3/20/13

Three from DC two from Marvel. I think that I am moving more towards being a marvel fan as I headed straight into my Marvel books this week. As you will see in the reviews to come there wasn't a whole lot of quality in the comics on my Pull-List this week. Nonetheless, here are the weekly reviews my faithful readers...

• All-New X-Men #009

This is one of the best series going, there is no denying that. I think having a switch in art was a bad move for the near-perfect creative team of Bendis and Immonen. To my surprise and excitement Immonen was back on the book with a crazy new story. It starts off with a drill in the danger room that was reminiscent of old Claremont and Lee X-Men. From there the issue was exciting, surprising and nicely paced. I was worried that the whole idea of the O5 coming to the future wouldn't last much longer than five issues, but boy was I wrong. I feel as though the X-Men have a weaker rogues gallery than say, Captain America. My experience is that the X-Men are a flawed team and their issues are internal, this also strengthens them as a single issue will not solely focus on one character but flip back and forth through characters like and episode of Lost. Bendis captures both as this team faces the challenge of themselves and a couple rogues shown on the cover.

• Nightwing #18

This new"I am sulking" Nightwing is boring and non-productive. "I'm so sad about the circus, I miss you so much Damian." I mean, get over yourself, everyone else in the Bat-Family has. Besides being boring when he thinks about his life there is not much action to make up for it in this book. The one kicker was, Dick's response to Damian's death was the most meaningful thus far in the "Requiem" books. I continue to dislike the art in this book, the facial features are a complete mess, but who am I to judge? I also find it really strange that Dick would be going out with the girl whose dad killed his parents. He splits up a crime auction that was actually the most compelling part of the book (probably because all of the characters wore gas masks so the artist didn't have a chance to give them giant eyes). I really want the old "happy go lucky" Nightwing that was so awesome in the beginning of the New 52. Why can't we have him back?

• Red Hood and the Outlaws #18

I think that Scott Lobdell should be band from ever even attempting to write a comic again. I thought he could redeem himself with last month's mildly promising issue, boy was I wrong. His ability to write dialogue is none and he is so very repetitive. He is really repetitive. And he repeats himself all the time. And says the same thing more than once. And repeats the same cheesy lines.

That little tirade was completely nesscesary. I am fairly certain that Lobdell has a basic script that he has on command-v "My name is             I used to be                    Then I was                      After that I was        

                (Sentimental Garbage, Sentimental Garbage, Sentimental Garbage.) It's awful writing. And I coud've sworn he said the exact same thing about Alfred in two issues in a row. The art was pretty good but I will never forgive this kind of writing. Thank god this was Lobdell's last issue on the series.

• Indestructible Hulk #005

I am usually really annoyed with how this creative team creates an action team but I have to say: this issue was an exception. It seems that Hulk is always getting himself involved with the supernatural, this time he picks a fight with a bad ass ex-Atlantean named: Attuma. Attuma is an awesome character design whose back-story is interesting and makes perfect sense. I think that the whole rebel resistance was a pleasant touch that I didn't see coming, and all of the characters within it were compelling. What also felt strange was Hulk kissing a woman twice who Hulk knew was betrothed.

• Catwoman #18

Even though Catwoman is usually a pretty bad series and crossover titles are pretty bad this issue proved to be a fascinatingly heartfelt issue. Catwoman helps Bruce work out some of his pain and anger and Bruce helps Catwoman learn to do the right thing. This is a rare and beautiful occourance. The artists depiction of Batman was great and all of the Bat-Family was drawn well as well. The plot was in and out and all over the place but that's what I have come to expect from this series. I think that Ann Nocenti has a very good interpretation of what goes on inside Catwoman's crazy head which makes for an interesting view as the reader.

2/20/13

I enjoy storyarcs and crossovers. I thought Death of the Family was quite a good storyline, and just when you thought it was over you pick up your comics on Wednesday, Friday for me, and find "Death of the Family; Aftermath" in giant letters on the cover of all of the bat-titles. For me I say "YAY! More of the story I so enjoy." Yet as I sit down and actually start reading the comics I find myself thinking something different altogether. This weeks reviews:

• Catwoman #17

New story, great. Black Diamond Probability was subpar at best in Catwoman's title, I think we can all agree about that much. This issue finds Catwoman breaking up a kid's heroin dealing by whipping them senseless, a nice "I'm going to tell your parents." would have been appropriate to the situation, but Catwoman is rated T+ for some reason so the author just wants to throw in random, racy moments of violence for no purpose other than to prove it is rated T+ for a reason.
The art, as always, is neat but nothing outstanding and sometimes the scenes of action get a little hard to understand. My main problem with this title, however, is that the dialogue is poorly written. This includes cops making remarks that are so unlifelike that it's funny, and an endless slew of cat metaphors that make my skin crawl. Catwoman is a very interesting character, and her title could be very interesting, the writer just has to come up with more interesting enemies than a fat guy with a fishnet over his head.

Spoiler Alert: The scene depicted doesn't occur in the book.

• Nightwing #17

The title of this issue is The Long Week, and that pretty much sums up the entire issue. Dick is moping around complaining about the fallout of Jokers visit and feeling really sorry for himself. He visits the circus and some clown who is close to death blames Dick for the disaster for who-knows-what reason then Dick pretty muh goes crazy and violent while fighting crime. Of course it is Damien who stops Dick's spontaneous rampage and brings him to his senses. I felt that this was a decent way to show us readers how Dick feels after Death of the Family, my complaint about this issue comes from the art.

There is a new artist on the book who is not bad at all, he just can't cover up Dick's identity. That's right, for the first time since I started reading comics I think that the identity of a superhero might be at stake. Dick looks identical to Nightwing that even the youngest child could tell the difference.

• Thor God of Thunder #5

This is my first review of a Thor comic, I read the first four way after they came out, so I am pretty darn excited. The series has been awesome both in writing and in illustrations, and I couldn't wait for the finale to the God Butcher storyline.

Writing dialogue is hard. That is the main barrier that keeps great writers from being fantastic. Jason Aaron nails dialogue every single time, that's what makes him such a phenomenal writer. This finale is spectacular consisting of the three Thors dealing with the God Butcher in different ways. The present Thor fights the God Butcher head-on as he revisits his past encounter with the God Butcher through memory. This shows the past Thor and his decibels fighting Gorr in a cave. The future Thor gets a much needed visit from his confused, past-self and continues to fight Gorr's berserkers. The issue leaves us with just the right amount of answers and questions and leaves us wanting next month's Gorr-igin issue.

I can't get over how great Esad Rubic's art is.

• Indestructible Hulk #4

IH has been the best damn Hulk series I have ever read, Mark Waid captures perfectly the two very different characters of Hulk and Bruce Banner and Leinil Yu's art is the best the Hulk book has ever gotten. I think that this creative team is better at times when a scene has lots of thinking or dialogue, the beginning of this issue was one of those scenes. The last third of the book was a fast-paced action scene that was interesting but not very well laid-out. I give them credit, however, because the action is all underwater which is hard to write. Overall this was a good issue and I am very ready for the next.

• Red Hood and the Outlaws #17

Of all of the Death of the Family tie-ins RHO was my least favorite, yet the aftermath was the best thus far. Roy was annoying as usual but other than that the story was sad and moving. All of the reactions of the characters to both the other characters and the situation at hand. The art is OK but nothing special and the dialogue is also decent. I do think that Lobdell nailed Damien and Jason's relationship.

Thank you everybody for joining me for this weeks reviews and please come back next week for more.

1/23/13

A fair amount of books this week, but a definite lack in entertainment. The books that came in were: Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6 of 6, Catwoman #16, Red Hood and the Outlaws #16 and Nightwing #16.

• Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6 out of 6:

Before Watchmen has not lived up to my expectations, not at all. Minutemen was no exception. The entire arc felt fake and unlike Watchmen. Surprisingly, the ending was actually pretty good. There was a clever little twist that really made the series seem much better. I think Darwyn Cooke had good intentions going into the project but I am very glad it is over.

• Catwoman #16:

For whatever reason I kept this subscription after it finished Death of the Family, in hindsight I am not really sure why. #15 was good enough and I was a little curious to see how the Black Diamond Probability arc ended. Let me just tell you #16 was a mess. The writing was poor and repetitive, the story was confusing and in the end not satisfying, the art was sloppy and Catwoman (as usual) was over-sexualized. I don't know if I want to drop this sub, but I probably will. Please comment to tell me what to do.

• Red Hood and the Outlaws #16:

Part 3 of an already boring mini story. Remember Teen Titans #15? It was awful. This is the continuation of that. The Titans and the Outlaws team up to fight joker-infused homeless people. These are both terrible teams created by none other than Scott Lobdell and when they come together they are even more dreadful. The story is sort of ridiculous and hokey. I am definitely unsubscribing to this series.

• Nightwing #16

I am usually a big Nightwing fan and I read and enjoyed the first graphic novel and enjoyed #15 quite a bit. Somehow, this issue just didn't work as a Death of the Family tie-in. Sure, there was a creepy moment when Joker dug up all of the bodies of the former Haly's Circuis members and stood them in the circuis tent. But, the rest was just weird explosions and hallucinations. There was also one moment where Dick's dead friends came in jokerized and started taunting him that was quite entertaining. I am excited for the next issue because Kyle Higgins rumoured that his greatest Nightwing story yet is just around the corner...