Legen...wait for it...dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 12/9/09

Cover of the Week: Invincible Iron Man #21

Even though I did not like Invincible Iron Man #21 (as you can read in my review here) I have to admit this cover for this issue is just awesome. Love the color scheme used on the cover.

Amazing Spider-Man #614 Highlights

Sucks to be Bennett. See kids it does not pay trying to get one of your enemies killed. It always backfires on you as it did to Bennett when he sent JJJ to go inside The DB.

Never expected to see this happen. Looks like The Frontline is now officially the newspaper of the Marvel Universe.

Batgirl #5 Highlights

Come on Batgirl, this is Gotham after all. It is all about Batman and Robin.

Oh snap! Barbara went there.

Oh Damian you crack me up.

Invincible Iron Man #21 Highlights

And Marvel again spoils another one of there big stories by showing us that Steve is in control of his body.

Is it me or does it look like Steve was cut and pasted on to this splash page?

Red Robin #7 Highlights

Red Robin to the rescue.

And Ra's is dead yet again. What is that the 10th time he has died this past decade.

Legen...wait for it....dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week for 11/25/09

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern #48 (Alternate Cover)

DC has had the habit when it comes to Green Lantern covers to releasing the alternate covers of this title along with the solicits to each issue and using a different cover for the regular cover. And it is to bad we didn't get this as the regular cover as this is just a beautiful cover showing off Saint Walker the rich world the Blue Lanterns are located. Just an awesome cover.

Amazing Spider-Man #613 Highlights

I guessing Michelle is not a morning person.

I have the power!

Blackest Night #5 Highlights

Dragonzord, Tyrannosarus, Saber-Toothed Tiger,......Woops wrong costumes. I like how while all the leaders of the Lantern Corps recite their respective oaths Larfleeze is in the back wondering what is going on.

Mmmmmmm...Tasty dessert.

Let seee we got the Superman family, Flash Family, Wonder Woman family, Titans, and JLA but no one from the Batfamily. What up with that?

Hal and everyone are trying to give Scar a color change as black just isn't her color.

Doesn't black cancel out every other color? Plus mixing all of these colors together will just make black anyways so would this actually work?

Bruce has seen better days.....

as has the rest of the DCU heroes who have died though I have no clue when Wonder Woman died. I only remember the Golden Age Wonder Woman dying in Infinite Crisis.

Fantastic Four #573 Highlights

Neil Edwards draws a great Human Torch. If Johnny ever gets another ongoing or mini-series I hope Edwards is one of the ones considered for the job.

Don't lose your head over it Psionic......Was that to mean?

Green Lantern #48 Highlights

A Gonzo and Scrooge reference in one panel. Have never seen I writer do that. Kudos Geoff Johns!

So now we are getting to the meat of the matter of where Sinestro's hate towards Hal comes from.

Attroticius does not look good as a Blue Lantern. Something about this image just doesn't look right.

Great spread page of all the Lanterns together.

Guardians of the Galaxy #20 Highlights

I wouldn't mind if the artist did the recap pages instead of getting the few paragraphs of recap at the beginning of the issue. Brad Walker did a great job with the first page of this page of Guardians of the Galaxy recaping what happened in the last story arc.

Invincible Iron Man #20 Highlights

Tony has suddenly entered the Terminator: Salvation world. And to make things better the guy saying 'Tony' is his father.

This is the first two pages of what turns out to be a six page video will Tony made up before he decided to turn himself into a vegetable but these two pages sum his will up as he tells everyone "He was right all along and everyone else was wrong."

This was the first time I thought Pepper was given a proper characterization by Matt Fraction.

Ultimate Comics Avengers #4 Highlights

I think Ultimate War Machine is much more of a kick ass character than his 616 counterpart.

I have said it many times before but these two pages reinforce the fact Ultimate Captain America is a badass. Using a kindergarden class to stop War Machine was a brilliant move by Ultimate Cap as he knew he could not fight War Machine one on one.

Red Skull + Cosmic Cube = Big trouble for the Ultimate Universe

Previewing the Week’s Releases for 9/14/09 – 9/20/09

Comics
Amazing Spider-Man #605 – For the past few months Amazing Spider-Man has been turning in one solid arc after another. The Red Headed Stranger was an above average arc. Fred Van Lente did a solid job with his first arc on this title. Though this is supposed to be an epilogue issue to The Red Headed Stranger but we already got an epilogue at the end of the last issue. Should be interesting what happens in this issue especially with Black Cat around the corner.

Batgirl #2 – The first issue with Stephanie as the new Batgirl was an okay start. I'm still not sold that Stephanie can carry her own ongoing series and if this series belongs on my permanent pull list. But I am willing to see if Bryan Q. Miller can prove me wrong and turn in a good second issue.

Batman and Robin #4 – Morrison has been doing a fantastic job with Batman and Robin so far. This is the most fun I have had with reading a Morrison penned series. I'm interested to see what Morrison has in store for Batman and Robin with the Red Hood making an appearance.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #4 – This has been the best out of all the Batman titles. Dini has been doing a fantastic job with this series. Though I'm sad that he will hand over the writing duties to Chris Yost for the next arc I am glad that he is returning in the arc after that, as Matt Ampersand from Weekly Crisis reported. Looking forward to seeing how Dini ends this Zsaz and Hush arc and if Hush actually believes Dick will go through with his threat from last issue.

Blackest Night #3 – I have been one of the biggest critics of Geoff Johns work on Blackest Night, much to the hate of everyone who is loving this series. While I don't want to give too much away from my review for Green Lantern Corps #40, which should be up tomorrow, I do want to say that I am already sick off the Black Lantern Corps. At this point I have seen more than enough of the Black Lantern Corps but hopefully Johns can work his magic on this third issue and make me start to like this book.

Captain America: Reborn #3 – This has been one strange mini-series involving the return of Steve Rogers. Brubaker is using a lot of sci-fi elements to bring back the character which goes against the more grounded approach this series has been known for. I am hopeful that Brubaker can recover with issue and turn in a quality read.

Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil #1 – Originally I was only going to get the Spider-Man and Wolverine issue of Dark Reign: The List but after Daredevil #500 I decided to give this one-shot a try as it suppose to serve as a continuation of Matt being the leader of The Hand. I'm interest to learn what Andy Diggle has in store for Daredevil with the new status quo for the character Brubaker has left him.

Invincible Iron Man #18 – The last issue of Invincible Iron Man was very disappointing. As an Iron Man fan I am still optimistic that Fraction can turn in a good end to this arc. Hopefully we see these final two parts turns up the action as these past few issues have been lacking any sort of action.

Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #1 – Warren Ellis + Iron Man = More money for Marvel from me. Ellis is always money when it comes to writing Iron Man. And I have enjoyed most of Ellis work so I sure to love this mini-series involving Ultimate Iron Man.

DVD/Blu-rays
Dragon Ball: Season One – While this anime has sort of become a joke within anime fans, specifically DBZ and DBGT, I will admit that Dragon Ball is the series that introduced me to the world of anime and manga. While I did not like the later parts of DBZ I really enjoyed the original Dragon Ball were we followed a young Goku around in his search, along with Bulma and others, for the Dragon Balls. While I would like to get this box set right away I will probably wait a while till I get some more money to buy it. Still if you are a Dragon Ball fan this is a DVD you should pick up.

The Big Bang Theory: Season Two – The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite shows on TV. This is just an awesome TV show. If you haven't given it a try then do yourselves a favor and pick this show up as it is hilarious nerd comedy.

X-Men: Volume 3 and 4 – While Spider-Man and Batman were the first comic book characters I was exposed to it is the X-Men that started my fanaticism with comics and made me go to the comic shop every week. And the reason for that is the 90s cartoon of the X-Men. For me this was my favorite cartoon as a kid because it had so many interesting characters that I could relate to. This series captured everything that was great about the X-Men and made me want to hunt down every issue of the X-Men, along with Spider-Man and Batman comics, that I could find as I wanted to learn more about these characters. These two DVDs are a must for any fan of this series and the X-Men in general. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching the "Dark Phoenix Saga" again as it was one of my favorite episodes of the series.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – This first movie of Wolverine was a good action summer blockbuster. But nothing more. For the most part this movie while centered around Wolverine was mostly used as a catalyst to start a bunch of X-Men related movies. Will probably get it since I already have the first three X-Men movies. Damn me and my completist nature.

Movies
The Informant – I've always like Matt Damon's movie and this new movie looks like it could be a good one. It should be interesting to see Matt Damon in a comedy role as he has done a lot more series action roles than comedic ones.

Video Games
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – I enjoyed the first Ultimate Alliance game. I am unsure about this second one though. It looks like it could be a fun game with all the Fusion abilities to play around with but I will probably rent it before buying it just to see how it is.

Legen-wait-for it-dary Comic Book Highlights of the Week 9/2/09

Cover of the Week: Deadpool #17

Nothing is better to finish of a day of killing some people than going to a bar and drink. Just another day of being Deadpool.

Batman #690 Highlights

After analyzing the latest addition to the Batman rogue gallery, a guy who I think goes by The Marine, the new Batman (Dick Grayson) is able to take him down relatively easily.

Sort of reminds me of when you are in the room filled with the psychos in Arkham Asylum.

Alfred is not going to happy about this after spending so much time making sure the giant penny was neat and clean.

So the four Batman from the Battle for the Cowl poster appears and obviously is Two-Face in a demonic looking Batman costume. Looking forward to seeing another Batman/Dick Grayson vs Two-Face fight.

Invincible Iron Man #17 Highlights

With almost all of his intelligence gone I guess Tony forgot that he could use spell check before sending out his e-mail.

Can Ms. Hand look even more uniterested in the news the HAMMER agent gave her?

Has the hero of the story finally appeared in the form of Captain America?

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2 Highlights

This is one crazy dream by our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Always love the interactions between MJ and Kitty. I still say Peter should be with Kitty instead of Gwen.

Unlike his last attempt in creating a new villain in the Ultimate Universe, Gendolf, I think this time around these two, calling themselves Bombshell, is going to stick around.

Something about a foul-mouthed little girl, who is a villain along with her mother, just works. Don't ask me how. It just does.

Previewing this Week’s Releases: 8/31/09 – 9/6/09

I would like to say that my lack of post this week is because I spent my whole weekend studying for my class but in all honesty I have become addicted to playing Dissidia Final Fantasy. Games like Dissidia is the reason why I try not to play to much as I become addicted to video games and obsessed with passing them. Good thing is I am almost done with the game and I should go back to normal and do regular post this week. Enough of me giving excuses, time to preview this week's releases.

Comics
Invincible Iron Man #17 – So far "World's Most Wanted" has been a mixed bag with the storyline going back and for between good and bad issues. With only two issues left in this arc before starting the "Tony Stark Disassembled" arc I am hoping that Fraction can deliver a good ending to this story arc.

Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of OZ Hardcover – I got to give Marvel a lot of credit as their adaptions of books have been great does far and Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz id no exception. While I have all the issues for this mini-series I have to recommend this to everyone to pick up this hardcover. This was a spectacular mini-series by Eric Shanowner and Skottie Young. If you aren't interested in OZ I have to say that Young's artwork alone is phenomenal. I look forward to The Wonderful Land of Oz in November.

Spider-Man: Sinister Six Premier Hardcover – I enjoyed this Sinister Six storyline from Amazing Spider-Man #334-339 and it was one of the first comic book stories I read as a kid. While I will probably wait a couple weeks to get this hardcover this is definitely one of my favorite Spider-Man stories.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2 – I loved the first issue of the relaunch to one of my favorite series in the past decade in USM. Though I don't like the whole Peter/Gwen hook-up Bendis has built up my trust with the great work with this series. Also I loved LaFuentes artwork as it gives this title a new distinct look.

Manga
Bleach Volume #28 – This is one of my favorite current mangas and I have been enjoying this Arrancar arc as it has been much better than the Soul Society. What is interesting to note about this series is that the anime has caught up to where the manga is now here in the US. It will be interesting to see if Viz starts releasing more of the manga volumes at greater speeds like they have done with Naruto. Still, I am interested to seeing how Tite Kudo continues this great Arrancar arc with our heroes in Hueco Mundo, the world of the Hollows.

Video Games
Soul Caliber: Broken Destiny – Soul Caliber is one of my favorite fighting games and this PSP release is great as it adds a game to my thin PSP Game collection. And while I can say how great this game will be and my love for the characters there is really only one reason why this is a must buy for my PSP: Kratos. The God of War, along with the sequel, is one of my favorite video games and God of War III is one of my most anticipated video games for next year. I want to see how Kratos matches up with the Soul Caliber characters.