Thor Odinson...will he make it??

So as by now everyone that's going to read it has read Fear Itself #5 and knows that Thor is in really bad shape.  What you might not know it that he is ALSO conspicuously missing from all of the Shattered Heroes promotional images that have been released.  So this has led many of us to wonder if Thor is going to survive the events of Fear Itself after the final battle with the Serpent.  Well here's your chance to weigh in on it!!  Do you think that Thor will make it??

Do you think Thor is going to live through Fear Itself?
	Yeah he'll make it!
	Not sure...but he'll come back anyway!
	Nah, he's a goner!!
pollcode.com free polls

Starved for Apocalypse - Review Uncanny X-Force #14

Maybe it’s the sun I got this weekend or the residual glowing feeling from the Stevie Nicks concert I went to this weekend, but this issue was excellent!  I was honestly starting to feel like the entire Archangel/Apocalypse storyline was getting played out, yet again, but this installment really brought it back! 

It’s one thing for Apocalypse to take on a new host, as we’ve seen him do in the past, but usually that new host just becomes a new Apocalypse.  Not this time folks!!  This isn’t just some NEW Apocalypse in a different body.  “Archangel” has become his own entity within Warren’s body and he has his own ideas on how to bring Apocalypse’s dream to fruition.  The first thing we saw was his shower Ozymandias with more praise in a single page then we ever saw Apocalypse give him in the years since his introduction.  So much so that Ozzy almost didn’t know how to react to being giving proper respect for his position.  Not to mention his obvious disdain for “honorifics” is a clear clash of ideologies with his creator.  Archangel’s insistence that he and Dark Beast, and presumably all of Apocalypse’s former followers, are “brothers in this work” and his desire for only their honest opinions is something that we rarely see in ANY megalomaniacal villain. 

And Hello there, Holocaust….oops I mean Genocide!  This, I thought, was a great twist!  When we first saw Genocide’s image on the last page of issue 13, I was like “Oh wow!  Holocaust is back, that’s awesome!”  But no…this is better.  First of all, it was amazing to see Famine again.  After X-cutioner’s Song back in the 90’s, she and War (Abraham Kieros) simply disappeared only to be replaced by a slew of Horsemen from all around the Marvel Universe (i.e. Hulk, Polaris, Gambit, Sunfire, Gazer, Wolverine, Ahab, and Deathbird).  So when Archangel walked into a room (cell?) and spoke to Autumn so gently about her son, it was a big shock!  Upon meeting her son, I can’t help but wonder if this is the 616 version of Holocaust (who until now was rumored to be 198 member, Feverpitch) or just someone with similar powers…I am definitely hopeful that this is the real Holocaust though.   I am hoping we see more of Autumn because the 4 panels we saw of her were her most interesting and exciting panels since Fall of the Mutants.  And a quick shoutout to Genocide's "tantrum" when he flash fried half of Wolverine's body off!!

Now it wouldn’t be one of MY reviews if I didn’t have some sort of complaint right?  Getting back to Abraham Kieros…where the hell is he??  I know that Apocalypse took his powers (leaving his paralyzed again) but I also know that Warren found him in Wolverine #147 and healed him which leaves a perfect opening for him to come back now under Archangel’s control.  And my other complaint is the secret hidden underground hideout…did someone read this week’s issue of Secret Avengers??  It’s basically the same set up, up to and including the round “secret” elevator into the ground leading to the huge underground city.

Overall, Uncanny X-Force is getting better and better!  I was really upset when they renumbered it with a brand new team, and I haven’t liked the way they’ve been pushing out issues so quickly, but the “Dark Angel Saga” has been fantastic!  I am very scrutinizing of anything titled the “Dark ­­­­____ Saga" but this series and its main antagonist have truly earned the “Dark” title.  I only hope that Warren Worthington survives at the end…since he is conspicuously missing from any X-men: ReGenesis promos…

Flash Review - 8/24/11

So when deciding which comic to review each week, it’s always a challenge to pick one from the pile because I usually have at least something I want to say about each one, not usually enough to write a whole review, but I feel all pent up without somewhere to get these opinions out.  Of course I could write up a blog about it, but if I wrote an article every time I had a thought or opinion then the site would be overloaded, I think.  So here’s my solution:

Welcome to Flash Review!

Each week from now on, in addition to my weekly review, I’ll also be doing a BRIEF review write-up of everything from my Pull List.  So here we go, the Flash Review from 8/24/11.

Astonishing X-men #41 – I have to be honest, this story is a bit boring for me.  I am all for mixing it up and throwing other FF villains at the X-men, but Monster Island and Mentallo? FAIL!  And the worst part is that this is supposed to be the real story and “Meanwhile” is like a side story, but its way more interesting!  Could be because I am not that into Armor, seems like a new Kitty or Jubilee…and we didn’t need one!

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt – I didn’t read much (or almost any) of Avengers: The Initiative so I don’t know these characters too well, but if you were going to jump on board with these young heroes and get to know them: THIS IS THE SERIES!  You don’t have to know the Initiative, Young Allies or anything else to follow the story, and Sean McKeever is doing an amazing job of showing the turmoil and anguish that these neophytes are feeling as they struggle to hold their own in a war that the veterans are struggling and dying in! AMAZING TIE-IN!

The Iron Age: Omega – Well this turned out to be quite a disappointment.  I’m sorry Marvel but you don’t just throw out words like “Dark Phoenix returns” without something really good planned to back it up.  This entire time traveling mess seemed sloppy and thrown together, and Phoenix barely made any appearances in the entire thing.  The premise was flimsy and the group of heroes wasn’t drawn together by any interesting or special circumstances, Tony gathered them because he saw them on the Phantom’s monitors…but they were only on the monitors because in every alternate reality Tony called them…because they were already on the monitors.  There’s just some really haphazard time traveling and storytelling happening in this entire story.  I guess no matter how hard they try, we will never get another Dark Phoenix Saga.

New Mutants #30 – Fear Itself trudges on, but this is one of the more interesting tie-in storylines.  I have really enjoyed the Valkyrie/Hela/Moonstar business that’s been going on since Siege and love the return of Brightwind.  I don’t really think that it was necessary to get Mephisto involved though.  In an already confusing and convoluted bringing him in just to ask Magma out on a date seemed a little silly (although I always enjoy big showings of her own bad-assness”.  I DO love how seamlessly X-man has folded into the team.  He’s a great new addition to a team that has barely changed roster much in over 20 year and a much better team mate then Xi’an “I quit the team every time something else pops up” Coy Mahn.  I’m still a little unclear exactly what Dani is fighting and why, but I am intrigued enough to NOT hate yet another Fear Itself book.

Uncanny X-Force #13 – WOW.  Just...WOW.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from this return trip to the Age of Apocalypse, but it has yet to disappoint!  Seeing all these iconic versions of our favorite characters again has been thrilling!  Forget the quest for the Life Seed!  Watching Logan struggle with trying to save not just any old survivors but his best friend and the love of his life AGAIN is heart breaking.  And to watch AOA Jean/Phoenix take the choice right out from under him as she reminds him “I’m not your Jeanie…I’m his” and throws him and all the other 616 mutants through the portal because it wasn’t their fight, was painful to watch.  I am intrigued about a few things by the end of the book though: 1) How does Nightcrawler get there (since we know he does from recent teasers) if they already came back through the portal and 2) Is that really Holocaust we see at the end there!?

X-men (Vol. 3) #16 – Eh…this continues to be a lackluster and somewhat BLEH book.  Every issue seems to further prove that we don’t need ANOTHER X-men book (you know in addition to Uncanny, Astonishing, Legacy, and the upcoming Wolverine & the X-men).  Now that being said, this issue DID have some really great highlights to it.  Valeria’s “It wasn’t me…but it could have been” attitude? Amazing!  Thing and Wolverine’s exchange about Doom and Magneto? CLASSIC!!  And bringing Lee Forrester back in the mix with Magneto, Cyclops, AND Emma (aka the New Girl in Cyclops’ life)?  NOT TO BE MISSED!!  These few elements alone will keep me interested in this storyline but I still say we don’t need the X-tra X-book.

X-men Legacy #254 – This was ok.  Definitely seemed like a decent opening for what COULD be a great story, so I’ll excuse the slow moving-ness of this first issue.  Lots of set up for the next few issues here.  I would have liked to have seen more of Alex, Lorna and Rachel but again I think this was mostly setting them up for #255.  And I guess I wasn’t watching closely back when Magneto accepted Polaris as family, but it really meant a lot to me to hear him refer to her as his daughter.  I think it shows that this is more than just a standard rescue mission for him and he has more at stake.  I’m less interested in the whole civil war aspect of what’s going on and really not interested the whole Bug People part of it, but I supposed that they had to frame the rescue mission with something!  Oh and Rogue’s little group of people?  Stupid!  Not only are they basically caricatures, but Mike Carey had the audacity to pull out the Arin’nn Haelar!  I’m sorry but that is sacred and only to be used in extreme situations, not for Rogue to pull a power play.  I am sure that she could have thought of something else…  Overall this storyline shows promise and the important part is that the Starjammers make it back to earth.

The Forever Storyline - Review FF #8

Honestly where to begin?  Some may call my psychic (or just psycho) but I sort of called this last month.  After thoroughly enjoying 2 issues of Inhumans, I suspected that once we got back to the Future Foundation, the storylines would be a bit lackluster...and lo and behold!  ::sigh:: OK lets break it down...

The Bad - I typically do the good first but I'd rather get this out of the way.  This book all but requires you to know your fair share of Fantastic Four history.  I thought that with Spidey and Doom joining the group and a whole slew of misfits to focus on, that this wouldn't just be a new Fantastic Four book, but alas it is.  I just tuned back in Reed and the gang during Countdown to 3 so I don't get the backstory of Forever City, Nathaniel (last I saw him, he was an old man with a cybernetic eye and Dr. Doom's armor), or Valeria's cold demeanor, and I would think that they could give us a little more to work with.  I also just recently started to regularly collect the new Avengers books during Heroic Age, and even with them pulling out some old storylines from the vault (like Korvac and the Infinity Gems) these stories didn't require me to have read the old storylines the way that FF has.  Also, did I really just watch Dr. Doom get taken out by DIABLO?  Boo! Hiss!!  Are you for real?  First of all, not only should Doom have been expecting a double cross, but Reed flat out said that it was "statistically significant" so shouldn't everyone have been watching extra closely?  And really, when was the last time Doom got snuck up on...  And where is Ben Grimm??  I get that he's on the Avengers now, but Wolverine manages to be in all places at all times for all his books so I expect the same from the Thing, and if a choice has to be made as to where he goes, then he definitely goes to the FF before the Avengers.  At the end of the day, part of me feels like I don't even get the story enough to be disappointed in it, but I definitely am...disappointed that is...

The Good - All is not lost!  There were some gleaming moments in this dismal showing!  First of all, yeah we all know that Reed "leads" the team...just like we all know that Susan is the backbone.  When a foot needs to be put down or some needs putting in their place ::coughNathanielcough::  She's truly the strong woman behind the man and nobody best forget that!  Another printed gem was the scene with Franklin and Valeria.  Or really any scene with Franklin and Valeria.  Franklin used to be such a little goodie goodie, so its nice to see him getting his sneaky-on.  And Valeria, well shes just hilarious.  She's definitely an older woman (like her parents age) trapped in the body of a little girl and I get the biggest kick out of watching this superbrain getting super-timed out by her parents (my other favorite Valeria moment this week came in X-men (Vol. 3) #16 when catastrophe strikes and they ask if she caused it and she replies, "No! But that does sound like me."

Overall, Marvel screwed up a great book...they added a slew of new characters and then didn't use them and instead made this just a continuation of Fantastic Four (even counting the issues numbers towards this Fall's Fantastic Four #600.  Maybe they should have tried to show us Alex Power working without his siblings, or Artie and Leech worried about all their friends across the country on Utopia, but no, instead we got characters acting as wall paper while we get page after page of science babble from Reed, Nathaniel and now Doom.  I'll almost certainly be dropping this book after issue #11 and I doubt I'll be picking up Fantastic Four again until the next big event.  Unfortunately the brilliant snippets we get of the kids aren't enough to warrant $3.99 a month from me anymore.

My Weekly Pull List - 8/31/11

Wow, it's like someone up there was listening!  After weeks of being inundated by Fear Itself tie-ins, Marvel has decided to give us a break!  So everyone enjoy their nice, light week!  Children's Crusade FINALLY returns, but Marvel I am warning you...Wanda better not turn out to be a DoomBot!!  Also, just a quick observation, but aren't these X-Force issues coming out awfully quick??

Avengers: Children’s Crusade #7

Fear Itself: The Deep #3 (Of 4)

Secret Avengers #16 (John Cassaday Regular Cover)

Uncanny X-Force #14

UPDATE:  I just checked my calender and Angel & Faith from Dark Horse Comics starts this week!!  So from now on, any Buffy Season 9 (and all related titles) are fair game from scathing articles and reviews...Dark Horse, you have been warned :)

Angel & Faith #1

Marvel Comics On-sale - 8/31/11

OK Heads up 2nd printing and Variant fans because its a BIG week for you!!  As Spider Island keeps chugging along, we're getting multiple printings and new covers for the opening installments of the Spider-man story of the year, so pick your favorite!  And as Ultimate Hawkeye gets his own book (with multiple covers), we are also treated to two new covers for Ultimate Fallout #4!

Update 8/30/11:  Oops! I somehow forgot to post Avengers: Children Crusade #7!

Amazing Spider-Man #666 (Humberto Ramos 2nd Printing Variant Cover) SI

Amazing Spider-Man #667 (Humberto Ramos 2nd Printing Hero Sketch Variant Cover) SI

Amazing Spider-Man #667 (Humberto Ramos 2nd Printing Lizard Sketch Variant Cover) SI

Amazing Spider-Man #668 SI

Amazing Spider-Man: Infested #1 SI

Avengers: Children's Crusade #7
Deadpool MAX #11 (Of 12)

Fear Itself #1 (Of 7) (Stuart Immonen 4th Printing Variant Cover) FI

Fear Itself: The Deep #3 (Of 4) FI

Gambit: From the Marvel Vault #1

Herc #6.1

Incredible Hulks #635 (Paul Pelletier Regular Cover)

Incredible Hulks #635 (Adi Granov Variant Cover)

Incredible Hulks #635 (Blank Variant Cover)

Incredible Hulks #635 (Paul Pelletier Variant Cover)

Iron Man 2.0 #8

Journey Into Mystery #626.1

Mighty Thor #3 (Olivier Coipel 2nd Printing Variant Cover)

Mighty Thor #5 (Olivier Coipel Regular Cover)

Mighty Thor #5 (Greg Land Variant Cover)

Secret Avengers #16 (John Cassaday Regular Cover)

Secret Avengers #16 (Jamie McKelvie Variant Cover)

Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1 (Of 3) SI

Ultimate Comics Fallout #4 (Of 6) (Mark Bagley 2nd Printing Variant Cover) DOSM

Ultimate Comics Fallout #4 (Of 6) (Sara Pichelli 2nd Printing Variant Cover) DOSM

Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1 (Of 4) (Kaare Andrews Regular Cover)

Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1 (Of 4) (Adam Kubert Variant Cover)

Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1 (Of 4) (Neal Adams Variant Cover)

Uncanny X-Force #12 (Mark Brooks 2nd Printing Variant Cover)

Uncanny X-Force #14

Venom #1 (Joe Quesada 4th Printing Variant Cover)

X-Men: Schism #2 (Of 5) (Frank Cho 2nd Printing Variant Cover) S

Zombies Christmas Carol #5 (Of 5)

DOSM = Death of the Spider-man

FI = Fear Itself

SI = Spider Island

S = Schism

next Big Thing: Shattered Heroes Interview with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

WARNING: Read the interview before you read my write-up!

Interview with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction - at IGN

Time for Marvel's Next Big Thing - Shattered Heroes!  Much like Dark Reign and Heroic Age, this won't be one big sweeping storyline, but instead just a general tone and direction for a many (or most) or Marvel's books...but that means its JUST like Dark Reign AND Heroic Age.

Fear itself has been very exciting with a lot of action, character developments, and more then one pointless tie-in series, but its also coming off the Heroic Age where Marvel swore to us that they were done with large sweeping crossovers.  Let's also not forget the Heroic AGE only lasted a year.  It was supposed to be the new status quo for the Marvel Universe but at most it was about 12 issues in each of the Avengers books and the first 4 issues of many other books (and one Uncanny X-men special).  Personally, I was just getting really comfortable with the current teams and now it seems that anything and everything is changing...YET AGAIN.  Are we going to get a slew of new #1s also??

And there is at least a small chance that Thor will be dead by the end of Fear Itself, again, and that leaves me wondering what are we going to get in Fear Itself 7.3?  Are we getting a new God of Thunder (much like the old new Captain America and the new Ultimate Spider-man)? Or will it just be a depressing mourning issue showing the reaction of the other Asgardians?  Didn't they just make a big deal about Cap, Iron Man and Thor being back together again??? I guess people got bored with that.

Now I am very intrigued to see where Iron Man goes from here.  He, in my honest opinion, that voluntarily gave up the most.  I understand that Captain America lost his best friend, and Thor is either dead or possibly at odds with all of Asgard, but Tony had to make the conscious choice to leave his friends and comrades in the midst of a war. He also had to sacrifice his hard earned sobriety in the hopes that All-Father Odin will not only choose to NOT incinerate him on the spot but also will listen to him and help him save the planet that Odin is ready to raze...

Now if Shattered Heroes ends up just being Fear Itself 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, Battle Scars and the Fearless then I'll be ok with that.  However, if it turns into Dark Reign year of fallout and backlash from the even then I'll honestly be more then just a little disappointed.  I just don't think that every big event needs to be followed by a company reset of the status quo in order to keep it interesting.  I mean really, after only 1 year of Avengers stories, they can't possibly have exhausted all the angles from these groupings of characters, and if they think that they have then they just aren't trying hard enough. 

I'm definitely going to read Shattered Heroes, and I definitely want to know what happening to everyone afterwards.  I just wondering if it needs to be a huge storyline that covers every book.  I remember years ago after Onslaught, which covered basically every Marvel book, they didn't follow it up with a huge storyline covering every book.  It led into Heroes Reborn (which only included 4 books) and everything else had an issue or 2 to just show the fallout from the storyline.  I think that this should be more like that rather then drag out a big Dark/Heroic Reign/Age.  I don't want to see the Shattered Heroes banner all the way until next Summer.