Category Archives: Reviews
Stage Five: Acceptance – Review of X-Factor #227
So at long last, it’s time to accept that my favorite comic book character has been killed and there’s nothing I can do about it. But considering he died in this issue, one might ask how I could possibly be expected to review it objectively. That’s a fair question. And my answer is: because I say I can. Simple as that. It’s still a comic book. I still read it. I even enjoyed it.
X-Factor #227
Even if those bastards killed him!
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
I’m going to spoil the character that was killed after the jump. In fact, I’m going to spoil the whole issue. That’s kind of my thing. A lot of other review sites don’t spoil the books, so good for them. But I’m something of a niche blog, so I’ve got no problem spoiling the stories. I like to think that some people might read my reviews just to get spoiled. I’m fine with that.
Suffice to say, the death in this issue of a prominent member of X-Factor doesn’t really have much at all to do with the story. It’s more like a big cliffhanger to lead us into the next story arc. Frankly, this whole story arc has seemed kind of lackluster. There are way too many members of X-Factor these days, and this issue has a completely unimportant guest star and serves as the introduction of a new villain. So there are a lot of characters to juggle. Peter David does an OK job with the juggling, but no one piece gets enough attention to be really good.
Still, at least my favorite character died in an issue that’s worth reading. Spoilers after the jump.
Review: Calling All Robins
For my 200th post at Henchman-4-Hire, I want ALL the Robins! But 200 posts, that’s a pretty big achievement, right? I hope so, and I hope to write 200 more. I’m really enjoying blogging, and we’ve definitely increased our readership since the site opened. I take that as a good sign. Though I wish we saw more comments. C’mon everybody! Fire off a comment or two after some of my posts. Tell me what you think. Tell me what else you want to read!
Calling ALL the Robins!
At any rate, to celebrate the 200th post I’ve picked a very special comic book to review: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13. It’s a comic book based on a now cancelled TV show, but it’s special because it’s the very first time, in all of comicdom, that all of the Robins team up in one adventure in order to help Batman!
Calling all Robins…Batman Dies at Dawn!
How nifty is that?
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
Not very nifty as a story, but wonderfully nifty as a concept. Longtime readers of this blog will know that I’m a HUGE Robin fan. I love the character even more than Batman. So any Robin-focused story is cool by me. So I figured it would be a fun idea to spend my 200th post talking about a comic book that revels in ultimate Robin goodness. The story is flimsy, the characterizations are sparse, but dammit if this isn’t a comic where Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Damian and even Carrie Kelly team up in order to save the Batman!
That’s good comic books, people.
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #4
The new Ultimate Spider-Man series slows down with issue #4 so that we can all catch up to what came before: the death of Peter Parker. Miles Morales has his spider-powers, so now it’s time to find out how and why he became the new Spider-Man. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense to tie his decisions directly into the death of the first Spider-Man. But on the other hand, this makes for a slow issue filled with moments we’ve already seen before. And it doesn’t give us any new insight or surprises to go along with those moments.
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #4
But a last page cliffhanger promises some excitement for issue #5.
Comic rating: 3/5: Alright.
The low rating does not reflect poor quality, but instead the lack of story. By all means, this issue is written quite well and Miles continues to be a compelling protagonist. But as I said, this issue is just a retread of everything we’ve seen before. The story of Miles Morales has finally caught up to where Peter Parker’s Ultimate Spider-Man series left off. So this issue is basically just a paint-by-numbers look at what Miles was up to in between Peter’s death and his fight with the Kangaroo from Ultimate Fallout #4.
We don’t see any character beyond Miles and Ganke and we still don’t have his black and red Spider-Man costume. Though this issue does mark the start of Miles’ first-person narration thought balloons. That might liven things up from here on out.
Playing in the X-Men Toy Box
Can you imagine how much fun it must be to write for the X-Men? To be allowed to pick whichever characters you want and come up with some cool new setting or story to put them in? To have the freedom to just create adventures and relationships using some of the coolest characters ever?
That’s why I want to be a comic book writer.
And that’s what it must be like to be a part of the current Regenesis story event.
It's a brave new world
Review: Batman: Arkham City
I was considering not writing this review because it can be summed up in one word: ‘awesome’. But I’m trying to be a legitimate blog here, so I should really do my best to expand upon my thoughts. I will also need to be careful with the overuse of the word ‘awesome’, because everything in this game is ‘awesome’. The freeflow combat, the story, the side missions, the game world, the game play and, most especially, the rich look into the the world of Batman.
Clearly some very big Batman geeks made this game.
Game rating: 5/5: Great!
The Internet is currently filled with glowing reviews and praise for Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Did you know that the first game, Arkham Asylum, holds the record for the best reviewed superhero game ever in the Guinness Book of World Records? You do now. And it’s no surprise. Arkham Asylum was a glorious achievement in the world of video games, especially superhero video games. It made up for decades of mediocre to crappy Batman games, and revolutionized the depth and breadth to which superhero games could reach. Arkham Asylum was clear proof that with a love of the character and a lot of creativity, superhero games could be something special. And then the game developers, Rocksteady, went and made a bigger, better and deeper game for the sequel, Arkham City.
The Batman: Arkham games are to superhero video games what The Dark Knight movie was to superhero movies. We’re not just talking a game changer. We’re talking revolution!
Henchman-4-Hire 