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Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

I need to stop worrying about new X-Men movies. FOX knows what they’re doing. Ahead of X-Men: First Class, I thought it was going to just be a terrible, desperate attempt to hold on to the franchise – but it is now my favorite X-Movie. And I thought X-Men: Days of Future Past was going to be a mess of time travel and too many characters. Boy was I wrong about that one. X-Men: Days of Future Past is an enjoyable X-Flick, with a solid cast, an important plot and some quality, unique mutant action.

I wasn’t as blown away as some critics have been, but consider me a firm believer that the X-Men are in good hands.

Movie Rating: 7/10 – Good.

I think what Days of Future Past lacked, at least for me, was a uniquely X-Men story element to grab onto. There were some great super-powers on display, especially Quicksilver and Blink, but they were minor elements of the much larger, less captivating film. Instead of starring the actual X-Men, Days of Future Past was about the trio of Wolverine, Xavier and young Hank McCoy running around trying to catch up to the rest of the movie. The really compelling characters, the ones who drive the plot, are Mystique and maybe Magneto, but both of them are relegated to side character status.

Mystique may do something evil, and Magneto will definitely do something evil, and it’s up to Wolverine and his Amazing Friends to try and get there in time to stop it. Compare that to X-Men: First Class, which had the recruitment and training of the new students, the formation of the X-Men, and the evil Hellfire Club, all while really focusing on the Xavier/Magneto friendship. First Class had a lot going for it in terms of mutants and the X-Men, but Days of Future Past is just a movie about the heroes racing to save the day. Fortunately, it has some fun on the way there.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is not a disappointment, by any means. It’s a solid, entertaining entry into the X-Men franchise. But for me, I would have liked a bit more Adamantium on the claws – though not literally.

Join me after the jump for the full review!

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/8/14

What a fun comic book week this turned out to be! Four Marvel comics debuted their new #1 issues this week, keeping the All-New Marvel NOW! going strong. Will they be as good as Black Widow? Or will they tank like…some other comic that was so bad I can’t even remember what it was. You’ll have to read on to find out!

Or I could just tell you now. I think Loki: Agent of Asgard, Wolverine, Punisher and Ms. Marvel were all good comics, well made and with some direction in mind, but only Ms. Marvel stood head and shoulders above the rest as a legitimately exciting new series. Out of the four, that’s the only one I’m definitely going to be buying from here on out. Ms. Marvel lived up to all the hype and easily won Comic Book of the Week!

My fan fiction was never this good

As for the rest, it’s probably a matter of taste, and I’m sure other people will love those comics much more than I did. I’m sure people will keep buying Wolverine comics no matter what I say.

Comic Reviews: Forever Evil #5, Loki: Agent of Asgard #1, Ms. Marvel #1, Punisher #1, Wolverine #1.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/25/14

It’s another week of trying to break my wallet, but somehow I managed to hold on, read a bunch of comics and have a generally good week over all. I’m not quite as sick as I was for the past few weeks. That’s a plus, right? But here in Central New York, we’re looking at several straight days of single-digit to sub-zero temperatures. Go winter!

At least there were enough good comics to keep me warm! We’ve got new issues of Black Widow, Harley Quinn and Origin II already, and most of them are pretty darn good! Solid comics like Hawkeye and Wonder Woman are back, and we get the over-sized, over-sad finale of FF! Why do we live in a world where FF comes to an end after only 16 issues!?

Despite all those great comics, Comic Book of the Week has to go to Wolverine and the X-Men #40 because we’re finally getting some forward movement on the Cyclops/Wolverine Schism, and it’s everything I could have asked for.

Bromance renewed? We can only hope.

Comic Reviews: Batman #27, Batwoman #27, Black Widow #2, FF #16, Hawkeye #16, Harley Quinn #2, Origin II #2, Wolverine and the X-Men #40 and Wonder Woman #27.

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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/28/13

Christmas has come and gone, and both major comic book publishers decided to go really light this week. What’s up with that? Do they think we comic book geeks aren’t going to buy our favorite books just because New Comic Book Day falls on a holiday? For shame! But hey, at least my wallet isn’t complaining.

Even though this week saw only a few books released, they are some big ones. Origin II continues the early years of Wolverine, and Forever Evil and Justice League continue the whole Forever Evil foofarah. I hope it’s going somewhere good. Comic Book of the Week goes to Avengers #24! Jonathan Hickman actually delivers a comic I really enjoyed. I only wish his entire run had been this good.

Comic Reviews: Avengers #24, Forever Evil #4, Justice League #26 and Origin II #1.

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Wolverine Can’t Take a Hint

What’s the best way to kick off your new sketch show? Poke fun at superheroes and post it on the Internet, of course!

The Pete Holmes Show might have some legs. We’ll see. But that was particularly funny.