Comic Reviews

Amazing Spider-Man #666 – Review

Hey howdy hey, Spider-fans. Spidey has been getting a lot of buzz lately, even for one of the most popular characters in comics. He has a new movie and a new game coming out, ‘Ultimate him’ died, and, last but not least, he’s getting an island named after him! Well, kinda-sorta. You see, while there has been a lot of interest in the death of Ultimate Spidey lately, our good old fashioned Amazing Spidey is still kicking derriere and taking monikers. The inauspiciously numbered Amazing Spider-Man #666, or perhaps auspiciously (depending on your preference) acts as the prelude to the new Marvel event “Spider Island.”

Deadlands: Death Was Silent – Review

Stop
me if you’ve heard this one – a mute gun slinger goes into a bar to
shoot dozens of plant people with his undead brother slung over his
horse with more plant people coming to… Never heard of it?  Well, Deadlands: Death Was Silent has
it – and much more.  There are many Western horror comics and while
this issue falls into a few of the clichéd pitfalls of the genre, it
manages to pull itself out with numerous creative ideas. But it still
has some frustrating artwork and a second story that shows just how
great the first story was by making the second, a much less enjoyable
story, easily pale in comparison.  

Mysterious Ways #2 – Review

Mysterious Ways
takes a religious turn this issue that could upset many Christians –
especially when it’s worked in with strippers and murderers.  The vulgar
language and actions of our ‘hero’ make him unlikable.  The plot has
many facepalming moments that make you almost laugh out loud at how
improbable they are.  The art continues to fail to impress and remains
reminiscent of Image Comics of the 90s with rarely any good moments but a
consistent gritty New York nature that fits the tone of the story. 
In
this drenched New York City, the chase is on between cop killer Sam and
the police who are convinced that our blood-covered protagonist is the
serial killer they have been looking for.  During the pursuit, Sam is
aided by a mysterious figure that disappears as quickly as he appeared,
leaving him with more questions and, shortly after, a shotgun in his
face.

Executive Assistan: Lotus #1 – Review

Lotus, starts off a bit different from the otherHit List Agenda books in the fact that it doesn’t go through the entire process of explaining what an Executive Assistant is. In fact it’s not even mentioned until much later in the issue which makes this series stand out a little more from the other crossovers.

This is of course the origin issue for Lotus and builds on her as a character while leading into her involvement in the crossover event. The issue begins with Lotus systematically infiltrating an Ambassador’s suite. It’s a great sequence of events as Lotus’ narration gives us details that are usually missing from comic books like the warmth of an explosion on her back and the protection she receives from her suit. In fact writer Vince Hernandez (EIC of Aspen) does a great job of including details like this throughout the entire book. In another sequence Lotus describes how two men being shot by her sniper rifle are in less pain than the rest of the men she’s killing with deadly gas and a tiger.

The Complete Major Bummer Super Slacktacular – Review

Comics that released in the nineties tend to have a very distinct feel to them, mostly in the fact that the stories are ridiculous, costumes are absurd and the art is the best part of the comic. Towards the end of the decade Dark Horse Comics released a comic entitled Major Bummer from John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke (current Green Lantern artist). Now over a decade later the complete series of Major Bummer is being released in a glorious hard cover edition. The book originally released in 1997 and if you lived in a small town and bought all your comics from the supermarket you probably missed this series like I original had. Of course I’ve heard of how good the series was, but never found a single issue to read for myself and thank god I didn’t.

All Nighter #3 – Advanced Review

In the next installment of the not-so-ordinary teen drama, All Nighter #3
starts off with an extremely disappointing and anti-climactic opening
but manages to have many strong exchanges between the characters through
the mostly solid dialogue and the glances given towards one another. 
These simple glances carried me through this issue with a sense of awe,
despite the opening and a few other quirks in the writing that would
have been unbearable without every page of art taking the time to suck
me in.

Bomb Queen Presents: All Girl Special #1 – Review

Who can be more politically incorrect than Bomb Queen?  But this issue is incorrect in more than just the political way.  The usual elements of Bomb Queen – nudity, violence and the Queen B herself – are noticeably scarce in this issue.  The story tries to become more respectable but is hard to take seriously with Bomb Queen’s motley crew, composed of super villains Miss Demeanor and Tits (guess what her power is).      

After picking off five world leaders, Bomb Queen sets her sights on the Queen of England.  The President of the United States, Sarah Palin, instructs a team of superheroes to protect the Queen and her clone from Bomb Queen and her henchwomen.    

Star Wars: Invasion—Revelations #1 – Review

With a title like that, you know it has to be Star Wars. The Star Wars: Invasion
series is Dark Horse’s first set in the New Republic continuity that
has been covered by the Del Rey novels. This book is the first in five
of the Revelations saga and works as #12 in the overall Invasion line. Does that make it a decent addition to the galaxy far, far away?

For
those not up to speed, a quick recap is in order. A long time ago, some
Jedi returned. There were some hiccups, but the Jedi returning seemed
pretty decent and more continued to return. Then the Yuuzhan Vong showed
up. Entirely unannounced, these space invaders from another universe
had a less than favorable impression of the New Republic. Specifically,
their complaint was that they did not rule over all its inhabitants.
Now, most people weren’t too concerned, because, hey, the Jedi had
returned. Only problem was the Jedi could not feel the Yuuzhan Vong in
the Force. This disadvantage, coupled with the warrior race’s powerful
organic technology, has made things a bit of an uphill struggle for our
Luke and company.

Hack/Slash #5 – Review

Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, returns in Hack/Slash #5 and brings an interesting self-contained story, giving us a breather from the usually very involved story arcs previously produced from the series.  But if the issue’s intent was to get more readers for Hack/Slash, it failed.

The
God-like entity Fantomah has finally returned after being trapped for
many years because of the Crime Cabal and now needs Cassie and Vlad’s
help.  In exchange, she promises to help them succeed in their mission
and take down the leader of the slashers, the people responsible for
killing everyone around Cassie when she was younger by using her own
mother, the Lunch Lady.

Moriarty: The Dark Chamber #4 – Review

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud that his creations from Sherlock Holmes were
used to create this series.  This final issue cements this series as a
classic despite the fact that it has had quite a number of flaws during
its short run. But these flaws are far outweighed by the positives.  The
previously unseen villain appears in this issue and is written, along
with the rest of the story, masterfully, with the only downfall of the
issue being the artwork. 
In the final chapter of Moriarty, writer Daniel Corey finally has Moriarty – great mastermind and Sherlock Holmes’ greatest arch-nemesis –
come face to face with our villain, Tartarus, and we’ll finally see his
plan to conquer the world using the dark chamber to manifest peoples’
fears come to fruition – unless Moriarty can stop him.