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!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 02-20-08
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 02-13-08
The most anticipated return of the month, at least for me (no offense Alan Davis fans). After more than a decade off, (was I really in high school when the last issue came out) finally we get to see the end of the series. The only problem is, it's been too long, and while I remember the premise and creator Rob Schrab does a good job of bringing new readers up to speed, I wish I could catch up with the complete story. Schrab's art still has all the style and excitement we're used to, and fans of the series will enjoy this. The story is pretty light, and is mostly catch up, but it sets the rest of the story up and there are some good moments. If you've never read Scud before, wait a few months, and pick up the omnibus, as I plan to do anyway. That's pretty much my highest level of approval, because I hate to buy things twice, but I'll be doing it for this series. ---4 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 01-31-08
It's the biggest comic of the week, at least for me (I read Y: The Last Man in trades). Does it live up to the hype? Well, it's just another piece in the rather large puzzle that Ed Brubaker has created since he took over the series. Brubaker resists the urge to make this a very special issue, and just keeps his story chugging along, while keeping it accessible enough for people just picking up this issue. Yes, the new Captain takes up the shield this issue, we all know who it is. That's almost the B plot of the issue though, as the more important stuff goes on between Tony Stark and a government official who won't accept the Red Skull is back, and then there's an exchange between the Skull and Armin Zola and a rather shocking ending with some of the Skull's sleeper agents. Perfectly paced story, and great action and design from artist Steve Epting (with beautiful inking by Butch Guice). If you're going to do a big character event, this is the way to do it. ---5 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Friday, February 1, 2008
January 2008 Comic Pull Round-Up
Ultimates 3 #2
On the plus side, I found the art to be better in this issue. I don't know if it's just Joe Mad clearing out the cobwebs, or if the coloring didn't bother me as much this time, but I found the action easier to follow and felt like this was classic Joe. I can't say as much for the story or dialog, which were both pretty stupid. Hawkeye comes off as whiney and weak, and what should be his big emotional display while talking about his family rings hollow. Cap sounds like an idiot who would be behind the times in the 40's. Tony Stark isn't a lovable drunk anymore; he's just a regular drunk. The only one who comes off well this issue is the Wasp, but she seems more like the regular Marvel U version, and not her Ultimate self. The story stops and stalls, we still have no explanation who the Black Panther is and why he's hanging around, and the Brotherhood of Mutants show up for no good reason. I'm getting the feeling that this will be a lot of set up with little payoff. Not nearly as good as the Millar/Hitch run. On the plus side again, at least it's on time. ---2 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 01-04-08
Please, Joss Whedon and Dark Horse, please, please, please, please, please let Cliff Richards become the regular artist on the series. I would be eternally grateful and would shower this book with endless praise. Richards fills in for this one off story that reveals a little secret about Dawn, while also looking into the past and future of Buffy and Willow as they have a tête-à-tête with a demon. I don’t understand why they’re not using Richards, as he employs a similar style to the regular artist, but his characters stay on model, and his faces show actual emotion. Revealing secrets is the name of the game this issue, and there are a lot of good bits strewn throughout. Joss is back to write this issue so you know the dialog will pop and everyone will sound like they’re supposed to. This is a very good issue of the series, much improved by the superior art. ---4 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 12-28-07
Yep, that sure was an ending, wasn't it? Jeph Loeb brings this series to a close, not with a bang, but a whimper. There are maybe two surprises in the whole thing, although if you've been reading Ultimate Spider-man, it kind of explains a pretty major plot point. It's not awful but like the whole series, it's just way underwhelming. The series rushes to a conclusion without any major drama. The art from Greg Horn is his usual work, so you can take it or leave it. Again, not bad just largely lifeless. If this was supposed to be a major event, than Marvel really missed the boat. ---3 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 12-12-07
I loved the beginning of this crossover, I loved the middle, so why should my opinion change about the end? I loved this issue, from the opening battle scene, to the explanation of the 7 Lantern Corps, to the preview of the next big GL event. I'll admit that it's kind of cheesy, but darn it if Geoff Johns doesn't find a way to make it interesting. So many great moments in the issue, with the denizens of Coast City playing their part in defeating Sinestro, to Cyborg Superman's not quite death, every page gave me another great moment. Ivan Reis brought his A-game for this issue, and the time spent shows. I have to go back and re-read it to see which pages were drawn by Reis and which ones were done by Ethan Van Sciver, but there was so much done well about the art I didn't really notice. I'm calling the Sinestro Corp War a success, and it's certainly in the running for some of the best comics of the year. ---5 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 11-29-07
What’s this? An issue of All Star Batman that I didn’t really have any problems with? That’s right; this is probably the first issue that I really enjoyed the whole way through. Maybe I’ve just grown used to [Frank] Miller’s portrayal of Batman in this series as a lunatic jack-hole, and I can just have fun with it. It probably helps that I’m not so attached to Batman that anything outside the norm becomes sacrilege. That said, this whole series will read much better once it’s finished, because every issue tends to go by too quickly. Jim Lee’s art is up to his usual standards though, so at least it’s always good looking. Maybe this series will take a good upswing just as it’s coming to an end. ---4 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 11-21-07
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!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 11-14-07
(On-sale: 11/21/07) -- Coming to you from BOOM! Studios, we get the final issue of this remarkably good spy story. Although I guess with this issue, I’d have to describe it as half spy story, half noir. Things come to a messy end and not everyone comes out alive as series lead Eric has a reunion with his femme fatal Emma, as she explains what she’s done. Writer Chip Mosher does a good job making the reader understand what the characters are going though, and paces the story perfectly. The ending becomes very emotional without being melodramatic. Artist Fancesco Francavilla’s work reminds one of Michael Lark or Alex Maleev, with very realistic renditions of the locales, and a good handle on the characters. This has been a very enjoyable story, and if you missed the first four issues, definitely be on the look out for the trade when it comes out. ---4 out of 5
...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 11-07-07
If you're looking for a book to get your non-comic reading friends interested in comics, give them this book. Smart, gritty, exciting, dark, suspenseful. It's any interesting crime movie you've ever seen done in comic form. Brubaker is doing things in this book that you've seen a million times before, but he does it with such skill you never even notice. You know exactly what is going to happen, but it's fun to watch the pieces fall into place. It's also good because it feels like a full meal of a book, and I never feel like I was paying too much for too little of a book. Sean Phillip's art sets the perfect mood and he is a modern master at creating expressive characters. The back matter of the book has covered so many different topics and I'm never sure what to expect. This issue ends the “Lawless” arc in a bit of a surprising way, and I can’t wait to see the next few issues. February is too long to wait.
---5 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 10-31-07
It sure doesn’t feel like this series is coming to a close next issue. This issue brings to light the bad pacing of this series, as the early issues moved too slow and introduced nothing, and now the last few issues are racing to the end. It doesn’t help that there were twelve billions characters running around before the old version of the Squadron Supreme showed up. There’s just not enough time for everything that’s going on. Greg Horn's art is still what it is though, and if you can get over the stiffness of it, it’s enjoyable enough. I have to say that what should have been a big fun action story has collapsed under its own weight. ---2 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 10-24-07
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!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 10-17-07
Woo, it’s finally out. And I’d say it was worth the wait. Frank Cho draws a tremendous beat down between femme-Ultron and the Sentry, while the rest of the team works on a plan to stop her, and she works to launch the United States nuclear weapons. Brian Michael Bendis does a great job with the characters in this issue. Ares in particular gets his issue to shine. I also think the Bendis reached a good amount of the thought bubbles, as I’ve found them too numerous to the point of distraction in previous issues, but he made good use of them here. I only hope that issue 6 doesn’t take as long to come out. But I’m not holding my breath. ---4 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 10-10-07
This is one book I’ve really been looking forward to, as I’m a big fan of writer Brian Clevinger’s webcomic “8-bit Theater.” The series is about a robot created by Nikola Tesla in 1923, which goes on to have a series of adventures across time. This issue, he fights a German scientist who is performing illegal experiments. I have to say though that it didn’t really work for me. There are some good ideas here, but a lot of the humor fell flat. There’s also some storytelling issues as there are a number of panels that are unnecessary and break the pacing of the story. The art looks very good though. Artist Scott Wegener has a style that’s one part Mike Avon Oeming and one part Mike Mignola. I really enjoyed the look of the book and the designs for the characters, but again there’s just a bit of work to be done on the storytelling. As this is the first comic work I’ve seen from both of them, I’ll continue to pick up the series, but I’d like to see a bit of improvement. ---2 out of 5...come see what else Henchman21 has been reading at GEEKS OF DOOM!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 9-26-07
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!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 9-19-07
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!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 8-22-07
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!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Weekly Comic Book Pulls for 8-15-07
The big story with this issue is of course the change in artists. Stuart Immonen takes over with this issue, and I hope he stays around for a long time. His art is different from Bagley’s, that’s no doubt, but it keeps the same level of excitement and action. As with Bagley, Immonen does a good job of making the teenagers look like teenagers and not short adults. The story deals with another return of Norman Osborne as he makes his escape. The bulk of the story deals with continuing the Peter-Mary Jane-Kitty triangle as they get entangled with that most classic of sitcom situations, the take care of a baby assignment. (Which does anyone actually do, or is this something that just happens to T.V. characters?) It’s a cliché, but Bendis makes it work for him, as his characters always ring true. The change of art is not as jarring with Bendis behind the typewriter, as the characters voices haven’t changed, just the way they look. This issue is as good as the series always is...continue reading Henchman21's pulls at Geeks of Doom!
