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 short reviews from the staff of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full review for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews.

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Shean

 Star Wars : Thrawn #3 (Marvel) As we get deeper into Thrawn’s background, we get to know another character important to him, Arindha Pryce.As she seeks to get revenge against the amount which bankrupt her family, she catches Thrawn’s eye for her canny and skills. She seeks Thrawn’s help as she soon has a target on her back much like him and they must work together to find who is trying to undermine them both.By issue’s end, she makes a deal with Tarkin and the one person who she thought was on her side, soon betrays her, leaving nothing to chance. Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Ryan C

The Immortal Men #1 (DC)** – Another “New Age Of DC Heroes” book that feels a lot more like a re-worked Marvel premise than anything else, this time of “The X-Men.” Jim Lee and Ryan Benjamin do the art and it is what it is — which is to say, if you like these guys you’ll dig it, and if you don’t, you won’t — but the script by James Tynion IV doesn’t do much in terms of distinguishing itself from the rest of the thoroughly mediocre “Big Two” fare out there. Our protagonist is a teenager being conscripted into an eternal war between the forces of good and evil by means of his dreams, but he’s not a very involving or sympathetic character, just a rich kid with nice folks and no real problems apart from this whole “do I have super-powers or what?” question. I guess it’s okay, but if I’m gonna drop three bucks on a comic, I’d like something more than merely “okay.” Overall: 4 Recommendation: Pass

Sidways #3 (DC)** – Kenneth Rocafort, Dan DiDio, and Justin Jordan wrap up their introductory three-part “New Age Of DC Heroes” arc with a rather lackluster final segment that sees our hero and his adversary battle to what amounts to a draw, albeit one with a “maybe my foe isn’t as bad as I thought” twist to it. More fun is the short back-up strip, which should remove any doubt about this book being DC’s take on “Spider-Man.” Rocafort’s art is perfectly nice throughout, so kudos for that. Overall: 5.5 Recommendation: Read

Eternity Girl #2 (DC/Young Animal)** – A reasonably solid, if unspectacular, follow-up to a very promising first issue, with writer Magdalene Visaggio probably spending a little too much time on our protagonist and her one friend taking in a lame stand-up “comedy” act — fortunately that dullness is effectively offset by artist Sonny Liew getting to unleash his inner Kirby for several pages. The end result is a middling book to be sure, but at least one that is tons of fun to look at. Overall: 6.5 Recommendation: Read

Thanos #18 (Marvel)** – Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw wrap up their six-part “Thanos Wins” arc — and this series — with a typically action-packed issue that apparently leads right into the forthcoming “Infinity” cross-over. I loved the King Thanos-vs.-Standard Thanos fight, but to be honest, nothing on offer here managed to convince me to jump on the “Infinity” bandwagon, which was presumably the entire point. I will, however, be following Cates and Shaw over to their top-secret-for-now forthcoming Marvel project. So, hey, there’s that. Overall: 6 Recommendation: Read

Logan

The Archies #6 (Archie) After a whirlwind tour, Matthew Rosenberg, Alex Segura, and Joe Eisma finally give The Archies some studio time in their penultimate issue. Blondie guest stars as their EP’s producers, and there’s a fun scene where Betty and Veronica geek out on Debbie Harry’s fashion sensibility and musical boldness. The plot follows a pretty cut and dried formula of band drama, musical guest star bail out, life lesson, and a deeper hole being dug, but Eisma spices things up with his energetic and humorous art. Rosenberg and Segura squeeze in some fun character moments between the formula like Veronica humbling herself and going to a greasy burger joint to get their most talented member, Jughead, back. Cramming five cool teens into an enclosed space is always good for drama. Overall: 7.4 Verdict: Read

Domino #1 (Marvel)– Gail Simone continues to be very good at writing morally ambiguous anti-heroes with humor, real human emotions, and even a little sexiness. A surprise birthday party featuring cameos from awkward exes Deadpool and Agent X turns into unsettling panic and physical attack as Domino’s luck might finally run out. Simone grounds the story in the friendship between Domino and her lady merc pals, Outlaw and Diamondback, who are as natural helping her on the battlefield as getting a little too wasted at her party. David Baldeon’s art is pretty solid with big dynamic, early 90s layouts, broad comedy, and a cute dog. Simone and Baldeon definitely plan to break Domino’s character down in the mini, but the book’s tone is more fun and snarky than dour. Overall: 8.4 Verdict: Buy

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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 (**).