BlackAcre #2

The first issue of BlackAcre with some great discussion of have and have-nots and economic realities that resonated with today’s world. The second issue is a bit more procedural as you learn pretty much everything you expected.

Hull ventures deeper into the wilds of the Hinterlands to uncover a lost comrade’s fate, but a savage encounter threatens to derail everything. Back in the opulent and ultramodern city-state of BlackAcre, the aggressive designs of Sinclair, an ambitious young Guardian, come to light.

My guess is the story is pretty predictable from here. Those living in the wild wind up to be decent people, the people in BlackAcre are really the bad guys and from there we’ll see some sort of revolution to overthrow the status quo.

That’s not to say this issue and the series as a whole is bad, it just seems predictable. That first issue had some great writing and hit some realities about our world. I’m just hoping the series moves more towards a statement about the world we live in instead of a world we’ve already seen before in other stories.

Story: Duffy Boudreau Art: Wendell Cavalcanti

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

Fatale #11

Any other year, Fatale would be comic of the year contender or best new series, and for many it was. Overall, while I’ve enjoyed Fatale, I don’t think it’s Brubaker or Phillips’ best work together. However that changed for me with this issue.

The first of four standalone FATALE FLASHBACK issues, and a perfect place for new readers to jump on board. Welcome to 1930s California, a hard place to be for a girl on the run. Witness Josephine’s early days with the Femme Fatale curse, and see some of her elusive secrets revealed.

I really dug this issue for numerous reasons. One the story is solid, a nice creepy story. Two, it’s standalone. For folks trying to get into the series, it’s hard to do without starting from the beginning. Three, even though it’s a standalone issue, it still ties into the overall plot.

There’s so much that’s solid about the comic, the writing the art, the fact you can pick up the single issue fresh and still enjoy it. I’m looking forward to all of the standalone issues and here’s hoping we can get some shorter stories after.

Story: Ed Brubaker Art: Sean Phillips & Dave Stewart

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Glory #31

The first part of what I’m assuming is the final arc of the series sees Glory and her sister head out to take on her father. There’s a lot I actually enjoyed and this is definitely a series that hasn’t gotten the appreciation or audience it deserved.

The entire first year of Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell’s Glory saga has been leading to this: Glory vs. Silverfall. PLUS: a special flashback sequence illustrated by Ulises Farinas finally revealing why Glory was near death when Riley found her.

The story had it’s solid action parts, but there’s consistent humor that’s entertaining. With all this build up you’re sure there’ll be some big battle, but nope, folks sit down to eat waffles.

The art is an interesting style and it’s something I’m still all over as far as my opinion. I don’t necessarily dig how Glory looks, but like the look of other characters. It’s a mixed bag, but that’s my personal opinion.

It’s not a shock the series hasn’t caught on, but hopefully we’ll get another volume just as entertaining down the road.

Story: Joe Keatinge Art: Ross Campbell

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7.25 Recommendation: Read

Great Pacific #3

The Great Pacific was a series I was really looking forward to when it was first announced, and I really dug the first issue and what’s come since.

Lost and alone, surveilled from above by forces unrevealed, on the run from hostile natives out to avenge their murdered brother, and stalked from below by the monstrous octopus, Yalafath, Chas Worthington scuttles his quest to tame and settle The Pack as merely surviving becomes the hardest task of all.

The series is still growing on me overall, as I’m still not quite sure where it’s going overall. At first I thought it’d be about this founding of a new nation and what that took. Now it’s spun into a story of survival. Maybe it’s both really?

What the story surprisingly isn’t is preachy, which I actually think there’s the need to have more of. The story takes place on the great garbage heap in the Pacific. There’s stats about it in the beginning of the comic, but there’s a great opportunity to have some great commentary about society.

Don’t get me wrong at all, the comic is entertaining, but it’s definitely not what I expected and for that I’m still adjusting. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though.

Story: Joe Harris Art: Martin Morazzo

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy

I Love Trouble #2

I really like the first issue of the series which saw a punk girl get super powers. She couldn’t turn things around though and wound up still committing crime with her new found talent.

Felicia’s feeling the squeeze when she realizes she’s never going to get out from under the thumb of New Orleans mobster Vincent Moreaux after he coerces her into using her new found power for his own gains. She also receives a visit from a mysterious stranger who knows an awful lot about what she’s been doing and how.

The comic spins here. I was convinced it’d go one way with the series focusing on a criminal with super powers, but then there’s this mysterious stranger. Clearly there’s more powered people, but what’s it all mean? We haven’t gotten a glimpse of the greater world, and it feels like with this issue we have our blindfold lifted for us a bit.

The art is solid. I really like the style which has a cool graffiti feel about it.

Not sure where this series is going, but out of a lot of the new series Image has released lately, this one has me the most intrigued.

Story: Kel Symons Art: Mark A. Robinson

Story: 7.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Buy

Invincible #99

Invincible Vs. Dinosaurus for the fate of the world! Could this be the end of Mark Grayson?!

Invincible is a series I avoided for a long time, then I got a chance to sit down and read some of the later issues and I was hooked. I was missing some pure awesomeness and I’m kicking myself I hadn’t been reading since the beginning.

This latest story arc is the fall out of Mark’s attempt to channel Dinosaurus’ intelligence to do some good. Unfortunately he wasn’t paying attention, so now the world is flooding and people are dying. This is what you get for trying to reform a criminal. The issue is a lot of fighting, but it’s really entertaining, so that’s all good.

We’re one issue away from the 100th issue. That’s huge and I’m expecting something big to go down. A line will be crossed or a character will have to go in an all new direction. I really think a lot is thrown out there and might happen.

There’s not many comic publishers doing super hero comics really well outside the big two, but Invincible is up there with some of the best of all the publishers.

Story: Robert Kirkman Art: Ryan Ottley & John Rauch

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

The Manhattan Projects #8

The Manhattan Projects is one of the weirdest comics to debut in 2012. The series has been fascinating to watch with a twisted take on history involving the ability to travel through space, alien technology, and now a team up between the US’s Manhattan Projects and the Russian Star City.

They have waited and watched in the dark and now the old money that runs nations is ready to make their move against the Manhattan Projects. It’s the secret leaders of the world like you’ve never seen them before.

But that team up doesn’t go over too well, so it’s time to clean house. Yes, the folks who really run the world have decided it’s time to clean out the research team for both countries.

The comic is as off the wall as you’d expect and that ending is sad and hilarious at the same time. I slowly have gotten into the series but it seems to get better and better with each issue.

If you’re looking for a strange take on history, this is one to really check out, there’s not much out there like it.

Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: Nick Pitarra & Jordie Bellaire

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy

Youngblood #75

It’s been twenty years in the making, but Youngblood reaches its 75th issue with an oversized story! And who can blame them?! In this issue Jeff Terrell returns to the team, Cougar realizes that as impossible as it seems, he might actually be in love. We get one more clue as to the fate of Badrock, and Die Hard and Vogue discover there is more “there” there than they every suspected. All this and a battle worthy of the world’s greatest superhero team!

I started reading this comic with a lot of high hopes. There was final fall out of the team being followed by a reporter as her article has hit the stands. Instead of some deft and smart commentary on the state of modern super hero comics with a faux article, we get snippets that don’t add much depth at all.  It’s a missed opportunity and I’m kicking myself over it.

The series could be such a great commentary, but it never really seems to get to that point, instead teasing us with the idea. This issue is a perfect example of that missed opportunity.

But, it’s been twenty years so it was a bit fun to go through nostalgia to see where this series has gone in that time. Unfortunately not far. When it first debuted I thought it was ok and nothing special, twenty years later I’m in the same spot. I feel now the same way I did then, a great concept, but never played out the way it should.

Story: John McLaughlin Art: Jon Malin & Rob Liefeld

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75 Recommendation: Pass

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review