Category Archives: Reviews
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/6/16
I don’t know what this makes of me, but I skipped the Suicide Squad Rebirth issue this week. I’ve never been particularly interested in the comic. And I only kinda sorta liked the movie. So nuts to that whole mess!
Fortunately, the nuts and bolts of Suicide Squad are still good! Harley Quinn debuts her new Rebirth series this week, and its as phenomenal! I’m so glad that Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and their artistic teams are still around! Best possible choice by DC there.
I feel like Harley Quinn has probably fought zombies before
Though I still want to see an entire issue drawn by Conner. It would be magical! Does anybody know if she’s said publicly why she isn’t drawing much of the comic? She’s one of my favorite artists in the biz and this book is almost tailor-made for her.
Comic Reviews: Batman #4, Harley Quinn #1, Invincible Iron Man #12, Justice League #2 and Nightwing #2.
Movie Review: Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad is a studio executive’s attempt to recreate the magic of Guardians of the Galaxy without understanding why or how that magic worked. Warner Bros. clearly wanted a cast of wacky, troubled characters, a bunch of witty one-liners, and a heaping of bouncy, familiar pop music. Director David Ayer delivers on all those things, but not nearly enough to make a really good film. He gets a little too distracted by the flash bang of generic gun violence.
Suicide Squad is like an Avengers movie if you dial down the entertaining character interactions and dial up the fights against endless, faceless minions.
Movie Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
There is the potential for a great movie buried deep beneath the mindless, humdrum action of Suicide Squad, and overall, I’m pretty sure I mostly enjoyed the experience. I was mildly entertained, in a bland ‘I don’t hate this’ sort of way. There were enough good notes in the movie to keep me humming along.
For the most part, the characters and the actors playing them are actually really great. Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn are fantastic, and even secondary characters like Rick Flag, El Diablo and Captain Boomerang show a lot of potential. This could have been a great movie.
Instead, these great characters are simply walked through a bland, generic shoot’em up flick with a crummy plot, an overload of unnecessary characters and a severe lack of anything truly noteworthy. Despite being primarily an action movie, there are no awesome, exciting set pieces or interesting fight choreography. There are no big moments that will have people on the edge of their seats or talking about forever. And all the best jokes and one-liners were in the trailers.
Not to mention more than a few weird plotholes that undermine the entire point of the movie.
Join me after the jump for my full review! Expect FULL SPOILERS for Suicide Squad!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/30/16
I was looking over my pile of comics this week to pick out what to review, and I was struck by a really cool realization: most of the comics in my pile star women! There was once a time, not too long ago, when female-led comics were few and far between. Oh how far we’ve come. So in honor of the first ever female major party candidate for U.S. President, this Hench-Sized Comic Book Review pile is dedicated to awesome superhero ladies!
We’ve got your Batgirl, your Harley Quinn, your Pink Power Ranger, your Wonder Woman, your Squirrel Girl, your Ms. Marvel; just a cavalcade of awesome female superheroes! And each and every issue is a blast! I feel almost guilty for all the good grades I’ve given everybody.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Batgirl #1, though it’s a hard choice to make. Most of the comics are mid-storyline, whereas the new Batgirl Rebirth relaunch nails the beginning and promises a nice new series.
Here’s one version of Batgirl ready to kick butt
As for some of my other regular titles, Detective Comics is great, with more Tim Drake awesomeness. The first issue of Nightwing Rebirth is solid, but leans too heavily on some dumb new antagonist. And the new issue of Civil War II is a solid reminder about why I should stop caring. I also read the new Captain Marvel, but it was kind of lame, so it didn’t make the cut for my all-women week.
Comic Reviews: Batgirl #1, Harley Quinn #30, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers – Pink #2, Mighty Thor #9, Ms. Marvel #9, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #10 and Wonder Woman #3.
Review: Teen Titans #22
Just…just put Teen Titans out of its misery already. Rebirth is well under way at DC Comics, with some great and note-worthy new titles. But for some reason, Rebirth won’t grace the Teen Titans for several months yet. For some reason, this comic is being forced to limp along and churn out meandering and uninteresting stories like this one. It makes no sense.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
I don’t think we’re ever going to find a more perfect example of a comic book spinning its wheels. Teen Titans is running on fumes, and it makes absolutely no sense to me. Tony Bedard is a fine writer, and I love Ian Churchill as an artist, but they’ve got nothing to work with anymore. Is DC trying to let their adjectiveless Titans comic get a head start before relaunching Teen Titans? Nothing else makes sense.
Teen Titans as a brand is, arguably, one of DC’s most well-known properties. The Teen Titans have had a popular cartoon show ongoing for nearly a decade, with an entire generation of fans out there in the world. But Teen Titans the comic has been the biggest, ugliest blemish on the comics side. This was repeatedly named the worst comic of the New 52, but DC kept it going for the entire length of that imprint.
Now with Rebirth upon us with the promise of a completely clean slate, DC is only easing on the brakes and drawing out this title almost painfully. Bedard and Churchill do their workmanlike best, but what’s even the point anymore?
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/23/16
Hooray for Comic-Con! I’m sure there’s quite the party going down in San Diego. I haven’t been following the news too closely, but all manner of comic book stories, super duper movies and a bunch of trailers have been released so far. But none of that excuses us from reading new comics this week!
In honor of all the convention news, I read a whole buncha comics this week. I even went beyond Marvel and DC! We’ve got the new ongoing Faith series from Valiant, Power Rangers from BOOM! and Patsy Walker from Marvel! Sorry, that one always deserves a mention.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Astonishing Ant-Man #10! It was a tough call between Ant-Man and Patsy Walker, but I picked fun action adventure over heartfelt emotional drama. That’s not usually my style, but sometimes Ant-Man deserves a win.
They look properly scared
Though Patsy Walker was really good, too. Curses! Now I’m starting to rethink everything!
Comic Reviews: All-New Wolverine #10, Astonishing Ant-Man #10, Batman #3, Faith #1, Justice League #1, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #5, Patsy Walker a.k.a. Hellcat #8, and Spider-Man #9.
Henchman-4-Hire 