Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/4/15
I come to you now at the turn of the tides. For the next two months, DC Comics is going to be doing a big Convergence crossover, taking their entire line of comics and doing a bunch of weird alternate reality things that I have simply not kept up with. I have no idea if I’m going to review any DC Comics for the next two months. I might check a few of them out individually, maybe haphazardly and randomly, but I just don’t know for sure.
(Although Greg Rucka’s Renee Montoya comic is an absolute must!)
So we’re going to spend this week saying goodbye to a few of DC’s regular releases. Not only do we (finally!) have the last issue of Batman Eternal, but Batman and Robin comes to an end with a rather amazing Annual issue. It won’t be back after Convergence. And Harley Quinn delivers a pretty fun cliffhanger in advance of the break.
Out of all of them, I’m going to have to give Comic Book of the Week to Batman and Robin Annual #3. You’re going to have to read this one to believe it!
This is a thing that happens in the comic!
Over at Word of the Nerd this week, I reviewed the prologue issue for the new Uncanny Inhumans series. Black Bolt is the star of Uncanny Inhumans #0, and the issue shows why he could easily carry a comic book all on his own.
I am also super pleased to announce the launching of www.GamerGirlandVixen.com, a new site for my own self-published comic! We bought the domain name and are gearing up for our Kickstarter coming next month! Visit the site and follow along with the production!
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #17, Batman Eternal #52, Batman and Robin Annual #3, Doctor Who: The 9th Doctor #1, and Harley Quinn #16.
Review: Teen Titans Annual #1
Hey everybody, Superboy is back! Remember when he died? Or was…replaced by an evil impostor…who I think also died? Does anybody remember what happened to Superboy? All I remember is that it was really really dumb, and really really confusing, and that the Teen Titans were completely out of the loop. I don’t think they ever knew about the impostor. But regardless of whatever insanity happened a year or so ago, Superboy is back in Teen Titans Annual #1, and he brings with him some much needed team drama!
Teen Titans Annual #1
Unfortunately, the Annual issue is hampered by some pretty terrible art. So I finally get what I want, the Teen Titans are the actual star of their own comic, but I still can’t appreciate it because this is one ugly comic.
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
Despite this being an Annual issue, the Teen Titans story continues from right where it left off, only now with extra pages and a new co-writer in tow. Tom King pays a visit from his successful Grayson comic to lend regular writer Will Pfeifer a hand with Teen Titans Annual #1. The two are paired as co-scripters, according to the credits, with the actual plot courtesy of King. Is this a sign that he might be taking over? I have no idea.
But King brings with him a much-needed focus on the Teen Titans themselves. Pfeifer has been a pretty poor presence on the franchise, and my biggest complaint with him so far is that none of his stories really focus on the Teen Titans themselves. Pfiefer has been too obsessed with either pet characters, like Manchester Black, or whatever new super-villain plot he’s brought to the table. All of that changes, for the most part, with this Annual issue, and I’m very happy with that. But the art by the alternating team of Alisson Borges and Wes St. Claire just can’t keep up.
Superboy is back in the Teen Titans’ lives, and he’s brought a lot of baggage with him. News reports claim that he’s responsible for murdering 21 people in cold blood. Obviously, there’s a lot more to that story than what the news media is reporting, but for now, it’s got the individual Titans at each others’ throats over whether they need to help their old friend or turn him over to the authorities.
That makes for good team drama, so at the very least, Teen Titans Annual #1 is a step in the right direction. I may come to regret this later on, but I think I’m going to get my hopes up, if only just a little bit.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
The 6 Biggest Problems of Batman Eternal
The final issue of Batman Eternal came out today, and I am not proud to say I have read all 52 issues. I am disappointed in myself for going through with it. I wish I had allowed myself to quit reading a long time ago. But for some insane reason, I just kept buying, just kept reading, and documented my thoughts in my weekly Hench-Sized Reviews every Saturday. I would say this was a Herculean effort, but it’s probably more like Sisyphus.
Gear up, everybody. This is gonna be a big one.
Still, I read the entire series, and I’m more than ready to plow through the final issue. But a feat of this magnitude deserves a little something extra. I have hated Batman Eternal since the beginning — but plenty of other reviewers around the web have loved the comic. So I’ve decided to do my best to explain why I hated Batman Eternal so much. This was a popular comic, and DC is already planning Year Two. A lot of people loved it, but why did I hate it so so much?
Join me after the jump to find out!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/28/15
I’m happy to report my busy week has come to an end! I was covering a murder trial in my day job as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, and the guy ended up being found guilty. He had it coming, trust me. But all that day job stuff cut into my blogging and comic book reading, so unfortunately it’s going to be a somewhat light week. It helps that Marvel Comics didn’t really put out anything too crazy this week.
Though Marvel did put out Uncanny X-Men #32, which wins Comic Book of the Week for finally kicking off Cyclops’ final journey!
And does it vive?
DC Comics filled up the rest of my week, with new issues of Batman Eternal, Batman and Robin and Gotham Academy. It seems I really read a lot of Bat-books. That’s largely unintentional, they’re just the best that DC has to offer. That’s not a bad thing, right?
Oh, and you can check out my review of Darth Vader #3 over at Word of the Nerd. Good times in Dark Lord of the Sithing!
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #51, Batman and Robin #40, Gotham Academy #6 and Uncanny X-Men #32.
The All-New, All-Different Avengers Kind of Puts the Kibosh on that Whole Reboot Idea
The first hints of a post-Secret Wars Marvel were revealed to the Internet yesterday with the team lineup of the All-New, All-Different Avengers. This is the first official look of what the Marvel Universe will be like in the Fall, when Marvel promised a big reboot! Or Marvel promised a big change and a lot of people assumed that meant a reboot. Me? I was never convinced, and this new cover image backs up my theories.
Take a look at it and tell me what you see.
Green hands? Brown ground?
I see Ms. Marvel, Lady Thor, Sam Alexander as Nova and Sam Wilson as Captain America; otherwise known as the exact same lineup of characters in a pre-Secret Wars world. So if Marvel were actually going to go through with a reboot, wouldn’t none of these characters exist?
Granted, the addition of Miles Morales means a whole heck of a lot. But that’s something to unpack on another day.
All I’m worried about today is the fact that, when Secret Wars is over, the Marvel Universe is going to be largely the same. It’ll have the same characters in most likely the same situations. Yes, some things will be different, some characters and status quos might be switched around, but the Marvel Universe isn’t going anywhere.
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