Quick Comic Reviews - November 10th, 2011

Well, DC has a lot of issues out there this week.  Only one has really stood out sadly.  But there’s still hope later in the week.  We’ll see what else is coming down the pipe as I hope to get one more set of reviews out.  Please leave comments and I’m always open for suggestions.  If there’s something particular you want me to review, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.  Hope you enjoy!

Green Lantern #3 – Written by Geoff Johns, Penciled by Doug Mahnke with Inks by Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, & Tom Nguyen.  Let me get the bad out of the way.  Doug Mahnke’s facials for Sinestro and Hal Jordan.  REALLY dislike the way he draws face and lips and the fact that Jordan’s mask always looks shiny when he draws it.  If you haven’t figured out that I’m not a huge fan of those things by now… anyway, let’s move past that.  His storytelling skills are pretty good, so I can’t argue there.  Now, this issue focuses on Sinestro and Hal teaming up to try and take out the Sinestro Corps.  Sinestro has decided that he needs to because the Corps enslaved his home world in his absence.  Jordan has to deal with the fact that Sinestro created his ring and can take it away.  The banter back-and-forth between Hal and Sinestro is great in this issue.  It really is hilarious to watch these two bicker and some of the jabs that Sinestro takes are great.  This story is becoming very entertaining and this issue was the best one yet.  Now, I’ve always been a big Green Lantern fan, so this one hits pretty high marks for me.  If I liked Mahnke more I might give it a 10, but I won’t.  However, anyone who’s a Green Lantern fan should love this issue.  This is some of Johns’ better work!
Rating - 9/10

Legion Lost #3 – Written by Fabien Nicieza and Art by Pete Woods.  The Lost Legion members are trying to find a cure for a Hypertaxis Plague (something that apparently is giving humans alien dna) and this Alastor dude that they can’t catch.  Basically, so far, so little for the team.  However, when a new potential Hypertaxis infected shows up and causes problems at a nearby mall, it’s Timber Wolf to the rescue.  I’m still a tad confused about what all is going on here, but Fabian always does a good job of working a recap in.  However, a lot of times, when you give things these fancy names that we can’t relate it, it’s hard to remember what the hell they’re talking about.  I do like the dynamic of them having to figure out how to get a foothold in a world of the past.  I thought the pace was pretty decent and there was a great surprise at the end.  Pete Woods does a decent enough job with his art, but nothing too impressive, but a solid job.  A decent enough issue and it is becoming more interesting.  I just wish it wasn’t so confusing to me at times.  Maybe some things are just too over my head.
Rating - 7/10

Resurrection Man #3 – Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning with Art by Fernando Dagnino.  Back we are for our hero being killed again.  Of course, he resurrects as usual.  Except he’s temporarily held in a sort of Limbo where a demon tries to collect his soul.  The Body Doubles then continue trying to apprehend him and we’re no further along by the end of this issue than we were before.  Frankly, it’s starting to piss me off.  I had high expectations for this as the original series was so good.  This, however, is just making a mockery of it.  There’s nothing really interesting going on in this issue.  Instead we get cheap TnA from the Body Doubles and that’s pretty much the issue as a whole.  Dagnino’s artwork is sloppy and confusing at times.  Especially the last page, is that guy just floating there?  There was a scene where the Body Doubles were facing this old dude and then all the sudden she has a gun behind the guy’s head.  A lot of bad storytelling going on here.  And the senior citizens SHOULD be running for their lives, instead their just gawking around.  Ok, maybe not running, but hobbling out of the way at least.  Nope.  What a waste of time this issue was. 
Rating - 2/10

Grifter #3 – Written by Nathan Edmondson, Penciled by CAFU and Inked by Jason Gorder.  Grifter’s brother joins the fray and attempts to bring him in for justice.  However, more aliens show up and botch things up bad.  Yay?  So far, nothing that I really enjoy about this series.  I thought this issue might be better, but I was wrong.  I’m not sure if it’s the writing or if the artwork brings it down.  Why do people like this CAFU guy?  I find his scenes so stiff and confusing.  His pencils have no energy to them, no flow.  Overrated is the word that immediately comes to mind.  Of course, maybe he’s just bored with the monotonous and tedious script he gets.  I’m trying to figure out why I should care about these aliens and why they are even here.  Apparently they only want Cole Cash.  In which case, they can have him.  Next month it looks like a guest appearance from Green Arrow.  Might as well suck the life out of that title too while we’re at it.  Can we abort this mission to bring Wildstorm titles into the fold, because, nobody cares.  At least Voodoo has some interesting moment.  This?  None.  Good day!
Rating - 1/10

Batwoman #3 – Written by W. Haden Blackman & J.H.Williams III and Art by J.H. Williams III.  Batwoman (Kate Kane) has an encounter with the Weeping Woman, which I’m not sure I get, but whatever.  Kate proceeds to be bitchy the rest of the issue while Black Mask attempts to figure out who she is.  And the best part, Kate stands up her date, gives no explanation, starts crying and BAM!  They’re kissing!  Because, in case you didn’t know, she’s a lesbian.  That’s how it goes, that’s how it goes.  I have no idea what this series is really going for and I’m not very interested in it.  And I’m sorry, no woman could be as pure white as Kate Kane.  Her costume is excellent, but that’s pretty much it.  They seemed more focused on the “she’s a lesbian and therefore deep” part than actually making it deep.  Amazing artwork though.  Just beautiful to look at.  Sadly, there isn’t really anything interesting about it, but I have to give it props for the art.  That’s all you’re getting out of me.  I’m trying to enjoy this, but it just hasn’t hooked me.
Rating -   3/10

Batgirl #3 – Written by Gail Simone, Penciled by Ardian Syaf and Inked by Vicente Cifuentes.  Batgirl is sent on a chase by Mirror to attempt to save some lives on a train he has set to detonate.  However, he doesn’t really even want to give Batgirl a chance but for some reason decides to be sporting.  Can’t really understand that, but oh well.  The motivation of the character is that miracles spoil the balance of life and death and that some people are unfairly left alive instead of being dead.  Well, there’s a bit more to it than that, but I like the concept of the villain.  The problem I had with this issue is that we’re dealing with Mirror and then suddenly we’re dealing with Batgirl’s relationship with Nightwing.  Not that I’m against it, it just seemed to be strangely placed.  I couldn’t figure out why they threw it in there except to give us a bit more background on how this was “different” from the pre-52 Batman.  Unfortunately, placing it where they did threw the pacing of the story off.  You’re hoping that Batgirl gets involved in maybe another scenario and instead you get to know about her and Dick Grayson’s relationship.  I could go into why I think Barbara Gordon should still be Oracle and why Stephanie Brown should have just stayed Batgirl.  However, we don’t have the luxury.  Barbara’s character is interesting enough, but I don’t buy that she could beat Nightwing in a fight.  Just things like that bugged me.  I really like Syaf’s art and definitely thought this was another great issue on his part.  Overall, the story just felt a little too blah.  I liked the art a lot, but the story just didn’t shine through.
Rating - 5/10

Technorati Tags: green lantern,geoff johns,doug mahnke,christian alamy,keith champagne,mark irwin,tom nguyen,legion lost,fabien nicieza,pete woods,resurrection man,dan abnett,andy lanning,fernando dagnino,grifter,nathan edmondson,cafu,jason gorder,batwoman,w. haden blackman,j.h. williams iii,batgirl,gail simone,ardian syaf

Quick Comic Reviews - November 10th, 2011

Quick Comic Reviews - October 14th, 2010

With my peed on computer out of commission, I haven't redone the stuff I was working on.  I just don't have the time to go back and fix it all.  I'll keep on trucking with my comic reviews for now.  It just takes me a little more time without Windows Live Writer.  Enjoy the smattering of delicious offerings!

Taskmaster #2 - Written by Fred Van Lente and Art by Jefte Palo.  Fred Van Lente has a wonderful sense of humor and this is a showcase of that.  In this issue we are introduced to the "Don of the Dead" who is dressed up like a crazed marachi singer and a skeleton mask.  We're are treated to several pages of terrific humor as Taskmaster tries to tie pieces of his memory together.  Keep in mind, there's a huge bounty out for our Taskmaster as everyone believes he gave Steve Rogers information on all these secret societies like A.I.M. and Hydra, amongst many others we're introduced to.  The artwork is pretty dead on and gives the issue an added sense of energy.  Sure, this comic probably isn't going to make a huge splash in the Marvel continuity spectrum, but what it does deliver is pure entertainment.  Putting Van Lente in charge of this title was the right move.  Sadly, most comic fans will probably miss this mini-series and they shouldn't be missing out.  This is a must purchase! 

Hawkeye & Mockingbird #5 - Written by Jim McCann and Penciled by David Lopez.  The Final Chapter of Mockingbird's showdown with the Phantom Rider(s) culminates in this issue.  This is your traditional blow-off type issue when you have a major story like this.  Surprises?  There are a few towards the end, but you could almost see them coming.  They were pretty well done though and Hawkeye ends up going slightly overboard and realizing what he's doing.  So there are some great scenes with him in it.  David Lopez does a serviceable job, but some of his action scenes just feel a little stiff.  Like I was saying before though, the scene with Crossfire and Hawkeye (and if you read it, you'll know it when you see it) is a major turning point here.  So overall, a pretty good ending to the story arc and some good twists towards the end to keep you interested with the direction they're going.  I'm still slightly confused at times about all this Phantom Rider stuff, but that doesn't detract from enjoying it.  Once again, another very good issue that's worth checking out and pretty much a must if you're following the story so far!

Justice League: Generation Lost #11 - Written by Judd Winick and Penciled by Aaron Lopresti.  This issue has Fire, Ice and Rocket Red facing off with the Metal Men.  Meanwhile, Booster, Captain Atom and Blue Beetle investigate another site.  I will not lie, I love the Metal Men, so it should be no surprise that I really liked this issue.  No, no.  Loved this issue.  Now keep in mind, the Metal Men don't have their typical banter in this, so if you're looking for it, it isn't really quite here.  But that wasn't the point of it.  There's so much going on here that this issue flew by.  And with the masterful pencils of Aaron Lopresti, this issue just shines.  Everything seemed to work well in this issue.  The only thing I didn't care for was the cover as it kind of ruins a surprise.  I also loved the surprise at the ending, because if there's a character that needs a bit of a redesign, it is this one.  I won't ruin it, but it was needed I think.  So this title has direction, it has hi-jinks and hilarity, along with a solid dose of action and intrigue and... well, it is everything a comic should be.  The best title there is twice a month!  Pick it up, read it, saran wrap it, send it into space for aliens to read and enjoy, because it's great stuff!

Superman #703 - Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Penciled by Eddy Barrows.  After a bit of a delay, we get issue 703 in the "Superman's Walk for the Cure" or whatever they're calling it.  Anyway, in this issue Supes encounters Batman and makes a compelling argument for why he shouldn't be wandering around amongst the normal people.  Certainly he's just inviting disaster.  Cue ominous music and obvious foreshadowing award!  So what happens?  Well, some shards of the planet New Krypton come crashing to Earth and we finally see signs of a plot!  Apparently the stuff makes people Batshit crazy and powerful.  Cue the next 8 months of issues.  It wasn't as bad as I make it seem.  There's a strong play on how super-powered being like Superman would be viewed by normal people.  JMS seems to be riding that out for what it's worth.  Barrows artwork is just ok, nothing note worthy here.  So the issue is ok, it isn't bad, but it doesn't exactly breath new life into Superman.  Still, it's better than most Superman stuff in the past year and a half, but that isn't saying much.  If you skip this, nobody will blame you.

Green Lantern #58 - Written by Geoff Johns and Penciled by Doug Mahnke.  We start off with an interesting scene involving Sinestro and Atrocitus as they're hunting down the Rage entity.  We also clean up the stuff involving Carol and the Star Sapphires.  We get a heaping helping of Larfleeze and we get to meet the Blue Lantern entity Adara.  All-in-all, it ends up being a pretty good issue.  We have more great Larfleeze moments, some outstanding Atrocitus stuff, and some background bits that are very interesting.  Mahnke's art is pretty decent this issue, with the exception of the last page when he draws the Flash like an emaciated teenage kid who hasn't eaten in a month.  He must be hanging out with Mark Bagley too much.  They continue to present a lot of characterization, but the main flaw is that we're all over the place and not getting to stay with any one character too long.  Sometimes that can be a blessing, others a curse.  Johns seems to juggle it pretty well this issue, but it does become hard to keep track of what each character is doing.  Geoff has created a lot of interesting characters and not enough pages to fill them with.  That's part of why we're up to 3 Green Lantern titles a month (sometimes more).  A pretty good issue that any Green Lantern fan will want to pick up.

Quick Comic Reviews - October 14th, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 24th, 2010

10, count em, 10 titles all reviewed today!  One of my biggest posts EVER!  Will it be epic?  What will I think of the awesome titles in today’s edition?

New Mutants #17 – Written by Zeb Wells and Art by Leonard Kirk.  Illyana gets a vision that Pixie has been kidnapped and teleports the team to Limbo.  A move that everyone would clearly be thrilled with.  In Limbo they have more time to get ready for taking care of Ulysses and rescuing poor Pixie.  The mutant/demon hybrids are ready for battle with the New Mutants and it’s only a matter of time before they jump into action.  Some of the stuff that happened in Limbo was a little confusing.  I guess Limbo is like that.  However, the story continued to move forward with some decent characterization going on.  It was a pretty interesting issue of a good storyline.  The artwork continues to be very well done as Leonard Kirk is becoming one of my favorite artists.  A pretty decent issue, the only problem was that it didn’t feel like it was really moving the story along much, but I think maybe that’s because it started as kind of a flashback, giving it the feeling that nothing happened.  So being a pretty good issue, it’s worth checking out if you haven’t yet, but it isn’t a super spectacular issue if that’s what you’re looking for.

Birds of Prey #5 – Written by Gail Simone and Penciled by Alvin Lee & Adriana Melo.  So we start off the issue with a set of shocking revelations about Savant as he was about to throw Oracle off a bridge.  Huntress is really pissed about Black Canary running off and having to let the Penguin go.  So Black Canary heads off with White Canary to Bangkok.  Meanwhile, Hank Hall heals up as does Lady Blackhawk.  Lady Blackhawk isn’t about to taking any of the news lying down either.  We end the issue with a “shocking” revelation?  Anyway, there’s plenty of subplots going on here and the main plot is a little confusing.  Yeah, she killed all the brothers of White Canary, but really Shiva is the one who set-up Black Canary in the first issue, so now she has to ally herself with White Canary.  Come again?  I guess I don’t understand exactly why Shiva is important, so that doesn’t help.  Because of that and the lack of an explanation behind the motivation of Canary, I only feel this is an average issue.  Plus the art fluctuates in this issue and isn’t as good as it has been in previous issues.  I’m not sure if it’s Lee or Melo because last issue it was Melo teaming up with yet another artist.  So who needs whom here?  I have no idea.  I’m just confused about the whole damned thing.  It’s ok for what it is, but damn it’s a tad confusing, but I have to say, Huntress is awesome in these issues.

Justice League: Generation Lost #9 – Written by Judd Winick and Penciled by Fernando Dagnino.  Fire is face-to-face with Max Lord and Max has to do what he needs to.  So what does he do?  He mind controls her.  A huge battle breaks out and the team has to come back together as they have to fight one of their own… and Max Lord as well.  This issue gives us a nice face-to-face confrontation with Max Lord and the Justice League in their former home.  We also get to see the damage taken by Rocket Red who still manages to bring moments of levity to the issue.  Another great issue of storytelling, but the artwork was a little limp here.  I’m just not a big fan of how Dagnino draws his faces.  From a storytelling perspective, he does a fine job.  But some of the visuals just aren’t up to par with some of the other art in this series.  Still a solid buy if ever there was one.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2 – Written by and Layouts done by Dan Jurgens and Finished Art by Norm Rapmund & Rodney Ramos.  Rip Hunter is faced with figuring out where and when he is and get back to everyone else so they can track down Bruce Wayne.  However, he’s hooked up with a guy who looks like he’s straight from a Conan novel.  Meanwhile, the rest of the team gets themselves involved in a fight that they might have been better staying out of.  Supernova also tries to figure out what’s going on with the Vanishing Point.  Plus some other bad guys plot some naughty stuff.  So this was a typical job of Dan Jurgens telling his stories.  Nothing too spectacular, but easily enjoyable.  Honestly, it really had nothing to do with Bruce Wayne at the end of the day.  It almost seems like that’s merely a subplot of what they’re doing here.  If you’re looking for them to be getting clues about Bruce Wayne, etc., then steer clear.  If you just want a decent Dan Jurgens story with some pretty good artwork, then it might be worth checking out.

X-Factor #209 – Written by Peter David and Penciled by Emanuela Lupacchino.  So Lady Sif has taken off with Pip to Las Vegas.  Madrox feels bad about it and heads off to Vegas to confront Lady Sif.  So off he heads to Las Vegas with his team.  Come to think of it, with THAT team, it might be really a bad idea, as Madrox soon has to find out.  What a totally fun issue though!  This has a lot of funny and entertaining things going on.  I love Shatterstar trying to throw-down with the fake pirates and being in utter disdain of them.  And didn’t anyone stop to think that Longshot in Vegas would be a completely terrible idea?  I love it!  The interaction and personalities of the group is what really makes this comic work.  It isn’t just a mutant title, it’s much more than that and is really top notch work by Peter David.  Emanuela provides some very nice artwork as well.  It isn’t overly detailed and it manages to capture each character quite nicely.  A fantastic issue and worth picking up and checking out!

Uncanny X-Men #507 – Written by Matt Fraction and Penciled by Whilce Portacio with Leonard Kirk.  The Five Lights saga continues on as the X-Men race to find the new mutants that showed up and usher in a new age of mutants.  They try and track down a brand new mutant who’s power manifest, speeding everything about himself until he seemingly vanishes into thin air.  Then it’s up to Hope to come in and pull him together using her unknown, but beneficial powers.  There’s a whole series of crap involving Emma Frost in here that’s just… boring.  I could care less about her character and Whilce can’t draw her anymore apparently.  In fact, I’m guessing Whilce just phoned it in on this issue too and they had to get Leonard Kirk to come in and save the mess.  Fraction keeps writing Emma like the ice queen that she is, but the way he writes the other characters opining for her attention is lame.  This storyline has potential, but they need to drive away from Emma for awhile and get a real artist.  Like I’ve said, I usually enjoy Portacio’s artwork, but this seems like a job he’s doing for a little extra cash and could give a crap about how the art looks.  It really shows here.  So just an issue you can probably pass on for now.

Shadowland: Ghost Rider #1 – Written by Rob Williams and Art by Clayton Crain.  Ghost Rider is summoned by Kingpin in previous issues of Shadowland.  Now Kingpin wants to talk to Ghost Rider who is not very impressed by Wilson Fisk.  Fisk informs him that if he wants to be free from the Hand magic Kingpin used to summon him, then he must destroy the Hand at their seat of power.  Sounds easy enough to Ghost Rider, but we all know it’s never that easy.  Things don’t go quite as planned (do they ever?) and Ghost Rider has to make some “changes”.  Wow, the art was breath-taking in this issue.  Clayton Crain’s art alone makes this worth reading.  And the story isn’t too bad, but a few times I questioned if some of those things Ghost Rider would really say.  Other than that, a beautiful and great issue.  Not much else to say here.  I would highly recommend this to anybody who wants a good Ghost Rider story with amazing artwork!

Thunderbolts #148 – Written by Jeff Parker and Art by Declan Shalvey.  Shadowland crossover time!  We get a little look at life on the Raft with the Bolts while Cage is out dealing with Daredevil.  That means the tower they usually go to is off limits and they have to eat with the general populace and that provides for some interesting moments.  Luke eventually calls them in to help with freeing people on the underground of the castle, the Underhand.  So now I know where Underdog came from.  But anyway, the group is brought in mainly because it seems Luke wants to help an old friend out.  Ninja mayhem ensues.  So a pretty good story here as we find out what life is somewhat like for the Bolts and we also get some background time with Luke as well.  Just a pretty well written issue as they’ve all been so far since Parker took over with this new Thunderbolts team.  The crossover aspect works, because now we’re seeing another side of Shadowland that we haven’t really explored much yet.  Next issue should be really fun!  The artwork seemed a tad off at times and there were just some scenes where it felt like he drew things weird and then didn’t bother fixing it later.  But really a great issue and next issue has lots of potential so run and grab a copy for yourself.

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #3 – Written by Ed Brubaker and Art by Dale Eaglesham.  Machinesmith has captured Steve Rogers and removed the super solider serum from him.  So now Steve has to deal with being depowered and in a tight situation.  Can he find aid in the robot that thought it was Erskine’s wife?  A pretty solid issue here as we get some good flashbacks to Steve growing up.  Not many issues tell about him as that scrawny runt we first saw, but this issue actually talks about it.  It helps us relate to him more.  The best part is that all the training her underwent, that you can’t take away.  I still don’t see how removing the serum would make him scrawny again.  If you sucked the steriods out of Jose Canseco, would he automatically get smaller?  I’m gonna put my money on “hell no” and call it a win.  Other than that gap in logic, it wasn’t too bad at all.  The artwork was neither here nor there.  It certainly wasn’t fantastic, but I’ve seen a lot worse the past few months.  So this is a pretty decent issue, but not quite something I would necessarily say you should buy.

Green Lantern #57 – Written by Geoff Johns and Penciled by Doug Mahnke.  So Hector has seemingly eaten the Orange Lantern and boy is Larfleeze freaking out.  But Hector bolts to find Carol who is in Vegas.  So Hal totes Larfleeze along with him to Vegas.  Do you see how this could be a bad idea?  Two of the worst people in comics to take on Vegas trips go there in comics this month, go figure.  Carol has to hunt down The Predator entity to restore the Sapphire battery.  But Carol disagrees and thinks there may be another way.  Anyway, the Predator possesses a human with an obsession with a waitress at a Casino.  Then Larfleeze arrives and everything quickly goes downhill.  A much better issue with some interesting points being made in this one.  Larfleeze does his best to give us some good comic relief and Mahnke’s artwork is actually pretty spot-on this issue.  He also seemed to reduce the shine on Hal’s outfit, so maybe he heard my complaints.  Yeah right!  So the hunt for the Entities goes on I guess.  But this was a pretty good issue with some pivotal moments that are must read, so grab this issue!

Technorati Tags: green latern,doug mahnke,geoff johns,steve rogers,super solider,ed brubaker,dale eaglesham,thunderbolts,jeff parker,declan shalvey,shadowland,ghost rider,rob williams,clayton crain,whilce portacio,matt fraction,uncanny x-men,x-factor,peter david,emanuela lupacchino,time masters,vanishing point,dan jurgens,norm rapmund,rodney ramos,justice league,generation lost,judd winick,fernando dagnino,birds of prey,gail simone,alvin lee,adrian melo,new mutants,zeb wells,leonard kirk

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 24th, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews - August 20th, 2010

The Amazing Spider-Man #642 – Written by Mark Waid and Art by Paul Azaceta.  Finally, One Moment in Time is done and we go on with our lives.  Now we have “Origin of the Species: Part 1”.  This episode finds our wall-crawler adapting to life without any money and running into several humorous moments because of it.  Meanwhile, tons of supervillians gather at the behest of some unknown bad guy who wants an “item” of some sort and he’s willing to pay a lot for it.  You have guys ranging from Morbius to Sandman and Electro.  Why they would line-up for this, I’m not sure, but whatever.  Must seem like an easy job.  But this seems to have stolen the old “Rat Race” movie thing of beating everyone else to the object, because boy do they scramble.  It seems a bit out-of-character because I don’t think Mysterio has ever scrambled before in his life.  We eventually find out who the mystery man is and what he’s after and it’s really pretty good stuff.  Mark Waid writes a pretty decent Spidey tale, aside from the villians running out the door to try and outwit each other.  But my big gripe is the awful artwork by Paul Azaceta.  He single-handedly turns this otherwise good issue into utter crap.  He makes Spidey look fat in half his drawings.  He can do decent storytelling with his art, but the fact that everything he does draw looks like junk doesn’t help matters.  A fat Spider-Man?  Really?  Fanatics you can pick this up, but the rest of you skip this until they get a new artist.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #2 – Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Penciled by Fernando Pasarin.  So Guy Gardner is off to uncharted territory, but not without some help from friends.  Arisa and Kilowog decide they’re going with and off we go.  But first, we need to make a detour, and that detour is spoiled by the arrival of a nasty person.  We also find out that Arisa still believes Sodam Yot is alive after he sacrificed himself.  There is also an introduction of Zardor of Kralok which is probably setting up for future issues.  So we have all this stuff going on in the second issue and it’s not bad at all.  Arisa’s dream is downright creepy.  It’s interesting to see how Kilowog is coping with everything that has happened.  So this issue has a lot of good stuff going on.  Guy’s side journey ends up making total sense for his character and give us a reason to see some of my favorite Lantern Corps color.  The end of the issue totally is given away by the cover too.  I hate when companies do this, but it doesn’t totally ruin the issue.  The issue is solid and the artwork is fine.  Really, just a good issue that could go either way for you.  I’m a huge Green Lantern Corps fan, so I really like it, but if you aren’t you might want to skip it, newer readers might enjoy this though.

The Invincible Iron Man #30 – Written by Matt Fraction and Art by Salvador Larroca.  We start off with Tony driving away with Sasha Hammer from last issue.  But Tony’s interests are anything but romantic.  Tony is trying to figure out what the Hammer women are up to with their current expansion of business.  The trip doesn’t end exactly as planned for anybody.  There’s a weird sexual tension created by Sasha Hammer the whole time as well.  We also get to see the test driving of the new Stark Resilient car.  But Detroit Steel also plans on launching a new application that launches, the giant phallic symbols of DOOM!  Ah yes, be prepared for a scene for giant flying penises on their way to destroy Tony Stark for the cover of next issue.  I hate the design of those things and I often wonder if that’s completely intentional.  The story has an interesting pace and everything is building, then it calms down, and then we get the climatic conclusion of the issue when things go crazy again.  Matt Fraction continues to do an excellent job with his run on Iron Man.  Salvador provides some very good artwork that’s got a realistic feel without being too realistic.  His facial work is some of the best, so it’s easy to tell who the characters are, and that’s important.  So pick up this issue because this is one of the better comics out there today.

Thor #614 – Written by Kieron Gillen and Pencils by Doug Braithwaite.  The climatic conclusion to the Hel versus Disir in Hell saga concludes with this issue and it was worth it.  Part 4 of “The Fine Print” joins our hero Thor calling out the name of the Disir who cannot ignore when their name is called.  So off they go to try and kill Thor.  The Eir-Gram sword is still trapped when Thor calls for them, so will he be able to withdraw it and finish off the Disir and save Hel from a fate worse than Death itself.  To me, this is a great Thor story.  Plenty of drama and the conclusion to it all is pretty amazing stuff.  The way Thor is able to take care of this made sense and was a total “well duh, you’re pretty smart their Thor,” moment.  Kieron is able to capture the mythological aspect of the Thor title well.  Some might be looking more for a super-hero type encounter, but this is something else.  It all is very interesting and well done and it doesn’t feel like the same old stuff people might get bored with.  The artwork is a little sketchier than Salvador Larroca’s but it reminds me a little of his work.  It isn’t quite as polished, but I really thought it was quite good.  There’s a great moment in this comic as we see Asgard and Balder is standing over the map.  On the map is scribbled “Scan of Map of Asgard?”  So apparently nobody put that scan in at all and didn’t manage to erase the words the penciller put in.  Oops!  So look for that little Easter egg.  This is worth picking up!

X-23 #1 – Written by Marjorie Liu and Art by Will Conrad.  This issue deals with X-23 the dilemmas of her being involved with the X-Force project that everyone now knows about.  Her involvement seems counter productive to getting rid of the idea of her being reversing her descent into a killing machine.  So now things have to be dealt with and Laura isn’t having an easy time of it all.  So this issue mainly deals with feelings and that may not appeal to everyone.  I’m not sure where this title is going to go, but for a first issue this is just ok.  At the end they do include a history of X-23 which was really interesting and helpful to me, as I had not known much about X-23 prior to this issue.  Will Conrad’s art isn’t very good though.  I don’t care for how he draws Laura and half of the other characters.  His characters look very robotic and the main facial expression is a glare.  Everything just seems a little off with Conrad’s art and it’s enough to turn me off from this issue.  A good issue to pick-up for a history of X-23, but the artwork will really detract from what would otherwise be a solid issue.

X-Men #3 – Written by Victor Gischler and Penciled by Paco Medina.  Namor has recovered the head, Storm and Gambit have the body.  Dracula is alive again and the ramifications could be huge.  Wolverine is sent out to find Jubilee and rescue her from the big bad vamps.  So we flash back and forth between Wolvie’s journey and the conversation the X-Men have with Dracula.  This is probably the best issue of the series so far.  Wolverine’s battles seem a tad random, but the stuff at the end was very good.  I like the interaction Xarus and his Royal Court with Jubilee.  I felt that Dracula acted like he probably should.  Paco Medina’s artwork really shined in this issue and has improved quite a bit.  I think he improved enough to where his art makes this issue better than it might be otherwise.  I didn’t like his work in th first issue, but here it looks like he’s adapting to the X-Men well.  I’m still not completely sold on the storyline, but the story here was okay.  Still, not a X-Men title that I particularly like, but this one was actually ok.  If you want to see what’s going on with the “Curse of the X-Men” storyline, this would be the issue to check out, but still slightly skippable. 

X-Men: Legacy #239 – Written by Mike Carey and Penciled by Clay Mann.  While in India the X-Men run into a new Mutant on the run and a Sentinel close behind.  Of course, we aren’t quite sure that she IS a Mutant, we’re just assuming that the Sentinel is after one.  Paras also has to deal with his future bride who he has never met before.  Gotta love pre-arranged weddings!  Our new character Luisa also has some interesting secrets that start to unravel here as well.  So our story is a pretty decent one.  There’s lots of action and interesting things going on here to keep the reader compelled and that’s always a good thing.  Magneto and Rogue are still bickering as Rogue completely does not trust Magneto.  I like Paras’ pre-arranged wedding and having to deal with that and the interactions with his parents.  The art work is not quite there yet.  I see some styling of an early Whilce Portacio here, but Whilce was better at having his drawings tell a story.  Clay is not quite there yet.  The first few pages are very confusing and I had to go back and look at them several times just to tell what the hell was going on.  That’s not a good thing when a reader has to do that.  If he can just work on his facial details and storytelling through his art, he has the potential to be a very good artist.  An okay issue, but nothing too special, you can probably skip it.

Zatanna #5 – Written by Paul Dini and Penciled by Chad Hardin.  We have fire demons trying to take out Zatanna as we saw in last issue.  She also has to deal with her Cousin Zach feeling underappreciated by her and she promises to make his show tonight.  Well, those are always famous last words when you’re a busy magician who’s wanted by the Great Mammon.  We get introduced to our big bad demon of hell and also find out what his game is.  And since we’re in Vegas, things all kind of just make sense here.  So a trap is set and Zatanna has troubles resisting this one!  Another pretty fantastic issue as I love the way Zatanna deals with the fire demons.  Is she lucky? Sure, but it was still ingenious.  Mammon’s motivation seems to be somewhat logical.  As logical as something in this series will ever be I guess.  Zach’s disappointment is pretty interesting as well.  The final several pages are just fantastic stuff that you don’t want to miss.  Chad Hardin’s pencils are solid, nothing wrong there at all.  Paul Dini continues to make an underrated character into a solid hit for me.  I’ve said it before, I never thought I would like this character, but Dini has made me a fan.  That has to count for something.  Pick up an issue and get instantly hooked!

Technorati Tags: amazing spider-man,mark waid,paul azaceta,green lantern,emerald warriors,peter j. tomasi,fernando pasarin,invincible iron man,matt fraction,salvador larroca,thor,kieron gillen,doug braithwaite,x-23,marjorie liu,will conrad,x-men,victor gischler,paco medina,x-men legacy,mike carey,clay mann,zatanna,paul dini,chard hardin

Quick Comic Book Reviews - August 20th, 2010