Rapid Fire Reviews: May 16th, 2008

Written May 16, 2008 by Mike Haynes

Last week’s installment of Rapid Fire Reviews saw a barrage of Marvel titles with only one DC comic released that really had any significance. In a bizarre twist of fate, it was also our pick of the week. This time, it’s a much healthier mix of publisher favorites as we see the new issue of Spider-Man taking on Booster Gold. Batman begins his R.I.P. saga as Marvel’s Last Defenders head into their third issue. Enough talking though. Ready for some reviews on full-auto? Let’s roll!

Batman #676 (DC)
As I’ve said in previous reviews of the Grant Morrison Batman title, I don’t really understand a lot of what’s going on. Going into possibly one of the biggest stories in Batman’s history, you’d think that would be an important thing. Well, it is. I know for a fact that people who’ve been following Morrison’s run from the beginning are much better off reading this book than I am. That being said, it’s still a very enjoyable issue that is certainly a solid building block for the rest of this arc. As always, Tony Daniel provides great art for Morrison’s work to really shine alongside. With the issue’s interesting cliffhanger introduction, I know I’ll be sticking around to see how Morrison pulls this off.
POA Rating: - 7.8/10

Huntress: Year One #1 (DC)
Huntress rocks. Having know very little about her but, for some weird reason, finding myself wanting to know more, I grabbed the first issue of this six issue series. While the comic starts off rather nicely by mixing elements of Batman-esque crime drama into slight superhero undertones, the issue comes to a weird end with a battle that makes little sense. Helena is built up for the entire issue as a very intelligent and independent woman but decides to beat up a group of cops in a police station to try and free her friend from their custody. I’m sure she could have come up with something a little better than that. Regardless, Ivory Madison writes a solid opening act to what will probably be a very interesting year One story. The artwork of Cliff Richards is very good and fits the character fairly well. Overall, a fairly solid opening issue that at least grabbed me enough to keep me around a little bit longer.
POA Rating: - 7.2/10

Booster Gold #9 (DC)
Right as I was starting to feel like this title had run it’s course, Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle come rocketing back from the timesteam bringing with them a fun and fairly coherent story. Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens work together very well, as they always do, to deliver a story that some how, some way manages to make retcons cool. I think part of what made this issue so solid is that after several issues that seemed to be not moving the story along at all, we finally see somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel. That being said, Booster Gold #9 also continues to bring much of the same material to the table as previous issues which makes it as much of a success as the issues that came before it. While it does have it’s flaws, they’re easily ignored by focusing on the issue’s many strengths.
POA Rating: - 8.0/10

Amazing Spider-Man #559 (Marvel)
After last month’s clean-up of several little stories that were floating around in the continuity of the comic, this month sees the debut of Screwball and the teasing of next month’s new villain, Paper Doll. I don’t really know if I’d call Screwball a villain since we saw her for all of 3 pages but I’m sure she’ll be making another appearance soon. Slott’s writing is perfect for the title. It’s sarcastic, funny and down to earth with makes Spider-Man so much more fun to read than he’s been in years. I would go so far as to say that he is the best writer so far that’s come out of the Spidey Braintrust and if one guy was going to be doing the writing, I’d want it to be him. It’s far from the best issue I’ve ever read, mostly due to the disappointing artwork of Marcos Martin but it’s still a fairly entertaining issue that helps move the Brand New Day along.
POA Rating: - 7.3/10

Wolverine #65 (Marvel)
It’s been a couple of months (Four, I suppose.) since I was sitting on the fence trying to decide weather or not this series would actually be worth picking up. Well, I’m pleased to say that this first arc has really shown me that the Wolverine title has changed for the better. Issue 65, which wraps things up with Wolverine and Mystique, is a great ending to a really exciting story. Ron Garney’s art, which was one of the things that really drove me to the title, is dirty and rough which fits not only Jason Aaron’s writing style but the character of Wolverine as a whole. Lots of great interaction between characters with tons of twists along the way from this arc but also, particularly from this issue, a lot of action as well.
POA Rating: - 8.6/10

The Last Defenders #3 (Marvel)
This is one of those comics that just caught my eye while it sat there on the shelf. I grabbed issues one and two a while back and found them to be really entertaining. The artwork is fantastic and the writing really had a down to earth feel to it. Issue three continues that trend by cleaning up the events of issue two and rebooting the team entirely leave Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk, as the only surviving member of the roster cuts. There’s also a small cameo by former Defender Dr. Strange as well as an appearance by Krang in the closing pages of the comic. Much like the two issue before it, this comic is shockingly impressive compared to what I first imagined it would be. Joe Casey’s really got a great way of merging the old school feel of the team with a fresh take on it as well. Jim Muniz continues to be one of the best artists at Marvel and, after checking out this issue, you’re sure to agree.
POA Rating: - 8.1/10

Thunderbolts #120 (Marvel)
This should come as no surprise to anyone that this is my pick of the week. Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato have turned the Thunderbolts from a mediocre title on the brink of cancellation into one of the best comics going at Marvel right now. This issue, featuring the return of Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin, further tosses the team into complete and utter chaos by pitting them against not only themselves but the various criminals that they have currently in their captivity. With only a couple issues left until the end of his run on the title, Ellis seems to be firing on all cylinders to deliver the best comic experience he can. Deodato’s art complements the writing in a way that I had previously thought impossible. Overall, great comic. As usual, I wait in suspense until the next issue comes out.
POA Rating: - 9.1/10

Want a copy of Thunderbolts #120? Buy one here!

Rapid Fire Reviews are written and posted every Friday and feature reviews of some of the biggest titles in comics…in as few words as possible! All the review, none of the filler!

Rapid Fire Reviews: May 9nd, 2008

Written May 9, 2008 by Mike Haynes

After a couple of slow weeks as far as new releases are concerned, comic book fans were treated with an assortment of new titles to look forward to this past week. Mostly coming out of the Marvel camp, this week’s releases included Secret Invasion, Ms. Marvel and the highly anticipated new series by Alex Ross which sees the Avengers cross-over with the Invaders. Also released was Detective Comics #844 which, to me, was the biggest DC release of the week. Ready for some reviews on full-auto? Let’s roll!

Secret Invasion #2 (Marvel)
When we last saw our heroes, they were face to mess with, what many fans out there believed to be, a mess of humans and Skrull imitations. Issue 2 of Secret Invasion is mostly a filler issue that’s used to show a massive battle between the Skrulls, both the ones posing as the heroes and the ones currently invading New York, as well as the heroes and citizens. Francis Yu’s art is pretty impressive and helps Bendis’ writing really come to life. Not quite as much going on in this issue as there was in the first issue which makes this issue a little bit disappointing. Still, it’s a solid read that will be essential to fully understand the Skull invasion.
POA Rating: - 8.3/10

Avengers / Invaders #1 (Marvel)
It’s interesting to finally see a limited series that actually ties into the real Marvel Universe. All too often it seems like anything released by Marvel, that isn’t an ongoing series, doesn’t mesh well with the big events in the Marvel U. With the Avengers / Invaders cross-over, Civil War has taken place. Cap is dead and the Daily Bugle has actually turned into the DB. Tons of action and an interesting story make this one of the better cross-overs to come out of Marvel in a while. Will it be able to carry this trend through 12 issues? We’ll have to wait and see.
POA Rating: - 7.4/10

Thunderbolts: Reason In Madness (Marvel)
Interestingly enough, this is one of those comics that just doesn’t seem to flow with the current Marvel U. The events that take place in the comic don’t run in cannon with the events of the regular T-bolts comic. Also, the characters seem like different versions of themselves and don’t appear to be in any way the characters from Warren Ellis’ current title. Christos Gage is a decent writer, I just don’t think his team of Thunderbolts is very likable with their awkward dialogue and bizarre interaction with one another. This particular issue’s only real saving grace is that Ben Oliver’s artwork is reasonably nice to look at and Marko Djurdjevic rocks the issue with a killer cover. Aside from that, this issue ranks right alongside the other one-shots: Barely tolerable and hardly anything to get excited about.
POA Rating: - 6.1/10

Mighty Avengers #13 (Marvel)
Much like New Avengers #40, you would never know which Avengers title this was unless it was unless someone told you ahead of time. Like I said in my review of NA#40, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nick Fury continues his one-man war against the Skrulls by enlisting the help of some of the family members of past Marvel heroes who have either died or disappeared. Bendis keeps everything flowing nicely in cannon with his Secret Invasion and gives us a nice look at what’s in store of the Skrull invaders as far as Nick Fury is concerned. Alex Maleev’s art is pretty but just doesn’t fit as nicely with the title as some of the previous Mighty Avengers artists have. Then again, is this even an issue of Mighty Avengers?
POA Rating: - 7.9/10

Amazing Spider-Man #558 (Marvel)
This issue may have started off a little slow but turned out to be a lot of fun to read. With appearances by not only Freak but Menace as well, Bob Gale manages to bring a little more life to the Brand New Day by taking somewhat of a look back at what we’ve seen so far since the relaunch this past January. Barry Kitson’s artwork is a nice change from Chris Bachalo’s work last month and really fits much better with, not only Gale’s writing but, the current younger, fresher feel of the title as a whole. Next week, we see the debut of another BND villain named Screwball brought to us by the team of Dan Slott and Marcos Martin.
POA Rating: - 8.1/10

Young X-Men #2 (Marvel)
Much like the first issue of this new series, Young X-Men #2 moves at a slower pace than most other comics. The team is tossed into training and forced to work together to defeat the enemy which, like most things about the comic, isn’t a pretty sight. The characters are still boring and the dialog is still awkward and doesn’t work. Cyclops is still a loser and the only really solid thing about this comic is Yanick Paquette’s artwork coupled with the wicked cover by the Dodsons. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have bothered giving this series disappointing series another shot.
POA Rating: - 5.2/10

Invincible Iron Man #1 (Marvel)
Riding on the momentum of the recently released Iron Man movie comes Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca’s new Invincible Iron Man comic book. There’s not much new coming out of this one aside from another title to tell similar stories as the other Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. title. Tony’s still the same old Tony, Extremis and all, but with Larocca great artwork and Fraction’s solid story, this title already seems like it’s a step or two ahead of what I was reading in the original Iron Man title. I was hoping for something a little more “old school” when it came to the character of Stark but he’s almost a mirror image of the one in D.O.S. which is a little disappointing. Overall it’s a fairly strong first issue but I’m not entirely sure how long this will sit on my pull-list. It’s worth a least one more issue just to see where Fraction takes it but after that, it might start to lose steam.
POA Rating: - 7.7/10

Batman Detective Comics #844 (DC)
This isn’t the first time I’ve said this and I’m sure that I’ll be saying again. Detective Comics IS Batman. It’s the definitive Batman comic book for fans that are looking for the classic detective style of storytelling that was found in the older comics as well as the critically acclaimed animated series. This issue features another appearance by Scarface and Zatana which cleans up the loose ends of last issue’s cliffhanger ending and keeps the idea in the readers minds of a possible future romantic relationship between Z and Bats. With Catwoman on her way into the comic within a couple issues, I’m thinking that a love triangle is on the horizon and should make some interesting reading. Paul Dini, as always, writes Batman in a fantastic way and Dustin Nguyen’s art, which wasn’t overly appealing to me a couple issues ago, has really grown on me and seems to really fit sucurely with not only Dini’s writing but the character of Batman. Overall, it’s another great issue that’s sure to be enjoyed by any Batman fan.
POA Rating: - 9.0/10

Want a copy of Detective Comics #844? Buy one here!

Rapid Fire Reviews are written and posted every Friday and feature reviews of some of the biggest titles in comics…in as few words as possible! All the review, none of the filler!

Rapid Fire Reviews: May 2nd, 2008

Written May 2, 2008 by Mike Haynes

This week’s releases may not have been large in numbers but were massive in storytelling and in their overall importance in their respective universes. With Secret Invasion #2 coming out later on this month and Final Crisis set to kick off at the end of May, this week’s releases we uncover important pieces of each company’s puzzle. As for Black Summer, it’s just a kick ass comic. Ready for some reviews on full-auto? Let’s roll!

Black Summer #6 (Avatar)
Despite having one of the most bizarre release schedules I’ve seen recently, Black Summer remains my favorite indie comic book on shelves right now. The sixth issue, technically the seventh, gives us a massive battle between the remaining Seven Guns as well as a look at a possible return of Tom Noir. Next issue, unless the action of this issue confused me, should see John Horus fighting off a gang of Gun-Killers which could be the greatest fight in the title so far. Great writing by Ellis and, as always, spectacular artwork by Juan Jose Ryp. While the ending seems a little bit rushed, it’s still a solid preview into the final chapter of this epic.
POA Rating: - 8.4/10

DC Universe #0 (DC)
Readers of Countdown could have saved themselves $151.99 by picking up this one issue, which sells for $0.50 by the way, and still being at the exact same place as the people who hadn’t read a single issue of the disappointing and pointless weekly series by DC that ended last week. DC Universe #0 is written by the duo of Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. As for art, that job is covered by eight different people including George Perez, Tony Daniel, Aaron Lopresti and JG Jones to name a few. This is the perfect comic for DC to show off the plans for their massive stories this summer and should please any DC fan out there.
POA Rating: - 7.9/10

New Avengers #40 (Marvel)
This comic hardly feels like an issue of New Avengers. In fact, if someone wouldn’t have mentioned to me that I was reading a New Avengers comic, I would have been completely lost. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Bendis and Cheung are at their best as this issue explains just how screwed all of the heroes are. The history of the invasion as well as the developments of the Skrull empire that have enabled the aliens to infiltrate the Earth and remain completely undetected. This is the best issue of New Avengers in a very long time.
POA Rating: - 9.1/10

Want a copy of New Avengers #40? Buy one here!

Rapid Fire Reviews are written and posted every Friday and feature reviews of some of the biggest titles in comics…in as few words as possible! All the review, none of the filler!

Rapid Fire Reviews: April 25th, 2008

Written April 25, 2008 by Mike Haynes

While there wasn’t an overly large amount of things to get excited about this week, Secret Invasion moved right along with the latest issue of Mighty Avengers. Batman gets one issue closer to his apparent death. The Justice League…still suck and Thor tries to make amends with his father, Odin. Ready for some reviews on full-auto? Let’s roll!

Batman #675 (DC)
One word: confusing. If you thought that the current title by Grant Morrison was a little hard to follow before, wait until you check out this issue. Used more as a bridge between the past couple issues and the upcoming Batman R.I.P. story, issue #675 should really only be recommended to die-hard Morrison fans who’ve been following his run from the very beginning.
POA Rating: - 6.4/10

Justice League of America #20 (DC)
It seems almost like JLA has been progressively losing steam as the issues move on. Starting off with the fantastic Tornado’s Path arc, then the slightly less interesting Lightning Saga. We moved into a couple one-shots followed by the Injustice League stories. Since then, the stories have been boring and uninteresting. This issue is really no exception to that as it shows Wonder Woman playing mommy to Flash who’s been avoiding the league because of his personal life.
POA Rating: - 6.1/10

Mighty Avengers #12 (Marvel)
The return of Nick Fury! This issue shows exactly what Fury’s been up to since his departure from S.H.I.E.L.D. and shows that he’s been pretty busy keeping tabs on pretty much everyone including creating a list of possible Skrulls. While this issue almost seems like it should have been a New Avengers comic and not an issue of Mighty Avengers, it still gets it’s point across and gives us readers a pretty clear indication as to what Nick Fury’s role in Secret Invasion will be.
POA Rating: - 8.2/10

Thor #8 (Marvel)
Another amazing issue by Straczynski and Djurdjevic brings the past arc to a close. As with the previous issues in this run so far, JMS’ writing is top notch and really appeals to not only the new fans but the longtime Thor fans as well. Djurdjevic follows up his work in the last issue with another great visual experience that adds to the overall telling of Straczynski’s story. With Djurdjevic ending his short stint on pencils, former artist Oliver Coipel returns next issue. Excited? I know I am!
POA Rating: - 8.8/10

Want a copy of Thor #8? Buy one here!

Rapid Fire Reviews are written and posted every Friday and feature reviews of some of the biggest titles in comics…in as few words as possible! All the review, none of the filler!

Rapid Fire Reviews: April 18th, 2008

Written April 18, 2008 by Mike Haynes

Welcome to the first installment of POA’s Rapid Fire Reviews. With so many comics being released from week to week, I’ve been finding it a little tough to cover them all so having a post, written once a week, featuring a bunch of quick reviews seemed like the only solution to the problem. Strap yourselves in and feel free to leave a comment or two with a review of your own!

DC | Wildstorm Dreamwar #1 (DC)
Surely nothing with “Dreamwar” in the title could possibly be bad…could it? That’s pretty much what was going through my mind while I decided weather or not I should bother with this one. Written by Keith Giffen and penciled by the team of Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott, Dreamwar is a mediocre crossover with solid artwork that fans who are familiar with Wildstorm could find some enjoyment in. As for those of us who know little of the W.S. characters, myself included, we should probably avoid this one.
POA Rating: - 6.9/10

Young X-Men (Marvel)
Most people have been fairly unkind to Guggenheim’s newly assembled team and, to be honest, some of the criticisms are well merited. On the other hand, the comic could have been much worse than it was. The characters, in my opinion, are boring and uninteresting. Their dialog feels forced and unnatural but the level of action as well as the artwork by Paquette is very impressive. Not to mention, I’d hate myself forever if I gave an overly bad rating to a comic with a cover by the Dodsons.
POA Rating: - 6.3/10

Amazing Spider-Man #557 (Marvel)
The final issue in Zeb Wells’ run this month manages to close up the few dangling side-plots that had been opened up in the past couple issues. The story also teases at Spider-Man’s second encounter with Freak next issue which is presumably going to disappoint. Bachalo’s art has grown on me in the past couple issues but still isn’t up to the same caliber as some of the others before him. For whatever reason, this issue just fails to evoke much more than a mediocre amount of excitement.
POA Rating: - 7.9/10

Walking Dead Volume 1 TPB (Image)
I was a little late jumping on the Walking Dead bandwagon but, like the old saying goes, better late than never. Volume 1 of the collection introduces the readers to the main characters and sets up the tone of the undead world that the story will be taking place in. Great writing by Kirkman and fantastic dark visuals from Moore help make Walking Dead, arguably, the best zombie comic ever written.
POA Rating: - 8.7/10

Captain Marvel #5 (Marvel)
The final chapter in Brian Reed’s Captain Marvel saga is easily the best of the arc by not only revealing Mar-vell’s true past but his new place within the Marvel U during Secret Invasion. While I’m not about to go off and spoil the book, his appearance at the end really makes you realize that he’s going to have a much larger part to play in Secret Invasion than most people probably believed.
POA Rating: - 8.3/10

Want a copy of Captain Marvel #5? Buy one here!

Rapid Fire Reviews are written and posted every Friday and feature reviews of some of the biggest titles in comics…in as few words as possible! All the review, none of the filler!