Comic Panel of the Week: The Mark of Zorro

With the DC reboot coming the day after tomorrow I though I'd pick something heartwarming.

Justice League: Generation Lost #19 Review

Today where going to look at a comic that really pissed me off the first time I read it but now it's not so bad. So let's get started, the cover is good. It's the silhouette of Maxwell Lord standing ominously over what looks to be the corpse of Blue Beetle. The comic opens with Jaime Reyes (the current Blue Beetle) explain what the scarab that gives him his powers are to his friends. He also explains the history of the Blue Beetle.

Jaime's friends tell him that he should change his name since every other hero that ever had that name is dead. But he explains that it's not his choice since the Scarab chose him. We then cut to the present where Maxwell Lord is torturing the Blue Beetle. Max explains that if it wasn't for the Blue Beetle and the rest of the Justice League International he would have never been able to take control of Checkmate. While Max's back is turned Blue Beetle sends out a distress signal.

Booster Gold's robot Skeets pick's up the signal, and the J.L.I. leave to find the Blue Beetle. Back in Checkmates base, Max finds out what Blue Beetle is up to. But before he can do anything Blue Beetle breaks lose, and attacks him. They start to fight, and the J.L.I. find the base and break in. Max uses some sort of purple blast that greatly weakens Blue Beetle. The J.L.I. arrive just in time to see Max shoot the Blue Beetle in the head. "Killing" him.

The comic ends with Booster Gold and the rest of the J.L.I. looking in horror. I think it's obvious why I didn't like this at first. They killed off one of my favorite characters. Since this comic he has been "brought back to life." So now I can look at this comic in a different way, the set up was good and a Blue Beetle did go down fighting. So yeah, this was a good comic.

Rating: 3/5

Next week I'm going to review the last comic of the current DC Universe, Flashpoint #5!

Comic Panel of the Week: Robin "HOOD"

(Insert witty remark here)

"Green Hornet" First Thoughts

I just finished watching the Green Hornet for the first time. Going in to this I didn't know what to expect, I never watched or read Green Hornet the only thing I ever saw with Green Hornet was the two 60's Batman  episodes he was in. So like Constantine I have no idea how closely this follows the source material. But I enjoyed it, it was funny and entertaining.

Jay Chou does an awesome job as Kato, he sort of has this ability to lock on to threats and find the most efficient way to stop them. At first the "Kato vision" was weird but I got use to it after a while. The villain, Benjamin Chudnofsky, was great. We see him evolve from a guy trying to be a treating gangster to a super-villain. The only real problem I had was that the "heroes" killed people. If your looking for a enjoyable time though I recommend this movie.

Rating: 3.5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #59 Review

Today where going to look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The TMNT where created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Originally it was going to be a parody of Daredevil, and the New Mutants as well as Cerberus, and Ronin. Eventually there was a TV adaptation in 1987 which made it much child friendlier. However most of my knowlege comes from the 2003 series made by 4Kids. This always baffled me since if 4kids dub an anime they have to ruin the source material and dumb it down for kids, but when they make a show they show a decapitation.

WTF! Double Standard! If you don't believe me watch this. It happens around 7:10. Anyway, now that my rant is over let's jump into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #59, and see if it's any good. The comic opens at the start of a talk show. The host, McIntyre, kinda hates the Turtles and is trying to get everyone one in New York to see them as the menaces they are. Sound familiar.

McIntyre reveals his first guest is April O'Neil. One of the Turtles friends who is probably trying to clear the their name. When she tells McIntyre that the Turtles are ninja's she makes the situation worse. However during a commercial break Oyuki, April's assistant, seduces a worker in order to play a clip that will make everyone see that the Turtles are good. McIntyre is not to happy about this but he has no choice but to show the clip.

The clip is of a Doctor appropriately named Dick from a US Coast Guard boat. Dr. Dick has found a blinded Michelangelo who he thinks is an Alien. Michelangelo tell him he's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle but he doesn't believe him. Dr.Dick injects him with truth serum, but Michelangelo keeps telling him the same thing so Doctor Dick decides to do the rational thing and starts to torture him. Archie does know this is for kids right. Luckily Leonardo and Donatello sneak abort the ship, and save him.

They escape but when Dr.Dick tries to catch them he falls into the water. Instead of leaving him Michelangelo saves him which is weird since he's still blind. The studio audience thinks the Turtles are heroes, and McIntyre is pissed. April and Oyuki leave with the Turtles, and the comic ends with finding out where the government is keeping Raphael.

I like this comic, It has a good story and the exception of a few places the art is pretty good. Some problem's I have are small like the fact April O'Neil looks more like Mary Jane then what she's supposed to look like. Overall it's pretty good.

Rating: 2.5/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Justice League

I think this speaks for itself.

Secret Origin: Nightwing Review

Today where going to look at the psyche of Batman's old partner Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. So without further delay let jump straight into Secret Origins: Nightwing. The comic opens with Nightwing lying on the ground with an ominous figure wearing a Robin costume hovering over him. Nightwing get's up, recognizing the figure calling him "Robin." He asks him what happened, and "Robin" tells him he was after KGBeast and the Trigger Twins when one of them attacked him from behind causing this near death experience. "Robin" then shows him the night this all started, the night his parents died.

Nightwing tells him he just wanted to have a normal life, but "Robin" tells him to remember who he's talking to. "Robin" also call's him a hypocrite because he just traded one "show" for another, since he became Batman's sidekick. But "Robin" tells him nothing lasts forever, as he shows Nightwing the night wear he quit being Batman's sidekick. After leaving Batman, Dick joined the Teen Titans. But Batman tells him if he isn't his Sidekick anymore he can't be Robin.

Dick quits being Robin, and also quits the Titans. Having no one else to turn to he goes to Metropolis, and talks to Superman. Dick tells him he still want's to a hero, and someday he thought he would become Batman. Don't worry Dick you'll get your chance after Bruce get's shot back in time, and after a couple years of character development and one of the greatest runs in a Batman comic you'll become Nightwing again after a stupid and unnecessary reboot causing all that character development to become a complete waist of time. Thanks DC.

Anyway Superman tries to cheer him up by telling him a story about a Kryptonian that was cast out of his family, and became a legend. No one knows his real name but he was called Nightwing. Dick then takes the name, and rejoins the Titans. "Robin" makes fun of his costume, and Nightwing says he did always have a smart mouth.

Nightwing's walk down memory lane takes him to Bludhaven. "Robin" asks him why does he do so much for this town. Nightwing tells him he feels like it needs him. "Robin" tells Nightwing it's time for him to go. Before waking up Nightwing reveals the mysterious Robin is the ghost of Jason Todd, the second Robin who was killed by the Joker.

The comic ends with Nightwing waking up surrounded by villains. This comic is great, it takes a look a Nightwing's past and his friendship with Jason. It's kinda sad that in recent years Jason has come back to life, and has become a villain. He was always a smart mouth but when you get down to it he was still a hero. Anyway in recommend you track this down, it not only has this great story but it also has information about Nightwing and his various villains as well as "lost pages" from the Teen Titans.

Rating: 4.5/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Crazy Sonic

Sonic just lost it.

My Opinion on Man of Steel, and The New Ultimate Spider-Man

Ok I'm going to talk about two things today. First is the first picture of Henry Cavill as Superman was released.

I think it looks great. The costume looks cool, however his hair is slicked back and they got rid of the Superman curl. He looks like a 1950's gangster. Well at least it's better then a mullet. Now onto the news that's made everyone flip there lid, the new Ultimate Spider-man was revealed to be Miles Morales. Why are a lot of people mad about this? It because he's Half African American and Half Hispanic.

I don't know why everyone is angry like this.  It's not like he's the first hero to be replaced by someone of a different nationality or race, what about John Stewart. Anyway I really don't care what race he is, I'm still excited about Ultimate Spider-Man #1 however now that I know who the the new Spider-man is i am less excited but only by a little bit. Besides I'm interested in what Miles' connection to Peter Parker is, and how he got Spider powers. Anyway this is The Mystery Theatre saying don't be racist.

Fantastic Four #1 Review

To celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the Fantastic Four I thought I would go way back, and review the very first Fantastic Four comic. However i'm only going to review the first chapter because otherwise this review would be to long. Since this is their origin story I do not need to give a summary like I usually do so let jump straight into Fantastic Four #1 and see if it holds up 50 years later. The cover is pretty good, not as iconic as Action Comics #1 or Amazing Fantasy #15 cover but it is still pretty good. The comic opens with Mr.Fantastic shooting a flare in shadows, the flare then forms the words "The Fantastic Four!"

We then cut to Susan Storm who see's the the flare. She turn's invisible, and leaves for the mission. We then cut to a man in a trench coat tring to buy clothes but the man at the shop say's there's nothing that fits him there. The man sees a flare, and takes of his trench coat revealing that he's the Thing.

A police officer see's the Thing, and thinks he's a monster. In order to get away the Thing goes into a sewer. We then cut to an automobile repair shop, where Johnny Storm is working. He also see's the flare, and spontaneously combusts. Then flies away. The mayor call's the national guard, thinking aliens have invaded. They send fighter jets after the Human Torch.

The jets however catch on fire, so naturally the National Guard tries to nuke him. Kind of an over reaction. Anyway Human Torch is saved by Mr. Fantastic who stretches his arm, and throws the nuke safely into the water. They all gather inside, the weird thing is the Thing is wearing his trench coat again even though he gave it to the store clerk. Anyway we now a flashback explaining how they got their powers. Ben is arguing with Reed about how dangerous it is to go into space due to the cosmic waves that seem to inhabit all of space in the Marvel universe. However Susan calls Ben a coward, and he angrily agrees to go into space.

They go to the spaceport, and instead of going to get clearance our brave heroes steal the spaceship. Well now everything bad that happens to them is there own fault.

Anyway they take off into outerspace. But since the ship doesn't have proper shielding they are hit by cosmic waves. They crash back down to earth where they all feel weird. Everyone seems ok, but Susan starts to turn invisible. Johnny's worried that it's permanent but she turns back to normal. Reed and Ben start to argue, and I'm completely on Ben's side right now. Anyway Ben starts to become the Thing. Susan then says one of the most unintentionally hilarious lines ever..

Ben tries to hit Reed with a tree but Reed stretches out of the way. Johnny starts to freak out, and he spontaneously combusts. He's amazed that he's able to fly. Reed tells them they have to use their powers for the good of mankind. The story ends with everyone agreeing, and they become the Fantastic Four.

This comic was pretty good. The characters where likable(most of the time), and the art was great for the 60's. There are some nitpicks like Ben's ability to magically put on a trench coat on even though he left it a store miles away, and the fact they stole a spaceship. Overall this story is a pretty good first issue, and I would love to review the other two stories later on.

Rating: 3/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Batman versus The Hulk

When you thought Batman wasn't badass enough.