Tag Archive: Pullbox


The Pullbox – Issue #12.2

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
October 2, 2012

Sorry to have missed the past couple of weeks folks. Lots of various fall preview events have pulled us, the EGM Staff, into a dozen different directions and so certain things had to be sacrificed. But we are back this week and have a brand new Pullbox ready to go!

IDW – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 – Raphael is taught an important lesson about his temper as Casey Jones and April O’Neil are officially welcomed into the family. Meanwhile, Baxter Stockman begins to learn just how deep General Krang’s resources go and the Shredder begins to hatch his latest scheme in the hopes of finding someone to replace Karai as his number two!

The big reveal this issue that propelled TMNT #14 into my top spot this week is in the picture directly above this entry. Yes, the creation of the Technodrome is underway and with it means the likelihood that Shredder and Krang will finally form their partnership sooner rather than later. Also, with Shredder ready to make a move, the action will likely start to pick up again as this issue’s main focus was Raphael’s needed lesson in anger management. All told though, Kevin Eastman hasn’t lost it as this remains one of the best-written comics on the market today and should appeal to TMNT fans new and old alike.

Marvel – Wolverine and the X-Men #17 – It’s the issue we’ve all been waiting for. Nevermind AvX, this is much more monumental to the X-Men universe. Finally, we have explained to us what the heck Doop’s job is at Wolverine’s academy!

Taking a short break from the AvX event for a more light-hearted moment, this issue shows us that Doop is indeed an X-Man and more than pulls his weight around the academy, even if no one but Wolverine sees it. Just seeing what Wolverine needed to do to recruit Doop though will have you cracking up, and when you see how much of a ladies man he is, you might just fall on the floor. A well-written issue that was a much-needed change of pace from the seriousness of the AvX event and its upcoming fallout, this is a great one-off story to get into this series.

Marvel – X-Men Legacy #274 – A lot has been going on in the world of the X-Men and now more than ever, mutants are hated and despised because of the acts of Cyclops and the rest of the Phoenix Five. But Rogue is a hero. And so she keeps on doing heroic things. But it’s not easy to be heroic when Magneto comes to her in the middle of a train wreck and starts pouring his heart out to her.

Nice to see this little lover’s spat finally get resolved, even if it wasn’t in the way we expected. This loose end needed to be taken care of for a while and this one-off story does that while also waiting for the rest of the AvX books to wrap up. It also features several great shots of Magneto (one is above) and a lot of great art in general for such a simple story so kudos to  David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), and Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist) for the style that drips off this book.

DC – Batman: The Dark Knight #0 – Continuing the DC series of Zero Issues that tell more elaborate back stories of some of our favorite heroes, this tale of Batman looks at what he does when he learns that Joe Chill is the man who killed his parents and wants to know why.

More so than any other of the Zero Issues from DC, the Batman ones I think have been the best because they’ve only added slight twists to the classic tale or told never before heard stories of Batman in the early days involving his training and whatnot. This one with Joe Chill was particularly interesting because it turns Joe Chill from a low-ranking mob hitman into nothing more than a common mugger looking for his next score. Same basic premise, but it adds an interesting twist to the character as Batman learns the hard way that there are just bad people in the world on all levels of the social ladder. A solid read for all Batman fans if you can get past the fact that yes, we have heard this one before.

DC – Red Lanterns #0 – The birth of Atrocitus, the Rise of the Manhunters, the creation of the Green Lanterns, and the spawning of the Red Lanterns is detailed in another continuation of the Zero Issues from DC.

Another story we’ve heard before, but with more detail and another twist as we finally learn just how it is Atrocitus was able to survive while the rest of his planet in Sector 666 got turned to ash. Great art, especially if you love the color red, and a chilling tale of how Atrocitus watched his family burn around him and how he rose up to hate the Guardians more than anything else in the universe. I especially loved the design of the Manhunters and the sequence when they started annihilating everyone in their way. A solid read if you’re a fan of the Red Lanterns or even Green Lantern for that matter, but again, a story we’ve heard before, just with more details now.

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The Pullbox – Issue #20

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — 1 Comment
January 26, 2012

A solid week all around in terms of releases this week, but it was difficult to pick the best of the best as there were a lot of good comics, but not necessarily great comics. Interesting twists abound as plots are further forwarded, so let’s see how by taking a look at this week’s pullbox!

1) IDW – Ghostbusters #5: After saving Ray from the hands of another minion of Gozer, the Ghostbusters are forced to try to get into shape by William Peck to meet the same standards as the NYPD and other civil servants. Meanwhile, as Venkman and Peck trade classic barbs, a new paranormal entity is causing havoc in Schenectady, New York, having possessed an entire amusement park and only the Ghostbusters are qualified for the job.

I can’t praise Erik Burnham enough for being able to capture the humor and absurdity of the situations that we loved seeing in both the movies and cartoons that many of us grew up with in terms of the Ghostbusters. After a brilliant 4-issue story arc to start the series off, I can’t wait to see what he does next as many details about this new ghost are minimal besides the fact that we know it is pretty powerful. Not to mention I love the paranormal files at the back of the book outlining the powers and abilities of the ghosts we’re seeing to give some insight as if we were a part of the team.

2) DC – Batman #5: Batman is trying his best to fight against the mind games of the Court of Owls, but as he remains lost in the ending labyrinth beneath Gotham, the world above can only wonder and worry what happened to their constant protector.

Almost feeling like a filler issue as most of the issue is simply seeing the effects of what the Court of Owl’s mind games are doing to Batman, the tricks used in the book might actually start to screw with the reader as panels start going sideways and upside down and so as you start turning pages, you’re also turning the actual book. A nice way to really help the reader feel just how upside down Batman’s world is becoming. But we’ve seen Batman overcome mind games before, whether with the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh sub-personality or some other mental training exercise he’s been through so again this is why as much as I love most of Scott Snyder’s work on Batman, this is a bit more of a filler issue, no matter how much I love the rotating panels effect.

3) DC – Green Lantern Corps #5: With John Stewart and some other members of the Corps being tortured clear on the other side of the universe, Guy Gardner is rallying the troops on Oa to stage a rescue mission and bring it to the Keepers. And Gardner is calling in the big guns, specifically a group of Lanterns who redefine the term “tenured” and who don’t know how to pull their punches called “The Mean Machine”. But will even this grizzled group of veteran Lanterns be enough to save Lantern Stewart and the rest in time?

I really like how this issue is expanding the Lanterns a bit more and adding a bit more personality to Corps members outside of those from Earth. I also like that it’s getting Guy Gardner back to his no-holds-barred, dirty tricks, all about results roots as he will do anything to save his friends and you have to love that about this character. All in all, this is a really well-written issue as it looks to build up to an explosive confrontation between Guy and his group of semi-rogue Lanterns and the Keepers, whose awesome origin story as a new enemy of the Lantern Corps is also pretty sweet and is revealed this issue.

4) Marvel – Daredevil #8: The second part of a two-issue crossover with Amazing Spider-Man ends here as Black Cat, Spider-Man, and Daredevil hunt down the thieves of some cutting edge hologram technology. But ol’ Hornhead may have bitten off more than he can chew as it becomes a bit more personal with the Cat. But can her motives be trusted and if he can’t or can, I don’t think Daredevil’s radar sense would be able to figure it out anyway.

The personality that Daredevil gives off and the constant making fun of Spider-Man makes this a particularly great issue and sets itself up that Black Cat, at least for the next few issues, will likely be a guest star as the hologram technology only scratches the surface of what could be a larger and more innate plot with Hydra and other evil global organizations. No matter if you’re just getting into Daredevil or have been following this new series since the start though, this book is most likely Marvel’s best written overall monthly and it only continues with this issue.

5) Marvel – Generation Hope #15: After another mission to find one of her “lights”, Hope doesn’t realize she has actually brought the mind-wiped Sebastian Shaw back into the midst of the X-Men and Cyclops is not happy about it. The X-Men must now decide the fate of one of their once greatest enemies as he is a blank slate and looking for refuge in Utopia. Meanwhile, the rest of Hope’s team come head to head with some Morlock refugees who are furious over their second class status even amongst their fellow mutants.

There were a lot of great X-Men books this week, but the banter between Emma Frost and Hope Summers as they argued over the fate of Sebastian Shaw put this over the top for me. Absolutely hysterical as you see things start to come to a head in the Utopia War Room. Throw in the return of the Morlocks who have almost been forgotten about in Utopia and I think this could continue to be the most interesting of the X-books in the near future.

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Pullbox – Issue #17

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December 14, 2011

A lot of comics came out this week, but not too much really stood out as special for me and I’m even tempted to start removing some titles from my pullbox. Action Comics and Red Lantern continue to be mediocre for different reasons…Action has too much going on and Red Lantern doesn’t have enough. Marvel also saw some new monthlies start like The Defenders, but it really just concentrated on forming the team more than anything. So it actually ended up being a good week comparably for the Indies. Spawn, Mega Man, and Last of the Greats were all very solid. But only the most spectacular of all these made it into this week’s Pullbox.

1) Marvel – X-Men #22: A team of Cyclops’ X-Men continue to work with War Machine to track down several dozen Sentinels and hopefully prevent the start of World War III erupting in Eastern Europe.

I love this story arc featuring the return of the Sentinels and seeing the X-Men trying to take down the giant tin cans again. This issue in particular sees the action and the consequences of that action really amp up as the X-Men know that if they don’t disarm the small fleet of giant robots, that the entire world could fall apart. We also see Domino work her way back into the fold and surprisingly see Jubilee really start to contribute with her new vampiric powers showing off some increased agility, strength, and speed. If you’re an X-Men fan, especially an old-school one, the ending only hints at more great action coming up and now is a great time to get on board if you aren’t already.

2) Marvel – Venom #10: Now that the events of Spider-Island are behind everyone, Flash Thompson, the current Venom, has to get back to work as a covert ops agent. Unfortunately for him, the Crime-Master has other ideas and with Betty and the rest of Flash’s family in Crime-Master’s number one henchman, Jack-O-Lantern’s sights, Flash has no choice, but to listen, even if that means going through Captain America to do it.

Going back to the early themes of this monthly, pitting Venom against Captain America in this issue really helps re-establish Venom as the anti-hero he is meant to be. This issue gets everything right back on track after being derailed by the mediocre Spider-Island story line and if you missed the first nine issues, now is the perfect time to get on board as you can pick everything up pretty much from here and expect things to trend upward drastically.

3) DC – Animal Man #4: Animal Man’s family has been split up and he is just starting to become aware of what he and his family mean to the Red and what they have to do to hold back the Rot. The question though is can Animal Man and his daughter come to grips with their lofty responsibility before the Rot gets to the rest of the family?          

I wasn’t very high on Animal Man to start with, but now as things are starting to come together for a cross over between Swamp Thing and Animal Man as Swamp Thing, representing the Green and plant life, and Animal Man, representing the Red and wildlife, will have to combine their forces to put down the Rot. It is a move that makes sense and helps bolster characters that might not be strong enough to really sustain monthlies as originally suspected as they don’t really have the enemies that define them like so many other great DC characters. It’ll be more interesting to see where both characters go from here, but for now this is the perfect place to get on board for both comics as they build towards what could be an entertaining event between the two monthlies.

4) DC – Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #3 (of 5): After the passing of his mother, The Penguin is lost, but finds a kindred spirit one faithful day while visiting the penguins at the Gotham Zoo. Now Penguin has a new person to obsess over and to use his criminal enterprise to gather pretty little baubles for.     
      
This mini-series has been a great look at the psychology of the Penguin the whole way through and to see him find an unlikely love was an interesting twist. But it is only a matter of time I’m sure before the Penguin’s true nature reveals itself and he will end up alone again as the Dark Knight is always lurking in the shadows. With two issues left though it is going to be very interesting to see how everything unfolds as the Penguin isn’t one to go quietly when everything of his is threatened, as we’ve seen time and again in this series as he destroys the life of all those who choose to look down on him in the most creative of ways.

5) IDW – Raphael: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (One-Shot): Even after being re-united with his brothers, Raphael doesn’t feel completely comfortable with the family yet. So when the Turtles go on their nightly patrols, Raphael uses Wednesdays to go out with Casey Jones still as he feels closer to Casey in some instances. Just what kind of trouble can these two get into? A lot more than should possible in a on-shot.                    

This issue is massive for old-school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans in terms of the new monthly as it introduces Bebop and Rocksteady (pre-mutated) as well introduces a brand new character into the fold, which makes me suspect we can start to see an all-out mutant vs. mutant war at some point with new and interesting animals being mutated and although he has been hinted at, we still haven’t even seen Shredder. I can only imagine what a revamped 2012 version of Shredder could look like as whether a bumbling 80s cartoon villain or the cold-blooded master of the Foot Ninja, he is still one of the most iconic villains out there. This one-shot is a must have and be sure to look for the alternate covers if you’re a true collector!

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The Pullbox – Issue #13

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November 29, 2011

It’s kind of sad that a lot of the big events that are going on in Marvel really aren’t the best stories going on right now. DC on the other hand is starting to show some of the grit and interesting storytelling that the New 52 was supposed to signify. Meanwhile, in the Indies, there are a bevy of interesting stories going on with some monthlies, but I find myself still gravitating towards the game related ones. So here is this week’s Pullbox!

1) DC – Deathstroke #3: Deathstroke is ticked off. This isn’t news as this is his normal state of being. But as a bunch of hot shot up and coming assassins think they can make a name for themselves by offing the best in the business, they have another thing coming and the latest on this laundry list of newbies is a guy named Legacy. Deathstroke decides to amp up the difficulty though and see if he can take out this rookie and a new target all at the same time. Deathstroke is actually starting to work in a story behind all the glorious senseless violence that permeates nearly every page of this book so far through its first three issues. I was hesitant when I heard that Deathstroke was getting his own monthly, but if the book continues to evolve along this path, this could start to become something special. The only question now becomes just what exactly was in the briefcase in the first issue that is still rubbing him the wrong way.

2) DC – Green Lantern #3: Hal Jordan and Sinestro come to an agreement that will enlist Hal into helping Sinestro free his home planet from the clutches of his former Yellow Lanterns and in exchange Hal gets his Green Lantern ring back. But can Hal’s most nefarious enemy be trusted? Let’s just say Sinestro’s brilliantly laid out plan backfires when for once, it is Sinestro who lets his emotions get the best of him. This story takes an amazing twist at the end as the build up of the first two issues finally starts to come to a head. The relationship between Hal and Sinestro is still weird to watch unravel, but now that they both have a common goal in mind, it is interesting to watch them work together as Hal is still guided by his emotions and Sinestro just berates him at every turn for it. If you haven’t been getting this book, now would be the time to jump on board.

3) Marvel – New Avengers #18: Norman Osborn has been busted free and the heads of the largest terrorist organizations in the world look to instill him at the head. Hydra, AIM, and the remnant of HAMMER loyal to Osborn are all pooling their resources and the first thing Osborn wishes to do is reform a new group of Dark Avengers. Calling on the likes of Billy Bastion, Hawkeye’s brother with skill equal to him, Skaar, son of Hulk, and Toxic Doxie to serve as his Scarlet Witch, Osborn looks to bring the pain, and soon. The most interesting books Marvel has put out in recent memory all revolved around Osborn and his Dark Avengers so to see them going back to that and pulling together a hodgepodge of lesser known character to do so pleases me to no end. Now what will Osborn do though to get some body armor and become Iron Patriot again? If you haven’t been reading this book, get it NOW.

4) Marvel – X-Men Legacy #258: Even though the characters that the most recent Legacy story arc have revolved around are already back on Earth and interacting with the X-Men, the actual arc that got them back home doesn’t actually wrap up until this issue. You have to love Marvel’s lack of concerns for continuity. Besides this obvious time and release mismanagement by Marvel, this is a great issue as you see Magneto, Rogue, Havoc, Gambit, Polaris, and Marvel Girl really come together and pull a rabbit out of their hat that could only be done in comics to get back home and defeat a new enemy known as “Friendless”. As the space station the X-Men are trapped on begins to fall faster and faster towards a distant sun, they must overcome Friendless’s mental barrage one more time before trying to pull out of the decaying orbit that threatens to turn them all into cinders. Not the best Legacy arc I’ve ever read, but you should pick it up just to see where it goes from here as the next issue will intertwine with the Regenesis event.

5) Archie – Mega Man #7: Mega Man finally finds the hideout of Dr. Wily and where he is holding the kidnapped Roll, but with the original six robot masters back under Wily’s thumb, can Mega Man hope to overcome them along with the likes of Time Man and Oil Man? I’m really enjoying the dynamic that you are seeing with Mega Man and the other characters around him, reminding me almost a bit of the old cartoon show from the early-mid 90s. Add in these new robot masters teamed with the originals, to make it eight evil robot masters and keep with the theme you would see in the later video games, and I think anyone who is a fan of the Blue Bomber will be enamored with this monthly comic run and just where Archie comics had been going with it. I can’t wait not only to see how Mega Man overcomes these stacked odds against him, but also to see just who he will have to face in the issues beyond that as fan favorites like Snake Man or Air Man can’t be far behind.

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