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HEADS UP FOR THE WEEK
OF: 022107 |
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BOOK
OF THE WEEK:
ILLUMINATI#1 (of 5)
Comic Review by:
Mike Kurnat
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis/Brian Reed
Artist:
Jim Cheung
MSRP: $2.99,
Alternate Reality Price: $2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All
This Week!) |
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"...the
book was clever, very interesting and makes a good point
at the end."
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The second installment of the series has the group
quarreling over a proposition brought forth by Reed
Richards. He proposes that they collect the infinity gems
and keep them hidden and safe from dangerous hands. The
group dynamic in this series is the most interesting part of
the books. Having the six most brilliant men in the universe
in one room does cause quite a bit of back and forth
conversation between the characters (not including Black
Bolt of course). Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic are paired
through most of this book and the banter is sharp with
Richards defending his actions and Iron Man playing cautious
with the idea. The team does decide to go after the gems and
most of the concern shown by Iron Man and Namor proves
correct. The gems powers are unpredictable and the team is
thrown into some tough spots. Overall the book is strong
hitting on action, drama and a little comedy but the art was
nothing revolutionary. The art isn’t bad, but it is more
economical and functional than playful. One more bit that
bothered me was that it seemed liked these guys were winging
their experiments to get to the reality gem and the mind
gem. They are supposed to be the best and brightest but it
felt like they just were letting it all hang out and see
what happened. The bottom line is the book was clever, very
interesting and makes a good point at the end.
Favorite Part: Iron Man asks if they should be running their
experiment somewhere safer, Mr. Fantastic’s replies, “If
reality folds on itself, it won’t matter where we are.” Iron
Man simply responds, “Not “haha” funny.” Good Stuff. |
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 STAR
TREK NEXT GENERATION THE SPACE BETWEEN #1 (OF 6)
Comic Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
Writer: David Tischman, Artist:
Casey Maloney
As an old school, card carrying Trek fan, I wanted to feel excited about a new
line of Star Trek books. Now that we're left without a single new Trek show, the
need for more stories is definitely there. I just wish IDW had put in more
effort into this book than is on display in issue #1. From a writing standpoint,
David Tischman does an adequate job of replicating the feel of TNG episode.
Aside from the brisk length, this could easily fit in among the early episodes.
Which is also part of the problem. The reason Trek has fallen out of favor with
the public, is that it became far too complacent. It became its own parody at
some point. What Star Trek needs is the kind of revamping that has taken place
with Battlestar Galactica. Not to exactly copy that show, but to shake things up
in the Trek universe. This comic is just ultimately more of the same. Artwise,
the book stumbles quite a bit. It's not as bad as the CSI comics, whose art is
an abomination unto man, but it suffers many of the same problems. The
characters don't look particularly like the actors. Human figures in general
come across as sloppy and hurried. The only character in the comic that makes a
successful transition to the printed page is the Enterprise herself. Star Trek
deserves to take its place as one of the greatest science fiction concepts ever
created. It just needs some TLC to get it back on track. This book does nothing
to change that. Not recommended.
MSRP: $3.99,
Alternate Reality Price:
$3.39 (That's 15% OFF, All This Week!) |
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MARVEL ROUND UPS BY Mike
Kurnat…
Cable & Deadpool #37
An issue without one of the title characters, Cable, was everything a Deadpool
comic should be. This issue had Rhino getting some revenge on Deadpool by
slipping him some Pym Particles making Deadpool about 3 inches high. Rhino
carries him around on a keychain and humiliates him by, among other things,
making him ride a urinal cake in a seedy supervillain bar. The book follows the
general form of Deadpool stories of getting beat up, making wisecracks and than
kicking butt. Despite the predictive nature, it’s still quite enjoyable.
The Immortal Iron Fist #3
Next to nothing happened in this issue. Iron Fist is looking for the person who
stole his Chi for a night and when he finds him, the issue ends. Lot’s of talk,
very little action and some overall nonsense makes this one to miss.
Legion of
Monsters: Werewolf by Night #1
This book has two parts the werewolf story that adds some wrinkles to the
standard werewolf tale and a Frankenstein monster story that does the same. I
actually found the later to be more engaging with a more educated monster is
used as a trained weapon. This is a book I will be keeping my eye on and hope
that this good start continues with the next issue.
Silent War #2
This story is starting to get a little interesting and this book is almost there
but not quite. One very interesting part was an interaction between Black Bolt
and his imprisoned brother Maximus. Maximus really spoke strong and a little
psychotic and ended with him yelling, “Who’s got the voice now, brother?”
She-Hulk #16
Wolverine makes a cameo appearance helping She-hulk fight Wendigo in this boring
book where I felt more awkward after reading the book than satisfied. The
awkwardness is from the constant flirting between Wolvie and She-Hulk. It was
unsettling and didn’t help the already lackluster issue.
X-Men First Class #6
I want to like these books, I really do but I’m just not in love with the series
and mostly this issue. The young X-men’s names are being slandered by imposter
Skrull agents. The team has to not only stop some rampaging monster but also
wrestle with their new bad image. The book just ends so weak and fluffy that it
made me sick. This felt like a really bad episode of X-Men: Evolution. Bleh!
IMAGE ROUND UPS BY Mike Kurnat…
Battle Pope #13
God challenges The Pope to a fight after The Pope shows no regret for having sex
with Mary (yes that Mary). Pure comedy from this offering where we see Santa
Clause smack talk a demon, find out God has a big one, and we also see that
Whoppers are free in the Big BK in the sky.
Girls #22
A standard Girls book where a bunch of naked women make men act irrationally in
between gruesome frames of violence. In this issue some men contemplate leaving
some women tied up next to clone eggs which would result in death of the
townswomen and the start of a Utopia for the men. There is a little surprise at
the end that may lead to a very interesting conclusion to the series.
Invincibles #39
The group is split into two teams, one intercepting a spaceship that may be
holding enough mind controlling “sequids” (big pink leeches) to take over Earth
and the other is tasked with stopping the Lizard League from grabbing nukes. I
really like the art in this book and the romance subplot kept me hooked.
Impaler #3
With art reminiscent of the Silent Hill books, this comic lived up to the
brooding, dark art. With a wave of evil spirits consuming the city and killing
everything in their path, Vlad III comes to the rescue and starts chopping off
demon heads. The book reads fast with action dominating most of the story, but
the time spent was enjoyed
Retro Rocket #4
A fairly uninspired story comes to a close with this one. Retro wants to trade 8
billion humans for the remaining 1 billion on Earth to try to preserve and
repopulate the Earth after the aliens are done trying to make humans node
compatible(?). Things take a dull turn for the better for the 8 billion guinea
pigs when Sparky doesn’t take Retro’s advice and turns back to try and save
everyone. |
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"COMICBOOKMAN" |
Reviews are based on the Sneak
Peek titles sent out by Marvel & Image (DC no longer sends them out). It's not
everything that's shipping for the week, but it is a real good cross-section of
this weeks releases. |
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All
Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2007
by their respective owners. No rights given or implied
by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2007 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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OTHER
REVIEWS... |
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RASSLIN' REVIEW |
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Pay Per
Views and House Shows, we layeth the Smaketh- Down on
both! |
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KIDS REVIEWS |
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Dozen's of kid
friendly titles arrive every week and we review the one that
stands out. |
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AT THE MOVIES |
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Every week we
give you our opinion on what's playing at the cinema. |
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