Friday, September 10, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 10th, 2010

Working on catching up, about a month behind on some titles, but I’m getting there.  Should have another set of reviews out tomorrow and hopefully on Sunday as well.

titans26Titans #26 – Written by Eric Wallace with Artwork by Fabrizio Fiorentino & Cliff Richards.   Titans has been transformed, as of late, into Deathstroke and Co’s title.  The title has a much darker feel and has, in my opinion, not made any strides.  Fiorentino and Richards provide a very sketchy but interesting feel to the comic.  It reflects the dark and grim nature of what we’re dealing with.  But the problem is simple, this comic has no soul.  The writer doesn’t believe what he’s trying to sell and seems to wander around aimlessly trying to make pieces fit together.  In this issue, Arsenal appears and is about the only interesting character in the series right now.  However, I just don’t feel really drawn into his character.  I’m not sure what questions I’m supposed to be asking with this title, besides what the hell is this all about anyway.  Osiris is supposedly a focal point with the Brightest Day tie-in, but how will that break down?  I guess we’ll find out.  Titans is still a dud.

thor613Thor #613 – Written by Kieron Gillen and Penciled and Inked by Richard Elson.  So Thor has to traverse Hell and find the sword Eir-Gram as Hela is trying to fend off the Disir in the part of Hell Loki brokered for her to have.  What a weird story when you think about it, but very interesting as far as that goes.  A spectacular story and fantastic art in this issue.  We see some truly epic battles and plots and sub-plots going into motion and it all weaves an amazing story.  This feels like a story that just IS a Thor comic.  You have plenty of drama that’s all leading to a climax, everything works right.  Richard Elson’s art seems to make this really seem even more epic.  Maybe it is simply the right combination at the right time.  Whatever it is, Kieron takes this plot and makes it work.  Definitely worth picking up!

grarrow3Green Arrow #3 – Written by J.T. Krul and Penciled by Diogenes Neves.  So we continue to learn the mysteries of the forest that popped up in Star City.  It seems like we’re finally making some headway here.  This is the best issue of the series so far, but that’s not necessarily saying too much.  We encounter Galahad and some of the miracles the forest is capable of.  The peaks into the background of Ollie Queen were ok, but not really the most interesting stuff.  I liked seeing the stark contrast of the forest with a city in ruins.  Parts of this story are still pretty weak, but they’re getting better.  The artwork was much more consistent in this issue as well. So we made some strides, but I can only give it a weak recommendation based on the fact that it’s moving forward some of the Brightest Day storyline finally.

rebs20R.E.B.E.L.S. #20 – Written by Tony Bedard and Penciled by Claude St. Aubin.  This issue has Lobo coming to help out Vril Dox as he attempted to stop the original Brainiac from taking over Colu.  I’ve been a big fan of Bedard’s writing so far, but this was a bit weak.  I think my main problem is using Lobo.  Lobo just never fits in well with the rest of the DC Universe and he continues to be an almost problematic character for writers when he does show up.  Nobody truly seems to know how to write him and weave him into what is going on.  The resolution to this whole Brainiacs story arc is extremely weak as well.  I’m not going to give anything away, but it’s not a good sign when you figure it out and have nothing to say besides lame.  Lame is an understatement.  But hey, the artwork by Claude St. Aubin is excellent, so you can’t go wrong with that.  This issue is a giant disappointment considering how great this series usually is.  You can well skip this one, sadly.

legionsup4Legion of Super-Heroes #4 – Written by Pau Levitz and Artwork by Yildiray Cinar, Francis Portela & Wayne Faucher.  This issue has a bit of a tribute to Darkseid in it.  Quite literally!  But Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad continue to trek to find where their children disappeared to.  We also have more drama with Earth-Man and his suspect loyalties.  We also have a few subplots going on, including what happened and what is going to happen with the Green Lanterns in the future.  The typical stuff you expect out of Paul Levitz.  This issue seems a bit like a red herring to me though with the whole Darkseid thing and it just feels like a tad bit of a letdown in the end.  The Earth-Man stuff is still pretty interesting, as is a glimpse at the inner politics once again of the Legion as they question the leadership of Cosmic Boy.  Not a stellar issue by any means, just a decent fair.  The artwork in some spots is very strong and then kind of weak in others.  I guess that happens when you have three artists working on an issue.  So this issue is good stuff, but not a must buy.

outsiders32Outsiders #32 – Written by Dan Didio and Penciled by Philip Tan.  What happens when you get an issue, can’t quite figure out what’s going on and by the end, don’t care at all?  Well, you get an issue of the Outsiders.  By all accounts, Dan Didio has no direction with this team and it shows.  The Outsiders had been getting interesting when they were performing missions for Alfred after Bruce Wayne died/disappeared.  Didio shows no clue how to write these characters, it’s like he’s obligated to write something so he is.  This plot is very heavy on the Creeper and that isn’t a good thing.  I’ve never been a big fan of his character and this episode involved some demon chick trying to molest him.  ‘Nuff said!  Terrible stuff really, just bloody awful.  Philip Tan does a decent job in this issue, but too bad he has to draw for such a crappy story.  Although apparently he helped dream this off, so he doesn’t get off Scot free on this one.  It could be worse though, but I wasn’t impressed.  Two thumbs down on this bad boy!

aveng4Avengers #4 – Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Penciled by John Romita Jr.  In this issue, time starts going all kinds of crazy.  We’ve got scenes from War of the Worlds going on in NYC.  My question, in the Marvel Universe, why would you ever live in NYC?  That’s completely the worst idea anyone could ever have.  I’m pretty sure it’s invaded on a weekly, if not daily basis.  Seriously.  Not much is truly learned this issue as things are going haywire.  We’ve got one group of the Avengers traveling into the future, but we’re certainly left with a lot of questions.  It was a quick but still entertaining issue, but there just wasn’t enough there for me to really like this one.  There’s still not much progress in the overall story.  Sorry, but $3.99 for about 5 minutes of story isn’t that great of a deal no matter how you slice it.  Sure, there’s the constant section on Avenger history, but I honestly skip that over as I’ve been there and done that many a time.  But for newer readers it might be worthwhile.  To me, decent issue, could have been much better though.


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