Comics

DC Comics Campaign “We Can Be Heroes”

On January 23, 2012 DC Comics announced their campaign called “We can be Heroes”. The campaign is supported by Warner Brother’s Entertainment and Time Warner’s business. “We Can Be Heroes” is a way to use Dc characters to help us become real life heroes. With this campaign we can help organizations like Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, and Mercy Corps to help the hunger crisis in Africa. Africa is dealing with drought and hunger worst than they have been in 60 years. More than 250,000 people are facing starvation in Africa. They need our help.

You may be asking to yourself, how can we help? At http://www.joinwecanbeheroes.org/ you will be able to donate money to the cause. 10$ will give a child peanut paste that would keep a child alive for more than a week. 25$ would help 3 families of 6 have purified water for a month. 50$ provides a household of 6 with food, water, and hygiene items for 2 weeks. 100$ can let a malnourished child be able to make a full recovery.

Moriarty: The Lazarus Tree #8 – Review

Moriarty leaves me feeling like an incompetent oaf yet again. Our suave and arrogant detective draws confusing conclusions from thin air, the story only slightly progresses, several characters that I did not even know existed say their farewells, and we end this mostly boring but sophisticated issue with a fantastically nightmarish hallucination which almost makes the rest of the issue worth it. Unfortunately, almost is all writer Daniel Corey gets.

With the help of Blair, Moriarty attempts to stop the riots from getting even more out of hand while looking for his old friend Morley, and the Lazarus Tree, in an attempt to prevent his death. He also receives an impromptu nightmare featuring his old adversary Sherlock Holmes.

Considering Comics: Black and White VS. Color

Comics have always been first and foremost a visual medium. There are countless artists that have been, will be, and are involved in comics, each with their own style. Now, one style may certainly appeal to guy A more than it does to girl B, but there is one factor in comic art that seems to make a big difference: Is it in color?

Uncanny X-Men #5 – Review

Uncanny X-Men is heavy on continuity but actually manages to be so in a good way as it picks up on threads started by Uncanny X-Force. Looking to make up for her role in Archangel’s crimes, Psylocke uses false pretenses to bring the Extinction Team to the world he created, and only Magneto knows the truth of it. This is an issue that focuses more on character interactions than plots, and that proves to really play to Kieron Gillen’s strengths with these characters in particular.

Even though it is handled well, those who haven’t been following Uncanny X-Force could easily get a little lost with this issue. The story of Warren Worthington III going all Apocalypse and accelerating the evolution of this one isolated patch of Earth can be a lot to try to take in all at once like this. Thankfully, Gillen doesn’t dwell much on the details and really only focuses on two beats that are easy to understand. The first is that this is an area that has been mutated by someone manipulating time. The second is that Psylocke feels guilty because she feels she could have prevented it. As long as you grasp those two ideas, the story is pretty easy to follow.

Uncanny X-Force #20 – Review

In Uncanny X-Force #20, Rick Remender doesn’t take a breather.  In fact, he expands the questions to those of identity and family.  The X-Men books have always been about two things: prejudice and family.  Most of the original team and many, if not most, of the later members were either abandoned by their biological families or orphaned.  And so they came to be a family at Xavier’s.  For some it was metaphorical like the father-daughter relationship Wolverine has had with plenty of girls at the school.  For others it was literal such as Scott and Jean and their children from various timelines.  And yet others came with their siblings and then either expanded their families or grew apart from their siblings.  Through it all their internal squabbles rarely went beyond the boundaries of family.  

Justice League International #5 – Review

Justice League International continues to be boring in their latest installment. The storyline has progressively moved forward, but after suffering through the paper-thin plot the storyline has long overstayed it’s welcome, if it was ever welcome at all. The characters on the JLI continue to be interesting, and the artwork goes from stiff to good, but none of these elements become as great as they should be.

Peraxxus’s goal to decimate the Earth is finally coming to a close. His Signal Men are ready to destroy everything unless the JLI can stop them. Unfortunately, they are under a pile of magma with no confidence coming from their creators. All hope may be lost if the team does not come together and think of a plan to save the world – and themselves!

Batman #5 Review

For the first four issues, Batman has found himself up against The Court of Owls.  This is an organization that goes way back in Gotham – so far back that most people believe it to just be a scary story told to kids.  Now, you may be thinking, “Batman is the greatest detective in the world, so how could he have gone so long without checking this out?”  We actually found out last issue that he DID check it out and he concluded they were not real.  However, as he checked on how an ancestor died, he was plunged into a maze. 

And that’s where this issue picks up.