Psylocke.

So Psylocke is back in Marvel's regular universe (as opposed to be confined to the Exiles books) and of course they had to give her a sexy cover.

I read it last night and it was ok. Matt Fraction is building a long arcing story that will hopefully have somewhat of a payoff next month. What's really interesting is that it's a woman-heavy issue and Greg Land drew every woman with giant, gravity-defying breasts. Some panels are just comical. They are nicely done, there's a lot of detail in the face and hair, it's just that every woman has ginormous breasts. I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing it out.

Honestly, I really have no idea where Uncanny is going, as I said, Fraction is building towards something, I just don't know what it is and it's taking an awfully long time to get there. It is nice to have Psylocke back though, I hope she ends up on the team.

Yo Joe! Classic Volume 2.

We should just go ahead and do a G.I. Joe week/month.

I was WAY too into G.I. Joe when I was a kid; I watched the cartoons, had the action figures and read the comics. So I pretty excited when I got G.I. Joe Classic Volume 2 in the mail last week and it took me about three nights to rip through the thing, and I had to force myself to slow down to try not to read it all in one night. I was excited because while I was reading the first trade, I realized that I have about half of the issues that were collected in that book. In Volume 2, I think I have one issue. So it was a pretty fun read, and it covered a lot of holes because I have roughly 95% of issues #20-60 that will be collected in the next four trades. So it was good to bone up on the series and fill in a lot of the gaps that I had missed.

Issues #11-20 are still pretty rough around the edges, but they are not a rough as the first 10 issues. Larry Hama finally gets a story arc introduced into the series, and it is a rather long one; it lasts for most of the trade. There are repercussions of this run that lead into the next 10+ issues. This major arc ends with issue #19, and I found issue #20 very interesting, and not because it was a good issue. It was interesting because it's basically a throw-away story that does nothing to sum up the events from the last seven or so issues and does nothing to set up issue #21, which is easily one of the best issues of the series. I have a beat-up copy of the silent issue and it starts out with Storm Shadow delivering Scarlett to Cobra Commander. I always figured that she was kidnapped in issue #20, and in reading the series in order, there seems to be a lot of one-shot issues thrown in. I don't know if that was because the creative team was adjusting to producing a monthly book, but it is kind of jarring to really get into the series because it had an intense story-arc and then read an issue that basically has no importance whatsoever. Issue #21 itself is pretty much a throw-away story as well, but it's an excellent issue and it has ramifications that effect the series for a long time.

As I said before, I hope they are going to be reprinting the entire series, it would be a shame if they just stopped where Marvel did with the fifth trade; I want the whole series. I've always had a fondness for the series, like a lot guys my age do; it's a fun, strange and goofy series, and I really wish I hadn't dropped it all those years ago. But now I guess I can just continue to support IDW's effort to get it back into circulation. Seriously, pick these up if you have the money/chance, you won't be disappointed.

G.I. Joe on DVD.

In other G.I.Joe news, Shout Entertainment is re-releasing G.I. Joe A Real American Hero on DVD. Apparently, Shout is owned by the guy who used to own Rhino, and Rhino let the licensing run out, so Shout is basically just repackaging the previous Rhino release (which was commanding up to $100 per set used on Amazon and eBay). The live-action movie is probably prompting the re-release, but it is good news because the series was effectively moth-balled after Rhino stopped production. I'm hoping the entire series gets released, not just what Rhino released, just like what they're doing with the comic book. We'll have to see if that happens, I guess.

The Phantom TV Movie.

A friend of mine emailed me this sneak peak article about the Phantom TV Movie that Sci-Fi (or SyFy as it will be known by the time this movie airs). If you scroll down to the comments, you'll see that it got skewered by the internet. I really don't have as big of a problem with it as other people seem to; yeah I think the cowl/hood is awkward, but I really like the trench coat/street clothes idea at the bottom. I don't really watch as much of the Sci-Fi channel as I used to, so chances are that I'll probably miss this movie, but I do like the futuristic take they're choosing to use with the character. It could be interesting.

My Name Is Bruce, 2008.

I bought the My Name is Bruce one-shot a couple of months ago, and I've gotta tell you, it was pretty awesome.

This book is actually an adaptation of a movie by the same name, which I was rather shocked to hear about. Normally, this kind of movie is right up my alley and I have advanced notice of it before it hits the theaters. It's your classic "actor thinks he's acting, but it's a real situation" scenario.

I've actually met Bruce Campbell and he is an awesome human being. It was at a book reading for his autobiography, and he's just a cool dude. His book is very good, I HIGHLY recommend it; his story is very interesting, because he doesn't claim to be a movie-star, in fact, he professes to be quite the opposite; he describes himself as a working-class actor.

Anyway, this book is a one-shot and, like I mentioned before, it's an adaptation of the movie, and the plot is your basic "movie-star thinks he's filming a movie when it's actually a real event". I know, it's a tired plot plotline, but it works and, I mean, it DOES star Bruce Campbell, so if you're not prepared for a decent amount of cheesy antics, you are really reading the wrong comic/watching the wrong movie.

Sidenote: this was published by Dark Horse, and it is pretty shocking to read real curse words in a comic book; check the page to the right. I guess I'm kind of used to seeing the super-lame "####" whenever characters "curse" in mainstream books. My personal thoughts on the matter are; if you can't cuss in a comic book without being censored, don't do it. It's just lazy writing. Really, any effect you're going for is diminished when you see something like, "HOLY ####" in a word balloon. Moon Knight is probably the biggest offender, and I know that's supposed to be an edgier book, but if Marvel is going to censor you every time you do it, think of something else. Hell, MAKE-UP a curse word, I don't care, it's just annoying to pound marks everywhere. But this book doesn't have any of those problems, because the curse words are used rather liberally.

Anyways, Bruce is abducted and brought to a town to fight Guan-di, the Chinese god of war and protector of the dead. The only problem is, Guan-di is real, and Bruce thinks that he is filming a movie. Of course Bruce (in the comic/movie) is a pretty sleazy character, and he runs screaming when he finds out that Guand-di is real. Ghosts, explosions, gunfire, fist fighting and bean curd (Guand-di's only weakness) are all involved in the telling of the story and of course at the end, Bruce turns into the hero we all know and love. There's also the obligatory "death scence" where Bruce is thought to be dead, only to stumbled out of a pile of rubble to deliver a couple of wise-cracking one-liners.

All-in-all, it was a pretty fun book and I enjoyed it an awful lot. The art was pretty good, and even though it followed a movie script, it was written very well and it packed a lot of stuff into 32 pages. There was also a very nice balance of action, back story and humor that made it a very fun read. I saw copies of it for months after it was released so you could check your local comic book store, or try eBay. It's really fun and I wouldn't mind Bruce getting his own series. I'd add it to my pull-list.

One last thing: according to wikipedia, there is a sequel planned intitled My Name is Still Bruce. I have one thing to say to that: sign me up for some more.

Return of the New Mutants.

Interesting interview on Marvel's site with Zeb Wells about the New Mutants series that is coming in two months. I already added this to my pull list. I hope that it's in the same vein as the Wolverine: Origins series where there are flashbacks as they are dealing with current events, and I really hope they revisit the old series when they do it. It's interesting to hear that Legion is going to be their first major foe, but it fits because they dealt with him early in the first series.

I am really looking forward to this series, I just wonder how long they're going to commit to it seeing what happened with Young X-Men getting the axe last month. Hopefully the sales are there to support it, and they can start to work some of those Young X-Men characters into this series, because half of the New Mutants were in the Young X-Men series as their teachers. It could solve a lot of problems. I can't wait to pick this one up in May.

Marvel Toys

So, remember those Marvel toys I blogged about? I had a chance to see them at Target this morning and they're um...interesting. Actually, I think they're really on the small side. The detail is pretty good but they're about the size of GI Joe figures. Not bad, but when you're used to the toys Marvel has been pumping out the last few years, it's kind of a letdown. For the record, they only had Spider-Man and Human Torch figures so I'm just basing my opinion on two examples.

For the record, the results of the Fan's Choice were: Archangel, Winter Soldier, Havok, Mystique and Mary Jane Watson (?). Who the hell wants a Mary Jane figure?

Superman: Doomsday

I watched Superman: Doomsday the other night and here's my review "Meh." The entire thing feels rushed, but I guess that's to be expected when you only have an hour and change to tell a huge story. I didn't like how the return of Superman ignored so much of what happened in the comics - with the four different Supermen storyline. The animation was decent enough and the voice actors were okay but overall, the entire movie left me feeling empty and bored. Doomsday shows up, Superman fights him, they both die, there's a Superman clone, then the real Superman comes back, end of story. If you're a comic book geek, you'll probably enjoy it on some level but it wasn't quite what I expected.

Young X-Men: Cancelled.

I'm a little late on this news, but apparently, Marvel has canceled Young X-Men. I am pretty disappointed. I cruised through the message boards, and I guess I am in the minority because a lot of people didn't like the series. I thought it was just starting to get good.

It's going to be interesting now because they still have to do something with the characters, Dust and Rockslide are pretty popular, they can't just leave them in limbo, I guess they'll try and work them into Uncanny, but that title already has like five storylines going on at the same time. I personally really liked Ink; I thought it was a pretty cool idea for a character, and they made him pretty powerful at the end of the series, so for him to sit on the sidelines would be pretty weak. Unless they're going to just get rid of him, because they have a built-in storyline to do that.