Amazing Spider-man # 700

Marvel has really gone and done it now , you would think after things Like the clone
saga they would learn from there mistakes and protect their flag ship characters integrity a little better do you think and wait for the caveat . Anyone with half a brain thinks Peter Parker is not going to be Spider-man when the sequel to the Amazing Spider-man movie Comes out? The whole Ultimate version of the character is now confusing enough if a kid were to go into the store pick up am issue after walking out of the theater. So that means this is just a cash gran, spawned for the hype inducing even mentality the company began fostering after the first secret wars , it was held in check for a good part of the nineties but now rages out of control. Chasing away long term readers to only give sporadic spikes in numbers as they race with the mess that is d/ c and the act baffled when Internet leaks occur.


When the leak happened Dan Scott tried to say hold on that's not the way the story is,want to be consumed and you are only getting part of the picture and not the whole story...well after reading it in the comic book shop as I prefer to vote with my wallet and only spend money on the type of books I think deserve it and send the message to Marvel that yes this is the type of book I want to end my money on.

I'm not going to send a death threat ...if this. Happened to the hulk well....of its the Samuel sterns parading run in hulks body...I, not sure how I would Handle it so I would rather just block those thoughts from my mind, though I wouldn't mind banner getting killed off if it meant the hulk just stayed the hulk no one else turned into him, and while you are at go ahead and kill of all the other hulks but Jen Walters
if you Need hype I'm ok with that


Some of the book is so foolish it's seems like an old mad magazine parody, of course interviews with the Editors are doing as much damage control and spin doctoring as they can be because you can't ignore the negative response from fans, and there's the old saying ny press is good press, but my issue with this is the brain switcheroo thing sounds like something that even could have happened on the tv show, things like the black costume even made it into the movie so who knows how these flukes pan out....but the fact Peter Parker died in continuity is a problem, Because death is just the boy who cried wolf, we have to live knowing this characters mythology dr. Octopus was in his body and Peter was dead, is can be undone in a myriad of ways, we can't forget Dr. Strange is one of Peters friends so this won't pull any wool over his eyes. But it cheapens the characters history , I obviously can't take these superior spider-man books seriously and it's like being a cheap whore if you want marvel to respect you the next morning you give them your money for it either.

Sure this issue is bigger but the stories in the back of the book use gimmicky for art and are there own little jokes that almost add insult to injury, i would speculate this could on one of the years worst books so its only fitting they end the year with it.

The Hobbit: Movie Review

I went into this a little worried hearing it was bloated and wondering how a three hundred page book would be made into three movies. Well from the beginning this was solved as it went into The Silmarillion...I can't say that word without thinking of the band who wants to be Genesis. The Dwarf city was breathtaking and it set the tone for the rest of the film, which was most visual stunning when it came to the sets and landscaping to build the world.

Not as dark as they Lotr films , the filter on the film wasn't as grayed so the cgi didn't seem to be as well blended as it was with the first films. Though there were some strong cgi moments, the eagles and Gullom being the best.

The pacing was fluid , at three hours I was never bored, even in some of the more dialogue heavy sequences where they were telling not showing.some of the action like the battle in the goblin city looked a little like a video game and I was waiting for Gandalf to hop on a power up. It was pretty bad ass when he sliced the top of a goblins head off , there were a few beheading making the violence more graphic than the first trilogy, though not Game of Thrones.

I like how they never showed all of Smaug, and left the Necromancer a little more of a mystery. Like in the books. I liked all of the sets they were truly one of the films highest achievements , even though they where always introduced from an Ariel shot looking down just like Mordor.

Bilbo was a little on the slim side, but did an excellent job showing his trepidation I. Regard to his journey. The dwarves were good but I didn't like how they tried to sneak some sexy dwarves in , I mean one of them don't even have a beard. It alike Hollywood has such a low opinion of women that they think women are vapid enough to have sat through nine hours of the first trilogy just for Elijah, Viggo or Orlando. I mean how many guys went home to fap to Liv Tyler or Kate Blanchett? ...ok how many guys whose masturbation collection is not solely pictures of cosplayers taken riding on elevators at Dragon-con?

Of course I enjoyed the parts which stuck the most closely to the book but the liberties taken were generally not too offensive if at all, the feel was captured perfectly, the trolls stooge like , the goblins didn't just see like little orcs. This defiler Orc , did look like he stepped out of world or Warcraft or like Panthro from the Thundercats if he was designed by Ray Harryhaussen. But the Orc dwarf war was cool a great scene of the decimated battlefield.

I left the theater wanting to see more and then later in the afternoon when contemplating something to do that night I wanted to go see it again so despite sexy dwarves Jackson pulled it off as I am a tough audience when it comes to my high expectations om regards to all things Middle Earth.

Cosplay Might Be Better

Jamie Foxx has been cast to play Maxwell Dillion in the sequel to the Amazing Spider-man. While the movie was fun but mediocre and full of glaring flaw's like the need to have Parker take off the mask to talk. The studios have now ensured that I won't pay to see this movie.

Sure I already complained about Kurse's casting in Thor the Dark World. Hopefully he will be in a mask and it won't be a glaring mistake , given the nature of the dark elf make up we have seen so far he might be engulfed in latex. While Marvel has been guilty of trying to pander to being Politically correct in its Ultimate universe which in its more realistic design the movies have been barrowing from. I don't mind this Becuase it's not happening in actual continuity. I have no emotional connection to Electro I can appreciate they are bringing different Gillians to the screen than the Sam Rami films and truth be told I prefer the shocker over electro because electro's costume lookings like a St. Patty's court jester. It's safe to say we won't sera very faithful reproduction of that on screen and I'm fine with that, I'm fine with him being comprised of entirely of electricity and cgi. This might be the only redeemable way to handle this if Foxx was just doing the voice work.

But in essence it's the principal of pandering to the public, there are plenty of black characters they could use if the want Spider man to have a more diverse range of ethic Villians, Tombstone is black or the Tarntula if they wanted a Hispanic villian, the BLack KIngpin in Daredevil wasn't the worst part of that movie, with Clarke Dead that character recast would work as the Maggia would be a more interesting story with Slivermane, Hammerhead, the Enforcers and the Rose works for me. Instead I'm afraid of what we get so don't expect this joke to get any coverage of its production and with the Superior Spider- man coming out and major changes for the character teased, I expect another clone saga worthy tarnishing of who Marvel claims to be their Flagship character.

One thing about Nolan aside from Bane not being Hispanic , the Villians remained in their comicbook states, Marvel could stand to learn from this as the Villians are where the movies seem to suffer, none have been great aside from Maneto after him Dafoe come the closet, but we have had a tepid Dr. Doom, Senastian Shaw , Sand man and Emma Frost, though she was hot which pushed January Jones into an o.k place but the horrid ranks of Venom, Bullseye, Jigsaw, Whiplash, and Abomination is where this Electro is going to fall. As cosplayers are gaining more notice in geek culture which is quickly becoming the new pop culture , I think the fans want to see the characters as they are in the comics and if they can get it right why can't the studios or is Comic Con going to be the only place to goin you want to see the character depicted as they Re intended. I'm sure people might view my indignation as racism, I just see it as realism . After all these are characters I have grown up with and know them as they have appeared I. The comics I have been reading for the past thirty years, I see it like as if a black man walked into my house claiming to be my friend Aaron , I would kill him I self defmese for breaking and entering after I tortured him to find out what he did with the real Aaron, so Marvel don't send the studios into my house pulling this kind of a stunt and while Electro doesn't matter to me by allowing you to think we are o.k with this means by giving and inch you will end up taking a mile and one day try to send a black Bruce Banner to my house which will end badly.

Indestructable Hulk # 1

With Hulk being my all time favorite Superhero I wanted to really scrutinize and re-read the inaugural issue of the Waid run. The cover art was great everything thing inside was tolerable, the colors might be the problem, I'm going to need to see more before I make final judgement, but a good story can make up for lousy art.

I only read a little of Waid's Daredevil run I like that it had more of a seventies feel to it and in some ways this book feels like the era in the eighties after Hulk was walking around with a Banner brain pre- secret wars. I'm not a fan of Hulk having sidekicks who aren't a human Rick Jones, so not sure how I feel about Maria Hill, if this was Pak or David , Banner and Hill would be hooking up by the third issue and there pattering here is reluctant.

The first half of the book is establishing the status quo for Banner, though
The fact he was a mad scientist earlier this year was brushed under the carpet, there was only his ephinany and no period of post crazy readjustment, during Stay Angry rich we are supposed to believe Banner was out curing the ails of the world rather than setting Hulk up in death traps.

When the Hulk shows up to smash the Mad thinker, it's a blur of motion and robot fire, but this is less to do with story and more to do with the art, I do like the fact Thinker confirmed Hulks strength was incalculable and hopefully this is how Waid will approach his power set.

I'm pretty hopeful though I imagine all the armour Hulk is picture wearing is going to have something to do with Banner controlling him after all why else would Hulk need armour? This is the only part I'm skeptical of. We know Attuma and Sand man are both due to show and have seen picture of hulk fighting a lot of heavily armored robot things, I would like to see a new spin taken on some Classics like Abomination , Leader and Zzaak. I think we are good on Tyrannus for the moment and M.o.d.o.k is a little overused. I have a feeling we will see Jarella soon for things I have read in interviews. The gremlin and rhino would be cool to bring back if I was making a wish list, which would also include appearences by Hyde, Moonstone...ok vs old thunderbolts, a raft break out? Go ahead throw in a reworked Ring Leader,and rock and Orgress from the old buster sand if I was writing the book I'd bring back Speedfreak and make some b list villains like him higher profile.

What Now Marvel

Well I'm going to need to re-read Indestrutible Hulk number one before I make a conclusive view of it. I can however form an opinion Blut other releases, Thor number two shows promise, the God Butcher is a nasty and unlike able enough Villian though one dimensional. However this doesn't keep the book from being a lot of fun, the artwork is some of the better stuff coming out from the Now books and the varied time frames of Thor past, present and future isn't too much of a distraction to lead the book off course.

Next up All New X- men number 2 shows improvements as well the art is nothing to write home about but the interaction between Xmen past and present is entertaining and working out better than I though of not appearing to be cluttered with duplicate mutants.

Ff 1 is a joke I don't find funny, the Madman artist is absurd as the books pacing, the putting the team together thing seems like its weighted down by the comedic elements, sorry to see Jen Walters dragged into this mess.

New Avengers 34- the brother Voodoo possessed Avengers fighting Dr. strange is o.k Damian Hellstrom just showing up well it's consistent for this book but doesn't work in the story however the pay off is all in Dr.Strange reclaiming his place as Sorceror Supreme , it's becoming cleaner the more I read Marvel that Strange is one of ,y favorite CHaracters, sure I don't like when he is pit against Hulk in the past but have I ever liked that from anyone...so Strange needs is own book but it looks like it's just coming in the form of the illuminati type avengers book.

Uncanny X-men number 2- the red Skull gives Scarlet Witch a pep talk she almost buys into, Rogue admits to being a power bottom and the team is set into motion but Thor and Cap. Red Skulls little band of anti mutant mutants doesn't really seem to be much of a threat so it's a good thing he got that brain transplant which means the mutant power is not the person but the organ it resides in ? So mutant organ transplant means it can make you a mutant.

I also read the beginning of Super-man Hel on Earth. So there's this scarred up clone who is more powerful than Super-man , so in the 52 we seem to be inconsistent with what Supermans true power level is at and of it is what they lead up to be that he can lift the earth a couple times over is it really that easy to make being more powerful than him ?

Oh and we have the age of Ultrom to look forward to. I imagine this means Pym, Vision, Janet and Womderman are being set into place to play larger roles , which I'm down for as with wasp , Vision and Scarlet Witch back in play like the glory days of the Marvel universe.

Thor 1 and Marvel Now checkup

Along side Uncanny Avengers , Thor of Thor God of Thunder,I s avast improvement from the directin the book had been nosediving into under Matt Fractiong. It's no mystery that Uncanny Avnegers is going to be plagued by shipping delays , which I think is going to hurt the book in th umber same and marginally readers will forget about or have a hrd time caring during the gaps.

Thor excels more in the art than story which I see getting bogged down in being told from three timelines past, present and future, visually the future one looks cool inhospitable destroyer armor if not a little too much like Odin, but it see,s a distraction, the flash back parts are tolerable if handled as thei re now if the writer fails to keep it balanced it will be hardcore ,e to care about the modern story and want to read the character int he context of the a never books instead.

My only complaints with the art is the present day Thor should not be much smaller than the future Thor, he,s a little too skinny like the movie Helmsworth Thor and his armour need to dhre a little closer to the classic look.

Red Shehulk continues to best one of the better books, she's fun as an anti hero scuffling with the Avengers and then it gets questionable with all new X- men being a disappointment on how it's being handled with Beast going back in time to get the past Scott Summers to stop the Scott Summers he is now and this new team of original X-men look like their main objective is going to be to stop this new brother hood of evil mutants, which I'm fine with Cyclops being a bad guy now, I think Cable wold have been a better fit for the time traveling.

Deadpool goes to show having a comedian write a comic only sound alike a good idea on paper, I am not sure he is that familiar with eh character shis voice sounds off and vs the dead presidents thing is sill and from the solicits looks like its going to be dragged on for far to long.

Fantastic Four, was a snooze fest,the art was fitting but it is a jumbled up space Brady Bunch book none of the characters felt like they were where they needed to be even with Ben going to talk to the Yancy St gang felt like it was reaching for something that wasn't there.

New avengers...mmm tho book seemed a little off to me there are wrapping this story up at a snailsace is Matt fraction wiring is book now if not who where it is need to stop taking notes from him on pacing.

Amazing Spider-man , a lot of the ideas in this book unshaven sounded good in the planning stages but it's a mess with the two hobgoblins fighting and teaming up and spiderman using goblin weapons to fight goblins well that my friends is what you call the shark.

I'll try to catch up on at least the batBooks today not sure if d/c has anything else remotely interesting, I look at the books on the rack and nothing seems appealing int the least the Lantern books look even more painful than ever.

the Arrow

There are complaints, but why start by looking this gift horse in the mouth, first off I have no emotional investment in Green Arrow aside from stints in JLA and Smallville. He is not handled all to differently than his Smallville incarnation which had already been road tested for the Cw ,so they took it and made it a tad bit more edgey in his approach to being a vigilante.

Oliver Queen is a typical Cw demographic bad boy, a Showtime version of the Punisher would be a better one but hey Dexter is close enough. The show is shot as slickly as anything else on the network , though I would say the hot chick factor is diminished when compared to Supernatural or Vampire Diaries. So maybe this is all about getting the gay demographic on board which Hollywood and the comic book companies are convinced is a substantial margin despite the fact I have seen very little actually proof of that outside the occasional queen wearing a retro Aquaman shirt they got at target, no one has been flaming up the aises in the comic book store aside from Johnny Strom.

The first four episodes of the Arrow , have had china white and dead shot , with the royal flush gang already shot for this, now bring in Solomon Grundy and I would be impressed though I don't see that happening,I'm not familiar enough with his solo mythos to know who else should be showing up aside from the Black Canary the ground work is already laid for.

Hollywood could learn from this series in how to handle origins in smalls doese via flash backs , so far I thinks it's well done though so piece meal if over done it could become tiresome why not let some of it be in secret , I think that's one of the most alluring parts of any superhero to distance themselves from the rest of the world is the secrets which prompt their adaptation to having an another identity.it looks like in next weeks episode this is going to be handled n a somewhat different manner with...spoilers....Queens arrest.

With a street level character of this ilk I was concerned it was going to be handled like the Cape show, but it was a graceful transition, not wasting too much time to get to costumed heroics, something the dark night rises could have taken notes on. The new actor works as well as Justin Hartley and while I am skeptical as to how apologetic they will become at being connected to the xc universe and being a comic book show remains to be seen.i know they are distancing the,selves from supernatural elements but how would a Booster Gold fit ? Hawk an might be too much as he has become that way in the unreadable travesty of a comic book, but there is a wealth of characters to be explored will be a regular viewer of the show if nothing else to cast my vote and get marvel off there ass to bring it to live action television , even if I am leery of another live action Hulk show and would like to see Cloak and Dagger or Dr Strange on tv first.

Incredible Hulk: End of the Aaron Era

Issue 15 of Incredible Hulk marks the end of the rather bland run Aaron had with the character, there was supposed to be a shocking earth shattering change at the end which according to the press would change the way we read the character from now on and what was it?...Hulk and BAnner share the same body once again, like this merger isn't common place in their on again off again relationship , this has been happening since the smart hulk of the nineties.

So what did he do not a lot the whole vs crazed banner was long and drawn out then a feud with dr doom of sorts and then the whole stay angry arch which where really did that go but wrap the story started 15 issues ago. Sure the thing, wolverine, punisher and kraken the hunter put in appearances as well, it broke up the whole hulk family mess, though I liked the issue Red She Hulk appeared in I had the feeling he did not have a good grasp of Betty Banner and feel he avoided the use of the characters most crucial to the Hulk Mythos as he was not familiar with and was afraid to write them as this would show up in his inability to write in their proper voice.

Pak and David despite their faults contributed to the mythology and left behind the pasts the built where , Aaron just played in the sand box too carefully tolerate a mark, while the positive of this is he didn't create an absurd mar on continuity where we would be ashamed it happened in continuity, his contribution in the fifteen issues was almost non existent aside from creating a feud with dr. Doom, which just happened previously in Thor so now Doom has not stone un turned in the marvel universe ,as smart move for a monarch.

So looking ahead we know , the Hulk in marvel now will be working for Sheild and answering to Maria Hill, wearing some sort of a suit so Banner can control him and the little ball floating around him in all the picture I wouldnt be surprised if thats Banners camera to keep an eye on him.

The best Hulk book going now is the Red She Hulk, it continues the red hulk Hulk series numbering. She is an anti hero going up against general Fortean and the army, this is going to put her at odds with the avenges, so will be a hulk vs the world theme which is where any Hulk works best... that is not working for sheild, the art is alright and story is action that still tells a story and moves plot along un like the Everything burns arch with Thor which fet jumbled like a d/c book. Thor make second favorite superhero is going to now be written by Jason Aaron, so I am cursed to read his books, doubt he will do much better.

Wrap up of Avengers VS X-men

O.k going to hit on the big even wrapping before touching on some single issue stuffers. The past couple weeks.

So the shark was jumped when the Pheonix force spilt into the five x-men, Becuase the basic just x-men vs avgners fight would have wrapped in three issues with the X-men getting their asses handed to them , which would have occurred no matter what side Wolverine or Storm fell on.

So it's no surprise this went the way it did , so o.k we undid no more mutants and made Cyclops look like an ass hole, tis is nothing new I have never read him as a likable character. Black Panther and Storm split , who cares? The biggest repercussion is now the X teams and Avenger at further blurred and distort the. Sense of identity. I mean the whole mutant metaphor running the books is the outsider prespective. So take that way and it's powers and tights. I think the avengers had that covered, the fantastic four has space handled and the xmen handled the mutant fringe. The marvel now wants to jumble this up no wonder they want to give avengers vs xmen credit for creating the mess to come.

Other repercussions it looks like I might get my wish of having Luke Cageout of the avengers, the new avengers team looks liked Black Panather lead team of the Iluminatti with of course the now lobotomized corpse of Xavier not counted among them.


Things got better and worse the past couple weeks in new comics. On the better end was " the incredible Hulk" Jason Aaron is unlike Matt Fraction as he will hit fr ever two misses, this issue was a lot of fun though not with out its holes in the story such as it feels out of character for Dr.DOom to seek an outside help from a company who brokers mind assassins. But this VOn Doom chick who has a thing for Hulks is a good addition to the supporting cast, I can do without her henchmen. The doom bots being a sentient cult worshiping Doom, was a twist though this could have been introduced in Fantastic Four and I would be none the wiser.

There was some smashing , and we are going to see him in between the rock and the hard place with the assassin induced head ache and the gamma monsters who didn't pose too much of a problem earlier in the run. So Aaron won't go down as Pak or David but hope he makes the transition to the reboot gracefully.

Avengers 31... The art was great in the sense it was a creative use of splash pages. The whole Red Hulk vs Wonder-man fight didn't make much sense, did he use the ionic energy to knock him out as it sure the hell wasn't with a choke hold. It felt more liken avengers book than it has in the past and worked Asa tie wrap up for avengers vs xmen.

In the worse would be the mess that was Amazing Spiderman, though Captain Marvel and Secret Avengers were not much better. I also tried to give Journey into mystery a chance but it was a mythological mess. None of the books had the sort of art which at least made it an interesting collage of chaos to look at.

The d/c zero titles continue to not having any appeal and the xbooks in the post avengers vs x- men story lines did not look appealing, though maybe ill get bored and give them a shot , this time traveling original team book I will give a shot as I will uncanny avengers, though expectations are low from what I have seen in the trade previews.

Yet to read red she hulk or uncanny avengers so I will write those up when. I do also look for me to a review of the arrow , the green arrow show premiering this week.

Are we there yet

O.k I know I'm falling behind a little bit here, but the big two aren't making it easy as d/c is stalling with these zero books, which is digging into a history that no longer exists as we know it considering life after the 52 and marvel can't seem to put out a book that is worth a shit is one was to see it the other way being that Marvel continues an clever marketing campaign for marvel now, I. That they are making sure their books suck so when marvel now comes out you think it's amazing, what wasn't amazing is the convoluted side kick gone wrong arch to amazing spider-man, the art is typical for where the book has been going, any emotional connection to this alpha kid is non existent.

One of the better book but not as impact full as it has been in the past is Avengers Accademy, they get their powers back and continue to rally against this rich kid. Now in the why do we care category we know most of these kids are getting shipped over into a title called avengers arena , which is a hunger games rip off and if you are keeping score at home then you know the hunger games is a rip off of battle royale, so rip off of rip off story lines where half the characters are supposed to get killed , though I'm sure x-23 will survive.

Mighty Thor takes a sideways turn for all build up and no action to action only no story, and can Surtur really be used lightly after the Simonson incarnation ? Wars rage I. The nine realms but not sure of the point or purpose for you top care about it. And did we resolve the metal kids thread or no not that any one is keeping track of this awful mess.

Hulk 57 , the Mayan reign proved to be a waste of time with out real pay off, sure the alpha flight showed up big whoop, the story didn't go anywhere would have worked better in the defenders. We now know Red hulk is going to be leading is version of the thunder bolts.

Wolverine and the x- men, didn't strike any resounding chords or do much to push the avengers vs x- men forward

The best of the bunch was this vs title, the Hawkeye vs angel fight. Was cool despite me not caring about either character, and black panther vs storm was really a cop out I'm not sure how she could hand with him when it comes to hand to hand combat, but oh well.

The big rumore I'm a little excited about and more so if it proves true is dr. Strange is going to introduced in the Thor sequel. Now while it makes since to bring Majick in this way he is not really some one I consider to be a part of Thors world but I guess an entry point is an entry point, ok you can't stop snickering now.

Hulk Season One : the Graphic Novel

The hulk is hands down my favorite superhero , so while it's. Nice to see him get his own graphic novel, is there really a need for a reselling or re envisioning of this origin story no matte what spin or angle you use?

The art inside is nothing spectacular at times it reminds me of one of the cruder jobs done in the heavy metal comic in the seventies , a big part of this is I. Howthe villian is drawn, and in a retelling to introduce a brand new villian of sorts seems unneeded but then again I'd it didn't have in earth 616 continuity then it didn't happen so it's as useless as far as adding to the characters mythos.

With that said there is a lot of smashing and it is rather fun as the recent issues of banner hulk have been weighed down by the mess Jason Aaron has made. Like a conversation I overheard I the comic book store where a girl lamented she no longer read Wonderwoman as she felt the Wonderwoman who appeared in JLa, was a better representation of the character than how Diana was represented In her own book , is how I am beginning to feel With the past years hulk, so if you are a hulk fan then this graphic novel, might be a good fix to make up for some of the fumbling writing of late.

Who knows what this reboot will bring , Waid has said he is not bringing in any of the classic Hulk villains , which in some ways is what the book needs to ground it the return of the leader, sure abomination is dead but is he really? And amped up Rhino?

Sure those stories have been done before just like even in the remaining here in this graphic novel things change in the periphery but it's a classic hulk story at the heart which is what made it a fun read, I think the classic takes on the hulk cn be given a different angle in continuity, which aside from the d/c earth one competition marvel ight be trying to go for on tho sort of things I'm not sure why some non continuity had to occur.

So if you miss old school and by that I'm mean Kirby era Hulk then you will love this as long as you aren't like me and such a continuity nazi, I liked seeing Betty and thunderbolt when there was nothing red about them, which whenevery one is a hulk then how can being a hulk be that incredible?

Curse of Kurse...and other news.

Well last weeks comics were so bad and I'm going to dragon con and won't get to check out this weeks unless they have them in a dealers room, so it's new and rumors , while the Joss Whedon S.h.e.i.l.d show is a little bit of a let down since none of the guys in the organization have powers so it's basically a crime drama, we are going to talk about Thor casting.

Adewale Abadje who would be an excellent choice for Black Panther has been cast as Algrim the strong otherwise known as Kurse. My question is what has changed since the lord of the rings trilogy to require affirmative action in casting? Did the orcs fill the quota? Because as if Heimdall wasn't bad enough we now have black elves.I know the title is the dark world, but in 2012 blacks make up 1.9 percent of the population of Norway, for those of you who are slow this is where Norse Mythology came from. So in 5 a.d how many black people to you think were there ? In medieval times how many black people were anywhere other than Africa and Egypt ? Ok you can count aboriginal man as well asnd say Australia.

I know Norse mythology isn't the only place elves were derived from they also came from
Old English myth where they were called Albiz in the protogermanic , which was derived from the Latin word albums which means ....white. Now you can scream racist or you can say well those or the facts, if I wanna make movie about zebras, they might have stripes

Another point of interest being black or dark elves did not mean skin tone but that they were dim and dingy, so not the skilled and the brightest of the elves...and you cast a black man to play this part, guess that kinda bck fired unless you re trying to say in the nine real,s of Norse myths , black are dumb and dirty. I'm not judging just pointing out, an interesting artistic direction, I will not comment further that assessment, but if you are basing characters in mythology do your research.

Other new the justice league movie is going to be the vehicle to reintroduce the rebooted post Nolan Batman.Let me restate how fucked up Dc is whenit comes to being behind marvel on movies now, Man of Steel better deliverall of their movies hinge on this if they are in development or not.Becused Superman goes the way of GreenLantern, then forget wonder woman and know you are going the making another League of Extrodinary Gentlemen or even a Mystery men if you are not careful.

And what's happen in comic last week nothing they wasted a bunch of paper across the board better luck this week.

New..er Comics and other News

So the panels involving any avengers versus any x-men could have been condensed down into no more than six pages, proving every other big event in marvel might be interesting as I think it's safe to say I enjoyed siege more, though that's two years ago now what was last year? Obviously something memorable. Amazing spider man the art didn't do much and lotta lizards pretty unremarkable ,but much less of a mess than the whole Mayan rule thing in the hulk title continues to be a d/c worthy clusterfuck of esoteric jumbo. Avengers 29...should have come out weeks ago the pacing of releases on a vs x is just horrible so Xavier popped up and made everyone think it was a dream to make him seem like he has had more of a prescience in this along...right. The editorial back pedaling to try and make the x-men seem less like the bad guys in hindsight is a pretty oops look at that corner we just wrote ourselves into and al these earth shaking changes , well you have got two issues to pull it off. Avengers academy ...held my attention , I liked the art alright as in it brought me back to the late 90s, the story works but feels like a cartoon mixed with a show on the cw The second issue of captain marvel is going to the drain already , the first issue the story. Add up for the art here it's like a wonder woman story line, mixed with the movie kick ass, the are dong a lot of remixes if you see the theme. Daredevil 17...felt very old school,almost forgot stilt man was a real thing which helped perpetuate the seventies vibe but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing Dead pool...59, yeah you read right he's getting his ass served to him by black Tom Cassidy and theres no juggernaut around, I need to go back and wiki it but where did Cain marko go when we got the juggerlossus? I think we last saw him in fear itself , that's the big post siege event I almost forgot, D/c is a sinking ship even Aquaman can't save, quick press sensationalism, has wonder woman and super man now about to hook up, I see this as the same as when celebrity just happen to start dating when they have a new movie coming out, if doubles their media coverage even though said actor is more than likely gay and his supposed love interest is sleeping with asixty year of studio executive. The chemistry these characters have is questionable the promo art hs super mn entwined in here lasso which brings back the s&m element that used to be present back in the golden years of wonder woman, I think the should be explored more and the dominatrix side of wonder woman is sadly ignored I see her being more of an Emma frost like figure just mor pragmatic . Other new rob lefield is leaving dc and had some. Biting parting shots about the companies editorial process and creative freedo. The general public is beginning to wise up to the 52 debacle and when I say general public I mean fans sounding off on the Internet,since we are the public who reds these make no mistake about, in expanding your audience d/c needs to ask why every person who watches big bang theory , alphas or dr who isn't reading their books, ok dr who there might be a stretch but the audience is out there and confused as to what is going on and could careless about reboots.

Winter is coming and so is Dragon con 2012

Love me ? Hate me? Wanna hang out with me at Dragon con next week? Well here's a look at the programming which will give you an idea where i can be found at the worlds largest fan centric con...cus we know comic con is a trade show for the studios ...


A word of warning some of these time slots might feature dual listing Becuase I am interested in both, so I am giving myself options as there is the element of can I make it from one hotel to the next in time and such, so not to confuse you, but as cons go you don't normally get to go to every panel you want



Friday
10 a.m. Marriott ...how have movies treated the paranormal

11:00 am Hyatt: good the bad the undead- the appeal of vampires

1:00-Marriott ...true blood

2:30 Marriott ...alphas

7pm. State of the goth scene

8:30 dr horrible picture show


10 - the metaphysics of love craft

11:30 fet life



Sat

10... Brit tv you should be watching

1:00 supernatural this is at the Marriott I got so bored with last season not sure if a panel o. It could keep me awake

2:30 westin...Buffy q&a


830 hyatt...hammer horror



Sun

1130 Hyatt... Witching hour

1:00 free masonry

2:30 file sharing litigation
Or spike and drusilla

5:30
Alice cooper

8:30 being human bbc

Monday
10 am puppets on film

Both sat and sun night there are bdsm panels, I'm performing with the burlesque troupe sat night so that will overlap into some of that and will also be doing promo for chambers of horror at some junctures.

Obviously the official schedule which normally has the comics panel and writing panels listed should fill in the gaps more often than not I find my self floating between the writing panels and dark fantasy In the bottoms of the Hyatt, all the Buffy stuff is over at the westin, the plus about that hotel is the bathrooms
Are easily accessed as well as the coffee shop

Catching up with even more comics

Just read the last two issues of Thor and while, the art was pretty good, it still suffers from some. Tedious story telling especially in the last issue's everything burns prelude, one of the current trends in comics is too much back story this destroys the mystique of the characters being enigmas behind the masks, so prelude is now code for okie me to tears, sure the r end of prequels sell I theater when're we are cashing in on a known commodity . If the writers need to write back story to give them abetter grip on the character that's fine but it doesn't need to be printed. Enchantress made a new version of the executioner, Donald Blake is a dream head of some kind who is talking to Thor, who in turn fights the executioner monster thing, all the meanwhile we have sulky metal kid drawin sigils and runes at school. Then cut Thore trying to put out afire with snow, it's special angry race of people who made a deal with Surtur, and Loki oh talks about the whole thing lots. Incredible Hulk # 12 is one of the better issues of the stay angry run, I like the wolverine and thing fight seeing him fight both at the same time and doing well with it means his power levels haven't been dialed back. But like the other books I find myspe for caring about what is going on becaus I have the pre re boot blues. In Avengers vs x-men stuff, we got a boring coffee talk with the illuminati which was a waste of some great art and further points the disorganization in this event as the cross over issues aren't lined up with the main book and event the vs title seems to be slow coming if any one even cares about that one now, whos even in the next one a black panther vs storm fight which occurred in the first issue? Professor x ran off pouting like Sookie stack house because he didn't like the thoughts he was reading, which raises the question can he also smell what the Rock is cooking. This really feels like pro wrestling writing as people are flip flopping from heel to face in the span of a couple of panels. This event had the potential to be great but even at its high points will go down as the worst summer cross over ever and maybe the reboot will write it out of continuity. Nothing really interesting has been happening in the spider man books and scarlet spider man is no exception even with the Rangers making an appearence so you know your are making a misstep if you can't entertain me with obscure seventies characters. My big hope now for avengers vs xmen is the bring back Mantis or Moon dragon. D/c well...batman and robin was alright, but I have pretty much reached a point to where I just don't care anymore, the Ben affect directing the justice league movie surfaced this week, and who cares they have missed the boat on building their cinematic verse and now anything will be too little too late , though the green arrow previews I have seen for the tv show look alright.

Catching up on comics July

Cruising the comic forums , I can see the fall out among fans is Avengers vs X- men like a child game of pretend being played out caress with action figures as they go along. To many cooks n the kitchen, a common response to the piece meal plot lines dying out from left field.as they say in the movie spinal tap


There's a fine line between clever and stupid.


This should be the slogan for marvel now. Why am I leaning. Towards skeptical on this well look at the even it's springing from. D/ C seems to be going back to their old ways post reboot, with stories to obtuse to care and every panel epic godlike fights and no one has a reason to care. I find myself starting to cre less about aqua man with every passin tissue two of my favorite d/c characters swap thing and hackman have been rendered unreadable , this week I'm going to give swamp thing another shot for this rot world

We did learn Thor and hulk who is now going to be the indestructible  hulk are both getting new writers, mark wadi whose work I really only know from daredevil is going over to hulk, on daredevil his grasp of super powers is we'll nt on the scale of hulk but anything gold be better than what we have now which is me wishing for Greg paks return.

incredible Hulk- the stay angry arch needs some work, Kraven and some yetis making mischief , yeti shaman can make trouble for the Hulk and none of this really explains much of anything , lets just have him wake in random situations, the next issue he fights Thing and Wolverine so if that gets fucked up then I don't know what to say , the end game we have seen coming before the reboot is a showdown with Dr. Doom.

Avengers # 28 - Ross Hulk goes in to black ops mode to assassinate Cyclops, and runs up against other Phoenix forcers who arent having it. He has a better showing against them than most though in continuity are we saying this is before or after the Namor arm break? Or does it even matter as his healing factor is that fast? The art was fine Siminson seems to be dialing it these days , why don't they just go ahead and give him Thor ? Avengers academy #34 - I think it this book isn't making it to marvel now, feels like they are taking their time to wrap up loose ends, the de powered Mettle and Hazmat, Reptil getting his gem ripped out, this spoiled brat of a villian whose power level or even powers don't seem to be established what is he the son of count neferia? Seems like things are going south here . Defenders # 9 - if they are fighting Hydra then this book is really flying blind in the wrong direction and the writer would do well do go back and actual go read some defenders comics from the eighties to find out what this comic is about. Need some plot threads how about vs the vampire nation, throwing them into the weird inter dimensional time mess the thunderbolts are in, or the whole Mayan reign thing, va the alpha flight would be cool as well, but silver surfer could take out hydra with one hand. Dark Avengers # 178- well this lacks direction and seems to be chasing its tail, I love the concept of the dark avengers to thrilled about this line up,but really what's the point here? Sorry to see skaar caught up in this waste, it's like watching the dead letter office for c list characters , which luke cage should be numbered among if it wasn't for bendis fleshing him out so in his books, but not a lot is interesting about him to get this much Cage. Invincible Iron man #522 - the trend here is marvel is making mucked up messes with a lot of books this one just happens to be a pretty mess. Got stark is a prisoner of the Mandrain, and just when pray tell is this occurring while he is figuring out the Phoenix force? Now every one has armor so what's so special about it toney? Rescue throw her on the west coast avengers too many iron people . Now some new guy with the tRon mach 1 design. X- men legacy # 271 - ms mArvel and rouge team up to clean up this mess rogue hs allowed Majick to make with her hell prison, normally like the art in this but it didn't wow me, we see rogue gets removed from the chess board as she was going to cross party lines and I'm guessing this is what crosses her over in uncanny avengers and legacy goes bye bye.not that there aren't already enough x books. X-men # 33 - it was an improvement on all fronts, the best out there not so much, while I like me some  x-Ladies , the female heavy team isn't my first pick it could use some balance though after the re-boot it won't matter. Colossus feel much more like him self than in AVSX, this issue did balance the action and story which the previous issues had been dragging a bit ,

Wolverine # 311-oops I saw this is coming out next week, but thanks to the crafty ways of the inner webs I went ahead and found it so here we go , Sabertooth is back, though it seems he has already been back so how many times he is going to get killed and brought back I dunno this one and others came of of test tubes. Romulus has a hot twin sister who makes herself known and the art work is great one of the better books I have read this month.

Dectective comics # 12 The art saved this one as the action and story got pretty muddy. The villian twirled his mustache a little much and the tone of the book descended into what looked like a marketing ploy for a Batman in his new anti toxic armor. Action Comics # 12- one of the better D/C books , largely in part to Grant Morrison , who tackles the sacred cow that is Super-man , he doesn't follow the normal formula used with Clark, and takes full advantage of the reboot, thrown into an established Super-man , I am not sure how he would fare as it feels like he had to show up with his own sand box to play in. He art is ok, the story I like how it's handled but gets obtuse in portions but that is how they like to roll at d/c .

Swamp-Thing # 12- it feels like it wants to be Sand-man on almost every level, this book along with Animal-man is getting critical acclaim for reasons unknown to , me the change in Swamp things appearance still doesn't work for me, and this rot has being going on for 12 issues now give it a rest .    

The Dark Knight Rises

You can make a comic book come to life on the screen and even take a few commercial liberties with it and have a movie like the Avengers or you can use the brand of a well known comic icon as a vehicle to use as your Trojan horse so make a gangster movie drenched in social commentary. Chris Nolan is not in the 99% no matter the moral of this story. Bat-man on your poster sells tickets you don't even have to have him in the bulk of your film. 1 minute of Bat-man on a cycle in the car garage. Roughly 3 more mins of quick cuts of him on his bike in a chase scene. 3 more minutes cavorting with Cat-woman. So if you are keeping score at home that's only 7 minutes of onscreen Bat-Man in the first hour. Then we get almost 7 minutes of the bat as well as the first awkward Bane vs Bat-man fight which i have seen plenty of pro wrestling better choreographed. The design of the Bat-man suit lends it's self to very restrained and stiff movements...now you see why they wear spandex. I get why Bane is the villain. Nolan wanted a physical threat. Given the insulated nature of his Gotham, Clay Face, Man-Bat or Killer Croc could not fit the no powers rule. Tom Hardy's Bane, grandstands in an annoying Dracula like accent through more of the film than Bale is in the suit. His dialogue is more tell less show, and breaks a few writing rules and not in a creative manner. Anne Hathaway's "Cat-burglar " is more appealing than most characters i n this film and not just because of her costume, in fact she lacks the sexuality that even Halle Barrie's version had. Then a thirty mind lag until Bat-man appears again, subtract about 15 minutes of now Bat-man , and you still have under an hour of Bat-man in the entire two and a half hour movie. Some of the Bat-man scenes in the last hour are just flashes of him piloting the Bat-wing. The bat-wing's chasing Talia Al-Ghul in the climatic build or what should have been a climatic build would have been more exciting if it had played off more genre cliques , it was flat enough as it was and seemed very uninspired. Already speculation around Christopher Nolan's next project might be already swirls the inner webs and I am concerned about his involvement with Man of Steel at this point, as I would not want it to resemble any of his previous project which devolve into over blown bores.Fandom has rallied around Nolan as they try to convince themselves the few creative scraps he casts off are more worthy than taking the time to seek out quality entertainment beyond the multiplex parking lot. While this movie was not as bad as I had fear, I still offended by it's lack of Wayne in costume and the apologetic manner Nolan continued to handle the source material.I am glad his hands are off of this franchise and hope after Man of Steel , his involvement in the super hero genre is non-existent, the way he handles spandexed heroes like a fat girl he doesn't want to be seen talking in public with give me some hope.

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Batcave

I will be getting around to my review of the Dark Knight rises, I just hate typing on this iPad, so it,s one of those unless the muse hits and I just gotta get out type things when it comes to using it for a first draft anyway some rather alarming developments. Involving this film and I'm not talking about the shooting which is another blog In and of its self .the studio seems to be surpressing news in regards to the film, first off we have two ddifferent death situations surrounding the movie, not too mention how Christian bale had a melt down and beat up his mom who worked as a clown after filming the last movie, we can refer to as dark knight and the new one arise going forward here. After reading reviews on rotten tomatoes it was clear money changed hands somewhere as their were multiple negative reviews on the site marked as fresh, studios surpressing reviewsis nothing new as. In today's climate something like that effects box office, it's not the first time this has happened. It seems strange to me a bigger deal isnt being made out of how avengers stomped rises, think in geek circles that omething noteworthy even in the dc vs marvel board, but you have to google long and hard to find anything pertaining to you and E online article on five reasons the Avengers is better than Rises and multiple articles sight that it comes in 3rd behind the avengers and a harry potter film, but doesn't point out how big of a deal that Bat-man is being dethroned. What it means is we do not give a fuck about realism in our superheroes and want them closer to the comic books because they are fun and not a deep social commentary, lesson even comic writers could stand to learn from. One thing I used to like about old school rap was when they called whack rappers out, granted most of them went on to become voters in children's movies or producers, it was a form of quality control when these entertainers were more underground. Where is that in comic culture? I seem to remember it existing, as I remember more loyalty in a Beatles vs rolling stones since when it came to marvel vs d/c. ...I think this goes into how new comic culture is less vested in their lotIt's a consumers market and the power of the fan should be speaking volumes. We have a voice and companies listen, don't think message boards on superhero hype aren't taken into consideration as they know we spend our money on their product not because we have to but because we are passionate about the characters. A mainstream or muggle audience won't know the difference if something gels with these characters or not, we do and in the past we were verbal about it, but we have been flooded with movies at this point so it seemed like heroin users we have built up a tolerance , we take the dope not caring bout the quality. I think Marvel gets this and in the media sense is more catering to the fan as far as what marvel studios puts out. Dc on the other hand tried it with Green Lantern too little success and I see them wanting to keep the Nolan ghost attached to future efforts judging from what I have seen of the Man of Steel ,which is going to be a Clark Kent therapy session. Nolan is no Joss Whedon, he could give a shit about the fans who he expects to bow to his artistic vision , and a lot of you do, for reasons unknown as I cant imagine why it's acceptable to be apologetic about making a super hero movie. But when you are tired of the majority of the movie being. About Bruce Wayne and Clark kent and want to see super heroes, wit til it comes on line to waste your time and don't cast an empty vote with your wallet

Comics for the week of ...

Avengers vs X - men # 8 ...one of the better issues of the mini series...it's a powered up Namor vs the avengers, big panel where he breaks the red hulk' s arm, but is taken down by scarlet witch, so I think this is a big win for the avengers and one undoubtedly we should replicated, the issue has hope siding with the avengers but in trades we already know she goes up against scarlet witch. Avengers academy #33 - the great in this book is consistent the sentinel vs Emma frost goes like you know it will with quicksilver coming in to provide the moral support the end makes sense, so following issues I suppose follow the solo outings and. Tie up loose ends, it makes me wonder the reboot fate of the book,odd considering I think it's numbers are good enough Fantastic Four 608- the art is alrite, the story is a boring jumble,I could care less about black panther the character, works best as a side player but even here is appearance feels like a waste of paper, or how wakanda has anything to offer the fantastic four really. Captain Marvel- the first issue with danvers taking on the name and so fr the ms marvel book is superior in every way ashame as she is one of my favorite female characters in the marvel u, the art is not suited for this book, their talent behind it but stylistically it doesn't mesh well. Justice League #11- The art is great as it normally is , the Green Lantern Wonder-woman fight seemed random and out of character but for the most part the book was otherwise solid Wonder-woman- #11- the Hell-boy art continues in a story mired down in it's own mythology in more ways than one, I feel Diana's voice is getting way off here

the Amazing Spider-man Movie

O.k finally got around to seeing a couple weeks later I know, but such is life when you are as broke as I am these days. The question on any one's mind is why another reboot? Money which this film has made so far the obvious answer. Criticism over the "dark" tone flourished, i only saw this in Andrew Garfield's angst ridden over acting. Parker being so belligerent towards his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, seems a little at odd with the character. His mumbling and repetitious attempts to spit words out made him seem autistic. But no more than Tobey McGuire's open mouthed gaping through out the first two Rami Spider films. I enjoyed this movie more than expected, pacing was it's primary problem as the Lizard's cgi rendering did not bother me as much as other reviews I have read. What did bother me was the fact it took the first 45 mins of the film before there was any proper Spider-man. The set up should have happened in the first 15 mins, if an audience can't piece it together in that frame of time, they should be taken into a pasture and shot not coddled in the movie theater, after all they bought a ticket to a movie called the Amazing Spider-man, a well know pop culture figure. J.Jonah Jameson was mysteriously absent and Norman Osborne was kept in the shadows for some so important in Peter's life. The Mary Jane factor stung a little as a supporting role in high school wouldn't have been hard to swing. Since we are on swinging the whole crane lets help spidery part was silly. My other complaint is his mask came off to much, they should have notedfromthe comics to eat or drink he pulls the mask up of his chin. I don't think this is fan boy nitpicking but the finer points of fleshing the character out. It felt almost apologetic towards having. Masked character,when having a secret identity is such. Large part of the character The effects in this movie ad Spider-man moving more fluidly and less rubbery than Rami's, film more wire work less cgi. The lizard got tons of criticism, mine lies in the face there no reason for him not to have a snout and look like the scillary scallery alligator from the Peter rabbit books for as a child the correlation made sense. I also think he looked better in the lab coat, it should have stayed on. Where the movie really hit is marks, the wall crawling looked good, the webbing looked good but could have been used in manners more akin to what we see in the comic. The action was well paced, I hated action movies like the Bourne series where the fight scenes make you dizzy and with Spider-man I have seen this become a problem even with the animated series ..hell the video game makes me dizzy, the point of view scenes where used sparingly. As far as powers go his spider-sense could have been more pronounced as well as his super human strength, I don't think I saw him lift anything heavy to accent this and it could have been more exaggerated when he hit people , as at this point what we were lead to believe is he doesn't know the extent of his powers. Against other superhero movies I would say it is on par with xmen first class and falling just behind the first iron man and captain America whic points out the flaws of the movie as I have more of an emotional invest in the character than in stark or Rogers,spidery falls just behind Thor and hulk for me in terms of marvel. With the money a made the ink is dried on this indeed being a trilogy we can bet on goblin and electro and kraken wouldn't surprise me though a hench man rhino would work and support from the black widow which MIT tie in the kingpin...a white one while we are at it.

Things we learned at Comic Con

So here's ten things we learned from Comic-con, and no not the Alf reboot has been cast but things actually comic book related.

1-The Hulk book, will carry on it's numbering after the reboot, but with the Red-She-Hulk, Better Banner taking over the story line, it will put her against Project Pegasus  and set the tone for a Red-She-hulk bumping head with the marvel u so look for a lot of versus. 
My thoughts- mmm, to close to call, I feel they really haven't explored the Betty Banner side coming through with this character who has been by and large a she-hulk version of the Red -Hulk's attitude, so I would like to see her fleshed out.

2-Spider-man is getting a side kick called Alpha.
My thoughts- this is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a long time and for a character who is the face of Marvel comics, why can't they leave what works in place and stop making stupid mistakes with the character they find themselves trying to go back and cover up..see brand new day and the clone saga.

3.Ant-man & Guardians of the Galaxy are the next films to launch into the Marvel film universe.
My thoughts- Not sure why Ant-man wasn't in the movie instead of Hawkeye in the first place.  Guardians well I have no emotional ties to those characters, so much for suspension of disbelief when you bring talking  trees and racoons into the mix, would rather see Dr.Strange but at least it's not Black Panther.

4.Ben Kingsley is playing the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 -
My thoughts- This is what I expected, Don Cheadle hinted there are going to be more than two villains in the  Iron-man tri-quel as well.

5-Cap and Thor's sequels will be called - Captain America = the winter soldier and Thor- the dark world, so Winter Soldier will obviously be in the next film and Thor will be fighting some dark elves
My thoughts- fine with the concepts though would like to se more earth or cosmic based villains for Thor like the Wrecker the sub-titles however are stupid.

6-D/C- Has exhausted all ideas and will be releasing 0 numbered issues going into origins
My thoughts - see above

7-a 3rd Marvel Ultimate Alliance game is not in the cards , next games rolling out art Avengers Battle for Earth...which spider-man is on the team so stands to reason other new avengers will be along with the movie characters , Dead-Pool merc with a mouth- supposedly r rated and another marvel vs capcom called origins
My thoughts- no need to rush out and buy a more current console

8-Marvel will waster paper with things like baby avengers vs x-babies,  Minimum Carnage -arch/miniseries, and ultimate Iron- man
My thoughts- waste of space

9-the arrow, the green arrow show - will feature deathstroke or at least his mask and china white as the villain and of course Black Canary will be included. darker and more realistic are the words being thrown around to describe how the character is going to be different than the Smallville version and he won't be opposed to killing.
my thoughts- while i will give it a shot , green arrow is a character I barely have an interest in if he is not teaming up with more interesting characters like Super-man or Hawkman


10- the Trailer for Man of Steel looks like we are in for more origin stuff from the Smallville days than we need, though more action than Super-man Returns

My thought- why any Origin at all? 

Comics of July 11th

With the looming reboot looming enthusiasm wanes when reading a title being phased out or how this is effecting the canon as a whole as I read this weeks Marvel books but lets put it aside and try to look at the books a they are
O.k Vs book this week, featured Dare Devil vs Pyslocke and Thor vs Emma Frost, the art on this one was a varied as the results of the story telling,having a draw in the first bout seemed a cop out particularly as we were told there would be clear cut winners, it seemed like the more veteran Daredevil should have taken this one. Emma Frost here was powered up by the Pheonix force though if Thor hurt the Pheonix force when he was fighting it collectivly then it stand to figure divided up into different avatars he would fare better and I suppose he did, while the page of him smashing Emma's diamond form was cool , the pheonix element made the whole thing rather silly

Avenger's Assemble # 5, while I like the art ,just bringing the Gaurdians of the Galaxy does not  a story make, there were other thing like Cap just bringing the Hulk along to bully another soldier, huh really , does that even seem like something he would do?

New Avengers # 28 Now that was pretty good, the three main characters were nailed,  I really  liked Spider- Woamn, if big things are done with her no matter what the re-boot brings Marvel will be missing out, though I'm sure Scarlet Witch is going to be the big female lead after avengers vs x-men. the twist caught me the art killer this one will be a hard one to beat this week.

Uncanny X-force- # 27 this is the most improved book, the masters of evil was ....maybe not the lineup I would have chosen, the shadow ling seemed unneeded as did the ultimate version of blob why not the earth 616 one? Well paced , not the most complelling art but the action balanced it out.

Wolverine & the X-men # 11- Another title down the drain, though there are enough x books and wolverine is already in enough books him self even though he doesn't make a appearence in this one which focuses on Warbird and Gladiator , who gets stomped by the Pheonix force.

Dark Avengers #177- the worst depiction of Skaar I have seen he is drawn to look like an old sea hag. The story is still transitioning over to the title characters I suppose, not wowed with the dark avengers line up hopefully the will just consolidate them with the thunderbolts.

Bat-man & Robin # 11- This veered off course a tad, the focus was askew the villians built up so much last issue became anafter thought , the Robin vs Red Hood was the high light of the book, Bruce didn't do much for me here and went on a very two dimensional tear towards the end.

Suisice Squad # 11- this book picked up some of the slack, wasn't really in the mood to read more d/c today, the story was more in the pocket though the art a little on the weak side.

Comics July 4th and My thoughts on Marvel Now

Well, the fire works of this week have not been pleasent with the new of now marvel doing a relaunch after they publicly said they would not be following d/c's footsteps in this manner. So prepared for them to spit in the fact of canon, using time travel to bring the original X-men back. So with that in mind we are trying to enjoy this week's comics

Avengers vs X-men # 7.- the Full implications of Scarlet Witch being back are glanced at. Hawkeye got fried crispy by a powered up Emma Frost, at this point does the amped Phenoix force really count as them fighting the X-men? Still absurdity aside it was one of the more entertaining comics of the week so not sure what that says about quality over quanity.
Wolverine #310- well.. the art was beautiful ,the story all over the place but il ike where it ended up... I mena if you had to bring Sabertooth back .

and in the quick Amazing Spide man- typical for where it's been heading with the lIzard thing , though this one focused more on the Living Vampire Mobeius, and underused spidey villian in my book.

Iin Hulk we had more Mayan mess with the Alpha Flight it reads much more like a Greg Pak book as as equally messy, nothing happens even amid the action, and how is old Ross macking on this chick, Hulks have bigger libido's not affected by age, i think the red-hulk is going to be a casuality of the re-boot

Action Comics was entertaining, but not memorable aside from his little talk with Bruce Wanye

o.k back to marvel Now

Marvel we have been down this road before, it's where your problems started and after things like brand new day , you haven't learned from past mistakes when you put marketing beyond content, the core fans are going to be your bread and butter after you have sold your movie tickets who is sticking by , cartoons are a better entry point that screwing thing up with re-numbering ,  let d/c foul thing up themselves, these characters have stood the test of time and don't need re-imagining , they need writers capable of thinking outside the sand box yet playing with the toys in new ways  that do not veer from cannon, after all thats what give marvel the human edge over the d/c characters who bat-man aisde struggle to translate well to film for this very reason.

Why does Thor need swords?

Hulk does Hulk need a robot? or any sidekicks for that matter ?

You want nick fury , then keep sam jackson in the ultimate verse.

Fine bring back Grey but time travelling not in the tardis well.. this might be the most intersting part but - X-men and Avngers mixing takes away what defines the characters place in the world.

Comics for 6/27/12

Wolverine and the X-men # 12 was a little bit of a diappointment , more Avengers fighting but the typical no clear cut winner aside from Wolverine taking Kid Gladiator out with a pressure point so no big points score for either team but with the Pheonix Force Five...not  the shitty christian nu-metal band, the powered up X-men, there has been no real fighting in a arc that has vs in the title. Makes alot of sense I know. The art in this book is annoying better served for new mutants.

Mighty Thor #16, it's been awhile , maybe even a year since I have read an issue of Thor I have really liked , so it's good to see it moving in a better direction the art is where it need to be , having Thor chanting hail Satan how could I not like that ? He was caught in a dream, the Keep concept seems cool now Thor's awake it didn't take the cover of the next issue to let us know what is going doing , but we want to see Thor hit things witha hammer right, ok if this gets screwed up theres a problem

X-men Legacy # 269  I mean look at that cover alon is worth the price, great book a fight like these fights should go, though Ms  Marvel gets immobilized not knocked out so it's a draw against Rogue, though at her strength level she should be able to break out of ice don't mind going back to re-read why this isn't the case, and Majick is the first of the 5 to go bad ...how far behind can Colossus, Namor and Emma Frost be? Two of those three have been villians before.

X-men # 31 however was a boring disappointment and the under use of a cthulhu thing which just blew up from the jet ? really? the team is a little weak, could do with out pixie and domino,


Amazing Spider-man #688- the classic amping up the villians profile to coincide with the movies release. the writing is not bad just bogged down in some  stylistic choices in the story telling which could have been handled differently. Over all a good book with heavy credit going to the art.

Incredible Hulk # 10 like the previous issue , this one isn't really doing much for me , cyborg bears and they can hurt him how ? he seems to be at likea Mr Fixit strength level in this is drawn rather puny looking , and how is Kraven in the same league as the Hulk, ...um yeah , don't think so

FF #19- This should now stand for Fantastic Family rather than force or foundation, bascially every issue is some sort of feild trip for the Baxter building kinder care, there's potential but currently no action which character are fine and should drive the story but some violent conflic is need , and technically there was a little here but too little to pay three dollars for.



Justice League # 10-Not a bad book most interesting exploring the group dynamic and the writer gets what makes them tick, though wonder woman feels a little flat , howwever this Graves guy I'm not too keen on , maybe it's the abstract nature of of his power set. The art work it great theres a classic one page team shot.

The Flash #10- did nothing for me on any level granted I have been following this books the least nothing about it has any appeal, I think the character is handled in a much better context in Justice League

Teen Titans # 10- this was at first one of my favorite books of the 52 , now closing  in on a year later , not so much though the art work is still the best in the business, the tron like colors are pretty cool as well, Bunker still doesn't do much for me he's like a Lantern of sorts. Nothing really happened in this book,

Super-man #10- turned back the clock all the way to the early 90's all the way to disco mullets that cropped up, in the  the background characters like it was the cast from miami vice. This Anguish character I guees is in some ways like a female version of  a non-anadroid Vision.It ended like one of those hottess commerical foun in the first five pages of comics back in the day . Seems like the next arc might be intresting I'm not sure Clark is really benefitting from the 52 re-imagining as he doesn't seem to have any more of an edge in this book.

Aqua-man # 10- the uh oh Arthur has a dark secret feels forced. The art is great and there is action even if i'm not big on Black Manta, how does he do so well against Aqua -man when he doesnt have any powers?
The book moved alot better than some of the other titles and is this weeks best d/c title.


Comic of the Week - X-men Legacy

Comics for June 20th

First off I know I have a bunch of new readers these days so if you haven't caught on I'm really just giving a quick quality control assessment of the weeks book and i'm ver stream of consciouness manner , got it ok then lets get on with it

Oh.. the hits keep coming , while in it's own way well written, Avengers vs X-men #6, is quite silly, taking the absolute power corrupts absolutly it went like I called it with Wanda coming in to save ,the day and if it hurt Cyclops in his Pheonix state just to touch her expect that to be foreshadowing of the smack down to come. Sure the no more avengers thing was supposed to scare us into thinking he could do what she dished out but looks like they will just be taking on the role of heel. The fight whihc never really came about gets called a draw.
spoilers...

Secret Avengers # 28 was a fun read even though I didn't care for the pencils , they don't capture Thor's muscle bulk very well, I'm good on Kree for awhile now. The Binary appearence was cool and once again Marvell's power set was used liberally to say the least but looks like he's back to dust .

Avengers Academy - # 32 Lets get one thing straight .. this book kicks ass, the character feel real the art is top notch, a must read, X-23 is finally handled in a way that gives her more depth than a wolverine knock off.  Feels more like an X-men vs Avengers book than anything else I have read this week.

 New Avengers # 28- the was beautiful but wasted on a book where nothing happens, despite the cute interaction between Spide-man and Hope. The whole Iron-fist things feels forced and silly in the i can't believe they are jumping the shark like this, way not that we haven't seen these types of meeting go down in Dr. Stranges abode, they just make more sense and the need for exotic locations is getting over done..one more trip to the savage land and it's clobberin time.

for all the hype and political correctness the book was mediocre, im sure it will be a collectable if you get such an such variant cover ..big whoop, i do like the Alpha Flight.

D/C well caught Super Girl which was the weakest  the art really took a downward slide , the story equally silly, Night Wing was pretty strong and was Green Lantern

Playing Catch up on June

Ok playing catch up from last week Marvel just dished out the worst comic book I have read in some time in Avengers vs X-men-# 5 -sure there are going to be spoilers but I'm saving you 5 minutes of your life that you will never get back after reading it. The books main problem is knowing this type of silliness is canon. Yep preserved in our mythology we have a whole team of Phoenix forced up X-men. Not only this but the strength of the arguments both teams had was a key selling point as neither was the antagonist, so now the X-men are clearly the bad guys . Of course from solicitations worse bad guys are showing up Mr. Sinister..who I have been underwhelmed by since his inception. Vs # 3 Thing vs the Jugger-Colossus, which went to Colossus , made sense to me and Majick vs Black Widow..which Majick won, though I question that a little but looks like they are turning the tide in X-men's favor for now and at the last minute Scarlet Witch is going to bring it all home for the avengers , this is my prediction just based on solicits X-men Legacy # 268 was three minutes i'm never getting back as it focused on Fury, the black girl not nick and was an origins story of sorts can Ms Marvel kill this bitch next issue? X-men-# 30 - Marvels striking out all over the place, the art in this book is fine and good , the story over all is too X-files bores me X-force # 26 - Omega red is back and who cares, his feeling are hurt and the book just didn't grab me the presentation of the story in general felt disjointed Dark Avengers # 115 - I liked the story, but hated the art, Skaar will keep me reading it but the art is really doing his character a dis-service and making him looking like Solomon Grundy from the batman animated series. Oh yes and by the way I found the 6" Skaar figure and will be buying it the day I get my hands on that once forgotten thing called money. This line up of the Dark Avengers is far from my favorite...if I was going to write a Dark Avengers team that was non-Osborne related I would use...Moonstone, Crimson Dynamo, Skaar, Wonder-man, Sentry, and Enchantress Thor Annual 1- well... what else do you expect from this type of thing, why is Sliver Surfer even in the story, this would have made for a good Beta Ray Bill appearance and you can take Wonder-man out of my Dark Avengers and replace him with Beta Ray Bill, it would have to work like when Sentry was originally in the Dark Avengers and he is manipulated onto the team or make it 7 members works too. Hulk # 53...mmm like the art seems like with the Alpha Flight in on this things are going to get a little cluttered but we got a Sasquatch vs Red Hulk fight so thats fine by me not sure about the Mayan arc... the sept sollictations do not have this title listed so cancellation ? Incredible Hulk # 9 ... was o.k, not really wowed , lacked iconic moments and this story seems to be lets just throw Hulk in these different environments randomly rather than focusing on a story almost like a monster of the week thing Supernatural gets into and it creates a rut on that show so this is no exception.The art is better but almost too cartoony, this the guy who did those boring Thor post siege comics. Fantastic Four #607 - another boring book and I'm combining two weeks worth of books so not a good sign on pacing and direction from the company in general. Actions Comics and Justice League International #10 were both , messes of a script though in all fairness Action Comics did better with the scen of Super-man taking a leave of abscene from the Justice league. Marvel redemption comes in Avengers #27- It's classic 80's feeling writing while it's a line up of Thor, Beast, Ms. Marvel,Vision and War Machine , I say throw in Scarlet Witch or Wasp and this team is a keeper. if you are going to get away with not really doing a avngers vs x-men tie in then give me a story like this and it works Scarlet Spider # 7, meh, feels off track and not different enough from spider-man to be intresting even bringing in Kraven D/C Green Lantern # 10... too bad the movie sucked because this book was a lot of fun, the art was great and the stroy moved avoiding the murk of space operas it tends to sink into Batman # 10...a boring chase of sorts that was filler til the cliff hanging tease to a fight , batm-man's brother really ...like sands in the hourglass these are the days of our lives. Bat man & Robin #10- o.k you want character development, what could have been filler to bridge over into the story still kicked ass and kept it intresting while still working a fight into the mix , because what are super-heroes if not for the fighting but guys in tights ... Batgirl #10- the art is strong , the story was fun even though it's nota book i normally read it was an easy connec the dots.

Comics of May 23rd

Well Hulk Smash Avengers # 4 was the best one yet , a decent fight where all the others were cop-outs, the Hulk vs Wonder-man part I'm not sure how it aligned with continuity as Mr. Fix-it's power level was decidedly less than the green Hulk's yet he took to Simon Williams like he is the Hulk of today, not complaining but not sure how accurate it was. Hulk #52 was the best issue yet, the appearance of the legion OF monsters didn't feel forced like lots of cross overs and guest appearances do. They passed on the perfect chance to bring Doc Sampson back, but the seed is out and I can see how that could happen, If I was writing the book I would bring him back as foil of the Red Hulk, as his rogues gallery seem to be lacking and the Mayan rule arc ..well.. don't have high hopes for. The Mighty Thor # 14 Matt Fraction continues to make this book a difficult read, while I his ability to even tell a story, I think he would be better suited writing for a Green Lantern book , where moving a story forward and having it feel like an actual super hero book do no matter nor any sort of action instead, the characters and setting would be fitted for a mush of cosmic gobbledygook. So in plain and simple Fraction is not suited to write for Thor and it escapes me how Marvel fails to see this. Speaking of Thor .. he appears in Secret Avengers # 27- the question raised in this book is how did Mar-vell get so powerful, is he juiced up by the Phoenix? I it was to the point where I stopped reading to refer to marvelwiki, he can lift 15 tons yet can knock Thor around like he is the Hulk, ok his blasts can destroy a star but can they take apart Thor, Vision, Valkyrie and Capt. Britain in a straight up fight...i don't think so...this better be explained. Amazing Spider # 686, entertaining a little mucky in the middle, but with Mysterio in the mix i guess writers can take liberties and jump the shark. The mind control Avengers seems very 70's but not in a bad way. the new spider -man costume is on my last nerve hope it sell lots of action figures. Deadpool #55...so the book now flirts dangerously close to Venom territory, i like the fact the a more mainstream marvel u set of villains were brought in, getting beaten by the trapster well it didn't make a lot of sense logistically speaking. Super-Man # 9... felt very 90's every thing from the art down, entertaining though no new ground was broken, this Anguish character was introduced a little sloppily but weren't most characters back in the day ? and now D/C Super-Man # 9... felt very 90's every thing from the art down, entertaining though no new ground was broken, this Anguish character was introduced a little sloppily but weren't most characters back in the day ? Aqua-man # 9...the book recaptured the good start it had, the art is some of the best in the biz, neither Arthur nor Black Manta come off as a joke anymore. The best balance of story and action its had yet. Teen-titans-#9 was weight down by a bunch of overdone non-sense ..in other words going back to business as usual for d/c who like to make things too epic for their own good and loses the human in transition, the art felt like it reflected this tone and it's a shame because for a minute i started to like this book Voodoo # 9, this book felt like it could have to stood to have been more firmly planted in the d/c universe, the art was good , aztec warriors getting their heads punched off works but even what corner of the dc world would be nice it feels like an Image book