ROUND NINE: Comics For May 18, 2011

Oh man, another Wednesday another day of new comics. This is a good week for comics as well. A lot of fun stuff to read. A lot of powerful comics and not a negative or zero rank in site. Read on of comic fanatic. (Also, there are no off the shelf reviews this week, expect those next week!) Also I add in another feature because I just do - Dollar Deal$!

Blast From The Past (Weekly) Review:

Arkham City #1
I appreciate the desire to create multiple forms of advertising for a game and I respect that DC is creating a pretty quality book to lead up into Arkham City. I never played Arkham Asylum as a devout non-current-gen-console-haver but I like the idea and it apparently was a great game.
I do have a problem though when multiple forms of advertising end up spoiling each other.
Arkham City starts off reviewing the end of the Joker in the game and his waiting for death. Meanwhile the mayor is struggling to regain control while a mysterious doctor orders him.
A pair of twins who go by the name T and T are also taking Venom, the monster-making super drug. Batman tries to find out who is behind this, who gave them the drug and who is organizing the plan.
We know who did it though. The first teaser videos revealed it months ago. Wikipedia had the information. I'll politely leave out the name but it bothers me that the mystery is spoiled to those readers who are excited about the game.
The art itself is pretty great and the writing works but having the big mystery spoiler sits wrong with me.
Score: +1

Dollar Deal$:
A lot of comic companies are reprinting famous issues every week to get people hooked on older issues. This week we feature:


Orc Stain #1
I am a big fan of Orc Stain despite the slow release schedule. Image sent out a bunch of $1 reprints of Orc Stain #1 and it is glorious to read. It is like an immature barbarian fantasy comic colored with rainbow sherbert with a healthy dose of Superjail thrown in there. Do yourself a favor, check out #1, if you like it
Score: +1




Off The Racks:

Thunderbolts #157
Thunderbolts is a pretty great series and it involves fighting monsters so it should have been a great week for me. The Thunderbolts (the government supported team of supervillains doing good for shorter prison times) have been fighting an evil wizard with the help of Satana, Daughter of Satan (or whomever it was retconned to). Things go ary though when a demon spider awakens the fears in everyone and we see the characters and what they truly fear. When it comes to supervillains and it is done in a serious light this is an amazingly humanizing thing to have happen. My only problem is the resolution where the Juggernaut fears too much that Luke Cage, Power Man and leader of the team, wants to give him the boot. This apparently causes Cage to actually let him go. I do want to give the last issue a reread because right now this seems like it may be something they did to turn Juggernaut into a villain for Fear Itself (where we've already seen him get a hammer).We also see the start of the new lineup which has replaced Juggernaut with Mr. Hyde, the psychotic muscular villain with a death switch in his head and no care for his teammates. Group Dynamics!
Score: +1




Superman/Batman #84
Superman is magic and has a sword and Batman has a dragon. The conclusion to the Sorcerer Kings arc is pretty enjoyable. My complaint though is that it doesn't reach some of the fun magical stuff the other chapters got to and I fear that Klarion the Witch Boy getting a time shifting device from the future wont be used after this arc (it won't as far as I know). Overall though this was a great arc for me to start Superman/Batman with. When this comes out in a trade I suggest picking it up.
Score: +1




Li'l Depressed Boy #4
Oh man, I feel incredibly sad after reading this issue. It really hit me hard. I mean wow, this was like someone setting Mjolnir on your chest and leaving you trapped on the Rainbow Bridge. (I really want to see Thor again.)
Best Comic Of The Week
Score: +2






Hulk #33
I picked up Hulk a few months ago and man, it is great. They've been working on creating the Red Hulk's squad of enemies including Zero/One, a woman who is now a living computer program, and Black Fog, Zero/One's former childhood boogeyman (since he was a serial killer) who has been turned into an immortal killing machine. Oh, and if Red Hulk falls asleep nanobots will kill him. FIGHT!
Score: +1




Heroes For HIre #7
Remember when I commented I found Spider-man really annoying in the last issue of Heroes For Hire? The writing for this chapter is much better. I like Spider-man again. Also Spider-man fights Batroc, dinosaurs and soldiers with "damnunition" - demonic bullets. Thank you Heroes For Hire, thank you!
Score: +1






Herc #3
Herc is a comic about a god who lost his powers, works as a bartender and has a magic armory. Herc 3 is a comic where supervillains break out of The Raft (supervillain prison) and quote The Beastie Boys. Herc continues to be my favorite series right now. Seriously pick it up and start reading.
Favorite Comic Of The Week
Score: +2





Avengers Academy #14
This week's comic list seems to be themed around taking blows. The Avengers Academy still giddy after taking on Korvac, semi omnipotent god type guy, face off against the Sinister Six. They get swiftly beaten. It hurts for everyone, not just the reader. You know how you always think - if I had super powers I'd be able to beat these bad guys? This is what would happen in real life. It is sad, harrowing and a great issue. (if not for my love of Herc, this would get a +2)
Score: +1




Uncanny X-force #10
Remember how I was disappointed with the last issue? Bam, onto bigger and better things! Archangel, the evil side of Angel, is taking over again and the Shadow King sent pictures of the X-force not only existing but also killing soldiers. Archangel finds out, kills one person and then Wolverine is forced to stop him. The X-force realize the only way to save Archangel is to find someone who knows Apocalypse and the only true survivor... is Dark Beast. Bum bum bum! Even though the series continues to Apocalypse central, I like this idea of there being an inescapable end, that no matter what they do there will be an Apocalypse. Quality storytelling though I did miss the regular artist.
Score: +1




Amazing Spider-Man #661
Dan Slott took a break this week and unfortunately it shows. I do like a lot of Gage's other work and I like the premise and the inclusion of the Avengers Academy but something felt lacking. Spider-Man decides to take a break to return to teaching and ends up filling in at the Avengers Academy where his origin is succinctly
ripped apart by the students. I particularly loved how much thought they put into how Spider-man could have continued doing more good as a wrestler. The team heads out on patrol only to be accosted by Psycho Man and forced under his thrall. My one complaint is that this seems like a much more immature Avenger's Academy. They don't work as well as a team, they don't show respect and they don't get along. I do look forward to the next arc though and the back up comic is pretty great as well.
Score: +1




Ultimate Spider-Man #158
The clock winds down for Peter Parker as he copes with a gun shot wound. Meanwhile the remaining Sinister 5 show up at Peter Parker's house to find Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) and Bobby Frost (Ice Man). It is an action heavy issue and is overall pretty good. I just wish we weren't publicly counting down to Spider-man's death so the lead up would be more of a surprise.
Score: +1





Scores!
Marvel +9 (Favorite Comic Of The Week - Herc #3)
DC +2
Image +3 (Best Comic Of The Week - Li'l Depressed Boy #4)

Marvel continues to lead for me but I bought more Marvel than DC series so it is to be expected. Maybe Niles and I need to add up an average out scores.
Also, I am kind of hoping to see Li'l Depressed Herc now. Internet, get to it!
And maybe I need to make a competitive site for www.comiclist.com. Seriously that site is just ugh in soooo many ways.

ROUND EIGHT: Comics for May 11, 2011

Welcome one and all to my weekly review of the comics I bought! Every week I buy comics and then talk about them. Unfortunately, most of my friends are not readers of comics so there's only so much they can stand before they stop inviting me to parties. And now this blog is where I dump everything they can't understand.

Enough introduction... Here's what I bought this week:

FF #3
Batman, Incorporated #6
The Unwritten #25
Punisher Max #13
Daredevil: Reborn #4 of 4
Batgirl #21
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #618
Chew #27
Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #4 of 6
Mega Man #1

Let's get judgemental!


Almost everything I bought this week was exceptional. Almost. So let's we get the worst of the week's book out of the way up front, shall we? Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #618 was a mess. Since David Liss took over writing the book and Black Panther took over Daredevil's role it's been wildly inconsistent, ranging from seven-face-kicks-in-one-issue awesomeness to not-quite-fan-fic terrible. This issue managed to be all of that without any actual face kicks. It wraps up the first arc in a flurry of unnecessary exposition of the sort where characters are explaining what they're doing as they do it. It's tough to read. But, and this is a "but" so big Too $hort wrote songs about it, the last page. Oh, the last page. Even after the trainwreck that this arc has been in parts, especially the end, the last page is perfect and makes me earnestly excited to read what comes next. The other big ol' but in this series is Francesco Francavilla. He's simply amazing and I will continue to buy this book for as long as he draws it. He's also the only reason this book didn't score a -1.
SCORE: 0


The other worst book of the week is Daredevil: Reborn #4 of 4. The best thing about this issue is that it's the last of the series. It's just not good. I'm not sure what happened. Andy Diggle is a good writer but from his first issue of Daredevil to this one, his run with the character just got worse with each new book. If you haven't already, don't buy this comic. The art is really good, but unlike Francavilla's Black Panther, Davide Gianfelice is not enough to save it. Did I say the art is really good? Because it's really good. His style reminds me a lot of Pasqual Ferry with sharper lines. But here's the thing: Matt Murdock does not look good rocking the beard-and-no-mustache look. Ugh.
SCORE: -1

SPOILER ALERT: Everything else I'm going to review was awesome. If you haven't bought these books already then you totally should.

FF #3 is great in the way that Jonathan Hickman's entire run on Fantastic Four/FF has been great. There's very little action, but it doesn't need fighting because Doctor Doom is inviting the smartest super villains in the Marvel Universe to the Baxter Building to figure out how to kill Reed Richards four times. That is objectively awesome. There is nothing you can say about that to make it any less than it is. And what it is is awesome. I mean, Doctor Doom literally sent out invitations.
SCORE: +1





In The Unwritten #25, Tom Taylor explodes out of the abstract concept of a novel into the real world via a glass of water. Other things happen as well, but I encourage you to read the previous sentence again. This book is fantastic and I would buy it every month just on the promise of getting another Mr. Bun/Pauly Bruckner issue once every year. But again, I encourage you to read the first sentence of this review.
SCORE: +1






Oops! I'm not all the way caught up with this series, so I can't review it yet. Sorry everyone. It's written by Chris Roberson, though, so I feel confident that it has earned its +1 score.
SCORE: +1









Chew #27 is a pretty ingenious idea come to fruition. The last issue to come out was #18 (it was awesome, btw) and instead of releasing issue #19 the series jumps ahead by a full year of publication to #27. Is the issue good? Well, yeah. It's Chew after all, but it still leaves all the questions from #18 unanswered while simultaneously posing a year's worth of new questions. As an exercise in making me want to keep reading, does it work? Yeah. It does. But the real question is does it make for good comics? Yeah. It does that, too.
SCORE: +1




This comic is the opening "cinematic" that you get when you wait to press start in the game. If you've ever played the games you already know everything that happens in this comic. There is literally nothing added to the story. There's no new twist on the formula. And that's exactly what it needed to be.
SCORE: +1







Look at this cover. Oh my god, it's beautiful. You can't see it on this image, but the cover for Batgirl #21 credits the art to Pere Perez. The wonderful surprise awaiting me when I opened the book was page after page of art by Dustin Nguyen. It's enough to make a fella swoon... Seriously, there hasn't been a less-than-great issue of Batgirl since Stephanie Brown took the mantle from Cassandra Cain and this one is no different. Batgirl faces the Reapers' next contestant, the Grey Ghost knows not what he does, Proxy makes a life changing decision, and Niles enjoys reading all of it.
SCORE: +1




Batman, Incorporated #6 is one of the best comic books I've ever read. It's perfect. It's just absolutely perfect on every level and from every angle. From Bruce Wayne's take on Voltaire's theology, to Batman: Message Board Troll, to "Welcome to Gotham.", to the very last page, this comic book is perfect. It's the fulfilled promise of the maximized potential of what a comic called "Batman, Incorporated" can be. If you haven't bought it already, go buy it now. If you already bought it, give your copy to someone who didn't and go buy it again. Look for this one at the Eisners next year for best single issue.
SCORE: +2




"Juxtaposition" is not a word I like to use very often. It's one of those words that, once you say it, it immediately makes people not want to be friends with you. Unfortunately, that's the name of the game in Punisher Max #13. This is My Favorite Comic Book of the Week because the juxtaposition works so marvelously well that I don't even care that I've now used the word "juxtaposition" twice. Three times. The issue picks up right where the last one left off, with Frank in prison and thinking back on the day he returned to the states after fighting in the Vietnam War. The Young Frank/Old Frank thing works so well because we realize that they're the exact same. Frank walking into his house for the first time is the same as Frank walking into the solitary confinement cell. This is my favorite issue of the book since the phenomenal Kingpin arc.
SCORE: +2

That's what I read this week, so what's say we see who lives and who dies...

Marvel: +2
DC: +3
Image: +1
Vertigo: +2
Archie: +1

Oh, man. DC and the rest of the publishers were at the park, just cold chillin' having a picnic when a mob war broke out and all of them except for DC were caught in the crossfire causing DC to swear revenge and begin a mission to eradicate crime by savagely murdering every criminal. I guess any week that two great Bat-books come out is a week where DC is going to win. It certainly didn't help Marvel that two really bad Daredevil-related books came out this week. Anyways, thanks for reading! See you next week!

ROUND SEVEN: Comics For May 11th, 2011

Greetings all you readers of comics. Luke/Koltreg/The Cowboy Frankenstein Officer of Blackwolf Industries - Pittsburgh is back with a vengeance like the Dark Knight. There is a triple review block this week readers with FCBD comics, a Blast From The Past (Week) review and then the new stuff.
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.

ROUND SIX: Comics for May 4, 2011

No intro this time, y'all. This is round six. You know how it works. One lives. The rest die.

This is comics.

Here's what I got:
Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #3
Sweet Tooth #21
iZombie #13
Uncanny X-Force #9
Batman Beyond #5

Sweet Tooth #21 is one of those dinners you have at your new girlfriend's parents' house and she warned you in the car when you pulled in the driveway that her dad hasn't ever liked any of her ex-boyfriends but it's too late to turn back and you sit down to eat and you've been extra polite the whole evening and made sure to smile and be talkative and charming and it's not working. You're blowing it and you don't know what you're doing wrong or to what degree. All you know is that you want to get out of there. But you can't. You have to stay because you really like this girl and you can't leave without ruining the whole night and your chances of a meaningful relationship with her. So you stay. That's what Sweet Tooth #21 is.
SCORE: +1


Uncanny X-Force #9 could have done without the part where Magneto gets Wolverine to kill an aged ex-nazi by saying "Please... Do it for me." Everything else in the issue is great. The part in the same scene where Wolverine looks at the picture of the man Magneto wants him to kill and says "Why don't you do it?" and Magneto replies, "Because I'm asking you to do it." That's good comics. The issue has the same feel as the movie Le Samourai, which I don't know if that's what Rick Remender was going for when he wrote it, but I dug it. It's maybe not the strongest issue of the series, but it's still better than most comics.
SCORE: +1


Batman Beyond used to be on TV. Now it's a comic book. And that is pretty much the best thing ever.
SCORE: +1










The Best Comic Book of the Week was almost Sweet Tooth #21. Almost. Instead, this week's best was iZombie #13. This is a book that continues to peel back layers only to reveal another layer made out of seven more layers. What I'm getting at is there's hell of story left to be told and I'm very much looking forward to having that story told to me. It may sound corny or cliche or whatever, but this is probably the most human take on the monster genre in any medium right now.
SCORE: +2




Surprising absolutely nobody at all, My Favorite Comic Book of the Week was Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #3. Because here's the thing... I think it's time to just be honest. Every single one of us is jealous that we didn't think of President Zombie Bear Cop first. I know he took office by eating the brain of his predecessor, but he's got my vote anyway.
SCORE: +2






You know, I wondered when it would happen. And it is now. Now is the time when neither Marvel nor DC survives the score tally. With a final score of 3 points, independent publisher Vertigo Comics was rocketed to safety mere moments before the planet on which Marvel, DC and Dark Horse were cold chilling straight up exploded killing them all. The only thing that can stop Vertigo now is the irradiated pieces of the destroyed world. That or next week's brawl.

Thanks for reading, everyone! See you all later this week for more new comics reviews and extra thanks to Luke from Social Fist for reviewing a whole bunch of comics I didn't have to read!

ROUND FIVE: Comics For May 4, 2011 - Luke

Hey There DC Vs Marvelers, Luke "Koltreg" the LBFA Intern and writer from the webcomic Socialfist reporting in. Were you aware that to make money I get paid to read comics? Ok, I don't really get paid just to read comics. I do have access to a comics though since I work there and you can't bag and board straight for 8 hours. I've tried and I started to become part of the Brood. I read a lot of comics and when I saw Niles doing this blog I decided to offer my hat. And then Niles gave me his hat and it got confusing because I lost my metaphorical hat and had his but there weren't any real hats and...
I'm just rambling now so let's just get on to comics reviews.


Annual Deadpool #1
The Secret Wars Annual series continues to hit it hot on the iron for me. This issue focuses on Deadpool meeting alternate Deadpool who is really Victor Von Doom and alternate Doom who is really Deadpool but with magic and evil and he had MODOK, Hammerhead, Kingpin and Bob as henchmen. Oh and Bruce Banner is the Sorcerer Supreme who banished the Hulk. The episode had me laughing and I ended up rereading it a few times (and this is Wednesday I am writing this).
Favorite Comic Of The Week. Score: +2




Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1
I'm a big fan of the Avengers Academy as well as Spider-girl who recently got chopped series wise so this special with Arcade was really enjoyable. Death traps, team up and romance?!? I really enjoyed this issue and I hope that Spider-Girl might find a family with one of these groups when her series ends.
Score: +1






Avengers Academy #13
More Avengers Academy that deals with stuff in a weird way since the 80 page special took place before the Korvac mini-arc. This issue deals with a dance for the supervillains and since the issue didn't focus on someone selling locker space for people to store coats, I have no idea if dances are like this. Drama breaks out, issues are resolved and Hank Pym gets it on making him a furry. Overall really enjoyable and everyone ends up covered in balls.
Score: +1




Weird Worlds #5
Originally I got the series to find out what the deal with Lobo is and I got knock off Swamp Thing and kinky space girl as bonuses. There's only one more issue left in the mini series and I am not sure how it will keep on going for some of the stories. The Lobo and Tanga bits are decent enough but having a guy whose nickname is Garbage Man who then becomes a man made out of garbage pushes it down a bit.
Score: +0




Heroes For Hire #6
The first arc of Heroes For Hire ended last week but the hunt to stop the drugs and such continues this week with Spider-man and Paladin teaming up. Drama occurs when Paladin reveals he is annoyed by Spider-man and his altruistic goodness as opposed to paladin working for money. I will confess though, Spider-man in this series is pretty annoying so I will side with Paladin.
Score: +0




Axe Cop #3
It has been pretty wonderful to get Axe Cop in print since it reads so much better this way and the coloring is wonderful. The story succinctly wraps up the mini-series but the ending left a bad taste in my mouth though I laughed which made it better.
Score: +1






Moon Knight #1
Niles/Tribe One/ the guy whose blog I am posting on got me into Moon Knight and sent me down a dark lonely road of hunting down toys and comics (thanks!) so when I heard Bendis was taking over I got excited. Then the ads came with Moon Knight being part Wolverine, Cap and Spider-man and I got worried. Then I got to the end and I was ecstatic and super pleased.
Score: +1




Fear Itself: Spider-man
I came in prepared to like the issue since I liked the first Fear Itself and Journey Into Mystery and I like Spider-man. This issue just stomped on my buzz though. Theres 5 concurrent stories running or so, three about people dealing with fear, 1 with Spider-man and then 1 with rats. Spider-man is freaking out and it is dismal and dreary and generally not enjoyable even in a masochistic sort of way.
Score: -1




Fear Itself #2
I've been looking forward to issue 2 and the story sets up well with Odin preparing for war and hammers dropping all over the world. The Hulk, Juggernaut, Titania and a few other people get hammers that seem to partially mind control them. Hulk is going totally berserk and The Juggernaut is full on evil which is sad since I've been enjoying his tenure on Thunderbolts as a reformed villain. Chances are though that at the end everything will be hunky dory.
And then Washington D.C. get attacked.
Score: +1




Uncanny X-force #9
Magneto knows about X-force so he has Wolverine kill a Nazi. The end. Not much team dynamics, since we see Magneto fighting them in the preview for 2 issues later it won't mean much. I will say though, I've been enjoying this series well enough that one off issue won't bug me. Niles is free to disagree on Wolverine and Nazi killing.
Score: +0






Herc #2
I've been reading through Incredible Hercules trades at work since hearing so much about it on War Rocket Ajax and I've been enjoying them. The fact that I get a new Herc series by the fathers of the new Herc, Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, only strengthens the deal. Herc ends up fighting the Hobgoblin, wins the love of the people, saves the bar from the Kingpin and so much more. I am liking Herc's time away from Amadeus Cho and the fact that he is a bartender also intrigues me. Will he need to take the Bartender's Exam? Can he make a quality White Russian? I doubt these important questions will be answered unless I ask them on the Twitter. (According to Greg Pak, Herc is working as a dubiously legal bartender and he can absolutely make a White Russian.)
Best Comic Of The Week. Score + 2


So this week's scores were as follows
Marvel +7 with both Best and Favorite Comic Of The Week
DC +0
Dark Horse +1

It was pretty much a Marvel heavy week for me so they easily won. No Superman or Batman or Superman/Batman or even Brightest Day which I read for... it is free to read. I'm interested in Niles' thoughts on the comics and what his score is so we can then argue and lose our friendship over who was right and wrong (he was right, I was wrong but for the right reasons but only in an alternate dimension).

I'll see you all next week around Thursday.