|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 5, 2020 6:48:05 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKS Pretty slim week out there, anyone read anything? |
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 5, 2020 10:16:32 GMT -5
Star Wars: Shadow of Vader's CastleWritten by Cavan Scott Art by Francesco Francavilla, Derek Charm, and Nicoletta Baldari. Summary: Even though the Empire is gone darkness lingers on at Mustafar and Vader lingers on even when his castle falls.
Plot: For the last few years IDW has been giving Star Wars fans a unique treat every Halloween: a Star Wars themed horror anthology comic. While the adventure line is kid friendly which means there are no real threats its never the less been a fun ride and a great way to celebrate the season...which makes the release of this book on November 4th a little bit of a head scratcher. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big horror fan so I'll take a creepy book any time of the year but when Halloween is part of the appeal missing the mark is just plain odd. That oddity aside it was just as fun as usual giving us a fun story of Anakin's decent into the dark side, a play on Aladdin with the Emperor as the evil Vizier and the origin of Vaneé who was introduced as Vader's creepy henchman in Rogue One. For me, although the other shorts were fun, the focus on Vaneé was the best part. Since he first appeared on screen the enigmatic majordomo of Castle Vader captured my imagination so seeing his origin here was a true moment of wish-fulfillment. On top of seeing how Vaneé went from a smartly dressed Imperial officer to a twisted, robed accolade of the Sith we also get a tease of Vader in the afterlife which promises to be interesting.
Art: The framing sequences by Francavilla were always my favorite bits in the past and that remained true here as well but I did enjoy the look of the sith ghosts in Baldari's take on Aladdin.
Grade:7/10 |
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 8, 2020 11:06:08 GMT -5
Norse Mythology #2Written by Neil Gaiman Scripted by P. Craig Russell Art by Jerry Ordway Summary: Loki's tricks pay off as the presents for the Gods are found to be most worthy. Plot: After three tries I finally got my hands on this and although it continues to be a good read and well worth the lenghts I went to procure a physical copy I can't but feel that it does miss my expectations just a wee bit. Slam_Bradley may disagree but with issue two out my feelings on the format continue to niggle at me as the continuation of the story into this issue felt more than a little disjointed. Some of that feeling goes away when you read issue one and two together giving you Loki's story in its entirety with out interruption but I still feel like the book really needs some sort of a framing device to help weave the elements together. If you had someone sort of telling you the story, perhaps briefly summarizing the first half of Loki's mischief as if trying to remember where they were in the tale at the start that disjointed feeling would have vanished in an instant and that nostalgic feeling of telling stories around a fire that Norse mythology seems to inherently have would be greatly embellished at the same time. Art: Seeing Ordway get some work is as always fantastic, and his classic look really fits the mood of the story well. Grade:8/10 |
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 8, 2020 17:37:42 GMT -5
Norse Mythology #2Written by Neil Gaiman Scripted by P. Craig Russell Art by Jerry Ordway Summary: Loki's tricks pay off as the presents for the Gods are found to be most worthy. Plot: After three tries I finally got my hands on this and although it continues to be a good read and well worth the lenghts I went to procure a physical copy I can't but feel that it does miss my expectations just a wee bit. Slam_Bradley may disagree but with issue two out my feelings on the format continue to niggle at me as the continuation of the story into this issue felt more than a little disjointed. Some of that feeling goes away when you read issue one and two together giving you Loki's story in its entirety with out interruption but I still feel like the book really needs some sort of a framing device to help weave the elements together. If you had someone sort of telling you the story, perhaps briefly summarizing the first half of Loki's mischief as if trying to remember where they were in the tale at the start that disjointed feeling would have vanished in an instant and that nostalgic feeling of telling stories around a fire that Norse mythology seems to inherently have would be greatly embellished at the same time. Art: Seeing Ordway get some work is as always fantastic, and his classic look really fits the mood of the story well. Grade:8/10 Nope. I agree with you. Splitting the story up was a bad move, probably necessitated by the format. Ordway’s art is spot-on and the tale itself is fine...it’s classic mythology. It’s the format that was the failure. It’s wasn't fatal, but it was jarring. |
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 8, 2020 18:26:05 GMT -5
Norse Mythology #2Written by Neil Gaiman Scripted by P. Craig Russell Art by Jerry Ordway Summary: Loki's tricks pay off as the presents for the Gods are found to be most worthy. Plot: After three tries I finally got my hands on this and although it continues to be a good read and well worth the lenghts I went to procure a physical copy I can't but feel that it does miss my expectations just a wee bit. Slam_Bradley may disagree but with issue two out my feelings on the format continue to niggle at me as the continuation of the story into this issue felt more than a little disjointed. Some of that feeling goes away when you read issue one and two together giving you Loki's story in its entirety with out interruption but I still feel like the book really needs some sort of a framing device to help weave the elements together. If you had someone sort of telling you the story, perhaps briefly summarizing the first half of Loki's mischief as if trying to remember where they were in the tale at the start that disjointed feeling would have vanished in an instant and that nostalgic feeling of telling stories around a fire that Norse mythology seems to inherently have would be greatly embellished at the same time. Art: Seeing Ordway get some work is as always fantastic, and his classic look really fits the mood of the story well. Grade:8/10 Nope. I agree with you. Splitting the story up was a bad move, probably necessitated by the format. Ordway’s art is spot-on and the tale itself is fine...it’s classic mythology. It’s the format that was the failure. It’s wasn't fatal, but it was jarring. I think it could have also been avoided by finding another short that could have paired with Mignola's story in the last issue and fit the whole shebang in this one. Still and all it's a book I'm glad to see out and it'll be fun to see the rest of the book make it to the page. |
|
|
|
Post by Dizzy D on Nov 9, 2020 6:09:54 GMT -5
Marauders #14
Written by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy.
Art by Stefano Caselli and Edgar Delgado. (Note: I also have a credit for a letterer as usual, but also somebody who has "Design". I have no clue what that is supposed to be?)
This is chapter 13 in the X of Swords crossover.
What went before: Mutants have united and live nearly all on the island of Krakoa. Apocalypse has revealed that he has tried something similar before, on the island of Okkara, but a demonic invasion forced him to sacrifice his wife, his children and half the island, splitting Okkara in Krakoa and Arakko. Arakko was thrown into another dimension and now the demonic armies, lead by Apocalypse's children, the four original Horsemen, have returned for revenge and conquest. Their army is stopped in Otherworld by the magic of the Omniversal Majestrix, Saturnyne. She gets both the Horsemen and the X-Men to agree to a duel: 10 champions of each side, each armed with a special sword will face each other on the battlefield in Otherworld.
Plot: Saturnyne has invited the champions of Krakoa and Arakko for a state dinner where the two parties can meet under the flag of truce before their duel the next day.
Logan tries to convince Brian Braddock to seduce Saturnyne, based on their shared history, thinking that she might prevent the fight tomorrow. Brian refuses as he's a married man.
Magik and Gorgon spent their time trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, but are unable to find any when studying Isca.
Storm dances with Death as the two try to figure each other out.
War tries to poison Wolverine, but before he can eat, Wolverine attacks Saturnyne herself stabbing her in chest and stomach.
The Good: Last issue was not written by Duggan and I'm happy to have him back. I'm still waiting to return to Marauders regular storyline (Kitty&Emma vs Sebastian Shaw), but I like a downtime issue like this. Like Stasis, this issue does not really pushes the main plot of X of Swords forward (though Logan's actions at the end should certainly have an impact), but it's good to have the various characters interact with each other during a moment where violence is not an option (though both Logan and War seem to ignore this).
The Bad: I have complained about Saturnyne's role in this whole story before and about her relationship with Brian as portrayed here. Saturnyne and Brian had a connection, but it never became a romantic relationship in the old Captain Britain stories and she would always put her duties and ambitions before any personal relationship. The idea of Brian seducing her like here and in recent Excalibur just wouldn't work on that character.
I'm also not sure what Logan thinks he's doing: Saturnyne prevented an all out war and turned it into a duel. Killing her may stop the duel (I doubt it, magic is at work here and events have already been set into motion), but then the war would just continue. Saturnyne is manipulating both sides, so he might just want to take her out to prevent further meddling,
7/10: A good enough issue and certainly way better than the previous one, but not as good as the ongoing series of Marauders was. I do appreciate the time taken to have both parties interact outside of combat.
Notes: I mixed up Famine and Pestilence in my stasis recap (Pestilence is much thinner than Famine, so my mistake was understandable)
|
|
