January 2012

Secret Avengers #20

/ / Comics

secret-avengers-20-coverThe latest issue of Secret Avengers opens with the deaths of Steve Rogers, Agent 13, and War Machine. To save her friends the Black Widow activates an “Escape Hatch” (a small time machine) which takes her five years into the past to begin planning a way to avert the catastrophe which took the lives of three of her teammates.

Sadly, she can’t simply show up and take out the group which ambushed her friends. The timeline must be preserved. Whatever the Black Widow decides to do, she must not leave any trace that the events have been altered.

Using the Escape Hatch the Black Widow travels to talk with the Beast about the the trouble with time travel, enlists the help of a sorcerer hours before his death and a black market weapons designer to make what she will need.

I’ve never been the biggest Black Widow fan, but the choice by Warren Ellis to choose the character who has no special knowledge or skill set of the concepts involved is a good one.

…

Secret Avengers #20Read More »

Secret Avengers #20 Read More »

The Flash #4

/ / Comics

the-flash-4-new-52-coverIssue #4 gives us a pretty well thought-out explanation as to how Barry Allen survived the sequence of events from last month’s comic, but most of this month’s story is focused on explaining the history of Mob Rule.

Even if we don’t get much of the Flash here, the backstory of Mob Rule (though gruemsome) is explains quite a bit. Manuel Lago was a super-spy who had been given regenerative abilities as part of a top secret government project (think Deadpool, without the tumors). However, when one of his mission went horribly wrong he was tortured for hours with limbs being cut-off his body as they regenerated. Eventually the various limbs grew into copies of him, and Mob Rule was born.

It bothers me that everyone is referring to Mob Rule by the same name when the group hasn’t publicly ever used that name, but it’s a comic book conceit I’m willing to let slide. Once again I’m impressed by how well-planned the story elements are from Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato are every month. And the art is gorgeous. Best of the week.

[DC, $2.99]

The Flash #4 Read More »

Contagion

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Contagion
  • IMDB: link

contagion-blu-rayDirector Steven Soderbergh puts together an ensemble cast (Marion Cotillard, Elliott Gould, Demetri Martin, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Enrico Colantoni) to give us his take on a worldwide pandemic that sweeps over the world in a matter of days. Sadly, it turns out he doesn’t have anything new to say. Contagion isn’t a bad film, but it’s exactly what you expect from this genre, nothing more.

Half of the film, centered around the search for the cure, plays out very much like Outbreak or The Andromeda Strain as the rest of the story centers the constant threat of violence as society self-destructs and devolves into anarchy (like The Road, 28 Days Later, or any number of post-apocalyptic films in recent years).

…

ContagionRead More »

Contagion Read More »

Comic Rack

/ / Comics

It’s a new week so it must be time to talk about comics! Welcome to the RazorFine Comic Rack boys and girls. Pull up a bean bag and take a seat at feet of the master as we offer you this quick list of all kinds of comic book goodness set to hit comic shops and bookstores this week from all your favorite publishers including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Archie, Dynamite, Image Comics, and others.

This week includes Action Comics, Animal Man, Avengers Academy, Blood Red Dragon, The Boys, Defenders, Detective Comics, Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, G.I. JOE, Godzilla: Legends, The Goon, Hellraiser, Hulk, The Huntress, Justice League International, Shinku, Stormwatch, Super Dinosaur, Thunderbolts, X-Men, the first issues of Fatale, Ferals, The Lone Ranger, Nowhere Man, Peanuts, Robocop: Road Trip, Steed and Mrs. Peel, Vampirella Vs. Dracula, and the final issues of Artifacts, Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games and X-23.

Enjoy issue #161

…

Comic RackRead More »

Comic Rack Read More »