I don't usually review issues of The New Avengers but after reading the most recent issue I figured it's about time I said a few things.

I started reading this series when they discovered that Elektra was really a Skrull and liked it so much that I became a subsciber.  The rather strange assortment of heroes are fun to watch together, especially when they don't get along, like the relationship between Luke Cage and Spider-Man.  I've also gone back and read the first few graphics novels and also found those to be quite enjoyable.

The past few issues, however, have gotten me pretty pissed off.  All of the Secret Invasion crossover issues thus far have been flashbacks and stories that don't even really pertain to the New Avengers.  Since all of the memebers of the team are involved in the main Secret Invasion line of books, the series has become a bunch of random, supplements to the main storyline.  One issue was about Ka-Zar and the voluptuous Shanna doing whatever it is they do in the Savage Land.  The most recent issue, issue #44, is about the Skrulls attempts to trick clones of the Illuminati into showing them a way to disguise themselves as humans.

If I was buying this series at the comic shop this wouldn't be a big deal because I could just stop buying issues until Secret Invasion is over, but as a subscriber I'm forced to wade through this crap.  I subscribed to this series to see Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, and all the other members get into crazy hyjinks, but instead I'm being treated to a bunch of one shot side stories.

American network ABC has picked up five shows to premiere mideason. According to Wikipedia:

In North American Television a midseason replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between January and April. Midseason replacements usually take place after a show that was in the fall schedule was canceled, put on hiatus or had a shorter season than other shows and the timeslot needs to be filled. Some midseason replacements get canceled like the shows they replaced, but others have gone on to be very successful.

First up we have Castle, a drama created by Andrew W. Marlowe (Hollow Man) starring Nathan Fillion (Waitress), Monet Mazur (The House Bunny) and Stana Katic (Quantum Of Solace). Fillion stars as a writer of horror novels who helps the NYPD on some cases. Mmmh, sounds pretty standard but who knows? Castle's pilot was directed by Rob Bowman (Elektra).

Next is The Unusuals, also a drama, created by Noah Hawley (6 episodes of Bones) and relating the daily happenings of a police station. The Unusuals stars Harold Perrineau (Lost), Adam Goldberg (2 Days In Paris), Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 1 & 2) and Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later), and its pilot was directed by Stephen Hopkins (The Reaping).

Third is Cupid, a drama created by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), who'll be remaking his own, eponymous, failed show from 1998. Bobby Cannavale (Diminished Capacity) will play Trevor Hale, a man convinced he was sent to Earth by Zeus in order to make people love each other. Rounding up the cast are Camille Guaty (Las Vegas) and Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip). It's interesting that this project has been greenlighted as ABC is the network that cancelled the original show.

In fourth we have Better Off Ted, a comedy created by Victor Fresco (4 episodes of My Name Is Earl), about a morally upright man living in a morally corrupt world. The series stars Jay Harrington (Desperate Housewives) and Andrea Anders (The Class). The pilot was directed by creator's relative Michael Fresco (12 episodes of Earl).

Last is Single With Parents, a comedy created by Kristin Newman (2 episodes of How I Met Your Mother) in which a thirty-something year old woman played by Alyssa Milano (Charmed) attempts to take control of her life by distancing herself from her family, friends and work. Beau Bridges (Stargate SG-1), Eric Winter (Days Of Our Lives), Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) and Stella Hudgens (Vanessa Hudgens' sister) round up the cast. The pilot was directed by Michael Engler (6 episodes of 30 Rock).

I'll give them all a try, but honestly, none of them seem that interesting to me, what do you think?

In related ABC news, it has been reported that Michelle Rodriguez (Battle In Seattle) will be back in an episode of Lost's fifth season. Michelle's character, Ana-Lucia Cortez, was introduced at the end of the popular show's first season and played a prominent part in the second. It is unclear how Michelle's appearance will play out, but knowing Lost, you can expect anything.

Source

Título original: Wanted

Gênero: Ação

Ano: 2008

País: EUA

Duração: 110 minutos

Língua: Inglês

Classificação: 18 anos

Diretor: Timur Bekmambetov

Elenco: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann

Sinopse: O fracassado Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), após a morte do pai, misteriosamente assassinado, descobre que possui poderes muito além de sua imaginação. Ele se torna o mais novo recruta de uma sociedade secreta de assassinos e é treinado para ocupar o lugar de seu falecido pai.

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- REFLEXOS DA INOCÊNCIA

Título original: Flashback of a Fool

Gênero: Drama

Ano: 2008

País: Inglaterra

Duração:110 minutos

Língua: Inglês

Classificação: 16 anos

Diretor: Baillie Walsh

Elenco: Daniel Craig, Harry Eden, Eve, Miriam Karlin, Jodhi May, Claire Forlani, James D´Arcy

Sinopse: O astro de Hollywood Joe Scott (Daniel Craig) está envelhecendo. Sua vida narcisista e hedonista é acompanhada de perto por sua assistente pessoal, Ophelia (Eve). A morte do melhor amigo de infância de Scott leva o filme a uma nova direção, baseada nas memórias do protagonista.

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- UM CRIME AMERICANO

Título original: An American Crime

Gênero: Drama

Ano: 2007

País: EUA

Duração: 92 minutos

Língua: Inglês

Classificação: 16 anos

Diretor: Tommy O´Haver

Elenco: Ellen Page, Catherine Keener, Hayley McFarland, Ari Graynor, Evan Peters

Sinopse: Nos anos 60, as irmãs Sylvia (Ellen Page) e Jennie Fae Likens (Hayley McFarland), filhas de um grupo de circenses errantes, são deixadas na casa da mãe solteira Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener) em Indianápolis. Nos três meses seguintes, no entanto, as irmãs são trancadas num porão, recebendo todos os tipos de mal tratos. Baseado em uma história real.

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Veja mais:

Criança 44

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A new publisher called Patchwork Comics is gunning for a January 2009 release date for about four titles, and I got lucky enough to be chosen by the head honcho to take part in that. My own original story pitches --- Icelander, Wolf Pack Sessions, and Beast Boy Joe (all just working titles) --- have been shelved for the moment, but Alveraz Ricardez was kind enough to throw me a bone in the form of one of his own original stories. Mask of Manolo will be about a Don Quixote-esque child-hero in a more or less fantasy setting. And the best part? I've been granted a window of three days to finish each page! Schwing!

Also on my plate starting next month is a pitch issue for a series entitled Overthrow!, with an exclamation point.  Writer Justin Jordan, whose webcomic Junk is up on Zuda this month,  picked me to illustrate the story of a villain who has already won and a hero who has to face a sort of moral dillema about taking him down. Justin's first e-mail to me had the word kicksplode. That pretty much won me over from the get go. You can view his work log here.

And the final comic project I was lucky enough to get chosen for is another pitch deal with Jared Koon. It's a yet-untitled Sword and Sorcery story that I'm not allowed to really talk about just yet, so I'll leave it at that for now

:::: :::: :::: ::::

So yeah. Whew.

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On the local front, co-genius Matt is slaving away, wrapping up the script for the first twelve-issue arc of our comic INSTRUMENTS, which we will be pitching to Image and whoever else when it's all tight and shiny. Been talking to Derrick Fish a lot about exactly how this is done, but I'll probably learn a lot from my current collaborators as well.

So I guess those Thor pages will have to wait. They were exciting as fuck, and I got goosebumps when I saw Asgard smoking in Secret Invasion: Thor #1, but I gotta pay the bills first. Still in contact with Cebulski though, which never hurts.

Anyway, a few random and recent sketches I did to warm up in the mornings:

About a year ago I did a fan-art series of portraits entitled Thundercats Legends. It was pretty much a labor of love in that they weren't commissioned or anything, and I couldn't sell them coz they were copyrighted. In the same vein as those pieces though, I'm working on a series tentatively titled Horror Classics, and you can pretty much guess what it's gonna be about. I'll be doing my takes on the classic monsters. ( Dracula, the Wolfman, etc., Thank you, Wikipedia, for your list of public domain characters. Heh. ) So I'm looking forward to those as breaks between the comic pages I'll doubtless be swamped with. Here's a preview of some studies though. Click big.

That's it for now, guys. Wish me luck.

EDIT: Whoops! I almost forgot. I haz a new computarrr!

Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz; 2 Gb of RAM. I am yet to get a new hard drive and maybe a new video card for... stuff... but this is the best PC I've ever had the privilege to use. Hands down. My buddy since frickin' elementary school Andy Tan helped me get the individual parts from three different stores. Thanks, bud!

That blue light is uhmm... my biggest fan. No, really.

Alla tenera età di 12 anni, mi metto a ridere quando mi arriva sulle mani questo disco con un cimitero sulla copertina, ma l'amico nonchè proprietario dell'oggetto mi aveva già fatto la cassetta, così, un pomeriggio dopo aver fatto i compiti, la metto su: sono figlio unico e vengo da un paesello, i miei cugini ascoltavano i cantautori oppure Madonna, io ho ascoltato i Queen incessantemente fin dalla prima elementare, ma dall'inizio di Battery ho capito subito che era questo ciò che volevo davvero. La copia originale che tutt'ora ho, l'ho comprata usata (con una macchia di caffè nel booklet) grazie alla mancia della nonna per il mio 13° compleanno, grazie nonna.
L'headbanging istintivo, innocente e inconsapevole era accompagnato da un fuoco all'altezza dello sterno che mi viene ancora quando riascolto questo album, e torno bambino, torno a quando ignoravo l'esistenza del thrash, della Bay Area, di Kill'em all e Ride the lightning, di Reign in Blood, di quanto fosse avanti questa produzione per un disco metal del 1986, non sapevo l'inglese per niente e di conseguenza non capivo quanto la rabbia non fosse solo espressa musicalmente, ma anche nei testi, carichi di significato. Insomma, non sapevo spiegare cosa fosse quello che stavo ascoltando, mi basavo solo su quello che mi dava, e nessun altro disco mi ha dato tanto, è stato il mio psicopompo, mi ha accompagnato ai successivi ascolti, pesanti e non (pezzi come Battery e Damage inc. sembrano canonici, ma messi insieme a Orion, a Welcome home (sanitarium) e alla stessa Master of Puppets, hanno lasciato il segno in svariati generi ancora in voga).
Non sapevo nemmeno della morte di Cliff Burton, che schizzando fuori dal tourbus ha lasciato un vuoto incolmabile per i Metallica, che privi di quella compattezza sonora e di quel genio compositivo sono andati gradualmente verso una posizione di rilevanza marginale nella scena musicale, ma questa è un'altra storia.
Master of Puppets è la melodia pesante, è la cattiveria intelligente, è la convivenza di istinto e razionalità, è l'heavy metal senza assoli pacchiani e il thrash metal coi sentimenti, è il giro di boa di un percorso iniziato dai Black Sabbath e arrivato finora ai Meshuggah e ai Mastodon, è uno dei manifesti del metal, ma è anche uno dei dischi più belli e completi della storia della musica tutta.
Delittuoso non averlo, ancor più delittuoso averlo solo per completezza senza assorbirlo.

Tracklist:
1. Battery
2. Master of puppets
3. The thing that should not be
4. Welcome home (sanitarium)
5. Disposable heroes
6. Leper Messiah
7. Orion
8. Damage, inc.

[gallery]

"Elektra" dupa Euripide, regia Sorin Militaru - Teatrul Tomcsa Sandor, Odorheiul Secuiesc, Romania
@ Casa de Cultura a Sindicatelor , Targoviste

Ahora estamos frente a unas imágenes de las figuras en "2 Packs", lo nuevo de Marvel Legends, que vendría a tratar de Reivindicar el nombre de estos juguetes tan famosos a principios de la década.

Veamos, Juzguemos... y Opinemos:

[gallery]
Elektra y Ronin (con Variante Skrull Elektra), Wolverine y Forge, Mr Fantastic y Thing, Sue y Johnny Storm, Skrull y Kree Soldiers, Nick Fury y Red Hand Ninja, Iron Man y Female Shield Agent, Nick Fury y Capitan America.

A un precio bordeando los US$20.00, mezclara personajes conocidos con otros mas oscuros y extraños de ver en series regulares. Podremos ver la salida de estos packs este mes de Agosto.

Manténganse Informados!!

Spectr0

Clipse is made up of brothers Pusha T (Terrence Thornton - 1977) and Malice (Gene Thornton - 1972). Clipse began their musical journey in 1993. The hip-hop team is due to perform at Harpers Ferry on August 13, 2008. The show is presented by WERS and tickets cost $25. Get your tickets early before they sell out!

CDS:
1999 Exclusive Audio Footage
2002 Lord Willin'
2006 Hell Hath No Fury
2008 Till The Casket Drops

Labels:
1997 - 1998 Elektra
2001 - 2004 Arista
2004 - 2007 Jive
2001 - 2007 Star Trak
2007 - Present Columbia

Jennyanykind

Revelater (Elektra 1996)

http://www.mediafire.com/?mt0ddyvcbnu

The major label frenzy to sign anyone within sniffing distance of your Nirvanas and Sonic Youths resulted in greater exposure for some and ruin for others. Were advertisements in shitty rags, MTV airplay and product placement in the rural malls really going to make Jennyanykind, Scrawl, Jesus Lizard and Jawbox more palatable to most folks? Hell, most of these bands weren't even palatable to me by this point.

I have no clue why a major label like Elektra decided to sign a band that was enamored by Jesus Christ, Jerry Garcia, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Howling Wolf, Flaming Lips and Pink Floyd and market it as an indie-rock album. Sure, their work had a raw, punky edge at times and their earliest work was released by the No. 6 label(Beme Seed, Crystallized Movements, Luna, Nada Surf, etc), but this was surely a big ass square block in a teensy-weensy round hole. It's a shame since Revelater cuts the fat from their meandering jams and rants which results in bizarre southern rock songs about the apocalypse, humility in the face of god's power, the dangers of a sinful life and repentance.

This isn't a shtick--No sight of high pitched whines and tree costumes ala Danielson. Michael Holland's lyrics are earnest explorations of his own struggles with faith and the misdeeds of his past. He comes off as troubled and angry on half of the tracks while the other half play loose and fancy free with light-hearted hippie psych that wouldn't sound out of place on an early 70s Dead record. I'm more interested in the angry, conflicted side of Holland that searches for meaning in the universe in a three-minute pop song on his major label debut. What were they thinking? It was commercial suicide and sit kind of sunk the band for good. Yes, they released many more albums, but they sort of blew their cosmic, soul searching load on this one.

Revelater got no respect from anyone. Its been dismissed by hipsters, hippies and christian rockers alike. However, I believe it may be one of the most underrated albums to result from the major label feeding frenzy of the 90s. Revelater is a fried, almost paranoid ode to the power of a vengeful god masquerading as an indie-rock album. Love it to death and like most of this band's work. i'll be posting more this week.

Influence Meter: ++++++++++

Verse 1:

Orange skies

Carnivals and cotton candy and you

And I love you too you know I do

Verse 2:

Nightingale

Prettier than anything in the world

And I love you too

You know I do

Bridge:

You make me happy

Laughing, glad, and full of glee

And you dont have to try, girl

For you it comes so naturally

Right here in my arms

This post is a tribute to the man who inspired this blog, its name and also its spirit.

Arthur Lee seemed to be predestined. A black swan destined to success, blocked by a coitus interruptus in patches inexplicable, stopped thousands of times at the threshold of celebrity, maybe from heroin inertia. A posthumous famed when still alive, adored by legions of rock fans which weren’t enough to put him in the immortal hall of fame, when he croaked on the 3th of august, 2006.

Towards the middle of the sixties, Arthur was a young guitar player and composer, black and skilled, friend and Siamese twin with a Jimi Hendrix dude, and years after he even bragged he taught Jimi some chords. His lysergic and dreamy songs were released by a label which at that moment was standing out, the Elektra. His band, the Love, well represented an already multi-ethnic Los Angeles, with huge influences and clashes: despite of his sophisticated sound, the band was far from the hippie gurus of that time, to whom peace & love brought a full coitus without interferences, coming to the celebrity orgasm, even with a Lsd Half-burnt brain.

Born in Memphis under the sign of Pisces, Arthur Porter Taylor was a lonely child in the big city, escaped from school straight in the L.A. of basket and then rock. He was sure to succeed and also Elektra, which put him under contract as a young hopeful, rebellion offspring in an age when real or so called rebels made out billions very easily. Lee was handsome, he shot heroin and he wrote awesome songs, sweet and violent ones: in a word, he fulfilled the requirements needed to become a myth, he had fate signs, but… one day, the owners of his label watched on stage a problematical guy named Jim Morrison, suddenly put him and his sexual charge of a Robin Williams sixties under contract with the Doors, and from that moment the poor Arthur was diddled and fucked up; before you could say knife, for the record attrib. he was a coitus interruptus, just a used condom. So, Lee and his pals thought they could behave as jerks with journalists and fans, just to attract attention, but it was ten years before the coming of Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten, and back in the age of the Summer of love the idea didn’t work so much, rather the band ended on the black list of magazines and promoters. Their songs were often masterpieces, but they were out of time too: the most famous one, Seven and Seven is, became a garage-punk hymn, but only after some decades, at the time when Arthur was already on his absconding way, despite of all his efforts to revive himself.

Between them, the recording of a duet album with the friend-rival Jimi Hendrix, which for mysterious reasons have never been released. But there’s nothing to be astounded to, this kind of stuff is typical of coitus interruptus careers, isn’t it? In the ‘90s he went to jail as well, sentenced to 8 years for shooting a neighbor, however if without hurting him. But if your fame stumbled somewhere, if it stayed outside a door you could not unhinge, it could also happen to you that in the country where some people gets a gun just opening a bank account, you may end in jail for illegal possession of a firearm…

Verse 1:

Orange skies

Carnivals and cotton candy and you

And I love you too you know I do

Verse 2:

Nightingale

Prettier than anything in the world

And I love you too

You know I do

Bridge:

You make me happy

Laughing, glad, and full of glee

And you dont have to try, girl

For you it comes so naturally

Right here in my arms

Questo post è un omaggio all’ispiratore di questo blog, del suo nome e del suo spirito.

Arthur Lee sembrava un predestinato. Un cigno nero destinato al successo, bloccato da un coitus interruptus a tratti inspiegabile, stoppato mille volte sulla soglia della celebrità, forse dall’inerzia dell’eroina. Un celebrato postumo ancora in vita, adorato da legioni di rock fans che non sono bastate a farlo entrare nell’olimpo degli immortali, quando il 3 agosto del 2006 ha lasciato questa valle di lacrime. A metà degli anni ’60, Arthur era un chitarrista e compositore giovane, nero e talentuoso, amico e gemello siamese di un certo Jimi Hendrix, cui anni dopo dirà di aver perfino insegnato alcuni accordi, e le sue canzoni lisergiche e sognanti trovavano domicilio in un’etichetta allora emergente, la Elektra. Il suo gruppo, i Love, ben rappresentava una Los Angeles già multietnica, ricca di influenze come di contrasti, e malgrado i suoni raffinati era lontano, nello spirito, dai santoni hippie del tempo, che col loro Peace & Love si guadagnarono un coito completo e senza intermittenze, arrivando all’orgasmo della celebrità, seppur col cervello bruciacchiato di Lsd. Nato a Memphis sotto il segno dei Pesci, Arthur Porter Taylor era un bambino solitario in una grande città, evaso dalla scuola nella L.A. del Basket e poi del Rock. Lui era convinto di riuscire, e lo era anche la Elektra, che lo mise sotto contratto come grande speranza, virgulto di ribellione nel tempo in cui ribelli veri e presunti facevano miliardi come noccioline. Lee era bello, si iniettava eroina e scriveva bellissime canzoni, dolci o violente che fossero: insomma, aveva tutte le carte in regola per essere un mito, aveva i segni della predestinazione, ma… un giorno i responsabili della sua etichetta videro sul palco un ragazzo problematico di nome Jim Morrison, lo misero sotto contratto coi Doors e la sua carica sessuale da Robin Williams Sixties, e a quel punto il povero Arthur era fregato, fottuto; in men che non si dica, per i discografici era diventato un coito interrotto, un condom usato. Lee e i suoi compagni pensarono allora di fare gli stronzi con fan e giornalisti, per farsi notare, ma all’avvento di Johnny Rotten e Sid Vicious mancavano ancora dieci anni, e in tempi di Summer of Love la cosa non funzionò molto, anzi il gruppo finì sulla “lista nera” di riviste e promoters. Anche le canzoni erano capolavori, ma spesso fuori tempo: la più famosa, Seven and Seven is, diventerà un inno garage-punk, ma anche in questo caso bisognerà attendere dei lustri, e a quel tempo Arthur sarà già sulla via della latitanza, dopo vani tentativi di rilanciarsi. Tra questi, la registrazione di un album duetto con l’amico-avversario Jimi Hendrix, che misteriosamente non vedrà mai la luce. Ma non c’è da stupirsi, che coito interrotto sarebbe, il nostro Arthur, se non gli capitassero cose del genere? Negli anni ’90 si beccherà anche la galera, condannato ad otto anni per aver preso a fucilate un vicino, peraltro senza conseguenze. Ma se il tuo successo è inciampato, se è rimasto fuori da una porta che non sei mai riuscito a scardinare, può anche capitare che nel paese dove regalano fucili con l’apertura di un conto in banca tu possa finire in cella per detenzione illegale di arma da fuoco…

=|

PS: Ficamos em 3º lugar na chave na primeira fase do Desafio Sebrae, ou seja, repescagem de novo.

[splashcast c LSDZ5135BI]

Donald Soffritti es la persona que los dibuja, es un  italiano de 41 años y nos da a conocer una pequeña muestra de superhéroes en su vejez y decadencia en su blog.

Vía: Alt1040

What if you were a mid-level professional whose dad was Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter (The Good Hannibal Lecter Movie) and were trapped next to a loony on an aeroplane in the cheap seats played by Cillian Murphy who was the Scarecrow in Batman Begins?

This is what budget airlines are doing for us and the economy.

The Story:

A woman who isn’t Jennifer Garner from Alias but is in The Wedding Crashers gets on a plane after having a quick vodka and pineapple (or grapefruit juice: it’s not that important) and sits down next to Cillian Murphy from 28 Days Later (this is a Red Eye link, isn’t it?) who threatens to kill Brian Cox from The Bourne Identity (or Supremacy or Ultimatum) but is pretty piss poor as a bad guy. She is no Elektra, but manages to beat him one-on-one, knee-cap by knee-cap in her dad’s crib. Which is undergoing renovation or decorating work. Like American Pie 2. Her best friend is the Waitress from Heroes who Died Too Soon.

The Good:

Surprising headbutt to she who was not in 13 Going On 30. See budget airline reference, above.

Pencil stab to neck, reducing Cillian Murphy from Sunshine to Weezy the Penguin from Toy Story 2.

Good illustration of airline safety regarding the use of mobile handsets and electronic equipment.

The Bad:

As noted above, with emphasis: She is not Elektra from Daredevil.

V. poor airline security at the arrival airport which means one can just run really fast to get past all the armed guys in a post 9-11 world. Only in America.

A lacksadaisical approach to decorating, resulting in many slips, trips and falls.

The Verdict:

15 Pigs total. This was no Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. A William Shatner from Airplane 2 The Sequel cameo would have only bettered the score.

Nick Fury ataca a varios Super-Skrull's, mentras el misterio de si Tony Stark es un Skrull continua y de pasó se nos presenta el origen de la Elektra Skrull en el cuarto capítulo de Secret Invasion y el número 16 de Mighty Avengers.

Secret Invasion #4

por: Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu, Mark Morales & Laura Martin

Mientras vemos un monólogo de villano de la Reina Skrull vemos el estado de varios personajes, que no aportan mucho a la trama, pero al menos sirven para decirnos ¡hey, no te olvides de mí! así que inicia con Reed Richards siendo torturado por Skrulls que lo tienen bastante estirado y después vemos como The Sentry sigue huyendo asustado de Savage Land (¡3 números huyendo!), vemos como la Agente Brand logran entrar en la nave Skrull y luego vemos la rápida llegada de Miss Marvel a Nueva York para combatir a los Super Skrull.

Pero, Nick Fury llegó antes con sus Howling Commandos que formó en Mighty Avengers para matar Skrull con su arma de 4 metros y logran medio salvar el día. Miss Marvel se acerca a Fury pero éste no confía en nadie por obvias razones y le dispara para inmediatamente huir gracias a los poderes de Druid. Miss Marvel queda a merced de los Skrull (Yellow Jacket entre ellos) que la secuestran.

Spider-Woman sigue refiriéndose a Tony Stark como el gran héroe Skrull mientras él está perplejo, Black Widow observa esto pero es atacada por Beast y Phoenix, ella los mata revelando su forma Skrull (cabe aclarar que son los Beast y Phoenix que salieron de la nave al final del #1).

Spider-Woman, escuchando los disparos de Widow, escapa y Widow llega a ayudar a Tony, él está muy confudido y Widow le dice que independiente de su estado Skrull o no, le pregunta si quiere eliminarla a ella o a los Skrull's, él responde a los Skrull's. En eso llega Wolverine, pero Widow también le dispara y le pide su código secreto para saber sí dice ser quién es. Enseguida Wolverine va tras Spider-Woman y Iron Man inicia a reparar su armadura y pedir que encuentren a Reed Richards.

La Agente Brand ve desde la nave Skrull lo que están haciendo a través de unas pantallas, llora un poco y es sorprendida por unos Skrull. En el mar Jarvis le pide que se rinda a Maria Hill, ella se opone hasta que se da cuenta que muchos de sus hombres son Skrull.

The Hood y su equipo están viendo las noticias de los Skrull de Nueva York, les dice que un planeta sin humano es malo para los negocios y que deberían entrar a la batalla.

Al final regresamos a Nueva York, Los Skrull siguen ahí pero son atacados por un trueno. Llega Thor a la batalla y vemos al nuevo Captain America vigilando la escena... fin.

Eso fue la cuarta parte de Secret Invasion y no ha avanzado mucho la trama, simplente continuó un poco lo visto el número pasado con un poc de desarrollo para el quinto. Claro, apenas va la mitad y al parecer en el próximo número ya veremos equipos, ataques y estrategias para detener a la armada Skrull.

Sin embargo, a pesar de presentar muy poco el cómic, es bastante entretenido y te deja lo bastante interesado para saber que sigue. Aunque, sí me permiten la comparación, a estas alturas del evento Civil War ya había mostrado más trama.

Calificación:

3 mandriles sobre 5.

Mighty Avengers #16

por: Brian Michael Bendis, Khoi Pham, Danni Miki & Dean White.

Mighty y New Avengers no han sido eso en los últimos números. Más bien hay que verlos como "Secret Invasion: Origins" puesto que presenta los orígenes de traspasos Skrull y/o el desarrollo de su ataque. Éste número presenta a la persona que contrata a Elektro en New Avengers #1 que provocó el origen de dicho grupo: Elektra.

Meses antes de que sucediera eso, Elektra, la real, estaba meditando en Japón  cuándo una impostora Skrull la retó a un duelo, ella se niega pero como ella atacós se defiende. La Skrull esa poderes pero Elektra logra detenerla de la que, al parecer, es la única manera posible de matar a una Elektra, con una espada en las costillas.

Elektra huye y se encuentra con otros 2 Skrulls disfrazados de Daredevil y Wolverine. Ellos la atacan con poderes de varios mutantes pero ella logra vencerlos, pero no contaba con un tercer Skrull invisible que la ataca por la espalda.

Ese Skrull invisible toma la forma de Elektra, llega con la Reina Skrull y se dan un gran beso en la boca de agradecimiento, enseguida Elektra Skrull reta a The Hand y a Hydra y se convierte en su lider.

Así de breve fue el número. Lo malo de estos números de New y Mighty es que no son continuos, muestran una trama un número, sigue otra muy distinta en el que sigue y luego ya regresa a esa primera. Eso pasará pronto con la saga de Elektra, Hank Pym, Spider-Woman y Ka-Zar.

El número no es escencial, responde a una duda muy vieja como el ataque a The Raft y la razón de como Elektra se convirtió en Skrull, pero hay más cosas que se verán después.

Calificación:

3.5 sobre 5 mandriles.

Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, #1 (DC)

Writer: JT Krul Art & Cover: Guillem March

The latest in DC's recently-launched "Joker's Asylum" weekly, in which the Joker delves into the backstories of Batman's rogues gallery, brings hyper-sexualized eco-terrorist Poison Ivy to the fore (bearing the cringe-inducing title Poison Ivy in "Deflowered"). In my experience, Ivy has always come across as one of the Dark Knight's most underdeveloped villains. "Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy" does little to remedy this.

After a brief (single page) origin refresher course, this one-shot has Ivy acting, as ever, on behalf of Mother Gaia or whatever motivating quasi-spiritual singularity, eliminating a trio of "human" (read: greedy, unfeeling, environmentally insensitive) land-developers guilty of clearing out one of Gotham's outlying forests in order to erect tracts of luxury homes. To this end, she employs her usual earth-friendly arsenal - strangling people with vines, seducing and paralyzing them with venomous lipstick, &c. Her M.O. is painfully obvious, and it takes Bats about six minutes to put all the pieces together.

It's boilerplate Poison Ivy. She's sexy (as March's hairpin curves and discretely placed laurel leaves point out), she has some sort of vaguely-delineated Eve complex and, yeah, she can control plants and trees and vines and all that. Ivy's brand of extremist ecological zeal may have a place in comics, present global circumstances being what they are, but unfortunately, the tendency for Batman's villains to be written off as insane ideological absolutists destined for Arkham's padded walls results in any resonance to Ivy's advocacy being similarly shrugged off as the ramblings of a tree-hugging looney.

The Incredible Hercules, #119 (Marvel)

Writers: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente Pencils: Rafa Sandoval

Word from the bandwagon is that Greg Pak's "The Incredible Hercules" is one of the best Marvel titles being published. Hype notwithstanding, #119 (part three of the series' tie-in to Marvel's Secret Invasion "event") secures Herc's place alongside "Invincible Iron Man" as probably the most consistently entertaining (non-Avengers) Marvel book gracing the racks nowadays.

Issue 119 continues the quest of the God Sqaud-Ajak the Eternal, the Egyptian deity Atum, the Japanese god of evil Mikaboshi, Snowbird (daughter of the Inuit goddess Nirvana and former Alpha Flight member), Hercules and the mortal boy genius Amadeus Cho (with, of course, "his pup in-tow")-as they invade the domain of the Skrull gods, destroy them, and thusly take the wind out the sails of the Skrull forced invading Earth. Developing the reveal in the previous issue, the Squad learns that Cho's dog, Kirby, is a shape-shifting Skrull agent, sent to jeopardize the quest into the pantheon of alien gods.

The book works not only because the mission of the God Squad reeks of all the stuff that makes superhero comics worthwhile in the first place (ie. immortals beating the divine snot out of each other for Universal supremacy), but because the whole "Who Do You Trust?" tagline of the Secret Invasion series works particularly well amongst the unlikely alliance of gods, many of whom have millennia-old quarry with one another. Herc's development as a group leader who must learn to employ more than his Olympian strength to get out of a tight spot continues, though his "I punch stuff, it falls down!" ethos by-and-large trumps any sophisticated tactical engagement.

Sandoval's pencils continue to impress. His ability to render a chaotic scrum between the God Squad and a cavalcade of lesser alien gods is clean and comprehensible, expanding upon the SMASH-centered action of "The Incredible Hulk" series which Herc usurped. A great read, especially for mythology and folklore nerds who have grown tired with the of Asgard.

The Mighty Avengers, #16 (Marvel)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Pencils: Khoi Pham

Despite the assortment of C and D-list Marvel heroes who make up the team, and the fact that they by-and-large tow the pro-registration company line in the wake of the Civil War event, "The Mighty Avengers" is currently one of my favorite Marvel titles. The recent Secret Invasion tie-ins have been especially compelling (often moreso than the standalone mini-series). Both the tie-ins and "The Mighty Avengers" series as a whole afford readers an opportunity to explore the histories and motivations of some of the Marvel's more neglected heroes (Miss Marvel, Wonder Man, Giant Man, Ares, &c.) and to understand how these characters figure into the larger goings-on in the Marvel Universe.

The latest Mighty Avengers issue continues this trend, this time focusing on Elektra, the first person revealed as a Skrull way back in "New Avengers Illuminati."* The story sees Daredevil's oft-enemy/oft-ally as battling the Skrull agents sent to kill her and assume her form. Some of the martial arts action is pretty good-with Elektra taking on Skrulls assuming the form of Wolverine, Daredevil, Ghost Rider and herself, but where are the Mighty Avengers in all this?

It's great the Bendis is using both "Mighty" and "New Avengers" titles to flesh out the story behind the scenes of Secret Invasion, but this story is better suited to a one-shot than an Avengers book. With Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Jessica Drew, Jarvis and who-knows-who-else closely implicated with Secret Invasion and the larger arcs of "The Mighty Avengers," resorting to an Elektra story seems a bit disappointing. Its not that the book wasn't an enjoyable read. It's just that, well, at the end of the day Elektra, Electro, and the Hand just don't do it for me.

*Nb. Speaking of that "Illuminati" run, what is Dr. Strange up to during the Secret Invasion? Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing he should just be stopping by snapping his fingers?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, it will be on PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. To be honest I'm not liking the graphics myself, what is supposed to be next-gen it doesn't look that fancy, maybe its just the quality of the video, hmm check out the trailer here yourself and see what you think.

Last night my wife asked me why I was buying so many comics lately. She thought it was a reaction to stress from my job. I tried to explain to her about the Skrulls and this plotline that had secretly been in the works for over three years and how cool it was. She looked at me with pity, as if I was a gambling addict who had just told her that blackjack was an important part of my retirement plan.

Anyway, since this issue of Mighty Avengers is another keystone in the Secret Invasion story, it goes without saying that it's good. In fact, my only real beef is with the art. Pahm and Miki do a fine job for the most part, but the first first two pages of the book are a retelling of the Electro scene from New Avengers #1, the book that launched the whole Secret Invasion, though we didn't know it at the time. It turns out it was the Skrull Elektra who hired Electro, but it's a rocky start, since the art can only disappoint in comparison to David Finch's gorgeous work.

After that, fortunately, we begin to cover new ground. Specifically, how Elektra got replaced by a Skrull. Elektra has never been a particularly subtle character, so there's not a lot of dialogue, just an extended fight scene, beautifully choreographed by Bendis and Pham. The Skrulls, in their own sick way, respect Elektra. First they send a single soldier, who tries to defeat her honorably in hand to hand combat. But the Skrulls are simply not in her league, so they keep upping the ante, finally resorting to sheer numbers and brute force to subdue her.

In the next scene, Skrull Elektra meets with Skull Spider-Woman, Princess Veranke. As always, Bendis does an impressive job of conveying the Skrull point of view. They passionately believe in the rightness of their cause, and since they are in human form, their passion is expressed in human terms. We're also given a hint that the death and exposure of the Skrull Elektra was a deliberate part of their plan. How this could help them is unclear, but to the religious extremist mindset, "how" is never as important as "why", and that's one of the big questions that has yet to be resolved. "Why do the Skrulls think Earth is rightfully theirs?" "Why are they attacking us this way?"

And, of course, the biggest question of all: "Can Earth survive?" (Grade: A)

- Andrew C. Murphy

A Second Opinion

I'm going to keep this short since I agree with just about everything Andrew had to say. The only thing I disagree with him here is the art. Khoi Pham's storytelling and fight sequences are just brilliant. I love the unique style he brings to the book, and while I enjoy Dave Finch's work as much as anyone, I don't think he could have drawn a better fight sequence than the one we get of Elektra versus her doppleganger and the other Skrulls.

This is a brutal issue - probably the most hard-hitting issue of the entire Secret Invasion saga thus far. Elektra took a lot of abuse in the Mark Millar's Wolverine run (3 or 4 years ago?) where she eventually disappeared into the Hand organization, but the endless battle she fights here is hopeless and we know it. Eventually, her body breaks down from the abuse of battle and, well, her demise ain't pretty.

If you buy this book, you'll blow through it in 5 minutes, but these are high quality minutes you're paying for. Brian Bendis allows Khoi Pham to do the heavy lifting and the result is a strong, memorable issue. It doesn't do much to push the Secret Invasion story forward, but it does serve as a nice reveal to the beginnings of New Avengers. (Grade: A-)

- J. Montes

"Nah, just kidding... hey, what are you gonna do with that sai ?"

"Oooh crap"

No need to worry there bub, 'cause it all turned out just fine in the end.

"However did you save yourself ?" I hear you ask.

Well you see, I gave her the address of those guys who made that movie of her.

'Nuff said :mrgreen:

Näituse kõige vanem eksponaat - tsaariaegne Elektra.

The oldest bicycle in Türi exhibition: bicycle Elektra from 19th century Russian Empire.