Book of the Week 9/26/07 X-men # 203

Written by Mike Carey
Pencils by Humberto Ramos
Inks by Carlos Cuevas
Coloring by Edgar Delgado
Lettering by Cory Petit


I haven't been a huge fan of Mike Carey's run on X-men, in fact I haven't really liked it at all but ever since X-men #200, Carey has been on a great stride. In this issue we're still dealing with the aftermath of issue #200 and the return of the marauders and Mystique's betrayal and while there is a lot of stuff going on, Carey has a firm grip on these characters and the separate story lines of the issue so the issue flows really well. (This only applies to current and probably long time X-men fans. This is not a jump on point by any means.)

Humberto Ramos is always a little hit and miss with me but i really like what he's doing here on X-men. It seems like he's toned his art down a little over the years so that it's not quite as dynamic and childish. I've always loved his character designs and I think he's a great fit for X-men right now.

The main reason that I had to pick this as the book of the week is because a lot of stuff went down in this issue. Sinister finally showed his head and took down Cannonball and Iceman in a single blow. There was some great developments with Blindfold, the precog new x-man and it seems that something big is looming over the horizon and Mr. Carey has me really excited about the next couple of issues.

Book of the Week 9/19/2007 Tale of the Sinestro Corps - Parallax #1

Written by Ron Marz
Pencils by Adriana Melo
Inks by Marlo Alquiza
Letters by Jared Fletcher

I was really trying to avoid picking a green lantern book again but damn this was good! Stepping back from the intense action that the Sinestro Corps has been giving us, this special explores the characters of Parallax and Kyle Rayner. Who better to write this story than Mr. Marz, the man who gave us both. The issue is basically an internal exchange between Kyle and Parallax. Kyles past is explored and we're given insight into the events that allowed him to become infected by Parallax. This works as a good recap of events that occurred in the Ion miniseries for those who missed it. Parallax taunts Kyle much like the Emperor taunting Luke in Jedi. Also, Marz provided a great fanboy moment for Kyle fans as Kyle actually suits up in his original suite to fight Parallax. I cheered!

Alquiza's art is decent for the story but the true gem is Marz's writing. When I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Marz earlier this year, I asked him how he felt about Kyle's place in the DCU now that Hal Jordan was back. He said that even with Hal in the spotlight, Kyle would have a place. I'm happy to know his story isn't over.

Podcast postponed

With one of the fanboys on the move and still in need of securing an internet connection, unfortunately the podcast will postponed for awhile. We will be back soon with some new movie reviews and top 5 lists we think you will enjoy. The site will continually be updated so keep checking it out and keep an eye on the forums. We'll be back soon.

Book of the Week 9/12/07 The Search for Ray Palmer #1

Written by Ron Marz
Pencilled by Angel Unzueta

WOW! This one surprised even me folks! With such a big week in comics, alot went down. With all the bad taste in my mouth from recent the Countdown disasters I thought long and hard about even picking up this book. However, I am a fanboy and three of my all time favorite characters are on a team together. Not only that but this book is written by the legendary Ron Marz! Okay, we'll try it out.

I am now firmly convinced that the train went off the rails somewhere in Countdown. Too much is TRYING to happen and no story is completely focused on. Even the considerable talent behind the writing of the book are just not getting enough room to explore. I guess that's part of why this off-shoot book worked so well. We finally got to have a good chunk of story told, we got progression, we got characters added to the team, and my favorite, we were delivered great interactions.

Ron knows Kyle hands down. Nobody with the exception of Judd Winnick writes Kyle Rayner as well so it was great to see Kyle back up to full potential (even if he is suffering from a slight case of Parallax in GL still). Donna is a character that is fairly easy to get but Marz still does a good job of having her deal with being the single female in the "boys club". It's also occurred to me that no one really knows how to write Jason Todd. I think this stems from the fact that he was dead so long that everyone just remembered him from the times he acted up as the "bad" Robin and his character was never able to develop beyond that. Fast forward 20 years and he's suddenly in his early twenties with a bad reputation. The bad boy image snowballed so far over the years that writers just seem to play Jason as an asshole because he's typecast that way. Nobody really takes the effort to make him anything else. That being said, Marz writes Jason as a bit of a tough guy jerk but not a sociopathic ass but also makes him competent (something Countdown has failed miserably to do). Maybe that Lazerus effect is wearing off (God, I hope). Anyways, the competition between Kyle and Jason over Donna was fantastic and made me laugh out loud several times. This character interaction is why I picked the book. You could take them out of the multiverse, put them in regular clothing and its still two completely different guys arguing over a girl and that's always entertaining to watch.

I'm not too familiar with the Wildstorm universe but I enjoyed the brief tour. As I'm against the idea of the multiverse, I think this SEARCH book will be a good tour through it to get our bearings. Honorable mentions also go out to Ultimate Spidey, Black Adam, Green Lantern, and the JLA Wedding Special. In the end it was great to see my characters treated with an ounce of respect again.

Official Iron Man trailer now online.

The first Iron Man trailer was finally put up online today. It's a smaller clip of the trailer shown at Comic-con but it still looks amazing. Robert Downey Jr. is now Tony Stark as far as I am concerned and I was wondering about the special effects but they look amazing.

May 2nd, 2008 cannot come soon enough.


Check out the trailer here

Death of Superman DVD

This September, the animated Death of Superman DVD is being released. It's the first of DCs animated projects which include the New Frontier and the Judas Contract. Check out the trailer!

Book of the Week 9/6/07 Daredevil: Battlin' Jack Murdock #4(of 4)

Written by Zeb Wells
Art by Carmine Di Giandomenico
Letters by Artmonkeys Studio


I've actually been reading this mini since it came out but I never mentioned it on the podcast because I felt like I had to read it all the way through to see if it would be a hit or miss.


This story was a hit.



Battlin' Jack Murdock is a re-telling of Daredevil's origin but through the view of his father. Matt Murdock got his powers when he was in an accident but he didn't become a hero until his father's death. Anyone who knows of Daredevil's origin know that his father is killed because he refuses to throw a fight and that's what is depicted in this story. Each issue takes place during that said fight and we get flashbacks into the life of Jack Murdock and how that leads to fight's end as we have known it.


The reason why I was so impressed with this book is because Wells and Di Giandomenico really point out that Jack Murdock is a normal guy. He's a drunk, he has a temper, and he can be a horrible father. But you also see this man fight against his demons and fight for his son. I really came away from this story feeling like I knew who Jack Murdock was and I truly believe that he loved his son.


It took me four issues to decide but go back and buy this book. If you're a Daredevil fan you'll love it, and if you're not, you'll love it too. The writing is solid, the art is beautiful and there's more heart in this story than I've seen in comics in a while, maybe ever.


Good fight Jack.

Weekly Review Podcast Episode 13- Teen Titans #50

It was a pretty light week of comics and Avengers:The initiative #5 and Teen Titans #50 fought for the top spot of book of the week and the Titans won. We also discuss the origin of Ra's Al Ghul in the Batman annual #26 and more. And we finish off with our top 5 animated series.



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