Archive for February, 2014

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "T.R.A.C.K.S."Simmons should never be let off the bus… and is Stan Lee a pimp now?

Truly, Simmons getting a little too method acting in her undercover role was both priceless and a source of second-hand embarrassment. It was pretty funny though. You can just see the look on Coulson’s face… he was definitely thinking “I died for this?”.

The biggest issue though was the constant backtracking. I have nothing against the back-track in story telling, when you go back and show everything from someone else’s POV, but it’smost effective when done once (like in Leverage) or, at the most, twice. Here, it was done three times not counting the original timeline. It started to get real annoying, real quickly. Thankfully it was saved by little moments here and there between the characters.

This brings up the dynamic of May and Ward’s ‘just sex’… Coulson really schooled Ward on that one, but in the end, I don’t really care. This relationship could be pretty awesome and fresh in how it deals with these kinds of tropes, but it’s being shoe-horned into some kind of weird love-quadrangle and that means I do nothing but roll my eyes.

Though this episode gave us a pretty killer ending. Micheal is turned into Deathlok and Skye is shot. I’m not sure a pressure tank works like that, but hey, it’s Marvel, whatever works. I thought this might trigger whatever Skye’s special ability is but it looks like they are playing the long con. I must say though, the scene played out quite nicely, just enough shock and awe.  This is doing a lot to repair Skye’s character from being the annoying one to being the tolerable one.

Oh, and Simmons attacking that guy and taking the grenade, awesome character moment there though I’m afraid we probably won’t see much more from it, that’s how this show seems to be running right now.

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thor_3_ragnarokThe big rumor right now is that Thor 3 will bring to the films the Ragnarok storyline from the comics. While there is validity to the claim, I’m not really buying it. Would the studio really want to jump on Ragnarok that fast? Bringing Ragnarok will effectively take Asgard out the future films as it basically gets destroyed with only a chunk surviving (floating over Broxton, Oklahoma of all places).

As much as I want to see Asgard brought to Oklahoma (cause, seriously, I really really really really do want to see that), we haven’t really got to explore Asgard or its many wonders and peoples in the first two films. I know they only have so much of a shelf-life on both the actor’s contracts and people’s interest in Thor, but shouldn’t they wait till at least one more film before basically dropping the big hammer?

Perhaps that’s just a personal preference…

I’m sure we’ll hear more about this once Captain American 2 hits theaters.

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Review: Black Widow #1

Black Widow #1Note to self: Do not get on Black Widow’s bad side.

In this first issue of Black Widow’s new solo, we’re thrown straight in. We think we’re treated to a complicated back story, but it’s just a feint. We think she’s out to kill someone, but that’s a red herring.

If this doesn’t scream old school cloak and dagger, then I don’t know what does.

There is the trope of ‘former bad person taking out bad people to atone’ that we have to deal with, but as long as they can keep from being preachy about that and make it about the how instead of the why, then this could be one fun ride where nothing is as it seems. I like it when a story can keep me on my toes.

Top this with Phil Noto’s wonderful artwork and you totally have me on board with this title.

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Review: A+X #16

A+X #16I honestly don’t understand the purpose of this issue.

The first teamup we get is a flashback to Spider-Man stumbling over Psylocke in the middle of a battle. Then a grenade goes off and she is mortally wounded. Then the X-Men come and take her away and Spider-Man is left to a very obvious trope or forgetting his grocery list. It’s all so very pointless. Even if it may be the turning point in the evolution of Psylocke, there is almost no indication of this for those who are not X-Men readers.

This is a story that should be very profound and heart wrenching but it’s not given enough depth and falls flat.

Then we continue with the Cap and Cyclops story where everything is turned on its head. The Skrulls aren’t bad people and Doctor Doom took out the LMD. This seems to be nothing but one long advertisement to buy the new Nova comic. Seriously, that’s what the binary means that the LMD sputters before he dies.

Nice one Marvel…

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All-New X-Factor #1I refuse to believe Remy was that careless and didn’t get himself caught on purpose. This is Remy LeBeau we’re talking about…

I suppose though he could have been having an off day, there’s been a lot going on with him lately, what with everything that happened in his solo, the stuff with Rogue, it’s a lot to handle. But still… Remy freaking LeBeau!

Convenient plot point aside, we get an introduction of Serval Industries and how they apparently want to help people. To do so they have started their own little group of crime fighting super heroes (like this hasn’t gone badly in the past). Of course everyone is very paranoid about this, I’m paranoid about this, but Polaris seems to think everything is on the level. I don’t think I’ll ever trust Serval but I guess we’ll have to see.

I love the interactions between everyone already, it’s like a dysfunctional family and that is pretty awesome. There is plenty of wit and banner to make me smile. If the writing stays on this level, then I’ll be very happy!

As for the new uniforms, I don’t know what all the complaints are about, we’ve seen much, much, worse in the past.

So, yeah, first issue in and I’m liking this title, which is a good thing because it’s the only title with Gambit in it!

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Review: X-Men #8

X-Men #8Yeah, I don’t buy this.

Typhoid Mary manages to break into the Jean Grey school, steal something, then only gets found on the way out and is so far ahead that if Betsy wasn’t a telepath she would have made it? No, no effing way. There are too many people not to have some roaming the halls or errant powers to account for, the danger room is part of everything so the instant she was found she could have been gobbled up, and not to mention the lawn is alive.

This goes way past my ability to suspend disbelief.

The rest of this is typical villain escapades… and we pick up two new female villains so that they can start a sisterhood. I can’t be the only person annoyed that an all female team is only fighting female villains, some of which are being brought up from the dusty corners of semi-obscurity… seems like it’s defeating the purpose in there.

As for the whole thing between Roxy and Mercury… I have only one thing to say that:

Sherlock - Do Your Research

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Review: Deadpool #21

Deadpool #21When will people learn you can’t kill Deadpool and it will only hurt your more?

It’s good to see that Deadpool is actually starting to really get around to helping Preston out of his head, but they’ve run into a snag. SHIELD has some less than savory people in it and one is using a LMD of Preston to do some dirty work to make himself rich. But he’s not too bright either, putting a hit out on Deadpool? Worst. Idea. Ever.

All in all though, this issue is a pretty standard set up for some classic Deadpool shenanigans to come.  The twist being that Coulson is involved… and on Deadpool’s side.

This should be interesting…

Oh, and how they kept pushing the information that Eleanor might still be alive makes me hope that this plot line isn’t dropped and will be back sooner rather than later.

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