Review: Amazing Spider-Man #680 – In space, no one can hear you thwip!

February 29, 2012

Amazing Spider-Man #680
Writers: Dan Slott & Chris Yost
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli [Pencils], Klaus Janson [Inks], and Frank D’Armata [Color]

Mayor J. Jonah Jameson’s son, Col. John Jameson, is performing repairs outside of the Horizon Labs space station Apogee 1 when suddenly he loses communication with the Horizon Labs science team on Earth–as well as his dad, who is visiting the lab.

As is typical, Jonah flips out and the team discovers that all systems on the station are failing. As is also typical, Peter Parker rushes off in typical Peter Parker fashion, as he knows the Fantastic Four and space emergencies are their forté.

Of course, the Parker luck plays its hand and the only one home is the recently-back-from-the-dead-though-he-never-really-died Human Torch, who Spidey catches in the middle of a… somewhat compromising situation. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s fairly amusing and all ties into Johnny taking the night off to catch up on all of the pop culture events he missed while he was “dead.”

Anyhow, Spidey convinces a less-than-serious Torch to tag along to the space station with him, where they discover something “Sinister” is afoot…

Overall, this is another stellar issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Am I surprised that Dan Slott had help from Chris Yost with writing this? Not really. He’s been putting together the huge “Ends of the Earth” storyline featuring the return of the Sinister Six and the potential death of Doctor Octopus. (Yeah, I get it. They killed Doc Ock in the ’90s during the “Clone Saga,” too. That death, however, was pretty cheap and undeserving of a character who rivals Green Goblin as Spider-Man’s biggest enemy.) Anyhow, the writing here has the perfect balance between humor and seriousness, not letting the one-upsmanship and one-liners between Spidey and the Torch overshadow the gravity of the plot.

Giuseppe Camuncoli, Klaus Janson, and Frank D’Armata do a great job of conveying all of this in their art, as well. Jonah’s bug-eyed expression of panicked rage on page 4 perfectly captures the emotions of a parent whose son is in grave danger, especially when you factor in that Jonah is still probably grieving his recently-murdered wife, Marla. In fact, practically every panel in this issue featuring Jonah is a hit. Hell, this whole issue is gorgeous.

If you weren’t already excited for “Ends of the Earth,” the panels of Doc Ock in this issue might change that. Never before has he looked so menacing. If this is just the lead-in to that story, you really have to wonder how big the endgame is.

STORY: 9.5/10
ART: 9.5/10

[amazon_link id=”B007CMQK6M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Amazing Spider-Man #680 on Amazon[/amazon_link]

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Prophet #22 “You Throw like No Necks and Outsanders.”

Matthew Sardo

February 24, 2012

Written by: Brandon Graham & Simon Roy
Artist: Simon Roy
Colorist: Richard Ballermann
Letterer: Ed Bisson
Cover: Simon Roy
Publisher: Image

Excuse me while I ramble for a bit, but where the hell did this comic come from? Yes I know it’s a revived Liefeld comic from the 90’s but has it always been about weird sci-fi shit? I thought it was known for having an excessive amount of bullets and detail? People hyped the hell out of #21 and I dismissed like a fool because I’m not a fan of Liefeld properties in general and had too much on my plate. A buddy of mine forced this comic on me and I’m glad he did. It’s my favorite kinds of story: something new and totally unpredictable.

I have no idea what the fuck is going on but here’s what I’ve been able to figure out so far: After a long hibernation John Prophet is released from his underground life-pod to find himself on a distant future Earth. He is on a mission and makes his way across this wasteland of techno-dessert and tribal insect aliens. He’s fought off mutant wolves, multi-mouth sheep-like creatures and even had sex with some weird alien thing. He uses this blue, glorpy gel thing as a disguise thing or something. Actually I’m not sure what he uses it for but it looks like blue jellyfish cape. Oh yeah, and the planet is thick with insectoid creatures. If the aliens from District 9 had a baby with Dark Crystal creatures they would look something like this. I think the main alien things are called Xiux-Guin. They have 4 eyes, 4 arms, and a mouth at the bottom of their long sinewy necks. Their hands have 3 fingers, and stand on their 4 legs like an awkward cockroach centaur.

In this issue John plods through a graveyard of dead robot giants and burned-out pods and comes across a Taxa caravan, a temporary oasis from the violent world. He finds employment shoveling Cikade which is basically giant alien shit that people use as building material in order to keep swarms of flying insects out. John makes a few enemies with some Xiux-Guin showing them up and throwing knives, even though he throws like “No Necks and Outsanders.” Later, Prophet commits a giant tribal faux-paux and that leads to all sorts of mayhem forcing him to flee from a horde of pissed-off cockroach centaurs. This leads him to discover a long lost human artifact that he can possibly use to escape. All sorts of hell breaks loose.

The story is a survivalist sci-fi mystery mixed with adventure and espionage and is told in a straight forward writing style that’s not overly descriptive but feels dream-like. Everything is alien and foreign to me. If Charles Burns, H.G. Wells and the guys that wrote Aeon-Flux sat down and collaborated on a story you might get something like this. It’s future primitive tale with only one human (so far) struggling against a planet hostile and strange creatures.

I really love this kind of deep sci-fi, but can sometimes looks terrible (I’m looking at you Land of The Lost). Thankfully that is not the case here. Simon Roy illustrate this brutal future Earth beautifully. He uses a style that blends the best part of Geoff Darrow’s line work with Joe Kubert-like contour shading. My only slight knock against the art is the appendages of the aliens can look a bit clumsy at times. The proportions seem a bit off and are longer than needed. Perhaps the creatures was designed appear more like tubes than limbs, it just wasn’t the best creative decision. I would have liked to see some tapering towards joints, or bulking up closer to the torso. Basically anything to give it some variation and not look so chunky. However it does appear consistent with the world as the dinosaur-sized spider-elephants have a similar look. And I wouldn’t change a thing about those beasts! The coloring is close to what Chris Sotomayor did for Planet Hulk, but less on the Photoshop airbrush side of things. He has more of a watercolor approach akin to a printmaker coloring intaglio etchings. I also have to mention the lettering really quick. Ed Brisson uses a unique technique of putting the translation bubbles, straight over the xenomorph hieroglyphic text. It’s visually appealing and I immediately understood what was going on. Point for storytelling, point for originality and point for design.

Prophet really is a strange new world. This book has really grabbed me and I can’t wait to see more. There’s no comic on the shelf like this right now. Everything is unexpected and fresh, with bizarre twists and shocks lurking around every corner. Forget everything about the Liefeld series of the ’90’s. You don’t need any of the backstory to enjoy what is happening here. It’s the perfect place to jump on. Don’t sleep on this book!

Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10

Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Phonogram Creators Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Tease possible followup

Matthew Sardo

February 23, 2012

Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie struck creative gold when they launched their series Phonogram for Image Comics. The first Series Rue Britania focused on the idea that Music is magic and introduced us to the world of phonomancers. It was highly acclaimed and led to both creators creating a follow-up book titled The Singles Club . Matt Wilson came on to do colors for the series which was a limited run focusing on a wide group of characters some phonomancers, others not who all went to the same club.

Gillen and Mckelvie have since went on to work for Marvel . Gillen working on Journey Into Mystery and Uncanny X-Men while Mckelvie is wrapping up art duties for the X-Men season 1 Hardcover. The creators had always wanted to continue working on their Phonogram series but it was cut short . Now just before the Image Expo this awesome and simple message has been released giving fans of Phonogram something to smile about.

Obviously there is a direct reference to the title Track from Daft Punk . Gillen has said that the track itself had a lot to do with the inspiration for the series . What does it all mean ? Maybe its a reference to another Phonogram series, it could be focusing on dance music and electronica . Or are they creating a Daft Punk comic book? At this point what I’m most happy about is that Image is giving these two amazing creators the freedom to blow my mind again. What are your thoughts ?

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #6 – This casino’s more diverse than the Mos Eisley Cantina

Roger Riddell

February 22, 2012

Wolverine and the X-Men #6
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw [Pencils]; Walden Wong, Jay Leisten, Norman Lee & Cam Smith [Inks]; and Justin Ponsor & Matt Wilson [Colorists]

The Jean Grey School in financial trouble! Kitty Pryde infested with millions of microscopic Brood! That’s where Wolverine and the X-Men #5 left us, and where #6 picks up at.

In an attempt to solve the school’s financial troubles, Wolverine heads off to an intergalactic casino with genius mutant problem child Quentin Quire, a.k.a. Kid Omega. The plan is to use Quentin Quire’s telepathic and telekinetic abilities to pull off an intergalactic casino con. How space money works on Earth or why they didn’t just do this on an Earth casino, I’m not sure. I do know, however, that this plot allowed Nick Bradshaw to draw the most diverse array of aliens in one place outside of the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars.

Regardless of where the casino is, the opportunity to put Wolverine and Quire in a one-on-one situation and continue to play Quire’s rebellious nature off of uber-badass authority figure Logan carries a ton of possibility for interesting situations, and Jason Aaron doesn’t waste the opportunity. The payoff is great and keeps this the most “fun” of the X-books.

Meanwhile, Kitty’s situation becomes more dire as there are too many Brood inside of her for Beast and his team to handle. To make matters worse, the S.W.O.R.D. Paramedic team is taken out by the mysterious alien guy from the previous issue. Who this guy is remains a mystery, as well as why he keeps regular-sized Brood on a leash and what exactly he has to do with Kitty’s infestation, but he does have sinister intentions for Broo, the Jean Grey School’s Brood student. (By the way, I’m still not sure how he ended up at the school. He was just kind of there when the book started. Anyone want to fill me in?)

Anyways, Aaron keeps this issue fast-paced and ends it with a couple of cliffhangers. The highlight of the issue, at least for me, is hands-down integrating Krakoa in as a sort of external security system for the school. It would be easy to just ignore the living mass of land after the first story arc, but Aaron’s doing a good job of giving everyone face time when it makes sense to. On a final note, I’m not sure why this issue had four inkers and two colorists, but the important thing is that I couldn’t tell otherwise when reading it.

Go ahead and pick this one up, along with issue #5 so you’re not just jumping into the middle of the story.

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Howard Lovecraft and The Undersea Kingdom – C’thulhu for Kids

Matthew Sardo

February 22, 2012

Written by: Bruce Brown & Dwight L MacPherson
Art by: Thomas Boatwright
Letters: E.T. Dollman
Cover: Erik Fokkens
Publisher: Arcana

What if Inspector Gadget was written by H.P. Lovecraft? What if Calvin and Hobbes was Howard and C’thulhu? Well you’d get something akin to this book. It’s really kind of pastiche of both. This is a follow-up to 2009’s Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom a 71 page Graphic Novelette containing an all-ages H.P. Lovecraft type story. I’m assuming you all know what kind of story Lovecraft spun back in his day. Tales of elder gods, the horror of space and time, ancient cults, men turning into fish creatures, and mountains of madness. You know, kid stuff. When all is said and done I’m actually surprised how well this reinvention of Lovecraft lore works. It’s the kind of story you can let a pre-teen read and have fun with and not drive him to brink of sanity. More importantly you can read it and enjoy it yourself as it’s not dumbed down with fart jokes or demon slapstick.

“Howard Lovecraft’s family has been imprisoned on a far-flung alien planet, Spot hopelessly captured, and he is slowly becoming a mindless Fishman. Accompanied by his insane father, a pistol-packing constable, and his hungry cat, they must face the all-powerful ruler of the Outer Gods, a revengeful old enemy, an army of deadly monsters, and a lethal world called Yuggoth, to save the day. All Howard has to do is surrender his father’s Book. But that would mean certain doom for all of mankind!” – synopsis via Comixology.

Story-wise this plot is a bit slippery. Brown and MacPherson kind of throw you off in the deep end and see if you can make heads or tails of the mystery un-folding. I didn’t read the first book in the series, so perhaps that would have helped me with the set-up. I have to admit I floundered for a bit and didn’t really grasp what was happening until the end of Chapter 2 where Howard flat-out spells it out: “King Abdul took our family and House to his Undersea Kingdom and won’t let them go until I give him the book.” The cutting between different worlds threw me for a bit at first as well. I didn’t understand if C’thulhu’s (aka Spot) world was imaginary or a world inside the book Howard was reading or what. The power and importance of the book is never really explained. I’m assuming it’s the Necromonicon and it’s very powerful, but as a new reader to the series it was left open-ended. The stakes would be higher if it was explained how the world would shatter if the ruler of the Outer Gods got ahold of this thing.

That aside I really did enjoy the characters and their interactions while all this plot was unraveling. Once the story draws you in its easy to lose yourself in this world. Spot is an awesome sidekick for Howard, and is able to send an astral projection to Howard’s world when he sleeps like from the Lovecraft line “In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”He fends off all kinds of Shoggoth’s and horrors along the way. The constable is a lovable ol’ cook as well. Kind of like Tackleberry from Police Academy but with a sense of humor and a cat. He kills all kinds of nasty demons along the way and really flexes the whole gung-ho protector trope. Which is probably a good thing since Howard himself is a bit of a scaredy cat and needs all the help he can get. I usually get annoyed with leads like this, but the writers were sensible enough to make him a balanced character. Yes, he is quick to panic and freak out, but deep down the kid has some guts and chutzpah and pulls it together when it really counts. And I didn’t find myself wishing for his death, so that’s a good thing. He’s enough of a spitfire that you want to see him succeed. The dad is a dangerous nutter and you can see why he was put in a sanitarium. He makes the journey edgy and you can never really trust him. I like that it really flips the typical family dynamic on its head. You definitely cannot trust the parents in this and that is something younger kids will easily relate to. I know I did.

Calvin and Hobbes, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Bloom County, and Fractured Fairytales; this is the kind of cartooning vein that Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom draws from. It’s a loose but confident brush style that looks like it could be in syndication at national newspaper. The watercolor background are kind mushy and vague. Sponges and brush sprays help work up the texture, giving the panels a bit of depth. When it works best, there’s lots of trees and mist conjuring a dark vibe suitable for elder gods. Sometimes it all gets a bit too soft and muddy for my tastes, but overall it’s not distracting and fits the tone of the narrative. It’s an odd color palette with lot’s subtle purples used for flesh shadows, bright neon-green glowing eyes and cyan knock-outs for the spectral astral projections of Spot. I especially love how the Shoggoths are rendered as black amorphous columns of tentacles with bright red membranes cracking through. Royal blue speckles pepper the appendages and represent the leathery texture of skin and the odd suction cup. These bold stylizations are a nice touch and look really fresh and modern. It’s a welcome counter balance to Boatwright’s whimsical drawing style. Overall the lighthearted art feels right for this book and does the Lovecraft Mythos justice.

Kids are going to love this book because it’s about one of them, and there’s all sort of cool monsters and trouble going on. The adult reading this to them will get a kick out of all the eldritch Lovecraftian references (like when one Howard starts growing gills and fins ala’ one of the “Deep Ones” from The Shadow Over Innsmouth). When my nephew gets a bit older you can be sure I’m going to read this to him. The best part is I won’t have to feel guilty about him being too scared to sleep, because while it’s chock full of Lovecraftian trimmings, ultimately it’s light on the horror and heavy on adventure. That’s exactly what this sort of thing should be. I predict this doing really well. In fact, I can totally see this being pitched to Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network for a series. Howard Lovecraft and The Undersea Kingdom is currently available on Comixology, and will hit the comic shops, Amazon and bookstores on March 21st 2012.

Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10

Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Uncanny X-Force #22 – Who is Weapon III?

Roger Riddell

February 22, 2012

Uncanny X-Force #22
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Greg Tocchini and Dean White [Color Art]

The pace picks back up in the third part of Rick Remender’s Otherworld odyssey as Psylocke continues her efforts to help Fantomex escape from her brothers in the Captain Britain Corps and Nightcrawler convinces Wolverine that X-Force should help the people of Otherworld fight back against the realm’s demonic invaders.

In case you’ve been out of the loop, Otherworld is a realm that serves as an in-between spot for all of the realities in the Marvel Multiverse. Basically, that means it has all of the doorways to the mainstream Marvel Universe (i.e. Earth-616), the Ultimate Universe, the 2099 Universe, the Age of Apocalypse, the Negative Zone, etc.

Otherworld itself is something out of a Tolkien book, with dragons, castles, and sorcery. It’s also home to the Captain Britain Corps, who see fit to punish individuals from any reality for whatever crimes they feel they should intervene in.

(Clearly, they miss a lot of them because a TON of villains are still alive, but stay with me here.)

X-Force ended up here in issue #20 after the Corps abducted Fantomex and Psylocke in the middle of the night. They put Fantomex on trial for the assassination of the child clone of Apocalypse and sentenced him to being removed from existence. Psylocke, however, rescued Fantomex, as the two have been involved in an increasingly complex game of cat and mouse.

Remender throws in a conversation between the two in this issue to add further confusion to where exactly Fantomex stands in the situation, and also to underscore how well Fantomex can manipulate others. It’s an excellent character trait to draw attention to. After all, this is a guy whose power set includes misdirection–the ability to distract others with a realistic illusion.

Unfortunately, Psylocke and Fantomex’s escape is cut short by the Skinless Man, who we find out is Weapon III and has a long history with Fantomex, a.k.a. Weapon XIII. He’s given a sensible enough reason for being in Otherworld, and it ultimately makes even more sense that Remender continues to explore and add to the story of the Weapon Plus program given that three members of X-Force–Wolverine, Deadpool, and Fantomex–were all involved in it in some way or another.

As all of this plot is unfolding, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Deadpool are taking refuge in a village on the verge of being besieged by the hordes of a demonic goat. Nightcrawler, who is seemingly coming around to his new teammates after leaving behind his own X-Men in the Age of Apocalypse, convinces Wolverine that they should fight to help the people of Otherworld before finding their friends.

This change in attitude for AoA Nightcrawler draws the first big parallel between him and his deceased Earth-616 counterpart since the differences between the two were highlighted two issues ago. It really adds additional layers to a familiar character who isn’t really the character fans are ultimately familiar with, reminding them that while he is different due to the state of his home universe, Kurt Wagner is still Kurt Wagner at the end of the day.

Plus, it leads to a fun exchange about narcissistic personality disorder between Wolverine and Deadpool as they head off to kill the demonic goat monk thing attacking Otherworld.

Overall, another great issue in Remender’s run. If you’re new to X-Force, I’d recommend starting a little further back in the series, but this storyline is fun and just different enough from earlier stories to keep things interesting without veering too far into left field.

And I promise I’ll never make another poor sports analogy as long as I’m writing reviews.

STORY: 8/10
ART: 8.5/10

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Deadpool #51 – A “Make-Believe” Gang War

Roger Riddell

February 22, 2012

Deadpool #51
Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Ale Garza, Sean Parsons [Inker], Dommo Sanchez Amara [Colorist]

Deadpool’s elaborate game of chess–a game he doesn’t really know how to play–keeps getting weirder and more out of control as his quest for death continues.

You see, Wade found out that there was a serum capable of negating his healing factor and allowing him to die, so he enlisted the help of his X-Force teammates to help him find it. To do so, he convinced them that the Kingpin had it. Meanwhile, he had his friend HYDRA Bob tell the Kingpin about the serum, which of course led to the Kingpin sending his agent Typhoid Mary and the ninjas of the Hand to find it. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Deadpool also told Wolverine’s son, Daken, about the serum, causing Daken to go out looking for it for his own reasons.

Meanwhile, nobody realizes that Tombstone, fresh out of prison, had the serum made so he could get revenge on Deadpool for putting him there in the first place.

Of course, with X-Force gunning for the Kingpin and Kingpin sending his henchmen to find the serum, the two factions are bound to collide, and the issue opens with a fight that includes a beautiful sequence of Wolverine and Typhoid Mary plummeting from the side of an apartment building.

Of course, having a brawl like this in the middle of New York City is undoubtedly going to attract some unwanted attention from other hero types (keep in mind here that X-Force is supposed to remain a secret), so Deadpool covers their tracks the following day by initiating a “make-believe gang war.” What he doesn’t account for is that Kingpin and Tombstone would be in contact with one another, or that Daken would figure out that Tombstone had the formula, which is sure to set up the type of shameful disaster that Wade is all too familiar with being a part of.

Overall, this issue maintains the pace of the last one while adding even more layers to the story. After 51 issues, I’m still amazed that Daniel Way has maintained the level of consistency that he has on this book. Especially notable are the exchange between Deadpool and Wolverine following Deadpool’s provocation of the gang war, and the interplay between Kingpin and Tombstone once they begin to catch on to what’s happening. The fact that you can tell Way enjoys what he does makes reading Deadpool that much more enjoyable. The switch in artists from Carlo Barberi to Ale Garza is somewhat noticeable, but not distracting, as the art still possesses a similar flow and overall style.

If you haven’t checked out the first part of this story in #50, go ahead and pick up both issues. This is shaping up to be one of the best arcs in the series.

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Movie Review: Ghost Rider Spirit Of Vengeance

mDeVivo

February 19, 2012

Review : 7/10

I’ve meant to get to this review since Matt and I saw this Thursday Night at Midnight. When I first heard that they were making a sequel to one of the worst superhero movies I had ever seen I obviously had little faith in this film. However when I heard that Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (The duo who were responsible for both Crank films) signed on to direct the new Ghost Rider I was intrigued.

I’ll start by saying that this is definitely better than the first film, leaps and bounds in fact. Ghost Rider as a character is treated more as a force of nature and a true movie monster than some troubled hero. Mark and Brian got the tone of the film down for this movie and Nicolas Cage is obviously aware at this point in his career that he is known for campy performances.

The film opens up right away with an animated montage explaining to you who Ghost Rider is, how Johnny Blaze became said demon and where he’s at now. Idris Elba plays Moreau, a monk who seeks Johnny out for his help in finding a boy. The boy is in line to inherit the powers of the devil and become the Antichrist, which if happened would mean the end of the world. He offers Johnny salvation from Ghost Rider in exchange for him getting the boy back and preventing the apocalypse. That’s about all the story that you need to know.

scream — Nicolas Cage as the Anti-Hero Ghost Rider

As I said this isn’t going to be remembered as a great film, but I will consider it a fun film to watch with friends. The special effects are great. Flames and Black smoke billow out of Johnny Blazes Leather jacket as the leather bubbles and cracks from the heat during the transformation. There is a transformation scene in the middle of the film that was really fun to see which demonstrated a perfect mix of camera work, special effects, and Nicolas Cage going nuts in front of the camera that was a standout in the film. However some FX work was a bit spotty. Corrigan who later becomes Blackout in the film looked more so like a villain out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When so much time is spent designing and perfecting the Ghost Rider I’d expect a little more design d be put into its main villain. Corrigan essentially looks like Powder with a long white wig, not so threatening. Also I was expecting a bit more with the 3D, while the few scenes where it works are great, you can definitely see this movie in 2D and not feel like your missing anything.

If what you’re looking for this weekend is a fun action movie with little thought put into the story than this is for you. As a Ghost Rider film I think it’s a success, you get a better version of the character and you can tell everyone involved had a fun time bringing it to life. While the story is conventional and the dialogue is spotty the action and special FX make this a film that I feel is just good enough to see in theaters. The audience leaving the theater seemed like they had a good time and that’s really whats important. Have a few drinks before heading out, go see it with friends and enjoy the ride.

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review : Batman #6 Batman Has seen better days

Matthew Sardo

February 16, 2012

Batman#6

Story By: Scott Snyder

Art By: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

Review Score : 8.5/10

After a pretty insane sequence of events last issue Scott Snyder decides to lay off of the narrative a bit and let Capullo do most of the heavy lifting this issue. That’s not to say that Snyder doesn’t continue to push the narrative forward. He finally introduces us to the odd dynamic between Talon and the Court of Owls. Snyder write the relationship between Talon and the Court of Owls almost like what you would expect a conversation between a Dominatrix and her submissive client would sound like. The whole thing is very creepy and uncomfortable as Batman continues to take punishment as he is surrounded by the court.

It’s in this moment that Snyder and Capullo show how in sync they are telling this story. As Capullo alternates in and out of panels , Snyder writes Bruce as someone who is on the edge of giving up between a panel of Batman’s Eye welling up with tears as he looks at a picture of his Ancestor Alan Wayne being tortured by the Court years before, its a mix of Snyder’s spot on narrative set to a progression of just his eye welling up that really breaks your heart. Batman snaps and fights back against the Court and Talon and makes his escape with the help of a few things lying around the Labyrinth . Snyder continues to keep Batman’s fate a mystery though as he finds that while he left the maze he still can’t escape the Court.

This issue reads very fast because Batman and Talon fight through the majority of said issue, but Snyder still manages to add new layers to the Court and present Batman and the entire Batman Family with a huge problem on their hands going into the next issue. I am really enjoying everything about this series but what i love most thus far is the collaboration process between Snyder and Capullo.Yes this book continues to be great and you should be reading it.

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

Review: Wolverine #301 – Wolverine vs. the new Silver Samurai

Roger Riddell

February 15, 2012

Wolverine #301
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Billy Tan & Jason Keith [Art for Chapters 8, 11, 12], Steve Sanders & Sotocolor [Chapters 9, 10]

The newly-renumbered Wolverine #300 ended with an all-out war between the Yakuza mobsters and Hand ninjas in a Buddhist temple, coupled with a fresh-from-the-dead Sabretooth, a new Silver Samurai, and Wolverine’s adopted daughter caught in the middle.

And that was only the first seven chapters of Jason Aaron’s epic kung fu B-movie of a final story on Wolverine’s solo book.

The over-the-top action and ultra-violence continues this month in #301 with the limbs of Yakuza and Hand members alike flying everywhere and an obligatory Wolverine-with-all-of-his-skin-burned-off sequence.

Ever wanted to see tattooed Yakuza armed with chainsaws on motorcycles? Jason Aaron’s got it here.

What about torture administered with flesh-eating beetles? Check.

Sabretooth taking three claws to the throat? Say no more!

Aaron is taking everything ridiculous you love about Wolverine and packing it into a single storyline. That’s not to say this blood-soaked saga is devoid of any plot, though.

Remember, Logan’s reason for returning to Japan was to prevent a war between the Hand and Yakuza from breaking out in the wake of the Silver Samurai’s death. That plotline remains in place, and is coupled with the underlying drama of a father meeting his daughter’s boyfriend for the first time (but on an extreme level) in the fight between Wolverine and the new Silver Samurai, Shin.

Despite having two art teams here, the interiors remain consistent throughout, though Wolverine does appear a bit Danzig-y in a couple of panels.

As much as I could go on about this issue, you have to see it (and possibly enjoy kung fu movies or b-movies) to truly appreciate it. If you like Wolverine, this is highly recommended.

STORY: 8.5/10
ART: 8/10

[amazon_link id=”B0077QFBO0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Wolverine #301 on Amazon[/amazon_link]

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

1...1,6571,6581,659...1,672 Page 1,658 of 1,672