It’s a decent stack of books last week dominated by summer events. What’s worth it? Find out below.
American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 – With the main series a little over a year old, I questioned whether an offshoot limited series was needed. This one flashes forward to World War II as a team of vampire hunters must head to occupied Nazi territory to retrieve a scientist. The story is solid and art fantastic, I can see why this was given the green light and looking forward to the rest of the issues.
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9
Annihilators #4 – Both stories are decent, but neither blew me away. It’s the end for this limited series and we get another chapter in a few months to see where the cosmic section of the Marvel universe goes. A decent limited series but not quite to the quality we’ve seen in the past.
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.5
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #519 – Panther is on the hunt to save his friend Brian, but Kraven stands in the way. What happens when two solid warriors such as these are pitted against each other? This story arc will let us find out. A decent read, but not great.
Story: 7.5 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75
Booster Gold #45 – We get a better sense of the world of Flashpoint as Booster does some investigative work to figure out what’s going on. This, I’m sure is the Flashpoint tie-in everyone’s missing. The first issue was great, this one was just good, entertaining though.
Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75
Deadpool #38 – Deadpool continues to piss off the Hulk in hopes of getting killed. I keep getting pissed off by how slapstic the series has gotten.
Story: 6 Art: 7 Overall: 6.5
Fear Itself: Deadpool #1 – Wow, just when I thought Fear Itself tie-ins couldn’t get any worse, this comes along.
Story: 5 Art: 7 Overall: 5.5
Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1 – Just slightly better than the Deadpool entry. What the hell is up with Marvel’s summer event?
Story: 5.5 Art: 6 Overall: 5.75
Fear Itself: Spider-Man #2 – The bright spot in the rather underwhelming Fear Itself. The story focuses not just on Spider-Man but how others are gripping with fear. It’s a solid story telling technique and really stands out in a pretty poor summer event.
Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75
Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #1 – Just when you think a Flashpoint book can’t get any better, this one comes along. A solid story and great art, this one just makes me want a Rogues focused comic post Flashpoint (can we at least get some in the anthology book?!). Beyond good.
Story: 9.5 Art: 9 Overall: 9.25
Flashpoint: Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager #1 – A pretty simple pirate tale following Deathstroke and his crew as he hunts for his daughter. The story is good and Flahspoint acts more as a background than anything. An entertaining read that plays off of the world it’s set in quite well.
Story: 8 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8
Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #1 – What lead up to Atlantis’s attack on the surface world and the war with the Amazons? You get a good idea in this book, though I’m not completely convinced and there’s definitely holes and questions left to be answered.
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5
Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1 – A somewhat updated take on the Frankenstein and the Warner monsters. The story is ok, but there’s some issues with parts of the story taking place in theory before the world shifted. We’ll see if that piece of story plays into the switch back.
Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75
Ghost Rider #0.1 – Ghost Rider is getting a reboot and that seems to be complete. I used to be a die-hard Ghost Rider fan, but it seemed Marvel never quite knew how to handle the character. We’ll give this a chance to see if they can get it right this time. This first issue has promise, but doesn’t quite blow me out of the water.
Story: 6.75 Art: 7 Overall: 6.75
The Iron Age Alpha – Really not quite sure what to think. It’s another time travel story that seems to be unnecessary, or could be handled in the main series. Not sure I’ll be getting the first issue as this prelude did so little for me.
Story: 6.5 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.5
Journey Into Mystery #624 – Loki does what he knows best and schemes to get hell and hel on the side of Asgard in the battle to come. There’s a lot going on and the chess of it is somewhat fascinating. The new direction of the series is solid and very entertaining.
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5
Mystery Men #1 – Though it feels a bit like The Twelve there’s some magic from that series is missing. This first issue is fun and I think the complete series will be a fun read, but the first issue was just ok. Maybe the complete whole will be greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5
The New Avengers #13 – The team keeps taking on Superia and we finally learn what connects the story in the past with the story in the present. Also a major decision is made about Mockingbird. The issue has some great moments, but the arc as a whole was a bit uneven. A solid ending though, with a twist I didn’t see coming.
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5
Supreme Power #1 – I read the first volume of the series many years ago and clearly I’ve missed a lot and will need to go back and catch up. A series that looks at the geo-political ramifications of nations controlling super powered beings!? Yes please!
Story: 8.75 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.75
the Unwritten #26 – We learn a bit more about the history and origin of Tom Taylor and with those reveals come even more mysteries. The series is thick and at times hard to understand but very rich at the same time as well as unpredictable.
Story: 8.25 Art: 8 Overall: 8.25
Wolverine #10 – People Wolverine has wronged over the years band together to kill him and I roll my eyes at what seems to be the next piss poor Wolverine arc. Seriously this series is having some major issues.
Story: 6.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.75
X-Men: Legacy #250 – For such a momentus issue the three stories presented are a bit blah. The first seems to be the new direction of the series and second shows us what’s sort of going on with some space faring mutants. The third is a reprint of the first meeting with Legion by the New Mutants. The art is so-so, but there’s a lot of potential here as far as story. Here’s hoping the series gets back on it’s feet.
Story: 7.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.75
