“Well this week is a slow week here at Sunday Comics but with a 5 weeks worth of comics we’re sure to have less than usual. It seems that this a very exposition week and also with some fresh new books beginning.”

Adventure Comics #8

WRITER: James Robinson & Sterling Gates
PENCILS: Julian Lopze, Travis Moore and Julio Ferreira
COVER: Francis Manapul

Starting way back in “The Lightning Saga,” various clues have been planted about a group of Legionnaires undercover in the 21st century. Who are they and why are they here? And what does their mission have to do with the fate of New Krypton? James Robinson (SUPERMAN) and Julián López (WORLD’S FINEST) may have an answer or two! Meanwhile, in a tale of the 31st century by Sterling Gates (SUPERGIRL) and Clayton Henry (ADVENTURE COMICS), the Legion of Super-Heroes infiltrates a hidden Legion of Super-Villains base! The horrifying plans Brainiac 5 discovers inside will alter Superman’s life – FOREVER!

There really isn’t a whole lot to write about this issue, as it’s simply 3 separate stories that serve as nothing more than preludes to upcoming story lines.  The first story by Gates tells of Brainiac 5 and his struggle to overcome the burdens of his namesake, the second story by Robinson details members of the Legion of Superheroes meeting with Connor and Mon-El to discuss why they’re there, and the final story by Trautmann simply goes over Car-Vex’s small back story and her purpose here on Earth as an undercover agent of Zod along with Jax-Ur.

Again, the stories themselves are largely just exposition for things to come, and not something worth writing about, though I did enjoy Gates’ story the most, and yet again Robinson’s the least.  The art in each story was also nothing much to look at, and I found myself simply reading the story instead of sitting back and taking in the art as well.

I’m really quite sad to see that Adventure Comics has already gone this way.  Johns started things off exceedingly well with an interesting new take on Connor trying to find his meaning in the world, only to be thrown off course by a couple of passable, last minute Blackest Night tie-ins, and neatly wrapped up by Johns in issue six.  I was also under the impression that Paul Levitz was going to take over the title, so I’m surprised that they went with Gates and Robinson.  This all seems logical, since they both write Supergirl and Superman respectively, but I was looking forward to some fresh blood in the DC writer’s pool.

Sadly most of the stories will involve crossing over into Supergirl, a title I already pick up, so whether I like the way things have gone or not, I may be stuck picking up this issue just to understand what’s going on.  Even sadder is that Gates seemed poised to make Supergirl have more stand-alone stories for her title, and it looks like that may not happen, either for a while or at all.

~ModernTenshi

Amazing Spider-Man #623


WRITER: Mark Waid & Tom Peyer
PENCILS: Paul Azaceta
COVER: Michael Lark

The Gauntlet grows deadlier! It’s Spider-Man versus Peter Parker when the two sides of Spidey go to war! Pete’s a sworn defender of the freedom of the press–but the Web-Slinger needs to contain a certain news item about the new Vulture that could blow the city apart!

After reading through the boring Morbius story last month I’m glad to see Waid back on the book again for Gauntlet, let’s hope this arc is just as good as Power to the People.

The arc follows the return of the new Vulture’s escape and having his revenge on those who turned him into the Vulture. As the gang is hunted down by Vulture they then decide to place the blame on Mayor Jameson. Waid & Peyer definitely can write a very witty Spider-Man since his dialogue is probably the best parts in this book but I do find the hunt for revenge to be a bit overdone nowadays but I’m glad they threw in the twist of putting the blame on J.J. especially due to his past experience dealing the creation of the former villain of Scorpion. This is a story I have to watch play out.

Azaceta is a fantastic artist for Spider-Man, a kinda cartoony style but can still take serious when needed. But overall it’s a fun style that really fits Spider-Man. He draws Spider-Man’s fantastically in this world and the reactions in alot of these comedic situations hilarious. Not to mention he draws the Vulture to look very creepy and scary, which is not the first thing you would expect from the Vulture. My problem at times is that the characters may be overacting their reactions in certain situations and really take me out of the comic.

A fun ride with a character I don’t usually enjoy so I say this was a win in my book, can’t wait to see how the rest of this arc plays out and I must say Gauntlet overall has been becoming one the best Spidey stories in a lnog while.

~CountAbyss

Detective Comics #862

WRITER: Greg Rucka
PENCILS: Jock
COVER: J.H. Williams III

Two mystery cases collide, as Batman gets closer to finding a missing socialite while Batwoman uncovers a gruesome new villain who has grafted knives onto his skin. There will be blood – and souvenirs of victims’ flesh – in “Cutter” part 2! And in The Question’s co-feature, the unknown mastermind behind the gun-running scheme hires a professional killer to take care of some unwanted female companionship. When Zeiss sets his sights on Huntress and The Question, bullets will fly and blood will run!

Another story the doesn’t serve much purpose other than exposition for the next issue, though still interesting.  The same story is continued from the previous issue, Batman and Batwoman are trying to track down Cutter, a villain who’s kidnapping female students from Gotham University and taking various body parts from them, apparently in an effort to reconstruct someone, or something.

The story is well crafted by Rucka, who’s doing a great job of differentiating the styles of Batwoman and Batman.  Full of some emotional moments, well, there’s still a great story to read here, and that’s all that can really be said for now.  I mean, the story is good, but no where near epic like the first two arcs of Detective Comics he’s written over the last year.  JOCK’s artwork is equally impressive, although after being spoiled by J. H. Williams in the first 7 issues of Batwoman’s time in Detective Comics, still leaves a bit to be desired.  His quick, angular style works very well during quick action scenes, however he’s also very good at conveying emotion in a scene when little to nothing is being said.  No panel in the issue feels the same, which is a great thing.

Detective Comics is still one of the best DC books to pick up, but we’ll see how that statement holds up in a couple of months when not only the artists change again, but the head writer does as well.

~ModernTenshi

First Wave #1

WRITER: Brian Azzarello
PENCILS: Rags Morales
COVER: J.G. Jones

DC’s shocking new pulp universe is finally unveiled! In the shadows of the War, the roots of the Golden Tree cabal grew deep into the heart of a fallen world… and the leaders at the heart of this secret organization see no place in their utopia for heroism. Doc Savage, struggling with the loss of his father, has been blind to their advance – until now. Central City’s mysterious Spirit has caught wind of their plans as well. But whose side have the Blackhawks chosen? What is the Red Right Hand? And where is the Batman? Eisner Award winner Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS, JOKER) and superstar Rags Morales (IDENTITY CRISIS) craft a DC universe like you’ve never seen before! It’s a world with no supermen, only mortal men… Death can come at any moment, and adventure can still be found at every corner of the map! Will Doc Savage be the first to lead the coming world or the last to be crushed under its heel?

Ahh, DC, never at a loss for crazy “what if” stories to fill in people’s pull lists.  Fortunately this one is a very awesome idea.  An alternate universe in which only pulp heroes (eg: heroes without superpowers) exist, and crossing over some characters from Vertigo’s ranks?  Heck yes please!

The story starts off, oddly enough, with a scientist being chased through the jungle by a robot and some indigenous peoples.  Yeah, I’m not kidding here, but remember, this is pulp history we’re dealing with here.  Doc Savage’s father has died of a mysterious illness, and The Spirit is investigating, well, something.  Both small stories appear to be intertwining nicely, although the issue itself is purely setup for things to come, particularly this new pulp universe.  I’m hoping it only lasts for this issue, so things can really take off over the coming 5 issues.

Azarello’s writing and dialog serve to alleviate some of the boredom you might otherwise feel with an issue like this, all of it feeling very natural.  Rags Morales also appeases with his artwork, to the point where playing out the story in my mind while admiring the imagery, I felt as though I was watching a great old movie.

I have some high hopes for this mini-series going forward, and I simply hope that my time and my money won’t be wasted.

~ModernTenshi

Green Hornet #1

WRITER: Kevin Smith
PENCILS: Jonathan Lau
COVERS: Alex Ross, John Cassaday, J. Scott Campbell, Stephen Segovia

The Green Hornet is back and Dynamite is the new home for the avenging hero and his faithful sidekick, Kato (and, the Black Beauty, ‘natch!)! And we’re kicking things off with a BANG as we launch the first of a new series of adventures starting with the great Kevin Smith. And let’s get it out of the way, right here, right NOW – the scripts are in! Every single one! Joining Smith in bringing his unproduced screenplay to life is artist Jonathan (Black Terror) Lau as they present the one and only origin of the Green Hornet and Kato. This is the comic book version of Kevin smith’s unproduced Green Hornet film and Dynamite is the only place to get in on the action – it all begins here!

I’m a Kevin Smith fan. The guy knows how to write a good comedy. One that makes you laugh but still makes you care about the character. I know Kevin Smith was a big part of the 90’s boom in comics by having one of the key runs on Daredevil, but I haven’t read these comics. My knowledge of Kevin Smith comes from his movies and those are good and fun movies.

This issue of Green Hornet is confusing and jumbling for me. I know the writing is good but how can I enjoy good writing if I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe this run of Green Hornet is meant for fans of the Green Hornet, because I didn’t understand what was going on. From what I can tell the Green Hornet’s name is Britt. He has a wife and child who know and don’t know respectively that he’s the Green Hornet, he also has a sidekick named Kato. The issue starts with the Green Hornet and Kato taking out the last two crime bosses in Century City and I’m thinking “Okay, this is interesting, the Green Hornet’s retiring and something’s going to happen that makes him get back into the game.” Cut to the text box that says “Today…” Britt wakes up with a girlfriend who he’s been with for four years leaving him and he’s now a trust fund kid… confused? I am.

Kevin Smith is a good writer and I know this, I just wish that I understood what the hell was going on. Now I have to say that this might just be me and everyone else may get everything, so I’m not going to tell you to not pick it up because I might be dumb as a rock. Now let’s move onto something I like, the art. Jonathan Lau does a great job with this and makes the art look great. The art is what kept me from not getting frustrated with this book and really kept my attention. Kevin Smith, I hope you explain what’s going on a little better in the next issue.

EDIT: I have discovered with further research that the Britt in the second part of the comic is The Green Hornet’s son, which I have to say I didn’t notice. It might’ve been because I didn’t notice something before, but this let’s Kevin Smith off for me a little bit, not all the way because The Green Hornet’s son looks almost exactly like him and from what I could tell they never blatantly say that this is his son. I kept my ranting in there to show what my reaction was from not knowing what was going on. My apologies, do not take this review in as what decides if you want to buy this book.

~Hayamo

Wolverine: Weapon X #11

WRITER: Jason Aaron
PENCILS/COVER: Ron Garney

“TOMORROW DIES TODAY” PART ONE Beginning an epic, action-packed arc featuring the debut of an all-new, all-different Deathlok. Killer cyborgs have come from the future to kill the heroes of today, while Wolverine embarks on an international pub crawl with a certain recently reborn Sentinel of Liberty. Beer and bullets galore!

While I’ve been a huge X-Men as far as I remember I wasn’t always a Wolverine fan, but until exposure both to the early X-Men films and reading some old X-Men stories I’ve grown to really like the character but I still feel he’s a bit overrated. I just find it ridiculous that this character has 3 series alone, but I felt I should check out one of his titles because I am a big fan. I sure did luck out when I decided to pick up Wolverine: Weapon X #11.

While I’ve read some of Aaron’s work on the comic Scalped I’ve never read much of his work on Superhero titles. The story pretty much follows Logan and the recently revived Steve Rogers as they travel from bar to bar around the world in celebration of Steve’s return, not to mention they brought along Nightcrawler as the designated driver. While this is going on the mercenary Deathlok who’s come to destroy the heroes of today and of the future. This was simply a great issue where we really dive into Steve’s and Logan’s relationship, showing how strong of a bond they share. I really do enjoy these issues where we watch these people sitting around and talking to one another, it really brings these characters to life and makes it a such a great read.

Not to mention Aaron does a superb job of weaving these two plots together while not making me lose interest but some of that credit can go to Garney for making such smooth transitions to through the scenes. Garney’s does a great job of bringing the scenes to life and the designs of these character, especially Deathlok’s, to look absolutely spectacular.

With good action, humor and great character moments I’ve really grown to love Weapon X. It must be destiny for me to pick up this book instead of his other titles cause I can’t put this book down, in fact I’m reading it again as I write this review.

~CountAbyss

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“Here we are on the official 2nd week of Sunday comics, sadly most of our writers didn’t turn in their reviews so we have a smaller batch this time around, but what can you expect for a review blog that doesn’t really pay you to write reviews so it wasn’t really a loss for the writers. But we have now gained a fifth writer to the team! Let’s welcome our newest writer, DarkBomber! I also will apologize for the delay but between waiting on writers and then losing a bunch of my own reviews there was nothing but delay.”

Blackest Night #7

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS/COVER: Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert

As Nekron continues to wage war on life throughout the universe, Hal Jordan discovers the grim, true mission behind the villain’s return. But the truth is so cosmically abysmal that it threatens to expose a secret that could tear the very universe asunder. You can’t miss this stunning, penultimate issue to the year’s biggest event!

Blackest Night is nearing its final moments and I have to say it’s been a hell of a ride. Geoff Johns has amazed us with this genuinely frightening zombie story that goes through the DC Universe and helping us remember why we loved these characters being brought back. Not to mention finally closing the story that he’s been building up since Green Lantern: Rebirth.

Geoff Johns just keep proving his great character writing nailing all of his own characters and those that he either hasn’t written or hasn’t written in a while. Geoff Johns writes The Atom as he is and Wonder Woman as she is and Scarecrow and Lex Luthor as they are. The overall story is just very well written and deserves all the attention that Geoff Johns gets. Lex Luthor is written as a greedy bastard who is willing to kill those he’s been helping because of his own avarice. Geoff Johns also knows that Sinestro isn’t completely evil. Sinestro was obsessed with being the best and believed the Guardians were not being good enough… well guardians. Sinestro shows that all he wants to be is the best and even though that sounds completely pompous we actually support him.

Now Geoff Johns’ writing is not the only exceptional thing in this book. Ivan Reis’ art is beautiful and is definitely so fitting for a book of this caliber. Reis has done this entire series and his art really helps us get into the story that Geoff Johns sets up. These two make up one of the best combination of artist and writer I’ve seen in recent times. Comic books are a visual medium so even if Geoff Johns wrote a perfect story it would be made worse by the art, but thankfully that’s not the case with this issue.

If you couldn’t tell I have been loving Blackest Night and can’t wait to see what Brightest Day has in store for us.

~Hayamo

Deadpool #20

WRITER: Daniel Way
PENCILS: Carlo Barberi
COVER: Jason Pearson

“WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN,” PART 2 Deadpool and Spider-Man team up (yes, team up) to combat the unstoppable killing machine known as Hit-Monkey! Yes, Hit-Monkey.

This issue of Deadpool continues Deadpool’s union with Spiderman, in order to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a super hero. This issue focuses on their search for Hit-Monkey in order to save Deadpool’s life.

The writing for this one was great. The humor was well done, and the dialogue between Spidey and Deadpool gave a good feel for their personalities. I like how Daniel Way was able to show Spider-man’s comedic side, and still retain the characters core personality.

The art for this was great as always. Carlo Barberi does a great job at giving the series life. I had no problems looking at it what-so-ever.

This was a good issue. I recommend it to anyone looking for a laugh in their comics.

~DarkBomber

Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #2

WRITER: Jeff Parker
PENCILS: Ed McGuinness & Carlos Rodriguez
COVER: Ed McGuinness

FALL OF THE HULKS charges on! Have Bruce Banner and Red Hulk formed an alliance? Is one playing the other? And how does Hulk and Thundra’s child factor into M.O.D.O.K.’s grand scheme? Answers abound in this thrilling issue from the mind of Jeff Parker (X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas, Thunderbolts)!

Now here’s a book I bet most of you aren’t going to pick up. Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #2 is the second issue (duh) in a miniseries tie-in to the Fall of the Hulks event that has been spanning through the Hulk books. Now if you recall from last week I said I didn’t like how quick the other characters were to attack Red Hulk, well I just learned that it was Bruce’s plan to get the eight smartest men kidnapped… but that still doesn’t excuse the lacking of good enough reason for Storm to not go after her own husband!

Anyway enough of last week’s books, this book is primarily about the relationship between Red Hulk and Thundra (Savage She-Hulk’s mother). Thundra is from the future where men and women are at literal war and was sent back in time to get DNA to make the ultimate warrior (skronk!). Thundra chose the Hulk as her test subject… no all she did was kiss him… the other thing would’ve been totally freaky. Anyways it turns out that Red Hulk and Thundra have a “thing” and Jeff Parker actually writes their relationship very well. You can tell Red Hulk actually cares about Thundra and vice versa. This issue didn’t really get much plot across so much as backstory but what is written is just written well.

Now the art is very much reminding me of Ed McGuiness… except not as good. Now don’t get me wrong Carlos Rodriguez’s art isn’t bad, it’s just not great. All the women seem to look very manly and just don’t look right. The art reminds me very much of the Black Canary stories in Green Arrow Black Canary in which the men look good but the women look just very manly. Now Rodriguez isn’t bad, but he isn’t perfect. It’s not as bad as Green Arrow Black Canary, but it’s not the best it could be.

Now I still liked this book a lot and it does a good job at humanizing Red Hulk which is not an easy task. I hope Red Hulk stays after World War Hulks so we can get much more great stories out of him.

~Hayamo

Fantastic Four #576

WRITER: Jonathan Hickman
PENCILS: Dale Eaglesham
COVER: Alan Davis

At the bottom of the world, there’s a mystery buried deep beneath Vostok station. It’s part two of the Prime Elements arc: The Old Kings of Atlantis.

When I picked up Fantastic Four I wasn’t really expecting to be pulled in, since I never really was a big Fantastic Four fan…ever. But I heard good things about it and the clerk and my comic shop highly recommended it so I decided to pick this one up along with the past few back issues of Hickman’s run. The outcome was unpredictable, I was blown away.

I never heard Hickman’s name on any project before so I expected it was some new guy that they threw this book at since it wasn’t really a best seller but Marvel doesn’t have the balls to cancel.  But the stories Hickman are telling are very interesting and very fun to read, give or take this arc so far is not as great as the previous but that doesn’t stop this book from being my most unexpected best reads of this week. Now most of Hickman’s writing in this issue was dumping a load of info on us at parts, which weakens the issue a bit but hopefully it sets up a nice pay off in the next few issues. Also some great moments including the debriefing and Johnny Storm walking into a snow storm with nothing but swim trunks and shades (I lol’ed).

But there’s one point I must make about this book, about 3/5 of this books has no dialogue so the strength of this issue comes from Eaglesham telling the story through his art. Now Eaglesham’s art is fantastic (Ha) for the most part I just had some nitpicks at the beginning which was Reed and Johnny looking ridiculously buff, but it really has been pushed the back of my mind since I really his work!

I highly recommend checking out Fantastic Four, it’s definitely one of the best books on my pull and real big surprise.

~CountAbyss

The Flash: Rebirth #6

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS/COVER: Ethan Van Sciver

In a battle along the outskirts of time, the secrets of the Speed Force have been revealed! The new archnemesis of those who ride the lightning is coming for Iris Allen. And the Barry Allen you knew is gone forever…or is he? What change does Wally West face? What destiny will Kid Flash choose? Prepare to meet a Flash Family that’s both familiar and different…and get to the starting line for the next epic adventures of the Speed Force!

After months of delay we FINALLY get the final issue of Flash Rebirth, good thing I reread all the previous issues recently because I wouldn’t remember a lick of what happened otherwise!

This issue is here to wrap up the battle against Reverse Flash in which he tries to change the past by killing Iris in which causes a quite surprising twist if you haven’t read much Flash. Now it was a satisfying end to the story but if you weren’t like me and didn’t reread the issues you can find yourself very unsatisfied by this stories end. But this really is getting me excited for the new Flash ongoing which I know Geoff Johns will do a fantastic job on.

Sciver’s art is great and will be missed, he draws great Flash running scenes and really brings these characters alive on the page. The scene changes between the fight and Gorilla city were doen great and brought me towards the to the edge of my seat than push me away. Also that last panel really made me give a HUGE smile on my face.

While some may not be pleased with this issue it will prove to be great once it’s all collected and read at once and will stand out as a great story through Flash history.

~CountAbyss

Ms. Marvel #50

WRITER: Brian Reed
PENCILS/COVER: Sana Takeda

Over-sized final issue! It’s Ms. Marvel and Mystique in a fight to the finish – and the ending will rock the world of Carol Danvers!

his issue was a decent read. There was no real shock value, and the resolution to the story just seemed to make the whole thing pointless. It was nice to see Ms. Marvel and Mystique go toe to toe again. Mystique brought a nice humor to the story. Her lines and actions had me smiling on every page. The fight scene in this one was very flashy. It gave a good sense of the power Captain Marvel had.

The art for this one was beautiful. Sana Takeda has soft, smooth style to his art. Every page was great to look at. However, for some reason, the final scene in this story was drawn by Ben Oliver, who manages to make it look like ass. It had an uncanny valley look to it. It was an eye sore to me, and I pray this does not continue into the next issue.

We also were given the pleasure of a feature comic, “The Protector,” written by Brian Reed as well. The Protector is Ex-Dark Avenger Noh-Varr (who pretended to be the hero Captain Marvel). This issue gives us a look at Noh-Varr’s current life on the run from Norman. I felt this was a great teaser to what will hopefully become a future title.

The artist, Michael Ryan, did a nice job with this one. I love the look of every panel. It was a nice job. However, I still can’t get over the look of that costume. It’s so bad.

~DarkBomber

X-Factor #202

WRITER: Peter David
PENCILS: Bing Cansino
COVER: David Yardin

It’s all been building toward this: A suicidal assault on Castle Doom in the heart of Latveria as the unlikely trio of Monet, Shatterstar and the Thing go head-to-head with the guy who has his own complete country. Meanwhile, who or what exactly was buried in that lonely grave? And did Madrox arrive in time to make a difference? Plus, Franklin and Valeria Richards are on the run from the most unexpected enemy of all, and the only person who can defend them is…Strong Guy?

So we’ve come to an end of the first story arc since the renumbering of X-Factor and it’s been a great ride.

After discovering Mr. Fantastic buried in a grave we learn of Doctor Doom is behind all this mayhem, but it’s Doom from a different Universe! As cheesy that may seem David really pulls it off and brings a great conclusion to the story and yet brings up many questions about the future, like why was Layla working with Doctor Doom? What will be in store for the X-Factor team with Layla back in this time? I’m sure will be in for a long ride and joyous ride for many issues to come.

While the art is decent I can’t really find anything that makes it really stand out, it moves the plot along and it doesn’t really bother me but it’s average at best which is what really weakens the series.

Now with this case solved what is in store for X-Factor Investigations? How about a Second Coming tie-in? ….great.

~CountAbyss

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“So here’s the first official post of Sunday Comics featuring majority of the writers. Sadly Moonstone got sick very recently and wasn’t able to put his two cents into this weeks comics, hopefully he’ll join us next week and the many weeks to come for Sunday Comics!”

*CountAbyss

Amazing Spider-Man #621

WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILS: Michael Lark
COVER: Ed McGuinness

SPIDEY needs a favor from the BLACK CAT. Nothing big. He just needs her help stealing one of MR. NEGATIVE’S most valuable possessions. It’s not like anything could go oh-so-horribly wrong! Also in this ish: a dark turn for CARLIE COOPER, a disturbing development for CURT CONNORS, and a malicious move by…AUNT MAY?!

Here we go again with another Amazing issue of Amazing Spider-Man, seriously this Gauntlet Arc is really turning out great I’m loving EVERY second of it!

Well Spidey teams up with the notorious Black Cat once again to sneak into Mr. Negative’s compound and steal a vial of Spidey’s blood which is being used to make a gas called Devil’s breathe, a special gas which was made to kill only Spidey or anyone of similar DNA. Elsewhere, Aunt May is going on a rampage kicking all her relatives and Harry Osborne out of her old home, she’s not taking crap from nobody anymore!

Slott has really sold me previously that he can write a fantastic Spider-Man story, the interactions between Spidey and Black Cat were superb and simply hilarious at times. It really surprises me how similar Cat and Spidey can be at times but I say Cat can be much worse, from wanting to start making out in the middle of the enemy compound to using spider-Man as bait to lure all the villains away she’s quite the conniving feline. The side plot with Aunt May has been really clenching my teeth and making me miss the old Aunt May, hopefully she can be cured soon of Mr. Negative’s powers.

Lark takes on the pencils this time around and takes on a style that very proper for the web-slinger’s book especially with the mood it’s setting for this type of story. I’ll give you two thumbs up this time Lark!

A great one issue story and will definitely set up some more future stories with Mr. Negative, heck he may join up with the other members of Gauntlet? We’ll see what the future holds for the web-head, next week.

~CountAbyss

Batman #696

WRITER: Tony Daniel
PENCILS: Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea
COVER: Tony Daniel

Batman at the mercy of Black Mask! While trapped in the crime lord’s headquarters, The Dark Knight must find a way to escape before all of Gotham City falls prey to the Mask’s lethal toxins. Guest-starring Catwoman, Penguin, Robin and the Reaper!

“Well?  Did you do it?  Did you kill the Black Mask?”

So far I’ve really enjoyed Tony Daniel’s run on Batman, which is far better than anything Judd Winick produced in his four issue run after Battle for the Cowl ended last year.  The story involved the Falcone crime family making their way back into Gotham (though not for long), and the mysterious return of Black Mask, albeit with a new man taking up the mantle (Selina’s a better shot than one might think given the normal context of deaths in comics being meaningless).

What sets this issue apart is that in the previous issue Batman was made into a False Face, though not by Black Mask, but by Penguin.  Apparently he’s working with Jervis Tetch, aka Mad Hatter, to allow him to test out some new remote mind control technology (yawn, seen it before), to help him gain the upper hand on Black Mask to return Gotham to “normalcy”.  The issue really is full of action during the flashback scenes.  Everything starts out with Batman waking up completely disheveled on the beach (sadly with Damien greeting him with the overused line of “epic fail”), and is rescued by Robin who’s heard that Batman may have killed Black Mask.  The rest of the story is Dick resting up back in the cave, while flashbacks to points before him being rescued tell of his actions.  Everything culminates in Dick waking up and realizing that, while he didn’t kill Black Mask, he can certainly figure out who he is with a bullet casing and something Black Mask said to him.

Good action, and seeing Batman occasionally losing is a nice touch.  Daniel’s art is also really good on the issue, dark and brooding when it needs to be.  My only complaint is that it all sort of felt like filler to get to the end of the story, and might have been told better as a straight forward story instead of with flashbacks.  Still, better than Winick by a long shot.  Daniel is going to continue his run past next month’s issue, so here’s hoping he continues to deliver solid, if slightly cliched, stories.

~ModernTenshi

Batman: Streets of Gotham #9

WRITER: Paul Dini
PENCILS: Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs
COVER: Dustin Nguyen

It’s Batman, Robin and Abuse against Zsasz’s army! Will the heroes be able to save the captured children in time?

“A second chance.  A do-over.  Not everybody gets one, but sometimes opportunity has a funny way of favoring those who’ve paid the price.”

Batman: Streets of Gotham is an interesting concept for a comic book.  The whole title presents the world of Batman not from the perspective of Batman, but from those around him, usually people on the street.  I make this point because it’s a little sad that this issue and the previous issue presented most of the story from Dick’s experience and not from someone else (which would have made things way more interesting).

The whole story is Dick trying to solve a rash of call girl murders.  This requires him to go under cover to try and catch the killer, who’s been killing call girls from a particular underground club.  Awww shucks, turns out it was the door man for the hotel they all went to all along.

I don’t even care that I revealed who it was, you can pretty much call it before it’s even confirmed.  Another problem with this issue is Dick was acting far more like Bruce, being very pessimistic and with a playboy cavalcade at the night club, completely against the character we’ve come to know, and the character Morrison and Daniels have been crafting in the other Batman titles.

Perhaps the biggest issue I have with SoG #9 is that Benson wrote this issue and the previous issue, and not Paul Dini, who’s supposed to be the lead on this title.  What makes this even more unbearable is issue 7 saw Dini’s return to the main story line he had started setting up in issue 4, only to immediately have him off the title again the following issue.  I thought this was odd when they did it for issues 5 and 6, which saw Huntress and Man-Bat eventually taking down a guy in some invisibility suit who was murdering Gothamites out of religious claims (with a fantastic side story involving a Catholic priest to boot).  The problem is Chris Yost didn’t include Batman in the issues at all, and told a damn, DAMN great story from the ground level of Gotham, which, you know, is the whole point of this title.

The one highlight of this issue and its previous issue are Dustin Ngyuen’s art.  Simple in its line structure, but great in setting the mood of the story.  Unfortunately the story was very mediocre for him to deal with this time around.

I also can’t forgive DC for getting the solicits for the issue completely wrong, saying Dini was writing when he wasn’t, and that issues 8 and 9 would be continuing Dini’s story of Victor Zassz’s abduction of Gotham orphans and pitting them in fights to the death (which is sick, twisted, and exactly what I read Batman for). Here’s hoping the solicits for #10 aren’t wrong.

~ModernTenshi

Blackest Night: The Flash #3

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS/COVER: Scott Colins

It’s a case of the chicken-or-the-egg as Barry Allen takes on the Black Lantern Reverse-Flash and seeks answers to the very nature of Professor Zoom’s impending resurrection. Plus, the Rogues witness an act so horrifying that it changes one of their own forever.

“Owen.  The Rogues don’t kill women or children.”

I’m simply going to state this up front: Geoff Johns has written the best Blackest Night tie-in series of the six DC included in the event.  Then again, since he’s basically DC’s bread and butter right now that shouldn’t really come as a surprise. I also want to point out that my knowledge of Flash is very limited, so if this review seems a bit off, that’s why.

Blackest Night: The Flash #3 wraps up Flash’s little side story in this huge event, but things happened differently in this tie-in series than others, and in a good way.  Rather than focus everything just on Barry Allen’s return from the dead, highlighted in The Flash: Rebirth mini-series, Johns focuses on him finally glad to be back, but better yet, on his Rogues who have their own problems to deal with.

The whole issue features Barry trying to bring Bart back from the grips of the Black Lantern Corp., while the Rogues attempt to deal with their resurrected compatriots.  Johns once again highlights Barry’s ability to instill hope in everyone around him, but it’s his second story involving the Rogues that is immensely more interesting.  While Barry’s story is slightly more straightforward (while still inspiring and emotional), the Rogues is just downright mind blowing.  Lead by Captain Cold, they do their best to fend off their deceased members in attempting to break Eobard Thawn out of prison.  Everything for them climaxes when they find the current Captain Boomerang feeding people to his deceased father, the original Captain Boomerang.  Owen has just completely taken a turn for the worse here, and in his desperate attempt to bring his father back to life, he fed him women and children, which is against the creed of the Rogues.  The end result of his actions should be very apparent, especially with Captain Cold leading the way.

Topping this issue off is the dialog immediately following the preceding scene.  You see both Barry and Captain Cold saying essentially the same thing, but the final lines are all too different, setting the heroes and villains apart in their methodology.

Through all three issues, Johns tells a very cohesive story involving both Barry and his rogues, making them seem so similar and yet completely different at the same time.  The only down point is that it involved events that happen in the final issue of The Flash: Rebirth (issue #6 for those keeping count).  This is a problem because that issue hasn’t come out yet, in fact it’s ironically out next week.  Methinks DC should have swapped the release of the two issues to help things make more sense.  Scott Kolins also brings a rough, gritty art to John’s story, and really helps create the visual imagery of the whole tie-in series.

~ModernTenshi

Captain America #603

WRITER: Ed Brubaker
PENCILS: Luke Ross
COVER: Gerald Parel

Jefferson said the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. But who is a patriot and who is a tyrant? Is it all in the eye of the beholder? Captain America has the answer as the Cap from the 50s strikes back in TWO AMERICAS Part 2 of 4.

You guys will soon learn that their are some books on my pull list that I will never drop, no matter how bad the book is or how much I need the money there some books I just won’t drop. At the top of that list will have to be Captain America. Why is that? Simple, Captain America is my favorite super hero. There’s just something about a normal guy who’s willing to face the danger that super powered heroes with great courage. Also he beats people wit ha shield, what’s more manlier than that?!  Now this is part two of the Two America’s story, that there is a second Steve Rogers running around (Who’s not Steve Rogers) who’s absolutely bonkers. Now it’s up to Captain America to put a stop to him. Now a major point is that respite his recent revival Steve Rogers is not donning the costume, Steve’s old sidekick Bucky still and has been Cap for sometime now.

Now in the last issue Cap already infiltrated the fake Cap’s base and is undercover, sadly the fake Cap is already aware of his presence.  Pretty much this whole issue is Bucky being discovered along with his partner Falcon. This written down seems pretty boring but not everything can be caught on paper son. Ed Brubaker still proves he can write an amazing Captain America story really showing some great character moments from Bucky also the interactions between Falcon and Bucky have been very amusing. Also Brubaker sure through a great curve ball at me during Bucky’s confrontation with the fake.

The pencils by Ross are great, but nothing compared to Steve Epting who use to draw for the series. None the less it’s not terrible and he really did a great job with the action scenes.  But the inking for this book is probably one of the few problems I have with it. There some really heavy shading in this book and I’m not sure if that’s to blame the penciler or the inker but I’ll just give it to the inker for now. The inks seem a bit thick at tiems and he really messed up in specific scenes, most particular was that he inked Cap’s chin which makes him look like he’s wearing a chin strap in certain panels. But most of these problems I can put behind me.

So with that I feel we got a pretty good Captain America issue ‘m loving the story it is just as good as anything Brubaker has written thus far, but sadly we’re not done here. This book currently has a c0-feature which covers a young super hero named Nomad. My thoughts on this? It is boring! This character has very little point has being in the co-feature since the character has barely any relation to anything at all! In fact I believe she’s a character from a counter Earth! I just don’t care about this character and I rather not be paying the extra dollar for her lame backup story! I enjoyed the Captain America story but Nomad has got to go!

~CountAbyss

Deadpool #19

WRITER: Daniel Way
PENCILS: Paco Medina
Cover: Jason Pearson

“WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN,” PART 1 The X-Men? Pfft! Not really Deadpool’s style. Though he’s still committed to doing this “hero” thing, Wade’s more of a “lone wolf” kinda guy, out there doing his own thing. Y’know…thwp-thwp.

Well Deadpool’s finished with his little adventure with the X-Men, so what’s next? What’s that you say? Spider-Man? Brilliant! Let’s write it to involve a monkey hitman and a wigger!

Well Deadpool’s in New York and because Spidey’s suspicious of him he automatically assumes that the only hitman he is aware of it Manhattan is the one who killed his good friend… of course he didn’t… that just wouldn’t be right. I’ve been reading Deadpool for a while now and I have to say that it’s probably the one book I can read that I will always enjoy but it never blows me away. It’s always good but not brilliant.

The writing is witty and fits Deadpool greatly so that he’s still the sociopath we all know and love, but is also a sympathetic guy who loves randomly making 3426 pancakes and putting them in and empty pool. The art on the book looks really good and even though Spider-Man’s artist is good, I wouldn’t mind seeing Spider-Man get drawn by this guy.

The story and art are by Daniel Way and Carlo Barberi respectively. They both do a good job of letting us know the insanity that is Deadpool with Way writing his manic inner thoughts and Baberi drawing those thoughts coming to life. Deadpool is definitely a fun read and is always a book I will recommend to people who just want one.

~Hayamo

Green Lantern #51

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS/COVER: Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy

The most epic battle in BLACKEST NIGHT yet comes to a shocking conclusion as Hal Jordan makes the ultimate move to take on the Black Lantern Spectre. But what price comes with the unleashing of Parallax? And what does this mean for the future of the emotional spectrum’s avatars?

Blackest Night is almost over and while I’m sad to see it go, I’m also glad. The entire run of Green Lantern has all been build up to Blackest Night and with Geoff Johns taking a well deserved break after Blackest Night I can’t wait to see what other kinds of stories we’ll be getting from Green Lantern and the Corps., but this isn’t about the future of Green Lantern, this is about this issue.

Now for those who haven’t read Green Lantern #50 and want to the following paragraph is spoiler zone. In issue #50 the new guardians proved to not be enough to challenge against Nekron and the fifty-foot Black Lantern Spectre threatening to punish every living being on the planet, so Hal Jordan decided that the only way to beat Spectre is with the only person who has ever beaten him before, Parallax. So Hal is about to use Sinestro’s battery to take on Parallax and *gasp* what’s this?! Carol and Hal just kissed! HOLY SHIT! Anyway Hal goes and takes on Parallax and the cover finally comes to fruition.

The reason I just explained what happened in the previous issue is so you can understand what happens in this issue. So we start with Parallax and Spectre fighting while a bunch of other shit goes down, Parallax insults Spectre and eventually ends up changing him back to normal. Now if my review seems more like a recap, well that’s because I’m not the greatest at this, but I will say that this issue is written great as usual, but Geoff Johns doesn’t really get much chance to show it off in this issue. Sure there’s all the banter going on between the Guardians of the Corps but nothing to spectacular, but what does get a great chance to show off is Doug Mahnke’s art. There’s a lot of stuff happening and Mahnke is able to draw everything with nice details and truly showing the character’s emotions. Now is Mahnke the best artist ever? No, but he is good, plus I’m not that good an art critic anyway.

Overall I have to say this is a nice issue and really is a great way to lead up to the eventual big battle with Nekron happening next month.

~Hayamo

Green Lantern Corps #45

WRITER: Peter J. Tomasi
PENCILS/COVER: Patrick Gleason & Rebecca Buchman

The battle for the Green Lantern Battery on Oa comes to a bloody end as the new front in the War of Light emerges!
Before I talk about this issue, I wanna talk about the new Green Lantern series coming out later (Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors) now I’ve been hearing a few people say that they wish the line-up had Kyle in it, not because they like him, but because the book is mainly about Guy Gardner and Green Lantern Corps has been building a great friendship betwen these two characters. I wasn’t concerned with this at the time because I have yet to actually read Green Lantern Corps… but now I am not just asking for Kyle Rayner to be in Emerald Warriors, I AM DEMANDING IT!

Let me explain my shouting. In the past to issues of Green Lantern Corps, Guy has been a red lantern, I haven’t read those issues yet, but I did read this issue, and what did this issue prove? The Kyle and Guy are freaking BEST FRIENDS! Kyle is trying anything he can to save Guy and will not take no for an answer even if the chances of it succeeding are slim. This issue alone is enough for me to want Emerald Warriors to be about Kyle and Guy.

Now for the review of the issue, it’s good. The art is good, the writing is very good, and is overall a good issue. My favorite thing about this issue is the relationship between Kyle and Guy which Tomasi just writes spectacularly and really shows how good of friends these two are. I actually think I prefer this book over Green Lantern if only because this issue accomplished more and actually had some good character moments in it, that doesn’t mean I disliked Green Lantern, it just means I like Green Lantern Corps a little bit more.

~Hayamo

Hulk #20

WRITER: Jeph Loeb
PENCILS/COVER: Ed McGuinness

He’s smashing his way through the heroes of the Marvel Universe with a rage unstoppable. Next up? THE RED HULK vs. THE UNCANNY X-MEN. And what do RED GHOST AND THE SUPER-APES want with Beast and The Black Panther?

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Hulk books are currently in an event called Fall of the Hulks. Does this event concern the Marvel universe? Not really. Does anything special happen in it? Well, if you’re a Hulk fan then yes. You see so far all that’s happened is that Betty Ross is not dead and General Ross is, while a group called Intellegencia is trying to kidnap th eight smartest men.

So let’s get on to the review! This issue follows pretty much the same format as the previous one being: Red Hulk shows up to prevent the kidnapping, the team he’s helping don’t think he is, they fight, the person gets kidnapped. Last issue was Reed Richards and this issue is Hank McCoy and T’Challa (Black Panther). There are things I like and dislike about this issue. Firstly the Ed McGuinness art is very nice and his style is appropriate for the Hulk because he really shows how big the Hulks are and how strong that they can be by just looking at them, but Ed McGuinness has a very unique art style and makes everyone look burly and musclely, so his art isn’t perfect.

The writing on this issue on the other hand just bugs me. Jeph Loeb has his good moments and his bad ones, but here I think he was just trying to find an excuse for the X-Men and Red Hulk to fight because the X-Men’s reason for fighting Red Hulk is completely ridiculous and the fact that Hank McCoy is the only person that tries to go after T’Challa is just silly considering Storm is there and you’d think she be more concerned about saving her husband rather than fighting the red muscle man. Overall I did enjoy reading the issue but it just wasn’t thought out very well considering the first thing the X-Men see Red Hulk do is try to hit T’Challa’s kidnapper, so I liked it, it just has problems.

~Hayamo

The Incredible Hulk #607

WRITER: Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente & Jeff Parker
PENCILS: Paul Pelletier & Ryan Stegman
COVER: John Romita JR.

The mysterious Red She-Hulk takes on the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes — and only Banner and Son can save the day! But will they? The life of an Avenger hangs in the balance as Bruce Banner finally reveals his true alliances and objectives!

Now here’s a Hulk comic that I can get behind. Greg Pak hasn’t really been impressing me with his weird stories with Bruce and Skaar, but this one takes the cake. The last issue was nice showing how badass Skaar can be and how smart Bruce is and why they’re such a good team, this issue doesn’t show that as much, but it definitely shows how awesome Bruce Banner is.

The last issue left us just knowing that Red She-Hulk is attacking the Avengers and not much else, then this issue shows us Hank Pym being pretty smart, Bruce being smarter, and Hank being dumb. It really bothers me that no one seems to believe that Bruce is good, and Hank’s only evidence against him is that he’s been in contact with Red Hulk… which they teamed up to try to prevent Intellegencia’s plan meaning that Bruce isn’t doing any bad. Greg Pak does a nice job showing Bruce’s character that he’s smart and that he loves Betty more than anything and will stop at nothing to get her back. Paul Pelletier’s art is very nice and really does a nice job with the characters. The action scenes are clear and you know what’s happening which is always good for art.

This issue of Incredible Hulk was pretty good and I just wish that Hulk #20 could’ve been this good. Jeph Loeb isn’t a bad writer. but he just did not do that great writing the X-Men while Greg Pak did good writing several characters. My only complaint is the fact that everyone is too quick to think Bruce is evil and that at one point Bucky stutters, but otherwise the writing is very good.

~Hayamo

Invincible #70

WRITER: Robert Kirkman
PENCILS/COVER: Ryan Ottley & Fco Plascencia

Invincible finds himself faced against the combined might of the Sequid legions! Is he willing to do what must be done in order to save the world — and will this event push him over the edge or bring him back from it?

I have been enjoying these stories building up to the Viltrumite war and am looking forward to reading that story next month, but I kind of wish they would’ve got there faster. This issue of Invincible though is still very good
and that’s just a small complaint.

These past few issues has done a good job showing that Mark is just not the same carefree guy he was at the beginning of the series. Robert Kirkman is one of my favorite writers working today and Invincible is my favorite
series from him. The way he writes these characters doesn’t make them seem influenced but completely original. We really don’t like to see Mark going through all this and want him to get better so that he can be okay.

But Robert Kirkman’s writing does not take away from Ryan Ottley’s art. Ottley is just a very good artist and can really make his art fit with any mood. If his name wasn’t on the cover of Haunt, I probably wouldn’t have been
able to tell it was him. Ryan Ottley has been drawing these characters for so long and draws them so well that even when they look weird we can accept that because they still look right. I liked this book a lot and it was definitely one of my favorite books this week.

~Hayamo

Justice League of America #42

WRITER: James Robinson
PENCILS/COVER: Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter

In the aftermath of the horrific events of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE, a member is comforted by his friends and fellow Justice Leaguers over his tragic loss. And when Dick Grayson is offered membership, will the new Batman accept? Or would he rather operate outside the realm of the World’s Greatest Heroes?Meanwhile, Ray Palmer attempts to unlock a device that’s been discovered by the team. Will it spell their doom – or something far worse? They’d better find out soon because Dr. Impossible has chosen now, of all times, to attack! Who exactly is this mysterious villain and who has he brought back with him? The new era for the team marches forward!

To start off don’t believe much of what the preview synopsis tells you only ’bout half of what it says actually happens in this book, yes the synopsis LIED. Anyways so we’re we’re on the second issue of of Robinson’s new JLA line-up which I couldn’t be more happy with. Ever since the new line-up was announced I got very excited for the book and couldn’t wait to get started, sadly I found the last issue to be kind of a boring read but I thought it was mostly because they were gathering the team so I didn’t hold that against Robinson. So now I picked up this issue and I got pretty hooked, the opening scene with Green Arrow and the Shade got me really wondering what Robinson had planned and the two pages looked FANTASTIC. Then we change the scene seeing Batman (Dick Grayson), Donna Troy, Green Lantern, & Starfire taking a rampaging Atlas. This was very-well written and I was eating up the thoughts and interactions the new team was having on the field. This really had me hook; then it lost me.

The story from there really started bouncing around and I found it really hard to keep track of, making it more of a pain to read. We’re also introduced to a couple of new villains which I really didn’t catch the names of but to me I kept thinking they looked like other DC heroes (Blue Beetle, Big Barda, Etc.) so that really kept me distracted. Honest to god I really don’t know what happened in this issue after the first 7 pages, I don’t know what these new villains want and why they want it! I also felt this issue was bit stretched out  for the sake of having 40 pages so it can smack the $3.99 price tag on it, certain scenes seemed to serve no purpose then to be fill in and stretch scenes that can be covered in 2-3 panels to 1-2 pages! But what I really have to applaud Robinson for though is that he really knows how these characters think and feel, he’s really gotten inside the head of these characters. Their interactions with one another and on the battle field are simply superb!

Here’s another point that bugs me about JLA, the art. Now don’t get me wrong, Mark Bagley is an amazing artist! He’s done great work on Ultimate Spider-Man but he has a very cartoony style that doesn’t seem to really fit this book. Some moments are great and the battles are really well drawn but some scens and character designs look really odd, mostly the female characters with their blan expression and their large lips. JLA needs to have more a mature style. Bagley is better off in a different book like Teen Titans which can use that kind of cartoon style.

What REALLY bugs me about this book is that it has the potential to be GREAT, I love the team thus far and he really knows the character and the first 7 pages of this book really had me hooked! But what lost me though was when they started jumping through the story via flashback and other random locations; It just doesn’t flow well to me. I can put up with the ar style it’s jsut Robinson needs to fix his story telling for the rest of the issues. I’m really hoping this book hooks me at the next issue, I really want to like this book.

~CountAbyss

Power Girl #9

WRITER: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
PENCILS/COVER: Amanda Conner

Satanna is back in town with her animal menagerie in tow to terrorize Power Girl. The villainess tries to succeed where her former lover, the Ultra-Humanite couldn’t. This time, though, Satanna has a secret weapon Power Girl won’t see coming.

The biggest surprise for me when I got into comics is that Power Girl would becomes one of my favorites on my Monthly Pull List. The series was introduced to me by one of our writers ModernTenshi and since he spoke so highly of it I decided to give it a shot and I never looked back.

After fighting off the intergalactic stud Vartox in the previous two issues good ol’ PG decides to take a little time to relax but she doesn’t have much time as she soon finds out she’s being blackmailed! Also her arch nemesis Satanna is attacking her bank, this is not a good day for PG.

What I really love about this series is Palmiotti & Gray’s writing for it. It’s a fun a book that allows you to get away from all the continuity and serious business cross over events.  It’s a book you can jsut sit back and have a good read/laugh! This issue was no exception, while some jokes I don’t usually find amusing I found hilarious in this book because the timing was just right. One example would have to be PG losing her clothes but was covered by some conveniently placed groceries. Now I know what you thinking “Oh boy, this big boobed character must ALWAYS have these fan service shots/jokes all the time!” to which you are very far from the truth. Palmiotti/Gray don’t actually usually make those kind of jokes and seeing it is very rare thus making it amusing when it does happen.  This book is kinda like reading a combination of Superman & Spider-Man, trying to follow Karen’s daily life of a girl trying to start up her big corporation which happens to be a Superhero.

Now if the story doesn’t sell you the fantastic art will. Amanda Conner’s pencils are simply fantastic, she really brings these characters alive on the page. I really love the expressions these characters make, you can really read and feel what they’re going through or what they’re thinking. This art style really works with the writing style for this book and it does feel like reading like some Golden age stories placed in our modern times.  Her artwork is simply fresh air and is really nice to see, she has become my favorite artist.

Despite what you may think Power Girl is a fantastic series and I say you should all pick it up,  bet you will all enjoy yourselves!

~CountAbyss

Supergirl #50

WRITER: Sterling Gates, Helen Slater & Jake Black
PENCILS: Jamal Igle, Jon Sibal & Fernando Dagnino
COVER: Michael Turner

Special celebratory 50th issue! Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle reunite to tell an epic, oversized battle royale between the Girl of Steel and a mysterious, diabolical new foe! Still reeling from last issue’s harrowing events, Supergirl is put to the test when she uncovers a terrible secret about her friend and confidant, Lana Lang. Plus! A look into a day in the life of the Girl of Steel written by Jake Black and Supergirl herself, actress Helen Slater!

“Then maybe I don’t want to be a part of your family anymore.  And maybe I don’t want to be human.”

I started reading Superman comic books back in November.  While I have tremendous grips with the main Superman title, Supergirl has easily become my favorite of the family of books.  I haven’t been reading New Krypton, though, and I’m not counting John’s Secret Origin mini-series in that mix either.

Well, here it is, the 50^th issue of the relaunched Supergirl title.  Now, I know my opinions may be different from others, since I haven’t been reading comic books regularly for as long as most people writing reviews, and I’ve only been reading Supergirl since November’s Hunt for Reactron story arc, but I’ll try to write this to appease the larger masses anyway.

I thought this issue was fantastic, that I completely got what I paid $5 for.  Gates has been doing a great job of bringing Supergirl into her own in the DCU proper.

Issue 50 kicks off a few days after the ending of issue 49, in which we saw Lana die as the result of some insect infestation inside her body.  Gangbuster is leading a solo charge into the insect hive surrounding the hospital in an attempt to free Supergirl from the clutches of the hive.  Naturally he’s successful, and Kara is freed and filled in about the whole situation at S.T.A.R. Labs by Dr. Light.  Supergirl and Gangbuster mount an effort to infiltrate the hive to save Lana, only to learn she’s been made the host body for the insect queen (I know, right?).  Naturally Gangbuster is taken out of the action fairly early, leaving Supergirl to take on the insect queen by herself.  She and Dr. Light succeed in burning the infestation out of Lana’s body with some huge looking MRI machine that Dr. Light was able to transport and build right inside the hive itself (I know, right?).

Everything climaxes with Kara telling Lana she doesn’t want to be a part of Lana’s life anymore, since the insect queen told her she had manipulated Lana’s mind into getting closer to Supergirl so she could take her out easier, which leads Kara to believe that the closeness she and Lana developed was all a lie.  Lana explains that it wasn’t a lie, that she loves Kara as though she were her own sister/daughter, but that she didn’t tell Kara about her disease out of love for her, as she didn’t want her to worry while being out there saving the world.  She explains this as an aspect of humanity: lying about something to shield others from pain out of love for them.  Kara leaves Lana, saying that if that’s the way humans act, then maybe she doesn’t want to learn to be human anymore.

Oh yeah, all-the-while Major Lane was found, and is back in action as Superwoman.  The whole sub-plot was told with some damn good action scenes, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Again, Gates’ knack for story telling is top-notch here.  He begins the story a few days after the previous issue ends, which had me confused for the first few pages until I learned this.  Through everything Gates tells a very emotional and developing story, while bringing all the action to the forefront.  Through everything he succeeds in taking Supergirl in a very interesting direction for her character, and setting up some interesting stories for her going forward.  Jamal Igle’s art is simply fantastic, really bringing the story to life with fantastic character drawings, great action scenes, and some pretty nice depth of field effects on his art in some panels, almost bringing a cinematic edge the the issue.

~ModernTenshi

Uncanny X-Men #521

WRITER: Matt Fraction
PENCILS/COVER: Greg Land

What on Earth is Magneto doing on top of Mt. Tamalpais, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco? He’s not telling and the X-Men Psychics can’t get it out of his brain. But he’s been up there for days plotting something that will rock the X-Verse to its core. All this while Wolverine, Psylocke, Colossus and Fantomex take on the foes that have been plaguing the X-Men since the start of ‘Nation X’.

Like I stated in my previous reviews there are just some titles I will never drop, Uncanny X-Men falls under that list. I was introduced to X-Men early on in my life by the old X-Men cartoons and I’ve been a huge follower of the series since. Uncanny X-Men is the main X-Men title so having that I can always get my main X-story line. Now what do I think of Matt Fraction’s run so far? Well I can say it’s better than Austen’s run on Uncanny, but that’s not saying much.

This is part 7 of 8 on the ‘Nation X’ storyline which was when Cyclops did a large mutant migration to the floating Asteroid M off the San Francisco bay. Here the X-Men hope to wait it out until the end of Norman Osborne’s Dark Reign. Pretty much these issues have been watching episodes of Survivor with some adequate twits. Magneto shows up and he’s good again (We’ll see how long THAT lasts), a group of non-mutant superhumans have been trying to get the X-Men’s powers and Namor is trying to save the floating island from sinking into the ocean.

Fraction is a good writer, his runs on Casanova and Invincible Iron Man have been known has some of the best comics to come out of their time!  But after Brubaker left Uncanny, leaving it all to Fraction to write was a grave mistake. Fraction can’t seem to handle writing a team book especially a team of over 200 mutants! Since his best plot is “Hey guys, you know what would be WACKY! Let’s put all the remaining mutants on a floating Asteroid!” He brought back some characters we haven’t seen in long while like Northstar, Pixie & Dazzler! But he did nothing with them! But he’s slowly adapting to the style by having more focus on certain characters, like there have been alot of Cyclops moments in this series which pleases me very much, since I’m a huge Cyclops fan.

Now I can get over the writing for the most part, but the part that really makes me rage is the art by Greg Land. Now Land has been on and off the book randomly throughout this Nation X storyline but now I get the pleasure of reviewing it on this issue. What do I think? It’s terrible! Land has been known to photo reference for his art for a more realistic look but all we get is emotionless & souless art. I have no idea what these characters are feeling or going through since they’re so hard to read and characters just flat out awful at times. When will he be off the book!

Now despite all those negative comments I have to contradict myself by saying I really enjoyed this issue, between their fight against the non-mutants we got to see some great Wolverine moments and I’m really enjoying the character Fantomex. He’s a very funny and very interesting character which I haven;t seen in awhile, he kinda reminds me of Deadpool…but better. Finally, the reveal on the last page made me squeal like a little girl and I’m so excited for the next issue because of this reveal. Looking back the character designs aren’t so great but the fight scenes were drawn really well and I think cause I was really hooked into the story that the art really didn’t bother me as much. Which goes to show that art can be very effective at times but it all comes down to the story.

~CountAbyss

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Amazing Spider-Man #620

WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILS: Marcos Martin & Javier Pulido
COVER: Marcos Martin

MYSTERIO’S made his big move and a criminal empire is his for the taking! Or is that just more sleight of hand? More mobsters! More mayhem! More magic tricks! And a fight to the finish with MR. NEGATIVE versus SPIDER-MAN versus MYSTERIO! The big question is: What prize goes to the winner?

Well it’s that time of the week, that’s right kiddies it’s Spidey time! The famous web-slinger that we’ve all grown to love over the years is the subject of THIS review. Now when I say week that means this comic comes out pretty much weekly (3x a month to be exact), that’s more than ANY other comic right now. Now you would think with a weekly book you would run out of good Spidey stories to tell? WRONG! Over the past few months we’ve had the pleasure of many great Spider-Man stories and this is of no exception. What I’m referring to though is the saga “Gauntlet”. Now Gauntlet is a multi-arc story which each covers a past Spidey villain returning once again usually bigger and badder than ever, previously we got to see a super charged Electro, the many faces of Sandman AND a brand new Rhino! This story arc we cover one of my personal favorite Spidey villain, MYSTERIO~.

Now what does make Mysterio stand out from the other villains to me you may ask? Well it’s simple, all this villainy which he does is all just a big show to him. He just an actor living constantly in the “moment” he may commit the crimes so he can one day live in that dream house in Hawaii and be filthy rich but that’s just a bonus to him, he performs these acts is because it gives him a thrill of being the player in this play we call life. Now with this issue of Spider-Man we come to an end to the Mysterio arc and what way to go, the story was told fantastic and Slott did a great job of capturing these major characters really giving it to us who they are and why they’re here. This was definitely one of Mysterio’s biggest act’s in his lifetime and really almost steals the show from Spidey, almost.With the snappy dialogue and other great character moments show the best of Spidey.

Now what I fine really impressive about this book is the art, drawn just right like watching a Spider-Man cartoon almost and that’s the way I feel Spider-Man should be drawn. The expressions on these characters face were done great and really pulled me into the moments of this book. But what really dragged me in was how well drawn the action is, really hooking me into the scene and always had me on the edge of my seat. What was really impressive had to be that I didn’t really notice the art change from Martin to Pulido in the pages. Great consistency for those two.

Overall I got what I ever needed from a Spidey book, not a deep story which I will reflect on that will REALLY change my life but a fun book that get’s me all excited when I turn the page. If an issue of Spidey does that for me then I know it was done right.

~CountAbyss

Batman and Robin #8

WRITER: Grant Morrison
PENCILS: Cameron Stewart
COVER: Frank Quitely

Only months into his new role as Batman, Dick Grayson faces perhaps the biggest threat of his life. In hopes of attaining his heart’s desire, has Dick instead unleashed a terror the likes of which the world has never seen?

Oh Morrison, I’ve been a fan for the majority of your work and I believe you are a fantastic writer but this Batman hasn’t been working for you. On this week’s issue of Batman and Robin we continue the story started on Issue #7 in which Dick Grayson, the current Batman, tries to resurrect Bruce Wayne, the old Batman, through the use of a Lazarus pit which he located in England. Now this story has some cool guest appearances of other Bat related characters due to Damion Wayne having to sit this adventure out due to breaking his spine. We get appearances from Batwoman, which you may recognize from Rucka’s current run on Detective comics, and pretty much the Batman and Robin equivalency in England, Knight and Squire.

Now with this epic team up you would think this would be just enough to hook you into the book? I kinda think otherwise, ever since the Red Hood arc I’ve been finding Morrion’s Batman and Robin to be average at best. I wasn’t really hooked into the story since there wasn’t much told through this issue, it was mostly action scenes. Which don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good fight but a book which the majority of which is fighting?  That’s just not enough for me, especially in a Batman book. Again the stories are jsut not that interesting to me but what really hooked me was a specific event in the book that gave me hope for the future of Batman but that’s for the future but in the now I’m finding myself slowly losing interest. Again it’s not bad but it’s not as great as when the run began.

One aspect that could be that I’m missing from this book for awhile now is the art by Frank Quitely. Quitely hasn’t drawn for the book after the first arc which was, by far, the best arc so far in the book. Something about Quitely’s art which works well with Morrison’s style which could be the reason why the two are often paired up together. But enough about Quitely, let’s talk about Stewart. Now Stewart is by far not the worse artist for the book. Much better than then the art in the previous story but there is really nothing about Stewart’s art that makes it really stand out to me. The scene’s didn’t have that hook to get me in the book and inks seem to be a bit thick to me.

Now the book story could actually be decent but the art is the real problem for me, it’s not enough to keep me into the story. The words aren’t always what’s needed but the action in the scenes is a key part for me as well. Well I can look forward to the future from here with the return of Bruce Wayne in the future which means big things are to come in all of the Bat books.

~CountAbyss

New Mutants #10

WRITER: Zeb Wells
PENCILS: Paul Davidson
COVER: Adam Kubert

Why do the New Mutants exist? Why are they a team? Cyclops runs the X-Men as one giant army, not separate squads. So, why do the New Mutants exist as a squad? The answer isn’t what you expect.

Now I’ve been an X-Men fan for a long time, probably longer than I been a Spider-Man or Batman fan. The one thing I lvoe about the X-Men are the great characters they have from the big leagues to the C-List heroes. I lvoe stories about the C-List Mutants which what made me fall in love with New Mutants. Introducing a young team of mutants which you probably wouldn’t recognize right away unless you’ve read past volumes of New Mutants or that big of an X-Fan. Well I msut say I’ve been loving this run since the beginning and this issue is not a exception.

This issue covers the New Mutants team going out and taking out some bad mutants which are heading to the Asteroid which the Mutants are located, during all this Cyclops watches the team in action. Now the New Mutants are feature prominently throughout the issue has they fight these mutants but what makes the story really stand out is the focus on Cyclops. Cyclops is confronted by Emma in which she asks why was the New Mutants even reformed in the fist place, in which Cyclops responds “It is to find the next leader for the X-Men” now this issue really tells a great Cyclops story and really reminds me how much I love Cyclops. Between that and seeing the New Mutant’s interact with one another is simply fantastic. Well’s really knows these characters inside and out and is doing a great job of telling their stories. The best part is probably the ending, in which guarantee to put it a big smile on any X-Men fans face. Me, I was grinning like an idiot.

One thing I must point out is that the art in this book has been consistently good. The covers were a big hook for me on this series, probably some of my favorite covers from any series have been from this series. Kubert is a fantastic artist and seeing the cover of each new New mutants book gets me excited to pick it up. In this case I can honestly say you can judge a book by this cover, as soon as you open this book up you get some great pencils from Davidson. He really brings a new and fantastic stlye to this book and really stands out, the emotions and scenes were captured perfectly in this book. I was a big fan of the previous art by Neves but I think now with Davidson drawing I feel this book is going to get better every new issue.

Fantastic story and great art, New Mutants is constantly reminding me how much I lvoe the X-Men franchise, definitely my favorite among all the X-Titles right now. Now the next 4-5 issues for new mutants it’s going to be stuck in events the next being a Siege crossover and then after it goes into the Second Coming X-Men event. I really hope the book isn’t overall effected by these events but I can honestly say that I will be on this book until the very end.

~CountAbyss

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Red Robin #9

WRITER: Christopher Yost
PENCILS/COVER: Marcus To & Ray McCarthy

Red Robin returns to Gotham City as “Collision” begins! Now armed with the knowledge that Bruce Wayne is lost in time, what is Tim Drake going to do about it?

I love Tim Drake, he was the BEST Robin. And now after his “Summer vacation” you may say he’s finally back in Gotham. And I msut say, I couldn’t be more happier! THIS was the book I was hoping to get right from the get go! Tim finally being Tim, not whining and being super obsessive. Yost does a great job with the narration and I love the joeks this time, for those who read Power Girl or know anything about JSA they make some greta jokes about Dr. Mid-Nite’s and Red Robin’s costume being…similar. Also a appearance from Superboy in this issue, I’m so glad to see him and Tim again (Even if it was for like 2 pages) everything just seems right with this issue. Plus we’re getting to what Tim does best, being a great Detective. Ra’s is setting up a great plot this time around. Tim is finally being Tim and I couldn’t be more happier.

Whatever the cover says the art WASN’T done by Ramon Bachs! It was ALL Marcus To baby! And thank goodness for that! Marcus To has a spectacular art style which made me enjoy the book a whole lot more, Bachs really didn’t capture it for me and when To took over on #6 that’s when the series REALLY start picking up (Even though the arc was not that bad). I can’t WAIT for the next issue, crossover with Batgirl too which is awesome for me, may give me excuse to start picking up Batgirl. All I can say is “Welcome Back Gotham.”

~CountAbyss

Siege #2

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS/COVER: Olivier Coipel

The blockbuster Marvel event of the year goes full-blown carnage and madness as the biggest and most brutal battle in Marvel’s history brings together heroes from all sides. Lines have been drawn, and an unlikely hero will save one Avenger, but they can’t save them all. The Siege has begun and it claims its first victim as AN AVENGER WILL DIE!!

For those who aren’t aware I’ll catch you up to speed, pretty much Norman Osborne has been pretty much ruling over the country in this huge event called Dark Reign, huge yet annoying. Siege is where Norman finally flipped bananas and decides to take on Asgard. That’s where pretty much the first issue covered. Now this event is small and will put an end to this Dark Reign nonsense (Thank GOODNESS).

Now the first issue had a rocky start, It wasn’t BAD but it wasn’t good. I’m pretty much picking this up to see what happens and boy, does ALOT of things happen. Thor pretty much goes down and Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) decides to take up arms to join Thor for the battle of Asgard (Which also include the Young Avengers, MAN I wish they had an ongoing book still). Now there’s one event I didn’t see coming and I’m sure alot of people didn’t (Depends on the cover you get I guess). The main point is that an Avenger does get killed off, who that may be?

It could be there was alot of “HOLY S***” moments in this book but I was on the edge of my seat as I read and was a huge improvement over the last. The artwork is pretty darn good and Olivier Coipel did a great job with drawing the fights to the characters expressions and the coloring by Laura Martin really brought it to life. Definitely a great pick up for me. I really do hope the next two get better otherwise I’ll be very disappointed.

~CountAbyss

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