Comic releases of 7/27/11
Hey all, time for another fun round of comic reviews. Another week of 10 issues, always fun, 3 DC, 5 Marvel and 2 other companies. This was a pretty nice solid week of releases. The DC comics are reaching their end, Marvel continues to do its thing, and the other comics actually improved this time around. Let’s get started
Comics: Amazing Spider-man #666, FF #7, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #5, Kirby Genesis, Mighty Thor #4, Secret Avengers #15, Teen Titans #98, Venom #5, Wonder Woman #613, and Xombi #5
DC comics
Top Pick of the Week: Teen Titans #98
Abridged Story: Going to the events of the teenage super villain Head case, Superboy Prime has returned to this universe with Conner Kent as the only Superboy. We see Kid Flash training in his new virtual reality machine, to hone his skills but it’s exhausting him each time. Raven feels more excluded from the rest as Solstice as joined the team and meditates with her bright power that opposes ravens darkness. Beast Boy is on a date with a woman he met online but is called away as a nearby building is attacked. The team gathers and meets up only to discover it was the work of Superboy Prime and his anti-teen titans. They all battle with their counterparts until Prime counters with three other Superboy’s.
Review: First off, when I read this I was reading the Prime dialogue just like how Linkara did, that whiny mopey voice is pretty much dead on with this character. Anyway, this was a pretty well done issue considering this is the final arc we are going to see for this run. I enjoyed seeing this spinning out from a prior arc, rather than him just appearing in this universe and causing havoc. I wished to have seen him gather his crew to get revenge on the teen titans; they just appear without establishing how and where he found them. The team seems to still be strong as ever, even though the dynamic of the relationships seem almost moot coming September, we see no real reason to have the Wonder Girl and Superboy breakup to be shown if it’s not going to be mentioned with this upcoming relaunch. The action scene was fun and shows two similar teams fighting the best counterparts. The ending with the other Conner’s been interesting and can’t wait to see how it all pans out.
Artwork: The cover features Superboy Prime hitting Superboy. The artwork for this series has always remained consistent and well done throughout. I enjoy the character designs and the action scenes they have done with this series. The look of Superboy Prime is more like his original appearance, no longer looking adult, he is back to being a teenager and has his armor once again.
Grade: A-
Quick Review
Wonder Woman #613: Wonder Woman fight her original form that is possessed by a goddess of vengeance. We learn that the Wonder Woman we followed was a fragment of her old life, they merge back as one. I enjoyed this issue; the action and artwork were very solid, finally glad to see WW back to herself. B-
Xombi #5: The team prepares for the battle inside the floating skull castle. David Kim and a fellow teammate discuss David’s life with a woman who will age and die, while he will live on. This is a true cult series. I enjoy the story and artwork so much. B+
Marvel Comics
Top Pick of the Week: Amazing Spider-man #666
Abridged Story: Spider-man’s life seems to be continuing to improve; he is stopping crime more efficiently, using his spider gadgets to create inventions for Horizon Labs, and his girlfriend is perfect. That all suddenly begins to alter as the city of New York has a huge outbreak of bedbugs infecting people and giving them Spider powers. We see its part of a scheme by an old Spider-man villain named the Jackal; he has once again worked on the DNA of Peter Parker to create the infection that gives random people the same powers as Spider-man, one of whom is Carlie. He also recreates another Kaine which is suddenly under control by the mysterious woman that is helping out the Jackal. Parker comes to his apartment and is about to talk with Carlie.
Review: First off JAMESON NEEDS TO STOP HATING SPIDER-MAN!!!!! Seriously, this is one shtick that has gotten really old really fast. Its annoyed me every time, it was funny in the beginning when he was a Newspaper owner, but as a Mayor he needs to stop hating this hero and blaming him for all the bad guys that plaque New York, yet people like the Future Foundation, the Avengers, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, The Punisher, Iron Fist, and many other heroes that make base in New York bring bad things with them also, no it’s the one who has the name Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man as one of his titles. Aside from that, this prelude to the upcoming Spider-Island event does kick off really well, I liked how it starts out and builds up before anything, all the various things that go on with Parkers life seems to be on the up and up, it all seems perfect, despite lying to his girlfriend still. The various aspects are given enough pages to flesh out the tone and scope this event will about to play out. The various showings of the infection are well played out, we see small and brief glimpses of it and how it’s going to affect the overall arc. I’m intrigued by the return of the Jackal, who has become somewhat controversial after the Clone Saga. I’m excited to see this upcoming arc and what it will do to this title in the end.
Artwork: The cover is pretty icon, the image of the Statue of Liberty with her face painted over in an image that was the face of Spider-man’s mask. The interior artwork has always changed here and there, up and downs, hits and misses. Here the artwork is nicely done. I like the angle and design of all the characters, the city, and the action moments, all having a flow to them which works out in its favor
Grade: A-
Quick Reviews
FF#7: Black Bolt returns to his kingdom and meets his five wives, in order to fulfill a prophecy. An intriguing issue to say the least, a slight departure from the team book but hopefully it goes back to that soon. C+
Mighty Thor #4: The asgardian warriors launch their assault on Galactus as Thor and Silver Surfer fight head to head in Space and on Mars. A fantastic action filled issue, full of great moments and writing. B+
Secret Avengers #15: Black Widow holds a room of reporters hostage to have them remove an article about Bucky’s death. An interesting exposition filled issue; sadly I wanted more out of it. The artwork does make it up by making Black Widow extremely sexy. C-
Venom #5: Flash deals with the harsh reality of his father while still reeling from the work of people a covert weapon. A great emotion filled issue, had a great opening and a solid issue throughout. The artwork is great still. A-
Other Comics
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #5
Abridged Story: The aftermath of the battle, Godzilla continues his march of destruction. The other monsters continue to rampage. The president orders Angirius to be destroyed by a deadly toxin, it fails. The Germans use a similar tactic on Rodan, it too fails. The Battra twins see that their master is changing into its new form. We see various families and people evacuating the area, only to succumb to mod mentality as Godzilla approaches and lays waste to them. A wandering man finds a small child amongst the wreckage and brings the child along on his journey.
Review: This issue is exactly what I wanted this series to have, it focuses on the monsters, the human characters are on the back burner and most of all….NO ANNOYING CHARACTERS….I’m so relieved that this series has finally found the right direction to go it, but it’s still not quite there yet. Yes the human characters have their clichés but they aren’t the focus point. This issue shows all the monsters and what they are doing. Rodan finally returns and he is causing some real damage as but not as bad as Godzilla and Angirius battling it out in Hollywood. The guy at the end hopefully becomes a pivotal character in this series. I’m just so relieved after 4 issues of annoying characters that were satires of our world but here, they clearly ended that with a somewhat dark humor in the beginning that we are finally getting a Godzilla book ABOUT Godzilla slowly developing, hopefully the next issue improves where this somewhat starts.
Artwork: Once again the cover is a tease; it features King Ghidorah attacking Godzilla along with the Mazer cannons firing at him, which should be noted, don’t exist in this world just yet. The interior art does seem to have changed a tad, I believe they used a different artist but it still feels the same, with some minor tweaks. The designs of the monsters are really well done, this is the main factor when making well known characters, and the other humans excluding the man at the end all have various shapes and designs as well.
Grade: C+
Kirby Genesis #2
Abridged Story: The world still reels in both shock and awe as more discoveries of these mystery beings, both heroes and villains are arriving en mass. Kirby is trying to figuring what has happened to his female friend, who has transformed into one of the female alien warriors. We see new characters introduced and a big battle about to ensue.
Review: This is an interesting issue; it continues to add up with the cast of alien heroes and villains, while trying to continue the exposition of the Earth characters. The biggest aspect of them is to balance both, does it do that, yes and no. The series should gradually introduce more of these various Jack Kirby inspired characters and at the same time give us the human element trying to grasp what has become of their world with beings coming to it. There is some small action moment, but its brief and how it occurs is given no explanation. I will continue to read to see how this plays out and hopefully everything will begin to spread out in other issues and not jam up the first few.
Artwork: The Cover I had was two warrior heads clashing. The interior artwork is nice and solid, I do enjoy how creative the various heroes and villains of the Jack Kirby characters, some of the designs are a little of place since they are from the 80s and haven’t updated since. There is small amount of Ross artwork in the series which was nicely added it. The action moment was nicely done as well, keeping with the sci-fi look and feel.
Grade: B-
That’s all for this week, hope you all enjoy. Next week will be 8 issues, catch you all then. ComicCritic87 out, peace…….