Browsing: Review

Or – “I’m Thirty-Seven, I’m Not OLD!” Heh.  Monty Python reference…  Aaaaanywaaaay, I’ve been thinking lately about my reviewing habits, and I’ve decided to break out of any possibly dogmatic way of thinking/reviewing/purchasing and see about what’s happening with books that I wouldn’t necessarily purchase for my own enjoyment.  There’s an inherent trap in only reviewing what you already love, putting you the position of either explaining why you already enjoy something, or worse, defending something you still love that isn’t as good anymore (read any of my recent Birds of Prey reviews for an example of the latter.)  I’ve decided that…

Or – “Is It Okay If I Cheer, Now?” There has been much discussion at Major Spoilers in recent months about whether we follow titles, characters, or just our fave-rave creative teams from book to book.  Some say they’ll read anything with Spider-Man, some say they gotta finish that run of Avengers, others insist that they only read Brubaker, and anybody else is just Folger Crystals.  I actually subscribe to an odd melange of the three, as well as a tendency to want to read interesting arcs (like the “Club of Heroes” bit in Batman some months back) of things…

Or – “Didn’t I Just DO One Of These?” I can’t tell if it’s a function of my tendency to be at least a week behind in my reviews (with my current schedules, I don’t usually buy my comics until Sunday afternoon, when I’m working) but it seems like I’ve been reviewing a lot of Buffy lately.  The good news is, it’s hardly a chore, as the book is humming like a well-oiled humming-thing-covered-in-oil, giving us drama, intrigue, some nice dialogue, and not skimping on the ol’ fighty-fighty, something that many comic books lately are eschewing in favor of all-singing,…

Or – “Is Shock Value The Same As Just Plain Value?”  Kick-Ass is one of those books that has been something of a guilty pleasure for me.  Each issue takes us through the full litany of curse-words, high school humiliation, some sexual topics, and a heapin’ helpin’ of swift and blinding violence.  When last issue ended with or main character getting saved by what looked like a nine year old girl, I expected to be going on and on about the use of cute kids in jeopardy for cheap effect.  ‘Course, when the girl murdered two people on panel in…

Or – “Reverse The Polarity Of The Neutron Flow!” Yes, I know that’s the pet phrase of the THIRD Doctor, but it’ll take a real hardcore Doctor Who fan to correct me.  Of course, I’m used to the feeling of being the one guy who knows about stuff, even amongst my fellow geeks.  My knowledge of Legion Lore, f’rinstance, often gets me strange looks, even in the comic shop.  So I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when the revamped and relaunched Doctor Who television series actually gained an audience and became once again relevant, rather than a decades-old…

Or – “Goggity Goggity Gog Gog Gog!” Gog gog gog goggog gogga gogga gog goglagog gog.  Goggity gog gog gagog gogger gogging goggle gogton gog, gog goggog GOG!  Goggoggog, gogala gog gog goggington goggo gog gog goggit gog goggery goggla gog.  Gog?  Gogex Gog gogs gogger goggle gogra gog gog gog. 

Or – “Some Heroes Take A While To Warm Up…” Last time out, we returned to the “Five Year Gap” era Legion of Super Heroes for the first time in a while, visiting the world as it was with neither Kal-El of Krypton or the Time Trapper.  I’ve said before, and I still believe that this portion of Legion history (now, apparently relegated to one of many alternate realities) was the first dry run for rebooting Legion continuity, which was then considered to be too complex and hard to understand.  Of course, Keith Giffen and company felt that the best…

Or – “When They Said, ‘Get A Life,’ I Should Have Said ‘&$@$ YOU!” So, for those of y’all who were not aware I DO have things on my weekly schedule that are NOT comic-related.  Not many of them, granted, but they do exist.  One of them is my day job, overlooking (I almost typed overworking) twelve awesome telephone service representatives in their day-to-day quest to resolve issues for our beloved customers.  August was a rough month for my guys (nicknamed “Team Ramrod”) and has required me to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about AHT, IR, BP, SV, and other meaningless initials.  In any…

Or – “Former Captain America Steve Rogers Still Dead, But His Clone Looks Fabulous.” The plot thickens, a family continues to disintegrate, two men wrestle with the burden of wearing the flag, a villain defects, a hero shows his defects, while Sharon Carter gets a bit of mercy from an unlikely source.  The penultimate chapter of the Death of Captain America is here, let’s not waste time with preliminaries…

There are very few event tie-ins that would be able to exist on their own. Not surprisingly, many are so heavily dependent upon the main event that you are left with only two options; read on in ignorance, or buy more and more tie-ins. However, you occasionally get a tie-in that is well written, apart from the main event, and carrying all the gravitas and import due. Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins Rogues’ Revenge is one of those comics.

Or – “Hmmmmmm…” I don’t think I’ve been in any way coy about my feelings for this series so far.  There have been some well-done issues of JLA since the relaunch (most of them under Dwayne McDuffie) but overall, I’ve been sorely disappointed in the quality of the book overall.  I’m not a fan of the pencillers they’ve been giving us, and a lot of good plots have really gone nowhere.  One of the longest back-burner arcs to date has been the story of Vixen’s powerset change, but it’s about to come to a rapid boil, and <insert hot joke…

Or – “Not Nearly As Innocent As She Looks…” The post-Five-Year-Gap stories of the Volume Four Legion get, I think, short shrift in LSH history, for a lot of reasons.  It was really the first proto-reboot of the title, pushing the team forward in time, forcing us to learn, issue by issue, what had happened in the missing years.  It gave up on the colorful costumes and superhero codenames, and delved much deeper into the corruption that some would say always exists at the heart of a bright and shiny society.  This period of Legion history is one known for…

Or – “Time, See What’s Become Of Me…” Geez, where in the hell have *I* been?  Turns out, much like your missing keys, I was between the couch cushions the whole time.  In any case, it’s review time (or, as the French might say, “rev-WAH”) and we’re ready (though somewhat later than the rest of the world) to touch on the series that has made me look forward to Final Crisis, in complete disregard for my usual feelings on company-wide crossovers.  If you’ve ever been to the site before, you’re probably aware that I occasionally peruse a Legion of Super-Heroes…

I’m writing this review, moments after closing down the window for the review for X-Factor #34, and in doing so I am swapping from a bad book to a book that I have to give full marks too. Granted, any story that focuses solely on Layla Miller is definitely going to be awesome in my books, but Peter David and Valentine De Landro pulled off a miracle, and made it even better.