Thomas Seitz's page

Blood Hunt isn't crossing over with Ghost Rider. Blaze though is expected to show up in a mini-limited series tie for Midnight Suns.

Roxxon's Thor was a great parody indeed. Though I don't think it was ENTIRELY aimed at socialism...especially given the left leanings of Al Ewing. But regardless good deal.

I was surprised that Frozen Charlotte was a Nephilim. I assumed, (based on her name) she was some kind of Greek Nymph.

Well other than Hulk beating up the mother of Nephilim and some more movement on the Kraoka front, I can say the Marvel side is slightly slow moving.

Thought Al Ewing's Resurrection of Magento ended with less of a whimper and many thinking 4 issues was just too short.

Everclear - "Santa Monica"

Probably one of the best grunge era songs that I can't get enough of.

I mean it's great we get to see Bloodripper not be killed. We'll see if the dragon can survive not having a working jaw for a bit...

Blood Hunt is going to be line wide and it looks VERY interesting since it ties into what MacKay has been doing in Strange, Moon Knight and even the Avengers. I for one welcome the chance to see what he can do.

As for the Shroud being Moon Knight, I'm okay with it since it was clear you needed a 'bad Moon Knight' and honestly, he fits the bill.

(Plus again, ties into Blood Hunt.)

Metallica - "Blackened"

YUS!!!! *throws horns* BLACKENED!!!!!

May the wings of the Iron Eagle send him to the reward he deserve. *Salute*

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Zero"

Very under-rated song. Even though I've moved past Smashing Pumpkins, this was/is a great song.

Saladin Ahmed is more than "a kid". He's written SEVERAL great books including Miles and Kamala's solos. I think he's doing an excellent job.

With regards to Frozen Charlotte, I think she's actually a Greek myth creature called Nephele. (See this link to find out more) Which I think is great. :)

Also Ultimate Spider-man continues to rule and G.O.D.S. just keeps getting more epic, weird and awesome.

Honestly I think MacKay had done a STELLAR job rehabbing and fixing Marc and while his death and the other guy MIGHT hinder some others; it's been a HELL of a good run.

Pretty much Jeff....

Well at least now we have a way for the paladins to join in.

Define cliched bull crap...cause I WANT to see Thor mix up with Roxxon.

I just enjoy the chaos of this fight, especially now that the dragon no longer has the upper hand.

Truly the man that influenced my life, the lives of others and will be remembered forever.

Okay Jonathan. Sorry. But it's cool about Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I enjoyed that.

Yeah well wealth and power to make rules seems like a terrible way to live...but I guess it works for them.

I just couldn't deal with his love for Objectivism and using THAT as the basis for his books.

The other stuff wasn't great either but...yeah.

Okay I'm impressed with the payoff.

Still think the Devil Dragon MIGHT be able to win if our guys don't get Sunny back on track.

Sorry to hear. I didn't think he was that great, but I know plenty that loved his work.

Ugh. I can't back anything by Dean Cain since he's become such a douche...but whatever, A-zombie...

Sharon's paying homage to the Original Destroyer Roger Aubrey's Destroyer outfit.

I agree. F!$$ Cancer.

Poor O-Chul and Lien...

He will be deeply missed.

Yeah. I miss him and Chester. They were great vocalists.

What b@#$*%+!!! There were more than a FEW good books out there. Including the one I'm assuming you didn't get which was Immortal Thor. Which WAS great.

But also; Resurrection of Magneto (Which while a trope feels like this will be more earned, especially with Ewing writing it); G.O.D.S #4 which honestly is continuing to setup some truly interesting and intriguing stuff; Not the least of which is Oblivion being more than passer by.

So...yeah. B+#!#%!#.

I feel great about the fact they at least semi-prepared for big bad villain's ability to change allies to foes.

Also, yes don't contradict your girlfriend when she's fighting a dragon.

I loved that cover a lot. Mostly because Tom Morello is the best.

White Zombie, featuring Iggy Pop - "Black Sunshine"

I love this song. :)

Sweet!!! I love this already! :D

He was a good actor. He will be missed.

Okay this is just unfair that you can charm a beholder like that....

Also very nice V. :)

I'm fine with whomever.

Whatever. I still think they just need to get Hickman, Ewing and maybe Jed MacKay in a room together to hash it out.

Joel,

True, but there's a rumor floating around they're gonna rename that Avengers movie. Even so, recasting Kang, not as problem as Boseman's since Kang is kind of a 'cipher"

Joel,

Not sure he's the first doctor without it, but he's the one I'll remember after being bi-generated...

I just think we'll get a different Kang variant instead. I mean that's how Kang rolls.

Understood, Them. You're entitled to that.

Philip,

Yes but he's still got the scars to prove it. So not completely unscathed.

I prefer to do palate cleansers after Jan 6. But this, yeah, one of the best by Slipknot.

Blue Öyster Cult - "Godzilla"

Still the best Godzilla theme song.

Well that might be A BIT much, Them, but I WILL agree it's better than some recent offerings.

I will miss him. He was a great actor, even before Brooklyn Nine Nine.

I disagree since animated features are still a draw for many people...

I'm pretty sure there was some skimping on that part of the budget....

Next up! Review of December 6th

Alpha Flight mini-series ends and while it wasn't as depressing as Children of the Vault, nor as semi-inspiring as other mini-series, the weight of Fall of X falls pretty heavy on the human side of Alpha Flight. Plus side though, the mission to get as many Canadian mutants out of Canada and into Chandilar space, was good. Less good is leaving poor Heather in a coma. But still, A+ for effort.

So Amazing Spider-man continues with Spidey trying to get some of his friends (well kind of friends in the case of Elektra and She-Hulk.) to deal with the massive Gang War. It goes their way in terms of getting a few of the major players, but clearly there needs to be MORE done with ALL the gangs that are currently in play. Again, decent cross over thing going, but at the same time...not a cross over that I feel is completely necessary. So...yeah...

Oh boy oh boy... I know some were disappointed by the ease in which the Avengers beat up the Ashen Combine, but the fact that more than half the team is down thanks to Nightmare feeling slighted. (Though clearly Thor thinks there's more going on) makes this match up between just Vision and Scarlet Witch versus the Twilight Court VERY good. Best part was Thor's willingness to concede to Nightmare this round. (THAT! That right there is character growth folks!) But also I enjoyed seeing the more...human side of the Twilight Court. Clearly even though they are the antagonists and opposite side of the Avengers, they are still (in some ways) heroes in their own right. Too bad they can't just stop blindly following Myddrin's orders. But still! I'm ready for the next part of this arc. No question!

I know that Zombie has issues with Matt being able to do such routine exorcisms and thus cast out fairly high class demons...but for me, it's less about that and more about Matt trying to balance out his old life with his new one as a priest. So yeah, Saladin Ahmed's run on Daredevil isn't for everyone. But for me, it's a real character growth for Matt in some ways. (Also I think the reason Bullseye just gravely wounded Butch Pharris was to keep him from getting any traction in the upcoming Gang War. Because let's face it, Butch is the new Kingpin. Period.)

Ryan North's FF continues to impress, not only with seeing new facets of old characters (like who knew Johnny Storm knew Asimov?!!) but also show us how the Marvel Universe avoided COVID. Wish that had happened here. Though I do admit to being worried about a FAIRLY sophisticated near AI program that MIGHT be running rogue (and thus making its own future); I am wondering if another FF villain might be behind it. (Also I hope they get the kids home. I miss Franklin and Valeria!)

Gerry Duggan's Iron Man gives us a decent heist number with Emma and Tony (along with a spot on Starfox/Eros) trying to get as much mysterium as they can to make this new fleet and/or suit. The best part of this issue for me was Riri and Forge meeting. (Honestly I thought they knew each other...) That plus the re-introduction of a Makluan dragon to reclaim the Mandarin's rings; Very cool. Overall I can't wait to see how this all works when Fall of X goes into overdrive with the other X-men sort of reboots.

I generally don't do much with Marvel Voices in terms of just noticing them there...unless its about something or a bunch of characters I care about. So when it's ALL Avengers, then yeah I'm in. With Tony's story and his helping Whirlwind with his substance abuse (makes me wonder when that happened given what's going on with Al Ewing's Avengers Inc.); Cap fighting Red Skull in a museum, Monica Rambeau aka Photon (still prefer Spectrum) being reintroduced to cosmic space slugs (and a nuclear meltdown); to the return of Robbie Reyes STILL stuck on the other side of reality but retelling a tale of his previous exploits to keep him grounded. It was a good issue of vignettes.

So I guess with Bob Reynolds being dead now, we need to figure out who can handle the power of the Sentry. My guess is clearly it's not Ryan (I'm clearly shipping myself as Homelander) Topper. I did feel bad the only mutant to get the power (so far!) got eviscerated. (Honestly when he said Thor I was like “Yeah. Thor. Sentry is strong but he never bested Thor)So we'll see how this mini-series goes. I am annoyed with Jason Loo's portrayal of Misty as a kind of a dick. (That's not her.) But yeah...

The latest iteration of Thunderbolts (that aren't operating out of NYC) is kind of weird and clearly pulling from the upcoming MCU movie. But at the same time, it feels VERY organic with Bucky, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (in LMD form that NO ONE knew about until just now), Sharon Carter as Destroyer and Red Guardian too. All told, it was a stellar way to kick off a new run with the demise (obviously not permanently but at least right now Lukin isn't coming back any time soon) of the Red Skull (and possibly his return!) along with his 'social networks” So yeah. Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing have brought in some good stuff for this iteration. We'll see how this goes.

Torrun Grønbekk's final issue of this part of the Venom run with Black Widow, Venom, and Toxin comes to a fairly dramatic end. They do end up saving Brent, but still leave some questions hanging in terms of....why was this story arc necessary!?! I mean sure I love seeing Flash Thompson and yes, th symbiotes were cool. But overall it felt completely unnecessary and distracting from the greater arcs going on. Otherwise, I'm glad it's over because now we can have Al Ewing bring us back to things that matter with Eddie and his temporal shenanigans.

The ending for this month's X-men was very abrupt and needlessly violent. I say that because even though Logan was involved in this issue (along with Shadowcat and Doom's new mutant Latverian task force), there was NO way to see why the lair was that bloody and messed up. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the fact we got to see Doom being Doom. (And even if he's too proud to admit it, he know ORCHIS is no friend of his.) Otherwise it was a good issue of X-men and Doom having...well close to a civil meeting. Also loved how Doom has his own Cerebro. Very on brand Doom.

Holiday, holidays. They are fun for all but require REGULAR work too. Which conflicts with my ability to post often for Marvel Comic reviews of books that the Zombie skips. So here me doing TWO reviews; One for the week of November 29th and one for the week of December 6th.

First up!

Review of November 29th!

The start of the new Gang War in Amazing Spider-man was pretty intriguing to be honest even if the whole thing feels VERY contrived with Madame Masque NOT being dead after all. (Which. Honestly I kind of saw coming. I mean come on...She fought IRON MAN for Thor's sake!) So now everyone and their mother is gunning for new territory since she took out Hammerhead. (I almost feel bad for the guy but good for Whitney to beat him up with Wolverine's thigh bone. At least I think that's his thigh...) Also nice to see Miles give Peter the business, even if he wasn't completely at fault. (Spidey Editorial needs work...)

I really am enjoying JMS's run on Cap if only because it feels more organic than some others. I do think though the introduction of some of Steve's past is connected to Asmoday, the Nazis and the rest. Also nice to see that even some thugs don't trust Nazis. The magic stuff is different but I am glad we had Strange have some kind of representation in this. So now the Emissary (who also has some kind of faux Super Soldier to enhance his killing powers further) is basically hosting a Lord of Hell. So there's that. I can't wait to see if Cap can handle this. Go Steve!

Howard gets a One shot vignette and the introduction of a new type of Watcher... Not sure I care for him, but the “What Ifs” were semi fun. Overall if you like Howard, a good read. Even if you're still unclear where he's currently at in the continuity realm.

As a tie in to gang War, Luke Cage (as Mayor) gets his own mini-series for this cross over. I kind of wish there would be more since I feel it's kind of wasted thing to NOT have Mayor Cage. But at least we get to see him decide to try to circumvent the No Viligante law as best he can. Also glad to see him recruit Cloak and Dagger too. (Though I do wonder about the whole Technarcy/Transmode virus Hound thing with ORCHIS. Maybe that gets resolved in later issues)

Miles, Blade and Bloodline do their utmost to contain the energy vampire outbreak. I feel like the frenetic pace of the artwork belies any real urgency. Maybe that's just because Gang War is around the corner...and energy vampires aren't as scary as OG Hobgoblin. But there you are. I am glad though Blade and Miles have gotten deep respect. We'll see how Gang War goes for Miles.

In a surprise to VERY few (though some of us HOPED we'd get a different villain) the mystery of Black Spectre in Mackay's Moon Knight has been revealed. I am glad though Tigra didn't go boom. But yeah, we're down the wire as Marc now fight Plesko/Black Spectre to keep the city safe. And thus Death of Moon Knight.

The ending of Ms Marvel's mini-series felt a little...abrupt in some ways. But at the same time, I felt tonally, Iman and company completely encapsulated what makes Kamala the best at being Kamala. I am wondering about Dr. Nitika Gaiha and whether or not she'll be a lingering threat to Kamala down the road. For now, at least, this was a good mini-series. I just wish it was on going. (Though there will ANOTHER mini-series for Ms. Marvel in March/April of next year according to Marvel.)

After ALL the rough art and the uneven pacing, I didn't QUITE the get the payoff of seeing King Thor/All Father Thor go full throttle against the Saturnyne. (Which honestly felt the most important) But there was some good resolution with the Mutant squad fixing what she broke along with a VERY cute and lovely scene with Thor carrying Curse on his shoulder while telling the tales of Asgard. Honestly though I expected more...oomph and action from the Asgard side of things. But the prophecy or at least the visions of what is in store for the X-folk is still worthwhile. Not the best Fall of X mini-series but far from the worse.

I've read my fair share of Spiderwoman/Jessica Drew stories over the years. This one shot mini-series...just don't connect in the same way. Mostly because I feel like Jessica SHOULD be able to get people to understand that her own flesh and blood is MISSING and/or erased from existence. But at least I get to see Jessica kick Hydra butt. So yeah. Gang War tie so so. Jessica story...average to middling.

X-men Blue... I just am underwhelmed in some ways but at the same time kind of relieved the changes that occurred with Kurt and Mystique weren't complete and utter crap retcons. I mean I fully expected and thought Raven COULD get some woman pregnant. I just never expected she could do so in such a way as to actually MIMIC the X-gene that specifically. (Also raises some questions about whether or not genetic testing will prove either thing...but that's retcons for you!) Overall, nice little vignette/one shot that helps establish some deeper rapport between Mystique and Nightcrawler.

I was under the impression Beast Boy's mind is gone and all that's left is a kind of Hybrid Starro/beast thing.

I'm glad Roy realizes the tactical disadvantage to a walkway if you're the hero...