Roger Langridge & Chris Samnee With all of the buzz out there about how great this incarnation of Thor is, I decided to check this series out for myself. Only after I ordered the first few issues, it was promptly cancelled by Marvel due to low sales, which is unfortunate since it hardly had much time to build word of mouth, but that's the way the industry works sometimes (and to be fair, its first issue sold over 20,000 copies (placing #104 for the month) while its latest sold about 8,400 (placing at #186), so it was bleeding readers). My only real issue there is it seems that people who hear about a book tend to buy the collection rather than hunt back issues, so I kind of feel like a book like this, especially for young readers, should have had a chance in another format before it got the axe. The last issue of Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard placed just ahead of Thor, the Mighty Avenger in November at #185, but its collection ranked #15 for the month. Another a
Serenity, the three issue mini-series written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, concluded this past week. This series was intended to fill in the gap between events from Whedon's canceled Firefly television show and the upcoming Serenity movie. It's filled with a lot of cool events for someone who's seen the show. I was completely startled when Kalie met one of the men in blue face-to-face, as these villains are vicious and seemingly unstoppable in the television series. However, I'm not exactly sure how someone unfamiliar with the show would have reacted; It's hard to separate myself from something I love so much. I can say, as a fan, that the characters came through in this comic quite accurately. From River to Preacher to Mal, the dialogue and actions seemed to spring from the show itself, kind of bringing me back to this happy time when television was actually good. Will Conrad's pencils certainly contributed to this effect also, portraying these characters with a realism that really finished the job of bringing these characters to life. And in itself, the art was fabulous, depicting action and emotion, as well as just beautiful moments, with attention and love. I admired the alternate covers of the series too, though I know most people detest that sort of thing in comics. It gave all of the characters a chance to shine at the hands of a skilled craftsman. I mean, just look at that Josh Middleton cover of River. That's just awesome. But anyways, I liked the comic. It didn't exactly blow me over with the storyline, but it was a competent story that certainly served to evoke the mood of the franchise, and further excite me for the film at the end of the month.
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