Comic Reviews for 3/28

It was a good week for comics.  Avengers vs X-Men has started.  The Flash has come back to it's former greatness, while Aquaman went down a little bit.  Overall though, it was a great week.  There were many strong books, and even the weaker books had something strong about them.  The review for Avengers vs X-Men #1 is up on a different page.  Click here to read that.  Let's get started with this week's reviews!

Dark Horse Comics

Angel & Faith #8:  As someone from Boston, I love this issue. But it's a great issue overall as well.

Christos Gage has had a very tight hold on these characters during his run on this issue.  I can hear the actors speaking the lines in my head when reading them.  Much like Matt Fraction with Tony Stark, Gage is great at tearing down Faith in a personal manner.  Having her father arrive was a stroke of genius oh his part.  Angel takes a little of a backseat this issue, but it helps the story overall.  Gage, from Massachusetts, writes a Boston accent perfectly.  It doesn't come across as hokey or in a joke manner, but normal.  He makes a few Boston references and uses some vernacular, and it's used perfectly.  What Gage really does great in this issue is show why Angel and Faith are perfect together.  It's great to read as a long time fan of the Buffy and Angel shows, it's good to see Gage developing these characters in a logical way.

Rebekah Issacs pencils are perfect for the series as usual.  Characters look exactly like their actor counterparts, and expressive like the actors.  Action scenes flow well, although I noticed that Issacs didn't use as many backgrounds as usual.  Nothing to complain about, but something I noticed.  Good job of Gage and Issacs being on the same page with the Boston people.  Having them wear Bruins jerseys is nice.

Angel & Faith #8 gets 4.5/5.

Avengers vs X-Men #1 Review

Marvel Comics

Another Marvel event has started.  Almost a year to the day ago, Fear Itself started and took over the Marvel universe.  Avengers vs X-Men starts just as strong as the last event, maybe even stronger.  Avengers vs X-Men #1 is out on 4/4/12.

The Walking Dead Season 2

AMC

Now that enough time has passed since the season finale, it's time to talk about the show without (as much) worrying about spoiling people.  But still, *HUGE SPOILER WARNING FOR SEASON 2*

Comic Reviews for 3/21

Huge week.  Easily describes my pull list.  I liked this week, even though there were some mediocre books.  Hoping to get through with Marvel 1602 so that I can read the fifth hardcover of The Walking Dead.  Maybe even read the first trade of Invincible.  Anyways, let's get started.

Dynamite Comics

Army of Darkness #2:  The first issue of this new ongoing was flat out terrible.  #2 starts to improve, but not by that much.

Elliott R. Serrano's script is a lot better this time around.  The jokes land more, and we focus more on the Ash we care about.  He fills it with plenty of moments of Ash being a total badass.  If I'm reading dialogue and hearing Bruce Campbell's voice in my head, then he's doing his job right.  And a good amount of the time that happened.  But then he goes down to Mexico and the plot goes south as well.  It's not interesting or compelling at all.  It relates to nothing else about the story.  We see the other Ash quickly, which reminds me of the crap of an issue last month.  If this issue has shown us anything, it means the more that Serrano focuses on Ash Williams, the book ends up being better for it.  I was prepared to not want to pick up the next issue of this series if the book focused on the other characters, but it looks like I'll be back for #3. 

Marat Mychaels art is still absolute shit.  Character's don't look the same from panel to panel.  While Bruce Campbell's chin is present in this comic, it changes sizes drastically.  I'm a long time comic reader, and I know women are shown to be idealistic to guys, but these women shouldn't be able to stand.  Their bodies shouldn't work within the laws of physics.  During the action scenes on Route 66, he uses a blending technique to convey speed way to often.  Every once and a while is fine, but it looks like he spilled water on the page and is trying to clean up.

Army of Darkness #2 gets 2.5/5.

Comic Reviews 3/14

I'm not sure if you might have heard, but this awesome comic called Saga came out this week.  It was a the highlight of the week by far.  The rest of the week was good, with a couple of mediocre releases.

Red 5 Comics

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #1:  After taking months to catch up, I'm ready to read the series while it comes out.  Hooray!

Brian Clevinger writes the five short stories, and all of them will be good for fans of Atomic Robo.  They are evenly spread out, with none of them over staying their welcome.  As you might guess, the Dr. Dinosaur short is easily the funniest.  Spam as a way of attacking Robo? Genius. But the stories aren't integral to reading the next volume or rediscovering some personal detail of Robo.  It's more there for fans who can't wait for the next volume of Atomic Robo.  Since I'm one of those persons, I loved them.  As usual, Clevinger makes Robo very interesting a relatable, giving a lot of emotion in the few lines that Robo gets throughout this anthology.

The art isn't as on par as the other volumes, but it's serviceable.  A few of the artists change the way Robo looks to a degree, which isn't good.  But they work.  The "To Kill a Sparrow" short story looks the most like the ongoing, with Ryan Cody providing the art there.  Yuko Oda brings "Revenge of Dr. Dinosaur" the comedic timing needed for such a funny character.  In "Rocket Science is a Two-Edged Sword," I really like the choice of black and white.  Not a lot of comics can pull this off, but it works in this story.

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures #1 gets 4/5

The Walking Dead "Better Angels" Recap/Review

"Better Angels" sticker from GetGlue (From AMC)

* SPOILER WARNING *

Ah, the burial of Piggy (yep, I'm not done with that reference yet).  Do the survivors now get rescued by their parents and scolded for being stupid occasionally?

I might not like Andrea, but awesome kill with the pitchfork.

Rick immediately puts T-Dog on perimeter watch.  It's like the writers like finding fun ways for him to not be in scenes.  "Do you want me to babysit Shane?" says Andrea. Yes, because he is an infant who can't take care of himself.  How hard was that to understand.  And yes we will leave money for pizza.

DEAR LORD stop shoving the "Carl killing Shane soon" angle down our throats.  It's getting to an almost comical point.

Cullen Bunn talks Sixth Gun, Wolverine, and Kitty Pride kicking ass

Wolverine #304, the first issue in Cullen Bunn's run

Whenever a new writer comes to Wolverine, it begs the attention of Marvel readers.  Cullen Bunn starts his run on #304, and recently sat down to talk about his run, and his creator owned book, The Sixth Gun.

So you have quickly become one of Marvel's go to guys.  How's it feel to go from indie writer to writer of a big Marvel book like Wolverine? 


Cullen Bunn: It's been a year since I signed my exclusive with Marvel, and it still feels pretty surreal. These are characters I grew up with... characters I really love... and I want to make sure I "do right" by the creators who have worked on the titles before, the characters themselves, and the fans. Writing Marvel books and creator-owned books is really the best of both worlds.

With someone like Wolverine, who numerous have had a great run on, how hard is to look at the character and find a new angle that entices reader?  Or make an old angle shine in a new way? 


Cullen Bunn: That's always a concern, but if I obsess too much over it, I'll never actually get anything written. In the end, I have to trust that no one else is really going to tell a story in the same way as me. So, my Wolverine will be different than those that came before and those that will come after. At the same time, I try to honor the character's past and introduce some new concepts of my own.