SS/OM: Monthly Comics Corner: September part 2
Hey guys! Ready for round two?
Check out Part One here!
Right. I know. I'm about 2 hours late. Why was I so early with part one? Cause I totally forgot to add all the jump links to all the names and topics in part one. And there are so. Many. Links. It takes about two hours extra out of my time. And Wikipedia has now burned itself into my brain @_@ I’ll fix the first one tomorrow-er-today. Whatever. Oh and suddenly, Blog spot has suddenly changed a bunch of settings on me. Joy. (Links have now been added to part one! Plus, a little extra on Batgirl and Green Lantern!)
Right. I know. I'm about 2 hours late. Why was I so early with part one? Cause I totally forgot to add all the jump links to all the names and topics in part one. And there are so. Many. Links. It takes about two hours extra out of my time. And Wikipedia has now burned itself into my brain @_@ I’ll fix the first one tomorrow-er-today. Whatever. Oh and suddenly, Blog spot has suddenly changed a bunch of settings on me. Joy. (Links have now been added to part one! Plus, a little extra on Batgirl and Green Lantern!)
Now that my dignity has taken it's daily hit... On to the review!
Demon Knights #1
I’ve been on a sword and sorcery kick for a while now, thanks to the latest issues of Journey Into Mystery (review in Marvel section). So after hearing two great reviews of Demon Knights, I gave in once more and bought myself and issue: And I loved every moment of it. A team of sorcerers, demons and warriors in the old days, fighting dragons, and led by the Demon Etrigan.
We start at the fall of Camelot, and are quickly introduced to Jason Blood and the Demon Etrigan, which Merlin binds to Jason. And Madame Xanadu, who was meant to go to Avalon with Arthur's sleeping body. We cut to some time later, with Jason and Xanadu, now a couple, enter a new town. They find Vandal Savage (In a much more barbarian garb) and grab a drink in the tavern to reminisce old times. They also come upon Shining Knight, who is obviously a girl in man’s armour, Al Jabr, an “ambassador, and Exoristos, most likely an amazon. We discover a plot to destroy the town by a conquering army, called The Horde and when the town is attacked, the team join together. And then a dragon pops up to kill them.
Oh, and Etrigan and Xanadu are sleeping together behind Jason’s back :)
This is what I've been looking for in a team up comic: a rich variety of characters, who we meet gradually and naturally but all within the first issue. And we get just enough about each character from a few hints, their clothing, dialogue and actions to understand them without having to spend too much time on back story. They’re team up also feels natural. They haven’t been hired by officials but brought together by fate. They fact that this is also a sword and sorcery comic, something rare these days, is only a bonus to everything else we get! The only issue I have is that Al Jabr looks like a certain character from Assassin's Creed.
I know that Etrigan is meant to be the leader of this knew group, and I can’t wait to find out how he is chosen.
Demon Knights is a must read! Definitely Recommend!
Red Hood and the outlaws #1
I feel dirty.
Oh, not from the content. This thing could be barely considered soft-core porn. No, I feel dirty because I actually paid full price for this comic, despite knowing exactly what it contained. Why did I torture myself like that? Well, because if I came out and started screaming my head off about how stupid and insulting this comic is, without even reading it myself, I'd just look like a complete hypocrite.
I have eaten my words and oh, how they taste bitter in my mouth.
Lets see: Another dark comic? Check. Another set of secret organizations we never learn about? Check. Another team lead by ANOTHER one of batman’s sidekicks? Check-a-roni! Starfire turned into a walking, sociopathic blow-up doll? Che--Wait, WHAT?
No, I’m not kidding. Despite keeping the storyline that she has worked with the Teen Titans (though I still don’t know how much of that is canon anymore either), they’re going with this idea that Kori and all Tamaranians don’t feel emotions, don’t remember past relationships and she will have sex with anyone who asks.
...
Excuse me for a moment.
*Snarls, crashing glass and constant swearing are heard in the background*
Now... I would... LOVE. To let my feelings loose... But I’ll save my “thoughts” about Starfire for a different rant. Lets see what's going on in this crap, shall we?
Roy Harper is about to be executed for trying to help a nation, Jason Todd and Star Fire pop by to save him. They go to a private beach where Kori shows off her boobs and asks Roy to have sex with her. Oh, and apparently she thinks love has nothing to do with sex, can’t remember any of the Teen Titans and feels that the way she acts symbolizes her woman independents *grits teeth*. Roy of course, is stupid now and decides to have sex with her because... sex. Jason, the far more cooler character of the book (never thought I'd ever type those words), talks to a woman named essence about two more secret organizations called the Untitled and All Caste. And we are barely told anything solid about them accept that Untitled has destroyed the All Caste and Jason was once part of the all cast. Some computer nerd is looking for Starfire. And Jason goes to the All Caste HQ where he get attacked by undead monks.
This comic insults me on so many levels. As a woman, a comic nerd, a Starfire fan, as a Roy Harper fan, and yes, even a slight Jason Todd fan (don’t ask) and probably some levels I didn’t even know I had. The characters are one dimensional (except Jason Todd. Huh.), and honestly, if this book was only about Jason, it would probably been really good. The artwork looks like a failed attempt at cubism, and the writing is awful!
And obviously I’m not the only one who thinks so, because when I went to the comic book store on last week there was still a big pile of Red Hood #2 was still sitting on the shelf, beside a bunch of empty spaces where all the GOOD comics had been. If ever there was proof of a god, this was it.
Do not buy Red Hood. Don’t. Not even to see how bad it is. Don’t give this piece of fire kindle the money.
NOT RECOMMENDED. AT ALL.
Super Girl #1
And suddenly, the world is good again.
Honestly, I was never planning to get this one. Super Girl just has never been a character I was into. A little too teen-girlie-girl for my taste, I guess. And the idea that “this Super Girl has no love of earth” held no interest to me either. I thought they were giving another “dark streak” to a character. But when I saw a damaged issue at a low discount, I thought “why not?”.(I’m cheap. So sue me.) And man am I glad I did.
Super girl #1 is the retelling of Super girl's origins, starting when she crashes on earth. Once again, this is a story I've read before. I’ve seen the perky teen excited to be alive, and the confused girl speaking only in an alien language. But in this version, we get to see the story from Kara’s point of view.
Kara wakes up in a blizzard, confused, but not panicking, believing it to be a dream. She enjoys it at first, and is amazed by the robots that land nearby. Then, when she is attacked but the robots (soldiers in metal suits), we see a natural, and realistic view of someone realizing they are actually in danger, they don’t know where they are, or understand what anyone is saying, and something is very wrong with themselves. The “something wrong” in this case being her new powers. Intrigue and curiosity turns to fear, then anger, then panic and pain and then exhausted hopelessness as she is forced to fight each robot to survive, not realizing just how strong she is. So much is given to us it what would usually be a short scene. Kara finally begins to fall apart in her hopelessness, until Superman shows up above her.
I love this retelling. One of my favourite scenes is after Kara wakes up, and she contemplates all the odd things she sees and feels. How her mom would kill her if she was seen in her "Graduation outfit" before the final trial or how her father would love to see the robots. That, and the last scene, where she reaches a breaking point in her panic.
I absolutely love Kara’s redesign. It actually looks like something you wouldn’t usually see on Earth. Only issue I have it... the way the bikini part attaches to the rest just... reminds me too much of the butt flap on long underwear. But thats pretty minor.
Y’know what else is awesome about this comic? Despite all the panic and terror running through super girls head--- it’s one of the only comic's I've read from DC this month that wasn’t dark. I’m not kidding. There is enough humour and comedic timing that the fear and anger coming from Super Girl never actually weighs down on the comic. This is also due to the colourist, who uses bright primary colors reminiscent of Superman: the animated series.
Definitely Recommended
---------------------------
So that was the DC reboot. My impressions? There are actually a lot of good books here. Just as I was told, new angles that couldn’t have existed before are being tried out. And I'm reading about characters I once had no interest in! The fact that some of the first issues are still getting second and third printings right through October means that I'm not the only one. I’ve also been taking advantage of DC’s digital comics, because, well, the print ones are selling out before I can even get to the store. And the system they’re using is pretty good.
I’ll probably talk about what’s been done to the women of the reboot (good and bad). But I want to wait and see what the heck they are doing with Catwoman (the first issue didn’t not instil joy to most people) and whether or not Power Girl is the identity of Mr. Terrific’s new girlfriend and if she is, that there had better be a dang good reason why she doesn’t have her own book!
But this reboot still has three major problems:
1: Too much dark.
Y’know what? Screw it: From hence forth I will name his age (until someone more qualified thinks of one): The Dark age!
... What?
Okay, not the most original name, but it fits. Really, out of all that I read, one of the only ones that wasn’t dark was Super Girl. Some do this well, like the horror titles (and there are a lot of Horror titles by the way), while others just seem to have gore for gore sake and there just isn’t that much left in variety. Or they try to copy Batman. Joy. Which brings me to the next point.
2 TOO. MUCH. BATMAN.
I get it DC. Batman is you’re cash cow. But this is ridiculous.
This is no secret that I HATE how much batman is in these comics. Check out the DC New 52 page if you don’t believe me: There are 4 comics with Batman headlining. 2 where he shows up as a remember of a separate team. 4 different comics with his sidekicks (I already counted Batman and Robin in the first tally). 3 involving one of his villains and Old Western takes place in Gotham. Not to mention Batwing. And that’s only September. In October, there were even more stories for Batman’s villains! And lets not forget that Batman Incorporated is suppose to be back in a few months.
Look at any other character with a headline comic. Only Superman comes close with 2 headline comics, 3 for his sidekicks and 1 team-up. We don’t even get a kid flash comic or a wonder girl comic? Nope! They’re too busy being lead by Robin in the teen Titans. Speaking of which, how many sidekicks did Batman get to keep in the reboot? All of them! Including the one he got from Super boy prime punching a whole in reality! We don’t even get a retelling of Damian’s past. We don’t get to watch some of them grow again or take a different path like Super Girl!
And This pisses me off to no end. Which reminds me...
3: Continuity? What’s that?
Y'know how we all thought that this reboot was going to make continuity less complicated? Well, instead we got the exact opposite! Batman has all of his sidekicks, Green Lantern didn’t get a reboot at all but just a continuation of the last universes story. These stories don’t make any sense to everything that is currently happening. And yet, famous stories like Crisis on Infinite Earths were cut because it apparently wouldn’t fit.
It feels like DC is cutting the old stories and keeping the ones that are the most recently famous ones. I like Geoff Jones’ work, but did anyone think about just, oh, I don’t know, retelling it? With a new twist perhaps? Maybe the green lanterns know about the other corps much sooner? Maybe you could reintroduce us to Damian Wayne instead of just dropping him on us in the first issue? In keeping so much, there is no continuity. Just a jumbled mess of new ideas jumbled in with old ones that make no sense.
DC obviously still doesn't understand the meaning to the word “reboot”. There’s no denying that there are some really amazing stories coming out of the reboot. But I actually would have preferred they did a complete reboot. It hasn’t been the first time a company has done that and had it turn out well. But by just picking and choosing, we’re still missing out on some really good stories, and continuity is just as messed up as ever.
That's my thoughts on the DC reboot.
Marvel
Journey Into Mystery #627
I mentioned that Journey into Mystery had inspired my sword and sorcery kick. It centers around the quests of the reincarnated Loki, who after dieing, was reborn as a young child (who is henceforth nicknamed: Little Loki :) ). He has no memory of his previous life, other then the fact that he is Loki, god of Mischief. Loki is no longer filled with ill will or evil intentions but Thor is the only one that actually believes it. The whole thing is told to us like an old fashion sword and sorcery fairy tale. And it’s incredibly refreshing to get this new version of Loki. He’s still smart and mischief-ish, but he’s not spiteful towards Thor or has any evil intentions. And it’s amusing to hear Little Loki speak in old medieval tongues about the internet or how someone called him a troll.
However...
This is not that Journey into Mystery. That one has been paused before the big climax of the story. Instead we go from an old fashion D&D adventure, to an old fashion Encountering the Devil story.
We start with an old urban myth: at closing time, the devil randomly picks a single bar to have a drink. If the bartender survives, they can ask for a tip.
And then Mephisto walks into a bar. He’s had a bad day and feels like drinking it off and ranting to a mortal. He talks about how the appearance of the Serpent, an Ascardian that's trying to rule/destroy the universe, has been causing uproars on all planes of reality . (Don’t ask, I will explain in the next review when we get back to Loki’s plot). He’s had to deal with the “higher ups”, hordes of demons trying to take power, gather information from different gods, and console the demon Nightmare. He humours the barkeep by “answering” some questions about God and whether or not Mephisto is actually the devil. And it’s hilarious. See, Joe Quesada? This is how Mephisto should be acting. He’s a trickster that says and does things to meet his own ends, and he’s intimidating, laid back and talks like the slyest man alive.
It’s also relevant because this is all the behind the scenes things going on during Loki’s plot.
When the night ends and Mephisto begins to leave, the bartender asks for his tip. Mephisto is impressed and agrees and ask if the Bartender wants to be immortal.
Okay, I know how this ends, you know how this ends. Everyone knows how this always ends. And yet it’s still an incredibly disturbing and gory scene. Basically, he gets turned into ink. Literally and extremely graphically. One more time!: Gore Warning
Mephisto writes a letter to be given to the serpent, and then makes one more: a message to the victor of the battle that “Loki Laufeyson has freed Surtur from Limbo” . (Once again: Explanation will be in October review)
This comic never ceases to amuse me. And scare the crud out of me. Whether it’s a “deal with the devil” scenario, or watching Loki talk his way out of a mess, I have yet to be disappointed.
Recommended!
The Amazing Spiderman issue 669 and 670: Spider Island part 3 and 4
Okay, lets make it clear: I’m going to explain what is going on in this story. If you don’t have a freaking idea what I’m talking about, grab some popcorn, check out the wiki links and settle down for some long reading. Or, do what I did and “just go with it.”. There are villains, events and other miscellaneous things mentioned in this series that requires at least a Minor Degree in Spider Man History to fully understand. However, the way the comic is written, you don’t feel that way. So, ya: just go with it.
And once again, we have another story getting close to it’s climax: The Jackal, an old Spider Man villain with a penchant to genetics, creates bedbugs that infects most of New York with spider powers. Hence the name "Spider Island". Including some villains and heroes. He also gathers together several spider-powered bad guys to help him take over New York. To counterattack, the Avengers, X-men, Future Foundation and all the other heroes of New York gather together to fight back. A quarantine is set up to keep anyone from leaving the island and a vaccine is developed for everyone not infected. The towers act as psychic jammers, and not long ago, the prototype ended Spiderman’s spider sense. (Just go with it)
After the battle is over, life continues for most of the citizens, who all adore their new powers. And Y'know what? It’s great to finally see Pete happy. He can’t tell anyone he’s spider-man, but he doesn't have to hide that his spider powers. In fact, seeing everyone go about there daily lives with spider powers is one of my favourite things about this book.
We also find out that Eddie Brock, currently the Anti-Venom has started to cure people (Just go--- actually, I'll explain this one in my review of Venom #7)
Issue 669:
In the last issue Pete and his new girlfriend Carlie had been checking out one of the Jackals old hideout looking for clues (Why is Carlie there too? Because Carlie is very persuasive. And an awesome character. It might have taken One More Day to get her, but I really like Carlie, and the scenes of obvious jealousy coming from Mary Jane Watson,)
In the last issue Pete and his new girlfriend Carlie had been checking out one of the Jackals old hideout looking for clues (Why is Carlie there too? Because Carlie is very persuasive. And an awesome character. It might have taken One More Day to get her, but I really like Carlie, and the scenes of obvious jealousy coming from Mary Jane Watson,)
They get ambushed by some spider-powered super villains, and Parker shows off some of the recent Kung-fu he’s learned from Shang Chi since he lost his spider sense (Just go with it) Carlie convinces him to get spider-man to contact her so they can form a plan. Yaaa, she doesn’t know about Pete yet either. The Future Foundation have also teamed up with Horizon Labs, the science faculty Pete works at to develop a cure. Not toe mention try to keep Mayor J. Jonah Jameson (Mayor. Seriously. I need to read the back issues for this series) from blowing a blood vessel. They also inform him that the virus is now airborne and JJJ has also been infected *wide grin*.
Flash, the current Venom and super spy for the government is fighting the “Spider King” (a mutated spider creature. Just go with it.). Spiderman meets Carlie later and join up to defeat the spider-powered Shocker. Meanwhile, Julia Carpenter, the current Madame Web, is having a panic attack on the floor because of so many people suddenly being connected to the Web of Life all at once. Yes, there is such a thing as the web of life, which all spider people are connected too. I should note that I only know a handful about all this stuff, so you’re not the only one in the dark. Just go with-- you get the gist right?
Anywho, Carlie and Shocker suddenly begin to mutate further and become giant spider creatures. And then we find out who the Jackal has been working for: The Spider Queen, renegade super soldier and enemy to Spider Man and Captain America.
Issue 670:
So we find out that the Queen is trying to make herself a spider kingdom. And low and behold, all of those deeply infected with the virus are under her control. The majority of New York All of the spiders, now the majority, including Carlie, trot off to central park so they can bow to the Queen. All accept for Mary Jane Watson, who despite being in the middle of spider island, has yet to be infected.
We get a bit of The Queens backstory, and, discover that the Spider King is actually Captain America, mutated by the virus to be her “perfect consort”. Ew. The Queen finds out from one of her men that the Anti Venom is curing the New Yorkers. Venom, disguised as the spider King (who he defeated in his own book) volunteers to kill Anti Venom and heads off. Really, he’s only planning to send Anti Venom to Horizon Labs.
Meanwhile, JJ is so mad, he gives up on Reed Richards, and heads back to his own HQ for plan B. And when his car gets attacked, Spider Man swoops in to save JJ... only to get saved himself by the SPECTACULAR SPIDER MAYOR!!!
I could not stop laughing. This issue is the reason I started reading this series. For this one single moment when JJ gets Spider Powers and works side by side with Spider Man.. And it has been worth every penny.
Anyway, while Spiderman’s brain tries to process all the jokes running through his brain, Venom’s group, called Project Rebirth, informs Reed Richard that they’ve found a cure, which Reed almost ignores, saying that it would be impossible for a cure to be created so soon.
Smartest Man alive, everyone! Give him a round of applause!
Luckily, Reed listens just long enough to hear about Anti Venom. We get a scene of Venom going nuts as he captures Anti-Venom, AV is latter captured by Venom and dropped off at Horizon Labs. I’ll get into it more when I review Venom #7. And as the city reaches 99.9% infection, Mary Jane finally gets spider powers.
Back with Spidey and JJ, they both head to NYC Emergency Command Center and we find out JJ’s secret plan: Enlisting the help of Alistaire Smythe, the Spider Slayer.
Those that haven’t read Spiderman in a while, have no idea just how mortifying this is. Last time Smythe was around, he killed JJ’s wife, Marla, catalysing JJ’s no tolerance campaign against murder’s in New York and “menaces” like Spider Man and basically putting a much darker streak on Mr. Moustache. For Spiderman, Smythe was the partially caused the loss of his spider sense, and the death of Marla started Spiderman on a more determined mission to let no one die.
Back to the comic: Smythe starts egging JJ on. That’s when the Queen infiltrates JJ’s mind, appearing as his dead wife and orders him to kill Smythe. JJ suddenly begins to mutate and lunges at Smythe. Spider Man and the guards try to stop JJ, but it’s too late. JJ gets to Smythe and rips out his throat. To be continued...
I really do love this series. It’s fun, incapsulates all the big heroes and some little ones and there really are some terrifying moments. JJ attacking Smythe was particularly shocking. I have been loving Dan Slott’s latest run on Spiderman.
And honestly, the only problem I have with Spider Island is that it’s mostly over shadowed with Fear Itself, a much larger event comic. If it happened before or after, it could have been so much bigger and gotten the attention it deserved.
Recommended
Recommended
Venom #7
Okay here we go:
Venom: Alien symbiote that possesses the bodies of humans and has Spider Man's abilities, and fills there heads with darker throats and intentions. Currently, Flash Thompson, redeemed Peter Parker bully, honourably discharged soldier and paraplegic, is the current Venom. Using the symbiote, Flash works as a super spy for a part of the government under the name: Project Rebirth. He can control the symbiote, but can only be bonded to it for 48 hours at a time to keep the symbiote from gaining complete control. Though lately, it seems to be gaining more control.
Anti Venom: The original venom, Eddie Broke, who was trying to make amends and “get clean”. The symbiote is similar to a drug, making the owner think he “needs it”. That and Eddie has developed Cancer many years ago, which the symbiote fed off of. But the last few times he had the symbiote, it was driving him mad, and tried to force him to kill innocents. Cut to several years later, the Chameleon is the new Venom and Eddie is trying to atone. Anti Venom was created when the symbiote tried to bond with Eddie again. A combination of the healing powers of a mutant, Eddies white blood cells and the symbiote changed Eddie into Anti Venom, a creature made up of mostly antibodies. To top is off, AV has developed a bit of a Jesus complex, due to thinking of his new life as a “miracle” and calling himself “the cure”.
In the comic, we find Anti Venom in a church, where mutated New Yorkers are gathering to be healed. When the Queen discovers what AV is doing, she sends Spider King (Agent Venom in disguise) to kill him. Venom leaves, intending to capture AV so New York can be cured. On the way, we find out that Flash’s father is dieing in the hospital, and that Flash has no intention of seeing him. Flash's father was not a nice guy: Alcoholic, abusive, and abandoned his family. When he gets to the church, he feels the symbiote start to tense up. It’s loyal to Flash for the moment, but feels bitterness to Eddie. It’s not long before the symbiote takes over, and Venom and Anti Venom begin fighting.
Flash appears to be in control again, but is still attacking AV. AV tries to make Flash understand: The symbiote will always manipulate the wearer. It will make you lie and do things you don’t want to do. Eddie thinks about what things he’s done as Agent Venom, and how he’s lied to his girlfriend Betty and realizes AV is right. Flash orders the symbiote away, and in doing so, the symbiote tries to attach itself back to Eddie. Eddie screams for mercy as Flash watches until he realizes that if Anti Venom is gone, then no more cure.
Eddie lies to the symbiote, telling it that he needs it. But it’s hard to tell if Eddie is lying to the symbiote or himself. Time skips and Anti Venom is dropped off at Horizon labs. Eddie then heads to the hospital and shares one kind moment with his father before he dies.
This is my first Venom comic of this series and I love it. Its an interesting dynamic on Venom and I definitely want to pick up the trade. And even though Anti Venom is an incredibly silly name, he’s also a complex and interesting character. Especially when he’s in the middle of his Jesus Complex. It’s honestly hilarious.
There’s a lot of deep stuff here, whether it be the dynamic between Flash and the symbiote, or even Flash and his father.
Recommended!
X-23 #14
Um. Okay. here’s yet another story in the middle of a plot. Ya, I know, I should have started these reviews half a year ago. X-23 is... uh... okay, short version: X-23 or Laura Kinney is Wolverine’s clone raised to be a living weapon and killed anyone she’s order too. She gains her freedom as a teenager and some time later, joins the x-men. Then Laura realizes just how much being around controlling, idiot grownups like Cyclops is doing worse for her, and hits the road (go Laura). Oh, and Laura found out she has a soul, a discovery that created a star tattooon her palm (yaaaa, I'll get into it next issue). She joins up with Gambit, fights Mss Sinister, discover that the weapon X program is being restarted, has a short team up with Daken, then Wolverine and Jubilee, meets a mysterious woman that knows a lot about Laura and then goes to New York to find Alex Cimini, someone that Laura was once ordered to kill, but refused. Once again: Just go with it.
This saga starts in New York with Laura having a dream about an odd symbol. When that symbol shows up in the sky, it causes earthquakes across the city, Laura teams up with Spiderman to clean up the mess. We get some really funny banter between the two as Spiderman makes Wolverine comparisons and we eventually find out that Spiderman also had a dream about the symbol. Then the Future Foundation shows up.
This issue starts at the headquarters of the FF. Reed and Sue Richards, Spiderman and Laura are trying to find out what caused the earthquakes. We find out that the earthquakes came from a machine at a university physics lab. Laura had been there earlier, looking for Alex, and wants to leave to check up on him. And it becomes obvious that the Thing doesn’t trust Laura. So to calm her down, Sue takes Laura to the play area to meet all the children. We get a cute scene until Laura buckles over, her chest glowing. Another Earthquake has begun.
We also get a few scenes of Gambit running around looking for Laura. It’s sad he doesn’t get a lot of screen time in this book.
Laura wakes up in the lab, no happy to be there. Reed apologies, but says that the machine causing the earthquakes have been receiving signals. The signals seem to be coming from Laura. Valerie Richards discovers that there are two more passive signals, coming from Sue and Spiderman.
Spider Man realizes that this sounds a lot like the Uni-Powers... and suddenly, I’m confused again. Really, we get barely any explanation to what Uni-powers are except that all three had once been possessed by it. I had to wiki it, but basically, the Uni-powers is an entity that possesses other beings, turning them into Captain Universe to defeat someone or whatever entities do when they possess people.
However they realize that the Uni-Powers still doesn't explain the earthquakes or the weird symbol. Valerie uses the scanner to activate the passive signals. Sue, Laura and Spiderman are suddenly teleported out of the room and on to a... uh... red planet in front of an army of monsters.
This issue is just one big WTF moment after another. Which isn’t totally a problem. I’ve already read X-23 #15 so I'll save my thoughts on the Uni-powers till next time. But as this issue stands... it’s okay. I mostly just find it jarring because this series has mainly been about X-23 discovering herself, and stopping the Faculty again. This series makes about as much sense as the star on her palm... which it think is probably the idea. After all, stars are the motif of Captain Universe... hmm.
But the series has been good so far and we still have those amusing moments with Laura trying to be social.
Recommended.
Dynamite Entertainment
Game of Thrones #1
I recently got into Game of Thrones TV series (book is on my list) and when I heard of the comic, I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve never read the book and I haven’t watched the first episodes, so I don’t know how accurate it will be. It was an okay read but... that’s it. There are interesting things being said but none of the drawings actually make me feel interested. Except for one scene at the beginning and an illustration of a really freaky tree, nothing really made me want to read more. And no, the fact that I already know what happens to these characters is not a good enough excuse. Translating a story into a new medium should attract fans weather they know the story or not. Not bore them. I suggest reading the book or checking out the TV show.
Meh. But I gave it to Justice League, so i'll give one here: Recommended.
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So that was September. All in all, it was a really good month. One thing I wanted to do during September was experiment. I picked up a lot of titles that I never would have before. A few months ago, I never would have picked up an Animal Man comic and it turned out to be one of my favourites. And despite some friction in places, there were a lot of good things coming out of the New 52. And I am pretty sad that there are only a few Spider Island comics left to go. It’s become one of my favourite events next to Blackest Night.
Next week will be the October Comic review. After that, well...
November is NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH! A writing challenge to write a novel in one month! And I’m gonna use it to work on my webcomic! I’ll be Scripting, sketching and writing, trying to 50 000 words! So, other then the monthly review, I’m actually gonna take a break from the Sketch-Log for the month.
But check out my portfolio site, Art Slug, or my DA site, where I'll be slowly posting snippets and sketches! Seeya soon!
WOO WOO!
Seeya,
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