TITLE: Superman: New Krypton, Volume 4
AUTHORS: James Robinson, Greg Rucka
PENCILLER: Pete Woods. Cover by Bryan Talbot.
COLLECTS: Superman: World of New Krypton #6-12
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $24.99
RELEASE DATE: June 2

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Superman in a political thriller? Talk about a fish out of water…

Nevertheless, that’s where the former last son of Krypton finds himself in New Krypton, Volume 4. As you might have guessed, this book picks up where Superman: New Krypton, Volume 3 leaves off.

Superman is on the shelf for now, as Kal El suddenly finds himself the leader of New Krypton’s armies after an attempt is made on the life of a major Kryptonian official. But it doesn’t end there, as Kal must deal with other worlds who are angered by New Krypton’s actions, as well as a mysterious assassin determined to murder members of the planet’s high council. Who is behind this turmoil, and what does it have to do with General Sam Lane, Superman’s own father-in-law?

I’ll tell ya, it’s those in-laws that’ll get cha every time…

The cool thing about the World of New Krypton miniseries is that it takes Superman completely out of his element. In this book, he’s not a superhero anymore. He’s a general commanding an army. He answers to high council members, and functions amongst tension between Kryptonian social guilds. He’s weaved into the political fabric of society more than he ever was on Earth. He still flies, and moves faster than a speeding bullet, and all that stuff. But the context is completely different now that there are 100,000 other people around him that can do the exact same thing.

From the start, I think one of the purposes of this New Krypton story line has been to emphasize that Superman is not just a walking weapon. He’s a hero, a protector, a peacekeeper. How many times have you heard people say: Superman’s a pussy,” or “Without his powers, Superman is nothing.” I like to think part of the New Krypton story line is aimed at readers like that, because books like this show that underneath all his special abilities, Kal El truly has an iron will, and an unbreakable desire for to see virtue prosper.

Art from ComicArtCommunity.com.

The tough thing about any political thriller is that sometimes it’s very easy to get confused and lost in all the mumbo jumbo. That happened to me a little bit during this book. At the end, I had some trouble discerning exactly who the big bad guy was, and what exactly his motivations were. There’s a little bit of backtracking that’s a little hard to follow.

Also, Pete Woods has never been that high on my list of artists, but for some reason, DC seems to love him on Superman titles. The art in this book does what it needs to, but I think someone like Ramon Bachs or Jamal Igle would have been more satisfying. At least to me personally.

In a way, it’s hard to judge books in the New Krypton series, because a lot of them don’t come to a truly conclusive ending. For instance, at the end of New Krypton, Volume 4, we get a major cliffhanger that leads into the next chapter, Last Stand of New Krypton. It’s kind of like reviewing a chapter in a novel.

But for what it’s worth, I think New Krypton, Volume 4 is a decent accomplishment on the part of DC Comics. It proves a character like Superman doesn’t always have to be punching bad guys in order to be a success. He also works on different levels. And that’s a good thing, to say the least.

RATING: 6.5/10

Front page image from ComicArtCommunity.com.

TITLE: Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time
STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Sir Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina
DIRECTOR: Mike Newell
STUDIO: Disney
RATING: PG-13
RUN TIME: 115 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 28^th

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part-Time Ninja

When it comes to seeing movies in theaters, there are a few guidelines I usually follow.  First, never order anything large at the concessions stand. Second, show up to the theater 5-6 minutes after the showtime, so I miss the advertisements and most of the trailers before the actual movie. And third, if you get a bad feeling about a movie, don’t see it. When I went to see the film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, I ignored the third guideline and I wish that I had followed it.

The movie follows the quest of Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he seeks to stop his evil uncle Nizam (Sir Ben Kingsley), who manipulated Dastan and his brothers to raid a city for a dagger that can control time. With him on this quest is Tamina, a princess who is the guardian of the dagger (Gemma Arterton) and a criminal lord who sounds like a member of the Tea Party (Alfred Molina).

And such is the plot of the movie, and it doesn’t bother to add anything else to it without it being done in a really cheesy way. The movie keeps trying to drive how important family and brotherhood is in our lives, but the message has no emotional investment and just comes off as cheesy. Based on the popular Prince of Persia video game series, right from the opening battle, set up like a game level, the whole film plays like a collection of video game cutscenes, and it is as boring as it sounds.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

While the acting is not terrible, there really is nothing that stands out. Gyllenhaal fills the hero role well enough, and Kingsley does his job as a villain, but neither one of them does anything that livens up the movie. The only actor that is interesting is Molina as the amoral, tax-hating criminal who reluctantly helps our heroes in their quest.

The film does have some great visuals, good cinematography, and a section in the middle of the movie that is actually kind of fun. Overall, the film is not bad, it just does not have anything that stands out and comes off as cheesy fluff. Some reviewers have said this should be expected of a summer movie. But in the past few summer movie seasons with movies like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Star Trek that are fun but have some substance to it, am I wrong to expect a little bit more from movies I’m watching? I don’t believe so; of course, that’s just my opinion.

RATING: 5/10

Front page photo from rottentomatoes.com.

TITLE: Captain America: Reborn
AUTHOR: Ed Brubaker
PENCILLER: Bryan Hitch
COLLECTS: Captain America: Reborn #1-6
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics
PRICE: $24.99
RELEASE DATE: April 7

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This book felt…familiar.

And no, it’s not because it centers around the resurrection of Steve Rogers, the original Captain America. Rogers was killed off in 2007 following Marvel’s ginormongous company-wide event, Civil War. Rogers’ old sidekick, James “Bucky” Barns would eventually pick up the shield.

But in this book, we learn that Captain America did NOT die. Long story short, thanks to some nanotechnology invented by Dr. Doom, he’s trapped in the space-time continuum, reliving the major events in his life. This was all orchestrated by Rogers’ arch enemy, Red Skull, who when we open this book is trapped in a robotic body. With Doom’s help, he hopes to transfer his consciousness into Steve Rogers’ body, and become the leader of the Dark Avengers.

To me, this book felt very reminiscent of Geoff Johns’ work on Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Flash: Rebirth. I’m not suggesting Brubaker piggybacked on the Johns wave, because he’s a great storyteller in his own right. And obviously, all three stories have the same central theme: Rebirth, Reborn, you get the idea. Still, I couldn’t help but think: “Hey, I’ve read something like this before…”

Art from Captain America: Reborn #1.

Though the idea of Steve Rogers not actually dying, but being sent back in time seems a little corny (we actually SAW the bullets hit him, didn’t we?), it does provide good fodder for storytelling. The good Captain re-living some of his life’s defining moments, while essentially sitting in the passenger’s seat in his own mind, unable to change anything, allows the audience to get to see where the character’s emotional strengths and vulnerabilities are. I appreciated that, as I opened this book without much exposure to the main Marvel Universe (meaning I usually stick to the Ultimate line).

Red Skull comes out of this book looking great. There’s a really nice battle sequence that takes place in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where Bucky Barns faces off against Skull, whose consciousness is in Rogers’ body. We simultaneously get to see Bucky fighting Skull physically, while Rogers takes him on mentally. It’s a really clever scene.

Fittingly enough, like The Flash: Rebirth, Reborn drags a bit when it comes to explaining what actually happened to our fallen hero, and how he can come back. It gets a bit convoluted at times. Still, I give credit to Marvel for not actually killing Rogers. In a way, I prefer the convoluted technical explanation, as opposed to just saying: “He came back to life.”

I much prefer Brubaker’s more grounded work on gritty crime comics, but he turns in a nice story here. Fans with a decent knowledge of the Marvel Universe should appreciate it. For those of us who aren’t, if you concentrate on the main characters, you can still get a pretty good story out of it.

RATING: 7/10

TITLE: Just Cause 2
PLATFORM: PS3, XBox 360, PC
DEVELOPER: Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive
PUBLISHER: Square-Enix
ESRB: M
RELEASED: March 23, 2010

By Justin Polak
Staff Writer, Abassador to the Mushroom Kingdom

I promise that during this review, I will not make a lame pun out of the game’s title. I think it’s pretty obnoxious to even include something like that in your review just ’cause…

Damn it. I’m sorry.

Despite the title that begs a good riffing, the game itself isn’t half bad. If you enjoy sandbox type games, you’ll have a good time in the playground found in Just Cause 2.

First, while the grappling hook is a gimmick, I feel that most of the game’s fun stems from this simple mechanic. As an added bonus, it makes traveling a lot easier. I fell off a mountain during a mission and barley survived. Any other game would make you find a vehicle and waste valuable time driving back up. Rico Rodriguez, on the other hand, can sling shot his way back up to victory! I also loved the new ability to tether your grappling hook onto two different things. I once hooked one guard onto another and shot one of them off a roof. The other guard screamed in terror as his body went flying due to the other guards weight. They might as well renamed the grappling hook to “Hilarity Ensues,” since I found myself torturing enemies with the item more than actually playing the missions. Plus, hijacking helicopters is always a bad-ass move, and never gets old!

Unfortunately, nothing else runs as smoothly. While the missions are fun, they end up feeling stale due to repetition. Sure, you traverse the island in creative ways as a result, but the core of the missions don’t change up too much. There are unique missions to be found, but those are only the ones that are part of the main story, which obviously doesn’t take up a huge chunk of the game. Only completists will find the tedium entertaining. It feels like the developers focused too much on building a game for completists, mainly.

The bigger problem I have with this mentality is that you are forced to play like a completist. You must create chaos in order to unlock weapons, missions, and various other cool stuff. While finishing missions does give you a hefty bonus, I found that all too often I had to run around blowing up fuel tanks or something to unlock the next mission. This problem mainly plagues the first part of the game, but it felt like work. I play video games to relax. If I wanted to work, I’d put in some overtime at my job.

Image from game-server-hosting.net

Although I know Just Cause 2 is purposely over the top, I still found the dialogue, cut-scenes and voice acting very irritating. It’s like they intentionally tried to be controversial because that’s what they thought made Grand Theft Auto cool. Imitation can’t be pulled off if you are caught trying to hard. It’s kind of like when you are sitting at a lunch table in school, and some kid does something gross with his food. Some people  react, but smarter people know he’s just trying to grab your attention.

Despite my complaints, I realize that the problems I had with the game just happened to press all the wrong buttons for me. If you liked the first game, you will definitely be happy with the familiarity that stems from the first installment, along with all the tweaks and upgrades found in this title. While I certainly don’t think Just Cause 2 is the worst game in the world, I feel that the only series that can properly release a mature sandbox game anymore is the king itself, Grand Theft Auto. I’ll admit that Just Cause 2 strays away from GTA to be its own game, but I feel that it could have been so much more.

RATING: 6.5/10

Front page image from thegamereviews.com

TITLE: Alan Wake
PLATFORM: 360
DEVELOPER: Remedy
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB: T
RELEASED: May 18

By Cameron Miller
Staff Writer, Crowd Control

Grab your flashlights and get ready to fight the dark. Alan Wake is a very unique game that relies on excellent storytelling and great gameplay. The game that was in development since 2005 is here to scare and impress, and with its realistic graphics and phenomenal lighting effects, it won’t be lost to the dark anytime soon.

The game has been everything it has promised and more. I was immediately interested when I heard it was advertised as a psychological action thriller, and it is exactly that. From the very beginning of the game, I could already feel my heart pumping, getting ready for the chaos that was about to take place in the small town of Bright Falls.

Image from alanwake.com

Alan has a bad case of writers block. His wife Alice, being the kind wife she is, tries to help him by bringing Alan to an artist’s clinic run by a Dr. Emil Hartman. When Alan finds out Alice’s true intentions, he is furious, he yells and leaves Alice in the cabin that they are renting for their stay. As he tries to clear his head from the fight, he hears Alice scream and immediately runs back to see what’s wrong. He gets there only find a hole in the wall and he sees Alice’s silhouette going further into the lake surrounding the cabin.

After Alan’s wife Alice goes missing, chaos takes its place as the darkness threatens everyone. While searching for her, finds pages to a manuscript that was apparently written by him but he doesn’t remember writing it. As he defends himself with his flashlight and pistol, and he eventually gets into contact with the police. Officer Breaker, the town sheriff, tries to find out what happened but Alan doesn’t remember, and wants to get to the bottom of things quickly.

The gameplay is very smooth and frightening. You will be walking down a path when the Taken, the local townspeople who are under the control of the dark, will be more than happy to give you a surprise assault. The action portion of the game is simple: shine the Taken with the light, which makes them vulnerable, and then kill. Alan Wake is filled with many different items to aid you on your quest, such as pistols, shotguns, hunting rifles, flares, flare guns, and flash bangs, making your fight against evil a fair one. Your flashlight is used for clearing darkness and aiming and it does a fine job of both, though there are a few upgraded models you can find throughout Bright Falls.

Another thing to draw you in is the breathtaking visuals. While you explore the forest terrain and mountains around Bright Falls you will almost certainly stop to just enjoy the view. With true to life graphics and its amazing lighting effects, you are in for a very good looking game.

Image from alanwake.com

The story is split up into 6 different episodes, each one taking you further into the dark. There are also a couple of things to collect in the game, such as manuscript pages and coffee thermoses. The thermoses just give you a scavenger hunt achievement while the manuscript pages are pages from a book that Alan doesn’t remember writing.

With the good we take the bad no matter how little there is of it. The only real problem I had with Alan Wake was one particular point in the game where it wouldn’t open a door and let me finish an episode. Other than that I found no major problems aside from some random screen tearing.

I’ve already played through Alan Wake twice, once for myself and once for friends and family who really enjoyed the story; it’s quite a joyride. After you finish, you will be hungry for more after the credits roll. I picked it up on release day and couldn’t stop playing; such a unique experience will have you on the edge of your seat with a light at your side.

RATING: 9.5/10

TITLE: War of the Supermen
AUTHORS: James Robinson, Sterling Gates
PENCILLERS: Jamal Igle, Eduardo Pansica, Cafu, Eddy Barrows
ISSUES: War of the Supermen #0-4
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORMAT:Late 2010/Early 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

The war is over. And boy, were there casualties.

General Zod and his army of Kryptonians are on their way to Earth, preparing to wreak havoc on the human race. About halfway into the first issue, Reactron uses some Lex-Luthor-technology to set his armor to self destruct and blow up New Krypton, taking everyone but Supergirl, who is enclosed in a protective chamber, with him. Supergirl goes into a rage, as the Kryptonian army takes the fight to Superman on Mars.

Under General Same Lane’s direction, Lex Luthor shocks everybody by temporarily turning the sun red, leaving a bunch of powerless Kryptonians drifting in space. To Nightwing’s horror, Flamebird sacrifices herself to turn the sun yellow again and give the Kryptonians their power back. From there, the battle for Earth begins as Zod’s forces invade Earth…

I won’t give away the ending, but overall, this turned out to be a pretty solid Superman story. I’m not sure this arc alone was worth the two years of build up, but it had all the ingredients of an epic. There were big battles, characters lived, characters died, and it was fun to read. It put Superman near the top of my reading pile again, which is obviously where DC wants him to be.

Art from DeviantArt.com.

The artists all did their jobs well. There’s so much hefty emotion that needs to be conveyed, especially in the first two issues, and their respective issues compliment one another very well. Eddy Barrows comes out looking the best, if only by a small margin. He did the majority of the covers, and he does a great job with the wild, angry faces Superman and Zod have in various scenes.

One thing I didn’t like about the story was in issue 3, James Robinson and Sterling Gates used a dramatic tool that’s become cliche over the years: they attacked world landmarks. Big Ben in London, the Sphinx in Egypt and the White House in America.  This is especially true with the White House. They used this technique in Amazons Attack! a couple of years ago, and it just felt cheap. You can only show the White House in shambles so many times before it becomes cliche. Plus, it’s in mildly bad taste.

However, in these same scenes, they also used a tool I thought was very effective: Instead of giving the characters dialouge, they tied all the various threads together by using snippets of various newscasts. The proclamation that “…British Prime Minister is dead!” was a little much, but overall, it was very effective.

The way they got rid of some of the Kryptonians seemed like a little bit of a cop out, but I suppose it was a natural progression of the story they were telling, without having it get incredibly violent and (literally) Earth-shattering.

It’s hard to say where this leaves the characters going forward. Superman returns to his own book next month in Superman #700, and Lex Luthor takes over for Nightwing & Flamebird in Action Comics next month. While almost all the Kryptonians are now gone, there’s no clear indication as to whether the public still harbors its anti-Kryptonian sentiment. It appears Superman is going to be conflicted about continuing his never-ending battle when J. Michael Straczynski takes over next month. Supergirl seems like she needs extensive therapy after everything that happened with her. Seriously, this girl had a planet blow up, WHILE SHE WAS STILL ON IT. Can she get in to see the Dalai Lama or something? Or at least a guest spot on Dr. Phil?

Overall, War of the Supermen managed to be high emotionally-charged action, which is something that’s not always easy to achieve. I wasn’t floored by it, but it was good. Not great, but good.

RATING: 7/10

TITLE: Titans: Fractured
AUTHORS: Eric Wallace, Christopher Yost, Pat McCallum, Bryan Q. Miller, J.T. Krul, Mike Johnson
ARTISTS: Mike Shoyket, Angel Unzueta
COLLECTS: Titans #14 and #16-22
FORMAT: Softcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $17.99
RELEASE DATE: May 26

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Uh oh, the Titans are breaking up…

Not the Teen version, mind you. These are just the Titans, the team that consists mostly of the heroes assembled under the Wolfman/Perez regime in the ’80s and ’90s. They were re-assembled in 2008 for a monthly book simply called Titans. But it imploded fairly quickly, as the various heroes kept getting pulled into other titles and different stories by different editorial teams.

As a result, for about 10 months DC simply decided to make Titans a “spotlight” book, with each month highlighting a certain member. Fractured collects those stories, which take place as the team slowly begins to realize they are drifting apart. Then at the end, Cyborg and Starfire take on a villain that has invaded Titans HQ.

Cover to Titans #17. Art from Comicartcommunity.com

The stories feature Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Red Arrow, and Donna Troy. The Flash (Wally West) also makes a few appearances.

In terms of quality, these standalone stories are a mixed bag. They’re the kind of stories where we see a lot of superhero stuff mixed with mundane, everyday stuff. Cyborg joins a dating service, Starfire goes to therapy, etc. The bad thing about this book is that it’s almost the same plot and story formula over and over again. Almost every member is dealing with the team drifting apart, and wondering what they’ll do next. It’s like a compilation album where you have different artists playing the same song. For what it’s worth, that song sounds the best when sang by Chris Yost, with his story about Starfire.

As people who’ve read his work might expect, J.T. Krul steals the book with his story about Red Arrow balancing his superhero gig with being a father. However, Krul also wrote the book’s climax, which for my money, fell short.

Angel Unzueta handles most of the art. There’s nothing here that’ll take your breath away, but he holds up his end of the bargain.

This isn’t the first time DC has tried to recapture some of that old Wolfman/Perez magic. It seems to work well in small doses, but from a creative standpoint, the Titans monthly title was a failure. Unless you’re a big fan of those characters, I’d leave this one on the shelf.

RATING: 4/10

TITLE: Batman: Long Shadows
AUTHOR: Judd Winick
ARTISTS: Ed Benes, Mark Bagley, Cover by J.G. Jones
COLLECTS: Batman #687-691
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $19.99
RELEASE DATE: May 26

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Ah, Judd Winick. Every fanboy’s least-favorite Real World star turned comic book writer. Or maybe he’s a favorite. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. The man’s gained a lot of attention during his career, both favorable and unfavorable.

In any event, the man who brought Jason Todd back to life in Batman: Under The Hood is back, and this time he’s dealing with the aftermath of Batman: Battle For The Cowl, which gave us a new Batman: Dick Grayson.

With Bruce Wayne gone, Dick and Bruce’s son Damian are the new Batman and Robin. As the new Dark Knight settles into his new role, he finds himself caught in the middle of a war between The Penguin and Two-Face. To send a message to the criminal element in Gotham, Dick makes an effort to be seen on camera more. Unfortunately, this results in Two-Face realizing that this isn’t the Batman he’s been up against for so long. Meanwhile, the mysterious new Black Mask continues to haunt Gotham…

Batman #688, page 1. Art from ComicArtGallery.com.

The best part about this book is the emotional weight attached to it. In Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn, Grant Morrison focused more on the dynamic between the new Dynamic Duo, and the enemies they faced. Long Shadows puts Damian in a strictly supporting role, and puts the spotlight solely on Dick Grayson, and what it means for him to put on the cape and cowl. Interestingly enough, this story fills in some of the gaps between Battle For The Cowl and Batman Reborn, such as what happened to the Batcave, how they ended up in the new Bat-Bunker, Dick training with Damian, etc.

Judd Winick writes Alfred better than most. He gives him a nice Dr. Watson type quality that really suits the character. He did this in Under The Hood as well. It’s similar to what Chuck Dixon did in Robin: Year One. He also gives Alfred a greatline near the beginning of the book. When Superman and Wonder Woman come to the Batcave with Bruce Wayne’s body, Superman asks him if he’s all right.

“Am I ‘all right?’” Alfred replies. “No sir, I am not. My son has died.”

On the very last page, Winick pulls a surprise cliffhanger on us. The sad thing is, in successive issues of Batman, this incident has yet to even be touched on, much less resolved. So we may be waiting awhile before we get any sort of follow up on this book’s ending.

Most of the book is pencilled by Mark Bagley, who’s arguably most famous for his work on Ultimate Spider-man. He turns in a good performance, but is ultimately outdone by Ed Benes, whose work on Batman #687 precedes Bagley’s in the book. If you were contesting it on points, Bagley would be just a few behind Benes.

Long Shadows is a strong emotional ride for Dick Grayson and Alfred. In essence it’s about continuing on in the face of tragedy, which these characters are certainly no strangers to.

RATING: 7.5/10

TITLE: Ex Machina: Ring Out The Old, Vol. 9
AUTHOR: Brian K. Vaughan
PENCILLER: Tony Harris
COLLECTS: Ex Machina #41-44, Ex Machina Special #4
FORMAT: Softcover
PUBLISHER: WildStorm
PRICE: $14.99
RELEASE DATE: May 18

By Chris Kromphardt
Staff Writer, Justice Administrator

It’s pretty standard by now to describe Ex Machina as superheroes meet The West Wing, but with this volume Brian K. Vaughan and company take the possibilities of that pairing to a new and exciting level. Ex Machina is just as much about politics as it is superheroes, and Vaughan treads some interesting and unexpected territory in Ring Out The Old.

Those who follow politics—myself included—usually get pretty tired of hearing the same soundbites about the same arguments. Real-life politics are rarely very exciting to anyone whose TV isn’t always tuned to C-SPAN, and even when they are the fireworks don’t last for long. Throughout its run Ex Machina, while a bit too dependent on the “freak-of-the-week” story arc structure, has always managed to bring some fresh perspective to political intrigue. All it took was superheroes. Republicans and Democrats should take note.

This volume contains the four-issue titular arc as well as two other stories. The conflict in Ring stems from New York City Mayor Mitchell Hundred—the (maybe) erstwhile Great Machine, a self-styled hero who can communicate with machines and who stopped the second plane from crashing into the World Trade Center—announcing that he will not be seeking a second term as mayor. He proposes significant tax raises in order to put to rest the big problems he sees facing the city, and promises to never set foot in the city he was born in if he fails to accomplish his goals.

Image from ifanboy.com

At that point, the political junkie in me went: “Whoa.” That’s brave new territory for a politically-driven narrative. Most political spectators view politicians as self-serving and only interested in re-election; by removing that angle from the table, Vaughan makes Hundred an even more compelling protagonist 40 issues into the series’ run.

Superpowers nonwithstanding, Hundred can now do anything. And yet, Vaughan finds new ways to drag Hundred through the mud, once again juggling multiple characters and timelines with aplomb as the Great Machine suits up once again—sort of—when a villain with a modus operandi reminiscent of his old foe Pherson takes to the streets. By the end of this arc the reader has a clearer understanding of the complex overall series plot; however Vaughan as per his usual answers a question with a riddle, so there’s still plenty more to come. I’ll definitely be back to see how this series wraps up.

Along with the tense Ring Out The Old, this volume contains two stand-alone issues. The first one in what’s a comedic high point of the series sees Vaughan and artist Tony Harris applying for the job of chronicling Hundred’s career in a graphic novel. Vaughan’s meta-characterization here is spot-on—his own anxiety and his partner’s nonchalance ring true and give faces to the talent behind Ex Machina. Finally, Green, pencilled by John Paul Leon, is a nice addition to the canon as Hundred investigates why an overexhuberant “fan” has taken the law into his own hands.

RATING: 8/10

TITLE: Shrek Forever After
STARRING: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews
DIRECTOR: Mike Mitchell
STUDIO: Dreamworks
RATED: PG
RUN TIME: 93 min
RELEASE DATE: May 21

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

In this fourth installment in the Shrek franchise, Shrek is feeling a bit over-domesticated, what with being married and raising triplets. Shrek used to be a very scary character, roaring, and having the towns people come after him with pitchforks. But now they just want him to sign the pitchforks.

To regain the ogre mojo that he once fully enjoyed, he strikes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to “give a day to get a day.” The pact goes wrong and he ends up living life as if he never existed, i.e. he never married Fiona, met Donkey, etc.

The first three Shrek films were pretty entertaining, though none were better than the original. This latest installment did not deliver the laughs as easily and as often as before, and the storyline was pretty unoriginal. Think It’s A Wonderful Life meets Shrek, and you have the plot. Shrek’s entire life and all his relationships turn out completely different and much sadder.

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

Another major drawback is that the other major characters, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) are severely under-utilized in this film. This is a big disappointment because all of these characters bring a lot of the laughs and funny situations that made the other movies so funny. In terms of the actors’ performances, this felt more like a paycheck than a creative endeavor.

Still, the movie makes for a good family outing with the kids. But I don’t know if I’ll be buying this one.

RATING: 7.5/10