Comic Picks by the Glick

Manga and Comic Reviews

Gantz vol. 31

Okay.  I know that I’ve been fairly critical of this series in the past, but I’m starting to think that it has finally turned a corner here.  After the previous volume managed to present a series of events that didn’t annoy the hell out of me, this one continues the momentum on several fronts.  Things […]

Sex Criminals vol. 1

Meet Suzie.  She works at a library that is about to be foreclosed on by the bank and is busy trying to fundraise enough money to save it.  She also has the power to stop time whenever she has an orgasm.  Meet Jon.  He works for said bank, meets Suzie at one of her fundraisers […]

Superior Spider-Man vol. 5: The Superior Venom

This was probably inevitable in the title’s run.  Pitting the mind of Otto Octavius in Peter Parker’s body against one of Spider-Man’s most famous villains?  Clearly a great way to show us what the character is made of before the final arc.  The problem is that the storyline plays out exactly as you’d expect.  After […]

Three

According to legend (actually, just Rich Johnston) Kieron Gillen was utterly incensed after reading Frank Miller’s “300” and seeing what a hash it made of actual history.  Granted, I don’t think Miller had any real designs on historical accuracy with that title — it reads like an exercise in mythmaking more than anything else — […]

The Complete Battlefields vol. 3

This final collection of Garth Ennis’ latest series of war comics comes with two strikes against it.  As the run consisted of only two three-issue miniseries, this final collection is shorter than the others by a third.  The hardcover collecting them is unfortunately not correspondingly cheaper as it bears a $25 cover price instead of […]

Star Wars vol. 2: From the Ruins of Alderaan

The main thing readers of the first volume will immediately notice in the second is that there’s a new artist onboard.  One of Brian Wood’s frequent collaborators, Ryan Kelly, provides the art for the first half of this volume and parts of it are an uneasy fit.  What’s good is that he’s got a nice […]

Vinland Saga vol. 3

When I started reading the first volume of this series, I had high expectations for it.  After all, it was from the creator of “Planetes,” still the best manga ever published by Tokyopop, and the placement of each new volume on the sales charts indicated that this story about vikings had transcended whatever limitations doing […]

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth vol. 8 — Lake of Fire

Now this is interesting.  I’ve said before that this title’s biggest weakness is its tendency to put out stories that aren’t immediately entertaining, but set up things that will be paid off quite well down the road.  One only needs to look at route Mike Mignola and co. took to get to “B.P.R.D.:  Vampire” to […]

Deadpool by Duggan and Posehn vols. 1 & 2

Deadpool’s sudden popularity over the last few years has always been a bit of a mystery to me.  While the character has been around since the early 90’s and been in his own (and one shared with Cable) ongoing series since the late 90’s, he was at one point headlining three different ongoing series, has […]