Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/20/19
Happy San Diego Comic-Con Week! Once again, I am not at the big event. Someday I’ll get out there. But for now, I’m sitting home and reading comics — of which there weren’t many, at least not on my reading pile.
Still, I got to read a big, exciting issue of Batman, kicking off the City of Bane. And Matt Fraction has returned to mainstream comics with Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen! That’s a hoot! Comic Book of the Week goes to the final issue of Unstoppable Wasp, which is delightful and a good send-off.
Okay, tiny girl is big now. She’s big now.
Meanwhile, another horrible mini-era of the X-Men has come to an end and I’m glad. I didn’t read Age of X-Man so it’s not really fair to criticize it, but I’m pretty sure it’s widely regarded as inconsequential. And the much ballyhooed Uncanny X-Men relaunch turned into hot garbage pretty quickly. So many characters were ruthlessly murdered, and for what? I don’t even have the energy to do an entire blog post on the fact that they killed Fake Madrox offscreen in this week’s issue. Just ugh. Bring on the Hickboot!
Comic Reviews: Batman #75, Jimmy Olsen #1 and Unstoppable Wasp #10.
Strong Guy Watch: The Action Figure!
Sweet Georgia Brown, my prayers have been answered! We’re getting a legit Strong Guy Build-A-Figure! I literally wrote about this in a blog wishlist.
Of course, I’m going to have to buy a lot of lame action figures I don’t want to build this mighty mutant. Or maybe I’ll be able to find some loose pieces on eBay. I’ve done that before. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Some way, some how, I will get this giant Strong Guy action figure!
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The Witcher TV Show and the Steven Universe TV Movie Look Great!
Finally we arrive at some Comic-Con trailers I actually care about! First up is The Witcher TV show coming to Netflix. Like most people, I am a huge fan of The Witcher video games, with The Witcher 3 being one of the greatest, most in-depth I have ever played. But the show is going to be based on the books, which I have no tread.
At least Henry Cavill looks better in motion than he did in the early photographs. This show could have all the goodness!
Next up is a Steven Universe made-for-TV movie, which looks awesome! And it delivers the one thing I want most from Steven Universe: letting him grow up. Steven is a such a great character that it annoys me that he was forced to stay kid-like. They had an episode explaining that his body just didn’t age like a normal person. That is so weird and lame.
Steven is a character that I want to see grow up. Steven’s growing maturity was the best part of the show, and I want that taken to normal, natural levels. But if you go much further, he’ll be an adult in a weird kid body, and that’s just weird. Movie trailer looks good, though.
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The First Wave of Comic-Con Trailers Are Here!
The best, easiest way for me to share the geeky joy coming out of Comic-Con is with movie trailers. They’re easy to post on this blog and require little work on my part. So how about we check out a bunch of them?
First up is the trailer for the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which looks insane and potentially awesome! I was a big Kevin Smith fan back in the day, during his good movie years. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was the first movie I went to see when I moved away to college. So I’m excited for this new film.
It’s probably not going to be very good. But it looks like Kevin Smith is just gonna go nuts, reflecting on his entire life and career. That should be more than enough to be weirdly awesome!
How about the new trailer for It 2!
Looks confidently scary and spooky. The first one was really good. Did I ever tell you henchies that I saw It twice in theaters? I saw it at the same theater a week apart with two different dates. It was weird, but funny in hindsight.
Next up is Top Gun: Maverick, a super weird return.
I was never super into the original Top Gun. It’s a fine film, and I saw it as a kid, but it wasn’t life changing. So to bring Tom Cruise back for a sequel some 30 years later? Yeah, sure, I suppose that’s what people are doing these days. The trailer looks alright. Here’s hoping it’s worth watching.
Stay tuned to my blog over the next couple of days for even more trailers and any other news I can squeeze out of Comic-Con!
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Blob Does Not Get Much of an Age of X-Man Send-Off
I didn’t really read Age of X-Man. That’s on me. I’m in no real position to judge it. But I have been closely following the journey of the Blob through the X-Tremists comic, because he’s one of my favorite mutants and he had a pretty incredible story. For the first time in probably decades, if not ever, Blob was given more to do than just be a fat joke and a bully. All credit to writer Leah Williams for that.
But in the final issue, as the Age of X-Man wraps up, Blob doesn’t get much closure to his story.
Speak for yourself, Psylocke
That’s it. That’s the one panel Blob gets. He and Psylocke, his love interest in this story, face the unknown future of returning to the real world, where he’s an asshole villain and she’s a heroic X-Woman.
What’s to become of them? How does the Blob go forward? How does Psylocke go forward? Does this amazing bit of Blob character work only get to exist as a whisper, a short, singular story that doesn’t matter in the long run?
I don’t have answers to any of those questions, because the X-Men as a whole are getting a major relaunch/revamp next week with the big Jonathan Hickman takeover. I’m actually all in favor of whatever Hickman has in store. I wrote two years ago that I wanted the X-Men to get a big slate-clearing relaunch. X-Men comics had become too complicated, and a clean break/new beginning is just what they need.
Of course, it makes sense when you think about my luck with getting what I want from the X-Men. I get to have my big, linewide relaunch…but before Marvel does it, they’re going to give me the sweetest of treats with this Blob storyline, then leave it dangling, never to be finished or explored further.
Yeah, that makes sense. I’m just cursed.
But yeah, maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps the Blob will somehow get a story going forward. With Strong Guy currently dead, maybe I’ll start a Blob Watch…
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