DC Comics
Action Comics #4: Since I started reading comics years ago, I have always wanted a great Superman story to be told. Yes there are older ones in trades, but I'd love one in monthly form. Sadly, Action Comics still isn't that.
I'm a big Grant Morrison fan. I have never read a bad issue from the guy. But something is wrong with Action Comics. Morrison can't seem to get the transitions down from panel to panel. Scenes are all over the place and bogging what is, at heart, a very interesting story. Morrison has created an interesting villain, and is doing some great character work with the Superman family. Lex Luthor in particular. His work on Clark/Superman isn't his best, but it's still damn entertaining. Steel's entrance is forced, but ok. The ending will peak the interest of long time Superman fans, and it brought a slight smile to my face when I realized what the future will hold for Action Comics. I still can't shake the feeling that Morrison is looking at Spider-Man as new inspiration for Superman. Each issue he seems more and more like the wall crawler. Anyone else notice this?
Rags Morales pencils the entire issue this month. This keeps the issue having a consistent look, but Morales' pencils still need some work. The book is one big action scene, and Morales makes the fights look great. His face work needs to be worked on. It looks very rushed. Much like Morrison's script, Morales can't seem to transition from panel to panel well, but that might be more Morrison's fault then his.
Action Comics #4 gets 3.5/5.
DC Comics
Animal Man #4: Animal Man continues to be DC's best ongoing, and #4 ramps up the story line while continuing the creepy.
Jeff Lemire finally reveals the endgame of the Rot, and while readers of Swamp Thing will know what's coming, it's still interesting. The exposition gives a lot of information, but to Lemire's credit, it's never boring and I couldn't stop reading. And amongst the insane nature set pieces, Lemire still sprinkles doses of the family aspect, which is the heart of this volume of Animal Man. ">sigh< You'll have to ask your mother," gave me a big smirk. And as much as I love the insane Red sequences, I'm glad to see Lemire bring this story down to reality a little bit. It will give Buddy more time to spend with his family, and I love the Bakers. Lemire also explains the high concept very well, making even the most ignorant reader understand what is going on.
As much as I sing praise for Lemire, Travel Foreman pencils a beautiful issue. It's not as creepy as past issues, but still looks amazing. Foreman adds so much tension in the scenes with Ellen and Cliff. The panel where the fake police officer sprouted tentacles sent a chill up my spine when I arrived on the panel. And my god was the final page great. Nice choice for legs first.
Animal Man #4 gets 5/5.
Marvel Comics
Avenging Spider-Man #2: It may not be named Marvel Team-Up, but my god is Avenging Spider-Man just as fun as that book.
Zeb Wells creates a very simple plot here. Amongst the books like FF, S.H.I.E.L.D., and anything written by Grant Morrison, it's nice to have a simple book. A part of me would like to see Wells go a tad deeper with this story, but that's nitpicking. He has a great hold on what makes the characters tick, especially Spidey. He quickly goes form quipping to delivering a heroic speech without it feeling forced or unnatural. His work with JJJ is great as well, and I doubt anyone could read those pages without smiling or laughing out loud at one or all the lines. As a veteran comic book reader, the final page shouldn't have hit me, but I found myself still surprised by the ending. I know it won't stick and it will be explained, but I still couldn't believe I found myself surprised by it. It's a testament to Zeb Wells writing ability.
The real star of this book though is Joe Madureira. He continues with the "no inking" strategy, and it still works....for the most part. I'm not as big a fan this time around, but not enough to say "I'm not picking this book up" because of it. But hopefully when Mad returns to the book (#4 is penciled by Greg Land and #5 by Leinel Yu), maybe he will use inks. The big double page spreads look fantastic, and Mad gets the tiniest details right in every panel. Even down to the little bit that JJJ's mustache hair goes over his lips. The fight scenes look great, and you can feel the frustration on Spidey's face when he scolds the Red Hulk.
Avenging Spider-man #2 gets 4.5/5
Image Comics
Chew #22: My god I missed this book. I jumped on at #21 after blazing through the four trades, and I'm glad the hysterical series is back.
It always saddens me to see a book be very late on it's shipping schedule. I'm pretty good at remembering even small bits of story plots from month to month, but when I have to wait a few months, sometimes things get hazy. This happened recently with Captain America. This didn't happen with Chew #22 though. John Layman brings readers up to date on even small plot points and doesn't sacrifice space for the story in the process. Who is this guy beating the crap out of Tony? Layman lets us know in an organic. Tony plays second fiddle in this issue, as most of it focuses on the secondary players. It's nice to see Layman touch upon old plot threads. I always thought the Dan, the creepy guy that worked with Amelia, was a great story thread that should have been brought up. It seems my wishes have come true. The script is hilarious as usual.
Rob Guillory's art is as stylized as it always has been. It's exaggerated, but fits the story really well. If Showtime ends up making a show about this comic, I'd love to see a way to have his art incorporated into the show.
Chew #22 gets 5/5.
Marvel Comics
Deadpool #47: I have always been a fan of this book, even when it dipped in quality. Daniel Way has done a great job with Deadpool, but the problems are starting to become to much.
Daniel Way has always characterized Deadpool well, and he continues here in #47. But instead of letting the readers understand figure out the scene themselves, Way hands it right to us. No thinking involved. I do realize that this is a Deadpool book and that thinking is usually not suggested, but early on there was some great arcs that made the reader think. Evil Deadpool is a great foil for Deadpool, and he could see what's wrong with himself this way. It'd be great for him to get frustrated and angry and then do some soul searching. But the book is still mindlessly fun, and I'm not mad for the purchase. Deadpool usually never has trouble defeating people, so it's fun to see him confused and not sure what to do.
Salva Espin's pencils look good for the book. Nothing special or that redefines the medium, but it does it's job. The look of Deadpool is great, but Cap has a few facial problems. Evil Deadpool produces the revolting look that you'd expect for the character.
Deadpool #47 gets 3/5.
Daniel Way has always characterized Deadpool well, and he continues here in #47. But instead of letting the readers understand figure out the scene themselves, Way hands it right to us. No thinking involved. I do realize that this is a Deadpool book and that thinking is usually not suggested, but early on there was some great arcs that made the reader think. Evil Deadpool is a great foil for Deadpool, and he could see what's wrong with himself this way. It'd be great for him to get frustrated and angry and then do some soul searching. But the book is still mindlessly fun, and I'm not mad for the purchase. Deadpool usually never has trouble defeating people, so it's fun to see him confused and not sure what to do.
Salva Espin's pencils look good for the book. Nothing special or that redefines the medium, but it does it's job. The look of Deadpool is great, but Cap has a few facial problems. Evil Deadpool produces the revolting look that you'd expect for the character.
Deadpool #47 gets 3/5.
Marvel Comics
Defenders #1: While most comics these days are moody and dark, Matt Fraction seems to have taken another angle with Marvel's latest team book. And it's really REALLY good.
It's refreshing to see a team get together in the first issue. Fraction does it in a real way, and puts the team into a hard situation before the issue is out. He get's the character's voices down well, especially Doctor Strange and Iron Fist, although I'm not surprised he gets Iron Fist right. His and Brubaker's run on the Immortal Iron Fist is one of the best runs in the history of comics (I think). The book's light tone is great to read in all the serious Avengers and Justice League books. The words on the bottom of the page were surprising, and hilarious. I'm sure Fraction wrote these, and I hope this little joke continues. It would have been nice if Fraction got a little serious at points, but that doesn't bring down the book.
Terry and Rachel Dodson produce some of their best work in years. Their work on Uncanny X-Men was good, but never the level that they can produce at times. But this is it. It's expressive, and fits the fun tone that Fraction has written. The zero G scene looks fantastic. Hopefully they can stay on time so we don't need fill in artists
I gave Defenders #1 a 4 initially, but I'm changing it after a few more reads.
Defenders #1 gets 4.5/5.
Marvel Comics
Moon Knight #8: Fans of the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run will love this issue.
Bendis' idea of having Marc Spector talk to four different voices was an interesting idea, but not used 100% well. He has figured it out here. They voice their opinions, but Spector is in charge. The dialogue with the Detective is hysterical. It's also nice to see the TV show angle back, as I thought it was dropped for a while. The Moon Knight Echo relationship is surprisingly real for comic books. The ending made me wanting it to be next month already. I recently read an interview with Bendis about Moon Knight, and all I can say is BUY THIS BOOK PEOPLE. Bendis said he wished it sold better, and he's not sure if he will be around after issue #12. Hopefully some one will come on to write this book in the same way Bendis did. It's a great book that deserves to stay around.
Alex Maleev pencils his best issue of Moon Knight yet. He goes from talking heads, to kick ass action scenes, back to talking heads without missing a beat. The action never seems stiff (a problem on Daredevil). Maleev pencils Marc talking to his voices and what Marc really looks like differently. It's subtle, but goes a long way to remind the reader that Marc is insane.
Moon Knight #8 gets 5/5.
Marvel Comics
Punisher #6: IGN recently put this volume of Punisher in their top five Marvel books of the year. #6's writing continues that trend, but the art doesn't live up to the potential.
Greg Ruck pencils another great issue in the continuing epic between the Punisher and Rachel Cole-Alves. It's going to be an interesting issue next month. Surprisingly, not a lot happens this month. It's more set up for #7, but that isn't a detriment to this issue. Having Rachel start to abuse her relationship with Nora is an interesting choice and help lead Nora to being a darker character. Part of me is wondering if Rucka is going to eventually start a sort of romantic relationship between the two. Which, as long time Punisher fans will know, she will most likely end up dead. And she is a very interesting character, so let's hope that doesn't happen.
The art, by Matthew Southworth & Matthew Clark, isn't even close to the level of Marco Checchetto's art in the first five issues. Many of the pages look unfinished or very rushed. And while I love the Punisher rocking the beard, there are a few panels that the beard looks weird. The final page looks bad and shouldn't have been printed.
Punisher #6 gets 4/5.
Greg Ruck pencils another great issue in the continuing epic between the Punisher and Rachel Cole-Alves. It's going to be an interesting issue next month. Surprisingly, not a lot happens this month. It's more set up for #7, but that isn't a detriment to this issue. Having Rachel start to abuse her relationship with Nora is an interesting choice and help lead Nora to being a darker character. Part of me is wondering if Rucka is going to eventually start a sort of romantic relationship between the two. Which, as long time Punisher fans will know, she will most likely end up dead. And she is a very interesting character, so let's hope that doesn't happen.
The art, by Matthew Southworth & Matthew Clark, isn't even close to the level of Marco Checchetto's art in the first five issues. Many of the pages look unfinished or very rushed. And while I love the Punisher rocking the beard, there are a few panels that the beard looks weird. The final page looks bad and shouldn't have been printed.
Punisher #6 gets 4/5.
DC Comics
Swamp Thing #4: Much like the past few issues, Scott Snyder delivers more exposition, but much like #1-#3, it's still a blast to read.
With Snyder laying out all the pieces to the puzzle, Snyder sets up the main villain. And boy, is this kid one creepy son of a bitch. Having the kid feed of death, however small it is, brings a lot of gravitas to stopping him. Snyder's set up of Alec and Abigail's relationship well. It seems like Snyder has capped off all the set up and is going to start moving along with the plot along. As I have stated in past issues, Snyder makes his massive exposition dumps a blast to read. He sets it up well without ever being forced, and the dream sequence in this issue works very well. I kinda wish that we would have found out more about the plot at this points, but it's not a big deal. Also surprised that Snyder didn't reference Animal Man, as Alec Holland was referenced in Animal Man #4.
Marco Rudy's pencils are comparable to Yanick Paquette's. The insane panel layouts are still here and still look great. The dream sequence looks fantastic. To be honest, I had a hard time telling the difference in a few panels. For a fill in artist, you couldn't ask for more. His pencils are solid and look almost like the main artist.
Swamp Thing #4 gets 4/5.
Marvel Comics
Venom #10: The Spider-Man side of the Marvel universe is slowly becoming it's strongest. And books like Venom keep that going.
Rick Remender has done a great job of giving the reader reasons to love Flash as Venom. Good for Remender for keeping the camp down, as these villains can be a little out there. He plays the scenes straights and they really work. Having Jack O' Lantern appear at the funeral was a good move, even though it was a little cliched. I'm a little perplexed as to how Venom joins the Secret Avengers when he just beat up Captain America. I'm glad to see Venom will be in Secret Avengers, as I always need more Venom in my pull list
Lan Medina's art is a great fit for Venom. His art reminds me a lot of Stefano Caselli's. The fight between Venom and Cap looks great, especially when Venom kicks his shield. I'd love to have Tony Moore back on the book, but Medina is a good substitute
Old Comics
Amazing Spider-Man #674 gets 4/5
Avengers #19 gets 4/5
FF #12 gets 2/5
Avengers #19 gets 4/5
FF #12 gets 2/5
Invincible Iron Man #510 gets 5/5
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