ComicCritic87’s weekly comic book reviews
Comics of 1/25/12
Hey there friends, this week is one of those rare and special weeks. This week is where I branch out from the Marvel and DC comics that I typically review and start looking at some properties over at IDW comics. Now I do read comics from IDW however they are really quite limited to only the recent Ghostbusters comic, the reimagined Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Godzilla, the main series and any spin-offs that come out. This week will begin the new transition to where I will be reading some other IDW comics. As I mentioned last week I will be reading the two new jumping-on #1 issues of TRANSFORMERS: More than Meets the Eye and TRANSFORMERS: Robots in Disguise. I read the review of More Than Meets the Eye over at CBR.com and the review alone peaked my interesting after hearing that issue is where the series finally does something more than constant battles against the Decipticons. Also this week marks the second event in IDW, Insfes2ation, which is a sequel to the Infestation event from last year. I will be checking out this sequel because it’s not the same villains, this time instead of zombies as the threat, its Cthulhu. Aside from IDW, this week is a super small week for Marvel while DC has a fair amount. With that said, let’s begin……
Comic List
DC Comics
Justice League #5
Justice League Dark #5
Teen Titans #5
IDW
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #11
Infes2ation #1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6
Transformers: More than meets the eye #1
Transformers: Robots in disguise #1
Marvel Comics
Mighty Thor #10
DC Comics
Top Pick of the Week
Teen Titans #5
Written by Scott Lobdell
Artwork by Brett Booth
Story: The newly formed team heads into battle against superboy. Each member uses their own abilities to take him out but all fail miserably. Solstice and Red Robin were the only ones able to convince and talk Superboy into leaving NOWHERE because they are using him as a tool. He does so but incapacitates them all.
Review: This was a pretty fun action heavy issue, we finally get to see the team fully formed and dishing out the best of their abilities against someone who is truly a powerful threat. While the team has a fun dynamic to them they aren’t in sync with each other just yet. Kid Flash continues to be the truly impulsive character that he is. Red Robin continues to showcase how great of a leader he is. Bunker is funny despite the situation they are in. The various methods Superboy takes out each member are really well done, seeing each person losing against one threat that it’s somewhat reminiscent to the early Teen Titan days against Deathstroke.
Writing: Scott Lobdell really creates these characters in such a great way. Each character is full of personality and brings something fresh to the table. There is one teeny tiny flubbed line. Wonder Girl says “GRIFT” instead of “Gift”……I like catching small flubs like that. It doesn’t detract from the good writing. The way Lobdell wrote Solstice’s plea to Superboy was well done, you can feel her emotionally driven to save people she only knew for such a little amount of time.
Artwork: The art by Booth is really well done with this series. I like the way he draws the various costumes and character designs for each character. The various fight scenes were well angled and created.
Summary: Another solid issue from this team book. The new darker story of this team is great. Writing is top notch and the artwork is well done.
Grade: A-
DC quick reviews
Justice League #5: Flash, Superman, and Green Lantern try to battle Darkseid, it ends horribly. Batman reveals his true identity to Hal and heads off to save Superman. Another solid issue by Johns and Lee, they are a powerhouse duo with solid writing (except Wonder Woman, Johns still can’t write her well) and top notch artwork and character design. A-
Justice League Dark #5: The team finally unites only for John Constantine to mess throw a wrench in the gears. I love this series, I love how dark and dreary this world is. Paul Jenkins is a superb writer for this series and the artwork is amazing with the sense of dark and dread it gives off. A-
IDW
Top Pick of the Week
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #1
Written by James Roberts
Artwork by Nick Roche
Story: Following the events of the Death of Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime has a vision of a utopia for his mechanical people and must seek out a group of known as the Knights of Cybertron. He asks for any willing to join him on his cause. Bumblebee doesn’t see eye to eye with this as friends and allies leave him to join the search. Rodimus gains a crew of 208 members as they are preparing to launch a mysterious explosion warps them across space into an unknown location with crew already missing.
Review: I was pretty surprised at how good this issue was. I liked it a lot. I love the Transformers but could rarely get into the IDW comics until this issue. As I mentioned above this issue removes the war between the two groups and focuses on a brighter outlook. The characters are truly memorable and full of such diversity, that you’re able to connect with them fast.
Writing: I never read any works James Roberts but he clearly has talent for writing these characters. He gives each character such a great personality; they are still true to their original animated counterparts. I like the characters that joke with one another. I like some of the lingo that is used (my favorite is rigor morphis) it gives it a sense of tongue-in-cheek quality to it.
Artwork: I love this artwork. It’s a perfect mixture of the various styles, to me it combines the original 80s animated versions, the recent Transformers Prime, as well as the prior animated series back in 07 to 09. The artist gives them a true sense of being giant robots and not the horrendous version of the Bay-formers.
Summary: A great first issue, really impressive story with solid writing and artwork.
Grade: A
IDW quick reviews
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #11- The evil sisters try to take control of Godzilla but it ends poorly. Godzilla fights off both Rodan and Battra that it ends with a stalemate. A pretty quick issue and the action beats were cool. Artwork was good but could be better. Says it’s going to conclude with #12. B-
Infes2ation #1: Lovecraftian creatures invade earth and across countless worlds full of crossover potentials. A pretty cool event so far, it doesn’t require reading the last one, they give you plenty of quick backstory for everyone and everything. The characters were pretty cool and the artwork was really nice. B+
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6: The mousers are introduced and The Turtles question their destiny. This series is shaping up nicely. I like the way they are telling this story the way they are telling it. I love this art style; it fits well with the characters. A-
Transformers: Robots in Disguise #1- Bumblebee and his crew try to keep order on their home planet between the “Nails” and the warring factions. In a strange twist, I was disappointed by this series. I wasn’t expecting a downer of a first issue. Bumblebee is not that effective of a leader. Artwork was the only good thing about this. I won’t continue this series. D+
MARVEL
Mighty Thor #10
Written by Matt Fraction
Artwork by Pepe Larraz
Story: Thor regains his hammer while Tanarus and the trolls conspire to overthrow Asgardia.
Review: This “new” storyline with an entire “new” character was an interesting concept. I was excited to see what they were going to do with the character of Tanarus but the huge reveal early in this arc and the subplot of having Thor still around was actually a disappointment. This arc is trying to do so much in such a little amount of time. I’m sure Matt Fraction wanted to tell a more interesting narrative with this new Thunder God but instead they are doing this….thing.
Writing: Fraction does manage to keep this story somewhat cohesive. The characters are still well done, I like way he writes all the various realm characters (and those cursing dwarves are back).
Artwork: Sadly no Ferry artwork to make this all better. A new artist is on and while the art is attuned to Ferry but it’s not. It’s solid and serviceable at best.
Summary: Not bad but could have been better. Writing is good and art is serviceable.
Grade: C+
Well that’s all for this week. It was full of surprises with IDW, that’s always a good sign to me when I surprise even myself. If only Infes2ation had a cross-over with Godzilla, that would be so much epic win right there. Catch all next week