4 issue test #6 - Star Wars

It’s a Star Wars comic, how could it not be one of the most popular comics out there? But does that mean it’s any good? Well, let’s see if it passes the 4 issue test.

It’s another Marvel comic so be prepared for extra-expensive issues with bonus unnecessary digital versions. Here’s an idea Marvel: Most people who buy digital versions of comics are those who can’t get to a comic book shop, and might be a little far away to get them on ebay (my no. 1 comic source)

But let’s dive into the story of the comics

 

TV Retrospective: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1 episodes 14-16 review

Once again, it's time to look at Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. When we left Skye was in mortal peril, what lengths will Coulson and co go to save her. 

#23 - Death Note 2: The Last Name

Oh boy, I’ve not been looking forward to this one. The sequel to the Death Note movie. Released in October 2006 in Japan it made 5.5 billion yen by the end of the year, after being top of the box office for 4 straight weeks (double that of its predecessor) it received a limited international release but clearly made enough money for the third film: L’s last days to be released. I’m not gonna be covering that film, since it’s not an adaptation of the original Manga and to be honest, doing 2 movies is torture enough anyway.

Like with the first movie, the movie I’m watching for the review is not dubbed. I have actually watched a dubbed version of the first movie and there were a few holes closed up in the dialogue. For one, Light said he hacked into the police database to understand criminals as well as work out whether their sentences were adequate, which makes a bit more sense, only a little bit but a bit none-the-less. But we’re back to 2.0 and 5.1 audios (I still can’t tell the difference)

TV Retrospective: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 episodes 10-13 review

I know it's been a while, but we are back with some more of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Flash Season 1 finale (episodes 19-23) review

With Gotham, Arrow and Agents of SHIELD finishing their respective runs, it's only the Flash left to reach its conclusion

#22 - The Legend of Korra Video Game (Rage Issues 1 year Anniversary)

It’s the one year anniversary of Rage issues!

So it’s time once again to look at the bad products from a great series, the avatar series. From what I can tell most of the Avatar: The Last Airbender video games were only sort of semi-cannon tie in stories related to the series that was airing, but they went a bit more all-out with this one. This story is in-continuity, taking place between books 2 and 3 of Korra. Not only that but they’ve hired Platinum Games to do the development, who are well known for fast paced action games, and most famous these days for Bayonetta.

Then then you take a look at the game in the promotional material. They use cell shading over more traditional CGI to give the game a look more in tune with the style of the show. With such a reputable games company behind it, and a great look to it, this was bound to be a fantastic game, right?

Well, no, it isn’t. And the bad signs started early. For starters, Platinum Games, the guys who made Bayonetta, were busy working on its sequel at the same time as creating this game. This ended up being a £15.99 game, and tell me how many budget titles have you seen that are any good? (For the record I own 4 others, Young Justice: Legacy and the 3 Ratchet and Clank short games (Quest For Booty, Q-force/Full Frontal Assault and (Into the) Nexus) I’d say Ratchet and Clank: (Into the) Nexus is the best of the 4, the other 3 range from mediocre to… mediocre) and you can see hope draining away, so let’s take a look at the story of the game, and see if that alleviates things.

Arrow season 3 finale (episodes 20-23) review

It's time for the final episodes of season 3 of Arrow, can it make up for the bad buildup with a kick-ass finale... spoiler alert, no!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 finale (episodes 19-22) review

SHIELD season 2 has reached its conclusion, and we have a season 3 on the way as well as a season 2 for Agent Carter, let's dig into the finale

Mini review: Batman vs Robin

Well, you can remember my opinion of Son of Batman, IT F*CKING SUCKS so not surprisingly given DC’s track record, it got a sequel Batman vs Robin. Sort of the Based on Scott Snyder’s the Court of Owls stories, also sort of based on some other stories that have come out from Batman’s line on the New52, whilst also telling an original story, you can tell this story is going to be a bit of a mess. Having said that it’s a marked improvement over Son of Batman. Spoilers to follow

#21 - Death Note (2006 film)

So, when you’re adapting a story from another medium, how much of the story do you need to be willing to change in order to accommodate the running time and iron out areas where things don’t translate well onto the big screen? There’s no easy answer to this question, but we’re here to look at an example of how a small change can make things go horribly wrong.

I did a lengthy retrospective on the anime based on the manga, now I’m going to take a look at the first 2 movies (I’m not doing that L movie, I’ll explain why in the next review) which came out before the anime also attempting to adapt the manga.

Death Note was released in Japan in June 2006 making a decent $41million in the country, it was later distributed across the world making what I assume would be plenty of money. Given the release date of the sequel, and where this movie stops, it’s fair to assume the sequel was already into production when this was released.

So, why is it worthy of a rage review? Well prepare yourselves as we dive in.

Gotham Season 1 finale (episodes 21-22) review

As more Superhero shows begin to flood the market, I have to be more selective in which I post regular reviews about. It is with some regret that Gotham season 2 will not be reviewed (you'll see my reasoning during the reviews). But for now, see my opinions on the final 2 episodes of the show

#20 - Superboy #0

We’re in anniversary month (no this one doesn’t have a picture) the month the marks a full year since the beginning of my reviews. And who would’ve thought that after a year, I’d have done nearly 200 review entries for the site?

So, it’s time to look back at a past project. Zero moth and cr*ppy Scott Lobdell? Wait, this one was written by Tom Defalco. Former editor in chief of Marvel comics? Writer of some decent Nightwing tie-ins and co-writer of the very good Nightwing #0. Wait, this is when he was still adapting Lobdell’s stories, wasn’t it? Never mind. He would be writing his own scripts in future instalments of the book but of course it wouldn’t be far into that where he’d have to cross over with another Lobdell story, H'el on Earth. (I’ve heard mixed responses about that one, but since Lobdell was handling the Superman titles and this was post Teen Titans #0, I never read it, nor do I plan on doing so)

The problem with zero month and a comic series like this is that they’ve already done his origin, his origin for the new 52 was outlined in the early issues of the title. So what do you do with an issue like this? Find a way to make it needlessly complicated of course.

Guilty Pleasures #15 - Ultimate Avengers 2

When it comes to direct to DVD flicks, DC is leaps ahead of Marvel. Whilst DC has had its slip-ups (JL: War and Son of Batman being notable examples), Marvel haven’t really had much success. But these are a few I’d recommend as only a casual Marvel comics reader

Doctor Strange: a nice introduction to the sorcerer supreme with great moments for the character as he overcomes adversity to become the sorcerer supreme. There’s debate about the addition to his back story and I think it adds depth and emotional weight to the character. People very rarely are jackasses just for the sake of it.

The Hulk vs Series: Both Hulk vs Wolverine and Hulk vs Thor are very fun romps within the Wolverine/Hulk universe, with Deadpool appearing as part of the weapon X squad in the Wolverine one (voiced by Nolan North)

And that’s about it. There are a couple of decent ones I’ll cover in future Guilty Pleasure reviews, but those are the two that stand out to me. (Thor: Tales of Asgard and Young Avengers are in the line-up for some-when)

We also have the following which I’ll cover briefly

The Invincible Iron Man – Largely forgettable

Iron Man: Rise of the technovore – confusing

Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes united – Childish

Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United – Childish

Planet Hulk – Decent-ish

But today, I’m doing Ultimate Avengers 2. In 2000 Marvel began the launch of the ‘Ultimate Universe’ imprint. It was a way of establishing characters without being hampered by decades of continuity, hopefully attracting new readers in the process.

It started with Ultimate Spider-man, still the most popular of the series (although it got a new titular character after the supposed Death of Spider-man) then Ultimate Fantastic 4 and X-men. But the Ultimate version of the Avengers came out initially in mini-series called Ultimates (1, 2 and 3) it was the original Ultimates book that drew the inspiration for Ultimate Avengers. (Given the synopsis from Wikipedia, it follows most of the story (minus the wife abuse storyline for Hank) folding in the Hulk plot within the Chitauri invasion plot) it was a decent success that a sequel was made, Ultimate Avengers 2

Unlike the original, Ultimate Avengers 2 is a unique story, it does not follow the plot-line of Ultimates 2, at all (largely because it hadn’t been fully written yet) and we have tagline: Rise of the Black Panther. Black Panther is a criminally underrated character in Marvel. I’d go into his origin, but this is more or less the subject of the movie.

For this review, bare two things in mind: 1) I haven’t rewatched Ultimate Avengers for this, so don’t expect me to latch onto continuity errors between films. And 2) the only Ultimates book I’ve ever read is the Avengers vs New Ultimates: Death of Spider-man tie-in book

With that out of the way, let’s dig in:

Anime Retrospective: Death Note

Ah, the wonderful world of Japanese anime. A genre I have never really gotten into and still really haven’t. Still a friend of mine drew me to this series. And... Well let’s take a look 

Spoilers to follow