Quick Comic Reviews - October 18th, 2010

Still trying to catch up after the peed on laptop incident.  We're still taking donations or check out some ads and help the recovery fund.  Or don't.  We do appreciate the donations we've gotten.  In the grand scheme of things it seems trivial.  However, to the flat ass broke people out there, pretty big deal.  Anyway, if you like comics (and I know you do) we've got some more fun stuff.

New Avengers #5 - Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Penciled by Stuart Immonen.  The mystery of who is after the Eye of Agamotto continues.  And this issue we have the White Lantern Iron First.  Wait, wrong title.  But Iron Fist in a white outfit is actually pretty decent looking.  In fact, I kind of prefer it, so nice costume change there.  Will he keep it?  Probably not, but nice to see.  So it seems like we're starting to find out who is really after the Eye, and if it is who they're thinking it is, this could be very interesting.  The only problem I had is that it wasn't Strange himself who really figured it out.  I do like the solution they come up with at the end of the issue, it made some weird kind of sense and made it fun.  The artwork was top notch as usual, no complaints here.  The mixture of this team is the most interesting, which makes it one of the best Avengers titles right now.  Having Power First and Doctor Strange in the fore-front makes it even more interesting and the storyline works pretty well.  Worth checking out and a solid issue to pick-up.

Bruce Wayne the Road Home Batgirl #1 - Written by Bryan Q. Miller and Art by Pere Perez.  This issue was much better than I expected.  I honestly thought it would be awful, but at least they kept the same writing team.  This is almost a coming of age issue in which Batgirl is accepted by Bruce and even respected.  You'll see the same thing the whole issue.  You know this guy running around in an uber-powered suit is Bruce.  How he got back?  Well, you see, the whole Return of Bruce Wayne series should be done by now, but whatever delays occured held it back.  So we see the aftermath BEFORE it resolves in the appropriate series.  Which is fine, because Grant Morrison completely dropped the ball on that storyline anyway, so who cares.  I do have a rant about this whole ordeal that I'll publish in a few days.  The story is simple, there's nothing wrong with it.  The artwork is just fine and dandy, no complaints there either.  But we get the same Stephanie we've grown to love and a decent enough story involving Bruce Wayne.  Do you need this issue?  No, but it isn't bad at all.

Booster Gold #37 - Written by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen with Pencils by Chris Batista.  This issue follows Booster and Ted Kord who has been turned into a chipmunk during a break-out attempt of a prison ship that's about to invade Earth.  The hi-jinx are complemented this issue by a super tough prisoner named Estrogina, who is fighting her way to freedom.  Along the way she decides Booster would be a good mate, so she decides to take him with her for... later.  She also decides to eat Blue "Chipmunk", cue hilarity that is bound to follow.  Talk about a fun issue with tons of laughs.  It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the comedy involved is pretty hilarious stuff.  Everything is just plain absurd and that's what makes it even better.  Giffen and DeMatteis take the characters and just have as much fun with them as humanly possible.  This made it hard for me to decide the best title this week just because it's one of those rare unforgettable issues that will stick with me forever.  I think that alone makes it a must buy if you like crazy comedy and superhero hi-jinx.  Some of the laughs may not appeal to everyone though, but if you like that stuff, I couldn't recommend it more than I am right now.  BUY IT!

Thor #616 - Written by Matt Fraction and Art by Pasqual Ferry.  Ok, cue the theme and story from last issue, except move it nowhere.  Oh, and do nothing but double panel spreads so the comic takes about 5 minutes to read.  I'm not even going into it, besides to say that I'm disappointed with this issue.  I was interested to see what these "World Eaters" would do.  There was barely anything in here to give you the feeling that the issue was moving anywhere.  What you came out with last issue for knowledge, pretty much the same thing here.  There is one poignant panel in the end towards moving the plot forward and that's about it.  This issue is really more character focused, which is fine and all, but for $3.99, you kind of want to feel like you got more out of an issue.  I talked with a friend of mine about this issue and I asked him if it read real fast to him.  He thought about and sure enough, it read in about 5 minutes for him too.  Those two page spreads are nice as far as the artwork goes, but it got old after awhile.  There are 9 two page spreads in this. NINE!  I know Fraction is overworked right now, but we didn't need him for this title.  Bad move by Marvel.  Only buy if you want to feel like you just got $3.99 stolen from you, unless you're buying it just for Pasqual's artwork.

Shadowland #4 - Written by Andy Diggle and Penciled by Billy Tan.  Crap starts going down quick in this issue as the heroes launch a major last ditch offensive on Daredevil.  That is the entire issue.  All of it.  So I just talked about how quick Thor read, this one read pretty quick too.  It was moved forward by a lot of action though as well.  So can the heroes stop the resurrection of Bullseye?  I'm not huge on major battle issues, but we all knew this one was coming so it isn't that bad.  The scenes are a little confusing in parts and I dislike how Billy Tan draws the Punisher.  There honestly isn't much memorable in this issue and I'm left feeling like next issue is the important one.  This one just didn't feel important when I got to the end of it.  That's just my feeling though.  I thought Billy Tan's artwork was ok, not all that impressive this issue.  The colors just didn't seem to fit this issue either.  I almost felt like Wolverine's costume was almost glowing in some spots it was such a bright blue.  Ugh!  This is just an ok issue in what has been a pretty good major event so far, take it or leave it.

Quick Comic Reviews - October 18th, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 29th, 2010

Well, there are a few titles from last week that I didn’t fit in, I’ll try to squeeze them in next week.  For the most part, all the major titles from last week were read and reviewed.  Hope you find today’s batch useful as well!

Uncanny X-Men #528 – Written by Matt Fraction and Penciled by Whilce Portacio.  We start off visiting Nigeria where we have another new mutant who popped up.  This one apparently controls fire and ice, some I’m going to call her Icy Hot Analgesic Girl.  Good name, eh?  Anyway, Storm and Hope come in to save her after some local people are trying to kill her for what she accidentally did to the town.  We also take a look at what’s going on with Emma Frost hiding Sebastian Shaw in Utopia, Namor deals with his realm, and Kitty Pryde is still in ghost form looking to communicate with Colossus.  The issue isn’t badly written at all, but there’s just something missing.  It still doesn’t have a grand X-Men feel to it.  We kind of wander from one story to the next without one being our real focal point.  Then there was a weird scene with Nekra and Frenzy that I still can’t figure out why it is even in the book.  And the art… well, it’s better this issue, but part of me wonders if the inker didn’t help bail Whilce out on this one.  I still see a lot of shortcuts here.  Pages 6 and 8 have just a ton of white space for no apparent reason.  Readers aren’t paying for blank real estate here Portacio.  But it is better, but still not good by any stretch.  He also uses extreme close-ups of the eyes so that he has to draw less.  Really, just stop having him draw, he isn’t worth paying anymore because it’s clear he doesn’t care about what he’s doing for Marvel.  This issue is ok, mainly because I like the stuff with Hope and the Emma Frost stuff has some promise, but there’s nothing to rave about here.

Fantastic Four #583 – Written by Jonathan Hickman and Art by Steve Epting.  We play witness to a fight breaking out in the former city of the High Evolutionary.  At the same time, Valeria Richards decides to embark on some mischievousness of her own and breaks into her Dad’s workspace where he’s been going back and forth meeting with the many Reed Richards of alternate universes.  Of course, Reed left himself a recording and answer system that tells her all about what’s going on.  What she sees on the other side frightens her to ask for help from none other than Victor Von Doom himself.  For the life of me, I don’t know why the whole thing with the High Evolutionary’s City was even in here, it didn’t make sense.  Hickman then leads us on a story with the League of Mister Fantastics (or the council or whatever you want to call it) that didn’t seem to make much sense.  The issue seemed strangely put together and it didn’t really fit a normal storytelling flow.  Sure we got a big reveal on the last two pages, but everything else before didn’t really have any rising drama to it.  I was just kind of bored and confused by the whole situation.  I’m not quite sure what to make of it.  The artwork by Epting is pretty good and he does capture some amazing facials, so that’s top quality stuff.  However, the story is just lacking and I think you could very well skip this issue and pick up next issue instead and probably come out ahead.  So our “Countdown to Casualty” is a bit of a miss this week, but I’m holding out hope that next issue is better.

Green Lantern Corps #52 – Written by Tony Bedard and Penciled by Ardian Syaf.  We learn the fate of Boodikka in this issue and the Lanterns take it to Cyborg Superman and his Alpha Lanterns.  A titanic battle ensues in which the inhabitants of the planet Grenda rise-up for a cause.  That’s really about as much of a synopsis as one needs.  The pace of this issue is fast as we can see they’re trying to move the story along and give us a pretty good battle to boot.  I liked how Boodikka got the final laugh in this one.  It was a great scene to see!  Truly a fitting conclusion to this for now.  The issue works well with the parts it has set-up and makes you feel satisfied with the conclusion.  Unfortunately the issues leading up to this weren’t anything special.  This one feels like a decent bit of story and some pretty good artwork mixed together.  It helps that I’m a huge Green Lantern fan, but to most people, this issue was nothing to write home about.  I really like Cyborg Superman, but at the end of the day, this didn’t feel like it moved any particular plot along much.  The only good thing is figuring out what happened with the Alpha Lanterns.  That being said, a decent issue with some good artwork, but nothing you would feel sorry about not buying a few months down the road.

Justice League: Generation Lost #10 – Written by Judd Winick and Penciled by Joe Bennett.  We are shown events from the Kingdom Come series from several years ago in a smaller form.  At least, this is the vision that Maxwell Lord has, so the White Ring or Entity wants him to stop this from ever occurring in our reality.  However, at the end of last episode Magog had been brought on to help Max, so we’re left to wonder and perhaps assume what is going on here.  We also find out that Skeets was able to find out about 4 dormant Checkmate cells came back online upon Lord’s return.  In fact, Skeets downloaded pretty much everything he could.  Fire & Ice have a heart warming-ish moment as well.  There is a very interesting scene where Batman starts realizing something is up with Max Lord and Power Girl is also starting to believe there’s a conspiracy.  Just as quickly as they put it all together, their memory of it all vanishes again.  The end of the issue reveals one of my favorite groups of all time.  I don’t want to spoil everything, but wow.  Ok, I just wrote a lot about this issue, but damn was it a great read!  Is Lord using Magog and planning to destroy him with the help of the Justice League?  Is Max trying to work against the White Lantern’s entity?  Will the other heroes ever remember Maxwell Lord?  So many questions and a great story every issue.  Judd Winick has hit his stride and made this a hit.  My only complaint is that the art was pretty bland.  Joe Bennett just didn’t do it for me.  He’s ok, but I never felt pulled in by it and there’s a scene with Max Lord saying “Ooh-rah,” that’s just plain bad.  But the writing is there and fantastic, the art varies from issue to issue because of the changing artists, but that doesn’t affect my end opinion.  You need to be buying this series, because it is flat out DC comics at it’s best!

The Avengers #5 – Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Penciled by John Romita Jr.  The Avengers left in our time are trying to figure out what exactly to do in all of the chaos.  It isn’t an easy task either, because of all the innocents involved from the past and future who are being sucked into our timeline.  Also, Thor tries to take Galactus down a few sizes, which is always a difficult task.  In the future Tony Stark learns the future version of himself attacked him.  Kang wants to keep putting groups together to defeat Ultron, but in the end, he’s unraveling time by doing it.  There are just some weird leaps in logic in this issue, but some might say that’s Bendis’ style.  When they get teleported back in time how do they take the place of themselves?  Would they be there alongside themselves?  Although, when you put it in terms of the “Groundhog Day” reference, it does make a tad bit of sense, just not much.  The story feels like it should take a few more steps forward than it did, but still not bad.  I just didn’t care for the explanations going on by Future Stark.  Not some of Bendis’ better writing, but I did think the issue was still entertaining.  Romita is Romita, I don’t need to say much else.  Despite being entertaining, it isn’t enough to make me recommend it to you unless you’ve been following this storyline, if so, you might as well.

Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow #2 – Written by Jason Henderson and Art by Ivan Rodriguez.  Former Bounty Hunter Colleen Wing takes her place as leader of the Nail.  The Nail is a sect of female assassins for the hand.  We get a first hand taste of them right away in this issue as they rescue a truck full of girls headed towards being enslaved.  Colleen considers herself a Samurai, because unlike ninja, samurai adhere to codes and principles.  Colleen talks to Murdock and mentions once again that her mother used to lead the Nail.  Colleen intends to lead the Nail into an attack on a Massage Parlor that uses these enslaved women.  However, when the person behind the trafficking scheme is somebody her friend Tig is working for, things go south.  An interesting tale of trying to play a middle line when there’s not much of one to play.  She walks the thin line while the other female characters don’t subscribe to it.  Most of them are downright nasty, especially Black Lotus who doesn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with Colleen’s style.  It’s not excellently written or anything, but there is a fun kind of appeal to this.  The artwork isn’t great, kind of stiff in spots, the colors make this thing tolerable, but I have a feeling if everything wasn’t blended and gradiented out, it would look worse.  If you like “Kill Bill” type movies, this might be an enjoyable read, otherwise it has limited appeal.

Legion of Super-Heroes #5 – Written by Paul Levitz and Penciled by Yildiray Cinar & Francis Portela.  A transport that was supposed to take Titan refugees to their new home, instead crashes on their camp. While the Legion is dealing with that, Earth Force shows up to perhaps vanquish what’s left of the refugees.  Meanwhile on Naltor, we see the search for the new wearer of the Green Lantern ring continue.  Earth-Man bails out his fellow leaguers as well and Brainiac disobeys an order.  Just a lot of interesting things going on with the main story being the Earth Force vs. Xeno’s story and Earth-Man’s part in it all.  Once again, a lot of characters to juggle, but Levitz handles with extremely well.  The only disappointing part was no Saturn Girl follow-up yet.  But with so much going on, it’s hard to get back to some things.  It makes me wish the issues were longer so we could find out more and slow the pace a tad.  On the plus side, we have Timber Wolf quite a bit in this issue and he’s been all but unseen in these first four issues.  Hopefully we see more of him going forward.  The Durlan sub-plot is also getting interesting and I want to know where that is going.  The art is pretty superb in this issue as well, so I found no problems with it.  The only issue I have anymore is that too many characters, not enough time for them all, which is almost a shame really.  Lots of interesting characters and pretty superb writing his made Legion a can’t miss monthly epic.

Technorati Tags: uncanny x-men,matt fraction,whilce portacio,fantastic four,jonathan hickman,steve epting,green lantern corps,tony bedard,ardian syaf,justice league: generation lost,judd winick,joe bennett,avengers,brian michael bendis,john romita jr.,shadowland: daughters of the shadow,jason henderson,ivan rodriguez,legion of super-heroes,paul levitz,yildiray cinar,francis portela

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 29th, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 27th, 2010

Whew, I’m so close on getting caught-up with reviews.  Tomorrow will be the test as I’ve gotten quite a few more read, but can I get them all out?  Well find out.  Today enjoy a mix of good and bad and the logic defying.

Titans #27 – Written by Eric Wallace and Art by Fabrizio Fiorentino & Cliff Richards.  Another journey into the land of Deathstroke’s Titans or his Anti-Titans, or his Villians for Hire, or… whatever you want to call it.  Deathstroke and his group are trying to break up a Bliss ring and Arsenal finds out that Bliss is made out of kids!  So it’s like soylent green with a buzz, awesome.  Osiris has more visions about his sister and of course, he simply has to bring her back.  Hasn’t the Black Marvel family learned anything?  Man are they obsessed with bringing people back from dead constantly.  It never leads to anything good.  We also have Arsenal dealing with his addictions, so we keep going back down that path.  So the question is, will he even be able to do the right thing in the end?  This is probably the best issue of the new Titans run with Deathstroke, but that doesn’t say a ton.  The addiction issues isn’t a bad story to tell, but we keep getting this with characters who have no redeeming qualities.  Well, we already have Secret Six and they do a much better job of dealing with these types of characters.  Wallace is still trying to find his groove and he’s getting closer, but it still needs a little seasoning.  So this is still not a book worth picking up, but it is slowly making improvements.

Shadowland: Moon Knight #2 – Written by Gregg Hurwitz and Penciled by Bong Dazo.  We see Moon Knight fighting his way through the fortress of Daredevil’s and he encounters Murdock.  Apparently Khonshu know the Beast that possesses Daredevil all too well.  Khonshu also knows exactly what will destroy the Beast, so Moon Knight has a pivotal role to play in the Shadowland saga.  Moon Knight returns home to find Marlene savagely beaten, which is even worse given that she’s pregnant.  She reveals that she was attacked by this new Shadow Knight.  All the while it looks like Khonshu is closer to getting exactly what he wants and that isn’t good news for our hero.  First off, Bong Dazo is awesome.  I just love his art and the feel he’s managed to bring to this title.  The story is worth telling and it is a great crossover title that is also bringing Moon Knight back to prominence.  This story is a bit less confusing than in last issue, so that will help any new readers.  Plus, Marvel always has a great review of what’s going on in their titles, which is something DC needs to do.  I read them just because I usually read so many issues and I want a brief refresher.  Hurwitz does a great job at tying several plots into one seamless offering.  He’s telling stories worth telling and you’ve got to love that.  One of the better titles I’ve read in awhile, so buy it!

Justice League of America #49 – Written by James Robinson and Penciled by Pow Rodrix with Robson Rocha.  We join Donna Troy and Jade as they visit San Francisco.  They stop by what I’m guessing is Alcatraz, but anyway, they stop there to check up on the Shadow Thief.  Can you say eventual storyline there?  Anyway, some guy named Bogeyman wants to see them.  He apparently liked to get into children’s dreams and make them dream awful, rotten things.  But really, that’s about all of his powers.  Now, isn’t that what the Boogeyman is?  What the hell is a Bogey-man?  Is this Top Gun?  Do we have a Bogey?  Well, he invades the dreams of a grown-up Donna Troy and Jade somehow and knocks them out.  But all of this is just blah, blah, blah.  The Bogeyman was never a feared enemy of the Teen Titans like they seemed to make up completely.  And even if he was, he can’t really do anything besides give you scary dreams and now, apparently, make you fall asleep.  Why didn’t he ever do this to the guards watching him?  What the heck is going on?  This makes no sense whatsoever!  But hey, it’s better than any issue with Mark Bagley as the artist.  Gotta like that!  Oh, and the sub-plot with Batman and Supergirl isn’t bad at all.  Poor lonely Supergirl.  It’s just a mediocre story with huge gaps in logic, not worth picking up.

Supergirl #56 – Written by Sterling Gates and Penciled by Jamal Igle. So we have Bizarrogirl and Supergirl rocketing through space, heading toward the infamous Bizarro World.  Supergirl is still upset about what she did during the whole New Krypton storyline and is trying to come to terms with it.  She feels responsible for the planet blowing up.  On Bizarro World we meet Bizarro Lex who is the smartest one on the planet, so he almost makes sense.  Some big machine that looks like some sort of space monster that is eating people and is from some “Godship”.  Bizarro soon shows up and explains the situation as best a Bizarro can.  The problem with Bizarro-centric things is that it can get old quick.  What is fun for half the issue, starts bogging down and getting annoying and old.  The worst part is, Bizarro-speak is hard for a writer to keep writing, especially if they’re trying to explain things.  You can lose your reader far too easily if you keep doing opposites on everything.  The artwork is alright, looks pretty decent, not the best artist they’ve put on this title, but it’s fine.  Overall, the issue is fun for awhile, but pretty mediocre and I can’t imagine three issues of this stuff, so you can probably just skip this.

Avengers Academy #4 – Written by Christos Gage and Penciled by Mike McKone.  When last we left off, Hazmat, Veil and Mettle set-up a black-out at the raft to go kill Norman Osborn.  In this issue, we see the results, with Osborn finding a way to weasel his way out of yet another very bad situation.  We also learn some background information on Mettle.  Never would I have guessed that Mettle was just a surfer dude by nature.  We saw most of what happened during the black-out two issues ago in Thunderbolts, so there wasn’t a big surprise there, but there are still some good fight scenes.  I liked how they did the origin of Mettle, it was very fun and interesting.  The question is, if he isn’t a mutant, then how did this happen?  So far they’re hedging around giving us any of those answers, but I’m hoping that eventually we find out.  Gage provides another quality written issue and McKone’s work is still improving.  I really liked how he drew Osborn’s face,  He really does a very good job in this issue!  Once again, Avengers Academy is a winner and worthy of putting in your collection.

Thor #615 – Written by Matt Fraction and Art by Pasqual Ferry.  This is the first issue written by Matt Fraction.  We start with a scientist explaining something to an “unknown” Asgardian about how the Universes are interconnected and eventually comes to the point that with Asgardian leaving it’s basic “plane of existence” it has left a void that has to be filled.  In this issue we get a sense that something is definitely coming to fill that void.  Alfheim gets invaded by some big mean nasties that I can’t recall ever seeing before.  Meanwhile, Thor deals with the mess Asgard is left in and the heroes therein and how they are coping with what happened.  Another interesting thing is that we see Thor talking to Donald Blake, kind of like how Ronald and Professor Stein always talked in Firestorm.  Now, my memory gets foggy quite a bit, but I don’t recall ever seeing this aspect before.  I always thought that Donald Blake was basically subdued into the subconscious and never took an active part.  So this is an interesting take on Thor by Matt Fraction.  I’m not quite sure that I care for that part as it doesn’t seem necessary to me.  But that’s only my opinion, you might quite like it.  The art is pretty well done, the inking isn’t quite as heavy I would like with the coloring style they used, but it isn’t bad either.  An ok first issue by Matt Fraction, this one is a pretty good read, but nothing phenomenal, not a must buy.

Technorati Tags: titans,eric wallace,fabrizio fiorentino,cliff richards,shadowland,moon knight,gregg hurtwitz,bong dazo,justice league of america,james robinson,pow rodrix,robson rocha,supergirl,sterling gates,jamal igle,avengers academy,christos gage,mike mckone,thor,matt fraction,pasqual ferry

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 27th, 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

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 20th, 2010

 

Thanos Imperative #3 – I kind of like these cosmic sagas and this one has been pretty solid so far.  I’ve been a big fan of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and they continue to provide solid stories that I can always count on liking.  I also like that I don’t have to buy a million tie-in issues to see the full story.  It is all self contained and that has a certain charm to it.  This issue we follow Thanos further into the Cancerverse where Death has died and Nova assembled a strike team to go after Namorita.  The explanation behind why Death doesn’t exist there anymore was ok, a tad weak, but alright.  My main complaint is the artwork.  Miguel Sepulveda does such a poor job that I can’t figure out what’s going on half the time.  Sometimes he makes the story harder to follow than it should be.  I had to go back a re-read to figure out who was saying what because the pictures didn’t seem to tell me well enough.  Just terrible stuff.  The artwork makes me mad.  This should be an issue worth buying and it is just to stay up on what’s going on, but the artwork almost turns me against it.  Buy for the story, not the art.

X-Men #2 – Well, that wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting.  So in X-Men, we’re still talking about Vampires and their virus they’re unleashing and the want they have to get to the mutants.  But the story gets much better this issue than in last.  It’s still pretty hokey in spots and still hasn’t grabbed my imagination.  There’s a smidge of me that’s really trying to like Victor Gischler’s work, but I don’t.  His story just didn’t seem very imaginative and everything just falls flat for me.  Paco Medina’s artwork was hit and miss.  The early pages I liked pretty well and then it seemed a tad different later on.  His Cyclops just drives me batty, he draws him even more stiff than you would Al Gore.  His mouth on Cyclops looks really weird half the time, I just didn’t care for it.  This series promises to be the big miss of the summer.  And there ain’t no cure for the summertime X-Men #2.  Dah dah dah dunt.  Just skip it, save that money for something else.

Avengers Prime #2 – I like the word “meh” for some reason and it kind of describes this issue.  The issue isn’t terrible actually and there are some fun moments.  There are just weird things that I didn’t care for.  Are the troll-like dudes who talked to Tony Stark hard on hearing?  One moment he’s shouting about being friends with Thor and then ignore him.  The next time he talks about it, they say “Our lord Thor?”  Well, duh, can’t you hear?  I hate gaps in logic like that.  The final reveal towards the end wasn’t too awfully shocking and I found myself saying, “Who even cares?”  This is not the best work Brian Michael Bendis has done.  But since we’re going crazy on Avengers EVERYTHING, might as well pile on more issues to cash in on the future movie and build up interest.  I can’t say that I blame them.  There are far worse issues you could buy, but this is mostly meh.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1 - Peter Tomasi has been doing a fine job with his Green Lantern Corp runs and he stumbles a tad out of the gates, but still tells me a story I’m interested in and entertained by.  I’m interested in seeing how things play out between Atrocitus/Gardner/Ganthet.  Also there seems to be more things working in the background.  I guess I’m a bit biased because the Green Lanter Corps stuff has always been some of my favorite stuff and if they can get back to just telling some good stories, I’m a happy man.  Still, I’m not sure what the heck of the first 10 pages of this issue is even there for besides filler.  It gets better towards the end though.  The artwork is well detailed and there’s a wall of skulls and some scenes in this issue that are just fantastic.  The artist Fernando Pasarin is doing some pretty good stuff here and I’m interested in seeing more of it.  The storyline isn’t the best, but like I said, picks up steam.  If you like the Green Lantern Corp stuff Tomasi did, this isn’t quite there yet, so time will see.  As for this issue, not a must buy, just ok.

The Amazing Spider-man #639 – Joe Quesada cannot write revisionist history worth a lick.  This issue was a mangle of rewind, half-rewind, present, rewind, blah.  His story just doesn’t seem to be adding up as to why MJ and Peter didn’t get married.  And then he takes a total wimp-out in several spots and you’re left wondering what the hell is going on with this storyline.  It feels like he decided he was going to do it overnight and then threw out a script that would last several issues.  There really isn’t anything going on here that’s very interesting at all.  I’m not fond of Joe Quesada’s hybrid art on his pages because he draws Peter to look like a mutant elf.  Hmmm… come to think of it, he does resemble Nightcrawler in these.  Paolo Rivera has some decent “throwback” artwork going on and that’s where the real storytelling happens.  He is the only bright spot in this pile of poop.  Skip it, maybe something will happen next issue but don’t bank on it.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird #3 – Jim McCann can write and this series keeps up a pretty steady pace.  This issue is high on action and the artwork of David Lopez captures it all and does it justice.  So in this issue Mockingbird goes after Crossfire after what he did to her mother.  A pretty straightforward issue with backstory still moving along.  The relationship between Clint and Bobbi, still having their disagreements, is good stuff as well.  But really, a LOT of action in this issue and it is done fairly well, so I can’t complain when there a GOOD action sequences, because that’s part of what makes comic great.  This is a fantastic series and this is a solid issue. Not quite as good as #1 & 2, but pick it up and enjoy!

The Invincible Iron Man #29 – We further our storyline involving Stark Resilient getting up and running, Pepper get the repulsor tech put back in her, and the Hammer girls running roughshod.  A lot of storylines working well together and giving us another good story.  This issue has a few more dull spots than others, like the argument with Maria Hill and Stark just wasn’t particularly well done.  Then we have these weird giant launchable flying penises is the only way to describe them.  Apparently they’re Detroit Steel’s flying penises, but boy were they poorly designed and the whole concept of them (okay, they aren’t REALLY penises, they just look like them) is really quite lame.  Download an app and fly them?  Really?  Have they actually seen the limitations of cell phone technology?  It just came off flat.  Everything else in the issue after that is pretty decent, but the first several pages were groaners.  It did finish strong though and may be worth picking up for one hilarious scene with Tony and Pepper.  Salvador Larroca gives this series a unique feel with his artwork, but he loses points for the flying penises.  Matt Fraction’s writing is once again good like I said, except for the first several pages.  Buy if you’re already elbow deep in the series, otherwise not a must buy.

Technorati Tags: X-men,Avengers Prime,Brian Michael Bendis,vampires,green lantern,emerald warriors,Peter Tomasi,Miguel Sepulveda,Amazing Spider-man,Thanos Imperative,Dan Abnett,Andy Lanning,Namorita,Nova,Joe Quesada,Fernando Pasarin,Hawkeye,Mockingbird,Jim McCann,David Lopez,Paolo Rivera,Matt Fraction,Invincible Iron Man,Salvador Larroca,Victor Gischler,Paco Medina

Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 20th, 2010