Comment Policy
Offensive, harrassing or baiting comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted at my discretion.
Comment spam will be deleted.
Please leave a name and either a valid web-site or e-mail address with comments. Comments left without either a valid web-site or e-mail address may be deleted. Atom Feed LiveJournal SyndicationLOLcats feed
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Comics Reviews
[The following was supposed to be posted Friday morning, but apparently I fell victim to the new Bloggers...quirks]
Teen Titans #11, by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone, published by DC:
At it's heart, this is a nostalgia comic. It's giving the audience exactly what they want, no more, no less. But it still manages to be consistently entertaining. This is the sort of super-hero book I can happily accept.
Action Comics #815, by Chuck Austen and Ivan Reis, published by DC:
With Rucka and Azzarello taking more mature approaches to Supes in their books, it's nice to have a Superman book I can comfortably show to parents. Not that the contents of the other books are "inappropriate," but this is something that will appeal to kids more: Superman pounding on bad guys with slightly cheesy dialogue. I'd prefer it if the book didn't dwell so much on past continuity (Darkseid, Doomsday, now Gog), but I suppose you've got to have something to keep the long-term Superman fans happy.
Spider-Man #2, by Mark Millar and Terry Dodson, published by Marvel:
Wait...is Electro saying he went gay in prison? I used to enjoy Millar's work, but most of his current projects seem like shock value for the sake of shock value.
Monolith #4, by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Phil Winslade, published by DC:
This reminds me of some of those lower-profile books DC used to pulish in the 70s and 80s. It's set in the DCU, but it has so little to do with it that it may as well not be. The art by Winslade is gorgeous, as should be expected by anyone who's seen his previous work, and the Palmiotti/Gray team are criminally under-rated. This is a good book for people who aren't interested in spandex titles anymore, but still want some heroic action fiction in comic form.
She-Hulk #3, by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo, published by Marvel:
This is a cute book. Not too heavy, not too slight, but cute. A little too heavily inspired by Wolff & Byrd maybe, but it's still early in the run yet. There's time for the book to find a more distinctive voice.
The Pulse #3, by Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley, published by Marvel:
Why do I like Bendis best when he's not writing super-heroes? An intriguing look at the non-powered residents of the Marvel U, but still...more padding than a padded thing that's padded.
District X #1, by David Hine and David Yardin, published by Marvel:
Oh, this might be interesting, sort of Marvel's answer to Gotham Central. The art is nice and the story set-up is intriguing and...is that Bishop? Oh, never-mind.
JLA #98, by John Byrne and Chris Claremont, published by DC:
Who exactly is Flash talking to as he's describing his actions out-loud? And why is the Martian Manhunter describing how his powers work? I've said it before in private conversations, but I need to say it now: the editors should not have allowed this story-line to be published before making major changes to the script. This is painfully bad and could be used as a primer in how NOT to write comic-books.
Blue Monday: Painted Moon #1, by Chynna Clugston-Major, published by Oni:
Ah, high-school, when people are horrendously cruel to one another and it's excused because they're just kids. This is such a great book I'm not even sure what to say. Nice art, beleivable charactrs, and motivations and behaviors that are recognizably human. A great, great book.
Gotham Central #19, by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, published by DC:
Another consistently good title with great art. I'm mostly over the disapointment that the best crime-drama comic on the stands today has to feature Batman villains to keep itself economically viable.
And a note: over at die puny humans, it's fast fiction Friday. Short pieces by authors with something to say. Check it out. It's fantastic stuff so far.