Category Archives: Comics
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/9/13
Welcome to a week of interesting firsts! We’ve got the first issue of Fearless Defenders, Marvel’s new all-girl team of heroes. We’ve got the first issue of Winter Soldier written by incoming writer Jason Latour, who’s taking over for the legendary Ed Brubaker, the man who resurrected Bucky in the first place. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill. Brubaker wrote a nice letter at the end of his final issue of the series, about how humbling it was to go from trying to convince his editor that resurrecting Bucky would be a good idea to finding out that the ‘Winter Soldier’ would be the title of the second Captain America film. I hope that happens to me someday.
We’ll also see the first issue of Jeff Lemire’s take on Green Arrow. As well as the first times I’m actually happy with Avengers and New Avengers. In fact, New Avengers #3 wins Comic Book of the Week!
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #7, Avengers #5, Fearless Defenders #1, Green Arrow #17, New Avengers #3, Superior Spider-Man #3 and Winter Soldier #15.
Review: X-Factor #251
I take back any bad thing I ever said about the Hell on Earth War. I can’t believe I ever doubted Peter David. This story has been fantastic so far. PAD is writing it at such a fast pace that the story never slows down, it never lingers. I thought all of his previous high-concept mythical stories had that problem. They stretched on forever until their impact no longer mattered. But so far, PAD and this story are on a roll.
X-Factor #251
Though if I’m being entirely honest, when PAD explains the motivation behind the Hell on Earth War in this issue, it’s a far-fetched and arbitrary. But I’m comfortable with it.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good!
The justification for this war is kind of silly. There’s no way around it. The idea of all of Marvel’s various hell lords getting into a fight is a cool one. It definitely has potential. But PAD comes up with a very arbitrary reason for their fight. At least he ties it into the X-Factor story in a neat way. That’s a definite strength of the story so far. All of the storylines PAD has been crafting over the past few years are coming together in a smooth way, from the birth of Tier to the corruption of Strong Guy. And while it’s sad to see Strong Guy as such a villain, it’s definitely adding to the personal feel of the story. This is X-Factor’s story and they are at the heart of the action.
Any story can be about the devil fighting a bunch of other devils for the rulership of Hell. And any story can feature superheroes beating up bad guys. But you’re not going to have a good story unless you’ve got good characters, and unless the reader actually cares about the characters. Well PAD has got things down pat, and the Hell on Earth War is burning up!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
Forgotten Characters: Miri Riam
Whatever happened to Star Sapphire Miri Riam?
How could DC comics create someone so utterly adorable and then drop her like a hot potato? Miri Riam was one of the funnest new characters to come out of the Green Lantern series in the past few years, a character with a lot of layers and a lot of potential to be a cool character. But after going to all the trouble to introduce her and build her up, DC hasn’t done squat with this manic pixie dream girl in the DCnU reboot. Why the heck not?
She’s adorable! And pink!
There are a lot of multi-colored Lanterns these days. Green Lanterns, Blue Lanterns, Red Lanterns, Orange Lanterns, and there have been a ton of new characters introduced alongside these different colors. Miri Riam was one of my favorites, but for some reason, DC doesn’t want to use her anymore, despite at least one series dedicated entirely to showcasing the various colored Lanterns. So where is Miri Riam? Why isn’t she filling our hearts with love anymore?
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/2/13
We’ve got a very good week of comics here, not a stinker in the bunch. Aquaman continues the Throne of Atlantis storyline while Green Lantern Corps ends the Third Army storyline. So big happenings there. We get our second dose of Superior Spider-Man and it’s not too bad. Heck, I even liked the latest issue of Avengers even though I’ve been lukewarm on the series so far. Same with Batman Incorporated. This is just a good week all around.
And coming in with the Comic Book of the Week win is Green Lantern Corps Annual #1, which hits us with a bombastic finale to the Third Army! Good show Green Lantern team! Though this is also a good week for solid Robin action. And we all know I love that.
Please don’t kill Alfred
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #16, Avengers #4, Batman Incorporated #7, Green Lantern Corps Annual #1, Hawkeye #7, Red Lanterns #16, Superior Spider-Man #2 and Talon #4.
Henchman-4-Hire 