Walt's Comics of the Week - Initial Thoughts #1
So...this week in comics, capsule review-thus-far:
THE WALKING DEAD #48
The tagline for this arc was "No one is safe." And with such a huge cast...it was like...who could they kill that's NOT gonna have an impact? Huge cast...but all of the characters were...well, part of THE cast. All had their moments, and roles to contribute to the story as a whole. I was indeed a bit shocked at some of the deaths earlier in the arc...and the previous issue saw the death of a character that when he was shot, my reaction was "Aw, man...not HIM! I liked him!"
And the thing with this is...sure, it's a zombie-apocalyptic story and thus NOT set in our contemporary real world...but it's still CLOSE ENOUGH. These aren't super-heroes, or fantasy beings that have some back-door to even comic-book-resurrections. (and the number of head-shots have...well...made sure they're not comin' back, even as zombies).
WIth that finality to characters in death...just makes it that much more shocking. Whereas superhero comics can find a loophole, a way to get around death....that won't happen here. I actually feel for the characters' losses in a way I don't feel with deaths in superhero comics.
The art was spot-on in its usual consistency. Nothing in particular stood out to be criticized...the art just flows, and conveys what it needs to convey. What will probably argue as the most significant death happens in a full-page shot that had me whispering "No way...!" as I turned the page.
The inside back cover--advertising the next issue--states "Everything is different now." And it's not kidding. The dynamics for the group of survivors we've been following all along is drastically changed with so many losses. There's also a lot of potential for the future (and dare I wonder, a spin-off mini at least), and I'm very interested to see where this goes from here.
SECRET INVASION #1
Yeah...I actually bought this. A $4 book from a company I've been less than pleased with of late, a story for a major crossover/event that I have had near-zero interest in.
But as with Civil War, figured maybe I'd give it a shot, see what the HYPE is about, and in buying it/reading it, have ground to stand on in griping about stuff related to the story, rather than complaining bout something I know nothing about.
And in and of itself...it's not BAD, per se. It doesn't blow me away...the impact of certain reveals is minimized by the fact that I've not been following any of the lead-up to this event--and BAILED on New Avengers three-some years ago because of the variant covers and whatnot.
There's a scene toward the end, when we see what was inside the crashed skrull ship, that has be really wondering at the potential. And noting some near-paradoxical stuff that could be quite interesting.
Conceptually...I can see enjoying this story (especially if this core series is more than just a series of trailers for each month's tie-in issues). Execution remains to be seen...but tentatively/knee-jerk reaction is that I'll nab #2 next month when it's out...
The rest of the week's picks: Zorro #2, Cable #2, Kick-Ass #1, Kick-Ass #2.
THE WALKING DEAD #48
The tagline for this arc was "No one is safe." And with such a huge cast...it was like...who could they kill that's NOT gonna have an impact? Huge cast...but all of the characters were...well, part of THE cast. All had their moments, and roles to contribute to the story as a whole. I was indeed a bit shocked at some of the deaths earlier in the arc...and the previous issue saw the death of a character that when he was shot, my reaction was "Aw, man...not HIM! I liked him!"
And the thing with this is...sure, it's a zombie-apocalyptic story and thus NOT set in our contemporary real world...but it's still CLOSE ENOUGH. These aren't super-heroes, or fantasy beings that have some back-door to even comic-book-resurrections. (and the number of head-shots have...well...made sure they're not comin' back, even as zombies).
WIth that finality to characters in death...just makes it that much more shocking. Whereas superhero comics can find a loophole, a way to get around death....that won't happen here. I actually feel for the characters' losses in a way I don't feel with deaths in superhero comics.
The art was spot-on in its usual consistency. Nothing in particular stood out to be criticized...the art just flows, and conveys what it needs to convey. What will probably argue as the most significant death happens in a full-page shot that had me whispering "No way...!" as I turned the page.
The inside back cover--advertising the next issue--states "Everything is different now." And it's not kidding. The dynamics for the group of survivors we've been following all along is drastically changed with so many losses. There's also a lot of potential for the future (and dare I wonder, a spin-off mini at least), and I'm very interested to see where this goes from here.
SECRET INVASION #1
Yeah...I actually bought this. A $4 book from a company I've been less than pleased with of late, a story for a major crossover/event that I have had near-zero interest in.
But as with Civil War, figured maybe I'd give it a shot, see what the HYPE is about, and in buying it/reading it, have ground to stand on in griping about stuff related to the story, rather than complaining bout something I know nothing about.
And in and of itself...it's not BAD, per se. It doesn't blow me away...the impact of certain reveals is minimized by the fact that I've not been following any of the lead-up to this event--and BAILED on New Avengers three-some years ago because of the variant covers and whatnot.
There's a scene toward the end, when we see what was inside the crashed skrull ship, that has be really wondering at the potential. And noting some near-paradoxical stuff that could be quite interesting.
Conceptually...I can see enjoying this story (especially if this core series is more than just a series of trailers for each month's tie-in issues). Execution remains to be seen...but tentatively/knee-jerk reaction is that I'll nab #2 next month when it's out...
The rest of the week's picks: Zorro #2, Cable #2, Kick-Ass #1, Kick-Ass #2.