April 2008 Reads Part IV.

Hulk #3: I like this series a lot. This issue had a ton of action going on and a crazy ending that made me mad that I have to wait a month for the Red/Green Hulk showcase showdown next issue. And we still don't know who the Red Hulk really is, either, so that's another reason to keep buying it. This one was just pages and pages of Hulk smash, which was pretty cool. The interesting thing about the Red Hulk is that he's intelligent and can talk, and he likes to use guns, which is strange when you have almost limitless strength. Whatever, I still really want to know who the Red Hulk really is; hopefully they'll reveal that soon. Like next issue soon. That would be great.

Hulk Vs. Hercules: When Titans Clash: Pretty freakin' awesome. This was a one-shot, and it's set to be part of the Incredible Hercules series. Most of it is a flashback about Hercules and the Hulk, and there's a lot of Hulk and Hercules Smash! involved in the story, which is pretty cool. I think the Hulk also calls Herc "annoying skirt man", which was pretty funny. Much like Hulk #3, this one has a lot of smashing involved and it's a pretty fun read. Very interesting ending though, it was almost sinister. It was in regards to Herc and how his behavior. There have been a few other hints like that in the regular series and I wonder if they're going to act on it at some point. I guess it's something to think about in the future.

Mighty Avengers #12: Ok, I have to admit that I had to reread this one a little bit last night to remember what it was about and then I remembered that it was a flash-back issue, featuring Nick Fury. Basically, it told everyone what he's been doing for the last couple of months since he checked out. It was kind of a cool spy story; at one point he infiltrated a S.H.I.E.L.D helli-carrier, had a talk with the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D and then escaped. It was pretty rad.

Ms. Marvel #26: Ok, so this one was pretty wild and action-packed. There was some Ms. Marvel vs. Skrull Ms. Marvel action and then S.H.E.I.L.D. stepped in. I think I found a mistake, but I'm not sure because of all of this Skrull business. Interesting cliffhanger ending (which is all the rage now, you have to have a hook for guys to keep buying the next issue) and it's very involved in the Secret Invasion cross-over. I thought it was a pretty fun issue and I'll be back for more next month. I have been surprised by this series, mainly in a good way, so I'll keep on buying.

New Exiles #5: Sigh...I really don't know why I bought this one. It was actually pretty decent, but I thought I was getting out. I should probably not buy it next month, but as usual, I'll flip through it off the rack and end up adding it to my pile. I have self-control issues. This one focused on the rest of the team that got left behind. In typical Chris Claremont fashion, something happens to them while they're just chilling at Headquarters, and they find themselves in another dimension or on another planet. I'm not trying to slam Claremont, I actually like when he does stuff like this, it's just that I've noticed it's pretty much a staple of his work. So, I guess we'll see where it goes next month.

Uncanny X-Men #497: This one was pretty uneventful, but it's still a nice change of pace for this book, because like I've said before, it's usually cross-over city. The one thing that I find annoying is that there are a couple of different storylines going on, and they all seem to lag. I could really care less about what is going on with Scott and Emma in San Francisco (Except the part where Emma gives them new costumes and she is a smokin' hot hippie chick. There's an upshot at her boob in one panel that makes you stop and go, "Whoa"). I really could use more of the Logan/Colossus/Nightcrawler story, especially when it involved giant robots. I freakin' love giant robots. Anyways, again, I really didn't have high expectations for this one, and I was slightly let down, until I remembered that this is totally unlike what normally goes down every month in this series. I just wish there was a little more going on and that it was a little less scattered.

Wolverine First Class #2: This was a whole lot of fun. It's got the right amount of action and humor in it and I really enjoyed reading it a lot. It also cool that it's about Kitty and Logan, and that it's set just after Kitty joined the school. There's a lot of nostalgia in this series so far but most of it is in a good way (like in this issue, Kitty got tickets to see Dazzler in concert). I also like how the series is mainly about how Logan and Kitty because such good friends. It's kind of revisionist history, but I don't mind that too much, because it's smartly written and it's a pretty funny book. And you can't have a comic starring Wolvie without there being any fighting, so it's got that too. I highly recommend this series, it's very good.

X-Force #3: Continues to deliver the goods. The storyline has some big implications in the X-Universe and I can't wait to see where it goes. It looks like they're going to get Rahne back and in action by the time next month rolls around, and they're really not happy with the Purifiers. It had a very interesting reveal at the end and I'm salivating for the next issue. I really wish this one was bi-monthly, I'd buy it every two weeks.

Today, my list looks like this: New Avengers #40, and X-Men Legacy #210 (which came in the mail already and it was pretty awesome). So that's kind of a relief because I've been loaded down the last couple of weeks.

Worlds Collide

I know we don't usually talk about DC stuff on here, but thought this was interesting - the next Mortal Kombat game will be Mortal Kombat vs. DC. I guess Midway wanted to try their hand at something new, in the vein of the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Early word is there will be no fatalities but they will push the Teen rating as close to Mature as they can. Also, Superman's powers will be affected by travelling to this dimension so he'll be on par with the MK characters. The only confirmed characters so far are Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Batman and Superman. You gotta figure the DC mainstays will be in it. Check out the trailer below.

April 2008 Reads Part III.

Incredible Hercules #116 Let me start out by saying that I love this series. It's got everything; action, drama, witty-dialogue, comedy; I can't say enough about it. And this is coming from arguably the world's biggest Hercules hater. Even the recap pages are super funny. Just go out and buy it, you can thank me later. This one has the added bonus of The Eternals and a Celestial in San Francisco, so it has awesomeness written all over it. Next month; Herc assembles "The God Squad" to go and fight the Skrull Gods. I didn't know the Skrull's had Gods, but I'm already way too excited for that one. I really wish this series was bi-monthly. That would be awesome. If anyone has Joe Quesada's work phone, I'd appreciate it if you could forward that to me. I promise I'll only call him 79 times a day.

Wolverine: Origins #24: Bizarre start to this one, but it was also pretty funny. Of course when Deadpool is involved in the story, you kind of expect that to happen. Really interesting ending though, I think this storyline wraps up next month, and I think they finally reveal who contracted Deadpool to take Logan down. There was a lot of interesting psychological breakdown of both characters that kind of gave a new insight to each character. The thing that sucks is that obviously both of them make it out ok, because this story was set back in Logan's past (he was wearing his old brown costume that I always preferred) so the "shocking ending" really isn't that shocking, because you know Logan is going to be ok.

X-Factor #30: This one was pretty good, and that was mainly because I think there was only three panels that actually showed Arcade, and I think he only spoke in one. So, that's actually a bonus whenever there's a story featuring Arcade as the villain; the less of him you see or hear, the better. Longshot still has yet to make an appearance, I'm thinking that Mojo is involved with Arcade somehow and that's how Longshot gets involved. Or I could be totally wrong. I guess we'll find out next month. In a twist ending, Mutant Town is probably not going to be the same ever again. Spoiler: it's gonna get blowed up. Since this series mainly revolves around Mutant Town, I'm curious to see where this series goes.

X-Men: Divided We Stand #1: This was an interesting book, it contained about four or five different stories about certain characters and what they are up to since the end of the of the Messiah Complex. It was interesting, but I don't know if it was necessary and I really don't think it was worth an extra dollar to buy it. Oh well.

Tomorrow my list looks like: Hulk #3 (seems like it's been awhile since the last issue came out for some reason), Mighty Avengers #12 (I think another Skrull is revealed in this issue), Ms. Marvel #26, Uncanny X-Men #497, Wolverine: First Class #2, and X-Force #3. Wow, that's a lot. I'm also thinking of buying; Hulk vs. Hercules: When Titans Clash, and New Exiles #5. I'm going to flip through both of them off the rack and make a decision.

Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Deadpool!

Marvel released an article about the new Deadpool series. I'm already adding it to my buy list. I found the part where he talks about Deadpool's role in the Secret Invasion to be very interesting. Very cryptic, but very interesting. Marvel is also releasing a Classic Deadpool Trade tomorrow. So it's good to see that they're not dumping the character and that they're actually backing him in another solo series.

Take 10: Rivalries.

Marvel has an article on their site called Take 10: Rivalries. So, Daredevil came in at #5 AND #6. Blasphemy. And the FF vs. Doctor Doom should have been higher.

Marvel also released an interview with Chris Weston about The Twelve. I love The Twelve and it's an interesting look at where the series is going.

Awful Comic O' The Week

Inter-company crossovers tend to suck for a number of reasons. Mostly, it's because the heroes never really fight each other. There's some misunderstanding, they scuffle for a few minutes and then team up against - who else - a pair of their arch-enemies that are also teaming up!

Luckily I picked this one up at the library for free because six bucks for this is about $7.00 too much. It had some real potential - Batman and Captain America are both strong characters, and while I'm not a huge fan, John Byrne knows his way around comics.

For starters, this book is incredibly campy and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. It's set during the 1940s when Cap is fighting in WWII so that leads me to believe it's done in the style of comics when Batman and Cap first started showing up. Even then, it's a lame story. As mentioned, Bruce Wayne and Steve Rogers scuffle for a few panels, then figure out each other's secret identity and team up against The Joker who is also teaming up with - you guessed it - The Red Skull!

The storyline is so simple and so uninspired, it seems like Byrne just half assed his way through this whole thing. There are even a surprising number of panels with no backgrounds whatsoever. *sigh* I certainly don't expect much from intercompany crossovers, but this one has got to be at the top of the suck pile.

Update 4/16/08.

Marvel published an interesting interview with Marc Guggenheim about the new Young X-Men series. I thought it was pretty interesting because I really liked the first issue I'm liking what I'm hearing in this interview. He introduced a new character called "Ink" who's mutant power is that he can turn anything that he gets tattooed on his body into reality. I think it's a take-off on one of villains from that Elektra movie a few years ago. I never saw the movie, but I thought it was a pretty cool idea when I saw the trailer. Apparently, Ink is supposed to have a major role in the series, and I'm looking forward to see how they use him.

Another cool article is Galactus' Greatest Hits. We covered the What If version of the Trial of Reed Richards awhile back, and in hindsight, that didn't feature a whole lot of the world-eater, but I think that's the closest thing we've got to related content.

There was also a lot of Iron Man news (man, it's getting really tough to avoid Iron Man these days) and the Hulk's new movie poster. I wasn't too impressed with the Hulk poster, I thought they could have done a better job with it. It's kind of boring.

April 2008 Reads Part II.

Fantastic Four #556: I like this series, not a lot of people are saying nice things about this run, but I enjoy this book every month. It's not perfect, but then again, not a whole lot of comics are. The one kind of cheesy thing was that they teleported like half of the Marvel Universe to this new world they're building to deal with the security system (code named "Cap" and it's a huge Captain America robot). I thought that was a little gratuitous. I mean, I buy the book because it's about the Fantastic Four, not as reason to stick Wolverine and Iron Man in yet another comic. But besides that, I thought it was actually a pretty good book. Can't wait for next month's installment.

Kick-Ass #2: This one was surprisingly good. It came out a week or so ago, I just didn't pick it up until last week because I finally found where my comic shop keeps it (with the indie books). I flipped through it at the store and it looked interesting so I rolled the dice. It was pretty entertaining and it took significant steps from the first issue. I think I'm going to keep buying it. Does anyone know if this is a limited series or a regular series. I can't find any info about that on Marvel's site. They've had a lot of success lately with their one-off limited series (like The Twelve) so I hope this has an ending and won't get canceled out of the blue and we're left with a hanging storyline. Because Marvel would never do that, right?

New Avengers #38-39: I decided to take the plunge and bought the last issue that came out as well as the issue before it. These two were interesting, the first one has to do with Luke Cage and his baby-mamma drama, and the second one focuses on Echo. It also introduces the new Condo that they're going to be living in because they're still on the run. I actually liked the two issues I read, so I've got high hopes for this one and I will keep buying it. It seems like it's got a lot going on though, so I'm going to try and find some back-issues on eBay. I've had some pretty bad luck with eBay lately, so hopefully I can find a reputable seller.

I do have one interesting observation, and that is; what the hell is Wolverine's costume budget? He fought against the X-Men Skrull in the last issue (who was posing as Daredevil) and within five seconds of fighting him, Wolvie's costume got shredded. This reminds me of Uncanny X-men #200-220 run, where he pretty much had a brand-new costume every issue because he was tearing through them at an alarming rate. I mean, over time, that's gotta add up, right? Cuz that's a lot of spandex. Has it ever been explained where he gets money for costumes and other expenses? And he's all over the world too, those flights have to be expensive. I'm just sayin'; it's never explained how he pays for all of this stuff. Does he have a bank account from like the 1890's and he just lives off of the compound interest? What's the deal? And Professor X; was it ever explained how he got his money and how much he has? Because if you think back to how many times the Mansion has been blown up and rebuilt, that's a lot of money right there. And av-gas/maintenance for the Blackbird can't be cheap either. I know I'm talking about comic book characters, but seriously, someone has some 'splainin to do.

Wolverine #64: This one was good, but it seemed like a filler issue. In fact, after I finished reading it, I was starting to think that this whole storyline is filler. The flashbacks are cool and all, but they don't really relate to the real-time story. I guess we're finally going to see Wolvie and Mystique go toe-to-toe in the next issue, and my question is; why couldn't we have seen that in the first issue of this story-arc? The last three issues have been a giant chase with Mystique escaping each time. It feels like I've read the same story three times in a row. This one had an interesting Logan using an interesting infiltration technique to get into the Army base where Mystique was posing as General or Senator or something, but that was about it. This next issue has a lot to make up for in my opinion.


Tomorrow, I plan on buying Incredible Hercules #116 (can't wait to read that one), Wolverine Origins #24, X-Factor #30 (Featuring...Arcade. Good God.) and X-Men: Divided We Stand #1.

Justice League: The New Frontier.

I saw Justice League: The New Frontier over the weekend. I thought it was just ok. It seemed a little rushed. According to the wikipedia entry, they cut and change a lot of the story from the original comic. The main villain, which apparently manifested itself as a giant floating dinosaur island, really wasn't fleshed out too well in my opinion. There wasn't really a reason why it was attacking Earth. The animation style was pretty cool though, and most of the characters had older looking costumes, because it was set in the 50s. It was an interesting take on the DCU. I would rent it if I were you though.

There was a preview for Batman: Gotham Knight that actually looks pretty cool. It will feature six short stories that are animated in different styles, including Japanese Anime. So that is something to look forward to. I think it's supposed to be released before the next live-action movie. Superman: Doomsday is also on my list of movies to see; I kind of have high hopes for that one. I'll let you know what I think when I see it.

Take 10: X-Men Villains.

Marvel published an article today called Take 10: X-Men Villains. My only gripe is that I personally think that Mr. Sinister and Dark Phoenix should have swapped positions. I mean, Mr. Sinister is Mr. Sinister. Dark Phoenix wasn't around for very long. Other than that, I don't have a problem with this list. Everything else seems to be just about right.

So I guess the question is; who's your favorite X-Men villain? My vote would have to go to Apocalypse.

Uncanny X-Men #500 Cover

I found an article over at Comic Book Resource about the X-Men #500 cover. It's painted by Alex Ross and, I gotta say, it looks awesome. Can't wait for that to come out in July.

April 2008 Reads Part I.

Cable #2: Not a whole lot going on in this one. Bishop has a time machine and is after Cable and he's still trying to kill the mutant baby. At first I thought it was a Bishop from an alternate reality because he had a metal arm, but they went through the back story in this issue and at the end of the Messiah Complex, he lost his arm. But then he found one of Forge's arms that had a time machine integrated into it. Convenient, or just lazy writing? You make the call (Remember those commercials from Monday Night Football? I think they were sponsored by AT&T? You got nothin'?). I hope at some point he gets his real arm back because there's enough guys wondering around with metal arms already. What is this, 1996? It's like the mid-90's all over again. And that's not a good thing.

Logan #2: I still really don't get the point of this book, good thing there's only one more issue to go. ::SPOILERS:: It did reveal that Logan was at Hiroshima while the A-Bomb was dropped. Oh, and he survived the blast in a pretty cool looking last panel. He was fighting some dude that couldn't feel pain and it's assumed that he didn't make it through the blast. The thing is, dude that can't feel any pain guy killed Logan's lover, but she would have just died in the blast anyway, so, what was the point again? I dunno. I believe there's only one more issue left, so my last question is; What the Deuce? I really don't understand this series and I hope the last issue can clear it up, otherwise I am going to be pissed.

Moon Knight #17: Interesting. Still kind of a build-up issue and Marc seems to be finally losing his ish; then there was an "oh s#%t" moment right at the end. It involves the guy that seems to be in every single comic book that Marvel publishes. Next month might be a slow issue because Mooney is kind of, sort of, in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. So far, the latest arc has been very slow to develop, so I hope it picks up at some point. It's still one of my favorites to read though, and I look forward to it every month. I'm not going to drop it anytime soon, but I am hoping next month's issue is a good one because it's a great series. You should check it out if you get the chance.

New Exiles #4: So, I was flipping through this one, and I wanted it to be over with but then the lead-in to the next issue was pretty good, so I was thinking that maybe I'd buy the next issue. But then I thought about it again today and I don't think I'll be buying this book anymore. But I always seem to change my mind when I get to the store, so, we'll see. The reason I may keep on buying it is because there was a new member that has a totally different origin, and that the whole first mission wasn't supposed to be about saving that world, it was about getting the last member of the team. And then when they got back home, things were all crazy at the base. So, I guess I'm flip through it off the rack next month and if it looks interesting, I'll get it. I'm trying to be non-committal about it.

Omega: The Unknown #7: Ok, so I kind of didn't really read this one. I tried, I really did, but I could get through it. I think mainly it was because I was tired when I tried and I haven't read the other six issues, so I really have no clue as to what's going on in the story. It was a little hard to get into because of those factors. I did flip through every page and the art is pretty cool. So it's got that going for it. I'll probably keep buying it until Gary Panter stops drawing it or the series ends (I think it's a limited series), whichever comes first. Anyone know which will come first? Help a brother out here. If you can.

Secret Invasion #1: Ok, I was still a little on the fence about the whole Secret Invasion crossover, but now I'm totally in. This issue was very good and had a couple of minor reveals with a major shocker revealed at the end. There's a whole bunch of tie-in issues which I may or may not get (in fact, here's a link to the checklist on Marvel's site). I've been listening to some podcasts lately, and apparently Brian Bendis had this in mind even before the Civil War and has been dropping clues about the invasion for a long time. I watched the clip of Bendis on Attack of the Show and he said near the end that he doesn't retcon, but isn't this whole thing a retcon? I mean, they're going back and explaining that a lot of events in the Marvel Universe were a result of the Skrull Invasion and that it's been secretly going on for a very long time. ::SPOILER:: Look at the cover to Mighty Avengers #12. One of the characters on that cover is a Skrull (which was revealed in the first issue of Secret Invasion), we just don't know how long he's been a Skrull. So to me, judging from that cover, he's been a Skrull since the 60's. Isn't that a retcon? I guess I'm going to have to buy the damn issue and find out.

The Twelve #4: I had a conversation in the comic store with another guy and the owner of the store about this series. I try not to talk to anyone while I'm there, because I already feel like a giant nerd just walking into a comic shop, so I really don't need to get into a convo with other nerds while I'm there, but this time it happened. The guy had taken the last issue on the rack and the other owner gave me a copy from behind the counter (they are really cool over at House of Secrets). Anyway, the owner that was ringing me up was saying that he keeps ordering more and more issues each month and they keep selling out. My response was, "It's such a good book", and the guy that took the last issue off the rack agreed. I told him I had to go to another store last month to pick up an issue because they were sold out. He said that he'd order even more for next month. Then the other dude started talking but I told him I had to go. So, you're probably wondering about the issue. Again, it's another solid installment, and you should be adding it to your buy list. It's just really, really good and you're missing out if you're not picking this one up. That's all I'm gonna say.

Young X-Men #1: This one was surprisingly good. I still don't really understand why they had to stop publishing New X-Men and reboot the title when half of the New X-Men are on this team. Cyclops had an interesting speech when he assembled the team and basically told them that they are the last generation of mutants and that the greatest threat will come from other mutants. This newest threat will come from a new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and they were revealed in a splash-panel on the last page. ::SPOILER:: The new Brotherhood is comprised of: Cannonball, Danielle Moonstar, Magma and Sunspot. Yes, that's right, most of the original New Mutants are now part of the Brotherhood. Really cool reveal. If you look at the cover for Young X-Men #2, it looks like Danielle gets her powers back. I am a Moonstar fan, so I hope that's for real. As I said, I was really surprised by how good this book was and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

Tomorrow, I've only got two books on my list: Fantastic Four #556 and Wolverine #64, but they are two comics that I've been excited to read lately, so at least I've got that going for me.

Worst Comic Book Movies & Other Movie News

Entertainment Weekly published a list of the Top 20 Worst Comic Book Movies Ever. They're not ranked so I can't nitpick one being worse than another. Thankfully. But looking at the list - yes, Ghost Rider was pretty bad and you couldn't give me a copy of Catwoman even if it had a $20 bill inside. Some of them I haven't seen (Barb Wire) or blocked out of my childhood mind entirely (Howard the Duck). I actually enjoyed The Punisher and Fantastic Four but I won't get into defending them at the moment.

For me, hands down, the worst comic book movie is Spider-Man 3. I refuse to give that movie a second chance. My brother got the DVD for Christmas and I won't even touch the case. At some point, I'd like to do a list of my personal Top 10 Favorite Comic Book Movies but we'll save that for another time, as well.

In future movie news, they're working on a Harbinger film which, I believe, will be the first ever movie based on a Valiant Comics property. I never really got into Harbinger much but I am looking forward to movie studios delving into more independent comics. Plus, if it does well, I hope they'll delve into other Valiant properties like Shadowman, Turok or Magnus: Robot Fighter. Valiant always put out pretty solid stories. The other comic book movie I'm looking forward to is an animated Bone film . I haven't finished reading the entire series yet but the graphic novels I've read have been great.

Mullet Madness!

There's a pretty funny article on Marvel's site about The Top Ten Comic Book Mullets of All-Time. The only thing I hated about Longshot was his mullet. Even 13-year-old-Tyler found it disappointing and hard to ignore.

Secret Invasion 4/2/08.

Lots of Secret Invasion news going on today in the Marvel Universe. I'm just going to list these links and you can check them out if you want to.


Secret Invasion #1 comes out today.

Digital Comics Spotlight: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four).

Secret Invasion Illumination: Nick Fury.

Q&A: Joe Pokaski ("Heroes" writer and writer of Secret Invasion: Inhumans).

Secret Invaders: Brian Reed.

Yeah, so, I'll be buying Secret Invasion #1 today (if it's not sold out). I can't wait to read it. Brian Bendis has been promising some big things. Hopefully it delivers.