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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/10/15
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The long national nightmare of Secret Wars is over, and the All-New, All-Different Marvel is upon us! Though, that isn’t exactly accurate. Secret Wars is not yet over, and will actually continue all the way into December. And it’s not a nightmare, I’m actually enjoying it. But the All-New, All-Different Marvel is definitely here in force this week! No longer do we have to rely on tie-ins or Star Wars comics to get our Marvel fix! We’ve got brand new first issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Invincible Iron Man and Doctor Strange, who, I guess, doesn’t deserve an adjective.
Comic Book of the Week goes to the first issue of the new Amazing Spider-Man, which only barely inches past the new Invincible Iron Man. Possibly because it includes the greatest cameo by the Prowler in a decade! Among other goodies.
It gets really good, people
Though this week isn’t all wine and roses. DC has launched their sequel to the henchly-reviled Batman Eternal! And like a pig to the slaughter, I picked that up too…
Comic Reviews: Action Comics #45, Amazing Spider-Man #1, Batman and Robin Eternal #1, Doctor Strange #1 and Invincible Iron Man #1.
Honest Trailers: Iron Man!
Once upon a time, I listed the first Iron Man movie as my second favorite film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now the folks at Screen Junkies are finally taking a poke at it!
Always good videos from these fellas, though this one was a little weak. Still, good times, good times. Maybe they’re gonna drop a few more as we head into Ant-Man!
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Brian Michael Bendis to Turn Iron Man Into a Star!
Iron Man is going to be in comic books! The biggest movie star of the past decade is going to have his very own, mainlining comic book, written by one of the best writers in the industry. But then I’m being a little facetious. One of the first major comics of the All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch in September will be Invincible Iron Man by Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Marquez, the team from Ultimate Spider-Man!
Maybe Robert Downey Jr. will make a cameo
Bendis and Marquez were great together on the adventures of Miles Morales, so you better believe I’ll be picking up this new series. Based on the interview in USA Today, Marvel wants to make Iron Man the star of their comic book universe in the same way that he’s the star of the movieverse. That makes total sense to me. They tried that off-kilter Superior Iron Man for a bit, and I don’t know if it worked or not, but it was definitely off the beaten path. Now we’re going back to a more traditional, streamlined and hopefully awesome Iron Man.
I still fondly remember Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man, which was also made to coincide with the movies. That was the first ongoing Iron Man comic I ever bought, and I bought and read the whole thing, it was that good! So I have high hopes for this new series.
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A Hench-Sized Ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
With the whole world enjoying Avengers: Age of Ultron, I saw a lot of lists on the Internet ranking the best and worst of the Marvel movies. I will gladly go on record claiming that there isn’t a bad movie in the bunch. They’ve all been good to great so far, and I fully expect that trend to continue later this summer with Ant-Man.
Being a blogger of the people, and a self-proclaimed Marvel fan, I’ve decided to rank all of the Marvel movies from my most to least favorite. I love them all and, were I a healthier man, I would gladly have attended one of those massive, multi-hour marathons that were playing in major cities. But alas, I live in a dinky little city that doesn’t get that kind of awesome attention. I need to move somewhere cool…
Also, this seems like a great time to share the first official synopsis of Captain America: Civil War. It seems Cap’s new team of Avengers are going to fill the New Warriors’ role from the original comic, and the movie will feature a metric ton of characters, including War Machine, Vision, Ant-Man and General Ross from The Incredible Hulk! They’re really getting William Hurt to return! That’s amazing connectivity!
So join me after the jump for my personal ranking of all the Marvel movies! And feel free to share your own in the comments below!
Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron is like a new episode of the biggest, most expensive TV show of all time. It’s not the event that the first movie was, and it might not be as Earth-shattering as I expected, but Age of Ultron is nonetheless a fun, exciting and action-packed movie starring all of our favorite superheroes. And therein lies my biggest complaint, which is really a non-complaint.
There’s a familiarity to Age of Ultron that leads to contentment. The movie doesn’t really give us anything new to get excited about, instead delivering just another solid chapter in this ongoing saga.
Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
I liken Age of Ultron to a TV show because that’s exactly what it felt like while I was watching. I may have been in a packed movie theater, and it’s been three years since the last episode, but Ultron was definitely the ‘monster-of-the-week’ in the latest episode of The Avengers. All of our favorite characters are back, their friendly, comfortable banter is exactly what we’d expect, and everything is more or less tied up in a nice, tidy bow by the end. Lessons are learned, a little romance is slipped in, and now we just sit back and wait for the next episode.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way with any movie sequel before. It’s a weird feeling.
But the episodic feel doesn’t keep the movie from being entertaining. It’s an exciting film from beginning to end. In the big picture sense, the movie is amazing. But when you step back and really think about all the moving parts, it’s not without some flaws. Director Joss Whedon juggles a few too many characters, so that some get a lot of attention — like Hawkeye, in some standout moments — while others are little more than props — like Thor, who spends most of his time dropping hints about future movies.
The new characters are a mixed bag. The titular villain, Ultron, is too entertaining to be menacing. That’s an odd way to describe a super villain, but it’s exactly how actor James Spader pulls it off.
I like Age of Ultron, a lot. It’s not as good at the first Avengers film, largely because the spectacle has worn off, but also for a lot of little reasons. Yet overall, it’s another exciting film in my favorite franchise of all time, despite those little reasons.
Join me after the jump for my full, detailed review. And there will be SPOILERS!
