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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 4, 2020 9:18:55 GMT -5
Another week of fresh comics and another week of real reviews, right here at... OFF THE RACKS What did you read this week? |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 4, 2020 14:05:04 GMT -5
Strange Adventures #1Written by Tom King Art by Evan "Doc" Shaner Summary: After liberating Rann, Adam and his family has settled on Earth but the war has followed them back.
Plot: Tom King is hit or miss with me, sometimes his books like Mister Miracle or The Omega Men are absolutely fantastic while others like his Batman are absolute dreck so I wasn't sure I'd care for his Adam Strange especially as it seemed to be a take off of the Adam Strange stories by Alan Moore and Richard Bruning which I have never cared for. I like my Adam Strange to unambiguously be a hero, so stories that play on the war for Ran as a metaphor for war in real life and try to show that his actions may not have been so noble do nothing for me. And while King's story seems to be leaning in that direction the characterization was strong and I like the murder mystery angle with Mister Terrific investigating even if I think I already know the answer. I may not end up liking the conclusion if it's what I think but I'm locked into the journey for now.
Art: Shaner's art is probably the biggest reason I'm drawn to this book. His bold, primary colored style is just the thing for a fun super hero story; if I had my way he'd be consulting on every DC book there is to give everyone his style pointers.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 4, 2020 16:03:51 GMT -5
Strange Adventures #1Written by Tom King Art by Evan "Doc" Shaner Summary: After liberating Rann, Adam and his family has settled on Earth but the war has followed them back.
Plot: Tom King is hit or miss with me, sometimes his books like Mister Miracle or The Omega Men are absolutely fantastic while others like his Batman are absolute dreck so I wasn't sure I'd care for his Adam Strange especially as it seemed to be a take off of the Adam Strange stories by Alan Moore and Richard Bruning which I have never cared for. I like my Adam Strange to unambiguously be a hero, so stories that play on the war for Ran as a metaphor for war in real life and try to show that his actions may not have been so noble do nothing for me. And while King's story seems to be leaning in that direction the characterization was strong and I like the murder mystery angle with Mister Terrific investigating even if I think I already know the answer. I may not end up liking the conclusion if it's what I think but I'm locked into the journey for now.
Art: Shaner's art is probably the biggest reason I'm drawn to this book. His bold, primary colored style is just the thing for a fun super hero story; if I had my way he'd be consulting on every DC book there is to give everyone his style pointers.
Grade:7/10 I sprang for an e-version of this. I honestly don't care that much for King at all. But I love Shaner and want to give him as much support as I can. There was just enough here to make me think this may be closer to Sheriff of Baghdad (which I thought was okay) than to Vision or Mr. Miracle (both of which I found unreadable). We shall see. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 4, 2020 16:22:06 GMT -5
Strange Adventures #1Written by Tom King Art by Evan "Doc" Shaner Summary: After liberating Rann, Adam and his family has settled on Earth but the war has followed them back.
Plot: Tom King is hit or miss with me, sometimes his books like Mister Miracle or The Omega Men are absolutely fantastic while others like his Batman are absolute dreck so I wasn't sure I'd care for his Adam Strange especially as it seemed to be a take off of the Adam Strange stories by Alan Moore and Richard Bruning which I have never cared for. I like my Adam Strange to unambiguously be a hero, so stories that play on the war for Ran as a metaphor for war in real life and try to show that his actions may not have been so noble do nothing for me. And while King's story seems to be leaning in that direction the characterization was strong and I like the murder mystery angle with Mister Terrific investigating even if I think I already know the answer. I may not end up liking the conclusion if it's what I think but I'm locked into the journey for now.
Art: Shaner's art is probably the biggest reason I'm drawn to this book. His bold, primary colored style is just the thing for a fun super hero story; if I had my way he'd be consulting on every DC book there is to give everyone his style pointers.
Grade:7/10 I sprang for an e-version of this. I honestly don't care that much for King at all. But I love Shaner and want to give him as much support as I can. There was just enough here to make me think this may be closer to Sheriff of Baghdad (which I thought was okay) than to Vision or Mr. Miracle (both of which I found unreadable). We shall see. Shaner is definitely the major draw for me as well I've never seen an image by him I didn't love. I had forgotten King did Baghdad as I had liked that but he's definitely more miss than hit in my books. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 4, 2020 16:56:08 GMT -5
Marvel #1Written by Alex Ross, Frank Espinosa and Kurt Busiek Art by Alex Ross,Frank Espinosa and Steve Rude Summary: An anthology celebrating the heroes of the Marvel Universe curated by Alex Ross; in this issue Spider-Man and the Avengers.
Plot: I very nearly didn't pick this up. Although I had been interested in the book since I heard about it as I love both Ross an anthology books but when I went to the shop and leafed through it I was totally turned off by the first story and put it back on the rack and walked away. It was only when I hear someone talking about the Rude Dude that I went back and picked it up, so once again thanks to the glory of an actual brick and mortar comic shop I found a great book. As for the book, I loved the framing story by Ross featuring Nightmare and Busiek was fantastic in aping the old Marvel style of Stan and Jack with a classic Avengers tale...but yeah my feeling on the first story was dead on. The concept of a real problem Spidey could face was interesting but it just seemed to drag on for too long.
Art: More than the plot it was the art by Espinosa that really turned me off. As art itself it's impressionistic style was interesting but as a story telling medium it was murky and repetitive which didn't help the story any. Ross was fantastic as usual and I love Rude more than nearly anything else.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 4, 2020 17:09:19 GMT -5
Marvel #1Written by Alex Ross, Frank Espinosa and Kurt Busiek Art by Alex Ross,Frank Espinosa and Steve Rude Summary: An anthology celebrating the heroes of the Marvel Universe curated by Alex Ross; in this issue Spider-Man and the Avengers.
Plot: I very nearly didn't pick this up. Although I had been interested in the book since I heard about it as I love both Ross an anthology books but when I went to the shop and leafed through it I was totally turned off by the first story and put it back on the rack and walked away. It was only when I hear someone talking about the Rude Dude that I went back and picked it up, so once again thanks to the glory of an actual brick and mortar comic shop I found a great book. As for the book, I loved the framing story by Ross featuring Nightmare and Busiek was fantastic in aping the old Marvel style of Stan and Jack with a classic Avengers tale...but yeah my feeling on the first story was dead on. The concept of a real problem Spidey could face was interesting but it just seemed to drag on for too long.
Art: More than the plot it was the art by Espinosa that really turned me off. As art itself it's impressionistic style was interesting but as a story telling medium it was murky and repetitive which didn't help the story any. Ross was fantastic as usual and I love Rude more than nearly anything else.
Grade:7/10 We appear to be in sync today. I gave this one a read because I want to support Steve Rude. The framing device was okay. I didn't love it, but I can see it doing its job. The first story was pretty awful. It would have made an okay six page story but there wasn't enough story there for the pages allotted. And I'm still deciding how I feel about the art. Mostly I didn't like it that much. The second story was a beauty art-wise. Rude is seldom better than when he's doing these kind of retro stories. I don't think I liked the story nearly as much as you did. It was okay. But it was nothing special. I guess I was expecting a bit more of an Astro City vibe and I what I got was a fairly forgettable S.A. Marvel story. I'm not sure I'll buy another. We shall see. It may well depend on the quality of the art. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 4, 2020 17:58:04 GMT -5
Marvel #1Written by Alex Ross, Frank Espinosa and Kurt Busiek Art by Alex Ross,Frank Espinosa and Steve Rude Summary: An anthology celebrating the heroes of the Marvel Universe curated by Alex Ross; in this issue Spider-Man and the Avengers.
Plot: I very nearly didn't pick this up. Although I had been interested in the book since I heard about it as I love both Ross an anthology books but when I went to the shop and leafed through it I was totally turned off by the first story and put it back on the rack and walked away. It was only when I hear someone talking about the Rude Dude that I went back and picked it up, so once again thanks to the glory of an actual brick and mortar comic shop I found a great book. As for the book, I loved the framing story by Ross featuring Nightmare and Busiek was fantastic in aping the old Marvel style of Stan and Jack with a classic Avengers tale...but yeah my feeling on the first story was dead on. The concept of a real problem Spidey could face was interesting but it just seemed to drag on for too long.
Art: More than the plot it was the art by Espinosa that really turned me off. As art itself it's impressionistic style was interesting but as a story telling medium it was murky and repetitive which didn't help the story any. Ross was fantastic as usual and I love Rude more than nearly anything else.
Grade:7/10 We appear to be in sync today. I gave this one a read because I want to support Steve Rude. The framing device was okay. I didn't love it, but I can see it doing its job. The first story was pretty awful. It would have made an okay six page story but there wasn't enough story there for the pages allotted. And I'm still deciding how I feel about the art. Mostly I didn't like it that much. The second story was a beauty art-wise. Rude is seldom better than when he's doing these kind of retro stories. I don't think I liked the story nearly as much as you did. It was okay. But it was nothing special. I guess I was expecting a bit more of an Astro City vibe and I what I got was a fairly forgettable S.A. Marvel story. I'm not sure I'll buy another. We shall see. It may well depend on the quality of the art. I was definitely expecting a more Astro City vibe as a sort of preview to his up coming book but I did really enjoy the idea of the Hulk-Vengers. Earth shattering? No. Fun? You betcha! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2020 11:01:05 GMT -5
 Flash #750. Cover by Nicola Scott. I picked this one because I liked the simplicity, the art and Jay! Flash Age written by Joshua Williamson. Art by Rafa Sandoval and Stephen Segovia. A fitting tale summarizing the Flash story as well as setting up the next arc with Godspeed and Paradox. Nice art. Beer Run written by Geoff Johns. Art by Scott Kolins. A Capt Cold story. Nothing fancy. Just a good old fashioned short story that would have been a decent back up story back in the 70's. Why You written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Art by Francis Manapul. A fitting short story for an anniversary issue with beautiful art. Flash of All Worlds written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Riley Rossmo. A story "celebrating" all of the Flash's weird transformations in the Silver Age. At the Starting Line written by Joshua Williamson. Art by David Marquez. A beautifully illustrated story about Jay Garrick that takes place in 1940. My favorite story in this issue. Flash Forward: Epilogue written by Scott Lobdell. Art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund. A Wally West story. It shows what his story will be going forward in the DCU after the events of Heroes in Crisis and Flash Forward. I actually liked it which surprised me. Overall a really nice thick anniversary issue celebrating 80 years and 750 issues of all the Flashes. 8/10. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2020 11:08:56 GMT -5
 Dr Strange #4. Written by Mark Waid. Art by Kev Walker. Someone is stealing magical artifacts from Dr. Strange. The return of Dr. Druid. More weirdness at the McCarthy Medical Institute. Waid & Walker continue their run on Strange mixing magic and medicine perfectly. I am loving this series! A perfect blend of realism and weirdness. Story and art. Medicine and magic. Heroics both as a doctor and as a superhero. The mix of Strange and Dr Druid. This series has become one of my current favorites. 9/10. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2020 20:39:13 GMT -5
Dr Strange #4. Written by Mark Waid. Art by Kev Walker. Someone is stealing magical artifacts from Dr. Strange. The return of Dr. Druid. More weirdness at the McCarthy Medical Institute. Waid & Walker continue their run on Strange mixing magic and medicine perfectly. I am loving this series! A perfect blend of realism and weirdness. Story and art. Medicine and magic. Heroics both as a doctor and as a superhero. The mix of Strange and Dr Druid. This series has become one of my current favorites. 9/10. I wih it included more medical drama but it's a fun book none the less |
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Post by rberman on Mar 7, 2020 23:09:38 GMT -5
I haven't read King's Batman but enjoyed Omega Men, Sherriff of Baghdad, and especially The Vision and Mister Miracle. I thumbed through Strange Adventures today at the store. I'll wait for the trade, but it looks promising.
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