Stormwatch #2

Next up this week? Stormwatch #2. I really enjoyed the first issue, but after having had a month to think about things, I wonder if it was the characters in this comic that I enjoyed, or the story itself... This issue should make things a bit clearer for me I'd think.

Stormwatch #2:

What Happened: Midnighter tries to convince Apollo to join up with him, at which time the Martian Manhunter wakes up and offers them both a slot on Stormwatch. Stormwatch's leader, some goof named Adam, also arrives on the scene trying to convince the duo to join their ranks. Meanwhile, Jenny and the Engineer teleport to the moon to try to rescue their missing teammate Harry Tanner. The entity in the moon(a big eye) takes offense at the perceived invasion and attacks the two Stormwatch members while launching a volley of debris at the Earth to try to “toughen up” the planet in preparation for some unnamed future threat. Upon hitting the Earth, the debris turns into a big, ugly monster.

The Good: Um... Apollo and Midnighter were in this comic? I also liked the Manhunter and the Engineer here. The art was good. I liked the way Stormwatch manipulated events so the heroes of the world wouldn't understand what was really happening concerning the moon's attack.

The Bad: Yeah, I definitely don't like the story. Stormwatch's leader? That Adam guy? I hated him. He was REALLY annoying. I couldn't help but think we should have had WAY more scenes featuring the trio on the cover of this issue(Manhunter, Midnighter & Apollo), since they are clearly the stars here. And the moon does not a good villain make...

The Verdict: So the moon is attacking the Earth to toughen it up? The moon is not exactly the type of villain you can either get behind or against... Therein lies a major problem... Most REALLY good teams/characters? They have a really good villain/villains to match them. And the frigging moon(or more specifically, the entity in the moon) isn't going to be that villain. Add the lack of attention paid to the aforementioned trio of stars in this comic, plus the uber-annoying leader of the Watch, and it all adds up to a comic I didn't particularly care for.

Score: 6 out of 10.At least Midnighter is still awesome.

X-Men: Schism #5

Well picking which book to start with this week was pretty easy seeing as that I only have 8 books to choose from... This week ends Schism, while next week brings us Regenesis(which should have been what Sega called their system after the Genesis, but that's besides the point), which is the start of the new direction for the X-Men.

X-Man: Schism #5(of 5):

Summary: Wolverine and Cyclops continue fighting while the mega-Sentinel bears down on Crazy Mutie Island. The two mutants continue their battle, and seemingly could care less that the mega-Sentinel was going to kill EVERYBODY, which leads to the various X-kids attacking and ultimately putting down the mega-Sentinel... Wait, that easily?! After the battle, the mini-Hellfire Club gloats about how well their mega-Sentinel worked out. Really?! It didn't kill anybody! Meanwhile, Wolvie talks to his newest young girl, Idie(you know he liked buddying up to young girls), and is sad to learn that she now felt like a killer and figured that was what it meant to be an X-Man. Not wanting to see the children placed in such a situation again, Wolvie tells Lord Summers that he was leaving. With that, Wolvie is joined by Iceman(??) and the two take most of the kids(the ones not in Gen Hope) as well as a tied-up Quintin Quire, hop a Blackbird and fly out to what used to be X-Mansion to start over.

Thoughts: I actually liked this issue. It gave us our schism event, something that Wolvie and Lord Summers simply couldn't reconcile, which turned out to be using the next generation of mutants as cannon-fodder. Lord Summers remained on Crazy Mutie Island with his band of villains, while Wolvie took a mess of X-kids(as well as Iceman and I'm sure some other X-Men) and went back to Westchester, where the X-Men belong. I enjoyed the fight scenes and thought Adam Kubert did a great job showing how brutally Wolvie and Lord Summers were going at it. Add the fact that the mini-Hellfire Club only had a cameo, and this was a good comic... Well, mostly... The event last issue that led to Wolvie and Lord Summers falling out was Summers wanting to use the X-kids to battle the mega-Sentinel and Wolvie being dead-set against that since he was sure the kids would perish. However, in this issue, the kids were the catalyst for taking down the mega-Sentinel, thus making Wolvie's point moot. Wolvie tried to save face in this issue by saying that maybe NEXT time the kids would die, but the fact that the kids came out of the battle alive and well kind of made Wolvie's argument look empty. But hey, on the plus side I'm more excited about the X-books than I've been in years, and plan on picking almost all of them up with the exception of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men: Legacy(until Mike Carey leaves that series), so Marvel must have done something right!

Score: 9 out of 10.Look out, it's Zombie Wolverine!!!

New Comic Day! October 5th edition

Man, lately I've been buying a load of comics every Wednesday. The past two weeks alone I've purchased 51 new comics... I can honestly say I'm hoping for something a bit more reasonable this week... Hey, that was a pretty sweet segue! Let's take a look at the comics I DID pick up this week! Action Comics #2, Detective Comics #2, Stormwatch #2, Invincible #83, Deadpool #44, Thunderbolts #164, X-Men #19, X-Men: Schism #5... What the hell?!? 8 comics?! Damn, that's nothing! I'm used to picking up 20+ books the past few weeks! 8... Wow... With such a small pull I guess I'll post two reviews a day for the next 4 days and then for the final 3 days I'll review some random stuff or post some pics.

Before I start thinking too deeply about later on this week though, let's finish this post first. This week's Pick of the Litter is X-Men: Schism #5... Since this is the final issue before the Great X-Split of '11, this comic SHOULD be really good... Here's hoping. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Action Comics #2. First off, what the HELL happened to DC “Holding the line at $2.99”?!? This comic is $4 for the second consecutive issue! This is one of the comics on life support for me. If it isn't way better than the last issue, I don't even know if I'll bother picking up issue #3... Maybe I'll just drop this series at #2 and be done with it. With Arkham City coming out soon, I could use the extra $4! And there you have it. Another New Comic Day in the books. As always, I'll leave you guys with THE Random Scan of the Week. Until next time, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!The devil does love him some pretzels!

Fear Itself: The Deep #4

Last review of the week, as tomorrow brings us a new comic week, with new comics to review. This issue was last week's Runt of the Litter, so it goes without saying that I'm not expecting much... But who knows, maybe it'll impress me and we'll end this week on a high.

Fear Itself: The Deep #4(of 4):

Summary: Serpent-possessed Attuma rallies his forces and prepares to storm the surface world in the name of the Serpent. Standing in his way? Namor, Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer, Lyra and Loa. Initially Attuma knocks the heroes(including the Surfer!) around, emboldening his troops. However, Dr. Strange manages to send out a message that summons every Defender/Secret Defender. Attuma's forces begin to fall before the Defenders, but Attuma himself is still standing strong. Namor launches himself at Attuma and manages to drive a trident into Attuma's chest, which stuns Attuma. Dr. Strange rallies the Defenders and they attack Attuma, managing to disintegrate his hand, causing him to drop his hammer. Separated from the source of his powers, Attuma's strength begins to slowly wane, and Namor smacks him around a bit. Attuma manages to will his hammer back to him and regrows his hand, taunting the heroes before running away. With Attuma gone, his demoralized forces are captured with ease and Namor thanks Dr. Strange for his assistance, ending this mini-series.

Thoughts: Well, I wasn't fond of the first three issues of this mini(they were okay I guess...), but this issue was a fun little romp. I really don't have anything bad to say... I mean this issue wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but it was a satisfying read, and really, what more can I ask for?

Score: 7 out of 10.Little known fact: my middle name is Imperius! No, not really, but I've run out of things to say this week...

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #2

Hey look, it's another vampire-oriented comic book! This time from the Marvel side of the fence! The title of this one tells you pretty much all you need to know, I'd think.

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #2(of 3):

Summary: Dracula's legion of monsters don't fare well against the Serpent-possessed Hulk, who tears the monsters apart. With his plans thus far failing, Dracula decides to let his vampire enemy, Raizo Kodo, try his hand at stopping the Hulk. Kodo sends out his band of not-so-evil vampires to evacuate a village in the Hulk's path, since the vampires had been able to glean that the Worthy were intent on creating fear for the Serpent, and no villagers means no fear. While Kodo's band of vampires engage the Hulk, Kodo himself pores through every available piece of information Dracula had been able to gather on the Hulk/Bruce Banner. As expected, Kodo's vampires are taken apart by the Hulk quickly, which leads to Kodo grabbing a picture from Dracula's Hulk information center and heading to the Lord of Vampires with it. Kodo hands Dracula the picture and tells Dracula that the vampires were going about things all wrong since there was no force on Earth that could defeat the Hulk. Kodo leaves and tells Dracula that stopping the Hulk was beyond the capabilities of the Vampire Nation. Dracula's lieutenants are incensed at Kodo's perceived insult to their Lord, and Dracula studies the picture handed to him before telling his lieutenants that they had an hour to amass their forces to stage a final assault against the Hulk.

Thoughts: So the picture was of Betty, right? And presumably Kodo is going to fetch Betty(or Red She-Hulk or whatever the hell she's called now) to try to reason with Hulk since brute force wasn't the answer. And Dracula is going to send his mouthy lieutenants off to face the Hulk as a distraction because Dracula KNOWS what Kodo was planning and wanted to buy him time... At least that's how I saw the end of this comic. Otherwise Dracula just looks like an idiot who's going to go rushing headlong into an unbeatable foe, and I'd have to think that being alive for several centuries has taught Dracula patience... But who knows! Maybe Dracula IS an idiot and Kodo IS a coward, and the Hulk will leave the vampires alone after he receives his inevitable summons from the Serpent. Whatever happens, I will say this... This issue was much better than the prior one, and after reading this issue I'm interested in seeing how this mini-series concludes.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.This has NOTHING to do with this issue, but I liked it so here it is.

I, Vampire #1

Well here's a series I picked up at the absolute last minute on a total whim. This is one of those series that I only plan on picking up for the first three issues, unless one of those three issues wows me. Will X get wowed here? Here's hoping.

I, Vampire #1:

What Happened: We have two 400 year old-ish vampires here, Andrew and Mary. Mary feels that the vampires should stop hiding and take over the planet as opposed to the aliens and masked men dominating the world, while Andrew feels they should continue living in the shadows. The two debate the topic for a while before sleeping together, because besides drinking blood, vampires LOVE to bang. Andrew wakes up and finds a note in Mary's place, telling Andrew that she was declaring war on the humans today. Outside Andrew finds a mess of corpses, and discovers they were the secret vampire army Mary was amassing. While Andrew tries to figure out what to do, the vampires attack a train-full of people.

The Good: You know what? I liked this issue! The story was well done, and even though these were new characters(to me at least), it was easy to understand their motivations. Andrew didn't want to victimize humans, Mary did. Simple. Add their obvious romantic attachment to each other, and you've got a winning formula. The art-style fit the story being told.

The Bad: I can't imagine this series has a long shelf-life... It's one vampire vs another vampire. When Mary gets staked, then what? How can a massive vampire attack occur in a world that boasts Superman, Wonder Woman and a plethora of other heroes?

The Verdict: What can I say? It looks as if I'll be sticking with this series for the foreseeable future. I definitely didn't expect that, but I guess life is full of surprises.

Score: 8 out of 10.That's a lot of vampires...

Batman: The Dark Knight #1

Hey look, it's another Batman: The Dark Knight #1 issue! At the rate DC is going with this series, we'll get a storyline of about 6 issues, and then it'll be time for another Batman: The Dark Knight #1! Huzzah!!!

Batman: The Dark Knight #1:

What Happened: The GCPD's Internal Affairs division wants to talk to Bruce Wayne about his funding of Batman Inc, since Batman is hated in this series... I guess? A good-looking woman manages to get the cop to leave, and Bruce flirts it up with her. Bruce ends up hearing about a breakout at Arkham Asylum and dons the Bat-costume to deal with it. Upon arriving he discovers a really pumped up looking Two-Face, who tells Bats to call him One-Face from now on... Why not simply call him Harvey if that's the case?

The Good: You can't really go wrong starting this series off with Batman vs Two-Face. The story kept my attention. The art was solid. Female Jason wasn't in this issue!!

The Bad: The Bruce Wayne scenes were rather boring. I don't like the changes done to Two-Face at all. I don't get why the villains at Arkham were wearing their costumes IN the Asylum...

The Verdict: This comic was the very definition of a forgettable comic. Here's what I mean by that... I actually read this issue last night before going to sleep. Upon sitting down to do this review today, I couldn't remember what happened in this issue for the life of me! Seriously, until I turned to the last page and saw mega-sized Two-Face, I couldn't recall a thing about this issue. It's gonna be fun next month when the second issue arrives and I'm like, “Batman: Dark Knight?! Is this the comic with Joker or is this the one with evil Dick Grayson in it?!?”

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.What, Bane wasn't available for this storyline or something?

Superman #1

Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a blue robot? No wait, it's Superman... I think. The metallic, collared Supes era begins in this comic. Will it be good? Will it be bad? Will I be able to resist the urge to crack bad jokes(No.)???

Superman #1:

What Happened: Morgan Edge has purchased the Daily Planet and relocated the newspaper to a brand-spanking new building. Clark Kent isn't overly pleased by all of this, but Lois Lane is willing to see how things turn out(especially since she has a fancy new promotion and is working in TV now). Supes beats up a mysterious fire monster, and Lois sleeps with some random man, leaving Clark crestfallen.

The Good: The Superman in this issue was WAY more like the regular Superman, unlike Super-Batman from Action Comics. I was okay with the battle between Supes and the fire monster/alien. I had visions of a sad Clark Kent staring through Lois's wall watching her get it on with that random guy and that made me laugh.

The Bad: My GOD does George Perez love words! You'd think a guy who was known for artwork would go light on the verbiage, but I guess not. This comic was like a 9 out of 10 on the Bendis scale of words! All of the unnecessary wordage made this comic rather boring. I'm not sold on Supes costume change. He looks like a giant action figure or something.

The Verdict: If you ignore the excess words here, this comic wasn't THAT bad. At it's core it was a simple story... Supes fights a mysterious entity, the Daily Planet was shaken up and Clark Kent is sad. It's weird that Perez felt the need to explain EVERYTHING in this comic... You'd think an artist as great as he is would realize that sometimes a story can be told with the art, not a plethora of words.

Score: 6 out of 10.Blah, blah, blah, blah...