Also, Seth illustrated a poem for my class. I was supposed to "collaborate" with a work of art. Seth got a large workload for school and almost backed out, so I almost did it myself. I had 3 or 4 panels drawn, but luckily he pulled through. And pumped this out in maybe two days.
Also, to see what Seth has to put up with when I pitch an idea to him, here's my layout sketch:
You should see the ones for Cowboy Mummy. They're ridiculous.Anyway, on to the reviews...and I apologize if any are brief. My fault for doing this so late...
Action Comics #899 - (6/10) Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor run has been going downhill as of late. What began as an unique look on one of the DCU's most interesting villains has turned into a bore. Cornell seems more interested in finding convoluted reasons to keep having characters made interesting by someone else pop up in the book. His characterization of the Joker was one of the worst I've seen. Cornell is trying too hard, and it's beginning to show. The "battle of the minds" between Lex and Brainiac feels like two children trying to one-up each other in a game of rock-paper-scissors where they keep making up new hand gestures. It doesn't help that by this, the penultimate issue, the story has lost almost all coherency. I'll pick up #900 to finish the story off, but I won't stick around for Superman's return.
American Vampire #13 - (8/10) Snyder's vampire series continues to get better. Every time I finish a story arc, I worry that the next one won't live up. I was especially worried with this one, as the previous standalone issue was one of the best. Rafael Albuquerque continues to knock the artwork out of the park. I'm really torn on the upcoming miniseries. On one hand, I'm excited for more AV, but it sucks to add another brief title to my pull.
Avengers #11 - (4/10) Oh, Brian Michael Bendis...what are you doing to me? You wrote one of the best and one of the worst books this week. This issue was just horribly executed. Ever hear of the "show, don't tell" rule? Bendis apparently hasn't, as he has the Watcher needlessly narrate the entire issue, slowing the pacing down to an agonizing crawl. It seems like he just padded the entire issue out to lead to the final "cliffhanger" ( I stopped caring 3 pages in). Also slowing the book down, most, if not all, of the pages are caption-heavy splash pages. This would be fine if Romita Jr.'s art was as good as his father's. I have a fond spot for Romita Jr. - he was the Spider-Man artist for several years when I began reading comics. But man...he's gone downhill. At first I thought I just remembered him being better at this, but I looked back and aside from everyone, including women, having the same boxy face, his Spidey art holds up. His Avengers work is just amateur, though. He flat out doesn't finish pages. It looks like a change in inker and colorist has improved it slightly, but still. Also, his Watcher looks like Bendis in a bathrobe. That's not even a joke.
Deadpool Team-Up #883 - (6/10) I wanted to give this a higher score, but I see now that there is a reason Skottie Young is an artist and not a writer. His cover sure is purty, though. The story, though, is only passable, with only a few "heh"-worthy jokes -- plus several missed opportunities. The art is also passable, but I really wished Skottie just drew the issue as well. That would at least earn it another point or two. Luckily, I learned that this is the last issue of DPTU. I will miss it -- it was easily the better of the Deadpool spin-offs -- but at least I will no longer be tempted by Young's covers.
Detective Comics #875 - (9/10) The cancellation of the back-up stories featuring Gordon and his son was actually a great thing. It allowed Snyder to continue and expand the story into full issues, making what was before just an interesting post-plot distraction actually a compelling main plot. Full of twists, misdirections, and incentive to think about what you read, this story really resonated after I was done. My only complaint was minor, but I felt like Batman's appearance at the end, as well as in the last issue, was mostly there to ensure that he wasn't completely absent from his own title. Still, this was one of the best books this week.
Dollhouse: Epitaphs - (8/10) Confession time: I was a Dollhouse fan. It wasn't perfect, and I almost stopped watching early on in season one, but I stuck through to the end and saw it evolve into something more compelling than it originally appeared. Much of this came from the unaired season one finale featuring a post-apocalyptic Earth and...sigh...Felicia Day...where am I? Oh yeah, blog. Anyway, I saw this one-shot that was to lead into an ongoing series and thought I'd give it a shot. I had no intention of continuing on past this, but it delivered a pretty good story that made me think otherwise. I'm still not sure if I'll look into the ongoing, but it certainly looks like the Whedon brothers plan on delivering.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors - (7/10) "The War of the Green Lanterns" continues, this time focusing primarily on Guy and Hal. While they fight arbitrarily (although it made sense in context) and the plot doesn't move too far forward, it held my interest and whet my appetite for the next chapter. Not much more to really say. Good, but not great.
Jimmy Olsen - (9/10) Just like the storyline in Detective Comics, this story was originally a back-up feature in Action Comics for I think 5 issues before they dropped it. This massive issue collects those 5 chapters, plus the final 2. And man is it a fun ride. Nick Spencer delivers an enjoyable, fast-paced story, full of laughs and throwbacks to Golden Age goofiness -- even bringing the Smallville character Chloe into the pages of the comics, too. The art, aside from a few pages done by a fill-in artist that stand out too much, is also great as well.
Scarlet #5 - (8/10) I've really been enjoying Bendis's creator-owned stuff, and Scarlet is no exception. The "gimmick", where Scarlet and occasionally other characters break the fourth wall through boxed speech bubbles, is unique, doesn't feel forced, and actually works well. Maleev's artwork is phenomenal as well. The first story arc is over and I'm eager to see where it leads.
Secret Avengers #11 - (7/10) Secret Avengers has been a title that I pick up each week and I let that issue convince me to continue next month. The stories have been "okay" or "good", but nothing really convinced me that I must read. This new two-issue story is intriguing, but doesn't really change anything for me. The art is nice, but inconsistencies here and there bugged me. In one panel part of Cap's costume isn't drawn the same, and covers show him in what looks like his Ultimate costume, but nowhere in the story does he wear anything like that. Issue 2's cover does the same. I'll stick with the title for now, but Brubaker is leaving as writer soon, and I'll probably go with him.
B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs 1 - (7/10) I had a 40% coupon for Borders, and I decided to pick up the first of four large omnibuses of the Hellboy spin-off. The stories inside were really hit-or-miss. Most written by Mignola were well-done, but some others were just passable, including one by Geoff Johns. The art, however, was all over the place. Some were okay, some were bad, and some were actually quite good. Part of the problem is that Mignola's art is what made Hellboy, and many of these artists tried too hard to channel him. I thought the first story was actually drawn by Mignola, but I was wrong. I only double-checked because while it looked like Mike's work, the pacing was way off. The artist of the final five chapters was by far the best, as he appeared to adapt Mignola just enough, while still coming off with a style of his own. The final cliffhanger interested me enough to grab the next omnibus whenever it hits.
Invincible Ultimate Collection 6 - (8/10) Book 6 was released rather quickly after the heavily delayed book 5. The story picks up immediately with the return of an old villain, more game-changing moments, and another costume change, ending with a pretty good cliff-hanger. A few things happened that made me think back to past issues and smile at just how far ahead some of this was planned. The pacing in the opening chapter is way off though. I understand why it was the way it was, but too many quick cuts made it incredibly disorienting. The return of original artist Cory Walker for two issues really made me realize how much Ryan Ottley has shaped the series. Speaking of art, as usual the art gallery in the back is full of some fun stuff, but it felt a little slimmer this time around.
Mirror Mask - (3/10) A friend had me borrow this movie, and I was really was not feeling it. I'd had it for over a month, and I just kept finding reasons not to watch it. Once I finally did, I was underwhelmed. The story is boring and slow, not to mention its basically the same as Coraline, another Neil Gaiman movie I wasn't a big fan of. The visual style, which I think took almost a good twenty boring minutes to finally get to, was neat, but damn, did it get old fast. It's so dark that you can barely see anything. Ugh. Pass.
Tangled - (7/10) I remember seeing the trailer for this in theatres and thinking that it looked completely forgettable. Then it came out and I heard a lot of good things, but I remained stubborn. However, one of my classes was canceled this week, so I took the opportunity to dollar theatre it, and I was pleasantly surprised. The songs were mildly enjoyable, and some even catchy. The story was predictable, but what Disney movie isn't? The animation was well done, and the characters were likable. Plus, it had me laughing rather consistently. Aside from a chameleon sidekick that added nothing and was thrown in only to be "adorable", I can't find much to complain about.
Fear Itself ads - (2/10) Marvel just cannot shut the hell up about Fear Itself. And while, at first, I said I'd pick up at least #1, their constant badgering has completely driven me away. I swear, across all the new material each week, I swear I've already pretty much read the first issue, and I didn't care for it one bit. I can't see myself picking this series up at all now.
Rift ads - (0/10) Speaking of annoying advertisement, I can't wait for Rift to come out. These two-page ads have been invading every book for the past few months. I'm sick of it. The worst was in the last issue of Batman, Inc., where the two-page spread was dissected to fit on the opposing sides of the same page. I don't even know what system it's on or even what kind of game it is. Action? RPG? Racing? I don't care. Get it out of my face.
Jimmy Olsen (one-shot)
I really loved this series. Not only was it tons of fun, but it also functions as a pretty solid analysis of Jimmy Olsen himself, and how, despite his previously important status as "Superman's Pal" (even holding his own ongoing under the title), he's a relatively forgotten character who just hasn't done anything in forever. The only reason this didn't get a solid 10/10 was the $6 price tag. Well-worth the price of admission, but the fact that I already owned 5 of the 7 chapters in Action Comics made the strain on my wallet more noticeable. Still, it was nice to have it all in one place. Plus, look at that cover. Beautiful.
See ya next week. I promise to be on time.
I really loved this series. Not only was it tons of fun, but it also functions as a pretty solid analysis of Jimmy Olsen himself, and how, despite his previously important status as "Superman's Pal" (even holding his own ongoing under the title), he's a relatively forgotten character who just hasn't done anything in forever. The only reason this didn't get a solid 10/10 was the $6 price tag. Well-worth the price of admission, but the fact that I already owned 5 of the 7 chapters in Action Comics made the strain on my wallet more noticeable. Still, it was nice to have it all in one place. Plus, look at that cover. Beautiful.
See ya next week. I promise to be on time.
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