Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sketch Reviews (August 10 2011)

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'Breed III #4: Damn, that little kid sure changes his look, going from around age seven to 14 and everywhere in between depending on the panel, while having a personality that seems to be one of a 19-year old. Otherwise, I'm still digging this series for reasons I don't understand and baffle others even more, I imagine. [***]

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #3: Wondering how it all comes together... [***3/4]

Detective Comics #881: The interplay between Dick and James, Jr. was compelling. My problem still stems from not really buying James, Jr. as the villain of the piece somehow. It seems a little too mundane for me. Because I'm that fucking arrogant. I guess it's too simple and straight forward to me. Too clean and easy... Part of the problem is that this run didn't have enough time to play out that story. There wasn't enough time for James to come to Gotham and slowly win over the trust of his family before revealing himself. It's more, he's back, people are unsure, they almost begin to think he's okay, and OH GOD HE'S PURE EVIL AND THINKS HIMSELF THE NEXT EVOLUTIONARY STEP CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER! Positioning himself as Dick's opposite number was clever and helps a great deal. I'm just not sold on it. And, of course, Bruce being only the Batman overshadows the final pages a bit. The outside factors on this run bring it down a bit for me, I guess. Is that fair to the people who made the books? Not really. [***1/2]

Fear Itself #5: You know what? I think I would have liked to have all of the Tony Stark/Odin stuff moved to the end of issue four, because I've already read Invincible Iron Man #dwarffucker and know where the fuck this conversation goes. Uneven pacing for the event as a whole, I guess. Of course, when it's the same guy writing the comics... Plus, that would have allowed for a Simonson callback as we get Stark forging weapons ala Surtur. I did like the big Thor fight. That was pretty cool. The ending sets up Stark showing up with his fancy weapons and being all "TRON UP!" [***]

New Avengers #15: Wow, that cover is godawful. Deodato pushing that sketchy, busy style too far. This was an okay issue. The sparring scene was cool. Still don't really have any handle on Squirrel Girl, though. She seems like a collection of a few tidbits than an actual character. [***]

Punishermax #15-16: Finally got last month's issue. Wasn't even in my file either. Was on the rack. And I had to explain to my retailer how, last month, they stuck #14 in my pull file instead of #15 and I returned it the following week when Tim was running the shop solo. He believed me and let me have the comic for no charge (I already paid for it!), but still a little weird. I don't know why, but I never considered that as what happened before the gunfire started in the park that day... damn good comics right here. [****1/4]

Ultimate Fallout #5: The Quicksilver stuff was actually intriguing. The Nick Fury stuff was decent. The most focused issue since the first one. I hope these little 'prologue' bits are collected in the trades for the series they lead into like the new Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men comics. They won't be, of course, but they should be... [**3/4]

The Unwritten #28: The story in the past is genuinely interesting and engrossing. Young Wilson Taylor is a fun character to read about. And I love the cover to this issue... except for the fucking barcode that almost ruins it. [***1/2]

Vengeance #2: Man, it's like Joe Casey decided to write a comic specifically for me. He obviously didn't, but I'm going to pretend that he did. You don't need to catch the references, obviously, but they're right there out in the open. When is Jack fucking Truman and/or Larry Young showing up? Are they already here? Also, anyone else who immediately recognised Devlin Deangelo? We're weird people you and I... [****]

I also got Vertigo Resurrected: Jonny Double, but have only read the first issue contained withint. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, Fantagraphics sent me the third volume of Prison Pit. I'll save my thoughts on that for an actual review, but... it's damn funny stuff.

And, please give to the Hero Initiative! The Blogathon is almost upon us! It will be 24 hours of superhero comics glory! Hell yes, son!

Later