Category Archives: Comics
Review: Teen Titans #18
Maddening! This series is maddening! Sometimes Teen Titans can be pretty damn good, with solid characterization and the hint that something interesting and entertaining will happen. Then Teen Titans will shoot itself in the foot and run around bleeding everywhere because it just loves pointless cutaways and ridiculous character motivations. Evil Tim Drake continues to be a ridiculously stupid idea. Seriously, if Evil Tim Drake wasn’t in this issue, this would have been one of the best issues of Teen Titans to date. But he just ruins everything!
Teen Titans #18
But he’s not alone. If you were hoping Trigon might amount to something cool…nope! Or what about the two stupid new villains that were randomly and awkwardly inserted last issue? They show up again and are even more pointless than before.
And then there’s Lance. Fuck Lance.
Comic Rating: 2/5: Bad.
Sorry for the cursing. But seriously, to hell with that guy. Lance is the worst character in the New 52. Even worse than Rush! He makes absolutely no god damned sense! Scott Lobdell introduces him in Teen Titans as one of Amanda Waller’s agents. Fine. Even though he’s got a ridiculously generic costume and name, that’s still fine. Then Lance shows up and promises he can cure Solstice. Also fine. But then in that same issue, he’s pulled away by unseen forces to go off and appear in Birds of Prey. What!? Why!? I didn’t read about Lance’s adventures in Birds of Prey, but they were apparently important enough to warrant a one-panel cameo in the Teen Titans Joker issue, and then he’s mentioned again in this issue as having disappeared. What the Hell!?
Why bother bringing the character into Teen Titans in the first place if he’s not going to stick around or do anything, and instead is going to have a big story in Birds of Prey?
And Lance is just the tip of the stupid character iceberg. Teen Titans is full of them, and I’ll gladly point them out as we go through the synopsis. Sadly, it pains me to say that the stupidest character of them all is Evil Tim Drake. Even his haircut is stupid. But what makes it even worse is that for the first half of the book, he’s actually pretty awesome.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
The 6 Coolest Cat Superheroes
Ever since my blog started getting more popular, I’ve received a lot of e-mails from SEO people who want me to hire them to get more Google hits. Search Engine Optimization, I believe it’s called. Even if I had money, I wouldn’t do it, because I’m comfortable letting my blog grow naturally (Tell your friends! Share on Facebook!). However, I am not opposed to giving the people what they want. And what they want on the Internet is cats.
He is the cat. The night is his.
I love cats as much as the next person. If you want a surefire way to get me to laugh, just show me one of those Youtube videos of the ‘talking’ cats. Oh long Johnson! Hehe. But anyway! What better way to drive up my readership than by combining cats and superheroes? They go together like cats and cardboard boxes. So here are the six snazziest comic book characters who like to get in touch with their feline side.
Review: Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #21
Here comes one of those talking heads issues that I love so much! And it’s pretty good, though more than a little weird. Miles and Ganke spend some quality time with Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy talking about Venom. Personally, I would have liked a more sociable conversation, but we’re kind of in the middle of Venom War, so it makes sense that the big, black gooey guy is the focus of the conversation. Though Bendis makes the unfortunate misstep of bringing up that whole Gwen Stacy/Carnage fiasco. I thought we’d all silently agreed to put it behind us and never mention it again.
Ultimate Spider-Man #21
Oh well, it’s still an entertaining comic, even if it’s really just a refresher course in Ultimate Venom. We haven’t seen the character in years.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
We don’t learn anything new about Venom or why he’s going after Spider-Man or his dad. It’s clear that Venom knows Peter Parker isn’t Spider-Man anymore, so what reason might Venom have for going after Miles? Gwen and MJ take a pretty huge leap in logic to suggest a reason, and I can’t say how well it flies. I think Bendis could have come up with something stronger. But at least I like the idea of MJ and Gwen becoming helpers for Miles. Plus I like the vibe between them and Ganke. It would be pretty cool if Ganke, MJ and Gwen became Miles’ support staff for his Spider-Man adventures. If only Miles and Ganke weren’t so young. I think a Gwen/Ganke romance would be pretty awesome/hilarious.
Still, just having MJ and Gwen show up really twists the knife of Peter Parker’s death a little bit more. Man, that guy died far too young. It’s horribly tragic. But it’s OK. Miles is still awesome.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Review: Saga #11
Watch out for Sexy Alana everybody, she’s crazy! She sure is sexy though, for a comic book character. But we’ll get to that in a moment, just know that this issue of Saga points out how comics aren’t just for kids anymore. As if we needed such an example. The ongoing story pauses for an issue as everybody reacts to the galaxy-shifting events of last issue, but not in the ways you might expect. The chapter begins with sex and ends with a death, in true Saga fashion.
Saga #11
Saga is in a good place right now. All of the characters are together, there’s drama, action and family. And when it wants to pack an emotional wallop, Saga can do just that. Though I must say, this character went too soon.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
There was one major misstep in this issue, and I’ll get to it in the synopsis. Otherwise, this was a fine chapter. It’s an action-heavy issue, so there isn’t a lot of time to just stand around talking, unfortunately. Those are becoming my favorite scenes. Everyone is in a hurry, the dialogue is quick, and basically we’re just moving on from one moment in space to the next. I imagine the story is going to pick up a lot with the next issue, but right now, there are a few things Saga needs to deal with, and it deals with them well. Not as shocking or powerful as the cliffhanger ending of last issue, but strong nonetheless.
I also want to say how fantastic Hazel’s narration is in this comic. The whole future Hazel recounting the story of her childhood thing is working like gangbusters. It adds such a subtle, emotional punch to even the simplest scenes. Writer Brian K. Vaughn uses that narration like a master craftsman at work.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/23/13
Another third week is upon us and once again I find myself reviewing more than a dozen comics! I wish I knew how it worked out that all my favorite comics seem to come out on the same week. It’s like some kind of conspiracy against me and my poor wallet. At least they’re all mostly good comics. Seriously, not a stinker in the bunch…but maybe that’s just because I tend to stop buying comics that I don’t like. I’ve whittled away all the bad comics and am left with a great lineup of quality stories. I can live with that.
Comic Book of the Week was hard to choose because none of these issues rose to real greatness. They’re all just generally good and entertaining. It came down to a battle between the viciousness of Doc Ock in Superior Spider-Man vs. the adorable cheerfulness of Captain Marvel, and I’m happy to say Carol pulled through another win! Captain Marvel is just a fantastic series.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #9, Avengers #8, Batwoman #18, Captain Marvel #11, Green Lantern: New Guardians #18, Indestructible Hulk #5, Justice League #18, Justice League of America #2, New Avengers #4, Nightwing #18, Nova #2, Red Hood and the Outlaws #18, Superior Spider-Man #6 and Wonder Woman #18.
Henchman-4-Hire 