Reviews for Comics
Batman Year One
Review: This comic book was written using two perspectives that of Bruce Wayne from the time his parents were killed at the age of six to the time he returned to Gotham City at a ripe age of twenty-five, after patiently readying himself to fight crimes in their God-forsaken city. Then there"s that of Lieutenant James Gordon, a police officer under the tutelage of the city"s Police... (Continue)
X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
Review:
X-Men: Deadly Genesis is intended to be a prestige series, one that would shake up the status quo and jump start a storyline that writer Ed Brubaker was to take with him when he took over the reins of Uncanny X-Men, one of the flagship X-Titles. This is a good place to put a Spoiler Warning, because I am going to discuss plot points in detail. If you are waiting to read the series in trade...
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X-Factor #17
Review:
Peter David's newest issue of X Factor, #17, opens with our valiant anti heroes piled up like stacked corpses on the cover. Their bodies are surrounded by barbed wire, and a red, hazy sky swirls like mists above their heads. If your immediate reaction is to remember one of the horrific genocides and massacres common to the (real) 20th century, then cover artist (and penciler) Pablo Raimondi...
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X-Factor #1-4
Review:
Reading a superhero comic written by Peter David must be like having seen Babe Ruth play baseball or Leonard Bernstein conduct an orchestra: you're watching a master in his field at the top of his game amazing all who watch. At least that's the feeling I got after reading his first arc of X-Factor.Of course, David is no stranger to X-Factor, having written a number of issues for the first...
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X Isle #1-3
Review:
There's a moment towards the end of issue 1 of BOOM! Studio's latest title where the young daughter of our main protagonist quietly gets his attention with a laid back 'Um guys... I think we've got bigger fish to fry,' when she comes face to face with monsters that with confidence can be described as 'Gigeresque'. It's a scene that, if the reader projected themselves into, would involve much...
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What Were They Thinking?! Some People Never Learn
Review:
Anyone following mainstream superhero comics (especially DC and Marvel's offerings) knows that it's been getting dark for a while now. Heroes are killing people, mind-wiping villains, people are getting raped and tortured, and it's gotten bad enough that the government is going to step in. It's all gotten so... grim. And, as these things tend to do, it's generating a backlash among people who...
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What Were They Thinking?! Monster Mash-Up
Review:
Just to start I have to say that I'm a huge fan of the school of comedy where one takes an old crappy movie, TV series or comic and just mocks how bad, insane or unintentionally hilarious it is. I love Seanbaby.com, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and their comedy brethren. However, while I am a sucker for that kind of humour, I usually find the art of dialogue replacement (a la Woody Allen's...
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Warhammer: Forge of War #1
Review:
The role-playing game Warhammer was Great Britain's answer to Dungeons & Dragons, only they were using pewter miniatures long before D&D did. Independent publisher BOOM! Studios have the Warhammer license, and their latest comics adaptations is Warhammer: Forge of War. Now, I have to admit that I am only somewhat familiar with the Warhammer world. Growing up I remember playing Blood Bowl, a...
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Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1
Review:
Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 line of games (and countless spin-offs) draws much of its inspiration from that venerable old workhorse 2000 AD, living proof that science-fiction and anthologies can both work in comics. Those who grew up reading 2000 AD like I did may wonder at this, its series have covered a wide variety of different styles and moods over the years, from the xenophobic...
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Willie & Joe: The WWII Years
Review:
If most Americans too young for membership in the Greatest Generation have any inkling at all who Bill Mauldin was, the knowledge probably comes smeared with a dash of sepia, like some Norman Rockwell of the cartoon world. The actuality of the man and his art, as presented in the fantastic new two-volume box set, Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, has quite a bit more of the stink of reality to it....
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