Category Archives: X-Men
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/1/13
Are there any comic book readers who get legitimately excited when a main character is suddenly killed? After all of the deaths and resurrections in comics over the past few years, is there anybody who doesn’t just roll their eyes when a writer suddenly decides to kill a major character? A big one bites the dust at the end of Justice League of America #4 this week, and I can’t help but throw up my hands in exasperation. Even if it turns out next issue that it was all just a ruse, I still think it’s a weak storytelling crutch that comic book writers need to lay off for awhile. That Geoff Johns is responsible makes it even worse. I spoke of you so highly this week, Geoff! C’mon!
At any rate, I’ve pretty much given up on Justice League of America anyway, so a stunt like this might just be the final nail in its coffin for me. Thankfully, Marvel Comics is at the top of their game, with fun issues of New Avengers, Indestructible Hulk and the brand new X-Men. I’ve been looking forward to this series since it was first announced, both because of the all-girl experiment and for Olivier Copiel’s art. Neither one disappoints in the Comic Book of the Week.
Doop loves babies, but the feeling is clearly not mutual
Comic Reviews: Indestructible Hulk #8, Justice League of America #4, New Avengers #6, Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #30 and X-Men #1.
Review: Scarlet Spider #17
Aracely is just adorable. I bet writer Chris Yost has a blast writing her alongside Kaine. The two of them – the straight man and the silly girl – are definitely the heart of this series, and Scarlet Spider #17 is the two of them on an adorable field trip to New York. Granted, Kaine is going there to kill Wolverine, but the trip is still a blast. No one says they can’t enjoy the trip while they’re there.
Scarlet Spider #17
This is one of the most fun issues of Scarlet Spider yet. Free of any other concerns, Yost dives into a free-standing crossover with the X-Men that’s mostly about Kaine and Aracely being awesome.
Comic Rating: 4.5/5 – Very Good.
I’ll share some of the best moments in the full synopsis. I suppose your enjoyment of this issue depends entirely on how much you can stand Aracely. I love her. Yost is clearly having a lot of fun writing her dialogue, and Kaine makes for the perfect companion. He’s willing to put up with her because he clearly cares for her, but everything she does seems to drive him bonkers. It’s a great buddy comedy set up. I think Yost could stand to start answering some questions about Aracely, or maybe explore a bit deeper her relationship with Kaine, but for now, I’m not complaining.
This is just a fun issue, and it works very well as a crossover too. Yost handles the X-Men just as well as he handles his own characters, and it’s great to see the Scarlet Spider interact with the larger Marvel Universe. I doubt he’ll be headlining any Big Events anytime soon, but any acknowledgement that Kaine is indeed part of the Marvel Universe is a welcome one.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/25/13
It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to DC writer Geoff Johns. Oh sure, he’s still going to be writing Aquaman, and a couple Justice League comics, but DC won’t be the same now that Johns is leaving Green Lantern after nearly 10 years on the title. This is a truly sad moment, because none of his other comic work as been as good as his stories on Green Lantern. And he has told some remarkable stories. Green Lantern was a minor character at best before Johns came along. This one guy with his brilliant ideas almost single-handedly made Green Lantern popular enough to warrant a live action big screen movie, in a world where DC only makes Batman and Superman movies. Johns made Green Lantern so popular that he was one of only two superheroes to remain unchanged in the New 52 reboot.
Johns work on Green Lantern is nothing short of spectacular. It’s no wonder DC eventually promoted him to DC’s head of creativity. The guy definitely made me a believer in the awesomeness of Green Lantern.
Fortunately for us all, Johns’ final issue on the series is as good as any other he’s written. Green Lantern #20 easily wins Comic Book of the Week for it’s sheer awesome audacity. Johns threw out all the stops with his final issue, bringing everything his fevered mind could think up to the final party.
Just look at that picture and tell me you don’t love everything about it.
Comic Reviews: Green Lantern #20, Justice League #20, Superior Spider-Man #10, Talon #8, and Uncanny X-Men #6.
New Wolverine Trailer Because Wolverines are in Right Now
A new trailer was released today for The Wolverine…and it looks pretty bad.
Maybe the movie will surprise us in the end, but so far it just looks pretty bad. I’m not sure I can put my finger on why, but maybe Wolverine is just over the hill. Maybe back when the X-Men movies were the best superhero movies coming out he might have stood a chance, but now he’s got to sell himself in the era of The Avengers, and he just comes up short.
Wolverine fighting a giant, robot Silver Samurai with heavy CGI does not appeal to me.
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.
Henchman-4-Hire 