Thursday, May 3, 2012

School's (Almost) Out For Summer

Hello world.  This is the first review post I've written in a while because of school related stuff. Well, I am happy to report that classes are done for the semester!!!  The only things I have left to do is a band tour the next two days and then playing at commencement.  After that, it's Avengers time. My sister and I are going and I'm pumped for it. I've been hearing great things about the film and it only amps my excitement.  This summer is really shaping up to be a really great summer (despite probably working a lot).  Between Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises (sooooooooo pumped for that movie, I giggle like a school girl whenever I watch the new trailer) and a few other things are going to make this the best summer in recent memory.  I digress though. My LCS had it's cargo get damaged so the majority of it's stock got damaged so this review post will be shorter than it really should be. If I had all the issues I planned on getting, this post would be huge. But I only have three issues to review so it's not too bad.

Avengers Vs. X-Men #3




The third chapter of Marvel's summer event opens with Logan looking pretty messed up as he recovers from Hope's attack at the end of the last issue.  After Spider-Man fills him in on the events that he missed, Logan instantly knows that something is not right and runs out to figure it out.  We then cut to Cap and Iron Man discussing what to do with the X-Men, who have surrendered after Hope ran out.  Cap isn't making sense, saying that the X-Men should be locked up while Tony tells Cap that he is wrong with that plan, even mentioning Civil War.  Doctor Strange appears, holding a defeated Magik. However, things are not what they seem to be, as Logan storms in and exposes that the Doc Strange that just showed up is actually Magik posing as the good Doctor.  The X-Men teleport away and realize that in order to find Hope is to get someone at the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning to use Cerebra to locate her.  We then get our only look at Hope in the issue, as she uses a device to scatter her pattern to throw off the Avengers and X-Men from finding her.  Rachel Summers is then shown checking in with the Avengers, telling them about the scattered coordinates while Wolvie gets a little PO'd at her.  Once she ends the call, she is seen communicating with Scott, showing that she is the mole at the school that will help the X-Men.  Cap gathers the Avengers and sends them out in teams in an attempt to find Hope before the X-Men or the Phoenix does.  While on the Quinjet, Logan and Cap have a heated conversation that eventually leads to blows.  Cap eventually gets the upper hand (thanks to Hank Pym) and ejects Logan from the jet, stranding him somewhere in the Arctic.

This issue brings Cap and Logan to blows, probably a little earlier than I would have imagined.  However, the fight they have is short and I believe that it is a prelude to a longer battle in the finale.  One aspect I really like about this event so far is putting Wolverine in basically the same role Spider-Man had during Civil War.  He has a foot in each camp and while it seems like he is on the Avengers side, this issue might be the turning point that drives him back to Cyclops' arms. I was kind of hoping to see a little more of Hope in this issue, but next issue seems to be more Hope directed, as she is portrayed on the cover as being on the run from both teams.  Written by Ed Brubaker and art by personal favorite John Romita, Jr., the third issue strays away from battles and take the event to a personal level for a bit, which is nice.  I really don't like events that are all battle with little character interactions.  I was initially not going to buy this event but I'm actually happy that I have decided to check it out, as each issue continues to be extremely well done.  Hopefully, things will continue like this or the event will turn into a flop very quickly.

Grade: A-


Smallville Season 11 #1




Picking up six months after the series finale, we get a quick introduction to the main characters (Oliver, Chloe, Lois, and Lex) before we finally see the Man of Steel in his new and improved costume.  When do we first see it? When Clark saves a Russian space craft, of course.  Clark is shown fully accepting his destiny to be Earth's savior and seems to be enjoying finally being able to be a hero in the light instead of hiding in the shadows.  After showering and having a nice chat with Lois, Clark runs into Lex out on the streets.  Though Lex's memory is still gone, he faintly remembers Clark, though he questions why they were ever friends.  After Clark superspeeds away to save the day, Lex, who previously met with Lois' dad about hunting down Superman, runs into a woman who might be Tess.  Elsewhere, a bunch of bandits try to steal stuff from the harbor but get stopped by Oliver.  Though Ollie has a handle on the situation, when the bandits pull a surprise on him, Clark swoops in to save Ollie from certain death.  After the save, Clark and Ollie talk about Ollie and Chloe leaving to Star City but Oliver tells Clark that getting Chloe away from Watchtower is going to be harder than imagined.  Speaking of Watchtower, we then go to Chloe and Lois, who discover that when the Russian space craft was hit by the gamma rays, a space craft also came into Earth's orbit.

This has been a comic that I've been itching to read ever since it was announced a few months ago.  As you can tell from my previous posts, I was a HUGE fan of the Smallville TV show and when I heard that they were going to do a comic version of it and continue the story, it immediately jumped up on my pull list.  In short, I loved this issue.  It is the perfect continuation of the series that introduced me to the Superman mythos and basically into the superhero world.  The story by Brian Miller felt like it was just another episode of the show and the art by Pere Perez is perfect for the book.  Thank you, DC Comics, for giving this book a chance to exist and for allowing the version of Superman that a generation grew to love and idolize to continue his tales.

Grade: A+


Venom #16




This issue came out a while ago so I won't comment on the plot much.  Instead, I will talk about how much I enjoy this series.  This issue is another one in the series of one shots leading up the Savage Six storyline, which came out today but I was unable to purchase it.  I really liked the story of this issue, as it showed Flash facing a couple of hard decisions during his duel with Hobgoblin and Human Moth. It was really nice to see Hobby back in action, as it feels like it has been ages since we've seen him causing havoc.  And the ending just continues Flash's run of bad luck that will come back and haunt him.  Venom is one of my favorite books on the stand right now and with the Savage Six storyline just beginning, it looks to be continuing that run.  While I do hope that Rick Remender will remain on the book, if he does decide to leave, I'm certain the Cullen Bunn will be more than capable to continue the awesomeness that is this book.  Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention how awesome Kev Walker's art is on this issue.  I cannot remember the last time I saw the Hobgoblin as creepy (in a good way) as he did in this issue.

Grade: A


Well, that's it for the comics that I purchased today.  There will be a continuation of this post at some point this weekend, probably on Sunday after my Avengers post.  I have three other posts in the works right now so the summer is going to start off with a bang.  I've decided that I am going to be writing some fictional stories this summer.  They will be in sort of an episodic style and they will hopefully be starting towards the middle of the month and will be updated continuously throughout the summer.  Since I am talking about the stories, I can reveal the titles for them.  The first one is going to be titled "Avenger", and it will be about a young super hero who must become the hero people need despite not wanting to be it initially.  The other one is tentatively titled "Apocalyptic", which will deal with an ordinary guy who gets transported to a post apocalyptic world.  I will probably be starting "Apocalyptic" first, seeing as I have half a notebook full of "Avenger" stories already.  Keep your eyes peeled on the blog as they will start being release relatively soon.

As a closing statement, I would like to give my condolences to the family of Junior Seau, who committed suicide today at the young age of 43.  He was one of the first players that caught my attention when I first started watching football.  I always enjoyed watching him play and he will be greatly missed.  Please, if you are reading this, take the time out of your day and tell the people you love that you love them.

Alrighty. I'll see you guys on Saturday night/Sunday early morning with my Avengers review. Or maybe before it with more comic reviews. Thanks for reading.


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