Weekly Reviews - 14 Mar 2012 (With Previews)

[Mad_Man_Moon]

Thief Of Thieves (Image) #2 - 3/5

Oh, ok, so the emotional beats of this issue fall flat, they're in there somewhere, but I'm not feeling them. It does move like a freight train, though, and we're exposed to a lot here, but it's done nice and simple, like. Martinbrough and Serrano are fantastic as ever. There is a cartoonish look to their work (buh, comics!) which I wish was a little sketchier, but that's only personal preference. Less sure of ToT now.

[drachenfells]

Batgirl (DC) #7 4/5

So now we know that the events of Killing Joke took place three years ago, at least acording to Batgirl. We have a lot going on in this issue, a charecter or two from Barbaras past coming back to haunt her. A new (?) villian to fight and Black Canary to put things in perspective. And the ending was rather a shocker as well.
Good comics the way they should be written. Buy it.

Buffy Seaon 9 (dark horse) #7 4/5

New living arangments for buffy as she tries to come to terms with her new status. There is much about her relationship with spike and spikes thoughts on it.
We also get a big vampire fight and a bigger revel.
Buffy seaon 9. Back to doing what Buffy does best. Dont let season 8 put you off, this is good stuff.

[GreyMouser]

Demon Knights (DC) #7- 3/5
im done, but not a bad issue overall. i dont know WTF Rich was thinking comparing this to Crossed. rediculous.
a few ad breaks early but the 15 page run of no ads was very nice. backup sampler for Saucer Country. ill re read the series so far and decide if im jumping off. Cornell really took his damn time getting to the real battle action, its a bit BS. like the art and colors. some good character development but not enough Blood/Etrigan and some characters still dont makes much sense.
seems to rely on old DCU to inform some characters. NOT a clean slate (joe)


Crossed: Badlands (Avatar) #1 - 4/5
Ennis is back in rare dolphin fucking form. Burrows is at the top of his game. the future is bright at Avatar, now that they have a plan to maintain ongoing titles! Great Wrap cover from Jacen Burrows, gives a new batch of creeps.


the Strain (DH) #4 - 2.5/5
Fairly good, lackluster to start but picks up nicely. enjoying the adaptation but not overly impressed with the art. very much liked the cover. $3.50 for 22 pages is a little behind the ratio for me.

*Update:the Wife has DROPPED this from our list!*


Lobster Johnson: the Burning Hand (DH) #3 - 4/5
the Mignolaverse continues to bring another quality side-verse mini. killer intrigue that i can only HOPE will bring details from the past that will infom the modern BPRD stories. great use of the old Black Flame and LJ's old crew, none are just set dressing. Tonjic's art REALLY impresses and transports me back to a feeling of old time comics, in and out of the book. Great cover with a nice deco/retro feel. well placed sets of 6-7 pages at a time to minimize ad breaks. again $3.50 for 22pgs.


Fantastic Four (Marvel) #604 - 4.5/5
Continuing to be and explode into the awesomeness that is Hickman's F4/FF EPIC! Amazing shit, and the run is not even over! Hickman is still on for a bit longer. lost a bit for the BS $4 price jump for only 3 pages! & the ads are a bit BS in placement and quantity. but in the end, its an awesome culmination of one of the best stories to develop in the past 3 years at marvel.

prize quote: "Reality Distortion/ UNIVERSAL SHAPER/ GALACTIC CONSTANT...."


X-23 (Marvel) #21 (finale) - 4.75/5
wonderful cover reminding us of her roots and her father's past, by Kalman. Beautiful work by Phil Noto and Marjorie Liu. all silent, we are taken though a wonderful storyline in which laura follows the same wolves we have seen before. I would love to find out down the road that the Shaman is the great grandfather of the tribes. he who supersedes even Romulus? a spiritual guide for the never ending peoples. oh amazing possibilities there. More importantly is how well it helps to round out and come to a satisfactory conclusion to what Laura has been looking for. her soul, her spirit , her humanity it real and realized. fairly well resolved for us the readers, i think.

a very special issue which shows how much of a craftsman Liu is, and how much marvel has squandered this series. the places she could have taken laura, if not side tracked by the FF or vampy gal pals. but still, Liu even made those portions enjoyable to me. and despite this not being the kind of character, or books, i would usually follow. she has had me the whole way. well, in all honesty ive been intrigued by the character since Target X. Laura represents a future out of despair, violence and slavery. i appreciate that Liu was working to take her there. unfortunately there is no way i will read Avengers Academy for whatever scraps they might give of X-23, and i fear her use there will amount to prostitution of the character. something Laura managed to escape and rise above.
fuck marvel.


X-men: Legacy (mar-evil) #263 - 3.5/5
good writing overall and nice work by the whole art team.
Pretty cool bit of action which actually led into some good development time and felt like a good full book. sad that logan is going the paranoid route, but after the clusterfuck that was having to fight alongside the utopia kids i cant blame him. and thats my biggest complaint. its so obviously fucking forced to have that rubbed in Logan's face by Cage/editorial. forced, faked, fuct.

im on the fence about continuing, gotta see where the arc ends for the TPB. wil this be a safe book to watch AvX, from a safe distance? we shall see.


Hey MMM:
should beak these up nto seperate posts?

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

Conan the Barbarian #2 - 3.7/5

I like Brian Wood, I like Becky Cloonan, I like Conan. So this book is hitting right in my wheel house. And this grade is pretty much what I give a book I like. I don't love it yet, because it's only 2 issues in and it's taking it's time setting up the pieces. But it's a good book and if it never gets any better than this, I will keep buying it forever. Because a good book that delivers an enjoyable experience month in and month out is worth the price of admission. Especially when Wood is giving me stuff I love in Northlanders and Massive. Brother deserves to put out a standard good book.

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

Crossed: Badlands #1 - 4.3/5

This was a good story. My business partner said it very well when he said, "this works as a one shot, complete story." I'm happy for the new stories, I'm happy for the quality of this first issue, and I'm even happy this first story was more suspense than shock horror (because it makes it a bit easier to get new people into). I know the shock horror is bound to come back soon (and a baby grenade made my black heart laugh) but this was just a damn good story.

[MechanicalClavicles]

Conan the Barbarian #2 - 3.7/5

I like Brian Wood, I like Becky Cloonan, I like Conan. So this book is hitting right in my wheel house. And this grade is pretty much what I give a book I like. I don't love it yet, because it's only 2 issues in and it's taking it's time setting up the pieces. But it's a good book and if it never gets any better than this, I will keep buying it forever. Because a good book that delivers an enjoyable experience month in and month out is worth the price of admission. Especially when Wood is giving me stuff I love in Northlanders and Massive. Brother deserves to put out a standard good book.

The only thing that worries me is that Becky Cloonan is only on through issue 3, then someone new comes in to draw with Brian Wood. No word yet on whether Becky will return at some later point. It looks like Wood will be on Conan for at least a year, with a Conan faux #100 due in 10 months. It wouldn't surprise me if he hung around longer, of course.

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

The only thing that worries me is that Becky Cloonan is only on through issue 3, then someone new comes in to draw with Brian Wood. No word yet on whether Becky will return at some later point. It looks like Wood will be on Conan for at least a year, with a Conan faux #100 due in 10 months. It wouldn't surprise me if he hung around longer, of course.

If he has the creative input (regarding his partners) that he had on Northlanders, I have high hopes. If not, I will be cautiously optimistic.

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

Northlanders #49 - 4.4/5

I don't want it to end!

[MechanicalClavicles]

Brian Wood is due for a big year, I think. He might be the only writer in comics to have books coming out from the four biggest publishers within months of one another. He's got Northlanders finishing up at DC, Conan and The Massive at Dark Horse, a Wolverine mini-series at Marvel (plus whatever comes after), and Mara coming from Image later in the year.

Not a bad resume at all.

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

The Secret History of D.B. Cooper #1 - 4.4/5

I like Brian Churilla. He drew the Anchor (which I loved and am still a little sad ended) and now he's writing and drawing the Secret History of D.B. Cooper. Which has Cold War super spies, astral projection, monsters and D.B. Cooper. What more could you ask for? Oh, that's right, a katana. Which it has!