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