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The second last issue of the “After the Fall” story arc is nothing short of exceptional. When Angel’s son was killed by Gunn in issue #15 it was clear that the former vampire would probably not react in a really sane way. But what Brian Lynch came up with in order to solve the “hellish” situation of L.A. really surprised me. Angel goes up against his former ally and at first it seems as if he was only out to avenge his son’s death. But it soon becomes obvious that it is an attempt to get the senior partners attention. Knowing that they cannot allow Angel to die, in order for him to fulfill their prophecy, he tries to provoke Gunn to kill him. When the vampire strikes down his former boss, the senior partners react by recreating the last reality in which Angel was unharmed, meaning the day of Armageddon. Since our heroes are prepared now, they know exactly what to do and they prevent the destruction of L.A. Everything seems fine, Gunn is still human, Connor is alive and even Illyria seems to get in touch with her human side, if it weren’t for the slight detail that everybody remembers what happened during the months of terror. Angel is no longer the hero standing in the shadows, but he has become legend.
When I started reading the sixth season of Angel, I was at first alienated by the fact they that had really thrown L.A. into hell. It was just a bit too over the top for my taste, as I had always liked the more down to earth approach of the series (compared to other fantasy shows). Still the story unfolded rather nicely and I have to say that this return to the old L.A. is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Hopefully the last issue of “After the Fall” will be as good. After that, the title will change into “Aftermath” which will show us how the different characters are dealing with the changes made in #16 and #17. Can’t wait to see how the next issue will tie up this first storyline!
Story 10, Art 8, Re-read 8, Overall Rating 9
Batman – Arkham Asylum for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360
This game is hopefully going to be the first really good Batman game. The video at least promises us a lot of interesting gameplay. By the way, here is the proof that also the Batman likes to dabble in his free time.
Batman vs Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
Stunning artwork for the poster of the upcoming Watchmen movie. Let’s hope the movie will look as good as this! Fingers are crossed on this end.
I have been a fan of Buffy – the Vampire Slayer, since it first came out. Over the course of the years you become attached to the characters of a show, you laugh with them and you even cry with them. Yet there was always one character on Buffy (and later even on Angel), that I was always annoyed with and that was Harmony. So when I heard that this months issue of Season Eight would feature her exclusively, I had a bad feeling to begin with.
Dark Horse brings us another one shot story, in which we follow Harmony as she outs herself to the public and becomes the world’s first Vampire TV star. When she is tackled by a Slayer during one of the shootings for her TV show, the media has a field day by declaring the Slayers as a shadowy organization with an unknown agenda and a threat to the public.
This is by far the worst issue of the series. I have to admit that until now I always liked the work of Jane Espenson, be it on Buffy or Battlestar Galactica. But this issue just doesn’t make sense, not even for a fantasy universe. Who would believe that a Vampire could kill people on regular network television? Not even MTV could pull that off. If they needed a reason to shine another light on the Slayers they could have done it by a million other ways. In my opinion this issue was just plain stupid. Hopefully the one-shot reel will soon end and we can get back to the continuing storyline.
Story 3, Art 6, Re-read 1, Overall Rating 3
Happy Birthday Marvel. Seventy years ago, Marvel published their first comics and to celebrate this anniversary, they have set up a special page on the internet. Over the course of the year they will publish specific trivia on this site, called Factum Factorum, which essentially is a listing of Marvel moments by date, and it will also feature four polls to vote for the Top 70 comics, covers, characters and moments in Marvel history. Join in the festivities and celebrate Marvel’s 70’s birthday!
We here at Comic(s) Relief would be interested in knowing, what your favorite memories of Marvel are, be it the first time you read one of their comics or an event in your life that you connect with the comic book publisher. So feel free to comment and let us know.
Enjoy the newest Coraline trailer. Finally we see a bit more of the adaptation of Gaiman’s highly anticipated movie.
This interview with “The Dark Knight” producer Michael Ustan hints at a release of the next Batman movie in 2011.
Uslan will be onboard as executive producer for the “Dark Knight” sequel, which he estimates will be theaters by 2011. As for the identity of the next round of Batman’s supervillains and love interests, Uslan remains tight-lipped. “It’s one of those deals where if I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he says with a chuckle.
Let’s hope the rumor is true and we will have another encounter with the dark knight.
J.K. Simmons told MTV News at Sundance, that he would be returning to his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man 4 and that shooting would begin in 2010. This confirms earlier rumors of a 2011 release. It will be interesting to see which villain Raimi and his team will choose for the fourth part of the franchise. When asked if Simmons would be asking for more screen time he replied:
“We’ve definitely brainstormed ideas for Triple-J, but I have no desire to make Triple-J more of the focus of those movies. The amount that I did in 1, 2 and 3, is just exactly right. Like be the wolf. Come in, blow in, do a week, blow out, be the comic relief, and hit the road. And let Tobey and everybody else do the heavy lifting.”
Source: MTV News
The official Warner Bros. page for the upcoming Watchmen movie has recently been updated and it now holds some nice character pages and downloadable content. Also there are two viral pages which will satisfy the need for new Watchmen information until the movies release in March. So check out The New Frontiersman and I watch the Watchmen.
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