Venom #15
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Lan Medina [Pencils], Nelson Decastro with Terry Pallot [Inks], Andres Mossa [Colors]
After saving Las Vegas from Blackheart, Venom is pardoned and made a member of the Secret Avengers by Captain America.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Flash Thompson gets to keep the symbiote 24/7. Hank Pym and Beast have worked out a sedative to keep the creature from permanently bonding to Flash when he’s using it for official Avengers business. If he needs the symbiote at a moment’s notice (like if Jack O’Lantern or one of the other enemies he’s picked up in the last 14 issues comes calling), he simply has to dial a number and the suit will be shrunken down into Pym particles and broadcast from the Secret Avengers’ space station through his earpiece.
Seems simple enough, right? It’s comic technology. Don’t think too hard about it.
Once Flash is finally teleported back to his apartment, he arrives to Peter Parker knocking on his door. Pete, a longtime friend of Flash’s recently-dumped girlfriend, Betty Brant, wants to know what’s going on with him. The two go out for coffee and Flash is ready to tell Peter everything when he’s interrupted by a call from his sister and mother–two more people he’s neglected.
With this issue establishing that his home life is in tatters, Flash appears seemingly ready to bury himself in his newfound role as a Secret Avenger.
Meanwhile, Eddie Brock, the Venom symbiote’s former host, is hunting symbiotes. As the book opens, we see him taking out Hybrid, and we later see him kill Scream. This plot thread started shortly after Brock gave up the Anti-Venom symbiote to help cure New York City during “Spider-Island” and I’m excited to see how it plays out.
There’s one continuity issue here, however, as the Hybrid symbiote has also appeared recently in Zeb Wells’ Carnage U.S.A. mini-series, no longer bonded to Scott Washington, but separated into four symbiotes for use by a special ops team. Of course, that story takes place after Venom becomes a Secret Avenger (despite being only one issue away from finishing), so it’s possible that perhaps Eddie Brock’s “killing” of the symbiotes themselves doesn’t really work and the government is still able to somehow get their hands on the Hybrid symbiote. Maybe this will all be explained eventually.
This book’s last story arc, “Circle of Four,” didn’t really do much for me on the first read through (I really need to read it again in one sitting), but Rick Remender followed it with what might be my favorite issue of this series so far. Remender sets up Venom’s status quo as a Secret Avenger, explains how Flash will use the suit if he is in an emergency situation, and plants a plot thread regarding what could happen if use of the symbiote is abused. He sets up some romantic tension between Flash and Valkyrie, teases the question of how Spider-Man will react to Venom being an Avenger if he finds out, hints at Flash potentially telling Peter (who he doesn’t know is Spider-Man) anyways, and sets up a future conflict with Eddie Brock. Plus, he keeps a certain amount of turmoil in Flash’s home life for the time being.
The art on this issue is also great, with Lan Medina packing in an extraordinary amount of detail in everything from facial expressions to backgrounds.
In short, Venom is still one of Marvel’s best kept secrets.
Wolverine and the X-Men #8
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Chris Bachalo [Pencils & Colors], Tim Townsend [Inker]
Fresh off of his return from the dead in Wolverine’s solo book, Sabretooth joins up with the new Hellfire Club to help them take out the heart of the Jean Grey School–Beast.
During his attempt to con an intergalactic casino out of space money that is somehow good on Earth, Wolverine’s unbreakable adamantium legs were broken. Beast, the school’s resident scientist and doctor, puts forth the theory that the casino’s guards were able to do this with a matter transmutation ray to weaken the adamantium, which re-hardened shortly after.
Basically, Beast needs to use the same type of ray to surgically repair Wolverine’s legs. Only problem? Beast’s matter transmutation ray seems to have gone missing, and they are outlawed around the globe.
Of course, dating the director of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) has its advantages, so Beast sets out to the department’s space station in Earth’s orbit to hit up Abigail Brand for the device. When he gets to the space station, however, he finds that Sabretooth has already arrived and taken out S.W.O.R.D. on his own.
Meanwhile, Angel (who still doesn’t remember who he is and thinks he’s a real angel) sets off with the school’s students to the casino where Wolverine’s legs were broken to recover the matter transmutation ray there. How he knew about this, I have no clue–but we’ll get to that in a moment.
The story here jumps around a bit, and it’s often fairly confusing–especially with Chris Bachalo’s artwork. Bachalo’s work tends to be fast-paced and frenetic, and I’ve really enjoyed it on a lot of stories. Unfortunately, it made it a little difficult to tell what was going on here–especially in some of the more monochromatic panels. This could possibly all be a problem on the scripting level. The story does tend to jump around a lot, and we never really get details for how Angel knew about the matter transmutation ray. On the other hand, I also considered that maybe my book was missing pages (that did happen to me with a recent issue of Secret Avengers and I’ve been paranoid ever since).
On the other hand, this story does a good job of setting up a relationship between Angel and Genesis (the clone of Apocalypse), who agree to help each other figure out who they really are. It also shows a more vicious side of Beast than we usually get to see and does more to establish the Hellfire Club (what do those kids not have their hands in?).
This isn’t a perfect issue, but it’s still fun if you can avoid the aforementioned confusion. Now to go find out if my copy is missing pages…
Amazing Spider-Man #683
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Stefano Caselli, Frank Martin Jr. [Colors]
[SPOILER ALERT: Reading this review might spoil certain plot points for you, oh noble Chicago Comic Vault reader.]
Close to death, Doctor Octopus has–with the help of the latest incarnation of the Sinister Six–set his final master plan in motion, developing technology that can destroy the ozone layer. Ock, however, has convinced the world’s leaders and greatest scientific minds that his intentions are altruistic and that he simply wishes to preserve the Earth with an artificial ozone layer.
Spider-Man, who has spent the last several months developing all-new spider armor specifically for taking on the Sinister Six, rallies the Avengers and they travel to an emergency G8 summit in Rome to try to talk some sense into the world at large. Among those shown debating Octavius’ intentions are Stephen Hawking, Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Al Gore–who Spider-Man punches squarely in the jaw for voicing his support of Doc Ock.
That’s right. Spider-Man gets a Cap-punching-Hitler moment.
Take that, Global Warming!
Or does he?
As it turns out, “Al Gore” is really just the Chameleon in disguise. His hand played, Doc Ock is forced to reveal the full potential of his “Octavian Lens”…to stop global warming.
Convinced even more of Doc Ock’s Grinch-like altruistic turn, the world leaders let the Chameleon go–but the Avengers aren’t fooled so easily. With the aid of a spider tracer, they follow him to a remote beach where he is met by the Sinister Six.
Spider-Man hasn’t been the only one preparing for this battle, though. Doc Ock has had Electro, Rhino, Sandman, and Chameleon steal StarkTech, the fang of Jörmungandr, and Hulk-busting technology developed by the Leader. Making quick work of the Avengers (but not without losing Mysterio and Electro), Doc Ock now has Spider-Man right where he wants him.
Overall, this issue continues what is sure to become (until he outdoes himself again) Dan Slott’s magnum opus on Amazing Spider-Man. Not only is this fun, but the story feels like it has weight to it. At the heart of this story is a battle of figurative chess between two of the Marvel Universe’s greatest minds. That it takes place on the world stage instead of just New York adds that much more to this.
Stefano Caselli produces more of the best work of his career here, as well. When you see Doc Ock in these pages, it’s believable that he’s really dying. Characters pop off of the pages. The facial expressions are spot on. And the detail!
It’s another perfect issue, and a damn good time to be a Spider-Fan.
Ok, that might not be guaranteed for you, but I can imagine how the conversation would go if I broached the idea of buying this ornate $6,000 (that’s right, it costs more than a reliable used car) action figure (I say action figure because you can move the arms and legs):
“Um, sweetie, since I got my work bonus and I was able to sell some stuff on eBay, um, I was thinking I would like to get this” /shows picture of Darth Malgus “Oh, wow that’s cool, how big is it?” “Um, 7-feet-tall” /looks at me like I have completely lost my mind “Ohhhhhkayyyyy, how much is it?” “Just $6000 but you can finance it for $750 a month!” “So basically, you want to buy a $6,000 action figure, which the pictures of are already scaring the dog?” “Um, maybe?” “I am moving out.”
On second thought maybe, I will just steal the costume idea for Halloween. But, if you’re interested you can purchase your very own from Side Show Toys. Here’s the product description and pics:
Sideshow Collectibles is proud to present the Darth Malgus Life Size figure. Capturing the vicious Sith Lord of The Old Republic in startlingly realistic 1:1 scale, the looming figure measures over 7 feet tall and more than 3 feet wide. Each piece is individually hand painted and finished to exacting standards, the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. Featuring a light up saber, LED light up components in the chest, collar, and wrist gauntlets, highly detailed armor, and a real fabric hooded cape; the Darth Malgus Life Size figure makes a spectacular addition to any collection.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #1
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: John Romita Jr. [Pencils], Scott Hanna [Inks], Laura Martin [Colors]
After what has felt like an eternity of build-up (but was really more like just over six months), the event to end all Marvel events has finally arrived on shelves–but was all of the hype worth it?
So far, it’s a toss-up.
The premise, in case you’ve been living under a rock or reading some other company’s books, is that the Phoenix is coming to Earth and has chosen the would-be-mutant-messiah Hope Summers as its host. Hey, she looks like Jean Grey, so who else is it gonna pick, right? Anyhow, the Phoenix is a cosmic firebird that leaves devastation in its wake on a planetary scale wherever it goes in the Universe. It chose Jean Grey as its host once and she almost destroyed Earth, but that’s “The Dark Phoenix” saga and you can read about that elsewhere.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 opens with the Avengers hanging around Avengers Tower doing the sorts of things you’d expect powerful people in tights to do (but not those things, sicko!) when all of a sudden, the intergalactic superhero Nova conveniently crashlands in New York City after falling from space. He warns the Avengers that “it’s coming,” and Iron Man deduces that he’s referring to the Phoenix. He and Captain America then brief the President on the danger.
Meanwhile, Cyclops–who has known all along that the Phoenix was on its way back–is training Hope and trying to prepare her in the hope that she’ll be able to control its power when it does return. This entire conflict centers around the Avengers’ belief that the Phoenix will use Hope Summers as its vessel to try to destroy the world again versus Scott’s belief that if Hope can somehow control the Phoenix’s power, then she can undo the “no more mutants” spell that Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population with.
Scott believes that Hope is the savior of the mutant race, and he’ll stop at nothing to see her fulfill that destiny–perhaps to the point of taking things too far during his particularly ruthless training sessions. During the time that has passed since he joined the X-Men, Magneto has pointed out that Scott is growing more and more like him than his mentor, Charles Xavier. This trend continues here, as Magneto–watching the training from a distance–comments to Emma Frost regarding the difference between “taking it seriously” and “compulsion,” perhaps foreshadowing things to come.
Anyhow, Hope is finally pushed far enough and releases a flare of Phoenix-like energy strong enough that the Avengers notice it. Traveling to Utopia to see about taking Hope into Avengers custody until the Phoenix situation is figured out, Captain America is greeted by a particularly hostile Cyclops.
Thus, the first shots in the battle are fired, so to speak.
Over all, this is a solid start to the event, but it is by no means perfect. Despite being packed with action, the dialogue pulled me out of the story on a few occasions, most notably during the conversation Captain America has with Wolverine regarding the Phoenix. Given Wolverine’s history with Jean Grey and how he felt about her, I have a hard time believing that he wouldn’t just refer to her by her first name. Using her entire name felt a little unnatural, especially after the previous scene already established her history.
Aside from that, though, anything else I noticed here would just be nitpicking. Bendis’ first chapter draws you in and gives new readers a primer on what’s going on, and the art here is phenomenal. The facial expressions of everyone standing in the vicinity when the first blow of this battle is landed were perhaps the highlight of the entire issue. Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially when your bluff is being called, and that panel alone sells that idea absolutely.
After event fatigue had fully set in following last year’s Fear Itself (which, no offense to Matt Fraction, fell short of expectations), I swore I’d never drop $3.99 an issue on another “event” book again. Despite being highly skeptical of the idea of Avengers Vs. X-Men, I have to say I’m impressed so far and actually looking forward to where this goes from here.
This cool 70s cover is really the only reason to check this one out.
The Adventures of Han Solo trilogy was written in the late 70s and early 80s by Brian Daley and really is an outlier for those of us interested in the full Star Wars universe. Written as standalone adventure stories the three books, Han Solo at Stars End, Han Solo’s Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy share some supporting characters but largely are complete, unique stories with flavor-of-the-week love interests and fairly simple narratives.
Because Daley lacked the overall story arc and complement of supporting materials that other writers such as Timothy Zahn, James Luceno and Karen Traviss had, the trilogy as a whole suffers from a lack of common species and events that make the universe consistent no matter the author. This isn’t Daley’s fault but as a result, the species and characters he introduces (my own favorite was a pirate named ‘Zlarb’) appear to be more two-dimensional and make the stories seem like just more late-70s pulp (which, to be fair is kind of what they are.)
To anyone not determined to read all of the stories in the canon, I would say skip these books in favor of the later Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin which was written much later and tries to tie in the Adventures of Han Solo and The Adventures of Lando Calrissian books into something a little more relevant to the Star Wars fan. Sure, you may not get to see Solo and Chewie disguise themselves as circus performers to break into a prison (seriously, this happens) but the later trilogy has appearances from Jabba and even the big man himself, Vader, that aren’t forced and puts Solo and Chewie in the right context. Crispin’s books also tell the story of Han’s origins and how he came to win the Millenium Falcon.
Written by: Michael Mendheim, Mike Kennedy and Sean Jaffee Art by: Simon Bisley Colors by: Chad Fidler Additional Art by: Hoel Boucquemont, Vince Proce Cover by: Ivan Khivrenko Published by: Heavy Metal
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a surprisingly smart story about religious factions battling over the seals to usher in the Apocalypse. This book is fast-paced and high concept like a big-budget Hollywood film. The Seventh Sign, Stigmata and the DaVinci Code all spring to mind. This comic starts off on the right foot with a mysterious and rather gruesome suicide in a church. That grabbed me right away. From there plot unravels in an engaging and fast paced manner.
Professor (or is it Rabbi?) Adam Cahill is warrior from a religious sect in charge of protecting the Seven Holy Seals. Break the seals , and it’s the end of the world as we know it. We are introduced to him through his daily life in teaching at B’nai Jeshrun Hebrew School in Chicago. The theme of redemption is brought up in class discussion and immediately I knew what this book was going to be about. “That’s where each soul is confronted with his or her sins, and how they respond to this reflection is the difference between salvation and damnation.” This of course makes perfect sense for a book called The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Then he goes home to his family and has dinner with his wife and child, showing that he might be a warrior and professor, but he’s also a family man too. Later on this is leveraged into some primal emotions when his family is under threat.
We get down to the nitty gritty when Adam is sent away to help defend some of the Seals at the Church of Trinity in Kiev from fanatical cultists. He’s too late. They find one of their priest crucified to blood drawn pentagram with his guts hanging out and they jacked one of the Seven Holy Seals (they have 4 now). The cultists are still there and Cahill freaks the fuck out on them. Cue bezerker rage. Cue bloodbath. Cue important exposition. From here I let the publishers blurb summarize: “… ageless forces have conspired toward a prophetic event foretold by numerous cultures and multiple religions, and when that cryptic date arrives, they strike against the order without mercy! Adam’s world is shattered, his family murdered, and he is sent spiraling into Hell itself. There, he must find three corrupt souls, chosen by Divinity, to join him in battle against the legendary Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These broken individuals must band together to not only save their own souls but decide the fate of Humanity.”
So yeah, Cahill becomes a Helldiver, which from what I can tell is like the Punisher, Hellblazer and Ghost Rider rolled into one. I can’t help but have a chuckle and think about “Holy Diver” by Dio whenever I see the word Helldiver. The reveal of divine intervention was a bit silly to me as well. That’s just something that I personally struggle with in almost any religious story involving the voice of God. As an agnostic leaning liberal I tend to find all such reference to the the direct hand and voice of God incredulous. My baggage is my baggage I know. It’s just one of those things. I do like that Cahill response is very human and complex. He reluctant at first, and it’s completely understandable. Becoming a Helldiver means giving up your soul and you place in heaven, but fighting for a higher cause. It’s just the sort of lofty plot point and character developement needed to sell the idea of the Apocalypse. There’s also some other religious viewpoints about the end of the world that are explored as well, so it doesn’t feel single-minded. Judaism, Christianity and Satanism all have a role thus far.
There’s some kind of code that’s happening in the dialogue and narration. Every few pages or so a number or letter is highlighted in red. I’m no cryptographer, so I couldn’t tell you what the hidden message is, but I’m guess it has something to with the theme of redemption, or hidden law from the Torah. It’s just evidence of another complex layer of intrigue that’s subtly infused into this endgames tale. I find it refreshing because while I drawn this title with the promise of Bisley vision of the Apocalypse, I thought it was going to be a fairly trivial story, and it’s anything but that.
Look we all know Simon Bisley’s art stands tall. It’s herculean Frazzetta on steroids with the showmanship of a WWE cage match. Hulking bodybuilders with rope-y veins and psychotic eyes locked in mortal combat and drenched in a thick spray inky blood and brightly oil-painted ice cream colors. He made Slaine, Lobo, Doom Patrol, Fakk2 and Judge Dread pop with violence and glory. Simon’s gone on to work on album covers, magazines and movie posters.
He’s been on and off the comic scene these last few years, but has returned with a vengeance in The Four Horsemen. Here he shows some restraint, poise and temperament. Unfortunately there’s also a down-side to this as well. There are some panels that feel cramped and hampered by shot-scale choices and composition. But that’s most the more “normal” talking heads set-up scenes. Which, let’s face it, has never been Bisley’s strong suit. He’s best suited for epic battles and bone-crushing splash pages. Also, for some reason he draws eye’s too big on long and mid-shots and makes it almost manga-esque at times. That contrasts starkly with his penchant for detailed renderings. Cahill as a Helldriver is not the most original design from Bisely. He’s basically Lobo with straight hair and a trench coat with two swords strapped to his back. It’s look badass, but he looks like Lobo. There’s also an orgy scene that I would had liked to have scene with a bigger panel. I mean what’s the point of including a satanic orgy ritual if you draw it on one small panel. I remember the B&W book Faust from the late 80’s and 90’s by David Quinn and Tim Vigil. Issue #5 has a crazy violent blood orgy scene that was a double page spread that left a lasting impact on me to this day. I feel if you are going to go all-out, do it big. I mean this book is published by Heavy Metal, I don’t think anyone will bat an eyelash.
There is also some panels that are not Bisley in this book. Joel Boucquemont, Vince Proce, Ivan Khivrenko contributes some rather death-metal looking hellscapes, which kind of throw me out of the Bisley world for a bit. Some of the coloring is over saturated and photoshopped textured. But then again it seems the whole book has a bit of photoshop grunge textures on the borders and bleeds. A quick flip through the book and it looks like you have some very dirty and violent stained glass. It fits the subject matter, so I don’t actually mind it much, but I think it could be pulled back just a touch to a subtler and less distracting effect. Ultimately the story telling is good and easy to follow, so it’s easy to forgive anything that isn’t super polished.
The true pay-off is towards the end of the book where the art picks up considerably. Bisley is channeling Ivan Albright, Hieronymus Bosch, and WarHammer Games in his vision of hell. There’s some stark industrial wastelands, twenty-eyed demons trapped in dungeons, skinless victims hammered into architecture, and a big-titted succubus to rule them all. Breast implants in hell? Makes sense to me. And finally one of the Horsemen is revealed. That fucker is a doozy. He’s like Lock-Jaw from He-man crossed with Oderus-urungus from Gwar. And he’s sporting a BFG gattling gun on armored horseback. So now you have to pick up the second and third book. How can you not! I need to see the rest of the horsemen designs by Bisely and I most definitely need to see the raze the planet in an Armageddon holy war. Hopefully we’ll see some more consistency with the art in following issues.
The Four Horsemen is a solid story “golden fleece” type story about redemption, duty and faith, mixed with a rite of passage journey, and probably some other shit that is over my head. The set-up is solid and the beginning of the second act sold me on the rest of books. The art was a little all-over place but it ended strong. I have no doubt that the following volumes will surge with that burly signature Heavy Metal style we all know and love. If you are into sprawling good vs. evil epic stories of biblical proportions, then this book is for you.
Story: 7.5 Art: It ranged 6 to 9
Jerry Nelson
Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds
Just saw this TV spot online today and had to post it. The trailer gives us our best look yet at Loki’s Alien Army and I’m not convinced yet that they are Skrulls. I am convinced though that Joss Whedon may be right when he says this will be the best Hulk movie we have seen as Hulk goes off at the end of this trailer. This movie is going to rule in so many ways my head may explode.
http://youtu.be/btxgn72q8RI
Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers”–the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon,
Going into Wrath of The Titans I was very excited. The trailers had me invested in the awesome Monsters and Special Effects and I liked that they were going to make a movie that was still in this world allowing them to tell a new story .
After a small voice over by Zeus played once again by Liam Neeson we are transported to a small fishing town where Perseus (Sam Worthington) now takes care of his son after the death of his wife. Life’s simple now for Perseus until he is visited by Zeus who asks for his help . Since the events of the last film humans have stopped praying to the Gods. This in turn has Weakened the Gods and marks the Return of The Mad Titan Kronos who is the Father of Both Zeus and Hades. Perseus still defiant of his Father Zeus refuses leaving Zeus to go into Tartarus to ask help from his brother Hades.Hades as well as Ares turn on Zeus and Poseidon and plan to drain Zeus’s powers to release Kronos once again in exchange for Immortality. Poseidon makes it out alive just long enough to tell Perseus that his father has been taken and Perseus finally decides to fight again to save Zeus and all of humanity.
That’s pretty much everything they set up story wise. The total running time of the film is 99 minutes which gives you very little time to establish the multitude of new characters they introduce. I will say that all of the new additions were mostly welcomed . Bill Nighy being my favorite of the bunch . He plays the crazy God Hepheastus who forged the weapons of the Gods. He mixes a great deal of humor and weight to every scene he’s in and is genuinely having fun in his role. Toby Kebell and Edgar Ramirez are both great in their roles as Agenor Son of Poseidon and Ares son of Zeus. Ares in particular was a nice surprise since there was very little shown with him in the trailers. He’s the right mix of Evil and childish rage that works . I wish I could say the same for the Creatures and Mythological Beasties in the film but unfortunately Wrath falls into that unfortunate territory where the Studio throws every bad ass scene at you in the trailers and ruined any sense of surprise and fun in the process. There are some great scenes here and there but it does become disappointing when you realize there wasn’t much left for you outside of the first 2 min trailer.Special Effects are spotty at times. Most of the Creature work is great but there are times especially with certain death scenes that I was left scratching my head at how terrible the CG execution was. Rosamund Pike who plays Andromeda also underwhelms in the main female lead role. She doesn’t feel genuine as a character and ends up being nothing more than eye candy with no real story of her own . In a day and age where there are so many strong female characters in films it makes little sense to bring an underdeveloped character into the movie and expect us as viewers to care .
One of the Many Monsters who maim , tackle , and bring the hurt to Perseus in Wrath of the Titans
Surprisingly there is decent character development with the supporting characters and towards the end of the film it seems like this film is more about the relationship between Hades and Zeus . This again would have worked great if Perseus was more involved in the story of his father and brother but ultimately Sam Worthington goes through the motions during the movie. Each Action set piece is an excuse for him to yell something and then get tackled , and thrown repeatedly . It would actually make a great drinking game for you and a couple of friends when it comes out on Blu-Ray. Every time Perseus is Tackled and or thrown you have to take a shot and I guarantee you and your friends would be all kinds of drunk with the amount of bumps , kicks , slams , and tackles Perseus receives. It becomes comical at a certain point. He essentially is a human Bowling pin in this film.
I wish I could tell you that I loved this film but I found myself only liking it slightly . The Monsters and set pieces are great but with a short running time and the studio blowing its wad in the trailer your left wanting more at the end of the film. With so many movies coming out this Summer I have to recommend that you wait to see this when it comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD, like I said it will make for one of the funnest drinking experiences of your life just not the best movie going experience.
Written by: Robert Kirkman Art by: Charlie Adlard Coloring by: Cliff Rathburn Cover By: Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn Publisher: Image
Alright! Here we go, time to roll up your blood stained sleeves and dig in! The pussyfooting stops right here! The Walking Dead #95 finally delivers on the promise of exciting new stories with outsiders. Jesus vouches for Rick and his crew and they granted access to a massive walled-in community. There’s two hundred plus people in this well-established community and a bad-ass hotel that acts as kind of headquarters. We introduced to the boss of the town that looks like a combination between a casino-owner and sleazy used-car salesman. He thinks he’s the shit, and let’s Rick know it.
Right in the middle of giving Rick the five-cent tour there is suddenly some action. One of their other scouts is back from a peace-keeping pow-wow and shit didn’t go over too well. Rick can’t seem to keep the fuck out of trouble if his life depended on it. Which in this case it might. After big-boss man get’s into with his scout, Rick finds himself in the middle of a knife fight. I can’t give away too much more than that, but some serious shit goes down. Fucking Rick… Jesus vouched for you, and you get into a fight like 5 minutes later. Is that how you repay him? Christ almighty!! In all seriousness though, it looks like this trading expedition is going to end badly for Rick’s camp. Everything seemed to be on the level, but this turn coat scout flipped the fuck out and ruined everything. The story is pretty wide-open from here and it sets up an interesting conflict that can be explored in various different tangents. It ends in a Kirkman signature cliffhanger that leave you guessing and wanting more. My guess is that in part 4 all hell breaks loose and we are going to see some serious human on human violence. It should prove interesting.
The art team on this continues to knock it out of the park. Adlard & Rathuburn constantly delivers what the story ask for. In this case it’s scope, scale, and little bit of opulence and a ton of grit. The walled-in community looks huge, and that hotel was lavishly rendered. The knife fight was exciting and absolutely grimy. Blood, mud, ruckus; it felt like a scene cut straight from Deadwood. My only critique is on conceptual aspects of the cover. The way it’s composed it feels more like a panel than a cover. There’s just a bit too much negative space on the top and all the action is crammed on the bottom. It’s fucking nitpicky, I know, but when you are executing on such a high-level that’s the sort of thing that stands out. A solve would be to pull back a little on the scene an reveal more of the fight, or even use an overhead shot and get it all in. But really, when all is said and done, it’s one of the most consistently good-looking black & white books out there.
In A Larger World is shaping up to be quite the arc. What started as a slow-burn has ignited into an explosive and fresh story for The Walking Dead. War, siege, feuds, raids are all on the table now. The stage is set for conflict and I for one am ready for an epic warlord saga in the world of a zombie apocalypse. Like Game of Thrones but with zombies. Check out this issue and see what all the fuss is about.
Story: 9 Art: 9
Jerry Nelson
Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds
After saving Las Vegas from Blackheart, Venom is pardoned and made a member of the Secret Avengers by Captain America.
