SUPER Quick Comic Reviews - October 28th, 2010

This is a super quick rundown to catch up from last week:

Hits:

Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #3 - Written by Jim Shooter and Penciled by Roger Robinson. The issue really gets the storyline going.  The introduction of Gail and the reactions of Solar are very good.  They're taking a bit of a different slant on things over the original without being too far away from the source material there.  The use of Pickerel by Moloch is clever stuff as well.  Moloch is a really rotten diety.  But the question we come up with, is he real or is he a creation of Pickerel who envisioned him, perhaps from something he had read.  It's obvious that he allowed him entrance or creation, but which one.  The artwork was just excellent in this issue and I really enjoyed that.  One of the best titles of the month, especially after a somewhat weaker first issue.  I'm enjoying where this is going and I'm wondering how the heck is he going to get out of the mess he's in.

Ragman: Suit of Souls #1 - Written by Christos N. Gage and Art by Stephen Segovia.  This is just a one shot, but boy was the story simply fantastic.  I really like the character and wish DC would do more with him.  Unfortunately, the character isn't that appealing to the vast majority.  Instead he languishes with occasional one-shots and mini-series.  This issue just gives you a ton of fascinating back story on the character that I did not know about.  Finding out some interesting details as far as his father goes and finding out what happened to him was very well done.  There isn't much action in this issue, it is very character driven.  Definitely worth reading!  A really awesome issue!

X-Factor #210 - Written by Peter David and Art by Valentino De Landro. Peter David is one of the best writers in comics and this keeps proving it.  Another great issue that made me wish the next one was available right now.  One of Monet's clients needs help and we see the road Rahne and Rictor dealing with a pregnancy.  I like how they focus on two stories, while there's another story going on in Las Vegas we still have to deal with.  There's just so much going on in the world of X-Factor and the way Peter David juggles it all is amazing.  Great stuff!


Borderline:

Justice League of America #50 - Written by James Robinson and Penciled by Mark Bagley & Pow Rodrix.  I wanted to like this, but I really hate the CSA.  But once again, back to the Crime Syndicate of Amerika crap.  I just despise it when they're bogging down yet ANOTHER issue.  Well, we get that again.  Mark Bagley's style is starting to adapt a little to his new environs and we don't have quite the Spiderbatman that we were getting before.  So that showed improvement and wasn't that bad for once.  Of course, my money might be that Pow helped him with drawing people with actual muscle mass.  There was an interesting twist at the end at least and that alone gives this title some hope.  So here's hoping for a better next issue.  I might have rated this as a buy if I didn't loathe the CSA.

New Mutants #18 - Written by Zeb Wells and Art by Leonard Kirk.  For some reason this title just seemed short.  As much as I thought it was pretty good, most of the issue is a battle scene.  However, it is a pretty interesting and intense battle scene, as far as those go.  The artwork was fine, if not totally grotesque in spots.  I liked seeing these Inferno babies all grown up and demented from what happened to them.  I really like some of these new characters and maybe we'll get a new title out of them!  I can just see it now... "Jim Henson's Inferno Babies".  Wait, wrong genre.  Boy, what a nail biting ending that makes you wonder just what the heck will happen next issue.  However, at the end I wanted just a BIT more meat to it to make it more worthwhile.  VERY, very close one here.  Which is basically why I'm borderline on it.

Legion of Super-Heroes #6 - Written by Paul Levitz and Penciled by Yildiray Cinar.  I debated back and forth on this one.  Paul Levitz has done well and this issue he splits the story into two.  Both are very interesting in their own rights and worth reading.  But I couldn't figure out if this was a true BUY or not.  To me it is, but most people probably don't care for the Legion and the characters involved.  So should that influence my opinion?  Probably not.  The thing that made me downgrade it is the stories we're following are very short and don't seem like very weighty or substantive stuff that we're dealing with.  I did like Earth Man throwing the ring at Brainiac, but I didn't understand how he knew Brainiac had put controls on it to alter him.  But anyway, a very good issue, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on it.

Miss:

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #4 - Written by Ed Brubaker and Art by Dale Eaglesham.  The last issue of the mini-series and boy is it completely un-fantastic.  My interested in it waned after page two.   Pretty generic stuff here, cookie cutter if you will.  The artwork felt average, everything about this issue felt average.  When I was done, I just didn't really care.  The previous issue had all the interesting parts, but the conclusion was pretty much exactly what you thought it would be.  The attempt of a surprise at the end lost effectiveness because most people probably no longer cared at that point.  Good thing it's over.

X-23 #2 - Written by Marjorie Liu and Penciled by Will Conrad.  I'm looking for something enjoyable about this issue. However they just aren't making her an interesting character.  The art is very mediocre here as well.  I just couldn't get into it.  Tying it in with Wolverine's trip to hell is the only thing it has going for it and so far that crossover isn't even very good.  Wait a second, what the hell was the issue even about?  Not memorable either then.  Check!

Loki #1 - Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Penciled by Sebastian Fiumara.  A mini-series that is apparently taking a look at how Loki envisions things.  It is interesting to see his perspective on it all, but not quite interesting enough.  I found my mind wandering a bit too much at times.  A unique look at Loki if you feel you really need to see a different perspective.  I however did not.  Not much else to talk about.  Pretty bland feeling in the end.

Chaos War #2 - Written by Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente.  The song from "The Wonder Years" with Fred Savage plays through my head here.  And Herc sure needs to have a little help from his friends.  We get Venus being used after Atlas ended, so that's good.  But overall the issue is just him rallying other Gods and not getting very far.  Everyone on Earth who isn't a God is falling asleep.  I felt like I was falling asleep while reading this.  At least it seemed mercifully short.  I just don't care all that much for this series.  Hercules with extra power just isn't a very novel idea to me.  The Chaos God stuff I had hoped we were already done with when Secret Invasion ended, but I guess not.  Don't get me started on what I hated about that artwork.  Makes it look like everything and everyone is shiny.  Blech.  Kind of sad though, I really like both writers, but I'm not really enjoying this one.

So it was a pretty decent week with lots to read.  Sadly, I've still got to read Carnage, Supergirl, and maybe some of the Bruce Wayne stuff, but I might have to skip it for now.  How the hell did I manage to forget to read the latest Green Lantern Corps?  Good grief, you would think I had kids or something!  If you're interested in a title I didn't cover or you know of a title I should start covering, let me know and I'll try to add it to my list.  Any independant publishers can feel free to forward me anything they would like me to review.

SUPER Quick Comic Reviews - October 28th, 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!

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Quick Comic Book Reviews–August 24th, 2010