Comic releases of 7/20/11
Hey all, time for another fun round of comic reviews. This is a surprising smaller week, only 7 issues this week, 4 from Marvel, 2 from DC, and 1 from IDW. This should be a very easy week to do since DC is essentially a flip of a coin to pick which I should make top pick of the week. Well let’s make this a short one this week.
Comics: Avengers #15, Avengers Academy #16, Herc #5, Invincible Iron Man #506, Power Girl #26, Rocketeer Adventures #3, and Zatanna #15
DC comics
Top Pick of the Week: Zatanna #15
Abridged Story: Zatanna is attacked by a group of hunters that go after the people and creatures of the realm of magic and sorcery. Her vocal chords were damaged a bit so she was unable to fight back with ease so the issue has her going Die Hard on them, by dodging and hiding from the villains. She regains her power and sends them back in time to Salem so they can be tried as warlocks and burned at the stake.
Review: Sadly this is once again a filler issue, it seems that DC has scrapped the last arc we were given with Brother Night being more powerful than before and discovering the detective helping out Z turned out to be the son of Brother Night. The company has abandoned the project and arc by replacing it with filler issues. It was well done for filler but I feel disappointed that they are not finishing Zatanna on a high note. I liked the idea of making Zatanna having to rely on her defensive tactics rather than just simply taking care of them with magic, which was saved for the end, which was fun but very dark, even for Zatanna.
Artwork: The cover is done really well and beautiful. It features Zatanna in darkness and her white top and gloves with her floating her name/title. The interior artwork is done nice, I seen it attached to this book a few times, the look of the villains are pretty cool and look like villains. Zatanna still looks amazing and sexy as ever.
Grade: B+
Quick Review:
Power Girl #26: Power Girl creates a convention for charity. A girl forces Power Girl to give up her power so she can use it for her own means. Power Girl is rescued by fellow fans that have gained her powers also. This was a nice and fun issue but felt like it could have be done in two parts, which I believe it was. The artwork is just as good as Basri and the overall look was fun. B-
Marvel Comics
Top Pick of the Week: Avengers Academy #16
Abridged Story: Ant-man and the Absorbing man, who wields one of the Serpents worthy hammers, but has knowledge of what is going on, do battle as giants as the city is being destroyed around them. Ant-man gets his ass handed to him until he decides to create a dimensional door big enough to send him away. However the Absorbing Man and his girlfriend Titanna combine hammers and cause a massive explosion but they were warped away from the area. On the other end we see Veil helping out a young girl looking for her mother. She manages to find her and save the day but quickly dashed as one of the giant robots kills the mother. Veil goes after the man inside and poisons him with her power.
Review: I been enjoying this series and it always continues to impress me with how much they tend to throw at us time and time again. The scope of this battle was great to see, I like that we get a rematch between Ant-man and Absorbing man, who has clearly become overpowered with the hammer given to him. The fight is brief yet it shows just how resourceful Hank Pym is when it comes to fighting idiots. The second part with Veil could have been given more pages to add more weight to what happens at the end, but they manage to pull it off as quickly as they did. What is surprising is that the Absorbing Man and Titanna appear to be able speak unlike the others that are more monsters and brutes.
Artwork: The cover fits the issue, its Hank Pym and the Absorbing man battling one another. The interior artwork is still just as good as it has been. The characters are drawn well and the fight sequence is great.
Grade: A-
Quick Reviews
Avengers #15: A team of consisting of Spider-woman, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and the Protector head over to Brazil to take care of the Worthy infused Hulk. Spider-woman manages to fight back but it’s no use. She does save a group of children with the others. Another well done issue with a cast of characters that I like and they get a chance to shine here. The artwork is not Romita’s but has a Romita feel. B-
Herc #5: Hercules heads into the mess that has become New York as it has become over ridden with various monsters. He teams up with two villains to stop the resurrection of Ares. He is greeted by Hermes and is told he can be granted his god powers but will not be able to help. This was a fun issue, I enjoyed it since issue one and loved to see it grow in scale.
Invincible Iron Man #506: Tony joins with Odin and is allowed to work in the forgeries to make weapons with the dwarves. Pepper heads over to Paris to see what really went down. A fun issue but the Dwarves constant cursing in another tongue was so annoying and hard to keep the narrative flow constant. Artwork is still just as great. B-
Other Comics
Rocketeer Adventures #3
Abridged Story: Three more tales of the continuing adventures of Cliff aka the Rocketeer, I only read two of them since one were done not with artwork but like a story. The first story is of Betty attending her premiere at a movie theater that gets taken hostage by a group of thugs. The Rocketeer saves the day and becomes the center of attention on her big night. The third story features a group of kids called the Junior Rocketeers and how one member, a girl, wants to show that she can do anything. She and Betty end up saving the day.
Review: This mini-series has been so much fun of a read, I always enjoy seeing the various styles these writers and artists bring to the character that I have loved since the movie. The first story was fun, the second story I skipped because of time constraint, and the third one was also fun but had more development despite them all being non-canon with each other. Just one more issue left, lets hope it ends on a high note.
Artwork: The art styles for the two issues are different as they should be, the first issue had a good mixture of independent and mainstream feel. The third stories artwork reminds me of the art style done in the Mark Millar mini-series 1985, which was a style I enjoyed there and it does manage to work in here as well.
Grade: B+
Well that’s all for this week friends. Next week should be a bit bigger I supposed, we shall see. ComicCritic87 out, peace……