Hey all, I'm back on track with this weeks and the prior weeks official releases. Last week you all read my Chaos War special, which were fun reads. This week I bring in two from last week, along with 3 others from this week. This week of reviews introduces with a new series, Heroes for Hire. We also have more from Brightest Day, Superboy teaming up with Poison Ivy, Ares in the Chaos War, and Thor prepares for war. Lets begin
DC
Brightest Day #15
Story: The setting takes place 25 years on Mars, J'onn has become a Green Lantern and celebrating the occasion with the core JLA members; Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, and Flash. All doesn't bode well as each one is systematically killed off by someone or something. J'onn scours the entire Planet to find out who did it. He fuses all minds on Mars and discovers the true culprit.
Review: I really can't spoil this one, which I'm sure most of have read already, but to me, this is another disappointing issue. One problem I have is well, that it's part of the spoilers, and that really bugs me, this was a cheap gimmick to hold us off for another 2 weeks to hopefully see something much better. Reading everything only for the ending to be a joke really makes it hard to take serious after amazing issues prior. Johns has a clear goal in mind, but this was a misstep. There was no real action scenes, and the talks J'onn has with a few of the members vary, some were good, while one was kinda lacking. Just read the last 2 pages, they matter the most.
Artwork: The art design in the entire issue is pretty nice, its cool to see the characters have aged greatly and have some noticeable looks. Hal looks like the original version with the gray streaks, and J'onn has some muscle gain. His green lantern design is pretty cool.
Grade: I give this issue a B-, Its one of those issues you can just skip over but read the last pages to prepare for issue #16. The artwork is alright and the new look of Mars is impressive.
Superboy #2
Story: Poison Ivy seeks Superboy's help, he doesn't believe her at all. She convinces him she could control him with ease but can't at the moment, he believes that and goes with her to discover the source of huge growing roots. He flies off and finds the source, Meanwhile Simon takes a sample from Parasite and makes some interesting discoveries and implements them in a great way. Conner and Ivy find out the source of the cause. Conner takes it away before it blows up, but just sorta melts. Conner and Simon finally decide to make it official and be teammates. The issue ends with two strange two people saying that all the information to take care of the Conner clone.
Review: For me, it usually takes the second issue to have me sold, and this issue sells it. Whats great about this, is that it keeps the characters and the setting at the heart of the story. It's about a small town with big things going on in it, and it needing a powerful defender to protect it. It's nice to see them implement elements of the Superman/Batman crossovers, with adding in Poison Ivy. I like the Simon character, he's a real mad genius, especially after what he does with the parasite DNA and some Frogs. I'm curious where this series is going, but this has a great start.
Artwork: This has some amazing artwork. Apparently the artist Pier Gallo, is well known for some artistic designs, and this series shows it, especially with Ivy. The way her lips are emphasized in a few panels and they are shading in the same color as her hair. The character expressions are done really well also, and while there's little action, but it shouldn't be all fights.
Grade: I give this issue an A-, its a great second issue, builds upon its founding and keeps going. The artwork is beautiful and has some great scenes on how it's used with some characters
Marvel
Chaos War: Ares #1
Story: Taking place just before Chaos War #3, Ares recalls his death during the Siege event, is greeted by death and sent to the Elysian Fields. Just before he reaches paradise, Pluto comes up and tells Ares that he is to suffer in Hell. Pluto outmatches Ares and takes him down. Suddenly Hela, breaks into Pluto's Hell and tells him of the fall of the underworlds. Ares is given charge of leading the fallen heroes and villains. He recalls an early encounter with the Chaos King, and how they fought against Nightmare. Ares does battle with Chaos King, but ultimately loses and succumbs to its influence.
Review: Much like the prior issue of Chaos King, this is a nice piece of filler to see how a character was drawn into this battle. Its nice to see Ares back after a long time since we last saw him, and still being a bad-ass after all this time. What gets me is that Pluto is named Pluto, even though Ares and Hercules are the Greek names, so Pluto should be called Hades. What makes this more baffling is that he says Zeus and Poseidon, rather than Jupiter and Neptune. It has a some cool action scenes, when Ares and the Chaos King fight out Nightmare, where Chaos King shows off his early signs of power hungry.
Artwork: This has some pretty good art design. The look of the Elysian Field is beautiful, in contrast to Pluto's hell and the demons that occupy it.
Grade: I give this issue a B+, its a fun issue, and ties into the greater story.
Heroes for Hire #1
Story: A relaunch of the series, Heroes for Hire opens with Falcon getting a package, its a blue tooth headset and he gets offered some work. He tracks down a truck carrying some new street drug. As he soars above it, Black Widow is hired to track it on the ground. They both team up to take it down, meanwhile, Moon Knight tracks the the source of where its being made. He takes out all the guys in the place and discovers the true source of the drug. Elektra shows up and takes out the man responsible for the drug trafficking The person giving them all these instructions is Misty Knight and is shown that she is under control by a surprising Villain.
Review: This is a pretty cool way of starting off the relaunch for this series. It has a sorta Charlie's Angel style, with a mysterious voice, telling them what to do. I like interesting team ups and this has a pretty cool cast, although Moon Knight is pulling double duty with both S.A. And H.H. I love that its a street level fight they are fighting, whats cooler is that it has Black Widow involved. The action beats with Moon Knight are amazing, and the truck chase is really cool. The reveal of the villain is very interesting, and I wasn't expecting him, anyone better than him. I'm impressed so far with this series, I can't wait for Punisher and Ghost Rider getting into the fray.
Artwork: This has some very interesting artwork. Much like Pier Gallo, the design of a few characters lips are very detailed. The coloring is dark and gritty, fitting the tonal change the series has become, since its earlier days. Black Widow and Elektra and super sexy in this art design. Moon Knight looks amazing in this, much greater than Deodato's design for him, both are good, but H.H. Makes him look really awesome.
Grade: I give this issue an A-, its a good start and I hope it keeps up the awesomeness. The artwork is the selling point with some great designs.
Thor #618
Story: Refugees from the Nine Realms arrive on Earth and head to Asgard. Balder tells them there is nothing they can do. The refugees are mad and prepare to storm the castle, until Thor and Loki arrive. A few members of Asgard are shocked to see a revived Loki, as Thor talks to the wounded creatures. Thor and Balder head to Odin's coffin and DESTROYS IT, thus reviving him and confused.
Review: You can tell what Matt and Marvel are doing, this is a systematic undoing of the work of JMS. Now granted this also might have to do with Thor coming out soon, so we need everything to return to the status quo. Now while I enjoyed JMS's run and did a great amount of good, but it seems what they are doing is gonna bring everything back to normal. My guess this arc will end with Asgard returning to the top of the world tree. Alright with that said, I liked this issue, and it's a great half way issue. Like all arcs, there's a prep issue for the coming conflict. What's great is to see how conflicted Balder is now that he is king, although he is capable of doing great at any time, its the situation is far to great for him to comprehend fast. He was never a leader before so being tossed into leadership is a challenge. Tony makes a small cameo in this issue and its pretty cool.
Artwork: Ferry continues to excel with this series. I love the design of all the creatures from the 9 realms. Odin's design is extremely bad-ass and looks very powerful in the angles they use. Oddly thou when Tony is on panel, he looks a tad.....chubby, its probably an odd angle they used but not too bad.
Grade: I give this issue an A, its a great issue, full of good moments and the artwork is fantastic as ever. The ball has start rolling and hopefully the next half does a lot of great things.
Well that's all for this week, next week things are back on track. Stuff that got pushed back will finally be out and I can finally give them my review treatment. Til then catch you all later ComicCritic87 OUT!!!