Geekin' Podcast and Blog

Hey, Geek and Geekettes! It's time for the DC side of Mid-Week Mini-Christmas, also known as Comic Book Wednesday! Let's dive into those reviews! Constantine #8 Writer: Ray Fawkes Artist: ACO This ending of this book irritated by crap out of me. But we'll get to that. I love the storyline they've got going for Constantine, and I wish they'd leave it kind of separate, on the side, not really tie in the direct story to anything else. The artwork isn't my favorite this issue, but I think it fits with the story, so it works. The story picks up where the last one left off, which is the way I like it. Constantine fighting with Mr. E while Sargon looks on, unable to stop Mr. E, but neither is she willing to help Constantine - at least not directly. She leaves a sword called the Moonblade where Constantine can get to it, giving him the edge he needs to defeat Mr. E. Drained (and I bet, unable to see a way out out of his current situation without a confrontation, and als...

Hello, geeks and geekettes! It's that time again! Mid-Week Mini Christmas, also known as Comic Book Wednesday! This week we're doing All-New X-Men #18 and Thor God of Thunder #15 on the Marvel side. Speaking of Thor, check the facebook page at facebook.com/geekinpodcast for our first issue of the Geekin' Podcast and Retinax5's and I's review of Thor: The Dark World! Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Artist: Stuart Immonen I must be a bigger Bendis fan than I thought. I notoriously love Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm just as much in love with this book. I thought the art worked very well for the story, and the over-all book was exactly what I want from my X-Men books. This book addressed things that I'd been wondering about for several issues now - the Jean/Hank kiss. The fact that Magick and Kitty used to be so close. The future of the young original X-Men. The original X-Men are trapped in our time - they can't go back. At all. People have tried. Something...

Amazing X-Men #1 - The Quest for Nightcrawler Writer: Jason Aaron Artist: Ed McGuinness Nightcrawler has always been one of my favorite characters since I was a child. I was saddened when he died, but anyone who's ever read more than 6 issues of X-Men, we knew he'd be back eventually. And Amazing X-Men #1 is where that happens. Nightcrawler is in Heaven, but it's just short of paradise for Kurt. He was a flirtatious swashbuckler, a man of faith and belief, and now he sits in Heaven twiddling his thumbs. He's not ready for eternal rest. He has more to do, so he feels. What he really feels, is bored. Until Dad shows up for a visit. One of Marvel's most interesting and underused villains, Azazel, attacks Heaven. Meanwhile, on the mortal coil, Angelica Jones, Firestar, shows up at the Jean Grey School as their new teacher. Nervous, anxious, and unsure of what to expect, Angelica's met with the usual chaos and disorder that follows Wolverine's X-Men where ever th...

Hey there, Geeks and Geekettes! Welcome to another Comic Book Wednesday which means, of course, comic reviews! We'll start the week off with DC Comics Phantom Stranger #13 and Stormwatch #25. Writer: J.M. DeMatteis Artist: Fernando Blanco Phantom Stranger is a part of the more "magic centered" side of DC Comics, along with Justice League Dark, it has more of a Vertigo feel to it, but this time around, with the New 52 reboot, they're grounding this side of the DCU in more connection with everything else. It doesn't feel so disconnected as it did before. Phantom Stranger is a fun and... strange comic. It has heavy religious tones, as we're lead to believe that the Phantom Stranger used to be Judas, the very same who betrayed Christ and is now kept alive to do God's bidding in some undefined penance. This issue we find the Stranger in the house he's used for his alter ego and mortal guide, Philip Stark. Philip Stark was a real man - a serial killer, whom ...

I was able to grab the ear of comic book creator and writer Darker Sho, who's comic book Ruin is on it's last couple of weeks of it's Kickstarter funding. Looking over the facebook, twitter, and Kickstarter pages, this comic really grabbed my attention. The artwork is gritty without being muddled and at first reminded of Punk Rock Jesus from Vertigo comics, but cleaner. The concept - a graphic novel about a nomadic survivalist trying to make ends meet in a future dystopia after humans have destroyed the civilization they worked so hard to build, leaving only a vast wasteland of primal human behavior with little hope for repair - is immediately intriguing. Once you delve a little deeper into the plot, it becomes even more so. It’s the year 4602 and our protagonist, Ayden, is scouring the harsh desert badlands with only a map and his three-legged canine companion, Sasha. Ayden is on a mission to rescue his kidnapped sister from the fallen city of Ataraxis, the capital of deba...

I've been reading Witchblade since it began. I guess I was 11-12. My Mom started collecting them and I was enthralled. Until that point I had only read the spandex, cape and mask comics. A non-superhero comic book was a huge turning point in the way I saw comic books and sent my already overwhelming interest in comics skyrocketing. The Darkness came soon after, but Witchblade was were it started. Michael Turner's art is instantly recognizable. A little over the top sometimes, but it fit for the world of Witchblade. Witchblade is one of the longest running female lead comic book in history. Wonder Woman has been around a while, but with lots of starts and stops. While it started off with just a connection between the Witchblade and the Darkness, Top Cow eventually spawned Artifacts, and added 11 other magically inclined items all linked together. Artifacts is story of epic proportions, but always grounded by those first two characters. Witchblade was even made into TV show, whic...

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Artist: Francesco Francavilla I say this a lot. And I don't care. I love this book. Are there differences to the characters since Annihilation? Yes. And there should be. These characters should be growing and changing and evolving. If you don't like how they're changing, that's fine. But don't whine that they're not acting like the same people they were 5 years and 3 wars ago. Come on. This book seems to be constantly on the edge of exploding into something big. Lots of secrets, lots of something big just lurking over the horizon, and we as fans have seen this months ago, but it's finally starting to occur to Gamora that she needs to be asking some hard questions. Peter wants to make a plan. But really, it seems more like stalling to me. And I think Gamora gets that too. She flat out asks Peter and Drax how they came back. She flat out asks Peter why he didn't kill Thanos. He asks her the same - she lived with him for years. ...

Written and Drawn by Andy Kubert What an odd read. Of all the ways I expected them to handle this book, this isn't one of them. Now, I haven't read much press about it, so I'm not sure what they're exactly trying to do here. But it's not bringing Damian back to the mainstream DCU. This is a continuity all its own. Andy Kuberts art is astounding; I didn't realize how long it'd been since I read anything by him. His X-Men stuff is what sticks in my head the most when I think of X-Men books from my childhood. The book starts off with Batman and Damian working a crime scene. Dozens of bodies and fish piled into a heap; dead. Batman instructs Damian to search for clues, and Damian, narrating, goes on and on about the stench, and how revolted he is by the rotting smell. Andy really drove that point home without making the art too disgusting. I'm grateful. That's one scene I'd rather not immerse myself in, thanks. As Batman is going over what villains m...

Those who read this blog know that I hate on this book a lot. That being said, I have lots of good things to say about this issue. While Loki CLEARLY agrees with my earlier assessment of him being misused as comic relief, this book sees a serious change in direction for the character and sets him up for Loki: Agent of Asgard. While dealing with a group of "monster unleashed for the pre-verbal fears of humanity", Loki's thumb starts to bleed. He calls Teddy, saying that he's getting a "mother incursion" and asks if he's done something stupid like go to New York.(Frown!) But it's not Teddy that answers, it's Leah. She has Teddy, which means Mother has direct access to our world and she intends to unleash the bad-versions from the dimensions the Young Avengers lead Mother to onto Earth. (What they don't explain, is why is Mother telling them this? I mean, obviously, to lure them to her, she says so on the last page. But. Why? Why not just UNLEAS...

As Weird West Week here on Geekin' has just passed us by, I've been looking forward to this book for a number of days now. And it was well worth the weight. First, I want to talk about the art. Emma Rios does an amazing job at bringing the old-west feel to this comic, while immersing you in a whole new world with vibrant characters and expressions. Rios is one of those artists that I'd love to see a wordless comic book by. I'd love to see her tell a story with just the art. Jordie Bellaire does the color on this, and while I don't give colorists the credit their due, I do want to stop and take notice of this one. The colors Bellaire chooses help set the tone, which is extremely important in an old-west setting. I'm really pleased with it. Kelly Sue DeConnick writes a creepy, but compelling story, leaving you with enough mystery to pull you in and make you want to come back for more. It's a hard balance in a first issue, to give you enough to feel interested ...

(The introduction to this review is long and windy. Feel free to skip down a few paragraphs.) I grew up in Science Fiction, but was raised in Fantasy. Allow me to elaborate. Sci-Fi didn't happen much at home, early on. Mom read X-Men and ElfQuest. But my Uncle owned a comic book shop, Mom worked it, and I spent every spare second and then some in that store. As soon as I was old enough, I started volunteering at the conventions the store put on. It was mostly Science Fiction. It was centered around Star Trek and would "branch out" into Star Wars, BattleStar Galactica, Andromeda, Buck Rodgers, etc etc... So I began watching the tv shows and movies at home because I'd met and known some of the actors. It was always fun to watch people I'd spent time with in real life on my tv. This naturally led me to the books of the same shows and genre. While I loved watched Sci-Fi on the tv and in the movies, I found the books infinitely BORING. The comics, the novels, all seem...

Hey, Geeks and Geekettes! It's Mid-Week-Mini-Christmas, also known as Comic Book Wednesday, and that means COMIC REVIEWS!!! This week we'll be focusing on my two favorites, Guardians of the Galaxy and Red Hood and The Outlaws, the latter of which comes back after a month away while DC did their Villains Month; we'll talk about that some. Now then! ON TO THE REVIEWS!! Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite comic out right now, for a number of reasons. Love or hate Bendis, he's on a mission; to give a comic that ties into Infinity, but also prepares new and old readers alike for the upcoming movie based on this title. Are the characters exactly like the movie? No, yet neither are they exactly like we've seen before. This title also introduces Angela, formerly of Image comics, and her return to the comic book page. I love her dynamic with the team and the possibilities she presents if she stays in the title, and as future story arc ads suggest, she does. This ...

Welcome Geeks and Geekettes to Weird West Week! Because of my rabid love of comic books, I think we'll start there. Some of these series I've read, some I haven't. I'll do small reviews for the ones I have read/am reading, and at least synopsis on the rest. Jonah Hex Jonah's gone through few changes over the last decade. Civil War vet turned mercenary, Jonah Hex is rough, gruff, and crude. He's a tell-it-like-it-is, no frills, meats and potatoes kinda guy. He's also one of the best shootists in the West. In a genius move by DC, they brought Hex into the New 52 in a comic called All-Star Western. If you haven't picked it up, you need to. Hex has gone through the early history of Gotham City and worked with ancestors of the Wayne and Arkham family. Even did a stint with a time-traveling Booster Gold to much hilarity had by all but Jonah, of course. Currently thrown into present times and having caught the attention of Batman himself, Jonah has proved to b...

Happy Mid-Week-Mini-Christmas, Geeks and Geekettes! It's Comic Book Wednesday and that means COMIC BOOK REVIEWS-VIEWS-Views-views-views-ews-ews.... ...Echo for dramatic effect didn't work out like I'd hoped. Oh well. This week we'll be focusing on a couple of first issue books, Hinterkind from Vertigo and The Occultist from Dark Horse. As always, be sure to check out out Facebook fanpage at www.facebook.com/GeekinPodcast and hit us up on twitter at www.twitter.com/Geekin_Podcast or drop us a line here on the blog. If there's something you'd like to see, or you just want to tell us how awesome we are, we'd love to hear from you. Now then! On to the reviews! Hinterkind from Vertigo Writer: Ian Edginton Arist:Francesco Trifogli I've always had a soft spot for Vertigo comics. Darker, weirder, and more mature than what usually comes out of the Marvel and DC camps. Hinterland is everything you could learn to love and expect from Vertigo. We're not given m...

Hey, Geeks and Geekettes! It's Comic Book Wednesday, and here's our review for Real West from MonkeyBrains Comics! Writer: John Arcudi Artist: A. C. Zamudio I don't normally pick up completely unknown comics on a whim, but since I've been enthralled with Weird Westerns for the past month, I couldn't let this issue pass. The artwork works really well with this; matches the gritty feel of the story. It starts with a daughter watching one of her father's neighbors properly mark his grave. After her mother died, her father disappeared out west, with dreams of striking gold. The neighbor tells her the tragic tale of her father's death; ran down by Comanches, even though he took many out with him, they still overpowered him. He fought to the very end, staying alive in the hot sun long enough to tell his friend the manner in which he died. The daughter thanks him for all his kindness, and leaves. Another local, having over heard the discussion, waited until they w...

Alright, Geeks and Geekettes, it's Comic Book Wednesday and that means comic reviews! Today we've got two reviews, the new Infinity - Heist tie-in and the long-awaited Guardians of the Galaxy #6! As always, be sure to check out our Facebook Fanpage at www.facebook.com/GeekinPodcast and follow us on Twitter @Geekin_Podcast for all the coolest news, pictures, freebies and assorted geekery! Now on to the reviews! Writer: Frank Tieri Artist: Barrionuevo Infinity Heist was an interesting story. It follows Blizzard and Whirlwind, two c-list villains, on their adventure trying to take advantage of the Avengers being in space. It's a fun story! They're bumbling idiots who just can't catch a break. They break into the Wakanda Bank to steal supposed diamonds and gold, but Spymaster has beat them to it. He waits in an empty vault, offering to let them in on an even bigger score... What this comic does to irritate the crap out of me, is changes artist style in the middle of the...

Happy Mid-Week-Mini-Christmas, Geeks and Geekettes! It's another Comic Book Wednesday and today we're going to look at Joker's Daughter in Batman #23.4, another installment of Villains Month. As always, check out our Facebook Fanpage at www.facebook.com/GeekinPodcast and follow us on Twitter @Geekin_Podcast for all kinds of news, pictures, freebies and assorted geekery! Now on to the review! Batman 23.4 Villains Month - Joker's Daughter Writer: Ann Nocenti Artist: Georges Jeanty So, I was kind of excited for this, because I really wanted to see where they were going with it. We've seen the sketches for months now. I expected it to be weird, but not this weird. First of all, this isn't actually Joker's daughter, which wildly disappointed me. I mean, we find that out pretty damn quick. I was hoping they'd drag it out, really let us think this might be his kid, let the nerd rage boil a bit; but no such luck. The girl, who much later in the book you find out...