Don’t forget to check out the review of the “Pull of the Week” Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, 28 Days Later and Batman and Robin on yesterday’s The Pull List

Dark Reign: Elektra #5 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 7.5

“If I had wronged them, I would simply kill them all.” That quote pretty much sums up what is so cool about Elektra. If only the makers of the Jennifer Gardner movie had figured that out. Dark Reign: Elektra #5 concludes the series as Elektra, having been returned from her Skrull and subsequent Norman Osborn imprisonment, tries to find out just who has put a price on her head. After having been attacked by agent Nico and Bullseye, Elektra is by Wolverine (the good one, not the Dark Avengers one). Wolverine takes Elektra somewhere safe and lets her know the whereabouts of where he tracked Nico to.

Elektra, wanting to find out what happened that these people want to kill her that was caused by her Skrull impersonator, tracks down the agents. When she gets to the Nico and Hammer Agent Brothers, she finds out that they blame her for the death of so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when she and the Hand has crashed the helicarrier. At the same time, Norman Osborn has found out through his interrogations of Skrull captives just when Elektra was abducted and what the Skrulls found out from her.

Writer Zeb Wells and artist Clay Mann are a great time to work on an Elektra story. Zeb gets what makes Elektra intriguing as she lives her life in shades of gray while Clay does a great job of bringing it to the page. The only character who doesn’t fit in strongly with this story is Norman Osborn as it seems he was forced in as a main component because of the “Dark Reign” banner. It feels like it should have been more of a post-Secret Invasion tie-in instead of putting so much focus on the storytelling on Norman who has been plastered in literally every corner of the Marvel U.

Continue Reading →

Pull of the Week:

War of Kings #6 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 8.5

Wow. That’s the first reaction after reading this issue. Any sort of recap of the events in it would unfortunately be spoilerific due to that fact that so much happens of consequence in its pages. And with an issue this good, spoilers would take away from so many of the great moments upon reading through it. What can be told is that as expected, the war itself comes to a conclusion in this issue.

War of Kings #6 starts off with Vulcan and Black Bolt squaring off inside the t-bomb ship, Black Bolt’s weapon that if detonated would release terrigen mists throughout the universe transforming all its people in to Inhumans. The book goes back and forth between this fight and gives glimpses of others who have been pulled in to the conflict like the Inhuman royal family, Havok and Polaris, and Gladiator.

This issue revolves around emotion. Vulcan’s insane rage and overconfidence is contrasted by Black Bolt’s cold and calculated silence. The king of the Inhumans knows he was going to be on a mission there’d be no coming back from by setting off the t-bomb and the determination and fervor he fights with shows he has full intentions of following through on this.

The Inhuman royal family is filled with anger of their own as some members applaud Black Bolt’s actions while others who were unaware of his intentions violently plead to know why they were not brought up to speed. Havok, Polaris and Gladiator all look at the war in mourning, seeing what once was a great empire of the Imperium before Vulcan defiled it and the Inhuman’s assault ravaged it to a point that it may never recover from under anyone’s leadership.

Continue Reading →

After a hectic week at Comic-Con, I return home for… more comics. It was a lighter week in Pulls which is a good thing after the Con ravaged most of our bank accounts. It was a Marvel and DC heavy week, with the notable exception being Bad Kids Go to Hell #2, which was reviewed yesterday in advance. But for now, on to the rest of this week with the Pull of the Week.

Pull of the Week:

Thunderbolts #134 – Marvel – $2.99

Score: 8.0

Something has been missing in the Thunderbolts since the “Dark Reign” started. As great a job as Andy Diggle has done with the series and the new team, it just felt like not all the pieces were where they should be. This issue is the first to feel like those pieces are coming back on the table as former Thunderbolts make their return to the series. Thunderbolts #134 joins former criminals and T-Bolts Fixer and Mach IV as they work on creating an updated M.A.C.H. suit when they are visited by Songbird who comes to them looking for help as she knows she is the target of Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts team.

Meanwhile, the further mistrust of the Thunderbolts is shown between a confrontation between the Headsman and Mr. X, possibly two of the most lackluster character names in Marvel. The theme of a team of lunatics who can’t trust each other for various reasons becomes increasingly evident in this issue. To further it, the big secret revealed at the end of the last issue is explored further that the leader of Norman’s team, the Black Widow II, is actually working for Nick Fury, though his intentions of having a mole within the Thunderbolts hasn’t been revealed yet. Widow reports to her team that they are off to hunt down a Thunderbolt which inevitably leads to the team placing an attack on Songbird before a somewhat shocking reveal at the end of the issue.

What works so well in this issue is the return of characters that are actually likable. People like Songbird, there is something about the hot girl with the pink hair who has a bad girl past that make her an attractive character. The return appearances from Fixer and Mach IV add to that feel good emotion from the book as they were the people associated with Songbird at her height when she was the leader of the Thunderbolts. It looks like Diggle’s entire run could be seen as a redemption of Songbird. She has been beaten after being under Norman’s leadership when she was teamed with the likes of Venom and Bullseye and then further dragged across the gravel by almost being killed by her former teammates.

Continue Reading →

Apparently, Marvel and DC sent a memo to each other declaring this week would be filled with origins and character building stories as evidenced by the three books appearing on today’s edition of The Pull List. Not to say that’s a bad thing by any means, character building is what helps us care most about this who we normally see just in the heat of battle.

Also thankfully for our wallets, this was a “light” week in terms of shipping. After the three weeks of 20 or more pulls, it was nice to have a week to be able to sit down, relax and get to enjoy the work in these issues.

Pull of the Week:

Green Lantern #43 – DC – $2.99

Score: 8.0

Contrary to the image on the cover of the Black Hand clutching the grave of Bruce Wayne, this issue takes the reader back before the events of Blackest Night #0 (reviewed here on The Flickcast from Free Comic Book Day). The opening page is told from the perspective of one of the Guardians, one of the little blue men who plays a role in keeping order to the universe with the Green Lanterns, as he recalls how long he has been around and the many things he has seen and been a part of. Almost joyfully, he tells how he is taking part in the birth of the very first Black Lantern.

Enter William Hand, the awkward middle child living with his loving family who knows there is something off about him by his obsession with death from even the youngest age. After sending him for psychological help, William is much the same person until he accidentally crosses paths with the Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his partner Sinestro as they fight Atrocitus. After it, William was never able to sleep right and turned himself in to the Black Hand, obsessing over the light of Hal Jordan’s ring.

After losing his hand and being experimented on by aliens, William’s connection to death grew, as he was now able to see death, like those of Martian Manhunter and Bruce Wayne. He also began seeing those who had escaped death like Superman, the Green Lantern and the Flash. From there, William returns to a fateful location where the events that turn him in to the first Black Lantern take place.

Continue Reading →

For part one of this week’s Pull List, click here.

Timestorm 2009 – 2099: Spider-Man – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 4.5

After Spider-Man: A Short Halloween failed to get reviewed by the Pull List because it had been on the bottom of an eighteen book stack, I made sure that didn’t happen again with another Spider-Man one-shot. Unfortunately, this issue was nowhere close to the quality of A Short Halloween. This issue continues the ongoing “Timestorm” series which sent both Spider-Man and Wolverine in to the future and the Punisher of 2099 stuck in the modern age. After an explosion caused by a time-shift, young Miguel O’Hara has attained abilities similar to the Spider-Man of what he calls the heroic age. Resulting from the same explosion, another boy in his class has mutated in to a large scorpion-like monster.

At the same time, Peter Parker, our modern day Spider-Man sits in a rubber room with a straight jacket with a young mutant girl Shakti who can see in to people’s past and future. The two escape their holding facility before crossing paths with Miguel. As this run-in occurs an explosion goes off, forcing Spider-Man to go find out its cause and leaving Miguel and Shakti behind. Miguel is about to give chase when Shakti tells him he needs a disguise or his identity will be found out.

Miguel dons a costume of Spider-Man 2099 and rushes in to help Spider-Man face the scorpion creature that had been created alongside him. Before heading off to try and find a way home, Spider-Man tells Miguel to burn the costume as wearing it will bring nothing good to his life. Instead, Miguel mimics what Peter originally did and steps in to a fight arena to try and take on his time’s Human Torch.

The more I look at the issue, the less I like it. First off, it is very confusing as there are apparently three separate alternate 2099 continuities. While they all have the same basis, none of them matchup between this version where Miguel gains the powers as a youth, the original Spider-Man 2099 series, and the Spider-Man 2099 who had a brief stint in the exiles.

Continue Reading →

This is part one of this week’s Pull List, check back tomorrow for part two. Check out last week’s Pull List here and here!

Pull of the Week:

Irredeemable #2 – Boom! – $3.99
Score: 8.5
After hearing all the buzz about this series, I went back and picked up the first issue as well as this week’s new release with issue #2. This issue picks up with Kaidan, a former teammate of the fallen hero, The Plutonian, on the search for any information regarding just who the new rogue used to be or what may be his weakness. Kaiden’s journey takes her to the ruins of Sky City, a place she and the Plutonian used to protect together, which is now just a scrap heap left in the Plutonian’s wake. Her journey takes her to a woman who was once the Plutonian’s girlfriend and in hearing the girl’s tale, Kaidan must also look back on her own experiences with someone she once considered a friend in order to see what may have caused him to snap.

Writer Mark Waid does a great job of overlapping super hero action on a gritty detective story. While the book has many of the standard super hero conventions that seemingly parody characters like Superman, such as his utterly laughable “secret” identity and the ability to fly to space in back in mere moments, the Plutonian is as far from the Man of Steel as they come.  Something has really snapped in this former hero, as witnessed by his actions in the first issue to one of his former teammates the Hornet, as well as the Hornet’s wife and baby. And while the actions of the Plutonian are gruesome in their own right, the scariest part about him are the moments left unseen and without description. Leaving only the aftermath as evidence, the reader is only given a small peek in to the obviously broken psyche of the man who was once considered his world’s greatest hero. Peter Krause does a great job illustrating the story in a style that resembles Dynamite’s The Boys. The two books actually share a lot in common with their takes on the super hero genre.

Continue Reading →