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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 29, 2022 13:09:42 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKS!Real Readers, Honest Reviews!  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 29, 2022 18:46:43 GMT -5
Shadow War: Alpha #1Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Viktor Bogdanovic Summary: After deciding to stand trial for his various crimes Ra's Al Ghul is assassinated while turning himself in igniting a war.
Plot: Tying together the various plots he has been working on in his runs on Robin, Batman and Deathstroke Inc.(which I never tried) Shadow War looks to be a fun, popcorn munching conclusion to Williamson's work. It had a good mix of character moments between Talia and Damian, action, explosions and a who-done-it kind of a plot over the death of Ra's Al Ghul. That said, while certainly entertaining enough in a Saturday Morning Cartoon, summer blockbuster kind of way it was a bit shallow otherwise and although fun it has me wondering how it will sustain itself for nine chapters, especially when it seems highly unlikely that Ra's will ultimately stay dead by the time the story is over(if he's dead at all) which kind of limits the mystery as if he's alive at the end or still alive then it's likely he orchestrated the whole thing which makes his whole turn towards giving up terrorism into just a cheap ploy rather than an interesting character development. Still, as events go it's a better start than any of the other Batman crossovers done over the last decade though I suppose that doesn't say much as the rest were horrid.
Art: Bogdanovic's art is as fantastic as always. Like Ed McGuinness, Bogdanovic has an uncanny ability to just bring a simple feeling of fun to the page. It's cartoony and yet very detail orientated in terms of setting and mood which is a contrast that really draws your eye in every panel.
Grade: 7/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 30, 2022 18:27:11 GMT -5
Batman: One Dark Knight #2Written and Illustrated by Jock Summary: Batman continues his quest to return E.M.P. back into custody while the entirety of Gotham's underworld is after them.
Plot: It feels like forever since the first issue last came out, but the premise is simple enough that I didn't feel like I had to reread the first issue. It's a pretty straight forward plot pitting a bare bones Batman against a bunch of street toughs but that makes it kind of refreshing in comparison to what we've been getting of late. I think my only complaint is that I wish Batman was hauling around a villain we actually knew and cared for; you could for instance basically tell the same story with Mr. Freeze and I think it would be more compelling. An emp blast knocks out power in Gotham and everyone is after Freeze for some reason and it's up to Batman to get him back into custody before dawn or Freeze might die due to the rising heat. You still get the ticking time and the armies of goons but you could get moments of introspection with a villain that actually matters which would give it more depth. That said, though simple it's a fun book.
Art: As is the case with most writer/artist books the big draw to this comic is Jock's wonderfully atmospheric art. Next to Bill Sienkiewicz and Kelley Jones, Jock is probably one of the best artists to work on Batman when it comes to giving readers that feeling that Batman is a true creature of the night(which is fitting given the title). With his jagged lines and exaggerated cape and cowl you can believe that people in Gotham would think that Batman was more than a man which is just a fun aspect.
Grade:7/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 30, 2022 19:01:22 GMT -5
TMNT #127Written by Sophie Campbell Art by Pablo Tunica Summary: While trying to track down the Punk Frogs who destroyed their home the Turtles encounter the mad scientist Doctor Barlow Jasper.
Plot: After a long stretch of nearly slice of life style stories set in Mutant Town Campbell is starting to pick up the pace and this new body horror like story is an exciting new twist to the world of the Ninja Turtles. While the IDW run has consistently been really good, and I've long loved how they've incorporated past ideas and characters from previous iterations it's seldom done much in the way of truly new plots which makes the new villain Doctor Jasper so intriguing. He's a doctor who was transformed into a rat and is now offering mutants cosmetic surgery to reclaim their humanity...while also experimenting on mutants to apparently create doppelgangers of the Hamato Clan. It's a story with a great hammer horror vibe to it that I really love and I'm excited to see how they work Venus Demilo into the story.
Art: What really drags down my enjoyment of the book however is the art by Tunica...it's not often that I'm overly critical of the artists as art is always going to be really subjective...but Tunica's art is legitimately and objectively bad. The backgrounds are nearly all just empty spaces, giving little detail on whether the scene is inside or out, the emotions on the character's faces are often hard to read and worst of all you can't even tell the Turtles apart from eachother and in one scene it didn't even look like Donnie was a male as I thought he was Jennika or possibly even Venus De Milo as her appearance was teased to occur in this issue. It was just horrid all around...like I honestly think my own drawings would have been an improvement and I'm just an idle doodler. Reading this book I just don't get how he's a professional artist that is getting paid to work on this book. Is IDW cutting corners? I hope not as this run has been fantastic so I'd hate to see it go bad.
Grade:6/10 for the horrid art. |
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Post by DubipR on Mar 31, 2022 19:40:47 GMT -5
Pick of the week:
Astro City- That Was Then
Busiek. Anderson. Ross.
The original team is back to bring more stories of Astro City and beyond. I'm so happy that there's comics like this being done. If you've read any Astro City, you know. Go get this one and and enjoy.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 31, 2022 21:49:34 GMT -5
Shadow War: Alpha #1Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Viktor Bogdanovic Summary: After deciding to stand trial for his various crimes Ra's Al Ghul is assassinated while turning himself in igniting a war.
Plot: Tying together the various plots he has been working on in his runs on Robin, Batman and Deathstroke Inc.(which I never tried) Shadow War looks to be a fun, popcorn munching conclusion to Williamson's work. It had a good mix of character moments between Talia and Damian, action, explosions and a who-done-it kind of a plot over the death of Ra's Al Ghul. That said, while certainly entertaining enough in a Saturday Morning Cartoon, summer blockbuster kind of way it was a bit shallow otherwise and although fun it has me wondering how it will sustain itself for nine chapters, especially when it seems highly unlikely that Ra's will ultimately stay dead by the time the story is over(if he's dead at all) which kind of limits the mystery as if he's alive at the end or still alive then it's likely he orchestrated the whole thing which makes his whole turn towards giving up terrorism into just a cheap ploy rather than an interesting character development. Still, as events go it's a better start than any of the other Batman crossovers done over the last decade though I suppose that doesn't say much as the rest were horrid.
Art: Bogdanovic's art is as fantastic as always. Like Ed McGuinness, Bogdanovic has an uncanny ability to just bring a simple feeling of fun to the page. It's cartoony and yet very detail orientated in terms of setting and mood which is a contrast that really draws your eye in every panel.
Grade: 7/10 I was looking forward to this.. I've been digging the Robin book, but the premise is pretty dumb. WHY would someone assassinate Ra's just then? And why should be believe he's dead? We just saw the Titans mobilzed to make sure Dick Grayson didn't get assassinated... and clearly Ra's has alot more enemies.. shouldn't there have been someone around to try to prevent it? There were some good character bits, but I definitely felt a bit confused at times.. I knew Damian and Bruce were at odds, but I have no idea why, and 14 issues of Robin and now this book have failed to tell me. Agree the art is quite good. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 31, 2022 21:51:34 GMT -5
Pick of the week: Astro City- That Was ThenBusiek. Anderson. Ross. The original team is back to bring more stories of Astro City and beyond. I'm so happy that there's comics like this being done. If you've read any Astro City, you know. Go get this one and and enjoy. Agreed! The Titans analogue here is VERY intriguing. I really hope we get to see more of the Jayhawks. My only concern is the bit with Samaritian at the end.. the bits at the end with the purple guy failed pretty spectacularly last time.. I hope whatever uberplot Busiek has cooked up this time works better. But mostly I just how the book stays on time  . |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 31, 2022 21:55:12 GMT -5
Look at me going to the store two weeks in a row!
Just a couple other books for me:
Animal Castle #4 - Miss B continues to try to get some resistance organized to Silvo and his Dogs.. great stuff here. Highly recommended (though definitely wait for the trade at this point)
City of Magick #1 - This was an impulse buy off the rack.. meh. Nothing too unique. The set up is tech died 150 years ago, and magic took its place. The book seems to be set in a USA that has degraded into city-states, though not a whole lot of world building happened. Has a bit of potential, but not enough to put it on my pull list, maybe if the 1st trade hits hoopla I'll revisit.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 1, 2022 7:07:02 GMT -5
Shadow War: Alpha #1Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Viktor Bogdanovic Summary: After deciding to stand trial for his various crimes Ra's Al Ghul is assassinated while turning himself in igniting a war.
Plot: Tying together the various plots he has been working on in his runs on Robin, Batman and Deathstroke Inc.(which I never tried) Shadow War looks to be a fun, popcorn munching conclusion to Williamson's work. It had a good mix of character moments between Talia and Damian, action, explosions and a who-done-it kind of a plot over the death of Ra's Al Ghul. That said, while certainly entertaining enough in a Saturday Morning Cartoon, summer blockbuster kind of way it was a bit shallow otherwise and although fun it has me wondering how it will sustain itself for nine chapters, especially when it seems highly unlikely that Ra's will ultimately stay dead by the time the story is over(if he's dead at all) which kind of limits the mystery as if he's alive at the end or still alive then it's likely he orchestrated the whole thing which makes his whole turn towards giving up terrorism into just a cheap ploy rather than an interesting character development. Still, as events go it's a better start than any of the other Batman crossovers done over the last decade though I suppose that doesn't say much as the rest were horrid.
Art: Bogdanovic's art is as fantastic as always. Like Ed McGuinness, Bogdanovic has an uncanny ability to just bring a simple feeling of fun to the page. It's cartoony and yet very detail orientated in terms of setting and mood which is a contrast that really draws your eye in every panel.
Grade: 7/10 I was looking forward to this.. I've been digging the Robin book, but the premise is pretty dumb. WHY would someone assassinate Ra's just then? And why should be believe he's dead? We just saw the Titans mobilzed to make sure Dick Grayson didn't get assassinated... and clearly Ra's has alot more enemies.. shouldn't there have been someone around to try to prevent it? There were some good character bits, but I definitely felt a bit confused at times.. I knew Damian and Bruce were at odds, but I have no idea why, and 14 issues of Robin and now this book have failed to tell me. Agree the art is quite good. My Batman reading is sporadic at best so I don't know why Damian and Bruce are at odds either, and the scene between them wasn't great but I'm okay with a little popcorn action now and again so I'm willing to try it a little longer. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 1, 2022 7:43:49 GMT -5
TMNT Annual: 2022Written and illustrated by Juni Ba Summary: On the anniversary of their Father's death the Hamato clan encounters a creature like they've never seen before. Plot: With a plot stretching back eleven years it's understandable that the "newest" iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might feel daunting to some but this year's annual is easily accessible for any and all Turtle fans looking for a fix. Instead of needing to know all those years of stories the new reader need only understand that the Turtles are grieving the loss of their father, Splinter, which is information gleamed on the very first page and from there its easy to enjoy the tale of the Turtles needing to concur their grief and fears to come together as a family again to defeat creature that preys on negativity. There's fun action as we see the Turtles go from a fragmented band bumbling their way into danger while dealing with loss to the flawless team of ninjas we all know and love, a creepy new adversary and great character moments as Leo tries to balance his own fears, the needs of his brothers and the idea of filling his father's shoes which when taken together makes for a truly fantastic read. If you're a fan of the Turtles you owe it to yourself to pick this up! Art: Another great aspect to this book is that despite being part of the current continuity it truly feels like a piece of the classic Mirage run visually. Ba both draws and colors this issue with a gritty but clean and simplistic look that will truly feel like home to old- school Ninja Turtles fans. And the cover showing Leonardo with the red bandana? That's no lie, or trick either, as Ba embraces all the Ninja Turtles with red bandanas both in the plot and to visually show that they have finally come back together as a family as they work together to defeat the enemy. Ba’s style is highly expressive with a kinetic energy that’s hard to miss, you feel the hits and you swear you can hear the clang of the weapons with his unique way of integrating the sound effects into the action instead of being separate from it. If you read my review of the regular issue this week I think you'll understand why I rate this next trait of Ba's art so highly: his ability to visually deliver the Turtles as unique characters. It’s sometimes a crutch for artists to make brothers indistinguishable from one another save for their colored masks, but here you can tell each Ninja Turtle has a different personality all their own in each and every panel even when they switch to wearing the same color and share eachother's weapons which is a huge feat. This is easily the best the Turtles have looked in a while and I'm hoping that the main line can catch up to this quality again soon.  Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 1, 2022 15:03:17 GMT -5
Pick of the week: Astro City- That Was ThenBusiek. Anderson. Ross. The original team is back to bring more stories of Astro City and beyond. I'm so happy that there's comics like this being done. If you've read any Astro City, you know. Go get this one and and enjoy. Pick of the week: Astro City- That Was ThenBusiek. Anderson. Ross. The original team is back to bring more stories of Astro City and beyond. I'm so happy that there's comics like this being done. If you've read any Astro City, you know. Go get this one and and enjoy. Agreed! The Titans analogue here is VERY intriguing. I really hope we get to see more of the Jayhawks. My only concern is the bit with Samaritian at the end.. the bits at the end with the purple guy failed pretty spectacularly last time.. I hope whatever uberplot Busiek has cooked up this time works better. But mostly I just how the book stays on time  . I cosign both these opinion, this was a fantastically nostalgic special that hit on all the notes that made me fall in love with Astrocity in the first place. From the play on familiar classic comic tropes like the original Teen Titans and the teen heroes of the 50's and 60's, to the idea of legacies in real time it was all together a great read. Sounds like it's going to be a while until we get more Astrocity as Busiek mentioned doing a graphic novel that sounded like his take on an American Gods kind of story before heading back to Astrocity but that's okay, I'm more than fine with what ever they put out when ever they get to it, it's always worth the wait. Besides, it gives us all an excuse to marathon all the past issues! |
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Post by Dizzy D on Apr 2, 2022 9:07:28 GMT -5
Immortal X-Men #1
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Lucas Werneck and David Curiel
What Happened Before: Mutants have organized and live together now on the living island of Krakoa. Due to a combination of five mutant powers (known as The Five) dead mutants can be resurrected, rendering mutants virtually immortal. Krakoa is governed by 12 mutants known as the Quiet Council. Due to recent events (see Sword of X and Inferno) several seats on the Council have shifted and several members have lost their trust in Xavier and Magneto.
Plot: Magneto announces his retirement from the Quiet Council and declares that he will move to Arakko. Sinister, who somehow knows the events that are going to happen, prepares to manipulate the others when it comes to choosing his replacement. Several candidates apply, but only two of them seem to have any support among the Council: Hope, who represents the Five and is very popular among the younger Krakoans and Selene, who believes that both her experience as an immortal and her knowledge of magic would make her an excellent replacement not for Magneto, but for Apocalypse (who left earlier). Sinister wants Hope on the Council (due to his foreknowledge of events), but doesn't want the others to know (as Hope's presence will have serious consequences in the future). His manipulation is twarted when Destiny votes differently than he expects, forcing him to change his vote to in favour of Hope.
Hope is the new Council member, but Selene is not pleased with the outcome and summons a giant creature to attack the Council. Sinister returns to his lab and we discover the source of his foreknowledge: he has several clones of Moira MacTaggert, implanting knowledge in them and killing them when things don't go as he pleases, so they are reborn in the past but with their knowledge of the "present".
The Good: Like I've said many times before, I like the political manipulations in this batch of X-Men comics and Gillen continues the path set by Hickman and Duggan in this.
On his previous X-Men run I noted that Gillen's Sinister is the first time I found that character interesting and it continues here; a bit silly, but also dangerous, who is very smart, but not as smart as he thinks he is.
He used Hope a lot in his previous X-Men run and in Generation Hope, so it makes sense that he's using her here. Not my favourite character, but it makes sense for her to get a seat on the Council seeing how important she is in current mutant society.
The Bad: Lots of build-up and talking (which I don't mind, but others might). Selene attacking the Council with a giant monster is not the most compelling threat (especially as we had a similar threat recently in Trial of Magneto and Selene even references that one), but Selene probably has more planned than just this.
I'm probably going to get the rest of the series in trade but wanted to check out the first issue to see if it was going into a direction I'd like.
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Post by majestic on Apr 6, 2022 14:04:36 GMT -5
AQUAMEN #2. Written by Chuck Brown, Brandon Thomas. Art by Sami Basri.
This book could be called Aquaman Family since it features Mera, Garth & Tula as well as Arthur, Jackson and Black Manta.
Still not sure about this "new" direction but it is nice to change things every once in awhile. I'm glad DC kept Arthur & Mera around and just expanded the focus of his adventures.
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