Batman: The Dark Knight Annual #1

I was very excited for this issue. As any continuous Sam's Pull-List reader knows, this series is one of my favorite Bat-Books at the moment. The writing is great, the narrative flows along nicely and the new art switch isn't half bad. This issue does not tie into the main series; so naturally I would suggest it to any reader who is not already picking this series up. It is an eerie issue at best. The whole story feels like Gregg Hurwitz was trying to write a halloween/horror story but decided he had to throw some Batman villains in at some point. This is not at all bad. The meeting of the villains is believable, they all receive a letter telling them to meet the other two. We don't get to see who the mystery-letter-sender is until the very last page, but anyone with half a brain could figure it out pretty quick. Anyways, these villains (Penguin, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter) stumble around a "haunted mansion" like fools, complaining about the goddamn Batman all the while. I think that Gregg Hurwitz's writing genius really kicked in about halfway through the issue when MILD SPOILERS Penguin trips a music player and Three Blind Mice starts playing. The paranoid bad-guys hatch a plan to escape that eventually leads them into a corn-field-type maze. The connection between the song and the situation is perfect and seems like a horror movie. The villains disband after a short mishap with Scarecrow toxin in which they all face their pasts a little bit. SPOILERS END HERE. I think this issue is hinting at a Penguin story-line after the Clayface one. All I can say is: this series is great and the sooner we get to a new arc the better. Mad-Hatter is ready to be put in jail.

Review: X-Men #1

It is nice to see an X-Book handled outside of BMB's control and even better to see an all female cast getting done justice. This book is practically soaked with plot and intrigue.  I think it is safe to assume that coming up with a really juicy first arc is mainly to get readers attention from the get-go. Well, they do get my attention as we learn about two siblings who were separated at birth. This story itself has lots of potential and we could have just explored these two mysterious characters for the rest of the issue. But then it just wouldn't be an X-Book. Jubilee, it turns out, has taken an orphaned baby off of the streets of a place where the young child wouldn't have been able to survive on her own. The X-Ladies, or at least a group of them, rendevouz on a train where they talk about this new child. Jubilee is sneaky as she senses a mysterious man stalking her but doesn't make the fact that she senses that known to her follower. Thankfully the mystery man gets caught and brought into custody by the investigative team Psylocke and Rachel Grey. This is a neat interaction. I found the art in this issue to be solid throughout and really good when it came to characters and costumes. I thought that the organization of the panels was brilliant. One too many inkers is all I have to say that is negative. I think that this book is a much needed addition to the X-Men roster of Marvel NOW. I am very excited to see where they take the story about these new siblings.

Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #30

As prologues go, this was one of the best I have ever seen in comics. The masterful Jason Aaron starts all of the story-threads that I presume will continue throughout the Hellfire Saga. Beast' trip to space with Broo was at first kind of sad, for those of us who have read the first run, and very clever for anyone reading now. The connection to the Hellfire Squad is there completely but this little episode serves as an entertaining little tale as well. Beast is one of my favorite X-Men because of his dialect and I feel as though Jason Aaron utilized that in this issue. However, I think that Jason Aaron's writing was slightly sub-par today in other areas. With so many moving parts, the writing was more re-capping events that already happened instead of writing actual, human conversations. This angers me as I think he is one of the most talented writers in the industry. I thought that what happened at the Jean Grey School with the several "transfers" to the Hellfire Academy was quite clever and entertaining but at the same time really sad. I say this because it is really unfortunate to see the school falling apart after all of the hard work Logan has put into building it. My only real complaint with this issue was the art. I didn't even care to learn the artists name I hated it so much. It looked completely goony and computerized. STAY AWAY FROM MY WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN YOU HACK! I love this book and don't want it ruined by some crap artist. I will definitely be on the Wolverine and the X-men train for as long as it keeps chugging right along. I look forward to the Hellfire Saga.

Review: Indestructible Hulk #008

I'm afraid that another one bites the dust. I don't think this series is bad and certainly wouldn't naysay it, but I've just had enough. I'm afraid this goes for the Avengers and all of S.H.I.E.L.D. I just can't think of any conceivable way to care less about these people's lives. I think that's whats turning me off of Indestructible too. I really just don't want to hear all of Bruce and his science team ramble on about their horrible lives. I really do sympathize for you Patricia, I just don't want to hear about it in my comics. Thanks. I think Mark Waid is an incredibly skilled author and has the capability to make some awesome action scenes, I just don't think he is right for me. Some of the action sequences in this book were phenomenal. I do enjoy Walt Simonson's art. It is a little cartoony and pencil-heavy, but who am I to judge. I think that the Frost Giants are drawn particularly well. I love some of the graphic design on the interior as well as the cover. All-in-all this issue serves well as a conclusion but not much more. As I hinted to before I will be dropping this from my Pull-List after much contemplation. I would like to continue to hear great things about this title even if they're not coming from me.

Review: Savage Wolverine #005

I am totally with this series, 100%. I love Frank Cho's artwork, except for the sexist stuff. (Seriously?) I am, excitingly and boastfully, going to meet him in the all-too distant future at the Boston Comic Con, August 3-4. BUT, this post is not just an advertisement for Frank Cho and Boston Comic Con, this is a review of Savage Wolverine #5.

I don't think it was such a bad idea bringing Hulk to the savage land. It is always a hard task bringing outside characters into a title that they don't belong in. You could say his appearance was a little forced and wasn't much more than a "Hey, look! There's Hulk!" But I will disagree. His time spent in the savage land was much needed as a villain emerges that Logan and Shanna could never handle on their own. This would of course be Swamp-Things' larger cousin Larry, or rather, the Dark Walker. Really no one calls him Larry.

MY NAME ISN'T LARRY!

Sorry for the crappy image.

The ending to Hulks' time in the book was completely WTF. I didn't even understand it; let alone like it.

But Hulk wasn't the only character in this book, you may be aware I bought Savage Wolverine not Savage Hulk. Although that has potential. The other characters really don't do much outside of commentating on the action unfolding in front of them. We get a pretty badass kick out of Shanna, but nothing more. And Wolverine has a pretty sweet stabbing scene too. The dialogue is pretty smooth; especially from Amadeus Cho, a pretty good character. He talks Wolverine out of his normal Snikt-ness, people should learn by know that Wolverine is not the solution to any problems, complicated or not. He is also not the only character in the Marvel Universe but yet somehow manages to show up in more than seven titles monthly. ANYWAYS, (sorry for the tangent) I think this arc wrapped up pretty nicely, introducing a formidable seeming villain at the end, and I hope the next arc won't fail to disappoint  even if it is just Wolverine Team-Ups.

5/22/13

This is the second of two light weeks, last week we had five, this week we have four. I think that an acceptable amount of books per week should be six. It is a nice number of books to read and review. Before reading every week I always look through my stack and make an order of what I am going to read. This week it was so hard to choose what to read first. Everything just looked so good. I am so much more a Marvel fan than a DC fan right now, it's sort of like DC books are sort of a chore to read rather than a pleasure. This shouldn't be the case. I do enjoy Dark Knight, though this weeks was a touch disappointing. I enjoy Batman, Batman and Robin and usually Batman Inc. I just think there needs to be a little more wow and a little less, just the bare minimum. So, I would like to once again invite you to scroll down the page and keep reading this weeks reviews.

• Batman: The Dark Knight #20

I really genuinely like this series, and I think it should not be overlooked by any Bat-Fan. If you want a more traditional Bat-Story that is still entertaining, go with this title. Gregg Hurwitz is really establishing a nice solid base for Batman's rogue gallery, something that hasn't been done before. I have to say, in contradiction to that, this issue was not very good. The beginning was utterly nonsensical and seemed sort of hackish. I always think that the narrative flows smoothly, but unfortunately I can't say that about this book. I thought the brief connection to the rest of the Bat-Universe with a short, "My son is dead." Was unnecessary and not particularly thoughtful. I thought that SPOILERS the capture of Bruce's girlfriend was handled quite well, less gore and brutality than normal. What really disappointed me about this issue was the lack of a flashback. I guess there isn't a ton more to tell about the Mad Hatter's backstory, but I guess you could come up with something and have it symbolize something else in the Batman story. Just a suggestion. The art was good, a trippy and very dark style. I thought it particularly shined during a torture scene. It gave the scene a grim feel that made me almost sick to my stomach. There was a two-page splash that was just gorgeous. I won't give away the end, I'll simply say it was super predictable and kind of disappointing to tell you the truth. There is one more issue in this arc and I  have to say I am excited, I just think the ending should, and probably will be really good.

• Batman Incorporated #11

I am grateful this issue exists, but not grateful it exists right now. Last issue Grant Morrison got us so riled up about Bruce's next course of action, and this issue had nothing to do with that. For those of you who don't know already, this issue was a stand-alone story of Batman of Japan, Jiro Osamu. The beginning is kind of cute and introduces us to Internet 3.0, a new alternate reality. The dialogue is OK but just that. It is very golden age in a sense with lots of recapping in the dialogue and not taking anything for granted. I.E. ""This isn't over!" "You got that right!" "But they got away." "For now."" Come on, this isn't the '50s. I did, however, enjoy the plot. This new Dynamic Duo was quite interesting and it was nice not to have a story set in Gotham/New York for once. I would have definitely bought this book if it was a one-shot, I am not quite sure I am thankful to DC for sneaking it under the title: "Batman Incorporated." I could definitely see a series where all we saw was different stand-alone stories of members of BI. I just think that this series that they already have going is the right one to do it in. ANYWAYS, the villains in this story were absolutely brutal, which was nice, in a non-sadistic way. These were interesting villain who we didn't quite understand the motives of. Later it is revealed who they are and their behavior is justified. The ending was satisfying enough. I was a little disappointed with the fact that this break from the normal series was not written by Grant Morrison, but it was just fine as an issue.

• Uncanny X-Men #6

I have heard very sour reviews for this title, but I have come to enjoy it. There are already more than one title that showcases the Jean Grey School so it's kind of nice to visit the other side of things for a while. This issue was slow but beautiful in a way. I really enjoyed how for the first time in these six issues the Uncanny X-Men came together as a team. They are an interesting group of kids and adults acting like kids. I think that even though Cyclops is looked down upon in all of the X-Books I feel like he has really matured since AvX. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back to the Jean school to apologize again and the whole school came with him. Although it's not as fun without Emma poking around in peoples head, I'm glad in a way that she lost her powers as well. The ending with S.H.I.E.L.D is pretty good and the dark horse is awesome. All in all there was some great art and some good storytelling in this book. The pace was a little slower than usual but the situation was a cool one. Limbo is definitely a place the X-Men should visit more often. I think Magik is a potentially good character and would prosper under the pen of a skilled writer. I honestly think Frank Miller would write a badass Magik mini-series, just a thought.

• Talon #8

I have been really enjoying this arc but was super-skeptical about the future of the series after last issue. Nothing much happened this issue other than Calvin getting resurrected and turned into a non-human Talon. The court threatens to kill the Washingtons, not gonna happen, and Sebastian is nowhere to be seen. I did like the flow of the story especially a two-page splash that showed Calvin's whole life flashing before him. The art changed this issue which was OK but didn't add anything to the book. I am excited to see where James Tynion takes this book on it's Bane arc.

Tune in next time for more reviews!

5/15/13

This week was sort of disappointing  in fact it was the first week in a long time I debated dropping a title all together. There were a few good books, but nothing awesome from DC. I was also very happy to learn lots of new information about both the upcoming Battle of the Atom storyline and the Hellfire Saga. So without anymore general talk I would like to start reviewing some of this weeks new comics.

• Age of Ultron #8

I, unlike many others, was excited by the prospect of the Defenders and the alternate universe going-ons in this title. This issue goes in-depth and gives readers a really good feel for this other Marvel U. I enjoyed seeing how Tony Stark has become sick with power and really enjoyed seeing the Defenders defy him and break in to save Sue. I think of all of the other-universe characters Xavier and Frost are the best. Bendis didn't change much in terms of powers or appearance but rather gave them a new relationship that is far different than that of the normal continuity. Their dialogue is the best in the book filled with great dialogue. I also really enjoyed reading as Wolverine told future-Stark their initial plan and hearing Tony tell them that he knew that his alternate-universe self would have prevented that. I think that this series is still going strong but I just can't predict how they are going to end it. Anyway they do end it, I'll be there to see it.

• Wolverine and the X-Men #029

Never in comics have I ever seen a futuristic world handled so perfectly. I'll get to that in a minute. The layout of the book was like so: Wolverine's speech, awesome, flashback, awesome, Wolverine's speech, awesome, flashback, awesome, Wolverine's speech, awesome, burying a time-capsule, awesome, flash forward to the future, inexplicable awesome. What I have just described was the first half of the book which was executed perfectly. Wolverine's speech is thoughtful and meaningful and contrasts well with the flashbacks. We get to see some good Beast action and a brief Wolverine memory. We then see the Jean Grey School 25 years later with a much older Logan. Just because I am getting to blogging early in the day I have time to list all of the references/easter eggs in this issue. So here goes:

• Jean Grey School has new locations internationally in the future.
• The original teachers are on portraits on the wall.
• Carmen Drake is a snowman who phases through walls.
• New students:
• Warren Worthington IV
• Kubrick Quire
• Charlene Xavier
• Rose Logan
• Summer Grey
• Many more
• "This must all be from right before...before the....(Holds up Idie's bible)...Ah, hell." --Logan.
• Thunderbird and Phoenix are alive and in this timeline.
• Eye-Boy is now Eye-Man and is an X-Man.
• Worthington Industries is still trucking along.
• Another mention of "last time" and time-travel.
• No one remembers burying that time-capsule.
• Mentions of:
• Hellfire Academy
• Azazel and his Pirates
• The Black Order
• Butchress Mondo
• Sabertooth's Secret Plans
• The New Brotherhood
• The Apocalypse Crusade
• Jean
• Wakanda's Sky City 5
• Captain China
• Shark Woman's X-Force
• Krakoa Corps.

We then switch back to the present where 2 GIANT spoilers are released. These change the game completely and set everything up for the upcoming Hellfire Saga.

My opinion: The art is really bad for this series especially but I guess every artist can't suit my fancy. I thought the writing was just phenomenal and the whole book had an incredibly good narrative.

I am really excited to see what happens next as this book ends with lots of intrigue.

• Red Hood and the Outlaws #20

I was really excited that this book had shed it's god-awful writer, the infamous Scott Lobdell. I was also really excited about the ending of the last book. If you haven't already read it this is what happened: Jason has shown up to save the rest of the Outlaws but it turns out that he has lost his memory. This book tells us why he did choose to forget his past. Kori and Roy all experience Jason's memories and learn that no matter how bad they want their friend back it was his choice to forget them and it must have been for a good reason. I don't have much more to say about the book other than it was an ok read, much better than it used to be, just still not great. I do enjoy how the writer goes back and really introduces Jason in a way that hasn't been done before. The art is ok, a little screwed up at times but who are we to critique?

• Batgirl #20

+Steven Viscido got me into this series and I am glad he did. It is a pretty solid series that has some intrigue. After some serious moping from the events of the last arc, Batgirl gets back on track while hunting down the Ventriloquist  I like series that instead of focusing on the main character of the book focus on the villain/s that character is fighting. One of my favorite books coming out of the Bat-Office is Batman: The Dark Knight. We get to see the Ventriloquist's backstory while seeing her wreak havoc on Gotham the same way we do the Mad Hatter in TDK. I really like this approach as it makes rogues really easy to write about in other stories. I really liked how brutal this book was and how dirt-nasty Gail Simone wrote the Ventriloquist. I will definitely stick around for this arc, especially considering how interesting the end of the book was.

• Catwoman #20

DON'T READ IT! I REPEAT, DON'T READ IT! I DROPPED THIS BOOK ABOUT FOUR PAGES IN. YOU WILL NEVER SEE ANOTHER REVIEW OF CATWOMAN ON THIS BLOG! I WAS TERRIBLY WRONG TO BUY IT!

• Nightwing #20

I really enjoyed Nightwing last month and was sure that it was on a different path now that Dick was in Chicago. I did enjoy this issue but there wasn't really a ton to enjoy. There were those pages of teen-flirting that Dick has to take part in every single issue, but hey, I knew I was getting in to that by reading Nightwing. The art is fantastic and especially shined in a scene where Dick plays cards with an informer. I really enjoyed the last sequence where Dick is caught in a trap by the prankster who is turning out to be quite the villain. The trap is well thought through and would be really hard for anyone to escape, even Dick. Like Red Hood and the Outlaws this issue was good, but only good.

• 
  

X-Men: First Class a Second Look

I watched X-Men: First Class almost a year ago when it was first released to theaters. Since then I have read innumerable X-Comics and studied the X-Men very carefully, there was something about that team that appealed to me more than any other super-team. Spotting the First Class movie at a friends house I looked it over a second time and found myself not remembering any of the film. So I asked if I could borrow it and my friend being the great guy he is lent me the movie. I watched the movie in the comfort of my own house on a nice Saturday morning. By itself it was a very good movie, but as an origin story for the X-Men it was atrocious. I still to this day don't understand why Marvel makes origin stories that are different than the ones already written in comics. If you have 100s of stories sitting in front of you and you have to make a movie about the characters in those books, I mean the logical thing would to completely disregard everything everyone wrote in those books and make up some story that fans won't be able to relate to or remember. Right? Instead of making fans and long-time X-People happy when they see their favorite super-team on the big screen instead we have to groan when we see Beast is a teen in the '60s. I will admit that Marvel makes great movies, better than DC, but they just have to start getting their characters right. I really don't see why Matthew Vaughn didn't start off telling the story of the Original 5 and The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. I would love to see the story of The Dark Phoenix Saga unfold on screen. Instead we have to watch this brutal story of Magneto exacting revenge on everyone he ever met. We don't want to see that, Marvel. We want to see the interesting characters that we are so used to seeing. I am still not done with Marvel Movies, I am looking forward to Days of Future Past (beside myself), The New S.H.I.E.L.D TV show and the Cap movie. Be sure to tell me what you are looking forward to in the comments below.
Thanks,
--Sam Roche

BTW Marvel, if you put Emma Frost in another movie she better not be in the Hellfire Club this time.

The Demon of DC!

"Gone, gone, the form of man. Rise the demon ETRIGAN!!"

What if you had the powers of the mighty demon Etrigan? Super strength, extreme durability, the power to produce hellfire and energy, super speed, agility, a healing factor, magic, the power to do extreme rhyming, and more! He is weakened by holy powers and iron. The demon Etrigan is truly a great character. Created by Jack Kirby when his Fourth World series was about to be cancelled, he created a new character, hoping him to be so bad that they would HAVE to keep the Fourth World series. However, Jack was annoyed when he got EXTREMELY good reviews, and he had to keep going with Etrigan. When Jason Blood, an immortal since he is bound to Etrigan, says the rhyme above the picture, he becomes the mighty demon Etrigan! Etrigan is the son of Belial, a demon from Jewish culture. Merlin, his half brother, became angered when he couldn't discover Etrigan's secrets, so he bonded him to Jason Blood, a knight in Camelot. Centuries later, he discovered the poem that made it so he could become Etrigan. Etrigan has since become an incredible superhero. Go Etrigan!

-Bobby Lovett

What would it be like if a child was a Green Lantern?

I know, a child may have great fear of what's to come or not that much will. But what if there was one? What if someone had enough will and the power to overcome great fear? Well, we all know children, especially small ones, have great imaginations. I wish I still had my own from when I was 4 and 5. Kyle Rayner had a great imagination. Let's amplify that, by a LOT. If a kid was a GL, they could defeat nearly EVERYONE. They could harness the true power of a Green Lantern and gain the power to destroy planets, or even SOLAR SYSTEMS, with the wackiest things imaginable. You would never see it coming. NEVER. No one would. He could kill SUPERMAN, even. Superman could walk up and be like "hey little guy, how you doing?" and he would just blast Superman to smithereens. That is how I would imagine the youngest Green Lantern the corps has to offer. That's all! Remember to leave a comment below!

-Bobby Lovett

Bobby

Hello everyone, my name is Bobby Lovett. I am Sam's friend and long time love of comics. Literally since I was, like, 5. Anyway, since then I have gained far more interest and knowledge about comics, it's history, turning points, characters, and more. I have much to talk about and still much to learn, so I hope you guys can help me! I will be posting much more often now, starting today. Thanks everyone!

-Bobby Lovett

5/8/13

I always like Batman if it's by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. And I was really into Wolverine. Needless to say those were the books I was looking forward to most this week. I guess I was looking forward to the wrong books, the two I didn't mention, Thor: God of Thunder #008 and Batman and Red Hood #20 were just terrific. They were so good I would be willing to pay double for both of them. So, with a very short amount of comics pulled, therefore a very short amount of reviews: here are your weekly reviews.

• Batman #20

I really love this book. Both the writing and the art are consistently some of the best work in the industry. I am even enjoying this new Clayface storyline, even though Clayface is a meh villain. This issue just didn't quite do it for me. The beginning of the issue was confusing and chaotic with Clayface fighting Bruce Wayne in the Batcave, OH MY GOD! Lay off spellchecker! Batcave is a word, sheesh. And yes sheesh is a word too. Anyways, Batman: It is disheartening that a villain was able to break into the Batcave, now Scott Snyder has written that the Joker and Clayface have seen the Batcave, but still neither of them know that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Kind of ridiculous, right? Batman and Lucius Fox are thrown into a very dangerous situation, which I am not at liberty to tell you the outcome of. There is a very iffy nod towards Batman Beyond. I think while it may be kind of a fun Easter Egg at first, tying those two realities together will be continuity hell. BREAKING NEWS I just noticed that the way Greg Capullo draws jaws is a lot like the way John Romita Jr. draws them. Here: look at this helpful diagram:

=

I don't know, they looked similar to me.

Clayface makes Batman face a lot of his demons, though, and that's always interesting to see. Although it make sense, the ending wasn't extremely satisfying. The very ending was great, we see Batman shed a tear for his son. Tell me what you thought of this issue down in the comments below. Also make sure to tell me how you feel about Batman: Zero Year in the comments.

• Wolverine #3

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU READ THE REVIEW! SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

I was so excited to see where they were going with the appearances of the Watcher and Nick Fury in the last issue. However, one cancels the other out as Logan tries to convince Nick that he saw the Watcher, but Nick doesn't much care. What follows is an extremely queer scene in a bar where we meet a bunch of people we don't give a damn about.

I've got my eye on you Marcus H. Harold.

So after introducing all of these meaningless people, Wolverine gets a bullet taken out of his shoulder that ends up giving them a lead. Because the attacker would totally be that careless. Wolverine and Fury hop in a S.H.I.E.L.D car and stealth their way to a warehouse, because villains in a warehouse hasn't been done before. 

Wolverine dives, climbs, breaks, enters and snikts only to find himself in front of a bunch of android-person-suit-things. Really bad character design.

Seriously? What is that guy?

After a lot of meaningless violence and one funny reference Wolverine escapes. The ending is kinda promising, but nothing special. I am still really looking forward to #7 where Killable starts. That just looks EPIC!

• Batman and Red Hood #20

This is one of the best issues I have read in a very long time. I am not going to lie, I almost cried during some parts of this issue. Peter J. Tomasi has a way of just making Bruce's desperation after Damian's death so real. I found the issues containing Carrie Kelly to be quite entertaining. She is a quirky little rebel who doesn't really make much sense but is kind of a nice presence. I feel like the author went a little over the top with how surly Bruce was. You could try being a little less rude next time someone who loved your son is over Brucie. I know you don't know this from experience, but people don't like a brooder. Other than that this issue is pure gold. Jason and Bruce plan to strike a clan of assassins in Ethiopia that were sent to kill Damian earlier in the timeline during Batman Inc. I like how much this other has kept the whole Damian, Dead, thing. He really is giving an accurate and meaningful depiction of what life is like if your a Batman without a Robin.

Once the Bat and the Hood are in Ethiopia Batman gives a command I thought he would never give to Jason: "HANDS, KNEES, AND ELBOWS!" He is of course implying that Jason is going to use a firearm, something I am glad Batman has made his peace with. The Dynamic Duo is BRUTAL when taking out the snipers. It is so fun to watch them completely maim these terrible people. After the assassins are good and unconscious Batman drives Jason to another very emotional place in Ethiopia, the spot of Jason's death. Jason gets mad at Batman for bringing back terrible memories, but he really has every right. But then Bruce says a line that really stuck with me: "BECAUSE I WANT TO WATCH DAMIAN GROW UP, DAMN IT!" He is just a father looking for his son. He is so tender at heart. Jason and Bruce do eventually part ways. I am so ready for next issue!

• Thor: God of Thunder #008

Watching young, callow Thor slave away is one of the most entertaining things in comics. Early in the issue he gets really mad and throws a giant boulder at a berserker. He then gets lectured and threatened by Thunder goddesses who we later learn are Thor's grandkids. There is a particularly awkward moment where one of the goddesses fesses up to thinking "impure" things about her grandfather. All of the enslaved gods are seen at a meeting where they decide to use their bomb to try and destroy the Godbomb soon. Thor becomes reckless and awesome in a moment where he runs through berserker's carrying the slave's bomb and making it rain fire. Can it get any more epic? No. He throughs the bomb at the Godbomb with all of his strength. The explosion ripples through the omniverse but doesn't do much to the Godbomb. This issue ends well as all of the Thors team-up and get ready to battle Gorr. I really hope they end Godbomb well, it's just so good to go to waste.

5/1/13

This was a relatively short week, not a terrible amount of books, five purchased, four read. The odd book out that I didn't read was Teen Titans #19. My friend reads it and I buy it for him, but I have given up on the series. I have wasted enough of my life reading the crap Scott Lobdell calls writing. As +Steven Viscido likes to say all the time in his blog: (statuesandsuperheroes.blogspot.com check it out, it's really good) DC no longer wants to please the reader, but rather sell books. Scott Lobdell lives for one reason: to sell trash that ties-in with other books. Take the tie-ins he wrote (that's not even the right word, his work is not writing) for Death of the Family. He created both Red Hood and the Outlaws and Teen Titans #15-16. They both barely tied-into the Death of the Family arc, but they had the words Death of the Family on them so they sold. And if that wasn't enough the tie-ins tied-in with each other. That is just a disgrace to the comic book industry. Can we really not think of any other way to sell books other than: "Hey, buy this other issue so you can get one or two panels of your favorite characters for $4!" Couldn't we say, make quality books? The DC editors would be all like: "No! That takes effort and doesn't sell as well as crossovers! Your fired Mr. I want to make quality comics go to Marvel!" Thank God I don't have any DC books to read this week, I'm just kind of fed up with them right now. But it is Batman Day and A Comic Wednesday, so who could be unhappy?

• Thanos Rising #2 of 5

This was the book I was looking forward to most this week, no question about that. I enjoyed the first one so very much and will literally buy anything with Jason Aaron's name on it at this point. He is really delivering a quality tale of Thanos's origin in a not so nice way. This issue continues the brutality depicted in the first chapter as a young Thanos finds joy in cutting open specimins at first searching for a scientific answer, but after a while just killing because he is addicted. It is really tragic how crazy and messed up this guy is, but after all it's not so different from people in our world. If I may elaborate on my previous point, I have a connection to make. Although not completely the same, Thanos and the Boston Marathon bomber aren't terribly different. Both have crazy family dynamics that lead to excessively violent behavior. It is sad to see such a brilliant mind as that of Thanos go to waste, as it was sad to see a kid who behaved so well and got such good grades to make a bomb. It is tragic to see these young lives turned to violence, almost as tragic as their victims. While I am talking about such tragic events I would just like to take a moment to pay tribute to the lives lost and people injured in the marathon bombing.

Now, back to Thanos. The art was good, I am really starting to dig Simone Bianchi. The ending was a little excessively brutal, but I guess that's just the character. I am really excited to see where this goes.

 

• Age of Ultron

BIG decisions were made in last weeks issue, the killed off HENRY PYM! This issue is even more risky as the effects of Wolverine's cockiness ripples through the time-space continuum throwing everything off. Bendis is very creative as we see what happens to all the super-heroes we have come to know and love when Henry Pym doesn't exist. The most creative was the fact that Scott Summers was Cable in this messed-up reality. Logan and Sue Storm make up an awesome team on their time-hopping adventures. +Brandon Peterson's art really gets to shine in this issue in particular as most of the book takes place in the time-period he illustrates. If you do stumble across this review Mr. Peterson, your art rocks! I am loving your style in Age of Ultron.  Anyways, the battle/confusion between Sue and Logan and the "Defenders" is awesome. It is a pretty accurate and fresh take on the Marvel U that I am looking forward to reading about. I am still a little skeptical about the end of the arc though. I am not sure if they are going to say this just didn't happen or it was all just Hawkeye's dream. Either way would be good though.

Love how sleek and new the characters all look, great design.

• All-New X-Men #11

I absolutely love how Brian Michael Bendis has taken control of the X-Men through both of his titles Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-Men. There was a period of time that just seemed to be missing from Uncanny X-Men #4. For those of you who did not read it the Uncanny X-Men go to Jean Grey's school to recruit mutants but we never see them at the school. We just see Angel come back with them to the New Xavier School. Well, this issue explains the whole gap of time. Quite well I may add. Although it is mainly a verbal confrontation Jean Grey does a psychic explosion thingy that blasts everyone. There were certain moments in this comic I would like to highlight. Here they are:

•  Jean's psychic blast
• Jean learning that mind-controlling is a no-no
• The X-Men lobbying for Warren to stay
• Mystique and Sabertooth causing havok
• Above all: the talk Kitty Pryde had with Jean Grey

The only part I didn't really like was the inclusion of the Uncanny Avengers. The Avengers suck and I really don't want them messing with this awesome X-Book. Hey, when was the last time you saw Beast in Secret Avengers? Huh? Didn't think so.
Stuart Immonen draws the hell out of this book. He is especially good with all of the magical blasts and the other magic stuff. I really love this book, Marvel if you are there. Keep up the great work with the X-Men, I am having such a blast reading it.

 

•  Indestructible Hulk #007

I was really concerned about the direction this book was headed, for a while I even considered taking it off of my pull-list. But +Mark Waid you have definitely won me over. This issue was fantastically entertaining. I loved how it turned out with Thor's hammer (you had me sold that Hulk was strong enough to lift it in #6.) Ice giants make really good enemies for Hulk because the Jade Giant can smash away and they just keep coming. I absolutely loved the incorporation of Maria Hill and how the Ice Giant reaches through the portal. I particularly liked how the portal was trans-time, and how Banner and his crew have to survive now that the portal's gone. I think that this will draw Banner and his team closer as a result. Keep up the great work +Mark Waid you have me hooked, don't loose me again.

 

These reviews, as I said before, are dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

4/24/13

I had my regular 6-book pull-list this week. I was too busy on a trip to read and review them all on Wednesday, so here I am now. A great series, Deadpool Killustrated, wrapped up today. And another less good series, Before Watchmen: Comedian, also came to a conclusion. So, without further ado, my week of comics.

• Deadpool Killustrated #4

This is an incredibly creative book. Even people who don't like comics as much as I could see the creativity and wit practically oozing out of this book. Deadpool is a great character, with all great characters there are excellent stories about them. This comic storyline would fall into the category of great stories. The idea of a psychotic hit-man going into the "Ideaverse" and killing story-book characters is just brilliant. Now, we can say any idea is "brilliant," but execution is all that really matters. The writing is very clever and Deadpool and Sherlocke are both very developed characters by the end of the arc. I don't think that Deadpool has ever had a really bad artist, so I wouldn't say that Matteo Lolli is especially good, but he does provide good art considering the amount of gore required of him to draw. The ending of this arc is not completely satisfying but I will take it over a "let's just erase what just happened" ending. I was excited, however, when I saw an ad for the next Cullen-Bunn-Deadpool-Kill storyline. Deadpool Kills Deadpool looks ridiculous but entertaining. I will definitely be buying it.

• Batman: The Dark Knight #19

I love this series. I really do. I was so enjoying seeing Ethan Van Sciver's beautiful drawings in the world of the Dark Knight. Too bad Sciver is off the book, not for long I hope. On the flipside, however, the book's quality did not flee with the artist. The book is still disturbing while exciting, perfectly captures the life of Bruce Wayne, and keeps you wanting more. While Batman appears very little in the book the whole story revolves around him. His city is under attack, his girlfriend is about to become the main character in a twisted performance, and there are the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands on his hands. The new art is pretty good, especially during the tragic and disturbing flashback of the Hatter's life. The Mad Hatter could quickly become my favorite of all of the rogue's in Batman's gallery. The only thing that would improve this book is giving it the T+ rating it deserves. There is so much killing and other horrifying things I can't imagine why DC is holding back. The last thing we need is some 6-year-old picking up a Batman comic and saying: "Mommy? Why does the man kill people when he takes his medicine?"

• Batman Inc. #9

A lot of people have found the death of Damian Wayne to be poorly handled. I think this issue wraps it up while giving us a sense of what's to come. The only real problem in this book is how the continuity is handled. +Steven Viscido mentioned in one of his articles on his blog that all of the superheroes in comics can't fit in the same universe. I feel like DC is messing with that even more with the, what is it 5? Batman books monthly. Batman is said to be armed and dangerous and the mayor is not allowing him to fight crime, but in all the other Bat-Titles he is trucking right along. This needs to be handled better or dropped all together. If Damian Wayne can die in one title and that effects all of the others than Batman can't fight crime in any title right now. Other than that this issue is solid. After an ominous and mysterious chat between the Al Ghul's we see the rest of the family after the Leviathan attack. Azrael makes a brief appearance in the beginning of the book and we get a little resolution about Jason Todd's situation later on. I still want to see how this storyline plays out because of the evilness of Talia Al Ghul. She is simply brutal in this book and I am so excited to see her brought to justice (the most likely outcome in my mind.)

Now, the art. I love Chris Burnham just as much as the next guy, but three different art changes in one issue is unacceptable. If Burnham is too wimpy to make one book a month he should just not. Don't do a third of it.

• Guardians of the Galaxy #2

I really thought that starting this series with "Omergerd the Earth is going to be destroyed!" was a terrible move. We barely know the team and Brian Michael Bendis is already throwing them into a battle for the fate of our planet. Really? But surprisingly, the story plays out nicely. We flip back between a meeting of all of the intergalactic powerhouses which took place six weeks ago and the Guardians battle for Earth. We also get to meet the team a little more which is good considering I am new to this title. The battle is really fun to watch. Tony Stark zips around like a bee spewing banter enough to keep the book from being all pictures (beautiful ones I might add.) And Rocket Raccoon is very humorous with his "Blam! Murdered you!" Throughout the entire book.

Now, the galactic meeting is where things are really good. Everyone is there, with the king of Spartax leading the meeting of course. They discuss Earth's fate in a way that is natural and entertaining. I really want to see some more action from Groot next book. He looks promising.

• Talon #7

Talon wasn't really the star in his own title this month. Casey and Sebastian played major roles along with guest-appearances from Batman and Bane. This issue shows Talon actually fighting along a Talon, something rare and surprisingly entertaining. We also see Casey out-foxing Sebastian  both of which fights are cool and interesting. After Calvin has escapes the base of the Court of the Owls he runs through the streets of Gotham crazed by an emergency broadcast from his girlfriend. We see our hero get caught by our other hero, Batman! Batman locks Calvin in with Wayne-Tech handcuffs. Of course Calvin escapes. We see Calvin then confront Clark and eventually Bane. Calvin is broken, maybe dead at the end of the issue.

Tackling the Manifest Part II

I logged back onto Marvel U and read the next three books in this mega-crossover. I have to say, I am loving this series. It shows the X-Men just how they were meant to be and Scott Summers isn't a jerk.
So, here are the next installments in my log of reading this giant storyline.

Cable #6
Writing: 9, Cyclops's point of view is rich and enticing.
Art: 8.75, both artists are great, especially the one that draws future-Cable.
Relevance to the story: 8, this does give you a good taste of what it is like for Emma and Scott, but not a must-read.
Should you read it? If you want to. I have always been a fan of the series and the character; but you could skip it if you wanted to only read the essential issues.

Secret Invasion: X-Men #1
Writing: 7.5, nothing great, but it isn't Scott Lobdell
Art: 7, just not my style.
Relevance to the story: 9, this is what is going on in Marvel at this point, it is pretty relevant.
Should you read it? Probably not. It has very little to do with Manifest Destiny.

Astonishing X-Men #26
Writing: 9, Warren Ellis rocks Wolverine.
Art: 8.75, I am really enjoying Simone Bianchi's art.
Relevance to the story: 10, this introduces Ghost Boxes which are essential to Manifest Destiny.
Should you read it? YES! It is a quality comic and near-essential to the storyline.

So that is the bout of reading I did this morning, along with the first three Wolverine and the X-Men issues. Keep checking this out, I hope it inspires you to read this storyline too.

Tackling the Manifest

A warehouse was bought out, so my comic store now has maybe hundreds of $30-$75 sold for $7-$35.
I picked up X-Men Manifest Destiny for $7.43 (The cover price is $30.) Now I made a decision. If I am going to read some of Manifest Destiny I am going to have to read all of it.
So, I looked to my good friend Wikipedia for some help. Like always Wikipedia was there for me. So I will now copy and paste the reading list of Manifest Destiny. The bolded books are the ones that came in the Graphic Novel I recently purchased.

• Astonishing X-Men #25
• Uncanny X-Men #500

• Cable #6
• Secret Invasion: X-Men #1
• Astonishing X-Men #26
• Uncanny X-Men #501
• X-Men: Legacy #215

• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1
• Secret Invasion: X-Men #2
• Uncanny X-Men #502
• Young X-Men #6
• X-Men: Legacy #216

• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #2
• Astonishing X-Men #27
• Uncanny X-Men #503
• Young X-Men #7
• Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1
• Secret Invasion: X-Men #3

• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #3
• Uncanny X-Men #504
• Young X-Men #8
• Secret Invasion: X-Men #4

• Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2
• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #4
• Uncanny X-Men #505
• Young X-Men #9
• Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #3

• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #5
• Eternals #7
• Astonishing X-Men #28

• Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #4
• Eternals #8
• Uncanny X-Men #506

• Manifest Destiny: Nightcrawler #1
• Eternals #9
• Uncanny X-Men #507
• Astonishing X-Men #29

• Runaways (Vol. 3) #10

• Astonishing X-Men #30

So as you can see if I plan on reading the entirety of this mega-crossover event, I am going to have to visit another friend of mine: Marvel Unlimited. As I write this I have already read this first two on the list, Astonishing X-Men #25 and Uncanny X-Men #500. I also read Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1 in print. I had this idea after the fact so this article is coming a tad late.

I decided I would give a very brief review of each issue, giving it a score 1-10 in a couple different categories. I will also tell you if this is worth the read. So, if you are considering tackling this storyline as well you don't have to read all of the tie-ins to see which ones interest you.

Astonishing X-Men #25:

Writing: 8.5, fantastic!

Art: 8, Great, a little rough with facial features though.

Relevance to the storyline: 7.5, not essential but definitely worth the read.

Should you read it? Absolutely! If you just want to stick to the story this issue may not interest you but is worth the 20 min. for anyone else.

Uncanny X-Men #500
Writing: 8, decent.
Art: 5, it's Greg Land, what do you expect?
Relevance to the storyline: 8, you should probably read it to get introduced to the cast of characters.
Should you read it? Why not? It is decent and a good X-Book overall. Why not check it out?

Manifest Destiny: Wolverine #1
Writing: 8.75, good, not outstanding.
Art: 9, great tones.
Relevance to the story: 10, this is what this whole storyline is going to be about.
Should you read this? Of course, it's Wolverine confronting his past in Chinatown, what's not to want to read?

That is all I have for now. I will probably tackle another two issues tonight. Stay tuned, this is going to be fun.

4/17/13

Okay, this week had it all. Be it time travel, lost memory, resurrection, a drug dealer, an asylum, and Chicago. Can you ask for much more? No, you can't. And in the words of my past self, "here are the weekly reviews:"

• Secret Service #4

Long ago I took a vow to never buy a variant that wasn't on a #1 issue. I wasn't so specific when it came to second printings. I also vowed that I would never review anything that had come out more than  a week ago. I don't know if reviewing a second printing of an issue that came out months ago counts, but here we are, I better not waste your time.

Secret Service is an interesting series. Like most of the series on my ever-expanding pull-list I bought the first one on a whim. My reading buddy and I loved the plot and decided to collect the rest. We got #s 2 and 3 in a matter of weeks and loved them both. But no matter where we looked we could not find that pesky #4. Well, now I found it. And I am glad I did. This was an issue full of creativity, wit and drama. It started out with a conversation between uncle and nephew about life and acknowledgment. You know, just the kind of things everyone talks to their uncle about. We see aforementioned nephew gassed and placed in a situation so deadly and awkward it was in South America. 'Cause uncles do that all the time too. The nephew being the most clever in the situation conceives a clever and game-changing plan that gets him to English soil on a private jet. This issue's dialogue was spectacular and I aspire to be able to come up with half of the brilliant situations Mark Millar does. And that would be impressive, even.

• Age of Ultron Book Six

Is time travel a good thing to introduce to the Age of Ultron cannon. [SPOILER ALERT] It is. Both the stories of the past and the future are told masterfully by the wonderful Brian Michael Bendis. Both tenses flow seamlessly back and forth. Nick Fury is so much better of a leader than Captain America and Wolverine is really more animal than man. The tension is high as Wolverine contemplates killing one man to save many and the future gang battles more Ultrons than imaginable. And yeah, auto-correct, "Ultrons" is a word. Adding to dictionary right now. I like Storm's new look and I think that the retro Iron Man suit is a nice touch as well. Now, if they could only fix Quicksilver. I am so loving this storyline. I don't know what it is, I just am really in the mood to quote myself tonight. "I can't wait for next month." 

• Savage Wolverine #004

"Let's resurrect that character!" said every single publisher who wanted to make money. Jason Todd, Charles Xavier, Ra's Al Ghul, the list goes on. The only person in comics who stays dead is Uncle Ben. And now he's doing some rice ads or something.

Well, not every time. The Todd resurrection was a little tough to understand.

But we do go through the resurrection process this issue. Along with never ending word-balloons and very few Wolverine appearences this issue was well-written and illustrated. I continue to love the way Frank Cho makes a page, I always find his panelling quite interesting. I also like this new, correct me if I am wrong, character Amadeus Cho. He is very cool looking and the way Frank Cho writes his dialogue is bliss to read. This is a series that I will read to the grave.

• Catwoman #19

I can't say that I love tie-ins or that I had any idea of what was going on in the beginning of this issue, but I will say that Catwoman #19 was better than ordinary. An asylum is an interesting place, filled with interesting people. And Catwoman is one of them now. The writing is once above par, and the art is not bad either. Of course there is a lot of kicking faces and sarcasm coming from Catwoman, but if you are going to read this title you are going to have to deal with that. Honestly, while reading the book for a second time I realized that there were probably at least ten instances throughout the book where Catwoman's boot connects with someones face. This book is turning around, and I do respect that. It's just all of that kicking, is it really necessary?

• Nightwing #19

Nightwing #19 pulls this series out of it's funk. It is bright, cheerful, intriguing and Chicago. It shows that Dick is still a kid at heart and life can be tough even on super-heroes. I love the format of; present-flashback-present and I loved the introduction to the Jokester. Excuse me, the Prankster. Both names are equally stupid. But this deeply troubled individual is a lot like Gollum. She has split personalities, tricks people into believing false tales and would leave someone to survive a giant wolf with only a suitcase of money and a lighter. I really like how the Dark Knight series has left the direct cannon for a while just to focus on Batman and a rogue and I hope Nightwing follows suit. The art was also very good this week for a change. Nightwing can actually keep his secret identity safe now.

• Red Hood and the Outlaws #19

YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!YAY!

That was completely necessary  That shows just how excited I am that Scott Lobdell is no longer writing this book. One kitten is saved from getting run over because Scott Lobdell wrote one less comic book. James Tynion writes a great issue in which he perfectly captures the Outlaws and their longing for their leader back. The art was spectacular along with a great scene that took place in Roy's dreams. I am finally opening up to Roy now that Lobdell can't get a hold of him anymore. I think that this book would benefit if they had a little less "let's confront our pasts" and a little more "Oh My God! Giant tarantulas fighting Man-Bats along with Eddard Stark on the island from Lost, we want in!"

4/10/13

Today brought a nice batch of books, some of my favorites actually. Thor and Batman are amazing and Batman and Red Robin was actually really weird and cool. Age of Ultron, however, one of the most consistently excellent books I get, was quite disappointing. So here they are, the weekly reviews:

• Age of Ultron Book Five

This book follows pretty much the same template as Lost. At first there is a moderately joyful flashback that shows where the future began, if that makes any sense. Then we see our happy flashbacker in the more desolate future. The flashbacker in this case is Tony Stark and the future is all of the Ultron survivors in the Savage Land. Without giving away major spoilers they meet someone they did NOT expect to meet who has a completely cackamaymee idea that includes time travel. Besides having a plan, said person has all of the traditional costumes of the survivors and totally boss weapons. So we have that pleasant "Let's suit up for battle" scene with expert banter courtesy of Brian Michael Bendis. After the people on the time-travel mission have, well, time-traveled, of course Wolverine has to be all like, "Y'know what, screw that idea I am totally gonna do what everyone told me not to do even though it will completely mess EVERYTHING up." There's Wolverine for you. The only reasons this issue really didn't do it for me was because there was little of that ultra-bleak post-apocalyptic materiel that has made me fall in love with this series. I can't wait until Book Six because the art-reigns are passed to Brandon Peterson. Have I mentioned how much I dislike Bryan Hitch?

• Batman #19

Now that the controversial Requiem books are over we can get back to some good old Snyder/Capullo Batman. There was everything I like about a regular Batman issue in this book, suspense, shock, amazing art, detective work, well-written inner monologue and so much more. Bruce Wayne and Batman are both interesting characters and that is because Scott Snyder is the master of Batman. I don't think that he should ever leave the title. There is really no reason, and this weeks book showed that to me again. Stepping out of the wake of Death of the Family and Damian's death felt so good even if there was some reminiscing about times with Damian. I can't tell you how hard it is to write well about the GCPD but Snyder manages to make both James Gordon and Harvey Bullock super interesting. Cappulo draws the best Clayface. Period. It is just so grotesque and gruesome it is almost too awesome, keyword almost. I can't wait to see how next month plays out.

If you look closely you can see the Clayface face on the very right of the picture.

• Batman and Red Robin #19

Not as much Red Robin as I would have liked but not much disappointment either. Readers, like myself and my reading buddy, who know nothing about Carrie can still tell who she is and what kind of relationship she had with Damian from just this book. The parts featuring Carrie Kelley were humorous and fun and I look forward to her appearing in future books. I thought the incorporation of Frankenstein into this issue was just sheer brilliance though. Bruce was going insane and captured Frankenstein in a desperate attempt to bring Damian back to life. Without too many spoilers the plan doesn't go smoothly and Frankenstein ends up being dismembered.

• Thor God of Thunder #007

God Bomb is here! And it is AMAZING. This is really the perfect comic in all regards. The God Butcher is such an intriguing character and Thor has never been more interesting. The art, as anyone can tell from just the cover, is just gorgeous and the interior is even better. I liked the art in the Gorr-igin but it is great to have Esad Ribic back on the book. Jason Aaron is such a good writer and the way he writes the dynamic between future and present Thor is some of the best dialogue in any kind of literature. No offense Shakespeare. I love the past Thor and think that his irresponsibleness and bravado make him so interesting. I really can't wait to find out more about the God Bomb and the God of Bombs.

• Batgirl #19

Gail is back on the book and the "OMG James Jr. is CRAZY" storyline comes to an end. Some powerful family matters are dealt with in this book and we can all learn a little about caring for others, so go give your psychotic brother a hug. 

The weaving of horror movies into this issue was creative and I thoroughly enjoyed the finale at the dock. I think that Barbara Gordon shines for making these connections to real life that really help us to empathize with her. She also shows that she is human when she comes clean to her roommate about "everything." The roommate also tells Babs that she is a transgendered character. I think this is a step in the right direction for diversity in comics, way to go DC!

OMG I totes just killed my bro!