comic book quickies 30/5/12

AMERICA'S GOT POWERS #2

written by jonathan ross art by bryan hitch

This second issue has less fighting and more plot development as well as more time spent on the back story of the world. We learn that super powers have turned ever non powered person in the world into a god damn Nazi. Maybe there just being overly American. Its hard to tell. Amazingly the hero Tommy is still a pretty cool guy and is even aware that he could become a bastard because of the type of world that he lives in. the nature of the actual Americas got powers tv show is pretty damn grim and this issue really dosent hold back on this as we get a montage of injuries and deaths the show inflicts on these super powered young people. So that's all fairly grim but the end of the issue reveals that those with super powers in this universe cant truly die and can even heal there injuries. So yeah that's kinda cool. I did enjoy this issue but the nature of the show was a real downer but the reveal that ever ones fine was sort of a pick me up. Its still fairly grim that these super people are put through horrible events for nothing and when they lose there imprisoned for what could be forever. Americas got powers continues to surprise me with how much I'm enjoying it. We're two issues in and the main hero isn't a bastard. Id call that a win.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #39

written by Briann reed art by lee garbett

This. Was. Grate. Its a wonderful life plot in reverse and with spider-man. So the world would be a much better place if peter Parker never existed. Norman Osborn invents the cure for cancer. Norman the god damn Osborn invents the god damn cure for god damn cancer. Aye. In a world ware there's no spider-man for him to go loopy over Norman Osborn invents the cure for cancer. Not reed Richards. Not Tony stark. Not even hank Pym. Norman Osborn. NORMAN OSBORN. Oh wells this was a damn gid read with a fine mix of comedy and heart. Basically uncle Ben is a lad. He's still a live in this new time line but he knows he'll die if he helps peter put things back the way there meant to be but he like you gotta go live peter. Why ? Because I'm a lad that's why. The main point this book is trying to hammer home is that the world is probably better off without spider-man but peters friends are much better off with him in the world. Yeah id rather have the cure for cancer. Its all silly though. Spider-man has saved the world a thousand times over and and if he never existed at all there'd probably be not much left of the world by this point. A damn fine comic that's well worth a read.

BATMAN ANNUAL #1

written by scott snyder art by james tynion

Well this was depressing. Is that the point of Mr freeze story's ? I haven't read enough in continuity freeze storeys to know. Well this issue was all about him. Well it was all about this new version of Mr freeze for this new universe. Gotta say I don't like this new version all that much. He's just a crazy bastard. I get that to tangle with batman on a regular basis you've got to be pretty out of your nut but this Mr freeze is just a little off for me. Spoilers but this new ice guys wife isn't really his wife and is just some random woman that was frozen back in the 1940s that freeze is obsessed with. Ok so it was a cool reveal and a new take on and old story. Fair enough. But isn't that point of Mr freeze that he's a tragic villain doing criminal acts to save the woman he genuinely loves ? Isn't he meant to be less insane than your regular bat bad guy ? Isn't he meant to know on some level what he's doing is wrong but is blinded to reality by genuine love ? Isn't that what's cool and different about him that makes him an interesting character ? Well maybe this version is more appropriate for a darker batman and might fight in well with that darker rouges gallery but I really don't dig him. Apart from that the annual was pretty gid. Freezes banter with the penguin was entertaining and I was surprised to see the plot tied in with the current night of the owl's arc with freeze giving the owls there regenerating powers. One thing that gets me though is why do prisons and asylums keep super villains costumes and there tech on-site. Isn't that just asking for trouble ? With freeze I can kind of understand why they keep his suit there in case they have to move him but for the love of fuck why don't they keep his stuff in a heated room? Comics man. some times they just get to me.

FF #18

written by Jonathan Hickman art by Nick Dragotta

This was some damn fine comics fun right here. Nothing big and nothing fancy. Just loads of fun. Jonny storm is left in charge of the FF when everybody ell's is off world fixing a kree sun. hilarity ensues. I quite like when anything happens the to the FF the answer is all ways a field trip. Here's no different with Johnny leading the kids on a trip to the negative zone and like I said it was a lot of fun. Its just nice to see johnny being king of the negative zone and its not like he's bumbling his way through. No he is lord and master of the negative zone and the bugs that inhabit the zone treat him as such. Well they did. For like ten pages. The bugs demand free elections and johnny's weirdly cool with that. And then they go ahead and vote for annihilus. Gotta say the bugs were being kind of awesome here. There plan was just to vote there old leader back in. it might work. Its not like johnny storm of the universe famous fantastic four can deny them democracy. So I'm still loving the FF. Now I had my doubts about the book back when the main fantastic four book came back from the dead. I assumed the the FF would become the filler book. Now it kind of has but not really. Its the kids book. Which Is a good thing. This is the is book ware we get to see the foundation being the foundation. Something we didn't get to see during its first fifteen issues or so.

comic book quickies 28/5/12

THE FLASH #9

Written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato art by Francis Manapul

Now this was a hole lot of fun. Its the flash vs gorilla grod. Nice classic super hero action but at the same time it drives the plot forward quite a bit. I quite like that the writers are trying to tie the speed force into other aspects of DC continuity. Here they have gorilla city being built around the “light” which is later shown to be the speed force. Well maybe that's always been the case. Research ? What's that ! Also this issue Barry comes down with a case of explosive amnesia. He dose get over it fairly quickly but I personally found the resolution satisfying plus it had the classic sliver age vibe the comic was going for. We find out that the flash's true destiny is to run. He's literally told that he keeps the planet safe just by running. FUCK YES.

AQUAMAN #9

written by Geoff Johns art by Ivan Reis

Silly Aquaman you don't belong in the rainforest. This book is still trundling along nicely. Yeah its mainly the art that's keeping it worth reading but the story's not half bad either. Also the fact that Aquaman has his own book again is crazy cool. This issue we get a little more insight into Aquamans team. This time focusing on the prisoner. Sadly the issue wasn't spent in a welsh village with psychedelic spy action. Its nice to see that every time a new character is introduced they turn out to be a better Aquaman than Aquaman is. By that I mean Aquaman is the generic guy of the aqua family. He's got super strength, can breath underwater and can talk to fish. Cools. Have you seen the shite mera can do ? Crazy tidal wave telekinesis type shite. Not that that's a bad thing. I do like generic red ranger Aquaman but is definitely a thing that exists. Spoilers guys but at the end of the issue were told that in a fit of rage after black manta attacked his dad Aquaman killed black mantas dad. Eh naw pal. I know your trying to make Aquaman all gritty and cool but that's too far geoff. I'm willing to see ware this is going but I really don't know what to think if this is played straight.

GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #9

written by Brain Tony Bedard art by Tyler Kirkham

Hmmm. Now this is tricky. I quite liked this issue. In fact it was pretty fun. So that's really cool coming from a book that's been pretty disappointing for most of its run. This issue we finally, FINALLY get the fight between the blue lanterns and the reach that was promised WAY back at the start of the current blue beetle run. And its a lot of fun. I totally forgot that the beetle suits could change form. It feels like an age since that gimmick was used in the actual blue beetle comic. I'm not really sure why but blue lanterns are just plain awesome. Dunno why. There are sort of weak and don't do all that many plot relevant things as well as being space hippies. But dammit there cool. Maybe its the combination of my favourite colour and the emotion hope. So yes the month brought a nice step up in quality that I hope continues.

TEEN TITANS #9

written by Scott Lobdell art by IG Guara

Here's the thing. I missed part three of the culling. It happened in this months issue of legion lost. Now I would have got it had I known that the culling was going to be one of those events ware you had to buy multiple books. But I didn't know soon enough so I missed it. Here's the thing though. I don't feel like I missed anything. Sure things must have happened in that legion lost issue but I'm guessing nothing major. To be fair I have quite enjoyed this wee event. Nothing really blew my mind but nothing really offended me ether and I cant accuse it of taking too long or losing it's momentum. That seams to be a thing about event comics this year. Even marvels avengers vs x-men is running every other week.

FANTASTIC FOUR #606

written by Jonathan Hickman art by Ron Garney

Damn there's no slowing down these fantastic four books likes. Last week we had an awesome if a little heavy point one issue and now just a week later we have this crazy fun fantastic voyage one and done standalone issue. That's all this issue really is, a fantastic voyage to the centre of the fantastic fours post man willie lumkins brain to kill some cancer dead. Its a simple story but its done just so damn well. Every point plot and trope you'd expect to see is here and played straight. Gloriously straight. Its one of those issues ware the fantastic four do very fantastic four-ish things and the fantastic voyage is one of those story's you or at least I Imagen happen to the four all the god damn time.

BATMAN INC SEASON 2 #1

written by grant Morrison art by Chris Burnham

This was AMAZING. I knew it would be and it more than lived up to my expectations. Which is rare. Most times I over hype things in my head. This did have a tough act to follow. The main bat book has been god damn spectacular for nine solid months. Never doubt Morrison though. This was crazy awesome. Its got batman and robin being batman and robin. Fighting crime. HELLS TO THE GOD DAMN BELLS. Plot wise leviathan is starting to take control of Gotham and has put a bounty out on the head of Damien Wayne. That's the basic plot summery but that in no way dose it justice. Every page is overflowing with STUFF happening. Both visually and with glorious dialogue. So I'm really looking forward to the months to come as we now have two dam gid bat books with both this and synders batman. Yeah I here good things about batman and robin but meh I dropped that back at issue one. I gave it a chance and it was too un fun. So Morrison's bat god is back ! Canny wait for more.

comic book quickies 16.5.12

AVENGERS #26

written by Brain Michael Bendis art by Walter Simonson

Well this wasn't what I was expecting at all. This world man. Its crazy. You go to your friendly neighbourhood comic book shop to pick up a copy of the avengers and what do you get ? A story all about the secret avengers! This world man I'm telling you its totally mental sometimes. Well I suppose its more a noh var spotlight issue so that's cool. We really don't know all that much about the young kree lad, its not like we learn all that much more about him here but whatevers. Now it is sort of weird that captain America sends this avenger team and not to mention his close friend Thor on what he calls a suicide mission. I like to think his reasoning is that Thor died pretty recently and just came back so he probably wont die any time soon.

BLUE BEETLE #9

written by Tony Bedard art by Marcio Takara

Now this was ok. Just ok. It was a slight step up from what we've had from this book recently. So that's something at least. The main problem I have with book is Jamie isn't having fun. The scarab battle suit isn't any fun. The beetle place within the world of the new fifty two isn't any fun. So I'm really not digging this blue beetle on the run arc. Its just not what I want from the character. All DC have to do is have Jamie in some fun super hero adventures where he's a inexperienced rookie. Now they kind of have that going on here with the star kid vibe the first few issues had and you do get the point that Jamie has no idea what he's doing or how to be a hero but there still missing that vitally important fun part.

SUPER GIRL #9

written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson art by Mahmud Asrar

Now this was a damn good comic. Damn good. I'm tempted to say this was the best issue of super girl that iv read since issue one. It was just so darn fun. And as you'd expect from I comic I really liked it did have a lot of fighting. Which is always funky. Now I did think that last issue was a good change of pace breather issue and I did kind of want that to continue. I would have been really happy if supergirl just sat around all issue chilling with her Irish gal pal. Well I guess that wasn't to be. Oh wells wall to wall fighting is just as good. I know a lot of people out there think fighting alone cant carry a comic and I'm willing to concede that's partially true but I have to give credit to this comic its some what interesting fighting. Now its nothing mind blowing but its not like its supergirl spamming one paunch over and over and suer girls powers were going mental and that led to the standard not trying to hurt civilians routine that I'm glad dint take the dark path and have her kill or maim anyone. Yeah so supergirls a kinda sorta solid comic.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #9

written by geoff johns art by jim lee

This was interesting. Not great. But interesting. Really it was just a lot of set up and not very justice league-ish set up at that. Like the last few issues it felt very small. Well not very small but smaller than it should be for the big super star flag ship that it started out as. There was time spent showing that the justice league are people too and that they have there own emotional problems that will most likely pay off further down the line but I dunno man all of the emotional problems felt quite hollow to me. I like to think that by the time they all come together to form the league they'd have all there shit together. Now I know I'm alone in this but I really don't get what the big deal is with jim lees art. Yeah there was points in the first five issues ware I could kind of see what people liked about it but not here. At least when non super powered stuff was happening. The back up story still shows billy batson as being a bastard. Yes I'm sure the big goff lad is building to something and billy probably will get some charter development to become an actually likeable. now yes he dose shown signs of development this issue but right now he's still a bastard. Which is really odd. After flashpoint I'm sure everybody was fine with that version of captain marvel becoming the actual version. Its just weird is all.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #4

written by team marvel art by jr jr

Sow how powerful is the phoenix force ? Yeah I know it can destroy planets. Big deal galatus dose that every other day. The fantastic four can take galatus so can they take the phoenix ? Well the x-men were able to defeat it back in the day so I'm pretty sure the avengers alone could take it. Yeah I'm saying the x-men suck ass. Deal with it. They make so much the phoenix being this world ending thing but I just cant get into that. I'm my head I see it as just another x-men villain. This issue was sort of terrible. Very little actual fighting going on and yeah there was a lot of one off panels showing fighting happening but there just there to advertise the tie ins. I know that's the done thing for events theses days but I still don't like it. Emma frost trys her hand a narrating this issue and as you'd expect she's just terrible at it. Somehow it still feels like a ninety's anti hero doing the voice over commentary. Now don't get me wrong I love the ninety's as much as the next man buy this was just an odd choice. So big wolverines back on the avengers side by the end of the issue. That makes his fight with captain America last issue totally pointless. Yay marvel !

A VS X THE FIGHTS #2

written by steve mcniven and kieron gillen art by john dell and salvador larroca

Now I suppose I shouldn't complain about the lack of fighting in the main avengers vs x-men book when we have this lovely little title that's all fighting. First up we have captain America vs gambit. Thankfully cap won. Can you imagine if they had written gambit as the winner ? MADNESS. Now don't me wrong I like gambit that lad can totally rock pink but captain America is a living legend and I don't get how someone can get it in there head that they could take him. Second fight is spider-man vs colossus. In latveria. I like how the avengers think hope is hanging out in latveria. It just makes so much sense ! Oh wait no it dosent. Now the fight itself was quit gid as it was basically just spider-man vs the juggernaut and the comic gives the fight to colossus. Naw man. Just naw.

comic book quickies 9/5/12

GREEN LANTERN #9

written by Geoff Johns art by Doug Mahnke

Well this was just lovely. See the main green lantern book can feel a little light on content some times like the past few issues haven't been all that amazing but this for me was like two issues JAMMED together. It was just so loaded with stuff is all with things finally happening. You know like Hal FINALLY catching on to the cold hard fact that the guardians are FUCKING INSANE. We also get a look into sinestro's back story in an attempt to make him more sympathetic which is cool I guess but I get the feeling it wont translate into actual character growth but lets wait and see shall we. Spoilers but the big goff lad really seems to be tearing through his multi lantern corps, first the sinestro corps went down and now it looks like the indigo tribes bit the dust. I really hope they aren't permanent changes as the multi coloured corps are what got me reading green lantern in the first place.

SUPERBOY #9

written by Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco art R.B Silva

Well there was a lot going on here this month. Well no that's wrong. There was an actual FUCK TON of characters here and not all that much going on. Now to be fair I am quite enjoying this wee teen super hero event. Why ? Well because of all the fighting ! Yeah its not the best fighting in the world and yeah it is just a tad repetitive in places but its fun and at times aware that it has way too many characters flying around all over the place. It dose do a pretty good job of letting you know who everyone is and what's happening ware so that's cool. Thinking about it the book dose do an actually good job of being the second part of a wee event by having a good balance between fighting and setting up plot points for future story's. Now the art dose start looking a little bit shakey in places but that's forgiveable what with all the charters ever running aboot.

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #9

written by Jeff Lemire art by Alberto Ponticelli

Its Frankenstein vs animal man ! Well not really. Well not actually at all. It's Frankenstein on the hunt for a disappeared animal man and his family. So yeah that's pretty cool. mystery stuff and all that. Now this issue was a LOT of fun. Its got franky being bad ass. And really that's all I ask of this book. There's a few bits this issue ware franky is channelling the god damn bat man and I mean that in the best possible way. The books doing pretty well for being in the shaky waters of post first arc guest star super heroes issues. I'm glad the new fifty twos not being so strict about writing for the trade type comics as it gives us story's like this that don't need five issues and an aftermath to tell.

BATMAN #9

written by Scott Snyder art by Greg Capullo

THIS COMIC ! This god damn comic. I say it every month but its so true. It just gets better and better ! How that's possible at this point I'm not sure. This book just has it all. It kicks things off with batman in power armour. BATMAN IN POWER ARMOUR. Aye just aye. Then it brings out a robot dinosaur AND makes it work without braking the tone of the book. Its also nice to see the court of owls mooks have a wolverine style healing factor as batman is taking no shite from anyone with every fight having him go for what would be kill shots on any other guy. He runs an owl mook down with the bat mobile at one point. FUCK YEAH. Like always the art's as awesome as the plot with not a noticeable drop in quality yet. And if that's all not enough for you there's a back up story staring Alfred's father. Damn fine bang for your buck lads. Damn fine. Go read this book now !

DEATHSTROKE #9

written and art by Rob Liefeld

Well look at this. The 90s LAD is BACK. Well to be fair I guess rob liefeld never really went away but then again I never bought any of his run of hawk and dove. Now I did mean to its just that when the new fifty two started there were so many actually good books to buy that I couldn't justify buying hawk and dove even for a laugh. Now when I herd the liefeld was being made writer AND artist for deathstroke I was like DUDE I'm in for that likes. Now yes the comic itself was probably pretty bad. I say probably because my brain cant except something that nineties being in anyway bad. So yes this comic is most likely bad in every way you can define bad. But its liefeld and I love it.

AVENGERS ASSMBLE #3

written by Brian Michael Bendis art by Mark Bagley

Now this was AWESOME. Really really surprisingly awesome. This issue was all fighting and surprisingly for Bendis he pulled it off pretty well. Yeah I know he's done a lot of fighting arc's in the past but for the last wee while he's been writing very talkie comics with sporadic awesome fights. This is also a very meaty comic which is gid what with most action heavy comics tending to fly by too fast. The villains the zodiac are sort of weak but I quite like that they have one unifying theme. So yeah I'm quite tempted to say that this book was well worth its $3.99 cost. Yeah the film cash grab comic is turning out to quite awesome !

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #3

written by team marvel art by Jr Jr

Yeah so captain America vs wolverine this issue ? Cool ? NO not cool ! I know wolverine has a history of switching sides ( dose he ? Or is that just in my head ?) but this is ridiculous. So now not only is Logan not on the x-men's side he' not even with the avengers any more. God damn it marvel. Really the cap vs wolverine fight is the main draw of the issue with the rest of the book being used for more set up and for moving characters around to set up fights in the tie ins which is a real shame as I was hoping the bulk of the event would take place fighting over x-men island. Cyclops is still being a bastard but this issue his utter insanity didn't get a chance to really shine. Sadly the arts still Jr Jr's B style. I'm starting think more and more that kick ass ruined that man.

comic book quickies 5/5/12

ALL DC ALL THE TIME yeah I forgot to buy avengers vs x-men this week. THE SHAME. Well the first week of the new 52 cycle is a pretty solid week. It used to be four DC books for me but I dropped red lanterns and detective comics has been pretty meh since issue two. Yeah its still a solid week in my head. This week also has the first ( I'm pretty sure its the first ) annual of the new 52 verse with teen titans and the first part of the culling arc.

ACTION COMICS #9

written by Grant Morrison art Gene Ha

AWWWW HELLS TO THE BELLS. Hells to the actual bells. This comic man. THIS COMIC. Superman of earth 23 is Barack Obama ! Well not really. But basically its him. Grant Morrison by the way. That's it really, this comic is so amazingly Morrison in every single way. Its got multiveres craziness going on with cosmic horror superman, thought powered music machines and lex luthor being an utter LAD. Action comics still continues to be very un -first-arc- ish. Now I know it sounds like I'm saying that like its a bad thing but its just a curve ball of a book is all. I'm not complaining. I'm getting exactly what I want from a comic and I don't know what to make of it. We're NINE MONTHS IN and we haven't seen what superman's up to in the present day. Yeah I'm sure that's what the main superman book is for but know we're off galavanting round the multiverse. Now that would be a problem. If this comic sucked. But it dosent. Its AWESOME.

DETECTIVE COMICS #9

written and art by Tony S. Daniel

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Well it wasny that bad all in all and I enjoyed it a lot more than most of the previous issues though its sort of a sad thing when you can say that about a wee event tie in.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #9

written by Dan Jurgens art Aaron Lopresti

So omac is on the JLI now. Kinda. Well cools I guess. I felt really bad for joking about omacs book after it got cancelled so its nice to see he isn't lost to comic book limbo. Sadly that's all that really happened this issue. Hurry up and get gid again ! A MAN CAN ONLY LIVE OFF THE BUDDY COP VIBE FOR SO LONG !!!!

TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1

written by Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco art by Brett Booth

The titans are dumped in an underground facility to compete in a meta human tournament arc. Well kinda. Its more Spartacus than strongest under the heavens dragon ball z style. Which is unfortunate. I can see it now, all neat and tidy one on one fights with contaminators and what nought. Maybe even Mr. Referee could make an appearance. Yes its a real shame. Now this was fairly ok. It probably didn't need to be an annual but I get what it was going for. Now there was A LOT of fighting in this. Which is way cool. Unfortunately a lot of that fighting is between the titans and fellow heroes the legion lost who I totally forgot were a thing. Yeah its got that hole misunderstanding causing heroes to fight heroes before they team up to fight a common foe going on. So not that grate a book but a step up from most of the past issues.

Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix

Yes I see it. We all see it.

 They're back. People said they were gone for good but they are back. Tenacious D grace us with their face melting solos and genuine brand Rokkit Sauce riffs. Rize of the Fenix is the tale of Kage and JB's unstoppable fight to the top of the mountain and if that means laying down some flute tracks then so be it. With the heart pounding inspiration of "To Be The Best", the catchy sing along nature of "Low Hanging Fruit", a scream in "They Fucked Our Asses" better than "Master Exploder" and the never say die nature of "Rize of the Fenix" this is the D on top form. Where they go from here is yet to be seen but the D have proved two things:
1. What is technically a band's second album, "Pick of Destiny" was a soundtrack, can be considered a come bac.
2. Tenacious D are truly the greatest band ever.

Their unique blend of classical and metal is just not something you'll find anywhere else and Jack Black and Kyle Gass's obvious enthusiasm and balls out fun nature just make this such a fun and brilliant album. Its also available to listen to for free, how brilliant is that!?!

A must for any fan of the D as they get back on top and show everyone how its done. Long live the D!

http://rizeofthefenix.com/ - Listen to it here for not a single penny.

Avengers Assemble

 I wanted to do this review a lot sooner. About 20 minutes into the film to be precise. I was sure my mind was made up but I resisted what I call "The Bay Illusion", when a film is all shiney and you are unable to make a thoughtful critique because the more base part of your brain is being massaged, and waited a whole week to mull it over. Not to say this is another Bayformers, all razzamatazz and no substance. Far from it. So a quick plot recap, the Tesseract from Captain America: The First Avenger is being looked after and researched by Nick Fury's (Sam Jackson) world peacekeepers Shield. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has made a deal with an alien race. He will give the Tesseract to them in exchange for an army and promptly steals it from Shield. Shit then gets real. Fury assembles the worlds mightiest hero's: Iron Man (Robert Downy, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evens), Loki's brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to put a stop to Loki's plans.

"HULK WRITE STRONGLY WORDED LETTER!!!"

Now on paper this film is fantastic and a nightmare at the same time. Tying together five films and several protagonists into one film is just a brilliant idea and Marvel Studios should be commended for it. However, how they were going to do that remained to be seen. Thankfully, writer and director Joss Whedon has done it. Its a bit stretched at time but each character has their own moment. When Hulk meets Loki it is the highlight of the film. Whedon is just that good, a giant CGI rage monster gets the best scene of the film. Tom Hiddleston as Loki steals every scene he is in (bar his encounter with Hulk) as a interesting combination of a Scooby Doo villian and Hanibal Lecter. Think M. Bison from the Street Fighter film and you are on the right track.
  I do have some problems with Avengers Assemble but. Even at two and half hours long it feels short and a bit empty, but really that was going to happen no matter what. The film is packed but there is so much that has to be left out just because there is simply not enough time. A bit strange I know. Think of it as they have big feet, but these shoes are enormous. Another problem is the film's alien army, The Chitauri, get no real development and merely serve as an army of mooks. Honestly, Avengers Assemble feels like another origin movie rather than a pay off of several years and movies of setting up. Really I think my problem is I expected a massive pay off when really this is just a toe being dipped into the water to see if it works. It does work make no mistake, but you need to approach it from the right mindset to avoid a vague feeling of it being empty or unfinished (A common complaint I've heard).
  So to round up. This is a great film. Only die hard fans should find any real flaw to it and newcomers don't even have to see the previous films to get Avengers Assemble. The previous films just add a bit more context and some tidbits here and there for viewers to pick up on.

10 out of 10, highly recommended.

The Elder Scrolls Online Announcement

This is something that we have been expecting since it was revealed that there was a company named ZeniMax online way way back in 2007. This being the first thing they have announced, it certainly seems that this game has been in development for the past 5 years.

Although the only thing released for it is the announcement trailer, a lot of people are making assumptions about it - mainly that it will be a WoW clone, and be case of button-mashing to kill things.

But does the fact it's an MMO mean it will be exactly like WoW? I don't think so. Put it like this; WoW is an MMO, an MMO is not WoW (If you know what i mean).

People also seem to be saying that this is the worst thing that has happened in the history of TES, but as there is close to no info on it, they could be horribly wrong (or perfectly correct).

And although this may sound like an end to the chapters of the Elder Scrolls, this could also be wrong. TES online is being developed by ZeniMax online, so if Bethesda Game Studios stop making their extremely popular series, they will only be left to make Fallout (unless they do end TES there and come up with a brand new series, that would also be good)

So it's far too early to say anything on it yet, but we can still imagine what it will be like, and what this will do to the series.

Keep checking back! will post new info whenever we get it, and plan is to do a scheduled rumour roundup!

all content (C) Zenimax