Category: Comic review

4 super people I wish were here to save me from summer

snowglobe

It’s summer everyone, which means a lot of things around the world but there is one thing that can be said no matter where you are on this world. It’s freaking hot. Sunburn, sweat, humidity and so many sleepless nights and high electric bills but don’t worry, there are some super folks to help, starting with…’

storm 1. Storm-

if you hate the weather, why not change it? Why not have a winter wonderland in July? Why not have a week of calm, quiet rain? With help from this powerful Xmen, you can afford to lean off the sunscreen a few days. Speaking of X Men and winter…

iceman 2. Iceman-

Screw it, let’s freeze the damn planet and make a giant hockey rink! With his Omega level mutant abilities, I’m sure Iceman wouldn’t mind giving us a few snow days in August.

aquaman 3. Aquaman-

If snow and ice ain’t your thing, how about water? I’m sure he’d b glad to raise the oceans a bit and give us a planetary water park with all of the cool ocean life we can only see in a aquarium. Just a thought.

mr freeze  4. Mr Freeze.

I work outside, just how many of my friends have. Water and Gatorade  only do so much. How about getting flash frozen? That will cool you off long term. Just let the ice thaw you out and enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed the list while trying to keep cool and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink

power rangers pink Who the hell didn’t love the Power Rangers in the 90’s? The kick ass theme song, the weird mix of monster fighting, giant robot dinosaurs, and American kid sitcom- the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is still a good time twenty some years later so I was glad Boom brought us the same Rangers, new stories.

Pink follows Kimberly Hart, the original pink rangers years after leaving the group as an up and coming pro gymnast. Life is totally different than that, happy, but she misses the thrill of being a Power Ranger and saving the world with the rest of her friends. Well, Kimberly is about to get her wish when a outbreak of monsters takes over the village in France where her and her family now live. People have been taken by old nemesis Gouldar and turned into monsters to serve Rita and Zed by a new monster. Desperately, she contacts Zordan to find out the Rangers are off planet getting there asses kicked by Rita and Zed. Things aren’t looking good. Zordan, sacrificing his own power grants Kim a weapon to partially restore her power, because she was of the first to touch her coin, the power of pink is still inside. But she’ll need help- so she enlists help from Zach and Trini, the original black and yellow rangers as well as the help of new friends to face a quickly devastating threat with severely limited resources. Can the former pink ranger rise to the challenge?

As a old school fan of the show, the book is a very welcome epilogue. Kimberly is older, more mature but still the girl we knew and it was cool and heartwarming to see her reunite with her teammates. The narration brings a bit of weight which is pretty welcome. Essentially it feels like a reunion special that sometimes feels a bit too lengthy at times but its damn good special I’d recommend to fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spawn/ Spawn: origins

spawn

So it was officially announced that Jaime Fox will be playing Al Simmons/ Spawn in the reboot, which I’m totally pumped for. Spawn was a groundbreaking character in the 90’s, ultra-violent, bloody, dark almost Grindhouse type anti hero which no one really saw before. In the 90’s, during the height of Spawn’s popularity we got a live action movie, sure to be full of blood, gore, mayhem and dark ass themes right? It’s pg-13. Enough said.

In the movie, Al Simmons is a former marine turned assassin for the government, turned to doing some maybe not nice shit for his boss named Jason Wynn. Al has a loving family, his wife Wanda and daughter  Cyan and best friend Terry always has his back. During a mission, Wynn betrays Simmons with his assassin, burning him alive. Al ends up in hell, given a deal by the devil: become the hell-spawn and lead the armies of hell and in return he can avenge his death. Al agrees, being sent back to Earth months after his death, deformed and registered dead. In pain, Al is haunted by the Clown, a demonic henchmen who taunts the newly knighted Spawn and makes sure he keeps his end up. As it turns out, Wynn plays a part of a plot to bring Armageddon to Earth. As the story plays out, Al understands he is being toyed with and decides to fight back against the devil and Clown and save the family he lost, but can he master his new abilities and defeat the hordes of hell?

So much like the comparison I made with Superman: Earth One and Man of Steel , I can for the Spawn movie and the Spawn origins, volume 1. You get the same basic premise but there are some key differences. The comic is much bloodier and much darker themed- there’s a issue where Spawn brutality kills a pedophile ice cream man. The writing is meh, but there is a better sense of pathos in Spawn and a more threatening presence to Clown/ Violator. While not my favorite, I recommend checking out the comic before the movie. The movie has alright acting from Spawn and Clown but Michael Sheen kinda sucks as Jason Wynn. The movie is royally destroyed by the pg-13 rating and really lame effects on top of a lukewarm script at best BUT the actors gave it there best with what they had. So to summarize, read Spawn origins collection vol 1 if you want a good intro to Spawn, watch the movie if you like B movies. I hope the reboot gives us something legendary to remember. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

spawn origins

Deadpool: Monkey Business

dp monkey business

Many a Marvel fan have wanted a Deadpool and Spider-man crossover in the MCU and maybe someday we will. Spider-man, a good-natured jester and Deadpool, a maniacal hit man that shoots as many jokes as bullets, I love the chemistry between the two. In this story, while not battling themselves, they are forced to battle a talented, dangerous assassin, Hit-Monkey. Yes, a cute white monkey in a little black suit going around John Wicking people. I laughed my ass off watching the two getting there asses kicked by a monkey, who is pretty badass. A huge reason to read this is the great comedic chemistry between Spider-man and Deadpool. If you want a quick read with some great jokes and cool fights, I recommend this book. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Iron Fist: the Living Weapon: Rage

iron fist v1

I have to say I never had a real interest in Iron Fist for most of my comic fan-dom. He’s one of those characters that wasn’t prevalent in the old cartoons, never had a movie, and while I haven’t gotten to the Netflix show, I haven’t heard many decent reviews so I hesitant to pick up one of his stories…

Danny Rand was a privileged child who disappeared with his family in the mountains in search for the mythical city of Kun-Lun. He was the only one to reemerge, imbued with the power to channel his chi into a host of abilities and great martial arts skills. After years of fighting as the Iron Fist, everything from Danny’s past crashes down on him. Undead ninjas, Kun-Lun is in ruin, a fiend disguised as both his deceased father and mentor comes for him and his power is drained, leaving him powerless and broken down in this colorful Kung-Fu   epic…

I have to admit, this story wasn’t really my thing but I can respect it. The artwork is sweet and there are some cool fights. The story is a bit confusing if you aren’t familiar with Iron Fist’s story but if you enjoy old school type martial arts stories, you’ll get a more out of Iron Fist than I have. A special thanks to my friend Autobot for letting me borrow it and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

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.