What I thought of...Wolverine #5

Wolverine #5: Wolverine (with a tiny bit of help) takes on the evil entity that he's been battling since issue 1 of this series. And.....he's not doing so well.
The Good: THE WRITING! It's good, not great. This isn't the best issue that writer Paul Cornell has done. It's got plenty of action, a little intrigue, but doesn't do much to move the overall story forward. What it DOES have is some good Wolverine moments. Which is nice, because....
The Bad:..the art is NOT great. In fact, I hate to say it, it's almost not even good. I'm really shocked that Marvel couldn't find someone better than ARTHUR FONZERELLI to handle art chores on this issue. Seriously, not good.
The Verdict: Pass. It's the first chapter in a new, two issue story arc, and while I haven't read the second part yet,  I'm really thinking that you can skip this story completely. It has terrible art and contributes nothing of value to the overall value of the series.

What you should buy-5/15/13

A decent size week of really entertaining books. Let's dive right in:

He-Man & The Masters of The Universe #2: BOOK OF THE WEEK!!! After last issue's shock ending, what more can go wrong for He-Man? I guess we'll find out!

Mark Waid's Green Hornet #2: This book is AWESOME!!! It's what the Green Hornet should've been from the start!!

Dream Thief #1: This book is CRAZY awesome!!!!! Now, you can tell just what kind of comics that I like. This is about as far removed from that kind of book that you can get and I'm over the moon crazy about it!!!! BUY IT!!

Battlestar Galactica #1: The ORIGINAL BSG returns!!! And I can't think of a better creative team than "DNA"! If you're even a slight fan of the show, grab this one!

Conan the Barbarian #16: Stop being so awesome, Brian Wood!!!

Avengers: The Enemy Within #1: This is GREAT!!!! Starts a crossover with a few other Avengers titles. VERY well written and interesting.

Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #5: This is it! The last issue of this awesome crossover!!! Sad to see it go, but can't wait to read the ending!!

-This is one of those weeks, were I really haven't even scratched the surface of all the good stuff that's coming out. Make sure you head down to your local comic store and grab them up!!! If you're in Chicago, stop by the city's finest comic store, Challengers Comics + Conversation. Have a great Wednesday!!!

What I thought of...Age of Ultron #8

Age of Ultron #8: This issue is a lot of talking(surprise, surprise). Wolverine has killed Hank Pym and is now back in the present, except it's all wrong. It's, by far, not the place that he left. Magic reigns supreme and the Avengers have disbanded and the only group of heroes is The Defenders. And Iron Man is dead. Except he's not. Or something like that.
The Good: Whew. This is gonna be tough, as I really didn't like this issue. The art was pretty good, I guess.
The Bad: Good Lord!!! This issue STUNK!!In a nutshell, it's the heroes of the "current" world are trying to figure out why there's 2 Wolverines (they obviously don't read Marvel Comics), and why Sue Richards is alive and what went wrong after Hank Pym dies. To some up...BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. Shit, this is NOTHING but talking heads. Yeah, there's some action, but it's pretty sparse, and the story doesn't really move forward. Basically, this issue could've been condensed into about 4 pages or it would've been perfect for one of the Age of Ultron one-shots.
The Verdict: PASS. Unless you HAVE to own every issue of Age of Ultron, don't bother with this one. Nothing happens.

What I thought of...All New X-Men #8

I hate to sound like a dead horse, but I am SO not an X-Men guy. Until this book came along, that is. I admit, I expected a lot of people to bail after Immonen left the book, but that's not really happening. Sure, Bendis is writing it, but the premise is, from a distance, a little hokey. The 5 teenage X-Men come to the future to straighten out what Cyclops did wrong? Yeah.....right.

The Good: It's the X-Men teaming up with the Avengers!!!...kinda. Young Angel goes off looking for himself, litterally, and both Angels stumble upon an attack on Avengers Tower by the bad guys of Hydra. Except, the Avengers aren't exactly AT HOME, so it's an all Angel vs Hydra fight. Until the Avengers DO come home and then the X-Men get a stern "talking to" by Captain America. This issue works in several different ways. The "young version" meets "old version" gag is still entertaining and has yet to go stale. The interaction between young Angel and Kitty Pryde is REALLY great, and there's an ending that I won't spoil, but is almost jaw-dropping. VERY well done issue.

The Bad: Of all the issues in the series so far, this one is the weakest. Even though it's entertaining, the young Angel/old Angel stuff gets pretty old pretty quick because Bendis doesn't give either one enough of a personality difference. They're basically the same person, nothings changed about the character in all these years. Angel is one of my favorite X-Men and have NO IDEA what his current stance or powers are. I'd think a nice recap page would take care of this. I mean, after all, there's like 594 X-Men books out, you can't expect everyone to know everything. 

The Verdict: I'm gonna say......buy it. But ONLY if you've bought the rest of the run and want to have a complete collection. There's really nothing in this story that NEEDS to be told, other than Bendis needed to do an Angel issue. The shock ending is good, but nothing that won't be gone over is issue #9.

New Comics You Should Buy-1/23/13

January is a 5 Wednesday month, and this is probably considered the "light" week. But, there are by NO MEANS a shortage of awesome comics to read. Here's what I recommend you pick up this week if you like awesome things:

 THE ANSWER #1: This book is AWESOME!!!!! Creator Mike Norton struck it big with BattlePug, I'm guessing this is going to be just popular, if not MORE SO!!

THE LONE RANGER #12: Month in, month out, one of the consistently BEST comics out there!

 MASKS #3: This book is surprisingly great! I love these characters, so I was bound to like it, but I had no idea it would be this much fun, and with such a great mood.

 THE BIONIC WOMAN #7: If only the TV series from a few years ago would've been done in this format. Awesomely entertaining book, that is a lot of fun to read.

 AVENGERS #3: LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!!!

 CASTLE #2: Last issue, there was a pretty awesome mystery set up. I can't wait to see where this goes. And, art by Robert Atkins, which is awesome!!

 COBRA #21: Sadly, the last issue of this fantastic series. BUT, it returns in April with a brand-new title(The Cobra Files)with the same awesome creative team!

UNCANNY AVENGERS #3: There is some CRAZY shit that goes down this issue. CRAZY!!

STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN TO DARKNESS #1: The prequel series to this summer's Star Trek Into Darkness. PEOPLE!!! THINGS HAPPEN!!!! This is a GREAT book!!!

-Whew! That's quite a pile of awesome comics. AND there's lots more that I didn't have room to mention. As always, if it's New Comics Day, I'll be at Challengers Comics, so if you're in Chicago you'd better stop by and say hello!!!

NEXT WEEK: I got the FEVAH....and the only preSCIPTION....is more He-Man!!!

The List!!!...for Wednesday, January 16th

WOW!!! What an incredible week for awesome comics!!...and, Saga's out this week too. Here's a few that I would HIGHLY recommend....

Bionic Man vs. Bionic Woman #1: Let's start things off with a bang. This first issue is FANTASTIC!!! And, while we don't quite get the battle we all want to see in this first issue, it's a great opening chapter of this mini series.

Mars Attacks The REAL Ghostbusters: Wow. I really can't believe that Sony let IDW do this. But, I'm super glad they did. It's great, buy it!

Savage Wolverine #1: Wolverine by Frank Cho. That pretty much says it all. Oh, and Shanna the She-Devil.

All-New X-Men #6: I can't WAIT to see what happens next!!!

Captain America #3: Old Cap vs. An alien from Jabba the Hutt's Palace!

Batgirl #16: Death of the Family tie-in!! Somebody's getting married!

Avengers Assembled #11: Really loving this book since the creative team shift

The Black Beetle #1: This is a FANTASTIC pulp hero action comic! Loads of fun!!!

Batman #16: Death of the Family!!!

GI Joe #21: NOT a silent issue!!! But, sadly, this is the end of the road for this GI Joe series. But, you can't keep a good counter terrorist unit down, right?

-Again, TONS of good stuff coming out this week. If you're in Chicago, you better stop by Challengers, cause I'll be there selling all these comics and MORE!!! Have a great Wednesday, everybody. Stay Electrifying!

The List-December 19, 2012

What a HUGE week for comics!!!! It's almost like 2 weeks combined into one, because almost NOTHING is shipping next week on the 26th(except the all ready spoiled Amazing Spider-Man #700). Anyway, here's just a FEW of the comics that I recommend picking up this week:

All New X-Men #4-I never imagined in a million years that this book would be as good as it has been.

Bionic Woman #6-THIS BOOK IS WAY BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE!!!!

Avengers #2-A whole shit ton of people show up!!!! And it's awesome!!!

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #5-He-Man VERSUS Battle Cat!!!!!

Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow #20-THINGS ARE HEATING UP as the series is winding down!!

MacGyver: The Fugitive Gauntlet #3-I love this series so much!!!Buy it. Read it. Repeat. 

-There you have it!! Again, LOTS of great stuff to buy this week and isn't it a perfect time to buy a pile of comics and read them? A lot of you will be traveling, and that's the perfect time to read and not have to make awkward conversation with the weird person next to you! If you're in Chicago, I'll see you tomorrow at Challengers!!!

THE LIST for December 5th!!!!!

It's a great week for comics!!....AGAIN!!!! Here's what I'm looking forward to this week(and you should be too)

Avengers #1: I can't tell you how excited I am for this book. A non Bendis Avengers A-List book? SIGN. ME. UP.

Amazing Spider-Man #699: SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL!!!!!!!!! No spoilers from me, but this book is kicking SO much ass right now, it's not even funny.

All New X-Men #3: Never been an X-Men fan, but this book is BEYOND fun!!!

Detective Comics #15: A Death of the Family tie-in!!

The Lone Ranger #11: Tonto's in trouble and so is The Lone Ranger!!! One of the best books out there right now!!

GI Joe: A Real American Hero #185: ZARTAN!!!!!!!!!!

-Head out to your local comic book store, and if you're in Chicago, come down and see me at Challengers Comics + Conversation!!! See you on Wednesday!!

Could Yvonne Strahovski be Ms. Marvel?

Maybe. Here's the RUMOR going around courtesy of CBM

"Though it’s not often that we get the scoop on anything here, I’ve just received information from a protected source inside Marvel that points to Yvonne Strahovski being cast in the upcoming Avengers movie as Ms. Marvel.

Could it be true?

I, for one, have long hoped to see Yvonne crop up in a comic book movie. She’s got the action chops to easily pull it off and it was really just a matter of time before the right character came along."

-My take: This could be a 50/50 chance. Joss Whedon is know for casting "nerd friendly" girls in his stuff. And, she definitely could pull this off. She's not a "big enough" star that she wouldn't sign on for 3 or 6 or however many movies Marvel/Disney will want her to sign for. And the fans will GO NUTS. If true, well played. And, just cause, here's some more picture of this smokin' hot lady!

Maria Hill is gonna be in the Avengers movie....

AND she's be wicked hot! How I Met Your Mother Star Cobie Smulders has been cast as Nick Fury sidekick Maria Hill. Let's take a closer look:



Oh, you wanted a closer look at Maria Hill? We can do that to, I guess:

"Originally from Chicago Maria Hill joined SHIELD and rose to the position of commander. After Colonel Nicholas Fury's "Secret War" Maria was chosen to be director of SHIELD by the President himself after he commended her on her work while she was stationed on assignment in Madripoor. Although many others who she herself admitted were better suited for position were not considered for directorship she was assigned director. It has emerged that Maria was chosen as the other candidates were "Fury Loyalists" and SHIELD needed "new direction".

At first Hill had her differences with Iron Man (Tony Stark) and the New Avengers. Mainly due to the fact they withheld information on the "House of M" event leading to "M-Day". After Hill arrested Spider-Man, unmasked him and used SHIELD psychics agents to probe his mind for information regarding the "House of M" events, Maria redeemed herself to them by not following the presidents advice and bombing the island of Genosha to disable a current threat as the Avengers were present at the time.

Before the "Superhuman Registration Act" was passed as law, Hill met with Captain America (Steve Rogers) aboard the helicarrier and proposed that he lead the Avengers within the law and arrest anyone who would not comply. Captain America declined her offer, stating that he would not arrest people who risk their lives for their country every day of the week. Upon his failure to comply Hill ordered her superhuman response team or "cape killers" to tranquilize Captain America. During the scuffle Rogers avoided being tranquilized and escaped becoming the de facto leader of the Secret Avengers.

After the "Civil War" had ended Hill stepped down as directer giving the position to Iron Man Tony Stark and has resumed her duties as commander for SHIELD."
via Marvel.com