It's been quite some time since I've posted anything at my old picture blog, Uncanny Comic Book Scans. I basically grew tired of having to pick a picture(“pick a picture”?!) out of my gargantuan collection of comics, scan it and then post there every night. It may not seem like much, but coming up with a weekly theme, finding comics that connected to that theme, scanning said comics, and then posting those pictures every single night became quite monotonous... Eventually, I just didn't feel like running two separate blogs at once and I dropped UCBS back in June to concentrate all of my attention on this blog...
And then something happened around the end of last year... I began to realize that while there are some of you out there who like to sit through my boring/inane reviews, there are also many people out there who like to look at pretty, pretty pictures! Not only that, but my audience seems to like to look at pictures of comic characters making out. These realizations got me thinking... “X,” says I, “Maybe you should start up the picture blog again... It can't hurt, and it would actually enhance your main blog. Plus, if you can corner the super-heroes making-out market you're one step closer to your real goal, total and complete world domination!!!” And with that rather bizarre internal monologue in mind, I decided to reboot Uncanny Comic Scans.
There will be a few changes to the old picture blog though... First off, I won't be posting there every single day. Then again, knowing me, I'll probably post SOMETHING there close to once a day, especially in the beginning, while the blog still has that new car smell to it. However, this is my main blog, and this blog will always take priority to everything else I do blog-wise. Secondly, UCBS will mainly be a place to get your fill of comic book characters making out. Maybe I'll toss in the occasional semi-nudity as well. Based on the stats from this blog, I know what you guys want to see, and being the humble(and somewhat delusional)blogmaster that I am, I shall endeavor to give the people what they want. Lastly, this is all subject to change! I might just get tired of the new format and ditch it as well. You can never be sure what I'll do! I just wanted to let my few regulars here know what was in the cards. That's pretty much it for now, remember to check UCBS (semi-)regularly, and until next time, X out!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Quick Hits: 2/17/11
Never let it be said I don't keep my promises(well most of the time anyway...). I promised to post an all DC Quick Hits edition for Thursday, and BAM, here it is. I actually enjoyed all three of these comics, which is a nice change of pace, especially when it comes to DC lately. Oh, and that announcement I promised in my New Comic Day post on Wednesday? I'll fill you guys in on it tomorrow night(Friday), when I put up a post explaining just what all of the hubbub is about. Don't worry, it's nothing earth-shattering or anything like that. The only other thing I have to mention is that I'm hosting my scans through Photobucket now, so if they look a bit different, that's why. If they look unbearably different, let me know in the comments section. Okay, that's what's coming tomorrow, but today I have some reviews to get to, so here they come.
Red Robin #20:
Summary: We get things started with Tim(as Red Robin) chasing after Catman, who had just left Lonnie Machin's hospital room with a flashdrive that would return control of the Unternet to Viktor Mikalek. Tim manages to catch up to Catman and the two do some sparring, but Catman is simply interesting in leaving town, so he shows Tim that he had stolen Tam Fox's cell phone and calls the Unternet with her phone, tipping the Calculator(who ran the Unternet for a time)that someone was trying to use the Unternet without his permission. With no choice, Tim has to let Catman go and rushes to Tam's dorm, just in time to see it blown up by a man who looks surprisingly like Calculator himself. Tim searches the rubble and is relieved to discover Tam wasn't there at the time, but that search allows Calculator to escape. Tim heads back to his base with a piece of the rocket used to destroy Tam's dorm and finds some footage of Calculator purchasing it... Except his facial recognition program can only match the Calculator in the footage to the 94th percentile. After some thought and sleuthing, Tim realizes that the Calculator he saw was actually a robot, and that 147 other Calculator robots went on-line with the one he saw. Realizing that he'd need some assistance, and not wanting to be spoken down to while on the mission, Tim turns to the Teen Titans. Tim and the TT trace the signal which activated the Calculator robots to a nightclub in Istanbul, and Robin(Damian)spots a Calculator robot, attacking and beheading it. Unfortunately this action reveals that the robot had a built in bomb, and that Tim and the TT were surrounded by several innocent civilians and a few Calculator robots, which were now primed to blow.
Thoughts: Hmm, let's see. I like, and have always liked Tim Drake, from his early Robin days to his current Red Robin identity. I like the current line-up of the Teen Titans, and have actually morphed into quite the Damian fan. I've liked Fabian Nicieza's writing since the 90's, and I've enjoyed JT Krul's current run on the Teen Titans. So putting all of that information together and mixing it up I can tell you quite definitively that I really liked this comic! Yeah, there were some things that bugged me, Catman's bizarre and totally uncalled for appearance being one of those things, but just about everything else was done really well. Tim turning to the Titans for help, especially since it was their mutual enemy(Calculator)he was squaring off against, made perfect sense, and all of the characters acted exactly as I would have expected them to act. I'm definitely looking forward to the next part of this x-over in the Teen Titans comic.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Can you believe that Damian has become one of my favorite DC characters?! If that's not a sure sign of the impending apocalypse I don't know what is!
Titans #32:
Summary: Captain Marvel(or Shazam, I'm not sure what the hell DC is calling him nowadays)and Osiris have a good, old fashioned super-hero throwdown after CM discovered that Osiris had been killing people with the hope of returning his sister, Isis, to life. While those two brawl in the streets of Philadelphia, Ink quits the Titans, figuring that now that he had avenged the death of his son he was done. Deathstroke tries to convince Ink to stay and keep assisting the Titans, but Ink turns them down and walks. Meanwhile, CM manages to reach Osiris by telling him that although they have the powers of gods, they can't walk around killing people indiscriminately. Osiris listens to CM go on for a while before he begins to wonder if killing CM would bring Isis back. Deciding to give it a shot, Osiris grabs CM and steals his powers, turning CM back into regular, old Freddy Freeman. Freddy tries to regain his powers by saying Shazam a few times, but they don't come back to him. Meanwhile, the Titans base rumbles violently from Osiris's room, and the villains head down to investigate. That Damn White Lantern Ring(yeah, that's its official name now) tells Osiris that he had accomplished his task, and he rushes back to the Titans base, finding Isis alive, but furious with him.
Thoughts: I didn't like the way Eric Wallace's run on this series started at all. I mean I disliked it so much I was seriously debating on whether I'd keep reading when my subscription was up. However, it seems with each passing issue I'm enjoying this series more and more. I liked this issue. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it was a good, solid read. I like all of the little stories that it seems everybody on this team have going, from Cheshire and Roy to Ink to Osiris to even Deathstroke himself. This series is becoming pretty well rounded, and is shockingly becoming one of my favorite non-Bat family DC books(although that isn't really saying all THAT much with my recent displeasure with the DCU in general). Now I'm sure some of my longtime readers are probably kind of surprised by the fact that I haven't exploded at the fact that Freddy Freeman was robbed of his CM powers. Yeah, I am a big fan of Freddy, and feel he's about 17 and a half times more interesting than former CM Billy Batson. But let's face it, with DC's whole, “Everything old is new again” editorial dictum I knew Freddy's days as CM were numbered and as such had long braced myself. I have NO doubt that in the end Billy Batson will be the one to regain the CM powers, and as such have made peace with that. Does it suck? Yeah, it sucks HARD, but that's DC.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
It's not working because you aren't saying, "Shazam!" with the exclamation point!
Birds of Prey #9:
Summary: This one's pretty simple. Black Canary is being tortured mentally after having been touched by Mortis last issue. Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and Dove have been taken hostage by Calculator who thinks(but isn't sure)that Dove is Oracle. Black Canary manages to fight off the influence of Mortis back at the Birds base(which is where Batman took her), while Oracle heads to Calculator's headquarters in an attack helicopter. Oracle tells Calculator to release her minions or face the consequences, so Calculator has one of his goons(Current)blow up the helicopter, presumably killing Oracle in the process.
Thoughts: See that? Simple, just like I said. I've been really down on the Birds of Prey series since it restarted, mainly because of the way Hawk and Dove were unnecessarily foisted on the team. This was probably the first issue since the relaunch that I really enjoyed reading. It focused on the REAL Birds(Black Canary, Huntress, Oracle), the story finally came together, and everything made sense. Sure Dove got to do the whole Superman act which annoyed me, but the story itself was really solid. I enjoyed the Black Canary parts, with Dinah trying to fight off the effects of Mortis's touch(and ultimately succeeding)and I liked Oracle's “death”. Yeah, we ALL know that Oracle isn't dead, I mean the entire purpose of this storyline was for Oracle to fake her death to throw the various villains who had discovered she existed off her trail, but even with the ending being uber-obvious, I still enjoyed this one. The next issue is the finale to this storyline(it said so right on the last page!), and I'll be interested to see how Oracle decides to operate now that she'll be completely off the grid again.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Now THAT shotgun would kill a whole horde of zombies!
Red Robin #20:
Summary: We get things started with Tim(as Red Robin) chasing after Catman, who had just left Lonnie Machin's hospital room with a flashdrive that would return control of the Unternet to Viktor Mikalek. Tim manages to catch up to Catman and the two do some sparring, but Catman is simply interesting in leaving town, so he shows Tim that he had stolen Tam Fox's cell phone and calls the Unternet with her phone, tipping the Calculator(who ran the Unternet for a time)that someone was trying to use the Unternet without his permission. With no choice, Tim has to let Catman go and rushes to Tam's dorm, just in time to see it blown up by a man who looks surprisingly like Calculator himself. Tim searches the rubble and is relieved to discover Tam wasn't there at the time, but that search allows Calculator to escape. Tim heads back to his base with a piece of the rocket used to destroy Tam's dorm and finds some footage of Calculator purchasing it... Except his facial recognition program can only match the Calculator in the footage to the 94th percentile. After some thought and sleuthing, Tim realizes that the Calculator he saw was actually a robot, and that 147 other Calculator robots went on-line with the one he saw. Realizing that he'd need some assistance, and not wanting to be spoken down to while on the mission, Tim turns to the Teen Titans. Tim and the TT trace the signal which activated the Calculator robots to a nightclub in Istanbul, and Robin(Damian)spots a Calculator robot, attacking and beheading it. Unfortunately this action reveals that the robot had a built in bomb, and that Tim and the TT were surrounded by several innocent civilians and a few Calculator robots, which were now primed to blow.
Thoughts: Hmm, let's see. I like, and have always liked Tim Drake, from his early Robin days to his current Red Robin identity. I like the current line-up of the Teen Titans, and have actually morphed into quite the Damian fan. I've liked Fabian Nicieza's writing since the 90's, and I've enjoyed JT Krul's current run on the Teen Titans. So putting all of that information together and mixing it up I can tell you quite definitively that I really liked this comic! Yeah, there were some things that bugged me, Catman's bizarre and totally uncalled for appearance being one of those things, but just about everything else was done really well. Tim turning to the Titans for help, especially since it was their mutual enemy(Calculator)he was squaring off against, made perfect sense, and all of the characters acted exactly as I would have expected them to act. I'm definitely looking forward to the next part of this x-over in the Teen Titans comic.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Can you believe that Damian has become one of my favorite DC characters?! If that's not a sure sign of the impending apocalypse I don't know what is!Titans #32:
Summary: Captain Marvel(or Shazam, I'm not sure what the hell DC is calling him nowadays)and Osiris have a good, old fashioned super-hero throwdown after CM discovered that Osiris had been killing people with the hope of returning his sister, Isis, to life. While those two brawl in the streets of Philadelphia, Ink quits the Titans, figuring that now that he had avenged the death of his son he was done. Deathstroke tries to convince Ink to stay and keep assisting the Titans, but Ink turns them down and walks. Meanwhile, CM manages to reach Osiris by telling him that although they have the powers of gods, they can't walk around killing people indiscriminately. Osiris listens to CM go on for a while before he begins to wonder if killing CM would bring Isis back. Deciding to give it a shot, Osiris grabs CM and steals his powers, turning CM back into regular, old Freddy Freeman. Freddy tries to regain his powers by saying Shazam a few times, but they don't come back to him. Meanwhile, the Titans base rumbles violently from Osiris's room, and the villains head down to investigate. That Damn White Lantern Ring(yeah, that's its official name now) tells Osiris that he had accomplished his task, and he rushes back to the Titans base, finding Isis alive, but furious with him.
Thoughts: I didn't like the way Eric Wallace's run on this series started at all. I mean I disliked it so much I was seriously debating on whether I'd keep reading when my subscription was up. However, it seems with each passing issue I'm enjoying this series more and more. I liked this issue. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it was a good, solid read. I like all of the little stories that it seems everybody on this team have going, from Cheshire and Roy to Ink to Osiris to even Deathstroke himself. This series is becoming pretty well rounded, and is shockingly becoming one of my favorite non-Bat family DC books(although that isn't really saying all THAT much with my recent displeasure with the DCU in general). Now I'm sure some of my longtime readers are probably kind of surprised by the fact that I haven't exploded at the fact that Freddy Freeman was robbed of his CM powers. Yeah, I am a big fan of Freddy, and feel he's about 17 and a half times more interesting than former CM Billy Batson. But let's face it, with DC's whole, “Everything old is new again” editorial dictum I knew Freddy's days as CM were numbered and as such had long braced myself. I have NO doubt that in the end Billy Batson will be the one to regain the CM powers, and as such have made peace with that. Does it suck? Yeah, it sucks HARD, but that's DC.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
It's not working because you aren't saying, "Shazam!" with the exclamation point!Birds of Prey #9:
Summary: This one's pretty simple. Black Canary is being tortured mentally after having been touched by Mortis last issue. Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and Dove have been taken hostage by Calculator who thinks(but isn't sure)that Dove is Oracle. Black Canary manages to fight off the influence of Mortis back at the Birds base(which is where Batman took her), while Oracle heads to Calculator's headquarters in an attack helicopter. Oracle tells Calculator to release her minions or face the consequences, so Calculator has one of his goons(Current)blow up the helicopter, presumably killing Oracle in the process.
Thoughts: See that? Simple, just like I said. I've been really down on the Birds of Prey series since it restarted, mainly because of the way Hawk and Dove were unnecessarily foisted on the team. This was probably the first issue since the relaunch that I really enjoyed reading. It focused on the REAL Birds(Black Canary, Huntress, Oracle), the story finally came together, and everything made sense. Sure Dove got to do the whole Superman act which annoyed me, but the story itself was really solid. I enjoyed the Black Canary parts, with Dinah trying to fight off the effects of Mortis's touch(and ultimately succeeding)and I liked Oracle's “death”. Yeah, we ALL know that Oracle isn't dead, I mean the entire purpose of this storyline was for Oracle to fake her death to throw the various villains who had discovered she existed off her trail, but even with the ending being uber-obvious, I still enjoyed this one. The next issue is the finale to this storyline(it said so right on the last page!), and I'll be interested to see how Oracle decides to operate now that she'll be completely off the grid again.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Now THAT shotgun would kill a whole horde of zombies!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
New Comic Day! February 16th edition!
Hey X-Maniacs, it's time for a new installment of the Internet's favorite weekly blog feature, yes, it's time for another New Comic Day post! I came away with QUITE a haul from the comic shop today, but before we get to that, let's take a look back at how my predictions from last week held up. Last week's Pick of the Litter impressed, with Batgirl #18 grabbing an excellent score of 9 out of 10. You can't do much better than that. Last week's Runt of the Litter, Captain America: The Korvac Saga #3 actually didn't deserve the insulting Runt title as it pulled down a VERY good 8 1/2 out of 10. So last week actually turned out to be much better then I anticipated. But what about this week?!?
First off, let me list the subscription books I'll have coming in the mail before I get into what I just picked up earlier today. Sometime between this week and next I expect to get my hands on the following: Batman #707(WHY?!), Green Lantern Corps #57, Green Lantern #62(WHY?!), Justice League of America #54(which is actually the last issue for my subscription), Wonder Woman #607, and Wolverine #6. Not exactly anything to really look forward to there with the exception of Wolverine #6. Okay, now to the main event. Here are the books I have in my hands right now, and should be reading as soon as tonight... Uncanny X-Force #5, Thunderbolts #153, Superman/Batman #81, Supergirl #61, SHIELD #6, Outsiders #36, Generation Hope #4, Captain America: Man Out of Time #4, Brightest Day #20, Detective Comics Classics, Booster Gold #41, Avengers Academy #9, Amazing Spider-Man #654.1, Silver Surfer #1, Hawkeye: Blindspot #1 and Wolverine and Jubilee #2. Whew! That gives me a grand total of 16 new comics. Added to the 6 subscription books means I'll be looking forward to a rather nice 22 new books this week. Not bad... Not bad at all! Unless you've been living in a cave, this week's Runt of the Litter is pretty obvious, Brightest Day #20, a series I would now rank with Countdown to Final Crisis as the WORST thing to ever come out of DC. The Pick of the Litter is a bit tougher to choose, as there are quite a few books I'm looking forward to... Cap: Man Out of Time, Hawkeye, Uncanny X-Force, all of those books would definitely be Pick of the Litter worthy. But instead I'll go with Amazing Spider-Man #654.1. Since I've started collecting the Spidey books again, I don't think I've scored any issue below an 8, and for as long as the awesome Dan Slott is writing this series I don't expect that to change. So after a few lackluster weeks, I'm back to over 20 comics again. Life is good. Before I go, here's the Random Scan of the Week... Oh, and speaking of scans, I'll have a special announcement here on the blog towards the end of the week. Until then, X out.
The Random Scan of the Week!
Those wacky pimps...
First off, let me list the subscription books I'll have coming in the mail before I get into what I just picked up earlier today. Sometime between this week and next I expect to get my hands on the following: Batman #707(WHY?!), Green Lantern Corps #57, Green Lantern #62(WHY?!), Justice League of America #54(which is actually the last issue for my subscription), Wonder Woman #607, and Wolverine #6. Not exactly anything to really look forward to there with the exception of Wolverine #6. Okay, now to the main event. Here are the books I have in my hands right now, and should be reading as soon as tonight... Uncanny X-Force #5, Thunderbolts #153, Superman/Batman #81, Supergirl #61, SHIELD #6, Outsiders #36, Generation Hope #4, Captain America: Man Out of Time #4, Brightest Day #20, Detective Comics Classics, Booster Gold #41, Avengers Academy #9, Amazing Spider-Man #654.1, Silver Surfer #1, Hawkeye: Blindspot #1 and Wolverine and Jubilee #2. Whew! That gives me a grand total of 16 new comics. Added to the 6 subscription books means I'll be looking forward to a rather nice 22 new books this week. Not bad... Not bad at all! Unless you've been living in a cave, this week's Runt of the Litter is pretty obvious, Brightest Day #20, a series I would now rank with Countdown to Final Crisis as the WORST thing to ever come out of DC. The Pick of the Litter is a bit tougher to choose, as there are quite a few books I'm looking forward to... Cap: Man Out of Time, Hawkeye, Uncanny X-Force, all of those books would definitely be Pick of the Litter worthy. But instead I'll go with Amazing Spider-Man #654.1. Since I've started collecting the Spidey books again, I don't think I've scored any issue below an 8, and for as long as the awesome Dan Slott is writing this series I don't expect that to change. So after a few lackluster weeks, I'm back to over 20 comics again. Life is good. Before I go, here's the Random Scan of the Week... Oh, and speaking of scans, I'll have a special announcement here on the blog towards the end of the week. Until then, X out.
The Random Scan of the Week!
Those wacky pimps...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Quick Hits: 2/15/11
I really don't have much of an introduction today... Um, this is an all-Marvel Quick Hits edition, and... well, that's pretty much it. I'll definitely have a New Comic Day post up tomorrow, and I MAY be able to do a DC Quick Hits post, but that may have to wait until Thursday. Alright, enough small talk, let's get on with it!
X-Factor #215:
Summary: We begin with Jamie and Layla investigating a case where a man was killed in an apparent vampire attack. The man's daughter claims that her stepmother did it and staged the vampire attack thing. Jamie and Layla speak to both parties(the daughter and the stepmother), and don't come up with any answers. The duo head to the morgue and talk to the... um, morgue guy(?) and he seems to be pretty sure that the man was killed in a vampire attack. As they leave the morgue, Layla makes a vague comment insinuating that she knew more about the case(as usual)then Jamie did. This infuriates Jamie, who demands that Layla tell him what she knew so he could solve the case. Layla doesn't want to do this, because if she told Jamie everything that she knew, he'd have no free will, since he'd simply be following whatever Layla said. After a moment of thought, Layla tells Jamie that they should head to the daughter's apartment and stake it out. After some watching, some sort of mist rises from the sleeping form of the daughter and materializes into some sort of vampire-like creature. Layla helpfully explains that the creature is actually a Vandella, which is a fancy way of saying a succubus. Jamie drives after the creature, which heads to the home of the daughter's stepmother. The Vandella moves in to kill the frightened woman, but is stopped by one of Jamie's dupes. By this point Jamie and Layla arrive on the scene and the creature attacks Jamie. Layla spouts some mystical mumbo-jumbo that she had learned during the time she spent with Dr. Doom, and exorcises the creature from the still sleeping daughter, solving the case, and ending this issue.
Thoughts: There was absolutely nothing wrong with this story. It was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. The story held my attention from cover to cover, the mystery was pretty good, with me not guessing who had killed the victim until it was revealed, and the artwork was good. Did it blow me away? No, but it was a fine way to spend a few minutes.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Vampire, Vandella, same thing.
Widowmaker #4(of 4):
Summary: We begin things with Black Widow, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune facing off against a horde of Soviet super-villains and a gaggle of Japanese ninjas all being led my BW's ex-husband, Ronin. Oh yeah, plus there's a volcano erupting as well. The heroes decide to run towards the volcano with the hope being that they could halt any further eruption. They actually succeed by throwing explosives at the base of the volcano... Um, okay... From there, the heroes split up, with Fortune mopping up the Soviet's, Mockingbird and Hawkeye dealing with the ninjas and BW battling her crazed ex-husband. Fortune holds up his end and deals with the Soviet's and winds up assisting Hawkeye and Mockingbird against the ninjas. BW winds up tricking Ronin into believing he had decapitated her(with an assist from Soviet villain Fantasma), allowing her to shoot Ronin in the back a few times. With all of the villains defeated, BW loads the injured Ronin on a plane, and the heroes leave.
Thoughts: Man, what happened here?! I mean this mini-series had Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow in it! Those three characters are among my favorite Avengers, hands down. And yet this mini-series did absolutely nothing for me. The story was quite bad, and took forever to unfold, which is kind of weird considering this mini was only 4 parts! I will say that the dialogue was well done, as I enjoyed the back and forth bantering between Hawkeye and Mockingbird, but when the saving grace of a comic is the dialogue, you know there's a problem. Maybe if I reread this mini-series over again in one sitting I'd have a better appreciation for it, but as it stands right now, it was severely disappointing.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Hawkeye: the BEST comic book archer out there today, hands down.
Captain America: Hail Hydra! #2(of 5):
Summary: Sprinkled throughout this comic were some well done flashback's that tell us that Hydra has been around since before 2671 BCE, and that the organization has always seemed obsessed with the secrets of immortality. The main story gets underway soon after Captain America(Steve Rogers)emerges from his long ice bath and joins the Avengers. Cap gets a letter from a German freedom fighter he knew during WWII telling him to meet her near Bucky's grave. Cap meets the woman and after some small talk the woman questions why Cap wanted to meet her. Cap asks the same question and realizes that he had been suckered into a trap, as a bunch of undead Hydra agents attack. Luckily for Cap, he was suspicious of the letter once he received it, and the classic Avengers were waiting off in the distance to back him up. Baron Strucker and Dr. Geist(two Hydra bigwigs)watch the battle from afar and decide that with the Avengers there the fight had become unwinnable. Geist shoots the German freedom fighter in the back, and all but one of the undead Hydra agents escape in the confusion. Giant Man takes the Hydra corpse back to Avengers Mansion with him, while the rest of the Avengers head to the hospital with Cap and his shot friend. It turns out that the woman was shot with a poisoned bullet and the doctors can do nothing to save her, so she tasks Cap with continuing her crusade against Hydra. Meanwhile, the Hydra corpse Giant Man was working on comes to life and attacks him, allowing a horde of undead Hydra agents(and Dr. Geist) into the mansion. Cap and the other Avengers arrive and Cap spots Geist, who he had run afoul of during WWII. Over the course of the battle, Thor winds up getting shot in the back by a mystical arrow which draws his blood. Some of the deceased Hydra agents grab the arrow out of Thor and retreat, leaving Cap and the Avengers somewhat baffled by what had just occurred. This issue ends with Geist and Strucker celebrating the fact that they had managed to acquire the blood of Captain America(a super-soldier)and Thor(a god), meaning they were one step closer to Hydra's longtime goal of immortality.
Thoughts: I have no real complaints here. Much like the last issue, this was a perfectly acceptable story. I liked the flashback sequences, as they helped to hammer home the point that Hydra has been around for several millennium, meaning they are not just some simple terrorist group that sprung up in the 20th century. The flashback's also helped establish that Hydra had been collecting and hording mystical weapons throughout the years(including the arrow that pierced Thor), all for their ultimate plan of creating an army of perfect beings, indestructible and immortal. What can I say, I've always been a fan of Captain America, and I've also always felt Hydra was severely underutilized, so this mini-series is right up my alley!
Score: 7 out of 10.
How can I not like a comic with th CLASSIC Avengers in it?!
X-Factor #215:
Summary: We begin with Jamie and Layla investigating a case where a man was killed in an apparent vampire attack. The man's daughter claims that her stepmother did it and staged the vampire attack thing. Jamie and Layla speak to both parties(the daughter and the stepmother), and don't come up with any answers. The duo head to the morgue and talk to the... um, morgue guy(?) and he seems to be pretty sure that the man was killed in a vampire attack. As they leave the morgue, Layla makes a vague comment insinuating that she knew more about the case(as usual)then Jamie did. This infuriates Jamie, who demands that Layla tell him what she knew so he could solve the case. Layla doesn't want to do this, because if she told Jamie everything that she knew, he'd have no free will, since he'd simply be following whatever Layla said. After a moment of thought, Layla tells Jamie that they should head to the daughter's apartment and stake it out. After some watching, some sort of mist rises from the sleeping form of the daughter and materializes into some sort of vampire-like creature. Layla helpfully explains that the creature is actually a Vandella, which is a fancy way of saying a succubus. Jamie drives after the creature, which heads to the home of the daughter's stepmother. The Vandella moves in to kill the frightened woman, but is stopped by one of Jamie's dupes. By this point Jamie and Layla arrive on the scene and the creature attacks Jamie. Layla spouts some mystical mumbo-jumbo that she had learned during the time she spent with Dr. Doom, and exorcises the creature from the still sleeping daughter, solving the case, and ending this issue.
Thoughts: There was absolutely nothing wrong with this story. It was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. The story held my attention from cover to cover, the mystery was pretty good, with me not guessing who had killed the victim until it was revealed, and the artwork was good. Did it blow me away? No, but it was a fine way to spend a few minutes.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Vampire, Vandella, same thing.Widowmaker #4(of 4):
Summary: We begin things with Black Widow, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune facing off against a horde of Soviet super-villains and a gaggle of Japanese ninjas all being led my BW's ex-husband, Ronin. Oh yeah, plus there's a volcano erupting as well. The heroes decide to run towards the volcano with the hope being that they could halt any further eruption. They actually succeed by throwing explosives at the base of the volcano... Um, okay... From there, the heroes split up, with Fortune mopping up the Soviet's, Mockingbird and Hawkeye dealing with the ninjas and BW battling her crazed ex-husband. Fortune holds up his end and deals with the Soviet's and winds up assisting Hawkeye and Mockingbird against the ninjas. BW winds up tricking Ronin into believing he had decapitated her(with an assist from Soviet villain Fantasma), allowing her to shoot Ronin in the back a few times. With all of the villains defeated, BW loads the injured Ronin on a plane, and the heroes leave.
Thoughts: Man, what happened here?! I mean this mini-series had Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow in it! Those three characters are among my favorite Avengers, hands down. And yet this mini-series did absolutely nothing for me. The story was quite bad, and took forever to unfold, which is kind of weird considering this mini was only 4 parts! I will say that the dialogue was well done, as I enjoyed the back and forth bantering between Hawkeye and Mockingbird, but when the saving grace of a comic is the dialogue, you know there's a problem. Maybe if I reread this mini-series over again in one sitting I'd have a better appreciation for it, but as it stands right now, it was severely disappointing.
Score: 4 out of 10.
Hawkeye: the BEST comic book archer out there today, hands down.Captain America: Hail Hydra! #2(of 5):
Summary: Sprinkled throughout this comic were some well done flashback's that tell us that Hydra has been around since before 2671 BCE, and that the organization has always seemed obsessed with the secrets of immortality. The main story gets underway soon after Captain America(Steve Rogers)emerges from his long ice bath and joins the Avengers. Cap gets a letter from a German freedom fighter he knew during WWII telling him to meet her near Bucky's grave. Cap meets the woman and after some small talk the woman questions why Cap wanted to meet her. Cap asks the same question and realizes that he had been suckered into a trap, as a bunch of undead Hydra agents attack. Luckily for Cap, he was suspicious of the letter once he received it, and the classic Avengers were waiting off in the distance to back him up. Baron Strucker and Dr. Geist(two Hydra bigwigs)watch the battle from afar and decide that with the Avengers there the fight had become unwinnable. Geist shoots the German freedom fighter in the back, and all but one of the undead Hydra agents escape in the confusion. Giant Man takes the Hydra corpse back to Avengers Mansion with him, while the rest of the Avengers head to the hospital with Cap and his shot friend. It turns out that the woman was shot with a poisoned bullet and the doctors can do nothing to save her, so she tasks Cap with continuing her crusade against Hydra. Meanwhile, the Hydra corpse Giant Man was working on comes to life and attacks him, allowing a horde of undead Hydra agents(and Dr. Geist) into the mansion. Cap and the other Avengers arrive and Cap spots Geist, who he had run afoul of during WWII. Over the course of the battle, Thor winds up getting shot in the back by a mystical arrow which draws his blood. Some of the deceased Hydra agents grab the arrow out of Thor and retreat, leaving Cap and the Avengers somewhat baffled by what had just occurred. This issue ends with Geist and Strucker celebrating the fact that they had managed to acquire the blood of Captain America(a super-soldier)and Thor(a god), meaning they were one step closer to Hydra's longtime goal of immortality.
Thoughts: I have no real complaints here. Much like the last issue, this was a perfectly acceptable story. I liked the flashback sequences, as they helped to hammer home the point that Hydra has been around for several millennium, meaning they are not just some simple terrorist group that sprung up in the 20th century. The flashback's also helped establish that Hydra had been collecting and hording mystical weapons throughout the years(including the arrow that pierced Thor), all for their ultimate plan of creating an army of perfect beings, indestructible and immortal. What can I say, I've always been a fan of Captain America, and I've also always felt Hydra was severely underutilized, so this mini-series is right up my alley!
Score: 7 out of 10.
How can I not like a comic with th CLASSIC Avengers in it?!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Batgirl #18
Hey X-Maniacs, happy Valentine's Day! That is if you actually care about that sort of thing... As you can probably tell from that prior statement, I'm flying solo this Valentine's Day, so screw you card and candy companies and your pathetic corporate “holiday”! Of course my attitude towards Valentine's Day could very easily change depending on my romantic status come next year, but for this year? Screw Valentine's Day! :D With that rather pathetic diatribe out of the way, let's get to the review, a very special Valentine's Day issue of Batgirl... Sheesh, et tu, Batgirl...
Review: We get things started with Batgirl coming across the scene of a dead pimp with his face torn up and his heart torn out of his chest on Valentine's night. Batgirl follows the trail of blood to Klarion... Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy, who seems to be preforming some sort of magical ritual on the heart. Klarion tries to explain that things weren't the way they seemed, but Batgirl isn't buying, and moves in to apprehend Klarion. This proves to be a slight mistake in judgment by Batgirl, as Klarion shrinks Batgirl down and puts her into a snow globe. Klarion explains that he was trying to locate his cat, Teekl, who Klarion had prevented from “coupling” with another cat, leading to Teekl growing in size to a 6 foot tall sex-crazed were-cat. God do I love this series... Batgirl offers to help Klarion find his cat, so Klarion returns Batgirl to her normal size and the two follow some screams to the location of Teekl, who is attacking a happy couple. Batgirl implores Klarion to use his magic on Teekl to halt the angry were-cat's rampage, but Klarion is unable to use his magick on his familiar. With Klarion unable(and/or unwilling) to stop Teekl, Batgirl manages to put Teekl down with some electric batarangs. With Teekl incapacitated, Klarion traps his cat in a snow globe and mopes. Batgirl wonders why Klarion doesn't just reverse the spell and turn Teekl back into a normal cat, but Klarion explains that until Teekl completes his coupling ritual, he had to remain a were-cat. This is an obvious problem since there aren't a lot of mating choices for 6 foot tall were-cats... Klarion reveals to Batgirl that he doesn't want Teekl to find a mate, since he was afraid that would lead to him losing his best feline friend. Batgirl convinces Klarion that all Teekl needed was to get the whole mating thing out of his system, and that once he did Teekl would go back to being Klarion's best friend again. To find Teekl a mate, Klarion teleports with Batgirl back to his home dimension, Limbo Town. The two wander around for a bit until they spot a girl with a cat. Batgirl picks a fight with the girl, while Klarion rounds up the girl's cat and the two teleport back to Earth. Klarion puts the girl's cat in the snow globe and the two cats begin... well, coupling. While the cats are getting' busy, Batgirl changes to her civilian identity and takes Klarion to the Gotham University campus with her. Steph and Klarion happen across some of Steph's more unlikable classmates, and they begin to make fun of Steph and her “boyfriend” Klarion, calling Klarion weird. Klarion takes great offense at that and prepares to magic the girls into something not very good, at which time Steph lays a big old kiss on Klarion to distract him. The girls leave Steph and Klarion alone, at which time the two buy some Valentine's candies and wait for the coupling to be completed.
Thoughts: I literally laughed pretty damn hard four different times over the course of reading this comic book. Sure, the story was kind of weird, but anytime I laugh THAT many times over the course of a comic usually indicates the comic was VERY good. Bryan Q. Miller really is a hell of a writer, as this comic once again showed. It was just a good, dumb, fun, one and done comic. One of those comic books where you could turn off your brain, sit back and unwind with. I can guarantee this will be the best Valentine's tale about a Witch Boy and a were-cat you will EVER read!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Yes, I cracked up at the "wandering pack of harlots" line.
Review: We get things started with Batgirl coming across the scene of a dead pimp with his face torn up and his heart torn out of his chest on Valentine's night. Batgirl follows the trail of blood to Klarion... Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy, who seems to be preforming some sort of magical ritual on the heart. Klarion tries to explain that things weren't the way they seemed, but Batgirl isn't buying, and moves in to apprehend Klarion. This proves to be a slight mistake in judgment by Batgirl, as Klarion shrinks Batgirl down and puts her into a snow globe. Klarion explains that he was trying to locate his cat, Teekl, who Klarion had prevented from “coupling” with another cat, leading to Teekl growing in size to a 6 foot tall sex-crazed were-cat. God do I love this series... Batgirl offers to help Klarion find his cat, so Klarion returns Batgirl to her normal size and the two follow some screams to the location of Teekl, who is attacking a happy couple. Batgirl implores Klarion to use his magic on Teekl to halt the angry were-cat's rampage, but Klarion is unable to use his magick on his familiar. With Klarion unable(and/or unwilling) to stop Teekl, Batgirl manages to put Teekl down with some electric batarangs. With Teekl incapacitated, Klarion traps his cat in a snow globe and mopes. Batgirl wonders why Klarion doesn't just reverse the spell and turn Teekl back into a normal cat, but Klarion explains that until Teekl completes his coupling ritual, he had to remain a were-cat. This is an obvious problem since there aren't a lot of mating choices for 6 foot tall were-cats... Klarion reveals to Batgirl that he doesn't want Teekl to find a mate, since he was afraid that would lead to him losing his best feline friend. Batgirl convinces Klarion that all Teekl needed was to get the whole mating thing out of his system, and that once he did Teekl would go back to being Klarion's best friend again. To find Teekl a mate, Klarion teleports with Batgirl back to his home dimension, Limbo Town. The two wander around for a bit until they spot a girl with a cat. Batgirl picks a fight with the girl, while Klarion rounds up the girl's cat and the two teleport back to Earth. Klarion puts the girl's cat in the snow globe and the two cats begin... well, coupling. While the cats are getting' busy, Batgirl changes to her civilian identity and takes Klarion to the Gotham University campus with her. Steph and Klarion happen across some of Steph's more unlikable classmates, and they begin to make fun of Steph and her “boyfriend” Klarion, calling Klarion weird. Klarion takes great offense at that and prepares to magic the girls into something not very good, at which time Steph lays a big old kiss on Klarion to distract him. The girls leave Steph and Klarion alone, at which time the two buy some Valentine's candies and wait for the coupling to be completed.
Thoughts: I literally laughed pretty damn hard four different times over the course of reading this comic book. Sure, the story was kind of weird, but anytime I laugh THAT many times over the course of a comic usually indicates the comic was VERY good. Bryan Q. Miller really is a hell of a writer, as this comic once again showed. It was just a good, dumb, fun, one and done comic. One of those comic books where you could turn off your brain, sit back and unwind with. I can guarantee this will be the best Valentine's tale about a Witch Boy and a were-cat you will EVER read!
Score: 9 out of 10.
Yes, I cracked up at the "wandering pack of harlots" line.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Quick Hits: 2/13/11
Hey all, here comes yet another installment of Quick Hits. We have an all Marvel post here with three comics to get through, including the usually strong Amazing Spider-Man. Vamos!
Onslaught Unleashed #1(of 4):
Summary: This mini-series gets underway with Nomad having a dream concerning the Roxxon company, something called Project: Power, a dragon man and her standing over the bodies of all her friends while a mysterious voice taunts her. Naturally she heads to Steve Rogers to tell him what she saw, and Steve investigates, learning there was a Project: Power based out of Columbia that Roxxon was working on. Nomad's friend Toro is kidnapped by a dragon-like man, leading her to believe her dream was coming true. Steve tells Nomad that if somebody was manipulating her through her dreams she shouldn't play into their game, and as such should stay out of it. Steve and his Secret Avengers head to Columbia to investigate, while Nomad disobeys Steve and gathers her Young Allies who also head to Columbia. The Secret Avengers discover an abandoned Roxxon facility in Columbia, lined with corpses. The Secret Avengers split up to investigate and Beast discovers a small portal from the Negative Zone that Roxxon was trying to siphon power from. The rest of the Secret Avengers are attacked by the dragon-like man and his army of gun-totting children. By this point the Young Allies arrive and lend an assist, with Nomad stumbling across the room Beast had been working in. A large hand reaches out of the portal and winds up knocking Beast out. When Beast comes to he finds that Onslaught had escaped from the Negative Zone and possessed Nomad.
Thoughts: You know, this comic wasn't THAT BAD. I mean it wasn't spectacular, and when most people think of Onslaught they cringe(and rightfully so!), but the beginning of this mini was readable, which is more than I could ever say about the last Onslaught mini. I actually would have scored this particular comic a bit higher if the art had been better. This is one of those rare comics where the artwork actually hurt my enjoyment of the story. I mean it wasn't Howard Chaykin bad, but it was quite a mess at times. So this was definitely a mixed bag. The story was interesting, although the inclusion of Onslaught himself is bound to scare off a few fans, while the art was sub-par.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Sure, possess the girl with no powers... That makes sense...
Wolverine #5.1:
Summary: We kick off in the wilds of Canada, with Wolverine trying to find a trucker who had been kidnapped off the road. We learn that the trucker was kidnapped by two cannibalistic brothers, and Wolvie winds up allowing himself to get captured in order to get into their hideout. While all of this is going on, Wolvie's girlfriend, Melita, has thrown a surprise birthday party for the ol' Canucklehead. Unfortunately for Melita, many of the super-hero guests have other places to be and slowly begin leaving as Wolvie continues to not show up. Wolvie ends up lopping off the hand of one of the idiot cannibals, and contemplates killing them, but decides against it, instead rescuing the trucker and sending the cannibals to the police(where they are ultimately freed by the Hand). Wolvie and the trucker head to Melita, where Wolvie learns that Melita had thrown him a surprise party, and that she was the only one left. Wolvie also learns that the day he had always thought was his birthday wasn't, and this issue ends with a kiss between Wolvie and Melita.
Thoughts: Okay, my first thought here was this: why didn't Wolverine kill those two cannibals?! I mean seriously. I get that Wolvie has a steady girlfriend, and is in a better place because of it, but these cannibals were talking about eating boy scouts... Wolvie didn't think THAT warranted a good old fashioned gutting? That was just SO not like Wolvie to me. I also wasn't overwhelmingly happy about Jason Aaron changing Wolverine's birth date. One Wolverine's mythos was the fact that Sabretooth would always hunt down and torment Wolvie on Wolvie's birthday. Now that Wolvie's birthday was switched, all of Sabretooth's attempts at making Wolvie's birthday a living hell were for naught. While that's nice for Wolvie, I don't particularly like that change... So after all that you're probably thinking, “Huh, X really didn't like this comic.” Even with those above stated complaints, I actually did enjoy the story here. Sure, I would have preferred for Wolvie to have killed the cannibals and the birthday thing bugged me, but the story WAS good. I liked Wolvie tracking the cannibals through the woods, I liked the scenes from the party between Melita and the various super-heroes(including Deadpool, who crashed the party), I liked Wolvie's battle with the cannibals right up to not killing them. So yeah, there were a few things I didn't love, but there was also a lot of good here as well.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Jason Aaron must REALLY hate Canada...
Amazing Spider-Man #654:
Summary: We get started with Peter's scientist friend guessing that Peter Parker was actually Spider-Man's techie, which Peter readily confirms while secretly breathing a sigh of relief. The scientist helps Peter put the finishing touches a device that would dampen all of the Alistair Smythe's Spider-Slayer's spider-senses. Setting off the device from a close range would play havoc with Peter's spider-sense, so he also rigs a remote control activator to set off the device. From there, Spidey takes the device and heads to a spot in Manhattan where the signal should be able to reach all of the Spider-Slayers. Before Spidey can set off the device, he gets attacked by Scorpion, who destroys Spidey's remote activator, leading to Spidey setting of the device manually. This action kills all of the spider-senses, from the Spider-Slayers, to Scorpion, to Spidey himself. It also causes Smythe's ship to crash in the streets of New York, not that far away from the car carrying Mayor Jameson. Spidey makes quick work of the disoriented Scorpion, and rushes to the scene of Smythe's crashed ship, finding Jameson, Jameson's wife and father, Spidey's own Aunt May, as well as a few New Avengers. Everybody hugs and congratulates each other, figuring the battle was over, right up until Smythe bursts out of his damaged ship, knocking the spider-sense-less Spidey down and nearly out with a piece of debris. Smythe knocks the battered New Avengers out of his way and decides to simply kill Mayor Jameson, lunging at Jameson with his back blades. Before Jameson is skewered, his wife Marla jumps in the way, knocking Jameson away but getting impaled herself. By this point Spidey has recovered and knocks Smythe out with a thunderous blow. Jameson heads to his wife's side, where Marla begs her husband not to waste anymore of his life on hate before she succumbs to her injuries. This issue ends with Jameson holding his wife's lifeless body blaming himself for what had happened. There was also a VERY good back-up story about the new Venom. The bottom line there is that the US government has taken control of the Venom symbiote and has bonded it to injured US Army veteran Flash Thompson. Flash is able to control the symbiote, but shows some violent tendencies after being bonded with the symbiote for a few hours. The government scientists take the symbiote off of Flash after some training, telling him that he had passed all of their tests. This story ends with two of the government officials discussing the fact that Flash was the second veteran to have been used in this program, with the first veteran's brain being fried after extended usage of the symbiote.
Thoughts: There was some REALLY great stuff here. The main story was fantastic and nearly perfect, and the back-up story was JUST as good. You know I enjoyed the back-up Venom tale because I mentioned it in the summary. Usually I never bother mentioning the back-up stories I read because they're not worth the time. This one was really good, and has me looking forward to the new Venom series starting this March. As I said, the main story was quite good, although, and this is a really small complaint, I wasn't very happy to see Marla Jameson die here... Now don't get me wrong, I'm fine with her death, because I think it will fuel Jameson, but in my honest opinion, now wasn't the best time for Marla to die. Why? Because it splits Spidey's attention. I wanted to see Spidey mourn his longtime friend Johnny Storm. Now Spidey will be mourning both Johnny and Marla at the same time. I'd have rather gotten the whole Spidey mourning Johnny issue out of the way before Spidey lost somebody else in his life. Besides that one very small quibble, I liked everything else about this comic as Dan Slott continues to bring the awesome to Spidey.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
D'oh!
Onslaught Unleashed #1(of 4):
Summary: This mini-series gets underway with Nomad having a dream concerning the Roxxon company, something called Project: Power, a dragon man and her standing over the bodies of all her friends while a mysterious voice taunts her. Naturally she heads to Steve Rogers to tell him what she saw, and Steve investigates, learning there was a Project: Power based out of Columbia that Roxxon was working on. Nomad's friend Toro is kidnapped by a dragon-like man, leading her to believe her dream was coming true. Steve tells Nomad that if somebody was manipulating her through her dreams she shouldn't play into their game, and as such should stay out of it. Steve and his Secret Avengers head to Columbia to investigate, while Nomad disobeys Steve and gathers her Young Allies who also head to Columbia. The Secret Avengers discover an abandoned Roxxon facility in Columbia, lined with corpses. The Secret Avengers split up to investigate and Beast discovers a small portal from the Negative Zone that Roxxon was trying to siphon power from. The rest of the Secret Avengers are attacked by the dragon-like man and his army of gun-totting children. By this point the Young Allies arrive and lend an assist, with Nomad stumbling across the room Beast had been working in. A large hand reaches out of the portal and winds up knocking Beast out. When Beast comes to he finds that Onslaught had escaped from the Negative Zone and possessed Nomad.
Thoughts: You know, this comic wasn't THAT BAD. I mean it wasn't spectacular, and when most people think of Onslaught they cringe(and rightfully so!), but the beginning of this mini was readable, which is more than I could ever say about the last Onslaught mini. I actually would have scored this particular comic a bit higher if the art had been better. This is one of those rare comics where the artwork actually hurt my enjoyment of the story. I mean it wasn't Howard Chaykin bad, but it was quite a mess at times. So this was definitely a mixed bag. The story was interesting, although the inclusion of Onslaught himself is bound to scare off a few fans, while the art was sub-par.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Sure, possess the girl with no powers... That makes sense...Wolverine #5.1:
Summary: We kick off in the wilds of Canada, with Wolverine trying to find a trucker who had been kidnapped off the road. We learn that the trucker was kidnapped by two cannibalistic brothers, and Wolvie winds up allowing himself to get captured in order to get into their hideout. While all of this is going on, Wolvie's girlfriend, Melita, has thrown a surprise birthday party for the ol' Canucklehead. Unfortunately for Melita, many of the super-hero guests have other places to be and slowly begin leaving as Wolvie continues to not show up. Wolvie ends up lopping off the hand of one of the idiot cannibals, and contemplates killing them, but decides against it, instead rescuing the trucker and sending the cannibals to the police(where they are ultimately freed by the Hand). Wolvie and the trucker head to Melita, where Wolvie learns that Melita had thrown him a surprise party, and that she was the only one left. Wolvie also learns that the day he had always thought was his birthday wasn't, and this issue ends with a kiss between Wolvie and Melita.
Thoughts: Okay, my first thought here was this: why didn't Wolverine kill those two cannibals?! I mean seriously. I get that Wolvie has a steady girlfriend, and is in a better place because of it, but these cannibals were talking about eating boy scouts... Wolvie didn't think THAT warranted a good old fashioned gutting? That was just SO not like Wolvie to me. I also wasn't overwhelmingly happy about Jason Aaron changing Wolverine's birth date. One Wolverine's mythos was the fact that Sabretooth would always hunt down and torment Wolvie on Wolvie's birthday. Now that Wolvie's birthday was switched, all of Sabretooth's attempts at making Wolvie's birthday a living hell were for naught. While that's nice for Wolvie, I don't particularly like that change... So after all that you're probably thinking, “Huh, X really didn't like this comic.” Even with those above stated complaints, I actually did enjoy the story here. Sure, I would have preferred for Wolvie to have killed the cannibals and the birthday thing bugged me, but the story WAS good. I liked Wolvie tracking the cannibals through the woods, I liked the scenes from the party between Melita and the various super-heroes(including Deadpool, who crashed the party), I liked Wolvie's battle with the cannibals right up to not killing them. So yeah, there were a few things I didn't love, but there was also a lot of good here as well.
Score: 8 out of 10.
Jason Aaron must REALLY hate Canada...Amazing Spider-Man #654:
Summary: We get started with Peter's scientist friend guessing that Peter Parker was actually Spider-Man's techie, which Peter readily confirms while secretly breathing a sigh of relief. The scientist helps Peter put the finishing touches a device that would dampen all of the Alistair Smythe's Spider-Slayer's spider-senses. Setting off the device from a close range would play havoc with Peter's spider-sense, so he also rigs a remote control activator to set off the device. From there, Spidey takes the device and heads to a spot in Manhattan where the signal should be able to reach all of the Spider-Slayers. Before Spidey can set off the device, he gets attacked by Scorpion, who destroys Spidey's remote activator, leading to Spidey setting of the device manually. This action kills all of the spider-senses, from the Spider-Slayers, to Scorpion, to Spidey himself. It also causes Smythe's ship to crash in the streets of New York, not that far away from the car carrying Mayor Jameson. Spidey makes quick work of the disoriented Scorpion, and rushes to the scene of Smythe's crashed ship, finding Jameson, Jameson's wife and father, Spidey's own Aunt May, as well as a few New Avengers. Everybody hugs and congratulates each other, figuring the battle was over, right up until Smythe bursts out of his damaged ship, knocking the spider-sense-less Spidey down and nearly out with a piece of debris. Smythe knocks the battered New Avengers out of his way and decides to simply kill Mayor Jameson, lunging at Jameson with his back blades. Before Jameson is skewered, his wife Marla jumps in the way, knocking Jameson away but getting impaled herself. By this point Spidey has recovered and knocks Smythe out with a thunderous blow. Jameson heads to his wife's side, where Marla begs her husband not to waste anymore of his life on hate before she succumbs to her injuries. This issue ends with Jameson holding his wife's lifeless body blaming himself for what had happened. There was also a VERY good back-up story about the new Venom. The bottom line there is that the US government has taken control of the Venom symbiote and has bonded it to injured US Army veteran Flash Thompson. Flash is able to control the symbiote, but shows some violent tendencies after being bonded with the symbiote for a few hours. The government scientists take the symbiote off of Flash after some training, telling him that he had passed all of their tests. This story ends with two of the government officials discussing the fact that Flash was the second veteran to have been used in this program, with the first veteran's brain being fried after extended usage of the symbiote.
Thoughts: There was some REALLY great stuff here. The main story was fantastic and nearly perfect, and the back-up story was JUST as good. You know I enjoyed the back-up Venom tale because I mentioned it in the summary. Usually I never bother mentioning the back-up stories I read because they're not worth the time. This one was really good, and has me looking forward to the new Venom series starting this March. As I said, the main story was quite good, although, and this is a really small complaint, I wasn't very happy to see Marla Jameson die here... Now don't get me wrong, I'm fine with her death, because I think it will fuel Jameson, but in my honest opinion, now wasn't the best time for Marla to die. Why? Because it splits Spidey's attention. I wanted to see Spidey mourn his longtime friend Johnny Storm. Now Spidey will be mourning both Johnny and Marla at the same time. I'd have rather gotten the whole Spidey mourning Johnny issue out of the way before Spidey lost somebody else in his life. Besides that one very small quibble, I liked everything else about this comic as Dan Slott continues to bring the awesome to Spidey.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
D'oh!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Captain America #614
So I was going to put this comic with my next batch of Quick Hits. Then I read it and realized that if ever a comic deserved it's own post, it was this one!
Captain America #614. Writer: Ed Brubaker. Pencils: Butch Guice.
Review: This issue kicks off with Falcon and Black Widow getting captured by Master Man and his goons after a swift sneak attack. From there we head to Bucky's trial, where the prosecution tries their damnedest to show that Bucky wasn't brainwashed during his Winter Soldier days and that he was a willing accomplice if the Soviets. After the prosecution wraps up their case, the defense takes over and calls Dr. Faustus to the stand, much to the rage of the prosecution, since they thought Faustus was a fugitive(he actually wasn't). Faustus explains that Bucky was indeed brainwashed, and explains how the Soviets could have accomplished such an act. He then uses his own hypnotic abilities to convince the prosecutor to attack the bailiff with the judges gavel, further proving how easily one could be brainwashed by the right people. The judge is naturally pissed by that performance, and things devolve further into chaos when a man stands up from the general seating in the courtroom and tries to shoot the prosecutor. Bucky and Steve Rogers(who was attending the trial as moral support for Bucky)quickly bring the man down, and he reveals that he had a tape to show them from Sin. The judge allows Steve, Bucky, the prosecutor and Bucky's defense attorney into his chambers to watch the tape, in which Sin reveals that she had captured Falcon and Widow, and would blow up the Statue of Liberty if her “agent” Bucky wasn't returned to her by sunset. Bucky asks the judge to let him head to Liberty Island to prevent Sin from doing anything rash, but the judge refuses. Steve promises Bucky that he'd take Sin down, and leaves to figure out a strategy against the Red Skull's insane daughter. While confident in Steve's abilities(I mean Steve HAS defeated Sin and her old man numerous times), Bucky can't help but feel helpless since it was him that Sin was calling out. With the trial suitably ruined for the day, the judge calls a recess and Bucky and Faustus are loaded into a van to head back to lock-up. Faustus begins to play his patented mind games and starts to chat with Bucky, stating that while Steve will almost certainly succeed and defeat Sin, what happens if he doesn't? Bucky's trial would always be linked to the destruction of the Statue of Liberty, meaning everyone would always link Bucky to the Statue's destruction. Faustus points out that the only sure way to prevent Sin from blowing up the Statue would be if Bucky himself went to Liberty Island to meet with Sin as she demanded. Faustus then offers to assist the surprised Bucky in escaping the prison van, so he could deal with Sin himself. When asked how, Faustus reveals that he had already gained mental dominance over the two guards driving the van. Bucky decides to take Faustus up on his offer, and Faustus has the guards let Bucky out, while Faustus remains behind to continue on to jail. When asked why Faustus was doing all this, Faustus simply responds that he had an opportunity to assist Bucky in throwing away the slim chance he had left, which was something he couldn't pass up(AWESOME!). After grabbing his spare costume and retrieving his shield, Bucky arrives on Liberty Island to deal with Sin, ending this issue.
Thoughts: There wasn't a single part of this comic I didn't love. Not like, LOVE. The trial itself was awesome, especially the way Bucky's defense attorney battered several of the prosecution's witnesses(especially the way she handled Norman Osborn!). But not only was the trial wonderfully done, so was everything else, from Faustus's role both at the trial and then in the van, to Bucky making the(Faustus assisted)decision to head to Liberty Island to deal with Sin even though doing so would turn him into a fugitive. Ed Brubaker wrote the best Dr. Faustus I have EVER read here! And I've read TONS of Captain America stories! I have literally ZERO complaints about this comic. The only complaint I could possibly have is that this issue was so good waiting for the next issue is going to be utterly torturous! From the first page of the story to the last, I was hooked and couldn't wait to turn the page. If a comic like THAT doesn't deserve a perfect score, I don't know what does!
Score: 10 out of 10.
ZING!
Captain America #614. Writer: Ed Brubaker. Pencils: Butch Guice.
Review: This issue kicks off with Falcon and Black Widow getting captured by Master Man and his goons after a swift sneak attack. From there we head to Bucky's trial, where the prosecution tries their damnedest to show that Bucky wasn't brainwashed during his Winter Soldier days and that he was a willing accomplice if the Soviets. After the prosecution wraps up their case, the defense takes over and calls Dr. Faustus to the stand, much to the rage of the prosecution, since they thought Faustus was a fugitive(he actually wasn't). Faustus explains that Bucky was indeed brainwashed, and explains how the Soviets could have accomplished such an act. He then uses his own hypnotic abilities to convince the prosecutor to attack the bailiff with the judges gavel, further proving how easily one could be brainwashed by the right people. The judge is naturally pissed by that performance, and things devolve further into chaos when a man stands up from the general seating in the courtroom and tries to shoot the prosecutor. Bucky and Steve Rogers(who was attending the trial as moral support for Bucky)quickly bring the man down, and he reveals that he had a tape to show them from Sin. The judge allows Steve, Bucky, the prosecutor and Bucky's defense attorney into his chambers to watch the tape, in which Sin reveals that she had captured Falcon and Widow, and would blow up the Statue of Liberty if her “agent” Bucky wasn't returned to her by sunset. Bucky asks the judge to let him head to Liberty Island to prevent Sin from doing anything rash, but the judge refuses. Steve promises Bucky that he'd take Sin down, and leaves to figure out a strategy against the Red Skull's insane daughter. While confident in Steve's abilities(I mean Steve HAS defeated Sin and her old man numerous times), Bucky can't help but feel helpless since it was him that Sin was calling out. With the trial suitably ruined for the day, the judge calls a recess and Bucky and Faustus are loaded into a van to head back to lock-up. Faustus begins to play his patented mind games and starts to chat with Bucky, stating that while Steve will almost certainly succeed and defeat Sin, what happens if he doesn't? Bucky's trial would always be linked to the destruction of the Statue of Liberty, meaning everyone would always link Bucky to the Statue's destruction. Faustus points out that the only sure way to prevent Sin from blowing up the Statue would be if Bucky himself went to Liberty Island to meet with Sin as she demanded. Faustus then offers to assist the surprised Bucky in escaping the prison van, so he could deal with Sin himself. When asked how, Faustus reveals that he had already gained mental dominance over the two guards driving the van. Bucky decides to take Faustus up on his offer, and Faustus has the guards let Bucky out, while Faustus remains behind to continue on to jail. When asked why Faustus was doing all this, Faustus simply responds that he had an opportunity to assist Bucky in throwing away the slim chance he had left, which was something he couldn't pass up(AWESOME!). After grabbing his spare costume and retrieving his shield, Bucky arrives on Liberty Island to deal with Sin, ending this issue.
Thoughts: There wasn't a single part of this comic I didn't love. Not like, LOVE. The trial itself was awesome, especially the way Bucky's defense attorney battered several of the prosecution's witnesses(especially the way she handled Norman Osborn!). But not only was the trial wonderfully done, so was everything else, from Faustus's role both at the trial and then in the van, to Bucky making the(Faustus assisted)decision to head to Liberty Island to deal with Sin even though doing so would turn him into a fugitive. Ed Brubaker wrote the best Dr. Faustus I have EVER read here! And I've read TONS of Captain America stories! I have literally ZERO complaints about this comic. The only complaint I could possibly have is that this issue was so good waiting for the next issue is going to be utterly torturous! From the first page of the story to the last, I was hooked and couldn't wait to turn the page. If a comic like THAT doesn't deserve a perfect score, I don't know what does!
Score: 10 out of 10.
ZING!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Quick Hits: 2/10/11
Another day, another batch of Quick Hits. This time I'll be checking out two Marvel comics and two DC books. Most of these comics were a little bit worse than I would have hoped, except for one which was WAY better. Well, let's get started.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7:
Summary: Guy Gardner gets pummeled a bit by the mind controlled Sodam Yat until Zardor(who had taken control of Sodam's mind)halts the onslaught. Zardor reveals that Krona had been manipulating Sodam for a while, and that Sodam had been unwittingly absorbing the powers of other Green Lanterns. With that revelation out of the way, Zardor puts Guy inside of a giant snake... Yes really, a giant snake. With Guy out of the way(I guess...), Zardor heads into his rest chambers to absorb some more telepathic powers. Guy manages to escape the giant snake by kissing Bleez(!?!?!?!), and then runs around freeing all of the telepaths Zardor had captured. Needless to say this pisses Zardor off and he decides to finish Guy off. Before he can strike the deathblow, Kilowog and Arisia arrive on the scene, rescue Guy and beat up Zardor. Now defeated, Zardor grabs Bleez and has the still mind-controlled Sodam fly him off-world. Guy follows and aims at Sodam to kill him, but he is stopped by Arisia, which allows the villains to escape.
Thoughts: Gah, this was really pretty bad... Right off the bat, Zardor reveals that Sodam had been manipulated by Krona to Guy, basically for NO reason! Then Guy gets put in a giant snake, which he manages to free himself from by kissing Bleez! First off, if Guy could emerge from the snake to kiss Bleez, why couldn't he simply free himself without the gory kiss? Besides that, what the hell was the point of Kilowog and Arisia leaving Guy last issue only to return THIS issue, with NO explanation as to why they came back? This was yet another depressingly bad comic written by Peter Tomasi... What happened to him? I mean I used to really enjoy his Nightwing and Green Lantern Corps work. But ever since he hooked up with Chairman Johns for Brightest Day it seems his talent has taken a holiday.
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
You know, if Guy would have died here I probably would have been happy... How times have changed...
Superboy #4:
Summary: Superboy decides to help the futuristic Psionic Lad fend off the attackers that had followed Psionic Lad back in time. Unfortunately, PL's attackers are prepared to deal with a Kryptonian, and manage to knock SB around as well. The villains move in for the kill when SB's annoying friend Simon Valentine: Boy Genius arrives on the scene, which causes the future villains to freak out and teleport back to their time period. From there, Psionic Lad gives SB his origin story(the future sucks, an evil despot killed all of his allies and he needs SB's assistance in training him), and SB decides that PL can move in with him, and that he'd help PL train to be a better hero... Yeah, because if I wanted to be a better hero, I'd definitely head to Superboy... Psionic Lad tries to help SB figure out what the deal with the “broken silo” was, but is unable to, and this issue ends with PL getting in touch with one of his supposedly dead allies from the future, and reporting that he had located the target and when the time was right, PL would kill “him”.
Thoughts: Meh. I was pretty bored by this comic for the most part, as it's yet another character from the future arriving to mess around with a member of the Superman family's lives. I'm also a bit surprised by how predictable Jeff Lemire is being with this story... It's obvious that he wants the reader to believe that Psionic Lad was sent into the past to kill Superboy, but after reading this issue, I have almost NO doubt that the true target of Psionic Lad is Simon. The fact that the leader of the forces that came after Psionic Lad rabbited when they saw Simon, the fact that PL tells SB and Simon that the leader of the future villains was VERY long lived and based in Smallville, as well as PL never saying he was going to kill Superboy, only “him” really points to Simon as PL's target. Maybe I'm wrong, and quite frankly I hope I'm wrong, because if I'm not when PL reveals his plot, I'm going to be REALLY disappointed.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Thank god, it's Simon Valentine: Boy Genius!
Captain America: The Korvac Sage #3(of 4):
Summary: This issue begins with a flashback of Korvac acquiring his cosmic abilities by interfacing with Galactus's massive spacecraft. Moving forward, Captain America, Firelord and Nikki head towards Galactus's ship to gain access to the Ultimate Nullifier, the only thing that could stop the power-crazed Korvac. Unfortunately, Korvac realizes what the heroes are up to and attacks. Firelord remains behind to try to slow Korvac, while Cap and Nikki head onto the ship in search of the Nullifier. After wandering around the world-sized ship and encountering several threats, Firelord is sent careening to the ground in front of Cap and Nikki, and Korvac lands, announcing that he was going to force Cap to help him obliterate humanity.
Thoughts: Wow, what a difference an issue makes!!! I didn't like the last issue of this mini-series all that much, mainly due to the awful way Cap was being dialogued. He was speaking more like Ben Grimm than Steve Rogers. That TOTALLY changed this issue as Cap actually spoke the way you'd expect somebody of Captain America's stature to speak. Cap finished all of his “-ing” words with the letter “g” and he actually spoke like a leader, not some weird piece of street trash. On top of that, I REALLY enjoyed the story of this issue. Firelord, as the most powerful of the remaining Guardians of the Galaxy, took on Korvac himself, even though he knew Korvac seemed to be more powerful, while Cap and Nikki explored the cavernous ship of Galactus. Cap and Nikki faced several bizarre threats, and were slowly making progress on their search for the Ultimate Nullifier when Korvac arrived. Boy was it a HUGE mistake on my part choosing this comic as this week's Runt of the Litter... Whoops!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
No, this didn't actually happen in this issue, it was a part of the splash page for the next issue, but it was so funny I couldn't help but post it.
Uncanny X-Men #532:
Summary: While Emma Frost, Fantomex and Shadowcat try to recapture a very angry Sebastien Shaw in China, several random X-Men led by Archangel manage to defeat the Collective Man, who was trying to gain control of the gangs of San Fransisco's Chinatown. Angel's group also manage to apprehend the fake X-Men who have been running around the past few issues and send them to Crazy Mutie Island. Speaking of Crazy Mutie Island, Lobe of the Sublime Corporation calls Lord Summers and tells him he'd hand the X-Men a cure to the mysterious flu that was plaguing the mutants on Crazy Mutie Island provided Lord Summers signed over the rights of the mutant genome... What the hell?! Lord Summers says no, and sends Wolverine to talk to the fake X-Men, figuring they would know where the Sublime Corporation was located since they were obviously given their powers by Lobe's scientists.
Thoughts: Ugh. This was no better and no worse than any other Uncanny X-Men comic I've read during the past 3+ years now. I mean seriously, isn't it time for the X-Men to head back to their roots, abandon Crazy Mutie Island, go back to following Prof. X and deal with threats like Magneto, Apocalypse and their ilk? Lord Summers battling a corporation over the legal rights to the mutant genome?! Are you serious?! What the hell has happened here?! The only saving grace in this comic was the Sebastian Shaw parts, because even though I hate Emma Frost and Shadowcat, at least we actually got an old school MUTANT enemy of the X-Men battling some of their number, something this series has been missing for WAY too long now...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Yes that's right, they're fighting over the legal rights of the mutant genome. And then people wonder why I hate the X-books nowadays!
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7:
Summary: Guy Gardner gets pummeled a bit by the mind controlled Sodam Yat until Zardor(who had taken control of Sodam's mind)halts the onslaught. Zardor reveals that Krona had been manipulating Sodam for a while, and that Sodam had been unwittingly absorbing the powers of other Green Lanterns. With that revelation out of the way, Zardor puts Guy inside of a giant snake... Yes really, a giant snake. With Guy out of the way(I guess...), Zardor heads into his rest chambers to absorb some more telepathic powers. Guy manages to escape the giant snake by kissing Bleez(!?!?!?!), and then runs around freeing all of the telepaths Zardor had captured. Needless to say this pisses Zardor off and he decides to finish Guy off. Before he can strike the deathblow, Kilowog and Arisia arrive on the scene, rescue Guy and beat up Zardor. Now defeated, Zardor grabs Bleez and has the still mind-controlled Sodam fly him off-world. Guy follows and aims at Sodam to kill him, but he is stopped by Arisia, which allows the villains to escape.
Thoughts: Gah, this was really pretty bad... Right off the bat, Zardor reveals that Sodam had been manipulated by Krona to Guy, basically for NO reason! Then Guy gets put in a giant snake, which he manages to free himself from by kissing Bleez! First off, if Guy could emerge from the snake to kiss Bleez, why couldn't he simply free himself without the gory kiss? Besides that, what the hell was the point of Kilowog and Arisia leaving Guy last issue only to return THIS issue, with NO explanation as to why they came back? This was yet another depressingly bad comic written by Peter Tomasi... What happened to him? I mean I used to really enjoy his Nightwing and Green Lantern Corps work. But ever since he hooked up with Chairman Johns for Brightest Day it seems his talent has taken a holiday.
Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.
You know, if Guy would have died here I probably would have been happy... How times have changed...Superboy #4:
Summary: Superboy decides to help the futuristic Psionic Lad fend off the attackers that had followed Psionic Lad back in time. Unfortunately, PL's attackers are prepared to deal with a Kryptonian, and manage to knock SB around as well. The villains move in for the kill when SB's annoying friend Simon Valentine: Boy Genius arrives on the scene, which causes the future villains to freak out and teleport back to their time period. From there, Psionic Lad gives SB his origin story(the future sucks, an evil despot killed all of his allies and he needs SB's assistance in training him), and SB decides that PL can move in with him, and that he'd help PL train to be a better hero... Yeah, because if I wanted to be a better hero, I'd definitely head to Superboy... Psionic Lad tries to help SB figure out what the deal with the “broken silo” was, but is unable to, and this issue ends with PL getting in touch with one of his supposedly dead allies from the future, and reporting that he had located the target and when the time was right, PL would kill “him”.
Thoughts: Meh. I was pretty bored by this comic for the most part, as it's yet another character from the future arriving to mess around with a member of the Superman family's lives. I'm also a bit surprised by how predictable Jeff Lemire is being with this story... It's obvious that he wants the reader to believe that Psionic Lad was sent into the past to kill Superboy, but after reading this issue, I have almost NO doubt that the true target of Psionic Lad is Simon. The fact that the leader of the forces that came after Psionic Lad rabbited when they saw Simon, the fact that PL tells SB and Simon that the leader of the future villains was VERY long lived and based in Smallville, as well as PL never saying he was going to kill Superboy, only “him” really points to Simon as PL's target. Maybe I'm wrong, and quite frankly I hope I'm wrong, because if I'm not when PL reveals his plot, I'm going to be REALLY disappointed.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Thank god, it's Simon Valentine: Boy Genius!Captain America: The Korvac Sage #3(of 4):
Summary: This issue begins with a flashback of Korvac acquiring his cosmic abilities by interfacing with Galactus's massive spacecraft. Moving forward, Captain America, Firelord and Nikki head towards Galactus's ship to gain access to the Ultimate Nullifier, the only thing that could stop the power-crazed Korvac. Unfortunately, Korvac realizes what the heroes are up to and attacks. Firelord remains behind to try to slow Korvac, while Cap and Nikki head onto the ship in search of the Nullifier. After wandering around the world-sized ship and encountering several threats, Firelord is sent careening to the ground in front of Cap and Nikki, and Korvac lands, announcing that he was going to force Cap to help him obliterate humanity.
Thoughts: Wow, what a difference an issue makes!!! I didn't like the last issue of this mini-series all that much, mainly due to the awful way Cap was being dialogued. He was speaking more like Ben Grimm than Steve Rogers. That TOTALLY changed this issue as Cap actually spoke the way you'd expect somebody of Captain America's stature to speak. Cap finished all of his “-ing” words with the letter “g” and he actually spoke like a leader, not some weird piece of street trash. On top of that, I REALLY enjoyed the story of this issue. Firelord, as the most powerful of the remaining Guardians of the Galaxy, took on Korvac himself, even though he knew Korvac seemed to be more powerful, while Cap and Nikki explored the cavernous ship of Galactus. Cap and Nikki faced several bizarre threats, and were slowly making progress on their search for the Ultimate Nullifier when Korvac arrived. Boy was it a HUGE mistake on my part choosing this comic as this week's Runt of the Litter... Whoops!
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
No, this didn't actually happen in this issue, it was a part of the splash page for the next issue, but it was so funny I couldn't help but post it.Uncanny X-Men #532:
Summary: While Emma Frost, Fantomex and Shadowcat try to recapture a very angry Sebastien Shaw in China, several random X-Men led by Archangel manage to defeat the Collective Man, who was trying to gain control of the gangs of San Fransisco's Chinatown. Angel's group also manage to apprehend the fake X-Men who have been running around the past few issues and send them to Crazy Mutie Island. Speaking of Crazy Mutie Island, Lobe of the Sublime Corporation calls Lord Summers and tells him he'd hand the X-Men a cure to the mysterious flu that was plaguing the mutants on Crazy Mutie Island provided Lord Summers signed over the rights of the mutant genome... What the hell?! Lord Summers says no, and sends Wolverine to talk to the fake X-Men, figuring they would know where the Sublime Corporation was located since they were obviously given their powers by Lobe's scientists.
Thoughts: Ugh. This was no better and no worse than any other Uncanny X-Men comic I've read during the past 3+ years now. I mean seriously, isn't it time for the X-Men to head back to their roots, abandon Crazy Mutie Island, go back to following Prof. X and deal with threats like Magneto, Apocalypse and their ilk? Lord Summers battling a corporation over the legal rights to the mutant genome?! Are you serious?! What the hell has happened here?! The only saving grace in this comic was the Sebastian Shaw parts, because even though I hate Emma Frost and Shadowcat, at least we actually got an old school MUTANT enemy of the X-Men battling some of their number, something this series has been missing for WAY too long now...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Yes that's right, they're fighting over the legal rights of the mutant genome. And then people wonder why I hate the X-books nowadays!
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