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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 8:44:24 GMT -5
A new week. New comics. Give us your thoughts:  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:01:07 GMT -5
I will review Future Quest Presents #9 ... after April 18th and that's will be my first official post in "Off The Racks" ...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:15:04 GMT -5
 Flash #44.Written by Joshua Williamson. Art and Cover by Carmine Giandomenico. What a mixed bag. Flash goes up against Grodd (again!). Gorillas from Gorilla City take Grodd away after he is defeated. Flash decides to sacrifice himself to save Central City from the Speed Lightning Machine that Grodd made. However the other speedsters help. That scene has a nice 2 page spread but it made me sad. That scene should have had Jay & Bart & Johnny Quick...instead it had Godspeed & Meena. So the scene fell flat for me. Again beautiful art by Carmine. But this arc felt like a filler story before we get to the BIG Flash War arc starting with #46. 2/5 for script. 4/5 for art. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:25:10 GMT -5
 Captain America #700.Written by Mark Waid. Art by Chris Samnee and Jack Kirby. Cover by Chris Samnee. The main story concludes the arc with Cap in a dystopian future. He realizes the only way to prevent it is to return to the past (our present) & stop it that way. Anyway he does this with Banner & Grimm's help & a Doom time platform. And stops the events from occurring. The second story is a 10 page Kirby story with dialog by Waid. This is not the same Waid that wrote the classic Cap runs back in the 90's. This arc fell short of it's potential. The second (unpublished) Kirby story was pure frenetic Silver Age fun. Main Story: script 1/5. Art 4/5.
Back Up Story: script 3/5. Art 5/5. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:31:38 GMT -5
 The Archies #6.Written by Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg. Art by Joe Eisma. Cover by Dan Parent. Blondie guest stars. The group is helping the Archies produce their album. Of course there are some bumps on the road to getting it done. This issue was OK. I felt they could have plugged in any band to guest star & the story would have been the same. Next issue: The final issue. The Archies vs Josie & the Pussycats in the battle of the bands! 7/10. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:39:13 GMT -5
 Titans #22. Written by Dan Abnett. Art and Cover by Paul Pelletier and Andrew Hennessy. Ugh. This was a JLA story with guest stars Arsenal & Troy. This arc could have focused on other Titans besides Dick & Wally but instead I feel like this title has become a JLA title. The Titans have become guest stars in their own title. If this is the direction DC wants for this title I will be dropping it when this arc ends. Script 2/5. Art 3/5. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 10:33:08 GMT -5
Titans #22: I couldn't agree more, md62. This read more like Justice League story and the whole direction with Donna Troy is such a mess, which I blame on the Wonder Woman creative team, both past and present (and DC editorial). I did like the single panel of Arsenal and Donna hugging in the rain and how she decided to pretty give the JL the middle finger (figuratively) and go help her friend. I think I read that this book is ending this summer and there is a new version of Titans and Teen Titans coming, so editorial probably isn't giving Abnett much to work with. Something about this whole run of Titans has seemed off. There have been excellent moments where we see why this group is friends, but with the focus on Wally, the sudden relationship between Lilith and Tempest, and the Donna Troy mess, the series has been sort of an uneven mess (with some shining moments). 4/10 |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 11:45:12 GMT -5
Archie so far has been a downer for me and I wasn't expecting any miracles at all. I read about most of the issues and some of them were good and the latest one that md62 reviewed was little better than average and needed more kicks to be an exceptional issue. Script 5/10, Art 7/10, and Overall ... 6/10. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 20:36:09 GMT -5
I also picked up the Action 1000 Companion/80 Years of Superman. I haven't started reading it yet, but man, what an awesome looking book and a true tribute to Superman and his cast of characters. Lots of classic stories, outstanding art, and essays from all kinds of folks about the Man of Steel. Can't wait to dig into this one!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 20:41:49 GMT -5
Titans #22: I couldn't agree more, md62 . This read more like Justice League story and the whole direction with Donna Troy is such a mess, which I blame on the Wonder Woman creative team, both past and present (and DC editorial). I did like the single panel of Arsenal and Donna hugging in the rain and how she decided to pretty give the JL the middle finger (figuratively) and go help her friend. I think I read that this book is ending this summer and there is a new version of Titans and Teen Titans coming, so editorial probably isn't giving Abnett much to work with. Something about this whole run of Titans has seemed off. There have been excellent moments where we see why this group is friends, but with the focus on Wally, the sudden relationship between Lilith and Tempest, and the Donna Troy mess, the series has been sort of an uneven mess (with some shining moments). 4/10 I bolded some of the points you made. And I don't blame Abnett. I did read an article that DC wants to take the Titans/Teen Titans titles in a different direction in July. So Abnett had to write this arc to get to that point decided by editorial... that probably led to changes from his initial script. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 20:52:25 GMT -5
I also picked up the Action 1000 Companion/80 Years of Superman. I haven't started reading it yet, but man, what an awesome looking book and a true tribute to Superman and his cast of characters. Lots of classic stories, outstanding art, and essays from all kinds of folks about the Man of Steel. Can't wait to dig into this one! I was hoping someone would comment on this. I had to pass on it. I have two weddings that I have to pay for in one year! Put it on my list for Father's Day...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2018 11:49:21 GMT -5
md62 if you have 2 weddings to pay for in one year, you certainly deserve that book! As for Titans, I would bet the eventual line up of one of the books will reflect the upcoming tv series. I saw a picture of some of the cast and lots of folks are up in arms, especially about Starfire's appearance. She did look like a streetwalker, but I imagine the photo has been taken out of context. I will read the annual and the special...and may give the new direction a look, but I doubt I will keep it on my list. I really enjoyed aspects of Titans as it focused on some of favorite members. Wish DC would pick a direction, allow the creators to create, and stick with it. Of course all they want is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2018 18:38:19 GMT -5
I will read the Titans Annual since it concludes this run. I may try the Titans Special. That will be the intro issue to the new direction.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2018 19:17:04 GMT -5
Thrawn #3Written by Jody Houser Art by Luke Ross Summary: Enter Arihnda Pryce, daughter to a family of dispossessed miners from Lothal looking to use the Empire to get back what is hers.
Plot: I'm a huge fan of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books so when I saw he was going back to retell Thrawn's story in the new continuity I jumped right on the new novel last year, and I don't regret it as it was easily just as smart and suspenseful as his prior outings. One of it's main draw backs however was it's choppy, episodic structure that would jump through time and switch character points of view both with out warning. With the length of a novel those choppy transitions were smoothed out with the length of the page count available, making you forget the choppy start until the next transition, however Houser's comic book adaptation doesn't have that luxury and it comes out seriously worse for the wear for that flaw. I think this is really one of those rare occasions where an adaptation would be much better served by playing looser with the source material rather than attempting to adapt everything, right down to the structure. If instead of jumping around to Pryce and trying to tell her story to Houser would have served the story much better by streamlining the whole time table of the novel by focusing only on Eli and Thrawn, giving them time to grow as characters and condensing the pacing down with out the time skips to tell a more succinct version of the back and forth battle with Nightswan. With the narrative playing out like it did here in the future however I don't think I'll be sticking around, which is a pity as Thrawn is a great character and the intrigue here could be fantastic in the right hands.
Art: The big shame of dropping this book is going to be missing out on Ross's art. His line work fantastic, going from clean, clear and concise when portraying the upper class, ritzy side of the Empire to a rougher, scratchier look when dealing with the dirty underside of the political machinations of the Moffs. It's a brilliant visual cue to the different moods of the plot and made reading this issue really worth while despite the inconsistent pacing, and better yet his Tarkin felt picture perfect without looking flat and traced which was great. Despite my downer attitude for this book I really hope it's a plus for Ross as I'd love to see more from him on other books.
Grade:5/10 |
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