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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 8, 2023 7:24:35 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKS!Real Readers, Honest Reviews!  What did you pick up this week? |
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Post by DubipR on Aug 8, 2023 7:46:17 GMT -5
Not a big week of downloads
- Batman/Scooby-Doo Mysteries #11
- Danger Street #8
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 8, 2023 11:29:19 GMT -5
World's Finest: Teen Titans #2Written by Mark Waid Art Emanuela Lupacchino Summary: When Gnarrk and Lillith came across a haunted house while investigating a missing girl they call in the help of the Teen Titans.
Plot: Just like the parent series(World's Finest) WF: Teen Titans continues to be a blast. What I love though is that while both comics are fun reads they are drastically different: Worlds Finest is an over the top, bombastic Saturday morning cartoon super hero story while Teen Titans is a quieter, very teen voiced and focused book. While there are enough "spooky" action scenes as the Titans search the haunted house to make it feel like a proper superhero book the main focus is actually the missing girl Dalisay and why she felt she had to run away. The themes of being bullied for being different, feeling insecure over their bodies are very real challenges that teens face and Waid handles them with complexity and maturity. The emotional beats are really strong and the challenges are scaled to these young heroes which makes for a fantastic read.
Art: Emanuela Lupacchino's soft line work and Jordie Bellaire's bright coloring perfectly fit Waid's YA novel feel. It's beautiful to look at on each and every page and is a big part of why this book really sings.
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 8, 2023 12:25:43 GMT -5
Knight Terrors: Shazam! #2Written by Mark Waid Art by Roger Cruz Summary: With the help of her family Mary Marvel shows the demented nightmare Insomnia who's the boss.
Plot: This issue really illustrates why you should only give control of events to legitimately amazing writers as Mark Waid actually manages to tell a decent story here amid the utter garbage that is Joshua Williamson's Knight Terrors event. It's still incredibly dumb to essentially create an "edgier" version of Doctor Destiny to haunt our heroes dreams when said previous villain could do the event on his own but atleast Waid really gets the concept of dreams and nightmares and tailor fits it to his characters in Shazam, giving each family a meaningful nightmare to conquer or in the cases of Freddy and Pedro's nightmares funny plays on stock dreams(giving a speech and realizing you're naked, and body dysmorphia). On top of that Waid showcases a much deeper understanding of super heroes and nightmares than Williamson does as Waid pretty much just mocked the idea that a nightmare fueled villain like Insomnia could ever really be a big threat to a superhero. Superheroes are wish fulfillment and power fantasies writ large which means they are the bright lights purpose made to burn nightmares away and here under Waid Mary realizes just that and bitch slaps Insomnia from one end of the dream world to the other and it's clear that every other hero should intrinsically be able to do the same.
Art: While not on par with the likes of Dan Mora or Emanuela Lupacchino(Waid's other artistic partners) Cruz does a decent enough job at conveying the brightness of the Marvel Family.
Grade:8/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 8, 2023 15:39:02 GMT -5
Superman Annual: 2023Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Mahmud A. Asrar and Edwin Galmon Summary: While Superman battles a giant Toyman robot, Lois and the staff of the Daily Planet go out to land the front page story.
Plot: This is yet another example of the weird dichotomy present in Joshua Williamson's writing; he's either really, stunningly terrible or a lot of fun. Robin? Pretty Solid. Shadow War? Terrible. Dark Crisis? Garbage. Knight Terrors? An absolute dumpster fire....but Superman is really fun. He really gets what makes these characters tick and can deliver really solid personal moments and does super hero action really well. And in this issue in particular he does all that incredibly well and in a really creative way in that the focus was on Metropolis and the Daily Planet Staff with Superman's actions taking place on the periphery. Seeing Lois' leadership style in shaking up her staff's perspectives on stories and getting them out of their comfort zones was really fun and I loved the lease on life they gave Parasite as a member of the Supercorps staff.
Art: I'm not usually a fan of books with multiple artists but with the different perspectives provided here in the annual it wasn't as noticeable as usual. I think my favorite element though was the Parasite "dog" it was both threatening and cute at the same time so I'm hoping we see more of it in the future.
Grade:9/10 |
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Post by majestic on Aug 8, 2023 16:27:07 GMT -5
I have a pretty favorable view of Williamson's writing but then again I avoid "events" so I haven't read any of the titles mentioned that he was bad on.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 9, 2023 14:53:38 GMT -5
I have a pretty favorable view of Williamson's writing but then again I avoid "events" so I haven't read any of the titles mentioned that he was bad on. His events are incredibly bad, for instance in Shadow War after Ra's turns himself in we get a scene of Geo-Force talking about how the League of Shadows ruined his country; cool haven't seen him mentioned in a while, then Ra's is killed and the clue to the killer is that he escaped via a giant tunnel under ground that no machine could have carved...and yet at no point does Batman track down Geo-Force and is then surprised three issues later when Geo-Force is the villain. Dark Crisis? Such a mess that I can't even write a coherent summary of its plot. And Knight Terrors is just as bad with a new villain with dream powers taking over the heroes nightmares and killing Doctor Destiny...a known villain with the same powers. And all to attain some gem...for reasons unknown. It's all well worth skipping, but Superman is somehow really good. |
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Post by majestic on Aug 9, 2023 15:10:09 GMT -5
I read his Robin and Flash runs and I liked both of them.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 9, 2023 16:02:08 GMT -5
I read his Robin and Flash runs and I liked both of them. Robin was pretty decent, though the ending felt a little rushed, and I'm pretty excited to see his new Batman and Robin book. |
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Post by majestic on Aug 10, 2023 20:11:08 GMT -5
Just read World's Finest: Teen Titans and Superman Annual. Agree with above reviews. Enjoyed both of them. Teen Titans takes me back to my younger days 😊
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 11, 2023 6:51:49 GMT -5
Just read World's Finest: Teen Titans and Superman Annual. Agree with above reviews. Enjoyed both of them. Teen Titans takes me back to my younger days 😊 Waid just can't do wrong lately, he really nails all the characters voices. |
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