Another Review Wednesday

Two comics today plus looking at the NFL free agent frenzy and analyzing the big trade the Cleveland Indians made before the deadline. 

Avengers Academy #17



Another week, another strong Avengers Academy issue.  After the emotional end of #16 with Veil, the kids get a chance to stop fighting and relax before the real storm hits. Though Pym isn't shown in this issue, he is the catalyst for Absorbing Man and Titania going to the Academy and attacking the kids during their "relaxing" time.  There were two great moments in this issue both involving Reptil. The first one was when he went to take on Absorbing Man and Titania by himself. That was an epic moment but there was an even funnier moment when Striker and Reptil have a brief discussion about Tigra's breasts. Was not expecting that at all but it made me laugh for a good bit of time.  Sean Chen's art on this issue was excellent and I really dig the rotation between him and Tom Raney. I'm really pumped up for the next issue in two weeks as we draw closer to issue #20, where the shake ups start.

Grade: A

Ultimate Fallout #4



Even though the big news from this issue was spoiled yesterday with the reveal of Miles Morales as Spider-Man, there is still another big shocker from this issue.  The other big surprise in this issue was the reveal that Reed Richards is still alive and he returns to Earth with big plans.  The other story in this issue dealt with mutants and their tie to the government.  Unfortunately, that section was kinda boring, as nothing much really happened to increase the interest after two big reveals previously.  The writing was good on this issue but the star was the art. The three artists on this issue were Sara Pichelli, Salvador Larroca, and Clayton Crain. All three of them brought their A-game for this issue and, in the case of Sara, makes me more pumped for the relaunch of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Spider-Man Grade: A+
Reed Richards Grade: A
Valerie Cooper Grade: B-
Overall Grade: A-

Sports Stuff

The NFL is back and crazy as ever. Though all this stuff happened a week ago, my computer has been down and I have been unable to get my views across. My Patriots traded for not one, but two head cases that may be turned around. They would be Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco. I know that Belichick has done amazing things before but if he can straighten these two out, he is a master.

On the flip side, the Browns have done no big moves which really pisses me off. They had a chance to go after some really good line men but decided to go with what they have. Which is crap, pure crap.  Someone on a local radio station mentioned how Cameron Heyward, the Steelers first round pick, is their third string lineman while Jabaal Sheard, the Brown's second round pick, waltzes into camp as the No. 1. Bull crap. The Browns needed to make some moves but didn't. Get ready for a rough season, Brown fans.

The Cleveland Indians pulled a shocker when they traded for Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.  However, they gave up the farm for him, trading three great prospects for the pitcher, who is having a rough year after his astounding year last season.  As much as I like Jimenez, I think the Indians gave up a little bit too much for a pitcher when they really should have gone for a bat to bolster their line-up. That being said, I am pumped for Ubaldo's first start, rumored to be Friday.

Well, I've rambled on for a while now. I've got a nice post coming up this weekend about the Ultimate Spider-Man TV show and if it can live up to the great, great, great Spectacular Spider-Man.

And the New Spider-Man Is...

If you are reading this right now and have not read the news about who is the new Ultimate Spider-Man, please click the little 'X' button right now. Honestly. I don't want to spoil it for you if you do not know.

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You gone yet? If not, let's continue then.

After weeks and weeks of speculation, the new Spider-Man was announced today. Thankfully, my computer got fixed just in time to figure out who he is. It is Miles Morales, a half-African American, half-Latino gent who will don the threads and save the world as Spider-Man.



Just like the Death of Spider-Man, this surprised people when it shouldn't have had.  Though I am disappointed that it wasn't Miguel O'Hara, Bendis combined the theories of Ben Reilly and Miguel to create Miles.  Though this reveal seems anticlimatic to me, I'm also pumped for the new Spidey. 

So, how is Peter like Miles' "Uncle Ben"? Well, the preview art does not show Miles using the webbing so I suspect that Aunt May, Gwen, and MJ give him Peter's web shooters and their blessing. How does he get his spider powers? That I have no clue about. Maybe Captain America uses the Zodiac Key to try to bring Peter back but instead Miles gets Peter's powers.  So, seeing as how Cap feels guilty for playing a part in Peter's death, he will offer to be Miles' mentor.

Something that I would like to see, even though it probably won't happen, would be the return of Lana aka one of the Bombshells.  I know that Miles is younger than Pete (and, in return, Lana) but I would love to see those two develop a relationship in their civilian guises while disliking each other in their costume lives.  Will it happen? Probably not, but a guy can dream, right?

I'm also looking forward to seeing the reaction of some of Peter's villians to the new Spider-Man. What will Mysterio think when, once he thinks he's won with Peter out of the way, Miles shows up to stop him.

Though I thought that Ultimate Spider-Man would suffer without Peter as Spidey, I am starting to believe that having Miles as Spider-Man will suffice. Be back tomorrow with reviews.

Rapid Reviews

Haven't reviewed any comics in a while. So seeing as I got a few comics, it's time for a rapid reaction review post.

Amazing Spider-Man #665

The issue before the summer blockbuster "Spider Island" goes down, this issue takes a look at Peter and Betty's friendship, something we haven't seen really in depth since #583.  After Venom #3 and #4, this is the next issue where something bad happens to Betty.  After Betty is ambushed after Peter flaked on her, Pete goes into full blown kick ass mode, with a beautiful two page spread by Ryan Stegman. As good as the main story was, the two big reveals come in the back up story, which reveals that Aunt May and Jay are moving to Boston and shows that Carlie will have a large part in Spider Island, seeing as she is getting spider powers.

Grade: A

Avengers vs New Ultimates #6



What happened? This mini series started off great but these last two issues have been clunkers.  Thankfully, the final issue of this series is better than the last but it still leaves something to be desired.  The Spider and Gregory Stark are both killed and while I don't care if the Spider was killed, I'm sort of upset Gregory died. He seemed like he was poised to become a big time threat in the Ultimate Universe. Alas, that will not be happening. The art by Leilil Yu is impressive as always but it's a shame that the story wasn't up to par. I honestly don't know why it carried the "Death of Spider-Man" banner on it, as the only time Spidey was brought up was when he got shot and a short mention in the past two issues.

Grade: C+

FF #6



Honestly, I don't know about this issue. I'm still catching up on the Fantastic Four's history so this issue kind of confused me. However, the issue, which did not show a panel of the Future Foundation at all, is easy enough to understand that I needed only a little bit of further backstory. Obviously, bring back Black Bolt is an interesting move and, though it was a good issue, I don't see the connection to the last issue and the overall story arc. However, I believe in Hickman and that it will all make sense by the time it's over.

Grade: B

Ultimate Fallout #1



Last but certainly not least, we get to the gem of the week. I thought that I would never get teary eyed over a comic and Ultimate Spider-Man #160 proved me wrong. Another week, another Ultimate comic making me tear up.  Though a very simple issue, the feelings that the characters have get sent to you, from MJ's scene with Fury to the scene at the church between May and the young girl. Bagley was yet again at top form, absolutely destroying this issue. I cannot wait to see the resolution from this cliffhanger and to finally see Peter's grave and put the literal nail into the coffin of ever seeing Peter ever again.

Grade: A+

Next time: I take a look at the Death of Spider-Man as an overall arc and the bright future of the Ultimate Universe.

10 Things-Ultimate Spider-Man Arcs

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Random Blog, where I will be celebrating the Death of Spider-Man in a few different ways. Today, I will be going over my top 10 favorite arcs. And awaaay we go.

10) Ultimate Knights- Not only was it an action-packed arc, but it was also an arc that introduced a team that I wish would get back together. This arc was filled with epic moments, like Daredevil showing up at Peter's school, crazy betrayals, and an epic finale where young Peter Parker is the voice of reason for Daredevil.  For some reason, I especially liked the ending montage of the team after the Kingpin is caught. 

9) The New World According to Peter Parker- The first arc of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, the first arc after Ultimatum, and the first arc for David Lafuente.  Not a lot of people liked this arc, mainly for David's art, saying it was too much like "anime". I actually enjoyed the art and the overall arc in general. Mysterio is probably my favorite 616 villain and my love for him carried over to the Ultimate world, as this Mysterio is poised to become a big time threat.

8) Public Scrutiny- A darker arc that involves someone copying Peter's dual identity.  This was one of the first arcs that I fully read when I started reading comics and it remains one of my favorites. While I was never a fan of Spidey being on the outs with the cops, this arc was different for some reason.  Peter being shot and in the process of being arrested really upped the anty of the impostor. And, of course, there was the heart breaking finale, with Captain Stacy dying in the line of combat, thanks to the faux Spider-Man.

7) Warriors- After a few hard hitting arcs, Warriors brought Spider-Man back to the street level with a free-for-all fight between every street level hero and villain.  I was always interested by this universe's Black Cat/Spider-Man relationship and it ended on an interesting yet funny note.  The final fight with everyone involved was very cool and Bagley drew the heck out of it. 

6) Death of a Goblin- Stuart Immonen's first arc was one crazy ride.  Not only did the arc bring back Norman Osborn, but it also displayed a Green Goblin/Doc Ock fight, an awesome Spidey/Electro chase and fight, and, ultimately, the death of Harry Osborn.  One of the things I enjoyed most about this arc was the issue dedicated to showcasing the insight of Norman's mind. Though I was not sold on Stuart's art in the beginning, by the end of this arc, I knew that the book was in safe hands. 

5) The Clone Saga- A re-imagining of a classic and widely disliked Amazing Spider-Man arc, Bendis knocked this arc out of the park. It introduced Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman to the world and she was embraced by the fan base. The arc had a great twist with the Richard Parker clone and it also revealed Peter's secret to Aunt May.  The other reveal to the Fantastic Four was good as well, even though it added to the number of people who know Peter's secret.  The only down side to this arc was the death of the six armed Spider clone.  But overall, this arc was amazing.

4) Hobgoblin-  This arc finally gave Harry Osborn the exposition that he needed so badly.  It also created one of my favorite comic book villains of all time: Ultimate Hobgoblin. I enjoyed that Harry was being guided by a figment of his imagination and that he remembered Peter's secret.  The arc also ended the Peter/MJ relationship for the time being. Though Harry wasn't in the book for that long of time, this arc was definitely worth the wait.

3) Ultimatum- Tying into the big Ultimate event, this arc was arguably better than the main event.  Bendis and Immonen were able to capture what Loeb was trying to do.  Peter was thrown into a situation that was way beyond his comfort zone and he did what he did best: save people.  Even though his team-up with the Hulk turned out bad, Peter continues to do the heroic thing.  The cliffhanger that lasted two Requiem issues was killer, but the end result was worth it; Peter was still alive. Issue #133 was the cream of the crop, being a silent issue and it made the reader imagine what was being said and with what emotion was displayed.

2) Death of Spider-Man- The best "Spider-Man" arc, this arc was an emotional rollar coaster.  Peter defines the term "hero" in this arc, not only saving his family from the Sinister Five, but also taking a bullet for Captain America.  Bendis and Bagley reunited for this monumental arc and they did not disappoint what-so-ever.  Peter's last stand against Osborn was epic and, during the issue, I thought that three separate people were going to die at different times. Ultimately, Peter passes away in his aunt's arms, doing what he was unable to do with Uncle Ben: save her.

1) Tainted Love- Otherwise known as the Chameleon arc, this is the best "Peter Parker" arc. To look at it, this arc and DoSM are basically 1A and 1B.  The Chameleon arc was essentially two small arcs put together. The first part dealt with Kitty lashing out and attacking anyone not named Kenny.  Then came the Chameleon part. Peter is kidnapped by the Chameleon who, in return, takes over Peter's life and completely screws it up.  This arc was beautifully drawn by David Lafuente, who really stepped up his game and delivered.  Even though Spider-Man barely makes an appearance in this arc, it still remains my favorite because of the Peter/Jonah scenes, the Chameleon/MJ scenes, and the final fight between the Chameleon twins and the Amazing Friends.

Next on the Random Blog, I'll be going over my opinion on the entire Death of Spider-Man arc, giving the pros and cons of it and why Avengers versus New Ultimates is even part of the overall storyline.

See you later.

A Sad Day

A hero died recently. He died honorably and heroically. This man is Peter Parker and he died saving the people he loved the most from his most hated enemy, Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin.  Sure, he wasn't the main stream version of Spider-Man and there are a good number of people who don't know about this version of Peter. But that doesn't matter; this version of Peter was my main stream version.  I grew up with this Peter and I was and still am devistated over his death. I hope that Peter will return at some point but I trust Bendis. 

I've read the issue enough times now so I believe it is time to give my review on this monumental issue.

Review

Well, I went to my local comic book store right when it opened and sped home to read this issue.  Boy, it did not disappoint.  We start with MJ trying to sneak out to go find Peter but her mom won't let her.  Meanwhile, Peter is swinging May and Gwen away from the Goblin and pleads with Gwen to get May out of there. Pete, getting weaker by the second, wakes up Johnny and starts Goblin versus Human Torch round 2. Unfortunately, the Goblin easily wins this round, absorbing the fire power Johnny had.  Peter and Osborn continue to throw down until MJ conveniently shows up with a dump truck and subdues the Goblin. After a quick kiss, Peter uses the truck to pound Osborn into a pulp. The truck explodes and Peter is flung away from the scene. One by one, Johnny, MJ, May and Gwen show up at Peter's body as he gives his last words.  Peter tells May that what's coming is perfectly fine, as he did what he couldn't do before; he was unable to save Uncle Ben but he saved her. And with that, Peter passes away as the burning corpse of Norman Osborn smiles, knowing that his mission is complete.

Heart-wrenching. That is the only word that comes to mind whenever I read this issue.  This is one of the most powerful issue of a comic that I have ever read.  And, honestly, I believe that this issue is in the top 5 of my all-time favorite comic issues, despite the tone and outcome.  Bendis and Bagley knock this finale out of the park. I can't believe that there was a time where I dreaded the return of Mark, but now, I'm so happy that he came back for this arc.  What else can I say about this duo that hasn't been said? Absolutely nothing, as this is, in my opinion, the perfect comic book. I cannot grade this issue due to the fact that the emotional ties are too strong. If you are reading this and have not read the Death of Spider-Man arc, DO IT. You won't be sorry. Especially seeing as all the cool varients are coming out this week. 

More Death of Spider-Man stuff to come this week, including Top 10 arcs, my opinion on the overall arc, and my theories for the future of Ultimate Spider-Man.

RIP Peter. You will be missed.








 

A Comic You Should Be Reading

It's well documented on this here blog that I love Spider-man comics, both Amazing and Ultimate (and probably soon to be Avenging).  But, just recently, I discovered another comic that has become a new favorite of mine.  That would be Avenger's Academy, written by Mr. Christos Gage and illustrated by Sean Chen and Tom Raney. 

When they introduced the Avenger's Academy, it was when the Heroic Age started and they rebooted the entire Avengers line, having the Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, and AA.  I went for Avengers for Bendis and John Romita while also going for New Avengers purely because of Stuart Immonen. Secret Avengers really wasn't in my interest and AA seemed like it wouldn't last. However, it did. I dropped New Avengers a few months ago when Immonen left and, while I still get Avengers, I needed something else to get. Then Amazing Spider-Man #661 rolled around.

When it was announced that the AA was going to be in ASM #661, I was ho-hum about it. I never read the book and really didn't know what to expect. To put it nicely, I was blown away by the two issues. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the kids of the Avengers Academy. That led me to picking up Avengers Academy #14.1 a few weeks ago. Now here I am, adding Avengers Academy to my pull list.

For those who are not reading this book, pick it up. It is the best $2.99 book on the market these days. Gage is writing the heck out of it and, though I have only seen one artist's work on the book, I know that the art is amazing.  I'm looking forward to getting the past issues of AA and for the future, which looks to be a really fun ride.

Throwing My Hat Into the Ring

Well, in two weeks, Spider-Man will die.



This will be the look of the new Spidey, drawn by Sara Pichelli. However, will it be Peter Parker under the mask? It all depends on who you ask. Some say that it is the death of "Spider-Man", not Peter so there is no way he can die. Others believe that Peter will bite the dust. Me, I'm hoping that Peter lives and there are a few hints that Bendis has given that support this view.

- Gwen is said to be having a big year. Why would she still be in the book if Peter is dead?
-As I stated early, it's the death of "Spider-Man", not Peter. So Peter could technically "kill" Spider-Man but remain among the living.
- Captain America will have a big part in the book. This will be explained more later.
- The Zodiac Key was introduced and really hasn't played a big part in anything. What was the point of introducing it during the prelude to DoS and not do anything with it?
- Peter has yet to have trained with Thor. Why introduce the super hero schooling to only kill the character who is being taught?

So, what's going happen in Ultimate Spider-Man #160? Well, the cliffhanger in #159 was the Goblin leaping at Aunt May and a beaten down Peter.  So Pete, being as hurt as he is, tries to get himself and May out of the way but cannot, having May get burnt to a crisp and Peter, in a rage, beats Norman to death.  However, with his neighbors and possibly the paramedics and police watching, Peter must go on the run, possibly leaving New York for a bit.  Fury learns about what happened and, thanks to the Spider, has a way to make it look like Spider-Man has died and allow Peter to don a new suit, ala "Back in Black". Since Peter has nowhere to go, Captain America offers to be his guardian/mentor since he feels guilty for May's death. 

So to summarize my theory. Aunt May dies. Peter kills Norman. Spider dies. People think it's Spidey. Peter dons black costume. Cap "adopts" Peter.

More than likely, I'm way off. But that's the fun part about theories. You can be way off and it makes you think "why didn't I think of that?" and Bendis is a master of those situations. I cannot wait for Ultimate Spider-Man #160, whether it be for better or worse for Peter Parker.

Best of Smallville- Best 20 Episodes Part 2

Title says it all, let's get on with the show.

10) Savior (Season 9)- The first episode of the strongest season of Smallville. Sure, it had it's confusing parts (Alia) but overall it was a very solid opener.  Clark donned a new, kick ass costume, while Lois returns from the future and starts to have glimpses of the future from which she came.  Plus, you get the introduction to the second greatest Smallville villain, Zod (second only to Lex).

9) Zod (Season 6)- Speaking of Zod, the premiere of season 6 picked up after a great set of cliffhangers, with Lex being possessed by Zod and Clark trapped in the Phantom Zone. While Clark deals with the Zoners, the rest of the cast scramble to stop Zod, only to discover that Clark is the only one who can stop him. And he does in an epic fashion, involving the words "Kneel" and "Zod".

8) Promise (Season 6)- While I didn't personally enjoy the idea of Lex and Lana getting married, "Promise" was a great overall episode.  Breaking the episode into three segments, showing how Lex, Lana, and Clark all deal with the wedding day was a great idea, with the three segments joining into one at the alter.  Lex killing Dr. Langston in the crypt was an eerie scene but it captured Lex's essence.  Finally, I totally felt for Clark at the end of the episode, knowing what heart break he was going through.

7) Commencement (Season 4)- This episode was a bit extended thanks to a preview from "Batman Begins" so there was a little more time to spend on some epic moments.  "Commencement" wrapped up the terrible "Lana is the descendent of a witch" storyline, showed that Lex may have feelings for Lana, and Clark finally gets the Stones of Knowledge together and goes to the Arctic to create the Fortress of Solitude. I really liked the countdown to the meteor shower, as it added suspense to the finale.

6) Justice (Season 6)- Another Season 6 episode in the Top 10. This is one of the most popular episodes of Smallville, as it brought together the proto-Justice League.  Sadly, this is the only episode where all these characters are on the set.  Ollie decides to take down Lex's 33.1 operations and recruits Bart, AC, and Victor to help him do it. Clark catches wind of this and, after Bart gets captured, goes to save the day. After getting stopped by kryptonite, the Justice League bands together and blows up the building, walking away from the fiery explosion all epic like.

5) Lazarus (Season 10)- The final season begins with Clark falling from the sky, just sending Zod to a parallel universe(?). Lois saves Clark and Chloe, using Dr. Fate's helmet, saves Oliver from the Suicide Squad but must sacrifice herself in order to do so.  Clark faces off with a Lex clone and performs some super super saves, including super jumping and catching the globe from the top of the Daily Planet. Capping it all off is an appearance by Darkseid and Jonathan Kent. "Lazarus" felt like the perfect continuation for "Salvation" and was a great way to start the final season.

4) Fragile (Season 5)- On my first viewing of Season 5, I skipped over "Fragile" because I just thought it was a filler episode that I wouldn't enjoy. On my third or forth run through of Season 5, I finally decided to watch this episode. I can now admit that this is one of my favorite episodes.  I love the brother-sister dynamic that Clark and Maddie grow to have.  Whether it be Maddie, Ryan, or Conner, I love when Smallville pairs Clark and youngsters up, as it gives him a chance to influence the youngsters like his parents did to him. Plus, the ending was just so sweet (not the Lex/Lana stuff, the Clark/Maddie stuff).

3) Finale (Season 10)- Ah, the series finale. Double the length of a normal episode, double the heartache knowing that as the episode was closing in on ending, so was my favorite show. "Finale" was my favorite episode from Season 10 as it wrapped up everything so cleanly. Even though the Darkseid story was sub-par, the return of Lex made the finale that much more awesomer.  And though I was upset that Tom didn't wear the suit, the final 20 minutes with Superman were spectacular and it cemented that whenever I think of Superman, Tom Welling will be who I think of.

2) Nemesis (Season 6)- My favorite Lex/Clark episode of all time.  This episode was the perfect episode for showing the past, present, and future of the friendship/hatred between Clark/Superman and Lex.  Just like "Commencement" the addition of a time limit really upped the anty, so to speak. Also, this episode was the only episode where I actually kinda enjoyed the Clexana love triangle, especially the scene where Lana arrives at the rescue point and meets Clark before going to Lex.

1) Salvation (Season 9)- This episode is the epitome of Smallville finales and, possibly, episodes overall.  In my honest opinion, there is nothing wrong with this episode at all. It has an epic fight between Clark and Zod, Lois discovering Clark's secret via make-out session, Tess flat-lining, and Mama Kent giving Clark the suit.  The fight at the end of the episode was one of the best fights on Smallville and it ended with Clark taking the blue K dagger into his gut to send Zod away. I literally fell off my couch when I saw that, knowing that I was going to have to wait a long four months until I would find out how Clark was going to survive. The super punch that Clark gave Zod when he threatened Lois was great and the flash foward dream that Clark had was a great foreshadow for what will come in the future.  This episode had everything that a finale should have and that is why it is my favorite Smallville episode of all time.

Picture via Kryptonsite

Tomorrow, we will go over the worst episodes during the 10 year run.

Adios

Best of Smallville- Best 20 Episodes Part 1

The Rapture has arrived in Ohio.  As I write this, it is hailing like crazy and lightning is flashing all around me. But that won't distract me from my week of Smallville.  Today, I'm going to list the 20 greatest episodes, according to me.  Some of the episodes I like may not be favorites among others, but hey, this is my blog so I get my way.  Today will have episodes 20-11 and tomorrow will have 10-1.

20) Exodus/Exile/Phoenix (Season 2/3)- Technically, this is three episodes, but it is a great three episode arc that takes a red K-ed Clark and drop him in Metropolis, right into the territory of one Morgan Edge. These episodes also gave us Lex, thought to be dead, on a desert island going crazy, Jonathan getting Kryptonian powers via Jor-El, and an interesting dynamic between Chloe and Lana.

19) Luthor (Season 10)- In one of the strongest episodes of Season 10, Clark gets transported to an alternate world where Lionel Luthor found him instead of the Kents.  I really enjoyed the contrasts between the two different worlds like the alternate world being grey while the real world is colored.  Clark Luthor did not have a lot of screen time in this episode but what he had was amazing.  And I totally loved that Lionel followed Clark back to the real world because it set up some awesome stories in the second half of the final season.

18) Persona (Season 7)- Persona picks up after one of my favorite cliffhangers of the series, revealing that the Clark we saw in the past episode was actually Bizarro. I could not believe my eyes when I saw that. So this episode has it all; Bizarro, Brainiac, Dax-Ur, and blue kryptonite.  It all led up to a pretty good Clark-Bizarro tussle with Lana of all people being the hero. 

17) Bride (Season 8)- The wedding of Chloe and "Jimmy" went just about as everyone expected; badly.  Not only did Lana come out of no where and ruin a beautiful Lois/Clark moment, but Doomsday crashes the wedding, literally.  "Bride" was a great mid season finale, with Jimmy in the hospital and Chloe being possessed by Brainiac.

16) Checkmate (Season 9)- This episode almost felt like a mini movie event, with basically the entire episode being action filled. It was basically a Justice League episode, featuring John Jones and Clark dealing with Amanda Waller and the Checkmate agency.  I especially enjoyed the comic book style save Clark pulled when he saved Chloe.  The only down side was Clark man handling Tess, yet again. But the rest of the episode rocked.

15) Unsafe (Season 4)- I always really liked the Clark-Alicia relationship and I wish that the show could have expanded on it a little bit more.  This episode shows the climax of the relationship when Alicia drugs Clark with red K and they get married in Vegas.  A sexy hotel scene follows it and Lana considers sleeping with Jason blah blah blah. Who cares about that, this episode is all about Clark and Alicia. Adding to all that, there is the emotional ending, with Clark and Alicia getting back together even though Clark has doubts about Alicia.

14) Onyx (Season 4)- Even though black K was introduced earlier in the season, "Onyx" really is the episode centered around the special kryptonite.  During an experiment, Lex gets blasted by some of the black stuff and gets seperated into a good Lex and a bad Lex.  Upon learning of the "good" Lex, evil Lex entraps him and takes over Lex's life. This episode has probably one of the greatest lines of the series in it, said to the Kents from evil Lex.  The quote is "I am the villain of the story" and whenever I hear it I get goosebumps. Darn you Michael.

13) Pilot (Season 1)- Now, I'm probably going to get some flack for not having the Pilot episode in my top 10.  However, I wasn't particularly fond of the first episode of the series.  Don't get me wrong, I still really like this episode, but it wasn't worthy enough to garner a top 10 spot for me. Still love the episode though.

12) Nicodemus (Season 1)- Fun story that lets some of the actors portray the exact opposite of what their character is supposed to be like. And I mean, who doesn't like to see Lana strip down to her panties, even if it was a body double. It was an interesting twist on the freak of the week that the first seasons had but it worked for this episode.

11) Legion (Season 8)- Just barely missing out on the top 10 is my favorite episode from Season 8. The introduction of the Legion of Superheroes could not have gone any better. They arrived at a time where Clark was in a time of need, trying to find and save Chloe.  However, the Legion was there to kill Chloe in order to stop Brainiac. Clark telling the Legion about his no-kill policy and about always finding a way to get the job done was inspiring.

Alright, 20-11 are done. Tomorrow, I will post the top 10 Smallville episodes according to me. And please don't try to grill me too much for my diss on the Pilot.

See you tomorrow.



Oh, and LET'S GO TRIBE!!!!!

A Week Later

Now that the Smallville finale has aired and I've watched it a few times already, I can finally give my honest review on it without too many emotions getting involved.  "Finale" was one of the better episodes of the season, but it wasn't the strongest.  The first hour was a little slow but the finale really picked up in the second hour when Apokolips is plummeting towards Earth.

The Good

• The final twenty minutes or so, when Clark has finally donned the Superman outfit.  Not much more needs to be said about those iconic moments.
• The two moments where Clark and Lex relive the moments from the past 10 seasons.
• The Clark-Oliver fight and Clark saving Oliver from Darkseid's hold.
• Aaron Ashmore returning as JIMMY OLSEN!!!
• The scenes with Clark, Martha, and Jonathan
• John Schneider returning as Jonathan Kent
• The Clark-Lex scenes. Duh.

The Bad

• Darkseid. He was supposed to be the big bad of the season. Grrrr....so much could have been done. But that rant is not for this post
• Lionel's beard. He looked like he had been abandoned at sea for months and hadn't saved.
• Tom not wearing the suit.

Other Feelings

• Sadness-Tess dying, even though I knew that it was coming at some point
• Confusion- How the hell did Oliver get rid of Granny, Godfrey, and Desaad with just his arrows?
• Near tears- Clark and Lois reading their vows outside/inside their apartment

Overall, I think that this was a great series finale, even though a few aspects could have been better. But this was a great ender for a great 10 year run.  Though I came on during the sixth season, I went along for the ride as others did before me. And it was fun. But not as much fun as this week is going to be on the RandomBlog. This week will be the "Best of Smallville" week and I will be going over the best episodes, the worst episodes, the best storylines, the best characters, and a few more things. It's gonna be a fun week so buckle up. Also, I have a few posts to post likea few 10 Things posts that will eventually get posted maybe this week.

The Blog's back and operational after another disappearance by me. See you tomorrow.
-RandomBlogger

Goodbye Good Friend

Done with my first year of college and I will be returning to the blog scene starting today.  I'm going to pick up as if I never left and today I write about the end of an era.

On Friday, May 13, 2011, one of my dearest friends will end and it will rock my world forever.  This mentioned friend is the TV show Smallville, of which I am a huge fan.  After starting to watch the show during its sixth season I became an addict for the show.  Thanks to my dad, I became a hero junkie.  My parents got me the first and second seasons on DVD for that following Christmas and I literally didn't see them for a good week and a half.  I was officially hooked to the early years of Superman and I would be hooked for the remainder of time.  Not surprisingly, I started wearing more red and blue colors, even going as far as dressing up as Christopher Reeve's version of Clark Kent for my work's 80's party.  This is how crazy my love for this show has gone.  Smallville was always the one thing that I could look forward to when I had a bad week or what not.  It was quality time between me and my dad and that is something that I will treasure forever.  For me, Smallville wasn't just a TV show, it was a way of life that I kind of now base my life off of.  I, as well as the other Smallville fans out there, will greatly miss this amazing show and hope that something will eventually come along (sooner rather than later) that will replace the void created by this show. 

Goodbye Smallville. And thank you, Tom Welling, for cementing in my mind forever how Superman should really look like.

More posts to come as the Random Blog gets jump started yet again.

Super. Just Super

Massive review coming shortly. But in the meantime, check this out.

http://www.ksitetv.com/6141/the-cws-amazing-smallville-finale-trailer/

Flipping amazing.

Machine's Been Broken

The blogging machine has been broken for the past few weeks.  I've been bogged down with college work and actual work, working every single frakking day that I could.  So, obviously, I got way behind on my reviews and wasn't able to keep up to the date with the news.  However, my schedule is freeing up somewhat and I should be able to start posting again.  I only have a few weeks left in college so, when I'm done, the only things that would keep me from posting will be work and the creation of a CD with a few of my buds.  That is a fun project that we've been throwing around for a while and now it is starting to come together.  I will definitely be posting the status of the songs and the songs themselves when we finish them.  They may not be the best quality, but it's going to be an awesome experiment and will hopefully lead to some big things in the future.

Review wise, I'll be doing a massive overview review post in the coming days.  As I won't be picking up any comics this week, it will give me time to re-read all the comics I've gotten in the past weeks.  I'll also start reviewing Breaking In, the new comedy on Fox starring Christian Slater and Bret Harrison (who makes me miss Reaper so much).

However, I will post this little nugget of awesomeness before I go. 

picture via Kryptonsite

Clark Kent. Phonebooth. EPIC!!!!!!!

Be back soon,

RandomBlogger

Way Behind

Super small post today.

My reviews for the past two weeks probably won't come as promised, but I will go over my opinions on them when I review the new comics that come out.  The only comic I will review from the past week will be Amazing Spider-Man #656, which blew my mind.  Getting two great comics later today (seeing it's past midnight) in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #156 and FF #1.  Reviews on Thursday hopefully.

                
covers from Comic Book Resources

Two little personal matters to mention. One, I nearly died recently.  At work, I got a deep gash on my wrist, about a half inch away from my vein.  Okay, so maybe that doesn't really seem like I near death experience, but it was. Trust me, there was a lot of blood and I nearly passed out.  Scary stuff.  And that kinda leads into my second update: I'm still single.  I almost gave up on asking out my "woman" but, with my "near-death experience", I kinda re-examined my life right now and she has moved into the No. spot on my priority list.  I'll keep you updated when things come by. 

See ya later.

Mother's Day Review

Well, if this was the last V episode ever (which it better not be), then it was a great episode.  V has been getting progressively better these last few episodes and it would be a shame if they don't continue the series.  Titled "Mother's Day" this episode had a bunch of motherly goodness and then there was the cliffhanger, which is one of the best cliffhangers I have ever seen.

The episode starts off with Erica waking up from an Anna nightmare with her bed buddy Hobbes there to comfort her.  After Anna and Amy have a little talk, Erica and the Fifth Column talk with Diana, who informs the group that Anna's plans are moving faster than expected.  The Fifth Column decide to assassinate Anna, using V technology and Lisa, who will be "kidnapped" and then eventually kill her mother.  Anna discovers the kidnapping and learns that the Fifth Column wants her life for Lisa's.  Anna goes down to Earth and talks to Erica, basically telling Erica that she is ready to die for her daughter.  Anna meets with Jack, who gives Anna the address of Lisa's whereabouts.  Anna sends a tracker to hunt down the warehouse and make sure that Lisa is okay and that no one is there.  Hobbes gives Lisa the weapon to kill Lisa and the FBI arrive on the scene, with Erica and Chad both being on the scene.  Anna enters the warehouse only, knowing that Lisa is alone.  After Anna unties Lisa, Lisa pulls the gun on Anna and is ready to kill her.  However, Anna fakes human emotions when she sees the gun and persuades Lisa, via a sad speech, to not kill her.  Anna and Lisa leave the warehouse and, while Chad interviews Anna, Erica talks to Lisa, who tells Erica that not only has Anna changed, but so has Erica.  Meanwhile, up on the mothership, Joshua and Ryan break Diana out of her cell and try to get her back into her cell after Erica calls them, telling them that Lisa failed to kill Anna.  Diana gives a speech to her followers but Anna sneaks up on her and impales Diana with her tail, killing her own mother and delievering one of the best lines of the night to Lisa: "Now that's how you kill your mother."  Anna has Lisa taken away while Ryan sneaks off to see Amy, his daughter.  However, Amy has been basically brainwashed by Anna and kills Ryan in a way very similar to the way Diana died.  Erica calls Tyler and tells him everything about the Vs but Tyler wants to hear it from Lisa's mouth.  However, Anna commands Joshua to put a Lisa skin on her new daughter and to prepare her for mating with Tyler.  Erica returns to Fifth Column HQ and discovers that Hobbes up and left, taking all his things with him.  Erica as a nice moment with Jack, telling him that she will change out of what she is now.  Lisa 2.0 goes and starts banging Tyler while Anna forces Lisa, who now is trapped in Diana's cell, to watch everything.  Erica gets kidnapped by and unknown man and Lisa 2.0 does what I knew was going to happen all along: kill Tyler.  Lisa sits in Diana's cell and weeps for the lost of her love while Erica is shown to have been kidnapped by Lars Tremont, leader of Project Ares.  As Erica is shown the home of Project Ares, Chad gets a call up to the Mothership due to Anna discovering that he was in on Lisa's kidnapping.  Anna attempts to bliss every human on Earth but cannot.  However, Amy is able to and she blisses everyone save for those in the Project Ares bunker.  Erica emerges from the bunker, trying to get people out of the trance.  She has no affect on them and discovers that Jack was blissed as well.  As she stands by Jack, crying, Anna and Amy stand looking out the ship as the other ships move in. 

There have only been a few cliffhangers that I have thoroughly impressed by.  This episode was one of them.  I loved the scene of Erica finding Jack affected by Anna's bliss.  It was a very heartfelt scene even though there was no dialogue.  And I really had no problem's with the deaths in the episode.  I knew for the longest time that Tyler was going to die and I kinda had a suspicion that Diana was going to bite the bullet at some point.  The only death that shocked me was Ryan's death.  Just as he was starting to change everyone's opinions about him again, he gets killed by his own daughter.  I hope that Hobbes stays missing for the foreseeable future, as his character is starting to annoy me.  I liked the emotional moments between Erica and Jack and I hope that they explore that when the next season picks up.  I was a little confused about the FBI being part of the anti-V movement, especially when they seemed to be pro-V just a few episodes ago.  I'm hoping that Lisa and Lisa 2.0 have an all-or-nothing fight with the original Lisa emerging victorious.

I really hope that V returns for another season.  I know that this season seemed a little weaker than the first season, but I absolutely loved this episode and the second half of the season, where it really started to pick up.  With a third of the cast dead, possibly dead (Chad) or missing, there would be more focus on the more important characters like Erica, Lisa, and Jack.  There are a bunch of interesting storylines that could be continued like Lisa 2.0, Hobbes going missing, Chad's fate, and how Erica will get everyone out of Anna's bliss.

Massive review post coming on Thursday/Friday, depending on work and school.

See ya later.

Small Little Post

Not a lot to post about right now other than me never getting around to review Venom or X-Men, but they will be a go for this weeks huge review post.  I'll be reviewing Amazing Spider-Man #656, Ultimate Comics Avengers vs. New Ultimates #2, Ultimate Spider-Man #155 (which I got in the mail yesterday), Venom #1, X-Men #8. Dang, that's a lot of stuff to review. Hopefully I'll be able to review the season finale of V tonite after it airs.

I have a few ideas for the blog coming up, which will make blog basically everyday.  Some ideas I am thinking about are Music Monday and Viral Video Friday, just to name a few.  That and a hopefully weekly version of 10 Things will be part of the big plans for my blog.  Hopefully my blog will get a lot of attention and I could actually, I don't know, interview comic writers and illustrators along with TV and movie people.  Speaking of movies, I am currently planning on auditioning for a role in the Avenger's movie (no joke) when casting begins in Cleveland.

I really don't get personal on these things but I do want to talk about a few things kinda personal.  First off, I hope that Japan gets better really quick.  It's devistating to see that happen to one of the most amazing places in the world.  I have never been there, but I have always wanted to go.  If you are reading this, please donate some money to help Japan.

The second personal thing may or may not affect the blog directly.  I think that I have fallen in love and plan on starting to date my very beautiful girlfriend to be. Hopefully, I will be able to continue posting here whenever I'm not working, going to college, reading comics/watching tv/searching the web for the blog, and spending time with my "woman", to quote my one friend.

See ya later tonite hopefully.

Theoretically Speaking

It's spring break at my college and where am I going to be for the week? In snowy, somewhat cold Ohio.  But it's okay, because that means I can just sit back relax, play some video games, read some comics new and old, and post a good number of entries. Today's post will be about my theories about Death of Spider-Man, Fear Itself, and Spider Island.

Fear Itself

Written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Stuart Immonen, Fear Itself is Marvel's big summer event this year.  With this creative team, the book seems that it would be a blast to read.  However, many people are on the fence about this event.  Now, I'm not one that normally follows the major events in the Marvel universe, but I'm intrigued by this event.  I don't know if it's Stuart Immonen's art or what, but I'm going to be getting this. 

My theory on what is going to happen is, obviously, that there will be a new God of Fear (already announced) and that he will choose a few (maybe 8?) villains to be his/her agents of fear.  The number 8 is important because Fraction has stated that there will be a chosen 8 heroes.  With 8 heroes being chosen, it makes sense that 8 villains get chosen as well.  Some of the villains already seen in promos are Grey Gargoyle, Absorbing Man, Loki, and the new Red Skull whereas the heroes more commonly shown are Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Thing, Storm, and Dracula. The big question, besides the overall story, is who are the chosen 8? My guess for the 8 is:

1. Iron Man
2. Thor
3. Captian America/Steve Rodgers
4. Any of the remaining members of the Fantastic Four
5. Spider-Man
6. Dracula
7. Black Panther
8. Ms. Marvel

So, what do I think is going to happen during Fear Itself?  I think that it is going to go as basically any major event goes: the first issue will be a filler-type introduction episode followed by the discovery of the bad guy.  Then, there will be a major fight where one or two heroes/villains will "die". End of story.  Hopefully, Fraction strays away somewhat from this pattern.

Spider Island



Not much is known about this storyline execpt that it starts with Amazing Spider-Man #666.  Leading into Spider Island, there is the storyline called Infested. Written by Dan Slott and illustrated by artists like Barry Kitson, Lee Garbett, Emma Rios, and Stefano Caselli, "Infested" starts in ASM #659.  Honestly, I have basically no idea what is going to happen during this arc.  The promo pictures make me believe that a whole bunch of random people are going to get spider powers and that Horizon Labs is going to be involved somehow.  Either the Horizon workers will be helping get rid of the powers or the mysterious Lab 6 worker causes the infestation, that is left to be seen.  However, if the Free Comic Book Day Spidey comic is any indication, Iron Fist will be a big factor in this arc as well as the new Madame Web, who has not been seen since Grim Hunt.  I have faith in Dan Slott and I believe that this story line will rock, just as the past story lines have.

Death of Spider-Man



Ah, Death of Spider-Man.  This is an arc that I've been waiting for since it was announced, not knowing if it was a 616 or Ultimate story.  Now that I know that it is an Ultimate story, this is now a huge thing for me.  Ultimate Spider-Man was the book that got me into comics.  I read all the back issues and then started collecting at issue #100.  I've enjoyed all four regular artists on the book, with Lafuente being the strongest and Bagley the weakest in my opinion.  But that is no knock on Bagley.  He was the main artist on the book when I got it and I was amazed by it.  Mainly because it was my first comic and I didn't know many others. 

Anywho, what do I think is going to happen in DoS? Good question.  Honestly, I do not think that Peter is going to die.  However, I do think that Spider-Man is going to die and Pete will be donning a new costume and a new name.  My idea of the storyline goes like this: Norman Osborn is still alive and he breaks out from where ever he's been for all this time.  He rounds up the Ultimate Sinister Six and go after Peter.  They attack him at his house or when he is out with Captain America.  However, after defeating the first wave of attacks, Norman sends half of the six out to go after MJ, Aunt May, Gwen, Bobby, and Johnny.  Johnny and Bobby fight off the SS members as best they can until Peter shows up, having defeated all the members except for Norman.  However, Norman eventually kills Aunt May and Peter, in a blind fury, nearly kills Osborn.  MJ and Gwen stop him and, at the funeral, Peter decides to become a vigilante/anti-hero, thus killing the Spider-Man identity for now.

Jessica takes up the mantle of Spider-Man while Peter is MIA.  Eventually, Jessica, Bobby, Johnny, and Kitty must team up to find Pete and bring him back to his senses, maybe because Mysterio or someone has gotten hold of something like the Zodiac Key.  Pete and the gang defeat the villain and Peter decides to return to the mantle of Spider-Man and to continue training to prevent another death like Aunt May's.

Again, that is just my theory on what is going to happen.  And in a kinda related note, I am very sad to hear that David Lafuente will not be returning to Ultimate Spider-Man after this storyline is over.  He was and will be one of my favorite illustrators and I hope that eventually he will return to the book for the long run.

Okay.  Theories are over and done for now.  Thursday morning will bring a fresh review of Venom #1 and the new V that is on tonite.  Whenever my copy of Ultimate Spidey #155 comes, I'll review that too.  Thankfully, my subscription ends with this issue so I'll be able to pick up Death of Spider-Man the day that the issue comes out.

Adios

Love Child?

Well, that was a complete 180 from the last episode. This weeks Smallville episode "Scion" was, in my opinion, one of the best episodes of the season so far.  The pacing was nice and the cliffhanger was amazing. Plus, the promo gave us a look at (sniff) the final episodes of Smallville.

The episode starts with Clark returning to the Kent Farm to find Tess waiting for him.  Obviously, Tess is beating around the bush about something, and it turns out to be that she wants Clark to train Alexander, I mean Conner.  Clark eventually learns that Conner has a bit of his DNA when he and Tess discover Conner lifting up the tractor.  After the break, we see Lionel at Cadmus Labs, looking for Alexander/Conner.  Tess greets him, telling him that his "son" had died due to his rapid acceleration of age.  Tess shows Lionel a tube full of "Alexander's" ashes, but Lionel does not believe her.  We go to the Kent barn, with Clark trying to talk Conner into staying on the farm.  Conner threatens to leave because he doesn't know his past at all and he wants to find out about it.  Conner tries to superspeed away, but Clark out speeds him, revealing that he is the Blur.  Clark and Conner start to train, starting with heat vision. In a scene reminiscent to previous seasons, Conner has trouble with heat vision until he is sexually turned on, thanks to Lois.  Thankfully, Clark turns Conner away from Lois just in time.  Later, Clark tells Lois that Conner is actually Alexander, just with Clark's DNA finally developing.  Clark tells Lois that Lex must have put some of his DNA in with the Lex clone, with Clark's DNA being stole from Helen Bryce waaaaaaaaaay back in Season 2.  Lois eventually comes around to having Conner around, saying that Clark will be a great mentor for him.  At the Daily Planet, Tess and Lois have a talk about Conner and Lionel, concluding that they should find some evidence proving that this Lionel is not the really Lionel.  After Conner burns Clark, Tess and Clark have a chat about not telling Conner about his origin, a conversation that Conner hears thanks to his super hearing.  Conner speeds off the the burnt Luthor mansion and eventually meets Lionel (again).  Lionel tells Conner that he is his father and gives him a ring, stating that it is his birthright.  However, the ring has a red kryptonite jem, thus corrupting Conner.  Lionel takes Conner to a meat packaging plant, showing him that he caught Lois, who was snooping in his office, and is gearing up to kill her.  Just before Lionel pulls the trigger, Conner super speeds her away.  Conner drops her off in the middle of the street and starts to give her a bunch of gifts that he stole.  Lionel discovers that Conner took Lois and tells his people to make sure the Lois does not lead Conner to Clark, who shows up at Lionel's office.  Clark tells Lionel that he will not corrupt Conner like he did Lex and Lionel tells Conner is with Lois.  Conner takes Lois to the Luthor mansion and tries to seduce her, stating that he would open a world that Clark couldn't for her.  Conner knocks Lois out and, when she wakes back up, she sees the ring on Conner's finger and concludes that he is on RedK.  After Lois shuts down his advances, Conner vows to kill Lois just as Clark arrives.  Conner attacks Clark but Clark, not really getting hurt, does not fight back and eventually destroys the ring, reverting Conner back to his normal self.  Later, Tess meets up with Lionel and tells him that her adoption papers were never resigned by AULionel and that he has been exposed for being a fake.  Back at the Kent farm, Conner is fixing up the barn and apologizes to Clark.  Conner reveals his super shirt, a black shirt with a red House of El symbol on it, and Clark tells Conner that he will be enrolled at Smallville High under the name "Conner Kent", saying that he will live on the farm with him and Lois.  Lois and Clark talk later and Lois determines that when they eventually have kids, Clark will make a great father.  The episode ends with Lionel, who just stated that he wold give anything to have Lex back, and Darkseid, finally forming, right by Lex's grave.

This was one of the better episodes of the season in my opinion.  I really enjoyed the storyline and definitely did not see the Red K ring coming into play.  The pacing of the episode was great and I really enjoyed the big brother/ little brother dynamic that Clark and Conner had.  I also really enjoyed the dynamics between Tess and Lionel. The idea of Conner attending Smallville High plays along with the comics, with Conner eventually becoming Superboy.  I have to wonder (along with basically everyone else) does this mean that the producers are trying to get a Superboy/Young Justice type show on TV to fill Smallville's void?  If so, that would be great.  I really really really loved Lucas Grabeel as Conner and, if they do do a spin off, I want him to play Conner again.  I am going to give this episode a very solid 9 out of 10, with the only fault being the kinda creepy Lois/Conner scenes at the Luthor mansion.

That's it for this post. I'm going to try to post again tomorrow or Monday about the promo shown at the end of Scion, including scenes from the final episodes of Smallville.

Oh, and just because I want to, here is a picture of Conner Kent from last night.

Pic from Smallville Wiki
See ya later.

Midterms

Somehow, I was able to write this blog while being buried up to my neck in books and such for studying for my midterms this week. I've actually had these reviews done since Tuesday but I wasn't able to post them until now.  Who knew that music theory would be so demanding? Anywho, I've got two reviews this week: Ultimate (Comics) Spider-Man #154 and V's "Uneasy Lies The Head"

Ultimate Spider-Man #154



The issue starts off with Gwen and MJ having a moment, where Gwen tells MJ that she and Peter broke up and that Iron Man showed up asking for Peter.  Their talk is interrupted when they see the beam released by the Zodiac Key from last issue.  We then jump to Soho, where the battle between Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Cat and Mysterio continues.  Iron Man tells Spidey that though his suit just deflected the blast from the Zodiac Key, that is all his suit has left.  Spider-Man jumps into the fray and, after Tony gets his suit blasted off of him, takes the Key away from Mysterio.  Cat and Mysterio plead with Peter to release the Key, knowing what could happen.  Spidey refuses to release the Key, which leads to a fight between Black Cat, Spider-Man, and Mysterio which ends with Spidey accidentally using the Zodiac Key.  He causes more chaos unknowingly and is obviously disturbed by what he just did.  After Pete drops the Key, Mysterio threatens to kill both him and Cat if they go near the Key.  That eventually leads to a pretty cool two page spread of Mysterio, Pete, and Cat fighting.  Just before Mysterio gets his hands on the Key, Tony appears and rips out Mysterio's operating system, showing that this "Mysterio" was actually a robot.  Tony takes the Key with him to examine it and, once Tony leaves, Pete goes to help the people with Black Cat's help.  Later, MJ finds Peter outside her window and Pete tells her about his rough night.  She invites him in and, as the issue ends, we see Pete and MJ standing in MJ's room.

The prelude to Death of Spider-Man continues this week and, even though very little happened in this issue, it was still more action packed than the previous issues.  It was nice to see the Zodiac Key storyline conclude for now, because I still believe it will show up at some point in the actual Death of Spider-Man storyline.  For this issue, Sara Pichelli tackles the bulk of the art with David Lafuente adding his talents in the beginning and the end.  This issue has made me into a Pichelli fan.  Sara's work on this issue was amazing and, for the first time, her Mysterio didn't annoy me.  I really hope that, after DoS, both Sara and David are back on the book. David's art was minimal in this issue and it seemed a little rushed in the beginning part with MJ and Gwen.  However, the art on the Peter-MJ scene was very nice and complemented Sara's art very well.  These two are a great team and, as I've stated, I would love for these two to return and switch arcs after DoS.

The next issue of Ultimate Spidey is the last Death of Spider-Man prelude issue, drawn by Chris Samnee. I've never seen Chris's work but, with it being the last prelude issue, I hope that it is good. UPDATE: I have now seen the preview from Comic Book Resources and I am very impressed with Chris's work.  Two interesting notes on issue #155: it seems to be Peter's birthday (16? 17? I think 17) and the cover has the Ultimate Sinister Six on it. I really hope that #155 is as good as #154 was.

Story- 5/5
Art- 4/5
Overall- 9/10

Uneasy Lies The Head Review

Okay, so I missed the first few minutes of the episode so I'll start where I started watching. Erica, still grieving over the loss of her ex-hubby and pain in the butt son, is now the full fledged leader of the Fifth Column, which is fine with everyone but Jack.  With the knowledge of Anna taking the Live Aboard's DNA, Erica and the gang break into a lab to steal a strand of flu that would completely mess up Anna's plans.  During the break in, Hobbs gets shot and Erica guns down the shooter, not knowing if he was wearing a bullet-proof vest or not. Jack makes sure he does and makes sure to confront Erica about it back at the HQ.  However, Erica doesn't really care about Jack's opinion, instead sharing another sensual moment with Hobbes. This storyline, with the Fifth Column learning that their virus could kill the hosts, is part of two other storylines.  The first one is with Anna, who is dealing with not only the Live Aboards dying, but also with making sure Lisa is ready to mate with anyone, not just Tyler.  Lisa, who starts getting close to Rafael only for Tyler to come in and act all douche baggish. Tyler throws a punch and Rafael starts to lose his inards. The other storyline is Ryan trying to get himself and his daughter off the ship.  Unfortunately, Ryan is only able to get himself off the ship, thanks to Lisa and Diana's help.  The episode ends with Erica and Hobbs banging each other on top of a picture of Tyler and his dad. Ew.

Diana seems to have her own agenda right now and I cannot wait to see what she has up her sleeve.  The new development with Erica are interesting but I do not like them. I feel so bad for Jack, who obviously has a thing for Erica. I really don't know what the yare going to do with Erica and Hobbes, but I hope they don't keep them together. Erica really needs to realize that what she is doing is wrong and, when she needs to repent, who else would she go to other than Father Jack.  I'm giving "Uneasy Lies The Head" a score of 7 out of 10.

Um, so I think that is it for this post. I thought that I had something else but I guess I don't. Oh well. I'll update the blog soon with my Death of Spider-Man theories plus my reasons for why Shadow of the Colossus is the greatest PS2 game ever.

Adios

A Lemur and a Funeral

Well, well, well. That was a waste of an episode.  Smallville's recent episode, "Fortune", was a fun yet not progressive episode.  This episode had nothing to do with the storylines already in place and did absolutely nothing to progress the Superman storyline.  Basically, the storyline behind this episode was "The Hangover" just with Smallville's characters. 

Clark and Lois' bachelor and bachelorette takes a turn for the worse when the couple plus their respective parties (Chloe, Tess, Oliver, and Emil) drink enchanted champagne sent by Zatanna.  Then, Clark wakes up with a lemur, Chloe, and a whole bunch of questions.  The two find the limo they took and start to get a lead on clues to finding out what happened that night.  After Clark superspeeds into a wall, he goes and finds Emil, dressed as Elvis, and Tess singing on stage. Emil is arrested for allegedly stealing an armored car and Clark then realizes that he might have stole it. Lois and Oliver then wake up on some railroad tracks and Lois discovers that her wedding ring is missing.  After Clark discovers that he did steal the armored car, Lois finds a clue to where her engagement ring might be in her bra: a chip from the Metropolis Fortune Casino.  Back at Watchtower, Chloe discovers that Emil never was booked and that leads Clark to believe that Emil wasn't really arrested by real cops.  Lois and Ollie arrive at the casino and discover that Lois bet her ring and that the ring winner, the guy who is leading the torture session against Emil, cheated his way into getting it.  Ollie and Lois end up getting tied up backstage and, after freeing themselves, find show girl costumes and decide to use the costumes to escape and get Lois's ring back.  They take the stage just as Clark and Chloe enter the casino, looking for Emil. As Clark takes off, Chloe notices Lois and Oliver when they start to perform.  Amos Fortune, the owner and owner of Lois's ring, notices Chloe and orders his men to attack her.  This causes Oliver and Lois to take action.  Oliver, in drag, and Chloe take down Fortune's men while Lois scampers across the ground to get her ring back.  In the end, Clark saves Emil, Lois gets her ring back, and Chlollie beat Fortune's men.  After, Clark and Chloe talk in the barn loft and Chloe tells Clark that she is leaving again, as she got a job at a Star City newspaper.  Chloe also let slip about "a billionaire with high tech toys and a wondrous woman". Later, the gang find and watch the infamous tape and realize all their shenanigans, including Tess and Emil in a steamy situation.  The episode ends with Oliver showing Chloe that they got "married" and they agree to go to Star City together.

I did not really enjoy this episode.  There were parts that made me laugh and that I liked, but for the most part I thought it was a waste of an episode.  There was barely any superhero-ing in this episode and it just gave that cheesy feeling.  I did like the Batman and Wonder Woman references and I must say, Cassidy Freeman looked amazing at the end of the episode.  It was kinda weird seeing Tess and Emil hook up like that but it's nice to see Emil let loose and to see Tess actually laughing and having a good time for once. I'm going to give this episode a 7 out of 10, and that's being generous.



As promised, I'm going more in depth in my review of Amazing Spider-Man #655.  It starts off silent, with Jonah and Pete both getting ready for the funeral of Marla Jameson.  With Jonah's friends and family all there, Pete can't feel anything but guilt.  After the funeral, Pete lays in his room, unable to sleep, but eventually falls into a trippy dream.  Pete sees Uncle Ben, his faceless parents, and the burglar and they all get onto a plane, preparing to take off.  Aunt May tries to get on but Pete stops her.  May then changes into Marla, who tells Pete that if she was a supervillian, she would be back as villians always come back.  We then go to a trippy yet astounding double page spread with Pete seeing everyone who has died since he became Spider-Man.  Pete eventually spots Gwen Stacy and chases her, eventually meeting Charlie, Wolverine's friend that Pete killed.  Pete lements that he never meant to kill her but the Green Goblin shows up with Gwen.  Pete swears to kill Gobby but Gwen tells him that he couldn't, not even for her.  Then, a bunch of villains, including Goblin and Mysterio, saying that they keep coming back because Spider-Man never killed them. The villains are then gunned down by the likes of Scourge, Punisher, and Wolverine, saying that killing villains is the only way to make sure they don't come back.  Even heroes like Captain America and Sentry tell Pete that sometimes killing is the only thing to do. Pete then sees the Burglar again and procedes to beating him to death.  The Burglar then morphs into Uncle Ben and then Marla, in front of everyone who has died, asks Peter what he will do now?  The next morning, Pete swings around the city and declares that as long as he is on the scene, no one will die.  Unfortunately, someone already has during the stand off between Captain Watanabe and Massacre.

As I've stated before, this is and probably will be, one of my favorite issues I will ever read.  The writing was amazing (excuse the pun) and everything flowed together perfectly.  However, as much as I liked the writing, the section that was silent seemed to be the most moving.  All you have for those pages is Marcos Martin artwork to tell you the story.  Speaking of Marcos, the art in this issue was better than awesome.  I know that some people don't like Marcos for whatever reason, but I am not one of those people.  Marcos's art is both old school yet modern at the same time.  His double page spread of Pete chasing Gwen was astounding, along with his Spider-Man/Burglar spiral scene to start off the dream sequence.

This issue was way to good to be rated.  There is no possible way I could even rate something of this caliber.  Let's just say that if you haven't read this issue, you are missing out on a modern day masterpiece.  Too bad there is a three week wait until the next issue. :(

More reviews and news later in the week.
-RandomBlogger

Remember Me?

Hey there everyone. I'm the RandomBlogger and I haven't blogged in a while.  Too long has my blog been empty so there is a post. There is NO way that I can review everything that I've read/watched recently so I will instead be giving my opinions about basically everything: comics, Smallville, V, NBA trades, NFL work stoppage, and the amazing concert I went to.

Comics

First and foremost, Amazing Spider-Man #655 is a thing of beauty.  The writing was phenomenal and the art was stunning.  This was, and probably will be, one of my favorite comics I have ever read.  Slott and Martin completely owned this week and I'm expecting the next issue to be as great as this one was.  The scene with Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin was disturbing yet very emotional at the same time.  Also, the Uncle Ben scene after Peter beat him up was disturbing yet awe-inspiring.

"Death of Spider-Man" started to a somewhat slow start with Ultimate Spider-Man #153 and Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates #1. Right now, the stories have nothing to do with each other but I'm expecting that by UA vs NU #3, which has Spidey and Punisher on the cover, the whole story will begin to come together.  I'm starting to grow fond of Sara Pichelli's work, except for her Mysterio.  He still looks weird to me but besides that, it's starting to grow on me.  And I know that I was harsh on Mark Bagley before, but after seeing some of the preview art for DoS, I'm pretty convinced that this arc is going to rock.

A little side note about DoS, I'm actually a little surprised that Bendis is bringing back Norman Osborn.  The way that he "died" was really memorable and added to the great storyline that was "Death of a Goblin".  I mean, I knew that Norman would come back somehow, but this soon? Didn't see that coming.

On the Avengers/ New Avengers front, I was not very pleased with the stories so far.  The Avengers Infinity Gem storyline is getting boring while New Avengers is not that impressive to me anymore. There is probably a good chance that I'm going to drop one of these books in the near future, which is a shame because they both have so much potential. 

TV Stuff

Smallville has been pretty good since it's return.  Collateral, the first episode back, was a little weak because it was not really about Clark and more about Chloe returning, just like I thought it would.  The next episode, Beacon, was a really good episode with a really shocking twist at the end.  Alexander Luthor, the clone of Lex, is revealed to actually be Conner Kent aka Superboy!!  There had been rumblings about Alexander being Conner but I didn't buy that. When it was though, boy, I was shocked.  And then, this past week's episode, Masquerade, really upped the anty for the rest of the season.  Introducing Desaad while having Clark finally don the glasses makes for a great episode.  And the twist at the end of that episode was great too, revealing that Oliver has been marked by Darkseid.  I cannot wait for the rest of these episodes, except for tomorrow's episode, Fortune, which is basically a rip-off of the Hangover.

Another side note, THANK YOU MICHAEL!!!  Michael Rosenbaum has announced that he WILL be returning to Smallville to play Lex Luthor again. Such great news.  This finale is going to be sooooooo epic.

V has been stepping up its game recently, taking some bold steps towards the end of its possible last season.  Killing Erica's ex and Eli Cohn in the same episode was great, plus there was a Tyler slap to the face in there, which made it even better.  I really hope this show has another season because I love seeing Erica in charge of the Fifth Column and I want to see that expanded more.

Sports News

Today was the trading deadline in the NBA and my Cavs made a trade that I'm not so thrilled about.  The Cavs traded Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Los Angeles Clippers for a 1st round pick and Baron Davis.  I do not like this trade despite basically everyone else liking it.  I think that the Cavs should have gone for someone a little younger and is more willing to actually play here and be "the man" of the team, neither of which Baron is. Honestly, I wanted the Cavs to go after Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors but, alas, this will have to do, I guess.

The NFL still hasn't gotten a new labor agreement and I personally don't believe that they will anytime soon.  I hope they do get one soon, but I'm expecting to miss a few games right now.  When we get closer to the draft, I will have some version of a mock draft up and I might possibly do a big board when the combine is over. Possibly.

Other News

So, that concert I went to was on Saturday, February 13th.  The headliner was the always spectacular Streetlight Manifesto and it was a blast.  The opening acts, including the Terrible Things and my hometown band the Shams, were awesome as well.  When Streetlight took the stage, everything went crazy. Me and my friend were stuck in the middle of the room when they started and it was like a mosh bomb went off.  I actually lost my left shoe during the first song and went the next hour or so with only one shoe and a sock that was drenched with beer and water.  It was probably the craziest yet most awesome concert I've ever gone to.

So, that's it. I finally posted another post and it feels so good to be back.  I'll try to get a review of Smallville on Saturday along with a full review of Amazing Spider-Man #655 and, if it comes in the mail by then, Ultimate Spider-Man #154. I have a busy week with work and mid-terms coming up so I'll try to get something up besides the reviews, whether it be a big board or the long talked about 10 Things Artist post.  Either way, something will be up soon.

Twitter

-RandomBlogger

Radio Silence

Sorry about the radio silence that I gave you guys for the past week. With the snowmageddon in the Northeast this past week and my pure laziness, I never got around to posting my new 10 Things post about my favorite comic illustrators. That WILL come tomorrow while I will review three things today. I will be reviewing Ultimate Spider-man #152, Amazing Spider-man #653, and the latest episode of V. In addition to those things, I will be giving my non-important views on the recent comic news. Now, it may seem like the Random Blog is starting to be all comics, and I considered changing it to just comics. But it will remain a Random Blog.

Ultimate Spider-man #152


This issue starts out two weeks in the past.  The Black Cat is spying on Mysterio while he is recording a message for the world.  Spidey then swings in and the building explodes. Jump to the present day, with Aunt May and Gwen trying to get Iron Man away from their house before someone realizes Peter's secret.  Stark doesn't figure it out right away and, when he finally does, he plays it out as cool as he can and flies off.  Flashback to a week ago, and the Black Cat is searching for something in Mysterio's wrecked lab.  She uncovers what she was looking for: a device called the Zodiac Key.  Mysterio walks in on Cat and tells her that the Key was the reason why the Kingpin stayed in power for so long.  Mysterio tells Black Cat that he doesn't know how to work it but she does, using it to get away from Mysterio.  Back in the present day, Pete, Johnny, and Bobby are walking home from school, talking about girls and their secret identities.  They overhear that Iron Man was in the area and they rush home to see if Aunt May knows anything.  When they get home, they are shocked to see that Gwen has returned.  May tells Peter that Iron Man came to start Pete's training.  Gwen takes Peter upstairs to talk about them and their relationship.  Peter gushes his heart out to Gwen, but Gwen insists that they break up.  Gwen tells Peter that she feels like she forced him into dating her which Peter denies.  The two decide to be just friends as Peter gets a call from Stark, telling him to get over to Stark HQ to start his training.

This is the last issue before the prelude to "Death of Spider-man" and it does not disappoint.  The art duties are split by David Lafuente and Sara Pichelli.  Pichelli continues to draw the Black Cat/Mysterio aspects of the story while Lafuente draws the Peter Parker aspect.  While we don't see Spidey in his costume until the final page, it doesn't matter. Bendis keeps the plot moving not only with the Peter story but with the intriguing Black Cat story.  I'm really starting to feel that Mysterio is going to have a big hand in the DoS storyline, using the Zodiac Key to control the Ultimate Six.  The art on this issue rocked. This is the first time that I found myself enjoying Pichelli's art as it was very clean and very impressive, even though she didn't have a lot of material in this issue. This issue also brings back one of my favorite artists David Lafuente. There are a few times in the issue that the art seems a little rushed, but the final panel of Spider-man swinging through the city is amazing and deserves to be a poster or t-shirt or something.  The only complaint I have with this issue is Bendis mixing up his storylines regarding Mysterio.  He shows Mysterio recording this post-Kingpin message which happened in Issue #2.  However, he shows Spidey appearing and the lab being destroyed, which happened in the third annual.  This was a little bit confusing but it did not take much away from a phenominal story.  I'm so happy that for these next few months, Ult. Spidey will be coming out twice a month, even though Bagley is returning. I'm looking forward to DoS like crazy now and I hope it does not disappoint.

Story- 4/5
Art- 5/5
Overall- 9/10

Amazing Spider-man #653

This issue starts off right off where the last issue left us.  Smythe's robo-bugs are attacking Jonah's limo, which holds the mayor himself, Jay Sr., and Glory Grant.  Gargan and Spidey are still fighting on the rocket, with Pete having trouble figuring out what to do. Knowing that he needs help, Spidey phones the Avengers Mansion, home of the New Avengers.  Unfortunately, no one is home except for Squirrel Girl, who tells Spidey that the Avengers are on their way home from a mission.  Spidey freaks out on her and while Squirrel Girl starts to in return lecture him, he loses her.  Back on the ground, Max Modell and Mr. Muntz decide to stop the rocket without Peter and Max starts to think about Spidey and Peter never being in the same place at the same time. Though Spidey gets Max to get into contact with the rocket, the real hero is, surprisingly, Doc Ock, who saves the rocket because it will mess with his master plan. The rocket gets released and Spidey and Gargan falling off the rocket.  Jonah gloats to Smythe, but Smythe tells Jonah that his slayer swarm are watching his friends, loved ones, and everyone he holds near and dear to him.  Spidey tries to web together a parachute but Scorpion tackles him.  However, Ms. Marvel comes to Pete's rescue and Smythe picks up Gargan after he crashes to the ground.  The rest of the New Avengers show up to fight Smythe's swarm until Jonah shows up, asking the Avengers to rescue his friends and family.  Peter tells Ms. Marvel and Jessica Jones to go to the Bugle, Luke Cage and Iron Fist staying at the launch zone, and Mockingbird, the Thing, and himself going to the spa to save Mrs. Jameson and Aunt May.  The swarm makes it to the spa and the Bugle and the teams make it to their respective points.  The fighting begins, but the slayers have a spider-sense like attack which makes it almost impossible for the Avengers to fight them. Pete swings off to Horizon to whip up an invention but gets confronted by Max, who questions him about Spider-man.

This issue was pretty good.  The actual writer of this issue was Fred Van Lente while Dan Slott did the plot, due to Slott's recent sickness and Marvel's move and the craziness it caused. The script is written very well and Van Lente's back story, involving Spider-man, the new Power Man, and the Looter, is also written very well.  The art by Stefano Caselli was better this issue. I really liked how Caselli drew the New Avengers and I'm really digging his Scorpion. Slott deserves a lot of credit; he is making this book one of the best books out there. I really liked his decision to bring in the New Avengers, as I like that team more than the true Avengers.  The finale for this arc is shaping up to be epic, plus with this issue ending, we are one more issue closer to Marcos Martin. But that is no slam on Caselli or Humberto Ramos. This is probably the best book out there right now.

Story- 5/5
Art- 5/5
Overall- 10/10

V Episode 2.4 "Unholy Alliance"

This episode was a bit of a let down after the last few episodes.  The main parts of this episode were about Anna going to the Vatican to talk to the Pope and Erica and the Fifth Column going after Eli Cohn.  The main reason for Anna going to the Vatican is to get those who speak out against the V's, like Jack, out of service. Though she was turned down in the beginning, after basically threatening the priests, she gets her way and the Vatican bans anti-V services.  Meanwhile, Erica gets a new partner who is primed to stab her in the back, again.  However, it looks like this guy is NOT a V, which I guess is a good thing.  The thing that upset me the most in this episode was Tyler. He is starting to be a real annoyance and I really wish that his character would get written out or die.  We all know that he is probably going to die after mating with Lisa, who had too little of time in this episode.  The character of Eli Cohn is an interesting one.  His radical movement of the suicide bombings and the murders of the Peace Ambassadors are a little too extreme, but I like how the Fifth Column decides to let him join up.  They need his connections if they are going to beat the Vs once and for all.

Random Stuff

• Finally, Smallville returns tonite. I am so super pumped for this. I will be reviewing it tomorrow during the 10 Things post.

Kryptonsite posted some pictures from the episode "Masquerade". In this portfolio, they finally had good pictures of Clark in his super jacket. Here is one of my favorites:

• There have also been some new pictures of Chris Evans as Captain America flying around. Here is one of them: 
  I must say, I am intrigued by this movie. I like Chris Evans in the Fantastic Four and, even though I'm not the biggest Cap fan, this movie looks pretty good.
• Now, I know that I made a post about my lack of excitement about Mark Bagley returning to Ultimate Spider-man for "Death of Spider-man". But the pictures I have seen so far are pretty good and I'm optomistic about it.
• Marvel, via Dan Slott and a few others, have slowly been releasing images of Marcos Martin's and David Lafuente's most recent stuff. I absolutely LOVE all of the things I've seen.
  
  Lafuente via Marvel

         Marcos Martin via Stephen Wacker's Twitter

Well, that's it for this extended review post. Tomorrow I will be posting my review of "Collateral" and my top 10 favorite comic book artists. Sunday will be the day that I pick the Super Bowl. Follow me at Twitter.

Okay. See ya guys later.

-RandomBlogger