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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 21, 2023 15:11:28 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKSReal Readers, Honest Reviews  What Did You Read This Week? |
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Post by DubipR on Mar 21, 2023 16:49:00 GMT -5
Lots of downloads this week...
Blue Book 2
Amazing Spider-Man 22
Doctor Strange 1
Punisher 10
She-Hulk 11
Wasp 3
Superman 2
Worlds Finest 13
Nightwing 102
Stargirl- The Lost Children 5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2023 17:30:27 GMT -5
Big week for me too...email from ComicsHub says the following is coming for me...
WildCATS #5
Scooby Doo & Batman Mysteries #6
Superman The Space Age #2 (reorder filled b/c I missed the issue)
Black Cloak #3
Danger Street #4
Justice Society #3
Avengers War Across Time 3
Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer 10
Groo Against the Gods 4 (final issue)
Blue Book #2
Avengers Forever 15 (Alex Ross Kang variant)*
Usagi Yojimbo Saga Edition Vol. 7
Superman Batman World's Finest 13
Doctor Strange 1 (reg and Alex Ross Dormammu variant)*
Avengers 9 (facsimile edition)
Dead Romans 1
Dawn Attack 3
*Mrs MRP is a huge Alex Ross fan, so I am putting together a set of the villains covers for her since we missed most of the heroes set)
-M
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Post by majestic on Mar 21, 2023 20:04:54 GMT -5
Doctor Strange 1- great start with a nice direction for Dr Strange & Clea together.
Superman 2- still not certain if I like this new direction with Luthor.
Worlds Finest 13- best this week as usual. Just an outstanding title.
Nightwing 102 - not feeling the Titans focus. I prefer this book to focus on Dick & Babs.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 22, 2023 16:05:24 GMT -5
World's Finest #13Written by Mark Waid Art by Dan Mora Summary: When the villainous boss of Metamorpho, Simon Stagg, turns up dead in a locked room the obvious culprit is...Bruce Wayne!?
Plot: World's Finest continues to be one of the best superhero books on the market, literally everything about this issue is fun, engaging, and exciting and that's despite the fact that we've already seen Bruce Wayne accused of a murder with his only alibi being that he was actually out being Batman when the murder occurred. Sure, it's a set up we've seen before but the execution is just so perfect that it doesn't matter, leaving you nearly in tears that you don't get more until next month when it's over. What's even more impressive than making an old twist feel exciting is the most well constructed flashback origin-story of Metamorpho of all time, giving you everything you need to know about who Rex Mason is, how he became Metamorpho and how he became Stagg's bodyguard over the course of about four quick pages. And on top of that we get Superman's pal Jimmy Olson investigating Stagg's death on his own which leads into the twist with Bruce Wayne appearing to be suspect number one. It's full of great, quipy dialogue that gives great characterization for everyone involved and the way that Waid ties all the disparate sides of the story together so efortlessly into one yarn is just stunning. You just can't beat this book.
Art: Despite the awesome story so much of this issue's success also lies squarely on the shoulders of Dan Mora's art. You get the feeling Mora is having fun with this series, and it shows in every panel. The costume work is just fantasticly detailed( Robin wears a headset in the batmobile to better communicate with Batman!)and the figure work is excellent. On top of that Bonvillain's coloring is just so bright and fun making the book look fantastic from start to finish.
Grade: 10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 22, 2023 16:27:57 GMT -5
Superman #2Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Jamal Campbell Summary: Lex Luthor's secret foes, The Order of Mad Scientists, have taken advantage of Lex's absence and unleashed an army of Parasites.
Plot: As much as I loathed Williamson on Batman and Dark Crisis, I have to say his work on Superman so far really is a "new dawn" for him. I would never in a million years have thought he was capable of telling such a fun and inventive Superman story, as giving us a new twist on an old foe like Parasite is proving to be a highly energetic read that is enjoyable from start to finish. I don't know how it will all end, but I really like the Superman Corporation set up by Lex and I honestly do hope that Clark stops fighting it so hard and really does start letting him help look after Metropolis in the future, even if it is run by Lex and we all know he'll turn eventually. Until then it'll be a fun ride.
Art: Campbell's art continues to be bright, energetic and incredibly cartoony in the best way possible giving us clear, realistic expression but an exaggerated physique to Superman that makes him really pop on the page.
Grade:8/10 |
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Post by majestic on Mar 22, 2023 16:38:26 GMT -5
Totally agree with World's Finest review. If the majority of comics were this good I would go broke. It is one of the best titles I have enjoyed in years. As far as Superman? It's good. I just have some reservations with it. Mostly minor stuff. I'm just happy to have a decent Superman title!
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 22, 2023 16:40:09 GMT -5
Doctor Strange 1- great start with a nice direction for Dr Strange & Clea together. Superman 2- still not certain if I like this new direction with Luthor. Worlds Finest 13- best this week as usual. Just an outstanding title. Nightwing 102 - not feeling the Titans focus. I prefer this book to focus on Dick & Babs. I'm with you Nightwing, it's still fun( I loved the term Hell-Hiest) but it lacks the deep characterization that the previous issues had. I actually wish the back up with Jon and Dick investigating the accident at the circus feels like the better of the two stories and I kind of wish that were getting more of the page count with the Titans story being the back up. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 22, 2023 16:41:08 GMT -5
Totally agree with World's Finest review. If the majority of comics were thus good I would go broke. It is one of the best titles I have enjoyed in years. Yeah, it's a total joy and just when you think it can't get better...it does! Every month. |
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Post by majestic on Mar 22, 2023 16:43:18 GMT -5
Totally agree with World's Finest review. If the majority of comics were thus good I would go broke. It is one of the best titles I have enjoyed in years. Yeah, it's a total joy and just when you think it can't get better...it does! Every month. I also like how Waid brings in other characters like Metamorpho and the Doom Patrol... |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 1:10:54 GMT -5
 ' Dungeons & Dragons-Honor Among Thieves: Feast of the Moon Official Prequel OGN Both Mrs. MRP and I read this and enjoyed it. There are 2 stories included, the main story featuring most of the party of characters from the movie in an adventure that is designed to revel the essential nature of their powers and personalities, and a second featuring Xenk the Paladin, also from the movie, but I guess joins the party in the movie as he's not part of it here. It's a pretty standard D&D romp, the art is decent, but not spectacular (I like the art in the first story a bit better but both are in the "serviceable" range of comic art for me. It's a fun read, does the job of introducing the characters, and hits lot of the "D&D notes" but is not a must read of any sort. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, but it's more of a 3.5 out of 5. There's a little bit of back matter-concept art and still form the movie and a script to page comic process that might interest a D&D fan who doesn't know a lot about comics, but is pretty standard for that type of fare if you have seen anything like it before. -M |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 24, 2023 10:57:32 GMT -5
Blue Book #2Written by James Tynion IV Art by Michael Avon Oeming Summary:Betty and Barney Hill make it home but find their mystery did not end in the wild woods of New Hampshire.
Plot: Much like my qualms with the initial outing, pacing continues to be an issue with the second part of this true life X-File story. It's a true life story so you can't expect thrills a second but at the same time you do expect to see something, and I mean anything happen. And it doesn't. If you're going to go for non-fiction and forgo shots of alien tentacles menacing the shadows you have to then give us well developed characters and while the Hills come across as sympathetic there aren't any scenes showing us who they are or why we should care about them. I think the only word I can come up to describe them would be "mild-mannered" which in this case is fairly damning. I think the big issue is that much of the story is given by text boxes rather than dialogue or action on the page which creates a sense of detachment between the reader and the events transpiring on the page which gives it a slightly flat feeling. And once again...it just ends and not in anywhere near a narritively appropriate story beat which makes you feel like this wasn't meant to be read in a serial fashion. I'm a sucker for UFO stories and I'm surprised that I don't know this one from right in my own back yard so I'm going to stick with it but I have to say, if this didn't have Oeming's art I think I'd drop this.
As for Oeming, he wrote and illustrated the "Green Children" back up feature, which was a bit of folklore I am familiar with so it was fun to have that, " I know this one!" connection. However, while the legend was told well enough, I kind of wish it had been done in a way so as to make the connection to alien fiction a little stronger. Maybe thrown in some elements from encounter literature like bright lights or something so as to get you to wonder if this old folktale was really a 12th century telling of a true life alien encounter. Still, it was fun but more than a little disconnected from the main feature.
Art: Oeming was his usual stunning self in both the back up and main feature, delivering fantastically expressive characters in his well loved cartoony style. At this point, his art is really what's keeping me going; I just can't say no to the man even when he's attached to a story that can't seem to find an ounce of oompf.
Grade:6/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 24, 2023 16:07:02 GMT -5
Doctor Strange 1- great start with a nice direction for Dr Strange & Clea together. Superman 2- still not certain if I like this new direction with Luthor. Worlds Finest 13- best this week as usual. Just an outstanding title. Nightwing 102 - not feeling the Titans focus. I prefer this book to focus on Dick & Babs. Loved seeing Doctor Strange and Clea together, I really hope we see some of this energy in the next Strange movie. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2023 16:12:56 GMT -5
Blue Book #2Written by James Tynion IV Art by Michael Avon Oeming Summary:Betty and Barney Hill make it home but find their mystery did not end in the wild woods of New Hampshire.
Plot: Much like my qualms with the initial outing, pacing continues to be an issue with the second part of this true life X-File story. It's a true life story so you can't expect thrills a second but at the same time you do expect to see something, and I mean anything happen. And it doesn't. If you're going to go for non-fiction and forgo shots of alien tentacles menacing the shadows you have to then give us well developed characters and while the Hills come across as sympathetic there aren't any scenes showing us who they are or why we should care about them. I think the only word I can come up to describe them would be "mild-mannered" which in this case is fairly damning. I think the big issue is that much of the story is given by text boxes rather than dialogue or action on the page which creates a sense of detachment between the reader and the events transpiring on the page which gives it a slightly flat feeling. And once again...it just ends and not in anywhere near a narritively appropriate story beat which makes you feel like this wasn't meant to be read in a serial fashion. I'm a sucker for UFO stories and I'm surprised that I don't know this one from right in my own back yard so I'm going to stick with it but I have to say, if this didn't have Oeming's art I think I'd drop this.
As for Oeming, he wrote and illustrated the "Green Children" back up feature, which was a bit of folklore I am familiar with so it was fun to have that, " I know this one!" connection. However, while the legend was told well enough, I kind of wish it had been done in a way so as to make the connection to alien fiction a little stronger. Maybe thrown in some elements from encounter literature like bright lights or something so as to get you to wonder if this old folktale was really a 12th century telling of a true life alien encounter. Still, it was fun but more than a little disconnected from the main feature.
Art: Oeming was his usual stunning self in both the back up and main feature, delivering fantastically expressive characters in his well loved cartoony style. At this point, his art is really what's keeping me going; I just can't say no to the man even when he's attached to a story that can't seem to find an ounce of oompf.
Grade:6/10 I think I liked this a bit more than you did. I think the lack of humanity/characterization is thematically appropriate for a book about the Blue Book case files, as those files seemed to intentionally deemphasize the human aspects of the reports to make it easier to question the credibility of the witnesses in those cases. If, as it seems, this is a book about those files, then presenting in in a manner consistent with the actual case files works for me. Since Tynion, as a writer, goes almost overboard in the other direction developing the characters in the stories in his other books, I am assuming the lack of that here is a stylistic choice, not a shortcoming of the writer. -M |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 26, 2023 7:17:53 GMT -5
Blue Book #2Written by James Tynion IV Art by Michael Avon Oeming Summary:Betty and Barney Hill make it home but find their mystery did not end in the wild woods of New Hampshire.
Plot: Much like my qualms with the initial outing, pacing continues to be an issue with the second part of this true life X-File story. It's a true life story so you can't expect thrills a second but at the same time you do expect to see something, and I mean anything happen. And it doesn't. If you're going to go for non-fiction and forgo shots of alien tentacles menacing the shadows you have to then give us well developed characters and while the Hills come across as sympathetic there aren't any scenes showing us who they are or why we should care about them. I think the only word I can come up to describe them would be "mild-mannered" which in this case is fairly damning. I think the big issue is that much of the story is given by text boxes rather than dialogue or action on the page which creates a sense of detachment between the reader and the events transpiring on the page which gives it a slightly flat feeling. And once again...it just ends and not in anywhere near a narritively appropriate story beat which makes you feel like this wasn't meant to be read in a serial fashion. I'm a sucker for UFO stories and I'm surprised that I don't know this one from right in my own back yard so I'm going to stick with it but I have to say, if this didn't have Oeming's art I think I'd drop this.
As for Oeming, he wrote and illustrated the "Green Children" back up feature, which was a bit of folklore I am familiar with so it was fun to have that, " I know this one!" connection. However, while the legend was told well enough, I kind of wish it had been done in a way so as to make the connection to alien fiction a little stronger. Maybe thrown in some elements from encounter literature like bright lights or something so as to get you to wonder if this old folktale was really a 12th century telling of a true life alien encounter. Still, it was fun but more than a little disconnected from the main feature.
Art: Oeming was his usual stunning self in both the back up and main feature, delivering fantastically expressive characters in his well loved cartoony style. At this point, his art is really what's keeping me going; I just can't say no to the man even when he's attached to a story that can't seem to find an ounce of oompf.
Grade:6/10 I think I liked this a bit more than you did. I think the lack of humanity/characterization is thematically appropriate for a book about the Blue Book case files, as those files seemed to intentionally deemphasize the human aspects of the reports to make it easier to question the credibility of the witnesses in those cases. If, as it seems, this is a book about those files, then presenting in in a manner consistent with the actual case files works for me. Since Tynion, as a writer, goes almost overboard in the other direction developing the characters in the stories in his other books, I am assuming the lack of that here is a stylistic choice, not a shortcoming of the writer. -M It's definitely a stylistic choice...I just don't think it's a particularly good one especially in a serialized story. He's already eschewing the typical plot structure as each issue doesn't have a clearly defined beginning middle and end so removing another element of story telling in characterization it gives it an overall flat feeling which isn't very interesting to read. |
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