I got a little behind again. I need to quit letting this happen, but sometimes life gets in the way. I'm going to make this short and sweet this week. I had a hard time picking a top of the stack this week and not because they were all bad or all good but because they were all just ok. S.H.E.I.L.D. # 6 was great but it will have to wait till i review the entire series. The book I chose was The Amazing Spiderman 654.1. For an issue that was meant to be a jumping on point for new readers it fails like the rest of the .1's so far. This book had very little Spidey in it at all, which is odd for an intro to Spidey book, as it dealt mostly with the new Venom, Flash Thompson, but I must say, I really like the way they are going with this character. Flash is a James Bondish secret agent, in the style of Daniel Craig, with all his toys being part of the Venom suit. In this issue Flash shows he is the perfect choice for the suit and seems to be in perfect control until during the mission his legs are blown off while in the suit and he loses all control and Venom does what he does best, eats people. This loss of control is not monitored by his controller because they had a comm blackout so only Flash knows what happened and he doesn't tell anyone once the mission is over and denies any problems during debriefing. When his mission is over we find that not all the symbiote left Flash as only 99% of the symbiote is extracted from him and placed in captivity. This does not bode well for Flash's future as I see him eventually becoming attached to the Symbiote in emotional and physical ways and all it gives him, Spiderman like abilities and legs. I like where this is going and am excited for the actual Venom series. As I have said before and will again I'm sure Slott and Ramos are turning out a great book.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Whoops. I got behind.
I got a little behind again. I need to quit letting this happen, but sometimes life gets in the way. I'm going to make this short and sweet this week. I had a hard time picking a top of the stack this week and not because they were all bad or all good but because they were all just ok. S.H.E.I.L.D. # 6 was great but it will have to wait till i review the entire series. The book I chose was The Amazing Spiderman 654.1. For an issue that was meant to be a jumping on point for new readers it fails like the rest of the .1's so far. This book had very little Spidey in it at all, which is odd for an intro to Spidey book, as it dealt mostly with the new Venom, Flash Thompson, but I must say, I really like the way they are going with this character. Flash is a James Bondish secret agent, in the style of Daniel Craig, with all his toys being part of the Venom suit. In this issue Flash shows he is the perfect choice for the suit and seems to be in perfect control until during the mission his legs are blown off while in the suit and he loses all control and Venom does what he does best, eats people. This loss of control is not monitored by his controller because they had a comm blackout so only Flash knows what happened and he doesn't tell anyone once the mission is over and denies any problems during debriefing. When his mission is over we find that not all the symbiote left Flash as only 99% of the symbiote is extracted from him and placed in captivity. This does not bode well for Flash's future as I see him eventually becoming attached to the Symbiote in emotional and physical ways and all it gives him, Spiderman like abilities and legs. I like where this is going and am excited for the actual Venom series. As I have said before and will again I'm sure Slott and Ramos are turning out a great book.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
New Venom and Silver Surfer. Should be a good week.
This weeks stack
Amazing Spiderman #654.1 - First story with the new Venom. Should be cool.
Generation Hope #4 - this is the last of these for me unless it improves
Shield #6 - a great book that I will be reviewing once the entire mini series is over
Silver Surfer #1- a new mini series for the shiny spaceman.
Spidergirl #4 - Just curious about his series. I've picked up these since the restart. Have not been wowed yet. May see what my daughters think of it.
Uncanny X-Force #5 - Apocalypse down, who's next.
Venom Deadpool #1 - I'm buying this as a guilty pleasure. Venom, Deadpool and Remender. should be fun at least.
Wolverine #6 - I dropped all the Wolverine titles about a year ago but I am going to give it a chance again.
Random D.C. picks
Young Justice #1 - Mostly for my kiddos
Supergirl #61 - I picked this up because of the Damien/Robin on the cover. I liked him in Batman and Robin so let's see how he is in this book.
Batman #707 - so far the Bat books have been my favorites from D.C.
Justice League of America #54 - looks like a new story arc, good time to jump on?
Amazing Spiderman #654.1 - First story with the new Venom. Should be cool.Generation Hope #4 - this is the last of these for me unless it improves
Shield #6 - a great book that I will be reviewing once the entire mini series is over
Silver Surfer #1- a new mini series for the shiny spaceman.
Spidergirl #4 - Just curious about his series. I've picked up these since the restart. Have not been wowed yet. May see what my daughters think of it.
Uncanny X-Force #5 - Apocalypse down, who's next.
Venom Deadpool #1 - I'm buying this as a guilty pleasure. Venom, Deadpool and Remender. should be fun at least.
Wolverine #6 - I dropped all the Wolverine titles about a year ago but I am going to give it a chance again.
Random D.C. picks
Young Justice #1 - Mostly for my kiddosSupergirl #61 - I picked this up because of the Damien/Robin on the cover. I liked him in Batman and Robin so let's see how he is in this book.
Batman #707 - so far the Bat books have been my favorites from D.C.
Justice League of America #54 - looks like a new story arc, good time to jump on?
Top of the stack: Walking Dead #81
I am not surprised the Walking Dead was my top of the stack, since it usually finds itself there, but this issue really brought everything I love about this series. Robert Kirkman is brilliant in his storytelling. Who would have thought that a simple zombie story would last this long and stayed this good? Kirkman has made me more invested in these characters than I have been in any character in a while. I love that characters you have spent years with, getting to know, and rooting for, can just be gone, dead in an instant. no one is safe, I wouldn't be surprised if one day he kills Rick. Your guard is always up with this series and so is the guard of the characters because once your guard is down and everything seems to be calming, that's when things go bad. If for some reason you are not reading this comic, stop reading now, go to the closest comic store and by the trades, All of them, they are worth it. Or if that seems like a lot of books, buy an compendium (at the link above actually), one hulking collection of great stories. Or you can experience the series the way the monthly readers did and pick up the Walking Dead Weekly, a re-release of the entire series coming out every week to allow people to catch up. What you should not do is think you can just pick up an issue and jump on, not because it wouldn't be good but because you are going to miss out on some genius storytelling and the emotional impact of events wont be as strong. That's what this book is about, the characters and emotional chaos they go through just to survive, and Issue #81 is no different.
With a zombie herd surrounding the town and there defenses breaking down things do not look good. Glen, Heath and Spencer head over the walls to get Andrea who is trapped in a bell tower outside the city and Rick, Morgan and others try to secure the city walls that are not holding under the pressure of the zombie herds. I don't want to discuss this book in too much detail because when things happen in this book, it's for good, unlike in superhero books where the status quo tends to stay the same. All I will say is Andrea is awesome and I'm worried for Morgan.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Oh what a Stack I have.
So this week I have a much bigger stack, not all of them came out this week though. I am beginning my venture into the larger D.C. world by picking up lots of random titles and seeing which ones stick. I've read some D.C. titles off and on for a while but I tend to lean more towards mini-series and Elseworlds than ongoing books. I figure now that the brightest day stuff is over, it might be a good time to jump on. I also picked up a few marvel randoms I was curious about as well as my regular picks.
Regular picks
Marvel Curiosity Picks
D.C. Picks - Throwin' em at the wall, let's see which ones will stick?
Regular picks
- Walking Dead #81 - So excited by the No Way Out storyline.
- Amazing Spiderman #654
- New Avengers #9
- Osborn: Evil Incarcerated #3
Marvel Curiosity Picks
- Onslaught Unleashed - I'm just curious what they are going to do with this. The original storyline was one of the reason I quit Marvel for a while.
- Ultimate Death of Spiderman: prelude - Dropped the Marvel Ultimate titles sometime ago but still visit for events occasionally and this is right up my alley.
- Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates: Death of Spiderman #1
D.C. Picks - Throwin' em at the wall, let's see which ones will stick?
- Action Comics #897
- Superman #708
- Justice Society of America #47
- Justice League of America
- Supergirl #60
- Batman & Robin #20
- Batman #706
Top of the stack - Feb. 2nd pulls
Since I had very few pulls this week, I had a hard time finding a top of the stack. Irredeemable was o.k. but mostly just because I want to see where this is going. Iron Man 500.1 was kinda boring, we followed Tony's speech at an A.A. meeting and how it related to his past, I guess an o.k. jumping on point for people but it was still vague enough where they won't really know what has come before. With all that said it becomes obvious that my reluctant choice is Amazing Spiderman #653.
ASM #653 is the middle of an arc that brought spider-slayers back into Spidey's life. Smythe, the son of the original spider slayer inventor, is an insect human spider-slayer hybrid who recently broke Mac Gargan/Scorpion out of prison and gave him a new and improved Scorpion/Spider-slayer suit. Since they are both victims of now Mayor J.Jonah Jameson's failed Spider-Slayer program, Smythe and Gargan join together to kill all of J.Jonah Jameson's family and friends to cause him more pain then death. Unfortunately for Smythe Jameson's friends are also Peter Parker's friends, So spidey calls in the Avengers for help.
This was a fun book in the tradition of classic Spidey action books. Dan Slott has been doing a great job with the Big Time run on this book. I have really enjoyed this book lately, even with the second rate villain Smythe. I am interested in where we are leading. I feel this spider-slayer story is just filler before we see something much bigger in the spidey book. Slott hints at this upcoming story when we jump to an unknown location, revealed as the Sinister Six Headquarters, with Doc Ock intervening in Smythe's plan because it would interfere with what Ock has planned. I really look forward to this because I have always loved the Sinister Six, classic Spidey villains teaming up. love it.
The art this issue, by Stefano Caselli, is pretty good. While I really loved Ramos' pencils Caselli to me never seems to have standout panels but I almost don't notice it. In no way do I want it to come across as a negative, doing art that blends so seamlessly with the story that it just flows is nice. His work on Avengers: Initiative felt the same way to me, Good work but nothing to get too excited about.
ASM #653 is the middle of an arc that brought spider-slayers back into Spidey's life. Smythe, the son of the original spider slayer inventor, is an insect human spider-slayer hybrid who recently broke Mac Gargan/Scorpion out of prison and gave him a new and improved Scorpion/Spider-slayer suit. Since they are both victims of now Mayor J.Jonah Jameson's failed Spider-Slayer program, Smythe and Gargan join together to kill all of J.Jonah Jameson's family and friends to cause him more pain then death. Unfortunately for Smythe Jameson's friends are also Peter Parker's friends, So spidey calls in the Avengers for help.This was a fun book in the tradition of classic Spidey action books. Dan Slott has been doing a great job with the Big Time run on this book. I have really enjoyed this book lately, even with the second rate villain Smythe. I am interested in where we are leading. I feel this spider-slayer story is just filler before we see something much bigger in the spidey book. Slott hints at this upcoming story when we jump to an unknown location, revealed as the Sinister Six Headquarters, with Doc Ock intervening in Smythe's plan because it would interfere with what Ock has planned. I really look forward to this because I have always loved the Sinister Six, classic Spidey villains teaming up. love it.
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| Wasn't Spiderman's Identity a secret again? |
The art this issue, by Stefano Caselli, is pretty good. While I really loved Ramos' pencils Caselli to me never seems to have standout panels but I almost don't notice it. In no way do I want it to come across as a negative, doing art that blends so seamlessly with the story that it just flows is nice. His work on Avengers: Initiative felt the same way to me, Good work but nothing to get too excited about.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Light Week!
So this is a light week for me.I might need to expand my comic selections or they need to spread out their shipments more.
This Weeks pulls
Amazing Spiderman #653- More spider-slayer madness and a guest appearance by the Avengers. Could be fun but I'm not to in to the Spider-slayer storyline, but with little competition I expect this to be my top pick.
Irredeemable #22 - I thought this was going to end many issues ago. I really enjoyed this for quite a while but lately I am losing interest. If you have not read this I do recommend the first few trades but as far as where they are headed now...I just don't know if I'll be sticking with this book.
Iron Man #500.1 - The beginning of Marvel's .1 series. These are supposed to be great jumping on points. We will see if they pull off a book that can draw new readers in or not.
This Weeks pulls
Amazing Spiderman #653- More spider-slayer madness and a guest appearance by the Avengers. Could be fun but I'm not to in to the Spider-slayer storyline, but with little competition I expect this to be my top pick.
The 8 Most Awkward Sexual Moments in Comic Book History | Cracked.com
"This is a wonderful article on some of the awkward moments in comics history."
Comic books have been known to do some crazy things to keep readers interested. Sometimes what they do works, and sometimes it just makes us feel like putting the comic book facedown, leaving the room and taking a shower.
Remender kills it in Uncanny X-Force.
**There will be spoilers**
Stack Favorite: Uncanny X-Force #4
Remender ends his first Uncanny X-Force arc with a Bang. This issue was great. I have been loving this so far and it easily is my favorite of the week. While the Wolverine and Fantomex romp through Apocalypses minions was fun carnage, my favorite part of the book was Deadpool feeding parts of his flesh to archangel to help him recover from the attack by pestilence last issue.
Remender used the old question, would you kill Hitler as a baby? to show how far this group is willing to go for their cause. Remender really shows the influence that being an X-man has had on Archangel, Wolverine and Psyloche when they realize they can not kill a child even though he will grow up to be the Hitler for Mutantkind. The only two characters who seem to have no problem with the idea is Deadpool, who is surprisingly speechless during this scene and Fantomex who does the dirty deed and blows a hole in the kiddos head.
Ill be interested to see what impact this has on the future of the team dynamic. Fantomex and Deadpool are more outsiders to the X-Family, Much to Deadpool's sadness, and don't have the same moral code hang ups that former X-Men do, even if they are the more assassin type X-Men. I'd really like to see the Vanisher from the previous X-Force run join this group but he is dead and we all know when you die in comics you stay dead.
Stack Favorite: Uncanny X-Force #4
Remender ends his first Uncanny X-Force arc with a Bang. This issue was great. I have been loving this so far and it easily is my favorite of the week. While the Wolverine and Fantomex romp through Apocalypses minions was fun carnage, my favorite part of the book was Deadpool feeding parts of his flesh to archangel to help him recover from the attack by pestilence last issue.Remender used the old question, would you kill Hitler as a baby? to show how far this group is willing to go for their cause. Remender really shows the influence that being an X-man has had on Archangel, Wolverine and Psyloche when they realize they can not kill a child even though he will grow up to be the Hitler for Mutantkind. The only two characters who seem to have no problem with the idea is Deadpool, who is surprisingly speechless during this scene and Fantomex who does the dirty deed and blows a hole in the kiddos head.Ill be interested to see what impact this has on the future of the team dynamic. Fantomex and Deadpool are more outsiders to the X-Family, Much to Deadpool's sadness, and don't have the same moral code hang ups that former X-Men do, even if they are the more assassin type X-Men. I'd really like to see the Vanisher from the previous X-Force run join this group but he is dead and we all know when you die in comics you stay dead.
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