AMC’s Walking Dead finale review – Lori is an awful, awful, awful woman.

March 19, 2012

Four writers from the Comic Vault got together via Facebook and watched the season finale of AMC’s Walking Dead together. This is what happened. (From left to right; Roger Riddell III, Mike DeVivo, Matthew Sardo and Jerry Nelson)

Jerry Nelson – There are a few choice moments of this season. The death of zombie Sophie worked because it marked an end for a very long and boring search. That whole plot line seemed a bit thin and I was happy for it to end. I also really enjoyed Dale’s shocking and brutal demise. He lasted a bit longer in the comic and had a whole different life, so this was an unexpected twist. He seemed to be a strong moral compass for the group and, frankly, it’s just more interesting without that preachy father figure.

Shane’s human death and zombie death were, of course, fantastic as well. Most people knew what happened in the comic, but you really never know where they were going to take this Shane storyline because he was such a fan favorite. It was great that Rick showed some balls and a bit of deception, as well, as he drove the knife home for a deep and personal kill. It was fitting that it was so confrontational and Rick kind of beat Shane at his own game. Having Carl shoot the zombie Shane was a nice nod to what happened in the comic and really put an exclamation point on the episode.

What didn’t work this season was most of the first half. The search for Sophia was long, and all the emo lamenting that followed.

Also: Lori’s lack of character just in general. She’s just a fucking lame character. With the exception of her bucking with Andrea and teasing Shane into a suicidal confrontation with Rick, she’s been pretty useless.

Roger Riddell III – It seems like a lot of plot lines in this show are a bit thin and drag on for too long. For example, Shane should’ve been dead a long time ago.

By the way, once they finally did kill Shane off, what was the deal with those terrible, made-for-SyFy-Channel-TV-movie “zombie transformation flashes?”

Jerry Nelson – There’s better ways to show a transformation, such as some physical zombification close-ups. Blackening veins, eyes going milky, etc.

Roger Riddell III – I think that, plus the terrible way the show handles flashbacks and the spotty acting, really pull me out of being able to enjoy the show. Remember that flashback where they were looking on as a city was nuked? (At least I think I remember a city being nuked…)

The show is alright, but it jumped the shark during the first season when they put a self-destruct button in the CDC.

Mike DeVivo – They kind of veered off into Resident Evil territory with that one

Roger Riddell III – Agreed! For a show that aims for a realistic depiction of a zombie apocalypse, a CDC headquarters equipped with a self-destruct button just seems a bit ridiculous.

Jerry Nelson – That’s why I’m glad they got rid of Darabont, he took the series into a boring cliché direction. Ever since they axed him, it seemed to get back on track and be on par with the source material. The CDC storyline was a joke.

And I fucking wish Darryl would have let Carol die. Her and Laurie, fucking mothers of the year. It’s a zombie apocalypse and they never know where their kids are.

Mike DeVivo – I agreed again on Darabont’s watch. I love Hershel right now.

Roger Riddell III – AMC seems pretty desperate for new ‘Mad Men’ viewers. [SEE: Every ‘Mad Men’ ad they aired during the last few episodes]

Jerry Nelson – Darryl seems like the only one with sense sometimes, and the group just ignores him all the time. Andrea is a crack-shot and valuable resource. It seems a shame to just abandon her to the zombie horde.

Mike DeVivo – Andrea is going to be the “survivor” of the group

Roger Riddell III – Anyone else find themselves waiting for the Governor’s people to just pop up several times in the last 20 minutes? I was pretty sure they were about to ambush Glenn and Maggie when they stopped in the middle of the road. I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrea popped back up with the Governor’s group.

Mike DeVivo – Yeah, I’m thinking that may happen, though I’m also thinking they may meet Michonne at the end of this episode.

Roger Riddell III – What do you know? She popped back up sooner than I thought.

Mike DeVivo –I’m glad they got that out of the way, and he (Rick) told her (Lori).

Roger Riddell III – I don’t know how I feel about “We all have the zombie virus, but we’re not becoming zombies.”

Mike DeVivo – Lori is an awful, awful, awful woman. Apparently Pandora’s Box is inside of Lori’s Vagina.

The only problem I have so far is that some of the choices to change the story seem to have to do with the ratings system on the show and AMC not wanting to do certain things not for story purposes

Jerry Nelson – “Rick I’m pissed at you because you thwarted Shane’s plan and killed him before he killed you. Then, you let Carl kill zombie Shane.” – Laurie, making no sense as usual.

Mike DeVivo – Lori sucking at life as usual. Michonne!!!!!!

Roger Riddell III – That lady was standing way too far back for that blade to decapitate that zombie!

Jerry Nelson – Michonne!

Mike DeVivo – And there is the prison.

Jerry Nelson – There were two great monologues by Rick, “I just wanted to get it over with, I wanted him dead” and “This is not a democracy.” Great final episode for the season. That was a lot of fun.

Mike DeVivo – I agree.

Roger Riddell III – It was an episode I enjoyed. Believe it or not.

Matthew Sardo – What was everyone’s favorite part of this episode?

Mike DeVivo – Rick is officially a badass, and he has asserted himself in a way that will make next season interesting.

Mike DeVivo – Rick’s monologue to Lori. I liked that he just came out with it, no apologies.

Jerry Nelson – Agreed. I like Rick growing a pair finally. The Michonne reveal was awesome, as well.

Roger Riddell III – I enjoyed the “I’m standing too far back for this to actually work” decapitation.

Matthew Sardo – It was an extreme angle of the camera!

Jerry Nelson – Girl from HBO’s Treme is Michonne. She was the NY girlfriend of the jazz player I think.

Roger Riddell III – Dammit, Comic Book Men. The Green Goblin never died! He went to Europe for a few years.

Matthew Sardo – Comic Book Men is so bad!

Jerry Nelson – I don’t mind it. It’s goofy.

Matthew Sardo – For me, it is just a very boring episode of Pawn Stars.

Roger Riddell III – Same here. Plus, it’s just gonna cause way more misconceptions along the lines of the whole “Inkers are just tracers!” thing.

Mike DeVivo – That and everyone on it acts like they are pre-pubescent kids.

Jerry Nelson – For me, it’s an interesting episode of Pawn Stars.

Roger Riddell III – What a thoughtful girlfriend that was. I wish someone would buy Amazing Spider-Man #121 and 122 for me. Where are these kind of women in my life?

John Pontoon left the conversation.

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The Star Wars Project

Matthew Sardo

March 15, 2012

Episode 00 ‘The Star Wars Project’

It is a dark time for Star Wars fans, a good Star Wars movie (that has real people in it and not cartoons) hasn’t been put out by Lucas Arts since 1983 and now we are all being forced to cough up $17 each to watch the prequels in ‘3D’ so that maybe Lucas will continue and release the originals in 3D as well. But, the bad news is that the ‘3D’ in The Phantom Menace wasn’t really all that 3D while the dialog was just as terrible. Meanwhile, with each Blu-Ray or limited edition that come out, Lucas keeps tinkering. . .

The STAR WARS Novels Timeline

So what do you do if you want more Star Wars but really really don’t want to see what Lucas would do with another movie? Well besides trying to fix the movies like this guy or even Topher Grace recently tried to do, you could pick up one of the many books that add to the Star Wars saga. In fact you could try to read all 251 of them. That’s what I’m doing.

Starting in early April of 2010, I decided to read every single Star Wars book that I could find and that fit somewhat with the official canon of the series. So far I have read 132 books, which puts me right in the middle of the Han Solo Trilogy . There have been good books, the Sith books by Drew Karpyshyn and James Luceno were particularly interesting and not so good books – The Adventures of Lando Calrissian were a little hard to get through and had no bearing to the over-arching story.

If you have opinions or recommendations about any of the books, I would love to hear them. In general, I read up to one of the movies then I watch the movie and continue – yes this meant watching all the prequels again. Wow, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ was so much worse than I remembered. And, if you’d like to try reading all of them yourself I would love to hear about that too. Here is the most recent list provided by James Luceno in his latest book ‘Darth Plagueis.’ I have added a few of the series such as Jedi Quest and Last of the Jedi series even though they may not be canon because they help to flesh out the story – especially of Obi Wan and more so because I already went through the trouble if reading them.

As I finish each book, I will post a review along with relevant links and a description of how the book affects the overall story. I will also try not to spoil as much as possible and post a warning when I am about to.

Like I said, I am reading all 251 of these things – and they keep making more so that number will go up, and all I can say is that I am not looking forward to ‘The Courtship of Princess Leia.’

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Review: MONOCYTE #3 Moses enters the fight and he’s brought a friend

Matthew Sardo

March 14, 2012

MONOCYTE#3

Story By: MENTON3 and Kasra Gahnbari

Art By: MENTON3

Review Score: 9.5/10

This issue starts out with Grod finding New found power he desperately craved by using threats and psalm quotes . The same group of Olignostics who taunted him now fear and revere him due to MONOCYTE destroying the former source of their power. The Conduit and The Sheperd are gone and Grod sees this as his opportunity to seize control of his brothers and have them adhere to his beliefs and teachings. It’s an interesting twist right out of the gate showing us that these ideals aren’t set into stone and that Kasra and MENTON3 have a lot more story to tell with these characters.

We are then taken to a scene between The Marquis and Beatrice.The Marquis demands that Beatrice tell her why she hesitated when seeing MONOCYTE and Beatrice uses this opportunity to give us our first glimpse into who the man Augustus was before we knew him as Azrael’s Avatar of Death MONOCYTE.This is a great scene showing us a torn and troubled man searching for his twin but instead we see how our title character is born. It’s a creepy and haunting sequence that does just enough to show you that Azrael has been working behind the scenes longer then you think. Some people may not agree with humanizing MONOCYTE but I think it’s a great lead into the last part of this issue.

The Antedeluvians and Moses prep for the arrival of our title character and are increasingly confident that they are safe. When MONOCYTE arrives at the palace of the Antedeluvians he is met at the gate by Moses who knows that MONOCYTE desperately seeks death for everyone including himself. Moses solution? He creates an Avatar for life in a double page spread that is simply beautiful , frightening , and as original a creature design that I’ve ever seen. MONOCYTE has finally met something that he may fear and is backhanded clear across the barren wasteland .As his armor and helmet fly off we are left with a final page shot of Augustus the man…wondering if MONOCYTE exists anymore and how our title character will survive next issue.

MENTON3’s art is some of the most intricately painted and thought out work I’ve ever seen. He creates such visually dynamic scenes that they are asking to be ripped out of the book and putup on your wall. There is a consistency to his work that border lines on the obsessive and it shows in the high quality of his work. Again I especially enjoyed the final 3 pages and character design he came up with for the Avatar of life. It should also be noted that the 2 backup stories in this issue are nto filler .Instead they do a great amount to help move the story further along as the slaves of both the Olignostics and Antedeluvians are starting to fight back for their survival.

Leading off this issue quoting psalms may seem like a very risky thing to do in the world of comics , however MONOCYTE tends to be the rare exception to the rule . It’s a first in its medium to do something so large in scope , so intentional that you are willing to devour every bit of information you can to gain a fresher perspective on the source material.Don’t sleep on this book .In a day and age where things are always over spoken , over explained and ill planned , its nice to find a book that rewards its readers for allowing the creative team to tell a story .It’s the rare book that seamlessly combines art and a new concept perfectly together.After all isn’t that what we started reading comics for in the first place.

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

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Review: Scarlet Spider #3 – The Assassin’s Guild Returns

Roger Riddell

March 14, 2012

Scarlet Spider #3
Writer: Chris Yost
Art: Ryan Stegman [Pencils], Babinski & Von Grawbadger [Inks], Marte Gracia with Andres Mossa [Colors]

Chris Yost continues to explore Kaine Parker’s transformation in Houston from sometimes-villainous clone to costumed vigilante as part of his past comes back to haunt him.

After saving illegal immigrant Aracely from the Salamander, Kaine has taken it upon himself to keep her in hiding and protect her from deportation. As a result, he’s had to enlist the help of a Houston doctor and a bartender fluent in Spanish along the way.

In the meantime, he’s patrolled the streets at night, and Yost’s Scarlet Spider has proven to be what you’d get if you gave Spider-Man the badass attitude of Batman.

At one point this issue, he pops down from a building to grab a mugger in the act and swing across the city while holding the buy by the face. Eventually, he stops long enough to drop the thief from a building and catch him with webbing, causing the would-be mugger to wet himself in the process, before demanding that he leave the city lest Kaine should “break his bones in ways that will never heal” and “tear every piece of flesh from his body.” The art for this scene alone was fantastic, not just showing a large yellow spot on the mugger’s pants, but urine dripping down his shoes, as well.

As the story progresses, we find out that the doctor Kaine has been working with has been targeted by a member of the Assassin’s Guild (most likely by a man at the beginning of the issue who threatens his life after he fails to save the lives of his wife and daughter). During their battle, the assassin sees Kaine’s face (Kaine was once a member), which makes the doctor’s problem even more of a problem for Kaine.

This is yet another great issue to one of Marvel’s best new series. Yost has not only been doing a great job of fleshing out Kaine as a newly-reformed vigilante, but of fleshing out Houston as a character in these stories much in the same way New York is a character in Spider-Man stories. In this issue, for example, the vast difference in the number of skyscrapers is made light of when Kaine suddenly runs out of places to web-swing from. Even the art has a warmer feel, reflecting the book’s locale.

Digging into Kaine’s past for villains and building up a supporting cast is yet another way Yost is drawing parallels with Spider-Man without just making this book about a clone into a clone of an existing book.

If you haven’t given Scarlet Spider a look yet, there’s no better time than now–especially with second and third printings of the first two issues on the way.

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #7 – Lessons in “Extreme Zoology”

Roger Riddell

March 14, 2012

Wolverine and the X-Men #7
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw [Pencils]; Walden Wong, Norman Lee, and Nick Bradshaw [Inks]; Justin Ponsor [Colorist]

With half the school’s faculty and several student inside of Kitty Pryde trying to fight off her Brood infestation, Broo (the school’s intellectual Broodling) is left to fend off the school’s mysterious invader alone while Wolverine and Quentin Quire are in outer space trying to scam an intergalactic casino to fund the Jean Grey School.

About that mysterious invader–we finally get an explanation as to who he is. As opposed to being an intergalactic “bounty killer,” it turns out his name is Professor Xanto Starblood and he’s an “extreme zoologist” and head of the Intergalactic Anthropology Department at the University of Rigel-13. (Oy, cosmic Marvel makes my head hurt.)

Anyhow, Starblood came to the school to kill Broo, who he sees as an evolutionary misstep from the rest of the Brood–a race of savage, blood-thirsty aliens.

Meanwhile, Wolverine and Quentin Quire fight off security at the casino and Quire figures out that his telepathic powers extend to him being able to form weapons from psychic energy, not unlike Psylocke. It’s a nice little addition to the character, who it seems is being fleshed out to the point that his antagonistic relationship with Wolverine is beginning to become not unlike the one that existed between Wolverine and Professor X.

Anyhow, all of the arc’s plot threads are tied up in this issue, with Broo overcoming his problem via a momentary display of animalistic rage and Wolverine and Quire escaping the casino–without their intergalactic winnings. I was wondering how space money would work on Earth, anyways, but Krakoa ends up having a convenient enough solution for the school’s money troubles in the end. He’s a living mass of Earth, after all.

It’s even hinted that the Bamfs (the little blue Nightcrawler-looking guys that have been running around the book) are actually some sort of gremlins, which explains something I’ve been wondering since the book launched late last year.

All in all, Jason Aaron delivers another solid issue that stays fun while piling on a ton of character development. Not only does he continue to evolve Quire’s character here, he also sets the stage for a Warbird-Iceman-Kitty Pryde love triangle (not to mention an awkward encounter the next time Iceman or Kitty run into Colossus).

The art here is a perfect match for the tone set by Aaron, as well, maintaining a cartoonish-but-realistic feel. I think I’ve said it before, but if another X-Men cartoon came along with this art style (and the type of writing on display here), I’d watch it in a heartbeat.

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

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Review: Carnage U.S.A. #4 – Venom Assembles

Roger Riddell

March 14, 2012

Carnage U.S.A. #4 of 5
Writer: Zeb Wells
Art: Clayton Crain

Zeb Wells and Clayton Crain’s Carnage U.S.A. begins to wind down this month as Spider-Man rallies Doverton’s survivors and Venom joins the fray.

Last issue, Captain America was able to break free of the Carnage symbiote’s control long enough to call for help from Venom (who is now a member of the Secret Avengers if you’re out of the loop). Of course, Venom shows up this issue right as the government task force powered by the de-amalgamated Hybrid symbiote is failing and Carnage is about to tear Spider-Man’s eyes out through his mask (while promising it will be “like your skull is givin’ birth!”).

Unfortunately, Spider-Man stops Venom from blowing Carnage’s head off, giving Carnage a moment to regain the upper hand (and control of Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and the Thing) before Tanis Nieves (AKA the most recent addition to Marvel’s long list of symbiote characters, Scorn) uses a bulldozer to push both Carnage and Venom into a…silo of some sort? Whatever it is, it causes the symbiotes to leave both men and run off, and leaves Venom’s host, Flash Thompson, in a compromising situation with mass murderer Cletus Kasady.

If my description of the plot sounds a bit chaotic, that’s because this issue moved along at breakneck speed. That’s not to say the writing suffered–it didn’t. Wells’ Carnage gets more and more maniacal with every issue he writes the character, and his Spider-Man stays well in-line with the “No One Dies” status quo Dan Slott has set for the character.

Most of the backgrounds remain relatively sparse, but that’s to be expected when each frame is painted by hand on a monthly title and features the amount of character detail that Crain includes here. It really works in his favor that this story is set in a small Midwest town because there isn’t really anything to see in a place like that, anyways.

I’m excited to see how this one wraps up (and hopefully get more of an explanation for that big silo thing).

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

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Review : The Walking Dead Season 2 Ep 12 “Better Angels”

Matthew Sardo

March 12, 2012

Walking Dead continues to slowly burn towards its final episode this season with a couple of surprises and twists for fans of the show and of the source material. I will tell you that yes I liked this episode but there were a lot of things that disappointed me as well. I’ll get into the details of the review below after the picture jump. However you’ve been warned. After this picture spoilers aplenty…..SPOILERS ..0k

This episode starts off moving in the right direction. Rick speaking on Dales behalf at his funeral is inter-cut with scenes of Shane leading Darrel, Andrea, and T Dog around the Farm to clear walkers and let off some aggression. The scene works out well establishing that yes indeed Shane is still his aggressive self while Rick thinks otherwise. This issue focuses largely on Shane, which I enjoyed. However the writer’s choice to try to have the viewer sympathize with Shane would have been the right decision if they hadn’t completely pulled a 180 and had Shane ultimately flip his shit the next thirty minutes of the episode. I enjoyed the conversation between Shane and Carl, but felt that Lori’s conversation with Shane was a bit unrealistic. Thanking Shane now for saving her life months ago, and apologizing to him for putting him in this situation in the first place was completely off base given the fact Shane had tried to rape her last season, and continued to be a threat throughout this season. Ultimately I get that it was supposed to “push Shane over the edge ” but it caused the development of Shane and Lori to take a step back. The women on the show still continue to be written half as good as the male characters. Though they did throw a bone to T Dog and allow him to say a few lines this episode. Too bad “aww Hell NO!” was one of them..but I digress.

So Rick has decided to Let their hostage Randall go, but Shane disappointed with the decision uses his conversation with Carl to tell Rick to follow-up with his son. As Rick talks with Carl he gives him back the gun he gave to Shane and tells him that he’s tired and that the reality is he must protect himself going forward. While Rick is with Carl, Shane ends up freeing Randall and leading him into the woods. The scenes between Randall and Shane work very well. Your not sure what Shane’s angle is until he finally snaps his neck off camera and tries to create a scenario in his head to tell the rest of his group on the farm. Shane heads back to tell the group that Randall got away and is out in the woods somewhere. Rick tells Darrel and Glenn to split up and take Shane with him to search for Randall. Anyone who has read the comic books could start to play in their head what was coming next.

The show decides to handle the Rick and Shane’s confrontation differently. While Glenn and Darrel search and eventually find a zombified Randall, Shane continues to take Rick further away from the group in what he hopes is their final confrontation. Glenn and Darrel quickly take care of Walker Randall and are startled when they realize that Randall died because of a snapped neck and not a zombie bite. Confused about what that may mean, they head back to the Farm to tell the others. At this point the end of the episode starts building tension as Rick starts to figure out that Shane is leading him to an open field to murder him. The dialogue between Rick and Shane is great and shows that there continues to be a lot of animosity between these two people who were once best friends. It’s a bittersweet reality, and was acted out amazingly by both actors. Now this is where I have a bit of a problem with the episode. I understand that they want to throw things into the story to keep it “fresh” the people who have already the comics but having Rick be the one who ends Shane’s life seemed a bit out of place. I feel the decision was more due to the fact that they can’t actually show a child kill another person on AMC and so they had to rewrite a scene that would have had much more dramatic weight to it by letting Carl end Shane’s life to protect his father. Instead Carl walks up on his father as he is kneeling over Shane’s body scared and confused.

One of the most compelling aspects about the book and the show should be Rick’s relationship with his son. This season has done more to hurt that relationship then make it believable and so we are left with a bit of a cop-out at the end of the episode as Carl saves Rick from Shane who has risen from the Dead quickly and is coming towards Rick. Yes I get you still had him shoot Shane in the head but it falls flat. I do like that they are finally showing you that it doesn’t take a bite to turn you into a Zombie now. The rules have changed and it creates some good story opportunities for Season 3. Finally speaking of Story opportunities, will we ever find out what the man at The Disease Control Center whispered into Ricks ear? I mean it’s not that Lori was pregnant and it wasn’t that the dead could still be turned without getting bit …so what could it be. I hope that the final episode of this season has some answers and finds a way to not only get the characters that do survive off the farm, but also strikes a good balance with continuity of season 1 and the comic. AMC please don’t be afraid to veer back towards the story Robert Kirkman originally wrote, there’s a reason people love these characters so much.

Score : 7.5/10

Reviewed by Mike DeVivo

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SwampThing #7 Alec Holland’s Destiny is Revealed

Matthew Sardo

March 11, 2012

Swamp Thing #7

Story By: Scott Snyder

Art By: Yanick Paquette

Review : 9.5/10

At the end of last issue Alec Holland was left on the edge of death . Impaled and bleeding out Alec is suffering as The Parliament of Trees burns to the ground. Snyder decides to finally show his hand and writes an extremely powerful and strong argument for Alec becoming Swamp Thing even though he directly defied The Green . The Parliament tells Alec that they want him to watch them suffer and ultimately die after they have burnt to the ground. Snyder’s dialogue between Alec and the Parliament couldn’t be more perfect . Digging deeper into The Parliaments behavior and characterizing them almost as angry children who feel slighted. Alec tells the Parliament that they lack a conscience and that his sole purpose is to give balance to The Green. Finally The Parliament use Alec’s last container of restorative formula and Alec transforms into Swamp Thing.

I have to say that this is Yanick’s strongest work to date on the book. His panel breakdowns continue to amaze me . Using smeared blood in the scenes with the Rot and Foliage , Sunflowers and Vines to break up the panels with Alec and the Parliament . Pacing and facial expressions are spot on and seeing Alec slowly succumb to the green taking over his body and internal organs was chilling and exciting . Which brings me to the last few pages of this book . Swamp Thing is born again , this time with Alec in the driver’s seat proper. Snyder and Paquette show just how powerful Swamp Thing is now with a sequence of panels that start with a stretched out index finger and ends with a brutal display of power as vines spiral forth and impale the poor victims of the Rot who came to kill Alec in the beginning of this issue.

After putting Alec and his support cast through every kind of imaginable hell , Swamp Thing #7 manages to put an emphatic exclamation point on Alec Holland and his sacrifice to become Swamp Thing to save his love from the Rot. Its classic Movie monster magic in comic book form . The last page sets up a collision course with Swamp Thing and The Rot . Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette continue to move this book into uncharted territory for the character and we all of us get to sit back and reap the benefits.

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

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Review: Uncanny X-Men #8 ‘Tabula Rasa Concludes!’

Matthew Sardo

March 8, 2012

Uncanny X-Men #8
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Greg Land and Guru eFX

‘Tabula Rasa’ comes to a close on a very high note. Though this arc had a solid story, it was plagued with awkward pacing. The arc had a solid conclusion within the last issue. Here, we pick up the loose ends as Colossus delves deeper underground to find his sister, Magik, who has been captured by ‘mole’ natives. We also tie up Hope and Namors diplomatic expedition underwater; both of these story beats were introduced within issue 6, so you can see the pacing problem. Again, this arc does concludes on a high note, portraying some fantastic character development.

To get you up to pace, ‘Tabula Rasa’ is a rapidly developing ecosystem created by Archangel (possessed by Apocalypse), during ‘The Dark Angel Saga’ within the pages of Uncanny X-Force. This wildly advanced and growing ecosystem was left unchecked and Psylocke, whom inadvertently took part in the events leading up to the creation of ‘Tabula Rasa’, brings its existence to Cyclops and his Extinction team attention. Upon arrival, the X-Men discover a humanoid race, who revere Archangel their God… carnage ensues.

As noted before, Kieron Gillen filled these pages with shocking character moments; further exploring Peter Rasputins transformation into the Juggernaut. Hope and Namors adventure underwater was humorous and downright nasty, revealing Namors fishy fetishes. This allowed penciler, Greg Land, to draw a jaw dropping image of Namor locking lips on a undwater squid queen! Just what I was hoping for when I cracked this baby open.

Greg Land produced solid pencils throughout; with woman well endowed, as always, yet he kept a proportionate female frame. One terrifying image comes to mind of Colossus giving into the demon Cyttorak, himself being disfigured and looming over his sister, Magik. This was a great scene, as Magik motivates Colossus to remember who he is and that the demon is only a part of that. Magik having her own personal demons to have overcome, this turned out to be a powerful scene.

Overall, this arc has a strong backbone of a story, but is oddly paced which made the overall arc feel stale. But again, this concluding issue was great. The closing scene is one I’ve been dreadeding to come and see the light of day, the first crack in Magneto’s ‘hero’ charade (unless you’ve been reading Magneto:Not a Hero mini). This larger than life team is revealing a lot of chaotic elements where I can’t imagine the statue quo surviving the upcoming event of ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’. But it’ll be a hell of a last song!

Story: 8
Art: 8

Personal Recommendations for the week:
Swamp Thing #7 – This series has been gold! The return of Swamp Thing!
Age of Apocalypse #1 – Surprised me, considering the state of affairs the universe was left in Uncanny X-Force.
Avengers: The children’s Crusade – Just give the Young Avengers back their own book already!!!!

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Review: Venom #14 – Remember the ’90s?

Roger Riddell

March 7, 2012

Venom #14
Writer: Rick Remender [Venom “Circle of Three”: Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, and Rob Williams]
Art: Tony Moore and Val Staples [Color Art]

Remember the slew of multi-issue stories back in the ’90s like “Maximum Carnage” and “Planet of the Symbiotes” that made good plots for video games, but were somewhat tiring as comics?

“Circle of Four” has kind of played out like that.

Don’t get me wrong, it has moments where it’s fun. Unfortunately, it suffers from too much of the ’90s ridiculousness that turned me away from comics for a few years when I was a kid.

Basically, over the course of Venom #13.1 through #13.4 and this week’s #14, Blackheart unleashed Hell upon Earth following a scheme that involved the Toxin symbiote (which was never really mentioned again after part one in Venom #13, but I think it became irrelevant to Blackheart’s plan at some point). Venom, Red Hulk, X-23, and the new Ghost Rider just happened to be in Las Vegas at the same time, and were thus forced into an unlikely team-up. They had to face their antitheses after looking in Blackheart’s magic mirror, and ultimately arrived at a scenario where the Red Hulk ended up becoming host to both the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom symbiote.

That’s right… There was actually a Ghost Red Hulk Venom Rider involved in this story. On the ridiculousness scale, it’s up there with Carnage devouring millions of Earth-invading symbiotes and turning into the giant Mega-Carnage from “Planet of the Symbiotes.” On a side note, if the Venom symbiote is extremely susceptible to heat, how does it survive in Hell, let alone bond to a host possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance?

Look, I don’t mean to make this storyline sound terrible. It’s fun in certain aspects. It has the same appeal as a B-movie, making it kind of like the Planet Terror of Venom stories. The ’90s left a bad taste in my mouth when I was a kid (Damn you, “Maximum Carnage” and “Clone Saga!”), so maybe I’m just bitter. I will say that the Tony Moore art in this issue made it a little more palatable.

Maybe it would have been better for me if instead of doing four “Point One” issues for Venom between #13 and #14, they did three of those issues as “Point One” books for Hulk, X-23, and Ghost Rider. It would at least have made the difference between the three writers’ styles easier to compensate for, as I’ve become somewhat accustomed to Rick Remender on this book.

Anyhow, that’s all beside the point. If you like your stories way over-the-top in the B-movie sense, definitely check this out. Especially if you loved the ’90s and “Maximum Carnage.” This would have been a great plot for an arcade game starring Venom, X-23, Red Hulk, and Ghost Rider.

STORY: 6.5/10
ART: 8/10

[amazon_link id=”B007G8UUKE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Venom #14 on Amazon[/amazon_link]

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