News from Latveria

Well we are back after a LA Noir induced layoff. Whats worth reading this week? Well to start we have a Gail Simone title as she is a favorite here in Latvia.

Secret Six #34

Well we get into the mind of Bane a bit here.  I have actually not read the issues of Batman where he was shown not to be totally evil. Knowing of this turn of events does make him an interesting fit for the Six. He apparently cares for Scandle a charecter that leaves me a bit cold. Not that she has not been fun in these pages.  She reminds me of Emma Frost in a coldly calculating way. Its nice to see Bane fleshed out and not in a Batman book. I would tune in.

Wonder Woman #611

I never write about Wonder Woman.  She is SO needed in comics but her stories never get me.  You know what I would like a shot at writing her.  She is easily the most famous female comic hero.  Why can’t anyone write a classic arc with her?  Come on I can think of better Mockingbird stories than one staring WW?  What is wrong with this picture?  Lets see if this story has potential.  There is some story arc involving an alternative reality.  No one knows she is Wonder Woman. Ah hell this is crap.  Man let me write it I can do better than this.

Thunderbolts #158

Well its amazing that Thunderbolts has lasted 158 issues.  You are lucky to get 12 issues and finish off your story now a day.  What do we have here?  Bwwahahaha Juggernaut going all hulk smash!  So should be fun.  Just how good are these Thunderbolts when the shit hits the fan?  Even if they are not good this is world ending stuff most guys step up then.  Should be fun to see what they do. I would buy.

Fear Itself #3

Hrm. Big event comic.  Sin leads an attack on DC. Its been said she has one of the mega hammers and the power of a god yet she attacks with nazi robots. I guess its all about image.  Loki is up to something I think he may end up being the Hero of the event.  Asgard will end up being the solution to the problem.  They caused it anyhow they should fix it.  Well time will tell although slow moving its been good so far.  I would buy it.

Wow I missed this week due to playing this awsome game. Previews will return next week.  Its a very forgiving title early on. The thing you do in it that no other game has done before is interrogate criminals and witnesses by reading their body language! Its not an easy task.  The first one I wanted to believe the woman. She was a lying bitch however. The second one I was ready for the perp to be a lying bastard but his body language was much more effective.  I had to get this one right so it gave me retry’s.  Its gameplay is alot like other Rockstar game entries like Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemtion (GTA on a horse). You can take cars like in GTA but you are “borrowing” them using your authority as a police officer. Unlike GTA hitting pedestrians is frowned upon and will cost you mission points and they do try to get out of your way. You can still do it if you want haha.  Your cop car is a pretty good vehicle, so you do not need to take others rides, but its does keep track of when and which ones you do.  Seems weird that you get achievements for that when there is not really a reason to do so. Unless you get your car stuck on an embankment like I did and had to borrow a old pick up truck to finish my mission. That was one memorable moment I have had thus far.  The second good one was one where I had to chase down a running perp. I failed it a couple times and the next time I was fuck you dude and pulled out my gun and shot him. Heh it failed the mission too but that was satisfying. See you next sunday.

Herc #3

I hate the idea of Hercules with out his powers. Have been ignoring this title due to that. Nice to know that he is still a bad ass. This one is a tie in to Fear Itself.  What does a mortal Herc do against this?  Seems he will have to raise his sword against supervillians and monsters just to stay alive!  I really want a Hercules with his powers back this kinda seems lame.  You know you can’t keep him down though.  Should be amusing. Buy if you like the guy….and its hard not to like him.

Alpha Flight #0.1

Ok Its Alpha Flight.  I must admit I am canadian and really I did see the preview.  It was pretty much fan service.  So what do we have here?  A tie in to Fear Itself and the reintroduction of the Alpha guys.  Not a bad thing.

I like that they are back and a conflict is introduced. Hrm hope it works this time. I want you to buy it just because ITS CANADA.

Booster Gold # 44

Sometimes the preview blurbs do not give me much to write on. I know this though Booster is one of the few people that knows things are not right in Flashpoint. If you are following it this is one book you must buy to keep up. In this book Booster finds out shit is screwed up. Is Rip there to help him the blurb does not tell me. Either way Booster has to get busy the Flash needs him!  This is one of those times….well if you are trying to follow DC you HAVE to buy this.  Booster has been pretty good though so its not the worst thing I could have you buy.

Oh I tried to write about the Tiny Titans and found I couldn’t. Buy it anyhow.

Power Girl # 24

This got to issue 24?  Congrats to Judd Winick!  I do like Power Girl they have made her an amusing part of the DC universe. So what do we have here?

Karen Starr (thats really her non super hero name) is trying to get her tech company back on top.  Some how this involves her teaming up with Batman and a meta human she has met before. I don’t actually know if this is any good but hey Batman is in it and it has charater development for Power Girl who sorely needs it.  Yeah but this just because I said so.

This was my first Con. I will be going again for sure much fun was had. I had not bought an advance ticket so there was a big line waiting to get in. I went by my self but I am a very sociable guy and these were MY people so I had no problem talking to folks. I gabbed with the other people in line about various nerd stuff about the Thor movie and the like.  I thought I might have arrived too early but no the line to get in went bazoom after me I was glad I showed when I had.  I mainly wanted to go to buy cool comic related T-shirts and I had no problem buying those heck I could have bought 20 more but hey money does not grow on trees. I did get 9 or so.  Well I couldn’t make this post without commenting on the cos-players heck its half of why I went.  Biggest disapointment NO ZATANNA’s    I must mention the Supergirl.  Oh my she not only pulled it off she was so hot I just said hi Supergirl once or twice.  I generally just said hi to all the cosplayers by addressing them in character.  Notably there was an amazing Jubalee and Madrox. (I believe the Madrox was female).  I did not say too much to any of the cosplayers because I thought that might be irritating. I did visit a star wars table and went where is the 501st and it turned out to be their table lol so I met some storm troopers. This is getting long and for good reason I had a good time. I think I will split this up. I am late on the previews as it is. So there will be more and previews eventually.

Welcome true believers. Its sunday and time for me to let you know what you should buy this week.

New Avengers #12

This is Bendis at work. I don’t know if I like the idea of this group of retconned Avengers. Most of them have a reason to still be active to this day. Dum Dum should be dead in the modern day but its ok for him to active then. Kraven makes no sense at all on that team. If he was active then he should be an old man by the time Spider-man encountered him. The rest of the characters have abilities that would allow them to be active in the past and still rocking it today.  What does this older group of Avengers adventures have to do with the modern day?  You will have to read to find out.  I will read it because I am a hard core Avengers fan.  I don’t know if I can recommend it to others.

Amazing Spider-man #660

The Sinister Six goes toe to toe with Spidey and the Future Foundation. I don’t really know what they are thinking really.  Its like the Doc Ock vs Iron Man bit that happened recently. The Six are out of their league.  They did nearly take over the universe once but that was lucky. Spidey beat them by himself. You gonna mess with the rest of the FF too?  In their defence Spidey villains have been moved up in threat level with Norman leading the way. It seems the Future Foundation kids get involved. Not in a nice way either. So I vote buy this  I nearly missed this issue and had a hard time picking Marvel releases worth buying.  I have always liked the Spidey villains and them getting more play is a good thing.  If they prove a legitimate threat all the better.

Yeah I did think this was a poor showing this week from Marvel till I saw the Spider-man issue.  Everything else was stuff I would read but would not recommend here.

Jew Gangster

You are not seriously releasing something called that are you DC?  That can’t end well just name it “Ruby” and release your noir comic.  Just let it come out in the story he is jewish.  Many creators are Jewish too and no-one put up a red flag?  I was just going to make a short statement going “nooo way”.  The actual book sound interesting.  A story about jewish mobsters vs the italian ones in depression era NYC. I tried to come up with a similar title using other ethnicities and they were so horrible I gave that up. Retitle this or pay the horrible price.

Batgirl #21

We are fans of the Stephanie Brown Batgirl here at Latveria.  Lets see what she is up to here.  A team up with the Grey Ghost?  Is this the DCAU Grey Ghost?  Has he appeared in the DC books before now?  They sure are out there with Batgirls team ups if so…..Klarion the Witch Boy and now this?  It amuses me.  Is this the Reaper I think it is?  What is a sound weilding Harmony.  I don’t know if thats a weapon of the Reaper or another character.  Bryan Q. Miller is sure up to some shennanigans either way. I would buy this just because its batshit crazy.  I likes me some crazy and Steph.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #28

One of a number of team titles DC is canceling as of May.  This book has been consistantly pretty good.  Thats not enough to get sales apparently.  DC at least gives a book enough time to get enough issues for a trade.  Marvel let your failed attempts get 12 issues then you can release a trade you dummies.  Cutting off a series at an issue or two does not do you or your readers any good.  Anyhow what happens here?  Starro happens!  Who opposes Starro? Lobo, Adam Strange, Virl Dox and Starfire!  Some other members help out too.   That is too stupid not to like.  Eh buy this just for fun. Its getting canceled anyhow.  A shame really.  Too many titles are canceled before that can even get traction.  No company gives them enough time.  Did you know about this book?   Did you buy it?  It had farking LOBO in it for farks sakes.   Bah what can a lowly blog writer do.

Well its bloody sunday and time for me to give you advice about what books you should buy!

Fear Itself #2

Crap bad things happen to Thor. You’d think Odin could use Thor at this point. A number of hammers fall to the earth and you would think  this would cause the FF to react. They do not do so.  Sooner or later the Hulk gets one of the hammers. No one could beat the Hulk before…..He gets a mystic powered hammer on top of it? It would appear the Hulk is going to do what ever he wants.  What will that be exactly? Eh you should read this just for how over the top it is going to be. I do like Fraction and Immonen. You should buy this just to see what crazy things will happen

Avengers Academy # 1

Haha Arcade. He thinks the Avenger Academy kids and the Young Allies will build up his cred. If he kills them. Arcade had never killed anyone. He tests them but the good guys always win. The X-men should hire him to make new danger rooms. I am happy with more appearances by the Young Allies I would like to see more stories with them. This is a giant sized issue so there will be a number of other support stories. I hope they don’t fill it up with reprints. I would say buy just because I like the heros involved in the main story. It might not be worth your money if the supporting material is bad.

Secret Six #33

Well we are huge fans of Gail Simone here in Latvia, the best woman working in comics. Well lets see what Gail has up with the Secret Six. Seems they have a get out of Hell free card. Who will use it and why? With the Secret Six not being nice guys (or gals) well anything could happen. I am a bit surprised that no one else in the DC universe have gone for it. Who wouldn’t want a “get out of jail” free card. Well Gail has set up something interesting. Its a must buy.

“I don’t like Mondays” came on. It makes me cry because I don’t either.

Doom Patrol #22

Man can Doom Patrol ever catch a break?  Eh prolly not its in their name. I would like them one time all the other heros fail…..the universe is at stake then they come through Doom Patrol will prolly never get that moment but hey my job is to tell you why you should buy this book. Giffen is writing it

Do you need any other reason?  OK the Patrol is trying to take back the island from the mad scientists on Oolong. They did do ok vs a madness fueled Black Adam. This title is going to be canceled soon so check it out.

Welcome true believers. I don’t poop colored eggs but I do provide previews of books you should buy this week.

Batman Inc. #5

I don’t know why Grant Morrison gave up the reigns of Batman for this. But he is one of the best so we will keep checking it out. Bruce Bats and Gaucho (really?) fight to save the lives of innocents. We also find that there is a second “Batman” in England besides Knight and Squire called the “Hood” has discovered something that could transform the world into something well not good. (Elvis Presley did Bendis see this) Morrison continues to work his magic however. I do think this is worth reading but I would like Bruce back in Gotham. Dick could do this job.

Action Comics #900

Jeeze 900 issues. Will that ever happen again legitimatly? Ok what do we have here. Whoa Lex and Supes have it out. It seems there is not much more to it than that. It does seem worth of reading. I have to say the book is fleshed out with a bunch of random other shorts that may or may not appeal to you. Some famous names that I am not going to repeat here it seems gimmicky. They shouldn’t make you buy this book.  I would say buy if for Cornell’s usually excellent work but they are charging more for other works that will most certainly be hit or miss. Buy if you got extra bucks….read the Cornell part in the store if you do not.

Avengers #12.1

Well they put alot into this. The Intelligencia, SWORD, and even the New Avengers and the Secret Avengers show up. It appears to set up a major event in the future. I am an unabashed Avengers fan the only team not in this one is the Academy haha. I can’t help but think with this many players on the scene that they can not pay enough attention to them all. I will tell you though it sure SOUNDS fun. And it will have MODOK. You can’t fail with MODOK. So buy it for that alone.

Incredible Hulks #627

There were more Avengers to write about but I could not resist this. The Hulk as James Bond? It doesn’t look like its the Grey Hulk either (who could easily pull that off) So what happens here? He has help from Amadeus Cho (who I really like but other do not) There is a romance subplot here and Betty has a new beau. Who could it be? Turns out its NOT a friend of the Hulk.  This has just enough weirdness to buy. Will it be good? I am not sure but I would check it out.

Hitman vol#4: Ace of Killers

Now this is an older work comped but its written by Garth Ennis. Tommy Monaghan’s in a bit of trouble, X-ray vision and telepathy don’t really help against demons. He only has his guns so he gets some help from Catwoman and the Etrigan the Demon. This collects Hitman #15-22.  You should read this.

Hellblazer #278

haha Constantine got a new thumb but it of course does not end there. The thumb wants something apparently the car crash victim he got the thumb from was not an accident and wants VENGEANCE.  His new wife gets into some trouble too. Should be a fun issue.

Avengers #12

Well we get a new cosmic entity out of this. I liked the Hood in his mini and his first appearences. Some one on some forum said the Hood should be “finds new powers guy” I am ok with that but he is pretty lucky. Well what happens here?  As far as I can tell the Avengers have to visit the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe and Iron Man is a dick. Hey Bendis no matter how good this is your readers are tired of the Hood. Well lets see how it plays out.

Avengers Academy #12

Heh, the Avengers are down and only the AA are left to deal with Korvac. Well, they are playing way over their heads now, they deal with this they get some cred as a valid super-team. Their only advantage is that Korvac does not know this team and what they can do. I am looking forward to the AA guys (and gals) handing Korvac his ass!

Ok, I trade wait alot and have been reading some X-men trades. I am amazed. She cheated on Scott with Namor! I am dumbfounded that this did not create a shit storm.  I figured this was something they would tease like with Sue Storm.  I also was boggled that Kitty did not get that when there was “psychic leakage”  she only got that Emma had Sebastian Shaw in the brig due to that and NOT the Namor bit. I was waiting for kitty to call her a slut. Never came up. I would think we will eventually get a Namor vs Cyclops bit over Emma.

In my looking about the net just for entertainment I sometimes find things worth sharing with readers. The Japanese have come up with something every member of the the Bat family could use in their utility belt. Every superhero could use it. I doubt there is a hero that lasts more than 12 issues that does not run into the burning building oh no civilians at risk situation.  A fire extinguisher you can throw. It looks like a shampoo bottle.  A blue liquid of some kind is in the bottle. I saw it demonstrated and heck yah Bats would have some of those. Might be a bit large for a utility belt but Bruce would fix that issue in no time. Could be used for a cool moment in a book.