It’s Tuesday and that means it time for Bullet Reviews! So, in case you missed it, Marvel’s next big event of the year (seems like we get more events than regular comics from them these days), Infinity, has begun. So, much like with Age Of Ultron we will be starting each week with the Event Books followed by Fantastic Four #11, Godzilla: Rulers Of Earth #2, Justice League Of America #7, Superior Carnage, The Walking Dead #113, and The X-Files: Season 10 #3
INFINITY #1 (Marvel)
This issue was actually really entertaining. And it did such a great job of tying together all the comics in the Marvel Universe. If you have read any press releases in the last year you probably already know the plot and what is going to happen, but the thick issue was still really good! With the Avengers gone on a mission in Space, Thanos decides now is the time to get back his gems for the infinity gauntlet. And we thank him for that because this is gonna get crazy! But go figure Iron Man doesn’t actually go on the Space Mission. Wow did not see that coming. I am kidding Marvel you always leave Tony at mission control so he can come up with some ingenious plan, even though I think Pym is far more qualified to think outside the box. The dude invented Pym Particles for Pete’s sake. My favorite part of this issue was Captain America and Hawkeye tussling with some good old-fashioned Skrulls. I miss those zany mischief makers. And Cap and Hawkeye just beat them down. And if the Skrulls are there, odds are the Kree aren’t far behind. And then Thanos. Are they really going to have to take on 4 different alien races at once? Okay Marvel I bought my ticket, I’m in! -Nick Furious
We have Hunger and now we have Infinity… nothing like having to juggle two big events going on at the same time. Sadly, I have to follow both because while they have things I don’t really like, the Ultimate Universe and Hickman, they have characters I really enjoy: Galactus and Thanos. Infinity focuses on Thanos and his recent out of character actions, built on the less than interesting Thanos Rising retconning of the live of Thanos, which has him focusing on Earth. He’s leading a group of assassins and building something that could resemble a church. Perhaps a Universal Church Of Truth? Probably not but it would be interesting. As for specifics on what happens here, well, nothing much happens. Hickman continues his drawn out/nothing makes sense right away style of writing, something I personally don’t care for (I like long stories but they have to make sense through the whole story, not just at the end of it) and nothing really seems to happen. We have a lot of posturing, a cast that seems to large to manage, and a central villain whose personality is almost unrecognizable. There is a chance that this story can turn around and salvage itself, I will stick with it in hopes that it isn’t another Marvel Letdown Event because the last handful of events have been very uninspired. I’m curious as to what Thanos is searching for on Earth, a planet he’s paid little attention to before, and even made it a point to avoid it. I’m hoping that all this out of character stuff and the unnecessary retconnoning of his childhood in Thanos Rising will eventually make sense… or will be fixed by Jim Starlin again. Honestly, Starlin is pretty much the only guy who knows how to write this character. He should be a lifelong Thanos consultant. I’ll stick with it because there is a LOT of potential here! -Skott Jimenez
(Check out our full review right HERE!)
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FANTASTIC FOUR #11 (Marvel NOW!)
Another dull issue for Fantastic Four, even with such a wild cliff hanger. Mark Bagley decided to put in overtime this issue as the art looks pretty damn good, almost better than normal. In case anyone hasn’t heard yet this will be Fraction’s final book for Fantastic Four and FF. He is taking over the Inhumans and not a moment too soon. Although this series has been hit or miss I think he will do great things with the Inhumans title. Think of it along he lines of how Brian Michael Bendis just stretches himself so thin with so many projects that half of his books are utter crap, this is what Fraction wants to avoid. With Hawkeye being such a slam dunk why Marvel doesn’t give him the Spidey treatment and let him just work on Hawkeye when it is already getting nominated for awards like crazy, is frankly beyond me. If Dan Slott can just be on Superior Spider-Man, why can’t Fraction just be on Hawkeye? If I am being honest, even though I do like Fraction quite a bit and think he could have had one helluva run, this issue is pretty bad and should be avoided like the plague. Good luck to Chris Sebela on making this title a land mark once again. -Nick Furious
GODZILLA: RULERS OF EARTH #2 (IDW)
The newest Godzilla series continues and the stakes continue to rise! This issues battleground used to be called Honolulu, Hawaii before Godzilla met up with the mutated iguana called Zilla! It’s a fight Godzilla fans never get tired of seeing, though this one was longer than the fight they had in Godzilla: Final Wars and Zilla survived to fight another day, because we never get tired of seeing the true King Of The Monsters beat the crap out of the pretender to the throne created by Hollywood back in 1998. Yes, the hate is still there after all these years. But unknown to Godzilla, and the other monsters, there are other players involved: Steven Woods, who we met in the first IDW Godzilla series (he hijacked MechaGodzilla with a little girl) is back and is ready for round two with Godzilla. We see the formation of a Kaiju investigation team who want to study the monsters in hopes of learning how to live in a world with them… But the appearance of a mysterious group of aliens is perhaps going to be the biggest game changer. Something has escaped them but what?
Alright, so after three years and three different Godzilla series, all of which I loved for various reasons, this issue here, I think, has found a formula that will work and hopefully please everyone. There is a great balance between monster fighting and the humans doing what they do. Basically, the monster fight is the backdrop while the ongoing stories are being set up between the scenes of fighting. Great job by Chris Mowry and Matt Frank for seemingly seeing what worked and what didn’t in the previous runs and going from there. Rulers Of Earth is on its way to being the best Godzilla series yet! -Skott Jimenez
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 (DC)
Trinity War, Part 4!
Even though this event has been rather predictable it is looking to be another epic DC Event. When it comes to big time events DC CRUSHES Marvel. Take any big Marvel event that you really enjoyed and found thought-provoking (Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War, Secret Wars etc) and you stack it up against the likes of Death of Superman, Blackest Night, and Crisis on Infinite Earths it becomes obvious DC has a much better track record for this type of thing. Enter Pandora, another big time DC Event that has started out with a bang and will only get better as time progresses. Superman has killed the newest member of the JLA and that gets us all in a tailspin of wild events. Although the event hasn’t displayed much action it sure has set the ground work for and set a lot of arcs in motion. JLA isn’t exactly the greatest comic I have read but the event tie ins so far have been incredible. I just wish it was this good all the time. But Geoff Johns can’t be great at EVERYTHING. Thank God for Jeff Lemire who does such a bang up job on art work he makes the best artist for Marvel look like he uses coloring books. -Nick Furious
(Check out our full review HERE!)
SUPERIOR CARNAGE #2 (Marvel)
So The Wizard is losing his mind? This is one of the things I miss about Marvel Comics (before they became Marvel Entertainment and their comics became movie concepts): CONTINUITY! I love it when a Marvel title refers to events that happened in another book. I had no idea The Wizard was punished by Black Bolt and is basically, well, losing his mind to the point where he will be harmless. Before this happens, however, or perhaps despite it, he has a plan to create a new Frightful Four with Carnage as his centerpiece. The problem, he’s finding, is in controlling Carnage who was lobotomized recently by the Scarlet Spider and doesn’t ave a mind to control. This issue focuses on the problem of controlling Carnage and it ends with a possible solution as The Wizard tries everything before deciding that it’s the host that needs to be changed! Meanwhile… The Superior Spider-Man learns of the situation and decides The Wizard should be taken down. This only builds to the upcoming, and for me highly anticipated, fight between the insane Carnage and the control freak Superior Spider-Man. This series was really a surprise. The first issue amazed me with its high level of entertainment while this second issue proves that this story has legs… or in the case of Carnage: tendrils dripping with blood! -Skott Jimenez
THE WALKING DEAD #113 (Skybound/Image)
With the 12-part All Out War fast approaching, this and the next issue could be seen as nothing more than set-up for this massive storyline and that wouldn’t be wrong, you need to set things up before you begin such a story. What we’re seeing here is Rick and his people being pushed to the limit by Negan, a limit that they may never come back from and one that Rick may not survive. We are beginning to see Nagen without his self-imposed sense of civility now, something I’m sure we all knew would happen, we’re seeing the full extent of the evil inside this man and now no one is safe from his violence. Rick, Carl, and even Andrea are all in his sights now as he tries to break Rick once and for all. Carl becomes a renewed target when he shoots Lucille and isn’t handed over for his ‘crime’ while Andrea is a target simply for being a sniper. She finds herself on the receiving end of a beating from one of Nagen’s guys and by the end of this issue Rick honestly thinks he’s lost one of those two. Things are getting very interesting now, all those people thinking this series has lost its steam should be changing their tune now because things are picking up and picking up fast! Also, it’s nice to have the comic book to read while waiting for the new season of the AMC show to begin in October. -Skott Jimenez
THE X-FILES SEASON 10 #3 (IDW)
I will admit I had no interest in buying this issue. Issue two was terrible and I decided Season 10 was not gonna happen for me. Then I read issue #3. Let me explain why I read issue #3. I saw the artwork on the front cover with the smoking man having a death skull behind him. Perhaps Smoking Man really was dead? Okay X-Files I will bite, what is the deal with the picture. After reading the issue I can say that I can appreciate what this series is doing. It is removing everything from the show that sucked (Reyes and Dogget) and bringing back everything that made it good. The best thing about this series is that they remember the series really well. It is written with Chris Carter so I don’t know why I thought it wouldn’t be. Maybe it had something to do with the really crappy Season 8 and 9. Maybe I didn’t want to believe that Mulder really did make or break that show, but truth be told, he does. The X-Files is crap without Fox Mulder and I think Carter gets that. As the series progresses we are picking up pieces that the series left open, and to be honest that is quite a bit. Now can we get a LOST Season Seven? Please? -Nick Furious
