Friday, October 7, 2011

Quick Comic Reviews - October 8th, 2011

A fresh set of reviews with 90% more Marvel flavor than I’ve had in awhile.  A good blend this week.  Hope you enjoy my first set of reviews for the week.

mknight6Moon Knight #6 – Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Art by Alex Maleev.  This issue mostly focuses on the aftermath of Moon Knight and Echo’s fight with the Night Shift.  An almost reveal of the new “Kingpin” in LA and the Avengers visit to figure out what the hell is going on with their split personality friend Moon Knight.  The issue is kind of a step back and slow down type issue and largely does the job it needs to.  It’s funny when Moon Knight tries to figure out if the Avengers are real or just his multiple personalities he’s developed.  Spidey kind of freaks out about him dressing up in his costume and having a fight at a strip club.  Maleev’s art is an acquired taste.  In some issues it seems to flow really good, but I have a hard time differentiating who is who sometimes.  In some scenes I don’t know who Marc (Moon Knight) Spektor is, and that makes it harder to figure things out.  His faces seem to be drawn with a lot of inconsistency and that’s really what he needs to work on.  A decent enough issue, but not the strongest of the series by far.  Not too much happens here that anyone will need to pick it up.


stwatch2Stormwatch #2 – Written by Paul Cornell and Art by Miguel Sepulveda & Al Barrioneuvo.  This issue is much improved, we get an interesting perspective on Adam One.  I guess not everyone exactly has profound belief in the leadership skills of Adam.  What I don’t get is how a guy who’s existed since the Big Bang has always acted like a hippy.  If they’re making this a play on Jesus, then it’s a lame on.  But anyway, the Midnighter has a sweet costume.  We learn more about Harry and the issue on the moon.  The art felt a little better in this issue too, not super, but doable.  But there is a tad bit of momentum gained in this one and that has to count for something, right?  The problem is we keeping pinballing back and forth between the moon, Earth and Stormwatch HQ, but more palatable than last time.  We’re only getting glimpses into these characters and haven’t gotten a ton of development yet, but there is some going on here.  Paul Cornell does some great stuff and then he comes back and does mediocre stuff.  I’m hoping that like his Action Comics run, it ends stronger than this is so far.  But we’ll see what happens!  This is an ok issue, definitely better than expected, but just don’t think that it makes it very good.


swthing2Swamp Thing #2 – Written by Scott Snyder and Art by Yanick Paquette.  What a tremendous ride you’re in store for in this issue.  The ancient bad guy is revealed in more detail, you learn why Alec Holland isn’t in the form of Swamp Thing and that he has a big choice.  There’s a fantastic surprise at the end as well.  The artwork is simply gorgeous in it.  The two page spreads were things of sheer beauty.  Snyder is at his best in this one, showing a lot of respect to the character and giving you a dose of horror that hasn’t been seen for awhile in the DC U proper.  A lot of background story here, pretty meaty stuff for sure, you don’t feel like Snyder skimmed things down here, he knew he had a lot to tell and you end up getting a lot of comic in this.  If you haven’t joined aboard the Swamp Thing fan club, you’re going to miss out and that will be a major mistake.  This is absolutely, 100%, a must buy series and a great immersing issue overall!


xschis5X-Men: Schism #5 – Written by Jason Aaron, Penciled by Adam Kubert and Inked by Mark Roslan.  Finally, I fully realize the entire prelude to Schism mini-series didn’t have a damn thing to do with it.  Seriously, wtf!  Anyway, this whole thing seems to be set-up to drive Wolverine and Cyclops apart.  Cyclops is willing to sacrifice anything to save Utopia, Wolverine isn’t.  So they’re fighting at the issue begins and eventually other X-Men come save the day and they split.  Ok, since when does Wolverine has a problem with anybody dying?  I think Marvel just wanted to have Wolverine in charge of some X-Men somehow and they’re doing this.  But he has X-Force, so I just don’t get it.  But those gripes aside, really a pretty good issue.  The last page was awesome, I have to give Jason Aaron that much.  A lot is set-up here, but right now the continuity between the X Titles just sucks.  If they can give us continuity so that what happens here affects the other titles, then great.  Yeah, maybe some of the old X-Men stuff was almost continuity porn, but it also kept things logical and every action had a far reaching effect.  This issue was pretty decent and I liked the digital inks by Mark Roslan, much better than I would have imagined.  Adam Kubert is very solid, so this was pretty good artwork as well.  You could do a whole lot worse than this issue, but you could do a whole lot better.


jli2Justice League International #2 – Written by Dan Jurgens, Penciled by Aaron Lopresti and Inked by Matt Ryan.  So the JLI has to cut and run in this issue, Guy runs in to join up because of the “incompetent” Booster Gold and the Hall of Justice is completely destroyed.  Really, just another fun issue here!  I thought the bickering we see on this team makes sense for a group that’s just thrown together and forced into immediate action.  It’s good to see the heroes having to retreat once in awhile and gather themselves.  Jurgens ably plots another solid issue, which is better than the first issue.  Now, I’m a huge Booster Gold and Guy Gardner fan, so keep that in mind.  But I liked to feel this had to it and the potential for this team to come together and face adversity.  The one gripe is, this issue proves that you just don’t have enough pages in some of these comics to advance the story enough.  Cost cutting measures, sure.  However, they put in a preview of a Batman graphic novel that certainly could have been filled with more meaningful things.  I understand they want that graphic novel to be a success, but sometimes people do like a little more story, rather than a huge advertisement they see in all their issues that month.  Sorry, but most people could probably care less.  In fact, some of their in-house promotions have driven me away, like the Search for Swamp Thing.  If you’re going to use more pages, give us more story!  But anyway, really solid issue that’s a lot of fun.  Dan Jurgens just makes good solid stuff, no secrets here.


hulk42Hulk #42 – Written by Jeff Parker and Art by Patch Zircher.  When Rulk finds out that a former military Colonel he knew is dead, off to war he goes!  I thought this was a pretty good break from what we’ve been seeing lately and giving us a few more personal bits from Thunderbolt Ross.  Parker really seems to find motivation to the character that I suspect others wouldn’t.  That’s why Parker is so good at what he does.  Zircher’s art is also excellent in this issue and he seems to be hitting a peak.  I was really able to follow the story and enjoy this one.  Less cosmic stuff to the Red Hulk is good too.  So now we’re in the midst of the Hulk of Arabia storyline, which promises to be good fun!  And a few guest appearances at the end make for an even bigger issue next month. Overall, this issue is really a good issue and if you haven’t bothered with the Red Hulk yet, here’s a good spot to take a look at least.


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