Comic Panel of the Week: I Have the POWER!!

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Manga Review

"Hey, everyone! Do you recognize this Mask? It's perfect for a night like this when the moon is full and things seem creepy. I'm going to tell you one of my favorite stories. It's all about this mask..."  

---SPOILER WARNING---

Today were going to take a look at another Manga. This time it's the adaptation of the Video game the Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. So let's get this started. The comic start's where the Ocarina of Time Manga left off. After defeating Ganon, Link has decided to go look for Navi who was lost when Zelda sent him back in time. He wanders threw the lost woods where he sees two fairy's which spooks his horse, Epona, causing him to fall off. He is knock unconscious, and it turns out the fairy's belong to a Skull Kid who is wearing a strange mask. The Skull Kid try's to steal the Ocarina of Time but Link wakes up and tells him to give it back.

The Skull Kid refuses, takes Epona, and escapes. Link follows him, and the Skull Kid get's annoyed. He uses the power of the mask to transform Link into a Deku Scrub, and leaves Link. Still determined Link follows him until ends up in a town. Due to his current form most people won't listen to him. He finds out the Skull Kid is trying to use his mask to crash the moon into the town and goes to stop him. Link confronts him and is able to get his Ocarina back. One of the Skull Kids fairys tell Link to bring "them" here to stop the moon. In order to stop the moon Link plays the Song of Time which brings him 3 days back in time.

Link wakes up in the Clock Tower, and realizes the power of the song transformed him back to normal. It's revealed that he transformed due to a Deku mask being put on him. Before he leaves the Clock Tower he is greeted by the Happy Mask Salesman who tells him that the Skull Kid stole the mask from him. He tells Link that it is called Majora's Mask, and it's cursed. The Salesman tells Link to get the mask back for him, and Link decides to go find the one's the fairy told him could stop the moon.

The story from here on follows the main story of the game, he goes to the four temples and releases the four giants. They also briefly go over the Kafei and Anju Side-quest. Eventually Link  confronts Skull Kid again, and the four giants stop the moon. However Majora's Mask comes to life, and reveals the Skull Kid was just his pawn. The Mask flees to the moon, and tells Link if he wants to play he'll have to wear another mask. Link put's it on transform's into a "Fierce Deity", and follows the Mask to the moon.

Once there the Mask transforms but it is no match for Links new form, and is defeated without much effort. Out of the shadow the Happy Mask Salesman trys to recover the mask but Link destroys it, and tells him to leave. Afterwards all is well in the land of Termina, and the comic ends with Link going back to looking for Navi.

This is pretty good. It takes some libertys, and it mostly focuses on the main story other then the Side-Quests. The problem is most of the important stuff in Majora's Mask is the Side-Quests. It's the only game I can think of that has a world this fleshed-out. Every character has a role, and in order to adapt the game they had to condense it. Other then that it's an enjoyable read, I like the art, and it stays mostly true to the game.

Rating: 4/5

Comic Panel of the Week: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Journey into Mystery #646 Review

---SPOILER WARNING--- 

Today were going to take a look at a Thor comic, staring Lady Sif. The comic starts off weirdly enough with a parody of the theme song to Shaft. That's kinda random but anyway we see Sif saving children trapped in a burning city. A couple days later she visits the Children, she talks with their mother about how they keep losing every attack on there city. She then leaves to find strength to protect it. 

Sif goes to Niffleheim to see Nidhogg in order to find a way to become a more stronger and fiercer warrior. He tells her to go see Aerndis who will teach her a way to become stronger. When she goes there she tells Aerndis that she wish's to learn the Berserk Incantation. Which if you played Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem you'll know that this will probably not end well. Aerndis tells her that she is unworthy, and they talk for a bit. In the end Aerndis gives her what she came for, but it seems it has come at the cost of her sanity. Aerndis tells her to leave but Sif kills her. She then goes a town in Midgard, and the comic ends with Sif saying she wants to fight more.

This comic is pretty good. The art is really nice, and the story is good but it kinda goes overboard with the fantasy silliness and it's not afraid to make fun of itself at times. It actually has some funny jokes. However there are some really bad ones as well. The cut to her going to Niffleheim is a bit jarring, and it was a bit confusing during my first read since the way she segueway's into it makes it seem like the seconds half of the book was a flashback. Overall it's a pretty comic and I'm probably going to keep reading this.

Rating: 3/5

Comic Panel of the Week Aquaman vs Power Ring

Nintendo Power 20th Anniversary Mini-Comic Review

So next month marks the end of Nintendo Power. It makes me sad to see it go, even today I'd still picked up an issue from time to time. So I'd decided that today were going to talk about Howard and Nester. For those of you who don't know Howard and Nester was a 1-to-2 page comic strip release in old issues of Nintendo Power. They starred a boy named Nester and the actual "president" of the Nintendo Fun Club and former editor of Nintendo Power Howard Philips. The comic acted as a way to advertise new games, and even gave some valuable tips. In the 20th Anniversary issue of Nintendo Power old fan's of the magazine opened up the book and were greeted with....a Gamefly Ad. Then they turned the page, and that's where the comic begins.

The comic is of course very short, so I'm not going to waste much time on the summary. The comic stars a Middle-Aged Nester who is losing at Mario Kart Wii. He is greeted by his son who tells him the 20th Anniversary issue of Nintendo is out. Nester then begins to talk about how games were harder back in the day, and his son tells him he can't imagine playing games without motion control even tough there are plenty of games on the Wii without motion control. Nester shows him Nintendo's first attempt at Motion Control, The Power Glove. He then talks about the Wizard, the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and he even mentions the Virtual Boy and Nester's Funky Bowling. His son then asks him if he want's to play Mario Kart, and the comic ends with them playing the game.

This comic was a pretty good way to celebrate Nintendo Power's 20th Anniversary. It's just a fun read with references to a lot of older things some of the younger readers probably wouldn't know about. It actually has some really funny dialogue, especially when he makes sure his son isn't wearing a bow tie. The one complain I have is they didn't really try to emulate the art style of the older comics and instead went with a more Anime looking style. Also I kinda wish Howard was in this but I understand why they couldn't put him in this. Overall it's a good read, and I recommend you look up the rest of the Howard and Nester comics.

Comic Panel of the Week: Hellsing

You'll never guess what I've been watching today.

Superman: Earth One Volume 2 Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

So this past week DC released the sequel to the Graphic Novel Superman: Earth One. For those who don't know the Earth One line is DC's answer to Marvel's Ultimate line. Well actually it's DC's second attempt. The first was there All-Star line but we all know how that turned out. Anyway I liked the first book so naturally I was excited for the second volume. It didn't disappoint.

The story is mostly about power, and how it can corrupt. This is shown various ways threw out the story. For example the villain of this story is Parasite, a murderer that get mutated. This mutation tuns him into a monster who need to absorb energy from electric appliances and even threw humans. He goes after Superman because he want's his power. After draining some of it he decides to kills every human on the planet.

Superman himself has to deal with this theme as well. Threw out the story many people are worried by his power. A nation in civil war does not want his help and even threaten to kill people if he interferes. The US Government is trying to find ways to kill him if necessary, and Superman himself must face this personally due to the fact he can't have a intimate relationship in fear of his powers hurting someone.

While all this happening, he moves into a new apartment building were he befriends a guy named Eddie Monroe and a girl named Lisa Lasalle. In the end Superman of course beats the villain but the victory is bitter sweet, and things don't end well for Eddie. The comic concludes with Lex Luthor finally making an appearance, and is hired by the government to help find a way to kill Superman.

Overall this comic is pretty good, and way better then the first. It has good characters, good story, amazing art, and actually really good humor as well. After reading the first book, I wasn't really sold the story. But many of my problems with the first book have been solved, and I think this is the best origin I've read for the Man of Steel. Between this and Superman vs. the Elite, 2012 has been a great year for Superman. I highly recommend this, but you should of course read the first Volume before this.

Rating: 5/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Justice League Dark

Megaman: Proto-Type Part One and Two Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

It's time to take a look at more of Archie's Megaman series, and I'll get back to reviewing the issues in order but for today I'm going to skip ahead a bit. Today were looking at the two part story Proto-Type which was featured in issues 17 and 18. It details the origin of the character Protoman. So let's get started.

The story opens with Megaman sorting threw information on Doctor Light's computer, when he finds something peculiar. It turns out he wasn't the Doctors first creation, a robot named Blues came before him. He questions the Doctor about it, and he starts to explain. Blues was created to be a Military Robot.

During a performance test Blues starts to malfunction, due to an imbalance in his power core. Later Blues overhears a conversation between Light and Wily in which they argue about fixing his Power Core, and the fact it might erase his free will. Blues questions them about it but Light says he'll make sure it won't happen, however later that night Blues hears Light talking to a colleague about rewriting Blues' data. Feeling betrayed Blues leaves, and goes out on his own. The first part ends with Megaman resolving to go searching for him, but this story isn't over yet.

The second part is about what Blues did on his own. He try's to befriend other robots but they are just work robots and they don't have free wills like him. He resolves to spend the rest of his day's in solitude maintaining minimal output in order to live longer. However he overhears a motorcycle gang harassing a family so he goes, and stops them. He even references Megaman X2. He decides to go around and help people, but his time is running out.

He decides to go back to Light, thinking he was a fool to doubt the Doctor. However when he arrives Light has already created two new robots, and feeling betrayed again Blues leaves to find a machine graveyard where he can rest in peace. However he blacks out before can get there only to be found by some of Wily's Robot Masters. The story ends with Blues waking up in Wily's lair, repaired. This story is great. It has good characters, and a great plot. This gives even more depth to the characters from the games, and is a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend this.

Rating: 4/5

Happy Halloween! The Spectre Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. Like last year I decided to review something both Comic Book and Horror related. However unlike last year I decided to review something much more horror. Today were looking at the Spectre short that was released with Justice League Crisis on Two Earths. The Spectre is a very interesting character, first appearing More Fun Comics #52. The Spectre is a Supernatural hero who punishes evil with his own brand of poetic justice. So without further delay let's take a look at The Spectre.

The short opens with a movie director named Foster Brenner being killed. Jim Corrigan, a detective, get's on the case due to him having a relationship with Brenner's Daughter. Corrigan asks Brenner's Butler if he had any enemy's and the Butler explains there were many Collaborators that were left out of the development of his newest movies that might hold a grudge. Corrigan asks for a list of names.

That night the Spectre visits one of the Special effects men, and blames him for Brenner's death before using his powers to make several animatronic movie monsters come to life and kill him. Meanwhile the Police Captain tells Corrigan that he's not on the case, but should probably look into the death of the suspects. Later we see a man fleeing the country with a suitcase full of money. The Spectre makes his car crash, and the man fly's threw the windshield of the car. The car then repairs itself, and chases after the man until it crushes him.

We then cut to Brenner's Daughter who is confronted by Corrigan who realized it was an inside job, and the two other guys were paid by her to kill her father. She try's to shoot him but the bullets pass threw him, and he transforms revealing that he was the Spectre all along. She try's to get away but the Spectre surrounds her in a tornado of bills from the suitcase as they get faster and start to shred her to death. The police arrive, and Corrigan walks pass them since they can't see him since he was a ghost all along. The short ends with him saying the he sometimes doesn't like what he does but it's his job to bring evil to justice.

This is really good. The animation is great and it mix's 70's movie with Classic Horror. The voice acting is great especially Gary Cole as the Spectre. The story is good and very well paced. It makes me wish there was a full length Spectre movie instead of the Superman and Batman movies we get yearly. Overall it's a great short, and I highly recommend it. So go watch your favorite scary movie, and have a Happy Halloween!

Rating: 5/5

Swamp Thing #56 Review

---SPOILER WARNING--- 

The countdown to Halloween continues, were so close but I still have one more comic to review before Halloween passes. However instead of reviewing another comic about Super Hero's and Zombies I decided to review something a bit more Sophisticated. Today were going to take a look at Swamp Thing.

The comic's story is about Swamp Thing being stranded on an alien planet after being separated from the green. He is alone, and in an attempt to cure his boredom he creates a clone of himself which he play's chess with. They stalemate five times and he allows it to kill itself. He then try's to create a clone of his deceased wife Abby out of the vegetation of the planet. 

He try's to trick himself into thinking that she is the real Abby, going so far to even recreate the town there from to further the illusion. He starts to fall for the it, however when they go to a restaurant they run into John Constantine. The Swamp Thing is surprised because he didn't create him, but it's revealed that he was created by the part of Swamp Thing that knows this is an illusion. So it created Constantine who taunts Swamp Thing for trying to pretend it was real, and for not trying to find a way back to earth.

Swamp Thing and Abby leave the restaurant, but it starts to rain distorting some of the buildings. With that the illusion is broken, and in his madness Swamp Thing starts to destroy the fake city. His madness fades, and the comic ends with him deciding to go to another world.

This comic is really good. It has really good characterization, and it does a really good job at displaying Swamp Thing's decent to madness. The art is fantastic, and the constant blue really makes this feel like a alien world. Overall it's a good read, and although it's more psychological then horror I recommend you read this around Halloween.

Rating: 4/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Dream Shenanigans

Marvel Zombies: Halloween One-Shot Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

Today were going to take a look at more superhero zombies, but this time there from the company across the street. Marvel Zombies is a series that was started in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four when they teased a crossover between the Ultimate and main Marvel Universes. The story spawned a sequel and then it's own solo-series that just won't die. Sorry for the pun. Today were going to take a look at the latest adventure into the Zombie universe in Marvel Zombies: Halloween.

The comic is about a woman and her son trying to survive the zombie outbreak. The son wants to know what Halloween is, and she show's him what it is. He dresses up as Wolverine, and she plan's to go out and try to find some candy. She tells him to stay at the house while she's gone but he leaves after his cat runs away.

He try's going trick or treating, and runs into an old man that is mysteriously uncaring of the situation. He thinks he see's his cat but it turn's out to be a squirrel being controlled by a Zombie Squirrel Girl. He runs into other Zombie Superheroes who are about to eat him, but he is saved by his mom. The zombies chase them threw an abandoned school, and they hide. The zombies run into the old man from before who set's them on fire revealing himself to be Mephisto.

Mephisto goes and talks to the mother revealing her to be Kitty Pryde. He tells them that he helped them in order for the son to one day make a deal with him. He leaves and the two of them go back to there home. Kitty tells her son that she wont let Mephisto take him, and the comic ends with her telling him that she found his cat on the way back.

I actually liked this comic much more then I though I would. It has a heart that most of the other Marvel Zombies stuff doesn't have. It has a good story, and I didn't see the twist coming. It has good characters, and it's an overall enjoyable read. Especially for a horror comic. I definitely recommend this.

Rating: 4/5

Comic Panel of the Week: A Clown in the Dark

Blackest Night: Starman #81 Review

---SPOILER WARNING---

It's that time of year again, were the leaves start falling out of the trees, the ghouls and ghost come out to frighten us, and I get increasingly annoyed that retailers start putting up Christmas stuff before Halloween is even over. It's a fun time, and to start I will review a tie-in to the DC Event Blackest Night. For those of you who don't know Blackest Night is a event in which the Personification of Death uses Black Rings to resurrect dead superheroes in order to destroy all life in the universe. So it's essentially DC Zombies.

The comic opens with a recap of the Death of David Knight the previous Starman, as a Black Lantern Ring resurrects him. We cut to two security guards in a museum, they are killed by the Black Lantern Starman, and it transforms one of Starman's weapons into an axe shaped object. We then cut to Shade, an ex-villian turned anti-hero. He talks with his girlfriend Hope, when she notices the sky has turned Black. We cut back to the Black Lantern who is killing a bunch of people in the city. The police try to stop him but there weapons don't affect him.

The Black Lantern tries to eat Hope's Father's heart but he is interrupted by Shade and Hope. The Black Lantern insults them trying invoke an emotion response but it doesn't affect Shade and they fight which ends with Shade having his heart ripped out. However since Shade is immortal it doesn't kill him, Shade takes the opportunity, and imprisons the Black Lantern in the Shadow Void. The comic ends with Hope wondering if what the Black Lantern said was true, but Shade assures her that they have the time to sort everything out.

This is one of the best tie-ins to Blackest Night. It has a good story, and character development. It also gives enough backstory in case you don't really know the characters. The art is great, and really fits the tone of this book. Overall it's a great comic, and it worth reading this Halloween.

Rating: 4/5

"Arrow" First Thoughts

---SPOILER WARNING---

So before I start uploading some Halloween stuff were going to take a look at the new super hero show Arrow. I was half looking forward to this, and half dreading this. It looked okay from the trailers, but knowing the track record of the CW's shows I didn't have much hope. However I think I was surprised by the outcome.

To start I'll say what I liked. I actually liked Stephen Amell, I think he does a good job as Green Arrow. He's not as good as Justin Hartley or even James Arnold Taylor but he does a good job. I think the action scenes are good even though I could use some more of them. I also liked the comic references but that's also a problem.

The problems with the references is they don't really make sense. The main love interest is named Dinah Lance who is Black Canary in the comics. They do this all over the place, his best friend is named Merlyn, and his sister's nickname is Speedy and she does drugs. Referencing the comics while changing them completely isn't really a good way to go. This is why a lot of comic book fans hated Smallville. Hell that's the reason everyone hates Dragonball Evolution.

The one reference I think really worked was that Deathstroke's Mask was on the island they found Oliver on. Being a huge Titans fan I'm really wondering what there going to do with him, but I do have to wonder how it got on the island, and I hope this isn't just another pointless reference. Another problem is the way Oliver kills randomly. Despite my whole thing about superheroes shouldn't kill, It's not the fact that he kills that bother's me. It's the fact he kills some random goons that kidnapped him but didn't kill the man he wants revenge on. Not sure what that's about. Overall it's not bad so far, but I'm really close to not liking it.

Rating: 3/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Curse of the Mutants

Not really Halloween themed but I'm going to count it since there about to fight Vampires.

"Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" First Thoughts

So yeah, I haven't updated in two weeks. Once again my job is taking up a lot of my free time, and it's hard to find the time to do the weekly comic reviews. I'm going to try to get a couple of Halloween themed reviews out in the coming weeks. Anyway I'm sure your not here to listen to me talk about my life so let's get into my thoughts about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle show.

When I first heard about this I wasn't sure what to think. I heard it was going to be a CGI show which I didn't really thinks was a good idea. I still kinda don't, and I'm kinda getting sick of the over exposure of CGI shows like Transformers Prime, Green Lantern the Animated Series, and the New Batman show is going to be CGI too. I'm not saying I don't like these shows I just prefer normal Animation. Despite the fact I wasn't 100% behind the CGI I think it actually looks pretty good. It's Cel-Shaded look mixed with it's Anime-esque character movements makes it look almost like a regular cartoon.

I actually liked this show. I think they got the characters down good, and updated them. I think they took the best elements from each version of the Turtles and mixed them together. I especially like this version Michelangelo although he keeps reminding me of Beast Boy from Teen Titans. It doesn't help that they have the same voice actor. I do have some negatives like the fact that they de-aged April O'Neil so there could be a side-plot about Donatello liking her. I 'm not really sure why they did this but last time they changed a major element of the Turtles for a romantic side-plot we got Venus, and the less said about the Next Mutation the better.

I also don't like how they brought back Kraang. Instead of being one alien in a robot suit he's a bunch of aliens in robot suits. Which means they're essentially the Utrom from the 2003 series. Although I do like them more then the Utrom, and there dialogue is hilarious. Overall I think this show is worth checking out if your a Turtles fan, and I recommend it although I think some fans will cry foul because it's not what there use to. Which I thinks is a shame. Anyway I'll see you next time where I will review something for Halloween, and also take a look at Arrow.

Rating: 4/5