Moon Knight #10

moon-knight-10-coverWith only a couple issues left before the cancellation of the series (Moon Knight #12 will be final issue) writer Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t hold back in giving us the death of a supporting character (and perhaps the death of any happiness Marc Spector might find out of his costume) and Moon Knight locked up in a hospital ward trying to make sense of the fallout with his battle with Count Nefaria.

Although Echo might be gone, a decision I’m decidedly against, Bendis does introduce a new character into the equation as Nefaria’s daughter Madame Masque is brought in to retrieve the Ultron head.

Given recent events, the humor regularly associated with this comic is placed on hold. Instead we get a couple of graphic panels including Madame Masque blowing people away and Echo’s dead body on a coroner’s slab during her autopsy.

This isn’t the best issue of the series by any means, but it’s definitely still worth a look.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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Smash – The Cost of Art / Let’s Be Bad

  • Title: Smash – The Cost of Art
  • tv.com: link

smash-the-cost-of-art

Honestly I’d forgotten this show even existed. Sure, I remember the big campaign NBC put out hyping its premiere after the Super Bowl, but I missed the pilot and hadn’t really given the show a second thought. With several of the shows I usually write about taking late Winter breaks I decided to tape a couple episodes of Smash and give it a shot.

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Wyatt Earp’s Revenge

  • Title: Wyatt Earp’s Revenge
  • IMDB: link

wyatt-earps-revenge-dvdMost know Wyatt Earp for his time as a Marshall in Tombstone, Arizona, and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Wyatt Earp’s Revenge, the new film by director Michael Feifer and screenwriter Darren Benjamin Shepherd, takes a look at a three-day period during Earp’s role as sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas, and the manhunt which changed his life forever.

The movie opens in 1907 in San Fransisco where an elderly Wyatt Earp (Val Kilmer) recounts to a Kansas City Star reporter (David O’Donnell) the events that led him to form “The Best in the West” gang and go after outlaw James “Spike” Kennedy (Daniel Booko), the man responsible for several murders including the woman Earp loved – Dora Hand (Diana DeGarmo).

The flashbacks, which take place in 1878 in the Oklahoma Territory, show the younger Wyatt Earp (Shawn Roberts) and Charlie Bassett (Scott Whyte) investigating the murder of the woman he fancied.

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Justice League #6

justice-league-new-52-6-coverI won’t go so far to say the latest issue of Justice League is good but it’s damn sight better than worthless piece of crap Geoff Johns and Jim Lee signed their names to last month.

There are some improvements. Dakrseid‘s ridiculous makeover continues to be tweaked to lessen the effect of the big arrow pointing as his crotch. The dialogue for the team is slightly better (although we still get quite a few groaners mixed in), and the resolution, which helps elevate Cyborg by making him the hero of the hour, works fine.

That said, there’s plenty of problems. Although the idea of framing the Justice League‘s battle with Darkseid from the view of the people on the street is a good one, the narration and dialogue of the populace is pretty damn awful in spots reading far too much like jingoistic plot points (or hamfisted Super Friends references) than phrases anyone would actually say.

Personally, I was also less than happy with the continued bickering between the group while on-stage to be congratulated – not to mention the Flash‘s poor first attempt at naming the team.

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Usagi Yojimbo #144

usagi-yojimbo-144-coverUsagi Yojimbo #144 concludes the two-part storyline that began last month as the rabbit ronin helps out a soy sauce from a ruthless competitor. The second issue gives us a little more action than last month as well as a few more snippets of information for anyone who has ever been curious about the (far more complex than I had expected) process of making soy sauce.

Even the the vandalism of old man’s factory and the murder of his assistant isn’t enough to get the lazy local sheriff involved. Usagi Yojimbo takes matters into his own hands by throwing the local law in the middle of the gang determined to drive the old soy sauce maker out of business.

A good conclusion to the tale, which include some terrific panels of Usagi in action. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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