Category Archives: Marvel
Review: Mimic and the X-Men #5
Mimic successfully beat his record for appearing in issues as a member of the X-Men, then promptly quit. Oh sorry, SPOILERS. No wait, I’m not sorry! I’m angry! I’m angry that writer Christos Gage would make all my dreams come true by putting Mimic back on the X-Men after nearly 50 years, then went ahead and spent a bajillion stupid, boring issues on Rogue being transported to another planet to join a war between stupid, boring aliens who don’t have anything to do with anything! And I’m angry at Marvel NOW!’s stupid decision to take Gage off of X-Men: Legacy and completely change the title, forcing him to wrap up his personal storylines and take Mimic out of the series before his time!
And yet Mimic isn’t on the cover
And what I’m angry at the most is that Gage did this by giving us the greatest Mimic adventure of all time!
Comic rating: The square root of sadness/5: Terrifisad.
Do you want deep Mimic introspection and character development? BAM! You got it! Do you want Mimic mimicking all the powers in the world and then single-handedly holding off a super-villain prison riot? BAM! You got it! Do you want hot Mimic on Rogue action? BAM! You got that too – sort of! This is the Mimic we have always wanted! He’s handsome, he’d badass and, most importantly, he’s a hero. I would even go so far as to say he’s the greatest hero the Marvel Universe has ever seen! Not only that, but he’s hip, as you’ll see in the synopsis. This is one awesome guy. I mean, I suppose there is a large portion of this issue dedicated to Rogue. But nobody cares about that, right? That would be like watching The Matrix and caring more about Neo than Switch. And Switch was awesome.
If Mimic had to go out – though I think he would have been awesome as new leader of the X-Men – he probably couldn’t have gone out any better way. Rest well, gentle soldier. This review will sing you to your sleep.
The Wolverine Is Lookin’ Fancy
The first official poster for The Wolverine has been released, and it looks pretty snazzy.
I’m sure somebody who knows art could tell you a lot about this image, but I know diddly squat. What I do know is that I love it. Minimalist style is coming back in a big way these days, and I’m excited to see a movie actually take advantage of that instead of going with some hideous, overly photoshopped picture of the cast. Like they did for The Avengers, or pretty much every X-Men movie. So this is a good sign that someone somewhere may have some design sense.
6 Coolest Comic Book Ghosts
BOO!! Did I scare you? No? Oh well, I tried my best. I’ve never been much of a horror fan, either books or movies, but I absolutely love Halloween. I love it when society as a whole unites behind this sort of epic pageantry. All the kids in the world dressing in costume to get free candy door-to-door? Awesome! A day where it’s perfectly acceptable to wear a costume to work or to class? Sign me up! I’ve already bought the spooky pumpkin mask I plan to wear when I’m out and about on Wednesday. Not to mention the Batman tie I only wear on Halloween.
Or maybe I should just walk around wearing a sheet over my head. Because what’s more synonymous with Halloween than ghosts?
Witches, I guess…and Charlie Brown
And when we’re talking about science fiction and super powers, who better to use than ghosts? They’re spooky, mysterious, and often associated with horrible murder! Plus they have a ton of super powers. They can fly, pass through walls, howl, and wear pretty awesome sheets. So it should come as no surprise that ghosts are a pretty popular topic when it comes to comic books. For Halloween this year, I’ve put together a list of the 6 ‘ghoulest’ ghosts in all of comics!
The Captain American Sequel Has Made a Good Choice for Its Villain
The man who killed Captain America has been cast as the villain in Captain America: Winter Soldier. The villainous mercenary Crossbones will be played by Frank Grillo, who I’ve never heard of.
Surprisingly has very little to do with pirates
I think this is an awesome choice of villain! If you’ve been reading Captain America over the past few years, especially around the time he was killed after Civil War, then you know just how badass and mencing Crossbones can be. He’s a big, tough, brickhouse of a man, with a truly sinister mask. And best of all, he doesn’t have some silly superhero costume. He dresses like a badass mercenary, a perfect fit in the more realistic-looking Marvel Movieverse. Crossbones could be a really gritty foe, able to get up close and personal in a fight with Cap, which is just what the next movie needs.
As for Frank Grillo, I have no idea. Apparently he’s appeared in stuff like The Grey and End of Watch, but I haven’t seen either. Does anybody have any idea whether or not Grillo would be good in the role?
I doubt he has anything to do with pirates
For those of you who don’t know, the Winter Solder is actually Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky, who we all saw was killed in the first movie when he fell into that gorge. But as any comics fan will tell you: if there’s no body, he’s not dead. In the comics, Bucky’s body was recovered by the Soviets, and they turned him into a mind-controlled assassin. The name ‘Winter Soldier’ comes from the fact that they would put him in cryogenic freezing between missions, and unfreeze him every few years to kill somebody. This kept Bucky relatively young, and allows him to reappear in the modern day without being an 80-year-old geezer.
So if the new Captain America sequel follows the comic, we can bet that Bucky is going to be re-awakened in the modern day to face Captain America. In the comics, Bucky was woken up by the Red Skull, who was working with his henchman Crossbones and his daughter Sin. This was all part of a plot to destroy Cap, which included his assassination. Crossbones killed Cap with a sniper bullet on federal courthouse steps after Captain America was taken into custody following the superhero Civil War. Long story.
But with Crossbones now cast in the film, do you think we might see the death of Captain America? Or something similar?
He got better
And do you think Crossbones could carry a movie by himself? He’ll definitely be aided by the Winter Soldier, most likely. There’s been no word on whether or not the Red Skull would return, but actor Hugo Weaving has gone on record as saying he has no interest in returning to the role. I think that’s pretty much garbage, but then I have little patience for actors who consider themselves better than their roles.
Honestly though, I don’t even want the Red Skull to return for the sequel. He had his go, and definitely fit better when he could be surrounded by actual Nazis in World War II. Captain America is in the modern world now, and he should deal with modern problems. Leave the past in the past. He should face problems list terrorism and mercenary violence, so I think Crossbones is a great choice for the villain in Captain America: Winter Soldier.
What do you guys and girls think? Let me know in the comments!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews
I’ve been wanting to do this style of comic book review for a long time, but I never end up reading all my new comics before the weekend. However, I’ve got some time on Wednesdays now, so I really want to start. My long reviews take awhile to write, and I can’t do one for every comic I read. So from this week forward (hopefully), I’ll be providing some shorter, quicker reviews on the week’s new comics.
I buy a large smattering of comics across both DC and Marvel, and a few Indy titles. If there is any comic you’d like me to review, let me know via e-mail or in the comments.
Let’s begin!
Amazing Spider-Man #696
Amazing Spider-Man #696
Writer: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Phil Urich is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. His brief series as the good Green Goblin in the 90s was the first comic book series that I ever bought and read with my own money. So of course his transformation into the villainous, perverted Hobgoblin was sad. I preferred him as a down-on-his-luck hero. But with a character as minor and obscure as Phil, I’ve mostly just been grateful that he’s even appearing anywhere. So I’ve been following his career as the new Hobgoblin, and it comes to a head in this issue, as original Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, returns to New York City to crush Phil for good – and, of course, Spider-Man is caught in the middle.
I’ve mostly been enjoying Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man run. He brings a light-hearted feel to the wall-crawler, with brightly colored adventures and really personal stories. This one is no different. Peter Parker has just been outed as the man who builds all of Spider-Man’s gadgets at Horizon Labs, so the Hobgoblin kidnaps Peter for the Kingpin. They want to hold him hostage so that Spider-Man will turn over a special briefcase he’s holding, little knowing that Peter actually is Spider-Man. So it’s up to Peter’s boss, Max Modell, to bring the briefcase in an attempt to free Peter. But just as the exchange is about to go down, Roderick Kingsley attacks, determined to kill Phil.
In the chaos of the Hobgoblin War, Peter and Max escape with the briefcase – which holds a key to Norman Osborn’s entire Goblin arsenal!
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
This was a fun adventure, and your typical Peter Parker in trouble story. The Hobgoblin War idea is pretty cool, as the characters look absolutely wicked under Camuncoli’s pencils. Seeing them battle is the highlight of the issue. Orange is always a great color for super-villains. I’m hoping Phil puts up a fight, and the idea that Roderick is threatening Phil’s girlfriend might bring some heroism out of Phil. One can hope. The Peter action was fun as he pulled off some web-slinging skill, while simultaneously trying to keep Max from deducing the truth. So yeah, entertaining story, fun characters and the hope that one of my all-time favorite comic book characters gets to shine.
Join me after the jump for more! Including AvX: Consequences, Batman Incorporated, Invincible Iron Man, Talon and Wolverine MAX!
Henchman-4-Hire 