Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Dead Space: Salvage and Dead Space: Liberation
At long last, I have cleared enough space in my busy and penniless schedule to catch up on the Dead Space comics. I have two volumes, Dead Space: Salvage and Dead Space: Liberation, from the good people at Titan Books, so I decided to group them together into one review. They are both companion comics to the Dead Space video game series, taking place around the games. Salvage is a separate tale about a crew of illegal salvagers who come upon the dreaded Ishimura, while Liberation is a prologue comic to this year’s Dead Space 3. Both have their good parts and and their bad, and both are definitely entertaining.
Any big Dead Space fans would probably find a lot to like in these two comics. Fans of intense horror, especially in a futuristic, outer space environment, would also enjoy both books.
Dead Space: Salvage: 4/5: Good.
Dead Space: Liberation: 3/5: Alright.
Salvage and Liberation are two comics that any fans of the Dead Space universe would probably love to have on their shelves. I wish some of my favorite video game franchises produced comics of this quality. Much like the Dead Space graphic novel I reviewed earlier this year, these are great companion pieces for the games, expanding the universe the games inhabit while providing new adventures with new and sometimes familiar characters.
You can find both Dead Space: Salvage and Dead Space: Liberation at Amazon.com.
Join me after the jump for further review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/20/13
I think I have a problem. There’s something definitely wrong with me. I’ve loved superhero comics all my life, but these days I tend to glaze over at long, drawn out fight scenes, and instead love the quirky, humanizing stories. My favorite comics these days are titles like Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, where the focus is almost entirely on the characters first, superheroics second. The witty banter, the human emotion, the simple, everyday experiences, this is what I love. You can keep your spandex-clad superhero punching out the latest Nazi clone. I’ll take a scene where Wonder Woman and her friends sit around trying to think up a name for the new baby.
That easily wins Wonder Woman the title of Comic Book of the Week for me. The scene is just so adorable, and uses all of her extending supporting cast to really establish who these people are, why they’re together and what that will mean going forward. There will be action, there will always be action, but what I’ve come to love most about comics is when that action is offset by moments of real character. I hope I’m not alone. And I hope they’re always as good as this.
Good, clean fun
And I hope Orion is OK. Seriously, he’s my favorite character in Wonder Woman so far.
Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #6, Batwoman #19, Captain Marvel #12, Green Lantern: New Guardians #19, Justice League #19, Nightwing #19, Red Hood and the Outlaws #19, Superior Spider-Man #8 and Wonder Woman #19.
‘Injustice’ justifies DC fan-love
Netherealm’s long-anticipated Injustice: Gods Among Us has landed, and DC fans can rejoice. After nearly a decade of mediocrity (not counting the truly excellent Arkham games), WB Games has given DC fans what they’ve all been waiting for with a licensed game that isn’t mediocre.
Before the review begins, here’s what you need to know: Read the rest of this entry
Review: X-Factor #254
More X-Factor, more Hell on Earth War goodness! The battle for the fate of the Earth marches on into Part Five, and it looks like Peter David is finally moving his various pieces into place for the big finale. Specifically, he has Mephisto start making the sort of power plays that put him dead center as the story’s true villain, while X-Factor deals with some more internal problems. I rather like that. I’m not so much a fan of big, chaotic fights between superheroes and faceless demon spawn, but I love it when superheroes bicker and talk with one another. That’s just something weird about me, I guess.
X-Factor #254
We get plenty of both action and talking in this issue, which is another solid installment of the Hell on Earth War.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
One thing that’s interesting to note is that the recap page mentions a meeting between Peter David and his editors at Marvel HQ. As we all know, the recap pages always contain some fun, behind-the-scenes tidbit, usually about PAD’s life and family. This time we learn that PAD has a lot of big, big plans for X-Factor in the coming months, which I’m taking to mean that the upcoming ‘End of X-Factory’ storyline is just going to be a chance for him to relaunch the series with a new focus. Marvel has been talking about Marvel NOW! Wave 2 being on the horizon, and I think X-Factor is going to get a little shake up. I’m excited for this…in theory. If we find out that PAD is ditching all of his characters and going in a completely new direction, then I will be less happy. I’m hoping, instead, that he just plans to streamline the current team and figure out a new direction to take all of them.
As long as PAD is still writing a Multiple Man comic book, I will be one happy camper.
But that also gives extra emphasis to the Hell on Earth War, which might turn out to be the big, penultimate story of this volume of X-Factor. PAD has been writing this ongoing tale for years now, and this looks to be his big blowout adventure. I can definitely get behind that. The story is fast-paced with usually strong character work. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been for X-Factor, and mostly we get to see everybody working together (or knocking heads) as they try to be superheroes and save the world. You couldn’t really ask for more.
Review: Saga #12
It’s about time we checked in again with Prince Robot IV, and it’s a neat little issue that sees him facing off against famed author D. Oswald Heist. The emotional roller coaster of the last few issues has come to an end. And now the time has come for the overall story to move forward, and this makes for a nice little opening chapter. We finally meet Heist, who seems like a pretty cool dude. And Prince Robot IV continues to prove why he is the most villainous out of the main characters. Will he be the actual villain in the end? Maybe. It’s hard to tell at this point. I don’t think anybody is truly evil, but that just makes for a better story overall.
Saga #12
Saga has a lot of story to tell, and it’s hard to believe we’re only at issue #12. So much has happened so far, I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around what might come next. I’m just glad I’ll be along for the ride.
Also, Brian K. Vaughn hits us with another awesome final page cliffhanger.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good!
The action and excitement of the past few issues is gone, replaced with what amounts to nothing more than an extended conversation between Heist and the Prince. Vaughn is a master of dialogue, and the conversation serves to reveal so much about each character. It’s also just generally entertaining. I can already tell that Heist is going to be a fun character. And Prince Robot takes a step towards diabolical, which only serves to make him a more interesting character too. There is also the promise that he is on the verge of finally confronting Marko and Alana, which should be a pretty big moment.
Fiona Staples’ art is once again simply fantastic. Her characters are clear and well drawn, their emotions obvious, and the weird nature of their bodies made believable. This issue is all about a conversation between a bearded Cyclops and a robot with a TV for a head, yet it comes off as perfectly normal. I love that about her art. Everybody just looks so believable and human, even when they’re walking, talking TV sets or giant mouse people, it’s all so nice and normal. And seriously, the last page of this issue is just badass.
Henchman-4-Hire 