SNK Vs. Capcom 3 Review

Author and Artist: Chi Wan Shum
Translator: Yun Zhao
English Adaptation: Ken Li
Publisher: DrMaster

There is no greater satisfaction at least for me than kicking the crap out of Dennis at King of Fighters 96’ or stomping Rob’s ass at Street Fighter III. No greater satisfaction, I tell you. So what happens when the two greatest companies collide in one videogame? I go out like the little fanboy that I am and buy it. And what happens when that game inspires a comic book? I go and buy it, because it’s in my fanboy blood! DrMaster publications has blessed us with a unique manhwa(Korean manga) that blows what any other comic book based on a videogame has tried to do in the past, right out of the water! I’m not going to sit here and lie though; this is not War and Peace! This is SNK vs. Capcom Chaos volume 3 and there is nothing more than ass kicking, adrenaline pumping, with plenty of fan service here! It’s not your standard comic book size novel either, it has 130 color pages and comes in the size of a trade paperback….ohh and it reads from left to right, for those afraid to get close to manga.

The story is very simple: There exists a limbo realm where the cost of admission is death! Yeah it sounds bad, but you know what the premise for the story is a videogame so, get over it! Here a new battlefield is populated by the most powerful and fearsome martial artists the world has ever known. Time holds little importance as fighters from many eras and periods of history share the same timeline. Capcom's most popular fighting game characters face off against SNK's legendary masters. All your favorite characters are here: Geese Howard, Vega, Mai Shiranui, Dimitri, Chun Li, Guile, Akuma and fan favorite Mr. Karate (okay maybe two or three people like the guy). There are amazing battles between Ryu and Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard vs. M. Bison, Iori vs. Balrog. While some fight for glory, some for survival, others keep secret a more sinister purpose. Like I said, for fanboys!

Chi Wan Shum is a fantastic artist. Most of his drawings look like they just stepped out of an SNK art book. His action sequences are some of the best I have seen in a long time. There are some beautiful painted splash pages of your favorite characters and signature moves like the Hadoken and Buster Wolf have never looked so amazing. Since only one guy is doing the art, it really doesn’t take away from the balance in the art. The guys at Udon, usually have 4 or 5 different artist in one comic and at times it takes away from the flow of the storytelling. Shum does as much as he can with the story. This book is meant for fans of the videogames or manga readers. Like I said, don’t expect to read anything the likes of Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns here.

What can I say about the story? Well volume one really annoyed me a bit. My boy Terry got his ass kicked by Balrog (that’s right the cheap imitation Mike Tyson character). In this issue he completely destroys Sagat, so I finally got what I wanted out of the book. However the fact that Choi (yeah the midget Freddy Kruger rip off) beat Vega doesn’t sit too well with me. The secret alliance is slowly showing its true face as M. Bison sends Red Arremer (Ghost and Goblins, Gargoyle’s Quest) to acquire more players for his master plan. As a fan I give this book an A-, but it’s not for everyone.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Warriors - a review

Spider-Ben is back with a new write-up of the Ultimate Spider-Man arc, Warriors!

In issues #79-85 a seven-part arc called "Warriors" was chronicled. In this arc, Peter Parker is still upset about having to dump his longtime girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson. Peter still loves MJ, but realizes that her being Spider-Man's girlfriend is too big of a risk. Because of his love for her, he wants her to avoid him to ensure her safety. He knows this is the noble thing to do, but he is heartbroken on the inside.

As if that weren't bad enough, crime runs rampant throughout the city. A new crime fighter known as the Moon Knight has arrived on the streets. Moon Knight is Marc Spector, a schizophrenic man trying to take the law into his own hands. Due to his mental instabilities, his methods are random and dangerous. Meanwhile, the Kingpin of crime is back, attempting to regain control of the city. He is having difficulties with another mob boss, Hammerhead. Hammerhead is at war with the Kingpin, wanting to assume control of the city, as it's premiere crime lord. Kingpin isn't about to take this sitting down and has once again employed the deadly assassin Elektra to eliminate Hammerhead and his followers, the Enforcers. The Enforcers previously worked for Kingpin, so the tension is running high on both sides.

Peter decides to clear his head and goes out patrolling the streets as Spider-Man. Spidey meets up with Moon Knight, thinking Moon Knight is responsible for starting a fire. The two heroes fight, but have to leave when the police show up. Elektra watches the two fighting while talking to the Kingpin on her phone. Spider-Man thinks Kingpin is responsible for the Moon Knight, and is surprised to see Elektra on a nearby roof. Elektra tells Spider-Man that Kingpin needs his help. The two go to see the Kingpin. After Spider-Man is caught staring at Elektra's chest, the two arrive at the Kingpin's office. There the Kingpin tells Spider-Man that Hammerhead is the city's newest threat. He offers Spider-Man information to take down Hammerhead. Spidey doesn't like helping Kingpin, but realizes that people are in danger as long as Hammerhead runs free.

Elsewhere, in a jail, Danny Rand is about to be set free. Danny is another costumed crime fighter called the Iron Fist. Danny leaves jail and is happy to be far away from the police captain, Jean Dewolfe. Danny goes off to Chinatown and runs into his old friend, Shang-Chi, the master of Kung-Fu. A battle erupts in Chinatown due to Hammerhead arriving, and Spider-Man swings into action. Things go bad for our hero, but all of the sudden the Black Cat arrives, demanding that Hammerhead leave her boyfriend alone. This stuns Hammerhead, but really surprises Spidey, since the two have never actually been a couple.

The police arrive and send everyone running. Spider-Man and Black Cat run to a nearby roof and Black Cat quickly kisses our hero. Now keep in mind that the Cat is an adult woman, and Peter is only sixteen. This comes into play later on in the storyline. Peter is smitten that this gorgeous woman is into him, and the two realize that they must end all this gang war nonsense. But the Cat, Felecia Hardy, isn't interested in taking down Hammerhead. She still wants revenge on the Kingpin for what happened to her father. Spidey realizes things are only going to get worse before they get better.

Elektra reports back to the Kingpin about all the drama going on with Hammerhead. He orders her to finish Hammerhead once and for all. Back at school, Peter is still feeling incredible knowing that the Black Cat has the hots for him. He must also keep in mind that all the excessive web-swinging has forced him to be absent from school a lot, much to Aunt May's anger and disappointment. He can't tell his Aunt the truth about him being Spider-Man.

Elsewhere, Marc Spector returns to his lair. He is totally switching personalities, much to his wife's anger and dismay. Marc realizes the time is almost right for him to finish Hammerhead and those who follow him. His wife looks on in sadness, realizing his mental disability is getting worse and worse by the minute.

In another part of town, Hammerhead and his forces meet. Suddenly, Elektra breaks through the window threatening Hammerhead. While this is going on, Iron Fist and Shang-Chi fight some mobsters and learn of Hammerheads whereabouts. Peter goes back out as Spider-Man and arrives at Hammerheads headquarters. The Black Cat spots Spider-Man on a rooftop and agrees to help him out, but Spider-Man tells her they have to play it cool and not kill anyone.

This is where the fun starts. Black Cat, Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, The Enforcers, Hammerhead, and Elektra all stand off in the same room. Hammerhead offers Elektra more money to work for him, and she accepts. Black Cat also agrees to help Hammerhead bring down the Kingpin. Now a huge, huge battle ensues between everyone. Elektra stabs Moon Knight and unmasks him, taking a picture of his real identity. Elektra also attacks Spider-Man and throws him out a window as the police arrive on the streets.

Spidey gets back on his feet and goes back inside to the battle. Meanwhile, Elektra realizes that Hammerhead was lying to her about her money and she attacks him, throwing him out the window as well. Black Cat and Elektra battle, while Spider-Man leaps back inside. He gets really angry and webs up everyone who is in the fight. Black Cat pleas with him that she is good, but Spidey has had enough. Elektra breaks free but is stopped by the injured Moon Knight who throws a weapon at her head. Black Cat frees Iron Fist and Shang-Chi who get away, and Hammerhead, Elektra, and Moon Knight are all captured.

Spider-Man and Black Cat go to the roof. She apologizes to Spider-Man and wants to kiss him. He agrees and takes off his full mask. Black Cat is shocked to see he is just a teenager and throws up, running away. Peter is stunned, but realizes that Hammerhead and his gang are captured. The city is safe, for now.

Thoughts/Comments:

I really enjoyed this arc. There was plenty of action, lots of humor, and a smorgasbord of emotion. Bendis really nailed the dialogue between all the characters and gave us great depth into what made all the mobsters and heroes tick. The moments between Spidey and the Black Cat were great and full of sexual innuendo, but her reaction to finding out Peter was a teenager was classic. Bagley really did a phenomenal job on the huge fight scenes, and the entire story seemed to flow together nicely. Overall I give the "Warriors" arc an A +!! Highly recommended reading for any Spider-Man fan or Ultimate Marvel fan.

Astonishing X-men 13 Review

Author: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassady
Colors: Laura Martin

Spoiler Free Review
Astonishing X-Men #13, after a few months break, has come back strong for the second arc of the story. The issue starts off with an explanation of how Emma Frost acquired her second mutation: a diamond shell that is impenetrable to attack. Great beginning that catches the attention, but, true to his form, Joss Whedon throws some humor into the mix with Wolverine and the remaining mutant students. Since this is a spoiler-free review, all I’ll say is it was some pretty nice fan service for those who love Wolverine and his patented “snikt” sound effect.

The Colossus and Kitty Pride side story is finally resolved and the romantic tension between the two is relieved. It’s actually pretty cute; the way Kitty sits in her room, too scared to talk to Colossus, reminds me of just the other day…, I mean, my days in high school!

Emma seems to be in cahoots with the new Hellfire Club, but she is hesitating and holding back. The new figure in the purple cloak (whose code name may be Perfection) knows something is up, even though Cassandra doesn’t. Emma’s relationship with Scott seems to be on the rocks (maybe because of what happened in House of M)? Regardless, by the end of the issue, the reader is still left clueless as to what Emma and the Hellfire Club has planned, and whether our frosty girl has turned to the dark side….again.

Cassady’s faces don’t seem to change that much, but that’s the only gripe I have about the art work. I think it was beautiful, and when a character did make a facial expression, it was just the right one. I suppose Emma’s was always blank because she is supposed to be calm/have internal turmoil type of deal. Wait, I do have another gripe. The face on the last page of a certain character (can’t spoil it) was a little odd,….she kinda looked like Cassandra more than anything. Oh well. I love his art anyway; the realism suits the story Whedon is creating.

I give it an A. Whedon loves these characters, and that really shows. And he knows how to keep you reading; leaving some mystery to what will happen.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Green Lantern v2 09

Holy crap - Omar's posting so much, and he's such a Marvel zombie (in the old-fashioned, good-natured way, not in the Siver Surfer head-eating way), that I need to get to work on some DC posts to even the scales!

My mildly spoilerish review:

Bruce and Hal finally meet to settle old differences and do some old-fashioned crime-fighting. The Tattooed Man, whose, uh, tattoos can come to life (and this is actually Tattooed Man II - apparently the concept is good enough that two guys felt the need to carry its mantle) is terrorizing folks around Gotham - murdering them and writing their 'sins' (such as "Rude to Waiters") on their chests. Apparently, Bruce decides that a man whose tattoos come to life is right up Hal's alley, so he has Ollie call him up.

That's right, Batman asks Green Arrow to call Green Lantern, because he doesn't want to call Hal himself. This can go two ways: either Batman is just being a jerk, or he realizes that after their last meeting, a direct call might not go so well. Remember, the last time Hal and Bruce talked, Bruce tried to rope Hal with a batarang and Hal decked him for it.

Batman, never being one to tiptoe around an issue, is all business in the cave. He essentially tells Hal about the TM's rampage, and tells him to go deal with it. Hal protests. Bruce decks him (see panel at left for the aftermath of that). Evidently, this was all that was needed to clear the air, so they go together.

Summing up the rest of the issue very quickly: Green Lantern and Batman take down the Tattooed Man, who gets a little bit of interesting exposition in the meantime, by using some good, old-fashioned teamwork (in other words, one plays the decoy, and one takes the guy out). This done, Bruce and Hal have a final exchange, where Hal gives Bruce the ring.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen: Bat-Lantern!

But not for long; just enough for Bruce to recognize the gift that Hal has tried to give him by allowing him to give his thoughts substance, to possibly reach out and touch the one thing he'll never be able to get back, and to realize that he's not ready to do so. Not yet.

This issue comes on the heels of the "softening" of the Batman in the pages of Infinite Crisis 3 and 4. Pre-IC Batman, the "I am a dick to everyone" Batman, couldn't have had this exchange with Hal Jordan. While it's not clear when exactly this occurs vis-a-vis IC, it works along the lines being developed for Batman in that book extremely well. This Batman is human; he has emotional needs, such as anger, that need to be sated before he can move on, but he's willing to spend effort to rebuild relationships that seemed permanently broken.

It's unfortunate that this Batman isn't showing up much in the books with "Bat" in the title, but that's a seperate issue altogether.

This issue also has a great GL moment at the beginning - apparently, someone remembers that Hal wiped out the Corps singlehandedly. About damn time. And it's also perfectly in line with Hal Jordan to not particularly give a damn that some of the new lanterns might be gunning for him.

Ethan van Sciver's art in this issue is almost perfect - he puts some distractingly pointy noses on cowls and masks, but other than that, I just love it.

The only thing this issue needs to make it a perfect Hal Jordan story is a panel like this:

... "other person's"? I guess grammar was just different back in the Silver Age.

Mouse Guard: Belly of the Beast #1

Author and Artist: Doug Petersen
Publisher: Archia Studio Press

As a child one of my favorite book series was Brian Jacques' Redwall. So when I saw the cover to Mouse Guard #1 at my local comic store, I just couldn't resist. The story is pretty basic; in the mid-12th century mice struggle to live safely and prosper among all of the world’s harsh conditions and predators. The Mouse Guard are not simply soldiers that fight off intruders; rather they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one hidden mouse village to another. The Guard patrol borders, find safe ways and paths through dangerous territories and treacherous terrain, watch weather patterns, and keep the mouse territories free of predatory infestation. This reminded me of all those Samurai stories I used to read that were set during the age of Meiji.

Originally Petersen self-published the first issue of Mouse Guard as a black and white comic. That version certainly had its own strengths and Petersen brought a lot oft that texture and strong, thin ink lines to these pages. The artwork, to put it lightly, looks absolutely beautiful. From the character designs, it looks like an excessive amount of time went into drawing each character. The scenery is not over looked either; every leaf to tree branch is given time and detail. Petersen brings a certain richness to this book; he is a fantastic storyteller by making the action really easy to follow. After reading this book in color, I don't think I could go back and read it in black and white. The colors look like they were actually painted.

What really intrigued me about this first issue was the way it could serve as a stand-alone story; an introduction to this wonderful world. This is a rarity these days in comics, with every issue being part of a six issue story arc. In this issue Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam are dispatched to find a missing merchant mouse that never arrived at his destination. In doing so they stumble onto much more than they had bargained for. By the end of the book I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I can not wait for the next issue to come out. This was a nice little surprise; it's one of those rare treasures you just can't put down. A+

Ultimate Avengers DVD Review

The first DVD to be released by Marvel in cooperation with Lions Gate Home Entertainment has arrived. The movie which collects Ultimates 1-13 runs 72 minutes long. Now this is in no means a literal translation of Mark Millar’s run on the Ultimates, some scenes and characters have been toned down. The movie retells how Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Giant Man and the Wasp got together. The plot line is basically the same, they band together to fight aliens and of course they get help from the Hulk.

Where to begin this review though? Let’s look at the what they managed to do right: For starters the animation is nice and solid, with a few exceptions, that I will put off till later. Although the characters don’t look as detailed as Bryan Hitch’s artwork they do a good job of translating them to a cartoon. The voice actors for the most part do a good job. Casting Olivia D’Abo as Black Widow was a perfect choice. The music is really good and the extras on the DVD are nice. There are interviews with George Perez, Tom Brevoot, and Kurt Buziek; where they talk about the history of the Avengers. Included in the extras is a preview of Ultimate Avengers 2, which is to come out this summer and will feature the Black Panther. The funniest part was the fan-submissions for voice acting; damn some of those were hilarious.

Now to the cons of this DVD. This is really a DVD for fans and that is pretty much it. Yes, the character designs are nice, but the animation is quite jerky at times, even when people are just walking. In many cases the angles were a bit off. I have been a fan of animation for years and know that if they had taken just a bit longer, they could have easily fixed those mistakes. All of the political sub-text has been removed as well as most of the more adult issues and have been replaced by more action. The movie starts out real slow and even when the action starts up it drags (with the exception of the Hulk fight scene). Thor is hardly in this movie, he is as much as a guest star as the Hulk was and Captain America as well as Tony Stark are more like their 616 counterparts. Some of the dialogue is poorly delivered, Captain America comes across as a whiny 616 Cap, but that is mainly due to the voice actor. This movie feels more like a Saturday morning pilot submitted to ABC or NBC, with a tad of violence that was rejected and made into a DVD. It’s not a must buy, unless you are a hardcore fan and completist, but it makes for a good rental. C+

X-men 183 Review

Author: Peter Milligan
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colors: Liquid Graphics
Part 2 of Blood of Apocalypse has arrived...and I don't give a shit! At one time, in my younger days this would have made my day. Apocalypse has always intrigued me for years, but bad writing and shocking deaths and rebirths has ruined the character for me. I did find it funny that there is no explanation for his return; I buy that, hell the guy has been around since before the age of Christ. Milligan does a pretty good job with staying true to the character; of course I'm sure it's not too difficult to write a one dimensional villain that Apocalypse has been since X-cutioner's Song. Survival of the fittest blah blah blah we get it. I'm a bit disappointed by the art though. Salvador is an amazing artist; his art has always looked good just in pencils alone. Actually I prefer his pencils over his inked work any day. However the colors are just too extreme in this issue and take away from his art. Some pictures look a bit computer generated and take away from the realism he can deliver.

Spoil Free Review
Apocalypse arrives in time to try to save his people from M-day (I still hate calling it that). There is something in his blood that for some reason mutants think it’s their salvation. His blood has never been mentioned in any previous story as to having healing powers, but he is Apocalypse after all, so yeah blood heals....whatever. What I don't buy is Karma's reaction to his offering of salvation. This is a character that was manipulated by her evil brother and she has never shown any signs of weakness when it comes to turning the side of evil. I can see why a writer could misuse this character though, since no one uses her anymore. Not much happens in this issue. Apocalypse's floating sphinx floats over the mansion, takes out a couple of sentinels, War and Famine attack the same mutants that Apocalypse claims to save and we get a total slap in the face by another character.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Wolverine 39 Review

Author: Daniel Way
Breakdowns: Javier Saltares
Finishes: Mark Texeria
Cover: Kaare Andrews
I wasn't sure whether to put this under the rants section or reviews....since I am pretty sure I'm just going to be ranting about this issue. Mark Texeria should get his own monthly book and he doesn’t need a damn breakdown artist. I have been a fan of his for many years and I have seen some amazing things he can produce on a monthly basis. I find it hard to believe that this is the same Daniel Way that wrote Bullseye and Gun Theory. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I thought anyone could deliver a Wolverine story, but damn, Daniel Way has proven me wrong. The dialogue is very bland, nothing of importance happens in this issue, there is a fight that last pages between Wolverine and the Winter Soldier; which is another one of my problems with this issue. Marvel seems to be force feeding us this Winter Soldier character....I liked him in Brubaker's Captain America run, but did we really need him guest-starring in a comic before his story even wrapped up in Cap? Yes Marvel, we get it...Bucky is one cool bad-ass motherfucker and a baby killer....oooops....Ahh fuck it! I am so irate with this issue; I'm not going to give it the satisfaction of a full review!

You ever feel like you've just been anally raped? Not literally, but by the man!!!!? Well that's the way this issue read to me. By the end of the issue we find out that Bucky, yeah that's right Cap's lil’ buddy, killed Wolverine's wife and unborn child. What the fuck? Where did that come from? To top things off Marvel has the audacity to ask their readers on the last page; you didn't see that coming did you? Of course I didn't see that fucking coming, but that's only because I have been reading about this character for the past 20 years!!!! This was a complete slap to the face for this reader. Is this where this Origins and Endings is going? Some made up bullshit that has nothing to do with the main character at all? Come on Marvel! Take Way off this book and put someone who can deliver a solid and believable Wolverine story. Just to clarify things, I have never been anally raped, but if I was to, it would feel like reading this piece of shit all over again....absolutely horrible.

Spider-Man: The Other (Review Part 4)

This is the final part of Spider-Ben's review of Spider-Man: The Other. (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 )

OK, I enjoyed this story but man, was I disappointed with the ending. There are a ton of questions that have not been answered. Here are some questions that were ignored or not answered:

1. What was Spider-Man dying of at the beginning of the storyline? What was on that piece of paper Dr. Castillo gave him?
2. How did Morlun return after being killed in Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 issue #35?
3. What became of the spider creature lady he fought in part 10 and 11?
4. What was in the cocoon at the end of part 11?
5. Why did Morlun die so easily? He killed Spider-Man! Spidey fought in on one page in the hospital in part 7, but that wasn’t a rematch. I want a full blow issue of Spider revenge on Morlun!

These are just a few burning questions I have regarding this storyline. I enjoyed it, no doubt, but felt there was a lot of unnecessary filler in a 12-part storyline that could have been better used to resolve my questions above.

The art was pretty good for the arc. I really enjoy Mike Wieringo and Mike Deodato Jr’s artwork. I’d have to say Pat Lee really was the weakest artist on the arc. His style was just to obscure and rushed and really didn’t fit the tone of the story trying to be conveyed. But I loved the art on “Friendly Neighborhood” and “Amazing” issues. They rocked!

All in all, I have to give this storyline a B+. The storyline really kept me interested, and it was great having another Spider-Man crossover, but to many lingering questions prevented me from bestowing a higher grade. Still, I’ll get the Hardcover when it comes out in April.

The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

This is not a mystery story. The title implies betrayal, but there is never any attempt to hide the traitor’s identity. If you don’t know already, I’ll go ahead and tell you.

The traitor is Nightwing.

Just kidding. The Titans are betrayed by Terra, of course. If you can’t tell this from looking at the cover, you could always read the foreword by Marv Wolfman, or the introduction by George Perez. Or, you could read up to page 9, where Terra herself tells us, or page 11, where Deathstroke confirms it. So yeah, Terra’s a traitor. The setup here is that everyone knows BUT the Titans.

She has worked with them for a few months, training with them, gaining their trust. This despite the fact that she obviously doesn’t seem to like any of them, and that Raven is constantly reminding the rest of the gang that Terra is dag-nasty evil. They overlook her rough edges, though – she wants to be a hero, and that’s what the Titans are going to turn her into.

The first half of the book is solely about the majority of the Titans (minus Raven, of course) being completely unaware of Terra’s true allegiance, despite all the clues being laid out before them. According to Wolfman’s intro, the Titans reflect the fans at the time – no one believed that she was really evil, despite it being constantly thrown in their faces. And I can see that – in a superhero book, one never wants to believe that the characters are truly evil. Even the bad guys that get the most screen time are given redeeming aspects, as Deathstroke is throughout this volume. No one wants to believe the worst of Terra, but that’s exactly what we’re being asked to do, which is why this book is so counter-intuitively brilliant.

Eventually, Terra’s betrayal is revealed to Dick and the rest of the Titans, none of whom are willing to accept it at first. Gar even shows blinding stupidity on this point, trying to reason with her in the final battle, despite the fact that not only is she trying to kill him, but that she completely disregards him, not only as a threat, but as a person.

Terra eventually self-destructs. The book claims she goes completely insane (and kills herself with her own powers), but I see it a different way. I don’t think she “went insane”. I do, however, think that her arrogance overtook her – the gift of such amazing power was one she couldn’t handle, and her less-than-Einsteinian intellect couldn’t cope with it. She was simply going to wipe her hands of the entire affair, kill the Titans, kill Deathstroke, kill all the H.I.V.E. members, bury them under a mountain, and be on her way. She just never realized that she had no immunity to her own powers, and that if she whipped up a rock storm, she would be as subject to it as everyone else. She got carried away because she wasn’t smart enough to get out of the way of her own powers.

This leads us to the strange conclusion of the book – rather than tell the superhero community what happened, they hold a hero’s funeral for Terra. They tell her brother that she died a hero, and they create a memorial for her. I call this strange because while it’s nice, it doesn’t seem like a very responsible thing to do. Terra could have been held up as an example to all the meta-humans of what happens when they let the “meta” come before the “human”. She could have served a valuable purpose as a reminder to all; but instead, she becomes the Titans’ biggest failure. Perhaps they feel guilty, perhaps they weren’t listening during her evil speeches, but I just don’t understand why the Titans would react like this.

But this book’s not just about Terra. It includes not only the introduction of Jericho, but the first appearance of Dick Grayson as Nightwing, as well as the complete origin of Deathstroke the Terminator!

Equal time is spent on Dick Grayson’s story and Slade Wilson’s. To some extent, the juxtaposition of the two stories serves to compare the two characters, both of whom came to a crossroads where they just couldn’t continue without drastically changing.

For Slade, his conversion into Deathstroke came when the Army refused to authorize a mission to save his friend Wintergreen. He took it upon himself to do the job, and as a result, was kicked out the military. Having nothing else to do, he became the Terminator in order to complete himself.

Dick Grayson, on the other hand, has come to a crossroads of his own design. He knows that he can’t fulfill both of the obligations in his life. He can’t be Robin, partner of Batman, and Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, at the same time. So he decides to give up the Robin identity, so that Batman can reclaim it, to use it again with another partner. Dick decides that his place is with the Titans, but once that decision is made, he is at a loss of what to do next.

In order to be true to himself, Wilson created an identity; to do the same, Grayson gave his up. The only problem is that this leaves Dick Grayson without a secret identity – he can’t go into battle wearing a leather jacket (remember, this is twenty years before Grant Morrison’s X-Men). So when it comes down to it, he adopts an identity that pays homage not only to Batman, but to his parents and his other mentor Superman, and becomes Nightwing. This is expanded on, of course, in the recent Nightwing: Year One storyline (but of course, here we’re Pre-Crisis, there we’re Post-Crisis, so there are a number of idiosyncratic contradictions which we have to pretend we don’t notice).

This collected edition is a great read for a number of reasons: the saga of Terra’s betrayal, the origin of Deathstroke, and the coming-of-age of Dick Grayson not being all. It is easy to jump into, even if you’re not familiar with New Teen Titans Pre-Crisis continuity; I’m reasonably sure that this story has indeed been referenced and included almost wholesale into Post-Crisis DC, so pretty much everything that happened here stuck.

It’s a great story at a great price, by one of my favorite authors and my favorite artist. This is nigh as good as a comic can get.

Shameless plug: This review originally appeared on my personal site, Shadowbot.

Planetary Brigade #1 Review

Authors: Keith Giffen and J M Dematteis
Pencillers: Joe Abraham, Eduardo Barreto,
Inker: Cythia Martin and Chase Conley
Publisher: BOOM!
I could sit here and talk about how much I love Giffen's and Dematteis' Justice League back in the day. I could sit here and tell you, how I had to travel an hour and half to find this book, because my local comic shop did not get one in. I could also tell you about how this book reminds me of the glory days of Justice League and how I had the biggest hard on for Fire...but I will refrain from telling you all that stuff...ohh shit, never mind. I'm not going to bother putting spoiler tags on here, because I'm sure there were only 300 people in America besides me that picked Planetary Brigade up. So on that note here is the review:

Now days there seems to be a standard rule among creators whenever they create a new superhero universe, they all have to be not-so-well hidden well-known characters. Judging by the cover alone, this is the Justice League, no ifs ands or buts. On the other hand Giffen and Dematteis don't follow the rules too strictly. Yes we have Captain Valor who is much like Superman and Captain America; the Grim Knight is meant to be an analogue of Batman; there is a Wonder Woman analogue; a mystic like Martian Man Hunter named the Visitor and of course the Purring Pussycat the Fire-like character, who is shallow, but has a heart of gold. Then we have Earth Goddess and Third eye, the most interesting and original characters on the team.

So, despite having the opportunity of being a new creator-owned book, this book is the same book you read 20 years ago, but a bit edgier. Giffen and Dematteis never got a chance to work with the classic relationship of Batman and Superman....so this is probably the closest thing. Furthermore, the rest of the team does offer interesting variations. Like in their Justice League run, this works because although the characters aren't treated reverentially, they're still made to seem human. There's nothing too original here at all, but that's completely beside the point. It's Giffen and DeMatteis doing what they do best, and of course that is solid story telling with bickering snarky dialogue.

Eduardo Barretto, Chase Conley, Joe Abraham, Cynthia Martin and Mark Badger and provide pages of art that while they do not blend together and are a bit erratic they do not clash. They all have their forte, Cynthia's action panels are really amazing and Congly can illustrate some of the best damn facial expressions I have seen in a long time. It's not the sort of book that really benefits from an art jam though, and some of it is rather inappropriate. I really hope they get just one artist for the next issue. So to wrap it all up, yes its the same formula that Giffen and Dematteis have been sticking to for years, but damn its fun and better than 80% of the crap that is out there
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Spider-Man: The Other (Review Part 3)

This is part 3 of Spider-Ben's review of Spider-Man: The Other. (Go to Part 1 | Part 2)

Later, we see the cocoon once again. Now Peter is having a dream about how the spider bit him years ago and gave him powers to become Spider-Man. A huge spider totemic being tells Peter that all these years he has had the gift of spider powers, yet has never truly embraced it. He always forgot and neglected his incredible abilities when he took off his costume and returned to being Peter Parker. Now the spider essence is giving Peter a brand new body, one that is completely healed and occupying the insides of the cocoon. The spider totem tells him that once in its life a spider sheds it skin, usually under times of extreme stress or trauma. The same is being done for Peter. He must once and for all embrace the spider essence of his powers. So is the second gift of the spider. The cocoon opens up and Peter is reborn, new body and a few new powers.

Peter returns to Avengers tower, which pretty much shocks the hell out of everyone. When all the excitement calms down, Iron Man tells Peter that he pretty much trashed all of his Spider-Man costumes to protect his identity. Peter doesn’t care, he’s just happy to be back with Mary Jane. Later that night, Peter returns to the morgue and examines the remains of his corpse. He continues to think back about what the spider totem told him, and wonders if he is “A man who dreamed of being a spider, or a spider who dreamed of being a man. Are you one, or are you, the other?”

Peter is now healthy and healed, with a few new powers. So, Iron Man decides to run some more tests on our hero. All tests show the same thing; Pete’s entire body is completely healed up. While Reed Richards, Tony, and Hank Pym all want to continue to run test, Aunt May tells them that Peter has been given a second chance at life. It’s a rare gift, and she wants them to let Peter out and enjoy his second chance. Peter decides to take Mary Jane for a ride. No, not that kind of ride! A ride web swinging around Manhattan!

Meanwhile, in the lab at Avengers tower, a plethora of pirate spiders begin to devour Peter’s old corpse. They take form into this really freaky spider-lady looking creature. Peter, meanwhile, gets a radical surge from his spider-sense. Something big is going on at Avengers tower, something related to spiders. How Peter knows this is a surprise to him, along with readers. Once back at the tower, Spider-Man confronts this spider lady amalgam and a battle begins. The stingers return, thrusting from his forearms. The spider lady smashes through a wall and Spidey pursues her across town.

While Spider-Man questions this new creature, she mocks him about whether he is one, or the other. This takes him back to his dream, and the spider lady take a nosedive to the street, exploding into a million spiders and getting away via the sewers. Peter is still confused and returns to Avengers tower.

At the tower, the New Avengers are puzzled by what’s going on, and why there is webbing everywhere. Peter offers to help, but he is just as confused and puzzled by what’s going on. Later, he visits Doctor Strange, hoping to get some answers. Dr. Strange tells Peter that he was sick and dying, but now he is pretty much brand new. It’s like he is starting life anew, with all his old faults and injuries left in the past. Peter tries to seek answers from his wife and aunt, feeling that he is cheating God. Peter realizes that he died; yet here he is among the living. Aunt May tells him it’s a wonderful gift he has been given, and that he should embrace that gift. Everything happens for a reason. This makes Peter realize what an amazing miracle he has been given. Later, we find another mysterious webbing cocoon inside a church. Who, or what is inside remains unknown.

Peter decides to do some more web swinging to get his mind off all the weirdness and comes to the aid of some people in trouble. A building has collapsed and a little girl with a severe case of asthma is trapped in the ruins. Peter goes into the pitch-black ruins in hopes of finding the girl. He does, and is surprised that he can now see in the dark. He can also sense vibrations from the debris and walls through his web line, much like a real spider senses when an insect gets caught in its web. Using his newfound powers, Peter finds the little girl and rescues her just before the debris gives away, crushing everything in its path.

Back at the Avengers tower, Peter talks with MJ about all the craziness going on. She tells him once again to be glad he was given a second chance and rejoice in knowing that he has a fresh start and new lease on life. Meanwhile, Tony Stark continues to work on Spider-Man’s new costume.

Check back tomorrow for the last part of this review, along with Spider-Ben's impressions of the story as a whole.

The New Avengers...finally Assembled, sorta.

New Avengers #16

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Steve McNiven

Yay, I get to do this review before Omar. So for starts I’m going to open the book to the first six pages…now I won’t tell you what is in the contents of the first six pages until the spoiler filled review, but lets just say I laughed very hard, on the floor, and rolling around, a lot. What the hell was Bendis thinking? I love New Avengers and I love a lot of the stuff Bendis has come out with (not all, but a lot). But I laughed when I turned the page three times to see full page or double page spreads with no words. As a guy who is against the notion that Bendis is a “filler” these first six pages don’t lie, with no words and two pictures I’ve already seen (btw I am not counting the opening recap page) I quickly flipped through the pages. To get to something I could actually read. I don’t know about you, but words impact me more then pictures in the case of comic books. Now anyone can read about the death toll in a foreign land, but the pictures are what make people cry, but we’re not dealing with real life we’re in the world of make believe and I want the writer to string me along and drop the bomb about how many people just died and what sounds I might be hearing if I were an on looker. Steve McNiven is a great artist but nothing looks more real then my own imagination, in this case I could have seen the “six-page-action-zero-words-prologue” in one page, maybe the last two pages, but I got the picture in about the time it takes me to read two words, and I would have preferred the two words. Now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest I can move on. I liked the rest of the book. I liked the way Bendis introduced this new and “destructive” antagonist in a way that McNiven’s one-shot work would not hinder the mysticism of the rest of the arc. I liked the characterization, yeah I like characterization a lot, but I liked the way we learn more about the new badass female S.H.I.E.L.D agent. She is set up to have a good yin and yang relationship with Cap, a good classic Avengers romp. Oh and then there is the “destruction” this part pissed me off a little bit but it’s comic books so I don’t invest too much heart into some of the antics that I see, especially in the pages of Avengers, anything can happen, and it usually will.

Click here to read the review with spoilers.

The Goon Looms at The Top of My List

Creator, Writer, Artist: Eric Powell

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

For those of you listening to the Podcast you know how I can go on and on about Eric Powell’s The Goon. Issue #16 just came out and it really had me spellbound. The deal is that in issue #15 The Zombie Priest at the End of Lonely street has resulted in some very desperate times, no spoilers there, just look at the cover of #16. Right off the bat in the first page you get to see something that I’ve grown accustomed to when reading Powell’s book. The artwork shows two very distinct contrasts, realistic in the soft shades of one of the characters, and the 1930’s Little Annie style of Frankie. The whole book is spoken in this first page; it’s wild, trippie, and holds no bounds. The book is fresh; if you’ve been looking for something in every medium of Comic Book and haven’t yet found it, then give Goon a try. I used to be one of many people who looked at the book and just never gave it a shot because it didn’t really look all that interesting. But it’s sustenance, it’s heart is in the story, and the characterization, and that’s not something you can get from just flipping through the book at the comic book store, pick it up, you won’t be disappointed. It may turn out that it’s not your cup of tea though, but you won’t know that for sure unless you give it a shot. If you like hard hitting action, and the Classic Monsters of early cinema, or the B-Movies of the 50’s then The Goon is the book for you because it has brought the great pieces of the past to our oddball present. Keep in mind when picking up this book, it comes out once every two months. Now before you start bitching keep in mind that Powell does EVERYTHING on the book, writing and drawing, and he is pretty much left alone by the editors of Dark Horse.

Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Spider-Man: The Other (Review Part 2)

This is part 2 of Spider-Ben's review of Spider-Man: The Other. Part 1 is here.

Finally accepting he is going to die, Peter takes advantage of his last days. While web swinging to the Daily Bugle, Morlun attacks Spider-Man. He throws him through walls, hits him with various objects and attacks, and takes full advantage of the weakened Spider-Man. In a final attempt, Peter Parker gives his final energy into an onslaught of punches towards his durable opponent. Then, his energy is depleted. Morlun rises unaffected, and rips out Spider-Man’s eye, eating it!! Then he unleashes his own assault of lethal blows, leaving Spider-Man blood, beaten, and left with one eye.

I hope you are still with me. Things only get worse. Morlun leaves Spider-Man’s broken body when the cops and ambulance arrive. Spidey is taken to the hospital. There we find out he has multiple broken bones, a punctured lung filling with fluid, oh yeah, and missing an eye. The Avengers rush to the hospital (good timing you guys, where were you when he was getting beat to death!) and rush Mary Jane to her dying husband. Morlun races to his room, preparing to feed off his fallen foes life energy. Mary Jane lunges to stop Morlun, forcing him to break her arm and kill her. Peter is hovering on death’s door, springs to life in one final assault to save Mary Jane. Long, razor sharp stingers emerge from his underarms. Peter slashes furiously at Morlun, striking his foe down, killing him. Morlun vanishes into dust.

Mary Jane rushes to Peter, who collapses in her arms. He tells her this is it, he is about to die. With his dying words he confesses his love for Mary Jane one last time. Iron Man and the other Avengers comfort Mary Jane the best they can, and Iron Man takes Peter’s body back to Avengers tower. No one must know Spider-Man has died. Back at the tower, Captain America tries to comfort May, while Iron Man helps Mary Jane come up with a story to explain how Spider-Man died without revealing he was Peter Parker.

The stress really gets to both May and Mary Jane. Loosing Peter has really crushed them, and I know how they feel. Just as things quiet down a crash comes from the morgue in Avengers tower. The heroes race to the lab to find Peter’s corpse cut open and empty. The window is also broken. Mary Jane faints and the Avengers search the city for any clues to who, or what, did this. Near a beach outside Manhattan, under a dark bridge lies a huge webbing cocoon.

Check back tomorrow for part three.

Spider-Man: The Other (Review Part 1)

Spider-Ben has written an incredible review of the recently completed Spider-Man: The Other saga. Since his review is so detailed, we'll be posting it in parts here on the homepage. This is part one, look for a new part each day.

You know a story is good if you really feel for the main character. Whether you are watching a movie, reading a novel, enjoying a comic book, or even playing a video game, if you feel a certain attachment for a fictional character, you become engulfed within the story. Case in point, Marvel Comics current 12 part story, “Spider-Man: The Other: Evolve or Die.” This story has captivated me since it began in October 2005. With the conclusion coming up next week, I want to reflect on the changes, and major shocks that I experienced, in following this extreme comic book story.

The creative premise is like this: three talented writers and artists working on all three monthly Spider-Man comics have joined forces to tell an epic, 12 part saga. Writers Peter David, Reginald Hudlin, and J. Michael Straczynski each write four parts of the saga. The men responsible for illustrating their visions are Mike Wieringo, Pat Lee, and Mike Deodato Jr. The flow of the story runs through Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1-4, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 19-22, and Amazing Spider-Man 525-528.

The story is wild! Before diving deep within what happens, I have to say this. I have been collecting Spider-Man comics since 1992. I have supported my hero through both good and bad times over the past 13 years. I have to say never, ever, have I felt for a character after witnessing what Spider-Man went through in this story. Parts 6, 7, and 8 particularly shocked me. That said it’s time to dwell within the world of “The Other.”

Things start off fairly good for Spidey. He’s now living in Avengers tower. He’s got a beautiful wife and a happy, healthy aunt. Yet, something is wrong. Spider-Man has been blacking out lately. His actions are slower and his powers have been acting, pardon the pun, bugging out. While our hero encounters a new villain, The Tracer, he sustains a bullet wound injury in his shoulder and hand. Captain America sends him to a doctor who specializes in super hero related injuries, Doctor Castillo. Doc Castillo patches him up, but not before taking a blood sample. Later that night, she calls Spidey at Avengers tower. Something abnormal is happening within Spider-Man’s body. Something that is tragic and untreatable.

Spider-Man continues to pursue Tracer, when he powers begin to fail him again. He is weaker, slower, and easily snuck up on. Worse, he receives word of his condition, thus acting short with his teammates, and his family. In a final battle with Tracer, Spidey accepts his fate and threatens to kill the villain. Now we know his condition must be very bad, forcing kind hearted Spider-Man to almost kill in cold blood.

Peter’s Aunt May finds out about his condition and forces him to seek the help of his fellow super-heroes. After various heroes run test after test, the result is the same. Spider-Man is going to die. Finally coming to terms that the end is near, Peter decides to spend time with his aunt and wife. Alas, things get worse. The ancient, vampiric slayer named Morlun has returned. Spider-Man barely defeated Morlun four years ago, and that was only with the help of his companion Ezekiel. Since then, Ezekiel has died. Plus, with Peter’s spider-powers weakened and him dying of an unknown condition, things look grim.

Check back tomorrow for part 2!

Apocalypse Vs. Dracula #1 Review

Author: Frank Tieri
Penciler: Clay Henry
Inker: Mark Morales
Cover: Jae Lee

Ahh the beauty of having a character that is as old as time. He could have walked around with Jesus or help the Romans with their sewage or found the cure for polio...wait nevermind this is Apocalypse we are talking about. Is this Godzilla Vs. King Kong? Wolfman Vs. Dracula? Actually this seems more like Billy the Kid Vs. Frankenstein's Monster. Frank Tieri does what he can with his limited knowledge of the characters, but overall an interaining story to say the least. The art really doesn't do anything for me, yes I like Clayton Henry when he was drawing Exiles and Alpha Flight. But his art is too clean for the book, not enough shadows and inks for a dark title. Jae Lee does an amazing job with the cover, wish they would have chosen him for the interior artwork instead.

So far the only Vs. I have seen in the book between Dracula and Apocalypse has been in a flashback from Romania in 1459 where Apocalypse's Dark Riders just run over Vlad the impaler's troops. Then Apocalypse just kicks Vlad down as he is trying to stand up. The next part of the story takes us to London 1897, where someone is killing members of the Akkab Clan (that someone is pretty obvious). This is just a set up issue, but according to Hamilton Slade for every evil that has been commited throught the history of mankind the clan Akkab has been behind it. They have done this in the name of Apocalypse, because his blood runs through them. Slade himself, believes he is Apocalypse, but by the end of the book we get a glimpse of the real master. There is a small interlude featuring Ozymandias in present day waking up his lord, but that's really all that happens in the first issue. An entertaining story, but I wish they had gone with a darker grittier artist to illustrate the story.

X-men Deadly Genesis 4 Review

Author: Ed Brubaker
Layouts: Trevor Hairsine
Finishes: Scott Hanna
Cover: Marc Silvestri

Being one of the strongest psychics in the world must be kick-ass! You can mind-wipe any little detail out of someone's head. Make them forget certain events never happened that actually did. Having a character like this is a blessing to the X-writers; it's really amazing they didn't do it as often or maybe it was because they didn't have to, to make a good story. Brubaker again does a pretty decent job of throwing a bit of continuity to the sides to make room for his story. Finally Trevor Hairsine has stepped down as penciler and just has the job of being a layout artist. I've never been that big a fan of Harirsine so it doesn't really bother me that much. Scott Hanna does an amazing job, like always, with his finishes. The art seems clearer and crisp than usual which is a good change from the rushed job that issue 3 was. That cover really makes me miss Silvestri drawing X-men, that was probably my favorite time reading X-men...but I can talk about that somewhere else.

Spoil Free Review:
This will be a bit tricky, but I will try to save the good stuff for the review with spoilers. The tape that Banshee so desperately died for is in the hands of the X-men now. Beast, Wolverine and Nightcrawler sit and watch as events of the past unfold before their very eyes. Ohh yeah, apparently no one besides me gives a shit about Banshee dying. Instead of worrying about retrieving his body, making arrangements for a funeral or telling everyone else (for that matter contacting his own daughter) that he is dead. I'm just not seeing the proper reaction in these characters now that one of their long time friends is dead. The tape reveals that there was another team of X-men that went to rescue the old team from Krakoa. Now I reread Giant Size X-men 1 and I can buy this happening, it never did state a time in between events in that book. We are led to believe something horrible happened to Vulcan, Sway, Petra and Darwin. Fine, I don't have a problem with that....but if that really did happen, then why in fuck's sake did Moira help Xavier find his new X-men and the New Mutants, if it was so devastating for her? I'm sure more answers will be revealed, but I just don't think they will even bother explaining that one.

The new team is trained by Xavier only in their minds, which is a nice trick that had never been used before. Now that trick could have had repercussions, such as: yes their minds are ready, but the body could have certain side effects. This might be the reason why Xavier never used the trick again. That is just a theory, but still a nice idea. It’s amazing that in one issue the new X-men get costumes and it took the New Mutants ohh only 55 issues to earn their costumes. Just another thing I wanted to comment on is Kurt and Moira keep loosing and gaining their accents, but I think Brubaker is just getting comfortable with the characters.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Marvel Zombies #3 Review

Author: Robert Kirkman
Penciler: Sean Phillips
Colors: June Chung
Cover: Arthur Suydam

When I first heard about this miniseries, I wasn't sure how exactly Kirkman was going to make it work for five issues. That is of course until I saw that the zombies could talk...and damn that was pretty funny and could actually work. So far it's been a riot and features the best cover spoofs I've seen in a long time. And while I got lots of laughs in this issue like the previous two, I'm starting to wonder if the joke is getting a little tired. It was a dark issue with plenty of humor, as quite a few of the zombies get pretty well mangled in this issue, hell a couple get their limbs torn and cut in half. Also, while there’s a glimmer of hope in the form of some normal people, the zombies gain a brief advantage here. This, in no means is like a Zombie book I have ever read before.

There were some good moments in this issue, because anytime you have the Silver Surfer show up and fight some super zombies it makes for a funny moment. And the last page is both inevitable and, well, a lot like the end of issue #2. I hope this book finds a direction next issue, because as funny as it is, it could turn out to be rather pointless. This issue is split in two, for one half we get a massive fight scene and for the other more character development of T'Challa and the Acolytes. However, I'm not sure whether to root for T'Challa and gang or root that they get devoured. The only plot device that seems to be working so far is what exactly will Galactus do to this planet and how will he react to the Surfer? I'm also trying really hard to understand how Iron man got turned into a zombie but some of the other norms got eaten, after all he is just a guy in a suit.

Once again Sean Phillips delivers an extremely detailed, violent (even though there is a fair share lack of blood) and dark presentation of this zombie planet. Chung does a nice job with the colors by using a great blend of dark and over the top vibrant colors to capture the atmosphere of the dissolution and rotting in this world. That cover by the way is a nice take on the Incredible Hulk 340 cover by Mc Farlane. Very nice read and would recommend it to anyone that wants to read a book out of the ordinary hero realm

angels and demons and GHOST RIDER!!!

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artwork: Clayton Crain

Now I’ve been a moderate Ghost Rider fan for a long time, simply put, I think he looks cool as…well…Hell. So I was a little hyped about the series when it was about to come out, more so when I heard that Garth Ennis was going to be the writer, and I was ecstatic to hear about Clayton Crain coming on to do the artwork. The series has just wrapped up with #6 by the Ennis/Crain team and it was exactly what I expected from the two of them. No holds bar antics courtesy of Ennis. And the wicked acid trip of Crain, who seems to be one of the best at drawing horribly disfigured creatures with lots of tentacles and weird body parts. The story was good overall, it drug a little bit in the middle, but picked way up at the end once the (celestial) shit hit the (earthly-plain) fan. Ghost Rider was not the character that pulled the book together, in my opinion, the antics between demon and angel is what kept me turning the pages, Ghost Rider seemed to almost take a backseat to the warring worlds lead baddies between Hoss and whatever that Angel chicks name was (?). Now that its over I can breathe a sigh of relief to know that a contemporary Ghost Rider book can be done well and look forward to the work of Ennis and Crain again when they tackle another cycle riding knight of the underworld, Spirit of Vengeance!

Sensational Artwork by Spidey Artist Medina

Author: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciller: Angel Medina
Cover: Angel Medina

So if you take away the crazy ass adjectives that are in front of almost all of the Marvel titles these days what are you left with? A completely average book no different then the next book, other then the issue number maybe. So take Sensational Spider-Man, formally Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Joey Q decided to leave the Marvel Knights title line for the really special books and not books that have a potential to be monthly regulars. So before you even pick up the issue you must ask what the deal is, right? Well first off we’re not in The Other anymore Toto so forget continuity for the duration of the series, which is until they bring it back with a cross-wide book story line again. So what about, is it worth picking up? Absolutely! The book may have its own continuity line, and the story may seem a little similar but the book itself, as a whole, rocks. I dropped all my Spidey-books sometime after Sins Past, just because I didn’t like the storylines and I wasn’t roped into the Other but Sensational, and more specifically Angel Medina on pencils pulled me in. I’ve been a fan of Medina’s since Kiss Psycho Circus and his Spawn run was awesome. Now his taste is a little warped so your going to see things from angles you probably aren’t used to, but that’s the fun of Medina! The story is alright, not to out of the ordinary, characters so far seem to be, Werewolf by Night and the Lizard, with a cameo by the Vulture but the story TELLING, is what your getting your money for.

X-men Unlimited 13 Review

Authors: Hugh Sterbakov and Damon Hurd
Pencillers: Sean Scoffield and Clay Mann
Inker: Mark Pennington
Cover: Mike Deodato Jr.

I have yet to see the point of this book. It really doesn't fit into continuity and if it does it is ignored by the other writers working on the X-books. At least it comes out six times a year though, maybe that's the ticket to having a successful book. We have another Decimation tie-in (yes we needed more! sigh) with this issue. Most of the stories in X-men Unlimited (volume 2) I have read are pointless, but this one caught me off guard. The first story I could care less about, but the second one really reeled me in. I want to first mention that cover by Mike Deodato Jr. In the 90's Mike Deadato had a studio named after him, in which everyone drew like him. I believe Ed Benes was part of that studio. It was hard to tell what Mike was really drawing then and this cover makes me wonder if he is still using his studio. It seems a bit rushed and not as detailed as his inside pages of his upcoming New Avengers arc. Just a minor gripe, so onto the review.

Spoiler Free Review:
The first story written by Hugh Sterbakov is about the popular Mesmero, whom I thought died in an issue of X-men that Andy Kubert drew...they probably should have left him dead! However, he was in Frank Tieri's Weapon X book, but it was never explained how he survived being gunned down by the Dark Riders. This story was kind of bland, Mesmero has lost his powers and his only reason for living is the love a woman. I don't think the character of Glory has ever appeared before, so she wasn't really a developed enough of a character for me to care about their relationship. It's not a bad idea, except I think Tieri handled it better in Weapon X in which Mesmero lost his power. The painted artwork by Sean Scoffield was really good though, there is a nice blend of a dark present and a very colorful flashback. I'm not going to spoil what the next story is about, unless you really want to know.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.

Teen Titans 32 Review

Author: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Todd Nauck
Inkers: Sean Parsons, Nelson and Larry Stucker
Cover: Tony Daniel

This is probably my favorite unnecessary tie-in to come out of Crisis. Since this issue is pretty much Infinite Crisis 4 as seen through the eyes of the Titans, there will be no spoiler tags. Geoff Johns does a nice job of fixing a bit of a continuity problem started by John Byrne, retells the same story and writes damn good fight scenes! With him is Todd Nauck, who delivers a nice cartoon feel to the book. Now here is an idea DC; when this guy was drawing Young Justice he hardly had any delays or fill in artists, as opposed to Tony Daniel, who in the past has had a problem with deadlines. Nauck really comes through, specially with his two page ala Perez style spread of the Doom Patrols, real nice....I love the way they tried to sneak Flex Mentallo in there too.

Byrne's Doom Patrol ignored every incarnation of previous Doom Patrols, but it also fucked up Beast Boy's back-story. Pretty much in Byrne's version Beast Boy had no connections with the DP. This issue corrects all of Byrne's mistakes by a nice two page spread of the current team and Beast Boy remembering all the incarnations of the DP. In the last 12 issues Gar has become my favorite Titan, and making him leader of the TT has really strengthen the character. Now, this is a character that was the mascot of The New Teen Titans and on his good days a sidekick at most!

The story really focuses on the Superboys' fight! You get more of a feel of what's going on and it doesn't feel rushed. We get to see Connor protect his family, more of Krypto's attack, Connor actually mentions how much he use to hate that dog and is now is grateful to him. There was more of the fight between DP and TT against Superboy-Prime. We get to see Terra and Sand team up for a bit and an awesome homage to Superman 2, when Arrowette pulls out the blue arrow given to her by Speedy. Of course since we get more pages, we get more of the gruesome deaths of Panthra, Bushido and Wilderbeast. We get to see that Red Star and Riske are not dead, but seriously injured instead. Then, the final sacrifice of the flashes was portrayed with more emotion than in IC 4; this was John's way of saying goodbye to the legacy of Flash. If you are a fan of the Titans, Doom Patrol or Infinite Crises, I really don't know how you can miss this issue.

Cable and Deadpool 25 Review

Author: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Lan Medina
Inker: Ed Tadeo
Cover: Partick Zircher

In today’s comic market it is rare that a book lasts long enough to see issue 25. C&D is on its third year, of all the X-titles cancelled in the past year (Nightcrawler, Gambit, Rogue, Mystique, Emma Frost, Jubilee and Excalibur) none made it to issue 25. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that: Fuck all the haters of Cable and Deadpool who said this book wouldn't last past six issues!!!!! Both of these characters were the creation of Rob Liefield and it's not the 90's, so why is this book selling? Simple answer: Fabian Nicieza!

Nothing special about this issue to mark its 25th anniversary; no double sized, alternate covers, prism covers, holographic foil, just good solid story telling. A straight follow up to last issue so Cable meets up with Captain America and pretty much tells the guy he is a better warrior, leader and all together better symbol than Captain America! Most of the characters in the Marvel universe usually bow to Cap, hell even Wolverine respects the man for what he stands for or completely reject his believes . Damn....Cable has some balls! After all Cable has led countless of armies in the future and has been worshiped as a messiah. He's not just the symbol of America, but the symbol of the entire world! Now Cable by no means totally rejects the ideas of Cap, but actually follows his tradition. Deadpool is actually gets pushed to the sides in this issue, but we still get our nice dosage of quirky dialogue. Lan Medina bring his pencils to this title, it’s a bit different than Zircher not as over exaggerated and a little bland at times. Nicieza successfully delivers a story in which Cap is actually questioning himself after Cable's meeting with him. Highly recommended!

Fables Volume 5 Review

Author: Bill Willingham
Artists: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Tony Akins and Jimmy Palmiotti
Publisher: DC\Vertigo

Time and time again I seem to keep returning to this series every time a new TPB comes out. I've enjoyed all the trade paperbacks from this series. This weekend I read The Mean Seasons (which is the fifth book in the series). If you haven't read the series or know anything about it: Fables is about a community of exiled Fables (We are talking Snow White, Prince Charming, Beauty and the Beast, Little Boy Blue, Pinocchio and Cinderella to name a few) who have taken up residence both in New York City and in the upstate New York countryside. Some of them have been there since the colonial days of America. The Adversary has taken over all of these characters' homelands, and so they had to flee to this world in order to escape his power! The actual Fables have a Fabletown, where only the normal looking Fables live. Then we have the non-human looking Fables which must all live in the countryside at a community they call The Farm.

Willingham continues to hypnotize me with his solid storytelling with a bit of a morbid twist. You actually start believing that these Fables are living in our day to day lives with us. Every time I come back to the world of Fables I am reminded of my childhood so it manages to captivate me in that way. The art mainly by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leihola is a nice blend of dark and twisted with a bit of pop added to it.

So what happens in this story? Well since it was released as single issues I'm not going to do a spoiler-free review. So if you don't want to know what happens, stop reading now! Prince Charming has made a bid to run for Mayor of Fabletown, hoping to remove King Cole from office. Snow White finally gives birth to a litter of the Bigby's children, and we get to go on a secret mission of Bigby's during World War II. Unfortunately Bigby is not allowed on the farm so he sulks and broods and takes off and there is some invisible creature killing various residents of Fabletown. Not too much revealed with the back story, but enough to keep fans wanting more. This series just keeps getting better and better, I have not been dispappointed by each new book. If you want to get the whole story, you must read these:

Fables
Volume One: Legends in Exile
Volume Two: Animal Farm
Volume Three: A Storybook Love
Volume Four: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Volume Five: The Mean Seasons

New Excalibur #4 Review

Author: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Steven Cummings
Inks: Rick Ketcham
Cover: Michael Ryan

Not sure if this book is still considered part of Decimation, but we still don't have the team together from the cover of issue one. Is Claremont actually taking plot suggestions from Bendis? Because it sure as hell feels like it. However, to be fair it's only issue four and we've already had more stuff happen than the first six issues of New Avengers.

So what exactly happened in this issue? We get to see where this might be going finally with Wisdom getting Juggernaut to be pardoned for all his crimes. There is a nice scene where Wisdom is trying to talk Sage into joining the group. Of course there is some nice interaction between Dazzler and Nocturne, two characters that I didn't think would ever be written together. The cover has Lionheart from the Avengers on it. Is she really that popular of character that they need to emphasize on the fact that she is guest starring? I'm not sure what her point in the book is. She shows up saying something about her kids and how she can't see them anymore and starts a fight with Captain Britain, you know classic hero vs. hero story that Claremont loves to pull off.

The story is simple, but its starting to make sense why these heroes might come together as a team. I mean the first run of Excalibur, half of the team had nothing to do with the other half. I'm not going to bother writing any spoilers for this review, because nothing really shocking happened in this issue. Yeah the Warwolves returned, but hell if you didn't pick up the original Excalibur, I don't think you are going to care. Pretty much the Warwolves were defeated by the original Excalibur and donated to a zoo for public exhibition and now they seem to be back with a vengeance. Speaking of the Warwolves, Michael Ryan takes a break in this issue an it might just be me, but the art just didn't do anything for me. The Warwolves I remember didn't have ears and were more animal looking than Steve Cumming's representations. But, better a not so good fill in artist than a late book any day. Overall, Claremont once again is setting up small plot holes to be filled later by a bigger story.

X-Factor 3 Review

Author: Peter David
Pencilers: Ryan Sook and Dennis Callero
Inkers: Wade Von Grawbadger and Dennis Callero
Cover: Ryan Sook

Back when House of M was first starting Brian Michael Bendis made a comment about a new character. A character that would appear in the third issue of House of M and play a crucial role in the story. He promised that Layla Miller would be playing a big role after House of M and she would end up being one of our favorite characters. Well BMB wasn't lying! I really am beginning to like this character and not because of him or what he said. But, because the character is now under Peter David's hands. I was annoyed when I heard she was joining X-factor, I thought that was more of an editorial decision than David's. The kid just seemed like a little pain in the ass in the first two issues with her "I'm Layla Miller, I know stuff" catch phrase. However, after reading this book, particularly the last few pages, there is more about Layla than meets the eye and David once again has taken me by surprise.

Spoil Free Review:
The issue starts with a continuation of the last issue, Siryn and Madrox are going to the scene of the crime where Gloria Santiago supposedly murdered her sister. Siryn uses a little trick where she changes the pitch of her voice to seduce a cop into letting them in the crime scene (A trick I don't think she's surprisingly ever used prior to X-Factor). They run into the leader of Singularity Investigations and they have a little pow wow. Rictor, with the help of Strong Guy and Wolfsbane tries to help a defenseless guy getting beat up by a gang of human thugs outside of their building. There are of course many more things that happen, but that's what the review with spoilers is for.

However, the plot is not the thing that carries this book. It's the character interaction and dialogue that has made this my favorite X-book in these few months. He once again has taken C-list characters and is making them into fan favorites. I mean in the span of just one issue, Layla Miller has gone from Know-it-all brat to a very interesting character. Ryan Sook's art goes with the story so well, it has a nice mix of dark and chilling with some great humor. Of course he wasn't alone in this issue because Dennis Callero lends his pencils as well as his inks. Yes, you can tell a difference in the art, Sook is actually a bit cleaner than Callero, but you know what? It works, it works really well because the style of the book just flows smooth. There is nothing wrong with fill-in artist, as long as the books come out in time. If you are not picking this book up. Do yourself a favor and at least read it, you won't be disappointed. If you are enjoying this book, well go back and find the trade of David's original run in X-factor Volume 1.
Click here to read the review with spoilers.