Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #23
Wow. Forget everything you thought you knew about Miles Morales. When that kid tore up his Spider-Man costume at the end of last issue and declared “No more!” he really meant it. On the very first page of this new issue, Miles hasn’t been Spider-Man for an entire year! And now everything is different! I guess writer Brian Michael Bendis may have spoiled this in some interviews, but I had no idea that Ultimate Spider-Man was going to jump ahead one year. It was a complete surprise – and a glorious one at that.
Ultimate Spider-Man #23
The one-year jump is always a risky maneuver in fiction, but Bendis sticks the landing with ease, giving us a more mature, young adult Miles Morales, and successfully taking us into this new chapter of his life.
Comic Rating: 4.5/5: Very Good.
I am in awe at the skill from both Bendis and artist David Marquez in showing the passage of time, and how it has changed Miles and his supporting cast. Miles clearly went through a growth spurt sometime in the past year, and is clearly in the harsh grips of puberty. Ganke too. Both of them look a little taller. Their faces, the way they carry themselves – everything about them looks a little more mature, but just enough that they still look like teenagers. Ganke is still pudgy, but his body is definitely growing into his weight. He’s not the chubby-faced little kid he was just one issue ago. Their dialogue is different too, at least with Miles. He’s not a different person, but like another reviewer said, you can practically hear his deeper voice. The change in these characters is a marvel to behold.
The story this issue is basically just a tour of Miles’ new status quo, with visits to his father, Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman and even his new girlfriend! As we all could have guessed, that cute girl with the colorful hair who was eyeing Miles in class is now his girlfriend, and she’s Kate Bishop from the Young Avengers! How fun. With the exception of some cliffhanger action at the end, this issue is all talking heads, which is Bendis’ specialty, and he is at the top of the game. The conversations are full of character and do an excellent job of getting us situated in Miles’ new world. I love a good talking heads issue.
I also have to agree with Bendis that we probably didn’t need to see the days, weeks and months after Miles’ mother died. It was probably just filled with grief, horror and tough reconciliation. This is definitely a much stronger footing to start the next chapter in Miles’ life.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/18/13
It’s taken me long enough, but I think I’m finally going to start using the .5 in my ratings system. My current 5/5 rating is needlessly complex, what with the words and exclamation marks that probably only make sense in my head. I want to clear things up a little and give myself a little more leeway in terms of classifying comics. Because there are a lot of comics this week that were better than ‘alright’ but I wouldn’t say they were particularly ‘good’. And the basic gist of my review scheme is just me thinking about how I would describe a comic’s quality to someone in one word.
1 – Terrible
1.5 – Very Bad
2 – Bad
2.5 – Pretty Bad
3 – Alright
3.5 – Pretty Good
4 – Good
4.5 – Very Good
5 – Great!
I hope this makes a little more sense. If it doesn’t, please let me know. I haven’t heard any complaints about my ratings system yet, but I want you guys and gals to let me know if I’m not making any sense or could do something better. You’re my readers and the best ones available for giving me feedback. So please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments.
That being said, it’s a pretty good week for comics. There are one or two gems in my pile, and a few that were mostly so-so. A lot of this week’s comics were just moving the story along, getting us through to the next chapter, and that’s fine. But it’s not overly compelling. But then there are also issues like Wolverine and the X-Men #29, which has the most fun I think anyone has ever had designing a possible alternate future for the X-Men. Jason Aaron must have holed up in his office all day just thinking up wacky character references and one-off gags to make, and they’re all a heck of a lot of fun. Wolverine and The X-Men easily wins Comic Book of the Week.
I know some of my readers at Wolverine and the X-Men haters, but for me, this issue really brought back some of the heart and energy that I enjoyed at the start of the series.
Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #8, Batwoman #20, FF #7, Nightwing #20, Red Hood and the Outlaws #20, Wolverine and the X-Men #29, and Wonder Woman #20.
Review: Star Trek Into Darkness
I am not a Trekkie. I never watched the original series. I’ve only caught glimpses of Next Generation. And I didn’t even see the 1980s Star Trek films until only a few years ago. Of all the things I’m geeky about, Star Trek simply isn’t one of them. So keep that in mind when I tell you that Star Trek Into Darkness is a phenomenally exciting film, with some of the best characters and action since The Avengers. This is how you make an action movie. In space.
Star Trek Into Darkness is a wonderfully entertaining movie from beginning to end. It takes some of the coolest characters in sci fi history and puts them into harrowing, twisting scenes full of action, energy and, most importantly, heart. Because an action movie without heart is just Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. And nobody wants that.
Movie Rating: 5/5 – Great.
The best way to describe the new Star Trek franchise is that it’s definitely a 21st century action movie, but one told using beloved characters and iconic sci-fi history to better enrich the experience. The action is fast-paced, the editing is rapidly cut, and there’s an emphasis on camera movement and angles. There are explosions and there is gunfire, but those are no longer the biggest draw of an action movie. Instead, Star Trek Into Darkness is mostly about the characters, and the extreme action and big set pieces that they find themselves in. I love the movie for that.
Like I said, I’m not a Trekkie, but Star Trek is so infused in our pop culture that even I love seeing Kirk and Spock kicking ass and exchanging vows of friendship. I love seeing Scotty use his engineering know-how to save the day. I love seeing Klingons show up in the movie, just because I know what it means to have Klingons hanging around. And I love the reveal of the villain, and how his true identity makes him just that much more evil and fascinating than if he’d been just an original character.
Star Trek Into Darkness is a fantastic sequel, easily expanding upon and surpassing the first Star Trek from 2009. It takes the iconic characters we met in the first film and puts them into a bigger, badder adventure, while simultaneously growing them as people and as heroes. And possibly most important of all, Star Trek Into Darkness embraces its beloved fandom. This is not a movie that shies away from it’s geeky roots. Heck, there’s a tribble in this movie, for crying out loud!
Join me after the jump for my full review. There will be some SPOILERS here and there, but I’ll try to avoid spoiling some of the big stuff. If you want to remain completely unspoiled, then read the rest of my review only after you’ve seen the movie. Because right now, I really, really want to talk about Star Trek!
Review: X-Factor #256
This is it! The big finale! The Hell on Earth War comes to a crashing conclusion this issue, and it’s…pretty good. It’s not great, but then I don’t think X-Factor has been mind-numbingly great for some time now. I would definitely say this was one of the best issues of the Hell on Earth War, that’s for sure, giving the story a resounding climax. And that twist ending is definitely something special. I did not see that coming. But then the comic just ends. Right on the verge of giving us a proper denouement, the comic just stops, and that was just as jarring as the twist ending, but in a bad way.
X-Factor #256
I know there are going to be plenty of comics following up on this ending, but I don’t want to have to wait another month to read them. This issue should have been double-sized or expanded so that Peter David could have given his story a proper epilogue in the proper place.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good!
In terms of a fitting conclusion to the Hell on Earth War, this issue more than succeeds. This is as action-packed and seismically epic as X-Factor has ever been. The action and art are great, but as I’ve been saying all along, the characters themselves don’t get much to do. Most of the emotional weight of the story still rests on Tier’s young shoulders, and while he does an admirable job as the star, I just can’t bring myself to care all that much about him. I care far more about the actual members of X-Factor.
After I finished this issue, I thought back to where the comic began, with Jamie, Guido and Rahne setting up their own detective agency in the pages of MadroX. How the heck did we get from that to this, where those characters battle the forces of Hell for the fate of the entire world? X-Factor has definitely been one long, strange trip, and maybe the time has come to let the comic end. PAD has told a lot of amazing stories, and breathed new and wonderful life into all of these characters. Letting him end the series on his own terms is the perfect way to end X-Factor.
Besides, we all know what would have happened had PAD left the series. X-Factor doesn’t have the best sales, and a lot of them have to be boosted by PAD himself. So if Marvel had decided to put some new writer on the title, X-Factor probably would have languished for half a dozen issues before they’d put it out of its misery. So this is for the best. PAD gets to say goodbye the way he wants.
Though I’m still going to hold out hope that his new project will be some kind of new Madrox solo series for Marvel NOW! Wave 2. Fingers crossed.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/11/13
Another week, another good load of comics. Everything is mostly good this week, except for, well…I’m not digging Justice League of America. Maybe some of you are, maybe there are people who really enjoy that comic, but for me, it’s a total dud. And that’s just disappointing overall. I think it’s a surefire sign that, in the end, DC’s New 52 reboot is going to crash and burn. This JLA was given a big push, and it’s written by Golden Boy Geoff Johns, but I just think it sucks. I think DC is floundering these days. They come up with strange comics like The Movement or The Green Team as if they think those will actually sell. Then they cancel those titles in six issues because they couldn’t match up to the popularity of Batman.
Pretty soon, all DC Comics are just going to be extensions of the Batman, Superman and Green Lantern franchises.
Fortunately, Marvel is still kicking butt with their Marvel NOW! campaign. It’s proof that you don’t need to reboot your entire universe to make things feel fresh and exciting. In fact, much to my surprise, Comic Book of the Week is going to Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers this week! I’ve generally disliked that comic, but Hickman hits it out of the park this week – possibly because he finally focuses on a little team interaction and character development.
I’m going to say that now every time I go gambling
Plus watching Sunsport and Cannonball make pals with some disenfranchised A.I.M. henchmen is just awesome.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #11, Batman #20, Batman and Robin #20, Justice League of America #3, Thor: God of Thunder #8, Uncanny Avengers #8.
Henchman-4-Hire 