Alan Rapp

Fables #144

/ / Comics

Fables #144Still unaware that the recently resurrected Bigby is being controlled by an outside force, the pair of Ozma (dressed like teen superhero) and Beast housed in the Big Damn Golden Armor) set out to stop him. Along with a giant castle appearing in the middle of Manhattan, the resulting chaos creates one of the funniest lines of the series as a New York cop exclaims “What in the bloody fuckhole of America is going on here?”

Despite magic and armor on their side both Beast and Ozma find defeating (or even slowing down) the wild Bigby impossible. Trying to fight the voice in his head, Bigby has no choice but to eventually murder both Fables continuing his bloody path straight to Fabletown and his wife.

With Bigby’s story in full swing the rest of Fabletown prepares for his arrival, as does Snow White who prepares to meet her husband for what might be the final time. Where Fairest seems to have lost its way a bit, Fables #144 provides a strong tale with an enjoyable back-up story offering the final fate of the Three Blind Mice. Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $2.99]

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G.I. JOE #1

/ / Comics

G.I. JOE #1After discontinuing the company’s various G.I. JOE titles earlier this spring, IDW launches a new series where a changing world threatens G.I. JOE. With Cobra renouncing its terrorist ties and becoming a peace-keeping organization Washington debates whether or not an organization like the JOEs need to exist.

As Cobra attempts to broker peace between Schletteva and Galibi, Scarlett is stuck in Washington attending Senate hearings defending her organization now that their primary threat has apparently seen the error of its ways. The question about what Cobra is really up to, with the help of Siren who continues to rebrand Cobra to the outside world, is left hanging as the first issue comes to a close but we do know not every Cobra soldier is happy in their new roles.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Traviss begins to lay a foundation for the series here but by the nature of the story is forced to be unnecessarily vague about the real intentions of all the players. The art on IDW’s JOE books has always been hit-and-miss. Steve Kurth’s work matches Traviss expositional storytelling but a little more traditional comic style would go a long way to help sell the storyline. For fans.

[IDW, $3.99]

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Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Heavy is the Head

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Heavy is the Head
  • wiki: link

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Heavy is the Head

Wrapping up the two-episode arc guest-starring Brian Patrick Wade as the Absorbing Man, Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) deals with the death of two members of his increasingly small fighting force and the capture of a third mercenary whose knowledge of the operation could bring what’s left of S.H.I.E.L.D. tumbling down. With May (Ming-Na Wen) on Creel’s tail, the team also hopes to retrieve the 084 (although they aren’t the only ones after the device).

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All-New X-Men #32

/ / Comics

All-New X-Men #32After their encounter with a new mutant Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, and X-23 are scattered across the Marvel Ultimate Earth with no way of getting home. Jean Grey is lucky enough to run into Spider-Man, albeit not the Spider-Man she knows, but other members of the team aren’t so lucky.

Angel finds himself in the middle of the Savage Land, Beast is trapped in the middle of Latveria, after accidentally breaking up a football game X-23 is on the run from the law, and Bobby wakes in the middle of the Mole-Man‘s lair.

The Jean Grey/Miles Morales team-up sells the issue (while also providing a pretty cool splash panel of Miles’ time as Spidey), but the other storylines don’t put the original X-Men in situations which they couldn’t have found on their own Earth (in either timeline, really). As someone who has largely ignored the Ultimate Universe since its creation the comic is is only mildly interesting to me but longtime fans may get more out of it. For fans.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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The Blacklist – Monarch Douglas Bank

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Blacklist – Monarch Douglas Bank
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - Monarch Douglas Bank

A robbery at the Monarch Douglas Bank in Warsaw provides Reddington (James Spader) with an unique opportunity. Sending Lizze (Megan Boone) after what he knows is the bank of choice for laundering money by a variety of unscrupulous groups around the world, Red uses the team to get his hands on a single employee (Annika Boras) of the bank whose photographic memory not only allows the FBI to get their hands millions in criminal accounts but also provides Reddington some leverage against Berlin (Peter Stormare).

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