Writer's Pull List: 05-26-10

Matt: I used to think that 8 comics a week was huge.  Now it's become standard.  I may have to start selling my body to afford this habit.
Arnab: There was a time when 8 comics was my entire pull list. Now it's an every week thing. I'm going to have to join you on your new endeavor.

Arnab's Pull List
Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #2
Gotham City Sirens #12
Green Lantern #54
Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #3
Superman: War of the Supermen #4
X-Force #27
X-Men Origins: Emma Frost
X-Men Second Coming Revelations: Blind Science


Matt's Pull List
Dazzler
Secret Avengers #1
X-Force #27
X-Men Origins: Emma Frost (maybe)
Second Coming Revelations: Blind Science
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2
Green Lantern #54
Green Lantern Corps #48
Wonder Woman #44
American Vampire #2-3

Everyone outside. Now! We're under attack!

American Vampires #1-3       *****

At the suggestion of my comic guy Andy I picked up this title and I can honestly say that I am glad that I did. With the Vampire craze infiltrating every ounce of our culture these days you're probably thinking, not another vampire story. I promise you, you're wrong. I mean, you've got the King of horror stories himself Mr. Stephen King as one of the writers.  As a fan, I would argue that that should be enough to get you to read this. But you do have to take in the fact that the other writer Scott Snyder is relatively unkown. Well let me tell you, he does a fantastic job with words himself. And while they're storytelling techniques are different they come together to create a well thought out and executed story. The artwork in this book is fantastic as well. Rafael Albuquerue does a tremendous job with the art that is executed in a painterly fashion that may call to some people's minds the stylings of Francis Manapul.

The story is split in two parts. The first part, written by Scott Snyder takes place in the Hollywood district in 1925. We meet aspiring actress Pearl Jones who is in for the ride of her life, especially after meeting Skinner Sweet. In the second story we follow Skinner's road to meeting Pearl. What these writers are doing is exploring the notions of vampire evolution as well as the eternal battle between the old and the young.

Gashapon Reviews: May 19, 2010

I'm incredibly annoyed that "Enter the Heroic Age" was not in my comic store.  I know it was mostly just a preview of the new Avengers titles, but that's kind of why I wanted it.  Hopefully I can find it somewhere this week.

In other news, I'm now up to date with Chew, but I think I'm going to make a separate 'indies' post.

Marvel:

X-Men Legacy #236 ***

I am having the hardest time reviewing this issue.  Sure, I liked it.  But I'm not sure I can really put my finger on why, and that makes me uncomfortable.  Because I can definitely see some flaws in it.  The art at the beginning is confusing (I knew they were creating a shell around the mutants, but only from experience, not so much from the drawing) and the characters seem a little...stupid.  "Gee, a giant silver sphere that appears to be the center of this scary red thing.  Let's go poke it with an Iceman."  Part of me feels like the action is trying to start up again but it's not going as smoothly as the first 5 issues did.  I definitely think we'll get there, but right now I'm just a little hesitant.  In other words this wasn't my favorite issue so far, but I'm not about to say "This issue is crap," because it's not, and I think in the final trade this issue will just mark a lull in the overall story.  But I do want to mention that I'm very happy the Avengers showed up.  It would be very unrealistic (even by comics standards) that all this shit could go down in San Francisco and no one would take notice. 

Writer's Pull List: 05-19-10

So right now we don't have as many readers as we would like. However, we do plan on helping change that a bit. So to make things a bit more easy flowing, we've decided to post a pull list. This is essentially going to be a list of comics that Matt and I will be reading each week, divided up by publisher. As our readers grow it will hopefully also be a place where you, the readers, can suggest things for us to read.

Arnab's Pull List
Batman: Streets of Gotham #12
Brightest Day #2
Superman: War of the Supermen #3
X-Factor #205
X-Men: Legacy #236
The Walking Dead #72
Supernatural: Beginning's End #5

Matt's Pull List
Age of Heroes #1
Avengers #1
Enter the Heroic Age
Invincible Iron Man #26
X-Factor #205
Legacy #236
Brightest Day #2
Chew #7-10 (if I can find all of them)

There may be some other things we both wind up reading, but these are the things we'll be searching out.  A relatively big week as they go.  Wait for our reviews later this week!

When I said I was ready...I lied.

Hello my readers. I have some news for yall. Starting this week I will be writing for two different sites. I will continue doing my reviews here for everything that is not DC and I will be doing all my DC reviews at ComicAttack.net. I will be linking all my DC reviews to my posts here, so it'll be easy access for you guys. And fear not, I have already come up with some ways that will make up for me abandoning you all, at least my DC reviews abandoning you.

New Mutants #13 ***1/2
I thought it was a fairly mellow issue. I can't particularly say I've ever really liked Dani Moonstar. I'm not altogether sure why. I thought she was cool when she kicked Ares' ass, but other than that I have found her to be significantly annoying. And her talking about Hope right in front of Hope was ridiculous. I'm glad Hope beat her down. The X-Men have been systematically trapped on their Island, how can they survive this? What exactly is happening with the Science Guild? I love seeing Scott get some action, as little as it was. It's just been too long since he was a part of the major action. I think people are expecting too much from Hope, I mean, it's not like anyone knows what she's actually supposed to do. And yea, it sucks that people keep dying to protect her. But if you really think about it, they'd be dying regardless of her existence.The inside art is good, the cover art is awesome.

Gashapon Reviews: May 12, 2010

Any week I spend $30 at the comic shop without buying a trade is considered big by my standards.  Granted I bought 3 issues of Chew at once.  Too bad they don't seem to have issue 7.

Yet another major event comes to a close this week, and some more Brightest Day titles are just taking off. 

Marvel:

New Mutants #13 ***

So we've said goodbye to Kurt and gotten everyone back on Utopia.  But seeing as we're halfway through, it's time to rev up the action again after last weeks breather as we head into the second half of the event.  I appreciated that we're really seeing now just how well-planned out Bastion is.  I'm not however appreciating Hope having all of these doubts.  And before anyone says anything, yes, I know I'm being terrifically unfair to her and all the shit she's gone through.  It can't be easy to have the weight of a species on your shoulders, especially when you're already a bitchy teenager.  I think I'm just getting impatient for more to happen, and I'm going to view that as a tribute to the writing, keeping me wanting more. 

You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me.

Red Robin #12      *****
It has been a year now, our time, since my boy Timothy has taken up the Red Robin mantle, and what a year it has been. Ra's al Ghul had made his final move against Tim in the last issue, putting out a league of ninjas to take out everyone close to Bruce. However, just as his mentor before him, Timothy was more than prepared. And unlike his mentor before him, Timothy had an army of friends to help him. He then took the battle to Grandpa Ghul himself (Damian's Grandfather, not Tim's.)

I can't even begin to explain just how amazing this issue was. A whole year of storytelling by Chris Yost came to a conclusion and it couldn't have wrapped up better. In past years Tim has been the ever present light in Gotham, but recent events and tragic deaths (Tim's Father, Stephanie Brown-though she wasn't really dead, Conner Kent and Bart Allen-both have returned to us, and Bruce Wayne) had left him a shell of his former self. With this final issue of Yost's return, I can honestly say that it's great to get some of that old Tim back. He can never be the same kid again, he's lived too long for that. But as he said in the issue, he's his own man now, and all the better for it.

There are a couple of important things I would like to mention. With this issue we are made to some things in a much clearer light. For one Ra's has some slut hidden away to be impregnated by Tim, gross. Bruce and Dick are the best role models a guy could have, individually, and Tim has had them both. I loved when Bart, Cassie, and Conner showed up to help out. I loved even more the interaction between Dick and Tim, who have thankfully made up. Chris Yost himself told us, my sister and I, that with is final issue he was not only looking to tie up the story but to bring Tim back around, and I think he's done that very well. Marcus To has been a great artist on this run. He's just got a certain feel that fits in right with Tim.

Gashapon Reviews: May 5, 2010

Two Gashapon reviews so close to each other will probably break the universe, but here we go.
 
Marvel

Uncanny X-Men #524 ***1/2

Before I do any kind of review, I need to bitch about Colossus.  Specifically Colossus being by the plane at the end of the last chapter, and in the medical ward with Kitty at the beginning of this chapter.  Annoyance.

Ok, now as to the rest of it.  This was a quiet issue after the craziness of last week.  I've heard it described as a 'breather' before the rest of Second Coming unfolds.  I thought the tribute to Kurt was touching, but I found Beast's outburst to be terrifically inappropriate.  Regardless of your feelings, you don't interrupt a funeral.  It's interesting to see how the mutants all react to Hope.  After all this time and all this build-up, she's got a lot on her shoulders.  I think it's all just building up to the break that unleashes her real power.  But with Bastion having a spy on Utopia, things are going to get much worse before they get better. 

Gashapon Reviews: April 28, 2010

What's this?  A Gashapon review?  I thought those stopped existing!

Sorry folks, I've been terrible in my blogging efforts of late.  April was crazy, and I had the Blackest Night Review hanging over my head.  But that's done, and now we're into regular comics, and I have no excuse for not reviewing anymore.  In other comics news, I've caught up on Batman and Robin, and am catching up on Red Robin.  I also started reading Y the Last Man and a few issues of Chew.  And as soon as I find Walking Dead at the library I plan on reading that too. 

Before I start, though, a big shout out to Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, my new Comic store.  Joel there has helped me set up my pull-list, which is much longer than I thought it would be.  Stupid X-titles.

You don't know what it's like to be a father--to really be a father.

X-Force #26  *****
"Our Father who are in heaven," oh I'm sorry, I must have been channeling the late Kurt Wagner. You heard that right, our resident religious funny man himself, Nightcrawler has passed into the land of the dead. Let that soak in for a while as I take you on this journey. So much happened in this issue and everything happened so well. First, Bastion is tracking all the mutants in the world, except for Hope (who's still able to avoid detection, much like when she was a teenie tiny babie.) Cable, after having split up from Hope, is creating a diversion with the help of Angel, Psylocke, Logan, Colossus, and X-23. Suffice to say, Bastion was not fooled. And just to add, while I understand Colossus' pain and desire to help his sister, annoying much? Back to the good stuff. Meanwhile, Rogue and Hope have been traveling cross-country via that Nightcrawler "Bamf" express. Having briefly stopped to allow Nightcrawler to rest, the gang was attacked by Bastion himself. Rogue quickly utilizing near every power she had recently absorbed (see review for X-Men Legacy #235,) however the quickly repairing, non-human, Bastion kept barraging her with more attacks. Finally having beat down Rogue, Bastion turns his attention to the weakened Nightcrawler and the unprotected Hope. Now, I'm not usually one for spoiling, but you must forgive me this one time. With his last burst of energy, Nightcrawler "Bamf"-ed for the last time, transporting himself and Hope to Utopia, uttering his final words "I...I believe in  you." (Much like I said you all should believe in Cyclops back in our 50th post special.)

I don't even know where to start really. The writing and the artwork in this book was superb. Fantastic. Beautiful. Craig Kyle and Chris Yost weaved the words like they were thread in a Navajo blanket. And there were often times when the silence was even more powerful. enter Mike Choi and Sonia Oback. These four people weaved together a brilliant chapter to this awesome event. The battle scene between Rogue and Bastion was awesome. The final moments of Nightcrawler's death was touching. And the moment that Colossus and Wolverine find out he died was heartbreaking. I've had an inkling that it would be Kurt that would be a major death in this event. His interaction with Scott in the one-shot, his transporting Rogue and Hope across the U.S., his vocal opposition to X-Force, just little things. And I was all for it, mostly because his faith in his religion makes me feel awkward, because it's something that I can't relate to him about. But at the end of the day, he is a part of the second generation of X-Men, best friend to Colossus and Wolverine, good friend to many, and he will be missed by thousands of fans across the world. He deserved an honorable death, and Kyle, Yost, Choi, and Oback gave him just that.

I met up with Chris Yost on Free Comic Book Day, and he's just a great guy. I got my issue signed by him, of course, as well as a couple Necrosha issues, and my Red Robin series. We talked about Nightcrawler's death a little, and you could just tell that there was a level of respect he had for this character and the character's history, especially with the fans. He said that their main intent was to make sure his death wasn't pointless and meaningless.
And they did just that.

I-I wish I could do more but I can't. I can't go any faster...

Even if the thought occurred to you then, you never thought you'd actually be able to do harm to your parents.

Streets of Gotham #11 ****
I can say this week after week, but until you actually pick up the book you guys won't ever really know just what you are missing out on by not reading the Bat-titles. And to those of you who are thinking, why would you need to read 5 books about Batman,ere given the pleasure of witnessing young children locked in cages like animals. It turns out that Mr. Zsasz over here not only has been kidnapping orphans but forcing them to fight one another for the pleasure of his customers. Enter Damian. This little guy, who is becoming a bit more likeable with every issue, has deemed himself the protector of children around the world. This was another great notch in Paul Dini's book of Gotham stories. And man does Dustin Nguyen have the amazing ability to take Dini's words and bring them to life. Great series, great issue, just great stuff.