TMNT Amazing Adventures # 2

By Mark Rodriguez

The Turtles face a new Zodiac themed villain that has captured mutants based on the signs of the Chinese Zodiac including Rahzar as the wolf, Leatherhead as the dragon, Bebop as the boar and even Splinter as the rat. This forces the Turtles to work alongside the Shredder if they are to take this guy down. What will happen now?

The comic opens with the Turtles being surprised that Splinter is under Zodiac's control. Shredder tries to attack him, but Zodiac vanishes in a puff of smoke with his newfound minions. Moments later, they ask Shredder about Zodiac. Shredder explains that he was a normal guy named Tetsumi Onamota which was a good friend of both Yoshi and Saki. He found an artifact called the Zodiac Key that gave him the powers of the zodiac but it drove him mad with power. Yoshi and Saki teamed up to defeat him, or so they thought. Mikey asks if they're supposed to team up with the Shredder, but Shredder decides to rescue Karai on his own and sends a group of Foot-bots after the Turtles.

Splinter wakes up and Zodiac blames him for stopping from getting the power he wanted, which trapped him in his animal form. The Zodiac Key's power is unlocking and Zodiac mutates into an animal form that is a mix of all the Zodiac animals into one.

The Turtles fight the Foot-Bots while they know that Shredder has bought himself a head start. Don says he planted a tracker on Shredder though even if they find him, they'll be outnumbered. Leo says maybe not, and they have Don lead the way while they purposely let the Foot-Bots follow them.

Splinter is able to fight against Zodiac's mind control, but he enlists on the other captured mutants to help. Shredder arrives wanting to claim the Zodiac Key as his own. While both villains argue over it, Splinter flicks his tail, knocking the Key out of Zodiac's grasp. As Shredder and Zodiac try to get it, the Turtles bust in and start fighting. Don sees that the Key was actually build using Kraang tech, but Bebop smacks him. Raph manages to catch it, but Leatherhead attacks him too.

Splinter catches it and says both Shredder and Zodiac are unworthy of this power and breaks it in half. Zodiac says that without the key, his power will be out of control. Shredder grabs both pieces of the Key and claims its power. Don says the tracker he put on Shredder was also explosive, and he sets it off. The explosion destroys the Key further. Everyone is now back to order. Shredder tells Rahzar and Tiger Claw to grab Karai and they all vanish together.

The Turtles see that all that was left of Zodiac is now dust, since his life force was used up the Zodiac Key. Back at the lair Don wonders what Kraang tech was doing back in the day. Splinter feels bad that Tetsumi was once a good guy before he was consumed with power. Mikey says he's gone, but Splinter says he's not sure since they thought he was gone once before and thinks he will return someday.

Back up Story-

Mikey is bored and has nothing to do, until Splinter suggests he draw his own comic, since he loves comics so much. Mikey gets get to, and after a bit of writer's block, decides to make it about himself and the guys.

In the comic, Donnie wakes Mikey up after getting blasted. He remembers that they were on a rooftop watching over a nearby concert.... until Mikey accidentaly knocks over a Groundchuck Energy Drink water tower, spilling the liquid onto the people below. The Turtles go down to the street and see that a lot of the Kraang were at the concert. They have laser guns and as the Turtles dodge the shots, Mikey jumps on a stack of the energy drinks and smashes them with his nunchucks. The cans explode all over the Turtles, which leads to the cans exploding and gushing the contents all over the Kraang. Mikey falls backwards which leads to him getting knocked out, and Donnie helping him back up. The Turtles drive off in the Party Wagon eating pizza as he mentions how glad he is that his brothers accept him for the party dude that he is.

As Mikey finishes his comic, the others check it out. Don is impressed by the artwork and Leo calls Splinter so he can check it out. Splinter is impressed and mentions the comic has the kind of energy and artwork like the gag manga he read as a child. The Turtles decide to head out, hoping they don't run into the same kind of adventures as in the comic, though Raph says he'd die laughing if they actually did find the Kraang partying. Donnie suggests pizza would help inspire more adventures. As they head off, Splinter puts the 'Party Dude Vol 1' comic next to his family portrait.

My Opinions

It's a pretty cool issue. The Zodiac story was ok, and the whole 'using the mutant characters as stand-ins for the Zodiac animals' idea was a great way to show off some of the newer characters into this series. I do like that true to his character, Shredder had no interest in the traditional 'good guys team up with bad guys to face a bigger threat' deal and still sent Foot Ninja after the Turtles while he tried to deal with the villain himself. Not only that, but he wanted the powers of the Zodiac for himself, still making him a big threat in the story. It's too bad the story had to be condensed, with so many characters running around, we could have used 2 more pages worth of fighting. I also liked the flashback when Splinter and Shredder were still friends before they went their own ways.

Considering we had the Turtles, Splinter, Leatherhead, Bebop, Karai, Rahzar, Zodiac and Foot Robots, we needed at least 2 more pages of this.

As for the backup story, it was cute. I mostly liked that the others liked Mikey's comic too and showed their support. As much as I hate Mikey's lack of intelligence in the new show, I like that despite being an annoyance and a screw-up, the Turtles still care about their little brother. I also see that these back-ups are usually drawn by guest artists, and I see this artist drew the portion of Mikey's comic. And yes, Groundchuck reference in the comic. From being an evil mutant bull to somehow having his own line of Red Bull knockoffs, it was a clever sight gag.

My drink gives you wings!!!!

The only thing that gets me is, if Mikey fell off the pile of soda cans and I guess... got knocked out from it, why did he think he was blasted in the beginning? Oh well. In all cases, it is Mikey's comic so we can personally blame him for that one.

Overall a good story, though it's not really clear how far they're going with this 'follow it's own route' thing this new series is supposed to do when compared to the one before it. Of course we're never going to see Zodiac in the cartoon, maybe he can be a recurring a villain, if he finds some way to come back that is.

Final Update on Meowbox.net/com

By Mark Rodriguez

I already discussed the whole issue with Meowbox.net vanishing off the face of the Earth and taking all of our money with them. I also commented that despite my efforts, I never did get my remaining money back after getting only 1 out of 3 items. Meowbox.com came in to clean up the mess and it is now sole owner of the Meowbox name, though this still means that the .net gang is forever gone and those that did not a refund are stuck shaking their angry fists in the air. However, a little something did happen to us and it's been a while, and I really should have commented on this sooner.... but I figured I might as well mention it now for those that wondered how this whole 'saga' ever turned out.

While we were still waiting around and waiting for the June Meowbox.net one to arrive, Paige made a little rant video asking what's going on and if anyone else was a subscriber and also going through this.

Of course, by now this is old news... except for the little fact that when .com took over, they also saw this video and asked Paige to be sure it's clear that the rant was regarding .net and NOT .com, to avoid any confusing with the customers and also not letting the .net's version ruin the reputation of the .com version. Of course Paige was willing to do so, but the extra icing on the cake was that they were willing to give her a FREE Meowbox for review purposes!

Of course this sounded too good to be true, but after making sure that the woman contacting her really was from Meobox.com, Paige agreed to it and she did get her free box. She did make a review video and we can both vouch that Hammie and Prince LOVED the catnip toys. Especially Hammie, that catnip is his drug, yo.

So yeah, it might have been a perfect ending, but we did get at least one of the three boxes we originally ordered from .net.... and we got a free one from the one and only original Meowbox.com. It's a nice little way to end this little chapter in our lives, and we thank you a lot Meowbox.com. The video above shows just how happy the cats were with it too, as well as more information on how to order your own Meowbox and how the whole deal works.

And so concludes the Meowbox saga. For those out there interested in getting something for your kitties, yes, I do vouch for Meowbox.com. Despite .net's shady practices, I do confirm that .com is the genuine article and totally worth it for spoiling those furry little guys that we love so much.

Mark VS Meowbox.net- Game Over man.... Game over...

By Mark Rodriguez


Now that Meowbox.net is officially closed, and Meowbox.com took over to make sure there are no other sites with similar names... sadly I ended up losing out. It's kinda rubbing salt into the wound here, but I figured if you guys are curious.... here's how the story ended. Read my last article for more context, but long story short, Meowbox.net is a sub box for cat lovers that ended up ripping us off.

While many tried to contact the Better Business Bureau, sadly they were no help since they were unable to actually find the business. People continued to complain and voice their frustration on a new Facebook group about the scam and warning people to NOT sign up for it because yes... the site was still running and inviting new suckers to subscribe.

It just so happened I was going to Las Vegas to visit my bro and hang out with my old friends again, Sweet Pete, Lan Moore and the like. Paige reminded me that while I was there, I could take the chance to go to my Credit Union to see what they can do which would probably have better results talking to them in person rather than calling them from PA.  Sadly, while they tried to do the best they can and I was able to print out all sort of receipts and the BBB complaints, they couldn't do anything since the purchase was made way past 60 days. Again, for those that haven't read the last article, I purchased a 3 box gift set in April and since I did get the May box, even though it was late, I had no reason to think I was gonna get ripped off within those 60 days yet.

So to really cinch this, Paige called me to tell me that the site is officially closed and I guess Meowbox.com is coming in to kinda/sorta clean up the mess. Kinda/sorta as in they offered to ship free boxes to people that were ripped off in August to make up for what their .net namesake failed to deliver.... and that's it. So those that were gypped earlier on, they state 'it's up to Meowbox.net to either refund the money themselves or ship the remaining boxes', which of course they won't. They pretty much got away scott free with all our money.

It really bites especially since this was meant to be a gift, it probably wouldn't hurt so bad if I was just buying it for myself. What got me is that there was no way to know it was a scam. Lots of customers can vouch for them that for at least a year they were legit. It wasn't until now that they decided they screwed enough people and it was time to 'take the money and run'. And due to that year of good service, there are several review sites giving them good reviews, I found some reviewing and comparing both sites and Youtube unboxing videos, all showing that at the time they were the real deal. So there was no warning at all, and in fact it literally feels like I am the ONLY person that blogged about this scam.

I guess it's the risk one takes whenever you buy something online. Like I said... no telltale signs whatsoever. Nothing looked shady or out of place. It just as easily could have been Lootcrate, Nerd Block or Shirt Punch that all of a sudden after a year or so of faithful service decide to up and vanish with the money of their loyal followers. I am, of course, not saying anything bad against Lootcrate, Nerd Block or Shirt Punch of course, those were just examples. I'd say buyer beware.... but wow, there really was no warning.

Well that's my story. Sucks it didn't have a happy ending, but that's how life works I guess. Just remember, any time you buy something online, there's a small risk you take, no matter how reliable or reputable the site seems to be.

Mark VS MeowBox.Net

By Mark Rodriguez

                                  

So yeah, after seeing how curious she was about this product I decided to surprise Paige and buy her a 3-month Meow Box as a birthday gift. At first I was confused since there was both a Meowbox.com and a Meowbox.net. I decided to try out Meowbox.com first but for whatever reason there a problem with the screen where you finally authorize your purchase. I honestly thought this was a scam since it seemed odd for the site to have an error after placing my credit card information, but no, my account was never charged. I decided to try out Meowbox.net instead.... oh the irony.

Meowbox.net says it ships out a new box every month on the 15th, and from what I heard from other customers, you usually get the tracking info email around the 17th. I honestly forgot all about the box until Paige brought it up in conversation half past May. Upon checking their Facebook page, it seems that NOBODY has gotten their May boxes yet and the only posts on the page were from April's box.

Eventually we got an email in JUNE explaining some kind of medical emergency with one of the employees in this small company that delayed everything. And yeah, we got our boxes in June. Our May boxes in June... but hey, most of us understood due to this unforseen emergency and wished this person well.

So we went past June 15th.... and well, it's July 15th and this time we have not received ANY word from them at all, not even late. This time we are left completely in the dark as this company does not respond to any emails and has no phone number on their site to contact them. Their Facebook page still only has pics and posts from their April box.... as well as a lot of complaints from unhappy customers. And for the customers that were subscribed to this regularly, their cards were already charged for the month of July even though they haven't gotten the June box yet.

I wanted to wait and give them the benefit of the doubt. Some customers started reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and some even gave detailed information as to what jurisdiction Meowbox falls under to better file a complaint. I also found out that despite being a 3 month gift... my package was set to re-new itself for another 3 months in August. I'm not sure if this is the case for Lootcrate or Nerd Block whenever you choose to buy them as a gift for someone else, but I quickly thought 'the hell with that' and cancelled my auto-renewal.

Now that I'm safe from being locked into another 3 months of their unkept promises, there was the matter of trying to get my money back. Sadly when I checked with my bank I found out they can't stop a payment or consider it a fraud if it was reported after 60 days. Of course at this time we had still gotten the May box, even though it was late, so at the time we had no idea we were about to be cheated out of the June box, so I really had no reason to contact my bank during the 60 days. Especially since everyone kept saying the company has been working flawlessly for a year and just now in May did all of this drama start. We, like everybody else, were expecting everything to be business as usual for the June box and onwards.

So now I decided it was time to report them to the BBB myself. I was nice and patient, but this has gone far enough. I reported them and posted a screencap of how the BBB accepted to file my complaint like how some others have done on their FB page to drive the point home. Now... I don't know if this was because of me, or because the company has had enough of not only us complaining, but also warning people to NOT subscribe to them, at least until they work out their issues.... but they now removed the ability for people to make posts on their page.

Yes, we can still post replies on their April box posts... but those get easily lost upon all the comments of the 'at the time' happy customers back when the April box was new. They don't stand out as open and obvious as to whenever you make your own post on the page. For the most part our complaint and warnings to not buy their products have been partially silenced.

But again, all of this only raises suspicion. The other person that filed a complaint against the company got an email from Meowbox that cancelled their service. I post my complaint and now they removed the 'post to the page' option. SOMEONE is still watching their Facebook page. And if they have someone that can do that... why don't they get on shipping out those boxes? Or at the very least since they have the time to check Facebook and remove our ability to post... they couldn't take all of 5 seconds to make a post explaining what the hell is going on with their company? We demand an explanation!!!

Someone commented that this also could have been a drawn out scam. Actually doing a good service and delivering their boxes on time for several months.... and then when they figured they scammed enough subscribers, pull a disappearing act and keep all the money. I really hope not... I really want to give them the benefit of the doubt here... if anything my complaint was mostly to see if enough letters from the BBB against their company would finally get the Meowbox staff off their asses. All 4 of them.


And so... this concludes the fight for now. The BBB did tell me they have sent the complaint to Meowbox.net themselves. But will I somehow get my money back? This gift was 70 bucks and they turned what could have been a happy surprise for Paige and cats.. to a drama filled nightmare in which noone knows what's going on.

I'll keep you updated. I might file another complaint if the July box also turns up missing. Just what is going on with these guys? I guess we'll find out.

For the time being, DON'T buy stuff from Meowbox.net. For whatever reason they're having trouble sending stuff out but sure don't have any problem charging your card for the following months. There is NO way to contact them for a refund and now you can't even ask about it on their FB page. Just stay away. For your cat blind box needs go to Meowbox.com. So far no problems with them and they seem just as legit as Lootcrate and the rest.

Avengers Spotlight # 27 Acts of Vengeance 2

By Mark Rodriguez

When the Wizard was captured and sent to the Vault, a mysterious stranger let him escape and he set loose a lot of captured super villains. Hawkeye and Iron Man arrived on the scene but spent as much time fighting each other as they did the bad guys. Hawkeye used an EMP arrow to lock down the prison but it also affected Iron Man, making his armor useless. What happens now?

The issue starts with Boomerang breaking into Stark Industries. Another villain named The Ghost broke in there earlier and Boomerang wants the security video, as requested by his boss Justin Hammer. One of the cops try to pull an alarm but the villain tosses a boomerang through it. The cops tell him that this will send a signal out anyway and Iron Man is soon to come. Boomerang is eager to to take him down.

Boomerang is just itching to fight someone when a stranger in white appears, phasing through a wall. He says Iron Man has defeated Boomerang before even when his friends were helping him out, but if he wants to fight someone so badly, he has 'just the Avenger for him'.

Hawkeye is one having a bladder exam (um...?) as Mockingbird waits for him. Both are relieved that it was nothing serious and Mockingbird leaves. Iron Man is out to find out who blew up Avengers Island, when he is suddenly attack by explosive boomerangs. He gets ready to attack and sees Boomerang.

Hawkeye is surprised since he has never fought him before (I do believe he is usually one of Spider-Man's bad guys) and mentions that since the Vault break out, all the bad guys have been attacking heroes at random, but not necessarily their own rivals. Boomerangs tosses burning boomerangs he calls Flamerangs that the archer dodges. The boomerangs cause serious damage and innocent people are in trouble. Hawkeye uses glue arrows to jam up Boomerang's rocket boots. As the villain falls to the ground, Hawkeye heads out to tend to the civilians.

There are so many people in danger, the hero doesn't know where to start. Hawkeye sees a woman stuck in a burning building and heads up there to help. As he swings down with the woman in tow, Boomerang tosses a Razorang to slice the rope. Luckily they both fall on an inflatable rescue mat and Hawkeye tosses a net arrow to capture Boomerang before he gets away. The cops take him away but surprisingly the woman he just saves slaps him across the face.

no respect I tell ya!

She points to all the destruction caused and says that superheroes really are a menace. Hawkeye walks off feeling horrible.

C-C-CRAWLING IN MY SKIN....

The next story 'Some Assembly Required' starts with the Stingray helping salvage what he could of the now sunken Avengers island. Stingray checks out the sunken island and finds a room that stores deadly and he is suddenly attacked. On the surface, Firebird gets his distress signal and dives into the water to help. She is soon knocked back out and tells them that the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android is on the loose, and he has Stingray in his grasp. Yeah.... these villain names....

The Mad Thinker is bad enough but... Awesome.... Android...... Awesome Friggin' Android!!!!

The Black Widow is on the scene and shoots the android with her Widow Sting. The robot sets Stingray down but now develops a more powerful version of the Widow Sting and fires it back to the Black Widow herself. Widow signals for the other Avengers to come and help.

However at this time, all of the other heroes are facing other bad guys, Thor is fighting the Juggernaut, Iron Man is facing the Wrecker, Captain America is fighting the Sub Mariner, Quasar is fighting against The Absorbing Man and the Avenger West Coast are fighting against the U-Foes. Luckily Captain Marvel does hear the call and flies off to help.

Wanna find out what happens? Read Thor comics! And Captain America comics! In the meantime enjoy a comic about Black Widow and a group of unknowns fight a literal blockhead.

The Awesome Android.... takes down Hellcat and Moondragon tries to telepathically put it to sleep. Hellcat reminds her that the android has no brain to put to sleep, and Firebird swoops in to save them before the robot can attack them. Firebird then tosses flames at the machine before Black Widow can stop her.

The android gets back up and now has Firebird's fire powers, but luckily she can create a forcefield to deflect her own flames. Suddenly Captain Marvel flies in dives into the sea. Underwater, she finds the Stasis Field Projector that keeps the robot in line. After speaking telepathically between Moondragon and the others, they are able to power up the Stasis device and take the robot down.

OMG..... his head.... opens up like a briefcase.... I can't.... I just can't......

Everyone is happy but Captain Marvel warns the others that when she went underwater she noticed that the other killer robots like the Super Adaptoid and Kree Sentry have now escaped. Black Widow also points out that when she called the Avengers, only Captain Marvel answered the call.. so she wonders what has happened to the rest of the team?

My Opinions

Wow, it's always cool to dive into the past and see the heroes of yesteryear. I do wonder whatever happened to characters like Firebird and Hellcat, and I kinda doubt we're gonna see Moondragon or Stingray in a Marvel movie any time soon. But hey, at least the Black Widow is here! It does make me wonder when the movies will finally give her the wrist mounted guns instead of just have her shoot regular guns.

Pretty fancy shooting, but lets hope they give you the Widow's Bite soon, maybe Captain America 3?

Also I guess this is a big crossover that spans issues of other comics... so I guess I didn't get the full story after all. After checking online, Acts of Vengeance spreads throughout several issues of Avengers, Avengers West Coast, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Quasar and Amazing Spider-Man. Basically a big group of bad guys teamed up and decided they' have better chances going after each others' enemies instead of their own. That's why we saw Juggernaut go after Thor instead of the X-Men, and Boomerang messing with Hawkeye instead of Spider-Man.

Unfortunately I only got the issues associated with Avengers Spotlight. Maybe I'll find the rest someday at another con. But it does really suck to not find out what happened after Hawkeye accidentally knocked Iron Man out with the EMP arrow when he needed him most. I guess the Iron Man comics would follow up on that?

As for the issue itself, it was a decent read but wow to the lame villain names... especially when they're meant to be taken seriously. I mean the Mad Thinker was bad enough but the... Awesome Android.... and the thing looks like a muscle dude with a brick for a head. And then said brick opens up like a briefcase to shoot out whirlwinds? What was the Mad Thinker thinking when he came up with that one? But yeah, hard to get over the overly ridiculous name and take him seriously especially when he's a super robot that can copy any super power it comes in contact with.

This comic also came with a commercial for the classic TMNT cereal. I remember that, it actually did taste good, unlike most cereals that were based on a cartoon or movie and were out for a limited time. It's actually kinda coincidental in a way that they have a TMNT ad seeing that a name as Awesome Android sounds like something they would name one of the action figures.... I mean it ranks up there with Mondo Gecko and Merdude.

Anyways I can't really promise what will happen next but the comic did say the next issue will involve Wonder Man, the Wasp and the Mad Thinker as the Acts of Vengeance continue. Let's see how that goes.

Batman # 433 The Many Deaths of Batman Part 1

By Mark Rodriguez

Here is another series that I picked up at the Sci Fi Valley Con. I believe this story took place sometime before I started collecting the series (my first few issues were about the Crimesmith and the NKV Demon). I have to say, i've run across part 2 or 3 of this story, but never the whole thing, and I never wanted to just buy it incomplete. Thanks to the con, I found all the parts, so let's start with part 1.

Wow.... back when they used to cost 75 cents... Now we're up to 3 dollars a book...

The issue opens on a stormy night as police cars rush down the dark alleys. A local bum points towards something and they see Batman, hanging from a wall of wooden planks, seemingly dead. He's rushed to the hospital where they try to do what they can (a doctor even stops a nurse from trying to unmask him) but the Caped Crusader flatlines and is taken to the morgue.

The doctors are all saddened and one of them in particular goes to a bar to drink away the pain. A guy in a tacky green suit, (looks like a reporter to me) enters the bar and talks to the doctor. He then arrives at the morgue and bribes the guard there to let him take a look at Batman. He is shocked to see the fallen Dark Knight and starts taking pictures. The reporter sells the pictures and the story and the death of Batman is soon printed.

Meanwhile in prison, the Penguin reads the news and is furious, stomping all over the newspaper. Two-Face also sees this and flips a coin. It lands on the scarred side and he gets enraged. Dick Grayson sees the news and Starfire soon arrives to comfort him.

Alfred prepares the daily paper as well as master Bruce's breakfast, but when he catches a glimpse of the headline, he drops the food and runs off. He checks both Bruce Wayne's regular bedroom and the Batcave, not finding his master anywhere. At a police commissioner convention, Gordon is informed of the news. He soon drives down to the hospital and tells the others in the car to 'Get out'. So far this is the only line of dialogue in the whole story.

Gordon checked out Batman's corpse and works up the nerve to unmask him. We see that the man under the mask.... is blonde. Elsewhere, Batman is standing on the top of a building, looking unconscious and propped up against a wooden board. The building blows and the witnesses are confused as they see pieces of Batman's costume falling everywhere, alongside all the debris What is going on?

My Opinions

This was an interesting read.... sorta, since there was no dialogue throughout 99% of the story. Yes, the only line of dialogue through the whole thing was Gordon saying 'Get out'. I wasn't expecting that, but it was done so very well. Right off the bat the first few panels establish the rainy night and the police cars rushing to get to the scene.

The artists did a really good job conveying emotion without a single word from neither the characters or the narrator. You get the panic of the emergency room as they try desperately to revive the Dark Knight, and the look of grief on one of the doctors as he tries to drink his sorrows away. The reporter guy buying his way to get the scoop. This comic did a very good job explaining everything that was going on.

I liked this issue and I'm curious to see where this goes. Why the fake Batman? Why this other fake Batman? And where is the REAL Batman during all this?

Two-Face demands the second issue now!!! It's part TWO after all....

Avengers Spotlight # 26 Acts of Vengeance 1

By Mark Rodriguez

There was a time before I actually got into comics. Yeah, hard to believe, I know. I forgot what exactly got me into them, I remember reading ALF comics and Madballs comics but never any 'serious' ones. When I saw the first Burton Batman movie, it got me curious about a more bad-ass Batman beyond Adam West's shenanigans, and it got me into the Batman comics. And somewhere along the line I decided to also check out Spider-Man as well as the Avengers and their own separate comics. I don't think I got into X-Men until the 90's cartoon.

Anyways, one of the series I read at the time besides the Avengers West Coast, was Avengers Spotlight where it was 2 stories in one. Usually a story about Hawkeye and the other about a random Avenger that didn't already have his own title. There was a story called Acts of Vengeance where several Marvel villains escape from the Vault, a special prison designed for super villains. I don't believe I ever got to read the end of it, but now that I got them all at the Sci Valley Con so I can see how this ended.

The comic begins by introducing the Vault, and the guards are bringing in their latest prisoner, The Wizard. He's the leader of the Frightful Four and they already have the other members Hydro Man, Klaw and Titania in custody. The guards wonder why they brought the Wizard since without his fancy weaponry, he's just a regular human. It seems he was brought in as a favor since he keeps breaking out of regular jail. One of the guards, calling himself Guardsman Prime arrives to take the Wizard to his cell.

whoa now, it's not THAT kind of comic there, sir!

Once in his cell, the Wizard can't find a way to escape, but his cellmate offers him a way out. The guards watch this on their security monitors, but as far as they can see the Wizard is talking to himself. The guard gets his armor on and goes to check it out, but the Wizard is now in his costume and he easily smacks him aside.

hmmm guy in green that only the Wizard can see? hmmmm......

The Guardsman fires a repulsor ray at the villain which he manages to bounce back against him. This knocks him up against a cell where Mr. Hyde reaches out to grab, making it easier for the Wizard to punch him. He now demands access to the control panel of the prison. The other guards get the alert on Level 5 and get ready to face them. Not only do they face the Wizard, they also face the other escaped villains that include Mr. Hyde and Electro.

The people running the prison see that the other levels have escaping prisoners as well. They're unable to call for outside help. Guardsman Prime manages to radio the Avengers with his helmet.

Iron Man soon arrives to help and Prime mentions how he caused the last break out at the Vault. A villain named Orka socks Iron Man from behind, but Stark soon knocks him out. Iron Man goes to another room after he reconnects the emergency power and finds a lot of knocked out guards. Hawkeye arrives to evacuate some of the scientists and will then help take down the escaped criminals.

Hawkeye tries his best WolverBaterine impression. Still an awkward pose though.

Iron Man socks out Whirlwind and said the guards never stood a chance since they were wearing Stane armor. Just then Hawkeye sees Iron Man and blames him for this break out since the last one was caused by his armored wars. Hawkeye fires arrows at Iron Man, and even though Stark tries to convince him that he's just a guy hired by Stark, the Avenger Archer already knows who he is.

Iron Man blasts a bad guy that was behind Hawkeye, and then takes moment he was distracted to aim his palm into his face. Iron Man says he's an Avenger and he's there to help out the guards, and he can help if he wants. Hawkeye still holds him responsible for every criminal that escapes when he's suddenly grabbed at blade point by Scarecrow.

Hawkeye easily flips him over his shoulder and aims an arrow at him. Scarecrow asks what kind of arrow it is. Hawkeye says he ran out of special arrows and is using a good ol fashioned sharp pointy arrow, and the villain decides to lock himself up. Iron Man carries a huge stone slab with all the guards on it and needs the archer to cover him. Once outside, Iron Man remotely shuts down all security doors in the prison but says anyone inside can still undo that. Hawkeye shoots an EMP arrow towards the prison which disables all of the systems inside the building. However this also puts Iron Man's armor out of commission, leaving Hawkeye all alone with any other super villains in the are until back up arrives!

way to go Hawkeye....

My thoughts-

Pretty interesting issue though it did showcase this random guard guy quite a bit. I heard of the Armored Wars, I guess between that and the previous prison break it left Iron Man looking bad towards fellow Avengers.

I do like all the little references and things that I know now that I didn't know back then. I've seen villains like Klaw and Whirlwind in the Captain America and the Avengers arcade game. Thanks to the Iron Man movie I know who they're referring to when they mention that the guards' armor is made by Stane's company, and it's funny how the 'bad guy' armor is so inferior to Iron Man's armor. Plus we recently saw Mr. Hyde in the Agents of SHIELD show in the form of Skye's father.

Not much to say about the story itself except we get a decent explanation of the Vault and how it works, get to see some of the bad guys and Iron Man and Hawkeye fight each other as much as they try to work together. I didn't know Marvel had their own version of the Scarecrow.

The comic does show the sign of the times, mostly those classic NES game ads. I did like how the classic game Jordan VS Bird was advertised twice, the real NES version and the handheld Tiger game version. People really wanted to see who was the better between the two, huh?

maybe if I find a copy I'll review it someday

Another interesting this is this annual poll, and considering that this took place back in 1989, it was cool to compare what happened then to what's happening now. These polls were voted for by fans and they're pretty long so I'm only going by the top 5 of each category.

Favorite Avenger that currently has his/her own magazine
1- Captain America
2- Iron Man
3- She-Hulk
4- Thor
5- Hawkeye

Favorite Avenger that does not have his/her own magazine
1- Wonder Man
2- Black Knight
3- Black Panther
4- Vision
5- Beast

Favorite Candidate for Avengers membership
1- Spider-Man
2- Daredevil
3- Ant-Man
4- Dr. Strange
5- Wolverine

The last one has me curious about Ant-Man since he IS an Avenger... unless he left the team and the fanbase wants him back. As for the others on the list.... well, the vast majority of the Marvel good guys actually are or have been Avengers at one time.

The last thing I'd like to mention is how odd Hawkeye specifically said his arrow will release an Electro Magnetic Pulse. I don't know.... I guess I'm so used to people just flat out saying EMP. Maybe the expression wasn't used as often back in the late 80's. Anyway, we'll see what happens next.

A-Force # 1 -Secret Wars-

By Mark Rodriguez

The regular Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe are both about to be destroyed as their Earths smash into each other. Somehow, someway, this led to the formation of an all-female team called A-Force with such famous Marvel ladies like She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Rogue, Storm, the Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and many more. How and why? Let's find out.

The issue begins within Battleworld, on an island called Arcadia, as the super powered women fly off to start their daily patrol. Some of the women find a giant flying shark causing trouble and She-Hulk calls for the A-Force to assemble. Captain Marvel and Sister Grimm attack the shark while Dazzler sent the civilians to safety. The mutant laser light show help the others fight the shark, that turns out to be the only one of its kind. Ms. America grabs it and tosses it miles away, not caring about it being an endangered species. The shark lands in the Deadlands.

The girls comment that everyone is safe, but are still worried by America's actions. Just then, Sam Wilson, who is now a Falcon version of Thor (since there are many Thors now) arrive and tells America that she broke the laws of forsaking Doom's borders. He grabs her and soon vanishes with her before the others can do anything.

She-Hulk tries to reason with Sheriff Strange, but he says America has gone against laws of Doom and she must be punished. She-Hulk returns to the others and tells them the bad news. Loki arrives (he's a female in this world) and hugs her. The Thors arrive and She-Hulk hangs her over as she is now sentenced to spend her life at the SHIELD.

After they leave, Nico calls She-Hulk out for not being able to do anything about this. Jennifer apologizes and says it was out of her power, and Nico mutters that she wishes they were out of her power, as she walks off with Loki.

The others try to comfort Jennifer, but she decides they should go investigate where that flying shark monster came from in the first place. The woman go to seek out the Sub-Mariners, Namor and Namorita, and they take to the sea to find what happened. Medusa disagrees with She-Hulk's mission but she tells her she has to find out what is endangering her people. Namorita sees something that shocks her.

Meanwhile, Nico is crying out of not being to do anything to help Ms. America. Suddenly something lands nearby and she thinks it might have been America that somehow escaped from SHIELD. Instead she finds this woman that has the galaxy painted all over her. Or she's made of stars. Or something.

My Opinions- 

So now we get to see more of Battleworld and how we have an island of amazon superheroines. She-Hulk rules over them as the ambassador. Well what can I say? Gotta love She-Hulk. There's not much I can say about this comic. It was pretty good, and I do love seeing some of my favorite females like She-Hulk, Spider Woman and especially Dazzler take center stage.

It's kinda weird cause it seems some characters like Loki and Sub-Mariner were turned into women during this Marvel/Ultimate merger. Yes, I know Loki has been known to turn into a woman when it suited his schemes, but he was always a male in his default form. Here we clearly see that she is a female in her default form. Or.... who really knows with Loki? And.... is that Miss America girl supposed to be their version of Captain America? How do you explain that?

We see the Thor police in here too and we see more of Strange being a boot licker for Dr. Doom. I'm curious as to what will happen as it seems Loki is gonna lead the ladies into some kind of mutiny against She-Hulk. I wasn't gonna get these tie-ins to the Secret Wars story..... but I just couldn't resist this one...and another one that I'll be reviewing shortly. Not much to say, but this story got my interest. Just what is this weird galaxy-glazed woman, and just what did Namorita see that shocked her so much? Let's find out.

Avengers West Coast # 52

By Mark Rodriguez

Iron Man returns to the Avengers West Coast but not everyone is happy to see him, and they're not sure if it really is Tony Stark under the armor. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Witch's children seem to vanish every time her mind is focused on something else, making people wonder if they ever real at all. The evil Master Pandemonium attacks the Avengers and after the fight, Wanda's children are missing once again. The heroes go into his lair and find the villain with the children fused with his arms! Now what will happen?

The issue opens as the heroes look on in horror as Pandemonium claims he is unbeatable. Wonder Man holds Wanda back since her unpredictable powers might accidentally kill her children. Pandemonium channels his hellflames through one of the children and Wonder Man jumps in the way to save Wanda. Iron Man blasts him with repulsor rays powerful enough to level a city block and it does nothing to the villain. Pandemonium explains that the children were actually parts of his souls stolen from him, and now that he has them back with Wanda's mutant powers, he is more powerful than ever. He summons an army of demons after the Avengers.

US Agent leads the Avengers into battle. Vision can turn intangible but one of the demons is still able to grab him and snaps his neck. Wonder Man decides to attack the main villain himself. He tackles him down, but the children fused with Pandemonium's arms now have a more demonic appearance and try to bit his face off.

I do wonder whatever happened to US Agent, or rather, whoever he is under the outfit. Yeah I know I can Google it but it's more fun when you guys comment about it too.

Meanwhile, the original Human Torch flies around and is caught off guard by a cat-like creature that runs past him. He decides to see what's going on as Agatha just stares into space. Torch explains to his friend Ann about how Pandemonium was a normal guy that lost his arms in a tragic car accident. Mephisto gave him back his arms but stole 5 pieces of his soul which is shown as a star shaped hole on his body.

Agatha explains that Wanda's children come from her own will to have children despite being married to Vision who is for all intents and purposes, still a robot. Even though the Scarlet Witch has amazing powers, she can't create life out of nowhere. Agatha goes back in her trance, assuring Torch that she is watching over the Avengers as well see that she's seeing the fight take place in form of a cat.

The Avengers lay defeated and the demon gloats. He has the demons bring Wanda over to him since he wants to how much more powerful he'll become if he combines the childrens' souls with hers. Hank Pym tells him that he must be lying since the children were born before Pandemonium ever met Mephisto.

Mephisto himself watches this and says that the story he told Pandemonium was another lie. Mephisto recalls how Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue Richards with reality altering powers, destroyed the prince of lies himself. However, as long as their evil in the world, Mephisto will always exist and he came back but at one sixth of his power. Rather than waste his energy trying to seek the 5 remaining pieces of his power himself, he got a human to do it for him. Pandemonium was actually seeking out pieces of Mephisto's soul all along.

Back to the battle, Wanda remembers that her children were born way before the first time they ever fought with Pandemonium. Human Torch arrives with the last 2 pieces of the villain's soul. He gives them to him in exchange for letting the Avengers go.  Pandemonium places the last pieces of his souls inside his star-shaped hole and sees a piece is still missing. Suddenly the hole starts sucking Pandemonium into it, and he pops out of existence as he is sucked into himself.

With Pandemonium gone, they are in an empty space, all the demons and general surroundings are gone. Wanda asks for her children and Mephisto appears saying they are now a part of him where they belong. Just then Ebony, Agatha's cat appears and he attacks Mephisto. The rest is only mentioned by the Avengers as they look on in horror but without actually showing us the panels. Agatha speaks to Wanda telepathically and tells her that she must open her mind to her.

Suddenly Wanda and Mephisto both scream in pain at the exact time, and everyone re-appears back in their apartment in California. Agatha explains that Mephisto became linked with Wanda when he absorbed her children. She erased the memory of them from Wanda's mind and the sudden shock to Mephisto's system was enough to disperse him for the time being. Wonder Man demands to know what she means when she said she erased the children.


Agatha explains that Wanda's strong desire to have children and live a normal life created the children, but since she can't just create life, she unknowingly got two pieces of Mephisto's soul. Wasp says she'll be worried when she wakes up and asks about her children, but Agatha tells them she won't remember ever having children. US Agent says making a mother forget her children in inhuman but Agatha says it's the only way. For now Wanda needs her rest. Elsewhere, other bad guys are working on their evil plans.....


My thoughts

This was a decent read. It had a lot of decent action, most everyone (except Vision, who got Yamcha'd before he could do anything) had their chance to shine and show off their abilities, and it had interesting revelations. I'm not sure how many times the Avengers have faced Master Pandemonium but to find out that his new purpose as a villain was all a trick to serve Mephisto's purpose has to got to suck, and worse yet, he died without ever knowing he was a pawn. And yeah, it looks like he is gone for good, I see very little purpose for him to come back (if he ever did) since we know he was just a tool for Mephisto.

As for the babies actually being parts of Mephisto's soul... yikes! I would say poor Wanda but for the time being she's mindwiped of the whole affair. I'm gonna assume her somehow remembering what happened is what causes her to snap.

Back when Mephisto did demonic things before he started screwing up people's marriages

The part I found amusing was the 'fight' between Ebony and Mephisto in which all we saw was this one panel of the heroes watching in horror as they describe the events. Apparently the cat sliced Mephisto all over the place, but the demon would just heal his wounds, and then he'd grab the cat, jam his hand down his throat and turn him inside out....???? I guess it's a creative mix between the comics Authority censoring this, and also a good way to save space since the comic was basically wrapping itself up at this point. I don't know, I found it to be rather amusing. Almost like watching censored dubbed anime or something.

The comic will continue into the 'Acts of Vengeance' crossover storyline. It basically revolves around a group of several Marvel super villains including Dr. Doom, the Red Skull and the Mandarin with the idea of having the villains fight it out against heroes they don't usually go after. like sending X-Men villains after the Fantastic Four and so forth, hoping to use the confusion to their advantage. Of course this ties into Avengers West Coast because Magneto is involved.... and at least at this point in time, AXIS revelations aside, Magneto was still considered Wanda's father.

TMNT Colored Classics Volume 3 Issue 1 (Mirage TMNT Issue 48)

By Mark Rodriguez

When most people hear discussion about how the Mirage TMNT is a more adult series than any of the cartoons, the first thing that comes to mind is blood and gore. Now while the original Mirage TMNT aren't exactly afraid of killing (they kill Shredder in the very first issue), the series isn't mature solely due to its violence (because honestly, Leo hacking someone with his sword is no less extreme than Wolverine slicing people up or Batman beating people bloody), but because it digs deep into character themes that most cartoons avoid because they're either more light-hearted, or because it's supposed to be 'action, Action, ACTION!'. Venka and I often discuss things on the new Nickshow, and while sometimes she does ponder deeply on the emotional aftermath of the Turtles and their situation on the show, I do remind her that even though her points are valid, it's still a kids show on Nick and it won't waste more than half the show dealing with depression and a whole lot of talking. While the Mirage series does have its fair share of silly moments and sometimes there are all-action issues, but it does deal with a lot of serious and sometimes dark themes which some might either bore kids or just go over their heads. That's where the mature themes come into play.

It's about time I start getting into the original Mirage series, and I just picked up issues 1 and 2 of Volume 3 of IDW's colored classics (the originals were in black and white donchaknow). The main focus here is Casey Jones, and yes, the original Mirage Casey is still the crazy vigilantee with sports equipment and a hockey mask, but rather than just being crazy for the sake of being crazy, the comic does go into him being a depressed drunk at times fighting his inner demons. Let's check it out.

Shades of Grey starts with Casey running across the rooftops of Springfield and Leo, Raph and Mike getting ready to chase as part of some game. Don opts out since he wants to debug some systems he's working on and Raph considers it a weak excuse. Splinter allows Don to stay and the Turtles head off. Splinter explains that April will drive the Turtles to the Memorial Bridge where Casey already has a three hour head start. If they haven't found him by 1AM, he will head back home and the Turtles will have a 20 mile walk home. April gets ready to head off after circling something that caught her attention in the newspaper.

April drops the Turtles off and Raph says if they can find Casey's Chevy, they can just grab him when he returns to pick it up. Leo and Mike agree. As the Turtles head off and April starts to head home, her truck broke down. A motorcyclist shows up and offers to help.

The Turtles are on a rooftop, searching for Casey, as our masked man is hiding by a gargoyle. He soon flips back to the ground and walks across a park when he hears something. It's a couple of thugs that call him Freddy (though with the hockey mask I figured they'd call him Jason instead??) and they demand he pay their toll for walking across their turf. Casey takes out his hockey stick and they fight it out.

One of the kids come at him with a knife, and Casey knees him in the chest and smashes him on the head with his hockey stick. The kid lays there while his buddies run away. Casey tells the other kid that he should go home too. The kid doesn't seem to be moving, and when Casey goes to check on him, he sees that he's dead.

Just then another vigilantee attacks him, Nobody, calling Casey a murderer. Casey tries to explain but Nobody won't hear it. Casey gets him in a leglock and punches him down. As he runs away, Nobody chases after him and jumps over a swing set. His cape gets caught on the swing chain and Casey is able to get away. Geez Nobody,.... that was just stupid....

Casey rests in a cemetery lamenting what he's just done. He punches a gravestone and bloodies up his hand. After sulking some more, he grabs his mask and is ready to leave. Nobody just found him.

The Turtles see the two punks from earlier running like crazy. They figured maybe they ran into Casey and head towards the direction they're running from. They soon find the dead kid. The Turtles determine a fight took place and see footprints leading away from the park. They find a piece of Casey's hockey stick and have a bad feeling. As they head off, Mike also notices the piece of Nobody's cape stuck on the swing chains.

Nobody and Casey continue to fight it out, with the vigilantee in black taking off his cape and using it to cover the hockey player's face. Casey puts up a good fight, but eventually Nobody comes out as the winner and he starts to cuff him. The Turtles show up and tell him to stop and Nobody says this guy is a killer. Leo says Casey isn't a murderer and Nobody tells them about the kid at the park.

The Turtles ask what happened and Casey says it was accident. Raph says Casey is going home with them. Nobody is confused, having fought alongside the turtles before, that they're condoning Casey's actions. Mikey asks him if he's ever killed before and Nobody says he's a cop and it's been done in self defense. Raph brings up the people he's killed when the last time they met and also states that as long as he's running around in the Nobody costume his badge as a police officer doesn't mean a thing.

Nobody says this makes them accomplices to murder. The Turtles say that Casey will answer for what he's done. Nobody says that he will see to that.


My Opinions- 



It feels good to dig into the one and only original version of the Turtles. This is the main series where it all began after all. Originally TMNT # 48 I assume they didn't reffer to it do the 'wacky era' of the comics. The original Mirage run started off like any other comic series with the Turtles and their adventures following a general course, but somewhere in between there was a time where every issue was drawn by every random artist out there, usually in totally insane cartoony ways and most of them had nothing to do with anything except that the Turtles happen to be there. I do believe this was when Eastman and Laird were busy dealing with the fame and business deals regarding the 80's cartoon and Playmates toyline. Eventually they returned to the series and started some plotlines which led to City at War.

As for the story itself, it's a pretty simple idea. The Turtles go out looking for Casey as part of a game or training exercise of some sort. He runs into some trouble, accidentally hits one of them a little too hard and he's dead. Now another masked vigilantee is after him and the Turtles get involved.

The issue lies that accident or not, Casey killed someone and Nobody, as a police officer wants to take him in, no ifs, ands or buts. Shades of Grey is the perfect title for this as while Casey did kill someone, there was no evil intent. He was basically defending himself and teaching the low lives a lesson. And yeah, in the real world people do sometimes make stupid mistakes or bizzare cases happen which end up in someone being killed, and wether or not that was ever their intention, they still have to pay for it. We clearly see Casey's sense of shock and remorse over what he's done, but Nobody didn't see that and moved in to strike.

The Turtles of course have Casey's back. While they have met Nobody before, to them he's just a random nutjob in black tights. Casey, while also being a nutjob with sports gear, is their friend and they know he's not a cold blooded killer. I like how Raph points out that Nobody's 'by-the-book' police ethics don't apply when he's running around as a masked man that's technically above the law. The Turtles will deal with Casey but what will Nobody do now?

The comic was cool and the fights between Casey and Nobody were pretty sweet. Nice to see two street fighters go at it, though Casey's jumpkick showed he learned a thing or two from the the turtles. The only move that was very weird and wonky looking was the leglock... and then somehow Casey bending forward far enough to punch him in the face... I guess he was doing like a jack-knife punch or whatever? I kinda wish I was drawn at an easier to see angle or whatever. Still sounds like a move that the myth busters should see if its possible.

most awkwardly drawn Casey panel ever.....

As for Nobody, not much I can say about except he's a cop by day, masked crimefighter by night. This is the first Mirage comic I've read with him in it, but I have seen his episodes when he was also featured in the 2K3 series. He's basically the Batman of the TMNT in the sense of being the dark vigilantee without any super powers.

Although he's meant to be taken seriously the scene with him jumping over the swing and getting his cape stuck on the chain was just stupid and embarrassing. Casey didn't even jump over the swing to trick him into doing doing so. I know it was so that Casey could escape somehow for the time being, but there had to be a better way. Losing some valuable cool points there bud.

I can't really comment much on the colored VS original black and white, except for the most part it looks ok to me, except sometimes the Turtles masks look more orange than red. Other than that the comic was a good read. We'll see what happens next issue, since unlike a cartoon show, something like accidentally killing someone isn't something you can just shrug off and forget for 10 episodes until it's addressed again.

On a final note, there's a Youtube show that pits heroes from different series against each other with live actors actually playing out the right. There was a Casey Jones VS Kick-Ass one and while I won't spoil the outcome some posters commented that they were sure Casey would win since already killed a kid before, referring to this issue. Dude. He didn't do it on purpose or for fun. Geez.