Comics Bundle: 09.17.09 Pt. 2

The is the second part of my Comics Bundle for this September (part 1 is here). As always, the part 2 deals with non-Marvel comics. For some reason, all of my non-Marvels in this bundle are just too awesome. I actually had a hard time picking 5 issues to review.

Fables #88
9.3 of 10
Of all my comic book titles, Fables is definitely the one that I missed the most. Thanks to the crossover that choked the life out of the title like an arterial blockage. But now that it's done and over with, I'm happy to be reading Fables with all its quirky characters again. Speaking of characters, the main ones like Snow and Bigby aren't present in this issue. But others are getting some spotlight, which I'm glad. The witches, especially Frau Totenkinder, are stepping up into the plate as they gather power to confront the Dark Man. Beauty and Beast are also getting some attention that they deserve. Hopefully, the couple will get as much limelight as Snow and Bigby, even at least in this story arc.

Batman and Robin #4
8.7 of 10
The main Batman title has become too unbearable for me to read. With Dick Grayson now in full swing and all smiles wearing the cape and cowl, I never thought that I'd miss Bruce Wayne that much. Luckily, Batman and Robin has a lot of edge. Of course, that edge comes from Damien (who seems to be keeping Dick from smiling). He's a tough little kid who can really fight, and shows great potential to become Batman. Even Dick, with all that experience, can't sneak up on him. I just wish that he'd grow up soon enough to replace Dick as Batman.

DMZ #45
9.5 of 10
Like Fables, DMZ was also interrupted by a 3-part story arc that flowed outside the main continuity. While I enjoyed the story, I'm nonetheless glad to have Matty and Parco again. Matty Roth has surprisingly evolved. If compared to a couple issues back, he's now a much more confident, ballsier and ruthless character. While he still works for Parco, he acts more of his adviser rather than an underling. He even have his own security crew -which includes the sniper Angel from the early issues. All in all, this is an awesome issue.

Chew #3
9.7 of 10
Tony Chu is probably the most unique character in the comics industry right now. As a detective "cibopath", a person that can get psychic from impressions from what he eats, he'll know who killed a person just by eating the corpse of the victim. But just when I thought the creators are done making unique characters, they brought out Amelia Mints into the fold. Mintz -who is also the love interest of our protagonist- is a "saboscrivner", a person who can describe the taste of food (good or bad) so accurately that all those who listens to her or read her writings will also be able to savor it. Now how cool of a character is that?

The Walking Dead #65
9.0 of 10
The Walking Dead, to me, has been a medium to explore the twisted side of humanity, the dark side that is borne out of desperation. In the recent arc, Kirkman gave us cannibalism when a group of man-eaters pursues Rick and his crew. But one thing I love about this group of cannibals is that they're not some mindless, hungry primitives. Kirkman actually defended them by giving them a sense of logic. Even though their logic may seem twisted, it's actually part of the natural order, the survival of the fittest. This actually made me pause.

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Comics Bundle: 09.17.09 Pt. 1

Most of you who have been following this blog know that I always pick up my comics late. Some of you might have even noticed that I didn't have a "Comics Bundle" post last month. That's because I didn't pick my comics for two months. The owner of the store was about to call me yesterday when I strolled in her store to get my comics, which was a thick stack and costs almost a $100. But I really missed my comics and read all Marvel/Walt Disney comics right away.

Anyways, here are the good -and also the not so good- ones that I've read. This should be quick since I still need to finish reading my DC/Image/Vertigo titles.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1
8.0 0f 10
While I did love the first issue of the Utopia crossover between the X-Men and Dark Avengers, the rest of the issues were just bland. It just didn't meet my expectations, which is action. Fights between the mutants and the Avengers just didn't erupt at all. Exodus, however, became a saving grace of the whole event. It satisfied my want and saw some match ups -like Colossus vs. Venom or Dani Moonstar vs. Ares- that are rare or even unthinkable in the Marvel Universe. There were also some surprises here. The most notable one perhaps is what happened to Emma Frost. All in all, Exodus is yet another issue that perfectly closed one chapter and opened another for the X-Men.

Deadpool #15
7.9 of 10
I've never seen Deadpool so serious before this issue. Well...serious in his standards anyways because there are still a lot of crazy things going on in here. Stranded in the middle of the sea, Deadpool finally had the time to re-evaluate his life and figured out that he is alone. This, of course, has led him to a decision to join the X-Men. I cocked a brow at the idea. But, really, I want the writers to push this one through. Deadpool joining the X-Men sounds like a lot of fun to me.

Thor Annual #1
3.0 of 10
I know this might sound very unconstructive and subjective but skip this book. Yeah, it's bad. So bad I don't have the words for it.

Dark Avengers #8
8.6 of 10
This is probably the most surprising issue of the Dark Avengers yet. In this issue, due to its cover, I was expecting Ares, The God of War, beating the crap out of Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors in order to reclaim his son. He didn't, however, and the whole encounter turned into a man to man, father to son talk. I liked it a lot because it showed a different side to Ares. I mean, I didn't know that a God of War have a softer side.

Thunderbolts #135
8.3 of 10
I love Deadpool. But I must admit that the Thunderbolts/Deadpool crossover was a disaster, although still funny. I was even thinking of taking it off of my pull list. But then they executed a twist and gave us Natasha Romanov, the first Black Widow. With the twist also comes the back-stabbing, double-crossing, and all manners of betrayal. Suddenly, this title has gotten interesting again, and I want to know where it all ends.

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Elyos for Breakfast!

Early access for Aion starts tomorrow, and a lot of my guildmates are already excited. I am excited too. But probably not as much as they are because I have yet to see the PvP content of the game, to see if it's better than Warhammer Online.

Arkathos, he's a cranky priest.

I've already pre-selected my two characters, Arkathos (Priest -> Cleric) and Arkathor (Warrior -> Templar), just this morning. I tried yesterday but it was a no go since NCsoft blocked character creation -in order to balance population and races- on my guild's selected server. Anyways, me and my guild, Gaiscioch, will be Asmodians on Zikel. Look us up if you want to roll with a casual and mature guild on Aion.

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First Impressions: Arkham Asylum

I've never really followed Batman: Arkham Asylum during its development. I was expecting that it's going to be a bad game, like most comics-to-games are. But when I tried out the demo, a few weeks ago, I was blown away by it. So, as a birthday gift to myself, I bought this game the moment I turned 20 something.

As it turns out, the demo only featured a part of what the game has to offer. Besides the free flowing combat and stealth action that were showcased on the demo, elements of adventure games and even RPG are also integrated in the gameplay. You can gain experience in this game and upgrade your gadgets or learn new fighting moves. There are also puzzles, courtesy of The Riddler, to test your detective skills.

My initial impressions of this game is pretty solid. The game displays a lot of kick-assery and the story couldn't be any better. It also runs really smooth on my machine, even with its top notch graphics. It's a well-made game, and I've never played one since BioShock.

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