Journey into Mystery #629-#630

Oh hey there feeble Midgardians , tis’ another time for one of Alex’s dumb ass reviews. Today we will have a gander at the most recent issues of the ongoing series Journey into Mystery 629 and 630. The first of the two this is all I have to say…..The art gave it no justice, it was very uneventful art wise (which is my opinion don’t dispute it)

Kieron Gillen wrote this issue and the art was done by Whilce Portacio….Remember my last review? Well Loki did it! His rag tag team was successful in helping to bring down the serpent, in the most bad ass way possible too. Also remember when I said he stole the shadow of Surtur’s sword? Well they made a deal at that time, If Loki can use the sword, Surtur would be freed (keep that in mind). Loki and his team (Loki’s Magic Secret Action Squad as he called it) Snuck into Dark Asgard aka the giant floating island of evil. Loki then proceeds to release Surtur into the bowels of Dark Asgard where he would consume the energy of the isle (damn Loki will you ever stop being so magnificent?).

As they get out of the island, Loki watches to his dismay that the prophecy has come true, Thor has lost his life protecting Midgard (not without making the Serpent his bitch first) .

The whole plan was just wishful thinking, Loki just wanted to try out the WTF plan just in case it worked.

So with that Fear Itself (the main issues anyway) has winded down, but it is not exactly finished because there will be more tie ins than people go through toilet paper at a Mexican Restaurant. In Journey into Mystery 630 you will hear how Fear Itself has transpired…..Volstagg the voluminous’ version anyway (AWWWWWW SHIIIIT) And the art from Richard Elson just accompanies this so well, like an actual storybook!

Just in case you don’t know Volstagg, he is the portly (fat) one from the awesome trio that is The Warriors Three, essentially the coolest motherfucker around.

FUCK YEAH VOLSTAGG

Issue starts with Heimdall waking up to see the Destroyer armor outside as if no one took it (TOTALLY LEGIT GUYS). Then it cuts away to Loki and Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, Thor’s mystical goats (that could totally kick your ass). Loki has a magic chain attached to them and he is luring the goats away from the roots of Yggdrasil as if pulling something from inside the tre- OH FUCK THERE IS SOME SORT OF HEAVY ASS ARMOR COMING OUT. When the goats finish the job Loki checks in the armor, who is in it you ask? MOTHERFUCKING VOLSTAGG . He and Loki were in cahoots to help Thor…..He was controlling THE FUCKING DESTROYER ARMOR! (It’s magic, I don’t gotta explain shit).Volstagg tells Loki he don’t want to see him anymore because he feels he helped Loki kill Thor (No, man NOOOO! It was for the greater good!). So with that he leaves Loki be.

This is when the story makes you DAWWWWW, Volstagg barges into his own house surprising his kids (who all pile on to him at once). He tells them to gather ‘round for he has a story for them (at this time you get your ass all sorts of comfortable). The way Volstagg sums up everything is like one of the best children’s stories ever and it’s filled with….You know when your dad/caretaker would do a self insert story and they would be all strong/brave/perfect? This story has just that

Notice how he is all buff and shit.

I mean you know how The Worthy all had hammers in Fear Itself? LOL Oh Volstagg you so crazy

Then the kids find out about Thor’s demise, but they take it so well;_; i mean they are sad that he is well, dead. But they know he fought to save everyone. This whole issue was really touching (again, my opinion) and while Volstagg’s story isn‘t completely canon it is a really fun read…..This issue has become one of my personal favorites artistically and story wise. I REALLY recommend Journey into Mystery #630, so get your ass into a comfortable fuckin’ couch and put dat Snuggie on and read this.

Review: Swamp Thing-Dark Genesis TPB

Journey into Mystery #622-#628

Oh hey there little duckies Alex here and I will indulge you guys with a really good series that I particularly enjoyed. As many of you might hear from everyone (I am looking particularly at you Alicia) I am a big fan of Thor (my favorite Marvel character, everyone). And Journey into Mystery is a sort of continuation/tie in after Thor #621, so I decided why the hell not and began to read. Written by Kieron Gillen and amazing art by Dougie Braithwaite and Ulises Arreola, we start our review.

Back the fuck up! before we go into this any further you guys have to know a little about the past issues ; Loki sacrificed himself in order from keeping Asgard from being destroyed (by his own fault). After finding out about this, every Asgardian is relieved of this news except Thor. He misses his lil’ bro and decides to bring him back (Thor#616-617) Finds Loki’s reincarnated soul in the body of a street rat kid in France. Thor brings him back to Asgard to the dismay of the rest of the Aesir (Asgardians)

This part of the Thor saga continues after Thor#621. Now on to where Journey into Mystery begins issue #622 (and so far to issue #628), Loki is finding it hard to fit in with the rest of the Aesir with the whole “they think he is still super evil adult Loki”. With the exception of Thor who loves his brother. As I am sitting here listening to some Enslaved and reading Thor , I wonder to myself “Wow it can’t be any better than this” HOW WRONG I WAS it became so much better because of one reason

This magnificent bastard

Loki has been written to be mischievous but in the snaky/smartass/funny way. As the story progresses Journey into Mystery centers around Loki and how he tries to prove to Thor that he isn’t the same evil as fuck Loki as when he died. In one of these misadventures he speaks to an echo of his older self who tried to persuade kid Loki into being evil again where kid Loki was all “Get dat shit outta here”. For those who don‘t speak ugly it means he denounced his old evil ways. While reading these you see the shenanigans Loki gets into and begin to think he is back into his old self (“ANOTHER LIE I BET, DAMMIT LOKI” you will say).

When in turn Loki just throws a curveball at your face and you see he fixed like two things at the same time! “Loki what do you think you are doin- Oh DAYUM!” Was my reaction throughout most of these issues. Being a tie in for Fear Itself Loki finds out about the prophecy that “Thor will lose fighting against the Serpent” so Loki does what he does best…..He will try to stop that prophecy one way or another with a crazy plan. One of his insane ass plans has to do with tricking Mephisto and stopping a war between Hel and him just to distract them long enough to steal the shadow of Surtur’s sword?! What the shit?! Then he proceeds to steal the Destroyer armor and with a rag tag team consisting of Leah (consort to Hela), The Disir (Cursed undead soul eating Valkeryies) and the (also undead) god of war Tyr. Loki faces the Serpent head on and declares to “Come at me bro”

And that is it for the time being, this is the terribly condensed version of those issues and we just have to wait till later on this month for issue #629 of Journey into Mystery (which I can’t wait for) and if interested I can do a review for that issue too. As far as these issues go, I think they are a great story and it shows a more human sentimental side to Thor and Loki that has rarely been touched. So I would definitely recommend for Thor fans and regular readers alike.

Augmented Reality Polls: Who Could Beat Superman in a Fight?

In this segment, Mike Cervantes asks the patrons of EPCON 2011, who could beat Superman in a fight?

Cameras: David Tennessee, Edited by Ruben Rascon III

(c) 2011, Retro-Cam Productions, all rights reserved.

Augmented Reality Polls: Who was Your First Comic Crush?

In this installment, both Ruben Rascon and Mike Cervantes ask the quesiton, "Who was your first comic crush?" in this Poll at EPCON 2011.

Camearas: David Tennessee and Ruben Rascon III, Edited by Ruben Rascon III
(c) 2011, Retro-Cam Productions, all rights reserved.

Augmented Reality Podcast #3 "El Paso Comic-Con 2011" (9/11/11)

Augmented Reality Podcast - Episode #3 - ''El Paso Comic-Con 2011'' 09-11-11 by Sonic Man Network

In this installment of the Augmented Reality Podcast, Ruben Rascon, Alicia Bracken and Mike Cervantes discuss the joys and wonders of the El Paso Comic-Con at the El Paso Convention Center, with surprise guest, Julian Lawler of Broken Tree Comics!

(C) 2011, Augmented Reality Online Magazine, all rights reserved.

Punisher #1(2011) Review

By Mike The Fanboyable
August 20, 2011



Mike The Fanboyable here!! My first post here at Augmented Reality. Thanks , Alicia and Mike!! Hope I can make a significant mark among the excellent talent here!


About 12 years ago, Marvel relaunched its iconic justice-thirsty vigilante The Punisher, a.k.a. Frank Castle, with the very popular ongoing series that started with th 12-issue arc, "Welcome Back, Frank", which was written by Preacher-duo, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, with covers done by Tim Bradstreet, and its success launched other popular Punisher titles like The Punisher Max series. Now, as it happens when a decade has ran its course, a character like The Punisher needs to be rebooted, due to running out of ideas, like launching a title called Frankencastle(ugh), and try and rekindle an interest in the character after declining sales. This task has been handed now to writer Greg Rucka(Wolverine, Gotham Central), and artist Marco Chechetto(Squadron Supreme, Daredevil) on The Punisher.



In this first issue, the story opens with a 5-page sequence with no dialogue, in which, at a wedding, the bride and groom are massacred, along with many other guests, by a pack of armed men. We are then introduced to two recently partnered detectives who are investigating the mass wedding shooting, Walter Bolt and Oscar Clemons. Bolt and Clemons are persuing some leads, but so is Frank Castle, via an inside source.

In the next half of the issue, we see a then-Officer Bolt being interviewed by a detective as he's been promoted for "supposedly" taking out a group of mobsters by himself. Hmm? What really happened? You have to see for yourselves.

I thought this was a very effective entry of The Punisher for this new re-launch. Rucka handles The Punisher in this issue in such a way that he seems like a force of nature. He's barely seen, and this creates a sense of mystery around the character. Rucka, rather gives the spotlight to Bolt and Clemons, as each has his own problems. This aspect gives an appropriate "Seven"-type vibe.

Checchetto art is fluid and brings effective shadowy strokes giving the story a gloomy atmosphere. His style is perfect for this type of grounded story.


I'm very much looking foreward to this series. Rucka and Checchetto so far seem to understand how to make Frank Castle work, and keep him fresh with readers. It's out now. Don't miss it.

3.5 out of 5.