Superotherside's News And Reviews

Marvel's The Avengers Screen Cap's Which You Never Saw!

2012-10-29T16:13:00.001-05:00

Besides a very few, I think everyone enjoyed Marvel's The Avengers. But I know while I was watching it, I wanted several screen shots to be my computer wallpaper. Thus with the DVD release, I decided it was time someone made some nice HD wallpaper for everyone to enjoy. Feel free to pick out which ones you want or look at the entire album at imgur.

Ahhh, the best one for last. Time to Photoshop some Civil War fan posters, right? But that's not it, be sure to click on the source for the full album or use the embedded version below.

IRON MAN 3 Poster Debuts! And First Look At Mandarin!

2012-10-22T11:21:00.004-05:00

It's finally here! Click on the image to view the first official Iron Man 3 in full glory!

Superotherside Reviews: ARROW

2012-10-11T00:50:00.003-05:00

When I first heard about that DC was planning on developing a show based off of Green Arrow, I was intrigued. Not excited just intrigued. I have held my judgement of the show for a while, not sure if it would be good or bad. With only seeing one live action superhero show, NBC's critical failure The Cape, my expectations were very low. But I have to say, for the first episode, it has made a pretty good impression on me so far.

To be clear, I know next to nothing about Green Arrow. I've seen him on some shows, I know he's a billionaire and some of the usual things. I might have read one or two of his comics. So I don't know much about him and I'm not going to pretend to be an huge fan of him. But I have to say I do like this show... so far. The dialogue is good, it's probably better than most TV shows, but at the same it's not anything extraordinary either. The story is good but very ordinary. I felt Stephen Amell did a good job at Oliver Queen, but while his character is very reminiscent of other superhero's, Batman or Iron Man for example, he sets his own spin on a familial tale. While you see his back story, the pilot leaves his origin very unexplored. I was actually glad of this, as I figured I would be sitting though a forty minute origin story and leave the good stuff for later episodes. Thankfully, this is not the case and it leaves the perfect amount of explanation, yet mystery around his character. Katie Cassidy plays her character well, yet her character falls into the usual Bruce Wayne type girlfriend. Hopefully she'll get to do more in future episodes. It will be interesting how Colin Donnell's Tommy Merlyn will develop in future shows, as his is actually Green Arrow's archenemy. Yeah, I just Googled his character, that's how I know that. David Ramsey, Willa Holland, and Susanna Thompson receive honorable mentions on their acting, doing well with the characters with their limited screen time. The action is well played though out the episode and is quite good especially for a TV series. Stephen Amell seems to do a good job at seemingly doing most of his stunts. My interest is peaked to find out how the action continues when Arrow meets more experienced foes.

Overall: With good acting, interesting characters, and smart dialogue CW's Arrow hits the target when it comes to compelling story, tone, and action. This is one superhero show you must not miss!

Superotherside's Classic Review: The Thanos Quest

2012-09-26T12:11:00.002-05:00

Being one of my favorite villains, when I heard of this Thanos solo series, I couldn't stop myself from checking it out. Was it worth it? Did it ruin everyone's favorite purple colored titan? Read on.

In case you don't know, The Thanos Quest is a two issue limited series featuring Thanos, who looks into the Infinity Well discovering the true nature of the Infinity Gems. Thanos convinces Death the gems would aid him in his quest of killing half the universe. She gives him permission to seek out the cosmic entities who hold them.

Pretty much everything about this book is brilliant. The art is stunning, capturing all the emotion and the mind bending realities Thanos's quest takes us to. It's epic from the start and only gets better.

Often, writers struggle with cosmic tales, especially at this time, but this book has little, to no problems handling everything. The expressions, mood, and dialogue is actually cinematic. It's amazing at how these characters who at times in other comics had come off as very goofy, are all well scripted, yet never act out of character. Jim Starlin wrote these characters how they were supposed to be written. He captured all their selfishness, and greed, yet ultimately made you feel sorry for them.

Told in his own thoughts, Thanos makes a deeply interesting protagonist for the story. To those who have read The Infinity Gauntlet you are probably wondering, why you should bother with a intro into a storyline you have already read. Well, I'll tell you. Because it's worth it. Not only will the Mad Titian actions not come off as "mad" as they did before you read the book, but you will also appreciate The Infinity Gauntlet much more.

There is actually quite a bit of action as well. Thanos goes up against seemingly impossible odds, and yet each time ultimately out matches them though with each of their gems give his opponents a huge advantage. It is amazing to see how easily Thanos tricks each of these cosmic beings into falling to his mercy each time. Thanos has a sort of humor with the way he lives up to his bargains.

By the end of the book, you understand Thanos does not actually have as much ill will to the universe as most think. You realize he actually wants to be able to understand the whole universe, so that he might use it to understand his own emotions. He believes power will ultimately satisfy him, yet realizes it never will. For this reason he loves Death, for when dead, he does not have to deal with the problems of life. He truly wants to die, to be rid of his problems. He only needs to realize the only true way to be satisfied with your life, is to do good. A choice he might never make.

Having little to no mistakes, fantastic art, excellent writing, and great characters, The Thanos Quest is hard not to recommend this story to any comic fan.

10/10

Be sure to pick up the Trade Paper back at Amazon.com!

Recommended Version:

Thinking Logically About Paul Ryan

2012-08-11T21:14:00.002-05:00

Okay, now I don't usually like to get into political debates but this is so simple I can't understand why some can't grasp it.

Lets look at what is now happening under the current plan:

Businesses lay off employees because of harsh taxes to fund welfare systems. In turn, the employees can't find jobs, because there are no businesses able to hire them. The employees are then forced to take welfare which is less than their own pay. From here matters only get worse. Since the employees are now on welfare, a dramatic cut in their funds, they are forced to only purchase essentials from businesses. The would be employee, is therefore forced to starve on welfare and the business has to let go more even employees, if it hasn't already gone bankrupt. Where does it end? Where everyone is forced rely on the government for food, clothing, homes and jobs. But the government can't pay for everything because of the huge number of people relying on them. A lower quality of living is forced on everyone making everyone poor except a few high up officials.

Is this the future you want?

Lets start thinking of what would happen with Paul Ryan's plan using the example above.

Businesses hire more employees because of tax cuts. Suddenly jobs are found. Employees no longer need welfare and can work to fulfill their dreams. Employees are able to be promoted in the businesses increasing their pay. This in turn, allows them to purchase more, which increases the businesses's profits. Businesses will hire more employees to meet demand. Since the economy is stabilized, government gets more funds because of the amount of people who are able to contribute taxes, instead of being forced to take welfare.

The Obama campaign has brought up the point of Welfare being done away with for the elderly under Paul Ryan's plan. Let's look at what would really happen.

Woman and men both would be able to get higher paying jobs easier because the businesses would be hiring more employees.

The change in senior's Medicare wouldn't change until 2023! Read more: here. By this time there would be no reason to worry about it. Why? Because companies would now have enough to give a suitable retirement since the heavy taxes would be lifted.

The middle class wouldn't need medicare because they would be able to get jobs and have a better chance at going up into their business and participating in retirement or savings plans.

Students would be able to find work easier and have better funds to pay for their schooling. More people would be able to go to collage, because of more job availability. In turn, collages would be able to lower their rates.

Immigrants would be able to find jobs easier and wouldn't need welfare.

Some have complained that Romney's choice for Vice President is racial. Why? Would it be racial if he was African American? Just because he's Caucasian, does this make a difference in what he stands for? And is race really a qualifying reason for Vice President? And why African American? Why not Asian? Indian? Or Jewish? It doesn't matter what your skin color is, it matters what you do.

Some have complained that both Romney/Ryan are in the 1%. The rich. Well, think with me a moment? Aren't Obama/Biden in the 1% as well? So Romney, being successful businessman, is bad because he gives employees jobs?

Obama complains about the Romney/Ryan plan, but what plan has he got? Have you felt the change his Stimulus plan made? I have. It has increased the national debt and has made Obama the most costly president ever. Not only that, Obama is trying to make gasoline even more expensive! Read more: here.

The change Obama has promised has come. Are you happy with the change? Are you ready to try something different?

What future will you choose?

Superotherside's Classic Review: BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

2012-08-03T18:40:00.001-05:00

Now, mostly I lean to Marvel in being my favorite publisher of comics. But I have to say when DC gets stuff right, it's fantastic. I came across this book at the library and decided to read it to see how I liked this classic story.

Well, I did. Not just being an amazing Batman story, this is an amazing comic period! I didn't honestly realize at how much The Dark Knight took from this book. In fact the scene on the roof top with Gordon, Dent, and Batman is almost lifted from the panel.

I really loved the writing because it made you feel like you were Batman. The tone reminds me of a mix between the new Batman Arkham games and Snyder's Batman title. It is obvious that Batman: Long Halloween has influenced these Batman stories a great deal.

I couldn't believe at how many villains made their way into this book either. Even Solomon Grundy makes an appearance! What's great about it, is that each character is handled well and adds something to the overall story. There doesn't seem to be much of throwing stuff in there, just because the writer can. Something that irritates me very deeply when writers do that. But instead most everything fits into place in the plot of the book.

They also went into the deep psychology of Dent, which in The Dark Knight was played brilliantly by Aaron Eckhart. Sadly when you read this book, you realize the film should have developed his character a bit more.

The art is great as well. It allows enough character expression, yet doesn't define it too much and gives you an over all impressionistic art.

With a great story, good art, and a definitive Batman story, Bat fans everywhere should be sure to pick up this classic.

9/10

2012-06-20T09:08:00.002-05:00

Issue 1-3: Black Widow Strikes

What I love about Black Widow Strikes is that it delves more deeply into a character which story has just been teased in the Avengers. I wish they would do some books like this for Hawkeye!

First off Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow is on an under cover job to find some stolen Starktech where she meets Sofia, a rival spy determined to prove her superiority. After killing several agents and nearly killing Natasha herself, Natasha stops Sofia from seemingly selling the Starktech to the Ten Rings.

Seriously this book is really good. Some thought it made the character sappy or something but I would say it made her more interesting. No one wants a character who is perfect or who doesn't have doubts. Well, maybe some do...

But at any rate this book teases how great a Black Widow film could be. While some may not like it due to it's simplicity, it's an enjoyable book to look more into Natasha's character.

Besides that, it gives a teaser of the Ten Rings! I think some of the things talked about in here seem to be linked with Iron Man 3. It seems Sofia was hired to steal the code of the targeting software for Hammer's bootleg version of the Jericho missile for the Ten Rings. To me this is beyond cool.

Not without it's faults but having several redeeming qualities, I give it:

8/10

Issue 1-2: The Amazing Spider-man

I have to admit I was skeptical of this one but I've got to say it won me over completely. The drama, artwork, and story are all top notch. Which gives me much more hope in this reboot.

I have get one thing clear. I personally ~~dislike~~ hate the suit in the Amazing Spider-man. But I have to say, it does look very good in this comic.

But it's not just that. The story is were things begin to get interesting, Peter's thoughts of just wanting to help and prove to Captain Stacy Spider-man is not a dangerous vigilante.

The story with Gwen is interesting too, I'm wondering if she knows he's Spider-man at this point...

What's bad about it? Nothing really. A minor complaint is that I doubt thugs could have beat him around so easily. But then he's very much a novice so it's honestly not against what happened in the comics. So the complaint doesn't have much if any bearing.

Another complaint is it doesn't have enough actual action. He never gets to fight a real threat in the series, it's mainly just a teaser for you to see the movie. Not that that's bad in any way.

I give it:

9/10

2012-06-19T17:29:00.001-05:00

Episode 21: Winter Soldier

After seemingly being wished alive by Steve Rogers last season (though the use of the Cosmic Cube) Bucky has made appearances in the past few episodes. While this episode has some minor flaws it makes up for them in passionate performances of the characters.

The show starts with the Avengers Red Skull in prison with Cap questioning him. Red Skull escapes using a sleeper (a big robot) as a distraction. The Avengers try to find other sleepers but have no luck. Cap with the help of Nick Fury goes off on his own to find Bucky aka the Winter Soldier. When the find Bucky he is battling a sleeper, they help destroy it. Cap gives Tony a heads up that there are more sleepers headed their way. After having little effect on the sleeper (which I'll address further below) the Avengers let Cap and Bucky break in to stop the Red Skull from destroying the White House. Bucky and Cap over come the Red Skull and destroy the sleeper. Bucky parts ways with Cap saying he has to figure out some of his past.

Okay I loved every single thing in this episode except one thing. The sleepers. Well I actually liked the sleepers, I just wanted more of them and for it to be easier to defeat. I mean seriously the Avengers now have Thor, Ms Marvel, and Iron Man, as heavy hitters not even counting Vision who could have phased though and destroyed the sleeper from the inside. While this makes the show a little silly once you realize they didn't do this just because they wanted Bucky and Cap to save the day, it still doesn't take down the quality of the show. This show has more heart than great action in it, having the moments between Bucky, Cap, and the Red Skull quite memorable.

Great show, can't wait to see more of Winter Soldier!

10/10

Finally! Hulk is back and angrier than ever! I honestly wouldn't mind Hulk thrashing the Avengers a bit, I mean honestly it's been 13 episodes since he has been in custody. And they din't lift a finger to get him out!

At any rate the show starts out with Cap and Iron Man going to the Hulkbuster base demanding Ross to let him out. Ross refuses but is out ranked as the President orders him to release the Hulk. Upon being released Banner turns into the Hulk and angrily fights Cap and Iron Man. He runs off only to be found again by the Avengers. Cap tries to reason with him but to no avail, the Avengers attack only to fail. Red Hulk steps in and takes Hulk down. After the Red Hulk receives good press for days, Red Hulk becomes the newest Avenger, Cap disapproves. To prove Banner is being manipulated, Cap secretly breaks into the Hulkbuster base and awakens Banner. With the help of Wasp, Cap breaks off the mind a mind control chip from Hulk's brain. Red Hulk shows up with the Avengers to take down Cap because of his illegal actions of breaking into the Hulkbuster base. Cap explains Red Hulk has been mind controlling Hulk to the Avengers. Iron Man executes nanobots to contain Red Hulk from his Avengers ID card. Red Hulk turns back into Ross and is taken into custody.

A lot of fun battles in this one including: Iron Man (Hulkbuster armor) vs Hulk, Red Hulk vs Hulk and Thor vs Hulk.

Glad to see the Jade Giant back on the team, and can't wait till the next episode!

10/10

2012-06-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

Episode 19: Emperor Stark

Okay, I have to admit it. I'm a HUGE Vision fan. It's just his whole personallity, look, story, powers, that all like totally define cool. Lets hope he gets his appearance in the MCU soon!

At any rate I was slightly sad to see after his amazing appearance in EMH, he was absent in the next episode. Still it's not too much I guess to wait another episode? Anyway this was a great episode that shows just how important Vision is to the team. The story is that after Ultron Unlimited Stark has Vision repaired by his computers which takes 30 days. After Vision's 30 days of being offline, he awakens into a world of the Purple Man, a villain who can mind control anyone with in a certain range. Vision finds that after being humiliated by Stark, he mind controls Stark into launching a Satellite which permits the Purple Man increase his telepathic power to all humans on earth. The Purple Man has all artificial life shut down, including Jarvis. Vision luckily escapes being shut down, as Tony seemingly had been resisting him all the time, wanting Vision to escape and help stop the Purple Man.

Okay, you guessed it I liked best when the team was fighting each other due to the influence of the Purple Man. Mainly because it shows how much emotion is put into this series and how good the creators are at portraying these characters.

There are several vs highlights to this episode. I'll mention my favorite.

Vision vs Captain America
Making Cap face himself telling Vision his beliefs in a previous episode Ultron Unlimited was pure genius of the creators.

Captain America vs Hawkeye
Hawkeye is basically a gunslinger. Well... arrow shooter? At any rate, he's not taking orders if he doesn't want to. He's very much a hired ~~gun~~ arrow. He only follows someone IF he WANTS to! When Cap tells him this to break the Purple Man's mind control I was mentally jumping up and down with joy.

Captain America vs Iron Man
This almost reminded me of, you guessed it, Civil War. It's sad there isn't another season of this series since they've hinted to Civil War coming for a while now. It's a pity we will never see it happen in this series. But remorse for later. This fight really shows how good friends Tony and Steve are, they really compliment each other as friends building on strengths of the other one. Oh and I loved the whole, "I can do a lot by wiggling my finger." to the Purple Man.

I did feel sad that we didn't see the team vs several big Iron Man robots but oh well... also is it just me or does anyone else wonder where is Yellowjacket during this time? Chronologically I think this episode actually came before the Yellowjacket episode.

But in the end another great episode.

10/10

Episode 20: Code Red

Naturally it's always good to see ~~Rulk~~ Red Hulk again but I wondered in this episode was he under mind control of the Red Skull? Or was he doing this for his own private vendetta? They weren't too clear on that. But perhaps it'll come to light in future episodes?

At any rate I enjoyed the episode, mainly because it has one of my favorite characters of all time: Winter Solider! But I'll get to him in a bit.

One of the favorite scenes in this episode is when Tony tells Steve he want's him to be the official leader of the team. Chronologically this makes perfect sense as Stark could be feeling self doubt as he was mind controlled by the Purple Man in the last episode, passing down the leadership to the one who had the most resistance to the Purple Man. While it wouldn't have worked for The Avengers, I was very happy to see the leadership being first on Iron Man, then passed down to Captain America.

I keep wondering where Yellow Jacket and the Hulk are though? I'm thinking chronologically the Yellowjacketepisode may be after this episode too? But what of the Hulk? The Hulk was taken into custody, with Red Hulk knowing about it, so could it be that Ross was working with Red Skull to get the Hulk? Things to think about at any rate lets move on.

I actually was a little surprised at myself I didn't realize who was doing this to them until Cap was in that room. Yeah, I know I couldn't believe I didn't figure it out before then either, I mean it had Red Skull MMO all of it: secretly taking over control of the government, making everyone's face look like his, his hate for Captain America, employment of Winter Solider, etc. But I was very happy to see his return, hopefully we can see a little bit more of him in the next few episodes.

Okay now, Winter Solider! I loved his portrayal in this, he looks fantastic and I loved how after defeating Cap with his own fighting moves ultimately saves Cap. The one thing I didn't like was how Samson and Falcon were portrayed in this episode. I know they said they were being mind controlled by the Red Skull I would have liked it if they introduced Falcon a different way and had Samson redeem himself by breaking out of the mind control. This way they both seem a little bit too much like accidental bad guys.

But these minor flaws even out when you realize all the amazing moments in this show. Bring on the next episodes!

10/10

2012-06-13T10:50:00.002-05:00

Episode 15: Powerless

An interesting episode, showing something I like most about Marvel characters (don't get mad DC, I like you too) is that the story is not about their powers, it's about the person with the power. Even without their power these characters are still the same people, which this episode delves deep into. Since this episode has only four characters in it, with each one having interesting points to touch on lets visit each character's story in this review.

Hawkeye: Interesting enough I guess having super marksmanship isn't a superpower. I thought this was slightly funny since Tony's technological side of his brain didn't work, plus got his prototype suit back. Yet Hawkeye still has great marksmanship and doesn't go back to shooting regular arrows. I slightly wonder how this worked out but who knows, I guess it was just because the spell was shot at the others instead of Hawkeye. Still it's fun to see Hawkeye for once defending the others...

Iron Man: Getting back to Tony's smart side of his brain shutting down, I think this was a funny twist to this because evidently Marvel actually thinks he is superhuman in his brain. I also thought it was too funny when Hawkeye hot wired Tony's repulsor. I also loved the banter between Hawkeye and Stark in this episode, this line especially when Tony's explaining to Hawkeye the smart part of his brain seems to be shut down. Hawkeye: "Amazing none of the brain power but all of the attitude. Magic stinks."

Captain America: As usual Cap inspires everyone to continue to fight despite he has the least of strength. I loved that even in his skinny Steve state he still fought the Destroyer a bit. It was in a lot of ways quite amazing. That line I loved in the Avengers from Stark, is a great line but untrue about Steve, "Everything that makes you special came out of a bottle." Steve's superpower is not in his super solider serum, it's in his heart.

Thor: It's funny at how much this episode takes from the film Thor. Thor has to learn humility to break the spell a Surtur controlled Enchantress put on them. I always thought it was interesting when Thor became human because with him being used to such strength, being in a human form must seem like your flesh was made out of paper. Ultimately he learns no mater how much power you hold it doesn't make you any less, it's only the spirit which makes you a good warrior.

Story: It's interesting that the Surtur story line seems to be heating up. Hopefully we can see him in more EMH episodes to come and see him in Thor 2.

Verdict: As always EMH delivers on action, story and humor. Great episode.

9/10

Episode 16: Assault on 42

I had been wondering if they would introduce Annihilus in EMH and evidently they did. This episode has a very feeling of doom, very Alamoish type of story. In fact they actually mention this is their Alamo several times in the episode. Another interesting highlight in this episode is Ms Marvel. Carol is quickly becoming one of my favorite (if not my favorite) super heroin. She is interesting and powerful, I loved it when Carol and Thor fought back to back seemingly and defeated hundreds of Negative Zone bugs (that's honestly the best description I could come up with). I also think it's interesting that it's not Captain America, but Ms Marvel who thinks of letting the prisoners out to help defend the prison.

I love how EMH even while it's sort of a "one shot" episode it continues an over all story, such as Thor mentions to Executioner that Enchantress is being mind controlled by Surtur. This seems to pay off as Executioner helps Thor fight some bugs off of him thus saving him from being injured/dying. Seems that humility is working out for you Thor.

Verdict: Great episode. I hope that in the MCU that the Thanos minion (who was talking to Loki) isn't Annihilus, hopefully they can someday introduce Annihilus something more like this version in the MCU.

10/10

Episode 17: Ultron Unlimited

How could anyone not like this episode? Seriously, it has Vision in it! Okay, yes I'm a Vision fan. You can really see the geekdom in this episode, if you've read the comics. Amazingly enough this episode actually has two or three story lines fused together yet it comes off great. I also love when the robotic Hawkeye and Cap come in the line that Hawkeye says: "Oh, and by the way, it's really me." (Or something like that.) But I really loved that line as it related to one of the most recently closed story lines in EMH Secret Invasion. On Secret Invasion, I wish they had of done a bit more of Kree/Skrull War story line but oh well. It is sad we will probably never see that story line adapted for EMH.

At any rate I also loved that they introduced Jocasta. While it's only a cameo, it was nice to see that the female robotic Avenger is in this universe, although it's doubtful she'll ever be explored in this series as it is due to be cancelled.

Okay I'm sorry, I keep bringing up the sad stuff about it being canceled. But honestly that's probably the only bad thing about EMH.

I thought the Vision story was done really well, although I would have liked it if they spent a bit more time on it. Still at the same time they needed to move on so I'm not holding that against them.

Verdict: EMH continues to be one of the best cartoons ever and it makes me hope that Vision can be introduced in the MCU soon. Avengers 2 perhaps?

10/10

Episode 18: Yellowjacket

First off, I know what story in the comics they were trying to adapted and believe me it's a hard story to adapted. In fact if it's not the hardest it's easily one of the hardest stories to adapt in the Marvel Universe. I do like it that they did adapted it though and despite that it's a very hard story to adapt they did a fair job.

I've never connected great with Hank Pym, I like his character and all that but it always seemed the other characters around him where just much cooler than he was. But when you actually do understand him, this is actually his problem. He actually realizes all the other characters are better than he is, this is why the Yellowjacket personality was born. He's Hank Pym trying to be cool. (Well yes, it is even though he has amnesia and thinks he killed Hank Pym.)

The one thing that kept bothering me during this episode is it wasn't as explained as it was in the comics. Jan's realization Yellowjacket is Hank isn't because he kissed her? Also Hank and Jan don't get married? But oh well. It would be hard to fit all of that story line in one episode. And as I've said before they did a fair job. I felt for those who didn't read the story it was a bit unfair though. How are they supposed to know that Hank spilled some chemicals that made him have amnesia and think he was Yellowjacket (the perfect mate for a Wasp) and that he killed Hank Pym. Yes, I was slightly confused even after I read the comic. Still it's a good story.

Verdict: I hope I'm not being too harsh on EMH creators because I did like the episode, I just thought they could have explained it a bit more and stuck to the story a bit more.

8/10