Category Archives: Reviews

Spawn Review

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It’s time for a triple horror review on the blog. Not in one post of course, but I’ll be posting them consecutively as I get to work on the film backlog. The third film review isn’t technically horror, but it’s a tragedy, which shares many of the same qualities as a horror. Why not right? All right, back to Spawn! This is one of those films that had an incredible premise, an awesome poster, and yet you knew that it wouldn’t be a very good film. Probably not even a good one. Well, your fears were well founded as this title shows why it will always be known as one of the weaker superhero films.

Al worked as a hit man of sorts for a shady company. He took out threats to the country in secrecy. One day he finally realized just how much collateral damage he was dealing to the outside world during this chaos and decided to fight back. He told his boss that he would quit so the boss had his replacement shoot him with more holes than a chunk of Swiss Cheese. The joke was on the boss though as Al was sent back to Earth from Hell so that he could lead the demon’s army against Earth. No worries though, the demons will allow Al to get his vengeance first!

It’s hard to know where to start first for a film like this one so let’s just look at things from the demon’s point of view first. After all, his plan doesn’t make a great deal of sense. For starters, why did Al have to lose his memory of the deal that he made in Hell when he went back to Earth? If not for the clown, AKA, The Violator, he would not have known to lead the armies anyway. Al was incredibly mixed up for a great chunk of the film and it felt like the villains almost didn’t care. That was rather sloppy and if Al has retained his memories from the start, he may have stayed on the path of darkness. Their loss I suppose.

One of the big weaknesses of this film is the..crude humor! Trust me, that’s the last thing that you want to see in a super hero film that’s supposed to be really dark and gritty. A little crude humor doesn’t tend to phase me, but it was extremely over the top and very cringe worthy. The scene where the clown bites into a certain slice of pizza is really what did it for me and you really will feel like losing your lunch. If the film was trying to be original, it may have succeeded, but certainly not in a good way.

The clown is also an example of another poor character. All of his scenes are pretty bad and some of his lines are pretty terrible. His threats to Al may be pretty personal, but it just makes him a rather despicable villain, not a likable one. You will certainly be pulling for Spawn to take him down already. The Clown also isn’t an incredibly impressive fighter, it’s just that Spawn isn’t very strong here. He definitely has a lot of work to do if he wishes to master his abilities. I could have definitely preferred another sidekick to help Spawn instead of this guy.

Okay, let’s back up a bit and look at some of the film’s pros. Spawn is a pretty likable character. It’s good that he wanted to get out of the shady business and he ultimately decides to act in the name of justice over being an emissary from Hell. Given his circumstances, it certainly shows a lot of willpower. In the hands of a better writer, he could have been a great protagonist. As it stands, he was simply a good one. He did make all of the right choices after all. Spawn can be rather slow on the uptake and it takes him a very long time to even think of using some of his abilities, but he would likely have been much more powerful in the sequel. A shame that we’ll never get one for this film…..or not.

Another big positive is the soundtrack. It’s easily one of the greatest comic book soundtracks of all time. I definitely prefer the instrumental themes though since that’s where all of the real action is at. The rock/metal themes really get your heart pumping and you’ll be ready to see what kind of action scenes they throw at you. I haven’t heard a film with fight themes like this since Mortal Kombat and Man of Steel! (Man of Steel had one good battle theme anyway!)

I can’t really complain about the fights either. They holds up pretty well. Spawn’s fight with the Violator will remind you of Spidey’s recent clash against the Lizard in TASM while Spawn’s epic fight against the master demon is something that is very original. Most of the fight is in CGI, which actually works quite well since it looks like a video game. I was loving every second of that fight and Spawn definitely got some good durability feats as he was constantly slammed to the ground and kept on getting back up. He also used his spikes to impale dozens of villains at once, which is something that he’ll get better at as the years go forward. Even Spawn’s quick spar against his replacement is pretty intense. The fight reminded me of Resident Evil…only less graphically intense, which was neat. Spawn definitely knew what it was doing in the action category.

All righty, back to the negatives. So far, this probably sounds like a 5-6 right? Well, we’re bumping it down 2-3 spots from that so we need to figure out why. Wait for it….waiiiiit for it….Animal Violence. Talk about adding insult to injury right? A dog gets punches by the big villain and we see him limping in his next appearance. That’s simply inexcusable and you’ll want to exit the room right after this happens. It really had no place in the film and I don’t see why they would add this. It made things more personal of course, but how much more personal does this have to get before Spawn unlocks his true powers?

Beyond that, the film is pretty tame violence wise compared to what you may expect. Granted, they may have edited out some of the violence on TV, but usually the language is what gets hit the hardest. So, I didn’t find the violence to be that bad. There isn’t really any romance although one of the plots also seems a little crazy. So, Al’s wife moves on to his best friend after he vanished. Really? Sure, he may have been dead, but that’s an incredibly low blow and especially after she said that she would be with him forever. It’s why you’ve always got to be careful before you fall into the romance trap. I’m still glad that it didn’t get more screen time since that could have been dicey.

Another reason why this film simply wasn’t that good is some scenes can drag a bit. The main example of this is when Spawn first returns to the world. He can’t talk so we just see him crawling and walking around as he has no clue what he should do. It’s pretty painful to watch the scenes as the Clown gets to mess with him for a while. I want to see Spawn verbally debating the pros and cons of fighting with a neat cloak, not getting thrown into an alley to get some more sleep!

I think we’ve mostly established why this is a film of missed opportunities. One more thing that needs to be mentioned is the ally who lends his strength to Spawn. This guy pops up out of nowhere and he has some connection to Hell or Heaven. It’s all very vague and he silently threatens to kill Spawn at one point before just joining him into the fray. He looks decent when it comes down to a fight, but he’s also pretty old so he can’t last very long in the heat of battle. He got his moments I suppose, but he really needed some actual character. One minute he’s basically telling Spawn to let his revenge go and then encouraging him to tackle the human villain in the next scene.

Overall, Spawn is a dicey experience. Some scenes can certainly be funny and it actually does work as more of a comedy than a horror. That being said, it goes too far in too many different ways to really be a good film. The animal violence, crude humor, and unnecessary scenes/lines keep it from being the kind of film that you will want to rewatch. The costumes and effects are way ahead of its time, but a film can’t get a good score on good looks. If it could, then I’d expect TASM2 (Electro vs Spidey) to have better scores than most other films. The video game is probably much better than the film, but I can’t really vouch for that. Either way, this is a film that you will want to skip and you’ll be better off watching the first Ghost Rider. It really outranks this title in just about every way.

Overall 3/10

The Amazing Spider Man Identity Crisis Review

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I’ve been reading quite a few Spider Man collections so it’ll be nice to check out one from the classic 90’s era of Spider Man. This came during a time where Osborn had set the Wall Crawler up and a huge bounty was placed on his head. This was a pretty fun way to change the status quo and some of the authors had a lot of fun with it. That resulted in a pretty fun batch of comics for this collection!

The stories are taken from The Amazing Spider Man as well as the Sensational Spider Man series so the collection does a lot of jumping around. One issue may end with a cliffhanger, but then it it paused so that we can take a look at the other series. It’s an interesting dynamic and one that is used quite frequently nowadays, but it probably would have worked better if timed a different way. One comic ends with Spider Man fighting two villains and the next one has him in a completely different situation. That was the one time where I found it to be way too obvious a switch. Nevertheless, this exposure to other series was good for the plot since it gave the writers more time to show off Spider Man’s 4 new costumes. Until he could clear Spider Man’s name, Peter Parker would have to assume new titles. Not all of his new forms played the role of the hero so this allowed Spider Man to get intel from various sources. It all ends up paying off although some of the plots are fairly interesting and you’ll be looking forward to seeing the costumes and choosing your favorite.

One of the plots involves a team up with Paste Pot Pete while Spiderman is acting as “Dusk.” The team up goes pretty well and there is even a chance to ice Osborn once and for all, but Spiderman naturally makes the hero call here. His gimmick as Dusk involves Spiderman always sticking to the shadows as he fights. It is pretty fun and this was an entertaining plot. I’m not sure how practical this would be for daytime missions, but I guess Spidey would find a way to make it work. I would rank Dusk as the second best alias.

The Superman guise was certainly my favorite costume of the bunch. In this guise, Spiderman was known as Prodigy. He had to act super naive to make it work and it was fun to watch. He used a suit that could simulate flying and with Spidey’s natural strength, it made for a convincing demonstration. His adventures were more straightforward as Spidey went around beating up on the villains. I think he probably shattered his cover when he decided to prove Spidey innocent, but it is worth it to get the main suit back. The plot was easily the most entertaining as well as the most action packed so it was a win-win situation. Too bad it didn’t get more screen time.

Ricochet was probably Spiderman’s most basic costume. He could throw things, but he mainly relied on his agility and acrobatics to win him the day. In this guise, Spiderman got to join up with some villains to take on some others. His teammates thought that they were simply using Ricochet when it was actually the other way around. Spidey’s partner seemed decently tough, but the matchup was against her as she fought someone who could KO you with a touch. This one comes in 3rd for me. It is interesting to see Spidey with more of a punk personality.

Finally, we have my least favorite guise….The Hornet. As this Vigilante, Spidey wasn’t totally on the law’s side or with the villains. He just did his own thing and tried to dig up some intel. I feel like the writers had started to run out of ideas by this point as there really isn’t a whole lot to say about this plot. It was more episodic and while the costume looked cool, he really had no personality. Luckily, it didn’t seem to eat up a whole lot of screen time, which is always a good thing. It wasn’t a bad guise, it just wasn’t very good.

As for Peter Parker, he was a pretty good character here. Once in a while, he would randomly make a choice that would make you scratch your head like when he decided to talk to the cops while in his Spiderman get up. It was unnecessarily risky when he could have done something a little safer. Still, by and large, Peter acts like the seasoned veteran that he should be. He’s been at this game for quite a while so he should know how it works. He has a lot of fun messing with Osborn while in his various get ups and it’s pretty fun to watch. He’s not perfect though and a big part of this is when he tries to hang out with a friend. I have no idea who this guy is and I’m guessing that he was phased out of the comics pretty quickly, but Peter doesn’t do a good job of handling this situation.

Peter is constantly blowing him off so the guy decides that they shouldn’t be friends. I really can’t blame him since Peter apparently left him hanging about 4-5 times in a row. You have to know when something’s not going to work and Peter should be careful about making a commitment considering his position. That was really the only point where we got to see this side of Peter and that’s certainly a good thing. (Unless you count certain college scenes, but that’s almost a running gag at this point and a little more understandable. There’s no way you can pass if you never actually study)

Norman Osborn probably looks better than I’ve ever seen him in this collection. He’s out to get Peter Parker so he constantly rants about destroying Spiderman while endorsing every other hero in the country. He is mostly using mind games instead of brute force and Spiderman counters each move. It’s a really good dynamic and Osborn acts a lot like Luthor here. He’s a compelling villain and the writer did a good job with that. Poor Norman is getting crushed in this battle of wills so far, but he’s certainly not down for the count yet.

It’s also cool to see the reactions of other heroes to Spiderman’s new alter egos. The Fantastic Four are pretty confident that they could take them out if necessary so they aren’t worried. At one point, Spiderman makes the mistake of hinting that he offed Spiderman while he was in his Hornet costume, which almost led to a fight with the Human Torch. It’s good to see that the Torch still fights for his friends and the direct threats were a nice change of pace. In a fight, the Human Torch can definitely hold his own so that would have been fun to see.

Mary Jane is also pretty reasonable here. Towards the end, it started to get a little dicey as she explained that she couldn’t put up with the situation anymore, but luckily it was not in a very serious way. She calmed down by the next day and she did support Peter through this situation. After all, she created the four costumes for Peter to wear and making realistic ones would have been very difficult for Peter otherwise. Having someone who knows his secret is certainly helpful.

There’s not much to say about the other vilains, besides Osborn. Jack O Lantern makes a quick appearance along with one of his associates, but they’re hardly a threat. They’re like Mysterio in that they use illusion abilities and those get old really fast. We have Paste Pot Pete of course and the guy doesn’t seem bad. To an extent, he seems to wish that he had not turned over to the dark side and he gets a lot of character development. There’s still hope for him. Meanwhile, a gang war is going on in the background and I’m sure that it will play more of a role in the future.

So, this collection was mostly just about fun and adventures as different heroes than about plot. The actual plot is that Spiderman needs to prove his innocence of course and he does that in the process, but seeing how Spiderman interacts with the world as a different persona in each issue is where the fun is really at. Adding this one to the collection of 80’s and 90’s Spiderman comics that I’ve read, it continues to make me believe that these were his golden years. They are simply packed with a lot of excitement and fun along with good writing. It’s very hard to top such a potent combo.

The art screams 90’s look as you read through this adventure. It is a distinct look that I am definitely a fan of. Everyone is bigger and bolder. It is hard to describe the effect in a more specific way. The panels are larger than usual and the characters look very imposing. This is definitely good for the fight scenes as you really feel the power behind the hits. This was also a pretty good era for power levels, even if the energy attacks of the era were hard to gauge.

Overall, This is a really fun adventure and it certainly reminds you of Spiderman when he was in his prime. Peter definitely isn’t perfect, but he is not going to hit on everyone that he meets. Spiderman is also taken seriously, something that simply isn’t done very often in the current comics. This was a very good comic so choosing between a 7 and an 8 was difficult. That being said, it is larger than the average collection so the fact that it could keep the quality up through all of the issues ended up earning it the extra star. I definitely recommend this title and if you find Spiderman to be an unlikable character, check this title out and see if you still feel that way.

Overall 8/10

Deltora Quest Review

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Deltota Quest is a book series that became a bigger franchise than anyone could have imagined. It got two sequel series, a manga, and a TV show. That is pretty impressive. I read the books and watched the show so now I finally got to check out the manga. It is pretty good, but could it match up to the anime? Let’s take a look at this adaption.

The plot follows a kid by the name of Lief. He lives in the Kingdom of Deltora, unaware that the rest of the planet has been taken over by the Shadow Lord. The only way to stop him is to travel the world and find the missing gems of Deltora. Once united on the belt, they can be used to vanquish the evil being. Lief is joined in his quest by a bodyguard in the form of Barda and a girl in the forest who goes by the name of Jasmine. Let the adventure begin!

The series is 10 volumes long, which is pretty good for the average manga series. It is still a little rushed by the end though, which shows just how much content needed to be covered. There were quite a few gems so the adventures were numerous. Unfortunately, this meant that some of the battles had to be trimmed. Particularly, the final big boss (minus the Shadow Lord) was reduced to a single hit KO. Most of the exposition was kept in and some battles were extended, so it wasn’t all rushed. The series probably would have had a more even pacing if it had been boosted to 12 volumes.

The artwork for the series is pretty intense and the artist must have loved old classics like Yu Yu Hakusho and Kenshiro. You really feel the punches and this is probably Barda’s best portrayal. His fight with Doom is extended and the tournament’s final rounds are turned into a free for all, which allows for more action. The gritty/shonen art works for the fight scenes and while it may be a little generic during the regular scenes, it works well enough. It is a little more violent as a result of this, but certainly nothing compared to the average SJ title. Just watch out for the rats scene as it can be pretty sad.

One thing that you will notice immediately is a large amount of plot hax. The critical mistake that many fantasy series make is to have the lead characters be humans without any special abilities. So, how can these guys take on all powerful beings of darkness or a witch who is protected by a barrier? Bring in the plot hax crew. The witch scene wasn’t that bad as it is the monsters who usually take the fall. They are simply stabbed or are too slow to escape the heroes. The main characters decide to play dead at one point, but things almost don’t work out very well for them as the villains prepare to critically stab them anyway. A sound makes them forget what they were doing, but it is an example of a scene where the heroes were only saved by luck.

Lief is the main lead and he is pretty heroic. He is definitely not the strongest character around, but he knows self defense, which is always a useful skill to have. He has most of the qualities that you would expect to see in a hero and Lief never backs down from a fight. I definitely don’t have a problem with him being the main character, but he could certainly have been a little more interesting. His plans are also some of the worst ones a lead has ever come up with and luck is the only reason why he survives for so long.

Barda is the muscle of the group and he is a talented fighter. Lief never manages to surpass him in the art of fighting, but Barda does have more experience on his side. He gets quite a few fights during the course of the series and Barda definitely ends up being a good character. He is certainly more interesting than Lief, but it is hard to say who is more likable.

Jasmine is the team’s link to nature and she is the quickest fighter of the group. Her big weakness resides in her lack of physical strength. She typically manages to get past this though and her animal friends provide her with some backup. Her initial distrust and aggression regarding the mysterious figure named Doom is a little much as it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but there is a reason for it. I am just not sure if I buy the fact that the plot twist would have caused this.

Beyond those 3 heroes, there isn’t much of a supporting cast. They do gain more allies along the way, but their appearances are sporadic at best. They befriend a boy who has lost the ability to speak. The kid helps them out more than once and the heroes would have been doomed otherwise. The heroes are also helped by a flying creature who fights off a powerful beast. Naturally, Doom also lends a helping hand when the stakes get high and he proves to be a formidable ally. His strength may even be a match for Barda’s.

The villains have less character to speak of since most of them are giant monsters. Aside from the Vraal, I don’t even remember their names. Some monsters were unlikable like the giant Toad, while others were pretty cool like the Vraal. It is definitely a case by case basis and I just wish that the heroes could have gotten some power ups so that the fights would not feel all of the plot hax. There is a traitor and a villain related to Lief’s past, but they were both thrown back into the manga at the last second so it lacks the emotional punch that it could have had. Fans of the Shadow Lord or at least the concept of the big bad may be disappointed by the fact that his screen time is extremely limited. He comes into the picture at the very end of the series and he it outmatched very quickly. The author should probably have given him a fight scene a little sooner so that he could at least get one win before it was all over. The Shadow Lord has a cool design, hopefully that will satisfy you….

I already discussed the artwork, but the fight scenes deserve a paragraph of its own. The artist is pretty good at hand to hand fights as well as sword clashes. This is due to the gritty, detailed style that is used here. It may be counter productive at times for the non action scenes, but the fights make it worth the trade off. Deltora Quest sometimes ends up looking like a classic SJ title when Lief really gets into the heat of battle. The monsters certainly look intimidating and I have always liked the design of the Ols. The fights just feel out of place because they are so serious in what is otherwise a fairly laid back series. I’m certainly all for it!

This is a journey series so you could argue that while the plot is important, you’re really supposed to look at the visuals and that’s how you will find the series to be a lot of fun. Lief helps people from various lands and it really pays off by the end. Some of the quests may seem like filler, but Lief typically gets a gem out of the ordeal so that certainly helps his quest. It’s like LOTR, but in manga form so it is infinitely better.

Overall, Deltora Quest is a good manga. At 10 volumes, it is almost the perfect definition of what a good manga is. We have enjoyable fights, decently interesting characters, no fanservice, (Which is pretty incredible) and some solid artwork to back it all up. It’s a complete package. There are really no big negatives to speak of. It was a little rushed and the rat violence was sad, but that’s about it. The series managed to stay afloat on its positives. This title won’t be making your top 10 or anything like that, but it’ll be a fun read and you can compare it to the books or the anime. There’s just something satisfying about checking something out in all 3 formats. Maybe the manga will get a sequel series to cover the book’s sequel, but the chances are slim. Still, we can hope!

Overall 6/10

The Mighty Thor Ragnarok Review

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Time to check out one of the classic Thor story arcs. We’ve seen Ragnarok mentioned many times in the Thor mythos and the event is one that is still being done today. The destruction of the gods is something that is naturally hard to stick, but this may have been the first time that it happened in the comics. It’s a pretty good story arc although the twist may be dicey for some fans.

Before the actual plot starts, we get a story where Thor helps a kid who is being bullied. Thor tells the kid that there is always someone stronger and remembers a time where he and Loki were trolled by a powerful titan. He seemed so much stronger than the two of them that is was hard to believe that such a being could actually be real. It was an entertaining story and I appreciated the twist that time since the whole situation would have been pretty humiliating otherwise.

Now, the real story occurs in Asgard, away from the problems of the mortals. Thor heads there and discovers that a camera crew has been brought in by Loki to witness the end of Asgard. Thor isn’t sure how Loki escaped his imprisonment, but it matters little as Asgard comes under attack by legions of adversaries. Making matters worse is the fact that one of the cameramen is able to best Thor in a fight and steal Mjolnir. Without his trusty hammer, will Thor be able to defend the kingdom and stop the Midgard Serpent? It’s definitely going to be a difficult fight.

The event that everyone feared got to finally occur and it was handled pretty well. That being said, the twist is major and it will affect how you look at the issues during your next read. A spoiler for this arc is coming up so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know about it. I’ll just give you an extra sentence here so that you can skip away…………………..the whole event is a ruse by Odin. He pretended that Ragnarok was upon Asgard so that the villains would make their move and Odin could weaken them. He made an illusion of Loki appear and he choreographed everything. The deaths were real though so this came at a high price, but now the villains won’t be ready to strike Asgard for many centuries to come. Still, this was certainly not a heroic move on Odin’s part and you can understand why the heroes would be upset with him. He also tries to stop Thor from going back to Earth once again so Thor disobeys him and gets banished from Asgard. Odin likely won’t be earning any new fans from this collection.

Thor looks nice and heroic as he should. The first comic takes place back when he was very arrogant and he definitely didn’t mind insulting Loki back then. Loudly proclaiming that he was Odin’s true son, he marched headfirst into each battle, never doubting his victory. That’s definitely a version of Thor that likely has many fans and then the rest of the issues deal with a more experienced version of the character. Thor is still confident, but not in a rude way and he is always ready to give a fight his all. I agree with him in the decision to go to Earth since the planet would be in a dire spot without him. I have no qualms with how he was portrayed.

Odin doesn’t look very good as I explained in the spoiler paragraph. He makes some very questionable decisions and ordering Thor to stay away from Earth at this point in time is like asking Thor to disobey him. The main camera man was pretty good. He definitely presumed much when he asked Thor to take him to Asgard and he really didn’t think that one through. Even if he got some footage, it would be hard to ever go back there again. He may be a nice guy, but he’s not the smartest one.

Red Norvell is one of the big villains of the story after he gains the abilities of Thor. They have a decent fight although the outcome is certainly suspect. It was pretty circumstantial, but it was still pretty sad to see him grab Mjolnir and defeat Thor so handily. He’s not a likable character and while he did have a change of heart by the end, it’s really hard to root for him. He’s very full of himself and Red Norvell’s actions nearly jeopardize the whole planet. He also takes a life, which is something that he cannot take back. No, Red Norvell is definitely no hero.

Aside from him, other villains include the Frost Giants and the Midgard Serpent. The Serpent certainly has changed over the years. This design is still green and very large, but his eyes are very menacing. I wish that they had kept this design for the future comics. Loki is also present of course and he looks true to form. He’s always got a trick up his sleeve, as befitting the trickster. Hela also gets some props as Odin backs away when confronted by her. When in her dimension, it would seem that she is even stronger than him. The Hype Train just got derailed….

This is one of the classic Marvel comics so the art is naturally very good. You can tell that a lot of effort was put into it and all of the character designs look great. These are the characters that Marvel fans grew up with and you can immediately see why they are known as the definitive design for most of the characters who are present. You can’t have a great comic with bad art and having consistently good art helps to elevate the series to new heights.

It almost goes without saying that the writing is very enjoyable and it plays a large part in why the comic is good. Thor’s manner of speaking is pretty catchy and it provides a nice contrast to the slang that the humans use when they appear. Some of the slang words of hard to recognize because they simply haven’t been used in many decades. That’s how old the comic is, but this works in its favor. There are some unlikable characters like Red Norvell, but he’s not nearly as bad as he could have been.

Overall, This is a good Thor collection to check out. The stakes are high and we get to see how he handles facing an army without Mjolnir. The Midgard Serpent also gets its props as he looks very good against the heroes. The only part of the collection that isn’t great is Red Norvell and I don’t see why Sif went with him. It was to protect Asgard, but she should have just been confident that she could have defeated him along with Thor and the others. That scene was pretty frustrating for fans and Red Norvell went way too far. His big change of heart is very hard to buy into. The short story at the beginning was also enjoyable. One little thing to note is that the collection is very small and you’ll be able to zip through it in well under an hour. At only around 120 pages, it feels shorter than the average collection. Still, Quality>>>Quantity right? I recommend checking this out if you’re looking for a well written action comic and it’ll help to tide you over until Avengers Age of Ultron hits theaters in around 2 months.

Overall 7/10

The Indestructible Hulk Volume 2 Gods and Monster Review

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I was impressed with the first volume in this series as it can be very difficult to make the Hulk/Bruce Banner into a likable character. The Hulk is back to his nearly mindless self, but he still has enough control to keep from hurting his friends. What really tips the scales for this series is the fact that Bruce Banner is really likable. That has been pulled off before as seen in the Avengers movie, but I still don’t typically like him as a character in the comics. This writer really gets him and it would be cool if Bruce could always look this good. This volume is about as good as the last one, which means that it’s very enjoyable!

The volume is really divided into two story arcs. The first part of the volume sees Bruce Banner lead his team of researchers into the home of the Frost Giants. They are there to steal some of the lifeblood of the planet to use for either a cure or an invention. I forget which at the moment, but you already have to question their mission. This does look like the humans are instigating the battle with the Frost Giants this time right? Well, their journey gets an unexpected twist when the heroes realize that they have time traveled to the past. Thor doesn’t know them and getting back to the present may be difficult. This arc was certainly a lot of fun.

The second half involves a team up with Daredevil. The Hulk is sent on another mission and this time he’s attacking a base that Baron Zemo runs. Daredevil is able to provide some assistance for a while, but the Hulk starts to turn back into his mindless self. Can Daredevil survive this encounter long enough to calm the Hulk down? It’s going to take all of his skills to achieve such a feat! This story was pretty good as well. It’s not quite as fun as the first half and the art is not quite as good, but it’s still a very solid adventure that you will be glad you read.

Bruce Banner definitely looks pretty good as mentioned earlier. My one gripe is that he was pretty rude in the first arc. Thor was really having too much fun to notice or to care, but Bruce just seemed like another person when around him. The Hulk and Thor have always been rivals so maybe that Banner still feels a little aggressive towards the prince of Asgard. Aside from that, he still proves to be a heroic individual. He got to develop a new phone that is difficult to trace and now he is trying to cure a disease that currently has no cure. Banner is definitely making the most out of this opportunity and maybe he will actually get to end the series on a high note. I am guessing that something big will happen to restore Banner back to being on the run, but hopefully this isn’t the case. He deserves a good fate once in a while right?

Thor’s portrayal is certainly very good. This is Thor from the classic days so he still thinks of humans as little more than playthings. He also has a lot of fun when fighting. Thor’s grin never goes away and you can certainly feel how confident he is of victory. This does allow his fighting to get a little sloppy and the Frost Giants get closer to Earth than they should have, but I wouldn’t call it a power inaccuracy since Thor is clearly toying with the villains. I would be pleased if Thor was portrayed like this more often. There is also a scene involving Mjolnir that will prove entertaining for Thor fans. After the Ultimate Avengers film, writers love bringing this situation up to show what should happen? What is the situation in question? You will need to watch the film or read this comic to find out!

Daredevil’s portrayed as he should be. He’s still a very good lawyer who doesn’t bow down to Shield. He may have a moment or two where he feels fear and doesn’t seem to mind admitting it, but I’ll let it slide since just about everyone is afraid of the Hulk. His hand to hand skills are impressive and he does a good job of avoiding the Hulk, but not in a way that will make you wince. I can buy the scenes and that’s the important part. Daredevil could certainly hold his own series if he was always like this, but I also like him as a guest star. That role may suit him more than any other.

That’s really it as far as the main characters go. Maria Hill’s rivalry with Bruce Banner is starting to get a little dangerous as she threw him out of a plane without a parachute. Having the ability to transform into the Hulk at will definitely has its perks like in that scene, but it’s still pretty risky. Baron Zemo appears briefly, but there’s not much to say about him. He certainly can’t hold his own against the Hulk so he dashes away at top speed. I’m guessing that we’ve seen the last of him, but maybe he’ll return.

The plot involving Banner’s suspicious teammates is put on hold for the most part. They’re around during the Thor story, but only one of them gets any real character development. Banner still has to go on many missions as the Hulk so he’s not given a lot of time with them. He keeps mentioning how he selected them for a specific purpose and I’m waiting for one of them to turn traitor, but it hasn’t happened just yet. I suppose that will just mean that I have more plots to look forward to in the future!

The art switches once the arc shifts into the Daredevil adventure. I am definitely a fan of the art from the first half more than the second, but they both look good. The first one is more on the retro side since there is time travel involved while the second one looks more like the first volume. The pages are very detailed and the artist does a good job of not overdoing it while still making the art look unique. There are certainly no Marvel/DC comics that I am aware of, which currently use this style.

Overall, The Indestructible Hulk has done it once more. This comic was very interesting and a blast to read. The series is quickly establishing itself as the definitive Hulk title. Once again, there are really no issues to be found with the series and it is too bad that the comic had such a short run. I shall definitely keep an eye out for the next volumes. I highly recommend this to all comic fans. It is a great action title and the writing is exceptional. You can’t ask for a better combo than that right? It should also be noted that Agent Coulson appears as a guest star. He helps out against the Frost Giants and proves that he is still one of the tougher agents in Shield. That is yet another reason to check out this volume!

Overall 7/10

Hellboy Seeds of Destruction Review

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I’ve seen both of the Hellboy films, but I had not read any of his comics before now. I had to change that and now I can safely say that I have delved into the comics where it all began. Hellboy’s a good action title so far and we can be sure that he’ll face off with a lot of demonic beings before the day is over.

This comic naturally goes over Hellboy’s origin a little. The Nazi’s summoned him during World War II, but the allies found him first and trained him to be a hero. Hellboy joined a group of other supernatural fighters and he now aids them in the war against crime. It’s been 30 years, but the villains are still around. The main plot is about a family who constantly climbs a mountain in the hopes of getting rich. For 9 generations they have kept on trying to reach the top, but they continue to fail and all who travel the mountain eventually die. Hellboy’s father figure was the latest casualty in this quest so Hellboy and his team go to the family’s mansion to investigate. They may run into more trouble than they bargained for when they realize that an evil group is around..the same one from Hellboy’s origin!

This is the first volume in the Hellboy comics so we’re still in the process of getting used to the cast. Hellboy’s allies from the films to get a role, but we mostly only get to know about them through Hellboy’s exposition since they tend to get knocked out of the fight pretty quickly. Abe is a water fighter who can breathe under it. This makes him a good ally to have for tactical missions and he appears to be the smartest member of the group. That being said, he’s not much of a fighter and he doesn’t get much of a role here. He seems like a good character although he’s not particularly interesting.

Liz gets a lot of hype as her fire abilities have not been fully explored yet. It seems like nobody can fully contain them at the moment so she has to always be careful not to cut loose. She is knocked out fairly early on in the story so it’s hard to comment on how likable she is, but Liz is decent for now. As with Abe, she doesn’t have a lot of character development and I’m worried that she will be all hype and no action, but she does have good reason to be confident considering that her abilities are easily the most impressive out of all the heroes around.

Hellboy is the lead, but I would argue that he is not the strongest. He has basic super strength and his right arm is impervious to pain. This means that he is definitely stronger than the average human, but he is only as strong as the average monster of that size. He’s pretty experienced and he always seems to have a plan. His narration can sometimes differ with that thought, but at least he never gives up. He’s pretty likable and easily the best character in the volume. It’s always good for the main character to end up being the most likable one because he/she is guaranteed to have a lot of screen time. Hellboy gets into quite a few close shaves, but that’s why he has allies to back him up right?

The villains didn’t seem to have thought things over very carefully. There is one main villain here and he’s the guy who summoned Hellboy in the first place. Since Hellboy will not comply with his demands, he will have to force him to use his right arm for something. The guy has summoned the legendary monsters and his plans are vague, but deadly for the planet. He talks a very good game as he admits that he could wipe Hellboy out if he chose to do so. Little did he know that he should have held nothing back since it comes back to bite him.

The art is on the grim side to fit the tone of the volume. That being said, it’s not meta at all, which is always a good thing. It’s not quite as polished as what you tend to see in today’s Marvel/DC comics, but it still looks good overall and doesn’t hold the series back. Hellboy’s red design certainly stands out here since there isn’t a lot of color to be found. It’s an art style that you may find nostalgic or associate with some comics from back in the day. It’s a little similar to the Hawkeye/Daredevil series, but not nearly as cartoony or undetailed, which is a good thing.

This series definitely has a lot of text in it and it works in some ways while hurting it in others. On one hand, I like the fact that Hellboy is constantly thinking. His thought bubbles can certainly be amusing and it lets you get to know the character better than if he didn’t think that much. On the other hand, the series does have a lot of exposition and I think some of it could have probably been cut out. At the very least, I would have liked to have made the text a little bigger so that it would be a little easier to read.

The main reason why this volume ultimately didn’t crack a 7 is just because it didn’t have enough popcorn entertainment or interesting characters needed to make it reach the next level. A 6 still means that it’s good, but that I simply have some more reservations than the average 7. For example, this comic likely wouldn’t have a whole lot of replay value compared to the average superhero adventure. As the series goes on and the characters get more likable, it could easily rise up to 7 status. Due to the dark atmosphere of the series, the writer/artist will still have to be careful to keep the atmosphere as it is without going too far. I’m sure that the series can pull it off though and hopefully we’ll see more cool monsters for Hellboy to fight.

I’m not sure if the series will keep the mystery aspect that this volume had, but hopefully it will. A good mystery can always make a comic more exciting and mixing action with mystery is brilliant. Why do you think Batman is so popular? This was a good start and the series should stay episodic for a little bit so that we can really see how the agency fares against everyday threats. After that, then I expect to see some real organizations or at least a really powerful villain. Hellboy may need a power up soon.

Overall, Hellboy starts us off on a good note. He’s definitely a good lead and the art works for the series. It’s an action with some elements of horror, but we haven’t seen anything that goes over the top in either direction so that’s a good show of restraint considering the title of this comic. The supporting characters do need to improve a little, but they’ll certainly have time for that. I recommend checking out this comic if you’re looking for a new action title. Watching Hellboy take on demons is pretty fun and the writing is good. We’re still waiting for Hellboy 3, but this will help to tide you over until then.

Overall 6/10

Patema Inverted Review

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It’s time to review a pretty recent anime film. Aside from franchise titles like (Super) Naruto and (Ultimate) DBZ, I rarely have time to check out one shot anime films like this one. I check out a bunch of live action ones, but anime films are just a little rarer. Well, I can safely say that this was a pretty good title and it succeeded in its genre pretty well. It’s not really an action so you shouldn’t go into the film expecting a lot of fights, but the dialogue is good and the plot is interesting. In the end, that’s all that you need to be a good film if you play your cards right.

A cruel trick of fate sent many of the world’s inhabitants into the sky along with everything that they had built. Their gravity had shifted thanks to an experiment that went dreadfully wrong. The ones who managed to cling onto something escaped underground, where they live an upside down..or inverted life. Patema is the princess of these people and one day she is chased by a batman (Aw yeah!) so she trips and falls above ground. She meets a man named Age who helps her inside a house so she doesn’t float all the way up to space. Age must help her get home, but the corrupt government wants to destroy her along with all of the other Inverts. Can the bonds of friendship between Age and Patema be enough to stop these villains or will they need to fight!?

That’s the jist of the film. The gimmick of being forced to endure reverse gravity is definitely interesting. The film shows you Patema’s point of view on more than one occasion and it’s always very interesting to see. Mentally picturing it can be quite difficult even if you just think about flipping everything. It’s simply not an easy thing to do and the sky certainly becomes a fearsome sight as it’s essentially a fall to oblivion. Needless to say, you never want to fall down. It would certainly be tough to live like that and I do have to wonder how her people were able to survive. How did they build enough equipment to sustain life or make food to eat? These are questions that we can just sidestep for a while I suppose, but they will certainly linger with you for a while.

The soundtrack is pretty good. It’s upbeat and fitting for the film while also retaining some dramatic tunes for the serious moments. You probably won’t remember a whole lot of the themes by the time that it is over, but they were still enjoyable. We also got a lyrical song during one-two of the scenes, which was pretty neat as well. I’m always ready for a good insert song. We also got some good animation as well. It may not be quite as good as the average anime of that year (Anime keep on growing better and better as the years go by (barring the 90’s) so it’s really tough for any film to match them at this point) but it still looks good. It is slightly more mainstreamed/americanized in the designs, but the eyes keep the true anime feel to it that I am always fond of. There weren’t many chances to show off the animation like with fight scenes or chaotic backgrounds, but all of the scenes did look pretty good. It certainly helps the adventure move along and stay enjoyable.

Patema is one of the main characters and she’s a likable lead. She is curious about the surface world and is one of the only individuals brave enough to head there. It was partially by accident, but most of the others wouldn’t even investigate the area so she still holds the edge in bravery. Considering how scary the visuals are from her point of view, she definitely deserves some props as she chooses to trust Age as they run across the landscapes. If he were to let go for an instant, it would be game over.

Age seems like a nice guy and he’s also a pretty good main character. He seems to be pretty bored with the current system that the world has set in place and he’s glad to disregard protocol when he meets Patema. Both of them have sad origins involving their parents or relatives so they bond pretty quickly. Age is determined to help Patema no matter what so he gets his share of heroics as the film goes on. He’s still not the greatest lead out there as I would like to see a little more aggression and hot headedness in him, but Age gets the job done. He’s not annoying or just mean like other leads.

The film deserves a lot of credit for staying away from the old fanservice trap. There’s no fanservice to be found here and you always feel like giving the film a fistbump when you realize that what it has achieved. It’s still pretty rare for a film to avoid the trap so you have to sing its praises. The one gripe that I would have with the film’s writing is that Age didn’t stay in the friend zone. I was hoping that Patema would tell Age that he was a nice friend, but that he shouldn’t get any ideas about being more than that. This didn’t happen and they ultimately get past that point. At least it’s only a quick scene and it doesn’t last for long while also being mostly off screen, but that also shows just how close the film was to keeping that friend zone at the ready. You don’t fall in love after a single day/week after all.

Now, where would this film be without a villain right? Unfortunately, we are all out of interesting ones so it’s time to settle for a generic foe. The head of the government is an old man who’s pretty twisted and he has probably cracked. He wants to destroy all inverts because he knows that they would usurp his power and change the status quo. Naturally, we can’t have that so that’s why he wants to get rid of them all. If he just stuck to yelling threats and pointing his gun around, he could have been decent or at least tolerable. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t happen and he talks way too much. It’s a shame that nobody thinks to dethrone him since he’s so blatantly evil.

The villain has a right hand man, but that character is pretty bland. He has a big moment by the end and we realize that his character has some potential, but it’s also a little late by then. What has this guy been doing all these years? It definitely took him a while to do anything. Patema also has a friend who helps out a little during some of the scenes, but his role is still pretty small. He thinks of himself as Age’s rival, but that doesn’t always work out for him.

As with most films, there is one scene that will definitely make you think of the term “Plot hax.” Age’s father built a blimp so he could prove that being in the air wasn’t evil, but he randomly fell out and died. People were pretty sad, but they knew that it was simply the curse coming back to bite him. I’m sure that it’s pretty obvious how the guy died, but why didn’t any of the spectators notice? They likely wouldn’t have heard anything, but they were right under him so a quick body inspection would be impossible to stop. All of those witnesses should have seen everything so I definitely didn’t buy the plot twist. The dad seemed like a nice guy and I also liked his inverted counterpart, Lagos. A film about their exploits may not have been bad, but they didn’t get a whole lot of time together so it would be short. They definitely got along pretty well and it’s a shame that they couldn’t get a happier ending.

Overall, Patema Inverted is a pretty good film. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not an action film and I would treat it more as a slice of life or maybe a drama. The film starts out as an average day for Age and then it becomes an adventure that he’ll never forget. The film is all about looking at the world from a different perspective and it’s fun to see the heroes learn how to use their different gravity situations for the better. Flying sounds like a lot of fun and going through the clouds must be a lot of fun. There are really no negatives to speak of here and the film never drags on. This means that we’re getting another film that easily reaches 7 stars here on the blog. It just goes to show that good writing will trump the lack of action weakness every time. I definitely recommend checking this film out as it’s good in all areas. It’s a complete cinematic experience and one of the better one shot anime films that I’ve seen.

Overall 7/10

Source Code Review

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It’s time to look at one of those films that you may have heard of. It’s certainly possible since it was in theaters for a while, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you just missed it. Source Code is a pretty interesting film and I thought that it was a fun ride. Reliving the same 8 minutes over and over again is always a fun plot. (It’s unique as far as the 8 minutes goes, but not when you consider the reliving plot itself) We saw that kind of plot in Edge of Tomorrow recently so let’s see how this worked out back in the day.

Captain Stevens was in a war and he was leading his troops through a pretty tough ordeal. Somehow, he is now on a train very far away from the war in Afghanistan. Chicago may be a nice city, but Stevens isn’t ready for a vacation. The plot thickens when he finds out that this is actually a virtual world. The government wants him to find out who bombed the train so that they can find him in real time before he sets off some more explosions. The government is being pretty evasive about what this program actually is, but Stevens doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. They keep on sending him back whether he wants to go or not. He may as well solve this case and save some lives then right?

To say that the situation isn’t very good for Captain Stevens would be an understatement. He doesn’t know what happened to his men and he’s not given a breather either. He seems like a nice guy for the most part and he takes things a little less seriously than usual because he knows that it’s all virtual. So, he’s not a bad character and he’s actually a likable lead. That being said, I did find him to be very slow on the uptake during some of the scenes. They will tell him that he’s inside the virtual world and then he’ll still wonder what’s happening. He constantly asks to speak to his father (An army person) or if he can get briefed on the situation, but after a while he should realize that these guys are not going to help him. These guys are only here on business after all. The main character clung to the belief that he could save everyone in the memory for quite a while and he just seems to reject reality at times. (The film hints at parallel worlds every time the main character does something, but I don’t buy that. These are memories and the only thing that the hero should be able to alter is the world in his mind. So, that text at the end? I’m just going to assume that this is still his mental world. This is out of context so you won’t know enough to be spoiled!)

We get quite a few twists so I naturally won’t spoil them. It’s handled pretty well and you’ll definitely understand once they say what the real situation is. I personally thought that Stevens had been captured by the villains and was being tricked, but it turns out that my guess was actually wrong this time. Scarier things have happened I’m sure, but that was pretty shocking.

One question that I had with the film was whether reliving 8 minutes would actually take 8 minutes in real time. The brain moves much faster than the body so I imagine that experiencing 8 minutes of memory would only take a few minutes. That being said, it is experimental technology so I can definitely let that slide. Although, the film enters into plot hole territory when the main character gets off the train during one of his survival attempts. We see the explosion and he still gets to live for quite a bit longer until the train hits him. It could also just mean that the explosion simply cuts him short on the normal attempts and he actually should have had more time. It’s debatable I suppose.

Another part of the film that could stretch your imagination a little bit is why the government thinks this will actually work. Even if Stevens finds the bomber, what if the organization sends a different bomber this time. The government seems positive that there is only one man pulling the strings, but they did evacuate the whole city so this seems like a very serious situation. If this villain has planned things so well, it’s safe to say that it won’t be very easy to catch him. Things play out pretty conveniently for the government, but it’ll still make you wonder.

The government does look pretty corrupt as per usual. That’s pretty sad for their fans, but at least there is one government agent who seems to be pretty responsible. She sacrifices a lot to help out at the end. In contrast, Steven doesn’t have to sacrifice much since he’s in his memory. He even gets to meet a friend and the ending is pretty upbeat for him. It’s a pretty good ending that I didn’t think left much room for a sequel and was satisfying for just about all of the charcaters involved. Things will get dicey for the heroic agent in the real universe, but at least we have the memory one to fall back on.

Overall, Source Code is a pretty enjoyable film. It’s a pretty simple thriller/mystery that never loses sight of itself as the film goes on. We don’t get any wasted scenes or parts of the film that drag on. You’ll never be looking at your watch because the on screen action is engaging. There may not be a lot of fight scenes, but we do get some action and the main character is a nice change from your typical lead. He was in the army so he knows how to fight and he is always ready to take command of the situation. I definitely recommend this to Sci Fi fans and to anyone who wants to watch an interesting film. If this does end up getting a sequel, it’ll be interesting to see how it’s handled. I’m assuming that it will be about the project and the government will try to get someone else involved, but we shall see. Either way, I doubt that it can beat the original.

Overall 7/10

The Amazing Spider Man Learning To Crawl Review

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It’s time to look at another Spiderman comic by Slott. No worries, it’s much better than the last volume that I read by him. It’s a tale of Spiderman’s early days as a hero and we learn some new things about his situation. It’s a pretty decent comic and while I had some complaints with Peter and Aunt May’s portrayal, they still looked good on the whole.

All right, the story takes place a little after Spider Man got bit by the spider..or I guess I should say, Parker. Peter Parker still has the adventures that he was in from the old days, but now we have some new ones that happened alongside them. A kid looked up to Parker, but after he was humiliated in a sparring match with Spider Man, he turned to the dark side and became a villain known as Clash. He uses sound to fight, which is a pretty interesting gimmick. Can Spider Man balance his school troubles while holding steady as Spiderman? Only time will tell!

The comic is really a slice of life about Peter during his school days. The writing is pretty good considering that Slott is here and it’s actually pretty enjoyable to see Parker’s adventures. There isn’t a lot of action to be found here, but that’s all right because the comics are still pretty fun to read. As far as early day stories go, it’s constructed pretty well. I dare say that it’s more enjoyable than Batman’s many early stories although it’s still not as good as All Star Superman.

Clash also makes for a pretty decent villain. His sonic powers may not be completely original, but they actually aren’t used all that much so it’s fun to see. It’s also pretty realistic since the kid is just a guy who’s very smart. Giving him real super powers would have been odd and the sonic ones that he creates are technically possible. He has a pretty good life and it can be sad to see him go down into the dark side. He was a genius and he was bound to be rich and famous at that rate. His parents helped him be successful, but they weren’t overbearing about it and actually seemed to be good people. It just goes to show why people think Spiderman is a bad influence on people. Of course, it wasn’t actually his fault as Clash was already getting full of himself, but the kid did want to be like his hero.

Peter Parker’s portrayal is a mixed bag as I hinted earlier. He just seems to be a bit mean at some points like when he humiliated Clash on the roof. He is pretty bitter at how his neighbors kept accepting handouts without giving anything in return, but given the situation it can be a little hard to blame him. He doesn’t actually tell the neighbors about this so he does a good job of holding it in. His school troubles are pretty intense as you may expect, but most of it isn’t his fault. Stealing from the lab was the only point where he really crossed the line. He is a fairly likable character here and you do have to factor in the fact that this takes place during his early days so a few slip ups are to be expected.

Aunt May’s portrayal also gets dicey at one point. She is still very nice to Peter and a good supporting character to have around. However, she looks really bad in any scene that involves Spiderman. The reason why she dislikes the hero is poorly executed and you will just think that she is an unreasonable character. It is hard to believe that she didn’t notice Spideman saving her during the sound attack. Blaming both fighters is never the right call. I still dislike it when the main character gets called out in a film for sticking up to the bully. That’s just not cool.

As for the artwork, it is average level. I wouldn’t say that it is very good, but it certainly isn’t bad. You can say that it is just good enough that you can follow what is happening and enjoy it, but not good enough to make you praise it. The artist appeared to be trying to emulate the style of the 60’s to an extent and that was pretty neat. The visuals look pretty good when Clash is activating his abilities. Sound covers a large area and the art does make sure to depict this. It does make you wonder how Spiderman dodged the blast at times, but I guess that you just have to dodge the center of the blast.

The cast was pretty small, but that left more time for character development. The story was interesting and that gave this volume the edge that it needed to be a good adventure. If the Spiderman comics could always be this good, that would be great. Maybe there is hope for The Amazing Spiderman (Specials and Point 1) comics after all….maybe. Again, it is rather ambitious to keep on adding to Spiderman’s origins and I doubt that it is easy on the continuity, but it can be pretty hilarious to look at the new twists. Remember Silk or Iron Man’s alien twist? Hopefully not…

The twist about there being other “nerds” (Don’t care for the term, but all of the characters use it so it may as well be their title) was intriguing since Parker apparently never noticed them during his school days. The poor hero had to just eat by himself for a long time. He falls out with those guys pretty quickly so they’re still a nonfactor, but at least he got to make some friends for a brief period of time. I didn’t care for any of those characters, but they tried their best to be likable. If Parker hadn’t stole that lab equipment…things could have been different. I think Spidey could have come out on top without stealing the tech, but I suppose that it is merely a hypothetical case.

Overall, This volume of Spider Man really wasn’t bad. This volume is pretty short (Yes, most trades for ongoing series are short, but this one really feels shorter than usual.) so you’ll be done with it very quickly. The pacing helps the story to move quickly and the short size is likely a good thing, but it’s worth noting if you’re planning on buying this one. Parker and Aunt May may have been a little off, but I wasn’t expecting their portrayals to be perfect anyway. It’s a pretty fun adventure through and through so it definitely deserves a positive rating this time. I recommend checking this out if you want to relive the original Spiderman days. Before the world of guest stars and whatnot so it’s a pure Spiderman story. It’s certainly not the most action packed comic out there, but it’s entertaining and that’s what counts. This could end up being one of the best superhero origin day volumes in quite a while so that’s pretty cool for our Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman! (We finally learn how he got that title as well)

Overall 6/10

Action Comics Volume 3 At The End of Days Review

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All right, it’s time for another Superman review. Unfortunately, this one is not quite as positive as Unchained and it actually looks pretty bad in comparison. It lost focus on what it means to be a Superman comic. I had actually enjoyed the first two volumes, but this one just wasn’t that good. It has its moments, but everything is too chaotic and it makes it hard to just have fun. Superman is also on the run a lot, which takes away opportunities for big fights.

The plot….well, the first story is a quick one about a guy from the Phantom Zone who learns that you can escape it by inhabiting a mummy suit that allows you to move in the real world. The main positive from this is that we finally get to see Krypto. The main chunk of the comic is about a new villain who’s from the same world as Mr. Mxysptlk. He wants to destroy Superman (For awful reasons that are explored in a flashback( and with his reality warping powers that shouldn’t be hard. He gets a little greedy though and decides to destroy Superman at many points in time all at once. He attacks Superman in the past, present, and future. He disrupts a lot of things in the timestream so Superman’s life has been radically changed. How can he possibly defeat this villain? Let’s just say that it involves the limitless power of words.

First of all, I have to say that the cover of the comic is an instant warning sign. There’s way too much happening on it to the point where the comic doesn’t look interesting. I’ll take a classic “Superman holding a car” over this any day. It does work as good foreshadowing for how confusing the comic is though so I’ll give the cover some props there. It’s going to need it!

One thing that you will notice right away is that the art is nowhere near the quality that we have come to expect from DC. It’s not very streamlined and the art fluctuates so much that it can be pretty scary. Gone are the days of Superman Unchained folks! The art isn’t very bad, but it’s a considerable step down from the average DC comic. It’s like adding more fuels to the flames.

All right, I’ve gone over some pretty minor weaknesses of the comic, but let’s go into the bigger ones. The main problem with the collection is that the stories simply aren’t that good. I didn’t really care about what was happening in the first adventure and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense either. The villain’s will power was just so strong that he created a suit and escaped? I really don’t buy that. As for the long arc with the Mr. Mxyz ripoff, that wasn’t much better. This guy is virtually all powerful so it’s hard to fight him. It means that we won’t get a real nailbiting finish as we have to settle for plot hax instead. How does Superman stop this guy? Wait for it…wait for it…waiiiiiiiitttt-he talks to him. See, talking in 5D actually hurts people so Superman just talked along with the citizens of the planet and the villain was defeated. Game set and Match…thanks!

That was rather anticlimactic. Now, there were some pros to the whole time travel aspect. I did enjoy seeing the Legion of Superheroes make an appearance and Superdoom makes for an intense opponent. He’s a Superman who gets stronger and stronger as you think about him. It’s impossible to not think of someone that you’re currently fighting so this makes him pretty tricky. The villain group who each have different Kryptonite abilities was also pretty neat. They seem pretty weak on their own though so I don’t see them doing too well without some outside help.

Lex Luthor joins the fray as well through a robot that he has under his mental control. It doesn’t last for very long of course, but it’s good to see him helping out. Things wouldn’t be good for him either if the villains win so it’s a good time to swallow his pride. Krypto looks pretty great and I’m glad that his character was depicted correctly. He’s fearless and not an opponent that you want to underestimate. It’s too bad that he couldn’t crush the villains some more, but I suppose that it would have been tricky without getting hit with the animal violence badge. Maybe it was for the best.

So, the comic certainly had some good additions to it. It’s fun to see Superman have to team up with Lex and I also liked the references to the older comics. Like Superman’s team up with Ali and he death against Doomsday. We also got to see Captain Comet return along with his new team. They came out of nowhere, but they seem like they could ultimately become a fighting force to be reckoned with. If the comic had been written a little better, this could have been a winning formula.

Unfortunately, there are too many parts to the story that simply aren’t interesting. Anything that had to do with Mr. Mxyz and the new villain was rather boring and the Legion should have actually helped out a little more. A lot was going on and yet, the situation would hit a stand still at times. I just couldn’t get into the comic the same way that I could get into most of them. The art, writing, and lack of action just blended together in a way that didn’t work out.

Overall, Action Comics fell down a step or two here. Considering that this was a Superman comic and that we even got guest stars in the form of the Justice League, it should have been a lot better. A 7 is essentially the minimum for how good a Superman comic should be. I definitely did not expect to walk out of this with a 6 at the ready. It just doesn’t seem right or natural and the comic was actually very close to scoring a 5. The action at the end saved it from that fate. The writer was probably trying to be clever by thinking of such a convoluted plot, but it epically backfired. If you want to check out a Superman comic, I recommend buying Unchained. Otherwise, you may as well just skip this volume since it’s practically filler. You won’t be missing much.

Overall 6/10