Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/30/13
Oof. Who knew that comic books take Black Friday so seriously? There were a metric ton of new releases this week, including a lot of my favorite titles. If I wasn’t already broke, this week’s haul would have done a number on my poor bank account. Fortunately for us, my love of comics feels no shame, and I bought a bunch of issues anyway!
And what a great bunch of issues! Superior Spider-Man and FF remain as good as ever. I still feel bad for anyone not reading Superior out of spite. You folks are really missing out on some neat stuff. And issues like FF #14 make me sad that the comic is coming to an end soon. Speaking of endings, this week also saw the finale for Infinity with issue #6! The end has been a long time coming, and it’s…good, but none of my complaints were ever addressed. There’s no big twist resolving everything.
Infinity ends about as well as one could expect, with the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. At least nobody was needlessly sacrificed in the name of cheap thrills. The same can be said for the end of Aquaman – or, at least, Geoff Johns’ run on the character. He wraps up all his big storylines in glorious fashion and doesn’t kill Mera or anyone else just for shock value.
Of course, neither does Hawkeye #14.
Aquaman #25 almost won comic book of the week. It came close. But then I read the adorable, squeeful Hawkeye #14 and there was no other choice.
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #25, FF #14, Hawkeye #14, Indestructible Hulk #16, Infinity #6, New Avengers #12, Red Lanterns #25, Superior Spider-Man #22.
Ghost Rider Gets a Sweet New Ride!
We were teased about this during New York Comic-Con when the new Ghost Rider series was announced, but here is the proof that the new Ghost Rider is going to ditch the motorcycle and instead take up hot rods! I’m a big fan of this idea. I know Ghost Rider looks awesome on a motorcycle, but sometimes writers need to really think outside the box.
The covers are drawn by Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore.
For those who don’t know, the new Ghost Rider will be Robbie Reyes, a high school senior in East Los Angeles who loves cars and has lived a pretty tough life so far. Writer Felipe Smith told CBR that, “In comparison to previous Ghost Riders, he’s young and inexperienced in life; but his harsh inner city upbringing, overall distrust for most people, and serious contempt for his violent surroundings make him the perfect host for a Spirit of Vengeance.”
I really think I’m going to give this series a look when the first issue shows up. Looks pretty sweet so far.
Review: Teen Titans #25
You can always count on Teen Titans to have more than a few things wrong with each issue. Sometimes it’s an overabundance of editor’s notes pointing you towards some other series. Or maybe it’s a lot of long, boring, expositional dialogue. Or maybe it includes a few random cutaways to villains who will never appear again (the book loves to do that!). It’s always something with this comic. Teen Titans has been written by the same guy with what I assume is the same agenda since the start of the New 52, and writer Scott Lobdell hasn’t gotten any better. This new issue flings our heroes far into the future, into outer space, to meet a bunch of random space dudes and sort of maybe start to learn the secret origin of Kid Flash.
Teen Titans #25
Turns out he’s kind of a murderous monster with more blood on his hands than your average Manson. Our teenage heroes, ladies and gentlemen!
Comic Rating: 3/10 – Bad.
Sometimes I think I’m being too hard on Teen Titans, but then I read the rest of the comics I buy each week and the difference is staggering. Modern comics today usually focus on the character, and leave a lot of the exposition to the art. We readers don’t need to be spoonfed every little piece of plot. But Lobdell on Teen Titans looooves exposition. He loves having his characters explain everything as awkwardly and as stuntedly as possible. Teen Titans #25 is a fine example. And it’s made even worse by Lobdell doing most of the expositing via thought bubbles. Freakin’ thought bubbles! Those haven’t been in style since the 90s! But Teen Titans #25 is full of them, from multiple different characters. It’s deadening.
To say nothing of the actual plot and characters involved. Bart Allen’s origin has no connection to anything we’ve ever seen before in DC Comics or the Teen Titans – or at least that’s how it appears so far. So Lobdell is pretty much making it up as he goes along, whether it’s the names of random space mercenaries or space police agencies or futuristic technology. He’s on a roll just throwing out new ideas and concepts with absolutely no grounding, unless you count the Teen Titans themselves, who have never been particularly grounded.
Teen Titans #25 is another fine example of why this series is as dull and as flat as a piece of wood. Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
Review: Marada the She-Wolf
Fans of swords, sorcery and tales of adventure will find a lot to love in the classic comics of Marada the She-Wolf, created by legendary comic book writer Chris Claremont. A serial from the early 1980s, Marada is Claremont and artist John Bolton’s attempt to create a badass, fantasy warrior woman in the vein of Xena or Red Sonja. She’s beautiful, honorable and good with a sword, and a collected edition of of her adventures released this month by Titan Comics goes a long way in establishing her as an exciting action hero – with one major caveat.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
The collected edition of Marada comics features the complete run of the character across three issues, with a lot of behind-the-scenes materials. The story takes place somewhere in the middle of Marada’s heroic career, since she’s already a well-known character at the start. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Marada’s adventures did not continue beyond these three issues, so we only really get the first half of her adventure. The rest is lost to posterity. And I found the comic entertaining enough that I wish I could see what happened next.
Marada is a nomadic warrior princess who travels the world having adventures – which, frankly, is my dream job (minus the princess part). She’s the graddaughter of Caesar, and the story is set during the days of the Roman Empire. Marada’s tale takes her to the African Savannah, the Middle East, the high seas and even into demonic dimensions. She’s your typical heroine, and her adventures are resoundingly fun and filled with a great cast of entertaining supporting characters.
The best way to describe the art by Bolton is ‘classic’. This is exactly the kind of painted fantasy art I imagine when I think of tales from this era. All of the characters look like they stepped off the cover of a slightly-less air-brushed romance novels, but in a good way.
Not enough romance novels include demon killing
The pages look much cleaner in the actual book. These are just some scans I found online.
Unfortunately, Marada the She-Wolf was written and designed by men in the comic book industry in the early 1980s. Considering the problems some male writers have with female characters in this day and age, it’s no surprise that Marada is not exactly a strong, independent woman.
The collected edition is available on Amazon.com.
Join me after the jump for more review.
The 6 Coolest Native American Superheroes
We here at Henchman-4-Hire are firm believers that every holiday should stick to its designated time period. All those doors in The Nightmare Before Christmas exist for a reason! Christmas needs to wait its turn, because there’s a very important and valid holiday in November: Thanksgiving!
Even if we all can pretty much agree that the historical First Thanksgiving was probably nothing like what we were led to believe growing up. Pilgrims and Indians coming together in peace and harmony to feast on a big, plump turkey on November 28? It’s probably more fictional than Bigfoot. But let’s not worry about that now, let’s take a look at the 6 coolest Native American superheroes – and thankfully, not all of them are wearing super-powered feathered headdresses.
Henchman-4-Hire 