The Week In Geek 4/15/15

Since Daredevil dropped last week, it's basically re-polarized the way a lot of people are looking at superheroes on the small screen. Jordan Calhoun wrote a pretty comprehensive opinion piece summing up the overall sentiment and it's really good. But I'm not so sure it's completely fair. It's one thing to say that Daredevil has altered the standards for grittiness in the genre. I mean, it really is the best superhero television show out there. It does dwarf everything else in terms of a writing, casting and production. But it doesn't necessarily make it's rivals trash. Arrow and Daredevil both draw parallels to the more hardcore aspects of Batman, but they serve very different purposes. Daredevil is an elevator ride to the ground floor, the cracks and crevices of a world that thunder gods and super soldiers can't always see because of the latest alien invasion or robot uprising. Arrow was the beginning of a universe that very much takes that same elevator up to the fantastic. I dunno. I feel like you can accept Daredevil and Arrow simultaneously the same way people accept Arrow and The Flash. But that's just me. I could be wrong.

Anyway, you can check out my comic reviews for the week on Thor, Ms. Marvel and Uncanny X-Men as well as my recaps for this week episodes of Arrow and The Flash on Black Nerd Problems. You know the drill. Feel free to comment, share or whatever. Enjoy.

The Week In Geek 3/25/15

It seems like I do more Flash updates nowadays than I ever cared to do before. I really have to find a way to get Will over at Black Nerd Problems to invest in some kind of "Talking Dead" type of thing where we sit around and talk about the episode of Flash we just watched or something. People seem to like that sort of thing.

Anyway, this week marks the episode in which The Flash turned into professional wrestling....which sort of puts it in dicey territory. At the end of the episode, Flash meets with Captain Cold and they come to some sort of terms where they don't hit one another too close to home and the Rogues don't hurt people. This is one of those quiet-as-kept landmarks where casual watchers who don't read the comics get to see a side of comic-based storytelling that we haven't seen in a while in the era of Marvel's "it's all connected" approach. As awkward as it came across in the show, this actually makes it more in line with a lot of stand alone comics. Sure, there are the big guys who lurk in the shadows, plotting the end game (Reverse Flash), but there are numerous villains in comic-dom who just keep showing up because they like it. Cold says it numerous times and he's just starting to have fun being a supervillain. Hell, his sister turns things into GOLD and he still just wants to steal things for the hell of it. I think this all lends itself to what people love so much about this show. The degree of investment isn't nearly as heavy as buying into a universe where everything is urging you to watch something else (as high quality as it may be) to get an even bigger effect. It's an amazing representation of comic storytelling that Smallville just never managed to pull off.

My comic reviews for the week are still and always available on Black Nerd Problems. This week, I took a look at Batman Eternal and Uncanny X-Men.

The Week In Geek 11/19/14

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. You know the drill. As always, feel free to love, hate, comment, like, share as you see fit. This week, I took a look at.....

Uncanny X-Men: Brian Bendis' work doesn't move as fast for some as they'd like but honestly, I think this particular story arc is probably the strongest structured of his tenure so far. I really do hope both X-titles delve more into the Fall of Hank McCoy. It's actually reminiscent of Doctor Strange's arc recently where he started channeling the Dark Arts to be more powerful which was awesome (would have been more awesome had Marvel not done that already during World War Hulk). This story has been powerful because we've seen certain characters (Cyclops, Iceman, Beast) at their most vulnerable and in a book where the principle characters are basically family, that's an important aspect to show, moreso than these grand, repetitive action beats every 9 pages.

Batman Eternal: You would think Batman would have learned his lesson with making heavy artillery for all these Defcon 1 scenarios just for someone to steal from under his nose. Alas, Gotham is under siege once again thanks to a Batman plan. And, of course, Wayne Enterprises is going to up to its nose in legal red tape because Bruce Wayne funds Batman Inc. And Batman wouldn't be Batman if he didn't leave Lucius Fox holding the bag.

The Week In Geek 10/16/14

Since I didn't do a week in geek last week due to time constraints and the Day Job, I'll backtrack a little bit.

-The Flash premiered last week and I can tell you without going into a whole fleshed out review since there's a perfectly good one that I kinda disagree with over at BNP....it was incredible. Honestly, if DC is keen on creating a primetime television universe (excluding Gotham because it's turning out to be a shit show that will probably on get a second season before completely tanking), this was a step in the right direction. The show really serves as the perfect counter to Arrow, which comes on the night after. Whereas Arrow has made its name on being a much more intense "ultimate" version of the Green Arrow mythos (because the idea seemed to be it to be a primetime Batman surrogate), Flash is Arrow's more earnest counterpart which, incidentally makes for hugely entertaining television. And Jesse L. Martin does this show ALL OF THE FAVORS. I mean, sure we've seen Bill Sadler and Tom Cavanaugh do pretty well, but Martin's performance does laps around the whole rest of the cast. And they've wasted no time teasing us with the promise of assembling the Rogues and even Professor Zoom. This show is definitely going to be the one to watch this season.

-Last week, Marvel announced that it would be bringing back the Secret Wars next year. They put out this epic poster done by Alex Ross (The GAWD) that features what looks like this epic showdown between heroes and a lot of their alternate versions with nods to the Ultimate Universe as well as Supreme Power. Now, I'm not going to comment on the "Marvel has run out of ideas" fanwhining because that's just a degree of circular logic where nobody really wins. However, I WILL point out how funny it is that there was NO sign of the Fantastic Four or the X-Men in the poster. With Fantastic Four having already been cancelled, this really just adds to the rumor that Disney bigwigs are attempting to completely snub Fox, who owns the movie rights to both (FF, of course, has that movie reboot coming up in....you guessed it...2015). While it hasn't exactly been an official mandate by Disney OR Marvel, the signs certainly point to some truth in the rumor more and more as time goes on. And, sure, Marvel pours too much money in to X-books to every cancel those outright, the timing for them to kill Wolverine off seems extremely convenient as well. At this point, they couldn't get anymore overt if they had Leonardo Da Vinci himself paint Wolverine giving Fox the finger while slicing through a picture of Michael B. Jordan.


Anyway, my comic reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Also, check out my reviews for episodes 2 and 3 of Nightwing: The Series as well as my opinion piece on the announcement of a Suicide Squad movie slated for 2016. This week, I took a look at.....

Batman Eternal: Okay, I glazed over this point in the actual review, but....Batgirl has become downright thuggish and I LOVE it. You can also tell DC is really making an effort (for whatever that's worth with DC) towards retooling the gender politics in their universe when you have a dope moment like Jason Todd openly admitting that Batgirl has always been the most formidable of Batman's proteges. Dope moment. As far as progress goes, you have to give credit where it's due.

Uncanny X-Men: So, Bendis had to take a departure from the familial shenanigans in favor of advancing the plot a bit faster since there's another "MostPowerfulMutantEverUnlikeAnythingWeveEverSeenExceptForTheLastTimeAndTheTimeBeforeThat" at large, but it's still a really strong story arc happening. One story I noticed they seem to be conveniently glazing over is the revelation that Charles Xavier was married to Mystique and, evident from the All New Brotherhood's attack in All New, had a kid. Are we going to sit down and have a talk about how Raven Darkholme is apparently comics' most notorious rolling stone? Seriously, man....it's just getting weird at this point.

The Week In Geek 9/10/14

So, this week, the second issue in the Death of Wolverine dropped. I'm not going to give some in depth overview of the story or dissect the event. Because I'm not reading it. I just plain have no desire to see how Wolverine meets his end for at least the third time I can think of. I think this represents two different sides of the same problem. First and foremost, it's indicative of the overall fan fatigue brought on by years of oversaturation. I mean, let's face it. At one point not too long ago, Wolverine was the centerpiece for 3 different solo(ish) ventures, 3 X-Men titles, 2 Avengers titles all at once. And let's not forget he was basically the star of the first 3 X-films on top of his two solo movies. It's easy to see how people could get fed up with the little fella.

On the other hand, I can't help but feel like this is also the result of fandom reaping what it sowed. There was a time when fans wanted All Wolverine Everything. If he was on the cover of something, that something sold twice as much as it would have without him. He was like the Spock of X-Men. Of course, Spock wasn't simultaneously the captain of two Starships, a Federation space station, a Romulan Warbird and organizing Klingon Poker Night on Thursdays, but still....fans LOVED Wolverine and so comicdom gave them all the Wolverine they could stand. I'm just sayin....there's an ebb and flow.

Besides, we all know he'll be back. The only death so far I've been led to believe is going to stick for the forseeable future is Charles Xavier. I mean, the X-Men have been mourning him for two or three years now. Usually, there's an underlying agenda to make sure you're not comfortable with that character being gone because We All Know They'll Be Back. It's been two years since Avengers vs. X-Men and Marvel is STILL putting Professor X in the ground. Even now, two years later, Uncanny X-Men's latest story arc is "The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier." It's like every other month, they're saying "No, seriously. He's dead. Don't wait up." Now, don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean it's a done deal that he's gone forever, but Marvel's biggest non-Spider Man cash cow gone forever when there's another X-Men movie AND solo sequel in the pipeline (honestly, those movies are so awful, they're better promo for the comics than vice versa)? Not gonna happen.

Anyway, my comic reviews for the week are available at Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Also, make sure to give the follow up to my Black Panther analysis a look. Feel free to click, comment, share at your leisure. This week, I took a look at:

Batman Eternal: Probably one of the best issues of the series. This book is a lot more effective now that Scott Snyder's overall plotline is getting down to brass tacks. I really enjoy the return of Hush, but I can't help but feel like he's been used enough that his "holy shit" factor may have dwindled slightly. I think time will tell as the next phase of the new big bad's plan for Gotham gets even worse.

Ms. Marvel: First of all, this is one of the best looking books in Marvel's rotation. Easily. Adrian Alphona never fails to deliver these fantastic moments that, on their own, could convey the tone and emotion of the book as a whole. There is no more priceless moment than Kamala Khan pouncing on Lockjaw (as much as a dog like that will allow, anyway), loving on him like he's a damned teddy bear. Second, this is one of the most well-written books in Marvel's rotation hands down. G. Willow Wilson is doing a great job of keeping this book interesting and I'm so excited to see where else it can go.

Batman- Future's End #1: This was an awesome one shot future vision. I have to admit...ever since the "Epilogue" episode of Justice League Unlimited, I'm a complete sucker for the "There Must Always Be A Batman In "Gotham City" line of thinking.

The Week In Geek 9/3/14

So, this week the announcement finally went out officially that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be playing Black Adam in an upcoming Shazam movie. He's been screwing with fanboys on Twitter for months, posting pictures of possible characters he could have been playing, but it's nice to have officially have confimation. Arguably, this is the first no-brainer DC has actually gotten right in the casting department. Truthfully, they needed a win after a few lackluster choices that weren't necessarily bad but don't really leave anyone camping out in front of the theater.

Granted, I was almost sure he was going to end up being Shazam (because playing a 10 year old in a superhero's body is the kind of shit Johnson can do in his sleep) but I could see his Black Adam being fucking menacing. There's an argument that it's a miscast because Dwayne Johnson's thing is that he plays heroes and would be a great addition to DC's cinematic hero roster. Normally, the fact that this is an opinion that came from IGN would be more than enough to make it inadmissible evidence because most opinions that come out of IGN either come from a). bad information or b). a lack of information. The argument of "I don't want to see The Rock as a bad guy because he's not a bad guy" is, at best a sort of hilarious stance to take. Anyone who holds this logic will have to come to the realization eventually that Dwayne Johnson is, in fact, NOT an actual superhero that DC is actually adding to some list of actual superheroes. He's an actor. He's a wrestler. Even then, the Rock was actually a heel back in the day just before the pinnacle of his wrestling career. He was also a bad guy (a shitty one, but still...) in The Mummy Returns and, before eventually becoming a hero (because Universal would have been stupid to give him up), he was the guy the Fast and Furious team was on the run from. These are nitpicks, but still....to say that an actor should always be a hero just because he's done it well before sort of misses the point of acting, especially when said actor is one of the rare cases in which a wrestler has enough range and charisma to keep getting decent work. Besides, Black Adam's path in the comics has gone for unapologetically evil to kinda-sorta-antihero. And we all know how well that's worked out with Loki over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's entirely possible that we could get that kind of popularity for this character over at DC.

Anyway, I'll talk a little about the scourge of fuckery in the nerd community known as #GamerGate tomorrow mainly because I'm in a good mood today and would like to remain so. Until then, my comic reviews for the week are up on Black Nerd Problems and available for your viewing pleasure. As always, feel free to comment, like, share at your discretion. This week, I took a look at:

Iron Fist, The Living Weapon: As much as I enjoy this book, I think they've done the whole "break the hero down as much as possible" thing enough. I think everyone reading this book should be just about ready to see the hero win a little bit. I mean, I doubt the the payoff is going to (or can afford to) suck when the titular hero has a Netflix series in production.

Uncanny X-Men: Okay, I wasn't too happy about Chris Bachalo's return to this comic. I mean, I like his style, but honestly, I felt like it served its purpose in previous issues. In fairness, it wasn't that much of a bother because there wasn't a lot of action this time around (because sometimes his action beats are difficult to follow), but Kris Anka just raised the bar so high, it's hard to forget. Aside from that, Bendis' dyfunctional family narrative is still working out well.

Batman Eternal: Let me just say....a villain called the Architect whose outfit theme is clockwork is a little silly. DC really runs the gamut of costumed villains as if there's a compendium of names versus a list of themes and they just close their eyes and pick one from each list. Other than that, this was a pretty good issue.

The Week In Geek 7/30/14

I'll have some San Diego Comic Con follow up stuff ready to go for you guys tomorrow since people asking me about certain events took up the better part of my time this week. It's flattering and a little surreal that you people seem to care so much about my opinion on these things lately. I literally can't even go on a date these days without running into a reader who says some shit like "Hey, man, your whiskey sour is on the house....but you're dead wrong about X-Men this week." Anyway, my reviews for Black Nerd Problems are up and available for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to click, share, comment and troll at your convenience. This week, I reviewed....

Batman Eternal: Listen, folks, I know this book, despite my praising it, has had some problems along the way, but this Ray Fawkes and Dustin Nguyen fall very perfectly into this supernatural, "creepy shit afoot" groove with the greatest of ease. Bringing back the Roman was awesome early in the series, but making Deacon Blackfire matter again is setting up to be a good look. I could definitely see the events of this storyline spilling out into the rest of the Bat-books just in time for some fun Halloween related books.

Uncanny X-Men: Listen, not only is this book back to being brilliant, but it's surpassed its previous brilliance. The thing about X-Men books in general is that there are often times when they work better not focusing on superhero antics. Their whole thing is making the public perception of mutants a little more upbeat, but they don't get to do that very often because most of the time, they're fighting with each other on one level or another. And even if they're not fighting each other and actually saving the world, they take it on the chin so often, they never really get around to changing minds. I think Bendis understands that X-books are at their most poignant when they centered around the idea of the X-Men as a family...sometimes fractured, always dysfunctional.

The Week in Geek 7/16/14

A few things this week....

If you're interested and not already tired of hearing about the new Thor, I wrote an article about why some of the outrage is....well, stupid. It hasn't even been a week since the news got out and I've already talked about Thor enough to last a lifetime. I honestly believe the trolls were only rubbed the wrong way because Marvel made a big deal in the press about it. If this had just been a par-for-the-course part of Jason Aaron's story arc, I'm pretty sure it would have gone unmarked or at least been a lot more low key in making its rounds in the press. But if you really want to talk about Marvel and making statements about gender or, according to some, "forcing them down our throats"....I think this would be a good way to go about it. If you really want to appear open minded about women in superhero comics, sure, you could make "that" statement quietly and create an alternative "that" audience can pick up over here in "that" little subsection where it won't bother your primary demographic. OR you can take a character who (let's face it), despite his corresponding movies basically being romcoms, is the quintessential avatar of all things stereotypically "manly", move him to the side and (this part is pure conjecture because we haven't read it yet) give all of those qualities to a woman. Why? Because making sociopolitical statements are only truly effective when you've shoved it in someone's face and made them uncomfortable. Otherwise, why even open your mouth? But I could be wrong.

I also wrote an op-ed on the treatment of women in Nerd Culture. By the way, let me just thank the trolls for giving me a break on that one. As I'm writing this, the Thor article has been out for barely 24 hours now and you're already going to work. I can't combat the ignorance on two fronts.

In addition, my reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure as well as your scorn and derision. Whatever comes first. This week, I took a look at....

Ms. Marvel: I genuinely don't understand the whole "Instead of changing a popular characters' gender, just make better female centric books" complaint when you have a book like this on the shelves (or Black Widow or the all female X-Men book or the Mighty Avengers book where women on the team outnumber men, etc.). This is easily one of the BEST books in comics this year without question. Teaming the perpetually hopeful Kamala Khan up with curmudgeonly ass Wolverine was a brilliant move on G. Willow Wilson's part. I'm more excited to see if Wilson facilitates the inevitable team up with Captain Marvel, her favorite her.

Batman Eternal: Not much to say outside of the review this week, but this was mainly a fantastic way to start a new volume of the series. And bringing in Dustin Nguyen is always a plus. I'd pretty much call him one of the quintessential Batman artists of the 2000s. His use of shadow and anime-esque art deco type lines have always stuck out to me and made for a dynamic read.

Uncanny X-Men: Now, THIS is how you bounce back after a lackluster issue. Brian Bendis and Kris Anka make such a good creative team, I hardly recognized this book from the previous run. I was really impressed with the clean, drastically different style employed here. As much as I love Chris Bachalo, the "Vs. SHIELD" story had a lot of chaotic moments that made it easy to get lost in the action. Anka's clean, straightforward panels are reminiscent of Chris Samnee's work on Daredevil....which is always a compliment.

Stuff I Read This Week 6/18/14

My reviews for the week are available for you internet adventuring/critiquing/trolling pleasure on Black Nerd Problems. Visit, comment, say hello, pass it around at your leisure. This week, I looked at....

Batman Eternal: I realized that my review for this book has basically become my weekly column for BNP. When you look closely enough, a weekly comic can be like a master class in everything that can go right AND wrong. As much as I love this book, it's been something of a balancing act. A lot of the reason what bring you to this book is Scott Snyder's basic plot. What's got to find some normality is the visuals. Don't get me wrong: Ian Bertram's artwork was fucking awesome and you can never go wrong when your primary influences are Frank Quitely and Robert Crumb. But last week's artwork was such a travesty, it's going to take at LEAST three weeks of strong visuals to make up for it. For the most part, the story/script is strong enough (even when it's cramming a lot of material into one issue) that it keeps things going. Even good television shows have episodes that aren't as strong as others, but don't take away from the overall quality of the series.

Uncanny X-Men: Okay, it's no secret that Brian Bendis is probably one of my favorite writers. His voice for a lot of characters is very distinct and entertaining. Having said that, he dropped the ball this week. The "big reveal" of the villain was an utter fail. First of all, it was as if they spun a game show wheel at the Marvel office and THAT'S what they came up with. Second of all, if that's who he came up with, there was so much potential for symbolism and dialog about the duality and Beast having to face the fact that he's the center of so much going awry in the X-family lately (being that he's the one who brought the Original X-Men from the past and now, for some reason, he doesn't know how to send them back). Instead, all this got swept under the rug in favor of a satisfying but rushed quick fix resolution.

Stuff I Read This Week 6/11/14

My comic reviews for this week on Black Nerd Problems are now up and available for public consumption.

Batman Eternal: Okay, I think I'm developing a crush on this book. I mentioned this in the review, but it's sort of addictive in the same way a weekly television show is. One problem is that there are issues where it feels like it crams an hour worth a material into a half hour format. This can be disorienting depending on who's handling script duties that week, but it's sort of a minor problem so far. I can see that the REAL issue with this book from week to week is going to be artwork. Different artists trying to maintain the same aesthetic has has mixed results at best. The visuals have been mainly fantastic lately, but this week's character designs were unforgivable. This is still a solid book, but being a weekly title sort of subjects it to having more issues than a conventional monthly or biweekly book.


All New X-Men: This has been a strong book from the start but this particular run is stellar. It's a really great balance of action and exposition. As much as I love Brian Bendis, he has a habit of leaning heavy one way or the other. He did a great job of keeping things exciting while giving some real gravitas to Charles Xavier Jr (they've REALLY got to come up with some kind of codename for that guy).

Uncanny X-Men Special: Look, I'm not bashing this book, per se. You'll know when I'm bashing a book. It's very apparent. So, no, I don't hate this book. It's really funny and it's a good example of maintaining elements of another writer's aesthetic. But the first issue of any good comic should be the one that justifies the book's existence. It should say right away, "This is why I've gathered you all here today." This book didn't. I hope it at least tries to not seem like a cash grab and an excuse to put Iron Man in stuff (since his own book was a very well put-together "meh" the last time I read it).

Stuff I Read This Week 5/21/14

This week's comic reviews on Black Nerd Problems are up and available for public consumption and enjoyment. This week, I took a look at.....

Batman Eternal #7: The 52 series from some years back really put a bad taste in my mouth about DC doing weekly titles, but this addition to the Bat series has been an impressive showing so far. I will say all of this is going to read much smoother once they get the first story arc into a graphic novel collection. One complaint I had that I left out of my review is that the depiction of Catwoman was a bit exploitative (more than usual) to say the least. The gender politics of mainstream comics as whole have been questionable for a while now but DC strives to raise the bar.

Uncanny X-Men #21: Bendis' take on Marvel characters has always been divisive among fans for some reason I may never figure out, but I have been unquestionably on board for his fresh perspective on the X-franchise. In particular, this is the first time I've actually found Mystique to be an interesting villain probably since that Wolverine story where they knew each other back during the Prohibition era.

Justice League #30: DC is really hitting home runs with their depictions of notable female characters this week. And by "hitting home runs," what I really mean is shitty. Granted, Wonder Woman hasn't exactly been known for her subtlety in recent years, but for fuck's sake, this mostly awesome issue of Justice League paints her to be an unlikable bully. Other than that, I really enjoyed The Self Proclaimed Redemption of Lex Luthor. Granted, we all know this isn't going to last, but Geoff Johns is really good at making villains fun to read. So there's that.

Stuff I Read This Week: March 5, 2014

Jupiter's Legacy #4: Mark Millar sure takes his time getting a book out which is probably what loses some of his readers. Be that as it may, many of his books tend to be worth the wait in the long run....most of the time, anyway (sorry, Kick Ass 3). In the case of Jupiter's Legacy, I think I can find a way to forgive him.

This issue picks up nine years after Walter Sampson orchestrated an epic coup against his revered superhero brother, the Utopian. The fast forward gives an abridged tour of a more totalitarian sort of world in the wake of the "supers," also introducing yet another generation of hero to Millar's saga. This installment makes the lofty generational sprawl he's shooting for obvious, mirroring that of ancient Roman mythology. There will be readers familiar with his previous work who will be somewhat unimpressed by the deconstruction of superhero culture since Millar seems to have practically made his own genre out of it at this point. However, Jupiter's Legacy seems to hold up pretty well if you don't hold his other books against him.

Though Millar's plot might be divisive among some readers, Frank Quitely's artwork is beyond undeniable. Anyone who's read All Star Superman will tell you that Quitely is king when it comes to broad landscapes, broad shoulders and viceral battles among godlike beings. His rendering of a brave new world under the rule of the supers is absolutely beautiful and takes up a good deal of the issue which works well in it's favor.

Bottom Line: If you're not burned out on Millar's brand of superhero story telling, this is definitely a gorgeous book worthy of consideration. 7.75 out of 10.


Uncanny X-Men #18: Brian Bendis' run of All New and Uncanny have received a lot of praise from me over the past year and rightfully so. With the years of backstory to sift through and team rosters that rotate more than Taylor Swift's dating schedule, it's nice to have a set of X-books that are accessible to anyone who wants to dive right in and get a decent read without consulting Wikipedia every ten minutes. They're funny, relatable and easy on the eyes. Having said that....

...this issue isn't Bendis' best work. It has the best of intentions, trying to be equal parts chronicling the some moments in the arrival of the Original X-Men to the New Xavier School, catching awkwardness between Young Cyclops and Old Cyclops, and catching Old Scott's reaction to the disappearance of the Kitty Pryde and the original five. The flashbacks and flashforwards just aren't as tight here as they should be. The issue meanders with little direction, dipping out of one plot point and into the next almost randomly. Still, there are some instances in the story that makes this very random rollercoaster worth the ride. Watching Kitty and Cyke hash out their guilt over the death of Charles Xavier was an intriguing piece of reading. And Emma Frost's Jean Grey issues are always nothing short of hilarious. However, this issue in particular doesn't leave a whole lot of air in the room for the young recruits which is weird considering they're a man short as of the issue before.

The art in this book has been eclectic to say the least and Marco Rudy seems to keep that tradition going very well. Using Cyclops' recently uncontrollable optic blasts as borders between panels is a stroke of genius. And every unorthodox panel seems to jump right off of the page thanks to Rudy interchanging inks and watercolors.

Bottom Line: A wonderful, good looking concept....that feels really rushed in execution. 7 out of 10

The Art of Snapping or Maybe Cyclops WAS Right.....

I'm apologizing in advance because I have to talk about Ghostbusters II for a second. In Ghostbusters II, Bill Murray and company had to fight a demonic overlord trapped in a painting who was dumping slime into the sewers that turned all of New York into assholes who are awful to each other for no reason (though I'm still not sure how he did that from inside of a painting). Basically, he meant to take over the world by turning NYC in the center of all evil. In other words, Dallas. Watching this movie as a kid has clearly affected my state of mind now because it is my genuine belief that comment sections online are basically the focal point of all digital evil on the World Wide Web. Having said all that, sometimes, when I'm on the internet reading articles and I'm feeling very adventurous, I'll put on my hazmat suit and dive into random comment sections. Why, you ask? Because fuck it, that's why?

Anyway, one of the biggest criticisms I've read this year in comment sections and message boards is about the direction in which Marvel has taken Cyclops and it got me thinking about why. I mean, Marvel's whole thing is that their characters tend to live a little closer to the human condition of the everyman while a lot of DC characters tend to be more static archetypes. Even though Uncanny X-Men is, thus far, serving a purpose similar to Dark Avengers from a few years back during the "Dark Reign" event, Cyclops didn't " go bad" necessarily.

You're Scott Summers. You haven't looked anyone in the eye since you hit puberty. You've been raised by a kind, well-meaning man who wishes for peace between humans and mutants while training you to fight giant robot death machines since you were 15 years old. You're basically the quintessential All-American captain of the football team for mutantkind. As time goes on and you grow into an adult, people from the future you've been taught to fight for come to the present day and basically tell you that you eventually fail. You watch your wife (who is basically your high school sweetheart) silently fawn over your hairy, homicial teammate. That same wife died, came back to life as a world-swallowing space god, died and came back to life and died AGAIN. Eventually, the race of people you're sworn to protect are magically dwindled down to barely enough to reach full capacity at Chick-Fil-A. Now, you're an endangered species living an island that's pretty much a reservation. At some point, that same world swallowing space god possesses you and you convince yourself that you're righting your dead wife's wrong by healing the world. Then, it drives you power mad and you kill Charles Xavier, your only father figure, in cold blood and you're thrown in jail. Cyclops didn't "turn evil." He snapped. Plain and simple.

It's not even a new phenomenon in Marvel. Take the Ultimate Universe, for example. Early on in Ultimate Spider-Man, Nick Fury confessed to having a file on Peter Parker because with everything that had happened to him and his family over the years (father killed in a Hulk attack, father's best friend's son becomes Venom, Uncle Ben, Norman Osborn, etc.), he was the most likely to snap and become the next big supervillain. Of course, Ultimate Peter Parker didn't snap. In fact, he went on to die in the service of not snapping and being exactly the kind of guy Uncle Ben wanted him to be (although I can't help but wonder if that's because Black Fury also said "When you turn 18, you're mine"....turns out that guy's a lying piece of shit in EVERY dimension). Meanwhile, Ultimate Reed Richards had endured equally fucked up circumstances (piece of shit father, being responsible for unintentionally wiping out another dimension, turning his best friends into a monster, his girlfriend being an indecisive ass, Doom, etc.) and, while nobody was looking, turned into the next big supervillain, almost wiping out humanity at least twice. You don't necessarily like or forgive the character for it, but you get it.

The same thing applies for others like the Norman and Harry Osborn, whose Green Goblin incarnations are completely about regular people just plain losing it in the face of bad shit happening. Brian Michael Bendis' run on Daredevil, which has turned out to be one of the most definitive eras in DD history other than Frank Miller's, is entirely the story of what happens when Matt Murdock has pretty much the worst time of his life (unable to cope with his girlfriend's death, secret identity outed to the press, Bullseye's return, declaring himself Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen, disbarred and thrown in prison, etc.) and being utterly unable to cope with the black hole his life had become.

You see it in real life all the time. Kanye West's evolution is pretty much the best real-life example I can think of when I think about what a hero-to-villain transformation looks like, but that's a whole other post.

Have you ever known someone before a relationship and seen them AFTER a breakup? After the death of a loved one? Post-traumatic stress is more present in America than its probably ever been. Often times, soldiers come home from war changed by their experiences and understandably so. Their job is literally to get shot at so you don't have to. Now, compare that to "superheroism." People who get shot at and attacked by all kinds of unthinkable supervillain shit every single day are bound to be deeply affected and changed in the wake of what they've seen.

No, seriously....WHY hasn't Marvel made
these shirts? You're leaving money on the
table, Marvel.

Having a major character go through a major change like that isn't necessarily always a perversion of who he or she was meant to be. Sometimes, it's the next logical step. It's evolution. Sometimes, people just snap. Comic book characters shouldn't have to be immune.

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 21 or Ridley Scott Should Buy Us All Comics As An Apology For Prometheus....

The Wake #3: This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books to pick up because it does sci-fi horror better than a lot of sci fi horror films (I'm looking at you, Prometheus AKA The Dumbest Scientists in the Universe). With the right writer, it's pretty hard to fuck up an "scientists trapped underwater with a killer sea creature" concept. There are ten issues in this series, it's issue three and we've already entered the "Holy Shit" phase of the story.

The evil-mermaid-sea monster-thing has gotten loose to the surprise of no one and has Dr. Lee Archer and the rest of her crew on the run. The strongest aspect of this book gets much stronger as the spotlight is placed heavily on the claustrophobic tension of this quickly escalating situation, reminiscent of Alien (as I mentioned in the first issue's review). Archer's survival meets sympathy attitude makes for an enjoyable female lead, but the MVP award for this issue has to go to the prize hunter, Meeks. Anyone who was a fan of Robert Shaw's character in Jaws will get a kick out of Meeks' "fuck yeah" moment here. There's a little more exposition in this issue than you would normally want out of a story like this, but yet again, Scott Snyder manages to keep the book moving while maintaining tension. Sean Murphy's attention to detail only gets better as the series goes on. Mix that with Matt Hollingsworth's coloring and you have one of the most consistently gorgeous books running right now. Every moment on most panel turns you into an asshole movie goer, virtually screaming at every page, "Oh my God...GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!!!!"

Bottom Line: This book is going from good to great in no time at all. Shit is getting creepy really quick. This is what you should be setting your calendar for each month. 9.5 out of 10

Guardians of the Galaxy #5: Okay, in a way, this book has double duty. In addition to the pressure for it not to suck because it's going to be a movie pretty soon, it also has to successfully shove Angela, Spawn's angel girlfriend (or whatever) down our throats. Fortunately, it has succeeded on both counts so far.

Since they've been in space doing space shit, The Guardians don't know that time and space have become slightly unglued because people on Earth keep fucking with it and there's no such thing as Doctor Who in Marvel continuity. Basically, this issue sees our heroes catching up with the major events going on in the rest of the universe which is a strength and a weakness. If you didn't read Age of Ultron (which you really shouldn't unless you're trapped in line at the DMV), you're not going to have any idea why any of this is happening. Brian Bendis actually wrote Age of Ultron and I'm convinced that HE doesn't even know what happened. Nonetheless, he seems to have plenty of fun with his characters leading up to the confrontation advertised on the cover which, by the way, was satisfying enough. The addition of Iron Man to the team has been a welcome one thus far. It was a good idea to have a more familiar mainstream hero be our guide through the rules and pitfalls of Marvel's galactic continuity, someone we can discover (or for more seasoned readers, rediscover) comic book outer space with. Bendis has really succeeded in giving these characters distinctive voices that manage to make you laugh and make you slightly uncomfortable at times as good characters should while still driving the plot forward this time around. Sara Pichelli's artwork serves its purpose well enough, but I really wish she wouldn't leave the backgrounds so lifeless during close-ups. It makes some of the more serious moments a bit cartoonish like something I would expect from Deadpool.

Bottom Line: Even if you're not up to date on current events in the Marvel U, this is a good book in a good series serving as a crash course for the developing movie event. 8 out of 10.

Uncanny X-Men #9: Well, I'm really glad this book has picked up speed again. The whole "X-Men vs Hell" story had me a little worried, but Bendis has managed to get back to what readers seems to like about this title: Outlaw X-Men versus S.H.I.E.L.D. Continuing where we left off last issue, we're reintroduced to long time X-Man and former disco performer (No, I'm not kidding), Dazzler working for Maria Hill and being a lot less perky than the heroine we're used to. I'm interested to see whether or not Brian Bendis will elaborate on what's happened since we last saw her that would bring her to the government's doorstep for a makeover into, as Cyclops called her, the "Uncle Tom of mutants." She doesn't seem to be a completely treacherous character here, but considering her treatment of underage detainees, it's easy to see where both sides are coming from. Bendis does what Bendis does best here: characterization. Scott Summers' young recruits find a little more of an identity in this book. We especially get a nice "coming of age" moment here with the Stepford Sisters discovering togetherness in their budding individualities. It's very refreshing to have such strong growth in new characters, offering endearing, lighthearted moments while maintaining this book's status as the "Dark Avengers" of the X-Universe. Though Chris Bachalo's style took some getting used to for me with this title, his designs are really interesting and his willingness to use all of the space is nice. However, the panels that deal with a larger cast of characters can feel cluttered and distracting at times. Still, this is an X-title that has had some bumps but is really coming around.

Bottom Line: I expected just a little more from Bachalo's artwork, but it's still looks good enough, combined with the strong "this is who we are" focus on this installment, to make the whole thing work. 8 out of 10.

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 12 or You Don't Have Superpowers Because You Wouldn't Do Anything Constructive With Them....

A Note From the Writer: I am more than grateful that my little dog and pony review garnered the attention of such a writer as David Mack. However, I am thankful, first and foremost, to you all for continuing to read it. It was really just a side project (at first) that decided, through force of will, to stick around. To thank you all, I wanted to do deviate from the usual schedule for Free Comic Book Day. Doug E. Fresh would call this "crowd participation."

Basically, send me comments, requests, questions on all things comic nerd and I'll talk about them. You can ask them here in the comment area, inbox them, email me or....you know....whatever. I'll try to keep this as fun as possible. Thanks in advance. :-)

Email: letsgetfree13@gmail.comTwitter: @letsgetfree13



And Now.....To The Reviews!!!

Uncanny X-Men #5: I'm just going to start off with the simple truth of what I've gotten from the past two issues. This book is getting weird. Since the events of "Avengers vs. X-Men", Magik has become the wild card of Cyclops' outlaw revolution squad. We haven't seen the full extent of what's she capable of since the Phoenix screwed with her abilities, but it's been suggested for a while that she's the Uncanny team's Thor. Here is where we see her dealing with the ramifications of her unpredictable abilities in a fashion not too unlike how the Scarlet Witch went wrong (or, depending on your point of view, how she was never right to begin with). Brian Bendis, while not making too much of a detour from the ongoing plot, is making a bit of a rest stop to flesh Illyana Rasputin out since she hasn't gotten much focus aside from the occasional "I might be batshit crazy" one liner. We are reintroduced to an old unexpected villain which seems like a "make-up appearance" after a semi lackluster third act battle during Bendis' run on New Avengers. Here, he is given the "holy shit" factor that a baddie of his caliber deserves. One of the high points for this book was the S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting in which Maria Hill groans in the wake of the the X-Men "dropping the mic on the Avengers like it's 8 Mile." I have to appreciate Bendis' ability to make the Avengers either look like jackbooted thugs or spoiled punks who tuck their collective tails between their legs and "don't feel like talking about it" when they get owned. It's good to be able to handle characters realistically while still letting the reader know who's boss in their book.

Frazier Irving's art come across as a sudden, slightly out of place change for this book. The switch itself is already a bit distracting, but his style feels a little messy and too all over the place for my tastes. I also take issue with nobody being able to decide on a baseline set of characteristics for Cyclops' face with the mask off.

Bottom Line: This book suffers no illusions in the fact that it's semi filler. But it's good filler. 7.5 out of 10

Jupiter's Legacy #1: I was going out of my way to not pick up a mainstream superhero title when I bought this and winced when I figured out it was one. But I shouldn't have. Mark Millar has an interesting penchant for being able to introduce superhero archetypes into a world closer to the one we live in. It's a theme he seems to have gotten progressively great at as times goes on and this title, thus far, is the proof. 

Whereas Spider Man will break off a date to go fight crime with little remorse, many of the superpowered people in this world are more likely to wait until their iTunes download of Scandal finishes before running off to beat up on the alien would-be conqueror. And let's face it. That's about right. How many times have you asked someone to do something first thing in the morning and received "Not until I've had my coffee" as a reply? That's just taking out the trash or putting WD-40 on the door hinge. I shudder to think how fucked we'd be if a planet sized meteor were hurtling towards Earth.

This book centers around a generation of Golden Age heroes with a stiff moral code that seems to be getting left in the dust. The setup seems to be leaning towards questioning whether or not the current generation will be up to the responsibility of fighting for good. So far, Millar's answer seems to be a "No" so big, The Rock couldn't lift it. To his credit, doesn't just judge the Twitter era from the cheap seats like an old codger shaking his fist from his porch. He goes behind enemy lines and asks, "Can you blame them? You guys had Hitler to deal with. They have Justin Bieber." Frank Quitely's artwork is, as usual, a godsend to compliment Millar's story appropriately, stirring realism and a powerful sense of the unbelievable into an alphabet soup that's hard to ignore. Though it seems to make you wish for a slightly stronger action beats, it seems to do everything right as far as inaugural issues go.

Bottom Line: Mark Millar is definitely at the top of his game while making you wish you had superpowers and hope your roommate never does all at the same time. 9 out of 10.


East of West #2: Jonathan Hickman is certainly swinging for the fences with this one. He brings a fresh, unapologetic voice to the pantheon of dystopian future visions with his unconventional saga of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War, Famine and Conquest are still on a bloody tear through this brave new world, jumpstarting the end of civilization as we know it. Meanwhile, Death, their fourth, goes on a similarly bloodlustful revenge run. This is the kind of sci-fi/fantasy work Hickman was born to do and the kind of quirky, badass characters he was born to write. The body count's still pretty high, but the story seems to be getting slightly more coherent as pieces of the endgame peek out from under the cracks of maiming, mauling and lush environments that keep your eyes bulging out from their sockets thanks to Nick Dragotta's masterful artwork and shrewd coloring. The first issue was ambitious and slightly experimental, but the sophomore effort is coming across more of a uniformed venture.

Bottom Line: All there was to appreciate last time has been magnified more as the plot begins to come together. 8.5 out of 10.