Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 02-20-08

Umbrella Academy #6
We start this week with the end of the first mini series of The Umbrella Academy, which is the break out book of the year. I've loved every issue of this series so far, but I have to be honest and say the final issue was bit of a misstep, albeit a tiny one. The whole thing wraps up a little too neatly for my taste, and puts the book in an interesting position in terms of where the story goes. The remnants of the team take on one of their own, with casualties on both sides, and then it wraps up in a touchy feely ending. The tone is fine and writer Gerard Way stages the action well, I just felt the ending was out of place. The art though, continues to amaze, with Gabriel Ba and colorist Dave Stewart bringing the book to life. It's going to be a long wait to the next mini, but I can't wait. Seriously, pick this book up.---4 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!

Year In Review - Comics Books of 2007

We come to the end of another year, and now is the time to look back in fondness of the good stuff as to we try to drink away the bad stuff. And so it goes with the comics world, as every reviewer and blogger has fun making their list and checking it twice as we expel the virtues of the great works of the past year. Who am I to resist the siren's song of the "Best of" list, so I present to you, my fine readers, a selection of categories chosen by me, with a bunch of winners and also runner-ups, also selected by me. Love it, hate it, agree with it, disagree with; please do me the favor of commenting below.

 

Best Writer – Ed Brubaker

Runner ups – Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Darwyn Cooke

Not a very difficult choice to make on this one. No writer had a more varied line-up of titles while keeping on schedule and making every book a great read. Let's look at Bru's hit list for this year: Daredevil, which is maybe not his stand-out book, but is good every month; Immortal Iron Fist, co-written by Matt Fraction, admittedly I've switched to trades on it, but the first arc was very exciting and this is well regarded by a lot of people: Criminal (see below); Uncanny X-men, I had a blast with Bru's first arc on the title, and I'm hearing good things about his issues of Messiah Complex. Finally, there's Captain America, which had a lot of buzz early in the year, thanks to a certain big event, but that buzz was stupidly squandered through no fault of his own because of Marvel's production. Brubaker is telling a very long, involved plot here with a ton of characters, but the reader never feels lost. What other writer can boast having one of the best series on the market without a single appearance by the title character?...continue reading this article at Geeks of Doom!

Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 9-26-07

In an effort to save time and my own sanity there are several great books out this week that I'm not going to write about, because I have no superlatives left in me. So, just know that Ultimate Spider-Man #114 and Criminal #9 were great, whether you buy them in monthly or in trades, you need to be reading both. Green Arrow: Year 1 #5 still looks great and this issue has more trademark Ollie, with the invention of some of his trick arrows. It's really coming together now, but wait for the trade.

The Spirit #10
To get it out of the way, yes, this is another well drawn and impeccably designed book. Actually, I really need to point out how well thought out the design is. No other book right now is as visually interesting as The Spirit is. This issue has some panels looking like YouTube frames, as the story deals with a serial killer taking out newsmen. My problem with this issue was the story. The mystery was pretty boring, and the reveal at the end is completely out of left field and feels a bit tacked on. And the commentary that Darwyn Cooke was making about the U.S. media was very pedestrian (we know, cable news is more about ratings than actual news, we get it). I like a good smart comic that examines a topic, but this is pretty much a one-sided attack on conservative media figures and it was just boring. Too much space was devoted to making fun of TV personalities and not enough space was given to the actual story to make me care. The art gives the book some redeeming qualities though, so it's not a total failure. --2 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!

Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 8-22-07

Green Lantern Corps #15
I am really enjoying the Sinestro War story line going on between Green Lantern and this book. It’s high octane action with some great character moments. This particular issue is basically the Battle of Helm’s Deep in space. The Sinestro Corps have come to the Green Lantern planet of Mogo, who is not only a source of great morale for the GL’s, but apparently is the being responsible for find new ring bearers when the old ones die. So, it’s pretty important to the GL’s to protect him, and it’s important for the SC to destroy him. This is big epic action though, planets literally collide. It’s also nice that you can read this and add another layer to the story going on in Green Lantern, or you can ignore it and not miss anything. As with the story, this is the way big event comics should be. Dave Gibbons handles the large cast well, as there are a ton of characters on each side, many of them with alien dialects, but it never gets confusing, and a special mention to the letterer Phil Balsman for making each characters word balloons distinctive. Patrick Gleason and Angel Unzueta split the pencil work and really bring a lot of intensity to the work. The action leaps off the page and in a story with this much going on, the story telling never makes it confusing. Get over your event fatigue and pick this book up. --4 out of 5...continue reading this article at Geeks of Doom!