CBK Recommends: The Amazing Spider-Man (Video Game)

I was only interested in purchasing this game because I thought it might bring back some memories of me playing the original movie based Spider-Man games when I was a bit younger. I actually found myself to be pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying the game. I own an Xbox 360 so that's all I've played it on. I only mention this because I know there are some extra things exclusive to the PS3 version, but from what I understand they are mainly cosmetic.

I've beaten the game once already at 100% completion and unlocked a plethora of achievements, and awesome alternate costumes for Spidey to wear. You can also unlock a ton of extra content like statues; which is essentially the same thing that Rocksteady's Batman games have done; as well as concept art, and comic books that are readable in game. More on that later. Actually, this game is a lot like Batman: Arkham City in many ways. You play in an open world setting, and there are a bunch of side quests to tackle, although none of them vary too much. Once you have completed one of each type they don't really change as you progress further. This actually doesn't feel like a setback though, because I found myself doing them regardless, and still enjoying it. Also, the combat is heavily influenced by Rocksteady's Batman games. Combat is executed just by pressing the X button, and Spidey will execute various different attacks depending on who you are fighting, or where they are located relative to you. Pressing Y will allow you to dodge and counter hit with the greatest of ease, and while all of this is happening you truly feel like you are Spider-Man, it just seems too easy at times. The B button allows you to shoot webs at enemies and wrap them up and throw them, or trap them in place. This is exciting at first, but whereas Batman has a lot of gadgets he can utilize all Spider-Man has is his webshooters gadget wise so there isn't the same amount of variety as in Arkham Asylum, or Arkham City.

Spidey ain't afraid to take the Rhino head on!

 I have to mention that the magnitude of collectibles in this game are astounding. Indoor pickups, a photo mini game, tech pieces, and 700  comic book pages scattered throughout the free roaming section of the game. This all seems very daunting at first, but if you are a completionist like myself, or you just like to explore, chances are you will come across almost all of them on first play through. The comic pages are different however. Being that they are scattered all about the Manhattan free roam area, you can pick them up whenever you see one whilst web swinging around. 700 may seem like a lot, but the best way to think about them is the orb system in Crackdown. They don't upgrade your character however, but they do unlock digital comics for view withing the games extras menu. These aren't just little portions of comics either, they are real, full length digital comics featuring the first appearance of some of the villains you will come across, or just certain characters from the Spidey mythos.

Now, I am on my second play through on the hardest difficulty, and for the most part still enjoying myself. The story is decent enough, that I don't mind playing it again, and the cutscenes are very beautiful, and showcase Spider-Man in an 'Amazing' way (sorry I had to do it). The unlockable costumes bring an interesting variety to your "closet", so it is cool to try each outfit on at least once. My gripe about the costumes are; one: for some reason developer Beenox decided not to include Miles Morales' black and red Ultimate Spider-Man costume. I understand that they aren't the same person, and are from two different universes in the greater Marvel Universe, but I think this costume would have really worked well. Two: much like the Arkham games Spider-Man's costume gets shredded, and shows visible damage as you take damage. Well, some of the unlockable costumes don't do this for some reason. Maybe Beenox ran out of time to add something like that (it is a movie tie in game after all), or maybe they didn't get permission from Marvel to ruin some of the costumes, I'm not sure. Either way it's upsetting, and slightly pulls me out of the experience. I bring up the costumes because after you attain 100% completion you unlock the black suit. Not the traditional black suit, or the Spider-Man 3 black suit (that costume is in the game however), but you unlock what they are calling the "New Black Suit". This suit looks incredible, and is essentially the suit from the new Amazing Spider-Man but with a black and silver color scheme. It is well worth the effort of 100% completion just to wear this suit around forever. I'm using it on my second playthrough, and I want to add that it does take damage as well, and almost looks better when it is ribbons.

New Black Suit

Multiple good reason why I recommend this game. Sure it isn't technically the best looking game, and it does have gameplay mechanics that don't make sense, or can be frustrating at times. Web swing for example takes a little bit of time to get used to but once you do it's a breeze. On a real quick side note many people have complained that when you web swing the web doesn't attach to anything. Meaning that you can web swing from above every building in the game and the web seemingly attaches to nothing. This was how the previous games had done it, and I thought it was fine. The way this game does it doesn't bother me either that's why I didn't bring it up. I bring it up now because I realized this one thing will make the game a buy, or pass for some people out there. None of that stops this game from being fun however, and I would say it's a must for any fan of Spider-Man, or anybody who is just nostalgic for the web swinging Spider-Man games of the past. That is why Comic Book Korner recommends this game true believers! 'Nuff Said!

Up next, Deadpool finally gets his starring role in a video game. Find out if I think this is good or bad news.

                 

  Author: Dillon B.

Pick of the Week: August 1st

Drum-roll please.....

Hawkeye #1 is my pick of the week! This surprised me a little because I was only curious about the title because Matt Fraction was writing it. I'm not a huge Hawkeye fan, but after the first issue I am already sold on this book, and if it continues on like this it'll be a mainstay of my hold slot, and probably one of my favorite books of the year.

Cover of Hawkeye #1

I can't stress to you how GOOD this book is. Probably the best comic book I have read all year. I only say probably because I read a ton of books every week, which means I read more than a ton of books every year and sometimes it can be hard to keep track of them all. Every once in a while though a book will come along and change everything and I feel Hawkeye is one of those books. Matt Fraction has done a beautiful job of blending a sorta dark, and gritty setting with a fun and upbeat atmosphere. I mean it, Hawkeye is so many things in one; funny, exciting, entertaining, dark, gritty, smart, you name it. Accompanied by David Aja's art the book has a certain feel to it that no other book out there has right now.

Hawkeye #1 isn't your typical first issue either. By deciding to start the series with what appears to be; at the moment at least, a one shot instead of the opening to a larger story arc they give everybody an issue to really get to know what this character is going to be about. In fact, if I'm not mistaken you only see Hawkeye on the first page which is a large splash page. The rest of the book focuses on Clint Barton. You might say, 'Well Hawkeye IS Clint Barton', and you would be correct but what I'm saying is that we really spends some time with the man beneath the mask. In this first issue he even talks about being one of the only Avengers that doesn't have a single super power. He was selected because he trained himself to be the best marksman in the world, and can turn anything into a weapon. We don't actually see him in his Hawkeye costume more than once.

I officially have high hopes for this book, and look forward to it being my pick of the week for many months to come. If you haven't bought yourself a copy already, or you have but just haven't read it yet go do that immediately.


Honorable Mention: 
This week AvX #9 receives my honorable mention award. This issue is written by Jason Aaron, with art by Kubert, and is very focused on Spider-Man. The dialogue is well written, and the action scenes are very subtle, but exciting and interesting. Spider-Man finally gets his chance to shine in the Avengers Vs X-Men story line, and in my opinion he's finally really getting a chance to shine as an Avenger in general. If you're already reading AvX you are most likely going to pick up this issue. If you aren't currently reading Avengers vs X-Men go pick up the series it's been very interesting, albeit a little slow in some parts.

Cover to Avengers Vs X-Men #9

  

The Avengers: Movie Review

I've been holding off on this review for months now, because I was going to wait for the Blu-Ray release and just do it all as one big review, but I've finally decide against that. Screw it! This is my Avengers review.

Basically what you need to know is that this movie is AWESOME! There's so much awesome in this movie that I'm surprised one movie could contain it all. Anyway...on to the actual review. The Avengers is based on the comic book of the same name, that features multiple characters from all over the Marvel Universe. The movie uses Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor for obvious reasons. This movie is tied to all the previous Marvel Studios movies before it. Their goal is to create a giant Marvel Cinematic Universe, and each of their movies has been an addition to that. The good thing is you don't have to watch any of the previous films; which include: Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. If you haven't seen any of those films you should though because they are all good in their own way. Iron Man 2 is my least favorite of the bunch.

I digress; The plot of the Avengers is Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is angry about the way thing turned out at the end of Thor, and has decided to obtain the Cosmic Cube (which is called the Teseract in the movie, but I'm going to continue to call it the Cosmic Cube). With the Cosmic Cube he will be able to obtain an army of space aliens that will help him invade, and attempt to conquer the Earth. Who better to stop him then Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

The only problem? Earth's Mightiest Heroes don't get along, and don't really want to. They don't know a whole lot about each other, and have to find a way to come together to stop Loki and his treacherousness. This is where Nick Fury, and S.H.I.E.L.D. come in.

The movie is paced very well, and each actor reprises their role from all the previous movies stated above. Joss Whedon who wrote and directed the movie did a great job of giving each character enough screen time,  as well as enough time for us to feel an emotional bond to each one of the characters and what they going through as individuals. The only exception being Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) we don't get to see a whole lot of him doing his thing until the very end of the film, but it's actually well worth the wait. I guess my only complaint being I wish I got to see more out of him. Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson) does a great job of playing a super bad ass spy turned Avenger, and actually had more screen time then I thought she would. We also get to see a side of her relationship with Clint Barton (Hawkeye) that I didn't expect Whedon to include in the final version of the film.

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) returns with his fan favorite portrayal of the Armored Avenger, and he doesn't disappoint. The fight scene in the woods featuring the "Big Three" is enough to make any fanboy squeel with excitement, and the constant back and forth between Captain America (Chris Evans) throughout a large part of the movie is satisfying. It evokes memories of the Civil War mini series Marvel did a few years ago, but that's not to say the franchise will head in that direction. Which brings me to Captain America who I adore. Chris Evans' portrayal of Cap in this movie is a lot different than in Captain America: The First Avenger. You see him as more of the leader, veteran, combat expert, and overall great character I know and love. Plus he's a man still trying to learn how to cope in a world that he knows nothing about, and basically the only family he has is the Avengers.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) does another great job playing "The Son of Odin". Thor also has a lot of over the top action scenes in the movie which makes sense because he's a god. Point being, he's in a lot of visually stunning scenes that are very entertaining. Now it's time for the Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). The Hulk has a couple scenes in this movie that made me want to jump out of my seat and scream in excitement! I'm not a huge Hulk fan but there's something about him in this movie that just brings him back to his glory days, and just makes you want to be the Hulk again. Joss Whedon should be commended for what he was able to bring to the table with this character. Especially since the supporting cast of super heroes is so strong.

The Big Three

I also want to take a second to talk about Tom Hiddleston playing Loki because it is close to the best performance in this movie. I still haven't decide which performance I enjoyed most yet so it's still up in the air, but he does such a good job at playing just that crazy, evil, comic book bad guy that we all love to hate. If watching Loki in this movie doesn't make you love him for being so mischievous then something is wrong with you!

The thing about The Avengers, is that it has done what no comic book movie ever has before; it makes you feel like you're watching a comic book come to life. Now, there has been great comic book movies, and good comic book movies, and down right bad ones, but none of them have ever had the feel of this movie. Seeing all the Avengers assembled for the first time made the nerd in me want to cry from happiness. There are so many scenes in this movie that feel so much like my Avengers comics have come to life in my hands! The Helicarier scenes, the woods scene I mentioned before, almost every shot in the movie. The dialogue feels like it's ripped straight from the page, some of the angles Whedon uses look like a comic book panel.

The Avengers, just feels so good. When you sit down to watch it you have a smile on your face, and all throughout the movie you'll still have that same smile. I've seen it five times, and each time I had the same smile all the way through. The characters play off each other so well, the action is well choreographed, and spread out enough so that the movie never feels boring. Even when you are watching the characters sit around and talk you are entertained. Everyone has such good chemistry, and the action is over the top which fits so well with these characters and the setting. It's true there are some emotional spots as well, but even those instances still feel just like a classic comic book.

This is everything I've been waiting for in a movie based on a comic property, and I can't wait for the Blu-Ray release. This is my favorite movie of this year, maybe even of all time, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store. Avengers 2 is gonna have some big shoes to fill...

          Author: Dillon

The Dark Knight Rises: Review (Spoilers)

As I'm sure you all know by now "The Dark Knight Rises" has officially hit theaters everywhere, and has broken the record for highest grossing 2D movie. In this review there's going to be many references to the previous two films, and how they all tie together as well as how well the movie stands on its own.

Let me start by saying that "The Dark Knight Rises" is just a solid film in general, let alone Batman film. Christopher Nolan's take on the character has been so refreshing over the last three movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) that it's hard to believe his time with the franchise is finally over. This fact makes this movie such a bittersweet affair.

Throughout the movie there are many references to the previous films that help put this one in perspective. For example, if you remember from "The Dark Knight" Batman takes the blame for killing Harvey Dent/Two Face and becomes the police forces biggest threat. Also, James Gordon is promoted to commissioner at the end of "The Dark Knight" for capturing the Joker. This movie takes place eight years after those events at the end  of that movie, and Batman doesn't exist anymore. Nobody in Gotham has heard from him or seen in those eight years, and Harvey Dent is still praised as a hero, and for once Gotham is a relatively crime  free city.

"I'm Gotham's reckoning."

Enter Bane (Tom Hardy). We see him at the very start of the movie in a very exciting, and well done set piece involving airplanes but I won't spoil it. The point is Nolan introduces Bane early because he wants you to think about this villain, think about what he's capable of, as well as think about what this whole scene means. It's very much like the bank robbery scene from the beginning of "The Dark Knight". From here we discover what has been going on in these eight years, and meet Catwoman played by Ann Hathaway.

For me Ann Hathaway stole the show. I was very skeptical about her Selina Kyle but it was spot on, and felt a lot like the Catwoman that Brubaker and Darwyne Cooke made popular. Another important character is Miranda, and she plays a bigger role than expected, but I secretly knew who she was all along.

"The Dark Knight Rises" has some beautiful cinematography, especially in the Bane-Batman encounters; however I will admit their final showdown is a little bit of a letdown. Bane is unique in the fact that he seems crazy, but in a different way than the Joker. The Joker seemed out of control, just wanted to create chaos. "Some people just want to see the world burn", Alfred says in The Dark Knight, and that's a perfect explanation of the Joker. Bane on the other hand seems more calculated, he has a plan; understands the bigger picture, and will do anything to achieve his end goal. Combined with the fact that he is highly trained, and has brute strength it just makes him more terrifying.

Now, Batman Begins is the movie that really has roots in THIS movie mainly because the League of Shadows is heavily involved, and we didn't even hear from them once in The Dark Knight. Bane has ties to them, and so does Bruce so it makes their conflicts personal, not to mention the fact that the Leagues goals were to destroy Gotham City. It's safe to say they haven't changed.

The story has some plot holes, but they seem pretty easy to get past mainly because some of the set pieces and emotional moments in the movie are so well done. This is only enhanced by the fact that all of the cast is terrific actors that really pull their weight. The addition of Joseph Gordon Levitt's detective John Blake adds a fresh new face, and key character that has a profound effect on the way everything plays out. Tom Hardy is incredible as Bane, and my only complaint is that his voice is a little weird, but I found the more times I saw the movie the more I enjoyed the sillyness/terror that it portrayed. Then throw in Christian Bale's performance which is really getting looked over because of Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway. Bale and Hathaway have a chemistry that just works so well on screen, and it doesn't matter if they are in or out of the costumes. Every moment they have on screen together is a good one, and you'll want more the second it cuts to a new scene.

All that said, I still find myself enjoying The Dark Knight more then The Dark Knight Rises. There's something about The Dark Knight that evokes this certain feeling in me every single time I watch it. I know what's going to happen, I know the outcome but I still get excited, shocked, or sad no matter how many times I see it. I've seen The Dark Knight Rises three times, and found myself enjoying it more each time, and like I said the movie is a great experience. It definitely feels like a conclusion to a terrific trilogy, and I have to add that for me it is the most satisfying end to a movie trilogy in a very long time. The Dark Knight just has "it". It's almost everything I've wanted a Batman movie to be, and The Dark Knight Rises just doesn't overcome that.

Still go see the movie; enjoy it, and see it multiple times even. It's definitely worth it.

Marvel NOW! Pt. 1

So, Marvel comics has gone all out with this Marvel NOW! "reboot". They aren't calling it a full blown reboot in the vain of DC Comics New 52, but they are making a lot of changes. The most notable of these changes is many books getting a new #1 with new creative teams taking over on them. They (Marvel) have also announced a couple new ongoing series' featuring some of Marvel's top talent.

Also, they are changing the focus on their covers, giving artists the freedom to turn them more into a movie poster style focus. 

So, I'm gonna just post some of the newest announcements in the last couple months, and offer my opinion.

Deadpool: 

Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore will be taking over the "Merc with a Mouth" starting November. As you can tell my the teaser image, and the creative team the book will probably have some comedy in it.

I don't mind having a little bit of comedy, but I would much prefer to see Deadpool be the super badass we all know and love. Obviously you can't have Deadpool without comedy, just like you can't have Spider-Man without wisecracks, but I would much rather see a badass Deadpool who cracks some GOOD jokes, and gets put into funny situations that only a highly trained mercenary of his caliber could escape. 

I love Tony Moore's art, and I hope he will stick around for more than five issues, but he usually doesn't. I'm more than happy to be proven wrong though. Also, my worry about having two comedians on the book is that they will try to go overboard with the slapstick comedy. I'll once again reiterate that I would love to see him return to being more focused on over the top action.

I'll probably pick up the first issue, but the story, and overall feel of the books will determine whether I stay on board for a while or not. Also, Tony Moore is crucial for me to stay on board as well. If they get someone decent to follow him, that really compliments his art style I'll stick around.

Captain America: 

Okay, this is the big one for me because I'm a HUGE Captain America fan, HUGE is actually an understatement.

Rick Remender, and John Romita Jr. are gonna take over the Super Soldier, and I'm honestly super excited. Rick Remender has been writing Uncanny X-Force since it's conception two years ago, and is still one of my favorite books. It has been so rewarding reading it over time, and watching all the story threads intertwine, and finally start to come to a head. He also started the latest Venom ongoing series which for me was an incredible success of what the character can, and should be. The issue he (Remender) left is the issue I left because I knew the book just wouldn't be the same (Nothing against Cullen Bunn who took over the writing duties).

Now for John Romita Jr. (JRJr). He is my all time favorite artist. I just love the way he finds the happy medium between cartoony, and realistic. If you are in to comics then you know his Spider-Man is second to none. That being said his Captain America can tend to look a little weird at times, and a little less Super Soldiery than he should but hopefully this doesn't end up being the case.

I currently get this book every month, and that won't change when this new creative team takes over.

Fantastic Four: 

It is going to be very hard to follow up Jonathan Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four. He did such a good job at bringing the book back to being about the "First Family", and not just cosmic battles or constant conflicts with Doctor Doom. This doesn't mean that there hasn't been good stories before Hickman, but he has been on the book so long introducing so many new plot threads, and finally wrapping them all up so nicely. It has been such a rewarding feeling sticking with that book through his entire run. Not to mention the book was very smart, and very calculated throughout.

I also like Matt Fraction's work as well. Salvador Larrocca and him have made Iron Man a top tier Marvel character again (with some help from the movies). Hopefully he can breathe some more new life into the Fantastic Four, and bring them back to the top tier of superheroes as well. People forget that the Fantastic Four used to be the biggest franchise in the Marvel Universe, and in my opinion they have made leaps and bounds to get back there, but just haven't quite made it back to the top yet.

Now, Mark Bagley hasn't done many issues on a Marvel ongoing since his Ultimate Spider-Man days with Brian Michael Bendis. He's currently doing the art for Avengers Assemble; which Bendis also writes; but I think it's safe to assume that once Marvel now starts to get into full force Avengers Assemble is either going to be cancelled, or have a new creative team as well. 

I currently get this book every month, and have been on the fence about dropping it since around June. I'm going to stick with it tell November when this team takes over, but the first issue from this new team will make or break the series for me. 

????:

Not quite sure what this book is going to be, but seeing as how Matt Fraction is doing the writing I assume it is going to be attached to Fantastic Four much like Hickman's FF. This might even be a teaser for FF but Marvel is just trying to throw us off track.

More than likely it is Fantastic Four related, and Michael Allred does good work in the art department so once I find out more I'll determine if it is a book I want or not.

Invincible Iron man:

No surprise here that Kieron Gillen is taking over Invincible Iron Man. I say that because the guy has pretty much only followed Matt Fraction on every book he writes. Fraction took over to write Thor, and Gillen followed him. Fraction did some Uncanny X-Men, Gillen followed him. This isn't to discredit him as a writer, I've actually enjoyed some of his stories, but I dropped Thor (which turned into Journey Into Mystery) for being too boring, and Uncanny X-Men is unfortunately getting canceled in favor of Bendis' two new X-Men books in November.

Greg Land does great art, and I really enjoy it. It's very realistic but at the same time he adds a certain style that just makes any book he's on pop for me.

I currently get this book as well, but as I said previously when talking about Matt Fraction's run on the Invincible Iron Man it's been revolutionary. Along with Salvador Larocca they have brought back new life into the Iron Avenger, and have been doing if for the last three years (maybe more or less, not entirely sure). Their run on this book has resulted in multiple Eisner Award nomination, and Eisner Award wins including best new ongoing series a couple years ago. Much like the Fantastic Four the first couple issues of this book will make or break how I feel about it, and whether I will continue to get it.

Alright, that's it for part one of my impressions of Marvel NOW! I'm gonna keep my ear to the ground because Marvel still hasn't announced what ongoing Ed Brubaker will be writing outside of Winter Soldier, and he is currently one of my favorite authors. Plus: My thoughts on The Mighty Thor which is being taken over by a creative team I completely didn't expect. As well as my extreme excitement for the new team on Incredible Hulk, but my skepticism on how long it will last.

Let us not forget about the major announcements either: The new teams on Avengers, and New Avengers as well. The creative teams launching the new books, and what it might mean! Stay tuned I'll be back with more !

TOP 5: Most Anticipated

Today I'm going to be doing the top five most anticipated forms of entertainment coming this year. So lets get right to it shall we?

1: Captain America: The First Avenger: For me this is a no brainer because I'm a huge Cap fan. The fact that it took this long for him to get a summer blockbuster is pretty surprising to me, especially with the sucess Iron Man, and Spider Man had. However with the plan that Marvel has layed out with all the films coinciding, and leading up to a big screen Avengers movie I cant complain. The film also looks like it is going to be at the top of the list for Marvel movies; second only to X-Men: First Class (which was phenomenal).  From the trailers alone I'm sold that this is going to be my movie of the Summer, even over X-Men: First Class just because I am that much of a Captain America fan. It's got the action, the romance, and the setting to make it one of the best superhero movies to date. We will find out soon. The movie hits theaters July, 22nd.

Side Note: My X-Men: First Class review isn't posted because I am waiting for the Blu-Ray release. I've seen the movie multiple times, and can't wait to see it again; the reason I'm deciding to wait is because I want to watch the movie alone, in the comfort of my home, so I can really pore into every detail.

2: Fear Itself By Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen: This huge crossover Marvel comics event has already started, but that doesn't stop it from being on the most anticipated list. We are already four issues in but from reading the story you get the sense that everything can only get bigger, badder, and worse from here. The story involves a lost Asguardian God know as the Serpent, and his Worthy. The Serpent is the God of Fear, and he sends the world into pure chaos by controlling the fear emotion. He also sends hammers; much like Thor's; down from the sky. They land all over the world and only the Worthy can pick them up and wield them. This could be anybody in the Marvel Universe, and it enhances their powers, as well as gives them godlike power. This is all started because the Red Skull's daughter Sin grabs an ancient unmovable hammer and seizes control of it.
Its been a great read so far, and one thing is for sure; you wont want to miss this.

3: Flashpoint by Geoff Johns, and Andy Kubert: This is another very exciting comic that has already started to release but is far from over. It started out very interesting, and has slowly become more and more mysterious. Within Flashpoint the whole DC Universe is completely different from what we know. Everything has changed, the Justice League never existed, and neither have any of the heroes of the universe that we know and love. Instead, the villains exist in their place, and an interesting twist has been added to some longtime favorites such as Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, and pretty much any other hero that you can think of. This limited series by DC Universe is three issues shorter than Fear Itself  but the tie in comics are much more interesting. There is a new mini tie in series for every key character in the plot of the story. This helps you get a behind the scenes look at what happened to some of the characters, and how this strange, new world ticks. Keep your eye on this one because Geoff Johns never disappoints, plus Andy Kubert's art has been phenomenal so far.

4: DC Comics New 52: A couple months ago DC Comics announced that in September they would start their New 52. This is a very shocking, and interesting idea of starting their books back at number 1. Almost every single book in the DC roster is getting a reboot with a fresh new number 1, and new creative teams behind them. A huge standout for me is Geoff Johns and Jim Lee working on Justice League of America. To read a little bit more about the creative teams behind some of the new series click here: "http://theweeklywatcher.blogspot.com/2011/07/dc-new-52-hardcover-collection.html?spref=bl">The

Green Lantern, Batman, Teen Titans, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Corps are all getting new number 1's as well as an interesting new title called the New Guardians staring Kyle Rayner. Also Jonah Hex fans out there might like to know that he will be stationed in Gotham now, but in his same trademark time period.

5: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: I'm a huge fan of this show, and it has only gotten better over the years. If FX is smart they will keep this show running for as long as possible. Season six will be released on Blu-ray in late August or early September, and season seven is scheduled to air in September as well. Word is that this season is going to be one of their funniest, and raunchiest yet, and if you are a fan of the series you know that this is a good thing. There are many shows that are fighting to survive in the comedy market, and by far Sunny is the best.

Another quick note I would like to add is that FX is also working on the Powers series and are currently shooting now. Powers is based off of the comic series of the same name written by Brian Michael Bendis, and ilustrated by Michael Avon Oeming.

A graphic novel cover is shown below:

Well that does it for this issue of TOP 5. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and make sure you subscribe to the blog and my youtube channel XTheWatchmanX for video reactions to all sorts of things, as well as other videos. It's also easy to subscribe to the blog just click the subscribe in the top right corner, and click join the site in the bottom right hand corner to be more active in the posting process 

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer Has Leaked!

Another highly anticipated movie, another leaked trailer. Seriously, this has become an epidemic it seems, and a part of me is bummed that this keeps happening because I like being surprised. Then on the other hand, its always cool to see things early. Once again, this is a shaky cam leak so don't expect anything too hight quality until the trailer officially lands worldwide on Friday. Even then the trailer probably won't be posted online until next Monday.

Watch and enjoy, and I will have an HD version when it becomes available.

Amazing Spider-Man Trailer on the Way?

Ladies, and gentlemen I recieved news yesterday that there is a possibility we could see an Amazing-Spiderman trailer before Captain America: The First Avenger this Friday. Unfortunately, I have no way to confirm this outside of the fact that other websites are posting the same thing. Also, its worth noting the fact that no video has leaked of this supposed trailer which would be quite surprising since both The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers teasers leaked a few days before they were set to officially land.

With all of the new info we have recieved from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly it would make sense that they would release a trailer around this time. Lets also not forget that the Amazing Spider-Man has been filming longer than both other films listed above. If it's a full fledged three minute trailer I will be pleasantly surprised, but I expect to see more of a teaser, if anything at all. Hopefully something though. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Green Lantern: Brightest Day, or Blackest Night? [Review]

I'm a little behind on this review I know, but better late than never. I would like to start off by saying that I'm a big Green Lantern fan and I had high hopes for this film. Sadly, the movie fell a little short for me.

The plot is as follows: The Entity of Fear gets loose, and begins to plan, and exact its revenge on the Green Lantern Corps. From there we meet Hal Jordan, and his past with his father, and the rest of his family. We then learn about his badboy esque attitude and how he doesn't do well with authority. He is then thrust into this unknown world when an alien spaceship crash lands in the same location Hal chooses to blow off some steem. The ship contains Abin Sur (who we learn about prior to this, as well as his relationship with Sinestro) who Hal feels obligated to help even though he doesn't even know him. From here Hal gets the ring, and the government takes control of Abin Sur's body. This is when we meet Hector Hammond, and the role he plays for the future of the film. Carol Ferris is also introduced along the way, and I'll get to her later. Trust me. In the end Hal is the only defense for Earth against Paralax who plans on using the Earth to send a message to the galaxy, and the Guardians.

First of all, the acting for the most part is sub-par. Ryan Reynolds did a good job as Hal Jordan, he was actually one of my favorite parts of the film outside of the special effects. I felt like he did a good job capturing the character; even though there was some unecessary humor thrown into the movie. Blake Lively plays Carol Ferris, and I didn't enjoy her in that role at all. She is very flat, and unconvincing. Carol is a very strong, empowered woman in the comic books. This is the woman that is supposed to become Star Saphire, and even though she loves, and cares for Hal she doesn't put up with his crap. I feel that if they try to incorporate Carol Ferris into future films within this franchise they will have to re-cast. Peter Sarsgaard plays Hector Hammond, and he was very creepy at times, whereas other times I felt like he was trying to hard. Plus I didn't really enjoy the addition of Hector Hammond as a secondary enemy within the film either. Mark Strong does deliver an incredible Sinestro, but we hardly ever see him which was disappointing.


                                                  Mark Strong as Sinestro

Some of the humor feels great, and I actually laughed, but other times I found myself thinking why is this happening? I wanted to see more of the Green Lantern Corps as well. We see Oa, the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps; but we only see it on a large scale a couple times. Other times we spend time with The Guardians, as they talk, and plan how they are gonna defend Oa amongst themselves and with Sinestro. Which like I said earlier we hardly ever see Sinestro, and when we do he is just talking to somebody. Fanboys know that he was once the greatest Green Lantern of them all, and they even say this in the movie but they do nothing to show it. He spars with Hal one time when Hal first arrives on Oa, and I really enjoyed this scene just wished it was longer. It was good to see Kilowog, Tomar Re, and some of the other Corpsmen come to life on the big screen, but that's about all that you get. They all only have a couple scenes, and you can tell half way through that this is going to be the Hal Jordan show. I didn't mind that so much because that is what I came in expecting. From the trailers they showed, I thought they were going to focus on Oa and the other Lanters a little more than they did.

Green Lantern WonderCon footage

The Special Effects were very eye-popping, and I thoroughly enjoyed those. Seeing the suits, and constructs was a lifelong fanboy dream I have had. I wish there would have been more fighting/action scenes involving the constructs because they were one of the highlights of this film. They could have cut out some unnecessary scenes to make room for longer action sequences, or more scenes on Oa. There are some unneeded comedy bits, as well as a scene involving Hal's brothers that doesn't feels like it belongs in the movie. There are other scenes that feel the same way; out of place, and unwanted. Which is bad, because they make this movie feel too long. The films running time is around a hour and 45 minutes, so you shouldn't be feeling like you have been sitting there for too long. The story takes a while to finally get into the juicy development cycle, and when it does the closing fight sequence seems like it is too short.

The Green Lantern comics have such a rich universe, and multiple stories, and characters that people really care for, and it doesn't feel like the same care was put into this movie. With all of the great stories that Geoff Johns has produced involving Green Lantern I expected something on par, but maybe my hopes were to high? The story starts to feel like it is being dumbed down for the casual audience to understand, and that would be a mistake by the writers if true.

                                                       Beware My Power...

I know that it might seem like I didn't enjoy the movie at all, but I did. I just feel like it should have been organized better. Once again, Ryan Reynolds, and Mark Strong were great. As well as all of the scenes on Oa, and the special effects (especially the constructs). The plot could have been better, but I'm sure a lot of people will just say its what they expected from a comic book movie; but with the quality that is being put into other comic book movies these days I expected more. I have seen the movie twice, and I didn't really find myself enjoying it more the second time around, but I didn't dislike it as much as I did the first time I saw it. To be clear, this is a movie that I will most likely purchase on Blu-ray so that I can watch it more, and pick out bits and pieces of things that I missed. Honestly, the special effects make it worth owning for me, but thats just my opinion. My verdict for you all is to wait for it to come out on Blu-ray and watch it then if you're still curious. If you're a hardcore comic fan like me, and have been excited for this movie since it was announced then you have probably already seen it. If you're still on the fence; wait until the Blu-ray comes out, who knows it may have special features or an extended cut that make it a must buy.

One more thing that I forgot is that there is a scene that appears right in the middle of the credits with Sinestro that is quite exciting, and sets up some excellent possibilities for a sequel.

DC: The New 52 Hardcover Collection Announced

DC Comics announced today that they plan to release a hardcover graphic novel on December 7th that will collect all 52 #1's from the companies previously announced series re-boots. Rumor is that it will be 1216 pages long, but no details have been announced if it will include any bonus material from any of the series creators.

The books is going to feature the work of Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, Rags Morales, Doug Mahnke, Yanick Paquette, and many others.

The question now is whether you will decide to buy each individual comic when it comes out, or wait for the big hardcover collection when it becomes available? Or possibly both?

Avengers Assemble! Teaser Trailer Leaked?

It was brought to my attention yesterday that a bootleg copy of The Avengers teaser trailer has leaked, so I decided I had to see it to believe it. Well, it is in fact true, and even though the quality is bad, especially the audio it gave me goosebumps to watch. I have posted the video below, and I would have posted the link for where I originally saw it, but it has since been taken down from the site. The video is posted below. It will officially premiere after the credits of Captain America: The First Avenger so make sure you stick around.

We get a good look at Captain America's new costume as well as Thor's and Hawkeyes. Tony Stark appears both in, and out of the Iron Man Armor, and Black Widow has a couple scenes as well. It is very short, and it is a lot to take in through such a short period of time. When it is officialy released I'm going to have to watch, and re-watch it. Another thing I found interesting is we dont see Hulk at all. We dont even see Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. So either Joss Whedon is keeping him hidden still, or he wont play as big a role as we all thought he would. I cant be sure, just something to think about.

I cant wait to see this in HD. I'm officially more excited to see this movie than I am The Dark Knight Rises. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

New Captain America Poster

It seems that every day lately Marvel keeps unveiling behind the scenes info about Captain America: The First Avenger, and today is no different. Below is a picture of a new poster just released today, and might I say I think it's the best yet. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Also, a few days back this exclusive look at a shield fighting sequence was revealed. It got me incredibly excited and I decided to share it within this post as well. Check right after the picture for the clip and tell me what you think about that as well. Cap is my all time favorite hero, and so far this movie looks like it is going to do him some justice.

This is the clip I talked about earlier. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did, and remember go see the movie in theaters July 22nd. Go at midnight for good measure, I'll be there. Hope to have it reviewed by the next day.

The Dark Knight Rises First Official Images

I decided to post the first OFFICIAL images from The Dark Knight Rises while I wait for a high quality version of the trailer. I know all of you have probably already seen them but just humor me..or something.


Tom Hardy is looking like a beast as Bane so far


This is the first poster that has come out to advertise the movie


And just to be clear, any other image that you see is fake, or a really good fan re-creation. These are the only two pictures we have recieved outside of the trailer that just landed

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer [UPDATE] 7/18/11

So, I'm a little late to the posting parade that happened a couple days ago when this trailer first leaked, but I waited to see how many of the videos were going to get pulled down before I decided to do any posting. Turns out that all the good quality vids are gone so I'm posting a kind of decent one but I guess I'll let you guys be the judge of that. I also thought I would post a couple just so you could see different qualities, and I will for sure post the official Warner Bros realeased version when it becomes available which I imagine will be no later then Monday.

[UPDATE]: The official version of the trailer is here, and you can finally see and hear everything as if you were watching it in the theater. Look for it below where the other two videos used to be.

A couple key points to look for: Gordon in the hospital bed (pay close attention to the conversation)
-They flash a close up of Bane really fast, and you can see his mask and bald head.
-I'm gonna leave the last little bit a secret and all I'm gonna say is pay attention to the end

This teaser is probably going to be showing before a lot of movies releasing in the theaters in the future, and though there isn't a lot of new footage I'm incredibly excited. I saw it in the theater, and it looked much better, especially with the booming audio. Either way let me know what you think. The scene at the end with Batman backing away from Bane is pretty intense, and I think they will probably have the best PHYSICAL, not PSCHOLOGICAL, but PHYSICAL fight out of all three of Nolan's Batman movies. 

Amazing Spider-Man graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly

Very excited to share some news about the Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield, and Emma Stone. I'm pretty impressed, and even more excited to see this film. The issue of Entertainment Weekly is available for purchase everywhere now. Also, let me know what you think back here on the comments section.

































http://www.prettymuchit.com/post/7600940810/the-amazing-spider-man-covers-entertainment-weekly

TOP 5: Most Disappointing

Hello all, this is the start of a new segment that I'm going to be doing about the Top 5 things in various categories I chose. Sometimes it could be very vague (like now) or very specific depending on what mood I'm in, or I feel like judging in a top 5 format. Plus if you ever decide to read I'm willing to take any suggestions about what you guys and gals want to see as well. Without further adue lets get started.

TOP 5: Most Disappointing: We are halfway through 2011 so I felt it appropriate that I begin to list my most disappointing, most surprising, and overall best entertainment so far this year. Now, entertainment can include anything from books, comic books, movies, music, and video games.

1: Green Lantern: This movie was disappointing to me because I'm a huge Green Lantern fan, and I had such high hopes for the movie, especially after seeing all the exciting pictures and trailers that were released beforehand. I will say that the special effects, and makeup work looked very good, and Ryan Reynolds did well as Hal Jordan, but Blake Lively is flat, and not a good Carol Ferris. Plus the movie tried to force some unecessary humor into some of the scenes and I was really looking forward to a darker, intense, drama more along the lines of Nolan's Batman films. Now just to be clear, this isn't my official review, I'm going to try to see it one more time before I post my official review of the movie as a whole. One viewing however, is more than enough for it to qualify for my most disappointing list.

2: Duke Nukem Forever: There's not much to say about this 12 year in the making disappointment. Plain and simple the game sucks so much that I couldn't even bring myself to purchase it and try to play through the whole thing even once. I canceled my pre order after playing the demo, and before you smite me down and tell me that a demo isn't a finished project I have played the real game, and the demo is pretty much the exact same as the finished project. I probably won't have a formal review for this game, but I am writing a formal Unrecommend post talking about all the things that made me so upset I canceled my pre order, and have almost lost faith in Duke...

3: The Hangover Part II: Don't see this movie. It isn't good. No matter what your friends tell you it isn't good. It is a direct re-hash of the first movie just in a different setting. Everything pretty much happens the same, and in the same order. Outside of a couple genuinely funny parts. There is nothing worth spending money to see in this sequel. I will also will be writing a review for this movie when I get a chance as well. I'm very behind and I know. Life has been pretty busy lately, and the blog has suffered because of it, but I'm working hard in the free time to catch up.

4: IDW Comics Infestation: Zombies, and Vampires are both very popular right now, and this story features both. Automatically makes it awesome right?! Wrong. Personally I was really looking forward to this story, especially since it crossed over into IDW's other comics such as Ghostbusters, GI Joe, Star Trek, and Transformers. The main story ended up being very lacking, and the actual standouts of this series were the Transformers, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek tie ins. All in all, if you missed this comic series this year, you didn't miss much. If you want to read more about what I thought of it personally just check the Infestation Blog Post on the main page.

5: Camelot: Starz's new original series Camelot started a couple months ago and I was eager to watch the first couple episodes. I slowly began to conclude as the season pressed on that the actor cast to play King Arthur is a whiny bitch and the show turned out to be something that I didn't expect. Action is sprinkled throughout, and it has ocassionaly been good but for the most part I felt that the series has just been lacking overall. I don't feel any emotion for any of the characters except for the young Arthur that makes me want to physically hurt him evey time he steps on screen. When I don't care if the main character lives or dies in a fantasy epic, well then we've got a problem. Also, the show started around the same time that HBO launched it's new original series Game of Thrones; which is based off on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice novels. I have enjoyed this series much more than Camelot and will be writing more about it soon.

Thor Movie Review

Let me just start off by saying that if your a huge fan of Thor this movie does a lot of things right. However if you don't really care for Thor than the movie pry won't change your mind. I personally like Thor as a character, and like the world and characters that surround him, and that's what takes center stage in the movie. The action sequences and scenes that take place on Asgard are so well done! Kenneth Branagh did a great job capturing the tension between Thor, his half brother Loki, and father Odin. Now I know I said earlier that if you don't like Thor this won't change your mind about him as a character but that doesn't mean that you won't enjoy the movie.
For starters, the story is very good and faithfull to the comics in the sense that Thor gets banished from Asgard for his actions and must prove himself worthy if he wants to become the hammer weilding God of Thunder again. While he's down on Midgard (Earth) Nattalie Portman's character Jane Foster helps save him and set him on the right path back to worthyness. They do end up falling in love, but that part felt kind of forced to me because they didn't even know each other very well and she seemed to be more infatuated by the fact that he thinks of himself as a god.
The Destroyer armor is also present in the movie as we all know but his battle seems fairly short. You can tell that they are trying to focus on Loki being the main villain and becoming the evil trickster we all know him to be but I still would hav enjoyed a bigger fight between Thor, The Warriors 3 and The Destroyer. There is also a couple of cool chameos worth mentioning, but I don't wanna spoil the film for those of you that haven't seen it. I will say that Stan Lee has one of the best chameos in a Marvel movie to date. Also stay past the credits for a little something extra that I now know was directed by Joss Whedon.
Bottom line: Go see Thor! If you enjoy it as much as I did you will be clammering for more and pry see it twice. 

Infestation

Infestation by IDW started about a month ago and I have to say it has become a big disappointment. I don't know what they intended to do with this story. It spans multiple different universes...and that's about it. The idea seems cool to start with, and its an interesting idea introducing zombies into universes that have never interacted with them before but it falls short.
The first issue lays the groundwork, and the story is kind of confussing but it makes enough sense that you understand why the zombies end up in the alternate universes. From there it ends up becoming look at these characters fighting zombies affair.
The story kind of disappears, and I wasn't blown away by any of the art. The art in the GI Joe miniseries was probably the best out of the 4 (Transformers, Star Trek, Ghostbusters).
Having read the last issue of the entire Infestation spinoff today there was still nothing that makes me want to recomend people pick it up. I would say if your curious wait for the trade that will come out a few months down the road as it will most likely come bundled with all the spinoff stories as well.
The whole production feels rushed, and isn't even executed that well in the end. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have done much better work, might I suggest any of the annihilation series which you can find in paperback and your local store now. For more recent series by them I would recomend Heroes for Hire, they have done a great job so far and the first story arc has just recently finished in issue #4 check it out.

Brightest Day #23

Ok so can we talk Brightest Day for a second? I mean wow! This last issue was tremendous, and loaded to the brim with reveals. This is what it has all been leading up to, this is why we have been reading so faithfully for the last year. If you haven't been reading Brightest Day I suggest that you pick it up. Its truly a great story, and is supposed to lead into Flashpoint (as far as I know).
Ok so I'm gonna keep the remainder of the post spoiler free as well. I hate spoilers and I don't wanna ruin anything for anyone who reads this but hasn't picked up the issue yet. However, people commenting on what's going on and sharing their opinions might not be spoiler free so just be warry.
On to my review....
If you haven't guessed yet I loved this issue. Geoff Johns' storytelling really shines through and kudos to the various artists of the book for making destruction look bright and beautiful. There's only 1 or 2 issues remaining and I get the feeling that the reveals are far from over. Some very, and I mean VERY unexpected characters make an appearance as well and I literally hate the fact that I have to wait another 2 weeks for this book (thank god its not a month!)
The only gripe I think some people might have is that there might be too much going on. There has been 23 issues now, and this one stands out as one of the biggest ones to date. This issue also helps you understand why everything has been happening, and that White Lantern keeps promising its for a greater good.
In all, I think I'm going to make this book my pick of the week. This week was a relatively small week for me however as I can't afford to buy every book that comes out. Fear Itself by Fraction, and Immonen is a very close second because that book showed a lot of promise and is a great way to start a miniseries.
ALSO, please, PLEASE add Avengers the Childrens Crusade to your pull list. Its a great book and doesn't deserve to go unnoticed