Star Wars Comics Reviews

Ok so I recently started reading some Star Wars comics. I've acquired a ton of miniseries, trades, and complete series from various friends and family and as I read them (in chronological, not necessarily publication, order), I will be doing reviews for all who may be interested. For instance, I have started with the trade "The Golden Age of the Sith" from the "Tales of the Jedi" series. At the point at which these comics were lent to me, this was the earliest point in any Star Wars fiction. However, since that time, a new series "Dawn of the Jedi" which takes place about 10,000 years before that has started up. Yeesh! So anyway, I may or may not get around to reading that one eventually, but right now what I'm reading lies between "Tales of the Jedi" and "Legacy", and with the exception of "Knight Errant" and "Dark Times", I won't be reading anything from any series currently in print. Until I'm done with this daunting heap of material, that is.

Now, I just finished "The Golden Age of the Sith" last night so look for my review coming some time this weekend.

Wrestlemania XXVIII Review

All right. Let's kick off this new blog with a review of the biggest sports-entertainment event of the year, Wrestlemania!
I'll start with my expectations of the event. In general, I was pretty excited about the card. With the exception of the Divas' match, and probably the Orton/Kane match, I was looking forward to just about every matchup. My most anticipated matches of the night were Rhodes/Big Show, the HUGE GM vs GM tag match, and obviously Taker/HHH III and Rock/Cena. I meant to kick off this blog last week with my 'Mania picks, but I'm a notorious procrastinator, so let's get on with the recap.

MATCH #1: Sheamus defeats Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship

Or should I put "match" in quotes? I mean, seriously. What a joke. Kicking off Wrestlemania with, basically, a squash? But it wasn't even a squash. Is there a pro wrestling term for an 18 second title match? I'm sure there is.
At first, I thought this was hilarious and awesome. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was the first Wrestlemania for these two very talented performers. I'm not too big on Sheamus, but for someone who the company seems to want to push as a star, this was an odd move.
I like Daniel Bryan and I think he deserved more for his first Wrestlemania. It was funny and unexpected, but still.

MATCH #2: Kane defeats Randy Orton

That was pretty unexpected, and almost a good way to make up for a pretty boring match. Talk about your slow-paced wrestling. All along, I thought this was just a pointless feud they forced Orton into to get him booked at 'Mania, and therefor would be a pretty cut-and-dry good defeats evil sort of thing. But maybe they're doing something with Kane's whole "transformation" thing after all?
Whatever they're planning, the match was still boring. No RKO? (No, the one from the top rope doesn't count.)

MATCH #3: The Big Show defeats Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship

Let me start here by saying that I really love the retro IC belt and I hope Show keeps it around. I never liked the new oval-ish design. And while I'm at it, let me say that I used to really dislike Rhodes. When he first started, he was just bland, but since they thankfully canned his "undashing" gimmick, he's been able to actually develop a personality and is now one of my favorites. Yes, I'm at that age where I like the bad guys more than the good guys. The Miz is another one of my favorites, but we'll talk about him later.
So anyway, the setup for Big Show to win this match was pretty transparent. I had kinda noticed that he had never won at Wrestlemania a couple years ago, but didn't really think anything of it. But since they made such a big deal out of it, of course he was going to win.
This was one of my most anticipated matchups, just because, as I said before, I really like Rhodes. The two put on a decent match, but it wasn't really anything special.

MATCH #4: Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos defeat Beth Phoenix and Eve

I hate Divas matches.

MATCH #5: The Undertaker defeats Triple H

I couldn't believe they put this one on so early. I figured this would be the second-to-last before the obvious headliner. Other than that, it was a pretty great match, HBK's overacting not withstanding.
This really might as well have not even been a Cell match. They hardly used the cage walls offensively, or did anything they couldn't have done in a hardcore :ahem: excuse me, "extreme rules" match.
This match didn't really keep me on the edge of my seat as much as last year's match did. I never really believed HHH was going to win, except maybe when he ate a Sweet Chin Music and a Pedigree at the same time. But even then, I knew Taker would kick out. When he finally did win, I expected HBK to either do a slow count or maybe stop counting after 2, but he went right to 3 and Taker went to 20 and 0. Well done, sir.
A few side notes on this match:
What was up with Cole's stupid statistic that Triple H had never lost a match wherein Shawn Michaels was the guest referee? Because that's happened, like, twice? Whereas Taker had never lost in NINETEEN Wrestlemania matches.
Taker's mohawk. Weird. I joked with the guys I was watching the show with that he would say "I have cancer!" Not a laughing matter, I know.
The send off/group hug thing at the end was great. Just a classic respectful moment. A lot of people are saying they think this was Taker's last match, but I think they would have made that a big deal if it were true, also it wouldn't have been a mid-card match. I think he'll go for at least the lucky 21-0 before hanging it up. He also might want to make it to WM30. We'll see.

MATCH #6: Team Johnny defeats Team Teddy

I was surprised they had the balls to let the bad guy win here. I guess they actually realized it's more entertaining to have a bad guy in charge. I really hope this whole "GM of both shows" is leading to the dropping of the whole facade of brand extension and possibly even a world championship re-unification. The WHC is pretty pointless now that superstars are moving more freely between Raw and SmackDown. Sure, there's some guys who only do one or the other, but Raw has really become the main show.
Anyway, the match itself was pretty meh. I can't believe we didn't see a Spinaroonie. I want my money back!!
I'm glad the Miz got the winning decision. As i said, he's one of my favorites. Also, I'm glad he got it over Zack Ryder, who is definitely one of my least favorites I was pretty much tuned out of wrestling during his whole "internet champion" thing, but still, the guy does nothing for me. Woo woo woo. Shut up. Glad Eve kicked you in the nutskis.

MATCH #7: CM Punk defeats Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Championship

This was a pretty great technical wrestling match. I've always been a fan of Jericho and I was happy to see him back at Wrestlemania. That being said, I can't believe this match ended the way it did. Jericho tapping when he had an entire arm free to pull hair or punch Punk in the face or SOMETHING. Jericho has been around for a long time and I thought he deserved more than the cliche "arrogant bad guy taps out" angle.
Oh, and, CM Punk is another guy that does nothing for me. He's pretty good on the mic, but his personality just bores me most of the time.

DANCE NUMBER: Brodus Clay calls his momma!

This was awesome. I knew they would find some way to shoehorn the Funkasaurus into the show. Hopefully, they'll actually throw this guy into a real feud some time soon.
The thing I really just love about Brodus Clay is that this is a guy who went from zero personality to a charisma machine in just a matter of months. It's awesome to finally see some gimmicks back in wrestling, but the squashes are getting old. I've noticed his matches are getting slightly longer and ever so slightly less one-sided each time, but let's go WWE. Give the big guy a feud!

MATCH #8: The Rock defeats John Cena

HELL YES he does. I, along with most of the WWE universe, was pretty fearful that the Rock was going to have to job to Cena in a feeble attempt to get Cena over. Maybe the WWE finally realized that if Cena isn't completely over by now, it's not going to happen. If you like Cena, then you like him and that's fine. I don't. That being said, I almost feel like, at this point, a Cena heel turn is pretty pointless. The only thing I don't like about him being a face is that for years, they just carried on as if everyone loved him, and it wasn't until the Rock came back that the writers finally acknoledged the fact that at least 60% of the fans on any given night boo the crap out of him. Knowing the WWE as of late, all the talk of Cena calling this a must win, and talking about how the Rock would have to kill him to beat him, and about how Cena would be "God damned" if he let the Rock win will all be for nothing and he'll come out on Raw tonight and say "Wow the Rock beat me. I give it to him. He's a great competitor. I know I said all that forboding stuff about needing to win, but nevermind. I'm not going to overreact to anything because I'm the most even-keeled and incorroptable superstar in WWE history." I hate Cena. He's a great guy, and I liked him when he first came out all the way until he won his first WWE Championship at WM21, but then he didn't lose a match for 10 months and the whole invincible good guy thing got a little old. Glad he lost. It was only right.

Overall, this was a pretty great show, and certainly much better than last year's effort. A good mix of veterans and newcomers, as well as a few surprising results, kept me entertained from start to finish. Make sure you catch Raw tonight for all the aftermath.