Quickie Trade & GN Reviews

By wrathamon on 8/31/10 11:49pm
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Set To Sea HC- The graphic novel debut of Drew Weing, Set To Sea follows the misadventure of a big bum and aspiring poet who gets kidnaped and becomes a crew-member of a clipper bound for Hong Kong. Confronted with the hardships of life at sea, pirate attacks, and more, the poet inside finally develops. Beautiful art and  sad and exciting storytelling make this a fantastic read. Weing tells his story through full splash pages in a unique style that captures brutality, pain, joy, and a certain sense of serenity that many artist would kill to achieve. While the package is small. a little pricey ($16.99), and a fairly quick read, the content is so captivating that you will find yourself scanning through pages again and again. A+
Strange Tales TPB- Since it’s an anthology title full of unique and different styles it’s hard to really grade this book. Some really stood out while others were kind of meh. The Vasquez MODOK and Jacob Chabot FF stories really stole the entire thing for me. Overall it was an interesting project, if sort of a weak answer to the Wednesday Comics series or the Bizarror World HC. My main complaint for this package is the price point. They seriously needed to drop the price on this sucker another $5 because even at 160 pages the point is to not freak the consumer out. Considering it’s an assortment of mixed talents they may not care about, I would hope you would want to lure them in with an affordable and reasonable price. B+
Haunted Tank TPB- An interesting take on the Haunted Tank and Jeb Stuart with a healthy dose of violence and oddball humor. Henry Flint’s art style is somewhat similar to Tony Moore’s, so if you’re a fan of the earlier Walking Dead style or of Moore’s Vertigo work on Exterminators you might want to check this out. My only problem is the story sort of flounders towards the end and then it sort of feels like it cuts short, but it was still a decent read. B

Set To Sea HC- The graphic novel debut of Drew Weing, Set To Sea follows the misadventure of a big bum and aspiring poet who gets kidnaped and becomes a crew-member of a clipper bound for Hong Kong. Confronted with the hardships of life at sea, pirate attacks, and more, the poet inside him finally develops. Beautiful and sad art along with exciting storytelling make this a fantastic read. Weing tells his story through full splash pages in a unique style that captures brutality, pain, joy, and a certain sense of serenity that many artist would kill to achieve. While the package is small, a little pricey ($16.99), and a fairly quick read, the content is so captivating that you will find yourself scanning through pages again and again. Well worth your time to check out.  A+



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Quickie GN & Trade Reviews

By wrathamon on 8/30/10 10:58pm
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Weekly Reading Pile: Week of 8/25/10 Pt 2

By wrathamon on 8/30/10 2:33am
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Weekly Reading Pile: Week of 8/25/10

By wrathamon on 8/26/10 1:50am
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Science Dog #1- If you pick up the single issues of Invincible then you don;t need this cause it’s all reprint, but if you only get the Invincible trades then this is a handy aside since they never bothered to include them. If you don’t read any Kirkman then this a fun intro the quicker style and just a good stand alone comic. The price point is kinda high for a reprint with only 24 pages, especially if they are trying to get new readers. Still, fun with some great art. B+
Wonder Woman #602- I kinda feel that it’s going to be Kramer’s art that keeps Straczynski’s run together for the most part. This isn’t a bad issue, but it’s not great either. It’s just sorta there, y’know? Maybe as a part of a trade it will fit in better, but based on the story alone if I had to make a harsh decision as a normal reader with a limited budget this sucker would be getting the cut at this point. Then I see the last page with the great art and coloring and damn if he ain’t a saving grace. B-
Avengers #4- I was thinking New Avengers was going to be the funnier Avenger title in general, but it’s nice to see Bendis inject a little more humor in this issue because lets face it that’s pretty much his strongest selling point these days. And while Ultron is only used as sort of a minor plot device in all the time traveling shenanigans, seriously, I think it’s time to put at least a one-year moratorium on the character. Considering we seem to switch from Kang to Ultron to Kang to Ultron most of the time, the fact that both of them are fighting in this issue kinda exceeds their Avengers quota. B
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2- The search for Batman relevance thing is kind of a tease at this point, but hell Jurgens managed to shove Claw and the non-Teen Titan Starfire into this and made it amusing so hooray for Booster Gold and Hunter! Not crazy about the price point for the 22 pages but fun is fun. B+
Darkwing Duck #3-This is like 2 weeks old but I finally just got around to reading it and once again, it’s blown the majority of the other comics on the shelves out of the water. “Keep in mind I have to buy a lot of stuff today. Flame-throwers, chainsaws....flaming-chainsaw-throwers. You know, the classics.” And with that line, this books cements it’s place as one of the best titles of the year. A-

 

Science Dog #1- If you pick up the single issues of Invincible then you don't need this cause it’s all reprint, but if you only get the Invincible trades then this is a handy aside since they never bothered to include them. If you don’t read any Kirkman then this a fun intro to his quirky style and just a good stand alone comic. The price point is kinda high for a reprint with only 24 pages, especially if they are trying to get new readers. Still, fun with some great art. B+



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Conan The Musical

By wrathamon on 8/21/10 12:06pm
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Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!

Weekly Reading Pile: Week of 8/18/10 Pt 2

By wrathamon on 8/20/10 11:08pm
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The Avengers Infinity Gauntlet #1- I love Clevinger’s Atomic Robo, so it was a fun to see him do a superhero adventure like this. While the dialogue was there, I will say the overall story felt a little rushed and it was kind of disappointing. I like Churilla art but I don’t know if he was the best fit for the project. It’s kind of weird and unnecessary to redo the Infinity Gauntlet saga and condense it down like this, but the price point of $2.99 is fine and it has a sense of humor, so worth a look. B
The Boys: Highland Laddie #1- I don’t know if it’s the inks or if it’s McCrea’s style that’s changed a little, but it doesn’t feel as solid as hit older work like on Hitman. Another off-branch of the main Boys story, which I usually treat as a normal Boys story though so no big whoop. Pretty much Ennis just doing his best to be Ennis, but it still turns out a fun read. The $3.99 price tag isn’t great though. B
Hulk #24- The whole boxed inner monologues going back and forth thing that Loeb’s made his little signature sure is friggin’ annoying these days. While the McGuinness art is beautiful and fairly epic, the fight itself was lackluster and not as strong as the Incredible Hulk counterpart a week back. The fact that it’s taken 2 years to tell the Red Hulk story is kinda sad to me, because it went from being almost interesting to something I really didn’t give a crap about within the first 6-months of waiting. Loeb presented a great mystery story years ago with Long Halloween, and since then his reveals have been getting worse and worse. He’s sorta the M. Night Shyamalan of the comic world now. C+
The Sixth Gun #3- I really really really like Brian Hurtt’s art, he just tells a clean story through solid layouts and good atmosphere. This western horror story just keeps getting better, check it out if you just like good storytelling. A-
Secret Avengers #4- Huh, I didn’t realize this was just a four issue story. I’m always happy when a write can spare us the prolonged ‘made for a TPB’ six issue arcs that really could be cut in half. Good action, interesting plot, plenty of questions for more stories, good all around package. A-
Thunderbolts #147- This is worth it just to see John Walker kick ass. The entire issue was fun, from Luke Cage giving the Purple Man a beating, to Man-Thing kicking monster ass, and to Juggernaut doing something decent. I’m always a fan of a good Juggernaut story, and I hate it when writers forget that he can be a fairly decent guy who just makes stupid decisions. I’m interested that they are spending time with the reputation of the Raft, it’s always fun when the books actually deal with the superprisons. Still looking forward to this book with every issue. A-

The Avengers Infinity Gauntlet #1- I love Clevinger’s Atomic Robo, so it was fun to see him do a superhero adventure like this. While the dialogue was spot on, I will say the overall story felt a little rushed and it was kind of disappointing. I like Churilla art but I don’t know if he was the best fit for the project. It’s kind of weird and unnecessary to redo the Infinity Gauntlet saga and condense it down like this, but the price point of $2.99 is fine and it has a sense of humor, so worth a look. B



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Spongebob Lanterns

By wrathamon on 8/20/10 12:37pm
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Spongebob/Lantern Corp mash-ups, perhaps one of the greatest combos ever. Via Crakkajamma!

Weekly Reading Pile: Week of 8/18/10

By wrathamon on 8/20/10 1:31am
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The Last Phantom #1- I felt like I watched the first episode of a cartoon reintroducing the character for a new audience. Which isn’t a bad thing, this was decently written with fairly solid art, but it didn’t really bring anything new and worthwhile to the table. It was all very predictable and just felt like they were going through the motions. Not really worth the $3.99, but there’s much worse to spend the money on as well. B-
The New Avengers #3- This series is mostly going to be worth it for the Thing/Spider-Man banter, and if there isn’t Thing/Spider-Man banter then it’s going to be disappointing. Thankfully, plenty of banter this issue! Plus, Immonen draws some pretty pictures. B+
Green Lantern Corps #51- I actually really like Green Lantern Hannu, mostly because he’s so ornery he refuses to use his ring and just punches the hell out of things. He’s kinda like if Ben Grimm became a Green Lantern, and that concept alone makes me happy. Besides that, mid-story arc and some decent developments. Noticed a lack of backgrounds throughout the entire issue, and while it didn’t hurt the story and everything was easy to follow it felt a little lazy. B
Brightest Day #8- Yay for Patrick Gleason Martian Manhunter! DC, THIS NEEDS TO BE A REGULAR THING. Seriously, They should have launched a Tomasi/Gleason Martian Manhunter title. IT’S NOT TOO LATE, DC, YOU CAN DO IT. Anywho, back to a slower plot development pace with this issue, which I don’t mind. B+
Marvel Universe VS The Punisher #2- I didn’t want to take the geek ground with this and judge it on something nerdy but seriously, if it was that easy to kill the Hulk someone would have done it already. The entire story just kind of hit a wall for me right there and that was four pages in. I shouldn’t care that much about one little thing, but honestly if you’re not going to kill the Hulk in a clever fashion then you shouldn’t have introduced him to your zombie-verse. That needs to be a rule. Same with the Venom kill, it was just really lackluster. Maybe your strapped for time and you had to kill fast, but it all just comes off as lazy here. This whole series just took one sharp turn into lacklusterville. The script also turned kinda boring for me, just kinda kept on with the ‘Blah blah blah, oh noes zombies, blah blah survivors disappearing blah blah God didn’t send me”. Still like the art though. C+
Captain America Forever Allies #1- Picked up this one late from last week, it’s an ok read since it’s Roger Stern and the focus on the old Young Allies is interesting. I just wish that for the $3.99 tag they would have given us more actual story and not another reprint of Captain America’s origin. It’s Kirby so yay, but still, there are enough reprints out there that if I wanted a reprint I would find myself a reprint. B-

The Last Phantom #1- I felt like I watched the first episode of a cartoon reintroducing the character for a new audience. Which isn’t a bad thing, this was decently written with fairly solid art, but it didn’t really bring anything new and worthwhile to the table. It was all very predictable and just felt like they were going through the motions. Not really worth the $3.99, but there’s much worse to spend the money on as well. B-



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Quickie Trade & GN Reviews

By wrathamon on 8/17/10 11:45pm
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Lackadaisy Vol 1- I’ve been waiting for this online strip to see print and wider distribution because it’s brilliant. Set in the late 1920's in St. Louis during Prohibition, Lackadaisy follows a cast of anthropomorphic troublemakers trying to survive bad times and violent competition. Tracy Butler’s art is smooth, clean, unique, and expressive. Her actual storytelling is fun and the story arcs are paced just right so they don’t drag but you find yourself wanting to read them over again because you wished they weren’t over yet. A solid package at $19.99, everyone should give this a try. A+
The Marvels Project HC- It’s a Brubaker/Epting collaboration, so of course it;s going to be a solid read with great art. Sort of a ‘behind the scenes of Marvels’ type of story about the onset of the superheroics during WWII, Brubaker fits in plenty of espionage and murder mystery into the larger framework of Marvel golden age history. The packaging isn’t bad, charging you an extra couple bucks over the cost of the original series for the oversized HC treatment plus all the covers. I think that my only problem with the series is that while it’s a good story, it isn’t entirely necessary in this time of endless flashbacks and throwback stories to add one more $3.99 series that just kind of gives you some added details to what happened the night Steve Rogers became Captain America or other key golden age events. There was nothing groundbreaking here. Sure, there were some cool ideas and a good meshing of the overall history, but nothing that I can actually look back and say ‘That made everything so much better once we added that to the background’. We get it already, we have the power to retroactively change comic history to fulfil our need for a more ‘realistic’ superhero world. Move on and tell us some current stories already. A-
Magog: Lethal Force TPB- Y’know, I think the worst thing about this series is just how disappointing it is that DC decided to take the character in this direction. I mean originally he was meant to be a stand in for the archetypical crappy ‘90's anti-hero in Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come series. Then Chuck Austin used him in Action Comics and well, no one remembers that. Then Geoff Johns actually introduced the current incarnation of Magog in Justice Society and not only did they give him an interesting legacy and background, but they actually sort of steered him away from being the dead end character he was destined to be. Then the Willingham run of JSA started and well......poop. He’s pretty much your typical Cable/Wolverine rip off with slightly better writing courtesy of Keith Giffen, but pretty much nothing interesting happens in this trade and we get a bunch of forgettable villains and stuff happens and so on. Howard Porter’s art is the type that can either be a good example of a stale ‘edgy’ ‘90s series, or something that can evolve into a more unique style of storytelling via Grant Morrison’s JLA. Unfortunately, we get the former here. Dissapointing. C+

Lackadaisy Vol 1- I’ve been waiting for this online strip to see print and wider distribution because it’s brilliant. Set in the late 1920's in St. Louis during Prohibition, Lackadaisy follows a cast of anthropomorphic troublemakers trying to survive bad times and violent competition. Tracy Butler’s art is smooth, clean, unique, and expressive. Her actual storytelling is fun and the story arcs are paced just right so they don’t drag but you find yourself wanting to read them again because you wished they weren’t over yet. A solid package at $19.99, everyone should give this a try. A+



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'Premakes' The Avengers

By wrathamon on 8/16/10 7:07pm
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Great 1950's style trailer for the Avengers borrowing from plenty of classic films