This Week's Comics - 28/12/11

A bit of a quiet week this week, only four comics, but there is two issues I am really excited about so it definately makes up for it. The Comics I'll be getting this week are X-Men: Legacy #260, Alpha Flight #7, Teen Titans #4 and Superman #4. Out of these I am most looking forward to Alpha Flight, which after a bit of a rocky start has me almost shaking with anticipation for this next issue. I first picked up this revived series when I noticed it by chance on a weekly comic run when I still had a shop that sold comics near me and decided to pick it up because I had always been interested in the characters and that is how the series remained to me for the first few issues. However with the brilliant writing, exceptional art and complex character development, especially with Northstar and Aurora, now has me completely hooked and since this story is now drawing to a close I'm expecting big things this issue, and with Wolverine involved this comic has to be good. Teen Titans is the other comic this week I'm really excited about. With only three issues out so far it hasn't quite gripped me as much as Alpha Flight has but this series is definately standing out of the new DC series to me. I'm enjoying the characters and the story, although its still moving fairly slowly so with a fight between Superboy and Wonder Girl this issue it will hopefully be picking up a bit. Superman so far has been quite good, not excellent but better than satisfactory, so I'm interested in seeing what happens next. This issue promises to finally reveal the origins of the mysterious aliens/monsters that have been attacking Superman which is good because too much ambiguity gets boring and a link to the new Action Comics series - I love it when you see links between two comics. X-Men Legacy is the comic I'm least looking forward to this week, having only read one issue of the series so far so my opinions around it are still in the air but I am interested in seeing if I grow to really like this series, the setting is right with this series falling on Wolverine's side of the Schism and characters I fairly like being teachers - although they probably shouldn't be - so I do have high hopes for this series.

Christmas Post

Christmas Eve today, thank god the festive season is nearly over, so in celebration I'm doing a special Christmas Comic and T.V. Show of the Week. My Christmas is mostly family time, I hold no religious beliefs so don't go to mass or celebrate the birth of Jesus or Mythras, another religious figure which legend says was actually born on 25th December, and I enjoy the presents but could do without them, so no computer tomorrow. Therefore, I'm posting my Christmas blog on Christmas Eve.

For the Christmas Comic I am choosing The Authority/Lobo: Jingle Hell #1:

I find this comic quite enjoyable, not one of my favourite but nice to read and definitely festive. A bit of an obvious pick for me seen as it does feature The Authority, who are written brilliantly by Grant and Giffen, and even more since Apollo, Midnighter, Jenny and their little family takes centre stage. The art style is a little off, like a few random issues of The Authority, but not too bad and the excellent characterisation makes up for it.

For the Christmas T.V. Show I am choosing the Christmas Special of Gavin and Stacey:

A light-hearted comedy sitcom, brilliantly written and full of excellent actors. I find I prefer Christmas specials of these types of shows as they are always easy to watch, fun and show Christmas the way I like it, family central, kind of like my chosen Christmas Comic. This Christmas special is particularly great as it contains all these aspects, as well as giving some deep character development, thanks to the excellent actors. Finally, anything from this show has to be great because half the cast have Welsh accents, which I love.

Well, there it is: short but sweet - I hope. I'm not that much of a festive person so I won't be posting anything else around Christmas, unless its complaining about the slow post or annoying family commitments it brings, being nice to relatives you hardly see and don't like for example, but I may do something for New Years. Merry Christmas!

Feature Post - Avengers Academy

As I mentioned before, I picked up the Avengers Academy series after been suggested to by quite a few people, claiming how brilliant it was. I decided to start from #21, the 'new era', and have now read that and #22 and have to say I am fairly impressed by the series. Setting any story in a school with younger characters is, in my opinion, the foremost platform for character development, and as this is what will mostly attract me to a story, Avengers Academy is an enjoyable read. Having not much previous knowledge of the series or the characters, apart from the teachers, I'm actually quite surprised at how quickly I've taken to all but one, the new student White Tiger who after only two issues seriously annoys me. In #21 two aspects of the story stood out for me that, although commonly used, gave the series depth and a strong stand point. These are the jealousy and unease the original students feel with the introduction of the new students and the loyalty between them, especially since they now feel threatened by the new students, even though they won't admit it. Although this was carried into #22 and even developed further, for example the loyalty the students feel to the teachers (Finesse and Quicksilver), I really didn't enjoy the random appearance of X-Men who I really do not like, especially Frost (die bitch, die). The interactions and the situations were more awkward than in #21 and some of what was being shown - Magneto telling Quicksilver to back off from mutants and Quicksilver agreeing - was just stupid to me. Fortunately, this wasn't enough to put me off the series as the X-Men were just guest starring but I really didn't appreciate it. Seeing Hawkeye in action again in a new series has also got me more excited for The Avengers movie, but also even more disappointed that members of the team like Pym and Quicksilver aren't in it - here's hoping for a sequel with more members! I still haven't got #23 - stupid Christmas making the post slow - but I'm quite excited to read it.

This Week's Comics - 21/12/11

Bit late this week, seen as it is now the end of the Wednesday, but here we go. This week I've got 6 comics - a fair amount - which are X-Factor #229, Red Hood and the Outlaws #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #3, New Mutants #35, Uncanny X-Force #19 and Batman #4. Out of these, I'm most looking forward to Wolverine and the X-Men because so far the series has been great with characters I really enjoy and wonderful, vibrant art that brings the story to life. With this being only the third issue, the series still has to find its feet a bit but I'm quite confident I'm going to be buying this comic for a long time. X-Factor is one of my favourite series and normally an issue from this comic would be the one I'm most looking forward to but I felt the last issue had a serious drop in quality compared to the rest of the series. The drop in quality I felt from the issue comes from the awkwardness of the situations and the lack of complete character development, the conversation flitted around the edges of something deeper but never really landed there, which I have come to expect from A comic by Peter David. I hope this issue returns to the good quality of the rest of the series but unfortunately I feel it may not. Batman so far has been quite enjoyable, not one of my favourite series but has good character presentation, a believable competent foe for Batman and very intense cliffhangers, especially the one at the end of last issue. As the series goes it appears to be getting more interesting and enjoyable so this comic could stand out this week. Having only picked up two issues so far of New Mutants, which I only decided to do after Regenesis, this series is still in the trial period. So far I'm really enjoying the characters, although since I don't know them yet I wish there was a bit more character development, and I am interested in seeing if they are show more of the characters this issue,  but right now I'm not attached enough to say whether I'll continue with this series after this story arc. This Uncanny X-Force issue will be my first, having decided to try the series after Regenesis and some positive suggestions from some friends, so I'm interested in seeing what this series is like, especially since its on Wolverine's side rather than Cyclops'. Red Hood and the Outlaws is the comic this week I'm least looking forward to. After a great start to the series with three characters I really like and a team dynamic I was getting drawn into, the last issue was a big step down in quality and enjoyment. Due to the characters and what I've seen Lobdell can do with them I'm willing to give this series a while to get the quality back but I'm not too hopeful for this issue.

Blog Update 2

This week I have yet to publish a Comic of the Week or a T.V. Show of the Week, which there is a good reason for. With a ridiculous amount of work and family issues(joy) I have decided to give the two posts a miss this week, but don't worry they will be back again and better than every next week. I have also chosen to drop Uncanny X-Men, even though I only picked up the first issue of the new series, as I have just decided to pick up Avengers Academy and need to start picking some to drop, especially as I've been saying I'll be dropping some for months now. That's all for now and I'll hopefully be back up to blogging more regularly soon.

This Week's Comics - 14/12/11

Sorry, short post this week. This week I have a more satisfying five comics, although a few more would have been preferable. The comics this week are Demon Knights#4, Batman and Robin#4, Incredible Hulk#3, Avengers Academy#23 and House of Night#2. Out of these I think I'm most looking forward to is Batman and Robin, although it doesn't stand out too much from the other comics. I'm looking forward to this one the most as I'm liking where there story is going and I'm loving the dynamic between Bruce and Damien, especially with Damien trying to fight back his urges to kill. The comic I'm least looking forward to is House of Night, I was considering dropping it after the first issue if it was just retelling the story but seeing as its extra scenes that aren't in the books and not written by the Casts I'm willing to give it a few more issues as I do like the characters. In Demon Knights I'm enjoying the characters and the fantasy elements and since its mid-battle in the story at the moment I want to see what happens next, while in Incredible Hulk it's still getting started but the basic story of Hulk and Banner being separated is still very intriguing for me. Finally, I haven't yet read any issues of Avengers Academy, last week deciding to pick it up after suggestions from a few people so am still waiting the last two issues so this one will be put off till I've read them. However, after such great praise of this series and looking it up a bit I am looking forward to seeing what its like.

This Week's Comics - 7/12/11

First comic book day of December after Novembers odd 5 Wednesdays. This week is another low week with only 3 comics, those being Stormwatch #4, Action Comics #4 and X-Factor #228. Out of these it is nearly impossible for me to choose one I'm looking forward to more than the other two, so instead I'm just going to tell you why I'm looking forward to each. Stormwatch so far has been very interesting, with the team just being introduced the action and story has been fairly flow but last issue this picked up, so this issue I'm looking forward to some good, old Superhero fighting. Similarly, with last issue ending with all members of Stormwatch being absorbed into the weird alien, only Apollo and Midnighter were left to rescue them, so this promises some nice interactions between one of my all time favourite couples and the teaser 'a major change to the Stormwatch roster' definitely has me curious. Action Comics, unlike Stormwatch, to me seemed to jump straight into the action with a young Superman straight away showing off his will to save Metropolis. However, not only does it have the traditional action that I miss from the new 'psychological' comic of today, it also features Lex Luthor, a bit of an origin story for Steel and, plain and simple, its Superman, literally the origin of all create Superhero comics today. Lastly, but definitely not least, we have X-Factor, a series which I have professed on this blog many times is perfect for me. With a brilliant author, David, some of my favourite characters, Shatterstar, Layla, Monet, Longshot, and some of my favourite couples, Rictor and Shatterstar, Jamie and Layla, any issue of this title gets me 'buzzed up'. The current storyline we're in the middle of didn't really do it for me at first in terms of the villain they were fighting, and to be honest still doesn't, but with Jamie's shock death and blast to the future, I'm fascinated to see what happens next.

T,V, Show of the Week 7

Going back to my roots a bit here, this being one of the comedy shows I was raised with because my Dad loves it and the complete series is on Virgin on Demand. This week's T.V. Show of the week is Fawlty Towers:

Fawlty Towers is a classic comedy, written by John Cleese, of the amazing Monty Python, and Connie Booth, who both star in the show as well, and was ranked #1 on BFI TV 100. As I mentioned before, I was raised on British Sitcoms like this show and what I have mentioned is only a handful of the many reasons Fawlty Towers is truly brilliant. The story focuses on Basil Fawlty and his misadventures and exploits as he attempts to run a hotel with his wife, Sybil, and with aid from the maid, Polly, and the Spanish butler, Manuel. Each episode brings a host of quirky and humorous guests that play on Fawlty's short-temper keep the hotel full of life. The comedy itself is usually straightforward, a pleasing hybrid of humorous situations, perfectly delivered one-liners and slap-stick, with the slightest bit of black humour to give the show its depth, that although is from the 70s still resonates today. Only 12 episodes were ever made of this brilliant show, which to a lot of people, me included some times, seems like too little, but with every episode of the highest quality that means you can watch it again and again and still find every joke funny, its better that they didn't try to make more and ruin the perfect show they already had.

Comic of the Week 7

A bit later than usual but I've had a busy week so blogging has had to take a back seat. I've gone back to relatively new for this post, using a comic that came out last week. This week's Comic of the Week is Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver:

Being fairly young I missed the original debut, origins, of these two characters, since it was 1964, the year my bloody Dad was born, so when I saw Marvel were releasing a set of Avengers Origins comics, including this one, I was immediately interested in reading some of them. This one especially stuck out as I have always been fascinated by the two characters and their relationship with each other, which has become a common place relationship between twin superheroes; as seen with characters like twins Alejandro and Maya from the T.V. show Heroes whose relationship mirrors that of these two mutants. Similarly, since they are the children of Magneto, their origin story promised an appearance from him and he is definitely one of my favourite Marvel characters. The story itself was simple and easy to follow; twins on the run confused over their abilities, are saved by kind stranger(Magneto) who reveals to them who they really are and helps them refine their abilities, twins eventually realise dark side to king stranger and flee to avoid death and finally twins find a safe haven where they belong(Avengers). However, even with the simple story the way it is presented made it much more interesting, mainly the character development doing this. Small little extras like Quicksilver's hidden pain and a fight between Magneto's Brotherhood and the X-Men definitely made this more complex and worth reading. The art of the comic was clear and defined while still compelling and intricate, a good combination and the cover, which I've never mentioned before, to me was fantastic; the dark tone to it suggesting the pain the two have and the twins seperate stances representing not only their abilities but their personalities as well. The only issue I had with this comic was the way the relationship between Magneto and the twins was presented. The mystery surrounding it was built up brilliantly, the discovery through a family photo and Magneto's obvious care for them which is revealed at the end as he stares longingly at said photo was perfect but with no real admittance of Magneto being their father and no kind of closure the issue was left in the air when the comic ended.