The Mast Blogs: An Important Occasion.

This is just a quick update.

My massive end-of-year post will be a two-part epic. The first part, Comics Awards, will be posted on the 30th of December. The second and final part, Music Awards, will be posted on New Year's Eve (The 31st). I did this so that people can read and digest one post at a time as they'e quite big.

Secondly and most importantly:



Happy 87th birthday to Stan "The Man" Lee!

If it were not for you, this blog would not exist. Fact.

The characters you created/co-created have changed my life beyond reversal. They have enhanced and enriched my existence on this planet and I simply cannot say it better than Bendis did: "I'll never be able to thank you enough.".

Seriously, I can't pay enough respect to you and how much you changed my life with your characters. You're a true legend.

It saddens me to be reminded that he's 87, especially when you consider the inevitable conclusion that awaits us all near that age. I don't know what I'll do with myself when that happens...

For now, let's all pay our respects to the man on this day of celebration.

Thank you, Stan Lee.

-The Mast

The Mast Reviews: Thursday's Comics (24/12/2009).

Smash!

T'was the night before Christmas etc...

I thought I was going to have no comics to buy this week, so imagine my surprise when there were actually six...as there usually is.

Avengers: The Initiative #31 came out today and I would have bought it simply because it's a tie in to Siege: The Cabal. I just don't think it's worth it, though. That's not a major event, it's the set up, all of which was covered in the issue itself.

Six comics came out that I intended to buy, yet I only got five. This is because I either forgot to buy Dark Avengers: Ares #3 of 3, or it's not out yet. Regardless, I'll pick it up next week and just review it on its own sometime.

The comics I DID buy are very...very good, so let's crack the review's fat head open and feast on the juice inside.


Uncanny X-Men #519.

The last one ended with Cyclops going inside Emma Frost...'s mind and trying to free her from The Void. In turn, The Void possessed Cyclops. Meanwhile, Utopia's scientists were trying to figure out a way to keep the sinking island afloat and Beast was getting overly emotional.

This issue is more of that.

Emma goes inside Cyclops' mind and tries to free him from The Void but he shuts her out. She begs Professor X and Psylocke not to kill him as a safety measure, to give him a chance at fighting it. He does, and he wins...somehow. I don't get it. He basically says to The Void that due to dating Jean Grey for years, he's built up some psychic immunity. He forces The Void to remain locked in his mind and then wakes up and says: "So what'd I miss?".

I swear to fucking God, I hate that kind of dialogue. It RARELY works and just leave Cyke looking like a douchebag.

Sentry can't handle The Void, you're telling me that Cyclops just snaps his mind-fingers and locks it away forever? No, can't accept that b.s. Mr. Fraction.

Other plot points involve the continual sinking of Utopia. Magneto meets with Namor and says that they can offer each other something; if Namor builds a pillar to support Utopia, he will have a place to house his scattered race and Utopia will have support. Namor agrees to negotiate and that's all that's said.

Beast comes to Cyclops after Cyclops wakes, says he's leaving and the issue ends. I really don't know what the Hell is going on with this series, I truly do not.

Everything was awesome when they had the crossover with Dark Avengers - the only reason I even started buying this title - and there seemed to be direction. Now there's nothingness. I'll buy Uncanny X-Men #520 and then I'm dropping the series. There's probably another series I could regularly buy in its place.


Guardians of the Galaxy #32.

This series is really starting to pick up a John Carpenter's The Thing-esque vibe, and I love it. I love the way Realm of Kings is heading. I can't say I enjoy the characters much except for Star-Lord, but Abnett really does make anything readable.

After one of The Luminals - a rival team that shares a base with the Guardians - brings something terrible back from a research trip into The Fault, it begins attacking and killing people. It eventually, and grossly, infests Moondragon at her insistance (She's a telekinetic, she feels she's the only one who can contain it properly). Both her team and opposing forces want to keep her in their possession for various reasons: the Guardians want to eject the parasite back into The Fault where as The Universal Church of Truth want to worship it and have her give re-birth to the organism. They consider it holy.

Moondragon seems to be the only person - outside of Quasar in the Realm of Kings one-shot - who has forseen what lies at the end of The Fault. She says that while many fragments of many universes and realities are falling into it, there IS a universe at the very end (This being the horrifying and monstrous universe Quasar encountered).

The issue ends with Moondragon being kidnapped and the U.C.T.'s leader saying that all is right with the universe, and that the Holy One will soon be born.

I'm still a little unsure as to where Realm of Kings is going and the more I think about it, the more I feel like this would have benefitted from a War of Kings-esque central series. It's all very well and good having spin-offs and tie-ins, but it really does make things feel confusing if there's no central series. Simply because I'm having trouble seeing what each series has to do with anything. I'm not seeing how Nova is fitting into this and how the Imperial Guard/Inhumans are fitting into this. Though, obviously it will revolve around the nasty beings from The Fault threatening both the Kree and Shi'ar empires.

I have faith that it'll all come together, I just feel that it would have been easier to make a sum of the parts if there was a convergance point by way of a regular, central series.

As a result, I cannot recommend this series unless you're willing to regularly buy all the involving tie-ins. Wait to see what they do with a trade paperback release and just pick that up.

I'm very curious to see how this series turns out.


Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? #1.

Captain America: Reborn is, as I've said, a criminally late series. Due to the lateness of this series, the story has been spoiled. The story was meant to be resolved by the 5th issue, which was due ages ago, but has only just come out. The extension of the series to a 6th issue means that all the other comics are now ahead of it. We've seen Steve Rogers return in other comics that I've reviewed, so there's no suspense, but that doesn't stop it being an amazing series.

That's why it's particularly odd when you read the cover of this one-shot and it says: "The stunning aftermath of Captain America: Reborn.". It was meant to be the aftermath; a comic to resolve who would be Captain America when Steve returned. Would it be Steve or Bucky? This comic doesn't entirely resolve the issue, but it does surprise me!

The story begins with some flashbacks narrated by Steve Rogers. Flashbacks to the war, with Bucky as his sidekick. He explains to Bucky what it means for him to be Captain America and the role he has to fill.

As the comic exits the flashbacks, the story shifts back and forth between two similar scenes. We see Steve Rogers as he speaks with Sharon Carter about his horrid experiences of being trapped in time, having to re-live his life's war-time memories over and over. Then we see Bucky talking with Black Widow about making a new costume now that Steve is back, all while Luke Cage (Who I guess has recovered since his life-threatening turmoil in The New Avengers, THANKS FOR SPOILING IT MARVEL. SINCE I READ THIS FIRST) sits there flexing with weights. Oddly hilarious.

Steve muses about how he has trouble sleeping because he's just afraid he'll slip away again, then he and Sharon do the nasty off-panel. It's moments like these that really show off how amazing a writer Ed Brubaker is. The art (Butch Guise) and dialogue work hand in hand to paint a rather stark picture of how shaken up this supposedly timeless hero really is.

In a darkened apartment, being comforted by a female, you see the legendary hero speak with a hesitance more so than fear. The fear is definitely there, though. It's quite a sight to see how much this has shaken him up, especially given all he's been through in life, and through time. He mentions to Sharon that he doesn't really think he can take up the shield anymore, especially after seeing Bucky take up the mantle and what he feels it means to him. Truth be told, it must have been quite a mind-trip for Steve; seeing this kid you protected in World War 2 all grown up and performing the iconic role that YOU were born for, the role the was made for you.

Black Widow is trying to convince Bucky that regardless of who was born for it, who was made for it, he did an amazing job (He did, he's the reason I'm even into Captain America right now. He is the reason, mostly due to Ed Brubaker, that I enjoy the character of Cap more than just the idea of Cap). She even goes so far as to say that they should BOTH be Captain America. However, Bucky has just got too much respect for Steve to accept this, even going so far as to say that he never wanted to take up the mantle and that he only did it so nobody else could; emphasising the fact that he really isn't the kind of guy that could handle the burden Steve does.

Regardless, Black Widow hands him the shield and says that there was a break-out at The Raft (One of a few superhuman prisons), offering him one last hurrah in the uniform, which he accepts. As they travel off, scenes of them tackling Mr. Hyde are intercut with scenes of Steve donning HIS uniform and heading out into the night.

During the fight between Bucky and Mr. Hyde, the latter attempts to escape up the side of a building. Bucky, seeing Steve appear on the rooftop, shouts: "Cap! Catch!". He throws the shield and Steve grabs it in midair, plummeting down and crashing into Mr. Hyde, knocking him out.

Bucky rushes over and tells him that he is still as good today as he ever was. To his surprise, Steve tells Bucky to take the shield and become Captain America! They take a walk and Bucky continues to protest, though I really don't know if he's protesting in the same way you protest if someone gives you money, or if he really doesn't want to do it anymore.

Eventually, Steve asks him to do it as a favour to him, and ambiguously hands Bucky the shield.

The end of the comic cuts to Steve attending a one-on-one meeting with President Obama, and this culminates in Steve saying that he really doesn't wish to be Captain America anymore, but would do so at the request of the President and ONLY the President. In reply, President Obama says that it's not necessary, as he has a feeling that America will soon need Steve for something much bigger.

Let me just emphasis how much I smiled while reading this; A LOT. SO MUCH. There is such a degree of heroism in this comic that it's almost old fashioned, in the best possible way. I love the brilliant contrast of old vs new, despite it being a familiar premise, it is handled very well. The best way I can describe it is by referring to a conversation I had recently.

I remember discussing Avatar with someone I share a forum with, and upon saying that I think the amazing visuals do not make up for cliched and ham-fisted plot, he said that it's about more than just getting from point A to point B. As cliched as a premise is, the journey from cliched point to cliched point can still be an amazing one.

Whilst I disagree that Avatar did this, I have to say that this comic does. Old Vs New and Master Vs Student etc, these are not new premises. It is done SO well here, that it doesn't even matter. In my opinion, anyway.

There's a scene where Steve arrives on the rooftop and sees Bucky fighting below, and it's just unfathomably poignent and almost touchingly respectful. The way Steve simultaneously expresses regret-tinged shock at seeing someone else in the uniform, throwing his shield; and yet seemingly possesses a sense of unerring respect and pride for Bucky is quite wonderful to see.

It really made me like Steve Rogers more, simply because in this comic he seems to accept the idea that times have changes and he's not necessarily someone who can successfully represent the uniform anymore. It's very humble of him. Not to mention the fact that EVERYBODY knows how bad I want Bucky to remain as Captain America, so this comic satisfied me in many, many ways.

Likewise, when Bucky is denying that he should be Captain America, the reasons he cites are so respectful that he is almost angry at Black Widow for daring to suggest such a thing. To hear (For lack of a more applicable term) Bucky say that nobody can match Steve because he was the first and that he was literally engineered to do this...it's a pretty good case for Steve to retain the shield (Though I'd still want Bucky as Cap).

Since all signs point to Bucky, I'm a happy camper!

Even though this was meant to come AFTER Reborn, I can safely say this is a fitting end to an amazing mini-series. My best guess would be that Marvel will attach this to parts one to six of Reborn when they release it as a trade paperback. If you wanna pick it up, do so! I cannot recommend it enough. Just go into it knowing that you will almost definitely need ALL the previously connected Captain America trade paperbacks to get the full story arc. So it might cost a little more than you would expect, but it's so worth it.

I've read them all, and will get around to owning them. You should too, they're AMAZING stories.

This isn't part of the review, but it's connected to the latter review. Maybe I'll get some discussion going in the comments box as to where people stand on this.

There are MASSIVE issues with the continuity of Captain America as things stand. GIGANTIC issues.

We have seen Steve return as Captain America, in full uniform, at the end of The N.A. Annual #1. We've also seen Steve return OUT of uniform, with Bucky IN uniform, at the end of Dark Avengers Annual #1.

Now, somebody needs to establish when these took place and what the continuity of Captain America is at the moment, I have to say. I don't wanna be lead to believe that my boy Bucky is taking the shield, only to be flip-flopped and have him drop it to Steve again.

FURTHERMORE, it has been explicitly stated that Steve Rogers is involved in Siege as Captain America at some point. It's a very murky pond at the moment and I'm hoping that it gets resolved over the coming year. I tell you, I will be disappointed if they've gone so far as to tease without subtlety that Bucky will be the new Captain America, only to reverse it.

I'm not sure if the rumours are true, but there's talk of the most famous roster of The Avengers returning during Siege for an indefinite amount of time. This would mean a core trio of Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. Now, I fucking love The Avengers; best superhero team of all time, even just the core three. Personally? I cannot see it happening. It's a dream of mine, but I doubt it'll happen (If you're reading this and you've read spoilers, shut up).

It won't happen if they keep Bucky as Cap, because I'm pretty sure it'd have to be Steve (Although Bucky being a TRUE Avenger with Thor and Iron Man would make my heart burst with joy). If it DOES happen, that isn't good news for Bucky as Cap, so I'm not sure what to wish for here. I just hope that they don't screw Bucky over, you know? I'm inclined to root for Bucky, because a return for The Avengers isn't something I expect, where as I've seen Bucky as having a shot in Hell for a while now.

Oh well, we can only see, I suppose. Amazing comic, really.


The New Avengers #60.

With Luke Cage having recovered from surgery, The New Avengers are understandably happy. However, as we saw last issue, all is not as it seems.

Osborn attached a device to the heart of Luke Cage and nobody - not even Luke Cage himself - knew of its existence. Upon further examination by Dr. Strange and Dr. Voodoo, the device was discovered. Daredevil uses his senses to detect that it's transmitting a faint signal, but is unable to discern what kind. To grim faces, it is decided that surgery is the option yet again. Jessica Jones-Cage is especially insistent on this, but Dr. Strange doesn't want to risk touching an Osborn device for fear of greater tragedy.

They contact Henry Pym of The M.A. and he shrinks himself, as well as Dr. Strange, both of which then embark upon a voyage into Luke Cage's body, Innerspace style. Spider-Man then says: "You now have two men inside you.". I found that quite funny, it gave me a chuckle.

Osborn begins tracking the device while attempting to follow the rest of The N.A. (They laid waste to his recruitment camp - Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. - last issue) and on his way, followed by the Dark Avengers, he is contacted by The Hood (Recently rid of his powers due to Dormammu no longer using him as an avatar, but recently empowered by Asgardian Nord stones thanks to Loki). The Hood, angered at the fact that Osborn made a deal with Jonas Harrow, signs off after leaving Osborn in a sweat.

Dr. Strange and Pym discover that Osborn attached none other than a bomb to Luke Cage's heart. In a really, REALLY exciting race against time, they begin to remove it as Daredevil stresses that the signal speeds up. Osborn, distressed for an as-yet unknown reason, also makes haste toward the signal before it can be removed.

It turns out that the operation was being conducted in a rather opulent home of Norman Osborn's. As the bomb explodes with The N.A. far from the scene, Osborn is furious. Meanwhile, back at Osborn Tower (Formerly Stark/Avengers Tower), The Hood turns up to a gathering between Jonas Harrow and all his former men; and he's very...very angry.

He immediately blows Jonas Harrow's head off and lambasts his men for ditching him in favour of Osborn. They said that they were angry for hiding the fact that they were working for Osborn all along, which The Hood corrects; they were never working for Osborn. In return for Osborn letting them be free, The Hood just had them do some jobs for him. He reiterates that, unfortunately, now they DO work for him.

Osborn chimes in and very sinisterly offers them ALL freedom...in exchange for the deaths of every single member of The N.A., excluding Spider-Man. He wants Spider-Man alive.

I mentioned this in my review of Spider-Man's The List issue; I love how it ALWAYS comes down to Osborn's hatred for Spidey. He's gearing up to war with a nation of gods and happens to be juggling control of the entire superhero nation...yet he still wants Spidey's life in his hands. I LOVE it.

It also helps that the issue comes to a close with the tag: "Next issue: Siege!".

I'm excited. I'm immensely, terrifyingly excited. Bendis, man...I swear. You're making me a believer. I'm the little boy again. That little boy that discovered back issues of Mutant Massacre, Infinity Gauntlet, Fall of the Mutants and just couldn't stop reading. That's what I am hoping Siege is; the first real saga in a LONG time that I not only enjoy, but rabidly await with excitement.


Thor #605.

As the Asgardians wage battle against Doom's grotesque abominations, Thor trades a couple of long-distance shots with "Doom" (Notice the quotation marks...) after his grand entrance at the end of Thor #604.

Thor turns his focus to aiding his fellow Asgardians outside the castle walls, ever glad to see his face. The brief peace that cessation of combat brings to the Asgardian's is shattered by "Dr. Doom" appearing above. He holds the dead body of Queen Kelda aloft (He ripped her heart out in a previous issue) and tosses her to the Asgardians below.

Enraged, Thor propels himself into the air and hurls an almighty blast toward "Doom". In the wake of the destruction, it is revealed to be a Doombot yet again. In the midst of all this, Loki had convinced his watchers to grant him attendance at the battle. He shows up and proposes that Kelda is not lost. He proposes that if Endrik could last for five minutes without a heart, an Asgardian Queen is surely not beyond saving. Heimdall uses his astral sight to locate the heart; three walls inside Doom's castle.

Thor epically states: "Three walls? THREE HELLS WILL NOT STOP ME!", and proceeds to bombard his way into the castle like an armoured version of Kool-Aid Man.

Doom doesn't appreciate this and tells him that it is the last piece of property he'll lay waste to in Latveria. Thor is struck from behind, causing him to fall in pain. This is where the plot thickens.

It turns out that Doom had been using Asgardian knowledge to research the Odin-created Destroyer armour (A truely formidable piece of battle kit. Google it). Having built it himself, he realised it was lacking one final piece...can you guess what? That's correct! An Asgardian heart.

Placing himself in the Destroyer armour, Doom ominously prepares to give Thor a fight, a fight quite possibly unlike one he has ever endured before.

Doom + the Destroyer armour = ALL KINDS OF MAYHEM. So epic.

I gotta say, Kieron Gillen is really impressing me on Thor and Billy Tan's art is truly evocative. Thor still looks like a bit of an armoured farmboy in the facial area, but he's also Thor.

I'm definitely gonna start adding this to my monthly regular buys. I was only buying it for Siege's lead-up, but now I'm actually hooked. Thor is another one who, like Captain America, I LOVED the idea of. I just never dug his comics, only his cameos in events.

J. Michael Straczynski and Kieron Gillen are doing for Thor what Ed Brubaker has done for Captain America; made me a believer.

---

That's about all I've got for you guys! I'm not expecting major views or comments because everyone's got more important shit to do than read this on a Christmas eve, but thanks anyway.

My next post will be...Thursday! Monday was going to be the day of my massive End of Year Awards post, but I just remembered that there aren't any new comics coming out next week besides Origins of Siege. This gives me more time to configure, draft, re-draft and edit my huge post. Keep your eyes peeled!

Seriously, guys and girls. If you wanna get into comics, NOW IS THE TIME. If you need help acquiring a Dark Reign/Pre-Siege checklist, get at me in the comment box.

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT ON MARVEL'S 2010 LINE-UP! I'M TYPING IN CAPS, YOU KNOW I'M SERIOUS/EXCITED WHEN I TYPE IN CAPS!

DISCLAIMER: The Mast and all affiliated subsidiaries reserve the right to deflect any blame or guilt if Siege and it's associated tie-ins turn out to be anti-climatic or, at worst, poor.

So, thank you for reading Thursday's Comics (24/12/2009) and I will catch you guys later! Have a brilliant Christmas, make it a good one and please, if you're going to drink or do any other substances...don't drive. Ok? Good.

Until then, peace.

-The Mast

The Mast Blogs: Deadpool & Me/A Christmas Competition!

Long post incoming!

I had originally planned to do this next year, but then I started bouncing various ideas around in my head and decided it was something I wanted to do now. I'm not sure why, but I was thinking about it and I decided that as his popularity is soaring higher than Keith Richards with wings, now is a good time to say: "I WAS THERE FIRST!". I'm speaking in jest of course, but you get the point.

The title is Deadpool & Me because I've slightly altered the idea of this post.

It was going to be a massively detailed retrospective on Deadpool's entire existence up until now, someone actually raised a point to me: "I think people would be more interested in what Deadpool means to you, how you discovered him and why you like him as opposed to reading things they can just Google.".

This is true, and without trying to be pretentious, people are a lot more likely to appreciate this character if they're told why he rules in contrary to a biography.

If you would like all the details, go here:

Deadpool's/Wade Wilson's Full Biography at The Marvel Database.

It really is a tragic story, something that is all too often ignored in the modern day.

Anyway, on with the post! If you want to read about the Christmas Competition, skip to the end.

With that said, here're the ins and outs of my reading relationship with this guy:


Deadpool.

I suppose I should just start from the beginning...



That is X-Force #2 (Vol. 1); my first experience with Deadpool. It was a LOOONG time ago, and I do mean a LONG time. We're talking EARLY '90s here, 1991 actually. It came not long after I first fell head-over-heels in love with comics as a whole, actually.

I don't know precisely why we were there, but my parents and I were at a friends' place for one of their semi-regular parties/get-togethers and I was upstairs hanging out with all the kids of the parents. The much older brother of one of them was a big comics buff, but I never had much exposure to them besides thumbing through them before on a few occassions. One day, I was permitted to read a few in depth. So, I thumbed through this huge stack of comics in detail for the first time and found myself agape at just how intense these things were.

One of the comics I read on that fateful night was X-Force #2. Despite the appearance being brief, something about Deadpool just hooked me and dragged me in. The way he moved and fought whilst simultaneously making corrosive and sarcastic jokes was amazing to me. Of course, I didn't GET the sarcasm and such at that point. I just saw it as a badass (Garrison Kane) fighting a badass (Deadpool) who was so unafraid of the other badass that he was making jokes at his expense. I was just thinking: "Dude is hardcore, making jokes while fighting a guy who just broke his jaw, and doing well!".

I had no means of buying my own comics at that point, but I read them whenever I could. Thankfully, the aforementioned person bought them regularly, so even at that age I had a semi-decent grasp of the storyline that would be happening in any given comic.



Eventually, those comics were handed down to me. I fell in love with The Silver Surfer, The Hulk and Daredevil most of all and these stuck with me to this day. Deadpool was different. Being that the guy I inherited all this comics from did not continue reading comics up until Deadpool had his first series, I lost touch with the character outside of the mini-series'(The Circle Chase and Sins of the Past).

It wasn't until the end of his first main series and the start of Cable & Deadpool that I started being able to read him again. Even then, it was through someone else who bought them. I wasn't a regular visitor to the West End until early 2000s due to my Mum not trusting me to go alone (I lead a sheltered life, amazing as it was), so I couldn't keep up.

Eventually, I started going down there with a friend and began to pick up whatever Deadpool issues I could. I was still amazed at how, in a few issues of reuniting with the character, I had a love for him unlike the comics I HAD been reading for all the years past.

That's why I had only recently finished my Deadpool collection, you see. I had read them, but never really owned them. Most of them anyway.

So, in a nutshell, that's how I ended up here with a love for this character beyond any character I've known. The degree to which I have an affinity for this character has actually caused people to associate me with him and him with me, which is flattering. I even plan to get his logo tattooed on my shoulder at some point.

After hearing all this, you must be asking: "David, you handsome carbon-based lifeform, why Deadpool?".



Something about Deadpool is truly unique. I don't know what it is, but it's there.

In this day and age it's cool and marketable to be some kind of brooding, at-war-with-yourself loner, but Deadpool was an anti-hero before anti-heros were spelled with a $ on the end. He wasn't the first, but he was one of the early ones of the '90s.

Deep down, Deadpool is like me. I never really relate to anybody or any thing as such, but Deadpool is definitely a character and idea that I can relate to now, and could relate to growing up.

He doesn't really like people, but the individual folks he values he would probably die for (If he could die). He is capable of deeply loving someone, and has done so before with depressing results. One of his truest loves was killed by Sabretooth, the other one continually rejected him in an on-going "Will they? Won't they?" dynamic. It's been bad.

As cliche as it is, for someone with a healing factor he is capable of being hurt the most by emotions. The latter love interest - Siryn, then from X-Force - always loved him as a friend, and a little more, but it never really took off. One day, Typhoid Mary took the form of Siryn and slept with Deadpool, only to insult him after waking up next to him and revealing it was all a game. After he asked why, she said: "Because I can.".

He wears a mask, but when you read that scene you can honestly see how badly it fucked him up. Everyone sort of sees me as this strong, emotionally-solid person, but that's where I've always been most vulnerable and where I've endured most of my pain; chicks. Every guy and girl can probably relate to an opposite sex story, somehow.

Deadpool does things and says things that not many would agree with, but he's over looking for acceptance. Underneath it all, he is morally grounded, or would like to be. For example, I think marriage is archaic, out-dated and needless. If anything, it shouldn't exist. Yet, since it does, it should be open to EVERYONE; gay or straight. See my point? Initially that's a premise that not a lot of people are fans of me for, but I'm all for supporting the right to do it.

Deadpool is similar in that sense. Sure, he goes around killing for money (USED to anyway) and that isn't exactly a moral thing to do, but he had limits and he had boundaries he wouldn't cross (No kids etc).

What I love most about the character is that he is so drastically unbalanced that he has come full circle to being mostly accepting of who and what he is. Deadpool yearns to be a hero, he really does. Nothing would make him happier than to see his name in lights, have his picture on a kid's shirt etc. Over the years, he's tried...but due to the way he does things he is always met with scorn, rejection or self-rejection upon realising that it's not who he is to be an out-and-out hero.



He's cool with that, though. Not happy with it, but accepting of it. The man is 100% at truce with what kind of person he is. He'll keep trying for a spot on the X-Men or The Avengers, and he'll keep getting rebuffed and eventually end up doing a job for money...but that's ok with him.

Most recently he showed that if he can't be a hero, he'll make himself look bad enough that others look good. Deadpool is a total contradiction; full of things that contradict each other, and that's what makes him interesting. On top of it all, when he signed up to get his healing factor in an attempt to cure the cancer he had, it left him trapped in a horrible scenario. Not only did HE get the healing factor, but so did his cancer. His healing factor is both the only thing keeping his cancer from killing him, and the only thing keeping it in his body, as it allows the cancer to heal.

If you want a story of how shit goes from bad to worse, there's not much more of a tragedy than Deadpool. In that sense, his triumph over this tragedy (That is living with it and having a life despite it) is one of the best success stories in comics.

That's what depresses me most about how he's being handled right now. If you just started reading Deadpool over the past year, you'd never, EVER know that he had such a layered and depressingly intricate past. You'd think he was just this funny ninja-type character who makes jokes and occassionally breaks the fourth wall (Which he doesn't even do much of now, if at all).

Deadpool's popularity is massive as of 2009/2010. He has gone from being a name nobody knew to a name that comics fans can't avoid, he's Marvel's new cash cow. On one hand it's good because it means his comics are easier to buy (Unlike in the '90s when I was trying to get them) and we get awesome toy commissions like THIS upcoming bad boy:



On the other hand...it's terrible how over-exposed he is now. The only reason I'm doing this post is because, besides my love of Deadpool, I'd rather you hear about him from a real fan.

He has three series' right now, and none of them are what Deadpool deserves. Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth is very fun, his main series has been mostly poor for the last six issues and Deadpool Team-Up is a chuckle at best. I'd trade three series' for one amazing series, I really would. I do not doubt that someone in Marvel's ranks could write the main series back to the glory days (Van Lente, Benson, Yost/Kyle), but that won't happen.

You know, it's up and down with regards to the question: "Is Deadpool's popularity a good thing?". It's not good, it's not bad, it just is. It's done more negative than positive right now, but that's something that cannot be helped. One of the main positives is that Marvel are now re-releasing all of the older series in trade paperback!

If you're interested in Deadpool at ALL, I swear you will not regret picking these things up. They're called Deadpool: Classic, there are three volumes so far and they're available at most comic stores or large bookstores I'd guess. Read Deadpool as he deserves to be read, guys. With a full-length feature film coming out in 2011, get on it before he gets even bigger.



It even feels weird saying that Deadpool has an actual big-budget Hollywood movie in production. Most of me is really scared it'll suck and bitter that he's so popular now, but if the movie rules...I'll be in there with a smirk in my heart, thinking to myself: "You made them see, sir. You made them see.".

---

That's my story of life with Deadpool, I suppose. I know this post was very long and VERY self-indulgent, but I did do it with educational purposes in mind. If you read it, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

As it's Christmas, I'm going to up the ante and have a competition here. I have a few spare Deadpool comics lying around, INCLUDING the first ever trade paperback of Sins of the Past, Deadpool's second ever mini-series (The two mini-series' came before he had an actual series).

If you can answer the following question in a comment, it's yours! Free of absolutely any charge. Bearing in mind, I have an insane amount of shit to post that won't get posted until the New Year, simply because Christmas post sucks. If waiting isn't an issue, and you DO win, you WILL get it.

Here's the question:

Deadpool has one of the most unconventional and disturbing celebrity crushes of all time; who is it?

If you answer this, by any means necessary, the book is yours.

Until next time, peace.

-The Mast

The Mast Reviews: Thursday's Comics (17/12/09).

Welcome!

Only four comics today, unfortunately. Well, I BOUGHT five, but one of those is Daredevil #503, and to review that I will need to do a retrospective larger then Angelina Jolie's lipgloss bill. I'll probably just start reviewing them at #504, before which I'll have done a sort of "Story So Far..." on Daredevil right now (Speaking of which, if Andrew reads this, stick Daredevil onto my subscriptions, please!).

Also, in a rare occurance, I FORGOT to buy a Deadpool appearance! In my defence, I hadn't checked The Deadpool Bugle in ages, so I missed out. It's X-Factor #200, which I'll probably get next week and may not review unless it's worth it.

So, with that said, onto the reviews!


Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #6.

BADASS COVER! Can you say that? Say "BADASS COVER!". I'm just wondering how many more of my favourite movies they'll nail. I know they've done Jaws and Dawn of the Dead, with The Usual Suspects to be parodied next issue. Name the parody in THIS issue and get a free Deadpool comic for X-Mas!

So, after agreeing to take Headpool back to his own time by finding the portal he came from, Deadpool, Bill and Doctor Betty find themselves in, to the best I can figure, Louisiana. Wandering through the swamp they encounter Man-Thing and a bunch of Hydra agents.

A really badass looking Hydra agent says to Deadpool, basically: "We're taking the head and you're gonna die against me, one-on-one.". Deadpool swiftly hits him with a nuts shot and decapitates him. Do you see why this is my favourite Deadpool comic?

Priceless moment: Deadpool walking through the swamp and talking in the style of a Vietnam war veteran, telling the others to watch out for Charlie. I laughed, out loud.

I...love this series. I was so unsure and in fact, I was against it when I heard of a second Deadpool on-going. Now, it's my favourite of the series' that are being produced. It reads like a throwback, as I've said, to older action and exploitation movies. It's not in continuity, which is a damn shame because I want the MAIN series to rule. Regardless, I'll take what I can get.

If you can pick the first volume of this up when it gets release as a trade paperback, I HIGHLY recommend it.


Realm of Kings: Inhumans #2 of 6.

A bit of a slow issue, this one.

After The Mighty Avengers show up (One of two current good-guy Avengers groups, look it up) and help the Inhumans fight back the people trying to cause a ruckus, the Inhumans repay them with a less than thankful response.

Now that they have risen from being a rather hidden, reclusive race into beings that have taken control of their own destiny, they don't take kindly to help at all. AT ALL. The M.A. were there to allow Quicksilver to apologise for his identity being used to steal the terrigen crystals from them (His Skrull imposter during the Secret Invasion arc), but ended up helping in battle.

Queen Medusa thanks them, but tells them that if they want respect then they need to respect the work she is trying to do in running the Kree Empire now.

What she doesn't know is that there are Kree underworlders known plotting to remove them from power with a special device. This is where things start to heat up I suppose. Two major plot points begin to converge and it's going to get quite serious for the new Queen.

Besides the aforementioned plot point, we see an Inhuman space vessel venturing into The Fault (This IS a Realm of Kings tie-in, remember) in an attempt to figure out what's going on, and a revelation is made. They pick up a vocal signature on the scanner and when asked who it is, the conclusion is none other than Black Bolt! The presumed-dead King of the Inhumans and general cosmic badass powerhouse.

Is it the Black Bolt from the different timestream that we saw in Nova #31, or is it the REAL DEAL? TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO FIND OUT!

Nothing out of the ordinary here, standard Dan Abnett quality really. This IS a six issue mini-series so I won't hold it in a negative light that things haven't started up properly yet. This is looking good, though. I definitely recommend checking it out.


Captain America: Reborn #5 of 6.

Ater Civil War, Captain America (Who will be referred to as SteveCap) was assassinated, but he didn't die. Instead, the gun (Made by Dr. Doom) sent to freeze in space and time. Not all went as planned, however. The second shooter, Sharon Carter (Under the control of Red Skull) had a unexpected effect. The tachyon particles used in the gun reacted with her blood to unstick him in time, leaving him bouncing through reality and left to experience his past time and time again with no explanation or idea as to why.

Eventually, Sharon is captured by Doom and Skull who have captured SteveCap's body in connection with their original plan; to transplant the Red Skull into SteveCap's body. Eventually, SteveCap rises from the table and is revealed to be possessed by the Red Skull as planned.

If you want a more detailed synopsis, check either of the following links:

The Marvel Database's page on the series.

The Wikipedia page on the series.

This issue sees a couple of members from each Avengers team trying to take out the Red Skull as SteveCap watches from the period in time he is experiencing currently, which happens to be Nazi-fied New York City (Implying that the Nazi won the war and the Red Skull took over). After BuckyCap and Red Skull-in-SteveCap's-body fight in front of Abe Lincoln's statue, Red Skull severs BuckyCap's cybernetic hand and the last shot is of him about to decapitate BuckyCap with his own shield, all while SteveCap is screaming at him from inside his own body, unable to reach BuckyCap.

It's a VERY, VERY good...exciting series. The sad part is, it's ruined now. The series is SO late that all the other series in which the resurrected SteveCap was scheduled to appear in, have come out and spoiled it.

Again, this is a series I would highly suggest grabbing when it comes out in trade paperback form. Not least for Ed Brubaker's AMAZING writing. That guy is Marvel's best when he's on form, and he's on form here. He has transformed Captain America into a relevant icon and compelling character again. I salute him for it.


Dark Avengers #12.

This is and has always been one of my favourite on-goings, from the second it came out. This issue does nothing to dissuade this.

After surrendering to Molecule Man, Victoria Hand requests that he return everything back to how it was, restores the Dark Avengers and she won't tell anyone he is living here in secret.

This fails.

The surrender was a ruse and just as this angers Molecule Man, Sentry returns from the "dead", more powerful than ever and gets into a fight with him, telling him that he can now control ALL the molecules in his world (Whatever that means).He sends Molecule Man into throes of agony and forces him to do as he wishes before destroying him by exploding him on a molecular level. It's about time Sentry lived up to being as powerful as he's been hyped, and this was a good showing.

Osborn is slowly losing his grip and has been suffering side-effects as a result of Molecule Man poking around in his brain. He retreats to his chamber as Ms. Hand comes to check up on him, telling him and demanding him to go get his mental health checked out. He agrees, then goes back into his room. Upon the door closing, Osborn collapses to his knees and begs for someone to stop. We then see Loki appear rather viciously behind him, manipulating and torturing him somehow.

EVERYTHING is really starting to pick up right now and it's fucking AWESOME.

This is really making 2010 look SALIVATING for Marvel, it really does. Bendis doesn't have any stellar dialogue moments in this issue, but Deodato's art is some of the most solid in comics, and it's no exception here.

Additionally, keen-eyed obsessives will notice that the cover to this issue is a throwback to The Avengers #314, an old back issue. Props, Bendis.

There are still two Thursdays left in 2009, and I say roll on 2010.

---

My massive Deadpool and Daredevil retrospectives will NOT be up until January at least. They're massive and I'll probably start out the year with them. Deadpool is my most favourite character ever and Daredevil is up there, so be sure to check those out.

Keep a look out for that and I'll catch you all soon. Before I go...

"I've successfully privatised world peace.".

BEAUTIFUL. I think trailers show too much nowadays, and the end scene should have been saved for the movie, but I'll avoid them from now on.

Thanks for reading, guys.

Until next time, peace.

-The Mast

The Mast Looks Back: Vol. 2 (Clarity by Jimmy Eat World).

Welcome!

It's only been four days, but it feels longer. I haven't updated since Friday for two reasons:

1) I was trying to decide if I should give it a rest until the next edition of Thursday's Comics, and additionally I just wasn't sure what to review. I've got a few things planned that I didn't want to do yet, simply because they're big posts and I wanted a nice, compact post between now and Thursday.

2) Assassin's Creed 2 has been the fat, compulsive over-eating male to the cake that is my free time.

With that said, I was racking my brain trying to decide on an album to review when I finally decided on something, Clarity by Jimmy Eat World. It's an album that always tends to roll around in my listening habits during the end of the year, as well as holding a crapload of memories for me. So let me talk to you about it!


Clarity by Jimmy Eat World.

Jimmy Eat World happen to be a band that either people that know them love, or people that know them hate. Although, I've never met anyone who disliked then with any good reaso, it always seems to be that they "just don't". Regardless, they're not as dividing as some bands by virtue of the fact that they aren't really known on a major scale (At least not here).

I think the reason people dislike them is because they have a specific sound that's not easy to pin down with words. A lot of bands have, or had, adopted a similar kind of saccharine, uplifting musical aesthetic and it was received with backlash. I'm guessing this is what people can't get behind.

As of right now, J.E.W. (Not "Jew"!) have refined their sound and it definitely sounds more professionally produced and polished than their sound I'm going to be reviewing. They're still very much an amazingly capable band and one could argue that 2007's Chase This Light is their best - though, most recent - album, however, I don't think they've come quite close to topping this album in terms of its place in my heart.

Clarity has a very innocent sound to it. It's the sheer, unrefined dreamy and feathery sound that one expects from the band today. To my mind, I cannot easily recall another album that captures the spirit of just playing music for the love, as a young-ish band. Listening to this album, it really feels as though Jimmy Eat World have come of age in their later albums.

There are various lyrical themes on the album (One of the few albums where I sought out the lyrics), but to my general interpretation it seems to be a meditation of just what the title says; Clarity. Covering a broad spectrum of emotions, it sends the message that it doesn't matter what you feel or believe, so long as you believe it clearly.

This message, though stated in the lyrics (From what I personally interpret, feel free to see it another way), is most evident in the tone and sound of the music. The precise - if a little sparse - snare drum patterns that underpin each song provide a concise and steady bed for the interweaving and chimey guitars to dance over the top of it.

Songs like Lucky Denver Mint and Your New Aesthetic tend to follow the masterful pattern of having catchy and repetitive, yet memorable verses, only topped by the even more unforgetable nature of the choruses. Love or hate this band, even the most stern of critic can not deny that, if nothing else. Jimmy Eat World have mastered the memorable, sing-along chorus. There hasn't been a better band to do it since Weezer and The Beach Boys.

They have mastered it, like the two bands mentioned, in the best way possible. It's not trite or stale, it's the work of great musical craftsmen; men who are not afraid to gloss their rock-based music with the sheen of pop music and make it work. Pop is a dirty word to many, and it can indeed dirty a lot of good things. If used correctly, it unites people and becomes a language that we can all use. This is never more evident than on the epic and inspiring anthem, Believe in What You Want; to this day, one of my favourite songs of ALL time. I mean that and do not say it lightly.

Throughout this album you can expect to experience chimey guitars and echoey, understated keys, delicately wrapping a song at one moment, or exploding out of it at the next. The sound shifts from the magnificently uplifting call-and-response verses of Believe in What You Want and the pop sensibilities of Lucky Denver Mint, to the cheerfully-melancholic tones of A Sunday. The rampant, caution-to-the-wind happiness that exudes from Blister is second-to-none, but it's not in any of these areas that J.E.W. earn their greatest victories.

It's on minimal soundscape of the 12.23.95. as Jim Adkins' soft voice details regret at hurting a loved-one on Christmas, and the soaring masterpiece that is the 16 minute closer; Goodbye Sky Harbour. Sometimes there'll be nothing but a whispered vocal/backing vocal combo and wispy, echo-like guitar passages. Yet, it works like a dream.

Jimmy Eat World demonstrate a completeness and an understanding beyond almost ANY band doing the same thing, and yet they've always remained on the cusp of stardom.

Futures is probably their weakest album, yet it's still an album worth your money and time. Bleed American, Chase This Light and Static Prevails are all solid-to-amazing efforts in their own individual rights, to one degree or another. Clarity, though, has always been considered a high mark.

Overlooked upon it's release back in 1999, it was looked back on with a fondness that saw it become critically acclaimed and labelled as a masterpiece, landmark album of the '90s. Even the band themselves love this album so much that they played it in its entirity to commemorate the 10 year anniversary.

The production could be better, but I look at it like an old blanket. Sure, it has a hole in it, but would you REALLY ever want to change it?

I cannot recommend this album enough. It's truly a special piece of work.

Put it on, grab a warm drink when it's cold outside and just let yourself be taken to a place that not many albums will go. You won't be disappointed. Clarity by name, clarity by nature; there aren't many albums as clearly excellent as this.

---

Coming up in the near future I plan to do a Deadpool 101, a guide to the great band known as Killing Joke and of course, my massive end of 2009 post.

Keep it fixed to this blog, ladies and gentlemen.

Until next time, peace.

-The Mast

The Mast Reviews: Thursday's Comics (10/12/09).

Greetings, organisms!

Apologies for the late review, but what can you do? I'm here on my birthday writing a review of some comics for you shits, so deal with it. I'm joking, we're cool.

I only have a miniscule five comics to review today on account of Captain America: Reborn #5 being criminally late, as is that entire series. So, without further ado, review time!


Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #2 of 5.

With The Fault becoming an ever-increasing threat to pretty much anything that isn't inside it, Gladiator's Imperial Guard are forced to team with their long-time enemies - The Starjammers - in an attempt to find out what The Fault is and get more information on it.

Flying into The Fault together, their ship is plagued by energy draining organisms and eventually comes face to a face with an organic spaceship many...MANY times the size of their own. Upon entering it, they discover that it is basically a corpse being devoured from the inside and the creatures dwelling within it intend them to be next.

It's business as usual for Dan Abnett; an excellently paced issue that leaves me with the desired effect of wondering what the Hell is gonna happen next and wanting the next issue as soon as I'm finished. His dialogue is well balanced and he manages to give all the cosmic characters their own sense of character without it seeming muddled. I particularly like how he keeps returning to the theme of Gladiator not being best suited to Shi'ar politics, it's very good. I was overjoyed to see him become the big boss, but ultimately it's really not what he loves. As much as he loves the Shi'ar, he loves serving it; not controlling it.

He is like Captain America in the sense that he loves serving an ideal or collective for the greater good, but would never want to run the show.

I must admit that I am curious as to what is going to happen in this series, in general. I'm wondering just when The Fault is going to push everyone into dire peril and the action will pick up. After the Realm of Kings one-shot, Guardians and Nova's respective series, I'm wondering how it's all going to converge together and coalesce into a cosmic extravaganza. If it doesn't, I'll be relatively disappointed, as this definitely needs to affect everyone and involve everyone to keep up the momentum.

As it stands, everything seems to be heading in the right direction and I'm very pleased.


Deadpool #18.

I'm saving my history with Deadpool for a massive Deadpool 101 that I'm planning, so here's the story so far in a condensed form.

Deadpool wants to be a hero, so after being in somewhat of a purposeless limbo, he runs off to join the X-Men on Utopia. They reluctantly accept him, but soon live to regret this decision. Why? Because Mercury's - an inhabitant of Utopia - Father has begun a slander campaign in the media, causing everyone to believe the X-Men kidnapped her. Deadpool reckons that the best way to solve this is...? Yes, that's right; to commit murder on him...or so we thought.

After Cyclops, Surge, Domino and Colossus all show up to stop 'Pool, Wolverine realises nothing is as it seems. Upon seeing Deadpool shoot a sniper who was aiming for the Father, not the Father himself, he decides to stay out of the ensuing fight. It turns out that Deadpool's plan all along was to do this all on camera so that the public see the X-Men save the guy, re-affirming their faith against the slander. The Father - who was put up to the lies by Norman Osborn - reveals the truth to the news crews while Deadpool is helped to the Blackbird by Wolverine, ultimately being kicked off Utopia with somewhat of a reluctant "Thank you" from Cyclops.

This was a relatively fun issue. It was a definite increase in what Daniel Way had been putting out for the last five issues, that's for certain. It had a fight! Deadpool actually had a fight and forced Cyclops to admit that he DOES have amazing skills. It's a start, I guess. I'm just so sick of the fact that all he does now is act crazy, talk to the two voices in his head (LOSE THEM MARVEL, FOR SERIOUS) and get beat up while being "funny".

I have said for a long time that I want the snarky, corrosive and lethal Deadpool back. The Deadpool circa-Sins of the Past or The Circle Chase, the Deadpool circa-Joe Kelly of the '90s. Hell, even Daniel Way of the first 12 issues! I just want...Deadpool's comics to feel like Deadpool comics again. He feels like a guest star and too much of his dialogue is cut back or not written well enough. There isn't much 4th wall-breaking, there are little to NO pop culture references. This is just not good enough for Deadpool.

Good issue? Fun issue, yes. Good Deadpool issue? Not in the slightest.

*Exasperated sigh*

Give me my boy back, Marvel.


Nation X #1 of 4.

This is going to be short because this comic was abysmal.

A few kids on Utopia claim that strange things are happening, involving ghosts, in underground tunnels on the island and Magneto goes to investigate. Simon Spurrier plays on the "Is he a bad guy or isn't he?!" thing a little too much; it was old already, but now it's just annoying. Eventually they find out that the "ghosts" were none other than Magneto's old, malfunctioning sentinels from his Asteroid M days.

Magneto finds an old message from himself and it's basically him ranting on about how there's no future for mutantkind in integration, that they must rule. Magneto returns and the kids ask him what it was, he said it was a sad ghost. They ask how he got rid of it and he says: "By giving it what it wanted.". I'm pretty sure this means he is implying that his goals are accomplished by some means, but I just...don't care.

Like I said, I'll ride this entire story out because it's only four parts, but I'm NOT impressed so far.


Dark X-Men #2 of 5.

Wow! Something with the X-Men in that doesn't have more sucking potential than Dyson vacuum blueprints!

This five part mini-series follows the re-shuffled team of Norman Osborn's Dark X-Men. Daken chose to concentrate on the Dark Avengers and anyone else who joined has left by now, leaving Mystique, Dark Beast, Mimic and Weapon Omega to masquerade as Osborn's public-pleasing mutant group.

In a nutshell, Osborn sends the three of them - with Mystique acting as Jean Grey - to investigate a number of cases in which people are being put into a trance-like state and referring to themselves as X-Men (Not really, but you'll see why this is quite clever). Upon meeting one particular case, Weapon Omega - powers of mutant energy absorption - is overwhelmed by mutant energy and goes nuts for a while, Mimic too. Eventually they burn out, and the patient rises up out of the bed.

Referring to Mystique as his Mother and saying that he's trying to get home, we see that it's none other than mutant shaman and near omnipotent psionic prodigy X-Man, otherwise known as Nate Grey. Nate Grey is the son of an alternate timeline's (The same one as Dark Beast) Cyclops and Jean Grey, for those watching at home, and is one of the most powerful mutants to ever exist. He's also someone I think is FUCKING AWESOME! So, YES?! Awesome.

This issue continues that immediately.

After almost killing Dark Beast with a glance, he burns out and the body reverts to the comatose patient it was before. Understandably, the Dark X-Men are a little perturbed and go to Osborn for ways to get around this. Osborn tells them to use his entire camp of psionic/psychic child recruits, under the leadership of Jarl. Mystique tells him she needs to tap into human consciousness itself - where Nate is residing/trapped - and find out what's going on and, perhaps more sinisterly, capture Nate!

Osborn wants Nate captured so that he can put him in a machine designed to harvest mutant powers from anyone, anywhere. Naturally, Osborn thinks Nate could be most useful if he became nothing more than a battery to power this thing. Frightening indeed.

No sooner has Jarl pooled the collective psychic minds into probing human consciousness when Nate physically grabs the manifestation of the psychic energy and drains them all. He drains literally every psychic of all their energy, which is a pretty fucking immense display of power.

Mystique runs off to find Dark Beast and discovers him experimenting on the brain of a psychic he just killed. His excuse was that they needed a psychic's brain to understand what Nate was up to, and that it makes for disturbing viewing; Nate hijacked and stole the energy so that he could get up to date on EVERYTHING that has happened recently. Upon discovering the Civil War, Secret Invasion and everything regarding Dark Reign...Nate becomes pissed. The last shot is of him looking at a vision of Osborn and screaming: "What have YOU done?!"

I LOVE Nate Grey. Let me state this right now. He's badass. He combines adolescent naivity with god-like shaman-esque wisdow, it's pretty cool (And so is he, google his picture).

I am thrilled that he is playing a part in this and I hope that his inclusion in Dark Reign isn't just a bit part cameo with no consequence. As Siege is coming up, they should be wrapping up certain plot points, not introducing more side-plots. We'll see how this unfolds, I'm certainly into it.

I recommend checking it out, I really do. It's only two issues in, so get on that.


The New Avengers Annual #3.

Oh man.

Clint Barton - formerly the Avenger known as Hawkeye, now Ronin - was captured whilst trying to assassinate Norman Osborn and this follows on from that event. What Dark Avengers Annual #1 did for Noh-Varr, this does for Ronin.

The story revolves around Osborn torturing Ronin for information on the hideout in which The New Avengers have made their headquarters. Ronin refused continually as, elsewhere, The N.A. make plans to rescue him. This is met with some reluctancy given the power that the Dark Avengers possess, but they eventually do so anyway.

As they do so, coincidentally enough, Osborn has Mesmero crack Ronin's mind through psychic torture. He goes to their hideout with the Dark Avengers and discovers they had moved on, aware that Ronin would crack under enough torture. Having left the tower unguarded, The N.A. bust in and save Ronin, bringing him back to yet ANOTHER hideout now that their old one is destroyed.

After Ronin makes his apologiees to the group and a newly recovered Luke Cage, Bucky - James Buchanan Barnes, current Captain America - says that he cannot believe he let this happen, that Steve Rogers is gonna kill him.

As soon as he says that, Steve appears off-panel and says: "Well, I'm ot thrilled, but I'm just happy that you're all ok. You're right, Hawkeye, the world HAS gone to Hell..." (Nice touch, referring to Ronin as Hawkeye again. At this point, everyone has a "What the fuck?!" look on their faces, and Steve Rogers is revealed in Captain America uniform, mask-less. He continues: "...but thank God The Avengers are here to do something about it, and we are. You ready?".

SO...EPIC. I probably will buy the remaining two issues of Captain America: Reborn, but it's so far behind schedule now that I pretty much know where it leads up to now that Rogers is back as Captain America.

I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but Bendis is the man right now. He has brushed up on his dialogue writing SO much that his comics are the most exciting ones I'm reading right now. Mayhew's art on this issue is patently gorgeous, with a real retro look about it. He draws Steve Rogers in a goofy, yet heroically-retro way. With his blonde-hair flowing and finger pointed while delivering such a rousing speech, you sort of think: "Ok, he has a total Mr. Incredible chin and he looks a bit ridiculous, but damn. Epic.".

Such a good issue and now, we can roll on with Siege. Excited? I am. 2010 is going to rule is this continues in the best way.

---

That's all I have for now ladies and gents! Sorry for the delay, once again, and thank you SO much for reading.

I hope you enjoy these reviews as much as I enjoy writing them. It's unexpected how much I enjoy this, actually.

Take care, people.

Until next time, peace.

-The Mast

The Mast Blogs: Delays! Delays! Delays!

Here is the NEWS!

Unfortunately there will be NO Thursday's Comics review until tomorrow. There reason for this is that whilst X-Mas shopping with my Sister, my weekly comic purchases were hijacked by her so that she could pay for them as a birthday gift for me.

Due to my birthday not being until 11th of Dec, I am not in possession of them until that day. Thankfully it's tomorrow and I only have five comics to review anyway.

I'm very much looking forward to it and hope you'll all enjoy it, too. Thank you for reading and SORRY for the delay. We at The Mast Foundation are sorry for any inconvenience this delay may have caused.

-The Mast