Yearly Archives: 2013

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/13/13

Welcome back, comic book fans, to another installment of ‘Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews’. What is ‘hench-sized’ you might ask? Well it’s…it’s…just this thing I invented! I think it has a nice ring to it. This week we’ve got a nice pile of good comics. I’m pretty sure I liked everything I read this week…though that may be because I keep dropping books I don’t like. Perhaps I should make myself suffer through some bad comics just to make my weekly reviews more diverse.

We’ve got the second issue of Astro City, which continues the fun of this classic series. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and the X-Men all have fairly strong offerings this week. But the winner of Comic Book of the Week is going to be Justice League #22. It wasn’t the best comic of the week, but as the kick-off of Trinity War, Geoff Johns proves that Big Event comics can still be entertaining.

It’s on like Donkey Kong!

Comic Reviews: Astro City #2, Batman #22, Justice League #22, Superman Unchained #2, Superior Spider-Man #13 and Uncanny X-Men #8.

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Cosplay is Hot, Miley Cyrus is Not So Much

Stage 5 has produced an epic Miley Cyrus song parody about cosplaying. Good times.

I love me a good geeky music parody. This one is from Miley Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop music video. Clearly this geeky comic-con cosplay parody is much better than the original. And watching this video is probably the closest I’ve ever come to listening to a Miley Cyrus song.

Speaking of cosplay, I’ll be heading to the Boston Comic-Con in early August and dressing up as an X-Men character. Any of my readers going to Boston Comic-Con this year?

If ‘Finding Neverland’ Was About Mary Poppins Instead

There’s a big new prestige movie coming out in December starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. That is some inspired casting. The movie is about Walt Disney trying to convince author P.L. Travers to let him make a movie about Mary Poppins. The film is called Saving Mr. Banks.

Now honestly. That plot and that title? It’s like an unofficial/unplanned sequel to Finding Neverland, about the author of Peter Pan.

At least the trailer looks pretty good. Looks like the perfect schmaltzy December sort of movie. And again, Tom Hanks as Walt Disney? Brilliant! He should do a hole series of Disney biopics.

‘Inhumanity’ is Marvel’s Next Big Thing

Hey Inhumans fans, your time will come this fall, because Marvel’s next big seismic status quo shift is going to star the Royal Family of Attilan!

Called ‘Inhumanity’, the event is not so much a series as it is just a new status quo. Like Dark Reign or Heroic Era. According to the announcement at Entertainment Weekly, something is going to unleash the Terrigen Mists on Earth, and anyone with some Inhuman DNA in them is suddenly going to sprout super-powers! Could be neat. Though isn’t that just a different kind of mutant?

The event comes with this nifty new picture starring several important characters:

Oh the inhumanity!

Let’s see…we’ve got Black Bolt, Medusa, Silver Surfer, Angela, Thor, Black Widow, the Winter Soldier…all typical. Most noteworthy are Spider-Man in his Peter Parker costume, a new costume for Wolverine and apparently Nightcrawler in the background. Is he going to be brought back from the dead? Maybe!

A new comic called ‘Inhumans’ will also ship, written by writer Matt Fraction, who is one of my current favorite comic book writers. So it’s probably safe to say the series will be good.

Here’s how Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, who compares this event to Game of Thrones, describes everything:

 “The effect on the Marvel Universe will be seismic,” says Alonso. The Terrigen Mists affects all Inhumans differently, granting powers that typically reflect one’s personality, like a hyper-specific Sorting Hat. So “Inhumanity” opens the possibility for a fascinating array of new characters. “You might learn that your new self is fantastic, beautiful, filled with immense power,” says Alonso. “By the same token, you could turn around and find out that you’re nothing. You’re a blob. You have no powers. You can create a little flame out of your pinkie.”

Likewise, Fraction had this to say:

 “Our focus characters are drawn into the palace intrigue of this shattered Inhumans Royal family,” says Fraction. “It becomes a superhero story and a mythical story, all revolving around turning the world into a world full of superheroes.” Fraction stresses that the event will appeal to casual readers who might not know their Karnak from their Lockjaw. “It’s giving us a chance to get back to a classic Marvel metaphor of alienation,” he explains. “We’re telling science-fiction stories, but really it’s about race, gender, sexual equality. It’s a very relevant, pertinent metaphor.”

So yeah, I don’t know what to think at this point. It sounds like they have some big ideas, and Matt Fraction is awesome, so maybe it’ll be good. But I’ve never been big on the Inhumans, nor am I very interested in the general idea of Earth becoming an entire planet of superheroes. But we’ll see! What does everybody else think?

Electro No? Or Electro Yes?

The first official, fully-CGI’d picture of Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit the Internets yesterday, and I for one kind of like it. What do you guys and gals think?

This is how you keep magazines relevant

We’ve known for awhile now that Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, was going to be blue. I was fine with that. The new cover of Entertainment Weekly also shows us that he’s going to have all sorts of neat CGI’d lightning and electricity bits floating around his bald head. I’m sure they’ll be actively buzzing around, and not just static. This Electro looks like a combination of Ultimate Electro and the one from that cell-shaded Spidey cartoon on Mtv. At least it’s not the gaudy green and yellow costume, amiright?

Anyway, I like it. The jumpsuit looks neat and the features on the head are kind of cool. What does everybody else think? Let me know in the comments!