Reviews of Comics
Batwoman #1 - Purty. The villain is a truely scary "ghost" who kidnaps and drowns children, Batwoman deals with her GF, cousin, and father, and the artwork is fluid and amazing to just look at.
The Amazing Spider-Man #668-670 - Spider-Island continues. Peter and Carlie enjoy swinging around being webheads during the day (as do all the New Yorkers). They figure out The Jackal is behind it all and fight Shocker together (as Carlie and Spider-Man). J. Jonah gets infected and is a take charge badass trying to save his city. MJ eventually gets infected. Near the end of this, we see that there's a second mutation that turns people into actual spiders, making Spidey race against time, trying to save people who initially wanted to turn into Spider-Men. It's an enjoyable series showing the fun Spider-Man has, but also turning into a real threat to the city at the end. One complaint is that there's suggestions of things happening in the side series with characters popping in and then disappearing for a while.
Annihilators: Earthfall #1 - There's some super threat heading for Earth (the Universal Church of Truth), so the Annihilators race to stop them. There's some big fights, but nothing really stuck with me. In the back story, Rocket and Groot and picked up by Mojo to be in his TV show. As before, these stories are more fun than the overserious A story.
The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #3 - We finally meet Butchers girlie, who is pretty and nice and changes him for the better while getting his mother away from her abusive husband. It's pleasant and sweet and life-affirming, which is all the more tragic knowing what happens to her.
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1-3 - Green Arrow and Black Canary move to a new city to start a new life and get caught up in a couple of intertwined mysteries. There's also a yakuza assassin out for revenge that mixes into the plot. It's a pretty decent story, but mostly concerned with the life and personality of Green Arrow. Since I'm not a follower of him, I'm not really affected by what happens to him. It was a'ight.
Heroes For Hire #12 - The last HfH story (there's a Spider-Island tie-in, then Villains for Hire) has Misty and Paladin get back to basics. They take down a minor hook ring using all the resources at their disposal, which lets them get the attention of Namor, who will be able to take the fight against hook to the next level. It's nice to see the team back at being effective at what they do, using various people to do minor missions that add up to a big thing.
Kick-Ass 2 #4 - I think this issue finally beats "booby trapped vagina" for most tasteless Millar thing I've ever read. The Motherfucker, nee Red Mist, is out to destroy everything that Kick-Ass holds dear and goes after the girl he likes at her home. There, he kills families (including children), then gang rapes Kick-Ass' (underage) friend. The cops take a lot of casualties and go out arresting every "cape" in the city. Kick-Ass' dad finds his suit and takes the fall for him. If not for the repulsive mass murder/rape scene, it'd be a compelling issue.
Secret Avengers #17 - Captain America, Valkyrie, War Machine, and Sharon Carter (I don't know who she is) go after a zombie driven hell truck that is kidnapping people in a former Soviet bloc country. They take it down very ineptly, taking up most of the issue, with a one page epilogue showing that England was behind all this, taking advantage of a poor and underdeveloped country. It was fun action, but didn't feel like it did enough with England angle. I kinda wish it would tie in with the other issues of Ellis' run, but I doubt that it will.
Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger #2 - Dagger gets kidnapped and tortured by Mr. Negative, including also kidnapping and threatening Cloak. He accepts that Dagger will kill him, but wants to show her her "true self" first, which involves turning her into a "dark" version of herself. Not sure where that is going, but there's a lot of good looking and scary nightmarish scenes from Emma Rios, but I find her artwork a little confusing when there's a lot of motion happening in the panel.
Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1-2 - Shang-Chi is helping with the Spider-Island stuff, when he sees Iron Fist attacked by Bride of Nine Spiders and goes to help out. Turns out she's being controlled by some giant spider dude Ive' never seen before. Tons of kick-ass kung fu action with Shang-Chi and Iron Fist and the sketchy artwork looks great in this context. I'm just really sure why Shang-Chi is involved in this story (including the visions he's been having) when he's not one of the immortal weapons.
The Stand: The Night Has Come #2 - This issue has Harold's gruesome death, Nadine's horrific "wedding night" with Randal Flagg, and Tom escaping Las Vegas. Lots of stuff happens in this one, and it's all creepy and scary. Best issue in a while.
Hark! A Vagrant OGN HC - Kate Beatons (mostly) historical comic strips are hilarious. Her art contains so much information in body language and facial expressions. This volume contains mostly those historical comics, but a good selection of comics about classic lit. Like all of her work, I enjoy reading it and laugh often, but there's a fair amount of jokes that go over my head.
Wonton Soup OGN SC vol. 01 - Dude is drifting through space as a trucker, learning advanced (and dangerous) techniques for cooking exotic foods. He ends up back at the cooking university that he left and in a cook-off challenge. It's funny and light with nice art, but a little thin all in all.
Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse: Calamari Rising HC vol. 03 - In this one, the tentacle people force their way into Earth to take it over while getting revenge over Wormwood. Wormwood gets into a mech suit and takes it to the tentacle queen, eventually getting saved by a dimension-hopping Elvis (who's killing all copies of himself to gain their power), finding some rednecks, and bringing vengeance back to the tentacles on Earth. Way more action and humor than the second volume, but it leaves me wondering what the long term effects on Earth will be.
Daken 12-14 - It's been a while since I read these, but from what I remember, Daken fakes his death while fighting Taskmaster to rob a bank, starts working together with a detective to bring down the claws killer, and has a fight with Moon Knight where both of them think Moon Knight is Wolverine. Fun, smart, and I like Daken getting weakened by the drugs that he's taking.
Conan: Road of Kings 8 - Conan protects a little girl, fights some zombies, and finds the girl's mother. Don't really remember much about the issue one way or another. Must have been okay.
Wolverine 16 - Wolverine, living with some wolves, has his pack killed and, while getting revenge, finds some kidnapped children that were being forced to fight the animals. While this is happening, his GF is interviewing his friends, finding what makes Logan tick and eventually heading out with all of them to find him. The Wolverine half was a nice way of showing his depression and redemption. The stuff with his GF was funny. I just don't like how quickly Wolverine has gotten over his depression and back into the swing of things.