M.I.S.T. : Masonic Illuminati Shriner Templars; Season 1 Episode 1

Renegade Episode #1

Venom Space Knight #1-3 MARVEL UNLIMITED review

Published: November 25, 2015
Added to Marvel Unlimited: May 30, 2016
Rating: Rated T+
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Cover Artist: Ariel Olivetti 

Today I was looking for a new book to read on Marvel Unlimited and decided to give this book a try. I was interested in it when it was announced, but for some reason I never really gave it a try. BIG MISTAKE! This book was awesome! The art has that classic painted look to it and it fits the story perfectly.

 It starts off with Venom (Flash Thompson) on the run with an unknown weapon in his hand and fighting some baddies that are trying to kill him. The narrative lets us know that he was sent to this planet to track down a chemical weapon from a voice he heard in his head, and he is the "Agent of the Cosmos". He doesn't even know what that means! That leads to some funny situations where he is asking his enemies what that means as he pummels them. He hijacks a spaceship and encounters 803, who is a robot with a deathwish. He wants venom to kill him if he helps him out on this ship.

I liked him right off the bat, and could tell that he was going to be sticking around for a while. Venom learns that a species is being killed for a substance that is in their blood. This angers Venom and they are glad to find out he is going to help them and not murder them. So Venom lays the smack down on the bastards on the ship and asks them if they know what an Agent of the Cosmos does!

The big boss knows all about the symbiotic nature of the Klyntars and uses a sound weapon to remove it from Flash. He his on the ground since his legs are gone and hits a button to open the hatch of the ship sending everyone out into space.

 Venom sees the family that was captive floating in space and about to be lunch so he gets them out of danger while the baddie gets what he deserves.

 He gets them back to the ship and returns them to their home planet. He asks them if they know what an Agent of the Cosmos is and they tell him that they are heroes.

 803 is bummed because he wanted to be left out in space to die and Flash tells him to stop whining since he is a free bot now. So they blast of and encounter...

 ...A GIANT FREAKIN' SHIP! Surprisingly nothing happens with the ship and we get a flashback for issue two of Flash explaining how things have been as a Guardian of the Galaxy.

 So Flash and Venom are on another planet that he was instructed to go to in order to destroy a weapon. He is attacked by some giant space crab dudes that are really no match for them.

 He dispatches them and is heralded by the residents when acid rain comes down. Venom encloses them in the symbiotic ball similar to Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.They tell Venom and Flash of a drill that is pulling resources from their planet that the crabs feed on causing them to go berserk trying to survive. They destroy the drill and blast off into space again and see the same giant ship! This time te get pulled into the ship with a tractor beam and encounter a very creepy looking Klyntar. They have a pretty rough battle and Venom get the upper hand for a second when she informs him that she is just warming up.

They are stopped by another Klyntar named Myntril and tells Venom that the female is Tarna. They let him know that they were evaluating him to see if he had what it takes and advise him what they are tasked to do. When they part ways Venom is advised that Tarna is going to be in charge of training him.

 We then see Flash at an intergalactic AA meeting. ass the issues ends. We pick up issue three with Flash on a volcanic planet with warrior women battling lava monsters.

 Flash puts on a suit that allows him to walk around as well as handle the elements and conditions of the planet. The catch is the suit can only handle the conditions for thirty minutes.

 He encounters a warrior named Iqa who thinks he is working with the monsters. He informs her that he is there to help and they join forces. They defeat the baddies and destroy the weapon placed in the volcano and...

 Iqa plants a kiss on Flash. and she offers him a place in her husband stable. Very nice!

 He refuses and heads back to his ship where 803 designed new legs for Flash. He is trying to learn how to use his legs and asks 803 who the heck is flying the ship.

 We see that it is Venom and it appears that the baddies were able to get their location and may attack them in issue #4.

 

I can't wait to read the next issue. The question is, do I go buy them now or wait for them to be uploaded to Marvel Unlimited?! I am not sure at this point, but either way, I will review the issue once I read it for sure. If you have Unlimited this is a must read for sure.

I will rate all three issues together since that is the way I read them. The art is amazing, the writing is awesome (It's Robbie Thompson DUH!), and the inks are great. In all I would have to give this a solid 9/10.

So until next time, DatBeardedBastard is out...

Black Panther #5 Review *SPOILERS*

Story: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Art: Chris Sprouse
Inks: Karl Story
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

Okay, right off the bat, I noticed something was off about this book. It looks like someone else was trying to draw in a similar style to Brian Stelfreeze and the inks are different as well. So I look up at the top and Stelfreeze is not written on the top! I was bummed since I do not read solicits, and I wanted this team to follow out the whole arc at least.

As I open up the book, I see Stelfreez's work on the character and recap page and compare it to page one. Let's see if I can get past this, or if it ruins the experience for me. We start off with  T'Challa and his task force raiding a rebel base and finding a group of men with bombs implanted in their chests.

Black Panther channels Rocky Balboa and wants to be hit a few times and says yes as he got hit. This part is either brilliant or just plain nuts, I haven't decided yet. But it is weird as hell for sure. He snaps back to his senses and they layeth the smacketh down on these fools and with the help of Eden (Manifold from the Avengers) they open up a gateway to bring the men with bombs to their base. I didn't think this was such a great idea either, but we will see how it plays out I guess. 

So Black Panther goes into a meeting that he set up with the rulers of Madripoor, Alberia, Genosha, Santo Marco, and Symkaria. Another not so great idea in my opinion. They basically tell him he needs to rule with a heavy hand, they want him to go back to the old ways of ruling "Or somebody else weill". 

We then cut to Ramonda and Shuri in a flashback training as Romonda tells her about a story of foreigners that tried to invade Wakanda. I think this took away a bit from the flow of the book and that it could have been cut down a bit. 

 We cut back to Black Panther as he questions one of the men with the bomb implanted in his chest. They bicker back and forth a bit and we learn that Black Panther knows who he is and knows his brother. and after bantering he tells Black Panther that he will serve his nation, He then tells him that they have a secret pact. Another bad idea? Possibly, we will see in time.

We then transition to one of the men from the council that T'Challa had earlier. This is where I had an issue with the art. It was hard for me to tell which guy this was because three of them looked pretty much the same. I went back to that page a few times and all three had changes in their faces and hair, so I said screw it! One of the white guys was meeting with Tetu, Zenzi, and Zeeke. I was glad to finally see them since this is my second favorite faction in this book. The Midnight Angels are still my #1 faction, but we do not get much of them in the past few issues.

Anyways, we find out white guy #3 was working with Zeeke the wholle time and he wants his money.Poor guy had no idea he was about to get the "Snakes" treatment from that home alone movie that Uncle Frank wouldn't let Kevin watch!!

So anyway, white guy #3 gets whacked and it appears that Zeeke made a snuff film and sent it to the Midnight Angles, Changamire, Storm, and Black Panther as the issue ends.

 Overall, the issue was decent. It was not bad at all, but it was the weakest of the series so far. After the first few pages I get over the difference in the art. The inks are crisp and the book still has that darker vibe, but it had a better feel with the art of Brian Stelfreeze. I have to step back and remind myself that this is the first comic book that Coates worked on as well, so I can understand and forgive the fact that this issue was a bit slow compared to the previous issues. I was going to give this book a solid 7 for sure, since I felt it delivered on filling us in on what is going on and setting up the following issues. After reading it for a second time I felt that I was too hard on Coates and this issue.

Coates is giving me a book that has a solid plot, has a good flow, and has me interested in the villains and supporting cast. These are elements that most books drop the ball on and I drop them from my pull list in frustration. So I need to tip my hat to him for keeping me on board to see what's next. Although this is the weakest book in my opinion for the series, it was still a really good issue.

7.5/10

Until next time DatBeardedBastard is out.....

My Neighbor Pennywise

This was from a dream that I had last night. What if Pennywise and Georgie became friends?! I would like to do a few comic strips about this idea, if I can find the time to work on them. Stay tuned for updates...