Review: The Victories: Touch

By Reboot

I just read Dark Horse Comics' The Victories: Touch Vol. 1 collecting issues #1-5 of the mini-series before the recent on-going.  The Victories is a Michael Avon Oeming (co-creator of the Marvel imprint Icon's Powers) property that he writes and illustrates.  Oeming is facilitated in this endeavor with coloring by Nick Filari and lettering by Aaron Walker.

The Victories is a superhero comic.  If you got a chance to read my review of The Mighty Titan #1, you'll know how I feel about superhero comics outside of the big two currently, which is that they aren't too necessary and we should really be developing comics in all genres further since we are over-saturated with superheroes.  This book does not sway my opinion on that.  That also does not mean that this is a bad book; far from it. 

[IGH] at the Movies: Man of Steel

This week marks the return of the first superhero to the big screen in Man of Steel.  Three of the [IGH] family got a chance to see it right before it opened and you know we all had different feelings.

Review: Spike: A Dark Place

By Reboot

Spike: A Dark Place TPB collects issues #1-5 of the mini-series of the same name.  Like all of Whedon's properties in comic book form, it is put out through Dark Horse Comics.  As always, Joss Whedon is credited as Executive Producer, and this particular story is scripted by Victor Gischler, penciled primarily by Paul Lee, with chapter break art by up and coming cover artist Jenny Frison whose done covers for Hoax Hunters, Revival, and will be doing one of the Red Sonja covers as well.

This particular story in the Whedonverse takes place in the middle of Buffy Season 9.  For those of you who familiar with Dark Horse, you know that Buffy has continued since it ended with its 8th season in comic book form with Joss' oversight and approval (so it counts!).  In the case of this story, if you aren't well read in the post-TV seasons, you will feel out of place.  There are wise cracking and endearing bug aliens, Spike is on a spaceship, and did I mention the bug aliens?  Do not let this discourage you, Buffy fans!  The same sort of witty exchanges can be found here.  However, in the case of this story, it does fall a little short at times.

'Game of Thrones' Fan Reactions to 'The Rains of Castamere'

Minds were blown and hearts were broken during Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones. I'm not going to say why because if you haven't read the books or seen the episode, you would be deprived of the experience of finding out for yourself. So this post is not for the uninformed. If you don't want to be spoiled, move along.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Now that the "unsullied" are gone, let's talk about what happened. HOLY S*%$SNACKS! How insane was that?! As crazy as the episode was, what's even better is the internet's reaction to what happened. 

The internet exploded. You know you're doing something right when so many people get so worked up of a piece of fiction. My personal favorites are "The Red Wedding" twitter, which hosts the various reactions across the twitterverse. They range from the typical "I HATE YOU GEORGE RR MARTIN!" to "I'm canceling HBO because of this" to "My life is over because of GoT" to "Can Bob the Builder fix Robb Stark?" and everything in-between. It's one of the funniest things I've ever read.

The Daily Beast put together a compilation of fans reacting to that big moment and I wish it was longer. Some of these reactions are priceless. Check it out.

*Side note* Can I just say how much I love how many females are included in this? We love GoT too. 

And finally, there is this - GoT's own Maise Williams (Arya Stark) posted her reaction.





What was your reaction? Do you know people who flipped out? Tell us your stories.

Like what you just read? Let us know in the comments below and keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr!

The Doctor Regenerates - Matt Smith to Leave Doctor Who

It's a sad day for Whovians. According to the BBC, after four years, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who after the Christmas Special. 

There have been rumors circulating for months and at one point, we thought we had confirmation that he was going to be around for at least some of the 2014 season, but now we know that is was all a ruse. 

Matt Smith issued this statement: 

"Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I'm incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years.

Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It's been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he's a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I've never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I'm back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!It's been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with 'the ginger, the nose and the impossible one'. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt."

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to miss Smith. I didn't like him at first, but I realized his Doctor was just what was needed after David Tennant left. So thank you Matt Smith for your quirky, mad, bow-tie loving, fez wearing Doctor. 

Review: Strange Attractors

By Reboot

Strange Attractors is a graphic novel put out through Archaia Entertainment that is one of the many recent endeavors of writer Charles Soule and also features art by Greg Scott, and Complexity Maps by Robert Saywitz. You might be saying to yourself, what the hell is a complexity map and why does someone get such a specific credit like that in a graphic novel? I promise you'll at least have a vague idea of what that is by the end of this review.

Full disclosure before I dive right in, myself and Wilderowens did attend the book release party for this graphic novel a few weeks ago. There we got to talk to Charles Soule briefly as well as Robert Saywitz. I was already familiar with Charles' work on Strongman so going into this I had an idea of the kind of quality story telling I should expect, but this book honestly surpassed any expectations that I could have possibly had. I was first impressed by the quality of the printed book itself. Archaia has always produced beautiful looking books. This particular hardcover holds true to the high benchmark that Archaia has for its products in terms of binding, paper quality, etc. And for 128 pages of goodness at a $19.95 price point, we're already looking good before I even start reading it.

Upon reading, you'll see that Strange Attractors is a loving tribute to New York City. From Charles' intro, to all the different kinds of people we meet along the way, you can tell that there is a deep level of sincerity and sentiment for this city that never wavers even for a moment. I understand many of you might want to know what the plot is here, and I get that. It's almost impossible to describe this very intricate story without spoiling something so I will try to be as vague as possible. A mathematics student, Heller Wilson, is working on his thesis. In order to do so, he needs to find a Dr. Spencer Brownfield who can give him the insight he needs to put everything together. However, once he meets Dr. Spencer Brownfield, Henry gets dragged into a world of uncertainty. Henry will have to fight not only for his thesis, but for his lover, his sanity, and for the fate of all of New York City. 

Charles does an exceptional job of keeping you interested every panel of every page. This, of course, would not have been possible without Greg Scott's brilliant eye catching art and the ingenious idea of incorporating these gorgeous complexity maps from Robert Saywitz. These maps that we see sprinkled through the story are key to helping Henry and Dr. Spencer Brownfield keep New York City going. It might not make a great deal of sense now, but if I could tell you exactly what they do without spoiling anything then it just wouldn't be that layered of a story, now would it?

Complexity Map by Robert Saywitz

I personally cannot recommend this book enough. I started reading the book leaving the book release party and finished it on the train to work in the morning despite being thoroughly exhausted and being able to use a good mass transit nap. If I wasn't the type of person to hold back from using words like "perfect" to describe a book, then I would be using it right now. Editor's Note: I would totally be comfortable with using the word perfect for this book.  - Wilderowens   

I implore you all to go pick this up at your local comic shops, to ask them to bring it in if they haven't yet or are sold out, and to tell other people you know that want a graphic novel that pushes the medium to new heights to do the same. If you have no other way to get this book, order it on Amazon which it is available through as of May 28th. Do whatever you have to to own this.

Charles Soule is an absolute fantastic writer that is worth every moment of your time. He's currently working on Swamp Thing starting from issue 19 and will be starting on Red Lanterns next month with issue 21. Pick up Strange Attractors so you can say you knew about him before he got big, because I'm telling you right now, he's going to be. You know how you didn't know who Scott Snyder was until Batman came out and by then everyone was all over his stuff? Don't make the same mistake with Charles Soule. He signed my copy of Strange Attractors with this phrase and I'd like to end with that here; "Stay complicated. You excel at it and we need it."


Like what you just read? Let us know in the comments below and keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr!

Review: King Conan #1

By Reboot

Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

 

This Wednesday, May 29th, Dark Horse Comics premieres Issue #1 of 6 of a new Conan series titled King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon.  This is scripted by Timothy Truman, with art by Tomas Giorello and adapted from the novel of the same name by Conan creator Robert E. Howard. 

Let me start with what I do know about Conan.  Admittedly, I'm not well versed in the comics.  My knowledge of Conan comes primarily from the two films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cartoon Conan The Adventurer which I watched often as a kid (I even had some of the action figures!).  In all fairness, that probably gives me a better background on the character than the average person you'll run into on the street, but that doesn't necessarily prepare me for the kind of intricate plot threads you'd find in a comic book series that has been going on more or less for many decades. 
 

Quicksilver: Top Nine Things You Need to Know

Quicksilver (aka Pietro Maximoff) has been all the talk this past week, with confirmation that the character will be in The Avengers 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past, thus causing two studios to fight over him.  With all this Quicksilver love going on, it’s safe to say he is the new big man on campus.  For everyone who isn't completely up to date on this character (I admit my knowledge of Quicksilver is limited), here is a list of his highlights.