Superheroes and Philosophy Review

This Review was submitted by Bluejohn

Book Review: Superheroes and Philosophy
Like me, I’m sure everyone at this website has run into the question, “Why do you still read comics?” Sometimes it’s posed to understand you. Sometimes it’s asked to demean you. Still, it’s a good question. All of us, ranging in age, religion, gender, and race, have our own personal reasons, but sometimes what we say does not have the conviction of what we believe. We know in our hearts why, but it’s lost in translation to the world. Now, ladies and gentleman, I have found an answer for us. In the words of Marianne Williamson,

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And we let our light shine; we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

What does that mean for us? It means that comics inspire us to believe that it is worth shining in this world. That being a virtuous person, committed to doing what we can to save the world, is not an impossible task. That comics allow us to not be confined to thinking of what we have to do, but they allow us to explore the idea of what we truly are capable of. That superheroes may not be outgrown, but simply disregarded for the bleaker view the world forces us to take. As comic readers, we see through to the truth. Kinda scary. Very exciting.

Now, I won’t take credit for this answer. I did not develop it. I found it, in this book. And that’s only one concept I have gleaned from it. The book itself is a collection of essays from teachers of philosophy from around the nation with Mark Waid and Jeph Loeb thrown in for good measure. While each chapter stems from differing sources, the abundant knowledge is still cohesive. Some of my favorite talking points are:
Aristotle’s levels of friendship compared to the Bat family
Daredevil-How religion affects a man without fear
Who watches the Watchmen-An In-depth look at Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns
Gods above men-How we humans would deal with super powered individuals
The men in the gods- Why a hero should be moral

And trust me, I’m only naming a few, a small portion of what this book truly has to offer. If you have always wanted someone to go down a deep level of comic book understanding, not just why people love them, but how a world in the comics work, you have finally found you bible. Kevin Smith’s review of the book even states that “someone’s treating comic books with the gravity they deserve. If, as Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living, then make your life mean something by reading Superheroes and Philosophy.”

Just to be clear, I am not being paid to write this article. In fact, if the editors are reading this, I spent a whole pen marking my favorite sections. You owe me 20 cents.

Wolverine # 53 Review

Author: Jeph Loeb
Penciler: Simone Bianchi
Inks & Washed Halftones: Simone Bianchi and Andrea Silvestri

You figured with four issues you would get more answers than questions? Wrong! What is this Lost? We have been teased since the beginning that there will be a definite answer to Wolverine's relationship with Sabretooth. Instead of caring about the main focus of the story, I'm just wondering how the hell Wolverine knew how long the Roman Colosseum has been around?

At first I thought this was just another dumb fun book, but I really think Loeb is trying to tell a story here. I can usually stomach a Wolverine vs. Sabretooth fight, but these issues have been so damn dull that the only reason to even flip through the comic is the art. This concept might have worked 20 years ago, but the characters have so much history between them, it's hard to squeeze some more out of it. There are better Wolverine/Sabretooth stories out there and I don't think this particular one is going do redefine anything, because in the long run nothing else will be affected by this.

So far it's been 64 pages of scratching and clawing and lots of roaring (normally that would be hot, but these grown men). This issue, unlike the cover suggest, has no fight between Sabretooth and Wolverine, instead it focuses all on Wolverine trying to figure out who Romulus is and just the name alone bringing fear to Creed's face. Of course this is the first time Wolverine has ever seen that look on Creed's face (ohh man even if I wasn't a big fan of continuity in the x-books, I would still find that hard to swallow.)

Creed is locked up by Wakanda technology while Wolverine looks for beer. Hellz yeah! I miss the days of Wolverine's drunken adventures. Considering he has to drink like a case to get a small buzz going, I feel sorry for the King of Wakanda's fridge. Seems like a suped-up Wild Child helps Creed escape. So who comes to help Logan, Storm, and Black Panther find Sabretooth? Well shit...characters that have nothing to do with each other of course!!!! A team of Sasquatch, Wolfsbane, Thornn, and Feral come back to take Wolverine to the heart of Weapon X!!!

That's right! Sasquatch who was a retired superhero, until just recently, Wolfsbane who is busy solving crimes with X-factor, and of course the depowered sisters Thornn and Feral. Boy, House of M really impacted the Marvel Universe forever! We are taking Wolverine back where every writer takes Wolverine when they think they can do better than Barry Windsor Smith and Larry Hama! Back to Weapon X! Let's go shit on that wonderful story one more time! Hell this time we might find out that Weapon X wasn't really the letter X, but the Roman numeral 10!!! Wouldn't that just make your nuts shrink!!!? Ohh wait....anyway what the fuck are Thornn and Feral doing being mutants again? Or for that matter out of jail? Why is Kyle not bald and looking like Nosferatu? I seriously doubt Frank Tieri's Weapon X series will be touched by Loeb.

Enough about the boring ass nonsense that Loeb is getting a check for; onto the art. Bianchi's sequential artwork is amazing, while sometimes his faces are a little off. The fluid movement between panels more than makes up for those few occurrences. For example, just look at that cover. What the hell happen to Wolverine's and Sabretooth’s faces? Did they get hit by a semi? I do not recommend this book in any way, unless you are a fan of the art. Save your money and go buy some Wolverine essentials! D+

Ultimate Spider-Man # 106-108 Review

This Review was submitted by Spider-ben
Ultimate Spider-Man #106-108
“Ultimate Knights” Parts 1-3
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley

Bagley’s last arc on Ultimate Spidey starts here. While I’m sad as can be to see him go, he sure is going out with a bang. The story starts off with MJ and Peter back together and completely happy. Aunt May still wants to have a heart to heart with Peter, but he insists it wait until she is out of the hospital. Peter takes MJ to the Fantastic Four to run some follow up tests, making sure she is alright from being injected with the OZ formula during the clone saga.

Everything turns out fine, and Peter and MJ return to Midtown High to be approached by Matt Murdock. Murdock quickly let Peter in on the fact that he is Daredevil, and tells the hero to meet him at 8:00 that evening on a certain rooftop. Peter is pissed about Murdock showing up at the school, but interested by what Murdock has in mind.

In the student school network class, Ultimate Jessica Jones is revealed as a senior in charge of the news network for the school. She encourages a bunch of students to sign up for the class, citing it looks good on a high school transcript. Peter is still kind of in shock after everything that has happened recently, when Kitty Pryde shows up as the new student at Midtown High School. Peter still hasn’t broken up with her, and things just get worse. Kong totally wants to date Kitty, while Liz continues to be a mutant racist bitch and makes Kitty feel super unwanted. It gets to be too much, and Kitty phases out the building and heads for the bleachers by the football field. Peter and MJ go outside, and Peter realizes he must talk to Kitty. An argument breaks out almost instantly, and Kitty really made some good points. She claims that the X-Men were off to help during the clone saga arc, and she tells Peter how she told Xavier off for not using his mental powers to make Aunt May forget Peter is Spidey. By doing so, she was kicked out of the Xavier institute.

Peter is shocked that she would do something so nice, and feels even worse. Plus, Peter talks about how MJ almost died and how he has made some mistakes lately (big mistake saying that Pete!) and Kitty just blows up. I can’t blame her though “Oh please tell me I’m the mistake!” is Kitty’s response. Kitty, in tears, goes off with nothing left to say and only feels all the hurt and pain that ended relationships bring about. I really felt this scene, but I’ll mention why in my thoughts section of the review.

Meanwhile, the Kingpin is auditioning for a new assassin. The new assassin is brought in, and Kingpin tells him to kill the man standing next to him. The assassin doesn’t, and Kingpin’s men attack. The killer is revealed to be Shang-Chi, master of Kung Fu. He barely makes it away from the Kingpin’s men, when Daredevil makes him an offer similar to the one he told Peter about. That night, Peter dons the costume and goes to Daredevil’s meeting. He is shocked to see a clan of heroes assembled on the rooftop. They are the Ultimate Knights, consisting of: DD, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, and now Spidey.

They tell Spidey that they are going to kill the Kingpin once and for all. Spidey states he will help them lock Kingpin up for good, but won’t condone killing the man. The Knights claim that there is no other option, and Spidey basically gets up in DD’s face and tells him he won’t allow this. As the hero swings off, the heroes realize they need someone to infiltrate the Kingpin’s ranks before they plan their attack. Moon Knight volunteers, seeing as how he has many identities going on in his head already. The Knights agree, and thigns seem to be shaping up. Cut to the Kingpin’s lair later on. Fisk and one of his men are told the Knights plan down to Moon Knight infiltrating his ranks as a new assassin. Kingpin is pleased with the news, and fans learn Iron Fist has betrayed the Knights. That bastard!

The next day at school, MJ reports on the controversy surrounding Spider-Man attending Midtown High. MJ interviews Flash Thompson, recently believed to be Spidey when kidnapped by Silver Sable and her crew. Then she interviews the principal, who states he doubts that any of his faculty is Spidey, but he hopes one of the students is. He goes on to explain what a hero Spidey is, and how it would be an honor if he had attended the school as long as the fisticuffs are not taking place on school grounds. (A little to late for that pal, see Green Goblin and Venom arcs to name a few school showdowns!) Peter feels like MJ used him to get into the reporting club, but she claims he owes her after all the times she has been kidnapped and threated for being Spidey’s girl. Meanwhile, Kitty is walking the halls, looks at Pete and MJ, and rushes off, still heartbroken. Poor Kitty, I really feel for her. Later, Kingpin meets Ronin, his new assassin for hire. Kingpin knows this is Moon Knight, but continues the charade of not knowing this info. Ronin takes out the Kingpin’s men to show off his skills, and Fisk orders him to find Spider-Man and bring him to the big man himself. Inside Moon Knight’s head, all his personalities argue over this not being a good idea. Hell, even one of his identities is a little girl.

Moon Knight is one messed up guy! Back at the school, Ultimate Ronin attacks, crashing a bus into the school. Then he starts shooting in the air, ordering for Spidey to show up. Kitty takes him on, claiming she has needed something to hit for about a week. Kitty does well, but after all she was trained by Wolverine. Finally, Ronin gets the upper hand and Kitty falls before him. Spidey shows up on the scene after helping his friends get away, and totally wails on Ronin for putting kids in risk. Our hero does good, but Ronin pulls a nasty trick and knocks Spidey out cold. Using his web shooters, Ronin escapes with Spidey unconscious, while MJ watches in horror. At Kingpin’s tower, Ronin delivers Spider-Man to the big man himself.

Thoughts/Comments:
Very very nice! Bendis is keeping the action flowing, and he just totally nails how terrible a relationship can be when ended. Bagley is simply amazing; I loved part two showing all the Knights meeting on the rooftop. Speaking of Bags, I think his design for Ultimate Ronin rocks! Sure, it’s pretty similar to regular Ronin, but Bagley just really adds to the design and mystery of the character. Kind of a bummer with Jessica Jones just being a regular senior in high school, hopefully Bendis has more plans. The big thing that hit me is how bad I feel for Kitty. Sure, I wanted and always will want Peter and MJ together.

It’s just mean to be. But when Kitty heard from Peter about all the mistakes he had made, it just totally clicked in my head. My first love back in high school, the girl I miss even to this day, almost told me the same thing when she dumped me. She claimed she had made some mistakes lately, hiding no doubt that I was one of them. To think I poured my heart and soul out to this girl only to be told one day that I was some sort of mistake just still haunts me to this day. So when Peter said that, I just got cold chills. It’s like Bendis was watching me back in high school or something and new just what to say to end the Kitty and Peter story. So yeah, I totally feel for Kitty. I know just how terrible she feels and I really wish I could go into the comic and make her feel better since I’ve been there. So rock on Bendis, you nailed some kick ass story telling, and really got my emotions going. All in all, a solid A+. Sad to say in two issues, these reviews will get shorter and have lower grades and you all know why. If you don’t, let’s just say I am not going to be happy with the new art direction in a few months. I’ll leave the ranting about that for later though.

Joshiebear's Spider-Man 3 Review

Well, my first official post! I feel like I’ve been officially ‘cousined’ into the Aboutheroes family! Woo! I have posting abilities! Aaaaanyway, I was fortunate enough to get into a press screening for Spider-Man 3 on April 18. It’s really hard to do this, in all honesty, but I must in order to try and help you through the trials and tribulations coming your way in two short weeks.

To start, I’ll just say that I was super excited to see this movie. I knew in my heart like 2 years ago that this would be the movie where my favorite comic character (Venom) would debut. As of Comicon 06, my hopes and dreams came true. We were gonna have a movie with Venom. Time passed and soon they released the trailer for the movie, and I dropped my nerdsticle (the equivalent of coming into true nerdhood in nerd terminology, much like having a first crush when you’re a teenager). Then we saw some Venom footage here and there and the hype started and I bought the slurpee cup and before I knew it, I was caught up in the whirlwind of Spidey 3 mania. This is a dangerous place for any movie. I encourage you to do the following whenever you find yourself in a situation like I have. If ever you find yourself in a spot where the movie you’re about to see is something you’re dead certain you’re gonna love, please stop and imagine what it would be like if it sucked complete ass, just so that if it ever actually does happen, you’re prepared. As you might have guessed by now, this happened with me. This movie was, in a word, disappointing. It was a bit of a rollercoaster, with a lot of ups and downs until about 75% of the way through, when finally, the movie lost me. But I’m getting ahead of myself already. Let me just do a brief over view and then we can get into the nitty gritty gripes ‘o’ mine.

The movie starts with Spidey on top of the world. Everyone in New York loves him, including MJ, who he plans on proposing to in the near future. The only thing going against Peter in the beginning of the movie is the fact that Harry is pissed and crazing up on the Goblin-Juice. Well any Spidey fan worth his weight in protective boards knows that if Spidey’s loving life, he’s about to get the rug pulled out from underneath him and fall into a pit of angsty self-loathing shit. The only thing is, usually it’s because some outside influence dicks with his life, not himself just being a complete fucktard. Forgive me if I’m a little vague in this review, but I want to make it as spoiler-free as possible, with only a few examples of the depravity this movie displays just to give you an idea of what you’re in store for. Sandman gets thrown into the mix as well, but honestly, aside from some weird movie-verse retconning of the uncle Ben death-story, it’s of no importance. Really, this movie was a complete clusterfuck. I’ll give you the break-down of what happened. Sam Raimi said “Yeah, I wanna do Spidey 3, and I wanna have Sandman be the villain!” and fans RAVED that they wanted Venom, so he met them halfway by having both and wrapping up the Peter / Harry relationship.

Each story (Sandman aside, in my own humble opinion) is a complete story in and of itself, but they decided to dice them all up and make them one big story. There’s Sandman, who’s made into a villain with a heart of gold, Harry, who’s spends half his screen-time literally acting like he’s mentally challenged, but still, the meat of the story lies with Harry on this venture. And finally, at the end of the movie, Sam Raimi effectively walks on screen and pulls Venom right out of his ass-hole, smiles at the audience, and mouths the words “I hope you’re all happy.” Eddie Brock is a douchebag paparazzi who gets what’s coming to him here and there, but never really has any reason to get homicidal, but does anyway. The Venom / Sandman team-up (you knew it would happen, don’t call spoiler on me about that) is retarded. I hoped it would fall along the lines of ‘Hey, I see you’re beating the crap out of Spider-Man! I hate Spider-Man! I’ll help!’ Sadly, it falls under the lame, tired, age-old villain team-up that was more along the lines of ‘Hey, I’ve been looking for you. Let’s beat up Spidey’ followed by an ‘Ok.’ LAAAAAAME. All the while, Parker is being an Emo Dickface. The costume makes him do some CRAAAAAZY shit, and I’m not talking almost killing Firelord here, I’m talking Song and Dance sequence all while being an insane asshole and blowing up Harry’s face (that part’s in the trailers, so it doesn’t count as a spoiler), I shit thee not. There’s a ton of other moments where Pete’s acting ‘out of character’ because of the black costume, but goddamn if it didn’t just make me want to scratch my eyes out. There’s a difference between a guy being a little more impulsive / violent than he usually is, and the same guy being a complete inconsiderate asshole acting like he’s a fucking pimp straight out of a 70’s blacksploitation movie with a 50’s ‘cool guy’ personality twist and awful emo hair to top it off.

The whole movie felt like a disjointed limb that kinda fell off the previous Spidey Movies, that had all the same genetic properties of it’s host, but a weird personality disorder / autism thing going on. Suffice to say, plot-wise, this thing is a motherfucking Frankenstein with bits and pieces here and there where you know where the stories begin and end, but it feels like there’s a lot of vital organs left out of the thing, and maybe a few animal parts mixed in just to try and thicken it up a bit. I tell you all of this with two hopes in my mind. One, I want to prepare you for what I think will be a disappointment for just about any Spidey fans out there, and I want to lower your expectations a lot in an attempt to get you more tuned to the type of movie you’re going to see instead of expecting another movie of the same caliber of the first two films.

Here’s the part where after giving you the bad news (and for me, there’s a lot), I give you the good news as a consolation prize. The movie has sweet action sequences. The special effects are pretty stellar and they helped carry the movie a lot farther than it should have gone. Venom looks freaking amazing. Sandman (especially the scene where he first realizes he’s made of sand) is stunning, and the Glider action is excellent. The web-slinging is like it always was, fun. My advice to you is to bite your lip through the sillyness of the story and just fill up as much as you can on the action scenes and special effects. Sorry to kill any dreams you might have had, but this movie falls short of it’s predecessors. It’s still worth seeing though, if you’re anything like me. Just prepare yourself and walk in with low expectations. Unless you're Spider-Ben, in which case, nothing I say or do will stop you from drooling all over this movie. The rest of you might want to do what I did and run home and dive into your Ultimate Spider-Man bins to make you feel better.

In summary, all you need to know are the following words / phrases: Emo hair. Song and Dance sequence. 3 plots mashed up in one. Cool action scenes and special effects. Douchebag. Butthole. Sorry. C-

New X-men 37 Review

Authors: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Penciler: Skottie Young
Inker: Sean Parsons
Cover and Storybook Pages: Nico Henrichon

I'm not sure why most people, especially X-fans are afraid to touch New X-men. Since Kyle and Yost took the book over it has really turned into one of my favorite X-books. I found the original group of kids boring, but these kids are just fun. If this is a small taste of what Skottie Young has to offer; he will make an exceptional addition to the creative team. How do I describe this issue to long X-men readers? Well, think Uncanny X-men 153 with New Mutants 21 and throw in some Magik limited series and you got yourself an awesome combo (not in the sense of Killer Instinct!) How do I describe the book to someone who isn't familiar with the book or X-books? Think of it as a good story within a story illustrated beautifully.

In the aftermath of last story arc's fight Hellion watches over Mercury while the Cuckoo Sisters are planning something with Elixir. Of course those are just a couple of pages, the main story is used as a setup to the next story arc, hence forth the title: The Quest for Magik Prelude. In case you might not know just a quick recap: Magik is Illyana Rasputin, Colossus' little sister who spent years stuck in Limbo under the tutelage of her dark master, Belasco. She eventually returned to earth, joined the New Mutants, and during Inferno got separated from her Darkchylde persona and returned to her normal age of 7. She ended up dying of the Legacy Virus in Uncanny X-men 303. Throughout the years there have been hints at her return and she recently appeared in the House of Crap...err M miniseries.

Blindfold starts telling the kids the story of Illyana Rasputin that covers mostly everything from Uncanny 160 to the Black Sun miniseries. They don't even leave out the fact that Nightcrawler's ex, Amanda Sefton had taken over the mantle of Magik. To set the mood it is a dark umm clear night, but the fireplace really helps Blindfold freak the kids out. Supposedly Belasco has regain control over Limbo by defeating Sefton two days ago and is looking for his original apprentice. He can smell her on the people she last spent time with. The kids realize that it isn't a story and that it is currently happening as the ground breaks from under them.

I always thought Young's talents should be used in a kid team book, so this is the perfect title for him. His art is very reminiscent to that of Bill Sienkewicz mixed with a bit of anime and a bit of graphitti. However, for this issue it is a very dark style, not his usual over the top use of colors. This could be due to Parsons' inks and someone else handling the colors. Man, what kind I say about Henrichon's art other than stunning. The only other thing I have seen him draw were the animals in Pride of Baghdad book, but his humans and demons are just as fantastic. A great read to get me pumped about this upcoming story. Screw Bucky's, Hawkeye's, and Captain Marvel's weak ass returns if any one has a need and an easy way to come back from the dead it's Magik! A Now bring back S'ym, N'astirh, and the remaining New Mutants and you got one hella story!

Grindhouse Movie Review

This Review was submitted by Joshiebear:
Well it isn't really comics, but I think this genre of film can be lumped right into the same vein of entertainment for the most part. Cheap thrills all around and such. Anyway, I just got back from catching the first showing of the movie at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and I
thought I'd impart some knowledge on my fellow AH nerds and let you know what you were in for, because if you have a brain at all, you'll go see this movie just for who's directing it.

So to start, myself and my 4 friends who went to see it were all pretty apprehensive. We knew the directors (Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof) were good directors, but we're all film students and weren't sure whether or not this would just be too silly for us to enjoy. I mean in the trailer by itself, it's revealed that zombies gnaw off Rose Mcgowan (spelling?) 's leg and it is promptly replaced with a fucking machine gun which she uses in conjunction with her stripper moves to kill things. Wow. That's pretty silly. Well we were all willing to invest the money to see it, and so we bought tickets in advance, stood in line for an hour, and made this thing happen.

Wow. This movie (movies actually) was great. It's really a one-two punch of INSANE action and gore (Planet Terror is by far the goriest movie i've ever seen released in American Theaters, I mean you see someone's cock fucking rot off their body for God's sake), the other part is more story paired with action (Death Proof). Both had their drawbacks and weren't completely flawless, but the flaws are welcomed due to the style of the overall ordeal. Each movie is presented as if it were an old film-strip that's been played hundreds of times the obligatory film grain, scratches and pops, bad cuts, jumpy sound, and so on, but never in a way that really gets annoying, because it's all a loving homage to the glorious exploitation films of the 70's. Planet Terror is simply a fun-filled violent romp through zombie mayhem with tons of gore and humor to keep it interesting and fun right up until the very end. Death Proof, however, almost lost me until the story really came into full-swing about 75% of the way through the film when things started to get genuinely interesting. All in all, I would say Death Proof was a good movie, but it felt more like watching a movie and then it's sequel directly afterwards. I don't want to give away anything, so I'll say no more about the actual content of the film(s) and just urge you to go get a bunch of your buddies and go watch this movie. If you like comics (especially comics these days) then chances are pretty good you'll get caught up in Grindhouse.

Your Amigo in Hollywood,
-Joshiebear

Omega Flight # 1 Review

Author: Michael Avon Oeming
Artist: Scott Kolins
Colors: Brian Reber
Letters: Cory Petit

I'm not going to waste time and space telling you how much I enjoyed Alpha Flight as a kid, because A: if you read as a kid you probably have your own reasons why you liked it or hated and B: if you are a new reader to comics (do they still make your kind?) you're not going to care. Let's say you are a publisher and you have tried to resurrect a popular title from the 80's not once but twice with a huge failure. What do you do? Well, if you are Marvel Comics, you say: let's do this one mo' again! Although it doesn't share the same title as its ill fated predecessors, it's still a stepchild of the Alpha Flight family.

So what happens when your team is completely wiped out by an ass of a storyline in New Avengers. You bitch about how you miss Shaman and agree to go and lead a team of three Americans, two Canadians (Walter included), and of course one Korbinite to pick up where your friends left off. Especially if it’s being funded by Shield!

By the end of the first issue we only see three of the possible members (some in just snapshots) and Sasquatch, being the only real active member of the team get his ass kicked by the Wrecking Crew, who figured out that Canada doesn't have as many heroes as the US. Holy shit! Did it really take Civil War to make them realize that Canada was lacking in heroes? I always thought the reason that most villains didn't head to Canada was the value of the Canadian dollar wasn't worth the trip.

I've enjoyed Oeming's Thor run and his Stormbreaker mini, but I'll be damned if this issue didn't feel like his Powers buddy didn't influence his writing style. I've said it once before when describing Reed's and Meltzer's writing technique; there is only room for one decompressed writer and right now Brian Michael Bendis has that title. This issue packs in so much information that it's boring for old readers that already know these things and I'm sure its confusing for new readers that could give a rat's ass who the original Omega Flight were. I think he is making it pretty clear that this is not only Canada's last attempt at a Superhero team, but also Marvel. Hell, at times while reading Walter's dialogue it feels like the sales representatives at Marvel are watching him too.

Kollins has become one of my favorite artists since his run on Flash. His dynamic style can make any book fun to read. He's the best thing this book has going for it, but unfortunately it's not up to par with his previous work. I can't tell if he is trying to add something new to his style with the shading on faces, but in a way it takes away a bit of the texture he usually puts in his art.

This book is okay at best and just judging from the first issue of this five issue limited series; the team won't be put together until the very end. I wasn't expecting much because of those shitty preview pages showing us that the Collective is going to be the new Guardian. When you have a shitty set up like that, it doesn't matter who the writer is. However, I would love to be proven wrong....after all I have seen plenty of writers take C-list characters and bring them to stardom. The only person that has made Alpha Flight ever work was John Byrne; hell bring him back, he might know what to do with this mess of characters. C No one bothered to mention Puck!