Also sorry for the lateness, I had finals and then Blogger was down for about 2 days.
FCBD Comics:
Kung Fu Panda FCBD (reverse feature of the Richie Rich comic)
I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda a lot more than I expected both in movie and comic form. The main focus is Po, the panda, as he searches for a flower to help the tiger, whatever her name is. Every other character minus the pangolin is fairly uncharacterized which is somewhat of a letdown. The art sometimes sticks with weird points as far as faces go like if you were going through a video and stopping at random frames. Other than that, I was satisfied.
Score: +1
Richie Rich FCBD
The venerable Chris Sims ranted about this special since he hates Richie Rich for understandable reasons. Richie Rich is a spoiled kid with no concept of money. He doesn't treat going to Hawaii for fun like it is big and he barely recognizes the value of being able to go to Mars twice.
What really bothered me though is a side thing. Richie Rich and his friends are 7 to 10 years old according to wikipedia and yet Richie's friend who is a girl has recognizable cleavage. Like the equivalent of a girl 6-10 years old. In a kids book. That is supposed to be setting good role models. I don't know if I am the only guy who noticed but that bothered me more than anything and this is a comic where they stop a villain who is superheating himself by covering him in tires as he floats above a volcano.
Score: -1
Thor and Captain America FCBD
The best comic for Free Comic Book Day I got was definitely Thor and Captain America. It dealt with family issues on some levels. It also dealt with Loki, Merlin, King Arthur, the holy grail, a hydra and a Nazi treasure trove. And it was done by the team behind Thor The Mighty Avenger (which they should do as a solely online series supported by readers). It wins the best FCBD award.
Score: +2
Amazing Spider-man FCBD
Spider-man had a solid premise. It had Spidey fighting Spider-Woman, it had Mandrill the living simian Axe Bodywash commercial, Spider-man learning kung fu from Shang-Chi and I am excited for the upcoming Spider Island arc now. Mission accomplished Spider-man.
Score: +1
Avatar The Last Airbender FCBD
Apparently Dark Horse is releasing a book that collects the Avatar comics that were in Nickelodeon Magazine and if they are all this calibre I know what I am getting my Avatar fan friends - the trades.
The back up feature was Star Wars but honestly I don't care about Star Wars extended continuity universe stuff.
Score: +1
Blast From The Past (Week) Review:
Sometimes I forget to read comics and because I like posting so I don't need to reread comics, I ended up missing out on reviewing this comic.
Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters and Mutants #3
Last week Herc was my pick of the week here so when I say that this is the worst comic of the week, I am really pained to say that. I picked up Wolverine/Hercules off the rack because I figured I'd check out another writer's take on the character. I really wish I didn't because I got let down by the issues so far. The simple idea is an evil talking head is making an army of dead heroes and monsters to take over the world. Wolverine and Herc try to stop it only for Wolverine to be turned into stone by Medusa. This week Herc takes Wolverine to a zombie bar run by Pluto (Hades) to try and fix it. No word why Wolverine wouldn't heal (I mean I get that petrification is more than a disease but still...). Herc convinces Pluto to un-petrify Wolverine so he can keep killing people because Wolverine is the beast at what he does and what he does isn't very nice. There is no argument. Seriously and honestly Herc could have convinced Pluto to revive Hitler with that logic. It makes no sense. The other thing is that apparently Herc apparently has issues carrying around a stone Wolverine. Herc mind you is the guy who held up the burden of Atlas. The god of strength. And this is Herc who is still super powered. Bad show, bad comic.
Score: -1
New Comics:
Off The Racks
Flashpoint #1 -
I will be honest - I have been highly and vocally skeptical of Flashpoint so far. It is a summer event that as far as I know, will not change everything forever. It takes place in an alternate universe, it focuses on characters I don't necessarily care about. Yet, I actually liked it as an establishing comic more than Fear Itself 1 though Fear Itself is a better comic overall. We get to see the alternate heroes as a secret narrator discusses the Flash's journey into the world, we meet alternate Batman and we see the Justice League equivalent. I don't care about half the people in the alternate League but Batman is Batman and alternate Batman is great. Give it a shot, I'll probably keep reading it off the racks and wait for a trade since I'm not fully sold yet.
Score: +1
Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #1
Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt is not an adaptation of the novel or Michael Cera movie which is good since I didn't want to start off with Michael Cera masturbating. Youth In Revolt is about the formation of a new and controversial heroes initiative by Steve Rogers, Captain America at law. - History Break
Civil War was all about Steve Rogers not wanting registration. Irony! - Break Over
So Prodigy I believe it is as a former Initiative opponent is now setting up a team of heroes to quell the mobs including Thor Girl and a few others I don't know. Fear escalates, people use guns and the chapter ends with the heroes getting overrun, especially Thor Girl because she has a hammer and hammers are evil. It is a much better miniseries start as opposed to last week's Spider-man debacle. Here you can feel the powerlessness. While I won't add it to my list I am really interested to see where this goes.
Score: +1
Journey Into Mystery #623
Oh man, I am a big Loki fan. I have two Loki 7-11 cups and I am proud of them. The fact that we have a good Loki-centric series though is even better. Journey Into Mystery follows Loki attempting to save Thor which scheming since scheming is what Loki does best. The story tells the backstory of Thor's goats, has Loki go on a small adventure and it is all beautifully illustrated. I am adding this to my pull list since I also really liked #622.
Score: +2
Pull List
Hellboy: Being Human
I really enjoy the recent Hellboy story Buster Oakley Gets His Wish since it was a one-shot so I took a chance with Being Human. The story isn't as fun as Buster Oakley which had aliens and cults and a minotaur but Being Human is more resonant. Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus hunt down a force that is reanimating and moving some corpses. Roger is still early in his career and is question what he is supposed to do in his life. Find out what he decides and give the comic a shot.
Score: +1
Superman #711
Oh man Jimmy Olsen's wristwatch makes a reappearance. Superman gets the key to a city and he fights a villain with his mind. This is what Superman is all about. He thinks about the problem before charging in. In the story Livewire is holding the city ransom and she's overpowered. Superman solves the problem, runs into his hero Iron Munroe and everything ends nicely with Superman talking about the American dream. I honestly teared up a bit. Best Comic Of The Week
Score: +2
New Avengers #12
I am not a big fan of hospital scenes in comics so starting it off with one did not really help. Mockingbird is in the hospital and we're still flashing back to the original top secret Avengers of World War 2. The past Avengers are fighting the Red Skull and honestly the fight is really good but I am not caring about Mockingbird enough so her being hurt doesn't pull me in. Just get back to fun stuff comics. Or do an entire issue of Sabertooth chasing Kraven's father for shooting him.
Score: 0
The Amazing Spider-man #660
Oh man, the new FF square off against the Sinister Six except they are really robots and everyone is transforming. Sue gains the Torch's powers, Ben gains the Invisible Woman's and Spider-man gains the best costume of all. Meanwhile the real Sinister Six leave something in the Baxter Building, a villain is infecting people with an insect giving them spider powers and the Ghost Rider feature wraps up. Oh, and Carly totally doesn't get a Goblin tattoo. This was a deal for $3.99. A lot of story and a lot of fun. Favorite Of The Week
Score: +2
FF #3
Dr. Doom is hosting a Reed Richards Killing Party. Less laser tag, more death rays. The alternate Reeds were released by Valeria a while ago and now plot to destroy the world, take over it or to get home without caring for the cost. It's going to take supervillains to stop them and man, if Spider-man and Superman weren't so good, this would be a pick of the week. This was less heady that the others, it had more comedy and I like all of that.
Score +1
Batman Inc #6
Holy Dead Chris Sims Batman! Okay, sorry for that. Using Holy Blank is sort of offensive to comics fans since that really isn't really a Batman thing anymore. This issue focuses on a mysterious mob boss talking to Joe Average and the Average Joes which is a great band name. They left Pennsylvania to set up in Gotham and the narrating boss explains Batman showing up around the world. We hear how Batman is using confusion to hide his company and yet he acts in the open to fight the oncoming threat of Leviathan. I am excited even more now for what Morrison is building up to and this is the most enjoyable Batman Inc yet. Just like FF, less heady stuff and more Batmen beating up bad guys.
Score: +1
The Incredible Hulks #628
I am a Greg Pak fan. He is one of the two fathers of Herc after all. In the newest issue, the Hulk and Red She-Hulk end up fighting with Tyrannus against holy church magic spacemen for Pandoras box. There is smashing, magic and just a lot of fun.
Score: +1
DC: + 3
Marvel: +9
Dark Horse: +2
APE: 0
So once more Marvel is the clear leader for me but DC and Marvel did a pretty good job and I figure that in the coming weeks I'll be reading a lot of side series off the racks.
No comments:
Post a Comment