Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/4/2016
Rebirth is upon us! After kicking everything off with that big, debut issue last week, DC has churned out a couple of their Rebirth preview comics this week. They’ll get to the new #1 issues soon enough, but for now, we take a quick peek at Batman, Superman and Green Lanterns. I’m going to try out a couple different Rebirth comics coming up, and I checked out all three of these, to varying degrees of enjoyment.
But that’s not the only big release this week! Marvel delivers the first issue of their new Civil War II crossover! And I couldn’t care less! Jeez louise. I understand the desire to tie into the movie of the same name, but come on! I guess I’ll struggle through it.
Fortunately, this week also saw the release of All-New Wolverine and the new Pink Ranger solo mini-series, both of which were delightful. All-New Wolverine scores Comic Book of the Week once again.
How can you not love this?
Who knew I would like a Wolverine comic so much once they ditched Wolverine? Though this issue has more Wolverines than a regular comic.
Comic Reviews: All-New Wolverine #9, Batman Rebirth #1, Civil War II #1, Green Lanterns Rebirth #1, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers – Pink #1, Punisher #2 and Superman Rebirth #1.
I Hate This Double-R Thing So Much!
Red Robin is due to get a costume change in DC Rebirth. I’m cool with that. His New 52 costume is fine, I suppose. It’s neat, though it’s overly complicated. Well now it looks like they’re going to give him a more classic, Robin-esque costume.
But he’s going to insist on having a Double-R on the chest! Here’s an up close look, courtesy of Comic Book Resources.
Ugh. Robin is one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, and Tim Drake is my favorite Robin. It grinds my gears that DC insists he’s only ever been ‘Red Robin’ in the DC Universe now. That’s such a ridiculous idea. Everybody just calls him ‘Robin’. And the Double-R looks so dumb!
Plus, he’s not even wearing predominantly red this time. Argh, whatever. I love this costume design for Tim and I’m still totally gonna read Detective Comics.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/28/16
I’m a little late to the party, but I had a busy week and couldn’t get up a quick anything about all the comic book controversy. What have they done to Captain America?! What the heck have they done now to the DC Universe? Read on to get my reviews!
Part of me was just planning to review the big two controversial issues and leave it at that. But this week also saw the release of some of my favorite comics, and quite honestly, each issue kind of serves as the anti-thesis of DC: Rebirth and the new Cap twist.
So in an unprecedented move, Comic Book of the Week goes to three of my favorite comics, all of which released perfectly pleasing issues in this crazy week: Ms. Marvel, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat.
Good advice
This week’s Hench-Sized Reviews is about as big a statement on comics as I may ever be able to make. I’m quite pleased with myself, and really enjoyed some of these reads.
Comic Reviews: Captain America – Steve Rogers #1, DC Universe – Rebirth #1, Ms. Marvel #7, Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat #6 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8.
Review: Teen Titans #20
Writer Tony Bedard should not take up a side job writing Internet memes. As a long time reader of the Internet, I consider myself fairly well versed with the world of memes. I think I know what I’m talking about. Bedard dazzles us with a few in this new issue, as the Teen Titans take on this instantly dated phenomenon. I’m not even sure why they bothered.
Teen Titans is a lame duck comic book. With a complete revamp on the way in Rebirth, I’m not really sure why Teen Titans is still shambling along like it is.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
Maybe if we were looking at a Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo-style climax, or if we had any sort of ongoing story to tell, or even if the comic was still using its original numbering and DC Comics wanted to get to the magic 52nd issue, then maybe I would understand why Teen Titans is still putting out new issues ahead of Rebirth. But there’s nothing here. Heck, this is Bedard’s first issue on the series. He’s clearly some kind of pinch-hitter brought on to keep the series on life support before the switch.
Why?
Is it sales? Does Teen Titans sell enough to justify scraping together a few more crummy issues over the next few months? Maybe if they were using these issues to build up to the Rebirth changes, I would understand. But that’s not happening either. This issue could be any regular issue of Teen Titans. There’s an awkward training sequence followed by the aforementioned memes plot, and the arrival of a sudden, random villain. Nothing in this issue signifies the end. Nothing in this issue signifies a new beginning or a new direction.
Nothing indicates the ‘Fall of the Titans’ that the cover implies…unless the Teen Titans are going to be undone because somebody is making crappy Internet memes about them…
Teen Titans #20 is weak filler. And it’s filled with some weird storytelling choices.
My First Gamer Girl & Vixen Comic Book Convention!
Earlier this month, I attended my first ever comic book convention with my own series, Gamer Girl & Vixen, and I had a blast! The convention was held in the public library in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the hometown of my pal and co-writer Kristi McDowell. This was Kristi’s second convention with GG&V, and our first time teaming up to have an actual table.
Here we are decked out in geeky gear and comic book merchandise!
Look away, I’m hideous!
I had a great time behind the table, meeting fans and trying to sell them on our comic. We sold a couple issues, gave away some postcards, signed a few people up for our newsletter. It was a lot of fun meeting and talking to people about the comic, telling them what it’s about and answering their questions. We had some fans who’d already heard of us, because Kristi’s local comic book shop in Haverhill is selling Gamer Girl & Vixen on the shelves. And we had a lot of people who just discovered us that day.
I think the most memorable encounter I had was a young girl with half her face painted like Venom (complete with teeth and tongue!). She specifically stopped her father walking past so that she could come over and flip through our comic. She left with a postcard. That was pretty darn cool. And there were adults who were interested, kids who just liked the pretty colors, and at least one super fan who kept coming back to talk to Kristi (and one guy who kept coming back pleading about not having any money to buy anything…).
Seeing as how the convention was held in a library, there were a lot of kids, and it was really cool to see them check out our comic. Granted, there are some swear words in our book, but I’m totally cool selling that sort of thing to kids. They’ll be fine. I like to give kids a lot of credit when it comes to stories.
I had a great time and a lot of fun. We plan to be at a few smaller conventions throughout the year, and visit a few big ones in the Northeast. Those big ones are a little too expensive for us now, but next year we plan to hit them and hit them hard with our new Gamer Girl & Vixen graphic novel! So stay tuned for more news!
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