Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/26/13
If you’re reading this, I’m probably neck-deep in Batman: Arkham Origins by this point. I’ll try to have a review and some lists up eventually, but right now, I’m knocking criminal heads together and hopefully kicking Penguin in the crotch! Fortunately, I still found the time to read some comics this week, and most of them are a hoot!
Both Battle of the Atom and Lights Out delivered solid issues this week, and a Justice League tie-in to Forever Evil was equally as strong. I’m pretty much enjoying all of these Big Event comics, though Battle of the Atom is still coming out on top. To try something new, I picked up Velvet #1 from the creative team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. I was…not impressed, but it’s still a fine comic from Image.
Winner of Comic Book of the Week, however, goes to Aquaman! Writer Geoff Johns delivers an origin for the Lost City of Atlantis, and it’s just as good as the rest of his Aquaman series. Go Aquaman!
Though if we’re talking Moment of the Week, that definitely goes to Jason Aaron’s latest chapter of Battle of the Atom. He’s almost as good as Bendis when it comes to writing these merry mutants.
Cyclops’ face is priceless!
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #24, FF #13, Justice League #24, Red Lanterns #24, Velvet #1 and Wolverine and the X-Men #37.
Review: Teen Titans #24
I never thought I’d be happy to see the regular Teen Titans again. But after the horrors of the Teen Titans Villain Month comics, I say bring on the regularly scheduled programming, as awful as it may be! And Teen Titans #24 is pretty awful. Not terribly awful, I suppose, but pretty darn awful, nonetheless. This week, Teen Titans focuses on its horrible, stilted expositional dialogue, with an overabundance of thought balloons, because writer Scott Lobdell isn’t aware that those went out of style with fanny packs and the word ‘radical’.
Teen Titans #24
Teen Titans #24 kicks off a time travel adventure for our teen heroes, because why not? It is decidedly not radical.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
For those of you who aren’t reading Forever Evil, the Teen Titans almost had a moment of awesomeness. Almost. Written by Geoff Johns, arguably DC’s best writer, the Teen Titans were some of the few heroes who hadn’t been killed or de-masked by the Crime Syndicate. So Red Robin told his team to gear up! They were going to have to save the world and take on the Crime Syndicate themselves! It was legitimately awesome. But when the Titans actually attacked the Crime Syndicate, they came up against Johnny Quick (Evil Flash) and lasted all of three minutes. The Teen Titans, everybody. Rather than some glorious fight, Quick simply unraveled Kid Flash from time and sent the whole team hurtling into the time stream.
Because that’s how things work, obviously.
So that’s where we are: the Teen Titans are lost in the time stream, bouncing wildly through different points in time. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, Lobdell freely makes up a bunch of jibber jabber to explain it and then promptly has all of his characters spout his explanations, as well as every important facet of their personalities and back story. Lobdell gets everyone up to speed on Teen Titans in the most hamfisted, achingly dull way possible. But such is the modern Teen Titans. Despite all of the creative shakeups and changes the New 52 has seen in the past two years, Scott Lobdell on Teen Titans remains steadfast. J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman walked off Batwoman, but Lobdell still holds Teen Titans in his icy death grip. Sometimes the universe just isn’t fair.
Also, if you haven’t heard, DC is going to randomly kill of Superboy in a few months. So sorry if you were in any way invested in the New 52 Superboy.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/19/13
It is with great disappointment that we read comics this week, because the final issue of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s Batwoman has come out. These geniuses were building up a battle between Batwoman and Batman himself, and we get one single issue to tease their story before their famous walk out goes into effect. And the issue is damn good. In fact, Batwoman #24 wins Comic Book of the Week for me because of the skill and fun with which they set up this fight. This is going to rank up with J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Thor in terms of comic book runs that ended too soon. Same with Straczynski’s Supreme Power…man, that guy really can’t seem to finish a comic.
Batwoman sadness aside, we’ve got some good issues of Infinity, Lights Out and Battle of the Atom, since Big Event crossovers are all the rage these days. We’ve also got the return of Hawkeye after a long hiatus, so that’s a plus. But for my money, nothing beats Batwoman this week.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #21, New Avengers #11, Batwoman #24, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #1, Green Lantern: New Guardians #24, Hawkeye #13, Uncanny X-Men #13 and Wonder Woman #24.
Awesome Shot of Robin Costume Just Because I Love Robin
DC Comics’ January solicitations came out on Monday, and the best thing in the bunch was this cover to Batman and Robin Annual #2. Drawn by Doug Mahnke, it’s a brilliant shot of the New 52 version of Dick Grayson’s original Robin costume. I really like the design. It is, of course, much better than the original original Robin costume, with the short shots and pixie boots. And I just wanted to share this picture because this is a Robin-friendly blog.
Though if I may be allowed two minor nitpicks…I don’t like that the arms aren’t bare. He’s got black sleeves between his green shoulders and gloves, and I just think bare arms would look so much better. I also don’t like that this costume no longer has the classic yellow clasps on the chest. I always thought that was kind of iconic. They’re obviously still incorporated into the design, but I think the whole costume is just missing a little something without them.
But those are silly, worthless nitpicks. I love the costume, simple as that.
6 Marvel Characters Who Deserve Their Own Solo Series
I love it when comic book companies put creativity and diversity over commercialism, and the New York Comic-Con this past weekend proved that Marvel Comics still has their head on straight. Whereas it would make the most financial sense to just publish comics about Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man and the Avengers, Marvel instead revealed a whole host of new series dedicated to exploring lesser known and less marketable heroes.
But I think they could add a few more names to their upcoming catalogue.
All of them already have comics!
Solo series are very hit and miss in today’s comic book market. The heroes that have been around forever – like Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, etc. – have no problem maintaining their own comic, even multiple comics. But it’s very hard for a new solo series to take off. For every success like Hawkeye or Deadpool, you’ve got dozens of cancelled comics like Scarlet Spider, X-23, Gambit, Moon Knight and more. I applaud Marvel for giving characters like Silver Surfer, Iron Patriot, Loki and Black Widow a try, even if cancellation is a distinct possibility. And here are six more suggestions for characters who deserve the spotlight, even if only for a little while.
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