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