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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 28, 2018 11:17:58 GMT -5
 Action Comics #1001.Written by Brian Michael Bendis. Art and Cover by Patrick Gleason. This arc starts off where Man of Steel ended concerning the mysterious fires being set in Metropolis. Superman is trying to track down who is setting the fires both as Superman & as Clark at the Planet. He finds a lead and goes to investigate. Meanwhile we find out someone is tracking Superman's moves. The fires are being set by a crime boss who is killed by a being called the Red Cloud. And Lois is back from space... but without Jon and living separated from Clark. Bendis continues some of the plots he set up in MOS. This title is more "street level" in tone than Superman. I loved Superman's interactions with some bank robbers. Bendis nails the characters and really "gets" Superman IMO. Honestly I enjoyed this issue more than I did his first issue of Superman. And Gleason turned in the best art of his career. It was gorgeous. His Superman is massive! All the characters looked great. I can not say enough about Gleason's more "polished" art style on this issue. 9/10.I liked the more street level feel to this book as well and I'm really loving the character work Bendis is doing, not only with Superman but also the supporting cast at the planet as well. That said, I'm still not loving the Lois plot...I was just starting to get so I was accepting the cosmic vacation with Lois, Jon and Jor El but that there could possibly be anything Lois could see or experience out in the wilderness of space that would lead Lois to even contemplate exposing Clark just rings untrue to me. I'm willing to let Bendis tell his tale to see where its going but it's going to be an uphill battle to defeat my skeptisim. That said, I'm loving Gleason's art; his Superman perfectly captures both the might of Superman and the farmboy charm of Clark Kent all in one. I particularly loved the scene where Superman was catching the thugs bullets, the image of Clark placidly standing in harms way with the blurred hands around him showing that he was also catching the stray shots as well in a beautifully simplistic way. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 11:58:08 GMT -5
Action 1001: Wow, I had my doubts about Bendis, but they are put to rest...for now. Awesome mix of Clark, Superman, Daily Planet, mystery, new characters...lots going on in this issue. This issue seemed like the perfect mix with echoes of Superman past, Superman movies, and some new elements thrown in. The art is awesome. Superman looks very golden age...but updated for modern times. Not only is he larger than life, he certainly looks that way. Nice how this was conveyed in the opening sequence.
10/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 29, 2018 9:36:55 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #84Written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz Art by Dave Wachter Summary: The Turtles leave the frozen home of Mammoth and come face to face with the Ratking.
Plot: With all the various cross overs and events the Turtles have been involved in of late, which never caught my interest, I had been thinking about dropping the book but the last issue promised a story that brought the Turtles back to New York and gave them a sense of purpose again. After an extended detour Eastman and Waltz are getting things back on track in fleshing out what happened after the fall of the Shredder; we had great set up with Splinter taking over the Foot Clan and the Turtles leaving him and forming Clan Hamato but since then there has been little follow up. I thought the tricariton invasion could have been what moved things along...but for it's scope it really had little effect but the threat of the Immortals really seems to be moving things along; providing great character moments for all the Turtles and also pointing the way to a natural reconciliation with Splinter. With chaos as the theme it's hard to say where things will go but I'm pulling for Eastman and Waltz to stick the landing.
Art: Wachter still isn't my favorite artist to grace the pages of TMNT, his semi-beaky look is very inconsistent, but I'll take him over the odd cartoony look we got in the Dimension X story.
Grade: 7/10
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2018 12:50:56 GMT -5
Mera Queen Of Atlantis #6: Mera certainly proves why she is worthy to be queen in the conclusion of this series. I was hoping for a happier ending for Ocean Master and this surface family. With the shoddy quality of the Wonder Woman comic, Mera was a refreshing treat. Of course, Mera doesn't come with all the convoluted trappings of Wonder Woman, but Abnett certainly has the Queen of Atlantis poised to be even more awesome (with or without Aquaman). Even though the story was a bit uneven (at times it seemed more like an Ocean Master story), I enjoyed it.
7/10
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2018 11:23:37 GMT -5
I'm sorry to regret this -- I'm no longer writing any more reviews in all future "Off the Racks" anymore and keeping things to myself. Thanks Members.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 31, 2018 18:23:12 GMT -5
I'm sorry to regret this -- I'm no longer writing any more reviews in all future "Off the Racks" anymore and keeping things to myself. Thanks Members. That's too bad mech, hopefully you keep finding books you enjoy though! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2018 22:25:52 GMT -5
I'm sorry to regret this -- I'm no longer writing any more reviews in all future "Off the Racks" anymore and keeping things to myself. Thanks Members. That's too bad mech, hopefully you keep finding books you enjoy though! I'm getting burned out here and thinking of taking a leave of absence from this forum right around Labor Day and be out for unspecified amount of time that I don't know how it will last. I'm selling a lot of my books and keeping certain trade paperbacks for my own enjoyment. Right now, I'm kind of lost my desires to read comics and going into a phase that I'm prioritizing my time and all that. That's where I'm at this point of time. Sorry about this unsettling news. |
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Post by String on Aug 1, 2018 10:14:24 GMT -5
Some quick thoughts on issues from this week: Action Comics #1001 - Agree with what has been said already about this issue. Bendis continues to surprise me here with his plots (so far), new supporting cast, and villains. Gleason's art is nigh-perfect (look at the way he portrays Clark, he's still about the same body size but it's his posturing, the way he kinda hunches forward to dispel any possible comparison to Superman, subtle yet brilliant, love it) 9/10
Amazing Spider-Man #2 - The Peter/MJ scenes were great, really excited for where they might be going forward from here. The set-up with Lizard was nice and the fight scenes were good but c'mon, Taskmaster is better than that.  8/10
Marvel Two-in-One #8- While this may seem like a filler issue, I quite liked it as it focused on Johnny and Ben dealing with being stranded, their powers having greatly diminished (while being hunted for), and Ben finally confesses his lie to Johnny which leads to a brawl. It may have lacked the Wow factor of the previous arc but it made up for it with some good characterization and thought on their current troubles. Perez's art was okay overall though some shots during their fight looked distorted. 6/10
Mr. and Mrs. X #1 - Kelly Thompson picks up where she left off after their recent mini-series as we see Remy and Rogue get married and attempt to have a lovely honeymoon only to be interrupted by Kitty who sends them on a mission which brings them into conflict with the Sh'iar and members of the Imperial Guard. The characterization and wit here are top-notch as Thompson starts exploring the couples' new partnership (proving that with some creativity, there is no such thing as a 'boring' marriage) while Oscar Bazaldua's art is very good. 9/10 |
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