Comic Relief Podcast

LEGENDS PARALLEL is an independent book published by Hadithi Sambamba Comix, with characters by Brian Daniel & Sherrie Vanilla Hardry. Art by Leslie Tejlor & Brian Daniel. Lettering done by Leslie Tejlor. The story is written by Bill McCormick & Dorphise Jean!

LEGENDS PARALLEL is a, single story, comic book which spans twelve issues. It tells the tale of five Earths, each very different from the others, and the one woman who wants to control them all.

THE STORY IS RATED “M” FOR MATURE, however this review is not.

The story begins with focusing on Tom Hill, who is the CEO of Hill, Inc. He’s staring out from his office at the city of Chicago, and thinking about how he believes – and confirms – that a “multiverse” exists.

STORY: C
Now, there were a few things that I thought were a little off. First, we have Tom Hill, who is clearly the main character of the story. There’s odd moments of dialogue throughout the story; for example when he’s talking about creating a cold fusion reactor for the multiverse thing; that he says that he found the cure to AIDS while searching for this. Seems to be an odd bit of dialogue, as I am not sure how creating a mechanical device led to the cure of AIDS?

Also, the two characters, Valencia Chumbs, who goes by the name of Oshun, named after an African Love Goddess; and Bes, who is supposedly named after an Egyptian Sex God; I guess, I never understood their motivation or their purpose in the book (so far). Also, not sure why someone named after a love goddess and a sex god, would take so much pleasure in killing a guard?

There’s also the next scene, with the police department; where Lt. John Conrad and Captain Walter Thompson are exchanging some dialogue about someone’s kid named Vinny making the call in about a murder. But it’s not very clear what the murder was, who Vinny is.

The dialogue between Tom Hill and Stacy is done very well, as she proves to be a very intelligent woman.

There are also times, where I feel like the story makes unusual jumps between segments (for one, after the good dialogue exchange between Tom Hill and Stacy, it suddenly jumps, without real explanation to Jack of Spades).

ART: B
The art throughout the story is very well done; especially for an indie comic. Along with the art, the colors are pretty spot on, with the shading giving the characters a lot of depth in terms of perception. The artistic teams clearly knows how to draw people, buildings, and even a pretty realistic looking car. The artistic team clearly knows how to draw voluptuous black women!

There is one odd thing; the Siafu armor can apparently change itself? Because during a dialogue between Tom Hill and Stacy, when Stacy reveals Tom’s mother had used the armor to kill someone; it’s clearly suited for a female (with ample breast plate covers, that apparently included nipples); but when we see Tom Hill thinking back on using the armor, it was clearly modeled for a male. So it’s either a glitch in the story, where that’s not made clear (since Tom Hill confirms that it’s the same armor being used) or a missed opportunity to explain some of the capabilities of the armor.

There’s also an odd scene when Jack of Spades is going after Tom Hill, that somehow, his entire shadow is cast into another room – through a shut door, and that’s how Stacy knows that there’s someone on the other side. So that was visually odd.

I also found it rather unusual that, Tom Hill, who looks to be at least in his 20’s to mid 20’s has a mother, running around in armor. But not only that, that his mother is a knock down, drag out hottie. The scene here is cropped, but she’s lying on the bed, pretty much nude, and has a very incredible body. So she either had Tom Hill at a pretty young age, or she’s had some surgery to keep her body as fit as she is; especially since gravity apparently has been generous to her, considering her ample… assets.

OVERALL: C
I think the biggest problem is pacing. The story crams too many events and especially too many characters for the first issue. I feel like the issue could have been better focused on Tom Hill, and his dialogue about the multiverse. Show him doing some things in the Siafu suit, fighting crime; rather than just one panel, so we get an idea what this armor is capable of. And end the issue with Jack of Spades, already with his armor, going after them; getting in the fight, revealing that Stacy is a meta; then ending it with Lady Vin (who we see at the very end) ending it with her dialogue.

The introduction of Oshun and Bes, has no barring in this issue, and does nothing but break up the pacing. As well as the introduction of the police officers. All of this, I feel, should have been saved for the second issue, so that the readers has developed a connection with (what I feel) are the main characters; or at least focus on some of the main characters.

I also feel there were some missed opportunities for some dialogue; for example during the fight between Jack of Spades and Stacy, there’s no words being spoke. I felt like this could have used some filler dialogue. Also when Stacy confronts Jack of Spades after slamming him through a wall, there’s a scene where she just kind of looks at him and they look at each other again, and then he jumps out the window. I can’t tell if she was letting him go on purpose, or what the deal was. But some dialogue here would have fleshed out this scene much better.

All in all, it is just the first issue. And it’s not horrible by any means, and I’d recommend checking it out.

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The Fix

Story: Nick Spencer

Art: Steven Lieber

Caution, this book is for mature readers. This review is not though 😉

Have you ever found yourself rooting for the bad guy? Have you ever felt like the bad guy was way cooler than the good guy? Did you ever wish that the story followed the villain instead of the hero? Then this book is for you. The Fix is a fun crime noir that follows a couple of crooked cops through the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. They rob, scheme, double cross and break the law as much as they drink – and they love every second of it. This book is funny, brutal, shocking and can get a little too real at times. If you’re into bad guys doing bad things for selfish reasons, then this book is for you.

Story: A+

The story is fast paced and quick witted. Nick Spencer masterfully dispenses both subtle and in your face humor. He likes to paint his characters into corners and make them squirm their way out of terrible situations. You can’t help but not feel bad for these characters because ultimately, the situations that they find themselves in are of their own doing.

Art: A+

I’ll just come out and say it, I am a huge fan of Steven Lieber. This is the perfect book for his cartoony art style. The art of this book reflects the writing perfectly. A layer of cartoony art and behavior that almost makes you ignore the brutal goriness of the actual events transpiring. Perfection.

Overall: A+

Did I forget to mention that this is the same creative team that brought us The Superior Foes of Spider-Man?  Yeah. Go pick this book up now.

Superman: Rebirth #1

Writers: Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

Pencils: Doug Mahnke

Inker: Jaime Mendoza

Colorist: Wil Quintana

Superman is dead! Well…The New 52 Superman is dead anyway. The pre New 52 Superman is alive and well and back in action! Also Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and a Chinese kid are supermen and women. But let’s save those for another review.  Ahh comic books, how I love you.

Story: B

The Superman of the New 52 is dead and the Pre New 52 Superman wants his body. Having once died at the hands of Doomsday, he knows from experience that his doppleganger stands a shot at revival. With the help of Lana Lang, Superman recovers Superman’s body only to discover that the means to bring Superman back to life are not available on the post convergence earth. New 52 Superman may actually remain dead. The audience cheers.

Art: C+

Mahnke’s pencils border on being too sketchy for me. The lines and shading feel a bit busy at times. To be fair, some pages are better than others. Also, little things bother me, like characters not making eye contact when face to face in battle or characters not falling in the correct direction that they are being punched in. Little things. Not terrible, but not as tight as I would expect from a Flagship DC character.

Overall: B-

This is a major part of DC’s apology to fans as mentioned in my DC Universe Rebirth review. The New 52 Superman was unnecessarily dark and brooding. He was similar to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and just like that version, did not sit well with fans. Fans missed the classic Superman of the days prior to Flashpoint.  Jim Lee and Co are trying to right the flagship title and restore it to it’s former glory. We’ll have to see what they do with this Superman. Hopefully DC returns Superman his roots; Truth, Justice and the American way.

Squadron Supreme 12 Issue Limited Series  (1985)

Writer: Mark Gruenwald

Penciler: Bob Hall

Colorist: Christie Scheele

At first glance Squadron Supreme is a counterfeit Justice League book. A blatant ripoff attempt by Marvel. Sure the costumes and names are different, heck even their powers only show slight variations to the Justice League.  Let’s be real here, mirroring characters between the two big publishers is nothing new. We wouldn’t have Marvel’s Deadpool without Deathstroke, Thanos without Darkseid or Aquaman without Namor. The Squadron Supreme fit perfectly into this category. They are unapologetically a Marvel version of the Justice League. Writer, Mark Gruenwald even includes many tongue in cheek references to the DC heroes throughout the book.

But that is where the parody ends. What isn’t fake is the quality of this story. Well into the first issue, Gruenwald makes the reader forget the forgery. He makes these characters his own. They are unique and interesting heroes with personal struggles and beliefs. Gruenwald tortures them, teases hope then takes it away.  By the end of this 12 issue series, the reader yearns for more. After the final issue,  I wanted to learn what happened to the surviving characters.  This is a true testament to Mark Gruenwald’s masterful writing skills.

Story: B+

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

The Squadron Supreme’s earth (Earth-712) is in a post-apocalyptic state, put there by the once mind-controlled Squadron Supreme themselves. The story begins with the team reeling from a near defeat at the hands of the villain, Over-Mind. Seeing the catastrophe and disorder left by their own hands, Hyperion (The Team Leader) decides that the only option is for the team to harness their great powers to rebuild earth into a Utopia for humanity.

They do this by first publicly revealing their secret identities and assuming control of the US Government. They then ban firearms, institute forced behavior modification for criminals, and develop a method to cryogenically freeze the dead until a cure for death can be found.  Not all of the members agree with this utopian plan causing a major rift within the team. Battles lines are drawn, adversaries become allies, friendships are ruined, and lives are lost.

A guilty pleasure of mine is when a writer puts his characters through hell. Physically, mentally and emotionally. Mark Gruenwald does just that. This book has no winners, no happy endings – only consequences.

Art: B+

The art of Squadron Supreme epitomizes 80’s comic book art. I would hazard to say that Bob Hall’s pencils and Christie Scheele’s colors could stand head to toe with any other flagship title published around this time from either publisher. The art is consistently clean, vibrant and bright throughout the entire run with great attention grabbing covers.  There are a few discrepancies that are common in this era of comic art, for example, small panels where the colorist colors a portion of a costume with skin tone or vice versa. Minor discrepancies that don’t take away from the overall experience. It does take away from a perfect score though.    

Overall: B+

What should have been a simple throwaway parody comic is a surprisingly well written, deep story with huge moral undertones and permanent consequences. Squadron Supreme has action, drama, suspense, betrayal and romance. All done very well.  Mark Gruenwald spins an almost perfect story about a superhero team’s ambitious attempt to protect the planet by any means necessary and overreaching with their power.

Maico M. Moreno

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Tawmis Logue & Maico Moreno sat down and watched X-Men: Apocalypse, and sit down to share their thoughts about the movie. Was this movie the Apocalyptic ending to the X-Men franchise or was there a glimmer of hope to be found in this movie? Sit back and listen to these Mutie Lovers, discuss the good, the bad, the ugly!

We talk about the (re?!)introduction of some core X-Men characters… We talk about the demise of X-Men characters… we talk about character development of X-Men characters… and the utter lack of character development for some – well, one – X-Men character… We question things like, “Why didn’t Nightcrawler just teleport out of the cage match?” and “How did those guys lift Blob’s body and carry him out?” and so much more! So I will stop rambling and give you the link now that you’re chomping at the bit to hear our thoughts! (You… are chomping at the bit right? Not literally, but figuratively!)

All right true believer, sit down, accept that Mutant Gene in your DNA and prepare yourself for… AGE OF A-PODCAST!

If for whatever reason, it won’t stream on the site, and you don’t have an iTunes account – you can always right click and download the issue!

Now on iTunes!

I’d like to give a special thanks to Adam Johnson, who granted us permission to use his freaking epic Heavy Metal version of the classic X-Men cartoon theme song! You can check out Adam Johnson on Youtube, Bandcamp, iTunes, Google+, Facebook and finally on Twitter!

And if you listen to the entire podcast (just saying… there might be a stinger at the end…) This will make a lot more sense and not seem to be randomly place…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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News of Thor 3: Ragnarök is out – and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) has already said, “This will be a Thor & Hulk Buddy Movie.” More details have leaked out since then, and it’s been confirmed that elements from Planet Hulk will be incorporated into Thor 3: Ragnarök.

The big headed blue guy is The Grandmaster, if you’re not familiar with him.

It seems that the all too familiar gladiator games of Planet Hulk will somehow play out in Thor 3: Ragnarök, involving both Thor and Hulk in these gladiator games. Jeff Goldblum, who will be taking on the role of The Grandmaster will have a part to play in all of this (perhaps watching over the gladiator games, since The Grandmaster in comics, has historically been all about various types of games and schemes – check out the original Contest of Champions from Marvel Comics as an example).

It’s also been confirmed that Hulk will be wearing that gladiator armor, similar to what was seen in the Planet Hulk comic book, wearing the one-shouldered piece that he’s known for. This does make me curious, if Hulk will finally be speaking (as he was during Planet Hulk, if so that’s a big and drastic change for the Hulk that we have seen in the Marvel MCU, and would probably need at least some explanation as to how he’s suddenly sputtering out complete sentences that don’t revolve around, “Hulk Smash!” or “Hulk Angry!”)

One of the things I am quite excited to see is Valkyrie. I was a huge fan of the original Defenders series, which included Valkyrie throughout – almost the entire run of 152 comics (after she was introduced very early on into the team). Valkyrie will be played by Tessa Thompson, so we’ve obviously going to get a different take on Valkyrie, but I am already with that! I am curious to see what they do with her. One of those changes they have already said is that, rather than being blond, she will have war paint on her face, similar to Native American warriors. I don’t mind these changes, as long as they make Valkyrie a strong, powerful female character.

Supposedly, the story involves Thor tracking down the ultimate weapon (ultimate nullifier, anyone?) in order to stop the events of Ragnarök from unfolding.

All in all, this sounds like it just might be the best of the Thor movies to be coming out and I look forward to see what happens.

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British actor, Dan Stevens has been tapped to play the role of Legion on FX Networks newest Marvel show. The first season is eight episodes, and will begin filling this summer in Vancouver and set to debut in early 2017. Along for the ride for Legion is Noah Hawley (as Executive Producer), who has brought his own vision of Legion, with a set of cast members that include: Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart, Rachel Keller, and quite a few others.

Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer and Head of Marvel TV said, “From the first time we heard Noah’s vision to his exceptional script and cast through the extraordinary filming of the pilot, we knew the series would be incredible.”

Legion introduces the story of David Haller, the alleged son of Charles Xavier, who, as a teenager has struggled with mental illness after being diagnosed as schizophrenic; but after an encounter with another patient, he’s left wondering if the things he sees and hears just might be real after all.

Unfortunately, FX President John Landgraf confirmed that Legion will not be tied into the existing X-Men Movie Universe/Franchise.

FX President, John Landgraf, went on to explain, “The series Legion takes place in a parallel universe, if you will, in which the US government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist but the public is not. I wouldn’t foresee characters moving back and forth because they really are parallel universes.”

In the comic book Universe, David Charles Haller, is the (illegitimate) son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, who is a mutant who suffers Schizophrenia; however, what makes Legion far more unique is that, aside from his Schizophrenia, he suffers from dissociative identity disorder, where each of the personalities that exist within him, is actually a unique personality, with a unique set of mutant powers.

Legion is perhaps, most notably known in the “comic book world of fans” for creating the event known as Age of Apocalypse, when he used one of his powers to travel back in time, in an attempt to murder Magneto before he amassed power. However, Charles Xavier lept in front of Legion, and was killed instead. This resulted in the Age of Apocalypse, a series that ripped through all the “X-Books” for four months, which drastically changed the time line and created a time, where the X-Men were never brought together by Charles Xavier, and Apocalypse led a sundered world.

Legion was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz, debuting in New Mutants #25 (March 1985).

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Image illustrated by Fico Ossio and colored by Diego Rodriguez.

Imagine a Universe that had G.I. Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, ROM, Action Man and M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) all in the same shared universe. Now imagine a massive cross over event between all those titles?

Chris Ryall explains, “When I was bringing back ROM, the co-writer Christos Gage and I were talking about a nice way to make something big and impactful happen in that issue. So at the end of the issue there’s a big reveal that shows ROM might be a part of a larger universe than fans expected at the start. We were going to stealthily seed things along the way, so that fans would think these guys might exist in ROM’s world and then, in talking about it internally, it just made sense, now that we’re launching Micronauts and ROM, and we’ve already got G.I. Joe and Transformers, and were looking to do M.A.S.K. All these things should exist together. That’s what fans want to see.”

Revolution will be a five-part biweekly series that is launching in September, and will detail why all these characters are drawn together. The story will focus on “Ore 13” which is an unstable version of the Energone Cubes (which should be familiar to anyone and everyone who is a Transformers fan)!

While Revolution will bring all these characters together; it’s been made clear that after the events of Revolution all the books will “return to their corner” so that fans won’t need to keep buying books that constantly cross over. You may see characters, from time to time appear in another book, or might see them mentioned, or in the background, to show a unified universe, however.

You can look forward, to supposedly, Hasbro is looking to make a cinematic universe with G.I. Joe and ROM in the near future.

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