Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 15

Book Review: Spider-man v. Mysterio

Spider-Man Vs. Mysterio by Stan Lee

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a collection of Spider-man facing Mysterio stories released ahead of Spider-man: Far from Home. I have to say that I didn't much care for it. While I love the Silver and Bronze Age Spider-man stories, when this book actually make me focus on Mysterio, I came to realization: I really don't care much for Mysterio stories. The problem is that if you know Mysterio is the villain, you know how the story's going to go. The stories where you don't know it's Mysterio can surprise you and be the best approach. However, the problem is that when you're reading this book, you KNOW its going to be Mysterio because its on the COVER. I also found myself lost in the modern-day Dan Slott story at the end.

I do think the Peter David issues from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, written at a time Spidey had been unmasked are a bit of an exception to that. There's some layers, there's Multiple Mysterios and it makes me curious to read his run.

Maybe if you like Mysterio stories more, you might enjoy this one, but for me, there was no mystery and not much fun.



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Book Review: Avengers Assemble, Volume 1

Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a solid beginning to Kurt Busiek's Avengers run. He starts with a story featuring every Avenger and then in Issue 4 it's whittled down to a core team. The book focuses on core original Avengers in this first volume with a few notable exceptions.

Busiek has a great feel for who these characters are and that helps produce some good moments, as we deal with the mystery of what happened to Wonder Man who is apparently returning from the dead. The plots are a lot of action and adventure, but with a sense of fun.

My biggest complaint about the book may tie into one of the best issues. Issue 7 in the end of the Live Kree or Die Arc and the court martial of Carol Danvers by the Avengers. The book didn't contain the other issues, but the court martial itself is a great piece of character work in an action-filled book.

Overall, this is a book that makes a nice start to Busiek's run and makes me curious to find out what's next for Earth's mightiest heroes.



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Book Review: Cosmic Odyssey

Cosmic Odyssey by Jim Starlin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


What can you say about Cosmic Odyssey? The book has a great cast of heroes, it avoids the worst traits of many of the future crossovers and it has all kinds of potential. It just didn't live up to it. I don't know if the fact that it came out not too long after Crisis on Infinite Earths and really pales in comparion.

Many of the character journeys and actions aren't really consistent with the characters as we know them particularly John Stewart. And there are too many characters, a few of them who are hard to like. Add in a plot that's not as great as it thinks it is and you've got a fairly mediocre event that still has good moments, but its easy to understand why its been forgotten.



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Book Review; Batman Europa

Batman: Europa by Matteo Casali

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Batman finds he's going to die after being poisoned and suspects the Joker, however the Joker has been poisoned with the same poison forcing the two to team up and travel across Europe searching for a cure.

The story and the solution to the mystery are both decent, but ultimately forgettable. The highlight of the book and the main reason to read/acquire it is the art as we get to see European comic artists drawing art of great European cities and backdrops for these adventures.



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Book Review: Doctor Who: The Chains of Olympus

Doctor Who: The Chains of Olympus by Scott Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This collects about a year's worth of material in three comic strip stories.

First up is Chains of Olympus:
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive in Ancient Greece as the Doctor came to meet Socrates. However, he's quickly disappointed to find Socrates in a very downbeat mood after a satirical play ruined his reputation, leaving him with only one student. The Doctor is deeply disappointed, but has worse things to deal with. Two men melted a statue of the goddess Athena and now Zeus is returning and smiting Athens. The Doctor has to find out what's going on and save Anthens.

The comic strip is beautifully drawn. Not only does Zeus return, but we get to see a whole lot of Greek Mythological gods and monsters brought to life by Mike Collins. The script is clever. The Doctor gets more scenes with Socrates than anyone else, but Amy and Rory have their moments. This is one time when its appropriate to bring out Rory's armor (even if it's for Rome rather than Greece.) In the actual TV show, the call-back could get a little old. But here, it works a treat. Overall, a great start to the Second Season of the Eleventh Doctor in comics. Grade: B+

For the second strip of this year, we get a Modern London story in Sticks and Stones which finds the 11th Doctor wandering about while Rory shops for ingredients for Amy to make dinner. However, a grafiti artist is defacing the city in spectacular ways that have made an impression on the public and even gotten the attention of the Doctor.

This is the type of story a Doctor Who comic should tell-something outlandishly visually interesting that's not easy to communicate on television. It's got a clever concept, but its chief fault is that the story was only told over two issues and this one really needed some space to breathe. Still, it's a solid and fun story. Grade: B-

In the Cornucopia Caper, The Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive on a planet where a burglar is in the midst of a big heist. Amy's taken by the burglar, and the Doctor sets out to deal with the angry guards by convincing them he's the police. Unfortunately, for him, he discovers this is a planet run by thugs.

This one has a great concept and some interesting guest characters. It moves at a nice pace, with solid artwork, and also drops hints as to what's to come next in the strip's overall story arc. Grade: B+

Overall, a nice year of Doctor Who Comic Strips and definitely worth a read.




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Book Review: Batman, The GOlden Age Volume 5

Batman: The Golden Age  Vol. 5 by Bill Finger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Top of the line Golden Age Batman stories. We get the original introduction of Alfred Pennyworth. In addition, there's some really solid Joker stories including him losing his memories, Penguin ready to switch MOs, we also have several stories featuring the forgotten Crime Clinic. There are plenty of great stories for any fan of the Batman of the Golden age.



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Audio Drama Review: Avengers vs. Pet Avengers

Avengers vs. Pet Avengers by Chris Eliopoulos

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The final pet Avengers book has this teaming up against Fin Fang Foom after Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are turned to frogs. As the story goes on, they'll actually to fight the Avengers for reasons.

This isn't bad book, but it doesn't do enough to be a good one. The plot's too thin and basic to be that good, but dominates the story too much to really allow individual animals to shine. Still, this isn't a bad book and has some nice moments.



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Book Review: The Thing: Freakshow

The Thing: Freakshow (The Thing: Freakshow by Geoff Johns

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Geoff Johns has written some great comics. This isn't one of them. He doesn't get the Thing as a character and his attempt to retcon in this circus freakshow doesn't work. When combined with bad art work, this book is eminently skippable.



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Book Review: Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man by Carl Barks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Your journey with Uncle Scrooge as a main character starts here with the early stories in which he was a lead. The stories have their goofy moments but do hold up surprisingly well. As someone who grew up with Ducktales, I appreciated reading the comic version from which those adventures were drawn from. These are fascinating for any fans of Duck Tales or Carl Barks Duck stories.



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Book Review: Echoes of Eden

Echoes of Eden by Marvin Olasky

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Echoes of Eden started out feeling like it was going to be a sort of Christian Indiana Jones story after an archaeology professor's brother is killed, but what we get is less abut a story than it is some of the author's theories and information about theories regarding snakes. It's not very interesting and isn't helped by some flat characterization.

So overall, this one was disappointing as I like Mister Olasky's non-fiction and enjoyed his other graphic novel but this one's not really a worthwhile read.



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