Well, I'm sitting here in South Paw at SHSU, finished with all of my school work for the semester, and waiting for my friends to be done so we can head home. I am completely exhausted. The semester was beginning to kick my butt, but thankfully I made it through before I ran out of juice. Summer is going to be even harder this year. Taking both sessions, they will be Monday through Friday. I'm honestly afraid I won't be able to afford it.
Anywho, enough of my worries and the such lets get on to something a bit more fun!
Now, I've read a lot of books since the last time I posted, and I still had a list of books to review from even before then! So, with my list in hand lets get this show on the road!
All Star Superman Vol. 2
Ah, the final six issues of this amazing maxiseries. I was saddened when I finished this book. Why? Because it has been some of the best Superman stories I have ever read. Before this series even came out, I had read and seen Grant Morrison's other work. I had a few worries as he was going into this. He is, by far, one of the most craziest comic scribes around! It worked really well for this series. By ignoring the current continuity, and just telling timeless Superman stories, he was able to mix Golden and Silver age storyline tropes with the touch of modernity. The stories were out there, with all kinds of weird things such as the Bizarro-men, or even Zibarro, the only 'normal' guy on Bizarro World. Or even his tests of strength against Atlas, and the most evil Lex Luthor! Each issue, for the most part, was a one-and-done story, completely self contained yet it still developed an over-reaching story arc for the series as a whole; What would Superman do if he knew he was going to die?
The art was also a treat. I'll be honest, I normally didn't like Frank Quitely's artwork. Reading his issues of New X-men was a bit annoying. His art was scratchy, most people looked fat and had this "I'm better than you" demeanor, and his women were just plain fugly. Now, he still has a problem drawing the women(he likes giving them oval heads, which makes the face look pudgy while the body is built like a supermodel), but his Superman is just amazing. His take on the transformation/differences between Clark Kent and Superman is by far one of the greatest artistic renderings available. Now, I won't say Frank Quitely is the greatest comic-book artist around, he is at least in the top ten.
So, its a great book. A wonderful series. And it sucks that it is over.
Ciao!
Monday, May 03, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Another Round for My Friends Over Here!
Well, I'm now finishing day one of my two day 'weekend.' It sucks, though, as I planned on playing this one game, inFamous, for the two days. Well...that didn't pan out well. I finished it all in one day.
Well. Crap.
Anywho, while I try to figure out what I should do for the next day, here are a few reviews for you!
JLA Vol 5 - Justice For All
Essentially three separate story-arcs within this book. It is actually pretty huge! The main stories by Grant Morrison feature the JSA, and his re imagining 0f the imps from the 5th dimension! From this point, this is basically just 'filler' until Morrison's final arc, which happens to be in the next volume. It was an ok read I suppose. The artist, Howard Porter, has a problem with Wildcat and Batman. As in, he tends to make Wildcat look like Batman waaaay too much.
The other stuff involved in this arc? Kinda blah. They give service to a few of the DC storylines of the day, such as Batman's No Man's Land stuff and Flash's crisis.
So...it was ok....but not great.
Hulk Vol 2 - Red and Green
Ok, ok, now I'm just enjoying this. Its pure crap! It really is, but I can't stop reading. I think I figured out why...Its like a mindless action movie. You just turn off your brain and watch the awesome explosions! The problem is, I think Loeb, the writer, really thinks he is writing an intriguing and mentally captivating book. So a lot of things try to turn your brain back 'on,' but if you do you'll just start to get ticked off due to all the stupid crap in this book.
Arthur Adams and Frank Cho do the art duties for this volume. Essentially, when this book came out monthly, they were actually two stories per book, with Arthur Adams dealing with the story with the main Hulk...and Wendigos....in Vegas.... and then there is Frank Cho doing the art for the Lady Liberators, led by She-Hulk, trying to beat the crap out of the Red Hulk.
Both are awesome artists that were given a story that tailors to their talents. For Arthur, its awesomely stylized fighting and monsters. For Frank Cho..its the cheese factor. He draws almost every Marvel heroine that isn't a mutant. And then throws in one mutant for good measure. Its readable. The art is phenomenal. So I was happy reading this.
Hulk Vol 3 - Hulk No More
Ah...Ed Mcguinnes is back! Its a Hulk team-up of epic proportions! Hulk, Namor, Dr. Strange, and Silver Surfer versus Red Hulk, TigerShark, Terrax, and Mordo!
This happens to have the greatest line said by a villain ever, "This is the most fun I've had with my pants on!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
It was funny, it was stupid, but still a great read mainly thanks to the awesome art.
Well..there you go. Three lovely reviews set in!
Laters.
Well. Crap.
Anywho, while I try to figure out what I should do for the next day, here are a few reviews for you!
JLA Vol 5 - Justice For All
Essentially three separate story-arcs within this book. It is actually pretty huge! The main stories by Grant Morrison feature the JSA, and his re imagining 0f the imps from the 5th dimension! From this point, this is basically just 'filler' until Morrison's final arc, which happens to be in the next volume. It was an ok read I suppose. The artist, Howard Porter, has a problem with Wildcat and Batman. As in, he tends to make Wildcat look like Batman waaaay too much.
The other stuff involved in this arc? Kinda blah. They give service to a few of the DC storylines of the day, such as Batman's No Man's Land stuff and Flash's crisis.
So...it was ok....but not great.
Hulk Vol 2 - Red and Green
Ok, ok, now I'm just enjoying this. Its pure crap! It really is, but I can't stop reading. I think I figured out why...Its like a mindless action movie. You just turn off your brain and watch the awesome explosions! The problem is, I think Loeb, the writer, really thinks he is writing an intriguing and mentally captivating book. So a lot of things try to turn your brain back 'on,' but if you do you'll just start to get ticked off due to all the stupid crap in this book.
Arthur Adams and Frank Cho do the art duties for this volume. Essentially, when this book came out monthly, they were actually two stories per book, with Arthur Adams dealing with the story with the main Hulk...and Wendigos....in Vegas.... and then there is Frank Cho doing the art for the Lady Liberators, led by She-Hulk, trying to beat the crap out of the Red Hulk.
Both are awesome artists that were given a story that tailors to their talents. For Arthur, its awesomely stylized fighting and monsters. For Frank Cho..its the cheese factor. He draws almost every Marvel heroine that isn't a mutant. And then throws in one mutant for good measure. Its readable. The art is phenomenal. So I was happy reading this.
Hulk Vol 3 - Hulk No More
Ah...Ed Mcguinnes is back! Its a Hulk team-up of epic proportions! Hulk, Namor, Dr. Strange, and Silver Surfer versus Red Hulk, TigerShark, Terrax, and Mordo!
This happens to have the greatest line said by a villain ever, "This is the most fun I've had with my pants on!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
It was funny, it was stupid, but still a great read mainly thanks to the awesome art.
Well..there you go. Three lovely reviews set in!
Laters.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Can't sleep, clown will eat me...
Well, after listening to the awesome podcast over at House To Astonish, I finally found out why I haven't been able to buy any comics from Amazon.com recently.
Apparently, there was a computer glitch between Diamond Shipping and Amazon, that allowed comics that normally cost around 50-60$ to sell for as low as 8$.
And here is me, slapping myself because I totally missed out on this.
Darn.
Oh well, got some comics today, and read some more within the last time I blogged earlier today, feeling generous in wanting to review some more books.
Annihilation: Conquest Book One
Ah, the sequel to the original Annihilation cosmic event by Marvel. Instead of Keith Giffen being the showrunner this time, you have to dastardly duo of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning(known as DnA to Marvel). They have a vast knowledge of the Marvel Cosmos, so one shouldn't worry that new guys run the show. Anywho, this new event starts off with the Kree empire rebuilding, with the help of the SpaceKnights(alas, still no ROM). Well, it has Annihilation, and Conquest in its title so obviously things aren't peaceful for long. A new evil alien entity heads in and takes over, the Phalanx. For those that don't know, think Star Trek's Borg, techno-organic beings that are a virus-entity that takes over other life forms. Bad news for the group. Well, book one goes over the prologue, the Star-Lord mini, and the Quasar mini. The Star-Lord mini is like the last event's 'Super-Skrull' mini, a guerrilla-war tactic against the main enemy. But this time its different! There's a living tree-organism and the ever-awesome Rocket Raccoon! Yep! The Quasar mini is fairly meh, at least until the end. Involves the new Quasar going in looking for the Kree savior. Kinda cool when the Kree savior is revealed, but until then its all standard blah blah 'I'm so unsure of myself' crud.
Other than that, a great start to the new cosmic event!
Nova Vol 1 - Annihilation: Conquest
The first 7 issues of this awesome title, and I'm glad I have this book its just amazing. The first couple of issues actually involve Nova, Richard Rider, going back to Earth and dealing with the events of Marvel's Civil War. Key Word: Deals with Iron Man, and lots of explosions! Then, the last 4 issues are the tie-in to Annihilation: Conquest, and since its written by DnA it ties in very well, without revealing too much of the main series. By the way, the artist Sean Chen, I will literally buy anything that has his name attached. He does great with space-alien stuff, and doubly great for armor based costumes. Great read, can't wait to read the next book.
Hulk Vol 1 - Red Hulk
Oh god....I really don't know why I bought this. When I originally read this, it was god-awful. Jeph Loeb has been utter crap in recent years, and this was no different. I still can't understand why I bought this. I guess I wanted to read something 'dumb' with action. Oh wait! I remember! Has the awesome, kinetic-charged, super-muscled art of Ed Mcguinnes. Whew, you don't know muscles until you see his work.
Now, after re-reading this. It wasn't THAT bad. Its bad, don't get me wrong, but its not that bad haha. It is readable, actually, and I think I know why I hated it originally. Horrible plot, bad characterizations, and they went and reverted Hulk to 'dumb' Hulk, fresh off his run of World War Hulk where he was a uber-badass, now he is all "Me no am happy! Me want to be left alone! Hulk is hulk! Hulk smash!" Eugh.
Oh well. Pretty art though.
Ok. Well thats it for now.
Apparently, there was a computer glitch between Diamond Shipping and Amazon, that allowed comics that normally cost around 50-60$ to sell for as low as 8$.
And here is me, slapping myself because I totally missed out on this.
Darn.
Oh well, got some comics today, and read some more within the last time I blogged earlier today, feeling generous in wanting to review some more books.
Annihilation: Conquest Book One
Ah, the sequel to the original Annihilation cosmic event by Marvel. Instead of Keith Giffen being the showrunner this time, you have to dastardly duo of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning(known as DnA to Marvel). They have a vast knowledge of the Marvel Cosmos, so one shouldn't worry that new guys run the show. Anywho, this new event starts off with the Kree empire rebuilding, with the help of the SpaceKnights(alas, still no ROM). Well, it has Annihilation, and Conquest in its title so obviously things aren't peaceful for long. A new evil alien entity heads in and takes over, the Phalanx. For those that don't know, think Star Trek's Borg, techno-organic beings that are a virus-entity that takes over other life forms. Bad news for the group. Well, book one goes over the prologue, the Star-Lord mini, and the Quasar mini. The Star-Lord mini is like the last event's 'Super-Skrull' mini, a guerrilla-war tactic against the main enemy. But this time its different! There's a living tree-organism and the ever-awesome Rocket Raccoon! Yep! The Quasar mini is fairly meh, at least until the end. Involves the new Quasar going in looking for the Kree savior. Kinda cool when the Kree savior is revealed, but until then its all standard blah blah 'I'm so unsure of myself' crud.
Other than that, a great start to the new cosmic event!
Nova Vol 1 - Annihilation: Conquest
The first 7 issues of this awesome title, and I'm glad I have this book its just amazing. The first couple of issues actually involve Nova, Richard Rider, going back to Earth and dealing with the events of Marvel's Civil War. Key Word: Deals with Iron Man, and lots of explosions! Then, the last 4 issues are the tie-in to Annihilation: Conquest, and since its written by DnA it ties in very well, without revealing too much of the main series. By the way, the artist Sean Chen, I will literally buy anything that has his name attached. He does great with space-alien stuff, and doubly great for armor based costumes. Great read, can't wait to read the next book.
Hulk Vol 1 - Red Hulk
Oh god....I really don't know why I bought this. When I originally read this, it was god-awful. Jeph Loeb has been utter crap in recent years, and this was no different. I still can't understand why I bought this. I guess I wanted to read something 'dumb' with action. Oh wait! I remember! Has the awesome, kinetic-charged, super-muscled art of Ed Mcguinnes. Whew, you don't know muscles until you see his work.
Now, after re-reading this. It wasn't THAT bad. Its bad, don't get me wrong, but its not that bad haha. It is readable, actually, and I think I know why I hated it originally. Horrible plot, bad characterizations, and they went and reverted Hulk to 'dumb' Hulk, fresh off his run of World War Hulk where he was a uber-badass, now he is all "Me no am happy! Me want to be left alone! Hulk is hulk! Hulk smash!" Eugh.
Oh well. Pretty art though.
Ok. Well thats it for now.
Alrighty then...
Well, to make up for not doing reviews Thursday and Friday, I will just do them today and tomorrow.
Anywho, nothing else left to say so I'm just going to get started on them now!
Ultimate X-men Vol 14 - Phoenix?
Yeah, strange title, this is where Robert Kirkman begins his run on the Ultimate X-men series. From what I've read, this is also where the appeal of Ultimate X-men began to dissipate. The problem being, the artwork wasn't anywhere near as good as previously seen, and the writer seems to just jumble up a lot of old X-men stories into one narrative, and it doesn't mesh well.
The first arc deals with Jean's manifestation of the Phoenix force. Previously in Ultimate X-men, it was believed that she doesn't have it, but of course that was a lie to attempt to control her. Now it is coming out in full swing and the entire team has to attempt to reign her in. Its ok stuff, but has no real 'pop' to it, so its boring. The artwork was just fugly too.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 15 - Magical
The ONLY storyline created by Robert Kirkman that wasn't an obvious retelling of a classic X-men story. Just because it was an original storyline doesn't mean its any good, though. The artwork is still just awful. The storyline, which revolves around a mutant who can get anything he desires, is blah as well. There isn't really anything in this book that has any redeeming value.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 16 - Cable
Kirkman's continuation of a mish-mash of classic X-men titles. This one dealing with the time-travelers Cable and Bishop. This time around, Cable has come back in time to kill Professor X, believing it was him that caused all the future problems of the world. Hoo-boy. There is one twist in this book that was actually really interesting, but its revealed in the first issue of the 6 issue arc, which just ruins any of its intrigue. By this point, one gets the feeling that to read Ultimate X-men is to read some weird person's fan-fiction. Artwork still sucks too.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 17 - Sentinels
Ah yes, more mish-mash. This time dealing with newfound sentinels and the morlocks underneath New York. Ugh. I really don't even know why I'm bothering here, it was just a mess. At least Robert Kirkman doesn't write Nightcrawler with that annoying 'German' accent that never works in comics. I.E. 'Vas is dat? Vhat? Etc etc. Art? Don't even bother its dull as well.
Ok, thats it for today, I promise to review some good books tomorrow!
Anywho, nothing else left to say so I'm just going to get started on them now!
Ultimate X-men Vol 14 - Phoenix?
Yeah, strange title, this is where Robert Kirkman begins his run on the Ultimate X-men series. From what I've read, this is also where the appeal of Ultimate X-men began to dissipate. The problem being, the artwork wasn't anywhere near as good as previously seen, and the writer seems to just jumble up a lot of old X-men stories into one narrative, and it doesn't mesh well.
The first arc deals with Jean's manifestation of the Phoenix force. Previously in Ultimate X-men, it was believed that she doesn't have it, but of course that was a lie to attempt to control her. Now it is coming out in full swing and the entire team has to attempt to reign her in. Its ok stuff, but has no real 'pop' to it, so its boring. The artwork was just fugly too.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 15 - Magical
The ONLY storyline created by Robert Kirkman that wasn't an obvious retelling of a classic X-men story. Just because it was an original storyline doesn't mean its any good, though. The artwork is still just awful. The storyline, which revolves around a mutant who can get anything he desires, is blah as well. There isn't really anything in this book that has any redeeming value.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 16 - Cable
Kirkman's continuation of a mish-mash of classic X-men titles. This one dealing with the time-travelers Cable and Bishop. This time around, Cable has come back in time to kill Professor X, believing it was him that caused all the future problems of the world. Hoo-boy. There is one twist in this book that was actually really interesting, but its revealed in the first issue of the 6 issue arc, which just ruins any of its intrigue. By this point, one gets the feeling that to read Ultimate X-men is to read some weird person's fan-fiction. Artwork still sucks too.
Ultimate X-men Vol. 17 - Sentinels
Ah yes, more mish-mash. This time dealing with newfound sentinels and the morlocks underneath New York. Ugh. I really don't even know why I'm bothering here, it was just a mess. At least Robert Kirkman doesn't write Nightcrawler with that annoying 'German' accent that never works in comics. I.E. 'Vas is dat? Vhat? Etc etc. Art? Don't even bother its dull as well.
Ok, thats it for today, I promise to review some good books tomorrow!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Oh jeeze...
Well, today was a horrid day. Woke up at 6am, and noticed my truck had a flat. Didn't have enough time to fix it to reach it to make it to my friend's to get to class...so I didn't. Well, I wait till about noon, like a retard to switch out the tire only to find out that even my spare was flat! Ugh, so I went to Discount Tire to get a replacement, and what a surprise they were super busy...moreso than I've ever seen. Well, I go to NTB...and the fact that the place was empty should have been the first clue....the guy in there was just a total retard. Not dumb. Not stupid. NO, freakin RETARDED. So that was a no go, since they didn't have my tire. Finally, going to the supercenter, and paying 30 bucks more than I originally planned, I was able to get it replaced.
Needless to say, its been a bad day, so no reviews today. Sorry.
Needless to say, its been a bad day, so no reviews today. Sorry.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Oh Great Googly Moogly.
Man, brutal day, filled with tests and writings for other classes.
Anywho, on to today's three reviews!
JLA Vol 4 - Strength In Numbers
The next volume of the JLA run I've grabbed, featuring Morrison's greatest villain yet, Prometheus. This dude is like an anti-Batman, and you love every moment he comes in beating the crap out of the league. Of course it has to end, and it does so pretty cheaply. He is just about to take down everyone, and his...suit...glitches?.. Well technically Steel takes over his technology, but you barely catch that. The good ol' end of the world subplot rears its head towards the end, with the reveal of Mageddon's coming being imminent. Howard Porter is once again on art for the main storyline, with other fill-in artists(and writers) who's work is boring and can't be bothered to remember their names adding more material to this book.
Supreme Power HC Collection 1
The reimagining of the Squadron Supreme through the eyes of JMS and the ever-awesome artist, Gary Frank. Set during real events(from Carter's presidency all the way to George Bush Sr.'s) the story is essentially a 'Place Superman in the real-world, and see what happens' storyline. Don't let that prevent you from reading this, as it is amazing. The story is filled with political intrigue, and the great proverb of 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Oh, and its a Marvel MAX book, so that means its essentially a Rated R book. Full of cussing, nudity and uber-violence. Good stuff good stuff. HC Collection 1 covers the first twelve issues of this series, which essentially runs the gamut of the main character, Mark Milton's, life from birth to young adult.
Oh, and did I mention that Gary Frank on artwork is just absolutely amazing? Well, it is! Read it!
Dark Avengers Vol 1 - Assemble!
Ah, the ever-present Brian Michael Bendis brings out a new Avengers book to hit off the recent Dark Reign turn of events over at Marvel. Essentially, this is a continuation of Thunderbolts(the version where Norman Osborn ran a group of crazed villains as 'heroes'), where these crazed villains have now assumed the identities of various heroes. The artwork is done by Mike Deodato Jr., who makes Norman Osborn look like Tommy Lee Jones.
It works actually, I can even picture his voice when Normie talks, and it just makes it pretty sinister. Better than Willem Defoe's snively voice from the Spider-Man movies.
Anywho, its a standard 'bringing the team together' book, but with a twist! Instead of saving normal people, the group goes to Latveria to save Dr. Doom.
Its ok, but gets dull easily, and you grow tired of the uber-talk that Bendis likes to do in his books. But, Bendis knows where he is going with the group, so its great to watch that story unfold.
Average fair, but still an ok read if you can track this down for a cheap price.
Ok, thats my three for today. See you tomorrow with Round Three!
Anywho, on to today's three reviews!
JLA Vol 4 - Strength In Numbers
The next volume of the JLA run I've grabbed, featuring Morrison's greatest villain yet, Prometheus. This dude is like an anti-Batman, and you love every moment he comes in beating the crap out of the league. Of course it has to end, and it does so pretty cheaply. He is just about to take down everyone, and his...suit...glitches?.. Well technically Steel takes over his technology, but you barely catch that. The good ol' end of the world subplot rears its head towards the end, with the reveal of Mageddon's coming being imminent. Howard Porter is once again on art for the main storyline, with other fill-in artists(and writers) who's work is boring and can't be bothered to remember their names adding more material to this book.
Supreme Power HC Collection 1
The reimagining of the Squadron Supreme through the eyes of JMS and the ever-awesome artist, Gary Frank. Set during real events(from Carter's presidency all the way to George Bush Sr.'s) the story is essentially a 'Place Superman in the real-world, and see what happens' storyline. Don't let that prevent you from reading this, as it is amazing. The story is filled with political intrigue, and the great proverb of 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Oh, and its a Marvel MAX book, so that means its essentially a Rated R book. Full of cussing, nudity and uber-violence. Good stuff good stuff. HC Collection 1 covers the first twelve issues of this series, which essentially runs the gamut of the main character, Mark Milton's, life from birth to young adult.
Oh, and did I mention that Gary Frank on artwork is just absolutely amazing? Well, it is! Read it!
Dark Avengers Vol 1 - Assemble!
Ah, the ever-present Brian Michael Bendis brings out a new Avengers book to hit off the recent Dark Reign turn of events over at Marvel. Essentially, this is a continuation of Thunderbolts(the version where Norman Osborn ran a group of crazed villains as 'heroes'), where these crazed villains have now assumed the identities of various heroes. The artwork is done by Mike Deodato Jr., who makes Norman Osborn look like Tommy Lee Jones.
It works actually, I can even picture his voice when Normie talks, and it just makes it pretty sinister. Better than Willem Defoe's snively voice from the Spider-Man movies.
Anywho, its a standard 'bringing the team together' book, but with a twist! Instead of saving normal people, the group goes to Latveria to save Dr. Doom.
Its ok, but gets dull easily, and you grow tired of the uber-talk that Bendis likes to do in his books. But, Bendis knows where he is going with the group, so its great to watch that story unfold.
Average fair, but still an ok read if you can track this down for a cheap price.
Ok, thats my three for today. See you tomorrow with Round Three!
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Justice League of America? Where? When? How?
Wow, time flies quick...sorry once again for my pure laziness in not updating this blog.
I have read quite a bit since the last blog post, and amazed that still have a heckuva lot to go. Seems I bought tons of books this year already, and I plan on buying more eventually.
Anyways, in lieu of Spring Break next week, I have quite a bit of free time on my hands, and have prepared a LOT of reviews to be posted onto this blog.
Instead of posting them all at once, I have spread them out to doing four reviews a day, all through Friday.
So expect four more tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, and maybe even a look at the current books coming out now.
Also, if you haven't yet, check out the new Iron Man 2 trailer, as it is awesome!
JLA(Late 90's series) Vol 1 - New World Order
Ah, now this is what helped my resurgence in comic books! Not necessarily this volume, but this series jumpstarted my desire to read comics again. This stuff was Grant Morrison at his finest, and about a month or so ago, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the entire GM run of this series. This was the JLA run that began in '96-'97 and finally brought back the 'big three' to JLA; Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The first arc, which represents this volume, is only four issues long, and is one of the shortest trades I own. Regardless, the read was slow-paced and, above all, entertaining.. The reformation of the JLA as the threat of alien invasion, by the white martians, begins! Grant has wild ideas and sneaky subplots that churn throughout his entire run, and they all begin here. The only downside to this arc is that its really tame in comparison to his other issues during his stay with the JLA. Also, the artwork isn't as amazing as it should be. Howard Porter seems like he couldn't find his bearings during these first four issues, but it is still readable and the action is coherent so it works out!
JLA Vol 2 - American Dreams
Another small book, which involves angels and demons, with a short arc in the end dealing with a super-smart villain named The Key. Whereas volume one was too tame, volume two is too out there. The stuff dealing with the angels just comes out of the left field, and there isn't any true cohesion to the whole ordeal. On the other hand, the last two issues that deal with the JLA dealing with the Key are much better. It is truly amazing how Grant condensed four-to-six issues of stuff into just two issues, and its still completely coherent! Howard Porter also should be recognized as this book is loads better than volume one, he finally hits his stride during this one and it is awesome! A drastic switch from volume one, this one shows what happens when Grant can't reign in his ideas into coherent stuff(a la Final Crisis).
JLA Vol 3 - Rock of Ages
How amazing that this JLA arc seems to be where Grant garners his inspiration for Final Crisis. Much you see in this story arc was used in that series as well. This actually angers me a bit, he reused some of these ideas almost to the point of complete 'copying.' Even stranger that both come from the same writer. Lesee...
Turning humans into slaves via helmets? Check.
Anti-life equation rules all? Check.
'Absolute' end of the world until a final deus ex machina comes into play at the very end? Check.
Batman dying? Check.
Obscure heroes win the battle? Check.
Whats sad is that where Final Crisis failed to present a coherent and entertaining story, Rock of Ages(which was done in 97-98) did it even better!! The art by Howard Porter is great, and makes the book really pop. What is hilarious, is that the Darkseid part of the storyline, with all the end of the world stuff, only takes part in two issues of this six-issue story arc!
Annihilation Books 1 - 3
Ahh....the resurgence of Marvel's cosmic line begins here! It all starts with a seemingly unrelated storyline titled Drax the Destroyer, which involves an alien who crashes to Earth, and must redefine himself to survive in the current climate. It all really starts with a huge 'wave' of aliens destroying the cosmos, including the 'space cops,' the Nova Corp. All to reveal that the ruler of the Negative Zone, Annihilus, has pushed in and wants to take over everything in our universe. The stories are encapsulating, and weave in and out of each other with ease. Books One and Two cover the four, four-issue miniseries that act as a prologue to Annihilation; Nova, Silver Surfer, Ronan, and Super-Skrull. Its the Nova miniseries that shows why this collection also includes Drax the Destroyer, as he is called in to help Nova master his new powers and prepare to lead in the war against Annihilus. In Silver Surfer, Norinn Radd must once again attempt to understand why all of these powerful beings do such terrible things, and leads to a decision that is both shocking, and makes sense in regards to the evolution of his character. In Ronan, the accuser himself stands accused, and he must search within to find himself before the Annihilation wave reaches his homeworld and destroys his people. Finally, in Super-Skrull, you get the all-out action book, with plenty of violence, as the Super Skrull invades enemy lines to destroy a powerful weapon before its used against the cosmos.
This all leads into Book Three, which covers the main Annihilation event. Which is a six issue series delving into the all-encompassing war, and how it affects the heroes involved. This stuff really ignited the readers into embracing Marvel's cosmic-opera stories once again, stories that haven't really been delved into since the 80's-90's. The artwork is varied throughout each book, but the number one artist is Andrea de Vito, who is the artist for the main series. It was a spectacle to look at all the alien images conceived during the six-issue run and that makes the artwork pure eye-candy! Of course, Keith Giffen, the main writer, seemingly knows these characters top to bottom, and crafts an intriguing story utilizing almost every Marvel cosmic character known, including the Space Knights!(Alas, no ROM though.) This stuff slowly evolves into a major story that is continued in Annihilation: Conquest, which will be reviewed at a later time.
Alrighty, so thats six books reviewed. Whew. Expect more tomorrow through Friday, as each day I vow to review at least four books!
I have read quite a bit since the last blog post, and amazed that still have a heckuva lot to go. Seems I bought tons of books this year already, and I plan on buying more eventually.
Anyways, in lieu of Spring Break next week, I have quite a bit of free time on my hands, and have prepared a LOT of reviews to be posted onto this blog.
Instead of posting them all at once, I have spread them out to doing four reviews a day, all through Friday.
So expect four more tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, and maybe even a look at the current books coming out now.
Also, if you haven't yet, check out the new Iron Man 2 trailer, as it is awesome!
JLA(Late 90's series) Vol 1 - New World Order
Ah, now this is what helped my resurgence in comic books! Not necessarily this volume, but this series jumpstarted my desire to read comics again. This stuff was Grant Morrison at his finest, and about a month or so ago, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the entire GM run of this series. This was the JLA run that began in '96-'97 and finally brought back the 'big three' to JLA; Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The first arc, which represents this volume, is only four issues long, and is one of the shortest trades I own. Regardless, the read was slow-paced and, above all, entertaining.. The reformation of the JLA as the threat of alien invasion, by the white martians, begins! Grant has wild ideas and sneaky subplots that churn throughout his entire run, and they all begin here. The only downside to this arc is that its really tame in comparison to his other issues during his stay with the JLA. Also, the artwork isn't as amazing as it should be. Howard Porter seems like he couldn't find his bearings during these first four issues, but it is still readable and the action is coherent so it works out!
JLA Vol 2 - American Dreams
Another small book, which involves angels and demons, with a short arc in the end dealing with a super-smart villain named The Key. Whereas volume one was too tame, volume two is too out there. The stuff dealing with the angels just comes out of the left field, and there isn't any true cohesion to the whole ordeal. On the other hand, the last two issues that deal with the JLA dealing with the Key are much better. It is truly amazing how Grant condensed four-to-six issues of stuff into just two issues, and its still completely coherent! Howard Porter also should be recognized as this book is loads better than volume one, he finally hits his stride during this one and it is awesome! A drastic switch from volume one, this one shows what happens when Grant can't reign in his ideas into coherent stuff(a la Final Crisis).
JLA Vol 3 - Rock of Ages
How amazing that this JLA arc seems to be where Grant garners his inspiration for Final Crisis. Much you see in this story arc was used in that series as well. This actually angers me a bit, he reused some of these ideas almost to the point of complete 'copying.' Even stranger that both come from the same writer. Lesee...
Turning humans into slaves via helmets? Check.
Anti-life equation rules all? Check.
'Absolute' end of the world until a final deus ex machina comes into play at the very end? Check.
Batman dying? Check.
Obscure heroes win the battle? Check.
Whats sad is that where Final Crisis failed to present a coherent and entertaining story, Rock of Ages(which was done in 97-98) did it even better!! The art by Howard Porter is great, and makes the book really pop. What is hilarious, is that the Darkseid part of the storyline, with all the end of the world stuff, only takes part in two issues of this six-issue story arc!
Annihilation Books 1 - 3
Ahh....the resurgence of Marvel's cosmic line begins here! It all starts with a seemingly unrelated storyline titled Drax the Destroyer, which involves an alien who crashes to Earth, and must redefine himself to survive in the current climate. It all really starts with a huge 'wave' of aliens destroying the cosmos, including the 'space cops,' the Nova Corp. All to reveal that the ruler of the Negative Zone, Annihilus, has pushed in and wants to take over everything in our universe. The stories are encapsulating, and weave in and out of each other with ease. Books One and Two cover the four, four-issue miniseries that act as a prologue to Annihilation; Nova, Silver Surfer, Ronan, and Super-Skrull. Its the Nova miniseries that shows why this collection also includes Drax the Destroyer, as he is called in to help Nova master his new powers and prepare to lead in the war against Annihilus. In Silver Surfer, Norinn Radd must once again attempt to understand why all of these powerful beings do such terrible things, and leads to a decision that is both shocking, and makes sense in regards to the evolution of his character. In Ronan, the accuser himself stands accused, and he must search within to find himself before the Annihilation wave reaches his homeworld and destroys his people. Finally, in Super-Skrull, you get the all-out action book, with plenty of violence, as the Super Skrull invades enemy lines to destroy a powerful weapon before its used against the cosmos.
This all leads into Book Three, which covers the main Annihilation event. Which is a six issue series delving into the all-encompassing war, and how it affects the heroes involved. This stuff really ignited the readers into embracing Marvel's cosmic-opera stories once again, stories that haven't really been delved into since the 80's-90's. The artwork is varied throughout each book, but the number one artist is Andrea de Vito, who is the artist for the main series. It was a spectacle to look at all the alien images conceived during the six-issue run and that makes the artwork pure eye-candy! Of course, Keith Giffen, the main writer, seemingly knows these characters top to bottom, and crafts an intriguing story utilizing almost every Marvel cosmic character known, including the Space Knights!(Alas, no ROM though.) This stuff slowly evolves into a major story that is continued in Annihilation: Conquest, which will be reviewed at a later time.
Alrighty, so thats six books reviewed. Whew. Expect more tomorrow through Friday, as each day I vow to review at least four books!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wow...
Whoops, forgot to update this thing.
Well, lets see... Not too much going on at the moment. I'm actually bored in my English Composition class, so I decided to do something sorta pertaining to it, and write. Hah.
Dozens of books read over the past few weeks. In fact, I'm already starting to run out of the stuff I got for this semester. Yeesh.
Let's see here...
Defenders: Indefensible
Probably one of the most talkiest, and funniest comic books I have ever read. JM Demateis(If i spelled that right) and Kevin Maguire are a writing duo that can't do no wrong. The art is pretty decent as well! The story revolves around Dr. Strange's nemesis, Dormammu, finally gaining omnipotent power, and then pretty much just squandering it. There is witty banter between then heroes, especially Dr. Strange and Namor, and then theres Hulk sex....
Off screen, of course, but its still hilarious nonetheless.
Fantastic Four: The Mark Waid Run
I have the entire Mark Waid/Mike Wieringo run of F4 now, and to this day is still one of the best depictions of F4 I have ever seen. So, continuing where I left off last time, in the volume Hereafter, Reed must deal with the repercussions of his actions from previous issues. Actions that led to the death of the Thing. While it has its sad moments, the last issue is amazing as the F4 essentially get to meet God. In Disassembled, the F4 deal with the fallout of the Avengers breaking up, and must now deal with all threats that come into New York...oh and there is a hilarious Human Torch/Spider-man team up as well. In the final one, Rising Storm, the Human Torch ends up becoming Galactus' herald, and chaos ensues. While it doesn't end as strongly as it started, the series still was amazing. And looking over Wieringo's work just makes one realize how much he is missed in the comic book world.
Continuing on with Fantastic Four, I have the complete JMS run as well. Which spans three volumes. The first one I believe I've already reviewed so on to the other two. In The Life Fantastic, its the ultimate Thing vs Hulk battle, and is an interesting story about 'monsters' that goes deep into Grimm(the Thing)'s psyche. In Road to Civil War/Civil War: It is the return of Thor's hammer, and the prelude to JMS' awesome Thor series...oh....and the F4 family bitches and moans about the superhero civil war. Leads to a hilarious part where the Thing goes to France and deals with their superheroes...who look a little like DC's Justice League...Hah.
Anywho, its an ok run, but JMS could do much better. He has done better, in both Spiderman and Thor, so its a shame that this is just average. Then again, JMS' average is still pretty entertaining. The artwork, mainly done by Mike Mckone, is pretty decent as well. Fairly realistic but sometimes the faces look strange and cat-like. Yes, you heard me right. Take a look at the mouths of some of the characters and you'll understand why I say that.
Well, my laptop's battery is almost gone so I guess thats it for now. I'll hopefully return shortly and do a few more, there is a huge list of stuff I have read.
Oh, finally finished book one of the Wheel of Time, called Eye of the World. Pretty interesting stuff, but very wordy(I know I know..its a novel). Regardless it sets up the mythos very well for the other books in the series, and now I'm ready to delve in! I was worried that this would be too much like a Tolkien book, one that goes on and on in detail of surroundings, but thankfully the author keeps it to a minimum, instead focusing on the actions of the characters. More on that another time.
Ciao!
Well, lets see... Not too much going on at the moment. I'm actually bored in my English Composition class, so I decided to do something sorta pertaining to it, and write. Hah.
Dozens of books read over the past few weeks. In fact, I'm already starting to run out of the stuff I got for this semester. Yeesh.
Let's see here...
Defenders: Indefensible
Probably one of the most talkiest, and funniest comic books I have ever read. JM Demateis(If i spelled that right) and Kevin Maguire are a writing duo that can't do no wrong. The art is pretty decent as well! The story revolves around Dr. Strange's nemesis, Dormammu, finally gaining omnipotent power, and then pretty much just squandering it. There is witty banter between then heroes, especially Dr. Strange and Namor, and then theres Hulk sex....
Off screen, of course, but its still hilarious nonetheless.
Fantastic Four: The Mark Waid Run
I have the entire Mark Waid/Mike Wieringo run of F4 now, and to this day is still one of the best depictions of F4 I have ever seen. So, continuing where I left off last time, in the volume Hereafter, Reed must deal with the repercussions of his actions from previous issues. Actions that led to the death of the Thing. While it has its sad moments, the last issue is amazing as the F4 essentially get to meet God. In Disassembled, the F4 deal with the fallout of the Avengers breaking up, and must now deal with all threats that come into New York...oh and there is a hilarious Human Torch/Spider-man team up as well. In the final one, Rising Storm, the Human Torch ends up becoming Galactus' herald, and chaos ensues. While it doesn't end as strongly as it started, the series still was amazing. And looking over Wieringo's work just makes one realize how much he is missed in the comic book world.
Continuing on with Fantastic Four, I have the complete JMS run as well. Which spans three volumes. The first one I believe I've already reviewed so on to the other two. In The Life Fantastic, its the ultimate Thing vs Hulk battle, and is an interesting story about 'monsters' that goes deep into Grimm(the Thing)'s psyche. In Road to Civil War/Civil War: It is the return of Thor's hammer, and the prelude to JMS' awesome Thor series...oh....and the F4 family bitches and moans about the superhero civil war. Leads to a hilarious part where the Thing goes to France and deals with their superheroes...who look a little like DC's Justice League...Hah.
Anywho, its an ok run, but JMS could do much better. He has done better, in both Spiderman and Thor, so its a shame that this is just average. Then again, JMS' average is still pretty entertaining. The artwork, mainly done by Mike Mckone, is pretty decent as well. Fairly realistic but sometimes the faces look strange and cat-like. Yes, you heard me right. Take a look at the mouths of some of the characters and you'll understand why I say that.
Well, my laptop's battery is almost gone so I guess thats it for now. I'll hopefully return shortly and do a few more, there is a huge list of stuff I have read.
Oh, finally finished book one of the Wheel of Time, called Eye of the World. Pretty interesting stuff, but very wordy(I know I know..its a novel). Regardless it sets up the mythos very well for the other books in the series, and now I'm ready to delve in! I was worried that this would be too much like a Tolkien book, one that goes on and on in detail of surroundings, but thankfully the author keeps it to a minimum, instead focusing on the actions of the characters. More on that another time.
Ciao!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Thought...
So, this semester is going to be interesting.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays; Four classes, one right after the other, so I'll be in class from 8am to 12pm.
Thursdays, I'll be in a Spanish lab, from 8am to just 9, but I'll have to stay for a few hours since I'm carpooling with friends.
On Mon and Wed, most likely going to be past 3 or so before I get home, Thursday, home by 1, Fridays, home by 1 as well.
That leaves me with free time with comics, and hopefully, for blogging, well...theoretically....
Here is the idea, I have, once again, nabbed a large amount of comics, and this time I have even more free time on certain days.
So, provided school doesn't kick my butt(which it just might this semester), I have developed a plan to update this place regularly.
Ready? Most likely I'll be blowing through these books in quick secession, I always do, and I will use the free time to make a post about that, or any other things I wish to talk about.
In fact, here's a new review for you all right now.
Captain America : Road to Reborn
The last TPB before the latest Captain America miniseries, Reborn, which covers Issues 49-50, and 600-601.
Bet that confuses a few of you out there, how the heck did it switch from issue number 50, all the way to 600?
Well, you gotta love Marvel's renumbering system.
The current Cap America is a new volume series(I think like Vol 5 or something like that), so it technically has been in production for decades. Well, what Marvel just did was calculate how many issues of Cap has come out since they ended Vol 1, and then make the current issue reflect that number.
So there we have it, Cap is renumbered to 600, and then you have an awesome Anniversary issue to plan!
In regards to the story, there aren't anymore accolades I can give Ed Brubaker. His work is amazing! He has a knack for great storytelling(when its something he has a clear idea to work on, otherwise you have another Uncanny X-men fiasco..more on that on another time), and he knows how to keep you hooked in order to come back for the next issue.
This particular trade, though, involves a few stories around the new Cap, and a remembrance on the death of the original Cap. Honestly, its the weakest issues of his tenure, but even at his 'weakest,' the book is still entertaining.
I believe that these stories were weak because they are now preparing for the return of the original Cap, and since Marvel decided to turn that into a special miniseries(instead of just leaving it in the main book, as was the original plan), Brubaker is now spending these issues laying out the groundwork for that big story.
So, it was 'meh,' but then it was still decent enough to read.
I'd reccomend buying this, especially if you've been buying the others, especially since this is a primer to Reborn.
Hah! See, new review!
And, because I'm still bored and feel like talking some more, lets do a few more things....
-Reboot of the Spiderman movie franchise-
Well...it was bound to happen eventually. Tobey is getting older, the cast and crew are getting more expensive to maintain, so the studio has come to realize its time to cut their losses with the old team and go for a reboot.
Sigh, the current group hasn't even lasted a decade.
Yes, yes the last movie wasn't anywhere near as good as the first two.
I, of course, still enjoyed it, but whatever.
While, I am a bit saddened that they pulled the current crew, especially since as recent as Monday it was revealed that John Malkovich(ZOMG)was cast as a villain. GAH!
There is an upside to this, as long as its done right.
They are starting over, with Peter still in high school, which allows for more stories, and ties it into the current Ultimate Spider-man series. That has potential!
Also, this way they can make more movies.
It all depends on who they choose to direct it, who they decide for the role(I can't, for the life of me, think of anyone that can play a high school Peter...anyone have any thoughts on this?), and of course, the script itself.
So, what does that mean? It means I have no real major opinion about this reboot, because it is way too early to tell. It sucks that they kicked out the old crew, but we all knew it was going to happen eventually.
All we can do...is sit and wait.
Oh well, though, we still got Iron Man 2....Kick-Ass....Thor(starting principal photography now)...Captain America.....so I'm good!
In other movie news, Bryan Singer will now direct the new X-men Origins movie! WOOHOO!
If you don't really know, Bryan directed X-men and X-2, also, X-men 3 sucked balls(and what a surprise, it was rushed AND different director...bad juju)so its cool that he will be directing the prequel movie, which reveals the origins of the original class of X-men...saaaaaawweeeeeet!
Alrighty, stay tuned for more updates soon!
On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays; Four classes, one right after the other, so I'll be in class from 8am to 12pm.
Thursdays, I'll be in a Spanish lab, from 8am to just 9, but I'll have to stay for a few hours since I'm carpooling with friends.
On Mon and Wed, most likely going to be past 3 or so before I get home, Thursday, home by 1, Fridays, home by 1 as well.
That leaves me with free time with comics, and hopefully, for blogging, well...theoretically....
Here is the idea, I have, once again, nabbed a large amount of comics, and this time I have even more free time on certain days.
So, provided school doesn't kick my butt(which it just might this semester), I have developed a plan to update this place regularly.
Ready? Most likely I'll be blowing through these books in quick secession, I always do, and I will use the free time to make a post about that, or any other things I wish to talk about.
In fact, here's a new review for you all right now.
Captain America : Road to Reborn
The last TPB before the latest Captain America miniseries, Reborn, which covers Issues 49-50, and 600-601.
Bet that confuses a few of you out there, how the heck did it switch from issue number 50, all the way to 600?
Well, you gotta love Marvel's renumbering system.
The current Cap America is a new volume series(I think like Vol 5 or something like that), so it technically has been in production for decades. Well, what Marvel just did was calculate how many issues of Cap has come out since they ended Vol 1, and then make the current issue reflect that number.
So there we have it, Cap is renumbered to 600, and then you have an awesome Anniversary issue to plan!
In regards to the story, there aren't anymore accolades I can give Ed Brubaker. His work is amazing! He has a knack for great storytelling(when its something he has a clear idea to work on, otherwise you have another Uncanny X-men fiasco..more on that on another time), and he knows how to keep you hooked in order to come back for the next issue.
This particular trade, though, involves a few stories around the new Cap, and a remembrance on the death of the original Cap. Honestly, its the weakest issues of his tenure, but even at his 'weakest,' the book is still entertaining.
I believe that these stories were weak because they are now preparing for the return of the original Cap, and since Marvel decided to turn that into a special miniseries(instead of just leaving it in the main book, as was the original plan), Brubaker is now spending these issues laying out the groundwork for that big story.
So, it was 'meh,' but then it was still decent enough to read.
I'd reccomend buying this, especially if you've been buying the others, especially since this is a primer to Reborn.
Hah! See, new review!
And, because I'm still bored and feel like talking some more, lets do a few more things....
-Reboot of the Spiderman movie franchise-
Well...it was bound to happen eventually. Tobey is getting older, the cast and crew are getting more expensive to maintain, so the studio has come to realize its time to cut their losses with the old team and go for a reboot.
Sigh, the current group hasn't even lasted a decade.
Yes, yes the last movie wasn't anywhere near as good as the first two.
I, of course, still enjoyed it, but whatever.
While, I am a bit saddened that they pulled the current crew, especially since as recent as Monday it was revealed that John Malkovich(ZOMG)was cast as a villain. GAH!
There is an upside to this, as long as its done right.
They are starting over, with Peter still in high school, which allows for more stories, and ties it into the current Ultimate Spider-man series. That has potential!
Also, this way they can make more movies.
It all depends on who they choose to direct it, who they decide for the role(I can't, for the life of me, think of anyone that can play a high school Peter...anyone have any thoughts on this?), and of course, the script itself.
So, what does that mean? It means I have no real major opinion about this reboot, because it is way too early to tell. It sucks that they kicked out the old crew, but we all knew it was going to happen eventually.
All we can do...is sit and wait.
Oh well, though, we still got Iron Man 2....Kick-Ass....Thor(starting principal photography now)...Captain America.....so I'm good!
In other movie news, Bryan Singer will now direct the new X-men Origins movie! WOOHOO!
If you don't really know, Bryan directed X-men and X-2, also, X-men 3 sucked balls(and what a surprise, it was rushed AND different director...bad juju)so its cool that he will be directing the prequel movie, which reveals the origins of the original class of X-men...saaaaaawweeeeeet!
Alrighty, stay tuned for more updates soon!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Wow...
So, today I finally got all of my stuff out of storage, and low and behold I got my 25 dollar deposit back! Woohoo!
Well, after being bored, and doing dishes and cleaning the room, oh and organizing my DVD/BluRay/Video Game collection....I decided I'll just go to Half Price Books.
Well, I had a few DVD's and etc that I didn't want, so I decided to take them there to see what I'd get. Obviously, it wasn't that much, they tend to average paying you about 1.50-3 dollars per item, I realized(this was, of course, after the fact when I could do the math), but it was an extra 16 bucks added to that 25.
Well, today was my lucky day! The other night, after I completed my blog post, I compiled a list of books I wanted to get next. Lo and behold, almost EVERY single one I was planning on getting within the next month were there!
Glad I had that 15% coupon, though, or I wouldn't have been able to get them.
Time to update my amazon wishlist and take off a few books.
Anywho, expect some kind of talking about Nextwave Vol 1, the next saga in Captain America, first two volumes of the new Thor, and the best one of the bunch: All Star Superman Vol 2!
Oh yeah, and soon enough there will be talk of Fear Agent, I promise!
Well, after being bored, and doing dishes and cleaning the room, oh and organizing my DVD/BluRay/Video Game collection....I decided I'll just go to Half Price Books.
Well, I had a few DVD's and etc that I didn't want, so I decided to take them there to see what I'd get. Obviously, it wasn't that much, they tend to average paying you about 1.50-3 dollars per item, I realized(this was, of course, after the fact when I could do the math), but it was an extra 16 bucks added to that 25.
Well, today was my lucky day! The other night, after I completed my blog post, I compiled a list of books I wanted to get next. Lo and behold, almost EVERY single one I was planning on getting within the next month were there!
Glad I had that 15% coupon, though, or I wouldn't have been able to get them.
Time to update my amazon wishlist and take off a few books.
Anywho, expect some kind of talking about Nextwave Vol 1, the next saga in Captain America, first two volumes of the new Thor, and the best one of the bunch: All Star Superman Vol 2!
Oh yeah, and soon enough there will be talk of Fear Agent, I promise!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
The Best Laid Plans....
and all that...
So, looks like I haven't posted in quite a long time.
And I'll be quite honest here, I had plenty of time throughout the semester to post, so I really have no excuse other than laziness.
Anywho...
I read through my entire collection of TPB's and then some, bought some more even.
So, instead of giving a detailed review, I will give a one sentence thought followed by a rating.
A - Completely awesome, in every way.
B - Fairly awesome, has some flaws.
C - Pretty good, but there are a lot of problems.
D - Readable, and there must be some redeemable quality to it, otherwise it must suck.
F - Absolutely sucks.
Also, I'll be giving responses to books I've previously reviewed, mainly to just go down my list with ease.
Amazing Spider-man - The JMS run, from Beginnings to Sins of the Father :
Amazing read, especially when JRJR does the artwork. A.
Amazing Spider-man - The Other
Interesting evolution on Spidey, but unfortunately they kill all of this a few years later. B.
Amazing Spider-man - One More Day
Absolutely sucked, only have it in my collection so I can complete JMS' run of Spidey. D.
Captain America(Latest Series) Issue 1 through 42
Each issue gets better and better, a completely addicting read, one of the few books I'm tempted to go monthly on because I just can't wait for the trades. A.
Captain America : Fallen Son
The last 'decent' book Jeph Loeb ever did, still isn't all that great but I love the artwork. B.
Dark Avengers Vol 1
The intro arc is very intriguing, Brian Michael Bendis is the king of talky words, but it tends to get boring. B.
Fantastic Four(Mark Waid Run) Vol 1 - 3
This fantastic run was made better with the late Mike Wieringo's artwork! A!
Fantastic Four(JMS Run) Vol 1
It is ok, nothing like his work on Amazing Spider-man, but interesting nonetheless. B.
Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk
Pretty good read, you can see where Greg Pak wants to go with the entire series, but in trade form it reads really fast(which is funny, because monthly it felt incredibly slow). B.
Incredible Hulk: World War Hulk
The second part of the epic written by Greg Pak, was also interesting but the stuff that has come from the recent Hulk writers kinda makes this one a downer. B.
Incredible Hulk: WWH Aftersmash - Damage Control
A funny, quick 3 issue series, thats an interesting cap to the World War Hulk, shame that it didn't sell well enough to make a series. B.
Invincible Iron Man Vol 1-2
The first arc was really good, the begining of the second arc(World's Most Wanted)was even better, even if the artist makes Tony look like an over-tanned creepo. A.
Secret Invasion
Actually a good, albeit one-note, read, the artwork is interesting and the stories that came after it have been interesting. A.
Mighty Avengers 1-2
The first two arcs established the new team, which is pretty interesting, but still blah compared to New Avengers. B.
Mighty Avengers 3-4
The Secret Invasion tie-ins, a must read(along with the New Avengers companions)to the main story. B.
New Avengers Vol 2, 4-6
Erratic, I know(since I'm missing two volumes right now), but still a great story with decent artwork to coincide with, always an interesting read and rarely boring. A.
New Avengers 8-9
The Secret Invasion tie-ins, remarks are the same as MA v3-4. B.
The Sentry - Marvel Knights miniseries
Hmm, completely confusing, doesn't help that the main creator, Paul Jenkins, could never figure out what he wanted to do with this character. B.
Ultimate Fantastic Four (Ultimate editions) Vol 1-4
Erratic series, that goes from pretty decent to totally blah in the blink of an eye due to lack of proper direction. C.
Ultimate Spider-man Vol 1-6
Brian Michael Bendis at his best, with Mark Bagley(the artist)slowly going from his worst to his all-time best. A.
Ultimate X-men Vol 1 - 11
Like Ult F4, the series moves from great entertainment to absolute boredom as different creators take the hold, but unlike Ult F4 even the lulls are pretty ok. B.
Onslaught Epic Books 1-2
A classic 90's crossover that bled through all of the Marvel Universe, while most hated it I loved the crossover AND its main villain, Onslaught. B.
Young Avengers vol 1-2
Over-rated, honestly, but still a good read, with great art, which makes it a shame that the guy is incredibly slow to churn out monthly issues(I'm talking about both the writer and artist). B.
Dark Tower Vol 1-2
Jae Lee's artwork is amazing, even if it does look like just paintings to illustrate all the heavy amounts of text. A.
Red Prophet Vol 1-2
An adaptation of Orson Scott Card's books, an interesting storyline, with artwork that goes from good to bad when the artists change duties. B.
X-men - Messiah CompleX
Yes, I know the X at the end is capitalized, I'm doing it how the book is titled as.
The story is pretty good, but its funny that everyone hails it as the best X-men crossover of the decade(of course its the 'best', it was the only one that has happened in a decade). B.
X-men Legacy Vol 1
A great read through Professor Xavier's past, which leads to his redemption and we finally get rid of the storyline that Prof. X is a douchebag. A.
Whew....and that was just the Marvel books.....thankfull my DC collection isn't as large..
All Star Superman Vol 1
As said earlier, pure awesomeness in a TPB. A.
Batman & Superman: World's Finest
Interesting series that depicts the lives of Batman and Superman throughout the years. A.
Batman - Batman & Son
The first arc from Grant Morrison, pretty good but I still don't see the point in wanting to give Batman a son of his own. B.
Batman - Batman R.I.P.
As said earlier, was a great read when you go through the entire thing all at once, but in monthly form it was just sucky. B.
Final Crisis
Sucky, that's all. D.
Ion
Honestly this was just a time-wasting device, giving Kyle Rayner fans something to read until Sinestro Corps War came around and revealed the truth behind his Green Lantern status. C.
Superman - Superman: Last Son
Again, whats with this fixation on wanting to give the two main superheroes of the DC universe kids? B.
Y - The Last Man Vol 1
An amazing series, but honestly the first arc was a bit lacking, it gets much better though. B.
Alrighty, so thats the rundown, lets take a look at the numbers.
Amount of A's: 11
B's: 20
C's: 2
D's: 2
F's: 0
Well, that's good, nothing was a total piece of crap, either that or I'm being too nice with some of these guys.
Obviously not that nice, though, since the majority have gotten a B rating.
Anyways, thats all for now, clean slate is now been done as I've 'reviewed' every book I bought and read. Whew.
Tune in next time for a indie gem I have gotten into, called Fear Agent!
So, looks like I haven't posted in quite a long time.
And I'll be quite honest here, I had plenty of time throughout the semester to post, so I really have no excuse other than laziness.
Anywho...
I read through my entire collection of TPB's and then some, bought some more even.
So, instead of giving a detailed review, I will give a one sentence thought followed by a rating.
A - Completely awesome, in every way.
B - Fairly awesome, has some flaws.
C - Pretty good, but there are a lot of problems.
D - Readable, and there must be some redeemable quality to it, otherwise it must suck.
F - Absolutely sucks.
Also, I'll be giving responses to books I've previously reviewed, mainly to just go down my list with ease.
Amazing Spider-man - The JMS run, from Beginnings to Sins of the Father :
Amazing read, especially when JRJR does the artwork. A.
Amazing Spider-man - The Other
Interesting evolution on Spidey, but unfortunately they kill all of this a few years later. B.
Amazing Spider-man - One More Day
Absolutely sucked, only have it in my collection so I can complete JMS' run of Spidey. D.
Captain America(Latest Series) Issue 1 through 42
Each issue gets better and better, a completely addicting read, one of the few books I'm tempted to go monthly on because I just can't wait for the trades. A.
Captain America : Fallen Son
The last 'decent' book Jeph Loeb ever did, still isn't all that great but I love the artwork. B.
Dark Avengers Vol 1
The intro arc is very intriguing, Brian Michael Bendis is the king of talky words, but it tends to get boring. B.
Fantastic Four(Mark Waid Run) Vol 1 - 3
This fantastic run was made better with the late Mike Wieringo's artwork! A!
Fantastic Four(JMS Run) Vol 1
It is ok, nothing like his work on Amazing Spider-man, but interesting nonetheless. B.
Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk
Pretty good read, you can see where Greg Pak wants to go with the entire series, but in trade form it reads really fast(which is funny, because monthly it felt incredibly slow). B.
Incredible Hulk: World War Hulk
The second part of the epic written by Greg Pak, was also interesting but the stuff that has come from the recent Hulk writers kinda makes this one a downer. B.
Incredible Hulk: WWH Aftersmash - Damage Control
A funny, quick 3 issue series, thats an interesting cap to the World War Hulk, shame that it didn't sell well enough to make a series. B.
Invincible Iron Man Vol 1-2
The first arc was really good, the begining of the second arc(World's Most Wanted)was even better, even if the artist makes Tony look like an over-tanned creepo. A.
Secret Invasion
Actually a good, albeit one-note, read, the artwork is interesting and the stories that came after it have been interesting. A.
Mighty Avengers 1-2
The first two arcs established the new team, which is pretty interesting, but still blah compared to New Avengers. B.
Mighty Avengers 3-4
The Secret Invasion tie-ins, a must read(along with the New Avengers companions)to the main story. B.
New Avengers Vol 2, 4-6
Erratic, I know(since I'm missing two volumes right now), but still a great story with decent artwork to coincide with, always an interesting read and rarely boring. A.
New Avengers 8-9
The Secret Invasion tie-ins, remarks are the same as MA v3-4. B.
The Sentry - Marvel Knights miniseries
Hmm, completely confusing, doesn't help that the main creator, Paul Jenkins, could never figure out what he wanted to do with this character. B.
Ultimate Fantastic Four (Ultimate editions) Vol 1-4
Erratic series, that goes from pretty decent to totally blah in the blink of an eye due to lack of proper direction. C.
Ultimate Spider-man Vol 1-6
Brian Michael Bendis at his best, with Mark Bagley(the artist)slowly going from his worst to his all-time best. A.
Ultimate X-men Vol 1 - 11
Like Ult F4, the series moves from great entertainment to absolute boredom as different creators take the hold, but unlike Ult F4 even the lulls are pretty ok. B.
Onslaught Epic Books 1-2
A classic 90's crossover that bled through all of the Marvel Universe, while most hated it I loved the crossover AND its main villain, Onslaught. B.
Young Avengers vol 1-2
Over-rated, honestly, but still a good read, with great art, which makes it a shame that the guy is incredibly slow to churn out monthly issues(I'm talking about both the writer and artist). B.
Dark Tower Vol 1-2
Jae Lee's artwork is amazing, even if it does look like just paintings to illustrate all the heavy amounts of text. A.
Red Prophet Vol 1-2
An adaptation of Orson Scott Card's books, an interesting storyline, with artwork that goes from good to bad when the artists change duties. B.
X-men - Messiah CompleX
Yes, I know the X at the end is capitalized, I'm doing it how the book is titled as.
The story is pretty good, but its funny that everyone hails it as the best X-men crossover of the decade(of course its the 'best', it was the only one that has happened in a decade). B.
X-men Legacy Vol 1
A great read through Professor Xavier's past, which leads to his redemption and we finally get rid of the storyline that Prof. X is a douchebag. A.
Whew....and that was just the Marvel books.....thankfull my DC collection isn't as large..
All Star Superman Vol 1
As said earlier, pure awesomeness in a TPB. A.
Batman & Superman: World's Finest
Interesting series that depicts the lives of Batman and Superman throughout the years. A.
Batman - Batman & Son
The first arc from Grant Morrison, pretty good but I still don't see the point in wanting to give Batman a son of his own. B.
Batman - Batman R.I.P.
As said earlier, was a great read when you go through the entire thing all at once, but in monthly form it was just sucky. B.
Final Crisis
Sucky, that's all. D.
Ion
Honestly this was just a time-wasting device, giving Kyle Rayner fans something to read until Sinestro Corps War came around and revealed the truth behind his Green Lantern status. C.
Superman - Superman: Last Son
Again, whats with this fixation on wanting to give the two main superheroes of the DC universe kids? B.
Y - The Last Man Vol 1
An amazing series, but honestly the first arc was a bit lacking, it gets much better though. B.
Alrighty, so thats the rundown, lets take a look at the numbers.
Amount of A's: 11
B's: 20
C's: 2
D's: 2
F's: 0
Well, that's good, nothing was a total piece of crap, either that or I'm being too nice with some of these guys.
Obviously not that nice, though, since the majority have gotten a B rating.
Anyways, thats all for now, clean slate is now been done as I've 'reviewed' every book I bought and read. Whew.
Tune in next time for a indie gem I have gotten into, called Fear Agent!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Disney bought out Marvel
So the latest news of the week is that Disney bought Marvel Entertainment(read: Marvel Comics) for four billion dollars. Honestly, they got it for a steal. If you think about it, the Spider-man movies have collectively made over a billion dollars for Sony. The X-men movies have made close to that amount, and lets not even mention how many records Iron Man 2 will break.
Soooooo what does that mean, exactly? Will Disney now make all of the Marvel books kiddy? Will we start seeing The Incredible Duck, starring Donald Duck as the gamma-irradiated Duck? Goofy as the Iron-Goof? The Amazing Spider-Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse? Wait...that last one might actually be good...
Anywho, a lot of people are 'freaking' out over this in the blogosphere, and honestly its completely unwarrented. Take a look at Touchstone Pictures, ABC, ESPN, or Pixar. What do they have in common? They are all owned by Disney and they are all autonomous. Look at Warner Bros. and DC Comics. WB owns DC but they still get to do what they want. The only difference you'll probably see in comics is that Marvel will be able to keep a lot of their pet projects, the ones that are critically acclaimed but low-selling, on-going. DC, thanks to WB's money, is able to have books like Magog and R.E.B.E.L.S. on-going and last quite a while. They are least-known, and don't sell as well, but they keep going. You'll see the same now with Marvel I suspect. Also, you might see the Disney name in the fine print credits on the first page of each book.
The world shudders.
No, see Disney really wanted Marvel for the licensing. Disney paid four billion for Marvel, and that may seem a lot, but Disney is looking at the long term. With their marketing, Marvel licensing items could probably exceed 1-2 billion dollars in sales a year, and within a few years Disney will be making a sweet mint on their four billion buyout. Disney is well-known to be patient and cunning. I would suspect that within four or five years they will be able to wrestle the Spider-man license from Sony, and/or the mutants/X-men license from Fox. See, those two have perpetual deals. As long as they keep making movies within a certain time-frame, they keep the license. The news of Disney buying Marvel freaked Fox out so much they put the fast-track on a 'reboot' of Fantastic Four. The last movie underperformed, but Fox doesn't want to lose the license, so instead they will just keep going in hopes that the third time is the charm. I'd expect to hear from Sony soon about either fast-tracking Ghost Rider or giving it back to Marvel for some Spidey concessions or such, same with Fox and the Daredevil property.
Well, so that leaves out some major movies for now, but Marvel has a huge well of characters, so Disney won't be hurting too bad for the time being. Not only that, there is also the animation side. Think about it. Disney is one of the kings of animation. Lets see them do a few animated shows with Marvel properties. Put it on the Disney Channel, or Disney XD and the explosion begins!
Also, lets not forget the various action figures, folders, shirts, pencils, binders, etc., etc., etc., that Marvel puts out every year. Cha-CHING!
So in essence, comic fans have nothing to worry about. As Joe Quesadilla said, nothing will change when it comes to the comics. Instead, expect big changes within Marvel's movies, animation, games, and other licensing items. In fact, the only thing to worry about would be whether Marvel will get the autonomy they got filming Iron Man. Will Disney just let them do whatever? Otherwise, it will be just (big) business as normal for Marvel-ites everywhere!
Soooooo what does that mean, exactly? Will Disney now make all of the Marvel books kiddy? Will we start seeing The Incredible Duck, starring Donald Duck as the gamma-irradiated Duck? Goofy as the Iron-Goof? The Amazing Spider-Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse? Wait...that last one might actually be good...
Anywho, a lot of people are 'freaking' out over this in the blogosphere, and honestly its completely unwarrented. Take a look at Touchstone Pictures, ABC, ESPN, or Pixar. What do they have in common? They are all owned by Disney and they are all autonomous. Look at Warner Bros. and DC Comics. WB owns DC but they still get to do what they want. The only difference you'll probably see in comics is that Marvel will be able to keep a lot of their pet projects, the ones that are critically acclaimed but low-selling, on-going. DC, thanks to WB's money, is able to have books like Magog and R.E.B.E.L.S. on-going and last quite a while. They are least-known, and don't sell as well, but they keep going. You'll see the same now with Marvel I suspect. Also, you might see the Disney name in the fine print credits on the first page of each book.
The world shudders.
No, see Disney really wanted Marvel for the licensing. Disney paid four billion for Marvel, and that may seem a lot, but Disney is looking at the long term. With their marketing, Marvel licensing items could probably exceed 1-2 billion dollars in sales a year, and within a few years Disney will be making a sweet mint on their four billion buyout. Disney is well-known to be patient and cunning. I would suspect that within four or five years they will be able to wrestle the Spider-man license from Sony, and/or the mutants/X-men license from Fox. See, those two have perpetual deals. As long as they keep making movies within a certain time-frame, they keep the license. The news of Disney buying Marvel freaked Fox out so much they put the fast-track on a 'reboot' of Fantastic Four. The last movie underperformed, but Fox doesn't want to lose the license, so instead they will just keep going in hopes that the third time is the charm. I'd expect to hear from Sony soon about either fast-tracking Ghost Rider or giving it back to Marvel for some Spidey concessions or such, same with Fox and the Daredevil property.
Well, so that leaves out some major movies for now, but Marvel has a huge well of characters, so Disney won't be hurting too bad for the time being. Not only that, there is also the animation side. Think about it. Disney is one of the kings of animation. Lets see them do a few animated shows with Marvel properties. Put it on the Disney Channel, or Disney XD and the explosion begins!
Also, lets not forget the various action figures, folders, shirts, pencils, binders, etc., etc., etc., that Marvel puts out every year. Cha-CHING!
So in essence, comic fans have nothing to worry about. As Joe Quesadilla said, nothing will change when it comes to the comics. Instead, expect big changes within Marvel's movies, animation, games, and other licensing items. In fact, the only thing to worry about would be whether Marvel will get the autonomy they got filming Iron Man. Will Disney just let them do whatever? Otherwise, it will be just (big) business as normal for Marvel-ites everywhere!
One More Day Sucked
Yes, I said it, which isn't a shock since most die-hard fans believed the same thing. One More Day sucked. Not only did it suck regular wise, it sucked monkey balls. Lets go over the reasons why...
One - The art was atrocious.
Yeah yeah yeah, Joe Quesada did the art. Yeah yeah yeah, at one time he was considered an awesome artist. So what? Honestly, his artwork was too scratchy, the poses most people made looked absolutely retarded, and lets not even talk about everyone's faces. Every time you see a close up shot of Peter, or Mary, or anyone else, they just looked...horrendous. Like, 'Oh My God why does Peter have two chins??' horrendous.
Two - Peter acted like a selfish brat.
This storyarc was so unlike anything JMS wrote for Amazing Spider-man that I think the editors pretty much penned it and just left his name. Peter acted uncharacteristically selfish, he was willing to do 'anything' to save his aunt. Even if that meant sacrificing his current family. Why? Because he'd feel guilty if she'd die.....and would practically kill himself if she were gone....whine whine whine. He was willing to throw away everything he and Mary Jane did together, just for her to stay alive. Wow......
Three - The marriage ended...
They finally 'put the genie in the bottle' on this one. When you ask Joe Quesadilla why he wanted their marriage to disappear, his answer always was 'you can't write good stories if Peter is married, I remember back in the day when Stan Lee first wrote it and he was a swinging bachelor..now THOSE were the days!'
Seriously, you are that horrible of a creator that you honestly feel that no good stories can be written with Peter being married? 'nuff said....
Four - The marriage was annuled in the worst way...
Hmm....can't have them divorce, that would take away Spidey's innocence....
Hmm....can't kill Mary Jane, we tried that, no one would believe she is gone...
Hmm...OH! I KNOW!! Let's make Peter make a deal with the devil!!!!
Oh oh! Even better! Let's have Peter's aunt May shot! Then, at his 'lowest' with May about to die(even though we spent various other issues showing how she was ready to go and forgave Peter, even TELLING him she forgave him for everything)and Peter feeling so guilty that he would die, lets have Mephisto(codeword: the devil)come in and say, "You give me your marriage, and I make her live again!"
GOOD!!
Five - The current stories rely too much on the 'Old Days'
About 70% of all the current storyarcs are boring, dull, and all around a waste of time. They basically have rewinded time and Peter now acts like he did when he was a teenager. How. Mature. Sometimes you'd look at the dialogue and would want to roll your eyes over what Peter does or says. Its as if the writers love the old stories too much, and just want to emulate it thinking everyone else will love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The dialogue is dated, the settings are bland, and so far almost all of the villains they have created are just crap.
Sigh.....
Annnnnnnnnd rant off!
One - The art was atrocious.
Yeah yeah yeah, Joe Quesada did the art. Yeah yeah yeah, at one time he was considered an awesome artist. So what? Honestly, his artwork was too scratchy, the poses most people made looked absolutely retarded, and lets not even talk about everyone's faces. Every time you see a close up shot of Peter, or Mary, or anyone else, they just looked...horrendous. Like, 'Oh My God why does Peter have two chins??' horrendous.
Two - Peter acted like a selfish brat.
This storyarc was so unlike anything JMS wrote for Amazing Spider-man that I think the editors pretty much penned it and just left his name. Peter acted uncharacteristically selfish, he was willing to do 'anything' to save his aunt. Even if that meant sacrificing his current family. Why? Because he'd feel guilty if she'd die.....and would practically kill himself if she were gone....whine whine whine. He was willing to throw away everything he and Mary Jane did together, just for her to stay alive. Wow......
Three - The marriage ended...
They finally 'put the genie in the bottle' on this one. When you ask Joe Quesadilla why he wanted their marriage to disappear, his answer always was 'you can't write good stories if Peter is married, I remember back in the day when Stan Lee first wrote it and he was a swinging bachelor..now THOSE were the days!'
Seriously, you are that horrible of a creator that you honestly feel that no good stories can be written with Peter being married? 'nuff said....
Four - The marriage was annuled in the worst way...
Hmm....can't have them divorce, that would take away Spidey's innocence....
Hmm....can't kill Mary Jane, we tried that, no one would believe she is gone...
Hmm...OH! I KNOW!! Let's make Peter make a deal with the devil!!!!
Oh oh! Even better! Let's have Peter's aunt May shot! Then, at his 'lowest' with May about to die(even though we spent various other issues showing how she was ready to go and forgave Peter, even TELLING him she forgave him for everything)and Peter feeling so guilty that he would die, lets have Mephisto(codeword: the devil)come in and say, "You give me your marriage, and I make her live again!"
GOOD!!
Five - The current stories rely too much on the 'Old Days'
About 70% of all the current storyarcs are boring, dull, and all around a waste of time. They basically have rewinded time and Peter now acts like he did when he was a teenager. How. Mature. Sometimes you'd look at the dialogue and would want to roll your eyes over what Peter does or says. Its as if the writers love the old stories too much, and just want to emulate it thinking everyone else will love it. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The dialogue is dated, the settings are bland, and so far almost all of the villains they have created are just crap.
Sigh.....
Annnnnnnnnd rant off!
The Latest TPB Batch
Whew, time flies. I blink and I read like well over 7 trades within a few days. Going to bleed through these quick. Anywho, lets get the ball started...
First off, there's the one-two punch of Batman R.I.P.(Special Edition Hardcover) and Final Crisis(Special Edition Hardcover). Again, I have read these previously via single issues, so it was interesting to read it all at once. Batman R.I.P., which was Grant Morrison's opus, was quite amazing. The story revolves around a group of super-evil aristocrats that have figured out Batman's identity, and go about destroying his life completely. When I first read this I thought it was a mess, and too confusing for most readers. After the second go around, it was quite a mind-opener. I say this a lot, but I missed a LOT of things the first time around. For example, what does the phrase "Zurr en Arrh" actually mean? If you didn't actually read into the final page of the last issue of R.I.P., you would miss the fact that it meant Zorro in Arkham. Wierd, right? Same with the revelation of Bat-Mite. Also, since its the special edition, it came with the two issues of Last Rites, which bridges the gap between what happened within the pages of Final Crisis. They were ok, mainly its just two more issues of Morrison explaining how badass Batman is.
Final Crisis, on the other hand, still sucked. It was a mess, the pacing was horrible, and it was generally all-around confusing. I still can't really explain the story. It is about Darkseid being transferred to some human, and then controlling the world, but then it turns out he isn't the main villain and the real bad guy wants to destroy all worlds and all universes by sucking them like a vampire....I'm not sure....Also, if this special edition didn't include the Superman Beyond issues, you wouldn't know who the heck the main villain of the story was! I am serious! If you would just read the main Final Crisis series, you'd get to the final issue and wonder who the heck Mandrakk was! If it wasn't for Superman Beyond, you wouldn't realize this was the true threat, not Darkseid taking over the Earth. Most of the time, thanks to the pacing, things are incredibly confusing. One issue goes. incredibly. slow. Only giving you a small amount of information. Whereas the very next issue goessofastyoucan'tkeepup. Yep. That bad.
I'd say read Batman R.I.P., and read Batman: Last Rites just for the fact that Batman is such the badass in those issues, maybe you should also read Final Crisis #6(again, because it shows how badass Batman is), and skip the rest.
Invincible Iron-Man volumes 1 and 2. This covers The Five Nightmares storyline, and the first part of Tony Stark: Most Wanted. Five Nightmares covers Tony Stark facing the nightmare of Iron-Man technology being used to kill people, whereas Most Wanted deals with the aftershocks of Secret Invasion(more on that later)where Tony is blamed for that crisis, and is now on the run. This is Matt Fraction at his best. The stories are fast, and insane, albeit they get depressing. It seems it is Matt Fraction's job to tear Tony Stark down about thirty pegs....yeah each issue makes it a bit harder for ol' Shellhead. Salvador Larroca does the artwork for this series, and he draws a pretty dang good Iron-Man. His faces, on the other hand, are pretty horrendous at times. One girl goes from being skinny and her face looking good, to the next panel he tries to draw her making a 'stumped' emotion and instead makes her face look completely fat. Also, the colors are a bit wierd sometimes as well. As my girlfriend noticed, sometimes Tony looks so dark that he looks black. She thought at first it was James Rhodes, War Machine. Regardless, the books are good and definitely worth reading. In fact, the second volume looked so interesting that one of my friends, Nicki, actually borrowed it from me!
The Secret Invasion saga was a big read. I had the main series TPB, Mighty Avengers Books 1 and 2, and also New Avengers Books 1 and 2. Of course, this isn't even half of what Marvel brought out, but these were the main ones. This was Marvel's summer event last year, where shape-shifting aliens, called the Skrulls, attack our world by infiltrating every level of world-wide governments and super-hero teams and attack within. While the main series was half decent, Brian Michael Bendis has problems when juggling lots of characters, and his pacing is still bad. Half of the seven issue series had almost all of the heroes in the Savage Land, far away from the main battles in New York City. Regardless of the somewhat lackluster main series, Mighty Avengers and New Avengers truly shine. They are written by the same guy, so continuity is kept really well for a tie-in to the main event. These books focus on how the Skrulls infiltrated us so well. I like how BMB weaves stories around continuity from the past few years, and just shows how much these aliens really hated the heroes of the Marvel Universe. This summer series came out the same time as Final Crisis, and it should be obvious this is a much better summer-event book. It is a definite must read, especially if one is wanting to get into the current continuity books that Marvel produces.
Finally there is Amazing Spider-man Vol 1 and 2 of J. Michael Straczynski's run. For starters, it features the art of John Romita Jr., so this should be a definite MUST-BUY for any Spidey fan. Thankfully, the stories are incredibly good as well. This was back when Spider-man was at it's lowest. Sales were bad, the stories prior were lackluster, so they gave it to the prolific sci-fi writer, JMS. For those that don't know, he was the head-writer for the show Babylon 5. Anywho, these first two volumes covers his first two main arcs, one focusing on Spider-man's powers, and another focusing on May Parker, Peter Parker(Spider-man for those that don't know)'s aunt, finding out that Peter is Spider-man. While the first arc was a tiny bit controversial, as it introduced that Spidey's powers may be mystical and more totemic based than radioactive-spider based, it was a great read. The art, oh goodness the art is amazing, and seeing the big fights between Spidey and the big-bad of the storyarc, Morlun, are like image stills of an animated series. The second arc, which is pretty much just a continuation of the first one, finally does something amazing in Amazing Spider-man, by allowing May Parker to finally know what Peter really is. It creates a better dynamic between the two, and finally allows them to become closer than they have ever been, which was needed. Why was it needed? Well, at the time, unfortunately, Marvel had Peter seperated from Mary Jane, which effectively made Peter a loner. And, while seeing Peter struggle gives good stories, Peter alone makes it too depressing to bear. Giving him that new connection with May helped relieve that depression, which in turn finally made Amazing Spider-man a great comic again...
Which brings me to One More Day......which was the last storyarc made by JMS. I know, its strange skipping all the rest of his run and going straight to this but it is now time to rant..
Ladies and gentlemen, lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!
First off, there's the one-two punch of Batman R.I.P.(Special Edition Hardcover) and Final Crisis(Special Edition Hardcover). Again, I have read these previously via single issues, so it was interesting to read it all at once. Batman R.I.P., which was Grant Morrison's opus, was quite amazing. The story revolves around a group of super-evil aristocrats that have figured out Batman's identity, and go about destroying his life completely. When I first read this I thought it was a mess, and too confusing for most readers. After the second go around, it was quite a mind-opener. I say this a lot, but I missed a LOT of things the first time around. For example, what does the phrase "Zurr en Arrh" actually mean? If you didn't actually read into the final page of the last issue of R.I.P., you would miss the fact that it meant Zorro in Arkham. Wierd, right? Same with the revelation of Bat-Mite. Also, since its the special edition, it came with the two issues of Last Rites, which bridges the gap between what happened within the pages of Final Crisis. They were ok, mainly its just two more issues of Morrison explaining how badass Batman is.
Final Crisis, on the other hand, still sucked. It was a mess, the pacing was horrible, and it was generally all-around confusing. I still can't really explain the story. It is about Darkseid being transferred to some human, and then controlling the world, but then it turns out he isn't the main villain and the real bad guy wants to destroy all worlds and all universes by sucking them like a vampire....I'm not sure....Also, if this special edition didn't include the Superman Beyond issues, you wouldn't know who the heck the main villain of the story was! I am serious! If you would just read the main Final Crisis series, you'd get to the final issue and wonder who the heck Mandrakk was! If it wasn't for Superman Beyond, you wouldn't realize this was the true threat, not Darkseid taking over the Earth. Most of the time, thanks to the pacing, things are incredibly confusing. One issue goes. incredibly. slow. Only giving you a small amount of information. Whereas the very next issue goessofastyoucan'tkeepup. Yep. That bad.
I'd say read Batman R.I.P., and read Batman: Last Rites just for the fact that Batman is such the badass in those issues, maybe you should also read Final Crisis #6(again, because it shows how badass Batman is), and skip the rest.
Invincible Iron-Man volumes 1 and 2. This covers The Five Nightmares storyline, and the first part of Tony Stark: Most Wanted. Five Nightmares covers Tony Stark facing the nightmare of Iron-Man technology being used to kill people, whereas Most Wanted deals with the aftershocks of Secret Invasion(more on that later)where Tony is blamed for that crisis, and is now on the run. This is Matt Fraction at his best. The stories are fast, and insane, albeit they get depressing. It seems it is Matt Fraction's job to tear Tony Stark down about thirty pegs....yeah each issue makes it a bit harder for ol' Shellhead. Salvador Larroca does the artwork for this series, and he draws a pretty dang good Iron-Man. His faces, on the other hand, are pretty horrendous at times. One girl goes from being skinny and her face looking good, to the next panel he tries to draw her making a 'stumped' emotion and instead makes her face look completely fat. Also, the colors are a bit wierd sometimes as well. As my girlfriend noticed, sometimes Tony looks so dark that he looks black. She thought at first it was James Rhodes, War Machine. Regardless, the books are good and definitely worth reading. In fact, the second volume looked so interesting that one of my friends, Nicki, actually borrowed it from me!
The Secret Invasion saga was a big read. I had the main series TPB, Mighty Avengers Books 1 and 2, and also New Avengers Books 1 and 2. Of course, this isn't even half of what Marvel brought out, but these were the main ones. This was Marvel's summer event last year, where shape-shifting aliens, called the Skrulls, attack our world by infiltrating every level of world-wide governments and super-hero teams and attack within. While the main series was half decent, Brian Michael Bendis has problems when juggling lots of characters, and his pacing is still bad. Half of the seven issue series had almost all of the heroes in the Savage Land, far away from the main battles in New York City. Regardless of the somewhat lackluster main series, Mighty Avengers and New Avengers truly shine. They are written by the same guy, so continuity is kept really well for a tie-in to the main event. These books focus on how the Skrulls infiltrated us so well. I like how BMB weaves stories around continuity from the past few years, and just shows how much these aliens really hated the heroes of the Marvel Universe. This summer series came out the same time as Final Crisis, and it should be obvious this is a much better summer-event book. It is a definite must read, especially if one is wanting to get into the current continuity books that Marvel produces.
Finally there is Amazing Spider-man Vol 1 and 2 of J. Michael Straczynski's run. For starters, it features the art of John Romita Jr., so this should be a definite MUST-BUY for any Spidey fan. Thankfully, the stories are incredibly good as well. This was back when Spider-man was at it's lowest. Sales were bad, the stories prior were lackluster, so they gave it to the prolific sci-fi writer, JMS. For those that don't know, he was the head-writer for the show Babylon 5. Anywho, these first two volumes covers his first two main arcs, one focusing on Spider-man's powers, and another focusing on May Parker, Peter Parker(Spider-man for those that don't know)'s aunt, finding out that Peter is Spider-man. While the first arc was a tiny bit controversial, as it introduced that Spidey's powers may be mystical and more totemic based than radioactive-spider based, it was a great read. The art, oh goodness the art is amazing, and seeing the big fights between Spidey and the big-bad of the storyarc, Morlun, are like image stills of an animated series. The second arc, which is pretty much just a continuation of the first one, finally does something amazing in Amazing Spider-man, by allowing May Parker to finally know what Peter really is. It creates a better dynamic between the two, and finally allows them to become closer than they have ever been, which was needed. Why was it needed? Well, at the time, unfortunately, Marvel had Peter seperated from Mary Jane, which effectively made Peter a loner. And, while seeing Peter struggle gives good stories, Peter alone makes it too depressing to bear. Giving him that new connection with May helped relieve that depression, which in turn finally made Amazing Spider-man a great comic again...
Which brings me to One More Day......which was the last storyarc made by JMS. I know, its strange skipping all the rest of his run and going straight to this but it is now time to rant..
Ladies and gentlemen, lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Captain America Omnibus, and how do you pluralize that?
So, the first book that I read was the Captain America Omnibus, and the first TPB of the Death of Captain America. Let's break down what that entails...
Captain American Omnibus, which has the first 25 issues of Ed Brubaker's run, followed by an annual of sorts, and a one-shot called Winter Soldier: Winter Kills just to round out everything. This book is MASSIVE. It is novel sized, unlike other normal TPB's. Thank goodness its hardcover or this thing wouldn't survive a few years with me.
Then there is The Death of Cap America vol 1, which covers issues 25-30. So yes, I ended up getting one issue twice, I didn't see any other omnibuses(that sounds weird...omnibi?)at the store so I just went with it. They were cheap anyways over at HPB.
So yeah, over 32 issues, read within a day. Let me tell you, they were even more amazing now than they were when I first read them! I think Ed Brubaker's stories read better in one huge sitting, since each issue continues right after the other. So, when reading thirty issues at once, many subplots and references stay fresh in your mind so that when they are shown again later on you can actually catch them. Let me tell you, I missed a LOT when reading this issue by issue. In fact, I can now see where they are going with Captain America: Rebirth thanks to re-reading these issues.
The story is densely packed, each issue has a lot of information to process, and its definitely not standard Cap America fare. There isn't as much action as you'd have seen in the old stories, but when its there it really shines. The book has become a spy-thriller, and I think it works for Cappy these days. Ed Brubaker is a great writer, when he latches onto an idea that works, so thank goodness it works well in this book. The artists Mike Perkins and Steve Epting are also really good, providing a dark 'realistic' world for Cap and friends to play in. I'm just glad they found two matching artists here, otherwise this book would have been massively delayed due to Epting.
All I can say is, while I won't stop reading this book issue to issue, I will probably make a conscious effort to read the trades all in one sitting from time to time to catch things I once missed.
Next up is a two-fer! Grant Morrison's supposed epics, Batman: R.I.P. and Final Crisis.
Here's a little teaser, I hated them originally, but after reading R.I.P. I'm starting to see why a lot were enjoying this. All I can say is, Zur En Arrh!
Captain American Omnibus, which has the first 25 issues of Ed Brubaker's run, followed by an annual of sorts, and a one-shot called Winter Soldier: Winter Kills just to round out everything. This book is MASSIVE. It is novel sized, unlike other normal TPB's. Thank goodness its hardcover or this thing wouldn't survive a few years with me.
Then there is The Death of Cap America vol 1, which covers issues 25-30. So yes, I ended up getting one issue twice, I didn't see any other omnibuses(that sounds weird...omnibi?)at the store so I just went with it. They were cheap anyways over at HPB.
So yeah, over 32 issues, read within a day. Let me tell you, they were even more amazing now than they were when I first read them! I think Ed Brubaker's stories read better in one huge sitting, since each issue continues right after the other. So, when reading thirty issues at once, many subplots and references stay fresh in your mind so that when they are shown again later on you can actually catch them. Let me tell you, I missed a LOT when reading this issue by issue. In fact, I can now see where they are going with Captain America: Rebirth thanks to re-reading these issues.
The story is densely packed, each issue has a lot of information to process, and its definitely not standard Cap America fare. There isn't as much action as you'd have seen in the old stories, but when its there it really shines. The book has become a spy-thriller, and I think it works for Cappy these days. Ed Brubaker is a great writer, when he latches onto an idea that works, so thank goodness it works well in this book. The artists Mike Perkins and Steve Epting are also really good, providing a dark 'realistic' world for Cap and friends to play in. I'm just glad they found two matching artists here, otherwise this book would have been massively delayed due to Epting.
All I can say is, while I won't stop reading this book issue to issue, I will probably make a conscious effort to read the trades all in one sitting from time to time to catch things I once missed.
Next up is a two-fer! Grant Morrison's supposed epics, Batman: R.I.P. and Final Crisis.
Here's a little teaser, I hated them originally, but after reading R.I.P. I'm starting to see why a lot were enjoying this. All I can say is, Zur En Arrh!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Comics Galore
So thanks to my large disbursement from Sam Houston, I have bought a large collection of trades. Well over 300$ worth in fact from various places such as Hastings and Half Price Books. I may even go to Barnes and Noble soon, and possibly online to buy a few more. All of these books I have already read at one point or another, but after I finish each one, I'll give a quick review. I'll talk about how I felt about it when I originally read it, and how I feel about it now after the re-read. Some of them, though, won't have a prior portion as I just can't remember how I liked them, which usually means I hated them. So why did I buy ones that I didn't like? Eh. Many were cheap. $6.99 for a hardcover Vol. 1 of Ultimate Fantastic Four is a great buy, even if the series is underwhelming. So I thought, why not?
Anywho, here is just a small list of what I'll be talking about in the next month or so:
Captain America(current series) Issues 1-30
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ion
Superman Batman: World's Finest
Superman: Last Son
Y: The Last Man
And that is only a fraction of what I have purchased recently!
Be seeing you in the next couple of days with the first 'retrospective,' Captain America!
Anywho, here is just a small list of what I'll be talking about in the next month or so:
Captain America(current series) Issues 1-30
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ion
Superman Batman: World's Finest
Superman: Last Son
Y: The Last Man
And that is only a fraction of what I have purchased recently!
Be seeing you in the next couple of days with the first 'retrospective,' Captain America!
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
The Rant About Action Figures.
Ok, guess I’ll start with something far into the section of ‘geek-dom.’ Now for a few that really know me, I’ve bought action figures since I was a little kid. For me, they only really started to get good around 2000-2001 when Toy-Biz started making the Spider-man movie and Marvel Legends toys. They had awesome articulation, and just looked cool. While they were awesome, it was another obscure Toy-Biz action figure that claimed the title of my all-time favorite, Goldberg. Yes, for a time I was into wrestling and WCW was quite entertaining. Goldberg was a random buy for me, and it has become the best figure in my bunch.
I guess I should explain just a little before continuing, I don’t buy action figures to collect them. As a child I bought them to open them up and play with them. Then, I bought them to open them, and let my younger brother play with them. Now, I buy them and open them because they look cool and help me with story ideas.
Anywho, Goldberg had the perfect amount of articulation, wasn’t too much but was enough to move him in real-looking poses. He was stiff enough to actually stay in poses when in use. All around the figure was awesome. Now, the problem with almost all of my other figures was two-fold: too much (or not enough) articulation, and being too loose. Most of my other figures, especially the Marvel Legends (both Toy-Biz and Hasbro versions) have way too much articulation. You’d think 36 points of articulation is a good thing, but not when those points cause problems for other joints, and are too loose to keep the figure from standing on its own.
I just find it strange, that seven or eight years after buying the figure, and after buying countless others, it is still the best of the bunch.
But there is promise with Mattel’s DC Superhero line! In fact, save for the cumbersome plastic capes, most of the figures I have bought have been quite amazing. Superman, despite his weird purple-ish coloring that they chose for the first wave, and Batman look and move great. I just wish Hasbro would have done the same with the Marvel line. Unfortunately, they have decided to make their figures 3.75” which don’t mesh well with their old 6” lines. Oh, and at 8-10 bucks a pop for those small figures they have insured that I’ll never buy one. Ever.
And now we get into the second part of my rant, the price. Yeah yeah, inflation, rise in costs of everything to make said figure means rise in price, la dee dah. What I am so confused about is why they decided to shrink their figures, and raise the costs exponentially. As a worker in the retail industry I know how much of a hike these figures have, and it is crazy. What’s worse is they actually sell! So what does that mean? 8$ 3.75” figures for all thanks to Hasbro! Makes me pine for the Toy-Biz days.
It is funny, back when I started buying action figures, the DC figures sucked something fierce, while the Marvel ones were awesome. Now, it’s the exact opposite, for some reason they both can’t be good at the same time. Oh well. More money to Mattel then and less to Hasbro.
Welcome to the Fair Side
Well, I now feel like talking randomly about geek-y things again. I was about to create an account until I realized I still have one on here, so with a little retooling this will be the place I wax poetic on all things nerdy.
For those that are just now tuning in, my name is Zachary Davis. I am currently SHSU student getting my degree in English Literature, and preparing to become a teacher. So yes, I am wordy.
Mainly, what you will find here are random rants about movies, music, video games, and comic books, along with the occasional review of said items. Not much to start but I will try to update weekly, as long as my schedule allows.
So, thank you for reading, and any and all comments are welcome.
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