I didn’t pay a lot of attention when Marvel announced their “Point One” Initiative, or at least that’s what I’m assuming since I clearly didn’t understand how it all works. Starting in February, a series of issues with a “.1” appended to the previous issue number started appearing and I thought these were simply special editions of the regular book. In other words, I was under the impression that Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 was the same story as Amazing Spider-Man #654 with additional pages to attract and inform new readers. It turns out the “Point One” issues are new stand alone stories produced specifically to fit into current continuity as well as bring new readers up to speed on where titles currently stand and where they’re headed. Thankfully, I became aware of all this because this week’s Uncanny X-Men #534.1 may be the best issue of Uncanny X-Men I’ve read in years.

Read more of this article »

The penultimate issue of DC’s year long series, Brightest Day, arrived in stores today preceded by a monster spoiler for the issue hitting the Internet last night. There’s no way to discuss this issue in any meaningful way without discussing that spoiler so be warned. We were kind of down on the series after seeing it cut from 26 to 24 issues with no satisfying resolution in sight. Issue #23 may have changed all that as it finally brought everything happening throughout the series together and unleashed some huge surprises. There’s plenty to talk about, but the question remains: after what amounted to a shaky flight, can Geoff Johns and crew stick the landing?

Read more of this article »

After a four month delay since David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1 shipped, issue #2 is now in stores. We were both impressed with the debut of the series that sees Finch as both writer and artist, but after getting our hands on the follow-up it seems the bloom may be off the rose.

PTB: Seeing this book on the shelf took me by surprise. I normally look at the schedule each week, but I really thought I had no reason to look for this title any time soon.

KevinMLD: At this point I’m not even sure why DC is publishing this book. Finch’s exclusive deal has been completely wasted on covers. It was announced two summers ago and DC’s published three issues of comics that he actually pencilled plus an additional eight pages of a fourth. There’s no way this is a good deal for DC.

Read more of this article »

This year’s WrestleMania has come and gone and while it wasn’t the greatest of all time, it was certainly good. If nothing else, the show had possibly the best presentation and production I’ve ever seen in terms of the ring entrance and staging. It makes sense since that is something they can improve upon every year regardless of who’s walking down the aisle and just about everything else. It really did look impressive and was worthy of WrestleMania even if there were some details of the show that weren’t.

Read more of this article »

Forget about April Fools posts, it’s kind of a big day for Philadelphia sports. The surprisingly competent 76ers take on the New Jersey Nets tonight at 7PM and can clinch a playoff spot with a win. A Charlotte loss gets them in as well and while I’m not expecting much in the postseason, this team did beat San Antonio, Chicago and Boston this season. They were even able to hang with Miami until the Heat decided they wanted to win that game. That’s just the tip of the Philly Sports iceberg though.

Read more of this article »