CD Giveaway - 33Miles, "One Life"
Ends Aug 4, 2010
The country-pop sound established in their eponymous debut is a mainstay for this album as well, and even adds a little more southern flavor.
CD Giveaway - Phil Wickham, "Cannons"
Ends Aug 3, 2010
With an opening shot that hits the sonic pinnacle, this collection of spiritual Brit pop/rock is heavily influenced by Keane, Travis, Coldplay, and U2.
I love comics. I love reading them. Love reviewing them.
And then there comes the occassional suck-fest like Last Hero Standing.
Okay, we've all seen them before: the Secret Wars, these Contests of Champions. Last Hero Standing has all the earmarks. A huge cast of characters, thrown carelessly on the pages with very little in the way of plot or attention to art.
Here's what's going down: heroes are being mysteriously captured and dragged down into an intricate maze of underground tunnels. Wolverine's daughter Wild Thing; a comatose Scarlet Witch. The middle-aged Peter Parker. One of the Ladyhawks. And Fantastic Five strongman, The Thing.
In case you can't tell, our heroes are those of one of the many Marvel alternate futures, the one where Spider-Girl is the new webslinger, and American Dream leads the next generation of Avengers. And just in case you were wondering of the cosmic import of the story, Uatu the Watcher spends three whole pages explaining the progress of the Marvel Universe. And you know when Uatu gets involved, it's got to be big. It might even be as big as Secret Wars II. Especially when Uatu puts on the highbrow speechifyin'.
Uatu: I am the Watcher. For millennia beyond number, I have observed the birth of worlds, the rise of civilizations and the deaths of galaxies. I see all that is and all that will be. I can also peer into alternate planes of reality to glimpse all that might have been or could possibly be. From my home on Earth's solitary moon, I have witnessed humanity's slow ascent from dwellers of caves to explorers of stars.
Please, spare me now.
Avengers old and new train together.
As our heroes dive into the tunnels left behind by each disappearance, they meet up with each other deep under the Earth where the tunnels converge, only to learn that the network of tunnels is incomprehensibly deep--so much so that the cutaway drawing for the benefit of the readers shows that the earth seems to be completely undermined, and it's a wonder that the entire state of New York hasn't collapsed into one big sinkhole.
The good news is that there's only five issues of this to put up with, not the usual twelve. If you're absolutely stuck for something to read, then Last Hero Standing can be a temporary fill-in: some of the ads are rather well done, after all.
Recommendation: Only if it's the Last Comic Book Standing.
In stores Wednesday, June 2, 2005.
Advance comics are provided courtesy of The Comic Book Store of Little Rock. Michael Tierney, proprietor, even has his own book out, Wild Stars. Check it out.
