Thursday, July 26, 2012

Thursday - Comics Review

So I'm going to try to do quick reviews of the comics that I have read this week.  I hope that for you reading, this will give you a new perspective and for those who are interested in perhaps picking up or reviewing comics. So here we go....

DC Comics

Aquaman #11 - Very good but very serious.  Geoff Johns has been on a mission to make sure the world knows that Aquaman is a badass.  Peter David & Will Pfeifer, in my opinion already did a good job at that, but Johns continues to do so.  In the tapestry of the New52 - DC's new rebooted continuity,  he is able to weave a tale of intrigue of the sinking of Atlantis, a group of super power individuals that Aquaman was hanging out with before the Justice League, and a intense connection with Black Manta.  A

Green Lantern #11 - Unlike Aquaman, GL hasn't changed that much from before the New52.  At most it streamlined some of the Green Lantern past continuity, the New52 has given us a buddy-buddy cop scenario with what was arch enemies of Sinestro and Hal Jordan.  It also gives the intrigue of what the Guardians of the Universe has planned as well as brings back Black Hand, a big part of the Blackest Night mini-series.  This was a solid issue bridging the last arc about the Indigo Tribe and the next on Black Hand.  A-

Justice League Dark #11 - Just added to my pull list.  Jeff Lemire has done a great job with pairing down the team and tying it into the main Justice League book.  He also uses the ability of the New52 to continuity to tell a great story with some new twists, especially with changing some preconceived notions about characters.  B+

Marvel

I'm going to tackle the non-AvsX Marvel titles for this week.

FF #20 - Fantastic Four and it's sister title, FF (Future Foundation) are very connected -very good but the downside is you really need to buy both books.  But they are awesome.  This issue both deals with the after affects of Hickman's last storyline a few issues ago but also sets up future issues of both titles and perhaps the larger Marvel Universe. B+

Winter Soldier #8 - Another great chapter.  If you enjoy espionage comics set in a world with super-heroes this is the book to buy (in the same vein, check out Secret Warriors by Marvel and Checkmate by DC for other great super-spy tales).  Also great to see Bucky back as Winter Soldier but with all of same concern with the rage that comes with his past actions.  Also, we see a villain who is smarter than Bucky and seems to be at least 10 steps ahead of him....which is really cool to see how he can get out of it.  A

Captain America #15  I have loved Brubaker's Cap, but this feels like the end.  And not in a great way. I hate seeing the Falcon constantly hurt, and I really hope this arc pays off to see Cap take it to Bravo and Queen Hydra.  C+

Uncanny X-Force #28 - A great X book, and better by the unexpected twists that Rick Remender gives to this book.  Really fantastic, and after what we expected with the bomb shell of a certain characters apparent death and the surprise of who is setting the wheels against X-Force in motion, a jump to the future was what was least expected.  A+

Secret Avengers #29 - I truly appreciate that Remender has taken up the Shadow Council that Brubaker set up in his issues and Ellis dealt with tangentially in his.  He ties it into his first arc which was great, and frankly I truly hope to forgot the mess that his arc that tied in AvsX.  By itself, it was ok, but considering it didn't match what was happening in other tie in books, it was at best confusing.  This is a good first issue of what I hope to be a good arc against the Masters of Evil.  B-

First of all, let me tell you that I have really been disappointed with the vast majority of the Avengers vs. X-Men tie-ins, as well as some issues of the main book.  But here's so very quick reviews of the tie-ins for this week:

Wolverine & the X-Men #14 - the best of the A vs. X tie-ins by far, and this is no exception.  Great story of a truly possessed Colossus and shows the issue that many X-Men do and should have about the Phoenix Five's hunting down of Avengers. A-

Avengers #28 - Thunderbolt Ross aka the Red Hulk takes it on himself to kill Cyclops.  It really is an examination of Ross as an Avenger - which is interesting- but in a lot of ways, we all knew where this story was going.  For a Bendis fill in issue it was not bad. C

X-Men Legacy #270  - Good - I'm just tired of Rogue.  She isn't my favorite character and in some ways, its hard for as fan to buy it took some X-Men so long to figure out the problem with the Phoenix Five- especially since Chuck Xavier kind of new the problem in the first issue it happened in.





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