Tag Archives: Iron Man

The Indestructible Hulk Volume 1 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review

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Looks like it’s time to check out the first volume of another recent Marvel series. I remember the Indestructible Hulk getting a lot of praise during the first issues and then it started to fade into obscurity once more. Well, I can certainly say that the positive reception was justified as it’s a pretty great concept and this is easily one of Banner’s best portrayals.

Bruce has finally decided that the Hulk cannot be destroyed. Rather than spend any more time trying to cure himself, he’s going to use his time to make the world a better place. He intends to make a big scientific breakthrough every week and he starts off by making something that will keep our waters clean for the next few years. Things are going well for him and he makes a deal with Maria Hill. S.H.I.E.L.D. will give him some men and equipment so that he can get to work and whenever they need the Hulk, they can launch him at an enemy. It’s a win win situation for both of them so Maria Hill agrees to it.

First off, I definitely like Bruce’s reasoning here. Worrying about the Hulk has taken up all of his time for so long. He should be putting that energy towards something that is more likely to produce results and what better way than to build great inventions? There’s always a suspense for disbelief in the Marvel world when you have so many geniuses running around yet things are very similar to the real world. It’s because they can’t change things too much or the universe will lose its realism. Be that as it may, it’s always good to see some actual inventions being placed so the genius bit isn’t just all hype. I really like where the series is going with track.

That being said, it seems like Bruce will be getting sidetracked from that a lot. He’s already been sent out on several missions so he barely has any time to actually get work done. I suppose that it’s one of the dicey parts about working with such a large organization. There are always more villains to face so the Hulk is always needed. As much as I like a good fight scene, I also look forward to seeing Bruce bust out some more inventions.

Bruce seems a lot more strategic than usual in this volume. He’s pretty confident of himself since he believes that the Hulk can’t be destroyed so he’s not timid or mild mannered anymore. He’s typically confident, but still in a polite way. He gets a little full of himself now like when he thinks that he is intimidating Iron Man. (Stark acts like he is, but I’ll disregard that as a comedy moment that shouldn’t be given a lot of weight.) That can be a bit much, but he’s a pretty likable character overall. That being said, he comes close to wrecking that as he looks pretty terrible in the final issue. As per usual, his emotions tend to cloud his better judgment and stealing a kiss from someone is a sure way to corrupt your character. This is still a good portrayal of him, but another scene like that and I’ll have to reverse that statement. As it is, the Bruce Banner from the Avengers film is probably his best portrayal out there.

The Hulk looks about as tough as he should. His fight against Attuma was a little dicey, but he was not prepared and fighting under water is definitely not his strength. He’s crushed all of his other opponents so far and it’s safe to say that he won’t be getting beat anytime soon. The Hulk is still one of the strongest guys in Marvel and he seems to be pretty intelligent as well. This makes for a deadly combo that few villains can hope to match.

Iron Man guest stars in one of the first issues. That’s probably a good strategy to quickly increase sales and hope that the new readers stick with it. He looks pretty good since he’s in character. He tries to belittle Bruce’s inventions and show him up, but the new and improved Banner isn’t going to let that happen. They have a quick scuffle and I’m confident that Iron Man could defeat him, but it’s a battle that would last for a long time and neither one of them is probably in the mood for that. Iron Man’s black armor definitely grows on you and while it will never beat his true armor, it looks quite sharp.

One of the villains here is Attuma, but he’s more of a plot device than a character this time. He fights the Hulk and he has some motives using the new weapons that he has, but he’s really one dimensional here. He isn’t meant to have any personality, but the writers needed a villain for this comic so we got one. He’s not likable, but he’s not unlikable either. He’s just around. A.I.M. also makes an appearance with their ultimate mech. It only lasts for about a page, but I do like the design. We need more cool robots to fight the Hulk right? Even the Thinker appears and he built a mech using some of the properties that Ultron used in the past. It was a fun reference and its barrier abilities were pretty useful. You never thought that the Hulk would actually lose, but the Thinker gave it his all.

As you can see, the villains were definitely not one of the main focuses here. Banner is the main focus so the villains are here for the comics to have some action, but their role is as minimal as possible. From the supporting characters, Maria Hill is definitely the main one although I don’t think that she will be appearing too much. Once every issue or so to check in with Banner, but that’s about it. She’s pretty likable as the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I dare say that she’s less shady than Fury. I don’t think that she’ll betray the Hulk although launching him at Attuma was not very nice. He nearly died since he wasn’t prepared for the attack and that would have been a pretty wasteful move from Maria Hill.

The art is pretty impressive for the talking scenes. The style is pretty unique and I’m pretty fond of it. Its big weakness would probably be in the fight scenes. I think a little too much detail is added so it can be a little harder to follow the action scenes than it should be. Not enough happens or some of the action is obscured by the detail. It still gets a passing grade from me, but the artist will need to work to find a better balance. Keeping the talking scenes interesting with this style, but maybe adding less detail to the fights.

The writing is perfect and it plays a large part in why the series is so good. The issues completely ride on the writing since the fights are not very long. The dialogue must be spot on or else the series would be no good. Hopefully the writers do not change anytime soon since they are keeping the series on its pedestal. Who knows, this could end up being the definitive Hulk series although I don’t think that it lasted too long. Let’s just not make any more mistakes with Bruce like in the final issue.

We can chalk this up as another win for Marvel Now, but it still has some work to do if it wants to reach the New 52’s level of greatness. New Avengers and Hulk definitely get a pass, but I haven’t read many of the other big Marvel Now titles. Avengers sounds pretty iffy at some points and let’s not get started on Spider Man. The Iron Man series has promise. The Marvel Now initiative seems to have paid off with many of the titles and the art is very streamlined. I doubt that it will ever reach the New 52, but it’s good to see it doing so well.

Overall, The Indestructible Hulk is off to a very good start. It’s pretty impressive to see a Hulk series be so fun since he typically can’t hold his own series. I’m not really a Hulk fan and Bruce Banner is only good some of the time. He’s the kind of guy who needs a good writer to make him a fun character since many just make him a depressing/moody scientist who is not likable. There’s none of that here and the comic is good in all areas. (Writing, art, battles, characters, etc) I’m not giving it an 8 since getting to the great level is a really difficult feat, but this is a very fun comic book. I recommend this to all action fans and if you’ve been on the fence about reading a Hulk comic, this is a very good way to start. The next issue is the one where Thor appears if I recall correctly so it’s definitely the right time to get hyped up for volume 2.

Overall 7/10

New Avengers Everything Dies Review

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Time to review volume 1 of the recent New Avengers series. The Illuminati have always made for a pretty interesting plot and Captain America has been the one to keep them in line. What will happen when they decide to go too far? It’s definitely a collection that is meant to keep you thinking and it’s a fun read.

The Earth is going to collide with an alternate Earth and the resulting explosion end up devastating the universe. Black Panther learns of this when he apprehends a mysterious figure who appears on his land. Her name is the Black Swan and she knows more than she lets on. He reluctantly calls the Illuminati to deliberate about what must be done. Black Swan lets them know that they ultimately only have two choices. Blow up the other Earth or allow the universe to end. She just finished blowing up a planet herself so she is not bluffing. What will the heroes decide to do?

Naturally, Captain America is against the notion of blowing up the planet. Since it is an alternate Earth, that would mean destroying billions of lives to save their own. It’s just not a good gambit and he knows that there has to be another way. He’s seen the Earth on the brink of extinction many times in the past so he knows what he is talking about. This is Captain America as he was meant to be portrayed. He is the moral compass of the group and he won’t even entertain the notion of using the bomb to take out the planet. Unfortunately, this means that the Illuminati can no longer have him around and they decide to erase his memories. It’s ripped offsimilar to what the Justice League did to Batman a while back. It’s sad for Steve Rogers since the others basically became traitors at that moment. The Avenger didn’t get to appear for most of the collection since he was taken out, but he looked very good in the scenes that he was in. I think he shouldn’t have been surprised by Black Panther’s betrayal though, but that’s a minor setback.

Black Panther is all for the idea along with Black Bolt. They’re leaders so they’ll do whatever it takes in order to save their kingdoms. Morals and honor will always be secondary to their overall goals. Namor is happy to do it since he’s essentially a villain at this point in time anyway. Dr Strange is slightly more reluctant to do this and he has a few spells ready, but none of them really seem like they’ll complete the job here so it’s moot. He ultimately agrees with the decision to blow up the planet. Mr Fantastic agrees pretty quickly since it’ll save his family and the Beast doesn’t even need a moment to think about it. He agrees wholeheartedly because he is the Beast and remains as one of my least favorite X-Men fighters.

That’s when the big cop out occurs…the planet is uninhabited. That does take away all of the tension and the stakes since they can now blow up the planet with a clear heart. In a way I would have preferred for this cop out not to have occurred since we would have seen whether these heroes were really heroes or not. No matter how they tried to justify it, destroying the planet would have cemented them as villains here. Destroying billions of people is far greater than any genocide feat in history and it always would be since blowing up planets is impossible in the real world. Naturally, a hero could top them by blowing up an inhabited galaxy someday, but it could be a while. On the other hand, it’s probably good that this did happen since I would rather not see these heroes taint themselves in such a way.

That was a big blow, but we got to see what all of the characters would have chosen (in theory. No guarantees until the final seconds right?) so that’s the important thing. Some subplots for the future have already begun. Black Panther has declared war on Namor and we can bet that Captain America will regain his memories and launch his own attack at some point. Dr Doom now has knowledge that could prove dangerous to the heroes as well. These plots should be pretty good and it’ll be interesting to see what the Black Swan does next as well.

The Black Swan makes for a pretty good villain here. She looks pretty similar to Emma Frost or Magik so I can’t say that the character design is pretty unique, but she’s a fun villain. We haven’t really seen what her abilities are (Assuming that she has any, but let’s face it…she will!) yet, but her plan is just getting started. She is pretty cooperative with the heroes since she definitely does want to keep on living. The whole situation is rather complicated and the heroes would have had a much tougher time without her. They should hopefully not trust her all that much at the moment, but she has definitely earned her freedom. Only time will tell if she saved the world for the better or for the worse.

The concept of the Illuminati is also pretty dicey and I agree with Black Panther for the most part. Deciding that they will take care of the Earth as they see fit is something that no group should be able to do. What about politics and Joe the Plumber? The heroes are starting to put themselves on a pedestal next to the average person and that’s definitely dangerous. Having the Infinity Gems in their possession is also a big display of power. at least the heroes claim to be doing this for the good of mankind and they haven’t overstepped their boundaries yet, but that day could definitely arise in the near future. We’ll see if the choices make or break them. After all, Captain America was the only member of the team who was a complete hero, without him…things could get very dangerous. The Beast will do anything to help the mutants and likewise with Black Bolt and Black Panther for their races. Namor doesn’t really care about anyone and Dr Strange’s motives are typically pretty clouded. Iron Man already has a dicey history of betraying his comrades like in Civil War so he certainly can’t be trusted. It’s only a matter of time until they fight the normal Avengers.

One thing about the premise that is hard to believe is how Black Swan says that nothing can stop the planets from colliding. The heroes try to use the Infinity Gauntlet and it actually doesn’t work. It’s possible that Captain America’s resolve just wasn’t strong enough, but it’s still a bit of a stretch. Even if that didn’t work there should be a bunch of other things that would. Remember how the Justice League made the Earth intangible during Doom? Something like that would work here or just warping it away from its current position for a few minutes. There are a lot of solutions that you can think of and it’s why I never believe in two choice scenarios in the Marvel world. Of course, you have to ignore that for the plot here, but it’s something to consider. It’s hinted that a high above being is forcing this to happen so that could become a plot soon.

The art is as good as I could have expected. Marvel has always been very sharp for the New Avengers and that doesn’t stop here. All of the character models look sharp and the proportions are right. The action scenes are typically pretty clear except for the Terrax one where a lot was happening at once and the art got a little fuzzy. Marvel continues to show that they can keep up with DC in the artwork game when they really put some effort in.

The writing is also very good for the collection. Regardless of how antagonistic the heroes appear to be, they are still written pretty well. It’s not necessarily out of character for any of the characters here to decide to blow up the planet. If Captain America had agreed then it would be a different story, but he didn’t so I give the comic some more props there. Galaktus and his herald do pop up out of nowhere, but it makes sense that they would try to do something in these final hours. The script alone makes the comic interesting so the fights and good visuals only help to improve the experience.

Overall, New Avengers Everything Dies is a pretty good comic arc. It’s a very fine start to the series since some of the sub plots have already started and we got to see the dark side of the group. The roster for the Illuminati is pretty good as well since most of the characters are interesting. I don’t think that adding in the Beast was a wise move, but maybe he’ll contribute something to the team soon. I think that the plot twist at the end was one of the biggest cop outs that I’ve seen in a while, but I suppose that it makes things a little easier on the heroes. It certainly prevents me from losing more respect for some of them, but it would have been nice to see if they would ultimately take the plunge or not. I recommend this to all Marvel fans or to anyone who wants to read a pretty good comic. Let’s see if future installments can keep this up!

Overall 7/10

Secret Wars Review

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Secret Wars
Secret Wars was Marvel’s first really big arc and they really knew how to make it exciting. There was never an arc quite like this nor shall there ever be again. It was a one of a kind deal and even if similar plots come out, you cannot hope to pass the sheer originality of this event. I think that Civil War may be my favorite Marvel arc, but I have not technically read all of it so this is officially my favorite Marvel event arc. It’s just brilliant and it’s probably one of the best comics that I have ever read. So much happened in these issues and you can tell that they really put a lot of effort into it.

Marvel is planning a new Secret Wars arc coming soon since they have had fun revisiting old arcs. The new version sounds pretty fun as well, but it looks to be pretty rushed. This one had a lot of characters, but they made sure that a good amount of them got some proper screentime. The new arc is following the “Bigger is Better” motto a little too seriously as the number of fighters has been multiplied several times over. Considering that there can only be so many issues in the main series, we’re not really going to get to see most of the fights. I still do have hopes for it to be one of the best Marvel arcs ever though. All right, time to go back to the plot for this arc!

A lot of heroes had been going through their days like any other when a mysterious spaceship appeared. Some of the heroes fearlessly go into it while others are pretty cautious and carefully set foot inside. It doesn’t matter how you go in though because you end up being trapped either way. The X-Men, Avengers, Spider Man, and the Fantastic Four minus Sue Storm end up on the other side. That’s some serious firepower, but an essentially equally powerful group of villains also arrives. They include Dr Doom, Ultron, Galactus, (Starting to seem a little unfair right?) The Lizard, Magneto, and more. A mysterious being known as the Beyonder has brought them here to engage in the ultimate battle of life and death. Good vs Evil! The winning side will naturally be the correct side and everyone is stuck in this dimension until the war is over. Make no mistake…this is War! Both sides begin to choose their captains and a strategic battle of territories begin with these characters.

The plot begins to shift as the story arc goes on though. It’s originally a big war, but eventually the war is over. Unfortunately, one player deviates from the script and gains unimaginable power. This means that everyone will have to stop this person, but that’ll be tough when he can literally do anything. It’s going to take the will to survive (Which actually comes into play) and some actual power if the heroes want to get out of this alive. Hopefully the rest of the heroes are able to do all right for themselves over on Earth without their power hitters….hopefully!

One of the fun things about this arc is the fact that most of the characters have barely worked with the others if they even have at all! The X-Men are distrusted by most of the other heroes and they don’t do a whole lot here to improve their image. Other teams like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers get along pretty flawlessly. After all, there’s nothing suspect about Mr Fantastic and his crew right?

Mr Fantastic does look pretty good by the way. His role isn’t huge, but he’s acknowledged as a very smart individual even if he does let himself get pushed around by Captain America for a while. He’s just a little too selfless for his own good at times. (He also continues to outshine the Hulk, which is great) The Thing actually doesn’t mention how much he wants to be human that much here, but he can shift between forms for some reason so I guess it’s just not much of an issue at the moment. The Thing is always ready to fight and he was one of the first heroes to suggest that they go after She Hulk so he definitely gets some credit there.

Spider Man dons his black suit for the first time and that is something that is probably not as well known as it should be. He looks pretty great as you would expect and he dodges just about every attack that is shot at him. This is the dependable Spider Man that we used to know and we hope that he returns someday. He’s always in control of the situation. She Hulk is with the group, but she likes to fight solo, which can be dangerous. She runs off to face a few of the villains and that plan really doesn’t work out that well for her. She was outnumbered 5-1 and all 5 of the villains possessed super strength. I’m sure that the Hulk would have handled those odds, but while the She Hulk is strong, she’s not quite at Hulk’s level.

The Hulk has a rivalry with Mr Fantastic in this volume and he’s pretty obsessed over it. Bruce is in complete control for the arc so his strength is very limited, but it means that we can see him brag a lot. He seriously won’t stop and you can tell that he does not want to be here. It’s really hard to fight alongside him since you can’t trust anything that he does. He is very quick to go against his comrades although he would never go as far as to join the enemies. He’s simply a thorn in everyone’s path. I liked the fact that Bruce insults everyone whenever he finds the time, (Which is often) but it can also make you just want him to be taken back home at times.

Captain America looks pretty controversial to say the least and he may actually remind you of his portrayal in AVX. He really seems to have a thing against the X-Men and his decision to stay at base instead of saving She Hulk from imminent destruction was pretty awful. That’s simply not the heroic move to make and the other heroes should have just barreled past them. It’s lucky that reinforcements came when they did since that could have been pretty ugly. Captain America ultimately makes some good calls as well, but he’s too much of an army general. He’s willing to face heavy casualties in order to win the war and that’s unacceptable for a hero.

This took place before Ultron got the hype and recognition that he has currently earned in the comics. He’s still feared as a powerful Avengers villain, but that’s about it. That’s all right…Ultron doesn’t need any fancy titles to strike fear into the hearts of many. I like the fact that he just turns on the villains and decides that he can take them all on at once. He even goes after Galactus at one point, which was pretty great. Let’s just say that Ultron really doesn’t fear any being!

I appreciate that Galactus is not willing to play the Beyonder’s games, but he looks pretty bad as a result. What scene would really shock the crowds? Having Galactus be bested by a guy with an 80’s haircut! So, Galactus is beaten pretty badly by the Beyonder and it can be tough for his fans to bear. I feel their pain since that was definitely a humbling moment for this galactic fighter. He looks good aside from that though and he’s definitely portrayed as one of the strongest characters around.

Molecule Man is one of those villains that I disliked from the very beginning. He’s never been a cool character no matter which continuity tried to make him tough. He gets a whole lot of hype here and the writers even try to make you feel bad for him. That definitely didn’t work on me though and I never liked it when a character is able to just do whatever he wants. It’s bad writing since there’s no stopping him! That’s not what I expect to see from my comic book villains! He starts to buy into the whole romance thing after a while, which helps him start to change his ways. It’s still pretty cheesy though.

Klaw’s role is pretty intriguing since he basically lost his mind after he made it aboard Galactus’ ship. It actually managed to improve his character though since he’s pretty likable. There are a few scenes where you may become suspicious of him since he has a lot of shifty looks, but it may have just been the art. That being said, you almost feel bad for Dr Doom in a few scenes because he really trusted the sound master. Just know that when you have a villain like Klaw, whose deadliness is only matched by his insanity..things are going to be very tough for those around him. It’s good to see this villain getting the respect that he deserves.

Cyclops is a part of the disfunctional X-Men group (At least in this series) so he gets a lot of inner monologue. He’s unhappy about the direction that the team has been heading in and he feels like Professor X is just not the best choice as the leader. He plans on quitting the team once this is all over since they have started to lose their morals. It’s good to see that Cyclops has kept his and while he’s a far cry from the Cyclops of the modern comics, he’s pretty great here. Cyclops is one of the few characters who has managed to be a great character through just about every comic era. He doesn’t see a lot of action here, but he’s always around just in case.

Wolverine looks pretty true to form. He has more experience than over 90% of the other heroes…maybe even all of them. He knows what it’s like to be in a war so he’s not taking any prisoners this time around. While you would think that he might get along with Captain America, that turns out to be impossible. Captain America seems to have a thing against mutants and that makes Wolverine turn against him. There’s a really rushed page at the end that quickly has them settle their differences, but it makes you think about how things have changed. This Wolverine was not the kind of guy who would become the principal of a school or the guy who would betray mutantkind for the Avengers. Too bad he couldn’t always be this good right? It’s hard to think of him as a hero, but he’s a capable ally to have around.

Storm wants to be leader of the X-Men and she actually was for a while until Professor X stepped in. Storm tried to reclaim her position, but Professor X threatened to take control of her mind so that he could force her into being a subordinate. She quickly backed off after that, but another layer of trust was definitely lost from the team. She is certainly not in a good mode for the arc, but she doesn’t do a lot after that. Like the rest of the X-Men, she’s mostly just along for the ride.

Professor X looks very bad in this collection although that can be a good thing if you ever wanted to see what it would be like if he was a little more sinister. He decides to form an alliance with Magneto since mutants should stick together, but he decided not to inform the other teams that Magneto had possibly reformed. (Not really) He wipes away some of Spiderman’s memories, which is extremely unheroic to the point where I would say that he completely descended into the realm of evil. It was all so Spiderman couldn’t rat them out about meeting with Magneto and betraying the heroes so at least the wall crawler was doing the right thing. Prof X makes a truce with the heroes so that they wouldn’t have to fight, but things definitely got very tense for a while there. I like the X-Men, but Professor X was very unreasonable the entire time. You were almost waiting for him to be dethroned. I’m sure that the X-Men had him step down once the arc was over.

Magneto decides to part ways with the rest of the villains since his goals are pretty different. He wants to survive this and he also wants the other mutants to survive. Unfortunately, he then kidnaps the Wasp, which is a pretty big blow to his reputation. The other heroes were definitely not going to trust him after that and it’s disappointing that some romance ensued. Magneto should keep his mind on the mission and this is a mistake that is pretty inexcusable for anyone. Magneto had some kind of plan that was lost in the shuffle, but this was certainly not his best appearance. I expect more from the Master of Magnetism!

The Beyonder is all powerful, but I’m sure that you’ve heard that tune before. He’s like the One Above All and he’s a pretty awful character through and through. You’ll probably cheer when Dr Doom unleashes his ultimate plan. I’ve already seen the Beyonder in other comics so I disliked him before his appearance here, but he did nothing to change that opinion. He let his guard down at a pretty bad moment and you have to wonder what the point of the whole war was. It’s basically just for his entertainment and that’s not very fulfilling for the heroes. I’m sure that he could be a good character in theory…but it could take a while for him to reach that level.

Dr Doom has a pretty big role in this arc and he looks pretty good. He has a plan from the start and he never loses hope in it even after he is utterly crushed and humiliated by the Beyonder on several occasions. His determination eventually pays off and you actually feel pretty happy for him. I thought that he was one of the best villains to be found here and he even gives the heroes a chance to walk away. They would never do such a thing…but you have to admire the fact that he gave them a choice right? He gets a sad ending, but I suppose that we could expect nothing else.

War Machine is here instead of Iron Man, but he is impersonating the famous hero. Sadly, this means that he spends a lot of time tarnishing the golden avenger’s name. He seems to take offense at every little thing and he flirts way too much. Iron Man didn’t do that back in the old days so it really makes him look bad. War Machine may be in a better armor, but he’s still all talk and he never really backs it up. Luckily, we have Thor so two out of the three big Avengers are present for the arc. He has a subplot where he goes off to talk in another dimension with Enchantress at one point, but he definitely makes an impact when he goes back into the war. He takes on a decent amount of villains at the same time and he doesn’t back down from attacking Doom’s lair. Thor is typically with the group when they fight so his role isn’t huge, but everyone had to get their screentime. At least he got one solo fight against the group.

The art is pretty solid and it’s really classic. As such, all of the pages were done by hand so you are certain to find some funny facial expressions of off proportions on the characters once in a while. That being said, you have to imagine just how tricky it would have been to color all of these guys in and how much work it would have been. We can’t deny that computers make drawing more efficient and precise nowadays, but the unpredictable of the old comics is one of the reasons why the art looks so good. It’s pleasing on the eye and it’s very easy to follow the action. I would definitely be content for all Marvel comics to have this style of art although I also love the art in X Sanction and that’s a completely different style. So, diversification is always a good thing.

The ending of the arc definitely has more than a little plot hax since one character conveniently gets everyone to the revival chambers after they were all dead. There is a twist and someone wanted them to win, but it’s still a little dicey. When you have invincible beings…I guess that’s just what you have to do though right? It was interesting to see new characters just pop up once in a while though like the two girls that we found in the village. Apparently a whole town/village ended up getting thrown in the portal as well even though we don’t get to see the civilians all that much.

Overall, The Secret Wars will never be forgotten. It was the first large scale arc of its kind and it paved the way for many more fun adventures in both the Marvel and DC comics. I definitely liked the war scenario the most from the arcs inside of this story, but the climax was definitely pretty grand. This is a collection that I highly recommend to all comic readers. It’s simply a must read and it has certainly aged well. Adapting this into an animated film would certainly be pretty fun to watch. Where else can you see so many characters interact on screen? It’s amazing how the writers manage to cram in so many subplots without them feeling all that rushed. A lot of them will be concluded in different comic series as it is. Yeah…this arc will likely not be surpassed by Marvel and even DC will have a tough time trying to take this one out. It was just about perfect!

Overall 9/10

Iron Man and Hulk Heroes United Review

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Technically speaking there is no and in the title, but I don’t really care for using the & symbol that much and just leaving it blank could be odd. In this case, I’d say that using “and” is the right move. Is this film really as terrible as its reputation? Well, that would have been nearly impossible from the get go and it’s still a decently good Marvel film. The animation is the main thing that really holds it back. First off, let’s get the plot out of the way!

The Hulk and the Abomination get into a brawl as the film begins. The Hulk was just resting and showing the world that he is not to be trifled with so he wasn’t prepared for such an attack. The Hulk is quickly subdued (By a pair of robots…he did beat the Abomination btw!) and kidnapped. After the scientists realize that they are in over their heads, they leave. (They so say sorry though!) The Hulk breaks out the saves the Abomination’s life, but a spark escapes from the battle. Ironman appears and they quickly get into a fight. The Hulk quickly takes him down and they agree to make a temporary truce to defeat the mighty Zzzax. Ironman and Hulk are as different as two heroes can be and they Really don’t get along. Will they really be able to pull off such an ambitious team up!?

Well, that’s the plot in a nutshell! The film is a little over an hour, but they do try to cram a lot of things in. We get a bunch of Wendigo creatures at one point that really come out of nowhere! The Abomination is here of course and Zzzax serves as the main villain as he uses many of Ironman’s old armors. It’s a pretty good array of villains that we’ve got here and the film has almost nonstop action. What is keeping this film from cracking a solid 7 like your average action film? It’s the animation!

This film uses CG-I and that was mistake number one. Always go for Hand Drawn when you’re making a true animated film. Ironically, these graphics would be perfectly acceptable for a PS4 cash in game or something on the mobile. For a real video game or a film…this just won’t cut it! There is a lot of lag to be seen between character movements and the fight scenes can look really fake at times. The bullets leave random explosions when they hit that appear as if they were put on the Hulk’s character by photoshop. Nothing about this really screams professional and the animation really brings it down. Contrary to popular belief, animation is easily one of the most important factors in a film. It’s (nearly) as important as the writing. Examples of this include Samurai Jack and Symbiotic Titan. Both of those shows are in the pretty good range, but they easily could have jumped up an extra point or two into the great category. 1-2 points may sound pretty small, but considering that it is out of 10…that is a pretty big jump. Let’s face it, a 6/10 looks much worse than an 8/10 and a 2/10 is scarier than a 4/10. Two points can make a difference. In this case, the film lost a firm point with the animation.

That being said, if the movie was incredible in all of the other areas, I’m sure that it would have still done pretty well. The problem is that the rest of the film is really only average. The writing is what you would expect from Marvel. Ironman and Hulk have settled into their stereotypical personalities pretty well and you can really tell what they will say before they even speak. There are several puns in the film at least, but they aren’t as original as the ones over at DC. (Not to play the DC card this early in the fight…)

The soundtrack is actually really good in this film. I’ll say that it was one of the surprising positives involved. It really felt like they stole some music from the DCAU, but I’m not going to go there. Wherever the music was from, it was really good and it definitely made the film a little more enjoyable. A good tune can make everything seem cooler.

The film actually has some pretty deep environmental messages. Zzzax isn’t completely bad as he just wants to protect the planet from the humans who continue to fill the landfills across the world. As with Ultron, Zzzax realizes that the extinction of mankind is the only way to save the day. Ironman reminds him that humans are still a pretty young race and that they are getting closer to using clean energy. It’s all empty words and Zzzax knows it. Humans continue to use up more and more power while polluting the planet, but I suppose that it’s an issue for another time. Still, it was interesting that Marvel added this part in and combined with the elements from the Technovore film…maybe they will start including things like this in their films. I’m always ready to talk about the environment so I wouldn’t mind seeing it in the film.

So, there isn’t a whole lot to say about Ironman and Hulk. Ironman loves to find some humor in the situations that he gets involved in and he’s pretty proud of himself. He takes the credit for everything and he acts as if he was tougher than everyone else. He’s so confident that he will beat the Hulk until he’s quickly crushed. He’s a pretty good character here since he doesn’t have time to fulfill his less desirable character traits in the film. Trying to blast Hulk in the eyes wasn’t cool even though he claimed that it could help the Hulk. (He didn’t try again so I’m not sure if I buy that) The Hulk is also what you would expect. This is the smarter Hulk that we are used too from the various Avenger cartoons. He puts Abomination in his place, but he’s easily crushed by robots several times in the films. He’s another big punching bag when it all boils down to it. It’s a trait that many superheroes have at this point. They act all high and mighty, but they crumble at the first attack from a decent villain. It’s films like this that really make me pick Link or Gagaga Girl in a fight against these guys.

Zzzax has a pretty nifty design and he makes for a good villain. The way that he talks can be annoying though since he has a hisssssss for each word and he likes to take his time a little too much. Abomination is another confident fighter who can’t back up his tough words. He also has a fun CGI design for this one. Power wise, he does seem to be clearly outmatched by the Hulk though. The Wendigos didn’t have any character in this film, but maybe that’s for the best.

Surprisingly, the movie actually drags on a bit. It’s only a little over an hour, but thanks to the CGI it’ll feel like a lot longer. Each fight scene looks the same and you’ll get tired of seeing the two heroes getting beaten up by the electro robots for so long. They’re basically powerless and it’s more than a little embarrassing. It really could have ended after the first 30 minutes and it may have been a little cooler. It would have had the same score though so maybe this is for the best. Ironically, the fact that it’s pure action without much plot gives it a lot of replay value. This is actually a film that I wouldn’t mind rewatching in the near future.

We can’t forget to mention that there is an after credits scene! It leads into the next film for those of you who are actually interested. I guess the writers really want to keep things confined though since the two scientists from this film seem like they will be returning with a new threat. It’s an epic scene in theory, but not in execution as the film couldn’t really make the scene as threatening and intense as it really could have been.

Comparing this to DC’s last big superhero team up..it’s pretty sad. Superman/Batman Apocalypse (Notice how I appropriately switched the title a little bit?) smashed this film in animation, crushed it in fight scenes, demolished it in character development, burned it in pacing, and thoroughly destroyed it overall. This is why I don’t even think that there is a debate in as far as who creates the better films/TV shows overall between Marvel and DC. DC is just too good at this point. I don’t think that Marvel will ever make a film to match the DC title that I mentioned. It’s bold, but I seriously don’t think that Marvel has it in them. We can hope of course. (While we are “hoping” I’ll be checking out Throne of Atlantis!)

Overall, This film is nowhere near as bad as the reviews suggest. It’s par for the course for Marvel and while it’s nothing special, it’s nothing bad either. It’s just a good action story where we get to see two iconic heroes team up. It could certainly be a lot worse and one plus is that it’s always enjoyable to see a classic Avengers battle. I like to think that Ironman would have won the battle though and Jarvis’ statistics seemed flawed. No way does the power type end up beating the speed type more often than not. The only reason why Ironman was humiliated in that fight was because he wasn’t fighting properly. The point of a speed type is to use your speed…not fly right into the power type to make it a fist fight. I recommend checking this out if you’re just looking for a casual watch (Since this is basically just a pilot to “insert any Marvel show” it works as a Saturday Morning Cartoon) to see your favorite Marvel heroes duking it out. Of course, I would sooner just recommend watching the original Ultimate Avengers since that one was pretty solid! (The Hulk fight there was intense!)

Overall 6/10

Essential Avengers Volume 9 Review

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It’s time for another Esssential review and this time we’re taking a look at the 9th volume of Avengers! Their new film is coming up soon so it’s always good to revisit the classics and the stories were pretty solid. The Avenger comics were typically my favorite ones from back in the day as far as Marvel is concerned. This collection does bring an infamous Ms Marvel comic with it as well, which I shall definitely discuss. Even without Comicvine to back me up on this retro review, I definitely wouldn’t forget that one.

There are many comics and plots contained in this Essential. As with the previous reviews, I shall not mention all of them, but I’ll make sure to give as many plots as possible. The first adventure that I shall mention was a mini Vision story in the Tales to Astonish series. The Vision has to help the passengers of a plane, but then he learns of a murder that is about to take place. He has to decide whether to stay in the plane and help an old man prevent a heart attack or he could go and stop the murder. The Vision may have to make the toughest call of his life. Is he more machine than man? That’s the question that we have to think about.

The Avengers Annual featured a story with Arsenal. Arsenal is definitely a powerful Marvel villain and he made for a really good villain. The Avengers find out that this unstoppable beast is in their mansion and now they will have to stop it. The only problem is that this villain’s power is almost immeasurable and Iron Man only barely managed to stop it last time. Luckily, he’s brought along Captain America and Thor (among others) so they are ready this time. It made for an interesting comic and Arsenal was cool. I guess he’s more of a one shot villain than most, but the world’s never too small for an extra powerhouse.

An interesting comic saw the Avengers head to Russia to combat a supervillain threat. The enemies were a group of elemental villains who didn’t seem natural. The Avengers would have to find out how they were created and react accordingly. The villains aren’t what made the comic interesting, but the Avengers’ attitudes about it were. Captain America initially did not want to help because Russia was being attacked. After all, he’s Captain America and he believes that the Avengers are country based. The Beast (considering that he’s typically an Xman and not an Avengers makes things interesting as well) defies Captain America and he says that it’s the Avengers duty to help out anyone in trouble. Captain America grudgingly agrees in the end and then the group goes off to help. (They’re ultimately chased off, but only after they’ve solved the problem) This could have been the first comic where Captain America didn’t act as heroic as we are used too. (Pre AVX days)

The next comic arc proves once again why the Avengers can be a little annoying. Wasp ventures to an asylum after hearing a story from one of the guys who escaped and his tale turns out to be true so she is quickly kidnapped. The Avengers head there, but decide that they can’t bust in because of legal issues. I can’t help but wince whenever I see one of the Superheroes saying that. They should worry about the consequences after they bust in and save the day. Instead, they send in Antman and Yellow Jacket to secretly check what’s happening. They’re quickly defeated soooo….time for Plan C! Who could defeat three Avengers anyway?

After that, the Avengers get locked in their elevator, which makes for an amusing story. This was the calm before the storm as the infamous Ms Marvel comic occurred shortly after. Uh oh….herrrrre we go! Well, as you may already be aware, Ms Marvel quickly has a baby and the process only took a few hours when it should have taken months as in the real world. The Baby immediately begins to grow up and boss the Avengers around as he tells them to gather some tools. The Baby then builds a dimension or time machine. (I forgot, but it doesn’t matter all that much) The baby grows into an adult and he tells the Avengers about how he basically turned his essence into a baby and put himself in Ms Marvel and he’s the one who originally had the baby with her. Now that he is an adult again, he wants to go away with her to his realm. Ms Marvel doesn’t really object to this and she leaves with him, but we have to remember that the guy seems to have some form of telepathy so the whole thing was very suspicious. He did make Ms Marvel forget about their affair after all.

Naturally, the worst part about this is the fact that the Avengers didn’t really do anything about it. They just wished the two of them well and forgot about the whole affair entirely. I can definitely see why fans can’t stand this comic and I have to agree that it was poorly written. I’m not sure what the writing staff was thinking when they wrote it. Nobody is in character and the Avengers should have at least gone with them through the portal or quickly begin preparations to find them. They just forgot the entire matter and it didn’t seem very heroic. This was definitely one of the largest errors that the Avengers have made.

Next, we got to see the iconic Jarvis comic. A bully enters his old neighborhood and it’s up to Jarvis to put him down for the count. What’s a regular teenager going to do to a man who’s helped the Avengers take out guys who could destroy planets? Jarvis is going to show him that you never mess with an Avenger! We also get a comic where Ultron returns to plague the world with his greatness, but it was surprisingly uneventful. Just a typical day with the Avengers.

The final comic was interesting because the Human Torch got to make an appearance. Unfortunately, his flames were not potent enough to put out the chemical flame inside of a warehouse and it was actually draining his abilities. The Avengers are forced to go in, but is this place really safe? One thing’s for sure…this was not a natural disaster!

The art is pretty good and it’s classic. All of the character designs are clear and easily understood. The comics are all in black and white of course since this is the Essential series. I definitely wouldn’t say that there was anything wrong with the drawings and sometimes I miss the good ole days. The facial expressions were definitely a little more life like at times back then.

One thing that always made these Avenger comics fun was the amount of suspense and drama that was added. The characters would always be at the limits of their abilities. The headlines would be startling and the heroes weren’t afraid to panic or say their thoughts aloud. It was a different era and the heroes were typically pretty cheerful. The Vision was not, but he had his own subplot with the Scarlet Witch that was present the whole time and they were at odds for a bit. The Falcon also had a subplot where he felt like the team was excluding him. I can’t say that I sympathized every time. There may have been a few times where I felt bad for him, but the Falcon did overdo it on several occasions. He was mad that they didn’t ask his opinion before going on a dangerous mission, but the Avengers typically don’t ask for opinions. Guys like Hawkeye and Iron Man just volunteer their thoughts whenever possible since they love to be at the head of the group. Falcon just needed to be more proactive in his attempts to let the team know what he thought they should do. Ironically enough, the Avengers asked his opinion next time, but the Falcon gave a mean retort like “What does it matter what the new Avenger thinks!” since he needed to let more missed opportunities go as he flew off…..you can probably tell that I’m not a huge Falcon fan either. He can be all right, but usually he’s just not very likable for me.

Overall, This collection was pretty good and all of the comics were basically enjoyable except for the controversial Ms Marvel one. The Beast and Wonderman team up wasn’t that interesting either, but it was all right. I would definitely recommend the collection to comic fans and it would be interesting to see what you thought of the Ms Marvel issue. The art is solid and you get to see a lot of the classic Avenger villains test their mettle against the heroes. I would say that Thor’s role is a bit smaller than usual since he is not always around in these issues, but he did turn up for the big battle against Arsenal so that was good. Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are definitely three Avengers who should always be around. (Of course, Steve Rogers will be passing on the mantle in the current comics and Thor is no longer Thor…but that’s another story of how the current comics like to change the status quo for a few months to draw in fan rage and sales) We are drawing to the end of the retro reviews that I’ve had on the backburner for quite a while. Only one left and then the other reviews will be back to being a lot more thorough and point by point since I can evaluate them better. Nevertheless, this is one collection that you should obtain!

Overall 7/10

Ultimate Spider Man Volume 4 Review

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This series relives the adventures that Spiderman has in the current Ultimate Spiderman TV show. The issues do this by taking pictures from the show and then planting them in the comic with some dialogue. Basically, you get to read the episodes in case you don’t watch TV. It can definitely seem like a cash grab since it’s very easy to make these, but I doubt that they sell very well either. Ah well, let’s see if these issues hold up well anyway.

One of the issues involves Harry Osborn as he becomes Venom. Spiderman’s going to have to deal with this threat, but Harry is his friend so that presents a pretty big dilemma for our young hero. Spiderman’s going to have to convince Harry to give up his newfound power the easy way…or the hard way!

Another comic involves the Taskmaster. Doctor Octopus hires him to infiltrate Spiderman’s high school to find out which student he is. Peter Parker is quickly dropped from suspicion since he’s not very good physically, but Iron Fist, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson are suspected to possibly be the hero. Spiderman can’t let them fall into harm’s way so it’s time to suit up once more. Will he be able to defeat this vicious foe!?

The Living Laser strikes in a team up comic that features Iron Man as a guest star. Tony Stark gives Spiderman an Iron Spider armor, which immediately gets to the web crawler’s head. His teammates become irritated at this and decide to give him the cold shoulder. Spiderman can’t be deterred and there’s still a villain to stop. He’ll do this…even if he has to do it alone!

Finally, we have a comic with the Hulk. Mary Jane guest stars (It’s a little scary to think that one of the biggest Spiderman supporting characters has been reduced to a guest star role….) as she wants to film this to show the world what a hero Spiderman can be. Spidey is happy to hear it since he hasn’t gotten such good press in a long time. Unfortunately, happy days are cut short as the Hulk engages in battle with a being made of electricity. SHIELD and the government may be after the Hulk, but whose side will Spiderman take? You don’t want to miss it!

I have to say that the usage of the pictures was a little more awkward than usual. They didn’t do a good job of making sure that they make sense. This results in fights that end very abruptly and the characters are already moving onto the next subject. Naturally, they can’t take a picture of every second, but this results in very stilted dialogue and plots. It’s especially noticeable if you’ve seen the show and then you can see all of the parts that are missing. They do manage to cover a lot of ground with these pictures so whoever’s in charge gets some props. It just could have been a little better and more seamless.

Naturally, I can’t even talk about the dialogue or the art that much because it’s all taken from the TV show. This is not a new experience so you should definitely not be reading it if that’s what you’re looking for. At least it is an interesting alternative to watching the show and I still think it would be interesting to see if anyone actually does make that choice.

It’s not really necessary to talk about the character portrayals all that much since it’s the same from the show. In light of this, I’ll just quickly speak about them. Hulk is safely in character, although he looks pretty weak. Zzax is as tough as always, but he’s still not very smart. Taskmaster is a pretty good villain and he was probably the toughest hand to hand fighter that Spiderman’s been up against in a while. Harry is pretty good for the most part and he handled his powers pretty wisely. (Too bad Peter wrecked it) Mary Jane is in character as well and Coulson takes everything in stride. The heroes openly try to mock him, but Coulson’s always prepared.

Peter Parker continues to show the world why he can barely make it as a superhero. He makes a lot of mistakes and he doesn’t act like he has a lot of experience. I can see why his teammates don’t trust him even if they don’t perform much better. I like Spiderman’s portrayal in the show, but just judging from these comics….he doesn’t look so good. Even his famed Spider Sense can’t save him now!

Overall, this is a decent collection of comics. The Iron Man, Venom, and Taskmaster ones were pretty interesting, but I didn’t care for the Hulk story all that much. I am glad that Spiderman stepped up and went against the government. That took character! The action is decent, but the comedy can be a bit much. I can’t recommend this to anyone who saw the show since the show is the definitive way of experiencing these adventures. If you have not watched the show, then these stories can be fun. Remember, it’s just a bunch of pictures that are placed together so don’t come in expecting a lot of artwork. It’s a unique reading experience and it definitely won’t be for everyone. I prefer this to bad art, but I’ll take a comic with average art over this style. You may like this comic for the fight scenes or it may not be enough. I’d sooner just recommend reading the original Spiderman comics from the 60s.

Overall 6/10