Posts Tagged ‘comics’

Review: Uncanny Avengers #12

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 30, 2013| 4 Comments »

Uncanny Avengers #12For once, Remender is scarily close to correctly characterizing a character… but it’s still full of fails.

Is it just me, or is Wanda sounding a lot like dear old dad here? The whole ‘take all the mutants to Jupiter to live in a mutant-only world’ reminds me of Asteroid M. She also seems to have been convinced that humans and mutants will never get along. This whole situation is very much a Magneto thing and Wanda has, in the past, done some insane things in the name of just making everyone stop fighting…

But here’s the thing. Wanda knows that not all humans are bad, she is friends with some very human Avengers, for good or bad. And the whole “House of M” thing wasn’t exactly her idea. She was in a vulnerable state and her brother gave her the idea. When everyone was coming to kill her, she latched onto the idea and gave it form, even turning herself ‘human’ in House of M to highlight just how much less-than-worth-loathing Wanda had stored up. House of M failed, No More Mutants wasn’t any better, but both times she was just trying to do something, anything, to stop the fighting, and the pain.

So yeah, in some respect you can see her latching onto the Jupiter thing in the same vein… but I think Wanda would have learned from everything that happened during House of M, plus being an Avenger in general, that a) you have to treat the cause of the human/mutant divide, not the symptoms, and b) never, ever, ever trust the bad guy, doesn’t matter what they are saying.

At the moment, Wanda seems to be walking back through the same old loop without any real character advancement. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting different results. That is Wanda right now. And she very much deserves way more than this.

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Review: Deadpool #16

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool #16You would really think these Weapon X types would have learned their lesson. I guess for all the tech/bio smarts they have, they lack common sense.

You don’t put the likes of Deadpool in a cage, he’s going to get out and kill everything that moves. But kudos to Butler for having the balls to face Deadpool dead on. Granted, he did have some aces up his sleeve, but this is Deadpool we’re talking about, he can be unstable at times.

It’s pretty messed up though, about all the super-heroes that were created and their sadistic training. Talk about human rights violations. I want to kick Butler in the face myself. Figures that the one who was injected with Nightcrawler’s DNA is the one with the biggest heart. I really hope he gets to live through this story arc. But then they have back up in the form of Wolverine and Captain America, so they have a definite chance of getting everyone out alive (not that the writer would actually let that happen).

This also means that not only did Wolverine come to help Wade (after telling him off) but so did Cap. They are his friends, and for someone like Wade who does what he does and lives like he lives, that probably means more than any of the characters will ever admit to.

As for Eleanor, is she really Wade’s daughter? As far as I know this is the first we’ve heard of her so anything could happen. Kinda messed up the way they are introducing her, but it has the effect needed. Poor Wade, “she’s too beautiful to be mine”. That boy has some major self-image issues, and he hides them all behind jokes.

Also, kudos for Preston, someone had to kick Deadpool out of his moping.

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Review: X-Men Legacy #17

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

X-Men Legacy #17Well, that escalated quickly.

It seems that whatever kind of mutant that new-mutant was, combining her powers with David’s is a bad… very bad… thing. And David knew it, or at least that is how it reads to me with his complete lack of surprise when it all happens. So does that mean David went to this place, at this time, and fights Scott knowing full well what was going to happen. Thereby also puting Ruth into the position of having to kill him to save mutantkind. As much as I ship these two, it’s really turning into a very unhealthy relationship.

But anyway… if he seemingly knows what’s going to happen… then why did he go? Why didn’t he just let Scott handle the new mutant and let that be the end of it? Or am I just reading it wrong and it wasn’t until he was caught in the mutant’s power that he realized what was happening? Or maybe David just believes in not mucking with the time stream?

In any case, we know he doesn’t die because Legacy is still running through at least December and hasn’t been cancelled to my knowledge. So Ruth is going to have to kick her brother’s butt and save the day. Should be fun.

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #36

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

Wolverine and the X-Men #36Battle of the Atom continues, but fails to answer the biggest question of all: Who the hell would let young!Bobby watch a baby?!?

Anyway, this issue had some epic battles Young!Jean, Emma and the Cuckoo’s against old!Jean. Then the X-Men verses X-Men. As cool as it is to see these fights, you can’t help but marvel at the pointlessness of the whole thing. Why does it seem that recently it’s all ‘vs’ story lines, and not Good Guys vs Bad Guys but everyone versus themselves. Everyone is on the same team, they should be able to be reasonable about this, not get into fights at the drop of a hat. Ugh.

Deadpool was pretty awesome though, continues to be smarter than most everyone gives him credit for. But his story was a lie, so what is the truth? When Magik goes into the future with young!Bobby and young!Beast it looks nearly idyllic. Even the Sentinels are polite. But whatever young!Jean saw in old!jean’s head made her change her mind. Was old!Jean being sneaky and giving her false information? Or information from a certain point of view? Or is the idyllic future harboring a horrible secret?

Finally, it’s starting to get pretty interesting. Let’s hope we get more of this mystery and less in-fighting.

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Review: Gambit #17

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 25, 2013| 4 Comments »

Gambit #17With this issue, Gambit’s latest Solo comes to an end… so why didn’t Asmus end it?

I seriously sat for twenty minutes just staring at the comic thinking there should be another page… and there wasn’t. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been some concrete evidence of where Gambit would be next. Uncanny Avengers is out, maybe Wolverine and the X-Men but that doesn’t seem as likely either, and that ending… it definitely shuts down on the options.

But let’s ignore the ending for a moment and look at the two big things, the first off being Remy and his dad. While it was nice that they kinda had that father/son moment, I can’t help thinking that Jean-Luc is playing Remy because, well, that’s what Jean-Luc does. He took Remy in, yes, because he thought he could use him. It’s always been about what’s best for either Jean-Luc or the Guild. And Remy’s almost casual use of the L-word here? It’s nice, it’s what you want to see from Remy as it heals a fractured relationship, but it doesn’t feel like it would really happen.

Conversely, Remy’s moment with Rogue was pretty spot on. The uncertainty in Rogue is palatable. She wants to tell him to just come with her, but she can’t, both because it’s a choice Remy has to make, but mostly because she’s also very much unsure about herself still. Yes, she did say that he’s not completely trustworthy because he’s a thief at heart, but it’s the truth, they both know it, and ultimately Rogue doesn’t care… she trusts him regardless.

As for Gambit himself, he seems to have accepted the fact that he’s a thief, through and through, and not meant to be the hero. I’m not sure I agree with that assessment of himself, but it’s legit for him to think it. He’s always had that self-worth complex going way back forever ago. I had kinda hoped he would get character development out of that trait in his solo but, well, we can’t always get what we want.

Now we come back to the ending that isn’t really an ending. Gambit is running the Guild and sorta still at the school. This is awesome in and of itself, but as a reader, where does it leave Gambit title wise? I want to read more about Gambit in general at the very least, but there is no real indication that we’ll be seeing him again any time soon. It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s really the ending of a TV show which has been cancelled after all the episodes have been filmed. And we all know that is probably the worst feeling, okay, second worst feeling in the world.

Well, at least he won’t be going to Uncanny Avengers… Remender can keep his grubby mits off him.

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Review: Fearless Defenders #9

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 23, 2013| 2 Comments »

Fearless Defenders #9This is the issue that you think you’re supposed to love but really it needs a swift kick upside the head.

I had fair warning not to take the characterizations of certain characters as being typical of said characters, but I honestly didn’t think it would be all that bad. Surely it was just an exaggeration by over protective fans? Yeah… no…

The more and more I think of this issue, the more I realize it’s fallen into a very typical failure of both pro and fan fiction where the female counter parts are reduced to nagging, petty, oblivious characters who are only there to further the plot and show how awesome the guys are… only it’s gender swapped… which I guess they thought gender swapping was a brilliant concept, but not when it’s done with completely flawed trope which should never be used regardless the age/sex/gender/race of characters involved. Purposely dragging other characters down just to make your character look good does a complete disservice to all the characters involved, and it’s just plain grating to read.

Venom is moping about his sex life because banging a goddess isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, pity. Nate and Sam are unsure who’s actually dating Dani because each had ‘a thing’ with her which apparently means she’s obligated to be dating them, obviously. The werewolf is feeling left out because his girlfriend, who is a hunter by trade, found something to hunt, go figure. Strange is apparently completely clueless despite being, well, Stephen ‘Ph.D in Badassery’ Strange. Like he really couldn’t have put two and two together? Really?  Then there is Herc who I’m pretty sure is just drunk, so really nothing different there, but apparently women who don’t want to be with him give him a happy, which, when you think about it, is pretty messed up (though about right for classical mythology).  Iron Fist kinda comes out okay, though he should really know better than to worry about ‘undue influence’ on Misty, no one gets that girl to do anything she don’t wanna.

These characters have been reduced to the horrible nagging characters that we so often complain that female characters get reduced it. It doesn’t make it okay because they are male and ‘it’s all fair’ because it should simply never be done to any character. If these characters want to be worried about people they love, then great, all for that, but to sit them around like a bad episode of Sex and the City with extremely empty motivations of relationship woes and ‘can they really handle the role of Defender’? … You know that moment in Emperor’s New Groove where Chicha gets so frustrated she makes some unladylike noises and then has to go clean something? Yeah… that’s me. (I really need that in a gif…)

I know Bunn is capable of much more simply from reading issues 1-8, so I’m really hopping this was just a one-off moment… really hoping…

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Review: Morbius #9

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Morbius #9Apparently this title was cancelled and I didn’t even notice, not that it surprises me.

It really did start out fantastic, I mean, the first issue just captured my attention like a #1 should. It was different, it was stylish… but a few issues later it just fell apart. Add the fact that Morbius is a lesser known character and it struggled to find an audience. It’s just a real shame, I really would have liked to have seen what Keatinge could have done with Morbius if he had been able to keep going in the direction it started in rather than turn into whatever that last part was.

The ending itself is kinda meh, an obvious rush job with Rose being taken out and apparently the whole thing was about manipulating the housing market, which, okay, that’s an interesting twist considering the current economic climate, but seriously? They did all that manipulation, spent all that money, just to gain building contacts and raise property values? That’s what you call taking the scenic route.

At least this title’s ending is somewhat poetic, going peacefully into the night, something I think Morbius himself would appreciate.

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Review: Deadpool #15

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool #15If this issue doesn’t make you feel for Deadpool, then I’m not sure what will.

I mean, the feels that they give Deadpool in this are both blunt and subtle at the same time. It kinda takes a note from Whedon as it would be serious and then tell a joke. But really, how can you not feel those underlying feels of Captain American telling Deadpool he doesn’t have to be alone. Of Wolverine telling Deadpool off for letting himself be in the position he’s in, but then still coming to help him because, damn it, they are friends in some weird messed up ‘we’re both the product of what created us’ kind of way.

And Deadpool himself, just… the way he lives his life, you always knew it was kinda crappy, especially since Blind Al went out of his life, but here it’s given the darkest treatment. This is what they have been hinting at in this series and finally given us.

For everyone who thinks Deadpool is just a joke… shut up.

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Review: Uncanny X-Men #12

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Uncanny X-Men #12Um, does Bendis even read his own comics?

Seriously, in the first few pages he has Hill just finding out about this time travel stuff and not wanting the Avengers to find out, when they already know and apparently didn’t report it and also the time travel stuff is WAY overdue to be discovered. But even moreso, the interaction between the Cuckoo’s and Jean… they already had their show down before and now it’s like that never happened? I was kinda confused…

And the rest of the issue was just a lot complaining about whether or not the kids should go back or if they should make their own choices. I can understand Rachel being pro-let them do what they want since she did the same thing, but Kitty, dunno. I guess I can see it but at the same time it’s a little forced. Dunno. She’s right though, the future people need to give them more info than just ‘trust us’ cause, well, it’s always a two way street.

I like Emma and Magneto calling it as they see it with Scott thinking with his ‘other brain’ regarding the kids. I don’t know if that’s strictly speaking true. Scott’s reasoning for a lot of things hasn’t been standardized, whether he blames himself, or Phoenix, or a bit of both, for everything that’s happened and he’s done… so he could really have a pro-individual choice mantra going on in his ‘upper brain’.

But the question no one seems to be asking, is this: If the kids stay, then they will never have done anything that they have done, which means that their older versions should vanish and the world drastically change, for either good or bad. So if that hasn’t happened… then that means they do go home? Seriously guys, this is Time Travel 101…

p.s. that ending was total fan service but at least they recognized it as such

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Review: Astonishing X-Men #67

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Astonishing X-Men #67That moment when the comic book writer uses fan fiction to get the comic back to its roots of being an analogue for the human struggle…

Seriously, when I first started reading the panels I was thinking “am I reading a fan fiction?” and it turns out, I was. It was a self-insert fan fiction of real celebrities, well, real seeing as it’s from the perspective of a character in the same universe. Liu has always had a way of looking at the reality of the situation, and she does it again by pointing out that in a world full of mutants and superheroes, there are going to be bloggers, tumblrs, and all sorts of individuals expressing a desire to be part of that world.

And that’s exactly what happens. The girl who feels all alone dreams of being swept up into something amazing, and it actually happens. Not only that, but she saves the day because she has such trust and belief that the aliens are ‘oh, okay, these guys are cool, our bad’. So yeah, it’s a comic about a girl’s fan fiction coming true.

But the big message here is about ‘not being alone’. It’s telling the reader that they are an ‘x-man’ just as Wendy is, and they are never alone because, well, they aren’t. They’ll always have the X-Men or whatever character they relate to the most with them. With is made all the more poignant by this title ending next issue.

Damn I’m going to miss this title so much…

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