Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/13/19
Comic release schedules have morphed into a weird track for me. How is it that all of my current favorite comics come out in the exact same week, forced to battle it out for Comic Book of the Week? Nearly any of the comics I read this week could have trounced some of the garbage I read other weeks.
As much as I’ve been loving Wonder Twins — and this week saw another stellar issue — an old champion has revealed it still has legs and comedy chops! Unbeatable Squirrel Girl wins Comic Book of the Week for a really fun and funny tie-in to War of the Realms!
Russell Dauterman, eat your heart out!
Meanwhile, the new issue of Batman featured interior art by Amanda Conner, one of my favorite comic book artist of all time. I’m quite pleased with the issue, which sees the bachelor party of Catwoman, wherein she and Lois Lane party at the Fortress of Solitude. Unfortunately, I did not review the issue because Batman remains trapped in a weird dream prison thing, so I’m finding each individual issue difficult to grade. Fun stuff, though.
Comic Book Reviews: Go Go Power Rangers #19, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #43, Unstoppable Wasp #6, Wonder Twins #3 and X-23 #11.
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Looks Pretty Cool
We have a name. We have a teaser trailer. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker will arrive in theaters in December!
Looks cool. I especially like that Emperor Palpatine laugh at the end. If it’s revealed that his Force Ghost has been behind the First Order this whole time, then I’m definitely going to forgive Star Wars for everything related to Snoke.
I don’t really have any expectations or hopes or dreams for this film. I thought The Force Awakens was too much of a remake of A New Hope to be all that great, and while I enjoyed The Last Jedi when I saw it, I’m pretty lukewarm about it these days (but not for any of the reasons most people bitch about TLJ online). So I dunno…let’s hope it’s good!
I hate the name, though. The Rise of Skywalker? Ugh.
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X-Statix is Coming Back!
Because true genius never dies, X-Statix are going to return for a special one-shot in July! Giant-Sized X-Statix #1 will reunite original creators Peter Milligan and Mike and Laura Allred! And some of the classic team members will be back too — even though most of them are dead!
There’s not too much information out just yet. Newsarama has an interview with Mike Allred, and they claim to have an interview with Milligan coming soon.
Bleeding Cool also revealed some sketch designs for potentially new characters.
Those look pretty cool!
Whatever the case may be, I’m excited. I was a slow convert to X-Statix when they originally came out, but once I was in, I was really in and read through to the end. So I’m excited to see this revival, even if it’s short.
They’re back and more alive than ever for this special one-shot! But what new threat is so grave that only the most famous mutant celebrities can fight it? And who is the new U-Go-Girl? Only the original X-Statix creative team Peter Milligan, Michael Allred and Laura Allred know for sure!
I also hope we’ll finally see the return of long-lost character Lacuna, one of my favorite characters from X-Statix. She’s also one of the few to survive the end of the series, and I’ve been waiting forever to see if Marvel ever uses her again.
Of course, knowing my luck lately, she’ll probably come back and be killed immediately.
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Realistic Computer-Animated Animal Technology is Really Good These Days
A couple new movie trailers arrived yesterday to wow us with how cool animals look in CGI these days! Animals and Pokemon!
Oh man, look how cool those Pokemon are! I’m pretty sure that trailer only exists because the world has gone crazy for the Detective Pikachu critters! I know I have. And those are some real greats buried in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-them montage. All this movie has to do to advertise is show more of the Pokemon!
And all the live action Lion King remake has to do is exist, honestly. Just show the animals and play the classic songs and scenes and you’ve got yourself a trailer!
Looks great! I really enjoyed the live action Jungle Book, so I have high hopes for this film. Dumbo was a dud, but the Lion King has hope.
Though am I the only one disappointed that Scar isn’t a different color? I realize his cartoon color probably wasn’t natural for lions, but he looks too…normal in this trailer.
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6 Thoughts on Shazam!
The battle of the Captain Marvel movies is finally in full swing, with Shazam! showing up to deliver a nearly knockout blow to the Marvel counterpart. Which one is better? Hard to say. Both have their strengths. But I think I’m going to give the edge to Shazam! because it’s just so much fun!
Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great.
DC Comics has cast off the shackles of the grim and gritty Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice films and they have embraced the fun of their superheroes. They’ve also done away with the need to tie everything together, even though Shazam! has several references to the wider DCEU. I think that is a good choice for them. It frees up each movie to be focused on itself. And if they’re going to try to repair the damage they did to themselves, keeping things simple is the best choice.
It definitely worked for Shazam! Join me after the jump for my review of the movie! And be careful of FULL SPOILERS for Shazam!
Henchman-4-Hire 