Comic Reviews on 4/9

Well, I got three comics today, one of which was late and I missed one that didn't come out that was officially supposed to.


Amazing Spider-Man 556


Basic Plot: Spidey tries to make his way through the snow to find the other mathematicians while the one he saved tries to reason with the cops.

I didn't really see that twist coming. Honestly, I probably should have, but whatever. Either way, I am liking this story. New crap, but good crap. As much as I am starting to get really sick of non-classic Spidey villains (where is Doc Ock or Electro or somebody?), I actually like this storyline. And look up above at that pic again. Doesn't Spidey look really cold? I love Bachalo's art from other things and it works perfectly with the Mayan crazy people here. All in all, I am happy with Zeb Wells doing Spidey and I really would like a storyline that is longer or writing that doesn't change, along with art that doesn't change. How long are we going to have to wait? Oh, and something cool. Look at Spidey's number and FF's number below. Because of stuff like 3 issues a month as opposed to 1, and probably other things throughout the years, ASM has caught up with and is surpassing FF, which means it is going to be the highest numbered Marvel comic, as FF was the first and is still going, but Spidey just has three issues a month now. Yes, Spidey has had a lot more comics with him in it all in all, but his numbering just tied and will surpass FF's next week. I almost forgot, JJJ is awesome in this too (although he only is in the beginning).

Fantastic Four 556


Basic Plot: CAP is running rampant and superheroes try to stop it.

I seriously love Mark Millar's writing most of the time. This is no exception. The series has been awesome every single issue and we finally get actual fighting in this issue, and it is some good stuff. So, CAP is pretty darn powerful and when S.H.I.E.L.D. sends 40 of their biggest hitters, which includes: Iron Man, Spider-Man, Sentry, Black Panther, Wasp, Black Widow, Wolverine, Ares, Wonder Man, Storm, Hercules, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, Stature, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Doc Samson, War Machine, Yellowjacket, the Gauntlet (when does this take place?), Vision, Justice, Patriot, Hulkling, Speed, Dr. Strange and Gravity. Apparently there are more, but I couldn't find them or recognize them. Oh, plus three of the Fantastic Four, Reed was capturing a micro-galaxy at the edge of the universe, but is coming back, and I think he can somehow take this guy out. Oh, and, yeah, Gravity is there. Gravity. I love Gravity, and found his mini-series awesome, Beyond to be awesome and his guest appearance in Fantastic Four to be okay (as the story itself kind of sucked IMO). Still, Gravity is incredibly obscure, but awesome. I love that Millar or Hitch liked him enough to use him as one of the 40 big hitters that S.H.I.E.L.D. would send. Geez, I really need to stop praising Millar. I'll stop and move on.

Kick-Ass 2



Basic Plot: Dave Lizewski recovers and moves on.

Okay, so Kick-Ass 1 was amazing and I loved it. Mark Millar is an amazing writer and...damn it! Why must there be two awesome Millar books this week. Now, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse that came back as a zombie and then was killed again. Anyway, this an amazing series that I seriously recommend to any comic fan, because it honestly captures superheroes in a whole new light and it just brutal fun and everything about it just works. A person dressing up in an outfit and trying to fight crime is crazy. Now, we live in a world without superheroes. That means no Superman or Spider-Man. We also don't have stuff like Iron Man or any of the current New Warriors (with high-tech gadgets and whatnot). We don't even really have Punisher or Batman in this world. Nobody, in this world, runs around fighting crime. A Batman or Punisher would be killed. An Iron Man or New Warrior or Spider-Man or Superman can't exist (honestly), and the closest thing we can get is the Batman or Punisher that really would be killed pretty quickly honestly in real life. Kick-Ass (which apparently is at least the name Millar calls him in the scripts) really just tries his best to beat people up while in a weird outfit. He got his ass kicked in his first fight and then got run over. In this one, he just has more determination and a whole lot more luck and is able to drive three guys away, even while getting the snot kicked out of him. Oh, and his fight is going on YouTube thanks to a camera phone. I mean, honestly, that is about as close to real life superheroes as really exists in this world. Kick-Ass is amazing and I totally recommend it. Oh, and no censorship, and there is a lot of swearing. Yay for Mark Millar (dammit)!

Skrulls in Vs pt 2

Things didn't look good for Skrulls in VS. They didn't have much, they mostly just had one good card, an okay army card and a bad card that is more meant for another team. With a cosmic-themed set though, Skrulls could get the love they deserved. Nenora was one of the cards they made that became banned. A card you can recruit for the price of a discard, any discard, was too powerful and they eventually banned all of those, even though Nenora wasn't nearly as broken as the other two. Let's see:


So we have a 2/1, not bad. Two affiliations and an ability that is okay, along with being a free recruit. For the newfound Skrull theme of multiple affiliations, this works pretty well in that she grants all your Skrulls an extra affiliation. Unfortunately, since she was banned, Skrulls still don't have a single 1-drop.
Warskrull was a card I don't like particularly, although he can be used well. To me, he feels less like a character and more like a plot twist. You can either have a 3/2 2-drop with nothing else or a resource that you KO to get yourself your Skrull team-up:


I mean, I just would prefer another 2-drop, like Skrull Soldiers. Oh well, he could be used, I guess, just as a team-up searcher.
Wolverine and Captain America are both great 3-drops, and I found it difficult to choose between the two, as Wolvie is amazing by himself whereas Cap is awesome at helping. You can see their backstories in Origin Stories on Billy Zonos' blog. As for the cards themselves:


Both are awesome. Wolvie gets all affiliations (which with Mutopia you can abuse to give all of your guys all the affiliations in play) and gets to be a 10/4, whereas Cap basically makes your guys all have Bamf! as long as you have three affiliations (not that hard to do). Most people abuse Cap, by hiding him with Franklin Richards and then all of your guys jsut can't be stunned while attacking pretty permanently.

More next time, but for now, see you!

Why I love Skrulls

Okay, so why am I so Skrull-obsessed? Well, let's see...

I love many aliens. In general, I would prefer an alien version of something to the original (Beta Ray Bill over Thor), as I find it interesting to have aliens doing things. There have been various things I have read where Super Skrull is in it and I just find him awesome. I mean, he has all the abilities of the Fantastic Four, hypnosis and his natural shapeshifting. I think that it interesting and I just like the character. In various things, I have also found that I like watching Skrulls fight. Plus, while they have existed for a long time, they have gotten no respect. I mean, the Kree, while alien adversaries as well, are often thought of as more noble and respectable than the Skrull. Probably because they are closer to human than Skrulls, which just look like aliens that people fear and believe are coming to invade Earth and whatever. However, when I look at Kree v Skrulls, I think of how it started. The Skrulls were a peaceful society while the Kree were harsh and cruel. When visiting planets, deciding who to share their knowledge with, they gave the Cotati and the Kree a challenge, to create something and the more impressive, they would give their knowledge to. The Kree constructed an amazing city while the Cotati made an amazing garden. The Skrulls liked the garden more, and the Kree got pissed off and attacked the Skrulls and started the war. Now, despite that you don't look at who started everything when taking blame during the war into account (both are still fighting and hate each other anyway, so that the Kree started it is found to be unimportant), I still find that the Skrull were once peaceful and that the Kree were always jerks. Anyway, I somehow just started loving everything Skrull related and just got into them. It was emphasized even more when the Annihilation: Super Skrull mini-series came out. Kl'rt is amazing and I love him so much. I mean, at the very beginning, you get to see what he can do. While fighting bugs, he makes his arms stretch, become invisible and Thing-hard, then slices up bug bodies by just moving his arm around. It just is awesome and I love just seeing him work. Anyway, I have grown to love the Skrulls and while I don't think they will win during their Secret Invasion, I want them to.

Skrulls in Vs

So, now that Skrulls are making a huge appearance and a big impression on the Marvel Universe, I'm going to look at all the Skrull stuff in VS.

In MOR, the Skrulls were the 7th team, after X-Men, FF, Brotherhood, Doom, Sentinel and Negative Zone. People complain about Negative Zone, but they got three cards, whereas Skrull got 2. Sure, one was an army card, but a 2-drop army is hard to run with. Super Skrull, Engineered Super Soldier was a powerful card, although didn't quite look like it. He is a 10/10 6-drop with flight and range. Not all that impressive, since a 12/12 is average, but when he attacks or defends, a discarded card means you get to to give him +3/+3, burn the opponent for three and ready all your Army Skrulls. Pretty nice. In terms of flavor, I like it because it shows his versatility. He has all the powers of the Fantastic Four, so he can do many things. He looks weak, but when you attack him, he can put up a shield, make his arm rock hard, and burn you as well as encouraging his Skrull comrades. It could also be seen as the Skrull emperor granting him greater abilities with the ray that was used on him in his first appearance (which I don't believe was ever used again). Back to the card itself, abuse him with the right stuff, and you have a powerful character. Skrull Soldier was the Army card, and is a 2/2 with range. Again, below average, but has a great ability. It has an activated ability that gives an attacker +1 ATK for each support row Skrull Soldier you control. So 4 Skrull Soldiers in your support row means +16 ATK. +16! Now, combined with Super Skrull, and you have to plan how much you can do with X front row characters (that can ready) and Y support row characters (that actually provide pump-age). They were generally considered a pretty pathetic team, but they did get a third character in MSM. Of course, it didn't help the Skrull theme at all (Army characters in the support row?), and was more an FF card. Lyja, The Lazerfist is a Skrull that gets the FF affiliation if you have an FF character and you can KO her to recover an FF character. She is a 4/3 3-drop with range, which is also under the curve. She fits flavorwise in that she did marry an FF member (Human Torch), and then "sacrificed" herself to save the FF, as she betrayed the Skrulls. Still, the Skrulls got no love from MMK all the way through MXM, but in MHG, they got a big boost. However, I will not talk about that now, as they got enough cards to actually make a viable deck that actually is pretty powerful. I'll also post a decklist for one of my Skrull decks.

Secret Invasion 1

Sl'jk here, letting you in on some information. So, you want to know who was revealed to be a Skrull? Well, we have revealed three of our agents, and another one also impersonated somebody, although only for a short time. We had an agent impersonate Invisible Woman and he was able to mess up the Negative Zone portal in the Baxter Building, which ended up, causing a huge rift in the middle of NYC, which is distorting space. Our agent disguised as Dum Dum Dugan blew up S.W.O.R.D. headquarters in space, setting them back massively and causing many casualties. Our agent disguised as Edwin Jarvis was able to insert a Skrullian computer virus into Tony Stark's systems, completely messing up all systems he is connected with, including his Iron Man armor and the locking mechanisms at the Raft and the Cube. Our agent disguised as Hank Pym (aka Yellowjacket) took out Reed Richards who had discovered the secret behind our newfound way to disguise ourselves from technology and magic and enhanced senses. Oh, and a mystery for you Terrans: Why do we keep saying, "He loves you," before enacting our missions. Also, one of our ships crashed with superheroes inside. Out of it popped old-school versions of Emma Frost, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Thor, Beast, Wonder Man, Invisible Woman, Phoenix, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Jewel, Mockingbird, Captain America, Ms. Marvel and Wolverine. Okay, that's all well and good for you Terrans, but wait? Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Wonder Man, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel all already were investigating the crashed ship. Who are the Skrulls there?

He loves you.

4/2 Comics

Not many comics today, but still an awesome day.

Punisher: War Journal 18


Basic Plot: Jigsaw moves the pieces of his intricate puzzle into place.

I really didn't quite get this issue. The Punisher isn't in it, I believe, so things are very confusing. WTF happened to Jigsaw? When did he become that crazy and delusional? Oh well, things are shaping up so that the Punisher can kill some more people. All in all, though, I was really confused. I had to read it three times to understand the Punisher wasn't in it. Part is Chaykin's art (I am not a fan of Chaykin), and part is just how Jigsaw keeps changing his mind and acting weird. Hopefully things will make more sense later on.

Amazing Spider-Man 555


Basic Plot: Spidey and Wolvie fight some weird people (the guys on the cover) while it snows in April.

Oh, you silly, silly writers. At the end of the issue, they have a statement saying that they f'ed up. Dr. Strange appears in this issue, while the Avengers are still using his Sanctum Sanctorum as a base, and he is still on the Avengers, even though he had already left by the time that Spidey switched back to his red and blue. They are giving a no-prize out if you can explain it. Well, this is a better story than last month's. I think that basically, he is on the Avengers, and nobody knows his identity there. I think that's how it works, although I am not sure. Anyway, it was much better this month. With all different creative staffs putting out 3 issues for one month, it kind of gets confusing, as certain people can write Spidey well, and certain others can't. Wells writes Spider-Man, well, well. Um, let me make that clearer. The author, Zeb Wells, writes Spider-Man in a way that I think can be described by the word "well." Oh, and this is my reasoning to why Doc is still there:
When Mephisto f'ed everything up, Dr. Strange changed what he said from that he was going to go away to a far-off place and be alone, to that he was going to mostly just work on things by himself, try and get to where he once was, but until then, they can still use his place if they want to, and that he might just help out with some mystical stuff once in a while.

Secret Invasion 1


Basic Plot: The Skrulls invade.

OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG! I am so psyched for this event! Okay, so I'll let Sl'jk tell you what is going on and who is a Skrull, but I just wanted to say that this is an awesome issue and that Secret Invasion is amazing, spectacular and friendly (wait, what?). No, it is awesome. I love Yu's artwork and with what's going on, it is freaking incredible and unbelievably awesome. I'm so happy for Skrulls! Yes! Bendis is one sick freak, and has been planting tons of clues along the way ever since he wrote Secret War (Secret War, Secret Invasion), and New Avengers originally. That stuff in the Savege Land that was some big secret and then, poof! What happened to it? All clues. Everything aside from Ultimate Spider-Man that Bendis has done has pretty much been leading up to this. Everything. House of M? Yup. Craziness. I'll let Sl'jk expose actual story related stuff tomorrow, since he seems so excited about that. Oh, and he'd kill me. Anyway...

Invasion

Hello Terrans. If you have been reading Marvel comics recently, you will no doubt have noticed that the Skrulls have planned a Secret Invasion of Earth. I am Sl'jk, a Skrull representative that will be filling in occasionally to give you information. First off, don't you just love how we Skrulls have evolved over the course of Marvel comics? Look at the first appearance of Skrulls in the second issue of your Fantastic Four (your name, not ours for them) comic book in the month January of your 1962nd year past the arbitrary date you Terrans set.

I mean, come on! Our ears are not only the size of our heads, but also look at our silly collars! All spiky and bizarre. Well, the Plthrt Four (Plthrt is a Skrull curse) also looked different, so I guess that can just be attributed to the time. I'll bet you never expected we were going to be the main group that Earth's heroes would fight in your 2008'th year past the arbitrary date. I mean, we had four representatives and we got completely owned by the Plthrt Four. They didn't even have costumes yet! Who are we infiltrating as? Well, just think to yourself: Who has been acting strangely recently? Has anybody been particularly nice, mean or bizarre? If so, then we cannot take responsibility, as our infiltration has been perfect. Nobody even noticed until Elektra. I mean, come on! She's been a Skrull since... oops, almost got me there. Heh. Pretty convenient that there was that New Avengers: Illuminati mini-series that told you about the time those frsp Terrans tried to take on our Empire. I mean, look at the timing there. That series tells you that Skrulls have been pissed off since the end of the Kree-Skrull war (when I say end, I mean the stalemate that we came too, frsp Kree), Elektra is revealed to be a Skrull during the time of the mini-series and at the end, you have stuff from the first issue mixed with the Elektra reveal. Heh. Well, Terrans, we are looking forward to revealing more of us as time goes on, but until then,
Who Do You Trust?