Invincible 107 and Saga 17 review

Invincible and Saga...they aren't much alike genre wise, (superhero and fantasy/ci-fi) but they both have three things in common: engrossing characters, realistic but unique worlds, and authors that are not afraid to kill off likable characters. These three qualities bring a lot of weight to both titles. The world and status quo change constantly. Spoilers will be unmarked because these are not easy to review without spoilers. I will not say anything about the big events from those issues, but be warned on the smaller stuff.

Monster Girl and her Son

 Invincible 107 dealt with the fallout over the last couple of issues, as well as reintroducing an old villain with some new tricks. The issue starts with the return of Doc Seismic as a volcanic monster human hybrid that has shacked up with another volcano monster called Volcanikka. Comics right? Personally, I always liked Doc Seismic. He was always one of Invincible's more entertaining but threatening minor villains. Now that he has a new body and partner in crime, I'm hoping we will get to see some more of him in the future. We then get to see the fallout of the recent Robot and Monster Girl story arc where we met Monster Girl's son from an alien dimension who invaded our world to get revenge on Robot for killing his family. Oh and Monster Girl is the father. God I love my job. We get to see a conversation between the two that plants the seed of doubt in Monster Girl's head over if Robot is really as trust worthy as he seems. Honestly, I've always felt Robot was emotionally ambiguous at times, and I'm sure hundred of years of being a leader for an alien empire has caused him to become much more morally ambiguous as he attempts to make the world a better place by controlling it.

I also like the idea of Monster Girl having to deal with the consequences of her actions, and I hope her son becomes a regular character. We get a bit of ship tease between Invincible and a female Viltrumite, but I  hope it doesn't come back to haunt Mark later, because I like his relationship with Eve. Finally, the last page sets up something awesome. Mark has to make a choice between security of his family and vengeance or making his wife happy and letting go of the past. It  really made me want to catch next issue. It is one of the best superhero titles out there. Awesome issue, enough action to be interesting, but as per Kirkman's usual story telling technique, he keeps enough interesting story lines in the air while not having them interfere with each other.

Prince Robot getting his funk on.

 Saga 17 was...interesting to say the least. We get to see more of Upshar and Doff while they are interrogated by The Brand, a female freelancer with a demon-eyed St. Bernard that can shoot poison darts out of his nose. I swear to God I am not on drugs this post. She poisons the pair with her demon dog and delivers an ultimatum: if they publish the story on Alana and Marko's child, they will die due to the magic in the darts. While brief, this intro was pretty awesome. The Freelancers are all Boba Fett-level bad asses, and it is cool to see another one, especially with a pet so...uniquely terrifying. Unfortunately, we cut back into Mr.Heist's interrogation by the hand...er blaster arm of Prince Robot. Heist reveals to Prince Robot a secret from his latest work, one that strikes Robot personally due to his intense case of PTSD. I don't want to spoil the secret but it was...out there to say the least. I'll just tell you that Heist claims that he has discovered the opposite of war isn't peace and leave it at that. We also get to see a heart rending scene between The Will and Sophie were he tries to part some wisdom to her in case he dies from the wounds he received two issues ago. I kind of wonder if Marko's ex is gonna take up the mantle of The Will and if she will have to continue pursuit of Marko by herself. I'm super nervous honestly. The last third of the issue deals with one massive cluster fuck as the the three parties (Prince Robot, Heist and Marko's Mother, and Marko's Ex) are all caught in a... confrontation. A confrontation that leads to the death of one of my favorite characters in the series. I'm super sad and pissed about this, and it kind of came out of nowhere. Hopefully, next issue will resolve most of these issues, but to quote Gwendolyn "Fuck".

The dog that will haunt your nightmares

The art for both issues was very awesome, but I don't feel much need to talk about it that much. Invincible's art is always solid, but Fiona Staples literally brings the world of Saga to life. It's always a treat to read an issue of Saga due to the unique way Staples can bring in such odd creatures like the demon dog that shoots blow darts from his nose (yes that still freaks me out), or such well drawn and beautiful characters like Marko, Gwendolyn, The Will, etc. She's just as important to giving this title life as Brian K. Vaughn's writing. Highly recommend and enjoyed both these titles as a series and these single issues in particular. Please, if you want something unique or different check these titles out. They are worth your time.

Ant-Man Primer: Getting to know Henry Pym

I'm a huge fan of Ant-Man. In fact, he's my favorite Marvel character.Ant-Man is a superhero that has gone through a lot of changes. He was originally a one shot character in Marvel's Tales to Astonish science-fiction series. He was a scientist named Henry Pym (Hank to his friends) that discovered Pym Particles, microscopic particles that could shrink anything to a smaller size by exposing it to a gas containing the particles. Any living thing exposed to the gas would still retain its normal strength, making him a true pint sized power house. After testing the serum on himself, he developed a cybernetic helmet that would allow him to communicate with ants and other insects.

Ant-Man from the cover of Season One

After a couple of issues by himself, Ant-Man found a kindred spirit in Janet Van Dyne, a young heiress who lost her father to an alien monster. So Hank did the most logical thing possible, turning her into the Wasp by splicing her DNA with said insect so that she could grow wings and wrist mounted gauntlets that could shoot "wasp sting" blasts. It was the 60's. What can I say. They eventually joined the Avengers, where Hank learned how to harness his size changing powers to become Giant Man, and later Goliath. Because comics are fickle I guess. Anywho, after a while, Hank went crazy while working with some chemicals and adopted the persona of Yellow Jacket, basically his Ant-Man identity modified to be more like the Wasp. And then she tricked him into marrying him. Because comics. To make a long story short, Hank has had a complicated life, with constant costume changes and identity crisis. Sometimes he's Ant-Man, sometimes Giant-Man aka Goliath, sometimes he's the Yellow Jacket. For a while, he assumed the identity of the Wasp to honor her memory after she died. But don't worry guys, it's comics. She will be back next year or so.

left to right: Ant-Man, Giant Man,  Goliath, Yellow Jacket, Wasp

  I was a little dissapointed when he wasn't included in the first Avengers movie, seeing as he was  a founding member of the original Avengers. But he's finally getting his own movie. I'm kind of excited because Edgar Wright of Scott Pilgrim, Hot Fuzz, and Sean of the Dead fame is going to be directing the film. Which is great, because Edgar Wright is very unique with his directing style and how he approaches characters.Considering Ant-Man's main powers are super intelligence combined with his ability to control his size and talk to insects, I'm hoping Wright is going to try to make this movie feel more like a fun sci-fi adventure with quirky dialogue. Sadly, Ultron, an evil robot that Henry Pym created, will not be tied to him even though Ultron will be in the next Avengers movie.

Edgar Wright and the Ant Suit.

Finally, it has been confirmed that Paul Rudd from I Love You Man, Anchor Man, and other quirk comedies will be playing Ant-Man. I'm not sure how to feel about this. He might to a good job as a clever witty scientist, and having to deal with the odd situations Ant-Man finds himself in. Hopefully, he will do a good job. I'm sure that Edgar Wright knows what he is doing, because he is very passionate about this film.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Ant-Man,  Ant-Man Season One is a good starting point to understand the character.  Hopefully I've stirred some interest in you guys to go see the movie. I'm really looking forward to it, and pray that enough people go see it so that it can get a sequel. It hits theaters in May 1st, 2015.

Animal Man 26 review

I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum for this review, but some cannot be helped.

Buddy Baker is Animal Man, a human who has been giving power by the lifeforce that all living creatures are connected by aka the Red. He can absorb the abilities of animals, like the regeneration powers of a star fish, or the strength of an elephant. Pretty impressive in my opinion. But Buddy is a family man. He beats up supervillains and comes home to a wife and two kids. But life is never easy for a hero. Something...really bad happens to one of his kids, and Buddy's life comes crashing down over his head.And just when Buddy seems like he is getting his life together and messing up the bad guys, he gets teleported to an alien world.

I'm not going to lie, I raged at last issues ending. We are going through this emotional roller coaster, and then at the very top of the tracks, the cart suddenly stops. But this issue more than made up for it. One of my problems with the idea of a Red/Rot/Green trio of forces that govern the natural order is why does Earth seem to have the only connection to it? Spoiler alert, it isn't  and we get to see that there is more to the story what we've seen from the Red's perspective. Plus we get introduced to a new character that could be Buddy's new mentor, and someone would could make Buddy the most powerful person in the universe. No lie.

We do get a good bit of action where Buddy has to adapt to the strange creatures around him and fight a giant monster that looks a lot like Darkseid with Horns, but the way he takes him down is utterly hilarious. Most of the comic is world building and a conversation with Buddy's new ally.

Luckily next issue, Buddy will confront Brother Blood (from teen titans!) and end the arc, but this issue has set a lot of things in motion for the future, and decide whether Buddy chooses his family or the continued survival of the Red/Green/Rot triumvirate.

Honestly folks, I don't envy him.

7.5- awesome issue with decent art and some really cool ideas. Would have been higher, but I felt like this would have been better at the start of a new arc, though I understand its purpose.

Review List

These are the comics I plan on reading for the time being.

Swamp-Thing

Animal Man

Aquaman

Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps

Batman

Saga

The Goon (when available, it has erratic publishing dates)

Superman Unleashed


Just keeping you updated. I might do a semi review where I plug a title people don't normally know about.

It's been a long year.

It's been almost a year since I updated this blog. And I am sorry for that. I started this as a labor of love, got lazy, and didn't spend the time I needed to actually work on it. So I've decided to change that.

Tuesday will be when I try to talk about my personal feelings on current comic book events/story lines/ or movie stuff. Not just super heroes, but other comic related things.

Thursdays will be review days. I know comic day is Wednesday, but I am going to be super busy on Wed. next semester of college, so Thursday would be best.

Saturday will be fun topic day, where I just jabber about whatever pops into my head about comics: be it best fights, weird comic facts, or whatever has crossed my diseased brain.

I'm sorry for how life has been, and how lazy I have been. Hopefully, I can make it up to you.

Cheers,

James