4.5 Razors

Usagi Yojimbo #20

/ / Comics

Usagi Yojimbo #20 comic reviewUsagi Yojimbo #20 begins a new arc with the introduction of young swordmaster Yukichi Yamamoto who meets Miyamoto Usagi for the second time. The pair’s first meeting is shown in a flashback in which Yukichi retells the meeting where the young pupil was too slow to recognize Usagi’s skill with a blade denying a meeting for the rabbit ronin with Itsuki-Sensei. Now with his master dead, Yukichi travels to deliver Itsuki-Sensei‘s sword his nephew Daido.

The flashback meeting, which Usagi has long ago forgotten about, and hold no ill-will, but which still haunts Yukichi, offers an interesting way to pair the two together as something more than just simple companions on the road. It turns out Yukichi is thankful for Usagi’s company as some local marauders take interest in the two travelers (and aren’t too happy with being publicly rebuffed).

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #117

/ / Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #117 comic reviewI do so love this comic. The battle of the bands is finally here as Jennika and her group put on a show so good that Bebop and Rocksteady admit defeat without ever taking the stage. We also get peace between the Turtles and Karai and the end to future Lita‘s time travel adventure as events are back on the proper path allowing her to return home (and take a couple of guests with her as well). And that future, it looks mighty bright.

The issue is filled with several great moments from the victory of the band, to Koya‘s almost too cute for words request to return for future engagements, to Lita’s sweet farewells (I’m not crying, you’re crying!), to the start of a new romance, and to the tease of the return of a core character back to the main storyline (although in an entirely new context). The creative team event gives me a cool hero moment for my favorite Turtle.

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – Truth

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – Truth
  • wiki: link

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Truth television review

“Truth” picks up immediately after the previous episode with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) chasing down the new Captain America (Wyatt Russell). For show that has been about moments rather than consistently good storytelling, the episode delivers with a strong action sequence that (along with a scene or two later in the episode) effectively ends John Walker’s tenure as Captain America. While some may be wowed by the action scene which opens “Truth,” it’s the half-hour which follows where the series actually deals various issues it raised in previous episodes (and then promptly ran away to the next action scene). The big turn to end “The Whole World is Watching” no doubt had more people talking about the series, but it’s here The Falcon and the Winter Soldier puts in the work on character development and storytelling.

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Angel – Are You Now or Have You Ever Been

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Angel – Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
  • wiki: link

Angel - Are You Now or Have You Ever Been television review

Throwback Thursday takes us back to Los Angeles and the adventures of a vampire with a soul. It may not be the best episode of the series, as some argue, as the Rebel Without a Cause references are little too obvious and it lacks the necessary ingredients of both Winifred Burkle and Wee Little Puppet Men, but the second episode of Angel‘s sophomore season has a lot going for it. “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” fits nicely into the show as the introduction of the Hyperion Hotel which would become the new home base of Angel Investigations as well as open the door for the series to explore more of the main character’s past.

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Usagi Yojimbo: Wanderer’s Road #5

/ / Comics

Usagi Yojimbo: Wanderer's Road #5 comic reviewReprinting the story from Usagi Yojimbo #11, “The Tea Cup” offers a team-up of Miyamoto Usagi and Murakami Gennosuke who the rabbit ronin runs into on the road. Gen has accepted a job to deliver a valuable tea cup, but there are those who don’t wish him make that delivery. With nothing else to do, Usagi decides to accompany his friend as the two fight and bicker along the way.

The story, reprinted in color, offers a good example of the Usagi/Gen dynamic. There’s plenty of action for the duo on the road, and they even decide to help a pair of lost orphans (and despite Gen’s objections he takes far more care with the pair than Usagi would have ever guessed). We also see Gen isn’t above taking advantage of his friend by using him as a decoy to make the escape (and making Usagi believe the cup was destroyed).

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