Comics - Umbrella Academy - Apocalypse Suite

4 of 4 Ass Monkey

When I 1st heard of this book, I was mildly intrigued. It seemed like it could be a fun book, along the lines of Doom Patrol or a dark version on the X-men. The promo art by Gabriel Bá seemed to fit well with the concept I had read. The only downside was Dark Horse as promoting that it was written by Gerard Way of the band My Chemical Romance. Now I don't have anything against My Chemical Romance, in fact I enjoy some of their music, I'm just not I big fan of folks using their "Star" status to parlay it into a comic book writing career. It seems to be the big comics trend nowadays to get either movie stars or Movie/Tv writers to write comics and to be honest most of them suck, and when they are good they never come out on time. So the whole aspect of Gerard Way writing this book was a BIG negative in my book. However as the art and concept seemed cool I thought I'd check it out.

Story Synopsis (from wikki)
The members of the Umbrella Academy, a formerly disbanded group of young super-heroes, reunite 20 years later after they hear about the death of their adopted father Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, collected the members of the Umbrella Academy shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world.

After reading the 1st issue I was pretty impressed. Everything in this book seems to gel, the art and story really work well together. Gerard Way did a really great job of introducing us to his world and cast of characters but not going too far as to bore the reader.

I posted the 1st issue online in case anyone wants to check it out. You can read it HERE. There is also good review at Ain't It Cool News HERE.

Toys - Doctor Who - Flight Control Tardis

I've become a BIG fan of the new Doctor Who TV series. I was never into the original Doctor Who growing up. So I never really gave this new one much thought. But last year my buddy Spy Magician brought over the 1st few episodes of the 1st season and I was hooked. I was surprised how much I liked it. Now 3 seasons later I'm a HUGE fan. So much so, I of course invested in the toy line by a UK company named Character Options. They are a tad more expensive than I like to pay for a 5 inch scale figure line, as these need to be imported from the UK, but as a big fan of the show I couldn't resist. Up until now I've had very little complaints thus far with the line, but I just got the Flight Control Tardis today and I was not impressed.

I was a tad hesitant to buy this thing cause it was $40.00 with shipping. But, I was like the original Tardis playset was so great, that this one I'm sure would be just as good. Well, I was wrong and now I'm $40.00 in the hole. It also doesn't help that Character Options released a Tardis Bank not too long ago for $15.00 that looks exactly like the Flight Control Tardis. Sure the Tardis Bank doesn't make all the same noises and when you open the doors there is not a picture of the insides of the tardis, but it's essentially the same toy. I mean look at these pictures.

Flight Control Tardis

Tardis Bank

See much of a difference? Me neither. And because these are imports, I can't return it. It's not like I walked into Target and pulled this off the shelf, trust me if I could return it I would. I mean I didn't expect this thing to bend time and space, but I expected more than the bank with some new noises and a spinning feature. Yes I said spinning feature, you can hold the top of the tardis in one hand a the bottom with the other and it has a dial on the bottom that lets it "spin" as it flies thought the air. I'd like to tell Character Options where they can spin this stupid thing. GRRRrrrrrrr.

Needless to say I'm going to be a little more hesitant with my Doctor Who toys from now on, especially the playsets. I'm so sad about this thing I give it...

1 of 4 Ass Monkey

Movie - Resident Evil: Extinction

Resident Evil: Extinction

2 of 4 Ass Monkey.

I can sum up this movie with 7 easy questions.

1) Was it better than the 2nd movie? - YES.

2) Was it a great film? - NO.

3) Can Ali Larter Act? - Hell NO.

4) Is Milla Jovovich hot? - YES and so are her nipples apparently.

5) Does Milla Jovovich get naked? - Not enough to make it a good movie.

6) Should I go see it? NO, not unless you're really into the Resident Evil movies.

SPOILER TIME!!!!!

Do not read below if you don't want to know how the movie ends.

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7) Does it leave itself open for a sequel? YES, but we will never see it, cause it ends with 100 naked clones of Milla Jovovich ready to kick some zombie ass. Sign me up!!!

Toys - Yo Joe!!!!

My buddy Julius Marx at Action Figure Insider asked me to write a review of the new GI Joe action figures that just came out. So I partnered with the only other Joe fanatic I know, Spy Magician, to write a little something. You can read it HERE. We've written a few of these, so if you like it let JM know so we can do some more.