Comics Reviews Again
More comic reviews.
New trick. All reviews must remain less than or equal to 100 words.
Unwritten, Irredeemable, Flash: Rebirth, Action Comics, R.E.B.E.L.S., Titans, Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance, 1/2 Prince
Unwritten #1
Rating: Good beat, but I'm not sure I can dance to it.
Genuinely interesting $1 issue one. It's about a not-veiled-at-all Harry Potter analogue, which I give them credit for not even trying to pretend it's otherwise. On the other hand, part of my brain keeps calling "cheap shot" on the blatant-ness of it, and egads I can see exactly where it's going for the plot.
I'm not sure there's a point reading further when I've already figured out the twist "Shyamalan".
Irredeemable #2
Rating: Interesting points, but missing that je ne sais quoi.
Superman analogue has enough, goes bad. Not in a changed sides sort of way, more a "I'm tired of the ungratefulness and hypocrisy, so I'm going to destroy everything" way. Latest issue was interesting, showing Plutonian's ex-girlfriendLois Lane and how they met and etc. I liked that the break-up actually happened upon the secret identity reveal. He proposed and she not only broke it off because she "didn't know who he was", she also outed him to the entire office. Significantly more realistic reaction for a normal girl. His reaction was pretty interesting too. We also get a look at one of his ex-teammates and I can see why they actually trusted him pre-evil moreso. So far so good, but something hasn't really grabbed me about it yet.
The Flash: Rebirth #2 (of 6 now)
Rating: Not bad, but I'm waiting for a suprise, and the rest of the Flash Family to do more than cameo to the "Barry is Awesome --Like Apple Pie" headline.
Saw that coming. Miles and miles away in issue #1.
Happy to see Bart and Jay behaving more like the characters I know and love. Although seeing Bart, robin!Tim, & newoutfit!Cassie all at Titans tower together really does make me wonder about where this is fitting in the Teen Titans chronology, because those 3 haven't been together since Bart's death in any other title. I do want to see the Young Justice reunion actually happen somewhere. Love the Gorilla City narrations. The return, however brief, of Christine-crazy-speed-priestess was a nice touch. Her battle with Wally and Barry was very cool.
Congrats on Flash: Rebirth #1 getting the #2 sales spot in all of comicdom for April 2009.
Action Comics #876 & #877
Rating: Endearing kid. Crazy villains. Nice work.
Okay. I know I'm out of the S-Shield loop, but I am "super-confused" about this Nightwing kid. How is he Lois, Ursa, AND Zod's kid? And evidently, not full Kryptonian? =_= At least they explained the tactile telekinesis as a side-effect of the Phantom Zone. TTK as a standard Kryptonian power, DO NOT WANT.
I do like how the government is handling chasing him down, and Ursa is sufficiently crazytown to make an interesting villain. Despite me not wanting to (biased due to Kon-El TTK bait-and-switch), I'm starting to like Nightwing and Flamebird.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #4
Rating: It's almost like he's related to 3boot!Brainiac 5. Oh yeah, HE IS.
More Vril Dox fun. He said "please". That-- and the reaction to it amused me more than anything else. His slightly twisted sense of honor/priorities without being a villain makes him an interesting read.
Titans #13
Rating: Can we get back to the team part now? PLZKTHNX
I've entirely lost interest in the "Deathtrap" plotline. I'm not a huge Jericho fan, but I really can't make myself care at all when he's evil. And multiple issues of evil!Jericho in control of Cyborg, it was ruining two characters for me one speech bubble at a time. I doubt I'll be picking up the finale in Vigilante #6.
I love the Titans and Teen Titans teams separately. I guess I'd just like to see some teambuilding issues before the next "horrifying event" where somebody dies, but the solicits don't look promising.
Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 (of 3)
Rating: And the new Batman is... *drumroll*
Huge ensemble cast shot. Damian needs a spanking and an attitude adjustment. 2 classic Batman villains are removed from Gotham. New big bad is set up. Jason makes Ursa look sane. New Batman. Damian is new Robin. Pity Bats.
KEY SPOILER. [Dick Grayson is the new Batman. Like it wasn't obvious. Anyone who has talked to me about it knows I kinda wish it had gone a different way, but I had accepted the inevitability. Also, Jason Todd might be dead again. *claps*]
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #1 (of 6)
Rating: Because satirizing the obsession with Web 2.0 is fun.
This was not on my list. Mostly because I'm kind of "done" with FC. However, the DCUblog preview caught my eye with the interesting concept of commercialized superheroes, introducing the team with facebook status updates, and SuperBat does his inner monologue as Twitter posts. It takes fun punches at the information age and capitalism, and was a really an enjoyable read on top of that.
1/2 Prince #1-28
Rating: Kind of like .Hack//SIGN, but in a fun, gender-bending, romantic-action-comedy way.
Yeah, not an American comic, and this would be what I was ribbing Isaac about last night. 28 chapters thus far, and the old translation group dropped it a few days ago. Hopefully it'll be picked back up when the next volume is released, because it's a very fun read. (Because this is for 28 chapters, I'm skipping the 100 words rule, but I'll try to keep it relatively brief.)
So this is the ultimate MMORPG, "Second Life" (haha): full virtual immersion, super-realistic, only 1 character each, and your character will have your real face and gender.
A set of fraternal twins decide to play, but the brother gives his sister a hard time about using her gender (he complains that all girls do really) in past MMOs to get free stuff and rely on boys to much. So when creating her character, Xiao Lan wants to make a male character. The game parameters don't allow it, but she gets a special exception made, plus 30% beautification. So Xiao Lan enters the game as a pretty-boy elven swordsman named Prince. (She didn't get to chose the name --or several other details-- after the female GM went nuts having fun with it.)
She begins training and learns that she's going to have trouble with that pretty face drawing both admirers and creating enemies simultaneously. Hilarity ensues. She does manage to make friends and starts a team called the "Odd Squad". Everyone on the Odd Squad has an interesting character quirk. Prince, for all his/her beauty and admirerers, has a particularly vicious streak while fighting that earns him/her the nickname "Blood Elf". Lolidragon is a thief character with many enemies and is secretly(to everyone but Prince, because she helped Xiao Lan create the character and knows Prince's secret) a GM that plays in order to find bugs in the game. Ugly Wolf is a wolf-beast playing as a priest class, and the team's strategist. Doll is the wanna-be magical girl who took a soul sorcerer job class that can only summon skeletons (D:). Gui is the (male) bard who joined the team because he fell for Prince (much LAWLz). Last, but not least, is Yulian, seemingly the most normal person on the team (hah).
As they make friends and enemies and participate in Second Life events, Xiao Lan learns that many of her fellow players are around her in the real world. With her real gender a secret to her online friends who she fears may feel betrayed if they learn the truth, the news that she's made enemies online of people she has to face day to day, and she and her brother may be fraternal twins, but they have almost the same face, so... Well. More hilarity ensues. I definitely advise reading it.
JOIN ME.
Then blame pyro_ike for getting us into it if it doesn't continue.
Also, expect artz of this. Me like whole Odd Squad team +Wicked. So. Much. Fun. ♥
And the shoujo manga fan in me actually cannot decide if I like Wicked or Gui better. =_=
New trick. All reviews must remain less than or equal to 100 words.
Unwritten, Irredeemable, Flash: Rebirth, Action Comics, R.E.B.E.L.S., Titans, Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance, 1/2 Prince
Unwritten #1
Rating: Good beat, but I'm not sure I can dance to it.
Genuinely interesting $1 issue one. It's about a not-veiled-at-all Harry Potter analogue, which I give them credit for not even trying to pretend it's otherwise. On the other hand, part of my brain keeps calling "cheap shot" on the blatant-ness of it, and egads I can see exactly where it's going for the plot.
I'm not sure there's a point reading further when I've already figured out the twist "Shyamalan".
Irredeemable #2
Rating: Interesting points, but missing that je ne sais quoi.
Superman analogue has enough, goes bad. Not in a changed sides sort of way, more a "I'm tired of the ungratefulness and hypocrisy, so I'm going to destroy everything" way. Latest issue was interesting, showing Plutonian's ex-girlfriendLois Lane and how they met and etc. I liked that the break-up actually happened upon the secret identity reveal. He proposed and she not only broke it off because she "didn't know who he was", she also outed him to the entire office. Significantly more realistic reaction for a normal girl. His reaction was pretty interesting too. We also get a look at one of his ex-teammates and I can see why they actually trusted him pre-evil moreso. So far so good, but something hasn't really grabbed me about it yet.
The Flash: Rebirth #2 (of 6 now)
Rating: Not bad, but I'm waiting for a suprise, and the rest of the Flash Family to do more than cameo to the "Barry is Awesome --Like Apple Pie" headline.
Saw that coming. Miles and miles away in issue #1.
Happy to see Bart and Jay behaving more like the characters I know and love. Although seeing Bart, robin!Tim, & newoutfit!Cassie all at Titans tower together really does make me wonder about where this is fitting in the Teen Titans chronology, because those 3 haven't been together since Bart's death in any other title. I do want to see the Young Justice reunion actually happen somewhere. Love the Gorilla City narrations. The return, however brief, of Christine-crazy-speed-priestess was a nice touch. Her battle with Wally and Barry was very cool.
Congrats on Flash: Rebirth #1 getting the #2 sales spot in all of comicdom for April 2009.
Action Comics #876 & #877
Rating: Endearing kid. Crazy villains. Nice work.
Okay. I know I'm out of the S-Shield loop, but I am "super-confused" about this Nightwing kid. How is he Lois, Ursa, AND Zod's kid? And evidently, not full Kryptonian? =_= At least they explained the tactile telekinesis as a side-effect of the Phantom Zone. TTK as a standard Kryptonian power, DO NOT WANT.
I do like how the government is handling chasing him down, and Ursa is sufficiently crazytown to make an interesting villain. Despite me not wanting to (biased due to Kon-El TTK bait-and-switch), I'm starting to like Nightwing and Flamebird.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #4
Rating: It's almost like he's related to 3boot!Brainiac 5. Oh yeah, HE IS.
More Vril Dox fun. He said "please". That-- and the reaction to it amused me more than anything else. His slightly twisted sense of honor/priorities without being a villain makes him an interesting read.
Titans #13
Rating: Can we get back to the team part now? PLZKTHNX
I've entirely lost interest in the "Deathtrap" plotline. I'm not a huge Jericho fan, but I really can't make myself care at all when he's evil. And multiple issues of evil!Jericho in control of Cyborg, it was ruining two characters for me one speech bubble at a time. I doubt I'll be picking up the finale in Vigilante #6.
I love the Titans and Teen Titans teams separately. I guess I'd just like to see some teambuilding issues before the next "horrifying event" where somebody dies, but the solicits don't look promising.
Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3 (of 3)
Rating: And the new Batman is... *drumroll*
Huge ensemble cast shot. Damian needs a spanking and an attitude adjustment. 2 classic Batman villains are removed from Gotham. New big bad is set up. Jason makes Ursa look sane. New Batman. Damian is new Robin. Pity Bats.
KEY SPOILER. [Dick Grayson is the new Batman. Like it wasn't obvious. Anyone who has talked to me about it knows I kinda wish it had gone a different way, but I had accepted the inevitability. Also, Jason Todd might be dead again. *claps*]
Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #1 (of 6)
Rating: Because satirizing the obsession with Web 2.0 is fun.
This was not on my list. Mostly because I'm kind of "done" with FC. However, the DCUblog preview caught my eye with the interesting concept of commercialized superheroes, introducing the team with facebook status updates, and SuperBat does his inner monologue as Twitter posts. It takes fun punches at the information age and capitalism, and was a really an enjoyable read on top of that.
1/2 Prince #1-28
Rating: Kind of like .Hack//SIGN, but in a fun, gender-bending, romantic-action-comedy way.
Yeah, not an American comic, and this would be what I was ribbing Isaac about last night. 28 chapters thus far, and the old translation group dropped it a few days ago. Hopefully it'll be picked back up when the next volume is released, because it's a very fun read. (Because this is for 28 chapters, I'm skipping the 100 words rule, but I'll try to keep it relatively brief.)
So this is the ultimate MMORPG, "Second Life" (haha): full virtual immersion, super-realistic, only 1 character each, and your character will have your real face and gender.
A set of fraternal twins decide to play, but the brother gives his sister a hard time about using her gender (he complains that all girls do really) in past MMOs to get free stuff and rely on boys to much. So when creating her character, Xiao Lan wants to make a male character. The game parameters don't allow it, but she gets a special exception made, plus 30% beautification. So Xiao Lan enters the game as a pretty-boy elven swordsman named Prince. (She didn't get to chose the name --or several other details-- after the female GM went nuts having fun with it.)
She begins training and learns that she's going to have trouble with that pretty face drawing both admirers and creating enemies simultaneously. Hilarity ensues. She does manage to make friends and starts a team called the "Odd Squad". Everyone on the Odd Squad has an interesting character quirk. Prince, for all his/her beauty and admirerers, has a particularly vicious streak while fighting that earns him/her the nickname "Blood Elf". Lolidragon is a thief character with many enemies and is secretly(to everyone but Prince, because she helped Xiao Lan create the character and knows Prince's secret) a GM that plays in order to find bugs in the game. Ugly Wolf is a wolf-beast playing as a priest class, and the team's strategist. Doll is the wanna-be magical girl who took a soul sorcerer job class that can only summon skeletons (D:). Gui is the (male) bard who joined the team because he fell for Prince (much LAWLz). Last, but not least, is Yulian, seemingly the most normal person on the team (hah).
As they make friends and enemies and participate in Second Life events, Xiao Lan learns that many of her fellow players are around her in the real world. With her real gender a secret to her online friends who she fears may feel betrayed if they learn the truth, the news that she's made enemies online of people she has to face day to day, and she and her brother may be fraternal twins, but they have almost the same face, so... Well. More hilarity ensues. I definitely advise reading it.
JOIN ME.
Then blame pyro_ike for getting us into it if it doesn't continue.
Also, expect artz of this. Me like whole Odd Squad team +Wicked. So. Much. Fun. ♥
And the shoujo manga fan in me actually cannot decide if I like Wicked or Gui better. =_=