Manga and Comic Reviews
Three volumes in and writer Charles Soule is still finding decent, but not spectacular ways to make the pre-”The Force Awakens” adventures of the title character interesting. He succeeds best in the opening story which has Poe meeting up with an old journalist friend, Suralinda Javos, after she tells him about a big story she […]
If there’s one character that Bendis has been most closely associated with during his time at Marvel, it’s been the “Ultimate” incarnation of “Spider-Man.” He wrote every issue of the continuity-free modern update of Peter Parker’s adventures from the start, showed us the character’s death (and eventual resurrection), and gave us a new one in […]
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first arc on “Black Panther” didn’t really live up to my expectations. Having an extremely talky twelve-issue story to tell where the talk wasn’t especially interesting will do that. It wasn’t bad enough to get me to give up on the series, so here we are now with vol. 3 and Wakanda is […]
Could it be? A volume of “Murcielago” that doesn’t contain anything to aggravate or offend me and focuses only on providing gleefully violent fanservice? Well, you could argue that there’s some transphobia in the representation of the figurehead of the cult at the center of this volume and Kuroko engages in some more questionable behavior […]
For me, and a lot of other fans, Warren Ellis was the defining creator of the WildStorm imprint. While it had a lot to offer followers of great superhero art prior to his arrival, the writing on most of its titles could charitably be described as “total crap.” His debut on “Stormwatch” didn’t change things […]
It’s not that there haven’t been “The Walking Dead” spinoffs outside the comic before. They’ve just been limited to shorts appended to issues spotlighting certain characters or Comic Book Legal Defense Fund annuals. “Here’s Negan!” originally serialized in the first sixteen issues of “Image+” is the first spinoff to be long enough to warrant its […]
Magic in the Marvel Universe is on the mend after the Empirikul’s crusade in the previous volume, which leaves us with a greatly diminished Doctor Strange. This is a fact which has not gone unnoticed by his rogues gallery who have descended to make his current week a living hell. As well as an actual […]
Marvel’s first “Star Wars” crossover was a no brainer between the ongoing series of the same name and “Darth Vader.” It certainly had its moments and great art, but it didn’t really accomplish much besides shuffling the cast around between the two titles. This time around “Star Wars” is crossing over with the lower-profile “Doctor […]
Seven volumes in and Kore Yamazaki’s “The Ancient Magus’ Bride” remains one of the most entertaining titles I read. It’s mix of excellent characterization, meticulous worldbuilding, and imaginative storytelling is something I continue to look forward to with each volume. While you would think that the mangaka would have her hands full with this title […]
It feels like damning with faint praise to say that writer James Tynion IV has turned in a better volume of “Detective Comics” this time around by simply not attacking the underpinnings of the superhero genre. Tynion instead delivers a story that, as you’d probably expect given the volume’s title, pays off on all the […]