January 26, 2016

Comic Block December 2015

By Jasomania

Comic Block Box

This month’s Comic Block had a Judge Dredd Theme.  I AM THE LAW!

Comic Block 8 Full Unboxing

Here is what was inside:

  • Judge Dredd 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant from IDW
  • Scarlet Witch 1 from Marvel
  • Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 from DC / IDW
  • Comic Block Exclusive Superman / Lex Luthor Magnets
  • Judge Dredd I Am the Law T-Shirt

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

First off let me say that this month’s Comic Block took a ridiculous amount of time to get here.  I got the “Your Order has Shipped” E-Mail on December 14rd and didn’t receive the box until January 12th.  My Comic Block was being processed by UPS for an entire month!  It’s not that I’m mad that it arrived so late in January, it’s that it told me it was coming and then nothing happened for the better part of a month.  Apparently the people of Comic Block tweeted out that the boxes were going to be late due to Christmas but still, we all knew Christmas was coming and it feels like a lack of plan on their part.

Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1

These multi-publisher crossovers seem to be what IDW does the most these days.  We’ve already seen one of these in the July Comic Block with Green Lantern / Star Trek.

I actually thought the Green Lantern / Star Trek crossover was a pretty solid book… The Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not so much.

I’ll be honest I thought this book was going to be garbage the second I saw it, but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, after all it did have James Tynion IV as the author so it couldn’t be that bad?  Well it wasn’t god awfully bad but it wasn’t good either.  It was very meh, which might be worse than it just being a fun terrible book.  The story doesn’t matter because its so forgettable that I already don’t remember what happened and I literally just finished reading it.  The art is actually pretty terrible which was a huge disappointment.

Batman - TMNT Pic1

It is a watercolor shaded style which just looks cheap.

Batman - TMNT Pic2

The turtles look decent but all the Batman aspects look like they were drawn by someone who is drawing Batman for the first time.

Batman - TMNT Pic3

The Batmobile is probably the worst version of the Batmobile I’ve ever seen.

If you love the Turtles and Batman maybe this is for you, but for everyone else I would just pass.

Scarlet Witch 1

Scarlet Witch 1

When I found out this book was going to be in this month’s Comic Block I was very excited.  Scarlet Witch is one of the characters I don’t know very well but would like to find some good stories to dive in to.  Unfortunately this isn’t the book for that.

The only Scarlet Witch arc I’ve read was House of M in which Scarlet witch depowered all but a couple hundred mutants simply by saying “no more mutants” and Avengers vs. X-Men when she fought Hope Summers.  I enjoyed both of those stories but neither really gave me a clear explanation of what Scarlet Witch’s powers are, other than she is extremely powerful.  So I was looking forward to this comic to hopefully bring some clarity.

Scarlet Witch Pic 2

Clarity I did not get.  So apparently Scarlet Witch is not a mutant but is actually a real witch and her powers are possibly spell based?  This comic centers around Scarlet Witch going to a crime scene to help the cops out with a murder that seemed to be magically motivated.  This is super weird.  It is basically like a episode of Law & Order but with a mutant, in costume, helping out.  Turns out that the murder was actually possessed by a demon and said demon had actually possessed the lead detective that was with Scarlet Witch at the crime scene.  Scarlet Witch was able to exorcise that demon and save the detective.

Scarlet Witch Pic 1

This comic is weird.  It’s a crime procedural, Scarlet Witch has a ghost friend that hands around her apartment, and she walks around New York in costume without anyone giving her a second look.

Scarlet Witch Pic 3

There was also a part where Scarlet Witch talks about the Cat Massacre of 1730 which is a part of history that I could have been perfectly fine not knowing about.

Judge Dredd 1

Judge Dredd 1 - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

The shirt in this box had me pretty excited for some Judge Dredd, so much so I winded up watching the Dredd movie from 2012.  So I was very disappointed and confused when I actually did read the comic.  It wasn’t that it was particularly bad, its just that they are clearly going for a big arc here and this being the first issue we were left entirely in the dark of what was going on.

Judge Dredd Pic 1

The comic begins with Dredd waking up in a field and clearly something happened and a large amount of time has passed.

Judge Dredd Pic 2

Dredd picks up a couple of moppets.  They then go inside a weird building thing that looks like one of the mega cities and surprise it is a mega city!  And that’s it, we don’t get any more information or plot.

Judge Dredd Pic 5 - Copy

There is some weird stuff in this comic too.  There is this strange herd of animal people that spout off weird vaguely political things that get mowed down.  This might wind up being a great arc, its definitely got enough in this issue to have me intrigued.

DSC03574

Finally here is a Bonus Cat picture, Aeris really wanted to help with the whole unboxing process.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, Unboxing

January 13, 2016

Character Profile on The Maker

By Jasomania

20160108_222429000_iOS

Today we are here to discuss the Maker, and no, I am not talking about Jesus. I’m talking about The Maker of Marvel Comics, the alter ego of Ultimate Reed Richards.  Let’s take a minute to appreciate that sentence. Reed Richards is Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. But this is not the normal canonical version of Reed Richards, this is the alternative Ultimate Universe version of Reed Richards.  But this is not quite that version either, we are going to discuss the second wave of the Ultimate Universe, the Ultimate Comics version. The Reed Ricards which has a big metal helmet on his head and is known as The Maker.

Secret Wars 4

So this story starts with Secret Wars Issue 4.  This is the issue in which the Life Raft (the one with the good guys in it) and the Cabal (the one with the bad guys in it) confront Dr. Doom.  When this happened I saw the Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards) for this first time and was very confused.  Why does he have this thing on his head?  Why was he on the ship with the villains and not the heroes?  WHY DOES HE HAVE THE THING ON HIS HEAD?

My search started on where else but Wikipedia and Comic Vine which were surprisingly little help.  Both mention that at some point Reed Richards becomes the Maker but no explanation of why or how.  The Marvel Wikia had more information but again still didn’t explain why or how Reed became the Maker.

So this lead to part two of my search.  I have a subscription to Marvel Comics Digital Unlimited and have access to every issue of the Ultimate Universe.  So I started by looking through the entire Ultimate Fantastic Four run (2003-2009) with no luck.  Not a single issue had the Maker on the cover and spot checking a few they all had the normal version of Reed Richards.  No problem I think, there are a half dozen other Ultimate Fantastic Four Series, surely it is in one of those.  I check Ultimate FF, Ultimate Fantastic Four / X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four MGC, and Ultimate Comics Doom.  No such luck.  At least a quick search through the covers all have the normal version of Reed Richards.

I’m stuck.  I don’t know where to look and there is no great source of information on Ultimate Reed Richards / The Maker.  Finally I have a breakthrough and realize the image that Marvel Wikia is using for the Maker is the cover of Issue 9 of Ultimate Comics Ultimates.  I open up the series on Marvel Unlimited and decide spot check some issues and see if I can find where this transition happens.  I open Issue 1, Page one and see the following image.

20160108_222456000_iOS

What the fuck!  Issue one already has Reed Richards as the maker.  This had to have taken place before Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates started.  I go back to Wikipedia and look up Ultimate Comics Ultimates and have breakthrough number 2.  Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates is the result of the events of Ultimate Comics Doomsday.  Ah Ha I proclaim!  I go back to Marvel Unlimited and open up Ultimate Comics Doom and immediately notice something is wrong.  Issue 1 is in the middle of an action sequence and there is clearly something going on before this issue.  I go back to Wikipedia and learn that Ultimate Comics Doomsday is actually the combination of the following Ultimate Enemy, Ultimate Mystery, and Ultimate Doom, each of which is 4 issues long.  So I need to read these 12 issues before I can start the 30 issues of Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates which will explain to me how Reed Richards became the Maker.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

So if you want to learn about the Maker here is the full reading order

  1. Ultimate Comics: Enemy 1-4
  2. Ultimate Comics: Mystery 1-4
  3. Ultimate Comics: Doom 1-4
  4. Ultimate Comics The Ultimates 1-4 (The Republic is Burning), 5-6 (The World), 7-12 (Two Cities, Two Worlds)

It’s a little spread out but all together it makes one complete story. I would like to bitch about how it wasn’t worth it but the truth is that this whole arc is actually really great and something I would consider a must read. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Fantastic Four but this is hands down the best Fantastic Four story I’ve ever read. If you have access to Marvel Unlimited or find it on sale at Comixology you should definitely give it a read.

If you don’t want to read it and just want to know what happens here is a brief super spoilery summary.

You’ve been warned.

Ultimate Comics Enemy, Mystery, and Doom

Ultimate Doomsdsy starts with a mysterious alien worm thing that goes loose on New York City.  At first it’s thought to be a Roxxon Corp experiment gone wrong but is quickly realized to be much bigger than Roxxon as it attacks the whole city.  In the end the aliens behind the attack are caught and the worm thing is stopped.  The worm thing causes a lot of damage including the entire Baxter Building.  It also destroys the childhood home of Reed Richards (with Reed inside) and the home of Peter Parker.

20160108_223035000_iOS

Cut forward aliens are continuing to attack and various marvel heroes (Spider-man, Spider-woman, Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, the rest of the Fantastic Four) try to figure out who is behind it.  Susan Storm gets further than most and is brutually attacked by the person behind it all who is… Reed Richards!  It turns out Reed was behind it all and was using the attacks as distractions as he began to build a utopian society in the Negative Zone.  A whole mass of Ultimates go to the Negative Zone and attack him and are able to stop Reed while Reed himself is lost in the destruction.

Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates

Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates takes place immediately following the events of Ultimate Comics Doom.  We last saw Richard Reed floating in the abyss of the negative zone.  In the first shots of this series we see Reed with his maker helmet on in the middle of no where Germany with a huge group of followers.  He builds “the dome” which is a huge structure in which he is able to slow down the effects of time.  So while only days passed in our world centuries passed under the dome which lead to the evolution of the human species.  Just to keep up Richard Reeds had to expand his own brain capacity which is now in a freakishly large shape that fills his maker helmet.  By the time the Ultimates come to investigate the Dome society is huge and more advanced technically and biologically than anything on earth.  Reed continues to expand the size of the dome outside of just rural nowhere to destroying occupied cities nearby that were in the way.  The Ultimates are literally powerless to stop Reed as all methods and technology they have are woefully out of date.  Eventually Reed stops the growth of the Dome and declares a truce.  He agrees not to expand in exchange for the outside world to leave him and his society alone.

20160108_222904000_iOS

Of course the Ultimates aren’t going to just let this stand.  Now strap in because this is where things get really weird.  Ultimate Tony Stark has a sentient Brain Tumor which takes the form of a 8 year old child version of Tony Stark.  Tony has been talking to his tumor and realized the tumor has the ability to take over / hack machines.  Tony infiltrates the Dome his tumor takes over the AI of the city and causes it to collapse in on it self.  During this the Ultimates come in and wreck shop and are able to stop Reed this time for good (well for a while).

Evil Reed Richards! Utopian Society! Super advanced society from kind of the future! Tony Stark with a sentient brain tumor that has super powers.  Guys this comic has it all and you absolutely have to check it out.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books

December 28, 2015

Harley’s Little Black Book Variant Covers Complete

By Jasomania

For December DC Comics are continuing to their theme variant covers but this time there is a twist.  Instead of just normal variants, each variant will come three varieties: full colors, inks, and pencils.  The buyer won’t know which of the three they will get as they will all come in the following black polybag.

Harley's Little Black Book Polybag

In addition to the three normal varieties (color, ink, pencils) one lucky buyer will truly hit the jackpot as each artist created an original 1 of 1 sketch cover which was slipped in the mix as well.  Here is J. Scott Campbell’s original sketch variant that he posted on his Facebook page.  Sadly with the number of collector’s that will buy copies of these books and never open them its likely that a few of these original sketch variants will never see the light of day.

Hidden Sketch

Here’s the full list of comics and artists:

  • Harley’s Little Black Book 1 – J. Scott Campbell
  • Justice League 47 – Jim Lee
  • Justice League Of America 6 – Joe Madureira
  • The Flash 47 – Terry Dodson
  • Green Arrow 47 – Tim Sale
  • Wonder Woman 47 – Amanda Conner
  • Superman 47 – Lee Bermejo
  • Batman 47 – Alex Ross
  • Harley Quinn 23 – Bruce Timm
  • Green Lantern 47 – Darwyn Cooke

Here is the complete collection of covers including each in full colors, inks, and pencils:

Harley’s Little Black Book 1

Justice League 47

Justice League Of America 6

The Flash 47

Green Arrow 47

Wonder Woman 47

Superman 47

Batman 47

Harley Quinn 23

Green Lantern 47

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, Variant Covers

December 20, 2015

DC Comics January 2015 Coloring Book Variants Complete

By Jasomania

Have you ever dreamed of being a colorist?  Well DC’s got you covered this January with a slate of coloring book variants.  They aren’t only selling the comics to color but some shops will even have pencil sets for sale to color them with!  Adult coloring books have kind have been all the rage of late with books out now based on the Outlander and Breaking Bad TV Series.  I’ve got the complete rundown of all 25 covers below.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

December 13, 2015

Comic Block November 2015

By Jasomania

Comic Block Box

Another Month another Comic Block!

Comic Block 7

This month had a Star Wars Theme and we got two different Star Wars books.  There is again no sign of the allusive graphic novel this month, however we did get something new.  This box is the first time that the “extra” item has been a exclusive item.

Comic Block - Mjölnir

We got a cool little Mjölnir keychain which was a Comic Block Exclusive.  It looks like they didn’t quite have the rights to just call it Mjölnir though because on the description card it simply says “the hammer of the gods”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Here is the complete run down of what came in the box:

  • Star Wars: Vader Down Issue 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant
  • Howard the Duck Issue 1
  • Pacific Rim: The Drift Issue 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant
  • Star Wars Issue 1 Fan Expo Variant
  • “Hammer of the Gods” Keychain
  • Batgirl T-Shirt

Weirdly they didn’t put the Star Wars comic on the insert card of things inside the box.  I actually got copy of the same Star Wars Fan Expo Variant Cover from a Nerd Block box I got several months ago.  My guess is that they still had some extra issues around from that Nerd Block and added them to this box last minute.

Comic Block - Batgirl Shirt

I am a big Batgirl fan so this shirt should be something I really like.  The new Batgirl costume and the Rosie the Riveter homage are both things I would like in theory.  However, Batgirl looks terrible.  I don’t know if I can place it, but her face just looks off.  This is a huge disappointment because I would really like this shirt but because of how messed up Barbara’s face looks I doubt I’ll be wearing it at all.

Pacific Rim: The Drift Issue 1

Pacific Rim Tales From the Drift 1 - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

I really wanted to like this comic but in the end really disliked it.  I loved the 2013 film Pacific Rim so a comic that would take me back into that world actually sounded really interesting even though it was a licensed property.  There are so many aspects of the Pacific Rim world I wanted to know about and this comic managed to explore none of them.  It centered around a married pair of Jaeger pilots that are losing a battle with a Kaiju and getting exposed to radiation.  It goes back and forth between the fight they are in and flashback of with they first met.  That’s pretty much it.  The art is very stylized and looks like Adi Granov’s artwork from Iron Man: Extremis.  It doesn’t look bad but its so stylized that you can’t see any of the detail of the Kaiju or the Jaegar.  If I’m going to read a comic about giant robots fighting monsters I want to see it!  Maybe it gets better later on when the story kicks in but this first issue had me entirely uninterested.

Howard the Duck Issue 1

Howard the Duck 1

Please stop trying to make Howard the Duck a thing. The after credits teaser on Guardians of the Galaxy was perfect. After having a movie starring a talking Raccoon having a small little nod to Marvel’s goofier side was a great way to send off the film. Apparently what Marvel took from this is that people simply love Howard the Duck and want more of him! The fact is new audiences don’t know or care who Howard is, and older audiences who have nostalgia for Howard no longer read comics or care. There simply no audience this book is fulfilling.

Look Howard the Duck has an important history with Marvel. When the character was created in the 70’s it was subversive and edgy (I know that sounds strange but it really was) but that time has passed. Howard was always a comic aimed at older audiences so if you were a fan in the 70’s you were likely in your 20’s which would place you in your 60’s now and most likely not buying comics. If you are in your 20’s to 30’s then you didn’t grow up with Howard the Duck and your only experience is the terrible movie from the 80’s.

What about new audiences you ask? It doesn’t really matter the roots of the character if it is being written well today right? Well that would be correct, but it’s not being written well. Howard the Duck’s shtick is comedy and Marvel has solidly filled that spot with Deadpool. The comedic elements of this comic are just a shallow echo of what it would be if it were Deadpool. But even worse than that this comic just isn’t funny. There were a couple of enjoyable moments but I didn’t laugh once reading it and it felt way more like a chore to read than anything else.

Star Wars Issue 1

Star Wars 1 - Fan Expo Variant

This is a great comic let me say that to start with. It feels fresh and gives us an original adventure with everyone’s favorite space gang. It has plenty to fill your nostalgia void along with a new adventure and story to get you excited to read more.

That said the nostalgia factor of these new Star Wars comics are going to be the death of them.  I am 100% ok with this comic being what it is.  It takes place between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi and centers around the original main gang.  Star Wars is a big world though and it would have been nice to see some of these new Marvel Star Wars comics not center specifically around the characters of the original trilogy.  Again I’m totally cool with there being this Star Wars and the Vader comic but do we really need a Chewbacca and Lando comic too?  The Force Awakens is going to introduce a slew of new characters so hopefully that will push away from the original trilogy which has been done to death.

Star Wars: Vader Down Issue 1

Vader Down 1 - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

First and foremost I really love this variant cover.  It is the best cover I have seen of all these new Marvel Star Wars covers and something worthy of being framed.  The comic itself is the first issue of a Marvel Star Wars Crossover event called Vader Down.  Vader is investigating some intel on the location of some rebels and winds up overwhelmed surrounded by rebel forces.  While he is able to take out a few X-Wings he is overtaken by Luke and crash lands on the planet of Vrogas Vas.  Luke also manages to crash his X-Wing and the two begin searching for each other.

The overall story was good and I enjoyed the book.  The amount of issues involved in this crossover is a lot and honestly it just wasn’t great enough for me to buy in like 10 issues to find out what happens.  I might check it out in 6 months with the issues start appearing on Marvel Comics Unlimited.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, Unboxing

December 4, 2015

Green Arrow / Oliver Queen Playlist

By Jasomania

Green Arrow Playlist

I’ve always been hugely into music and Spotify is slowly become my main way of listening to music.  One of the things I love most about Spotify is how easy they make it to create and share playlists that you make.  It got me thinking what would some of our favorite superheroes listen to?  The first person that came to mind was Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow.  This was a lot of fun so I will definitely be making more of these playlists and make them a regular feature of the site.  So please enjoy the following playlist inspired by Starling City’s favorite son.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, Comic Culture, Superhero Playlists

November 28, 2015

The Dark Knight Returns Retrospective

By Jasomania

The Dark Knight Returns 1 Cover

Wednesday (11/25/15) the first issue of Dark Knight III: The Master Race was released in comic book stores and digitally so you’ve probably seen a flood of articles and podcasts talking about Frank Miller’s Dark Knight series.  This has left me at an impasse, on one hand The Dark Knight Returns is something that has been covered hundreds of times by others more eloquently than myself.  However, the Dark Knight Returns is not only my favorite comic, but also my favorite book of all time so I don’t really want to let the release of it’s newest installment pass without saying something.

I don’t want to recap the story and plot of The Dark Knight Returns.  It is extremely accessible to get the trade paperback, digital, and even as an animated film.  It’s been around since 1986 so if you haven’t read the story already, it’s on you at this point.  So what I would like to do is to break down three of my favorite scenes and themes from the story and try to explain why I like it so much.

Dark Knight Returns 1 - Page 1

That the tragedy of Bruce’s parents dying being the driving force for him to become the Batman is not a new concept.  However, its generally seen as an active driving force in that Batman is actively fighting crime.  Since the threat is current and active we can still assume if things cleaned up in Gotham that Batman could quit.  The Dark Knight Returns shows just how much Bruce needs to be Batman by showing how empty his life is without it.  Bruce has been retired for 10 years and could not be more miserable.  The opening pages has Bruce thrill-seeking at a Formula 1 race contemplating ending it all right then and there.  Bruce hasn’t found anyone to settle down with or tried to start a new life in retirement, he’s isolated himself and allowed himself to stew in his anger at not being Batman.  The biggest reoccurring themes in this story is Bruce looking for a good death.  You get the feeling that he had always intended to die in the line of duty and that retirement was never in his plans.  He is the ultimate career soldier.  He has lived every day of his life since his parents died preparing and being the Batman so when he was forced to give that up there was nothing left for him to go back to.

The Dark Knight 2 - Fight

The inner dialogue in the Dark Knight Returns is one of my favorite aspects of the book.  When Batman fights the Mutant leader (the second time) it looks like a normal brawl brawl on the outside.  But hearing Batman’s thoughts you see just how much planning and thought is put into every action he performs.  Every punch is strategic and executed with surgical precision.  Having the fight in the mud pit, luring the leader out in front of his followers, cutting his forehead right above the eyes.  Every action has a purpose and every contingency is accounted for.  This is Batman at his most Batman.  We love the character because he has plan for everything and back up plans for his back up plans.  The Dark Knight Returns showcases his skills in a way that is smart, entertaining, and practical which set the standard for the character.

The Dark Knight 1 - Jason Todd

I can’t think of another character that has had a rougher treatment than Jason Todd.  A lot of backlash came when Kyle Rainer found his girlfriend’s dead body chopped up and left in a refrigerator, but it pales in comparison to DC Comics setting up a 1-900 call in number to decided the life/death of Jason Todd.  The Dark Knight Returns turned a publicity stunt from DC Comics into one of the defining events of Batman’s life.  My single favorite moment in the story is when Batman is alone in the Batcave looking at Jason’s costume and says never again.  It doesn’t explicitly say what happened but it is able to convoy all the emotion and meaning with a minimal words and a few panels.  It’s hard to say that for certain that the impact of Jason’s death in The Dark Knight Returns was the reason that Jason Todd stayed dead in the comics for as long as he did, but I like to think they are connected.

Dark Knight Sale

If you still haven’t read The Dark Knight Returns Comixology is having a sale and you can get it now for as little as $3.96 (each of the individual issues for $0.99) or collected for $6.99 right now so there are no excuses.  I also highly recommend the DC Comics Original Animated Film.  It is as faithful to the source as humanly possible and more or less uses the comic pages as story boards. You don’t get the inner dialogue as you would with the comic but it is still a fantastic film.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books

November 20, 2015

Comic Block October 2015

By Jasomania

Comic Block Web Clipping

It’s that time of the month again, well it was three weeks ago but I’m just getting in to writing this now.  Let’s start off with the glamour shot of everything in the box.

Comic Block 6 - Full 2

Here’s the rundown of everything inside:

  • Heroes: Vengeance 1 from Titan Comics (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
  • Back to the Future 1 from IDW (Nerd Block Exclusive Variant)
  • Lara Croft Frozen Omen 1 from Dark Horse (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
  • Spawn T-Shirt
  • Venom Art Print

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Still no sign of the allusive graphic novel but every issue in this month’s box was a exclusive variant cover.  Here is a look at the art print, it’s probably my favorite of these types so far, I just wish they had listed who the artist was on the preview card.

Venom Art Print

Heroes: Vengeance 1

Heroes Vengeance 1 - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

My history with Heroes is pretty brief.  I watched the first season probably 7 years ago and never bothered to watch any of the other seasons.  I remember liking the first season but outside of the whole “save the cheerleader, save the world” thing I don’t remember much.  I like the concept of Heroes and with my love of all things comics it seems like it would be right up my ally.

So what was I expecting from Heroes: Vengeance?  Some new Heroes with cool and interesting powers?  The old Heroes gang getting back together?  We got neither, instead we got a story about a vigilante in a luchador mask with no powers at all.  This is a prequel comic so I can only assume it has something to do with the new rebooted show, however as a stand alone comic it was incredibly boring.

Heroes - Pic 3

The only thing of note was there were two different newspapers with headlines about an incident in Odessa TX, which I assume is related to the reboot series.  Outside of that though it was a pretty dull story about a real life vigilante which I’ve seen done better in numerous other stories.  I wasn’t excited for Heroes: Reborn before and this pretty much put the nail in the coffin for me.

Back to the Future 1

Back to the Future 1 - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

This comic actually is two different stories in one.  The first is the telling of the first time that Marty McFly meets Doc Brown.  Some local bullies steal Marty’s guitar and make him get a transducer tube for their amp in order to get it back.  It turns out the town is sold out of tubes and the person who bought them all up was none other than Doc Brown.  Marty outsmarts Doc’s security and gets in to his lab.  Doc is so impressed with Marty that he offers him a job, which Marty immediately accepts.

The second story is of Doc meeting with Robert Oppenheimer where he is joins the Manhattan Project.  I guess this is part of the Back to the Future lore that Doc worked on the Atomic Bomb that I was unaware of.

I didn’t really care for the comic.  The two stories are really different and have completely different art styles to the point that I didn’t initially realize the second story was part of the comic.  I thought it was just a preview of some other comic and almost skipped it entirely.  The first story was really cheesy and didn’t add enough to the mythos to justify telling the story.  The second story was just weird and reading a story about Doc Brown working on the Atomic bomb is not something I have any interest in.

Back to the Future Variants

On the bright side I do really like that IDW puts all the different variant covers inside the comics.  I do have something of a variant cover problem but for the most part I’m more than content just seeing all the different covers.  DC Comics used to keep the variant covers of issues in the back of digital issues when the New 52 started and even updated them as more came out.  However they dropped this practice only a few months in.  I really wish Marvel or DC would pick up on this and start including a preview of all the covers out there for each issue.

Lara Croft Frozen Omen 1

Lara Croft Frozen Omen - Comic Block Exclusive Variant

With Rise of the Tomb Raider coming out this month it is no surprise that Dark Horse is releasing a new Lara Croft series.  The main story is that one of the curators at the British Museum is acting out of character and steals a priceless carving on a piece of Woolly Mammoth tusk.  Lara tracks down the curator to Belize where he appears to be in some sort of trance.  After seeing Lara he snaps out of it and seems to have no memory of traveling to Belize or stealing the artifact.  A weird vine ensnares the both of them and we get a “to be continued”.

Lara Croft - Pic 3 - Crop

There’s also a weird devil guy.

Lara Croft - Pic 1

I really enjoyed this comic.  They usually skimp out on the art for these licensed properties but for this the art was fantastic and reminded me of John Romita Jr.  I thought the story was interesting and overall was a great first issue.

Lara Croft - Pic 2

They gave the reader just enough to set up the story while also keeping enough mystery to leave me wanting more.  I usually don’t like these licensed property comics but I might have to make an exception for Tomb Raider.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, Unboxing

November 13, 2015

Spider-Gwen Sale on Comixology!

By Jasomania

Spider-Gwen Sale

Today only there is a one day sale on the first volume of Spider-Gwen which you can get all five issues for $0.99 each ($4.95 for all five).  As of now each issue is still currently selling at $3.99 and the MSRP for the trade paperback is $16.99, so this by far the cheapest option available.  The five issues of Edge of Spider-verse are on sale as well, also for $0.99 each.  Not only that but the first seven issues of Silk are on sale for $0.99 each.  This sale is only valid for today so act fast.

Sandman Sale

If Spider-Gwen is not your thing there are some more sales going on this weekend as well.  There is a across the board sale on Sandman Comics.  Each of the 10 volumes is on sale for $5.99 each.  This also includes other Neil Gaiman series such as Death, The Dream Hunters, and Dead Boy Detectives.  All single issues of Sandman are also on sale for $0.99 each.  This sale will go on until 11/16/15.

The Sandman issues are also on sale on Kindle, Google Play, and iTunes if Comixology isn’t your jam.

Dark Horse Sale

There is also Dark Horse Sale with first volumes of Hellboy, BPRD, Conan and the Goon on sale.  They also have single issues of Buffy, the Strain, Fight Club 2, and The Massive for $0.99 each.  This sale goes on until 11/15.

Last thing, if you want to buy any of these issues and are new to Comixology you can use my referral code here and get a five dollar credit toward your first purchase.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books

November 5, 2015

Fame: Britney Spears

By Jasomania

Fame Britney Spears Cover

In my blog post for My Top 5 Funko Pop Vinyl Wishlist on my Funko Wishlist was a series on The Legendary Ms. Britney Spears.  Anyone who knows me knows that Britney Spears is one of the staples of my life so it was just a matter of time before she started showing up on my blog.

Before I get into my review of Fame: Britney Spears I want to take a little time to tell my Britney origin story.  I begins back in 2002 on a school trip.  You see back in 2002 the internet was still in its infancy and things like smart phones and digital music didn’t really exist yet.  Basically every one had personal cd players and small CD wallets they would keep their CDs in.  During school trips you’d pass around your CDs and everyone would listen to each others music.  While this was a great way to listen to new music it also exposed the most embarrassing music in your collection to all of your friends.  This lead me to find my girlfriend had a copy of Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time.

After making fun of her for having a Britney Spears CD I decided to listen to the whole thing start to finish as a joke.  15 year old St. Jason was very much into Punk Rock those days and would never be caught listening to pop or mainstream music.  So listening away it starts of fairly standard, songs 1 through 3 are the album singles, …Baby One More Time, (You Drive Me) Crazy, and Somtimes.  These are songs that I had heard before on the radio or in department stores.  Song 4 is Soda Pop which is a weird reggae influenced song that remains my least favorite song across Britney’s entire catalog.  Thing came song number 5, Born to Make You Happy, and like Scott Glen says in Suckerpunch, I was unprepared.  It’s not that I was surprised and found the song ok or somewhat likable song, I had stumbled upon a song that I immediately loved.  I listened to it 3 to 5 times in a row and knew right away that this would certainly be one of my favorite songs.

Since then I have been a big fan and have followed her career, bought her music, and seen her in concert whenever possible.  So when I found out that there was a Britney Spears comic book I immediately purchased it.

First I think I should note that the Fame series of comics seems to cover any and every one of even remote fame.  It has obvious celebrities like Beyoncé and One Direction but also weird ones like Tom Daley and PSY.  So needless to say I had pretty low expectations going in to this.

Fame Britney Spears 1 (2)

The comic starts with these weird fairy narrators, which really is as odd as it sounds.  It then starts at the beginning of her career through the Mickey Mouse Club days.  It then goes on to Britney getting her record deal and getting overwhelmed with fame.  There is then a small section about her marriage to Keven Federline, her public breakdown, and her 2007 VMA Performance.  It ends with Britney’s 2008 VMA win for Video of the Year and her comeback as the Queen of Pop.

Fame Britney Spears 2

It is a little weird that the comic came out in 2011 (which is when Britney released her 7th Studio Album Femme Fatale) but only covers her career until 2008.  It is a pretty abbreviated version of the events of Britney’s life, but seeing as it is a story the public is fairly familiar I can understand why they skipped portions of it.  I was glad it didn’t just harp on the bad times but was actually a fairly positive look at her life.  If you are interested in a more detailed look at her early life you would have better luck with Britney Spears: Heart to Heart. Being as I am very familiar with her life story I was pleasantly surprised to find a few little information bits in this comic that I didn’t know.  I had no idea she was in a girl group called Innocence or that she wasn’t actually born in Louisiana.

Fame Britney Spears 3

There are a few moments where the art in this comic looks ok.

Fame Britney Spears 4 (2)

However, for the most part the art is terrible.

Fame Britney Spears 5 (2)

If you are a huge Britney Spears fan then I would recommend you pick up the comic digitally (you can get it on Comixology here).  However, I wouldn’t spend more than the 1.99 digital price for it.  There are print versions available but since they are 4 years old now they are actually kind of hard to find and go for 20 dollars on ebay.  The small facts about her life that I didn’t know made it worth the 1.99 price for me but I couldn’t imagine most people caring about those kind of details.  Britney Spears is one of the most well know celebrities on the planet so there are dozens of better sources of information available if you want to find out how she got to where she is now.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Comic Books, The Legendary Ms. Britney Spears