Category Archives: Reviews
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/19/15
Happy Star Wars Weekend, everybody! Have you seen the movie yet? Maybe twice? I got my full review up last night, and while I wasn’t as excited as I expected, it was still an entertaining movie. I probably should have read some Star Wars comics this week, but I was too busy celebrating some of my favorites! Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Ms. Marvel and more dropped this week, making it an excellent week for comics and geekery in general, honestly.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Mighty Thor #2. Everything I read this week was good, but Mighty Thor is something special.
Activate cheat codes
Speaking of comics, check out the Facebook page for my own comic, Gamer Girl & Vixen! We’re on the verge of passing 200 likes, and if you’re interested, you might enjoy it!
Comic Reviews: Batgirl #46, Harley Quinn #23, Mighty Thor #2, Ms. Marvel #2, Silk #2 and We Are Robin #7.
Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Fair warning, there will be SPOILERS later on in this review. Everything before the jump will be spoiler-free, and everything after the jump will have spoilers. I’ll make the distinction clear.
This is not the movie you’re looking for. Or maybe it is. Honestly, I think opinions are going to be all over the map for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For some, it might be a glorious return to that wonderful galaxy far, far away. For me, it was a fine and enjoyable film, but it wasn’t the be-all, end-all cinematic second coming that it was hyped up to be. Instead, The Force Awakens is a fun adventure full of familiar characters that easily entertains.
But if this really is the start of several decades worth of new Star Wars films, one after another, I’m no longer as excited as I was yesterday.
Movie Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
There is definitely a lot to enjoy about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s definitely worth going to see, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. The new cast all acquit themselves well, meshing splendidly together and with the old, returning cast. Harrison Ford’s aged Han Solo steals the show, with ample support from the legendary Chewbacca. The two of them on screen again is worth the price of admission alone. Lightsabers blaze with iconic glory, the Millennium Falcon is as great as we’ve always know it to be, and this galaxy looks like the lived in, wildly varied galaxy of yore.
But the movie is far from perfect. There are numerous plot contrivances that seem to exist solely to bait the fans’ love for the franchise. Several seemingly important characters barely get any screen time, making you wonder why they seemed like such a big deal in all the advertising. And worst of all, what really took me out of the movie, was the inexhaustible desire to callback to and remember the original trilogy.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens does not take the franchise anywhere new. It revels in the old ways, while presenting just enough new material to guarantee the endless supply of new movies we’re going to get over the next several years (decades?).
But at the very least, Han Solo and Chewbacca are pretty awesome.
Join me after the jump for my full review. Be warned, I really get to rambling a bit. And this is the SPOILER cut off. Read the rest at your own risk.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/12/15
Last week, I was all about the Marvel Comics. Not intentional, that’s just how things played out. Well this week, I’m apparently all about the Bat-Family. Not only do we have new issues of Robin War, including the Gotham Academy tie-in, but Dick Grayson guest stars in the latest issue of Starfire for no particular reason!
Heck, I could have gone really heavy into the Bat Family, but I haven’t caught up to Batman and Robin Eternal yet, and I didn’t feel like passing judgement on the latest issue of Scott Snyder’s Batman (though, if I may say, I’m absolutely loving their use of Duke Thomas). Still, we’ve got a very nice selection of Batty books this week, including the Comic Book of the Week: Grayson #15!
New series?
It’s a great time to be a Dick Grayson fan, I tell you what.
Also, don’t forget that my own comic, Gamer Girl & Vixen, is on sale now from our online store! Pick up a copy, support your local henchman, and the world will be a better place overall!
Comic Reviews: Grayson #15, Detective Comics #47, Gotham Academy #13, Scarlet Witch #1 and Starfire #7.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/5/15
For some reason, this is a super heavy Marvel week for me. I read a bunch of DC Comics, but this week I pointed my review cannon squarely at what Marvel had to offer — though I was sure not to miss the first issue of Robin War. Gotta represent the ‘R’!
As for Marvel, we’ve got a ton of good comics! New Angela, Iron Man and Avengers issues, as well as the debut of Totally Awesome Hulk, which I enjoyed. I’ve also finally reviewed an X-Men comic in this new All-New, All-Different world.
But Comic Book of the Week goes to Doctor Strange #3, a delightfully weird comic that lets Jason Aaron stretch his insane muscles!
I know a lot of people who would be dying for Cumberbatch to do this scene
It’s got the focus of his Thor and the madcap zaniness of his Wolverine and the X-Men.
And remember, now is your chance to buy the first two issues of my own comic, Gamer Girl & Vixen! Stop by our store and check us out!
Comic Reviews: All-New, All-Different Avengers #2, All-New X-Men #1, Angela: Queen of Hel #2, Doctor Strange #3, Invincible Iron Man #4, Robin War #1 and Totally Awesome Hulk #1.
Review: Teen Titans #14
You know what, I had a really good day yesterday, so I’m going to take Teen Titans #14 as the beginning of something better. It’s not a good comic, mind you. In fact, it suffers mercilessly from one of Teen Titans‘ worst ongoing problems. But there’s an effort being made for a clean break, and possibly the promise of some more focused storytelling. And parts of it are pretty good even. I say that with a straight face. If the writing duo of Scott Lobdell and Will Pfeifer can keep this going, Teen Titans may actually be…eh…serviceable?
Teen Titans #14
Teen Titans #14 has some good parts for the team, but pits them against possibly the most ludicrous adversaries in the title’s history. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad on this one.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
One of the major problems with Teen Titans in the New 52 has been their insane policy with villains. They’ve fought some classics, like Trigon, and Harvest was at least positioned as a major villain with a major stake in the team. But more often then not, the Teen Titans fought against villains who came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with anything. It was like DC was haphazardly throwing darts at a big book of DC characters. There were the drugged-out prep school kids only a few issues ago, there was Detritus way back at the start of the series, there were The Light and The Way, and who can forget Grymm?
All of you. Every single one of you forgot Grymm. Nobody remembers Grymm. But he made two appearances in Teen Titans! Two!
Anyway, for reasons that will never make any sense to me, the Teen Titans fight against no less than five random, strange adversaries in this issue. That’s the weird, bad part. The good part of the issue is that they actually act like a team! Red Robin actually leads the Teen Titans in battle, issuing commands and utilizing their powers and fighting styles to the battle’s benefit. It’s kind of awesome. And it’s something that I really hope continues…except that the ending just throws everything out of whack all over again. So whatever.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and review!
Henchman-4-Hire 