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The Sinister Six Returns in ‘Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth!’

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Happy 50th Birthday Spidey! Just in case everyone missed the memo, it’s our resident wall-crawler’s 50th anniversary this year! And what better way to celebrate than getting his ass kicked back and forth between a newly formed Sinister Six? That’s exactly what ole’ webhead has to look forward to in the upcoming ‘Ends of the Earth’ story arc hitting shelves this month in March and carrying over into the summer.

And who is the main villain spearheading this new assault not only on Spiderman, but the world itself? Well who else but Doc Ock himself, who hasn’t been too credible of a threat in the years past to his arch nemesis but has been making power plays throughout the Marvel U, as writer Dan Slott points out in an interview with Comic Book Resources:

 As for Dr. Octopus himself, the villain has shown up in a number of other titles, which Slott said has been building to the story he has planned. “We’ve seen Doc Ock and the Sinister Six slowly building and percolating this master plan,” he said. “On the way it’s stretched out into the Marvel Universe proper. We’ve seen Doc Ock totally smack down Iron Man. He totally wiped the floor with Hank Pym’s team in ‘Avengers Academy.’ Over in ‘Spider-Man’ during an FF team up, Doc Ock pwned Reed Richards! He took over the Baxter Building and stole all kinds of stuff. Doc Ock’s been taking out the biggest brains on his stomp to global domination.”

 The Iron Man issues featuring Doctor Octopus were excellent, and not to mention beautifully drawn by Salvador Larocca. It showed us a glimpse of Otto in the past and his dealings with Stark’s family business and not to mention he pretty much beat Iron Man in his own way. To me, this arc is huge in terms of the Sinister Six. The Sinister Six, although cool in theory was only a big thing because it was a villain team up and their main goal was to destroy Spidey. This time though they are going to be helping Doctor Octopus in his bid for world domination and from the looks of some of the teasers it appears that they will be going to some extremely grim measures.

Slott also mentioned that even though the Sinister Six would be starting off with certain members that they would be different by the end of the arc. Does that mean deaths or good old fashioned ass whoopings from Spiderman? We’ll have to wait and find out. Check out the starting lineup and awesome cover art for the Sinister Six in Ends of the Earth:

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Radical Review: Time Bomb

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It turns out the Mayans were right, the world does end in 2012. How they predicted that Hitler’s top-secret doomsday device would be discovered and then accidentally triggered is beyond me though. Fortunately for the human race the “New World Order”, a CIA/FBI/Interpol type of organization, has put together a crack team of special agents to go back in time to prevent the world-wide disaster from happening. This is the setup of Radical Comics graphic novel Time Bomb. Time Bomb is actually the name of the time travel device, which operates by harnessing a small nuclear explosion, not the name of the Nazi created missile that spreads an unstoppable virus throughout the world’s atmosphere.

Radical Comics is a publisher that, according to their Wikipedia page, produces only products that they think would be directly translatable to the big screen. Essentially, by this definition, Radical comics are jazzed up screenplays. With that in mind Time Bomb is, in movie terms, Armageddon meets Inglorious Basterds meets Timeline. While it’s true that I could see this story being made into a movie, it would likely be a B-movie starring the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme and whoever is the modern equivalent of Lorenzo Lamas.

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Grizzly Graphic Novel Review: Marvel Knights Spiderman – The Mark Millar Collection

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Spiderman is sometimes a hit and miss read for me. I love the character, but you go from the great early 90’s dumb action of a story like Maximum Carnage to a debacle like the Clone Saga. Then you have a bunch of filler before Joseph Michael Straczynski makes his mark going into the 2000’s by basically redefining the character and a bit of his back story involving his spider powers. After that you have crap like a Brand New Day that completely craps on continuity, but in recent years it has recovered a bit with Dan Slott taking over writing duties on the sole Amazing Spiderman title.

In the mix between some of that stuff in 2004, Mark Millar started writing duties on Marvel Knights: Spiderman, culminating in 3 story arcs that spanned 12 issues. Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Scotsman responsible for writing in such comics as Kick Ass, The Ultimates, Ultimate X-men, Wolverine, Old Man Logan and Marvel: Civil War, now you are familiar with him. And that’s just some of the titles just from Marvel. It seems to me like his run on Marvel Knights Spiderman is seriously overlooked because to my mind it’s almost right on the same level as the work Straczynski did with the character. The Marvel Knights brand itself was supposed to be a little more dark and edgy, dare I say a little more grown up and violent. Marvel Knights Spiderman was definitely a mixture of all of those but never failed to capture the true essence of the character. Sure Spiderman has moments of rage in the series when his Aunt’s life is threatened and takes some savage beatings along the way, but he never loses his wisecracking cheerfulness that makes him stand out from other heroes without being too cheesy.

The story itself reminds me a lot of Batman’s Hush storyline that DC brought us 2 years previously. Someone has kidnapped Aunt May, and that kidnapper knows Spiderman’s true identity and sends him on a search that will test his limits both physically and morally. Pretty much every Spiderman villain in existence at the time shows up in this story arc, from the Green Goblin to Venom and Doc Ock to Electro. Hell, even Hydro Man shows up for a few minutes to give ole’ Spidey some grief. Aside from truly capturing the spirit of Spiderman’s character even in such dire circumstances, Millar succeeded in making a couple of the villains a little more respectable. One in particular by far.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Throughout the Millar run, Venom and Eddie Brock factor into things heavily as a supervillain auction is called so that everyone can bid on the Venom symbiote that Eddie Brock is willingly giving up due to him having cancer and wanting to contemplate the remainder of his life in peace. The suit doesn’t initially go to the villain I mentioned above, but when it does, it reinvents him and the Venom symbiote as well. Mac Gargan, the Scorpion is the villain who was calling Peter at the beginning of the storyline and he is working for none other than Norman Osborn who Spidey initially discounted from the suspect list. Gargan explains to Spiderman that Osborn has dirt on plenty of politicians out there and goes into a long conspiracy theory about how the government has created certain supervillains to sort of keep the superheroes in check, Osborn being an upgrader of sorts to a lot of supervillains out there. I’d hate this whole idea, but Gargan clears it up and explains that most villains are natural, there’s just those random jobbers out there that were created for the sole purpose to keep the superheroes busy. Gargan went from being  a B lister to a guy who knew Spiderman’s secret identity. Then to further raise his status the Venom symbiote seeks him out and offers a partnership which Gargan takes, creating a whole new Venom. This version of Venom would stick around even past the Dark Reign storyline as he masqueraded as Spiderman on the Dark Avengers. Even though there is a whole new take on Venom with Flash Thompson now owning the symbiote, Millar’s run on Marvel Knights Spiderman made Venom a little more relevant for little over half a decade.

Even casual fans of Spidey should check this one out. There’s a great story and mystery throughout (if you didn’t read the spoiler) and some stellar artwork by heavyweights Frank Cho and Terry Dodson. There are a few unnecessary cameos by the Avengers and some X-men but other than that, this is one fine read. Don’t pass it up! 4 out of 5 grizzlies!

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Toy Fair 2012: Lego, Hulk Hands, & HOVERBOARDS!

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Toy Fair 2012 wraps up today in the city that never sleeps and from action figures to high-tech toys to creepy Barbies that take photos and then display them on their stomach there’s something for everyone.

Always staying relevant and taking it to the next level is LEGO who debuted a whole bunch of Lord of the Rings activity sets as well as sets for The Avengers and Deadpool.

LEGO’s ninja-themed playset NINJAGO Fire Temple was good enough to win Activity Toy of the Year award but makes me glad I don’t have kids yet when I see the $120 price tag. Yikes!

Perhaps one of the weirdest/coolest/most useless items available this year is the opportunity to pre-order an authentic replica Back to the Future hover board! It does disclaim actual hovering but does allow you to release your inner Marty McFly for what is still an undisclosed price until early March.

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Grizzly Graphic Novel Review: Batman – Gates of Gotham

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I believe I’m one of many that very much enjoyed Dick Grayson’s tenure as the Batman. He lived, he learned, he kicked some major ass. He overcame his doubts that he could be a great Batman and I’m sure should Bruce ever need him to step up again he will take the call. That being said, The Gates of Gotham is one of the last handful of stories we will see with Grayson as the Dark Knight and it’s a little bittersweet, but they brought us one hell of a story with this one. 

I’m really becoming a fan of Bat-comics where they alternate between the story in the present time and one from times past. I’m not so much a fan that I want them to wear the whole thing out, but it really works for some of the stories. More recently it was used in the Penguin: Pain and Prejudice series. In Gates of Gotham it is used to present us with a bit of Gotham’s past that none of us were ever aware, least of all Dick and the rest of the bat-gang.

Basically,Gotham was financed and brought to prominence by the wealthiest families of power and influence: The Waynes, the Cobblepots, and the Elliots. Together they tasked two brilliant architect/engineers, the Anders, with turning Gotham into the most modern and fast growing cities in the country. The Anders take great joy in this job, but eventually things begin to turn sour and the problem presented in modern-day Gotham somehow links back to this era inGotham’s history during the late 1800’s.

Enter present day Gotham and the start of the story: Someone is blowing things up in Gotham with semtex explosives. And they’re not just blowing up petty stuff, they’re going after landmarks such as the Gotham City Trigates among others that you’ll be treated to in the trade paperback. “The Families Will Fall by the Gates of Gotham” is the only inkling Batman and Commissioner Gordon have to go on. Thus starts a race against time investigation before any more lives are lost to the mysterious bomber. Along the way Batman will unravel the mystery ofGotham’s past and a couple of his rogues gallery as well. Since the families involve the Elliots and the Cobblepots, expect to see both Hush and Penguin popping up in the trade. Hush was my favorite of the two in this storyline, though his presence was brief it gives you an indication of how utterly twisted Tommy Elliot is as the villain Hush and his undying hatred for Bruce Wayne. His fixation on him being the only one to kill Bruce Wayne is akin to Joker’s insistence that no one can kill “his” Batman except for him.

As I said before, the story was very well done. The whole trade had a very gritty, noir feel to it and the art was melded perfectly with that. Not only do I enjoy seeing Dick Grayson as the Batman, but I love it when several members of the Bat Family work together to run down a case. This one in particular had the quartet of Dick, Red Robin, the ever annoying (But likeable!) Damien Wayne and a surprise visit from Cassandra Cain back briefly from her Batman Inc. duties overseas as Black Bat. The interactions between Damien and Cassandra were amusing, as Damien always tries to berate someone over how his father wouldn’t approve of them and how he is going to be the heir of Batman. Eventually Red Robin gives Damien a sobering statement pointing out that his father only recently started giving a rat’s ass about him. It was all great banter that made the book flow as it reached a great reveal to the climax.

*Minor Spoilers Below*

I have always enjoyed seeing new and twisted villains that Batman can square off against, such as Professor Pyg, and I’ve heard that the DC Comics New 52 is doing just that with some of their newer villains. The villain in this story, ‘The Architect” was pretty awesome I thought. His suit reminded me of Mr. Freeze’s in a way and the fact that the pressurization slowly kills the person wearing it and makes them delusional was both cool and a little disturbing. There’s no telling if the Architect will show up in Batman’s future anytime soon but I’d be welcome to a return anytime. Overall I give the trade a 5 out of 5 grizzlies. The art, the story and the characters were all masterfully done in this Bat installment. I urge any Batman fan to give a whirl.

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Dark Horse Review – Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1-3

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After trying to catch up with the Star Wars comic scene over the last month, I’ve come to the conclusion that Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse may be one of, if not the best one out there. Sure, Knights of the Old Republic is excellent so far and Dark Times is cool and very…dark. But Agent of the Empire is an awesome blend of Star Wars and James Bond.

Star Wars has been delving into different sub genres with it’s books and comics as of late, starting with the successful Joel Schrieber written Death Troopers and Red Harvest in the horror department. Shadow Games by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff is a mystery of sorts involving Dash Rendar and a famous ‘holo star’. Agent of the Empire is an espionage tale in the galaxy far, far away that succeeds at almost every level. It’s almost what the Knights of the Old Republic: The Lost Suns wanted to be but just sort of fell flat. In my opinion, as much as I love them, it’s a story that doesn’t have to rely on Jedi and Sith constantly being in the picture. There actually hasn’t been one in the first three issues and I doubt that there will be since it takes place after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and at the height of Imperial power in the galaxy.

The story follows Jahan Cross, a no-nonsense undercover Imperial Agent who is busy at the beginning investigating a fellow Imperial who turns him onto a lead involving a project called Iron Eclipse. The project just so happens to be a project started by ex-pirate and veteran of the self titled Stark Hyperspace War, Iaco Stark. At this point in the Star Wars universe, Iaco is now dead and his business and fortune tended to by his son Iaclyn. Jahan falls into a web of treachery and deceit that with any luck will lead him to the Iron Eclipse, which we as a reader are still not close to figuring out by the end of issue three. However, by the end of the issue we are promised that it shall be revealed in the next issue. Jahan is in dangerous territory as his investigation takes him to Iaco Stark’s surviving family’s home in the Corporate Sector where they deal with their own problems without Imperial intervention.

Agent of the Empire is just an altogether fun ride for any Star Wars enthusiast and even for those only a little into Star Wars. It has some familiar faces in it, but none that you as a reader have to know much back story on to enjoy the series. Aside from Han and Chewie showing up, die-hard fans will notice Armand Isard is the head man in charge of Imperial Security at this point. And for those who remember Iaco Stark, I myself don’t believe that he is actually dead. His “widower” Dah’lis mentioned that he was decapitated working on his Eclipse project but the head was never found. Could it be that Iaco just lives on in a different way such as Darth Vader and General Grievous did? Or is his brain being used for some other reason? I may be wrong, but I don’t count anyone out in Star Wars unless there is a body present and accounted for. Or in Iaco’s case, a whole body.

I was surprised at one point where Jahan is trying to get in good with Iaco’s widower Dah’lis and obtain information about Eclipse, not because there is the mere mention of sex, but because it was one of the most revealing scenes in Star Wars that I’ve seen in all of the years. Not that I am complaining, more power to them just as long as they don’t go into full-blown porno-mode. This is Star Wars after all. But then again, maybe that is the next genre they’ll make the foray into…

I give Agent of the Empire a five out of five grizzlies, whether it’s single issues or the first three issues together.

The series has a great storyline going, multiple intriguing characters throughout it besides Han and Chewie, not to mention some great action scenes. I honestly can’t wait until issue four and the reveal of Iron Eclipse, whatever the hell it is.