Saga #3

First up in my stack was Saga #3 from Image Comics, written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y the Last Man, Ex Machina) and drawn by Fiona Staples (North 40). Saga is Vaughan’s newest epic which follows the tale of two humanoid aliens and their newborn in the middle of a war. It’s a story about survival and life during a time where life is fleeting and survival is short-lived, at times. In this issue, we find our main characters, Alana and Marko, facing the spirits of a forest who are known killers, while the manhunt for them continues by robot overlords (of sorts)! There is so much to gain from this series in all of the three issues so far that I can not do it justice in a paragraph. What I can tell you is that next time you’re at the comic shop and you see this book on the stand, at least flip through it. Read it a little. It may be in that moment that you decide to buy it and that, I can assure you, you will not regret.

Next up is Manhattan Projects #3, also from Image Comics, written by Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four, Ultimates, Transhuman) and drawn by Nick Pitarra (A Red Mass for Mars). In this series, we follow the development of the Manhattan Project, the organization that developed the atomic bomb for the United States during World War 2. The series follows historically based characters, such as Robert Oppenheimer (or is he?), Albert Einstein, Werner Von Braun, and the world’s first artificial intelligence with the spirit of a recently (at the time) departed president. The series poses the scenario in which the Manhattan projects were developed for the benefit of humanity and to usher in the future, but (to quote the pitch), “what if everything… went wrong?” If you like history or you’re digging the heck out of Hickman’s Fantastic Four/FF, I can absolutely recommend this title! It is easily among my top books every month!

Last up is Conan the Barbarian #4 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Brian Wood (DMZ, Northlanders) and drawn by James Harren (BPRD). The current series of Conan focuses on Robert E. Howard’s Queen of the Black Coast, and Conan is spending time with the pirate queen Belit. In this issue, Conan, Belit, and her second-in-command create a plan to rob a rich port city blind. The problem is that the first part of the plan is turning Conan in to the police! Is this a trick, a trap, or part of the plan? Brian Wood’s Conan is a pleasure to read and this issue, which happens to be a great jumping-on point is no different! If you like action, swords, barbarians, and occasional sorcery, you’ll love this book!

I’d also like to give some shout-outs to Glory (Image), Thief of Thieves (Image), BPRD (Dark Horse), and  Scalped (DC/Vertigo), which were absolutely amazing this week! Feel free to leave comments/questions!

Green Lantern #9, that’s who! So this month’s issue has us learning a lot more about the origin of the Indigo tribe and a little bit about Sinestro too, with a crazy twist ending that leaves you looking forward to next month’s issue. We find out Abin Sur was the Indigo Tribe’s founder and the members are all ex-villains forced to feel remorse for their crimes. Sinestro goes through the conversion process and gets to see how his actions hurt people he loved, and is then taken prisoner. The tribe tell Hal he can leave but being the hero he is refuses to leave without Sinestro, of course a fight happens and Hal retreats to the “Forbidden Forest” where we get some foreshadowing of things to come. Overall I say buy this issue and you won’t regret it, the Green Lantern storyline is really starting to pick up and it’s getting pretty interesting.

THE WALKING DEAD #97 kicks off the “Something To Fear” story line which will be taking us up to the 100th issue.  The last storyline gave us a brief glimpse at another community and this is looking good for Rick and his group.  Rick’s group has some serious muscle.  The Hilltop has a lot of supplies that Rick’s group needs.  WE saw Hilltop has a problem with some guy called Negan who has a group of his own.  Seems he’s been extorting goods from Hilltop.  Rick’s volunteered his groups’s aid in dealing with Negan in exchange for supplies.  That’s pretty much enough to give us a good idea as to where this current storyline is going.  This issue gives us a little look at some of Negan’s crew.  Nothing terribly impressive.  They come off as sort of culties, referring to Negan as if he was some sort of spiritual leader.  However, its looking like this is the tip of the iceberg.  We also get some big news about Glenn and Maggie which kinda has me worried about them.  it seems when things start going really well for some characters that the bottom is going to drop out from under them at any moment.  We’re at another point in which the group is a well oiled machine and for the most part have a handle of things.  this is pretty much the cue for Kirkman to lay waste to the cast with something horrible.


MORNING GLORIES #18 bounces us back to the events concerning the Woodrun.  This book is crazy, and I mean that in a near schizophrenia type of way.  Its been tough to pin down some of these characters, and there’s been a lot of weird stuff going on.  This time around we’re focused on Jun or Hisao or whichever his real name is.  We get some back story to him.  We get the “not that there’s anything wrong with that” reveal about him.  More importantly, we get a bit of a look at the playing field.  We know Morning Glory Academy is up to something weird and horrible.  We know there’s an organized resistance against them.  There’re buckets of straight weird all over the place.  We know know that there’s some kind of plan against the Academy, but we’re light on the details.  The reveal about Jun isn’t really “graphic”, but its pretty in your face, and I’m wondering how the fans of the book are going to react to this.  Personally, I’ve liked the character since I started reading the book, and this doesn’t bother me.  I do imagine there’s going to be camps on bother sides of this, but i doubt its going to be a big deal.  This comic still flies under the radar even though its is very good.

Which I’m glad they clarified in the title because I might have gone in expecting more adventures with Peel and Steed.  But no, this is indeed Marvel’s big guns gathered together for the movie fans have been waiting for.  Now, at this current time, we are at a point in which we have multiple comic book based movies coming out in theaters every year.  This was absolutely not the case for me growing up, so unlike in my youth I’m not as forgiving of them.  I used to feel a definite need to defend comic book movies even if they weren’t very good, because I feared they’d become fewer and further between.  Now, they’re a hot property, and they don’t seem to be slowing down, so I have no qualms about calling out a movie’s flaws, even if the majority of comic book fans loved the films.  Its refreshing to be able to be completely honest about a movie and reviewing it based on its merits, and those alone.


So I can be completely honest in my opinion of this movie.  Let’s face it: this is an unprecedented move by a any studio.  They’ve released separate films introducing these characters to movie going audiences.  They made these movies with big budgets, and very talented actors, writers, and directors, not sparing anything in terms of quality if they could help it.  Multiple individual franchises have been launched, and the intent has been there since they really started rolling with this to eventually make the movie that was released here in the States this weekend.  Expectations from fans were through the roof.  Joss Whedon was signed on as writer/director.  Expectations rose higher.  It was to the point that there did not seem to be any way that the fans’ expectations could be met.  I had to make a conscious effort to go into this movie and try to leave my personal expectations for what I’d want this movie to be in the lobby and try to form an honest opinion of the work.


So, with that out there I can say completely honestly, and checking my nerded up expectations at the door: this was one damn fine piece of work.


Let’s start this out with the writing and directing from Whedon.  What he did that was really amazing here is take these characters from their separate franchises and place them in one film and still had them ring completely true to how they were depicted in their separate films.  This didn’t feel like Whedon’s take on these characters.  It felt like the separate writers all had gotten together to handle their particular characters.  At the same time, Whedon managed to have these character playing of of each other beautifully.  It was as if he had had a hand in everything from the beginning of Marvel’s big movie push.


This is a long movie at two and a half hours long.  It didn’t feel like it because of the excellent pacing.  Its kinetic, without being rushed.  The quiet moments are still packed with juicy, fun conversations that really give you a good feel for these individuals.  Certainly you have to have suspension of disbelief when in this genre, but that’s not taken for granted here, as Whedon keeps the story on track.  Its fairly straight forward. Loki is back and he’s ticked over what happened in the THOR movie and he’s got a plan for some big time revenge and looking to take Earth in the bargain.  There’s not a lot of twists, but that’s fine because the speed this roller coaster moves at, any hairpin turn in things could easily send it right off the rails.


On to the performances, and here’s where this movie shines.  Everyone brought their “A” game to this.  There’s been a lot of buzz about Mark Ruffalo coming into to playing Bruce Banner.  Initially there was some dismay from fans who were miffed about having a different actor for the role when every other role was being reprised by the actors from the separate movies.  This has shifted to glowing praise of Ruffalo in his work in this role, and that praise is completely justified.  He was remarkable, especially in his scenes with Robert Downey Junior.  Downey delivered the Tony Stark that the fans love with style, wit, and panache.  Chris Evans was a really fun Captain America.  Chris Hemsworth gave us the Thor we know and love, albeit with a bit less humor than in his movie.  That’s easily forgiven considering the circumstances of the story.  I didn’t get quite enough Jeremy Renner.  It seemed like Hawkeye got the short end of the arrow this go around, although he did have some really cool moments.  Scarlett Johansson was amazing in this.  Whedon shines at writing strong women, and his Black Widow is no exception.  Some fans have sort of rolled their eyes at her inclusion in this with a “What’s she gonna do?  Flash her boobs at the bad guys?” attitude.  To say she holds her own in this is an understatement.  Samuel Jackson’s portrayal of Nick Fury is slick and stylish with enough gravity to it to really anchor the film.  We can’t forget Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  He’s gotten a lot of praise for his performance, and its well earned.  This is a very nuanced character, and and it shows down to every little facial expression.


Big props to Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.  He’s been around since the first Ironman movie, and is really great here.  He may not have had the flashiest moments in the marvel movies, but he’s always kept things very grounded, and I’ve found myself really liking the character even though he’s been a bit antagonistic in previous films.  He had all these great little moments in this, and it was really made things fun.


Overall, this movie gave me everything I could have asked for.  It got me engaged in the story.  There were parts that totally cracked me up.  There were parts that made me grin like a child that has been thoroughly indulged.  The movie had a definite purpose and didn’t fall into the trap of having unneeded and distracting sub-plots.   The action was incredibly over the top and was still easily followed.  You could see and appreciate every impossibly blow in these battles.  The fast clip editing that is completely annoying in many fight scenes is used very sparingly, and when it comes to the big hits, the camera hides nothing.


I’d pay full price to see it again.


Also, make sure you stay through the credits for some fun little Easter eggs, and a hint as to where a possible and probably sequel will be heading.

THE SKYROCKET #4 hit the stands a bit unexpectedly.  Was not expecting it, but I’m glad that Mike Federali and Os Petroli got this baby on out.  Samantha Robbins AKA The Skyrocket starts out a new adventure when Agent Evans needs her assistance in a hostage situation involving hi-tech crooks.  Pretty straight forward stuff, but a very pleasant ride.  We get fun villains for Sam to fight.  We also get a bit of a twist at the end.

The writing is good.  Federali shines in the little moments, like the early seen with Sam in her lab.  He does a good job of making Sam likable and engaging without falling into the trap of having a female lead who is just an over-developed bosom in spandex.  Petroli plays off of this and does a great job of making her attractive without resorting to cheap cheesecake shots.  

This book continues to improve.  Its paced well.  The art continues to get cleaner.  I do like that we see Evans in the field wearing tactical gear as opposed to his suit.  There are a few things that didn’t really work for me, like the Sam/Mari throwdown, but that’s mainly me coming from a fight background and I’m too much of a stickler sometimes as far as fight scenes.  These are only small misgivings, and even with them, I’m still really enjoying the comic and am definitely on board waiting for issue #5.