Age of Ultron #5

X here with the first new review of the week, the fifth issue of Age of Ultron.  Since this issue marks the halfway point in this event, we should start to see the assorted heroes plans come together.  To be honest, all I'm really hoping for is that this issue is better than last issue...  Because that last issue...  Sheesh...

Age of Ultron #5(of 10): 

Summary: The remaining heroes manage to find Nick Fury's secret Savage Land hideout and break in, at which time they find Nick Fury(that would be senior, not junior).  Fury tells everybody he was awaiting somebody to arrive so he could go through with his plans.  Those plans?  Use a time platform(that he magically acquired or something) and head to the future to take the fight to Ultron.  On the other hand, Wolverine thinks it would be more prudent to go back in time to kill Hank Pym so he would never create Ultron.  Although killing Pym would have huge repercussions if you think about his contributions to the Marvel U.  I say go back in time and kill Wolvie, thus saving ALLLL of his many victims.  Fury takes Rulk, Cap and Iron Man into the future and has the rest of the group hang back.  This issue ends with Wolverine deciding he was going back in time regardless of what anybody said to kill Pym.

Thoughts: Eh.  This series is rapidly losing me...  It really doesn't feel like an event, it feels like one of Bendis's many lackluster Avengers tales.  I don't feel the same sense of importance or dread that something like, say, Fear Itself, gave me.  Fear Itself seemed more important.  This?  With the heroes parading through time to undo mistakes?  It feels like a forgone conclusion that Ultron is going to lose(we STILL haven't seen Ultron Prime yet!), and the heroes will simply retcon everything at the end of this series.  I know Marvel keeps promising a huge shock at the end of this event, but I'm not even psyched for that.  The wheels sure fell off of this one quicker than I anticipated.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Even the scan for this issue is boring!

New Comic Day! April 10th edition.

Hey Comic fans, JT here to start off this week's New Comic Day. In case you're new here, Myself and my buddy X name which books we're getting, which books we plan on reviewing on our review days, and the remaining books are usually included in the Best of the Rest post on Monday. So, now that you're all caught up, let's get to it! This week, I expect to pick up Batman #19, Batman and Red Robin #19, Saga #12, Walking Dead #109, Age of Ultron #5, Alpha: Big Time #3, Avenging Spider-Man #19, Hawkeye #9, Thor: God of Thunder #7, Secret Avengers #3, Ultron #1AU, Uncanny Avengers #6, Uncanny X-Men #4, and Wolverine #2. So with a total of 14 books, expect reviews for Avenging Spider-Man, Batman, and Uncanny X-Men on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. Now I'll hand things over to my buddy X, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

And now we head back to reality and away from the Bizarro World of JT.  Yes, it's X time!  Here's hoping everybody is having a good New Comic Day.  I see that JT is getting a mess of books again this week...  The question is, will he get more books than me for the second straight week?!  Let's see what I'll be getting...  Batman #19, Superboy #19, Team 7 #7, Saga #12, Walking Dead #109, Age of Ultron #5, Alpha: Big Time #3, Avenging Spider-Man #19, Fantastic Four #6, Hawkeye #9, Thor: God of Thunder #7, Ultimates #23, Ultron #1AU, Uncanny Avengers #6, Uncanny X-Men #4, Secret Avengers #3...  Hey, check it out, I'm buying the entire comic shop this week!  Plus I may pick up Avengers Assemble #14 if I see it.  So that's a definite 16 books, possibly 17.  So yeah, lots of reading this week...  I'm honestly not sure what I'll be reviewing...  Age of Ultron #5 is a definite for Thursday, as for Saturday...  I'm thinking either Ultron #1AU or Uncanny Avengers...  One or the other.  Whichever one I don't review for Saturday, I'll definitely cover in next Monday's Best of the Rest post.  And that's that.  Another NCD in the books.  Until tomorrow, X out.

Best of the Rest! April 3rd edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here to start another Best of the Rest post.  As always, I'll toss a few reviews out there, and then my erstwhile lackey, JT, will add a few reviews.  JT's reviews will have blue text.  And yeah, enough talk, let's knock these reviews out.

Indestructible Hulk #6: Bruce and his science crew use some uru Thor lent SHIELD(that's weird...) to find some mysterious element in Jotunheim(where the Frost Giants lurk).  Thor from the past shows up(wha?!) as do Frost Giants.  Bruce hulks up, and all of this leads to Hulk lifting Thor's hammer...  Yeah, under no circumstances should Hulk ever lift Thor's hammer.  So I'm guessing either a) the hammer rose because it was heading back to Thor, or b) this is a wacky alternate dimension where anybody can lift the hammer.  Regardless, this issue seemed kind of average-ish to me.  With Mark Waid and Walter Simonson, I was expecting more than this.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Stormwatch #19: What the HELL happened to this comic?!  Ugh...  This issue was horrible, and nearly impossible to figure out...  Some aliens kill Adam One at the beginning of time(?), which alters reality(you'd think DC would shy away from doing THAT...), leading to Stormwatch being called Skywatch. with (some) different members.  It was a mess and it ended with a Lobo appearance.  So yeah, I hated it and hope that Jim Starlin rights this ship really fast.  This used to be my favorite DC comic...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Hypernaturals #10: We seem to be inching ever closer to finding out that Sublime was right and that the Quantinuum AI may just be up to no good.  Or maybe it's just trying to protect humanity...  Regardless, Sublime has had more than enough of working with the Hypernaturals and takes off.  As for Evil Sublime, he's attacking Thinkwell's homeworld.  So yeah, I finally managed to read this series, from issue #1-10, and I liked it.  DnA doing a space tale is always a good thing, and this series is no different.  Sublime is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine too.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Venom #33: This issue revolves around Toxin(Eddie Brock) battling against the mysterious(still unnamed!) cannibal from last issue.  The cannibal escapes from Toxin and ends up running into Venom.  This one ends with Venom knocking the cannibal out and coming face-to-face with Toxin.  Which is what I've been waiting for!!  This issue proved something important to me...  If Cullen Bunn stays away from all the demonic and supernatural junk, he CAN write a good Venom series!  He proved it with the U-Foes and he proved it again here.  Eddie vs a cannibal?  Flash vs the cannibal?  Flash vs Eddie?  Yes, please!  Here's hoping Bunn stays away from demons and lets Flash face the types of threats you'd expect a spider-family member to face.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Winter Soldier #17: So yeah, some stuff happens and this issue ended...  *sigh* Fine, I'll try a bit harder than that...  Nick Fury's disembodied head tells Bucky to go after the Electric Ghost, who went all Super-Joker and committed like 57 terrorist acts in one day.  Bucky ends up going to the Ghost's satellite(wait, what?!) and is defeated by her.  Oh yeah, and Bucky's elderly sidekick, Robards, defeats a mini-MODOK off panel because why not.  Yep, I'm done with this series.  This comic was as bad as anything I've read all year, and I'm not gonna waste my money anymore.  Bucky, you deserve so much better than this...  Hopefully this book gets cancelled and a better writer gets a new series down the road.  Score: 0 out of 10.  The first imperfect score in quite some time...

Ultimate X-Men #25: Jean heads to Utopia because Kitty is an arrogant bitch in Jean's mind and shouldn't be leading the mutant people.  Amen, Jean!!!  Besides that, Jimmy is plotting with Warpath from Mach 2's crew and Psylocke is plotting against Mach 2.  So basically, we have a 4 way power struggle brewing between Kitty, Mach 2, Jean and Psylocke...  Um, couldn't there be ONE male character trying to take leadership of Utopia?!  I mean, FOUR women are vying for the throne!?  Very, very weird...  Needless to say, I'm in Jean's corner, because Evil Jean is awesome.  Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

Green Lantern #19: We pick things up with Hal Jordan who now inexplicably looks exactly like Geoff Johns for some stupid ass reason still in Black Hand's ring as he contemplates his next move. Sinestro's returned to Korugar to get help from his people to take on the First Lantern, but he shows up and feeds off of their emotions. When Sinestro manages to save his people, the First Lantern changes it so he didn't, cause he can change time or something. Anyway, The First Lantern destroys Korugar, leaving Sinestro floating through space and his planet's debris when he finds himself in front of his Yellow Lantern. Also, Hal decides to kill himself while in the ring so he can wield the Black Hand's Black Lantern powers, so he flings himself off a cliff. Well, I hated this. I don't know much about the lantern because I refuse to follow GL Corps, New Guardians and Red Lanterns to keep up with this storyline. The way he changed it so Sinestro lost after winning was a giant screw you to the readers, and it looks like Sinestro will be wielding fear again. Plus, Geoff Jordan annoys me... how do you just randomly change Hal to a pudgy faced Geoff Johns? Ugh. Score: 2/10 only because Geoff Jordan killed himself.

Green Arrow #19: After the odd cliffhanger of Ollie falling to his death in the last issue, we see Ollie survives (SHOCKING!!!) and engages Komodo in battle. Surprisingly, Oliver manages to get the drop on Komodo, but Oliver is suddenly shot with an arrow by Komodo's daughter. Komodo's unhappy about her showing up and Ollie uses the distraction of her and the police to get away. The issue ends with Oliver being picked up by his newest tech guy and pulling an arrow out of his leg before blacking out in pain. This issue fell flat for me, the first two issues started out promising but Komodo and his daughter and the mystery of Oliver's longtime dead dad is not keeping me interested. I'll probably give this series one more issue and if things don't turn around I'll end up dropping it. Score: 4/10

And that's it for this week's Best of the Rest post! I had a few books I wanted to include but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so ah well. Due to my busy schedule, X is going to post a scan or something tomorrow since the only two books I've read and planned on reviewing were better as blurbs than full reviews. Anyway, til next time, this is JT and his erstwhile lackey X, signing off!

All New X-Men #10

Hey Guys and Gals, JT here with my second review of the week, my All New X-Men review. Considering this has been one of my favorite series since Marvel NOW started, which should be obvious since I haven't let X review an issue yet, let's see how the Jean Grey School deals with Cyclops and his team showing up on their front lawn.

All New X-Men #10

Summary: In this issue, Cyclops and his X-Men offered a spot to any of Wolverine's students that wanted to leave the Jean Grey School and join Cyclops at the New Xavier school, which enrages Wolverine. Team Cyclops decide to leave and let the Students, Staff, and Original Five talk it over, and tells Young Cyclops to ask about how they got the Phoenix Force. Young Scott asks Beast and he explains how Stark caused the Phoenix Force to inhabit most of Cyclops' team. Young Scott is upset, saying Beast didn't tell him the full story, and starting to defend his future actions, but the conversation is cut short when Cyclops and his team return. They ask who's going with them and of course the weird psychic triplets join to be with Emma. The team waits and it seems one of the Original Five has taken Cyclops up on his offer but we don't see who. Obvious money is on Jean or Angel. Also, we see that Mystique and Sabretooth, along with female Mastermind have used her abilities to rob banks and such, and Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D. are aware of this and warn the X-Men to be on the lookout for them.

Thoughts: This was a pretty average issue but I still liked it. I really liked Mystique and her team robbing people but making it look like it was Wolverine and the Original Five, that's genius and a great way to villainize the X-Men. I also liked Scott defending his future actions to Beast upon learning the whole story. The best part was watching Scott then show the leader that he is by turning around and arguing with future Scott and defending why he and the other four Originals had decided to stay in hopes of changing things. Like I guessed above, Jean will probably go undercover for the team with Cyclops, which would be interesting with Emma around, I'd enjoy that. I could easily see it being Angel though, considering he doesn't want to be there. Either way, I'm continuing to enjoy this comic, and that's always good.

Score: 7/10

Young Scott: You wouldn't take a second chance if you were given it?
Emma Frost: No one gave you anything. You're stealing it.

Thanos Rising #1

Hey all, X here again with another review.  Tonight we'll be taking a look at the much anticipated Thanos mini-series.  I have absolutely NO idea what to expect here, but with Jason Aaron doing the writing, I am very optimistic.  Let's see what we've got.

Thanos Rising #1: 

Summary: This issue gets started on Titan, with Thanos being born.  Yep, it's a flashback origin tale!  Huzzah!  Anywho, Thanos is born and his mother, perhaps seeing in her son what was to come, tries to kill him.  Thanos's mom is stopped however, by his father, Mentor.  From there we fast forward a few years and see that kid Thanos is a highly intelligent kid, liked by everybody, but kind of squeamish around blood.  Oh, and Mentor ignores him, while his mother is locked up in a mental institution.  An odd girl at Thanos's school(Death, perhaps?) takes an interest in Thanos, and encourages him to take his friends to some abandoned caves.  While the kids are looking around, they end up getting trapped in a cave-in, and Thanos ends up separated from his classmates. Thanos ends up digging for three days, only coming across some lizard-like creatures.  Thanos promises the lizard creatures that he won't eat them, regardless of how hungry he gets.  A short time later, Thanos comes across the other children, and is horrified to see that the lizard creatures had eaten them.  Thanos ends up getting rescued, while Titan mourns their lost children.  The strange girl approaches Thanos again and suggests that he avenges his friends.  This issue ends with Thanos heading back to the caves and slaughtering every lizard creature he can find.

Thoughts: This comic was... interesting, I guess.  I mean, I know a lot of Thanos's history, but nothing really in-depth from this early on in his life.  Now, there were a few things that bugged me, such as Mentor's disinterest in Thanos, as well as a lack of Starfox.  The Starfox thing was especially odd.  I could swear that Starfox was Thanos's younger brother.  But this comic kind of contradicts that...  If Thanos's mother ended up in a mental home after Thanos's birth, how could Starfox have been born AFTER Thanos?  Thanos's popularity in school also contradicted his established origin...  I remember him isolating himself due to his appearance...  So yeah, there were a few things that bugged me as a fan of Thanos.  With that said though, this comic was an okay read...  Especially for people who aren't as familiar with Thanos's history as I am.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Weird girls are always trouble...

Superior Spider-Man #7

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here with my first review of the week, Superior Spider-Man! The Avengers are setting out to kick Spider-Man out of the group, so let's see how the Superior Spider-Man reacts to Earth's Mightiest Heroes firing him.

Superior Spider-Man #7

Summary: We kick things off with Dr. Elias Wirtham, a.k.a. Cardiac, as he's using his power suit to do good by helping patients that can't afford it with his team of Doctors. When he finds out one of his patients, a young girl with brain damage needs a device that will save her, he heads out to steal it. With Peter, we see he's able to control his hand slightly while Ock is asleep, and tries to write a note but Doc's awaken by his patrol app before Peter can do anything. The Superior Spider-Man heads after Cardiac to stop him, unaware that he's a modern day Robin Hood, and plans on ending him once he sees that Cardiac is trying to steal a device Doc Ock created. An enraged Ock is ready to attack but is stopped by Peter who manages to take control for a sec, but this alerts Doc that something is amiss and Cardiac uses his distraction to escape with the Neruolitic scanner he came for. Doc Parker heads to Horizon and is working on something, presumably to fight Peter's influence, but he's interrupted by his Avengers I.D. card with a priority alert. He head to meet with the Avengers, thinking they need him as a savior but walks into an intervention. Cap and the team tell Spidey he's acting weird, and their giving him mental and physical tests to prove who he is. Superior Spidey doesn't like to suffer fools though, so he tells them he's leaving, but Cap says he wasn't asking. Spidey takes Cap down and the Avengers get battle ready, telling Spidey he's not leaving. The issue comes to a close as the Superior Spider-Man gets ready to take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes as Peter's consciousness cheers on.

Thoughts: Man this issue flew by! This was actually my introduction to Cardiac but I enjoyed him here, hopefully he shows up more in the future.I also liked that Peter was getting control of his body back, but the fact Ock is aware of that may not bode well for him. I don't know how Ock is going to get out of this fight with the Avengers without everyone knowing Spidey's not Spidey, but I am interested in the fight. Let's not forget that Ock was able to form a plan to take out the Avengers during Ends of the Earth, and he used Peter's inventions... so now that he IS Spider-Man, he may have a contingency plan to take on the Avengers. I am eager to see what happens afterwards though, because the odds are not in Peter's favor now that Doc Ock knows he's still kicking around in there. Anyway, for this issue, although it flew by, I enjoyed it. I'm really excited to see how Spidey fares against Cap and company in the next issue though.

Score: 7.5/10

Thor: Whoever thou art, stand down! Or face the wrath of the Mighty Avengers!

Age of Ultron #4

X here with a single review for the night.  I'll be checking out the latest issue of the Age of Ultron, which should fill us in on the Vision reveal from last issue(hopefully).  Well, enough talk, let's get to it!

Age of Ultron #4(of 10):

Summary: This issue gets started with Vision telling Luke Cage that Ultron wasn't actually around, that he was controlling Vision(and his Ultron droids) from the future.  For spilling the beans, Vision is jolted as punishment.  She-Hulk, who was conscious the whole time, hops off of Luke's shoulders and chucks Luke out of Ultron's ship, telling him to inform the others of what he had learned.  She-Hulk is soon killed by a blast in the ear.  As for Luke, a horde of Ultron droids follow him and detonate in a nuclear explosion.  Meanwhile, Black Widow and Moon Knight learn of Nick Fury's top secret, "What to do if the world ends due to Ultron" plans...  The plans apparently say to head to the Savage Land.  Rulk kills Taskmaster and takes the Ultron tech Tasky had gotten, and also heads to the Savage Land...  For some reason...  As for the main group of heroes, they too head for the Savage Land.  Upon arriving, Cap's group is met by Ka-zar, who takes them to his village.  When they get there, Emma senses Luke Cage(really?!), and Luke mentally informs Emma of what he was told by Vision.  Luke then dies.  From there, Cap's group meets up with Widow, Moon Knight and Rulk, and they begin to talk strategy.

Thoughts: Wow, this was pretty bad!  For me, this was a HUGE step back from the last issue.  I mean, come on, She-Hulk dies from a blast to the ear, but Luke Cage survives a NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, flies from New York to the Savage Land(in a Quinjet!), and hangs on to life until Cap's group arrives?  And THEN he dies!?  I know Bendis has always had a soft spot for Luke, but this was all sorts of ridiculous.  From there, Widow and MK find Nick Fury's "In case of the end of the world!" plans, which seem to be, "Go back in time and obliterate the threat!"  If Nick dreamed up these plans, and had a way of enacting them(which it seems, or why else would Widow and MK head to the Savage Land), then why wouldn't Nick himself have done this himself years ago?!  And why the hell did Rulk head to the Savage Land??  I'll even overlook how Rulk got to the Savage Land, but why would he go there?  And if three separate groups of heroes figured to go to the Savage Land, why wouldn't Ultron be keeping an eye on that place?  Especially if he's hanging out in the future?  Yeah, I didn't like this issue at all.  I'm going to hope this was a one issue blip, and things go back to normal next issue.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

If Luke Cage was blasted like that, you know he would have shrugged it off!

New Comic Day! April 3rd edition.

Hey all, X here to welcome you to the first New Comic Day of April.  I really don't have much else to say for an intro, so how about I see what comics I'll be picking up in a few...  Hypernaturals #10, Stormwatch #19, Age of Ultron #4, All New X-Men #10, Indestructible Hulk #6, Superior Spider-Man #7, Thanos Rising #1, Ultimate X-Men #25, Venom #33, Winter Soldier #17.  So 10 comics this week.  That's a reasonable number for me.  I'll be reviewing Age of Ultron on Thursday, and Thanos Rising on Saturday, with everything else reviewed on Monday in the Best of the Rest post.  Or at least that's the plan.  And with my part in this over and done, I can now introduce my esteemed colleague, Mr. JT.  As for me?  Until tomorrow, X out.

Thanks for that very, very, crappy intro buddy! JT chiming in with my comics for this week, so let's get right to it! I plan on grabbing the following issues; Batwing #19, Detective Comics #19, Earth 2 #11, Green Arrow #19, Green Lantern #19, Legends of the Dark Knight #7, Smallville Season 11 #12, Bedlam #6, Age of Ultron #4, All New X-Men #10, Indestructible Hulk #6, Superior Spider-Man #7, Thanos Rising #1, and Shadowman #6. So with a total of 14 books (suck on THAT, X!), I plan on reviewing All New X-Men, Superior Spider-Man, and something else on Tuesday. I'll also drop in on X's Best of the Rest post on Monday. Now that's it for me til Friday, so until then, this is JT, signing off!