X-Force, Young Justice, Doomsday Clock, Walk Through Hell

New comics for the week!  Alas, it’s a little underwhelming.

Walk Through Hell 8

I kind of regret buying this issue.  Flipping through it in the store, I thought that the killer’s origin story would spice things up a bit, give this title some focus.  But it ends up being shocking in a very ho-hum kind of way. Yes, it’s graphic and gross, but doesn’t add very much to things. I’m almost positive I’m done with this title.  (Though there’s a preview in the back that’s got me excited for Ennis’ next war comic.)

Young Justice 3

Brian Michael Bendis shows how Superboy ended up on Gemworld, where he’s now married with a kid.  He’s also apparently the evil leader’s little bitch, submissively kneeling to the stormtroopers when they come marching through.  Looking through it again right now, there’s not a lot there. Typical Bendis, but there’s also not enough fun dialog to carry it through.  Neither Impulse nor Superboy’s characterizations are clicking for me. I might be done with this as well. Bendis’ batting average is precipitously dropping for me this month.

Doomsday Clock 9

Dr Manhattan fights the Justice League and Ronnie Raymond discovers that his accidental merging with Martin Stein may not have been so accidental.  It would be a colossal waste of time if it wasn’t so good to look at. And with only three issues to go, there still isn’t a point.

X-Force 60-62, 65-67, 70

Part of me is worried that my negative reviews of everything today is due to the late hour as I write this.  The other part of me is pretty sure that it’s truly just a bad day for comics. Jeph Loeb finishes up his time on X-Force with a Shatterstar origin two-parter.  He’s got some fill-in artists and an incomprehensible story involving Mojo, reincarnation, and a body in a mental institution.  I really don’t get it, and I don’t care enough to figure it out.

John Francis Moore takes over as the writer, and Adam Pollina returns in issue 65.  But where I loved his art on his first stint, something’s changed in the nine months since he last drew X-Force.  I don’t know what it could be - Mark Morales is still the inker, Marie Javins is the same colorist as before.  The best way I can put it is that faces look more cartoony, in a less professional kind of way. Also, the layouts are less creative, the action less exciting.  It’s lacking the inspiration that energized the issues in my previous review.

I’ll be cutting all of these issues, unless tomorrow’s remaining issues completely change my mind.  Looks like I won’t need to fill the remaining Pollina holes in my collection after all.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring