NB of the Week

-HE MURDERED HIS LITTLE GIRLS WITH A SPOILS, HIS WIFE WITH A SPOILS, AND HIMSELF THE SAME WAY-

Jupiter's Legacy #3
Written by Mark Millar
Drawn by Frank Quitely

What do you do if your parents are the world's greatest superheroes? You've lived like a rockstar in the shadows of their fame and glory but you feel you will never live up to their standards. So why even bother? The biggest hero of them all, The Utopian, is being double crossed by his own family. His son and brother want the world ran a different way and his daughter is now pregnant with the child of a super drug dealer. As his daughter (Chloe) comes back home to try and live a better life for her newly conceived baby, his son (Brandon) begins their strike against him. As heroes turn on Utopian and try to attack all at once (possibly the only chance they have against him), a few others fall on Chloe and her mother. As they try to take Chloe away, her mother does her best to stop them. Only it turns out it's hard to do when they fight has only been taking place in her mind. In reality, she has already lost as they killed her body before they let her mind rejoin. As a silver lining, that druggie Baby-Daddy comes in and is able to save Chloe. Meanwhile, Utopian is completely thrown off when all his teammates are the ones beating the living snot out of him. As he lies bloody and beaten, Brandon comes in. As Utopian tries to plead with his son, begging him to stop this and help him set things right, Brandon knows things will never be right as long as his father is the one in charge. With one final blast, Brandon kills his father and sets off with his uncle to remake the world as they see fit.
There seem to be a lot of people who dislike Millar's writing because they see him as only writing towards "Hollywood standards" so that he can make movie money from the stories later. And with the success of Wanted and Kick-Ass, he'd be kinda stupid not to continue that path but to say he disregards his comic base is absurd. His writing is still top notch as he's able to join big, blockbuster action with the dark comic stories he became famous for (let's not forget that he made a name for himself by writing a story where murdering versions of the Avengers had to fight the Authority). Throw in the amazing art of Frank Quitely and you have a book that even though it's always late, has been damn great for it's first three issues. If this is what comic readers think Hollywood is like than I may have to watch more movies.

NB of the Week

-I'M RUNNING FREE, YEAH, I'M RUNNING FREE-

Powers: Bureau #7

The question (alright, a question) Multiple Man fans have asked for years is in Powers: Is it murder if all you're doing is killing copies of yourself? Walker, Pilgrim and Sunrise try to find out. Meanwhile, Walker finds something out about Pilgrim that he didn't see coming and it reminds us why Bendis is at his best on a book like this (Spoiler alert: she was pregnant).

Infinity #3
Everything continues to hit the fan. Cap and his armada fight off one invasion of the Builders only to piss them off further. Namor turns on Panther further as he lies about the fate of Atlantis. And Thanos comes to Black Bolt for his son only to find a very loud response of "No!" (and in Bolt speak, that's not a good outcome).

Savage Wolverine #8
Alright, so it turns out that this was a pretty pointless story. Wolverine wins, Elektra wins, Fisk rekills his dead wife. But at least it was fun and the art of Joe Mad is always great to look at .

Wonder Woman #23.1 - Cheetah
DC villain's month is dragging along as we get the New 52 Cheetah origin. She's a hunter with women who want to be Amazonian hunters... And a dude she calls a manhunter will probably turn into the new Manhunter. Seems subtle enough.

New Avengers #10
The Illuminati search for the hidden son of Thanos but in doing such, give the location to the Ebony Maw instead. And to top it all off, another Incursion happens to distract them. Dammit all with this timing.

Thor: God of Thunder #13
Very simple but very cool issue. the Dark Elf Malekith is finally released and is hellbent on killing all the Dark Elves. And just in time for his movie debut (go figure, right?).

Justice League 23.3 - Dial E
Not gonna lie, this one was all over the place and I have no idea how to explain anything without babbling on with all the backstory. Read Dial H and then this and you'll understand. I think.

Ultimate X-Men 31

Kitty hands the leadership over to Pete so that they can focus on taking Jean Grey down. Over in Tian, James is told that he either helps kill Kitty or he will be killed himself. After refusing to do that, Jean releases him and makes it open season to everybody in Tian: James Hudson is to be killed.

100 Bullets: Brother Lono #4
Lono continues to try and live the strait life but with Mexican dealers wanting the church land to hide their "activities", that may become more and more difficult to do (and I'm personally hoping that he falls off that wagon sooner rather then later).

Trailer Watch: The Last Days on Mars

I have said before that I feel like the first three Alien films may be my favorite trilogy (disagree all you like) so it should be no surprise that a movie with the feel of Alien gets me excited. For me, it's the litmus test for any sci-fi movie.
And we get Casey Jones fighting alongside Sabretooth so that's awesome.

Trailer Watch: Grudge Match

Stallone vs DeNiro. This dish may be covered in cheese but I can't wait to try it. I'm definitely in.

NB of the Week

-HUMAN BEINGS ARE FREE, EXCEPT WHEN HUMANITY NEEDS SPOILS-

Justice League #23.2: Lobo - The Last Paycheck
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Drawn by Ben Oliver

(Early disclaimer, the cover is not of the Lobo that is in this book...)
This issue is one of those cases where everything leading up to it was setting me up for one thing when it delivered something much, much better. Here are the negative setups:
All month long, the villains are the stars of the DC Universe books. Nothing too bad there but then you realize that not every book has a villain issue. Instead, the main, big selling titles are used to push the others by making books like Justice League have four, weekly villains issues (23.1 - 23.4), most having nothing to do with the Justice League title or it's stories. It's a cheap gimmick that forces us to read other characters and stories in the hope of them picking up the book the villain is actually a part of. It's a shit move but sadly it's selling.
Second, DC has made headlines by revealing that a "new" Lobo was coming in. They already had Lobo in the New 52 but he's apparently an impostor and the "original" Lobo is a small, fit, pretty boy. I actually don't mind the look as much as the bullshit cop out that he's the original and the Lobo we have is a fake. It's Spider-Man Clone Saga level shit.
So that's how I went into this issue of Justice League: Villain that has nothing to do with the story and a day time soap opera explanation for him. And it turned out a lot better.
Lobo is a bounty hunter who wants some specific information. He's told he'll finally get it if he does this one more job of transporting a package. The rest is a bit cliched as somebody else wants the cargo and he kills 'em good to keep it. He checks on it
only to find that it's a group of "people" (aliens of sorts). As they thank him for freeing them and saving them from their doom, he quickly shows why he's a bastich and puts them back in. He has a delivery to make and needs his information. Which turns out to be the whereabouts of the other Lobo that has taken his name.
The issue was predictable and nothing new but the writing was good and the art was great. And I gotta admit, I like this Lobo. He may be slimmer and better looking but that's how books sell. Women aren't the only characters that need to look overtly gorgeous. In the run of things, this still feels like Lobo. It may take some getting used to seeing him this way but if the attitude is there (and hopefully his bike and dog eventually), I can live with his being pretty. I went into this book expecting very little and I was very much surprised with how I liked it. The "new" Lobo has my approval.

Four Colored Frak

-INSERT YOURSELF HERE EDITION-

With some quick erasing, we get a very nice scene from the Guardians as they... do something together. I myself like to think that they are reenacting scenes from Pretty Woman.

In Which I Come to Terms with DC Comics

Over the last two years, DC has been trying their best to stay relevant to the world of comics beginning with the mostly-complete reboot of their universe. Love it or hate it, this was a chance to make old things new and c-list characters meaningful. At least, I'm sure that was the idea.
DC has been getting a reputation over these years for not letting creative control rest on the comic title's creative team. Writers who have left have said that the editors are dictating where things go, often forcing last minutes changes to the stories. Unless you're on the inside, that's a claim that's hard to prove but if you look at some numbers, it seems very likely.
DC has had 73 different ongoing titles in the last two years. 25 have been cancelled (or ended for whatever reason they may claim) and of those, seven didn't even get to make it past issue #8. I can tell ya that comics are ordered two months in advance, so really the decision to can the titles came at issue #6 or even sooner. Pretty damn early to be calling it quits.
Amongst those 73 titles, the creative changes have been many. This last week, the writers and artist of Batwoman (one of the only books from the start to still have the original writers) quit the book after forced changes at the "eleventh hour" that they didn't agree with, one of them being that they weren't allowed to marry the character off (she is gay but the writers have said the gay marriage was not the reason why). This seems like their new MO after you look at the numbers over these two years: 163 total writers have been credited on these titles. Even more staggering are the 419 artists. And I guarantee that's lower than the actual number. I counted those issue for issue and didn't even go through every title completely.
DC is lost and confused. They keep changing everything in order to sell everything like it was Batman and are often cancelling smaller character books to launch another title from a selling name (including combining names to do such like the just launched Batman/Superman and the upcoming Superman/Wonder Woman). DC needs to let their people go. I understand you want things to sell and you do this for profit but you can't make profit when all you're doing is stretching your product thin and repeating yourselves. I still have some faith in these characters and their possible stories.
I just wish DC had some.

Boobs of the Day

I've been watching a bit of Syfy lately and a newer show easily struck a chord with me: Heroes of Cosplay, where we follow peoples around to Cons and see them put together their costumes for each. One of the main ladies is Yaya Han, who you have probably seen but never knew a name. Well now ya do. And I'm pretty sure we'll all forget it just as quickly for obvious, male reasons...

NB of the Week

-SO WHEN YOU SAY PSYCHOSOMATIC, YOU MEAN LIKE HE COULD START SPOILS WITH HIS THOUGHTS?-

X-Factor #262 - The End of X-Factor: Part 6
Written by Peter David
Drawn by Neil Edwards

Layla has a problem. The man she loves and married is turning further into a demon. Worse over: she's pregnant with his child. And not a dupe child like he reabsorbed years ago (in an awesome but slightly messed up story). Real flesh and blood child. But Madrox is losing what little humanity he has left and Layla is scared. She did not see this one coming. After he breaks his chains, Madrox attacks her, no longer knowing who she is. As she screams, she yells out the only thing she hops will help: I'm pregnant with your child. What bit of life he still has must have understood something because he gets off her and crawls back into his hole (literally). As Layla deals with cops and more mess (not the important stuff to this issue), Jamie begins to pray. Soon, he is visited by Theresa (Banshee/Siryn), who a bit back became the Morrigan and told them to pray for her is they ever needed anything. So Jamie prayed. Back up to Layla, she is fighting some cops who are going to arrest her and some big-wig in a suit with a nifty gun that can penetrate her forcefield. Just when she figures it's all over, Jamie Madrox comes in and forces everybody off his land. He has been cleared of the demon and mack to normal. As the three (Layla, Banshee and himself) of them talk, Theresa says she can summon everybody back and start back up again to which Madrox smiles, looks at wife and says:
We have a child to raise. A farm to get back up and running. And a world to leave to other people to save. We're Done.
We're Done.

This issue was a double edge sword for me. Being the final issue of David's amazing run of X-Factor, it was a bitter feeling knowing that no more would be coming but it was a very satisfying ending as well. Characters were left for better and worse but leaving with the main two happy together was completely worth it. And remember a month ago in issue 260 where a shadow figure offered Polaris a position on a new X-Factor? Peter David has said that issue was a big clue as to his next book from Marvel. So maybe X-Factor is over, but it looks like X-Factor isn't quite done yet.

Trailer Watch: Neighbors

This is the red band trailer for the new comedy Neighbors. It's about a couple and their newborn who suddenly have to deal with the crap that comes with the fraternity that has moved into the house next door. Looks like it could be a funny movie and maybe Efron will make it so that we don't mind his High School Musical past. Even if some of us liked that first movie...
-TRAILER IS RATED R SO WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK-

Let's See If That's Now Solved...

I've been having some problems with this blog and the template (I think) that I've been using. My computer freezes while trying to load it, I can't type at times (seemingly out of nowhere) and I've been told that comments aren't being allowed too. So I changed it up again. We'll see it this fixes things but if anybody continues to have problems, let me know and I'll mess around more.