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:
Ei8ht #1 – A+
The past is green, the present is purple, the future is blue, and Ei8ht is something amazing entirely. Rafael Albuquerque’s new series is already shaping up to be an outstanding sci-fi series. The series begins with Joshua, a time traveler with virtually no memory, fiddling around with what appears to be a smart-watch that’s advanced a few generations. The story then rapidly accelerates as Joshua encounters what appears to be a rag-tag group with a pet dinosaur (seriously one of my dreams). From there it’s all a blur of amazing colors, coordinated to the time that each scene occurs in, and stunning artwork. My only qualms with this issue are that I can’t read onto the next issue yet! This is one of those series I almost wish I had waited to read until the whole series was done. The story is gripping from the get-go and was one of my favorite opening issues in quite some time. It’s a must read and I am excited to continue on through time and meld. – Jake
Other Reviews:
DC/Vertigo Comics:
Batman and Robin #39 – A-
Damian is swinging with the big leagues now, and it’s kind of incredible. Batman has banished Damian to the kiddie table for years, and now that he has superpowers, Bruce has let his son join the grown-ups. Well, relatively speaking anyway. Watching Damian humor Shazam is one of the better interactions I’ve seen between the various heroes. All in all, this is moving in a solid direction, and there are so many pop culture references in this issue I couldn’t help but giggle at all of them, but I can’t help but feel that Gleason and Tomasi may have missed an opportunity for more personal reflection. – Sherif
Justice League #39 – B–
(B) Lex Luthor saved the day! Thanks Lex! Wait… wasn’t the reason the day needed to be saved due to evil science experiments gone wrong as conducted by Lex? THANKS Lex… It looks like the Amazo Virus crisis is over (at least for the time being). It was a pretty good arc, but by the end of it all it seemed like a big set up for crazier events to come at some undisclosed time in the future. Namely, there’s a brand new bad guy on the scene that is sure to give The League trouble if… oh who are we kidding… WHEN he escapes. In the meantime it looks like a new arc in store for the coming months. Hopefully we get more of the Bruce Wayne – Lex Luthor dynamic that’s been absent for some time now. There have been a few subtle (yet pivotal) occurrences in the last few issues that hint a potentially devious scheming by Lex. I’m looking forward to the next challenge for The League. – Taylor
(C+) The end of the Amazo Virus arc was really quite… meh. It ended. We were reintroduced to a couple of characters and there was a lingering feeling for what is to come in Darkseid Wars, but I can’t help but feel like the ending of this was anti-climactic. I have been sorely missing Hal Jordan, and the thought that Geoff Johns will be reunited with the Emerald Knight before Convergence makes me even happier. This book is never bad, but this issue just wasn’t good, either. – Sherif
Batgirl #39 – C+
This series has really fallen off the wagon since Gail Simone left and I don’t know how. I loved the new look, I loved the new art style, and I thought the change of scenery (like the same way Dick Grayson took over Blüdhaven) was a good move, story-wise – so how does all these good attributes end up making for a crappy story, and how do we get better? By having Barbara turn into kind of a raging bitch, the writers dug just a big enough hole for her to be able to dig out of. As we turn the corner on the first arc, it’s already getting better; I’m just not sure it needed to happen in the first place. – Sherif
Multiversity: Mastermen #1 – C-
Not even Jim Lee’s rendition of Hitler taking an angry shit could make this issue live up to its potential. The premise of the book is simple: Kal-el lands in Nazi Germany instead of Kansas. It’s a similar concept to Red Son (where he lands in Soviet Russia), but there’s not really any substance behind it. For the first time EVER, I’m disappointed in Lee’s art, which seems to have been half-assed. I’m also very disappointed by league code names like: Leatherwing, Underwaterman, and Overgirl/Overman. That being said, there are still plenty of Easter Eggs to find and full-page spreads to enjoy, but as meticulous as Jim Lee is, you can tell this particular issue was rushed. – Sherif
The Kitchen #4 – D+
Image Comics:
Deadly Class #11 – A
The rush I got when I read this issue of Deadly Class was something similar to that of playing out the last scene in a video game where everything is a giant fire fight. I can’t remember the last time I got such an adrenaline rush from reading a comic book. The art was great, the colors were even better, and the best part is: the story is not even over! The team seems to have stumbled from one obstacle to the next, and I’m even more excited for the next issue. My brain is still racing from the insanity that just unfolded. – Sherif
Bitch Planet # 3 – A
Every fat-shaming idiot needs to read this. The sheer empowerment of this issue made me pump my fist into the air and grin. I’m a huge sucker for origin stories and this one had me excited all the way through. Penny is such a badass! She’s the perfect role model for girls who weigh more than society forces us to think is ideal. Penny doesn’t let anyone tell her she’s broken. She’s confident, proud, and will not stand down to the patriarchy. The last scene, where everyone is shown how she sees her perfect self and nothing is different, is so empowering and brilliantly written, it gave me chills. Penny is my new favorite Bitch Planet character. – Charlotte
Secret Identities #1 – C
Wow, that was a lot. Secret Identities #1 was a doozy. I’m still attempting to wrap my head around all of the material presented in the opening issue of Secret Identities. I’m not sure if it’s the measly three hours of sleep I got last night or if there was really just too much going on in this issue. We are very briefly introduced to each character of the Front Line, given a small bit of backstory for each character, shown an enormous battle that almost consumed our new team of heroes already, and were even exposed to the plot of our teams’ nemesis who also happens to have just been accepted into the team of heroes. I know! Sometimes you have to ease into these things! The Front Line does appear to have a lot to offer, it’ll just take some time and a few read-throughs to get fully engulfed in this series. To end on an entertaining high note…the first baddie we get the opportunity to meet was strikingly similar to Leonard Powers of Ugly Americans. I miss that show every day so I’m crossing my fingers for more characters similar to the ones from that show. – Jake
Thrilling Adventure Hour Presents: Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars #1 – C
Disclaimer: I’ve never listened to the audio broadcast show by which this comic is derived. I know there are some hardcore fans out there, but sadly I’ve not yet enjoyed the show for myself. I’m almost positive that a fan and listener of the Thrilling Adventure Hour would enjoy this comic more than I did. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the comic. Rather, it just comes across as very mediocre and a bit childish. It’s about space cowboys and there’s aliens and robots. It’s cool, but very generic and simple. In a somewhat ironic fashion, I actually imagined the comic as a radio show as I read and ended up thinking to myself, “Yeah – that would be pretty entertaining in audio format!” But in the medium of comic book, I don’t think this was as successful… as my 100% imagined reenactment of what a radio show of these events might be like… You get what I’m trying to say. – Taylor
Marvel/Icon Comics:
Legendary Star-Lord #9 – B+
Things are kicking into high gear here in this issue of Star-Lord – and the continuation of The Black Vortex. We have seen a member of each team succumb to the Black Vortex and welcome its powers, but it definitely seems to have made them a bit more evil as well. The story for Black Vortex in general isn’t the best or most original idea of a powerful evil force, but with this issue and Sam Humpries’ writing, we get some twists and great interactions that add enough originality to the story it makes up for any doubt I had in the story so far. The team of Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco and David Curiel bring us wonderful art in this issue that really makes you feel the vastness of space as well as the situation at hand and also making it seem like the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy are just a natural fit together. – Jacob
Magneto #12 – B+
Um… can we talk about that last scene, please? Judging by the way it was skimmed over so casually in the comic book, I just would like to point out that Magneto has murdered one of Marvel’s most distinguished bad guys. Holy crap. Well this issue turned things on their head after an elaborate plan was executed. This new Magneto is not a nice guy, but his strategic mindset is frighteningly acute. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Magneto completely embarrass S.H.I.E.L.D., and fortunately, I don’t believe that to be the last time. – Sherif
Silk #1 – B+
(A-) Honestly, I didn’t keep up with the Spider-Verse stuff. But all the promotional stuff for Silk got to me. And yeah, it’s mostly because the idea of a lady Spider-Man who isn’t Spider-Woman interests me quite a bit. I was not displeased with the product either! Cindy Moon aka Silk is charismatic. She has a few problems, including the loss of her family, awkward roommates, keeping her job, faulty Silk-sense, and Black Cat. Yet with all this, the book didn’t feel overly crammed with story. The dialogue throughout was witty, and in classic Spider-Man form. The art is what really got me. I am absolutely in love with Stacie Lee’s pencil work. I can’t wait to see what this book has in store for us! – Adrian
(B) Aw yeah!! Cindy Moon snagged her own title series at the end of The Spider-Verse event. Good call Marvel. There was so much left to learn and discover about Cindy and her superhero identity, Silk, at the end of Spider-Verse that it only made sense to dedicate a story to her. She’s charismatic, funny, sexy, driven, and dynamic. Add to that, she’s got several hurdles to overcome as she learns to adjust to life outside of a completely isolated and multiverse-blocking bunker. She’s figuring how to normally interact with people, juggle a job, deal with roommate issues, figure out what Twitter is, oh.. and how to be a superhero and all that jazz. She’s also searching for her wayward family that she’s been out of contact with for almost 10 years. This will be a story about Silk coming into her own and it’s sure to be an awesome, web-slinging adventure. – Taylor
Rocket Raccoon #8 – C+
In the second part of this two-part story, “The Cold,” we see Rocket continuing his journey with Jink the native to find an egg that will help heal Groot from dying. Obviously, this journey will prove to be difficult especially when they see the size of the beast they have to steal the egg from. Skottie Young is still on writing duties for this issue and although ultimately the story was good I felt this would have been much better as a three-part story – this issue felt very rushed and had large jumps in time where we are to assume nothing happened but it would have rounded out the story better to add a little more in to have a little more excitement and maybe a better battle with the monster. – Jacob
Loki: Agent of Asgard #11 – C
This issue really doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. That’s the problem I have with a lot of the issues in this series. There’s so much exposition it gets repetitive. Yeah, we get it. Loki did a lot of bad shit. He’s not the holiest of dudes and he’s trying to repent, but that song and dance has been done before. We really don’t need another brooding, angst ridden, “I must right my wrongs because redemption is my only hope!” story. We got that with Angel, but with much better writing and more complexity. I’m bored reading Loki, which stinks because I really liked the character before this arc. That leads me to King Loki, who I find really annoying. Facing one’s future self is cool and all, but it’s just not done well here. King Loki’s dialogue is really all over the place. First it’s “I am holier than thou!” and then it’s “Chicks, man. Am I right?” Some sort of consistency and taking the melodrama down a notch would be nice. – Charlotte
Wolverines #7- D+
I thoroughly enjoyed last week’s Wolverines, but it seems the bit of good story-telling there maybe took some heavy hallucinogenic drug and we got this week’s issue… Mystique is now the leader of the team, a relationship sparks between two characters, and the last two pages have me scratching my head raw wondering what exactly is happening. This may be because every issue has a different team of writers and artists, and on top of the confusion of the story, we also never really see characters look the same other than major features. If each one of these creative teams got to helm this whole series I am sure it would be more enjoyable, but the drastic change of style and quality each week makes this series one you shouldn’t be too upset about missing. – Jacob
Funniest Panel:
Panel with the Most Awesomeness:
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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