Friday, May 28, 2010

Daredevil: Return of the King

Daredevil: Return of the King by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark and David Aja consists of issues 116 to 119 and issue 500 (renumbered) of Daredevil.

Ed Brubaker is one of my favorite writers. His run on Captain America has been excellent, I love Sleeper, Incognito, Criminal and essentially anything I read by him. Daredevil is no exception. He started Daredevil in issue #82 with a fantastic storyline and while the middle of his run wasn't stellar, his last two story arcs have been fantastic. From the beginning of Brubaker's arc, Kingpin has been a main character. This story arc starts with a Kingpin centered issue that is absolutely heart breaking. It leads to the Kingpin coming back to New York and making a deal with Daredevil to do something about crime in New York City.

The art in Daredevil is fantastic. Michael Lark is really good at drawing things in the night. David Aja came on board for a bit too and he was also excellent, being a very good artist for movement.

The conclusion to the story was amazing and it got me interested enough to continue reading the title even though Brubaker is no longer at the helm.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Daredevil Volume 3

Daredevil Volume 3 by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Frank Miller's run on Daredevil is quite famous. Marvel recently reprinted all of it in three volumes. Volume 1 has issues 158-172, but the early issues were drawn by him but not written. The good stuff starts in #168 where he introduces Elektra. Volume 2 takes us from issue 173 to 184. It really makes Kingpin into the main villain for Daredevil, making Kingpin the quintessential Daredevil villain (instead of a Spider-Man villain). Volume 3, this volume contains issues 185 through 191, issue 219 and a graphic novel he did with Bill Sienkiewicz.

The volume is fantastic. One of the best Daredevil issues is the last issue in Frank Miller's run, issue 191. The issue could be read at anytime, it doesn't really depend on previous issues. It is an issue where Daredevil talks to a comatose Bullseye while debating whether he should be fighting crime. I have had doubts about myself all the time and it is nice to see Daredevil be so open about his doubts and give an interesting point of view with respect to violence. A fantastic issue to end a fantastic run by Frank Miller.

The issues before 191 were really good. Since issue 168, Miller has changed the landscape of Daredevil by introducing Elektra and giving depth to The Hand, an organization that is really important in current Daredevil issues. He also introduced Stick, Daredevil's mentor and in this volume we get to see the past of Stick. It was all wonderful.

Issue 219 was a bit strange and I wasn't in love with it, but the graphic novel with Bill Sienkiewicz was great. Sienkiewicz brings a very different style to Daredevil and it worked great in this story.

Overall a great volume. I would suggest reading all of Miller's run, starting with issue 168 all the way up to 191 and then reading Born Again. Born Again is by far the best Daredevil story I've ever read.

Bone

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume by Jeff Smith includes all Bone issues, it has 1300 pages.

Bone is a fantastic series. It started in 1990 and ended in 2004. Jeff Smith draws every single panel and tells us an epic story that has plenty of humor, fantasy and drama.

I love many things about this comic. It has very cute moments, by having Phone Bone fall in love. It has very dramatic moments, such as a 20 page chapter that has essentially no dialogue and has one in suspense as to what will happen to our heroes. It has plenty of comedy, coming mainly from Phoney Bone, a trickster. It has a complicated storyline that spans for many pages. It is just a wonderful story. I am not surprised this story has been so popular.

Another thing I love about this book is that it is kind of universal. Kids, teenagers, young adults, old adults, anybody can enjoy this tale.

I highly recommend it.

Models Inc.

Models Inc. by Paul Tobin and Vicenc Villagrassa consists of issues 1 through 4 of Models Inc.

Being a fan of the Project Runway show and seeing Tim Gunn on the cover, I had to give this comic book a shot, specially since it is written by Paul Tobin, a writer I like on Marvel Adventures Spider-man. I mean how can you say no to "Tim Gunn in the Iron Man suit". Well, the Tim Gunn story is just a back up for the first issue, and it is actually the best story out of the 4 issues. It was funny to see Tim Gunn talk about fashion in comic books and it was awesome seeing him take on the Iron Man suit to take the day. A fun story.

The four issues themselves are not that great. It is fashion week and several models are doing photo shoots. One photographer is murdered and Millie the model is the main suspect. There is an annoying cop looking for headlines, a model that is a superhero (don't remember her name), a model dating the Human Torch and a few models trying to learn how to fight. The story is fine, but it was not worth reading. I would have been glad just reading the Tim Gunn back up.

City of Dust

City of Dust by Steve Niles and Zid.

I was introduced to Steve Niles by his series Simon Dark. A series which I enjoyed a lot, at least the first 12 issues (the last 6 weren't as good). I decided to read this book because I liked Simon Dark and because I like the publisher. Radical Comics is a new publishing house (well, almost 2 years old now) and they put a lot of effort in putting out quality books for affordable prices. I haven't liked one of their books (Freedom Formula), but I have liked the other two I've read (Shrapnel and City of Dust).

This comic is a futuristic tale. It follows a cop, Phillipe Krome, whose job is to burn books, it reminds me of Fahrenheit 451. However, in this book, we have some monsters attacking people. It becomes a sort of detective story mixed with horror in a future world. I think the story does a good job and it is helped by the astonishing visuals of Zid. However, I think the last chapter in the story was weak. I think there was more potential in this book.

A good but not great book.

Amazing Spider-Man

I fell behind on Spider-Man reading and I've done most of it this week, today I'll post about Amazing Spider-man and this week I'll write two other posts, one on Web of Spider-man and another one on miscellaneous Spidey titles I've read recently.

Amazing Spider-man #525 by Joe Kelly and Max Fiumara.

This issue is sad, but Kelly does some great job with Spidey's dialogue throughout, making the story a little lighter, which I think is the way to do Spider-man.

Amazing Spider-man #526 by Fred Van Lente and Michael Gaydos.

The issue is good but not great. I liked seeing Spidey in trouble by temporarily losing his powers and I was interested in seeing the lady Scorpion as a character. The art worked better than I thought it would. I remember Gaydos from his work on Alias and I thought his style served better in noir stories than in Spider-man, but as Michael Lark has shown, noir style pencillers work great on Spider-man.

Amazing Spider-man #527 by Roger Stern and Lee Weeks.

This is the first part of a trilogy called "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" that kind of serves as a sequel to the famous "Nobody can stop the Juggernaut". I was very interested in finding out who stopped the Juggernaut and I was glad that it was revealed in this issue.

Amazing Spider-man #528 by Roger Stern and Lee Weeks with a backup feature by Mark Waid and Todd Nauck.

The second part of the trilogy, this raises some good questions about who is Captain Universe, since he doesn't seem to understand his role as a superhero. We have a fun fight between Spidey and Captain Universe and Juggernaut joins in to create an interesting set up.

The backup feature was great. I really like how Todd Nauck draws Spidey and the supporting characters and the story itself was a fun quintessential Spidey story. Spider-Man has a job interview. The interviewer gets stopped in traffic due to a villain popping out on the street and so he interviews Spidey on the phone. Of course this becomes problematic once Spidey has to fight the villain in front of the car of the interviewer. Fun stuff.

Amazing Spider-man #529 by Roger Stern and Lee Weeks with a backup feature by Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo.

The conclusion of the "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" story is the best of the bunch, by far. First, we learn who Captain Universe is. Second, we learn how this connects to the "Nothing can Stop the Juggernaut" story. Third, we get a nice life lesson, another great take on "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility". This is a perfect story for Spider-man. Nothing very original, something a bit bizarre by having a cosmic power in the story, but a story that tells us what Spidey is all about.

The back up was pretty cool too. It is a prologue to the next storyline by Zeb Wells, called "Shed". It looks like it will be a much darker storyline, but it looks exciting.

Amazing Spider-man #530 by Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo.

This is the first part of "Shed". We had a prologue in the previous issue and we also had a related story in a recent Web of Spider-man. The story will center on Dr. Connors.
The issue is very good. We get to see Connors having a bad life and slowly losing control to his reptilian side. We also see Spidey have some romantic problems as the Black Cat makes it very clear that she's not interested in a relationship, she just wants to have fun.

A really good issue that has me very excited about the next two parts in the story. I haven't been as excited about a Spidey story in many issues, not since Van Lente's chameleon story in the early 600s.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: Sophomore Jinx

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: Sophomore Jinx by Terry Moore and Craig Rousseau

I am a longtime Spider-Man fan. I heard great things about author Terry Moore and I decided to check this book out because the covers looked cool. I was happy to try this book out. It is very different to the normal Spider-Man series, as this focuses on Mary Jane's life in high school. Hence there are no supervillains and it is mostly about a young girl going through her first years in high school.

I think the story was pretty good, not many interesting things happen, but the writer and artist do a good job of making us care for Mary Jane. She goes through some trivial issues (not trivial for a teenager though) and she does it with grace.

I think this is a pretty good comic for teenagers. I am glad I read it.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Doom Patrol Book 2: The Painting that Ate Paris

Doom Patrol Book 2: The Painting that Ate Paris by Grant Morrison and Richard Case consists of issues 26 through 34 of Doom Patrol.

This comic is amazing. The creativity and inventiveness that come out of the book are very enjoyable. In this comic, the Doom Patrol faces a dadaist enemy. An enemy that makes the absurd real. As the title suggest, there is a painting that eats Paris. The Justice League can't do anything about it, but the Doom Patrol is perfect for this sort of case.

Throughout the issues we travel inside the painting to different art styles such as impressionism and surrealism. The intellectual playfulness is incredible. I don't know how the artist was able to pull off these crazy ideas, but he manages to do it and do it well.

The book contains a few more stories besides the one in the title. It has a really good one-shot story in the mind of Crazy Jane, a woman that has 64 personalities. It is an interesting issue where Robotman tries to get Crazy Jane out of a self-imposed coma by going into her mind. Great stuff.

Overall, this comic is fantastic. I am glad I didn't put it down after the lackluster Book 1. I am looking forward to reading the rest of Morrison's run.

Doom Patrol Book 1: Crawling From the Wreckage

Doom Patrol Book 1: Crawling From the Wreckage by Grant Morrison and Richard Case consists of issues 19 through 25 of Doom Patrol.

The Doom Patrol consists of a group of superheroes that solve creepy cases. In this volume, we are introduced to a few new members to the team as the team faces strange villains.

I don't love this volume, but it introduced the characters to set up amazing stories later on. Worth reading to be able to read the next volume which is amazing.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Invincible Iron Man: Most Wanted Book 2 (Vol. 3)

Invincible Iron Man: Most Wanted Book 2 (Vol. 3) by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca consists of issues 14 through 19 of Invincible Iron Man.

I like this volume more than the previous one. First of all, we have more excitement, since Iron Man is becoming less intelligent.

One thing I like about this comic is that you get unexpected heroes. I like to see people stand up to authority whenever the authority is clearly wrong (in this case, the authority being Norman Osborn).

The comic has a lot of funny moments, good action and suspense, as I didn't know what would happen to Iron Man, Pepper or Maria Hill.

A good series, I'll keep on reading it.

Invincible Iron Man: Most Wanted Vol. 1

Invincible Iron Man: Most Wanted Vol. 1 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca consists of issues 8 through 13 of Invincible Iron Man.

After the events of Secret Invasion, Tony Stark gets fired as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D and furthermore, since he refuses to give some secret documents to the new head of security, Norman Osborn (aka Green Goblin), he becomes a fugitive of the law.

In this comic, Iron Man starts erasing his brain little by little. He needs the help of Pepper Potts and Maria Hill. The adventure of Maria Hill becomes an interesting side story in the comic book.

After Civil War, it has been tough to like Iron Man, however the great movies and Fraction's stellar writing have made this book a great read.

Unauthorized Puffed Movie Adaptation

Unauthorized Puffed Movie Adaptation by John Layman and Dave Crosland.

I love John Layman's Chew, therefore I decided to give a try to this comic book. While the name makes it seem like a movie called Puffed exists, imdb does not list any such movie, which makes me think the title is a joke.

Puffed is the story of a young guy who works at a theme park as a mascot. He has to wear a suit that needs the assistance of another person to put on (and to get out off). He gets kidnapped and thrown into the inner city in his suit and he can't get out of it. Therefore, downtown now has a guy in a dinosaur costume walking around.

The comic has a few funny scenes and overall is pretty good. I don't think the comic was great, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol. 5

Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol. 5 by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley consists of issues 48 through 59 plus Astounding Wolf Man #11.

Invincible is a comic about a very powerful teenage superhero. Robert Kirkman does a great job of humanizing the character while at the same time giving us tons of fun adventures. One thing I love about Kirkman is that he keeps developing subplots in issues while finishing previous subplots. This way, every issue seems important while at the same time it creates moments where a bunch of subplots come into the forefront creating a big mess for our hero. I love this. You never know where Invincible will be in the next issue. There are countless villains making up their own plans and who knows when they will attack.

I read this volume in one sitting and it made me eager to get more issues of Invincible. This series is so good that it seems like waiting a year for the next collected hardcover is too long a wait.

I love this series. I read a lot of comics and this might be my favorite series. I highly recommend it.

All Star Superman (Vol. 2)

All Star Superman (Vol. 2) by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely consists of issues 7 through 12 of All Star Superman.

I read the first volume two years ago and I read the eleventh issue about half a year ago. I wasn't in love with the book, but it has so much praise that I had to give it a read. I like the comic, but I don't love it. I think it has a lot of cool ideas, great artwork and that it does a great job of making every issue have its own story while still developing an overarching arc to the whole series. However, I just didn't find myself caring that much for what would happen. Superman is dying, but I had a hard time thinking he would die.

I can see why a lot of people love this book, but it just didn't astound me.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Famous Players: Mysterious Death Of William Desmond Taylor

Famous Players: Mysterious Death Of William Desmond Taylor by Rick Geary.

Rick Geary has written many comics about famous murders. This one is about the death of William Desmond Taylor, a popular movie director in the 1920's. Geary does a great job of setting the mood with his precise drawings. I really liked how Hollywood changes throughout time. The story shows us Hollywood before becoming the film mecca.

After reading this, I think I'll read more of Geary's books. I liked this one a lot.

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna.

Logicomix is a comic about the history of Logic. It focuses on Bertrand Russell's life, but the main theme of the book is Logic. It gives good reasons to care about the topic and it gives very good ways of explaining different difficult mathematical concepts.

The comic also breaks the fourth wall a bit by showing us how the creators were having difficulty in terms of how much mathematics to show and how to move the story along. I really liked this breaks in the story.

One scene I loved in the book is a scene where Bertrand Russell explains the different kinds of infinity to his girlfriend by using the notion of an infinite hotel (Hilbert's hotel). It reminded me of many times when I have excitedly explained interesting mathematics to my wife. It made me laugh, as Bertrand's girlfriend seemed as interested in the story as my wife (which is, not much).

I highly recommend this book.

Random Acts of Violence

Random Acts of Violence by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Giancarlo Caracuzzo.

This comic, initially solicited as "Splatterman", starts with two young comic artists that have just finished writing a horror comic book. The comic they write becomes a hit and it leads to serial killer copycats.

The comic is much better than I thought it would be. The story is very good and it made me very interested in its resolution. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the end. While the last 2 pages are very good, the climax that came a little bit before was disappointing to me. I guess I was mainly bothered by one page, but I won't spoil the story to other readers.

Since the comic was a great read overall, I would still recommend checking it out. I had a lot of fun reading it.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Various Recent Single Issues

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 by Grant Morrison, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

About a year and a half ago, Batman was sent back in time by Darkseid during Final Crisis. I haven't read comics from the DC Universe since Final Crisis (except for series on the sidelines, such as Secret Six and Nemesis: The Impostors), so I don't know much of what is going on in Gotham (I do know that Dick Grayson is Batman now and Damian Wayne is Robin). I am attracted to this series because it looks like it is going to be fun and because Grant Morrison is very good at writing weird stuff, so I am curious how he will return Bruce Wayne.

The first issue has an amnesiac Bruce Wayne in caveman times. He doesn't speak, as caveman don't understand him. He gets into trouble in the middle of a fight between two tribes and he has to flee. Overall, not much happens in the comic, but the comic is great. Several questions arise during the issue setting up interesting things for following issues, but at the same time, the issue has a self contained story that doesn't depend on the past or the future to be fun.

Overall, a great read, I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Last Days of American Crime #2 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini.

I might be misremembering the first issue, but the coloring here seemed very different than what I remember from the first issue. Greg Tocchini is really good at drawing action scenes and his style is distinctive. However, I am not a fan of his close ups. The faces are too blurry for me.

With respect to the story. I like it. There are a lot of cool action scenes and there is one very funny moment. It is strange that the series is supposed to be about a heist, but the story hasn't really focused on much about the heist, there are too many things going around for the heist to get center focus.

I am liking the series. It seems like the third issue will come out late as the third issue was canceled, meaning that it will probably take 4 or 5 more months before it arrives. That is a bummer, but since the issues are almost triple sized, I can forgive them.

Haunt #7 by Robert Kirkman, Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane.

This is the last of the issues I have ordered for this series. I am not in love with the series, so this issue would have had to be fantastic for me to keep going with the series. The last issue was great, but this issue wasn't great. The very first scene was ridiculous, I just don't buy gangsters acting so recklessly over someone they could just beat up. I don't hear of too many murders in the US, so I don't think gangsters just kill whenever someone insults them a little bit.

Robert Kirkman has two great series: The Walking Dead and Invincible, so I have been giving this comic a try for a while. If I hear great reviews in the future, I might give this comic another try, but for now, I am done with this series.

Marvel Origins by Fred Van Lente and many others.

Fred Van Lente is my favorite among the writers in charge of Spider-Man right now, so when I saw his name in the solicits, I decided to give this one-shot a try. I probably misunderstood what this comic was about. If I had known it was just one page stories retelling the origins of several Marvel heroes and villains, I would not have ordered this comic. Van Lente does a good job of telling us enough about each character, but for most characters I already knew their origin and for the ones I didn't, I didn't really care (except maybe for Dr. Strange). A few of the pages are not written by Van Lente, but by Jim McCann.

For a while I couldn't understand how Marvel could charge $3.99 for this. But I guess the answer is that, you are not really buying a story but art. Each page is done by a different artist and a lot of them are fantastic. My favorite was the page for Bucky Barnes (the new Captain America). The art consists of 4 vertical panels in the upper half and one triangular panel in the bottom half. The first and third panel are light colored, while the second and fourth have a lot of red in them. The bottom half is tainted blue. Overall, it gives the effect of the American flag, as we have red, white and blue with stars (as Captain America has a star on his chest and on his shield). It looks awesome.

Overall, not an issue I would recommend.

Without trying, the issues are ordered from the one I like the most to the one I liked the least.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Various Single Issues

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #35 by Brad Meltzer and Georges Jeanty.

This issue is the final issue in the Twilight arc. The arc started very strong, but I wasn't so impressed with the last two issues. I am very excited about the finale coming up, as it is written by Joss Whedon himself.
The art in this issue is pretty good. Georges Jeanty does a good job of conveying Buffy's feelings.

Codebreakers #2 by Carey Malloy and Scott Godlewski.

The first issue was good but not great. This issue made me more interested in the story. We now know a little bit more of the villain and the hero. I am looking forward to the next issue.

Irredeemable #13 by Mark Waid and Diego Barreto.

Irredeemable is a series I've been enjoying quite a bit. This issue is very good. It focuses on Bette Noir, showing us how she could have prevented deaths with her knowledge of the Plutonian's weakness. The reaction of her dad was very surprising to me. I really liked how this series is shaping up.

The issue was another relaxed issue that takes us away from the action, but I think it was a good issue right now, as we needed to get to know Bette Noir better.

Hellboy in Mexico by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben.

I had to read this issue since it is a One-shot and it is set in Mexico. The story is not great, but it is fun and entertaining. I am not a big fan of Hellboy, but I like the way the comic deals with the supernatural.

The art is great. Corben does a very good job of making all the supernatural characters look cool. I also liked how he drew the Mexican fighters. Really cool artwork.

A solid comic, worth the price and it was worth it, even though I know little of the Hellboy story.

Nemesis: The Impostors #3 by Ivan Brandon and Cliff Richards.

The series has been hard to follow for me as I know nothing about this character. Despite that, the issue was interesting.

I have to mention that the art by Cliff Richards has been phenomenal in this series. I had only seen his work on Buffy and it wasn't very good there. The way he draws Batman is perfect and overall the action has been really well drawn. I love it.

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #1 by Michael Kupperman.

I have heard many people rave about this comic, so I was expecting something fantastic. The comic consists of many surrealistic jokes. A lot of the jokes are very funny, but some aren't funny. Even with the very funny ones, I wouldn't crack up, I would just smile. I think this kind of humor is just not my cup of tea. It is intelligent, but not that funny.

Secret Warriors #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis and Stefano Caselli.

After loving the Shield comic last month and since I have a subscription to Marvel digital, I decided to read other things Jonathan Hickman has done. Marvel Digital has the first two issues of Secret Warriors, so I decided to read them. The first one is pretty good. The issue itself doesn't tell us much of what is going on, showing us a few spy missions and ending with a confusing cliffhanger. However, it was good enough to get me to read the second issue.

Secret Warriors #2 by Jonathan Hickman and Stefano Caselli.

This issue explains the confusing ending to last issue. The premise is actually very interesting, the premise is that Hydra has been successfully spying and manipulating S.H.I.E.L.D for many years. I am very interested in seeing what Nick Fury we'll do with this development.
This series looks very cool, I will keep reading it.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Ex Machina: Ring Out the Old (Vol. 9)

Ex Machina: Ring Out the Old (Vol. 9) by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris consists of issues 40 through 44 of Ex Machina plus the Green Special.

When I started reading Ex Machina, 6 trades had come out and I read through them quickly. I loved it. Since then, I have had to wait about half a year for each trade and because of that, I often forget what has been going on and have a hard time loving the series as much as I did the first time. With this trade, I didn't have that problem. The comic starts with a fun "meta" issue with Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris written into the story. Then it has another one shot issue about paper. The next four issues (41-44) are the heart of it, the issues that give the book its name. They are fantastic. We get to know more back story about Mitchell, we get teased about how he got his powers, we get a cool villain and the politics heat up as Mitchell is continuing his pragmatic style of governing.

This comic got me very excited about the conclusion that comes up in November in trade format (the final issue comes out in June or July). The comic has shown us three years of government and the last six issues will focus on the last year (2005). With the introduction of new villains, the political pressure and the mysterious outside forces, I am eagerly awaiting the final chapter.