Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Comic book days gone by

I missed a couple weeks of posting about what I picked up. I will make up for that here. This will not include the items i just picked up today. I promise I will be brief.

Amazing Spider-Man #579 - great stuff still. Mark Waid & Marcos Martin have put together a great story. This is the conclusion of the story with the shocker and the train full of jurors in the collapsed train tunnel. Spider-Man always uses every ounce of his strength and never says die... it's part of his essence and what makes him a hero.

Justice Society of America #21 - I am still enjoying this arc that never ends. I have no issue with how long it has been going on. In this issue we finally see the ugly side of Gog.

Jack Staff #19 - I like Jack Staff a lot. I didn't think this was the greatest issue, but it was still good.

Terra #3 - I am liking this series way more than I thought I would, as i have said before. It's really good, though. It's not too heavy, it's got some surprises in it and some pretty wild aspects to it as well. Just one more issue to go.

Umbrella Academy: Dallas - I loved the Umbrella Academy, and so far I imagine I will continue to love it right on through this series as well. The characters are great, the writing is fun, and the art is pretty awesome. I am pretty sure I could write amazing comics as well, if only LynZ would have my baby.

Madame Xanadu #6 - Still enjoying this. Death of the endless makes an appearance in this!!! Yes, I will be excited and happy to see her anytime she appears. The art is beautiful, even when it is depicting ugly things. The tension between Madame X and Phantom Stranger ratchets up a bit here.

Incredible Hercules # 123 - Love & War part three - Clearly I only buy things I know I will love, right? This is another great issue of one of the best series going right now from Marvel in my opinion. The issue ends with the promise of great things to come. I look forward to seeing where they go with Hera.

Sandman: The Dream Hunters #2 - This is a beautifully drawn book. The story, while not actually a Japanese folktale, sure has the feel of what I would think a Japanese folk tale would be like. Since I have not previously read the story, I am looking forward to continuing to see how it progresses.

Haunted Tank #1 - I'm not sure I am much of a fan of war comics. I don't think I remember reading Haunted Tank, but I bet I have at least one haunted tank story in some giant sized war comic somewhere in my boxes. I think I would like this better if it was presented without the profanity and the overly colorful language. It could be a war/adventure comic for teens without that stuff. The audience for this stuff didn't used to be adults, but sensibilities change, etc. I like that the descendant of Civil War hero JEB Stuart is the black Sergent. I am not a fan of war stuff set in the places we currently have conflicts, but that is just a thing of mine. I probably won't get this again, but it wasn't awful. The art is pretty great.

Runaways #4 - I love the art. I love Humberto Ramos' work. I love the characters as well, but I am not sure I am loving the writing as much as I want to. I don't think a lot happens here, and it just didn't do a ton for me. If someone were to say that this is really for teens and that it is speaking right to them, I would accept that, but previous incarnations, especially the early stuff, was just great reading no matter what your age.

X-Men Noir #1 - I was apprehensive about this title. The idea sounds cool as can be, and yet I was assuming it wouldn't be something I would like. Fred Van Lente is great, though, and has written a good first issue of this unusual take on the X-Men and their 'universe'. Dennis Calero's art sets the perfect visual tone, and the result is interesting enough to make me want to read more. $3.99 is a bit steep, but I plan to read more at this point. It is the X-Men set in a non-powered film noir world (at least i assume they have no powers... I guess I could have read it wrong or missed something. The Brotherhood... are cops... get it.. the Brotherhood... Well it's actually pretty cool so far.

3 comments:

John said...

The Arc that Never Ends is almost over! It all wraps up next issue, or so I've heard. Sure it may have taken a while, but any story about a team with a roster of roughly 25 members is going to either take a while or completely ignore entire groups of characters. Someone asked me what side Stargirl and Cyclone were on, and it took until the Kingdom one-shot for me to get an answer.

Hooray for Fred Van Lente! Incredible Herc is actually one of the few series of his that I haven't been reading, for whatever reason. I'll probably be picking it up in trade after the holidays. I LOVED X-Men Noir, though (I'm a sucker for even halfway decent alternate-reality X-titles,) and wait with eager anticipation for the next issue. Given the book's high production value (very nice cover and paper stock) I don't mind the price.

Runaways has been sliding off the rails since BKV left. Whedon's run was decent, but took FAR too long to wrap up. the Secret Invasion team-up with Young Avengers was actually far more entertaining than this latest arc. Moore just hasn't gotten the right feel for the characters yet. And this What If? back-up that's running through this month's titles is just plain atrocious.

Anonymous said...

Bah, used the wrong userID for my comment! But by now I'm sure you can guess my secret identity.

Talkin Bout Comics said...

Secret Identities are hard to keep secret for long.

I admit that I rolled my eyes a little when I first heard the Noir idea(actually just the title), but once it was in front of me I couldn't pass it up. I'm glad it is as well done as it seems to be.

Incredible Hercules is certainly worth catching up on in trades.

I never read the Wheedon run, and plan to pick it up at some point. I will probably not stick with the Moore run, even though I think Ramos' art is perfect for the characters.