Comic Reviews

Supergirl #6 Review

When I first heard about this series when Dc was announcing all of their reboot titles I was kind of hesitant to pick up this series up. I thought Supergirl was going to be totally different from her character before the dc reboot, but after reading the issues that have came out for the series so far I have realized that Supergirl has not changed that much. I like the new spin that they have brought to Supergirl and still having some old qualities in her character that we saw before the Dc reboot.

I really liked the cover for this issue. I have been really enjoying the art for this series and it has to be one of my favorite art for the Dc reboot. The concept for the cover is also pretty great for this cover. In this issue we get to see Supergirl on the brink of death, and seeing her have to decide if it is still worth living after she finds out that her family and friends have died.

Static Shock #6 – Review

After six issues, Static has officially made me stop caring about anything going on in his universe. With a monstrous number of paper-thin characters, boring dialogue attempting with little to no humor, indecipherable artwork and a confusing storyline, Static Shock #6 is one of the worst comic books I have ever reviewed. A shame considering this issue has the best twist out of any of the New 52 titles I have read.

Static continues racing against the clock as he looks for his sisters. Hardware and Technique lend a mechanically-wired hand in his search as Sharon is stuck in the middle of a bitter rivalry between Piranha and Darkstar. Her “evil twin” problems origin is finally revealed.

Young Justice #13 Review

Young Justice is a great comic book series for the fans of the television show Young Justice on Cartoon Network. With every issue we get new stories of our favorite characters that we cannot get on the television show. We can dig deeper with all of the characters on the Young Justice team. Especially since the show has been on hiatus for a while this is a great series to get your Young Justice fill.

I loved the art for the cover of this issue because it is very similar to the art we see on the television show. This will make it more tempting for the fans of the show to pick up the issue once they see the familiar art on the cover. But there was one thing I did not like about the cover and that was the concept. The concept was kind of misleading because Batman tells Aqualad that he is not team leader anymore. In the end of the issue Aqualad does not quit as team leader, but he does say he wants to go back to Atlantis. 

Generation Hope #16 – Review

What a weird number to start looking at this book. You might be wondering if this issue sets up a new story or is in any way a good starting point for this series. No, it is not. This particular issue seems to come very much in the middle of things, with characters constantly referencing what happened in the last issue. I really do not know how indicative of the series this single book is. Even so, it is the most recent one and we at Player Affinity are nothing if not topical.

The X-Men franchise as a whole has become scattered and spread between so many teams and books that it really is hard to keep track. Most recently, the books have been further split between two factions: Team Cyclops and Team Wolverine. I will let you make your own Twilight parallels. Besides the allocation of characters, the differences between the books seem to be how these books are structured thematically.  Team Cyclops is reminiscent of the plot heavy world building sagas that predicated the late eighties and early nineties. Team Wolverine seems more in line with showing off action and adventure with these characters that readers have come to know really well. Basically, Cyclops is convoluted plot developments and Wolverine is fun. Will these two ever escape being cast as Oscar and Felix?

Red Hood and the Outlaws #6 – Review

Taking a major step in the right direction, Red Hood and the Outlaws turns away from its plot with the Untitled in favor of a very character-focused issue between Red Hood and Starfire. It’s just too bad this great change comes in the same issue that suffers in quality from being split between two writers.

We flashback to the events that immediately precede the first issue of the series, featuring how Jason Todd and Starfire got together. Lobdell promised readers that there was more to those two than it initially seemed, and he honestly does deliver on that. This issue really lays out why the connection between Jason and Kori is so interesting by focusing in on their opposing philosophies about the past. Jason allows himself to be completely driven and consumed by his past, but Kori focuses on living in the moment and really almost hides from her own past. It’s understandable how Kori’s apparent freedom from the past would be appealing in a way to Jason.

Justice League International #6 – Review

Even after a battle to the death with Galaxus copyright Peraxxus, the JLI can not afford to take a minor break in Justice League International #6, the epilogue to the series first story arc Signal Masters. The issue proves not to be the standard epilogue issue with a lot of twists, but the numerous conversations going on combined with out-of-no-where death threats, this issue of JLI does not feel coherent but does feel like a solid bookend to a mediocre first arc.

Batman and Booster take out the guys who blew up the JLI headquarters. Booster must make an appeal to the UN to keep the JLI around. And Godiva and August General… enjoy a hotdog.

Batman #6 – Review

Writing super hero comics is tricky business and many fail to do it well.  It is one of the main reasons that people tend to age out of reading comics.  At some point the writing is just not good enough anymore.  Central to the problem is the fact that main characters can’t die (permanently).  So the writer is left with the near-Herculean task of creating enough narrative tension that you really do feel for a moment that the hero is in danger.  With super hero comics that leads to wondering just how your hero will get out of this.  Just how does Batman get out of the situation Snyder put him in during the last issue?

Last issue we saw Batman get stabbed.  And Snyder didn’t leave us with the option of the blade getting stuck on some Bat-Armor – no we saw it go through Batman’s torso.  If we had been reading’s Snyder’s American Vampire, it would have been lights out for the hero.  Snyder has been known to Joss his American Vampire characters.  But Bruce Wayne isn’t going out six issues into The New 52.  Would we end up with the cop out that it was a hallucination?  After all, Bruce was starting to go a little nuts from wandering the Owls’ maze for 8 days straight.  

Deathstroke #6 – Review

This is one of the better issues of Deathstroke that has some depth and characterization pertinent to the plot. Unfortunately the artwork is still filled with awkwardly designed musclemen and blood-gushing soldiers with only some good partial two-paged spreads.

We learn more about Deathstroke’s son, Grant, who continues failing to impress his father. Readers also get some “family time” with the Wilsons before returning to real time, which features Legacy and Deathstroke’s huge battle.

Green Lantern #6 Review

Green Lantern has been one of my favorite series from the Dc Reboot because it is one of the only titles that has not changed during the transition to the Dc Reboot from the old Dc Universe. This series continues right from the last series without skipping a beat.

In this issue we see Hal Jordan try to get use to life without being a Green Lantern and try to be with Carol all at the same time. In the mean time we see Sinestro encounters a woman who holds the Book and Black. She shows Sinestro a horrible future and Sinestro knows he is in over his head. So, he asks Hal Jordan for help.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #1 – Review

Rodimus and company begin their quest for the Knights of Cybertron, co-beginning a new era of IDW’s Transformers franchise. This is a series that will clearly focus strongly on character interactions, but it ends up playing itself up too much for laughs at the expense of its central story.

For those not up to date on the current state of IDW’s Transformers franchise, the war between Autobot and Decepticon is over. The Autobots have won and retaken their homeworld of Cybertron, which has undergone drastic changes through the course of their war. Optimus Prime has gone into self-exile to smooth out the transition into a post-war era between Autobots and non-aligned Cybertronians. But rather than manage that uneasy transition, Rodimus has begun a movement to find the legendary Knights of Cybertron, who he believes will be able to usher in a new golden age for Cybertron.