Category Archives: Reviews
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/30/14
Happy Labor Day weekend to all my American readers! I hope, like me, you’re going to take full advantage of this long weekend. I actually managed to do the dishes all in one go yesterday! That’s real progress. But enough about my messy apartment, what about comics? It’s another solid week of solid titles, and this is actually kind of a momentous week. Both Marvel and DC are on the verge of some pretty big craziness this fall. For September, DC is going to do another one of those special anniversaries, taking all of their comics 5 years into the future. And Marvel is about to jump the Avengers 8 months ahead.
So you better believe Avengers #34 is on the read list this week. Does Jonathan Hickman leave me salivating for what’s to come? Or what about Geoff Johns’ Superman? Is he reinventing the Man of Steel like he did the Green Lantern Corps? Read ahead to find out. We’ve also got fun new entries from Silver Surfer, Red Lanterns and, surprisingly, Batman Eternal! I wrote this series off as crap not too many weeks ago, but the team behind Batman Eternal actually deliver an exciting issue for once – even though it still doesn’t make total sense! Let’s hope the energy sticks around.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Avengers #34 to apologize for me ever doubting Hickman – though I still think Infinity was a big pile of meh.
At least one of us has
If you’re so inclined, you can also check out my review of All-New X-Men #31 over at Word of the Nerd. That was definitely a good issue.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #34, Batman Eternal #21, Harley Quinn #10, Red Lanterns #34, Silver Surfer #5 and Superman #34.
Review: Saga #22
This is gonna get good. Do you ever get that feeling reading a comic? Do you flip through the pages, read the dialogue, scan the pictures, and get that feeling in your gut that all of this is going somewhere and it’s gonna be awesome? I got that feeling reading Saga #22. The last few issues have been pretty low key, and I’ve rated them as such, but now writer Brian K. Vaughn is starting to move his chess pieces around the board. All the characters he’s introduced, all the plot lines he seeded, start swirling together in the new issue, and it’s rather exciting.
Saga #22
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but I think this Saga comic is gonna be pretty good.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Vaughn and artist Fiona Staples had a lot to introduce coming into this new volume. They did a time jump, so there was a lot they had to get readers up to speed on in the universe before they could restart the story proper. I get that. Nothing wrong with that. But it made for a few issues that were just setting up the scenery. And it was depressing scenery. Can you believe that Vaughn and Staples are doing to Marko and Alana?! Man, what a drag. But in the end, there’s no denying that it’s going to be a great story, because that’s what these to do: they make great comics!
Things start to heat up in a bad way between Marko and Alana in this issue. We knew it was coming, and Vaugh just slaps us in the face with it. But they’re just the beginning. Were you, like I, wondering where all this crazy janitor stuff was going? Oh yeah, it’s going there. It’s going right there, and Vaughn is going to destroy us with it.
Well I say bring it on!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/23/14
The week is finally here! Grant Morrison’s long-gestating project, Multiversity, has finally hit the stands! I think it was first announced back when I was in college. Feels like forever. It was one of those project that I never thought would see the light of day. But Grant Morrison lives to mess with our heads, and he definitely carries the slack.
And he’s not alone! This was a week of above average comics! Storm, Ms. Marvel, New Avengers; I was a glutton for good comics this week. But despite those quality issues – and Multiversity does indeed live up to expectations – I’m going to personally give Comic Book of the Week to Batman and Robin #34. It wasn’t the best comic of the week, but it spoke to me personally, and this is how I roll.
Moment of the week, though, goes to New Avengers. The world is coming to an end, and Reed Richards flies out to Latveria in the middle of the night to spend his last hour alive with his daughter, who has been staying with Doctor Doom. But only Reed knows the world is about to end. Every else is in the dark. All they know is that Reed woke everybody up in the middle of the night. It’s great.
I love Doom and Valeria
Though now that I think about it, why didn’t Doom ever get involved in the incursion storyline in New Avengers? Remember when that was teased all the way back at the beginning? That would have been awesome.
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #20, Batman and Robin #34, Ms. Marvel #7, Multiversity #1, New Avengers #23 and Storm #2.
You can also check out my review of All-New Ghost Rider #6 at Word of the Nerd.
And I was going to review Batwoman #34 this week, but something happens in that comic that deserves a much closer examination. Come back on Sunday for a deeper exploration of just why DC Comics has screwed us all over again. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, after all…
Review – Teen Titans #2
By no means do I want Teen Titans to be a bad comic. I may be a comic book blogger, who loves to complain about a medium I claim to love, but I would like nothing more than for Teen Titans to be the best comic on the stands. I remain a die-hard Tim Drake fan, and if his comic was great, I would gladly sing its praises month in and month out. That’s why I was so excited for this Teen Titans relaunch. I held out hope that Will Pfeifer could salvage one of DC Comics’ most (in)famous franchises.
Teen Titans #2
But you know what they say about polishing a turd…Actually, no, it’s not that bad. Pfeifer has some solidly good ideas for the Teen Titans, but they appear to be only subplots crowded out by a clunker of a main plot.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I was cautiously optimistic about Teen Titans #1. It was solidly made, and relatively entertaining, but it was marred by the simple fact that it was just a big, generic superhero adventure when it could have been so much more! We are sitting at the dawn of a great new era in comics. Just look at the reaction to DC’s new plans for Batgirl. Teen Titans, more than any other comic in the industry, is poised to embrace this new, hip style. But Pfeifer seems determined to forge ahead with a big, dumb super-villain storyline that couldn’t be more boring if it featured Harvest.
Hopefully if I don’t say that name three times he won’t appear…
Pfeifer introduces a lot of fun ideas in Teen Titans #2 – ideas that I desperately hope he explores further – about the kind of impact the Teen Titans might have on today’s hip youth culture. Beast Boy with his own Youtube channel? Bunker as a gay culture hero with a major Twitter following? Raven inspiring punk rock bands? Wonder Girl inspiring a female empowerment movement? Why are these not the focus on the series? These are interesting stories that nobody else at DC is doing! (I might not be right about that, I never read The Movement or The Green Team.)
But no, instead we’re stuck with the same S.T.A.R. Labs storyline that doesn’t have anything to do with the Teen Titans. Ugh. And the surprise addition of a semi-classic, pre-reboot villain does not make a lick of difference. He’s not even a Titans villain!
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/16/14
I noticed something kind of odd when I went through these reviews, and I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing or a good thing. I’m still trying to read more comics than just the Big Two, but even at the big publishers, I seem stuck to the same titles over and over. There are two Batman books in my review stack this week, two Spider-Man books, and one X-Men comic. I know I try to branch out as much as possible, but for some reason, this week felt like I was in a specific rut. It’s a little weird. But what can I say? These are the comics I like to read and review.
Fortunately, sprinkled in among the mainstream superheroes, are some goodies, like new issues of Captain Marvel and Harley Quinn. But like some insane carnival mirror, one is awesome, the other is a dud! I can barely believe it! Care to guess which one is Comic Book of the Week?
Oh and hey, guess which classic costume is back in continuity again
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #30, Amazing Spider-Man #5, Batman #34, Batman Eternal #19, Captain Marvel #6, Harley Quinn #9, Original Sin #7 and Spider-Man 2099 #2.
