Tag Archives: unboxing

November 10, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2019 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Another year another Marvel Unlimited Plus membership kit and this year the theme is House of X.  As an X-Men fan I was pleasantly surprised with the them as I actually really wanted to read the new House of X event but hadn’t gotten any issues yet.

Here is everything that is included in this years box:

  • House of X Issue 1: Shalvey Connecting Variant
  • House of X Issue 2: Shalvey Connecting Variant
  • Marvel Legends Exclusive Purple Deadpool Figure
  • X-Men Patch
  • X-Men Cyclopes Enamel Pin

The box is X-men themed and looked really good.  The bright yellow and red colors really popped and it had a wrap around picture across the front.  (added a bonus cat in the pictures.

First up is the yearly letter which is in the X-men theme.  I don’t know why but I do like these letters and they are printed on very nice paper stock.

The comics are the first two issues of House of X.  The variants look great and I really like that they are connecting variants.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’m disappointed in the Marvel Legends figure.  This is clearly a just a old figure they already had with a new paint job and being called an “exclusive”.  Marvel Unlimited Plus is a 30 dollar premium over the normal Marvel Unlimited subscription and while that isn’t a huge amount its enough that I expect better than this.  Right now the Deadpool figure goes for 19 to 60 on ebay (which my figure will be joining them for sale soon…).

Last is the patch and pin.  The enamel pin is similar quality to years past and while it’s not terrible it’s also only ok.  I like the Scottie Young design on it but still feel mostly meh on it.  I like the patch a lot, this is the new X-Men logo for House of X so there isn’t a lot of mech for it.  It’s a cool design and fits in to the theme well.

What else do you get in a Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription?  There are invites to members only events at SDCC, NYCC, and C2E2.  They actually seem like cool events that if you go to them you get additional free variant covers of comics and some insider information at the panel.  However, I don’t live anywhere near these events and will likely never go to them so it’s not much a benefit.  You also get 15% off digital comics from comixology / Marvel Comics Digital store.  However, Marvel has just recently announced the Marvel Comics shop is closing so this benefit is ending.  Lastly you can get 10% off all things from marvelshop.com.  I’ve never used this benefit before and forget that it is a benefit entirely, but hey, 10% isn’t much but it’s something.

Overall outside of the disappointment in the Marvel Legends figure it’s a really great box and I’m pleased with what I got in it.

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May 12, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2018 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Does it make a lot of sense to do an unboxing for something that came out a year and a half ago?  Not really.  But here we are.

This is my fifth year being a Marvel Unlimited Plus member and the theme for 2018 was Venom, based on the fact that the movie was coming out a few months after the release of the new Unlimited Plus kit.  I’ll be honest I’m not a huge Vemon fan.  When a villian becomes popular enough to become the “star” or the “anti-hero” it has rarely worked out.  They wind up just being the hero “but edgy” while not actually being edgy at all.  But that isn’t why we are here.

First off here is a run down of everything included in the kit:

  • Blank Panther Vol. 7 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Jamal Campbell
  • Venom Vol. 4 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Paul Renaud
  • Fantastic 4 Patch
  • The Thing Enamel Pin
  • Marvel Legends Venomized Punisher Action Figure

The box was venom themed and looked pretty good.  It had a cool venom logo in the inside and on the flap.  I added a bonus picture of Celine helping me take pictures.

 

First up is the yearly letter.  It’s very much the least important item in the box but I actually do appreciate it.  Its on nice paper stock and has a vemon theme.  I hope they continue to include this in the future boxes.

 

The comics are look great, the art is fantastic and event though its two different artists they have a similar theme.  I like that the art also takes up the whole front cover and has the Marvel Unlimited logo at the bottom as well.  In my case I enjoy the comics and have kept all of the ones I’ve received in these Unlimited Plus packages.  However if you are looking at upgrading to the Plus subscription to make money off the comics sadly they don’t go for much at all.  It’s been a year and a half since this box was released at the resell price for these comics is still at $5 which is the cover price for the comics.  10 dollars for the two is still something but for a variant that I’d imagine is actually kind of rare i’d have thought it would go for more

Next is the Venomized Punisher Marvel Legends figure.  Overall it’s a nice looking figure.  It doesn’t look like they just put spare parts together like they did last year for the Tony Stark figure and used a new mold.  Like I said before, I’m not a huge Venom fan so I actually winded up selling mine on ebay.  Unlike the variant comics the Marvel Legends figures still catch a decent price and this figure is still going for 60 to 100 dollars on ebay.

Next is The Thing Enamel Pin and Fantastic Four Patch.  There isn’t a whole lot to say about these.  The quality of the patch is fairly good but the quality of the pin is only ok.  I do like that they have been including the patches in with the kits but wish the pins were better quality.  It is a little odd that they went with Fantastic Four for these since the box, Marvel Legends figure, and comics were all venom themed.

What else do you get in a Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription?  There are invites to members only events at SDCC, NYCC, and C2E2.  They actually seem like cool events that if you go to them you get additional free variant covers of comics and some insider information at the panel.  However, I don’t live anywhere near these events and will likely never go to them so it’s not much a benefit.  You also get 15% off digital comics from comixology / Marvel Comics Digital store.  This isn’t a terrible benefit but I generally forget about it and don’t use it.  In order to get it you have to buy your comics through Marvels separate digital store so it’s unlikely you’ll get to stack your 15% off with other comixology deals.  If you are buying full price comics from marvel digitally this could be a good deal though.  Lastly you can get 10% off all things from marvelshop.com.  I’ve never used this benefit before and forget that it is a benefit entirely, but hey, 10% isn’t much but it’s something.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the package.  Basically it’s a 30 dollar premium to get Marvel Unlimited Plus over a yearly Marvel Unlimited subscription and I’ve still found it worth it to pay for it.  Selling the Marvel Legends figure actually brought the price of the entire subscription down quite a bit but it’s not something I factored in to my decision to continue to get a plus subscription

 

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May 8, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2017 Unboxing

By Jasomania

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That’s right it’s Marvel Unlimited Plus time!  I started subscribing to Marvel Unlimited as a birthday gift and it just so happens that the new Unlimited Plus box comes out within days of my birthday so when I do get a the new box it really is brand spanking new.  For this unboxing I want to do two things, first I want to have a classic unboxing of this years box but afterwards I want to reflect on the last two years boxes and discuss what their value is today.  But first comes first, lets get to the unboxing!

Here is a closer look on the outside of the box art which has a gold theme this year.

So let’s open it up!  Inside there is a little space for the comics and letter and underneath the flap is where the Marvel Legends figure, pins and patch are

First up is the boring part, the letter!  It describes whats in the box and has a little state of the union address about the past year and how things are going.

Next up is the comics!  As with the last two years we get three exclusive variant cover issues.  Last year the comics were by the same artist but they did not interconnect which was kind of disappointing since they did in the 2015 box.  This year the cover to interconnect once again and they create an epic fight scene against Thanos.  Looks like Marvel is once again following tradition of ignoring the characters they don’t have the movie rights to as there are no X-Men or Fantastic Four on any of these covers.

In this years box we get the following comics:

  • Edge of the Venomverse Issue 1
  • Spider-Men II Issue 1
  • Guardians of the Galaxy The Telltale Series Issue 1

Next up we have the pins and patches.  The patch is pretty cool, it is a Skottie Young version of Thanos.  The pins are a little disappointing, they are the heads of Captain America and Spider-man.  They are decent quality enamel pins but feel a little lazy and not near as cool as the Eye of Agamotto pin from last year.

Lastly we have the Exclusive Marvel Legends Tony Stark figure.  It looks fantastic.  The tie is actually separate piece of plastic from the suit and overall its a very well made figure.  It’s hard to believe they haven’t made a just Tony Stark figure before this so it is cool that this is really an exclusive and not just a different paint job of a figure that was already out like last year’s Captain Marvel figure.

A slight note on the Tony Stark figure.  While this is a new figure, it is clearly made from parts of figures they have previously release.  The body is from the Marvel Legends Chameleon Figure with the head from the Marvel Legends Civil War 3 Pack.  It’s not a huge deal but is a little disappointing that is isn’t a truly original figure.  The 2015 R.E.S.C.U.E. figure was 100% original and a completely new mold and character that had never been released.  It would be nice to get something on that level in these boxes.

 

Final Thoughts?

Overall I liked this box a lot.  Between the three years I’ve been a Marvel Unlimited Plus member I would rank this box second, better than 2016 but not as good as 2015.

Marvel Unlimited / Marvel Unlimited Plus, is it Worth it?

How many comics do I have to read before I start saving money by using Marvel Unlimited?  Pretty simple, if you are just getting the Marvel Unlimited Subscription ($60 per year) you have to read at least 15 new release comics to get your money’s worth out of it.  If you are getting Marvel Unlimited Plus you have to read 25 new release comics to get your money’s worth out of it.  There are approximately 20 new release comics added to the Marvel Unlimited app every week, which is 1,040 new comics per year.  If you read just 2.5% of the new released comics within a year you will have paid for your Unlimited Plus (1.4% for just Marvel Unlimited) subscription for the year.  That is just new release comics.  Marvel also adds back issues to the app weekly as well.  In general the total number of comics added per week is generally 50, which is 2,600 new comics a year.  If you don’t want to commit to a full year you can try it on a monthly basis for $10 dollars a month and see if you like it before you buy a whole year of service.  Generally around San Diego and New York Comic Con you can get a month of service for pennies or free.

What are the Differences Between Subscriptions

The chart below will show you the differences between the Marvel Unlimited and Marvel Unlimited Plus subsciption

Basically Marvel Unlimited Plus gets you the yearly box along with 15% off digital comics, 10% off merchandise from marvel.com and access to events.  The events are members only panels at San Diego, Chicago, and New York Comic-Con.  If you are lucky enough to go to these Comic-Cons the events are suppose to be really cool.  They show you some art and talk about upcoming comics and will generally give out exclusive variant comics to every one who attends.  If you don’t live in New York, Chicago, or New York you are kind of out of luck.  I was able to go to a free screening of Dr. Strange for myself and a friend in the city I live in last year courtesy of Marvel Unlimited.  I’ve only received one of these invitations but it was really cool and an extra bonus from my subscription.

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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

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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.

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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”.

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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.

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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

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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.

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October 26, 2015

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2015 Unboxing

By Jasomania

DSC03501

I’ve spoken about Marvel Unlimited before on my Reading Digital Comics post.  But for the uninitiated Marvel Unlimited is a streaming comics service which is basically the Netflix of Marvel Comics.  It has over 17,000 comics spanning the entire back catalog of Marvel’s history.

Marvel Unlimited has three tiers of service.  You can pay monthly for $9.99 per month, yearly for $69.99, or a plus membership for $99.99.  I’d go through the details of which membership gets what but Marvel has already put together the following chart.

Marvel Unlimited Breakdown

I’ve been a member of Marvel Unlimited for the past two years and this year I decided to upgrade from the normal subscription to the Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription.  First let’s start with what came in the box:

  • Welcome Letter and Membership Card
  • Invincible Iron Man 1 Marvel Unlimited Exclusive Variant
  • Agent Carter 1 Marvel Unlimited Exclusive Variant
  • Captain America White 1 Marvel Unlimited Exclusive Variant
  • SHIELD and SSR Pin
  • Marvel Legends Marvel Unlimited Exclusive RESCUE Figure

Here are some full unboxing shots.

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Unboxing 4

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Unboxing 3

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Unboxing 2

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Unboxing 1

Here are close ups of each of the comic books along with a composite of all tree.

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Marvel Unlimited Plus Composite

Here is a look at the letter / membership card, Rescue Figure and Pins.

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Membership Letter Skitch

DSC03508

Marvel Unlimited Plus - Rescue

So far I feel pretty good about getting the plus subscription over the normal annual subscription.  In the past the Marvel Unlimited Variant Comics resale for 20 dollars each and last year’s Rocket figure goes for 25 on ebay.  So the three comics and figure alone are worth 85 dollars.  If you were to do well on selling off your Unlimited Plus items you could reasonably pay for your entire Unlimited subscription.

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October 20, 2015

Comic Block September 2015

By Jasomania

Comic Block Web Clipping

I am aware that we are half way through October before I am getting this up but I as George Washington famously said, “shit happens”.

Comic Block September - Unboxing 3

First lets get the run down of all the goodies in this months box:

  • Deadpool Vs. Thanos 1 from Marvel Comics
  • Dangergirl 1 Exclusive Comic Block Variant from IDW
  • Mirror’s Edge: Exordium 1 from Dark Horse
  • Mad Max: Fury Road 1 Exclusive Nerd Block Variant from Veritgo
  • Saga T-Shirt with Prince Robot
  • Green Lantern light up ring

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Solid box top to bottom.  Not only did we get a Green Lantern Ring and awesome Saga T-shirt but we got four comics this month instead of our normal three!  I’ve mentioned this before but part of the promise of the Comic Block has been that we will occasionally get exclusive variant covers and graphic novels.  While we have gotten variant covers o’ plenty there has yet to be a single graphic novel.  Perhaps next month?  I did read all the comics in the box and below are is my rundown of each issue.

Mad Max: Fury Road 1

Comic Block September - Mad Max Fury Road 1 Nerd Block Exclusive Variant Stitch

Witness!  From the best I can bet this comic book takes place between Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome and Mad Max: Fury Road.  It starts with a couple page run down summarizing the events of the first three Mad Max movies which feels like way more information then we actually need.  It then has Max go to Gastown to participate in a Battle Royal style Thunderdome situation in hopes to win a V8 engine.  Max is victorious however killing of one of the members of the Buzzards gang attracts their attention.  The Buzzards find where Max has been hiding, steal his engine, stab him, and tie him to the ground to be left for dead.  Max passes out and a mysterious woman frees Max and bandages his wounds.  The comic ends when Max wakes up.  The mysterious woman enlists Max’s service for an unknown job in exchange for saving his life.

The comic was so-so.  It spends too much time recapping the old Mad Max movies and not enough time moving the plot forward.  Very little actually happens.  The art is really inconsistent.  At times it looks great and extremely detailed, but at other times the faces of people look like mushy blobs.  They also go to great links to make Max not look like Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy which is a weird choice and distracting.  This is only an issue 1 so it’s job is really just to set things up but I wished we had gotten a little more.  With so little happening I wasn’t able to form any strong ties to anyone or anything so don’t have a lot of motivation to find out what happens next.

Deadpool Vs. Thanos 1

Comic Block September - Deadpool vs. Thanos 1

Deadpool has been up against a lot.  He’s been up against X-Force, Hawkeye, Carnage, and now Thanos.  I’m a little unsure on the actual plot of what happened in this comic, there were a lot of moving parts.  There was some stuff about Death being kidnapped and so the dead on earth were unable to actually die.  There was a fight between Deadpool and Thanos for the affection of Death.  Thanos kind of killed Deadpool and then brought him back to life so they could team up and find Death.  It was a little confusing, but there were a lot of jokes, breaking the fourth wall and talking about tacos.

I have real mixed feelings about Deadpool.  I like him in theory but I find most of the fourth wall breaking and jokes to be more gimmicky than actually funny.  The comics I have read with Deadpool up to this point have been ok but because of all the jokes and such there never really feels like there are any stakes.  There were some genuinely funny parts in this comic but not funny enough to get me to buy more issues.

Mirror’s Edge: Exordium 1

Comic Block September - Mirror's Edge Exordium 1

If you don’t already know Mirror’s Edge is based on a video game for PS3/Xbox360/PC that came out in 2007.  It was fairly groundbreaking at the time for being a first person shooter that involved little to no actual shooting.  It is based in a futuristic society which “runners” use parkour moves to navigate around the city delivering messages.  If I remember correctly the game sold ok but not stellar.  Everyone loved the aesthetic of the world but the game itself was painfully short (4-6 hours long) so people didn’t want to shell out 60 dollars for it.  I played it back in the day and remember liking it but also it giving me head aches from moving around so fast.  Also, if I can bitch for a moment I really hate when games allow you to have weapons but actively do things to discourage you from using them.  Either take the weapons out or make them usable don’t half ass it.

Anyway, they are finally making a sequel next year after being in some form of development over the last 7 years so this comic is most likely a tie-in or prequel.

The comic begins with Faith (our protagonist) on a mission.  She gets two guards to chase her in order to allow her team access into a building in order to steal data.  While running from the guards she accidentally interrupts some sort of deal between rival gangs and gun fire erupts.  Faith tries to get away but is captured by the gang working for the crime lord Dogen.  She is taken to Dogen who is impressed by her work and offers her a job.  She declines and leaves, trying to steal some of Dogens art on the way out.  Faith returns to her base of operations and their leader Noah is mad at her for the risk she took going on a rogue mission in the first place.  The comic ends with Faith going back to Dogen and accepting his employment.

This was a really great first issue of a comic.  A lot of things happen but they are presented in a controlled manner in which the reader can actually follow along.  They keep talking about this beatlink thing which apparently most of the advanced runners have and Faith does not.  Not having a beatlink is a slight to Faith and a cause of animosity between Noah and Faith.  Call me old, but I actually side with Noah in this when he is angry at Faith for her risky behavior.  He seems fairly reasonable and Faith just seems like a brat for not wanting to listen to him.  Overall I really liked the comic and will probably pick up more of the issues as they come in.  While I didn’t love the original Mirror’s Edge game, I did always like the world it created and liked revisiting it in this comic.

Sidenote I really liked that Dark Horse didn’t have any ads in this comic until the very end.  It was a real pleasant reading experience to be able to go through the story and not be distracted by ads every other page.

Danger Girl: Renegade 1

Comic Block September - Dangergirl 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant

I don’t know about you but I find this comic is best read while playing Mystikal’s Danger (Been so Long).  So I know nothing about Danger Girl, and as if the comic was reading my mind, it was filled with exposition.  It even took a pause halfway through to explain exactly what the Danger Girls are.

Comic Block September - Dangergirl 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant Pic 2

It starts off with Danger Girl Abbey Chase at age 12 running through the streets of Egypt.  This scene was amazingly over the top.  At one point she’s literally climbing a stack of woven baskets filled with snakes.

Comic Block September - Dangergirl 1 Comic Block Exclusive Variant Pic 1

Abbey and her handler David move to Norway where there some more exposition about her Dad being on some super secret mission.  The two are ambushed and David dies in the struggle.  Abbey manages to escape and the comic jumps 13 years to a 26 year old Abbey in the Amazon jungle.  Abbey is once again being Chased (see what I did there) and narrowly escapes a villainous woman with a snake eye (literally).  The comic ends with Abbey giving  more exposition and a glimpse of the weird emerald the Snake Lady was trying to steal from Abbey.

This comic was all well and good but nothing in it really grabbed my attention enough to want to read more.  The over the top villains and ominous dark family history was just so typical that it almost felt like a parody.  On the plus side the art was at least good and like Mirror’s Edge there weren’t ads in the interior of the book.

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September 18, 2015

Comic Block August 2015 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Comic Block Web Clipping

August’s Comic Block came with the following items:

  • Bombshells 1 from DC Comics
  • X-Files Season 11 Issue 1 from IDW (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
  • Red Sonja / Conan 1 from Dark Horse (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
  • Heart and Brain Comic Block Exclusive Print
  • Spider-Gwendom T-Shirt

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First let’s take a look at the art print that came in the box.  This is the second time that a box has include a art print, the very first box had a cool Batman Print.  This month came with a print that was a Web Comic that was ok, but not particularly funny.  I’m not familiar with the web comic and it had the level of humor of a Bazooka Joe wrapper.  Regardless I would rather there be an art print than some of the random extra items that some of the other boxes have had.

Comic Block August 15 - Comic Print

Next was the Spider-Gwendom T-Shirt.  It is a White shirt with the following print in the middle.  While I’m happy to now have my first Spider-Gwen T-shirt, it is kinda of creepy.

Comic Block August 15 - Gwenom T-Shirt

Bombshells Issue 1

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1

If you have been following my blog than you already know I am a big fan of the DC Bombshells.  I picked up quite a few of the variant covers of the initial set back in August of last year, and have picked up even more of this years set.  I was actually planning on picking up this issue myself at my local comic shop until I went online and spoiled myself that it would be included in this month’s comic block.

The first thing to know about Bombshells is that it is a Digital first comic.  This means that it is released weekly on ComiXology with every 3 issues collected and released for print each month.  So then it makes sense that this issue is split up into three parts.

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1 Image (2)

The first part introduces Batwoman.  Batwoman is the star player of the Gotham Knights and does vigilate work on the side.  For reasons not really explained the players on the Gotham Knights all where disguises and keep their identity secret.

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1 Image (3)

Batwoman breaks up a robbery at the Ballpark (which we won’t go into how ridiculous it would be to rob a ballpark), and we see her romance with Police Captain Maggie Sawyer.

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1 Image (4)

It ends with a cliffhanger with Amanda Waller recruiting Batwoman to help stop the war.

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1 Image (5)

The second part introduces Steve Trevor whose squadron is shot down by Amazonians as they unknowingly fly into their airspace.  This is a much shorter section so not much else happens in it other than he is brought to Wonder Woman for questioning.

Comic Block August 15 - Bombshells 1 Image (6)

The last part takes place in Russia with Kara and Kortni Duginovana aka Supergirl and Stargirl.  I’m not sure if both have powers but Kara definitely does.  They are fighter pilots for Russia and during their first mission Kortni’s plane malfunctions and Kara must reveal her powers to save her.

I enjoyed this comic enough that I’ll start picking up the other issues as they are released.

X-Files Season 11 Issue 1

Comic Block August 15 - X-Files Season 11 Issue 1 Comic Block Exclusive

I did not like this comic much at all.  I was in the process of giving up until I realized I only had 4 more pages to read.  If you are into the X-Files this will probably be your jam but it has been since the late 90’s since I’ve seen an episode so I was more than a little confused.

Comic Block August 15 - X-Files Season 11 Issue 1 Comic Block Exclusive Image (7)

For reasons unexplained Mulder and Scully are not together and the FBI is looking for Mulder who is on the Lam.  We don’t know what he did or why the FBI is after him.  Mulder finds the debris of satellite and there are some wolves.  I don’t know.  It’s a confusing mess and honestly I just didn’t care.

Red Sonja / Conan Issue 1

Comic Block August 15 - Red Sonja Conan 1 Comic Block Exclusive

This is my first time to read either a Conan or Red Sonja comic so going in I am unfamiliar with the characters.

Comic Block August 15 - Red Sonja Conan 1 Comic Block Exclusive Image (8)

The story centers around Red Sonja and Conan preparing for a war in Kush.  There are several smaller mercenary forces that are going to team up for this attack and it has been decided that the leader of each fraction will fight to the death until only one remains.  Red Sonja and Conan decide that rather than fight each other that they will lead together.  This upsets the remaining warlords so the pair make quick work killing them off.  While this is happening a wizard named Kal’ang is in the final stages of making some sort of super potion that will give him immense power.  He gives a couple of his men a taste of his unfinished potion that, while not giving them full strength as the completed potion will, still greatly increases their strength.  The superpowered troops try to surprise Conan and Red Sonja and are quickly killed.

Comic Block August 15 - Red Sonja Conan 1 Comic Block Exclusive Image (10)

After the attack Red Sonja and Conan decide to immediately go to war instead of waiting until the morning.

Overall it was pretty good.  I thought the art was great, it was a cartoonish style but not so much that the people stopped looking real.  The level of violence felt inconsistent.  It’s not that I even minded it but it seemed like it just jumped from being extremely mild to cutting off heads pretty quickly.  It was just jarring because the level of sexuality and language was extremely tame so I just assumed that this book would be for younger audiences.  I don’t think I’ll pick up the series but I liked it well enough and might keep an eye out if it falls in dollar bins.

Well that’s it folks.  I’ll probably keep doing these posts monthly as I’ve been enjoying writing them and it encourages me to really read all the comics I get in the box.

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August 31, 2015

Marvel Collector’s Corps: Secret Wars Unboxing

By Jasomania

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Although this is the third Marvel Collector’s Corps box that Marvel and Funko have put out, it’s the first one that I am doing an unboxing for.  Back in July it was announced that this month’s theme was going to be Secret Wars.  I’ve been knee deep reading comics for Marvel’s Secret Wars event, so a whole box dedicated to Secret Wars is right in my wheel house.

First lets get a rundown of all the items in the box:

  • Marvel Collector’s Corps Secret Wars Pin
  • Marvel Collector’s Corps Secret Wars Patch
  • Secret Wars Funko Pop Tee
  • Exclusive Marvel Collector’s Corps Secret Wars Issue 1 Variant Cover
  • Ultimate (Miles Morales) Spider-man Exclusive Funko Pop Bobble Head
  • Lady Thor Exclusive Funko Pop Bobble Head

First there is the Collector’s Corps Pin and Patch which look like they will be coming with every shipment.

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This is only the third Collectors Corps box to be released but the first to have more than one exclusive Pop Vinyl figure.  Based on the art on the box (which was revealed ahead of time) I had guessed correctly that one of the figures would be Lady Thor and was very pleasantly surprised to find not only Lady Thor but Ultimate Spider-man too.

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I was also pleasantly surprised to find that they had altered the box to put a divider in order to prevent the figures from jostling around too much during shipping.  This is a great improvement as the box for my Ant-Man figure from July got crushed during delivery.

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Next is the T-shirt which is my favorite T-shirt to date.  It is a Funko Pop Tees brand shirt with Captain America, Thor, Ultimate Spider-man, and War Machine.  The Ant-Man shipment also had a Funko Pop Tees shirt so hopefully this is the type of shirt we will get going forward.

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Last, and certainly not least is a exclusive Secret Wars Issue 1 Variant Cover with the Pop Thor on the front.  It came in a poly bag with board so you don’t have to worry about it getting messed up during shipping.  I’m not super worried about keeping it for resale so I’ll probably take it out of the bag but haven’t done so yet.

Secret Wars 1 Collector's Corps Variant Cover

I’ve been receiving the Marvel Collector’s Corps boxes since they first started back in May just to get the Exclusive Hulkbuster Pop Figure.  I kept it through the July box to see what the Ant-Man themed box would have and was a little underwhelmed when I got it.  If this August box had been something other then Secret Wars I probably would have canceled.  However, this has been my favorite box in the series by far and has got me much more excited about the series on the whole.  On the website it says the boxes cost 25 dollars but after shipping and taxes it comes out to around 35 dollars, which is a lot.  It does help that they only come out every other month but it’s still a high price for possibly only a single exclusive Funko Pop Figure.  If every box is as good as this box I don’t see me canceling my subscription anytime soon!

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