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X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas (2009) #1
Ok, so I’m not sure it’s really a “versus” book. I mean, sure, it’s got the Atlas guys fighting the X-Men, but it’s really just an Agents of Atlas issue with an X-Men crossover (much like the New Avengers crossover early in the Atlas series). Parker does an unsurprisingly fantastic job, though I wish there’d… 📖
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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943, Roy William Neill)
Of all the Universal monster movies, The Wolf Man “deserved” a real sequel most. With Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Lon Chaney Jr.’s abilities to essay the Larry Talbot role really shine through. I’ve read (and maybe even repeated here) Chaney never gets credit for playing such a physical role while being a bigger man.… 📖
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Power Man and Iron Fist (1981) #121
So apparently Christopher Priest could always write. This issue of Power Man and Iron Fist makes me wish I had the rest of the series, or at least Priest’s work on it. The really strong part about the comic is how well Priest paints the ranges of characters’ motivations. When S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to blow-up… 📖
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Robocop: Prime Suspect (1992) #4
It’s finally over. I’m sure no one thought, seeing this series, Leon would go on to do anything good. Or draw anything competently. I mean, the art in this issue is the worst so far. It’s absolutely atrocious. I guess Dark Horse was being mindful of Robocop as a children’s property at this time, which… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #10
In one of the letter pages, the editor said Robocop would never meet up with any Marvel superheroes (I guess the licensing worked differently than that Spider-Man crossover with the Transformers) and this issue kind of shows why it wouldn’t work. The last two issues have been about costumed vigilantes. Some of them are silly,… 📖
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Incorruptible (2009) #3
Wow, it’s best issue so far. It’s still a complete piece of crap, but it’s the best issue so far. Why’s it the best issue? I have no idea, maybe I’m just being generous. Maybe the art is a little bit (we’re talking on the microscopic level) better. Or maybe because Waid isn’t having his… 📖
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The Mighty Thor (1966) #363
Is this my first issue of Thor? It might be, at least as an adult. I thought there was a miniseries I read, but probably not. I’ve always just assumed they sucked. I mean, I don’t all of a sudden love Thor or something; it’s still really wordy and obnoxious and not even when it’s… 📖
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Buffalo ’66 (1998, Vincent Gallo)
Near as I can recall, outside film noir, there isn’t a film like Buffalo ’66. The protagonist, played by writer/director/composer Gallo, isn’t just unlikable, he’s comically unlikable. I can very easily see the film remade with Will Ferrell in the lead. It’s like a Will Ferrell comedic tragedy, only it’s not so tragic. I don’t… 📖
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Robocop: Prime Suspect (1992) #3
There’s some really awful art this issue. I’m pretty sure the last panel is the silliest panel so far in the series. It’s like a two dimensional … I don’t know what, but something atrocious. The issue really ramps up like it’s going to stop being stupid towards the end–though I do appreciate Arcudi not… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #9
Thank goodness, DeMulder’s back. Grant’s doing another multi-part story here, with Robocop trying to deal with OCP (his bosses) inspired vigilantism. It’s a little strange, just because it’s in a comic book so you’ve got the protagonist fighting the traditional protagonists of the medium. There are some absurd vigilantes and then some more serious ones–it’s… 📖
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Jonah Hex (2006) #50
I hate Palmiotti and Gray’s writing. I mock them every time I look through Previews. So damned if I know what I’ll do now one of their comics has made me tear up, has ruined my day, effectively kicked me in the stomach to the point I want to crawl up in the fetal position.… 📖
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The Micronauts: The New Voyages (1984) #16
People actually read this comic? I mean, I couldn’t understand a single word of it. It’s got an insane continuity to follow, but you also have to be able to translate Gillis’s writing into narrative. It’s just a bunch of events, without any connecting scenes, over and over again. All in one comic book. It’s… 📖
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Robocop: Prime Suspect (1992) #2
This issue actually raises some interesting ideas. Well, no, it doesn’t. It made me think of some interesting stuff but it’s not in the issue itself, which is unfortunate. Namely, if Robocop does go bad, why doesn’t the police department have a way to turn him off? Secondly, why is Robocop’s sergeant in charge of… 📖
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Legion (2010, Scott Stewart)
So is it just a coincidence Legion came out while James Cameron was busy with Avatar‘s theatrical release and the Terminator rights were getting sold? I mean, someone’s got to be keeping an eye out for filmic plagiarism, right? Legion is the first two Terminator movies with an Old Testament God thrown in (I actually… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #8
Wow, I really miss Kim DeMulder. Keith Williams inks this issue and it really doesn’t work. Robocop’s definition is silly, he looks clunky instead of streamlined. Worse are faces. I was lamenting the lack of Robocop’s partner, Lewis, in my response to the previous issue, but she’s here all the time and it never feels… 📖
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The Unwritten (2009) #5
The first time I read this issue, it sort of shocked me. I mean, Carey spends the issue rewriting history; or something close to it, anyway. He spends the issue looking at how the way writing and writers work in The Unwritten has effected other writers, not just the characters in the main story. It… 📖
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Power Pack 18 (January 1986)
Power Pack might be one of those ludicrously irresponsible titles–really, the kids skip school to go on vindictive, violent rampages (if Millar had the Power Pack kids kill a bunch of other kids by accident in Civil War, well, that one would be something)–but it’s got Brent Anderson artwork so I’m not sure I really… 📖
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Robocop: Prime Suspect (1992) #1
What a goofy series. Well, I guess it’s too soon to say the series is goofy, but the first issue is certainly goofy. Maybe it’s John Paul Leon’s artwork. I’ve only seen his more recent work. Prime Suspect looks like Dark Horse hired him to ape Kyle Baker’s most cartoonish style (I’m thinking the Disney… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #7
So Alan Grant did Westworld with dinosaurs before Michael Crichton? There’s a dinosaur park in this issue, which came out a few months before Crichton’s novel, and, strangely, things go wrong. They go wrong for different reasons, but still… this issue could have been called “Robocop vs. Jurassic Park.” There’s a lot of action here… 📖
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The Unwritten (2009) #4
The fourth issue–I’m trying to remember if something magical is revealed each issue, but I don’t think so, just the first and second–ends on a wacky cliffhanger. I mean, it ends on a very dramatic, horrific note, but then on this, well, sweet one too. The potential for The Unwritten is just amazing–if Carey pulls… 📖
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The Unwritten (2009) #3
The third issue drastically changes pace. Instead of it being a summary of events, it’s more “real time,” with Tom’s trying to figure out the variety of weird things going on. Not the weird things overall, just the weird things going on since the end of the last issue. There’s a lot more humor this… 📖
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The Unwritten (2009) #2
The second issue introduces magic to the protagonist for the first time. Unfortunately, it’s one of the issue’s weaker moments, because his reaction is nowhere near intense enough. The series has become, at least for the moment, a quest story–the quest for knowledge–and it’s definitely an approach Carey is comfortable playing with. The revelations we… 📖
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The Unwritten (2009) #1
The premise of The Unwritten is simple–what if a Harry Potter-like character turned out to be real–but the way Carey weaves the story, the intricacies, the endless setups, makes The Unwritten so much more than its concept, it’s hard to remember the premise was ever simple. Carey introduces maybe nine things this issue–protagonist Tom Taylor’s… 📖
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Ninja Assassin (2009, James McTeigue)
Has there ever been a major studio ninja movie before? As far as I know, no. There were the Cannon ones in the eighties, but those, obviously, don’t count. Actually, I didn’t even know Ninja Assassin opened theatrically. I’m slow keeping up with what qualifies one film to be released theatrically while another not. The… 📖
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Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010, Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery)
The new wave of superhero cartoons for, ostensibly, adults (because they’re rated PG-13) has turned out a handful of decent pictures. The directors of this one, Montgomery and Liu, separately, directed the entirety of that handful. So I thought I’d try it for them. Plus, this one’s written by Dwayne McDuffie, who’s a comic book… 📖
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The Wolfman (2010, Joe Johnston)
If someone had told me Anthony Hopkins was going to have a major role… he’s so laughably bad, it’d be funny–if the joke of The Wolfman wasn’t on me. Universal Studios doesn’t have any comic book properties so they’re apparently going to go through their horror catalog and churn out more turds like The Wolfman.… 📖
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Cloak and Dagger (1985) #4
I can’t believe Marvel didn’t relaunch Cloak and Dagger during the Bush years. It’s a neo-con wet dream (complete with discreet racism, with Cloak being the evil black, corrupting Dagger, and cops beating witnesses). This issue is, I think, my first Cloak and Dagger ever. I wasn’t missing much. They’re both really annoying. She’s holier… 📖
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Robocop vs. the Terminator (1992) #4
Wow, so good old Frank Miller coming through here with a happy ending and a dumb joke and just an awful comic book. There’s so little story in this issue, you’d think it was coming out today instead of back in the early nineties. Miller’s script reads like fan fiction, if I understand what fan… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #6
Grant’s resolution to the Robocop at war thing is surprising. First, the big revelation (of why the Arabs aren’t really the bad guys) is good enough I’m not even going to spoil it. Second, he’s got a very mild, conclusion (albeit some lame lines about Murphy being a good cop again). Third, he introduces cybernetic… 📖
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Don’t Bet On Love (1933, Murray Roth)
Ayres is a degenerate gambler (who cleans up nice) and Rogers is the girl who loves him, despite herself, of course, in this breezy melodrama. In terms of particulars, it has almost nothing to recommend it. Ayres is a little bit too believable as the callous lead, who purposely eschews all advice as he lucks… 📖
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Strange Tales (2009) #3
And this indie rendition of Strange Tales goes whimpering into the night. Even Bertozzi’s Watcher intros have run out of steam and Bagge’s Hulk hits its greatest potential then falters. Sakai’s samurai Hulk story is filler and contrived to be Marvel related. Lewis’s Longshot story is lame and a little misogynistic. Oddly, Longshot looks like… 📖
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Strange Tales (2009) #2
The second issue starts real strong with Bertozzi’s perv Watcher intro and then immediately drops. Tony Millionaire’s Iron Man manages to be a wee bit learned to be effective. Maybe I just don’t see Iron Man as ripe for humor, except maybe drunk jokes–regardless, grafting absurdism with Marvel heroes doesn’t work in the story. Johnson’s… 📖
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Strange Tales (2009) #1
I think Strange Tales is a bad title for this one (I know, it’s a traditional Marvel title), just because they aren’t strange tales, they’re funny ones. Wait, the Japanese one is strange (Spider-Man in a town of spider-people feeling inferior to Mary Jane). Anyway, the funniest is Nicholas Gurewitch’s one page Wolverine strip. He’s… 📖
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Secret Wars II (1985) #6
The issue ends with the Beyonder trying to “forgot” this chapter in his experiences; if only the reader were so lucky. Besides featuring all of the cosmic–sorry–conceptual beings (along with an introduction to each), it’s the Beyonder plays superhero and turns it into a business. It’s all exceedingly lame, except at the end when the… 📖
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Robocop vs. the Terminator (1992) #3
Let’s see if I can recap. The future lady doesn’t kill Robocop because he’s too human so Robocop goes off and kills himself. Wait, wait, I forgot the opening with the Terminators colonizing outer space (another thing Cameron wisely neglected wasting time on–what do the Terminators do once they take over the planet?). Ok, so… 📖
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Robocop (1990) #5
Robocop goes to war. It’s an interesting idea, Robocop being used as a military weapon–leased out by his owners, instead of policing–but Grant seems more concentrated on the action potentials for this issue. There’s a lot of suggestions the morality of it will come into play next issue, but for now, it’s Robocop versus weird… 📖
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Remember Last Night? (1935, James Whale)
I wish I knew if Remember Last Night? is supposed to be a knock-off of The Thin Man or if it’s just a highly coincidental release, coming a year later, with a similarly intoxicated, ritzy couple solving crimes as they get more intoxicated (Robert Young and Constance Cummings play the couple in this film). Remember… 📖
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Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004, Phil Tippett)
The last time I tried watching Starship Troopers 2, I turned it off. I have no idea how I made it past that point this time, but I’m almost glad I did. The big problem with the first act is Brenda Strong, who it centers around. Strong’s acting “style” fit in the first film, but… 📖
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Muppet Robin Hood (2009) #4
The series isn’t terrible; it has cute finish. Not a particularly successful one, but a cute one. There’s a lot of goofiness, not just in the narrative but in the handling of it. For example, when Disney gave Boom! the kids comic license, were they aware Boom! was going to do a page and a… 📖
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Muppet Robin Hood (2009) #3
Beedle comes closer to–no pun intended–making a bullseye this issue than the previous two suggested he was capable of doing. There’s some of the silly anachronisms, but even they don’t stand in the way of it finally turning into a Robin Hood story. I can’t remember if the archery contest is a Robin Hood standard… 📖
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Muppet Robin Hood (2009) #2
The second issue is more of the first, but with more of the primary Muppets. What’s with Gonzo, by the way? It seems like no one can draw Gonzo to really resemble the actual Muppet? The best thing about this issue are Johnny Fiama and Sal. Johnny’s playing the evil prince and Sal’s there too.… 📖
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Muppet Robin Hood (2009) #1
I guess they don’t get it. I mean, maybe they do, but maybe not. Muppet Robin Hood reminds me of one of those licensed properties where they have a partial license, like when Dark Horse had The Terminator but not Terminator 2 and so couldn’t refer to it. Muppet Robin Hood plays like an overlong… 📖