Movie News

So in one fell swoop of an article I went from loving the idea of the new Wolverine movie to going into convulsions. Why is Will I. Am in this film and has nobody learned from Ja Rule's mistake? Rappers in film do not equal great movies, except Friday that move was the funny as hell.

Origin's film adds more mutants. [Variety]

X-Reviews!!!! (X-Factor & X-Force)

As you have noticed by the double covers, this is a double review of X-Factor (Peter David) and X-Force (Craig Kyle and Christ Yost). Now you may be asking yourself why or maybe not and you want me to just get to the point and I say fine.

I'll start with X-Factor because, in my opinion, it leads into X-Force. So here goes, this issue has a ton of plot; Madrox, exhibiting the futuristic mutant tatoo on his eye and still visibly bothered by this and the dark future he saw, attacks the purifiers, Siryn reveals to M she's pregnant, and Rictor questions the newfound segregation of Mutantown. However, all of these promising plots get lost as most of this issue is devoted to Wolfsbane revealing to half of the the team that she is leaving. This issue just displayed how fractured the X-Factor team and their town has become since House of M,Messiah Complex, and Layla's disappearance. This issue was average in what has been a pretty good run of series and I truly believe that the next issue will pickup the plots that were touched on in this issue.

X-Force is back and violent with a capital V. This plot is pretty simple Cyclops assembles a covert operations team to take down the mutant hate/terrorist group, the Purifiers and their leader, Reverend Matt Risman. The team is comprised of Warpath, X-23, Wolfsbane (yea, she left X-Factor to join this team), and the over used Wolverine. For some odd reason Wolverine, a killer, doesn't want the other people on this crew killing people. This reeks of hypocrisy from this dude, so I kind of laughed when he got emotional (or what passes for emotional with Wolverine) and punched Cyclops, erasing the emo moment I had with the character. Enough of my let it out moment, because this book came with a parental advisory and it doesn't disappoint. Three words can describe this first issue; blood, bullets, and death. I was wondering if this book would have a plot and it appears it will with the return of a certain X-men big bad so there is plenty of potential for this book.

X-Factor #28

Writing- 3 out of 5
Art- 4 out of 5

Overall- 3.5 out of 5

X-Force #1

Writing-3.5 out of 5
Art-4.5 out 5
Overall-4 out of 5

This Week's Solicitation

Almost time for more comics, get giddy!!! Yea I said giddy.. I only added Independent this week because I will be picking up Angel.

MARVEL
Amazing Spider-Man #551
Avengers Classic #9
Cable Deadpool #50
Hulk #2
Hulk #2 (1 in 20) Djurdjevic Incentive Cover
Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall
Incredible Hercules #114
Incredible Hercules #114 (1 in 15) Acuna Incentive Cover
Iron Man #26
Marvel Illustrated Iliad #3
Mighty Avengers #9
The Order #8
Runaways #29
Terror Inc. #5
Ultimate Human #2
Ultimate X-Men #91
Ultimates 3 #3
Ultimates 3 #3 (1 in 20) Cho Cover
Wolverine Origins #22
WWH Aftersmash Warbound #3


DC
Batman & the Outsiders #4
Batman Confidential #13
Birds of Prey #115
Brave & The Bold #10
Catwoman #76
Checkmate #23
Countdown to Final Crisis #10
Death of the New Gods #6
Flash #237
Justice League of America #18
Robin #171
Shadowpact #22
Spirit #14
Superman Batman #46
Superman Confidential #12
Wonder Girl #6

INDEPENDENT
Angel After the Fall #4
Angel After the Fall #4 (1 in 4) Cover
Angel After the Fall #4 (1 in 10) Urru Incentive Cover
Angel After the Fall #4 (1 in 20) Virgin Incentive Cover

Spidey Makes Devilish Deal and goes Number 1!!

Its MUNDAY, blah blah, but news and reviews are here to save your soul

The Amazing Spider-man: #546 Brand New Day and Hulk #1, took first and second in Diamonds monthly sales charts and four of the five top selling books were also of the Marvel variety. I knew Spidey would be up in the five, but not number one, considering, I still see #546 on the shelf in my local shop and I'm still waiting to get my hands on the reprint of Hulk's new book. But, hey one point for EIC Joe Quesada!

Marvel and DC like it on top........[Newsarama]

Yes the Hulk is red......[USA Today]

Joss Whedon awesomeness allows him to write (Runaways #29 preview) when he wants...[Marvel]

The New Avengers Review

I have to hand to the folks over at Marvel because they have just been churning out books for The New Avengers and none have been a disappointment, minus the odd purple art in that second annual. However, I'm a forgiving man who can overlook questionable art techniques , but enough about my purple problem as I am a fan of the Artist Formally Known as Prince. Considering my fondness of music by men who dress up in clothes that make them look like human popsicles and comic book artwork have nothing to do with one another let's jump into this review.

This issue picks up right where the second annual left off, with Jessica Jones taking her baby and joining The Mighty Avengers and registering with the Initiative program. As you can see from this cover Jones was married to Luke Cage, who also fathered the child she ran off with. Also the Avengers move into a new apartment owned by Iron Fist, but that's all you need to know about the rest of the team because this issue was solely about Jessica and Luke breaking up.

I'll willingly admit that I cannot stand word heavy issues, but this issue hit close to home. I was raised in a single family home as my parents separated when I was very young. Even though they didn't separate out of the fear that I would be attacked by super villains and shape shifting Skrulls who can't be detected, which would have been a cooler reason, but I digress. Brian Michael Bendis brilliantly scripted this issue as Luke Cage sees everything crashing around him in the wake of constant attacks by the Hood and the ongoing hints of a Skrull invasion, Jessica wants him to join her, the baby, and the Mighty Avengers. This would mean Luke giving up everything he stands for when it comes to taking a stand against the fifty state initiative and registering heroes secret identities. The art and dialogue in this issue meld together as you can feel the desire both characters have for their separate beliefs, but just when you think its all about the breakup Bendis shifts gears back to the impending invasion and the sudden delusions of Skrulls in Stark tower return as Luke asks Jessica an interesting question about why she came back......During Civil War Jessica was supposed to take the baby and flee to Canada, but she came back after Captain America died......

This issue only left me with more questions about Skrulls and feeling sorry for Luke Cage, because not only is he without his wife and child but the Avengers are in an utter state of confusion and their still fugitives. If X-Factor and X-Force hadn't tied for my books of the week this one would have gotten the nod. Every Avengers issue has been one twist or surprise after another and if you can get past the extensive dialogue I recommend this book.

The New Avengers #38

Writing-4 out of 5
Art-4 out of 5
Overall- 4 out of 5




Random thoughts from this issue that had no bearing on the review.... Spider-Man is back in his old uniform, and he still takes of his mask around the Avengers (take that Brand New Day). Is it me or is Wolverine in too many damn books? All I'm saying is that Marvel is extending the character into too many stories and at some point people aren't going to be interested in him (other than die-hard fanboys and girls) anymore.

Excelsior Bitches!!

Skrull Guess Who!!

So apparently Marvel is talking about skrull spoilers in some of their bigger books; NEW AVENGERS #31, NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #5, MS. MARVEL #24 and CAPTAIN MARVEL #3, but they left a book out. I'm not going to say which book it is yet, but, way to black ball one of your better books Marvel. So here are the Skrulls and possible Skrulls ready to secretly invade. If you don't feel like reading the official half-ass marvel spoiler I'll give you my full list.

Why is He a Skrull?
Cobalt Man-Revealed in Captain Marvel #3

Ok, now I've considered picking up the Mar-vell series and considering my intrigue in the impending invasion I may pick it up, but considering his only lines of dialogue and action came in Civil War #1 right before Stamford was blown to hell. So this one makes no sense unless he supplied Nitro with the MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone) that enhanced his abilities. But we know that's not true as Wolverine took down the CEO of Damage Control who supplied Nitro with the "mutant juice." But now I'm just turning into some obsessive conspiracy theorist as Cobalt man was really just around to accuse Captain Marvel of being a Skrull.

We Still Don't Know Yet Skrulls..
Ms. Marvel- Revealed in Ms. Marvel # 24 & Captain Marvel-Revealed in Captain Marvel #3

Now Cobalt Man was brought in to accuse Mar-vell of being a Skrull and Ms. Marvel after she lost her powers is now reverted back to her Binary powers, so that's also questionable.

Skrulls Marvel Won't Tell You About...
The Revolutionary-Revealed in Avengers: The Initiave Annual #1

This is the first of two Skrulls revealed in the pages of Avengers: Initiative and noticeably missing from the spoilers page of marvel. You want to talk about bit skrull, this one takes the cake. This guy is apart of one of the Fifty States Initiative teams in Philadelphia, named The Liberteens. Now before I get into this goof's role, let me address this team's name in one word, corny, and most of the teens names and caricatures make them look and sound like they were created in a cheap American factory. When Marvel said that Skrulls were going to be apart of every team in America, they meant it. The Liberteens look like a cross between the Great Lakes Avengers, the X-Men, and add an ass ton of patriotism and boom!!! You got a team. The only relevance this Skrull has is who he contacts at the Avengers training base at Camp Hammond.

Crusader-Revealed in Avengers: The Initiative #9

This is my deduction and my deduction only but unless there is another Skrull hanging out around the Camp Hammond base then this is the guy who's making sure Skrulls are in place. Now the placement of these two Skrulls makes since as both seem to be apart or will be apart of initiative based teams. But not to do too much spoiling, but this Skrull's longevity is questionable and I'll leave it at that, because you should be reading Avengers.

Skrulls Who Failed Their Missions...

Elektra-Revealed in The New Avengers #31

Everyone and their momma knew that Elektra was gonna get wacked by Echo in this issue, but what threw me, and anyone else not searching for spoilers, for a loop was that the supposed Elektra reverted to a dead Skrull. Which has led to massive paranoia among the Avengers including the defections of Spider-Woman with the Skrull corpse, and Jessica Jones, and Doctor Strange just straight up leaving.

Blackbolt-Revealed in New Avengers Illuminati #5

Talk about left field, in the final issue of this book Blackbot goes all Skrully and with the help of two other skrulls, start beating the crap out of the Illuminati bunch. Now considering I had almost dropped this book an issue before, I'm glad I didn't because by the time this issue ended my jaw was dropping as the battle and eventual defeat of the Skrulls occurred. This book pretty much jump started Iron Man's silent paranoia and cause the group to disband.

Now, to wrap this segment up with a pretty little bow, if these people are Skrulls, then WHERE THE HELL ARE THE REAL HEROES/VILLIAN? Who's ruling the Inhumans and do they know that their King is missing? The Hand looked lost once they found out Elektra was a Skrull. The Marvels are still in the air of questionable Skrulls so I don't know. One thing for sure is that the secret invasion is in full effect.

Marvel wants you to play Skrull guess who. Marvel

Excelsior Bitches!!

Previews 4 Comic Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to all. I hope everyone is enjoying their comics, I know I am. Although this Roger Clemens hearing held me up from getting my books. Putting my sports cap on for a minute this is a sad situation for baseball and politics should have no part in the sport. I'll tell you one thing though some those bums in Congress looked real assclowns. Obama, can't get n there soon enough.

Setting aside my sports/politics cap, reviews on some of the books I picked up and some random thoughts about some things I've noticed of late.

What I Got!!!

The New Avengers
X-Force
X-Factor
Punisher: War Journal

Excelsior Bitches!!