Thunderbolts Classic Volume 1 Review

Posted on July 20, 2015 by dreager1

I haven’t read many comics from the Thunderbolts. Actually, this is probably the first collection that I’ve checked out from them. The concept is always interesting as it was a group of villains who banded together to act like heroes. The current group is more of a heroes for hire team while this one is comprised of actual villains who are just trying to trick the world. It’s a fun comic and the concept is sound. It’ll be interesting to see where the series will go from here as the rest of the heroes will likely try to expose them once word gets around.

The Avengers and Fantastic Four were destroyed during the battle of Onslaught so there aren’t many heroes left to help out the average joe against the swarms of villains who are still out there. Baron Zemo decides that he will take advantage of this situation to win the trust of the world and eventually get rich as they give him access to more and more things. It’s an ambitious plan, but he knows that it can be pulled off! That being said, will his team be able to band together and overpower the villains or will they quickly be exposed?

This was during the classic 90’s so the art is big and bold. It works well for these comics and the fight scenes are definitely nice and intense like you would expect them to be. All of the character designs are the iconic ones from the classic days and you can’t help, but feel nostalgic when you see a character like Spider Man who looks so much like how he did in the 90’s TV show.

Speaking of which, he was one of the guest stars in this collection. He gets into a scuffle with the Thunderbolts as he tries to clear his name from a crime. The villains end up helping him out although Baron Zemo is not pleased with this decision. The Beetle took the initiative there since he found out what a nice guy Spider Man was. While Spider Man was losing to the group, he was trying not to hurt them so he underestimated the group. At least he was still holding onto his spider sense and felt like the real Spider Man. Naturally, I would have been happy if he had ended up winning of course.

The other big guest star was the Hulk as he went up against the Thunderbolts. He looked really good as he was totally in control of himself and acted very strategic. He certainly put the team in their place and you actually are rooting for him here since the Thunderbolts aim to destroy him. His partner was a skilled warrior who made for a good ally as well. I wonder what was happening in the Hulk comics at the time. Whatever situation he was going through, it looked like an interesting one and the fight between Hulk and the Thunderbolts was one of the highlights of the collection.

Baron Zemo’s plan was certainly genius as his team came together at a crucial time for the world. People accepted his group rather quickly, but I suppose that they were desperate for new heroes. Zemo’s alter identity was cool as he tried to act like Captain America or Superman. He was a symbol of hope for the world and while he had no fancy super powers, his athletics were enough for him to still deal some damage. He’s the lynchpin of this operation and without him, the whole team would fall apart.

Of course, that’s what Moonstone is gunning for. She seems to want Zemo out of the picture for some reason, possibly just so that she can become leader. Moonstone’s already thrown a few wrenches into the leader’s plans, but Zemo doesn’t suspect anything yet. This is a plot that will definitely become a big focus as the issues go on. While she is not quite as likable as Baron Zemo, she’s still a very interesting villain and is written well.

The Beetle used to be a classic Spiderman villain, but he has moved on since he always lost to the Wallcrawler. He has developed a bond with Screaming Mimi and starts to want to do the right thing after Spiderman helps him out. While his romance subplot is a bit much, it’s handled decently well and isn’t moving too quickly. He’s definitely one of the weaker members of the team, but his tech always keeps him in the fight. Atlas is the heavy hitter of the group and he’s grateful to Baron Zemo for giving him this chance and also saving his life a while back. Atlas seems to want to be a hero right away as he becomes friends with the mayor’s secretary, but he’s definitely going to have to deal with a conflict of interests situation very soon. I’m not a big fan of this guy, but he is more heroic than most of the other members and he can be quite tough as he grows larger and larger.

Screaming Mimi has really changed from when she was a big villain as she’s very timid and soft spoken now. Her vocal powers are pretty original as she can make barriers, fly, and do all kinds of things with them. The Banshee would be proud! I could definitely see her turning good since she doesn’t even act like a villain here, but seems to just follow whatever the group is doing. Hopefully, she will have a stronger personality as the issues go by so she isn’t just led around, but she seems like a nice character.

Jolt was the final member to join the team and she came around at the very end. The character is decent as she is always ready for a fight and she bounces back from bad situations very quickly. That being said, her origin story is rather intense and it’s really my main negative for the collection. For around 5-6 comics, we are constantly reminded of how painful it was for her to gain her powers through the experiments. It’s also just sad as she was kidnapped and nobody even knew or suspected. Luckily, she was able to escape on her own, but it was a rather dark subplot for what was otherwise a very light themed comic. The heroes managed to stop Zola and his experiments, but the villain unfortunately escaped to fight another day.

Finally, we have the Fixer. He’s a tech wiz who acts openly evil and loves just having an excuse to shoot everyone who gets in his way. He still gambles a lot on the side and definitely has no real thoughts of turning good so it will likely be very tough to convert him. He was one of my least favorite members of the team and actually, he was my least favorite member. He didn’t really add anything to the team dynamic and we already had the arrogant character in the form of Baron Zemo.

One of the more interesting plots here is about how the villains start to like being regarded as heroes and even help out a little when it’s not necessary. It’s safe to say that The Beetle is the first character to start thinking about being a hero. Atlas and Screaming Mimi start to get on board pretty quickly as well. Baron Zemo and Moonstone typically have the original goal in mind, but if the Fixer were to also start liking the hero gig, they may have to follow suit. As Moonstone and Zemo are the two biggest villains, it’s hard to see them turning over to the side of heroes so it may be time for a new leader for the group. Hopefully the members will make the right call and based on some of the covers for future volumes, at least some of them might. The comic series definitely ran for quite a while.

Another fun part of the collection was when the Thunderbolts battled the Masters of Evil. The fun part is that the Thunderbolts technically are the Masters of Evil so Baron Zemo is outraged at the fact that someone is copying his group. The two groups clash on two occasions, but we still don’t know who the new leader of the group is. Either way, it was a lot of fun to see the two groups fight each other and it was actually pretty evenly matched. Both groups have some talented fighters. That being said, in defeating the group, Zemo essentially gave one villain a hint as to what his secret identity was, which could come back to haunt him later.

For now, the Thundebrolts are mainly focused on earning a reputation so the series is essentially a villain of the weak story for now. I actually like this approach, but I’m sure that the plot will really start to move once the mayor gives them more privileges. SHIELD still doesn’t trust the Thunderbolts and with good reason, but I have a feeling that the Thunderbolts will be given too much power very quickly. That’s when they will have to decide if they want to be heroes or villains!

The final issues also show us each character’s origin story and then how they came together. I suppose that this was due to happen at some point. I enjoyed seeing the team come together as Baron Zemo definitely handles it in a different way than someone like Cyclops or Captain America would. The origin stories were also decent and Baron Zemo’s got to show us how the original Zemo handled his affairs. The apple didn’t fall very far from the tree in this case. Zemo’s reaction to Captain America dying against Onslaught was pretty humorous as we don’t get to see what villains think of the news too often.

Overall, Thunderbolts is a fun concept and this collection was a nice read. You’ll be able to blast through it thanks to the clear art style. The Avengers and other heroes are not around, but we still got some guest stars like Spider Man and the Hulk. The Black Widow also gets a cameo to a guest star as her role is small enough to be counted as either one. She gets some pretty good lines and hints that she knows what the Thunderbolts are scheming and will put a stop to it. Nothing like a few threats between “heroes” right? There’s a lot of action here and watching villains take down other villains is pretty rewarding. It’s hard to say where the plot will go from here so you’ll want to stick around for the next volume. The only thing that holds this comic back is Jolt’s backstory and at least it’s just mentioned and not shown. I still recommend this comic if you’re looking for some fun fights and good dialogue.

Overall 6/10

Ant Man Review

Posted on July 18, 2015 by dreager1

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has followed a strong formula for each of its films, which has resulted in none of them actually being bad. They’ve all been consistently good up til now and I had some decently high hopes for Ant Man. Unfortunately, I forgot that the concept of Ant Man may have doomed it from the start and every film series has to jump the shark eventually. This one proved to be Marvel’s first big miss! (For this continuity)

Scott is a man who has made some wrong choices. He chose to become a cat burgler and spent a lot of time in jail. He finally gets out, but realizes that nobody will hire him so he cracks and decides to become a criminal again. An old man who is called Mr. Pym gives Scott an offer. Scott can steal something for him or go back to jail. Scott uses the get out of jail free card and undergoes a training regime. Now that he is able to shrink and talk to Ants, nobody can stop him right? The ultimate battle against evil has now begun!

Ignoring the crippling negative that I will dive into soon, the film handled itself fairly well. As I mentioned, the MCU has a certain tone/atmosphere that is used for all of the films (Not counting The Incredible Hulk…another reason why that one is only barely in the MCU for me) and it works quite well for Ant-Man. We’ll get a serious spy scene, then a comedy moment, then a serious scene, comedy moment. It’s essentially a constant stream of back and forth and you typically will not go 2-3 minutes without an epic one liner or a burn from one of the characters. It’s one of the reasons why the MCU films have typically been crushing the competition.

It doesn’t take itself too seriously while still giving us good battles. I’d say that phase 2 has actually ramped up the comedy angle as the one liners seem more frequent, but it could be a coincidence. The action has also been ramped up so it could just be the “bigger is better” effect like what Slayers did with Next. Compare Avengers to Avengers 2, Cap to Cap 2, and Iron Man 3 to Iron Man 1. The sequels all had more action (The first is debatable I suppose) and more comedy moments. As long as the writing is good, this formula should always work quite well. Even if some of the jokes don’t work, there are enough of them that the good ones should overshadow the bad ones. Likewise, if you have a lot of fight scenes in a film, there should be at least one or two that you will like.

The MCU’s fights are also a step ahead of the other Marvel companies with the exception of ASM2. Ant Man’s battle against Yellow Jacket is pretty fun. Antman is certainly outmatched and probably should have lost, but it’s cool to see him dodging lasers and keeping up the intensity. Both fighters are always on the move and trying to keep the other off balance. The special effects seen here will definitely age well and the music while in the brief case was pretty epic.

Ant Man also likes to show us just how tiny the fighters are by showing off the outside world during the fights. During these moments, the music will stop and the real world will only have slight movement. This does rage a possible plot hole of Ant Man’s strength though. It’s shown that he still has his human sized strength while he’s tiny and he uses it quite often to take on the villains. So, why does Thomas barely move when the characters hit him at full strength in one scene? In the human world, we just see Thomas get lifted slightly as he bumps into the window. If Ant Man had his full human sized strength, it should have easily shattered the glass.

That’s only a mild thing though. Ant Man’s soundtrack is naturally good. The very first scene has a classic theme that you will remember from most of the other MCU titles with SHIELD and Ant Man introduces some other themes to the franchise. I’d say that just about all of them are good and especially the main “Ant Man” theme. You’ll know it when you see it. Having a good soundtrack is the first step to being a good movie. The next is having good writing.

Ant Man’s writing is solid for the most part. I say “for the most part” because it’s still not quite as good as the average MCU title. For one thing, I found Ant Man’s friends to be a little sad. They’re essentially all stereotypes. It’s used for comedy though and they each have their moments I suppose, but they felt like the characters that you would see in a mainstream comedy title like Pitch Perfect or Tower Heist and those are the characters that I can never like. The main friend is always making crude comments when talking about how he heard his stories and they are pretty off putting. The other two friends are really just there to use slang and try to be funny, which doesn’t work quite as well as the natural jokes that flow from Scott and the villains. An example of a scene that was funny was the Baskin Robbins moment. Those scenes I could get behind and I liked the manager a lot as he knew when to talk off the record as well as on it. Ant Man also felt like it had more language than I would have expected. The characters just can’t keep themselves in line so they constantly panic and let out some colorful words. So, I feel like that’s a bit of a writing issue.

Let’s go into the characters. Scott Lang is the main guy of course and he’s not bad. He’s essentially your average film protagonist who wants to do the right thing, but isn’t sure how to do that. I do think that he gave up and went back to a life of crime rather quickly, but we are led to believe that he looked for jobs for quite a while. A quick montage of that would have been good though. Still, in the end, he learns the values of teamwork and how to be a responsible hero. He really wants to keep his bond with his daughter and gets her a pretty nice gift. He’s certainly a good parent and I do like the character overall.

One plot element at the end of the film does hurt him a little though. There is a very forced romance between him and Hope. As with the average film, they meet and basically fall in love in the span of a few days. It’s just sad that the heroes have to be so predictable like this. At least it’s just one scene, but it’s still something that was not needed at all and was just added because it’s essentially expected at this point.

Otherwise, Hope makes for a good heroine. She can fight, which is always a good thing and she whips Scott into shape right away. She’s better at controlling the ants and is also a better hand to hand fighter, but she had quite a lot of prep time when compared to Scott. You’d think that Scott would have learned some more hand to hand in jail, but I guess he became buddies with the others too quickly. Hope easily outclasses Pepper, Jane, Betty, and Peggy as far as the MCU heroines go. Mr. Pym is another supporting character and he was fairly likable. It was good to see him take a nice shot at the government agent who stepped out of line and he is definitely very active for an old guy. This is not someone who plans to quietly retire from the front lines and I’m sure that he will have a decent role in the sequel. Hopefully he goes back to the mini world himself!

As for the main villain, he’s decently good. He seemed to flirt with Hope a little, which is generic villain 101 for how to not be taken seriously, but Yellowjacket was all right aside from that. You really can’t expect much from him in terms of character development as he’s meant to be a really generic villain, but he fits the bill and I definitely didn’t mind him as the antagonist. The Yellow Jacket suit is definitely really cool and seeing it again someday would be fun.

The film ends with some loose ends to be continued in the sequel or other MCU films. I’m not sure if I’m crazy about the villain who may be around for the sequel since we’ve done this dance so many times already, but we’ll see how it goes. There are two after credit scenes so you’ll want to check them out first. The first one is more of a traditional after credits scene in the sense that it would work for just about any film and doesn’t rely on the large continuity. It’s a good scene. The second one is some build up for the MCU. Time to start speculating about what this will all mean. It was cool to see the “Ant Man will return” sign at the end for sure.

One thing that I enjoyed about the film was that it didn’t act like everyone was gone. In a lot of comics, heroes will conveniently be out of town or asleep so that they don’t have to appear. This film doesn’t go that far and we actually get our first big meta human fight between heroes. It’s definitely neat and I agree with the outcome. There’s really no way that the hero should have lost this battle and as far as the victory went, I felt like it could have been even easier. Not saying that his opponent was a pushover….but he wouldn’t be much of a challenge either.

Sounds like a fun film so far right? I enjoyed the action and the comedy. Ant Man’s characters were pretty good for the most part, the effects were a lot of fun, and the film’s pacing was good. The movie always moved very quickly and I certainly wasn’t bored. The friends may have been a little sad at times and the writing wasn’t great, but the film could hold its own. Unfortunately, that’s where the negative comes in. See, this is a film called Ant Man so you can expect a lot of ants right? That’s the problem.

There is a lot of animal violence here and it’s really sad. The scenes are unnecessary and just there for poor shock value. Again, this is just a result of terrible writing and someone needs to get some new staff for the sequel. Goats already have a reputation of dying in big films like Jurassic Park, we didn’t need another one to die here. As soon as the goat appeared, I knew that it was game over. The way that he died was also very gross. A human died this way as well and it wasn’t sad like the Goat’s death, but it was still gross. This was a line that the film didn’t need to cross.

The Ants also die throughout the film. Scott clearly has no regard for their lives except for a select few. One of the ants gets a very emotional death while the others are typically taken down in the background. I knew that the ants should have all been mechanical. That would have solved the film’s biggest problem right from the start. As it is, this negative really destroyed the film just like with Jurassic World. (A film very similar to this one in many respects) Hopefully the sequel will use robots although I doubt that we’ll see a sequel for a very long time.

Ant Man also takes itself a little too seriously during one moment where Pym tells Hope about what happened to her mother. Scott quickly whips out another joke to stop the tension, but I felt like it almost could have broken them out of their slump sooner or they could have had Hope take the news a little better. That’s really the only scene where this happens though as the rest of the film is typically moving too fast for this to be an issue.

Hmmm, any more things to touch on here? The dialogue effect for the friend’s stories were good as every character had the same voice. If not for some of the terrible lines here, these were definitely some of the best jokes in the film. The guy will remind you of Sam from the Transformers Trilogy as they both have a similar style of speaking and maybe even similar personalities, but different enough that you would never mix them up. I think I’ve hit on most of the big points for the film here.

Overall, Get ready for some name drops, cameos, and world building as the film goes on. Now that the MCU is such a big franchise, it has to keep on growing to keep the audience in the loop and ready for some action. The film is still a lot of fun and has a lot of replay value due to its nature. On a critical level though, I still can’t recommend the title because of the very excessive animal violence. The writing and side characters can also be a bit dicey, but without the animal violence, we’d still be looking at a 7 star film here. If you are prepared for animal violence then you should see this film. If not, you really won’t be missing anything so you can still just skip to Avengers 3 and prepare yourself for the powers of the planet busters. Now, will Marvel be able to bounce back from this? I’m confident that they can as Civil War should be epic. From here on out, the only MCU film that you should be worried for is probably Inhumans and that one should still be good. The real question is, can Ant Man defeat the upcoming blockbusters like Pixels, Mission Impossible and Spectre? It’s going to be tough, but the Ant Man is used to being the underdog so he’s ready for action.

Overall 4/10

Fantastic Four Volume 4 The End Is Fourever Review

Posted on July 12, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to look at the end of an era for the Fantastic Four. They’ve had some really great runs over the years like the Hickman epic and the classic run. A lot of things have happened over the years and now the plots can all wrap up. The collection ends on a high note and things wrap up nicely without feeling forced or rushed. We even get some fun guest stars!

The Fantastic Four has been split apart recently. The kids were kidnapped by the Wizard, Mr Fantastic was kidnapped by a guy who wants to be known as the Peace Man or something like that. The Human Torch doesn’t have his powers anymore and the Thing has just barely gotten away from prison. As you can see, they aren’t really ready to stop a worldwide invasion by aliens, but they decide to give it a whirl anyway. They’ve made plenty of friends over the years and they’ll need all of them if they want to win this battle.

This collection is essentially nonstop action, which is really rare for the Fantastic Four series. The alien insects are everywhere so we get cameos from several Avengers. The Avengers don’t look so good once again, but it’s mainly SHIELD that starts things off on a rocky note as they decide to attack the Hulk. Everyone eventually gets over the mix-up, but it did give us a nice excuse for a quick fight scene, which is always a solid way to kick things off. The Fantastic Four’s group definitely would have won had the battle kept going since they had the Hulk on their side and Invisible Woman could have handled the rest of the group.

The art is quite good as you would expect from the Fantastic Four series. The fight scenes are vibrant and colorful while the dialogue scenes flow naturally. This is certainly an easy comic to read as a result and I had a fun time blasting through it. The final issues also celebrate its 75th anniversary so we get a few short stories and one issue where we see what all of the other heroes were doing when the Fantastic Four first formed. That was fun and there were certainly a lot of guest stars so the comic really tried not to leave anyone out.

The comic also had some really good writing and it was an interesting read from start to finish. Mr Fantastic got his props as he was able to foil most of the villain’s plan on his own and also broke free from the trap. He is Mr Fantastic after all and while some of Marvel’s other geniuses like Tony Stark typically get more publicity, I’d consider Mr Fantastic to easily be the smartest man in the Marvel Universe. I wouldn’t take anyone against him in a battle of wits and he’s still my favorite member of the Fantastic Four. He was portrayed perfectly here!

The Thing looked good and he was certainly willing to jump into the fray right away. He’s a character who’s had his ups and downs, but I’m glad to say that this would be more of an up for him. The Human Torch looks nice and heroic. The comic still plays up his flirty side a bit, which is regrettable, but he doesn’t go totally overboard in the past so the writer did a decent job with him compared to past incarnations. Invisible Woman continues to show why she is a threat in any fight since her force abilities are really effective against all fighters. There’s a twist about why she has been using her powers more freely lately, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are still her powers. Once she gets used to them a little more, she’ll be back to being a big threat in the Marvel universe.

The villains aren’t very high profile, but they’re not bad either. I’ve never been much of a fan of the Psycho Man, but his abilities are decent I suppose. I much preferred the peace guy who did escape so that’ll be a plot to delve into in the future I suppose. He’s quite smart even though he was duped by one of the other villains. I actually liked him as a villain since he seems to be a good match for Mr. Fantastic.

The subplot with the kids wasn’t bad as the kid made the right call and showed everyone that he’s not a true villain deep down. I don’t think that he should have played along from the beginning to be honest, but it all worked out in the end. The plot was not quite as interesting as any of the others, but at least it gave the kids some closure so maybe they won’t be needed in future arcs. I still don’t really like how Valeria is portrayed to be as smart, if not smarter than Mr Fantastic. That’s still a little iffy if you ask me.

I do appreciate the fact that the comic mentions why most of the Avengers aren’t around to help. Since the invasion is taking place across the whole planet, they have to protect the other countries that have less superheroes. This is a great reason for them not being around and I wish that more comics would acknowledge this. New York has all of the big threats so I’m glad that some stuck around, but the other countries have far less superheroes so they could definitely use the help.

After the nonstop action for most of the collection, I didn’t mind the short stories at the end. The camping story with Mr Fantastic and Valeria was fun and we got to see that Mr Fantastic did have fun enjoying nature when he wasn’t busy inventing things. The Thing’s was a little sad for him with the ending, but it shows that he’s always ready to help. I’m not sure if short stories would have worked as well if they had been the whole collection, but they still would have been fun to read in a different way when compared to the action. Both techniques work when the writing is good enough. The fact that we had fake versions of the Avengers was also awesome since it gave us an excuse to see Thor and Iron Man take on the Fantastic Four. Scarlet Witch even fights her doppleganger. The villains aren’t really a threat here and it’s really just to show you all of the friends that the Fantastic Four have made over the years. Trust me, they’ve made quite a lot of them!

Overall, This was a really fun volume. Whether you’ve read the previous ones or not, it’s easy to jump right into the action. A lot of things happened to set up the situation, but it’s easy to understand what the situation is and what the heroes have to do to stop the invasion. It’s too bad that most of the Avengers are busy, but the Fantastic Four are always more than a match for any adversary. The team is essentially a blank slate now so they can really do whatever they feel like doing now. It’s a great way to hand over the comic to a new creative team since there are no big subplots unfolding at the moment. This was a good run and an epic end to it so I recommend this collection to all Marvel fans.

Overall 8/10

World War Hulk Review

Posted on July 2, 2015 by dreager1

I remember this arc when it first came out. There was a lot of hype around it and I still consider the plot to be one of the best concepts from all Marvel events. Only Civil War may be able to top it. Nothing beats a good Heroes vs Heroes story, but one that comes close is when the hero turns evil and decides to destroy the heroes. It’s sort of like the Doomsday story in the comics as Superman has a long monologue about what would happen if he finally met a villain that he couldn’t defeat. It’s a story that has a lot of potential. World War Hulk doesn’t live up to all of it sadly, but it’s still a fun comic.

As mentioned, the plot is very simple. The Hulk was shot into space and deserted to die on a planet full of gladiators and aliens. He managed to survive and lived a happy life there, but then his rocket ship came back into orbit and crashed on the planet, destroying everyone on the planet. The Hulk blames the Illuminati for placing the bomb on the rocket and he has now returned to Earth to destroy them and make the Earth suffer for what has happened. All of Marvel’s heroes will have to set aside their differences if there is any hope of stopping the Hulk.

It should be noted that the Hulk picked a great time to launch this attack. For starters, Thor isn’t around at the moment, which takes away a really large threat right from the start. Also, the Civil War is still raging on at the moment or at least the post effects so the heroes have to reluctantly work together at the risk of being arrested. Yes, this is definitely the Hulk’s moment of glory and the heroes may not know what hit them! It should be noted that some heavy weights like Ghost Rider and the X-Men are noticeably absent, but they end up fighting the Hulk in tie-in issues. It’s too bad that they weren’t included, but I did review the X-Men one a while back.

If you wanted a comic with nonstop action, then this is definitely the one to check out. The 5 issues are basically showing the Hulk take down the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and all of the loners who tried to join the fray. Even the military stood no chance against the Hulk. Granted, The Hulk had about 5 teammates known as the Warbound who are apparently about as strong as the Hulk pre rage. That’s a lot of hype for those guys, but they did manage to defeat Spiderman (Off screen naturally……he never gets any respect in the modern comics!) so I suppose that they lived up to their reputation.

The Hulk has never been madder than he is now so his power is really skyrocketing. By the end of the comic, he starts to grow so powerful that he could have destroyed the Earth with a single stomp. That’s some insanely good strength. Naturally, Hulk is a total villain here who only cares for revenge. It’s a motive that works for most villains so why not for him right? He’s not mindless here by any means and he just believes that the Avengers need to pay for their crimes of genocide. An eye for an eye is his strategy. It’s been a while since we saw the Hulk portrayed as a villain so that was neat. He even uses his intelligence to trick Dr Strange at one point since he’s totally in control here. You have never seen a more deadly Hulk.

The Sentry’s role in this is also quite big as he gets hyped up right from the start. One problem that you may have with this is the fact that everyone acts like the Sentry and Hulk are best friends. Since when right? The Sentry is also a little insane and completely unlikable, but you still have to respect his incredible power. He’s said to be the strongest hero in Marvel and while I completely disagree with that, he’s certainly one of the stronger members and not someone to be taken lightly.

I do have to mention that the art isn’t very good here. It’ll look all right at times and then the character models will just start to shift and tumble. I dunno, there was just something a little off putting about it, but the art still wasn’t downright bad. We still got some fun action sequences out of it (Which is the whole point of World War Hulk right?) and the scene where the Sentry finally makes his move is pretty epic. The guy definitely seems to think of himself as a Superman level fighter and maybe he has some valid reasons for this. He does end up looking really good here after all.

As this is one of the more modern events, you can tell that you are missing some things by not reading the tie ins, but it’s not as big as in some other graphic novels where it’s in your face. The pacing is good. The Hulk gradually defeats everyone and by the end you will be wondering how the Hulk can possibly be defeated. You have to wonder if even the Sentry will be able to stand up to such a powerful threat. Most of the other heroes do feel like light weights here. Even fighters like Ms. Marvel and She Hulk are shown to not even be a threat to the Hulk. Seriously, they just watch Iron Man get taken out and only jump in to help at the very end. Not very heroic eh? I was personally disappointed that Spiderman was taken out off screen by one of the minions. I don’t buy that…at all.

In fact, as cool and tough as the Hulk is, I don’t buy any of it. The heroes badly outnumbered Hulk and his little group and I feel like they really should have won this round. I think that Ms. Marvel could give the Hulk a good fight. When she’s with She Hulk, Ares, Spiderman, and many more fighters…that should really be enough to end things. The Fantastic Four didn’t look too good, but I have to admit that those guys would be outmatched in an instant. Only Mr. Fantastic can hope to save them all and things didn’t go according to plan for him. It was fun to see Iron Fist and X-23 jump into the action and Iron Fist did all right against one of the Warbound, but he was soon put in his place.

Dr Strange entered a type of rage mode to stop the Hulk and nearly destroyed innocent civilians in the process. It was the only time where the heroes looked bad as the Hulk had to save them before stopping Dr. Strange. It was still a fun super form to look at though. Even the government gets some hype as General Ross explains that he always knew that the other superheroes could never stop the Hulk. Naturally, his weapons aren’t that effective and he doesn’t stand a chance, but you really have to admire his confidence. Ross has no doubt that he will stop the Hulk and he fights on right up til the very end. He was actually a very likable figure here and he has certainly known the Hulk much longer than anyone else.

The Warbound don’t really have much of a personality as they carry their baggage from Planet Hulk. I didn’t like any of the members and I doubt that the film would change my mind. One of them admits that what they are doing is wrong, but he doesn’t care since he just wants revenge. Better to be a villain than to knowingly act like a villain. Seriously, the guy is constantly talking about morals and justice while he’s attacking the heroes. Definitely not your typical superhero behavior eh? The justice concept would have been pretty interesting had the Illuminati actually placed a bomb inside of Hulk’s rocket, but a plot twist nullifies that. Most of what the Illuminati did was unintentional, but they still deserve a lot of blame for what happened to the Hulk. His time in space was certainly not a pleasant one.

You have to wonder what would have happened if Thor and the X-Men had been here from the start. Would the Hulk have been able to come out on top like he did here or would the heroes have stopped him? I feel like the heroes should definitely have won and with Thor and the others, that should be a guarantee. I would love to see another arc like this pop up soon where one powerhouse takes on the whole Marvel Universe. Not in a single blow or eventually, but a gauntlet run like what happened here. Those scenarios are always a lot of fun.

Overall, I was hyped to read World War Hulk from the start. I just love the concept of it and greatly enjoyed the X-Men vs Hulk tie-in. That being said, it was maybe a little less enjoyable than I had been expecting it to be. The gladiator ring part of the saga wasn’t great and the art was definitely a little sub par. The nonstop action was great though and the dialogue was engaging as well. This is definitely a solid read for all Hulk fans and especially if you just want to see some big hero against hero fights. There is a cliff hanger, but it’s not that great. Especially when you know who the mysterious figure turns out to be. Still, this was a fun event. Smaller in scope than most of Marvel’s big specials, but it was still impactful and showed us the Hulk’s true power! (Albeit, slightly over hyped…)

Overall 8/10

Spider Men Review

Posted on July 2, 2015 by dreager1

Yes, technically you would usually use a hyphen here, but I actually prefer not to use hyphens. It’s a bit of a personal preference. I saw this comic at the library a long time ago, but I didn’t have time to flip through it. I finally read it now and Spider Men is a fun crossover. There may not be a lot of action, but it’s always fun to see the 616 universe meet up with the Ultimate one. It’s safe to say that 616 proves its superiority in this volume.

Spiderman was beating up on Mysterio like usual when he got sucked into a portal which took him to the Ultimate universe. He was quickly subdued by that version of Spiderman and reluctantly decides to work with the Ultimates to get back to his universe. Is there a way back or is he stuck in this universe for the rest of eternity? It’s hard to say, but at least Spiderman can meet some of his old friends who are still alive in this universe.

As I already mentioned, there isn’t a lot of action here. It’s actually surprising that this was a whole 5 issues as it felt more like 2-3 by the end. It’s a fun way for Peter Parker to have a final meet up with Gwen and to also talk with Aunt May a little. It reminds you that the Ultimate universe definitely switched things up a lot when you consider Spiderman’s history. Gwen isn’t coming back in 616…ever, but we do have the Spider-Gwen series so she’ll still be around. That will also be a fun meet up…as long as Slott isn’t writing the comic.

I was a little disappointed with the fact that Miles defeated Spiderman. I mean..are you kidding me? I have nothing against Miles….well, I don’t really care for the guy all that much. His personality irks me a little, but beyond that, I don’t see how he could take down Spiderman. Miles has his own spider sense and venom blasts going, but Spiderman is physically stronger, I’d say that he’s faster, and it goes without saying that he has more experience. In the fight between the two Spidermen, they made Peter Parker look like a rookie. He got careless and it cost him big time when it came down to the fisticuffs. Even without prep time, I’m confident that the original Spiderman would win this round.

The art looks fairly good. Peter Parker looks a little off model, but the artist was likely just trying to point out just how much older Peter is when compared to the ultimate version of himself. It certainly is a contrast to see Peter next to the other characters. The art’s not great, but it’s fairly good. The action scenes are just a little stilted and everyone looks stiff. Marvel can learn a thing or two from looking at DC’s more streamlined art. Now, that’s how you suck the readers into the fight scenes!

Spiderman is still a likable lead even if he’s portrayed as being inexperienced and a little weak. He heads over to Aunt May’s house and then panics a lot as everyone beats him up. He keeps telling himself that he shouldn’t have come…but he is already there. It was a little late for the second guessing and Spiderman definitely overdid it. Still, as Spiderman, Peter Parker was a good character. He has the quips ready and he certainly did his best to make Mysterio look bad.

Miles is still a little annoying for me. Maybe it’s because he’s so young, but he constantly acts like he’s a big shot while pretending to be modest. Kind of hard to wrap you head around that right? It’s hard to explain, but that’s just the way it goes. Give him a few years of experience under his belt and I’m sure that Miles will grow up to be a likable character. He’ll certainly be better than good ole Mysterio.

Mysterio looked pretty weak and helpless, which is what I would expect from the guy. He’s not quite in the same league as the average Spiderman villain. I did like the twist that there never was an Ultimate Mysterio and the real one just used a robot to troll the characters in the other universe. Now, that’s the kind of plot twist that I like to see although I need to check out his older appearances to see if this twist really lines up or if it was just made up for the lolz.

I do think that there were some missed opportunities here though. Think about it, there’s so much potential about having the original Spiderman in the ultimate universe. Extending this arc to around 20 issues would have been great. Spiderman could have fought some of the villains and interacted with the supporting cast members a little more. We could have really seen the contrast between this world and 616. The fact that everyone considers Peter to be a hero in Ultimate is a plot line that could easily hold 5-6 issues by itself. It’s awesome to see since Peter will never have such a rep in 616.

There was one moment where I felt like there was a lot of plot hax. Mysterio was in a room with the Ultimates and the two Spidermen. The heroes just watch as he gets up and whacks Spiderman over the head. Talk about slow reaction times right? Luckily, Miles was ready to challenge Mysterio and take him down for the count. Also, the comic tries really hard to show us that the Tony Stark in this universe is not even close to as smart as the main one. He can barely even comprehend the universe travelling tech and we know how much the heroes like to universe hop in 616. He also seems a little more sinister, which would fit when you consider how Ultimate Reed Richards acts. The Ultimates definitely aren’t earning their keep so maybe they should have tried harder to recruit Spiderman into the fold. Also, does this mean that the Mysterio will never appear again? That would be awesome, but it probably doesn’t matter all that much with the big Secret Wars arc that’s currently happening in the comics.

Overall, Spider Men was a fun little crossover. The hype was deserved since this was really the first time that the two universes had a proper meeting. From here on out, the meetings would certainly get larger in scope. The comic could have used a better villain as Mysterio is super overused, but I was pleased with the fact that the heroes could effortlessly beat him. If they needed to actually try to beat someone like this, they would have been better off giving up right away! If you’re a big Spiderman fan, then you should check this comic out. If you don’t care about Spiderman, then that’ll certainly hurt your chances of really enjoying the collection and then you should just take a pass on it. Either way, it’s an enjoyable/quick experience and you won’t be losing much time if you decide to give it a whirl. With this, you will be ready for the Secret Wars and the battle between Ultimate and 616 that nearly happened, but mostly finished off screen. It was still a moment of incredible hype and you’ll need to track down the Free Comic Book Day issue to find it.

Overall 7/10

Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 4 Review

Posted on June 10, 2015 by dreager1

The Avengers are known as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and considering that the Justice League don’t exist in Marvel, I must agree. The Avengers have always been a team of powerhouses who could tackle any threat. That being said, this volume occurs when the team is actually not looking too powerful so they must use their quips and wit to outsmart the foes who stand in their way. It is an interesting concept, but the volume isn’t quite up to taking on the average Avenger collection thanks to its high standards. Still makes for a fun read of course.

There were around 10 issues in this collection, which is a reasonable amount. The first few issues deal with the Sons of Serpent organization. While they may appear to be extremely weak on the surface, they are powerful when in great numbers. They manage to capture Captain America so the rest of the Avengers are pressured into supporting the political views of the enemies. It’s always intriguing to see politics addressed in comics, but they made sure to not get too involved with those issues. I’m sure that the Avengers won’t underestimate the group again after this!

The next two issues featured The Living Laser! This guy was typically an Iron Man villain, but this time he decided to take on the Avengers because of his feelings for the Wasp. Little did he know that Heart, not feelings, wins battles. He was outmatched from the start even though he nearly finished off the Avengers for good. After that was a two part adventure featuring the Ultroids. They weren’t exactly Ultron, but these androids were still decently powerful and they could copy the abilities of the foes that they defeated through their technology. They managed to cream the Avengers for a while, but they overestimated themselves, which doomed the villains.

Finally, a three part epic involving the famous Hercules arrived. He was tricked by the Enchantress into attacking the Avengers and then he helped them out against Namor. That was a decently fun trilogy although it is always sad to see the heroes mind controlled so easily. Their strength of will should suffice to keep them safe from danger and harm. Ah well, at least Hercules realized what was up with some help and then stuck around to help the team when they were in a jam. I still consider him to be a watered down Thor who is not quite as impressive physically or mentally, but Hercules is still stronger than the rest of the cast at the moment so that’s always a plus.

We start to see why Hank Pym isn’t one of the greatest heroes in this collection. While he has some good moments like talking back to Hawkeye and taking charge, he’s definitely not very nice to the Wasp. When she’s in danger he gets riled up of course, but he basically tells her to leave when she was trying to help him with an experiment. He certainly doesn’t have a whole lot of tact and I can see why they drifted apart. The Wasp is a decent character here, but she’s still not close to how she was in later years as she can still be a bit of a flirt.

The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are good heroes here and they are finally confident in the fact that they are Avengers. They had some iffy moments down the line, but they now know their place on the team. With two of the stronger team members back with the Avengers, they helped to give the heroes some much needed muscle. Hawkeye does a lot of trash talking for the team and he’s always got an arrow at the ready. It’s scary to think that he’s actually one of the tougher members on board, but that’s simply what the Avengers had been reduced too in this era. He’s always a fun character to have around.

Captain America is the best Avenger so I was sad to see him go. I know that he eventually comes back, but it must have been tough for fans of the team to see the final member of the big three leave. With only the B list heroes on board, The Avengers really needed him to stick around. As far as the villains go, The Living Laser was one of the only ones that I recognized. He looked pretty bad here as he was just attacking people to get the Wasp to like him. He had some good dialogue, but such a petty reason for being a villain definitely ensures that I wouldn’t care for him as a villain. That’s just very shallow.

Namor was a neat guest star and he looked fairly impressive as he held his own against Hercules. Hercules is certainly stronger of course, but Namor found the Cosmic Cube and that helped him out a lot. I didn’t expect to see such a powerful cosmic item come into play either so the final issue really raised the stakes on the adventure. Namor’s still antagonistic here, but you can’t blame him for being fed up with the humans since they constantly attack his home. So long as Atlantis is under the sea, humans will never leave it alone so it is an endless fight.

The Black Widow has a subplot where she tries to join the Avengers once more, but Giant Man doesn’t trust her and she doesn’t give the heroes much reason too. She ultimately takes on a mission from S.H.I.E.L.D. which puts a damper on her plans and I guess that her plot will likely continue more in future issues. I don’t remember her really appearing in volume 5, but she may have been around briefly. This old version of her was certainly very different from her modern incarnation.

If I had one critique for the collection, it would just be that the stakes are typically very low. It’s hard to get very excited about some of the issues and some more well known characters would have been nice to have. The plot in X-Men was more interesting for me and the characters may have actually been slightly better although the writing here beats that of the X-Men’s. It’s still a fun comic that you will be able to coast through, but you won’t be as invested as you typically would be in one of these classic Marvel issues.

As always, the art is quite good for the Avengers collection. The classic designs for the characters are always fun to look at and the fight scenes are engaging. Quicksilver’s speed here looks more impressive than it did in other instants and we are finally starting to get to the point where his speed is at in the modern days. He’ll never be quite as fast as someone like the Flash, but this is still a nice start. The writing is also quite good as the heroes trade good one liners with the villains. We really don’t see dialogue like this anymore, which is too bad. It’s one of the reasons why comics were so awesome in the first place after all. The burns were certainly real.

Overall, This was a good collection of the Avengers, but it just wasn’t as exciting as it could have been with Captain America missing some issues and Iron Man/Thor not being around. I always miss the big three when they’re not together as they are The Avengers for me. I recently reviewed volume 5 so I’m already okay on that front. I’ve still got another Marvel Masterworks coming up, but after that one, it could be gone for a while. The series has been a fun way to read up on the old series though so I won’t be forgetting about it anytime soon. If you’re a fan of the classic Marvel stories, this is definitely the comic for you. It’s still a solid action title that makes for a good read.

Overall 7/10

Marvel Masterworks The X-Men Volume 4 Review

Posted on June 7, 2015 by dreager1

I had a lot of fun with the previous X-Men collection so it’s cool that I had the next volume at the ready! We get a pretty nifty guest star here and the mysterious Factor Three organization also decides to show themselves. A lot happens here for sure and while there may technically have been issues with higher stakes and better guest stars here, I feel like the last collection had better subplots on the human side of things. Either way, this is another solid collection.

Before the team can strike back at Factor Three, The Juggernaut rises to fight once more. As always, he proves to be a difficult opponent to take down. It’s fun to see how the power levels were back in the day as the heroes exclaim that Juggernaut can destroy a tank and it was extremely impressive at the time. Nowadays, such a feat wouldn’t merit reactions that were quite so fierce. This two part adventure was fun, even if the X-Men were extremely outmatched at the time. They didn’t have any real power hitters on board to counter the Juggernaut.

After that, The Factor Three plot took center stage and covered at least 4 issues. Spider Man appears, which was a nice treat. After all of the hype, I can’t say that I was very impressed with the leader of the group. The whole thing was very….interesting. It was fun to see the old villains again, but after all of the hype, I wouldn’t have minded some new faces. The Blob and Unus are all right, but I don’t consider them to be heavyweight champs or anything like that. Still, this plot was certainly one that lasted and seeing the arc end was fun. This was probably one of the first true arcs to ever appear in the X-Men comics.

After that, it was back to the one shot adventures. Frankenstein’s monster appeared in one of the issues. Another one had a guy called Grotesque who decided to beat the heroes up. He didn’t have a whole lot of motivations, but he was powerful and he did the unthinkable. He managed to destroy Professor Xavier, which was a pretty impressive feat. I’ll miss the leader of the X-Men, but it’s safe to say that he won’t be dead for very long. In the comics, iconic characters just can’t stay dead for too long or else the fans will riot.

The art is pretty solid as per usual. The X-Men also manage to get real costumes for the first time. They had costumes before the issue, but they all wore the same thing. Now each character has his own look and that would just be the start as just about every super hero team uses the same concept. After all, why should everyone look the same. The Angel’s costume takes the most getting used too, but the others all look good. The Angel’s isn’t bad either, it’s just not what I would have expected.

The writing is also great, but we don’t get any moments that stand out quite as much as those in the last graphic novel. It’s hard not to chuckle when we saw Cyclops go up against the Locus and get sucker punched. That was definitely an intense bout. In this collection, the best lines are probably the ones where Cyclops and the Beast are insulting the villains or when Spider-Man is around. It’s safe to say that you will not get tired of the banter anytime soon as it’s a blast and a half from start to finish.

Professor Xavier looks very shady in this collection as he starts to keep the X-Men out of the loop. His reasoning wasn’t great and I still don’t really see what his angle was. It just brought dissension into the ranks and hurt the trust factor between teammates. Cyclops was bold enough to decide that he would bypass Xavier’s orders if necessary, but luckily things didn’t come to that. It was a little foreshadowing for when Cyclops would resent the Professor’s leadership in the Uncanny X-Men days. Of course, that just makes the Professor’s death even more tragic as he didn’t leave on very good terms.

The rest of the X-Men are essentially unchanged from the last collection. At least the Angel is pretty much over Jean as he finds a new friend to hang out with. I remember her from another X-Men comic so she definitely stays around for quite a while. He certainly comes in handy to the team with his flying even if he isn’t very powerful. The Beast is an interesting member as the others treat him like the strongest member of the team at times. I would disagree with that since I think that Iceman or Cyclops could beat him with ease. His verbal gimmick is always enjoyable though as you know that he’s doing it all on purpose. Unfortunately, Jean chooses the Professor over the team, which I didn’t think was a good move. The heroes could have died against the villain because Jean and Prof X decided not to help and that really shows why his plan was so bad. At that point, it didn’t matter what his reason was for deserting the team, he nearly ended the X-Men. If they had died there, that certainly wouldn’t have been good.

Beyond the main comics, there’s also a backup story about how Cyclops first joined the team. It plays out at the end of each of the final issues and Cyclops gets to go up against a guy who is now The Living Diamond. It’s certainly an interesting story and Cyclops shows why he is one of the true heroes. His origin story is also interesting because I’m not too familiar with it. The one sad part about having a backup story is that the normal issues end up being shorter, but I suppose that it is a worthy sacrifice.

Back to Spider-Man, it was also cool to see that the comic essentially admitted that he could beat the whole team. The X-Men started the fight this time so Spider-Man was just playing serious, but things changed once he got serious. He can easily handle them all thanks to his Spider Sense and he did a good job of keeping them all tangled up. That’s one thing that a lot of villains seem to take advantage of. In terms of raw power, the X-Men are essentially powerless. As I mentioned earlier, the Beast is physically the strongest member of the group and he’s barely any stronger than a normal human. So….the team really needs a power hitter. As it is, they’re lucky that they haven’t fought a really strong villain yet or that a lot of other factors were at play when the Juggernaut was around.

Overall, This was a fun collection. Besides Spider-Man, we didn’t have many notable appearances by any big players. It was a very dry collection. Juggernaut was a fun villain to have, but that’s essentially it. I wouldn’t consider The Blob or Unus to be too popular. The Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch appear for a very brief cameo, but they don’t really get to do anything so it barely counts. You really need to just enjoy the X-Men members a lot to enjoy this collection and luckily the writing is very good here so they are enjoyable protagonists. With Factor Three out of the way, it’s time for Magneto to step back into the equation. It’s been a while since he appeared so it’s certainly about time. With Prof X out of the equation, can the heroes really handle him? I suppose that we’ll find out once I am able to check out the next volume. Until then, you can expect a review for an Avengers collection soon.

Overall 8/10

Marvel Masterworks The X-Men Volume 3 Review

Posted on May 31, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for another visit down memory lane with some classic X-Men comics. The Marvel Masterworks series has definitely been an excellent way to look at some of Marvel’s original all stars. I don’t believe that I’ve read any that I disliked. The X-Men collection is even better than most as the comics were really interesting and about on par with those of Spiderman and Thor. It’s fun to see Cyclops and how much of noble leader he was in contrast with his current personality. This is a collection that you don’t want to miss!

The collection brings 10 comics and since each one is about 20 pages, we get around a 200 page collection. That’s a decent size and it allows the graphic novel to churn out quite a few stories. The collection starts off with an action packed two parter where Count Nefaria assembles a group of super villains to take down the X-Men. Their members are all rather weak and unknown, but they prove that teamwork can make any villain a legitimate threat. Can the X-Men put aside their differences and defeat them or will they be crushed?

This was a great way to start off the collection. I had quite a bit of fun with this two part story as it was fun to see the heroes actually losing against some of the weakest villains that I’ve seen in a while. This certainly wasn’t there day, but at least Cyclops put up a decent fight. When you think about it, the X-Men really aren’t that tough so a sneak attack can work quite well against them.

Next up was a one shot issue with the Locust. This comic was fun to read as the guy got a sucker punch in on Cyclops, which was hilarious to read. There’s not a whole lot more to say about it because the Locust is just another villain who wants to terrorize the world. His goals and motivations are essentially cardboard, but he still makes for an interesting antagonist. I never considered him to be much of a threat though.

After that, was the two part comic with El Tigre. El Tigre was just your average criminal until he found a pendant, which allowed him to gain great powers. Once he had both pieces, he claimed to be a god and the X-Men realized that this villain would be no pushover. In fact, it may take everything that the X-Men had and more to defeat this guy. Thor is mentioned as the X-Men admit that he could have beaten El Tigre, but what can mere mortals do? El Tigre was a bit of a boring villain. Decently likable, but there was nothing to him and I can see why he never became popular. His telepathic abilities were certainly good though.

The Mimic returned for the next 3 issues. He decided to join the team and help them out, but he was unwilling to alter his personality. Mimic essentially bullied his way into being the team’s leader. He is the most powerful member of the group to be sure, but he’s not a very nice guy. He helped the team against the Banshee and the Super Adaptoid though. Without him, the team would not have lasted very long against those threats. They were certainly lucky that the Mimic was in town.

It was fun to see the Super Adaptoid. He’s like a retro Ultron and made for a very imposing villain. He probably should have beaten The X-Men, but I suppose that having the Mimic along gave the team some extra muscle power. It’s sad that nobody believed Iceman when he saw the android though. The Cobalt Man still doesn’t make that much sense into how suddenly he turned evil, but he was a fun adversary as well. He’s essentially an evil Iron Man and it’s impressive that someone was able to replicate the suit. The Mimic wasn’t a very likable guy. He comes across as really arrogant, but not in a cool way. He can barely back up his tough talk and didn’t last too long when the stakes were high. He has a sad ending to his story, but it’s likely just temporary and I expect him to be in fighting shape before long.

Finally, the comic ended on a bit of a quiet note with two stand alone stories. Warlock decided to attack in one issue, but it wasn’t the cool Adam Warlock. This was Merlin and the man had merely changed his name. It was a decent issue, but nothing to write home about…just to write the blog about. In the last issue, the dreaded Cobalt Man made his debut. He used to be an all right guy, but putting on the costume turned him into a super villain. It’s interesting because there’s no reason why this should have happened to him. I suppose that it’s just like how putting on a mask makes some people turn into super heroes, it has the opposite effect on others.

There are naturally a few subplots, which continue in the background during the issues and will likely stick around for future volumes as well. There’s an evil organization that keeps being mentioned and you can bet that they are about to make their move. Jean Grey also quit the team to enter into college, but still ends up helping out in just about every issue. Professor Xavier is also keeping a big secret. There are probably even more plots going on if I really focused and that’s one of the reasons why the collection is so much fun. Being able to juggle many different plots is the sign of a good writer.

Also, the comic is a blast to read through and through. In the end, that’s why you read a comic after all and few succeed more than this one. The writing is on the dot and it’s great to hear the characters exchanging one liners. The characters even acknowledge this as it leads to a loss for the heroes several times and the villains rub it in. “While you’re posturing, I’ll take this.” is an example of something that a villain will say before stealing something or maybe even beating up on the heroes. It’s something that modern comics don’t really do anymore as the heroes don’t indulge in puns and their quick burns. I certainly miss that as it was really classic and fun to witness.

The roster is a pretty good one although the team is a little weak at this point. Cyclops is still the commanding leader who is always ready for action. He hasn’t come to terms with his optic blasts yet, but he’s certainly on the way to recovery at this point. He’s easily the strongest member of the team and the most likable one. Angel is Cyclop’s rival and the guy is decently heroic, but certainly not as likable. He puts Cyclops in a bad position when the Angel accuses him of attempted murder and the guy is constantly flirting. That’s definitely not cool. Iceman is pretty great as he gets the most burns and can fight on his own better than most of the others. He doesn’t get a very unique role compared to the others, but he’s always helping out. Professor X doesn’t act as the leader very often anymore, but he starts to act a little shady in this volume. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s hiding. He has a device that allows him to walk a little, which is interesting. I wonder why he ultimately ends up ditching it and will be interested in seeing how it is broken. You would expect him to simply rebuild it, but I suppose that there are extenuating circumstances.

Jean Grey gets a bigger role than the rest of the team since she has her own major subplot where she joins College. She’s definitely a good character and helps out the team in many circumstances. If she had more mental energy, she would easily be the power house of the team. As it stands, her powers have not developed enough to make her a big threat. The Beast is still my least favorite member of the team. He always uses big words to impress the others, but I just don’t see him as much of a fighter. Having a little extra agility isn’t very lethal. Of course, none of the characters are downright bad and they’re all written well. So, even the most unlikable members (Beast and Angel) still end up being good characters when compared to the average bad one.

As expected, the art in the comics is really good. This retro style is a lot of fun and the action scenes definitely roll by smoothly. I was glad that the X-Men altered their costumes a little as Jean was right that the old ones simply had too much yellow. They were rather bland and didn’t scream “Super Hero” to those who saw them. The Avengers all had unique attire after all. If the X-Men had to share the same ones, it would need to be a good costume that you could never forget.

Overall, This was a really fun collection to read through. The X-Men never disappoint whether it is this roster, The Uncanny X-Men or one of the various mixes throughout the years. Back in the day, The X-Men were certainly a fun bunch and could hold their own against the Avengers. (In style, not power) They probably passed The Avengers for a time when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes lost Iron Man and Thor. I highly recommend checking this collection out when you have a chance and I will be reading volume 4 in the very near future so keep your eyes peeled for that. It’s going to be an epic ride and I’m nearly through my comic backlog now.

Overall 8/10

Essential Hulk Volume 7 Review

Posted on May 18, 2015 by dreager1

I’ve certainly read a lot of Hulk comics. More of them than I had originally thought as I have already read the first four Essential Hulk volumes. This one takes us deeper into the Hulk mythos and we really see why he had such a tough life back then. Nothing ever seemed to go the Hulk’s way and you end up feeling bad for the poor guy. He didn’t ask for this and the Hulk just wants to be left alone. His comics can be good or bad depending on the writer since the Hulk is a character that can be difficult to truly understand. I think that the writers did a decent job here.

Naturally, there are a lot of adventures in this collection. The Essential series typically includes over 500 pages worth of adventures so there are well over a dozen comics here. This is actually the final Hulk Essential so far, but it seems like they are released once every three years so perhaps it is still going on. It’s amazing that the Hulk got around 300 issues for his series. Nowadays, it’s hard to see a title reaching that long. After the Amazing Spiderman finished with 700, I doubt that we’ll ever even see a title crack 200 anymore. 100 would still be tough, but I’d say that it is still doable.

As there are only three annuals, I’ll quickly mention those first. The first annual is one that I’ve already read twice as Hulk teams up with Angel and Iceman to take on the new Master Mold. It’s a solid comic to read and the Hulk gets his respect. Master Mold was never really in a position to defeat the powerhouse. Another Annual had the Sasquatch attack the Hulk to find out how tough the Green Goliath was. It’s one of those times where you have to ask Canada what they are thinking. Bruce Banner had just been trying to relax and he didn’t want to fight, but he was forced into a confrontation. That kind of thing seems to happen to him constantly and you can see why Banner is always on edge. This issue was probably the best annual and the fight between the Hulk and Sasquatch was a lot of fun. The issue made it clear that the Hulk is much stronger though. Unfortunately, the ending is pretty tragic as the person that the Hulk was defending ultimately becomes afraid of him and the Hulk leaves without a friend once again. It’s an ending that will make you dislike the Alpha Flight team even more than usual and I do wish that the Avengers would come in to teach them a lesson.

Finally, the third annual is the most dull of the three. A guy attacks the Hulk with some robots that are essentially large chess pieces. You may have to stifle a yawn as Hulk beating up on robots is nothing new and I’m not sure how this became an annual. Using it as a normal sized issue would have certainly been good enough for me. All right, with the annuals out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the individual issues and arcs that were present in this collection!

One of the first arcs had Hulk go to Sampson’s base for treatment. They were making a lot of progress and the Hulk was starting to become a very nice character, but Moonstone decided to sabotage this effort on behalf of The Organization. It wasn’t hard for her to pretend to be an innocent civilian who was being attacked by The Hulk, which started some trouble. The Organization then grew bolder and got Captain America, Quasar, and Falcon into the mix along with Hulk. The four heroes proved to be too much for the villains and that was a nice team up. Captain America certainly looked reasonable. I’m sure that the Falcon would have been likable as well if he hadn’t been knocked out for the duration of the comic.

Quasar is interesting as he is built up to be sort of like Superman when he appears. He follows The Hulk and they have a rematch in the following issue. He is soundly beaten, but Quasar is still a powerful fighter. He has dealt with cosmic beings in the past after all and he even plays a role in The Infinity Gauntlet. I definitely don’t mind the character. It’s unfortunate that he is also against The Hulk, but the gamma being is used to it at this point. At least the Hulk was able to best him in 1 on 1 combat.

Another team up had the Hulk face off against the Machine Man. An organization…perhaps The Organization!, decided to have someone pose as the Machine Man and steal one of Hulk’s new friends. Hulk followed and really did a number on the real Machine Man as the Hulk ripped him to pieces. They ultimately come to terms and defeat the true enemy, but not before having a big fight that lasted through 2-3 issues. It was impressive to see the Machine Man give such a fight and they essentially leveled an entire city. Never let it be said that the Machine Man is a light weight! Naturally, the Hulk has been tricked once again and even more people turned against him, but at least the Hulk finally had an ally on his side as well. His name actually isn’t Manny, but Fred. (Courtesy of Comicvine) Fred helped the Hulk out by pointing a (unloaded) gun at the “villains” before the misunderstanding was wrapped up.

Do you remember the famous city of gold? Well, the Hulk got to go there after some men appear and say that the Hulk is the chosen person of prophecy who will save them all. For once, the Hulk believes that they are attempting to trick him from the start and goes along with them to destroy the city from the inside. It’s not a bad strategy and I was glad that the Hulk was ready because the people were actually trying to trick him. The Hulk ends up fighting these mages along with a villain named Goldbug. The sorcerers are stronger than they appear and Goldbug actually ends up helping the Hulk. While the Goldbug did betray the Hulk early on, he wasn’t a bad villain. I grew to like him and he did save the Hulk from certain death towards the end of the arc. They made for a good team as they squashed the plans of the villains.

Time for the final two arcs! Talbot has decided to end the Hulk once and for all as he builds a powerful suit of armor. The Hulk figures out that the army has decided to keep the body of Jarella for experimentation and decides to rescue her. The lady deserves a proper burial and the Hulk isn’t going to let anybody stand in his way. Talbot is certainly in over his head, but Captain Marvell has arrived to help. I was glad that Marvell helped Hulk ultimately get to Jarella’s world, but he should have been up front with Talbot. He knows that Talbot is effectively going crazy with bitterness and resentment so he should just level with the guy. “Talbot, I’m here to help the Hulk. Don’t try to stop me!” Things ultimately didn’t work out so well because Talbot got the last laugh. Marvell still looks decent, but it’s safe to say that the Hulk had the edge here.

Hulk ends up making it to Jarella’s planet, which was on the verge of being destroyed. As his final mission, the Hulk needed to save her land from the invaders. This wasn’t very difficult for the Hulk and it was a relatively peaceful way to end the saga. It’s still sad that Jarella had to die in the first place, but at least Hulk saw to it that she could be back home. As for how the Hulk will get back to Earth, it’s hard to say. There are definitely many ways to go about it though so that shouldn’t end up being a real problem.

As you can see, this collection was definitely sadder than most of the Marvel comics. I can see why sales fluctuated so much with the Hulk title because it really isn’t for everyone. You feel bad for the Hulk because it almost seems like he is destined to have no friends. He is constantly betrayed by the people that he trusts and the ones who are loyal have a tendency to die or disappear. The Hulk even cries at several points because it all starts to be too much for him. The Hulk is powerful, but he still has emotions and these events can really make him feel bad. If he were smarter and able to talk more like in the current Marvel shows, it would be different. As it is, The Hulk is smart enough to know what is going on, but not smart enough to stop these tragedies from happening to him.

I do like the Hulk a lot here. He may not be the smartest weapon in the tool shed, but he means well and always tries to help people out. Things just don’t always go his way and there are many villains who are constantly trying to frame him. The Hulk’s strength is usually enough for him to take the win and he has always been quite the fighter. Bruce Banner looks less impressive as he is always out of the loop and rarely appears. You could say that the series is really all Hulk, all the time. There are a few supporting characters, but I can’t say that many of them are very interesting.

Rick Jones shows up for a guest star appearance and tries to help the Hulk on TV. I also liked the guy that Hulk met in a bar. I forgot his name, but the kid loved defying the current status quo of the US and he had a lot of ideas. (I think his name was Manny) He was a loyal friend of the Hulk’s. Jim Wilson was another guy who tried to help the Hulk out, but all three of them were ultimately not enough when the going got tough. General Talbot finally cracks in this collection as he blames all of his failures on the Hulk. Naturally, he is just kidding himself as per usual and he ends up just being another enemy to add onto the long list of foes that the Hulk has to deal with. Betty’s role is also very small, but it seems like it was about to get bigger before the comic ended. She is back in town and now that she has divorced Talbot, she is ready to start her life over again. Unfortunately for her, General Ross had a heart attack and isn’t doing well.

Doctor Sampson is looking after him. Sampson is pretty likable here and he does a good job when he was in control of the Gamma Base. As with just about everyone, Sampson is suckered by the villains into thinking that the Hulk is a bad person at one point, which can be annoying. It’s like the whole world is against the Hulk isn’t it? Ah well, at least Sampson did try to help the Hulk for quite a while.

The art’s in black and white, which can make it a little tough to tell just how good it is at times, but I’d say that it works out fairly well. You can always tell what is happening and the action scenes are fun to follow. I believe that the artist may have changed once or twice since we switched comic series once to Captain America and the volume also included 3 annuals. Either way, they were all pretty good and I would give the comic a thumbs up here.

It’s very impressive that the Hulk got a series with around 400 issues. You can tell that he’s been through a lot and I hope that he found a happy ending somewhere during his journey. Right now, he could certainly use a happy event. I have less sympathy for Bruce Banner since he is able to talk to people when he wants too and is more intelligent so his situation isn’t quite as bad. I could see Banner being decently content and at least his mind gets to take a break when the Hulk is in control. With Ross and Talbot temporarily out of the way, the Hulk can finally get some peace and quiet.

Overall, This Hulk collection was a good one. The Hulk is still not quite as exciting as some of Marvel’s other big heroes, but you really do start to feel sympathetic to the big guy. The art is good and we do get some nice guest stars to keep things fresh. There weren’t many big villains to be found here, but they can’t always be around. Plus, Hulk’s villain gallery is a little smaller than the average hero’s. It’s an easy collection to jump into so I certainly recommend this if you’re a big Hulk fan or just want to read some quick Marvel comics. The size of the volume certainly makes it worth the purchase as long as you don’t mind the art being in black and white. This is the final Essential so far so I’m essentially caught up with the Hulk. Hopefully, I am able to read volumes 5 and 6 so that I can say that I have read the whole saga so far. With the Hulk TV show still going on, I won’t have to say good bye to the character for long!

Overall 7/10

Marvel Masterworks The Mighty Thor Volume 5 Review

Posted on May 17, 2015 by dreager1

It has been a while since I read one of the Thor volumes from this series. These were some of Thor’s best adventures as Stan Lee and the other really knew how to write the character. This was back when Thor was easily one of the heavy weights of the Marvel Universe and you could make a strong case for him being the strongest Marvel character to have his own series. The collection also brings some mini comics from when Thor was younger, which are fun to read and add to the overall experience. This is certainly one of the better Masterwork volumes out there.

This volume has a few story arcs within it and a lot of one shot stories as well. The first few involve a mysterious group of aliens from another galaxy. One of them appears on Earth and claims it as her own. The cops humor the alien for a while since they don’t know that the Earth has been trapped with an energy ring and is being taken out of Orbit. Thor proves to be stronger than the aliens had anticipated and they agree to spare the Earth if Thor can defeat Ego The Living Planet. While Thor does not need to agree to the deal, he accepts the challenge and looks forward to the fight.

This was a fun way to start off the collection as the aliens may not have been very powerful physically, but they had some lethal abilities. Thor was the first being to ever overpower their mental attacks and their ability to harness limitless durability and strength availed them not against The Thunderer. Ego was also a powerful antagonist, but Thor bested him in combat and Ego ended up retreating. After his adventures against those foes, Thor helped the High Evolutionary defeat the Man-Beast. The Man-Beast was reasonably powerful, but no matter how far human genetics go, the result will still be mortal.

One of the one shot comics had Odin give Jane Foster some tests to see if she was worthy to be an immortal. Once Odin gave her a glimpse of her abilities and sent the lady to face a monster, Jane Foster was not able to succeed. Jane looked really bad in this issue and while the situation was a little overwhelming, I would have expected her to have dealt with the situation a little more effectively. If she was as strong a character as she is now, I don’t doubt that she would have conquered the beast.

Later on, another comic had Loki take over the Destroyer armor and attack Asgard. It was a king sized special and the fights that ensued were a lot of fun. Seeing Thor go fist to fist against the Destroyer armor was enjoyable and the Destroyer was certainly a powerful opponent. Surprisingly, I think that this was the only comic where Loki got to appear. Considering how much of a big Thor villain he is, I assume that this is quite rare. Finally, we had a one shot comic where Kang accidentally unleashed one of his super robots on the Earth. Thor briefly engages in combat with the man, but then Kang runs off. Thor essentially sent him to Limbo, but we never got to see a proper fight between them.

Aside from the opening arc, the main saga in this collection deals with Ulik The Troll. The Trolls decide to invade Asgard so Ulik kidnaps Sif to lure Thor to Midgard. While Thor is away, the rest of the trolls plan on taking over Asgard. Odin is still there so the kingdom won’t fall so easily and Thor’s wrath has been stirred so Ulik may end up regretting his decision by the time the fight is over. This saga certainly had a lot of action and made for a good read.

The Thor Masterworks are certainly a step up from the rest of the Marvel comics from these days. The main title that keeps up would be Spider Man and it makes for a close battle. One of the main reasons why I have always liked the old Thor comics is due to the dialogue. It’s all very grand and majestic, fitting for Asgardians. The way that the characters all talk is very refined and many feats are included here as well. Thor gets hit with planet leveling punches and karate chops that strike as hard as cosmic tornadoes. It’s great to see these feats just be tossed about and Thor was always able to keep up with his foes.

Thor certainly looks very good and he never backs down from a fight. He’s a very likable main character and you can always count on him being honorable while in combat. You’ll find yourself rooting for him from early on and he never falters. Having an immortal as the main lead is also a nice contrast from the many humans and meta humans. Thor has lived for thousands of years at this point so he has reason to be so confident. If no being has managed to best him yet, why should that change now?

This collection showed Lady Sif’s first appearance in the Marvel Universe. Jane Foster had just been written out of the comic and the writers did a good job of making Lady Sif more likable than Jane in every way. Lady Sif was always ready for a fight and she was very competitive. I do have to question the fact that Thor completely forgot about her since that seems to be impossible, but I suppose that the writers had no idea on how to suddenly add a new Asgardian into the mix. I suppose that the reason for why she had never appeared before could have been worse. While she is certainly not as strong as Thor, Sif takes down many trolls and proves herself as an Asgardian warrior. She instantly became one of the better supporting characters.

Ulik The Troll also debuts here and it’s amazing to see how much stronger he was back in these days. Nowadays, the writers like to treat him like a joke, but he was originally a foe to be feared. His raw power was nearly equal to that of Thor’s own and he nearly bested the warrior the first time that they fought. Ulik is not really my kind of villain, but he was a serious threat and made for a good opponent of Thor’s. You could say that he was similar to Doomsday or Abomination back then when compared to the hero of the story.

Odin is actually reasonable in this comic. Typically, he can come across as rather rude or simply unaware of what is going on, but he is likable here. Odin ends up joining the fight against the trolls and finally says that he approves of Jane and Thor’s relationship. He ends up being a decent guy when it counts, which was nice. I don’t think that he lived up to the hype as he nearly lost to the trolls, but he never actually lost so I can’t say that he was disappointing either.

The Warrior’s Three were decent characters. My favorite member is certainly Volstagg though. Each and every one of his lines are genuinely funny and he really makes the adventures more enjoyable. His two partners are good as they keep up the banter, but the dialogue wouldn’t be possible without Volstagg. He’s easily one of the best Thor characters of all time and he’s a blast and a half to read about. The mini comics often involved them teaming up with Thor. The collection ends with the group about to fight Mogul to avenge Hogun’s clan. The mini comics are typically very short, but we still get many nice action scenes with them. It’s an example of a backup story that does help to make the main one even better.

As always, the art does not disappoint. The classic Marvel style has always been a lot of fun and it is so easy to read. You don’t have to worry about any of the panels being unclear because the staff worked hard on each and every panel. You can feel the level of detail present here as soon as you start reading and it pays off for the fight scenes as well as normal talking moments. This is a style that is lost to us and it’s not all bad as I really like the modern day art as well, but seeing some of this nowadays would still be pretty great.

Overall, This is a great volume of Thor comics. It’s a little over 200 pages so it’s a fairly long read. I believe that it brings 10 Thor issues and one of the annuals. There is a lot of action to be found here and the characters are all well written. I haven’t met a Marvel comic with bad writing from this period and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. There’s a cliffhanger that revolved around Galactus getting ready to fight Ego, but I guess it must have been resolved in a different comic. It’s too bad since that sounded like a good fight. If you are looking for a comic to see the true Thor as he was meant to be seen, I can think of no better way to start than to jump into this series. This is certainly one of the best Thor runs and you will be hooked on the story from start to finish.

Overall 8/10

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