Category Archives: Comic Reviews

Sonic Universe Volume 8 Scourge: Lockdown Review

Posted on by
Reply

SUGNLockdown
I am really making a lot of progress with the Sonic Universe series! With this volume, I will have read all of them up to volume 8 with the exception of the Knuckles saga. No worries, the library ordered it so ideally I will have it at some point in the near future. Hopefully the library continues to add to their collection as the series goes on. Volume 7 was the greatest Sonic comic that I had ever read so it goes without saying that this one wouldn’t be quite as good. Still, volume 8 was fun and Scourge is certainly a threatening villain.

Scourge has finally been captured and he is taken to a prison that has never lost an inmate since its creation. The cops warn the warden that Scourge shouldn’t be underestimated before they depart. Scourge is actually wondering if he will ever escape when his old teammates appear. If he can convince them to let him become leader again, they could have a real chance at escaping. It shall be difficult though as the convicts are really having a blast taking Scourge down a few pegs. Not to mention that the Warden is giving him special attention as well.

One could argue that this is how Sonic Universe should be. Focusing on the side characters who don’t have a chance to lead their own stories in the main comics. I’ve heard around the grape vine that the Universe saga is getting bogged down by more and more special events that force it to tie in instead of having these mini sagas. I’ll evaluate those for myself once I get to that era, but it’ll be fun to have some Sonic adventures as well. Still, this graphic novel really gets at the core of why we have a Sonic Universe comic in the first place. It is side character time and while it is regrettable that Sonic is not around, Scourge isn’t (too) bad.

He is essentially Sonic without all of the witty dialogue and personality. Scourge makes for a decent dark version of Sonic and while he is no Shadow, we are meant to believe that Scourge may be more powerful. He has had some great fights in the past, but I have yet to fully read them. While in the prison, Scourge has power inhibitors on so that we can’t see his abilities and his full power is hardly necessary against the grunts at the end of the comic. The comic seems to be building him up to being an anti-hero eventually, but he’s still a villain for now and hopefully it stays that way for a while. Being evil is Scourge’s whole deal right now so why change that?

The prison was fairly impressive in the fact that they were able to get Scourge to give up. Essentially, it proves that an evil prison can defeat an evil prisoner sometimes. Luckily, Fiona and the gang arrived to save Scourge for Master Mogul. Of course, Scourge works for no one so they now have a change of plans. It will be interesting to see where Scourge and his allies go from here as they will certainly be hunted by the all powerful being. That’s not the kind of guy that you want to mess with.

As you would expect, the art is quite good for this collection. The Sonic series has always been good with that and I like the style that they used back in the old days and the one from the current comics as well. There are probably more facial expressions found here than usual, but it may just be Scourge as around 90% of them come from here. I think that it’s meant to make him look very psychotic and unstable. He is essentially crazy at all so that’s probably what the art is trying to do. It is as streamlined as ever and that’s always a good thing.

Essentially, the whole comic is a prison break so you may wonder why it takes so long so actually get out. This is mainly because the comic decides to give all of Scourge’s teammates an origin story so that we can learn about them. None of them were particularly interesting and I don’t like any of Scourge’s teammates so it did me no favors, but they weren’t bad enough to make me dock the score either. Fiona didn’t get an origin, but I assume that it is because we already know it from previous issues. (And she lightly touched on it anyway in this collection)

I would have liked to have seen cameos for some other big villains in the prison. This is supposed to be the greatest one of all time after all and no villains have ever managed to escape it. Mephiles and the green lady from the Pinball (?) game are present, but that’s about it. Still, it was nice to see them and I guess that they are simply buying time right now. After the big prison break, I have a feeling that the reputation of the prison will likely fade away very quickly.

It’s a short collection, but the style has worked for Sonic Universe. Each volume brings 4 issues, which makes for a quick read while still providing enough of a punch to have left you with a solid experience. As it is, I don’t think that dragging this arc out would have been good for the volume. With moderation, the prison side of things could be interesting, but it’s really only because of Sonic’s humorous style. If things were taken more seriously, this could have been a pretty dicey volume. As it stands, Sonic Universe was able to make a solid volume out of this and I’m ready to see Scourge have his rematch with Sonic!

Overall, This was a decent volume of Sonic Universe. It definitely feels like what I would expect from the Sonic franchise if Sonic was not present. It is not quite as fun as the average Sonic comic and the dialogue isn’t nearly as strong since Scourge isn’t too great at being a lead character. Still, the collection is interesting and I always like the references to the multiversal cops. It gives the comics a sense of cosmic scale. I lightly debated between giving this comic a 6 or a 7, but I’d say that it has earned the latter. We still have some nice action scenes and the art is good. Aside from the Knuckles comic that I should be reviewing within the next month or 2, I likely won’t be reading another Sonic Universe comic in a very long time (The next one’s not coming out until around June) so I shall certainly miss the series. Sonic Universe was a lot of fun and it shows why Sonic The Hedgehog is a franchise with so much potential. I even like the Sonic Boom TV show a lot and it’s a 15 minute, CGI short. Two traits that I don’t typically care for. Now, all I need is the next big Sonic video game!

Overall 7/10

Rabbids Review

Posted on by
Reply

JAN150039-FCBD-2015-RABBIDS-NET-665x1024
Well, something had to take the spot of worst comic from Free Comic Book Day and I think that we have found the one! The Rabbids have never looked like good characters and that did not change here. I really have no hope for their games being great, but since gameplay matters more than the characters there, that should help. Still, this issue was worse than I had expected and that’s even considering that we got some backup stories here.

The Rabbids story has no plot as the beings just do a lot of crazy things. The main reason why the story was terrible is that the jokes are terrible. Naturally, there’s nothing suggestive about being a random bunny so the writers decided to just add things. One Rabbid wears Tennis Balls and another one spies on her. It’s all just sad and definitely not funny. I really hope that this comic bombs and the sad thing is that this makes video game inspired comics look bad. It’s a good thing that Street Fighter was so good so that it could help us forget about this one. It really had no good moments to speak of.

One of the backup stories was a really short one about Garfield. Garfield had to travel to the Moon to fight off some aliens and it was a decent tale. There wasn’t much to it, but maybe that was part of the charm. The art was intriguing as it made the story appear to be in CGI. I don’t think that it is a style that I would want to see very often, but for once in a while, it isn’t bad. We got some action after all and from the 3 stories, it is easily the best. This series would definitely have some potential if it was on its own. I wouldn’t mind reading a trade paperback for this one.

The other story was the Smurfs and that really didn’t help the issue’s case. The dialogue was too small, which made reading it a little harder than it should be. The main villain’s relative comes over and then betrays the man. After all, the villain is evil so his brother (I think) couldn’t let that happen and stops him. The Smurfs aren’t very likable and the villains aren’t charismatic so it is certainly a losing combo if you ask me. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the Rabbids story and I would probably just give it a 3-4 typically, but it wasn’t good enough to bring the issue up either. The art was all right here, it was essentially newspaper style.

Overall, This comic was doomed thanks to the Rabbids. They seriously ensured that I could not like the issue and this didn’t help me gain any respect for them as characters. It will be quite a while before I buy one of their comics. The Smurfs is a series that I have never been interested either. That meant that Garfield had to really hold everything up and that was too great a task for it. A 2 is rather low, but that’s just how bad the Rabbids story was. I’d advise you to skip this comic, but Free Comic Book Day is already over so you may not have had a choice anyway right? There are only 2 more free comics left to read so I should have those reviews up at some point in the very near future.

Overall 2/10

Doctor Who Review

Posted on by
Reply

fcbd-doctor-who-561870d76eaa2fd0
Looks like it is time to review a Doctor Who comic! This franchise is rather huge and another one that always looked interesting. I’m sure that the shows are decent, but the comics and books are always the part of the franchise that looked particularly interesting to me. There have been many doctors over the years and this comic shows off 3 of them. The blond englishman is currently my favorite, but he doesn’t get to join the fray here. No matter, it is still a solid adventure full of fun and excitement!

One story sees the Doctor try to help his assistant after her clothing is covered in mud. His ship has a good laundry system, which can take care of the problem. The only thing that he didn’t count on was her mud turning into a monster that had a will of its own. He had to think quickly in order to dispatch this new menace to the free world! It was a true threat of epic proportions, but The Doctor finished it off pretty quickly.

This was a decent story. This Doctor seems to be a little more inexperienced than the others, but he gets the job done and he beat the mud monster easily. The art was good enough and the assistant seemed to be a good character. This duo would be able to hold their own TV show with relative ease. Nothing can stop the Doctor when he is on a roll!

Another story has the Doctor land in the year 2015 by mistake and we find out that someone is mind controlling the population through free comic books! The Doctor can’t allow this to go on and he quickly goes on the offensive. Can he really stop this alien before it is too late? The whole planet is out to get him after all so this can be fairly tricky.

This story tied in well to Free Comic Book Day and the ending is a happy one. You will almost feel bad for the alien since his writing skills really didn’t seem to be that good. Hopefully, he can get some constructive criticism now and he will be able to write some neat books. He had a huge following at one point, but mind control shouldn’t count if you really think about it. This was another fun comic and the Doctor was likable. Again, he didn’t come across as too smart though.

Finally, we had the comic where electricity wanted revenge on the humans because they were overusing it. This issue certainly felt like it was a sci-fi adventure more than the others. The stakes were a lot higher as there had been 6 casualties by the time that The Doctor entered the fray. Moreover, I liked this story a lot because The Doctor knew what he was doing this time. He didn’t back off when the government told him to stop and he knew just how to stop the threat.

The Doctor’s assistant also proved her worth as she saved the day when she crushed the switch. Having a partner is always a good thing and this certainly came in handy for The Doctor. It was very noticeable that this was only a small story in the issue though because the plot moved at breakneck speeds and some areas were glossed over. I think the issue should have been longer since the 3 different stories had to share screen time.

Overall, This Doctor Who comic was fun to read and it is still a very interesting series to learn about. I can see why it is known to be one of the greatest sci fi franchises of all time. I assume that the quality varies depending on who the Doctor is, but these three all seem to be fairly likable. The end of the issue teases at a crossover between the three of them, which would be pretty awesome. Since time travel is easy for these guys, I’m almost surprised that it is not more of a regular occurrence. The stories are fairly rushed since three have to share a single issue, but the art is consistently good and all of the stories are still fun to read. Another solid comic came out of Free Comic Book Day!

Overall 7/10

Spongebob Freestyle Funnies 2015 Review

Posted on by
Reply

UnitedPlanktonSpongebob-665x1024
Spongebob Squarepants is a show that I never got into when I was a kid. I will admit that the theme song was so cringe worthy for me that it eventually became catchy and I would find myself playing it over in my head. I couldn’t get over it and eventually realized that the theme song was simply too good to ignore. When I saw that a Spongebob comic was among the free ones that I got, I could barely keep my hopes from getting slightly higher than the average comedy issue. After all, Spongebob was usually fun right?

Spongebob is going Jellyfish hunting since it is the annual Jellyfish migration. Unfortunately, none of them are showing up this year. It seems like the Plankton has stolen them for his own fiendish purposes. Will Spongebob allow this to continue or will he decide to join Plankton? Either way, it sounds like he may accomplish both! This is a dark time for Spongebob and his friends.

The plot is decent and it lasts for the entire issue, which is good. A lot of comedies decide to have a cop out and contain several stories to buy themselves some time. If you can’t think of a good story that can last for the whole issue, then I’m afraid that it is game set and match. The Jellyfish hunting could have been a real problem, but luckily they make it clear on several occasions that the Jellyfish will not be harmed. The heroes make fruit punch from their stinging, but Plankton reminds us that it will not hurt the Jellyfish in any way.

You will feel bad for the Moneybags guy since he thought that people were praising his artistic talents when they were actually bashing him. I really felt bad for the guy since he clearly tried his best. It just was not enough that time. His paintings didn’t look bad either. Moneybags can be rather stuck up and he was a little mean to Spongebob so I suppose that he had practically been asking for this to happen. Ah well, at least the mean townsmen didn’t actually break all of his art. Now that would have been sad!

The art looks decently good for this comic. It is nothing amazing of course, but I applaud the effort. There are no panels that look bad and every character’s model appears to be accurate. I’d expect nothing less from Spongebob right? It is a lot more enjoyable than the other comedies. I never saw the show, but I’ve always had a good understanding of how good it was. The comic did not disappoint and lived up to my expectations.

Overall, Spongebob’s Freestyle Funnies were good. We got to see why Spongebob is the main character of legend and I think the show is still going. I know that we recently got a movie, which seemed intriguing. It’s still not quite up to snuff when compared to good ole DC and Marvel, but for what it is, it’s not bad. I’m nearing the end of my Free Comic Book marathon so it is good to see that some of the final issues still have a positive score within them.

Overall 6/10

Rage of Ultron Review

Posted on by
Reply

Avengers: Rage Of Ultron graphic novel cover
After watching the Age of Ultron, I felt like I needed to read the Rage of Ultron! I didn’t think that I would be reading it anytime soon, but fate presented itself when I came across it. I was ready for intensity and supposedly this comic was even better than the Age of Ultron comic. Knowing that it was only a matter of time until things got intense…I launched myself into the book!

The story really has two parts. The intro has Ultron attack the Avengers and the original roster manages to barely defeat him when the heroes launch him into space. Many years later, Ultron lands on Titan and infects the planet. He is now one with the multiverse…or at least the planet..and his first order of business is to take out The Avengers! The new roster has never seen something as fierce as Ultron so it is safe to say that the heroes could be outmatched. Can they really beat Ultron?

It was fun to see a version of the old team appear back in the day. We got to see how heroic the classic Captain America was and the original members were just so good. As for when the roster was, that’s an interesting question. Some things just didn’t seem to add up. How could Iron Man still be in one of his most basic armors when Yellowjacket was already around and Hawkeye was in a slightly more modern gear? The eras seemed to be a little mixed up. The author has said that Rage of Ultron is canon and I’ve seen an article that questions how this could be.

Quite a few places are wondering about this and you will as well as soon as you read the comic. I don’t really see how it could be canon to be honest. It just doesn’t work and it is best to read the comic as a what if/AU. Still, whether it is canon or not, it’s still fun to see Ultron back in biz and fight the new roster of Avengers. I don’t have any real experience seeing Falcon’s team so it is nice to meet the heroes. This may not exactly be a powerhouse of a team, but I suppose that they get the job done. Although, they don’t do extremely well against the legend that is Ultron.

There’s one scene that will also have you asking questions, but with different circumstances. At one point, Spiderman webs away the hammer from Thor and then saves Falcon. How did Spiderman just push the hammer like that? He is virtually lifting the hammer since he’s lifting it through his webbing and it seems like another exception to the rule that I don’t necessarily buy. I am glad that Spiderman got his props here and he looked quite good, but it was still an odd moment. I don’t think that the comic was trying to say that he was worthy or anything like that because it was incredibly brief. I think the author just figured that it was okay to yank the hammer away so long as Spiderman didn’t actually lift it, but I am not so sure about that.

The comic deals with the tricky issue of whether A.I. programs have souls or not and how the Avengers should handle them. Is it ethical to destroy them? Well, I don’t believe that A.I. programs can ever develop souls. I don’t think that it is possible and it is why I’ve never had much of a problem with heroes destroying robots. That being said, I think that pain receptors are where it is time to draw the line. Once a robot/android can feel pain, then I think that simply arresting them is the best bet. There’s a prison for every villain and I’m sure that there is even one, which can keep Ultron contained.

That being said, Hank Pym is certainly not going to agree with that notion. Ever since the Ultron event, Pym has been determined to rid the world of such machines. He ruthlessly executes them and Vision is outraged by this. The other Avengers are also upset and trade insults and threats with Ant Man. Ant Man talks tough, but he wouldn’t stand a chance and it is hard to root for him. I really didn’t like Pym here. He ultimately crumbles and doesn’t resist Ultron when it counts and he makes more than a few questionable calls. Pym is likable in some comics and is unlikable in others. It seems to really depend on the title and this just wasn’t one of his better moments. The relationship between him and Ultron is explored a lot, but it still doesn’t do wonders for Pym.

There is a character who is worse than Pym though and that is Starfox. He is still a black spot in the hero community and I don’t see why the Avengers even bother with him. His methods of using people should be highly illegal. He may be an immortal, but that shouldn’t stop the heroes from putting him behind bars. His first scene is really just there to remind us why he is such a bad character and even his big moment at the end is pretty cheesy. I don’t think that it should have worked to be honest. This is one fighter that I could have done without.

As for Ultron, he is a little more emotional than you might have expected here. He’s not cracking jokes or anything like in the movie, but he still doesn’t feel like the cold and calculating monster that we have come to know. Pym’s first plan only works because of Ultron’s emotions. Pym pretends to be injured so Ultron flies over to gloat and that’s when he is stuck in the rocket with no way out. In the second battle…emotions are the main reason as to why he was ultimately defeated. Both defeats were ones that I couldn’t really buy.

Still, his power was accurately portrayed. He was able to hold Thor and Iron Man with one hand each and he bested both of them with minimal effort. That’s the Ultron that I have come to expect and he starts to take over the Galaxy with ease. He even overwhelms tech that was built on Titan in a matter of moments. Ultron went a little farther with the mind games than he typically does, but overall, I did like Ultron as a villain here. This certainly won’t rank in his top 5-10 incarnations, but power levels are one of the most important things and his design was also great. Ultron came out swinging and he is not a force to be forgotten.

Whether Ultron stayed true to character or not, the writing for the comic was pretty good. There are the usual puns that make you wonder how seriously the Avengers are taking the end of the world, but beyond that, it was good to see them discuss robot ethics and Ultron’s talks with Pym were always amusing. I’m not too crazy about how the inner monologues were thrown onto the screen with the rest of the dialogue though as it could be a little hard to follow. I would typically just read all of the monologues on the page and then read the actual character panels. I am glad that we have monologue though as it is always good to hear what the characters are actually thinking.

The art is fairly unique. It’s not quite as good as the art for the upcoming All New All Different Avengers series, but we still get some really fun action scenes. I feel like this art works best for the energy blasts and fights. For the characters, they can look a little off at times. Giant Man’s eyes always seem to be pitch black or half closed. I think the artist may not have been too used to drawing them. Beyond that, the art is still solid. The extra detail works better than it does for most titles like Kingdom Come or Marvels. Some scenes just look better than others and it is all in how you look at it.

Overall, Rage of Ultron was a very interesting Avenger comic. It was certainly a lot of fun and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish. It is very short so you will be able to power through it in a very short amount of time. It took an interesting approach and I don’t think that it succeeded with Ultron or Pym. Its validity as being in canon is also up for dispute thanks to how it is handled. The important thing is that the art makes for good fight scenes and there is a decent amount of action here. This can help you to directly compare the classic Avengers to the new ones so that you can decide which group was better. It is interesting to see Quicksilver don a uniform that is similar to his Days of Future Past attire. Another move that I don’t really agree with as I prefer his new outfits, but he gave it a whirl I suppose. There were certainly quite a few minor things that I mentioned here, but there are no real big negatives that should hurt the experience of reading this comic. You’ll have a fun time reading it and now you will be prepared to watch The Age of Ultron in the theater!

Overall 7/10

Sonic Universe Volume 7 The Silver Saga

Posted on by
Reply

SUGN_Silver_Saga
It is time to look at another Sonic Universe arc. Unlike the Journey one, this proves to be an epic of immense proportions. It is no exaggeration to say that this very well could be the greatest Sonic comic that I’ve read. That’s quite the feat considering that Sonic and Shadow don’t really get a role here. You will be on the edge of your seat for this story!

200 years from the current Sonic comics, Silver is still trying to find a way to save his future. All he knows is that a traitor from the Freedom Fighters will do something in the past that destroys his world. While he tries to unravel this mystery, Silver learns how to harness his abilities. Suddenly, an intruder breaks into his universe and attacks. Silver manages to defend himself and follows the opponent back to an alternate past where a demi god known as Enerjak rules. Enerjak has destroyed most of the inhabitants on the planet and now plans on ruling every planet in the multiverse. Can Silver defeat a being of unlimited power?

Right from the get go, you can tell that this is not going to be your average Sonic adventure. For one thing, it’s a lot darker and more serious toned than the rest. The setting is a ruined city and only a few heroes are still alive. We really haven’t seen a Sonic comic that was this intense. Even my other favorite Sonic comics never had this much of a sense of danger. Now, the Silver Saga is fairly dark and intense, but it never goes overboard. Silver is still throwing around jokes through these turbulent times and the other characters contribute when necessary. It helps to prevent things from getting too intense and it is still in the usual Archie style so we get to have some incredible fights.

I don’t think that I’ve seen any better fights in all of the Sonic comics either. Silver and Enerjak’s battle could pass off as a DBZ battle as they hurl islands at each other and land some tremendous blows during their fight. It is incredible and I remember a big Silver fan commenting on the blog years ago about how much cooler Silver was in the comics than in the games. I can’t deny that he is very awesome here. I liked him a lot in Sonic 06 as well, but this is certainly the definitive Silver.

It almost goes without saying that the art is very good. The author does a good job of showing how different the alternate world is from the current one. All it takes is one small change and things can really go bad. Absolute power corrupts after all and it is one of the main themes in this graphic novel as the being who calls himself Enerjak was once a hero, but he was tainted by the powers of the Chaos Emeralds.

Silver is the main character of course and this comic should help fans draw a lot of similarities to Trunks from DBZ. These two characters have always been compared as their back stories are very similar. I even found myself reading his lines with Trunk’s voice as a result and their personalities are more similar than I could have guessed. Future Trunks was a great character in DBZ so this certainly helps Silver’s case and it is safe to say that he has moved up the character ranks for me. He’s still behind Sonic and Shadow of course, but after that, he may just be a few spots away from them.

I am certainly convinced that he is one of the strongest Sonic characters. Enerjak had the power of all 7 Chaos Emeralds and he was able to beat Super Sonic and the rest of the heroes. Silver wasn’t even using his Super Silver form and he actually had the upper hand against Enerjak. He remembers that he shouldn’t solve every issue by fighting and quickly changes tactics, but it is heavily implied that Silver could have kept on going if he wanted too. It seems like he has Chaos Energy within him and can access Chaos Emerald levels of power without actually possessing them. There’s a chance that Silver has unlimited power within him, which is being hinted and that would be really cool. He’s a lot like Superman as well since Silver always tries to find a peaceful solution and can take quite the beating. It’s just hard not to go on and on about how impressive Silver was.

Enerjak made for a great villain as well. His design is really good and he did defeat the heroes. Upon destroying them, Enerjak stole their souls and uses them to power robotic copies. He never uses Sonic’s, which is too bad, but we see almost everyone else. The robots don’t have the original’s experience and ingenuity so they aren’t quite as lethal, but they are still powerful. Although, Enerjak doesn’t need them to fight. He can sink continents with ease and throw islands around. Enerjak’s power is unlimited as long as he possesses the Chaos Emeralds and he’s another top tier Sonic character. I would have loved to have seen his fight with Super Sonic as that would have definitely have been a lot of fun. I want to see Super Sonic take on foes like this as it has been quite a while since I have seen him.

I am convinced that I may never see a Sonic comic that is this good ever again. The Silver Saga was simply exceptional. There is a cliff hanger which leads into the next Universe volume and that one should be fun, (The character gets a lot of hype as everyone could be in danger according to the cops!) but topping the Silver Saga is going to take a lot more than that. We’re going to need a Sonic and Shadow team up or something like that. Every series has an ultimate arc eventually though so I guess Archie finally got one. The scene where we see all of the fighters who Enerjak has defeated may be iconic at this point and it is when we knew that things would never be the same for Sonic and his friends.

I’m also interested in seeing Silver continue with his plot to find the traitor. I’m wondering who it is and if the plot is still relevent with the recent universal shakedowns that have been happening. Hopefully Silver got to find him/her in time or his adventure will have had an abrupt end. Meanwhile, I can’t say that the new Freedom Fighters were terribly interesting, but they didn’t need to be since they just acted as distractions for Silver in this fight. They weren’t bad either, which is great since I can safely say that this comic had no negatives. It was just incredible and the ultimate Sonic experience.

Overall, The Silver Saga is one adventure that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. It really had just about everything that I could have wanted in a Sonic comic and I was not expecting it to be this good. It was amazing and felt like an epic arc that could have been in any show. I saw glimpses of the Justice League Unlimited Two Part episode, the Trunks special, and more. The idea of alternate timelines can still work. I don’t like when they get a whole movie or show about them that doesn’t seem to ultimately serve a purpose, but when it is similar to the original like with the Justice Lords, then there is more potential. This opens the door for good what if fights like Enerjak and Silver. This comic really had it all and succeeded in all areas. I highly recommend checking this out if you’re a big Sonic fan and especially if you want to see a dark Sonic adventure. Even if you’re just a comic reader, this is one of the best comics of all time so you should really check it out! Get ready for fights that will rock your world!

Overall 9/10

Avatar The Last Airbender Review

Posted on by
10

fcbdavatar
All right, I’m back with another Free Comic Book! I’ve still got a few left and I’m getting to them, but library borrowed books also have to take priority since they actually have a due date! Avatar is one of those franchises that always looked interesting. I never got into it, but maybe I shall someday. Either way, Saint Seiya, Pretty Cure, and Generator Rex are a little higher for me to be honest. Avatar will just have to wait its turn for now.

The main story is about the two characters on the cover. Flip the roles that they seem to be playing on the cover and you have the comic. The one with the scowl on her face tries to cheer her friend up when she wants to quit the warriors group that she is a part of. The dancer feels like she is replaceable and it saddened when she finds out that her sisters have replaced her at the circus. Unfortunately, she has no time to worry about this as a pair of villains decide to burn the place down!

This was a decent comic. Certainly a short one since it had to make room for two other stories. I can’t say that I like either character too much from this story, but I am glad that the rock one seems to be ready for a fight at any time. She launched into the two villains and that’s what I would expect from a main character. For the dancer, I’m glad that she got over the situation, but I would have thought that she would have been happier for the sisters. It sounds like they hadn’t seen each other for years before that.

There are also two backup stories. One of them is from Plants vs Zombies and that’s the worst one of this batch. It’s terrible and I don’t use that word lightly. The zombies are unsure of how to beat the plants so the leader decides to make a plant robot to enslave the plants. He jumps into the fray as a distraction and gets beaten up by the plants along with their two human sidekicks. Meanwhile, the robot decides to turn good and helps the plants defeat his creators.

Seriously, this comic was just sad. It wanted to be really funny so we had a gag on every page and sometimes there was more than one on a page. None of them were funny though and the main reason is that the zombies aren’t interesting characters. That’s certainly a game over moment if I ever heard of one. The story had potential, but we needed to see it from the plant’s point of view since they seemed like the better characters.

Finally, we had a short comic for Bandette. She’s essentially a crook like Carmen Sandiego who likes to steal things for the thrills. She never steals anything that is too valuable, but stealing is stealing. It’s interesting to see a “hero” who is stealing from everyday people who didn’t ask for this. The comic isn’t even acting like she’s a villain or an anti hero, but it’s just how she gets her kicks. She steals a movie and some popcorn. Hmmmm….

There’s also quite a bit of plot hax in this short story. For one thing, how did she get her friends to be hired to every key position? Usher, Popcorn holder, door man, etc. That’s a lot of unbelievable moments backed into a page. Ah well, I suppose that I’ll just roll with it and the main character did beat up a few opponents along the way. It may have sounded like I didn’t like this comic, but it was actually the best of the three. It certainly has potential.

As for the art, I suppose that Bandette probably had the best looking artwork. It will remind you of an old 80’s-90’s comic and picturing Carmen Sandiego is the best way to imagine it. Plants vs Zombies had the worst art and it was very sub par. The chaotic artwork certainly didn’t do the comic any favors. Finally, Avatar’s art was decent. It was clear enough to follow the story with ease so that’s good enough for me.

Overall, This was a decent free comic book thanks to the first and last stories. The one in the middle certainly helped to drag it down to a more neutral rating. Plants vs Zombies is just not good even though the concept was so fun and inspired. Bandette is the series that I would look forward to reading more comics, but I suppose that Avatar’s would be fun as well. Bandette just seems to have the better characters at the moment. I’d recommend giving this comic a read and maybe you will find a new series to pick up on a weekly basis!

Overall 5/10

Adventures of Superman Volume 3 Review

Posted on by
Reply

Advs-of-Superman-volume-3-trade-cover
All right, it’s time for the final volume in the Adventures of Superman series! It was a fun ride and I was certainly glad to see a Superman who tried to be more heroic like he was before the New 52. He still has his moments there to be sure, but this is the Superman that I wanted. Unfortunately, I think that the writers started to forget why they even started this series. I believe that the staff varies from issue to issue, but an editor should have quickly stopped some of the madness that ensues in this final volume. We get some great stories and also some very iffy ones. Nontheless, this was still a fun series.

All right, the first comic involves a Green Lantern and this was one of the best stories in the collection. Perhaps it was the best story! Superman’s very first line is “I am Superman and I don’t kill.” Perhaps not word for word, but I remember meta physically clenching my fist and sending it skyward as I read this story while waiting for Midtown Comics to start unloading the free comics. That’s how you start a Superman story and it was fairly amazing. For context, a Green Lantern had just told him to destroy someone and that was Superman’s response. This writer certainly understood Superman. Superman has a scuffle with the Green Lantern and then Brainiac also entered the fray.

The art was very good and there was a lot of action in the story. I really couldn’t ask for a better way to start the collection. This was Superman’s best portrayal in the graphic novel and he showed us how to be a real hero. Superman is still my favorite comic book character of all time. He lives up to his name and shows us how to be good people in all circumstances. No matter how dangerous or tricky, he makes the right calls. That is why the next story was so bad.

Superman has grown tired of arresting criminals. They simply get out of jail and hurt more people. With those thoughts in mind, Superman decides to create another alter ego called the Demolisher. In this form, he breaks bones and steals kisses as he acts very impulsively. Villains won’t be getting past him! If this was Superman’s sub conscious then it wouldn’t be okay, but it would be slightly better. The fact that Superman is doing all of this willingly is terrible! He’s right that it is annoying when villains are constantly getting out of prison, but then Superman needs to improve the system, not take matters into his own hands. The story made Superman look completely out of character and it was quite sad. People love to see Superman act more like a villain nowadays, but that simply isn’t Superman.

At least the art was good for that one. The next story involved a reporter who finally made a connection between the Daily Planet and Superman. He believes that Superman is actually a publicity stunt by the newspaper so that they can sell more papers. He takes his dangerous theory over to Metallo and then things get a little tricky. Clark Kent is relieved that the man doesn’t know the full secret, but now there is a man in harm’s way. It is time for Superman to show up and take names! This comic was decent. The art was good and we got to see more of Clark Kent for the first time in what felt like forever. It reminded me of an episode in the TV show, but I can’t recall which one.

This was a standard Superman comic, which was fun to read. The art was solid and Superman appeared to be in character for the most part. It wasn’t terribly exciting and the action wasn’t as good as the first issue, but the plot was engaging and it is good to see Superman use his wits. Metallo has Kryptonite at the ready so Superman definitely has to play this match up a little more carefully than his other fights. I always had a soft spot for Metallo as he is an interesting DC villain. He’s one of the few opponents to have beaten Superman on numerous occasions.

Next up, was the Joker comic where Superman is out of character once again. Joker has arrived in Metropolis with various bombs located around the city and we know that the madman is willing to use them. The odd thing here is that Superman appears to be completely insane like the Joker. Superman manages to get the Joker worried because his emotions are all over the place. Superman will be laughing one second and threatening to kill Joker the next. The art is constantly shifting so that the Joker never stays in one form and Superman also has his Golden Age charm one moment and his New 52 glare the next. It’s very atmospheric and works to make the comic fun to look at.

That being said, Superman’s portrayal is completely unacceptable. It was good to see him grab all of the bombs at super speed and show off as he pointed out that even if the explosions took out the building, he could stop all of the rubble before it hit the street. I believe that Superman could do this with ease, but he goes off the deep end. He claims that he doesn’t generally kill, but doesn’t mind doing so and says that he will kill the Joker if he ever returns. He even threatens Batman and the whole situation is really off. Superman ends the issue laughing as he flies away. There are so many meanings that you can draw from the laugh. He could be thinking that he just pulled off the best bluff ever, he is feeling really well, or he is simply insane. My bet is on the last one as he acted like that in this issue, but the whole comic was really off. The writer definitely has no grasp on who Superman is as a character.

There was a short story about Superman babysitting, which came next. It was a decent story although Superman didn’t look as experienced as you would expect. He’s great with kids so I don’t see this as being too much of a challenge for him. I also thought that he put them in more danger than necessary as he fought Metallo. It was an enjoyable comic to read even though it was so short. The art was decent and it was certainly better than most mini comics.

Approaching the end of the collection was a story about a large robot from Krypton who lands on Earth. He has a skirmish with Superman of course, but then Superman is able to convince the robot to fight for good. They fight an army of aliens that are set on conquering Earth and the comic has a very emotional ending. It just goes to show that Krypton will never fully be destroyed as there are always more creations and Kryptonians somewhere in space. The art was good as per usual and the fight with the alien fleet was a lot of fun. Overwhelming Superman with sheer numbers isn’t possible thanks to his great abilities so this was likely pretty easy for him. I would have liked it if the aliens had some kind of super powered threat on their side to fight Superman, but it was a nice fight regardless.

Finally, we had a story involving time travel and such. Back in the 40’s or earlier, man tried to venture into space before we had the proper technology. The astronauts were stuck in a portal. Thousands of years later, the rest of the universe has been destroyed, but Superman still lives on as he finally finds the rocket with the pilots still inside and takes them to a new reality. The story was just odd. It is neat to see Superman essentially be immortal as he is one and the same from all of the eras, but I just didn’t find it all very interesting. I believe that it is supposed to be very meta and mysterious as our reality is ending and another one is starting, but I just wasn’t very interested. It was cool to see a cosmic Superman who essentially rules reality though and that he sends one to every universe. It’s the kind of issue that gives you a lot to discuss I suppose.

That was the last main story that the collection had, but there were 3 more mini comics to conclude the saga. One involved Superman deciding what to get Lois for Valentine’s. The Justice League got to appear as guest stars, which was neat. Another had Superman fight with a ghost and then realize that the ghost wasn’t real. The final story, which ended the whole series had Superman team up with Omac to defeat a powerful robot. I’m glad that the series decided to end with a fight as that’s the best way to go about this. They were all fairly charming and Superman definitely got his props.

Overall, The Adventures of Superman is now added to the list of comic series that I have read from start to finish. The 51 chapters make for a fun saga and even though the stories had their ups and downs, most of them were ups and properly portrayed Superman as the ultimate hero. There will never be quite another like him and I look forward to reading more Superman comics in the future. I recommend checking this collection out when you have the chance. It’s thicker than most of the trade paperbacks around so you’ll get a lot of value for your purchase. The stories where Superman seems to be a little meaner and more chaotic are iffy, but the rest of them give him a good portrayal and we see a nice amount of action here. Superman’s always had a great track record with comics and I look forward to seeing what I will read from him next. While it is not a Superman comic, there is a Justice League one that I will be reading soon and I’m confident that he will look good there. Until next time!

Overall 7/10

Sonic Universe Volume 4 Journey To The East Review

Posted on by
Reply

Sonic_Universe_V4
It is time to finally review another Sonic Universe collection! The title already shows that this was not going to be your average Sonic adventure as we typically don’t have many journeys in the series. Sonic is always where he needs to be or he can zoom on over to the next fight so why would he need to travel. The key thing to consider is that he is not going alone this time! While not quite as good as the average Sonic comic, it’s still a decent adventure.

The Iron Dominion has taken over just about every part of the world, including the heroes’ home. Sonic and Tails have decided to tag along with Sally and Monkey Kahn as they try to convince various clans to break away from the evil empire. Will they be able to do this and weaken the main villains enough to finally overtake them or will this journey be too much for our heroes. Moreover, another faction decides to enter the fray and stir up some trouble for Sonic. He’s going to have to move quickly if the world is to be saved.

As I mentioned earlier, this comic wasn’t as good as the typical one and I believe that the plot is to blame. Why are Sonic and friends liberating all of the clans instead of going straight after the main villain? Saving their home should be top priority if you ask me and no villain can stop Sonic from saving the day. The Iron Dominion also doesn’t get to even appear so it is hard to say if they are good villains or not. They won’t be appearing in the other Sonic Universe collections so I will have to wait until I see them in the main title, which really could be a while. The journey is simply not very interesting and you can’t help, but feel that the stakes are very low.

Where’s Eggman? Where’s Knuckles or Shadow? Most of the main cast is gone and Monkey Kahn is not a great replacement. I’ve read comics with him in the past and while he is a decent fighter, Kahn simply isn’t very likable. He is fairly arrogant and believes himself to be a match for Sonic, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Kahn was easily taken down by the villains in the opening pages and Sonic had to save him. Kahn’s thunder abilities certainly do make him more powerful than most of Sonic’s allies, but the prince will never be a top level threat when it counts. His romance with Sally is also very short lived and never actually goes anywhere.

Sally looks all right, but leading on Kahn like that wasn’t a nice move at all. She needs to choose someone and then stick with the decision instead of constantly wondering. Beyond that, she will likely make for a good leader of the kingdom. Tails is still a little sensitive about how young he is and certainly doesn’t like it when villains comment on that. That being said, Tails really proves them right here as Fiona messes with him and he doesn’t look too good against the villains. He’s looked better in other Universe issues and the main series though so I’m sure that he’ll be ready next time.

Sonic is naturally the best character of the series and he always looks good. It’s just easy for writers to depict him accurately because Sonic’s formula is simple yet effective. His confidence knows no bounds and Sonic can always back up his tough talk. It’s why the hedgehog is such an incredible character. He gets taken by surprise when confronted with Fiona and her gang, but he quickly gains the upper hand and gets serious once they start to taunt Tails. Sonic’s a natural born leader and he always looks out for his comrades. Without him, the comic likely would not have been anywhere near as good.

As for the villains, most of them are one shots as the heroes go to a different clan each issue. That being said, Fiona does arrive with her posse. They help the heroes because they want to get one of their members back from another clan, but then they leave to scheme some more. I’m sure that we haven’t seen the last of them, but I don’t see how they will be much of a threat to the heroes. Sonic could easily take those guys out thanks to his speed. The villains have a speedster of their own, but he’s nowhere near as fast as Sonic.

Espio actually appears and it is interesting since we find out that he has been spying on the heroes the whole time. He knows all of their dark secrets, but still wants to be their friends. The heroes give him a bit of a hard time about this, but I’m sure that they will come around. It wasn’t personal after all and at least Espio didn’t flat out betray them, although this was close. I used to be a huge Espio fan back when I was a kid. I still think that he is a decent character, but he certainly fell down the ranks. He’s nowhere near the all stars like Sonic and Shadow nowadays.

This collection would have been a lot better if we had gotten some more action. Uniting the clans just seems like a waste if you ask me and it was practically filler. The plot will end in the main series, but that means that this one didn’t get to have much of a climax. It ends with the heroes about to head home, which is a good cliffhanger. It is just not as exciting as it could have been and this took away our chances of having a good fight.

The collection’s writing and art are good as expected. Sonic’s witty dialogue is one of the reasons why the series has done well for so many years. Naturally, the art is good as well and all of the scenes are clear and easy to follow. This is a winning formula and it’s why the graphic novel is still fun despite the rather dull plot. After all, the plot isn’t quite as important when all of the other areas are good. It is still something to take note of and a terrible plot can outweigh the other positives, but this one never went that far. I wasn’t in the mood for an adventure with Sonic, but it was unique and we got to see Kahn again. That should count for something I suppose.

Overall, Journey to the East was not my favorite Sonic comic, but the title helped to tip me off to that. Even the cover wasn’t very exciting. Sonic steals the show as expected and I’m glad that he never backs down to Kahn. Kahn’s thunder powers are good though and hopefully he will get some good fights someday. I don’t care for the various clans and their plots so I’m hoping that they don’t last for too long in the future. You really can’t have a Sonic comic without more members of the main cast and higher stakes would be good as well. I still recommend this if you’re a Sonic fan. Reading the collection will only take a small amount of time and it still makes for an enjoyable read. It won’t be a thrill a minute, but it gets the job done.

Overall 6/10

Bongo Free For All 2015 Review

Posted on by
Reply

BongoSimpsons-720x1107
Bongo is essentially a Free Comic Book tradition at this point. It is always in the lineup and you can feel confident that the stories will be decent. They are certainly better than the average comedy issues and this year’s edition wasn’t bad. The Simpsons is still not my kind of franchise, but it will always beat Family Guy.

This issue brings a few different stories, which seems to be the norm for these comics. One adventure has Homer try to repair the holes on his roof. This proves to be a fairly difficult challenge so he is forced to take some drastic measures. You will likely be able to predict the ending from the early pages of the story, but that does not take away from Homer’s great one liner at the end. He sets the other characters straight and proves that you can still be a winner even if you couldn’t succeed in the task at hand.

None of the other stories could match up to this one. Another adventure saw Homer’s kid decide to throw a spray on his classmates, which would make them all grow beards and wreck their class photos. Little did he know that this would cause his own hair to be ruined by the teachers. Never do unto others what you wouldn’t want done to yourself. It was neat that the issue actually had a moral. Teen Titans Go probably would have had fun reversing it. It is strange to see the main character go bald because I always thought that he didn’t have hair. The spikes always seemed to have just been part of his hair. This makes more sense, but it is still very odd.

Those were the best two stories, but there were certainly others like the comic con one that drag it down. I knew that the comic wasn’t going to end well and the main guy got what was coming to him. Still, the other stories just weren’t as good or exciting. The art looks about as good as I would have expected. It is still the Simpsons so you shouldn’t expect a masterpiece, but it is nice and simple. This works well for the smug expressions from the cast. You can be assured that someone will be grinning or smirking in just about every scene. Usually, it’s only temporary since something ends up happening to the heroes.

Overall, This was a good comic. The Simpsons have experience when it comes to the comedy genre so it is nice to see them do something with that. It is still a franchise that I don’t see myself ever getting into, but there was no way that a single issue could have changed my mind on that anyway. I want to see if Spongebob is able to keep up with this issue and I should find that out very quickly. I only have a handful of free comics left to read after all!

Overall 6/10