Comic Reviews
I broke 1100 comics with my order through Heavy Ink! When'd I get so much?!
Heroes for Hire #2 - A pretty cool story involving demon guns and Ghost Rider fucking shit up. The action was ramped up and entertaining. Misty's one and only coworker Paladin has also discovered that Misty isn't really where she is, furthering the mystery and raising the stakes with Puppet Master.
The Boys #50 - A big milestone in The Boys' 70 issue run. We finally find out what happened to Mallory. I thought he was dead, but he sold out the team (in Butcher's mind) and quit after working with The Boys caused the death of his grandchildren. Not a lot of action, but I like finding out this little tidbit.
The Boys: Highland Laddie #6 - I was wondering if I should read this or The Boys first and I made the right choice picking The Boys. In this final issue, Hughie and his friends stop the drug dealers in a strangely anti-climactic sequence (though the cross-dresser inadvertently becomes a tranny by a pair of gardening shears). Hughie also makes up with Annie, but thankfully it's realistic in that they still aren't 100%. The big reveal is that the old guy that he was palling around with was Mallory, which would have spoiled The Boys had I read this first. Mallory took steps to get Hughie to see that he should be out there fighting the good fight.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #162 - I don't really remember what happened in this issue and I don't really care. It was probably goofy and inconsequential. I wish the story continued longer with Cobra being in control of all the security in America as that was a nice twist, but I stopped caring after the Joes knocked them out of power too quickly and too easily.
glamourpuss #17 - Even for a book that tries to tell two stories at once, this one was a bit all over the place. Sim started off on his usually "feminism makes men second class citizens" rant, but abruptly switches gears to pictures of and quotes from JFK (though I did enjoy Sim drawing men in nice suits for a change). The back story continues his historical narrative of photorealistic art, though doesn't really move the story along at all this time.
Scarlet #4 - Scarlet's viral video of her killing cops gets her a ton of fans on the social medias and a flash mob forms outside of city hall. There's a ton of suspension of belief going on to think that people would flock to support a murderer, but the story is starting to get big. Scarlet now has an audience and the issue ends with her showing up at the rally. Something big is about to happen. On thing I didn't like so much was Maleev's art looking especially stiff this issue.
Fantastic Four 587 - So the Fantastic Four are now the Fantastic Three. I had the death spoiled for me, unfortunately, but looking back on the issue (and the last few), it's impressive how subtly and organically Hickman wove the characters into a place where any of the four could have gotten it. Anyway, Reed is on Nu-World trying to save everyone from Galactus' wrath (an interesting solution in having one person absorb the personalities of everyone on the world and only saving that one). Sue just found out that she's now leader of the fish people that Namor attacked and has gotten Namor to stand down his attack. Ben and Johnny are fighting off an invasion from the Negative Zone (a bit of a contrived attack, I think). Overall, a good issue handled well.
Spider-Girl 3 - So Anya confesses that she's Spider-Girl to an invisible Invisible Woman and teams up with the Red Hulk who killed her father. It's not bad, but it doesn't make much sense at the same time.
Conan: the Road of Kings 2 - Conan is in a big city running around as a thief, which is the kind of Conan I like the best. He goes for one last heist before taking his girl back to her king-father, but that doesn't go as planned (mystical, poisonous, tentacled scorpion thing, of course). Conan gets out of town, but now he's got a pissed off rich man and a dude with no skin. Good action, good story, cartoony art. I don't remember the art being this cartoony in the first issue, but I like it.
Cape 1 - A nice story from Joe Hill about a looser who discovers that his childhood superhero cape actually lets him fly. It's a pretty mundane story (closley paralleling The Helm) until the unexpected twist at the end. Sweet art, too. I'll keep a look out for more issues.
Wolverine 5 - Wolverine gives up being lord of Hell after a talk with his father and fights his way back to life (Puck ends up being the leader of Hell at the end). At the same time, Mystique, two Ghost Riders, and Hellstorm (Son of Satan) drive the demon out of Wolverine's body. Nice parallel story telling, ending with Wolverine back to life and reading for revenge. The backup story finishes telling how Mystique tricked Wolverine into the predicament that he's in now. I like the art in this section and this installment was better than the other ones.
Heroes for Hire #2 - A pretty cool story involving demon guns and Ghost Rider fucking shit up. The action was ramped up and entertaining. Misty's one and only coworker Paladin has also discovered that Misty isn't really where she is, furthering the mystery and raising the stakes with Puppet Master.
The Boys #50 - A big milestone in The Boys' 70 issue run. We finally find out what happened to Mallory. I thought he was dead, but he sold out the team (in Butcher's mind) and quit after working with The Boys caused the death of his grandchildren. Not a lot of action, but I like finding out this little tidbit.
The Boys: Highland Laddie #6 - I was wondering if I should read this or The Boys first and I made the right choice picking The Boys. In this final issue, Hughie and his friends stop the drug dealers in a strangely anti-climactic sequence (though the cross-dresser inadvertently becomes a tranny by a pair of gardening shears). Hughie also makes up with Annie, but thankfully it's realistic in that they still aren't 100%. The big reveal is that the old guy that he was palling around with was Mallory, which would have spoiled The Boys had I read this first. Mallory took steps to get Hughie to see that he should be out there fighting the good fight.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #162 - I don't really remember what happened in this issue and I don't really care. It was probably goofy and inconsequential. I wish the story continued longer with Cobra being in control of all the security in America as that was a nice twist, but I stopped caring after the Joes knocked them out of power too quickly and too easily.
glamourpuss #17 - Even for a book that tries to tell two stories at once, this one was a bit all over the place. Sim started off on his usually "feminism makes men second class citizens" rant, but abruptly switches gears to pictures of and quotes from JFK (though I did enjoy Sim drawing men in nice suits for a change). The back story continues his historical narrative of photorealistic art, though doesn't really move the story along at all this time.
Scarlet #4 - Scarlet's viral video of her killing cops gets her a ton of fans on the social medias and a flash mob forms outside of city hall. There's a ton of suspension of belief going on to think that people would flock to support a murderer, but the story is starting to get big. Scarlet now has an audience and the issue ends with her showing up at the rally. Something big is about to happen. On thing I didn't like so much was Maleev's art looking especially stiff this issue.
Fantastic Four 587 - So the Fantastic Four are now the Fantastic Three. I had the death spoiled for me, unfortunately, but looking back on the issue (and the last few), it's impressive how subtly and organically Hickman wove the characters into a place where any of the four could have gotten it. Anyway, Reed is on Nu-World trying to save everyone from Galactus' wrath (an interesting solution in having one person absorb the personalities of everyone on the world and only saving that one). Sue just found out that she's now leader of the fish people that Namor attacked and has gotten Namor to stand down his attack. Ben and Johnny are fighting off an invasion from the Negative Zone (a bit of a contrived attack, I think). Overall, a good issue handled well.
Spider-Girl 3 - So Anya confesses that she's Spider-Girl to an invisible Invisible Woman and teams up with the Red Hulk who killed her father. It's not bad, but it doesn't make much sense at the same time.
Conan: the Road of Kings 2 - Conan is in a big city running around as a thief, which is the kind of Conan I like the best. He goes for one last heist before taking his girl back to her king-father, but that doesn't go as planned (mystical, poisonous, tentacled scorpion thing, of course). Conan gets out of town, but now he's got a pissed off rich man and a dude with no skin. Good action, good story, cartoony art. I don't remember the art being this cartoony in the first issue, but I like it.
Cape 1 - A nice story from Joe Hill about a looser who discovers that his childhood superhero cape actually lets him fly. It's a pretty mundane story (closley paralleling The Helm) until the unexpected twist at the end. Sweet art, too. I'll keep a look out for more issues.
Wolverine 5 - Wolverine gives up being lord of Hell after a talk with his father and fights his way back to life (Puck ends up being the leader of Hell at the end). At the same time, Mystique, two Ghost Riders, and Hellstorm (Son of Satan) drive the demon out of Wolverine's body. Nice parallel story telling, ending with Wolverine back to life and reading for revenge. The backup story finishes telling how Mystique tricked Wolverine into the predicament that he's in now. I like the art in this section and this installment was better than the other ones.