Comic reviews for the week of June 11

Ok here we are again, time to review some comics! Kind of a mediocre week with a few surprises, many of the stories seem to be just starting to get underway with new arcs so not a lot is happening.  As always be wary of minor spoilers as they hide themselves in the thicket of words.  

Detective comics # 32

3/5

Batman traces the new drug Icarus back to a man named the squid’s base of operations.   I enjoyed batman in this issue doing very batman things, but I did not like that we turned bullock into a proverbial cat lady when he’s supposed to be this hardboiled detective.   The issue is fun and Batman gets to fight a giant squid but it’s hardly a landmark bat tale.

Batgirl #32

3/5

The start of batgirl’s new arc Deadline begins here. Batgirl’s been dealing with a lot lately, with her father in prison and the mysterious Knightfall who is always one step ahead of our heroin Barbra Gordon has finally had enough and is  ready to take back her life.    Batgirl despite a lot of melodrama and the fact that we put Barbra Gordon back in the bat suit is actually a pretty good read.  Barbra is very well developed as real person and not just a pair of fists and seeing her ready to march off to war is interesting.  On the down side there is a lot of melodrama going on behind the scenes and it can be a bit tedious not to mention there almost no recap of who Knightfall is or why Gordon is in jail which can be frustrating to new readers.

Green Lantern corps: # 32

4/5

John Stewart arrives on Daxam to warn its people of an oncoming Durlan invasion but things are not always as they seem.    Story wise this issue is rather good. The stakes are raised and the lanterns gain a fighting chance through the sacrifice of one of their own.  I appreciated that the upgraded Durlan detector on the rings was not just another bit of throw away plot convenience science like reed Richards’s Skrull detecting gun but came through real sacrifice.  Unfortunately the art is rather off putting as it feels a bit muted in color and muddied in design  so its certainly not my favorite comic art. Plus Some the dialogue is a little cheesy and doesn't really convey  the intended effect.

Superman/wonder woman #09

2/4

Doomsday Superman, who I refuse to call super doom or any other stupid nickname D.C tries to sell me, still lives and the kryptonite bomb has only made the doomsday infection spread faster so Wonder Woman sends a friend into help but things only get more complicated.   I can’t really say this issue was bad because I was laughing so hard at how stupid it was that I rather enjoyed reading it.  From the ridicules armor WW’s friend wears all the way to superman arguing with his doomsday self this was such a stupid issue.  On the plus side Doomsday superman was some nice eye candy and having the red lanterns just show up out of the blue was fun if not pointless and now  I’m waiting to see if the rest of this series just ends up being Were-Doomsday's crazy adventure in space.

Original Sins #01

1/5

A collection of shorts stories featuring Death lock, Young Avengers and Lockjaw.  See it says sins not sin so we just tricked all of you into spending money for an Ad.  Original sins is simply an ongoing series that advertises other series that marvel is planning on releasing, that said Deathlock does look pretty cool.

All new invaders #06

3/5

Jim Hammond the original Human Torch from World War II recalls the events of his confrontation with the Japanese super heroin Supreme Radiant Friend.   It’s that time again; when I start reading comics I normally had no interest in because of the main marvel crossover event.  This issue is a very easy jump on point so I had no trouble coming in and I must admit I like the Super Radiant Friend character and that it actually tied into original sin. Other then that I don’t really see anything special about this issue since I’m not all that invested in the characters.

Mighty avengers # 11

4/5
Luke cage discovers a startling secret about his father and learns that the groups known as death walkers have been around longer then he suspected.   A fine issue that is an interesting read learning the history of cages father is kind of cool and looks like it would have made a fine story all on its one but I suppose I was expecting a little bit more from the secret. I don’t know I was hoping for some really crazy stuff but I feel lately all the “sins” have been a little bit mild for being “sins”.

New Avengers # 19

5/5

The new Incursion as arrived and the Avengers must make the most difficult decision of their lives to kill their world or murder another.   I really did not believe I would ever be giving the new run of New Avengers a 5 but they certainly got their act together with this issue.  For the last 3 years or so the avengers have been dealing with the consistent threat of various encroaching universes that threaten to destroy their own. This long running story has been in a word annoying since the concept has been very metaphysical and complicated to the point of becoming rather uninteresting to read. In this issue however we finally get to the meat of the issue and I really enjoyed watching the moral struggle of our heroes as they decide whether they should sacrifice their own world or murder another. Oh, and Marvel is definitely not parodying the Justice league, nope, not at all.

Avengers undercover # 05

4/5

The survivors of the murder games are shown around Baron Zemo’s organization and come to a decision on whether to join or not.   A fun comic read with a lot of nice eye candy art wise and all the teen superheroes you've never of.  However it’s not newcomer friendly and most people will be confused by all the back story involved with the characters.  Also the comic  involves a panel of baron Zemo munching on toast, which is either funny or stupid but it’s hard to say which.

Deadpool # 30

2/5

Deadpool recruits dazzler from the past to help him fight vampires and agent Preston finds a lead on Deadpool’s daughter.   A very meh issue, some laughs here and there and finding deadpool’s daughter is sort of a big deal but I really didn't care about her to begin with. Using dazzler a weapon against vampires is pretty funny though. 

Captain marvel # 04

1/5

Captain marvel tries to find out how to make herself useful to the people of Torfa.  The issue was Dull and tedious spending far too much time on alien politics that will cease to be important after 3 issues. Captain Marvel is still entertaining to read though  and her journey is one I still want to follow but this issue just dragged on to complete pointlessness.

All New x-men #28

4/5

The Future Brotherhood makes another attempt on the x-men to try and destroy their legacy.  This issue is an easy and interesting to read with art that’s easy on the eyes.  The story is still dealing with the continues ripples from the Battle of the atom arc  which while interesting  needs probably needs to move on to something new.

Uncanny X-men Special #1

2/5

Cyclops is kidnapped by intergalactic bounty hunter deaths head so the Uncanny X-Men must try and find a way to save him.   It’s a fun issue and I’ll keep reading it but if you haven’t been keeping up with comics it’s kind of pointless to read this one as it really isn’t all that interesting unless you’re familiar with all the characters.  Plus the art is a little weird considering I couldn’t even tell if it was death head or not.

Wolverine # 08

4/5

Wolverine arrives on an island where no one is allowed to die and must confront his own moralty.  Its wolverine so if you like him you’ll like his comic.  Though his one is more character focused then action focused so be ready for more exposition then action but not so much that it bogs the title down.

Night crawler #03

4/5

Nightcrawler Amanda and --- fight back against the Trimega then seek sanctuary with the x-men.  If Nightcrawler isn't your thing then obviously this book doesn't really offer anything special, but since Night crawler is the best X-Man I don’t know why you would think that.   Nightcrawler really carries the issue being a strong lead that kind overshadows some more glaring history gaps that anyone new coming in wont understand.

Hulk #04

3/5

Hulk beats abomination and tony stark risks experimental surgery to restore is brain.  This is mostly been mostly a story set up issue/arc  as the real story is in who shot Bruce banner and what is extremis going to do to him. If you like the hulk then you’ll enjoy watching him wail on zombie abomination but story wise it’s all just groundwork no real meat.

Figment # 1

3/5

Blair Mercurial is working on a machine to harness the energy of the brain but ends up with some bizarre aftereffects.  That was weird. We’re starting to see the mighty arm of Disney finally reach into marvel comics in a big way and the product is rather odd. I don’t know how to express the strange concept of making a serious comic book off of Disney figment mascot.   It was a bizarre experience since it was better than I was anticipating but the more, for lack of a better word, mature backdrop is a little off-putting.  While I like the idea of trying to make the comic more universal instead of age specific it didn't quite make its mark as it wasn't very well paced nor were the characters reactions to things very believable.   I would recommend picking it up if you have nostalgia for the little purple dragon otherwise it’s probably ok to leave this one.