Walking Dead: What We Become (Vol. 10) consists of issues 55 through 60 of Walking Dead.
As I mentioned before in review for Volume 11:
"Walking Dead is a really good ongoing series about the consequences of a zombie outbreak. Instead of focusing on a zombie outbreak and seeing how the protagonists survive, in this comic we get to see what happens over a long period of time. The greatest aspect of Walking Dead is that anything can happen to the characters, the status quo changes all the time."
Now, let's talk about this volume in particular. We get to see a character we hadn't seen since Volume 1. The bad news is that now this character is depressed as his son became a zombie. In this volume we learn more about the consequences of using guns to kill zombies, by seeing a huge group of zombies become attracted to our heroes and we get to see more tension between the humans, in this case seeing Rick and Abraham square it off.
The comic continues to be good and while it moves slowly, it reads quickly and it is always a pleasure for me to read.
Great series.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Love and Rockets: Death of Speedy (Vol. 7)
Love and Rockets: Death of Speedy (Vol. 7) by Jaime Hernandez.
Love and Rockets is a famous independent comic created by "Los Bros" Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez. Jaime's stories revolve around Maggie, a teenager in a California town, while Gilbert's stories revolve around Luba, a woman in Mexico.
Death of Speedy collects the three comics relating to Speedy's death and a few other issues involving Maggie, Hopey and other characters.
There are many things I really like about this comic. One thing I love is the dialogue. It sounds very real to me. I grew up in Mexico and I loved seeing the characters use Mexican phrases here and there. I love how real the characters act and how it shows that people can make mistakes. The scene right after Speedy's death is a progression of panels that are unforgettable. Visually stunning and powerful.
I love the art. It is clean and very expressive. It makes use of the medium to tell us things with the art that we wouldn't have noted with just reading and quick glimpses of the drawings.
Reading this book made want to read "Locas" which compiles all the Maggie stories from Jaime (there are two big volumes now). I am planning on reading that soon. I am looking forward to it.
This is fantastic comic, I highly recommend it.
Love and Rockets is a famous independent comic created by "Los Bros" Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez. Jaime's stories revolve around Maggie, a teenager in a California town, while Gilbert's stories revolve around Luba, a woman in Mexico.
Death of Speedy collects the three comics relating to Speedy's death and a few other issues involving Maggie, Hopey and other characters.
There are many things I really like about this comic. One thing I love is the dialogue. It sounds very real to me. I grew up in Mexico and I loved seeing the characters use Mexican phrases here and there. I love how real the characters act and how it shows that people can make mistakes. The scene right after Speedy's death is a progression of panels that are unforgettable. Visually stunning and powerful.
I love the art. It is clean and very expressive. It makes use of the medium to tell us things with the art that we wouldn't have noted with just reading and quick glimpses of the drawings.
Reading this book made want to read "Locas" which compiles all the Maggie stories from Jaime (there are two big volumes now). I am planning on reading that soon. I am looking forward to it.
This is fantastic comic, I highly recommend it.
Villains United
Villains United by Gail Simone and Dale Eaglesham.
Villains United was a miniseries leading up to the big DC event "Infinite Crisis". The book is also a precursor to Secret Six, as the main characters here are the main characters in the ongoing series "Secret Six".
There are many things I like about this book. It has a great cast of characters, it has humor and it has great art. However, I don't like that the story seems to be just build up for another story and not a stand alone book.
The story is that Luthor wants to create a society of villains. Six C-list villains refuse to be on the society and they form an alliance. From then on, the fun begins with adventures involving these six characters. Since they are villains, anything can happen.
I like this book, but I think DC fans that know about Infinite Crisis would like it more.
Villains United was a miniseries leading up to the big DC event "Infinite Crisis". The book is also a precursor to Secret Six, as the main characters here are the main characters in the ongoing series "Secret Six".
There are many things I like about this book. It has a great cast of characters, it has humor and it has great art. However, I don't like that the story seems to be just build up for another story and not a stand alone book.
The story is that Luthor wants to create a society of villains. Six C-list villains refuse to be on the society and they form an alliance. From then on, the fun begins with adventures involving these six characters. Since they are villains, anything can happen.
I like this book, but I think DC fans that know about Infinite Crisis would like it more.
X-Men: Magneto Testament
X-Men: Magneto Testament by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico consists of issues 1 through 5 of X-Men: Magneto Testament.
This miniseries tells the story of a young Magneto and his holocaust experience as a teenager. The comic doesn't really show any superpowers, hence the X-Men in the title can be deceiving. The story could very well be about any Jewish teenager growing up in World War II Germany.
The book is very sad, showing uncountable injustice and how a young men overcomes adversity. The art is great, transporting us to another time and making the surroundings seem real. The artist is great at showing facial expressions. He is also great at drawing very rich backgrounds.
This is a fantastic comic. I hope the X-Men in the title attracts more readers than it dissuades (unfortunately, I think having X-Men in the title would make many people not take this book seriously).
I highly recommend this comic.
This miniseries tells the story of a young Magneto and his holocaust experience as a teenager. The comic doesn't really show any superpowers, hence the X-Men in the title can be deceiving. The story could very well be about any Jewish teenager growing up in World War II Germany.
The book is very sad, showing uncountable injustice and how a young men overcomes adversity. The art is great, transporting us to another time and making the surroundings seem real. The artist is great at showing facial expressions. He is also great at drawing very rich backgrounds.
This is a fantastic comic. I hope the X-Men in the title attracts more readers than it dissuades (unfortunately, I think having X-Men in the title would make many people not take this book seriously).
I highly recommend this comic.
Five Fists of Science
Five Fists of Science by Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders.
I was pretty excited about this comic when I saw Tesla and Twain on the cover. The comic is supposed to be funny by having Twain make wisecracks and have Tesla use his scientific prowess to make cool robots, or make cool weapons to stop criminals.
The comic is funny at times, specially with Tesla's quirks. However, the story is not very interesting and overall I was underwhelmed with this tale.
I did like the art and there are many cool panels in this book. It is just not a book I would recommend.
I was pretty excited about this comic when I saw Tesla and Twain on the cover. The comic is supposed to be funny by having Twain make wisecracks and have Tesla use his scientific prowess to make cool robots, or make cool weapons to stop criminals.
The comic is funny at times, specially with Tesla's quirks. However, the story is not very interesting and overall I was underwhelmed with this tale.
I did like the art and there are many cool panels in this book. It is just not a book I would recommend.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Dark Avengers: Assemble (Vol. 1)
Dark Avengers: Assemble (Vol. 1) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. consists of isses 1-6 of Dark Avengers.
At the end of the big event Secret Invasion, Iron Man was fired from his position and the job was given to Norman Osborn. Norman Osborn got this job because he became famous as the killer of the Skrull Queen and became a world hero even though he was previously a super villain (Green Goblin). This comic book series tells the story of how Osborn changes S.H.I.E.L.D to H.A.M.M.E.R, takes control of Avengers tower (previously owned by Tony Stark, Iron Man) and forms a new team of Avengers. The new team consists of villains such as Bullseye and Venom. It also consists of some heroes which are duped to believing Osborn is good.
The main reason I found this comic fun was that we get to follow Osborn around. He is arrogant, manipulative and very intelligent. I like reading about an intelligent villain. I've always considered Osborn to be the main villain in the Spider-Man universe, so seeing him in complete control makes for fun reading, specially since the writer, Bendis, likes to write a lot of dialogue.
I like the unstable element of having a psycopath in charge and having an extremely powerful character as a member of the Dark Avengers (The Sentry). I also like to see Doom in a couple of the issues.
A pretty good series. I didn't like Secret Invasion, but this comic is a good consequence of that bad story.
At the end of the big event Secret Invasion, Iron Man was fired from his position and the job was given to Norman Osborn. Norman Osborn got this job because he became famous as the killer of the Skrull Queen and became a world hero even though he was previously a super villain (Green Goblin). This comic book series tells the story of how Osborn changes S.H.I.E.L.D to H.A.M.M.E.R, takes control of Avengers tower (previously owned by Tony Stark, Iron Man) and forms a new team of Avengers. The new team consists of villains such as Bullseye and Venom. It also consists of some heroes which are duped to believing Osborn is good.
The main reason I found this comic fun was that we get to follow Osborn around. He is arrogant, manipulative and very intelligent. I like reading about an intelligent villain. I've always considered Osborn to be the main villain in the Spider-Man universe, so seeing him in complete control makes for fun reading, specially since the writer, Bendis, likes to write a lot of dialogue.
I like the unstable element of having a psycopath in charge and having an extremely powerful character as a member of the Dark Avengers (The Sentry). I also like to see Doom in a couple of the issues.
A pretty good series. I didn't like Secret Invasion, but this comic is a good consequence of that bad story.
Human Target: Chance Meetings
Human Target: Chance Meetings by Peter Milligan, Edvin Biukovic and Javier Pulido consists of issues 1-4 of Human Target and the graphic novel Human Target: Final Cut.
I got this comic as a present, since my wife and I enjoy the TV show. I had heard that in the comic, Christopher Chance (the main character) protects his employers by disguising himself as his employers, making himself a human target. I thought this was a ridiculous idea, however, as I started reading this comic, I quickly became interested in the main character and thought the premise was brilliant.
The movie Mission Impossible uses this idea of perfect masks to disguise someone, but in the comic, Chance not only wears a mask, but he acts like his character. He changes his voice, changes what he eats, he really becomes the person he's trying to become. After months of playing that role, he even has trouble coming back to being Christopher Chance. This is what made me very interested in the story as it became an study on one's identity.
This collection consists of two stories. The first one is a complicated story involving a black priest that tries to save a community from drugs, a house wife/ assassin that is trying to kill Chance and identity issues both in Chance and in his understudy Tom. I really liked this story. The plot kept me interested in what would happen next, while the identity issues made the story be more than just a mystery.
The second story involves actors hiring Chance to find a kidnapped kid. The kid is a child star. This story plays around with how many people in the acting world have identity issues and it is also an interesting whodunit. I liked it a lot.
With respect to the art, the art in the first story was better than the second one. I really liked the way the book looks. Biukovic was a great artist. It is sad that he died so young (he died in 1999, at the age of 30).
A great comic, I highly recommend it.
I got this comic as a present, since my wife and I enjoy the TV show. I had heard that in the comic, Christopher Chance (the main character) protects his employers by disguising himself as his employers, making himself a human target. I thought this was a ridiculous idea, however, as I started reading this comic, I quickly became interested in the main character and thought the premise was brilliant.
The movie Mission Impossible uses this idea of perfect masks to disguise someone, but in the comic, Chance not only wears a mask, but he acts like his character. He changes his voice, changes what he eats, he really becomes the person he's trying to become. After months of playing that role, he even has trouble coming back to being Christopher Chance. This is what made me very interested in the story as it became an study on one's identity.
This collection consists of two stories. The first one is a complicated story involving a black priest that tries to save a community from drugs, a house wife/ assassin that is trying to kill Chance and identity issues both in Chance and in his understudy Tom. I really liked this story. The plot kept me interested in what would happen next, while the identity issues made the story be more than just a mystery.
The second story involves actors hiring Chance to find a kidnapped kid. The kid is a child star. This story plays around with how many people in the acting world have identity issues and it is also an interesting whodunit. I liked it a lot.
With respect to the art, the art in the first story was better than the second one. I really liked the way the book looks. Biukovic was a great artist. It is sad that he died so young (he died in 1999, at the age of 30).
A great comic, I highly recommend it.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland is a one-shot prestige format comic book.
The Killing Joke is a very famous comic. It gives us a glimpse into the Joker's origin and therefore humanizes the character a bit. In a way it also humanizes Batman, by seeing his reaction to the Joker's joke (the joke, by the way, is very funny).
I was underwhelmed with this comic, as it is very famous and Tim Burton listed it as a big influence for the Batman movie. I think Alan Moore is the best comic book writer, so I was expecting this book to be out of this world. It isn't.
This comic is very good and it is worth reading, but it is not worth buying for more than $5. I would suggest getting it in the trade paperback with Alan Moore's DC stories, which includes "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?".
The Killing Joke is a very famous comic. It gives us a glimpse into the Joker's origin and therefore humanizes the character a bit. In a way it also humanizes Batman, by seeing his reaction to the Joker's joke (the joke, by the way, is very funny).
I was underwhelmed with this comic, as it is very famous and Tim Burton listed it as a big influence for the Batman movie. I think Alan Moore is the best comic book writer, so I was expecting this book to be out of this world. It isn't.
This comic is very good and it is worth reading, but it is not worth buying for more than $5. I would suggest getting it in the trade paperback with Alan Moore's DC stories, which includes "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?".
Secret Six: Unhinged (Vol. 1)
Secret Six: Unhinged (Vol. 1) by Gail Simone and Nicola Scott consists of issues 1 thorugh 7 of Secret Six.
The Secret Six is a comic about six villains that got together to work as a team of mercenaries. They do good things and bad things, but the bottom line is money. This makes for a set of interesting characters that give us some laughs and sometimes make us love the characters and sometimes makes us hate them. This is something I like about the group a lot.
The group of characters were introduced in a miniseries called "Villains United", a series I didn't like, but even though I didn't like it, I enjoyed the character interactions and since Secret Six was getting stellar reviews, I had to read Secret Six.
This particular story, "Unhinged", has an interesting plot. It introduces a mysterious villain in the first issue and a mystery quest for our "heroes". The comic consists of 7 issues, all of which are about this mystery quest and this mystery villain (which I won't spoil). I'll mention that the quest and the villain are great and the character interactions are unexpected and enjoyable. However, I think the ending wasn't very strong. Surprisingly, even though it was 7 issues long, the end felt rushed. I had to reread the pages a few times to figure out what went on, but what happens is a bit nonsensical and unlikely.
One very positive thing about this book, is that the characters are much more interesting that I would imagine they would be. Bane is honorable and I find almost everything he says funny (although he doesn't realize it), Catman strives for redemption, Deadshot is very laid back but still cares a lot for his group, Ragdoll always has a funny thing to say. It is a fun bunch to read about.
I should point out that Nicola Scott, the artist, does a really good job with this story. The art is full of details, many pages with multiple villains and even when pages have characters seen from very far it still looks good (I am often disappointed with how a character looks overly cartoony when seen from afar). Great art.
I was disappointed with the conclusion to the story arc, but overall the comic was very good.
The Secret Six is a comic about six villains that got together to work as a team of mercenaries. They do good things and bad things, but the bottom line is money. This makes for a set of interesting characters that give us some laughs and sometimes make us love the characters and sometimes makes us hate them. This is something I like about the group a lot.
The group of characters were introduced in a miniseries called "Villains United", a series I didn't like, but even though I didn't like it, I enjoyed the character interactions and since Secret Six was getting stellar reviews, I had to read Secret Six.
This particular story, "Unhinged", has an interesting plot. It introduces a mysterious villain in the first issue and a mystery quest for our "heroes". The comic consists of 7 issues, all of which are about this mystery quest and this mystery villain (which I won't spoil). I'll mention that the quest and the villain are great and the character interactions are unexpected and enjoyable. However, I think the ending wasn't very strong. Surprisingly, even though it was 7 issues long, the end felt rushed. I had to reread the pages a few times to figure out what went on, but what happens is a bit nonsensical and unlikely.
One very positive thing about this book, is that the characters are much more interesting that I would imagine they would be. Bane is honorable and I find almost everything he says funny (although he doesn't realize it), Catman strives for redemption, Deadshot is very laid back but still cares a lot for his group, Ragdoll always has a funny thing to say. It is a fun bunch to read about.
I should point out that Nicola Scott, the artist, does a really good job with this story. The art is full of details, many pages with multiple villains and even when pages have characters seen from very far it still looks good (I am often disappointed with how a character looks overly cartoony when seen from afar). Great art.
I was disappointed with the conclusion to the story arc, but overall the comic was very good.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Walk In
Walk In by Jeff Parker, Dave Stewart and Ashish Padlekar consists of the first six issues of Dave Stewart's Walk In.
I bought this book because I got it for $2 since Virgin Comics went out of business. I was also confused by thinking the celebrity writer was Ray Parker (Darth Maul), however, the celebrity writer is Dave Stewart and Jeff Parker is the actual writer. I now know Jeff Parker is well known among comic fans (he writes Agents of Atlas, Underground), so I got a little more excited about having this book and overcame knowing the book is from a publishing company that no longer exists.
The comic is very good. We have a fun protagonist that works in a strip club "reading minds". Just reading about this character in the strip club and the funny things that occur was good enough for me, but the comic does have a deeper plot and an interesting story to tell. I won't spoil it, but I enjoyed it a lot.
The art was quite good. I was surprised to see that for the last issue, the writer does the art and he does a very good job. I thought the first five issues are strong enough for a story and at first I was skeptical of a sixth issue making the end too long, but the sixth issue made the series better. Let's just say that you can never go wrong with talking bears.
I was pleasantly surprised with this comic. I am very happy I read it. Good read to start the day.
I bought this book because I got it for $2 since Virgin Comics went out of business. I was also confused by thinking the celebrity writer was Ray Parker (Darth Maul), however, the celebrity writer is Dave Stewart and Jeff Parker is the actual writer. I now know Jeff Parker is well known among comic fans (he writes Agents of Atlas, Underground), so I got a little more excited about having this book and overcame knowing the book is from a publishing company that no longer exists.
The comic is very good. We have a fun protagonist that works in a strip club "reading minds". Just reading about this character in the strip club and the funny things that occur was good enough for me, but the comic does have a deeper plot and an interesting story to tell. I won't spoil it, but I enjoyed it a lot.
The art was quite good. I was surprised to see that for the last issue, the writer does the art and he does a very good job. I thought the first five issues are strong enough for a story and at first I was skeptical of a sixth issue making the end too long, but the sixth issue made the series better. Let's just say that you can never go wrong with talking bears.
I was pleasantly surprised with this comic. I am very happy I read it. Good read to start the day.
John Woo's Seven Brothers: The Blood that Runs (Vol. 2)
John Woo's Seven Brothers: The Blood That Runs (Vol. 2) by Ben Raab, Deric Hughes and Edison George.
The first 7 Brothers miniseries was pretty good and it showed the origin of these characters. While the characters don't seem to have any connection, they all have a common ancestor, an ancestor who was a wizard. They each have a different power, one can become a dragon, another one is fast, etcetera. In this collection, we find out a little back story involving Rachel (the sister that got them together), which leads to the back story of the villain.
I like how each issue begins with a flashback and I thought the art was good. However, I thought the story wasn't that good and the comic felt to make me care about what would happen. While they trimmed the characters down (they had three brothers not be able to join on the adventure for personal reasons), they still didn't get to give us a better sense of the characters except for Rachel and the Chief.
With respect to the art, I thought it was very good. The art is very effective in showing us how the powers work. I didn't love how one dragon was drawn, but overall the art was very good.
Not a bad read, but not a great one either.
The first 7 Brothers miniseries was pretty good and it showed the origin of these characters. While the characters don't seem to have any connection, they all have a common ancestor, an ancestor who was a wizard. They each have a different power, one can become a dragon, another one is fast, etcetera. In this collection, we find out a little back story involving Rachel (the sister that got them together), which leads to the back story of the villain.
I like how each issue begins with a flashback and I thought the art was good. However, I thought the story wasn't that good and the comic felt to make me care about what would happen. While they trimmed the characters down (they had three brothers not be able to join on the adventure for personal reasons), they still didn't get to give us a better sense of the characters except for Rachel and the Chief.
With respect to the art, I thought it was very good. The art is very effective in showing us how the powers work. I didn't love how one dragon was drawn, but overall the art was very good.
Not a bad read, but not a great one either.
Dark Avengers: Ares
Dark Avengers: Ares by Kieron Gillen and Manuel Garcia. Dark Avengers: Ares issues 1-3.
The God of War Ares is asked to select a few soldiers from H.A.M.M.E.R.'s military to train. Osborn reasons that Ares being the God of War would have a lot to teach. The first issue is a very good one that show us what kind of character Ares is, specially his speech where he talks about how his view of war is so different from Athena's version. The second and third issue involve the specific mission that Ares has to accomplish, which I won't spoil.
I liked the comic quite a bit. There is plenty of humor and it made Ares interesting to me. I had seen the character before in other titles, but he was never that interesting until know. The main thing for me was to see that he is honorable, I particularly like the following quote:
"I am the God of War...The God of Slaughter...Even the God of Murder.
But I am not the God of Sadism."
I think the story was very good. This comic was a pleasant surprise.
The God of War Ares is asked to select a few soldiers from H.A.M.M.E.R.'s military to train. Osborn reasons that Ares being the God of War would have a lot to teach. The first issue is a very good one that show us what kind of character Ares is, specially his speech where he talks about how his view of war is so different from Athena's version. The second and third issue involve the specific mission that Ares has to accomplish, which I won't spoil.
I liked the comic quite a bit. There is plenty of humor and it made Ares interesting to me. I had seen the character before in other titles, but he was never that interesting until know. The main thing for me was to see that he is honorable, I particularly like the following quote:
"I am the God of War...The God of Slaughter...Even the God of Murder.
But I am not the God of Sadism."
I think the story was very good. This comic was a pleasant surprise.
Fables: The Great Fables Crossover (Vol. 13)
Fables: The Great Fables Crossover (Vol. 13) by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Mark Buckingham and others. The trade consists of issues 83-85 of Fables, 33-35 of Jack of Fables and 1-3 of The Literals.
I love the Fables series, however I hadn't been into the latest collections. I didn't think Vol. 12 was very good and while I thought Vol. 11 was very good, the series hadn't been great in a long time. This book is great. I highly recommend it.
The comic is a crossover between Fables and Jack of Fables. It focuses on supernatural characters called "Literals" which embody different literary ideas "Mr. Revise" is the editor, there is a storyteller, there is a fallacy, there are genres (fantasy, science fiction, ...), there is Dex (deus ex machina) and many other ideas used in the magical world of fiction. The storyteller, not happy with how the world has evolved since he created it, wants to end in and start anew. Obviously, this is a big threat which must be taken care of.
I was a little worried that I would get lost because of it being a crossover with a book I don't read (Jack of Fables), however, I found myself immersed in the story and not feeling confused.
I liked how each title moved the plot in certain directions. Fables had the aspects involving the Fable Farm, Jack had the aspects involving Bigby's and Snow White's quest, while Literals had the story from the point of view of the story teller. It worked great.
My favorite part of the book was the humor. The comic is full of jokes about writing, fiction and genres. I had a blast reading the dialogue between the genres. The comic was hilarious and very interesting. I like how it makes fun of itself, while at the same time analyzing itself.
The art in the book was quite good. I think the best of the three artists is Buckingham, but the other two did a great job and there wasn't a problem for me to read issues from different artists. They had a similar style and it suited the story.
Great book, so great, I must say it again, I highly recommend it.
I love the Fables series, however I hadn't been into the latest collections. I didn't think Vol. 12 was very good and while I thought Vol. 11 was very good, the series hadn't been great in a long time. This book is great. I highly recommend it.
The comic is a crossover between Fables and Jack of Fables. It focuses on supernatural characters called "Literals" which embody different literary ideas "Mr. Revise" is the editor, there is a storyteller, there is a fallacy, there are genres (fantasy, science fiction, ...), there is Dex (deus ex machina) and many other ideas used in the magical world of fiction. The storyteller, not happy with how the world has evolved since he created it, wants to end in and start anew. Obviously, this is a big threat which must be taken care of.
I was a little worried that I would get lost because of it being a crossover with a book I don't read (Jack of Fables), however, I found myself immersed in the story and not feeling confused.
I liked how each title moved the plot in certain directions. Fables had the aspects involving the Fable Farm, Jack had the aspects involving Bigby's and Snow White's quest, while Literals had the story from the point of view of the story teller. It worked great.
My favorite part of the book was the humor. The comic is full of jokes about writing, fiction and genres. I had a blast reading the dialogue between the genres. The comic was hilarious and very interesting. I like how it makes fun of itself, while at the same time analyzing itself.
The art in the book was quite good. I think the best of the three artists is Buckingham, but the other two did a great job and there wasn't a problem for me to read issues from different artists. They had a similar style and it suited the story.
Great book, so great, I must say it again, I highly recommend it.
Ultimo Vol. 1
Ultimo Vol. 1 by Takei Hiroyuki and Stan Lee consists of the first four issues of Ultimo (Shonen Jump 79-83).
Ultimo is a manga created by Stan Lee. I decided to read this manga because I was interested in checking out a new Stan Lee concept. The idea behind this manga is that there is a scientist that creates two robots Ultimo and Vice which are meant to represent poor good and poor evil. His purpose is to figure out if good is more powerful than evil.
The manga moves very quickly and with a lot of exclamation points. I notice that the art doesn't have much detail on most panels, but it gets very detailed in some special panels. I think this works to great effect to create an easy to read experience. However, I don't think there's many interesting things going on in this book. We don't really get to know much about Ultimo or Vice even though the book consists of 200 pages and it turns out that Ultimo does not exactly embody "good" as he has to find a master to teach him what is good and what is evil.
I think the manga works great for younger readers, but it is not great for adult audiences. Not a book I would recommend.
Ultimo is a manga created by Stan Lee. I decided to read this manga because I was interested in checking out a new Stan Lee concept. The idea behind this manga is that there is a scientist that creates two robots Ultimo and Vice which are meant to represent poor good and poor evil. His purpose is to figure out if good is more powerful than evil.
The manga moves very quickly and with a lot of exclamation points. I notice that the art doesn't have much detail on most panels, but it gets very detailed in some special panels. I think this works to great effect to create an easy to read experience. However, I don't think there's many interesting things going on in this book. We don't really get to know much about Ultimo or Vice even though the book consists of 200 pages and it turns out that Ultimo does not exactly embody "good" as he has to find a master to teach him what is good and what is evil.
I think the manga works great for younger readers, but it is not great for adult audiences. Not a book I would recommend.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Order
The Order by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson consists of ten issues.
The Order is a comic set in the aftermath of Civil War, the big Marvel event of 2007. The situation is that SHIELD has decided that every state gets its own set of superheroes to defend it. They have the technology to give people superpowers for a year, this way they can build teams of superheroes for each state, heroes that they train for several months before letting out on the street. The Order is about the heroes selected for the state of California. Because California has many celebrities, the team has celebrities: an ex-alcoholic actor who played Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.?), a charitable sexy actress (Angelina Jolie?), a teen pop superstar singer (Britney Spears?) and a few other non celebrity characters.
Each issue centers around a character, having about 4 pages of interviews to give us a back story on them. Besides the four pages, the issues do involve all characters and the series has plenty of subplots that all reach a conclusion by the tenth issue.
I liked the comic a lot, specially how it highlighted a character in each issue and how it shows a little of how hard it can be to lead a superhero team, as often Henry (the team leader) feels frustrated and tries to get help from Stark, who himself is in charge of 50 such teams, a much harder task.
The comic has a lot of fun over the top action to complement the nice character moments. I recommend checking this book out.
The Order is a comic set in the aftermath of Civil War, the big Marvel event of 2007. The situation is that SHIELD has decided that every state gets its own set of superheroes to defend it. They have the technology to give people superpowers for a year, this way they can build teams of superheroes for each state, heroes that they train for several months before letting out on the street. The Order is about the heroes selected for the state of California. Because California has many celebrities, the team has celebrities: an ex-alcoholic actor who played Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.?), a charitable sexy actress (Angelina Jolie?), a teen pop superstar singer (Britney Spears?) and a few other non celebrity characters.
Each issue centers around a character, having about 4 pages of interviews to give us a back story on them. Besides the four pages, the issues do involve all characters and the series has plenty of subplots that all reach a conclusion by the tenth issue.
I liked the comic a lot, specially how it highlighted a character in each issue and how it shows a little of how hard it can be to lead a superhero team, as often Henry (the team leader) feels frustrated and tries to get help from Stark, who himself is in charge of 50 such teams, a much harder task.
The comic has a lot of fun over the top action to complement the nice character moments. I recommend checking this book out.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising
Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising by Zachary Sherman and Bagus Hutomo collects issues 1 through 5 of Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising.
Shrapnel is a science fiction comic in a dystopian future created by Mark Long and Nick Sagan. The story is in a future where humans have colonized the Solar System. The Solar Alliance, a powerful government is trying to conquest the different colonies (Mars, Jupiter, Venus) and in this story we get to see what happens when the Alliance goes against Venus.
The story is entertaining. I like it but I don't love it. The story doesn't have a strong ending which is probably because they are planning three stories.
The art, while very beautiful, doesn't do a very good job of telling us what's going on. The main problem with the art, might not be the artists fault as the people fight in some high technology suits and it is very hard to tell which character is which due to this. The painted art many times gets in the way of the story with images that look blurry. I usually love painted art, but in a book where there's a lot of war scenes, I would have preferred sleeker, cleaner art.
The thing I liked about this book was the price. It says 5 issues, but two of them are double sized, so you get 7 issues for the price of 5 which is a pretty good deal.
Shrapnel is a science fiction comic in a dystopian future created by Mark Long and Nick Sagan. The story is in a future where humans have colonized the Solar System. The Solar Alliance, a powerful government is trying to conquest the different colonies (Mars, Jupiter, Venus) and in this story we get to see what happens when the Alliance goes against Venus.
The story is entertaining. I like it but I don't love it. The story doesn't have a strong ending which is probably because they are planning three stories.
The art, while very beautiful, doesn't do a very good job of telling us what's going on. The main problem with the art, might not be the artists fault as the people fight in some high technology suits and it is very hard to tell which character is which due to this. The painted art many times gets in the way of the story with images that look blurry. I usually love painted art, but in a book where there's a lot of war scenes, I would have preferred sleeker, cleaner art.
The thing I liked about this book was the price. It says 5 issues, but two of them are double sized, so you get 7 issues for the price of 5 which is a pretty good deal.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Recent Single Issues
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #32 by Brad Meltzer and Georges Jeanty.
After a really good issue #31 we get an even better #32, the best since #15. Meltzer does a fantastic job in his first Buffy comic, making great use of his superhero writing experience. Buffy, who has just found out, has superpowers and Xander wants to test to see which superpowers she has. There's a really funny exchange about phasing, which is extra funny given that Joss Whedon loves the character Kitty Pride (her power is phasing). I love a panel where Warren, after finding out Buffy has superpowers, asks "think she can phase?".
While I am still not in love with Jeanty's art, he does a great job with backgrounds and with scenes that are close to the characters, I don't like how when characters are a bit far or move fast, the face has no detail and looks cartoony. I don't mind cartoony that much if it can express a little more than what it does in his art.
Fantastic issue that leaves me wishing I had the next one already to be able to read it right away.
God Complex #3 by Dan Berman, Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia.
This is the final issue I ordered for God Complex, as I wanted to give it a three issue trial run. While the issue itself is good and left me curious to what would happen next, overall the series hasn't been what I was hoping it would be about. I was hoping the comic would be introspective, analyzing what makes mortality interesting to a God, what makes people so important and interesting, by looking at our world through the eyes of a God who shuns his immortality. The comic is a lot more about action and the issues seem to be an extended battle with nothing to make me think about. The battles are fun, but I was just hoping for a deeper book than this. For a fun romp about Gods fighting, I would rather read Incredible Hercules (which I'll start reading soon).
I liked this issue, but I am not continuing with the series, not my cup of tea.
Amazing Spider-Man #619 by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin.
This issue is the second part of the Mysterio arc. Mysterio looks really powerful and clever in this issue, although he seems to have gone too far with his illusions as Spider-Man figured out who is behind it. The scene where Spider-Man finds out reminded me of Matt Murdock finding out Kingpin is behind his fall in Daredevil #227 (first issue in the "Born Again" storyline). Since I have just read Born Again, the moment in Spider-Man felt cliché and was nowhere as powerful as Murdock's moment in DD #227.
The issue has a great cliffhanger and I am happy to see Carlie Cooper have more screen time. I was also happy to see a cop who likes Spidey and the reference to Jean DeWolffe. The issue also has fantastic art courtesy of Marcos Martin and the I am eager to read the next issue in the series. Spider-Man's comic is as good as I can remember, since they hit issue #600, the comic has been fantastic. A joy to be a Spidey fan nowadays.
After a really good issue #31 we get an even better #32, the best since #15. Meltzer does a fantastic job in his first Buffy comic, making great use of his superhero writing experience. Buffy, who has just found out, has superpowers and Xander wants to test to see which superpowers she has. There's a really funny exchange about phasing, which is extra funny given that Joss Whedon loves the character Kitty Pride (her power is phasing). I love a panel where Warren, after finding out Buffy has superpowers, asks "think she can phase?".
While I am still not in love with Jeanty's art, he does a great job with backgrounds and with scenes that are close to the characters, I don't like how when characters are a bit far or move fast, the face has no detail and looks cartoony. I don't mind cartoony that much if it can express a little more than what it does in his art.
Fantastic issue that leaves me wishing I had the next one already to be able to read it right away.
God Complex #3 by Dan Berman, Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia.
This is the final issue I ordered for God Complex, as I wanted to give it a three issue trial run. While the issue itself is good and left me curious to what would happen next, overall the series hasn't been what I was hoping it would be about. I was hoping the comic would be introspective, analyzing what makes mortality interesting to a God, what makes people so important and interesting, by looking at our world through the eyes of a God who shuns his immortality. The comic is a lot more about action and the issues seem to be an extended battle with nothing to make me think about. The battles are fun, but I was just hoping for a deeper book than this. For a fun romp about Gods fighting, I would rather read Incredible Hercules (which I'll start reading soon).
I liked this issue, but I am not continuing with the series, not my cup of tea.
Amazing Spider-Man #619 by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin.
This issue is the second part of the Mysterio arc. Mysterio looks really powerful and clever in this issue, although he seems to have gone too far with his illusions as Spider-Man figured out who is behind it. The scene where Spider-Man finds out reminded me of Matt Murdock finding out Kingpin is behind his fall in Daredevil #227 (first issue in the "Born Again" storyline). Since I have just read Born Again, the moment in Spider-Man felt cliché and was nowhere as powerful as Murdock's moment in DD #227.
The issue has a great cliffhanger and I am happy to see Carlie Cooper have more screen time. I was also happy to see a cop who likes Spidey and the reference to Jean DeWolffe. The issue also has fantastic art courtesy of Marcos Martin and the I am eager to read the next issue in the series. Spider-Man's comic is as good as I can remember, since they hit issue #600, the comic has been fantastic. A joy to be a Spidey fan nowadays.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)