3.5 Razors

Star Wars #9

/ / Comics

Star Wars #9Although we get glimpses of Han and Chewie‘s continued escape from Coruscant and Luke and Wedge fighting off barrage of Stormtroopers while searching for answers on-board the Star Destroyer Devastator (which attracts the attention of a certain Dark Lord of the Sith), most of Star Wars #9 focuses on what Leia finds in the shattered remains of her homeworld aboard a ship hidden in the asteroid field of what once was Alderaan.

After realizing just who the collector of the remaining vestiges of Alderaan truly is, and what he’s responsible for, Leia is left at an impasse as to what do with the shell of the man whose expertise allowed the destruction of her world.

Making Tag Ragaren a sympathetic character is a nice twist for the issue, although I could have done with a little less of Leia’s tale and more of an equal focus on Luke slicing through Stormtroopers with his lightsaber and Han and Chewie continuing to try and evade a some very persistent bounty hunters and make it off the Imperial homeworld in one piece. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Codename: Action #1

/ / Comics

Codename: Action #1Set during the Cold War, the first issue of the new six-issue mini-series from writer Chris Roberson and artist Jonathan Lau is an old James Bond-style spy thriller. Codename: Action #1 introduces us to newly appointed Operative 1001 who will work with the much more seasoned Operator 5 to stop a hidden force pushing the world to the brink of World War III by replacing influential figures on both sides of the Iron Curtain with doppelgangers determined for war.

Codename: Action #1 works as a spy thriller, although I’m not sure how the super-hero element (such as introducing Captain Action at the end of this issue) is going to work without changing the tone of the mini-series.

I have mixed feelings about Jonathan Lau’s art, but the action scenes definitely have a spy flavor to them and work better than the less action-packed panels. With Operative 1001’s graduation assignment, the car chase, and an aerial training manuever by a bevy of French female spies, there’s plenty of action for a comic with the word in its title. Worth a look.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

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Graceland – Pawn

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Graceland – Pawn
  • wiki: link

Graceland - Pawn

Secrets see the light of day in a big way in Graceland‘s First Season finale as Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) pretends to flee the country while hanging around to search for the mysterious Jangles, who he begins to suspect is Charlie‘s (Vanessa Ferlito) new friend the Federale (Vincent Laresca). And when Briggs disappears off the grid Mike (Aaron Tveit) has no choice but to inform the FBI, and the rest of his Graceland teammates, about what it really going on. Some of them take the news better than others.

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The Shadow: Year One #5

/ / Comics

The Shadow: Year One #5Matt Wagner’s retelling of early days of The Shadow continue as Margo Lane begins her new role as a member of his organization (although his reluctance to use her does force the fiery Ms. Lane to set off on her own to get a better look at just what The Shadow gets up to on a nightly basis).

With the gang war still brewing, The Shadow turns his attention to an armored car heist put together by two of the families working to gather enough cash to take out the man responsible – Big Gun Massaretti who is still under the thrall of the mysterious Dr. Zorn. What they don’t realize is The Shadow has learned of their little scheme as well.

Much of the issue is set aside for conversations between Lamont and Margo about her new role. These work fine, and show us the two have feelings for each other neither is likely to share anytime soon, but the action certainly picks up with the appearance of The Shadow and the bloody gunfight on the bridge for the money inside the armored cars and some terrific laughter-filled panels by artist Wilfredo Torres. Worth a look.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

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Burn Notice – Reckoning

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Burn Notice – Reckoning
  • wiki: link

“Sometimes sacrifices must be made.”

Burn Notice - Reckoning

Stuck between choosing between the life of Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and that of Sonia (Alona Tal) and his cushy new job as the head of James‘ (John Pyper-Ferguson) organization, Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) makes the only choice possible and brings down the fury of a billionaire with his own private army on both him and his friends in the final episode of Burn Notice.

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