Sunday, June 28, 2015

Comic Review: Batman '66 #24

I've read this series since it started, and never really figured out why I like it so much. In this issue, it finally clicked; this comic is aggressively trying to be what most others desperately try not to be. It is especially the furthest thing from other Batman comics, and I love it for that.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Comic Review: SHIELD #7

The last issue of this series was fun, but the real excitement came from what was promised for this issue. This brings Quake and Mr. Hyde into this version of the story, both characters very important to the TV series this is based on, but drastically different in the comics. Be warned that I will spoil the TV series, mostly for things through the middle of Season 2, but some bits afterwards, and there will be constant comparisons to the show. 

Friday, June 26, 2015

Comic Review: Wayward #9

As I said at the end of the last issue, this series is trying to make me not like it. After Ayanae announced they had spiders as a new ally, I was afraid. As it turns out, I will not stop, even with so many spiders, because it is still that good.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A quick note about ads

Within the next few days, it's very possible that there are going to be some ads added to the site. Hopefully nothing too intrusive, I'm just messing around with the idea for the time being.

Even though I'd do this even if I made no money off of it (which I already do), I'd like the opportunity to make some money off of this site. It probably wouldn't be a lot, but anything helps, and ads are an unfortunate evil in that regard. It would be the quickest way to get that up and running and have some money coming in. 

What I don't want is for the ads to be a permanent thing. I don't like putting up ads indiscriminately, and I don't like the click-bait mentality that comes with it when page views are the way you make money. My ultimate goal is for something like Patreon, foregoing advertising completely, but that would likely have even less success right now. 

So, expect to see ads coming up here relatively soon. I just hope it's not a permanent arrangement. 

Monday, June 22, 2015

Comic Review: Alex + Ada #15

This, the last issue of Alex + Ada, has stumped me. I don't know how to do this. I want to write this review, because if I can convince anyone to read this series, then this review is worth it. I need to review this, for that exact reason. Try as I might, however, I do not know how to write it, how to say something coherent about the finale and the series as a whole. I know how some people are with spoilers, so I won't give it all away, and I still have not fully processed it, so I do not know exactly what I can say about it except for this: read this series. It sticks the landing with this ending, and is more than worth your time and money.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Comic Review: Buffy Season Ten #16

From the beginning, Buffy has always worked as well as the characters. If the plots got stupid (which would happen), it would still be fine if the characters felt right. If the characters were wrong, even a good plot would start to collapse in on itself. While this applies to almost all fiction, it has always felt especially true of Buffy. I say all of this because, when I say that the creative team on this book "gets it", that is exactly what I mean.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Comic Review: Empty Zone #1

Image Comics has no editorial mandates for a specific shared universe or style, and pushes an ethos towards being independent and willing to publish anything. Despite that, many of their comics feel very much a part of certain genres, and Empty Zone very much shares many common themes and elements, without setting itself apart too much from the rest. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Comic Review: Saga #29

A lot of the previous issues of Saga have felt like setup, and I was feeling frustrated with how little it was really moving forward. This issue starts to really change that; we are close to the break, and things are starting to happen a little more quickly now than they were before.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Comic Review: Starve #1

Starve surprised me. Like most Image #1 issues, I didn't know anything about it that I couldn't get from the cover. When I started reading it, I was disheartened by the first few pages, looking like a sort of story I'm too familiar with and do not enjoy reading. Then it starts to change.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Comic Review: Angel and Faith Season 10 #15

This is a difficult issue to have much to say about, since at the same time it feels like an almost standalone story, but also serves as some connective tissue between the previous issue of this series and the most recent issue of the Buffy series.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Comic Review: Groot #1

Probably the biggest surprise from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie was how much everyone loved Groot; I had expected Rocket to come out as the "surprise" favorite of the movie, but Groot took that place, an impressive feat for a character with such a limited vocabulary. Whether a direct result of that success, it no doubt factors into this new series, where giving a talking tree with a three word vocabulary the lead in an ongoing series, but Marvel has managed to make a lot of crazy work, so why wouldn't they try it here?

Friday, June 5, 2015

Comic Review: Airboy #1

The problem with trying to review this comic is that I am probably going to oversell it. I have so much enthusiasm for it that, if I just let it out in words, I'm probably going to convince you it is the simultaneous return of Jesus and Gandhi or something like that. If you want the short version, just go and read this comic. Seriously, just get it - it will be worth it. Do you need convincing with some specifics? Okay, fine, I'll give some, but not complete spoilers, because one thing in this should be for you to discover.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Comic Review: Sons of the Devil #1

(I tend to read every #1 issue that comes out from Image Comics. Are they all good? Well, let's find out.)

Reading this comic gave me a feeling that was distinctly like when I read Low for the first time. That's not because of any similarity when it comes to content, style, or anything tangible in the comic itself. In both these books, I read it having no idea what was going on in the story, just kind of following a series of events as they went along. Then, when I get to the end, there's a letter from the author, in which they explain the inspiration for the story and the premise, at which point my reaction is both "Now it makes sense" and "Why the hell didn't you put that in the book?"

Comic Review: Material #1

(I tend to read every #1 issue that comes out from Image Comics. Are they all good? Well, let's find out.)

The way I'll explain this is to summarize, as far as I can tell, the storylines in this book:

1) We start with a philosophy professor, giving a lecture about how technology is destroying us, somewhere in the vein of Henry David Thoreau or Ted Kaczynski. When pushed about it by his daughter, who suggests he just go out and live in the woods, he claims that he cannot because he is addicted to porn, and she tells him that he's going to be a grandfather. While he is despairing about what kind of world this is to bring a child into, he is contacted by someone claiming to be the first self-aware artificial intelligence.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Comic Review: Wayward #8

Technically, this is an Image Comics series by American creators, published in full size and full color. Despite that, I call this series manga. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but at a certain point, when you take enough cues from something else, including the setting, character types, worldbuilding, general style, and tone, it’s useless to try and make a distinction between them.