Manga and Comic Reviews
The first “Hellfire Gala” was a very satisfying event. It had a unique structure where all of the currently running X-titles showed the event from their cast’s perspective, while the “Planet-Sized X-Men” one-shot provided the unifying centerpiece for the storyline. Better still was that it also provided a major change to the status quo of […]
Friday Nov 11, 2022 Gerry Duggan’s second volume of “X-Men” rolls along in much the same way as the first one did. That is to say half of the issues collected here revolve around done-in-one stories with some subplots ticking over between issues. Which is how we find out about the Secret Origin of Captain […]
Easton Newburn is a private investigator in New York who investigates the crimes that the police can’t or won’t solve. That’s not exactly hyperbole as his clientele almost exclusively consists of members from the major crime families of the city. So what do they do when an ex-member of the Italian Mafia steals ten kilos […]
This volume kicks off with another over-the-top concept from the writer. That of an Avengers Tower at the far end of the universe manned by an individual known only as Avenger Prime. Someone who maintains an army of Deathloks capable of traversing the multiverse to warn of and neutralize threats to it. It’s the former […]
It’s only been a little over two-and-a-half years since the release of vol. 11. That’s progress, right! Well if you’re looking for an explanation as to why the second decade of “Black Lagoon’s” serialization has been more sporadic, the lengthy interview at the end of this volume with mangaka Rei Hiroe and his editor will […]
Call me a glutton for punishment, but I decided to pick up the second volume of this series. Vol. 1 of Keanu Reeves’ first comic, with Matt Kindt doing the actual heavy lifting as the writer and Ron Garney providing the art, didn’t impress me. It came off as a very self-serious story of the […]
Vol. 1 of “Arrowsmith” was a well-done melding of high fantasy and World War I tropes. Predictable as Fletcher Arrowsmith’s introductions to the horrors of the Great War were, they still felt fresh thanks to the smart worldbuilding from writer Kurt Busiek and slick art from Carlos Pacheco. Vol. 2 continues the fine work from […]
This is the only series where I could say that the previous volume ended with one of its primary characters having parts of his body flash-frozen to the inside of a car and call it “business as usual.” That’s not to say that such a thing, or the resulting battle of wits involving Mista and […]
Above-the-Board Recommendation: A.X.E.: Judgment Day & Companion Kieron Gillen once said that he’d only return to the Marvel Universe if he was given the keys to take on a major storytelling role within it. Something comparable to what Jonathan Hickman was doing with the “X-Men” at the time. Marvel took the writer up on that […]
Above-the-Board Recommendation: Eight Billion Genies HC Charles Soule has written a lot of comic books over the years. Some have been good, some have been dull, others have been just OK. However, he’s never had a big breakout success on the level of “The Walking Dead” or “Immortal Hulk” when it comes to his creator-owned […]