were paying him to do, and he tells her that he was looking to kill Prince Robot IV for the death of his longtime partner, The Stalk.  Gwendolyn offers The Will information on Robot IV's whereabouts, so The Will demands some extra money so he could buy the freedom of Slave Girl.  Gwendolyn decides to try a different tactic to get Slave Girl off Sextillion, and calls the head of the world, Mama Sun, and tries to convince Mama Sun that Slave Girl was actually an runaway from Wreath.  And that if Mama Sun didn't quietly hand Slave Girl over, Gwendolyn would leak that the people of Landfill had been sleeping with a "dirty moonie".  With that, Sun agrees to send Slave Girl to a neutral world, and The Will and Gwendolyn head there.  However, they find Slave Girl surrounded by a mess of Sextillion guards, who know that Gwendolyn was lying and have no plans on releasing Slave Girl.  That leads to the obligatory fight scene, which ends with The Will and Gwendolyn triumphant, and Slave Girl rescued.  Later on, Gwendolyn admits that she used to be engaged to Marco, at which time Slave Girl interrupts by saying that Gwendolyn's necklace sounded sad because it wanted to be with a ring, since the necklace and ring were part of a set.  She also claims she could "hear" the ring.  And where is the ring?  With Marco.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this issue.  It was a good solid little look at The Will.  Besides giving us more insight into the type of person The Will is, we met Marco's ex-fiancee, Gwendolyn, who was determined to capture Marco on account of him leaving her and cavorting with the enemy and all.  While I would have preferred something(a page?  Maybe two?) dealing with Marco and company, this issue will leave me satisfied until issue #10 drops.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

JT's Take: Saga #5

Hey guys and gals, running short on the chatter for intro's so let's jump right into the most recent issue of Brian K. Vaughn's Saga!

Saga #5

Summary: This issue starts off with Prince Robot discovering from his wife that they are now expecting a baby on the way, but the King has decreed that Prince Robot can't return until he's completed his mission. Before The Prince can vent, he's told by one of his men that some other soldiers have spotted something. We jump over to see Marko standing in front of Alana and the baby, when the soldiers attack and one of their blasts hit Alana, knocking her down while she's holding the baby. Marko gets enraged and slices a man's hand off, then knocks out each soldier, and is about to decapitate them until he's stopped by Alana, so we see that Marko has a bit of a Hulk-like temper when upset... interesting. Back with The Will, we see him trying to escape with the girl he saved in the last issue, when he's met by Mama Sun, the owner of the Sextillion, and she has a gun pointed at The Lying Cat. The Will tells her he's taking the girl, but she says each worker as a security elixir in them, and if they leave before the end of their term it causes their arteries to harden, resulting in a very painful death. The Will then says he'll pay for the girl's freedom, but she costs $650,000, which is more than The Will can afford. Back with our happy family, we see they stole the ship of the soldiers Marko knocked out and are heading towards the Rocketship Forest, definitely in a great mood. We then see Stalk, as she finds the defeated soldiers tied up. She gets a call from The Will, saying he wants to help her with her job, obviously so he can earn the money to save his little friend, but Stalk says she doesn't need the help. Stalk is then confronted by Prince Robot and a soldier, she tries to explain she didn't knock out the soldiers but the new soldier says Stalk is reaching for something. Prince Robot, thinking of the new baby he has on the way, immediately reacts by killing Stalk. We see her laid out with a hole in her chest as The Will is still on the phone, unaware of her fate as this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: As always, Brian K. Vaughn knows how to write a great story. Here, we got away from Marko and Alana for a bit, and learned more about The Will and Prince Robot, both characters I like, even though their both going after our main protagonists. I was sad to see Stalk go here, I kinda liked her character, I wouldn't be surprised if she healed but if this is the last of her, I'm interested in seeing how The Will reacts. Also, Fiona Staples continues to be one of the best things about this comic, her clean art, the way she drew Marko's rampage was great, as well as the the way she draws the emotions on Alana's face or the lack of life on Stalk's... she's a hell of an artist.

Score: 9/10

Alana: Ehn, so the guy whose hand you lopped off comes after us with a hook in twenty years. Add him to the list.

JT's Take: Saga #4

Alright guys, this first review just happens to be for one of the best new comic series of the year so far in my opinion, Saga. You can also expect a review for Avengers vs. X-Men #6 later today. But first, there's Saga, So without any further chattering by me, let's get to it!

Saga #4

Summary: We start things off with Intergalactic Bounty Hunter, The Will, arriving at a place/planet(?) known as Sextillon. Clearly he's there to get into some, things, but they inform him that his sidekick, The Lying Cat, isn't welcome and will have to stay below or return to the ship, so The Will sends him back (along with The Will's weapons as well) because he really needs to be in the Sextillon. We then check in with our formerly happy couple, Alana and a still unconscious Marko, their baby Hazel, and a one half of a floating ghost babysitter, Izabel. Marko finally regains consciousness, and has questions about Izabel, but is met with questions from Alana, about his fiance, Gwendolyn. Marko explains that they were to be married after the war but things started to sour before then, and then he met Alana who he loves now. He mentions that technically he and Gwendolyn are still engaged, and he also has their wedding rings. The rings belonged to her grandparents, but Marko used them for he and Alana because they are enchanted by a translator spell, which allows to people who speak different native tongues to understand one another. It's a lot to get over but Alana eventually forgives Marko for keeping the stuff with Gwendolyn secret. Back at the Sextillon, The Will, not interested in any of the kinky stuff they offer, is led to a room where he will be offered a slave girl. When the man in charge brings out the slave girl for The Will, The Will asks how old the girl is, and she replies she's six years old. The Will tells her to close her eyes and claps his hands together on the head of the owner, making his head explode. The small girl hugs The Will and thanks him, as he stands there staring off, face splattered in blood. Back with Marko and Alana, they are found by a ship from Alana's home planet. She suggests trying to talk with them, since she worked with some of the soldiers, but Marko says the last time they tried to talk it out they were almost killed, he says there's only one thing to do, and that's fight. The issue closes as Marko unsheathes his sword and steps in front of his wife and child.


Thoughts: This was a pretty good issue. I'm wondering if Gwen is going to come into play down the road, maybe looking for her family heirloom rings. Besides that, I love the chemistry that BKV is writing for Marko and Alanna, they seem like a real couple, emotionally, which is a hard thing to convey, and he's done a damn well job in only four issues. And The Will, I love that we're seeing different sides of this guy, you'd think he was a heartless bounty hunter, but he's been funny, he's been hurt from his past relationship, and he has morals, as we saw when he freed the little girl in the Sextillon. It really makes me wonder what's going to happen when he meets up with Alanna and Marko.

Score:  8/10

Alanna: Just tell me you weren't lying when you said I'm the hottest chick you ever slept with.

Saga #3

I've been enjoying this series through the first two issues... It's been good. However, as we move along I'm expecting it to go from “good” to “great”... Hopefully that transformation begins in this issue.

Saga #3:

Story Points:
-With Marco near death and the Horrors surrounding her and Hazel, things look bleak for Alana...
-At least until the Horrors reveal they have no ill will towards Alana or Hazel.
-It turns out the Horrors were the ghosts of the indigenous children of the planet where the war between Alana and Marco's people was taking place.
-One of the Horrors, Izabel(I may be off with the spelling, I don't have the comic here at work with me...), offers to bring Marco to a place where there was snow, which is what Marco needed for a healing spell to save himself...
-In return, Izabel wanted to be bonded to Hazel's soul...
-After some thought, and getting a guarantee that no harm would come to Hazel with this bonding(at least until Hazel died), Alana agrees and Izabel takes the trio to a magic boat.
-This one ends with the delirious Marco swearing his undying love to his beloved Gwendoline(sp?), which shocks the hell out of Alana.

Thoughts: We're getting there... We're slowly getting to that “great” region I'm hoping to see... The story is still moving forward, the characters are slowly being filled out(including the Stalk, the Will and Prince Robot, who I didn't even mention in this review), the art is already strong, same as the dialogue, I'm telling you, within three more issues I'm seriously expecting this series to be amongst my monthly favorites, as well as pulling down 9's and 10's as scores. For now though, we'll go with an...

Score: 8 out of 10.

Saga #2

I'm still a bit in shock after how terrible the last comic I reviewed was, so bear with me here while I try to regain my senses... If this review turns out to be worse than usual, blame New Avengers #24 and the splitting headache it left me with.

Saga #2:

Summary: In the Endless Woods, Alana and Marco are being attacked by some angry vegetation. Luckily for the star-crossed couple, Marco manages to free them from the mad plants with a magic spell. The two decide to sit down and take a break, since they'd been on the run since Alana had given birth to Hazel, and within moments, the two, and Hazel, are sound asleep. A little later, Hazel wakes the two up with a shrill cry, and Marco soon feels the presence of someone or something else. To show whatever was in the woods that he meant no harm, Marco lays down his sword, and a strange spider-looking woman emerges from behind the trees. The woman introduces herself as The Stalk, and Alana quickly realizes that The Stalk was a freelance mercenary. The Stalk stabs her tongue through Marco's shoulder, before turning her attentions to Alana and Hazel. The Stalk tells Alana that she had been hired to kill Alana and Marco, but bring Hazel back to her paymasters in one piece. Upon hearing that, Alana puts a gun to Hazel's head, since Alana felt Hazel would be better off dead then with whoever The Stalk was working for. The Stalk isn't sure if Alana is bluffing or not, but before she can decide, the two women hear a strange noise in the distance. The Stalk realizes that the noise was coming from the Horrors, and decides to take off to safety, leaving Alana, Hazel and the still unconscious Marco behind. This issue ends with Alana turning around to see a bunch of mutilated-looking ghost children standing there, asking her if she needed a hand.

Thoughts: I liked this comic. It's still early on in the series, and Brian K. Vaughn is still building up the world of Saga, so I'm not completely immersed yet, but I'm sure in time I will be. As with last issue, all of the pieces for a fantastic series are here, it's just a matter of waiting for those pieces to fall together. I say by the 5th or 6th issues of this series I should be 1,000% sold on this comic.

Score: 7 out of 10.

I'd be intrigued to see that......

Saga #1

First comic of the new week? Saga by writer extraordinaire, Brian K Vaughan. BKV has brought us acclaimed works such as Y: The Last Man and Runaways, as well as other, lesser known but still incredibly satisfying runs on comics such as Mystique and The Hood(and no, not the redesigned Bendis version, the good version.). Needless to say I am a huge fan, and am expecting great things from this series.

Saga #1:

Summary: This issue opens with star-crossed lovers Marko and Alana bringing their baby girl into the world... Now a few things before we go any further... The world the girl(Hazel) is being brought into? It's most definitely NOT our world. Here's the backstory... There's a planet called Landfall, with a single moon named Wreath. Wreath and Landfall had two completely different races, and as such, wound up going to war. However, both sides soon realized destroying the opposing heavenly body would also destroy their own world. So the two sides ended up carrying their war out on various planets all around the galaxy. That way they could still fight, but not endanger their homeworlds. It's a pretty novel idea. Landfall seems to be a more technological world led by robots(with fully functional genitalia...), while Wreath seems more magic based. Marko is from Wreath and quit the war since he was disgusted by the fighting. Alana is from Landfall and like Marko, had no interest in fighting. The two met while Marko was imprisoned by Landfall forces and, well, the rest should be obvious. Back to the story... While Marko and Alana are trying to figure out a name for their daughter, Landfall forces burst into the car garage they were hiding out in and demand Alana's surrender since she had abandoned her post(when she broke Marko out and got knocked up). Before Marko and Alana can figure anything out, Wreath forces teleport in, presumably intent on capturing or killing their own turncoat, Marko. The Landfall forces engage the Wreath forces and before you know it, both sides are dead, much to the surprise and relief of Marko and Alana. The two get a map from the owner of the garage(who sold them out) and head into the sewers in search of a forest that contained rocketships that could get them off the planet. Needless to say, Marko is dubious that such a place exists, while Alana doesn't see the harm in heading to Rocketship Forest just in case. Meanwhile, the king of the people of Landfall tasks his son with finding the two fugitives. Also, forces on Wreath hire freelancers to hunt down and kill Marko and Alana, while bringing Hazel back to them safely. After emerging from the sewers, Marko and Alana end up coming across a massive battlefield between the Wreath and Landfall forces. And while that's a bad thing, the map they had shows landmarks which leads them to believe that there may possibly BE a Rocketship Forest. This issue ends with Marko and Alana deciding to continue moving forward in search of a way off-world.

Thoughts: Well, after finishing this comic I can honestly say this is one of the few times I don't know what to give it as a score... You see, normally I'll finish a comic(or movie/video game/TV show) and a number will pop into my head... Yeah, I know how weird that is, but that's me. This time though, a number wasn't forthcoming. There was nothing wrong with this issue, and I can see A LOT of promise here. The thing is, since BKV is introducing not only new characters, but new races and planets, there were things here that didn't connect in the old gray matter. Normally when I don't fully understand what I'm reading, the score is in the 6 or lower range. But this comic was better than a 6 or lower... So you see my dilemma. I have no doubt that this series will become one of the books I look forward to in the months ahead, the potential is there, so I'm going to give this one a score based on that potential. As for the events/people/stuff in this comic? I like the idea, I like the characters and I like the premise. So yeah, this one could wind up being great, which was the reason I decided to give it a shot in the first place.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Personally I'd want to visit Murder Valley...