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.

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...

1/2/13

I had three books pulled today. The best being Batman Incorporated #6 and the worst being Teen Titans #15. The other book was Talon #3.

• Batman Incorporated #6:

I love Grant Morrison, let me just get that across. His entire run on Batman was phenomenal and I enjoyed the original Batman Incorporated immensely. Of the New 52 Batman Incorporated this one is definitely the best. The Al Ghul's are awesome and this portrays Talia very well. She is smart and gives Batman a mental and physical challenge that makes a very interesting story. Leviathan takes center stage again as Batman recovers from the battle in issue 4 while trying to find where Talia's elusive voice is coming from. An extremely interesting interaction happens where Dick, Jason and Damian get a little more familiar with each other. The ending left me speechless. I am very excited for next month!

• Teen Titans #15:

This is one of the worse Death of the Family tie-ins. Scott Lobdell is a hack, and this book shows exactly that. The book guest stars Batgirl but doesn't go anywhere with it. All of the Titans respond in exactly the same way by being snotty and disrespectful to someone who is clearly superior and has much more experience dealing with the Joker. That being said the confrontation between Tim Drake and the Joker is very interesting. The Joker wears Tim's wings and flys around the rafters. He also has a very creepy way of guessing exactly what Tim is thinking that I thought was clever but not exceptional writing. The art is okay, but of course all of the women are grossly over-sexuallized and the Joker is not nearly as well drawn as Greg Capullo's version of the Joker.

• Talon #3:

Court of the Owls was one of the best Batman stories ever written. Period. When I saw that a former Talon was going to get their own book I was super excited, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better I found out that Scott Snyder was writing it. After four books I am still not delighted with how they are directing this book. In almost every book Calvin (the protagonist) kills a Talon or two in some uninteresting way. This issue was no different. However, this issue did feature an interesting run-in with a rogue group of anti-heroes and an interesting robbery. The writing was quite entertaining and the art was decent. I really hope they find their groove with this book, because if they do Calvin will become a very interesting character.