Yearly Archives: 2011
Review: Teen Titans #4
While showing a definite and more grounded improvement over the last issue, Teen Titans #4 still feels off when it comes to teen dialogue and interaction. A lot happens in this issue – from the team getting together and getting a name, to finally confronting Superboy – but it’s not all gelling as well as I’d like. Or ‘gellin’ like Magellan’ if that’s how you roll. At any rate, I can definitely appreciate what writer Scott Lobdell does in this issue because I definitely want to see a lot more of these teens just hanging out and getting to know one another. But I can’t really put my finger on why that doesn’t quite work.
Teen Titans #4
Maybe it’s because everything feels so rushed and kind of sloppy.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
Or maybe everything just feels forced. The same issues that have plagued this series continue here, but the specific actions and story points make up for that flakiness. N.O.W.H.E.R.E. continues to be a silly concept. The setting always seems very erratic. And this group of characters has yet to fully blend together, or feel anything other than forced together. I don’t think Lobdell found a very organic way to bring the team together. I don’t know if he came up with the members of the team, or if they were decided in some New 52 committee, but it’s like he had a list of characters he had to bring together and he just checked them off the list to ensure they were together by issue #4.
I just don’t get the feeling that this team is the team that belongs together, that this will be the Teen Titans of the new generation. But there’s still time to change my mind. The art, at least, remains phenomenal. Brett Booth is drawing beautiful, distinctive characters with great facial expressions and energetic movements. So at least good.
Spoilers after the jump.
Who Buys This Shit?
The world is full of a lot of stupid shit. And a lot of it you can buy. Take, for example, some of the recent offerings unveiled for merchandise that ties into the upcoming The Avengers movie next year. The website Comic Book Movies posted several of the images today, and I just have to roll my eyes at how insipid some of these items are. You can check them all out at the link I just posted, but I have a couple of my least favorites.
Who in their right mind would buy some of this garbage? It has nothing to do at all with the Avengers movie other than to slap the logo on a product, along with some highly detailed character images, and then just throw it in stores.
It’s like that scene in Death to Smoochy where the executives sit around a big table making check marks next to all the pointless drivel that will now that Smoochy’s face stamped onto it. Or all the jokes in Spaceballs. So much for either movie being some kind of satire.
I mean, c’mon, look at this shit:
Who in their right mind would pay money for any of this crap? Who needs an ‘Avengers’ bicycle helmet? It’s just a bicycle helmet with Avengers stickered onto the side. There’s absolutely no thought or creativity in any of these items. And that just disgusts me.
But those little plushie Avengers toys were adorable!
Forgotten Characters: Ultimate Scorpion
Whatever happened to the Ultimate Scorpion?
All of the other survivors of the Ultimate Clone Saga are still around, but for some reason the Ultimate Scorpion was bottled up by Nick Fury and has never been seen again. Is writer Brian Michael Bendis holding him like an Ace up his sleeve? Considering Peter Parker is now dead, a surviving male clone might be able to fill a pretty cool role.
Clones? Peter Parker, dead? Nick Fury? What the heck am I talking about?
This guy!
Now that's one snappy dresser
Who is he?
Meet the Ultimate Scorpion, a character who last appeared with a pretty ominous cliffhanger in a very popular comic book, but has never been seen or heard from again. He’s got all of the powers of Spider-Man (I think), along with a badass scorpion tail grafted onto his spine. Too bad he’s a little crazy. Other aspects of that clone story are still around and have very prominent roles. But for some reason, Ultimate Scorpion has been completely forgotten. Why is that? I want to know! The Scorpion is one of my favorite Spider-Man villains of all time, and his Ultimate counterpart was pretty badass, with a lot of potential. So whatever happened to the guy?
First, maybe I should explain a few concepts after the jump.
This Girl Has It All Figured Out
Leave it to an adorable little girl to get to the bottom of commercialism. Named Riley, her frank and impressive rant about the difference between boys’ toys and girls’ toys is pretty freakin’ smart. I hope my eventual offspring are this intelligent. And that any daughters I have want superheroes!
The Top 6 Superheroes Who Celebrate Hannukah
You might not think that religion plays any part in the world of comic book superheroes. But those characters are people just like everyone else, and they have jobs, favorite movies, personalities and faiths. Religion doesn’t come up very often in comic books, but just like in any story, it can be a powerful narrative tool. Or it can just be a fun bit of trivia that fleshes out a character.
This is apparently a thing. Go Menorah Man!
And since tonight is the last night of Hannukah, let’s take a look at the Top 6 Jewish superheroes! Because I have been posting way too much Christmas stuff over the past few weeks.
Henchman-4-Hire 