Archive for May, 2013

Review: The Fearless Defenders #4

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on May 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Fearless Defenders #4This issue is a bit of a breather. The gang gets the hell out of dodge and regroups, adding a little dash of background story to spice things up a bit.

But other than a little introspection and a lovely taste of just how everyone got into this mess in the first place… not a lot happens.

That’s okay, it’s good to have these kinds of way-point issues at number 4, plus we are left off with a nice little cliffhanger which could make things really interesting if they are going the way I think they are going. There is definitely some character progression Valkyrie has to come to grips with what she has done and what she’s remembering, it’s subtle and not overdone.

And might I say that I love the way Valkyrie is drawn on this cover. Sure, she’s thin but not uber-thin and her underwear is actually practical. Dare I say this is actually sexier than some of the stuff the other female characters wear which is supposed to be skimpy and sexy?

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #29

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Wolverine and the X-Men #29Flashforward issues are inherently flawed. Unless the flashfoward takes place relatively soon and part of the overall arc of the story, then it’s just a lot of fan service and conjecture.

Who knows what will really take place twenty years from now, both physically and in comic-book time. Characters might get killed off, canon relationships may change. Sure, we might cling to the fact that in Gambit’s 3rd series there is a flashforward were Gambit and Rogue are married… but if we’re honest, it may not actually ever happen.

That’s why issues like this just kinda set sour with me. Especially when the writer throws out names like Professor Xorn, Carmen Drake, Warren Worthington IV, Kubrick Quire, Charlene Xavier, Rose Logan, and Summer Grey (really? Summer Grey?). It’s just so annoying in its obvious pan-handling fan service.

Not to mention blantently trying to hint at something big happening but not saying what it was… of course he can’t tell the readers because the writer doesn’t know if in two years Marvel decides to have another House of M or Civil War moment. All this just takes away from the actual story here which might finally be something worthwhile out of the whole Dog Logan fiasco.

For a title that was pretty spectacular for a while there… I can’t help but wonder what happened.

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DOFP: Trask Confirmed, sorta

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , , on May 28, 2013| 6 Comments »

We have yet another reveal via twitter from Bryan Singer regarding Days of Future Past.

An extra munches at the Craft Services table in Trask Industries coveralls. This absolutely confirms that Trask will be a thing in DOFP, so likely Bolivar Trask himself will make an appearance, if not be the major villain.  Unless of course this is just a ‘fan service insert’ used to throw us off track. Somehow I doubt that as Trask and the Sentinel program are two major of players in the X-Men mythos, not to mention the comic arc which this is based on, that it wouldn’t make sense for them not to be in the films.

Speculation has run that Peter Dinkledge will be playing Bolivar Trask and this certainly helps that assessment. We’ve yet to see Peter on set to see what kind of costume or wardrobe he is wearing.

I want to also note the color of the company logo. Purple… just like the Sentinels. And doesn’t it kinda look like a robot face? Looks like big purple robots are in our future…

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Review: Uncanny X-Men #5

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Uncanny X- Men #5Is it just me or does Irving draw Magneto like Christopher Lloyd?

Uncanny Resemblance aside, we move back to Cyclops’ new school with the Cuckoo’s and Angel in tow… just in time for Magik to lose control.

I’m not really up on Magik’s back story with Limbo though I know there is a lot of bad blood there. Considering her powers are broke like the rest of the Phoenix Five, it’s not surprising that her history is coming back to haunt her.

I like how Scott is done here, he really does care about Magik and is worried about what’s happening to her, both for the sake of herself and his team. This matches up wonderfully to how Bendis is writing young Scott’s character. They are both leaders who do actually give a damn and aren’t meglomaniacs. Bendis is really giving something for the “Cyclops Was Right” camp to sink their teeth into.

Not sure though what I think of the Scott romance angle though. In All-New X-Men, Jean is all jealous of Mystique’s relationship with young Scott though there really isn’t anything to worry about there. In Uncanny X-Men, it seems Tempus has developed a school-yard crush on old Scott which did not sit well with Emma even though Scott would never look at Tempus as more than a student (or one would hope, I know Scott has had a bad track record what with cheating on his wives but never with girls WAY to young for him… and Tempus is not even a telepath).

Oh well, still better than what’s going on with Alex Summers’ love-life in Uncanny Avengers.

Lastly, I never cared much for the Cuckoo’s, but the way they put the smack down on the other boys… nice…

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Review: All-New X-Men #11

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

All-New X-Men #11Not exactly the smartest cover considering that Bendis gave away the game in his previous issue of Uncanny X-Men. You think someone would have noticed this and fixed either this cover or the ending of UXM #4 so that it wasn’t so revealing. In fact, UXM #5, which continues to spill the secret, came out before this issue of All-New, so, yeah, there was no hope in keeping it under wraps that Angel left to join old Cyclops. Really bad planning all around…

Oh well.

This issue was very interesting, it was nice to see young Jean put in her place by the Cuckoo’s. It was something that needed to be done or else Jean would end up on the path of not-so-nice Jean. It was a good way to get to her sorted realistically without having to drag out that story plot. Let’s just hope Bendis keeps to it.

As for Angel, I really can see why he’d side with Cyclops. Of the core group, Angel has met himself and realized that he literally becomes someone he couldn’t recognize. That’s right in front of his face which is a lot harder to deal with then Jean’s being dead because it’s not something that is physical and tangible. To Angel, seeing himself like that is walking proof that he, as he knows himself, is dead and that has to hurt.

And then of course there is Mystique, she’s having way to much fun being bad… and that’s exactly the way we like her.

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Reblog: Bryan Singer Teases X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , on May 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

From SFX

In issue #236 of SFX we talk to director Bryan Singer about X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Due for release July next year, X-Men: Days of Future Past is already causing a stir. Singer shares with SFX just why the newest instalment is the most exciting yet.

“It’s not just another X-Men film; it’s not just about the combined cast as there will be certain technologies and other stuff that we haven’t seen before in the X-Men films.”

“There are also issues of time and we’re messing about with that,” He says of the inclusion of some of the cast from the original trilogy, “I think we’ve got it figured out. I pitched it to James Cameron when I was in New Zealand last year and he said, ‘Yes, that makes sense.’”

“We wanted an opportunity to bring some of the favourite older and younger characters together,” says Singer. Not only are Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and a whole host of the original trilogies cast returning to star but Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) is set to make an appearance, rumoured to be playing villainous Bolivar Trask.

The original comic sees a Future Kitty Pryde going back in time to change a her dystopian future. The film is set to follow much of the same storyline. “We also wanted to play with the notion of different times and stuff like the way that time affects destinies. It enables the film to not just be a sequel to First Class or X-Men 3 but to actually be its own thing.”

You can grab your copy of issue #236 from the 29 May.

Again, DOFP is shaping up to be that film which could be either really good or really bad. The biggest thing in this article is Singer acknowledging that messing with time affects how the future will play out. So is this confirmation that DOFP will make the original films AU so they can start a new timeline? One that basically fixes all the stuff that went wrong? It would be a great way to do a reboot of a film franchise, by actually using an already established plot arc and original actors to do it. It’s not really a ‘reboot’ then is it?

But, again, as much as this sounds good on paper (as I’m sure X3 and X:O:W did), the finished project is still up in the air.

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Review: X-Men Legacy #10

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

xmenlegacy10As much as I’m enjoying where this title has been going recently… I can’t help but be a little annoyed at how the writer just loves to refer to Ruth as a weirdo. Just because she wears the blindfold and has telekinetic and precognative abilities, as well as a speech impediment, doesn’t make her weird, at least by X-Men/Mutant standards. You would think that her fellow X-Men would be more forgiving of her differences? I suppose this is just an extension of Spurrier’s mad dash in the first issues to totally ditch on the X-Men in order to build up David, and I can kinda see the Cuckoo’s being all Mean Girl but Pixie? I dunno, it just bugs me.

But getting to the issue at hand, David believes he is going to end the world one day… and apparently has no idea how precognition actually works. For one, he took the power from one of his ‘demons’ which obviously has his own agenda. And there are things like self-fulfilling prophecies. And as for the ‘destiny’ that he thinks he sees… yeah… again… never trust the future, especially when destiny is involved because one thing is often not like the other. (and like his deal with the Xavier demon isn’t going to come back and bite him in the arse)

But that is no slight against Spurrier, he’s really taken David on a rollercoaster of emotions and he’s truly a mess. So it makes sense as to why he would want to get rid of his ‘mutant side’ as it were.

Also, nice to see a look at one of the glaring issues regarding super hero comics, there is always the collateral damage, the people who get stuck in the middle of stuff they have no way of fighting against and get hurt because of it. It’s a very real reason for people to be afraid of what mutants and superheros mean to them.

So, yeah, this should get interesting…

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Review: Uncanny Avengers #7

Posted in Reviews on May 26, 2013| 2 Comments »

Uncanny Avengers #7Rick Remender needs to be slapped and kicked off this title, he is butchering characters and writing what I can only describe as a really bad fan fic.

Not only does he like to hear himself talk and is extremely wordy (and trust me, I talk way to much in real life so if I’m noticing this then ouch), but he is reducing all the women into nothing but bitchy romance fodder.

Rogue is bitchy and much like the kid she was back in her Brotherhood days which Remender writes off as ‘a regression arc due to Xavier’s death’, but seriously, that bullshite. Rogue has gone through a lot worse and lost people closer to her and been able to pull through, this is just him wanting to make her a bratty bitch to play against Wanda.

Wanda, omg, Wanda, what the hell. She’s also a bitchy woman calling Rogue one of his father’s floozies (wtf, when did Magneto get floozies? hell, who was his last girlfriend before Rogue? Lorna’s mom?!?). And she’s all stuck in some love triangle with Captain America and Wonder Man. Seriously?! Seven issues and you’ve regressed to this crap?

And now Janet is all about ‘fashion’ (cause apparently she can’t think of better things to help with their image than clothes) and hitting on Alex (just as Rogue did earlier).

Hear that noise? It’s me banging my head against the wall.

Not to mention that the story he’s writing is so deluded in wordiness that it loses any of its impact. Ugh.

So far this title has not seen any plateauing in its sales, it has been constantly dropping and I am actually glad to hear that. It’s still a far way from the 20k cut off Marvel tends to use, but it the title continues to diminish in its quality then maybe we’ll see it go before then, or maybe get a new author.

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Review: Deadpool Killustrated #4

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool Killustrated #4As I said before, Deadpool Killustrated was a great idea but it’s been poorly executed. They only give him four issues to kill off the classics and most of the really cool deaths or concepts are just washed over.

Who were the witches of MacBeth? Who was Dorian Gray?

This kind of stuff could have been awesome to explore, even in Deadpool’s hilarious way of doing things. But instead it’s all just washed over for one big battle with the Three Musketeers and Sherlock’s gang, the latter of which was kinda an underwhelming boss battle. They build up Sherlock and he doesn’t really do anything.

Then you get the cop out that Deadpool didn’t actually kill everything, just enough of it to make it ‘mortally wounded’ and it’s left to Sherlock to remember and try to heal it. Really? Not only do they skim on the fun stuff but they cop out on the ending too. I suppose they were trying to be metaphorical or something but come on, it’s Deadpool. If you say he’s going to kill everything, let him kill everything… he’s the only one who could get away with it!

Now we’re going to get a Deadpool vs Deadpool which may be interesting… but not if handled the same way as this mini-series. The sad part is I’ll probably buy it anyway.

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Review: Astonishing X-Men #61

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Astonishing X-Men #61X-Termination: Part Five

Mostly a lot of talking in this issue, just getting us from Point A to Point B… telling us that there is only one way to stop the invaders and that is by sacrificing the Age of Apocalypse world.

Really? After all that time and effort put into the Age of Apocalypse title, which did have some measure of fan base, and all you’re going to do is destroy it completely?

What a crock.

If I had been a fan of the title then I would have totally yelled foul. In fact, I’m not a fan and I’m going to yell foul anyway.

Can’t really blame Liu for that though because she is writing inside of a pre-defined story structure… of which whoever came up with it is an idiot.

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