Legen--wait for it--dary Comic Book Highlights for 5/13/09

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern Corps #36

I like how there is no empty space on this cover for GLC #36. It gives a nice preview to the hectic war going on in Oa.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2 Highlights

So this is basically how we are suppose to see H.A.M.M.E.R as. If this keeps up it looks like Norman's reign over the Marvel Universe will meet a quick end.

I continue to love how Bullseye continues to get under Norman's skin. And it will be nice to see the usual homicidal maniac I expect Bullseye to be.

Green Lantern Corps #36 Highlights

Emerald Eclipse in essence is the sequel to Sinestro Corps War. It is great that at least GLC knows how to integrate the other Lantern Corps while continuing the war between the Green and Sinestro Corps.

With Sodam turning the Daxam sun yellow I wonder if we will see a war between Daxam and New Krypton in 2010.

Oracle: The Cure #3 Highlights

This was a nice little cyber battle between Oracle and the Calculator, though it was a bit of a one-sided battle.

Ultimate Spider-Man #132 Highlights

Who doesn't love a good chick fight! The best part was when Kitty says she loves Peter as much as MJ while her current boyfriend, Kong's looks on. When USM is relaunched as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man I would like to see more stuff with MJ and Kitty.

With Venom involved later on this was a nice battle between Spider-Man and the Sinister Six and I hope that we get a Sinister Six II storyline when this title is relaunched.

I was impressed with how Immonen was able to capture the Ditko Peter Parker. And I like the creepy look to the zombie Uncle Ben at the end of this page.

Man I will be super pissed if Loeb kills Ultimate Peter Parker. It would only give me another reason to hate Loeb's work in an ever growing list of things I hate about his work.

War of Kings: Ascension #2 Highlights

The Annihilus baby back and it should be an interesting plot point after War of Kings is over for Nova or Guardians of the Galaxy to pick up on.

It should be interesting to see how DnA will mix Blastaar into the main War of Kings book and if his escape from prison 42 will mean that some of the other Marvel heroes on Earth will get involved in War of Kings.

Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 5/13/09

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2

Creative Team
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru eFX

Story - Hawkeye Part 2 of 5

Review
Diggle continues to impress with how well he understands the homicidal maniac that Bullseye really is. I love seeing how Bullseye, as Hawkeye, took out the camera crew at the beginning of the issue and then pinned down to helicopter pilot with one of his arrows and then placing an explosive arrow right out the pilot to give him a chance to live. It was a very sick act I expect from Bullseye. And I also continue to enjoy how Bullseye continues to find ways to get under Norman's skin by the actions he does as Hawkeye.

Now as I said before I have mostly stayed away from most of the Dark Reign books but just from the few Dark Reign books I have read I have not seen H.A.M.M.E.R portrayed the way they were in this issue. Norman and his H.A.M.M.E.R organization were portrayed as plain terrorist in this issue with what they did to the workers at the TV station. This portrayal doesn't really fall in line with how H.A.M.M.E.R has been portrayed in the past and with more actions like this it may be just time before Norman is new power.

Also I continue to dislike that it is only Ben Ulrich that is calling Norman's rise to power in question. It has been one of the more unrealistic things that almost no one has questioned the amount of power Norman currently has and it is another that hurts this issue as we are reminded of this in the middle of the issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 7/10 - Though Diggle writes a great Bullseye I found his portrayal of H.A.M.M.E.R and the reminder of the non-questioning of Norman's actions to hurt this issue.
Art: 7.7/10 - Raney's art continues to look great but I still would have preferred someone like Aja or Lark to draw this book that should have a darker feel to it.
Overall: 7.35/10 - Dark Reign: Hawkeye #2 had an entertaining beginning and ending but a lot of what happened in the middle of the issue hurt how good this issue should have been.

Oracle: The Cure #3

Creative Team
Writer: Kevin Vanhook
Artists: Julian Lopez & Fernando Pasrin
Inkers: Bit, Norm Rapmund, & Fernando Pasarin
Colorist: HI-FI

Story - A Matter of Anti-Life or Death

Review
All I can say about this series is that I guess I should have learned already what I get when I get my hopes up. Oracle: The Cure had some potential to show why Barbara could carry a book on her own but in the end this series proved to be little better than what you would read in a fanfiction. Other than Morrison it just seems that any writer trying to pick up some of the plot points from Final Crisis are just doomed to failure. And Vanhook made the search for the left over Anti-Life Equation on the Internet very uninteresting. It doesn't help that I could have cared less about a battle between Barbara and the Calculator as we have seen it in the past before and in a much more interesting story. I kind of wish Vanhook would have used another villain for his story than the Calculator as the story did not feel very fresh.

Issue Rating
Story: 4.5/10 - Vanhook was very unimpressive with his writing as it felt I was reading dialogue from a fanfiction.
Art: 6/10 - Lopez art was good though this issue have a lot more inconsistencies that hurt the look of this issue.
Overall: 5.75/10 - Overall Oracle: The Cure was a very disappointing mini-series and I have no idea how this ties in with what DC has in story for Barbara and the new Batgirl book in the future though I could care less.

Ultimate Spider-Man #132

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Story - Ultimatum Tie-in

Review
If there wasn't more of a reason to hate Loeb and his Ultimatum event but for the first time that I can remember in its almost 10 year run Ultimate Spider-Man actually wasn't released last month. And if that wasn't bad enough it seems that Ultimatum has finally affect the quality that we get in Ultimate Spider-Man. Even Bendis and Immonen best can't help make Ultimatum a better event. Still the team of Bendis and Immonen due their best with what little they have to work with and still continue to make the Ultimate Spider-Man tie-ins to Ultimatum much more compelling that the event itself.

Again as always the strength Ultimate Spider-Man #132 is the stuff that goes on in Peter and supporting cast lives. The short fight MJ and Kitty get into, MJ actually punches Kitty, was great. The best part was right when Kitty says she loves Peter as much as MJ and just stopping before saying Peter's name was made even more awkward as Kong, Kitty's current boyfriend, was there as well with a shocked face. Bendis does a great job with this scene as his dialogue is perfect and it will be interesting to see if Kitty and/or Spider-Woman will be able to reach Peter before what looks to be his final moments if we are suppose to believe what Loeb has been saying.

Also while Bendis went a bit to long with the stuff going it was still much more enjoyable than the senseless fighting over in Ultimatum. And I got to give it up Immonen as his artwork continues to grow on me and he kicks some butt with his artwork in this issue. Also I liked the little call back to the Nightmare plotline from issue #70 and #71. It was cool to see how he brought Spider-Man's worst enemies to life and used all the people Hulk killed against him in order to mess with both heroes mentally.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.8/10 - Bendis does the best to give this Ultimatum tie-in much more depth than the event itself though their is little he can do to stretch out the very thin story of Ultimatum.
Art: 8/10 - Immonen does a great job in this issue and his splash pages were awesome.
Overall: 7.9/10 - Overall this was a good issue of Ultimate Spider-Man but still not close to some of the better issue of this series. Still an average issue of Ultimate Spider-Man is better than most of the other titles on the market.

War of Kings: Ascension #2

Creative Team
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Wellinton Alves
Inkers: Scott Hanna & Nelson Pereira
Colorist: Guru eFX

Story - Null and Void

Review
Though the last issue showed some promise with the Fraternity of Raptors showing themselves to be villains this issue suffered from focusing on giving the reader insight into Christopher Powell, better known as Darkhawk. I found the stuff dealing with Chris to be a very boring character study and would have preferred to see more of a focus on Talon and the Fraternity of Raptors.Still I am enjoying how DnA are building the Fraternity of Raptors into the antithesis of the Nova Corps and hope that after War of Kings is over that DnA build up a war between the Nova Corps, what's left of the Nova Corps after War of Kings, and the Fraternity of Raptors as it would be awesome to see and give Nova a Sinestro Corps War type event. Also I will be interested to see how DnA tie-in the ending of this issue into War of Kings.

Again the star of this mini-series continues to be Wellinton Alves great artwork. I love how Alves capture all of the cosmic stuff. I hope that Alves gets a more splash pages of action to draw in the last two issues as he wasn't really given any in this issue.

Issue Rating
Story: 5.3/10 - DnA do an good job when the issue did not focus on Chris. To bad most of the issue did focus on him instead of Talon and the Fraternity of Raptors.
Art: 8.4/10 - Alves does a great job with all the cosmic stuff and I would love to seem him back on Nova or tackle an Iron Man book.
Overall: 6.85/10 - This was an average issue and this mini-series still has potential to be a good one. Though I wonder how the ending of this issue will tie-in to the main series.

Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 5/6/09

Amazing Spider-Man #593

Creative Team

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Mike McKone
Inker: Andy Lanning
Colorist: Jeremy Cox

Story - 24/7: Part Two

Review

After finally scrubbing my mind enough to forget what happened in the last issue due to the moment that will not be spoken about the second part of the "24/7" arc comes out and this was a much more entertaining issue. It is fun to see how Spider-Man continues to find ways to annoy New York City's new mayor. Mike McKone did a nice job giving this issue a lot of energy especially with the fight scenes between Spider-Man and the Spider-Man SWAT team and the battle between Spider-Man and the new Vulture.

Speaking of the new Vulture I really dig the viciousness behind this new Vulture. It was an interesting addition that the new Vulture spits out lava like acid from his mouth. It helps to make the new version of an old Spider-Man foe feel fresh. The only complaint I had was with the costume of the new Vulture. I thought that his pure red Vulture armor was a bit dull. I would have liked it if Waid and McKone would have done more with the design of the new character.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.2/10 - Waid continues to be at home with Spider-Man and his supporting cast. I especially love how grumpy he makes JJJ act during the issue.
Art: 8.5/10 - McKone provides some solid artwork and his style is a nice fit for Amazing Spider-Man.
Overall: 8.35/10 - 24/7 is nice arc that takes a break from some of the major things that have happened to Peter's life in the past few story arcs and I am looking forward to seeing how the battle between Spider-Man and the new Vulture turns out.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl - The Network

Creative Team
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Don Kramer & J. Calafidre
Inker: Mark McKenna

Story - The Network

Review
Overall Battle for the Cowl has been an average event that has equated to a typical summer blockbuster. But I got to I was surprised and Nicieza and Kramer's "The Network" tie-in one shot. This was a very entertaining one-shot that focused mostly on The Birds of Prey. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Batgirl and Huntress in this book. While I don't recall many stories that both these characters have been able to interact with one another but they really acted like bickering sisters. With the new Batgirl series launching once Battle for the Cowl is over I hope that they interact more in the future in Batgirl or some other title as they shared a fun dynamic in this issue.

Another that I liked about this one shot is that unlike in Battle for the Cowl were what is happening to Gotham City is more of a backdrop for the fighting going on for the Batman mantle between Dick, Tim, and Jason I that Nicieza is addressing that everything has gone to hell in Gotham City by showing how all the heroes of Gotham have been spread thin. Nicieza did a nice job showing that Gotham's heroes must continue to work round the clock to save Gotham. Once all the heroes beat and arrest one set of villains and/or gangs their help is needed somewhere else. This is an element that has been missing from the main series and I glad that it was at least addressed in this one shot.

Issue Rating
Story: 7.8/10 - Nicieza does a nice job handling The Birds of Prey characters and I especially liked how he portrayed Batgirl and Huntress like bickering sisters.
Art: 8/10 - As always Kramer delivers some solid artwork and I hope that he gets a chance to draw one of the Bat-titles in the future.
Overall: 7.9/10 - The Network was a nice one-shot that does a better job showing what has happened to Gotham City without Batman than the main series.

Legen--wait for it---dary Comic Book Highlight for 4/15/09

While this is an old video I still think this is video by Monty Oum called "Haloid," a battle between Master Chief and Samus, is pretty bad ass and for those who have yet to see it you should check it out here and if you have seen it it is worth watching again It is epic:

Cover of the Week: Green Lantern Corps 35

Great cover with Sinestro with wings constructed by his ring. To bad that it was Sodam that used these energy wings instead of Sinestro.

Amazing Spider-Man 591 Highlights

Well that is one way to make sure no one learns your identity.

Talk about having a hot hand. (Lame, I know but I couldn't resist)

Officially this happens before his New Avengers reveal though I hope this does not become a trend for this next year. The only other hero that should (re)learn Peter's identity is Daredevil.

See what happens when you miss out on two months of your life. You miss out on voting.

Captain America 49 Highlights

Sharon sure has some crazy ass nightmares.

'Bad Cap,' simple but I like it.

The common theory going around is the man shown in the timestream is Steve Rogers. My guess is that it may actually be one of Red Skulls old bodies and that he actually planned on having his mind transferred to this new body.

Green Lantern Corps #35 Highlights

Green Lantern Corps continues the war between the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps. Throw in one Red Lantern and things sure get crazy in a hurry.
One of the coolest looking Corps members we have seen yet.
Talk about adding insult to injury.
Angel got nothing on Sodam as he rocks some pretty bad ass wings while kicking the Sinestro Corps assess.
The truth hurts does it.

Is Soranik Sinestro's daughter? Or is it someone else that we have yet to see. Whatever is the case things don't look good for this Green Lantern

Oracle: The Cure #2 Highlight

Entering the virtual world has never looked like this.

Legacy Shorts: Comic Book Reviews for 4/15/09

Captain America #49

Creative Team
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Luke Ross
Inker: Rick Magyar
Colorist: Frank D'Armata

Story - The Daughter of Time

Review
While I have been enjoying seeing Bucky strike out on his own and carry this book alone for the past six months I will say that Cap started to feel stagnant as Brubaker only focused on Bucky. Now this isn't a bad thing it since Brubaker has done a great job showing Bucky is a perfect Captain America and that his story of taking the role is just as interesting as when Steve was in the role, if not better. The reason Cap started feeling stagnant is that as a reader I want to know what has been going on with Sharon and Sam post-Death of Captain America arc. It is a testement to how well Brubaker has written all of the characters in this book that even supporting characters like Sharon and Sam have become just as interesting as the lead character. And finally after a six month absence we get Sharon and Sam return to Cap in this issue that starred Sharon, with Bucky not appearing at all in this issue.

With this opportunity we finally see what has happened to Sharon and to some extent Sam. While I did feel bad for Sharon with all the torture she had been through this issue really brings home just how much torture mentally she put in during her time with Dr. Faustus and the Red Skull. With Sharon remembering all that she has been through and the image of a man in the time rift Brubaker seems to be ready to start his next big chapter of a story that is as much about Captain America as it is the whole supporting cast.

Issue Rating
Story: 9.5/10 - There is no one that is able to develop characters like Ed Brubaker as he continues to shine with how he has been able to make the supporting cast of this book just as intriguing as the star.
Art: 8/10 - Luke Ross provided plenty of good art and is just what is expected from the art on Captain America.
Overall: 8.25/10 - With issue 50 and 600 hundred coming up the following two months Brubaker and his crew of artist look to continue the ball rolling in what continues to be the best comic book on the market.

Oracle: The Cure #2

Creative Team
Writer: Kevin Vanhook
Artist: Julian Lopez
Inker: Bit & Norm Rapmund
Colorist: HI-FI

Story - Big Trouble in Hong Kong

Review
I will hand it Lopez that he impressed me with his artwork as Vanhook gave him plenty of stuff to draw from the action scenes in Hong Kong and in the virtual world Lopez impressed me with his artwork. To bad I can't say the same about the story. Oracle is definitly one of my favorite DC character but for some reason I just don't like this story about her hunting down the last bits of the Anti-Life Equation. Also I kind of feel that DC missed their opportunity with the aftermath of Final Crisis since personally other than Batman dying and the artwork the event wasn't to memorable. Now I dug the virtual world that Oracle went into as it reminds me of the virtual world from the New Adventures of Johnny Quest. But I would much rather see Barbara try and put her life back in order and realize that maybe she has spent to much time in front of the computer and not enough time socializing with the outside world, outside of her superhero friends.

With how all the team books are in such a disaster mode right now I would like Barbara maybe take up an active role in a team like the JLA or her own team and maybe coming out of this mini-series she will do that. But for now this is just a disappointing mini.

Issue Rating
Story: 5.3/10 - Though Vanhook has a nice handle of Barbara's character the story that he has placed Barbara in is just not that appealing to me
Art: 8/10 - Lopez did an impressive job with the artwork. His art has definitly improved since his short stint in Titans.
Overall: 6.65/10 - This might have been a better mini if it was not picking up leftover storylines of Final Crisis and instead just focused on something else, but with one left I may pick up the last issue just to see how this story turns out.

Legen--wait for it---dary Comic Book Highlight for 3/25/09

Just found this awesome video I think everyone will like. Bruce Lee vs. Iron Man, nuff said:

Cover of the Week: Daredevil #117

This is yet another great cover by Marko Djurdjevic. Not only is it a great looking cover but tells all you need to know when you open the comic.

Amazing Spider-Man #589 Highlights

Maybe now The Spot will be taken more seriously.

Who hasn't tried to do the Christian Bale Batman voice?

This never gets old.

Batman's got nothing on Spider-Man.

Captain America #48 Highlights

See this is why you do not mess with Namor.

Hasn't Bucky learned yet: He should not keep anything from Black Widow because she will find out.

Daredevil #117 Highlights

The Kingpin is back and he is out for blood.

Master Izo is one serious badass. This is one old man you do not want as an enemy as some Hand ninja found out.

Who will survive this war between Kingpin, Daredevil and The Hand?

Guardians of the Galaxy #12 Highlights

Quasar gets his bands back.

This one seriously badass looking dragon.

I think this is a much better look for Phyla and should lead to a much more interesting place for her character.

Nova #23 Highlights

Even though this is only for the short term I think Richard as Quasar is a much better fit.

Oracle: The Cure #1 Highlights

Is it just me or does Barbara look more like a redhead Dinah?

See kids this is why your mom says you should not spend so much time on your computer.