Comics on 4/30

Here are the comics for 4/30, and now I am only 2 comics behind.

Hulk 3


Basic Plot: While Red Hulk and Blue A-Bomb fight, the identity of the Red Hulk is trying to be discovered.

Yeah, this was supposed to be last week, but my comic store didn't have it last week, but they did this week. Honestly, I really like Hulk. It is fun and crazy, and I really like the art. Now, certain things are kind of crazy and stupid, like the different colors. Red Hulk is pretty damn crazy and he is about to go up against Banner. I mean, the mystery is kind of annoying, but somewhat interesting. The beginning is awesome, as Tony goes crazy and wants to know what Banner said to Ross. The middle is cool, as A-Bomb and Red Hulk fight. Red Hulk is so out of his mind that it is awesome. He is trying to shoot people, and just crazy powerful. My guess is Ross, as he is intelligent and is trying to kill gamma-powered people. Plus, on the security tape, he blocks Banner from view as Banner whispers too quietly for the security tapes to pick up, effectively not allowing Banner to speak. Still, we'll see.

New Warriors 11


Basic Plot: The Warriors fight some techno-organic guy, and Sofia and the old New Warriors are interviewed about the new New Warriors.

I liked the series, and then it went downhill. It got a lot worse, but this issue was honestly better than most of the previous ones. They had short, but sweet introductions where basically, there are arguments about the way to find justice, which has been in question ever since Stamford blew up in Civil War 1. I guess my main complaint is that I don't really know the characters that well and I don't know what each one can do, and I am supposed to care about them. It is really hard for me. Still, I really agree with the Warriors in general, so I like seeing people support them in their own way. Plus, I do like Sofia, and I like seeing Jubilee trying to be an adult, which is hard for her, considering that she is often thought of as the kid. She had that persona for so long that it is interesting to see her come into her own as a leader.

The Order 10


Basic Plot: The team tries to rescue a crazy Mulholland that is destroying LA.

I didn't like the series for most of it, but I thought it ended on a high note. With Stane removing all of the Order's powers, they have to try to find her without powers. I never quite respected Anthem as much as I probably should have. He had to try and lead the team, although he never was a hero or even a superhero before. I mean, he has had to make a lot of difficult decisions. I actually really felt for the team a lot, as they lost two members and both were tragic. The series is over, but it was really good at the end and I liked how they ended it. Which one is a Skrull though?

Ultimate Human 4


Basic Plot: Hulk and Iron Man try to take out the Leader.

Okay, so this had some good action, and I enjoyed it to an extent. All in all, though the series itself wasn't very good and this issue was merely okay. Hulk going crazy was kind of cool. I am kind of confused about the entire thing though. So, what happened to Hulk after Ultimates 2? Seriously? He had it all under control. He was fine. Now, he is crazy and like old Ultimate Hulk. Well, Leader is crazy and never could actually face Hulk. Hulk demolished him. It was awesome. Now Hulk is gone. It made little sense to me considering Ultimate Hulk v Wolverine and the end of Ultimates 2 where Hulk was pretty much in control.

Blue Beetle 26


Basic Plot: A mostly-Spanish issue against Parasite.

I really liked this issue, although the Spanish was kind of annoying. They had a translation of the book in the back, but to read it, you basically had to keep flipping between the two. Still, it was a good story and a fun one. Basically, at a family reunion with his mom's side of the family that only speaks Spanish, he has to leave and fight the Parasite, and they converse in Spanish the entire time, along with Jaime speaking to the scarab in Spanish. It was kind of freaky, but cool at the same time. It was a good story. I recommend this series very highly. It is a coming-of-age superhero story that happens to be set right around the time of Infinite Crisis, where he really has to become a superhero quickly and then try and deal with the rest of life. This story is a perfect example of that.

Nova 12


Basic Plot: Nova, Warlock and Tyro have to face the Technarch that came back to Kvch.

Well, it could have been worse, but they found a good way to bring Nova back to full health after fighting the Phalanx techno-organic virus. Yes, I am a little late, but my comic store didn't have them when it came out and just got it in today. The series has been hit or miss for me, but this issue was a solid hit. Now I know how they all came back to face Ultron and the Phalanx. It was a good ending to the story. Now, on to Galactus apparently. I also love how the Nova Corps was the police of the universe much like the GLC in DC, but they aren't nearly as powerful. I mean, a single Centurion is fairly powerful, but not nearly as powerful. Also, with the full power of the Nova Corps, Nova is now a heavy hitter, but not able to face off against a single Technarch. I mean, there is a whole race of Technarch, and the entire Nova Corps couldn't stand up to a single one. I mean, the police should have more power than that.

Avengers: The Initiative 12


Basic Plot: While a hearing is held regarding MVP's death and clones, the others prepare for graduation.

Wow. The transformation is complete. From the very first issue of Avengers: the Initiative whern Cloud 9 just wanted to fly, she came full circle and is now a dedicated superhero with no fun whatsoever in flying. Oh my god, the costumes the graduates got are horrible. Komodo, Ultragirl, Hardball, 3-D Man (a new one-ish?), Cloud 9 and Thor Girl. Those outfits are just bad. Thor Girl and Ultragirl are closest with better costumes, but ugh. Maybe it is because I liked them in their other outfits with camo pants and stuff, or maybe because I hate the art (everybody has incredibly fat faces and it is freaking god-awful). I think the main problem is the tiny eyes everybody has, although Cloud 9 is just fat now. Seriously, look at the front page with the pic of Cloud 9, and then the pic on the next page where it has them preparing. Do they look the same? The best part of this issue though, by far, is that Gyrich is being forced to resign at Camp Hammond. Gyrich and Stark argue a lot and they threaten each other, resulting in both threatening with their contacts, but Stark winning, and Gyrich saying he is resigning to spend time with his family, at which point, Sally Floyd confronts him about actually having a family. Awesome stuff. Oh yeah, apparently Thor Girl wasn't even killed by KIA, and only 8 agents, Van (or whichever Scarlet Spider it was), Trauma and Dragon Lord died. Oh, and Trauma came back to life somehow. It was really weird, he juse kind of popped out of his coffin alive, then graduated. Oy.

Ultimate X-Men 93


Basic Plot: Phoenix faces off against Apocalypse.

Man, Jean Grey is crazy powerful. Oh, and what the heck was up with Apocalypse. Apocalypse, after being defeated, just turns back into Sinister. Weird. The main thing that got me about this issue was the art. It reminds of older artists wo basically try way too hard to get every detail, and end up making it look horrible. Muscles can exist and can be seen through skin, but Cyclops, on the two page spread at the end? While in a shirt, it is literally ridiculous what you can see through the shirt. There is way too much effort in the art and not enough talent and it makes it just weird and creepy. Well, Kirkman is done with UXM for now, and he ended on a high note, although the art makes it difficult to see it that way.

New Avengers 40


Basic Plot: What happens after the first issue of New Avengers: Illuminati with the Skrulls.

Well, this was awesome and I loved it. Cheung always does great art and I loved how they explained a lot in this story. Dorrek is crazy and he tried to silence his own daughter who believed in the Scriptures of ancient Skrullian history as opposed to science. After her predictions came true, they returned to her and showed her how they were able to actually replicate Terrans. The Black Bolt Skrull is showed off to the queen and she wants to help the forces as the person designed to do the most damage, Spider-Woman. So, Spider-Woman is actually the leader of the Skrull forces. WTF? So, the Skrull leader is actually Spider-Woman. Pretty weird. She was the one who took Elektra-Skrull's body to Tony Stark, and she was the one who called the New Avengers to the Savage Land. Then again, she is the one that was a quadruple agent or something. Pretty cool!

Design

Well, I have to say that I really like how the Thunderbolts abilities have been done in terms of how they are in the comics. Penance, I went over yesterday. Radioactive Man is good, because his radiation keeps people from doing things, plus makes him more powerful. Bullseye fits because he basically was only in the shadows, in the background, and would go out, stun a guy, and be returned to custody. So, as far as the abilities go, they definitely work and I do actually like how they are very based off of the characters themselves. Sometimes, abilities just exist and through a lot of effort, they can be explained in terms of the character's abilities in the comics. With these, they fit so well. Sure, Bullseye isn't the greatest character, and he could have been a lot better, but he isn't incredibly bad, and is in fact, okay, and a great representation of a man who just likes going after people with various objects with deadly accuracy.

Penance

Okay, so with Thunderbolts this week, I am expecting a Penance card, and by that I mean a Speedball<>Penance card since Speedball already exists (one card, but still) and Penance also is another character. I get my wish too, with a Speedball<>Penance, Painmonger. Still, I really hate how Penance came into being. I somewhat understand the reasoning behind how he came into being, but I don't really like it all that much. Speedball was so easygoing and fun and crazy. Then, he was blown up, lost his powers, gained new ones and became emo. In the maybe-canon Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular, Squirrel Girl confronts him about becoming Penance. She tries to convince him that the emo thing doesn't work with him. He blames himself for the deaths at Stamford, and Squirrel Girl tells him how Nitro mega-exploded only because Damage Control gave him MGH, so he couldn't have known Nitro would blow up that much. After saying how Damage Control isn't dark, Squirrel Girl reminds him he isn't either. He's Speedball. He bounces with balls! He had a cat too with the same powers. Of course, Robbie then shows her a new picture of his cat, in a similar outfit to his, calling him P-Cat, the Pentient Puss. His actions caused the deaths of hundreds, Squirrel Girl reminds him of when the Avengers blew up half of Washington and thousands died. He went n without a plan, so did Hawkeye and people love Hawkeye. His actions were televised, and so was Iron Man with a UN ambassador while drunk who is currently head of S.H.I.E.L.D. At this point, he just starts hitting his head against the wall and saying he is deep now and that self-punishment is deep. I personally liked Speedball to an extent as the crazy kid who loved just bouncing around everywhere. Now, he is trying to be deep, when he honestly doesn't have to be, as explained to him by Squirrel Girl. I mean, this was mostly worse because it was kids, but otherwise, there have been many times when superheroes are unable to prevent supervillains from killing lots of people.
The card itself is pretty awesome. I love burn, and he burns everybody for lots. His current power is that if he gets hurt, he releases power, and this ability fits well.

Norman Osborn in VS

So, next week is going to be the Thunderbolts, and I was thinking about how the Green Goblin is arguably Spider-Man's greatest enemy, and yet has only three versions. Luke Cage recently became a somewhat important character as part of the Avengers, although he currently has no versions on the Avengers. Before that, he was pretty obscure. Still, he has 8 cards for him. I think it is kind of sad that Norman gets so little respect. Now, it is true that he was dead for a long time before soming back, but he is still one of Spidey's greatest enemies. There are two other Green Goblins out there, with Harry and Phil being Goblins, but Norman himself has 3 cards, inlcuding only one for Silver Age from the MEX cards.

His weakest version is the one from MEX, Green Goblin, Friend and Foe. This one is also based off of Ultimate Green Goblin, so mainstream Norman gets left behind again.

Weak stats and loyalty, so his ability better be pretty good. Oh, look! Whenever a friendly character attacks a player directly, draw a card. That is pretty darn good! In Syndicate, they swarm and with swarming, comes attacking directly. With the crazy Green Goblin from USM, you get to draw each time you attack a player directly, allowing you to draw more ATK pumps or whatever else you need to finish them off. Definitely powerful.

Our next spot up the curve is his 5-drop version, Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. Part of the Spider-Man vs Sinister Syndicate deck before the MSM set came out, his numbering is low.

Okay, so we now have average stats, and let's see that ability. Holy crap! If they set up all in the front row to avoid Norman's ability, they leave themselves open to breakthrough. Otherwise, you get to outright KO one of theirs with them losing endurance also. Man, with something like Norman, Blastaar, Annihilus, nowhere is safe. Plus, it is just any character, not a stunned one or lesser cost, just any one. Only during your attack step, sure, but it is much better than attacking and will basically replace that. An amazing card that just represents how powerful Goblin is and how much he makes you hurt.

Last, and probably least, we have his 7-drop, Green Goblin, Altered Ego.

Wow, above average ATK and... DEF stats that a 6-drop could just stun him. Great. Oh, look! Loyalty also! Awesome. The ability is pretty crazy, I have to admit, but I don't think it's that great all in all. Basically, everybody loses 13. If you are winning, good for you. Otherwise, it doesn't help you, and could very well hurt you. Plus, you don't really want to leave him open to attack, so you probably would want to attack with him as opposed to try to make them lose a very bizarre amount of endurance. I do have to admit, though. The flavor text is great. He is definitely crazy on this card. Really powerful ATK, but doesn't do anything to defend himself, with an ability that hurts everyone. Man, who put this guy in charge of the Thunderbolts? Oh, yeah. Tony Stark, the Man of Iron that became an incredibly smart idiot.

Deadpool!

Yay! Well, good and bad news. Deadpool is getting a new ongoing series and that itself is great news. However, it is being written by Daniel Way. You know how I hate his writing Deadpool. Unfortunately, it is how Deadpool is getting his own series again, so I am going to support it. Plus, it is going to have a good artist. I like Paco Medina. The art on New Warriors was good even if the story got really shaky. I am really excited that Deadpool is getting his own series again. With a new series and the legend treatment, the Merc with a Mouth is looking really good. Plus, he is going to be in the new Wolverine movie as played by Ryan Reynolds. I am really looking forward to lots of Deadpool.

4/23 Comics

Well, it is hot up here in Troy. It is currently 80 and humid. Not the most fun environment for going down a lot of stairs while carrying a heavy backpack, only to go back up again. Still, I make the trek every week. Let's get to it, shall we?

Ultimate Fantastic Four 53


Basic Plot: The final fight against Thanos.

Okay, I have to admit, they wrapped it up in a way that was amusing and makes my head hurt. Basically, I really didn't like the UFF after Millar left, but I was able to struggle through it. This issue wasn't great, but it did end the storyline they started in a way that made sense. The Cosmic Cube worked with a safety so that you actually had to want and then make yourself act on something so that you wouldn't do something stupid like wish you were dead, and then you die. So, if you have followed it, you know how there was a Cosmic Cube that Thanos had and then lost or something, so he had Reed build him a new one? Well, basically, there has only been one Cosmic Cube in all of existence. Thanos found a Cosmic Cube that crashed through the sky and then he used it. Well, after they beat Thanos by taking away the safety, allowing Thanos to kill himself, Reed dropped it onto Acheron into Thanos's hands. Oh, time travel. How you make my head hurt.

Thor 8


Basic Plot: Thor speaks with Odin, and Donald Blake speaks with Jane Foster.

Not bad for a story, I think. It was rather fun and had a nice ending that is a surprise that many people (not me though) probably could have guessed. Although Thor is going to have to be king of Asgard, as Odin is stuck forever fighting Surtur and keeping him from escaping from his imprisonment wherever it is they are. Kind of cool, along with noble and boring as hell. Heh. Anyway, Donald thinks Sif might be in Jane, but she smacks him for his being the only reason he visits her. Sif is stuck in some old lady who Loki is keeping alive or something kind of weird. All I know is that Loki is really creepy as a chick. This was filler to an extent, so I look forward to the next issues. The filler really wasn't that bad all in all.

X-Force 3


Basic Plot: Bastion sets his plan in motion as X-Force rescues Rahne.

Um, this is an amusing comic that again, is really dark, and by that I mean the actual pictures and not the tone of the story, which, while dark, I can't really take seriously for whatever reason. Bastion is one crazy hybrid Sentinel-thingy. I have to admit, it is certainly an interesting plan. Although I am not sure how well it will work all in all. Take a bunch of mutant-haters and make them all part of the Technarchy. Their group has:
Stephen Lang, the head of Project: Armageddon, most famous for bringing the X-Men to space, where to survive coming back to Earth, Jean Grey had to become the Phoenix originally. Body Count (BC): 29
Graydon Creed, the founder of the Friends of Humanity, a crazy dangerous man, who is Mystique's and Sabretooth's son. BC: 147
Cameron Hodge, the founder of the Right, a crazy cyborg who was behind the X-Tinction Agenda, who has died multiple times. BC: 178
The Leper Queen, leader of the Sapien League, a group that is more active and violent, but otherwise similar to the Friends of Humanity. BC: 221
Donald Pierce, the leader of the Reavers, and also an important member of the Hellfire Club, who has tried to take over the group on multiple occasions. BC: 348
Reverend William Stryker, the Archbishop of the Purifiers, main guy behind God Loves, Man Kills, which became inspiration for X2, and most recently, killing lots of mutants after Decimation. BC: 414
Bolivar Trask, the inventor of the Sentinels, who died in his first appearance, trying to destroy the Sentinels after realizing not all mutants were evil but unfortunately, failing to completely eradicate them. BC (including the times after his death): 16,521,618
Well, the person there with the most kills actually tried to stop mutants from dying and he died to try and prevent that, so including him is interesting. All in all, I don't think that this is necessarily a good idea. All of them (except for Bolivar) hate mutants, but all are also egotistical and probably won't work well together. The series is interesting and is fun for those of us with history in the past of the X-Men, but it still doesn't really feel that dark in tone, while it is very dark in color.

Wolverine: First Class 2


Basic Plot: Kitty sets up a birthday party for Wolverine, not knowing Wolvie keeps his birthday a secret because Sabretooth always attacks him on his birthday.

Oops! I really, really like this series. Andrea Di Vito is an amazing artist, and Fred Van Lente knows how to tell a good story, combining the classic Wolvie/Kitty relationship from classic X-Men comics with the present. It kind of takes place today in the present, even though it is about the times in the past when Kitty was starting to hang out with Wolverine. The entire time, you have a tense and uptight and very paranoid Wolverine with a naive Kitty Pryde just trying to make him happy, so he'll drive her and her friends to a Dazzler concert. The fighting is good, especially with Sabretooth shoving wasabi into Wolvie's nose early on, so he can't go by smell. It really is just pure fun and I really enjoy the story. I like these classic tales that take part in the past technically, but they have stuff from the present (e-mails and cell phones). That's also why I like Spider-Man Family, because it is similar. I don't necessarily need the greatest comics in the world where every thing is a universe-shattering battle. Sometimes, stuff like this is just awesome. Like this time.
Oh, and in the back, it had a Secret Invasion themed Chris Giarusso story. It is pretty awesome, and from what I see, there is more of it later. Seriously, if you aren't looking for serious comics, but fun ones, read Wolverine: First Class. Issue 1 was great also.

Ultimate Spider-Man 121


Basic Plot: Spidey faces off against an angry Omega Red with his GPA's life in the balance.

Um, yeah. Pretty much a simple one-issue fun story. It all starts with the end of the baby project. Oh, no, the baby was destroyed. Why am I not surprised? The whole reason is basically that it was destroyed when Omega Red tried to get Jameson to stop printing hurtful articles about Roxxon, with whom he is trying to get hired and destroys a lot of the Bugle offices in a fight with Spider-Man. Even with everything destroyed, the story is actually good enough for a B-, which completely ruins Peter's life as his GPA will drop because of it. A fun story to tide over until whatever is next. More of Kitty being completely pissed off at not being an X-Man, which is funny if you read Ultimate X-Men, in which she no longer wanted to be with them at all. Confusing? Yeah, me too.

Mighty Avengers 12


Basic Plot: What has Nick Fury been up to since Secret War?

I don't like Maleev, but he was able to get the job done. It was a great story and I loved it, aside from hating the artwork. Nick Fury really is the best there is at what he does. No one is better. I am not a big fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. in general, but Nick Fury is definitely a very amazing individual, especially for no actual superpowers. Skrulls were able to track him down at one point, which if they can do that, I believe they can pretty much infiltrate anywhere. Oh, Nick Fury, you crazy bastard. What's next? Who knows? I certainly enjoyed getting a look at the life of Nick Fury in the post Secret War world.

Intewesting Devewopments

Well, the next set after MUN is going to be Marvel Evolution, based off of Messiah CompleX and House of M. I truly am sorry that DC fans aren't getting their next set, but hopefully the negotiations will go well and DC will get new sets again. That being said, I am looking forward to this November a lot because one of the legends in MEV (if that is what it will be) is Deadpool. Yes, I said Deadpool. The Merc with a Mouth is getting the legend treatment. Stu got his Squirrel Girl card, and it is awesome, and now Deadpool is getting the legend treatment. I know I am buying a case of MEV, right now. MUN, I'll probably buy some boxes, but MEV? DEADPOOL LEGEND!

Darn Pasover...

Okay, so when I am at home, when a Jewish holiday rolls around, I usually am celebrating it and following the rituals associated with it. For example, when it is Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), I fast on the fast day. Currently, I am not at home. This year, I did not fast on Yom Kippur because I honestly forgot. Unfortunately, I did remember that this week is Passover, so I am attempting to eat semi-Kosher for Passover. I could do more, but since I don't even really want to do this in the first place, I find it special that I put any effort into trying to not eat meat with dairy or eat leavened foods or any of the other rules that I normally don't follow. There were just too many things reminding me that it was Passover. When I am at home, it's okay, because my parents buy matzah and celebrate by depraving ourselves of the foods we love the same as me. Unfortunately, here, I do not have all of the things I would have at home, such as matzah or other people that are keeping Kosher for Passover. See, I love eating non-Kosher. I used to love eating food in general, just loving all types of foods, but then I went to a Jewish school where I was forced to eat Kosher throughout the day. I normally would eat Kosher before, but I would like eating meat every once in a while, like once per week or something, however since our school is a dairy school, then I was limited to meat maybe once a month at most. Because of that, I love to eat things that are specifically not Kosher at many opportunities. When I have a choice between chicken, beef or pork, I'll often go for the pork. For some reason, it just tastes better to me. So you can probably see my dilemma as I love eating non-Kosher at many times, and with the way that I am trying to eat Kosher for Passover, I am going to go for a long time without eating foods I love. Oy. At least I have some chocolate matzot that my mom sent me. Still, I wish that people hadn't reminded me that it was Passover. I am Jewish, but I am also Hawaiian and us Hawaiians love our Spam (yes, Spam, we love it, shut up) and Kalua Pig. When I get home, I am going to my Hawaiian place (Da Hukilau, which has locations in San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto and one actually in Hawaii) and getting myself Spam Musubi (you have to try it to believe it, it is amazing and I love Spam Musubi) and Kalua Pig Cheese Fries. Honestly, I have two different types of pig, with cheese. Pretty non-Kosher (okay, if something is non-Kosher, it can't be more non-Kosher, there aren't actually degrees of Kashrut, but you get the idea) and I love it. See, I love eating non-Kosher, so this Passover is killing me. ARRRRRGHHHH!

Writers

I really like certain writers in comics, and dislike others. Of course, certain comic authors are different in many ways. For example, if I want an incredibly epic series that is meant to change everything, then probably my favorite writer would be Mark Millar for stuff like Ultimates or Civil War. He is able to encompass so many different people in things that are just amazing. Truly, for epics, he is my favorite. For comics that are slightly less world-shaking, but still somewhat epic, I like Joss Whedon for stuff like Astonishing X-Men. It is somewhat deep and epic, but not quite as epic, and is also amazing. Plus, Whedon is also great at writing other things, such as Firefly or Buffy. For even less epic, and just more average everyday comics, I like Brian Michael Bendis. Sure, Secret Invasion, House of M and Secret War are somewhat spic, but not to the same extent, and I feel that his work on Mighty and New Avengers, along with Ultimate Spider-Man is just really good for just a fun comic that you would read monthyl or something, as opposed to stuff that is just one epic storyline, although he can do that too. For even less serious and more just for fun, I go to Robert Kirkman, author of Marvel Zombies and Invincible. Both are great, but can't be taken very serious at all. I do love them, don't get me wrong, but they are very silly and funny, and much less epic than anything else. And finally, for the least epic of all, I love Chris Giarusso who did the Bullpen Bits and Mini-Marvels. He does chibi-esque characters and he is amazing at making things that are completely non-canonical, but work with just the characters experiencing things that actually seem more like real life. People don't like Torch because he is always on fire and burning everything. Stuff like that. Yes, there are many other writers I like, but those are probably my favorite comic writers.

Firefly

Wow. I am really impressed. Okay, so not so much, because I know Whedon and how great he is at writing, but to be perfectly honest, I actually haven't seen a Whedon show before Firefly. I had always wanted to see Firefly ever since I heard it was created by Whedon, but I honestly didn't know what to expect. I'd heard of it before, but I believe only that it lasted a short time before being canceled. Still, it is on Hulu, so I decided to start watching it. OMG! It really is too bad that there were only 14 episodes of this show, because it is amazing. Honestly. I really, really like it. It perfectly blends science fiction with western and is great finding a balance between comedy and drama. Some episodes (Jaynestown) are much funnier while others (Ariel) are much more serious. Still, they are all, so far that I have seen, really good. I probably am going to finish the series, watch the movie, then read the comics that it has inspired. When I think about how this show never got a chance to live, while others somehow took much longer before they died and they were bad at the first episode (I actually watched 2 episodes of The Simple Life for whatever reason and it is so bad, it isn't even funny any more, and that show lasted 5 seasons???). Okay, just wanted to say how amazing Firefly is/

Comics on 4/16

Sorry, but I didn't have a chance to review comics. I will do so in this spot. This is reserved for the comics on 4/16. Again, my apologies for not getting this done faster.

World War Hulk: Aftersmash Warbound 5


Basic Plot: The Warbound go through some changes, as the series comes to an end.

Well, I didn't like the series, I'll say that much. I didn't like the ending either. Just to say it straight off, Hiroim was killed and somehow Kate Waynesboro became an Oldstrong. Somehow, even the Leader became an Oldstrong in some weird way, and it just confused me. Still, though, it was fun to see the Warbound in action, even if it was kind of bad. The whole point, as far as I can tell, was to make the point that they might be monsters, but they are also heroes, which never really needed to be said IMO, because if you have read Planet Hulk, you know who they are and how they feel. This just felt kind of boring and drawn out, with art I didn't like and things that made no sense.

Captain America 37


Basic Plot: Red Skull goes and reveals more of his plan and Bucky deals with other people who knew Steve.

As I said on Billy's post on Read/Rant, I really didn't like this in particular. I mean, it isn't like I disliked it, like Warbound, but I just didn't like it. I just felt it was boring and nothing really happened. The dream was kind of cool, but honestly, it felt kind of forced to me. All in all, it felt forced, and I just didn't feel good or bad about it one way or another. Very meh to me.

Amazing Spider-Man 557


Basic Plot: The Mayan saga concludes and Spidey fights the Mayan deity Rabin is trying to summon.

I really liked this storyline, which is kind of weird, because I hate the way things are working in general with Spider-Man. I hated how One More Day ended and hate how everything is really confusing as to what is actually going on in Brand New Day. So, it is said that nobody knows Spidey's identity. Well, I remember that Dr. Strange once came to him in a dream and mentioned how he didn't know Peter, but if wanted to, he could cast a spell and know everything about Peter that he needed to. He did learn the identity and spoke to him about some stuff as Peter, and he just forgot? Not to say everybody else. They just forgot? Daredevil just forgot the identity of his closest friend in the superhero community? I mean, how far back does the mind-wiping reach? Because Norman Osborn found out his identity before he even met MJ. He just forgot too? I mean, what? Aside from all that even, I still can enjoy certain arcs. Certain writers and artists are good, and they have created good arcs, some haven't. This was good. Freak wasn't. I don't like that there is a run of only 3 issues for each creative team. This story was good, but I just really don't like the jumping around of stories and creative staffs. It makes liking the series hard.

The Incredible Hercules 116


Basic Plot: Herc is thought to be an Eternal and Athena beings him to San Francisco.

Oh, how I love how it looks like Herc has 116 issues, when he really doesn't. This is an awesome series, I don't care what Foilball says about hating Helicarrier crashes. Oh, it is really weird to see yellow speech bubbles from people that aren't Deadpool. For whatever reason, the Eternals have yellow speech bubbles. I love how Amadeus was able to take out an Eternal by using a Celestial. Oh, and what the heck is a Celestial doing on Earth? I really don't know the Eternals that well, so I can't say much about them, but I like the art and the story and that is good enough for me. Seeing certain things with gods fighting is awesome. I really enjoy this series. Oh, and Secret Invasion tie-in next time? Awesome!

Avengers: The Initiative 11


Basic Plot: The final battle between the Initiative and KIA.

I really like KIA. He is the right amount of crazy and power. I mean, he is totally out of his mind and has lots of power. Perfect combination for a disaster that ruins a lot of what Tony Stark is trying to build. I also love seeing how Tony is taking kids and making them killers. Sure, it isn't him personally, but he is behind all of it. All of the kids are awesome, and I do love Slapstick. Oh man, Cloud 9 has become cold-blooded and brutal. I love how The Initiative took a scared young girl who only wanted to fly and turned her into a killer. She has only killed some HYDRA agents, but attempted to kill more people, including KIA. Oh, and I do love Komodo, and she is crazy. Great series and great issue. Oh, Tony Stark is such an ass. Yay!

Wolverine Origins 24


Basic Plot: Deadpool talks to Wolverine.

Okay, I seriously hate Daniel Way's writing. Yes, I can see that Deadpool has some redeeming qualities. He did take out Wolverine, and found a way to "kill" him. But, he is also hallucinating and being stupid and crazier than he should be. Plus, Daken took him out way too easily and it sounds incredibly stupid. I mean, yeah, Deadpool might not have been able to take out Daken, but he should have put up more of a fight than he did. It is ridiculous. Oh, and Dillon still sucks. His art still makes me sick.

Annihilation Conquest 6


Basic Plot: The final stand against Ultron and the Phalanx.

Okay, so it wasn't as good as Annihilation, but it still had a pretty good ending and did end on a high note. I did like when Ultron, in Adam Warlock's body fought against Warlock. It was very confusing and was very funny to think about. Oh look! It is Warlock v Warlock. I was very disappointed that Kl'rt barely did anything. All he has done, the entire Annihilation Conquest is watch Ronan, and then, in this one issue, saved Ronan, Wraith and Ra-Venn (some das't Kree) from dying outside Hala because of a force field. Pus, they just kind of killed off Praxagora on a single page with almost nothing. Ultron moved his consciousness into her, turned all the Sentries into a giant Ultron robot, and then left her, blowing her up. After reading Annihilation: Super Skrull, I really liked Praxagora and for them to just kill her as an afterthought, without any fighting or practically any reason...sigh... Hopefully the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy series, with Starlord, Quasar, Adam Warlock, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora and Drax will be awesome. I love how Rocket Raccoon is an important part of Marvel Cosmic at the moment. It is so awesome.

One more video

Okay, so there is in fact one more video that I want to show. The TV show Human Giant on MTV is amazing, believe it or not, although it is easy to see why people might find them offensive. Well, this might offend some people, so I recommend caution before actually watching this. Remember, I warned you.

mtv.thehumangiant.com

Yay, videos!

Did you hear the news? The wildly popular Iron Man trailer is going to be made into a full-length movie! The Onion has the news:



If you haven't seen Marvel/DC, which started as the Apple/PC parodies, then you can see them from the beginning right here. This, though, is the promo for the second season. Oh, if only it existed.


Break a Leg is an awesome video series that I wholeheartedly recommend. Currently, they have released 9 episodes. The first 3 are much longer, and the remaining 6 are shorter afterwards. Still, it is an awesome show. One kind of creepy thing was when they decided to make a contest where you say something professing your love for Amber Turnipseed, one of the characters on the show, and this guy below won. Yeah, it is kind of cool, but very creepy at the same time.


One more. This guy has written many parodies that are absolutely hilarious and I love watching them. This is one of the better ones I think, although there are others.

Skrulls in Vs pt 4

Okay, so we've covered the birth and rebirth of the Skrulls for characters. In MHG, they also got three plot twists! Isn't that amazing?
Act of Defiance is their team-up, and Skrulls having a team-up is definitely important. What makes it great?

Well, it is better than a generic team-up like Marvel Crossover or The Multiverse, especially for Skrulls, because you are allowed to not only team-up any of your two teams, but any two teams on the board. For Skrulls, this is great because if one of the teams your opponent has is one you don't, you can get a new team. Otherwise, you can still team-up your own teams. Plus, it gets better and adds an attack modifier to all your 3-cost and under Skrulls. So when rushing, Skrulls still get an advantage.
Alien Insurrection is basically a bigger Nasty Surprise. Normally, you would get just +2 ATK on DEF but in any Skrull deck facing any other deck, you should easily get three affiliations, so it becomes a +6 ATK on defense pump.

I mean, it is fairly simple, but effective. Nasty Surprise was a favorite card in a lot of decks, just for the off-initiative stun, and for Skrulls, this is more powerful.
Interstellar Offensive is another card like Alien Insurrection, in that it is a normal ATK pump to anybody else, but to the Skrulls, it is a Savage Beatdown. Honestly, a +5 ATK pump? Ridiculous!

I mean, yes, there is something you have to fulfill, but again, in a Skrull deck, you are almost guaranteed a Savage Beatdown. Maybe not turn 1, but at least by turn 3, you should easily have a Savage.
Sworn Enemies is not a Skrull plot twist, but it might as well be one.

Still not convinced that Act of Defiance is worth it? Well, outside of Sealed, you can't really say that this card will be more than +2 most of the time, unless you are playing Skrulls, and with an Act of Defiance, you can now get a +4 ATK pump. I mean, generic pumps are often +2-+3 ATK, so bigger than average is good. Oh, and no that green guy on the card is not in fact a Skrull, but Drax the Destroyer, who was created for the sole purpose of destroying Thanos. He eventually succeeded during Annihilation. What does he have to live for any more?
Anyway, after MHG, the Skrulls got another boost in MTU, with another 6-drop. Wait a sec. let's run some numbers here...
1-drop:1, but banned
2-drop:2
3-drop:3
4-drop:1
5-drop:1
6-drop:3
7-drop:1
Come on people! They don't have a single 1-drop, but 3 6-drops! Sure, 3 3-drops, but you probably need more 3-drops. Anyway...

Man, Kl'rt doesn't get good stats. He has had two 6-drops and one of them was -2/-2 from the curve and one is-1/-1. Still, both of them get to jump the curve if you fulfill conditions. I serisouly love how they made Kl'rt work. Okay, with one affiliation, he gets nothing special, but with 2, he gets Invisible Woman's powers, and can defend himself better. With 3, he gains Thing's strength and gets more ATK power. With 4, he gets the Nova Flame of the Human Torch and can burn people. I guess Mr. Fantastic is the one affiliation that can fly and has range. Maybe-ish. Oh well. Still, he is basically, not an 11/11 with flight/range, but a 14/14 with flight/range and a burn for 6. Oh, how they do Kl'rt justice in this game.
What else is Skrull related? Well, I am glad you asked. In the Giant-Size Coming of Galactus, one of the planets you have to protect or eat is Skrullos, Skrull Homeworld.

What does Skrullos do? It copies the planet before it. Now, I think this is a brilliant way to represent the planet. Basically, it represents how the Skrulls shapeshift and become other people. When you get to Skrullos, it is confusing, because it looks exactly the same as the previous planet, because the Skrulls make themselves look like the previous planet. Nothing particularly special, but cute.
Tarnax IV was also in the MCG box, although as one of the MEX cards. Like Sworn Enemies, it is not specifically Skrull, but it is for Skrulls.

Now, in the comics, Tarnax IV became the homeworld and capital of the Skrull empire, but unfortunately for them, it was devoured by Galactus. In VS, the card gives Skrulls a huge benefit. Previously, while getting multiple affiliations was great, but only Ethan Edwards and Titannus really needed more than 3, as everybody else could get by with 3 or less. With Tarnax IV, however, any of your Skrulls can get a big ATK boost for the number of affiliations it has. Awesome!

Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass is an amazing comic and I love it a lot. Written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita Jr., it is a comic that details the life of Dave Lizewski, an average comic-loving kid. He decides that he is fed up with people trying to be like Paris Hilton and stuff, and wonders why people don't try to be Spider-Man. Spider-Man is a hero, and people don't try to be like him. It also doesn't try to live in a pristine world, like the Marvel or Ultimate universes (because honestly, they are more pristine than the real world). He lives in a world where he finds some people vandalizing and tries to take them out, and there is a lot of punching and kicking and stabbing and hitting, and with Dave not having powers of any sort or any special abilities (like amazing martial arts skill, or lots of guns), he gets the crap kicked out of him. As he stumbles away after being stabbed, he gets run over by a car and they just keep driving because they don't want to deal with him. It's a lot harder to be a superhero than it looks, and when I honestly think about it, I think that this is the closest that a comic can get to being real life without being real life. After actually beating some people up, someone caught his fight on their camera phone and it's going up on YouTube. I mean, in this day and age, that is the kind of thing that would happen. When people fight, there is a lot of blood, and violence and lots of things break and it is amazing that he is actually alive after the first beating and it is amazing that he actually tries again. When people see him on the street, they think he is a flasher and start swearing at him that they are going to cut off his balls. With all the swearing and everything that is going on, it feels like it is real, and less like a comic. Seriously, I love this series and I want people to read it. If you don't want real, then don't read it, but it is amazing, and even without saying "Don't Try This at Home," you honestly don't want to. I really don't want my ass kicked by bunches of people and having to go to the hospital. There has only been two issues, but I really love the series anyway.

Skrulls in Vs pt 3

Okay, on to the 4 and ups.

Ethan Edwards is amazing. In the comics, he was basically a Superman parody. He fell to Earth in a spaceship and was raised on a farm. He was raised to be modest and humble, then went out into the world and tried to be a superhero named Virtue. Nothing worked for him the way it does for Superman. He raced around the city with Spider-Man, trying to find Absorbing Man, and Spidey got tons of bugs on his eyepieces. When Punisher shot a missile at Absorbing Man, Ethan blocked it and lost almost his entire costume in the process. He had to protect his naughty bits with his cape, showing Punisher the value of capes. Anyway, the more he found about himself, the more powerful he got, it seemed. When he was taken in for tests at the Baxter Building, they discovered all these amazing abilities. His card represents that, I feel, well.

Basically, he starts out as a 9/7 with flying. Not bad. With Skrulls though, and all the ways to get affiliations they have, he can easily become much more powerful. In fact, through a deck I built, I was often getting him as high as 15 easily on turn 4, thanks to low-cost dual affiliated 1-drops and Mutopia with Wolverine or Image Inducer.
Paibok is an awesome card and I like it a lot. Basically, what it allows you to do is constantly get +2 ATK on the attack, unless you face another Skrull deck in which case, you might not.

You can easily get three affiliations, so he will also always have his cosmic counter when he attacks. For a common, it's really pretty good.
Rogue as a Skrull? For the whole story, see Rian Fike's preview article.

Now, I think it is an awesome card, no doubt, but my only problem is that it doesn't really fit the Skrull theme or multi-affiliations all that well. Still, an awesome card.
Titannus was the main villain of Marvel Team-Up (to an extent more than Iron Maniac), and was pretty darn powerful. Basically, Dr. Strange got Nova, Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel and Hulk together to face him and he beat all of them. Yes, he beat Hulk by absorbing his gamma radiation. Titannus is also crazy and delusional which made him dangerous.

Now, his ability in the game is awesome. He pretty much is automatically a weak 7-drop, but easily can get to something like 21/21, overtaking a lot of 8-drops. By turn 7, with things to get you affiliations, a 21/21 Titannus is easily imaginable. Well, I'll go over plot twists and other stuff, including the redone Super Skrull (yay, Kl'rt!) soon.

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?