Sunday, December 30, 2018

A Sunday Comic Books Review

DCBS
Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:
  • Feb 14th
  • Three StarfishScooby Apocalypse #22 - Shop til you drop, indeed. I'm mildly amused by the situation in the mall, but happy with the interactions between the characters. And interested to see what kind of fort they can build in a mall infested with literal shopping monsters. My only fear, that this book loses its motivation after Velma finds there is no cure, might have been premature.
  • Three StarfishTitans #20 - Only one mention of Garth. Most of this issue is about Roy and his ... mistakes. While it's interesting in its way, it's also not really my cuppa. Now, if Lian showed up... then I might be interested.
  • Three StarfishSpongebob Comics #77 - And the singing voice comes through in the end! I didn't get much of Mermaid Man in this one, although he's mentioned, but it was fun anyway.
  • Feb 21st
  • Four StarfishAquaman #33 - Ooooh, I love a happy ending. And this is basically the ending of a long story arc involving the potential death of Mera. Of course, there's still more to it - from Rath and the crown to Mera's own mini-series. It feels kind of odd to be reading this for the first time after I've seen the Aquaman movie *and* played the DC Universe Online DLC based on it. Still, good stuff. Nicely paced, good art, and the aforementioned happy ending.
  • Two and a half StarfishJustice League #39 - I still can't figure out what is going on in this book, but at least we got a good set of pages with Aquaman in a desert - something that writers cannot resist - and the "origin" of his current outfit. Maybe this will all make sense when the story arc is done.
  • Three StarfishGreen Lanterns #41 - Some detective work and police work to get a location to save low-level heroes from a horrible fate. Not a bad issue. I'm still wondering about those tech people in the previous issue. And I'm amused at the ongoing subplot/joke about dating apps.
  • Four StarfishWonder Woman/Conan #6 - That was a nice ending to an interesting and strange crossover. Yeah, it was yet another battle scene, but not exactly what I was expecting. Also, the echoes idea, of people showing up again, was a nice little nod at reincarnation in the DCU/Conanverse. Fun stuff. I liked this mini, overall.
  • Two and a half StarfishTeen Titans Go #26 - Existentialist Philosopher Cosplay. Ok. First story is about coffee, second is about a new sensational toy that exercises the foot. As always with this book, a lot of it is fun although gross, and what isn't fun is silly enough to roll your eyes at. I just have to remember that I'm not really in the target audience and leave it at that.
  • Feb 28th
  • Four and a half StarfishMera: Queen of Atlantis #1 - Oh yeah. Mera has always been a power in her own right (when I first learned of her, I wondered why the writers would give Aquaman a love interest so much more powerful than he is) and this is a good introduction to the complicated life she's been submerged into. I love the way Abnett gave every bit of context anyone might need. And the inclusion of Orm is an interesting touch. Great issue.
  • Two and a half StarfishBatman Beyond #17 - Is it old home week in this book? Payback, Stalker, and then Ten? Lots of interesting things happening, in any case, but it's mostly just one long battle sequence with hints thrown in. Decent, but not fantastic.
  • Three StarfishTeen Titans #17 - Very much a Beast Boy story. I felt like Jackson was a little out-of-character, talking more than usual and trying to fill in for Gar. But the plot caught my attention and I'm curious to see what this "bleeding-edge" tech will do.
  • Two and a half StarfishScooby-Doo Team Up #35 - Yogi Bear. I suppose if we have talking dogs, talking bears are fine too. I seem to recall getting rather bored with Yogi fairly quickly because he's a one-trick pony - but this story uses that one-trick to its advantage by making Yogi not guilty. And there's a ghost, too, you know. Crazy stuff.
  • One and a half StarfishDoctor Strange #386 - I'm pretty sure I missed an issue of this, but there was a crossover and a mini-series, so maybe it's just naturally abstruse. Whatever, I'm not really following the story very well. Maybe it'll get better.
  • Three and a half StarfishRough Riders: Ride or Die #1 - You know, of all the personalities they could have brought into this book, that's not one that ever came to mind. I think I'm going to like this mini-series. Of course, if you haven't read the previous ones, this will make absolutely no sense whatsoever, so go find the first book and read them all before jumping into this one.
  • Doctor Who Comics
  • Two StarfishTorchwood: The Culling #1 (3.1) - If I'm reading this right... a vervoid/human clone with the genetics of both Gwen and Jack, running around trying to figure out what it is going to do next and possibly causing great damage as it goes? Or maybe I'm just reading it wrong.
  • Two StarfishTorchwood: The Culling #2 (3.2) - Apparently I wasn't reading it wrong. And now the team is on the way to find the clone - which poses serious problems because it kills on touch and even just with contact with its bodily fluids. So this is going to be a difficult trip.
  • Two StarfishTorchwood: The Culling #3 (3.3) - Ah. Very useful to have both a roboty thing and a human who cannot die along with you when you are facing problems with contaminated ground that will kill at a touch. But why is the ground still connected to the clone? It's all very confusing.
  • Two StarfishTorchwood: The Culling #4 (3.4) - So, the clone is human after all, and Gwen can go back to her family and all is good. But I have an issue with Torchwood comics: Every time I read a Torchwood comic book I feel like I'm missing at least half the story.

0 comments: