3-26-07

It seems like I'm constantly changing the format, at least until I get it right.

I was actually a little surprised about All Star Superman #10, as it was a kind of flat lead up to the last two issues of Morrison and Quitely's run. Fun, but it was almost like filler. On the other hand, it does resemble the "things you do before you die," which is usually whoever trying to make the most of their last bits of time, and it kind of falling flat.  In other news of relative disappointments, Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #7 has to be my least favorite issue of this mini. Whereas I've rather enjoyed alot of it so far, this issue lacked in dialogue, once again having some issues in building up to the conclusion in the next issue. 

Blue Beetle #25 was an amazing ending to what John Rogers referred to as Blue Beetle: Year Two. I'm sad he's gonna be leaving for a bit and that the replacement is Will Pfiefer (who I really haven't had pleasant experiences with). Countdown to Final Crisis #5 gives us a world to have Kamandi stories without having to have some definite future for the DC universe, and Lord Havok & the Extremists assures us that all the big bads aren't gone yet (well of course, Brother Eyepokalips is still roaming around, which I think is infinitely cool.) Teen Titans #57 was better than usual, showing us that apparently McKeever can write one, maybe two (Blue Beetle, maybe) Titans right. Crossing Midnight is getting exciting again, and I just now noticed that Proof wears sweater vests on a regular basis. New storyline starts in Proof #6, by the way. This one is gonna focus on the mokele-mbembe, which is a personal favorite cryptid of mine.

Jack Hawskmooor mini? surprisingly good. Also, did anyone know anything about Transhuman before this issue came out? The shop I got it from had not even realized they ordered copies of it. This comic is full of win, and lord knows where it'll go next. Daredevil #106 provided us with another one of Brubaker's interim issues between big story arcs (the previous one being the Milla Donavan one shot). New Avengers and Mighty Avengers were mostly bad, with the Wasp's "You saw Luke Cage naked?" being the main highlight. I do admit though, I like Wolverine/Echo/Clint Barton being the core, so to speak, of the Flightless Avengers. Damage Control #3 landed kind of flat for me, even though the giant talking Chrysler Building was fantastically funny. 

And lastly, a few very quick notes. X-Men: Legacy? Awesome. Fallen Angel? Curious to see what's gonna end up happening here. Green Lantern? This is getting to be quite interesting. Hellblazer? I hope that Andy Diggle never leaves. He's practically forcing DC/Vertigo to release the unpublished Delano stories. Very excited about stuff in Wildstorm: Revelations and to see what happens in Number of the Beast. Lastly, I miss Darwyn Cooke on The Spirit. The new team isn't... bad, but it's just not as fun/awesome as Cooke's run was. 

03-12-08

The win:

Annihilation: Conquest #5

Y'know what's awesome? When you know the resistance will win, but they are currently injured and jumping off a giant exploding building, while the bad guy has just transferred his consciousness into quite possibly the most powerful being in the universe. As opposed to "yeah, they'll kill Cap at the end, somehow."

Avengers: Initiative #10

"Hey we need your help." "Yeah, too bad you've been busy being bastards. 'Cause here come the New Warriors, made up of actual former New Warriors members." "Shit... you do realize an evil clone is killing everyone, right?"

Booster Gold #7

Every week this books brings the awesome. If you feel that your life is lacking in awesome, it most likely has something to do with you NOT BUYING THIS BOOK. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? REDEEM YOUR LIFE. What happens? Booster Gold and Blue Beetle destroy the Earth. Who will save it? Will it be the Rip Hunter/Supernova/Skeets supercombo? Green Arrow/Hawkman Justice League? Timebreakers?

BPRD: 1946 #3

Good lord this book is dark. Artwork is awesomely grimey. Dysart has given us this amazing story (3 issues of a 5 issue mini) about the beginning of the BPRD that's just incredible. In the midst of all this is a demon possessing Goldilocks (no, not the hot one from Fables).

Gen13 #18

Do you like good books? You should be reading The Exterminators. Do you already read that and can't get enough of Simon Oliver, and also have a hankering for a new twist on corny early 90s comics? Well then, head on over to Wildstorm, where Oliver took over for Gail Simone and has been doing a fantastic job with this book. The team of Gen13 is anything but the typical superhero team, and is mostly just trying to escape the trappings of their creators. Which is a hard thing to do when you don't realize everyone you meet is owned by a group of people filming you...

Mighty Avengers #10

This is a fun issue, with good artwork. Did it make sense to have this issue in the middle of the current storyline? No, not really. At least not in any way evident right now. 

Nova #11

Really, I don't think I should have to say anything about Nova being good every month. You should know. You should have it on a subscription, because this is a reliably awesome book in regards to art, writing, story, characterization, bringing in new ideas and reviving old ones. Hey look, it's Warlock, and he's grown up. Holy crap, it's a giant thing. Also, ideas in A:C regarding the Phalanx and the Technarch will be reflected here. You know why? Because DnA know what the hell they're doing.

Tiny Titans #2

Oh are you confused? Cause I'm not. This right here is canon as far I'm concerned. Hey, what does Terra do? Oh, apparently she throws rocks. At Beast Boy. And Kid Devil is tiny and never says anything, which is fantastic, since apparently only Geoff Johns and John Rogers can write him at all. ::coughcoughMcKeevercoughcough::

X-Factor #29

X-Factor post-Layla take two. Everything goes wrong. And where the hell has everyone gone to. It's been a while since we've seen this fellow Arcade, and lemme tell you, I think he's gotten both creepier and more effective. And he hasn't actually appeared yet.

And now, I present to you this week's fail:

Fantastic Four #555

Oh yeah, here's a giant planet we're making in orbit of Earth that you never noticed before Reed Richards. Also, we used the smartest and richest people on Earth to work on this. So while that was happening, we never even left a message for you, Tony Stark, Danny Rand, Hank McCoy or Hank Pym. Yeah, that's plausible. And you know, I liked Hitch when he drew the first volume of Ultimates (except for Nick Fury, cause I liked the one originally done by Bagley in Spider-man) and I liked Hitch when he did Stormwatch and The Authority. But really, he needs to go to learn-how-to-draw-the-Fantastic-Four school. 

Simon Dark #6

You know what happened in this comic? A truck was hijacked. A cat was bought. Kid Frankenstein (Simon Dark) reminisces. Mob guys show up and are dealt with. And then, finally, in the last 3 fucking pages. SOMETHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS. Demon soap! Read the last 3 pages for demon soap kids! It looks like the next few issues may be interesting, but seriously, this was the flattest leadup ever, and was decompressed to the point that it looked like one of those dinosaurs that you put in water and it expands. You know what I mean, it was like that one time you decided to fill a bucket of water and put it in that. That's what I'm talking about.

I just acquired a bunch of new comics, so when I get a chance I'll give you the heads up on the mini-series Two Guns, and the new ongoings Resurrection and The Circle. Additionally, curious about Scott Pilgrim? Me too! Let's find out together.

03-05-08

Sorry it's been a few weeks, I had a friend that died and have been dealing with that the past few weeks. 

Aside from that, I did manage to read my comics, and so I would like to comment on the past two weeks as far as this: Blue Beetle was awesome, and Mark Millar is still a hack. Also, I have gotten to where I really love John Romita Jr.'s artwork. Which made Kick-ass all the more a bizarre read for me.

Anyway, this week:

The Awesome:

The Boys #16

There a lot of really good emotion in this particular issue, and a whole lot less "omg Ennishock factor!" In fact, so far that's more or less how this current arc is. So that must mean that in the next two issues the disgusting rolls out.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12

Oh man, this issue was awesome. I wasn't sure whether or not Drew Goddard's arc was gonna be as good as Whedon's and BKV's had been, and so far, it's looking good. My only complaint is that Xander didn't shout something along the lines of "See! I did see a panther!"

Cable #1

And here begins Marvel's Lone Wolf and Cub. I'm always amazed how well those stories fall into a kind of Western story feel, even though we're actually looking at some nasty beat-up future. Apparently Bishop's arm was not of the greatest quality.

Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #1

Oh man. Do I really have to tell you why this is awesome? Peter David's adaptation is just fantastic, and Jae Lee... I mean really that's all you have to tell me. Jae Lee is doing the artwork. I'm sold. 

Detective Comics #842

Peter Milligan drops in to tell us a kinda creepy tale about Batman and the armor he wore for most of "The Resurrection of R'as al Ghul." Well done one shot, and we get to see a bit more about that sect that Azrael used to be a part of. Hopefully we'll keep it at that in terms of remembering that particular character...

Echo #1

Terry Moore gives us a new comic that appears to be a classic accidental superpower book. The artwork and story are a real good leadup to what might come, and also make me excited about him coming to Marvel to work on Runaways. Also, maybe I should check out Strangers in Paradise...

Green Lantern #28

Holy crap Red Lantern! HOLY CRAP RED LANTERN! RAGERAGERAGERAGERAGE! Mike McKone does a great job doing the work on GL right now, especially since he's picking up the book from Ivan Reis (who'll be back very soon, according to a Geoff Johns' interview).

Jonah Hex #29

This story, for me anyway, was amazingly intense. The colors are mostly brown, grey and red, and really creates this eerie, almost frightening story involving Jonah Hex and this elusive tribe hidden in a rock formation known as the Devil's Paw. 

Justice League: The New Frontier Special

Most of the stories were okay, but what's almost worth buying THE WHOLE DAMN THING is opening pages of this as introduced by Rip Hunter, who excuses himself from the panel for a moment to shoot A RANDOM GUY IN THE FACE. Okay, so maybe he wasn't entirely random, he was an aluminum siding salesman.

Scalped #15

We find Dash Bad Horse still having a rough time actually dealing and coming to terms with his mother's death. But it seems like he's finally coming to a point of a breakthrough, possibly with the help of a boy whose mother died right around the same time... and points could be leading to a one Diesel Injun.

Young Liars #1

This came out of nowhere. I thought it looked dumb when I saw a few bits about it a while back. I have been proven wrong. This is a great issue that gives a solid introduction and sets up a cool and possibly INSANE story in the process. Well played, David Lapham

And now, for this week's "huhbuhwuh?"

X-Force #2: X-23 shoots a gun! blam blam blam! Also, Marvel wants to bring back all it's Technarchy characters, apparently. I just find that weird, issue was okay.

Countdown Presents Lord Havok & the Extermists #5: I'm not exactly sure what even happened in this issue. 

All New Atom #21: Rick Remender, while I enjoy your "SCIENCE!" to a certain extent, it just didn't happen here. ::sniff:: I miss Gail already. 

Punisher War Journal #17: CURSE YOU HOWARD CHAYKIN! CURSE YOU! The story was good otherwise!