Comic releases of 6/22/11
Hey all, time for another fun round of comic reviews. I’m still keeping to my word, that all Flashpoint tie-in comics will be read, some are good while others are bad, I must continue to see how they play out. It’s sort of funny now since I been looking for DC stuff to compete with Marvel and with these Flashpoint titles they have been winning in terms of quantity but not over quality. Between the two power houses, Marvel is clearly ahead of the curve with Fear Itself, where the story and new relaunches are progressive month to month, rather than DC’s approach of all at once in one month. I’m pessimistically optimistic about the new DCU, hopefully it isn’t permanent and we do get some titles back in the lineup*cough POWER GIL*cough* ZATANNA*cough*…excuse me….ahem, any way this is another nice sized week of reviews, let’s begin shall we
Comics: Brightest Day Aftermath #1, Kid Flash Lost #1, Lois Lane and the Resistance #1, Mighty Thor #3, The Outsider #1, Reverse Flash #1, Secret Avengers #14, Superman #712, Thunderbolts #159, Wolverine #11, and Zatanna # 14
DC comics
Top Pick of the week: Superman #712
Abridged Story: The story follows krypto the super dog and his life after the death of Superboy, longing for his master he searches around without a trace of his master and howls in sadness
Review: I read the controversy over this issue since the original content was Superman meeting a Muslim super hero; instead they swapped it out for a story that was shelved in 2007 where Krypto looks for his master. My friends, this is by far the best issue of the grounded arc, this is the simple tale of a boy and his dog, the love the animal has for his owner, looking all over where the two have traveled. The beginning with the Kent’s saying that he is waiting for someone, really touches the depths of my heart, because anyone who has seen the Jurassic Bark episode of Futurama, this is more or less the same degree.
Artwork: The cover is so simplistic that it’s beautiful, its Krypto flying over the Kent farm, looking for his master. This has some very somber, sad, and heartfelt looks in the dog, which the artist did an amazing job giving such emotion to an animal.
Grade: A+
Quick Reviews
Brightest Day Aftermath #1: Constantine goes looking for Batman for clues for Swamp Things whereabouts. Not as bad as CBR gave it (0 stars) but it doesn’t add much more to the story that concluding on a high note. Artwork is nice and the story is fun. C-
Kid Flash Lost #1: Kid Flash awakens and discovers in a bad future where he needs to go back in time before he ceases to exist. Pretty cool issue, shows how resourceful he is. Although it’s not really a Flashpoint tie-in since it doesn’t take place in the Flashpoint world. Artwork is decent. B-
Lois Lane and the Resistance #1: Lois gets caught in the sinking of half of Europe, taken to the Amazon camp in London and forcefully joins Cyborgs resistance group as a spy on the inside. Pretty interesting side story, we get more bits of what this world has become. Artwork reminds me a lot of Amanda Conner’s artwork, which is a plus. B-
The Outsider #1: A silver age character given a new origin and life as a master manipulator in the world of Flashpoint. A pretty cool issue, the villain in the story is intriguing. The artwork is done really nice. B+
Reverse Flash #1: Reverse Flash goes back in time to dramatically alter the life of Barry Allen so that he never becomes the Flash. Very interesting story line shows how much this villain is so evil. Artwork looks very good. A-
Zatanna #14: A filler issue in the middle of an arc, where Zatanna and Zach are attacked by a succubus in a night club. Just, why bother doing filler if we are in the middle of an arc? Artwork is decent. C+
Marvel Comics
Top Pick of the Week: Mighty Thor #3
Abridged Story: Silver Surfer makes his plea to Odin to hand over the seed of the world tree, so that Galactus would no longer be hungry. Odin tells him to F off and they prepare for war. Meanwhile Volstagg is going to war with the people of Broxton.
Review: This is a very solid issue; it has a lot of great build up and exposition. The dialogue between Silver Surfer and Odin is very fun and shows the conflicting ideals. The fight scenes are brief but its all for the build up for the big battle between Asgardians in battle armor against Galactus….let me repeat that, Thor, Odin, Sif, Frandal, Hogun, and other Asgardians in mystically enchanted armor battling the World Eater Galactus who is on the moon….if that doesn’t scream epic, I don’t know what is.
Artwork: The cover is just incredible, the silhouette of Galactus coming to Asgard and Thor standing ready for battle. Copiel continues to impress with Thor, much like he did with JMS on that run but shows some improvements. The moment with Sif, naked (but covered) threatening to kill Loki for his mischief is a well done panel, it reminds me of the Boris Vallejo paints kind of.
Grade: A+
Quick reviews
Secret Avengers #14: We learn the origins of Valkyrie. This was a better telling that the last one, this blends exposition with action really well. Artwork is nice. B+
Thunderbolts #159: a super-sized issue with 4 micro stories in it, all of them center on the Raft’ destruction. I like the first 2 stories the most. Artworks for each one is different and is all good. B-
Wolverine #11: Logan fights another member of the Red Right Hand as we learn more about some of the member’s background and how they know Logan. This is still continuing the long first arc, really fun and full of violent moments. The artwork is great. A-
And that’s all for this week friends. Catch you all later. ComicCritic87 OUT!!!!