Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Teen Titans #30
Strap in, friends. We’ve got a bumpy ride ahead of us. Teen Titans #30 is the worst issue of the entire series. Scott Lobdell has been cancelled, and it’s clear from this issue that he isn’t going down without a war. He’s going to bury his volume of Teen Titans! In horrible dialogue, in ridiculous callbacks, in desperate attempts to wrap-up dangling plot threads; whatever he can cram into this ending, he’s gonna do it.
Teen Titans #30
Lobdell’s Teen Titans has got nothing left to lose and nothing more to gain. It’s going to flame out in craptacular fashion!
Comic Rating: 1/10 – Terrible!
I will never know what Lobdell originally planned for the Titans’ return from the future, but there’s no way it was Teen Titans #30. I’m going to assume that he assumed he’d be writing the series for a long while to come, and that this cancellation was never part of the plan. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the synopsis, but Lobdell just shovels characters, plots and dialogue into this final issue in such a way that it’s clear he’s trying to squeeze in as much as possible before the end. I suppose it was nice of DC to let Lobdell finish the series on his own terms. I would also call it a mistake, except that who cares? Teen Titans is going to restart with a brand new #1 issue, and there’s a good chance that, in a few months, Lobdell’s entire run will just be a footnote in history. We’ll never have to think about it ever again.
I just don’t know if I can properly convey how bad this issue is. I wish I was more poetic or clever, and maybe I could turn this review into its own work of art. But I am not that gifted. I am just a man. A man of many words, yes, some of them rambling, but a man I remain. Though perhaps inspired by some of my favorite superhumans, maybe I can rise to the challenge and use these many words for the good of all Internetkind. Maybe I have what it takes to talk about the painfully unfunny dialogue, the mind-bogglingly pointless cameos or the unfettered love of editorial notes pointing you to previous issues. I think…I think I can do this.
Gulp, here we go! Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review of the worst Teen Titans issue you will ever read!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/19/14
This week was another wallet-busting week of comics. I may have to hold back on my caviar sandwiches if I hope to afford all of them! Fortunately, that means there were a lot of good comics in my pile this week, and I love me some good comics.
Plus, there were a whole bunch of DC titles that I read this week! We’ve got reviews for Batman, Wonder Woman and Batwoman, as if they all combined somehow. There’s also the latest issues of Batman Eternal and Harley Quinn, as well as the first issue of the new Sinestro solo series! Now there is a character I’m excited about!
On the Marvel side of things, the final issue of Superior Spider-Man hit the stands and it is…a nice conclusion. It’s not as amazing as I was hoping it would be. Instead, it seems more like Dan Slott and Marvel are in a rush to get to the new status quo of the new Amazing Spider-Man. Can’t say I blame them. We’ve also got new issues of Uncanny X-Men and the utterly fantastic Ms. Marvel, which wins Comic Book of the Week for sheer greatness and adorability.
She also uses ‘Embiggen’, making her the coolest teenager ever
I wonder what a younger, superhero-loving Sean would think about the fact that one of my favorite comics right now is about the awkward youth of a teenage girl. Of course, Young Sean was a big fan of The Secret World of Alex Mack, so there is a precedence.
Comic Reviews: Batman #30, Batman Eternal #2, Batwoman #30, Harley Quinn #5, Ms. Marvel #3, Sinestro #1, Superior Spider-Man #31, Uncanny X-Men #20 and Wonder Woman #30.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/12/14
I am not often someone who toots his own horn – usually – but I think it’s time to share with you all that I’ve been picking up some other blog duties on the side of Henchman-4-Hire. I volunteered a few months ago to write additional comic book reviews for the website Word of the Nerd. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? I write a different style of review for them, adding to my already big workload here.
So just in case you’d like to read some additional reviews of mine, you can check out my takes on Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #1 and Nightcrawler #1 this week. Sometimes my reviews have overlapped between the two sites, but why do that when I can just share with you lot some other reviews I’ve written around the webs!
And no way am I going to abandon the weekly Hench-Sized reviews! This week sees the return of the All-New Ghost Rider, Captain Marvel and Secret Avengers, with the debut issue of Batman Eternal, DC Comics’ big new weekly Batman series. Does it live up to the hype?
No, no it doesn’t.
The second issue of Secret Avengers wins Comic Book of the Week for its playful style and strong characters. But Captain Marvel wins moment of the week with a guest appearance by Carol’s cat Chewie! Cats in comics are my kryptonite. I’m not ashamed to admit that.
Both ‘Carol’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ would be good names for cats, I think. Or maybe just ‘The Captain’. Or even ‘Captain Cat’. I could do this all day.
Comic Reviews: All-New Ghost Rider #2, Batman Eternal #1, Captain Marvel #2, Secret Avengers #2 and Superman/Wonder Woman #7.
Review: All-New X-Factor #6
Six issues in and all of the members of the All-New X-Factor have signed up. I like the casual way the team has come together, with everybody just sort of asking if Danger, Cypher and Warlock would like to hang out. But I wish writer Peter David focused more on that element of the series. It would be a wonderfully subversive twist on the idea of a superhero team, especially starring these characters in this Marvel Universe. Everyone in All-New X-Factor has been here before. They’ve all been members of different superhero teams, some long-lasting and some not. The idea that they’re all randomly grouping up together for form yet another new team, and what everybody thinks of that, would be an interesting – and I think entertaining – focus for the series.
All-New X-Factor #6
And I think PAD recognizes this, but I fear he’s still a little too focused on general superheroics. All-New X-Factor isn’t looking to be subversive. It isn’t looking to be anything more than just another superhero comic, and in the All-New Marvel NOW!, that’s just not good enough anymore.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
All-New X-Factor is growing on me just a little. The comic is becoming more rewarding to read, though if I wasn’t dedicated to doing these long reviews, I probably would have dropped the comic by now. Why am I dedicated to these long reviews? I dunno. I guess I owe it to the memory of Multiple Man to keep them going. But it’s just not a very catchy, entertaining comic. It’s readable and well put together, which can’t be said for every comic on the stands. But All-New X-Factor is unimpressive. It doesn’t really seem to have anything to say, and all of the characters are kind of just hanging out waiting to see if they’ll still be a comic by the end of the year. PAD tries to inject a little humor and humanity in the characters, but it’s not enough, and it’s just not as good as the last volume. PAD doesn’t have the same handle on these characters as he did on the last roster, and it shows every time he engages in a little playful banter.
The new issue is mildly entertaining, especially in how PAD deals with the Magus. One might say the ending of this issue was unexpected, but I kind of saw it coming. There were only two ways X-Factor was going to deal with the Magus, and this was one of them. In today’s day and age, this was definitely a predictable ending – not that I didn’t prefer it over the obvious fight climax. X-Factor has done enough fighting in only six issues. But this sort of twist ending is a little anti-climactic, though at least it serves its purpose of getting Cypher and Warlock on the team. The status quo of the Magus has changed, but I don’t imagine there are too many Magus fans out there to deal with the potentially ruffled feathers. It’s a solid wrap-up to last issue, and like I said, I’m enjoying the casual way the team is coming together. I just wish PAD put more focus on that perspective.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/5/14
Busy week, my friends. Between seeing the new Captain America film, a dentist appointment and spending some time with my parents, I didn’t have time to get to all the comics I wanted. There are so many cool and interesting books coming out these days, but I had to cut my review list short, because The Winter Soldier wasn’t going to wait for any man! Neither were those fillings, ouch!
I decided to shake things up a little bit this week by paying a visit to Action Comics. I haven’t touched that series since about mid-way through Grant Morrison’s disappointing run – probably only disappointing to me. I know most people love that guy. But how poorly has Superman had it in the New 52? It’s depressing. But I think that writer Greg Pak is at least doing something fun with Action Comics.
A slew of Marvel’s new comics hit the stands this week, but I was only able to get to a few of them. The new Magneto is pretty good, but I really didn’t like the first issue of Inhuman. I’m afraid Marvel’s Next Big Thing is a bit of a dud from the get-go. But maybe you thought differently. What I do know is that Moon Knight won Comic Book of the Week almost on art alone!
He is…not quite the night
Comic Reviews: Action Comics #30, Aquaman and the Others #1, Inhuman #1, Magneto #2 and Moon Knight #2.
Henchman-4-Hire 