Adventures in Chaos

Iron Man 2 review still coming, but other reviews are here!

2010-05-11T13:28:00.008-04:00

I'm seeing Iron Man 2 again tonight, so I'll be able to make a more solid review other then "OMG AWESHUM"

On to other things! Since I've got Iron Man on the mind, I'll do a review of a recent trade of Marvel's, that being the new Invincible Iron Man book! This new series takes place after Civil War (if you havn't read it, wiki it)

I'm going to make a weekly thing of reviewing 2 trades, I'll try to make one more mainstream, one more independent (I'm trying for Mondays, but we'll see)

So, here we go!

The Invincible Iron Man
Marvel Comics
Collects Invincible Iron Man # 1-19
Written By: Matt Fraction
Art by: Salvadore Larroca, Frank D'Armata, Stephanie Peru
$39.99 USD
RATING: 5 cupcakes (out of 5)

I've never heard of Matt Fraction before, but hell, he knows how to write Iron Man.

This series opens with a new villain, Ezekiel Stane. Now, as what's considered a cliche of comic books, he is the son of an older villain, Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger). Normally I write off "son of" villains because they're poorly written and the whole "Imma gonna get ya for killin mah daddy" routine usually runs dry really quick.

But, Mr. Fraction here presents another angle. Yes, this villian wants to destroy Stark Enterprises like the others, but takes a different route, and that's by being like a dark Tony Stark, showing Tony what he could be. Its an interesting take on this kind of series, showing what terms like "futurist" really mean and what happens when the Iron Man technology, which has always been cutting edge in the comics, takes the path of technology in the real world, and becomes affordable and cheap. Its a realization that terrifies Stark, and something that the man who thinks of everything, did not think of.

What I call 'part two' takes place after the crossover "Secret Invasion" (don't worry, the comic provides a one page explanation of what happened in that crossover) and deals with a whole new situation: Norman Osborn.

If that name rings a bell, don't worry, you know him. He's also been known as the Green Goblin.

But through circumstances (trying not to be spoilery) Norman has been put in charge of SHIELD, renaming it HAMMER and wants all of Tony's Iron Man technology and information in his head (namely the superhero registration database) and of course, Tony can't allow that.

What occurs is a worldwide cat-and-mouse chase for Stark and Osborn, with Tony constantly having to use old armors to keep out of Osborn's grasp.

There's some great character development here for characters like Maria Hill, former director of SHIELD who is now on the run as well. Pepper Potts is thrust into a new role that's never been done for the character, which I was against first, but now I embrace.

Refreshing most of all is seeing Iron Man himself, who has been in a position of authority for so long in the Marvel Universe, now being a place where he's anything but, he commands no power and is constantly on the run for his life. Its a humbling moment for Stark, and I love the direction this book is taking.

The artwork is nothing short of gorgeous. I've seen Mr. Larroca's art before and have always been impressed, but his capacity of expression for characters really shine in this book, and you can't be a good Iron Man artist if you can't draw Iron Man, and he does not fail.

What I especially like is his frequent use of showing just the face when someone is in an armor. It really helps to keep the reader connected to character, instead of seeing a blank face all the time.

All in all, the whole book captivated me from start to finish, and I can't point out any flaws or anything I would change (Probably why it won an Eisner :P) and I would recommend it for ANY fan of Iron Man, whether you are new to series or a longstanding fan of the character. It does have a high pricetag, but for 19 issues I think you're getting a good bang for your buck (then again, I paid almost half of it when I found it at a used bookstore) but I think I would have paid full price, and this is coming from someone that doesn't have a habit of buying hardcovers.

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction

Dark Horse Books

collects Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1-4, San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 & comic buyer's Guide material

Written By: Mike Mignola & John Byrne

Art By: Mike Mignola, Mark Chiarello, Dave Stewart, Matthew Hollingsworth

$17.95 USD

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cupcakes (out of 5)

Ah, Hellboy. Looking back at 1994, he was probably a breath of fresh air to the muscle-ridden superheroes that almost completely drove the comic book market at the time, and hell, even Image Comics that was popular at the time wasn't offering a whole lot of variety from what Marvel and DC were.

But then Mr. Mignola thought up of a delightful concept. A character that is born from a dark past, but doesn't care. Who is surrounded by supernatural creatures left and right but takes everything with a grain of salt.

Its very refreshing to see a character that isn't moody, deep thought provoking or trying to attain some higher purpose.

In essence, Hellboy is like a simple minded blue collar worker who's work happens to be saving the world from supernatural threats.

Ok, enough about that and on to the actual story.

I'm a fan of the movies, and yet, had never gotten around to reading any of the Hellboy books, even though I'm a fan of Mike Mignola's art. Huh.

So while at the used bookstore (I swear, the 3 bookstores in my town are one of the best ever, because I'm always finding great graphic novels) I found the first Hellboy book for 7 dollars. Can't really turn that down, can I?

So, the story here opens with (not directly named, but if you know your history) Rasputin, surviving his assassination, working with the Nazis in WWII on a secret project called "Ragna Rok", in which to summon a creature from beyond to fight for the Reich.

It ends up working, but the creature is teleported elsewhere, to the nearby American troops that are trying to shut down Rasputin.

What they find is something that looks like a red monkey-child with a massive right hand made of stone. Professor Broom, a paranormal expert that is accompanying this troop, decides to take the creature in and names him "Hellboy".

fast foward about 50 years and Hellboy is all grown up now, now a paranormal investigator for the B.R.P.D. (Bureau of Paranormal Development) and a new threat has emerged.

Frogs have been showing up and bing able to kill people, and a large threat of the return of Rasputin and unleashing the Ogdru Jahad, the Old Gods on the Earth and using Hellboy as the catalyst.

I love the concept of this series, and while the writing felt a little rushed, I'm sure it was merely establishing the characters and story, and I'm sure further books will be better in that department.

I can say nothing but good things about Mignola's art. While looking primitive to some, Mignola is one of the most unique artist in the comics field, using such a contrast of blacks and whites, and sneaking a bit of Picasso's cubism concepts in there to create a vibrant and dark piece. The balance of such strong shadows and black backgrounds and being to clearly depict characters and action is something I have not seen in many other artists attempting the same thing, and I suspect the Lion's share of Hellboy's popularity stems from this.

Hellboy remains to be a fun, dark, twisted ride rich of mythology, monsters and a good old six-shooter.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves mythology and a care-free book that has no qualms about delivering a solid story but at the same time doesn't take itself too seriously.

Well, that's all for today, and I'll have a full review of Iron Man 2 tomorrow!

Take Care all!

I AM IRON MAN!

2010-05-08T12:53:00.001-04:00

So stoked, I'm seeing Iron Man 2 tonight, I'll post my review probably tonight or tomorrow.

Don't worry people, I havn't forgotten about this blog, just havn't had much to review on it.

kick-ass! I'm first on google image!

2010-05-08T12:49:00.004-04:00

Ok, I know this is stroking my ego a bit, but I don't care, this NEVER happens to me.

My girlfriend informed me if you type in "Samus Ridley" in the search bar, my fanart (from my DevinatArt account) is the first image that pops up.

That is so cool!

Finally! First shot of Thor!

2010-04-30T17:28:00.002-04:00

Batman: Under the Hood Trailer

2010-04-26T16:20:00.013-04:00

I'm always impressed by Warner Bros's direct to DVD Animated movies. So far I've bought them all except for Wonder Woman (nothing against her, I just haven't gotten around to picking it up) and there's a new trailer for the next one, "Batman: Under the Hood", it looks fantastic!

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS- first thoughts

2010-04-24T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm incredibly late to the game review, but hey, I'm poor, I can't afford to get new games when they come out.

So, today I'm looking at New Super Mario Bros, which the first game I've ever broken down and paid 60$ for. Damn you Nintendo.

I've always found review for games odd. Often times the review will come out a day or so around the release, and can you really make a full review when you havn't finished it? It's like walking out of a movie halfway through.

I'm planning something a little different. I will post my initial thoughts on the games, and in the future when I finish it (considering my love of platformers, probably soon) I will post a follow-up review.

So, here's my thoughts:

God this game looks pretty.

While Nintendo hasn't pushed the boundaries of the system, the game looks beautiful and runs smoothly, no lag whatsoever, and little effects are present like clouds dissipating when you go through them. Its a nice touch, and really helps to make this feel like a NEW Mario Bros.

My biggest complain about New Super Mario Bros (DS), what I felt the controls were a little unresponsive, and Mario slid a little more then I liked, making precision movements a little tricky for me. I'm happy to say that's not the case here, and Mario is controlled as well as ever. Then new power-ups are great, and don't feel out of place with other ones. The propeller Mushroom is a fitting flying power-up to replace the Racoon Suit and Cape (from SMB3 and World) where it allows flight, but has its limits too.

Also, as a quick note, you can ride Yoshi again! That was always my favourite part of SMW, and I was relieved to see it return (although I was a little miffed that you can't take him to another level when you finish)

I have yet to try multiplayer on this title, but I'm going to rope my girlfriend into trying, and see how it works.

This game is supposed to be harder then any Mario game, but I have yet to see that. Of course, I've only played enough to beat the first world so far, so I assume it'll get progressively harder.

Well, that's all for my initial thoughts, I'll post more when I have more to say!

returned from the dead? Perhaps

2010-04-24T12:33:00.001-04:00

Looking back, doing a blog can be fun, but I've never been one to be consistent with... well anything online really.

But, let's try one more stab at it, shall we?

So what will this blog be about? Hell if I know yet. At the moment, I'm thinking Gunpla, toy, video games, movies and such for the moment. We'll see where it goes from there.

revisions?

2008-04-17T00:14:00.000-04:00

So, I havn't posted in ages, as it is typical me, I still don't know what to really do with this blog. I'm a person that just doesn't have the time to catalog my life.
So, I'll leave this blog as a review site for Trade Paperbacks, I'm not going to make it every monday or something, whenever I feel like, there might be once a week, or twice a day.

Sha-la-la-la

2008-03-13T09:14:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, great news! "Stranger Things", a new webcomic drawn by myself and written by Chris Stackhouse, is premiering tomorrow on Friday, so keep your eyes on this link: http://strangerthingscomic.blogspot.com/

In other news, I completely my fan-comic for IDW's Transformers: Mosaic, starring Beast War's Rampage! Here's a sneak peek! ^_^, I'm immensly proud of it, written, pencilled and extruciatinly inked by myself!

TPB MONDAY: Megatron Orgin & Witchblade: Witch hunt

2008-03-10T03:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm going to try to fit a regular schedule here, so Monday's are officially Trade Paperback review days. So, today's are going to be IDW's Transformers: Megatron Origin, and Top Cow's Witchblade: Witch Hunt. Let's begin! First up is Megatron Origin (scroll till you see the next pic for Witchblade)

Transformers: Megatron Origin
IDW Comics
Collects Transformers: Megatron Origin #1-4
Written By: Eric Holmes
Art by: Alex Milne & Marcelo Matere (pgs. 36-43)
Colours by: Josh Perez
$17.99 USD
RATING: 2.5 cupcakes (out of 5)

Ok, so this series was created in the Transformers (henceforth known as TF) Universe preluding to the Great War on Cybertron, and even predating the Decepticons. The intention of this series was to show the rise of the Decepticons and what made Megatron the ruthless Leader that he is. Set in IDW's continuity.
Ok, I'll get this out of the way: I love villains. Not sure why. I just always have. When I think about it more, probably because they are more realistic then the heroes (not in every case, I'm of course talking about more mature work, not like Villains from silly cartoons like Carebears [No Heart])
Megatron has always been a favourite of mine (now, the Beast Wars version is my fave, but G1's version has been a close second.), but for some reason, I never felt the need to know why he "ticked". Megatron's never been "super evil", he is cruel, but he's a warlord, it kinda comes to it. He's a machine dedicated to conquering... well... everything. His motives were pretty simple, and I was happy with that.
But, I am a fan of IDW's Transformers comics, so I thought I'd give this a go, and honestly, I was disappointed.
I'll start with the writing, looking at Mr. Holmes previous experience, he was a video game designer for Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. How on Earth did he get this job? Whatever.
Throughout reading the 4 issues, I felt that none of the characters poppped out at me, they all seemed to be the same person with different mouths. Megatron for starters was strangly quiet and poetic ("Oh Destiny, how it pleases you to carasse a few and molest others") Whereas I have never seen or read Megatron like that before. Other characters felt "bleh", and didn't catch my attention, especially Sentinel Prime
The main story is that Megatron is a miner, and when the miners are going to be replaced with Automatons (which is confusing, because they are machines themselves, is that the same as us replacing workers with monkeys?), and Megatron and others rebel against the "corrupt" Autobot government (although they never really explore how it's so "corrupt") and creates the faction "Decepticons". Key characters such as Soundwave, Starscream (and the other seekers) and the Constructicons appear (although the absence of Shockwave is odd, you'd think he'd be somewhere there...) and Ratbat being a politician prior to a cassette-bot was a nice touch
But for a peaceful government to suddenly see a riot going on and a new faction appearing, there isn't a huge cause of alarm throughout, where I would be &*^%ing my pants if I heard what was going on. Oh well...
Now, the art. This is usually the shining part of IDW's books. Not this one.
Look at that cover! Now, there's no doubt that Alex Milne has talent, but what's with the massive chin? And the OVERLY huge blocky elements? This isn't Pat Lee!
It doesn't look like these bots could move, much else fight each other... Alex Milne's contribution to the Transformers Universe is "Sentinel Prime", the Leader of the Autobots before Optimus Prime. What a horrible design... let's give hims guns coming out of the wazoo! That will make him cool! Let's not try to make something cohesive and NOT a gundam rip-off!
Unfortunate, while Mr. Milne is fantastic at pin-ups and such, he lacks in storytelling skills, which make this poorly written story even more difficult to follow.
I would only recommend this to fans who need to complete IDW's Transformers timeline, but if you look at a few scans and read a synopsis, you're already caught up.

Witchblade vol. 01: Witch Hunt
Top Cow
collects Witchblade #80-85
Written By: Ron Marz
Pencilled by: Mike Choi
Inked by: Sal Regla
Coloured by: Brian Buccellato
$4.99 USD
Rating: 4 cupcakes (out of 5)

Top Cow's Witchblade I've been wanting to read for ages, but unable to find Trade Paperbacks of the series (and I am NOT hunting down 80 individual issues), so I was told that Issue's 80 to 85 were written as a jump on point for new readers, and not feel horribly lost. As a special promotion for it, all 5 issues are present in this book from the arc for 5 dollars! Yes, 5 dollars! How could anyone go wrong?
Answer: You can't!
So, I read this on my way home, and instantly I knew I was in the middle of a story, but it's written well enough that all the important details are told (without it flatly saying "hey look, here's what happened in the past"). A new character is introduced, detective Patrick Gleason, who is assigned to find out why detective Sara Pezzini (current wielder of the Witchblade) is mysteriously in a coma.
When Sara awakens, strange demonic creatures star attacking them both. Gleason needs answers. So, Sara gives as much as she can (she doesn't know much of what the Witchblade weapon is), and we're more or less caught up to speed. There isn't much action in the title, but the emotions and realism of the characters make up for it, and I never found myself bored with the story, even when half of it is just people talking. It's imersive and a unique story, interconnecting with Top Cow's other titles (The Darkness and Mageldela), which I'd highly recommend picking up "The Darkness: Compendium" to catch up on his stories.
And then there's the art. Dear god, it is GORGEOUS. Mike Choi (Marvel's X-23), is absolutely stunning, able to draw beautiful women without giving them inhuman proportions (sometimes a rarity amongst comic books) and everything from buildings, people and demons are all drawn incredibly well. I can find no faults.
All in all, a fantastic book, great jump-on point, and it's only $4.99! I recently found out that there is a Witchblade compendium (collects the first 50 issues) for approx. 60 bucks, so I'll probably pick that up.
go buy this book! Now!

Well, that's all for today, g'night folks!

First review... Etrigan!

2008-02-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

So, today is considered to me the first real post here (last one was just a warm-up), so let's see what I can ramble about today.
Well, over the last week or so, it seems that winter finally remembered that its suppose to be here, and boy, did we get slammed. I can't believe the amount of snow we've gotten, all the shovelling and well, I could go on forever.
Oh well, that's what I get for living in Canada.
So, I'm still not quite sure what this blog will cover, so I'll be tackling a variety of topics. Don't care for one, just skip to the next one:

DC CLASSICS UNIVERSE THOUGHTS (AND MINI-REVIEW):
So, for me being the geek that I am, I decided to indulge on Mattel's response to Toybiz/Hasbro's "Marvel Legends" with "DC Classics", toys that cover the major areas that fan have been clamoring for: articulation, decent sculpt, decent paint and good selection.
Toybiz/Hasbro have had a jolly good time with their lines, some fantastic figures, some... not so fantastic.
Anywho, Mattel has started their first line, and to the surprise of everyone, Four Horsemen provided the sculpts! (FH are considered some of the best in the sculpting biz, nearly everything they touch is gold) Overall, the strategy has been to create figures using generic torsos and such, but with enough stock bodies that enough paint and other sculpted elements would make the stock bodies unnoticeable. When I heard about that, I was apprehensive, as I feared it would be something along the lines of JLU line (more or less one stock body, and different heads), but, lo and behold, Mattel has come through.
So, while wondering through Wal-Mart, I came across a couple of them, and wow! The packaging really pops out on these guys, and the biggest surprise came from what I found:
The Demon Etrigan!

"Change! Change, O form of man!
Release the might from fleshy mire!
Boil the blood in heart of fire!
Gone! Gone! -- the form of man --
Rise, the Demon Etrigan!!"

(Demon no. 1 August/September 1972 p. 22)

Ah, Etrigan, that rhyming little demon we all love. Well, maybe love's too strong a word. This guy's got quite the history, he's a creation of the late Great Jack Kirby during his brief stay at DC Comics' in the 70s (creating The Demon and "New Gods"), the stroy is that he was a demon that was summoned by Merlin in the waning days of Camelot to fight Morgan Le Fay. Of Course, summouning a demon to fight for you is pretty stupid, and things got out of hand quickly, so Etrigan was bound to Jason Blood, a knight who had betrayed Arthur to Le Fay, and now they are together bound until the end of time.

Well, this toy is so awesome, it's statue quality! I can't get over how good of a job Four Horsemen did on this guy, they managed to capture John Byrne's version of Entrigan (as doing something strictly Kirby style, while would have been awesome, would not have mixed well with the rest of the line), along with Four Horsemen's own tastes. Combined it makes a fantastic sculpt, with emphasis on the head, hands and legs. All are unique to Etrigan, with textured skin, an ugly face and sharp claws. Articulation is fantastic, not quite the Toybiz Marvel Legends' amount, but he doesn't need it, FH seems to have found a nice balance of enough joints, but not too much to ruin the look of the figure. Paint apps are minimal, but Mattel has finally figured out how to make a wash work, and you wouldn't notice that most of the fig is coloured in its casted plastic. Overall, a bang-up job by FH and Mattel, and I look foward to the next wave!

First Post

2008-02-11T18:36:00.001-05:00

So, as if I don't have enough ways to whore myself over the internet, I now have a new one! Whoo-hoo!
So, for anyone here who doesn't know me (which as far as I know, is just about everyone), allow me to introduce myself. The name is Matthew D. Ingraham, artist extrodinaire (in my world at least), a host of useless knowledge and hopefully a slightly different point of view of our merry little planet (for better or for worse is your judgment).
On this blog a multitude of things will be exposed, from my art, to other's art, to well-crafted stories, reviews of whatever I feel like reviewing, and who know what else that I feel like posting to my amusement.
So, for now, there's nothing. But hey, even God started the universe with nothing, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Will post again soon, on what, who knows.
Sincerely, Matthew Ingraham.