Comics

Thunderbolts #144

Luke Cage steps into a leadership role as he puts together a new group of Thunderbolts—a team of villains trying to reform into becoming heroes. Previously the group was run by Norman Osborn and used as a Black Ops team. With Osborn out of the way Steve Rogers asks Cage to step in and be a role-model for these villains that have lost their way.

Luke is transported to “The Raft” a maximum security prison for people with super powers. To appear unaffiliated with the prison, even though he is, he jumps from the government quin-jet into the prison. Unbreakable skin also means unbreakable legs as he slams into the ground. Luke meets his first recruit, The Ghost, a villain that suffers from mental conditions and only speaks with people when he’s wearing his mask. He’s quick to jump on board with Cage and even promises not to try to kill Tony Stark. After all, his previous attempt was what landed him in prison.

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard #1 – Review

Mouse Guard Legends is the newest miniseries to entail the Mouse Guard franchise. The new four part series is not a continuation of the previous two volumes. Legends is a series of short stories that has several writers involved in the epic series. The writers include: Jeremy Bastian, Ted Naihef, Alex Sheikman, Scott Keating, and yes the great David Petersen creator of the franchise.

The stories take place in a tavern in Barkstone, Fall 1154, two years after the events of Winter 1152. In the bar, we are introduced to Carver, an old mouse that comes regularly to the tavern to drink. Carver has accumulated a hefty bar tab due to his drinking habit over the last two seasons and the owner, June, has called in the tab. Carver is not the only one that owes money in the bar; other regulars quickly become unhappy by June’s decision. So June decides to make things interesting, but what does she do? She creates a contest within the bar and the best story gets their tab cleared. There are some ground rules however: No complete truths, no falsehoods, and it must be a tale that she’s never heard.

Comic News Roundup for the Week

Welcome to Player Affinity Comics News of the week or PAC News for short. There was a blitz of news this week, so let’s begin with a story reported by KTLA 5 about the LAPD cracking down on the superhero pan-handlers that have become a tourist mainstay in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater off of Hollywood Blvd. The character actors have been an attraction on Hollywood Blvd for nearly a decade and gain a lot of attention after the documentary Confessions of a Superhero. The documentary followed four of the character actors revealing their life on and off Hollywood Blvd.

Top Cow’s 2007 Pilot Season Winner- Velocity Is Back

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 3, 2010 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that the Cyberforce character and winner of the 2007 Pilot Season, Velocity, will break out in her own series.  Velocity #1, the first in a four-part series will hit comic book store shelves June 30, 2010.          

 Written by Ron Marz (Witchblade, Magdalena, Artifacts) and featuring art by Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer, Madame Mirage), Velocity #1 focuses on Carin Taylor, the fastest woman in the world.  At least, she’d better be if she wants to save her own life and the lives of her Cyberforce teammates.  When a former Cyberdata scientist – and test subject – seeks revenge against the members of Cyberforce, only Velocity can save her friends before the clock literally runs out.  The series will utilize a unique story-telling technique by having a literal ticking clock through out the series counting down one minute per page as Velocity races around the globe.          

CodeBreakers #3 – Review

Foster’s mysterious past with Remy, Stan’s captor is finally revealed. Lindsay hacks the C.I.A.’s computers to find information on Remy a.k.a. The Information Broker. In doing so she stumbles upon a transcript testimony from a young undercover agent hired to write a code for him. It details his experiences with Remy and his wife, Ella. The young agent stayed at Remy’s house and wrote code day in and day out while studying the business. The longer he stayed the more code he wrote, and the more in love he became with Ella.

After capturing a C.I.A. agent, Remy gives the undercover agent a final test. He and the undercover agent brutally torture the man as he describes his family. In the end Remy gets his code but losses everything else. The C.I.A. raids his warehouse forcing the Information Broker to detonate explosives planted inside. Worse still, Ella, hangs herself out of fear of continuing to live with Remy. The undercover agent turns out to be Foster.

Irredeemable #14

After spending an entire issue recapping the first twelve issues, Irredeemable returns, getting the story back on track. Unfortunately, there’s no sense of how much time has passed since issue twelve when the Paradigm were captured by the U.S. Military. We open with Cary and Orian crossing dimensions via their human sacrifices. It’s unclear why they were in Orian’s dimension, but it does piss Cary off that people were killed in order to get them there. Orian tries to ease his guilt by assuring him that both parties killed were evil men, one a hit-man the other a sex offender. Cary has teamed up Orian in order to avenge his brother that was killed by the Plutonian.

Secret Avengers #1

If there’s one man at Marvel that you want crafting a secret history for the Universe its Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Daredevil). The Secret Avengers are Marvel’s newest covert ops team with a most unusual ensemble. The team includes: Steve Rogers (former Captain America), War Machine, Beast of the X-Men, Valkyrie, Black Widow, Sharon Carter, Moon Knight, Nova and Ant-Man.

The issue begins with Black Widow and Valkyrie undercover as call girls. They’ve infiltrated Roxxon’s headquarters in the Middle East. They’re there to capture a dangerous item known as the Serpent Crown. Valkyrie lets her warriors nobility get in the way of the mission and blows their cover. It doesn’t really matter when you have Steve Rogers on the team. He breaks through a window and the three of them dispose of the Roxxon guards, attaining the Serpent Crown.