The Week Begins – September 8th 2009 and Cartoon Review

Apologies for yet another missing Week’s End, I haven’t been very well. I knew if I tried to write one up it would have been short and boring and I’d rather not give you guys sub-par crap. Though I will this time add my cartoon review at the end of this.

We’ve got a pretty good looking week of comics, even with dropping Ultimate Avengers sadly I’m still pretty excited as it seems all the reads this week will be solid.

Witchblade #130 *Most Anticipated*
Written: Ron Marz
Art: Stjepan Sejic

While War of the Witchblades has been a weak story arc mostly, last issue was a return to form for the series and was much closer to the awesome read Witchblade has been over the last year I’ve been reading it. Making me hopeful that Marz can close this story arc well enough.

Sadly it was spoiled that Sara is still the bearer of the Witchblade with the solicit for #132, but I’m still hopeful that Marz can do a great job closing what has been a weak story. Also excited to see how it all pans out. Should be a great read.

The Amazing Spider-man #604
Written: Fred Van Lente
Art: Barry Kitson

While the red-headed stranger story arc has had it’s good and it’s bad moments I remain hopeful for this issue to conclude the story as well as next week’s epilogue to it all. I’m sure it will be a good read as Van Lente is doing a solid job. Though not really much to say as I’m hopeful Chameleon hasn’t ruined Peter’s life totally. Seems that if this story arc has any real major effect that Peter will be out on his own and MJ and him is never going to happen.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #4
Written: Paul Cornell
Art: Mark Brooks

Despite a delay I remain excited to read this. This comic seems to be the best of the Dark Reign tie-in comics so far as last issue really won me over and impressed me. I’m hopeful that Cornell and Brooks continue to impress with the penultimate chapter of what so far has been a great read.

Dead Space: Extraction One-Shot
Written: Antony Johnston
Art: Ben Templesmith

For those unaware I am a huge Dead Space fan, I loved the first game, the first comic series and I seriously need to rent the animated movie sometime soon but I’ve been lazy about it. Seeing Johnston and Templesmith team up again for this one shot is great. I will probably pick it up on the shelf if it’s available when I get to the LCS.

My only real worry is that this is based around Isaac’s girlfriend Nicole. A minor character who was Isaac’s main driving force through the entire first game which I liked but at the same time I’m not sure she really deserves a whole one-shot comic devoted to her.

Cartoon Review
Wolverine and the X-men Episode 19: Guardian Angel

Another one character driven episode, though at least this one wasn’t all on Wolverine. This episode shows Angel as he finally confronts his father and in the process gets his wings removed and turns to Sinister to get them back. Sinister turns him in to Archangel.

Truth be told I was disappointed that we’re already seeing Archangel. I half expected this to happen some time around the 2nd or maybe even 3rd season but to give the character such a huge alteration in the first season seemed like a really bad idea to me.

Still this episode was a strong watch at least. Mostly for how the story pulls on our heart strings as we see Storm and the others suffer Warren’s bad choice. Though I think the most powerful moment was Warren’s father (the 2nd Warren) grieving at the very end of the episode.

One thing I definitely liked was the action this time around. So far the action of this series has been mixed. Last episode for example was very boring with how it repeated the pattern of X-men in trouble, X-men get out of trouble, over and over again in the fight. Here the fight between Wolverine and Archangel was very well done.

I also liked Wolverine trying to convince Archangel not to kill his father. Going on about how Wolverine was turned into a monster whereas Warren can be saved. It was a great moment and one of the few times where Wolverine felt like an important character but not because he was hogging the spotlight from others.

I liked Storm’s relationship with Angel. While we’re never told if it’s an actual dating relationship we know that because of the fact they can fly they have a special bond and it was really interesting. It was also sad to see how it affected her and you felt bad both for her and Warren.

This episode was a nice mix of the ongoing plot with the MRD and past developments all the while being an enjoyable episode on it’s own. While I’m hopeful that next time we can return to more important plots the character work and moments where some of the best so far of the young series.

Score: 8 out of 10