What I thought of...Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1

Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1: Snake Eyes, the ultimate member of the GI Joe team is working for what, now? Yeah, you read the title right. One of the ORIGINAL members of the (1982) GI Joe team has turned traitor and is working for Cobra. Jerkstore.
The Good: Mike Costa writes. Paolo Villanelli art. Do I need to list anything else? OK, I will anyway. The story is WAY better than I thought it would be (no offense Mike Costa)! I thought this would be the typical "Duke tells Snake Eyes to infiltrate Cobra, Snake does, but gets threatened into working for them" kinda thing. That is far FAR from the case here. Truth be told, we haven't seen Snake Eyes in quite a while, and now that he'd back, we're REALLY not sure where his loyalties lay. The last we knew, he got screwed over by the Joe team pretty bad. So this story actually has the feel of "Wow.Snake Eyes really COULD be a bad guy now!"!
The Bad: We spend a lot of time with Destro in this issue. Quite a lot. But, since Snake Eyes doesn't really talk we need someone to "narrate" the story, for lack of a better term.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!!! It's Mike Costa writing GI Joe! Also, he introduces a character that, to my knowledge, makes his debut in IDW GI Joe continuity, and is a pretty big deal. You do NOT want to miss this issue!

What your life is missing!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to inform you that you're life..is probably not complete. You may think it is, but nope, you're wrong. UNLESS, you're reading my favorite magazine, you're not getting all the joy out of life that you could be. No, I'm not talking about porn, that's a whole other category. What I'm talking about is Cereal:Geek Magazine.

A lot of you may not even KNOW what the hell Cereal:Geek is, and that's a problem. Published by my good buddy James "Busta Toons" Eatock, Cereal:Geek is a magazine that provides THE most in-depth and informative articles about cartoons of the 1980's. And c'mon, we ALL love those. They were some of the best! Thundercats, GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Dungeons and Dragons, Mr. T, Thundarr the Barbarian, Turbo Teen, Laser Tag Academy...the list goes on and on. Production wise, you have NEVER seen a magazine like this in your life!!! It's a bigger than a normal magazine, each issue is 100 pages, full color, and PACKED with amazing illustrations, super awesome articles by a lot of people that actually WORKED on the cartoons, and some really cool regular features like "A REAL Cartoon" where they take a live action movie or television show (Beverly Hills Cop. The A-Team), and imagine what it would be like if that property had it's own animated series! Personally, I'm still holding out for a Mr. Belvedere cartoon, but who isn't, right?
-Now, you won't find this magazine in bookstores, or newstands or grocery stores. The easiest was to get it, is by going to the website and ordering it directly from James & co. IF, you by chance live in the Chicago area, Challengers Comics + Conversation can help you out, as they proudly carry the magazine. So, stop reading this, get clickin' on those links and grab some issues of this magazine. It will change the way you watch your cartoons. Haven't you always wondered why the He-Man show reused so much footage? Or what the writers were thinking when they wrote some of those episodes? Did you know comic legend Jack "King" Kirby helped create Thundarr the Barbarian? AND the Mr. T cartoon? You would if you read this magazine!!!
James also has written an incredible guide to He-Man & The Masters of the Universe cartoon, which you can pick up here:
http://www.bustatoons.com/heman_cartoon_guide/guide.htm
He's also the man responsible for the OFFICIAL He-Man Youtube channel, which you can check out here:
https://www.youtube.com/HeMan
And you can follow him on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/cerealgeek
So yeah, do all these things, and you're on your way to leading a more complete, fullfilling, accomplished life. You're welcome!

That's no moon...it's a comic book!

Star Wars #1: Guess what? You get the Star Wars comic that you always wanted. Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3PO & R2-D2 against Darth Vader and the Empire. That's IT. No 1,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, no Clone Army, no Separatists, no 200 years in the future. This. Is. Star. Wars.
The Good: Almost everything. First off, the story. Jason Aaron puts together a fantastic first issue to get the ball rolling. This issue isn't a wasted origin story because, let's face it, you really don't need one. The best compliment that I could give this book is that it FELT like Star Wars. All the characters are acting like themselves: Han's a cocky, arrogant con-man, Luke's an innocent young man, Leia is...well, Leia, ect. One of the things that impressed me the most about this book was the lack of movie dialogue. Many times in licensed comics, characters say the same famous lines from the movies over and over and over again, but that doesn't happen here. Aaron has the characters down pat, and it really shows. The art by John Cassaday is fantastic. I have to admit, when I saw his preview pages I was a little nervous. To me, he's really hit or miss with character likenesses, but here, thankfully, he's dead on.
The Bad: This comic does not feature ANY of the characters from the 1985 Droids cartoon, except for Artoo and Threepio, and that is a CRIME, because that was the greatest cartoon ever. OK, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who shares that opinion, but I had to make up SOMETHING negative, right?
The Verdict: I don't care if you're reading this at home, on your phone while you're in a car, on your tablet while you're on the treadmill, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GO BUY THIS COMIC BOOK. I honestly haven't enjoyed a comic this much in a loooooong time, and if this is just the beginning of what Marvel has in store for us with it's Star Wars line, then sign me up!!

GO GET A STAR WARS COMIC!!!!!!

Almost 29 years ago, Marvel Comics published Star Wars #107, the final issue in their monthly Star Wars series. Today, Marvel releases Star Wars #1, the first issue in their all NEW on-going monthly series by Jason Aaron and artist John Cassaday, and I have to say, it's nice to have Star Wars "home" again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED a lot of the Dark Horse Star Wars comics. They kept the torch going when, honestly, nobody really cared about Star Wars. But, as a kid growing up in the late 70's and 80's, THIS is where Star Wars belonged. Not that the Star Wars characters interacted with Spider-Man or The Hulk or anything like that, but just seeing the Marvel logo on a Star Wars comic feels right to me.
-Unless you've been living under a rock for the last several months, you know that over a MILLION copies of Star Wars #1 have been ordered, many of them retailer exclusives and variant covers, so saying that you have more than just one cover to choose from is a GROSS understatement. Unfortunately, there's no ONE place to buy them all, so you're best bet would be to try ebay and see what comes up.
-2015 will be a big year for Star Wars, with the new movie opening in December (Is anyone in line yet?). but, I'm going to be doing the best that I can to include regular Star Wars comic reviews, right here! Yes, there's a million Star Wars websites out there, focusing on everything from the movies to the toys to the Legos to the novels...you get the idea. But, not to many include comics, and well, I love comics, so there you go. I will (hopefully) see you back here later today with my review of Star Wars #1!!!

This is NOT an actual cover....pervert.