Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! As I said on twitter, it's a general statement, because the holiday sort of delayed my shop getting books. They may have gotten them late today, but I'll just head there tomorrow. I have too much xbox action right now with my bestest xbl buddy. We finished up some special ops achievements from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I finally have 1000g on that game; after 2 plus years. There was also some Borderlands and Gears 3 action.

But enough of the gamer talk for now, let's get to the comics. I'm happy for a shorter week, because I need to catch up on the previous two weeks anyway and it's lighter on the bank account.

Another lovely day of new comics bring with it another Cover of the Week entry. So ladies and gentlemen of comic fandom, let's have a round of applause for Bionic Woman #2. And here's a surprise for you, this is another title I don't read. If you're a regular visitor here, I hope your sarcasm detector is functioning properly. It's funny how many books I don't read have cool covers. Some of which have enticed me to read up on them.

I'll be honest, as always so there's really no need to even say that, I don't always care for Paul Renaud's work. It just doesn't always sit well with me. But Bionic Woman #2 is a different story. I saw this image on Monday while looking through the releases for the week and I was pretty sure I had my Cover of the Week. First, blue is my favorite color. Royal blue specifically. Here's the Bionic Woman dressed in blue and black riding a blue and black motorcycle. I love it. But beyond the blue, you can't go wrong with a cool woman riding a motorcycle. The background adds a few elements as well. Nice piece all around.

So that's it for this my friends. As always, thanks for stopping by. And happy reading to everyone.

Spaceman #1 Review

I remember about Spaceman the day it was released and reading tweets about it being only $1 and at least worth trying. My shop didn't have any left or didn't order any left. Either way I couldn't get my hands on a copy. After that though, I never heard anything else about the series. That was until I found this first issue when I visited a new shop while doing some travelling.

Brief sidenote: whenever I travel, I always check for the closest comic shop. I take pictures of the storefront and buy something to support our shops. The only times I've never purchased anything was from a shop that didn't really have many comics left as they were pretty much a gaming shop.

Back to Spaceman. I had no idea what this book was gonna be about. But I'll try out a lot of books and for $1, what do I really have to lose? Well in this case, I only lost the time it took to read it because I didn't like it. I really didn't. I couldn't wait until I could put the book down.

I didn't care for the story of this genetically engineered being man sent into space and all that. I wasn't feeling the art either. This one just isn't for me.

Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! I have a lighter week of releases and I'm okay with that. I'm doing this all from my phone, thank you droid. It's a little later in the day than I usually post, but no worries. The cover to I, Vampire #9 stood out amongst the other releases this week.

Here we have a cover from Andrea Sorrentino. I don't have much knowledge of this artist, but I like this cover. That should be obvious considering it's the topic of conversation. There's quite a few things going on wth this cover. The integration of all the pieces is real slick. First I like the fanged figure taking up all of our attention. The hands reaching up definitely caught my eye. Are they reaching up for our new favorite vampire? Maybe. I'll know when I read the book. I have been reading this series and it's been good.

All comments welcome. Thanks for looking.

Avenging Spider-Man #7 Review

Avenging Spider-Man keeps rolling with a rotating partner and creative team. This month Kathryn and Stuart Immonen team-up with Wade Von Grawbadger, Matt Hollingsworth, and Joe Caramagna to pair Spidey with our favorite gamma powered lawyer, She-Hulk.

First, I'll say that I don't know much about She-Hulk. I've never had a problem with her, but I've never read much of her. But it was nice to see her appear in two books in the same week. My point in saying that was I didn't know what to expect from her character. I imagined her to be a more laid back type of person. Again, that's coming from a person with little knowledge of the character. She's very serious and certainly annoyed by Spider-Man, which honestly isn't unwarranted.

Second, the story is titled "Wadjetmacallit?!." I kid you not. Odd, right? Well it definitely fits the story. This issue starts off with our heroes teaming up to take out some sewer creature. How did they happen to team-up? I have no idea. After this they head to an Egyptian exhibit and encounter Bastet, goddess of cats. And of course, there are TONS of cats.

Spidey maintains his usual charm. And of course that means annoying She-Hulk. Stuart Immonen's visuals are what you'd expect from him. I really don't have much to say on that front. I do like his She-Hulk though.

I really wouldn't recommend this book. If you're a She-Hulk fan, you might like it. I won't guarantee that though. Seven issues and this is easily the least entertaining of the series.

Thursday Thoughts

What's up comic fans? Another New Comic Day has come and gone. These entries would be really effective if they involved the previous days releases, wouldn't they? But of course I must be difficult, so I dip into all areas. Nothing wrong with that at all though. So here we go.

1. What the hell happened in AvX: VS #1? I disagreed with both of those decisions. Thing besting Namor and Iron Man taking down Magneto? Say what? I would've voted both X-Men to win those battles. And that's not even due to my X-Men bias. I know it's not all lollipops and cotton candy, so I don't expect the mutants to win everything. I'm okay with that. But let's be honest here. Namor would handle Thing. Seriously. And they're underwater? Not even a contest. Now the Iron Man and Magneto fight would be a good one especially with Stark's newest armor. I'll concede that. Let's see what happens in number 2.

2. Speaking of AvX, I would love for event books, main issues and tie-ins, to show a reading order of some sort. It doesn't have to be a full list released. But with multiple issues being released on the same day, I like to know in which order they should be read. I've spent several moments trying to order a week's releases in what I think is the proper order. AvX has done this with a couple issues, well at least one anyway. All they need to do is place a quick message on the title page that could read "the events of this issue take place after issue #4." Easy peezy.

3. Spawn is pretty damn good right now. I read it as a kid and jumped back on when the new guy, Jim Downing, took over. As of the recent issue, #219, Jim is facing off against Malebolgia who's regaining his power and attempting to take over. I'm not totally digging the art, but it's decent enough. This recent issue shed some light on some of the behind the scene actions of heaven and hell. There's some interesting stuff here and I look forward to the next issue.

4. I really dislike name changes on titles. This is really a minor issue, but I really do dislike it. The X-Men to X-Men Legacy change still baffles me. I never understood it. One of the reasons I dislike it is because I rethink how I organize my collection. Going back to X-Men, it was known by that title, then they changed the name. But it didn't end there because they added another title called X-Men. Aaahhhh! This is the type of thing I go through. Its not really that serious though, just had to throw it out there. Sometimes I wonder why publishers don't just end a series and start anew with the new character or team instead of the change. But you, I guess that would make sense.

5. We're going green. No, not completely. I'm gonna show She-Hulk some love because she made two appearances last week. I've never read much with her, so it's kinda nice to get her in two books in one week. Both of which I'm reading too. Double dose of gamma action. I've only read the Avenging Spider-Man appearance though. And as stated, I've never really read much of her, so I don't have much knowledge of her character. I had this image of her being a more laid-back type of person, but that's not how she was depicted in Avenging Spider-Man.

Thanks for joining me again for as we look into the mind of a fanboy. Any comments are welcome. Do you have a subject you'd like me to weigh in on? I'll throw it in. Happy reading people.

Cover of the Week

Happy Comic Book Day! It's a big week for me. I already have my books in hand and look forward to some good reading. I missed out on Dancer. I'll have to try getting that later. Oh well.

Let's move on to another matter. I'm talking Cover of the Week of course. So ladies and gentlemen, I present to you your Cover of the Week winner, Ninjettes #4. Take a look.

Admira Wijaya gives us several characters wielding katana. Why is that noteworthy? Because it's my favorite weapon. That's really all I got here. It's not exactly amazing, but I mean look at it. That's a lot of swords. Get sliced. I had to say it. And the mask doesn't hurt either.

What do you think people? Happy reading to all.

Thief of Thieves #4 Review

Thief of Thieves #4 follows Augustus, Redmond's son. In the previous issue, he was arrested and here we find out what he did. Readers will see that interrogation along with him setting up the job that landed him there. It's already been stated that he's not as good as his father and this issue just expounds on that a bit.

At the end of issue 3, I was curious to know more about Augustus. After reading this however, I don't really care about him and only wish to see how Redmond will interact with him in the next issue.

I do like this series, but this issue doesn't really do anything for me. If you want to know a bit about Augustus' past, you'll be fine here. If it held more details about him, I would easily recommend it. But it's really just a few bits. I'd say skip it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9 Review

I jumped onto the new Turtles series around the release of issue 7 or 8. Both of those books earned my Cover of the Week. So the day one of those issues came out, I figured I'd grab it and see how the Turtles have been keeping busy. But of course I couldn't read it and have an idea of what's been happening, so I asked a buddy at Lost World of Wonders in Milwaukee, WI to hold onto the first five issues for me. I caught up and was definitely adding the book to my pull-list. But enough of that back-story, let's talk TMNT #9.

After their battle with the Mousers, the Turtles are masterless as Splinter was taken by Hob. The brothers with Casey and April tagging along head to Stockgen for answers. This book ends with the arrival of the Foot Clan, Karai and Master Shredder.

We get a little action and some story progression. Eastman and Waltz are doing good things with story pacing. Duncan and Pattison are providing some solid visuals. It's a good book all around.

If you aren't reading TMNT, you should check it out.

New Avengers #25 Review

New Avengers #25 serves to show a connection between the Phoenix force and the Iron Fist. That's it. No Avengers. No X-Men. Bendis takes us back some hundreds of years ago to K'un Lun. The tale is centered around Master Yu Ti and his dreams of "A bird of fire. A girl with hair crimson. The dragon versus the bird."

I find it hard to recommend this book even for fans of Deodato. There are only two parts of this book I took notice of visually. The first is the "battle" of the Phoenix and the dragon. It looks decent, but not enough to warrant purchasing this book. The second is one of the characters in the mystical city has hexagram 30 of the I-ching on his clothing. The only reason I mention this is because I thought of the Arashikage symbol from G.I. Joe which is hexagram 63.

Maybe the "events," if you can call them that, of this book will play out in the next issue. But I doubt you'll be lost. If you've already purchased this issue, I'm sorry for you. If you haven't, skip it. Save your $3.99.

Thursday Thoughts - New 52 Edition

Hello hello comic fans. Another new comic day has come and gone. I've been catching up on some New 52 books and looking at my pull-list. I've trimmed some fat on there during this first half of 2012 and made a few more cuts very recently. Many of these changes are from the DC section. So for this week I decided to dedicate my Thursday Thoughts to the DCnU. Here we go people.

1. The Superman books both suck. I read both for a few issues and had to end that quickly. My thinking was ok, here's the New 52, maybe they'll make Superman interesting. I gave him an honest chance. Well several technically. Two titles and a couple issues of each. But they just didn't do anything for me.

2. Speaking of the Superman family, Supergirl's book is much better. I'm really liking the writing and the art. I can't wait to see what they have in store for Kara down the line.

3. I just dropped Green Lantern. I let it go on for too long. I wasn't enjoying anything about the book. I don't really care for Hal Jordan and while Sinestro can have some badass moments, for the most part, it's not mindblowing. I've really only been reading the title because I like the idea of the Lanterns. But I like John Stewart and Guy Gardner so much more. They should get more attention than Hal and Kyle.

4. I kinda want this Night of the Owls stuff to be done. I'm torn on the whole subject. I wasn't digging it at first, then I got into it. But then it kept dragging on and now I'm tempted to drop the books involving the story and pick them back up after this story is done. It has however seemed to have amped up a bit. I know for sure that I won't be reading any books that I'm not already reading. Not happening.

5. I've read some of the previous Birds of Prey series and have enjoyed most of what I've read. When it was announced that the team would be apart of the New 52, it was automatic that I'd try it. It's been good. I've been a fan of Black Canary for a bit but she's been easily outshined by Katana and Starling. They're the stars of the series.

Thanks for joining me in this rant about the DCnU. What do you think about what I think? Any shared feelings? Any thoughts otherwise? All comments welcome. Keep it geeky friends.

Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! It seems like just last week I was doing this. Oh yeah, that's because I was. Well then, welcome back funny book lovers. I've got a nice list of books releasing this week. This might be close to an average week for me. Two of those books are actually getting dropped. Green Lantern and Walking Dead must go. GL just isn't fun and after only a few issues I'd rather go back to trade-waiting Walking Dead.

Moving on to Cover of the Week we have an AvX tie-in. Fighting it out and coming out the winner for the week is X-Men Legacy #266. We're going green people. Check it out.

Brought to you by Mark Brooks, we have She-Hulk taking on Rogue. There's a lot of power right here. Should be a fun showdown. In this issue, some Avengers come to secure the school. The X-Men there aren't having that. I'm actually looking forward to this book hoping that it'll remove the bad taste from the previous issues. Not that they were horrible, but I really wasn't feeling them so much.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know. Thanks for looking people. Happy reading.

Thursday Thoughts - Avengers and Free Comic Book Day Edition

Hello my fellow comic fans. We have a big weekend ahead of us. The Avengers and Free Comic Book Day are hitting the same weekend. All types of geeky madness will follow. I was actually trying to avoid part of the theme being Avengers related just because so many other sites have been doing it. But then again, this is a big weekend. I can't just not do it. So this special edition of Thursday Thoughts will follow a theme featuring both of those events. Ok, so technically, it's mostly FCBD topics. But that and Avengers are both represented, so they share the glory for the day.

1. Avengers Assemble! I had to do it. So from the movie line-up, my favorite character is a tie between Captain America and Thor. I'm honestly torn here. I have a ton of love for both, but I've read and own way more Thor books. You wouldn't make me choose, now would you? I didn't think so.

2. And of course I must finish with something related to the annual celebration that is Free Comic Book Day. How could I not? That would be a comic crime. So the books I'm most looking forward to are Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mega Man, and Valiant Preview. I wanted the Witchblade book at first, but it appears to only be a reprint of Seeley's first issue. I've been reading Witchblade for years, so I already have that book. That makes me kind of sad now. I was hoping it was an all new story. Oh well.

3. Take the special person in your life. Take a friend. Take a group of friends. Bring the family. There is sure to be something there for every taste. You might have just brought another fan, or two or three, into the fold. I've asked friends to join me several times. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. I may be going this one alone though. All of this applies to both Avengers and FCBD. Are you and yours due for some family fun? Here's a solid weekend that is perfect for everyone.

4. Ok, so we all enjoy FCBD. There's no denying that. We get some cool books from our shops for free. And free stuff is good. But let's remember, our shops are paying for those books. So you should support your shop and hit the shelves. Some shops even have sales for the special day to encourage people to check out other books. I always pick up free books, grab the books from my box and hit the shelves for other stuff as well. There has to be a two-way support system going. It's good for fans, retailers, publishers, and the industry as a whole.

5. There is seriously something wrong if comic shops aren't flooded this weekend. Avengers is going to be huge. FCBD is the next day. THE NEXT DAY! You can't really top that for comic weekends. The only competition is the release of a comic book movie during a convention weekend. There should be families storming comic shops checking out the goods. We always hope that comic book flicks will spark people's interest enough to go to their local shops and start reading. I think it works...to a degree. I don't think readership will make an amazing jump, but I think the movies can help. That especially goes for Avengers.

I wasn't planning on having a theme this week, it just kind worked out liked this. It's not my fault though. The internet made me do it. I swear to any Asgardian god. I'm ready for the weekend. Are you? I think I have all the books I want picked out. What books are you looking at? I'll be back Saturday afternoon before or after I see Avengers to post my FCBD haul. Keep it comic cool my friends.

Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! This is a fun week I tell ya. We have Avengers hitting theaters and Free Comic Book Day which is always fun. Add in the return of Valiant Comics with X-O Manowar #1 hitting shelves and there is plenty for fans to happy for this week.

This week's winner is Venom #17. I read the first issue of this series, but didn't care enough to bother reading more. But of course that wouldn't eliminate the book from taking the weekly crown.

Brought to you by Mike Del Mundo, Agent Venom here is falling back while firing off rounds at several enemies. I like how the reflections of those targets are shown on the shells. It's a cool look.

If any of you are reading this series, I'd like to hear your thoughts on whatever is happening with the book. Thanks for looking. Happy reading.