Super Bowl 50 – X-Men: Apocalypse

I’m a fan of the X-Men films, but the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse had me concerned.  The commercial that aired during the Super Bowl has restored some of that faith.  It looks much better than the trailer.  You’ve probably seen it by now, but if not, watch it after the break.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 51

Life is funny sometimes.  When I wrote my walk through of Secret Wars #9 I mentioned that I had read all the events books except for Armor Wars #½.  Since it was a limited giveaway at Toys R’ Us (a store I don’t frequent) I had a hard time getting my hands it.  Strangely enough, it was literally half an hour after that review posted to the website, I happened upon a copy.

After the break I will inch closer to completing this odyssey with the aforementioned Armor Wars #½, as well as finish off Weirdworld (#3-5) and X-Men ’92 (Infinite) (#7-8).  As usual, this way be spoilers.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Case Files#50: Feral

Just try and put your body into this position and see how benevolent you are afterwards.

There was a time when Marvel’s X-Force was one of its hottest properties.  As drawn by Rob Liefeld, the book chronicled a group of hard-hitting mutants who believed in preemptive strikes against the bad mutants of the world, and likewise for not being so gentle and leaving them to walk away.  The original line-up has gotten a lot of mileage at Marvel, with many of the characters appearing in various X-books since the team first premiered in 1991.

So, what went wrong with Feral?

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 45 (Issue 5 Edition)

This week saw the release of Ultimate End #5, the second to last Secret Wars book.  Now we just have to wait a month for the four month delayed finale to get the anticlimactic details on how Doom was defeated and everything basically returned to normal.  Where All-New, All-Different seems to equal “we got Miles now and Wolverine is back (kinda)”.

Click through as I cover the fifth and final issues of the following books: Ultimate End #5, Planet Hulk #5, Secret Wars 2099 #5, Armor Wars #5, Spider-Verse #5, Inhumans: Attilan Rising #5, Inferno #5 and A-Force #5 .

As usual there are spoilers, so take care, especially with Ultimate End which is only days old.  The others have been out a while.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #46: Sage

She seems trustworthy…

Last week, I covered a character that was mostly used by one creator during a comic run for a team book.  That was DC’s Faith.  It seems only fair to do that again this week for Marvel.  Only this time, the creator in question was writing that team for a very, very long time.

This may also just be a retcon gone wrong.  This week, we’re looking at Sage.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 43

The end is near for Secret Wars (well, there is still a month to go), but not for my write ups.  Sigh.  So much to do.  Anyway, last week finally saw the release of Secret Wars #7 Part Two aka Secret Wars #8.  I believe that only leaves the following for this long, long event:

Ultimate End #5 – December 16th
Secret Wars #9 – January 13th, 2016

After the break I’ll take a look at that penultimate Secret Wars issue as well as play some catch-up with the following books: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #3, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #3, Red Skull #2, Silver Surfer #15 and X-Men ’92 (Infinite) #6

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

I’m Not Sure What To Think About This First X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

Ugh. Is anyone digging this character design?

Apocalypse is a great X-Men villain.  And I really enjoyed X-Men: First Class and loved X-Men: Days of Future Past.  But I’m not sure what to make of this first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.  Nothing really grabs me about it and I hate the look of Apocalypse.  Maybe you’ll feel differently.

That said, I’m sure I’ll be seeing it in the theaters come May 27, 2016.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars 39 (E Is For Extinction Edition)

Many of the Secret Wars tie-ins have familiar names like Infinity Gauntlet, Planet Hulk and Civil War.  For most of the series with names you have heard of before, reading the original series is not usually required.  I found E Is For Extinction to be the opposite of that.

While I guess I cannot really say because I haven’t read the original run by Grant Morrison, I really felt like I was missing something with this series.  Not that I couldn’t understand it, but for 4 issues I felt like there was an inside joke that I was missing out on.  Tom Kelly has also made some comments about them nailing the tone and feel of the run.

After the cut I’ll take a spoilery look at E Is For Extinction #1 thru #4.  For those that have read Morrison’s run, feel free to jump in and let me know what I’m missing, or what would help me understand this series better.

Be sure to check out our latest Secret Wars Power Rankings, which also features links to the other parts of my read through.

Secret Wars #7 Cover Who’s Who?

Not that Secret Wars #7

I was recently writing up my walk through for Secret Wars #6 and when I reached the end I flipped the page to see a preview of the cover for issue #7.  I had seen it before.  But as it sat there before my eyes, the longer I looked at it, the cooler I realized it was.  “Is that the Lou Ferrigno Hulk?  Forbush Man??  Goose Rider???”  What was going on with this cover?

It seems the Marvel multiverse is back and they are not happy with one Victor Von Doom.  After the cut, check out the full cover and our best guesses at who’s who.  We’ve identified must, but there are a couple we need your help with.  So get your Marvel dukes shined up and have a look…

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #36: Layla Miller

The Marvel Crossover House of M posited a world where the Scarlett Witch, temporarily insane, would first change the planet to one where mutants were in charge, and then after some stress changing everything back to a world where hardly any mutants still had their powers.  Wolverine alone knew the changed world was wrong, because Marvel and writer Brian Michael Bendis seem incapable of doing a massive crossover storyline that doesn’t give Wolverine a major role, and he found a way to make the other heroes he needed remember with the help of a young girl named Layla Miller.  Layla had the power to make people see the Scarlett Witch’s changes weren’t right.

So, what was Layla’s deal anyway?