Iron Man: The Mask in the Iron Man

Years of hard partying, being a superhero, and the stress of losing Stark Industries results in Tony Stark suffering from a massive heart attack. In order to keep the world without an Iron Man, Stark creates an artificial intelligence inside of one of his suits in order to fill the role. But when the Ai becomes sentient (and like went doesn't an Ai do such a thing in comic books), it seeks to rid the world of Tony Stark.

The world of Iron Man is one of those sections of the Marvel Universe where I know the basics and that's about it. If it wasn't for Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of the billionaire playboy Avenger, I probably wouldn't even like Iron Man. He's smug, pretentious, and kinda gets on my nerves how he keeps losing his business and then gets it back like a man might throw a boomerang repeatedly.

As you could probably tell from my earlier comments, I feel like the Ai wanting to be a real person story has been to death. But I enjoyed this book as though the plot has gotten old, the storytelling itself was rather good. Having Tony stranded on deserted island and be forced to survive like Oliver Queen had to prior to becoming Green Arrow was actually a pretty interesting plot twist. And wouldn't you know that the genius behind all this is Joe Q himself, Joe Quesada who wrote this story?! 

Quesada is one of those figures that though I couldn't stand him as the editor of Marvel, the man's got talent and he seems to know his fan base way better than his replacement Axel Alonso ever has. I can't believe I am going to say this but Come Back Joe! Marvel needs you! We need you!

As for the art. Eh... It's very much in that dated late 90s Rob Liefeld clone model. Sean Chen and Alitha Martinez are really winning me over with the artwork. But I actually think that the pencil thin inking and washed out colors are really what makes this book not so visually appealing. 

An interesting story that could have been nothing more than a cliche. Thankfully, Joe Q. keeps it from getting stale. It's not the worst Iron Man story I've ever read but it's not one of the best drawn either. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald and Mickey Comics #1

Writers: Kari Korhonen, Andrea 'Casty' Castellan, Frank Jonker
Artists: Daniel Branca, Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Bas Haymans
Covers: Andrea Freccero, Ronda Pattison
Translation: Justin H. Gray
Published by IDW

When is Disney going to loosen the reigns and let IDW make all-new comics about their most iconic characters? When IDW announced the release of a new volume of Walt Disney’s Donald and Mickey Comics, I had assumed that the new series would be filled with all-new material! But there’s not even 1 new story in this book!

IDW obtained the license to Disney’s line-up of comics in 2015. Since then, there hasn’t been anything new released by the publisher. Then over the summer, an exception was made with the new Ducktales series that corresponds with the reboot due next month on Disney XD. Deep down I was convinced that the new Ducktales series was a sign that IDW was now given free reign to create their own stories with Mickey and the gang. That’s why I volunteered to review this comic. Yet, once again as with the relaunch of 2015’s Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, I was sorely disappointed.

The new quarterly Donald and Mickey Comics offers three adventures. All three stories were originally published around the globe and are making their debut in the USA. The first story, The Saucerer’s a Menace is Danish story from 2005 starring Donald. Here, Donald crafts a secret hot dog sauce that all the residents of Duckburg are crazy over. But when Donald decides to take a sick day, it turns out that his fair city can’t function without his amazing wieners.

The middle story features Mickey and Goofy and their legendary foil, the Mysterious Blot! Italy’s The Big Fat Flat Blot Plot has detective Mickey and the chief of police stymied as the Blot has found a way to make himself disappear while committing a number of crimes. This story was quite interesting of note as this marks the first time I’ve ever read a Blot story in which the villains face is revealed. I’m sure it’s happened before, but it’s not a common occurrence in Disney books.

The last story is from Holland. It’s another Donald feature called Yard Wars. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are tired of Uncle Donald fighting constantly with next door neighbor Mr. Jones. So they arrange for the pair to appear on a reality show in hopes of patching things up. Only the cure is worse than the disease as Donald and Mr. Jones’ appearance on Yard Wars has made them a town spectacle.

When it comes to this trio of stories, I have nothing but praise for the artwork. It’s some of the best renderings of Mickey and Donald this side of Carl Banks’ impressive portfolio of Disney Comics. It’s the translation of these stories that really bugs me.

For example, there’s a scene where Donald is serving a hot dog to a customer. In it he asks “Want some of my special sauce on your dog?” That panel brought out the fifth grader in me with talk of special sauces going on weiners. But it’s that type of double entendre that fills this comic that makes me would if it’s merely an innocent mistake. OR is this like when somebody deliberately drew a penis on the priest in 1989’s The Little Mermaid?

I really do not mind that IDW is digging into Disney’s worldwide vault of Disney Comics. But if they are going to continue with the license, they really need to fix the English interpretations of those works. Plus, it wouldn’t kill anyone if there was just 1 new story per issue!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars Jedi Academy Book 5: The Force Ovesleeps (Family Comic Friday)

First of all, thanks to all for being patient with me this past week. I've been swamped with grading papers and work. So, last week I took a much needed day off from Family Comic Friday. It actually worked out pretty good the timing and all based on what day it is...

Today is Force Friday II. It's a new annual shopping holiday devoted to revealing new Star Wars merchandise that the general public wants but can't afford. It also just so happens to be the Friday I complete the last book in the Jedi Academy series: the Force Oversleeps.

Victor Starspeeder and his friends have returned for their second year at the Jedi Academy on Coruscant. Victor believes that he's gonna really shine this year as he will finally get to fly in a starspeeder simulator. But things aren't quite going his way as usual. For some reason Victor keeps oversleeping for his first class of the morning. Then there's the new kid who everyone likes and seems to do things better than Victor. Plus, there's rumors going around that his sister Christina could be turning to the Dark Side by becoming a Sith!

This is book five of the Jedi Academy series and I have rather enjoyed each of them. But the first half of this book was really starting to get old to me. The pattern is always this: a young Padawan builds it up in his head that he's going become the Chosen One at the Academy. Then things don't go his way and his love for a fellow classmate is complicated by jealousy or miscommunication. He struggles in class and might actually get expelled for poor grades. Plus, there's always a bully or disapproving teacher. But then something happens in the second half of this book that really won things back over for me.

When Victor starts to suspect that his sister is the galaxy's newest Sith Lord, he starts to reflect on his family life which is of a blended family. Some of Victor's pals reflect on similar circumstances. One of the things I love about Star Wars is that hard hitting issues aren't really what the movie series is trying to tackle. Unlike Star Trek that has a moral edge, Star Wars is more about fun and adventure. Yet I was actually okay with this book tackling a serious issue for once. They didn't make it preachy and it was very welcoming on how they approached the subject in making it gel with the overall theme of the Star Wars series: family! 

There's one more book due in this series as it's needed to complete the Victor Starspeeder trilogy. But after book #6, I think I'd be fine if they don't do a third trilogy. UNLESS- maybe that  new trilogy could have Roan from the first trilogy and Victor come back as instructor's at the Academy training the next generation of padawans. I would love that idea. 

The Force Oversleeps was a book that started off as something that I seriously felt like I had read before- and I had! But it really matures like the padawans do at the turn of the second act. A great read for Star Wars fans of all ages.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Riffing on the TARDIS: A Review of Rifftrax Live The Five Doctors

For many it was a weekly ritual. You grab a bag of cheese popcorn, some generic version of Dr. Pepper, dim all the lights in your house, and watch Mystery Science Theatre 3000. If you were a super-fan of the show you called it MST3K. Then you allowed hosts Joel or Mike with their robot sidekicks to take you on a cinematic journey. Mocking some of the worst films ever made, the gang would point out plot holes, continuity errors, and bad acting all the while making you laugh.

Currently MST3K has returned for a new season on Netflix. While this series has garnered some very high praise in its revival, the reboot doesn’t have any of the original cast. For many, that can be a major bummer. Not having Netflix is another a huge downer, but that’s a discussion for another article. Thankfully, for those fans devoted to the original series there’s Rifftrax.

What's a Rifftrax?

Rifftrax takes what MST3K did best- finding cheesy movies, the worse you can find (La lala), and tearing them to bits. Second MST3K host, Mike Nelson started Rifftrax in 2006. But it wasn’t until 2012 when Bill Corbett ("Crow" MST3K seasons 8-10) and Kevin Murphy ("Tom Servo" MST3K seasons 2-10) became partners in the company that Rifftrax really took off.
On its website, Rifftrax has an impressive selection of films that they mock. There’s classic B-movies such as Samurai Cop and the Brian Bosworth bomb, Stone Cold. Thanks to Kickstarter, Rifftrax has even been able to obtain rights to films like 1998’s version of Godzilla. Along with the a large portion of the original MST3K shows, Rifftrax’s also provides commentaries you can listen to in conjunction with watching blockbusters such as Rogue One and even the original Mothra. But let’s get back to their Kickstarter projects.

Kickstart those Laughs

Earlier this year, Rifftrax held a mystery Kickstarter project. Due to terms of the licensing agreement, Nelson and company were forbidden to reveal what the film they were going to be skewering unless they obtained complete funding for their project. Well, the Rifftrax guys destroyed their goal and the project was revealed- the guys would be putting their comedic spin on a classic episode of Doctor Who! The BBC apparently did not want to get any hopes up until they knew that the Rifftrax folks could obtain funding for the licensing rights. As a result, Rifftrax put on a special show live last week from Nashville TN where the episode was aired in theaters around the country. Last night was an encore performance of that classic Doctor Who event.

The episode in question was "The Five Doctors"- the 20th anniversary episode of the long-running BBC series. That episode has a slew of classic Doctors and companions joining forces against a rogue Timelord who is stealing all of the Doctor’s past regenerations from the time stream. The 1983 episode stars Peter Davison, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Thornton as the Fifth, Third, and Second Doctors. 

Blake’s 7 actor Richard Hurndall assumed the role on the First Doctor for the late William Hartnell. Meanwhile, Tom Baker decided to forgo his chance to reprise the role of the Fourth Doctor. So never before used footage from the abandoned episode "Shada" was used instead.

The Rifftrax guys did a fantastic job allowing the fans to laugh at the episode and follow along more of what was happening at the same time. Occasionally, the screen would cut in half allowing viewers to see the episode while watching the shenanigans of Mike Nelson and company. Thankfully, these cuts all happen during lulls in the action. Every once in a while, you hear the commentators giggling at their own jokes but for the most part, it ran rather smoothly.

Technical Difficulties

That wasn’t the case with the opening act. On some episodes of MST3K, they would start off the show by viewing a classic educational film and mock it. Being that Doctor Who is British, the Rifftrax folks went across the pond to bring us Play Safe. According to Kevin Murphy, in the early 70s there was a big problem with kids playing near power lines and inside of substations. So the British government created this film as a way of warning kids of the dangers of high voltage. While there were plenty of laughs made at dumb kids playing with electricity for the first 2-3 minutes, the Rifftrax guys had trouble seeing the monitors and kept asking the tech crew for help. But once it was cleared, it was smooth sailing the rest of the night. Needless to say, the electrocution of little Timmy was a running joke for the duration of the event.

It was great getting to laugh without being reminded of all the crap going on in the world. Only a few jokes were topical.  There was one joke about the next Doctor being cast as a woman. Several jokes about the quality of 2017 summer blockbusters came at the expense of features like The Dark Tower. But the Trump/ Clinton jokes were kept to just one! The Five Doctors was a great event to just escape everything for a little bit. Even my wife said that for 2 solid hours she forgot about work.

Coming Attractions

The next big Rifftrax event is in the fall. On October 25th, theatres nationwide will be airing the Rifftrax Halloween Special showing of the original Night of the Living Dead. Until then, if you need some laughs, you can view a number of features and shorts in the Rifftrax library at prices ranging from $1.99 to $9.99 per episode. Just don’t forget your cheese popcorn and Dr. Pepper knock-off sodas.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Lobo/Road Runner Special #1

After years of failing to capture his nemesis The Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote takes to the stars to hire the baddest bastiche in the galaxy Lobo! But in order for Lobo to take the job, the Coyote has to fulfill a hit for the last Czarnian. Honestly, I don't know who's in it more over their head- Wile E. or Lobo? 

Bill Morrison's take on the Road Runner/ Wile E. Coyote mythos was quite interesting. The super-intelligence of both animals is due to genetic testing on a group of animals from the New Mexican desert. If you look closely, you'll see that a gray hare, black duck, and a canary are some of the test subjects as well. 

But where I got lost from Morrison's story is a scene in which one of the assistant's is talking to a scientist but then everybody acts like she's talking to thin air. That plot point wasn't clearly explored further and I read over that sequence like 5 or 6 times just trying to figure out what I was missing.

I liked Morrison's art. It was done in the gritty Lobo style that still allowed for reader to clearly understand who was who in of the Looney Tunes despite their new designs. Plus, the old 1940s style sci-fi slant used by Bill Morrison was perfect for this type of bizarre story.

The Warner Bros. style story in the back was also very good. It too had Lobo trying to exterminate the Road Runner. But with the addition of Bugs Bunny holding Lobo to the family friendly standards of a Looney Tunes cartoon, it was a laugh riot instead of the more series main feature. This is one story that I would have loved to see as an animated short.

For a gritty property like Lobo marketed younger readers, it could have gotten too sugary sweet. Instead, this was a very good crossover read that didn't lose it's essence nor was it overly shocking for a crowd used to it's characters surviving explosions and falls from enormous heights. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1

 Both Hal Jordan and Space Ghost answers a distress call from a planet besieged by a mysterious entity that can destroy planets. In typical (but very awesome) crossover fashion, both Green Lantern and Space Ghost believe that the other is the dangerous foe. When the true enemy is revealed, Jordan is now in possession of Space Ghost's battle bracelets whereas Space Ghost is the newest Green Lantern in the sector! It's an dynamic buddy-cop team-up full of excitement and childhood dreams come true!

The story was very good but the art and colors by Ariel Olivetti was just amazing. I'm a big fan of Alex Ross and his realistic painting style. Olivetti boasts similar skills but his style has a more 1940s pulp action feel to it. It's freakin' awesome stuff.

The secondary feature star a pair of Hanna-Barbera characters that I have never heard of. It's a cat and dog duo called Ruff n' Ready. In this story, both are down-on-their luck comedians that just can't find the right partner until one fateful day the two happen to pull up a seat next to each other an a local bar and comedic history is made. 

This Howard Chaykin penned story promises more of Ruff n' Ready in the future. Somehow I doubt it. This tale, while an interesting take on how comedy duos are formed, just didn't feel to me something that's going to spawn a future mini-series. I might be wrong but I doubt it as I really felt that the Jetsons back-up in Booster Gold/The Flintstones was going to become a series and in November, my instincts will be proven right. With Ruff n' Ready, I don't have that same vibe.

This crossover special overall was enjoyable. But the title feature of Green Lantern/ Space Ghost is really what carries this book. Just because I rate this book lower because of the back-up feature doesn't mean that this special isn't Worth Consuming- it really is!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Tim Seeley's Action Figure Collection

Published by Image Comics
Art and Stories by Tim Seeley
Additional Art by Sophie Campbell, Steve Seeley, Jim Terry, & more

A Kid at Art

At the end of this collection of outrageous stories, creator Tim Seeley gives the reader a chance to look at some of the earliest drawings he ever did as a child. Many of those pictures ended up the inspiration behind the characters collected here. So in a way, Tim Seeley's Action Figure Collection reads as a sketch book as well as a psychological look at the mind of a child artist.

There's 3 main story lines that run through this book:

• Colt Noble & The Megalords- A young prince is being trained to become the next warrior leader of his home world of Solus. But his hormones are getting the best of him. When he's not being chased out of Solus's strip clubs, he's trying to score with one of his female trainers. On one fateful day, young Jaysen falls in a chasm and discovers an ancient figure of action. This figurine turns Jaysen into Colt Noble, a super-strong hero with a very long sword.
• Jack Kraken- Agent of H.I.M.- The Kraken is a mysterious agent with special abilities and powers that enable him to find Bigfoots, aliens, and even ghosts. But what's even more mysterious about the agent of H.I.M. is that nobody has ever seen his face before. That is, except for two orphans that Jack rescued from paranormal abductors. What is the secret that Jack and the two girls share and what would it mean to the world if that confidence should ever be broken?
• Animaliens- A group of anthropomorphic aliens are stranded on a prison planet. Their leader is the young Princess Poodlea who lacks the experience to lead a kingdom of convicts, much less defeat them. Will she have what it takes to restore order to this lawless land?

Introducing the Seeleyverse

There's a number of short stories that tie in to one or more of these three main tales. Further stories include a team of alien sex-kitten dodge-ball players stranded on a hostile planet in parts unknown. Then there's a team of superheroes made up of the Boogeyman, Dracula, and a ghost. Oh, and don't forget the college adventures of a featherless mutant bird and his best friend, a Polish sausage. But Colt Noble, Jack Kraken, and Animaliens are the centerpieces of what should be referred to as the Seeleyverse.

Action Figures has a childlike wonder to it. I can imagine Tim Seeley as a little kid having off-the-wall adventures with his Star Wars, He-Man, and G.I. Joe figures. It's almost as if someone wrote scripts to those play sessions too. Because the dialogue is a little off, more like how a child would explain a story than a grown-up. There's definite elements of those classic 80s toys as Prince Jaysen/Colt Noble is clearly inspired by He-Man/Prince Adam. Add in a few dashes of swears and T&A and this is what Axe Cop would be if wunderkind Malachi Nicolle hit puberty.

The art is from a variety of artists that Seeley meet through DevianArt. Their styles vary from cartoony (Deadstar Divas) to near Jim Lee-level of detail (Jack Kraken.) My favorite artwork was of the Colt Noble adventures by the late Mike Dimayuga. His clever use of throwing Easter eggs such as Leia in Jabba slave gear at the Solus strip club made those adventures all the more enjoyable.

Please Sir, Can We Have Some More?

Tim Seeley's Action Figures says that it's volume 1. So I am hoping that more adventures involving Kraken, Poodlea, and Colt Noble are on the horizon. There's quite a few laughs to be had and quite a bit of adventure as well. If you are looking for something that doesn't quite fit the traditional mold of a superhero comic, then this is the collection you've been requesting ever since you became a kid at heart.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.