Batman: Rebirth #1

* Standalone Issue *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: Batman: Rebirth! I’m going to see what the 2016 DC Rebirth reboot version of Batman is made of. I trust that he is taut with sexy, rippling muscles and is ready, willing, and able to bone every chick on this side of the stinky Gotham River.

Will I finally get to see one of Alfred’s famous orgies? God, I hope not!


Batman: Rebirth, Issue #1 [August, 2016]
Written by: Scott Snyder / Tom King
“Batman: Rebirth”

Batman: Rebirth, Issue #1

Speaking of Alfred, my dude is picking bumpy green fruit in the backyard when his cellphone from 2002 rings, indicating that someone just rang the doorbell. Technology!

“Hi. I’m here about the offer?” says a somewhat meek individual of the Black persuasion. This is on a Monday. It is spring. Why these two things matter, I do not know yet, but the scene suddenly shifts to Batman fighting a guy wielding two giant machine guns. He looks like a crash test dummy with Roman numerals tattooed around the circumference of his ugly, bald head. It’s Calendar Man, whom I was introduced to back in Batman: The Long Halloween. There’s something about spores and how the calendar keeps cycling and cycling. Batman knocks Calendar Man out cold and focuses on the spores. The damnable spores.

“Alfred. Max charge. If the spores get out, everyone dies! Max charge! Do it!”

A little lightning bolt forms between Batman’s bat ears. He screams and electricity flows and pulses around him in a blue haze.

Now it’s Tuesday. It’s summer. We see those taut, sexy, rippling Bruce Wayne muscles while Lucius Fox tries to talk to him on the helipad. “Mister Wayne, when it’s 137 degrees in Gotham without a hint of a breeze… tradition usually holds that one schedules meetings inside.”

Tradition?! Pah!

Batman: Rebirth

But sir, your fear of heights!

Lucius Fox, sweating in his $5,000 suit, pulls some papers out of a briefcase. “Through some very traditional accounting and legal maneuvers, I have managed to uncouple the Wayne family funds from the government’s lien,” he says, which sounds like some billionaire-gaming-the-system shit to me. “I’ll just need you to sign some papers, and your fortune and your company are yours again.”

Bruce swings around like some fool diseased monkey and asks Lucius exactly how many times he has lost his company only to have it saved. How many times? 2? 10? “Too many, Mister Wayne,” Lucius responds looking quite sweaty and gross. Then he launches into a thing about Bruce’s dad being a doctor and thinking that it’s crazy that someone who gets driven crazy by being a doctor is a doctor. Here’s what Bruce’s dad said, and it stuck with Lucius: “Sonny boy, just wear a sombrero and laugh your problems away!”

Actually, he said this: “You’re right, Lucius. I am crazy. But the sick need someone crazy enough to believe they can be better. So what else could I be?”

*dons sombrero*

It’s Wednesday. It’s fall. Calendar Man is behind this weird daily season change. “He’s speeding up the seasons by some hidden mechanism,” Bruce surmises as he puts on his cowl. “Tomorrow the temperature will drop. Then rise. He must have hidden spores around the city. They’ll hatch on Thursday with the coming of Spring. He’ll never talk, either. We need to go.”

This all sounds very sane. The young Black man who rang the doorbell earlier asks Bruce what the hell he’s doing here in his elaborate technological nightmare of a Batcave. “That’s up to you,” Bruce answers enigmatically. The young man wonders if he should stay until his parents are better. Bruce is like “yeah, whatever”. This kid thinks he’s going to be the new Robin, but Batman has other plans for him.

Batman: Rebirth

The yellow will really bring out your eyes.

At least he doesn’t have to run around looking like stupid Robin. The young man is intrigued…

It’s Thursday. It’s winter. “I need you to count. Oxygen tank’s useless in water this temperature. Freezes the main valve. With lots of cold and no air, I should have about four minutes before my heart gives out. If I can’t find and disable Calendar’s machine in those four minutes, the machine’ll turn the city back to spring again. All those spores will activate. And Gotham dies. So I need you to count.”

Will do, Mr. Batman, sir! One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Montana. LOL! Sorry, boss. Where was I? Oh yeah? Uh…

I forgot to set the scene! Batman is diving deep into frigid waters. Down, down, down. It takes five minutes and forty-one seconds to get to the giant underwater machine, which causes New-Robin to flip the fuck out. “Your body can’t take this!” he screams through Batman’s earpiece. “You need to come up! Forget the spores! Forget the damn weather machine! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!”

Yeah, die like a fox. Batman takes a bomb out of his pocket and secures it to the machine. New-Robin calls the whole situation insane as the blast from the bomb blows Batman out of the water and right into the helicopter waiting for him 400 feet in the air. “It’s done,” he says without a hint of damage to his lungs or rectum.

It’s Friday. It’s spring. A dried-up dead husk of a Calendar Man lies on the ground like a puckered prune. Then a hand suddenly emerges from the mouth. Then an arm. Then a whole dang nude body. A new Calendar Man, shedding his skin like a snake. Ladies and gentlemen, can we share a big “WTF”?

Bruce Wayne and New-Robin are spending their afternoon kicking trees. “He’s back,” New Robin reports. “Right about now, he’s… hatching. I was looking at the file on him.”

Batman: Rebirth

This sounds very made up, New-Robin. You’re making all this up. Go to bed without dinner.

Bruce smiles as New-Robin explains this horrific Calendar Man ritual.

“He comes back better every time,” exclaims New-Robin. “How are we supposed to combat that?”

“Easy,” says Bruce. “We come back better each time, too.”

Alfred drops two avocado halves down a hole. The bats eat it. The issue ends.

Final Thoughts

IT IS UNCLEAR TO ME THE NATURE OF THE SPORES. Why spores? What do spores have to do with killing the entire city? What does Calendar Man have against the fine citizens of Gotham anyway? Maybe I should read through the issue again.

Nah, fuck it. The spores are evil and dangerous. I’ll take the issue’s word for it.

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3 – “Learning to Crawl (Part 3)”

* Part 3 of 5 of the Learning to Crawl storyline *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3 – “Learning to Crawl (Part 3)”! In the previous installment, Clayton Cole becomes Clash, the nerdiest superhero since that spider kid. Clash tries to pay Spider-Man to take a fall in a fight against him, but Spider-Man shoots him with webs and says “not today”.

Peter Parker is still skipping school to perform circus acts for money, and Aunt May opens his room to discover a heinous secret!

I wonder what it could be? Poop smeared on the walls? Is Peter some sort of disgusting pervert? Serious lol if true


Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3 [September, 2014]
Written by: Dan Slott
“Learning to Crawl (Part 3)”

Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3

Clayton is on his computer trying to make his Clashiness go viral. After all, he’s the one who recorded the Crusher Hogan fight and made Spider-Man a superstar in the first place! If he could do it for Spider-Man, then he can do it for himself.

(spoiler alert: he won’t)

It’s because he’s reviewing the footage of their fight and it’s just a bunch of Spider-Man making Clash look like an absolute fucking loser. “I can’t use any of this,” he complains, gritting his teeth. “CAN’T USE ANY OF IT!”

Clayton’s mom knocks on his door and tells him to knock it off with the yellin’ and the screamin’. He uses SCIENCE to create a sound bubble around himself and continues blasting his Tegan and Sara while he seethes and rants to himself. “I worshipped him! I did everything for him! And this’s how he repays me?! How could he be such a jerk!…” yada yada yada. And lo’, an enemy has been created. Tough titties, Spidey.

Speaking of the devil, Peter Parker comes home at like 4am to find his bedroom door unlocked and open. Oh no! Did he leave buckets of web spooge all over the place? Or, eek, his costume? If Aunt May were to find out she would blow a cow.

“Peter, we need to talk,” says Aunt May who is sitting in Peter’s room waiting.

Peter Parker Poops his Pickled Pants. “Aunt May?”

“I know what you’ve been up to. Out all hours. Your sullen mood. The odd behavior.”

Peter gibbers for a spell, then Aunt May accuses him of cooking and selling drugs. The room smells like formaldehyde and there’s a fat wad of cash in an envelope. “Don’t lie to me, Peter.”

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3

Yeah, that’s right. Believe what I’m saying, you dumb old lady.

This is the part where I lol if Peter is like “you got me, Auntie. I’m selling the drugs!” in order to keep his identity a secret. Peter smiles suspiciously and makes up some story about finding it under the back door. He may as well say he found a big sack of money with a dollar sign on it.

“And the chemicals?” May asks. Peter calls it junk, and then backpedals and says it’s for science experiments to prepare for the… uh… big science fair! $10,000 prize, Auntie! We can afford a real funeral for Uncle Ben now and get his rotting corpse out of your closet!

Peter shows her a little bit of the special Spider-Man web fluid. “See? This isn’t drugs. It’s a new super-adhesive I’ve been working on. Sticks anything to… well, anything.”

Aunt May is relieved that her delinquent nephew isn’t huffing paint thinner. Peter considers submitting his web junk to the science fair, but then J. Jonah Jameson would have his ass carted to maximum security prison after putting two and two together. “Man, my life’s become a big ol’ mess lately, hasn’t it?” he thinks. Aw, shucks.

The Big Science Fair Is Upon Us! Parker’s geeky AV club friends are setting up their ant farms and their exploding toilets when they notice Clayton in the corner strumming on a guitar. Polly, one of the geeky science dweeby Dungeons & Dragons nerds, approaches Clayton to compliment his playing. Clayton is like “AHHH, A GIRL!”

After some uncomfortable pseudo-flirting, Clayton explains his polyphonic “science rock” music which causes every vagina in the room to dry up and shrivel. They start talking about superheroes and how they’re showing up everywhere lately. “I was into Spider-Man for a while. Now not so much,” he says darkly. He then invites Polly to check out his booth on Saturday where he’ll be superheroing or something. He’ll probably kill a few people by accident. Should be fun!

Parker still doesn’t have a good idea for the science fair and it starts in, like, an hour. He overhears some kids in class talking about wanting to see a close-up photo of the vulture, but no one has been able to snap a good shot. This gives him an idea!

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3

It contains 43 gigbytes of pictures of Uncle Ben’s penis that you should probably delete.

He wriggles into his Spider-Man onesie and hits the town looking for the Vulture to snap some real boss photos for the front page of the newspaper! Should be easy, right? The Vulture is 100 years old, he doesn’t move very fast anymore. Maybe he’ll catch him laying an egg.

Then Vulture swoops down and steals Spidey’s camera. Ha!

So he tries some sort of body cam, the kind that they show as evidence when some cop beats the shit out of a black kid for buying Biggie fries at Wendy’s. He gets some impossible shots of himself fighting Vulture close-up. J. Jonah Jameson salivates over them when Parker brings them in. “With pictures like these I can almost stand living in the city with Spider-Man!” he jubilates. Peter’s got a job now with the Daily Bugle (cleaning toilets) and now he can afford to buy Aunt May the best colostomy bag on the market! Huzzah!

It’s Actually Science Fair Time Now. Peter Parker has made an anti-magnet that makes forks hover. The judges are not impressed, and Parker’s nerdlinger friends are embarrassed.

Aunt May is there to support Peter and she meets his friends. Friends! Imagine that! “Oh my! Peter never told me he had a friend who was a girl,” Aunt May says after meeting Polly, which makes Peter’s testicles jump up into his throat. May asks Polly if she likes beef stew. All this diversion allows Clayton to sneak around the fair looking quite fishy…

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.3

Yo, it’s a pepper grinder, bitch.

Aunt May decides to embarrass Peter further by scoping out Mr. Flannigan and leaving the two lovebirds to talk about sex or whatever it is kids talk about these days. Peter shows Polly his stupid anti-magnetic dildo while she points out how everyone in the fair is dressed like a superhero that is apt to their project. The kid in the Thing costume has a rock collection. The kid in the Mr. Fantastic costume is showing the magic of rubber. And so on and so forth.

The action is halted by the sounds of SONIC-BLAST BOOTS! Clash enters the room! “Ears out, true believers! Get ready to give it up for… CLASH, THE SUPERSTAR OF SOUND!”

Parker is irate. This buttfucker again? Jumpin’ jeepers, sir, he could hurt someone! Especially senile old ladies with pots full of beef stew! Parker swings around the corner and rips off his clothes revealing a flaccid little… um, Spidey suit. “Better take him out – fast!”

Polly grabs a few photos of the floating superhero before Spidey swoops in and kicks Clash in the head. This is the last straw for Clash; NO ONE KICKS CLASH IN THE HEAD! “See how you like it!” Clash yells as he sends a sonic blast toward Spidey, knocking him backward into several tables of displays.

Fighting ensues. Walls and ceilings crumble. Mr. Flannigan gets bonked on the head with a rock and Aunt May calls both of them monsters! Monsters! Spider-Man is about to cry, but he catches a giant rock that almost crushes Aunt May into a pulpy mess of squirting intestines and dog bones. Suddenly, Spidey gets an idea. “This may not win me the science fair…” he thinks, grabbing the anti-magnet whozits, “…but it’ll win me this fight.”

He turns on the device and magnetically wipes Clash’s suit-hard drive full of sound files and child pornography. Uh oh! Clash knows when he’s beaten and tries to scramble out of the building while Spidey continues to hold onto the giant rock. After making sure that Aunt “Scared of Spider-Man Forever” May is clear, he drops the rock and leaps out a window.

“Mrs. Parker,” says a bleeding Mr. Flannigan. “Spider-Man saved us.”

“What he did, Mr. Flannigan, is put us all in danger,” she rebuts. “He’s a hooligan. A thug.”

Strong words coming from a shriveled up old peanut of a woman.

Peter Parker enters the room all “hey guys what’s goin’ on?” and goes to comfort Aunt May, who thanks “the lord”. Clayton enters the room now disappointed in the production. “Darn it, I was going to unmask at the end of the presentation… and let everyone see that Clash was really Clayton Cole.” And it’s all Spider-Man’s fault again!

Right. And everyone would’ve been like “who are you, dingus?”

Later at home, Aunt May is still ranting about that Spider-Man ne’er-do-well. Peter tries to tell her that he’s sure he was just trying to help, but Aunt May will hear none of it! “Whoever raised him, wherever they are right now… I pity them. They must feel so ashamed.”

lmao

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t have thought we would be witness to a kid more pathetic than Peter Parker, but here we have it. This Clash kid is a real dud. Go rock the casbah somewhere else, dud.

Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491 – “The Freedom of Madness!”

* Part 14 of 14 of the Batman: Prelude to Knightfall event *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491 – “The Freedom of Madness!”! In the previous installment of the Prelude to Knightfall story, the Riddler was all like “hee hee hee, I’m the Riddler!” and a) almost blew up Gotham, and b) almost poisoned Gotham. So he was a busy boy. Batman stopped his evil antics even though he’s a squishy, gibbering mess these days. Someone needs to give that guy a Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Bane is going to bust the Joker out of Arkham Asylum and he’ll probably do some blowing up and poisoning of his own.

And this is the last issue of Prelude to Knightfall! Knightfall hasn’t even started yet! Shit’s about to go down and I’m “here for it”.


Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491 [April, 1993]
Written by: Doug Moench
“The Freedom of Madness!”

Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491

“VRRRRRRRRRRR”

“Hey, what’s that–? Over there!”

“I don’t know, man… but it’s comin’ this way…”

“Halt! Identify yourself!”

“VRRRRRRRRRRR”

So, like, a squashy-faced smiling man with a ponytail is controlling a really shoddy robot who starts attacking with its grabby-claw arms. The two armed men who say “Whuzzat” and “It’s coming to get us ahhhhhh” start shooting bullets at the mechanical “monstrosity” who looks like R2D2 with a shinier chrome polish. It doesn’t stop the robot. The guards run away from this Erector Set motherfucker, and now Bane and his goons are clear to enter the room.

“Load all the weapon crates you can…” says Bane. “But don’t forget the stingers.”

I’m not up on the hip weapons-stealing lingo, but I think he’s referring to bees? He’s definitely talking about bees.

Back at police headquarters, Harvey Weinstein, or whatever his name is, stuffs his beefy fat face with pizza. The pizza looks like the cheese has been sprayed on with a Windex bottle. He happily reports to Commissioner Gordon that a whole bunch of really awful and dangerous weapons had been lifted from some warehouse that specializes in storing really awful and dangerous weapons. No one was hurt, but someone will assuredly be hurt within the next few pages!

“You think those munitions were stolen for domestic use, Montoya?”

“With that M.O., Commissioner, I don’t know what to think,” says Montoya. Montoya is Harvey’s partner. She looks more competent than Harvey who continues wolfing down his sloppy-ass pizza. Gordon furrows his already-well-furrowed brow. Looks like he has to find some rogue weapons on top of his already tall order of solving every crime that has ever happened in the city! A police commissioner’s job is never done well. I mean… done. Never done.

Meanwhile, Bane’s going to launch nukes and BB pellets at Arkham Asylum. Who are they going to free from their padded prison cell first? How about this green-haired loser? The one who looks like the child-molesting clown from Bane’s fourth birthday party?

Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491

But at least he keeps his hair combed. Probably with some product in there, too? Old Spice pomade, maybe?

While Bane plans on hitting the Joker’s cell with a wrench, Robin is giving Jean-Paul a haircut. The dude is starting to unnerve Robin a little bit. First he ditches his glasses for contact lenses, and now he wants his hair short? Like a man? What gives? And then he wants to hit the gym? You’re moving too fast, pal. Let’s start by waking up before 2pm.

Bane and Co. stand outside at a reasonable distance from the asylum. The blueprints have told them where Joker’s cell is, and Joker’s cell they intend to blow up. How’s this for a Rube Goldberg device: they tie a balloon to a bird, who flies over to the cell. Bane then shoots the balloon with a fucking assault rifle, and the balloon contains a bomb, and the bomb hits the building, and then there’s a “BAMM BAOUMM”, and then Dr. Arkham is like “GHAHTAGTHBA”.

Success! Joker has been not-killed and is now happily shooting guards with his giant, comical gun. Then he cranks a giant, comical switch and all the cell doors swing open. “FREE! YOU’RE ALL FREE!” he exclaims while sticking his hand in his pants and jerking off tenderly. More guards get shot and killed. More inmates escape. Bane arranges for a payload of crates to be dropped from a helicopter. “GUNNNNS!” shriek the inmates with unbridled joy. By now the police have arrived, but the impossibly executed damage has already been done!

The Joker has cornered Dr. Arkham in his office. Time for a good ol’-fashioned hostage situation! Too bad the Batsignal has been blaring for about 45 hours now with no sign of the masked vigilante. “With any luck, he’s already heard about the Arkham riot – halfway there by now.”

Nope! Batman is eating chili in his underpants while Robin wonders from the privacy of his own child-sized bedroom why the Batsignal went out. Suddenly, Batman calls from his Batmobile (pink sedan) to tell Robin that he’s on his way. Robin is concerned that Bruce is still sick with stress-flu and that he should stay in bed. Before he expresses this concern, Batman tells Robin to cork it and he’s off the phone.

Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491

Kill me with that gun and two more Dr. Arkham’s will take my place!

Joker is taunting Dr. Arkham with scary words and giant pistols while the useless police see the Batguy streak through the sky. Bane and his crew also see this hero-who-always-saves-the-day. Bane is confident that he will not save the day, but his mulleted best friend tells him to be wary of the Bat. His turds are poisonous, you know. Plus, the rabies.

Batman enters the ruined building. “Even if he could stop them, he won’t,” observed Bane through binoculars. “He will choose the saving of lives over the apprehension of killers. He always does.”

They got his number, all right. Batman wastes time checking the pulse of some obviously dead guards. Joker continues giving Dr. Arkham the old psychological horror tactic. He tells him that he stinks and that his whole operation stinks! The tactical team outside spends their time wondering what weapons were used to blow up the walls. I grab another bowl of cereal.

By now, Commissioner Gordon is talking to the mayor. Gordon assures the pinstriped mayor that all manner of forces have been dispatched. Mayor Pinstripe asks if anyone has been trained to splatter Joker’s brains all over the walls. Gordon is like “uhm, no” and the mayor is livid. He ran on a law and order platform, and over Dick Wolf’s grave is he going to look the fool! Gordon grits his teeth and reminds this disheveled crook of a mayor that he ran unopposed. Things will be done Gordon’s way or the highway, and if that means that his team is armed with Super Soakers then so be it!

Joker tells Dr. Arkham that he will enjoy the freedom of madness once he gets his skull shattered and loaded with madness juice. “Trust me! Madness is the only freedom – and all the madness once restrained under your strict control will soon be free to run WILLLD! HA HA HA HA HA!”

That was the Joker talking. You can tell because the string of “HAs”.

Batman pulls the switch and locks Joker in the cell. Bane and Co. start launching missiles at the tactical teams’ trucks. The inmates keep shooting their newly-acquired guns. Pandemonium reigns supreme. A wall gets blown up that allows Joker to leave the building while Batman attempts to free the Good Doctor.

But at what cost?

With all the inmates freed, Gordon does a big “God Help Us” while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Batman has failed yet again!

Batman (Vol. 1), Issue #491

lmao

Final Thoughts

This guy is just no fuckin’ good at his job! Just comic book after comic book, issue after issue of Batman beating himself up over failing to save a girl from drowning, or failing to save a dude from jumping off of a building, or getting his zipper caught in his penis like Ben Stiller.

That’s enough of the Prelude to Knightfall collection. Next is Knightfall proper, and we’re going to assuredly see a lot more penis zippers. You can take that to the bank.

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn

Star Wars Storytime Disclaimer: There will be spoilers. If you’re even remotely interested in this book and you haven’t read it, or if you’ll be mad if you accidentally read any possible spoilers about it, I’m going to chalk it up to “not my fucking problem”. You have been warned. Also, this is a feature about reading. You came here to read about books, so pictures in these posts will be scarce. Be an adult.

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
by Drew Karpyshyn

Publication Date:
September 26, 2006

Timeframe:
1003 – 1000 BBY

Synopsis:
Once the Sith Order teemed with followers. But their rivalries divided them in endless battles for supremacy. Until one dark lord at last united the Sith in the quest to enslave the galaxy—and exterminate the Jedi. Yet it would fall to another, far more powerful than the entire Brotherhood of Darkness, to ultimately realize the full potential of the Sith, and wield the awesome power of the dark side as never before.

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

GUEST REVIEW!

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Special guest reviewer Davey “Shovel Head” Pawlowski!

How’s it hangin’, butt cunts? Don’t call me “Shovel Head”. Only my mom can call me “Shovel Head”.

Let me start by saying what a pleasure it is to review Darth Bane: Path of Destruction!!! HAAA!!!! JUST KIDDING, PUBE NUGGETS!!! I HATE READING!!! I had to read this for school when Mr. Potts (MORE LIKE MR. POOPS!!) told us to pick a banned book for our report project and I rifled through my friend Aidan’s collection of nerd shit and I picked a book with a white guy on the cover. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT STAR WARS BOOKS WERE BANNED FROM OUR SCHOOL!!! Mr. Poops gave me a fucking D- and told my I was supposed to read something like Catch-22 or that book where they lynch the black guy or the one where the kids eat each other on the island!! IT TOOK ME FOUR MONTHS TO READ DARTH BANE!!! AND IT SUCKED!!! Fuck you, Mr. Poops, you shit-ass cracker!!!

Path of Destruction is about a guy who works in the stinky mines on the Planet Whatever. He hates his job and his dad whooped his ass on the regular and he beats people up for fun!! He bites off another dude’s thumb within the first 15 pages, so I was like “COOL!!” but then it got really fucking boring! This Bane guy kills a dude and needs to run away from his planet so he can go on another planet and learn to how be a Sith Lord, who are the bad guys but I think they’re way cooler than the faggoty Jedi!! The Sith get laid and the Jedi wear brown robes and speak too softly. Aidan thinks the Jedi are sweet, but that shit is sus! I think Aidan needs to go find a nice man to bone!!! GAYWAD!!

There’s this total hot chick in the book named Githany. Black hair and green eyes and titties out to here! That’s what I’m talking about!! She’s cool as shit too, she defected from the gay ass Jedi and is probably the best Sith Lord in the academy. Even better than Bane! They make Bane out to be this tough fucking steel fucking strong ass fucking unstoppable dude, but he gets mesmerized by pussy and it’s like WHOOPS I’VE BEEN BETRAYED!!! I don’t blame the guy, though. That girl is FINE. I would like to stick my PENIS into her BUTTHOLE if you catch my drift!!! HIGH FIVE!!!

In the end, the Sith explode a thought bomb and it kills literally everyone including the hot chick, but except for Bane. Actually, they don’t really die but those motherfuckers’ souls get sucked up and trapped for eternity or whatever. Biggest orgy of all time! I want in on that action AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO DUDES!!! But Bane lives and he’ll be in the next book, but you can bet your stupid fuck face that I won’t be reading the next one. This was too long and Aidan kept bugging me to finish so that he could reread it for the billionth time. Aidan is such a hosebag dumbshit shitfuck fuckbag.

TOM’S REVIEW!

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Tom, the Cool Guy

MY FEELINGS ARE MIXED. I think this book is very uneven, alternating between scenes of excitement and intrigue with scenes of mind-crushing boredom. Sometimes setups are hastily pushed through, sometimes too much time is spent on one idea. I was excited at first when they set up Bane’s depressing existence: back-breaking work mining cortosis, unhealthy working conditions, shitty commune living, 24-hour government surveillance, and and overall angry, discontented population. Karpyshyn does a great job painting the bleak picture of life on the desolate, hopeless planet Apatros. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a pointless card game at the local watering hole that lasts about 800 pages that’s supposed to be suspenseful but ends up being mind-numbing. And all for what? This game doesn’t matter halfway through the book, when you remember that a card game happened and it was stupid. All it does is allow Bane to verbalize his dissatisfaction with the Empire, but they could have been more concise with it.

Then later, after a very hurried plot device to push him off of Apatros (accidental murder whoops), he enrolls in Sith Academy which starts off quite promising. But we’re expected to believe that this guy, who starts his Sith training about 30 years later than most, rises the ranks to be the best Sith lord in the school? Better than the masters? All because he reads a few books? All because he believes a tenet of Sithology that no one else adheres to? Rule of Two? Is that really the key here? Did I need thousands of years of Star Wars lore to catch up on first to understand the nuances of this particular revelation? Seems heavy-handed.

It takes about half the book or so, but things pick up when they introduce Githany — the smart, stunningly attractive, manipulative Jedi turncoat. I’d like to read a whole book about her story, which they only touch upon briefly. The idea of a woman becoming increasingly disengaged with the Jedi sounds a bit like Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars, which dealt with two fresh recruits and relationship partners becoming jaded with the Empire at different rates. That side of it seems a lot of fun. But, since Githany’s body puffed into a cloud of ash and dust as her spirit got absorbed in the terrifying thought bomb at the end of the book, something tells me that she’s not important enough to the overall lore to focus on any longer.

What I did like was that there was complexity to Bane’s character, even if it did lean too much toward “Me = Evil” a lot of the time. Bane grew up with an abusive alcoholic father who, as it is later revealed, Bane accidentally killed with the Force without his knowledge. This revelation wracks him with guilt, a weak emotion for a Sith lord. I know with the other side of the coin that Jedi resist emotions like anger and hate, and it’s interesting to see the opposite with the Sith — that they need to resist any emotions or feelings associated with a moral compass. However, that being said, there are times where Bane just coldly destroys or kills with no remorse. As if there’s merely a switch being flipped. The family he kills at the very end of the book is a great example. Guilty about cutting down his shitty dad, but a whole family he doesn’t know is met with apathy? INCONSISTENT! *pushes up nerd glasses*

Inconsistent all the way through. Man, I’m tired of writing. All I ever do is write. Leave me alone once in a while.

WORTH A READ?

It’s the first in a trilogy. I liked it enough to keep going with the next book, but as a work of art it’s lacking. The story wasn’t written very compellingly, honestly, and it was the first book in Star Wars Storytime that wasn’t a complete joy to read. It won’t be the last either, I can already tell.

If you like overpowered characters with conflicting actions and thoughts, then watch 24 with Kiefer Sutherland! Also, read this book.

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2 – “Learning to Crawl (Part 2)”

* Part 2 of 5 of the Learning to Crawl storyline *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2 – “Learning to Crawl (Part 2)”! In the previous installment, some total fucking nerd named Peter Parker got bitten by a radioactive spider and now he can climb walls and make smartass remarks.

The issue dealt largely with the aftermath of Uncle Ben’s untimely MURDER, but we see a side of the story we haven’t seen before (maybe, what do I know). A teenager named Clayton has been going to every Spider-Man show, and once he learns that Spidey invented his web-shooters he gets motivated to create his own superhero setup. You can call him CLASH, but will he be a hero or a villain?!?! My blood is bubbling with anticipation!


Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2 [July, 2014]
Written by: Dan Slott
“Learning to Crawl (Part 2)”

Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2

“I can already feel it. This is going to be the best day of my life!”

Clayton, as Clash, stands on a roof musing over his new identity. No more “Creepy” Clayton Cole! Now he’s “Creepy” Clash! He gets to choose his identity now, fuckfaces!

Now all he needs is someone to fight! The police band has transmissions about THE VULTURE terrorizing the corner of 52nd and 6th streets. Perfect! Clash bounds over there using his sonic-blast boots! *Superman music plays*

The people on the street watches Clash as he fumbles his way through downtown. “The name’s Clash! Don’t forget it!” he squeaks, floating in the air using his sonic-blast boots! *Batman music plays*

He finds the Vulture and starts trying to lob some insults. “Hey, Bird Brain!” he says, congratulating himself afterward. His quest for the Vulture is cut short with another transmission: Spider-Man breaking into the Baxter Building where the Fantastic Four snort cocaine all day. Huzzah! Even better! Fuck the Vulture and the carrion he rode in on.

We see Spidey leave the Baxter Building through the window, grumbling about being kicked out of the group before even being let into the group. Fantastic my ass. Spidey swoops away before Clash has a chance to gush all over him. Then Clash’s boots start failing and now he’s stuck on top of a billboard. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. Oh well.

Later, Peter Parker is hanging out in the counselor Mr. Flannigan’s office tearing heads off of chipmunks. He is reminded that he can tell Flannigan anything… like… what’s with the black eye, son? Did you fall face first on your dildo again? “I just walked into something,” Parker says, remembering that the Thing punched him right in the face that morning for some reason (probably fell on his dildo).

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2

Trying to beat up the entire Fantastic Four by yourself is totally unchill, bud.

Parker decides to tell Flannigan “the truth”, which amounts to “I’m a nerd and no one likes me”. You got that right, nosepicker.

Eventually, Parker decides that these counseling sessions aren’t half-bad. He says bye to Flannigan and sees Flash Thomspon waiting for his turn. Parker listens as Thompson gets chewed out, all “stay away from Peter Parker and don’t be a mean boy” and “listen to me or I’m kicking you off the team forever and ever”.

Then Flannigan makes Parker and Thomspon shake hands, which they both do with icy grimaces. “We both know I had nothing to do with that black eye, you gutless little liar,” Thompson whispers, pulling Parker close. “The old man might’ve saved you from a pounding or two, but you wait. There’s so many ways I can get you without laying a finger on you.”

Eep! Ulp! That’s some Mean Boy talk! That’s a no-no! MR. FLANNIGAN!!!

Now that Parker’s got a big, fat target on his back, he meekly follows Flannigan down the hall who leads him to the AV room where all the losers hang out. “Pete, say hello to the gang.”

Parker says hi. The mouth-breathers in the room all say hi back. Looks like he found his people! Flannigan shows him a flyer for the science fair. 1st prize is a $10,000 college fund. These days that would buy you room and board for four days, not counting tuition, books, cafeteria passes, and raunchy reading material.

Meanwhile, Clayton shows his parents at home a sonic pulse generator, his own science project for the fair. Make some noise and it stays floating in the air! Sweet stuff, huh? You can use it for sonic-blast boots! *Aquaman music plays?*

Mr. Father-Knows-Best congratulates his son on a science fair slam dunk. He pulls out two crisp $1 bills as a bonus for his allowance. And Clayton knows just how he’s going to spend it…

As Clash, he pesters Maxie Schiffman, who was almost ruined by Spidey and his menacer-ery. “Shoo! Vamoose! I’m not representing any more costume acts!

“You misunderstand me…” responds Clash. “I’m here to hire the Amazing Spider-Man.”

Pfffft. As what? Your call-girl?

Flannigan takes his nerd charges to the local science museum, site of this year’s science fair. The museum is giving them free passes for a week so they can film for the school’s video yearbook. They can snoop around all the exhibits! The dinosaur turd exhibit is only there for a limited time, so jump on that.

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2

What’s not to understand? Spin webs, eat bugs, scare my mom. Bing boom win.

While Parker ambles around the museum, a message comes on over the intercom. Or something. Somehow only Parker can hear it because he listens to it and then leaves the museum immediately through a fucking window. “Meet me on the roof of the Lark Building at ten tonight. It will be very profitable for you!”

Oooh, money? Crisp $1 dollar bills? Who can pass that shit up?

At home, Aunt May watches a special report about “Spider-Man” stealing helicopters, attacking police officers, and peeing on electric fences. The report implies that it was a possible imposter named the Chameleon, but we can’t be too careful, can we? “Oh dear!” says Aunt May like an old, toothless lady.

She hears a thump on the roof. “Peter, is that you?” She begs him to answer because she doesn’t want another gun-toting Second Amendment lunatic exercising his God-given rights all over her face.

It is Parker, who thumped his way back into the house after a long night of Spider-Man-ing. He still has his costume on. May pulls out a key from the year 1530 to open his door, but then thinks better of it and walks away.

Spidey ruminates upon how much of a dang menace everyone thinks he is. This is all J. Jonah Jameson’s fault! Newspaper Hitler turned everyone against him and now he has to sit in his room and sob and mope about it.

“I’m not bad guy here, right? Why don’t people see that? Why won’t anyone stick up for me?!”

Stop sobbing and moping, kiddo. There’s always chess club! Speaking of which, the next day Parker sits at the AV Nerd lunch table. A kid with a laptop reads the latest Spider-Man news article about the Chameleon, Spidey’s alter-ego who may or may not be a cop. Parker folds his arms and says that the Daily Bugle prints all sorts of propaganda and lies. It’s those damn Russians is what it is. Stupid commie rag, I tells ya.

Thomspon agrees. He sides with Spider-Man; calls him the greatest! “And he’s always getting blamed for stuff he didn’t do. Sound familiar, Parker?”

Parker starts wetting his pants and leaves the cafeteria.

Maxie is on TV vouching for Spidey. He also asks Spidey, if he’s listening, to come by the office. He’s got a great gig for him! (falling on dildos)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2

Don’t write checks your body can’t cash, Maverick.

And come by the office he does. Maxie tells him his client is willing to pay half up front in cash, all he has to do is fight a private match, one-on-one, one hour, and take the fall. Spidey is suspicious of the “private” part. What’s next? Birthday parties? Ha! Bar mitzvahs?? Ha ha!

But Spidey takes the job anyway because he’s poor and needs to buy Aunt May’s Fixodent.

Clash has two cameras set up on two rooftops. A sensational publicity stunt awaits! Spidey says this sounds like crazy muthafucka talk, but Clash assures him that this is legit for his web-channel. “You gave me your first autograph. I’m the guy who put the footage of your Crusher Hogan fight online. I helped you go viral–”

Spidey doesn’t give a shit. “Do you have my money?”

They fight majestically for a while until Spider gets bored and zaps him with webs. “We’re done!” Spidey says. The kid gives him the creeps, frankly, and he’s not here for it anymore. He swings away leaving Clash stuck to the roof.

“B-but I’m supposed to win,” Clayton whines. Never meet your heroes, kid. Now Spidey has full-on created an enemy even though, later, Spidey feels like he was a jerk. He was just blowing off a little steam and stress out on Clash! School, Chameleon, the AV club smells like bacon bits, and there’s still the matter of Aunt’s May’s denture stuff. Gaahhh!

The next day, Parker makes it clear to Flannigan that Thompson never beat his ass. Not yet, anyway. He apologizes to Thompson, and so does Flannigan. Everyone kisses.

Flannigan gets mad at Parker, though. How’s he supposed to trust him now? Huh? *throws a mug at Parker’s head*

We end with Aunt May breaking into Parker’s room while he’s out cavorting.

The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3), Issue #1.2

Dead bodies and lube? OH, PETER!

Final Thoughts

Peter Parker is going to get the spanking of a lifetime! He’s going to give Aunt May a heart attack, then he’ll be orphaned and living in the system getting his ass kicked until he’s 18 years old. Then he’ll be living under an overpass with track marks in both arms, passed out and drooling wearing a rope for a belt on his sweatpants.