Category Archives: Reviews
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/14/15
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Or at the very least, I hope your Friday the 13th yesterday wasn’t so bad. We’re all about love here at Henchman-4-Hire, especially a love for all things comics.
So it’s really kind of terrible that a comic I once loved, Secret Six, is now breaking my heart. I know other reviewers are enjoying the new Secret Six, but I am awash with horror. It’s like seeing the ex you still have feelings for turn into a meth addict. So it’s a good thing I’ve got Darth Vader, Boba Fett and an evil wookiee to keep me happy!
The sensational character find of 2015!
His name is Black Krrsantan and he’s now in the running for my favorite New Expanded Universe Star Wars character. I just keep falling more and more in love with him. And Darth Vader #1 has a lot more than just an evil wookiee to make it Comic Book of the Week.
You can also check out my review of Thor #5 over at Word of the Nerd!
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #14, Batman Eternal #45, Captain Marvel #12, Darth Vader #1, Divinity #1 and Secret Six #2.
Review: Saga #25
The long wait is over, and our beloved Saga has returned, as good as ever. A lot has changed since the start of the last volume: Hazel, Alana and Klara are prisoners of Dengo the Crazy Janitor, Marko and Prince Robot IV have forged an uneasy alliance and are in pursuit, and Lying Cat and her homies are on a quest to save The Will! We’re spread across the galaxy in the new issue, but writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Fiona Staples take the time to check in on everybody for updates. It’s a solid issue with a lot of forward momentum.
Saga #25
Saga #25 also has the requisite single line of narration that threatens to tear my heart to shreds.
Comic Review: 9/10 – Great.
Don’t worry, though, my heart is fine. It wasn’t that bad, but Vaughn really knows how to stab the knife. How can you tell if you’ve created beloved characters? When the simple promise that ‘they’re in a story, so drama has to happen to them’ is enough to make your readers wince in pain. I can’t be the only one who wants Marko, Alana and Hazel to live happily ever after from this second forward.
But the story must move forward, drama must happen, and hearts must be broken. That Vaughn and Staples are able to so expertly craft such a tale is a testament to their skill as storytellers. Every single character feels real and full, and I’m excited to catch up on all their storylines. Once again, we have no idea where Vaughn and Staples are taking us, and I’m as excited as ever to find out where we’re going. It will no doubt be an emotional roller coaster.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/7/15
What a week! Just yesterday, DC Comics announced a new rebranding of their entire New 52 line! Gone are the last vestiges of that reboot and the DC house style! Now they want to produce a variety of comics for the wide variety of people that read comics! That’s exciting news. Marvel has found a ton of success going down that route, and if DC is willing to bite the bullet and follow Marvel’s lead, then we’ll all benefit.
The most important thing is that we will get good comics. Like this week’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
Squirrel Girl #2 easily picks up Comic Book of the Week for being so gosh darn hilarious! I hope you’re reading and laughing along with me. But this week also so good issues for Ant-Man, Ms. Marvel, Star Wars and the long-awaited return of Hawkeye! Matt Fraction and David Aja’s archer-led comic was close to capturing the top spot, but it took a little stumble.
This week you can check out my review of Black Vortex Alpha over at Word of the Nerd. It’s a cosmic crossover between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the All-New X-Men, and while writer Sam Humphries is having some fun, it’s not better than the sum of its parts.
Comic Reviews: Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #3, Ant-Man #2, Batman Eternal #44, Hawkeye #21, Ms. Marvel #11, Star Wars #2, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #2.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/31/15
Nobody panic. Deep breaths. Calm yourselves. I’m just as shocked as you are. Batman Eternal has just released the single best issue of it’s entire 40+ issue run so far. It came out this week and it is very, very entertaining. It helps that Batman Eternal #43 forgoes any focus on the ongoing story and instead delivers an issue where Stephanie Brown and Harper Row hang out and talk about the coolness of Catwoman, but still, it’s progress.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this…but Batman Eternal #43 wins Comic Book of the Week. Wow. That took a lot of effort. There are a ton of very good comics this week, plenty of enjoyable reads. But when I really thought about it, I had to give it to Batman Eternal, because this team-up is a revelation.
I think I’m going to use this panel every time I write a Batman article
Spoiler and Bluebird need to get their own comic after this. They need to go on to team up all the time, the new crime-fighting buddies of the Bat-family. These two need to be the new foundation for the Birds of Prey. Throw in Red Robin for some love triangling and you’ve got the sort of comic that could really matter to people.
I can’t tell if this is a good day or a bad day for comics. Batman Eternal…winning Comic Book of the Week…man. I just don’t know anymore. I can’t even.
While we’re adjusting, feel free to check out my review of Uncanny Avengers #1 over at Word of the Nerd. It was a relatively mediocre start.
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #43, Bitch Planet #2, Gotham Academy #4, Harley Quinn #14, Thor #4 and Uncanny X-Men #30.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 1/24/15
Time to ease off the massive reviews, finally! We’ve just got a few comics this week – or at least the few comics I was in the mood to buy and read – and they’re all Batman and Spider-Man comics! How cool is that? Those two are arguably my two favorite mainstream superheroes, so this is kind of a big deal.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Amazing Spider-Man #13 for another entertaining chapter of Spider-Verse, though it’s not necessarily a spectacular standout. This is still just a Big Event I enjoy reading.
I’ve missed you, Superior Spider-Man!
We’ve also got the Spider-Verse tie-in that is Scarlet Spiders, as well as new issues of Batman Eternal and Batman and Robin. In fact, I didn’t hate this week’s Batman Eternal for once! I would say this is a solidly cool week.
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #13, Batman and Robin #38, Batman Eternal #42 and Scarlet Spiders #3.
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