New comics

Children of the Round Table 2

Boilerplate stuff; the kids start training with their weapons and mysterious government agents start chasing them.  One of the kids’ grandmothers turns out to have known more than she let on.  Nothing to write home about.  But the art is fun, the colors are bright, and I have no problem supporting these creators.

Battle Beast 6

Same with Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley.  I’ll plunk down my cash for whatever they want to put out, but even more so.  

Batman: Long Halloween: Last Halloween 9

Chris Samnee puts in his usual good work, Loeb fully retcons Selina Kyle as a Falcone, and talk about people who have lost their fastball.  Between this and Batman: Hush II, Jeph Loeb is cementing my belief that he hasn’t written anything good in a long time.

Krypto 5

This series did not need to exist.  I did not need to buy it.  It’s a slight, pointless waste of time and Ryan North’s talents.  I would never have believed that it came from his pen.  

Wonder Woman 26

The origin of Mouseland.  It’s pretty ridiculous, and I don’t buy it.  The execution and art save it some, but not really.  I’ll be happy when Tom King and Daniel Sampere put this behind them.

One World Under Doom 8

Valeria Richards enters the fray, and Ryan North finally reveals how this whole thing is going to end.  (Unless he has one final twist, which I wouldn’t put past him.)

New Comics

New comics!

Fantastic Four 4

Alicia Masters is the hero of this issue, where her blindness is the only reason the alien threat to the family is discovered.  As usual, Ryan North takes a random scientific concept and builds the story around it to excellent, entertaining effect.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 12

The final issue of Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra’s run (with a talented roster of fill-ins at the beginning).  It’s not a masterpiece or anything, and this last issue is filled with a generic fight scene, but the run was always fun and gorgeous to look at.  Not sticking around for Gene Luen Yang’s run; TMNT doesn’t have the childhood nostalgic pull of Transformers or GI Joe, and I only hopped on for Aaron.

Detective Comics 1102

Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin’s run really harkens back to the days of Norm Breyfogle, Jim Aparo, and the pre-Knightfall Batman comics.  Standalone (or short arc) stories that are reliable, fun, and pretty much disposable.  Which I mean in a good way.  It’s all in the craft and execution, and this creative team has it in spades.

Ultimate Spider-Man 22

Setting up the final few issues.  Ultimate Superior Spider-Man shows up as Otto Octavius has apparently been officially recruited by Peter and Harry.  Here’s hoping that Jonathan Hickman can bring this home.  (Which would be a rare feat for him…)

Powers 25 2

God is it nice to be reading vintage Bendis dialogue again.  I love this man’s writing.  (I just picked up Scarlet for cheap in trade, can’t wait to read that for the first time.)

Absolute Wonder Woman 13

Horribly disappointed that Hayden Sherman didn’t draw this one, but Matias Bergara (who I don’t think I’ve seen before) does a fine job.  Still, hopefully this is just for this two-parter and Sherman returns post-haste. 

The War 3

Well that didn’t end the way I expected.  First of all, super happy that Ennis zagged with the home invasion cliffhanger.  The family still dies as expected but in a much darker (even for this story) manner than I imagined.  I don’t think it really works, but that doesn’t diminish the strength of these three issues.  (He lost the shutout, but not the complete game victory.)  Ennis can still bring the heat after so many years.  

Absolute Batman 13

Phew, Selena didn’t get wrecked by Bane, which I thought was the implication with the cliffhanger last issue.  I still love love love this book.

New Gods 11

I don’t love the Ram V story the way I love a lot of his other work.  I think it’s because the New Gods have never worked as more than a plot device for me, and making them the main characters is inherently never going to succeed.  But he does a serviceable job, and Evan Cagle takes the comic on his back and carries it across the line.  His work is flat out gorgeous.  

Movies

Some things I’ve seen:

Old Guard 2

I really liked the first movie, and was looking forward to this followup.  Unfortunately, this was ridiculously bad.  The action scenes don’t have the crisp efficiency of the original, the hokey mumbo jumbo about transferring immortality is insultingly stupid, Charlize has an epic-ly horrible haircut, and the film ends on a cliffhanger with zero resolution.  A complete disappointment.

Regret watching: Yes

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Stupid

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

I watched this on Netflix because it looked like a light, breezy romance, which it mostly is.  I didn’t realize that it was based on a book by Gabrielle Zevin, who wrote Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.  Apparently the book is better than the movie, which tracks.  This isn’t bad at all, but it could definitely use some fleshing out.  Kunal Nayyar (of Big Bang Theory fame) does okay as the protagonist, and his relationship with Lucy Hale is cute enough.  But he doesn’t quite pull off the transformative effect his adopted daughter is supposed to have elicited.  

There’s one scene that I really like, where Hale meets the real author of the book that brought her and Nayyar together.  There’s a sadness and quiet pride to the interaction that’s beautiful.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Fine

New comics

New comics!

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League 3

The crew has been assembled and the prep work begins.  This is a fun romp.

Absolute Superman 12

We get looped in to what Kal-El was up to during his early years on Earth.  Not bad, but not stand out, either.

New comics

 New comics!

New Gods 1-10

I’ve never cared for the New Gods, but I’ve been a fan of everything I’ve read from Ram V, so I thought I’d give this a shot.  I tried the first trade, and it was good enough that I picked up the next four issues.  I just found out it’s a twelve issue miniseries, and I’m definitely going to finish it off.  The art by Evan Cagle is absolutely phenomenal.  There’s a European look to it, stunning.  Sadly, I’m assuming it’s the crazy detailed nature of his art that necessitates the appearance of a guest artist doing at least a couple of pages every issue.  (And sometimes way more than that.)

The story isn’t bad as New God stories go.  I’ve just never cared for any of them aside from Barda and Scott Free.  

Assorted Crisis Events 1-5

Holy crap.  Issue 3 is one of the darkest things I’ve ever read.  And the rest of this anthology series isn’t a bucket of roses either.  Deniz Camp does what the best science fiction writers do; he takes a sci-fi conceit and then applies the darkness of humanity to it, so that it feels all too real and hauntingly terrifying.  Really glad I picked this up.

Wonder Woman 25

Not the biggest fan of this arc, but I’ll suffer through it.  Tom King and Daniel Sampere are still worth following.  

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring 3

Sam’s origin story.  This is so freaking good.  

Ultimate Spider-Man 21

Ultimate Mr Negative’s origin.  I’m so confused.  Is Gwen Stacy his sister?  Or been masquerading as his sister?  Or is he delusional?  Poor story telling by Jonathan Hickman.  (It’s finally caught up with him.)

DC vs Vampires: World War V 12

And so ends (presumably) this multi-volume saga.  Not as good as DCeased, but an entertaining, worthy effort by the always-dependable Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt.  

Detective Comics 1101

A new story arc.  Tom Taylor has really gone back to basics with Detective, self-contained adventures that are just solidly well-told.  I’m not complaining, especially if he continues to do it with Mikel Janin.  

Absolute Wonder Woman 12

If I could only read one comic a month, it would be this one. 

New comics

Battle Beast 5

Not enough fighting, but next issue looks to change that.

Deadpool/Batman 1

Marvel’s side of this inter-company crossover.  Nothing to write home about, but not horrible.  Actually, Frank Miller’s three pages were pretty horrible.  Is it safe to mark him as finished?  I’d be sad about it, but signs really point to yes.

Voyeur 1

A fun con comic with a sexy twist.  I’m in on this launch title from new publisher Ignition Press.  

Powers 25 1

Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming return, and boy is it nice to read Bendis again.  He disappeared from my radar after his DC tenure fizzled, and it’s nice to know that he hasn’t completely lost his stuff either.  

Short Game

I’m so happy to get more material from Mitsuru Adachi of Cross Game fame, but this collection of short stories isn’t nearly as good as his long work.

New comics

Batgirl 11

Batgirl and her half-brother fight the second Sword, then agree to go on a quest with the third one.  (Not sure why the three bad guys were lumped together, they weren’t working together at all.)  I’m done with this, there’s nothing that puts this above replacement level.

Free Comic Book Day: Fantastic Four 1

There’s a cute little FF story by Ryan North and Humberto Ramos here.

Absolute Superman 11

This is such an up and down series. This is a down issue.  The “brainwashing by running the subject through thousands of VR scenarios” story has been done to death, and this iteration doesn’t bring anything new.  The “push the hero to the dark side only to fail” thing has been done even more times, and Jason Aaron doesn’t make it all that interesting either.  Hoping he ends this arc on a high note.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11

Things fall apart for the evil DA as the city rallies around the Turtles.  Cue the final fight.  Gene Luen Yang takes over w/ issue 13, I might actually stick around and give it a shot.

Absolute Green Lantern 6

I’m done.  This is all nonsense.

Mr Terrific: Year One 4

I cancelled my sub, but picked up this issue after it was pick of the week on iFanboy.  It’s fun seeing Bruce Wayne and Michael Holt interacting, but I don’t know if it’s enough for me to get the rest of the series.  I’ll flip through it in the shop next time around.  

The War 2

Garth Ennis is still bringing his A game after all of these years.  This is one of the darkest, grimmest things I’ve read in a long, long time, and it’s so so good.  I only wish Ennis didn’t bring in the armed intruders at the end.  The series is so strong because it’s grounded in realism, and this new element takes me out of that headspace.  

Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League 1-2

Another iFanboy recommendation, and it’s a good one.  It feels like I haven’t read Greg Rucka in a long time, and he’s as good as ever.  The titular characters are still gathering their crew, and it’s a fun ride so far.  

Absolute Flash 7

Not as bad as Absolute Green Lantern, but there’s not enough to keep me around.  I’m done.

Krypto 4

I appreciate the sadness warning at the beginning of the issue, but I’ve read sadder.  This has not been the best of series, but with only one issue to go, I’m going to play it out.

Fantastic Four 3

The FF figure out a way around Doom’s video game save/restore machine, with Ryan North’s typical cleverness.  Lots of fun, how does this guy not run out of ideas?

Battle Action 6, 7, 10

Apparently real-world comic distribution problems created this gap in issues.  Issue ten finishes off this Johnny Red arc with a happily-ever-after.  Fine, but not up to Ennis’ best.