Intergalactic

What fun!

A little indie book I discovered out of the blue.

The story was amateurish, but entertaining.

Matt Olson's artwork is excellent, the characters are rendered with vitality and the main character has real charisma in her expressions. Love it.

Bottom line, the story won't stick with me, but was fun to read.

Kick-Ass

Better than I expected, but my expectations were low.

JRJR's artwook solid as always.

Bottom line, meh.

No Hero

Worst Warren Ellis comic I have ever read. What a contrast from Anna Mercury. Ryp's art, same as ever.

Bottom line, they should have just called it "No Good".

Thunderbolts

Justice like lightning...

First I missed this series completely. Then when I heard about it, I got it all wrong.

I don't read as many super-hero books as I used to but make no mistake, I love super-hero stories.

This one has a cool twist, and solid art. Mark Bagley's stuff has really grown on me.

I've only read the first 12, can't wait to read the rest.

Bottom line, fun!

The Death of the New Gods

*SPOILERS*

I have avoided these books, The Death of the New Gods for months.

I am a fan of the New Gods.

I like Jim Starlin's work and I think he wants to do right by these characters.

I just finished reading the books moments ago. It's safe to say I have mixed emotions about them.

Scott Free's final moments were heartbreaking, but I'm not buying. Scott Free's overriding theme is not rationalism versus dark passion, it's individual freedom versus group oppression.

I don't like Darkseid surviving... at all. The confrontation with Orion at the end was the right thing and to have it not be the resolution is weak.

Bottom line, growing dissatisfaction.

Platinum Grit

I discovered a cool web comic a while back, Platinum Grit.

The great thing about discovering something this way, is that you come at it with few preconceptions and little frame of reference. Making it a lot easier to just enjoy it for it's own merits.

The great thing about this book, is that it has charismatic characters (I would like to hang out with Nils, Jeremy and Kate), it feels like a personal story the author has to tell and it's a good story. It's got tons of great absurdest and surreal moments, is fun, and then has these inexplicably dark uncomfortable moments as well.

After I discovered it I read one or two then picked around at a few others, last week or so I went back and read the first 10, there are only 20.

Looking at it now, the book definitely has parallels with Tank Girl and similarities to Los Bros. but that's ok it's fine to have influences. I am just glad I got a chance to read it with a clear mind first.

Bottom line, wish there were more. I'll read the last 10 soon and since there have only been 20 in the last 15 years...

Powers

I just read the first arc of Powers, "Who Killed Reto Girl?".

Entertaining. The dialog was maybe too sharp (not everybody is a great fucking communicator) and a couple of plot elements were a little loose, but they are really minor issues. I like these characters and the book has it's heart in the right place.

The art on this book has that great property, that the more you look at it the better it gets. Tons of great expressions, body language and subtle visual cues. The lighting and colors are great.

It's a bit of a double edged sword, I looked at this book for years and thought a solid "meh". Even though I knew the artwork was doing a lot, it just didn't immediately pull me in. Oh well I figure this is more my problem than the books. I like candy.

Bottom line, I am gonna' be reading a lot more of these.

New X-Men

Don't have time for a long post.

I just finished all of Grant Morrison's X-Men (New X-Men, whatever) run.

I had read the first arc (114-116) a while ago, but just hadn't gotten around to the rest (117-154). Themes, ideas, characterization, were all very good. Plotting not so tight.

The final arc consisted of a story that would never happen because the characters got the Phoenix Force to basically prune them from the timeline. It all looked super-cool from our perspective, but from where those characters sit (Beak's grandson-never-to-be Tito, for instance) I doubt it would seem so hot.

Better than good art delivered throughout by (off the top of my head) Quitely, Kordey, Bachalo and Gimenez.

Bottom line, tons of fun, really enjoyed it.

Anna Mercury

Bottom line, awesome.

Bad Planet

This series started out super-strong, ended... weaker.

The plot degenerated into some wacky crap about the "alien with no name" attacking a tesla coil with an axe, waittaminute' what am I saying? That sounds awesome!

I hadn't read any Steve Niles before, because I am freakin' sick of vampires.

Interior artwork was solid. Covers were stellar, featuring the likes of Mark Schultz and Dave Stevens.

Bottom line, good fun, glad I read it.

Global Frequency

This was a solid series, cool, interesting. Characterization was limited, but plots were tight, lots of mad ideas (as Warren Ellis would say).

The structure guaranteed it would be hit-or-miss, each issue was self-contained and had a different artist... ballsy. Anyway it paid off.

Bottom line the good ones more than made up for the weaker ones.

War Story

I read 300 the other day. Like many comics I have mentioned lately expectations were very high. It is very good. Bottom line given the current real-world political situation I am having trouble generating a lot of enthusiasm over a war story, even a very good one.

The Origin of Snow White

I just read Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. It was awesome but then expectations were super-high for this book so it's not a surprise. 

One thing that did surprise me. I realized while reading 1001 Nights that I primarily read Fables to find out how Snow White is doing. I like alot of the other characters (Bigby Wolf and Jack Horner, come to mind), but I primarily check the book out every month to see what Snow is up to. If you had told me that when I first started reading Fables I wouldn't have believed you.