Latest Comic Book Reviews (06.24.2011): X-Men Prelude To Schism #3 & Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (Death of Spider-Man)

Two pretty good books from the House of Ideas yesterday.

The dragging Prelude to Jason Aaron's "Schism" event finally shakes up a little bit thanks to Cyclops finally coming up with his decision, and then the death of the one of the most important characters in the Marvel Ultimate Universe finally bites the dust - for good.

All of my reviews after the jump.

The Best "Uncanny X-Men" Covers Part 2

Here are my final ten handpicked covers, celebrating the run of Marvel's flasgship X-Men comic book series - The Uncanny X Men - which will end in October with its final #544 issue.

The covers were chosen based on the art, its influence, badassery, and overall (story & emotional) impact. 

Hope you like my picks!


(For Part 1, click here)

Issue #394 - "Playing God" - June 2001

Art by Ian Churchill

Regenesis: X-Men To Split After "Schism" Event In November

Marvel has announced that the "X-Men" will be divided into two groups (creatively describing it a "regenesis") as a result of Jason Aaron's "Schism" event - where Cyclops and Wolverine fight over irreconcilable ideological differences - and thus, two different X-books will be released that will pit the two teams against one another, with each group having their own headquarters, agendas, and rosters. 

They are Uncanny X-Men #1 by writer Kieron Gillen and artists Greg Land and Carlos Pacheco and Wolverine and the X-Men #1 by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo.

Here's teaser with the official press release statement courtesy of Marvel.com and some thoughts following after the jump:

Recommended Reading: Five X-Men Books You Need To Pick Up

Liked "X-Men: First Class"? Well, if you can't get enough of the movie, here is a list of some 5-star graphic novels/comic books you can feast your eyes upon so you can learn more about our favorite mutant team and its core players - courtesy of Marvel,  and yours truly.

For more in-depth backstory on Magneto, check out X-Men: Magneto Testament by Greg Pak and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico collected in an awesome papeback.

Description:  Today, the whole world knows him as Magneto, the most radical champion of mutant rights that mankind has ever seen. But in 1935, he was just another schoolboy - who happened to be Jewish in Nazi Germany. The definitive origin story of one of Marvel's greatest icons begins with a silver chain and a crush on a girl - and quickly turns into a harrowing struggle for survival against the inexorable machinery of Hitler's Final Solution From X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong writer Greg Pak and award-winning artist Carmine Di Giandomenico.

My recommendations continue after the cut.

X-Facts: 8 Interesting "X-Men (First Class)" Bits

Since their debut in September 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's "The X-Men" has become one of the most beloved comic book teams in history. With its premise of "mutants using their powers for the benefit of humanity" later mixed with engaging storylines that tackled issues of racism and prejudice among others, X-Men skyrocketed from the pages of a comic book towards worldwide popularity spawning toy lines, animated tv shows, video games, and a million-dollar movie franchise which included an X-Men film trilogy and a Wolverine Origins spin-off.

Now with the X-Men: First Class film just around the corner, here are some interesting facts about our all time-favorite mutant team that some of you may - or may not - know.

New Theatrical Trailer For 'X-Men: First Class'

New trailer. More action.

Sporting new scenes featuring the young mutant team using their powers in the 60s and some great CGI effects, it looks like the movie is gonna take us to a whole new X-perience.  Get ready for some blasting mutant badassery after the jump.

Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and January Jones and directed by Matthew Vaughn, X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3. 


[via Yahoo! Movies]

Nice Bust You Got There Emma...

Here's the latest Emma Frost statue from Sideshow Collectibles:

Don't worry, there are too many "bust" jokes out there in the comic community already so I'm not gonna make one. thing though:  they could've completed her shoulder. Just saying. 

Bust still.. (oops sorry).. but still, it looks pleasing to the eye. Yeah. By the way, you can order it through Sideshow's website for $224.99. (Holy s**t, that's more than ten thousand pesos when converted)

[via ToplessRobot]

Cool 2D Illustrations From CGHub Featuring Your Favorite Marvel Characters

Alright guys, more stunning art from great talent at CGHub. Check out the website for a lot of great art that ranges from regular 2D, digital 2D, 3D, and sculptures! 

For the meantime, here are some of the finds that I really liked the most while browsing. You'll get to see Wolverine, Thanos, Juggernaut, Spiderman and two awesome Daredevil and X-Men panoramas that you would die to get on your wall! Some made by unknown artists and some made by the pros. But all of them are stunningly bad-ass. 

More pictures after the cut. 

[Click on the images for their full sizes.]

Daredevil Noir by Jose Antonio Lopez

Storm by Eduardo Schaal

Cool "Animated" X-Men, Avengers, and DC Art from Marcio Takara

I'm not reading comic books lately so I'm on the hunt again for some of the finest works of art on Deviant. 

This time we have Brazilian comic book artist Marcio Takara, who according to his official website - has been working with illustrations, character design and graphic design since 2000. He also did comicbook work for companies like Marvel Comics (SpiderMan & Fantastic Four: Hard Choices), Chimaera (Consortium of Justice), Image Comics (Dynamo5) and Boom! Studios (The Incredibles). 

I frankly like his style - like its really made for animation shows that we see on TV. And to be honest, I have never seen such a clean and fine style of drawing like he has. How come animation studios don't get this guy to do their flicks? This guy is absolutely fit for that in my opinion, and its a shame that we are not seeing his illustrations come alive - literally - on our TV sets.

Anyway, check out more of my favorites from his deviantArt page featuring our guys from Marvel and DC.

Click to enlarge the images

X-Men: First Class Stills and Teaser Poster Released!

Alright, more X-Men: First Class folks. Forget about those photoshopped pictures, because SPINOFF has the official teaser poster and stills for the long-awaited X-Men movie that would feature how the world-famous mutant team began and focus on the relationship Charles Xavier and Magneto before they became the leaders of their own respective mutant groups.

We got shots of James McAvoy (Xavier) who looks like he's using telepathy, the first still of the whole gang, and two great mind masters playing chess with the cool 1960's feel.

Click here to see more the pictures.

X-Men: First Class is scheduled for release on June 3, 2011.

Comic Book Review: Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1 - "Gifted"

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I remember when I was about 10 years old, me and my brothers watched "The X-Men" tv series every week and imitated our favorite characters. Mine was Cyclops. I would act like I got those cool shades and fire blasts of energy from my eyes, then one of my brothers would come at me like Wolverine with three sticks between his fists, slashing his way and beating the hell out of me. Good times.

So the X-Men had a profound impact on my childhood. They were my first superhero team, and Cyclops was my first favorite comic book character long before I loved Superman. 

Enter The Astonishing X-Men. A 2004 ongoing series written by Joss Whedon and illustrated by John Cassaday that focused on a new roster featuring Wolverine, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Beast, Colossus, with Emma Frost and Cyclops in the lead of the team. This was the first X-Men comic book that I have read in 20 freaking years.

This comic book was a continuation of the previous X-Men storylines years prior to 2004, but I didn't really care much about trying to get to know what happened in the past, mainly because past stories gets too confusing. On to the review.

First story arc is titled "Gifted" and it basically introduces the main team players that we're going to see through out the book. Here's one of the early panels showcasing Cassaday's exceptional art:

The X-Men (from left to right): Beast (Hank McCoy), Emma Frost, Wolverine (Logan), Shadowcat (Kitty Pride) and Cyclops (Scott Summers)

Stanley "ARTGERM" Lau's Artwork Reeks of Awesomeness

Another week, another new gallery. This time, its `Artgerm and his works that are featured today. He's one of my favorite artists out there in deviantArt. 

I think I first fell in love with his art with his Flash and Impulse airbrush which I also showed here somewhere (I forgot what the entry was and I'm too lazy to try to find it now so I apologize..), and now I see more new illustrations and man, they are beautiful! I'm kinda biased with DC characters so you would definitely see a whole of 'em here, but he's also got some cool Japanese heroes too so I threw them in.

Take a look at more of my favorites from his gallery after the jump:

Batman

My Top 9 Comic Book Movies of All Time

Since I'm a fan of comic books, I have virtually watched every superhero/comic book film out there - except for a few good ones - like Sin City and V for Vendetta for example, which is a shame really. Anyway, I have been running out of things to write on my blog and I don't want to fill this up with comic book reviews all the time.

There were a lot of comic book movies that I own on DVD, some of them are good, some of them not, and only a few are memorable, and I will going to list them down in no particular order.

So without further ado here are the best comic book movies that I have watched:

Spider-Man

The original is always the best as they say and this first Spidey flick proved that. It told the classic Spiderman origin, of how an ordinary school geek named Peter Parker became a super powered hero because of a bite from an irradiated spider, and learning that "with great power comes with great responsibility." Our friendly neighborhood hero surely didn't disappoint, with Tobey Maguire playing an excellent lead role. 

Favorite Scene: What else? The Mary Jane-Spidey upside down kiss in the rain. 'Nuff said.

 Batman (1989) 

The mother of all Batman movies. Tim Burton (of the Edward Scissorhands fame) directed this new take on the Batman mythos (new at the time at least) while comedic actor Michael Keaton took on the role as the caped crusader. The villain? The Joker played by the legendary Jack Nicholson. Loosely based on the Alan Moore classic "The Killing Joke", it gave new breath to the character and paved way for the creation of the Batman franchise. It is still one of my favorite Batman movies and I remember being so excited every time it was played on TV. It was that memorable - especially Jack's performance.

 Favorite scene: The first ever Batman-Joker face off.