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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 8:39:54 GMT -5
With out any further ado( I'm far too tardy for that!) these are the user reviews of this week's latest books!  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 14:12:17 GMT -5
Hellboy and the BPRD: 1954 #2 Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson Art by Brian Churilla Summary: Hellboy squares off against a pair of Chinese demons while Sue psychically hunts down the source of the supernatural trouble in Hong Kong.
Plot: In the conclusion of their Chinese adventure Mignola and Roberson manage to provide us with enough action, myth and mystery for a solid read. We don't get any real insight into Hellboy or his relationship with his friends but the new locale was interesting and the introduction of a competing British paranormal society made things worth while.
Art: The big selling point of this issue is the art by Churilla; although the story is fairly rout the details in the art are exquisite. I specifically loved the scene where Susan first touched the spirit jar and got a glimpse of the Chinese vision of Hell. I loved the forms of torture, the people roasting on spits and the red, pointy eared demons with whips. It was familiar, yet new and bold and gave a great cultural insight that words never could have expressed.
Grade 7/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 15:04:57 GMT -5
American Gods #2 Written by P. Craig Russell Art by P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton Summary: Fresh out of jail, Shadow Moon finds himself recruited as a bodyguard for the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, only to be interrupted and kidnapped by the dangerous Technical Boy, who wants answers as to Wednesday's plans.
Plot: The narration remains strong, and the gradual, almost conversational pacing of the story continues to be engrossing in the second installment of P. Craig Russell's adaptation of Neil Gaimen's American Gods but I felt there was a lack of a sense of awe and confusion here that was wonderfully present in the novel. When Shadow would encounter mythical characters in the novel you'd feel that they stuck out, a sense of strange wonder would fill you but here it all seems so normal. The meeting with the Leprechaun and the Technical boy just come off as chance encounters in a typical action story than a weird mix of fantasy and reality.
Art: Hampton's attention to detail, especially in the bar scene, give it a true feeling of reality. The bar felt lived in, and the distinct people populating it didnt feel like just pieces of the back ground but actual characters.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 16:01:32 GMT -5
Star Trek: Boldly Go #7 Written by Mike Johnson Art Megan Levens Summary: In the wake of the Borg incursion the Romulans have agreed to meet with the Federation, and all seems to be going well until the Romulan ambassador is poisoned in the middle of his speech and now Kirk and his crew are racing against the clock to find out who did it.
Plot: One of the great parts of Star Trek that I always loved growing up was its ability to blend genres; you could do a western in space, or horror or even fantasy and it still felt right. In this issue Johnson gives us a fun combination of a murder mystery and science fiction with political intrigue. The characters are spot on, the action and pacing are fun and despite the vastness of space it still felt confined and claustrophobic.
Art: Again, the only down side here (as it usually is with the Star Trek comics at IDW) is the art. It's not terrible, but here it's overly cartoony and simplistic and it just seems too bright for the story.
Grade:6/10 |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 18:12:12 GMT -5
 Written by Gerry Conway. Art and Cover by Ryan Stegman. Part One of Two. MJ throws a birthday party for Peter. Prof X is at the party & invites the Parker family to visit Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. While there we find out in this reality Logan & Jean are married & have a child. There are hard feelings between Scott & Prof X because Charles stopped Civil War (the original) in a manner Scott disagreed with. And of course Scott does not like Logan for "stealing" Jean from him. Prof X suggests Peter & MJ enroll Annie at the school. Peter considers it. MJ is angry. She wants Annie to have a normal life. By the end of the issue Magneto infiltrates the X Mansion & Annie is caught in the middle... Great old school fun. It was neat to see Conway expanding this reality beyond the Spider Family. I like the changes we discover. It was a nice way to bring in the X-Men & have a team up. I liked the way MJ reacted to Xavier's offer. Can't wait to see Peter fight Magneto next issue. 9/10. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 18:30:16 GMT -5
 Written by Dan Abnett. Art and Cover by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund. The Titans face off against the Fearsome Five. Bumblebee saves the day. Mal suits up again as Herald. However the FF get away. Before they do Psimon "steals" some of Karen's memories as revenge. As a result she no longer remembers Mal or their child. Dick does some digging & discovers Meta Solutions was financed by HIVE. This story was a mixed bag. The good: the re-intro of Mal & Karen as Titans. The interactions between the various Titans. The set up to a conflict with HIVE. The bad: the fight felt rushed. Psimon's taking Karen's memories. Abnett continues to capture the individual personalities of the Titans well. I like the emphasis on the friendships between the members. I know there are others that do not like Booth's art but I like his kinetic art style on this title. I think it was a good idea to feature the original Titans instead of trying to "copy" the Wolfman/Perez Titans era. 9/10. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 15, 2017 18:36:20 GMT -5
I got Detective and Wonder Woman this week, but the real highlight of the week was Batgirl and the Birds of Prey!
I'm so glad I started picking up BGATBOP when it started. Lately it's been my consistent favorite of the Rebirth titles. (Unless we're counting the Young Animal imprint. Because thet would be Doom Patrol.)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 18:41:16 GMT -5
 Script by Greg Rucka. Art and Cover by Bilquis Evely. Rucka steadily weaves his plot lines together as we get closer to his final issue (#25). As always the even # issues are the best. Cale continues her conflict with WW to get Phobos & Deimos to release her daughter. Cale invokes Circe this issue to help her. However we find out the only way Cale can retrieve her daughter will result in Ares being released! Rucka's run on this volume of WW has been uneven. The art has been phenomenal! I hope once we get to #26 DC stops the two separate stories running in the same title. It was an interesting idea but I think it was a failure. 7/10. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 18:54:55 GMT -5
 Script by Joshua Williamson. Art by Neil Googe. Cover by Carmine Di Giandomenico. This issue ties up some plot points from the very first arc in this title. It also sets up future plot lines for stories after The Button crossover with Batman. The Black Hole are discovered stealing the bodies of the speedsters that died in the first arc with Godspeed. Iris goes undercover to stop the Black Hole. Flash is pulled into the conflict. Iris catches Barry in a lie that he tells her to cover up the fact that he is the Flash. We also find out one of Barry's allies is a traitor as part of the Black Hole. I wasn't a fan of the first arc but I stuck with the book because Williamson sets up things way in advance. In this issue we get a pay off 12 issues later. This will have repercussions in future issues. Williamson has put his stamp on Flash.
7/10. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 19:57:18 GMT -5
I got Detective and Wonder Woman this week, but the real highlight of the week was Batgirl and the Birds of Prey! I'm so glad I started picking up BGATBOP when it started. Lately it's been my consistent favorite of the Rebirth titles. (Unless we're counting the Young Animal imprint. Because thet would be Doom Patrol.) Birds of Prey is pretty fantastic, I love the drama between them. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 15, 2017 21:02:30 GMT -5
Skull Island: Birth of Kong #1 Written by Arvid Nelson Art by Zid Summary: A new team from Monarch goes to Skull Island to see if Kong is still king.
Plot: I was a big fan of the recent film; while it didn't have the same emotional depth of the original or Peter Jackson's remake it was a fun smash em creature feature so I was excited to see more and this book didn't disappoint. We got three new monsters with cool designs and a great reveal of Kong as he literally stomps a pack of creatures. The characters are just action cliches and i can't even remember there names even just 5 seconds after reading the book but it looks to be a fun creature feature just like the film.
Art: I've never heard of Zid before but the creatures he brought to life were a lot of fun, and the photo-realistic look gave it a real cinematic feel.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 16, 2017 3:00:54 GMT -5
Skull Island: Birth of Kong #1Written by Arvid Nelson Art by Zid Summary: A new team from Monarch goes to Skull Island to see if Kong is still king.
Plot: I was a big fan of the recent film; while it didn't have the same emotional depth of the original or Peter Jackson's remake it was a fun smash em creature feature so I was excited to see more and this book didn't disappoint. We got three new monsters with cool designs and a great reveal of Kong as he literally stomps a pack of creatures. The characters are just action cliches and i can't even remember there names even just 5 seconds after reading the book but it looks to be a fun creature feature just like the film.
Art: I've never heard of Zid before but the creatures he brought to life were a lot of fun, and the photo-realistic look gave it a real cinematic feel.
Grade:7/10 I'm not sure I want to read two monthly King Kong comic book series but I picked up this one anyway and I like it quite a bit better than Kong of Skull island. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 16, 2017 8:36:32 GMT -5
Skull Island: Birth of Kong #1Written by Arvid Nelson Art by Zid Summary: A new team from Monarch goes to Skull Island to see if Kong is still king.
Plot: I was a big fan of the recent film; while it didn't have the same emotional depth of the original or Peter Jackson's remake it was a fun smash em creature feature so I was excited to see more and this book didn't disappoint. We got three new monsters with cool designs and a great reveal of Kong as he literally stomps a pack of creatures. The characters are just action cliches and i can't even remember there names even just 5 seconds after reading the book but it looks to be a fun creature feature just like the film.
Art: I've never heard of Zid before but the creatures he brought to life were a lot of fun, and the photo-realistic look gave it a real cinematic feel.
Grade:7/10 I'm not sure I want to read two monthly King Kong comic book series but I picked up this one anyway and I like it quite a bit better than Kong of Skull island. You got me hooked on Kong of Skull Island so I was hoping you'd pick this one up too. I do think the art here is an improvement over the former, but so far i think the former has the better characterization compared to here. We go quick blurbs about the characters here, like you might see on the back of a package for an action figure, and before we could learn anything more about them or grow to care for them half of them were dead. I get that it was done to show just how dangerous the island was but I think a more effective way could have been found. Still it is a fun book and I enjoy how it ties into the new movies. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2017 10:57:36 GMT -5
My thoughts on titles from last week:
Wonder Woman 20: While I enjoyed this issue, it felt like a new 52 issue with Wonder Woman only appearing on a few pages while the supporting cast dominated the book. Circe's introduction was interesting as was her interactions with Veronica--and the origin of her dobermans! The art is growing on me.
6/10
Titans #7: Titans at their best! Melodrama, action, excitement! I loved the formula of having Nightwing and Flash captured and the other Titans coming in to save the day. Wasn't expecting what happened to Bumblebee and nice to see Lilith taking a bad guy down with a good old-fashioned punch. Also interesting is the part with the Fearsome Five being able to take the abilities of the super heroes and sell them off.
9/10
Action #977: A great jumping on point after the events of the last few issues. Superman gets the "This is Your Life Treatment" as he explores his origin after his encounter with the fake Clark. We see that the pre new 52 origin is pretty much restored. I felt bad for Superman when he was seeing the desperation of his parents on Krypton. It was nice to see Ma and Pa Kent again as well as Pete and Lana (in flashbacks). We also see someone assembling Superman's villains for the next story.
Ian Churchill's art is bold, clear, and dynamic. I hope he sticks around on this title! The colors were outstanding.
For me, the best book of the week (I am a bit biased though as I love these type of stories and Superman). 10/10
Supergirl #8: I dropped this book, but saw Superman and the Emerald Empress on the cover so I picked up a copy. The cover is very misleading as Emerald Empress is only in the book briefly. The focus of the book is about Superman explaining what he has learned about Rebirth. There are some nice scenes of Superman, Lois, Jon, and Supergirl hanging out in the Fortress. The art is still way too cartoony. It reminded me of something out of an 80s issue of Mad Magazine.
5/10
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Post by String on Apr 18, 2017 12:52:52 GMT -5
X-Men Blue #1 - Tracking a mutant signal, the original X-Men teens find a cruise ship being robbed by Black Tom Cassidy and his renewed best pal, Juggernaut. Cain, still upset over adult Scott's killing of Xavier, goes on a rampage. A frantic battle ensues but the teens manage to stop the pair and rescue the passengers, who, for once are quite thankful. The team returns to Madripoor to inform Magneto of their public success of this mission.
Taking over after Hopeless' teenage drama, Bunn steps up quite well here in this beginning. The dynamic among the team has changed (the biggest being Teen Jean is now the leader) and the banter and barbs between them as they face off against a powerful foe were fun and engaging. Credit to Marvel for keeping Bunn on Magneto, this title represents the third outing with Bunn handling the Master of Magnetism (behind his excellent solo title and UXM). The plot threads that Erik seems to picking up from latest events, not to mention the underlying reasons for why the O5 are working with him (who is using who?) indicate the drama to come. Molina's art is very good though the steam-punky new look for Juggernaut may be a tad too much.
Overall, another good start for the X-relaunch. 9/10
Weapon X #1 - Old Man Logan is attacked by a new foe, cybernetic humans equipped with claws and razors. Caught completely by surprise (they can pass themselves off as totally human, fooling even Logan's enhanced senses). Logan barely escapes after a pitched battle and chase. These new cyborgs are working for a mysterious new group who are hunting down former subjects of the various Weapon Plus programs (already having captured Lady Deathstrike). Extremely wary now, OML manages to track down Sabretooth, who's already faced these new foes and barely survived himself. Logan offers to team up to investigate this, which Creed initially scoffs at but changes his mind when he learns that, in order to gain his help one way or the other, Logan has lead these new foes right to Creed's doorstep.
Normally, I don't go for these type of black ops books which seemingly feature every X-character who ever had claws or a healing factor. But in support of this new X-relaunch, I decided to try it and Greg Pak does a good job here building the mystery and tension. The scenes between Logan and Creed shine though, their dialogue carrying the strong sense of recognition and history between these two characters. On the art side, Greg Land can have his questionable moments, but for the most part, he's capable here.
7/10
Action Comics #977 - this was a nice re-telling of Superman's origin, which again combines elements from the Silver, Bronze, and modern ages. Churchill's art was the highlight, just superb panels and splashes. (The one scene of Superman standing amidst a public square on Krypton, with all the various civilians milling about for example, wow).
8/10
Titans #7 - Yeah, this was fun, how the Five take down the remaining members of the Titans only to be confounded and befuddled by Bumblebee. Psimon's revenge on her by 'stealing' part of her memories had heartache to it. The discovery of the Five's connection to HIVE would seem to set up the upcoming crossover with Deathstroke and the Teen Titans. I still enjoy Booth's art.
7/10
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