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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 18, 2010 14:05:58 GMT
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Post by blueshift on Jan 18, 2010 15:42:12 GMT
I cant say either of those are a big surprise to be honest.
Doctor Voodoo? Really?
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 18, 2010 19:19:41 GMT
Not surprised to see them go, but surprised to see them go so quickly. They didn't even get a full half year!
Doctor Voodoo was a surprisngly decent comic.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 18, 2010 19:30:05 GMT
It is rather quick, but both strike me as should have been limited series from the word go.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 18, 2010 19:34:09 GMT
Yeah, they were always going to be a hard sell.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 20, 2010 7:37:24 GMT
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 23, 2010 14:03:43 GMT
Yep, it was a bit of a head scratcher that they brought it out in the first place. Still I've enjoyed it and will double dip on the trade.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 23, 2010 23:10:20 GMT
I gave it two issues. It was shit.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Jan 23, 2010 23:26:14 GMT
I gave it two issues. It was shit. -Ralph I read your issues and in honesty it didn't work for me. I could see what they were going for, but it seemed both a bit flat and somewhat strained. Fortunately my comics haul for this week has been generally good:- Seige#1 is a very daft comic in which Norman Osborn declares war on Asgard and goes off with his army to pick a fight with the Norse gods. I do like the pace at which this moves - a few pages of "we scheme and connive to create a pretext for action", and then Osborn and the comic just decide they are bored with all the mucking about and just decide to get stuck into things. It is far better than most recent large scale crossovers from either of the Big Two in terms of its pacing and in its sense of energy. A fundamentally daft idea, but carried off rather well. X-Men Forever#15 or, if you prefer, the bizarro-world version of the Storm/Black Panther romance of mainstream Marvel. Only with the evil Storm from earlier in this titles run. It's ok, nothing spectacular - evil doubles are a staple of comics after all - but competently executed, and much better than the segue into Claremont's Mind Control schtick that we have had for the last two issues. Powers(Vol 3) #2: Hmmm. I've been quite fond of Powers since Ralph first insisted I read it, but the current volume isn't really doing it for me. The more I think about it the more it feels like it is breaching its own previously established internal logic a little bit. I'm also not hugely interested in the period of history that it seems to have settled on for its flashbacks (WWII, postwar organised crime). Probably being dropped to ensure funds are available for my last few IDW Transformers comics. Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 24, 2010 11:46:10 GMT
I gave it two issues. It was shit. -Ralph On reflection, that was a bit harsh. It was competantly put together and pretty dense (I like a dense read) but it just didn't gel for me in the art or writing. Proably didn't help that I was none too found of the Death's Head design. -Ralph |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 29, 2010 20:04:49 GMT
The Order #7: The usual quality, shame it's been canned before it even had any trades. Best written Namor in quite some time. Finally tracked down the 1 copy of Dan Dare #3 in Glasgow. I am saving it for reading over supper. -Ralph Two The Order legends done on This week's Comic Book Legends Revealed |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 30, 2010 8:31:07 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 22, 2010 20:09:08 GMT
X-Force 23 lots of fighting and not much else. A bit of a let down. more of the same, waaay down on the first few issues. Couple of great one liners on the last page, one from X-23 the other from Doctor Nemesis, are the best thing about this issue. Some very poor art on the same place where Crain has seemingly failed to draw 2 faces in one panel. Well down on all fronts compared to what they were turning out earlier in the run. X-Factor: Nation X Do yourselves a favour, read this after X-Factor's The Invisible Girl has Vanished story finishes. 2 major plot points get given away. Nice to see Longshot & Dazzler together. X-Factor 201 More decent stuff, the Invisible Girl's still missing ..... |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 10, 2010 20:52:11 GMT
EX-MACHINA #48: I'd love to write something new, interesting and meaningful about this. It's Ex-Machina, you know what to expect and it's more of the same. Mitch doesn't take the death last issue well and the other Machine ups the game by causing riots.
X-Factor #202: Do we solve the mystery of the Invisible Girl ? Yes. Do we catch up continuity wise with the special I talk about in the previous post ? No.
X-FORCE #24: Finally the team gets out on their own, and without the other X-Men the level picks up. It's off the standard of the first six issues though still. Nice to see John do something other than stand at the back looking dead.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 16, 2010 10:53:47 GMT
Thor God Size 1 More Fraction Thor goodness - get the previous threee specials and Thor Secret Invasion too for more Fraction Thor - and a bonus Simonson reprint. Big issue for the cost ($4) as we all suspected he would when we read this, Age of Thunder and Secret Invasion: Thor |
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 20, 2010 17:02:27 GMT
Mmmm. Fall of the Hulks started well as a good old fashioned beat 'em-up, but has been pumping out issue after issue with virtually zero plot progession. When your story can't be done in two titles, so you invent another two titles to put it in as well and characters are still doing what they did at the very start, your story is broken. Dropped.
Alas, Doctor Voodoo is ended. Sniff.
The last two pages of Chew #9 made me laugh my arse off.
Powers dropped after late shipping once again. Lost patience.
Punisher continues to get nuttier. Frankencastle is a great Marvel comics storyline.
Still enjoying The Unwritten.
X-Factor is ok, but not exciting enough for me to keep with it. Dropped.
Tried an issue of IDW GI JOE. Generic banal tie-in shit.
Doomwar is brilliant.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Mar 25, 2010 12:03:15 GMT
X-Factor Forever #1 - thoroughly enjoyable stuff and I really like Dan Panosian's art on the series. The art on the back up story isn't as hot though.
X-Men Forever #19 - more developments with Rogue & Nightcrawlers powers and we see the Consortium arc move towards it's conclusion.
Joe The Barbarian #3 - enjoying this immensely. Cracking work from the God of All Comics and Sean Murphy.
Andy
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Post by legios on Mar 25, 2010 21:23:47 GMT
X-Men Forever#19: The plot thickens with Rogue and Nightcrawler, and Nick Fury gets to show that he's the best there is at what he does and what he does is Superspy. Quite like Claremont's take on Nick Fury here - balances the "Man from U.N.C.L.E" stuff with the grizzled war veteran nicely (too often we have to chose one or t'other). Good fun stuff with lots and lots going on. I do like my comics recompressed.
Doctor Voodoo#5: And that is my lot. A real shame because this has been a really good series - and frankly much more interesting than most Doctor Strange series have been. A title that will be missed.
Siege#3: Like most "Event" mini-series these days it has pretty much turned into a trailer reel trying to get me to buy umpteen hundred other titles. I am not planning to - it is just about readable on its own as absurd tosh. After all, it delivers the high points of the story (and the punchings of Norman Osborn) in a reasonably fast-paced style. Disposable tosh but inoffensive for what it is. (I am amused that they couldn't make Osborn last all four issues as the villian though - needing to pull a last minute fake-out to stretch the series to four issues.
Doomwar#2: A wonderfully black-hearted version of Doctor Doom continues his attempt to secure Wakanda's secret. A fantastic rendition of T'Challa as well. And all against the backdrop of an all-out (proper) civil war. Fantastic stuff. Ironic that Siege is the main event and this is going on in the periphery because this feels much more like the "A" game to me.
X-Factor Forever#1: I'll be honest, I'm not qualified to judge this comic objectively. It is Louise Simonson returning to the original X-Factor and going off in a new direction with the loose ends that were left at the end of the run. Basically it hits my nostalgia button pretty squarely. That said, I enjoyed it immensely and will definitely be back for the next issue. Wouldn't have immediately thought of Panosian to pencil it, but I think that he actually is rather a good fit.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 8, 2010 21:47:07 GMT
X-Factor #202: Do we solve the mystery of the Invisible Girl ? Yes. Do we catch up continuity wise with the special I talk about in the previous post ? No. Still no on the continuity question. This time it's some M & Guido action. Love who the Villain is revealed to be, lonmg standing Marvel villain with no X ties at all ! X-FORCE #24: Finally the team gets out on their own, and without the other X-Men the level picks up. It's off the standard of the first six issues though still. Nice to see John do something other than stand at the back looking dead. For a big climax this issue felt rather flat. Decent scene with Scott & logan at the end. Off for another big X-crossover from next issue. |
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Post by legios on May 19, 2010 22:27:19 GMT
A medium sized haul recently:-
Siege#4: Right, well, that is over then. We have now reached the last issue of a four issue mini that seemed to go into a rapid death spiral fairly early on. It doesn't feel so much like this issue is the end of a story as it is a few pages that should have been in last issue, along with a load of stuff dealing with the Sentry bolted onto the front end. Doesn't do exactly what I thought they were going to do with the Sentry but it has much the effect of what I thought they were setting up. Hopefully the last few pages of the issue represent Marvel burying the whole "Dark" era of recent stuff wholesale and moving on. We could do with this marking the end of the Second Iron Age of comics so we can get back to a more enjoyable status quo.
X-Factor Forever#3: This pretty much continues in the same vein as it set out. Feels, tonally, very much like the latter part of Louise Simonson's run on X-Factor with the Fast-Forward button taped down. Good fun if that is the sort of thing you like (and I do). It even has a letters page, which I was not expecting to see in a mini-series. The backup strip has completely lost my interest by now though so I am pretty much just pretending it isn't there.
X-Men Forever#23: Continues on its merry way. Entertainly retro-stuff hitting pretty much the formula for a solid Chris Claremont comic - a certain percentage of daft, a certain percentage of angst and a certain percentage of superbeings thumping each other senseless with their superpowers. Very much a "fast food" comic - it isn't big, it isn't clever but it is satisfyingly entertaining.
Stumptown #3: This continues to be fine, fine stuff. A comic firmly in the detective fiction genre (something Greg Rucka is very good at), with some very good artwork to back up the writing. It is doing the modern noirish gumshoe thriller with the very best of them. One of the best comics I am currently reading.
Brightest Day#0 and #1: A new ongoing "spine" mini-series for the DC Universe. They have tried this before..... hopefully this one will be better executed than 52 or Countdown. It seems that we are off to a decent start, with them taking the rather rag-bag looking lot of characters brought back to life at the end of Blackest Night and asking the question why these particular characters are alive. (Apart from the obvious fact that Geoff Johns is trying to reset DC Comics to where he was when he was younger). I'm not entirely sold on this series yet, it has moments where I really enjoy it (Sinestro and Hal Jordan verbally sniping at each other has yet to get old) and others where it just feels like it is rather self-indulgent (note to DC: stop trying to fix Hawkman's continuity, several decades of trying to fix him have left him irredeemably broken). Best (possibly not intended to be this funny) joke rolling out of Blackest Night into Brightest Day: Boston Brand - the character know as Deadman, whose superpowers basically were that he was dead and a ghost - is now alive..... Decent enough stuff in the first few issues. I will reserve judgement and see where they go with this I think.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 20, 2010 11:50:34 GMT
Been avoiding Siege. Ordered the Panini trade. All I have to do is wait for it.....
I am however now up to date with Second Coming due to my comic shop finding the early issues that I needed. Reviews to follow......
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 20, 2010 15:02:37 GMT
Here we go.....
DEADPOOL AND CABLE #25: Retitled finale for he current Cable series reuniting him with his old mucker as the story of how Cable got Hope out of the hospital in Messiah Complex is told.
UNCANNY X-MEN #523 Second Coming part 2: The X-men split up to deal with the threats involved and the truth of what Cyclops has been up to with X-Force comes out.
NEW MUTANTS #12 Second Coming part 3: Many crossovers end up ignoring the team in the title. Here the New Mutants get a distinct roll to play as they raid a Right factory. Illyana gets taken off the grid which sets up a later spin out story.
X-MEN LEGACY #235 Second Coming part 4: another teleporter gets decomissioned this issue. I had to look Ariel up to find out who she was and it turns out I had all her prior appearances sitting in my back issue box. Drawn completely differently now though !
X-FORCE #26 Second Coming part 5: The big "an X-Man dies issue". Since this is 4 weeks on you probably know who..... A stunt to underline all the unloved mutants getting it ? Maybe.
Uncanny X-Men 524 Second Coming part 6: Picking up the peices. Off go the X-Men in different directions again with retrieving Illyanna and investigating a lead the New Mutants aquired. But first we have the funeral and that's worth it for what Wolverine has to say.
New Mutants #13 Second Coming part 7: You do not Kill the Vanisher ! He's great. Filled with bullets you don't see him dead so there's hope. Bastion's sabateur gets to work.
Second coming is rollicking along nicely. It's not chase, chase, chase as I fear it might be and each title seems to be including the characters actually in it unlike some other previous crossovers....
X-FACTOR #205 Second Coming tie in - Lang sends the army to off X-Factor. Not quite up to usual standards but fun nonetheless. And they don't forget what's happening with Strong Guy and M either. Of course now second coming has reached X-Factor and the team's not yet been assembled in the configuration seen in the Nation-X special we have some problems. Interestingly Layla's code name is listed as Butterfly when she's previously been shown as one of Fury's catterpillars.
X-MEN: SECOND COMING – REVELATIONS: HELLBOUND #1 Sam puts together a team to pull Illyana out of Limbo. Naturally things don't go to plan.....
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Post by The Doctor on May 20, 2010 17:50:26 GMT
Siege had a good first issue. The other 3 issues were a sliding scale of shit. By #4 we just had random panels which formed a summary of things happening in other comics. I mean, really, that was the finale to seven years worth of a whole comics line? Bog off!
-Ralph
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Post by legios on May 21, 2010 21:48:00 GMT
Been avoiding Siege. Ordered the Panini trade. All I have to do is wait for it..... If you wish to save yourself the wait and the cost I can let you have my issues for nowt. It isn't like I'm going to read them again. Karl |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 21, 2010 22:00:18 GMT
Please !
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Post by legios on May 24, 2010 11:59:31 GMT
I shall get them parcelled up and despatched to you in the next couple of days in that case.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 24, 2010 14:59:08 GMT
Many thanks.....
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Post by The Doctor on May 24, 2010 17:39:48 GMT
The new Avengers #1 looked pretty but stopped before there was an actual story. If that had been the first half of a #1 it would have been fine.
I'll be back for #2 for no other reason than my love of Kang and the inintentionally funny prose back-up.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on May 25, 2010 20:44:01 GMT
X-Men Forever#24: A decent conclusion to the first volume of this title. A rather charmingly retro way of tying things up and restating the new status quo going into a new volume. All good clean fun.
Brightest Day#2: This by contrast doesn't entirely live up to its title. A pair of heroes vow through gritted teeth that it is time to kill their arch-nemesis, there is a brutal murder on panel and dark hints about a terrible secret behind Martain Manhunter's presence on Earth. I had hope that this sort of grimness had been lanced from the DC Universe after Blackest Night. This issue makes me less optimistic on that score. I'm prepared to give this another issue, but it teeters on the brink of being dropped.
Atlas#1: is the first issue in another series following up the characters from the Agents of Atlas miniseries, at least in theory. In practice this issue mostly focussed on the current 3D Man and the story of how he searches out the Atlas organisation in search of answers to a mystery that is plaguing him. I'm not entirely sold on this series, I quite like the fifties flashbacks but I don't find myself very invested in the 3D Man's plight. Might give this one more issue to see how it settles in with me.
Avengers#1: By contrast to Brightest Day it seems that lightness and outright levity is the order of the day for the first issue of the new Avengers title. Most of this issue seems to be taken up with the team sitting around chatting and exchanging banter as Steve Rogers, America's Super Soldier, gathers the new team and leaves it in the tender care of Iron Man and Maria Hill. The banter is quite entertaining and amusing, I will give it that. Unfortunately it is delivered at the cost of a distinct lack of actual story content. Things don't really start moving until Kang shows up to deliver a generic warning about the Avenger's children being responsible for a terrible dark future, and to try to get the team to help him avert it..... I think that there might be some potential in this title, if it can get its feet under it, pick up the pace, and maintain the lighter tone but also start delivering a solid story as well. It has done enough to earn a second issues grace from me to prove itself at least.
Given that my affection for DC's Legion of Superheroes does outweigh my feelings towards Marvel's Avengers one would have thought that I would have had a much less positive reaction towards Avengers#1 than to Legion of Superheroes#1. Sadly for the heroes of the 31st Century the exact opposite was the case. A combination of the way they have gone about “debooting†the Legion and the nature of the new status quo doesn't really work for me. I have to applaud Paul Levitz for finding the “voice†for a lot of the characters after many years away but I'm not sure that this series is going to work for me. Reseting the Legion status quo back to the end of the Magic Wars feels like an unnecessarily retrograde step, and this first issue feels burdened with baggage from the Legion's guest appearances in the Superman titles, and from Geoff Johns' Green Lantern mythos. It isn't the clean restart that it needed to be, and that Avengers#1 does so much better. Much as I have a long standing affection for the Legion, I think that #2 of this new series will need to be significantly better to keep me onboard.
Karl
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Post by blueshift on May 25, 2010 21:13:15 GMT
I had hope that this sort of grimness had been lanced from the DC Universe after Blackest Night. l I think the Titans: Villains for Hire special numbed me on that. It was GRITTY GRITTY GRIT GRIT GRRRR. Also terrible. Not only are both Osiris and the Tattooed Man both EVIL MURDERING VILLAINS now (because Deathstroke, uh, asked them to) but there is a new character who is a female who kills men by having sex with them, and her motivation is that she was abused as a child or something. And then the new Atom is brutally and horribly murdered for no real reason apart from DC to both tell us how hardcore they are, and so the ONE TRUE ATOM RAY PALMER can be front and centre of the POPULAR THE ATOM FRANCHISE. God. |
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