I read some stuff, and I watched some stuff. Now I'm writing some stuff about the stuff I read and watched, starting from the worst and ending with the best.
WORST: Avengers Annual (2014) #1 by Kathryn Immonen and pencilled by David Lafuente: It's a Christmas issue, which automatically puts it in my shit-list: there exactly one thing I like about Christmas, and that's Doctor Who. It's also by Kathryn Immonen, whose work has a madcap tone that just irks me. I'm not sure that this is a bad comic, but it's certainly one that I don't like.
WWE Smackdown episode 819: Nothing actively bad happened on this show, but it was back to the standard quality of Smackdown, with loads of storylines treading water and no memorable matches. My highlight was probably the New Day, who continue to be amazing as they vainly try to stay positive while the crowds rubbish them mercilessly.
WWE NXT episode 274: This is the first NXT I've seen that featured all of the top people, and it really made a difference. I'm still not blown away by it, but seeing guys like Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Kevin Steen do their thing is entertaining. I have a lot of time for Steen, who looks more like Kevin Smith than any wrestler should, but somehow still manages to kick arse convincingly.
WWE Raw episode 1143: This was not a great episode, or even a very good one, but I was still into most of what was going on. Unfortunately, none of the storylines can progress until Extreme Rules on Sunday, so a lot of plate-spinning gets done here. I have to give credit to any episode that has Randy Orton just hitting RKOs on every random person he encounters, though.
Iron Man (2013) #1-12, written by Kieron Gillen, pencilled by Greg Land and Dale Eaglesham: This is, of course, quite a fun read: it's by Kieron Gillen after all. The first story suffers, though, from being a retread of the Extremis arc from 2005. (Holy shit, a decade ago? Really?) The second, in which Tony goes to space is an improvement, but where I'm at now they're doing some seriously dodgy stuff with Iron Man's origin. I'll reserve judgment until I see where it goes, but it's looking a bit iffy. (Bonus points for the appearance by Death's Head, who is never not awesome. Anti-Bonus Points for the Greg Land art, which is superficially great looking but stiff and lifeless.)
Avengers (2013) #29-37, 34.1, written mostly by Jonathan Hickman, pencilled mostly by Leinil Yu: These are still good comics, but I feel like Hickman has gone a bit off the rails here. It starts well, with Captain America finding out what Iron Man and the Illuminati have been up to (destroying planets, mostly), but then it veers off into weirdness with the Time Gem, and Cap being thrown further and further forward in time. I'm sure it will make sense when the whole story is over, but right now I'm not entirely sure what the point of it all was.
Game of Thrones season 5, episode 2: So, they're serious about deviating from the books, aren't they? Jaime Lannister never went to Dorne, and Brienne never found Sansa Stark. To be honest, I'm fine with it. Now I can enjoy the show without feeling like it will spoil the books when it inevitably overtakes them. Conversely, I can watch the show without knowing everything that's going to happen. It's a win-win, really.
Daredevil season 1, episode 8: How did I only watch one episode of Daredevil this week? I should be done by now! Anyway, this featured the origin of the Kingpin, and it was very good. It wasn't exactly super-happy fun times, but what TV show is these days?
BEST: New Avengers #22-25 and Annual #1, mostly written by Jonathan Hickman, mostly pencilled by Kev Walker: This title continues to be the best of Hickman's Avengers work, and one of the very best Marvel comics out there. After Namor's actions last issue the Illuminati disintegrates, but Namor continues their work with a team of villains. It's the highest of high-stakes drama, and smarter than any Marvel comic has a right to be.
Showing posts with label New Avengers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Avengers. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
All The Things I Did: 20th April 2015
WORST: WWE NXT episode 273: After last week's unusual episode, NXT gets back to normal, and I get back to not quite understanding the hype. I suppose I should cut the performers some slack, because they are in developmental after all, but I don't see how they are better than the main roster as the hype would have me believe. What I do see is a lot of talent that's not quite polished, an uninvolved crowd, and a collection of meaningless matches. Only the main event, featuring Sami Zayn vs. Rhyno, was worth watching, and those two guys are veterans who shouldn't be in developmental at all.
WWE Smackdown episode 273: Smackdown has been surprisingly enjoyable for the last few weeks. Adrian Neville has been an exciting addition to the roster, and his match with Sheamus was no disappointment. The all-champions tag-match was a welcome, if meaningless, novelty for the main event, and The New Day have made one of the quickest turnarounds on record, from one of the least interesting things on the show to one of the most entertaining. My only complaint is the way they're handling the Miz/Mizdow feud, which ought to have been a slam-dunk. But hey, it's wrestling. If there wasn't a part of the show that sucked it wouldn't feel right.
WWE Raw episode 1,142: Raw was in London this week, which guarantees a hot crowd, and a hot crowd usually means an entertaining show. Not necessarily a good one, but in this case the good outweighed the bad. Adrian Neville and Dolph Ziggler had a top-notch match, as did John Cena and home-town hero Wade Barrett, who got to look competent for the first time in months. I'm into Kane's gradual face turn, and I flipped out for Fandango's return to his original music. All that, and Roman Reigns having his head slammed into a taxi. What's not to enjoy?
Avengers (2013) #15-28, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by loads of people: I feel like this series has taken a dip since the end of the Infinity crossover, which I discuss below. With the threat of the Builders done for now, the focus shifts to the machinations of AIM, the sinister cabal of scientist/terrorists that's been plaguing the Marvel Universe for decades. It's a bit of a step down, especially in terms of epic scope, but these are by no means bad comics. They're excellent, they just happen to not be as good as what came before.
Infinity #1-6, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Jim Cheung and others: I honestly don't know how this series became Marvel's major crossover of 2013. Don't get me wrong, it's very good. It is, though, intrinsically tied to everything going on in Hickman's Avengers books, and any casual reader coming into this must have been utterly lost at sea. The story is a double-pronged one, with one group of Avengers fighting a space war against the mysterious Builders, and another defending Earth from Thanos, the Mad Titan (coming to an Avengers movie sequel in a few years time). It's epic, it's intricate, and it's gorgeously pencilled, but the story is a little disjointed at times due to its nature as a crossover. There are also some pivotal characters that don't get nearly the development they need for their role in the plot; Thane, son of Thanos, being chief among them. I feel like this one might have done better simply as an arc in Avengers, rather than the centrepiece of Marvel's whole line.
Game of Thrones season 5, episode 1: It's back! And as usual, the first episode is a slow burn serving more to reintroduce the characters than to push the plot forward. I was a bit dubious about this season, as it's reached the point where the novels faltered under their own weight. So far it's holding up well, and steering clear of the obvious mistakes that Martin made.
Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980 by Parliament: Yes, it's a compilation, and I tend to steer clear of those nowadays. But this one is so damn good, and Parliament's funky grooves so consistent in quality and tone that it holds together better than any compilation ought to. The songs are deeply silly; most of them are about Afronauts bringing funk from the stars to save the galaxy. But they're catchy, and infectious, and their message is ultimately an uplifting one about bringing all peoples together into one funky whole. That's worth a little bit of silliness, I reckon.
New Avengers (2013) #8-21, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by various artists: Whereas Avengers lost a step in the wake of Infinity, New Avengers has only gotten better. This is the point where the crisis facing the Illuminati peaks, and they're forced to decide whether they can destroy a planet to save their own. It's a level of moral greyness that mainstream superheroes rarely goes to, and the way it plays out is intense, deeply satisfying, and true to the characters. Anyone who accuses Hickman of short-changing the emotional aspects of storytelling should read these, because his skills are on full display here.
BEST: Daredevil season 1, episodes 1-7: The entire season of Daredevil dropped on Netflix last week, and I've been trying my best to get through it. Don't have Netflix? Get it, because this show is that damn good. It follows Matt Murdock, blind lawyer and vigilante, as he tries his best to clean up the area of Manhattan known as Hell's Kitchen. It's nominally set in the same world as the Avengers movies, but the tone is worlds away. This is gritty crime drama (though not without humour), with a level of violence that Marvel Studios has previously shied away from. It does get a little flat around episode 4, but episodes 6 & 7 are superb, probably the two best episodes of anything I've seen this year. Get on it!
WWE Smackdown episode 273: Smackdown has been surprisingly enjoyable for the last few weeks. Adrian Neville has been an exciting addition to the roster, and his match with Sheamus was no disappointment. The all-champions tag-match was a welcome, if meaningless, novelty for the main event, and The New Day have made one of the quickest turnarounds on record, from one of the least interesting things on the show to one of the most entertaining. My only complaint is the way they're handling the Miz/Mizdow feud, which ought to have been a slam-dunk. But hey, it's wrestling. If there wasn't a part of the show that sucked it wouldn't feel right.
WWE Raw episode 1,142: Raw was in London this week, which guarantees a hot crowd, and a hot crowd usually means an entertaining show. Not necessarily a good one, but in this case the good outweighed the bad. Adrian Neville and Dolph Ziggler had a top-notch match, as did John Cena and home-town hero Wade Barrett, who got to look competent for the first time in months. I'm into Kane's gradual face turn, and I flipped out for Fandango's return to his original music. All that, and Roman Reigns having his head slammed into a taxi. What's not to enjoy?
Avengers (2013) #15-28, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by loads of people: I feel like this series has taken a dip since the end of the Infinity crossover, which I discuss below. With the threat of the Builders done for now, the focus shifts to the machinations of AIM, the sinister cabal of scientist/terrorists that's been plaguing the Marvel Universe for decades. It's a bit of a step down, especially in terms of epic scope, but these are by no means bad comics. They're excellent, they just happen to not be as good as what came before.
Infinity #1-6, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Jim Cheung and others: I honestly don't know how this series became Marvel's major crossover of 2013. Don't get me wrong, it's very good. It is, though, intrinsically tied to everything going on in Hickman's Avengers books, and any casual reader coming into this must have been utterly lost at sea. The story is a double-pronged one, with one group of Avengers fighting a space war against the mysterious Builders, and another defending Earth from Thanos, the Mad Titan (coming to an Avengers movie sequel in a few years time). It's epic, it's intricate, and it's gorgeously pencilled, but the story is a little disjointed at times due to its nature as a crossover. There are also some pivotal characters that don't get nearly the development they need for their role in the plot; Thane, son of Thanos, being chief among them. I feel like this one might have done better simply as an arc in Avengers, rather than the centrepiece of Marvel's whole line.
Game of Thrones season 5, episode 1: It's back! And as usual, the first episode is a slow burn serving more to reintroduce the characters than to push the plot forward. I was a bit dubious about this season, as it's reached the point where the novels faltered under their own weight. So far it's holding up well, and steering clear of the obvious mistakes that Martin made.
Tear the Roof Off 1974-1980 by Parliament: Yes, it's a compilation, and I tend to steer clear of those nowadays. But this one is so damn good, and Parliament's funky grooves so consistent in quality and tone that it holds together better than any compilation ought to. The songs are deeply silly; most of them are about Afronauts bringing funk from the stars to save the galaxy. But they're catchy, and infectious, and their message is ultimately an uplifting one about bringing all peoples together into one funky whole. That's worth a little bit of silliness, I reckon.
New Avengers (2013) #8-21, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by various artists: Whereas Avengers lost a step in the wake of Infinity, New Avengers has only gotten better. This is the point where the crisis facing the Illuminati peaks, and they're forced to decide whether they can destroy a planet to save their own. It's a level of moral greyness that mainstream superheroes rarely goes to, and the way it plays out is intense, deeply satisfying, and true to the characters. Anyone who accuses Hickman of short-changing the emotional aspects of storytelling should read these, because his skills are on full display here.
BEST: Daredevil season 1, episodes 1-7: The entire season of Daredevil dropped on Netflix last week, and I've been trying my best to get through it. Don't have Netflix? Get it, because this show is that damn good. It follows Matt Murdock, blind lawyer and vigilante, as he tries his best to clean up the area of Manhattan known as Hell's Kitchen. It's nominally set in the same world as the Avengers movies, but the tone is worlds away. This is gritty crime drama (though not without humour), with a level of violence that Marvel Studios has previously shied away from. It does get a little flat around episode 4, but episodes 6 & 7 are superb, probably the two best episodes of anything I've seen this year. Get on it!
Friday, April 10, 2015
All The Things I Did: 11th April 2015
Ugh, writing this bit at the start is what I hate the most. Anyway, here are all the things I did. The worst one's at the top, the best one's at the bottom, the rest are in the middle. I wish I could just leave this bit blank.
WORST: Penguins of Madagascar: At the risk of sounding like a bitter old man, I have to say that this movies exemplifies the worst excesses of the Dreamworks style. The plot jerks from set piece to set piece with no regard for logic, and though the jokes fly thick and fast the movie is neither funny enough nor charming enough to outweigh the irritatingly spasmodic pace. I should also say that I hate the "references for adults" that Dreamworks throws into their movies. They should really forget about that rubbish and focus more on telling a solid story. So yeah, Penguins sucked. My son loved it, but alas for this film, he ain't writing the review. Now get the hell off my lawn, you young punks.
WWF Madison Square Garden on 23/1/1984: It another plodding wrestling event from the early 1980s, but this one is historically significant as the first WWF Heavyweight Championship win for Hulk Hogan. Most of the matches are dull, but the nuclear crowd in the Hogan match carries it, and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff puts in the performance of the night.
WWE Smackdown episode 817: The WWE put on some top-notch programming last week, but now it's back to business as usual. That said, there are always things to enjoy even in the most mediocre of wrestling shows. Adrian Neville continues to impress with his crisp acrobatics, I liked that Bray Wyatt tried to give some meaning to his match with former teammate Erick Rowan, and I thought that the Mix/Sandow fued got back on track after a poor outing on Raw. Too bad the rest of the show was so middling.
WWE Raw episode 1141: This was a show that started well, but it became all too apparent that they were working with a restricted roster, with several wrestlers pulling double duty. The match between WWE Champion Seth Rollins and rookie Adrian Neville was a cracker, with both guys coming out the other end looking really good. I'm also enjoying John Cena's open challenge, and he had a great match against Stardust. The rest of the show, alas, was inconsequential filler.
WWE NXT episode 272: Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. This wasn't a regular episode of NXT, but a flashback to the tournament they did in the lead-up to Wrestlemania 31. The wrestlers in the tournament were competing to appear on Mania, and the three matches shown here were excellent, especially Adrian Nevilla vs. Hideo Itami. Itami won the tournament, and the show had been good to that point, but from there it became mini-documentary about Itami's Wrestlemania experience, and it was pretty great.
Avengers (2013) #1-14, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Jerome Opena and others: The all-important Secret Wars event is coming soon, so I decided that I had better read the comics leading directly into it. I should have done so sooner, because Hickman's Avengers is everything I want from a super-hero book: epic stakes, an intricate and multi-layered plot, and great art. I've heard people describe it as overly cerebral, and that's fair, but I happen to like my comics on the cerebral side. It's amazing that such smart work is appearing in the most mainstream title in comics.
BEST: New Avengers (2013) #1-7, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Steve Epting: The companion book to Hickman's Avengers, New Avengers is one of the best things Marvel is doing right now. And unlike Avengers, it has a great central hook: what do the heroes do when they have to destroy a world to save their own? What do they do when faced with this choice over, and over, and over again? Hickman does a good job of presenting a desperate situation that the big brains of the Marvel Universe can't find a neat solution for, and ratcheting up the tension as they exhaust their options one by one. It's very good, and I have high hopes for Secret Wars.
WORST: Penguins of Madagascar: At the risk of sounding like a bitter old man, I have to say that this movies exemplifies the worst excesses of the Dreamworks style. The plot jerks from set piece to set piece with no regard for logic, and though the jokes fly thick and fast the movie is neither funny enough nor charming enough to outweigh the irritatingly spasmodic pace. I should also say that I hate the "references for adults" that Dreamworks throws into their movies. They should really forget about that rubbish and focus more on telling a solid story. So yeah, Penguins sucked. My son loved it, but alas for this film, he ain't writing the review. Now get the hell off my lawn, you young punks.
WWF Madison Square Garden on 23/1/1984: It another plodding wrestling event from the early 1980s, but this one is historically significant as the first WWF Heavyweight Championship win for Hulk Hogan. Most of the matches are dull, but the nuclear crowd in the Hogan match carries it, and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff puts in the performance of the night.
WWE Smackdown episode 817: The WWE put on some top-notch programming last week, but now it's back to business as usual. That said, there are always things to enjoy even in the most mediocre of wrestling shows. Adrian Neville continues to impress with his crisp acrobatics, I liked that Bray Wyatt tried to give some meaning to his match with former teammate Erick Rowan, and I thought that the Mix/Sandow fued got back on track after a poor outing on Raw. Too bad the rest of the show was so middling.
WWE Raw episode 1141: This was a show that started well, but it became all too apparent that they were working with a restricted roster, with several wrestlers pulling double duty. The match between WWE Champion Seth Rollins and rookie Adrian Neville was a cracker, with both guys coming out the other end looking really good. I'm also enjoying John Cena's open challenge, and he had a great match against Stardust. The rest of the show, alas, was inconsequential filler.
WWE NXT episode 272: Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. This wasn't a regular episode of NXT, but a flashback to the tournament they did in the lead-up to Wrestlemania 31. The wrestlers in the tournament were competing to appear on Mania, and the three matches shown here were excellent, especially Adrian Nevilla vs. Hideo Itami. Itami won the tournament, and the show had been good to that point, but from there it became mini-documentary about Itami's Wrestlemania experience, and it was pretty great.
Avengers (2013) #1-14, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Jerome Opena and others: The all-important Secret Wars event is coming soon, so I decided that I had better read the comics leading directly into it. I should have done so sooner, because Hickman's Avengers is everything I want from a super-hero book: epic stakes, an intricate and multi-layered plot, and great art. I've heard people describe it as overly cerebral, and that's fair, but I happen to like my comics on the cerebral side. It's amazing that such smart work is appearing in the most mainstream title in comics.
BEST: New Avengers (2013) #1-7, written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by Steve Epting: The companion book to Hickman's Avengers, New Avengers is one of the best things Marvel is doing right now. And unlike Avengers, it has a great central hook: what do the heroes do when they have to destroy a world to save their own? What do they do when faced with this choice over, and over, and over again? Hickman does a good job of presenting a desperate situation that the big brains of the Marvel Universe can't find a neat solution for, and ratcheting up the tension as they exhaust their options one by one. It's very good, and I have high hopes for Secret Wars.
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