Ratings and Rantings featuring Uncanny X-Men #2

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here once again, welcoming you outlaws to this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings! Last week's review was delayed til this week due to the holiday and the fact I only had three books last week and found out I'd only have one book this week, so I just decided to give you one post with the four reviews this week, so let's kick things off with Invincible.

Invincible #85

We start things off seeing Mark's parents on a space ship getting bizzay, if you catch my drift. We then cut over to see Allen the Alien (Wooooooooo) and his girlfriend discussing Oliver who apparently walked in on them playing a game of space invaders if you know what I'm saying. We then see a healed up, teenage version of Oliver, I hadn't even realized how much I missed the runt, who goes on a test run with his new and improved body parts. After reporting in with Allen and telling him that the Viltrumites have joined Earth and that's the agreement he and Mark had to make, Nolan retired to his chambers with Mark's mom to have an intergalactic voyage if you know what I'm saying. Man... there is a LOT of sex in this issue. After trying to take down a villain but watching the villain subdue himself to the police, Oliver is approached by his shoeless, super powered hippie father, Omni-Man, who takes him to see his mother. While the two catch up, Oliver meets with Allen and discuss what could happen with the Viltrumites living on Earth, and how that could either help or hinder things. After thinking long and hard, Allen decides he's going to send the Scourge Virus to Earth and personally deliver it, and Nolan objects since it will kill Viltrumites and Earthlings since they have similar DNA, but Allen stands by his decision and the two get ready to throw down as the issue closes. Well this comic was pretty funny, a lot more relaxed than the last few issues and the ongoing joke with Oliver hearing Allen and his girlfriend as well as his parents having sex *shudder* it was pretty enjoyable. Up until the end it was nothing amazing but far from bad, but after that great ending I can't wait to see what's next. I'd give this issue a 8.5/10 rating.

Debbie Grayson: Just because they say they're not going to cause any trouble, doesn't mean you should believe them. Your people are very good liars. (BURN!!!!)

Kick-Ass 2 #5

We kick things off with Dave going to see his dad in prison, who stands by his decision to lie for his son. He warns them that the villains know who he is and they put Katie in the hospital but Dave's dad says they can make it through this. Man...that noble dude is SO going to die. We then cut over to see The Mother Fucker working on his new lair because he's a comic mark and that's what we'd all do, and he gets a call from his uncle that works with the police telling him that he can't turn a blind eye to Chris' actions any longer, only when he was trying to help the family, and he says he'll target him like any other scumbag. We then see Dave with his friends discussing how Hit-Girl still won't come back when he gets a text message that includes a picture of his dad being hanged in prison. Poor, noble, fool. After his father is killed, The Mother Fucker released Dave's secret identity on Twitter (I knew Twitter was full of jerks... only confirms my past suspicion.) And we also see that Justice Forever is released from prison but have been banned from ever wearing their costumes. Afterward, everyone tells Dave how sorry they are and Dave says he's going to live with some cousins in Connecticut and giving this all up. He's then approached by Mindy who hopes he doesn't blame her for not helping and his dad dying but he doesn't. Suddenly, some people blow up Dave's dad's casket (holy shit!) and open fire before grabbing Dave and tossing him in a van before driving off. They attack Dave and dress him like Kick-Ass as they drive him to the Mother Fucker but suddenly two kidnappers are killed as we see Mindy on top of the van with a gun, as Hit-Girl returns. Damn this issue was brutal but SO fun to read. The outrageous of the death of Dave's dad, the stuff with Hit-Girl and the funeral, THIS is was a great comic. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating.

Hit-Girl: Game on, mother-fuckers.

Uncanny X-Men #2

We start things off with the Extinction Team taking on a bunch of Mister Sinister clones, when Cyclops gets work from Agent Brand that the rest of the Celestials are heading towards Earth. When Sinister offers the X-Men a ceasefire to discuss the incoming celestials, to which Scott agrees to since it give the town more time to evacuate. Once entering Sinister's lair or palace or whatever you want to call it, we're treated the origin of Sinister, given by Sinister himself. He also says how the Celestial's will come and kill all the Earthling's for defiling the Dreaming Celestial and then the real competition starts, Sinister's species vs. the Mutants. He then uses his telepathic powers to control everyone with the exception of Emma who he takes shots at by calling her inferior to Jean but good enough to house Scott's seed. Well damn... that was hilarious. Luckily, Sinister makes the mistake of stepping into the open and gets sniped by Hope, and when he switches to another body to take control, his head is crushed by the juggernaut hands of Colossus. The issue ends with Sinister regaining control of another body and stating that he can't be killed, because he's his own species and if you're not Sinister, simply put, your time is over. This was a really good issue as well. I loved Sinister here, as well as Emma and Namor. I could've used more Magneto but it made sense why he wasn't around. I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Namor: I increasingly understand the reason for the "X-Men." It's not Xavier or the X-Gene. The "X" is a target pasted on our backs. (I wanna make a joke about Namor and dry humor but instead I'll just say HA!)

Teen Titans #3

We start things off with Kid Flash trying to save what looks like a decaying and much thicker version (I notice these things) of Solstice but making a mistake and getting them into a hell of a position, that position being falling off of an icy mountain. One thing I like is Bart is still smart, we clearly saw that he does retain information he's read like pre-reboot Bart Allen. From there we see Cassie attacking Thrice in a hospital and looking for answers about who hired him to attack Skitter and Red Robin. We also see a young man that's from Mexico but in America on business and seemingly loves the land of the free. He hops onto a passing train and stumbles upon a giant cocoon as well as a vagrant that he also meets, and after talking for a bit the vagrant attacks. It turns out that the vagrant is none other than Red Robin in disguise (That was a good one...) and attacks, as he believes this young man is working for NOWHERE. The guy apparently set out for America to find Red Robin, as he's a big fan, and wants to join his team. He introduces himself as Miguel Jose Barragan, Codename Bunker. The train they are on stops soon after the introduction and they see a bunch of people that look mind-controlled coming towards the Teen heroes. Red Robin goes off to find out who is controlling them and finds a hunk of metal calling himself Detrius, but before he can be stopped, he mind controls Red Robin to return and forget about their encounter, and Red Robin does. Well alright, I guess they guy will show up later. As Red Robin returns he meets up with Bunker as we see Skitter is now back in her human form and wondering where she is and how she got there. Back with Solstice and Kid Flash, she manages to fly them to safety before passing out, and we see the two teens are in the middle of nowhere, and just as it seems things can't get worse, they're in the middle of a blizzard. Well, like the other three comics in this post, this was another good issue and a fun read. I like that the team has a deep pool so far, it seems to consist of Red Robin, Cassie, Kid Flash, Solstice, Skitter, Bunker, and we haven't even seen Superboy join yet which may be the next issue since it suggested they'd take on SB. One thing I want to do is compliment the are of Brett Booth who is doing an amazing job, from the big things to the small things like strands of hair, he's quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. I'll give this issue of Teen Titans an 8/10 rating.

Red Robin: A little advice. Don't reveal your entire backstory on meeting someone. It just makes it easier to defeat you.

And just like that, that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment and let me know what you think. That's it for me, until next time I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "How do you feel about the Walking Dead?"
Last place with 9.1% - Tie between I read the books and I do neither but I want to.
Third place with 18.2% - I'm not interested at all. 
Second place with 27.3% - I watch the TV Show and read the books. 
Winner with 36.4% - I watch the TV Show.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Justice League International #4, Amazing Spider-Man #675, Deadpool #47, and Venom #10

Ratings and Rantings Featuring Uncanny X-Men #1

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with another edition of your FAVORITE comic content comments. This week I've only got six books but a few of them are game changers to say the least, so let's get started off by jumping into this month's issue of Detective Comics!

Detective Comics #3

We start off with a partially paralyzed Batman trying to escape after finding out the cut up Gordon in front of him, is not the real Jim Gordon. While trying to escape, Batman is attacked by a bunch of the Dollmaker's goons, and there was a very forced scene where each goon would compliment the other goon by name, which seems SO forced,  especially since these lesser characters don't matter.From there, Batman escapes and brings a goon with him to torture, he even calls him "Sunshine" which just seemed odd. After heading to the cave, Bruce using facial scanning to find out that The Doll Maker is Barton Mathis, the son of a man Gordon shot when he was younger. Because that makes SO much sense, we reboot everything then the first villain is someone that's the son of someone Gordon shot YEARS ago?! Anyway, Batman finds out where Gordon is thanks to Olivia, who apparently was working for the Dollmaker to lure Bats there. While going to save Gordon, Batman is caught from behind by a big Killer Croc look-a-like before being choked unconscious. Instead of... I don't know, unmasking him, they throw Bats in a room where he's attacked by a bunch of people who look like The Joker as this issue ends. Alright, I'll be dropping this comic. This month I'll be dropping any comics that haven't drawn me in yet, so this is number one on the list, and the list will be at the bottom of each post until this month concludes. Anyway, this issue gets a 4/10, I hated Bats talking out of character, I hated how he KNEW it was a trap but didn't get any back up whatsoever, and I hated the face that no one tried to unmask him, while he was paralyzed of unconscious, but as usual Tony Daniel's art was great.

Batman: Let's go shunshine, I've got Earl Grey tea brewing. (Okay.. I embellished some of that...)

Justice League International #3

We start things off with Booster distracting the first giant robot while Batman does recon mission on it, as the rest of the team seems to be doing the same thing. Ice and Rocket Red go below the sea in Russia to take on one of the giant robots, and this time was also used to plant some seeds of Rocket Red asking Fire out and asking Ice about Fire. While the teams are taking on the Robots, news breaks that a huge spaceship is over the Earth, which Guy Gardner overhears and says hat everyone is in over their heads, which is why they needed him. Over in Africa, Vixen and Fire bond while distracting and investigating their giant Robot, and the two seem to bond pretty well. Suddenly they're attacked by a bunch of underground people, who overcome Vixen and Fire,and knock them unconscious, causing Fire to turn back into her human form as well. And lastly, over in Canada we see General August in Iron a.k.a. General with Godiva, as he seems more annoyed than anything by her, but the two enter their underground cavern and are attacked by the underground men as well. There was an odd scene where Godiva was supposed to be in trouble and say help but for some reason they drew in General's head instead of hers, which should've been caught by someone... Anyway, General defeats the undergrounders and saves Godiva in the process, which leads to them starting to bond as well. One thing I like about Godiva is that she says this was basically going to be a P.R. stunt for her, which makes her the female Booster in a way, before Booster grew up anyway, which should be interesting. Back with Booster and Batman, Batman uses the underground set up to find out that they are being watched on a live feed, but eventually he and Booster are overcome by the number game. Guy Gardner reaches space and see's that the beams each Robot is sending into space is making a giant orb of light and he crashes his way into the ship. Guy goes to investigate but is suddenly knocked unconscious by a man only known as Peraxxus, as this issue comes to an end. I am really enjoying J.L.I., and this issue only added to the fact. I love the cast and how different most of them are, so I like seeing them interact, if anything I'd want to see more interactions and last fighting, which is odd but shows how good the cast and dialogue are. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Peraxxus: A Lantern. I expected more. You'll be one of my easier kills.

Invincible #84

We start things off by seeing a little good that has come with the destruction of Vegas, as they're now utilizing it's glass like surface with double sided solar panels which allows the panels to draw in double the solar energy, which causes a sad Invincible to state that Dinosaurus was right, before walking off. We then cut over to see Monster Girl telling Rex she's moving out, and that she didn't sleep with Bulletproof, but Rex says he doesn't care anymore. Well alrighty then. We then see Mark and Samantha talking about something very vague, I'd be lying if I said I knew what they were talking about, other than the fact it was vague and Samantha supports Mark. Next we see Invincible show up at the Pentagon, and he tries to get Dinosaurus to turn into Dinosaur form to save him, but since he turns due to indifference and not anger (shout out to The Hulk), Invincible starts telling him a very boring story about his life, which cause Dinosaurus to make an appearance. Invincible basically says that although his methods are extreme, Dinosaurus does have good ideas and wants to help people, so Invincible wants to work with him and with their combined ideas and powers, they can make a much bigger impact on the world. Dinosaurus accepts Invincible's offer and the two break out of the Pentagon, and head out to make a difference, even though this has resulted in Invincible becoming a fugitive. This was a fine issue, it seems as if we're getting back to the action instead of the slower pace this issue has taken since the Viltrumite War, so let's hope things heat up a bit, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

Every Man that read this: Monster Girl is pretty hot...

Amazing Spider-Man #573

We start things off with a bunch of naked people that used to be giant spiders, including Misty Knight *rawr*, Black Panther and Hawkeye. We also see Steve Rogers say he has something to do, and asks where the government issued Spider-Man went, so there's our segue into the next issue of Venom, which should be seven shades of awesome. We also see Kaine trying to sneak off using the Stealth Mode of the suit he borrowed from Peter, but he's caught by Madame Web, who wants to talk about his future. We also see Peter and MJ talking but he has to run off to see Aunt May who wants to make sure he's fine... that old woman annoys me so much. As Peter leaves we also see that he cured everyone except for MJ, who web-swings away. Interesting...I'm gonna love this. While seeing off Jay and May, Peter oversees Eddie Brock on TV with Reed Richards, hailed as the hero that helped cure the Spider-Infection, which is pretty awesome that Eddie finally gets to be a hero. As May and Jay leave, Peter is then confronted by Kaine, who says he's leaving the city and taking Peter's stealth suit, since Madame Web says he may need it. Also interesting... Peter finally arrives home and see's Carlie packing her things, she doesn't want to hear Pete's excuses and she says she knows he's Spider-Man, and she's been lied to by so many people but now he's on the list, so to show her some respect and say it. He tells her that he's Spider-Man and she says she knew because he knew how to use his powers, he didn't need a learning curve and he should've made more mistakes on purpose like when she taught him how to skate. She says whatever this is they have is now over, before leaving him standing alone in his apartment. Once again, interesting. Peter then goes to see Doctor Strange and asks how Carlie figured it out considering Strange's sell, but he cites that Peter introduced himself to the world while having his powers during Spider-Island, and while everyone won't remember he's Spidey, they can in fact learn he is once again. Goddamn this issue is setting up SO much, between MJ having powers, May and Jay leaving, Kaine leaving with the stealth suit, Cap after Venom, Brock as a hero, Carlie and Peter splitting, and now Pete's identity being able to be learned again, this is easily a year worth of storylines. Afterwards, Pete heads to Horizon Labs and asks Max if he has any of the cure left because Spidey sent him. Max gives Peter a cure and Peter changes to his Spidey threads and heads up to a rooftop where he's met by Madame Web, who says he has earned this and he can use the cure to have a normal life from now on, and a new Spider-Man, possibly Kaine, will take his spot on the web. Spidey said no, the vial of cure is for someone else, and Madame Web says okay and tells Spidey sorry for his upcoming loss. From there, Spider-Man goes to see Mary Jane and gives her the cure (booo) but she says it was fun while it lasted. He mentions to her that he and Carlie are over and that he's a bit disappointed that Eddie gets all the credit for saving the city but MJ tells him to look over at the Empire State Building, as it has lights shows Red and Blue over it, as the city shows their respect to Spidey for saving the day. I loved this issue, it set up so much while dealing with the Spider-Island fallout, and who knows, maybe the cure didn't work on MJ... haha, either way, I was a big fan of this event and this issue, I'll give this issue a 10/10 rating.

Clint Barton: Guys, we live in a world where the Hulk grows ten times his size and his pants stay on. Roll with it.

Uncanny X-Men #1

We started with a page that has pretty much all the major members of the team, along with their powers and real names as well as their code names, which is something Wolverine and The X-Men could've used. Anyway, we start off seeing Mr. Sinister kill some tourists before casually tapping his cane on the side of a big golden robot and making a portal. Next we see Cyclops address his new team, which he dubs the Extinction team. He says it's their job to save so many humans that people realize they are good guys, but Storm points out the obvious, besides herself, Hope and maybe Scott, everyone else on the team has at some point been, a super villain. Eventually, the team is needed and go to the giant statue that we saw Sinister at, as he has used his powers to turn the head of the statue into that of his own, because it's unnecessary yet awesome. Sinister says if Cyclops and his crew want to be heroes, he'll help them, as he attacks the team using the statue. Emma calls for backup as Namor arrives to help the team out, but a huge blast manages to subdue Colossus and even blasts off Emma's arm while in diamond form. Colossus then changes into The Juggernaut and is ready for round two. With the help of Danger, Magneto reconstructs the statue into just an ordinary statue in a pretty impressive maneuver. While trying to locate the head of the statue, they see that Sinister has landed it in the city, and effective turned everyone into versions of himself as this issue closes. I liked this issue, I had a few things I didn't like how odd Storm's face looked, but for the most part I enjoy the team, I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed Mr. Sinister of course. I'll give this first issue an 8/10 rating and say that I'm very interested in the next issue, especially since things to come in the series shows what looks like Hope confronted by the Phoenix, and Namor making out with Emma Frost.

Hope: We get fancy chairs now? This is a new direction. Did we steal them from someone?

Namor: To sit in a seat so fine, Namor would take it from any man. (Lmao...Namor is crazy.)

And just like that, that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Feel free to leave any comments as well as checking out the results of last week's poll. FYI, no new poll this week since I'm having problems with their website. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "What character do you miss the most in the DC Reboot?"

Last place with 0% - Donna Troy, damn, poor poor Donna.
Third place with 11.1% - Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, I guess since she'll be back as Spoiler?
Second Place with 22.2% - Wally West as The Flash, I expected more.
Winner with 67.7% - Power Girl, after an awesome run by Judd, I can't express how much I miss Peej.

Next Week on Ratings an Rantings

Batgirl #3, Batman and Robin #3, Deathstroke #3, Grifter #3, Green Lantern #3, and Ultimate Spider-Man #4

List of Books I'll Drop Come December (Subject to Change)

1. Detective Comics