Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/25/15
Only one week until Boston Comic-Con! That’s my first comic-con of the season, where I’ll be shaking hands and kissing babies in the name of Gamer Girl & Vixen! Anybody else going? I could buy you a hot dog!
As for comics this week, we’ve got some good ones! Cyborg #1 makes its big debut at DC comics, though it’s about four years late. Still, it looks like a good start, though I would have liked more. I also checked out the first issue of Kate Leth’s Power Up and was equally wishing she’d gone just a bit further in her debut issue. Alas.
As for really good comics, we’ve got new issues of Spider-Woman and We Are Robin, both of which are sizzling. And the new issue of Uncanny X-Men is a Goldballs spotlight issue! I’m beside myself with glee.
Comic Book of the Week, however, goes to Grayson #10 for its downright gorgeous artwork and fun style!
Why do we all not live there?
Artist Mikel Janin is going place! Heck, I’m not even sure why DC is keeping him on Grayson when he could be drawing Wonder Woman, Superman or anything else!
Comic Reviews: Cyborg #1, Grayson #10, Power Up #1, Prez #2, Spider-Woman #9, Uncanny X-Men #35 and We Are Robin #2.
Review: Teen Titans #10
Teen Titans #10 is the worst issue of this comic since the start of the New 52, and possibly the worst professionally-published comic book I have ever read. I am in stunned awe at just how terrible this issue is, especially since I’ve generally kind of liked the past few issues by writer Will Pfeifer. But something seems to have broken inside of him. There is no other way to explain just how much this issue fails on every conceivable level. The writing is bad, the characters are bad, the exposition is bad, the flow is bad, the sequence of events are bad, the logic is bad, and guest artist Felipe Watanabe is horrendous.
Teen Titans #10
This will be the first comic to receive my lowest grade since I started reviewing comics on my blog. This grade was supposed to be intended as a joke.
Comic Rating: 0/10 – Abomination.
The insanity begins with the very first panel and just doesn’t let up. Nothing works in this comic. It’s as if Pfeifer has no idea that he’s been writing Teen Titans for a year now. Teen Titans #10 reads like he took several years off between issues, and rather than research the story he’d been writing before, he’s just decided to wing it. Almost every single page contains multiple instances of just straight up illogical events or dialogue. Characters talk about things that never happened. They move their bodies in ways that just don’t make any sense. They react to things with no semblance to what’s actually happening on the page. Teen Titans #10 is a mess.
But it picks up the story exactly where Pfeifer left off, that’s the weirdest thing! We’re still right in the middle of the Teen Titans fighting over Superboy. And that should make for a fun, character-based story! But Pfeifer can’t seem to handle that. Rather than write a story about the Teen Titans struggling with the moral quandry of turning on their friend, Pfeifer appears to have suffered a stroke. He’s clearly not reading the same comic that any of us have been reading the past several months and years.
And when regular artist Kenneth Rocafort is unavailable, apparently DC Comics found somebody even worse to fill in.
I have no idea why this comic is still being published. With DC going through a rather awesome creative revival this Summer, how the hell are they still churning out the pure garbage that is Teen Titans? Hell, Do you know what variant covers DC is offering this month? Teen Titans Go! covers! This is Teen Titans Go! Month! And yet the Teen Titans comic is so terrible!
Join me after the jump if you dare, and maybe you can help me make sense out of any of this.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/18/15
Ant-Man was awesome! I loved it! After all these years, I got to sit down in a theater and watch Ant-Man, and it lived up to all the glorious hype! Go see it! I’ll try to have my full review up later today.
As for comic books, we’ve got a great smattering of books this week. Comics like Kaijumax and Black Canary continue to impress, while Secret Six finally starts to feel like the old, beloved comic of yore. That’s a damn good thing. Lumberjanes and Harley Quinn continue their hot streaks, but there can be only one Comic Book of the Week.
Hawkeye #22 finally finishes off Matt Fraction’s now-legendary run!
That comic is all style, substance and so much more. I need to start buying those trades ASAP so I can sit down and re-read the whole thing over again.
Over at Word of the Nerd, I continue my Secret Wars coverage with a review of Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders #1. I was attracted to the comic because I’m a huge Faiza Hussain fan, but other than a spotlight for her awesomeness, the comic is middling at best — though if you’re a fan of Judge Dredd, it’s not to be missed.
Comic Reviews: Black Canary #2, Harley Quinn #18, Hawkeye #22, Kaijumax #4, Lumberjanes #16, Robin: Son of Batman #2, Secret Six #4 and Silver Surfer #13.
Batman and Robin Eternal Threatens to Tear the Heart Out of Me
We knew this was coming. There had been hints and whispers, and we couldn’t deny them. The sequel to Batman Eternal is going to be called Batman and Robin Eternal, and it’s going to focus on the legacy of Robin as part of his 75th anniversary.
Part of me couldn’t be more thrilled…and another part of me remembers how much I loathed the first Batman Eternal. I’m at war with myself!
Thanks again to Comicbook.com for the scoop.
The new weekly series (only 26 issues this time) was announced at Comic-Con Friday during the Robin Panel. Promised to be bigger and better than the original, Batman and Robin Eternal will be a globe-hopping adventure that celebrates Robin’s legacy.
The series will focus on three characters: Dick Grayson, Harper Row and, at long last, a returning Cassandra Cain.
“This series is going to reintroduce Cassandra Cain to the DC Universe,” returning co-writer James Tynion IV told reporters this morning. “We can’t talk too much about that just yet but this is a character that for me at least I have loved for my entire comic-reading life. The fact that we have the opportunity to bring her back in a very, very central role — she is on of the three leads of this story, her, Dick and Harper Rowe — I’m really pumped.”
I’m curious why Harper Row is going to be the focus of Batman and Robin Eternal. Could this be the chance I’ve been waiting for? Are there plans to eventually move Harper up from Bluebird to Robin? There’s still time! You can still make that happen DC Comics!
All I know is that my love of Robin is going to go to war against my hatred of the first Batman Eternal. Only one can win, and we’ll find out which when the new series starts in October.
Man, today has been a great day for Robin news.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/11/15
Someday I’ll go to San Diego for Comic-Con. I don’t necessarily want to go. I imagine the crowds are horrendous and unbearable. But I’d still like to go, in theory, and that’s important too. But at least I have some good comics to read while I’m stuck in New York.
It’s a Marvel-less week this week, with Secret Wars dominating too much of their time and energy. Fortunately, DC is more than happy to pick up the slack, with quality new issues of Gotham Academy, Starfire and Justice League of America.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Batman #42, the second consecutive issue of the new series to earn the award! Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are just killing it with their new Robo-Batman.
Commissioner Gordon may never be the same again
I’m chomping at the bit for the crossover with We Are Robin!
Over at Word of the Nerd, my latest dive into Secret Wars tie-ins left me rather disappointed. Civil War #1 is a waste of a comic, spinning its wheels with backstory and exposition as it tries to set up a ‘What If…’ scenario. Skip it.
Comic Reviews: Batman #42, Bloodshot Reborn #4, Gotham Academy #8, Justice League of America #2 and Starfire #2.
Henchman-4-Hire 