Category Archives: Comics
Review: Scarlet Spider #15
I was perhaps a bit harsh on The Other last issue. I never read the original storyline, so I suppose I have no room to judge. And it helps when this follow-up issue uses The Other to turn Kaine into an ass-kicking, man-spider-fueled warrior of doom! He pushes his powers to the max in this issue as Kaine takes on the Wolves, and it’s a pretty great fight. Those Wolves have been cruisin’ for a bruisin’ for several issues now, and Kaine delivers.
Scarlet Spider #15
Otherwise, this is a pretty standard issue of Scarlet Spider. Kaine defeats the bad guys, we get a few answers about Aracely and there’s a series of epilogues pointing towards the next few stories. Solid, entertaining issue all around.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
Even the art is better, I think. I haven’t been happy with Khoi Pham’s pencils since he took over, and I still don’t like them, but he does a pretty nice job with this issue. The fight scenes are good, though not as good as the former artist Ryan Stegman. That guy knew how to draw action scenes. Another artist shows up to help out with some of the epilogues, and I like his work a lot too. So the art is just as solid as the story.
I’m not sure how much this issue moves Scarlet Spider forward as both a character and a series. The Other might be here to stay…or it might be over with already. We won’t know until the series continues, the ending could go either way. I think I’d be cool if Kaine had the ability to randomly turn into a man-spider monster when the situation called for it. Definitely a power that Spider-Man doesn’t have.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
New Sinister Six Comic Based on Idea I Had Years Ago
Not that Marvel is actually using my idea, but I totally had an idea for a Sinister Six comic that explored the villains’ personal lives, you guys. I’m super serious here. If only I was a professional comic book writer, then maybe I’d get to write the series instead of Nick Spencer. Still, Marvel is going to publish the Superior Foes of Spider-Man as a series starring Boomerang, Shocker, Beetle, Speed Demon and Overdrive.
I love a good Shocker comic
I have always been a fan of Spider-Man’s street-level villains, especially the Shocker. I love exploring the idea that these villains are still real people who have real world problems. Not all super-villains are serial kills or mad scientists or want to take over the world. Some of them are working class men and women just trying to make some money through costumed villainy. That seems to be exactly what Nick Spencer has in mind.
“A big part of this book is definitely showing you the life behind the costume. A lot of the time we spend with them, the masks are off. That was actually my pitch here: that these guys, they’re actually a lot like Spider-Man, in the classic sense of the character,” said Spencer. “They don’t have the innate nobility or the desire to do the right thing, but they’re hard-luck stories, just like Peter Parker is/was. They’re not shooting for the stars so much as trying to survive. Every time they win in one part of their lives, they lose in another. So there’s something intrinsically cool and intriguing about that mirror aspect of the relationship.”
Of course, this means I have to cross this pitch off my list of ideas for when I finally get to sit down with Marvel’s editors. Curses!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/30/13
The reviews are going to be a little short this week, I’m afraid. The problem with being an amateur blogger is that I’ve still got a day job and car problems to deal with, and it’s just my luck that I’d have to excessively deal with both in the same week. But I still bought my weekly stack of comics, I’m just going to have to cut out some of the usual reviews I would have done just to save time. Still, got a nice crop of comics this week, with some winners, some groaners and some disappointingly mediocre offerings.
Seriously, I could not be more let down by the first issue of Brian Michael Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m super excited for the upcoming movie, but if it’s anything like this first issue, maybe I should lower my expectations. Guardians of the Galaxy is almost exactly like DC’s Threshold, and I hated that series. I doubt I’m going to even bother with more Guardians.
And if that wasn’t the only surprise, I’m going to award Comic Book of the Week to Uncanny Avengers #5! I’ve been picking on the series since it began, but this issue gets all its ducks in a row, including a new artist, and is pretty impressive. Though apparently also very controversial, as I’ll explain in a bit. First, some levity.
FF remains pretty damn awesome.
Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #3, Batman Incorporated #9, FF#5, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, Talon #6, Uncanny Avengers #5 and Wolverine and the X-Men #27.
Review: Teen Titans #18
Maddening! This series is maddening! Sometimes Teen Titans can be pretty damn good, with solid characterization and the hint that something interesting and entertaining will happen. Then Teen Titans will shoot itself in the foot and run around bleeding everywhere because it just loves pointless cutaways and ridiculous character motivations. Evil Tim Drake continues to be a ridiculously stupid idea. Seriously, if Evil Tim Drake wasn’t in this issue, this would have been one of the best issues of Teen Titans to date. But he just ruins everything!
Teen Titans #18
But he’s not alone. If you were hoping Trigon might amount to something cool…nope! Or what about the two stupid new villains that were randomly and awkwardly inserted last issue? They show up again and are even more pointless than before.
And then there’s Lance. Fuck Lance.
Comic Rating: 2/5: Bad.
Sorry for the cursing. But seriously, to hell with that guy. Lance is the worst character in the New 52. Even worse than Rush! He makes absolutely no god damned sense! Scott Lobdell introduces him in Teen Titans as one of Amanda Waller’s agents. Fine. Even though he’s got a ridiculously generic costume and name, that’s still fine. Then Lance shows up and promises he can cure Solstice. Also fine. But then in that same issue, he’s pulled away by unseen forces to go off and appear in Birds of Prey. What!? Why!? I didn’t read about Lance’s adventures in Birds of Prey, but they were apparently important enough to warrant a one-panel cameo in the Teen Titans Joker issue, and then he’s mentioned again in this issue as having disappeared. What the Hell!?
Why bother bringing the character into Teen Titans in the first place if he’s not going to stick around or do anything, and instead is going to have a big story in Birds of Prey?
And Lance is just the tip of the stupid character iceberg. Teen Titans is full of them, and I’ll gladly point them out as we go through the synopsis. Sadly, it pains me to say that the stupidest character of them all is Evil Tim Drake. Even his haircut is stupid. But what makes it even worse is that for the first half of the book, he’s actually pretty awesome.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
The 6 Coolest Cat Superheroes
Ever since my blog started getting more popular, I’ve received a lot of e-mails from SEO people who want me to hire them to get more Google hits. Search Engine Optimization, I believe it’s called. Even if I had money, I wouldn’t do it, because I’m comfortable letting my blog grow naturally (Tell your friends! Share on Facebook!). However, I am not opposed to giving the people what they want. And what they want on the Internet is cats.
He is the cat. The night is his.
I love cats as much as the next person. If you want a surefire way to get me to laugh, just show me one of those Youtube videos of the ‘talking’ cats. Oh long Johnson! Hehe. But anyway! What better way to drive up my readership than by combining cats and superheroes? They go together like cats and cardboard boxes. So here are the six snazziest comic book characters who like to get in touch with their feline side.
Henchman-4-Hire 