Comic review – Page 21 – Savior Gaming

Ultimate Fantastic 4: Fantastic / Doom

It’s weird to say anymore, considering how bad the movies and more recent cartoons failed and the comics ceased a few years ago, I’m a big Fantastic 4 fan. Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing are a dysfunctional family that go on crazy ass adventures and have cool powers.

Ultimate Fantastic 4 begins all the way at the beginning with a kid named Reed Richards, a brilliant kid in a home that doesn’t understand him, except for his only friend Ben Grimm. Because of his genius, he gets recruited into a special program at the famous Baxter building, under the tutelage of Dr. Storm along with his own children Johnny and Sue. Reed is partnered with an exceptionally gifted young man named Victor Van Damme, there task: create a portal to another dimension. They pull together, explorers into a new world but what happens is beyond there comprehension. Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben are exposed to a strange energy from the other dimension; Victor seemingly disappears in the wave. The four begin to display drastic changes. Reed stretches, Sue keeps turning invisible, Johnny keeps bursting into flame, and Ben becomes a monster made of rock. They all react differently, unaware of a disgruntled Dr arranging his own plans for his old boss’s daughter; Moleman wants to mate with Sue to create the perfect being, creating horrible mole creatures in the meantime. The four must ban together, fighting the hordes of genetic experiments and take down Moleman in front of all of New York…but the Four’s troubles are just beginning. Victor is alive, left deformed and angry by the blast, living amongst a convent as he works on ways to get revenge on Richards. Enter: Dr Doom.

The first 2 volumes of Ultimate Fantastic 4 are pretty entertaining and the origin is done pretty well. While I’m not thrilled what Ultimate Doom begins as, his debut story is cool enough to enjoy. If you like Sci-Fi or wanted to try Fantastic 4, the first two volumes of Ultimate are pretty cheap and solid. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Ultimates

the ultimates

Since we still aren’t totally done with the Marvel haul for the year as far as cinema goes, let’s talk about the Ultimates, the book that kick-started Marvel’s Ultimate universe as well as influenced some key factors of the MCU, while also giving us movies like Amazing Spider-man and Fant4stic as well as an entertaining but watered down animated adapation called Ultimate Avengers.

Ultimates begins in WW2 as the war seems to be coming to a head. Captain Steve Rodgers faces off against a seemingly unkillable Nazi that has been feeding them really advanced alien tech. Seemingly, Cap defeats him but appears to have died saving us from a deadly missile. He survived but finds himself frozen, kept alive by the serum in his blood. Pretty much, the end of Captain America: the First Avenger Awake, walking amongst us, he is hit with the conclusion that Nazi dude still ain’t dead and ain’t even human to begin with. Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D searches out the mysterious Iron Man, delusional protester “Thor”, disgruntled scientist Hank Pym and his way more awesome mutant wife Janet, as well as recruiting agents Black Widow and Hawkeye, fickle aid from the mutant duo Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and lovers gone cold Betty Ross and a sedated and tortured Bruce Banner. They hardly make a team though. Between the disastrous ego of Pym, Banner’s inner demon coming to almost be a bigger threat than the aliens, and Fury’s secrets, can these rejects come together and beat an old evil?

While I’m not a huge Ultimate fan as I stated in my My thoughts: DC New 52 vs Marvel Ultimate post, I do like a lot of the changes made to some characters. I like that Thor hangs out with hippies, I like the dark, creepy tone of Banner/ Hulk, and while I hate Pym’s character from a standpoint, I love watching him get his ass kicked. Giant Man is a piece of shit in this story but it leads to one of my favorite Cap 1 liners “Get big,” before he beats him into the ground at full size. Cap is a full on action movie hero, not quite the super goodie as before. Aesthetically, you’ll see a lot of where the MCU got inspiration in modernizing the looks of a lot of there characters. It’s an entertaining story and the characters are good but a flaw I felt was that the final boss fight was almost anti-climatic compared to other events in the story. If you are new to Marvel, this is a good place to jump in but remember, this isn’t classic Marvel. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Aliens: Dead Orbit

alien dead orbit

Happy Alien Day once again my friends from Savior and I. I bought the latest Dark Horse graphic novel just for this special occasion. I’m going to start by saying I’m admittedly not a huge fan of the Aliens comics for one reason or another and I never read a book, though I do want to someday. I’m happy to say, Dead Orbit is exactly what I wanted in a Aliens comic.

Dead Orbit is the ill fated story of Wey- Yu station Sphacteria coming across a derelict ship in the middle of deep space. Inside the ship are three people in cryo-sleep, all of which get horribly burned when the pods malfunction leaving the crew in a desperate panic to save them. As they try finding out what the deal is with the crew, why their ship was so destroyed inside and why their is only 3 seemingly on board out of 8, the moment comes when they realize the answer. Though sedated and violently charred, two of the bodies start writhing in agony as there chests break open and the Aliens emerge. With no weapons on board, the crew faces madness as the last survivor reveals the truth, and hope becomes lost…

James Stokoe did an amazing job with this book; without a doubt it’s my favorite Aliens comic to date. Artistically it captures the run-down look of the original film while adding a strong manga flair which beautifully fit. The story is short, self contained, and frenetic as hell and doesn’t have huge action scenes as the Aliens title would have you think but is far more claustrophobic horror as the first film. If you love the series or want a good horror comic, this book is a must read. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Happy Alien Day!

Happy Alien day everyone, the second best holiday in my year ( yep, I’m that kind of nerd.) If you have followed us for a while, you’ll know how huge of a Alien fan I am. Aliens was the first or second movie I ever watched, scarring the hell out of my psyche but inspiring me for decades to make my own monsters and pay it forward as the saying goes. Later today, I’m covering Aliens: Dead Obit, the latest Dark Horse graphic novel and at the bottom I’m listing links to every, yes EVERY Alien post I’ve ever done so please check them out and may the gaming gods bring you glory and spare you from the wrath of the perfect organism…

Alien Aliens Alien 3 Alien Resurrection Prometheus Alien: Covenant

Aliens- the evolution and variances of Xenomorphs H.R. Giger : master of nightmares

Alien and Predator: Fire and Stone

Alien Trilogy Alien Resurrection: the game Aliens Vs Predator (2010) Aliens: Colonial Marines Alien: Isolation

Amazing Spider-man: Superior

superior Spidey

Ok guys, so this review is a tiny bit different than my normal comic reviews. Whereas normally I’d tell you the actually book, I pretty much forgot the name of the actual book but didn’t forget the story. The story I’m talking about is the death of Spider-man as we know it and the rise of a Superior Spider-man.

With his life dwindling, Doc Ock has become desperate and with his dying wish wants to “reconcile” with his nemesis. Parker, being the good hearted soul, obliges and falls into Ock’s final trap. He manages to switch there bodies, taking Peter’s strong, young super powered body while abandoning his former pupil in his frail, old body. With a new lease on life, Ock escapes and suddenly comes to a new realization after his old self dies: with new power comes a new responsibility. He can be a better Peter Parker and a better Spider-man, but can his ruthlessness and will to do what Parker wouldn’t really make him better?

This initial book I borrowed from mutual friend, Sniperelitest, has honestly the saddest character death I’ve read in a comic book. I actually cried a little; its Fullmetal Alchemist sad. It’s a fascinating book and really well written; Superior Spider-man is a badass. I do want to read more of the story when I get the funds to do so, but I highly recommend checking this series out, especially if you are a long time fan. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dr Strange & Dr Doom: Triumph and Torment

triumph and torment

Many know I’m not much of a magic, fantasy kind of guy but I love Dr Strange and Dr Doom because of this book. Because of whacky cartoons in Strange’s case and Doom’s horrible film adaptations as is my tradition with comics, I went out and searched for stories to see how warped the translations were. I’m a huge fan of the Doctor Strange ( 2016) movie and well, maybe we can get a good Doom movie in the MCU finally since they have the Fantastic 4 rights back now.

Triumph and Torment is the story of the competition to decide Sorcerer Supreme, whether Stephen Strange will continue his title or will it be passed down to another. Many gifted sorcerers come, but only one truly worries the group, Victor Von Doom. In a twist of fate, the weaker contestants are possessed by a mystic force and its Strange and Doom against the horde. Strange emerges victorious, keeping his title and Doom comes in second, asking a favor of Sorcerer Supreme as is favor: help him rescue his mother’s spirit from the depths of hell! Together these unlikely foes must ban together against the seemingly impossible, while discovering they are more alike than they originally thought.

It’s a short read but damn is it strong. For an older book, the writing is trippy and cool and the writing is really good. I found Doom and Strange both captivating characters and the final fight at the end is epic as hell. If you are looking for a cool, severely underrated Marvel story to read or new to Marvel in general, I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lucifer: Comic Compared to Show

lucifer

So when the show Lucifer came out I decided it was a cool concept. The devil gets sick of hell, moves to LA, ends up helping the cops. Turned out it was based of a DC comic (and later printed by vertigo comics), but as a guy that wasn’t big on comics I didn’t want to run out and buy a bunch of them I said screw it and just watched the show. The show was pretty awesome, so I decided to read some of the comics. Now clearly there was going to be some fairly large differences. There always is. Now a few seasons in and about 10 comics in here are some of the bigger ones I have come across.

First and foremost, show while not for kids is pretty safe for teens. The comic however is pretty R rated. Not just nudity, but its pretty violent with Neo Nazi skin heads jamming a bottle up a gay mans..well use your imagination.

Another difference is Mazikeen, while in the show is a demon that takes the form of a beautiful young South African woman with insane physical skills, you rarely see her as an actual demon. In the comic however, she wears mask over one side of her face to hide her skull. Her physical skills and combat prowess is still there, and she still kind of misunderstands many social ideas.

Another big one is Amenadiel himself, who may have undergone the biggest change of them all. In the comics he is kind of borderline evil white angel that seems to think he knows exactly what god wants despite what god has said or done in the past. In the show however Amenadiel is a Black angel struggling to please god (father). The 2 characters may as well be 2 different angels all together.

Finally there is Lucifer Morningstar himself. He is also quite a bit different but not as extreme as Amenadiel. Lucifer is still pretty much overconfident and self-centered. But he lives up to the being evil portion more in the comic, in fact he actually manipulates and kills people quite often pretty early in the series.

Both the show and the comics are vastly different, so much so that watching/ reading one won’t really do much to the story of the other. The comic doesn’t even have Lucifer as a detective. Regardless of which one you check out tho, you will enjoy yourself. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Captain America: Civil War (Cap side)

cap civil war

“United we stand, divided we fall” Optimus Prime and/or Pink Floyd.

Much like our Freddy Vs Jason (Jason’s side) ( Freddie vs Jason, The Freddie side. ) reviews this Halloween, we bring you the Saviorgaming Civil War special.

After the events of the first two Avengers films and Captain America: Winter Soldier the world begins to see the Avengers in a new light after Scarlet Witch causes an accident during a mission. Things get hurt, cities get demolished and people every time they get involved. They get summoned by Gen. Ross ( Incredible Hulk ) and presented with the demand the government now regulates the Avengers. Cap is outraged, not trusting the government and there intent after Shield was infiltrated. But Tony Stark, Iron Man, of all people sides with Ross. Tensions begin to flare between the frienimies but come to a boiling point when Winter Soldier seemingly strikes again, assinating King Tachaka of Wakanda, setting prince T’Challa to assume role of Black Panther and hunt him down. Cap has to make a choice, follow the laws of the United States and stand by his team or save his best friend from the crimes Hydra forced him to commit as the Avengers collapse and fight!

So, of the huge trifecta of superhero collaborations in 2016 ( Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse , and Batman Vs Superman ) this is the best of the 3. The action scenes are entertaining and there is some good drama to balance. It’s a great end to the trilogy and a good start to Phase 3. The biggest flaw in the movie is the villain, Zemo, who is practically invisible to the plot…he feels a lot more like a glorified name drop. Sadly, I’m not really versed in the book as much as I want to be but I have to say I feel the movie does push the actual issue of government inferring in superheroes to the side for the Winter Soldier plot. I’m all Cap America in this situation; being a superhero means having to break rules and be strong enough to know the limit to operate yourself in.

Savior is covering the Iron Man (2008) trilogy and someday I will read the books for Civil War 1 and 2 and visit the topics again. Until next time true believer, may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Captain America: Winter Soldier

capws

With Infinity War coming to us in a few short months, I thought it would be only fair I cover the MCU as well as I can thus far. For the fourth of July I already talked about Captain America: the First Avenger and Savior covered both Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) films as well as Doctor Strange ( 2016) , so I thought it would be fitting to finish talking about Cap. In this case, I have read the comic too so I got some extra insight on this story.

After the Avengers, Steve Rogers has found a routine in our modern day, working for S.H.I.E.L.D taking down terrorists with Black Widow and being a badass, but it’s not easy being out of your time. He begins discovering quickly how all isn’t right at S.H.I.E.L.D and how a ghost from his past has essentially come in and is trying to kill him after leading to the fall of Nick Fury, a metal armed assassin called the Winter Soldier. It’s up to Captain America to stop this threat along with Falcon and Black Widow and try to bring Hydra out in the open…

Winter Soldier is the definition of a superior sequel. Captain America is much more badass in this film, even from the get go. The fights with him and Winter Soldier are some of the best hand to hand fights I’ve seen in my life. The plot is fairly strong as is the acting and cast. The graphic novel goes into a much greater detail around the backstory of Bucky Barnes during WW2 and his hero/ sidekick relationship with Cap but is still a great read if you like a good spy thriller. Either book or movie, it’s a great story and definitely worth checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marvel stories I want to read before I croak…

Comics are stars in a infinite universe, it becomes damn near impossible to visit every star but some by reputation shine brighter than others. These are just a few I’ve heard throughout the years I want to check out when I get the chance, in no particular order, let’s start with…

avengers vs xmen 1. Avengers vs X-men

Just the premise alone is enough for any comic fan to crap there pants, two of Marvel’s greatest teams battling each other. Is there more I need to say?

2. Armor Wars

There’s two huge reasons I want to read this story. First, I’ve actually never read an Iron Man story fully all the way through. Two, I’m a huge fan of Dr. Doom. Kill two birds with one stone.

3. X-men: Age of Apocalypse

X-Men: Apocalypse disappointed the hell out of me. When X-Men the animated series , a cartoon meant for kids delivers a more badass mutant god than a million dollar movie, it’s easy to see why I wanted to experience him as he should be.

4. House of M

I’ve heard a summary of how this story goes, something like Inception if you were stuck in Scarlet Witch’s head. She’s one of my favorite characters in the MCU but I’ve never read much into her, so this sounds like the perfect place.

That was a small list but I’m sure the list will grow, if anyone has read any of these or any other awesome Marvel stories, hit me up in the comments and may the gaming gods bring you glory.