Manga and Comic Reviews
(Or, “Raise ‘Dem Bones” if you’re going by the title of the opening issue.) Alan Moore’s run on “Swamp Thing” is rightly regarded as a watershed moment in comics. Not only did it pioneer the idea of the “retcon” or the “Everything you know is wrong!” school of thinking and do it well, but it […]
This is Paul Cornell’s other contribution to the New 52 after the “finally got its act together at the end, but since he’s not writing it anymore why bother” Wildstorm import “Stormwatch.” It’s also a much better fit for his style, allowing for plenty of humor that tweaks the conventions of the genre (not quite […]
I’ve been looking forward to reading this ever since the book was launched earlier this year to almost deafening acclaim. On paper, it sounds like a project destined to fail: a relaunch of a character created by Rob Liefeld who nobody remembers from a creator whose best-known work had to be license-rescued from another publisher […]
I skipped talking about the last two volumes because they wound up getting mired in my least favorite part of the series: the Mashiro/Azuki romance. While there was some good stuff in vols. 12 & 13, mostly revolving around “Perfect Crime Party” being taken off the “deathwatch” and the personal struggles of Mashiro’s new assistant […]
Remember how I said last time that it looked like things were turning around and the book was going to start focusing on the main characters again? Oh god was I wrong about that. Not only do we not see any of the main characters, save Aya in a witness role, for three-quarters of this […]
This volume was solid… and not a whole heck of a lot more. In the wake of Abe Sapien slipping into a catatonic state following his shooting in the previous volume, Kate and Johann find themselves on a plane to Russia after the dead start rising north of Moscow. However, that’s not the only surprise […]
This round of solicitations sees not one, but TWO collections of “Conan” for us. Unfortunately, it signifies the start of a trend that I’m not really that keen on. You see, a few weeks back the second volume of the “Road of Kings” series (subtitled “Throne of Aquilonia”) arrived in hardcover. This was unusual because […]
This latest adaptation of the “Parker” novels by Darwyn Cooke offers up the immense thrill of seeing highly competent professionals plan and pull off a job that is, shall we say, “unreasonable.” After six months of idleness, the title character agrees to take part in a new job through an old contact. It’s a job […]
Looking at a lot of the Marvel NOW! relaunches, I’ll concede that they’ve certainly done a good job of getting top talent on A-list characters. Of course, looking at some of these launches still has me scratching my head at what they were thinking. There’s also one that has a great idea for a mini-series […]
After the first book, I was expecting great things here and they didn’t let me down. After successfully acquiring the life seed in the “Age of Apocalypse,” X-Force is immediately ambushed by Archangel, and his Horsemen who take it for themselves, leaving the team to escape by the skin of their teeth. Everyone except Psylocke […]