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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 19, 2018 19:07:19 GMT -5
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 19, 2018 20:01:02 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #89Written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz Art by Michael Dialynas Summary: On Christmas Eve Master Splinter is visited by four spirits who hope that through their divine intervention that he may be saved.
Plot: Since the beginning with the original Turtles Micro Series Christmas has been a big part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mythology so another entry is always welcome. Although this latest entry is perhaps not as heart warming as "Christmas Aliens" from Michelangelo #1 with it's adoption of the cat Klunk, this modern retelling of Charles Dicken's immortal Christmas Classic starring Splinter, Shredder and the Panteon was none the less very fun. I think my only complaint would be that this is an issue that really would have benefited from being an over-sized issue so that we could really linger with the spirits and truly feel Splinter's transformation as at the end as it was presented the turn with Splinter dressing up as Santa and calling his family to him felt a little unearned.
Art: I think my favorite part of this issue by far was Dialynas' interpretation of the Turtles in the future, I absolutely loved the samurai style armor he gave them! I don't due action figures these days but if I saw these Turtles on the shelf I'd snatch up the whole set in a heartbeat.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 23:24:17 GMT -5
Justice League 14: I don’t follow the Justice League anymore. I also am probably the only person who didn’t care for the JL cartoon, so when the book relaunched a year or so ago with that lineup, I passed. However, I saw this issue featured Thanagar and seemed Hawkman related, So I picked it up. No idea what exactly was going on other than Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter are on Thanagar seeking answers to something or other. Kendra is seeking answers to some mystery with her wings and the trio encounter Shayera Hol (!!!!). She decides the JL is getting to close to things she’d rather they not know and the new 52 Savage Hawkman appears to put the JL in their place. Now, I’m wondering how all this will tie into what’s going on in Hawkman’s own book. I hope this is not going to muck anything up that Robert Venditti has planned, but I admit, I’m intrigued. The art was good, especially in the Thanagar scenes. There was a different artist at the beginning and end of the book which featured Superman, Batman, And Wonder Woman.
7.5/10
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 20, 2018 16:08:54 GMT -5
More than 24 hours have passed and I still haven't had time to read my new comics (except for 3 or 4 pages of The Tempest #3). I hope to have the time SOON to write about The Tempest #3, Catwoman #6 and the True Believer reprint of The Fantastic Four #36.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2018 23:48:18 GMT -5
Betty and Veronica #1: the eternal BFFs head into senior year in this very warm and sincere ode to friendship. Jamie Lee Rotante writes the girls in a very realistic way— starting senior year, college applications, and the possibility of them going their separate ways upon graduation. We also learn that Betty had been dating Reggie all summer and they had a very bad breakup. The story gets set into motion at a college party where a drunken Betty calls Archie for help and Veronica learns just how deep Reggie’s feelings for Betty are. Sandra Lanz’s Art flows from page to page and is clean, easy to follow, and she has a knack for drawing young people. Kelly Fitzpatrick’s colors compliment the art and the book is just beautiful to look at.
10/10
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2018 13:45:40 GMT -5
Captain America #6.
Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Art by Leinil Francis Yu.
Ugh... the end of Coates first arc on Cap and yet again I will be dropping this title. It seems like every writer since Brubaker left has been uninspired on Cap. I have read reviews about Coates' writing and they have been glowing. Me? I don't get it. His pacing is horrible. His writing is decompressed. This issue was all exposition explaining the villain's motives and plans. And the twist at the end? Have seen this happen before. Not even a clever take on an old idea. Going into this arc I expected so much more and have been so under whelmed. The only bright spot was Yu's art.
2/10 for this issue. 4/10 for whole arc.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2018 13:56:15 GMT -5
Aquaman #43.
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Art by Robson Rocha and Daniel Henriques.
The aftermath of Drowned Earth (which I did not read). Arthur washes ashore on a remote island with amnesia. He seems to be adjusting to his "new" life. However something is "off" in this weird island village.
This issue was decent for a set up issue. It takes Aquaman and the title in a different direction. There are hints that Mera will reappear in the title again soon. It was interesting enough to get me invested for the first arc. Hopefully it will pay off. Rocha's art has a "sketchy" style to it. But it fit this story & the tone DeConnick is establishing.
7/10. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 21, 2018 16:46:12 GMT -5
Captain America #6.Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Art by Leinil Francis Yu. Ugh... the end of Coates first arc on Cap and yet again I will be dropping this title. It seems like every writer since Brubaker left has been uninspired on Cap. I have read reviews about Coates' writing and they have been glowing. Me? I don't get it. His pacing is horrible. His writing is decompressed. This issue was all exposition explaining the villain's motives and plans. And the twist at the end? Have seen this happen before. Not even a clever take on an old idea. Going into this arc I expected so much more and have been so under whelmed. The only bright spot was Yu's art. 2/10 for this issue. 4/10 for whole arc. You made it one more issue than I did, I dropped it after the last one. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 21, 2018 17:30:17 GMT -5
I continue to enjoy how weird The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has become but #3 is even weirder yet! Some of it is in 3-D and the glasses are included! I imagine some readers will love seeing Emma Peel. And I imagine some readers will be a bit peeved at the way James Bond is portrayed. I am a big James Bond fan … and I find Alan Moore's less-than-glowing critique to be pretty funny and not undeserved. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 21, 2018 17:34:26 GMT -5
The first story arc of the new Catwoman series concludes in this issue and I'm feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I've enjoyed the storyline so far and the art is great! But I don't think they really had enough story for six issues. Maybe I'll feel differently when I read the whole storyline in one sitting. |
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Post by The Captain on Dec 21, 2018 19:18:55 GMT -5
Captain America #6.Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Art by Leinil Francis Yu. Ugh... the end of Coates first arc on Cap and yet again I will be dropping this title. It seems like every writer since Brubaker left has been uninspired on Cap. I have read reviews about Coates' writing and they have been glowing. Me? I don't get it. His pacing is horrible. His writing is decompressed. This issue was all exposition explaining the villain's motives and plans. And the twist at the end? Have seen this happen before. Not even a clever take on an old idea. Going into this arc I expected so much more and have been so under whelmed. The only bright spot was Yu's art. 2/10 for this issue. 4/10 for whole arc. This issue was an absolute waste of time and money for me, as has been this entire arc. Glacial pacing, no urgency to any of the actions, and the "shock" ending that left me pretty much "meh". I'm really struggling with this book right now, because I want to continue my complete run of all Cap issues, but it's hard to justify spending the money on such a poorly done book. While I was excited for Coates to come onboard and hopefully do something interesting with Cap, I don't even care when the next issue of the book will come out. It's that bad, and I can't find anything redeeming about it other than Yu's art. My grades are pretty much in line with yours. |
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Post by The Captain on Dec 21, 2018 19:25:09 GMT -5
Aquaman #43.
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Art by Robson Rocha and Daniel Henriques.
The aftermath of Drowned Earth (which I did not read). Arthur washes ashore on a remote island with amnesia. He seems to be adjusting to his "new" life. However something is "off" in this weird island village.
This issue was decent for a set up issue. It takes Aquaman and the title in a different direction. There are hints that Mera will reappear in the title again soon. It was interesting enough to get me invested for the first arc. Hopefully it will pay off. Rocha's art has a "sketchy" style to it. But it fit this story & the tone DeConnick is establishing.
7/10. This series had been on my pull list and was just barely hanging on until the Drowned Earth story, at which point I dropped it. I did intend to check out the new team but did not want to commit to buying the book if it wasn't up to par, but after leafing through it at the store last night, I picked this up. The story is in set-up mode, and I'm already sure there will be some kind of love triangle between Arthur, Caille (the woman in red who lives on the island and around whom this first story arc seems to revolve) and Mera at some point. It's something different than "some upstart in Atlantis thinks Arthur is too soft on the surface world and plots to take over by initiating a war with the United States" which we've seen multiple times before, and that's a good thing. I did like the art, which was less superhero-ey and more arty than this title has seen recently. 7/10, and while I'm not ready to add it back to the pull list, I will definitely be picking up the next issue. |
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Post by The Captain on Dec 21, 2018 19:33:17 GMT -5
 Firefly #2Continuing on the story started last issue, the crew find themselves in danger due to a group of hunters known as the Unificators looking for Mal and Zoe, who have been named as war criminals for their actions after the battle of Serenity Valley. While their friends are in disbelief, Mal and Zoe both flash back to moments where they may have earned that distinction, making it hard for them to deny the allegations. As well, they continue to be in the employ of a group of pilgrims, who find it exciting that they are being protected by war criminals; this will bear further watching down the line as to exactly who these pilgrims are and why they are so bloodthirsty. The art isn't bad, and I'm glad it lacks the photo-reference quality that many pop culture adaptations have, making it look staged with the characters being taken directly from the source material. You can tell who everyone is, but they don't look exactly like Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, etc., and that is not a bad thing. 7/10, as I'm interested in seeing how the "heroes" reconcile their past with their companions and how it affects their relationships going forward. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2018 21:27:35 GMT -5
This series had been on my pull list and was just barely hanging on until the Drowned Earth story, at which point I dropped it. I did intend to check out the new team but did not want to commit to buying the book if it wasn't up to par, but after leafing through it at the store last night, I picked this up. The story is in set-up mode, and I'm already sure there will be some kind of love triangle between Arthur, Caille (the woman in red who lives on the island and around whom this first story arc seems to revolve) and Mera at some point. It's something different than "some upstart in Atlantis thinks Arthur is too soft on the surface world and plots to take over by initiating a war with the United States" which we've seen multiple times before, and that's a good thing. I did like the art, which was less superhero-ey and more arty than this title has seen recently. 7/10, and while I'm not ready to add it back to the pull list, I will definitely be picking up the next issue. I had Aquaman on my pull list towards the end of the new 52 and continued into Rebirth. However when the King Rath arc drug on & on I ended up dropping the title and had no interest in picking it up with the Drowned Earth arc. I only picked it up this week because I had a light week. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2018 0:05:09 GMT -5
Freedom Fighters #1: DC reintroduces Earth X where America has fallen to the Germans and the original Freedom Fighters are slaughtered (Does this group always get the shaft? I’m remembering the brutal scene in Infinite Crisis) and their leader, Olympic hero, Jesse Owens is sent to a labor camp. The execution aftermath....horrific. Fast forward to current day Earth X and we meet the all new Freedom Fighters ready to take the USA back along with help from the missing Uncle Sam. The art is very classic and suits the story. Kudos to Eddy Barrows (in particular a scene of Human Bomb extending the middle finger to some Nazis!!). Robert Venditti is quickly becoming my favorite DC writer. He seems to “get” characters that DC has messed up or abandoned and makes them very readable accessible. My minor gripe is Phantom Lady’s new look. I loved her golden age look and how she used her physical appearance to often get the jump on her male adversaries.
Excellent first issue!
8/10
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