i'll be there for you

drive-by readings

Thor, The Mighty Avenger #4 (Marvel) "Boys' Night Out" Roger Langridge Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton Samnee/Christina Strain (cover)

what we learned: with the arrival of the Warriors Three (always heartwarming), Thor gets a night out ... in Norway. he also makes friends with Captain Britain. after a fashion.
oh shit moment: rocketing from above, the pride of Britannia scatters the gods like leaves.
what's next: Thursday means Thor's Day. so there's gonna be a celebration?


there's a GPS sale at Best Buy, godlings ...

shadowboxing

drive-by readings

Shadowland #3 (Marvel) Andy Diggle Billy Tan Victor Olazaba Christina Strain Guru eFX Joe Caramagna John Cassaday/Laura Martin (cover) Tan/Olazaba/Guru eFX (variant cover)

what we learned: with the Ghost Rider sent by the Kingpin to rile things up in Shadowland, it basically turns a testy dialogue into an all-out punch-a-rama, broken up only by the guns of the now-unFrankencastled Punisher. Daredevil, miffed that his minions are not even worthy of battling the Pet Avengers, goes out to find his champion (hint: his name begins with a B and he's dead). Master Izo, the wiseass pint who started this shit in the first place, tells the heroes of the true power behind everything, because that dude right there is no longer Matt Murdock. well, let's see if Moon Knight can take him (oy, your woman's messed up).
oh shit moment: aside from Shang-Chi realizing he's not all that cracked up to be, it probably was when i realized who the hell Matt was digging up. nice revival there, Marvel. death never really means anything - they never try anymore.
what's next: Daredevil gets hornier. just to point out too, that because of scheduling issues, Shadowland #3 jumps in front of whatever you are reading about FrankenCastle, Shadowland: Moon Knight, and Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow. hey, what are the odds that Bullseye is gonna be the next Man Without Fear?


Shang Chi never felt so embarrassed, not even during his first cancellation.

pig newton

drive-by readings

S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 (Marvel) "Chapter Three: The Theory of Eternal Life" Jonathan Hickman Dustin Weaver Christina Strain/Justin Ponsor Todd Klein Gerald Parel/Weaver (cover)

what we learned: even though you're a history buff or have no interest in it whatsoever, you will be sufficiently intrigued by this brainy series, and chances are, you won't be able to peel all the layers Hickman serves in one or two readings. Isaac Newton, recruited into SHIELD, realizes the future means much more science than what is laid before him, and so delves into the dark side, regardless of the cost.
oh shit moment: i froze when i realized that was Newton performing miscegenation with a Deviant (Ikaris does not approve!), or that he actually whacked Galileo (when i say "whack", i mean in a Mafia sense). interestingly, Galileo passed away in 1642, while Newton was born that same year. go figure. oh, and Nostradamus was kept alive as Newton's personal clairvoyant. oh, and if you still have a sliver of faith left in the Catholic Church, the roots of this event, delineated in the archive pages, will wipe that out.
what's next: the resurrected Leonardo da Vinci and Leonid square off against the apple guy (no, not Steve Jobs!).


take that, you racist bastards!

heart of darkness

drive-by readings
man, with the LeBron James reality show, fighting Burning Maniacs and Spiderants in Borderlands, the oppressive heatwave in the East Coast, and this little thing called the day job, i didn't have time to do anything with the funnybooks. trying to correct that ... right about ... now.

Shadowland #1 (Marvel) Andy Diggle Billy Tan Batt Christina Strain GuruEFx Joe Caramagna John Cassaday/Laura Martin (cover)

just like the Stark Tower before it, a new skyline attraction has sprouted up in Manhattan in the Hell's Kitchen district. the Stark Tower, despite being built only a few years ago has been destroyed and rebuilt several times already, probably at a rate not even the original Avengers Mansion endured. will Shadowland go through the same thing?

not if the Avengers have anything to say about it. the Big Three thinks its a blight on the landscape and on the Heroic Age they're trying to establish. Luke Cage and Danny Rand, more of street-level heroes than most and with stronger ties to Matt Murdock, prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt. considering they don't really know what the devil Matt's doing with it (or whatever his endgame is), that's pretty much a big leap of faith, and this series will explore how that's going to turn out.


welcome to this summer's crossover du jour (Second Coming is ending, so what else is out there?). Andy Diggle puts his stamp on Daredevil by placing him in Punisher territory, with the difference being he didn't start out like Frank Castle did. it certainly intrigues the fans as to how this thing will end - has The Hand really changed Daredevil, and will he turn a heel for the foreseeable future? or will he make a last-second turnaround, make the sacrifice play and destroy the Snakeroot once and for all? for Daredevil followers like me, it does make me happy to see the Snakeroot back, and to see Bullseye get the royal asskicking he richly deserves since getting a bullseye carved on his head back in the Bendis run. the last page is an obvious homage to the Frank Miller era. their costumes, now eerily similar, poses the question of "what's the difference between them now?".

not a big fan of Billy Tan, and this reminds me why. he's mostly competent, but there are times when things seem off (like long limbs and weird faces?). that's fine though; it won't dissuade my interest. i'm going to follow Matt down this dark path, and see where it takes him.

always be covering

drive-by readings

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (Marvel) "The Unholy Resurrection of Leonardo da Vinci" Jonathan Hickman Dustin Weaver Christina Strain Todd Klein Gerald Parel (cover) this is a book that should have been made a longtime ago, yet you still get the feeling that the timing is right nevertheless. in unveiling its true origins, S.H.I.E.L.D. finally comes out of the shadows and as a 'supporting ensemble character' in the 616 U, and becomes a much more important player as an organization. Jonathan Hickman crafts a tale that stretches as far back as the days of the pharaohs, and we see the unofficial inspiration for a global protector in Imhotep, who defeats a Brood invasion. then each generation of mankind had its own protectors, and uncannily the wise men of their times - Zhang Heng (who faces off against a Celestial), Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, to name a few. this is all revealed by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high council to a man named Leonid, in 1953 Rome, and he's their newest recruit. however, his dad's a supervillain called the Night Machine, and was even killed once by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Starks and Richards (fathers of you-know-whos, apparently). this tells us that Leonid has some kind of powers too, that may or may not be beneficial to S.H.I.E.L.D. (damn, its hard typing that thing all the time). complemented by artwork of Dustin Weaver, Hickman's newest salvo harkens back to his Nightly News days, but with much more accessibility. it might even convert those who are allergic to history.

Thor needs a spell-checker

the Karate Kid needs to have his annual eye checkup. wait, its not that Ralph Macchio.


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Thor #605

snaps: Thor Giant-Size Finale

... where we come "Full Circle" and do facepalms because we knew right from the start that Loki was going to pull this kind of shit eventually. why can't the Asgardians see that?


1) bowling ball headgear is hot in Asgard right now.


2) and also, pay-per-view. especially those that star Volstagg.


3) DoomBots have harddrive wipes a la cyanide pills. awesome!


4) Bill Killed! (i just wanted to say that. sue me.)


5) and that image will be burned in my memory for 72 hours at least. argh.

just in time to celebrate the 27th

whoooops. ok, its not the Yankees. but imagine Stephen Strange as a douchebag fan. apparently, if he didn't become Sorcerer Supreme, you'd see him in games a lot more.

WWNNS? (What Would Night Nurse Say?)

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Strange #1

Magneto wants the copyright

drive-by readings

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1 (Marvel) Matt Fraction Mike Deodato Terry Dodson Rachel Dodson Justin Ponsor Christina Strain Joe Caramagna Simone Bianchi (alternate cover)

ripping Magneto off kind of makes Scott Summers a sneaky tactical bastard in the vein of his mentor Charles Xavier (whom he has reduced respect for, these days) - raising Asteroid M and rechristening it as Utopia would make Mags snort and sneer about Scott's unoriginality. but who cares right? it's all part of a bigger plan, which apparently includes getting beaten up by Norman Osborn (you know Emma finds those bruises sexy). and was it really that easy to beat the Sentry and Ares? if so, why didn't they all do this a long time ago? sigh. anyhoo, i'm intrigued as to what Magneto thinks of all of these, as he was last seen chilling out with the High Evolutionary, getting his powers back. also, wouldn't it be easy to just nuke the island now (hello, Cassandra Nova) and wipe out everyone with in one swoop? hey, don't give Norman any more ideas! plus we have that Selene boobage Necrosha thing to deal with too!

who can haz girly lips?

Scott Summers can haz!

methinks Bianchi should just stick to drawing Wolverine. or X-Women: The Series.

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Astonishing X-Men #29