Monday, May 23, 2005

Rapid Reviews - 11 May 2005

Captain America and the Falcon #14: "American Psycho Part 2": It's finally over. I'm not entirely sure what happened altogether, but it's over. 1 1/2 starfish

Green Lantern: Rebirth #6: "Brightest Day": Batman has a point, and it's one that's going to keep coming up as long as Hal Jordan sticks around. But maybe they pulled it off... I'm not sure. We'll have to see how this works out. 2 1/2 starfish

Rann/Thanagar War #1: "The Fires of War": I've never been a fan of the DCU's space books. Rann never interested me much, and I thought Thanagar was ridiculous. When Green Lantern wandered off into space I found myself less interested in the book than ever. So this story, in general, doesn't do that much for me. We got it mostly because we knew GL would be involved somehow. But although it's a decent set up, it just doesn't interest me all that much. 2 starfish

Outsiders #23: "Lockdown": Someone in the Outsiders is a traitor, and Arsenal is determined to find out who. I suppose this could've been worse. As it is, it was just one of those mystery stories in which everybody gets questioned, only this story doesn't even bother to give the reasoning behind the result. Because of that, it's a pretty unsatisfactory ending. 1 1/2 starfish

Green Arrow #50: "All Together Now": Pretty clear that this story is happening before the tale in Outsiders. Oh well. The art is creepy on this issue. I'm not sure what's wrong, but it doesn't look right at all. A little below average for a superhero book. 2 starfish

JSA #73: "Black Vengeance": I guess it's a good thing I got Day of Vengeance, because if I didn't, I really wouldn't have much of an idea what was happening in the middle of this issue. At least the cover says "Day of Vengeance Tie-In" so folks who didn't pick up the mini have a clue why there is wierd stuff happening. As for this issue itself, not bad overall. About average for this book. 2 1/2 starfish

Batman Strikes! #9: "Sanity Plea": I really, really don't like this version of the Joker. As a result, I didn't much like this story. 1 1/2 starfish

Aquaman #30: "Kiss of Death Part 1: The Nine": Let's see... besides the absolutely STUPID medical info in this one, it isn't really that bad.

Ok, so the cover makes no sense (why would Aquaman's hand be forced into his own mouth?) and the interior artwork is a little too bubbly (why oh why do so many artists insist on drawing tons of distracting bubbles when drawing underwater scenes?). Aquaman's choice of person to contact about getting into the killer's psyche is just ridiculous. And as Absorbascon pointed out, what's with the lab coat? I can see him wearing it in a lab as a courtesy, but why in Arkham? Good points: the artwork isn't too bad, except for the bubbles. And it's nice to see Aquaman as detective, even if all the facts are just plain wrong. And there was a promising secondary character, too. Still, it's pretty pathetic, even for a fill-in. 1 1/2 starfish

Conan and the Jewels of Gwahlur #2: P Craig Russell artwork, and a traditional kind of Conan script. Nothing wrong with this book. Conan fans should snag it. 3 starfish

Pakkins Land Vol 2 #1: I'm not really sure what to make of this one. I guess one issue isn't quite enough. It's a Narnia/Oz sort of book, with a young man reaching into another world and making waves as he goes. I'll give it a couple of more issues to impress me. 2 1/2 starfish

The Lone and Level Sands: A very cool little package showing the story of Moses from the point of view of the Pharoah. This book assumes that all the miracles/curses were real, and works from there. It's quite a book. It was a nicely different way to look at a familiar old story. 3 1/2 starfish

Chickasaw Adventures #3: "Tears at Fort Coffee": Johnny continues his adventures into the past with a trip to the Great Removal, when white settlers used force to push the tribes off their land. A nice twist in this one. This has been a very cool series to read. 3 starfish

Oddly Normal #2: Oddly finds out that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This one is really quite good, and worth a glance or two. Certainly worth a read if you like fantasy. 3 1/2 starfish

Battle Hymn #2: "The Milk Run": The aquatic character on this one definitely owes more to Namor than Aquaman, but while it looks fairly derivative at the moment I don't think it's going to stay that way. I just wish the issues would come out in a timely manner. I'm liking it, but I can barely remember what happened in the first issue. 2 1/2 starfish

Usagi Yojimbo #83: "The Treasure of the Mother of Mountains": This issue is all set-up, and I really have no idea what is happening or where it's going to lead. I think this one gets a slightly lower rating than usual only because there is enough developments that I'm not certain I'm going to remember them all when the next issue comes. It's still one of the best books out there, of course. 3 1/2 starfish

As an extra, while I'm trying to catch up with my regular comic book reviews, I plan on throwing in reviews of the Free Comic Book Day offerings. I did manage to get all of them this year, but I haven't read many of them yet due to time constraints. When I review these, I won't give them starfish ratings, but instead I'll indicate how well I think the books did their job as a free sample.

FCBD: Owly: Splashin' Around: Cute, funny, and certainly perfect for young kids. This one is pretty nice. Rating: Strong. Makes me want to read more.

FCBD: Wizard Free Comic Book Day Special: If you want to know what Wizard is all about, this is certainly a perfect sampler. In that it succeeds on its Free Comic Book Day mission. Of course, its faults all lie in that same aspect. It's Wizard. Rating: Strong, represents its parent book perfectly.

FCBD: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards: Confusing. Very confusing. I really wanted to like this one a lot, but instead I found myself wishing for a scorecard. Decent art, and I'm very interested in the subject matter, but I found it difficult to read and enjoy. Rating: Weak, too confusing to inspire readers to seek out more.

0 comments: