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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 24, 2016 13:35:46 GMT -5
I've been loving this series right along but this one was the best by far. A lot of that has to do with Barbalien, so far he's the most intriguing character in terms of what he wants but there's also the great sc-fi look to him too which is visually fun. I hope this book goes on for a good long time. I picked up the first 3 issues the other day when I splurged on some new comics at the lcs, and read them in one go last night before writing the review, so all 3 were fresh in my mind as I write up #3. I originally intended to trade wait on this, but Ormstron's covers were irresistible, and since I wanted to read this anyways, I took the plunge. -M He really did nail the cover, it perfectly captured that old peperback sci-fi feel that never fails to make me smile. I loved seeing his process at the end, each version was fun but the last was definitely the best. I can't believe he did this while recovering, you'd never know he wasn't 100% based on the art here. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 24, 2016 14:31:02 GMT -5
Night of the Monster Men Part 2. Cover by Yanick Paquette. Written by Tim Seeley and Steve Orlando. Art by Roge Antonia. Continued from Batman #7. A hurricane bears down on Gotham & the Bat Team tries to evacuate the areas that are prone to flooding when the monsters show up. This is not a Nightwing comic. This is part of a crossover between Batman, Nightwing & Detective Comics. This part has all members of the Bat Team in it. It feels a little abrupt after the last arc in Nightwing but I can't complain. The pace is unrelenting. The script sells the frenzy & chaos in Gotham well. All members of the team contribute & are very competent. No complaints here. The art is OK. It is more sketchy than I like but overall communicates the action & chaos well. Overall I enjoyed this more than Batman #7. It is like any modern comic. Just one chapter in a story. It will probably read better in a collection. Story: 4/5. Art: 3/5. Total: 7/10. Again, Orlando's pacing is good; adequately balancing character interaction with fight scenes with the monsters but it's still lacking any motivation or sense of threat. I mean sure, there are are giant monsters meandering around the city but the damage doesn't seem to be that bad despite their size and Batman and the gang seem to be able to easily run circles around them. Strange isn't present, we have no idea what his plans are or what he hopes the monsters will achieve so in the end it feels pretty hollow. I don't think I'll be finishing this event, it may have been a fun one shot or possibly a two-parter but they are stretching this out way too far and not giving us anything other than Batman punching monsters. Grade: 5/10(Story:2, Art:3) |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 14:46:43 GMT -5
Night of the Monster Men Part 2. Cover by Yanick Paquette. Written by Tim Seeley and Steve Orlando. Art by Roge Antonia. Continued from Batman #7. A hurricane bears down on Gotham & the Bat Team tries to evacuate the areas that are prone to flooding when the monsters show up. This is not a Nightwing comic. This is part of a crossover between Batman, Nightwing & Detective Comics. This part has all members of the Bat Team in it. It feels a little abrupt after the last arc in Nightwing but I can't complain. The pace is unrelenting. The script sells the frenzy & chaos in Gotham well. All members of the team contribute & are very competent. No complaints here. The art is OK. It is more sketchy than I like but overall communicates the action & chaos well. Overall I enjoyed this more than Batman #7. It is like any modern comic. Just one chapter in a story. It will probably read better in a collection. Story: 4/5. Art: 3/5. Total: 7/10. Again, Orlando's pacing is good; adequately balancing character interaction with fight scenes with the monsters but it's still lacking any motivation or sense of threat. I mean sure, there are are giant monsters meandering around the city but the damage doesn't seem to be that bad despite their size and Batman and the gang seem to be able to easily run circles around them. Strange isn't present, we have no idea what his plans are or what he hopes the monsters will achieve so in the end it feels pretty hollow. I don't think I'll be finishing this event, it may have been a fun one shot or possibly a two-parter but they are stretching this out way too far and not giving us anything other than Batman punching monsters. Grade: 5/10(Story:2, Art:3)I may have been too easy on the story aspect. I really want your thoughts on the Superman issue! |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 24, 2016 15:12:52 GMT -5
Our Town. Cover: Patrick Gleason & Mick Gray. Story: Peter Tomasi & Patrick Gleason. Art: Jorge Jimenez. A rare story done in one! This is the way comics used to be. Basically it is the Kents enjoying a night at the Hamilton County fair. The story nails all the characters perfectly. This is the Superman I want to read about. Being married with a son has made him more interesting. And brought out the qualities that make him Super regardless of his powers. Just a perfect feel good story about small town USA. Art: Reminded me of the Kubert brothers style. More polished than the art on the first arc. But again perfect for capturing a day in the life of the Kents living in small town USA. Total: 10/10. There's something beautiful about a simple, one and done story (especially when it's artfully done) and here we get that. Although Gleason and Tomasi did a great job of balancing the action and the character moments during the slug fest that was the last few issues the warm feeling they left me with was largely do to the beautiful art by Patrick Gleason because he just gets Superman, but here it really was equal parts story and art because sans any real action this was a book about the Kents being the Kents. It was a really nice change of pace to just see the family interacting together and it kept to that fun sense of down home Americana with the county fair. I will say that I wish the tension between Lois and Clark about the use of super powers and the work/life balance would have been more dramatic rather than played for laughs but it's a minor quibble in an other wise fun issue. Grade: 8/10 |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 15:24:16 GMT -5
 Script: Ben Percy. Art: Stephen Byrne. Cover: W. Scott Forbes. The Killing Time. Continued from last issue. Conclusion of a 2 parter that showcases Emiko. Honestly I am not thrilled with her character. So this 2 part story bored me. If the next arc isn't great this book will get dropped. Both story & art were just OK. I really don't have much else to say except I wish I would have skipped these 2 issues. Total: 4/10. It felt a little rushed, it might have been better as three issues instead of two. And I read it on the heels of the first 5 issues (which I loved) made it a let down for me as well. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 24, 2016 15:51:02 GMT -5
I don't often do reviews, but I felt like doing a write up on this one, so here goes... Seven to Eternity #1-Published by Image Comics
-$3.99 for 28 story pages, 4+ page sketchbook, story text page (journal entry from character p.o.v. setting up story), + back matter essay from author
Rick Remender-writer
Jerome Opena-artist
Matt Hollingsworth-color artist Russ Wooten-letterer
Covers by Jerome Opena, Tony Moore and Andrew Robinson
Genre: FantasyI happened to get the Robinson cover (cover C) off the rack at the shop, so that is the one I am showing...  Premise/Synopsis: A demi-god known as The God of Whispers (a.k.a. the Mud King) has insinuated himself into the lives and power structure of the people of the city, but one man, Zebidiah Obsidis, refused to hear the Mud King’s offer and fled the city to avoid the war that ensured in this power struggle. Now a generation later, he remains the lone opposition to the God of Whispers who hunts him and his family down. Zebediah’s son Adam watches his father die in his arms and must now save his family, either by destroying the Mud King, or joining him. Writing: Solid world building and interesting characters that stand out as individuals. There are some standard fantasy tropes, but each is given a little flair to make them stand out and avoid clichés. Remender writes strongly flawed characters you can still cheer for and has a track record of putting them through the wringer. I am a fan of his creator owned stuff, especially FEAR Agent, but less so his work-for-hire stuff for Marvel, and this feels like it has the potential to be among his better creator-owned works, it starts strong and promises an interesting ride. Art: If you don’t like modern comic art that plays to the strengths of modern coloring techniques, you won’t like Opena’s art. That said, it is beautifully illustrated and the coloring enhances the feel and verisimilitude of the fantasy world. The visual storytelling is crisp and clear, you don’t need costumes to differentiate between characters, each looks like an individual and a real person. The fantasy elements are appropriately fantastic, yet believable, and the visual world building is a match for the literary/storytelling world building Remender does. Opena and Hollingsworth have a special collaborative symbiosis here, each enhancing the work of the other to present a visual tour de force, but again, if you don’t like “new school” comic art and it’s attendant coloring processes, you may not like it. Art samples: Story: 4/5 Art: 5/5 Overall: 9/10 -M I got this cover(which I think it's the regular one?)  It's one of those rare times where reverting to my childhood buying habits(buying a book based on the cover alone) really paid off. It had the look of one of those 70's sci-fi/fantasy paper backs that really fueled my adolescence so I thought, "What the hell, why not?" It's a great fantasy/western mash up that left me feeling like if it were made into a movie it would need to be an animated film by Miyazaki. It's not that the art looked like a studio gibli film, it's just that it created a world that perfectly melded fantasy with a lived in look. I'm not really sure where this is going but I like the world so I'm open to following along on the journey. I don't think I've ever read a book by Remender before, so maybe it's something he always does, but I love how he listed a playlist at the end. That's a really fun way to connect to the writer, and I have to say after listening to a few tracks they really do seem to fit the book too. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2016 23:15:20 GMT -5
^ Yep that is the Opena cover A to the book, which I really like too. I had just heard good things about this and saw the book on the new comic shelf and grabbed it without looking for the cover. If I had realized there were 3, I might have gone for cover A, but I just grabbed it and threw it on my pile of stuff to get.
-M
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 25, 2016 9:22:29 GMT -5
^ Yep that is the Opena cover A to the book, which I really like too. I had just heard good things about this and saw the book on the new comic shelf and grabbed it without looking for the cover. If I had realized there were 3, I might have gone for cover A, but I just grabbed it and threw it on my pile of stuff to get. -M I don't think you could go wrong with any of the covers, they all have that fantastic old school look; right down to the font used and even the lay out:   |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2016 17:11:15 GMT -5
Mini-Review... (or should I have said Micro-review  )  Micronauts #6published by IDW $3.99 for 28 pages Writer: Cullen Bunn Art: Max Dunbar Premise/Synopsis: The Micronauts team has been captured by Baron Daegar's forces (a.k.a. Force Commander) who wish to interrogate Oz (the Pahroid and leader of the Micronauts) about the events that occured when the Pharoids tried to commune iwth the Time Travellers and the Entropy Storm that threatens Microspace was created. Daegar's opposition, Baron Karza, wants the info for himself so planned a dual pronged attack on Daegar's base to create a distraction and capture Oz for himself, but his strike force leader, the Acroyear Raith betrays Karza on orders form Karza's mate and tries to kill Oz while he operates the Biotron device. Oz has a near death experience and meets the Time Travelers as Karza's assault inadvertently frees the Micronauts team and they head for Oz's sip. The Biotron units AI has been awakened by these events and Oz regains consciousness to lead the escape and head into the deadly Entropy Storm as the Time Traveler advised. Karza seeks to follow. Writing: Bunn has been in slow build mode for the first five issues, but a lot comes to the head this issue and much of the build up starts to have some payoff. Revelations lead to bigger mysteries though, hooking those who have been reading so far to find out what is happening even more. Art: Dunbar is competent but not spectacular. His visual storytelling is adequate, but spotty in places. He is very stylistic and there is a anime/cartoony element to his art in places and his people are very angular, which can be slightly off-putting. It would certainly appeal more to someone with different aesthetics than mine, so it's not so much bad art, just not to my personal taste. However, the art in the initial issue was not as good and Dunbar, who took over with issue 2, is an improvement over that. Writing 4/5 Art 3/5 Overall: 7/10-M |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 25, 2016 20:38:45 GMT -5
Mini-Review... Micronauts #6published by IDW $3.99 for 28 pages Writer: Cullen Bunn Art: Max Dunbar Premise/Synopsis: The Micronauts team has been captured by Baron Daegar's forces (a.k.a. Force Commander) who wish to interrogate Oz (the Pahroid and leader of the Micronauts) about the events that occured when the Pharoids tried to commune iwth the Time Travellers and the Entropy Storm that threatens Microspace was created. Daegar's opposition, Baron Karza, wants the info for himself so planned a dual pronged attack on Daegar's base to create a distraction and capture Oz for himself, but his strike force leader, the Acroyear Raith betrays Karza on orders form Karza's mate and tries to kill Oz while he operates the Biotron device. Oz has a near death experience and meets the Time Travelers as Karza's assault inadvertently frees the Micronauts team and they head for Oz's sip. The Biotron units AI has been awakened by these events and Oz regains consciousness to lead the escape and head into the deadly Entropy Storm as the Time Traveler advised. Karza seeks to follow. Writing: Bunn has been in slow build mode for the first five issues, but a lot comes to the head this issue and much of the build up starts to have some payoff. Revelations lead to bigger mysteries though, hooking those who have been reading so far to find out what is happening even more. Art: Dunbar is competent but not spectacular. His visual storytelling is adequate, but spotty in places. He is very stylistic and there is a anime/cartoony element to his art in places and his people are very angular, which can be slightly off-putting. It would certainly appeal more to someone with different aesthetics than mine, so it's not so much bad art, just not to my personal taste. However, the art in the initial issue was not as good and Dunbar, who took over iwth issue 2, is an improvement over that. Writing 4/5 Art 3/5 Overall: 7/10-M I loved the micronauts as a kid and have been thinking about getting this but IDW is hit or miss with me. I might have to try this in trade. |
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Post by earl on Sept 28, 2016 6:22:24 GMT -5
Seven to Eternity was a good first issue. Image is putting out quite a few good comics, they are on a roll and hopefully the creators can keep the issues coming out.
The artwork on the Batman rebirth titles has been pretty good, but the stories are only about half there as you are right the whole motivation behind both Hugo Strange and The Colony like the Court of Owls pretty much obscured. Pretty much Gotham is getting blown to bits every month, it's more like a video game than a comic anymore. It's also finally turned into the X-men too as it's more about the rest of the cast than Batman. It's not terrible, but it's not really that good either.
It also seems that the whole Batman sending holographic messages to the citizens of Gotham is kinda creepy and Big Brother when you think about it. It is a take off the whole Kingdom Come Batman I don't know that I dig being the regular version. Every issue he's got a new rocket or car that ends up getting blown to bits. Basically the Batman titles are just big dumb action movies every issue, which has a place, but perhaps not what I prefer. This is probably from the movies and video games changing the comics more than vice versa.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 9, 2016 22:12:35 GMT -5
I don't often do reviews, but I felt like doing a write up on this one, so here goes... Seven to Eternity #1-Published by Image Comics
-$3.99 for 28 story pages, 4+ page sketchbook, story text page (journal entry from character p.o.v. setting up story), + back matter essay from author
Rick Remender-writer
Jerome Opena-artist
Matt Hollingsworth-color artist Russ Wooten-letterer
Covers by Jerome Opena, Tony Moore and Andrew Robinson
Genre: FantasyI happened to get the Robinson cover (cover C) off the rack at the shop, so that is the one I am showing... Premise/Synopsis: A demi-god known as The God of Whispers (a.k.a. the Mud King) has insinuated himself into the lives and power structure of the people of the city, but one man, Zebidiah Obsidis, refused to hear the Mud King’s offer and fled the city to avoid the war that ensured in this power struggle. Now a generation later, he remains the lone opposition to the God of Whispers who hunts him and his family down. Zebediah’s son Adam watches his father die in his arms and must now save his family, either by destroying the Mud King, or joining him. Writing: Solid world building and interesting characters that stand out as individuals. There are some standard fantasy tropes, but each is given a little flair to make them stand out and avoid clichés. Remender writes strongly flawed characters you can still cheer for and has a track record of putting them through the wringer. I am a fan of his creator owned stuff, especially FEAR Agent, but less so his work-for-hire stuff for Marvel, and this feels like it has the potential to be among his better creator-owned works, it starts strong and promises an interesting ride. Art: If you don’t like modern comic art that plays to the strengths of modern coloring techniques, you won’t like Opena’s art. That said, it is beautifully illustrated and the coloring enhances the feel and verisimilitude of the fantasy world. The visual storytelling is crisp and clear, you don’t need costumes to differentiate between characters, each looks like an individual and a real person. The fantasy elements are appropriately fantastic, yet believable, and the visual world building is a match for the literary/storytelling world building Remender does. Opena and Hollingsworth have a special collaborative symbiosis here, each enhancing the work of the other to present a visual tour de force, but again, if you don’t like “new school” comic art and it’s attendant coloring processes, you may not like it. Art samples:   Story: 4/5 Art: 5/5 Overall: 9/10 -M Totally agree with MRP here.. excellent start of a story. Not sure exactly what it's going to be about or where its heading, but great character designs and and intriguing introduction. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 10, 2016 10:26:36 GMT -5
 Judge Dredd #10 Farnias/Freitas I've been really enjoying the 'stranger in a strange land' take on Dredd, as he wanders a world where the MegaCities have fallen and people are trying to get by any way they can. This issue's society is the remnants of the Vega prison colony, who arrived back on Earth after 1000 years travel where they 'balanced' themselves and became Vegans.. but in a way that only makes sense in Dredd's world. There's also a couple more hints on what the overreaching story may be, which is being paced alot better than most long term stories. Not really a story to jump in and read, but if you've been along for this volume it's an excelllent chapter. Story: 5/5 Art: 3/5 Overall 8/10 |
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Oct 13, 2016 16:38:15 GMT -5
Judge Dredd #10 Farnias/Freitas I've been really enjoying the 'stranger in a strange land' take on Dredd, as he wanders a world where the MegaCities have fallen and people are trying to get by any way they can. This issue's society is the remnants of the Vega prison colony, who arrived back on Earth after 1000 years travel where they 'balanced' themselves and became Vegans.. but in a way that only makes sense in Dredd's world. There's also a couple more hints on what the overreaching story may be, which is being paced alot better than most long term stories. Not really a story to jump in and read, but if you've been along for this volume it's an excelllent chapter. Story: 5/5 Art: 3/5 Overall 8/10 Ive just started reading this run, up to 4 or 5 so far, and quite enjoying it. The art can be somewhat confusing, I would prefer the cover artist did the interiors (he contributed to the previous volume didnt he?) but I am liking the far future setting with Dredd having to rely on himself rather than calling HQ for back-up all the time. Nice to see some Nick Pittarra covers in their too, missing him since Manhattan Projects has finished. |
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Oct 13, 2016 17:24:28 GMT -5
Power Man & Iron Fist 8
By David Walker(W) and Sanford Greene and Flaviano(A) Summary: Bad guys is getting thrown in the hoosegow for nuthin thanks to Aunty Carol and her pet Inhuman. Danny gets locked up too, but instead of flashing the cash he wants to "make a difference" like a good lil supe. Brother Luke thinks his lil white-boy mate is ...fulla fiddle-faddle. There has been some great dialogue in this book recently, and little things in this one remind me of how Luke is being portrayed in the Netflix TV series. On the issue of taking a moral stand we get "You're rich and white. You can afford to take a moral stand outside the walls of this prison. Now quit playing the role of the goody-good white liberal trying to make a point that only other white liberals understand." This especially rings true for my own relationship (with a lady of Pacific Island descent) where she laughs at my moral indignation on some racial issues...WTF would I know she says. The vibe of this book effortlessly captures all the best things of the classic bromance of the 80s, the patter between the 2 is always on song, and the use of washed up 70s blaxploitational Marvel baddies is well handled too. There is plenty of humor too, without turning the book into a Deadpool crapathon. The art in the series is seriously growing on me every month, Greene's style works well in the street settings, capturing good emotional ranges, and delivering action and humor equally well. My only gripe is with the portrayal of Luke they have chosen, he comes across looking like the wrestler Mark Henry more than Mike Colter(who is close to how I see Luke looking).    Overall I'd go 4/5 for the book, well worth the visit if you ever liked the characters (even the tie-in to the atrocious Civil War is well handled). |
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