Posts Tagged ‘Review’

Review: Deadpool Killustrated #2

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

Deadpool Killustrated #2Killustrated #2 totally makes up for Killustrated #1.

#1 suffered that major failing of spending way too much time setting up what was going on… especially when the something going on is Deadpool who really doesn’t need a reason to do anything that he does… he’s freaking Deadpool.

#2 has Deadpool going after more of the classics but instead of just simply hacking off heads, the literary archetypes seem to morph at will into the various classic Marvel characters that took inspiration from them. Such as Dracula looking a little Sinister, the Headless Horsemen becoming both Ghost Rider and Green Goblin, and my favorite, the girls of Little Women turning into Black Widow, She-Hulk, Elektra, and Mockingbird. Those Little Women beat the snot out of Deadpool… that was classy.

In all this, our favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes (the Basil Rathbone version), has discovered Deadpool is afoot and put a gang together to stop him. And it’s a pretty random group of Beowulf, Natty Bumpo, and Mulan (someone watching Once Upon a Time recently?).

The only real bad thing I have to say about this issue is that Tom Sawyer gets killed ‘off camera’, and while it’s really well done, I can’t help but think he might have morphed into Remy LeBeau… guess we’ll have to wait and see if Deadpool is going to take on Oliver Twist… then we might get a glimpse of our lovable Cajun…

and yes, sometimes I do have a one track mind…

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Review: Uncanny Avengers #4

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

Uncanny Avengers #4Rick Remender has lost his mind.

Maybe Red Skull stole it like he did Xavier’s, I dunno, but seriously, what the hell is going on with this title?

The last issue I complained about Scarlet Witch standing around and doing nothing, in this issue Wanda takes on a mind-bended Thor with some uber-skills… which apparently she didn’t have five minutes earlier to use on Red Skull in the first place! But she still needs to be assisted by Havok.

Then Rogue does exactly as I said she should, absorb one of the baddies… only to get taken down by a non-lethal gun shot wound to the shoulder. Um, hello, this is a) a comic were characters can get hit by a freaking bus and shrug it off, and b) this is raised-as-a-terrorist-by-Mystique Rogue… I’m pretty sure she could shake off a wound like that as easily as James Bond could to at least avoid getting the crap beat out of her by a mind-bended Havok, who, of course, had to save Rogue seconds before from getting a presumably lethal wound because Rogue apparently doesn’t know how to duck and cover while Red Skull takes the time to pull out a gun… all while warning her he has a gun?

I swear, this comic is like a bad Havok fan fic where the writer is pulling all other characters down just to highlight their favorite character… which is a major fail for fan fic writing, let alone pro-fic! The fact that Havok gets the first little ‘origin’ moment and Wolvie is completely out of sight and apparently a little (okay, a lot) slower to heal than usual only seems to prove my point.

All those issues aside… what the hell is Remender writing? A comic book or a personal soap-box? Sure, comics can hold underlying social themes which make us look at ourselves through cross sections of our own existence… but whatever Remender is doing here is literally one step below a full-blown blog-rant. He got off talking about bloody violence in #3 and now in #4 he gets off on completely degrading the United States. Now, I’m the first to admit that the USA has its problems… but what the hell? I know it’s coming out of Red Skull’s mouth so of course he’s bias… but Remender chose to take that POV and to go into that much depth and description of how crappy things are…

And then Remender goes and echo’s the famous Days of Future Past cover… oh hell no… you ain’t even f’ing close to holding a candle to Claremont.

Argh!

Yes, you heard me, ARGH!

Top that off with a very hypocritical Rogue being petty towards Wanda… dur… Rogue was a freaking terrorist who turned her life around… I think she could cut Wanda some slack for something Wanda did when she went insane cause her children died…

You hear that? That’s the sound of me repeatedly banging my head against the wall…

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Review: Morbius #2

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

Morbius #2Ignore the Rocky Horror Picture Show cover, Meatloaf does not make an appearance. Don’t let that discourage you though.

The second issue of the new solo series for Vampire-ish Michael Morbius doesn’t have quite the zing as the first issue but it’s still a really good read.

Right now, Morbius is a reactive character. Things are happening around him and most of the story is told through the eyes of everyone else. Morbius is simply finding himself in the middle of a situation where he realizes he has to take the high road, or maybe the low road, or really, whatever road isn’t under construction.

This is a nice change from how most of the solo issues are running at the moment where the lead character is more proactive, which is good for a heroic character. However, if you want to do a true anti-hero then what Keatinge is doing with Morbius is exactly the way to go.

Anti-heroes are the anti-hero because they don’t want to be the hero, they don’t want to get involved, they don’t want to take the moral high ground. Characters like Wolverine have long moved past being able to call themselves ‘the anti-hero’ because they are actively trying to do good. With Morbius it’s great to see an anti-hero in its raw form. There is so much possibility for character development that this alone is enough to make me a tad giddy.

I really can’t wait to see where this goes…

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Review: Gambit #9

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

Gambit #9And here we have the best Gambit issue yet. I’m not even sure where to start it was so much fun.

First you have all the references… from fun poked at 90s era Gambit… to Gambit being called “tight pants” (Firefly reference or astute observation?).

Gambit pick-pockets a whole club without breaking a sweat.

Gambit’s damsel-in-distress-pathy (really need a good name for that) is in full force.

There is a plethora of quick and witty dialogue:

Mook#1: Hey–is that that X-Men guy…. Gambit?
Mook#2: Yes, and this may prove to be a curious case-study in this establishment’s policy on anti-heroes.
Mook#1: Pff, you nerd.

To top it all off, you have a cameo from Rogue which could have come straight out of a good fan fic. (This is a compliment btw.)

Joelle even graduates from annoying to mildly acceptable.

It feels like Asmus has really started to get a good handle on Gambit as a character and that is shining through the pages. It’s fun, it’s dangerous, it’s James Bond if he was a good ol’ Southern boy. If you know anyone who has stopped reading, tell them to pick up this issue and keep going, it just keeps getting better.

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Review: Arrow S01E16 “Dead to Rights”

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

CW's ArrowAnd the writers prove they (unfortunately) understand the meaning of irony.

That building had nothing but glass windows… and Captain Jack was standing there for like half an hour… so why didn’t Deadshot shoot him?  Why didn’t Deadshot go for the head-shot? Why did only the one cop go up to the stairs? Why didn’t she find her way to the penthouse? But before that, why was he having a date on a night he KNOWS something will happen?

Seriously, the logistics of this show drives me batty sometimes!

Speaking of Bats… towards the end were they channelling Spider-Man ala Green Goblin? Psst, that’s Marvel! Though I suppose it could be canon to the Green Arrow comics… I can’t be bothered to check it out. I do read DC’s Suicide Squad and Floyd is a much better/complex character in it than in this show.

Overall, it was still a better episode than the front end of this season, they toned down the relationship drivel and didn’t do too much with the flashback… but it still wasn’t a good episode by any means.

Oh, River Song shows up and says “Hello Laurel”… no “Hello sweetheart”? Arrow. I. Am. Disappoint.

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Review: Deadpool #5

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on February 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool #5Deadpool just keeps getting grosser and messier. From the writing to the actual visuals… it’s just a bit disgusting really.

The story itself hasn’t really moved much beyond some balls-to-the-walls presidential butt-kicking… but even that is losing its charm. (Also, how in the world were those monkeys up there that whole time?)

Even the cliff-hanger ending of this issue is less than spectacular. Deadpool will heal and there is a Necromancer handy to take care of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. We can see the next issue a mile away, the only surprise would be the agent not being brought back to life (or not beind turned into a zombie-like-fiend). Though even if she does die, maybe ol’ Ben can get a friend now?

There seems to be a trend of a lack of complexity with Deadpool in the last couple of issues… nothing has been touched on Dr Strange’s comments as well. While I do like a plethora of fun jokes at Deadpool’s expense, he’s a real character with real depth… let’s hope we’re getting to that…

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Review: Arrow S01E15 “Dodger”

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , on February 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CW's ArrowTL;DR – Captain Old Spice steals the largest Ring Pop ever and Robin, erm, Speedy, makes his entrance.

Seriously, I don’t usually diss on props but that ruby looked like a Ring Pop… like it was candy. It just made me laugh.

Moving on, nice to see Captain Old Spice (or Baltar if you must) on the screen again, but much like Crichton, what a waste of the man’s talents. The Dodger must be pretty slick though because how in the world did he get that collar on Felicity without her kicking him or at least screaming, cause I’m pretty sure she could have easily just jumped back and shouted and the jig would have been up. But assuming he is that quick, how did he slip it on and not get it caught in her hair?

This episode also sees the introduction of Roy Harper Jr, aka Speedy, though they are probably going to skip the whole Robin-esqe storyline of Roy being adopted by Oliver and jump ahead to Roy being Red Arrow (especially since he was wearing that red hoodie). Not sure how it will play out but we’ll be seeing more of him in the coming episodes. I like how he was snarky with Thea, he didn’t completely win me over but there is promise there.

Overall, there was a distinct lack of Thea and whingeing in this episode, always a plus. The constant need to put Oliver into some kind of relationship… thing… has already worn its welcome. The flashback was again a pointless waste of space, okay, so Oliver made a tough choice, thank you, we get that, it’s not like we can’t infer it from the fact he spent five years on the island with a bunch of psychopaths.

Still, Felicity has shown herself to be the heart of the group and that made the first half of the episode rather enjoyable. Things are definitely looking up as that’s two episodes in a row that haven’t made me scream WTF or STFU, let’s hope this continues and the quality starts to rise. With China White back in the mix (and with better hair), things should get interesting.

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Review: Arrow S01E14 “The Odyssey”

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on February 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CW's Arrow

I think this may have been the best episode yet… I’m kinda annoyed now I waited so long to sit down and watch it.

I know I’ve been putting down the flashbacks a lot but in this episode the flashback is the A-plot while Diggle and IT-Girl Felicity are the B-plot. The flashback itself is a complete story from beginning to end and actually gives us really useful insight not only on Oliver, but on Slade, Yao-Fei and Fyers. Here the flashback is more than just random window-dressing. As for Diggle and Felicity (too bad Black Cat is Marvel), sure, they are mostly just standing around doing exposition but at least these two actors can keep it from being too boring as Diggle is just awesome and Felicity is also, well, awesome.

There was also no ‘cameo villain’ in this episode, instead existing villains are given a bit more depth and the overall plot arc is explored. As a special bonus, Thea is not really in the episode and there is a distinct lack of whining. Oh, there was still whining at the end (Arrow, dur, your mom was playing you so she could get the gun) but it’s not thrown at us every five seconds with long speeches.

Oh, speaking of mom… dang! Now where know where Oliver gets it.

Now, it wasn’t an awesome episode by any stretch, but I wasn’t screaming at it every five seconds, telling people to shut up, or shouting ‘oh, come on!’. They did take better care putting this episode together and if they can keep that going and work on it then Arrow could start getting up to the level it should be.

Lastly, I was remiss in not pointing out last episode that notably Oliver killed (or at least seriously maimed) all those hired guns but the bad guy is just cuffed and sent off (I know he stopped the dad but why didn’t he do it himself? He said so himself that is what guys like him do, not cops, even though that cop willfully followed Arrow knowing that people were going to get hurt so I think the moral high-ground was already lost in the shuffle).

I need to find the article and reblog it, but they writer pointed out that Arrow is not about ‘the little guy’ cause he does seem to do this, kill the hired guns but let the rich get away without a scratch to either ‘clean up’ or ‘get arrested’… and we all know how well it turns out for rich people who get arrested… rather well for them actually.

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Review: Uncanny X-Men #1

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on February 16, 2013| 1 Comment »

Uncanny X-Men #1The last Uncanny X-Men run was short and ended on a pretty high note, I was sorry to see it go. So when the new run started, I wanted to give it a chance.

It was… interesting.

We know Scott Summers has lost his mind (or doing what needs to be done depending on what side you want to take) and is leading a bit of a mutant revolution. In his gang is Emma, Magneto, Illyana and a couple of newbies, all of which got swanky new uniforms. Which brings me to a side note: Emma Frost wearing something other than white… is this a sign of the apocalypse?

Not a whole lot happens in this story, action wise, and that’s okay, because it’s a very nice set up story. Someone, who remains in the shadows, is telling Director Hill all about Scott Summers and how he’s barely holding it all together. That someone… is Magneto.

Yeah, if Magneto thinks you’re arrogant and a ‘murdering monster’ who needs to be stopped… you got problems.

So like I said, interesting turn of events, we shall see how they play out.

Oh, as for ol’ Mags… what happened to your hair?!? Rogue dump you so you decided to try the Bruce Willis look?

 

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Review: Wolverine & the X-Men #25

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , on February 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Wolverine & and the X-Men #25I heart you Quentin Quire. Just goes to show I have bad tastes in men.

Yes, this latest issue of WatX is about getting Wolverine’s brother, Dog, on the scene and setting up for some brotherly butt-kicking, but really, Quentin is the star of WatX #25.

The whole concept of the story arc is Wolverine decides to take a ‘tough love’ approach to some of the problematic and soft students (seemingly proving Mystique’s point from All-New X-Men and being a bit hypocritical towards disagreeing with old Cyclops view of child-rearing). Logan decides that instead of doing one of those weekend camping trips, he’d just drop him into the middle of the Savage Land and let them find their way back to the Blackbird.

Quentin, for his part, tried to be responsible, but his tact was definitely lacking. He’s not an inherently bad person. He acts like a rebel and anarchist but in reality, if he truly wanted to leave then he could have already done so, or destroyed the school. He’s shown on more than one occasion that when it comes down to the wire, he’ll do the right thing… or a close proximity there of.

Logan says it’s because Quentin likes being the big fish in the little pond of the Jean Grey School… but I think it’s more of Quentin not really knowing how else to be. Plus being the rebel is pretty fun.

Quentin Quire really could be the next great Anti-Hero in the X-Men franchise… if he can survive the Jean Grey School.

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