It's Monday, which means it's time for a brand spanking new Best of the Rest post. As usual, I'll bust out a few reviews, followed by JT, who will bust out a few reviews of his own, but in blue text. Considering the relatively small comic haul for both JT and myself, this post shouldn't be as long as the past couple of been. Okay, let's see which comic is up first for me...
Walking Dead #110: Rick takes a group of people to the Kingdom to meet Ezekiel and his group. Meanwhile, Jesus prevents Kal from betraying everybody to Negan and the Saviors. Michonne is initially pissed by Ezekiel's king act, but the two have a nice little heart-to-heart and seem to get along very well. Once we got past the Jesus stuff, this issue slowed way down. It does turn out that I like Ezekiel now! Kirkman did a great job of filling out his character, which means one of two things... Either a) he's going to die next issue, or b) he's going to betray Rick and company to the Saviors. Hopefully neither thing happens, but after reading as much of this series as I have? I would not be surprised. Score: 7 out of 10.
Secret Avengers #4: AIM sends the stolen Iron Patriot armor loose, at which time it begins attacking individuals who had been targeted by America. To avoid a diplomatic incident, SHIELD sends Hulk to destroy the renegade armor. On top of that, SHIELD sends Nick Fury Jr, Mockingbird, Black Widow and Hawkeye to AIM Island to assassinate the Scientist Supreme. Meh, meh, and double meh. I swear, the name Secret Avengers is cursed for me... Regardless of who the writer is, or how much I enjoy their work, without fail, I can never get into this series... This one is getting dangerously close to the chopping block... Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
Superboy #20: Dr. Psycho enlists Superboy's help in dealing with HIVE, which had sent agents after Psycho, who has gone rogue from them. Yeah, and that's it. Nothing much to say about this one, actually... It seems as if SB randomly bounces from one clandestine organization to another. Plus we all know Psycho is going to betray SB! There's one of the failings of the New 52, introducing a brand new character would work way better than slotting Psycho here, who will undoubtedly turn of SB. Score: 6 out of 10.
Ultimates #24: Cap learns that the leader of California was planning on blowing Sacramento up and heads there. Meanwhile, Iron Man escapes from the Californian leader and meets Cap in Sacramento Finally, Thor and Invisible Woman join the two and the four(okay, mainly Thor, Sue and Iron Man) manage to prevent the Stark Space Station from obliterating the city. This one ends with Cap deciding he didn't want to be president anymore since he was a soldier, not a politician. I enjoyed this one. We still have a threat in California and the West Coast Ultimates, and Cap has stepped down, which was pretty much a given. Good stuff here! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Avengers Assemble #15AU: This takes place in Jolly Ol' London, where the only heroes left are Capt. Marvel, Capt. Britain, some woman named Excalibur, who is a healer, a guy named Computer Graham, who can enter computers, and a girl who has magic soccer(or I guess in this case, football) powers... Yep, really... Poor, poor London... Anyway, I've already wasted enough time on this rubbish(hey, when in Rome...). Basically Ultron kills everybody who tries to fight him. The end. Yeah, I picked this comic up on a whim and am now cursing myself for wasting the money... This comic was all sorts of terrible... A girl with magic soccer powers... Yeah, that's all for me... Score: 2 out of 10.
Avenging Spider-Man #20: I can't believe this series is at issue twenty already! Anyway, let's do this. This issue features Superior Spider-Man visiting the SHIELD Helicarrier after he stops a bunch of A.I.M. soldiers/scientists/nerds. It just so happens he's done so while Black Widow and Hawkeye are there for Secret Avenger stuff, while Dr. Bruce Banner is on board, and while the Russians have sent people to kill Chameleon so he doesn't leak government secrets. Spider-Man is there to free Chameleon because he's collecting real life Sinister Six trading cards, and sends his Spider-Bots to find him and cut the power. Before he can get to him, the Helicarrier is invaded by two dudes with skulls for faces that can burn you with their touch. Spidey heads to find Chameleon and finds bodies in his wake, and blames himself for their death's since he freed him, but quickly backtracks, saying if those guys hadn't invaded, he'd have had time to get there and stop Chameleon. We see Chameleon running to his freedom, wearing the face of his Doctor as Spider-Man heads off to find him and is confronted by none other than The Hulk! This was an interesting issue for me because I never really got into it. It just happened and here we are, I have no feelings either way which is kinda... bad if you think about it. Once again, this comic wasn't bad but I doubt I'll remember it this time next week. Score: 6/10
I know! I'm shocked too!!! I know you guys expected more reviews from me but hey, I'm a busy dude! Plus X took all the good books! :P Either way, expect a Throwback review from me tomorrow, and until then, this is JT, and my buddy X, signing off!
Showing posts with label Secret Avengers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Secret Avengers. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
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!
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!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.
Hey there X-Maniacs, X here with some explaining to do... So I've become horribly obsessed with Civilization 5, and have been spending entirely too much time playing that game. At the expense of the blog. Yeah, I know, bad X... Truth be told though, it's not completely my fault, as the past two weeks have seen me bring home a ton of mediocre books... I've been giving out 7 out of 10's like there's no tomorrow! To rectify things(and to make sure I post more than JT!), I'm gonna dust off that old tried and true blog post, The Best of the Rest! Basically, I'll take a quick look at everything I've read(and haven't reviewed), and throw some thoughts out there. Don't expect in depth reviews(or competent work, but if you're reading this, you probably don't expect anything competent to begin with!), just some thoughts, and a score. Okay, we set? Great. Let's get this polished off.
Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger... Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are. Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side. I enjoyed this issue, as always. Kirkman is always strong here. Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go. He's a fantastic villain... Score: 7 out of 10.
Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series... I really do... But so far I'm just not feeling it... This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...). But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent. I mean, I should like everything going on here... Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet. I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing. Score: 4 out of 10.
Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!! And it was pretty good, as expected. We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens). Like I said, this was a good issue. Would I have liked to see some Thor? Yes, of course. Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues... It's been SIX issues now! And the team is STILL doing their first mission!! Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already! Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?! Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle... Weird... Score: 3 out of 10.
Superboy #18: This series continues to be oddly readable. Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage. Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind. Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason... To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs. A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus). Simple. Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic! From DC! Go figure. Score: 7 out of 10.
Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria? I have? Good, because this issue did nothing to change that. Those two are so annoying. Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster. On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition. But on the negative side? Everything else. Score: 3 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series... It's really not bad... If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde... How is she the leader of mutantkind... I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE! But yeah, back to the story. Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that. It's really not bad. I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto. But Kitty... Grrr... Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Huzzah, I'm done! Seven comics, one post. I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday. That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday. But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change. Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.
Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger... Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are. Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side. I enjoyed this issue, as always. Kirkman is always strong here. Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go. He's a fantastic villain... Score: 7 out of 10.
Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series... I really do... But so far I'm just not feeling it... This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...). But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent. I mean, I should like everything going on here... Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet. I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing. Score: 4 out of 10.
Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!! And it was pretty good, as expected. We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens). Like I said, this was a good issue. Would I have liked to see some Thor? Yes, of course. Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues... It's been SIX issues now! And the team is STILL doing their first mission!! Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already! Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?! Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle... Weird... Score: 3 out of 10.
Superboy #18: This series continues to be oddly readable. Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage. Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind. Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason... To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs. A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus). Simple. Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic! From DC! Go figure. Score: 7 out of 10.
Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria? I have? Good, because this issue did nothing to change that. Those two are so annoying. Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster. On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition. But on the negative side? Everything else. Score: 3 out of 10.
Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series... It's really not bad... If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde... How is she the leader of mutantkind... I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE! But yeah, back to the story. Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that. It's really not bad. I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto. But Kitty... Grrr... Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Huzzah, I'm done! Seven comics, one post. I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday. That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday. But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change. Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Secret Avengers #1
Howdy X-Maniacs! Today is an X day, so I'll have two reviews up and posted for you guys tonight. The first is the premier issue of Secret Avengers. Yeah, I know that there was a Secret Avengers series already, but this is the Marvel Now! version! Complete with a new team line-up and a new writer! All kidding aside, this series should be good. Really, really good, judging by the writer and the team line-up. Here's hoping this issue lives up to my very lofty expectations...
Secret Avengers #1:
Summary: This issue begins in Budapest, with Hawkeye having been shot in the gut a few times and getting picked up by some Hungarian arms dealer named Andres Bertesy. Hawkeye tells Bertesy and his goons that he had no idea how a) he had been shot, and b) what he was doing there. Bertesy naturally doesn't buy that and tries a truth serum, a telepath and a demon, all of which tell him the same thing, Hawkeye doesn't know anything. And then Black Widow arrives to help. From there we flashback to a few hours earlier where Hawkeye and Widow are met by Agent Coulson, who wants them to take part in SHIELD's very own Secret Avengers program. However, if they join they had to agree to have nanites put in their bodies that would wipe their minds clean of their missions. Hawkeye and Widow don't want any part of that, but change their tune when Coulson says something(that we aren't privy to) that convinces them to join up. From there they meet Nick Fury(the new, younger version) and learn what their mission is. That mission? Stop Andres Bertesy from selling teleportation tech to terrorists. With that, Fury, Widow and Hawkeye head out. Hawkeye ends up getting shot by a goon while working with Fury, at which point his memory of the mission is scrubbed, bringing us back to the present, where he is rescued by Widow. While Hawkeye is recuperating in a SHIELD hospital, we learn that Fury was under orders to shoot Hawkeye(!), because SHIELD wanted to test the nanite tech out, and Hawkeye was the unknowing guinea pig.
Thoughts: This issue was okay... I mean, it was a good read and all, but it wasn't anything special. I enjoyed the twist at the end with Fury shooting Hawkeye and SHIELD erasing that from Clint's memories, but other than that, this issue just didn't do much for me... I really don't have much else to say. I will say that I think this will be a really good series going forward. This issue though? Perfectly mediocre.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Yeah, deal with it!
Secret Avengers #1:
Summary: This issue begins in Budapest, with Hawkeye having been shot in the gut a few times and getting picked up by some Hungarian arms dealer named Andres Bertesy. Hawkeye tells Bertesy and his goons that he had no idea how a) he had been shot, and b) what he was doing there. Bertesy naturally doesn't buy that and tries a truth serum, a telepath and a demon, all of which tell him the same thing, Hawkeye doesn't know anything. And then Black Widow arrives to help. From there we flashback to a few hours earlier where Hawkeye and Widow are met by Agent Coulson, who wants them to take part in SHIELD's very own Secret Avengers program. However, if they join they had to agree to have nanites put in their bodies that would wipe their minds clean of their missions. Hawkeye and Widow don't want any part of that, but change their tune when Coulson says something(that we aren't privy to) that convinces them to join up. From there they meet Nick Fury(the new, younger version) and learn what their mission is. That mission? Stop Andres Bertesy from selling teleportation tech to terrorists. With that, Fury, Widow and Hawkeye head out. Hawkeye ends up getting shot by a goon while working with Fury, at which point his memory of the mission is scrubbed, bringing us back to the present, where he is rescued by Widow. While Hawkeye is recuperating in a SHIELD hospital, we learn that Fury was under orders to shoot Hawkeye(!), because SHIELD wanted to test the nanite tech out, and Hawkeye was the unknowing guinea pig.
Thoughts: This issue was okay... I mean, it was a good read and all, but it wasn't anything special. I enjoyed the twist at the end with Fury shooting Hawkeye and SHIELD erasing that from Clint's memories, but other than that, this issue just didn't do much for me... I really don't have much else to say. I will say that I think this will be a really good series going forward. This issue though? Perfectly mediocre.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Yeah, deal with it!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Taking a breather...
After some thought, I've decided not to review the rest of the comics I picked up last week, mainly due to a) being tired as hell from work, and b) the comics not being particularly good... So, for the record, the comics I won't be reviewing are Journey Into Mystery #638(which I'd give a 5 to), Voodoo #9(which was probably a 5 or so), Mighty Thor #14(which was around a 3), Secret Avengers #27(which I'd go with a 0 for), Teen Titans #9(which was about a 5 1/2) and Batman Inc #1(which I'd give about a 6 to)... So yeah, not exactly anything to write home about there... With the scores for those books being as lackluster as they were, I just couldn't get myself to spend the time punching out reviews for them. On top of all that, the blog has been feeling more like work and less like fun as of late, which is always a sign that it's time to take a step back and reconsider things... Anyway, I'll be back (after a very short break) on Wednesday with a fresh New Comic Day post, but until then? Vampire X out.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Secret Avengers #26
Wait, did I really put the comic I chose as my Runt of the Litter THIS high in my comic pile... What the hell is that about?! I guess the AvX banner tricked me or something. Oh well, tonight, as opposed to Monday or Tuesday we'll take a look at this week's Runt.
Secret Avengers #26(AvX tie-in):
Summary: The space Avengers head out to capture the Phoenix in a cage Beast created that was based off of his earlier designs back from when Jean Grey was the Dark Phoenix. War Machine is the key to capturing the Phoenix, since the cage was attuned to his suit. The space Avengers(except for Beast who was calling strategy from inside the spaceship) end up getting trounced by the Phoenix(what a shock... and yes, that's sarcasm!), although Beast's creation DID seem to have some sort of effect on the Phoenix. With the Avengers mainly defeated, Beast calls for a retreat so that the team could alter their strategy a bit and try again later. Capt. Britain doesn't want to listen to that, since he figures the longer the Phoenix is out there, the more beings it would kill. Capt. Britain then takes Beast's device and tries to use it on the Phoenix himself, even though Beast is shouting that the machine was only compatible with War Machine's tech. Naturally, Capt. Britain gets defeated by the Phoenix, and the device is destroyed... After that, the space Avengers set course for Hala, homeworld of the Kree. Beast absolutely tears into Capt. Britain for being impulsive and costing the team their best shot at stopping the Phoenix in a great scene. Meanwhile, some crazy Krees do something involving Capt. Marvel's corpse and the Phoenix. Ms. Marvel and Protector speak outside the ship on Hala and Ms. Marvel reveals that she knew that Protector was secretly working with the Supreme Intelligence and that she was on his side. This issue ends with the apparently resurrected Capt. Marvel telling Protector and Ms. Marvel that the only way to ensure the Intelligence's plans was to kill the Avengers.
Thoughts: Ugh... This was awful! No wonder I had it pegged as this week's Runt! I should have followed my instincts and left this one at the bottom of my comic pile! The only thing I liked about this issue was Beast tearing into Capt. Britain. Seriously. I didn't like, nor at times, get, the story, and the apparent return of Capt. Marvel just annoyed me. If ever Capt. Marvel is to return to life, it needs to be in a better way than this! With Ms. Marvel taking up the Capt. Marvel name soon, I doubt this is the real Marvel, but still...
Score: 4 out of 10.
This page took Beast from simply great to flat out AWESOME!
Secret Avengers #26(AvX tie-in):
Summary: The space Avengers head out to capture the Phoenix in a cage Beast created that was based off of his earlier designs back from when Jean Grey was the Dark Phoenix. War Machine is the key to capturing the Phoenix, since the cage was attuned to his suit. The space Avengers(except for Beast who was calling strategy from inside the spaceship) end up getting trounced by the Phoenix(what a shock... and yes, that's sarcasm!), although Beast's creation DID seem to have some sort of effect on the Phoenix. With the Avengers mainly defeated, Beast calls for a retreat so that the team could alter their strategy a bit and try again later. Capt. Britain doesn't want to listen to that, since he figures the longer the Phoenix is out there, the more beings it would kill. Capt. Britain then takes Beast's device and tries to use it on the Phoenix himself, even though Beast is shouting that the machine was only compatible with War Machine's tech. Naturally, Capt. Britain gets defeated by the Phoenix, and the device is destroyed... After that, the space Avengers set course for Hala, homeworld of the Kree. Beast absolutely tears into Capt. Britain for being impulsive and costing the team their best shot at stopping the Phoenix in a great scene. Meanwhile, some crazy Krees do something involving Capt. Marvel's corpse and the Phoenix. Ms. Marvel and Protector speak outside the ship on Hala and Ms. Marvel reveals that she knew that Protector was secretly working with the Supreme Intelligence and that she was on his side. This issue ends with the apparently resurrected Capt. Marvel telling Protector and Ms. Marvel that the only way to ensure the Intelligence's plans was to kill the Avengers.
Thoughts: Ugh... This was awful! No wonder I had it pegged as this week's Runt! I should have followed my instincts and left this one at the bottom of my comic pile! The only thing I liked about this issue was Beast tearing into Capt. Britain. Seriously. I didn't like, nor at times, get, the story, and the apparent return of Capt. Marvel just annoyed me. If ever Capt. Marvel is to return to life, it needs to be in a better way than this! With Ms. Marvel taking up the Capt. Marvel name soon, I doubt this is the real Marvel, but still...
Score: 4 out of 10.
This page took Beast from simply great to flat out AWESOME!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Secret Avengers #25
We've reached that point in the week where it's time for me to scrape the bottom of my new comic pile and check out the comics I least want to read out of this week's batch... Needless to say, I am NOT looking forward to this one...
Secret Avengers #25:
Summary: Huh, I JUST read this comic and barely remember what happened at the beginning... That's the definition of a forgettable story! Anyway, I'll just go through this issue page by page in order to do a quick review... The original Human Torch manages to catch up to robot Miss America, who tells him the (supposed) origin of Robotland. Basically, three scientists wanted to recreate the original Torch. With some magic they succeeded in creating 20 human/robot hybrids. However, one of the scientists(the Father) wanted to create hundreds(thousands?) of these hybrids. The magic scientist(the Son) doesn't think that's wise, as the hybrids would compete with humanity(like mutantkind) and leaves. The third scientist(the Mother... Rick Remender wasn't feeling very creative here, was he?) decides to free the hybrids, at which time they head into the world with no clue they were half robot. The Father creates a bunch of robots, and bides his time, capturing the hybrids and any offspring they managed to have. Having some understanding of things now, the Torch heads for the Father's base, and is joined by Capt. Britain. Meanwhile, Venom joins the battle to assist Valkyrie, who is inexplicably playing the “damsel in distress” role here... Really? Eventually Hawkeye, Black Widow(who was still safeguarding the child the Secret Avengers went to Robotland to rescue), Beast and Ant-Man manage to meet up while the Torch and Capt. Britain are confronted by a Master Mold robot. The Torch flies into the sentinel's head and tells it to self-destruct in five minutes. With that, the Avengers all meet up and are about to leave when a robot stabs through the Torch's chest. The Secret Avengers take the Torch back toThe Watchtower The Lighthouse, where Hawkeye swears the team to secrecy about the Torch's condition... For some reason... I don't get what he's hiding from Captain America here, but whatever... This issue ends with us discovering that Ant-Man was secretly a robot...
Thoughts: Ugh, I hated that reveal at the end of this one... I'm not using the word “dislike” or saying I “wasn't fond of it”, I'm using the word HATE. Ant-Man as a secret robot(on the Secret Avengers... heh...) means a) Ant-Man is really dead(for now) and b) this storyline will continue... Yeah, since the Avengers never even bumped into the Father, it was obvious this story was going to pop up again... Still, if robot Ant-Man wasn't here MAYBE this storyline could have simply been dropped, never to see the light of day again. Ah well. On the plus side, while this comic was SUPER-forgettable, it wasn't horrible!
Score: 6 out of 10.
BOOOOOOO!!!
Secret Avengers #25:
Summary: Huh, I JUST read this comic and barely remember what happened at the beginning... That's the definition of a forgettable story! Anyway, I'll just go through this issue page by page in order to do a quick review... The original Human Torch manages to catch up to robot Miss America, who tells him the (supposed) origin of Robotland. Basically, three scientists wanted to recreate the original Torch. With some magic they succeeded in creating 20 human/robot hybrids. However, one of the scientists(the Father) wanted to create hundreds(thousands?) of these hybrids. The magic scientist(the Son) doesn't think that's wise, as the hybrids would compete with humanity(like mutantkind) and leaves. The third scientist(the Mother... Rick Remender wasn't feeling very creative here, was he?) decides to free the hybrids, at which time they head into the world with no clue they were half robot. The Father creates a bunch of robots, and bides his time, capturing the hybrids and any offspring they managed to have. Having some understanding of things now, the Torch heads for the Father's base, and is joined by Capt. Britain. Meanwhile, Venom joins the battle to assist Valkyrie, who is inexplicably playing the “damsel in distress” role here... Really? Eventually Hawkeye, Black Widow(who was still safeguarding the child the Secret Avengers went to Robotland to rescue), Beast and Ant-Man manage to meet up while the Torch and Capt. Britain are confronted by a Master Mold robot. The Torch flies into the sentinel's head and tells it to self-destruct in five minutes. With that, the Avengers all meet up and are about to leave when a robot stabs through the Torch's chest. The Secret Avengers take the Torch back to
Thoughts: Ugh, I hated that reveal at the end of this one... I'm not using the word “dislike” or saying I “wasn't fond of it”, I'm using the word HATE. Ant-Man as a secret robot(on the Secret Avengers... heh...) means a) Ant-Man is really dead(for now) and b) this storyline will continue... Yeah, since the Avengers never even bumped into the Father, it was obvious this story was going to pop up again... Still, if robot Ant-Man wasn't here MAYBE this storyline could have simply been dropped, never to see the light of day again. Ah well. On the plus side, while this comic was SUPER-forgettable, it wasn't horrible!
Score: 6 out of 10.
BOOOOOOO!!!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Secret Avengers #24
Here's a series that has been really disappointing to me for some time now... Not even a change of writer and the addition of one of my favorite comic book characters has managed to make this comic better... Well, hope springs eternal and all that jazz, so let's hope this is the issue this series becomes as great as I want it to be.
Secret Avengers #24:
Summary: In Robotland(I don't know what else to call it...), the Secret Avengers get themselves taken down, one by one, by the various robots living there... All but Valkyrie, who manages to find the child the Secret Avengers were looking for, save Black Widow and beat up and escape from those dastardly robots. Valkyrie sets Widow and the child down on a rooftop and heads off to find the other Avengers, at which time she is immediately attacked by other robots. Back at the Avengers knock-off Watchtower base, Venom gets word the the Secret Avengers were in trouble and isn't sure what to do since he wants to help, but was told by Captain America to report any trouble to the other Avengers teams. As for Hawkeye, the alleged leader of this team, he's been captured with Beast, who was shot and badly wounded. Hawkeye banters with the injured Beast, and this issue ends with Ant-Man showing up in Hawkeye and Beast's cell to rescue them.
Thoughts: I guess the real question here is this; was that the Eric O' Grady Ant-Man, or was that Hank Pym, come to help the team as the cavalry? Other than that though? There's nothing happening here that I am the least bit interested in. Hawkeye's been written as a terrible leader, the story isn't doing anything for me, there's just nothing here I can point at and say, “THIS is why you should be reading this series!” I guess I'll just move on...
Score: 4 out of 10.
Yep, this is Hawkeye's life alright...
Secret Avengers #24:
Summary: In Robotland(I don't know what else to call it...), the Secret Avengers get themselves taken down, one by one, by the various robots living there... All but Valkyrie, who manages to find the child the Secret Avengers were looking for, save Black Widow and beat up and escape from those dastardly robots. Valkyrie sets Widow and the child down on a rooftop and heads off to find the other Avengers, at which time she is immediately attacked by other robots. Back at the Avengers knock-off Watchtower base, Venom gets word the the Secret Avengers were in trouble and isn't sure what to do since he wants to help, but was told by Captain America to report any trouble to the other Avengers teams. As for Hawkeye, the alleged leader of this team, he's been captured with Beast, who was shot and badly wounded. Hawkeye banters with the injured Beast, and this issue ends with Ant-Man showing up in Hawkeye and Beast's cell to rescue them.
Thoughts: I guess the real question here is this; was that the Eric O' Grady Ant-Man, or was that Hank Pym, come to help the team as the cavalry? Other than that though? There's nothing happening here that I am the least bit interested in. Hawkeye's been written as a terrible leader, the story isn't doing anything for me, there's just nothing here I can point at and say, “THIS is why you should be reading this series!” I guess I'll just move on...
Score: 4 out of 10.
Yep, this is Hawkeye's life alright...
Friday, February 24, 2012
Secret Avengers #23
And we'll continue speeding through this week's comic books with a quick look at Secret Avengers #23.
Secret Avengers #23:
Summary: Hawkeye is disturbed by the fact that Ant-Man still hadn't reported back to the Secret Avengers after hitching a ride with those androids last issue. As a result, he hasn't slept for well over a day and is VERY short with everybody, including Captain America, who tries to add Venom to the Secret Avengers. Cranky Clint tells Cap to take Venom and to get lost before collecting the Human Torch(the one from WWII) and Beast, as well as the rest of the Secret Avengers, since he had finally gotten a signal from Ant-Man. Ant-Man manages to save the child kidnapped by the androids last issue, but is unable to save the child's mother from the leader of the androids, some feeb named the Father. The Secret Avengers follow Ant-Man's signal to some weird underground robot city, but are unable to get to Ant-Man before he is apparently beaten to death by the androids while making sure to give the child enough time to make a run for it.
Thoughts: Well, if this was the end of the Eric O'Grady Ant-Man, he went out like a true hero, which is always a good thing. Granted, I don't think we needed a death here, but you know what happens when a new writer takes over a series... Somebody usually has to die so said writer can “make an impact”. Speaking about impacts, this issue really didn't make much of one with me... Sure, I enjoyed Hawkeye acting like an ass to Captain America, because that's Hawkeye, and you'd think Hawkeye, with NO sleep and worrying about a teammate, would be even more of an ass than usual. One thing I didn't enjoy was the strange jab Beast threw at Pym when Beast told Pym that while Beast was alive he'd never allow Pym to create another artificial intelligence... Throwing Ultron in Pym's face seemed unusually nasty and uncalled for from Beast, who's a character I usually find myself enjoying... I have to say, I didn't like the way Remender wrote Beast in that scene at all... I think Hank Pym has done MORE than enough good things with his life to have made up for the accidental creation of Ultron. As for this issue itself, it really didn't do much for me. It wasn't awful, but I definitely wouldn't say it was all that good...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Cranky, sleep-deprived Hawkeye rules!
Secret Avengers #23:
Summary: Hawkeye is disturbed by the fact that Ant-Man still hadn't reported back to the Secret Avengers after hitching a ride with those androids last issue. As a result, he hasn't slept for well over a day and is VERY short with everybody, including Captain America, who tries to add Venom to the Secret Avengers. Cranky Clint tells Cap to take Venom and to get lost before collecting the Human Torch(the one from WWII) and Beast, as well as the rest of the Secret Avengers, since he had finally gotten a signal from Ant-Man. Ant-Man manages to save the child kidnapped by the androids last issue, but is unable to save the child's mother from the leader of the androids, some feeb named the Father. The Secret Avengers follow Ant-Man's signal to some weird underground robot city, but are unable to get to Ant-Man before he is apparently beaten to death by the androids while making sure to give the child enough time to make a run for it.
Thoughts: Well, if this was the end of the Eric O'Grady Ant-Man, he went out like a true hero, which is always a good thing. Granted, I don't think we needed a death here, but you know what happens when a new writer takes over a series... Somebody usually has to die so said writer can “make an impact”. Speaking about impacts, this issue really didn't make much of one with me... Sure, I enjoyed Hawkeye acting like an ass to Captain America, because that's Hawkeye, and you'd think Hawkeye, with NO sleep and worrying about a teammate, would be even more of an ass than usual. One thing I didn't enjoy was the strange jab Beast threw at Pym when Beast told Pym that while Beast was alive he'd never allow Pym to create another artificial intelligence... Throwing Ultron in Pym's face seemed unusually nasty and uncalled for from Beast, who's a character I usually find myself enjoying... I have to say, I didn't like the way Remender wrote Beast in that scene at all... I think Hank Pym has done MORE than enough good things with his life to have made up for the accidental creation of Ultron. As for this issue itself, it really didn't do much for me. It wasn't awful, but I definitely wouldn't say it was all that good...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Cranky, sleep-deprived Hawkeye rules!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Secret Avengers #22
First review of the new week is my Pick of the Litter, Secret Avengers #22. Instead of talking about it, let's get to that review!
Secret Avengers #22:
Summary: In Pakistan, a terrorist attempts to detonate himself in a crowd, but is shocked to see a nearby woman absorb the flames from the blast and amplify said flames, nearly destroying the entire village. Some random robots know about this and decide to investigate. Meanwhile, in the Avengers Earth orbiting base, the Watchtower... Oops, did I say Watchtower? How careless of me... I meant to say Lighthouse, which is where the Secret Avengers were stationed... Why ever would I think “Watchtower”??? Anyway, the Secret Avengers(Hawkeye, Captain Britain, Beast, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Valkyrie) hear about the terrorist attack and decide to investigate as well. The Secret Avengers end up saving the woman from the terrorists, who had captured her hoping to harness her abilities, but the Secret Avengers are soon assaulted by the weird robot guys from earlier. The robots manage to capture the woman and escape, which was a part of Hawkeye's plan, as he had Ant-Man hitch a ride on one of the robots. This issue ends with a cabal of androids and robots plotting evil deeds.
Thoughts: Wow, this was... not at all what I was hoping for... I mean, I've enjoyed the hell out of Rick Remender's Venom work, I've enjoyed most of his Uncanny X-Force work, but I have to say, with the exception of the team(which I like... mainly), this issue did absolutely nothing for me. First off, Captain Britain was just as unlikable as usual. Besides him though, I really like the team here(even though I'd bet GOOD money that Ant-Man will be biting the bullet soon). The story? I really have nothing good to say about it. It varied between boring and annoying. The dialogue was pretty good, as Remender seemed to have Beast and Hawkeye's voice's down rather well. All things considered, especially in light of how much I was looking forward to this one, this issue was a major letdown.
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
At least Hawkeye and Beast were in this issue...
Secret Avengers #22:
Summary: In Pakistan, a terrorist attempts to detonate himself in a crowd, but is shocked to see a nearby woman absorb the flames from the blast and amplify said flames, nearly destroying the entire village. Some random robots know about this and decide to investigate. Meanwhile, in the Avengers Earth orbiting base, the Watchtower... Oops, did I say Watchtower? How careless of me... I meant to say Lighthouse, which is where the Secret Avengers were stationed... Why ever would I think “Watchtower”??? Anyway, the Secret Avengers(Hawkeye, Captain Britain, Beast, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Valkyrie) hear about the terrorist attack and decide to investigate as well. The Secret Avengers end up saving the woman from the terrorists, who had captured her hoping to harness her abilities, but the Secret Avengers are soon assaulted by the weird robot guys from earlier. The robots manage to capture the woman and escape, which was a part of Hawkeye's plan, as he had Ant-Man hitch a ride on one of the robots. This issue ends with a cabal of androids and robots plotting evil deeds.
Thoughts: Wow, this was... not at all what I was hoping for... I mean, I've enjoyed the hell out of Rick Remender's Venom work, I've enjoyed most of his Uncanny X-Force work, but I have to say, with the exception of the team(which I like... mainly), this issue did absolutely nothing for me. First off, Captain Britain was just as unlikable as usual. Besides him though, I really like the team here(even though I'd bet GOOD money that Ant-Man will be biting the bullet soon). The story? I really have nothing good to say about it. It varied between boring and annoying. The dialogue was pretty good, as Remender seemed to have Beast and Hawkeye's voice's down rather well. All things considered, especially in light of how much I was looking forward to this one, this issue was a major letdown.
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
At least Hawkeye and Beast were in this issue...
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Secret Avengers #21.1
First review of the week? As promised, Secret Avengers #21.1. This issue gives us the beginning of the Rick Remender era(hear that fans of Venom and Uncanny X-Force?? That means you should give this a shot!), and as important, for me at least, the start of Hawkeye(my favorite Avenger) as this team's leader. I am expecting SO much from this comic...
Secret Avengers #21.1:
Summary: Captain America takes Hawkeye on a covert mission to a rogue nation called Bagalia to protect an American senator from an assassination attempt. In case you're curious, Bagalia is one of those countries where anything goes if you are rich enough... Cap and Hawkeye do the stealth thing and Hawkeye pinpoints the senator's location in a private room, and does as Hawkeye always does when tasked with using stealth, kicks the door in and tells the senator they were there to protect him... Ah Hawkeye... But wait! It turns out the senator was actually a life model decoy(LMD) and attacks the two heroes, leading to a hasty retreat before the LMD explodes. The two heroes manage to make it to the ground, and in true Cap fashion, he tears into Hawkeye for not being cautious enough, and for walking the two of them into an obvious trap. With that, Cap tells Hawkeye he wasn't ready to lead the Secret Avengers, which(rightly!) pisses Hawkeye off. The two argue, and Cap throws Hawkeye's family into his face, telling him that much like his dead father, Hawkeye was weak... DAY-UM!! Needless to say, Hawkeye gets uber-pissed and leaves Cap behind. Cap stands there pondering the fact that maybe he went too far in trying to see if Hawkeye could control his temper and not take a swing at Cap for his nasty words. While Cap is pondering, he is attacked by Vengeance(!!), Whiplash, and Princess Python, and is summarily captured. While on the train out of the country, Hawkeye hears that an American assassin had been captured(obviously Cap) and broods. The trio of villains take Cap to Max Fury, who taunts Cap for a bit and tells him that he'll show the world that Captain America himself had invaded a sovereign nation to assassinate a senator. Which while not true, would definitely be picked up as true in certain parts of the world. Before Max can set up a camera filming Cap's inglorious defeat, Hawkeye arrives, having used his stealth device to sneak right into Max's inner lair and takes out Max's three goons. Instead of killing Max(because Avengers DON'T kill! I'm looking at YOU, Wolverine!), Hawkeye grabs Cap and uses a rocket arrow to escape Max's lair, which was now compromised. This issue ends with Hawkeye telling Cap that he didn't need Cap's approval to become a leader for the Avengers, as you have to find that approval in yourself, thus solidifying Cap's decision to name Hawkeye the leader of the Secret Avengers.
Thoughts: What can I say? I loved this comic. Rick Remender PERFECTLY depicted the relationship between Cap and Hawkeye here. There is massive respect between the two, but at the end of the day, they go about their business in completely opposite ways. Cap is the consummate professional who is seemingly always right(as Hawkeye points out here), while Hawkeye is the brash, in-your-face type of guy who'd rather smash down the door and rush in flinging arrows. This comic was ALMOST perfect... The ONLY thing that bugged me(and it only bugged me a little bit because I understood why Cap did it) was Cap harping on Hawkeye's dead parents and calling Hawkeye weak in an effort to get him to lose his temper. That was kind of a low blow. Although, as stated, I did understand Cap's strategy behind his harsh words. That and the fact that Hawkeye, who has led the West Coast Avengers, the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, had to be “tested” by Cap I found a bit vexing, but other than that, this was the best comic book I've read thus far in 2012. I'd say the Rick Remender Secret Avengers era is off to a HUGE success!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Even on the first page of this issue Hawkeye's dialogue got a chuckle out of me!
Secret Avengers #21.1:
Summary: Captain America takes Hawkeye on a covert mission to a rogue nation called Bagalia to protect an American senator from an assassination attempt. In case you're curious, Bagalia is one of those countries where anything goes if you are rich enough... Cap and Hawkeye do the stealth thing and Hawkeye pinpoints the senator's location in a private room, and does as Hawkeye always does when tasked with using stealth, kicks the door in and tells the senator they were there to protect him... Ah Hawkeye... But wait! It turns out the senator was actually a life model decoy(LMD) and attacks the two heroes, leading to a hasty retreat before the LMD explodes. The two heroes manage to make it to the ground, and in true Cap fashion, he tears into Hawkeye for not being cautious enough, and for walking the two of them into an obvious trap. With that, Cap tells Hawkeye he wasn't ready to lead the Secret Avengers, which(rightly!) pisses Hawkeye off. The two argue, and Cap throws Hawkeye's family into his face, telling him that much like his dead father, Hawkeye was weak... DAY-UM!! Needless to say, Hawkeye gets uber-pissed and leaves Cap behind. Cap stands there pondering the fact that maybe he went too far in trying to see if Hawkeye could control his temper and not take a swing at Cap for his nasty words. While Cap is pondering, he is attacked by Vengeance(!!), Whiplash, and Princess Python, and is summarily captured. While on the train out of the country, Hawkeye hears that an American assassin had been captured(obviously Cap) and broods. The trio of villains take Cap to Max Fury, who taunts Cap for a bit and tells him that he'll show the world that Captain America himself had invaded a sovereign nation to assassinate a senator. Which while not true, would definitely be picked up as true in certain parts of the world. Before Max can set up a camera filming Cap's inglorious defeat, Hawkeye arrives, having used his stealth device to sneak right into Max's inner lair and takes out Max's three goons. Instead of killing Max(because Avengers DON'T kill! I'm looking at YOU, Wolverine!), Hawkeye grabs Cap and uses a rocket arrow to escape Max's lair, which was now compromised. This issue ends with Hawkeye telling Cap that he didn't need Cap's approval to become a leader for the Avengers, as you have to find that approval in yourself, thus solidifying Cap's decision to name Hawkeye the leader of the Secret Avengers.
Thoughts: What can I say? I loved this comic. Rick Remender PERFECTLY depicted the relationship between Cap and Hawkeye here. There is massive respect between the two, but at the end of the day, they go about their business in completely opposite ways. Cap is the consummate professional who is seemingly always right(as Hawkeye points out here), while Hawkeye is the brash, in-your-face type of guy who'd rather smash down the door and rush in flinging arrows. This comic was ALMOST perfect... The ONLY thing that bugged me(and it only bugged me a little bit because I understood why Cap did it) was Cap harping on Hawkeye's dead parents and calling Hawkeye weak in an effort to get him to lose his temper. That was kind of a low blow. Although, as stated, I did understand Cap's strategy behind his harsh words. That and the fact that Hawkeye, who has led the West Coast Avengers, the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, had to be “tested” by Cap I found a bit vexing, but other than that, this was the best comic book I've read thus far in 2012. I'd say the Rick Remender Secret Avengers era is off to a HUGE success!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Even on the first page of this issue Hawkeye's dialogue got a chuckle out of me!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Secret Avengers #21
And we've finally reached the bottom of my new comic pile! Huzzah... I guess... As always, the week's Runt of the Litter resides at the bottom of the pile, so maybe I shouldn't be all that excited... Eh, then again, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! More likely, I won't... Anyway, here comes Warren Ellis's finally issue of Secret Avengers.
Secret Avengers #21:
What Happened: The Secret Avengers use a giant hologram device on the Houston branch office of ONE(Office of National Emergency), making it look like the building was on fire. With most of the people having evacuated, the Secret Avengers enter the executive area and discover a few ONE agents who hadn't yet left. It seems one of them is a double agent for the Shadow Council. The Secret Avengers flush out the double agent, but not before the Shadow Council member frees some sort of giant, matter absorbing monster from the building's basement. The Secret Avengers eventually manage to kill the creature by collapsing the entire building onto it... Overkill much? With that, the Shadow Council double agent pulls out a concealed handgun and shoots herself in the head, ending this one.
Thoughts: Okay, first things first, shouldn't one of the Avengers have frisked the Shadow Council member to make sure she had no concealed weapons on her person?! I mean how dumb are they? What if she would have pulled the gun and shot one of the Avengers? That all just seemed uncharacteristically sloppy of the Avengers here. Besides that, I really have nothing good to say about this issue, or Warren Ellis's run on this series as a whole for that matter. For me, he just never clicked here and I'm glad to see Rick Remender taking over as the writer with the next issue. Maybe HE can be the guy to drag this series up towards respectability.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Look, a giant monster!
Secret Avengers #21:
What Happened: The Secret Avengers use a giant hologram device on the Houston branch office of ONE(Office of National Emergency), making it look like the building was on fire. With most of the people having evacuated, the Secret Avengers enter the executive area and discover a few ONE agents who hadn't yet left. It seems one of them is a double agent for the Shadow Council. The Secret Avengers flush out the double agent, but not before the Shadow Council member frees some sort of giant, matter absorbing monster from the building's basement. The Secret Avengers eventually manage to kill the creature by collapsing the entire building onto it... Overkill much? With that, the Shadow Council double agent pulls out a concealed handgun and shoots herself in the head, ending this one.
Thoughts: Okay, first things first, shouldn't one of the Avengers have frisked the Shadow Council member to make sure she had no concealed weapons on her person?! I mean how dumb are they? What if she would have pulled the gun and shot one of the Avengers? That all just seemed uncharacteristically sloppy of the Avengers here. Besides that, I really have nothing good to say about this issue, or Warren Ellis's run on this series as a whole for that matter. For me, he just never clicked here and I'm glad to see Rick Remender taking over as the writer with the next issue. Maybe HE can be the guy to drag this series up towards respectability.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Look, a giant monster!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Secret Avengers #20
And we kick off the first of FOUR reviews this lovely, COLD Tuesday night with Secret Avengers. I've made no secret of the fact that I haven't enjoyed Warren Ellis's run on Secret Avengers, but I know he's a good enough writer that he may still be able to bust out an above average story if need be. Let's hope this is one of those aforementioned above average stories!
Secret Avengers #20:
What Happened: This issue begins with the Shadow Council literally killing the Secret Avengers. Black Widow is still alive so War Machine hands her an escape device that sends Black Widow back in time five years where she can plan her next move. Unfortunately, all of BW's favorite moves(ie: return to battle before her teammates were killed and shoot the bad guys) could have dire effects on the timestream as a whole. Being confused by all of this timestream mumbo-jumbo, BW heads back in time a month before the Secret Avengers were wiped out to ask Beast about time travel and the paradoxes therein. Beast basically tells her what she already knew(you CAN'T mess with the timestream openly!)and BW is ready to leave, until Beast points out that the best way to alter the timestream would be to do something that doesn't appear to alter the timestream... To that end, BW heads back 44 years and kidnaps a genius in the field of time(Khronus) who had vanished without a trace right around the time BW abducted him. Since Khronus was destined to vanish into time anyway, he was the perfect candidate to assist BW with her plans. With Khronus secured and living in her base, BW then travels back six years in time and has a weaponmaker she knew who could design the casing for the time travel device she needed, since Khronus was building his time devices WAY too large. Several weeks pass and BW moves back and forth between her home 5 years away from the present, the hideout for Khronus, 24 years back from the present, and the weaponmaker, who was 4 years away from the present, passing equipment and ideas back and forth between the two men. Eventually the project is finished, but the weaponmaker hadn't been straight with BW and had sold the time-guns BW had him working on to the Shadow Council. BW takes the gun the weaponmaker created for him before leaving his area and blowing up his house... With him inside. From there she heads back to Khronus, only to learn from Khronus's manservant that Khronus had died, but not before finishing up the device he had been working on for BW for the past 40 years. Widow collects all of her time-made toys and heads back to the battle, prior to the deaths of her teammates. Since she was using items that had been created practically outside the timestream, her actions(which consist of short-circuiting all of the Shadow Council's weapons, destroying said weapons and then destroying her own time travel devices) kill the enemy agents, save her teammates and adds just some more mystique to the Black Widow character.
The Good: I am a sucker for a good alternate reality or time travel story, and this issue fit the bill with it's repeated time traveling. Black Widow came out of this issue looking even more awesome than usual. While the story was kind of hard to follow at first, once I figured out who was who and what their motivations were, I enjoyed it.
The Bad: There did seem to be some holes in the story and some random appearances(like Dr. Druid), but for the most part I was able to easily overlook them. The art had that more dark/grainy look to it, which fits certain types of stories, but didn't really do this issue any favors.
The Verdict: Overall? I liked this issue. But that should come as no surprise seeing as that Black Widow is amongst my favorite female comic book characters. It was nice seeing her get the lead, save the team and then tell them nothing about her actions. That fit her character to a T. So while there was some confusion and a few holes, this was a better issue of this series than we've been getting, so for that I have to say that I'm pleased.
Score: 7 out of 10.
When people ask me about comic books I respond the same way Beast does here!
Secret Avengers #20:
What Happened: This issue begins with the Shadow Council literally killing the Secret Avengers. Black Widow is still alive so War Machine hands her an escape device that sends Black Widow back in time five years where she can plan her next move. Unfortunately, all of BW's favorite moves(ie: return to battle before her teammates were killed and shoot the bad guys) could have dire effects on the timestream as a whole. Being confused by all of this timestream mumbo-jumbo, BW heads back in time a month before the Secret Avengers were wiped out to ask Beast about time travel and the paradoxes therein. Beast basically tells her what she already knew(you CAN'T mess with the timestream openly!)and BW is ready to leave, until Beast points out that the best way to alter the timestream would be to do something that doesn't appear to alter the timestream... To that end, BW heads back 44 years and kidnaps a genius in the field of time(Khronus) who had vanished without a trace right around the time BW abducted him. Since Khronus was destined to vanish into time anyway, he was the perfect candidate to assist BW with her plans. With Khronus secured and living in her base, BW then travels back six years in time and has a weaponmaker she knew who could design the casing for the time travel device she needed, since Khronus was building his time devices WAY too large. Several weeks pass and BW moves back and forth between her home 5 years away from the present, the hideout for Khronus, 24 years back from the present, and the weaponmaker, who was 4 years away from the present, passing equipment and ideas back and forth between the two men. Eventually the project is finished, but the weaponmaker hadn't been straight with BW and had sold the time-guns BW had him working on to the Shadow Council. BW takes the gun the weaponmaker created for him before leaving his area and blowing up his house... With him inside. From there she heads back to Khronus, only to learn from Khronus's manservant that Khronus had died, but not before finishing up the device he had been working on for BW for the past 40 years. Widow collects all of her time-made toys and heads back to the battle, prior to the deaths of her teammates. Since she was using items that had been created practically outside the timestream, her actions(which consist of short-circuiting all of the Shadow Council's weapons, destroying said weapons and then destroying her own time travel devices) kill the enemy agents, save her teammates and adds just some more mystique to the Black Widow character.
The Good: I am a sucker for a good alternate reality or time travel story, and this issue fit the bill with it's repeated time traveling. Black Widow came out of this issue looking even more awesome than usual. While the story was kind of hard to follow at first, once I figured out who was who and what their motivations were, I enjoyed it.
The Bad: There did seem to be some holes in the story and some random appearances(like Dr. Druid), but for the most part I was able to easily overlook them. The art had that more dark/grainy look to it, which fits certain types of stories, but didn't really do this issue any favors.
The Verdict: Overall? I liked this issue. But that should come as no surprise seeing as that Black Widow is amongst my favorite female comic book characters. It was nice seeing her get the lead, save the team and then tell them nothing about her actions. That fit her character to a T. So while there was some confusion and a few holes, this was a better issue of this series than we've been getting, so for that I have to say that I'm pleased.
Score: 7 out of 10.
When people ask me about comic books I respond the same way Beast does here!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Secret Avengers #19
And as we get near the bottom of the new comic book pile, it's time to take a look at this week's Runt of the Litter, or the comic I least wanted to read, for this week, Secret Avengers. Warren Ellis' brief run on Secret Avengers has had it's ups and downs, okay, that's not really true, it was basically one up followed by a few downs... Let's hope that this issue breaks the downward trend.
Secret Avengers #19:
Summary: Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Sharon Carter and Moon Knight enter a club in the country of Symkaria intent on stopping the club's owner from selling some sort of mystical weed that gives it's users super-soldier-like abilities. After failing to do things the quiet way, the quartet are forced to fight their way through several possessed beings before reaching the penthouse. Upon entering, the club's boss reveals that he'd been smoking the magic drug for a long time and as such was WAY more powerful than his underlings. Not wanting to face a foe like that head on, the Secret Avengers douse him with booze, set him on fire, and kick him out the window to his death, ending his threat and this issue.
Thoughts: Honestly? No problems here. The story was REALLY fast paced(as you can probably tell from the summary I typed up), and while a bit strange(drugs made from the bones of old gods, or something like that...), I found the story easy to get into, unlike the past few issues. So yeah, this one was definitely a pleasant surprise.
Score: 7 out of 10.
And THAT'S how you deal with drug/demon possessed goons.
Secret Avengers #19:
Summary: Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Sharon Carter and Moon Knight enter a club in the country of Symkaria intent on stopping the club's owner from selling some sort of mystical weed that gives it's users super-soldier-like abilities. After failing to do things the quiet way, the quartet are forced to fight their way through several possessed beings before reaching the penthouse. Upon entering, the club's boss reveals that he'd been smoking the magic drug for a long time and as such was WAY more powerful than his underlings. Not wanting to face a foe like that head on, the Secret Avengers douse him with booze, set him on fire, and kick him out the window to his death, ending his threat and this issue.
Thoughts: Honestly? No problems here. The story was REALLY fast paced(as you can probably tell from the summary I typed up), and while a bit strange(drugs made from the bones of old gods, or something like that...), I found the story easy to get into, unlike the past few issues. So yeah, this one was definitely a pleasant surprise.
Score: 7 out of 10.
And THAT'S how you deal with drug/demon possessed goons.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Secret Avengers #18
And this my friends, is my last new comic review for the week. This was my Runt of the Litter, or for the uninformed, the comic book I was LEAST looking forward to reading. So to say my expectations are low here would be an understatement.
Secret Avengers #18:
Summary: Oh goody, it's Shang-Chi! He'll DEFINITELY make this comic suck less! Yep, that was sarcasm. Well, let's get this over with... Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter and Shang-Chi head to a dimension akin to the Negative Zone, that is to say wildly messed up. It seems the Shadow Council have been collecting Transmatter from this dimension, and with enough Transmatter, they'd be able to turn the Earth into a sun, which would be a bad thing. The trio of Secret Avengers make their way through the Shadow Council station and manage to find the commanding officer, a rogue version of Armin Zola named Armin Zola 4.2.3. The heroes attack Zola 4.2.3 and his Shadow Council goons and after a bit of a struggle emerge victorious. With the mission complete, the trio head home.
Thoughts: First things first, and I really need to get this off of my chest... Shang-Chi is the most useless character in the Marvel Universe! Seriously, all the guy is/was is a blatant rip-off of Bruce Lee as Marvel wanted to cash in on the Bruce Lee craze of the early 1970's, right? Well it's now 2011 and Shang-Chi is what I'd easily call a character of his era. I guess people back in the 70's thought he was something special, but nowadays? He's a one-trick pony that should have been put down years ago. So there's my rant on Shang-Chi. As for this comic, go figure, I enjoyed it for the most part. Sure, I'm still counting the months until Rick Remender gets his able hands on this series, but Warren Ellis definitely rebounded from last issue, which I felt was an unmitigated disaster. The story was simple(well, simple by Ellis' standards), the fight scenes were crisp, and the ending was satisfying. Had somebody like Moon Knight filled the role Shang-Chi occupied here I'd probably have enjoyed this one even more, but alas, that didn't happen. Hopefully next issue is another decent one as Ellis' lame duck run on this title slowly marches onward.
Score: 6 out of 10.
This is definitely one of those cases where I'll simply say, “Something happened here” and move on.
Secret Avengers #18:
Summary: Oh goody, it's Shang-Chi! He'll DEFINITELY make this comic suck less! Yep, that was sarcasm. Well, let's get this over with... Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter and Shang-Chi head to a dimension akin to the Negative Zone, that is to say wildly messed up. It seems the Shadow Council have been collecting Transmatter from this dimension, and with enough Transmatter, they'd be able to turn the Earth into a sun, which would be a bad thing. The trio of Secret Avengers make their way through the Shadow Council station and manage to find the commanding officer, a rogue version of Armin Zola named Armin Zola 4.2.3. The heroes attack Zola 4.2.3 and his Shadow Council goons and after a bit of a struggle emerge victorious. With the mission complete, the trio head home.
Thoughts: First things first, and I really need to get this off of my chest... Shang-Chi is the most useless character in the Marvel Universe! Seriously, all the guy is/was is a blatant rip-off of Bruce Lee as Marvel wanted to cash in on the Bruce Lee craze of the early 1970's, right? Well it's now 2011 and Shang-Chi is what I'd easily call a character of his era. I guess people back in the 70's thought he was something special, but nowadays? He's a one-trick pony that should have been put down years ago. So there's my rant on Shang-Chi. As for this comic, go figure, I enjoyed it for the most part. Sure, I'm still counting the months until Rick Remender gets his able hands on this series, but Warren Ellis definitely rebounded from last issue, which I felt was an unmitigated disaster. The story was simple(well, simple by Ellis' standards), the fight scenes were crisp, and the ending was satisfying. Had somebody like Moon Knight filled the role Shang-Chi occupied here I'd probably have enjoyed this one even more, but alas, that didn't happen. Hopefully next issue is another decent one as Ellis' lame duck run on this title slowly marches onward.
Score: 6 out of 10.
This is definitely one of those cases where I'll simply say, “Something happened here” and move on.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Secret Avengers #17
First up today, Warren Ellis' second issue on the Secret Avengers. If this issue is HALF as good as issue #16 was, I'll be one happy camper!
Secret Avengers #17:
Summary: Steve Rogers gathers the Secret Avengers(Sharon Carter, Valkyrie and War Machine) to go to Serbia to catch an evil truck... Yep, it's gonna be one of THOSE comics! The team flies towards the evil truck, but get spotted by an aircraft, which fires at the Secret Avengers Quincarrier. The Quincarrier takes damage and Sharon is forced to split the Quincarrier into three sections, one carrying her, one carrying Steve, Valkyrie and War Machine, and one that smashes into the aircraft that fired at them, taking it out. From there Steve and the team approach the truck and discover that it was being driven by some sort of robotic zombie creature. The creature launches an attack on the Secret Avengers, but they manage to deflect it and War Machine kills the zombie driver. The team discovers that the truck was sent out by some factory full of human brains that were linked together. Steve isn't happy about that, and neither am I!
Thoughts: As good as the last issue was, this one was it's polar opposite. This comic was just terrible... Evil trucks driven by robotic zombie drivers? An airplane flown by a zombie robot with a terrible British accent? Brains?? This comic was SO bad that I am officially putting this series on the dreaded three issue watch list. If things don't pick up DRAMATICALLY in three months time, I'll be jettisoning this series, because I'm not going to spend $4 a month on THIS.
Score: 2 out of 10.
So long, robot-zombie guy!
Secret Avengers #17:
Summary: Steve Rogers gathers the Secret Avengers(Sharon Carter, Valkyrie and War Machine) to go to Serbia to catch an evil truck... Yep, it's gonna be one of THOSE comics! The team flies towards the evil truck, but get spotted by an aircraft, which fires at the Secret Avengers Quincarrier. The Quincarrier takes damage and Sharon is forced to split the Quincarrier into three sections, one carrying her, one carrying Steve, Valkyrie and War Machine, and one that smashes into the aircraft that fired at them, taking it out. From there Steve and the team approach the truck and discover that it was being driven by some sort of robotic zombie creature. The creature launches an attack on the Secret Avengers, but they manage to deflect it and War Machine kills the zombie driver. The team discovers that the truck was sent out by some factory full of human brains that were linked together. Steve isn't happy about that, and neither am I!
Thoughts: As good as the last issue was, this one was it's polar opposite. This comic was just terrible... Evil trucks driven by robotic zombie drivers? An airplane flown by a zombie robot with a terrible British accent? Brains?? This comic was SO bad that I am officially putting this series on the dreaded three issue watch list. If things don't pick up DRAMATICALLY in three months time, I'll be jettisoning this series, because I'm not going to spend $4 a month on THIS.
Score: 2 out of 10.
So long, robot-zombie guy!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Secret Avengers #16
Before I get to this comic, a quick confession... I've never been that high on Warren Ellis' work... If you were to ask me, going from Ed Brubaker to Nick Spencer to Warren Ellis is a major step down the writing ladder. BUT, I'm always willing to give a writer the chance to prove me wrong and bust out a great story(unless the writer's last name is Yost or Johns, in which case they've run out of chances), so as Ellis takes over this series, this is his chance to show me that I was wrong about him and that he is actually in the same league as Brubaker and Spencer.
Secret Avengers #16:
Summary: The Secret Avengers(Roll call! Steve Rogers! Beast! Black Widow! Moon Knight!) come across an old Secret Empire hidden city located a few miles below Cincinnati. The heroes learned of the existence of this secret city when Steve received reports that Von Doom time machine particles were coming from under Cincinnati. Basically, whenever a time machine based on Dr. Doom's designs is used, it gives off very distinctive radiation, thus Steve's investigation. Upon entering the secret city, the heroes discover an atomic Cadillac, which Steve figures could be used to get a better idea of what was in the city. Beast, BW and Steve hop in the car, and Moon Knight takes to the rooftops to do some surveillance from up above. While Moon Knight is gliding across the rooftops, he is spotted by a Shadow Council guard car and fired upon. Moon Knight takes out the guards and radios back to Steve that they weren't alone in the city. From there, a guard patrol spots the Cadillac and fires at it. The patrol misses, but Black Widow doesn't, hitting the driver of the patrol jeep with her Widow's sting, taking care of that threat. Unfortunately for the team, another threat appears in the form of a Shadow Council helicopter, which fires down at the heroes. Steve manages to deflect the helicopter's gunfire away before shooting the helicopter down. By this point, Moon Knight has returned and tells the team he found something they'd want to look at... Moon Knight leads the rest of the Secret Avengers to a rooftop and points out a massive time platform structure standing near the corner of the city. Beast rapidly realizes that the Shadow Council probably had three more of these massive structures around the hidden city, which would allow the Council to create a massive time platform which could teleport the entire city of Cincinnati somewhere in time. And it should go without saying that teleporting an entire CITY to another point in time would completely devastate not just Cincinnati, but whatever the Council teleported Cincinnati on top of. Steve decides to try to destroy one of the four time platform structures, since the time machine wouldn't operate without all four structures in place. Unfortunately, the Shadow Council has dozens of armed men guarding the structure, as well as a tank(!). The tank fires at the Avengers Cadillac, but misses thanks to Black Widow's fancy driving. While that's happening, Beast realizes that the Council had begun powering up the massive time machine, meaning within minutes, Cincinnati would be history. While Steve is trying to figure out what the hell to do, Beast chimes in and says that he could create a small neutron bomb out of the atomic Cadillac that would send out an electromagnetic pulse that would fry the time machine, as well as release a cloud of toxic radiation that would kill everybody in the hidden city. With no real choice, Steve tells Beast to do what he had to in order to create the bomb, while Steve and Moon Knight manage to bring down one of the Council's helicopters. Once Beast is done arming the bomb, the team jumps into the helicopter and flies towards the exit to the city. The Avengers reach the exit, which is an elevator back to the surface, but run by chains and pulleys, so it wouldn't be destroyed by the bomb's electromagnetic pulse. Just as the team reaches the top of the hidden city, Beast's bomb goes of, shutting down the time platform and killing all of the Council members down below. Beast is naturally disturbed by the amount of villains he sentenced to death with his bomb, but Steve tells him to think about how many lives he saved in Cincinnati as this issue ends.
Thoughts: Guess what? I was wrong! Big-time! Warren Ellis brought it with this issue. I pretty much loved everything about this comic, from the team line-up, to the story, to the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like War Machine a lot, but if these four characters remained as the Secret Avengers team, I'd have no problem with that whatsoever. I can read about Rhodey in Iron Man 2.0. As for Ant-Man, I don't particularly care for this version of Ant-Man anyway, so I can't say I'm sad to see him go. So even though a four member team is a rarity, it works extremely well here, as Warren Ellis demonstrated. You have Steve as the leader, Black Widow as the espionage expert, Beast as the brains, and Moon Knight as the resident crazy guy. The banter between Beast and Moon Knight worked great here as well. Seriously, this comic impressed the hell out of me! I can't believe I was dreading this one... Now I can't wait for the next issue! If Ellis can keep up this sort of storytelling, he can count me as a new fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Beast is one of those characters that can be so awesome when written properly...
Secret Avengers #16:
Summary: The Secret Avengers(Roll call! Steve Rogers! Beast! Black Widow! Moon Knight!) come across an old Secret Empire hidden city located a few miles below Cincinnati. The heroes learned of the existence of this secret city when Steve received reports that Von Doom time machine particles were coming from under Cincinnati. Basically, whenever a time machine based on Dr. Doom's designs is used, it gives off very distinctive radiation, thus Steve's investigation. Upon entering the secret city, the heroes discover an atomic Cadillac, which Steve figures could be used to get a better idea of what was in the city. Beast, BW and Steve hop in the car, and Moon Knight takes to the rooftops to do some surveillance from up above. While Moon Knight is gliding across the rooftops, he is spotted by a Shadow Council guard car and fired upon. Moon Knight takes out the guards and radios back to Steve that they weren't alone in the city. From there, a guard patrol spots the Cadillac and fires at it. The patrol misses, but Black Widow doesn't, hitting the driver of the patrol jeep with her Widow's sting, taking care of that threat. Unfortunately for the team, another threat appears in the form of a Shadow Council helicopter, which fires down at the heroes. Steve manages to deflect the helicopter's gunfire away before shooting the helicopter down. By this point, Moon Knight has returned and tells the team he found something they'd want to look at... Moon Knight leads the rest of the Secret Avengers to a rooftop and points out a massive time platform structure standing near the corner of the city. Beast rapidly realizes that the Shadow Council probably had three more of these massive structures around the hidden city, which would allow the Council to create a massive time platform which could teleport the entire city of Cincinnati somewhere in time. And it should go without saying that teleporting an entire CITY to another point in time would completely devastate not just Cincinnati, but whatever the Council teleported Cincinnati on top of. Steve decides to try to destroy one of the four time platform structures, since the time machine wouldn't operate without all four structures in place. Unfortunately, the Shadow Council has dozens of armed men guarding the structure, as well as a tank(!). The tank fires at the Avengers Cadillac, but misses thanks to Black Widow's fancy driving. While that's happening, Beast realizes that the Council had begun powering up the massive time machine, meaning within minutes, Cincinnati would be history. While Steve is trying to figure out what the hell to do, Beast chimes in and says that he could create a small neutron bomb out of the atomic Cadillac that would send out an electromagnetic pulse that would fry the time machine, as well as release a cloud of toxic radiation that would kill everybody in the hidden city. With no real choice, Steve tells Beast to do what he had to in order to create the bomb, while Steve and Moon Knight manage to bring down one of the Council's helicopters. Once Beast is done arming the bomb, the team jumps into the helicopter and flies towards the exit to the city. The Avengers reach the exit, which is an elevator back to the surface, but run by chains and pulleys, so it wouldn't be destroyed by the bomb's electromagnetic pulse. Just as the team reaches the top of the hidden city, Beast's bomb goes of, shutting down the time platform and killing all of the Council members down below. Beast is naturally disturbed by the amount of villains he sentenced to death with his bomb, but Steve tells him to think about how many lives he saved in Cincinnati as this issue ends.
Thoughts: Guess what? I was wrong! Big-time! Warren Ellis brought it with this issue. I pretty much loved everything about this comic, from the team line-up, to the story, to the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like War Machine a lot, but if these four characters remained as the Secret Avengers team, I'd have no problem with that whatsoever. I can read about Rhodey in Iron Man 2.0. As for Ant-Man, I don't particularly care for this version of Ant-Man anyway, so I can't say I'm sad to see him go. So even though a four member team is a rarity, it works extremely well here, as Warren Ellis demonstrated. You have Steve as the leader, Black Widow as the espionage expert, Beast as the brains, and Moon Knight as the resident crazy guy. The banter between Beast and Moon Knight worked great here as well. Seriously, this comic impressed the hell out of me! I can't believe I was dreading this one... Now I can't wait for the next issue! If Ellis can keep up this sort of storytelling, he can count me as a new fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Beast is one of those characters that can be so awesome when written properly...
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Secret Avengers #15 & Fear Itself: Wolverine #2
Last two comics in my new comic pile, both of which are Fear Itself tie-in comic books. I'm not looking forward to either series, so let's just get this over with...
Secret Avengers #15(Fear Itself tie-in... kind of...):
Summary: This issue begins with Black Widow crashing through the window of a Internet news company which had posted an article stating that Captain America(that would be Bucky Barnes) wasn't dead. Needless to say, Black Widow is interested in seeing where the evidence of this article is. It turns out that the reporter who wrote the article had no evidence and fabricated the entire article, which was fine by the editor since the site was getting way more traffic than ever before. From there, the two sides(Black Widow and the reporters) debate super-hero deaths vs definitive, real life deaths. Both sides make their points, and this issue ends with the editor deleting the Cap death story from the website out of respect to Black Widow.
Thoughts: Um, okay. This was an odd comic in that nothing REALLY happened. In a way, the premise here was interesting, with the reporters representing “real” people and Black Widow representing comic book characters, with each side arguing why their version of death was worse. My problem was that that kind of debate didn't make for a great, page-turning experience... I was into this comic for the first couple of pages, then I found my attention drifting a bit, and by the end I was wondering what the point was. Like I said, I enjoyed the first few pages here, but I kind of think that this argument would have worked better in like 1/4 the pages.
Score: 6 out of 10.
When in doubt, post a Black Widow splash page!
Fear Itself: Wolverine #2(of 3):
Summary: While Wolverine is fighting some mercenaries on a HAMMER helicarrier, his girlfriend, Melita, is getting information on the man leading the mercenaries from Pete Wisdom. It appears that the merc's leader, a guy named Sutton, was part of a British super-soldier program that tortured it's subjects until the program was shut down by the government. Upon hearing this Melita decides that she has to get this information to Wolvie... I legitimately have NO idea how/why this information is important enough that Melita feels the need to risk her life getting across Fear Itself plagued New York to tell Wolvie, but it is apparently... Back with Wolvie, he loses to the mercs and winds up unconscious. Upon waking up, he finds himself strapped to a nuclear warhead with Sutton bragging that he was going to drop the bomb on NYC.
Thoughts: I have to admit, I could care less about this mini-series... Maybe I'm simply burnt out by the plethora of Fear Itself mini-series/tie-ins that don't actually tie in to the main Fear Itself story... I just couldn't get into this comic. So Melita is running across Manhattan to tell Wolvie that Sutton was a crazy British super-soldier or something... And Wolvie is beaten by some random mercs... Yes, the characters in this story were feeling the whole fear effect thing that the Serpent is giving off, but that was the only real connection to the main Fear event. What more can I say, Wolverine and his reporter girlfriend vs a crazy British super-soldier and his band of misfits just doesn't interest me.
Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.
I had to post something from this comic, so here ya go...
Secret Avengers #15(Fear Itself tie-in... kind of...):
Summary: This issue begins with Black Widow crashing through the window of a Internet news company which had posted an article stating that Captain America(that would be Bucky Barnes) wasn't dead. Needless to say, Black Widow is interested in seeing where the evidence of this article is. It turns out that the reporter who wrote the article had no evidence and fabricated the entire article, which was fine by the editor since the site was getting way more traffic than ever before. From there, the two sides(Black Widow and the reporters) debate super-hero deaths vs definitive, real life deaths. Both sides make their points, and this issue ends with the editor deleting the Cap death story from the website out of respect to Black Widow.
Thoughts: Um, okay. This was an odd comic in that nothing REALLY happened. In a way, the premise here was interesting, with the reporters representing “real” people and Black Widow representing comic book characters, with each side arguing why their version of death was worse. My problem was that that kind of debate didn't make for a great, page-turning experience... I was into this comic for the first couple of pages, then I found my attention drifting a bit, and by the end I was wondering what the point was. Like I said, I enjoyed the first few pages here, but I kind of think that this argument would have worked better in like 1/4 the pages.
Score: 6 out of 10.
When in doubt, post a Black Widow splash page!
Fear Itself: Wolverine #2(of 3):
Summary: While Wolverine is fighting some mercenaries on a HAMMER helicarrier, his girlfriend, Melita, is getting information on the man leading the mercenaries from Pete Wisdom. It appears that the merc's leader, a guy named Sutton, was part of a British super-soldier program that tortured it's subjects until the program was shut down by the government. Upon hearing this Melita decides that she has to get this information to Wolvie... I legitimately have NO idea how/why this information is important enough that Melita feels the need to risk her life getting across Fear Itself plagued New York to tell Wolvie, but it is apparently... Back with Wolvie, he loses to the mercs and winds up unconscious. Upon waking up, he finds himself strapped to a nuclear warhead with Sutton bragging that he was going to drop the bomb on NYC.
Thoughts: I have to admit, I could care less about this mini-series... Maybe I'm simply burnt out by the plethora of Fear Itself mini-series/tie-ins that don't actually tie in to the main Fear Itself story... I just couldn't get into this comic. So Melita is running across Manhattan to tell Wolvie that Sutton was a crazy British super-soldier or something... And Wolvie is beaten by some random mercs... Yes, the characters in this story were feeling the whole fear effect thing that the Serpent is giving off, but that was the only real connection to the main Fear event. What more can I say, Wolverine and his reporter girlfriend vs a crazy British super-soldier and his band of misfits just doesn't interest me.
Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.
I had to post something from this comic, so here ya go...
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Thunderbolts #159 & Secret Avengers #14
It's Fear Itself time, as I take a look at two of the three FI books I picked up at the comic shop this past Wednesday. I'm not sure what to expect from either, but hey, it's Fear Itself, so it should be pretty good.
Thunderbolts #159:
Summary: We have four stories here, I'll be focusing on the first one for the most part. Having returned from their latest mission, the T-Bolts are faced with the near total destruction of the Raft prison, and the mass breakout that resulted from the Juggernaut gaining one of the Serpent's hammers. While the main T-Bolts team takes care of any straggling criminals, Songbird sends the Beta-Bolts into the Raft to see if they could bring the medical lab to the surface. The Beta-Bolts(Centurius, Boomerang, Shocker and Mr. Hyde), head down into the rubble and manage to find some doctors who were trapped. The Beta-Bolts free the doctors, who then give them directions on how to reach the medi-lab. Upon arriving at the medi-lab, Centurius tells the Beta-Bolts that he could use the equipment located there to free them of the nanite bombs that were in their system. Naturally all of the Beta-Bolts are keen on this idea, since losing the nanites would mean they could escape from the Raft. Being smarter than his Beta-Bolt teammates, Centurius warns against an immediate escape attempt, since the Raft would almost definitely be swarming with Thunderbolts, federal officials, and possibly the Avengers themselves. Instead, Centurius convinces the Beta-Bolts to wait until a time down the road, when they were out on a mission to then escape. With that, Centurius uses the lab equipment to disarm the nanites in the bloodstream of the Beta-Bolts and the Beta-Bolts return to the surface with the medi-lab, content in the knowledge that they'd eventually get a chance to escape. The second story dealt with Moonstone trying to round up the escaping female prisoners, while the third story was all about Ghost and Warden John Walker doing what they could to fix some of the extensive damage done to the Raft. The final story was all about former Thunderbolt Crossbones, and how he used the carnage to escape from the Raft.
Thoughts: Well, I did enjoy the first story, but the rest of it? Meh. I mean none of it is what I'd call bad, but I don't get why this issue was made into a double-size, four story comic... Instead of paying $5 for a bunch of filler stories, I'd have been happier paying $3 for my regular single issue T-Bolts story... It's that price that had a lot to do with the score I'll be giving this one...
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Out of context, Crossbones line is pretty disturbing...
Secret Avengers #14:
Summary: With Sin's forces having decimated Washington DC(as seen in pretty much any Fear Itself comic from June), her horde begins the move north, tearing through Philadelphia and heading towards New York City. Commander Rogers decides to send a small army of SHIELD(or whatever they're called, I still don't know...) agents to the Big Apple, to be led by Valkyrie. From there, we get a flashback sequence showing how Valkyrie became what she is, as well as her first meeting with Odin. When we get back to the present, Sin's forces manage to tear through Valkyrie's soldiers, killing several. One of the soldiers winds up dying to protect his lover, just as Valkyrie gives the order to retreat. The stunned soldier refuses to leave her dead lover's side, so Valkyrie carries the dead soldier off the battlefield, much like she's carried several souls off to Valhalla.
Thoughts: Meh. If you're a Valkyrie fan, THIS was the comic for you. Unfortunately, I'm not... I mean this was a good enough comic, but since it focused on some unnamed SHIELD(?) agents and Valkyrie, I can't say I was ever totally into this one. Oh well, next month should be more up my alley as we focus on poor Black Widow...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Hey look, it's that cowardly Odin!
Thunderbolts #159:
Summary: We have four stories here, I'll be focusing on the first one for the most part. Having returned from their latest mission, the T-Bolts are faced with the near total destruction of the Raft prison, and the mass breakout that resulted from the Juggernaut gaining one of the Serpent's hammers. While the main T-Bolts team takes care of any straggling criminals, Songbird sends the Beta-Bolts into the Raft to see if they could bring the medical lab to the surface. The Beta-Bolts(Centurius, Boomerang, Shocker and Mr. Hyde), head down into the rubble and manage to find some doctors who were trapped. The Beta-Bolts free the doctors, who then give them directions on how to reach the medi-lab. Upon arriving at the medi-lab, Centurius tells the Beta-Bolts that he could use the equipment located there to free them of the nanite bombs that were in their system. Naturally all of the Beta-Bolts are keen on this idea, since losing the nanites would mean they could escape from the Raft. Being smarter than his Beta-Bolt teammates, Centurius warns against an immediate escape attempt, since the Raft would almost definitely be swarming with Thunderbolts, federal officials, and possibly the Avengers themselves. Instead, Centurius convinces the Beta-Bolts to wait until a time down the road, when they were out on a mission to then escape. With that, Centurius uses the lab equipment to disarm the nanites in the bloodstream of the Beta-Bolts and the Beta-Bolts return to the surface with the medi-lab, content in the knowledge that they'd eventually get a chance to escape. The second story dealt with Moonstone trying to round up the escaping female prisoners, while the third story was all about Ghost and Warden John Walker doing what they could to fix some of the extensive damage done to the Raft. The final story was all about former Thunderbolt Crossbones, and how he used the carnage to escape from the Raft.
Thoughts: Well, I did enjoy the first story, but the rest of it? Meh. I mean none of it is what I'd call bad, but I don't get why this issue was made into a double-size, four story comic... Instead of paying $5 for a bunch of filler stories, I'd have been happier paying $3 for my regular single issue T-Bolts story... It's that price that had a lot to do with the score I'll be giving this one...
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Out of context, Crossbones line is pretty disturbing...Secret Avengers #14:
Summary: With Sin's forces having decimated Washington DC(as seen in pretty much any Fear Itself comic from June), her horde begins the move north, tearing through Philadelphia and heading towards New York City. Commander Rogers decides to send a small army of SHIELD(or whatever they're called, I still don't know...) agents to the Big Apple, to be led by Valkyrie. From there, we get a flashback sequence showing how Valkyrie became what she is, as well as her first meeting with Odin. When we get back to the present, Sin's forces manage to tear through Valkyrie's soldiers, killing several. One of the soldiers winds up dying to protect his lover, just as Valkyrie gives the order to retreat. The stunned soldier refuses to leave her dead lover's side, so Valkyrie carries the dead soldier off the battlefield, much like she's carried several souls off to Valhalla.
Thoughts: Meh. If you're a Valkyrie fan, THIS was the comic for you. Unfortunately, I'm not... I mean this was a good enough comic, but since it focused on some unnamed SHIELD(?) agents and Valkyrie, I can't say I was ever totally into this one. Oh well, next month should be more up my alley as we focus on poor Black Widow...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Hey look, it's that cowardly Odin!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Secret Avengers #13 & Iron Man 2.0 #5
Two Fear Itself tie-in issues to get through here, both of them written by Nick Spencer. They should be really good, but here's hoping I didn't just jinx myself...
Secret Avengers #13: Fear Itself tie-in
Summary: We're RIGHT smack-dab in the middle of Fear Itself here(unlike in Avengers #13, an alleged Fear Itself tie-in...), with Beast, War Machine and Ant-Man arriving in Washington during Sin's blitzkrieg. Beast pulls a member of the army to safety and she tells Beast that her commanding officer was looking for him. Beast doesn't exactly want to leave the battle, but the soldier is insistent that the commanding officer was desperate to see Beast, so Beast heads off. Beast winds up meeting up with the commanding officer and the guy tells Beast that a member of Congress wouldn't leave the Capitol Building, and was specifically asking to talk to Beast before he'd agree to go. Upon hearing the name of the Representative in question(Lenny Gary from Mississippi), Beast rushes towards the Capitol Building. It seems that Beast and Lenny had been friends for years, and that Lenny had fought against Senator Robert Kelly for years and was a staunch activist for mutant rights. Upon meeting his old friend, Beast wants to know why he wouldn't leave the Capitol. Lenny explains that he had the floor when the fighting began, and that since the session had never been officially ended, he STILL had the floor. From there, Beast and Lenny begin to walk around the abandoned Capitol Building, and Lenny slyly reveals(without really revealing) that he was a ultra-powerful mutant who could apparently bend reality. With that, several statues and monuments come alive around Washington, attacking Sin's invading army. Lenny tells Beast that the best thing he could do in the face of Sin and the Serpent's aggression was to show the American public that he wasn't afraid. With that he tells Beast that he wouldn't leave the Capitol Building, and explains that he wanted to talk to America, showing Beast several cameras. Beast understands what Lenny was trying to do and leaves his friend, heading to Sharon Carter and telling her to send the feed coming from the Capitol Building out to every station in the world. Sharon does as she's told, and Lenny begins making a speech, but instead of going with his own words, decides to recite the Gettysburg Address instead. With Washington being torn apart all around him, Lenny manages to complete the speech before Sin's invaders finally hit the Capitol Building, cutting off the video feed and ending this issue.
Thoughts: Well I for one loved this comic. See, I'm a huge history buff in general, and a huge American history buff in particular. So a comic book where a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln(easily one of the three greatest US Presidents ever) is kicking the hell out of giant Nazi robots, George Washington(another one of the top three) is leading an army of phantom soldiers against the invaders, and the Gettysburg Address, one of my favorite speeches, is presented in it's ENTIRETY, is all right by me! Add Beast as the lead character here and you've got the formula for a successful comic book as far as I'm concerned!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Go get 'em, Abe!
Iron Man 2.0 #5: Fear Itself tie-in
Summary: Still in Washington DC from Secret Avengers #13, War Machine and his Secret Avengers teammates are trying their best to halt Sin's rampage. Unfortunately, they aren't making much of a dent. The Prince of Orphans(he of the worst super-hero name ever) has joined the fight against Sin, but is suddenly hit with a wave of pain. It seems one of the Serpent's seven hammers landed in the secret Eighth City of heaven, a place reminiscent of Hell itself. The hammer falling tears open the seals keeping the the Eighth City hidden away, freeing the various menaces therein. War Machine heads over to the Prince to see what the deal was, and the Prince pretty much describes what I just did... The Prince tells War Machine that he had to go to this Eighth City to see what had happened, and begins to teleport away... With a very confused War Machine along for the ride. The other Immortal Weapons also begin to make their way to the broken Eighth City, where an evil guy has decided he'd take the hammer, even though it was supposed to belong to the Absorbing Man.
Thoughts: Yuck. I hated that Immortal Iron Fist series, and couldn't stand those annoying Immortal Weapons... Not only did the Immortal Weapons storyline cause me to drop Iron Fist(back before it was canceled), I can't STAND the names these Immortal Weapons have... The Bride of Nine Spiders... Dog Brother #1... What the hell ever happened to names like Spider-Man?!? Anyway, I can see the Fear Itself x-over issues for this series are going to be a major chore for me to get through...
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
I don't remember why I scanned this page...
Secret Avengers #13: Fear Itself tie-in
Summary: We're RIGHT smack-dab in the middle of Fear Itself here(unlike in Avengers #13, an alleged Fear Itself tie-in...), with Beast, War Machine and Ant-Man arriving in Washington during Sin's blitzkrieg. Beast pulls a member of the army to safety and she tells Beast that her commanding officer was looking for him. Beast doesn't exactly want to leave the battle, but the soldier is insistent that the commanding officer was desperate to see Beast, so Beast heads off. Beast winds up meeting up with the commanding officer and the guy tells Beast that a member of Congress wouldn't leave the Capitol Building, and was specifically asking to talk to Beast before he'd agree to go. Upon hearing the name of the Representative in question(Lenny Gary from Mississippi), Beast rushes towards the Capitol Building. It seems that Beast and Lenny had been friends for years, and that Lenny had fought against Senator Robert Kelly for years and was a staunch activist for mutant rights. Upon meeting his old friend, Beast wants to know why he wouldn't leave the Capitol. Lenny explains that he had the floor when the fighting began, and that since the session had never been officially ended, he STILL had the floor. From there, Beast and Lenny begin to walk around the abandoned Capitol Building, and Lenny slyly reveals(without really revealing) that he was a ultra-powerful mutant who could apparently bend reality. With that, several statues and monuments come alive around Washington, attacking Sin's invading army. Lenny tells Beast that the best thing he could do in the face of Sin and the Serpent's aggression was to show the American public that he wasn't afraid. With that he tells Beast that he wouldn't leave the Capitol Building, and explains that he wanted to talk to America, showing Beast several cameras. Beast understands what Lenny was trying to do and leaves his friend, heading to Sharon Carter and telling her to send the feed coming from the Capitol Building out to every station in the world. Sharon does as she's told, and Lenny begins making a speech, but instead of going with his own words, decides to recite the Gettysburg Address instead. With Washington being torn apart all around him, Lenny manages to complete the speech before Sin's invaders finally hit the Capitol Building, cutting off the video feed and ending this issue.
Thoughts: Well I for one loved this comic. See, I'm a huge history buff in general, and a huge American history buff in particular. So a comic book where a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln(easily one of the three greatest US Presidents ever) is kicking the hell out of giant Nazi robots, George Washington(another one of the top three) is leading an army of phantom soldiers against the invaders, and the Gettysburg Address, one of my favorite speeches, is presented in it's ENTIRETY, is all right by me! Add Beast as the lead character here and you've got the formula for a successful comic book as far as I'm concerned!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Go get 'em, Abe!Iron Man 2.0 #5: Fear Itself tie-in
Summary: Still in Washington DC from Secret Avengers #13, War Machine and his Secret Avengers teammates are trying their best to halt Sin's rampage. Unfortunately, they aren't making much of a dent. The Prince of Orphans(he of the worst super-hero name ever) has joined the fight against Sin, but is suddenly hit with a wave of pain. It seems one of the Serpent's seven hammers landed in the secret Eighth City of heaven, a place reminiscent of Hell itself. The hammer falling tears open the seals keeping the the Eighth City hidden away, freeing the various menaces therein. War Machine heads over to the Prince to see what the deal was, and the Prince pretty much describes what I just did... The Prince tells War Machine that he had to go to this Eighth City to see what had happened, and begins to teleport away... With a very confused War Machine along for the ride. The other Immortal Weapons also begin to make their way to the broken Eighth City, where an evil guy has decided he'd take the hammer, even though it was supposed to belong to the Absorbing Man.
Thoughts: Yuck. I hated that Immortal Iron Fist series, and couldn't stand those annoying Immortal Weapons... Not only did the Immortal Weapons storyline cause me to drop Iron Fist(back before it was canceled), I can't STAND the names these Immortal Weapons have... The Bride of Nine Spiders... Dog Brother #1... What the hell ever happened to names like Spider-Man?!? Anyway, I can see the Fear Itself x-over issues for this series are going to be a major chore for me to get through...
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
I don't remember why I scanned this page...
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