Browsing: Review

Or – “How Citizen Steel Got His Groove Back.” With apologies to boss-man Stephen, of course… The story of Nathan Heywood took a backseat in the first several issues of JSA, and was sidetracked entirely by “The Lightning Saga,” but now that things have returned to (relative) normalcy, the grandson of Commander Steel is entering the spotlight. After the tragic ends of his grand-pop and cousin, (both of whom were killed in acton in their red, white, and blue battle gear) the loss of his leg due to medical incompetence, and the massacre at his family reunion, Nathan has had…

Or – “Part Two Of Our First Inaugural Bruce Otter Friday!” Depending how this flies, we may go ahead and package this sort of thing for all the loyal Spoilerites.  Mark I. Mondays, Tom Grice Tuesdays, Starleafgirl Saturdays, Salieri St. Swithins Day, Brent F. Boxing Day, James Deckert…uh…  Japanese New Year.  Um… Rowan…  Ralentine’s Day…  Baal Bawdily Bouncing Banana Boomerang Day.  (Don’t feel bad if I didn’t get to y’all, it wasn’t exclusionary, I just managed to kill the joke dead before getting to you.)  Actually, I hadn’t necessarily intended to recap Bruce’s absolute fave-rave characters, two of the best 80’s era pseudo-superheroes the same…

Or – “Further Proof That Tom Grice Is WRONG, Sir!  WRONG!” Welcome to Bruce Otter Friday, the day where we do everything we can to steal away the disposable income of former comic fan, Bruce Otter!  I’ve always said that no one’s opinion can really be incorrect, as opinion is merely the statement of the facts as you’ve experienced them.  “I think that Actress X is attractive” is an opinion, with the only truly valid counter-statement being “I think Actress X is NOT attractive.”  A common problem comes when people mistake the statement “I think Actress X is not attractive” as interchangable with the statement “Actress X is not…

Or – “Single-Parenting Is Never Easy. Single-Parenting An Assassin Is Nigh Impossible.” I’ve long been of the opinion that raising a child all by yourself is one of the most difficult propositions in life, certainly as difficult as superheroing, in it’s own way. Black Canary has embarked upon an attempt to combine both into one lifetime, and it’s not without it’s complications. With her near-future plans involving something borrowed and something blue, I’m interested (and a little bit concerned) to see how her compeer relationship with Sin is going, and more importantly, where the journey will take them.

Or – “You Just Wait Until Your Father Gets Home!” When the Dynamo 5 team was put together, it was with the intent of protecting Tower City from the late Captain Dynamo’s greatest foes.  Instead, they’ve found themselves cleaning up the various messes left behind by Daddy’s insecurities, infidelities, and sundry non-heroic acts.  Now, with the return of Captain Dynamo (without even having a clone, a cyborg, and an armored version of him running about…) the very idea behind their assemblage has been called into question, and the D5 finds that things aren’t nearly as clear-cut.  A deceased hero’s flaws can…

Or – “A New Direction Is In The Wings, With Some Loose Ends To Clear Up First…” The anatomy of the crossover is always fascinating to observe, and the clash of Checkmate and the Outsiders has been very interesting, serving to put the spotlight on both teams, including the first real understanding of what Sasha Bordeaux’s OMAC implants are really capable of. But it’s been a brutal ride for all involved, and if you’ve been reading Previews, you know that the Outsiders’ future will involve some changes in personnel, leadership and strategy… The questions that this issue must answer, then,…

Or – “How To Escape Certain Death With Style & Grace (And A Chainsaw Hand.)” The problem with prequels is as simple as it is obvious. As soon as this series began, we knew where it was going to end, with Palpantine taking over as Emperor. We knew that the plague would take over the entire world, we knew that no one would survive, so we needed a charismatic lead and a good story to carry it. Ash Williams fits the first bill, and his desperate travels through this Marvel Universe have ably (and entertainingly) provided the second. Now, with…

Or – “If Somebody Doesn’t Believe In Me, I Can’t Believe In Them.” I’ve been all over the map in my responses to the various issues of the Loners, and with this issue, I’m starting to understand why… There’s much more than six issues worth of story in these characters, and the writer is desperately trying to shove in as much as possible, and give each of them their own moment in the sun. The problem I’m finding is that we’re not dealing with a TEAM, we’re dealing with a disparate group of individuals who don’t really have anything in…

Or – “Feeling The Love For The Post-Reboot Squad…” There are a couple of reasons that I chose to go with this particular Legionnaire.  The first is a sense of innate laziness, in that her history isn’t nearly as long as some of the other candidates (Brainiac 5, notably.)  The second is that, sometimes, I feel like the old guy ranting into a vacuum about how comics were better when I was a boy, uphill, both ways, through thirty feet of snow, and the starving children in Romania don’t even HAVE comics, you ungrateful whippersnappers!  Though thoroughly modern and original…

Don’t you feel like we’ve been here before? It’s not everyday a superhero dies – it’s more of an every other month thing. But one thing is for certain, in the DC Universe, if there is a major crisis looming, it’s a sure bet a Flash is going to die. In the wake of Infinite Crisis, and the repercussions of One Year Later, Bart Allen (aka Impulse, aka Kid Flash II, aka The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive) had a very rough time trying to fill the very big shoes of his grandpa Barry and Uncle Wally – fans didn’t…

Or – “Teenage Superguys… Don’t Do It!” The original lineup of the New Warriors reportedly came about when two editors flipped through the Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe, picked a few characters who hadn’t been seen in a while and slapped together a team out of them. So far in the new series, we’ve seen a mysterious masked man and two mutants depowered by the Decimation. There may be as much untapped potential in the former Beak and Winddancer as there was in Namorita, Firestar, Marvel Boy, and Speedball. Add in the man called Nova, fighting well beneath his…

Or – “Continuing The Difficult Task Of Rebuilding A Sympathetic Anthony Stark…” When Captain America #26 came out back in May, I complained about the fact that the story referenced the wonderful words that Sam Wilson (The Falcon, pictured above in his swingin’ 70’s green and gold original costume, complete with extra-groovy bird of prey medallion) said at Captain America’s funeral without actually telling us what those words were. Some have argued (Tom Grice among them) that this makes the moment more poignant by letting us all write our own eulogies, but part of me felt that it was short-changing…

Or – “I Find Myself Really Missing The Giant Disco Collar…” Various revamps of Iron Fist throughout the years keep altering the original costume and I don’t really understand why. Not only is it one of the most unique and interesting designs in comics, it’s not designed to be a superhero suit, it’s the customary garb of the fist of K’un L’un, a martial artists costume. In the 90’s-era run of Hero for Hire an issue featuring Deadpool had the merc with a mouth mocking the yellow slippers, and while it was funny, it irked me. Stop messing with the…

Or – “Proof That Not Every Licensed Property Is A License To Print Money… It’s the 4th of July, American Independence Day, and here at Stately Spoilers Manor East, I’m preparing for a campout, purchasing sparklers for young Molly, and wondering if the 231st Anniversary is celebrated with Adamantium or Prometheum. 25 years ago this month, give or take a few days, I was on a boy scout campout, and my ever-awesome cousin Elwood had brought with him a comic book he picked up at the local Duckwalls. G.I. Joe had recently been a HUGE hit for Marvel, followed quickly…