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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 5, 2021 17:18:47 GMT -5
Batman Catwoman #5. by Tom King & Clay Mann. This issue focuses on Selina. In the past she gets drunk & is rescued by Batman. In the present she teams up with the Phantasm against one of the men responsible for the disappearance of Phantasm's son. In the future she is attacked by Harley who is angry that Selina killed Mr J! I still dislike the jumping around in time. I feel it hurts the flow of the story. This is one of the best looking books on the stands right now. That scene with Catwoman getting drunk and stumbling through a glass ceiling during a heist and having to be rescued by Batman was so cringey. Otherwise I liked this issue. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2021 0:30:19 GMT -5
James Tynion IV is becoming one of those writers for whom I will check out just about any of the creator-owned stuff he does. His most recent offering is a post-Apocalyti horror story from DC's Black Label imprint: The Nice House on the Lake...  I don't want to give away too much, just putting the genre done is a spoiler for the plot of the first issue, but essentially a group of about 12 people are invited to a summer getaway to an unbelievably nice house on the shore of a Wisconsin lake by a mutual acquaintance/friend, and after the all arrive and begin to settle in, they learn that the rest of the world has just been engulfed in a flaming apocalypse arranged by that acquaintance and they are the chosen survivors... There's a lot to set up and execute in the first issue, and we are still getting to know the characters and the interpersonal dynamics between them, which will be the crux upon which the story lives or dies, but the first issue does a good job of setting the premise up, putting things in motion and starting to get us at least passingly familiar with the characters. I think it could have used a little more space to better acquaint us with the characters a bit before the events are set in motion, but given that may not have been an option in a monthly serialized comic on a deadline schedule, it does well with the space it has. I am intrigued enough to keep picking up the book to see how it all plays out. I really enjoyed the other "sci-fi/semi-post-apocalyptic offering from Tynion that I read (The Woods) which also lived and died on the character dynamics and that too took a few issues to really get established and the characters familiar to the reader, so I am willing to have a little patience and faith. -M |
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 7, 2021 9:33:14 GMT -5
Hellions #12 Gatecrashing
Writer: Zeb Wells
Pencils & inks: Stephen Segovia
And by "Gatecrashing" they mean "party-crashing" of course. The Hellfire Gala arrives to Hellions and Mr. Sinister thinks he can bring along just the team members he thinks are more glamorous; think again. It's the revolt of the rejects, the Mutiny on the Bounty... Zeb Wells style. Wild Child, Nanny, Orphan-Maker, Empath and Greycrow aim to misbehave, much to the embarrassment of everyone else attending.
To top it off, Mr. Sinister also invites himself to the party, even though he was already in the guest list. How's that possible? One might ask. Simple answer: clones.
The art for the cover is acceptable this time around, although if Segovia is your poison, one of the variants signed by him might be a better choice. There's also one by Dauterman.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 7, 2021 23:02:44 GMT -5
With all the X-Characters out there, why choose THOSE ones to be in a book?
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 8, 2021 0:01:37 GMT -5
To get Kwannon and Alex to interact with some of the most despicable X-people. The contrast facilitates the fun, along with Nathaniel "managing" them all.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 8, 2021 18:48:30 GMT -5
James Tynion IV is becoming one of those writers for whom I will check out just about any of the creator-owned stuff he does. His most recent offering is a post-Apocalyti horror story from DC's Black Label imprint: The Nice House on the Lake... I don't want to give away too much, just putting the genre done is a spoiler for the plot of the first issue, but essentially a group of about 12 people are invited to a summer getaway to an unbelievably nice house on the shore of a Wisconsin lake by a mutual acquaintance/friend, and after the all arrive and begin to settle in, they learn that the rest of the world has just been engulfed in a flaming apocalypse arranged by that acquaintance and they are the chosen survivors... There's a lot to set up and execute in the first issue, and we are still getting to know the characters and the interpersonal dynamics between them, which will be the crux upon which the story lives or dies, but the first issue does a good job of setting the premise up, putting things in motion and starting to get us at least passingly familiar with the characters. I think it could have used a little more space to better acquaint us with the characters a bit before the events are set in motion, but given that may not have been an option in a monthly serialized comic on a deadline schedule, it does well with the space it has. I am intrigued enough to keep picking up the book to see how it all plays out. I really enjoyed the other "sci-fi/semi-post-apocalyptic offering from Tynion that I read (The Woods) which also lived and died on the character dynamics and that too took a few issues to really get established and the characters familiar to the reader, so I am willing to have a little patience and faith. -M I might need to check this out, I wasn't that enamored by the Woods and his mainstream work is more miss than hit for me but the concept sounds fun. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 2, 2021 11:04:34 GMT -5
Marauders #21
Written by Gerry Duggan
Art by Matteo Lolli and Edgar Delgado
What Happened Before: Mutants have united and live nearly all on the island of Krakoa. The Hellfire Trading Company controls the export of Krakoa's revolutionary medicine to the rest of the world, ensuring the mutants have political influence in the outside world. The Marauders are the part of the Hellfire Company that works outside the law; smuggling medicine to the people that need it and extracting mutants from countries that are not on friendly terms with Krakoa.
Plot: Emma Frost has organised the first Hellfire Gala, a large event where representatives from around the world (and a few from other worlds) are invited. The mutants want to use the event for both diplomacy and as a show of power. And while we don't see exactly what the show of power exactly is, we do see the fallout as most guests leave confused and worried*
This issue also includes a reprint of "Out with the Old" by CHris Claremont and John Bolton, which was the backup story in Classic X-Men #7 and shows Sebastian Shaw and his allies rise within the Hellfire Club and the death of his over Lourdes Chantel
The Good: As an issue it's mostly setup for future storylines: the mutants haven intimidated the rest of the world and even their friends like Captain America and Dr. Strange need some time to digest what exactly happened. There are also some smaller moments that will come back later: the Stepford Cuckoos see Wilhelmina Kensington (former White Queen of the old Hellfire Club) next to Kade Kilgore (former Black King of the old Hellfire Club and current one of the main enemies of Krakoa) and figure out he has brainwashed her and undo this.
We get some nice character moments: many of the mutants are still friendly with the A.I.M. representative (probably because he used to work with Sunspot), Emma and Banshee having a moment (as a callback to their team in Generation X), Kitty and Franklin confirming their friendship, The Thing joining the mutants outside the party for a game of dice.
The Bad: Not much action happening here and I think most of the events in this require you to have extensive knowledge of various X-characters and their backgrounds (Kade/Wilhelmina for instance is not explained who they are, though I think most readers can figure out the broad strokes from the way the Stepford Cuckoos were pitying her and decide to make her "remember").
7/10: I enjoy this series and this sets up a lot of plots for future episodes. As a stand-alone it'd be impenetrable for new readers, so I'm docking some points for that. The backup story has nice John Bolton art and that's always welcome.
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