Review Scale:
The mythical A+: Classic comic book material. Belongs next to your copy of The Notebook and The Joy of Cooking.
A: Would definitely recommend to all comic book readers. Even more so to fans of the genre or characters
B: Enjoyable read. Fans of the genre or characters will especially like.
C: Non-essential read. Can be enjoyable for fans of the genre or characters, but likely for only one or two events in the books.
D: Unenjoyable book. Read at your own risk. Might find satisfaction if major flaws are overlooked.
F: Please don’t buy this book. Donate your money to a local comic book writer’s workshop instead to inspire future generations to write something better than this trash.
Pick of the Week:
Howard the Duck #1 – A
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Joe Quinones
Like always, Howard the Duck ends up being my favorite comic of the week and so much of this is due to my past love of the character, but much of my love for this new and the pre-Secret Wars series are due to Chip Zdarsky’s fantastic writing! It is such a great mix of classic and modern Howard that it melds together better than peanut butter and jelly. This story seems to take place not that far after the events before Secret Wars, but Howard is still depressed and feeling out of place. Despite having his new Skrull friend Tara Tam and Aunt May starting work at his office, Howard still wants to get home to Duckworld, despite hating it there. So Howard and Tara take a trip to ease his stress, only to find out that is was a ruse from Howard to try and find a portal into the nexus of all realties, with help from his old friend Man-Thing. But Man-Thing is busy with the Howling Commandos of Shield, so Howard is left with a couple villains trying to use the portal and ends up in yet another stressful interaction for our duck detective. Also, Gwenpool WTF?!?! – Jacob
Second Opinion (A): Anyone else feel a little uncomfortable with how hot septuagenarian Aunt May is? It’s making me question myself. Seriously though, I really love this duck. – Montgomery
Other Reviews:
BOOM! Studios:
Klaus #1 – A
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Dan Mora
It’s really hard to not give a Morrison comic an A+ on merit alone. But this book exemplifies why I hate the most commercial aspects of Christmas: the tradition handed down to us from, literally, Woolworth’s is garbage. All the stories are insipid, and the lesson of all of them is that desire is the kindling of magic. This Klaus, however, is awesome in a way our chubby fat guy in a red suit never is. Klaus is a wanderer outside of some place very Germanic and very frozen. He wanders into the wrong town (which used to be the right town) and is kicked out and nearly hunted. The town is run by a despotic and despondent family who, because of desire, have lost all sense of life. There isn’t much exploration of Klaus as a character in this first issue, but an image painted of what kind of world needs a Santa in the first place. This Santa’s pretty metal, and a little psychedelic. – Montgomery
Second Opinion (B): I’ll tread carefully for fear of coal in my stocking, but the book needs to do a better job of merging silly tone with extra-violent theme to really get on my Nice list. The art, though, is freaking incredible. – Sherif
DC/Vertigo Comics:
Justice League Darkseid Wars – Flash #1 – D
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Jesus Merino
Man, DC Comics is feeling like a lame college party trying to compete with a new fraternity rush. They are completely being outdone by Marvel in every way. Even the Darkseid Wars, which is one of DC’s strongest arcs right now, is being watered down by the multiple spin-off titles. Batman’s spotlight last week wasn’t bad, but this one was just awful. Barry’s obsession with saving everyone has forced him into a stand-off with Death. Sloppy art and a few “profound” moments later, and you’ve successfully wasted $4. – Sherif
Justice League Darkseid Wars – Superman #1 – F-
Writer: Francis Manapul
Artist: Bong Dazo
I wish I could truly tell the world how much I hate this issue. We get it – dickhead Superman is not relatable. He’s also a douchebag who yells at the waiter for not getting his apple pie in 3 panels. It’s basically a superlative for every stereotype we’ve ever thrown at DC for the Man of Steel. Super seriously, it’s something not even Mad magazine would wipe their ass with. You should be fucking ashamed of yourself, DC. – Sherif
Dynamite Entertainment:
James Bond #1 – B-
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jason Masters
This was a pretty quick read because there were no words for the first seven pages. Which is a little odd. However, I just finished watching Spectre, and this was a decent read in comparison. I like a story where drugs are considered bad, and this let’s us know from the get-go that we dealing with some bad people. It’s hard to tell how well this story will unfold, but for now, it was a decent first issue. – Adrian
Second Opinion (C+): I liked this iteration of James Bond. I especially like the parts with no words and lots of killing. – Sherif
IDW Publishing:
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #46 – B+
Writer: James Roberts
Artist: Alex Milne
When I saw Grimlock on the cover, I peed a little. TF:MTMTE has excelled at playing its cards close to its chest, and playing a long game. I think it’s been at least two years since we last saw Grim. Fort Max is sailing the universe rounding up former Decepticon fugitives guilty of selling Cybertronian technology. He runs across The Scavengers, a team of well meaning and mostly harmless Decepticons, who have been unknowingly been involved in a sort of robot trafficking scam. They’ve also been taking care of Grimlock who, the last time we saw him, was wondering aimlessly with seemingly no thoughts in his head. The story isn’t particularly ground breaking, and his return isn’t quite a world breaking fireworks show (nor is it a full return yet, from what we can see), but the whole comic was a sweet character study of some pretty minor characters. – Montgomery
Image Comics:
Monstress #1 – A
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Damn. One amazing start to a new story. This creative team is a force not to be reckoned with. To be honest this was the first time I’ve heard of Liu, but after looking her up she has quite the resume on her. She’s worked on Astonishing X-Men and Black Widow. At the end of the comic Liu says she got the inspiration for this comic from this stories her grandparents told about horrors they experienced during World War II. She wanted to write a story about survival, racial hatred, and the concept of fighting something monstrous. I really loved the fact that this was 75 pages instead of the usual 15-25. I don’t think I could have handled this same story taking three week to get to. Maika the main character of the story and are is too good for that. Yes, let me wax poetic about the art. It is come of the most beautiful and intricate stuff I have seen in a long time. I found myself getting lost/wondering in the panels longer than I do with most comic books. It really begs you to sit with it longer. The narrative also treats you like you’re part of the world and doesn’t give you any heavy exposition. You’re exploring the world as the characters move though the plot. Creep factor that still makes me squirm: the witches of this series literally cut the Arcaics into chucks and eat them in order to absorb their power. So very gross, but also interesting in terms of creating a certain type of magical system. I highly recommended that people read this story. I don’t think many will be disappointed in what is all trying to be accomplished here. – Jené
Elephantmen #67 – A-
Writer: Richard Starkings
Artist: Axel Medellin
For Walking Dead fans, I compare this issue a lot to this last week’s episode with Morgan and his Yoda-esque idol Eastman; I am left wondering much like with Glenn, and similarly, I am wondering what happened to Ebony in Elephantmen. This issue, although just as action-packed, gives us little hope for Ebony and even makes us even more terrified of his outcome in seeing one of those damn alligators dragging him and biting his leg before going back to the action with the main crew for this story. Despite the action continuing and all the Elephantmen and their friends being in terrible danger at the start of this issue, we get to see a great flashback with Trench and how he actually saved Agathe years back, which must be pretty damning realizing how many Elephantmen he killed after that day. We leave this issue with just as much anticipation as the last ,wanting to know more now and making sure our heroes are fine… At least in the month until we find out what happens next we will likely find out about Glenn on The Walking Dead. – Jacob
Axcend #2 – B
Writer: Shane Davis
Artist: Michelle Delecki
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
In the last issue the in game betas started to show up in real life, which also includes the special in game powers. At the start of this issue we are introduced to the real life persona of Rayne. In this case she is a famous pop-singer gamer also called Rain. Rain is that pop star that tabloids love. She’s big on sex, drugs, and drinking. She’s also a world class gamer. She pulls Dog out of the game and they track down Morn and now they are teaming up to stop Ruin before he gets his beta. Ruin is sort of an unstoppable killing machine so it would be in everyone’s best interest if he was stopped. Maybe next issue. – Scott
Paper Girls #2 – B
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Cliff Chiang
I like how little dialogue there is in this book. The art and colors are still really mesmerizing to me, which helps me read it quickly. I have more questions than answers this time. Is it demons? Time-travelers? Aliens? The Japanese? I don’t know, but I look forward to finding out. Also, I hope the cool girl isn’t really dead. – Adrian
Second Opinion (C): Just because no Remender book can be normal reading, Paper Girls gets way to convoluted way too quickly. Hopefully Remender can help guide readers to the actual story sooner than later. – Sherif
Nailbiter #17 – C
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Mike Henderson
That was disappointing. I still love this series, but what a bunch of filler. There was nothing that was memorable. The most important players in this issue have had little to no time in the series before, so any revelations that were to be had seemed minuscule to the audience. Better luck next time, I suppose. – Adrian
Second Opinion (B-): Don’t get me wrong, I still very much enjoy Nailbiter but at this point it feels like they are building up so much intrigue, and so much mystery that there is no way the actual climax will live up to its own hype. I’m really into the new story lines outside of Buckaroo at this point, but I can’t shake the feeling that even after all these issues we all haven’t accomplished much. – Keriann
We Stand on Guard #5 – C
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Steve Skroce
Call me bitter, but I got really bummed when I found out this would be a six-part mini-series instead of an on-going tale. All the momentum and excitement I felt I’d have for years is now going to be boiled down into one final issue, and for that to be the case, I was largely underwhelmed. Turns out that Amber’s brother is still alive, in some weird prison with Chief McFadden. There are some interesting moving parts in the story, but it doesn’t feel much like a climax is building. Vaughan is now killing characters at will now to help wrap things up. I’m just really disappointed – for a minute there, I almost really liked Canadians. – Sherif
Marvel/Icon Comics:
Invincible Iron Man #3 – A
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Marquez
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
I love everything about this book. I’m ready to let go of all inhibitions and just be an Iron Man fan. Bendis has made this book hilarious but action-packed, the tech upgrades are subtle yet impressive, and the art, holy cow, the art is spectacular. This is by far my favorite book of the All-New All-Different launch, and mostly because it keeps me dying of laughter while actually having a story to tell. Some books fail by being so funny they don’t think there needs to be a story, or taking themselves so seriously that they have been pigeon-holed into not being relatable. This is a complete 180 from the a-hole Tony Stark in Superior Iron Man, and I am loving it. – Sherif
Second Opinion (B+): The art is still off the wall. The “rude” retorts are hilarious. And it is good to note to say “Hail Hydra” to anyone if you want to date them, just to make sure. You never know. – Adrian
Star Wars #11 – A
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
The was full of actiony goodness. There was excellent pacing between the three story lines happening at once. It didn’t feel clunky going from storyline to storyline. Watching Chewbacca fight Dengar was pretty sweet. I like these look-ins on these lesser known characters. Luke is busy fighting a giant beast that regularly eats lava monsters, so that’s no good. We finally got the story on the whole Mrs. Solo thing, to so surprise it was a way to con someone. My favorite bit came at the end though when we got Han being Han. – Scott
Doctor Strange #2 – B+
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Chris Bachalo
There seems to be a pattern with these new Marvel books of using a two issue arc to tease at a larger narrative. It’s not bad, but it makes the introduction to these “new” (new like the 60s) worlds seem a little shallow. The librarian with the maggot cursed brain continues receiving help from Strange (spoiler: she gets better). Strange’s magic goes wonky. In a serious missed opportunity, she wanders into a room in Strange’s house that leads to a wasteland paved in bones roamed by the walking dead. I want to go into THAT world! I think the problem with this story and the Vision story is half the world is populated by characters we don’t really have much reason to care about (the librarian isn’t a very gripping character, especially given who Strange drinks with) and making them the focus. Whatever. I’m old and nearly dead. These are comics for Dora-the-Explorer hologram children. I can read it or lie in the street and wait for nature to reclaim my corpse. Note: not actually nearly dead. – Montgomery.
Extraordinary X-Men #1 – B+
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
What Jeff Lemire does best is taking something that’s been convoluted and over-complicated, and making it feel organic; he did it with Green Arrow, and Justice League Dark, and here again with Extraordinary X-Men. There are some gaps in time that beg some explaining to new readers, but it’s a wonderful transition from the last All-New X-Men canon. Not only is Old Man Logan joining the fold, but Illyana (one of my favorite X-Men who never gets any shine) and Piotr are back. The mutant “situation” is worse than ever, with mutants being hunted down like animals, and the Terrigen Mists eliminating the possibility of new mutants sprouting up. It’s X-Men at its roots, something that I am completely behind. – Sherif
Deadpool #1 – B+
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Hawthorne, Terry Pallot, Val Staples
This issue starts off in a grand Deadpool fashion with craziness abound. Just like most post-Secret Wars titles, there isn’t much explanation offered as to how things got to where they are. Despite being all over the place, and having TONS of Deadpools, it was very well done, and even ties into the Uncanny Avengers title a little bit, which will help explain how Deadpool is an Avenger now and why and how he is helping fund the Avengers. Gerry Duggan comes back as writer in a grand Deadpool fashion: plenty of laughs, confusion, and bloody action. It also has plenty of nods to Deadpool’s pre-Secret Wars life with glimpses of Shikla, Adsit, and Preston, but not enough to know how they are or why Adsit has a huge beard. Mike Hawthorne’s pencils and Terry Pallot’s inks are fantastic for this issue and give me lot of hope for Deadpool art in the coming future, and Val Staples colors complete the trifecta of art into near Perfect Deadpool fashion. – Jacob
Drax #1 – B-
Writer: CM Punk, Cullen Bunn
Artist: Scott Hepburn, Matt Milla
Drax finally has his own modern series where we see his adventures outside the Guardians, but it proves to be a little lackluster when compared to Rocket and Groot’s solo adventures. I am sure in time this story will flourish and my negativity may just come from the fact I enjoyed/ am enjoying Rocket and Groot’s solo adventures (even if the other is in each others stories). This story worried me from the start though because the modern take on Drax has a very dry sense of humor to it while also having the potential to be extremely violent, very much on the same side as Deadpool, but at least Deadpool knows he is and tries to be funny where Drax is funny by just being dead serious. I do have to say CM Punk (with Cullen Bunn) had a great story here for his debut with his full series for Marvel and can only see him improving which gives me a lot of hope for the future of the series. Scott Hepburn and Matt Milla’s art is a spectacular mix of near surrealism and realism mixed into comic book fashion. Definitely a style I am totally down with. – Jacob
Nova #1 – C+
Writer: Sean Ryan
Arist: Cory Smith
Ugh. I hate kid heroes. “How’m I going to balance school work and killing giant lizards? What if Lizzie won’t go to the prom with me? Oh no! All my acne ruptured inside this helmet!” Dumb. What’s with all these “stay in school kids!” messages in all the Marvel books I’ve read this week? This book wasn’t terrible, but I feel like it’s a waste of time to pick up a book about one of Marvel’s cosmic heroes and have half the book be about seeing a movie with your buds and passing an English test. I mean, seriously, I’ve got another five paragraphs in me about this topic. It’s the same reason I hated Sesame Street as a kid: if I wanted to see regular sauce humans stumbling around being horrible and stupid, I’d just pay attention to the noxious swarm buzzing around me 24/7. When I pick up a book called NOVA about space cops, I expect to see some space action, not literally rescuing cats from burning houses. Spider-Man can handle that. I mean, also regular people can handle that. Like I said, the comic isn’t horrible, but if I don’t get equal parts space adventure in my space comic, I couldn’t care less about a hero’s personal life. – Montgomery
Vision #1 – C
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Vision is one of those characters whom I really love and identify with, but for whom finding a good story seems impossible. Since the new Marvel turned things around with Doc Strange, I had hopes for Vision. But I was kind of let down. The premise is that the Vision has made a family for himself and wants to live as normal a life as the thinking feeling son of Ultron can (so, that’s the origin we’re sticking with?). He has a wife, a son, and a daughter. The book has a cool premise, but it spends so much time trying to be literary in that way that screams “THIS IS WHAT SITCOMS THINKS WRITERS DO” that nothing really seems to happen. I mean, it wasn’t terrible, but, look: Because, yeah: nothing screams well adjusted like high schoolers. Maybe the point is that Vision isn’t as intelligent as he thinks he is, but things like this smack more of lazy writing, or perhaps some kind “let’s get the kids reading the comic books” PR initiative, than something the Vision might actually do. I feel 100% convinced that someone as smart as him would watch TV for 15 minutes and, correctly, conclude, “Oh, for sure, school is the last place I want to to send a person I have any hope of being balanced. And then they all get murdered. But probably not. – Montgomery
Funniest Panels:
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Panels with the Most Awesomeness:
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That about wraps it up for our reviews this week! Look for next week’s previews coming soon. Any comic books you didn’t see reviewed that you want reviewed? Any grades you didn’t agree on? Let us know in the comments!
All images taken from ComiXology app and the credit for them goes to the respective publishers; thanks to all the publishers for putting out great books.
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