It's Wednesday!!!!
Today I bought (and Highly Recommend):
Amazing Spider-Man #540 (marvel)- in my top twenty.
Immortal Iron Fist #5 (marvel)- top twenty.
Invincible #41 (image)- top twenty.
New Avengers #30 (marvel)- top twenty.
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #2 of 4 (marvel)- excellent kid-friendly miniseries.
I am marvel's bitch. I am also reading this week:
DMZ #19 (vertigo/dc)
Jack of Fables #10 (vertigo/dc)
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (marvel)- origin of zombieverse by Kirkman & Phillips
Punisher War Journal #7 (marvel)
Red Sonja: Vacant Shell (dynamite)- one shot by Rick Remender & Paul Renaud
Tales of the Unexpected #8 of 8 (dc)
Thunderbolts #114 (marvel)
BUY THIS TRADE:
Criminal vol.1: Coward trade paperback. (icon/ marvel) by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
Perfect crime-noir. If you dig the genre, this book stacks up to any story in any medium, ever. I can't even handle how great this comic is.
Collected here are the first five issues of the ongoing comic, but it's a completely self-contained story with no "to be continued". Oh, it ends, big. The series is on break for a few months and when it returns, issue six will start a whole new unrelated story.
These guys have worked together a few times before, most notably on Sleeper, possibly the most greivously overlooked comic in history. In fact, I stole the "any story in any medium" comment from the back of one of the trades. That one was a mind-fuck double-agent espionage noir yarn with superpowers. Read it. Criminal is a straight-up crime comic and so it's a little more pure in it's genre. The plot is unpredictable and smart, writing is ultra-sharp, and the art is shadow-drenched moody perfection. Masterpiece. Buy it.
Short Review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(collects Criminal #'s 1-5)
And now a huge back-log of comic reviews!!! I am going to try to make them brief, and probably skip a few, too.
100 Bullets #83 (vertigo/dc)
like I always say, it's the best comic out, but to be honest the single issues aren't worth reviewing. This book is not new-reader-friendly, so try out the trades. If you jump in here, you may not understand what is going on, but you will be able to appreciate the top-notch writing and illustration. It's my fave.
Short review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(Azzarello/ Risso)
Astonishing X-Men #21 (marvel)
I always look forward to this comic, but I have not been as impressed with the last few issues as I was when this series first started. Not because the quality has dipped, but because I'm now used to it. I am a big BIG X-Men fan, but that doesn't mean that I like most of the current titles. When this series started I was very excited about it because it's by far the best X-book since Morrison's New X-Men, and it's particularly well-drawn. Those two things are still true, and the story is building to a climactic conclusion, but at least some of the amazement has worn off on me. I think I'll remember it very fondly once the run ends but for now I'm pretty casually enjoying it.
Short review: REALLY GOOD
(Whedon/ Cassaday)
Astro City: Dark Age Book Two #3 (wildstorm/dc)
Astro City is always solid. It is it's own superhero universe in one comic. The huge cast of characters is as unique and varied as you can find anywhere, some of whom are directly derivative of well-known icons, alongside a great many more who are very original creations. The uniting concept of the many stand-alone Astro City stories is that they are all centered on and narrated by regular joes who live there, and handled very realistically, once you suspend disbelief of hundreds of supers running around all the time. Great comic, and any one of the minis or trade paperbacks is a good starting point.
Short review: REALLY GOOD
(Busiek/ Anderson)
Avengers: the Initiative #2 (marvel)
Don't believe the hype; this comic kinda sucks.
The story here follows the trainees at the super-hero boot camp which has been established on the site of the Stamford Incident which was basically the cause of Civil War. I struggled to give a crap about the characters, and the dialogue is laughable, in a bad way. Example- War Machine: "Avengers Assemble!" Gauntlet: "Screw that, Avengers, Kick their Asses!". The issue ended with a tensionless cliffhanger, which came out of nowhere and was entirely unsuccessful in making me want to read the next one.
Short review: PRETTY BAD
(Slott/ Caselli)
City of Others #2 (dark horse)
With the names Berni Wrightson and Steve Niles on the cover, this comic should have been a guaranteed favorite of mine. Which makes it all the more disappointing. I'll paste from a comment I made to another member earlier this week:
It is not Bernie's best work, and plus they've unfortunately decided to go with the no-inker approach, just pencils and color. I don't always hate this technique, but Wrightson's art is definitely weakened without the sharp, heavy black. On the plus side, the colorist is using a custom palette based very closely on Wrightson's fully painted works, and it looks dead-on.
Nothing really happened in issue one, but I was encouraged by the editor's remarks in the back that specifically said this would be a slowly-unfolding story, and that they wouldn't touch on the core of it for quite some time. I am also a Niles fan, but he is more here to give Bernie's story a script that reads well.
After the second issue I am feeling a lot more fulfilled story-wise, and there was certainly no lack of gore. Overall, I do like it enough to stick with it, because of my established trust in both of these guys, and also because I know I wouldn't judge it so harshly if not for the expectations I had from that very same trust.
Short review: PRETTY GOOD
(Wrightson/ Niles)
Conan #39 (dark horse)
While I'm anxiously awaiting the upcoming adaptation of Howard's Rogues in the House, this issue takes a break from that lead-up to tell a short, action-packed quest tale, guest-starring Janissa the Widowmaker. She and Conan have separately set out for the same mystical treasure, and both fight relentlessly to reach it. They are totally unaware of each-other's presence until they are in need of each-other's help with the coveted goal in reach. Thoroughly entertaining pulpy sword-n-sorcery goodness.
Short review: PRETTY GOOD
(Truman/ guest artist Raphael Kayanan)
Daredevil #96 (marvel)
I've been buying this comic for almost 70 consecutive issues now, and have never been bored or disappointed. And the new creative team is kicking ass just as hard. Solid.
Short Review: GREAT
(Brubaker/ Lark)
Hellblazer #231 (vertigo/dc)
WOW! it's been a while since I was this excited about Hellblazer. New regular writer Andy Diggle is rocking hard, bringing some real horror back to the book, and setting Constantine on the path to becoming his old self again. Like when he used to wear a suit and white gloves in Moore's Swamp Thing, before he started looking like a homeless guy.
Short review: GREAT
(Diggle/ Manco)
Hellboy: Darkness Calls #1 (dark horse)
Duncan Fegredo steps in as new regular artist this issue. Most fans were very unhappy with the announcement that Mike Mignola would no longer be drawing his own comic, but this issue does not disappoint. I was absolutely blown away.
It just wouldn't be Hellboy without Mignola's masterful pacing and gorgeous minimalist art style, neither of which are missing from this new issue. And with Mignola focusing on just the scripts and covers, we can expect to see new Hellboy a lot more frequently, as well as a few other projects currently in the works.
Fegredo is a very skilled and versatile artist, and for this book he is applying Mike's rendering style to his own more detailed art, for an absolutely incredible finished artwork. Just look at the scans, and try not to drool.
Short review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Incredible Hulk #106 (marvel)
World War Hulk is on!!!! This issue stars She-Hulk, Amadeus Cho, and Doc Samson. It was pretty much a lot of talking, but pretty entertaining, and if WWH is as cool as I hope it will be, I'll be glad to have picked this up.
Short review: NOT BAD
(Pak/ Frank)
Invincible #40 (image)
Welp, I'm so behind on reviews that I bought the next issue of this today, so I'll skip this review and just do the new one in my next entry. But it's probably the best super hero comic in the universe.
Short review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(Kirkman/ Ottley)
Mighty Avengers #2 (marvel)
This issue wasn't as good as the first, but I certainly liked it enough to get the next one. I usually have a hard time judging a title this soon into it's run, but so far so good.
Short review: PRETTY GOOD
(Bendis/ Cho)
Omega Flight #2 (marvel)
The first issue sold out so fast in my store that I had to make sure to check it out. It was really nothing special in my opinion. In fact I can't really think of what to say about it, good OR bad. It was a wholly unremarkable comic.
Short review: MEH.
(Oeming/ Kolins)
Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1 (marvel)
I felt like this issue was pretty much a waste of time. By the end of the comic, Spidey and Mary Jane both reminisced a lot while being very nearly apprehended by the law, but nothing had changed. It wasn't bad, but I did get a strong "who cares" feeling from it.
I did learn, however, that Salvador Larocca could be doing much nicer artwork than he usually produces. For the flashback sequences in this issue, he emulates the style of John Romita Sr., and it looks absolutely beautiful. Then it would switch back to the current events and his photo-ref'ed faces. It was just frustrating.
Short review: MEH
(Fraction/ Larocca)
the Spirit #5 (dc)
This isn't just one of those cool funny covers; this issue really is all about beans. Spirit brand beans.
This comic is smart, action-packed, beautifully illustrated, and actually funny.
Short review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Superman #662 (dc)
After three months of filler issues, though they were entertaining, I am overjoyed to be returning to the Camelot Falls storyline. We get more on the kick-ass new hero Sirocco, and more impeccable art by Carlos Pacheco.
Short review: GREAT
(Busiek/ Pacheco)
World War Hulk Prologue: Worldbreaker #1 (marvel)
This issue consisted of a main story and two back-ups. There are three pencillers on the main story, each working on different scenes, one of whom I hate, but did a pretty good job here (Al Rio), one who I like and was great as expected (Lee Weeks), and one who is a favorite of mine, but was working outside of his style to pretty ugly results (Sean Phillips). This story was probably a pretty good WWH primer for those who didn't follow Planet Hulk, but as a regular Incredible reader I didn't get anything out of it.
The second story was a comical Mini Marvels short featuring the Illuminati and why they exiled the Hulk. It was fun, but only mildly funny.
The third feature was an Amadeus Cho story, which I liked just because I like the character. Nothing important happened, but I just think he's really cool.
Don't think of this comic as essential to World War Hulk. It was not bad, but pretty much just fluff.
Short review: S'OK
(David/ Rio/ Weeks/ Phillips/ Pak/ Miyazawa)
I think I might be picking up Hellblazer again, and Hellboy too! Thanx for the recomendations!