More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
(more…)

If you judged this book by its cover, you'd be absolutely right: it kicks ass.

For the last few months, Marvel has released a series of one shots, collectively called “The List,” in which Norman Osborn enacts devious plots against various heroes in the Marvel Universe. Each issue has been a self-contained story, and for the most part, they have all been rather enjoyable. This week saw the release of the best one to date, which stars Wolverine.

As novel an idea as it may be for Wolverine to star in a comic </sarcasm>, I was more intrigued by the guest stars of this issue: Noh-Varr and Fantomex. Both characters were created by Grant Morrison, and have either been mishandled or ignored completely since Morrison left for DC a few years ago. It’s good to see writer Jason Aaron take these characters (as well as other concepts from Morrison’s X-Men run) and use them to craft one of the most fun comics I’ve read in a long time. This comic has tons of action and is funny as hell. All of the characters get some great lines, particularly Osborn.

Not only does this comic contain a great story, but like a good DVD, it has plenty of bonus features, including Marvel Universe entries for Fantomex and Marvel Boy, and a short Wolverine story written by Aaron earlier in his career.

Highly recommended. You get a lot of bang for your 4 bucks here.

More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
(more…)

More info on what’s reviewed after the jump!
(more…)

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.

(more…)

We’re getting close to the monumental issue of #600 in the Amazing Spider-Man series and boy oh boy is this new arc, titled “American Son,” creating some great building blocks and also tieing Spider-Man into Marvel’s Dark Reign.

The thing about Dark Reign that is bugging me the most is how addictive it is. Seeing the bad guys doing bad things (primarily Norman Osborn) and getting away with it and having the good guys (ie. Ms. Marvel, the New Avengers, etc.) unable to do anything is like crack to me. I can’t get enough of the stuff. Chances are Brian Michael Bendis will cause me to overdose, but nevertheless, Spider-Man getting added to the mix perplexes me as I wait to see what the brilliant Joe Kelly writes up for this arc.

More after the break.

(more…)

I hesitated when this series first came out. I mean, I love Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman is pretty awesome too, but I wasn’t sure about it. We were coming out of Secret Invasion and I was mad at Marvel because Dark Reign sounded like another huge event–as far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to be… yet–but after being into things a bit… I’m starting to like where things are heading. I don’t know about you guys, but I love seeing the good guys shake a little and sit and be scared every once and a while. Plus, it’s great to see everyone knowing there’s one main bad guy–Norman Osborn. But that’s all beside the point. Secret Warriors is developing a really cool story that is working behind the scenes of behind the scenes of the Marvel Universe, but what can you expect with Nick Fury heading the comic book?

Read on after the break.

(more…)

Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead #1 Cover

Here we are again, solicitation time. Oh yes, those friendly comic book publishers have teased us once again with the issues that we are going to be drooling over in May. So stick around and see what I’ve picked out to spotlight for May, 2009.

Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #1

Hard to believe that the comics based on Stephen King‘s Dark Tower series are already in their 4 arc. It seems like just yesterday we were following Roland and his Ka’tet on their first adventure. The newest arc kicks off in May and you Tower fans are going to want to make sure that you have this series on your pull list.

Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1

Not sure why, but this title really intrigues me. I mean, it’s not jut Avengers, but Pet Avengers! Just sticking Lockjaw and Lockheed in the comic sells it to me. Then you create a character called Frog-Thor and you’ve hooked me. Sure, it’s probably going to be silly, and not really have anything to do with anything, but sometimes, you just need a goofy, fun comic.

(more…)

Agents Of Atlas #1 cover

So, I got this cool new idea for a way I want to review comics, specifically new comics, that I have never read: TPKC.

Theory – My idea of the comic going in and/or why I decided to read the comic
Punch – The part of the comic that “irked” me or I didn’t like.
Kick – The parts of the comic I did like
Conclusion – My overall sum up of the comic along with a rating as to if I think you should read it.

For each part of the nice little abbreviation I’ll go into an explination for the comic. And let’s begin.

Theory: I’ve seen a preview for Agents of Atlas #1 probably 30 times in the back of my Marvel comics for the last month or so and was like, “What the hell? Why is Marvel pushing this so hard down my throat?” Going in I had no idea what this comic was about and really, I was kind of sucked in by the talking Gorilla and Namora, but, nevertheless, as a Dark Reign tie-in, I figured it was worth checking out and trying for at least one issue. So I decided to check it out. I figured it was going to be something lame ala War Machine or something, but I still tried–I mean when Marvel pushes something on me, 70% of the time I assume it’s going to bad (unless it’s X-Men related).

Catch the rest after the break. (minor spoilers)

(more…)

Secret Warriors #1 Cover

The anticipation was killing me as I entered the comic book shop today. I grabbed the pile of new comics out of my designated spot in Tardy’s hardcore customers box (my personal name for it) and immediately flipped through to make sure my copy of Secret Warriors was nestled in amongst the other great, but less anticipated, comics of the week. And there it was. All the little Caterpillars’ faces staring up at me and Nick Fury‘s badass mugshot giving me the evil eye. Oh yes, this was going to be good.

Obviously, this was the first book I decided to read this week. And I flew through it. I read it so fast, I had to go back and look at the ads cause I didn’t even notice they were there (it’s a weird thing with me. I like the ads cause I like to see the teasers for upcoming comics). By the end of the issue, a strange emotion came over me. It was part confusion. It was part joy. It was a lot excitement. It was a little disappointment. But let’s just stop being generic (and stop talking about my boring story of reading the comic) and actually dive right into the review of this bad boy.

(more…)