Browsing: Review

Or – “Superman And Black Lightning Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Me…” Ed Benes’ art is what Opus T. Penguin might refer to as a “full-blown bull-moose gonzo whopper of a mixed blessing.” On the one hand, he has a slick line and the kids really seem to dig his work. On the other hand, just look at Wonder Woman’s pectoral region in that shot. The Amazing Amazon shouldn’t be a quarter-millimeter from a Janet Jackson moment, in my opinion, and compounding the issue is the presence of Vixen’s protruding sompin-sompin and Black Canary’s fishnetted how’s-your-uncle clearly in view on either…

Or – “A Change In Focus Is Pretty Much What She-Hulk Does Best…” Peter David’s text page in this issue pretty much sums up my thoughts on She-Hulk. Initially, she was created to fulfill a copyright need, to keep anyone from knocking off Marvel’s intellectual property, and her first series was a bit lackluster because of that. Her second book was marked by John Byrne’s specific fourth-wall-breaking take on the character, and when he left, the series floundered and eventually got cancelled. Dan Slott relaunched the character in 2003 with another ground-breaking revamp, casting Jennifer Walters as the main character,…

Quick, stall while we try and get to the final 10 issues There are a couple of good things and a couple of bad things about the site going down over the weekend. The bad is of course the loss of readership, which equates to a loss of potential income. One of the good things is I did have plenty of time to get through the whole back catalog of issue just waiting to be read. The bad thing about reading through my stack of comics was the dread I experienced when picking up issue #28 out Countdown.

Or – “Seven Shades Of Bug%#@^ Crazy? Penance Knocks That Out By Lunch…” The first issue of Penance’s limited series had a couple of revelations in it, but the most shocking was the implication that Robbie Baldwin wasn’t nearly as much of a wackjob as he seemed, instead biding his time and working towards an unknown goal. When a Latverian freighter crashed, Penance took out all the foreign nationals by himself, but made sure to let one escape home to announce that Penance is coming. Soon after, he slipped his leash, escaping from ‘protective custody’ and going off on his…

Or – “A.V. Skills That Even Neil Goldman Would Envy…” Barbara Gordon. Sooooper-geeeenius. Multiple degrees in everything, photographic memory, smart enough to give even the mighty Batman a run for his money. Used to dress up as a bat (albeit a super sexy spandexy go-go-boot-wearing bat) in an attempt to fight crime. Noah Cuttler. Evil sooooper-geeeenius. No degrees that we know of, a wicked case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, with a criminal mind sharp enough to vex nearly the entire Justice League. Used to wear a calculator on his chest (and make boxing gloves out of dust particles to punch people)…

Or – “This Just In: Former Captain America Steve Rogers is STILL Dead.” In a way, it was kind of nice to not write this weekend… I went to the pumpkin patch with my daughter and picked a gourd, then made a Jack-O-Lantern. Still didn’t do any laundry, but a flying tent smashed my windshield, which was kind of exciting. ‘Course, it should be noted that the cracks in my glass are nothing compared to the cracks showing in the psyche of one James Buchanan Barnes. (See what I did there?) Now that the Winter Soldier has been captured by…

Or – “Occasionally, It’s Good To Have A Nice SHORT Mystery Cliffhanger…” The look on Batman’s face right there is absolutely priceless. It reminds me of the moment where the Janitor hugged Carla on Scrubs, picking her up and shaking her side to side like a bear mauling a bull-moose, then sat her down, only to have her remark “I thought you were going to kill me.” His response? “I fought the urge.” Heh. Still, you know that something dramatic happened for anyone to wrap their arms around the Dark Knight, though if you read the Wedding Special, you may…

Or – “THERE’S The Richie Rider I Remember…” One of the great dangers of having a favorite character revamped is the nature of the comic industry, where ‘different’ is used as a synonym for ‘better.’ The All-New All-Different X-Men came around in 1975, but the tradition was decades old by that point. Even so, the reliance on ”Everything You Know Is Wrong!” has become a standard storytelling crutch, and with it comes the tendency to jettison everything from the characters’ previous appearances, collateral damage in the race for sales revenue. Luckily for me, Abnett & Lanning remember the same Nova…

Or – “Totally Missed This One Last Week.” Okay, now it’s just getting troublesome… I don’t have the slightest idea how I didn’t catch this one when I did my “purchase for review” pile last Wednesday, but somehow I did. Mea culpa. Anyway, we’re knee-deep in the Sinestro Corps War, and Earth’s various Lanterns are all feeling the pain, while their green brothers are getting killed in space. The Guardians are likewise in disarray, and it’s liable to get worse afore it gets better. Remember Cyborg Superman? Tom Welling Prime? How ’bout the evil tupperware masked Parallax? They’re all ready…

Zombies 2 – Electric Boogaloo Several years ago I had a freak out, and stopped eating meat, stopped with the caffeine, and processed sugars. There are a couple of good things about avoiding those things. First there’s that whole healthier living thing, and second, I got to eat all the veggie pizza, been burritos, and tofurkey sandwiches that I wanted (really tofurkey isn’t as bad as it sounds). The toughest part about my sudden conversion to semi-vegetarianism (I still ate eggs and cheese), was the first two weeks. Every Big Mac commercial, every KFC ad, even the smell of steak…

Or – “Human Sacrifice, Dogs And Cats Living Together – Mass Hysteria!” Peter Venkman was right! The world has gone mad, topsy turvy, everything you know is wrong! New Avengers (the Avengers book that I normally really enjoy) made me angry this week, and when I chose my reviews for today, I intended to start with the new issue of Captain America. My perusal of Mighty Avengers changed my mind. Four issues into the fight with Ultron, and we still have little-to-no idea what the heck is going on with this book, but in this age of six issue arcs…

Or – “This Takes Place During The Not-Missing Year AFTER The Missing Year…” Teth-Adam is a difficult nut to crack. Occasionally heroic, yet possessed of great wrath, he’s responsible for acts of violence and kindness alike, and even as a mass murderer, the pain he feels over his lost wife still makes him sympathetic. In a lot of ways, he’s the kind of person you find yourself wishing you were: strong-willed, indomitable, always sure of his actions. If it weren’t for the whole ‘killed a country with his bare hands’ thing, you might even call him a role model…

Or – “How Can A Crossover Take LONGER Than The Event Itself?” Y’know, I’ve been reading Heroes For Hire since the beginning, but for some reason the ‘World War Hulk’ crossover seems to have been going on since before the dawn of time. Certainly that comes partially from the fact that the Savage Land arc started way back in #9 and led directly into this crossover, and partially because they’re really trying to ratchet up the tension on this storyline. I don’t know that it’s NOT working, but it’s certainly got enough rough edges that part of me is asking…

Spit on your wife and see what happens I’m glad Wally and Linda are back. I’m sad DC had to kill Bart to do it. With the latest installment of the adventures of the 3rd Flash, Wally, Linda, Jai, and Iris are confronted with their first major conflict, but the family outing isn’t going so well. Does Flash #232 suffer the same fate?