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Comic Book (sort of) Weekly Reviews – 4/4/12

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Ok, I slowed down in the whole catching up on my reviews thing… but back to it and hopefully I’ll totally be caught up by the end of June… if not sooner.

Age of Apocalypse #2 – The remaining resistance is on the run and Jean Grey and Sabretooth’s role is still up in the air.  The series is solid and different, with some solid art.  The series is different enough to stand out from the rest of the “X” books.  I missed the original Age of Apocalypse, so this’ll do for me.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8 Overall: 7.75

American Vampire #25 – Scott Snyder’s series is amazing and this issue ties so many threads together.  I can’t wait to see what he does and what he has in store for the series.  I can’t get enough of this series and it absolutely shows off why Snyder is one of the best writers out there.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.5

Animal Man #8 – The battle against the Rot continues as Animal Man and Swamp Thing are going to team up and collide.  The series shows that the Vertigo feel can work and work well in the modern DC universe.  The art is solid on top of it.  This is one of the best series to come out of DC’s relaunch.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Avengers Academy #28 – The team up with the Runaways continues and there’s a bunch I like, and a lot I don’t.  The series just feels like the B-team for Avengers.  We’ll see where it goes, but hopefully post Avengers Vs. X-Men the series will get a nice shake-up.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7.25

Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 – This is it?  There’s some great build up and tension, but the old quote about sound and fury signifying nothing stands out to me.  It’s just one issue, but I hope there’s more to it all than just this.  The art is pretty solid, but overall, pretty meh so far.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Batman: Detective Comics #8 – While the art is pretty decent, I think the story really shows how excellent Snyder’s Batman is compared to this inferior series.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Batwing #8 – We find out the identity of Massacre.  I can’t say I’m shocked.  The ending to the first arc is ok.  It’s not quite the solid series it was when it started, but still a nice addition to the Bat family.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5

Brilliant #3 – A debate rages as to how to handle the discovery as the FBI attempts to put together what happened.  This series feels like a tame Mark Millar series.  Without the swearing and over the top violence.  Not sure if that’s a good thing… either part.

Story: 7.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.25

Chew #25 – Tony is captured and this series shows why it’s one of the most creative and original ones out there.  The story is as off the hook as can be expected and art entertaining as usual.  A series that should be on everyone’s pull-list.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Danger Club #1 – The adults are away and the children will play.  The adult super heroes might be dead, so the kids have taken over.  The series just has awesome punch to it with solid art.  It’s not totally original, but it’s damn entertaining.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Daredevil #10.1 – A great point one that introduces Daredevil to new readers and catches them up on information you know.  I’m loving the Omegadrive story.  Watching the groups after it attempt to get it is beyond entertaining.  Mark Waid is at the top of his game with this series and the art is amazing.

Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9

Fairest #2 – The art is fantastic and story solid in this spin-off from Fables.  Two issues in and you can see the series falls more into the fantasy end of things, picking up on some threads left from the main series.  It’s only two issues, but it’s two solid issues.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.25

Fear Itself: The Fearless #12 – So, Hellstrom is a bad guy in this book, but a good guy in Circle of Four and Journey?  Get the characters straight!!!  There’s some interesting stuff set up here, but overall, this twelve part series was a mess.

Story: 6 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.25

New Mutants #40 – Douglock fights Ani-Matter and I yawn…

Story: 6.5 Art: 6.5 Overall: 6.5

Red Lanterns #8 – Take this story and switch the color to a different Corps… does it make a difference?  No, not really and that’s where the story fails for me.  Red Lanterns should have an animalistic feel to them and here they just come off like a bland version of Yellow or Green.

Story: 6.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.75

Secret Avengers #24 – A cool story still with the team taking on various cyborg like beings in the Marvel universe that have come together.  It’s a somewhat original story, and the art is pretty solid.  I think the series is finally finding it’s footing.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Stormwatch #8 – The team takes on a pretty huge threat and Midnighter makes a hell of a decision.  The series is finally getting good for me, and hopefully it continues on this pace.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Swamp Thing #8 – A series that’s been more Vertigo and horror than superhero swings the superhero way as Swamp Thing goes after the Rot in the beginning of a hell of a battle.  Compared to past issues, the issue is just ok, but it’s one piece of a much bigger and excellent story.

Story: 7 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7

Thunderbolts #172 – The renegade Thunderbolts fight the original Thunderbolts in a pretty typical battle issue.  There’s some potential here, but so far it’s pretty average but still somewhat entertaining.

Story: 7 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #9 – Miles meets the police and his uncle comes calling when he runs into trouble.  The series continues it’s excellence as a new Spider-Man still gets his act together.  The art is great and story solid.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Venom #15 – Flash must deal with the last few weeks and his getting up and heading to Vegas.  His personal life is unraveling while he deals with having been attached to Venom so long.  The series is getting back into the swing of things focusing on Flash’s personal life as much as the superhero.  That’s when it’s great.

Story: 8.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.25

Wolverine and the X-Men #8 – The kids head off to find God (not really) while Wolverine deals with his getting beaten down at the Casino.  Meanwhile the Hellfire Club hires Sabretooth to give them some tips which leads to Sabretooth fighting Beast in an awesome fight.  The issue is all over the place and pure amazing.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Comic Book (sort of) Weekly Reviews – 1/11/12

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Catching up on reviews….

Batgirl #5 – There’s a new villain for Batgirl called Gretel and some weirdness with the number 338.  It’s all ok, but not the quality we know Gail Simone can do.  The best parts of the series are the quiet moments when Barbara is reflecting on her life in and out of the cape.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.5

Batman and Robin #5 – Damian has thrown his lot in with Ducard as we get the background between Ducard and Wayne.  The story is ok and somewhat predictable.  The art is changed up a bit too.  Overall, the read is good, but not necessarily great.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Battle Scars #3 – The issue is a lot of fighting as Marcus Johnson continues to try to figure out who is trying to kill him.  This six issue limited series just feels like one long origin story.  Hopefully it pays off.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

Batwoman #5 – The series relaunch isn’t as quality as the previous with a supernatural bent to it all.  The story is so-so, but the art is amazing.  It’s a buy just for that reason alone.  Hopefully the story quality ramps up a bit as the series progresses.

Story: 7 Art: 8.75 Overall: 7.5

Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive #528 –  The Panther is playing a game of chess with Fisk for the fate of Wakanda.  The story is entertaining enough and this issue has a very different artistic look.  I loved the art and would dig seeing a pulp/noir comic that looks like this.  This is the second to last issue and it’ll be interesting to see how it ends.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8

Brilliant #2 – The second issue of this Kick-Ass wannabe is ok and there’s a lot of interesting stuff in it.  But, the series feels tired and not fresh enough since so many other stories have walked this territory.  It’s not bad, it’s just not great.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Captain America #7 – Captain America keeps reverting and madbombs are being set off.  The story has a camp feel about it, but the art I think is just not as quality as it’s been in the past.  It’s a classic feel of a story, with art that also feels like it’s from the past.  Overall, not as strong as the past story arcs.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5

Daken: Dark Wolverine #19 – Wow is that a bad ending.  The art is sup-par, the story is a let down.  Overall, not the quality that we’ve seen.  It’s a shame because the character has so much potential.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

Green Lantern #5 – What is the Chamber of Shadows and who is the first Lantern?  So many questions are raised here after Jordan and Sinestro’s battle against the Sinestro Corps.  The story is intriguing and I want to see what else is in store that hasn’t been done before.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Journey Into Mystery #633 – A transition issue with some fantastic writing, but the story itself is slow.  The individual words are fantastic though.  Very odd.  There’s a slow fantasy build to it all as Loki has nightmares and the Son of Satan is looking for a demon.  This is just the beginning but really it’s for the hardcore Thor fans.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Mega Man #9 – Much like the video games, this latest ark feels rather similar to what’s come before.  That’s not a bad thing as just with the games, it was all quality.  Hopefully the story arc switches it up just enough, but it’s nostalgic fun for the whole family.  Perfect for kids and their parents who grew up playing the video games.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

The New Avengers #20 – The team takes on Osborn and his crew.  Overall there’s some very interesting stuff here and the usual solid and entertaining writing.  I feel like we’ve seen this story before, but it’s still good.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Resurrection Man #5 – We finally get a sense of Resurrection Man’s origin and it’s actually pretty cool.  The story got very interesting with the latest revelations and that ending.  I’m digging the series which is one of a few that are bringing Vertigo quality and horror to the DCU.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Scarlet Spider #1 – Kaine is in Houston and the story is very fun having a bit of an edgier tone from the Spider-Man comics I’ve read in the past.  The issue is the history of Kaine is so convoluted.  There’s clearly torment there that adds depth to the character, but unless you know it all, there’s a bit lost in the entertainment.  There is a bit at the end about Kaine, sort of, but even that just shows how overly complicated the Spider-Man history is.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Secret Avengers #21 – A mission to take on some weird beings and all I could think of was when Warren Ellis would be off of the series.  It’s not bad, but there’s just not a reason for the series.

Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7

Suicide Squad #5 – It’s a jailbreak and the squad is kicking ass.  The series is fun and there’s a lot of solid moments in it.  It’s definitely not Secret Six and is taking a bit to find it’s footing, but the series is entertaining.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7.5

Superboy #5 – Superboy is having some issue with Nowhere and Gen-13 is looking like it’s coming more and more to the DC universe.  There’s a lot of hints being dropped in the series which is a slow, but decent build up to…. something.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7.25 Overall: 7.5

Ultimate Comics X-Men #6 – Wow is all I can say.  So much going on and so solid.  Is Rogue a traitor?  Was there some plan?  And who is getting her to do everything she’s doing?  That answer is a shocker.  I really need to go back and get caught up on everything.

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5

Wolverine #300 – The situation with the Silver Samurai is finally being taken care of.  Also, what the hell is up with Sabretooth coming back?  So much I liked and so much I didn’t.  But Wolverine is getting back to the decent read it used to be.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Wolverine & the X-Men #4 – Logan is dealing with the fact that he’s now as much of a teacher as he is a murderer.  The issue is great with so many fantastic moments, especially for what it hints might be coming.  This is one of the best “X” books out there right now.

Story: 8.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 8.5

X-Factor #230 – The team is debating Guido having no soul and Jamie is in his weird world.  Wolverine makes a social call and offers up the team to join his side of the split.  This is the beginning of some great things I think.

Story: 8.5 Art: 7.25 Overall: 8.25

X-Men: Legacy #260.1 – The series shifts to the new school with some humor mixed into the issue.  The art is ok, but there’s potential here.  I’m interested in seeing how this series stands out.  A bit of an improvement.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7 Overall: 7.5

Comic Book Weekly Reviews – 9/28/11

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I’ve already posted reviews for the DC comics that came out, but here’s everything else.

American Vampire #19 – I guess this could be subtitled “the origin of Skinner Sweet.”  I think we’ll finally learn how he became a vampire by the end of it.  But so far, we’re thrown into the Civil War, the American war with the Indians and get to learn a lot about Sweet and his history.  An interesting start to the new arc.

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Annihilators: Earthfall #1 – The Annihilators still have the Universal Church to deal with which has now splintered into two factions fighting each other.  That leads them to Earth which gets noticed by a whole lot of folks.  A bunch of aliens beating up humans doesn’t go over too well.  Hopefully there’ll be more than fighting to this four issue limited series.  The Rocket Racoon and Groot story is entertaining, but not enough to put this issue over the top.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Avengers Academy #19 – The battle with Absorbing Man and Titania comes to an end with very uneven art and a story I shrug my shoulders about.  I don’t understand the praise over the series.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

Astonishing X-Men #42 – The battle with the Brood is over and there’s so much wrong here.  Storm goes from being infected to not in one panel, there’s a lot of sappy foreshadowing.  This series is anything but astonishing.

Story: 6.5 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.5

Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive #523.1 – An ok issue, that unfortunately again puts women in danger to get at the hero.  An all too easy plot device.  There’s a lot I liked, and a lot I didn’t (replacing bullets!?).  Not the best of the series and definitely not a good point one.  Also, following this with an event issue just isn’t smart planning.

Story: 7 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7.25

Brilliant #1 – The latest from Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley asks the question, “what if super powers were real?”  There’s some promise here, but the first issue doesn’t hook me like it should have.  I also can’t help but think I’ve seen this all before.

Story: 7 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

Captain America & Bucky #622 – Bucky takes center stage as he has to deal with the fact he’s the only person without power.  The Invaders get captured and he has to rush to their aid.  The series has been fun so far with solid art.  It’s nice it gives a look into Bucky’s early years without have to retcon a bunch of stories.  So far so good.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #2 – Two issues in and all this is, is one big fight scene between the Hulk and Vampires.  So far it adds little to the great Fear Itself storyline and the fact it’s release schedule is compressed makes me think this was a last minute thing or extremely late.  While not horrible in any way, I struggle to think of a reason one should buy it other than being a completist.

Story: 6.75 Art: 7 Overall: 6.75

Fear Itself: The Deep #4 – The series itself was blah, but that’s what’s known as foreshadowing.  It’s clear we’ll see a lot of these characters in the new Defenders series that will sure start.  Whether that’ll be better, that remains to be seen, but if it’s not, I don’t see it lasting long.

Story: 6.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7

FF #9 – The Inhuman’s whip some ass and with one issue Black Bolt is back and just dominates.  The way he dismisses everyone just is so bad ass.  A great issue that continues the problem with the Reed Richards’.  There’s also something with Valeria that’s up and who knows where that’s going.  A great continuation of a fantastic series.

Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25

Incorruptible #22 – Max Damage continues to do his thing to try to clean up his act as a new villain comes on the scene.  Plutonian also decides to show up, which should be interesting in the next issue.  Not the best of the series, but it’s a fun series overall.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Iron Man 2.0 #9 – The Palmer Addley story continues as we finally learn how he’s “survived.”  It’s an interesting issue and a lot I liked, but a bunch I had some issues with.  It’s unfortunate in that the series had a lot of momentum and then got derailed by Fear Itself.  If this was a straight story, without the break, it’d of been much better, but Marvel f-ed this up and a few other series with the distraction.

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75

Journey Into Mystery #628 – Loki leads the troops against the Serpent in hell.  It’s interesting, but not quite sure exactly what’s going on.  I like it, but I’m confused about it all.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7.75

Kick-Ass 2 #4 – For all of the talk about how women are treated and portrayed in comics, how did this not cause more of an uproar?  The comic is violent porn and the fact there isn’t an outcry over the rape of a teenage girl, the killing of small children and the murder of god knows how many cops makes me question the recent outcry.  But, onto the comic, it’s pure violence, with a lot of holy shit moments.  I’m a bit torn because it’s so over the top, but like a Tarantino movie, there’s something entertaining about it.

Story: 6 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.25

The Mighty Thor #6 – Not a bad ending to the battle with Galactus, but the issue remains as to when this takes place?  It can’t be post Fear Itself, then there’s the Silver Surfer’s involvement with the Annihilators.  It doesn’t exactly add up and for this Marvel fan, it bothers me.

Story: 7.75 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.75

The New Avengers #16.1 – Why did this have to be a point one issue?  There’s some good stuff here but the story telling and art are just off from the regular series.  If the point ones are supposed to not be just jumping on points but also get folks interested in a series, I just don’t see this doing that.

Story: 7 Art: 6.75 Overall: 7

New Mutants #31 – I don’t know what it is, but these Fear Itself tie-ins are so bad.  The story here is pointless other than a big fight, the art is horrible too.  I liked some of the page layouts, but it’s not enough to make is enjoyable.

Story: 6 Art: 6 Overall: 6

Rachel Rising #2 – WTF!?  That ending was so disturbing for so many reasons.  This is such a creepy horror comic….

Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8

Secret Avengers #17 – Warren Ellis took over the series I was expecting some big explosions and master story telling.  We’ve had to self contained issues for his first two issues and neither were all that good.  The art isn’t quite up to snuff and the plot is ho-hum.  It’s like the comic is treading water until Fear Itself is done.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2 – I can’t say I like how a story that took one issue to tell in the 1960’s will be dragged out for four or five issues, but the pacing and how things unfold are still solid.  There’s some great touches that really updates the Spider-Man mythos for the modern world wrapping in technology and discussions of tolerance.  Even the stereotypical chat about “responsibility” is updated.  This is Spider-Man for a new millennium and that has to do with more than just his skin color.

Story: 8 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8

Ultimate Comics Ultimates #2 – Well that got a bit complicated quickly.  I think the pacing was very off in the issue cramming in too much for a new reader, but it’s theme of technology and progress killing myth and god is very intriguing.

Story: 7.5 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7.75

Venom #7 – A bit torn on the issue, it’s easy to dismiss it as a tie-in for yet another event, but there’s a lot of focus on Flash and his connection to Venom.  It’s very subtle but it’s there.  Instead of asking Anti-Venom to come with him, he attacks, there’s then a scene with him and his father.  It’s two parts of a comic that’s really a focus on a character and the demons that lie within.

Story: 7.5 Art: 7 Overall: 7.25

Wolverine #16 – The fallout of Wolverine finding himself after killing his children continues, but I can’t help feel like I’ve read this exact same story before….

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75

X-Men: Legacy #256 – It’s great to see these characters back, but the story is boring and the art atrocious.  Spinning wheels until the shake up is all I have to say really.

Story: 6.75 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.75