Category Archives: Marvel

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/5/16

Welcome to the last batch of comic book reviews before the possible ending of the world! I’d like to think we had some truly amazing comics in these, our final days, but they were mostly alright — except for two utterly outstanding comics.

Not only did Harley Quinn mostly stick the landing of their excellent rock & roll story, and not only did Unworthy Thor finally bring about the return of Beta Ray Bill, but writer Dennis Hopeless delivered the Spider-Woman issue he’s probably been waiting years to bring us. The man is brutal. Comic Book of the Week by a mile.

Thumpety Thump Thump

Thumpety Thump Thump

Also, if you live in America, be sure to vote on Tuesday!

Comic Reviews: Champions #2, Harley Quinn #7, Nightwing #8, Spider-Woman #13 and Unworthy Thor #1. 

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Movie Review: Doctor Strange

By the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak, Marvel Studios have done it again! The mystical and magical Doctor Strange is another entertaining success, blending some wild visuals and inventive action with a  pretty great cast of characters. It definitely follows the Marvel formula at this point, but as a comic book geek who has loved every Marvel movie so far, that doesn’t really bother me.

Sure, I wasn’t blown away by any sort of masterpiece, but I had a blast at Doctor Strange.

strange-review-01

Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Marvel makes good movies. They might not be Oscar worthy or emotionally powerful, but considering how enjoyable their movies have been, that sort of thing would be extra icing on the cake. Marvel produces solid, worthwhile entertainment using a variety of interesting characters, tapping into different genres and movie styles to at least try something new each time. Doctor Strange is a crazy CGI roller coaster that doesn’t get bogged down in the computer madness. The movie never loses touch of Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. And it has fun with all the weird and wild concepts it introduces.

Considering everything already in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange succeeds in carving out its own niche and making us eager for more. I can’t wait to see some of these characters again and learn more about their mystical world.

Join me after the jump for my full review! There will definitely be MAJOR SPOILERS for Doctor Strange.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/29/16

Happy Halloween, everyone! Or close enough! Sadly, there weren’t any spooky comics on my pile this week. It’s like everybody forgot about the holiday! Though I suppose the fact that the greatest comic book Halloween story has already been written might deter others from trying. Oh well.

Still, at least we had some good comics this week from some of my favorites. Power Rangers, Ms. Marvel and Detective Comics were all a blast. This week also saw the debuts of the new Prowler series from Marvel and the new Teen Titans from DC. You’d think I’d be super psyched about both of those things, but you would be wrong. Comic Book of the Week instead goes to the new Silver Surfer for a particularly fun and enjoyable done-in-one story.

The Silver Surfer knows the best dates

The Silver Surfer knows the best dates

The latest issue of Civil War II also came out this week, but ugh, that thing is a definite stinker now. And I’m starting to fear the sort of impact it’s going to have on other, more fun comics. Will Miles Morales come out of Civil War II as anything other than damaged? Will Captain Marvel ever be a hero again? Civil War II is barely a story, but it doesn’t seem like Marvel is ever going to learn any lessons about putting out crappy, long-delayed, status quo-altering event comics.

Comic Reviews: Batgirl #4, Detective Comics #943, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #8, Ms. Marvel #12, Prowler #1, Silver Surfer #7 and Teen Titans #1. 

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/22/16

Comics! We love them! And some more of them came out this week. I read a bunch and wrote some reviews, that I hope you’ll enjoy. We’ve got Squirrel Girl, we’ve got Doctor Doom, we’ve got Zephyr and we’ve got the Porcupine, among others. A whole cornucopia of fun comics!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Astonishing Ant-Man #13, the final issue of this wonderful series. It’s not the highest rated comic this week, and it still kind of annoys me with how poorly writer Nick Spencer handles his courtroom scenes, but gorram does this creative team have a lot of fun with their final issue.

It's like reading a movie!

It’s like reading a movie!

Meanwhile, The Mighty Thor gave us the origin of Mjolnir! It’s really neat, but I decided to pass on reviewing the issue. Jason Aaron writes some great side stories.

Comic Reviews: Astonishing Ant-Man #13, Faith #4, Harley Quinn #6, Infamous Iron Man #1, Nightwing #7, Spider-Woman #12 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13.

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The New Trailer for the Third Wolverine Movie Has Me Wondering Why They’re Doing Old Man Logan

I have no idea what FOX plans to do with the X-Men franchise. The latest film, Apocalypse, landed with a big old dud this past summer. For some reason, they’ve been sticking to the same fractured and altered continuity all these years, including in their spin-off films. So what does the new film, Logan, have to do with any of that?

So despite everything that has come before, they’re now going to make a movie set in the future where older and more grizzled versions of Wolverine and Professor X team up to save a little girl from the Reavers? I’m sure they’ll try to get a good movie out of that, and perhaps they’ll succeed, but now that I’m actually watching the trailer, I think it’s a weird choice.

The trailer is alright. The film looks gritty enough. And that Johnny Cash cover is one of my favorite songs of all time, and definitely fits the theme. But I dunno. I’m just not sure where they’re going with this…

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