Thursday, November 21, 2013

Issue Review: Red Sonja 5

Red Sonja and her two "body guards," the teenage girls Ayla and Nias, attack one of the watch posts set by Dark Annisia and defeat them.  Sonja is still weak from the plague, and must continue to take the medicine concocted by King Dimath's son. After she rests, they continue toward Patra, where Tiath (Dimath's son) awaits them.  On the way, they find a lonely unmarked grave where Dimath rests -- unmarked to protect it from Annisia as well as grave robbers. Sonja flashes back to the time when Dimath freed her from the Zamorans who had captured her and Annisia, and remembers pledging loyalty to him for his kindness.  Meanwhile, Annisia continues to be haunted by ghosts of the many whom she and Sonja killed in the arena. Her soldiers report that Sonja has come back, and she orders them to burn Patra to the ground.  Back in the village square, Tinath uses leeches to draw the plague out of Sonja, and once she recovers, gives her armor and weapons.  Sonja then challenges Annisia to meet her in the Zamoran arena, and the two fight. However, Annisia hears noise around them, and suddenly they see King Bazrat of Zamora and his men, ready to watch them fight to the death.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Issue Review: Supergirl 25

The Oracle watches as parts of the time-stream are being destroyed by H'el, while Superboy, Supergirl, and Superman try to prevent it.  In the distant past H'el attempts to stab Kara with the Kryptonite shard she used on him, but she breaks free.  Meanwhile, in the more recent past, Superman watches his mother tell his father that they are about to have a baby (him).  Superboy and Kara from before she became Supergirl fight against the Eradicator, who Superboy sends to Smallville through a space-time portal.  The H'el of two time periods merges, bringing Superboy and present-day Supergirl back together.  Then Supergirl launches a final attack to destroy H'el.


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Issue Review: Batgirl 25

This month, the ongoing Batgirl story arc, "Wanted," is interrupted for a 1-shot "Batman Zero Year" tie-in. This issue is written by a fill-in author, Marguerite Bennett.  It chronicles the story of Barbara and James Gordon trying to make their way through a Gotham City that is seeing a hundred-year storm and starting to flood.  First, Babs is mugged after buying bread and gas, although she gets away and makes it home with her supplies. Then her father goes out to do his job, and leaves her home to protect James. It's not long before the fire department shows up and tells the Gordons to evacuate, as they are in a flood zone.  They relocate to a fire house, but that then floods as well.  Babs helps get everyone onto the roof, but then one of the survivors betrays them, trying to make off with all their supplies. Barbara manages to take him down and then helps get the rest of the refugees to safety as the storm only gets worse.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Movie Review: Thor, the Dark World

It's opening weekend for Marvel's latest superhero movie, Thor, the Dark World (hereafter: TTDW), which is a sequel to both the first Thor, and Avengers.  I saw the movie yesterday, and what follows will be a brief review of it.  Please note that there be spoilers here, so if you haven't seen the movie, go see it first.  Otherwise, certain plot points and surprises may be ruined.

The movie begins with a prologue showing that Malekith and the Dark Elves (who look strangely light-skinned given their name) ruled the universes until the Asgardians came and defeated them, bringing the light. Malekith created a powerful force called Aether which he would use to win, but it was taken from him by Odin's father, and hidden away in the deeps. The Dark Elves were defeated, but Malekith and a small number of them escaped on a giant space-ship.  This part of the film was pretty good, although even at this point, I thought Malekith was rather flat and uninteresting (as portrayed in the movie -- I love him in the comics).