Hey guys and gals. Its that time again, its comic review time once again, and boy has this week been a good selection I got today. Not only do I have the weekly purchases but since I went to Philadelphia Comic-Con I managed to snag a few good Trades on the cheap. So not only will this be a review on comics but also my experience at the Con and what I seen. Alright so today's for single issues are Avengers #2, Brightest Day #4, Power Girl #13, Thunderbolts #145, and Zatanna #2. For Trades, I got American Jesus, World War Hulk
Avengers#2: This issue picks up with Marvel Boy fighting a villain, he easily defeats him in his new armor. The Avengers ask him to not only join them but to use his alien tech to design a time view portal. Once built they view ALL possible futures, we see many cool different ones, some allusions to old story lines. They witness their future children take out a former villain and a brief glimpse of Old Hulk tears the portal up. Wonder man makes a quick appearance and owns a bunch of them before something happens to him. The issue ends with a surprise arrival of a powerful foe. I really enjoyed this issue, we keep the pace moving from panel to panel, there's never a moment when it stops but still able to figure out what is happening. I am stunned by the surprise ending, it seems that this story arc is a great set up for future ones. I love the art in it still, Romita is amazing in this area. The writing is spot on. This was a great follow up to issue #1. I give this issue an A-
Brightest Day #4: This issue immediately follows up after #3, Hawk man and woman enter the mysterious portal and end up on a far away place. We are briefly introduced to the new aqua-lad and it looks like Mera(?) is attacking a fishing vessel. One of the halves of firestorm has a nightmare and is covered in salt. The story then focuses on Dead man and his meeting with dove and hawk, they take him to a familiar spot and it ends there for now. Need I say more about Johns work, its a great storyline so far and I'm glad he's putting some more emphasis on some characters and saving a few for later. The art hasn't changed one bit and top notch as always. I give this issue an A
Power Girl #13: Its finally here, a new team and a new art style.*sighs* This was one I was worried about from the beginning when I saw its new look, also I saw some preview pages of it on CBR and I was twice as worried. I made it obvious that I love this series and that I loved the original team, they gave the character a fun personality and kooky villains to fight, but still had a lot of heart to it, So I after I read this new book, I was genuinely surprised that it was good. Alright, so this new arc begins with Kara explaining how her life has changed for the better, until the discovery of Maxwell Lord has returned and Power Girl has teamed up with the JSA and JLA to seek him out before he causes any trouble. The issue splits itself between her life at work and gaining cell phone earrings and her hero side seeking Max. We get some cool cameos and a decent fight scene. The issue ends with a sudden blow to the ego of Power Girl and really ups the ante. I was a little thrown off by the new writer, there was a little too much emphasis on internal monologue and the action was only a few pages, but that's typical in this series. The art in this, talk about a shift in style. While Conner's artwork was more cartoon like and flaunted off Kara's body(which was a plus^_^) this new art style by Basri is MUCH different. This new art gives the characters less of a cartoon look yet still very bright and colorful. So while I do prefer the old team, I must give this new gang a chance, for me its the second issue that sells it for me. So for now I give this issue a B+, The writing was good and the story line is an interesting departure, and the art has a colorful realism to it.
Thunderbolts #145: This was a fun issue, very well done. This issue immediately picks up after the last issue and Baron Zemo is offering the new Thunderbolts team to join him, a few say yes, Juggernaut leaps into the ocean, and one figures out whats going on. After that Cage meets up with an old friend who is the Warden of the Prison Island. They finally go on their first mission which is to hunt Trolls...yeah...a Thor tie-in, nice, and as they fight 3 of them, Ghost meets one that's not exactly a troll. As I said in my PG#13 review, its the second issue that sells it to me and this one has done it. I loved this issue. Very awesome and plenty of fight scenes in the beginning and end. I can't wait to see much more of it. The writer is spot on for the team, each character is unique and the art work shows them off really well. I give this issue an A+
Zatanna #2: Again this issue sold me the series. This issue is sorta of a filler but not really. It mainly involves Zatanna fighting of a nightmare imp while Brother Night meets up with a police man that teamed up with Zatanna in the previous issue. The dream moments were pretty cool, gives us a quick background update as to who Zatanna was and is. She shows off all her awesome power and never doubts herself one bit. I love Dini's writing and I love the art work, they purposely made Zatanna super sexy in this series*wolf howl*..ahem...yeah this issue gets an A-
With the single issues complete, time for the Trade Paperbacks I bought at Philadelphia Comic-con. A quick note. I did purchase 5 books but only finished 2 so far, those reviews will come later. Alright with that said lets begin with a Mark Millar work
American Jesus: I found this and got a good deal for it, it was 5 bucks and I was curious to read it. This is probably by far, the most interesting of all of Mark Millar's work. It's only 3 issues long but very engaging and very deep. He has done his research and has given us a unique take on a taboo topic. The comic's plot is very simple, what if a 12 year old is the returning Christian Savior, Jesus Christ. We following this kid coming to terms with who and what he is. He is able to do all the things Jesus did and he changes his life around after discovering his importance. The comic's only person who doubts his power at first is a priest who has lost his faith because of his troubled life. This as I mentioned is very touchy of a subject, all the characters in the book question what it means for people of other faiths and how this discovery has essentially changed the very aspect of all things we come to know. This is the first part in his so called trilogy, which I can't wait to see parts 2 and 3. I give this book an A+ and highly recommend it.
World War Hulk: So after reading Planet Hulk this is the sequel event to it. This event is about the Hulk returning to Earth to get revenge on all the heroes who wronged him and his new found allies. Hulk takes out Black Bolt with ease, Smashes Iron Man with no trouble, and was able to defeat a demonic powered Dr. Strange. He turns Manhattan into his own new kingdom and forces the heroes to fight one another. The series ends with an epic clash between the Sentry and Hulk and the final issue ends on a surprise(for me at least) of the Hulks surviving son. I really enjoyed this event, while for the most part it was totally action packed an splash pages galore. I kinda felt myself getting angry at the Hulk and his allies, these were the villains when I last read they were the good guys. I couldn't believe how unsympathetic they were to the heroes of earth. They only saw them as enemies of the Hulk and never once listened to reason. There was never a moment when Hulk gave a thought of stopping this just to let them learn a lesson. I for agreed with the heroes on this one, he was a threat and too powerful to contain, it didn't help that the ship exploded, if that didn't happen, this wouldn't have happened. Still for all the anger I had against him I still enjoyed the book. This was all action and a well thought out plot. The artwork of Romita was spot on, it didn't look like Avengers or Kick-ass, but felt familiar. I give this book a B+
One final thing to bring up before I head off. Two Saturday's ago was the Philadelphia Comic-con, this was my second outing to one of these. My first was of NYCC, and while I enjoyed NY's I loved Phillies. I loved the atmosphere and all the different vendors there. I got some wicked deals of Trades, I got a shirt from Super Hero Stuff(thanks guys), I got a samurai sword from Bleach(zenbosakura), I saw some cool celebs(Patrick Stewart was the biggest there), got a pic and autograph pic of Linda Hamilton, and got a piece of art from Tom Whalen. What sucked was that I was unable to see Bruce Campbell but I did gain something cool, I won a Philadelphia Ghostbuster's shirt. The coolest thing I saw was the video vendors selling hard to find/bootleg movies and foreign shows. I saw some cool sentai DVD's but one I was looking for was not there, which If any of you know a good site to get them it would much appreciated. If I could sum open one aspect of it, that word would be Boobs...lots and lots of boobs. I loved it and I will attend next years but with more cash.
So those are the comics that I read this week. This was a fun week for comics, and I got plenty of more reviews coming up, plus a new editorial in the works. Til my next posting, BlackAirsAki87 out!!!!