Thursday, April 30, 2015

Blue Nexus #22 -- Magus Forest


             Kyle peered up at the Moon while water cascaded down upon him. It shone bright over him. There, on the Moon, rested a woman he loved as well as his own allies, though none of them knew what happened. He clenched a fist.
            “Hey, Blue Nexus!” shouted someone from below. “Hey, did you take care of the monsters?”
            Kyle continued to stare up at the Moon. The water stopped coming down on him and now small rivulets slithered down his cloak and face. A bead of water warped around his eye before moving down to his lips.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Age of Ultron #9-10 Review


Previously in "Age of Ultron": Wolverine and Sue Storm traveled back in time and rather than hold a conversation about morality or try to talk him out of it sympathetically, they murdered him in cold blood. The result was a timeline ruled by random villain Morgana Le Fey in which Tony Stark has grey skin, Colonel America exists, and there's no sign of Ultron so the story loses all semblance of having a point. And now, the end of this miniseries!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The Flash "The Trap" Review


Full episode spoilers follow

It seems like every week people are saying that the CW's The Flash has had its best episode yet. While I disagree with past weeks, this week I'll definitely agree. Tonight's episode was indeed the best episode of the show so far, beginning to end. Yeah there was a hiccup with Iris but what else is new? It's really just a bit of a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Arrow "The Fallen" Review


FULL EPISODE SPOILERS FOLLOW

So you can thank the final-season-arc trailer of The Flash for ruining this episode of Arrow. The whole point was wondering if Oliver was going to actually end up joining the League, but the Flash just went ahead and told us that he does. Now it'll be interesting to see how Oliver winds up on The Flash seeing as how Ra's has him on such a tight leash, but it's sad to see that mystery ruined. 

"Age of Ultron #7-8" Review


Previously in "Age of Ultron": Ultron took over the world because he's cool like that, but then got stupid and started bartering for heroes for reasons yet unknown and not at all important. To finish him off, Nick Fury took a ragtag group from the Savage Land to the future to fight Ultron in a desperate attempt to free the present from his grasp! And then Wolverine went back in time with Sue Storm and killed Hank Pym because they're dumb. What happens next? You do not want to find out! :-)

The Flash "Who is Harrison Wells?" Review


FULL EPISODE SPOILERS FOLLOW

It's rather difficult to critique this week's episode of the CW's The Flash because it was an episode filled with really dumb moments but also pretty humorous moments as well as some sweet cameos from Arrow. Normally an episode like this is "meh" at best but this week's seemed to surpass other villains of the week simply because it didn't try anything special outside of being entertaining filler and a growing bond between Thawne and Barry while Cisco and Joe had the brunt of the fun for this week.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Blue Nexus #21--Black Lagoon


            Kyle strummed his fingers on the metal table while Brenda sat motionless. She’d been like this for hours, but it felt like days. All the while, the only other noise permeated within the room were silently clicks and beeps that silently echoed around the hollow moon base of the Zanderia. Kyle bit his lip then latched off, then bit it again. Damn it.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

"Age of Ultron #5-6" Review


Previously on "Age of Ultron": Villains are heroes! Heroes are...useless! The only heroes doing anything were the ones with previously sketchy backstories. To try to make themselves useful our heroes went to the Savage Land...because the place with zero technology is gonna be a good fight against the all-technological enemy. Oh, and Ultron is from the future and has taken over Vision because...he's an overprotective parent? Onward, to bad comic books! 

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The Flash "All Star Team Up" Review


FULL EPISODE SPOILERS FOLLOW

After a week's hiatus the CW's The Flash returned bringing us a subtle crossover with Arrow. By subtle I mean it didn't feature any of the main, "seasoned" (apostrophes because Laurel) heroes and instead brought Felicity back and debuted Ray Palmer in a newer A.T.O.M. suit. Besides that, the growing conspiracies against Thawne mounted...and Iris was a total idiot this week. 

This episode covered the entire spectrum of the season: from really great to really stupid. It was rather incredible, really, how it covered so many different moments. It makes the episode difficult to judge. I know it's a good episode, and has many really funny and memorable moments, but is also has ridiculously stupid moments, too. 

Monday, April 13, 2015

"Attack on Titan: No Regrets" OVA Review



Mild spoilers for anime and manga follow.


After having aired its first half back in December, the latest Attack on Titan OVA premiered just last Thursday to complete the two part origin story of Captain Levi, showing us all the heartache he went through before coming to fully trust Commander Erwin Smith.

I've already taken a look at the manga, which you can check out here. In short, it was really awesome and you should check it out if you're either curious about Levi's backstory or just want to read an epic origin story for an epic character.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Top 10 Villains (Revised)


Over a year ago now (dang, son), I created a Top 10 Villains list, which you can read here, that counted down some of the biggest bads I'd seen, or read, in my life. Looking back, though, I noticed that there were a few people I didn't put on the list, for one reason or another, and having gone through another year, I've realized that there are several bad-guys that deserve to either added, moved up, or dropped from the list.

In the time since then, I've grown a lot as a person who understands a good hero and a good villain. But since this month we're focusing on one of the greatest villains of all time, I figured now would be an excellent opportunity to take a look at this revised list. There are some notable changes to last year's, but there are still a few candidates that have stayed where they are.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

"Age of Ultron #3-4" Review



Previously in Age of Ultron: All of our heroes except those who have had multiple issues in the past are doing nothing, Spider-Man got captured and was going to be traded to Ultron for a 1st Edition Blue Eyes White Dragon, and Captain America sat wondering if he remembered to DVR Turn before realizing he has a plan, maybe.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

"Cracked" Review


Whaaaaaat? A book review! I know, crazy, calm down, there'll be a comic review tomorrow to revert back to the status quo. This is just a result of me learning Power Rangers: Dino Charge is going on break FOR MONTHS. I go a little nuts. 

Cracked is written by Jake Burton, a young author. It's also his debut novel. So yay. It was (is?) published by Page Publishing, a company you've more than likely not heard of, because they go by a different name now and are relatively small, dealing more with smaller books or more technical books.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Blue Nexus #20--Sting


            “A date?” asked Luke.
            Kyle stepped up and onto the sidewalk, Luke walking right next to him. Kyle reached down and gripped the two straps of his backpack, holding them while his arms swayed at his side. Luke shouldered his backpack on his shoulder almost in response. Neither of them had much in their backpacks, it was just something everyone did.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Arrow "Public Enemy" Review



FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD

Phew. Just watched the episode, so I can finally catch my breath. Normally around this time, the season takes a bit of a down-turn only to finish out extremely strong. Looks like we're going to just be finishing strong all the way through, as evident through this week's episode (and, to an extent, last week's).

I mean, this episode had everything done right. Action. Romance. Comedy. Suspense. Plot advancement. Character development. Fun times in the flashback. Potential set-up for super-powers. What more could a person ask for?!

"Age of Ultron #1-2" review


No, this comic has nothing to with the movie. Not that it's a bad thing. I've more than once stated my claim with the "Civil War" film adaptation, and I think many would agree that if Marvel were to adapt this storyline, it would be one heck of a trainwreck. 

Much like the story we have before us. 

There is a lot of confusion over this story, the least of which is where the in heck this fits into the continuity. Brian Michael Bendis stating while writing this miniseries that it was in the main Marvel Comics continuity, on Earth-616. Then Marvel released a statement that it might be on its own universe, and several fans have taken up that side of the argument. And with the new "Secret Wars" storyline set to begin this May, there is a new section of Earth in which the "Age of Ultron" universe will battle with "Marvel Zombies" universe. 

The Flash "Tricksters" Review



FULL EPISODE SPOILERS FOLLOW

This week's episode was a great balance of what comic book characters were and what they have become now. Back before Christopher Nolan, or heck maybe even Tim Burton with his Batman, comic book villains and heroes seemed to be a bit more lighter-toned. The villain's schemes didn't make much sense and could pull almost anything out of thin air at any time. They've developed now into more character-based villains (the good ones at least) with strong motivation to hunt down our heroes and have more of a personality because of it. Great newer villains like Komodo show that the industry has forever shifted into a more realistic approach. One could argue that it's fading out, but it's clear that it's imprint will never leave. Otherwise, I argue, the Flash's suit would have been the typical bright red and we wouldn't have villains constantly dressed in civilian clothing (Reverse Flash and Gorilla Grodd notwithstanding).