In Passing...Batman to Eternals
Another big week for floppies...
Batman #656 - The second issue of Grant Morrison’s Batman run was much better than the previous issue. Morrison really made use of the medium via the pop art gallery show in the background to make for a very amusing fight sequence. And really, what more do you need than Batman beating the crap out of a horde of ninja man-bats? A
Jack of Fables #2 - Jack gets properly welcomed to the compound, pondering his situation and meeting a bunch of Fables (and subsequently offending them). The colorist Daniel Vozzo got Paul Bunyan’s ox Babe wrong, as he colored her brown, despite Jack making a point of mentioning her being blue. Not that it was a deal-breaker - it just kind of bugged me. In the end, nothing particularly interesting occurred in this chapter. It was just kind of dull overall. B-
Ultimate Spider-Man #99 - One issue away from the big 100 and Bendis is already shaking up the status quo. Some big things occur in this book that will change the series from here on out. Plus…Gwen Stacy! Come on, you know you missed her. B+
Astonishing X-Men #16 - It’s Kitty Pryde vs. The Hellfire Club! God, just saying that sends shivers of pleasure down my spine. There are shocks and twists and, of course, that one fight we’ve been waiting for since the first issue of the series - you know what I’m talking about. Wolverine’s still as funny as the last issue and one more mystery is unveiled in the final panel…while a few more mysteries crop up throughout. A
New Avengers #23 - The Civil War crossovers continue, this time putting Spider-Woman in the hot seat. She’s the one Avenger no one seems willing to trust, as she’s a triple agent when it comes down to it. She’s probably the most adrift of all the Avengers (I honestly wasn’t quite sure where her loyalties would lie before the end of the book), so this of course made for an interesting issue. There’s a cool scene aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, but overall the art was distractingly bad. I really can’t stand Olivier Coipel. There were a few sequences that were hard to follow, and one page in particular that I just gave up on altogether. Coipel tries to be too flashy and it just hinders the story, making it clumsy with no sense of pacing. It’s all very murky, unfortunately, which is too bad since the story and character moments were pretty intriguing. C-
Eternals #3 (of 6) - This issue recounts the aftermath of Sersi’s party. The Eternals all have to adjust to things they’ve seen and heard, particularly Sersi after a conversation with Iron Man that stems from the Superhuman Registration Act and her former status with the Avengers. I loved the scenes with each of the characters in turn, particularly the one involving Thena, but I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of things, having never read Eternals previously, particularly with new characters popping up all the time, whose involvements seem to be big deals. A-
Also, note some sidebar maintenance. Dirk Deppey’s Journalista! makes its triumphant return, Alan David Doane begins A Criminal Blog in anticipation of the new series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and I also added a blog you’re probably already familiar with - Polite Dissent.
On a further note, the latest installment of Double Take will be a little late this week, and will hopefully go up later tonight.
Batman #656 - The second issue of Grant Morrison’s Batman run was much better than the previous issue. Morrison really made use of the medium via the pop art gallery show in the background to make for a very amusing fight sequence. And really, what more do you need than Batman beating the crap out of a horde of ninja man-bats? AJack of Fables #2 - Jack gets properly welcomed to the compound, pondering his situation and meeting a bunch of Fables (and subsequently offending them). The colorist Daniel Vozzo got Paul Bunyan’s ox Babe wrong, as he colored her brown, despite Jack making a point of mentioning her being blue. Not that it was a deal-breaker - it just kind of bugged me. In the end, nothing particularly interesting occurred in this chapter. It was just kind of dull overall. B-
Ultimate Spider-Man #99 - One issue away from the big 100 and Bendis is already shaking up the status quo. Some big things occur in this book that will change the series from here on out. Plus…Gwen Stacy! Come on, you know you missed her. B+
Astonishing X-Men #16 - It’s Kitty Pryde vs. The Hellfire Club! God, just saying that sends shivers of pleasure down my spine. There are shocks and twists and, of course, that one fight we’ve been waiting for since the first issue of the series - you know what I’m talking about. Wolverine’s still as funny as the last issue and one more mystery is unveiled in the final panel…while a few more mysteries crop up throughout. ANew Avengers #23 - The Civil War crossovers continue, this time putting Spider-Woman in the hot seat. She’s the one Avenger no one seems willing to trust, as she’s a triple agent when it comes down to it. She’s probably the most adrift of all the Avengers (I honestly wasn’t quite sure where her loyalties would lie before the end of the book), so this of course made for an interesting issue. There’s a cool scene aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, but overall the art was distractingly bad. I really can’t stand Olivier Coipel. There were a few sequences that were hard to follow, and one page in particular that I just gave up on altogether. Coipel tries to be too flashy and it just hinders the story, making it clumsy with no sense of pacing. It’s all very murky, unfortunately, which is too bad since the story and character moments were pretty intriguing. C-
Eternals #3 (of 6) - This issue recounts the aftermath of Sersi’s party. The Eternals all have to adjust to things they’ve seen and heard, particularly Sersi after a conversation with Iron Man that stems from the Superhuman Registration Act and her former status with the Avengers. I loved the scenes with each of the characters in turn, particularly the one involving Thena, but I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of things, having never read Eternals previously, particularly with new characters popping up all the time, whose involvements seem to be big deals. A-
Also, note some sidebar maintenance. Dirk Deppey’s Journalista! makes its triumphant return, Alan David Doane begins A Criminal Blog in anticipation of the new series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and I also added a blog you’re probably already familiar with - Polite Dissent.
On a further note, the latest installment of Double Take will be a little late this week, and will hopefully go up later tonight.
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