New Avengers #25 Review

New Avengers #25 serves to show a connection between the Phoenix force and the Iron Fist. That's it. No Avengers. No X-Men. Bendis takes us back some hundreds of years ago to K'un Lun. The tale is centered around Master Yu Ti and his dreams of "A bird of fire. A girl with hair crimson. The dragon versus the bird."

I find it hard to recommend this book even for fans of Deodato. There are only two parts of this book I took notice of visually. The first is the "battle" of the Phoenix and the dragon. It looks decent, but not enough to warrant purchasing this book. The second is one of the characters in the mystical city has hexagram 30 of the I-ching on his clothing. The only reason I mention this is because I thought of the Arashikage symbol from G.I. Joe which is hexagram 63.

Maybe the "events," if you can call them that, of this book will play out in the next issue. But I doubt you'll be lost. If you've already purchased this issue, I'm sorry for you. If you haven't, skip it. Save your $3.99.

Thursday Thoughts - New 52 Edition

Hello hello comic fans. Another new comic day has come and gone. I've been catching up on some New 52 books and looking at my pull-list. I've trimmed some fat on there during this first half of 2012 and made a few more cuts very recently. Many of these changes are from the DC section. So for this week I decided to dedicate my Thursday Thoughts to the DCnU. Here we go people.

1. The Superman books both suck. I read both for a few issues and had to end that quickly. My thinking was ok, here's the New 52, maybe they'll make Superman interesting. I gave him an honest chance. Well several technically. Two titles and a couple issues of each. But they just didn't do anything for me.

2. Speaking of the Superman family, Supergirl's book is much better. I'm really liking the writing and the art. I can't wait to see what they have in store for Kara down the line.

3. I just dropped Green Lantern. I let it go on for too long. I wasn't enjoying anything about the book. I don't really care for Hal Jordan and while Sinestro can have some badass moments, for the most part, it's not mindblowing. I've really only been reading the title because I like the idea of the Lanterns. But I like John Stewart and Guy Gardner so much more. They should get more attention than Hal and Kyle.

4. I kinda want this Night of the Owls stuff to be done. I'm torn on the whole subject. I wasn't digging it at first, then I got into it. But then it kept dragging on and now I'm tempted to drop the books involving the story and pick them back up after this story is done. It has however seemed to have amped up a bit. I know for sure that I won't be reading any books that I'm not already reading. Not happening.

5. I've read some of the previous Birds of Prey series and have enjoyed most of what I've read. When it was announced that the team would be apart of the New 52, it was automatic that I'd try it. It's been good. I've been a fan of Black Canary for a bit but she's been easily outshined by Katana and Starling. They're the stars of the series.

Thanks for joining me in this rant about the DCnU. What do you think about what I think? Any shared feelings? Any thoughts otherwise? All comments welcome. Keep it geeky friends.

Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! It seems like just last week I was doing this. Oh yeah, that's because I was. Well then, welcome back funny book lovers. I've got a nice list of books releasing this week. This might be close to an average week for me. Two of those books are actually getting dropped. Green Lantern and Walking Dead must go. GL just isn't fun and after only a few issues I'd rather go back to trade-waiting Walking Dead.

Moving on to Cover of the Week we have an AvX tie-in. Fighting it out and coming out the winner for the week is X-Men Legacy #266. We're going green people. Check it out.

Brought to you by Mark Brooks, we have She-Hulk taking on Rogue. There's a lot of power right here. Should be a fun showdown. In this issue, some Avengers come to secure the school. The X-Men there aren't having that. I'm actually looking forward to this book hoping that it'll remove the bad taste from the previous issues. Not that they were horrible, but I really wasn't feeling them so much.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know. Thanks for looking people. Happy reading.

Thursday Thoughts - Avengers and Free Comic Book Day Edition

Hello my fellow comic fans. We have a big weekend ahead of us. The Avengers and Free Comic Book Day are hitting the same weekend. All types of geeky madness will follow. I was actually trying to avoid part of the theme being Avengers related just because so many other sites have been doing it. But then again, this is a big weekend. I can't just not do it. So this special edition of Thursday Thoughts will follow a theme featuring both of those events. Ok, so technically, it's mostly FCBD topics. But that and Avengers are both represented, so they share the glory for the day.

1. Avengers Assemble! I had to do it. So from the movie line-up, my favorite character is a tie between Captain America and Thor. I'm honestly torn here. I have a ton of love for both, but I've read and own way more Thor books. You wouldn't make me choose, now would you? I didn't think so.

2. And of course I must finish with something related to the annual celebration that is Free Comic Book Day. How could I not? That would be a comic crime. So the books I'm most looking forward to are Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mega Man, and Valiant Preview. I wanted the Witchblade book at first, but it appears to only be a reprint of Seeley's first issue. I've been reading Witchblade for years, so I already have that book. That makes me kind of sad now. I was hoping it was an all new story. Oh well.

3. Take the special person in your life. Take a friend. Take a group of friends. Bring the family. There is sure to be something there for every taste. You might have just brought another fan, or two or three, into the fold. I've asked friends to join me several times. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. I may be going this one alone though. All of this applies to both Avengers and FCBD. Are you and yours due for some family fun? Here's a solid weekend that is perfect for everyone.

4. Ok, so we all enjoy FCBD. There's no denying that. We get some cool books from our shops for free. And free stuff is good. But let's remember, our shops are paying for those books. So you should support your shop and hit the shelves. Some shops even have sales for the special day to encourage people to check out other books. I always pick up free books, grab the books from my box and hit the shelves for other stuff as well. There has to be a two-way support system going. It's good for fans, retailers, publishers, and the industry as a whole.

5. There is seriously something wrong if comic shops aren't flooded this weekend. Avengers is going to be huge. FCBD is the next day. THE NEXT DAY! You can't really top that for comic weekends. The only competition is the release of a comic book movie during a convention weekend. There should be families storming comic shops checking out the goods. We always hope that comic book flicks will spark people's interest enough to go to their local shops and start reading. I think it works...to a degree. I don't think readership will make an amazing jump, but I think the movies can help. That especially goes for Avengers.

I wasn't planning on having a theme this week, it just kind worked out liked this. It's not my fault though. The internet made me do it. I swear to any Asgardian god. I'm ready for the weekend. Are you? I think I have all the books I want picked out. What books are you looking at? I'll be back Saturday afternoon before or after I see Avengers to post my FCBD haul. Keep it comic cool my friends.

Cover of the Week

Happy New Comic Day! This is a fun week I tell ya. We have Avengers hitting theaters and Free Comic Book Day which is always fun. Add in the return of Valiant Comics with X-O Manowar #1 hitting shelves and there is plenty for fans to happy for this week.

This week's winner is Venom #17. I read the first issue of this series, but didn't care enough to bother reading more. But of course that wouldn't eliminate the book from taking the weekly crown.

Brought to you by Mike Del Mundo, Agent Venom here is falling back while firing off rounds at several enemies. I like how the reflections of those targets are shown on the shells. It's a cool look.

If any of you are reading this series, I'd like to hear your thoughts on whatever is happening with the book. Thanks for looking. Happy reading.