War Journal Entry number 736 - Weekly Haul 3/31/10
MARVEL
Cloak and Dagger one-shot - Stuart Moore + Mark Brooks. A very good C&D story that focuses firmly on the characters and their relationship. And though it doesn't deal with it, it doesn't shy away from the parallels to addiction inherent in their power interactions. If this was the beginning of a C&D series I'd be on top of it in an instant, and it does work very well as an introduction to the characters for anyone unfamiliar with them.
Fantastic Four #577 - Jonathan Hickman + Dale Eaglesham. The FF meet the Universal Inhumans, beings from four different alien races that have been hyper-evolved by the Kree like the Inhumans we know. How do you think meeting super-powered extraterrestrials that look down on other beings will work out? Yeah...
New Mutants #11 - Kieron Gillen + Niko Henrichon. Moonstar repays her debt to Hela (from the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Exodus crossover), which puts her collecting the souls of immortals right in the of middle Siege. Also features some excellent characterization for Tyr that continues off of what Gillen's been doing in Thor.
Prelude to Deadpool Corps #5 of 5 - Victor Gischler + Kyle Baker. The art is simply gawdawful. I know Baker actually has skill, but lately he's been doing his work on a computer and it is total shit. With lens flare. Seriously, fucking lens flare. He spent the time on doing lens flare instead of making things look less like excrement. As an artist, he should have waited until he was better at this new style before submitting it for paid jobs. And the editors should have refused this for the piss poor crap it is.
I think the writing is probably OK, and could probably be really enjoyed if illustrated well.
Punisher #15 - Rick Remender + Roland Boschi. The writing is as good as it has been, but I wasn't thrilled with the art. I enjoyed Boschi's art in Ghost Rider but didn't like it as much here because it's much more noticeable when the size of Castle's head changes from panel to panel than it is when Ghost Rider's flaming skull changes size. A panel or two I can forgive, but it constantly happened and bugged me enough that it soured my appreciation for the art throughout the entire issue.
Realm of Kings: Inhumans #5 of 5 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Pablo Raimondi/Tim Seeley. Family relations get strongly strained by the decisions and lengths that Medusa has gone to to keep control of the Kree. But there's no time to work it out as the monsters from the fault arrive, and a greater threat is revealed.
She-Hulk Sensational one-shot - The fourth-wall breaking prologue by Peter David + Jonboy Meyers is the highlight of the issue. Fun, frenetic, and deliciously self referential. The main story by Brian Reed + Iban Coello is the low point, a team up of Shulkie with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, two other female counterparts for established Marvel characters. Like most of what I've read by Reed, it lacks something that I can't quite put my finger on, but that keeps me from caring. Finally, it reprints Sensational She-Hulk #40 by John Byrne which, while not the best of his entire run, does feature one of the most memorable sequences of the series which resulted from a throw away joke on the letters page.
X-Force #25 - Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost + Clayton Crain. The finale for the Necrosha crossover may be a standard sized book but it's completely packed with plot. A satisfying conclusion with a great deal of closure.
X-Men: Second Coming one-shot - Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost + David Finch. Oh, look, the beginning of the next X-Men crossover comes out the same day as the conclusion to the previous one. Very quickly slams into a high enough gear to warrant being spread across five different ongoing series, a three issue miniseries, and three one-shots - for a total of 25 parts. I'm excited and hoping this closes off the Hope storyline, or at least has a more satisfying close than the previous two crossovers in the trilogy of events begun with Messiah Complex and continued with Messiah War.
BROADSWORD COMICS
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #61 - Jim Balent. A good story detailing Tarot's participation in the Swordmaiden ritual that features some very nice characterization for some of the supporting characters, especially Tarot's sister, Raven Hex. Even the appearance of real life wizard school headmaster felt less forced than such things have typically been. Don't get me wrong, it's still full of the cheesecake and stiff dialog that typifies the series, but character is as important as plot here, and that's good for me.
DARK HORSE COMICS
Terminator: 2029 #1 of 3 - Zack Whedon + Andy MacDonald. I haven't read much of the original Terminator series from Now Comics, or any of the ones from Marvel or IDW, but I've honestly never heard anyone speak highly of them. The only Terminator comics I've ever heard praised are the ones that Dark Horse put out a number of years ago, and I've got all of those. This beats them. Right out the gate this is perfect. The humanity on display, the naturalness of the characters, and the tension of the story all work perfectly. And John Connor? Only referenced once. Sweet.
DC
Blackest Night #8 of 8 - Geoff Johns + Ivan Reis. DC's big-ass crossover comes to a close, and though it is mostly enjoyable, satisfaction is secondary to setting up the new things coming out, like the two bi-weekly series, Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost. Brightest Day follows a number of the characters that were resurrected here. I'm going to give it a shot for a little while since it is written by Geoff Johns and the GL titles will probably continue to tie into it. Justice League: Generation Lost is a definite read, though, as the surviving Justice League International folks unite to hunt down one of the other characters that got brought back, as written by Keith Giffen & Judd Winick!
IDW PUBLISHING
Transformers #5 - Mike Costa + Don Figueroa. Continues to be fantastic, i.e. combining dialog defined from the characters and plot driving action.
back-issue buys
MARVEL
Wolverine and Power Pack: The Wild Pack digest - Collects the 4 issue miniseries by Marc Sumerak + GuriHiru/Scott Koblish. Fun, fun, fun, and fun. Also features some Ninja Warrior love. Man, these books are great, I really need to pick up the ones I don't have yet.
from the ½ off boxes
BOOM STUDIOS
Warhammer: Condemned by Fire trade paperback - Collects the 5 issue miniseries by Dan Abnett/Ian Edginton + Rahsan Ekedal/Chad Hardin/Anthony Williams. I've been curious about Abnett's Warhammer work since I've been loving his Marvel cosmic work, so this was a nice find. I enjoyed the story, sort of a steampunk Solomon Kane versus zombies, but the art was very uneven owing to the number of artists involved. Still, it was still good enough I'll probably check out some more.
Cloak and Dagger one-shot - Stuart Moore + Mark Brooks. A very good C&D story that focuses firmly on the characters and their relationship. And though it doesn't deal with it, it doesn't shy away from the parallels to addiction inherent in their power interactions. If this was the beginning of a C&D series I'd be on top of it in an instant, and it does work very well as an introduction to the characters for anyone unfamiliar with them.
Fantastic Four #577 - Jonathan Hickman + Dale Eaglesham. The FF meet the Universal Inhumans, beings from four different alien races that have been hyper-evolved by the Kree like the Inhumans we know. How do you think meeting super-powered extraterrestrials that look down on other beings will work out? Yeah...
New Mutants #11 - Kieron Gillen + Niko Henrichon. Moonstar repays her debt to Hela (from the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Exodus crossover), which puts her collecting the souls of immortals right in the of middle Siege. Also features some excellent characterization for Tyr that continues off of what Gillen's been doing in Thor.
Prelude to Deadpool Corps #5 of 5 - Victor Gischler + Kyle Baker. The art is simply gawdawful. I know Baker actually has skill, but lately he's been doing his work on a computer and it is total shit. With lens flare. Seriously, fucking lens flare. He spent the time on doing lens flare instead of making things look less like excrement. As an artist, he should have waited until he was better at this new style before submitting it for paid jobs. And the editors should have refused this for the piss poor crap it is.
I think the writing is probably OK, and could probably be really enjoyed if illustrated well.
Punisher #15 - Rick Remender + Roland Boschi. The writing is as good as it has been, but I wasn't thrilled with the art. I enjoyed Boschi's art in Ghost Rider but didn't like it as much here because it's much more noticeable when the size of Castle's head changes from panel to panel than it is when Ghost Rider's flaming skull changes size. A panel or two I can forgive, but it constantly happened and bugged me enough that it soured my appreciation for the art throughout the entire issue.
Realm of Kings: Inhumans #5 of 5 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Pablo Raimondi/Tim Seeley. Family relations get strongly strained by the decisions and lengths that Medusa has gone to to keep control of the Kree. But there's no time to work it out as the monsters from the fault arrive, and a greater threat is revealed.
She-Hulk Sensational one-shot - The fourth-wall breaking prologue by Peter David + Jonboy Meyers is the highlight of the issue. Fun, frenetic, and deliciously self referential. The main story by Brian Reed + Iban Coello is the low point, a team up of Shulkie with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, two other female counterparts for established Marvel characters. Like most of what I've read by Reed, it lacks something that I can't quite put my finger on, but that keeps me from caring. Finally, it reprints Sensational She-Hulk #40 by John Byrne which, while not the best of his entire run, does feature one of the most memorable sequences of the series which resulted from a throw away joke on the letters page.
X-Force #25 - Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost + Clayton Crain. The finale for the Necrosha crossover may be a standard sized book but it's completely packed with plot. A satisfying conclusion with a great deal of closure.
X-Men: Second Coming one-shot - Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost + David Finch. Oh, look, the beginning of the next X-Men crossover comes out the same day as the conclusion to the previous one. Very quickly slams into a high enough gear to warrant being spread across five different ongoing series, a three issue miniseries, and three one-shots - for a total of 25 parts. I'm excited and hoping this closes off the Hope storyline, or at least has a more satisfying close than the previous two crossovers in the trilogy of events begun with Messiah Complex and continued with Messiah War.
BROADSWORD COMICS
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #61 - Jim Balent. A good story detailing Tarot's participation in the Swordmaiden ritual that features some very nice characterization for some of the supporting characters, especially Tarot's sister, Raven Hex. Even the appearance of real life wizard school headmaster felt less forced than such things have typically been. Don't get me wrong, it's still full of the cheesecake and stiff dialog that typifies the series, but character is as important as plot here, and that's good for me.
DARK HORSE COMICS
Terminator: 2029 #1 of 3 - Zack Whedon + Andy MacDonald. I haven't read much of the original Terminator series from Now Comics, or any of the ones from Marvel or IDW, but I've honestly never heard anyone speak highly of them. The only Terminator comics I've ever heard praised are the ones that Dark Horse put out a number of years ago, and I've got all of those. This beats them. Right out the gate this is perfect. The humanity on display, the naturalness of the characters, and the tension of the story all work perfectly. And John Connor? Only referenced once. Sweet.
DC
Blackest Night #8 of 8 - Geoff Johns + Ivan Reis. DC's big-ass crossover comes to a close, and though it is mostly enjoyable, satisfaction is secondary to setting up the new things coming out, like the two bi-weekly series, Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost. Brightest Day follows a number of the characters that were resurrected here. I'm going to give it a shot for a little while since it is written by Geoff Johns and the GL titles will probably continue to tie into it. Justice League: Generation Lost is a definite read, though, as the surviving Justice League International folks unite to hunt down one of the other characters that got brought back, as written by Keith Giffen & Judd Winick!
IDW PUBLISHING
Transformers #5 - Mike Costa + Don Figueroa. Continues to be fantastic, i.e. combining dialog defined from the characters and plot driving action.
back-issue buys
MARVEL
Wolverine and Power Pack: The Wild Pack digest - Collects the 4 issue miniseries by Marc Sumerak + GuriHiru/Scott Koblish. Fun, fun, fun, and fun. Also features some Ninja Warrior love. Man, these books are great, I really need to pick up the ones I don't have yet.
from the ½ off boxes
BOOM STUDIOS
Warhammer: Condemned by Fire trade paperback - Collects the 5 issue miniseries by Dan Abnett/Ian Edginton + Rahsan Ekedal/Chad Hardin/Anthony Williams. I've been curious about Abnett's Warhammer work since I've been loving his Marvel cosmic work, so this was a nice find. I enjoyed the story, sort of a steampunk Solomon Kane versus zombies, but the art was very uneven owing to the number of artists involved. Still, it was still good enough I'll probably check out some more.