Time for comic review!

Sub-Mariner 5


Basic Plot: Namor is looking for Atlantean terrorists who have been attacking American cities, when he discovers his son is behind them. Stark's superiors are pissed off at him for not dealing with Namor the way they want him to. Atlantis is undergoing a slight civil war.

Well, after the first issue, I was intrigued. I still find Sub-Mariner interesting as he is a confusing character. Originally a villain, then a hero, then a villain and then a hero and back and forth. He always puts Atlantis ahead of anything, which makes people distrust him and even when he helps, it is for his own reason. The way Namor deals with everything here reminds me of why he is such a great character. People think of Wolverine or Punisher when they think of anti-heroes, but really, they are heroes who aren't afraid to play dirty. Namor is different. He'll play dirty, but whether hero or villain, it doesn't matter. As he often says, he is a king, and he is different from every other person. He is the hero here, but he also isn't and if you think that's confusing, try and understand where his son came from. You'll go crazy.

Ultimate Power 8



Basic Plot: The Ultimates have come to get back Reed from the Supreme Power universe, when the original Squadron Supreme shows up. Everybody fights some more, Doom is revealed to be a Doombot (Thank God!) and then Fury unleashes the Ultimate Hulk on them.

After reading Ultimates and Ultimates 2, I have found that I love the characters there a lot. SO, this was right up my alley, as I have also loved the Squadron and like how they made them in Supreme Power. The fights are getting kind of boring at this point, but the story gets more and more convoluted as we go on and it is great. Whenever two Squadron members that are the same person from different universes are near each other, if one speaks, the other copies exactly what he or she says. It is rather amusing, though. Things are getting incredibly out of hand and with two versions of the Squadron, including one that recognizes the Ultimates as the Avengers, chaos is everywhere. I can't wait to see how this finishes as the next issue is the last of the series.

Annihilation: Conquest-Quasar 4


Basic Plot: Moondragon has become the Dragon of the Moon, a powerful dragon entity, Phyla has to get quantum power back from the Super-Adaptoid and they have to take out the Phalanx.

It starts poorly, but ends well. At least not everything is going to hell in the last issues of the Annihilation: Conquest prologues. Wraith ended well last week and this ends well this week, and considering ow badly things had been going beforehand, it is a vast improvement. I am liking how they are taking Phyla and making her incredibly powerful and vulnerable. Although it is a little formulaic how they take out the Adaptoid, it still is good, and while cheesy, still powerful. I don't know if this will be as good as Annihilation, which is hard to top, but it's shaping up to be pretty good at the least.

My God, only three comics I was interested in this week? That's what happens with 5-Wednesday months, I guess.

Spider-Man 3

Well, I know critics hated it, but I never felt that way about Spider-Man 3. Was it the greatest movie ever? No. But I don't feel it was as bad a movie as everybody says. Yes, some things were horrible and as a comic fan, I hated them. However I had honestly not felt more fun at a superhero movie when I saw it opening night. First I'll just go over the entire situation. It was a Friday afternoon and my friends were going to see it with tickets they bought in advance. With nothing better to do, I went down to Metreon (where they were going to see it) and hung out with them until when they went into the theater. I even got dinner with them. I wasn't quite able to get a ticket for the showing they went to (especially as it didn't even show up on the screen at all), but got a ticket for the last showing of the night, at 1 AM on the IMAX screen. When I returned to the theater, my friends were just leaving and we hung out for a little while until I went and saw the movie.

Yes, they put too much into it, but it was still awesome. There had to be Harry getting a Goblin outfit after all that happened in the last two movies. It was inevitable. Venom they wanted to get out of the way and Raimi really wanted Sandman (for some unfathomable reason). I don't dislike Sandman, but don't think he needs to be in a movie before Venom. As much as I don't like the symbiotes and wat they did with them (Carnage was bad enough, but Lady Venom? All his weird offspring? Toxin?), I have to admit that Venom became one of Spidey's greatest villains. Sandman? He went from random villain who was bad to misunderstood villain/hero to hero back to villain or hero and I just get confused. Like almost all villains, they made him just a bad guy until they wanted to make him more of a hero, and thus gave him a backstory that made you feel bad for him (abusive father or something). Oh, and none of that is in the movie.

Ways it differed from the comics unforgivably:
Sandman killed Uncle Ben.
Sandman has a wife and kid?
Sandman can freakin' fly?
Gwen doesn't die and likes Spidey?
Emo Spidey.

3 out of my 5 reasons have to do with Sandman. Venom, for the short time he was in it, was done well and looked pretty good. Harry, followed more in his father's footsteps with the amnesia and forgetting, but then remembering and snapping again. Harry had to become the Goblin and, while it wasn't like that in the comics, I think they made the character believable based off of what they had done in the previous movies. Alien symbiote? It was very bizarre, but at least it was extraterrestrial in some way. Vulnerability to sound was good.

Still, for all of the reasons I have to dislike it, I still really enjoyed it. This is my tried and true method for liking superhero movies. When I go into the theater, I put all of my feelings about the actual comic on hold so that I can try and enjoy the movie. When I am at the theater, I only focus on the movie, in which I generally fall into the movie and enjoy it a lot. After leaving the theater, I then walk back home (just a few miles), letting all of my anger about things go away by expressing them to myself. If you see me after watching a superhero movie for the first time, I probably will ignore you as I get all my anger over stupid things out. All my complaints about the movie I let out until I get back home, at which time, I am happy about the movie.

I would not make a good movie reviewer as I focus more on what I like, even when I know it's not a good movie. I liked Hulk, Daredevil, X3, FF, Spider-Man 3 and Ghost Rider because I try and have fun when I go to the movies, not try and critique every thing, although I do that later. I never expect superhero movies to be good movies. Fun? Yes. Good? No. Some are, like X2 and Spider-Man 2 and Hellboy, but there are ones like FF, which aren't good at all, but I still can enjoy them.

Get Spider-Man 3 today!

Marvel Zombies p2

If you haven't read the first part of this, you probably should before this. Just warning ya.

So, after UFF's second look at the zombies, they made Marvel Zombies v Army of Darkness. Army of Darkness has apparently had quite a few crossovers, but it made the jump to Marvel Zombies with this. It starts with Ash landing in a dumpster after falling from the sky after being kicked out of the afterlife (or something like that). He comes across Thunderball from the Wrecking Crew fighting Daredevil. Ash, not knowing who they are, sides with Thunderball, but before going to help, he gets a message of the world falling and an army of the dead rising delivered to him by the Necronomicon through a bag lady. As Ash starts to attack her, Dardevil, seeing a man with a chainsaw attacking an old woman attacks Ash. Ash distracts DD long enough for Thunderball to deliver a blow and knock DD out. He thinks himself a hero until he finds out that DD is a hero and Thunderball is a villain who was escaping from prison. Then, to set some things straight, he goes to Avengers HQ to warn them that the world is in danger. They don't take him seriously and he storms off. He starts ranting in the streets about the end of the world, but when the Avengers show up to stop him, the Sentry comes to Earth, infected with the zombie virus. In UFF, you learned Sentry brought the virus to Earth (sorry I didn't mention that earlier). Sentry infects all of those Avengers and they start eating people. Ash is rescued by Spidey who swings him away before being bitten by Colonel America, where he falls into a dumpster and then faces Luke Cage, Black Widow and Hawkeye, all zombies. Spidey then says Ash is all his and Colonel America lets Spidey have Ash to himself. As he swings away with Ash, he reveals he hasn't been turned yet, but then fears for MJ and Aunt May and thus rushes back home. Then, Ash runs into Punisher who says he'll help Ash if Ash helps him as Punisher then kills Kingpin and a lot of the crime lords who were meeting with him. Punisher is soon taken out though by a horde of zombies. Ash is able to save Dazzler though, and when he tells her of the Necronomicon's message, she takes him to Dr. Strange's house to see if he could do anything. As they get there, Ash is grabbed from behind and then Dazzler turns around to see Ash being eaten by a zombie Howard the Duck. The next issue introduces us to Ashley G. Williams who lived in the Marvel Zombie-verse and as soon as he heard about the zombie invasion, he went off to stop it with a chainsaw and shotgun. After taking out some zombies, he eventually saw Dazzler and Ashley J. Williams, and was distracted enough to be attacked from behind. The main Ash was apparently grabbed by Scarlet Witch, who joins them as they enter Doc's house. Dr. Strange isn't there, but a zombified-Dr. Druid is and eating Wong. After killing Druid, they search for the Necronomicon, and are told by the other books in Strange's library that a different doctor has it, Dr. Doom. As they leave for Scarlet Witch's Quinjet, Nextwave gets annihilated by a zombified Power Pack. They reach Latveria which is under attack by zombies also, like Black Goliath. Doom lets them in, but lets them know it is not something that the Necronomicon can deal with and locks Ash in a bunker with survivors from Latveria that he saved. He eventually gets released by one of the girls, and promptly runs into a Doombot, which they defeat. Then, using the armor covering the Doombot, he dresses as Doom and goes to Doom's library where he confronts the Necronomicon which echoes Doom's sentiments, saying it is not a virus that is magically inclined, but one from space, unrelated to magic. After leaving, he runs into Enchantress who is being held captive by Doom. After releasing her, he eventually learns she was imprisoned because she was a zombie, although one who still has powers of illusion. Dazzler is infected by Enchantress and Doom incinerates both. Before Ash can confront Doom, Latveria comes under attack by every single Marvel Zombie as led by Colonel America. Ash then comes up with an idea and has the Necronomicon raise all the people that the zombies ate from the dead to attack them. (Necronomicon's prediction comes true as world falls and army of dead rise, although at different times) Of course, the Marvel Zombies are much more powerful, but they are distracted by them long enough for Doom to construct a portal that allows the survivors to escape to another dimension. Ash gets though, but Doom destroys the portal as he was already infected. Ash goes through dimensions until he comes across one that resembles his own NYC. The portal fizzes out and he turns the corner and comes face to face with a pack of werewolves dressed like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Giant-Man etc. who have just finished eating Galactus. Then WereWolverine tells them that he smells food. The rest let him know he is no longer the only one with enhanced senses now, as they attack Ash.

During the run of MZ vAoD, they released a stand-alone story entitles Marvel Zombies: Dead Days. This takes place when heroes are still becoming infected. It opens with Spidey after leaving Ash, getting home and letting MJ and May know what is happening. Unfortunately for him, he turns before he realizes and eats his wife and aunt. Nova turns up to see if he can recruit Spidey to help fight the zombies, but realizes he arrived too late. Spidey then infects Daredevil, who saved Nova from being infected. Nova runs into Thor, who also has not been infected. As they fight off zombies, they get saved by the FF who take them back to the SHIELD Helicarrier, which is safe at the moment, where they stand with the other un-infected heroes. Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man and other scientifically minded heroes then start working on a cure, but Reed realizes that this could be the next step in human evolution (he is slightly crazy after She-Hulk came into the Baxter Building, eating his children). He infects his team with an airborne version of the virus and they then turn him. Iron Man works on a portal that will take them to another dimension, and while he finishes it, Reed attacks and Thor is forced to take out the portal before they can go, so that Reed can't go to another dimension for food. He eventually does (see UFF), but it takes him more time. A lot of the story recaps fights and how people were turned, including huge fights between the zombies and the non-zombies.

Then, just a few weeks ago, Marvel Zombies 2 came out. This is shaping up to be a good story, so I look forward to continue to see Marvel Zombies for as long as I can.

Marvel Zombies

For those of you who don't read comics, Marvel Zombies is one of the most interesting things to happen in a while and Marvel is capitalizing on this surprise hit in every way they can, with all new toys, shirts, a new series and zombie covers. Why is this such a hit? Let me explain...

In UFF 20, at the very end, Reed receives a very strange message from someone he didn't know. He got a message from Reed Richards. For those reading, this was strange as it looked like 616 Reed, but nobody could see what would happen next. Reed listened to the message, where Reed asked for his help. Using a dimensional portal that he had built, Ultimate Reed opened a gateway between their universe and the Ultimate universe. He went through to their universe and the Zombie Fantastic Four went to the Ultimate universe. Ultimate Reed was shocked to see many different super heroes, some of which he recognized, and some of which he didn't, as all were based off of the 616 appearances. They tried to eat him, when Magneto came to protect him, along with some survivors that he had managed to save. The Zombie FF were eventually taken out by Sue, and they were trapped in a box strong enough to hold the Hulk. Ultimate Reed eventually got back to the Ultimate universe, with help from Magneto and all the survivors, minus Mags, got there. Mags had to stay behind to close the portal. This seemed to be the end of this very bizarre tale.

But, no! It proved popular enough that Marvel got Robert Kirkman, author of such comics as Invincible, Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate X-Men, Irredeemable Ant-Man and The Walking Dead. He continued the story, taking exactly where Ultimate Fantastic Four 23 left off. Mags tries to escape from the zombies, who are right there after he closes the portal. He fends them off for a while, including taking off part of Colonel America's head with his own shield, causing shrapnel to go into many people, taking off Spidey's leg and decapitating Hawkeye. Eventually though, the Wasp got to him, and then it was a feeding frenzy, with lots of zombies chowing down on Magneto. Giant Man broke away from the group to go to his laboratory, where he had Black Panther sedated and had eaten one of his arms and the bottom of one of his legs. Wasp discovered this and demanded to know the reason why he hadn't shared Panther with the rest of the zombies. He responded, letting her know that they would all just eat him too quickly and with them not eating him, he could work on experiments. They fought and Giant Man bit off Wasp's head, spitting it out. They went back and regrouped with Iron Man, who was leading the zombies. Then, the Silver Surfer flew down. He had looked all around the planet, and found that while there weren't many things living, the planet was good for Galactus. As he informed them that Galactus was coming, they attacked him. Iron Man lost his legs from the first assault and he fried many more zombies. After Thor used his makeshift hammer to knock him off his board, Wolverine tried to take him out and while Surfer's skin didn't break Logan's claws, his claws did rip through his skin, and since Wolverine couldn't heal as a zombie, he became one-armed. Surfer eventually was taken down when Hulk just bit his head off. Then, Colonel America, Iron Man, Giant Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine all fed on him. The other zombies complained about their eating him too quickly, but they responded by blasting him with the Power Cosmic, which they somehow gained after ingesting Surfer. Soon, only those 7 were left. At this time, Galactus showed up. He said to them that while his hunger was at its peak, he still ad to know where his herald was. Giant Man responded by letting them know that they ate him and were still hungry. Galactus responds by blasting them with blasts of power and even the 7 zombies with the power cosmic were not able to do much to Galactus. Galactus did take out Luke Cage's left arm and part of his torso. They fled and Galactus then ignored them and went to work, building his machine to turn the planet into cosmic energy so he could feed upon it. Sometime before this, Panther made good an escape and got away with Wasp's head, who was still alive. He met up with Fabian Cortez and the Acolytes, who were surprised to see a person still left alive. They took him and Wasp back to their base on Asteroid M, which was no longer supported by Magneto, but still somehow was kept in orbit. When the zombies got back to Pym's lab, Pym was surprised that Panther was gone, but didn't let them know he had kept Panther there. Iron Man, Giant Man and Hulk, who changed back into Banner then went to work on a machine that would harness the Power Cosmic and amplify it. Eventually, they brought it out and went to find Galactus being attacked by some super villains who had become zombies. Galactus was not paying much attention to them, mostly shooing them away, although he had been injured. The 7 cosmic-zombies then turned on their machine and blasted Galactus twice, which was enough to bring him down in his weakened state. During a brief battle, in which the 7-zombies destroyed some of their ex-villains, Colonel America was taken out by the Red Skull who merely pulled out Colonel's brain and he fell dead. Then, Galactus awoke, but in such a sorry state, the 7-zombies were able to devour the devourer, gaining his Power Cosmic and his armor, flying off planet to other worlds to devour them. Black Panther and the Acolytes eventually return to Earth, where they start to build a new world, while the Galactus zombies tried to destroy all the others.

Proving popular enough to gain multiple different covers for each issue, the series did phenomenally well. In UFF, they eventually had another storyline called Frightful, in which Dr. Doom brings a being from the N-Zone and attaches it to Johnny. Finding no way to save him on his own, Reed consults everybody, eventually deciding to go to Doom. Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building, the zombie-FF escape their cell thanks to guards who forget that one of them can turn the team invisible. The building's top floors are locked down and the zombie-FF are trapped inside. Zombie-Reed is fine with that though as he decides to rebuild the portal to transfer all the zombies into the Ultimate universe. Meanwhile, Reed and Doom switch bodies so that Doom can prove to Reed that he is superior. After removing the entity from Johnny, it stays in this universe as opposed to going back to the N-Zone. Doom panics, as the entity goes straight for the most powerful being in the vicinity, Doom's body inhabited by Reed. Reed asks to be let into the Baxter building and he handily defeated the zombie-FF and takes their bodies to the finished portal where he deposits them and goes through the portal, although not before Doom decides to play the hero and switch their minds back, leaving Doom in the zombie universe with zombies who have just eaten Galactus.

Thought that was the end? Oh no. There's more, although I'll continue going over Marvel Zombies next week.

Why Gwen?

Well, I promised I would explain why I thought Gwen was better than MJ, so here goes.

During the issues of Amazing Spider-Man up until Gwen's death, Gwen and Peter were close and loved each other a great amount. Gwen conquered her hatred of Spider-Man because she loved Peter so much. They were so in love that the creative team was worried because the only logical thing to happen next was that they get married and the creative team didn't want Peter to be thought of as someone old, who has gotten married. Unfortunately, they decided that they had to kill off Gwen. Look it up. Anyway, the reasons they got together are just amazing. Both are incredibly brilliant science students, both are orphans (unfortunately) and both fell in love. MJ was introduced as someone who was also gorgeous, but who also was just a party animal, and she liked Pete as a friend and not as a lover, and while they eventually married, she wasn't originally someone who would let herself get tied down like that.

In House of M, every person there had their greatest dream come true (to an extent) and Spider-Man had Gwen not die by falling off a bridge, but became a hero who married her and had a kid, with Uncle Ben also alive. He would rather have had Gwen there than MJ, so that says to me a lot.

In USM, MJ and Gwen's roles have been reversed and MJ is smart (Brainy Janey), while Gwen is more rebellious (punk/goth?). And Peter goes for MJ, without ever thinking of Gwen. Since in the regular 616 universe, it was Gwen who was smart, it makes sense to me that he should have ended up with her in the 616.

If you want to argue with me, bring it on, although I don't know if you'll succeed.

Comics for the week of 10/24

Well, second week into this. Let's go!

Spider-Man Family 5




























Basic plot: First story has Doc losing his powers to Morbius and him asking Spidey to help. Second story has Kraven taking others on a hunt and meeting Spidey. Third is a reprint of Amazing Spidey 179. Fourth is a reprint of Marvel Team-Up 21. Fifth is a reprint of Spider-Man J: Enter Elektra

Whew, 104 pages of comics! The first story isn't bad. You got your basic Doc Strange/Spidey team-up with the only difference being Doc doesn't have his powers for most of it. The best part is that it is simple and not too complicated, but still not kiddy. It is part of Spider-Man Family, so it is a small story that is for fun. The second story also delivers this, although thoroughly confused me as it has Kraven as a villain, and while Spidey has fought people like Man-Wolf, Gibbon or Kangaroo, he hadn't faced Kraven or something. Either way, it was just weird. The ending: bad. The rest: okay, and somewhat amusing. Amazing Spider-Man 179? I don't know why they chose the storyline they did for the Amazing Spider-Man back-up stories in these issues, but it's a good one. Wanna-be crime boss Silvermane and wanna-be crime boss Green Goblin duke it out and Spidey is worried because Aunt May is dying. In the issue, you learn that Harry isn't the Goblin as previously thought (at the end). It isn't a horrible story, but has nothing special. I have always liked Doc Strange and Spidey teaming up because one is magic-oriented and the other is science-oriented. Xandu is trying to save his wife still and steals the Wand of Watoomb to try and serve his purpose. This one is pretty good in that it continues letting people know that magic cannot help for most problems. Although, again, it isn't great, but okay. I just can't get myself to read Spider-Man J, as the graphics are too confusing to me and the characters are just bizarre. Sorry.

Fantastic Four 550


Basic Plot: The universe is about to be destroyed. The New FF and Reed and Sue have to save it.

I have been confused throughout the storyline by McDuffie. Oh well. I like that they brought back Gravity, although I hate how they made Silver Surfer and Stardust weak. The concept is good, although I don't like that almost the entire issue consists of them realizing different things and then the end is condensed to "We did this and won." While fighting the Contrasepsis, they just talk as if nothing was attacking them and they were sitting around a coffee table. It felt unnatural and rushed. All in all, I probably won't keep reading FF, but it was amusing (even if they did butcher Silver Surfer and Stardust).

Blue Beetle 20


Basic Plot: Sinestro War raging on out in space. A Sinestro Corps member dies and the ring tries to use Peacemaker as he is one "who can instill great fear". Jaime tries to stop this.

The only DC comic I read on a regular basis! It does not disappoint this time either. I like Albuquerque's art less than Hamner's, but it still is good. The story is amusing as always and I really like how Beetle gets more and more creative with his powers and in beating the bad guys. He has more and more resources and is getting better. It still feels like an early Spider-Man type comic, and I really like that type of story. Newbie getting used to his powers with the newer twist that his powers were originally to be used for evil. I like how he keeps adding his panic to everything and coming off a flippant, when he really just never wanted this.

X-Men: Die by the Sword 2


Basic Plot: Captain Britain has been stabbed and the Exiles have to try and help Excalibur in beating the new menace.

This is supposed to be coming out next week. Arrggh! Well, Dazzler saw Longshot, became depressed and almost committed suicide. The story doesn't progress much, but it is more about setting everything up, and unlike other stories, does it well. I like it, and think it has potential. Not much though for me to say.

Moon Knight 13


Basic Plot: Moon Knight want to get registered with the government.

I had to read this twice to understand it. I still don't fully. It just confuses me when I try to read it and nothing seems to help. I don't know. Part of it is Tomm Coker's pencils. He reminds me of Bill Sienkiewicz, in that both are supposed to be good, but I get distracted by everything they do and feel it detracts from the story too much. The multiple personality scene is amusing, but other than that, it was a very confusing, and hard to interpert through the images, story.

Ultimate Spider-Man 115


Basic Plot: Spidey is captured while Norman runs amok. Kitty rescues him and they try to take down Norman.

Woohoo! Zombie cover! Anyway, I am liking Immonen more and more, and while he is no Bagley, I can accept him as the artist for USM. The story is well done, with Peter and Norman at their best, Peter freaking out over everything that is taking place and Norman being crazy. At the center of it, it is incredibly well done and it fits together well and I continue to like the adventures of this new (115 issues in, but still new to me, apparently) Spidey and the way he freaks out like nobody else. Immonen can easily capture how much he freaks out and the facial expressions are amazing. The story is also very good, and I really want them to explain what happened to Fury (depsite U Nick Fury being an asshole). Well, it was still a great issue and coming out every two weeks? Is there any better way to say "Yes!" than just saying it?

Black Panther 31


Basic Plot: After being royally f*&#ed by the Golden Frogs, they have to take out Psycho Man.

It really was short and was still good though. T'Challa has a dream sequence where he has to fight. Ororo has a dream sequence where she has to fight. She frees them, hurts Johnny on accident in freeing them, then Johnny gets better and they end up in a new reality. The dreams are really bizarre and everything is just weird. I don't know what else to say. It's pretty good, so I recommend it, but don't expect to be deeply moved or anything. It seems more like filler than anything.

Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith 4



Basic Plot: Wraith, Super Skrull, Praxagora and the rest of the freedom fighters have to take out the Phalanx's weapon before all the inhabitants within Kree space (and beyond?) are turned by the Supreme Intelligence.

I like Grillo-Marxuach's style of writing, he wrote Super Skrull's previous mini-series and I loved how he dealt with an oft misused character. He makes Wraith so bad-ass in a way he made Super Skrull in the previous mini-series. Wraith is a complicated character and I hope he stays around after Annihilation: Conquest, as he has a lot of future potential. I really liked how powerful he is, and yet so fragile at the same time. The art is somewhat confusing and I don't like how he draws Super Skrull, but it still works for the story. Dark, gritty and highly entertaining. Who could ask for more?

What if? Planet Hulk



Basic Plot: Two What if stories. #1 deals with what would have happened if Hulk had died and Caiera, his wife, had lived. #2 deals with what would have happened if Hulk had landed on the planet they intended to send him to.

Can I say, prefacing all this, that I believe Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and especially Iron Man, deserved everything they got in WWH and they got off easily. Okay, that being said, the first one made me very happy. Hulk, as opposed to throwing the ship into the air, threw Caiera away from everything, so that she lived and he was too close and ended up dying. She gets even more pissed than he was, and being more of a killer, well... Let's just say it goes how I wanted WWH to go as soon as I read Planet Hulk: Armageddon. Art is amazing in both stories, so nothing to complain about there. The second story is amusing, and has a great ending, but it really is more funny than anything. When he lands, he helps a race of aliens that like him. When he turns back to Banner, they hate him, so they play a game where they try to hurt each other by doing different things and then turning back into the other. Eventually, they come upon a bargain where they share the land. At the end, the aliens have evolved to the point where they are sentient and have worshiped Hulk, and well, I'll let you see for yourself. Oh, and there is a third story that is a single page, basically about how if Banner ended up on the planet as opposed to Hulk, he would have died and then everybody else who tried to check up on him just dies as they land. An amusing story, but not supposed to be deep at all or serious.

Cable and Deadpool 46


Basic Plot: Deadpool and Bob, Agent of Hydra are stuck in the past and try to get back with the help of the Fantastic Four from before and the current (New) Fantastic Four.

I usually only buy the zombie version of a cover is they are available, although I have to buy both versions since both have Deadpool on the cover. Let's see, Deadpool being himself makes for a great story. He is really trying to change and that is the hardest part as he tries not to kill or even hurt people that much anymore, so his battle with the FF doesn't go great. But, reading this is always so satisfying that I can read the issue multiple times and be happy each and every time. Nicieza seems to like to focus on Bob, Agent of Hydra recently, having his blog be the recap page and having his side of everything. And it's good. It gives a new perspective, and seeing the perspective of someone who doesn't try to just block out all of Deadpool's quotes is good, as people generally ignore when he says something like, "Geez, this detail stuff always works better when it's done between panels." Bob, not knowing Deadpool, has to ask what he's talking about, leading to many humorous moments. By this point, he has learned more and is devoted to Deadpool (like I am) and seeing them as what they could have been while falling through the time stream is amusing beyond belief. Seriously, buy this. DO IT! NOW!

Power Creeps

Everything in VS has gotten more powerful. The average stats are going up, the amount of ATK people can have is going up. Everything is increasing, although I've found two to be the most blatant. When MHG (Heralds of Galactus) came out, I built myself an Inhumans deck with 3-drop Torch burning his way to victory (average of 20 points a game). Later on, while checking my binder randomly, I happened to notice 3-drop Volcana from Origins. Let's compare, shall we? Human Torch has 2 more ATK than Volcana. Human Torch has flight while Volcana does not. Human Torch needs nothing else to recruit him unlike Volcana (Doc Doom). Human Torch is on a team that specializes in face-up resources while Volcana isn't really. The only thing that Volcana has that Torch doesn't? Volcana is an easier name to get around. There are only 2 Volcana, while there are 10 Torches, including 3 4-drops.
In DWF (World's Finest), I drafted Revenge Squad. I came in second, near last, and first, so I guess it worked fairly well. Anyway, a card I drafted was Spirit of Nabu, Magic. It was an ongoing plot twist that could give me some flight, which I generally lacked. Then I forgot about it and moved on. Eventually, recently, I realized that there is a card in Legends, New Mutations, which blows Spirit of Nabu away. New Mutations costs 2 less to flip and can be used on the first turn of the game. New Mutations affects every character you control as opposed to just one. New Mutations doesn't have a cost to pay, unlike New Mutations. Spirit of Nabu only has these advantages: It lowers your endurance (good for Shadowpact) and it is Magic (good for Shadowpact), so if you are building Shadowpact, you might want Spirit of Nabu more. Otherwise, you want New Mutations.
These just make me upset, almost. Volcana was never really that good, but to have a card that is just better for almost every single deck in the very next set? Why did they even make Spirit of Nabu? Oh well. If you can find more things like these, comment please.

Still Alive

Small post today. Portal is a video game set in the Half-Life universe, but you don't need to know anything about Half-Life in order to play. Basically, you have a portal gun that shoots two differently colored portals, one blue and one orange. When you enter a blue portal, you come out of an orange portal. When you enter an orange portal, you come out of a blue portal. You have to use the gun to solve puzzles and it is just an amazing game. Through the game, you are guided by a computer named GLaDOS. If you plan on playing this game, do not visit this link. I repeat: DO NOT VISIT THIS LINK IF YOU PLAN ON PLAYING THIS GAME. Otherwise, enjoy one of the quirkiest and greatest songs of all time:
Link

Timing of releases

Last Wednesday (10/10), FF 550 was supposed to come out and I was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, my comic store didn't have it at 12:00, when it opens, and didn't even have it this Wednesday (10/17). I was disappointed, but it gets worse. X-Men: Die by the Sword, which I mentioned about on Wednesday, came out the week of 10/10 even though it took place directly after and relating to the events in New Excalibur 24 which came out the following week. Also, Spider-Man Family 5 didn't come out this week like it was supposed to, at least I couldn't find it when I looked. All of this is just reminding me of four separate events. All relate to Marvel (which I follow closer than DC, so I am unaware of these things happening with DC) and the first is one that I was merely told about. Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do was written by Kevin Smith and had a hiatus of years between issues. Ultimate Wolverine v Hulk had an issue come out, then later, a second came out. I am still waiting for the third. Squadron Supreme issue 8 has not yet come out either despite it being a long time since issue 7. Also, during Civil War 2, Spidey unmasks, wrecking things for years to come, but an issue of Thunderbolts that was supposed to come out a week before had to get pulled back because in it, Spidey has already unmasked. The timing of these releases are just so bad that I just sometimes wish that I read only the paperbacks so that I wouldn't get screwed over by waiting for individual issues that come out at random times that are different from their solicitation date.

Deadpool

I have no idea where I first saw him, although it was probably X-Force 2 (Not when it came out, but found it somewhere). All I know is that I didn't think much of him at the time as he wasn't a big character in any of the things I saw. Although I did see ads for his comic in my comics (Drawn by Ed McGuinness when he was still a newbie), I paid little attention as I was only about 7 or so. Then, I decided to get every single Civil War tie-in. Why? Probably because I am crazy, but anyway, Cable and Deadpool had a tie-in to Civil War, so I decided to get it. After reading the first issue of the Civil War tie-in (issue 30), I was hooked. I just had to have more Deadpool, so I went and got early issues of Cable & Deadpool, eventually getting the entirety of that series, getting random issues of Deadpool at comics stores and looking for New Mutants 98. Now, I am obsessed with Deadpool. For those of you who don't know who Deadpool is, go to Wikipedia and look him up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadpool_(comics)

Now, this also ties into VS, because I have decided to make a Deadpool deck. At the time, he had 2 versions and 3 teams between those versions. Deadpool was first in the Marvel Knights set on the Crime Lords team as a concealed 5-drop who attacked up the curve. More recently, he got a version in Marvel Team-Up as a Dual affiliated character to Marvel Defenders and Sinister Syndicate. Why Syndicate and with dual loyalty? Who knows, but the point remains that he existed in two versions (now he has 3, but I am letting that slide for now). Anyway, I decided to build a deck based off of the Dual affiliated version, as I feel he can be used more.
Deadpool, Merc with a Mouth
Cost: 5
Marvel Defenders/Sinister Syndicate
6/6
Dual Loyalty, Concealed
Backup: Activate -> Whenever target character attacks this turn, KO it. Use only during the build phase.
"Y'know, these Ginsu knives really do stay sharp!"

I decided to focus on the Marvel Defenders and not as much on the Syndicate and came up with the following deck out of cards I own:
1 Wong, Mystical Manservant
2 Archangel, New Defender
3 Tania Belinskya<>Red Guardian, Cold Warrior
2 John Walker<>US Agent, Loose Cannon
3 Hellcat, Patsy Walker
1 Kyle Richmond<>Nighthawk, Heart of the Team
1 Hawkeye, Loud Mouth
4 Richard Rider<>Nova, Xanadarian Nova Corps
1 Samantha Parrington<>Valkyrie, Chooser of the Slain
1 Johnny Blaze<>Ghost Rider, Damned
4 Deadpool, Merc with a Mouth
1 Hulk, Grumpy Goliath
4 Sub-Mariner, Neptune's Fist
1 Wendell Vaughn<>Quasar, Protector of the Universe
2 Hulk, Strongest One There Is
1 Professor X, Illuminati
1 Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme

4 Alien Symbiote, Unique

3 Secret Defenders, Team-Up
2 The Order
2 The Book of the Vishanti
2 One-Man Rampage
2 Zzzax Attax
3 Imperius Rex!
4 Defenders Defend!
2 Consulting the Orb
2 Banished to the Abyss

Abuse of Deadpool and Nova on turns 5 and up. Fairly simple, although not consistent, nor will it necessarily be.

Zombie Atlas

Well, for those of you who don't know, VS is a CCG featuring Marvel, DC and Hellboy(single essential collection of Hellboy) characters, as they fight it out. If you read my post on Wednesday, you know I love Marvel Zombies, which means I was thrilled when they announced the Marvel Zombies VS cards. Looking at Marvel Zombies itself, I got an idea. The card says:
Marvel Zombies
Cost: 2
Choose a character you control.
Ongoing: That character gains the version Zombie.
KO or stun a character you control->Recover target stunned Zombie character. Use only once per turn and only during the recovery phase.

Now, when first reading it, I thought it was broken, but since it is only once per turn and only during the recovery phase, it is now just more of an amusing card. Or is it?

This is the deck I have come up with:

3 Blink, Exile
2 Shadowcat, Phase Shifter
15 Infernal Minions, Army
5 Multiple Man, Army<>Madrox
4 Erik Josten<>Atlas, Kosmos Convict
3 Professor Emil Hamilton<>Ruin, Power Suit

2 Dimensional Deal, Team-Up
4 Enemy of my Enemy
4 Forbidden Loyalties, Team-Up
4 Marvel Zombies
4 New Identity
2 Teamwork
4 X-Men Assemble!, Age of Apocalypse

2 Stormfront-1, Team-Up

4 Force Field Belt

What this deck does is abuse Erik Josten and +1/+1 counters. During the recovery phase, just stun an Infernal Minion to recover Josten, get him 1+ counters from things like X-Men Assemble! and he almost will never die. I often get about 21/22(with belt) Jostens on turn 6 or so. It is absolutely absurd to see how well the deck can get counters. If you have any questions as to why cards are there, just ask.

Time in comics?

Well, I mentioned yesterday how much I hate that BMB (Brian Michael Bendis) messed up his own continuity. Here is how:
In "Civil War: The Initiative", in which the Thunderbolts take out some renegade hero and Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman take out some random villain, Ms. Marvel tells Spider-Woman that Cap is alive and being held at the Raft.Later, in New Avengers, Spider-Woman tells the New Avengers and they decide to check to see if it is true that he is there. When they get there, they realize it was a trap set up by the Mighty Avengers. Iron Man releases something that makes the New Avengers lose their powers. Doc Strange makes the Mighty Avengers live out their greatest nightmare and the New Avengers escape. They go back to Doc's Sanctum Sanctorum which looks like it is going to be turned into a new Starbucks, although Iron Man doesn't believe this and scans for them, failing to find them thanks to Doc's magic. Iron Man then brings in Brother Voodoo who fails to find them with his weaker magic. Iron Man, still believing they are there, shouts at them. Then Hawkeye shows up and is drafted into rescuing Echo from Japan. He takes the Ronin costume and helps out the New Avengers in rescuing her. They realize that the Elektra leading the Hand was a Skrull (Yay, Skrulls!), and are on their way back to NY when Ultron's EMP goes off and their plane crashes. Everything seems fine unless you read Mighty Avengers.
Mighty Avengers starts with the team about an hour after they are brought together initially. Mole Man is attacking and the Mighty Avengers try to stop him. Then Iron Man's armor goes wacky and where there was once Iron Man now stands a female Ultron looking a lot like the Wasp. They fight and eventually, Ultron releases an EMP that knocks out all the power around NY and is the same EMP that knocks out the New Avengers' plane. That would mean that they took a break from fighting Ultron to go and set a trap for the New Avengers and then 3+ days later, they resume the battle with Ultron. No, that doesn't make much sense, which means he screwed up his own continuity, since BMB writes both.

Time in the Marvel Universe, and in other universes, I might add, is screwy. They will note that Spider-Man was started in 1962, although he would be approximately 62 today if the age was true to what happens in our universe. Since Pete is not 62, time must move slower in the MU, although it is also true that is 2007 in the MU, which just makes everything confusing. People do age, although not much in comparison to real time. Sometimes, this really annoys me and sometimes I just don't care.

My least favorite error:
In the late 60's/early 70's, Spider-Man and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy were as happy as happy could be. They loved each other truly. During a battle between Doc Ock and Spidey, Spidey invented a chemical that made Doc lose control of two of his arms, making them fight each other. They knocked over a chimney on top of a building which would have crushed a small child, if not for the efforts of Captain George Stacy. He pushed the child out of the way, but was crushed under the debris. Spider-Man, seeing this happen from the rooftop, jumps down and tries to take George to a hospital, but he dies, letting Peter know that he knows Pete is Spidey. After this, Gwen hates and distrusts Spider-Man to the extent of leaving New York altogether to live with family in London. After a small amount of time, Pete tries to visit her, but has to do something as Spidey, thus making him believe that she would never believe that Spidey and Peter both being in London would be a coincidence. In this, she appears, still missing Peter and hating Spider-Man. After a few months or so at most, she returns from London and Pete and Gwen get back together. Eventually, she dies, unfortunately, at the hands of Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin.
J. Michael Straczynski later wrote Sins Past, in which he dramatically revealed that during Gwen's trip to Europe, she had two kids with Norman Osborn. Straczynski basically destroys one of the characters I have always loved. Ruining Gwen's reputation is bad enough, but he does it poorly as well. In issue 93, she leaves for London. In issue 98, she returns to NY. Now, in terms of our time, she would have been gone for a max of 5 months. She would have had to have been pregnant before that point in time. I have never been pregnant, nor do I think I ever will, but after 4 months or so, she probably would have been showing before she left for London and when she was there, although she doesn't show any signs of pregnancy. Also, Norman and Gwen both seem to have forgotten about this by at least issue 121(Death of Gwen), and so this is my least favorite because it doesn't make any sense even in normal terms of time and doesn't make sense with the characters. Also, I hate it because I personally think Gwen is the girl for Pete, which I will go over some other time.

Oct17 Comics

Well, time for my first review of comics.

Ultimate Fantastic Four 47

Basic plot: Reed is busy working on the Cosmic Cube, and he keeps everyone away from his lab. Red Ghost(not phasing yet, but give him time) has some think tank thing set up in Siberia and asks for Reed and Sue.

I have liked UFF at times, and been extremely disappointed at times. Recently, I have been fairly disappointed with UFF. The stories just seem to go by too fast and at the end, nothing happens of any significance. The Thanos storyline, I felt, wasn't great. Everything after that has been fairly dull. This seems to be dull, although we can find out. ***SPOILER*** Reed eventually builds enough of the cube that Thanos leaves him and he goes after Sue whose plane has crashed. It was taken down by a woman, working for Red Ghost, wearing a single gauntlet from Crimson Dynamo. They did show Crimson Dynamo earlier, but it was unrelated to this woman, so confusion is here. ***END SPOILER*** All in all, I might just keep getting it only because Mark Brooks does the art and I like his art a lot.

Ultimate X-Men 87

Basic plot:(Previously) Pyro(an X-Man, I know) has been undercover at the MLF and Stryfe(not a clone of Cable as far as we cal tell) teleports away right before Sentinels attack. The X-Men, at the Sentinels' base, discovered that Fenris is behind this plot. They are going to kill Psylocke when Bishop tells them to get away from his wife. In this issue, they go to take down the Sentinels and Stryfe before Sentinels kill them all. Beast reappears to Pyro and then later to the X-Men as they defeat the Sentinels.

Hooray for Alternate Zombie covers. Seriously, Marvel is trying to milk this for all they can. Anyway, I am a huge Robert Kirkman fan and things in Ultimate Z-Men are crazy. I love what is going on. Bishop going crazy and killing Fenris to save Psylocke(wife in the future which is crazy for now), Stryfe causing unrest, the X-Men kicking Sentinel ass, Dazzler going Supernova again. ***SPOILER *** Oh, and Bishop is working for Cable still? WTF? Cable planned this all along which is amazingly crazy. ***END SPOILER*** Definitely enjoyable and I recommend everything Robert Kirkman does. Seriously.

New Excablibur 24 and X-Men: Die by the Sword

Basic plot: New Excalibur ends the "Albion" plot. They try and stick together to defeat Albion's corps and stuff. Die by the Sword is immediately after they defeat Albion and during the party when the Exiles show up.

Well, I am only slightly annoyed at Marvel. Die by the Sword came out last week, even though solicitations were for this week, which is extremely annoying considering it takes place directly after New Excalibur. Oh, and New Excalibur ended with issue 24? Well, I didn't see it coming, but hey. The reason I picked up New Excalibur originally was because of Juggernaut. This issue didn't have quite as much Juggernaut as I would have liked, but enough to make me happy. The whole "Albion is Captain Britian from an alternate world" thing that they did? Predictable, but what do you expect at this point? I like how they somehow managed to kill all of the Shadow X-Men and none of Excalibur. How did that happen? Yeah, so Jean and Bobby die. Oh well. Sage regains control, Nocturne is moving about more and the series ends. Die by the Sword is certainly interesting though just because of the characters involved. For those unaware of who the Exiles are, they are basically Quantum Leap meets X-Men. They are a team that goes around fixing broken realities. Currently, the team consists of Blink and Sabretooth from the AoA, Morph, Psylocke from 616, Longshot and Thunderbird. Thunderbird and Nocturne were original Exiles and were lovers. They had to leave him behind and Nocturne eventually came to our universe. Now they can get back together. Longshot and Dazzler were once an item, but Longshot now has amnesia and Dazzler is with Pete Wisdom. Psylocke and Captain Britian are siblings. Honestly, I didn't quite realize how closely the teams were related which is scary. Anyway, the story is that the Omniverse is falling apart and the two teams will have to save it. Again. This issue was an intro issue, so nothing exciting happened, but I am looking forward to the next one which is apparently in two weeks.

Captain America 31

Basic plot: Bucky(Winter Soldier) was captured and is being tortured by Dr. Faustus.

Well, it seems simple and is fairly simple, but I have been impressed with Cap A issues. This one is no exception. It is really fun to see Faustus try and get inside Bucky's head. Um, it deals with things from WWII and how they affect today. Um, yeah. Simple, but good. Read it.

Mighty Avengers 5

Basic plot: Ultron has killed Sentry's wife and Sentry wants revenge. Ultron tries to launch nukes at the world. Ares wants to deliver a virus into Ultron using Han Pym's Pym Particles.

This series is taking forever to come out. New Avengers is already up to the next arc which involves the Might Avengers and this one still has in issue left in this arc. Bendis has somewhat screwed up his own continuity, but this is still really good. Art is amazing and there is humor mixed into everything. I like how everything is happening, and my only complaints are continuity(which I will eventually discuss) and timing of issues.

Marvel Zombies 2 #1

Basic plot: It is 40 years later. The Zombies have eaten the entire universe, almost and want more food. Remembering Reed's device, Hank decides they should go back to Earth to find more universes to eat. Back on Earth, every one is old and there is unrest between T'Challa and the Acolytes who don't want to live under his rule.

OMG! I love Marvel Zombies and am so happy it is continuing. First off, the zombies have pretty much shed the Galactus armor(although I believe still have his abilities) and have recruited Thanos, Gladiator, Firelord and Dark Phoenix onto their side. Yes, Dark f***ing Phoenix. The absurdity of these issues are amazing. Back on Earth, with the unrest, things are somewhat boring, but they find Hawkeye's head (lopped off in Marvel Zombies 1) and bring it back. Oh, and Wasp has to bits T'Challa to keep him alive and now Black Panther is a zombie. I can't say enough about Marvel Zombies. Kirkman again, and he delivers. It is just amazing how good these are and how funny they are. Seriously, read Marvel Zombies 1, Marvel Zombies v Army of Darkness, UFF story arcs Crossover and Frightful, Black Panther's current arc.

First Post

Well, this is my first post and this is for me to get out all of my feelings over whatever I feel like. I mostly will discuss comics, the VS CCG from Upper Deck Entertainment.
I am a Marvel fan mostly, I do read DC and others, but mostly am into Marvel.
If you don't like what I am saying, let me know, although know that this is my own opinion for everything in this blog and does not reflect the views of anybody else unless they want me to.

Oh, and I will review the comics I read every Wednesday(or Thursday if they come out then), so look on Wednesday for new comics reviews. I'll keep as many spoilers as I can out of the post, but will let you know if I am going to reveal something.