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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 25, 2024 16:31:45 GMT -5
Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives! #1Written by Dan Watters and Ram V Art by Mathew Roberts Summary: Investigative Reporter Kate Marsden has tracked serial killer Darwin Collier all the way to the jungles of Peru but finds another monster. Plot: Dan Watters and Ram V's take on the Creature of the Black Lagoon succeeds in every way that the earlier Image adaptation of Dracula by James Tynion IV failed: it's fresh and exciting while still feeling recognizable as the original. Now, perhaps I'm being too harsh on Tynion's earlier work, by it's very nature adapting Dracula is going to necessarily harder as it's been made into a film purportedly over 200 times and has nearly as many comic book adaptations which obviously means finding a new angle is going to be tough. On the other hand the Gillman while certainly visually iconic as a Hollywood Monster only had three films originally by Universal, the latter two of which are little known or seen, a cameo in Monstersquad and the recent film The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro so as such has much more room for exploration and Watters and Ram V do just that, moving the creature to Peru instead of Brazil and adding in a plot of a reporter who is tracking down a serial killer who drowns their prey who just so happens to encounter the creature. Their's a great feeling of intrigue and true crime that is completely new but the myth of an aquatic off shoot of man remains and his mode of killing being similar to the serial killer brings some interesting comparisons that I'm excited to see developed. We're only on the first issue but this feels like something you shouldn't miss if you're a fan of the Universal monsters. Art: Where Roberts really succeeds here are in the faces of his characters. The expressions of the characters are so vivid and readable that you're able to learn so much about the people with out needing any dialogue or narration which is no doubt a huge help to Watters and Ram V as it frees them to move the plot forward while Roberts gives us the needed characterization. Grade:10/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 23, 2024 16:08:57 GMT -5
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12Written by Karl Kerschl, Rob Levin, Delilah Dawson, Zipporah Smith and Herik Hanna Art by Karl Kerschl, Mike Norton, Serg Acuna, Karl Mostert and Charlie Adlard Summary: Batman and Maps fight a vampire menace, while the Gentleman Ghost rights a wrong, Swampthing soothes a murder victim and Batman helps a henchman go straight. Plot: Now we all know that any anthology is going to have its share of hits and misses but this issue might be my favorite as nearly every story was a solid hot for me with the Artemis story being a miss for me(I literally skipped it this month and I think it's over?) The only bad part is that this was the last issue with Karl Kerschl and his continuation of Gotham Academy with this team up between Maps and Batman was just so awesome on every level. Not only did we get to see Maps become more confident(and become an official Robin) but Kerschl just nailed Bruce's personality. I really wish he was the main writer for Batman. Aside from that I really enjoyed Rob Levin's team up between Falseface and Gentleman Ghost, it was really great to see these two characters reflect on what justice means to them as they are both traditionally villains and Levin really made them feel like multifaceted humans rather than simple villains. Building off that Smith gave us insight into helping a murder victim not only get justice but come to terms with his own death and the way it mirror Alec's own death made it really moving. It was short and sweet but it had a real punch to it. And ending the issue strong we got a story about Batman confronting a henchman before a big heist hoping to help the guy go straight. Sure, we've seen that kind of thing before but with Batman being constantly involved in big events of late it was nice to see a really grounded story like this. Anthologies ebb and flow with the talent behind them so who knows what next month will bring but I'm definitely going to keep supporting this book as I think one and done stories really suit characters like Batman really well. Art: Kerschl was definitely the best of the bunch, his sharp, clean line work is just a joy to see and his action is kinetic and easy to follow. Charlie Adlard's black and white work in Henchmen was really good too, the shadow work was really well done and gave the whole story a great, tense mood. Grade:8/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 22, 2024 20:20:36 GMT -5
Certainly sounds interesting
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 19, 2024 9:01:33 GMT -5
While the Marvel books were certainly entertaining and there was some solid storytelling and world building Dark Horse really took all that to another level.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 19, 2024 8:22:51 GMT -5
Helen of Wyndhorn continues to be interesting, the pacing is slow and the modern day framing scenes don't seem to add anything but the promise of a fictional world bleeding into the "real" world is interesting I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 19, 2024 5:27:14 GMT -5
Superman #13. part 2 of the Brainiac arc. I am loving this DC superstars idea of a new creative team with each arc. I love that you could feel Superman's anger and frustration. This looks like it will be a classic I almost never read modern Superman comics but I thought House of Brainiac sounded like it might be good. I’m enjoying it so far! Williamson's whole Superman run has been pretty awesome, definitely well worth checking out.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 16:32:51 GMT -5
Superman #13. part 2 of the Brainiac arc. I am loving this DC superstars idea of a new creative team with each arc. I love that you could feel Superman's anger and frustration. This looks like it will be a classic Yeah, the Brainiac story is shaping up to be pretty fun. It definitely plays heavily on Johns Brainiac story from the 2000's but there's nothing wrong with dusting off classic ideas if you execute them well.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 16:29:59 GMT -5
Roxxon Presents: Thor sounded like a fun idea in theory: a self referential parody comic poking fun at corporate messaging...but it fell really flat. I could sort of see what Ewing wanted to do with the issue but as much as I like him I just don't think he's a skilled enough writer to pull off this bit of metafiction. Props to Greg Land for being able to make fun of himself though.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 16:25:45 GMT -5
Nightwing #13. pretty much everything twthguardian said above. I'm not a fan of Heartless and I wasn't crazy about the art. But the 2 pages Marv Wolfman wrote? Totally awesome! Yeah, it was really a fantastic celebration of Dick Grayson and a great tribute to the work he and George Perez did on the character.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 16:03:29 GMT -5
On the flip side we have Jason Aaron's Batman: Off-World. It's aiming for a similarly larger than life plot...but it isn't nearly as tightly plotted. Worse still, Aaron gives voice to that very feeling that the story has out-lived its novelty(Batman fighting aliens in space) as Bruce wonders what he's still doing out in wastelands fighting alien pirates, and Bruce's answer to his self doubt(he couldn't keep calling himself Batman if he didn't keep trying) just isn't very convincing. There was some fun action and I did like the design of the new Thanagarian bounty hunter but this feels like a story that should have wrapped up already instead of continuing on. 6/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 15:51:01 GMT -5
World's Finest #26 Written by Mark Waid Art by Dan Mora Summary: The World's Finest team up with Mite-World's Finest as an evil mite unleashes new mites based on Earth's super villains. Plot: More writers need to take note: This is how you do event style story telling. Waid's mash up of Superman, Batman and Robin teaming up with Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk(yes, I looked up the spelling) has the right mix of action, character moments and humor combined with a fast pace. So many writers pad their big stories with endless amounts of exposition with most of it leading to nothing but Waid's plotting is lean and mean with just enough set up to really draw you in and best of all it's not trying to be universe shattering or world defining: it's just focused on being fun. And doing that doesn't sacrifice any of the feeling that it's a bigger than normal story, it just doesn't have any pretentiousness about it. My favorite part though? When we got a look at the villain without a hood he looked an awful lot like a maniacal Mark Waid. I could be wrong, but he reminded me a lot of Waid for somereason which if true is such a great addition to the idea of 5th dimensional imps. I don't know where this is going next but I'm definitely a long for the ride. Art: As per usual Dan Mora's art is perfect. I think the highights for me however were his design for the super-powered costume for Dick as it just channeled some real silver Age sensibilities and the 2D look of Batman, Superman and Robin at the end when parasite drained a dimension from them. It just had such a great, cartoony vibe that really came right off the page. If you aren't reading this book and you love super heroes you're really missing out. Grade:10/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 10:25:35 GMT -5
Titans continues to be a fun romp as well, though it's not on the same level as Nightwing. It has the same light, fun feeling as Nightwing but it's hamstrung to a greater extent than Nightwing by it's choice of a villain that once again I just don't care for. With Nightwing it's heartless but in Titans it's once again evil Raven which is just really tired and over done. I like the mix of classic and New Titans team though with the addition of Tempest so I'm definitely going to stick with it but the threat just doesn't interest me. 7/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 18, 2024 9:24:07 GMT -5
Nightwing #113Written by Tom Taylor and Marv Wolfman Art by Daniele Di Nicuolo and Bruno Redondo Summary: On the eve of his birthday, Dick teams up with Tim, Damian and Babs to stop an arms deal that unveils that Heartless has big plans. Plot: While I'm still not a fan of Heartless as a villain I have to admit this mysterious build up to his plan to take down Dick has my buying into the story. He's still a pointless edgelord of a character with zero interesting characteristics but that the threat to Dick and his family is personal works for me especially with how well the build up of Dick's relationship with his family. The scenes with Dick interacting with Tim and Damian were fantastic and loved the play with Barbra, they just added such a wholesome feel to the book that I love seeing month in and month out. The best part though? That tribute to Marv Wolfman and George Perez. You'd think that having Wolfman write a tribute to his time with Nightwing would be too self referential and over indulgent but it was perfectly done and loved every panel of those two pages. Again and again, Taylor just proves that this is a book that shouldn't be missed. Art: The over exaggerated, cartoony look that Di Nicuolo employs isn't normally my favorite style, especially as it doesn't convey deep emotions well but their light hearted look here really fit the tone of the issue so for once I don't mind them. Grade:9/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 16, 2024 17:05:09 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKS!Real Readers, Honest Reviews! What Did You Read This Week?
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 14, 2024 15:50:02 GMT -5
I'm going to go with the IDW run, I especially loved the series that attempted to retell classic trek stories in the Kelvin Universe.
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