ComicCritic87’s weekly comic book reviews
Comics of 1/4/12
Hey there, friends this is the first comics of the New Year, it’s a considerably smaller week of releases which is good to get things rolling and it’s quite a solid list of releases as well. Over the next few weeks and months I will be picking up some new readings here and there, not too many of course due to the financial limitations at the moment but there will be plenty of new reads coming soon. Let us begin reviewing shall we….
Comic List
DC Comics
Action Comics #5
Swamp Thing #5
IDW
Godzilla Legends #3
Marvel Comics
Defenders #2
Fear Itself: The Fearless #6
Thunderbolts #168
DC COMICS
Top Pick of the Week
Swamp Thing #5
Written by Scott Snyder
Artwork by Yanick Paquette
Story: Alec and Abigail continue their search for William before he reaches up to the Rot. Meanwhile a mysterious man heads into the deepest parts of the rainforest in search for something that will bring about a huge change to Alec and the Green. Alec and Abigail are soon attacked by William and his rotted animals. Alec soon taps into the power of the Green to use the power over plant and defeat all of the creatures and capture William. Just as they celebrate its soon for not, the man in the jungle has found the home of the Green and the ancient Swamp elders.
Review: This series has continued to be one impressive series since the return of the character in the main stream universe yet at the same time, continues to tell one of the darker stories in the new 52. I still enjoy that they are keeping Alec as Alec and not changing him into the Swamp thing just yet. They show Alec finally tapping into the power of the Green while not fully embracing its power; he’s using it to meet his means. I like the character development they have given to both Alec and Abigail, since they were somewhat former lovers. The two of are the pinnacle of doomed lovers, Alec represents life while Abigail represents death, and despite being doomed lovers their embrace as life and death is one powerful image.
Writing: Scott Snyder is truly one of the best writers with DC right now. He has two great characters that he is working on, Swamp Thing and Batman; he shows such a great shift in their storytelling. The style he writes for Swamp Thing is a very dark and southern style horror tale, whereas Batman is written as a Noir crime thriller. Snyder has such talent for creating great character development; he’s truly created a great character with Alec and Abigail, making them truly unique from the original versions. He’s truly developed the character of Alec since he’s been gone for so long and now that he’s back Snyder has been given an opportunity to expand who Alec truly was, is, and what he will be.
Artwork: I really love the art style by Paquette; he creates a dark and dreary landscape. The look and feel of the Rot and the Green are beautiful, showing how contrasting the two elements are. My favorite image in this issue, the image of Swamp Thing embracing a skeleton, this image is as I mentioned early that this represents Life embracing Death.
Summary: Still one of the best series out there with out there with DC or any comic company. The writing and artwork is top notch and superb. A must read for any one.
Grade: A+
DC quick comic reviews
Action Comics #5
Written by Grant Morrison
Artwork by Andy Kubert
Story: The retelling of the Superman’s origin with only a few alterations
Review: A nice read but this doesn’t need to exist, this story has been told countless times
Writing: Morrison is a top notch writer and does a good job telling the origin
Artwork: Kubert’s art style is very well done with the story and characters.
Summary: Good but unnecessary story, the writing and art is top notch.
Grade: C+
IDW Comics
Godzilla Legends #3
Written by Mike Raicht
Artwork by Tony Parker
Story: The story involves a boy with telepathic abilities being taken to a special academy with others like him, being trained and used to control the giant monsters that are plaguing the world. The boy worries about his family and connects with one of the monsters in the ocean deep, Titanosaurus. The boy arrives back at home but soon quickly kidnapped by a group of aliens and taken to their home planet. They want to use the boy and the monsters to take over the earth.
Review: This was a sort of okay issue in this mini-series. I like some of the ideas this issue does; the story pays good tribute to some of the old school Godzilla flicks that involved aliens trying to take over Earth, the telekinetic powered human to take control of a giant Monster, which came from Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla. That’s the good part, the bad part is that this issue lacks the scope and feel of the giant monster destruction and gives us way too much character and exposition. This issue feels like the first half of a Godzilla film and they forgot to continue the rest of the story. It ends with a huge cliff hanger and you want to see more but there’s no resolve to it since the mini-series is supposed to follow various monsters.
Writing: The writing, while is mostly exposition and small development of the main character, is pretty well done. The main character is a sympathetic person; you feel his plight considering he has power that is strange and unique to many. The female lead is actually quite relatable, she is one with the same power and while she has control over it, she doesn’t exploit the power given to her. The villains while they are written pretty well but they are generic like many of the “villains” this series tries to create.
Artwork: The art is done nicely; the character designs as well as the monsters are drawn and keep true to their style. The look of Titanosaurus is a lot brighter in coloring. The final pages with the alien home world does show the scale of this race, the large weapons they are a huge and powerfully militarized.
Summary: A good issue, not great or bad, it could have focused more the human/monster interaction. The writing and art is nicely done.
Grade: C+
MARVEL Comics
Top Pick of the Week
Defenders #2
Written by Matt Fraction
Artwork by Terry Dodson
Story: The team continues there fight in the mountains, they are overpowered by the mysterious group and taken to the base being held as prisoners. Red She-Hulk gets them out by returning to being Bettie Banner and frees the group. The team counter attacks the villains and they discover the strange object that Nul is seeking to destroy, which will in turn destroy the universe.
Review: I’m really enjoying this series a lot, I like the cast of characters being used, and I like the unique enemies they are fighting. This new launch of the team brings it back almost to the old school comic days. This issue has a great opening action sequence and a great cliffhanger ending. This series is another impressive team book, which to me is what Marvel excels at. Dr. Strange is one of my favorite characters in this series and he is awesome in this, I’m super curious what he told Red She-Hulk that scared her back into being Bettie. I like the blend of science fiction and mysticism that both play off with each other really well.
Writing: I’m surprised at how really well this series is written, especially that it’s written by Matt Fraction. Fans and critics give him flack for taking forever to get things done, however I see this series so far being incredibly well paced. Its only two issues into the series and already they have assembled and formed, on a mission, fighting the villains, and now meeting up with the big baddy……all of this in just two issues, I like a pace like that, especially with a fun cast like this. Matt writes everyone extremely well, he makes Dr. Strange a more relatable character than he used to be when he was Sorcerer Supreme.
Artwork: Terry Dodson does an amazing job with this series, it’s very bright and full of wonderful colors. His artwork truly compliments the writing style of Fraction
Summary: Fun, fast, well written, well drawn…..really great and worth a read.
Grade: A+
Marvel quick reviews
Fear Itself: The Fearless #6
Written by Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction, Chris Yost
Artwork by Paul Pelletier and Mark Bagley
Story: Sin and Crossbones use a magic teleportation device to break into a location with one of the hammers within; they battle a small force of the Avengers. Crossbones come across the hammer and finds Wolverine guarding it. Meanwhile Valkyrie meets with one of the All-mothers about Odin’s promise.
Review: Fun read and a well developing story
Writing: The three writers work well off each other.
Artwork: solid artwork all around.
Summary: Worth reading if you liked Fear Itself
Grade: B+
Thunderbolts #168
Written by Jeff Parker
Artwork by Matt Southworth
Story: Luke Cage has to overcome his greatest fear
Review: A “meh” issue, to me it’s pure filler and leaves nothing to advance the plot.
Writing: Parkers writing is exquisite and continues to be a great writing for this team
Artwork: The art is solid and well used in this issue, the fear sequence is trippy.
Summary: good but passable
Grade: B-
Well that’s all for this week friends. Next week is the premiere issue of the “new” SCARLET SPIDER featuring Kaine, clone of Peter Parker, now his own spider hero in a new city, can’t wait to give it a look. Til then friends, catch you later.