"The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Legendary Edition" by Akira Himekawa

 

            The following is a review of “The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Legendary Edition” manga by Akira Himekawa. It is not a review of the video game “The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords.”

            The story of “Four Swords” takes place in the land of Hyrule. Princess Zelda is good friends with the young knight Link. Link’s father is also a knight in the service of Hyrule. Zelda is tasked with protecting the legendary Four Sword, which is said to split its wielder into four parts, each part with a different facet of the wielder’s personality.

            Long ago, the evil Wind Mage Vaati was defeated by a hero who wielded the Four Sword, and Vaati was sealed away into a stone by the Six Maidens, who are sworn to protect it and the seal was held into place by the Four Sword. Zelda is tasked to examine the seal, which has steadily weakening, Zelda asks Link to come along to protect her. Upon arrival, the maidens disappear, and an evil demon emerges, taking on the form of Link. The Shadow Link then abducts Zelda and vanishes into thin air. Link now realizes that he must draw the Four Sword. Upon doing this, Link is separated into four versions of himself: Green, who is focused and motivated; Blue, who is hotheaded and aggressive; Red, who is innocent and optimistic; and Vio, who is calm and collected. In doing so, the evil Vaati is released into the world. The Links are able to defeat one form of Vaati, but this is only a temporary reprieve.

            Hyrule castle is overrun by Vaati’s evil minions, who then eliminate Link’s father. Vaati then hurls Hyrule into the Dark World.

            The Blue Maiden is able to contact the Links to inform them of Vaati’s domain in the Tower of Winds, and that to stop all the world from being pulled into the Dark World and to rescue Princess Zelda and avenge Link’s father, they must travel there to defeat Vaati.

            The Links travel to a land with no adults and battle the monster Stone Arrghus to rescue the Yellow Maiden, but discover the Four Sword has weaknesses and are given the Moon Pearl, which opens the gate to the Dark World when struck by moonbeams.

            The Links travel towards Death Mountain by boat, but the boat crashes and the Links are separated into four different locations.

            Shadow Link encounters Vio and Vio is seduced to the Dark Side.

            Green, Blue and Red continue on, fighting many monsters created by Vaati. Along the way, the Links learn that Vaati is not the ultimate evil and that the King of Evil Ganon is using Vaati in an attempt to be released. Vio then comes into conflict with Shadow Link as the two form lofty ambitions and plan to see who can release Ganon and rule the Dark World by his side. The Links learn that their father is still alive, but has been corrupted and must duel him in battle.

            After many twists and turns, the Links must battle Vio, Shadow Link, and Vaati to prevent Ganon’s return to power.

            I have given prior “The Legend of Zelda” mangas very low praise. Purchasing the book was intriguing for me as the “Four Swords” video game had very little story, more running around as the four Links and battling Vaati and his minions to rescue Zelda, but many “Zelda” games are essentially just battle Ganon and save Zelda, but you do have to consider the first “The Legend of Zelda” video game was released circa-1986 on the original Nintendo Entertainment System and a game you could save your progress on was a huge deal as this was relatively unheard of and that was its appeal. “Four Swords” was released circa-2002, but was featured on the same cartridge as the Game Boy Advance remake of “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” and really was only made so multiple players could play the same game at the same time and was considered by the developers as an afterthought. So an entire manga based on this sorry excuse for a video game had great potential when I purchases it. I mean, it’s a Japanese comic book that’s 363 pages, so it’s probably bound to be something. And I have to say, I highly enjoyed it. Himekawa actually created an intelligent version of the story, with twists, turns, and surprises, and I was hooked as I read it. Now, as far as graphic novels go, yes, the story is a big deal, but don’t forget the graphic part. Art in comic books is highly important, and can make or break it. Manga does have a highly unique quality of art, very different from comic books people are used to. The style just does not look like other comic books, and is traditionally featured in black and white. I have to say that I am not an expert on mangas, I’m used to Marvel comic books as many of my prior readers know, so this was interesting for me. I’ve also written three other “The Legend of Zelda” manga reviews, so you can look back on them if you wish. Having a slightly sour taste happened with them, and the reviews are mixed. But this! This was something I highly enjoyed. I was also thrilled by the presence of Ganon, who was not in the game. It has to be said that there have been many Links in “The Legend of Zelda” video game series, most of them being different in each game. There has been wonky continuity, with branching paths, alternate timelines, and the games not being released chronologically. But there has been only one iteration of Ganon in all the games. The only difference was his semi-human form as a Gerudo in “Ocarina of Time” that was corrupted into Ganon, and was resealed by several different Princess Zeldas over the course of “The Legend of Zelda” series, who have also changed over the continuity. There are many theories about this among fans, but I honestly do not feel like speculating on them, that would be too long, boring, and highly irrelevant to this review, I’m just going by what is contained in the manga by itself.

Now, none of my reviews would not be complete without a numerical score. I base it on a scale of one to ten. One is that it is so horrible I regret reading this, ten is I would love to read it a million times. Some of my prior readers will know if I really like a book, I will read it multiple times (particularly my “Harry Potter” reviews, which, if you like “Harry Potter” I highly recommend you read). So, taking in everything I felt while reading this manga and writing this review, I score this as an eight. Prior readers know I am a very harsh scorer, so scores eight or over are big deals for me.

What kind of a blogger would I be if I didn’t talk about if I recommend this manga? Well, I have to say I’d recommend it, but there is a little warning for graphic novel fans who have never read a manga before. I said that mangas have a unique style. Well, this style includes how to read it. Mangas are read from right to left. What readers would think is the back cover is actually the front cover. You must read from back to front. You must also read the right page first, then the left page. The trickiest thing is reading the panels from right to left. It does take a bit to get adjusted to at first, especially if you read graphic novels that aren’t mangas before, but I think this book is worth the effort. If you are a fan of “The Legend of Zelda” video games, I highly recommend you read this manga. This manga took a flimsy little game and actually made an intelligent story, so it was actually fun for me to read. If you’ve never had a “The Legend of Zelda” encounter before, I’d still recommend it to you. The book is self-contained and you don’t need to have any prior knowledge of the series. If you’re just looking for a good read, a good graphic novel, a good manga, what-have-you, I think this book is a good choice.

I am now wrapping this up. I do a lot of book reviews on this page, but being a certified, unemployed journalist, I write a lot of essays and editorials, and having a bachelor’s degree in English, I write short fiction and nonfiction and poetry, and am currently working on my first novel. Writing is how I keep busy. So feel free to keep looking at this blog, I’m a frequent poster, and I have several projects in the works, so I have plenty to come back for. I’d appreciate it if you would like, retweet, share, follow, comment on this, and you can even continue a discussion for me and my other readers, that would be great! But rest assured: I will be back. And now, until then, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Daredevil: Dead Man's Hand" by D.G. Chichester, Gregory Wright,, Fabian Nicieza, Chuck Dixon, Glenn Herdling, George Caragonne and Ann Nocenti

            This is a review of the Marvel Epic Collection “Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!: Dead Man’s Hand” graphic novel by D.G. Chichester, Gregory Wright, Fabian Nicieza, Chuck Dixon, Glenn Herdling, George Caragonne, and Ann Nocenti.

            As a child, Matt Murdock saved a man from being hit by a truck. The truck was carrying radioactive chemicals. The chemicals splashed into young Matt’s eyes, blinding him. But, in the absence of sight, the chemicals heightened his other senses, enough to give him a 360-degree “radar sight.” He went on to become a lawyer and with his law school roommate Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, started the Nelson and Murdock Law Firm. Matt decided to use his gifts in the service of mankind and to deal out justice that a lawyer can’t. His preferred weapon is a billy club, and he took on the name Daredevil.

            As Daredevil, Matt has come up against Wilson Fisk/New York’s Kingpin of Crime many times, as has tried to take him down as both Matt Murdock and Daredevil. After many years as antagonists, Kingpin has been defeated and discredited, lying low in the subway tunnels as a homeless derelict. But Fisk’s fall from grace has left open a power play to declare just who now controls New York City’s criminal racket. The first one to try to replace Fisk is Leland Owlsley/the Owl, who has been severely disabled after many battles with super heroes and vigilantes operating in Hell’s Kitchen (pardon my language). However, the Owl was not able to fill Fisk’s void.

            Daredevil stays awake for 34 hours straight and does all he can to save people from minor, daily, everyday, and easily avoidable accidents.

            Following the Owl’s defeat, Matt finds himself allied against the Surgeon General, an insane doctor who casts after men who fill her needs and does unpleasant things to them. As Peter Parker, Spider-Man tries to lure out the Surgeon General so he and Daredevil can get the Surgeon General to put down her scalpel.

            After this, young Max Mumm creates a computer program called Ultra-Max, which turns self-propagating and threatens all cyberspace. The cyborg Deathlok enters cyberspace and attempts to destroy Ultra-Max from the inside, while Daredevil must protect Max from the powered killer Bushwhacker.

            Matt has a nightmare of going up against Daredevil’s ten worst enemies.

            The Crippler fights the Wildboys to keep New York’s subways safe.

            Daredevil helps a boy called Eightball from a group of kids calling themselves the Fatboys prove to that his crush Darla’s boyfriend Tommy is a two-timing thug and prove his worth to her.

            Matt and Foggy travel to Las Vegas on a law case. All the worst in the Underworld gather together in Vegas to discuss who will fill in the vacancies in the fallen Fisk’s criminal enterprises. These include organizations such as Hydra, the Hand, the Secret Empire, and also includes other mob figures such as Hammerhead, Tombstone and Silvermane. When Matt hears of the gathering, he teams up with Jack Monroe/Nomad and Frank Castle/Punisher to drive the villains out of Vegas, while protecting the masked baby, Bucky and other associates of the trio. However, Matt, Jack and Frank have very different methods of dealing with their enemies, and their alliance is highly fragile.

            Upon leaving Vegas and returning to New York, a demonic Daredevil doppelganger is stalking New York City, and the mystic huntress Calypso attempts to establish control of Matt’s body and soul as her zombie servant.

            Finally, Daredevil swings through the snowy city in order to deliver a Christmas gift to a deserving child.

            The thought of a team-up can be exciting. This book had two team-ups, both of which I feel compliment Daredevil perfectly. Daredevil and Spidey have teamed-up many times over the years, but I didn’t enjoy the Surgeon General conflict. I don’t feel like there was much use for her. I felt that this whole team-up against someone who has no powers but was just crazy is really a waste. And the Surgeon General’s profiling was pointless since in all honesty she just wanted something unpleasant from them and not in a romantic way, why did they just have to be aesthetically pleasing? Now, the Daredevil/Punisher/Nomad crossover lived up to my expectations. Daredevil fights injustice and Punisher fights injustice, but their different methods to fight injustice that puts them at odds always feels natural to me. They both want the same things, with the difference being the vital status of their opponents. Seeing Matt and Frank going up against the entire super villain mob excited me, and throwing in Nomad, whose policies are a combination of Matt and Frank was just the icing on the cake for me. And a story arc with characters that complement each other that’s a nine-issue crossover always gets me excited, and my prior readers will know how I feel about crossovers. For me, though, the Owl story kind of fell flat. I’ve never really liked the Owl as a villain, and with impaired as he was, the fight didn’t feel even to me. This is not to say disabled people can’t fight (I’m disabled myself), but I just didn’t think it was a fair fight. I have to severely say that I feel the story of Ultra-Max really shouldn’t have been included. I get that they wanted to include the annual since it was released at the time of the other issues, but it was a crossover of annual issues, and I felt so confused by reading a story that was Part 2, but not only did it not have Part 1 with no recap, but it also didn’t continue past Part 2, so I only read an excerpt of a story, and it was like turning a movie on the television half an hour in and then being unable to finish the movie before the end because of someone else’s desire to watch a soap opera superseded my wishes to watch the movie. It just felt so unfair. The Calypso story was a little wonky, with a demon Daredevil and a zombie Matt Murdock, especially since the conception of a zombie in the Marvel Universe in 1992 changed drastically in the following years and does not gel with what we’ve seen in other zombie stories such as “Resident Evil” and even the “Marvel Zombies” installment wasn’t consistent to this story. I did find the 34 Hours issue to be enjoyable. It was a lighthearted issue that stood out from everything else in the book. The three bonus stories in the annual bored me. I didn’t feel the need to iterate some of Matt’s greatest enemies in a nightmare did all that much for the book, the subway story felt completely pointless, and the Fatboys story felt like something that would have been shown in a video I would have been watching in middle school health class. The Christmas story being told from the perspective of a toy lamb… well, I know it was a Holiday Special issue and needed to be light and uplifting, so I won’t say anything against it, but if it were in any other kind of comic, I’d totally put it down. Now, one of the most important points of a comic book is the artwork. The artwork can make all the difference. You can have a great story with poor art or a poor story with great art. That is, after all, why it’s called a “graphic novel.” The issues included in this book ranged from 1992-1993, and this style had a uniqueness of its own.
I always thought early ‘90s art to be high quality. This was when comic books were actually hand-drawn with no computer graphics aid, and I’ve always been a fan of it. The artwork in this book did not disappoint me. In fact, I thought the art in the Calypso story arc was exceptional. In some cases, I liked the artwork way better than the story. The nine-issue “Dead Man’s Hand” crossover story just felt perfect to me. I loved the story, I loved the art, can’t get any better than that. Now, I know kids these days would pick up this book and find the art to be horrible due to today’s standards, and I’ve read comics from the 1940s that I thought that are was kind of tacky, and that’s the way generations work (like “Star Trek”: “The Original Series” versus “The Next Generation”). Now, for me, another key point in any form of writing is the tone. To me, I like a story that’s serious but fun. There’s got to be high stakes (no pun intended), but it still has to have a few light moments. I felt that this book had this tone for most of the stories, with the exceptions being the Annual side stories and the Holiday special story, which violated this very heavily, but the main stories frequently had its appeals to me. I must also include the fact that in this graphic novel, Matt had no home and was living in his law office, which actually really made me sad. I come from a lower class American family, but I’ve always had a roof over my head, so I can’t imagine how hard that must be, but I also have to say seeing Wilson Fisk living in the subway to be both pleasing and sad. Here was this man who had everything, and he messed up so badly he lost everything, and it just seemed so sad to me. Yes he’s evil and this is his comeuppance, but still, it is kind of sad.

            Now, of course, a review wouldn’t be complete without some kind of rating. First, I will say that fans of Daredevil, whether from cartoon appearances, or Fox, or Netflix or No Way Home who have never read a Daredevil comic before and want a place to start, this book could be a good choice. I feel that this book was mostly self-contained but there are a few things alien to this book, like the Ultra-Max story, and Nomad has been an obscure character for more than a decade, but enough about him was explained that I don’t think not knowing him would be detrimental (I started regularly reading in 2001 and had never read a Nomad story before, I’m not even sure I knew of him). If you’re a fan of Daredevil comics, I suppose there is plenty to like. Also, this is a Daredevil book and not a Punisher of Nomad book, so despite nine issues in this book being a crossover, Daredevil stole the story from them. But if you like Punisher or Nomad, this trio team-up isn’t all that bad. I happen to read every current Marvel Comics series and love most of them, so I can’t be too objective, though, so don’t just go by my word, but if this is something you yourself actually want to read based on this review, I do encourage you to find a way to get to read this book. Now that I’ve said who I feel this book is for, I must take everything into account to give a numeric score. My scale ranges from one to ten, one being the worst, ten being the best. Judging by everything I read and everything I just wrote, I score it at a seven. It was decent enough, but could have been quite a bit better.

            Now, we’ve reached the end of this review. I will say I am a very frequent poster, so keep looking for more of my work if you liked this post. I write a lot of book reviews (many of them Marvel, but I do mix some other things in), and I write short stories, poetry, essays, and editorials as well, so you might find something else to like here. Feel free to do whatever you can do on the page you found me on, like, share, comment, retweet. Thank you for joining me here in From the Mind of One Time Cubbin, and now I say, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Daredevil: Born Again"

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics storyline “Daredevil: Born Again.” This review is of the fictional Marvel Comics character Matthew Murdock/Daredevil. It is not about any real-life daredevils. This review has no connection to the Marvel film “Daredevil” or the Marvel Netflix series “Daredevil.”

            Matt Murdock was a child when he saved a man from being hit by a truck, but the truck was carrying radioactive chemicals, which spilled onto Matt’s face, causing blindness. His father was a boxer. He never wanted Matt to be a fighter, rather a doctor or a lawyer. Matt’s father met an ill fate for not throwing a fight. Matt went on in his studies. He made it to law school. His roommate was Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. Matt and Foggy graduated from law school and started their own firm “Nelson and Murdock.” Matt may be blind, but his other senses were extremely, superhumanly enhanced: taste, touch, smell, sound, and create a 360-degree “radar sense.” He learned fighting techniques and took up the costume mantle of Hell’s Kitchen’s “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear.” Matt’s worst enemy is Wilson Fisk, Hell’s Kitchen’s Kingpin of Crime. (Pardon my language.)

            Matt and Foggy hired Karen Page to be their secretary. Foggy, Karen and Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich eventually found out Matt was Daredevil, and Nelson and Murdock eventually went under. Matt has been dating Glorianna O’Breen. Unemployed, Karen traveled west and became a star of films I will not say as this is a G-Rated blog and also picked up another nasty habit. Karen got so desperate to sate her habit that she sold out Matt’s secret double life. This information made its way right into Fisk’s large hands. Now the Kingpin knows that Matt Murdock is really Daredevil. Fisk decides the ultimate revenge he can get is not only to destroy Daredevil’s life, but Matt Murdock’s life as well. To that end, Fish goes to the Bar Association and issues a claim so bad that Matt is disbarred and unable to practice law. But that’s not the end of that. Fisk also incriminates Matt with a crime he didn’t commit. Fisk goes to the IRS and gets Matt’s assets frozen. He also blows up Matt’s house. He hires Frank Simpson, the patriotic fanatic super soldier called Nuke to fight Daredevil. On top of that, Glori, feeling shafted by Matt turns to Foggy, and Foggy and Glori fall in love. Now Matt finds himself with no job, no money, and no place to live. His and Daredevil’s lives have completely unraveled.

            Hey there, thanks for reading From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! My name is Tim Cubbin! You have been reading my review of “Daredevil: Born Again.” I’d like to share my personal thoughts about the story.

            First off, right from finishing the second issue, I felt there was potential there. It had the potential to be a great story. It doesn’t get any worse than having your entire life blown up around you. However, upon reading the final issue, I felt like it didn’t live up to that potential. Frank Miller, the “Daredevil” writer at the time, came up with such a great idea. However, the ending left a bitter taste on my proverbial tongue. This was a story published in 1986, which was before I was born. I have not followed much classic Daredevil stories from that time. Now, we all know that there are times when a super hero has their secret identities exposed. In this instance Fisk made the name “Matt Murdock” taboo within his organization and did not share Matt’s identity publicly. This was something Fisk could hold over Matt, the proverbial “if something happens to me, I expose you” kind of thing, and I felt this was a little cliché.

            As far as scoring this personally, based on my opinion of the story on a scale of one (being the worst) and ten (being the best), I’d score it as a five. As I said, to me, it had potential, but that potential just didn’t seem achieved to me. Now, I’m hard to please, but I feel that we all have our own personal opinions that no one else can change. So if you have, or if you do read the story, I’d love to hear your opinions.

            The most important point of any review is if the story is recommended. This story is a defining moment in the life of Matt Murdock/Daredevil. I usually like reading stories containing defining moments. Those are often the most enjoyable stories. For those long-time Daredevil fans that haven’t read this, I do give a recommendation. If you’re only into Daredevil from the movie or Netflix series, I still can recommend it. Who I can’t recommend this to would be people who have never read Daredevil of had not watched the movie or Netflix series. To me, I just didn’t feel it was a jump-on, too much history, too many loose threads.

            That will be it for now. If you enjoyed this post, share, retweet, comment, like, whatever you can do on this page. I have written dozens of reviews, and I am also a writer of short stories, poetry, essays, and editorials, so feel free to browse through this site if you so wish. I post frequently, so you can expect more from me soon. Until next Time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Civil War"/"Civil War II" Comparison

 

            The following is an essay comparing the Marvel Comic Book events “Civil War” and “Civil War II.” This is not about any real war. This also does not apply to the film “Captain America: Civil War.”

            Hey, y’all, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! My name is Tim Cubbin!

            So, today, I am typing up for you an essay where I compare both the Marvel super hero Civil Wars, which I kind of already said, but I didn’t say it in context, so, there, it’s said.

            Now, I’ve written several posts about Marvel’s “Civil Wars” before, consisting of a review of the prose novelization of “Civil War” by Stuart Moore, a review of the “Civil War” comics event as presented on Marvel Unlimited, an essay comparing the prose novel “Civil War” to the comic event “Civil War,” and just a few hours ago, I posted a review of the “Civil War II” comic book event as presented on Marvel Unlimited, so to finish this all up, I’m typing up a piece comparing the comic book events. Now, if you want to get a little bit of background to this post, check out the aforementioned posts, but don’t feel deterred by not having read those, this should be easier to explain since these are two completely separate things. I did this with “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” and “Miles Morales: The Clone Saga” so this isn’t my first foray, but it hasn’t been done very often on this blog.

            Let’s examine the causes of the Civil Wars to start off. In “Civil War” a group of young super heroes/reality television stars tried to take on a group of super villains way above their class level. One of these villains was the explosive Nitro, who, when cornered, detonated and killed hundreds of innocent civilians in Stamford, Connecticut, including a schoolyard full of kids. In the wake of the tragedy, the United States government passed the Superhuman Registration Act, which would require anyone with powers who wished to operate with these powers in public to register their real names and powers and submit to training in the form of a federal agent. They could still be superheroes, but now they had legitimate backing, including a paycheck, pension, benefits and vacation time off. Tony Stark/Iron Man felt that this was a great idea, the proper evolution of the role of superhumans in American society and went out publicly to support the act. Steve Rogers/Captain America felt that this was a bad idea, an assault of superheroes’ liberties. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill called upon Captain America to aid in the enforcement of the act. Captain America refused and went underground against the act and formed a resistance movement for the super heroes who didn’t want to register. Iron Man, in turn, formed a team to enforce the act. This caused the confrontation between the pro- and anti-registration super heroes.

            In “Civil War II,” a young man named Ulysses Cain awoke as an Inhuman after undergoing Terrigenesis. He predicted a cataclysmic event, an alien invasion that could possibly have meant the destruction of earth. Ulysses contacted Tony Stark and the super heroes were able to fight back this invasion and save the earth. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel decided to use Ulysses’ predictions to good use and stop major crimes and avert catastrophes before they happened, calling it “predictive justice.” Iron Man, however called this profiling. Ulysses could predict A future, not necessarily THE future, and advised for letting things happen as they were supposed to happen. Captain Marvel and Iron Man then found themselves at odds, and a conflict erupted, dividing the super hero community and beginning a war spanning to the reaches of outer space and even through time.

            Now, these comic book events actually had a promotional tagline. “Civil War’s” posters and advertisements read “Whose side are you on?” “Civil War II’s” tagline was “Change the future or protect the future.”

            Now, just for good measure, I’ll tell you who I supported in each Civil War. When “Civil War” started, I was in college. I had a group I hung out with and we discussed comic books. I was the odd man out. I sided with Iron Man. I saw the Superhuman Registration Act as a fair deal. For the regular citizens, we would know we were protected by super heroes who were licensed, trained, and knew what they were doing. For the super heroes, we’d be properly trained and accountable and backed by the government, plus we’d be getting paid to do some of the things we’d already be doing for free. Yes, it seems invasive, the government knowing everything about you, and yes, you might have to do things you don’t want to, but it would be keeping people safe and having them feel comfortable. After all, police have to go through training and wear a badge, why should those with powers be able to bypass all of that?

            As for “Civil War II” I once again I sided with Tony. The future should be allowed to run its course. Using Ulysses was profiling. Predictive justice is faulty. What if his predictions were wrong due to personal bias and the super heroes started arresting people who were actually innocent? What if what he saw was wrong and sent the superheroes on wild goose chases? What if stopping one cataclysmic event branched off and caused events that were even worse than the original event?

            I figure now you’d also like to know which “Civil War” I preferred? Well, let’s look at this: the first War was over a piece of legislation if it was a good idea or a bad idea. The second War was over a concept if it was a good idea or a bad idea. In one case, I thought it was a good idea. In the second, I thought it was a bad idea. You might think I’m partial to Iron Man? Perhaps he’s my favorite superhero? When it comes to Tony’s ideas and ideals, I get where he’s coming from. He doesn’t actually have real super powers, he’s just your average guy who gets by with his genius and technology, while Captain America has a super soldier serum in his blood and Captain Marvel has cosmic powers due to alien background. But, all-in-all, if you had to make me pick which “Civil War” I preferred, I have to go with the first. “Civil War II” seemed to be reaching too far, going as far as to pull in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man 2099, as well as calling B- and C-List characters to the forefront just didn’t help. The first “Civil War” pulled in a lot of characters not exactly as well-known or loved by casual fans who only know Marvel from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in “Civil War II” too many lesser-known or unknown characters were included, and also including characters from the MCU that I just felt didn’t need to be there.

            Well, I’m going to let you go in just a few more sentences. I write a lot of reviews, mostly Marvel comics and prose novels, but I also write short stories and poetry, as well as editorials, such as my B’ings. I post very often. I’ve done literally dozens of posts, so if you liked this, feel free to keep browsing and looking out for new posts. So, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Civil War II"

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics event “Civil War II” as presented on Marvel Unlimited. It is not about any real war. It is not about the 2006-2007 Marvel Comics event “Civil War.” It is not about the feature film “Captain America: Civil War.”

            Hey, all, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I am your host, Tim Cubbin! I usually give a whole big introduction when I write a review, but as this is a long event and will probably take me about three hours, and I have a busy day, so we’ll just stick to the review. I will use a format similar to my other reviews which prior readers of at least two of my reviews will know, but with a few differences. First, I will take each individual story on the reading lists in order as they appear. I’ll give a brief description of each. Then, I will take into account the entire event, share my thoughts, and give it a numeric score. Then I’ll say if I recommend this to readers. I’ll finish off by saying who I think the best audience would be based on what accessibility is required for optimal enjoyment. Then I’ll give a brief signoff and then we will be finished. So we are going to get right to it.

            Prequel Reading: Tony Stark/Iron Man hires Mary Jane Watson to be his personal assistant and life coach. Laura Kinney/Wolverine, her clone Gabby and Old Man Logan/Wolverine from an alternate future find out how different their lives are. Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales/Spider-Man, and Sam Alexander/Nova, all from different schools take on a science competition. The Ultimates prepare for an attack from Thanos. Ulysses Cain, a college student, is exposed to the Terrigen Mists and discovers he is an Inhuman.

            Main Event: Ulysses discovers his Inhuman power is to predict the future and is able to alert the heroes of earth about an alien assault that would have been very catastrophic. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel decides to use Ulysses’ powers to use predictive justice to prevent devastating events before they happen and stop them from ever occurring. Tony Stark/Iron Man feels that this is profiling, and that Ulysses can only predict A future but on necessarily THE future. The heroes must now decide: Change the future? Or protect the future.

            Amazing Spider-Man: Peter Parker/Spider-Man has his company Parker Industries. Peter tries to take Ulysses under his wing. Ulysses predicts that one of his employees Clayton Cole, the “reformed” super villain Clash will return to his villainous ways.

            Choosing Sides: This series focused on several “B-List” super heroes deciding where the fall in the ensuing Civil War between the super heroes. Nick Fury, Jr. embarks on a mission after Ulysses predicts a Hydra cell that will bring about the end of S.H.I.E.L.D.

            Gods of War: Hercules feels that he was once earth’s greatest hero, but now with new super heroes emerging, he is feeling useless. A group of evil Gods called The Uprising Storm arrives on earth, planning to discredit the Gods, so Hercules assembles a team of forgotten Gods from several pantheons to defeat the Uprising Storm and reclaim their legends as true heroes of earth.

            Kingpin: Wilson Fisk/Kingpin negotiates with Tony Stark/Iron Man to provide information on super villains to ensure his early release from prison.

            X-Men: Ororo Munroe/Storm and Eric Lensherr/Magneto find themselves on opposite sides over the Civil War of super heroes and have their own mutant Civil War.

            A-Force: Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk is gravely injured during a super hero conflict and lies in a coma. Ulysses predicts that Runaway Nico Minuro will commit a murder, and A-Force makes a play so that this murder does not occur.

            Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Phil Coulson goes against S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol and Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. relieves Coulson of duty and hires Elektra Natchios to replace his as leader of Coulson’s team.

            All-New Wolverine: Ulysses predicts that Laura Kinney/Wolverine’s clone Gabby will be murdered by Old Man Logan.

            Ant-Man: Scott Lang/Ant-Man, reformed criminal, is accused of a crime and sent back to jail.

            Avengers: Vision, Nadia Van Dyne/Wasp and Jane Foster/Thor must decide where they fall in this Civil War.

            Captain America: Sam Wilson: Sam Wilson/Captain America and several black super heroes gather together to mourn the death of James Rhodes/War Machine.

            Captain America: Steve Rogers: Steve Rogers/Captain America tries to keep peace between Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel and Tony Stark/Iron Man, while secretly reprogrammed by a sentient Cosmic Cube named Kobic as a prominent agent in the evil organization Hydra.

            Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel and the Alpha Flight Space Program find their program in jeopardy of disbandment after Carol is accused on an account of insubordination.

            Deadpool: Wade Wilson/Deadpool’s team the Mercs for Hire turn against him.

            Guardians of the Galaxy: The Guardians of the Galaxy are called by Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel to aid her in the super human Civil War.

            Iron Man: Tony Stark/Iron Man fakes his death and upon return finds himself in danger of being removed from his own company, while Riri Williams is able to obtain part of the Iron Man armor and reverse-engineers it.

            Mockingbird: Bobbi Moorse/Mockingbird goes on a cruise that goes horribly wrong.

            Ms. Marvel: Kamala Kahn/Ms. Marvel finds herself disagreeing with the stance her idol Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel has taken in the Civil War.

            New Avengers: Roberto Da Costa/Sunspot and Avengers Ideas Mechanics find themselves under assault from S.H.I.E.L.D.

            Nova: Sam Alexander/Nova returns to space after finding out his father may be alive and in captivity.

            Patsy Walker, Hellcat (pardon my language): Patsy Walker/Hellcat finds that her best friend Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk is fighting for her life after being knocked into a coma after a battle against Thanos.

            Power Man & Iron Fist: Luke Cage/Power Man plans a jail break after his best friend Danny Rand/Iron Fist is arrested for assaulting a police officer.

            Rocket Raccoon & Groot: Rocket Raccoon and Groot attempt to make a score as bounty hunters but find Gwen Poole/Gwenpool is after the same score.

            Scarlet Witch: Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and her brother Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver find themselves on opposite sides of the Civil War.

            Spider-Man 2099: Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man travels through time and finds himself in two different Civil Wars.

            Spider-Man, Miles Morales: Ulysses predicts that Miles Morales/Spider-Man will murder Steve Rogers/Captain America on the steps of Capitol Hill.

            Spider-Woman: Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman finds herself against her best friend Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel after not agreeing with Carol’s predictive justice.

            Squadron Supreme: A member of the Squadron Supreme is replaced by a villainous version of herself from an alternate reality and attempts to resurrect their foe Namor/Sub-Mariner.

            Totally Awesome Hulk: Amadeus Cho/Hulk attempts to reconcile himself with the murder of Bruce Banner/Hulk by Clint Barton/Hawkeye.

            Thunderbolts: After Ulysses’ prediction of Miles Morales/Spider-Man murdering Steve Rogers/Captain America, James “Bucky” Barnes/Winter Soldier targets Miles to prevent the murder.

            Ultimates: The Ultimates attempt to contain Thanos in a prison cell in their base the Triskelion but fail.

            Uncanny Avengers: The Avengers Unity Squad is disbanded after the mutants attempt to find a cure for the M-Pox, a mutant disease caused by the release of the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists.

            Uncanny Inhumans: After Ulysses is abducted by Tony Stark/Iron Man, Queen Medusa and the Inhumans of New Attilan destabilize Tony’s holdings but are accused of destroying Stark facilities by rogue Inhumans, claiming to be doing it in the name of Queen Medusa.

            Venom: Space Knight: Eugene “Flash” Thompson/Venom returns to earth and must convince Spider-Man that they are not the same villainous Eddie Brock/Venom that he has battled in the past.

            Conclusion: Following the Civil War, a new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is chosen.

            All-in-all, I have to say I mostly enjoyed the event. However, there were points that I feel could have been done without, namely Ant-Man. And there were also several side stories that I felt had absolutely nothing to do with the event, such as Gods of War, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., All-New Wolverine, Deadpool, Mockingbird, Nova, and Venom: Space Knight. Despite that, most of those stories were relatively enjoyable to be. I happened to dislike Patsy Walker, Hellcat, Power Man & Iron Fist, Squadron Supreme, Thunderbolts, and Ultimates, but I did love the Amazing Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Spider-Man, Miles Morales stories. Could it have been better? Yes. But it could have been a lot worse if you look at some of my other negative reviews.

            So, now I’ll give it a numeric score. I go on a one to ten scale, one being the worst, ten being the best. By taking everything into account, I score this at a six.

            The big question is if I recommend it. I wouldn’t not recommend it, but it is highly inaccessible if you plan to read the whole thing as I did. Pretty much every Marvel super hero at the time had a tie-in to it, so if you are not fully acclimated with Marvel, these new characters are unknown, such as Squadron Supreme (an obvious and blatant garbage rip-off of D.C.’s Justice League) and the Thunderbolts. There were many well-known characters from the Marvel movies and series, so if you know these characters, I’d suggest you read only those, because there were a lot of B- and C-List characters that most casual Marvel fans would not know. So if you live and breathe Marvel like I do, you might want to give it a look, but for those fans who only know the movies and series, I totally say do not read it. I’m also a very harsh judge, so you might want to table this review, read this, and see if you agree with me, I leave every review I ever write up to you. We have different tastes, I respect that, so everything in this review is my opinion and my opinion only, I let you feel if you agree or disagree with me, I can’t force you to like or dislike what I like and dislike.

            So I do believe that this is it for now (after writing for two-and-a-half hours), but I will leave you with four things. First, I write lots of reviews, mostly Marvel, but I do write short stories, poetry, essays and editorials. Second, I post very frequently, so finding new content on this blog is sure to happen. Third, if you liked this review, I’m about to write a comparison piece to “Civil War” and “Civil War II,” it’ll be up in a few hours. And four, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling

            The following is a review of the novel “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling.  It is NOT a review of the film adaptation.

            Hey guys, this is From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m Tim Cubbin, and I’ll be writing a review about “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling, which I already said I’d be doing, but still, had to put it in context!

            Honestly, I’ve been overworked today, what with spending five hours in and out of the office writing a review of “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters” that I just don’t feel up to my usual snarkiness, so I’m doing the review with only a little of my personality, plus, you don’t want to read about me, you want to read about Harry Potter, so I’ll skip ahead to the task at hand, and if you want to read me at my best, totally read my review of “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters,” but for now, Harry.

            I’ve written dozens of reviews, including the first three Harry Potter books (“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”), so please feel free to read those as well, and you can also expect to see reviews of the other Harry Potter books as well in the near future. I often try to keep a similar template to my reviews so everything gels together, so here’s what we’re going to do: I’m going to finish my introduction monologue (which I actually hate writing, believe it or not, even though every one of my reviews has one), then I’m going to talk about the major characters, giving a little description of each of them. Following that, I’m going to give you the synopsis of the book, the story, with as few spoilers a possible (if any). Then I’ll give a critique of the book, my thoughts and opinions, what I liked, what I disliked, things like that. Then I’ll give the book a numeric score (more on that when we get there). Following that, I’ll tell you if I recommend the book and to whom in particular. Then I’ll give a closing monologue (hate those too), telling you what else is on this blog, then you’re free to go… that is if you haven’t bailed out on me by then (and I will say to you those of you who read all of my post, you are THE BEST!).

            Right, then, let’s hop to it! Our major characters:

            Harry Potter: He was orphaned as a baby, surviving an attack from the most powerful dark wizard of the time. He lived with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley Dursley until he turned eleven and learned he was a wizard and went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to study magic and find his place in the magic community. He is now in his fourth year at Hogwarts. He has been sorted into Gryffindor House.

            Ronald Weasley: Harry’s best friend, also a Gryffindor. He comes from a family of wizards, with five older brothers and a younger sister, all of whom have attended Hogwarts. His family is extremely poor and Ron gets most of his belongings secondhanded. He is also in his fourth year at Hogwarts.

            Hermione Granger: Harry’s and Ron’s friend. Also a Gryffindor. She comes from a family of no magical background, but is the smartest witch in their fourth year.

            Draco Malfoy: Harry’s worst enemy at school, does everything he can to be mean to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Fourth year Slytherin.

            Arthur and Molly Weasley: Ron’s parents, very fond of Harry.

            Cedric Diggory: Seventh year Hufflepuff, smart, popular, and good looking, the whole package.

            Cho Chang: Fifth year Ravenclaw, Harry’s crush.

            Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s troublemaking twin older brothers, both sixth year Gryffindors, trying to set up joke products.

            Neville Longbottom: Also a fourth year Gryffindor, very forgetful and not very good at Potion-making but excels in Herbology.

            Parvati Patil and Padma Patil: Fourth year twins, Gryffindor and Ravenclaws respectively.

            Albus Dumbledore: Hogwarts headmaster.

            Severus Snape: Hogwarts Potions professor, hates Harry.

            Minerva McGonagall: Hogwarts Transfiguration professor.

            Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody: Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, former Auror and paranoid.

            Sybil Trelawney: Hogwarts Divinations professor.

            Rubeus Hagrid: Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures professor, friend of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

            Poppy Pomfrey: Hogwarts nurse.

            Fleur Delacour: Beauxbatons student, Ron’s crush.

            Olympe Maxime: Beauxbatons headmistress.

            Viktor Krum: Durmstrang student and Quidditch star.

            Igor Karkaroff: Durmstrang headmaster.

            Ludo Bagman: Head of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry of Magic.

            Bartemius “Barty” Crouch: Head of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic, boss of Ron’s older brother Percy, stickler to the rules.

            Rita Skeeter: Reporter for the wizard newspaper The Daily Prophet, Hermione’s nemesis.

            Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort: The most powerful Dark Wizard of all time, lost his powers and body after failing to kill Harry as a baby.

            Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail: Voldemort’s servant.

            Dobby: House elf at Hogwarts, disliked by other Hogwarts house elves for being paid.

            Winky: House elf to the Crouch family.

            Okay, I think that’s everyone important, forgive me if I forgot any. Now, time for the synopsis: Harry, Ron and Hermione get ready to return to Hogwarts for their fourth year. Harry, the Weasley family and Hermione attend the Quidditch World Cup. While there, Lord Voldemort’s followers the Death Eaters attack, and Voldemort’s Dark Mark appears in the sky. Winky the house elf is found with Harry’s wand and is disowned. Hogwarts has been selected to host the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between the magical schools Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Each school is to have one champion. Entrants must be seventeen and must put their names into the Goblet of Fire. Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum are selected, but Harry’s name also comes out of the Goblet of Fire. There are mixed reactions among the students and heads of schools, but being selected by the Goblet of Fire is a binding magical contract, and Harry must compete. The Triwizard Tournament consists of Three Tasks that will occur over the course of the school year. The paranoid ex-Auror Mad-Eye Moody is hired as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and his methods are unorthodox to say the least, dangerous to say the most. Journalist Rita Skeeter villainizes Harry in the papers, including Hermione in the smear campaign against Harry. Harry must deal with dragons, merpeople, and a hedge maze, as well as find a date for the Yule Ball. Harry also comes face-to-face with a revitalized Lord Voldemort.

            Okay, now for my own personal thoughts. “Goblet of Fire” is actually my second favorite “Harry Potter” book (we haven’t reached my favorite yet) as so much happens and I felt it was where Rowling really found herself in the series for the first time. The book is over 700 pages (each book had seemed to be longer and longer page wise, and people were almost expecting the last book to be over 1,000 pages, which actually never happened), and yet it didn’t feel long to me. I didn’t feel like it dragged on. However the Blast-Ended Skrewts did detract a little from the story and maybe twenty pages could have been shaved off due to it. I enjoyed Harry and Ron’s fudging Divinations homework of misfortunes and ill fates that pleased Professor Trelawney, and yes, upon gazing upon space there was a Uranus joke (which are pretty much often funny, and in this case I laughed, I know, so immature). The riddle of the Sphynx in the hedge maze was, in my opinion, brilliant. And I felt the frequencies of humor was appreciated, and yet the seriousness took dominance. I’ve always liked fantasy books, and I was ten when “Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone” came out, so I literally grew up with Harry, and in school, if you didn’t read “Harry Potter” you weren’t cool. I’ve read this book at least fifteen times, but find I often return to the series for certain reasons, and I never get bored with it.

            Okay, now we’re up to my numeric score. I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One means throw it in the garbage after the first chapter, ten means keep it in a place of honor. You can probably guess I’m giving this book a good score, and yes, I always know where my “Harry Potter” books are at all times (they’re in a nook in my office). So, all said and done, I score it at an eight. I truly loved the book, but the skrewts were a bit much and there were a few other very little points that didn’t gel with me, but these were relatively minor.

            I’m sure right now you’re expecting my recommendation, which I do thoroughly give. As far as fantasy books go, I feel these rank very high up. And for those of you who think Harry Potter is just for kids, I can’t change your mind, and I even didn’t read all of them until I was in college and had friends I talked to about it. My college actually played new movies on Saturday nights that were just out of theaters but not on DVD, and when they aired “Order of the Phoenix” the room was packed tighter than a can of sardines (I know, I’m old, but I had to come up with something appropriate and that’s what instantly sprang to mind, I heard it as a kid). I think Rowling wrote high quality work when she wrote “Harry Potter.” I only hope when my books get published I could find a tenth of her success. Of course, if you’re going to read this book, don’t start here, read the whole series or you will be totally lost as they continue directly into each other (and don’t think you can cheat by watching only the first three films before reading this book because so much was cut from the movies and references were not all parallel to the books).

            So I think I’ve gone on for long enough. I’ll just tell you I have plenty of content on this blog. I live and breathe Marvel, so I review a lot of Marvel books, but I do reviews of other books, as well as writing short nonfiction, poetry, essays, and editorials, so feel free to check out more of my posts. I’m actually posting two posts about Marvel’s “Civil War II” tomorrow and this has been my second post today. I am highly active, so expect plenty more from me. And until next time (I hope you’ll be with me for a next time, and if you do, you are THE BEST!), Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters"

 

            The following is a review for the Marvel Comics Event “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters.” While it bridges points between the “Star Wars” films, series, video games, novels, toys, and other established points in “Star Wars” canon, the main focus is the comic book event distributed by Marvel Comics. That said, there will be references to other points in “Star Wars” lore only to benefit facts needed to properly write this review.

            Howdy, one and all, thanks for coming into From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, the blog run by Tim Cubbin. This is Tim Cubbin writing this review.

            Okay, for those of you who are new here, no doubt lured in by the “Star Wars” tags (which I have never actually covered before, so this is my first foray into “Star Wars”), I need to explain how this will work. I live and breathe Marvel Comics. Now, Marvel is allowed to distribute “Star Wars” comics because Marvel is owned by Disney, and “Star Wars” is owned by Disney. Dark Horse was also in possession of the rights to “Star Wars” at one point since Disney originally did not own “Star Wars” at that time, while 20^th Century Fox first owned the rights, but sold to Disney. I know, I know, confusing and probably irrelevant to this, but I felt it should be said since I also put Marvel and Marvel Comics as tags and had to connect it to this for you old school “Star Wars” fans. So any time I read a Marvel Comics event in comics, or prose novels or graphic novels, I have to review it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I read other books, and I often review them as well (I’m also about to write a review of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” which will be posted today after this as well, by the way, just so you “Harry Potter” fans get a heads-up), but Marvel is my main publisher. So over the past three days, I read the entire “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters” consecutively (I also read them as they became originally available on Marvel Unlimited, but this time I read the whole thing in order), and of course, I knew I had to review it as it was: 1) a comic event; 2) Marvel; and 3) “Star Wars”; so here I am now, on my laptop, typing this review, just for you, my lovely readers, for free (I’m an unemployed certified journalist), because I just want to put my words out there, and I’m a decent human being.

            Now, I know some of you have been to this blog before, and some of you don’t know who I am and are only reading this because… well, “Star Wars,” but your support is graciously appreciated. So I try to keep a pretty set standard format for doing my reviews, so prior readers may already know what to expect. I start of by introducing some of the main players so you know who some of the characters are. In this case, there are a lot of characters, so each character is only going to get a few words. Then I tell the general storyline or the driving focus for the event (in this case I’ll tell you where it fits in in the “Star Wars” timeline). Then, if it has multiple series in the event, I break down each series’ individual stories. In this event, the main story was five issues with tie-in stories surrounding it from the four major “Star Wars” comic series at the moment (“Star Wars,” “Star Wars: Darth Vader,” “Star Wars: Bounty Hunters,” and “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”) as well as several one-shots of specific characters. However, the story was essentially the same in every series, so tightly connected, with the story continuing from one tie-in to another that separating the stories is highly difficult. As a recompense, I will tell you the series that the individual character was most affiliated with. After all that, I will talk about how I felt about the events, such as my thoughts, things I liked and disliked, what I wanted more or less of, praises and complaints, and do my best to avoid spoilers. Following that, I’ll give it a numeric score (we’ll get to that when we get to it). Then I’ll tell you if I recommend it or not to “Star Wars” fans (which you probably are if you’re reading this). Then I do a little more drivel to wrap up and let you go from this visual pleasure or pain, depending how you felt about reading this.

            Okay, enough of the long, boring introduction, let’s get to what you actually WANT to read if you’re still reading this (I know some people have already bailed on this out of boredom). Let’s start with the major characters and the series they are each most prominent in:

            Leia Organa: Princess of Alderaan and General of the Rebellion against the evil Empire. (“Star Wars”)

            Luke Skywalker: Jedi in training, member of the Rebellion. (“Star Wars”)

            Han Solo: Member of the Rebellion, currently frozen in Carbonite. (“Star Wars”)

            Chewbacca: Wookie, Han’s best friend, member of the rebellion. (“Star Wars”)

Lando Calrissian: Not quite a member of the Rebellion, but he helps out. (“Star Wars”)

            C-3PO: Protocol droid. (“Star Wars”)

            R2-D2: Astromech droid. (“Star Wars”)

Emperor Palpatine: Most evil and powerful being in the Galaxy. (“Star Wars: Darth Vader”)

            Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: Luke’s father, Palpatine’s second in command, pretty evil. (“Star Wars: Darth Vader”)

            Valance: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Dengar: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Zuckuss: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss”)

            4-LOM: Bounty hunting droid. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss”)

            Doctor Chelli Aphra: Rogue archeologist. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Just Lucky: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Sana Starros: Smuggler, Aphra’s partner. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Vukorah: General for the Empire. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            T’Onga: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Losha: Bounty hunter, T’Onga’s wife. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Ariole Yu: Lucky’s apprentice. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Jabba the Hutt: Crime lord. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt”)

            Deva Lompop: Bounty hunter, often employed by the Hutts. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt”)

            Boba Fett: Jabba’s favorite bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters”)

            Boushh: Bounty hunter, hired to kill Domina Tagge. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh”)

            Domina Tagge: Head of the Tagge Company, rich, relatively evil corporation, has hired Aphra and Sana Starros. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh”)

            IG-88: Bounty hunting droid, famed for its efficiency. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88”)

            RB-919: Cyborg repairer of droids. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88”)

Qi’ra: Leader of the Crimson Dawn, Han Solo’s ex, kind of awful. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters”)

            Now, let’s talk about the story. Now, for those of you who are major “Star Wars” fans, I’ll tell you the timeframe when “War of the Bounty Hunters” takes place. It actually fits very neatly into “Star Wars” lore. This takes place between “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.” Anyone who can call themselves a “Star Wars” fan knows that Han Solo was frozen in Carbonite and ended up in the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. “War of the Bounty Hunters” was the untold story of how Jabba obtained the frozen body of Han Solo. In this story, Jabba the Hutt wanted possession of Solo’s frozen body and thought that Boba Fett, his favorite bounty hunter, had stolen Solo’s body to sell to the highest bidder behind Jabba’s back so he could get a better offer than what Jabba offered. This was not actually true, Fett was just having a hard time finding Solo and taking him back to Jabba. Due to this misconception, Jabba put a high bounty out for anyone who could bring him Fett first. The people who actually obtained Solo was the Crimson Dawn, led by Lady Qi’ra (which those who have seen “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will remember). Qi’ra set up an auction to sell off Solo’s body to make her profit, yet she secretly intended to cause a double-cross and get Solo to Jabba anyway after she got the credits from the highest bidder at the auction. She set out the invite to every party who felt they could benefit from obtaining Solo’s body and could afford the highest bid (and we’re talking 1,000,000 credits here). Most intrigued were the Hutts and the Empire. Jabba wanted Solo as his prize due to Solo’s immense debt to Jabba. The Empire wanted Solo to draw in a rescue attempt from the Rebellion in a final attempt to crush the biggest threat facing the Empire. Palpatine did not wish to attend the auction, sending out Darth Vader in his place. Rebellion members Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando sneak upon the Vermillion, the ship and base of the Crimson Dawn, in a failed attempt to rescue Han before the auction, leading to a battle between the Rebellion and Boba Fett. Luke refuses to attend the auction after his confrontation with Vader after learning Vader is his father, and says he is not ready to face Vader again. Aphra and Sana Starros also attempt to sneak into the auction to obtain secrets for Domina Tagge, as well as to swipe some valuables, as this auction was sure to have rich people, and make some credits on the side, but are captured by the Crimson Dawn. Vader arrives at the auction late, following the Hutts winning the auction but does not intend for the Hutts to maintain hold of Solo’s body. Fett then tries to abscond with Solo’s body while no one is looking to regain the favor of Jabba the Hutt and makes him a target of all the other bounty hunters and the Hutts and the Empire all at the same time.

            And that is all I’m telling you about the story. Now, for my thoughts. Have to say, I was pretty shocked how much I enjoyed it. I actually watched the first six “Star Wars” films and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” again after my first read-through just to fully prepare for a binge-read of “War of the Bounty Hunters.” And I have to say, I’ve always thought that “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” were high quality films. I watched them with my grandpa when I was a kid and loved them, and when 20^th Century Fox rereleased the films in theaters as special editions, I begged for my mom to bring me, which she did and seeing these on the big screen was just amazing. Fans have said the prequel trilogy was terrible, but being as young as I was at the time, I actually liked them. It’s like with “Star Trek.” My parents got into it as “The Original Series” and yet I preferred “The Next Generation.” It’s a generational thing, I guess. So, yes, I loved the prequel trilogy, but after all the negativity around VII,, VII, and IX, I haven’t actually fully watched them. I immensely disliked “Rogue One,” but I really loved “Solo.” So the focus on “Solo,” “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” all being movies I enjoyed, you would totally imagine I’d either love “War of the Bounty Hunters” or hate it. Did I feel it was good? No… I thought it was amazing! Untold stories in franchises are always tricky, they may deviate, violate, breach continuity, and that can always ruin enjoyment. I thought it fit continuity perfectly. I focused a lot on that as I read it, totally being nitpicky, and I couldn’t find inconsistency. It all made sense to me. And Crimson Dawn seemed like a dead thread after “Solo,” so I felt it was interesting that it was picked back up and continued. I found it very welcoming as a lifelong fan of “The Empire Strikes Back,” I felt it just slipped right in there. My apprehension going in was proven unfounded. So, as you can tell, I loved it.

            Now, I have to give the ever-important numerical score. Previous readers know I give a scale from one to ten, and it’s pretty obvious how that works, but one is the lowest score I can give, ten is the highest. That’s the trickiest thing I felt going into this review. I couldn’t tell if I should give it a nine or a ten. I loved it! But did I LOVE it? Prior readers will know I don’t easily just throw out tens, so anything eight or above means it’s something special. So I have been thinking this over carefully over the course of writing this review, and now it’s time so I give it… (Drumroll please)… TEN! Reading it consecutively and watching the films, I totally loved it. I honestly can’t find anything to dislike in it. So if I give it a ten, well, then, it’s probably something (but it’s entirely my opinion, so feel free to agree or disagree with me, you’re entitled to your opinion).

            Okay, next up, do I recommend it? Yes! Honestly, if you like, love, or are a diehard fan of “Star Wars,” I totally say you should give this a read. I honestly can’t say enough. Like I said, untold tales are always spotty, but to me, this fit like a glove. I leave that up to you. Now, I can’t tell you if it’s as good as “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” which I have not watched yet (I know, what a crime!) but this story totally makes me want to find time in my busy schedule to watch them, and when my plate is cleared, I totally will. But I did find “War of the Bounty Hunters” did a good portrayal of Boba Fett when looking at the original films. So, yes, “Star Wars” fans, give it a looksee (does anyone say that anymore? I’m so old…).

            And with that, I’m wrapping this up. This blog does have tons of reviews, and expect a “Civil War II” review and “Civil War/Civil War II” comparison tomorrow, and a “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” review in a few hours, and I also give my B’ings complaint series (expect another of those next week), I also write essays editorials, and I write short fiction and nonfiction and free-verse poetry from time to time, so feel free to keep looking at my work, both past and future. If you check out more of my work (and are actually still reading at this point, I’m sure I lost a lot of readers at this point), you are THE BEST and your support is greatly appreciated. So I’ll let you go for now, but I’ll be back, and hopefully you will too, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Graphic Novel/Prose Novel Comparison

            Hey, all, you’ve entered From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m Tim Cubbin, by the way.

            Okay, let’s get down to business. You’re here because while searching on Facebook or Twitter or BlogSpot or a search engine, you saw this link that said “X-Men: Days of Future Past” Graphic Novel/Prose Novel Comparison and just HAD to check this out. Anyway, this piece is going to compare the “X-Men: Days of Future Past” graphic novel by Chris Claremont to the “X-Men: Days of Future Past” prose novel by Alex Irvine. The prose novel is an adaptation of the “Days of Future Past” comic book storyline from 1981. This comparison essay is only of the graphic novel and prose novel and NOT about the film “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by the way. Thought you ought to know. Now, I have written a review of the “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” epic collection by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Joe Duffy and Scott Edelman that has the “Days of Future Past” storyline AND a review of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine, so I totally suggest you read those two pieces as well as this one because they are kind of important to understanding this, but you can do what you want to do, I can’t force you, but if you do read all three of these pieces, you are THE BEST!

            Now, let’s get the plot of the story out in one sentence: The X-Men in a dystopian future send Kate Pryde to the past to prevent the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly and avert this horrible future from ever happening. I know, sounds a little flimsy, but I’ve heard worse, like… well we’re not here for that, we’re here for “Days of Future Past” so let’s focus on that.

            I am here to discuss some major differences between the two adaptations. I must state, for the giggles, that in the graphic novel, the future was 2013, but I guess in 1981 that seemed like a reasonable enough future. Thirty-two years was enough time to keep up credibility. It should be noted that in the prose novel, where the exact years were not specified, the future was twenty-two years from the present. And let’s face it; Magneto was in a concentration camp during World War II, and the novel even states that he was over one-hundred years old.

            A big difference between the graphic novel and prose novel was that in the graphic novel, Senator Robert Kelly, a bigoted politician, was a presidential candidate on an anti-mutant platform, but in the prose novel, he was content with just being a senator.

            Another difference between the graphic novel and the prose novel was the point of Kitty and Kate Pryde’s time change. In the graphic novel, the switch occurred when Kitty was in the Danger Room in Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, yet in the prose novel, the switch occurred when the X-Men went to the Max-X penitentiary to examine the super villain the Blob’s escape, where the X-Men got into a battle with pawns from the (sorry about this) Hellfire Club. This scene wasn’t even in the graphic novel, but I do get the point Irvine used this is the prose novel: at Max-X, a mutant hunting robot called a Sentinel showed up. Kate, having been enslaved in the future by the Sentinels, had the reaction of fear that the time swap hadn’t worked. I give Irvine a lot of credit for coming up with that, but Chris Claremont’s version of Kitty conquering the Danger Room was a lot funnier.

            Another difference was the use of Warren Worthington III/Angel. In the graphic novel, Angel had rejoined the X-Men as an active member, whereas Irvine used Angel as a way to get to Washington D.C. to stop the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from taking out Senator Kelly.

            The prose novel also explored the future in more detail than Claremont did, focusing quite a bit more about Rachel Summers and Kitty Pryde, particularly by Irvine giving Rachel a fatal injury.

            Irvine in prose also gave a hint on the connection between Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler and Raven Darkholme/Mystique. For those who only know the X-Men from the movies, in every other continuity Mystique is Nightcrawler’s mother, which Claremont and Marvel did not establish in 1981 at the time when the graphic novel was published.

            I was also surprised how Irvine managed to expand on Claremont’s story. The “Days of Future Past” storyline in the comics was just two issues. Irvine was able to produce a 375 page novel (granted the print was big and then spacing between the lines was big), which I found to be quite impressive.

            Now, you’re up to here, and you may be wondering which adaptation I preferred better. Let’s look at this carefully: Claremont wrote a great story, and I don’t just mean for the time when it was written. Sometimes when a story is published, it only holds up for the time around the publication. You could say a story was good for its time, or a story is good for all time. Look at it this way; in 2016, a thirty-five-year-old comic book was rewritten as a prose novel. In 2014, a film with the same title was released. Over the years, there were television series with the story, including in the 1992 “X-Men” animated series, “Days of Future Past” was adapted originally in the first season, and would eventually returned to in later episodes of the series. Even the entire 2008 animated series “Wolverine and the X-Men” was based on “Days of Future Past.” This is a story that has held up for forty-one years at the time of me writing this post. Is it a good story? The answer is an obvious yes. The question remains: did Alex Irvine outdo Chris Claremont? The answer to that is a resounding no. However, Irvine did not make many significant changes from what Chris Claremont did. So can I say that I enjoyed Irvine’s story better than Claremont’s original story? Yes. I loved the prose novel. If you read my review of “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” review, I docked off points ONLY because of the stories that were NOT “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” So if I were to take the issues “Days of Future Past” and “Mind Out of Time!” by themselves, I would give it a nine out of ten. If you read my “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine review, you’d know I gave it a ten. So do I prefer the prose novel? Yes. But it have been written without Claremont, so I have to give him credit as well.

            Well, I guess I’ve typed up enough here and assaulted your eyeballs enough, so now you can leave, go back to social media, or your streaming, or your browsing, or watching videos or doing whatever you usually do on the internet when you’re not reading this blog. But I hope you will come back to this blog. I’ve been busy with all kinds of projects, some of them professional, some you’ll actually see on this blog, some you might see in a bookstore years down the line, some you might see on the big screen, or the television, or your streaming service, who knows. But I do have my B’ings (they’re pointless but still funny to read), short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, essays and editorials, and yes, dozens of reviews, I’ve done over eighty posts and I am nowhere near stopping, so I hope you’ll keep coming back, and if you do, you are THE BEST! So I hope you see my words and my thinking face again, and I’ll say, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" by Alex Irvine

 

            The following is a review of the prose novel of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine. It is NOT a review of the graphic novel or the film baring the same title.

            Hey, guys, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! Today, I am your guide, Tim Cubbin! If you haven’t figured out exactly what this is, I will explain. This is a review. I just finished reading the prose novel “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine as I said in the opening paragraph. If you’ve been to this blog before, you know how I roll (does anyone say that anymore? I’m just old). I read something, prose novels, graphic novels, comic book events, and I hop into Microsoft Word, type this up, then copy and paste and submit to this page you are reading this on. (I use Microsoft Word to type on so I can have a recorded documentation.) So, as usual, here I am, reviewing this book.

            Okay, if you’ve been to at least two of my reviews, you know I keep a basic structure when I write a review, but I know some of you have never been here before, so I have to explain it so you know how this works. Yes, I always start with my boring introduction, which is what you are reading now, and hoping that I finish right away. Next I am going to briefly touch on the characters. Since this is a review of a super hero story, I’ll tell you the characters’ real names and their code names, and their powers, and a few things it’s important to know if you’re not a regular follower of the X-Men. Then I explain the synopsis of the book, explaining the story using as few spoilers as possible, which is hopefully none, but still, spoilers do pop up from time-to-time. After that, I’ll share some of my personal feelings toward this book, saying a little bit about what I liked and disliked, things I wish there could have been but weren’t or what was there that I feel detracted from my enjoyment of the story. Then I’ll give you a score of how I would rate this novel. After that, I’ll explain the accessibility to the book, what background knowledge I feel you should know before you tackle this novel and who I think the target audience should be. Then I’ll tell you if I recommend this book and to whom I recommend this book to. Then I’ll finish off by explaining a little bit of what else you can find on this blog so you know what else you can look for. Then I’ll say goodbye and leave you to go about the rest of the things on the internet you feel like doing. I hope you got all that, so now we finally get to the things on this review that you actually WANT to read.

            Now, let’s talk about the major players. First off, this book takes place in the present AND the future, so I will specify in the descriptions the time periods they are involved in.

            Kitty Pryde/Sprite (present) Kate Pryde-Rasputin (future): Can turn intangible, phase through solid objects, walk on air, and disrupt electronics when passing through them.

            Logan/Wolverine (present and future): Regenerative power, can heal from almost any wound, has a skeleton coated in the nigh-unbreakable metal adamantium and claws that extend from his knuckles.

            Piotr (Peter) Rasputin/Colossus (present and future): Can turn into organic steel, granting him extra durability and super strength.

            Ororo Munroe/Storm (present and future): Can manipulate and control the weather.

            Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (present): Covered in blue fur, prehensile tail, three fingers on each hand, two toes on each foot, able to teleport.

            Charles Xavier/Professor X (present): One of the most powerful telepaths on the planet.

            Moira MacTaggert (present): Human, one of the world’s foremost geneticists.

            Warren Worthington/Angel (present): Flight due to natural wings.

            Senator Robert Kelly (present): Human, bigoted United States politician.

            Raven Darkholme/Mystique (present): Shapeshifter, leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

            St. John Allerdyce/Pyro (present): Pyrokinetic, evil mutant.

            Fred J. Dukes/Blob (present): Massive body, immovable object, extra-durability, evil mutant.

            Dominic Petros/Avalanche (present): Seismic control such as creating vibrations and earthquakes, evil mutant.

            Irene Adler/Destiny (present): Blind precognitive, evil mutant.

            Rachel Summers (future): Telepath.

            Franklin Richards (future): Manipulator.

            Max Eisenhardt/Magneto (future): Master of magnetism.

            Sentinels (future): Mutant hunting robots.

            Free Canadian Army (future): Humans, Canadian resistance force.

            Now it’s time to explain the story, so I try to make the whole present/future thing make sense.

            Mystique leads a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to eliminate Senator Robert Kelly, an outspoken anti-mutant advocate, as well as Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert. This leads to anti-mutant hysteria. The Sentinels, mutant-killing robots, are reinstated. They overthrow all of humanity, and almost every mutant is wiped out, and the surviving mutants are held in concentration camps with their powers neutralized. A nuclear strike is planned against the United States in an effort to stop the spread of the Sentinels. With time running out, the surviving X-Men Kate Pryde-Rasputin, Colossus, Storm, Rachel Summers, Franklin Richards Wolverine and Magneto decide this whole future must be prevented. The Free Canadian Army get a jamming device and the surviving mutants are able to regain their powers. Rachel sends Kate’s mind to Kitty’s young self’s body to before the Brotherhood assassinates Senator Kelly to prevent it and hopefully avert this dystopian future from ever coming to be. As Rachel in the future holds Kate in the present, the surviving mutants assault the Sentinels’ base in the Baxter Building.

            So, I do believe I have not given any spoilers, but if I did, I ask your forgiveness. Anyway, let me share my thoughts with you. This is going to be highly restrictive as I am now going to be working on a graphic novel/prose novel comparison piece right after I upload this post, and it may even be uploaded by now, so feel free to check it out! What I CAN say is I highly enjoyed this book, I hardly wanted to put it down. I thought that this book was an easy read, which actually can harm books at times, but I have to say that I thought this book was written so well, and I felt being an easy read was not detrimental. To me, I thought the balance of what was there that needed to be there, and what was needed there that didn’t have to there was absolutely perfect. I did not feel that the book dragged on and got boring, yet nor did it feel rushed to me. This is highly key to a novel and I thought Irvine nailed it. I feel the effort was a great attempt and paid off. If you want to know more, check out my comparison piece that will be uploaded shortly. The graphic novel story was featured in “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” which I have already reviewed, so I hope you will also read that, and if you do, you are THE BEST and I appreciate your support!

            Now, I think this is the moment you’ve been waiting for: my score. If you’ve read at least two of my reviews before, you know I am VERY hard to please. I can find faults in just about anything. But for this book, I couldn’t find any. I thought this book was totally perfect! I always score my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One means it was so horrible and the time I invested in reading this book was a total waste of my time; ten means, well this book. That’s right! I give this book a ten. I might have given a ten before, but I’ve written a lot of reviews and can’t remember them all, but this might actually be a first. Well, whatever, but I loved this book, and will definitely read it again in due time. I actually have a thing with books where if I really enjoyed it, I eventually read them again to pick up on things I missed during my first read. For example, I’ve been rereading the “Harry Potter” novels, which I have read all of them a minimum of eleven times each (the earlier ones I have read way more times than that, but I have read the later ones at least that many times, I’ve lost count) and still pick up new things each time. I also do that with movies and binge-watching television shows. But this book is DEFINITELY going to be read again.

            All right, now I have to tell you what I think you should know if you are considering reading the novel after this stellar review. Well, when it comes to comic books, accessibility is very important. If you start a seven part storyline and only join in on issue seven, you’re totally going to be confused and most likely not able to follow or understand the story. It’s like joining a television series in season three, then only watching up to season six, then trying to get back in season eight. You’re not going to know what’s going on. So when reading a novel based on an ongoing comic storyline, sometimes background knowledge is required. In this case, I feel that if you’ve never read X-Men or seen any of the cartoons or movies or played any of the video games, you could still catch on with this book. I feel like the characters’ histories described in the novel is sufficient enough to still make sense to new readers. Plus, you’ve been reading this review (and you are THE BEST!) and I’ve given some good details, so I feel like if you’re interested in reading this book based on this review alone, GO FOR IT! I very rarely enjoy a book this well, and a ten is the highest recommendation I can give, so if I liked it… So, as for target audience, anyone can read it if they have any interest in the X-Men and are looking to read a prose novel based on a comic storyline. And I have to say, if you are an X-Men fan of ANY kind, READ THIS BOOK! And if you liked the original graphic novel this book was based on, READ THIS BOOK! I was totally not disappointed, and “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past” are some of my favorite X-Men storylines.

            So, yeah, I think I’ve assaulted your eyes just about enough. If you liked this review, I’ve literally done DOZENS of others, so there are plenty of reviews to see and may give you new reading considerations. I also write short stories and poetry from time-to-time, and as a journalist I write editorials and essays as well, so there’s always plenty more content to see. I post on a fairly regular basis, so I totally hope you come back, and if you do, you are THE BEST! So I’ll finish this review with just three more words: Tim Cubbin… out!