Category Archives: reviews

Supreme: Blue Rose #2

Image, Characters, and Names are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use
Image, Characters, and Names are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use

Publisher: Image
Writer: Warren Ellis Art: Tula Lotay
Rating: 3.5/5

This is not a superhero comic. This is Ellis moving in one of his more experimental moods. The whole comics feels like some kind of strange living dream and I’m sure there’s subtext I’m missing or not fully picking up on.

But this is the kind of comics I do love, in small doses. I like experimental comics that still have a framework of plot and character work while still being experimental. We’ll see where this goes.

The Goon: Occasion of Revenge #2

 

Image, Characters, and Names are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use
Image, Characters, and Names are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use


Publisher:
 Dark Horse
Writer: Eric Powell Art: Eric Powell
Rating: 4.0/5

This is, quite simply, Eric Powell at his best. This is Eric Powell at Chinatown levels. This is where I love what he does most. It is both funny and heart wrenching at the same time. Giving Goon something to live for, giving Goon something that can kill him, and showing how that all worked out for poor Daisy.

Issues like this are why I read The Goon.

Saga #22

Image, Characters and Titles are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use
Image, Characters and Titles are Copyright/Trademark their respective owners, used under Fair Use

Publisher: Image
Writer: Brian K Vaughn Art: Fiona Staples
Rating: 3.9/5

Saga is the story about two people from different cultures falling impossibly in love and how love isn’t enough. Set against a backdrop of an intergalactic race war.

If that’s not enough for you to understand why people love it, nothing I write will be.

Though it also has alien wrestling soap operas…

The Unwritten: Apocalypse #8

Image is Copyright/Trademark its respective owner(s), used under Fair Use
Image is Copyright/Trademark its respective owner(s), used under Fair Use

Publisher: Vertigo
Writer: Mike Carey Art: Peter Gross/Chris Chuckry
Rating: 3.6/5

The Unwritten is a series that I largely picked up because of how much I loved Lucifer (also from Vertigo). And it quickly seemed to be playing in much of the same idea space, though this time playing in fiction versus reality rather than mythology versus reality (though, they’re much of the same in the end). And now that we’ve gotten to Apocalypse, I’m glad to finally be getting to the end.

I enjoyed the ride here as much as I did Lucifer, but with these stories they’re saying something. And while I’m sure Peter and Mike enjoyed going off on little side jogs in the world, for the story to has real merit it has to end. And with this issue showing us not one, not two, but three different versions of the Holy Grail, I feel like we’re coming into that ending.

And I feel (/hope) it’s going to be a great one.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2014

Artwork is copyright 2014 IDW, TMNT and related characters are copyright/trademark Nickelodeon 2014, used under Fair Use
Artwork is copyright 2014 IDW, TMNT and related characters are copyright/trademark Nickelodeon 2014, used under Fair Use

Publisher: IDW
Words: Kevin Eastman/Tom Waltz Art: Kevin Eastman
Rating: 3.7/5

I have a special fondness for this annual. Not just because I love when Kevin Eastman gets to write and draw the Turtles again. Not just because the book goes back to classic gray-scale when the Turtles are transported through time and space. But because this reintroduces a character (Renet) that was originally introduced in the special Turtles/Cerebus issue way back when. And while Cerebus doesn’t make an appearance this time, it does seem as though the great warrior they befriend is wearing Cerebus’ helmet from that story…

Classic Turtles tale. And for anyone that has never read the original series but wants to see what it was like? This annual is the one you want to pick up.

The Wicked + The Divine #3

Artwork is copyright 2014 Jamie McKelvie, used under Fair Use
Artwork is copyright 2014 Jamie McKelvie, used under Fair Use

Publisher: Image
Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Jamie McKelvie
Rating: 3.7/5

I have a bit of a thing for Gillen and McKelvie. I love what I’ve seen of Gillen’s work and I love McKelvie’s style. Period. So, while I have yet to catch up on Phonogram (I know, I’m a bad boy) I made sure I got on right off the start for The Wicked + The Divine. And while the interaction for roughly the first half of the book was confusing, while still being fitting for two goth gods interacting, the second half brought it up nicely.

And obviously I still love Luci.

New Avengers #23

Artwork is copyright Marvel 2014, used under Fair Use
Artwork is copyright Marvel 2014, used under Fair Use

Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jonathan Hickman Art: Kev Walker/Frank Martin
Rating: 3.9/5

Anyone that has been keeping up with advanced solicits for the Avengers titles and reading New Avengers knew the last page stinger was coming. But as I keep trying to point out, a well crafted story can (and perhaps should) foreshadow all sorts of story beats without actually ruining the reveal. Because even if we know something is going to happen to these characters, they don’t. And if we can properly connect with them it should impact us when they have to deal with events.

And that’s where Hickman has hit the mark for me. It doesn’t matter if none of this is going to matter in one year, or even one month after he’s off the books. I care now. And I did give a bit of a “oh shit” when I got to that last page stinger.