Comic releases of 2/2/11 and 2/9/11
Hey all, Time for another weekly dose of comic reviews. Well we got 8 issues to get through along with some cool Comic book news involving a certain Blue game character, along with my favorite Magical Mistress
Comics: Amazing Spider-man #653 and #654, Batman and Robin #20, Brightest Day #19, Heroes for Hire #3, Superboy #4, Superman 80 page Special, and Superman #708……side note Iron Man 500.1 and Wolverine 5.1 were bought but won't be reviewed, since they are jump-in issues for new readers.
DC Comics
Batman & Robin #20
Abridged Story: The gang reunites and relaxes at home watching a movie from Bruce's life, one that made him who he is today. Dick and Damian then head out to do a little crime fighting and attend an opera premiere, where it gets crashed….literally, by a man with angel wings. They do investigative work until they are attacked by not Man-bat, but a person similar to him. Dick gets attacked by it while it is screaming about its children in pain. They force land him in a church and a swarm of white glowing bats fly around them and leave into the night.
Review: This is a really great issue, I loved it. I liked seeing the main Bat family relaxing after their battles and crime fighting, and seeing Bruce being normal was an even rarer sight. The sudden appearance with the angel man and the glowing white bat, doubt it is in connection with the White Lantern. Its only the set-up but I really loved how it begins. Brightest Day co-writer Tomasi is now doing this title and does an impressive job with the characters.
Artwork: The cover is impressive. Its Batman and Robin staring down at the reader with very intimidating faces. The artwork is an improvement from the previous arc. My favorite scene as mention is the beauty of the white glowing bats flying past the characters.
Grade: Great beginning to the new run, artwork is impressive and the white Bats are a site to be seen. This issue gets an A-
Brightest Day #19
Abridged Story: The white lantern ring explains to Boston Brand that each revived hero and villain must complete their task that will allow the new champion to arrive on Earth, whether they want to or not. The rest of the issue deals with Aqua man and Jackson racing to Bermuda to seal off the prison, but they are too late and a War between land and sea has commenced. Jackson shows off his new hard water power against the freed prisoners. Aqua man gets ambushed by Black Manta and loses his hand, while Black Manta stands over him about to deal the final blow.
Review: Man we are getting super close to the end to this well thought out event, and we now get more information from the White Lantern Ring, which I liked the aspect. The idea of this ring, a symbol of life, destroying the Hawks because they broke the rules, which some might see as unfair, but its a just reason, they defied its rule so they get punished, the punishment was far too harsh but it shows that the entity residing in it is all powerful. Also the big surprise was the reveal of the Aqua War both Aqua man and the new Aqua lad holding off the main front until hopefully back up arrives. This was never built up or even hinted at, which talk about a great twist in the Brightest Day. Johns and Tomasi, which to me Johns does more of the heavy work, do a great job with the characters development, especially Jackson and Boston.
Artwork: The cover is really bad ass, it has Black Manta in the middle of the ocean, eyes glowing red and his weapon glowing red with its energy built up. The first part with Boston and the Ring is some of the better art because of the few scenes that involve the tale of the new champion and the earth covered in blackness expect for a huge white star in the middle. The other half with Aqua man and lad were just as great, the finally page especially makes us wanting to see what happens next.
Grade: The story is reaching its finale, the war was a great addition and of course Boston's character getting the most development. The artwork is fantastic as ever, I give this issue a B+
Superboy #4
Abridged Story: Superboy teams up with the young hero Psionic Lad to do battle against the people that followed him into the time vortex, the Science-Hunters. They seem to have the upper hand but quickly withdraw from the current time. Psionic Lad explains to Conner and Simon where and came from and why he came to the current time, to train and become stronger. Conner then meets up with Lori and explains the situation he and Cassie are going through. Psionic Lad has a room in the Kent household and talks with someone from his time and the plans he has in store for Conner.
Review: As always with time travel stories, they can be hard to do unless you can pull it off, this one works….kind of. The idea that Smallville in the time Psionic Lad comes from, is a huge and powerful fortress that no one can escape from with a very old and unstoppable ruler. When it comes to the DC timeline, there is plenty of room to work with, what is interesting is that they don't show us any sketched out timeline like Marvel did. You think you know where it goes but the ending is great and comes out of nowhere.
Artwork: The cover is pretty bad-ass also. The cover is Psionic Lad and Superboy fighting off the Science-Hunters, three of them are on the ground. The story art is impressive as always, Gallo is the best choice for this title, I love the character design and the coloring is full of range and shades. The future Smallville fortress is really well design and just shows the scope of this dystopian city.
Grade: Love the series, Love the characters, and I love the art. I give this issue an A-
Superman 80 page special one shot
Abridged Story: This issue is an anthology series, some good and some meh. Jor El discovering kryptonite, Perry White and Wild Cat recall a moment when they first met. Jimmy Olsen gets cloned and each dies after living something unique. Lois follows the trail of a dropped Credit Card. Supergirl fights off a giant squid monster. Bizarro does his version of grounded. The last story is Superboy fighting a werewolf.
Review: As I mentioned above each story is really hit and miss. I will make this easy on everyone: Story 1(Jor El)- good, Story 2 (Perry and Wild Cat)- meh, Story 3(Jimmy clones)- fun, Story 4 (Bizarro)- meh, Story 5 (Supergirl)- good, Story 6( Lois)- alright, and story 7 (superboy)- awesome.
Artwork: The cover is a huge spread full of various characters affiliated with the Superman Mythos but not all of them are in the story. Each story comes with a different artist attached so again quick sum up Story 1-pretty good, Story 2- alright, Story 3-good, Story 4- hate it, Story 5- great, Story 6- decent, and story 7- great
Grade: So do math, this is a real hit or miss issue, so overall this issue gets a B-
Superman #708
Abridged Story: Superman follows the Super Squad and discovers a huge fortress full of Supers from various worlds and times, united to protect the time stream. They talk to Superman about his current dilemma stirs from the loss of New Krypton and the alienation he experienced since then. He tells them he is unsure about his future with what to do next. They drop him off to help save a small town, along with a familiar face, Wonder Woman. They team up and save the town while Diana warns him about a strange woman.
Review: As mentioned, when doing anything involved with time and various universes, this is probably the more if not the most creative. I liked the idea of Superman's legacy has spread to all kinds of beings, especially hearing one is a single cell and defends good ideas….that's creative, that's what I like about in a Superman story, an absurd idea works with him because it's a poking fun. The second half that involves bringing in Wonder Woman now cements how wide the new continuity shift that has occurred with her and this world. Even Superman doesn't know who she is; unaware of the past series of events and times they have had over the decades. It was a fun second half with them teaming up, but I preferred the first half with the crazy concept.
Artwork: The cover has three things to it: Superman brooding, a white silhouette of people protesting, and Wonder Woman with a very determined look to her. The first half with the Super Squad and all the various Supers were great, there is even a Superbatman, and it was super awesome. The rest of the issue has some good artwork, I love the fly streaks made by Superman and Diana does look impressive in this title.
Grade: If they stuck with the Super Squad this issue would be a solid A, but the writing is alright and improving, the artwork is decent, we getting hopefully closer to the arc ending. This issue gets a B-
Marvel
Amazing Spider-man #653
Abridged Story: Spider-man is trapped on the Rocket as Scorpion taunts and attacks as Spidey calls for the help of the Avengers, but gets Squirrel Girl. Meanwhile Smythe and his army of insect people have split to attack all the members of the Jameson family including Aunt May. Meanwhile also Doc Oct notices this going down and fixes the network and the rocket is back to normal. Just as Spidey is free falling he his saved by Ms Marvel along with a few others; Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Ben Grimm. They go for the counter-attack but notice all their attacks aren't connecting; Smythe has found a way to mimic the Spider sense reflexes and implanted them to his minions. Peter heads back to his lab to quickly find a device to neutralize it, but is stopped by Max wanting answers.
Review: I find the Spider-slayers being used as the next group of villains along with bringing back the original Scorpion was fantastic. The best thing with this series is the comedy and the action scenes. I love when Spider-man attacks his enemies and jokes around to mess with their egos. I was amazed to see allies coming to his aid, mostly members from the New Avengers. Their fight scenes are just as good as Spider-mans. The villains overall motive for vengeance is highly over the top, killing the Jameson family, leaving him alone to suffer in his own guilt.
Artwork: The cover is awesome, it features 6 of the heroes, behind Spider-man is Mockingbird, Jessica Jones, and Ms Marvel. While in front of him are Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Continuing to be a real improvement from the big time artwork and I love the way the character design gives them a much greater emphasis of realism, they are much more defined rather than cartoon like.
Grade: Great second half, so much happens but leaves us room to breathe, great comedy and action. I love the shift in the artwork. This issue gets an A-
Amazing Spider-man #654
Abridged Story: Max talks with Peter and his connection with Spider-man, Peter gets away with it for now as they build a special device to neutralize the sixth sense all the insect minions, but with a price, his own power would be zapped too. He finds the perfect spot to use it but Scorpion attacks him once more and destroys the remote activator. Spider-man sacrifices the fear and activates the machine, making the enemies lose their powers and get defeated with ease. Smythe however didn't get affected by it and attacks out of rage, killing a member of Jameson's family.
Review: Wow….two huge moments, the first one is comical while the other one is downright sad. I feel bad because the person who dies, died doing something no one has ever done, protect Jameson for a great reason, even telling him not to blame anyone, including Spider-man. Will this even change Jameson forever, perhaps. I like to point out to death jokers; this is how you do non hero deaths, making it not shocking for the value, but to emphasis the characters attitude and outlook, willing to die for the person they love.
Artwork: The cover is Spider-man dodging Scorpion attack with his powerful stinger. The inner artwork is impressive as the last issue. The final pages with the characters death are so amazing, the way they use the shadowing is awesome. Also look for the Turn off the Dark cameo in this one too.
Grade: Loved the issue, the ending was a real moment of awe. The artwork is great and shows much greater detail. This issue gets an A-
Heroes for Hire #3
Abridged Story: Paladin does recon on people that knew Misty Knight while Moon Knight deals with a crime lord smuggling girls and animals from the Savage Land. Paladin fights it out with Iron Fist, who dated Misty and is worried about her but doesn't want to get involved.
Review: Man it is hard to come off of an awesome issue like issue two was. How do you top Ghost Rider and demonic guns? It seems impossible, this is a good issued but not amazing. The issue splits nicely between Moon Knights search through the place, taking out the guards and fighting a raptor (you heard me) and Paladin with his recon and fight with Iron Fist was really cool. I could see these as two separate issues but combining them into this one is most interesting.
Artwork: The cover does advertise Paladin fighting Iron Fist, so it has that going for it. The artwork is as good as ever, the character details are some of the best I have seen. I still see Machine Man in the design of Paladin. Also I didn't know Iron Fist had a white variant of his costume, is there any significant fact to it? In Spider-man it was Green, I'm sure someone can figure it out.
Grade: A good issue but not on par with issue 1 and 2. The action beats are great and the art is fantastic. This issue gets a B+
Comic News: Well it seems I got a third title that I will be reading that is outside the Marvel/DC zones. First is Godzilla which I will review, then the new Rocketeer series, and now Mega Man. Thats right; the blue bomber is coming to Archie comics this April with the writer Ian Flynn doing the story. He said its going to follow the games, the main series, not X. The second bit of news is that there is no Zatanna at all this month, no filler issue to keep me occupied, since it is in the middle of an arc, they cannot do a thing. Real reason is that Paul Dini is focusing more on his TV productions, so next month will end this puppet arc.
Thats all for this and last weeks releases, how you all enjoy them and give the .1 issues a quick glance over. See you all soon in the comments. ComicCritc87 OUT!!!!