Comic Round up for the week of 7/30/14

 Welcome comic lovers to this week’s round up! And this week we have a new feature!  That’s right loyal followers after many agonizing hours of toil and sacrifice I have created a new component to the reviews.* Introducing the Newcomer Friendliness Rating System, It basically is going to work like this: after the book title and initial quality rating your will See something that looks like this, NF rating: 2 ,  this new rating system will tell you how easy it is to just jump into the comic series in question based on how much continuity is need to enjoy the story.

3: this is the perfect jumping on point. Everything that is necessary is explained and the reader shouldn't be lost at all.  This mostly refers to first issues or the beginning of new arcs but sometimes can be seen in middle issues.

2: It’s complicated. Technically you should be reasonably fine jumping into this story. Most of what you need is explained or at the very least doesn't matter to the enjoyment of the book. 

1: No good.  This is a terrible jump in spot. There’s lots of continuity and back-story that the reader needs to know for the full effect. Better to read from the beginning of the arc.

0:  Don’t even bother.   This is the absolute worst place to jump in. it’s so bad in fact that you might as well go all the way back to the beginning of the series or just jump in here because cannon and lore is so tightly tide to the story that no matter where you jump in your going to miss out on things.

So that’s are new feature I hope you enjoy it and as always there are mild spoilers in some of the description and  if you like any of the comics you see here you can always visit comixology or your local comic shop to pick up and issue or ten.  Also feel free to comment, like or share this blog as this helps me know people are actually reading this crazy thing and I don’t look like some jerk who likes  talking to themselves.

  Now without further adieu let us delve into the world of Galaxy Guardians, Lanterns that come in every color of the rainbow and Ghost exterminators.

Guardians of the Galaxy #17

4/5

*NF rating: 1

Starlord escapes from J’son with the help of Captain Marvel and searches for the rest of the guardians.  This was a pretty solid issue even if the art seemed to almost change style mid book, it was weird.  I am surprised that we wrapped this little mini arc up so quick I think it really only lasted like three issues.  But the big  elephant I the room  that I needs addressing is that next issue  were FINALLY going to get answers about what Happened to Richard Rider, the Cancer verse and why the heck Thanos and Starlord are back without a scratch. For crying out loud they have been yanking are chains for the last three years about this nonsense, This better be a really good explanation.

Avengers #33

4/5

NF rating: 2

Captain America continues his trek into the future when he lands an insane amount of years past the original starting point. This issue wasn't so bad, it was kind of fun to see cap travel this ludicrous amount of time into the future to fight a super A.I, that grew out of Ultron apparently.  It’s a bit existential but it kind of adds to the charm and on the plus side it’s almost like its own individual story so long as you’re not all that concerned how cap got here in the first place. I will say though I miss my homicidal robot Ultron instead of existential Computer A.I Ultron the former was just way more fun than the latter.

Uncanny X-men #24

4/5

NF rating:2

The X-Men gather up Scott Summers and his merry band of mutants so they can all be present at the reading of Xavier’s will but soon they all  find that Xavier had his own secrets.   This was a lot of fun to read and really only avoids a 5 because I am so sick and tired of listening to the x-men whine and moan about how terrible a person Cyclops has become.  Ok, we get it, he killed Xavier and even though he was possessed at the time he’s still partially to blame because he’s such an arrogant jerk.   But aside from that all the characters were handled well and each personality was captured perfectly even if they had only one line of dialogue. Best part of the comic is the actual reading of the will where I share Emma’s sentiments when we learn who Xavier’s secret wife is.

Original Sin Hulk vs. Iron Man #03

2/5

NF:  1

Iron man and Hulk duke it out over Tony’s future city. This is slightly better than the previous issues as it’s got a good knock down drag out fight between iron man and the hulk which is really exciting.  But other than that it’s hardly a blip on the Original Sin continuity.

Iron man Special #02

2/5

NF: 1

Iron man unknowingly teams up with Cyclops’s X-Men in order to located death’s-head.   The comic had some nice strong moments but in the end the overall tale was rather blasé and didn’t showcase anything special. In fact it was more an iron-man x-men crossover then it was an ironman special.  I wouldn’t completely condemn this comic, but if you’re looking for a great iron man story this isn’t it. 

New Avengers #21

5/5

NF: 0

The Illuminate deliberates over whether or not they should destroy an entire world to save their own.  Deep stuff especially for an avenger’s comic. I really appreciated the way the book handled the moral issues of the choice they had to make and managed to keep the personality of every character intact. Of course after reading this issue I do believe someone needs to punch panther’s ghost dad in the face .

Cyclops #03

4/5

NF: 3

Young Scott and his dad crash land on an alien planet and are forced to survive. Nice heart to heart between Scott and his dad I would like to see more of these types of moments from the series. I was also surprised to see mention of emperor Vulcan, I didn’t think marvel even remembered War of Kings considering the only thing still in effect is that Gladiator is ruler of the Shi'ar, oh and I suppose as introduced in this issue  that Corsair is only “mostly dead”.  

X-Men #17

3/5

NF: 1

The X-men raid The Futures (hate that name, messes with my head) hideout to rescue jubilee.  Better then the last issue but still just barely ok, But Jubilee busting out her vampire powers was pretty awesome.  The issue also makes me realize that the X-men need to do something about this revolving time door they have, there are at least seven different X people that are now stuck in the present that came from the future or the past and that’s not even counting people like Bishop, Cable and Hope who tend to exist outside of time.

Aquaman Annual #02

2/5

NF:2

Aquaman and Wonder Woman team up to fight the giant born.  Well, the monsters were nice to look at. Seriously though if you just want to look at Aquaman and Wonder Woman punching a bunch of monsters then pick up this book; it fulfills monster punching in spades. If you’re looking for story or interesting character development leave this one on the shelf as it really doesn’t have much of either.

Red Lanterns annual #01

4/5

NF: 2

Atrocitus launches his attack on earth to draw out Guy Gardner into a final fight.  This one’s tricky, the action and scale of the story are fantastic and really generate the awesomeness that a comic book should generate.  On the flip side of the coin because it’s an annual the writing and art style seems a tad bit off.  The pacing of the story is rather lighting fast and just about everything in the book happens with such convenience that it’s hard to suspend disbelief. I also must point out that I am disappointed by the lack of understanding all these new lanterns writers have of the universe Geoff Johns set up whether it be Atrocitus, larfleeze, the Star Sapphires or the now forgotten Indigo Lanterns  they all have lost the subtly that made them such lovable and interesting characters.

Sinestro #04

NF:2

3/5

Sinestro faces a new threat in the form of an anti emotional cult. Well that was…something.  We build up the These Anti-emotion guys, still not clear what their actual name is, and they even look all scary and evil but apparently there nothing more than paper tigers.*  they just get their butts handed to them when two or more colors are combined. You know that sounds awfully familiar, where have I heard that before, Oh wait that’s right.

Sinestro is fun and the story is alright but considering how easily these new bad guys got wasted I’m hoping the writing improves as it I love Sinestro and I would hate to see his comic end poorly.

Ghostbusters # 18

5/5

NF: 1

The Ghostbusters try and find out if Tiamat is really gone and if not how can they stop her.   If you love Ghostbusters you’ll love this book.   There’s not much else to say except that this is a fantastic comic and almost the entire run has been wonderfully entertaining full of the same humor and horror that the original movies had and is a must pick up.

Your pic of the week is Gamora and Angela standing over their slaughtered enemies.  This is the kind of thing that the movie should have had Gamora doing…but that’s a topic for a different post.

 ** Paper Tiger: Noun, a person, group, nation, or thing that has the appearance of strength or power but is actually weak or ineffectual.  See look at that you just learned something. Now, aren't you glad you stayed till the end of the page?