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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 10:46:35 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKS |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 14:39:05 GMT -5
Lois Lane #2Written by Greg Rucka Art by Mike Perkins Summary: Ace reporter Lois Lane continues to chase after the truth of the financing of detention centers...without the safety net of Superman.
Plot: While Rucka's attack on pay to play politics may not be a subtle commentary on our current President, the character development he gives us for Lois is fantastic. She's not a prop for Superman here, she's a strong character in her own right with her own quest and motivations and her supporting cast of Perry, Clark and Montoya as the Question all work really well. I'm not sure where the plot will eventually go but the solid cast and sense of mystery certainly make for a must read.
Art: While I enjoy the mood Perkins brings to book his female character work left much to be desired. Sure, they look beautiful...but they were all the same, even to the point that I had to really pay attention to the dialogue to tell the difference between Lois and Montoya which really shouldn't be a difficult task.
Grade:8/10
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 15:42:11 GMT -5
Berserker Unbound #1Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Mike Deodato Jr. Summary: A Barbarian Lord returns home to find his family killed but before he succumbs to his foes himself he's whisked off to...the present day!
Plot: A barbarian lord, mourning his lost family fights off an evil sorcerer and his army in a quest for revenge in an exotic land! I'm sure it all would be very exciting too...if it weren't for the fact that we'd seen it all before. Right now this book is little more than a two dimensional pastiche of Conan and if it were by anyone else I'd give this a hard pass but given Lemire's track record I'm more than sure that the pastiche is intentional and that the tale that is about to unfold will be as much an exploration of sword and sorcery as Black Hammer was a look at super hero fiction which is a very promising idea.
Art: Deodato's style of larger than life physiques is the perfect fit for this skewering of Conan and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of fun Lemire let's him unleash in the future.
Grade:8/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 17:46:58 GMT -5
Immortal Hulk #22Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Summary: Gamma-Flight descends on Groom Lake to take on the new Abomination only to find it's a trap...but then the Hulk shows up for round two.
Plot: While not anywhere near as bad as the last issue, which came off as total filler, nothing was really advanced or expanded upon in this issue making it far from the heights we know Ewing can attain. We got a lot of talking heads, heroes rushing into an obvious trap and then the Hulk appearing seemingly out of no-where at the end to set up a super-hero smack down next month. Nothing offensively bad there as you can see...but nothing really inspiring either, just a whole lot of treading water.
Art: It's good to have Bennett back instead of a "guest" artist...but the plot didn't give him anything interesting to do so he was really wasted here.
Grade:6/10 |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 7, 2019 19:33:06 GMT -5
Lois Lane #2Written by Greg Rucka Art by Mike Perkins Summary: Ace reporter Lois Lane continues to chase after the truth of the financing of detention centers...without the safety net of Superman.
Plot: While Rucka's attack on pay to play politics may not be a subtle commentary on our current President, the character development he gives us for Lois is fantastic. She's not a prop for Superman here, she's a strong character in her own right with her own quest and motivations and her supporting cast of Perry, Clark and Montoya as the Question all work really well. I'm not sure where the plot will eventually go but the solid cast and sense of mystery certainly make for a must read.
Art: While I enjoy the mood Perkins brings to book his female character work left much to be desired. Sure, they look beautiful...but they were all the same, even to the point that I had to really pay attention to the dialogue to tell the difference between Lois and Montoya which really shouldn't be a difficult task.
Grade:8/10
Greg Rucka blew me away with how he handled his Wonder Woman run, having far more fun with the "day at the office" adventures and interactions than the superhero slugfests. He seems PERFECT for a Lois Lane title. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 19:34:37 GMT -5
Lois Lane #2Written by Greg Rucka Art by Mike Perkins Summary: Ace reporter Lois Lane continues to chase after the truth of the financing of detention centers...without the safety net of Superman.
Plot: While Rucka's attack on pay to play politics may not be a subtle commentary on our current President, the character development he gives us for Lois is fantastic. She's not a prop for Superman here, she's a strong character in her own right with her own quest and motivations and her supporting cast of Perry, Clark and Montoya as the Question all work really well. I'm not sure where the plot will eventually go but the solid cast and sense of mystery certainly make for a must read.
Art: While I enjoy the mood Perkins brings to book his female character work left much to be desired. Sure, they look beautiful...but they were all the same, even to the point that I had to really pay attention to the dialogue to tell the difference between Lois and Montoya which really shouldn't be a difficult task.
Grade:8/10
Greg Rucka blew me away with how he handled his Wonder Woman run, having far more fun with the "day at the office" adventures and interactions than the superhero slugfests. He seems PERFECT for a Lois Lane title. It's really a fantastic book, definitely one of my favorite new books. I'm hoping we see more of the Planet's cast in the future. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 7, 2019 19:38:41 GMT -5
Greg Rucka blew me away with how he handled his Wonder Woman run, having far more fun with the "day at the office" adventures and interactions than the superhero slugfests. He seems PERFECT for a Lois Lane title. It's really a fantastic book, definitely one of my favorite new books. I'm hoping we see more of the Planet's cast in the future. And yet your review hits upon exactly why I avoid modern books from the Big Two: Two issues in, two months in, $8 in, and you still have no real sense of the plot yet. That's inexcusable to me. I'm not going to commit to a 12 issue maxi-series (12 issues, 1 year, $48) for a storyline that isn't blowing me out of the water right from the start. I'll look for a lovable bunch of supporting characters in the dollar bins. It's not Rucka's fault -- it's the industry. End soapbox rant. It sounds great. If I were willing to put up with Big Two nonsense, I'd be pulling this in a second. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 7, 2019 20:46:04 GMT -5
It's really a fantastic book, definitely one of my favorite new books. I'm hoping we see more of the Planet's cast in the future. And yet your review hits upon exactly why I avoid modern books from the Big Two: Two issues in, two months in, $8 in, and you still have no real sense of the plot yet. That's inexcusable to me. I'm not going to commit to a 12 issue maxi-series (12 issues, 1 year, $48) for a storyline that isn't blowing me out of the water right from the start. I'll look for a lovable bunch of supporting characters in the dollar bins. It's not Rucka's fault -- it's the industry. End soapbox rant. It sounds great. If I were willing to put up with Big Two nonsense, I'd be pulling this in a second. You'll get no argument about pricing from me, especially with my need to tighten by belt a bit in the short term. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 7, 2019 20:58:12 GMT -5
And yet your review hits upon exactly why I avoid modern books from the Big Two: Two issues in, two months in, $8 in, and you still have no real sense of the plot yet. That's inexcusable to me. I'm not going to commit to a 12 issue maxi-series (12 issues, 1 year, $48) for a storyline that isn't blowing me out of the water right from the start. I'll look for a lovable bunch of supporting characters in the dollar bins. It's not Rucka's fault -- it's the industry. End soapbox rant. It sounds great. If I were willing to put up with Big Two nonsense, I'd be pulling this in a second. You'll get no argument about pricing from me, especially with my need to tighten by belt a bit in the short term. Well, pricing plus decompression, plus writing for the trade. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 5:14:38 GMT -5
Berserker Unbound #1Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Mike Deodato Jr. Summary: A Barbarian Lord returns home to find his family killed but before he succumbs to his foes himself he's whisked off to...the present day!
Plot: A barbarian lord, mourning his lost family fights off an evil sorcerer and his army in a quest for revenge in an exotic land! I'm sure it all would be very exciting too...if it weren't for the fact that we'd seen it all before. Right now this book is little more than a two dimensional pastiche of Conan and if it were by anyone else I'd give this a hard pass but given Lemire's track record I'm more than sure that the pastiche is intentional and that the tale that is about to unfold will be as much an exploration of sword and sorcery as Black Hammer was a look at super hero fiction which is a very promising idea.
Art: Deodato's style of larger than life physiques is the perfect fit for this skewering of Conan and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of fun Lemire let's him unleash in the future.
Grade:8/10 Not a bad debut issue I thought. Seemed like a simple setup more than anything. Casually interested to see where it goes. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 5:17:50 GMT -5
Absolute Carnage #1 Written by Donny Cates Penciled by Ryan Stegman  Damn this was good. Just read this today. It was so fucking awesome. It was out of my comfort zone a bit, since I'm not a huge Spiderman fan, but I really like the artist Ryan Stegman so I decided to read this. Glad I did. Cates weaves an incredible first issue, even for those not that familiar with everything that has been going on in the previous Venom run (like myself as I only read one issue which was also great). I was definitely on the edge of my seat here. I really felt like I got inside Eddie Brock's head, a character that I largely considered an afterthought. Now I care about his journey. Also, not knowing anything about Carnage other than the basic information, Cates takes care of that for his audience. Stegman's work is marvelous as well, and you can tell he has drawn the spider folks over, and over again. The panel layouts are pretty impressive in my opinion, and there is just a grit to it that fits. I also like the way he renders faces, and has a good variance of expressions in them. I can't wait to see where this goes. Now I need to go back and read the previous Venom run with both Cates and Stegman. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 5:52:36 GMT -5
Savage Avengers #4 Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Mike Deodato  I had actually completely forgot about issue number 3 the previous month. Not sure how that happened, because I was anxious to see where the story went after the first two issues. So I basically read issues 3 and 4 within days of each other. Issue #4 is essentially the entire team finally coming together against a big threat. Elektra, The Punisher, Wolverine, Conan, Venom (who is a dragon for whatever reason), and Brother Voodoo after four issues are assembled. Definitely an action packed issue with the heroes trying to take down this magic being called Jhoatun Lau, conjured by Kulan Gath the Sickle Priest, and members of the Hand. And really, that's pretty much it. Not too much depth here other than that. Actually, that is what has been happening for all of these issues really. I am enjoying the spectacle, but I hope sooner rather than later Duggan gets some more meat on the reader's plate in terms of having a more interesting narrative other than taking down a power hungry magic goon. Some conflicts between the characters or something. We shall see. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 6:03:08 GMT -5
DCeased #4 Written by Tom Taylor Penciled by Trevor Hairsine  This continues to be exciting for me. Issue 3 was the only issue I thought sagged a bit, but was still decent. Here, things pick up, and shit just gets more grim with a couple of more heroes/villains being taken out by the virus. One in particular is infected, and it just seems like checkmate for the Earth at that point. I think I know how this will turn out, but maybe Taylor will pull a rabbit out of hat, if things even turn out well at all. Hairsine has some good panels in this issue. I don't know why I've done a 180 on him since issue 1, but I'm pretty comfortable with him for now. He's a decent choice. There is one panel involving Cyborg and Giganta which is pretty polarizing in the latest issue. Pretty dope. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 7:39:40 GMT -5
Agents of Atlas #1 Written by Greg Pak and Jeff Parker Penciled by Gang Hyuk Lim and Carlo Pagualyan  This is essentially two stories with Greg Pak, and Gang Hyuk Lim tackling the storyline of the latest iteration of the team, which is composed of Amandeus Cho/new Hulk, Silk, Shang Chi, Aero, Wave, and Luna Snow. There are others that haven't been introduced yet in this first issue, but they were in the mini series of this same team during the recent War of Realms arc (I also read an issue of that). In that first story of this issue, it seems typical fare with the team not even complete, and seeing which direction/what their purpose is as a new squad. Most of these guys I didn't know, but it was fine. Cho is spotlighted here with Jimmy Woo, and essentially his status as field leader is brought up since Cho is questioning his fit, and if it's appropriate. The meat here in terms of what potential obstacle the team may face is kind of interesting. We shall see. Even a love triangle has reared it's head. The second by Parker, and Pagulayan is about the classic roster. I knew nothing about that team going in, but still had a decent time with the tale, and it did connect with the first story in terms of a big question I had. Basically a short black ops type of deal that happens, and you find out a little bit of what wizard is behind that curtain, which in a way ties into Jimmy Woo's relationship with the new team. All in all, not bad. |
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Aug 8, 2019 7:48:52 GMT -5
House of X #2 Written by Johnathan Hickman Penciled by Pepe Larraz  This was another compelling issue. Between what Hickman is doing here, and Cates is doing with Absolute Carnage out of the gate, Marvel is shelling out two heavy hitter stories I think. Here, Moira MacTaggert is given a ton of interesting dimension, and taken in a direction that is really intriguing. It reminded me of something Rod Serling would write on his best day. Hickman is playing his long game of course, and there is still more questions raised just went some answers are revealed from the previous issue. This was tight. |
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