Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Assassin’s Creed Graphic Novels
Assassin’s Creed isn’t just for video games anymore. Like any good franchise, they’ve branched out into other mediums, including a series of graphic novels released in October from publisher Titan Books. They recently sent me some nice hardcover copies of their Assassin’s Creed graphic novels, translated from their original French into English. The art style is definitely very European (not that I’m an expert), and the story is the familiar Assassiny goodness that we know and love. I only wish the series had taken a few more liberties with their story and really explored the larger Assassin’s Creed universe.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has a lot of room to expand beyond Desmond Miles and the ancestors you play in the video games. And while these graphic novels do a good job with some of their ideas beyond the usual, they don’t go far enough. If you’re an Assassin’s Creed completionist – or perhaps shopping for one for Christmas – you should enjoy this series. But otherwise, the comics are pretty light on material.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good.
Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter
The three Assassin’s Creed graphic novels – titled Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter – tell one long, connected story by following two parallel plots. One is Desmond’s story from the video games, about being kidnapped by Abstergo and then going on the run with Lucy and the Assassins. The other is an original trip into the Animus to visit Aquilus, an ancient Assassin from the Roman Empire. As with the video games, the most interesting material comes from the trips back in time, but writer Eric Corbeyran definitely give us plenty of Desmond action. The guy is much more active and brutal in this series than he is in the games, which is cool to read.
Of the three books, the first one is the weakest because it basically just retreads ground covered in the first game, only in a much more rushed manner. It squeezes in the story of Altair even though it’s completely unnecessary to the overall plot. The two other books delve into original material, including the life of Aquilus and a few adventures that Desmond and his friends have while on the run. The third book is the best of the three, introducing the concept of dueling Animus trips as we see someone else go into the Animus and visit his ancestors. I wish the entire series had been about this new character and his story, but perhaps Corbeyran needed to focus on Desmond and the established game material.
All three comics play hard and fast with the strange concepts of Assassin’s Creed, from the Animus itself to the various characters involved. There were a few times where new characters suddenly pop up and act like we’re supposed to have known them all along, so it was a little confusing. You definitely need an understanding of the games to keep up with the comic. Though considering how big a fan I am of Assassin’s Creed, it wasn’t a problem at all.
You can purchase all three graphic novels on Amazon.com: Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter. You can also join me after the jump for more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/8/12
Not much out of DC Comics this week, but not to worry, Marvel has us more than covered with another seemingly weekly chapter of All-New X-Men and the brand new adjectiveless Avengers #1! Considering how popular Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four run has become, I was actually kind of excited to see what he could do with the Avengers. Sadly, that excitement turned into a whole lot of apathy once I actually read the title. Similar to my reaction to his very popular S.H.I.E.L.D. series. Maybe I just don’t get Hickman. He’s got some wild ideas, but I’ve never been overly impressed. We also get the debut of the new Thunderbolts series and the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man before the big #700. And I still don’t know what’s going to happen?
All-New X-Men rises to the occasion to become Comic Book of the Week, but there are some nice moments in the new Avengers. Including one great one with Bruce Banner.
Indeed, now comes the punch and pie
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #3, Amazing Spider-Man #699, Avengers #1, Hawkeye #5 and Thunderbolts #1.
Review: X-Factor #248
All of the character-focused issues are over as Peter David takes us full speed into the Hell on Earth War…and it’s rather disappointing. If this issue is any indication of the type of story we can expect for Hell on Earth War, it’s going to be a long, dull trip. The dialogue and jokes are flat and lifeless, the art is flat for an entirely different reason, and the story itself is a whole mess of uninteresting vagueness. There is very little organization when it comes to established demons and Hell in the Marvel Universe. So Peter David is free to just make up whatever craziness he wants, and he definitely does. Nothing that we’ve seen so far about this story points to any sort of cohesion, and this issue is filled with more general evil fluff. PAD also hasn’t explained what any of this has to do with X-Factor!
X-Factor #248
The issue is competently put together, but the new story just isn’t coming together in any way that I find interesting. PAD has apparently been working on this story for more than a decade, but if that’s the case, he clearly didn’t plan it out too well.
Comic rating: 2/5: Bad.
Despite X-Factor being one of my favorite comic books, I’ve always had a problem with how PAD tries to drop hints or clues about what is to come. He’s terrible at it. For almost the entire length of the series, he’s been dropping hints about the true nature of Multiple Man’s powers. But that’s all he does with it. Somebody somewhere will mention how his powers don’t make sense, and that’s it. There’s no sense of the mystery growing or getting closer to an answer. Likewise, he’s been doing the same thing with the Hell on Earth War. There’s no sense that this is actually building to something interesting. It’s just random characters making vague comments about something else going on behind the scenes. To make a really good tease, you’ve got to actually reveal something, and then sparse out those reveals over a period of time. There’s got to be a sense that this is going somewhere and will amount to something.
And that is absolutely not the case with this Hell on Earth War. I’m not even sure if all the cryptic hints we’ve been given over the past year or so even have to do with Hell on Earth! Is this what the elder Tryp has been babbling about in his various appearances? What about that brief scene with the Isolationist? I know the past few issues have featured characters claiming that “X-Factor would fall”, but what does that even mean in this context? They’re a loosely organized team of X-Men spin-offs who stick together because they feel like it. Having them “fall” isn’t really going to ruin much. And why X-Factor? What do they have to do with demons or Hell or anything like that? Why not the Avengers? Why not the X-Men? Why not the Defenders or the Darkholde Redeemers?
This issue fails because PAD spends a lot of time acting like all his teases and hints have been leading towards something awesome – which they haven’t – and the rest of the time with the characters making terrible banter and awkward, uncomfortable jokes. He also wastes that awesome Monet cover by having it be Pip in Monet’s body. Monet is a far more interesting and entertaining character than Pip, but PAD spends a good portion of this issue on Pip. The character is not nearly as interesting as he seems to think. And we’re worse off because of it.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 12/1/12
Two of Marvel’s new flagship titles – Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men – shipped their second issues this week, and one of them came out the clear winner. The other one needs to pick up the pace if it hopes to keep up and stay relevant. I wonder if the books are in any kind of direct competition. They seem to be telling the same story – how the world of superheroes reacts to the new anti-mutant hysteria – but they’re going about it in very different ways. Are some people buying one but not the other? Regardless, the one book people should be buying is the new Thor: God of Thunder! The second issue continues the awesomeness of the first, and rides a winged horse to a clear Comic Book of the Week!
That was not a euphemism
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #2, Aquaman #14, Batman: Incorporated #5, FF #1, Red Lanterns #14, Talon #2, Thor: God of Thunder #2, Uncanny Avengers #2.
Review: Teen Titans #14
I’m actually surprised to say this, but I liked this issue of Teen Titans. And it’s written by Scott Lobdell. Weird, I know! But, surprise surprise, the guy actually followed my advice and gave (most) of the Teen Titans a moment to slow down and interact like real people! Granted, he doesn’t give them long, and already the hints of future stories start crowding into this issue, but there are still some real moments of genuine character interaction! It’s refreshing and fun to read. The writer of the previous issue, Fabian Nicieza, still did a better job with the jokes and the teenage banter. But Lobdell’s efforts in this issue weren’t their typical terribleness.
Teen Titans #14
If only the rest of Teen Titans had been as good as these two issues, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. The team still feels very sporadic and uncoordinated, but maybe we’re finally on the right track.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good.
The issue is split into two parts. Red Robin, Wonder Girl and Superboy continue the battle against Diesel. The dialogue isn’t nearly as good as it was last issue, under Nicieza’s pen, but it’s still serviceable and entertaining enough. The end is a little abrupt, and I’m not entirely sure what happened. But considering the cliffhanger ending to this issue, and the Teen Titans’ involvement in the Death of the Family story in Batman, I almost think Lobdell purposefully just stopped this story dead in its tracks in order to move on. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a lot more planned for Diesel and Wonder Girl. Maybe we’ll find out in the future.
The real treat of this issue – aside from the art, which oddly, is a little worse than last issue – are the scenes between Kid Flash, Bunker and Solstice after they were left behind. Rather than get up to any weird mischief, the trio just kind of hang out, chat amongst themselves and act like real people spending time with their real friends. This is what I’ve wanted to see in Teen Titans since the first issue. This is the kind of thing that will get people to read this comic and love these characters. All action all the time is going to get you nowhere. Unfortunately, Lobdell can’t sit still for too long. A new villain starts to insert himself in these scenes, and it’s really disappointing. We don’t need to be constantly inundated with superhero action! That’s why the Teen Titans still don’t really feel like friends, but instead are just a bunch of characters thrown together in a comic book.
And lordy, the number of editors’ notes referring to other comics and other series are ridiculous. Nothing that happens in this issue or to these characters has me the least bit interested in jumping over to some other series to see where the action continues. And all these little reminders just get annoying.
Alas, Teen Titans is still filled with flaws. Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
