Comic Reviews

Cyclops #1 – Review

UN conflicts have become too expensive, forcing the UN to contract conflicts out to corporate military companies. The catch is that anywhere these groups go their actions are filmed and broadcasted back to American TV audiences. The bigger the conflict, the better the ratings.

If one thing holds true throughout time, it is that war is always grim and devoid a happy ending. Simply stated the UN no longer has the resources to support countries during conflicts and passes a bill put forth by Russia and backed by the USA to contract out peace-keeping conflicts to private military companies. These private military corporations are essentially the mercenaries of the new era, but instead of just working for the highest bidder they are now sanctioned by the UN.

Tracker Vol. 1 – Review

Tracker is a new comic series being published by Top Cow. The series is written by Jonathan Lincoln (who is a new writer), with Francis Tsai (Marvel Adventures: Spider-man) on line-work and colours. Letters by Troy Peteri (Witchblade). Derec Donovan (Youngblood) doing line-work on issue 4. Issue 5 had Abishek Malsuni on line-work and Shashank Mishra doing colours.

The first issue “Survivor”, starts with a woman having been called to a crash site. She states being an FBI agent this is below her, only to be shown that inside the entire bus is painted in blood, guts and limbs. Her name is Jezebel Kendall and she finds a survivor on the bus who turns out to be her partner, Alex O’Roarke. After his recovery he finds he has above normal strength,speed and hearing.

Buy, Read, Pass Comics Of The Week 12/29/10

Since there are so many comics released, usually a great reviewer can’t always post those reviews. However, fret not the comic team behind all of the reviews, news, and features create a simple article that has out thoughts about comics that were released this week. For the week of 12/29/10 comics of DC Comics and Marvel release the last comics of 2010. Here is what came out and what I had to say about them. There might be a chance that I will create a full review for most of the comics listed below.

Deadpool #30: All Vampires Are Named Dracula! Review

Deadpool is spending the holiday season killing Vampires? A little to late for Vampires don’t ya think? Anyway he’s hired by a bunch of Vampires to kill Vampires (more like redundant), the only benefit that Deadpool gets is the factor of being a hero! With this being the last Deadpool issue of 2010, it’s good to see that Daniel Way who’s made the character my favorite comedic character is still writing the Deadpool’s series! Daniel Way, Bong Dazo, Jose Pimentel, and Andres Mossa joins Deadpool in a comic where Vampires try to take on the Merc With A Mouth!

Batman and Robin #18 Review

After fearing the worst when Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving were replaced in Batman and Robin I thought the series was in for a major downfall, but unlike the previous issue this story was pretty interesting. It can not really compare with the previous issues written by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving – it tries to be dark like them by substituting Doctor Hurt with Una Nemo, but fails to reach that level. It all comes down to one major thing – the Absence. If you do not like her, you will not like this issue.

Previously, Batman and Robin started to unravel the mystery of the death of an old girlfriend of Bruce Wayne’s. By the end of the issue 17, however, his girlfriend Una Nemo was found very much alive, insane, and sporting a huge bullet hole in her head.

Gotham City Sirens #17 Review

Someone please call Paul Dini and tell him to pick up a copy of Gotham City Sirens #17.  Hopefully that will send him running back to do the series that has suffered so much since his departure.  After suffering through issue 16, this issue’s character portrayal was decent but the story was boring and the art was terrible.  The only thing worse was the way the artwork was accented by the colors.

Previously on Sirens, Catwoman was kidnapped in order to determine the identity of Bruce Wayne.  Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Zatanna and Talia must now fight their way through this issue to get her back. 

Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #1 Review

Peterson returns to his prime and shows why he’s the only one that can truly craft the world of Mouse Guard. The Black Axe raises the stakes of not only his storytelling, but also his art style.

The last series of Mouse Guard – Legends of the Guard – was a series of short stories written and drawn by some of the top talents in the comics industry. The problem with the series was that it was to carefree and lackadaisical. The world of Mouse Guard is one of danger and death and Legends never seemed to capture that element.

Artifacts #4 – Review

After a less than satisfactory third issue I was hoping this issue would return to the strong start that the first two issues had. Unfortunately, the flaws in the previous issue of Artifacts have been magnified in this issue, and I’m starting to worry about the future of this series that seems to have started out too good to be true and probably is. The teams have finally been decided in the apocalyptic battle involving the thirteen bearers of the artifacts. It has also been revealed that the thirteenth bearer will play a crucial role in deciding the future of the fight. Unfortunately, not much else happens.

Darkness #87 – Review

Jackie’s dream team of convicts continues to fall apart as another member of the team looks to betray Jackie’s trust by attempting to murder him. The issue follows Tyne’s life and ultimately his death. Tyne was the mobster accountant that always had the right answer for Jackie. Well it turned out that he was a snake in the grass and was/is an agent of the Angelus – The Darkness’ mortal enemy. Tyne narrates the reader through his life explaining how he came to be in Jackie’s group.

Buy, Read, Pass – 12/8 Edition

Time for more quick verdicts on last week comics! I finally got my hands on a copy of 27 (actually two in case it blows up and becomes worth a ton of money!) And I think I may be sold on Nick Spencer finally… maybe. If I had to pick a book of the week I’d pick Thor The Might Avenger # 7. Such a fantastic title that hopefully Marvel will consider not cancelling.

27 # 1 – Buy – I was actually able to get a copy of this issue and at below cover price (screw you eBay). It’s worth picking up, but not worth paying $30 bucks for. If you can’t find it, pick up the second print.