The Quarter Bin

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips take a turn down a dark and beautiful road with their latest series, Fatale. Though Bru and Phillips is treading new water with a new publisher, the Criminal/Incognito duo show that there are few creative teams that tell a story as well as they do. Read the rest of this entry »

Of all the titles I tried thanks to DC Comics New 52 initiative, the one that I have enjoyed the most is the relaunch of Batman. For some reason the team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo has just clicked with me, and has provided some of the best Batman comics I have read in quite a while. While I had heard that Snyder’s work on Detective Comics before this was also good, when he was writing that title I was never inclined to read it. Now that his entire run has been collected in one beautiful hardcover, the result is Batman: The Black Mirror has promptly found a home on my bookshelf. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit that after Justice League Unlimited ended, I haven’t been as diligent on keeping up with animated adaptations of my favorite superheroes. I know there have been some really good shows that I’ve completely missed out on like Spectacular Spider-Man and Batman: Brave and the Bold, but I just haven’t had the motivation to sit down and watch them. When recently given the chance to check out a handful of episodes of Warner Brothers’ new Young Justice animated series, I couldn’t say no. After finally getting to watch some of the show on DVD, I’m glad to report that Young Justice has a new fan. Read the rest of this entry »

Mysteries abound in this latest issue of the Atomic Robo saga “Ghost of Station X.” Will Tesladyne find out who’s trying to kill Robo? Will Lewis and Martin find the invisible house? Can someone find Robo pants that fit? Find answers to those questions and more (maybe) in our review of Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #3. Read the rest of this entry »

Considered one of the seminal Batman origin stories, Batman: Year One is a true masterpiece from the minds of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. As both the tale of a young Bruce Wayne’s earliest days fighting crime on the streets of Gotham and that of the burgeoning career of Lt. James Gordon fighting corruption in the Gotham Police Department, Year One gives a unique perspective on the beginnings of the city’s most respected and loyal heroes. Hard-boiled, gritty, and brutally elegant, Miller’s and Mazzucchelli’s tale is one of the smartest retellings of a superhero’s origin of the modern era. Translating that impact to an animated feature was undoubtedly a daunting task, but directors Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu, along with writer Tab Murphy, prove to be more than up to the challenge. For the most part.
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It’s been a while since I’ve laced up the skates to participate in a hockey video game. I used to play them almost religiously, as there are few games that are as fun with a half-dozen friends as video game hockey. For years I’d been hearing about how fantastic EA’s NHL series had become, and how it was a near perfect sports experience. When given the opportunity to try NHL 12 out for myself, I was pleasantly surprised to find EA had done a tremendous job replicating the real deal. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit to not really being into the whole new scene of classic monsters mixed with teenagers wave that’s somehow still continuing to blossom across all mediums to this day. There are seemingly dozens of television shows, movies, and books that are capitalizing on this trend, and I have yet to see the appeal. When the people behind indie darling The Stuff of Legend sent me an advance preview of The Pack #1, I was skeptical. Werewolves in high school? I mean, come on. Hasn’t this been done before?

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I am almost completely unfamiliar with the Warhammer 40K franchise. I know that it’s a solid and respected tabletop role-playing game, with such a devout following that there have been a handful of video game spinoffs in recent years. While most of those video games continue along the RPG path, the latest game, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, puts you smack dab in the middle of the action as a high-powered soldier on the frontlines of a planetary war. It would be easy to dismiss this game as nothing more than yet another military shooter, but there’s enough variation here from the standard path to make Space Marine stand out. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a huge fan of the Gears of War franchise, and have put countless hours into both titles in Epic Games’ Gears saga. Delta Squad member Augustus Cole’s days as a thrashball (the football-like sport played on the planet of Sera) player have always intrigued me. Imagine my delight when I saw that this fall, NECA would be releasing a statue of Cole in full thrashball gear. I got my first look at NECA’s statue at Toy Fair 2011, and I immediately knew that it was going to be the centerpiece of my Gears of War 3 action figure display. Though the figures are still not due out for a short while, I’ve got the statue now. Needless to say, the final product does not disappoint. Read the rest of this entry »

Of all the Marvel superhero movies released thus far, none had me as eager to see it as Captain America: The First Avenger. Cap is one of my all-time favorite superheroes, and his Marvel film debut was the last necessary cog to put in place before next year’s Avengers film. Was Marvel truly saving the best for last? Partially. Captain America: The First Avenger is a fairly formulaic film, but it manages to entertain and hit all the right notes. Read the rest of this entry »