ASGARDIANS OF THE GALAXY / JUSTICE LEAGUE / SILVER SURFER / SCARLET / HUNT FOR WOLVERINE [Sunday Stash]: Outer Space Shenanigans!

Happy September, fellow geeks and geekettes! Summer isn’t quite over just yet, not when we’ve still got some of the hottest titles and creators cranking out some cosmic comic goodness for us. Just what names will we be encountering during this week’s Sunday Stash? Just keep reading and find out here, at GodHatesGeeks!…




“Reverend” Ryan Ford
@nayrdrof
ASGARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 – Marvel Comics

Not just a clever play on words, Asgardians of the Galaxy is mostly just a clever play on words. A rag-tag group of murderers, assassins, thugs and frogs – all with ties to the Realm Eternal – come together in order to stop a threat to the universe only they can prevent.  So now that I’ve spoiled the entire arc of the comic with one sentence, let’s move on to some of the more surprising aspects of the comic, like the story.

Writer Cullen Bunn has a lot of good ideas. He builds upon the mythology that came before in way that is very logical, once all the pieces have been placed on the game board. That being said, there is a mild predictability to the events as they transpire. Nevertheless, Bunn has left enough wiggle room to build a very compelling and entertaining story. Speaking of mythology, the MacGuffin of the issue, the Naglfar, is really fun to say out loud, but I digress. One major portion of the book that worked quite well was the art; artist Matteo Lolli and colorist Federico Blue work together in crating a vibrant cosmic world that gives off a classic Star Trek vibe. It is reminiscent of the episode Kirk is fighting those really slow, poorly dressed lizard men in the desert. That. Full disclosure: there’s a high likelihood I’ll pick up a future issue of this title – hopefully when all the dead Asgardians start kicking some galactic ass – and know exactly what is happening. Anyway, if you like the Family-Fun-Center-style of fun that takes place in outer space and boasts a roster of Valhalla’s Junior Varsity, this is the comic for you. 2.75/5 Bibles.
-Ryan Ford



“Minister” Matthew Garza
JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 – DC Comics

Scott Snyder brings the Totality story to its end. The League puts its most complicated plan up to stop the Legion of Doom. As the story has gone over, “doom” is synonymous with fate. Lex Luther believes he can become the universe’s savior by embracing the negative aspects of life, which makes him square off against Hawkgirl, John Stewart literally races around the planet connecting to everyone who’ve become ultraviolet lanterns in order to accept the power of the invisible spectrum; and Flash has to slow down and use the Still Force to expand the universe and cut off Umbrax — the Ultraviolet Power battery — from coming to Earth. This is very complicated. Oh, and Batman is in a sarcophagus-like cast set in standing position; it’s kinda funny, considering all his limbs were broken in the last issue.

As Flash attempts to cut off Umbrax, along with help from Wonder Woman and Aquaman, Cheetah and Black Manta try to destroy the underwater Lair from the outside. Aquaman makes it outside, drawing in two sharks that would put the Meg to shame, in hopes of distracting them. Hawkgirl gets the upper hand on Luther; Superman deflects raw energy from Umbrax; and Flash witnessed what Vandal Savage had in store, and pushes forward. After finally defeating the Legion, the Justice League is now in possession of the Totality— the energy source from which our entire reality was created. Now, they hope if should they fail in healing the breach in the source wall, the Totality will hold the answers they need to save the multiverse. Overall this was pretty good, albeit confusing.. but Martian Manhunter and John Stewart’s conflicts were enough to keep me invested in the Legion, especially with Lex accepting help from an unlikely new ally. 3/5 Bibles.

-Matt Garza




SILVER SURFER ANNUAL #1 – Marvel Comics
“Cardinal” Roberto de Bexar
@RobBex2

Ethan Sacks has shown that he can do intimate with Old Man Hawkeye but he really drives home this point with Silver Surfer Annual. Sacks takes us back to the beginning for the Surfer, when he has just become the herald of Galactus and he is searching for the right planet. He shows us that the Surfer is trying to find a planet that either a) isn’t inhabited or b) is such a warring planet that no one would miss them. He finds one, but it turns out to be the “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” incident.

The Surfer finds out that underneath the warring planet is a world eons ahead of the Kree or Skrull, but it is too late and his master is already on his way. The doomed planet passes their song on to the title hero, but he goes mad by what he’s done.By the end, Galactus wipes his memories and the Surfer finds another warring planet that no one will miss: Earth. It’s a beautiful issue that has a lot of undercurrent tones describing today, but it really could be any decade. The art by Andre Lima Araujo is reminiscent of Howard Chaykin, but with cleaner lines. It evokes emotion on every level and he does a great job at it. My only complaint about this issue is that I don’t know if it takes place before his first appearance in Fantastic Four or if his mind wipe by Galactus erased all of that. 4/5 Silver Bibles.

-Robert Bexar




SCARLET #1 – Jinxworld/DC Comics
“Sister” Savanna Leigh @SavannaDLeigh

From one Scarlet headed lady to another, I was very excited to review the rebooted Scarlet #1, by DC’s biggest free agent pick-up of the season, Brian Michael Bendis, and his longtime P.N.C., Alex Maleev. I had high hopes but unfortunately they fell as flat as the Florida’s landscape–which just so happens to be the location I’m flying to as I review this comic. Scarlet’s writing, despite the prowess of the person with the pen, was less than engaging and the drawing.. believe it or not.. was subpar. Most of the time I was confused about where the story was going or what the characters were even talking about when they would go on these page-long tangents. This plot had the potential to be amazing; but, instead, it’s not something I can recommend. You will be as disappointed as I was the morning I realized our family dog, Buffy, was indeed not my biological mother. 2/5 Bibles.-Savanna Leigh




“Saint” Timothy Markham
HUNT FOR WOLVERINE: DEAD ENDS – Marvel Comics

Hunt For Wolverine Dead End’ premise really pulled me in. Straight from the front cover: “Wolverine died, entombed in molten adamantium. The X-Men took his metal-encased body and hid it away, keeping its location secret. But nothing stays buried, it was only a matter of time. As teams of X-Men, Avengers and other investigators searched for Wolverine’s body, the clues began to pile up… and the moment has come to put them together.” Even if you have no prior knowledge of the situation, that brings you up to speed and gets you interested instantly. The story starts out with Tony Stark and Daredevil meeting up… at the X-Mansion and several other crossover interactions ensue. Charles Soule’s story is action packed and paired very well with Ramon Rosanas’ art. I will 100% be picking up #2 in the series to see what happens after a star-studded cast of heroes leaves us off on a cliffhanger. 4/5 Undead Mutants.

-Tim Markham

HUNT FOR WOLVERINE / COSMIC GHOST RIDER / DEATH OF THE INHUMANS [Reviews]: Marvel-ous!

Jason “Bad Preacher” Bud
HUNT FOR WOLVERNE: WEAPON LOST #3 – Marvel

Sooo…it drops in a lil sumpin like dis, mutie…

Slit-throat Cypher bleedin’ out down ‘round da maple syrup underground

Hell’s Kitchen Hornskull witda dead-set eyez

Creepin’ up dankazz Saskatchewoodz backside

Ole Red’s posse-huntin’ fo dat missin’/dead Canucklehead

Do ya hunt fo da Wolverine, Wolverine, Wolverine???

Sayyyyyy what???

Do ya stunt fo da Wolverine, Wolverine, what???

Nowwwww what???

Do ya grunt like da Wolverine, Wolverine, now???

GRUNT!!!!!!!!!!

Misty Knight’s breakin’ down dis 21st Century Foxy Brown

Jammin’ concussive rounds into her Stark-raving arm cannon

NuHuman Frank McGee super-sleuthin’ tha clues an’ cues wit da sunset eyeballs

Booming cloud nine wit dat Inhuman Skycharger, my man

Do ya cut like da Wolverine, Wolverine, cut???

Sayyyyyy what???

Do ya strut like da Wolverine, Wolverine, strut???

Nowwwww what???

Do ya grunt like da Wolverine, Wolverine, now???

GRUNT!!!!!!!!!!

Reaverchild Albert ain’t no one’s lil princely jewelry bitch

So’s he gunna try an deathgrip ya with his fierce Piercetipka

Lost Weapon seekers might bulletback tha robofoe

When the night sky flies high moon, now low

Muthrfukkrz name is LOGAN, foo!!!

Logan, Logan, Logan

Muthrfukkrz game is LOGAN, foo!!!

Logan, Logan, Logan

Muthrfukkrz refrain is LOGAN, foo!!!

Logan, Logan, Logan

Metallic mutant madman gunna leave ya torn an’ broken…

Snikt, Snikt, Snikt!!!

3.75/5 Adamantiumadmen

-Jason Bud




COSMIC GHOST RIDER #1 — Marvel Comics
“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Twitter @captzaff007

I did not like this. Throughout the entirety of my reading Cosmic Ghost Rider #1, I kept getting the feeling of how comics were in the early-to-mid-1990s: SO KEEEEEEWWWWWL, MAN! THEY’S SO EXTREEEEEEME! THE DARKER THE BETTER! I WANT MY COMICS SO DARK THE ART IS JUST A BLACK PIECE OF PAPPPEEERRRRRRR!!! That shit isn’t for me, though. If you like it, hey, all power to you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this. But twice while reading this issue I turned back to the cover page to make sure that yes, I am indeed reading the right comic for review, the characters therein are in fact the ones I think they are, and no, I’m not just drunkenly hallucinating a mishmash of whatever comics I currently own.

Even with the 2-page long breather catching the reader up to how, and why, Frank Castle is currently in Valhalla, after being Thanos’ black right hand, after being the herald of Galactus, after being killed, after….man, I got tired just writing that…I was out for a loop. Look, last I checked in the pages of the monthly Punisher comics, Frank had stolen the War Machine armor and was fighting most of the Marvel heroes… that makes considerably more sense than anything I’d read in these pages. So…the Punisher is now the Ghost Rider, and he makes it his first mission to go back in time and kill Thanos. But he doesn’t? And instead kidnaps baby Thanos and rides with him around in his little space motorcycle? (Somewhere, DC Comics is salivating at the Lobo intellectual property theft…probably the only time “Lobo” and “intellectual” can be used in the same sentence).

One of these things is not like the other, no matter how damn hard they insist they are.

Donny Cates does decent work writing this title, throwing in a bunch of exposition while making Frank sound at least a bit like the Frank I know (primarily the Garth Ennis version of Frank).  “But J.L., you magnificent son-of-a-bitch! The Punisher is SO COOL interacting with other Marvel heroes! It can’t all be Punisher MAX!” Yeah, I get it, but compare his crossover here with his interactions in Welcome Back, Frank. Or even in the last Secret Wars event, where the last act Frank undertakes, as the universe is exploding, is gunning down as many super-villains as he possibly can. The art by Dylan Burnett is okay…it kept reminding me of the first series of Spider-Gwen, and it’s great that Frank is still aging in real-time; but this just kept feeling so out-of-character from what I’m used to from the Punisher. The design would be great if it were not Frank Castle. I was constantly reminded of when Speedball was turned into Penance — and not in a good way.

“Well, J.L., man, it seems like you went into this title with expectations. So sorry it tried something new!” Yeah…I was expecting a Ghost Rider in my Ghost Rider comic, not Punisher as Ghost Rider in Valhalla with Thanos. Jeez, just writing all that again made me grimace and leaves a weird taste. I can suspend my disbelief as well as the next guy, but this is not for me. Instead I’ll just go crack open my Punisher MAX series for the 30th time. 2/5 Weird Space Motorcycles.

-J.L. Caraballo




“The Traveling Nerd” Lance Paul
@lance_paul
DEATH OF THE INHUMANS #1 – Marvel Comics

The issue starts off with a refresher on the origins of the Inhumans before finding out the Kree are calling all the Inhumans back and are willing to use bloody maneuvers to see it happen. They have already started killing thousands of Inhumans and carving “Join or Die” into their bodies by the beginning of the comic, with an Inhuman executioner named Vox leading the bloodletting!

Death of the Inhumans #1 begins by wasting named Inhuman characters within the first 10 pages and doesn’t stop until the end of the comic. You can tell that after the flop of the Inhuman comics, and the bomb that was the the Inhuman television show Marvel has decided, less Inhumans is a positive thing. The higher-ups have decided with the Fox merger that Mutants are back in the wheelhouse and we don’t need the “lesser” Inhuman characters anymore. The layout of the story in Death reflects this very tellingly. I’m totally okay with it. The story was enjoyable so much that it showed Donny Cates (Redneck) wasn’t messing around with the kid gloves. 4/5 X-Men Agree!

-Lance Paul