Well! We had no response from our winner in the first giveaway… which means the stakes have changed!

If you recall, we’re giving away a snazzy package of things:

The Middleman: The Complete Series PLUS The Middleman: The Doomsday Apocalypse Armageddon GN–the unfilmed season finale in graphic novel format.

To enter the contest, send an e-mail to: cyborg@destroythecyb.org (only one e-mail per will be valid per person). We will close the contest next Thursday (October 8, 2009) and will announce the win winner sometime Friday (October 9, 2009).

All the thanks for this giveaway goes to our staff writer Daniel Palacio as he took the time to get these items at SDCC this summer as well as the time to get the graphic novel signed.

More info after the jump.

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More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
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Nothing with the name Fantastic Force has ever come to anything good. Franklin Richards as the ludicrously over/under powered Psi-Lord, along with other never-weres and also-rans, pretty much murdered the idea of a logical, plot-driven progression for the Fantastic Four. The new Fantastic Force reinforces this point on more lateral lines and comes to the same conclusion: drek.

i am barely restraining the obvious pun here, folks

This four part series spins out from the hit-and-miss Mark Millar Fantastic Four run that wrapped a couple months ago, taking characters only seen in that particular arc of that particular run who haven’t been mentioned again. That arc takes the groan-inducing concept of Nu-World, a deliberately constructed cross-dimensional Earth, and eventually populates it with the denizens of a five hundred year forward future Earth that has twenty-two seconds to live, so to speak.

This mini-series deals with the fallout of that arc. Was it very good? Not in my opinion. Was that arc very popular? I frankly haven’t checked, though it must have been to warrant the creation of this mini; someone must have been curious to ‘see what happened next’, but who? And if it was so popular, with so much potential, why was this mini so colon-burstingly awful?

In both concept and execution, Fantastic Force is a lobotomized simulacrum of the Millar arc; it tries too hard and does too little. The art, by Steve Kurth, is a Chinese fast-food mess of slightly incorrect perspectives, arid action sequences, and heavy handed details; the framing renders everything into the same flat, stuttering voice. Writer Joe Aheame does little to alleviate the situation with one note characters (oh look the android is lusty; he is a lusty android), too many ideas, and zero breathing moments.

In an era of strongly built characters with serious emotional responses, calm character notes before heavy plot storms, and thoroughly expressive art, this volume of Fantastic Force hearkens back to the early 90s, making us appreciate what we have now…except, of course, for this volume of Fantastic Force.

We have… a winner!

After a nice little random number generation thanks to Random.org, we have picked an official winner of our Middleman DVD/GN giveaway…

Ian! (aka this comment) You’ve won!

All we need from you is an e-mail with your name and shipping address and we can have your DVD out to you as soon as possible. Please e-mail cyborg[at]destroythecyb[dot]org.

Thanks again to everyone who commented and participated!

More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
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Under the Covers Volume 2

Artist:  Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
Title:  Under the Covers Vol. 2 [Deluxe Edition]
Label:  Shout! Factory

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs are back with this sequel to their 2006 album Under the Covers Volume 1.  Matthew Sweet has a long career as a pop-alternative artist and is probably best known for a couple of Anime filled music videos from his breakthrough album Girlfriend.  Susanna Hoffs was a member of the 80′s group the Bangles.  Both of them worked together on the soundtrack for ‘Austin Powers‘ as part of the band Ming Tea.  Under the Covers Volume 1 was a light, fun album that covered a diverse mix of music from the 60′s.  On the new album the have moved forward a decade to cover their favorite hits from the 70′s, again covering a diverse mix of artists and styles.

Volume 1 was a favorite of mine when it was released and I’ve been hungry for more ever since.  Does Volume 2 live up to its predecessor or does it fall into the dreaded sophomore slump?

My review after the break.

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He's keeping a running tally of all the continuity mistakes...

What has come before: Norman Osborn (formerly the Green Goblin, now the Iron Patriot) pretty much runs America. Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye, now Ronin) seems to be more upset about this than anyone (even Spider-Man, oddly enough).
This comic dredges up some mixed emotions in me. I’ll get into it further after the break, as there are some spoilers contained herein.

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The Middleman: The Complete Series

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we at DestroyTheCyb.org! are giving away a once-in-a-lifetime DVD/graphic novel combination!:

The Middleman: The Complete Series PLUS The Middleman: The Doomsday Apocalypse Armageddon GN–the unfilmed season finale in graphic novel format.

To enter the contest, simply make a comment on this post (only one comment will be valid per person). We will close the contest on Sunday at 9 PM EST.

All the thanks for this giveaway goes to our staff writer Daniel Palacio as he took the time to get these items at SDCC this summer as well as the time to get the graphic novel signed.

More info after the jump.


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Remember way back when and I was ranting and raving about how much I loved Kick-Ass?

Well, those times are back because after a long, long, long, long, long flipping waiting period, we’re finally given a comic that seriously rules all others: Kick-Ass #7.

If you don’t remember what happened last time, let me lay it on the line:

Kick-Ass, aka Dave Lizewski, has been trying to be a super hero. He’s had his ass kicked multiple times, has been hospitalized for along period of time, has had a metal plate put in his head and all the while he’s trying to live a regular nerdy life. Then enter Big Daddy and Hit Girl; heroes who kick ass and have been inspired by Kick-Ass. Add Red Mist to the mix and you have a great combo of heroes. Right? Wrong. Red Mist was working for the mob who’s been hunting Big Daddy and Hit Girl and they’ve been set up, along with Kick-Ass, to be slaughtered.

That was up through issue #6. More on this month’s issue after the break. (spoiler images after the break)
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What has happened before: The Kree and the Shi’Ar went to war again, this time lead by Earth-born conquerors (Black Bolt and Vulcan, respectively). The Kree won when Black Bolt set off a doomsday weapon that appeared to kill both Vulcan and himself.  While all this was going on, the former Shi’Ar empress, Lilandra, was assassinated by what appears to have been Darkhawk.

If the War of Kings miniseries had a failing, it was that the ending was rather abrupt. Thankfully, this issue provided a much needed epilogue for this epic crossover.  Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning maintain their high level of quality output here, as does artist Paul Pelletier. Like their Secret Invasion: War of Kings one shot, this issue concisely sums up the previous crossover, tells a self-contained story, and provides all the necessary set up for the next crossover event. My only problem with it is that it makes me want to follow the upcoming Realm of Kings crossover, despite my crossover fatigue and rapidly shrinking comics budget.

Of course, if Marvel continues to publish transitional one-shots of such high quality, I may just skip the crossovers altogether and buy these every few months…