Best of the Rest! April 10th edition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.

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.

Thor: God of Thunder #5

And we've made it to Monday, meaning it's time for another round of X-reviews!  Two more reviews for me and I get to call it a week.  So let's quit the gibber-jabber and get to the reviews!

Thor: God of Thunder #5: 

Summary: As usual, this story takes place in three different time periods, the past, the present and the distant future.  Instead of jumping around like in the comic, I'm gonna tackle things linearly, because that's how I roll.  After 17 days of torture at the hands of Gorr, Thor is rescued by the vikings who worship him.  Gorr is especially annoyed by this and tries to reason with the vikings, but they only want to assist Thor, which leads to Gorr tearing into the vikings.  Thor manages to lop off Gorr's arm thanks to the distraction, but Gorr escapes before Thor can strike the killing blow.  In the present, Thor meets Gorr at the Palace of Infinity and engages Gorr in battle.  Gorr really isn't interested in facing Thor at this moment and has his Black Butchers restrain Thor while he hops into the time pool, vanishing somewhere in time.  Thor leaps after him and arrives in the far flung future.  While in the future, Thor meets his much older self and assists in defeating the Black Butchers.  However, Thor is told by his older self that Gorr had been in the future for some 900 years and had amassed a huge amount of power during that time.

Thoughts: And yet again, Jason Aaron gives us a really good story!  Gorr continues to be one of my favorite new villains and I'm enjoying the back and forth aspect of this series.  Besides Gorr, who, as I said, has been awesome, I also like seeing the three different faces of Thor, from young and brash to old and wise.  And best of all is the fact that the next issue promises to give us Gorr's origin!  That should make for some really good reading.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

It's not often you see Thor in this condition!

Thor: God of Thunder #4

Hey all, X here, back sooner than I expected!  I'll be spelling the hard working JT this week and posting a mess of reviews over the course of the next 4 days with one change...  I'm not gonna be adding a scan to the post until AFTER I've posted the reviews.  The reason being those scans take time(finding a page, scanning a page, uploading a scan to a site, adding the scan to the blog post, fixing the dimensions, adding a comment, you get the picture), and that time takes me out of the rhythm of typing up these reviews.  So I'll add the scans later in the week(let's say Monday or Tuesday) while I get the reviews up faster.  That was a bit more long-winded than I anticipated it being...  Eh, I'll take care of that by speeding through these reviews!  Check back in a half hour for the second review of the night.  But first?  A little Thor!  Onward!!

Thor: God of Thunder #4

Summary: This story takes place in three historical periods, the past where a young Thor is being tortured by the God Butcher, the present(which is what I'll concentrate on), and the far future where Asgard has fallen to the God Butcher and his Black Berserkers, leaving only an old Thor who wants to be granted death but is instead being tormented by the Butcher and his forces.  In the present, Thor finds a god hiding in the God Butcher's cave on Earth.  This god is TOTALLY insane and is terrified of the Butcher.  Thor manages to get a name out of the terrified god as to who/where the Butcher may be after/headed to next.  With that, Thor and the crazy god head to that god library we saw last issue and Thor is shocked to see the Black Berserkers there, tearing the place up.  Thor manages to save the head librarian, who tells Thor he is looking for a world of gods.  And oh yeah, the scroll stating where that world is was burning in a fire...  D'oh!  Thor manages to get the scroll and is able to learn where the Butcher was headed.  From there, we see that the God Butcher had already arrived and killed every god there save one, who he was forcing to allow him to use her time travel powers...  Hmm...  From there we head back to the future where old Thor is beaten and battered and looks up to see... present Thor!?

Thoughts: Oh yeah, Jason Aaron is KILLING this series thus far.  I mean there have been a lot of good books coming from Marvel Now!(off the top of my head, Hulk, Cap, Uncanny Avengers, even X-Men has been strong), but THIS title is sneaking into my favorite titles list.  In 4 issues Aaron has made the God Butcher a HUGE threat, but not only is he a threat, he's interesting...  I mean, I want to know why he hates all gods.  Why is he killing them?  What's his story?  How does he do what he does?  That, to me, is the sign of a fantastic villain.  One who is not only a legit threat, but one who is interesting.  As for this issue?  It was nearly perfect.  My only gripe was Thor popping up in the future...  I don't really get what that was all about, but with how awesome this series has been?  I'm sure it's gonna lead to great things.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
 
If Gorr would have popped up just a bit earlier, he'd have made a strong run for Favorite Villain of 2012!

Thor: God of Thunder #2

Last review of the week, and it's going to be Thor.  It was either this one or FF, but since I did review the first issue of Thor at the forum(and nobody really seemed too keen on an FF review), here we are.  Let's see what Jason Aaron gives us this issue.

Thor: God of Thunder #2

Summary: This issue follows a younger Thor, one who went around Earth with the vikings, warring upon the enemies of the vikings and their gods.  During one fateful battle though, the gods Thor was supposed to fight on the battlefield showed up dead, leaving young Thor curious as to what could have killed the two.  Thor heads up into the clouds and gets his answer, some bizarre god-killing creature.  The god-killer and Thor battle, and the god-killer ends up gaining the upper hand on Thor, and is preparing to strike the deathblow.  However, the god-killer makes the mistake of asking what Thor was the god of, and Thor responds by striking the god-killer down with a massive blast of lightning.  Thor ends up unconscious on the ground, while the god-killer is nowhere to be found.  Back in the present, Thor manages to defeat the god-killer's construct, and promises to avenge the deaths of the gods the god-killer had recently killed.

Thoughts: I have to say, Marvel has been hitting it out of the park(for the most part) with their Marvel Now! titles.  I enjoyed the first issue of this series, but the jumping back and forth in time kind of took me out of the story a bit.  This issue rectified that by focusing solely on Thor from the past, and showing us his entire battle with the god-killer.  The battle was great, the lead-up to the battle was great(as we saw a younger, more brash and cocky God of Thunder , and Thor's thoughts during the battle were great.  I have to say, I had no major complaints about this one and am intrigued to see what happens when Thor and the god-killer face off again in the present.

Score: 9 out of 10.

It's not every day Thor gets a beating like THAT!