I bought an abnormally large stack of books this week, and surprisingly enjoyed a lot of my purchases. What follows is a short summation of my thoughts on the titles I plunked down my hard earned cash for. Some of these books have been out a few weeks or even longer but I usually only pick up my pulls once a month so I do get a bit behind.
Hulk VS. Hercules: When Titans Smash: I really enjoyed this. For some unknown reason I'm trade waiting the regular Hercules ongoing, but I had picked up an issue or two so my interest was piqued enough to give this a try. Not exactly brainy but worth a look particularly if the thought of Hercules and Hulk punching each other -and various throw away characters- appeals to you.
Justice Society of America #14: Finally. This title was a bit sluggish of late but finally stepped up its game with this issue. The fight between Magog and the JSA was worth the price alone.
Brave and the Bold #12: I was sad to see George Perez leave but Ordway did an awesome job on these two issues. This was just a fun series and despite the fact that it will still be around another four issues I just don't know how I feel about Scott Kolins work right now. I'll pick up his first issue but it's up in the air as to whether or not I'll stick with this series through the end. Still, excellent job on this issue.
Booster Gold #8: Another fun issue. Not much more to say. This title lacks something but I've never been able to put my finger on just what. It's funny, action filled and has a big heart so as usual I enjoyed it.
Fantastic Four 554-556: Not sure what I think of this. Hitch's art is good though maybe not as good as Ultimates. The writing is capable but I just can't seem to get into this story at all. It all just seems kinda bland. Oh and that whole thing where the giant Captain America robot takes out like half of Marvel's heaviest hitters? Lame... as... crap.
Invincible #49: Umm, yeah its good but this plot with Cecil and the zombie robots better not end up as predictable as it seems to be. Still, even at it's worst Invincible is better than 99% of the other super hero stuff out there.
Wonder Woman 18 and 19: Good stuff. I have no idea why this title wasn't on my pull list the second they announced Gail Simone was coming on board but it is now. This was a nice little story and seemingly a good jumping on point as well. Looking forward to this next arc with great anticipation.
Action Comics #863: I loved this issue, especially the end. I'm always impressed by the heart Johns can bring to a comic and its that mixture of action, character and emotion that makes him such a good writer. A great wrap up to this story.
Batman #675: Good issue. Not great, but probably necessary reading if you intend to get RIP. The art was a little "blah" though.
Justice League of America #20: I liked it. I still think McDuffie is having a hard time bringing any sort of substance to this title but thats probably more a case of crossoveritis than anything. Great work by Van Sciver here though, and McDuffie seems to be a natural at writing Wally West. Perhaps we have a candidate for our next Flash writer?
Green Lantern #29: It's funny, I really was dreading this story arc as it seemed to sound like filler till we start the lead in to Blackest Night. This ended up being my favorite read out of everything though. I love it. And man, is Ivan Reis awesome or what?
All Star Superman #10: Great issue. The ending nearly brought a tear to my eye.
Batman and the Outsiders #6: Meh. This series is doing well under Dixon's hand but this was a really dull issue. I'm sure it'll be better next month. Nice cover though!
Might Avengers #12: Love love love it. Not usually a Maleev fan but his work here is really good and the writing is top notch without any of the usual Bendisian trademarks that drive me crazy. And with that, Nick Fury is back...
Mighty Avengers #11: Not so great...
New Avengers #39: Not impressed. The art wasn't as badly traced as I thought it would be but how many times can an artist reuse the same panel. The story was kinda cool though. I like this Echo chick and I thought I would hate her. Mostly because I hated her in Daredevil. Still, the issue as a whole just didn't do it for me. And that is one butt ugly cover you got yourself there Mack.
Ms Marvel #26: I've only been picking this up since the Secret Invasion tag started appearing on the cover but I dig it. It's got an old school vibe to it that I kinda love. Between this and Captain Marvel it appears that Brian Reed is writing two of the tie-ins that are somewhat instrumental to the Secret Invasion story.
Well that does it. I do want to mention that Marvel is doing a fine job of late with their freebies. The Secret Invasion prologue thing was cool, and the Avengers/Invaders sketchbook actually has me interested in picking up that maxiseries.
That does it for me.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
It's the Final Countdown...
I bought an issue of Wizard recently in what could only be described as an act of random stupidity. The issue was made up almost entirely of movie, game and toy news and as I flew through its sparse contents it hit me that there wasn't a single bit of new news in the entire thing. Not only that but if I want to read kiss-up interviews with celebrities appearing in genre movies I could just go buy an issue of EW or Empire. Obviously, everyone knows Wizard is not a bastion of comic book information but, when the heck did it become a low-rent US Magazine. I guess in the future I'll simply need to seek out more of Two Morrows publications when I need a fix. Or I could just read Newsarama, CBR or even IGN Comics section.
Has anyone been reading Nightwing, Robin, Batman and the Outsiders, or Batman Confidential lately? Is anyone else shocked by the sudden upswing in quality these books have seen in the last year? Nightwing is the best its been since the Chuck Dixon days. I started picking it up when I found out Rags Morales was handling the art but ended up staying thanks to the work that Tomasi is doing with the character. Is it just me or is Rags' work on this title looking rushed and awkward? I was reading the awesome Wrath Child arc of Batman Confidential the other day and I actually picked up an issue of Nightwing and compared Morales work in both and there is definitely a drop in quality. It could just be the inker or colorist at fault however. The best Rags has ever been was on Identity Crisis and that was as much due to the work of Alex Sinclair. Who's been handling the inking on Nightwing? It sure doesn't look like Michael Bair but who maybe I'm wrong.
At any rate the return of Chuck Dixon to the second tier Bat-books has helped make it DC's equivalent of the X-Men franchise. Outsiders is action packed, Robin has seen a return to the form that Dixon himself established in the series' early days, and, as already mentioned, the Wrath Child arc in Batman Confidential was fantastic and it's looking as though that title won't see a huge drop, particularly with the upcoming Kevin Maguire story arc. His art makes anything worth a look. If you're any sort of Batman fan you owe it to yourself to check these titles out.
In completely non-comic related news, this weekend is the Call of Duty live fire event that runs for a ridiculous 72 hour span. I intend on spending as much time participating as possible and have to say I'm jazzed to play. Sadly I went prestige about a week ago which resulted in being sent back to square one weapons wise. Also, my 360 decided it had enough of me and decided it would simply die on me leaving me with no choice but to steal my brothers for the weekend. This means I've barely played in about two weeks. Still, I'm determined to win something.
Say a prayer for me.
Has anyone been reading Nightwing, Robin, Batman and the Outsiders, or Batman Confidential lately? Is anyone else shocked by the sudden upswing in quality these books have seen in the last year? Nightwing is the best its been since the Chuck Dixon days. I started picking it up when I found out Rags Morales was handling the art but ended up staying thanks to the work that Tomasi is doing with the character. Is it just me or is Rags' work on this title looking rushed and awkward? I was reading the awesome Wrath Child arc of Batman Confidential the other day and I actually picked up an issue of Nightwing and compared Morales work in both and there is definitely a drop in quality. It could just be the inker or colorist at fault however. The best Rags has ever been was on Identity Crisis and that was as much due to the work of Alex Sinclair. Who's been handling the inking on Nightwing? It sure doesn't look like Michael Bair but who maybe I'm wrong.
At any rate the return of Chuck Dixon to the second tier Bat-books has helped make it DC's equivalent of the X-Men franchise. Outsiders is action packed, Robin has seen a return to the form that Dixon himself established in the series' early days, and, as already mentioned, the Wrath Child arc in Batman Confidential was fantastic and it's looking as though that title won't see a huge drop, particularly with the upcoming Kevin Maguire story arc. His art makes anything worth a look. If you're any sort of Batman fan you owe it to yourself to check these titles out.
In completely non-comic related news, this weekend is the Call of Duty live fire event that runs for a ridiculous 72 hour span. I intend on spending as much time participating as possible and have to say I'm jazzed to play. Sadly I went prestige about a week ago which resulted in being sent back to square one weapons wise. Also, my 360 decided it had enough of me and decided it would simply die on me leaving me with no choice but to steal my brothers for the weekend. This means I've barely played in about two weeks. Still, I'm determined to win something.
Say a prayer for me.
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