Chad’s
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(group member since Mar 22, 2018)
Chad’s
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from the I Read Comic Books group.
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Ed wrote: "Abbott: 1979 is not interesting me as much as the previous two "Abbott" stories. Feels like it is just spinning it's wheels."I felt the same way about Abbott: 1979. I loved the first 2 and felt very "Eh" about the 3rd one.
Today's trip to my LCS.Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #2
Absolute Batman #11
Absolute Flash #6
Detective Comics #1100
World's Finest #42
Exceptional X-Men #12
GI Joe #10
Hyde Street #8
Imperial #3
Space Quest #4
Thundercats: Lost #5
Ultimate Black Panther #19
Last week's adventures in comics.Superman: Action Comics: Phantoms ★★★
When mutated Kryptonians start popping out of the Phantom Zone, Superman goes in to investigate. There's a lot of retconning going on with this. Some because Mon-El returns and who knows what's been retconned currently with the Legion of Super-Heroes. It's only been completely changed 4 or 5 times now and Bendis completely fubared it last I saw. (They had this all completely straightened out in the 90s when Mon-El got his own comic. Of course, DC screwed that up multiple times since then.) Krypton gets some retconning as well during this which seems to happen every time its history comes up. New Super-man has also apparently taken some language classes between the recent backup stories in Action and now because now he speaks better English than Superboy when he could barely speak English before. Still its not a bad story, just one with more inconsistencies than I typically expect from Waid. Clayton Henry's art is great and he does 80% of the 12 issues with Michael Shelfer filling in. Their art styles do not mix well.
Batman: Battle for the Cowl - The Complete Collection ★★
This collects the gazillion one-shots and 3 miniseries revolving around what happens when everyone thinks Batman's dead. (This takes place after Final Crisis when Batman got hit by Darkseid's Omega beam.) Unfortunately, a lot of these stories aren't very good and there's not much in the way of flow between any of them.
East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise ★★★★★
I liked this so much better this go around as opposed to the first time I read it. It's an alternate future where the U.S. broke off into 7 factions after the Civil War. It's now too years later and the 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse have returned. However, Death is on his own and looking for revenge while the other 3 are looking to kill him. Every time I saw Death, all I could think of is the scene in Tombstone where Wyatt Earp tells Ike Clanton "You tell 'em I'm coming... and hell's coming with me, you hear?" There's so much to like about this. The art by Nick Dragotta is just terrific. It's only supplemented by Frank Martin's perfect colors that pop off the page.
Azrael: Death's Dark Knight ★★★
There's a new Azrael out there with a different suit of armor and swords. This armor will eventually make you go crazy. Now one of the three police officers who trained to take over as Batman years ago is taking on the burden of the suit.
Oracle: The Cure ★★
This is not very good. It's the last 2 issues of the Birds of Prey series and the 3 issue miniseries Oracle: The Cure. The Oracle mini is part of the Battle for the Cowl stuff. There's all kinds of fighting in the internet nonsense with the Calculator that makes no sense. Somehow, from within this online game he can cause players' heads to explode. It's really dumb.
Sleep Terrors ★
This book makes absolutely no sense. It's about this woman who has narcolepsy after being hit by a car. She was in a coma for a long time. Now her dreams seem to be coming true. It has to do with a shadowy government organization that is creating dream monsters in people. I don't know. The whole thing is a mess. At one point, a police officer is strangled by his Asian noodles while eating in his car. Not by an entity, but by the actual noodles wrapped around his throat. If there was a Mystery Science theater 3000 for comics, this would have appeared there.
Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 1: Warworld Rising ★★★★
Phillip Kennedy Johnson really seems to get Superman and his family. Their views are point on. Superman will always do what's right, no matter the cost, even when he knows it's a trap. The story is all prologue. Warworld leaves a ship behind that contains three ancient maybe Kryptonians behind. They have been in thrall to Mongul for generations. Superman knows it's all a trap but if there could be more proto-Kryptonians there, he'll go no matter what to free all of Warworld. Sampere's art is great. So is Duce's fill in issue.
Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 2: The Arena ★★★★★
Superman and this new version of the Authority head to Warworld where they get their asses kicked. The whole world is powered by red suns that deplete Superman's powers. They are all kept as prisoners where they all behave differently. Superman, of course, stays true to himself, never giving up, but some of the others go astray. It's all buildup as we learn more about this crazy put together world that worships Mongul.
Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 3: Warworld Revolution ★★★★
Superman without his powers inspires the slaves of Warworld to revolt. Lots of interesting revolution moments. Lots of iconic Superman heroic moments. I do think the Authority characters didn't get as much room to shine in this volume. Reading this all straight through instead of each trade would probably have gotten it a full 5 stars. On its own I had a few little quibbles with some of the pacing. Although all of the art is good, there are way too many artists on this.
Red Sonja: Age of Chaos ★★★★
This was better than it has any right to be. Dynamite has gained access to all of the Chaos comics characters of the 90s other than Lady Death apparently. They all get thrown back to Red Sonja's time after Kulan Gath dies and causes the timeline to die off in our time. Then it's a free for all to gain his power or restore the proper timeline in Red Sonja's case. Red Sonja does have a weird hair cut in this one where it looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket.
The Dark ★★
A man tries to rescue his son from a virtual world he kind of created. The storytelling is kind of a mess. It was hard to keep straight.
Savage ★★★
Some solid weird West, vampire hunting action.
Nature of the Beast ★★★
This was a bunch of crazy, over the top nonsense but it was also kind of fun. It's about the world's richest man who is contacted by aliens in secret. They are going to destroy our world if we can't beat them in single combat. So enter an alligator wrestler and a contest to find the world's toughest being. That's how we get things like a gorilla vs. an alligator and a shark vs. a polar bear. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it was also entertaining. It's also by the creator of Go the F%ck to Sleep.
Space Ghost Vol. 2: The Council of Doom ★★★★
The nostalgia in this one is high while still maintaining a good story and art. If you were ever a Space Ghost fan, you're probably going to dig this. Can't wait to see what Pepose and Lau do in Season 2.
Count Crowley Vol. 2: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter ★★★
This picks up right where volume 1 left off. Jerri is still a screw up but she's 3 days sober and going to AA. She's also hunting monsters while hosting the late night monster movies. This is very much a middle volume and there's not a whole lot new here other than different lore for killing werewolves and vampires.
Giant-Size X-Men: Second Genesis Revisited ★★
This is a pretty crappy group of one-shots in honor of the 50th anniversary of Giant-Size X-Men #1. Ms. Marvel gets sent back in time for unknown reasons to important times in the X-Men's history. Legion is trying to change the past for some reason. He's lost the David Haller personality and I guess all his other personalities as well and is just a dick now. The revelations in the back are pretty meaningless except for the last one which is a teaser to a return of the Age of Apocalypse. Ms. Marvel does finally get her mutant power and it's just the power from the TV show.
Transformers: Worst Bot Ever: Meet Ballpoint ★★★★
A really fun (and funny) story about the worst Decepticon out there. A transforming ball point pen who talks a big game but is the complete opposite. I had a LOT of fun with this.
Night Club, Vol. 2 ★★★
What happens to our teenage vampire superheroes when the popular kids become vampires too? That's the question that gets answered here. It's ultimately not bad.
All-Negro Comics 75th Anniversary Edition ★★★★
For the 75th anniversary, Image has reprinted the first comic created by black talent. It's largely been lost to history up to this point. It's quite unique for its time. In addition to reprinting the original comic, there's some essays and then a few new stories using the same characters by modern day black creators.
Flash Gordon Vol. 2: Killer of Worlds ★★★★
This series is still kicking butt. Mongo is gone and Flash is figuring out what happened after its destruction as he revisits old allies. The art's good. The story is great. I'm very happy to see this series be this good.
Future State: Superman ★★
While The War World Saga is really good, the Future State stories revolving around it are not.
Cancertown: Blasphemous Tumours ★★
A man with a brain tumor is able to enter the world of Cancertown where strange ominous creatures reside. I thought the first volume was interesting but this was really hard to follow. All of the characters from this other world all had lettering with different fonts and it was so incredibly difficult to read. That's a real pet peeve of mine that takes me out of a story every time.
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 3: The Realm Of The Mind ★★
I honestly don't know why I'm still reading this. It's terrible. There's way too many characters and when they wear full face masks you can't keep track of who's who. The story meanders. It doesn't feel like it's set on the same world as the other Ultimate titles at all. Even the art isn't very good here which is what Momoko is known for. It's often sloppy and I couldn't even tell what was happening at times.
Local Man Vol. 1: Heartland ★★★★
This is kind of a odd series. It's about a super hero that's been kicked off his team for reason unknown. He's not even allowed to rescue kittens from trees due to a noncompete agreement. He heads back to his hometown where everyone also hates him. When an old archenemy is murdered, he puts on a ski mask and walks into town to find the killer. This story also contains flashbacks to the fake Youngblood type team that he was on where we begin to find out how he screwed up.
Hunter, Hunted ★★
An alright but sometimes confusing read about some kind of government team operating out of Scotland.
So there's a new Humble Bundle from DSTLRY. It looks like a lot of interesting comics. It is a different setup though. Instead of getting actual PDFs to download, you have to read them on their site. I haven't had time to buy them yet, but I figure for $18 I'll try it out. DSTLRY's comics are a weird size in real life that won't fit in a normal comic box so I've never bought physical copies. There are some big name creators that have published stuff over there: Scott Snyder, Brian Azzarello, James Tynion, Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay, Mirka Andolfo, Jamie MCKelvie, Chip Zdarsky, Jock, Ram V. and Joelle Jones but I'm not sure if they are all in this bundle. Somna is in it and it won an Eisner last year.https://www.humblebundle.com/books/ne...
The best you can say about Yang's DC work is that it's OK. His creator owned stuff is so much better.
Yeah, A.I. isn't where they say it is yet. I see mistakes all the time with it. (I'm a software engineer.)
Today's trip to my LCS.Thundercats / Powerpuff Girls #2
Ultimate X-Men #17 <-- Missed this last month
Giant-Size X-Men #2
Bring on the Bad Guys: Red Skull
Aquaman #8
Captain Planet and the Planeteers #3
Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #1
Space Ghost #1
Transformers #23
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #3
X-Men #20
The Ultimates #14
Ed wrote: "The Treasure of the Black Swan was very nice. It tells the true story of an unscrupulous treasure hunter trying to get sole ownership of the loot from a sunken Spanish ship while pr..."I read that recently too. Then I saw AMC turned it into a miniseries a couple years ago and watched that too, called La Fortuna. I couldn't find it streaming anywhere but my library had it. My wife and I liked it. It's half in Spanish with subtitles and half in English depending on where the conversations are taking place.
Last week's adventures in comics.30 Days of Night Omnibus, Vol. 1 ★★
Reading this, it's pretty clear that these aren't very good. Which is a real shame because it starts out as a great premise. But Ben Templesmith's art is horrendous. That original miniseries looks like chicken scratches. I can at least tell what's happening in volumes 2 and 4. Sometimes the story is so bad though that I wish I couldn't. There's moments in both of the latter stories where I actually said to myself WTF is happening. This is dumb. I can't believe there's 11 or 12 volumes. This edition also shrinks the art down so not only is the art harder to see but the lettering is so much harder to read.
Godzilla vs. the Marvel Universe ★★★
Some out of continuity stories set in various Marvel eras where different heroes fight Godzilla. It's all pretty innocuous but it's also not all that great. There's a lot of strange stuff like Godzilla getting a Venom suit, the Trasks combining multiple mechs from Toho into a sentinel, that kind of thing.
Weapon X-Men ★★
This was alright. A bunch of Wolverines from alternate timelines fight a version of Onslaught consisting of Magneto and Jean Grey. It's fine but I'm sick of alternate timeline stories that don't really matter.
Wow, I read this a 2nd time because I forgot all about this and found it at the library and read it again. On that note, it's going down to 2 stars.
The Woman With Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was ★★
The truth about this story is interesting. The roundabout way the story takes to get there is not. I'd lost the point trying to be made at times with all these extra pages that would just show an eyeball or an exterior shot. The story is about a con artist who came to Paris in the 20s and said she was a movie star from Germany. The city was smitten with her and soon famous painters from across the area were painting her portraits which eventually all disappeared.
Monsterverse Declassified ★★★
The last story about Tiamat was pretty great. But I'd expect no less from the creative team behind Canto, a comic you should check out if you are unfamiliar with it. It's terrific. The other 3 stories here were a miss.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation, Vol. 1 ★★★★
This volume serves mainly as a bridge between the previous series and the current one. We see what Hob's been up to. Then Raph and Pepperoni get forced into invading Area 51 to rescue some mutants. We see what Casey has been up to since Untold Story of the Foot Clan. There's some cool stuff in this anthology series. Marvel and DC should take note on how to do these well.
Marvel Tales by J. Michael Straczynski ★★★
I bought these sight unseen just because I'm a big fan of Straczynski's and I was excited to see he was writing for Marvel again. (Yes, I know he came back for Captain America first.) These team-ups were pretty uneven. Some of them were cool and some of them made you go "Huh".
Daredevil Epic Collection, Vol. 7: The Concrete Jungle ★★★
Some OK stories from the seventies. I will say this, plots dragged on for forever. Foggy's fiancé was kidnapped for about 20 issues before she was found. Surprisingly the Marv Wolfman stories in the first half weren't as good as the 2nd half when Jim Shooter took over the writing. There's some classic artists working on this, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colon, even John Byrne who drew the crossover with Ghost Rider.
Wolverine: Deep Cut ★★★
The utold story of what Wolverine was up to when he left the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #246. What he was up to was going after the Marauders on one big pointless slugfest. Some things have changed though, like Scrambler's powers and Scalphunter's name to Greycrow. Like the majority of these retro stories from Marvel, they can be skipped as they have no bite.
Batman/Elmer Fudd: The Deluxe Edition ★★★
I'm not really sure why this deluxe edition exists on its own as the original comic cost $5. This deluxe edition does have the Noir edition which is the same comic in black and white and it has the original script and notes from Lee Weeks so if you really enjoy those, spend your $20 on this instead.
I will say that the original comic is a whole lot of fun. It takes the Looney Tunes seriously, putting them in Batman's world. Elmer is out looking for revenge when he finds his girl, Silver St. Cloud, missing and only a bloody crime scene and a carrot left behind. Then he gets word that Bruce Wayne was behind it. I love how this is a straight up noir and a lot of the Looney Tune characters get "real world" versions of themselves. It's a 5 star story in this overpriced package.
Spine-Tingling Spider-Man ★★★
Scariest Spider-Man comic ever? No. The scariest part of this is the lack of backgrounds in Ferreyra's art. I really like his art but he's certainly cutting corners on the often nonexistent backgrounds. This is OK. There's no logic behind the story though. It's just random shit Pete is threatened by that taken together makes no sense. No one remembers who Peter Parker is in one issue. In the next they remember him but they are evil. Ahmed, your story still needs logic.
Animal Stories ★★★
Six loosely connected stories revolving around animals that sometimes get kind of wacky. Most of them have an Aesop's Fables or Biblical slant to them.
Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth ★★
More or less a John Constantine story if he had a brain tumor that kept causing him to go in and out of this Cancertown place. The story is confusing at times. There's no magic involved. Just all this metaphysical stuff. It's alright but could have used an editor to make it sharper.
Secret Six ★★★
Eh, this was OK. A new Secret Six comes together to go after Amanda Waller when she disappears from her cell. Not a fan of Stephen Segovia's new manga-ish style. His art used to be distinctive. Now it just looks like manga house style.
Superman, Vol. 3: The Dark Path ★★
At least DC put all of the skippable content into one trade. The three regular issues are part of Absolute Power. Superman is depowered and running around with Zatanna to find her some magic. Then we get the Knight Terrors miniseries from the crossover of the previous year. (Who thought it was a good idea to tack these on a year later?) It's not even one nightmare that tells a single story. It keeps flitting around to a gazillion nightmares that are just touched on. Honestly, it's a waste of paper.
Superman Vol. 4: Rise of the Superwoman ★★★★
In the aftermath of Absolute Power, Lois has gained the same powers as Superman! What! This is really good, especially with Dan Mora drawing all of the regular issues. There's some other crazy revelations here, like who the Time Trapper is now. And some good setup for where Lois's powers really came from.
Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu ★
While I enjoyed the other Minky Woodcock stories, this was a turkey. There's not a single story in these 4 issues. It's random encounters with Allister Crowley and H.P. Lovecraft. A miniseries should tell some kind of story and be more than just opportunities to see risque shots of Minky.
Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 2: To Hell and Back ★
Clearly, this is where the left over crap from the Superman family goes to die. It's a bunch of terrible backup stories, none of which Superman is even in. In one of them Conner Kent is going through something and dyes a blue streak in his hair. That should definitely help maintain your secret identity. The last 2 issues are the Knight Terrors 2 parter, again Superman isn't in it and it's very pointless.
Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: Revenge of the Demon ★★★
The story with the racist Blue Earthers comes to a head and their origins were actually seeded at the beginning of PKJ's run right before the Warworld Saga. It's a crazy and bold choice.
Superman: Action Comics: Superstars Vol. 1 ★★
Jason Aaron wrote a Bizarro story for Superman. What a disappointment. Translating Bizarro's speech into what he actually is saying makes my head hurt. I hate it so much. Aaron's story didn't change that opinion. It still sucked even with John Timms' terrific artwork.
I did like Gail Simone's retro Silver Age story. Superman has to save the world from an alliance of planets who are forcing Superman to fight so they can bet on the outcome. It has a cool Silver Age feel to it that works very well with Eddy Barrows' artwork.
The backup story from the Gail Simone issues was by Rainbow Rowell and Cian Tormey and I quite liked it. It's about Lois being Clark's boss now that she's the editor in chief at the Daily Planet.
Poison Ivy, Vol. 4: Origin of Species ★★★
The story from the first 2 years of stories comes to its end but first we spend 3 issues rehashing Ivy's origins. We also see how The Gardener fits into those origins as well. Then we get back to the Floronic Man and the lamia that is killing Ivy. It's solid stuff. The art is getting messier than it was at the beginning of this run.
The Sunken Tower ★★★
A middle grade comic about three people who are kidnapped from a medieval world and taken underground where they will be sacrificed to a god. They have to escape from the idiot cultists and return to the surface. It's a simple story with simple art but it is also fun.
The Indifference Engine Vol. 1 ★★
This was a cool idea, these variations of the same man fighting other versions of himself across realities. It got way too confusing though. I couldn't keep any of it straight. The art didn't help either and I was constantly confused.
Machiavelli wrote: "Was the compiled of Somewhere Within The Shadows, Arctic Nation, and Red Soul… man it was so good! Thinking about getting more"Dark Horse put out an edition that is the first 5 volumes. Then there is the newer story that is 2 volumes but as far as I know they haven't been collected together yet in 1 trade. I'm drawing a blank on the names of each story but everyone of them are excellent.
That Mister Miracle maxiseries is one of King's better comics. Really dark though.
Today's trip to my LCS.Ultimate Wolverine #8
Thundercats #17
Storm #11
Something Is Killing the Children #43
Secret Six #6
One World Under Doom #6
Justice League Vs. Godzilla Vs. Kong 2 #3
Herculoids #6
Gatchaman #11
Captain America #2
Birds of Prey #24
Absolute Superman #10
Absolute Green Lantern #5
Ultimate X-Men #18
Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1
The Sisterhood #2
Uncanny X-Men #19
Just curious what Blacksad you read Machiavelli. There's 7 volumes that have made it to the US. Not sure if there are more untranslated in French (even though the author is Spanish.). It is really good.
Last week's adventures in comics.John Carter of Mars ★
Just completely horrible. The story didn't make a lick of sense. The art is awful. At one point cars are floating in space with people in them and they can breathe and talk just fine. It's in a later time period because John Carter has died and been resurrected. Just downright horrible stuff. The art is all floating in space with weird camera angles that exaggerates the length of limbs.
Tragic Volume 1 ★★
An uneven, modern day updating of Hamlet with some gender swapping. Harper's father dies and she thinks he was murdered. Then she starts seeing and talking to his ghost dressed as Hamlet from an old production he was in. He was maybe murdered or maybe it'll turn out Harper has some mental issues. It could go either way at this point. I'm undecided at the moment if this is a story worth finishing out with the 2nd volume.
Violenzia and Other Deadly Amusements ★★★
Book ended short stories of Violenza, this mysterious women who shows up and kills everyone in shadowy organizations. Deeper plots are alluded to but will never be fulfilled. She seems to be unkillable so there's never any tension. In between these two stories is an incomprehensible story and an Edward Gory type A-Z book of macabre pinups.
X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 12: The Gift ★★★★
This Epic Collection is put together a little oddly just because things in certain issues don't match up the best. The X-Men / Alpha Flight crossover happens right after Professor X is beat up and left for dead. It's such a long break that I forgot all about it by the time we got back to it. There's some cool stuff in here though. Kulan Gath, the sorcerer from Conan takes over Manhattan and reverts it to Conan times. This book and New Mutants are pretty much commingled. The X-Men have to take on Warlock's pop, Magus. Loki, Nimrod, the Hellions, the Morlocks, Arcade, Power Pack. All good stuff. The last issue features Storm in Africa by Barry Windsor-Smith and it looks gorgeous. Finally, there's the wacky Nightcrawler miniseries by Dave Cockrum.
City Of Dust: A Philip Krome Story ★★★
A cop in a world where fiction and religion has been outlawed gets involved in a case where multiple people have been ripped apart. It's pretty well thought out for a Steve Niles book which tend to be elevator pitches more than stories a lot of the time.
Dead, She Said ★★
Is it possible for a graphic novel to be too short? Because this one is. It's like half of two separate stories smooshed together and they just don't fit. The first half is about a private eye who wakes up dead and tries to figure out how it happened. The other story is about a mad scientist and some giant ants. Bernie Wrightson's art is, of course, very good. The coloring though is so dark. Make sure you have good lighting so you can tell what's happening.
Blade Forger ★★★
A future where the Emperor is determined every 5 years through a tournament of Blade Forgers, a fight to the death for the 16 entrants involved. The storytelling is pretty disjointed in this. It's also told through multiple generations of this family so there's not a main character, per se. I really liked We Live from the Miranda Brothers. This wasn't to that level though.
Peacemaker Tries Hard! ★★★★
Clearly this is an extension of the Peacemaker TV show. Pugh draws him to look just like John Cena. It reads like an unaired episode. Anyway, Peacemaker is continuing his sad sack existence, inviting everyone he meets to his birthday party only to have them turn him down. Then he rescues a dog that he names Bruce Wayne because he has a tuxedo on his chest and he's a fancy lad. This book is really funny. Peacemaker is a big buffoon with a big heart. When his dog is kidnapped, he goes all John Wick to get him back. Along the way the Red Bee tags along (the perfect character for DC to bring back for this goofball book). And the Brain and Monsieur Mallah are the perfect villains for this series. Steve Pugh does a terrific job of mixing in the humor while still making this look good.
Everything Sucks ★★★
A pretty humorous stoner comic. This one is about getting some burgers.
The Hidden ★★★
I do wish Sala would have fleshed his stories out more. This one is about some kind of apocalypse. The few survivors hide out in some remote places and we eventually get a Frankenstein type riff. It's not bad. I just wanted more.
Feral, Vol. 3: Nine Lives ★★★★
I continue to dig this comic that has no right to be this good. It's basically The Walking Dead with pets and rabies instead of zombies. This group of cats continue to be on the run from all of these animals carrying a rabies virus. In this volume, they figure out how to sneak in and hide out in a pet store like PetSmart and find some weird cats living in there. Of course, things go wrong again. The art's great. The story is great. What's not to love?
The Incal: Psychoverse ★★★
One of the comics expanding Jodorowsky's The Incal, this prequel isn't bad. It's full of wildly murderous nuns and metabarons. I was hoping Russell would maybe bring something new to the table, but that wasn't the case. Yannick Paquette does rock the artwork though.
Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister Sixteen ★★★
Peter Parker and Mary Jane go to dinner at a fancy French restaurant and half the heroes and villains in the Marvel universe come to dinner as well. It's clearly set back when Straczyncki was writing ASM and the two of them were still married. This made me smile.
George A. Romero's The Amusement Park ★
George Romero's family took a terrible film of his from the 70s and restored it, then adapted it into a comic. Unfortunately, it's terrible. It feels like experimental film. It's about an old man who goes to an amusement park and is treated more and more poorly. It doesn't make a lot of sense if the story is taken literally. It's more a metaphor on how society doesn't value old people. It just doesn't do it very well when you have dumb things like a cop show up at a bumper car ride and try and write one of the riders a ticket for rear ending another car. Then he doesn't believe her that it was the other guy's fault because he didn't use a turn signal. This whole thing was just stupid.
In Perpetuity ★★★
The afterlife here seems to be a drab 50s version of L.A. with endless amounts of traffic and it turns out is run by Hades. Gangsters still find a way to communicate with the living although it's highly policed. The main character is called a connector and can travel back and forth between both L.A.s. The art looks like something you'd see in an advertisement. I'm going to check out some more stuff from this brother and sister duo.
30 Days of Night ★★★
This book pretty much started a vampire resurgence and a little cottage industry for Steve Niles for its sequels. It's a great hook for a story. Vampires visit a town in Alaska where it stays dark for an entire month. It's completely ruined though by some of the worst art I've ever seen in a comic. Most panels are just black squiggles. If it wasn't for contextual clues from the dialogue I'd have no idea what was happening.
30 Days of Night, Vol. 2: Dark Days ★★
Stella has written a book about what happened in Barrow. I do absolutely love that the cover for it is the cover for vol. 1. She's also gotten militaristic about going after vampires. It's a really strong start. But then things start to get really dumb. (view spoiler)
Templesmith's art has gotten better since vol. 1. I can at least tell what's happening now in most of the panels. I still don't like it but it is better.
30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow ★★
These are beginning to feel like cash grabs. We return to Barrow where relatives of the original residents have moved there and fend off vampires every year now that they are prepared. The ending was the dumbest choice Niles could have made. Templesmith's art continues to be real bad. His art looks like his mom put his artwork on the fridge.
Predator Vs. Spider-Man ★★
These Predator Vs. comics just keep getting worse and worse. This one has a serial killer Predator who just goes around killing people whether they can fight back or not. He, apparently, can also just grab someone's face and just rip it right off and then puts it on his own face like the Joker during the New 52. It's just dumb. I would have thought that Percy had watched some Predator movies before writing this. I did think a Kraven appearance was fitting. I didn't care for Ferreira's art here either. Too frenetic and cartoony for a comic with skinned humans in it.
Ultimate Black Panther By Bryan Hill Vol. 3: Darkness and Light ★★★★
The mystery behind the consciousness of vibranium takes center stage in this arc. Nigeria has some dark vibranium and that's going to be a problem. Meanwhile T'Challa goes off on a mission with Storm while Killmonger stays in Wakanda with Okoye. It's good stuff with excellent art.
Fantastic Four, Vol. 4: Fortune Favors the Fantastic ★★★★
It's amazing how easily North is able to distill this comic down to its essence. These single issue stories are great. It's not even derailed by a Blood Hunt tie in. This is like the complete opposite of modern era storytelling where everything is building and building to a larger story. It's just good fun timeless stories.
Gannibal, Vol. 5 ★★★
Has there ever been a comic more drawn out than this one? It feels like we should be getting near the end and when I go to write my review I see there's at least 6 more volumes. This one has a bunch of law enforcement officers about to crack down on the town but ultimately do nothing. I like this comic but at the same time it's a frustrating read. I wish these were all in English already so I could burn through them.
Daredevil Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 2: Underboss ★★★★
This is a hodge-podge of stories. Bendis hadn't taken the full time gig on Daredevil yet when this started. He writes the books in fits and starts. It's all good, just not a consistent story until the end when he blows it all up.
Some of those lists were not completely in the 2000s. I saw Watchmen and Bone on one of them.
Today's trip to the comic book store.Bring on the Bad Guys: Loki
X-Men: Age of Revelation #0
Incredible Hulk #27
Flash Gordon Quarterly #4
Space Quest #3
Speed Racer #1
Thundercats: Lost #4
Ultimate Spider-Man #19
Ultimates #14
Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special
Spider-Man Vs. the Sinister Sixteen <--- The last of these J. Michael Straczynski one shots.
Last week's adventures in comics.Daredevil Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 3: Out ★★★★★
This collects volumes 5-7 of the Marvel Knights era run. It's terrific. Matt is outed as Daredevil in the newspaper and he bobs and weaves to deny it while taking on the Owl and the Kingpin. One of the best runs in DD's history.
Slaughterman's Creed ★★★★
This is one messed up story and it's incredibly violent so be forewarned. It's about this hitman for the mob who butchers people. He decides to help his next victim when he sees she's pregnant. That's all you get though. Anything more will just hurt your enjoyment of this.
Farscape, Vol. 5: Red Sky at Morning ★★★
A new race attacks Pilot's home planet and the crew of the Moya has to team up with some Peacemakers to stop them. It's a solid continuation of the series.
Farscape, Vol. 6: Compulsions ★★★
Grayza, leader of the Peacekeepers, is selling guns to the Frennij, the new race that is trying to take over the area. Crichton and the Peacekeepers who have deserted are trying to stop it.
Farscape, Vol. 7: War for the Uncharted Territories - Part 1 ★★★
The Kkore are kicking everyone's asses. The Peacekeepers finally get all their factions together just in time to get decimated as well. Things are not looking good at all as this ends.
Farscape, Vol. 8: War for the Uncharted Territories - Part 2 ★★★
The war against the Kklore continues with the remnants of the quadrant in hiding. This is pretty good stuff. It would have been cool to see this as actual episodes.
Farscape, Vol. 9: War for the Uncharted Territories - Part 3 ★★★★
This whole thing feels like an unfilmed season of the show. Great stuff and a nice capper to all these comics.
Farscape: Scorpius Vol. 1 ★★★★
This fills the gap between Scorpius's exile and his return working for the Kkore in War for the Uncharted Territories. It's really good.
Farscape: Scorpius Vol. 2 ★★★
Nice backstory on Scorpius's rise to power with the Kkore. It's a good companion piece to War for the Uncharted Territories.
Daredevil: Ninja ★★
Proof that not all of Bendis's Daredevil run was golden. This is a pointless turkey that feels half baked. The art and coloring make it look like a bad Saturday morning cartoon.
Jennifer Blood: Battle Diary ★★★
Jennifer Blood's daughter continues her war on crime by going after rival white supremacist gangs. Not bad even if that cover is. Robert Carey's art is solid too.
Purgatori: Hell And Back ★★★
Dynamite has brought in the Chaos characters but I'm not sure if Purgatori is in the same universe as Vampirella here or if that comes later. Anyway, Purgatori has lost her powers and needs to return to hell to take them back from Lucifer. It's alright. What I don't get here is Dynamite is OK with extremely graphic violence but only sexual innuendo. While I'm not asking for it here, it seems oddly prudish when people are getting beheaded right and left.
Daredevil, Vol. 3: Wake Up ★★★★
Bendis's first work on the regular Daredevil book with David Mack in tow before Alex Maleev comes on as the regular artist. A very serious arc about a joke Daredevil villain, Leap Frog. Leap Frog is missing, his son is disturbed just repeating the same things over and over. Ben Urich is investigating this instead of covering the Kingpin's trial like he's supposed to. The story moves slowly and it's probably stretched out more than it should be but David Mack makes it all work. I don't think I've seen another artist who can work in this many different styles. (If you like this, make sure and check out his creator owned series, Kabuki.) He does everything from children's drawings to photo realistic. It's pretty incredible.
Savage Red Sonja: Devil in the Sand ★★★
Red Sonja goes looking for a ruby in the desert that is said to be cursed. She gets it and then finds out there's a scepter that is supposed to make it more valuable. It's a decent story. The art isn't very good though.
Delphine ★★★
A modern day retelling of Snow White from Prince Charming's perspective that I didn't pick up on for a long while. It just seemed like this weird story about a guy taking a bus to try and find his old girlfriend and then getting constantly used and abused along the way as he hitched rides and got lost in the forest. I do think this is some of Sala's best art. I like the sepia toned look quite a bit.
Grave Robber's Daughter ★★★
This feels almost like an unmade episode of The Twilight Zone. It's got that same vibe and lack of reasoning why these strange things are happening. A woman's car breaks down and she walks to this town that is deserted except for some creepy clowns and some teenagers at the circus in town. Things get more stream of consciousness from there. It's not bad but the story does feel rushed.
Daredevil, Vol. 4: Underboss ★★★★★
The beginning of Bendis and Maleev's epic run on Daredevil. The Kingpin is blind now and showing some weakness. Enter a new brash mobster that finds out that the Kingpin knows who Daredevil is and declared him off-limits. This is really well done. I love everything about this, even when I know what's coming after reading it while it was coming out.
Disney Villains: Hades ★★★★★
Just a ton of fun and the best of this Disney Villains series yet. Hades gets a burr on his butt about not being invited to the Gods' brunch and puts a team together to steal the golden fleece before Jason and his brotastic Argonauts can. This is just what comics should be, entertaining.
Miss Fury: Joy Division ★★★
A good homage to the first woman to create the first female superhero. It's a real dark story with Miss Fury going behind enemy lines to bring a war criminal in who was running a concentration camp. They also forced Jewish women to work in brothels for the soldiers stationed there. Pretty harrowing stuff.
007 Book Two: For King and Country ★★★★
Great story. Much better art than the first volume. It's great to see Bond back where he's supposed to be, at the top of the spy genre.
Draculina: 90 Hours in San Francisco ★★★★
This gets timey-wimey and alternate reality and Priest's out of order storytelling sometimes adds to the confusion but making it just 6 issues has it all working out in the end. Draculina and her alternate reality tween self are sharing space in this universe, switching back and forth via a cursed candle. Yeah, it sounds a bit much but Priest makes it work and it ties in with all of the Vampirella comics he's been writing so if you're into those, you will certainly enjoy this. Sta. Maria's art is crisp and clean too. I dug it.
Pantha: The Blessed and the Accursed ★★★
This version of Pantha seems stand alone even though it says she's spinning out of Sacred Six. Something is killing off the old gods and Pantha's curse is apparently the only thing that can stop it. It's a strong beginning but a weak finish. It feels like this was supposed to be a longer story and it had to be cut short. The art is this is pretty good. The one thing that drove me nuts is that the main covers all showed Pantha as a blond when she's of Egyptian descent and portrayed as such throughout not only this comic but every other comic she's ever been in. How could no one catch that?
Nyx Vol. 2: Family Matters ★★★★
Surprisingly good with great artwork. Nyx is forced by her father, Chaos, to help raise her siblings. So she scatters them across time and shows up once a week to make sure they haven't turned into monsters. I didn't expect this to have as much emotion and pathos as it did.
Jennifer Blood Vol. 2: Blood Debt ★★★
Jennifer Blood teams up with a dying hitman to go after a bunch of gangsters. It's not bad but it could have used some meat on the bone of this story.
She's been around since FF#8 back in the 60s. She's also the Puppet Master's stepdaughter who used to be a big FF villain so she's been around for a very long time. Tom DeFalco did some odd things with her in the 90s which I won't go into in case you decide to go back and read them.
BTW, when you asked about Alicia Grimm, I didn't know who you were talking about. She's been Alicia Masters for so long that the name change didn't register with me.
You did it right. Just read something related to this month's theme and then talk about it. Pretty simple.
