Various Single Issues

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #3 by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette.

This issue is great. It has a nice stand alone story while moving along the overall story arc of Bruce Wayne moving in time. I still have no idea how this is happening, but Morrison is doing some cool things with the time travel part of it. Specially as the whole issue focuses on one particular time. It is interesting that Bruce is getting his memories back little by little, it should create interesting stories as the series goes on.

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

Superman #700 by James Robinson, Benard Chang, Dan Jurgens, J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows.

There are three stories on this issue. The first one is by James Robinson and it serves as an epilogue to the last two years of Superman he had written. It was a romantic story about Superman and Lois being back together. I haven't read anything by James Robinson before, but I didn't like this story. Essentially nothing interesting happens. I guess for those following the story it might be nice to see clark and Lois together but I didn't are.

The second story is by Dan Jurgens and I liked it quite a bit. It was fun. It was kid of ordinary in that it had Robin getting in trouble after not following Batman's orders and it was obvious Superman would come in to save the day. However, the last two pages have one twist after another that made the story a bit different, fun and funny. I enjoyed it.

The third story is by J. Michael Straczynski. Straczynski had a great run in Spider-Man and he wrote one of my favorite comic books, Midnight Nation. He also wrote the TV series Babylon 5. A series I like a lot. He is a high profile writer and he is planning a thirteen issue story of Superman walking across America to get back into his roots. I like the idea, I think JMS is very good with this kind of story (he had an episode in Babylon 5 about it, also, Midnight Nation involves walking across America to finding oneself). It is the kind of story that JMS does over and over and I think he will do a good job with it. However, this prologue to that story was very weak. It gives a completely dumb reason for Superman to do that. I really can't see how a woman can blame Superman for her husband's death and how Superman can react to it that way. Superman must know better. JMS should have been able to find a better reason for Superman to want to understand his roots in America.

Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures #2 by Paul Tobin and Matteo Lolli.

This is one of the issues that I have liked the least of this comic book series. It is not bad, but it is not that fun or interesting. The main thing I like is Carter Torino. A son of a mobster, but who doesn't want to be a criminal and who likes Spider-Man. It seems like good stories will come from playing with this.

Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures #3 by Paul Tobin and Matteo Lolli.

The issue is pretty fun and at the end it gets interesting with Bullseye finally doing something. I really enjoy how this series is simple fun without trying to be grim and gritty. Peter acts like a teenager and there are cool supporting characters.
I am happy I am reading this series.

One complaint about the art in this issue is that there's a character whose jacket looks different colors in different panels. It seems like the colorist made a mistake.

Doom Patrol Book 3: Down Paradise Way

Doom Patrol Book 3: Down Paradise Way by Grant Morrison and Richard Case consists of issues 35-41 of Doom Patrol.

This comic starts with a story of a transvestite street. A conscious street that can move from one city to another. It was a fun story.

The next story was not that fun for me. It was full of interesting ideas, such as an abstract world called "kaleidoscope" and wars without words, etc. However, the story was a bit boring for me. Most of the story wasn't that funny and it wasn't that interesting. In fact, the most interesting part for me in this story arc was the prologue at the beginning of each issue, a prologue which had nothing to do with this story but was probably setting up the next story.

The art in this series is okay. I don't think it is that great, but it gets the job done and the job is quite difficult when you have to draw things that seem impossible to draw . So much imagination is flowing in this title, hard to keep up for the artist.

Overall, the series is quite interesting and it has plenty of funny moments, but I think it too often gets bog down by having so many concepts floating around at the same time. I'll read the next volume because I was intrigued with the prologues in the issues here, but if the next story is not great, I am going to stop reading this series.

Various Recent Single Issues

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37 by Karl Kessel, Paulo Siqueira, Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe.

The annual consists of two stories. The first one by Kessel and Siqueira and the next one by Busiek and Olliffe. The first story is about the first meeting between Captain America and Spider-Man. It was a fun issue. I like how Kessel treated Cap. The art was also quite good. I liked the second story more though. I thought it was a fun story, it made me want to read the other issues that Busiek wrote about Spidey's first year. It was worth buying.

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #2 by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving.

This issue is about Puritan Batman. The issue is not as good as the first one, but it was quite good. I liked how Bruce would use his power to save people from superstition. We are starting to learn a little bit more of why it is dangerous for Bruce to go back to the present, but it is still mysterious.

The next issue is Pirate Batman. I am looking forward to that, I have the issue right next to me, I will read it tomorrow. The cover is great.

Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine #1 by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert.

I loved this issue. I was very surprised by it. I was not expecting an issue set in the past starting Spider-Man and Wolverine. The issue slowly explains how Peter and Logan ended up in prehistoric times, which I think works great. Jason Aaron really knows how to write and it doesn't hurt to have a superstar artist like Adam Kubert to help. Kubert has very detailed pencils. The images are very sharp and clean, I really like the feel of the story. I also like that Kubert is not afraid to put more things into the panels by putting the camera farther back. Really good stuff.

I am looking forward to the rest of this miniseries, it is shaping up to be a fantastic one.

Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures #1 by Paul Tobin and Matteo Lolli.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man was rebooted into Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures and it starts with a solid first issue. I really like this series. It is full of joy and fun adventures with Spider-Man. Paul Tobin does a really good job with a teenage Spidey and I really like Chat, she is a nice supporting character.

Nemesis: The Impostors #4 by Ivan Brandon and Cliff Richards.

I am a little disappointed with this series. The art is really good (the best I've seen from Cliff Richards), but I think they should have put some kind of recap at the beginning of the first issue or something. Maybe I misunderstood the story, but it seems to me like the series depends on a previous series. I just didn't get the significance of anything that happened in this issue and I kind of didn't care about what happened.
I think it was a mistake to read this miniseries. I recommend reading another nemesis story first before trying to get into this one.

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.

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.

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.