Comics Review 2020

 I have failed you, my dear readers, I have failed you. In past years I have read many more comic book collections than this year, the fourth that I am doing this ceremony. In the past, I have done lists awarding certain categories now I am doing away with those and ranking a top ten. I'm doing the Oscars 4. Go.

10. Captain America: Sam Wilson vol. 1-3

by Nick Spencer

This series goes really deep into Sam Wilson's character and has many great arcs that are culminating towards the Secret Empire event. This is a great example of Nick Spencer's amazing writing. The Disney + series Falcon and Winter Soldier will be inspired by this. 

9. Scarlet Witch vol. 1-3

by James Robinson

This comic explores Wanda Maximoff in a light that she has never been in before. It is all about her trying to find out her true heritage and dealing with magical problems. The storytelling in this book was great and I couldn't get enough. 

8. Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes

by Neil Gaiman

This fantasy book has been acclaimed by many as one of the best comic series of all time. The first volume of the series sets up the dream world and the other paranormal aspects of the series while also having some good tales throughout. I will definitely continue to read this series.  

7. Female Furies

by Cecil Castellucci, Adriana Melo

This comic serves as something as a tie-in to one of my favorite comics, Mister Miracle by Tom King. But it focuses more on his wife and her team of female fighters for Darkseid. It focuses on some hard-hitting issues with males and believing women. This series has great art and is one of too-few great Fourth World series.  

6. Quicksilver: No Surrender

by Saladin Ahmed, Eric Nguyen, Martin Simmonds

This comic has a very interesting plot in which Quicksilver is the only person that isn't frozen in place in the world because he's going so fast and he has to save everybody but first come to terms with how annoying he is. It was a truly interesting and quick read with great art and much like Saladin Ahmed's other great comic, Black Bolt.

5. Dawn of X vol. 1-3

by multiple authors

The X-men books have been revamped by Jonathan Hickman starting with the House/Powers of X series and now in Dawn of X with several series that are all in these volumes. In this series the mutants have founded their own nation on the Island of Krakoa. These are some of the best X-men comics in while and are making big moves. Out of the six series my favorite is Marauders and I have to say that the exception to the greatness is Fallen Angels, though all of the series have been getting better generally as the volumes go on.

4. Venom vol. 1-3

by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman

Venom is a really great comic that establishes amazing new lore in the Venom mythos with the god of the symbiotes, Knull. The art by Stegman is incredible and dark. This series has really good character connections and stories. It has already tied-in to an event Absolute Carnage and will lead to another huge event, the King in Black later this year.

3. Black Widow vol. 1

by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee

Black Widow by Waid and Samnee is an absolutely awesome series that is action-packed and full of amazing art. Mark Waid and Chris Samnee have also done their Daredevil run and they are one of the best creative duos in comics. This book goes into Black Widow's past and the institution of shield.

2. The Amazing Spider-man vol. 1-6

by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley

As I said before, Nick Spencer is an amazing writer and he proves that once again with his Amazing Spider-man book. This series is such a great one to binge read, with all of the different fun plot-lines and mysteries going on. It absolutely is a great Spider-man comic.

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum- A serious house on serious earth

by Grant Morrison, Dave McKean

Lastly is what I would consider the best and most creative comic on this list, Arkham Asylum. Yes, it did loosely inspire the video game. But this comic has so much to offer in the storytelling, the photography mixed with abstract painted art, and the genuine horror. This book isn't entirely perfect but it is definitely the most original comic that I have read from Marvel or DC in a while. And Grant Morrison truly does write a Watchmen a week. 

Thank you for reading and stay connected.

The Mandalorian Season 2 Hype

Hello and welcome back to another good blog, regrettably I didn't ever get around to properly reviewing the Mandalorian season one. But with season 2 coming out I will just say that it is the greatest show ever with a great appeal to everyone and connection to the star wars underworld it is very new and fresh. The show is much inspired by western and samurai movies which goes to the original star wars influence and it is a new genre for the stary wars. The character of the Mandalorian is able to convey so much emotion in the series even with his face covered up with a mask, as is proper. The show also had a behind the scenes series come out later which was called the gallery and it showed great details of the scenes that went on behind the action and that instead of doing the reviled green screen they shot on what they call the medium where every thing is shot in camera which means that they display the environment on a screen behind the characters and that screen can move to fit the scene. The medium definitely presents great opportunities for future of media. The musical numbers done by composer Ludwig Göransson are delightfully excellent and fit the show, they don't really lean on the old star wars themes but find their own tune and I listen to it every day.

We have a trailer for the second season that I will link below. I will also make my plot predictions based on that, the first season, my theories, as well as some reports of characters that may appear in the series. Apropos of nothing in a way in which the opposite is true I am rewatching the series Rebels now as part of my daily dose of Mandalorian season 2 preparation.

The first season of Mandalorian had several episodes that fit different genres and were very episodic what some may call filler or to be more charitable you could say that they were were individual stories. Like you would have a heist one episode and then another episode they defend a town that we never see again. In short there very several episodes without much plot importance, although more character focus. So though Dave Filoni says that this set of episodes will be more connected. We will see an episode about the pirates life going by the trailer and if I had my way a good murder mystery would be fun. I think that in season two and beyond, this show ought to focus on the wider universe but still true be true to small scale stories.

Season 2 plot guess:

Track down Jedi for the child and maybe some more of his own species, figure out the mystery, which will have the child reveal that he is not really an infant but a dignified fellow that is distinguished in his own right so he will get up and sing and dance to a jig that he wrote himself!  But remember that Moff Gideon is still after him with a vengeance and the darksaber so then the child who will be revealed to have a epic name by this point will do battle against the moff with his laser sword!

I think as the show is titled the Mandalorian they should focus on the heritage of Mandalore and the mandalorians, ask the question who has a right to rule the planet, the empire, Bo Katan, Boba Fett, or the Mandalorian himself and who has a right to the darksaber and how did it come into Moff Gideon's possession? Ashoka will help with the child and maybe fight Moff Gideon and hopefully continue her super friendship with Bo Katan and Rex.

Boba Fett should come into play as a villain fighting the Mandalorian for Mandalore and we go there, maybe I'm looking too far ahead past season 2 but we going there. I think that season 2 would do right to set Boba Fett up and tease him as more of a villain for later on. There have also been rumors of Cobb Vanth appearing, who had Boba's armor in the Aftermath books and maybe coming into conflict with Fett himself. The trailer showed a planet that looked a lot like Tatooine which is where both Cobb and Boba were last seen...hmm.

From the trailer we see some X-wings which makes me think that the Mandalorian might be working with or against the New Republic. We are sure to see more of Cara Terf and Greef Carga and of course more Baby Yoda sillies. We may get some fighting pigs in the Gammoreans. The trailer teases the Mandalorians and Jedi as enemies, so that conflict may continue on this season. And lastly we see the Mandalorian and Child on a cavernous ice planet while searching for the Jedi and we know that one planet like that is Illum where the Jedi get their Kyber crystals for lightsabers. 

The Mandalorian season 2 will premire on October 30th.

Even though I don't talk about it on my blog enough but I am about as much of a fan of Marvel as I am of Star Wars. And as we have a new trailer for Wandavision which is one of my most hyped shows and looks so creative and different which is also luckily coming later this year and I highly recommend giving the trailer a view.

Blog update: Almost every blog I make is prefaced with an update by now but in this year of our lord Satan 2020, I haven’t dedicated much energy to this blog but I have to other creative means and now much of that productivity is going down due to the dreaded return of school. But alas I do have several more blogs in the pipeline so stay connected.