Comic Review: All-New Captain America #1 (2014)

It's been a while since I posted a comic book review, and would very much like to get back into that trend. I thought I'd start off by going right into an issue that's got just about everybody talking; All-New Captain America #1! This is a very important issue for Marvel, and for more reason than one.

So by the cover, you can probably tell that you're not looking at Steve Rogers anymore. No, this is Sam Wilson (previously known as The Falcon) we're talking about. To make a long story short, Steve had all of his super soldier serum (what made him super strong in the first place) drained from him in a place called Dimension Z, making him immediately age into an old man. From there, he felt it necessary to give Sam the shield and the mantle.

This decision of the status-quo change immediately screams risky. Putting Steve Rogers out of commission (again!) is one thing, but to also give the title to his former sidekick is something else entirely. It's also a decision that's going to likely confuse many casual fans who are just jumping in from this point. Marvel has already made plenty of other gutsy decisions these last few years (having Spider-Man's mind get swapped with that of Doctor Octopus', a new female Thor, etc.), but this one may stick out to people a little more; and more power to Marvel if it does.

As any fans of Stuart Immonen (pencils) and Wade Von Grawbadger (inker) can tell you to expect great things, and they're right on the money here. This is exactly the kind of high-quality artwork that one would hope to have associated with a title as big as this one. Every page and panel just oozes with style and flows together perfectly.

The majority of this issue focuses on action only, and that's fine for now. We get to immediately see Sam in action, as well as members of Hydra and some other villains thrown in for good measure. But that's not all. Sam also has a new sidekick, in the form of Nomad (Ian Zola). What makes this grouping immediately different is that unlike Steve and Sam, Ian is quite bitter over Sam being chosen over him to take the Captain America title. He makes this known very quickly on, and it will be interesting to see how this dynamic between the two of them plays out as the series continues.

Just about the only negative thing I can even think of when writing this review, is that some of the dialogue felt a little quick and forced, mainly due to the fast-paced story of this issue. It honestly didn't bother me one bit, even if the bits of humor thrown in felt a little stale as well. The last page more than makes up for any flaws you could find in this issue however, and sets things up rather nicely for the rest of this first story arc.

All-New Captain America is off to an excellent start, and it's great to see Sam finally joining the ranks of Marvel's top-tier superheroes. While it's very possible (and likely) that Marvel will eventually find a way to put Steve back into the forefront, I'm very much enjoying this current setup right now. I think any fans of Sam's character will more than agree with me that his rise in the ranks was long overdue.

9 Out Of 10

Deadpool's Head-Explosion Movie Review Of Interstellar (2014) (SPOILER FREE! GET YOUR SPOILER FREE REVIEW HERE!)

Christopher Nolan is one hell of a guy. Whether you've sat through movies like Memento, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, or any one of his other crazy projects, you already know that you're going to be in for one deep and thought-provoking film. Every time you leave the theater after viewing one of his movies, you tend to come out being really quiet and sometimes breathless. Shit's serious, folks.

I'm going to get something out of the way right now. It is physically impossible to talk about this movie and not talk about "2001: A Space Odyssey" in the same discussion. If you don't do this, you're just wrong. It's not even an opinion thing at that point! Nolan obviously wanted to make the next "2001," and while I'm not sure if I'd take it that far, I will say this was certainly one hell of an attempt. I can't even produce a movie about a cat and a seal finding love in all the wrong places, and yet this guy pulls out all the stops every time. I'd love to meet him one day and ask about how to make my cat/seal fic a reality!

The movie's plot is pretty simple... for the first hour at least... kind of. In the future, humankind is dying because the Earth can no longer sustain us. (Huh... More like RIGHT NOW, am I right folks!?) Cooper Toocooltohavealastname is a former test pilot for NASA, now spending his days in the way more exciting lifestyle of farming, with his son, daughter, and father-in-law. His daughter Murphy (no, that's not a typo; that's actually the daughter's name. DEAL WITH IT!) believes their house is being haunted by ghosts when she sees strange messages being planted throughout the house in code. This code actually winds up leading them all to a secret NASA base with a fully-functioning ship intact. The plan? To jump through a wormhole near Saturn and find new means of life for the already-doomed Earth race.

That's about as much as I'm allowed to say without going into ZOMGHOWCOULDHESAYTHAT spoiler territory, so I'll proceed with my thoughts going forward. Wow, did this movie take me for a loop! It starts out a bit slow moving to be sure (and clocking in at almost 3 hours, it can afford to be...), and I admittedly almost fell asleep during a few of those middle-scenes; but when I tell you a movie picks up, you better damn well believe me... because it does!

I imagine people will either love or hate the soundtrack, due to its industrial/20th Century sound that you don't usually hear in movie soundtracks these days. Personally, I thought it all fit in well enough to the point where it didn't take me away from the film, and didn't annoy the hell out of me either, so that's got to be a plus, right?

I also have to give all of the acting talent some serious props. Not one person felt forced or out of place to me, and I believe Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in particular deserve every award they're going to be inevitably nominated for after this. Everyone came off as very genuine and believable, unlike that science tho. But I'm not going into that. That's like another 3 blogs in itself, and frankly, I have too much of a life for that sheet. Maybe that loser Justin who always posts these can help you out there, but I'm sticking to my guns (literally!).

There's pretty much only one way to say this: If you're a science fiction buff, you seriously have to see this. Even if you don't end up liking it, the film and it's WTFOMGBBQ ending are going to be talked about for years, so you might want to get in on what the "cool kids" are watching.

9 References To Relativity Out Of 10

As for me? I'll continue to work on that epic cat/seal crossover film, and we'll see if I can't make that the next Academy Award winner. Catch you on the flipside, nerds!