Tag Archives: Comedy

Pixels Review

Posted on by
4

cartel PIXELS 68x98 ok.indd
Hyped to be one of the greatest comedy films of the decade, I was looking forward to Pixels. In case you were curious, I was the one who was hyping it up. Donkey Kong and Pac Man were going to be in the same film. How could you not get excited when Super Smash Bros was finally coming to life? The first trailer was incredible and it was actually taken seriously for a while. The second half of the trailer hinted that the film would be a comedy, but for most of it, it looked like a serious action thriller. The film wasn’t anything like that, but it’s nice to think of how it could have been.

The film begins with Sam as a kid going to the arcade with his friend. Right from the start, we learn that he’s a pretty selfish/immoral kid who doesn’t mind stealing money from a little girl who was selling lemonade. That was just terrible and it was an early sign that this character would not be heroic. Sam lost a big tournament of video games and his life spiraled out of patrol. He became a part of a Nerds brigade and spends his time flirting. Luckily, Sam’s friend became the President so Sam still has connections. When Aliens attack the planet, Sam knows who he has to call!

Unfortunately, this film ended up being a bit of a train wreck. None of the characters were likable and the film made the big mistake that many comedy films end up falling into, many of the jokes are simply crude and inappropriate. For every good joke, there will be about 10 that are simply bad and a reason why comedy films don’t have a great rep anymore. It’s too bad because there are a lot of scenes that are actually funny. A good example of this is just about any moment with the President or some of Sam’s scenes like him reciting the nerds speech and getting called out for it. I also loved it when Sam walked into the White House in shorts and almost backed out of saving the world because the main heroine was “being mean.” The film had promise and I actually found it funnier than Ant Man or just about any comedy film that I’ve seen in a long time.

Once again, it’s held back by all of the bad jokes though. The characters are constantly flirting and joking about girls. Making really bad comments is something that each character does a lot and one character’s whole gimmick is that he’s very crude and always making a dirty remark. That would be Eddie, the worst character in the film. A close second is Ludlow. Most of his jokes rely on acting gay and being the stereotypical version of what some people believe gamers to be. He doesn’t know how to act in public and is in love with a video game character. He’s just terrible and his long speech in the army room is wince worthy. His singing is also terrible because he accompanies it with provocative dancing.

I’d like to say that Sam was a good character, but I’ve already explained that he isn’t. He allows his friends to steal money and he does not regret it at all. A character breaks up with someone so Sam immediately takes this as his clue to hit on her. He’s just not a sensitive guy and even though he gets most of the funny moments in the film, it can’t save his character. I’m in the minority in that I think Sandler played the part well and his character was easily one of the best humans, but he still doesn’t get a pass due to just how bad this film was. My favorite human in this film was the President, not that it is really saying much. His jokes were typically funny and he always rolled with the punches. It’s very intriguing to think of how America would be if he was the President. He’s still in charge though so he makes everyone respect him when the going gets tough. Violet is the main heroine and the film tries to make her look as bad as possible in the beginning. While she tries to be tough and insults Sam a lot, she ultimately realizes that he’s a good guy and the usual deal. She didn’t get a lot of character development except to be around for Sam’s character, but it’s not surprising that the film didn’t know how to develop her character.

When you really think about it, the writing is why this film is terrible. Take away the dozens of inappropriate and suggestive comments and you’ve actually got a good film going here. Of course, it’s so numerous and constant that Pixels would also be a completely different film. It’s like saying that Sucker Punch would be great if you took away the plot or that the Lord of the Rings would be epic if the characters were all robots. So, Pixels, as much as I like to think of how good it could be, it simply isn’t good.

At least we have the video game characters, which is the one bright point for the film. As you would expect, Pac Man looks downright incredible as he mows through buildings. He probably had the best acting in the film as he even changed expressions to show that he was upset after the characters started attacking him. There was a lot of plot hax in how the heroes overcame him since Pac Man was already faster than them when they were at top speed. There’s no way that Sandler could outrace Pac Man while driving backwards. There’s simply no way!

Donkey Kong also looks great and he even gets the cool “We Will Rock You” theme as the heroes mount their big offensive against him. The game was a lot of fun to play back in the day and the nostalgic music will certainly hit you right in the nostalgia. Stopping him is no easy feat and the action scene may have been the best one in the film as the heroes really had to stop the barrels from running them over.

Donkey Kong and Pac Man were really the only big hitters here. I think that it was a bit of a missed opportunity as we could have gotten more big names in the film. Mario makes a cameo, which is a lot of fun, but you have to be watching carefully or you may miss him. The Centipede also deals a lot of damage of course and we even get a delivery boy who destroys someone in the background, which was fairly shocking. That person may not have come back to life since she wasn’t a trophy so the film may have been a little grimmer than we thought. A certain Super Smash Bros player also makes a cameo.

As you can see, the film was great when it was in an action scene. It’s just when the characters would open their mouths to say something that everything would go downhill. I still did crack up many times in the film. Some were for the good jokes and other times I would laugh at how seriously the film was trying to take itself. For example, the first scene where the aliens attack the government base. It happened sooner than I thought it would and it was so grim and unrealistic that you can’t help but chuckle. Likewise when the characters dug out an old VHS that had the villain’s speech on it. If they hadn’t found the tape, the whole plot would never have become known to them. It felt like a Sci-Fy Channel plot twist!

Naturally with the writing as bad as it was, the film couldn’t really handle any of the plots that it had. Eddie’s was unbearably bad and Ludlow’s romance with the video game character was also horrendous. Watching a classic video game icon turn into the girl and immediately get together with Ludlow was terrible. There’s even a time skip where the plot gets even more messed up. Sam’s romance isn’t much better as he gets together with the heroine for no real reason and while she may have wanted a rebound guy, this was just too soon and too sudden. The scene of her crying in her closet was so bad that I could barely believe that it was real. She had been acting like the tough female protagonist that we have come to expect so this was so out of character that it was shocking.

At least the soundtrack was really good. As explained, we got the classic “We Will Rock You” song along with the Pac Man theme, Donkey Kong theme and some other retro tunes. Those were all a lot of fun and mixed in with the epic action scenes, they helped to tear you away from the rest of the film, which was just really wince worthy. Even the climax which is a long battle against the alien invasion of video games couldn’t save the film as it was too little too late.

The aliens never actually appear, but based off of the dialogue, we can make some connections. Q*bert talks about how his home used to be really happy until they got Earth’s declaration of war. Since he could not have his video game form until it was sent, I’m thinking that the aliens simply weren’t corporal. They can assume any shape, but their normal one is likely just intangible and something that exists, but can’t be seen. They obviously have tremendous abilities, but aren’t hostile by nature as they can enjoy a good laugh like the rest of us. If they attacked seriously, it would definitely be Game Over for Earth. A sequel where they adapt the 90’s of gaming would certainly be epic!

Overall, Pixels was a flop. Now, you may think that the film was still decent thanks to it actually being very funny at times, having good action scenes, and a good soundtrack, but I’m afraid that it is not the case. The writing is simply too bad with enough terrible scenes that I can’t give the film anything higher than a 1. It’s still a light film that you can breeze through so I would sooner see it than a lot of 2 star films and maybe even some 3’s, but I can’t give it more than the  1 due to how seriously bad it is. It’s easy to watch since most of the negatives are writing wise and just affect your hearing, but that’s still enough to doom it to a 1. It’s still not a 0 so at least it earned a point somewhere along the line. When you think of Pixels, just picture the scene where Sam walks into the White House and insults everyone while in shorts. That’s probably the best human scene except maybe for the President being humiliated on National Television. The video game scenes are mainly awesome and are the highlight with the fight scenes, but hopefully the sequel can be better. After all, it may be a verrrrry long time until I ever see a Sandler film again and they wouldn’t even need him for a Pixels film. Just call it Super Smash Bros and make it completely animated. Fire the current writer and get someone who knows how to make a script. Then we’re looking at a winner! I definitely don’t recommend watching this film and you’re better off just waiting for Mission Impossible 5 and seeing how good that one is.

Overall 1/10

Rock Lee Springtime of Youth Review

Posted on by
Reply


Well, I started this series way back in 2011 and yet…it has less than 40 chapters. This is why I’ve never cared for the monthly format as it takes forever for a series to get going. Maybe it was for the best though as the Rock Lee series was truly terrible and couldn’t get a single thing right. I have to say that almost every single chapter was a struggle to get through. It gets a lot of praise online though so I clearly don’t see the appeal of it. I guess this is the kind of comedy that the world wants from Naruto…I’ll stick with the main series and its jokes instead. I am glad that the series managed to finish and I hope that the Sasuke one turns out to be better.

There’s not much of a plot for this one as it’s just about Rock Lee having adventures. It’s a complete comedy so you wouldn’t expect much of a plot here would you? No worries, that just means that I can make this review a little shorter and there isn’t a whole lot to talk about anyway as the manga has no real positives. All of the characters are terrible and the situations that they find themselves in are pretty terrible as well.

The new Pac Man TV show infamously has a ton of crude humor and it never seems to stop. Well, Rock Lee takes that crude humor and multiplies it by 100 as it occurs on just about every page and it’s far worse than Pac Man’s. Most of it is just plain distasteful and Rock Lee/Neji are naturally super perverted to show that they are simply bad characters. None of the heroes or villains get to keep their dignity by the time that this is all over. Most of the chapters are simply about the heroes embarrassing themselves or their friends and rarely does the series take itself seriously.

The final chapter is the big fight with Gaara and it’s another example of how bad the seies can be. All of the flashbacks are taken seriously since they are ripped directly from the main series so the rest of the chapter compensates by having thousand years of death techniques all over the place and more crude humor. The series just doesn’t take a break and you will find a scene of cross dressing or crude humor in every chapter likely without exception although I can’t verify that since I don’t plan on going through all of the chapters a second time to look for those things.

At least the art is decent, but I wouldn’t call it very good since it is much easier to draw a manga chibi style so it’s hard to tell just how good the artist is. There are fewer details to worry about and most of the screens are very clear. I could see just about any professional artist pulling this off without a hitch. The fight scenes have the potential to be decent, but they are always interrupted so it doesn’t really matter.

Somehow, the series got its own video game as well as a TV show. I just don’t see how this part of the Naruto franchise grew so large so quickly. Perhaps the show would be better, but I can’t say that I’m very interested in checking that out at the moment. Also, Rock Lee isn’t bad just because it is a spinoff to the main series. Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Reborn! also got spinoffs in the same magazine and they were all actually good. Reborn was the most fun while DBZ had the best fights and One Piece took itself seriously. Fairy Tail and Beelzebub had non chibi spinoffs as well. Why was Naruto the one that got stuck with such a bad series? It simply isn’t right!

The concept behind Rock Lee getting his own series is pretty good, but the writers clearly were not ready for such a large task. Rock Lee should have been a great main character, but instead he ended up becoming a very unlikable one. The series may have only been 39 chapters, but they took 5 years so it felt like I was reading this series forever. With it gone, the title of worst current manga will have to go somewhere else and I’m not sure which one I’d choose at the moment. It would probably be Skip Beat, but at least that series is still light years ahead of Rock Lee.

Overall, I highly recommend avoiding this Rock Lee spinoff. Unless you want to see all of the characters degrading themselves and pulling off the exact same jokes chapter after chapter, this simply isn’t the series for you. Keep in mind, the series does have a rather large number of fans so there is still a chance that you will like it, but I just can’t recommend it. The series didn’t have any positives throughout its entire run and every chapter would remind me of just how bad it was. While it is not the worst manga of all time, it is easily one of the worst titles and can hold its own in that regard to any of the other manga series. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next work that this author does since I’ll probably want to stay far away from it. Hopefully the Sasuke spinoff has a different group of writers behind it.

Overall 0/10

Sonic The Hedgehog Archives Volume 5 Review

Posted on by
2

1740050
I told you that it would only be a short while until I reviewed the next Sonic comic right? Well, volume 5 is here and it’s time to see if this volume could top the last one. There aren’t any real big milestones compared to the last one, but Scourge returns. I’m almost 99% confident that this is the same Scourge thanks to the design and the fact that it is the Dark Sonic who raced with Sonic a while back. Needless to say, the comic doesn’t disappoint and it’s a fun adventure.

I already mentioned it, but one of the big comics here involves Scourge. Mecha Eggman has taken over a universe so that world’s Sonic goes to the main planet to get some backup. Sonic is happy to help and kindly offers his services, but little did he know that the threat would be so real. Sonic enlists the help of hundreds of other Sonics including Wolverine Sonic and Batman Sonic. The classic Eggman also arrives to help since he can’t have anyone else conquering the universe before him. It’s a fun adventure and the stakes were certainly much higher than the average Sonic comic during this time frame.

Another big comic was the Death of Sonic. Sonic was caught in a big explosion and the other Freedom Fighters mourn his loss. Tails knows better of course, but the others decide to attack Eggman. Tails tags along and now Sonic must save his friends from utter destruction. Does Sonic have what it takes? Also, this collection brings a never before seen story where Eggman uses a Universal level Salamander to attack the team. He easily takes on the whole Freedom Fighters gang and the heroes realize that they will not be able to defeat the menace. They must use their brains instead of their brawn this time.

Speaking of giant opponents, there’s also a big robot. I forgot the exact name, but it’s a parody of King Kong and this guy means business. He punches Sonic clear out of view and kidnaps Sally. It’s a tough monster to be sure, but still no match for the teamwork that the Freedom Fighters bring to the table. It’s never a good idea to mess with the heroes eh? There are a pair of mini stories with Sally, which end with cliffhangers that don’t go anywhere. One of them has a Crystal Ball, which Sally considers using to make her life perfect. Another one has Sally infiltrate an Eggman base and blow it up, only to come face to face with the leader of British Intelligence.

There was also a comic where Sonic and Sally decide to hold a play where they get married and the world lives in peace. You get the jist of the stories from these and I mentioned most of them. There’s nothing quite as dramatic as the debut of Knuckles, but the return of Scourge is fairly important I suppose. The collection brings 4 main comics, which is the norm, but the bonus issue at the end helps to make the collection a tiny bit bigger than the last one. It’s still a quick read though and you will be through it in no time.

The art is essentially identical to that of the last volume’s so it is still quite good. I’ll never tire of this retro style as it is simple and straight to the point. All of the illustrations hold up quite well and a casual glance at the page is all that you will need in order to figure out what is happening. It simply doesn’t get better than that folks and while the new Sonic art style may still win, both old and new Sonic comics look good.

The cast of characters is just as solid as they were in the last volume. It’s fun to see all of the cameos from various other forms of media like having the Bat Signal appear or making a Wolverine Sonic. Sonic The Hedgehog is still the best character in the series as he always knows when to put out the stops and start the puns. His unwavering confidence in all circumstances is why he is still known as one of the strongest characters around. The rest of the Freedom Fighters are fun to watch as well and Eggman still makes for an interesting antagonist.

Unlike the last graphic novel, the enemies here were actually able to make Sonic take the battles a little seriously this time. Sonic was actually being defeated by the King Kong rip off as well as the giant lizard. Is Eggman slowly starting to figure out how to overpower Sonic? In later comics, Eggman admitted that he could have destroyed Sonic and the Freedom Fighters at any time. It’s fun to look at these comics and wonder if that was the case. Likely not as Eggman appears to be out of his depth, but with an army of over 4 million robots on his side, Eggman really shouldn’t have any difficulty dealing with the heroes. This is just one of the reasons why Sonic needs some more powerful allies. Bunny is a decent start, but we need more super powered allies if the Freedom Fighters ever want to truly take down Eggman.

Overall, If you’ve stuck with the series until volume 5, chances are that you are here to stay at this point. You’ve made a good decision as the series is quite good and it is quality reading. You won’t find a better or more humorous story out there without really trying. It’s going to be a lot of fun to keep up with the Archives and to gradually notice the comics getting more and more modern. Once Shadow or any of the other Post Sonic DX characters show up, we’ll know that the comics have made it. All of the comics are fun and this is a good read from start to finish. It’s a title that I’d recommend to anyone and you won’t regret giving the series a spin.

Overall 7/10

Sonic The Hedgehog Archives Volume 4 Review

Posted on by
Reply

SonicArchives4
It’s been about half a year so it’s time to look at the next volume of the Sonic archives! In this collection, good ole Knuckles joins the fray. I always liked his first appearance in the Sonic games and the comic is fairly faithful to the original events while adding that Archie humor that we all know and love. As always, this makes for a fun Sonic collection and you’ll certainly enjoy checking out the various stories.

The big story is naturally the one that involves Knuckles. Sonic and Tails land in a new island and Knuckles keeps trying to destroy them to keep his Chaos Emerald safe. Little does he know that Eggman is playing him for the sap! A short story has Bunny and Sally prove to Eggman that girls can fight just as well as boys and even better as they beat him up. Another short story has Sonic make the ultimate sacrifice of jumping into the mud to save an animal. As for the other big stories, one of them had Sonic get kidnapped by Eggman along with the other Freedom Fighters and locked into a Virtual Reality simulator. Sonic wouldn’t have any of that and admitted that the real world is tougher, but still the best. Another entertaining comic was when Tails became a super genius and it corrupted him. He wanted to be the leader of the Freedom Fighters and attacked Eggman, but it was a doomed plan. Eggman is simply too powerful when surrounded by his robots. Tails was really good in that issue and I liked his evil form. It would be cool to see it return. We also can’t forget about Sonic’s three gems of power. They gave him incredible abilities to use against Eggman, which was cool. Naturally, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the comics go.

It’s a pretty short collection. The Knuckles comic is really the big one, but there are 1-2 other big two part adventures and then a lot of one shot stories. It may sound like there are a bunch of stories, but many of them are only a few pages long, which is why it still makes for a very quick read. It’s safe to say that Eggman underestimated Sonic and his friends. The Freedom Fighters are a threat to any villain as long as Sonic is around and even without him, Bunny and Sally proved to be more than a match for the evil genius. This was back during the days where Eggman had no tough allies to help him. It’s hard to believe that there were days when Metal Sonic wasn’t around to help very often right?

Naturally, the art is good and flows quite well with the stories. The designs have aged well although it’s safe to say that all of the modern looks are better than their old counterparts. Tails being brown just seems odd at this point and a chubby Sonic? We’re not exactly in the Mushroom Kingdom are we!? A part of me misses this Eggman look as well, but I’m still glad that we ended up getting the sleek re design from the modern games. That Eggman looks like a more formidable fighter while this guy was typically a pushover.

Sonic is still the main highlight of the comics as he always steals the show. As the comedy angle was played up more than in the modern issues, Sonic got a lot of crazy feats back in the day. This comic is no exception as Sonic moves so fast that he can dodge all of the raindrops on a rainy day to stay dry. That ends up being one of the mini comics and it’s an even more impressive feat than you may think. See, someone like the Flash can do this by simply going fast enough so that the air just nullifies the raindrops that get close to him or phasing through him, but that’s not what Sonic is doing. He’s simply dodging them all at super speed and if you’re ever been outside during a downpour, you’ll know that this is clearly impossible. Sonic is so fast that he’s essentially throwing away your reality and replacing it with his own. his speed defies logic and understanding, which is why he’s still one of the fastest characters of all time.

Knuckles got tricked into thinking that Sonic is a villain like usual, but at least he saw the light and helped Sonic take down Eggman. Knuckles isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he means well and he was a likable supporting character here. It was fun to see the iconic character make his debut. This was back during the days where Tails wanted to prove himself fairly often so he doesn’t look quite as good. The comic where he turned into a genius was certainly enjoyable though and Tails definitely isn’t a bad character. I don’t think that I’d say that any of the characters were bad. It’s one of the reasons why the Sonic series has been so much fun. Even if some characters barely register for me, they typically won’t be downright unlikable although that will certainly happen at some point.

The other Freedom Fighters are around, but don’t get to do a whole lot. Bunny and Sally had their fight against Eggman, which was neat. Antoine is still the punchline for all of the jokes and you feel bad for him, but at least he never seems to notice or forgets the insults very quickly. He’s definitely one of the more entertaining characters in the series even if nobody ever takes him seriously. It’s similar to Eggman. I love this version of Eggman, but he didn’t get much to do this time. In previous comics, he literally broke his robots while having a tantrum and put one in the shredder. That was an awesome and iconic moment so it’s tough to top. He didn’t get too many burns or big moments here, but I suppose that he will have his time to shine soon.

This was before the modern days with Shadow and more of a plot based storyline, but the issues still hold up well. Sonic has always been able to succeed in whatever medium or style he has wanted too. The Sonic franchise has had successful video games in the 2-D Platformer, Racing, Fighting, 3-D Platformer, and Party game genres. He had successful TV shows in the comedy and action genres and the comics have ranged from light and happy to cheerfully dark. It’s no exaggeration to say that Sonic is one of the greatest franchises of all time and he’s not going anywhere. I’ll be checking out the next Sonic archives soon so be on the lookout for it.

Overall, I definitely recommend this collection. Whether you are already a fan of Sonic or not, the humor is very well written and the comics will go by in a flash. All of the characters are good and the smooth art really completes the package. There’s really nothing to dislike about the comic and you’ll just wish that it was a little longer. Sonic has been a consistently good comic series for decades at this point and I am confident that it will continue to be one of the best comic books out there. I’m still looking forward to checking out the two crossovers with Mega Man at some point although there should be a lot of plot hax around there.

Overall 7/10

Slayers Excellent Review

Posted on by
1

Slayersexcellent
Slayers has had some ups and downs as a franchise. Due to its unique mix of comedy and action in the main shows, it can be hit or miss. The shows are able to utilize this quite well and the movies have had success as well. For some reason, the OVAs are the ones that have a lot of problems. Just like the first OVA, this one was not very good. It focused way too much on the fanservice and comedy angle while neglecting the action that brought this series a lot of fame and fortune.

There are three episodes in this OVA. The first one involves the initial encounter between Naga and Lina, which is how their adventures ultimately began. Naga will stop at nothing to defeat Lina, which proves to be a thorn in the side of the main character. Naga may be decently powerful, but she’s also reckless and leaves a lot of damage and devastation in her wake. She claims to be Lina’s rival, but she’s really more of a tag along at this point.

It’s intriguing to see how these two met, but I can’t say that a whole lot came out of it. After the first few minutes, we are essentially back to the status quo except for the fact that Naga is trying really hard to surpass Lina when in the current days, she is already accepted as a rival. The episode had potential, but then the OVA decided to play up the fanservice angle. I’ll mostly talk about that towards the end of the review. Needless to say, of the three episodes, this was likely fell in the middle. I’m glad that Lina essentially proved that these two fighters aren’t even close, but more of a serious fight would have been nice.

The second episode involves a rich girl who has hired Lina to be her bodyguard. Lina accepts because of the huge sum of money that will be given to her as a reward, but this appears to be a rather large error in judgment. Lina has to pay for travel expenses and for the food so she quickly spends her reward. To teach the rich person a lesson, Lina arranges for some bandits to kidnap her, but this may backfire when real ones show up to take her!

The rich person seemed to be par for the course as far as these individuals tend to be in anime. Her laugh was very similar to Naga’s, which was eerie for Lina the whole time. Still, it wasn’t a bad segment at first, but the ending quickly drove it down to last place from the 3 episodes. It was simply terrible and an example of why mixing comedy with action is rarely done. Typically, the result is that both areas will fail and that’s what happens here. It’s one of those stories that was simply better off not happening.

Finally, we go to a village where two fashion designers argue about whether clothing should be classic or modern and risky. Lina and Naga naturally choose two different sides so then they argue about which one is better as they burn down each other’s bases. By the end, they start to learn the values of friendship, but I can’t say that it was a very entertaining episode. It’s actually tough to decide if this one actually beats the first episode or not, but I believe that I gave it a slight lead. At least Lina hesitates a little when asked to blow up the opponent’s base. Something that Naga certainly didn’t do!

All right, let’s look at the main reason why Slayers Excellent was doomed from the start. It all goes back to the fanservice angle. There isn’t a ton of it visually, but when you consider the chest insults directed at Lina, it gets to be a bit much. There was also a random hot springs scene thrown around and a lot of attention is given to Naga’s outfit. It’s seriously sad and I haven’t seen this much fanservice associated with Slayers since the first outfit. There’s nothing over the top, but it still happens enough to make me give it a thumbs down right away. This really just exposes the fact that the writers were not confident with their story so they felt like they had to add something to throw the viewers in at the expense of a few stars. A good Slayers story should always be a 7-8, but this one was not good.

At least the animation is decently good as can be expected. It’s rather old so J.C. Staff doesn’t look quite as good as they do nowadays. Right now, they are one of the best animation companies of all time. I would need to compare Slayers to other shows of this era to properly rank it, but it looks good enough. There aren’t many energy blasts after all so it’s a little harder to gauge. It has that 90’s feel, which is always a good nostalgia boost to any series. I consider DBZ to look great even though I have seen many say that it wasn’t very good even for its time.

Excellent’s soundtrack is decent although very generic at this point. The series needs to try and add in some new tunes at this point. Relying on the same classics is all well and good, but more variety is always a good thing. The new tunes may not be instant classics, but you’ll never know how good they can be if you didn’t give them a chance. These tunes are decent, but they certainly aren’t very thrilling or memorable at this point.

Lina is a good character as always. She may not be a hero, but you can still root for her as she typically only beats up opponents who get in her way. Getting rich is a noble goal and she typically doesn’t take any short cuts. Unfortunate things just tend to happen to her so that she never ends up with any money in the long run. She seriously has no luck when it comes to anything financial so it is a good thing that Lina is one of the strongest sorceresses on the planet.

Naga is really the only other recurring character and she still isn’t a good supporting character. She has some good traits like being overconfident and constantly trying to one up Lina, but that’s just not good enough to overshadow her negative qualities like the fanservice and chest comments. She also gets the duo into a lot of trouble by not thinking things through and just being very reckless. I like when characters are reckless, but when it is intentional, not accidental.

Overall, Slayers Excellent is a trilogy that you should just skip. It doesn’t add anything worthwhile to the Slayers mythos and you can essentially say that it is just poorly written filler. The actual filler in the series is better than these episodes, which really says something. The animation and soundtrack are decent, but that’s not enough to save this one. I’d advise you to skip this and just watch Slayers Next if you’re looking for a nice fantasy adventure. Slayers has a lot of different shows and movies so you just want to memorize the full titles. Next>>Try>>Gorgeous>>Whatever else the others were>>>Excellent. I do like the fact that all of the movie/OVA titles are basically synonyms. It’s a fun trend, even if the OVAs can’t live up to their titles.

Overall 4/10

Sonic Universe Volume 4 Journey To The East Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Bongo Free For All 2015 Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Bob’s Burgers Review

Posted on by
Reply

Free_Comic_Book_Day_Bobs_Burger
This show always looked intriguing even though I’m pretty sure that it is terrible. The title is just very unique and I do like shows that are about food. The problem is that the show isn’t literally about burgers all the time and that presents us with a rather tough predicament. The comic was actually a little better than I expected, but it’s still not that good. That’s never a good sign. There are a few different mini stories within the collection.

One of them has the main character decide to hatch a few dozen frogs. They take over the area and he has to think of a dicey way to get them back into the water. Let’s just say that the crude humor will make many readers back away. Another story has an alien invasion try to convert one of the main characters by getting a picture of her. She’s a little too smart for that so the tactic doesn’t work.

There are other stories, but you get the idea. The first adventure about the horse having to save the day and winning in a big battle of galactic proportions was easily the best one. You simply can’t top that and it reminded me of My Little Pony at one point. The horses just looked so intense that you could have mistaken this for a really epic action comic.

It may sound like your average comedy, but it wasn’t quite as fun as it could have been. The main problem is that we don’t have any good characters. At least Spongebob has…Spongebob. He can carry a comic on his own and the Simpsons have more personality. When it comes to Bob’s Burgers, you’re not really sure what each character’s personality is by the end. If the comic is meant to get you interested in what happens in the trade paperback, it’s safe to say that it didn’t work.

The art is fairly decent here. I suppose that it’s a little under average, but certainly good enough to allow you to read the stories very quickly. There’s not much of a chance for action scenes either so I can’t test that out aside from the brief horse fight scene. The laser battle actually looked good so the series had potential if we had gotten more action. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Crude humor held it back and the stories were either too short or just not that good.

Overall, Bob’s Burgers is not the next big thing as far as comedies go. I’m not entirely sure what the premise is…if there even is one. When I want to see a comedy, I’ll probably just check out Adventure Time. This show badly needs some kind of plot to give us some better adventures and the main characters are also going to need some development to make them more likable. This can be easier than it sounds and the comic isn’t a total lost cause. The horse story proves it…but I’m definitely expecting the other comedy issues to be better than this one. If this comic had actually had some burgers in it…it could have been a different story.

Overall 4/10

Batman Li’l Gotham Volume 2 Review

Posted on by
Reply

batman_lil_gotham
Well, Batman’s back! I definitely didn’t care for the last volume all that much and I can’t say that things have improved here. It simply isn’t my style and the art certainly hurts its chances of ever joining the other DC elites. The series is over with this volume and its quick ending will likely tell you all that you need to know about this review. Still, at least I can add this series to my very short list of full comic series that I have read in their entirety. That list shall grow with the one shot Convergence titles as long as they all get separate trades!

There’s no plot of course as the volume is filled with various short stories. Each one sees a character try to do something only to find that they’re outclassed by Batman or that it is in their best interest to give up. One story that I remember vividly is about a carpenter who keeps getting calls from villains and it’s really bringing down morale. She finally gets Batman to give her a job by guilt tripping him. This story is certainly memorable because I had been reading it for three days before I was finally able to finish it. It is a short story, but it went on for quite a while. I think the problem with that one was that the gag gets old extremely quickly.

See, the joke is that she’s getting calls from villains and being very matter of fact about it. The problem is that you figure out this gag by the second call and then it continues and continues. There’s no real punchline moment at the end either so you’re really left hanging. That’s why my favorite stories are the ones where there is a lot of action and/or excitement. Like the team deciding that Alfred is evil and they have to stop him now! That’s the kind of story that I can certainly get behind and it was easily the best one of the batch. The ending is a little predictable, but there’s really nothing else that the writer could have done with the comic so we may as well end this way right?

Unfortunately, the art has not improved from the first volume. It’s still downright terrible at times and it’s the main area that holds the comic back. You can only get so far without good art after all. You can have the best writing in the world and an onslaught of cool characters, but if the art isn’t up to snuff…it’s game, set, and match! This style is simply too chaotic and undefined at times. I still believe that just about any teen who is into art could likely top this style or at least emulate it. I want streamlined epicness like X Sanction or Justice League. Upgrade this art into something like that and then we’ll talk!

As with the last volume, the other aspects of this comic are still good. The writing is on the level and we have a good cast of characters. It’s always fun to see the various Robins join in on the action. Jarvis is a likable supporting character as expected and Batman’s always a fun lead. The series certainly had some potential. Not a whole lot of course given its style, but with decent art I could see this matching up to the Tiny Titans. I wonder if this will ever get a sequel series. I really don’t see that happening, but you never know sometimes right? There’s always more time for Batman comedies.

I wonder how the series would have been if it had included more guest stars. I’m inclined to think that it would have at least helped the series out a little bit. Throwing in Superman and the rest of the Justice League for more than a few panels would have been fun. It may have distracted from the rest of the Bat Family, but it would also open the doors for a whole new array of jokes. That’s a lot of potential right there and Batman just didn’t tap into that power. This graphic novel was fairly short and without much of a plot to go on or characters to talk about, this review is fairly short as well. No worries, the next comic review is back to the norm of in depth comic reviewing! Get ready for Superman to return!

Overall, Batman Li’l Gotham is still not my cup of tea. If you’re looking for some light hearted Batman stories and don’t mind some pretty difficult art, then you should be okay. That being said, I really wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a great Batman story. I actually haven’t read many good Batman comics, which is a little sad. I recommend Batman Chronicles or some Batman Archives, they collect stories from his golden years in the 40’s-60’s. If those are a little too old for you, then check out a volume in the Grant Morrison run of JLA. Batman definitely got his props there and Morrison gave him the correct balance of crazy and insanely brilliant.

Overall 5/10

Let’s Dance Snoopy Review

Posted on by
Reply

2464757
It’s time for another newspaper styled comic in this Snoopy volume after the Superman review that I recently wrote. I think that this is probably the first Peanuts comic that I’ve read so that’s pretty neat. I’ve always wanted to purchase the Snoopy video game and I’ve only seen one of the TV specials so I’m relatively new to the franchise, but this should help me really be able to delve into it.

Snoopy is the main character here. Naturally, as this is essentially newspaper strips combined into a volume, there’s not much of a plot. In the background things do happen though and there is continuity, it’s just not the biggest factor here. Some bird are hatching on Snoopy’s land and they come back to visit sometimes. Snoopy’s adventures against the Red Baron continue as well and then the kids try to comfort him once in a while. The plot isn’t really the important thing here.

The art is simplistic, which fits the Peanuts style. It’s the kind of art that you can envision matching up to one day, but it’s still good. If it works, then it works right? The author is able to reuse a lot of character expressions and movements because they often do the same things, but it’s just part of the style. An elaborate art style like in Marvel or DC could ultimately go to waste here since it could only be used for a few panels each issue. As long as the art is clear and allows you to read through the comic, that’s really all that counts.

The collection is fun to read through. It’s rather short so you’ll be done with it quickly. That’s a good thing as a much larger collection could have dragged on. It’s fun to see Snoopy and the gang go at it, but it’s not really my style as much as some of the other comics. I just prefer to have more of a loose plot somewhere or a continuing story. Something in between the TinTin adventures and the Superman newspaper comics would be a nice balance.

Snoopy’s still the best character in the Peanuts franchise. He takes charge and doesn’t let anyone mess with him. His home is his fortress and you never know what he’s going to do. It is a little sad that his Red Baron adventures aren’t actually real, but at least he has a good imagination. I imagine that being a dog could be a little boring after a while so I suppose that I would start day dreaming as well. It passes the time at least right?

It doesn’t help that the kids aren’t very nice to Snoopy. Charlie Brown tries his best, but the other kids don’t seem to realize what a great dog Snoopy is. Snoopy can wrestle and tackle with the best of them. Snoopy’s one of a kind and while he isn’t as cool as my dog, Sonic, he’s still a pretty excellent pup. Without Snoopy, the comic would lose a lot of its personality.

Still, Charlie Brown is a decent supporting character. He’s just not very interesting. Charlie rarely says anything that isn’t a fact that we just heard. He’s a nice kid, but that’s about all that Charlie Brown has going for him. Snoopy has looks, bravery, and skill. He even lives it up during Christmas by switching his water and food bowls. The humans never suspected a thing.

Peanuts has had many products in just about every area. I think it has had the most success in the video game world and next would be in TV land. Comics are its weakness for now, but that will likely not be the case forever. Archie has gotten many spinoffs and various comic series and that title’s not nearly as big as the Peanuts. (Debatable I suppose) I’m sure that the Peanuts have more than one series and there are likely some more plot based ones out there. Even if they are simply stand alone stories like Sonic Boom, full length stories would do wonders for the series.

More of a plot is all that I ask from the series. If not that, then maybe the elaborate art that I was talking about earlier. The writing is good though and typically the adventures are fun. The worst subplot was probably the one where Snoopy would stick out his tongue and say “Bleh” but it luckily didn’t get too much screen time. You’ll end up feeling bad for Snoopy as well since he is constantly defeated by the Red Baron. It’s easy to see who is winning the war in Snoopy’s version of the world war. Come on Snoopy, you can do it!

Overall, Let’s Dance Snoopy is a nice nostalgia boost for long time fans. As someone who isn’t very deep into the franchise yet, it can be a little uneventful. An actual plot is the big upgrade that the comic needs to make the leap to the next rating. I’m sure that it will happen at some point. A Snoopy solo series based on his adventures (real ones this time) would be pretty great and a very promising premise for the next series. If you are a big fan of Peanuts, then this is the comic for you. If you’re looking for a fun comic to pass the time by, I’d refer you to TinTin instead.

Overall 5/10