Sonic Universe Volume 8 Scourge: Lockdown Review

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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

MiniCopter Adventure Flight Stats and Records

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Stats time!

3835 Gold

Stage Stats Rank Score

Kids Room

Mission 1 Perfect 11032
Mission 2 Good 7433
Mission 3 Cool 13465
Mission 4 Cool 12200
Mission 5 Perfect 22150

Park

Mission 1 Perfect 22000
Mission 2 Cool 22466
Mission 3 Good 9799
Mission 4 Cool 22408
Mission 5 Good 9000

Hospital

Mission 1 Good 6198
Mission 2 Good 11633
Mission 3 Perfect 19133
Mission 4 Perfect 30600
Mission 5 Perfect 35199

Resort Hotel

Mission 1 Cool 7600
Mission 2 Cool 15566
Mission 3 Cool 11966
Mission 4 Good 7333
Mission 5 Perfect 21600

Office Building

Mission 1 Perfect 11986
Mission 2 Cool 11799
Mission 3 Bad 6500
Mission 4 Perfect 26100
Mission 5 Cool 17700

Hamburger Shop

Mission 1 Perfect 15750
Mission 2 Perfect 26600
Mission 3 Cool 15500
Mission 4 Cool 17333
Mission 5 Bad 8331

Japanese House
Mission 1 Good 7133
Mission 2 Cool 15732
Mission 3 Bad 8666
Mission 4 Cool 16740
Mission 5 Good 7000

MiniCopter Adventure Flight Review

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It has been quite a while, but now I am back with a new video game review! This was a game that I got for the 5 dollar bin a very long time ago. It was a fairly fun game and I finally decided to go back to it. It was fairly short so I managed to beat it in roughly 3-4 hours. While this may look like the kind of game that wouldn’t be very good…or even good at all, it was actually a lot of fun. The Wii has still got it!

There is no real plot. You are simply launched onto the World Map. There are 7 worlds and each one has 5 missions. Each mission can be completed in 3-5 minutes so you can see why the game isn’t very long. The worlds follow a specific formula that only changes a little. The first mission involves landing on various helipads that are scattered throughout the stage. The 4th mission always involves flying through a good number of rings. The other 3 missions are the ones that vary and they typically require you to carry some objects and put them where they belong. This includes picking up the trash and turning the lights on. It’s time to see how your MiniCopter holds up!

As for the gameplay, you need to hold your Wii Remote sideways to play this one. You tilt it forward to move in that direction and likewise for the other 3. You can alternate between your Air Cannon (Which shoots pennies) and your Magnetic object, which pulls things in. This is how you will defeat all of the levels. I’ve never been crazy about using the Wii Remote and my view has not changed. That being said, holding it sideways is a large improvement over the traditional use so that’s a good thing.

The gameplay is fairly basic and the only thing that can stand in your way is the fact that the controls can be a little unresponsive. Given that you are playing as a remote controlled copter, perhaps that is to be expected. Your first copter will start off with three health points and you lose when you get hit three times. (By banging into objects) Your plane also has 3 orbs of energy and you have to refuel every 30-60 seconds by landing on a Helipad.

Of course, this is all just valid when talking about your initial MiniCopter. There is a store where you can buy upgrades for every area and even whole new MiniCopters. I bought two new ones by the end of the game and what a difference! My new one had around 3X the health and energy that the old one had and I bought upgrades, which increased its speed as well. The game becomes much easier than it already is with the new copters. There’s simply no comparison since you don’t need to constantly head back to charge up and you can focus on completing the mission.

The shop is the main form of replay value in the game in case you decide to buy all of the models. I’m not sure how long that would take you, but you earn about 2200 in one of the shorter missions that takes about a mission. A lot of models are 20000 so, it would be a bit of a grind, but certainly not a very large one. You can also replay the levels that you have completed to get higher scores and try to get Perfect Ranks on every level. I’m not sure if there is some kind of reward for doing so, but hopefully there is. If not, you still have your personal satisfaction for accomplishing such a task.

Again, the game is very easy. There’s almost no way that you will ultimately be unable to complete the title. There are a pair of levels that are a little tricky since they don’t properly explain what you have to do. The examples were the mission where you had to make a combo meal and the one where you had to assemble the armor in the house. You will still be able to do it though as it just takes a little more time and then you will know how to ace it the second time around if you want to boost your stat sheet.

As for the soundtrack, it actually reminded me of Megaman Network Transmission for some reason. I don’t think that the game would actually be able to steal tunes from that title, but at the same time…you never know right? It is very peaceful and fits in well with the gameplay. You won’t get stressed or upset while playing no matter how many times you lose. That’s what separates the good games from the truly great ones. This isn’t going to be the next 5 star masterpiece, but it really holds its own.

Graphically, the game is also fairly impressive. Again, it’s not going to be the best looking game out there, but it is quite solid and can hold its own. Everything looks very clear and distinct so nothing is blurry or pixelated. The game is very balanced and I don’t know why MiniCopter didn’t end up selling better than it did. This is a game that had tremendous potential and I like to think that it lived up to it. It was certainly better than I had anticipated.

Finally, MiniCopter has one more point in its favor. The game actually has a Vs Mode! This is a game changer and while I have not tried it out yet, simply having a multiplayer option is brilliant. It certainly adds even more replay value to the game and battling an opponent with this gameplay style sounds like it would be a lot of fun. The actual gameplay was good so while the main mode may have been easy, battling against a human opponent would likely present you with more of a challenge.

Overall, MiniCopter is a game that you will not want to miss. It is a breath of fresh air for the gaming world and I would actually like to see a sequel. I don’t have a large amount of plane games, but the ones that I have gotten have all been a lot of fun. I recently bought WW II Aces so I look forward to more of the same from that title. MiniCopter is certainly not a challenging game, but playing a walk in the park can be decent as well. It is a pretty good contrast to the tough games and as long as the title is fun, that’s ultimately the only thing that really matters. Some levels still do take patience and some thought on the player’s part so don’t think that this is one of those games where you don’t have to think about what you are doing. Like I said, it is all about balance. When you also consider how much replay value is in this game, you’ve got a winner. This is easily worth the 2-4 dollars that it is being sold for at Gamestop and you should be willing to spend a little more if you need to get it elsewhere. This title is worth the money!

Overall 7/10

Rabbids Review

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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

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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

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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

Slayers Gorgeous Review

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e1c27064dbee5bfb735322ecf1f688fb
Looks like it is time to check out the next Slayers movie! We are nearing the end of the franchise so let’s see if this film could hold its own. After the last OVA, I was ready for something to get the Slayers formula right this time. Luckily, I was not disappointed as this film is the best Slayers one yet and besides the shows, it is the best Slayers product. This is how you get the blend between comedy and action right. I hope that the writers are taking notes.

Lina and Naga head over to a peaceful looking town to have their next meal. The tacos/wraps in this place are really good and it seems like the heroes will finally have a peaceful time. This does not last for long though as the inhabitants of the town go indoors. There is a civil war going on in the city between the King and The Princess over a matter so serious and deadly that the heroes have no real response to the issue. Lina decides to help the King out, but her mission proves to be much more difficult than expected when Naga joins the Princess’ side! Why is Naga doing this? Can Lina still win!? That’s the basic premise of the film.

This may sound like the average Slayers plot so what makes this one so much better than the others? (Keep in mind that I did like the first film as well, but this film is simply the best one) For starters, the film wisely decided to let go of the fanservice problems that have plagued the two OVAs. Naga’s outfit is still fairly revealing, but the animators don’t pay special attention to it. It’s essentially reduced to a non factor. We have no random hot spring scenes to get us either so the film effectively solved the problem. There is no real fanservice here and that’s already a big advantage over the OVA.

Next up, the animation is much better than the OVA and it could be the best animation that we have seen in Slayers aside from Next and even that is debatable. Next had better animation for the overall character models, but this one gives it a run for its money when it comes to energy blasts. You could tell that the animators gave the battle between the princess and Lina their all as the animation was much better than the other scenes in the film. It really worked out well for the action scenes. The rest of the film looks good as well, but its the fights that take it out of the good range and into the greats!

The final big reason for why this film was an improvement ties into the animation somewhat. As I’ve mentioned before, the balance between comedy and action is a tricky one and Slayers does mess it up quite often. The important thing is that Slayers has been able to get it right and this is an example of just that. There’s a good amount of comedy here like why the Princess is in a war with her father, and numerous other scenes that I could mention throughout the film. Naga’s actions are almost all for crazy reasons that could be called comedy. This is the bets way to use comedy, crazy reasons and illogical motivations to do things may be the best way to use humor.

Then, still play their actions off seriously even if their reasons or not. That is what the film does and we do get more than one serious fight. This film had the best Lina vs Naga fight that we have seen and the battle with the princess was also really good. That’s 2 really good fights in one movie and 2 more than we saw in either OVA. Slayers typically doesn’t have any real fights for the spinoffs as Lina quickly dominates or comedy steals the fight. Not this time! That was great since watching a movie level fight is a good incentive for any film.

Slayers still uses a lot of retro tunes, but there are some remixes, which are present. That livens things up as I have been saying that Slayers needs a new soundtrack. Remixes aren’t completely new, but they are the next best thing so I suppose that they will do. The songs still sound good and my favorite one is easily the end song that plays during the end of all the movies. The final scene with the coin is always slightly altered, which is fun. The most satisfying ending was probably the second time as Lina got away with the coin. In this one, a bird jumps in to save the day. Good for the bird if you ask me!

As always, Lina is a very good main character. While not always heroic, she still does whatever’s necessary to earn her gold. It is sad for her since she never manages to get her gold coins in the end thanks to various circumstances. She may have been able to have gotten her reward money if she had stuck around during the ending, but chasing off The Princess was evidently more fun for her. Lina’s reputation continues to grow larger and larger. Whole armies of dragons back off at the sound of her name now, which is pretty neat. Her spells ensure that Lina is still the strongest fighter among the humans and she proves this on more than one occasion. While Sailor Moon may be the most popular main heroine for anime, I dare say that Lina could be the best one.

Naga is back to being a traitor, but she is an amusing one and doesn’t make a single bad joke this time. That means that her portrayal in this film was actually really good and she makes for a fun rival. Her laugh is certainly iconic and potentially one of the best ones of all time. Joining the enemies on a whim or just to help them laugh more effectively is pretty ingenious. You certainly can’t say that she is not an original character. While Naga will never be as powerful as Lina, her abilities still aren’t bad and she can land a decent amount of damage. If Naga could always look like this, I’d certainly be a fan of hers. Unfortunately, her portrayal is rarely this good. I don’t think that she’s ever looked this good to be honest.

The final Dragon Boss is very intense and fans should definitely like him. He’s very huge and his abilities are so great that he is able to block a Dragon Slave blast at point blank range. There is a big twist about him, which could affect how fans see him, but he still looked so good before the twist that I think we can excuse him a little. Learning about the twist should actually give you more respect for the character depending on how you look at it. The final boss really talks tough and isn’t someone that you will want to mess with.

As for the two main filler characters, they weren’t bad. The King was more reasonable than most of the others and an actual character. I could agree with his thought processes and the demands of the Princess were certainly a bit much. The King is fairly courageous and a good person deep down. The Princess is rather unreasonable with her demands and did attempt to destroy some people so I’d say that she was a loose cannon. That being said, she could actually fight, which was impressive. Of course, there is a plot twist, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she is able to fight in close quarters and doesn’t back down after hearing Lina’s name. She gives us a proper fight and that’s a good thing.

Overall, Slayers Gorgeous finally presents us with the Slayers film that we’ve needed. This is exactly how a film should be handled and every part of it was satisfying. The fights were excellent and really got to show off some solid animation. The writing was at its best and all of the characters were fairly good. The humor was finally back on track as well. This film eliminated all of the negatives that I had for the franchise and that resulted in a film that had no negatives. Everything about it was good. That doesn’t mean that I am about to throw out a 10 or a 9 as other films still outrank it and thiss title was very short, but it is still much better than the average title. I highly recommend this if you are a Slayers fan and it is also a great way to get started with the franchise. You certainly don’t need to watch much else to get what is happening since Slayers doesn’t bother much with exposition in the films beyond what you need to know. The next film is going to have a very tough time keeping up with this one!

Overall 8/10

Rage of Ultron Review

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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

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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

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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