BOOM! Studios' Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes is a great book if you haven't checked it out yet do yourself a favor...

I love the positive response that fans and critics alike have been giving it. Right now 2 of the Boom! Studios titles are really peaking my interest, this one (Lumberjanes) and one called "Midas Flesh" which is esentially 2 girls and a highly intelligent raptor trying to undue alchemy gone awry as the Earth itself has been turned to gold by none other than King Midas.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=52509

Batman: Assault on Arkham Trailer

Is anyone else super hyped about this!?!?

Batman: Assault on Arkham animated feature with the suicide squad!?! Enjoy the trailer below and let me know what you think in the comments.

Original Sin #0 Kicks Off Marvel's Next Huge Crossover

A Blast from the Past, Marvel's Original Sin #0 Gets To Know The Watcher

I just gotta say that this book was surprisingly good. I was highly skeptical of Original Sin #0 as I started this out because of Nova. I really just couldn't get into the new, younger version of Nova. Although, I didn't try very hard, I had to give up on the latest volume of Nova pretty quickly. I really didn't like how they replaced Richard Rider with a 15-year-old kid. This feels like a move for the Ultimate Universe, but then the Ultimate U's version of Nova is (was) actually way cooler than this teenage Nova.

Anyway, I digress. Nova made me skeptical, but Uatu really held this book together and drew me in. They writers give us backstory into why The Watcher is a silent observer. (Basically, his father made a terrible mistake by intervening in the events of the universe. His "Original Sin," if you will.) But you should read that for yourself. Then we get to actually see ALL the stuff that Uatu has been watching, and I mean, really, ALL OF IT.  It's intense, so much so that Sam's Nova helmet continually sends him warning messages as if he is in danger just by seeing this stuff.



While the revelations of Uatu's past are really the main story arc here, the climax of the story is all about Nova. I won't reveal it, because you should read it yourself, but also, its not necessarily a huge payoff either. Once again, The Watcher is really the star of this story, which is appropriate for this book since Uatu is about to die after all.



While it makes sense that we won't necessarily get to see a continuation of this book's backstory, this was a really enthralling way to start out this event. The last major event, Infinity, left a little bit to be desired once it was said and done. And even the smaller crossover events like Battle of the Atom and the Trial of Jean Grey haven't been blockbusters. Original Sin looks to have a lot of potential. With as many comics involved in this crossover (practically every major franchise in the Marvel U) there are bound to be some bunk stories coming out of this event, but the bigger stories that are already making some buzz on the internet (i.e. Spider-Man, the Asgardians, and the X-men) look promising. Read more on all the upcoming stories for Original Sin on Newsarama here: http://www.newsarama.com/20954-c2e2-2014-marvel-s-original-sin-panel-live.html

All-New Ultimates #1 Review

Michael Fiffe Picks Up the Bendis Torch on All-New Ultimates #1

I wanted the All-New Ultimates to be awesome. I really did, but I just think that the art is so rough, it's really hard to overlook. I think that Bendis and Marquez did a great job in team building leading into the All-New Ultimates, but picking up the story without those creators is a pretty rough transition.

I think the harshest offense is the redesigning/rebranding of Jessica Jones from Spider Woman to Black Widow. There really isn't a good reason for this change and at the same time it makes the bigger Marvel universe even more confusing to the casual reader.

So, Jessica Jones is Spider-Woman, but she's a clone of Peter Parker, but only in the Ultimate Universe, but now she's Black Widow, but not Natasha Romanov... WTF Marvel...!!!!

And then this costume is realllllllly fucking awful. It's like as if "grunge" as a fashion finally weaseled its way into super hero design about 20 years too late.



The cover art for All-New Ultimates #1, including the variant by David Marquez, is really pretty awesome. (Check it out here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=20645) But once I got inside the book, the art is really lack luster and very 80's mutant-post-apocolyptic... I'm just not digging it.

I think that having Michael Fiffe writing this book has a ton of potential. And as many other reviews I've read have already noted, the dialogue between this gang of teenagers is much more nuanced and natural than much of Bendis's angle on this team. But in the end, Amilcar Pinna is really what kills this book for me. The anatomy of the characters is off enough to be disturbing at times. The consistency of the figures also varies wildly just within this one book. On top of that, the mutant goons who initiate the first real conflict of this book are so out of line with the overall world building of the Ultimate universe that it's nearly criminal.

While only a month ago I was afraid that the Ultimate universe was coming to an end, I'm not quite reassured that this future is better than an "Ultimate ending." I will give All-New Ultimates a few more issues to get its momentum, but more than that, I'll be looking forward to Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man for the continuation of the Bendis/Marquez teamwork.