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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 6, 2021 20:03:58 GMT -5
A New Year...And New Comics! Will they be any good? Only you can let us know on... OFF THE RACKS! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2021 10:25:32 GMT -5
Unfortunately 2021 will see very little reviews from me as I move away from monthlies to trades. This was a good time since:
1. DC "paused" their entire line for Future State. It made it easy to stop all their product at one time.
2. For Marvel I am only getting Daredevil & Immortal Hulk until the creative teams are finished their runs.
3. I have already switched to trades for Image & Valiant last year.
4. Archie's New Riverdale line is over so it's back to digests for me.
So besides the 2 Marvel titles mentioned above the only (non trade) titles I will be buying are any upcoming Anniversary Specials from DC & Marvel like Action #1000/etc.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 7, 2021 18:34:30 GMT -5
Star Wars: The High Republic #1Written by Cavan Scott Art by Ario Anindito Summary: A longer time ago,in that galaxy far, far away we truly see the Jedi as defenders of peace and order within the galaxy.
Plot: In this first part of the newest Star Wars "event" the High Republic( a spiritual successor to 1996's Shadows of the Empire) Scott starts us out with a LOT of information, but the focus on the young jedi Keeve and her master provides the issue a solid focal point character-wise as Scott starts to dole out bits and pieces of the world-building. It's an interesting period, set 200 years before the prequel era when the Jedi were at the height of their power and influence in the galaxy and the view Scott intends to give us of how we go from a generation of peace and prosperity to the galaxy in turmoil we are familiar with is a setting ripe with possibility. There aren't a lot of hints as to where he plans to go so it's hard to say what will happen but the tease with a slightly younger Yoda and the character work we got was interesting enough to see where things are going.
Art: I think my two biggest take aways from the art are that I love the design work that went into giving this look at a younger Jedi order giving us an almost baroque look to the dress and technology and the second element was that I loved how Anindito moved away from panels when delivering us the action scenes, stretching the images all the way to the edges of the pages giving you are a really detailed, immersive and cinematic feel to the art that was really fun.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 7, 2021 19:33:52 GMT -5
Star Trek: Year Five #18Written by Jim McCann Art by Angel Hernandez Summary: As the Enterprise's five-year mission draws to a close they receive a distress call from Proxima Centauri.
Plot: Jim McCann continues to deliver one of, if not THE, best runs on a Star Trek comic with this latest adventure of the Enterprise and it's intrepid crew. Why is it so good? Well, it's simple as McCann just seems to intrinsically know exactly what elements go into an excellent episode Star Trek story and he uses all of them: introducing an intriguing mystery, building a pervasive sense of adventure, presenting an unsolvable problem, and putting crew members in danger. On top of that, we get a visit from an old “friend” of the Enterprise that creates a deliciously suspenseful last page. As for the mystery itself and why it's so good? Well, it's a perfectly timed mirror to the world we currently live in as Proxima Centauri is presented as a planet being ravaged by a pandemic and widespread panic and violence and only Kirk and company are near enough to render aid. I've been loving Year Five so far and I'm really excited to see where McCann is going with his Corona inspired story as one of Sci-Fi's greatest strengths is its ability to explore current events.
Art: As strong as the story continues to be the art by Angel Hernandez also continues to be superb. Not only does he have a knack of really nailing the likenesses of Kirk and company but Hernandez also has a talent for designing things that look like they really do belong in that classic looking Star Trek universe making you feel like you're seeing an actual episode of TOS.
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 8, 2021 8:17:47 GMT -5
So it's here, DC's newest "event" Future State, and for the good of the many I shall endeavor to explore as much of the slate as I can. Born out of outgoing publishing head Dan Didio's 5G plan for the DC Universe Future State is a truncated version of a future of the DCU where the heroes we know and love have been allowed to age and have thus been replaced by new legacies the first of which is... Future State: The Next Batman #1Written by John Ridley Art by Nick Derington Summary: In the not too distant future Gotham is controlled by a fascist group,the Magistrate, and a new Batman is the last hope for freedom. Plot: Written by John Ridley(of 12 Years a Slave fame) this first chapter in a four part mini strives to set up a new world(though not too different than our own) and a new Batman, which is no easy feat. And while the concept of a new, though decidedly lower tech, Batman going after a fascist, private security firm is definitely a tantalizing setting ripe with storytelling potential as introductory issues go this was more miss than hit. There were definitely parts that were incredibly strong, the character work between Luke Fox(the new Batman) and his mother was fantastic and the subplot about two brothers joining a Bane-themed gang in order to survive only to be saved by Batman was incredibly engaging...but the exposition heavy bits between those scenes makes for really uneven reading. Charged with not only fully explaining the Magistrate, the new maskless Gotham, and the daily lives of our main characters, Ridley's story quickly finds itself bogged down heavily by the trappings of his herculean undertaking of introducing such a new world in a single issue. He has a lot going on here, which while exciting makes the good parts of the issue somewhat hard to enjoy as the issue seems to get to a start, only then to abruptly stop dead in its tracks to explain some other arm of the narrative. All in all, though certainly an interesting world its exposition heavy introduction ultimately makes for a frustrating read. Art: The artwork by Nick Derington here really is truly tremendous! This is the second time I've seen his work on Batman( his first was the excellent Batman Universe which I reviewed here on the best of 2020 thread) and my opinion of his work has only grown since then. He has a really great, scratch, heavily cartooned look to his style which just creates a very high energy and fun feel to his work that is perfect for superhero stories. It's simplistic, and a little rough but it's a beautiful look that really sells the action and just makes you want to stay and soak it all in. Also included are two back up features, the first is an Outsiders story by Brandon Thomas with art by Sumit Kumar and the second is a piece called Arkham Knights which fearures some of Batman's classic villains trying to make a heroic turn to save their city written by Paul Jenkins with art by Jack Herbert. And while both stories do help to further flesh out the world of this new Gotham I can't say that either really blew me away. Grade:6/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 8, 2021 9:55:42 GMT -5
Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1Written by Sean Lewis Art by John Timms Summary: Jon Kent is the protector of Metropolis now but standing for Truth, Justice and the American way isn't as easy as it used to be.
Plot: I know this is only my second foray into Future State so it may be a bit soon to be sure but I think I'm starting to pick up on a pattern... and it's not great. Both this issue of Superman and the previous entry on Batman suffer from the same central flaw and that's namely that they weren't created to be minis but rather parts of a much larger and long term story and now that they are truncated the amount of exposition needed to make them work at all causes their narratives to suffer heavily. In much the same way that the exposition hampered us from really getting a good feel for the new Batman, here the introduction of the plight of Metropolis and the new version of Brainiac stops us from getting a good feel for Jon in his new role as Superman instead of Superboy. Unlike with Batman though I don't think we got enough here to keep me interested, there's a lot of exposition doled out but the concepts aren't clear enough to make me yearn for more so I think this is it for me and the Man of Tomorrow's Tomorrow.
Art: As weak as the story is the art however is pretty strong, giving us crisp, clean action that's easy to follow.
Like the first foray into Future State this issue also comes with its share of back ups...but this time I think I ultimately liked them more than I did the main story. One back up featured Guardian was also from Sean Lewis, but this time with Cully Hamner and Michael Avon Oeming on art while the other, focused on Shilo Norman the new "Mister Miracle" came from Brandon Easton with art by Valentine de Landro. Like in the previous tale both of these stories main focus was to provide some extra information about Metropolis in this future but unlike with Batman these stories really did supplement the main story well giving us a greater feel for the new status of the City of Tomorrow and a set of characters that were really engaging.
Grade:5/10 |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2021 10:06:32 GMT -5
So Future State was intended to be an ongoing line-up of books running alongside the regular books, but it got turned into a bunch of minis? Am I understanding that correctly?
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 8, 2021 10:26:00 GMT -5
So Future State was intended to be an ongoing line-up of books running alongside the regular books, but it got turned into a bunch of minis? Am I understanding that correctly? It was originally intended to replace the regular books as a defacto future of the DCU, but with Didio gone the idea was scrapped...but apparently a lot of the material was already created so rather than just sit on it they've put it out as a truncated event. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2021 12:52:23 GMT -5
Thank god that was scrapped.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 8, 2021 13:57:17 GMT -5
DC is still doing a reboot though... just not quite as commerical as usual. My impression was that future state was originally just going to be the new DCU, but it got downgraded to more of a elseworld-ish event. I definitely pulled a few, but not those ones.. sounds like I didn't miss much. The Jon Kent book was the one I thought about the most, and decided against after seeing the price tag.
I think my opinion of High Republic is pretty similar to yours... it kinda was an info dump, but it has to be.. this is the first bit of High Republic stuff released. The blonde woman that knights Keeve seems to be on the cover of the first book, and there's a Wookie jedi that I suspect is the one in the crowd, so looks like it'll at least be a bit interconnected.
I definitely liked the art and designed, and if felt pretty Star Wars-y, so definitely a decent start.
Other stuff this week:
Iron Man #5 : Total filler issue to make sure the story runs to 6 issues.. Tony assembles a random team of C-listers (well. Misty Knight is really B-list) to help, since Korvac told him not to call the Avengers. Yeah, pretty dumb. Especially since the heros have no previous connection to him, just random people I guess Cantwell wanted to use. I also hate how he's not fixing the armor... back to basics shouldn't mean he gives up on tech.. that's the core of his character. After liking last issue better, this one kinda sucked again... I'm torn between dropping it until Cantwell leaves and wanting to support the character...we'll see.
Usagi #16 : Part one of 'Tengu War'... which promises some good action, and perhaps more on USagi's early training. I loved the scene where the Tengu that trained him (whose name escapes me at the moment) asked him about his son... great moment. Looks like this one is going to be steeped in myth, which is alway fun from an art standpoint.
Rise of Ultraman #5 : The end of the beginning... we get the promised Kaiju fight, and the set up for the next mini. Not a masterpiece, but enjoyable enough for me to deifnitely keep it up. I'm definitely enjoying this more the aborted Netflix reboot.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 9, 2021 18:25:52 GMT -5
DC is still doing a reboot though... just not quite as commerical as usual. My impression was that future state was originally just going to be the new DCU, but it got downgraded to more of a elseworld-ish event. I definitely pulled a few, but not those ones.. sounds like I didn't miss much. The Jon Kent book was the one I thought about the most, and decided against after seeing the price tag. I think my opinion of High Republic is pretty similar to yours... it kinda was an info dump, but it has to be.. this is the first bit of High Republic stuff released. The blonde woman that knights Keeve seems to be on the cover of the first book, and there's a Wookie jedi that I suspect is the one in the crowd, so looks like it'll at least be a bit interconnected. I definitely liked the art and designed, and if felt pretty Star Wars-y, so definitely a decent start. Other stuff this week: Iron Man #5 : Total filler issue to make sure the story runs to 6 issues.. Tony assembles a random team of C-listers (well. Misty Knight is really B-list) to help, since Korvac told him not to call the Avengers. Yeah, pretty dumb. Especially since the heros have no previous connection to him, just random people I guess Cantwell wanted to use. I also hate how he's not fixing the armor... back to basics shouldn't mean he gives up on tech.. that's the core of his character. After liking last issue better, this one kinda sucked again... I'm torn between dropping it until Cantwell leaves and wanting to support the character...we'll see. Usagi #16 : Part one of 'Tengu War'... which promises some good action, and perhaps more on USagi's early training. I loved the scene where the Tengu that trained him (whose name escapes me at the moment) asked him about his son... great moment. Looks like this one is going to be steeped in myth, which is alway fun from an art standpoint. Rise of Ultraman #5 : The end of the beginning... we get the promised Kaiju fight, and the set up for the next mini. Not a masterpiece, but enjoyable enough for me to deifnitely keep it up. I'm definitely enjoying this more the aborted Netflix reboot. It'll be interesting to see what DC is like this spring, it's been pretty nebulous so far so its hard to say how hard a reboot it will be. As for Iron man, you've a stronger stomach than I as I dropped it after the last issue. I haven't looked at any of the novels tied into the High Republic event, anything sound good? The comic certainly has me interested despite it's slow start so I'm certainly game for more. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 9, 2021 18:54:08 GMT -5
Future State: Swamp Thing #1Written by Ram V Art by Mike Perkins Summary: In the distant future humanity has vanished from the face of the Earth leaving only the Swamp Thing and his family.
Plot: I said earlier that there was a pattern to the trouble with the other Future State books but Ram V quickly and easily breaks away from that with this issue. Instead of a complex concept requiring a lot of time to build up V goes with the tried and true idea of humanity falling prey to a vague apocalypse and then sets out to just tell a solid Swamp Thing story set in that future. With out needing all those pages devoted to exposition there's a lot more page time to devote to great storytelling and it's not just same old, same old either as he does add in a whole new future element unique to his work that does embrace the spirit of Future State...he shows us that after all these years Swamp Thing devised a way to grow more Swamp People and set about creating himself a tribe of them to populate the desolate world. It's a great concept and it not only feels true to Swamp Thing as it's understandable that he'd feel alone with out humanity but it creates a fantastic bout of drama when it's revealed that there are in fact humans still alive. Which is more important, the remembered humanity of Alec Holland or the beauty of a pure world of Green shared with his new family? I don't know what the answer will ultimately be but it's a great way to explore the character and I'm excited to see where it goes.
Art: In a perfect match to the plot Perkins art here is an incredibly strong element of the narrative. Not only does he deliver an amazing sense of brooding to god ol' Swampy that fits his stature as a classic horror character but he gives a unique presence to the rest of Swamp Thing's family as well and yet as different as they all are from each other there is a definite feeling of kinship between them in much the same way that one could tell a group of humans are related to one another. On top of that, I loved his anatomy drawings during the scenes where Swamp Thing was discussing how he grew his family. The intense, technical look he brought to those scenes looked like something out of a medical journal which really fit well with the idea that part of Swamp Thing is Alec Holland who was a doctor and scientist which is a great touch.
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 9, 2021 18:55:17 GMT -5
Thank god that was scrapped. I don't know if I would have wanted it long term but I like the idea of the heroes aging and legacies taking over so I'm a little sad we won't get more of it. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 9, 2021 21:16:06 GMT -5
I haven't looked into the content of the novels too much... the official 'back of the book' description is pretty generic, and I'd rather not get the story without reading it. There's some young adult books coming out for sure. The 1st two novels are by Charles Soule (who writes good comics, but I didn't love his novel), and Claudia Gray (who is the best of the Disney stuff so far)
The focus seems to be on Jedi padawans going out to the Galaxy and doing Jedi things.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 9, 2021 22:35:32 GMT -5
Star Trek: Year Five #18Written by Jim McCann Art by Angel Hernandez Summary: As the Enterprise's five-year mission draws to a close they receive a distress call from Proxima Centauri.
Plot: Jim McCann continues to deliver one of, if not THE, best runs on a Star Trek comic with this latest adventure of the Enterprise and it's intrepid crew. Why is it so good? Well, it's simple as McCann just seems to intrinsically know exactly what elements go into an excellent episode Star Trek story and he uses all of them: introducing an intriguing mystery, building a pervasive sense of adventure, presenting an unsolvable problem, and putting crew members in danger. On top of that, we get a visit from an old “friend” of the Enterprise that creates a deliciously suspenseful last page. As for the mystery itself and why it's so good? Well, it's a perfectly timed mirror to the world we currently live in as Proxima Centauri is presented as a planet being ravaged by a pandemic and widespread panic and violence and only Kirk and company are near enough to render aid. I've been loving Year Five so far and I'm really excited to see where McCann is going with his Corona inspired story as one of Sci-Fi's greatest strengths is its ability to explore current events.
Art: As strong as the story continues to be the art by Angel Hernandez also continues to be superb. Not only does he have a knack of really nailing the likenesses of Kirk and company but Hernandez also has a talent for designing things that look like they really do belong in that classic looking Star Trek universe making you feel like you're seeing an actual episode of TOS.
Grade:10/10 Really looking forward to catching up with this Trek series. It was really fun while capturing the essence of TOS. The art has been clean, crisp, clear, colorful and it LOOKS like the world of 60's Trek. I had all the issues up until July 2020 when I quit the hospital. I will have to plan a trip to the LCS to see if the issues since then are available and if not add to my next MyComicshop.com order in a month or so. |
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