Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Fistful of Reviews

I've decided to expand on the reviews I do to include other things I've been reading and watching recently rather than focusing exclusively on comic books.




Action Comics #866 (DC)


I really enjoyed this issue. Not because of Brainiac, although he is one of my favorite villains, and also not because of the excellent art. No, although these things did add favorably to this issue I really had fun with this book because of Cat Grant. I don't like Cat Grant, but the black stare on Clark's face when she's practically shoving her fake boobs in Clark's face was priceless. Even more amusing was Clark pretending to be using his x-ray vision on Cat to tease Lois. I've always felt that Clark is the more important side of Superman, or at the very least, the more interesting side. I'm glad to see more of Clark Kent.





Invincible #50 (Image)


I'll admit, I was concerned about this issue - mostly because of the marketing leading up to it (the cover didn't help). Invincible is a great comic book and I was worried about the direction it was heading. My worries were unfounded though. This was a good issue and didn't ruin my perception of the main character. I'm also glad it looks like Mark and Eve are finally getting together (it's certainly taken long enough).




Titans #3 (DC)


What an awful relaunch this has been. The art is driving me insane (why to all the women look like high paid strippers? And I'm not referring to their costumes...). Starfire's lips look like they should be falling off her face. Also, despite the reasoning for the characters strange behavior - is this really the way to relaunch a team? I mean, there may be *gasp* new readers seeing how the Teen Titans cartoon has become somewhat popular. Maybe now is the time to draw your readers in with a cool team of friends and heroes, bot have them acting like juveniles who've been drinking too much. Ugh.



Trinity #2 (DC)


I understand that this book need some time to build up, but I was pretty uninterested in this issue. I also understand that this is a weekly comic book but I think I'd get a bit more out of it if it wasn't so short. Ah well, I still want to see what happens next.



Wonder Woman #21 (DC)


I'm still having a hard time with the idea that I'm enjoying reading Wonder Woman. Gail Simone is doing a good job with this character. Even as Diana is losing her grip on who she is I feel as if I'm beginning to really see her for the first time. Also, how can you go wrong adventuring with Beowulf and the Claw?



GL Corps #25


Despite my dislike of all stories Mogul I found this issue to be both entertaining and meaningful to the over all plot. Well done.



Local #12 (Oni)


This was a nice conclusion to an intriguing mini series. I was glad to see that Megan had a happy ending. Megan reminds me a lot of my sister, so I was glad she finally found herself.



King's Property - Morgan Howell


I recently picked up this book on a whim. It was very well written. As much as I'm a fan of the fantasy genre it can easily go bad. Very bad. So I'm always glad to find fantasy books that are not only well thought out, but unique. I'd highly recommend this book (and the other two parts of the series) to any fantasy fan.



The Phoenix Requiem - Sarah Ellerton

This is an online comic. The first volume was just completed this week and the second one has begun. As much as I liked Sarah's Inverloch I am even more intrigued by Requiem. Her art has improved and her characters are fascinating. This is both a ghost story (as far as the feel of it goes) and a mystery story. If you haven't seen Sarah's work before you should go check it out.



The 4400 - Season 4


While I've enjoyed this TV series overall I was let down by the ending, as it wasn't really a conclusion at all. I understand that a story like this may never have had a true ending, but it'd have been nice to at least see the major characters stories wrapped up. As this was the last season I hope they do a movie or two to finish things off.


3 comments:

  1. I've got to agree with you on the Titans relaunch and how just plain weird it's getting. I'm reading this comic, and I'm asking myself where are my classic 80s badguyass-owning Titans stories are.

    I think writers, in retrospect, are too quick to envision NTT as soap-driven, instead of action and plot/subplot-driven. The Titans have been, at their best, a small unit specializing in covert action situations (against Brother Blood, the HIVE, etc) -closeknit because of its small size, youth, interdependency, bareass hot-tub parties and etcetera. The best NTT stories were always driven by the villain, and the Titans response to the threat, be it proactive covert action or all-out streetbrawl. Yeah, there was melodrama in there, but it wasn't a soap opera!

    I'm kinda bummed about this because DC hasn't gotten the Titans right since the Wolfy-Prez days. I really hope I'm not looking down the dread barrel of cancellation again, ..but guess we'll see.

    Love your blog, btw.

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  2. Nice touch adding the book, webcomic and TV series.

    You should add a link to the webcomic.

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  3. mirck - I agree that they're going about the Titans the wrong way. I'd prefer them to find a new team rather than cancel the series, but it's just awful right now.

    Jim - Good idea, I knew I forgot something.

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