Jumping in Headfirst

A quick update to get ahead before tomorrow's comics drown me. Amazing Spider-Man In this epilogue to The Clone Conspiracy, we learn Ben Reilly actually managed to escape the fact he suffered over twenty years ago in the original Clone Saga, keeping his body from breaking down completely and still having plenty of pills to allow his form to regenerate every few months.  With his plan having gone up in flames, he heads to a safehouse that looks identical to Peter Parker's old childhood home, only to find the real Miles Warren waiting for him in his Jackal persona--who also promptly sets said safe house on fire. Rather than providing us with the knock-down, drag-out fight you'd expect, Reilly realizes the pointlessness of the fight and decides to bring the whole house down on Jackal before escaping on his own.  I think my biggest problem with this is that unlike my prediction for The Clone Conspiracy as a whole, I guessed right with where Ben Reilly as The Jackal w...

The biggest boost in personal geek cred I've had lately is realizing that I can spell "Mxyzptlk" without having to Google it first.

I started reading Harbinger along with the rest of the Valiant Universe about a week ago, and I've mostly gotten through what Valiant fans would call "Phase Two", having finished up everything leading up to The Armor Hunters.   As someone who's always fascinated by how shared comic universes are capable of enriching all of the titles published within, I've found Valiant's shared world pretty awesome.   It's rarely ever overwhelming, instead just shading in these characters with more layers and development who would otherwise be merely background fodder in a different character's story.

Back this week with episode two!

Everyone got Valentine's Day out of their system, for good or bad?  We ready to talk comics?  Cool--welcome to Bottom of the Pile.  If you didn't know, Bottom of the Pile is a column where I take some of my favorite comics (anywhere from 5 to 10, depending on the week) and talk about them.  It can be anything from funny commentary, exploration of the themes and ideas being used by the author, or even a flat-out mini-review.   The hope is that I get you interested in the comic itself, because if it found its way here there's a good chance I think it's one of the best on the stands that week.  Please feel free to share this column as many places as you like, and comment if you think it's good (or if you think it's bad).

It’s been nearly three years since I enjoyed a Sentai Sentai series.  Not since 2013’s excellent Kyoryuger.  I gave ToQger, Ninninger, and even Zyuohger all their own chances, but ultimately none of them could keep my interest, as I dropped all of them at various points before their finale.  I had even basically given up on the franchise before this series popped up—immediately it’s cool outfits and unique line-up that felt like a genuine change to the static Sentai formula caught my attention, and I resigned myself to giving this series a chance, waiting intently on the first episode.  Well, it’s finally arrived—so let’s dive in!

This article's kinda petty, but I couldn't get this out of my head so...enjoy. Six episodes into Chain Chronicle and I can’t actually decide whether I like this anime or not.   The animation is gorgeous—already responsible for some of the coolest looking action sequences this year that aren’t apart of Tales of Zestiria the X season two.    The art direction and style is boss too—the series isn’t afraid of using deep, vibrant colors and contrasting them with dark blacks and faded colors to show the difference between the heroes who are full of hope and defiance, and the villains who have given themselves up to the Black King.    Similarly for the most part I’m loving the eclectic designs of the different characters—the ornate armor of the knights and the way different races seem to be drawing from a variety of sources for their looks.   The humans take on a distinctly European look, while the ogre race have a Japanese appearance—but we still get ple...

1.)  As I was watching this episode, I had to do a double-take as I realized I recalled this episode was supposed to be almost entirely devoted to the relationship between Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer that was centered around Valentine’s Day.   That's I'd seen from a website covering the show, at least.  They even gave minor details—like how Alex was all about the holiday while Maggie thought it was just a Hallmark thing.  I'm actually pretty into that as an idea, but unfortunately that episode is actually scheduled for next week.  A bit weird in terms of timing--instead of getting our Valentine’s Day episode the week of Valentine’s Day, we’re getting it the week after. I get it, though.  The Valentine's Day episode is described as focused almost entirely on the new couple, and since the whole subplot that lead to the two of them getting together took up quite a bit of time, they probably wanted to get them out of the spotlight (the two of them ar...

This is absolutely late, and from now on I'm going to do my best to make these on time from now on.  For now, welcome to Bottom of the Pile.  If you didn't know, Bottom of the Pile is a column where I take some of my favorite comics (anywhere from 5 to 10, depending on the week) and talk about them.  It can be anything from funny commentary, exploration of the themes and ideas being used by the author, or even a flat-out mini-review.   The hope is that I get you interested in the comic itself, because if it found its way here there's a good chance I think it's one of the best on the stands that week.  Please feel free to share this column as many places as you like, and comment if you think it's good (or if you think it's bad). Alters One of the things I love about Alters is just how cocky Chalice is.  For one thing, I'm a sucker for a good, cocky hero .   But it also makes sense--her civilian life is about to go through a change t...

Avengers Now we're talking.  I've been having a bit of an issue with the way this Kang story is being told, vacillating on whether it's a good story or not, but this chapter sold me.  Though Kang has always been one of the most well-known threats in the Avengers rogues gallery, it's been years since they focused on just how big of a problem he is for the rest of humanity--the last time I recall seeing him, he was basically in a losing war with Ultron.   Here though, Kang explains his story--how he's been conquering various time periods and making his empires work together to allow him to truly be the master of Earth at every point in human history. The whole story--beautifully told by Mike Del Mundo, who's abstract, fantastical art is perfect for telling this retrospective through all the different time periods--makes Kang out to be a massive threat, and actually makes Nadia's decision not to simply get rid of Baby Kang all the more insane and ...