During a long stretch of time when Marvel was reluctant to tell the definitive origin story of its most famous mutant, readers only had two comics as reference: the self-titled Wolverine and Weapon X. The latter of those is tells the tale of how Logan was abducted by a shady government organization and groomed to become the ultimate killing machine.
If things weren’t complicated enough in the Morning Glories universe, things get even wackier in Morning Glories Vol. 5: Tests. Compiling issues 26 through 29, very little time actually passes in the present day. However, Casey has lived out another lifetime, as the version of herself that traveled back in time has grown into an adult in the past while still trying to save her present-day self from the horrors of Morning Glories Academy. Meanwhile, present Jade is still in a stand-off with Iryna and adult Jade is trying to help present Hunter continue the mission.
Take chess. Now add lasers and mirrors. This is the underlying premise behind Khet 2.0 from Innovention. Players take turns moving and rotating their pieces on the board in order to blast their opposition from a distance. Doubters may be concerned about how gimmicky it appears on the surface, but it’s actually a neat and solid strategy game.
After a sub-par fourth issue, I was hoping that the start of the Syborg saga would be a return to form for the court jester of Gotham. Instead, Harley Quinn #5 is a disaster. The now-predictable scene where Harley makes an idiot out of herself isn’t funny at all. She’s once again been pushed into a sidekick role when she just started breaking out as a solo star. The guy she’s working for is an awful character all around. The action stinks. Save for the art in the dream sequence, which earns a nod for looking cool, I don’t have anything nice to say about this one. I don’t think I’ll be continuing with this series going forward.
The story of Rick Grimes and his fight for survival starts here. In The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye, he wakes up alone from a coma to find the world overrun with zombies. He races out to Atlanta in hopes of finding his family while trying to make sense of what the world has become.
DC Universe: Legacies is the tale of a common man who grew up living in the DC Universe. As a child, Paul Lincoln saw the advent of the original Justice Society of America and grew up to watch the universe unfold from there. Now an old man, he recounts those stories of superhero heroics and how they connect with his own life. It’s a novel approach to retelling the rich history of a comic book juggernaut, though it also proves to be one with inherent flaws.
Holy blast from the past Batman! One of DC’s newest takes on The Dark Knight is actually a throwback to one his oldest, campiest and most iconic eras. Batman 66′ Vol. 1 contains all new stories set in the Batman universe that was popularized by Adam West and Burt Ward. No longer bound by the technology and production budgets of television shows of that time, Batman ’66 retains everything that made that show tick while blowing out the scale of their adventures in ways the show never could.
There was a time in the late 2000s when the game that eventually became Yomi was actually the Street Fighter card game. Created by David Sirlin while he was a developer at Capcom, the Japanese publisher unfortunately denied him the rights to the license and the game was released without Ryu and company. While Yomi is fantastic on its own, I can only imagine how much better and successful it could have been had it been able to use the Street Fighter license to add further credibility to the final product.
Years later, we finally get an official Street Fighter card game, courtesy of Cryptozoic Entertainment. Unlike Sirlin’s effort, which was crafted to simulate the Street Fighter experience as closely as possible, the Street Fighter Deck-Building Game is designed around an existing gameplay engine that currently powers deck-builders for DC Comics and The Lord of the Rings. Going in this direction doesn’t necessarily make for a bad game, but it’s lip service towards the source material will surely irritate fans of the franchise.
During the beginning of my X-Men vision quest, a vendor at Comicon strongly recommend checking out Astonishing X-Men. In particular, he told me to check out Joss Whedon’s run from issue #1-24. According to him, these were some of the best X-Men tales ever. I’ve kept that thought in the back of my mind until I stumbled upon both books in the Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection for half price.
For the purposes of this post, I’m just going to write about Book 1, which covers our heroic mutants through two story arcs: Gifted and Dangerous. I haven’t read enough X-Men to say where this fits in the pantheon of X-books, but this is at the very least some of the best material I’ve read yet.
Meeting your significant other’s parents is a big – and oftentimes awkward – step in anyone’s relationship. This adage holds true for Marko and Alana, as she meets her husband’s parents for the first time. With that said, the stress of this initial encounter is amplified by a number of different factors, such as tense race relations, a missing spirit doubling as a babysitter, and a host of assassins out for their blood, including Marko’s ex-fiancee.
In Third Person 