This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast, Matthew and Stephen hold down the fort as the minutes tick away to 2014. This means it’s a mishmash show featuring numerous comic book and video game reviews, as well as a nice mixture of Batman and the Power Rangers.

REVIEWS

STEPHEN
LEGENDERRY: A STEAMPUNK ADVENTURE #1
Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Sergio Davila
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
We start in the Big City, protected by Vampirella and the Green Hornet. A scarlet clad woman of mystery rushes into a bar, pursued by a team of assassins. The terror that breaks loose there and then will eventually lead (in the issues that follow) to The Phantom's Jungle, Flash Gordon's space age town of Landing, battles in the sky with Captain Victory, and so much more, until finally, we arrive in the Monstrous Lands, protected by... well, nobody.
[rating:3.5/5]

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1
Writer: Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham
Artist: Mark Buckingham, Gary Erskine
Publisher: Vertigo
From the pages of THE SANDMAN, Neil Gaiman’s dead boys get their own monthly series! As fans of storybook detectives, Edwin Paine (died 1916) and Charles Rowland (died 1990) will take on any and all mysteries—including their own untimely deaths! The dead boys head back to St. Hilarions, where bullying headmasters continue to rule the school. But when they investigate the lingering mysteries of their own deaths, they meet a young girl named Crystal whose tech skills and strange link to the undead earn her a place as a new detective. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES is a fast-paced adventure series that takes us from the bustling streets of contemporary London to Japanese-inspired video games and dangerous worlds perched somewhere between the now and nevermore.

[rating:3/5]

LOCKE & KEY: ALPHA #2
Writer: Joe HIll
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher: IDW Publishing
"The End." A door claps softly shut. A key scrapes in a last rusted lock. It ends here: the story of the Locke children and their desperate, tragic battle with the monster set on destroying them... the past. Join Gabriel Rodriguez and Joe Hill for the final chapter of Locke & Key.

[rating:5/5]

THE LEGO ADVENTURE BOOK 2
Writer: Megan H. Rothrock
Publisher: No Starch Press
Join Megs and Brickbot on another exciting tour of LEGO® building in this second volume of The LEGO Adventure Book series. As they track the Destructor and rebuild the models he destroys, you'll follow along and meet some of the world's best builders. Learn to create sleek spaceships, exotic pirate hideaways, fire-breathing dragons, fast cars, and much more. With nearly 40 step-by-step breakdowns and 100 example models, The LEGO Adventure Book is sure to spark your imagination and keep you building!

[rating:4/5]

MATTHEW
Doctor Who Special 2013 #1
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Jimmy Broxton
Publisher: IDW Publishing
In this special one-shot story celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, a strange force flings the TARDIS and the Doctor into our own universe! Once here, the Doctor encounters a 10-year-old girl who happens to be a huge fan of the Doctor Who TV show. The Doctor grapples with being a fictional character and monsters lurking at the girl's school on the way to coming face-to-face with the actor who portrays him, Matt Smith!

[rating:3.5/5]

WOLVERINE ORIGIN II #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Adam Kubert
Publisher: Marvel
A few years after the events of ORIGIN finds James Howlett running with the wolves…until something unexpected brings him back into the world of Follow the first “X-Man” as he finds his way back to civilization and falls afoul of someone Sinister, who’s just discovering mutantkind and the horrors he can visit on them. Plus, discover the secret behind James’ greatest enemy! At some point, the mutant who will become The Wolverine must choose: is he man or is he beast? An all-new chapter in the secret origin of one of Marvel’s most mysterious characters is revealed starting this November, by superstars Kieron Gillen (YOUNG