UndercoverFanBoy.com – Comic Book News, Rants & More!

Review of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger #1

CLOAK & DAGGER #1 - I’ve lost track of how many times that Marvel has tried to launch this series. Folding them into the X-Men was a great idea… especially given the fact that that can play well with others, great power sets and the whole “we’re tired of living on the streets” thing. But, are they mutants or not? In the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, Cloak & Dagger were billed (along with Spidey) as “non-mutants.” In their history, that designation has gone back and forth to the whims of whoever is wr...

Review of X-Force #25

X-FORCE #25 - Thank God the Nechrosha storyline is over. The longer this story went on, the more I could tell that Craig Kyle and Chris Yost had this thrown on them from Marvel High Command. Sure Blackest Night made some money for DC, but that doesn’t mean you have to pump out a crappy story to weakly compete. Does anybody else remember when comic panels had backgrounds drawn into them? I thought Rob Liefeld was bad, but Clayton Crain is the new master of the no background style. Stick to covers...

Reviews of Blackest Night #6, X-Men Legacy #231, Fantastic Four #574 & HALO Bloodlines #1

FANTASTIC FOUR #574 - It’s Franklin’s birthday and much too Johnny’s dismay, the kid’s only request was that Spider-Man be there. Artie and Leech (formerly mutant friends of Franklin’s from waaaay back…) and three of the Power Pack kids also attend. The FF also seem to have adopted one of the Wizard’s clones they found still alive in his HQ. Roughly the same age as Franklin they have named him Bentley (The Wizard’s real name…) although he insists on being called thirty-two. After everyone has en...

Reviews of Batgirl #5, Uncanny X-Men #519 & God Complex #1

UNCANNY X-MEN #519 - So it’s not a big surprise that Beast decides to take an indefinite leave of absence from the X-Men for awhile. Seems he’s still a little peeved at Scott for letting him languish in Osborn’s prison during Utopia until it suited Scott’s purposes to free him. Hank has graciously put together the X-Club to act as the X-Men’s brain trust in his absence. Fine. Done. Good-bye Cowardly Lion. Go hang out in S.W.O.R.D. with your green-haired girlfriend. This issue is once again stole...

Comic Reviews of SWORD #2, Daytripper #1 & Dark X-Men #2

DARK X-MEN #2 - Having kept the core members together after the Utopia debacle (well, the most evil/misguided ones anyway…), Mystique has led, Dark Beast, Mimic and Omega to investigate an incident in which a large group of people seemed to be under control of someone as they chanted, “I am an X-Man…” Once at the hospital where one of the victims is being held, they encounter an incredible energy source that threatens to overload Omega (he literally gets drunk on power) and completely freaks Mim...

Comic Reviews for X-Men Forever #13 & 14, New Avengers Annual #3, Dante’s Inferno #1

NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #3 - Finally we get to see how the heck Ronin manages to get freed after being captured in his attempt to kill Norman Osborn. Finally. Looking at you Marvel editors. Osborn is actually pleased to have Clint in his grasp, hoping to learn where New Avengers HQ is located. Mockingbird wakes up to find Clint gone and sends Ms. Marvel to scout Avengers Tower - which is completely locked down top-to-bottom. Wolvierine is apparently still on Nation-X, Spidey is out, Iron Fist isn’t ...

Comic Reviews of Nola #2, Astonishing X-Men #33 & Incorruptible #1

INCORRUPTIBLE #1 - BOOM! Studios is still one of the most underrated companies out there and is quickly gobbling up both licenses and market share. Add Maid Waid as both writer/creator and editor-in-chief and you’ve got a great product. Spinning out of the Irredeemable series, in which The Plutonian (a Superman-like hero) goes off the deep end and begins to commit mass genocide and other assorted crimes; Incorruptible focuses on the only being to ever trade blows with The Plutonian and live. Mis...

Comic Reviews of Dark Avengers #12, Batman #694, Cable #21 & X-Force #22

CABLE #21 - I think I may have figured out just who and what Hope is. Review first, then theories. Last issue, Cable ad Hope just barely managed to escape the Brood and Bishop by using the ship’s escape pods. Bishop also manages to survive by bonding with a living Brood-ship and chases the two pods for two years on their course to Earth. Over the two years, Hope has become a young woman is her teens. Once back on Earth, Cable and Hope have one last confrontation with Bishop in which Hope manifes...

Reviews of Uncanny X-Men #518, Thor #604, Strange #2 & X-Force Annual #1

Rating System: 0 to 1.5 stars = save your money unless you are just mindlessly collecting the title. 2 to 3.5 = worth a shot if you are up to trying something new or wanting to get back into a title. 4 to 5 = a must buy for any comic reader. UNCANNY X-MEN #518 - Cyclops wants the piece of the Void that Emma absorbed out of her so she can change from her diamond form and use her telepathy. Gathering Charles and Psylocke, Scott plans to use Charles as a guide as he goes in to perform “psychic s...

Reviews of Blackest Night #5, Uncanny X-Men #517, Thor Giant-Sized, Secret Warriors #10, Black Knight, New Avengers #59

Rating System: 0 to 1.5 stars = save your money unless you are just mindlessly collecting the title. 2 to 3.5 = worth a shot if you are up to trying something new or wanting to get back into a title. 4 to 5 = a must buy for any comic reader. UNCANNY X-MEN #517 - You will all bow before the best writer at Marvel: Matt Fraction. Sure, I’m a tad biased towards anything with an X on it, but the way Fraction is crafting this new era of the X-Men; I’m beginning to think he’s secretly Chris Claremon...