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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 30, 2021 7:37:55 GMT -5
Welcome back readers to another week of... OFF THE RACKSWhere you get real reviews from real readers  Good, bad or just plain ugly...what did YOU read this week? |
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Post by DubipR on Mar 30, 2021 13:12:29 GMT -5
Image download week from the looks of it:
- Crossovers #5
- Department of Truth #7
- Two Moons #2
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Post by majestic on Mar 31, 2021 11:34:43 GMT -5
Flash #768. by Jeremy Adam & Brandon Peterson (& others).
A new creative team and a new direction. Wally West wants to be "normal" and have a life with his family. He asks Barry to remove his connection to the Speed Force. However something goes wrong and Wally jumps thru time landing in different bodies similar to the Quantum Leap TV show. Barry is left without his speed. Mr Terrific and Green Arrow help Barry find Wally.
Nice setup. GA is angry with Wally for Roy's death (although I read somewhere Roy is back). Despite this he ends up helping Barry with Wally's disappearance into the time stream. Mr Terrific is there to help with his knowledge. I hope this leads to Wally's redemption after his poor treatment in Heroes in Crisis. I said this in my Nightwing review a few weeks ago... DC really treats the original Titans poorly. I really want that cycle to end. Hopefully this arc will lead to the restoration of Wally. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 31, 2021 13:44:38 GMT -5
Young Hellboy: The Hidden #2Written by Mike Mignola and Thomas Sniegoski Art by Craig Rousseau Colored by Dave Stewart Summary: the ever precocious Hellboy learns the fate of his favorite pulp heroine,Scarlett Santiago, and she's vowed to help him escape the island
Plot: Young Hellboy returns for part two of this two fisted pulp adventure story...and it's every bit as amazing as the cover I posted on the main page's tease would suggest. Apemen, dinosaurs, a dashing female hero, a giant ape, an ancient vampire civilization...and Hellboy, it really doesn't get much better than that. What's really great here, and great about the nature of the Hellboy Universe in general, is the change in tone here from what is typically expected in a Hellboy comic and yet it doesn't feel discordant with the other stories in the universe. As you'd expect with the word "Young" in the title, the tone and plotting here is much lighter than what one might expect; there's danger here with giant T-rex's and man eating crabs a plenty but it's all dished out with a sense of wide eyed optimism and joy rather than darkness which is really fun to read. On top of that, although it references classic pulp comics like the Black Hawks with the new character Scarlett Santiago, and obviously there's a lot of King Kong references it never once felt tired or too full of Easter eggs; it all feels so fresh and new despite how heavily it plays on familiar tropes which is pretty amazing. All in all, although I've been a bit down on Mignola's storytelling of late this is a real home run for me and I hope it's a sign of things to come.
Art: Going along with the lighter tone in story we also get it in the art as well, especially the coloring. Dace Stewart's been the pallet master behind creating a fantastic, shadowy, moody look to Hellboy for over twenty years now and some of those stories have even featured a Hellboy as a kid but never before has the pallet been so bright and refreshing. Stewart's always been a master of blending bright primary colors with inky shadows but here he went full bright and it's absolutely stunning to look at. Every page is just bathed by this sense of warmth that really does bring back that feeling of invincibility we all had in our youth and coupled with Rousseau's energetic art style you just get a book that feels pitch perfect in every way.
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 31, 2021 14:56:19 GMT -5
Two Moons #2Written by John Arcudi Art by Valerio Giangiordano Summary: Private Virgil Morris killed what he thought was a monster, but now he's facing execution for the murder of his superior officer.
Plot: In the second installment to his new western, Arcudi continues to craft a slow burning story that is just ripe with its teases of supernatural terrors. And while this supernatural mystery set against the Civil War is compelling for the excellent, mysterious and haunting mood its building the character work going on is not to be missed. The dialogue is amazingly crafted, with the different dialects of the Rebels, the Union soldiers, Nurse Frances(who is an Irish immigrant) and Virgil's Pawnee ancestors all feeling true to life and wonderfully unique which gives the story a true sense or realism to it that when the supernatural elements sneak in they feel all the more disturbing. With Virgil getting saved by the same Rebels he was just recently fighting and then stopping them from harming nurse Frances I'm not sure exactly what his future holds but I'm certainly sold on exploring it further.
Art: he visuals in the issue are just fantastic! Like the plot itself the way Giangiordano is able to apparently flip the switch with his art style, going from a clean, detailed, realistic look for the depictions of the human characters and the "real" world to a really rough, scratchy almost impressionist look when the supernatural elements appear is truly unnerving and fits the story perfectly. This is a book about a man straddling two worlds and that each of them is visually distinct is just a really fantastic and creative idea.
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 2, 2021 19:37:06 GMT -5
Slow week, which let me grab a couple of the other Young Avengers minis for my daughter... not sure they stand alone well, though... we'll see.
Just one book for me:
Beta Ray Bill #1 : I'm all or a series were Bill goes cruising in the galaxy to find himself... sounds fun (though done before).. but the set up here is not great. It's tied into the King in Black a bit, and has alot of cheap angst that I don't feel really fit with the character. The creator (writing and doing art), Daniel Warren Johnson has a cool style, but I'm not sure it's a fit... I think he'd be great on a TMNT book, though. He has some creator owned Image stuff I may check out on Hoopla at some point. The highlight is really the back, where he interviews Walt Simonson in lieu of a letters page.
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