Sunday, July 26, 2015

Comic Review: Batman '66 #25

Despite not realizing it, this is an issue that I've been waiting on for a while. Well, half of it is; this is one of the issues with two stories in it, and the first one is something that I've been looking forward to. Night of the Harlequin features the return of Harley Quinn (spelled Harlequin here, but I just prefer using the other spelling), and I've wanted to see more of her since she first appeared. The second one, Bad Men, is probably the better of the two stories in this issue, but the first is the one I have been waiting for.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Comic Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten #17

At risk of spoiling my opinion of this issue, I liked it well enough. It's not bad, it's not badly constructed or headscratchingly weird or anything like that to make me dislike it. The thing is, I've read this issue before, or seen it in an episode of either TV series. Everything in the Archeus arcs we've dealt with has been oddly repetitive, and it's feeling like they think they're running out of new things to do.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Comic Review: Wolf #1

I don't understand Ales Kot. I've read a couple of his comics before, and even reviewed one before, but I didn't get it there either. Maybe he's a genius that I'm too stupid to get, maybe he just works in a style that I don't really like, or some combination or variation on those, but Wolf is yet another comic of his that I just don't get.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Comic Review: Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd, a site I have just recently started writing for. Reposted here with slight modifications.
  •     Writer: Jeremy Whitley
  •     Pencils: Rosy Higgins
  •     Inks: Ted Brandt
  •     Colors: Rosy Higgins
  •     Letters: Ted Brandt
  •     Publisher: Action Lab Comics
Like with most first issues, I'm going into this blind: I don't know any of the members of the creative team, have read none of the Princeless series this spun out of, and I've never even read an Action Labs comic before. After finishing Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess, I have a number of little problems with it, but despite those flaws, I liked the issue and want to read more.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Comic Review: Archie #1

I've never been a big follower of Archie, but the marketing push of a relaunch of the series was big enough to make me pay attention. It's always been something in the background, that I knew existed, but this is the first time I've really paid much attention to it.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Comic Review: Lando #1

Just after the Leia series ends, Lando gets his turn as lead in a comic series. It is very definitely set before we first meet him in Empire, though it's not entirely clear when exactly it is set. It also is definitely a #1 issue, with some weak spots that are common in #1 issues. Still, it has enough promise in it could continue the new Star Wars comics habit of being consistently pretty good.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Comic Review: Saga #30

In my reviews of the last few issues, I've had a lot of repeated problems come up. The story had gone in a direction that I felt conflicted about - it had gone from streamlined and focusing mostly on a very small group, to having split into multiple and keeping several storylines going at once. My concern was, would this manage to resolve itself in a way that made all of that work, or was all that setup for something that wasn't going to work? Looking at this, the answer is now definitely yes, it managed to resolve all those disparate story threads well, right before the next hiatus starts, while giving it a good place to pick up when it starts again.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Comic Review: We Stand on Guard #1

My reaction before reading this book is exactly what the publisher is hoping for: excitement because the writer is the writer of Saga. After reading it, I have a reaction they would like but not what they would hope for: I'm not over the moon about it, but want to read more.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Comic Review: Princess Leia #5

From the beginning of this series, it felt like it existed to do housekeeping for the movies; since Leia never reacted to her home planet being destroyed, they needed to explain why it didn't affect her like we would expect. Despite that starting point, usually a bad start for narrative, this series turned out pretty solid, working for and earning its payoffs.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Comic Review: Angel and Faith Season Ten #16

For this arc, it looks like we're going to have Angel and Faith without Angel. At the end of the last issue, which did not have Faith, Angel left for the Buffy series for a story arc over there. Despite that change, this issue is pretty strong as the beginning to an arc, and I'm looking forward to where they take the rest of the arc.