This was a really nice, dark, twisted, surprise.

This is all about Doctor Octopus life and how he started as a kid who was bullied to become the monster he becomes. The thing is, this is much more horror approach than I expected. He starts as a dude bullied, but so was Peter, but instead of focusing on a better future becomes bitter. With mother issues, failed experiments, and just becoming outright insane, this tale takes a few dark twist I didn't see coming.

I'll say this, I loved Peter here. While he was only in part of it, watching him fight Doc Oct the first time was horrifying. It was also great to see how brutal Doctor Octopus can be when he fully unleashed. The art was different but worked in a lot of ways. I thought the ending was dark and sad but worked. Overall, almost everything worked here.

I really dug this. A 4 out of 5.

Figured these are on Hoopla so let me read em. Finally got to volume 2. Any good? Well...

This story mostly takes place when the boys are in Jail. You know, between season 3 and 4 of the TV show. Samcro owe a lot of money to the Russians. Now they go after everyone, including Jax, and of course the family on the outside. It's basically like two episodes of Sons of anarchy fused into one with a little bit of a plot of another character for one issue.

Overall, it's pretty solid. The art is good enough to know who is who. Brisson has the voice down for all of these characters. It moves at a good pace. The thing is, it's just not amazing or anything new. Just a good episode of the show, and so a good comic. A 3 out of 5.

THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN AMERICA!

So you remember that amazing issue where Cap was shot in the belly by his lover, Agent 13? And then we had Bucky trying his best to be the new Cap the next 20 or so issues. It was a pretty great death. But come on, this is comics, and nothing is how it seems.

How does Cap come back you ask? Well, what if he wasn't shot with a regular pistol but a MAGIC gun! And instead of being dead...you're stuck in a loop of your best and worst memories. That's what has been happening to Cap. Just reliving his past so you get to see all the horrible things they had to go through. At that time Sharon remembers everything and wants to bring him back. So Falcon, her, and Bucky do their best to make this plan in motion.

This was...good. I didn't love it if I'm being honest. The fights are fun enough, the ending with Cap coming back is great, Bucky getting captured is a lot of fun but the rest feels a bit fluffy? Red Skull isn't all that interesting here. Overall, it was good, the art is good, and there's great moments, but overall it's just good. A 3 out of 5.

Well...just about what I expect from Azzarello on anything other than Wonder Woman.

Batman starts off hurt and of course the rest of the story just jumps around. The timeline on this story actually is really confusing. Batman is hurt, then rescued by a friend, but then random cameos that are oversexulized and a rapper version of a real big villain in the DC Lore and...you know what? This story sucks. I wasn't a fan of Joker, but this is in the same vain, with more cursing, and not all that interesting.

Overall, besides some amazing art, this isn't worth reading. A 2 out of 5.

Matthew Rosenberg transitions his Frank from out the Warmachine armor and into the fray of Hydra and all the villains they can use to kill him.

This really is world war frank. After Frank kills a major villain we have him being hunted by Zemo and Hydra and every B-list and C-List villain around. This is basically a high speed chase of Punisher trying to escape villains while also blowing people up and murdering. On top of that you get some big team ups, and a screwed up ending.

I really enjoyed this. Listen, Punisher doesn't have major depth. So if you give me some amazing set pieces, some funny moments, brutal kills, and great pacing you got my vote. Matthew hits all of that and it's fun from start to end. I'll be picking up the next volume, a 4 out of 5.

Monster continues to be really interesting.

This volume feels more episodic in a way. It's broken into two major storylines and both fill like they'd fill about 2 episodes of anime. The first is our main hero, Dr. Tenma, trying to help a young boy from being taken by a fucking psycho. The next would be Tenma and the boy traveling to the country side and saving someone. Last arc doesn't have much to do with Tenma, but a ton to do with a old lover, and how she'll be on the hunt for him too.

All the moving pieces here are interesting. What Urasawa does so well is give us a huge cast yet it's easy to follow who is who. Each storyline presented, even if not fully complete, is interesting. The slow build is pushed a bit quicker this volume and things move quicker. The art is still great as well.

There's not much negative I could say about this other than it feels a bit filler at parts, but in the best possible way. I can't wait to read more. A 4.5 out of 5.

Zemo Zemo Zemo, you are a fun little asshole aren't you.

So what happens when Zemo decides to out Bucky. Let the whole world know who Captain America is? Not too bad except for the fact he also targets Bucky and all his friends in an attack. On top of that he lets the world know of all of Caps crimes, making Bucky go freaking insane. This is basically a lead up to the trails of Captain America.

It was a lot of fun seeing Zemo get ahead of Bucky almost at every turn. I also enjoy Bucky motivation and style as it's very different from Steve. Also was cool to see Steve, Bucky, Falcon, and Natasha all working together. Oh and the art was pretty damn solid. The ending was kind of a letdown though.

Overall, really solid volume. Probably my favorite in awhile. A 3.5 out of 5, but I'll bump it to a 4.

Well...that was dark.

This is a simple story of two parents trying to get their shit straight. One was a thief who broke in to houses, and one was a druggie, but both stopped after having their daughter. Everything is going well, in terms of not acting on their impulses for a couple of years, but like all depressing stories one mistake snowballs into huge events about murder and loss.

I don't like to give any spoilers for this one because it's as dark as can be, but it works almost the whole time. The dialogue is tight and realistic, a sad portrayal of modern life and a struggle to do the right thing. Plenty of twist and turns on the way. It played it a little safe in terms of the twist for me but it was still well done.

This is a solid dark crime story. A 4 out of 5.

Pretty fun episode of Sons if it was placed inbetween season 4 and 5. Too tired to write a whole review though. A 3 out of 5.