Avengers

A+X #6

/ / Comics

A+X #6Poker is the name of the game in this latest issue of A+X. We’re given two stories, each involving an Avenger and X-Man sitting down for a friendly game of cards.

The first story features Wolverine and Captain Marvel and is primarily of interest for the side conversation (inspired by Joss Whedon‘s Angel TV-series) concerning who would win in a fight between astronauts and cavemen. The fight, intermixed with other topics between the two, goes on through the entire story and doesn’t even stop when a super-villain bursts through the wall looking for a fight. My only real complaint with this first story is the art from Italian artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Michele Benevento which is passable, but not great.

The second story, although not nearly as entertaining, also features two heroes winding up at a poker game as the Yancy Street friends of Ben Grimm invite Gambit, over for the weekly poker game. There’s some okay back-and-forth between the characters and late twist, but it’s the less interesting of the two stories. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012

/ / Top Tens & Lists

2012 turned out to be a pretty darn good year at the movies. There were two films which I gave perfect scores to this year, one of which the majority of the country won’t be seeing until early next year. I’m breaking my own rule of including it on the list, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Between these two films, which naturally open and close the list (as it’s presented alphabetically), are eight other films rounding out the class of 2012.

Cutting down my list to ten means I need to speak for a moment on films that barely missed the cut. John Carter was the year’s most under-appreciated film, The Cabin in the Woods turned the horror genre on its ear, Ang Lee delivered an amazing journey with Life of Pi, Wreck-It Ralph was this year’s best animated feature, Safety Not Guaranteed was a terrific little sci-fi flick almost no one saw, and Moonrise Kingdom was director Wes Anderson‘s best film since The Royal Tenenbaums.

Enough with what didn’t make the list, let’s get down to discussing what did:

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From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012 Read More »

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #9

/ / Comics

marvel-universe-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-9-coverAlthough I’ve grown disinterested in Marvel’s Avengers titles as of late, with the fallout of AvX and the newly relaunched title by writer Jonathan Hickman (neither of which I enjoyed), I have been a fan of Marvel’s animated The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon and the cover of this issue promised the kind of Avengers story I was interested in reading. I wasn’t disappointed.

The first story involves Thor and Ms. Marvel (wearing her classic costume) taking on a long-dormant Skrull killing machine who attacks the pair when it recognizes Ms. Marvel’s powers come from Kree origins. The one-upsmanship between the mighty Thor and the mighty Ms. Marvel is a lot of fun.

The back-up story involves the Black Widow and the Wasp sneaking into Doctor Doom‘s laboratory to rescue a pair of scientists whose work Doom is corrupting to turn into a biological weapon. Complete with insane escape, quarreling scientists, and Doombots, it proves to be just as much fun. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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Avengers #1

/ / Comics

avengers-marvel-now-1-coverWith the launch of Marvel Now!, Marvel Comics gives us yet another rebooting of the Avengers (which was last rebooted only two years ago). The initial team apparently was chosen solely for their big screen appearances, although the issue teases a much bigger (but perhaps not really more interesting) roster.

For our opening issue we’re given a team of Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Black Widow, Thor, and the Hulk, of which only Cap and old Shellhead really are given much to do. The threat involves a weird group of aliens terraforming the surface of Mars, led by what appears to be a Jack Kirby villain that even Dynamite Entertainment wouldn’t be interested in, who have now turned their attention to Earth.

First, let me say I hate, hate, hate the obvious amount of influence the Marvel Studios films have had on this title from the get-go. Not only are we stuck with the, somewhat limiting, movie team, but the comic even finds a way to put Captain America into something far closer in style to the character’s movie costumes than I’d like.

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Avengers Assemble #8

/ / Comics

avengers-assemble-8-coverIn deep space the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy come across Thanos who has control of a Cosmic Cube (okay, it’s not a real Cosmic Cube). Turns out the power in Thanos’ hands was made by the United States Government and could very well mean the end of everything as the Mad Titan expels Thor and the rest of the two teams into the Cancerverse before making his way to Earth.

On Earth the Fanatastic Four and renaming Avengers including Ms. Marvel, War Machine, the Vision, and Captain Britain prepare for a final stand. Inside the Cancerverse the heroes meet with the Elders of the Universe who Thanos trapped in the alternate dimension as well. With the Elders help, and a little Stark know-how, the teams return to Earth to help stop Thanos.

The end of the arc works well, and gives us two full pages of the two teams beating the crap out of a de-powered Thanos. There is still the matter of the Badoon armada on their way to Earth, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a few months to see how that plays out when the Guardians return in their new monthly comic in February. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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