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 11-21-07

Powers #27
Wow, Bendis and Oeming have done a great job the last few months getting this book back on track, both in making sure it comes out on time, but also bringing the story back to it’s former greatness. This issue has a great speech from the police captain, as well as some really interesting scenes with Deena, and two parts with some old favorite characters. What I really enjoyed about this issue was the way it tied back into the very first arc of the series. This title is officially back to being one of the best on the stands. ---5 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!

Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 10-24-07

Ultimate Spider-man #115 – Great art, Immonen is really working well here. Great writing, Bendis understands his characters and knows how to get the best out of them. ---4 out of 5

Casanova #10 – Still crazy, still fun, still awesome. Fabio Moon’s art is I feel easier to follow than Garbiel Ba’s art was one the first bunch of issues. You can tell this is Matt Fraction’s baby. ---5 out of 5

Umbrella Academy #2 – Meanwhile, Ba is the perfect match for this book, and I think the colors from Dave Stewart really help bring the work to life. Builds on the promise of the first issue. ---4 out of 5

JLA Classified #45 – Martian Manhunter deals with his crazy mental clone of a brother who killed all the other Martians and is no trying to get the Manhunter to kill himself or be killed by his friends. Read it for Rick Leonardi’s art which is great. The story is kind of crap though. ---3 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!

Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 9-19-07

World War Hulk #4
This one was a bit of a let down as I've loved the first three issues, but this one didn't impress me as much. The battle between Hulk and Dr. Strange was a little hard to follow at points and some of the coloring effects were a little weird. Plus the whole fight is I'm assuming based on an old plot point from some Dr. Strange story that I've never heard of, and I'm not doing any research to figure out what's going on. That fight is the first half of the issue, with the second half being the Illuminati against each other. The fight is suitably emotional and this part I thought was well drawn. I mean to be fair it's John Romita Jr., and on a bad day he's still better than most people. All that said, still enjoying the mini, not buying any extra tie-ins and getting the whole story, so I call it a win. ---3 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!