Comics

Rocket #1

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Rocket #1 comic reviewThere’s quite a bit of set-up in the first issue of the new series starring one of the Guardians of the Galaxy‘s most notorious (and furriest) members. Savoring a few drinks in one of the galaxy’s lower-rent bars, a ghost from Rocket Raccoon‘s past walks back into his life with a sob story and a proposition. Unsure whether or not he can trust Otta Spice, who already sold him up the river once to save herself, it takes a bit of convincing to push Rocket out of his drunk reverie and into action to put together an alien crew for a heist.

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Elektra #3

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Elektra #3 comic reviewTrapped in Murderworld by Arcade along with a group of athletes, D-list celebrities, and reality-TV stars, the game begins as the super-villain’s predators begin hunting the group. It soon becomes obvious Elektra can’t save any of the other contestants and has to focus on staying alive and killing as many of the hunters as possible.

Elektra #3 contains a flashback to Elektra working with Daredevil in an attempt to be less murdery and more heroic. The failed lesson there and her inability to save the ill-prepared other contestants have a common theme about Elektra’s struggle against what she does so well: kill. Of course we’re stuck with the same common problem with any Daredevil flashback since he altered reality in ways which still haven’t been fully explained. What Elektra remembers is, at best, only partially true.

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Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #1

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Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #1Spinning out of the events of the (pretty damn awful) Spider-Man event The Clone Conspiracy which brought Ben Reilly back from the dead, although this time as villain rather than hero, Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #1 begins a new chapter for character who doesn’t seem to quite belong anywhere in the current Marvel Universe.

The first issue of the new series picks up with Reilly wearing a stolen cosplay costume and attempting to resume his old moniker the Scarlet Spider in Las Vegas. Haunted by both his good and evil halves, who appear to him as hallucinations, this version of the character lacks any of the heart of the original and returns to a somewhat heroic path only because he has nothing better to do.

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Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #25

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Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #25 comic reviewWhile ultimately I don’t think Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #25 quite lives up to its promise, it’s hard for me not to enjoy a comic that so blatantly celebrates the Bronze Age pairing of Green Lantern and Green Arrow. When Mystery, Inc. travels into Karma Corners the group of meddling kids and their talking dog run across a pair of hard-traveling heroes (making reference to Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams famous comic run).

I enjoyed seeing Scooby-Doo and the gang interact with both Ollie and Hal, but the setting of Karma Corners is a bit corny (even for me). Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had including writer Sholly Fisch having fun with the fact that Green Arrow’s rogues gallery is pretty damn forgettable. The comic even gives us a (far too short) appearance by Black Canary.

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Astro City #43

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Astro City #43 comic reviewDuring this latest volume of Astro City we’ve seen the Broken Man pop-up from time to time with important messages directed to the reader. What we haven’t seen, until now, is someone interrupt and hijack one of the omnipotent figure’s tales. That’s what happens in Astro City #43 when his tale about the Gentleman, the Bouncing Beatnik, and Lord Saampa is interrupted by the Gentleman’s daughter Tillie (who has her own amazing story to tell).

Breaking the fourth wall completely and talking both to the Broken Man and to the audience, Tillie steers the story towards her father, the super-hero known as the Gentleman. In doing so we learn something very interesting about this young girl who doesn’t age and how her father burst on the scene as a hero of Astro City.

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