New Comix! - Week of 9/12/12

 

Avengers vs X-Men #11
Things are revving up to a thrilling conclusion in the AvX story.  In the past several issues the  Phoenix-powered X-men have become unstable do to their tremendous power and have turned on each other.  Now only two remain, Emma & Cyclops, and they split the power of the Phoenix between them.  In the last issue, the Phoenix's first-pick host, Hope, channeled some weird, mystical kung-fu power (yeah, I know...it's the weak point of the story) and actually hurt Cyclops, sending him to the moon where he took hours regaining his strength before heading back to Earth.  Now the Avengers are marshaling all their forces and have teamed up with the rest of the X-Men in an attempt to curb the ever-erratic Phoenix Two.

The issue starts off with scenes of the non-Phoenix-powered X-Men joining forces with the Avengers and admitting that this has all gone terribly wrong.  At the same time we see the only two inhabitants of the mutant island Utopia, Emma Frost & Cyclops, having a creepy discussion about how they'd like to burn the world and start it all from scratch.  Suddenly Cyclops feels something in his head and flies away.  He meets with Professor X on a beach somewhere and they go back and forth about the Phoenix.  Professor X tells Scott that he's disappointed in him and that he is going to stop him now.  At that point Scott realizes that the professor has been in his head and he has been blinded to the fact that he's been under attack throughout the entire conversation.  Dr. Strange has been holding him in place while the Avengers battle Emma Frost.  Massive action sequences follow with most of the Avengers attacking Scott directly now.  The Scarlet Witch hits him with her hex bolts, which have hurt the Phoenix multiple times throughout this story, but then Emma explodes covers her with fire. Then Hulk smashes Emma into the ground. Then Scott sets Magneto on fire. Then Scarlet Witch attacks Scott again. Then Thor attacks Scott but is swatted away. Then Hawkeye shoots Scott. Then Iceman freezes Scott.  Then Scott says, "I'm sorry, Emma." as he attacks his lover from behind.  She hits the ground and has just enough time to say, "I can't believe you." before he's all over her, holding her down and choking her and attacking her with his Phoenix powers...or something vague.  As she passes out (i guess?) there's an explosion of power and Cyclops has absorbed all of the Phoenix force.  <<SPOILER ALERT>> Professor X steps up to stop him and Cyclops seemingly makes the professor's heart explode in his chest and he collapses.  Wolverine orders Hulk to throw him, Fastball Special-style, but Wolverine is burnt to a crisp before he even gets close.  Scott then falls to his knees and is engulfed in flame.  The last scene is an awesome double-page spread of Cyclops pulsating with power as the Dark Phoenix (see below).  And the issue ends.

I apologize for that long recap, but I couldn't do this insane issue justice if I wasn't detailed.  This hasn't been my favorite crossover event, but there have been some thrilling moments.  This issue was one huge, crazy fight and I thought it was really fun.  I hate to see <<SPOILER ALERT>> Professor X get killed off, but honestly he hasn't been much of a factor in the X-men for several years now.  I'm sure they'll bring him back somehow sometime relatively soon, and when they do, I hope he once again takes charge of the X-men and brings them back together as a school and a team.  Cyclops has done a decent job leading them since the Prof stepped away, but I don't think he'll be doing much leading after the next issue.

Olivier Coipel was back on art duty this issue, which was a very good thing.  He's one of my favorites and in my opinion has done the best job of the rotating artists on this series.  A can't-miss issue for those following the story.  I try to reserve my 5-star ratings for really exceptional books, so this one only scores a 4.  That being said, 4 stars is pretty high praise from me.

- Pick of the Week!

Wolverine & the X-Men #16
For being an AvX-related issue, it has very little to do with the AvX story, or Wolverine's team.  This issue focuses on the villains from the first Wolverine & the X-Men storyline, the all-new, all-pre-teen Hellfire Club.

In this issue we learn all about the backstory of the new Black King of the Hellfire Club, Kade Kilgore.  We learn how the brilliant boy learned to kill at an early age.  How he manipulated his rich father's influence to get inducted into the Hellfire Club as a kid before killing his dear old dad.  We see how he has used the world's new fear of the Phoenix Five and mutants in general to explode his already massive fortune into limitless resources by selling state-of-the-art new sentinels.  By the end of the issue we see him and his 3 best friends, all Hellfire Club elite now, standing outside of Salem Center, NY, the town where Wolverine's school resides.  I don't know what Kade has in store for Wolverine's team, but it won't be good.

Despite being a character-building issue about a character I know and care little about, it was a fun read, well-written with great art by Chris Bachalo.  I have not read a bad issue of this title yet.  As long as Jason Aaron handles the writing, and the same artist team handles the art, this will be a book worth buying.

Oh...and the BEST part of the WHOLE BOOK comes at the very bottom of the last page where it reads, "NEXT ISSU: DOOP!"  YES!!!  I love Doop!  His occasional appearance in this book is what convinced me to start buying it in the first place!  He has been serving as an adjunct professor at the school, but has been little more than a funny background element.  This little weirdo faced off against Thor once!  It's about time he saw sees some action!  I'm hoping the Hellfire kids attack the school and Doop is all that stands between them and the students.  Unfortunately, we have to wait 30 days to find out...GO DOOP!

Conan the Barbarian: Border Fury #2
What a letdown.

This story continues Conan's quest to stop the rampaging of a man who is destroying Cimmerian villages in his name.  With his lover, Belit, a fearsome pirate captain from the South beside him, he tracks the villain across his frozen, mountainous homeland.  Belit is out of her element and realizes that she is slowing Conan down, so she convinces him to go without him and she will try to keep up on her own.  By the end of the issue, it seems that Conan has found the place where his impostor hides, but it's unclear if that is the case or not.

It's cool to finally see Conan's homeland, Cimmeria, that I have heard about for years, but the story is really nothing special.  The downfall with this issue is the art.  In the last issue, Becky Cloonan handled the pencilling and it was VERY unusual art for Conan, but it was very well done and a welcome change.  This issue is drawn by Vasilis Lolos, and it is NOT good.  I don't want to be too harsh here, but it doesn't fit this genre or this character.  If he handles the art in issue 3, I won't buy it.  Not a good choice, Dark Horse Comics.  Get Cloonan back, or find that Cary Nord fella.  He knows how to draw Conan!

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #2
It's been a while since issue 1 came out, but the adventures of an amnesiac Prince Adam continues.

In the last issue we were shown a very different version of Eternia than the cartoon we all knew and loved.  Skeletor has won and taken over the land.  He made He-Man forget who he was and sentenced him to the life of a lowly woodsman in the forest outside of Castle Grayskull.  Apparently the rest of the Masters have forget themselves as well.  Feeling the pull to find out more about his vague past, Adam leaves his cabin and is attacked by Beast Man, who he barely defeats, to his surprise.  He never remembers fighting anyone before, but he has the reflexes of a seasoned warrior.  He continues his journey, not sure what he's looking for.

This issue sees Beastman being tortured by Skeletor for his failure.  In the meantime, Adam has made it to a desert and is in the process of crossing it when he is captured by a trio of nomads and taken to their desert lord, who turns out to be the villain Trapjaw.  Trapjaw sentences Adam to trial by combat the following day.  As Adam fights for his life (again surprising himself with the combat skills he didn't know he possessed) he evades attacks from mulitple nomadic warriors before Trapjaw himself joins the fight.  Without the Power of Grayskull, Adam is no match for him and is about to be cut down when the villain is bowled over by a stampede of desert dragons.  The stampede is the work of one of the nomadic women, who turns out to be Teela and has no idea who Adam is or why she felt like she should risk her life to save him.  They escape into the desert.  Afterwards Skeletor comes to the camp and questions how Adam escaped capture and death.

Okay, the obvious question is, why would Skeletor go through the trouble of making Adam forget who he is and make him live in the woods if he just wants him dead?  He should have killed him back when he won, but didn't for some reason.  He's angry at both of his henchman for not killing him.  I don't get that plot hole.  Other than that, this is a fun, unique take on the He-man mythos and I'm enjoying it.  I feel like they're not taking full advantage of this fun storyline, but as a big He-man fan, i'll take what i can get.

- This wasn't an amazing book, but it was fun and about He-man, so it gets special bonus points.

Weekly Comix! - Week of 7/18/12

I'm juggling a lot of graphic design/illustration projects at the moment, so I've fallen about a week behind on my comic reviews, but I'm committed to keep them coming.

Avengers vs X-Men #8
The Phoenix 5 are starting to show signs of breaking as Namor sets off on his own to destroy the Avengers in Wakanda.  The Avengers lure him in and then go "Avengers Assemble" on his butt.  Namor gets ambushed by Spidey, Thing, Thor, Red Hulk, Dr. Strange, Vision & Valkyrie.  They beat him down pretty hard at first, but then he catches his breath and breaks Red Hulks arm to the point of bones sticking out of red skin!  As the tide turns in Namor's favor, Scarlet Witch steps in and matches Namor's power with her Magic.  Vision catches Wanda as both fighters collapse and the rest of the X-men show up.  At their arrival, the Phoenix Force leaves Namor and divides that power between the remaining 4, to their surprise.  The Avengers on the other hand, retreat to the mystical kung-fu city that is home to Iron Fist.  As they stand there, catching their breath, Hope asks, "So...what's the plan?  Is there a plan?"  and no one has an answer.

I feel like the plot is getting a bit stale again, but at least there was one heck of a fight to keep readers entertained.  Adam Kubert stepped in on art duties and did a good job, though I prefer Olivier Coipel's art personally.  Overall a good issue, but it didn't really move the story along very much.  I'm interested to see how the Phoenix 4 respond to the revelation that when one of them falls, the others become more powerful.  I wouldn't be surprised if they start turning on each other.

Saga #5
The weirdest, most entertaining series of the year continues with this opening scene.

Why, yes, that IS a robot prince sitting on a toilet!

Issue 5 starts off with the pooping robot (one of the generals of the war) being informed by his robot wife that she's expecting a baby, but that his father won't let him come home until he catches the two runaway soldiers and their baby, even if he misses the birth of his own child.  The robot pooper vows to be home in the first trimester.

His prey happens to be the star-crossed lovers that are the heroes of our little story.  As the focus shifts from the bathroom to the happy couple, they are being confronted by 6 soldiers from Alana's military (the "wings").  Marko tries to warn them away, but they get the orders to "pacify" and start firing.  Alana takes a slug in the shoulder and Marko quickly forgets all about his vow of pacifism.  He rushes forward with his blue, glowing sword and takes out all 6 soldiers.  He's about to kill them, when Alana stops him.  The rage leaves his face and he thanks her.   They tie up the soldiers, steal their ship and make their getaway.

In another part of the galaxy, the bounty hunter known as "The Will" is trying leave the sex planet, Sextillion, with the 6 year old prostitute he just saved.  He is confronted by her "owner" and realizes that the only way he can save the girl is to buy her contract, which is way more than he can afford.  He quickly calls fellow bounty hunter, The Stalk, to reconsider her offer of teaming up to catch Alana & Marko and split the profits.  On the other end of the phone call, The Stalk is standing by the captured soldiers shortly after the couple has escaped.  She tells him she's not interested in teaming up anymore and he says he only turned her down the first time because he's in love with her and was angry about the way they ended things.  Just then the Robot Prince rides up on a horse, hoping to capture the couple, sees The Stalk, thinks she's reaching for a weapon and he blows a hole in her chest.

This story is SO good!  It's amazing that they have managed to fit this much story into only 5 issues!  I'm hoping that the death of The Stalk will put The Will on the side of our heroes and he'll help them out instead of hunting them down.  He has been shown to be a pretty good guy deep down, despite being a tough bounty hunter, and I'd like to see him become the Han Solo to Marko's Luke Skywalker.

Before naming this book Pic of the Week I need to remind potential readers that this is a MATURE TITLE.  There are boobs and bad language in every issue so far.  If you're old enough to handle that kind of thing, then pick this story up.  If not, get a little older then buy the trade paperback.

- Pick of the Week!!!

Wonder Woman #11
The only DC title I'm currently following is the weak link in this week's comic stack, but that's not saying it was bad.  Just not quite as good.

In this issue, Wonder Woman's friend, and soon to be aunt...sort of, is at her small-town doctor's office for a pregnancy check-up.  While she's in the office, Apollo and Artemis show up intent on capturing the mother of Zeus's unborn child.  WW, Hermes, and Lennox try to stand against them, but they don't stand a chance and Lennox ends up getting punched in the stomach hard enough to crack his rock-hard form almost to the point of crumbling entirely.  Zola comes out of the office and sees the battle.  She hops in her truck and drives it into Apollo's back, only to have him survive the attack and grab her up under his arm.  Artemis and Apollo then leave with Zola leaving the heroes beaten in the mud.

The next scene is in Olympus where Apollo presents the pregnant lady to the vengeful Queen of the Gods, Hera, who then gives Apollo his reward, the recently vacated throne of Zeus.  The King of the Gods has disappeared and the other gods have been fighting to see who would take his place, and it looks like Apollo has won the spot except...Wonder Woman and Hermes are standing on it ready for round 2!

This book got of track for a few issues, but it's picking back up now.  I'm still a big fan of playing up Diana's mythological background instead of making her a female Superman.  This approach is WAY more interesting and fun.  I'm glad I stuck through the slow issues.  I'm starting to get excited again.

New Comix! - Week of 6/27/12

Fun week of comix!  2 Great ones and 1 decent.  Pretty good haul!

Wolverine and the X-Men #12
This issue picks up right after the events in AvX #6 last week.  Marvel timed this VERY well, which doesn't always happen.  In AvX #6, The Avengers raided the X-Men island, Utopia, and made off with the "Mutant Messiah", Hope, with the help of the Scarlet Witch.  In this issue, the X-Men then set off scouring the globe for her, enlisting many of Wolverine's X-Men team to do it.

Rachel Summers, Cyclop's daughter from the future and one-time Phoenix host, leads the hunt and tracks down Wolverine.  Their talk goes poorly and soon it's an all out brawl between a squad of X-Men and a squad of Avengers and man is it a good one!  Between Phoenix Namor and the Shi'ar Prince Kid Gladiator, Thor spends most of the time getting beat down.  Iceman tries to talk things out with Beast only to get shot in the face with some kind of heat gun!  Kid Gladiator tries to push around his school principal only to have Wolverine attack a certain "weak point" that is left to the imagination, and the Kid drops.  The X-Men definitely have the edge in the fight and in the end, Rachel finds Hope, knocks out Black Widow, and...let's her go!  She didn't say why, but something she saw when she looked in Hope's mind convinced her to let her go.  On the last page she's trying to explain to Cyclops how Hope and most of the Avengers were able to escape when the King of the Shi'ar race, Gladiator arrives and announces that "THE PHOENIX DIES TODAY!"  For those who don't know this guy...he's like Superman with a mohawk!

For a book that was basically one big fight, it was an awful lot of fun.  This series is known for it's humor and they somehow managed to keep that present even in an intense storyline like this.  Chris Bachalo's art is heavy and blocky and SO cool!  His rotating artist on this title is Nick Bradshaw, who did a great job with the cover (see above).  Nick's artwork is VERY similar to one of my all-time favs, Art Adams.

Fun Fact: Of the 7 Avengers featured fighting on the cover, only 3 of them actually appear in this issue!

This wasn't a jaw-droppingly awesome issue, but it was pretty darn entertaining!

The Mighty Thor #16
If you've been following my blog, you know that I'm not crazy about the current storyline in Thor.  The Thunder God accidentally freed a race of ugly alien dog things that were sealed away by Odin eons ago and they are now running amok, putting everyone in Asgard AND nearby Broxton, Ok asleep and trapping them in a big, group, nightmare world.  In the nightmare world a goth kid from Broxton used his imagination to turn Thor into the goofball character that his metal band put on their cd cover, The Deconsicrator (the dumbest thing I've seen in comics in a while).  The big "D" smashes up the landscape in dream world for a while before calming down and realizing that he not only feels his hammer in his hands in the dream, but he can feel it in his hands in the real world as well.  Consentrating, he calls forth a bolt of lightning in the real world and fries the alien dog right off his sleeping chest, waking himself from the dream.

I have forgotten to mention this in the past few issue's reviews, but while the sleepy dog alien story has been happening, Dr. Don Blake, Thor's ex-host from his earth banishment days has realized that he is not real.  He was created by Odin specifically to house Thor's spirit while he was on earth learning humility.  He's not happy about this and asks Thor's longtime villain, The Enchantress, to make him a god again.  She agrees and puts Blake through some weird ritual and at the end she CUTS HIS HEAD OFF!  His head doesn't die though!  While his decapitated head looks on black goo poors through his neck and takes the form of a big, black muscular creature that Enchantress names "The Keep".  Blake has just been used.  In this issue, Enchantress, The Keep, and Don's head take a trip to Hell to use it as a shortcut to Asgardia.  They find the ruler of the dead, Hela, incapacitated by an alien dog (they're called Mares BTW).  The Keep kills the thing and Hela wakes up.  She sees what Enchantress has done to Blake and warns her that Thor will either kill her for this or at least want to, but gives her leave to travel through her realm and onto Asgardia.  Upon arrival, the 2.5 travelers find all of Asgardia's inhabitants asleep all over the place with a goofball dog thing sitting on top of each of them.  They bypass the litter of bodies and head to the throne room.  When they open the doors they find Thor waiting for them, fully awake and already pissed (and for some reason, not waking up his friends and family?).

Okay, i think the Mares are stupid.  I mean, just look at them!  And the Deconsicrator?!?  Ugh...that's almost bad enough to take this series off my pull list!  But the Enchantress bit?  That's got me interested.  I'm very curious to see how Thor handles the treatment of his alter ego.  And The Keep is actually kinda cool looking!

Not great, but getting better.

Spider-Men #2
Every now and then a comic book comes along that makes me sit back in my chair, smile while I read it, and occasionally laugh out loud to myself.  This is one of those books.

In the last issue, Peter Parker into a scuffle with Mysterio and accidentally got caught up in a weird portal that transported him to the Ultimate Marvel Universe.   In that universe, the original Spider-Man is dead, and the world now knows that he was Peter Parker from Queens.  As the grown-up regular Marvel U Spidey swings around town he is shocked and completely freaked out by how people keep mentioning Peter Parker to him.  Then he goes to the rooftops and runs right into the new Ultimate Spidey, Miles Morales, in costume.

This issue: Peter Parker was Miles' hero so when he sees the old suit he immediately asks if he's Peter Parker, hoping that his idol was either not killed or has come back to life.  Peter doesn't know what's going on, but he's tired of people knowing his secret identity all of a sudden and after a few funny back and forths, the freaked-out Peter starts getting physical.  While Pete has the experience, Miles has a shocking "venom-sting" and following a very cool fight scene, uses it to knock him out.  Peter wakes up  in SHIELD custody talking to the African American version of Nick Fury, which he thinks is quite funny.  Nick quickly realizes that this isn't HIS world's Peter Parker and lets him go, asking Miles to fill him in on the details until Fury can fix the situation.  As they are flying away in a SHIELD helicopter it is hit with a rocket blast and goes down.  Luckily there are two Spideys on board, so they save the pilot and escape.  Then they see their attacker, it's Mysterio.

After Peter goes through the portal, we get a scene of Mysterio waking up and realizing where Spidey has gone.  He's not happy.  He gets up, puts on a virtual reality-type headpiece and activates a life model decoy-type body that he calls his avatar and sends it through the portal.  It turns out that the Ultimate Mysterio that Peter Parker fought before his death, was actually the avatar controlled through the portal by the regular Marvel Universe Mysterio!  Very cool twist!  He sees the Ultimate U as HIS playground and he's ready to take out the remaining Spider-men in his way!

Oh my dang, this was SO fun!  Sarah Pichelli once again rocked out some beautiful artwork, but it's Bendis' writing that make this so special.  Character crossovers are usually SO lame, but Peter and Miles are both so likable and funny and Bendis's dialog is so witty that this is just a blast.  This will be a really great collected graphic novel when it's all said and done, but I'm not going to miss a single issue of this one.

- PICK OF THE WEEK!

Weekly Comix! - Week of 6/20/12

Lots of fun comic reading this week with just one stinker.

AvX (Avengers Versus X-Men) #6
NOW this story is getting interesting!  At the end of issue 5, Iron Man attacked the Phoenix Force with a new weapon that was supposed to disperse it's energies.  Instead it only fractured the Phoenix into 5 pieces that then inhabited 5 nearby X-Men; Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Namor, and Magik.  The "Phoenix 5" then pick up the unconscious Hope Summers and head back to Earth (they were on the moon).

Issue 6 starts out with the world being transformed by the now almost-omnipotent X-Men.  They are making Africa fertile, creating massive fields of produce in Siberia, creating a huge source of clean drinking water, and establishing virtually unlimited, free energy for the people of Earth to use.  They present themselves to the UN and say that all they want in return is an end to war and violence against man or mutant.  Everything seems pretty peachy, but the US President meets with the Avengers and voices concern that the X-Men have no accountability.  The Avengers meet in secret to try to plan a counter attack should things go bad, but have come up with nothing.  There's a weird section in the secret city of K'un Lun, where Iron Fist is from.  Some weird monks look at ancient drawings showing an Iron Fist facing off against the Phoenix...apparently the kung fu guy is somehow going to be the answer.  And then we see the Scarlet Witch having sweaty nightmares about the return of the Dark Phoenix.

The President orders the Avengers on a strike mission to retrieve Hope Summers from Utopia in the hopes of finding a way to control the situation.  You can imagine how badly that ends.  Scott and Emma alone disperse the Avengers and even Thor can't match their power. Then Scarlet Witch shows up and leaves with Hope and the battered Avengers.  Cyclops tries to grab her arm but pulls back, his hand burning where he touched her.

Afterwards Scott and Emma contemplate what to do next and he is furious that even at their strongest, even after they have given the world everything it needs, that the "humans" still sent the Avengers to attack them.  Scott's solution?  See below.

This issue was SO good and really got me excited about the series again.  It helps that John Romita Jr. has been replaced by Thor artist, Olivier Coipel, who is one of my favorite Marvel artists.  Things are escalating and I think it's going to be one heckuva wild ride!

- PICK OF THE WEEK!

Avenging Spider-Man #8
This series is basically a "Spidey Team-Up" book.  Every issue features Spidey interacting with a different Marvel hero created by a different creative team.  So far there's only been one "meh" issue so far and the rest have been really fun and have featured fantastic art.  So far.

"This issue finds our titular hero teaming up with major Marvel heroes, Dr. Strange and Silver Sable and was totally exciting!", he said with his voice dripping with sarcasm.  Not only were the team-up characters boring but the story was uninspired and the art was mediocre.  Spidey gets pulled into some plan by two bozos on the cover above into helping some European princess escape from Dr. Doom.  Doom shows up, they fight, the good guys find her boyfriend and get her married before Doom can stop them, and then he leaves.

Ugh.  This was the most generic, lame, watered-down story I have read since that awful Mighty Thor Annual two weeks ago!  C'mon Marvel, how about some quality control?!?  And this has been such a good series too!  That's the bad thing with having a comics pull list at your comic store.  You're expected to buy every issue, even when there's a crappy one.  Next month features a more interesting pairing of Spidey and the revamped Ms. Marvel and features fantastic Marvel artists, Terry Dodson!  Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

Do NOT buy this issue.  It was awful.

Wonder Woman #10
Here we have my only DC purchase of the week.  I have really been digging the new mythology-heavy Wonder Woman story, but the past few issues have really gone off-track.

This issue continues the story of Diana in Hell facing an imminent marriage to her uncle, Hades (eww).  I read this just a few days ago and can barely remember what happened...not a good sign.  Long story short she tries to run away, some of her godly allies show up to try to help her, Hades gets mad.  He says she lied when she said she loved him.  She replies that she didn't lie because she loves EVERYONE and that HE will never love until he first learns to love himself.  Then they trick him into looking into a mirror and then WW shoots him in the heart with one of Eros's guns (think Cupid's arrows).

This is a big departure from the main story and it feels like the writer is making it up as he goes along.  What is the big picture?  What's the point again?  Just 2-3 issue ago this was a compelling story.  I'm hoping it picks back up soon because i lose patience with bad stories quick.

I'm going to be generous and give his 3 stars because the overhaul on WW has been so dramatic and welcome.  Also, the art has been consistently entertaining.  I like the costumes and the reimagined look of the gods.  And Hermes has bird legs, which is fun.

Saga #4
The story of star-crossed lovers and new parents, Marko and Alana continue!

This issue actually begins with a bounty hunter called "The Will" taking time away from hunting the main characters to relax at the Las Vegas of space stations, The Sextillion.  Keep in mind this is a "mature" title.  The Will walks around seeing all manner of sex acts being performed by bizarre aliens without seeing anything he wants to participate in.  The proprietor of Sextillion notices his apathy and takes him to a special wing staffed with slave girls.  His slave girl is a six-year-old girl.  Thankfully The Will is a heartless killer, not a sick pervert and he kills the pimp right there as the little girl hugs him in thanks.  This story is interjected throughout the issue, but that's The Will's part all told together.

Wow...weird opening huh?  Not sure how The Will is going to fit into the grander scheme of this story, but he's a pretty cool, Han Solo-type guy. I'm hoping he'll end up helping the main characters.  Speaking of...

Alana, baby Hazel, and Izabel the teenage ghost are dragging the unconscious Marko across the planet trying to save his life after he was wounded by a bounty hunter.  Alana is still furious because in his fever dream mutterings Marko mentioned a wife named Gwendolyn.  He wakes up and has a lot to answer for.  He explains that Gwen was his fiance back on their home world but when he left to join the war he changed a LOT and she stayed the same and they grew apart.  Then he met Alana and the rest is history.  The next morning they are preparing to leave the planet (i'm not sure how since they have no ship) when an attack ship from Alana's army appears right in front of them.  Alana says there are 6 soldiers inside and that maybe they can talk their way out of this when Marko says "No."  Though he took an oath of pacifism and swore to never draw his sword again he draws it now and says, "We fight".

It has been implied through this new series that Marko is one bad mutha with a sword, but we have yet to see it do to his oath of non-violence.  That being said, the moment where he breaks his oath would have had a lot more weight if it happend 50 issues into the series instead of 4.  I love this story and can't wait to see what he can do, but I have to question the timing of this.

Other than that it's a great issue.  Wonderful artwork.  Compelling characters.  REMEMBER THIS IS NOT FOR KIDS!  You don't want your thirteen year old getting his hands on this.  If you're old enough to handle it though, it's a great read.  It would have gotten pick of the week if AvX hadn't been just as good and more all-ages friendly.

Weekly Comix! - Week of 6-6-12

They say 2 out of 3 ain't bad...that's the case with this week's comix.  Check 'em out!

AvX (Avengers versus X-Men) #5

In the last issue the X-Men and Avengers were facing off yet again, this time on the moon.  Just as they started bumping chests again the dreaded Phoenix Force showed up.

In issue 5 the Avengers brains go to work as Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Hank Pym (Ant/Giant Man) have created an enormous Iron Man suit equipped with weapons designed to disperse the energy of the Phoenix Force.  As the colossal fiery bird swoops down towards Hope, the building-sized Iron Man flies right into it and unleashes it's payload.  The result is a huge explosion of energy that leaves all the heroes temporarily blinded.  As their vision returns Tony Stark asks, "Did we do it?  Did we kill the Phoenix?!?"  The answer is NO.  What DID happen was that the Phoenix was split into 5 parts, each of which inhabited one of the X-Men at the scene.  The "Phoenix 5" (consisting of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Namor, and Magik) simply pick up the unconscious Hope Summers and head towards the Earth leaving the Avengers wondering what to do next.

This story is finally getting more interesting than just a bunch of fights.  This Phoenix 5 twist is a surprise and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.  The art is sufficient, but as I've stated earlier, JRJR's art doesn't seem to fit this story perfectly.  Still, it works.

The Mighty Thor Annual #1

Once a year Marvel likes to put out a barely in-continuity, extra-thick issue of it's main titles and call it an annual.  I was forced to buy it because my comic store automatically pulls "The Mighty Thor" for me and it would be rude to not pay for it after they have based their orders on their customer's pull lists.  Here's what happens...

There are a couple of really vague, insanely powerful cosmic-level players at work here, using such characters as Galactus, Silver Surfer, and Thor for their own ethereal chess games.  Darth Vader wannabe, Scrier, borrows Silver Surfer from Galactus and tricks Thor into helping him fight off an invasion by some vague evil entity called "The Other".  I can't describe what happens because it's so vague and because it's not worth recalling.

This comic was a waste of time, money, and paper.  Just because Thor is in a story doesn't make it good.  I couldn't care less about Scrier or The Other or their power struggle for the universe.  This is generic cosmic garbage with a healthy dose of bland.  It was so boring it took me 3 readings to get through it.  I wouldn't recommend you picking this up from a garage sale, much less a comic book store.  Sorry, Marvel, you've gotta put SOME effort into the story.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11
Why aren't you reading this title for yourself?  Really?  You don't have $4/month?  As much as I loved Ultimate Peter Parker, Marvel is doing a great job filling the spider-tights with Miles Morales.  It's not the same old Spider-Man.  He got his powers the same way, but his powers are different, his supporting cast is different, his setting is different...so far even his villains are different!  Miles is a good kid, but he's very young so it's interesting to see how he deals with the situations he's put into.

In this issue Miles is blackmailed by his criminal uncle, The Prowler, into helping him take out a rival villain, The Scorpion.  This is NOT your dad's Scorpion folks.  This guys is more like a Mexican Luke Cage with an affinity for using a chain with a spike on the end as his weapon.  He really strong and really hard to hurt.  Together Spidey and Prowler ARE able to hurt him though.  Miles finally knocks him out in the street just as the NYPD show up.  They try to arrest Miles as well, but of course, that doesn't work.  The issue ends with Prowler texting his nephew who is back at his dorm room (he's in a charter middle school with dorms) that this is just the beginning.  Miles texts back, "No, I'm done."  Prowler replies, "Oh, really?  Do you want me to tell your dad about this Spidey thing?"  Miles is in a bad spot!

Great artwork.  Great story.  Not QUITE good enough to get 5 stars from me, but very close.  PICK OF THE WEEK!

New Comix! - Week of 5/23/12

Just one comic came home with me this week.

The Mighty Thor #14
I'm catching up on 6 weeks of comic reviews and I actually don't remember much about this issue.  That's not a good thing.  Here's what I DO remember.

Thor has accidentally let a group of monsters loose on Asgardia called the "Mares".  These little alien dog monster guys put you to sleep upon contact and keep you locked in a dream world.  Thor was the first to be trapped in the dream world, but other citizens of Asgardia and nearby Broxton, Oklahoma soon join him.

In the meantime, Dr. Don Blake has gone to the Enchantress to seek her help.  He has realized that he's not real.  He was create by Odin to be a vessel for his son when Thor was sent to earth to learn humility.  Now they are separate (when did this happen?  I have no idea!)  and he has no identity or memories before his college years.  He feels empty and used and wants desperately to be a "god" again.  Enchantress agrees to help him, but knowing her, it won't go as Blake hopes.

Decent artwork, but i'm getting bored with this "mares" story really quick.  Curious to see what happens to Blake.  I would only recommend this issue if you were already buying Thor. It's a filler.  Not bad, but not great.

New Comix! - Week of 5/16/12

Well, I've gotten 6 weeks behind in posting comic reviews, but i'm determined to catch up without missing any of the past weeks.  Here goes!

AvX #4
In the last issue Cap kicked Wolverine out of an airplane over the antarctic to keep him from killing Hope, the girl destined to be the next host for the Phoenix.  Cap wants to save the girl and somehow shield her from the Phoenix Force.  Wolverine believes (from past experience) that the only way to save the girl and the world is to kill her before she becomes something awful.  In this issue he is picked up in the frozen wasteland by the girl herself, Hope.  Both the X-men and the Avengers are searching the world for her and she is in the least likely place, with Wolverine, her would-be executioner.


Hope makes Wolverine a deal.  She wants to try to control the Phoenix and use it for good.  If she can't control it, she wants Wolverine there to put her down, if necessary.  To protect the Earth they hijack an A.I.M. (lame Marvel Universe terrorist organization) spaceship and head for the moon so she can meet the Phoenix before it gets to our planet.  When they get there they find the Avengers waiting for them.  Wolverine searched his soul and decided even HE didn't have what it took to kill a teenage girl in cold blood so he contacted the Avengers for help.  And then the X-Men show up via teleportation (thanks to Colossus's mutant sister, Magik) to take Hope back home.  And THEN the Thor rudely interrupts the ensuing argument by landing unconscious in a crater on the surface of the moon (he and a squad of Avengers were sent to outer space to try to slow down or stop the Phoenix)...The Phoenix has arrived.


While not the most exciting issue, it wasn't boring either and moved the story along nicely.  There were some really great character moments between Hope and Wolverine also.  I still question John Romita Jr. handling the art duties on this title.  I like his art, but on more of a smaller-scale project.  I LOVED it when he drew monthly Spider-Man stories.  These grander-scale projects don't seem ideal for his style though, in my opinion.


All in all a good issue in an increasingly interesting story.  I thought this storyline would be just a string of nonsensical fights, but it's shaping up to be better than I expected.

AvX Versus #2


This title is for the aformentioned nonsensical fights.  That being said, it's fun, which was the point.


This issue features fights between Captain America vs. Gambit, and Spider-Man vs. Colossus.  


In the Cap-V-Gambit fight, Cap fights someone distractedly until Gambit charges his uniform and makes it explode.  Cap then turns his full attention to the cajun mutant and knocks him out with one punch!  


In Spidey-V-Colossus, Spidey is severely outmatched.  Spider-Man is actually one of the stronger heroes in the Marvel Universe, but Colossus is stronger usually...and NOW he is also empowered with the powers of the Juggernaut....SOOO...Spidey loses.  In true Spidey fashion, he prepares to fight to the end, but Daredevil shows up and tells him that Hope isn't at that location so they just leave.  


The art in the Spidey section was good, but the art in the Captain America section was drawn by superstar artist, Steve McNiven, and was phenomenal.  McNiven is in my top 5 favorite artists.  I love everything he does.  Period.


This was a fun comic, though I think it's ridiculous that Colossus has been fighting in EVERY  Versus issue that has come out.  Really?  The X-Men don't have any other tough guys?!?


Meh story.  Great art.  Fun reading.

Saga #3


Winner.  This story is awesome and win everything, in my book.  Check it out.


At the end of issue 2, the two main characters were about to be taken down by a dangerous bounty hunter (both sides of the war want them dead because they are in a Romeo/Juliet situation and if the story of their love got out it could demoralize the centuries-old war) when the legendary ghosts of the forest (called the Horrors) show up and scare the bounty hunter away.  The ghosts are all children.  Creepy, huh?


With Marko wounded and unconscious, Alana is desperate to defend him against the creepy kid ghosts that are rumored to kill any living they find.  Instead one of the ghosts (Izabel) befriends the couple and promises to help heal Marko if Alana will agree to one condition.  She wants to be bonded to Hazel (their newborn baby) so she can leave the haunted forest and the world were she and her family were killed in the war.  Alana reluctantly agrees and they set off to save Marko.  As they are traveling Marko mutters from within his fever dreams that he is worried about Gwendolyn...his WIFE!  The last scene ends with Alana's frozen, horrified face.


This story is epic, weird, and addicting.  The artwork is equally weird but SO good.  Please note that this title is for MATURE readers and every issue has included at least one swear word and one bare breast.  That being said, it's one of the best, most original series I'm following right now.  If you're able to get bast the "mature" stuff, I would highly recommend getting on the SAGA bandwagon!

- Pick of the week!

Wonder Woman #9


I've been really enjoying this new take on Wonder Woman, making her much less of a "superhero" and much more a "mythical" character.  That being said, the story is getting weird and a little off-topic.


In this issue WW and her greek mythology friends head off to Hell to rescue her friend Zola from Hades.  They succeed, but not before Hades shoots one of Eros's (Cupid's) guns (instead of arrows...clever, huh?) and strikes WW in the heart.  He then lets the rest of the group go and keeps Diana to be his wife.  This is extra creepy when you realize that she is Zeus's daughter, making Hades her uncle.


The issue ends with Hades questioning Diana's love for him.  He asks her to prove it by putting her Lasso of Truth around her next as a noose, so she can't lie about it.


The art is still good.  The story is getting lame quick.  I want to see WW take on evil, spiteful Hera, not mucking around in Hell with Hades, dealing with his abandonment issues!  I'm hanging on for a few more issues, but it needs to pick up the pace and inject some excitement.

New Comix! - Week of 4/25/12

Wow! I can't believe it's been 6 months since my last comic review!  Since then we moved our family to Houston and I just never picked it back up.  Guess it's time to get back on the saddle.  Prepare yourself though.  It's going to be wordy until I get you caught up on everything.

AvX - Versus #1
Since I've been away from reviewing Marvel has kickstarted their big crossover story of the year, Avengers vs X-Men.  To properly review this book I will need to give you a quick synopsis of what's happened.

Years ago Jean Grey was killed by a mutant who thought he was Magneto at the time (until Wolverine beheaded him) and the Phoenix force disappeared.  No the Avengers have discovered that it's out in outer space and headed for earth at blinding speeds.  They have also discovered that it is headed for young Hope Summers, the "Mutant Messiah" that Cyclops is sheltering on his mutant island, Utopia.  They fear for the safety of earth, given the destructive nature of the Phoenix, and plan to take Hope into protective custody for the sake of Earth.  Cyclops and the X-Men also know about the Phoenix coming back, but hope that it signifies a rebirth for the mutant race that has had only one new birth (Hope Summers) since M Day years ago, the day that a crazed Scarlet Witch depowered most of the mutant population.  Needless to say that when Captain America showed up on Utopia looking to take Hope with him Cyclops was not inclined to acquiesce to his request (thank you Barbossa) and answered him with an optic blast to the shield.  The helicarrier then comes through the clouds with 2 dozen Avengers pouring out ready for battle and the story begins.

In AvX Marvel is doing something that's half genius, half douchey.  In the main AvX book individual fights are shown starting, described with a word box about how incredible the fight is, then the story moves along without showing the fight.  To see the fight you have to buy this series, AvX Versus.  See what I mean?  It's cool that they are expanding the fights that fans want to see, but at the same time they're practically MAKING you buy a tie-in book.  Whatever...I think it's fun.

Each AvX Versus book features 2 fights, each drawn and written by a different creative team.  In issue 1 we get to see Iron Man versus Magneto written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Adam Kubert and Thing versus Namor written by Kathryn Immonen and drawn by (husband?) Stuart Immonen.  I'm not in the "know" on these writers, but these artists are the real deal.  That's a good thing because the story in this book is very minimal. This is ALL about the fight and both artists do a great job.  The only thing I didn't like about this book was how both fights ended.  Things were going along great and then both fights end very abruptly and without much impact, almost like there was time limit or something!  SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  The Avengers win both of these fights, but again, I'm not sure why.  Both fights are neck and neck and then...over?  Magneto gets disheartened when he feels the oncoming presence of the Phoenix out in outerspace and Iron Man just flies off claiming that he won?  Underwater Namor and Thing are duking it out back and forth when Thing rips the tusks from an underwater monster and uses them to pin Namor to the ocean floor and...fight over?!?  He just walks out of the water the winner and you can clearly see Namor in the background flying out of the water already free.  How is either of these a win?  Neither of the Xmen fighters are out of the overall war!  Plus, it's not like Namor to get embarassed in an underwater fight and just let it go!

The story was pretty week the more I think about it, but the brawls were so fun and the art so good, I'm going to forgive quite a lot.

 - Book of the Week!

The Might Thor  #13
In my last post before I disappeared for half a year I told you how Thor died inexplicably at the end of last years' mega-event, Fear Itself.  That's when things got weird.  Sorry, but this is going to take some explaining...

After Fear Itself, Odin picked up his dead brother and disappeared leaving the 9 realms without King.  His wife, Frigga, teamed up with 2 other goddess-types that I can't be bothered to remember to become the triad known as the All-Mother and announced their plan to unite the 9 realms under one kingdom called Asgardia.  All seemed to be going well with the rebuild of fallen Asgard and the Mighty Tanarus continued to protect both Asgard and Earth...wait...WHAT?  Who the junk is Tanarus?!?  He's Odin's son, Asgard's Champion, and founding member of the Avengers of course!  Confused?  So was I.  It turns out that Agard's enemies used Thor's death as an opening and replaced him in the hearts and minds of the world with an imposter, Tanarus.  No one even remembered Thor.  Everything they knew about Thor got transferred to Tanarus, who didn't even look like Thor or carry a hammer.  In fact, Tanarus ends up being the Thor villain, Ulik the Troll in disguise!  Back to the story...the only one who seems weirded out is Loki who can't remember Thor but knows that something is up.  With the help of the now-grounded Silver Surfer they go about trying to bring Thor back.  In the meantime the soul of Thor finds himself on a floating viking ship in limbo with other dead gods awaiting their turn to be eaten by Demigorge the god eater.  He's weak and doesn't remember who he is until Loki manages to turn Dr. Blake's stick into Mjolnir.  When that happens Thor regains his memory and power (and hammer) and leads the dead gods into a battle with the Demigorge.  Both stories came to a head at the same time.  Evil Tanarus betrays Asgard and attempts to kill the All Mother as his troll army attacks the city.  Meanwhile, Thor destroys the Demigorge and returns to Asgard just in time to turn Tanarus into a smear on the pavement and save the day.

This brings us to issue 13.  Thor's a little mopey about having died and been resurrected (again) but gets over it when he's asked to open up a part of Asgard that Odin sealed eons ago.  Thor says that Odin's gone so who cares and busts in.  He finds a ruined tunnel and follows it to a hord of awakening stone monsters.  He tears through them with ease, but eventually gets overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.  Back at the entrance, the Asgardia architect who asked Thor to clear the area enters the room to find Thor laying on the ground muttering with a weird tentacle monster/dog thing sitting on his chest and exclaims, "We've freed the Mares!"  Turns out all that fighting was done in Thor's head, instigated by this weird monster thing.  I'm curious to see where this goes.

Back in Broxton, Oklahoma, Don Blake is whining to some blond lady about how he has no memories before med school and how he was just an empty shell for Thor to inhabit.  In the end he says he's sick of this weird half-life and if he can't have his own memories he wants to be Thor again.  The blond lady is revealed to be the Enchantress and Blake is offering her his soul to become a God again.  Wow...this could get interesting.

Decent story with plenty of promise, topped of by some very nice artwork.

Extra Review

Saga #1 & 2
This book by Brian K. Vaughan came out since I've been away from reviewing, but it's worth mentioning here because I will be raving about it in upcoming reviews.

Quick backstory:
This story is Romeo & Juliet in outer space.  There are two rival species who have been warring for centuries across the cosmos.  Unfortunately for our two main characters, they are in love and on opposite sides of the battle.  These two former soldiers have rejected the war of their forefathers and in the first issue welcome a baby girl, Hazel, into the world.  No sooner has the mother (Alana) given birth than they are on the run from soldiers who would kill them both for treason.  The father (Marko) has renounced violence so they run.

In issue 2 they are lost in a supposedly haunted forest trying to get away from their pursuers.  Both sides of the war have sent bounty hunters out after the couple, afraid that their story would demoralize the other soldiers and inspire more rebellion.  One of the most feared bounty hunters in the galazy, "The Stalk" finds them first.  She's a creepy half woman/half spider and she takes out Marko before he even knows what's going on (stabs him through the shoulder with her tongue!).  As Alana, Hazel, and The Stalk have a showdown, red eyes appear all around them and the bounty hunter runs away.  Alana turns around to see the ghosts of murdered children asking if she needs a hand.

One of the best parts though? The book is narrated by a now grown-up Hazel.  She's telling the story of her birth and the trials her parents went through to protect her.  Very nice, unique point of view.

Let me just say, this book is fantastic.  It's not for all ages though. There's boobs.  There's robot sex.  There's rough language.  That doesn't change the fact that this book is great.  It's fresh.  It's original.  The artwork is great.  I can't wait to follow this book!  Plus, it's nice to read something outside the superhero genre every now and then.  I can't recommend this book enough (to those mature enough to handle it).

 - Book of the Year!