The new film for the Guardians is nearly out so it makes sense that the comic would be featured in the annual FCBD. (Free Comic Book Day) This was one of the shorter comics, but to make up for it we got previews for two other upcoming Marvel titles. One preview involved Thanos and another one was about good ole Spiderman! It was a pretty fun comic and it helps to set up future issues.
The main plot involves Tony Stark as he sits down to have a talk with Flash Thompson. Stark begins to tell Flash a tale of great warriors who fight in space and he describes each of their main members. Flash Thompson has a tough time wrapping his head around this concept and I have to wonder why. Flash has met many strange fighters over the years so this shouldn’t be too shocking. The big question that Tony asks is….will Flash join the team? Flash must decide carefully…because this may not be a request!
The preview about Thanos shows that he is wondering about something of cosmic proportions. Something is not right with reality and it may have something to do with his latest death. Drax doesn’t understand what the problem is, but he usually doesn’t. I’ll admit that I’m a little excited about the prospect because if this means that Drax will finally revert back to his old form..then I’m on board! Drax’s new design/character personality reboot was one of my least favorite changes to a main character in comic books. If they can revert that, then this could have the potential to be one of the better Thanos stories. He must go into Death’s domain and fight her champions to learn what must be learned!
The preview with the most potential is definitely the prelude to the big Spiderman arc that is approaching. Morlun is definitely one of Spiderman’s deadliest opponents and he’s proven this several times. He is now on a mission to destroy Spiderman and every version of him that has been scattered among the multiverse. That sounds like it would take an eternity, but Morlun does have time on his side. I just hope that the 616 Spiderman puts up more of a fight!
The art for all 3 of the comics was pretty good, but the Thanos one was definitely the best. I can’t really say that I was surprised by this, but it’s fun to note. The Spiderman comic had the most action and we even had a fatality. I didn’t like that universe’s Spiderman. He just didn’t feel very experienced and his talk was a lot bigger than his actions. When a character has a powerful element like the Spider Sense…then it’s time to use it!
Overall, this was a fun group of comics. The latter two weren’t full fledged comics, but they were still stories. It’s a varied group since Spiderman is pretty serious while Guardians has a light tone. I would consider Thanos to be a light hearted comic as well, but the artwork is a lot more serious than Spiderman’s. Any Marvel fan should enjoy this comic and it should entice you to go ahead and buy one of the issues. Having Venom on a team must mean that the comic series will be epic right!? (Although Tony Stark’s last action could have been a little more subtle. Ah well, this is why I wouldn’t trust the Avengers if I was a Superhero)
Overall 7/10
Teen Titans Go is probably the best DC comic book show that’s currently on TV. Unfortunately, that’s not as great as it sounds! It means that the pressure is on this series to always be solid and that’s not always the case. Still, the show is pretty fun and I expected the comic to be fun as well. It was definitely a fun read and while it may not be very deep….I got what I was expecting!
As with the show, there are two segments. The first one is a thriller that deals with the disappearance of Cyborg’s food. Whenever he leaves something in the fridge…it goes missing! The other titans deny involvement, but Cyborg has (good) reasons to suspect them. It’s time to solve this case! The second comic featured a duel between Robin and Beast Boy with everything on the line! There are definitely a lot of cool things that you can do with a cape and I can see why Beast Boy wants it. Gradually, both parties continue to up the stakes so this game of mini golf is very important! One shall stand and One shall lose!
The art is decently good. It’s not quite at Justice League level, but it does a good job of copying the TV show’s animation. The characters are all on point as well and we even get a small action scene. The resolution to the Beast Boy vs Robin match was pretty disappointing, but it was also expected. Big duels like that usually come with a moral and no actual winner. It’s just the way of the comics right? Don’t worry, there is a winner this time around….but it’s not very satisfying.
Overall, Teen Titans Go! was a nice comic. The stories were both pretty short, but it helps that there were two of them. Also, most comics feel pretty short when reading them. They don’t have as many extended comics as they used too. The highlight of the first comic would definitely be the fight against the culprit and the best part of the second comic was Robin’s defiance against Beast Boy. I was definitely on the Boy Wonder’s side and his acts of “cheating” were not as extreme as Beast Boy’s. You gotta love the punch to the face technique that Robin used….I definitely recommend this comic as a quick read and you’ll definitely enjoy it if you like the TV show.
Overall 7/10
We’ve got a double header in this issue! Both of the comics will have to team up for the final score at the end, but I can safely say that Megaman X did the heavy lifting. Why Sonic needs another origin story for his teammates is beyond me, but maybe things will pick up. I’m more excited about the next few issues in the Mega Man series!
The Megaman X comic takes place many years after the original series. A wandering genius manages to find the heroic reploid and awakens him. With Megaman X’s help; the doctor creates more reploids and soon the world is filled with them. Unfortunately, some of them have begun to turn evil and randomly destroy whoever is nearby. The Maverick Hunters are assembled to stop this rogue reploids, but Megaman X has some doubts about their methods. It may be time for him to step in…
The comic was a nice prelude into the upcoming arc that will feature Megaman X. I believe that the comic should have been a little longer so that a fight could have been included. It was cool to see all of the Maverick Hunters when they assembled and Zero did get to appear. The comic definitely succeeded in bringing the characters together and setting up future issues. I really hope that the comic sells well enough to ignite support for a Megaman X ongoing series. That would definitely be awesome.
The art was excellent in this issue and all of the characters appear as I would have imagined them. The writing is solid and I really don’t have any complaints for the issue. A little action would have been appreciated, but this is the first comic so set up is important. The comic does a good job of convincing the reader to get on board. The promotional picture for the crossover with the classic Mega Man is pretty ominous since we see the cracked helmet.
Meanwhile, the plot in the Sonic comic is not quite as ambitious. Sonic and the Freedom Fighters are running a training simulation so that they can keep their skills sharp. While they are busy dodging lasers and attacking the robots; Sally and Rotor remember their origins and how much fun they used to have. It may be emotional, but origin stories have no place in Free Comic Book Day!
The art is pretty good and it’s always fun to see Sonic take out the villains. The plot made sure that the comic wouldn’t get very far. I’m assuming that future comics will have origin stories for the other members as well and that’s not something to look forward too. The main plot seems to involve taking down Eggman once again, but that’s not very intriguing either. The Sonic comics need to get a little more ambitious, like how they were a couple of years ago. They’re playing it a little too safe at the moment.
This comic likely wouldn’t get me interested in checking out the next few. Sally’s twin energy blades are pretty cool and I hope that she continues to use them in future issues. I’m going to ignore the fact that the comic made Sonic a supersonic fighter because Sonic still looked pretty good. Simulations should be a piece of cake for an fighter of his caliber.
Overall, this was a fun double header. Megaman X had the epicness and foreshadowing while we got some quick action in the Sonic comic. It’s a great bargain to get these for free, but Megaman X would definitely be worth the money over Sonic if you had to buy one of them. The art and character cast are solid for both comics so that may increase the chances of enjoying them. I know that the characters can be very important to me when reading a comic. Keep an eye out for Vile when reading the comic!
Overall 7/10
Time for the first review from the Free Comic Book Day 2014 batch! I expected this to be the best from the comics that I obtained, but Megaman X could manage to pull out a win. This comic takes place in the future and the world has been taken over by the Eye. He’s enslaved just about all of the heroes and there are a few resistance warriors that are trying to stop this. John Stewart and Blue Beetle are among the final survivors. Meanwhile, Batman has his own plan. He needs to go into the past and stop all of this from ever happening…but will the Eye let him leave this timeline alive!?
This comic was definitely pretty good. The atmosphere is pretty grim and hope appears lost for the heroes. It’s always hard to believe that the world could be taken over like that, but that’s why they jump us into the future. This way we don’t have to see how the heroes were taken over so easily. The art is pretty great and it’s what I’ve come to expect from DC comics. The violence isn’t really over the top, but limbs are lost. The reason why it’s not very violent is because there usually isn’t a lot of blood during the scenes. It still could be tricky for younger viewers, but it’s not too bad. We get some short action scenes between the resistance and the robots, as well as some action with an older Batman. The fights should definitely be intense in this series.
This issue basically leads up to how the actual series will be. It definitely has a lot of potential and I always love to see a good time travel story. This could make an awesome trade paperback volume and I recommend checking out this issue at a comic store near you. It is in the New 52, but Batman Beyond is in it and that’s always a plus. I was also glad that Batman is the one who thought of the ultimate plan. The morals behind it are a little risky, but Batman’s trying to save lives as well. One of those moralistic questions to ponder!
Overall 8/10
This was easily one of the films that I was waiting for this year. Aside from Godzilla and Captain America; I was pretty sure that Spider Man would be the best film of the year. The first one wasn’t as amazing as I had hoped, but it was still a pretty fun film. This one would have more action and the trailer was the best superhero film trailer that we’ve had in quite a while. The film makes some errors that keep it from being truly amazing, but it’s a film that I don’t regret checking out.
The plot involved Peter Parker, who is actually the Amazing Spiderman, has he tries to get through life. (Disclaimer, when mentioning Spiderman, I will not use the space. This is the way that I’ve always thought that it should be spelled) He decides to break up with Gwen when the film starts and then he begins to doubt whether this was the right call. Peter is also kept busy because several villains are after him. A gangster is around and there is a shocking new villain in town as well. Peter also finds out that Aunt May may not have told him the truth about his parents!!!
That’s not an amazing plot summary, but you don’t really need one for this film. They squeeze in tons of plot points and while the film is about two hours and a half, it may feel longer. There were several scenes where you may have thought that the film was going to end and then it didn’t. (Like the Dark Knight) It’s in a good way of course; the film didn’t really drag on. Time to go into a little more depth with the film.
I got worried during the first few scenes. We start out with some animals dying and then we find out that Spidey’s parents were actually pretty hardcore. I don’t think we needed this development for those two. Richard Parker attempts to be like Clark Kent’s father and I just can’t take him seriously. Parker’s mom helps out during the fight as well, but the parents are basically fighting James Bond! That scene came across as pretty generic and it wasn’t very interesting, but at least it was serious.
Which brings us to the next problem with the opening. After the sad and “shocking” scene, we get to see Spiderman swinging through the sky. He’s laughing and making Mario sounds, but it’s a complete 180. We just got through a pretty sad scene so we should have had some subtlety. A scene that wasn’t quite so happy before we get a really happy scene. The transition just happened too quickly and it’s hard to feel happy alongside Spiderman. The scenes were Spiderman is just flying through the city can also be a little too long. We get that they want us to see how great the special effects are, but we’ve seen Spiderman web sling dozens of times in the past. 5 straight minutes of close calls and daring maneuvers isn’t going to impress me.
The beginning may have been rocky, but things get better during the first fight scene. I’ll talk more about the fight scenes in a sec. Things get rocky when Spiderman shifts into his secret identity and then makes some big errors. Peter is being haunted by a ghost so we are supposed to sympathize with him. I don’t mind the decision…but then Peter goes back on it pretty quickly. Again, I’ll go into that a little more in a bit.
The Fight Scenes in the film are some of the best that we’ve seen in Marvel. They easily defeat the battles in The Avengers and are probably in the top 5 of all time. Aside from Man of Steel, I can’t think of a superhero film that had better action scenes. That’s major props to the Amazing Spider Man 2 and hopefully the third film can continue this. Spiderman is very quick and powerful so his battles should always reflect that. He looked pretty good in the first fight against Rhino, but he did let the bragging distract him a lot. It’s not very heroic at times, but he could have beaten the Rhino whenever he pleased.
The scenery also helped to make the battles really cool. Times Square is always ready for a superhero showdown and making sure that it was night time was a good move. Spiderman is also shown to be able to think quickly and save people in a split second. This portrayal of Spiderman helps to reinforce the idea that he could easily take down the Avengers. I want to see some feats for those guys in Avengers 2.
This film naturally had a lot of romance surrounding Gwen and Peter. It was pretty unnecessary and Peter could have ended things. They did break up during the opening minutes of the film after all. They should have stayed as friends after that instead of constantly flirting. It was partially why I didn’t like Peter’s portrayal in this film and I can’t say that Gwen was my favorite either. Romance doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but it’s rarely a good thing either. It’s just another subplot in a film that already has a lot of plot lines going.
The music for this film was very interesting. It felt very parodyish at times and then it would be awesome during other scenes. It was so topsy turvy that it makes the soundtrack a little harder to rate. I would say that it’s still above average for a live action film, but some of the tunes may make you sneeze. The best themes are during the fights and Electro’s main theme is pretty great. Then, we’ve also got some happy disney music and random beats that don’t make a lot of sense. You’ll likely walk out of the theater puzzled.
Spiderman looked pretty good during the fights. He made a controversial decision towards the beginning as he let the Rhino damage a lot of property so that he could make a few extra puns. Spiderman could have stopped him at any time, but instead he decided to mock him. The Rhino was eventually defeated, but what if people pulled the Man of Steel card on us? It’s definitely possible, but punning is Spiderman’s first job; preventing collateral damage is definitely second.
I will admit that it’s not very heroic, but we have the Avengers for heroics. Spiderman is just an average guy who got super powers and then decided to help people. He still remembers the bit about Great Responsibility, but maybe he just forgot in that scene. It happens to the best of us and Spiderman still made sure that no humans were hurt. He was literally amazing during the fight scenes and the freezes in the film helped to show that. When the film would stop the time, we could see things from Spiderman’s point of view. He’s definitely a capable superhero and still one of Marvel’s finest. I would make a whole paragraph about how they didn’t use his spider sense to its fullest extent, but I’ll wait for the next film. This is one problem that never leaves the franchise.
Peter Parker…is not nearly as cool. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from him. I don’t mind the actor, but he just does not look like the real Peter Parker from the comics. Aside from his looks, Parker continues to make the wrong calls. I’m okay with him breaking up with Gwen so that he could keep the promise that he made to her father. (Even though he should just have stayed away from her in the ending of the first film if that was his intention) What’s not okay is the fact that Peter decides to start following with her and he obviously wants to get back together.
Peter can’t keep swinging back and forth like that. It’s not a good move and it also makes things tough on Gwen. Forgetting that his house didn’t have a chimney was a pretty big lapse in judgment as well. There is a plot involving Harry Osborn and Peter doesn’t make the best call and he doesn’t word it very subtly either. It involves choices of death or possible death and Peter doesn’t choose the latter. Parker did have some good scenes in the film. He took down the grunts who were after Gwen and he made sure to help a kid that was being bullied. It’s the little things that help at times, but the final scene doesn’t count because he was in Spiderman form.
Gwen Stacy is one of the main characters of this film and she has to endure Peter’s emotional tornado. She also can’t stick to the decision as she invites him to become friends again, but it doesn’t really work out. Peter started the flirting, but she went along with it so it’s all the same in the end. Gwen proves that she’s smarter than Peter in some areas and she can mildly fight so I still say that she’s a huge improvement over Mary Jane. I think it would be cool if she just forgot about Peter Parker and decided to become a superhero, but the world may not be ready for that yet.
Harry Osborn is one of the big players as well and things don’t look good for him. At one point, the shocking revelation of what’s going to happen to him is so shocking that he doesn’t even finish his pizza. Everyone has turned against him so it’s time to turn against them! His goblin form is as ugly as it looked in the trailers so I didn’t like that form. Harry was a decent character when he was in Harry form, but he doesn’t make for an epic villain. He’s out of Spiderman’s league so he’s not much of a threat. Hopefully he has as much composure as the CEO did when he went out.
The Rhino isn’t likable in the slightest and he’s really just here to be defeated by Spiderman. He’s completely out of his league and he can’t back up his tough talk. He has his “epic” moment where he almost fights a kid, but that’s the only time where it looks like he may take the win. The film gives us a few name drops for other characters, including Black Cat, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Smythe, etc. I’m hoping that they throw all of those guys into the next film so that they can afford to cut Rhino out of the next one. Let’s keep the D listers in the comic books folks…
Electro was a pretty likable guy in this film. I actually liked him during his Max days and he always tried to do what was right. After Spiderman saved his life; Max was finally able to be happy. Nobody came over to celebrate his Birthday party, but he believes that Spiderman baked it. We’ll never know for sure, but it definitely made Max’s day. Aside form Gwen Stacy, everyone else is really mean to Max and they make it their job to ensure that he has a terrible time. I definitely can’t say that I would want to be in his shoes. He does find out that someone is not telling the truth when the person claimed to be Spiderman!
As Electro, he’s a pretty big threat. He’s not quite as upbeat or happy anymore, but his raw power is incredible. The cops started the fight and then Electro decided to end it! I was rooting for Spiderman, but Electro is definitely cool. His friendship with Spiderman wasn’t as deep as he had thought since Electro turned his back on the wall crawler so quickly. I suppose that they just weren’t meant to be friends. Overall, Electro reminded me of Walter Mitty as far as characters go and I definitely hope that he comes back for a sequel. Maybe not as Electro, but as Max Dillon!
Aunt May wasn’t that good in this film. She refused to tell Peter about his past and she wouldn’t even let him do his own laundry. She also didn’t want to tell Peter about her nursing position, but then she quickly uses it to throw Peter into a guilt trip. She just wasn’t likable in this film and I find myself missing the old Aunt May. At least she will probably tell Peter about more secrets in the next film.
Norman Osborn doesn’t appear for most of the film, but his short role is pretty fitting. He makes sure to take a few shots at Harry and then he shows him the despair that Harry will have to endure. Norman doesn’t appear after that scene, but it was pretty powerful. Norman is always pretty mean and the film really tried to capture that. You can’t really say that he’s likable, but he was memorable.
One thing that I have to note is that the film seemed aware of the 60’s memes. If you don’t know about the Spiderman memes, then you haven’t truly appreciated how epic Spiderman could be. The movie borrowed the fireman joke and the “Nobody will recognize me if I put on a coat” memes. Naturally, the film gives us context so that he has a reason to do these things, but it was a nice addition anyway. More films should look at the memes and acknowledge them in some way.
I may as well compare the film to the original trilogy since we’ve come so far. I easily prefer this to the original Spider Man 2, but it gets defeated by Spider Man 3. As far as characters go, Peter Parker, Aunt May, Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn as not as good as their original counterparts. Gwen Stacy defeats her former self, but that’s mainly due to a lack of screentime. It’ll be hard to defeat the original trilogy, but this film was a good start. Both trilogies are essentially tied if we just pit the first two films against each other. The Amazing Spider Man may have been slightly ahead or slightly behind the first Spider Man film. It’s a pretty tough decision to be honest and that’s why we need to see how The Amazing Spider Man 3 does. I’m expecting big things from it once again!
Be warned that the film makes some pretty big changes from the trailer. Remember when Harry let Peter know that Oscorp was spying on his parents? That is not in the film at all and Harry doesn’t even mention how they will (literally) change the world. (They cut the world “literally” from some of the trailers) I don’t like it when films remove scenes form the trailer because it feels like those scenes were fake. It’s as if they were only around so that you could go and watch the film. It’s false advertising at its finest!
Overall, The Amazing Spider Man 2 is a fun action film. I give it props for being such a light hearted superhero film that is full of action. In that sense, it’s similar to the Avengers and that’s a good formula to follow. Unfortunately, Peter Parker didn’t help the film with his constant mind switching and the music wasn’t the greatest at times. The 60’s Spiderman memes will continue to live through this film and it definitely could have been worse. The action scenes alone are enough to make this film worth a watch. The film does have a habit of suddenly shifting from happy to sad to happy scenes, but you just need the ride the waves as they come. I recommend checking this film out while it’s still in theaters. It’s not quite as good as Captain America, but it’s much better than critics would have you believe. I wasn’t really disappointed with the film by the end and the action scenes were as great as I had hoped.
Overall 7/10
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