This Week in Marvel

The 8th issue of Captain Marvel was enmeshed in Civil War, but did little to move the story forward except further high light the fact that Black Panther is having doubts about this ridiculous stance Carol is taking. Squirrel Girl's 11th issue was decent in her show down with Nightmare, it was a throw back to the comic books of  the 80s, but even then the hokey irony of this book is obviously for hipster girls who want to be geek. The 6th issue of International Iron-man was a waste of time with nothing to do with anything. Uncanny In-humans also bored me not of fan of the new In-humans, why can we stick to the classic ones? While I was glad to see Daimon Hellstorm the son of Satan in the latest issue of Hell-cat, the story was treated in the same girly Power Puff manner this entire run has been, I wish they would take her more seriously.Captain America find the book beginning to lose steam in the fourth issue. The Selvig part is trying to hard and this Hydra thing is not really working and I can see it being a stinker that they find themselves trying to correct like One More Day or the Clone Saga. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur finds the book beginning to tread water in the 10th issue , I would like to see sales figures and see if this book is on it's way to being cancelled.

Venom Space Knight was pretty good, unsure how it ties in to Civil War, but a Spider-man & Venom throw down is always fun and it's good to be reminded for where Venom got his start and he is in fact a Spider-man villain and should be an anti-hero at best. Night Hawk was pretty decent , but it felt like the writer was like I want to write Punisher as a black man. Pretty violent for a Marvel book. The 13th issue of "Extraordinary X-men"  was decent, seems detached from the other books and oblivious to Civil War. The New Avengers was o.k it worked with the established story and this team is starting to grow on me. Drax showed some improvement , but it still way to silly for me.

This Week in Marvel

The race debate continues as a seemingly non caucasian is cast to play Mary Jane Watson, which is fine with me as long as she has red hair. The Jennifer Jones casting is more worrisome should that fall into the wrong hands for her Net-Flix series. The Fallen which shows Banner's funeral was alright. It made me think how can Bruce be dead if the Maestro is alive in the future? Just another The fallout from Clint Barton's actions is seen in a few books aside from the Fallen one shot. A-force shows it is and continues to make both Medusa and Capt Marvel further disliked.It's not just me check the comments section of any site where this is a topic and it's all taking a unfavorable turn towards Carol. Spider-woman handles it pretty well and finds Jessica siding against Carol. Sam Wilson Captain America continues on with it's hashtag take back the shield, looks like John Walker is showing up to kick his butt. It's a social justice bitchfest in every issue they should just run this as a web comic on Cnn. All New In-Humans remains another time waster in it's 10th issue as the focus remains on Flint who is a supporting character at best. Marvel is of the delusion all of their characters are created equal and can hold the spot light thanks to success of a character like Jessica Jones or Guardians of the Galaxy.


The Inclusion of corgi's in Mocking Bird was cute, but like my wife's reaction when I showed her..."what the hell kind of comic book is this?"  Power-Man and Iron-Fist's 7th issue finds the book losing some of the steam and serving as the build up to the next issue that will bring Cage into conflict with Captain Marvel. Uncanny Avengers awkwardly resolves the story with the Pym fused Ultron. Black Widow's last issue finds the book still a bore, a shame since it got off to such an awesome start in the first issue.

The All New Wolverine's l1th issue which crossed over with Civil War 2 was pretty damn good from every angle. Captain America's appearance wasn't forced and felt very natural.Though I don't think X-23 is experienced enough to trade blows with Cap like that. The Civil War issue of X-men was decent, the Luke warm fight with nothing happening between the two teams made more sense when you find out it is just a diversion.  The Amazing Spider-man was pretty decent, Robot Master is a very stupid villain but they made the most of it. The Gods of War issue of Civil War was pretty decent glad Hercules is powered back up.

This Week In Marvel

So Marvel might not be as bas as D/C, but they are making some poor choices like re-writing Captain Marvel's origin and not using Johnny Blaze for when Ghost Rider rides into Agents of Shield. Sure there is the Nick Cage connection and they claim Danvers origin is too close to Green Lanterns, but here powers are not.So now on the poor choices made in comics like  the Avengers annual is the worst waste of time ever, much like the rabbit hole of fan fic the book delves, I am not sure why they would think anyone over the age of 20, which is the bulk of the comic buying public would want to waster their money on it, is Marvel this out of touch with their demographics? Like the comment section of the page I read the tenth issue of Daredevil the new story arc is off to a slow start. This goes to show my the writing of the golden age of comics is superior to today's writing, this is not a Netflix show, this is a comic this would never have flown twenty years ago. The 9th issue of Scarlet Witch is a mixed bag, though the vast improvement in the art work makes some of my questions in regards to how she interacts with her brother. Black Panther continues to be terrible so start asking your self now if these past issues were the story board for a movie just how bad would it be....terrible.

Old Man Logan was decent. Some of the perspective the scenes were drawn from one of the books strongest traits. I think it has everything you might want from the book.All-New X-man was o.k, not great, I like X-23, Warren not so much. The story was a little teeny bopper in places. Black Panther show nominal improvements in it's fifth issue, but continues to make me question if he can hold his own in a full length film. The 8th issue of Agents of Shield was the best Civil War 2 cross over so far , even better than the Accused. The Accused one shot breaks down the Hawkeye trial and was more of a Dare-devil issue. The latest issue of Agents of Shield also focused in on Daredevil's world finding him becoming more of a player in the Marvel universe, guess his Netflix series doesn't play into that.

The Week in Marvel

It wasn't too bad this week, though it does seem apparent that the social justice warriors of Marvel continue to push their agendas in the wrong direction. The 12th issue of Invincible Iron Man, finds Tony more preoccupied with Riri, than even makes sense of the character to be. Riri like Moon-Girl is a smart black teenager, which Marvel must find to be a novel idea. Sure the fact she could make an Iron Man suit requires some suspension of disbelief. Where did she ge the money to make the first suit which is more complex than the tin cn version of mach 1.  Even with Klaw, Daredevil's Annual was terrible in every respect. "Uncanny In-humans" has it's heart in the right place as it felt more like the In-humans, but it was not very well organized from a story telling perspective.


The chase scene that made up the 10th issue of the Punisher was a lot of fun and found a cinematic tension that pulled you in. The finale of Dr. Strange's first 10 issues was a little on the anti-climatic side. It seemed like this story could have been told in four issues. I generally like this book and Strange is one of my favorite characters, so it was disappointing. Moon Knight continues to not make any sense. The 11th issue of Silk finds Cindy getting webbed up with the ghosts of her ex. This seems like a diversion away from what this book's story really seems to be about. I could not bring myself to read another issue of Deadpool or Vote Loki.Squadron Supreme was fun and the cross over with Spider-man makes sense, I think Hyperion would smoke Blue Marvel so not sure why that is a stale mate , I suppose it places the Squadron on Starks side. While not bad, the Kingpin lost a little momentum in the 2nd issue of his Civil War arc and they have made it unclear how it ties into the bigger story. Uncanny X-men might have the weeks best art within the pages of it's 11th issue.

Film Review : Suicide Squad

Fandom has become like living in a dysfunctional family. In families marred by alcoholism and abuse, the rule is to keep quiet, live with the secret while putting out a united front to the rest of the world. In fandom this done out of a mutual love for comics, movies , gaming or whatever makes you feel part of a bigger trend you see at Dragon-con, Comic-con or where ever you go to cosplay. This culture has created the market for Suicide Squad. It puts people up in arms at Rotten Tomatoes, because people whose job it is to review films dared give Suicide Squad a bad review. I would like to know who you could expect these people who review movies to give a movie that all of a sudden skips the third act and turns into Ghost-Busters a good review. So Suicide Squad is going to be the elephant in the room, that everyone will want to save face and say they liked it. Perhaps they would like it if they are 15 , don't read comics and get most of their entertainment from playing video games because that is clearly the target audience. If you played Grand Theft Auto as Dead Shot and crashed it into Call of  Duty on zombie mode, you would have the plot of this movie.

My wife and I were disputing if Suicide Squad was as bad as Super-man vs Bat-man as we were leaving the theater. We agreed that what Suicide Squad had going for it was the fact that it did not take it self as seriously as Bat-Man vs Super-man. Everyone in our group of six leaving the theater seemed to be in agreement on the fact that Marvel continues to kick D/C's ass when it comes to comic book movies and this film doesn't change that fact. I expected a similar tone to that of Deadpool. I would not let my 6 year old daughter see Deadpool, but I would have no problem with her watching this movie, aside from the fact I would have to sit through it again.

So why is geek culture so afraid to call this movie out for what it is ? Harley Quinn, would be the answer you are looking for. Harley is a beloved character who is a fun loving bad girl no one wants to slut shame. So the character is up on a similar pedestal as Deadpool, who is the Marvel male version of this obnoxious outcast archetype. This is the first time we have seen Harley on the big screen. Margot Robbie's costuming for the role had girls dressing up as her portrayal of  Quinn almost a year before the film's release. In the end she injected personality in her version of Quinn, but her accent reminded me more of Fran Drescher. I could have done without half the dialogue from her. It seemed the focus was more on the swish she had in her hot pants, however this character's sex appeal worked best as a tease, because she had zero chemistry with Leto's Joker.

Leto's Joker was better than Bat-Man Versus Super-man's Lex Luthor, who ruined that movie. In fact I was find with Leto's Joker unless he was interacting with Quinn , as everything became stiff and forced when those two were on-screen aside from the montage that gave a wink to the famous Alex Ross cover. I know people were upset of the dynamics of their relationship, I am not sure how you can believe he was anything more than her pimp in this movie.

Killer Croc was the worst character of the movie and with Will Smith's Dead Shot and Captain Boomerang being the best. I was pretty indifferent to everyone else and really did not care if they lived or died. Bat-man's appearance worked best when he chased down the Joker and took out Quinn with one punch. The best part of the movie aside from some of the little intro stories than brough the characters in was the trailer for Wonder-Wo-man. Lets break the silence here, I love Dr. Strange but if that movie sucks I won't be afraid to tell you to save your money, it's ok to speak out when Hollywood does us wrong if we don't it will keep happening.