Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Review: Deadpool #21

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on February 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

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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Review: Uncanny X-Men #15

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on January 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Uncanny X-Men #15There is such thing as trying too hard not to be sexist.

People have to go shopping, especially when they literally have nothing but the clothes on their back to their name. Toiletries, underwear, I mean, I know comic book character never seem to change their clothes but realistically they need these things. There is also another thing called cabin fever, something that is especially troublesome in cold, desolate, areas. You don’t need a whole page of “don’t judge us, we are strong, independent women, but we need to go shopping” when both the need of basic items and cabin fever affect both genders and could easily be explained away as such in a quarter of the space. Writing that whole ‘don’t judge us excuse’ is basically Bendis not wanting to be called sexist for sending the girls shopping because, apparently, he thought it was an inherently sexist thing they were doing.

So it’s less of a ‘i’m not sexist’ and more ‘i’m sexist and don’t want to get called out’ kind of moment.

As for the story, this is a tie-in to the new Inhumanity arc going on right now. Inhumans are getting the spotlight because Marvel still owns the movie rights to them and likely will try to use them to make up for the lack of mutants in the MCU. So we’re treated to the discovery of a new Inhuman with some incredibly powerful abilities. He takes out all the X-girls and then gets carted off by people’s unknown (though maybe they are known, I haven’t been reading the Inhumanity arc).

Will this have any impact on the future of our team? Probably not, but as filler issues go, it’s decent once you get past the first part.

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Review: A+X #15

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on January 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A+X #15One has Blue Fur and the other is wearing Horrible Pajamas.

That’s literally all I took away from this first team up in A+X #15 which pits Science vs Magic with Beast and Dr Strange. While the story is fun and there are a few good one-liners, this is a pairing I would have loved to have seen across a whole issue rather than just half. This seems to be the biggest issue with A+X (beyond constant reuse of characters rather than always going for something new), with only half an issue to tell a story you often get something short and sweet. For some of these stories that works just fine, but for others, it really does make the story feel empty. Like they really could have done more with it.

Also, does this cover image make Dr Strange look like Wil Wheaton? Just a little…

Then we have the continuing adventures of Cap and Cyclops. Now, the only reason these two are working together is because the Skrull guy could confirm that those two are not Skrulls. Then, with their Skrull captured (cause the guy was smart enough to move his heart), they head off looking for a Skrull safe house… and call in backup. Why does this feel like it’s negating the whole reason these two enemies are working together? How can Cap or Cyclops trust that Emma, the Cuckoo’s, and Ant-Man are not Skrulls? I know they needed Emma to to conveniently use her telepathy to save the day… and I suppose you could argue that it’s the fact that they are using the powersets of said individuals are a good reason to trust they are who they are… but still, it defeats the purpose of the teamup. If all Cap needs “proof of powerset” then he could cuff Cyclops and be done with it.

Ah yes… plot holes..

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Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E12 “Seeds”

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , , on January 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Agents-of-SHIELD-SeedsToo Cool For School? Bad puns just can’t help themselves…

AOS continues to be stronger this second half of the season. We get another non-Skye-centric episode that didn’t feel like it was trying to be a non-Skye episode. Our team heads back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Science Academy to hunt down a prank gone wrong. It’s nice look into how S.H.I.E.L.D. works but at the same kinda odd. I mean, if you go by Thor 2 (the most recent MCU movie) S.H.I.E.L.D. still isn’t that well known across the world unlike the CIA or NSA which every British person has heard of even if they don’t understand their particulars. Yet, in this episode, SHIELD has not just one, but several independent Academies that seem about the size of a City College at least. Yeah, NSA, CIA, they may have specific training camps and stuff but nothing on that scale, they usually hire out of University rather than doing it all themselves… yet SHIELD is still “a secret” according to Darcy?

Considering what happened in NYC I’m sure Darcy is the odd one out here but I can’t help be a bit nitpicky.

Anyway, I had a point, didn’t I?

Ah, yes, this episode was well rounded in how it was laid out and presented the characters. Skye’s story finally moves forward, giving us some interesting information about the circumstances of her being orphaned. Because we actually have forward movement in her story rather than lateral, this episode avoids more ‘annoying Skye-time’ pitfalls that we saw throughout the first half of the season.

Also, the other characters are finally becoming part of the episodes rather than part of ‘character-theme’ episodes. Basically, everyone is really starting to mesh and work as a group, character wise.

Was the story itself all that thrilling? Not really… it lacked the umph of scenes like the spinning room, but it shows that this show knows how to be more cohesive. A great sign for things to come.

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #39

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , on January 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wolverine and the X-Men #39If you know someone who doesn’t understand why prejudice is a bad thing, then make them read this issue.

As hit and miss as WATX has been of late, this latest issue does hit it clearly on the nail without being too preachy. The two ‘fake-mutant’ S.H.I.E.L.D. agents seem to be of different minds. Joey is more open to seeing the mutants as people while his sister, Josephine, seemingly came into the mix believing they were nothing but doomsday weapons waiting to happen and will let nothing change her mind. Both of them interpret the situation through their own view. Where Joey sees nice, if eccentric, people, Josephine sees a blood thirsty army in training.

Is it wrong to be cautious and logical about a situation, not glossing over faults? No, but one must be reasonable when doing so. So Eye-Boy may be practicing shooting when no one is noticing, is that because he wants to be an assassin, if you got to know him then you’d realize he’s not got the disposition for such things. He’s simply trying to understand his mutation better considering he has the best hand-eye coordination ever and target practice is the best training for that.

If you have blind hatred for the ‘thing’ then you never get to know the person.

And there are so many questions that still remain going into the next issue. What are these orphans-turned-agents’ backgrounds that made them this way? Why is Dazzler aka Mystique sending them in to destroy the school? And why is S.H.I.E.L.D. stockpiling Sentinels?

Why is it everything I read right now can only end badly?

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Review: Marvel Knights: X-Men #2

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , on January 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Marvel Knights: X-Men #2Now this is how you do Rogue.

With so much horrible characterization of Rogue coming out of Remender, it’s great to see that someone over at Marvel still understand what makes Rogue tick, it’s just a shame that this is a mini. Not only is Rogue rough and tumble in her fighting but she is understanding and forgiving of someone who may have done something really bad but is obviously suffering and remorseful because of it. No pettiness here, no sir-ee. (Though, honestly, I think the memory was from the other girl, but we’ll see.)

Wolvie, on the other hand, is kinda off his rocker but that must be the point as Rogue is pointing it out for the audience’s benefit. Kitty just seems to be herself which is also good considering she’s not had the best characterization either under Bendis.

Seriously, can we just give Revel his own comic because he obviously know these characters. I guess not being forced to shoe-horn his story into the greater Marvel Universe has allowed him to not feel the need to just ‘make it work’ and actually present these characters as they should be.

As for the story itself, it’s all pretty mysterious what’s going down. There are some weird drugs made by gun-hoarding isolationists and the Sheriff is in on it… this can’t be good, and I can’t wait for more…

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Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E11 “The Magical Place”

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Agent Melinda May - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "A Magical Place"Always trust May, she’s got this.

The second half of the season starts off with giving us the best episode yet. First off, Skye is not the most annoying character ever. She does get a fair amount of screen time but she’s actually being useful and productive rather than just running around whining then suddenly saving the day with her ‘mad hacking skills’. The way she gets what she needs in this episode is interesting and fun. For once I’m not rolling my eyes at her. Ward on the other hand…

But more importantly, in this episode, we learn about Coulson’s death… because he apparently did actually die, but Nick Fury does not take ‘death’ as an answer.

Coulson went through several operations to bring him back to life, seven at the very lease, and the brain surgery scene we saw was only the tip of the iceberg. But here’s the thing, if they took his skull off like that… why isn’t there a scar? There is no way they put the skin back on and completely avoided even the hair growing a little strange… unless they are saying that MCU medicine is just that good? It’s possible, they did bring a man back to life. Or maybe something more sinister is at work. It was pointed out that Let Me Die = LMD and Life Model Decoy = LMD. Coincidence?

There is still a lot more here they aren’t telling us but at least they gave us plenty to keep us satisfied for now.

Hopefully the improved quality of this episode is signs of better things to come in the future, but with the teasers pointing to being more about Skye and her background… ugh.

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Review: Amazing X-Men #2

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Amazing X-Men #2Now this is more like it.

While there was wonderful characterization of Nightcrawler in the first issue, I was worried about how everyone else was treated. It was all kinda… off. Then I read issue #2 and it is so much better, especially with Storm kicking butt and proving why you do not want to mess with her, and Bobby shows signs of his Astonishing X-Men days, and Northstar is having way to much fun.

Sergeant Snikt, meet Captain Stabby Pants.

That’s just gold.

But other than establish that Wolvie and Northstar were sent to Heaven (ironically) and Storm, Iceman and Firestar were sent to Hell (also ironic), there isn’t much to this issue other than some down and dirty fighting, plus a cameo from Xavier. Yeah, if ghost-Xavier is going to be a thing, then this totally won’t end well for anyone.

There is nothing wrong with an issue of fun and fighting because, well, it’s fun! It did actually further the plot too as it put all our characters into motion.

Then we have our wonderful Kurt, a Captain without a ship, who is going to do some solid butt kicking here soon… and I can not wait.

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Review: Fearless Defenders #12

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Fearless Defenders #12Alas, another great title ends due to sales figures while certain horribly written team books carry on simply by grace of having so many big names in it the fan base is spread wide.

Seriously, while I understand the mechanics of how these things work and how, as a corporation, the bottom line does matter, it’s moments like these that I just wish change the laws of economics.

In the end, we are left with the final eighth Shieldmaiden/Defender chosen as well as a cold understanding coming between Annabelle and Val. The Amazon’s are still left in limbo, we aren’t sure what’s going to happen to them. Oh, and Morgan LeFay is back from the dead.

That can’t be good.

It’s a real cliffhanger of an ending, leaving so much open like it could have started a new arc. An arc that would have been interesting and exciting no doubt. So it’s not the best ending, but not the worst, and something we’ll just have to live with.

But will we ever know what will happen with these ladies or LeFay?

Even bet is ‘probably not’ which is very unfortunate indeed.

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Review: Deadpool #20

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool #20This issue made about as much sense as the 1970s…

But that’s okay, I’m sure the next arc will feed off what happened in this supposed ‘inventory issue’ and we’ll gain a better understanding of just what Deadpool was gathering and what Cosmic Baby Poop has to do with it all.

Normally I’d be annoyed with yet another flashback filler issue like this, but Posehn and Duggan present it as Deadpool not feeling up to anything at the moment. He needs time to decompress from what happened over the last arc. I really feel that this is the best possible response to what happened. Even if he’s back to being ‘typical Deadpool’ in the next issue, it’s only because he had a moment to process before putting back on that smile. This is truly a realistic response and shows that these writers really understand that Deadpool is a hell of a lot more complicated than a single joke.

I just hope this next arc isn’t quite as soul shattering.

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