Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Alfie

X-Men Red #11 (Marvel) – From the ashes of Sins Of Sinister arise the calm before the storm! War is coming! X-Men Red #11 by Al Ewing, Jacopo Camagni, and Stefano Caselli is the series’ triumphant return after a three-month hiatus. Even though the series went on break, the aftermath of the intervening Sins Of Sinister event and Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants carries on in this issue. It’s an issue entirely of conversations with no action scenes. Luckily Al Ewing deftly navigates this with precision cutting dialogue filled with tension and excitement. The art is no slouch either. The scenes are well-crafted and filled with interesting back-and-forth layouts. Of particular note is one amazing spread toward the end of the issue. This issue is the rising tension before the much-teased Genesis War storyline coming up in the following issues. Even with that being said it’s still a great issue filled with moments readers won’t want to miss! Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Invincible Iron Man #6 (Marvel) – Tony Stark is broke and destitute, relapsed into drinking, and worst of all he’s lost his company to the ruthless Feilong who is mass producing Mutant hunting Stark Sentinels. But none of that matters since Invincible Iron Man #6 by Gerry Duggan and Andrea Di Vito is an 80s throwback. It’s a fun issue but ultimately unimportant to the ongoing narrative. The cover would lead you to assume the issue is a fight between Iron Man and the West Coast Avengers. However as has been the case a few times with this series, the cover lies! The real meat of the issue is a fight between Iron Man and the villainous White Queen, Emma Frost! It’s a fun brawl. Di Vito brings real joy with fast and frenetic action. Emma gets a lot of opportunities to use her telepathy in fun and creative ways against the Bullet-Head. The unabashed homage to the marvel universe of the 80s is a wonderful little thing to behold, sliding timescale be damned. Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Wolverine #33 (Marvel) – Beast is on a warpath and the only man who can stop him is Wolverine! with a little help from some friends. Wolverine #33 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Jose Ryp is the latest installment of the Weapons of X arc. The issue largely focuses on gathering Wolverine’s various allies as they all converge on Beast. It’s a good issue but it’s certainly the build-up for the end game of this arc. The art by Ryp is colored by Frank D’Armata, normally I’m not a fan of D’Armata’s coloring work but with Ryp’s pencils, it fits. The art is detailed and gloriously grotesque in a way befitting a Wolverine story. Ryp can draw some of the most visceral gore you’ll find in big two comics. The issue also contains a backup story by Gene Luen Yang and Peter Nguyen. It’s a fine little backup with good art focusing on Wolverine and the little sister of Shang-Chi taking on a monster. It has cute expressive art but it’s a pretty throwaway story, but hey it’s an extra story for the same price, so you won’t see me complaining! Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read

Brett

The Nasty #2 (Vault Comics) – The kids are trying to figure out what to do and if they can actually create a horror movie before a major festival comes to town. Then, there’s that whole slasher that’s hanging around and only one of them can see? The second issue feels a bit like Clerks III with the crew coming together and figuring out how to make a movie but it’s the ending that really made us take notice. There’s an intriguing direction for all of this to go from here. The art continues to be solid with a style that balances its humor, horror, and heart. Overall, an intriguing series that’s delivering something new with the horror genre. Overall: 7.95 Recommendation: Read

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Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!

Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).