Comic Reviews - Big Update
I honestly don't know when I read all this, but here's a lot of books that I covered since the last time I posted.
Batgirl #39 - Batgirl is still trying to do good while Burnsides hates her, she tries to get back together with Black Canary (which works after a false start), and her roommate gets kidnapped. She's constantly worried that she's out of her mind because people thing she's done stuff that she doesn't remember. It all ties in together when Batgirl realizes that the computer program based on her brain patterns is behind all her troubles, which is a great way to bring all the random threads from the previous issues. It ends with a cliffhanger where her roommate learns that Barbara is Batgirl. I really liked this issue and how it brings everything into the larger plot line.
The CBLDF Presents Liberty Annual 2014 - Typical CBLDF Annual full of short stories. There isn't anything overly preachy, which is a nice change. The standouts are the first story of aliens celebrating their freedoms, a cute story about a girl who wants to be a superhero playing a game with a boy who wants to be a princess, and the first artwork I've seen from Hickman in a long ass time.
Journey Into Mystery #651-655 - This is the end of the JiM series following Sif. The first issue is a bit of a fantastical story of a monster getting loose on Asgard and ruining Gaea's garden, mostly told following Volstagg and his daughter. From there, the other issues are about Gaea (and her garden) being ill, Sif taking her to space so she can heal away from Midgard, and Beta Ray Bill crashing his ship into the space station. There's a lot about the ship being taken over by an alien computer that wants to catalog all life, Beta Ray Bill losing his GF, and Gaea merging with the computer to bring about a new and better garden. Honestly, it's all a little mumbo-jumbo and Sif does little but react to the events. I wish the series went on longer because I like Sif, but these issues don't really give me much of her to enjoy.
Loki: Agent of Asgard #1-11 - This series follows Loki's story from his arc in JiM, with "our" Loki having taken over the body of Young Loki and trying to do good to atone for it. He's working as an agent for the All Mothers in exchange for them to erase his past deeds from history, retroactively making him into a good guy (I really love this meta plot about stories). Unfortunately, King Loki from the future is also changing the past to ensure his rise to power and destruction of the Earth. There's also a new character who knows when she's being lied to, which makes her a great friend/foil for Loki, god of lies. I really enjoy this story, but am continually annoyed by these crossovers that the title keeps getting dragged into. The twist of Axis turning Loki from a pretend hero to a real hero is really good, but I hate that every other page has a note to read Axis to figure out what's going on. This run ends with Loki losing the ability to lie, confessing to Thor about his killing of Kid Loki, and getting thrown out of Asgard forever.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #7 - The Locas tale has Maggie and Hopey going on a trip back home for a punk rock reunion. Maggie and Ray have a day together before they leave together. They show up a day late and spend the day going around town and watching movies, then, in their hotel room, Maggie makes a move on Hopey and is turned down (there's a heartbreaking two panels that are perfect in their simplicity). It's great to see Maggie and Hopey hanging out again and it's great to have Xamie tugging on the heart strings. Again, I don't have anything to say about Gilbert's half as it just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Ms. Marvel #1-12 - Ms. Marvel is a hyper-positive character and title about a teenage girl who gets powers and uses them to help the kids in her neighborhood that the regular heroes ignore. Her big villain is a guy who is kidnapping teenagers and convincing them to give up their lives to power clean energy. Ms. Marvel is a new character just getting grips with her powers and how to be a hero and there's a few fun appearances of Wolverine, Loki and Lockjaw (!). It's all delightful and adorable. The title reminds me a lot of Ultimate Spider-Man because of the new hero learning the ropes while going to high school and having relationships with her friends. It's all very nice, but not too novel. The art is really good thanks to Alphona and a guest spot from Jake Wyatt.
Orc Stain #1-7 - So the world is run by orcs. Their defining characteristic is extreme violence and distrust of authority, which means that the world is divided into every changing factions. In the south, an orc has been able to unity the clans enough to build a lasting army that is slowly marching north. In the north is our main character, an orc that is slightly less violent than the others and has the ability to find the weak point of anything so he can hit it with a hammer and destroy it. He also has one eye. The leader orc from the south has been told that a one eyed orc is key to unlocking some treasure/weapon, so is basically looking for our hero (which is hard because the violent tendencies of the orcs mean there's a lot of one eyed ones running around). All that is a huge setup for hyper-detailed art of ugly ultraviolence and the humor that springs from there. It's certainly a hoot to read, though not exactly high art or anything.
Rocket Raccoon #8 - This was a sitcom wrapup to the two parter of Rocket and Groot on an ice planet. Rocket and the princess get the MacGuffin, Groot lives, everyone goes their separate ways, I'm sure never to be brought up again. It all seemed a little too easy for the buildup on how bad ass the monster was. The art is serviceable, but didn't blow me away. Pretty average.
Rocket Raccoon #9 - It's the future and Groot is destroying the Earth and old Rocket (gray fir!) goes to stop/save him. Rocket shows up and turns into a mech and it's Pacific Rim for about a page until Rocket gets knocked out (cop out!), but his sacrifice made Groot stop rampaging. This is much better than the last arc with much better artwork. It helps that I'm a sucker for alternate future stories.
Saga #26 - We continue following three separate threads. Alana and them are being forced into joining up with a group of violent anarchists that want to use Hazel to bring and end to the war. Marco and that group are on their tale, taking time to beat up a robber during a pitstop. Sophie and the crew fight off the dragons (who have an amusing way of speak ("Hill Dontgo")) and end up just talking to resolve their differences. I still wish that there was more interaction (even just thematically) between the different threads. The issue ends with Marco taking some drugs to try and learn why Alana was using drugs (he's so blissfully ignorant), which is at least a nice way to call back to Alana and their problems.
The Sandman: Overture #4 - The outsides of this story are Dream coming to the city of the stars, being allowed entry, and then getting trapped inside a black hole. In the middle, though, is a flashback to Dream talking to his father (he has a father?!) and there is mention of his mother (he has a mother?!) and we finally see the first time he let a dream vortex get too big (which was alluded to in Sandman). I think I'm finally getting a handle on the story and the art is gorgeous.
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #22 - I picked this story up because of the art by Mike Maihack. It starts up with a super adorable story about WW fighting her villains who have kidnapped Batman and Superman (who was turned into an adorable pig!). This part is super great, but then we find that the story was just a game a little girl was playing with her sister's toys, gets in trouble with her family, then goes through a typical kids day. It ends with her sister getting attacked by a dog and the girl saving her butt, then they play WW with their toys again. That's an alright tale, but it's not that unique. Kinda average.
Thor: God Of Thunder #12 - This is the issue that takes place after the God Butcher storyline (why wasn't this in the hardcover?) and features the three Thors going back to Midgard. Young Thor meets up with some lasses and drinks a bunch of mead. King Thor walks to a blighted Earth a long time in the future. The majority of the issue with the "our" Thor as he goes about life on Earth. He meets up with a woman at a ball, brings aide to lots of people, scares the crap out of "God Hates You" protesters, spends some time with a man on death row, and reconnects with Jane Foster. It is a nice coda showing what Thor had been fighting for so hard in the previous arc.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1-2 - This is a pretty delightful and funny comic. Squirrel Girl has enrolled in college and is juggling classes with fighting crime. She takes on Kraven the Hunter (convincing him to go hunt whales), learns (from the squirrels) that Galactus is coming, and invades the Avengers' tower to get some of Stark's armor (it has a mode created specifically for her!). It's all great.
Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga - This is the classic story, though I never read it before. Jean turns into the Phoenix and rampages through the galaxy (killing a star and the people living in that solar system), gets grabbed by the Shi'ar, and is put on trial. It's all big and epic, but it leads smoothly from the previous years of X-Men and ends without a real stopping point, just continuing the story in future issues of X-Men. It's not very standalone and requires a lot of knowledge of the characters and the current themes to get the most out of.
Uncanny X-Men #141-142 - This is the Days of Future Past storyline. It's the first time I've read it, but I know the story well thanks to the cartoon and movie and all the times it's been referenced. I'm pretty shocked that it only took place over two issues, but the text is dense and feels longer than that. The one thing that I'm not sure that I like is there is only like a one page coda that doesn't really cover what happens in the future after these two issues wrap up. It's a good story that still holds up and I can see why it's a classic.
Uncanny X-Men #153 - Kitty tells a fairytale retelling the Dark Phoenix saga for Illyana while the rest of the X-Men listen in. It's amusing, but really depends on the knowledge of the characters, so while it's standalone, it depends on having read a lot of other X-Men to really get the most out of.
The Unexpected #1 - This is one of the periodical anthologies that DC puts out. It's a pretty average collection. The few standouts are a story about dogs taking over the world from humans (creepy), a story about post-apocalyptic cannibals that has a decent twist, and a family of woman as they travel America over the decades after the USA falls to pieces. There's also a preview for Voodoo Child, which wasn't interesting in the least. The best thing of this issue is the amazing Raphael Grampa cover.
Universe! #2 - A follow up to the really good first issue. In this one, we see a bunch of robots rebelling against their partners (about the only piece of continuity from the first issue), much against their programming. It's a mystery as to how they could break their program that ends up being one of the designers falling in love with the robot and controlling them so they could all love him. The robots all need a drop of blood to complete their bind, which leads to the guy to draining all his own blood. I found this issue much darker and having a slower flow than the first issue. There also isn't anything overly clever, though I liked the one page joke about the different love robot models.
Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #4 - Yet another DC anthology. Again, a pretty average one, with the two standouts being a tale of a woman who killed all the people who kept kidnapping her sisters (they turn out to be the males, thus dooming her race) and a short story of a girl in a goth family rebelling by becoming blond popular girl. There's also a cute cameo of Death and Dream drawn by Fabio Moon.
Batgirl #39 - Batgirl is still trying to do good while Burnsides hates her, she tries to get back together with Black Canary (which works after a false start), and her roommate gets kidnapped. She's constantly worried that she's out of her mind because people thing she's done stuff that she doesn't remember. It all ties in together when Batgirl realizes that the computer program based on her brain patterns is behind all her troubles, which is a great way to bring all the random threads from the previous issues. It ends with a cliffhanger where her roommate learns that Barbara is Batgirl. I really liked this issue and how it brings everything into the larger plot line.
The CBLDF Presents Liberty Annual 2014 - Typical CBLDF Annual full of short stories. There isn't anything overly preachy, which is a nice change. The standouts are the first story of aliens celebrating their freedoms, a cute story about a girl who wants to be a superhero playing a game with a boy who wants to be a princess, and the first artwork I've seen from Hickman in a long ass time.
Journey Into Mystery #651-655 - This is the end of the JiM series following Sif. The first issue is a bit of a fantastical story of a monster getting loose on Asgard and ruining Gaea's garden, mostly told following Volstagg and his daughter. From there, the other issues are about Gaea (and her garden) being ill, Sif taking her to space so she can heal away from Midgard, and Beta Ray Bill crashing his ship into the space station. There's a lot about the ship being taken over by an alien computer that wants to catalog all life, Beta Ray Bill losing his GF, and Gaea merging with the computer to bring about a new and better garden. Honestly, it's all a little mumbo-jumbo and Sif does little but react to the events. I wish the series went on longer because I like Sif, but these issues don't really give me much of her to enjoy.
Loki: Agent of Asgard #1-11 - This series follows Loki's story from his arc in JiM, with "our" Loki having taken over the body of Young Loki and trying to do good to atone for it. He's working as an agent for the All Mothers in exchange for them to erase his past deeds from history, retroactively making him into a good guy (I really love this meta plot about stories). Unfortunately, King Loki from the future is also changing the past to ensure his rise to power and destruction of the Earth. There's also a new character who knows when she's being lied to, which makes her a great friend/foil for Loki, god of lies. I really enjoy this story, but am continually annoyed by these crossovers that the title keeps getting dragged into. The twist of Axis turning Loki from a pretend hero to a real hero is really good, but I hate that every other page has a note to read Axis to figure out what's going on. This run ends with Loki losing the ability to lie, confessing to Thor about his killing of Kid Loki, and getting thrown out of Asgard forever.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #7 - The Locas tale has Maggie and Hopey going on a trip back home for a punk rock reunion. Maggie and Ray have a day together before they leave together. They show up a day late and spend the day going around town and watching movies, then, in their hotel room, Maggie makes a move on Hopey and is turned down (there's a heartbreaking two panels that are perfect in their simplicity). It's great to see Maggie and Hopey hanging out again and it's great to have Xamie tugging on the heart strings. Again, I don't have anything to say about Gilbert's half as it just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Ms. Marvel #1-12 - Ms. Marvel is a hyper-positive character and title about a teenage girl who gets powers and uses them to help the kids in her neighborhood that the regular heroes ignore. Her big villain is a guy who is kidnapping teenagers and convincing them to give up their lives to power clean energy. Ms. Marvel is a new character just getting grips with her powers and how to be a hero and there's a few fun appearances of Wolverine, Loki and Lockjaw (!). It's all delightful and adorable. The title reminds me a lot of Ultimate Spider-Man because of the new hero learning the ropes while going to high school and having relationships with her friends. It's all very nice, but not too novel. The art is really good thanks to Alphona and a guest spot from Jake Wyatt.
Orc Stain #1-7 - So the world is run by orcs. Their defining characteristic is extreme violence and distrust of authority, which means that the world is divided into every changing factions. In the south, an orc has been able to unity the clans enough to build a lasting army that is slowly marching north. In the north is our main character, an orc that is slightly less violent than the others and has the ability to find the weak point of anything so he can hit it with a hammer and destroy it. He also has one eye. The leader orc from the south has been told that a one eyed orc is key to unlocking some treasure/weapon, so is basically looking for our hero (which is hard because the violent tendencies of the orcs mean there's a lot of one eyed ones running around). All that is a huge setup for hyper-detailed art of ugly ultraviolence and the humor that springs from there. It's certainly a hoot to read, though not exactly high art or anything.
Rocket Raccoon #8 - This was a sitcom wrapup to the two parter of Rocket and Groot on an ice planet. Rocket and the princess get the MacGuffin, Groot lives, everyone goes their separate ways, I'm sure never to be brought up again. It all seemed a little too easy for the buildup on how bad ass the monster was. The art is serviceable, but didn't blow me away. Pretty average.
Rocket Raccoon #9 - It's the future and Groot is destroying the Earth and old Rocket (gray fir!) goes to stop/save him. Rocket shows up and turns into a mech and it's Pacific Rim for about a page until Rocket gets knocked out (cop out!), but his sacrifice made Groot stop rampaging. This is much better than the last arc with much better artwork. It helps that I'm a sucker for alternate future stories.
Saga #26 - We continue following three separate threads. Alana and them are being forced into joining up with a group of violent anarchists that want to use Hazel to bring and end to the war. Marco and that group are on their tale, taking time to beat up a robber during a pitstop. Sophie and the crew fight off the dragons (who have an amusing way of speak ("Hill Dontgo")) and end up just talking to resolve their differences. I still wish that there was more interaction (even just thematically) between the different threads. The issue ends with Marco taking some drugs to try and learn why Alana was using drugs (he's so blissfully ignorant), which is at least a nice way to call back to Alana and their problems.
The Sandman: Overture #4 - The outsides of this story are Dream coming to the city of the stars, being allowed entry, and then getting trapped inside a black hole. In the middle, though, is a flashback to Dream talking to his father (he has a father?!) and there is mention of his mother (he has a mother?!) and we finally see the first time he let a dream vortex get too big (which was alluded to in Sandman). I think I'm finally getting a handle on the story and the art is gorgeous.
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #22 - I picked this story up because of the art by Mike Maihack. It starts up with a super adorable story about WW fighting her villains who have kidnapped Batman and Superman (who was turned into an adorable pig!). This part is super great, but then we find that the story was just a game a little girl was playing with her sister's toys, gets in trouble with her family, then goes through a typical kids day. It ends with her sister getting attacked by a dog and the girl saving her butt, then they play WW with their toys again. That's an alright tale, but it's not that unique. Kinda average.
Thor: God Of Thunder #12 - This is the issue that takes place after the God Butcher storyline (why wasn't this in the hardcover?) and features the three Thors going back to Midgard. Young Thor meets up with some lasses and drinks a bunch of mead. King Thor walks to a blighted Earth a long time in the future. The majority of the issue with the "our" Thor as he goes about life on Earth. He meets up with a woman at a ball, brings aide to lots of people, scares the crap out of "God Hates You" protesters, spends some time with a man on death row, and reconnects with Jane Foster. It is a nice coda showing what Thor had been fighting for so hard in the previous arc.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1-2 - This is a pretty delightful and funny comic. Squirrel Girl has enrolled in college and is juggling classes with fighting crime. She takes on Kraven the Hunter (convincing him to go hunt whales), learns (from the squirrels) that Galactus is coming, and invades the Avengers' tower to get some of Stark's armor (it has a mode created specifically for her!). It's all great.
Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga - This is the classic story, though I never read it before. Jean turns into the Phoenix and rampages through the galaxy (killing a star and the people living in that solar system), gets grabbed by the Shi'ar, and is put on trial. It's all big and epic, but it leads smoothly from the previous years of X-Men and ends without a real stopping point, just continuing the story in future issues of X-Men. It's not very standalone and requires a lot of knowledge of the characters and the current themes to get the most out of.
Uncanny X-Men #141-142 - This is the Days of Future Past storyline. It's the first time I've read it, but I know the story well thanks to the cartoon and movie and all the times it's been referenced. I'm pretty shocked that it only took place over two issues, but the text is dense and feels longer than that. The one thing that I'm not sure that I like is there is only like a one page coda that doesn't really cover what happens in the future after these two issues wrap up. It's a good story that still holds up and I can see why it's a classic.
Uncanny X-Men #153 - Kitty tells a fairytale retelling the Dark Phoenix saga for Illyana while the rest of the X-Men listen in. It's amusing, but really depends on the knowledge of the characters, so while it's standalone, it depends on having read a lot of other X-Men to really get the most out of.
The Unexpected #1 - This is one of the periodical anthologies that DC puts out. It's a pretty average collection. The few standouts are a story about dogs taking over the world from humans (creepy), a story about post-apocalyptic cannibals that has a decent twist, and a family of woman as they travel America over the decades after the USA falls to pieces. There's also a preview for Voodoo Child, which wasn't interesting in the least. The best thing of this issue is the amazing Raphael Grampa cover.
Universe! #2 - A follow up to the really good first issue. In this one, we see a bunch of robots rebelling against their partners (about the only piece of continuity from the first issue), much against their programming. It's a mystery as to how they could break their program that ends up being one of the designers falling in love with the robot and controlling them so they could all love him. The robots all need a drop of blood to complete their bind, which leads to the guy to draining all his own blood. I found this issue much darker and having a slower flow than the first issue. There also isn't anything overly clever, though I liked the one page joke about the different love robot models.
Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #4 - Yet another DC anthology. Again, a pretty average one, with the two standouts being a tale of a woman who killed all the people who kept kidnapping her sisters (they turn out to be the males, thus dooming her race) and a short story of a girl in a goth family rebelling by becoming blond popular girl. There's also a cute cameo of Death and Dream drawn by Fabio Moon.