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]

G.I. JOE #1 Read More »

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).

…

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

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

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]

All-New X-Men #32 Read More »

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).

…

The Blacklist – Monarch Douglas BankRead More »

The Blacklist – Monarch Douglas Bank Read More »

Morning Glories #40

/ / Comics

Morning Glories #40While spending much of the issue highlighting the underground student newspaper crew, Morning Glories #40 offers a philosophical discussion about he nature of reality with the arrival of Oliver Simon and Ellen Richmond who show up to help the class get back on track for the upcoming science fair. Although Vanessa is overjoyed at the unexpected visit from her mother, Ian is less than thrilled with his father’s arrival and lecture on the nature of observable reality. However, the debate does stir something in the young man and force him to take the first step on a dark path in attempting to rewrite history for his own ends.

Given the lecture hall set-up the issue is even more verbose than usual in throwing out ideas from ancient philosophy to modern science fiction to explain the nature of the universe as we know it. The real reveal isn’t the discussion itself (which I’m sure has clues to larger themes buried in Dr. Simon’s ramblings) but the dark nature of Ian who not only tortures the blinded Fortunato but also prepares to use the power of the Cylinder for his own dark purposes. For fans.

[Image, $3.50]

Morning Glories #40 Read More »