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