SPOILERS: The Viper and the Mountain

A 12 page comic chronicling the fight between the Viper (Oberyn Martell) and the Mountain (Gregor Clegane)

BATMAN AND ROBIN # 23.2 - COURT OF OWLS Review

Quick review for BATMAN AND ROBIN # 23.2 featuring the Court of Owls by James Tynion IV and Jorge Lucas.

The Court is back or rather retreating in the midst of the chaos that the Crime Syndicate has unleashed in FOREVER EVIL. This issue stands as both a way to introduce us to follow the Court of Owls and at the same time show us their dark and sordid history. 

In this issue we find out how they take out their enemies, how they effectively coerce their pawns and shows us how deep the relationship is between the Court and their Talons. Tynion writes some grim and gritty scenery splattered throughout the book and raises reader curiosity. 

But while the art works fine in this tale of tragedy and resilience it still rubs us as a bad version of Howard Chaykin. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure Mr. Lucas can do great stuff given a happier mood but the pairing of the story with the artist just went too far for. Too perfect in fact, that it started to look weird. Not bad, just weird. 

There's also the opening pages which harkens back to the good old classic suspense/ horror movies of old where the characters turn around and the killer is already behind them, draped in darkness and ready to kill for whatever nefarious reasons. Tynion IV excelled in those particular scenes, heck the little kid reciting the Court's classic poem added more 'creep' factor IMHO.

Reader/ buyer beware as there's just a lot of bloodletting in this issue. Just letting you know. 

The premise was concise and clear and shock of the climax for this issue proves us that just because the members of the Court of Owls are mere mortals and rich people wearing creepy masks; they also have the penchant to murder and maim when the chance presents itself. Finally the mystery behind "the first Talon" is definitely something I want to get back too especially since I think TALON is such an underrated Bat-book. 

ALL NEW X-MEN # 16 Spoilers

Part 2 for X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM by Bendis and Immonen. 

This post has a doozie of a spoiler. Thread carefully. Oh and here's the link to Part 1 (LINK) 

One of the biggest shockers here in this issue comes in the form of WHO'S UNDER THE XORN MASK.

And then BOOM!



This part of the issue made me want to go all Wolverine and shout "JEANNNNNNNN!"

So yeah, it looks like the whole weirdness happened due to that brief moment in the field where Cyclops died. In their future, with Cyclops dead, mutants did not stand a chance because they didn't have an able leader who made all the tough choices. Basically, the merry mutants world got royally screwed.

X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM # 1 Spoiler

So what's the main gist of this new X-Over "X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM"? Apparently it has something to do with Cyclops. Both of them.

Peel off the high concept battles of multiple X-Men teams, this is basically an in-continuity AGE OF APOCALYPSE but where AOA was a world without Charles Xavier, this crossover ells the story of a world without Cyclops leading the X-Men.

That would mean there's no Cyclops during stuff like Messiah Complex and Second Coming or even Schism and AVX. 

The whole thing starts with O5 Cyclops getting critically injured during a supposed recon mission with the remaining members of the team plus Kitty Pryde. That's of course after old Cyclops' Uncanny team appears out of nowhere for a well meaning assist against Sentinels.



Good thing for the fledgling teen team, their Uncanny counterparts brought along a healer...



Though no direct consequences appeared, the whole death and rebirth of Cyclops once again injured the timeline causing ripple effects plus it creeped out both versions of Scott Summers. Oh and can somebody give these guys a copy of BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Also does this mean that it's back to the Scott and Jean pairing and not that Hank-Jean pairing that was previously revealed a few weeks back.



The issue also ends with the appearance of a group of X-Men from the future:

which includes Deadpool, Beast, Molly from the Runaways, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Xorn and Charles Xavier's grandson. 

X-Men: Battle of the Atom # 1 is already out in stores now. It's written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Frank Cho.

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS # 23 Spoilers - More Death

More deaths are happening in space in the latest issue of Green Lantern: New Guardians # 23 by Justin Jordan, Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessy. 

Kyle tries to face off against RELIC but the big-ass baddie simply sways him away like a fly on a taco. Seeing how insignificant he is, Kyle feels desperation and tries to take off with everybody including the Blue Lantern Corps (under the control of Brother Warth, as Saint Walker's been knocked out a bit).





And they do a sacrifice play with the Giraffe Blue Lantern. Just when I've grown fond of the idea of a giraffe for the BLC.



And there's a new mystery here. The fact that the blue light can actually supercharge energies outside of the Green Lantern corps. Pretty impressive and lets hope Justin Jordan explores that bit once we're clear of this whole Relic debacle.



Oh god! That's just horrible. The BLC guys are superchargers, they can't hurt other people and are the most optimistic guys and gals in the DCU. And to see them die like this...

UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 Spoilers

Spoilers for UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Frazer Irving

I take it back, Frazer Irving's art is gorgeous when you give it the right theme and guidance and context. I guess his art was really just an ill-fit for the Dormammu story arc.

In this issue Team Cyclops face off against a new and deadlier kind of Sentinel...

The X-Men think that it was sent by SHIELD but SHIELD is clueless. They turn to Dazzler (Alison Blaire) who has currently infiltrated Madripoor (and is currently knocked out thanks to Mystique).

Magneto ends the fight with the mystery Sentinel (with broken powers and all). Sentinel disintegrates and we find who the mastermind is...

Looks familiar? Should be, Bendis admits that this was THIS guy:

UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 is out now!

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN # 35 Spoilers - Nightcrawler Teaser

Jason Aaron's latest arc in WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN entitled "The Hellfire Saga" has ended and it brings some interesting twists and status quo changes.

Some of the things that happened in the final chapter of WAXM's "Hellfire Saga" arc.

Idie and Quintin Quire are finally a couple:



You may or may not like the pairing (I'm for the for the former) but you can't help but think that this was already revealed in an early issue of WATXM. It's only now that things have started to move towards that direction. Which could also mean that Evan/ Genesis becomes Apocalypse is getting closer.

Mystique and Sabretooth's Plan



We'll probably see more of the new Hellions when X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM officially begins next week. It'll also be cool to finally see what Creed and Raven are up to ever since ALL NEW X-MEN officially began.

BROO returns



Thanks to a familiar yet mysterious figure, we get Broo back. If you're unsure what happened to the little feller, he was shot in a makeshift Church by Max Frankenstein point blank. The X-Men stitched him back up but at the cost of Broo's intellect. An encounter with a blue Bamf however has made it certain that the returning Nightcrawler gets a good tease.

Amazing X-Men is definitely coming



One of the best things about this issue is the revelation that Kurt Wagner will be needing his fellow X-Men's help in the near future. Most probably when they deal with Kurt's resurrection as well as the fight with Kurt's daddy Azazel.

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN # 35 is now out.

A Hint of Things to Come for X-FACTOR

X-FACTOR's coming to a close what with the issue getting cancelled after the final issue. But it seems like Marvel (or writer Peter David) isn't done with this group of merry mutants! 

It also looks like Quicksilver is returning to the fold

At the moment I haven't read the book (gonna make sure I do when I visit Comicx Hub later) but based from what Bleedingcool has posted it seems like there's a new company with some hidden agenda and X-Factor members in mind.

And yes I remember that the original mandate for X-Factor was to collect mutants under the guise of encarceration but since the team was handled by the original five X-Men (now appearing in ALL NEW X-MEN btw) said captured mutants were set free and given new identities. 

Maybe this is going to be the same thing with whoever got to Polaris. And with this, we bump up the possibility of X-FACTOR getting a MARVEL NOW 2 relaunch to 80%. The bigger question is whether or not PAD will be back to write the book. And that this was only a platform to relaunch the book with a new direction in mind.

Thor: The Dark World MAJOR SPOILER

IGN is talking about the Thor: The Dark World sizzle reel which was screened during this year's SDCC 2013 and how it does not bode well for the Avengers' resident God of Thunder. 

So according to the report, the final leg of the reel showed Loki (Tom Hiddleston) chopping off Thor's right hand while his hammer, Mjolnir flies towards his direction. 

And if you think that's bad, lead star Chris Hemsworth is telling people that the whole right hand missing is only a fraction of what he has to worry about. Also you know what's funny, is that Alan Taylor is also a director for the wildly popular "GAME OF THRONES' where the blonde, lead guy (Jamie Lannister) also got his hand chopped off for political reasons.

Justice League # 22 - Who Dies? What Starts Trinity War

Spoilers before my official review for Justice League # 22 (which is part one of Trinity War).

Superman and Wonder Woman square off against Shazam... in Kahndaq no less...

The Justice League makes an appearance and tries to get Shazam (Billy Batson) to leave with them...

Then the Justice League of America makes an appearance as well.

It's during this encounter between the two teams that Dr. Light's powers decides to go haywire (which was allegedly caused by being near Superman, who is a living, breathing solar battery).

Check back in a bit for my official review of Justice League # 22 from DC Comics.