Friday, September 2, 2011

Reviews for Angel & Faith #1, Flashpiont #5, Justice League #1 and more!

It's a legendary day in comic history.  DC is rebooting their entire line.  And Buffy Season 9 started as well.  So lets get started shall we?

Dark Horse

Angel & Faith #1:  While Buffy Season 8 was really out there, Season 9 looks to bring the awesome franchise "back to the basics."  This is very evident in the great read that is Angel & Faith #1.

Angel and Faith are living in London taking care of Giles' old cases.  Angel is naturally a little shook up from almost killing everyone and killing Giles himself.  Faith is going to rehabilitate him.  Their first act is taking care of a girl who was possessed by a demon.  They kill the thing, with Angel needing to go all vampire-y to destroy it.  Faith is keeping track of a former Slayer named Nadira.  At the end of the issue, Angel gives his big plan for the arc.

Angel & Faith #1 is a great a jump on point for fans of the TV show or people who want to get into the Buffyverse.  Faith and Angel are given their back story without boring long time fans.  This is all by the talent of Christos Gage.  He has a great hold of the voice of Angel and Faith, but mostly Giles.  Hopefully our favorite librarian will stick around, even though he is dead.  Gage also gives the reader plenty of reasons to keep picking up the book.  The atmosphere seems a lot like the Angel TV show, where the main characters act like super heroes.  Christos Gage also touches upon Angel: After the Fall without alienating people who haven't read it.

Rebekah Isaacs pencils a fantastic issue.  Every character looks like their actor counterpart, and it doesn't hurt the flow of the comic.  This was a problem for George Jeanty during Season 8.  There could have been zero dialogue and a crowd full of people and I could point out Angel and Faith.  One thing that could be improved, and this feels like I'm nitpicking, is there isn't a lot of facial expression for the two leads.

Angel & Faith #1 gets 4/5.

Marvel Comics
Deadpool MAX #11:  Deadpool MAX hasn't been as zany as usual, and it's been hurting the series.  #11 stays away from the zany, and goes to straight disturbing.

Deadpool and Bob visit the place that Deadpool was raised, an orphanage.  We are shown how Wade really became the person he is and why he is such a disturbed individual.  Bob also talks to some of the kids and realizes problems within America's orphanage system.  While Bob meant for the trip to bring closure to Deadpool's haunted past, it only brings up more emotional problems.  

It's downright disturbing to read this issue.  It brings to light a lot of problems in America's child services and the awful affect it can have on them.  I'm all for reading about Deadpool being psychotic and being disturbed, but sometimes this type of disturbing is good.  There isn't as much humor, besides Blind Al whipping out a sniper rifle to a small child.  David Lapham has given this Deadpool a good amount of grief and heartache.  I'd like to see him work on the 616 Deadpool.

Kyle Baker's art specializes in the crazy, but it works well here.  His panels slowly zoom in, building up the intensity of the stories that Deadpool.  When the end comes, the reader feels almost relieved that the stories are over.

Deadpool MAX #11 gets 4.5/5.

DC Comics
Flashpoint #5:  That's it.  Just like that, the DC Universe as we know it is gone.  I can't believe I just typed these words.  Sadly Flashpoint, and the DC Universe as we know it, goes out with a dud instead of a bang.

Flashpoint #5 is one of those comics that fans should read.  Some might not have read the book at the time of this posting, so I'll keep from being very spoilery.  But the ending is no good.  Much like Siege in 2010, Flashpoint is a means to an end.  DC wanted to reboot the universe and Flashpoint was a good way to do it.  Sadly the story wasn't that good.  Thwane quickly explains why Flashpoint happened...and that's it.  After a two page spread, the new DC Universe is put in place.  For long time fans, it's not the ending that they deserve.  Geoff Johns is a better writer than this.  I have read a lot of his work, and he has written better dialogue than this.  It feels force and there isn't emotion behind it.  Thwane has an interesting twist as the villain, but he should have been given more face time to show WHY was the villain.  

The most consistent thing about Flashpoint was been Andy Kubert's art.  Even though he has been working on this book for a while, there are still a few pages that look rushed, especially the two page spread that shows the new DC Universe.  But most of the scenes are incredibly detailed, and Kubert shows why he is a force of nature in the comic industry.

I really wish that the old DC Universe could have gone off with a better send off than this.  I'm a Marvel fan through and through, but I still love DC and it does deserve better than this.  The Flash is my favorite character at DC, and I was hoping that this event was going to be good, or at minimum half way decent.  But nope, it was just plain bad.

Flashpoint #5 gets 2.5/5.

Marvel Comics
Herc #6.1: Right when I started writing this review, I learned that Herc will be cancelled with issue #10.  This .1 wasn't really needed before, now I guess it's really isn't needed.

This .1 issue sheds light on how Hercules got all of the legendary weapons he has been using in his main series.  It's told from the perspective of Hermes, who is being sent by Zeus to take back the weapons from Hercules.  Hermes watched Hercules, and finds that Herc has grown more as a person and helps him when Mr. Negative gets the upper hand on Herc.  Hermes finds Hercules later at the restaurant he bar tends, and tells him a quick synopsis of what he saw.

Herc is a young series, one that really didn't need a .1 issue.  I always want more Hercules in my pull list, so it's good for that.  But as a .1 issue, we really don't find out to much about Herc.  This actually moves the overall plot in Herc along instead of rehashing about the character.  The reader finds out the exact reason why he left Olympus in the first place.  There is plenty of humor to be had, and Pak and Van Lente cleverly show how much Hercules has grown as a hero.  

Mike Grell's art looks like a poor mans Mark Bagely.  It looks good at some points, but the action looks really stiff.  

Herc #6.1 gets 3.5/5.

Marvel Comics
Invincible Iron Man #507:  One of Marvel's best books has sadly been below par during Fear Itself.  #507 is enjoyable, but still suffers.

Tony has a few drinks with the elves while one of the elves plots against him with an agent from the Serpent.  Pepper has her hands full with the Detroit Steel Corps, and the Grey Gargoyle steps into the fight.  Pepper found a few ways to go on the offensive with just a defensive suit.  Tony starts to get to work on the new weapon when a blob like thing starts to kill our favorite billionaire.

The biggest fault of this issue is that the plot moves almost nowhere.  Tony moves from room A to room B with a sub plot building.  Pepper has one big fight.  That's really it.  I know Matt Fraction is a slow burn writer, but this is so slow it barely happens.  The way's that Pepper fights back is fun to watch and shows her potential as a hero.

Larroca's art is his usual fair.  Faces look kinda weird but the action scenes look great.

Invincible Iron Man #507 gets 3.5/5.

Marvel Comics
Journey Into Mystery #626.1:  Another young series that really didn't need a .1 issue.  But much like Herc, I love me some Journey Into Mystery, so I'll take another issue.  Wait, it's not written by Kieron Gillen?  So this issue really is pointless.

Loki calls upon a demon to find out what everyone at Asgard thinks of him.  The demon tell him what Odin, Sif, and the Warriors Three think of the trickster god.  Loki really isn't surprised by all of this.  The demon tries to kill Loki as payment, but Thor comes to save the day.

I'm not sure why Kieron Gillen didn't write this issue.  Much like the Thor .1 issue, the tone is a lot different than the ongoing series.  Rob Rodi does his best trying to capture the essence that is Gillen writing Loki, but it doesn't really work.  The plot device of having a demon telling Loki what everyone thinks of him is a good dynamic that keeps this from being as boring as other .1 issues, but gets old rather fast.

Pasqual Ferry's art looks fantastic as usual.  His fantasy look really works here, and I'm happy to have him returning to The Mighty Thor soon.  Sadly his pencils look rushed on a few pages.  There are even some panels that are zoomed in shots of other panels, so they look a little fuzzy.  The demon looks scary and what a demon should really look like, something that is a rarity in any book that isn't a Buffy book.

Journey Into Mystery #626.1 gets 2/5.

DC Comics
Justice League #1:  The beginning of the new DC Universe starts here.  Sadly it's not as big of a deal as you might think.

Taking place five years ago, Batman is chasing a weird looking person on the roof tops of Gotham.  Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, not Sinestro) appears to help him, even though Batman didn't need it.  It's the first time that either are meeting each other, so they exchange some witty repartee.  After the weird person sets off a bomb-y thing, Batman and Green Lantern bring the cube that was left to Metropolis.  They figure since it's alien to them, why don't they talk to an alien, Superman.  On their way to Metropolis, they fly over a football game, where we see Vic, the eventual Cyborg, playing a football game.  Once Batman and Green Lantern get to Metropolis, headstrong Hal goes in and gets his ass kicked by Superman.  Time for Batman and Superman to fight it out.

This issue has been tooted as the big opener for the new DC Universe.  If I'm reviewing the comic on that part, it failed miserably.  We only see four of the people on the cover, and one of them isn't even a hero yet.    Geoff Johns writes some funny dialogue between Batman and Green Lantern, but it's something long readers have read a few times over in past series.  I do see the merit in brining up new readers to speed, but don't alienate long time readers.  Johns also doesn't give any plot development, which I'm sure will change in issue #2 or #3.  But for now it's not a strong start.

I'm not sure if an origin story was good for the first arc of this big comic.  Maybe start out with an arc fighting a long time DC villain to give new readers a feel of what the JL will do and what they are about.  After that, do the origin story.  Especially at this slow of a burn plot wise, a lot of new readers are going to be off put.  But it's early in the experiment.  #2 could come out next month and blow me away.  I'm hoping it does.  As a comic reader, I love it when experiments work.

Jim Lee's pencils look great.  He still has the problem with facial expressions, but everything else looks great and detailed.  Look at the firetruck construction for a great example.

Justice League #1 gets 3.5/5.

Marvel Comics
Secret Avengers #16:  Secret Avengers is the one book that can't seem to get a consistent creative team.  Ed Brubaker had trouble writing it, Nick Spencer was only brought on for the Fear Itself tie-ins, and now Warren Ellis is only sticking around for six issues.  And for his first issue, Ellis does an amazing job.

Commander Rogers, Black Widow, Beast, and Moon Knight head to an underground city that was formally home to the Secret Empire.  Now it's run by the Shadow Council.  The Secret Avengers head down to stop the Shadow Council from using a time machine that could destroy all of Cincinnati.

It's a fairly straight forward espionage issue, but Warren Ellis injects it with so much humor and wit that it's a blast to read.  Beast also spouts so much exposition, it should be a fault against the issue.  But Ellis makes it interesting to read, I could care less.  To me, that's the mark of a truly great writer.  The conversations between Beast and Moon Knight are my favorite.  I'd love to see Beast start appearing in Moon Night's ongoing if that means I can see these two keep talking like this.

Jamie McKelvie's art is just stunning.  It flows like a storyboard for a movie.  The reader can really feel the motion in each panel.  I think it also helps that there isn't SFX words, leaving the reader to focus more on the action at hand.  It's slight change, but lets the comics play out more like a movie.

Secret Avengers #16 gets 4.5/5.

That's it for the week folks.  Next week starts the real meat of the DC reboot with Action Comics #1.  Have a good weekend all!

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