Category Archives: Marvel
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!
Review: Deadpool, the Game
Holy Chimichangas, they made a Deadpool video game! They haven’t even gotten around to making that Deadpool movie they’re always talking about, and there isn’t anything else coming out to make this game a cash grab tie-in. Marvel and developer High Moon Studios just up and made a Deadpool video game for the sheer hell of it. How cool is that!? We all know how this works. Whenever a superhero movie or cartoon show comes out, some video game developer is hired to make a crummy tie-in game just to make some money. Then the best case scenario is that sometimes those games are mediocre. More often than not, they’re unplayable.
But every so often, once in half a dozen blue moons, a superhero video game is made to stand on its own, and we get a glorious gem like Batman: Arkham City!
And sometimes we get Deadpool, the game.
Who said that?
Game Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I have good news for Deadpool fans: this game is an absolute perfect adaptation of the character. Comic writer Daniel Way also penned the game, so the same style and humor he brought to the character in the comics is also on the screen. Deadpool is wacky, he’s crude, he breaks the Fourth Wall, he hallucinates and he never stops talking. He’s the Merc with the Mouth, so if you’ve been a fan of the character over the past few years, this game should be fantastic.
But we hate Daniel Way’s Deadpool.
I’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, even though all of the Deadpoolness in the game is great, the game itself is achingly mediocre. High Moon Studios apparently spent all of their time perfecting the Deadpoolery, then just stapled it to a bare bones hack’n’slasher. The enemies are repetitive and unoriginal, the plot is non-existent, the levels are boring, and the few moments that actually break out of the mold are too short to actually make an impact. That’s not to say any of these things are bad, per se, they’re just bland and uninspired. The game itself is entirely average, but at a short 6 to 7 hours, maybe that’s all you need to enjoy such impressive amounts of Deadpoolocity.
So basically Deadpool, the game, is all about Deadpool. I think they get it.
Either way, join me after the jump for my full review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/6/13
Alright, guys and gals, this is the last time I change up my rating system. I know I changed it just a few months ago, but now that I’ve been trying it out for awhile, I realize just how confusing it might be. I started out with a scale of just 0-5. Then I added decimals, because that seemed like the thing to do, and I wanted my reviews to be a little more nuanced. Now I’ve decided that the decimals just add a lot of unnecessary clutter. But rather than do away with them, I’ve decided to take my 0-5 system and upgrade it to a 0-10 instead. I think, in the long run, this will just be easier.
Let’s do a quick run down:
0 – Abomination; 1 – Terrible; 2 – Very Bad; 3 – Bad; 4 – Pretty Bad; 5 – Alright; 6 – Pretty Good; 7 – Good; 8 – Very Good; 9 – Great; 10 – Fantastic!
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, on with the reviews!
Short week, this week, with only a handful of comics coming out on my buy pile. Avengers continues their big storyline, Batman Incorporated draws ever close to the finish, and the new writer on Green Lantern settles into his new role of storyteller. All quality comics, and I enjoyed each and every one. But the real standout this week is The Superior Foes of Spider-Man! I’ve been eagerly anticipating this comic since it was announced, and it did not disappoint (though the name could stand to be a little less complex). Superior Foes is about a handful of Spider-Man’s B and C-list foes banding together into a new Sinister Six (which would have been a fine title). The comic takes the down-to-Earth, personal appeal of a book like Hawkeye and adds a dash of villainy. The characters here aren’t out to rule the world. They’re just out to make a living, and costumed crime is the path they’ve chosen. This is exactly my kind of book, and The Superior Foes of Spider-Man easily wins Comic Book of the Week.
It’s the little stuff that matters. Like Shocker and Speed Demon arguing over the keys.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #15, Batman Incorporated #12, Green Lantern #22, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1.
Review: Scarlet Spider #18
Who knew Kaine could be so funny? I know he’s a clone of Peter Parker and everything, but he’s usually a sourpuss straight man. I guess with Aracely mostly sitting this issue out, somebody’s got to keep up the chuckles. Because what would a book like Scarlet Spider be without some humor? And Wolverine isn’t about to deliver. That guy is as sourpuss as they come. But I’m not going to complain when Scarlet Spider gets some attention from the rest of the Marvel Universe.
Scarlet Spider #18
The continuing Scarlet Spider/Wolverine team-up is as entertaining as it was last issue, albeit for different reasons. Writer Chris Yost is doing a team-up right.
Comic Rating: 4/5 – Good.
Somehow, seemingly against all reason, Scarlet Spider is still chugging along 18 issues later. I’ve never seen it mentioned as a comic due for cancellation. Does it have an audience? Is it actually selling? Because that would be fantastic. Maybe this Wolverine cameo will help punch up sales for a little bit. It was a classic maneuver back in the day for new comics to guest star Wolverine or Spider-Man as quickly as possible. What better way to sell a new hero to audiences than by giving him or her some team-up time with the big shots? That’s kind of what happens here. Maybe this is even an homage. Scarlet Spider and Wolverine team up to take on some colorful bad guys. It’s as classic as comic books get.
The art by Carlo Barberi and Ale Garza is, likewise, top notch. It’s clear, detailed and full of action. I was unhappy for the longest time with Scarlet Spider‘s artist, but now the series has got that taken care of. So at this point, Scarlet Spider needs to take the comic to the next level. It’s got solid storytelling, solid characters and solid art. It’s entertaining and fun to read. But it could stand to be…something more. One can’t exactly say what it could use, or what exactly could be done. Deeper stories. More meaningful character development. Maybe a hot romantic relationship? Who knows! But when you’ve got a good, quality comic, you can’t just rest on your laurels. Kick things up a notch, Chris Yost! Take Scarlet Spider to the next level!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/29/13
This is a week for new comics! I’ve been trying to add some new titles to my weekly review feature, because it’ll get pretty boring if I just review the same comics month after month, and this week definitely delivered on new possibilities.This week also featured pretty much every X-Men comic imaginable – and most of them good. But we’ve also got the first issues of Larfleeze and Batman/Superman, as well as the new creative team on Red Lanterns. Will the new writer finally deliver the Red Lantern series I’ve been waiting for? Time will tell. I also decided to try out Journey Into Mystery, but sadly, the series has already been cancelled, so it won’t benefit from the Henchman Bump.
This week’s definite winner is writer Matt Fraction, who once again delivers two of the best comics in the world: FF and Hawkeye. I’m going to award Comic Book of the Week to Hawkeye #11 for its ability to think outside the box, and tell a story from the perspective of Hawkeye’s dog. It’s a fun issue. Though the moment of the week – possibly the moment of the year – goes to Miss Thing in FF. In the issue, the team have come up with a new, more efficient way for Miss Thing to get into her armor.
Best pop culture reference of all freakin’ time! Matt Fraction has to have been sitting on that line since he first envisioned Miss Thing. Heck, I’m going to declare right now that Miss Thing probably only exists because Fraction wanted to find a way to include that classic line from the insane cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. The man is a genius.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #13, Batman/Superman #1, FF #8, Hawkeye #11, Journey Into Mystery #653, Larfleeze #1, Red Lanterns #21, X-Men #2.
Henchman-4-Hire 